A/N: Um. School, internship, and community service leave little room for sleep and writing. And oh, I've been working on a few new projects, mainly a new one-shot and story. (Tentatively called Psychotic. Don't you just love the title?) Please don't leave me!

Disclaimer: Inuyasha will not be mine. Ever.


Chapter 13: Second Base

Nghi


The wind was blowing to the east, the trees shaking a little. The house loomed overhead, casting a dark shadow across the black driveway. The old minivan was parked so very near the red, chipped porch, which was connected to the chipped, white door.

For what it was worth, Kagome had never met such an intimidating house in her life.

She took her time crawling back up the hill, her hands dirtied from the smeared soil and her kneecaps still stinging from the ground. Her hair blew about her wildly, and she wasn't too keen about her smell. But it didn't matter—none of it mattered at all, not the cuts on her legs or the ache in her ribcage or the dry cracks in her lips. Physical pain was nothing compared to the feeling welling in the pit of her stomach, which could only be best described as cold, plain dread.

"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"

Her mother was probably God knows where by now. Or maybe Kagome really did know where the woman was—lying in her bed with a box of tissues and crying herself away.

"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"

Her breath came out in short staccatos, her mouth set in a grim line, and her eyes focusing on the prize: the back door. She would enter through the kitchen resolutely and march upstairs to wherever her mother was sprawled, and-and—

"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"

What would she do? Kagome's pace faltered a bit as the house closed the distance between them rapidly. Meeting her mother face-to-face was one thing, but… talking? As in sitting down and having a woman-to-woman oral contact? As in shedding light on one another's feelings? As in hashing out the past few days' events?

"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"

The house was there now, and she stood in front of the door. All she had to do was lift her hand and grab the doorknob. It was a simple, two-second thing that even a three year old could do, but she found herself frozen midway, her hands outstretched for the handle.

"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"

Kagome was afraid again. It was just like before her breakdown, where she felt the heavy pressure and confusion wrapping itself around her ribcage and throat and squeezing too hard. The air was gone from her lungs and her legs were suddenly cold and numb. She felt she had come so far from the baseball field, leaving Inuyasha to himself and his baseballs as she collected herself along the way, and now she was dashed to pieces, her confidence blown apart all because of cold feet.

"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"

She took in a deep, shaky breath and closed her eyes. "Breathe," she said to no one in particular. "You can do this." If she could endure her father's death so many years ago, if she could deal with the grief of a lost pet, then she could do anything. She hadn't gained tough skin for nothing; she had earned it, that resilient nature of hers to bounce back. This shouldn't be any different.

"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"

Her hand reached up for the doorknob again, and she was just about to touch the cool metal when the door flew open by itself—

And there stood Souta, his school shirt halfway buttoned. "Oh, thank God you're here."

"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"

Her eyebrows furrowed, and her mouth opened to ask, but nothing flew out. "Well, what are you doing standing there? Get in already." Before Kagome could say anything, Souta had reached over and pulled her into the kitchen. She stood there in a slight comatose state as he turned around again. "Jeez, you have to—crap, you look like a mess." He had interrupted himself after taking a good look at her fashion statement. "What happened to you?"

"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"

Somehow, Kagome found her voice this time. "I—it doesn't matter." She ignored his apathetic shrug, but still tucked a knotted strand of hair behind her ear. "Anyways, what happened?"

Souta frowned, visibly sobering. "Something's wrong with Mom."

"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"

Her mouth dropped open, and for a moment a million different scenarios ran through her head, each of them different but equally horrible. Did she fall down and hurt herself? Did Ayumi have another asthma attack after she ran out of the house? Did she trip over the bathroom rug and hit her head against the edge of the bathtub? Did she stumble over her own feet and fall down the stairs?

In that moment so many 'Did-she's ran through Kagome's mind, and she swiveled immediately on her feet, intent on racing up the stairs and bursting through her mother's bedroom to see if she was all right and not hurt at all. "Oh God, what if—?"

"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"

"Wait!" Souta called, grabbing her sleeves. "Don't go up there!"

"Let go of me!" Kagome snapped, shaking her right arm to throw him off. "Why are you getting dressed for school at a time like this? Did you even bother to call the hospital before you decided to find some cereal? Jeez, you're so—"

"Calm down!" he retorted back, still hanging onto her elbow like a rag doll.

"How can I calm down when Mom might be hurt? Don't you care about her?"

"Of course I do!" he yelled hotly, his eyes smoldering. "But I'm not the one going bonkers over a small case of crying, am I?"

"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"

Her arm stopped flailing and fell towards her side with a small thump as she shifted away from the doorframe. "…What?"

Souta released her arm and stepped back, his mouth pursed and his eyes not quite meeting hers. "Something's wrong with Mom," he repeated again. "But it's not what you think it is. It's a different thing."

He didn't get to say anything else as a muffled sob echoed from upstairs, and then coughing. It died down some time later, and Souta looked up at her with such a pitiable expression. "She's been like this all morning, ever since I found her crumpled on the living room floor," he said sadly.

"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"

A wave of guilt tumbled down on her, for dragging Souta into this mess unknowingly. He didn't deserve to be pulled into the middle of this rift—he didn't deserve to experience any of this, and he shouldn't, either. Kagome thought of him coaxing his mother to move into the bedroom, helping her get into bed. And then she thought of him standing here helplessly as their mother curled into her pillow and told him through hiccups to get ready for school.

He didn't deserve any of it.

