Title: TMttF's First Attempt
Author: Tsubasa Kya
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.
This is TMttF's first attempt, I will not be completing it, I just felt like sharing my failures. I will post what I have, no more.
Yusuke sat up on the roof of his school, skipping class. Just the week before, he'd spent rescuing a chick that cried some sort of jewel. He just didn't understand it. How could a guy like Hiei have such a nice girl like Yukina for a sister?
And why did Hiei not want Yukina to know who he was? Then he'd gone and kicked the tar out of some four demons in some weird palace thing. After that, he'd gone to fight the Toguro brothers at a tournament and barely won, but he'd also lost because his mentor, Genkai, had died.
"Well, I'd be ashamed too, if Hiei were my brother." Yusuke thought aloud, groaning as he turned onto his side. He was sore all over. Hiei had beaten him up the day before when Yusuke had threatened to tell Yukina.
'You tell her, I'll kill you.' He had said, accentuating this with a few punches and kicks to Yusuke's various body parts.
He had been stronger in that moment than he had ever been when Yusuke had fought him in the warehouse. He couldn't even move right now without being in pain.
"Even when you are alone, you talk about me!" Hiei's voice pierced Yusuke's thoughts, echoing in Yusuke's head before he realized someone was near him.
He sat up quickly when he realized Hiei was there. "What do you want Hiei?" He asked, annoyed and trying not to wince with the strong jolt his many aches gave him.
"It isn't what 'I' want, grease-head. It's Koenma. He wants to see you, immediately."
"Damn it!" Yusuke swore, standing up and wincing. He was unable to stop himself before he winced that time and Hiei smirked. "Shut up, shrimp."
"Make me." Hiei quipped.
Yusuke raised his fist in Hiei's face limply. "Alright, I will!"
Hiei rolled his eyes. He could hardly believe that the wimpy human in front of him contained as much power as he did. He would never deal with Yusuke if Yusuke had not gained his respect by beating him in battle. "Hn... sure you will." Hiei murmured, turning around, amused. He began to walk towards the portal that Botan, who had been standing by the wall in her pink kimono, holding onto her oar.
"Wait, shrimp, I'm not through with you!" Yusuke hollered, but he had already disappeared. He sighed heavily. Since yesterday, Hiei didn't seem to pay very much heed to Yusuke.
He wondered what had happened yesterday after his and Hiei's fight.
\\/\
"What do you want, toddler?" Yusuke asked, much less enthused at the moment about hearing what ever it was that Koenma had to say than any other day. His criticizing remark towards Koenma seemed less derogatory than usual too.
He hadn't gone right away to see Koenma. He had gone home first, deciding that Koenma could wait and that no one would think to look at home for him when he ran into his mother on the way into the apartment.
'Clean up the house, Yusuke, your cousins are coming over to visit, along with your aunt.' His mother had said, in a rush to get out of the apartment. 'I'm going to buy some more dish soap and vacuum bags. Get your room cleaned, and then clean the bathroom. I'll be back in a half hour.'
He couldn't understand why his mother thought he would actually clean for their aunt's visit – normally they went to visit Auntie Naomi – but when he got into the apartment, he was met with a shock. His mother's trashed up apartment was so clean, it was scary. The dishes were half done and put up to dry; the dish soap bottle, which had been full yesterday was completely gone and in the trash; there was absolutely nothing on the floor. His room and the bathroom were still very dirty, but his mother's room was completely untouched by either dust or garbage.
'Geez, mom, you must have been working all morning at this!' He had exclaimed. He figured he better do a little too, so he set to work on his room, picking up his dirty clothes and washing them; folding his clean clothes from the last washing and putting them away or else hanging them up; taking the garbage and throwing it away; picking up his manga and organizing them back on the book shelf; and making his bed. When he was done with that, his mother had come home again by then and started back on the dishes, he went and switched over his laundry and putting in another load of dirty clothes that he found in the bathroom hamper. He scrubbed the toilet and bathroom floor until his already aching muscles from the pounding Hiei gave him the day before screamed in protest and still continued on after folding his clothes and putting them away and switching the clothes in the washer to the dryer. When he was done with the floor, he scrubbed the nasty ring out of the tub and washed out the toothpaste clumps from the bathroom sink. When he finished that, he washed the mirror cabinet in the bathroom and dusted off the shelves in his room.
