Sensing his discomfort, Kagome decided to switch topics. "That deer isn't going to cook itself, let's go start a fire." She said, walking outside the hut to get firewood.

Inuyasha sighed. He was glad that she had changed topics, but he wished that he could have told her all that was on his mind.

Right before following her, he turned to the children. "Try anything stupid and I'll poke little holes in you with my claws."

"Hey Kagome," He said, while stacking the wood she had gathered into a little bundle. "Do you know why Keiko's hair is so short?"

"No, why?" She asked, as she held her reading glasses up to the sun, causing a teeny fire to start on the bundle.

"She's such a little jerk that all her brothers and sisters kept pulling her hair. The only thing Sango and Miroku could think of to do was cut her hair so short that you can't really pull it."

Kagome laughed as did Inuyasha.

Kagome blew on the flame while Inuyasha put little pieces of dried grass on it, helping it grow. "You'd think she'd learn her lesson, then." Kagome said lightly.

"You'd think, but she's still just as much of a brat. It only encouraged her. She's bigger than the rest of them and that was the only way they could defend themselves against her. She's not a complete bully though, they all start stuff. They're monsters."

"If that's the case, I hope that Sango and Miroku are really exorcising demons and not making more brats."

"Me too. If they have a thirteenth kid, I'm sure that little hut will explode and poor Kirara will have a nervous breakdown."

"Surely they must see that children suck. Why don't they just stop ... you know."

"You don't remember Miroku very well, do you?"

"Well, I do, but Sango used to turn him down all the time. Did she just stop refusing all together?"

"I think so." Inuyasha said, and they began laughing together again.

Suddenly, Inuyasha turned around and said. "That's not good."

"What's not good?... Oh no!" All twelve children had gathered outside of the hut. They were looking pretty glum, and several of them were crying silently.

Kagome came running over to them. "Oh my gosh! I'm sorry! How much of that did you hear?" She tried to hug one of the littler ones, and he slapped her away." "I'm sorry! I'll make it up to you!" Kagome told the children apologetically.

Inuyasha made no real move to apologize to them. He had meant what he said about them being monsters, Kagome was rather wishy-washy about it.

"We'll think about it! Stay here!" Keiko declared. She made a motion for her siblings to follow her into the hut, and they did.

"Why are you going to such trouble to get them to forgive us?" Inuyasha asked Kagome.

"Don't you see? We really hurt their feelings! We called them names and made fun of their parents. They're little kids! Little kids aren't meant to be abused that way!"

"Kagome, it builds character to get abused a little bit as a kid."

"You can't tell me you enjoyed what you went through." She argued.

Inuyasha thought a moment about his childhood. "...fair enough. We'll try to make it up to them, but that isn't going to undo what we did."

"No, but at least we can try."

At that moment, the children emerged from the hut, Keiko leading them. "We have decided to forgive you and not tell our parents what you said if you agree to the following terms: Firstly, Kagome must give all of the girls a make-over. Secondly, Inuyasha must finish cooking the deer and give it to us. Also, One of you must tell us a story. Inuyasha may not threaten us in any way form or fashion until our parents return home. Finally, it goes without saying that you must be nice to us and play with us as we see fit. Do you agree to these terms?" Keiko asked them.

"Yes." Kagome said.

"...... um.." Kagome elbowed Inuyasha. "... yes."

"Then it is decided," Keiko announced. "Let the fun commence!"

Inuyasha groaned at this.

"Me first! No ME first!" The five girls started to jump up and down while arguing. "I have a way to decide," Kagome told them. "All of you put your fists out like this, put them all together. Kagome started to touch their fists in sequence. "bubblegum, bubblegum in a dish, how many pieces do you wish?" "Four." the girl said. "Alright, one.. two.. three.. four.. now you put one fist behind your back like this."

With this method it was decided that the four-year-old girl named Ari should go first. Ari had shoulder-length hair. It was black, but had a natural reddish tint to it. It seemed to Kagome that the first logical step would be to put it up somehow. Picking up two flowers with long stems to tie it up with, Kagome put Ari's hair in two high buns, with the flowers facing forward. Satisfied, Ari clapped her tiny hands gleefully. It was very cute because she did it with her fingers apart.

