My heart breaks each time I try to fight reality
But somewhere deep inside a hero grows within me
Monday.
The weekend passes without anything interesting happening, and now it was Monday.
A Monday afternoon for me to pick away at my paper and stare out the window, waiting for the time when I'd have to trudge off to class. Trudge across the courtyard and face the statues, which only days before, had become living breathing legends. My great-grandparents.
The sun outside was teasing me, the early spring breezes blowing through my open window calling me outside, and yet reminding me that I hadn't gotten past the first paragraph. I didn't even have a thesis. Hell, I didn't even know what Professor Tezuka… Shippo… wanted from my paper anymore!
The wind also served to remind me of my own dull life. I'd spent the weekend reading about the Shikon no Tama and wallowing in self-pity about how drab I was compared to my famous ancestors. And everyone else around me.
Damn. 10 till 12. Time for class. I sighed, minimized the window I was working in, and headed out, a little cloud of doom hanging over me in defiance of the sunny day.
When I returned, my paper was still there, glaring at me like some angry challenge. It wanted me to feel like crap. I glared back at it, ready to beat it, but instead flopped into my chair with a sigh. I was being ridiculous. I decided to check my email instead.
To my surprise (and chagrin) there was a note from Professor Shippo. He informed me that my great-grandparents would again be taking up residence in modern-day Tokyo, sometime soon. He also wanted to know how the paper was coming, and had a few suggestions.
Higurashi-
So you know, Kagome and Inuyasha are going to return to this era. They say it's time to disappear again from where they've been living, so they're coming here. They still want to talk to you, so when they finish the transition, I'll let you know.
How's the paper, by the way? I'm sure you know it's due next Tuesday, so I'll let you keep working on it. Some ideas you may want to consider: what was the full story, and why was it trimmed down? Who were some of the minor characters? And why did the Shikon no Tama play such an important role in history?
Well, I'll see you in class tomorrow
-Tezuka
Fan-freaking-tastic. Another thing to make me feel miserable. Dammit, this was my life! Why were Japan's Greatest Heroes taking it over?
A screen popped up on my IM bar. Kotoko was trying to get me.
-You get any research done this week for Tezuka's class?
-Understatement of the century. Really.
- … huh?
-It's a really long story. I don't exactly feel like talking about it. Reader's Digest version: I'm supposedly descended from Inuyasha and Kagome.
-Hey, me too! I mean, not the Inuyasha and Kagome part, but my family has a tie to The Bamboo Cutter's Tale! Apparently, the hagoromo of Kaguya-hime fell into the protection of the Houjou family. My ancestor Houjou Akitoki was the one who finally destroyed it.
-Good for you. That's neat.
-There's also a mention of Kagome and the Shikon no Tama, but it's not terribly important.
-So what's going on right now?
I closed the window. Kotoko was a sweet girl, but she could be a bit too happy, and her happiness was ruining my bad mood.
What Kotoko had just told me made sense, though. If Tezuka knew enough to give me the Shikon no Tama story, and there was some link to Kaguya-hime with that story, then he must've know about (or just plain known) Akitoki Hojo. Scary.
It then dawned on me that this Kouga character I had met yesterday wasn't in the stories at all. Maybe a report on him wouldn't be too bad. That was certainly digging deeper, that was for sure. And Kouga himself was readily accessible, as history professor Takeshi Ohyama. When were his office hours anyway?
A sharp knock on my door startled me, and I hurried over to answer it. It was Kagome.
"Hey, Izayoi-chan!" She smiled warmly. "You ran off yesterday before I could talk to you anymore. May I come in?"
Well, she sure was forward. I moved aside, and kicked my dirty clothes on the floor under my bed. I gestured that she sit down in the desk chair, and I sat on the bed.
"I just wanted to ask you about your… our family. How are they? What're they doing? How old are you?"
I thought about my grandparents, and my two great-aunts. Which ones were descended from the two? I honestly didn't know. But it didn't matter.
"All of my grandparent's generation: Grandma and Grandpa on both mom and dad's sides, and Auntie Kaede and Auntie Mizuki… all of them are dead. They died before I was four."
"Oh," came her soft reply. Her face was sad. She sniffed a bit, then tried to smile. "It's weird, huh, out-living your kids…" she trailed off, and stared out the window.
"You knew this would happen, Kagome," Inuyasha's voice growled softly at my door. We turned to see him, a black Hanshin Tigers cap hiding his ears. "The kids were all more or less human, without enough youki to extend their lives. It's natural."
"I know, I just…" she sighed again. I remembered something my mom had said at a friend's funeral. The woman's mother had been present, and was wailing in grief.
"A mother shouldn't have to see her children die."
There was an awkward, sad silence.
"Well," said Inuyasha, nodding towards the hall, "we promised Shippo we'd have lunch with him to talk about jobs. Apparently there are a lot of positions he can get us."
"Right," Kagome replied, standing as well. "It was nice talking to you, Izayoi. Have lunch with me tomorrow?"
I nodded. Lunch, even if I felt inferior, would be nice.
When the door closed behind her, I sunk down on my bed and cried, feeling completely at a loss.