He wanted to cry from the agony his muscles were going through then, but he had to go see Koenma and find out what he wanted. On his way out, his mother had stopped him.
'Thanks for your help, Yusuke.' His mother said, sober for once. 'I'd like you home by six, because they'll get here at six thirty... Okay? And Grandpa is coming over too, so please, watch your tongue tonight?'
'What the fu-' a sharp look from his mother stopped him from replying like he had been about to, 'I mean, why? All grandpa does is go on and on about ancient history... He doesn't notice anything else.'
'Please, Yusuke?'
The pleading note in his mother's voice made him nod his head. 'Yeah, fine, whatever.' He had said and then left.
He had gotten home probably around one o'clock, and by the time he finished cleaning – his muscles feeling like goo – it was already four-thirty. By the time he got to the school's roof where the portal still awaited him, it was five. Normally it only took him ten minutes to get to school, but he had to force his feet to continue moving and half dragged his entire body through the portal.
So now, at five ten, he stood in front of Koenma's desk, slumped over and wishing he could just pass out right then and there. Unfortunately that would mean being unable to get home by six o'clock.
"Whoa, what's wrong with you?" Kuwabara asked, poking Yusuke.
To sleepy to even retaliate, Yusuke ignored Kuwabara. "I asked what you want, toddler." He muttered, tipping his head towards the ceiling trying to roll his shoulders and failing.
"I told you! But who listens to me?" Koenma cried. "Nobody!" He began to pout.
Hiei chuckled and Yusuke whirled around, blinking tired eyes. "Hiei, shut up."
"Yusuke, are you alright?" Kurama asked, hardly concerned and asking more out of curiosity than anything.
"I'm fine." Yusuke said irritably. "Koenma, just say whatever it is you have to say." He said, looking at his watch, which read five forty nine. "I've got to be home in eleven minutes, so make it quick." He wasn't sure how the time went from five ten to five forty nine in the blink of an eye. He was sure that just a second ago it was five ten.
Yusuke's forehead began burning up as he listened to Koenma, and he felt literally on the verge of collapse, his breath coming up short. In the end, he began to forget everything that Koenma said just seconds after Koenma said it, and remembering what was said in the beginning of the briefing was like trying to remember what food tasted like when you were in your mother's womb.
Finally he grumbled and turned towards the door. "Catch me at another time, Koenma." He said, checking his watch. It was six o'five. He was late for getting home. "I have t...to go home to... um..." He tried to remember what he was going home for, recalling at just the last moment, "Oh shit!" He said, sounding like his normal self, but not looking like it. His voice, full of anger, didn't match the tiredness in his face, or his blood shot eyes or very pink cheeks or slumped shoulders. He hurried as fast as he could out of the room, which wasn't very fast at all. Turtles would have passed him already.
When he was finally gone, Koenma turned to Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara. "Do you think he heard a word that I said? He didn't seem to be registering it."
"He seemed very out of it," said Kuwabara, "he also looks like he's got a bit of the flu."
"Hn... Just looks like he hasn't slept for a bit to me." Hiei muttered.
Kurama laughed. "You've never been sick, have you, Hiei?"
"Of course not. I'm not weak."
"Hey! Are you implying something, shorty?" Kuwabara asked defensively.
"Glad your puny brain noticed that."
Koenma sighed. "Oh well... I'll just send Botan to go get Yusuke tomorrow afternoon." His comment went unheard as Hiei and Kuwabara got into a shouting match.
\/\/
Kagome was losing her patience with Inuyasha. "Inuyasha, I have to go home. Look, I'll be back in a week! I have tests to make up!"
Inuyasha stood between Kagome and the well, his arms crossed across his chest stubbornly. Each time she tried to go around him, he moved to stay in between her and the well. "No, we have shards to collect." He told her. His patience was also wearing thin.
"Please, Inuyasha?" She begged, appealing to him with the puppy dog eyes she knew he had a hard time resisting. Unfortunately, he didn't even look at her to know she was giving him the puppy dog eyes. "Fine! Be that way."
"So you aren't going to go back?" He asked, looking at her.
She smiled at him as her only answer.
"Great. Finally I talked some sense into you."