"K, Who's next?" Kagome asked.

"Me!" Ryuuichi shouted as she skipped up to Kagome. Ryuuichi had dark brown hair which was all the same length. It fell in a poofy way equally around her head, it completely covered her eyes and nose.

"Say, do you think your parents would get mad if I cut your hair?" Kagome asked her.

"Nah."

"K, then find me something to cut it with."

"Sure." Ryuuichi said as she skipped out of sight. Ryuuichi returned quickly carrying a knife.

"I don't suppose they taught their kids not to run with sharp objects." Kagome mused to herself. Kagome Instructed Ryuuichi to sit down, while she took locks of her hair in between her fingers and cut them with the knife. What Kagome did was this: she shortened Ryuuichi's hair in front, so that she could see, and cut it toward the back in a slant, so that her hair got longer the closer it was to her neck. She also thinned it out a good deal. Kagome would have cut it a bit more, but Ryuuichi lost her patience and was happy with it anyway.

"Food's done." Inuyasha announced as all twelve children ran to the fire outside of the hut.

As the children and Inuyasha were eating, Kagome began to fiddle with her own hair; it was giving her a headache. She took the rubberband off and let her hair fall. Kagome shook her head and put the rubberband around her wrist for safe keeping. Her watch read six-thirty.

Kagome's eyes happened to meet with Inuyasha's. To conceal the fact that he had been watching her, he engaged her in conversation.

"Aren't you gonna eat, Kagome?"

"Nah, I'm not hungry." Kagome thought back to the deer's expression when she shot it. She felt more like vomiting than eating.

She lay down with her hands supporting her head. "I think I'll take a bath..." she mused aloud.

Inuyasha saw an opportunity. "I'll go with you. You can't protect yourself, so you shouldn't be alone."

"Later then." Kagome said flatly. "Someone has to stay and watch these kids."

"Okay." Inuyasha was agreeable. He turned away from her, he didn't want her to see the smile on his face. He was blushing hotly.

"Are you sick, Inuyasha?" A boy of nine asked him.

"No, Ryuu. Why?"

"'cause you're all red and sweaty."

"Oh."

Kagome laughed at him. She had been out of the dating loop so long that she had forgotten that there could be anything sketchy about bathing together. She still wasn't bothered by it. As soon as any girl but Ryuuichi or Ari was done, she would approach Kagome asking to have her hair done.

After a while, every girl had approached her but Keiko.

Keiko had strayed from the group and was sitting on a log at the edge of the village. Kagome approached Keiko. "Don't you want a make-over?"

Keiko shook her head. She had tears flowing freely down her face.

"Why not?"

"Don't be stupid. My hair is too short for you to do anything to. You can hardly even tell I'm a girl."

Kagome sat down beside her and wiped off one of her tears. "That's not true, I knew that you were a girl right off."

"Only because my name is Keiko." she sniffed.

"No, I would have know anyway. You are quite feminine."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You know, I don't have to do your hair. I've got make-up."

"Make-up?" Keiko asked skeptically, not knowing what make-up was.

"Here, I'll show you. Close your eyes." Kagome produced a make up compact and a tube of lipstick from her left pocket.

"Is this a trick?" Keiko was suspicious.

"No." Kagome reassured her as she applied eyeshadow, blush and finally lipstick to Keiko's face.

"What are you doing?"

Kagome didn't answer, instead she said. "You can open your eyes now." Kagome held out her open compact and Keiko gazed into the mirror inside.

"Wow! I look like a doll!" She exclaimed.

"Is that a good thing?" Kagome asked her.

"Definetly!" She said as she marched back towards the rest of the group. Smiling smugly and stuffing her make-up back into her pocket, Kagome followed after her.

"So then, Miroku touched her and Sango hit him with a rock."

"No! We want a good story!"

"I've told you three stories already! I think that's enough!"

"We've heard those before, and they're barely even stories! Tell us a good one or we'll tell our parents what you said about us!" The children argued with Inuyasha.

"Alright... once upon a time, there was a cute little deer named Fuzzy. Kagome shot it in the face and you ate it. The end."

"That's awful! Tell us a real story!"

