Author's Note- Umm… wow. I haven't updated this fic in over a year. Not kidding. But it is one of my favorite stories, so I don't really know why. Anyway, I'm updating it now. I have a slightly revised version of some of the earlier chapters I'll be posting within the next few days. Mostly it's just a bit of minor tweaking here and there. Paragraph breaking, fixing some redundant dialogue, grammar fixes, etc. But this fic will be updated from now on!

Revised- 8/12/06

The Beginning of Tomorrow

Chapter Eight

Changed for Good

By Kelly O'Connor

"Jiichan says this shrine has been around in various forms for over five hundred years," Kagome brushed her hands along the edges of her skirt. "But I guess you would know that," she let out a sheepish laugh.

InuYasha didn't reply, instead his eyes wandered across the shrine grounds. The old shrine house appeared nearly identical, but the rest of the sacred area had been completely rebuilt from what he remembered.

He'd never been into the shrine, not until the day he snatched the shikon no tama from its resting place.

InuYasha had not once considered the idea of setting foot upon that holy ground.

"It didn't become the Higurashi's Dusk shrine until about one hundred and seventy years ago," Kagome explained, "To be honest… I'm not sure who owned it before then."

Scuffing his barefoot along the stone-paved ground, InuYasha made a noise in the back of his throat. "You've always lived here?"

"Eh?" she replied, taken aback by his sudden curiosity. "Actually I just moved here a few years ago. Mama, Souta and I moved in with Jiichan when my Father passed away..."

"Oh…"

Raising her face to catch the late afternoon sunlight, Kagome shook her head. "Don't worry about it. It was a long time ago."

Amber eyes averting their gaze another direction, InuYasha changed the subject.

"What's that?"

"Oh?" Kagome noted where his stare was headed. "Ah that's the old well-house. Neh InuYasha how about we…"

"Inu-no-niichan!" A boyish voice interrupted. The sound of a soccer ball bouncing and tennis-shoe clad footsteps followed and Souta made his way over to the teenage pair.

"Souta!" His elder sister acknowledged sharply.

Picking up the soccer ball from the ground, the boy glanced to the Hanyou.

"Bah, what do you want?" InuYasha grumbled, voice callous.

Souta blinked, unfazed. "You wanna play?" He held out the ball.

Crossing his arms, the older boy 'keh-ed.'

"I'm not a brat anymore," he snapped.

Kagome smacked her hand against her forehead.

Eyes meeting the ground, Souta sighed in disappointment. "You don't have to be a kid to play soccer, Inu-no-niichan."

The Hanyou didn't bother to question what 'soccer' was, but turned away from the boy. "Oi, I said no."

Clutching the soccer ball to his chest in defeat, Souta frowned. "All right Inu-no-niichan, but… I would really love to play with you sometime."

Giving him one last final look, the elementary aged boy ran off towards the house.

Kagome shot InuYasha an irritated glare. "I don't expect you to be the nicest guy in the world InuYasha, and I'm even willing to let you be a bit of a jerk considering your circumstances but…" Reaching forward, she grabbed one of the two side-locks that hung in front of his shoulder, eliciting a groan of pain from the Hanyou. "But can you be just a bit friendlier?" She quipped. "For some oddball reason, my brother seems to have grown really fond of you, so even if you don't want to play with him, it wouldn't hurt to at least be a little nicer would it?"

Eyes wide, InuYasha pulled away from the surprisingly strong girl's grip. "All I did was tell him I didn't want to play ball with him!"

"InuYasha…" Kagome gritted out.

"I'm not a kid! Why would I play with him?" He reasoned.

Hands firm upon her hips, Kagome's eyebrows narrowed.

"You're acting a lot more childish than most kids do."

"Keh!"

"Look InuYasha, I'm not saying you have to play with him but," Kagome paused in exasperation, "you didn't have to be so rude about it! Just tell him you're not up to it, don't insult him."

"I ain't gonna go out of my way to be nice to everyone," InuYasha retorted.