She let him gloat for a moment and he began to 'lead the way back'. When his back was to her, she moved quickly and jumped into the well before he could stop her. He was so shocked that she had 'lied' to him that he didn't move for a moment from his place, staring at the well's opening. He moved to go after her, standing angrily on the lip of the well looking down into its depths and debating whether or not to go in.
\/\/
Kagome sighed after she climbed out of the well. It didn't seem that Inuyasha was going to be coming after her this time, thankfully. She would be able to get a lot of studying done this weekend without his constant interrupting about the jewel shards.
She greeted her mother and then went up to her room, getting things together for her bath. She always took one right away when she got home, loving the instant hot water. It was only three o'clock in the afternoon, so she was able to get into the bath before Souta would be coming home from school, because he did have school.
After a nice long bath (and shaving her legs and arms, washing her body and her hair), she got out, changed into her pajamas, and sat down at her desk with her hair in a towel wrap so she could start her schoolwork. She thought it weird that her tooth brush was gone from the bathroom – she'd only just put it in there when she got home. When she looked at her clock, it read four thirty two. Her mother came into the room moments later, shuffling over to sit on her bed. "Kagome, dear... You had told me you would be coming home today, so I thought we might go visit Aunt Atsuko... Are you too tired to come?"
Kagome turned to look at her mother, smiling. "Too tired, mama? What, and miss the chance of seeing my relatives? I'd never miss it!" She sighed. "But what'll I wear!" She moved into fretful mode. "My school uniforms are dirty and full of blood, and I'm not sure if anything else in my closet will fit me!" She went over to her closet and started searching through it for something to wear. "No...no...not decent for a family visit..."
"Kagome, how about this, you just grab a handful of clothes that you might want to wear and we can choose from that, okay?"
"No, that's okay, but mama, half my closet is missing!" Kagome said.
"Just hurry up, dear. We have to leave by five thirty, okay? Oh, where is your little friend?"
"Who, Inuyasha? I'm guessing he stayed behind. I had thought he would come over here and bug me some more, but I guess not."
"Oh, alright then. That's good."
Mama left the room, leaving Kagome to scour through her closet. She tried to find something to wear that she liked, but couldn't. She hated all her shirts, all her skirts, all her pants, everything! Finally, she went into the emergency clothes box she kept at the bottom of her closet. She couldn't help but wonder where all her favorite clothes went, but was forced to drop the thought as she opened the box and took out her red silk tank top and the black silk skirt. The shirt had a built in bra and was supposed to be tight around the chest not the stomach. Still, it was tighter around her chest than when she had first bought it, making her giggle. She must have grown. The black skirt would easily do a three-sixty if she spun in a circle. The flip-flops that she had gotten to match her outfit had black bases with red ties.
She did her hair up into a ponytail braiding the loose part of it and even put on some make-up. For make-up she put on some dark pink eye shadow and some eyeliner, and finally some lip-gloss. She stuck her minimal amount of make-up in her purse that she was going to take. She looked at her arms in the mirror, shocked. They had muscle that had definitely not been there before she had fallen through the well so long ago. It was definitely muscle from using the bow. She'd definitely gotten better at hitting her targets that was for sure. Sango probably also contributed to the muscles because the older girl had been teaching Kagome some basic fighting techniques like throws, kicks, punches and even a bit of using a katana.
She smiled at her reflection in the mirror. She loved getting dressed up, but it did take so long to do so. It was already five fifteen.
"Kagome, are you ready?" Mama called up the stairs to her room. "We're ready to go!"
"Almost!"
"Where are you going?" Inuyasha asked from the window, looking down at the floor.
Kagome spun quickly on the balls of her feet; she hadn't realized that Inuyasha was there. "How long have you been there!" She asked, a blush coming to her cheeks.
"Since your mother asked about me. She saw me sitting here before she asked."
Kagome paled. "That means you watched me change!" She was horrified. He was so indecent!
"Relax; I turned around when you changed."
Kagome glared at him. "Well sit anyway!" He landed in a crumpled heap on the floor and she listened to him cursing for a moment. "I'm not going to be coming back with you, especially not now. I'm going to visit my cousin."
Inuyasha peeled himself from the floor. "I wasn't coming to ask you to come back!" He yelled. "Stupid! Fine! If you want to stay, you can stay! I'm going to come back to get you in one week, though, whether you're ready or not!"
