A special thank you to…

Miko no Kaze

alchemistgrl09

Aria-wolfstar

katcastle

Al

elvira-inu-gurl

Disclaimer: I un claim.

The Stamp Of Gold

Meet The Kids

By Pwalefriend

G

The sunlight slowly trickled into the room and played slowly across her face, making little designs throughout the room as it shone through the tree leaves and the mottled window glass. Kagome blinked a couple times and then yawned loudly. She stretched like a cat and tried to sit up when she noticed a strange heavy weight on her chest. Looking down Kagome saw an abnormally fat cat sitting on her.

"…hello there." Kagome said to it. Unlike most ignorant humans Kagome did not believe that humanoids were the only intelligent beings. Well, look at the evidence. Before the humanoids got so "smart" nothing was in danger of extinction and there wasn't any air pollution. Oh yes, humanoids were just doing a bloody brilliant job all right. Heavy on the sarcasm.

But that did not give cats the right to walk all over her. She knew that type.

"You need to get off of me now." Kagome told the kitty. The kitty looked up at her with one eye…and gave her…that…look…

If you have ever told a cat to move then you know exactly the look I'm talking about. That cute, furry look that relays a sense of utter betrayal and hurt, and yet at the same time clearly states that you are a lower being and therefore you do not have the authority to move the Oh So Great And Wonderful And Awesome Being Of Dignity And Poise And Honor And Panache And Humbleness And Cunning And Sophistication And Prowess. That look that leaves you helpless in the face of feline furriness.

But Kagome had one last resource…she had dealt with this type of cat before, and she wouldn't be bested this early in the game.

"SANGO!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. "SANGO! PLEASE SANGO! I NEED YOUR HELP! HELP! HELP! SAN-GOOOOO!"

Suddenly Sango burst into the room with a big broom in one hand and a cast iron skillet in the other.

"What is it!" Sango asked, glancing around the room. "What's wrong!"

"Sango…" Kagome whined from the bed. "Sango…I can't get up!" Sango looked down at her friend and immediately saw the problem.

"What's wrong?" Asked a new voice from behind Sango. A young boy wearing a pair of overalls and a loose plaid shirt stepped into the room.

"Kohaku!" Kagome whined, she was quite familiar with her best friends younger brother, and had greeted him last night. "Kohaku, save me!" Kagome pleaded. Kohaku sighed and went over and without a moments pause scooped the big fat cat off Kagome and dumped the poor defenseless kitty unceremoniously onto the floor. Sango and Kagome both gasped, horrified.

"Kohaku, how could you?" Kagome asked.

"I thought Mama raised you better then that!" Sango said.

"How could you be so cruel to the poor kitty?" Kagome demanded.

"What?" Kohaku asked, then he shook his head. "Never mind, you're both crazy." He turned to Kagome. "The boss says that if you don't shut those damn brats up soon he'll come down here himself and knock some sense into both you and them."

"Hmm?" Kagome asked, but Kohaku had already left the room. Kagome looked to Sango questioningly. The older girl shrugged.

"He's probably gone down to the stables." Sango explained. "He works with the horse-mistress, Kanna. And then whenever we need someone to sign anything about the horses it's always Kohaku who does it, even though Kanna's the one who's really in charge." She and Kagome exchanged an exasperated glance. They both shared the same opinions about the sexism that bound them into their places.

"Ah…" Kagome said. Sango shrugged again.

"But no, Kohaku…" Sango trialed off and looked out the door after her younger brother. "You just can't keep him away from the horses. He loves them so much." Sango looked at Kagome, just a little bit sadly. "Sometimes I think he loves them more then he loves me." She said.

"Sango…" Kagome sat up quickly and stretched her hand out to comfort her old friend. They had renewed their friendship last night, and now the bond between them was as strong as ever. They were like sisters again.

"What are you fair ladies talking about this morning?" Miroku asked, suddenly popping up out of nowhere.

"…"

"…"

"…Miroku?" Sango said in a very sweet voice. Miroku looked a little nervous.

"Yes, oh fairest Sango?" He asked as he began to back up.

"DON'T YOU KNOW BETTER THEN TO WALK INTO A LADIES BEDROOM BEFORE SHE'S PROPER!" Sango screamed as she dropped the broom and lifted the cast iron skillet high above her head.

"AHHH!" Miroku screamed like a girl and then took off down the corridor, Sango chasing after him, screaming different painful things that she was going to do to him once she caught him.

