"Hey, Inuyasha! Hello, Inukasumi!" Shippo said, "Welcome back, you guys!"
"We haven't been gone for that long." Inuyasha muttered.
"You have been gone nearly all day." Miroku said, "What were you two doing?"
"Oh, you know… Catching up on things." Inukasumi twirled a lock of her hair nervously.
Mirokus eyebrows went up and down suggestively.
Inuyasha hit him over the head. "She's my SISTER, you sick bastard!"
"How are you, Inukasumi?" Kagome asked sweetly.
"Ok, I guess."
"You know, we have been in the village for quite some time." Sango said, "We should probably get going soon."
"Going where?" asked Inukasumi.
"To kill Naraku, find the remaining shards of the shikon jewel, et cetera et cetera." Inuyasha told her.
"You may join us, Inukasumi." Miroku said, "With you on our side we are sure to make a great deal of progress."
"Really?"
"Of course!" Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "You are without a doubt coming with us."
"Yaay!" Shippo sang, "Inukasumi's coming with us! Inukasumi's coming with us!"
Kagome smiled. She was glad that Inuyasha finally had a member of the family who was both alive and kind to him. She couldn't help feeling a little sad, though. Ever since she came along, Inuyasha hadn't been paying much attention to her. It was probably going to take a while for them to catch up…
"Hey, Kagome!" Inukasumi interrupted her thoughts for a moment, "do you like my brother?"
Kagome laughed nervously. "Aheheh! What are you talking about! Of course… you know, uh, what are you talking about?"
Inukasumi pulled Kagome in whispering distance. "You know what I mean."
Kagome blushed. How was she going to get out of this one? "Um," she stammered, "You see… I guess so." She grinned timidly.
"Oh! Well, that's great. So do I!"
"What!" Kagome shrieked, "Do you know how wrong that is!"
"Why is it wrong to like my brother?" Inukasumi frowned, "It would be mean to not like him! What's wrong with that?"
So that's what she means, thought Kagome, she likes him as a brother. She must have meant if I liked him in that way, too. Idiot! Why did I get so worked up over that? How embarrassing!
"I was just wondering because my brother is a half demon, and I know a lot of people are prejudice towards that. I bet it means the world to him that you are his friend."
"He was picked on when you knew him, huh?" Kagome asked, smiling.
"Like you wouldn't believe." Inukasumi said with a sad expression, "But he never cried. He was always really strong, but I could tell he was hurting inside. All this time I thought about him, 'is he ok? Is he fine without me?' I was kind of his only friend in the world."
Kagomes heart ached for poor Inuyasha. "That is so sad." She said, "He never talks about his past."
"I wouldn't either, after what he went through."
"But, you know, Inuyasha has a lot of friends now." Kagome smiled, "In fact, there's me, and Miroku, and Shippo, and Kaede and Sango and--"
"Sango?" Inukasumi cocked her head, "Who is she again? The one the unholy monk always grabs?"
"Yep, that's her."
"I don't think she likes me much."
"She'll warm up to you soon. It takes a while for her to trust people. She attacked your brother first time she saw him." Kagome said reassuringly.
"What are you two talking about?" Inuyasha asked, looming over the girls menacingly.
"Why, you, big brother!" Inukasumi beamed in loving adoration.
"Me?" Inuyasha glared, "What about me?"
"About how much everyone loves you." Inukasumi said happily. She wrapped her arms around Inuyasha and spun him around in circles.
"Hey, cut it out!" he yelled, blushing ravenously, "I came over here to tell you we're about to leave you behind!"
"Yeah, hurry up!" Shippo called out, about fifty feet ahead of them.
"Oh, no!" Inukasumi cried, "Please don't leave us behind! Oniichan! Kagome! Hurry, run! They're going to go without us!" She grabbed both Kagomes and her brothers' arms and took off running.
"Don't leave us!"
"Jeez, sis, they won't really leave us." Inuyasha winced from the pain of his younger sisters' grip.
We're going to have to work on how she takes everything so literally, Kagome thought.