Grabbing his fist, she wrenched her hand around it tightly. "I don't see what your problem is. You complain about everyone rejecting you, that your brother hates you and a bunch of other things," she bit her lip, "but when you have a group of people treating you with complete kindness, and a boy who wants to be a good brother… you just shove it away!"

Yeah, what is my problem? Lowering his voice, the Hanyou cleared his throat. "…You just want me to be a little nicer?"

Loosening her grip on his wrist, Kagome nodded. "I know you're a good person InuYasha, try as you may to pretend otherwise."

Eyes widening, InuYasha's face took on an expression that Kagome had difficulty pinpointing. Surprised… but I'd almost say touched…

Attempting to find something fascinating by staring at the ground, InuYasha spoke up timidly. "You… really believe that?"

Flashing him a bright smile, she shrugged. "Of course I do. You think I'd let you stay here if I didn't trust you?"

Observing her smile, a sound escaped InuYasha's lips. "Kagome…" he replied simply after several moments.

"Yes?" The schoolgirl answered, somewhat surprised at his usage of her name again.

The silver-haired teenager shook his head. "Nothing."

"All right," Kagome agreed, not pressing it further.

Glancing around to his surroundings- the shrine he never felt he could set foot in, the tree he'd spent an eternity sealed upon, the city that intimidated him more than any youkai, the house that was to be his home, and the girl that had made it all happen; InuYasha felt the smallest of smiles cross his lips. It flickered away in an instant, but a thought remained.

Kagome… why do you make me want to show you that you're right about me?

Kagura understood why Sesshoumaru had so few friends and companions, despite being around for over five-hundred years. It wasn't because he was cold, or intimidating, or shunned all contact with other youkai.

It was because he could be irrefutably the most boring person they'd ever come in contact with.

Nevertheless, after hundreds of years sharing a home with him, Kagura never left. His lack of liveliness was a bit of an inherent irritation, but it rarely got under her skin too much.

The two youkai that were leaving the house at current felt otherwise about the inuyoukai. Having procured a meeting with him regarding a trade, they found themselves wanting to leave not much sooner than they came.

Kagura shook her head as she ushered the pair outside. At least this way… he gets his business deals finished quicker than most. Come in, get bored, sign it, and leave.

Once they'd left the premises, the wind youkai made her way to Sesshoumaru's office and let herself in the door. "Yo," she greeted and sat down across from him on a leather couch.

"You didn't knock," Sesshoumaru replied as he glanced up from a piece of mail. Kagura rolled her eyes. "I'm finished for today," he continued, "Tell me about InuYasha."

Toying with the fabric of her skirt in absence of the fan she'd once carried, the crimson-eyed woman shrugged. "He looks nothing like you…"

"I know what he looks like," Sesshoumaru interrupted.

"Yeah, right. Anyway, he was still in sengoku jidai clothing. He was arguing with the girl he's staying with," Kagura reflected. "No offense, but he seemed like a bit of an ass."

"None taken. I have no doubt he is quite the obstinate brat."

"Hmph," Kagura laughed dryly, "The girl is fearless. She approached me as if I were just a normal human. Or maybe she's just stupid… I'm not sure."

"Higurashi Kagome. Correct?" The silver-haired man inferred.

"Yeah, that's the name she gave me." She leaned back further on the couch, crossing her legs.

"She is not unintelligent."

"All right," the youkai woman didn't question further, "Well I will say that if the two of them aren't romantically involved already, they will be soon."

Straightening a pile of papers, Sesshoumaru nodded. "That would be fitting for him."

"Hey," Kagura's eyebrows furrowed and she bit her lip, "Do you hate that guy? InuYasha?"

The inuyoukai gave pause and removed his hands from the paper stack. "In five hundred years a lot changes."

"Oh yeah, tell me about it…"

Standing up, Sesshoumaru slipped open the blinds and glanced outside. "It's hard to hate someone you haven't seen in such a time."

Kagura stood up as well, walking to the window and positioning herself beside him. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she gave him a half-smile. "Everything's changed, so your feelings might as well."