Kagome shook her head and laughed. Getting up she kicked the broom out of her bedroom and into the hallway before closing the door and looking around.

She had been so busy getting settled last night, and with getting reacquainted with Sango and Kohaku that she hadn't had time to really examine her new accommodations. So now she took the opportunity.

It was a simple enough room. Spacey, but not cavernous and small enough to be comfortable. A four-poster bed was next to the window, and there were dark blue curtains that could be pulled but Kagome had chosen not to. The linens on the bed had been lush and soft and quite comfortable, Kagome had been quite pleased. There was a chest at the end of the bed that was filled with fresh sheets should Kagome ever find need for them. There was a dresser on one wall for her to put her clothes and next to the dresser a full-length mirror. On either side of the door was a tall bookshelf, one of which Kagome had already filled about half of with all the books in her carpetbag. She was hoping to save some of her earnings and then when she had enough she could ask for a publishers list and order herself some new books, but that was a while off yet. The walls were all painted a nice light shade of blue that was light enough to keep the room at a mellow tone but dark enough to be too dark for a pastel color. Kagome liked this room, what she didn't like was the two paintings above her bed.

One was of a bowl of flowers and the other was of a bowl of fruit.

Have you ever seen anything duller?

Kagome resolved to be rid of those paintings as soon as possible and then she went and opened the top dresser drawer, hoping against hope that there would be something useful there.

Thankfully, there was.

Kagome smiled as she spun around a little in front of the full-length mirror. She loved this dress. She positively loved this dress. When she twisted her hips it went spin-spin-spin and the fabric was so soft and when the skirt went spin-spin-spin the fabric made a fun noise like fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh. Kagome giggled like a little girl and spun around a little more. Not to mention the dress was comfortable. Something that was rare in dresses. And it was colorful as well. It wasn't as lavish as quite a couple of the dresses in the dresser, but Kagome loved it. And it was so much fun to wear!

Knock! Knock!

"Kagome?" Came Sango's voice through the door. "Are you decent?"

Kagome crept to the door, a wicked smirk on her face.

"Kagome?" Came Sango's voice again, this time a little bit worried. "You there?"

Kagome suddenly jerked open the door and screamed.

"BOO!"

"AHHHHH!" Sango screamed, jumping back. Kagome began to laugh uproariously and doubled over.

"It's not funny!" Sango protested at the top of her lungs.

"Yes it is!" Kagome cried. Oh! She was so happy! She hadn't felt this good since her father had died three months ago.

Sango huffed. "Come on." She said. "I'm to bring you to the children. They've been waiting for you."

Kagome looked up.

"Really?" She asked. "Shouldn't I meet with Mr. Takahashi first?" Kagome was confused. Sango snorted.

"Normally, yes, but that lazy lout isn't exactly normal. And when he says that he just might knock some sense into those brats he means that he might actually come down here and pound Shippo on the head a couple times."

"Shippo?" Kagome asked, her impression of her new employer becoming lower and lower by the minute.

"You'll meet him as soon as we get there." Sango said and she began to lead Kagome down the corridor, to the left and up the grand staircase another floor, heading to the nursery.

G

Shippo was nervously bouncing up and down next to the door. Rin and Satsuki were both watching him as he went up and down and up and down on the balls of his feet.

"When do you think she's going to get here?" Shippo asked.

"Whenever Missy Sango brings her I guess." Rin said.

"I wonder if she'll like me…us…" Shippo said, worriedly.

"Of course she will!" Satsuki said.

"What exactly is she?" Rin asked.

"Well…" Satsuki said wisely. She was the oldest of the three and as such she had to be the wisest…even though she was only older then Shippo by a couple days. "She's going to be nice to us and she's going to put us to bed and she's going to protect us from Inuyasha…she's going to be like a new mommy!" Satsuki finished proudly. Rin gasped.

"But I already have a mommy!" Rin protested. "I don't wanna 'nother one!" Rin started to cry and Shippo, seeing her tears, looked like he was about to start to panic. But Satsuki calmly placed a hand on Rin's shoulder and began to comfort the younger girl.

"She's gonna be your new auntie." Satsuki explained. "Only kids like me and Shippo who don't already have a mommy get new mommy's. If you already have a mommy then you get a new auntie." Rin stopped crying and looked up at Satsuki with wide eyes.

