Lady Chango: (watching a Fat Joe video) (gasps when she sees Joe wearing a blue chinchilla coat) How many innocent animals had to die to make that one coat? (cries)

I don't own Inu Yasha. Or a fur coat. No fur!

Geisha Dreams

Kagome had not remembered much of her father. What she did remember was that he was a solemn man, and perpetually in the bed, barely breathing, let alone moving. If she had known what death was, that was the way she'd have described her father's tiredness.

Her mother was dead. Kagome knew this because after a certain point in her childhood, the comfort she felt was gone. A bitter woman half her father's age replaced the comfort with aloof nonchalance. She'd become a lonely girl at that point.

One day, though, her father was able to get out of bed, and Kagome saw that he'd slept off every healthy pound on his body, and looked like nothing more than a frail old man.

"Come," he said to his only child, without a hint of warmth. He'd probably forgot how to be fatherly during that long nap. Kagome hopped behind him, happy she might have someone besides her cranky step mother to talk to.

He led her to the village cemetery, and stopped in front of two graves. One read Higurashi Sakura, and the other read Higurashi Souta. They had the same family name as her father, she noticed.

"This was your mother, and this was your brother," he said, indicating the grave markers. "She died while giving birth to him."

A feeling of dread washed over Kagome. He hadn't shown her this for no reason.

"Kagome, I will not be on this earth much longer..."

The tears were beginning to fall.

"And Nakaru will not care for you."

Her head began to spin.

"And so..."

She heard no more of what he said, but she knew it wasn't good. Her world became dark as she dropped to her knees. Kagome wished she could die at that moment, because her life was over as far as she was concerned.

It was a rainy day her father died. Nakura looked at her with even more disdain. Only hours after her father died, a man in a carriage came for her. He was ugly, warty and green. She realized that he was a frog demon.

"Come on!" he croaked.

When she didn't get on immediately, Nakura grabbed her and tossed her in the back, with a bag of the few things she possessed. She went back into the house, not even sparing the girl a glance as the carriage rolled off. It was just as well, Kagome never had liked the woman. She felt comforted in the fact that she would never see the hag again.

But now she turned her attention to the long dirt road to the city. It winded through forests and other villages until it reached their destination. Almost like her life.

The city was busy and full of color and excitement, unlike Kagome's little village. They stopped in front of a quaint, clean little building.

The frog knocked on the door, and was promptly sandwiched between the door and the outermost wall when someone opened the door. It was a young girl about Kagome's age, with brown hair and hazel eyes. An old woman, so old she was bent double, came in behind her.

"So, this be the new girl, Jaken?" the woman asked, a question probably meant for the frog. "Jaken, ye must learn to stay clear of the door," she said, shaking her head.

Jaken glared at the old woman, and mumbled, "Aye, that she is, Kaede."

"Ah, she is a pretty one." Kaede grabbed Kagome's chin with a hand as gnarled and wrinkled as a tree, and looked into her cerulean blue eyes. "And beautiful eyes. I practically kidnaped you!" She cackled to herself, and Kagome fancied she looked a bit like a witch.

Releasing her chin, Kaede hobbled back into the house. Figuring she was to follow, Kagome grabbed her rucksack and went after her. The old woman was trailed by the scent of tobacco and incense.

"Sango! Clean Kikyo's room while she's gone."

The girl scampered off to what Kagome supposed was Kikyo's room. Peeking inside, she saw how the floor was covered with beer bottles and cigarette butts. She walked the rest of the length of the hallway into Kaede's room and found the woman lighting a long pipe. The thick smoke quickly made the room foggy, and Kagome's blue eyes began to water.

Kaede wasn't bothered by the smell. She tapped the pipe and stuck it in her mouth. "Ye seem like a smart girl, so I will only give ye a few rules and have ye draw thy own conclusions from what I tell ye." She blew another puff of smoke from her lips. "Kikyo is our best geisha. She pays for every luxury you receive here."

As far as Kagome could see, she concluded that there weren't many 'luxuries.'

"Since she is our best, ye should be keen to stay out of her way. Do thy best not to anger her, or else she will do her best to make ye life here hellish." Putting the pipe out, she began to refresh it with new tobacco. "You shall follow the rules, and, in good time, become a geisha. You may want to escape..." - here she fixed her beady eyes on her - "...but know that the worst geisha in Gion will be more content than you on the street. It is in ye best interest to stay put. Maybe ye will do better than Kikyo one day. Then again, maybe ye won't."

This was rather ominous in Kagome's mind, and her common sense agreed that is was indeed in her best interest to do as Kaede said. For three weeks she was like an obedient dog, answering to Kaede's every beck and call, satisfying her whims, and finishing her chores.

In her fourth week, Kagome was allowed to go to school.