Reaching up, he placed his hand upon that of his companion's. "We'll just have to see."

As the two of them watched, outside, the lights of nighttime modern Tokyo had begun to make their appearance.

The Higurashi dinner table was an experience in and of itself for InuYasha. His first dinner with the family consisted of Oden, which was supposedly Kagome's favorite meal.

Once sunset had begun to creep upon the shrine, Kagome and InuYasha had come inside for the evening. Dinner awaited both of them, and homework awaited Kagome.

The Hanyou had never eaten dinner with a group, or any meal for that matter. Except for his mother, he'd never dined with anyone. The chopsticks he'd been handed he was plenty capable of using, but years of solitude left him a bit rusty on how to use them politely. Thus he ate slowly, very slowly. He figured within time he'd be able to speed up without looking sloppy, but that time wasn't now.

"Oh my InuYasha, are you not hungry?" Mrs. Higurashi inquired mid-meal, confused by his unhurried eating. "You don't have to eat if you're full."

Shaking his head, the boy swallowed a mouthful. "I'm fine… not full yet."

"Very well then…"

Once every few minutes, Jiichan would cast a wary glare in InuYasha's direction. If one of the other family members' caught it, they'd give him one in return. Eventually the elderly man stopped.

"Neh InuYasha," Kagome spoke up, "would you pass me that plate?"

A bit startled by the request, the teenager did so. The Higurashi family wasted no time in incorporating the unfamiliar boy into their nightly ritual. Yet another bizarre action for InuYasha to grow accustomed to.

Once the meal was over, Kagome invited InuYasha to accompany her to her bedroom. He agreed, still not sure why she was seeking out his company.

"You were good during dinner tonight," she complimented once they were in her room. She sat at her desk, geometry book cracked open. InuYasha had made a spot on her bed.

"Good?" He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Right," Kagome laughed lightly, "I mean you were really nice and friendly."

"Oi, I didn't even say anything," the Hanyou reasoned.

The teenage girl shrugged and tapped her pencil on the desk. "It's all right. You don't have to be talkative. Just do what you're comfortable with."

InuYasha feigned irritation, "Bah, I'll do what I want."

Kagome just nodded, going back to her schoolwork.

Aside from the shifting of InuYasha on the bed and the scribbling of Kagome's pencil, the room remained silent for several minutes.

"Neh…" The schoolgirl turned around, uneasy from the silence.

"Huh?"

"You don't have to answer this if you don't want but…" Kagome sighed and closed her eyes, nervous about continuing, "Why do you insist in spending so much time in the Goshinboku?"

"Keh! I told you I always sleep outside," InuYasha countered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Shaking her head in the negative, she clarified. "I mean why do you insist on that tree. Why would you want to spend time on something that's full of painful memories?"

The boy looked taken aback, not having considered that. The tree just seemed… natural.

"When you're in those branches… doesn't it cause you to think about what happened?" Kagome inquired of him.

Looking down, InuYasha whispered. "I don't know…"

The young woman smiled encouragingly, "InuYasha, whatever happened in the past is not an issue anymore. It's all gone. Try your hardest to forget about it, not go out of your way to remember it."

Golden eyes narrowed and he growled. "You think I can just forget about it?!"

Standing up, Kagome walked over and sat down next to him on the bed. "I think that you have to at least try!" She sent a stern glare in his direction.

"Bah, sleeping in the damn tree isn't going to make it worse!" He retorted lamely.

"You have a fresh start InuYasha… a second chance," she spoke softly, "Most people wouldn't get something like this, don't you think? You're privileged in a way."

"Shit woman, you have no idea what you're talking about!" The Hanyou snarled.

Stomping her foot, Kagome darted up. "Can't you just take it into consideration?"

"Keh!" Came was his only reply. Giving up and going back to her homework, the schoolgirl wondered if his words had even had the mildest of effect on the boy.

However, that night when InuYasha went out to find the perfect branch to sleep in, it wasn't the Goshinboku he leapt up into.

It was another tree, and Kagome was content to note that this one was also much closer to the house.