He jumped out the window, landing softly on the well house roof. She glared at the spot he had just been, then turned and moved to go outside. She went down the stairs and saw her grandfather getting in the front passenger side of the vehicle. Her mother was busy shoving a bag in the trunk of the car and Souta was bouncing a racquetball on the ground, a mischievous grin on his face. Kagome went over to Souta, grinning as well.
"Thinking about something?" She asked innocently, knowing what he was up to.
The young twelve year old nodded. "Just a few things. I've got a box in the back seat; you might not want to open it."
Kagome chuckled. "Present for him, is it?"
He nodded. "I put a lot of thought into it."
"Get into the car you two." Mama said. "I've just got one more thing to get and we'll be on our way."
Kagome and Souta climbed into the back seat while mama went into the shrine and came back out with a box, which she shoved into the trunk. Finally they were on their way, everyone buckled up.
Souta and Kagome looked up at the building that their aunt lived in. It wasn't very tall – maybe only fifty stories up or so – and their aunt only lived on the forty-fifth floor. Or at least, that was what mama had said.
"They'll have elevators." Mama assured Grandpa. They were five minutes late because they had to change elevators three times.
\/\/
Yusuke stood next to his mother, waiting for the appearance of his cousins. They were in the hallway of their floor, waiting for them to emerge from the elevator. He could see that they were coming because the elevator light above the door was indicating that it was coming up.
While standing by his mother, he found his eyesight becoming blurry and barely registered the fact that his eyes were burning and watery. His face was heated and his body screamed in protest to his every movement, the pain making him dizzy. He sneezed twice, and each time he did, he felt even more congested than before.
He couldn't remember why they were waiting in the hall for a moment, and began dozing off, leaning against the wall.
"Yusuke, please!" His mother said sharply, as the elevator dinged its last stop, on the fourty-fifth floor.
Yusuke stood up quickly, wincing. The bruise on his cheek from the fight with Hiei the day before stood out against his face. He sighed and put on a smile, looking through blurry eyes at the figures that he was sure was his cousins, aunt, and grandpa.
"Hello, father. Hello Naomi!" He heard his mother greet them. "How are you, Kagome, Souta? I trust you're well?"
"Great, Aunt Atsuko." Souta beamed.
"I'm fine, Aunt Atsuko." Kagome said politely.
After the customary pleasantries were exchanged, and Yusuke grumpily said 'hello' after a deal of fuss from his mother, everyone went inside. Atsuko had spent a great deal of money to buy dinner from the deli, and while everyone visited, they ate before it got cold.
Kagome eyed her cousin during dinner. He didn't look too healthy; his skin was flushed, his eyes were bloodshot, and he was sweating heavily. He seemed to be dozing at his place at the table. He had all the signs of an over exhausted person with the flu. She'd dealt with many people just like that in the Sengoku Jidai. No doubt he was experiencing dizziness, blurry eyes, and possibly even vomiting spells if it was bad enough.
Before she could suggest that he go lay down, her mother did. "Atsuko, Yusuke looks exhausted. He needs to rest; we shouldn't be the ones to keep him here. We'll be staying the night, why don't you let him go lie down?"
Atsuko nodded. "Yusuke, go lay down." She told him, not unkindly.
Yusuke had to be told three times before he finally went and lay down, tripping on his feet twice. During clean up, Souta was pouty. "So much for my prank." He muttered to Kagome.
Kagome chuckled. "You can't do everything. Besides, you heard Mama. We'll be staying the night anyway, so you'll have tomorrow."
"Yeah, I suppose..." He agreed reluctantly.
Later that night, around nine o'clock, Kagome and Souta were sent off to bed. Souta was to be sleeping on an extra futon in Yusuke's room, along with grandpa. Each would have their own futons. Kagome and mama would sleep in Atsuko's room on extra futons.
While Kagome slept soundly, Yusuke kept Souta awake with his coughing. Each time he coughed, it sounded like something was clawing on a wooden wall.
Out in the living room, the three adults chattered quietly, catching up on times. Soon, grandpa too went to sleep, and Atsuko and Naomi were able to talk more freely.
"Atsuko, I thank you for this favor. I've already had Kagome transferred; now all there is left to do would be to tell her. I just don't think that she's able to concentrate – you know why, I've told you about it before." Naomi said her voice and face laden with the sadness she felt at making such a difficult decision. Giving up one's child was a tough choice to make.