"You think that story isn't true?" Inuyasha sort of taunted them because they were upset.

"How's it going?" Kagome asked as she plopped down next to Inuyasha inside the hut. He had been trying to get the children to settle into bed, but his stories were pretty unsettling.

"Kagome, help me!" He whispered through gritted teeth. "I don't know any stories."

"Alright, I'll tell the story." She announced with a smile. The children cheered and got themselves more comfortable.

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful little girl named Cinderella. She lived in a house with her father, and they were very happy together. Cinderella used to play in the grass, and ride ponies, and all sorts of fun things. One day, her father took a second wife. This wife had two daughters of her own who were very mean to Cinderella. Soon after they had married, Cinderella's father died and she was very sad. As if things weren't bad enough for poor Cinderella, her new mother began to show her true colors; she was a wicked stepmother. Jealous of Cinderella's beauty, her stepmother kept her inside the house at all time. She grew more and more cruel as Cinderella grew more and more beautiful. She was ashamed of her daughters' ugliness. Eventually, Cinderella became a servant in her own house. Still, she was not bitter and she loved her stepmother and stepsisters even though they treated her cruely.

One day, the prince had decided to hold a grand ball. He was going to choose a wife, and every eligible maiden in the country was invited to attend. When the notice arrived, Cinderella received it first and notified her family. She was thrilled, she couldn't wait to attend. At first, Her wicked stepmother refused to let her go. Then, she decided to let Cinderella get her hopes up. She agreed to let Cinderella go if she could find something appropriate to wear, and she could finish all of her chores. Cinderella was so happy! She decided that she would wear her deceased mother's own gown. On the day of the ball, her stepmother and stepsisters gave her more chores than ever before. They had hoped that she would not finish her chores and would have to miss the ball. They feared that if she went, the prince would choose her over them. After all, she was very beautiful and they were very ugly (inside and out). It was difficult, but Cinderella did prevail. She was able to finish all of her chores and get ready in time to leave for the ball with them. Consumed with jealousy, her stepsisters ripped her gown to shreads while she was still wearing it. Her stepmother told her that she could not go to the ball after all, and faked grief as she headed out the door. Cinderella could hear them laughing as their carriage zoomed out of sight. Cinderella sat down in the garden and wept."

Sango and Miroku walked into the hut.

"Hi, we're home!" Miroku announced.

"Shh! Let her finish the story!" Keiko told them.

Miroku and Sango looked at each other and Sango shrugged. They sat down and listened too.

Kagome chuckled and continued. "Seeing her tears, Cinderella's faerie godmother came to help her. She magically gave her a stunning gown with beautiful glass slippers. She made a pumpkin from the garden into a shining carriage, and she made some rats into fine, white horses for the carriage, and she made a horse into a coachman for her. Her faerie godmother told her to hurry off, because at exactly midnight the spell would wear off, and everything would return to what it was. After thanking her, she sped off to the ball. At the ball, the prince saw her and fell in love. He danced with her all night. She was so happy dancing with him that she did not notice how quickly the hours were passing. Suddenly she heard the clock strike midnight. Alarmed, she ran off. The prince chased after her, because he wanted to meet with her again, but he had not even learned her name. Sadly, she got away. She ran so fast that one of her glass slippers came off and remained on the step. As she was going home, she could see the spell wearing off. Her carriage turned back into a pumpkin and she had to walk part of the way home. The next day, the prince went on a massive search for the girl that he had fallen in love with. His only clue was the glass slipper. He went to every household in the land and tried the slipper on every girl that he found. Finally, he arrived at Cinderella's home. He tried it on her stepmother and her stepsisters but it did not fit. Right as he was about to try it on Cinderella, her wicked stepmother 'accidently' broke the slipper. The prince was outraged and dismayed, but Cinderella was able to comfort him by showing him that she had the other slipper. The prince recognized her, and he took her as his wife. Then, of course, they lived happily ever after. The End."

"Very good, Kagome!" Sango clapped.

"I see that you and Inuyasha did a very good job babysitting." Miroku congratulated them.

"Hey Keiko, what's that on your face?" Sango asked.

"Gotta go, bye!" Kagome declared while running out of the hut.

"Me too, bye!" Inuyasha followed.