"Really? A new auntie?" Rin asked innocently. Satsuki nodded.

"Yeah." Satsuki said. "And since she'll be our new mommy then she'll be a lot nicer then your old auntie."

"Auntie Kanna is too nice!" Rin protested. "She's just shy! You scare her."

"I do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too! She told me!" Rin said and then stuck her tongue out at Satsuki, thus winning the argument. Satsuki lowered her head a moment, and in that moment Shippo decided to hide behind the pillows. After a moment of silence Satsuki raised her face again and began to bawl.

"Wahhh! I'm not scary!" Satsuki cried at the top of her lungs. "I don wanna be scary! Waahhh!"

Suddenly the door opened and in came Missy Sango and the new lady.

G

When Kagome opened the door the first thing she heard was the sobs of a little girl. Alarmed she looked down and saw two little girls on the floor. One of them (the smaller one) was looking up at her with big surprised eyes, and the other was crying. The bigger girl broke off her tears when Kagome walked into the room, and then she too looked at Kagome. Kagome didn't see the huge green eyes peering out at her over a huge stack of pillows.

"Uh-oh…not again." Sango muttered. Kagome looked at Sango for an explanation and the maid sighed. "Satsuki's very emotional…I'd help, but I'm late enough as it is!" Sango looked as if she had just remembered something very important. In other words, she looked panicked. "I've gotta go!" And with that Kagome's last lifesaver took off down the corridor and back down the stairs, leaving Kagome to face the salty oceans of childcare alone.

Kagome knelt in front of the crying girl, Satsuki she assumed it was, and gently put a hand on the little girls knee. The other girl was watching her closely, and Kagome was quite aware that these next few moments were crucial.

"Hello love…" Kagome said. "Do you want to tell me what's wrong?" She focused on making her voice as gentle and soft as she could make it, and on making her expression as…well…wise and motherly as she could make it, even though inside she was feeling completely lost and confused. The girl Satsuki looked up at Kagome for a moment, and then leapt into her arms. Kagome blinked in surprise but then hugged the girl back when she felt little arms encircle her neck.

"I'm not mean!" Satsuki wailed.

"Who said you were mean?" Kagome drew back and looked at Satsuki with wide eyes.

"I didn't say you were mean!" Rin said. "I said you scared Auntie Kanna!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

The two girls glared at each other for a moment and then turned to regard a stack of pillows with fiery anger. Kagome was confused. Why were they glaring at the pillows?

"Shippo!" Both girls choused. From inside the pillows a little head stuck itself out, and Kagome nearly squealed at how cute the little youkai boy who was currently glaring back at them was.

"I had nothing to do with this!" He said, then turned his attention to Kagome.

And then, at that moment…it happened…

Kagome realized what she had to do…

She had…

To become…

Her mother…

"…I get a raise for this." Kagome said. The children all looked at her in confusion. "Why don't we all forget it and you can all come here and tell me about yourselves." Kagome said, making her lap bigger and setting Satsuki on one knee she beckoned to the two other children.

"I'm Rin." Said Rin.

"I'm Shippo." Said Shippo.

"I'm a horse on the open plains of Avalon." Said Satsuki. Kagome's eyes widened and her eyebrows shot open. The three children, all of who had somehow managed to claim a little part of her lap, all giggled at her expression. Kagome's back was starting to ache, and she tried to subtly scoot over to lean on the wall, but only succeeded in subtly scooting over to lean on the door, thus preventing anyone from entering the nursery.

"Should I call you A-horse-on-the-open-plains-of-Avalon, or is there another name you like to go by?" Kagome asked Satsuki. Satsuki and Rin giggled and Shippo sighed.

"You can call me Satsuki." Satsuki a.k.a. A-horse-on-the-open-plains-of-Avalon said. "Everyone else does."

"Well, I'm glad that I can call you Satsuki, Satsuki." Kagome said. "My name is Kagome, and I'm here to be your-"

But Shippo interrupted her.

"Our new mommy!" He asked, excited. Kagome's mouth snapped closed with an audible click. She opened and shut her mouth several times before she was able to trust herself to answer.

"Not quite." She said. Rin stuck her tongue out at Satsuki. "But I am here to be your governess, and depending on the governess, that could be a lot like a…an auntie." Kagome could not quite bring herself to say mommy.

"So then you're married to Uncle Inuyasha?" Rin asked. Kagome nearly fainted on the spot.