Naomi smiled encouragingly at her sister. "Don't worry, Naomi. I'll make sure she's taken care of. And Yusuke'll take care of her too. I believe you about that well. It always gave me the creeps growing up. But from what you told me, she might not be too happy about it. She will probably worry about how she's disregarding her responsibilities. She's so much like you were."
Naomi sighed. "I hope I'm doing the right thing. But the one I'm worried about is her friend; the one who follows her through the well."
"Well, don't worry. If he comes looking for her, Yusuke'll protect her."
Naomi shook her head. "No, that's not it at all. I'm worried about how hard he'll take it when I am forced to tell him that she's not going to be coming back to him. I believe the he's fallen for her, and she him. But they are from two different time dimensions. I fear it won't work out for the two of them."
"If she was to stay in the past, then she would never be born, and she would never be able to make it to the point where she gets pulled through the well – hence she would never be able to have met the boy in the first place."
Naomi nodded sadly. "And if he was to stay in this time era, his reincarnation – if he has one – wouldn't be able to be born. It would be disastrous. And besides that, because he's so different, there are shameful people out there who would want to experiment on him if they got their hands on him. The boy doesn't deserve that – not with the sorrow I see in his eyes. He's lost so much already, or so Kagome has told me. He lost his mother at a young age, and the woman he loved was killed, but just before she died, she killed him, pinning him to the God tree with an enchanted arrow through the heart. It's sad, but I feel that this is the best way..."
Atsuko nodded. "Don't worry, Naomi. Kagome will be fine here. But eventually, she will have to go back through the well. You and I both know she will. She'll have to complete her responsibilities there, so that the ties she has to the past will be broken..."
"I know. I think about that constantly. I just hope that before she has to go back, she will find something here that will bind her to life here. As it stands, I don't think family is enough. Already, she is spending more and more time on the other side of the well. When she came back that first time, she had a terrible wound in her side. I was horrified to learn of what had happened, but she told me; she spared me no small detail. Each time, she comes back with some kind of wound; each time I nearly die to see her so hurt. And the wounds that young man gets...it's frightful. To think, that could happen to my baby girl."
"It is terrible, I know. Yesterday Yusuke came home from school and he was laden with bruises and blood. I was so worried about him. I asked what had happened, but he just shrugged me off, saying 'I got in a fight with someone over something stupid. I'm fine.'" Atsuko sighed. "He's come home before all bruised up, but usually he gloats about how he won and the other guy looked ten times worse."
"Oh, I know. It's hard for us mothers to see things like this...I know it is natural to want to protect your child; but do you think I'm going too far? I'm sending her away from something that I know in my heart she must do." Naomi dabbed her moist eyes with a tissue from the coffee table. "She's always so calm about everything when she tells me about it... but I can tell that it has changed her. Something is different about her; I just can't figure out what."
"Perhaps it is just because she's growing up?" Atsuko suggested.
Naomi shook her head, "If only I could believe that was it. There is something over on the other side of the well that she's being exposed to and it is changing her. I don't know if it is for the better, or the worse. I wish I knew."
Racking coughs from Yusuke's room brought the two women's attention to Yusuke's bedroom door, opened just a crack. As the coughs became progressively worse, the two went to Yusuke's room, flicking on the light to see blood on the edge of Yusuke's mouth, slowly running out of his mouth with his head turned to the side as it was.
"Last night he woke up vomiting." Atsuko whispered, worry tingeing her voice. "He seems to have some sort of flu bug, but he won't let me take him to the doctor."
"Atsuko, he probably wouldn't let you because that would mean admitting weakness. That was something you could never do as a child either." Naomi smiled faintly, taking the tissue she'd had in her hand and walking over to kneel by Yusuke. At her light touch, his eyes fluttered open briefly before closing again. She carefully wiped the blood from his mouth, turning his head slightly more to the side so that if he coughed some more, the blood would drip out of his mouth rather than drown him.
"He's my baby..." Atsuko whispered. "I don't know what I would do without him. When he died... I was so grief stricken. It was amazing that a year later he came to life again. For years I really thought I didn't care whether or not he lived or died, because he was just an accident. I had been careless and he was born. When he died..." Atsuko's voice caught in her throat, "I never thought I would get another chance to be a part of his life." She winced when Yusuke began coughing again, more blood dripping slowly from his mouth.