"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"

"What are we going to do?" Souta asked, peering up at his sister anxiously. "I mean, we can't just leave her here…."

"I'm going to fix this, and you are going to go to school, just as planned," she answered resolutely.

"But I just can't—"

"Oh, yes you can, and you will. Unless you want Mom to find out about last semester's grades, that is."

Souta frowned. "I don't want to leave you here all by yourself. She's my mom, too, you know."

"I didn't say she wasn't. But I have to fix it myself—I know I can do it." She saw he opened his mouth to protest. "I'm the only one that can."

"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"

He looked up at her, and she responded with a firm stare. After a moment, he let his eyes slide back down again. "Fine. But I don't have time to eat breakfast, since I'm late already." He pulled on a pair of sneakers and grabbed his bag by the doorway. "Good luck, Kagome."

The door shut with a soft click, and she still stood there. She could see his fuzzy form through the curtained window, and too soon enough, he was out of sight. Then all that was left was the crying, echoing throughout the hush of the house.

She took a deep breath and stepped towards the staircase.

"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"

-

He was slouching on the bench again.

Granted, if Kaoru found him sitting like this, she'd be on his back faster than a squirrel on a nut. Then she'd tell him how improper it was for a young man to sit like that. Well, that was how the usual case was, anyways, before all the fighting started happening.

Now, he was just lucky if she told him to change his underwear. (Which he does without much prompting.)

I guess it can't be helped that she's too busy preoccupied with Dad's frequent business trips, he thought unconcernedly. On one hand, dearest Daddy barely stays home for more than two or three days at a time, what with all the meetings and frequent arrangements with top scouts and everything. But on the other hand, he saw the potential in his son, and he knew that little Inuyasha could make it… with the right connections. So all that traveling and mingling with people would pay off one day, because a big league scout might just appear any day now at one of the games.

With such conflicting sides, he preferred to stay out of it completely. The argument could swing in either's favor, and if he so much as butted his head in one of the fights, there was no doubt that his folks would immediately make him choose sides. "Who do you think is right?" they would incessantly demand, and Inuyasha just could not handle that right now, not when there are scouts on the loose.

What, risk my game because I'm having a little bit of family trouble? He scoffed. That's pathetic. If I'm gonna fail at life, it'd damn well better be a better reason than that.

There was a quiet shuffling behind him, and Inuyasha cracked open one eye. He hoped to God it was a passerby, and that he or she would just be meeting for some friends and that it was not who he thinks it was.

Miroku's head popped into view, hovering a pleasant five inches above him. "Hello, dear friend!" he exclaimed placidly with a cheerful wave.

"Fuck—not so close!" Inuyasha all but shoved the captain aside and scrambled towards the far end of the bench, looking very red and very displeased.

"Is there something wrong?" Miroku tilted his head with an air of innocence, and it was all Inuyasha could do to not gag at such a pure sight.

"Hell yeah, there's something wrong. Haven't you heard of personal space?" he spat, glaring at the man.

"Was I… touching you?"

"No, but you definitely disrespected my personal bubble."

Miroku laughed, settling himself onto the bench. "Inuyasha, if I ever respect your wishes, I would never be within a five foot radius of you."

…Well, that was certainly true, wasn't it? He wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, as the captain was quite capable of being witty and smart and all that other crap, so Inuyasha settled for a glare. It was an effective trick and often racked up enough merit to scare away any potential visitors. "Didn't I tell you to talk to me whenever it's urgent?"

"Well, yes, and it is rather urgent, actually." Miroku sat up a little straighter, looking very formal—something he had never seen before.

"Yeah?" Inuyasha unconsciously sat up a little straighter, too. "What happened?" Shit, this was something serious…! From the way the captain was sitting a little too stiffly for comfort, and the way his hands were curled in his laps, and how his eyes looked straight ahead into the horizon and not establishing the normal eye contact….

If it was serious enough to earn Miroku's sobriety, then it was probably serious enough to earn anyone's attention.

"Well…"

Inuyasha leaned forward slightly, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

"Kawaguchi is having a party Friday night, and he wants to know if you're coming. It's guests-only, you know," Miroku added cheerfully.

The hell?

"That's the important news?" Boy, if looks could kill, Miroku would be a shish kabob broiling by now. "You came all this way to bother me about something like that?"

The captain looked a little hurt. "Well, it certainly isn't bothering. If you're not a guest, then you can't really come, now can you?"

He took in a deep breath, not because it was a sunny and beautiful day, but because he was trying so hard to not snap and wring that boy's neck. "I think we've gone over this conversation at least a hundred times now."

"That you're not a people person?"

"Right."

"And you hate being in crowds?"

"Right."

"And that if you had a choice, you would rather spend a whole week living with that neighbor of yours rather than socialize with people?"

"No."

"Good! Then it's settled!" Miroku stood up and dusted his hands off his pants, as if he had just completely a particularly tiring task. "We'll see you on Friday night, then!"

"Wha-? Waitaminnit!" Inuyasha jerked from his seat. What had transpired a few moments ago? What was going on? When did this—?

It was too late to call back the captain, as he was already jogging out of the field already. Inuyasha glared at his back just for good measure before settling back onto the bench again. This time he wasn't so nonchalant and cool; he was boiling angry. How dare the stupid idiot think he can just command him to appear at some dumb party?

Hell no I ain't going, he thought decidedly with a smirk. Fuckin' bastard's gonna have to drag me kickin' and screamin', and that's that.

-