"Is he your uncle?" She asked weakly. Rin nodded severely.

"He's not very nice though." She said. "He's always yelling at Shippo when Shippo doesn't do nothing but bite Uncle Inuyasha's ears."

Kagome turned to regard Shippo and the little boy 'eep'-ed and then his face in the crook of her arm.

"Well," Kagome said thoughtfully. "Next time your Inuyasha yells at one of you, or hits one of you, you come to me and we'll see what we can do about it, eh?"

The three children all looked at Kagome, very confused.

"Like what?" Shippo asked.

"Well," Kagome said. "I…I don't know. But I brought some books, lets see if we can't find anything in these."

"How could books help?" Satsuki asked, doubtful.

"Oh, but this is a very special book." Kagome said in a very sincere book. "This book has all sorts of things in it, and it's about two boys who get into the most wild adventures." She pulled out one of the books she had brought to the nursery and before there could be any more complaints she began to read, and soon enough the three children were swept away in the story, as most little children are once you begin to read to them.

G

A couple hours later the foursome had managed to finish the first chapter of Tom Sawyer and managed to come up with two completely different very imaginative and beyond utterly immature acts of revenge. Kagome had managed to be best friends with the children and had managed to trick them into having a math lesson without any of them even noticing! That was a feat worth commending! Kagome was hoping to take them for a walk later and then she could sneak in some art and science lessons, but first things first. And the first thing just happened to be…lunch.

Yes, the one and only thing on Kagome's mind at the moment was…lunch.

Lunch.

Lunch.

Lunch.

"In England they even call it luncheon, or so I'm told." She informed her newest comrades-in-crime as they led her to the kitchens to pack a picnic for themselves. "And snooty old professors at universities and college's call it luncheon as well." Kagome hadn't gotten along with many of her professor's back at the university in Tokyo.

The children giggled. They had never met an adult who treated them like this before. They all liked Kagome. She treated them like…like…like they were big kids.

"And some places they even have several lunches…" Kagome said dreamily. "With cucumber sandwiches and tea…and they call that Tea. And in some funny books that I've read, with faeries and dragons and knights in shining amour and the like, well…there's this one type of folk, and they have luncheons and noonies and elevensies and all other manners of different times that they eat, and snacks in between too!" She shook her head. "Sorry ducks, I'm not usually this fixated on food. It's just I never ate breakfast and now I'm starved!"

They turned a corner and then found themselves, once again, descending the grand (and as Kagome was beginning to suspect, the only) staircase down to the main hall. From there the children pulled Kagome to the right and through some large doors into the dining room. From there they headed to the large doors in the back of the dining room to enter…the kitchens.

And for a hungry soul like Kagome, those kitchens were heaven.

Servants were bustling about, mixing this and dishing that. There was stirring and frying and baking and puréeing and mashing and…well, all sorts of stuff.

"Is there a fancy dinner tonight or something?" Kagome asked, all agog. Shippo, who spent much of his time sneaking down to the kitchens, shook his head.

"Nope." He said. "It's always like this. Kaede likes to cook more then anyone will eat and then grumble about how she slaves away to make things that no one will eat." Kagome blinked. Kaede…that sounded familiar.

"Isn't she the woman that Koga brought Miroku to last night after I…" But then, remembering whom she was speaking to, Kagome trailed off. Too late though.

"Did you make him fall asleep like Missy Sango does when he touches her?" Rin asked innocently. The children may have been innocent, but her answering blush was not lost on them.

"Yep!" Shippo said beaming. "Kaede's the one you want! She's not really the cook, officially she's the doctor…but Inuyasha's too cheap to buy a cook when he can just have Kaede do it, and Kaede doesn't mind."

Kagome shook her head. She couldn't imagine being in charge of this…this culinary metropolis and then be the healer of and colossal ranch! And it wasn't even a ranch! From what Kagome could tell Inuyasha was just a really rich man who had bought a huge ranch, sacked all the ranch hands, kept a couple to keep the place looking nice, and hired servants to do his every last whim! She had looked out the window and had seen no agriculture or any other resource that might keep the man so rich. How did he keep it all up?

Oh well. Some mysteries were best left until later.

Later meaning, Kagome decided, until after food.

G

Thank you for reading! The next chapter will come soon! Maybe not as soon as this one, but still! Please, please, please remember to review! You've done such a wonderful job so far!

Sincerely

Pwalefriend