Atsuko continued, "He told the girl he liked, Keiko – who was the first person to befriend him, some things about what he did so that he could come to life again, and I was there to hear it. I had thought he was holding something back; he was. I had thought that it was because he didn't want me to hear about it. Later on, he asked me if we could talk, and he told me the whole story. I asked him why he didn't tell Keiko everything; he just replied with a shrug, saying 'I don't want her to be frightened.' After that, he had threatened me a bit, saying, 'You better not tell her, or else I'll throw you into a tub full of cold water!' He was joking of course, but since then, we have become closer than ever. He tells me all about the missions that Koenma gives him in exchange for me getting off my bum and getting a job. That was our deal."
Naomi nodded, wiped the blood from a coughing Yusuke's mouth, and stood, leading her sister out of the room. "You need to get him to the doctor, Atsuko. This could be more than the flu; you won't know until you take him to the doctor. I know that you have college classes and your work at the restaurant to deal with, which is why I'm going to get father to help pay for it." She smiled slyly at Atsuko as she closed the door. "If you have a hard time with him, just send for Keiko. She seems to have a fair hold on talking him into things, from what you've told me."
Atsuko nodded. "I will. Once you, Souta, and father have left I'll take him to the doctor. I imagine that Kagome will be upset and will want some alone time, so she'll be fine here. She'll be able to settle in and have some time to think."
"That sounds good. I just hope I'm doing the right thing..."
"Quit worrying. You'll only wear yourself out. Tomorrow I'll clean out the guest bedroom for her. It's stuffed so full with empty boxes and miscellaneous things that the only thing you can really do is open the door."
The two brushed their teeth and went to bed well after midnight. As soon as their voices had stopped drifting to his ears, Souta sighed and curled up into a ball on his futon. His sister was going to be staying with Yusuke and Atsuko. That meant he would see her even less than he did now. And that meant that he wouldn't be able to see Inuyasha anymore because he would get mad at Kagome and not come anymore to visit. Inuyasha only ever came to visit with Kagome anyway, but being able to see him for the little while that he got was fun.
He wondered if he would have to forget all about Inuyasha, since he could never see him anymore.
\/\\
Kagome woke in the morning, her skirt twisted around her legs and her tank top riding up. She groaned irritably, but made sure to be quiet about it as she stood to re-adjust her clothing. She felt dirty to be wearing the same clothes two days in a row. If she had known they were staying the night, she would have brought some extra clothes.
She looked at the clock and saw it said twelve thirty eight. She was surprised that it was so late. I never sleep in that much! She thought, but grudgingly agreed to herself that she could use that much sleep. She looked around the room. Her mother wasn't sleeping still, neither was Atsuko. Of course, they're mothers, so they probably would get up early.
Kagome walked out of the room, still adjusting her tank top. Her purse, still on the island counter, called to her. She knew there was a brush in there – a tiny compact brush small enough to fit in her hand. She took her purse into the bathroom and fixed her hair, washed her face off and redid her make up. She used a little bit of Aunt Atsuko's mouthwash, so she could get rid of the grimy feel in her mouth – the unclean feel. It worked only slightly, but at least it was something. After going to the bathroom then and washing her hands, Kagome exited the bathroom, feeling minimally fresher than when she woke. Kagome went through the apartment, looking for anyone else who might be there – everyone seemed to be gone. Only Souta was still there. Atsuko, Naomi, Grandpa, and Yusuke were all gone.
Kagome went and sat next to Souta on his futon; he was just waking up. "Hey kiddo... Do you know where everyone disappeared to?"
Souta rubbed his eyes. "No." He sat up and looked at Kagome seriously, which unnerved her slightly. He'd never looked so serious towards her before. "Kagome, what would you do if mother left you here?" He had used 'mother' instead of 'mama'. Kagome knew that meant he was upset at their mother.
She smiled at him, a nineteen year old to his twelve. "I don't know, Souta. What brings this question about?" When he looked away from her as though refusing to answer, she placed her hand under his chin and forced him gently to look at her. "Souta, what brought this about?" She was startled to see that tears were sparkling in his eyes.
He hugged her tightly as though if he didn't, she would disappear. "Mother said that if you stay in the other era, time would get screwy. And she said that if Inuyasha stayed in this era, time would get screwy. So she said she was going to leave you here with Aunt Atsuko and Yusuke. She said you weren't going to come home. She said her reason was 'I'm hoping she finds something to tie herself to this time.'" He sobbed into Kagome's shoulder, but all she did was pat his back reassuringly. She didn't push him away.
"It's alright, Souta." She told him, forcing herself to be calm for him. "I bet you're worried that Inuyasha won't come see you anymore if I don't go home with you... would that be it?"
His answer both shocked her and made her laugh. "Stupid Kagome, Inuyasha isn't as important as you are! But...that is part of it, I guess."
Kagome chuckled and smoothed his sleep-tussled hair. "Don't worry, Souta. Come on... We'll go find something so that I can write a letter to Inuyasha, telling him to visit with you." As they looked in the kitchen for paper, Kagome asked, "How did you find this out?" The more she thought about it, the more the anger inside her grew.
"Yusuke kept coughing really harshly last night and I couldn't get to sleep. I couldn't help but hear mother talking with Aunt Atsuko." He seemed on the verge of crying again, and he had only just stopped.
"I see." It made sense. That was the reason her toothbrush was gone from the bathroom. That was why half of her closet was missing.
She found a piece of paper and sat down on one of the stools surrounding the island and began to compose her letter. "Inuyasha is going to come for me at the end of the week sometime, Souta. I don't think he'll be able to find me because we took the car. I'm going to give you this letter and expect that you give it to Inuyasha. Don't let mother know about it." She too reverted to saying 'mother' when she was angry.
"Okay..." Souta sniffled and wiped his nose with a napkin from the counter. "How mad do you think Inuyasha will be?"
Kagome chuckled again. "Probably mad enough to break something." Or someone... She ignored that thought. "Don't let mother tell him anything okay, Souta? She might twist things around so it looks like it was my choice."
"Okay."
"And don't say anything about how it was mother either. Don't say anything at all. Tell him to go back to the Sengoku Jidai and read it."
"How can I say nothing and then tell him to go back at the same time?"
Kagome rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean." She knew that Souta was trying to cheer himself up. He laughed at her. "After he leaves, call me and tell me that you gave it to him. Alright?"
He nodded and moved to look over her shoulder at what she was writing. He saw a semblance of an incantation on it. "What's that for?" He asked, pointing to it.
"When he reads that, he'll be bound only to the shrine, which means he won't be able to go out into the city to look for me. I don't want him hurt, and there are bad people who will harm him if they got their hands on him." A tear dripped down her face and Souta wiped it away.
"Don't cry, 'Gome." He said, using his childhood nickname for her. "Everything will be alright. But what if his reading the enchantment doesn't work? Or what if it is only temporary?"
Kagome smiled grimly. "It is only temporary. That's the problem. He'll know it too. I have no doubt that he'll come searching for me."
"But what about the bad people?" Souta asked.
"I'll have figured out a way that he can walk through the city unnoticed by then. See, I have told him that in the letter. 'Please don't go into the city until I have contacted you. No one in this era will understand what you are and you could attract worse enemies here than in your time. I am sure you are upset that we can't go searching for shards, but I will find a way so you can come to get me without being noticed.' This should defer his first idea of leaving the shrine to search for me immediately."
"But what if he comes while I'm at school?"
"Souta," Kagome looked him in the eyes. "It is very important that he gets this from you and that mother cannot tell him anything."
Souta nodded solemnly. "I'll fake being sick." He promised.
"Thank you Souta." She dug in her purse and extracted her small wallet. From it she pulled a handful of tens, the many allowances she'd gotten over the years. "Here; use these to pay the shipping costs and send me as many of grandpa's ancient scroll books as you can. If you are able to send them all, then you can keep whatever money is left over."
"Okay..." Souta looked near tears again.
Kagome folded the completed letter and wrote another incantation right on the front.
"What's that one?"
"It's so he has to go to his era before he reads it."
"Oh."
Kagome gave the letter to Souta and he put it in his pocket. "Don't you lose that, Souta. He has to get it."
"I won't." He promised.
If you're wondering, this will not be completed. It's the first attempt at TMttF so I will post how much there is, but no more.