A/N: So yeah, writing, writing, writing. Desperately trying to update as fast as I can while my aunty and cousin both stay here. Got a new car, whoop whoop. Hope all is well with you wonderful readers you! ^_^

Disclaimer: Don't own Ouran or Inuyasha.

This week was the one in which she was supposed to get her scores back in the mail. Kagome was frightened out of her wits at the prospect of her hopes being sunk because she didn't pass. She'd honestly been skittish all week, rushing towards the mailbox and scanning over the letters to see if there was one for her. And the thing was the week had barely started, it was only Tuesday!

Well, if she didn't pass it wouldn't be so bad. She'd just remain here at the shrine running it since it would fall to her hands eventually. If they could keep up with payments that is. Kagome needed to get another job to help keep this place running if they didn't attract more customers soon. Souta and her were powerful enough in their gifted powers to attract customers. The fact that their charms and wards worked was enough to have a slight peak in customers. Sadly it wasn't enough. Kagome was the more powerful of the two and she couldn't even chant. This shrine had been in her family forever, hundreds of years. It had once been the fields she would sit in talking to her friends just before she left through the well to her original time period. She couldn't give up this land whether she passed and went to school or failed and had to work an extra job. It was part of her past, present, and future.

Kagome fixed herself some instant coffee. She was so glad for the peaceful silence in her house. Sota had left early hours before school even started so he could take a makeup test. He was as determined to bring his grades up and try for Ouran one day. His dreams were as large as his sister's. Kagome's grandfather was sweeping the back porch. It was mornings like this that she absolutely relished. The tranquility reminded her of the past and her little breaks next to hot springs with Sango or sitting around the campfire with her buddies. "Oh Kagome, not getting the mail yet?" Her mother asked as she came into the kitchen fully dressed. Kagome was still wearing a short pink bathrobe that came just above her knees and bunny slippers. "That's odd, normally you're running the door-" And the door flew open at that moment as the Host Club made their appearance with Haruhi in tow decked out in their brilliant robin's egg blue uniforms.

"KAGOME YOU MADE IT," sang Tamaki at the top of his lungs. Kagome's eye twitched as she set her coffee cup down. It was too damn early in the morning for this. She should've stayed in bed. No, strike that! She should've bought a bolt for that door for her family's safety months ago. If she'd known six psychopathic rich bastards would be knocking down her door Kagome would've endorsed that whole 'have a safe neighborhood' sale at the supermarket. Kyoya was the one holding her letter and it was already ripped open in his hands. So much for the privacy of a person's mail. Honey was bouncing around and dragging Mori in to sit on one of the plump comfy sofas in the den. Why not? The rest of the club was making themselves comfortable.

"We knew instantly before this showed up in your mailbox," stated Kyoya as he strode into the room, his eyes swept over the quaint decor of the place. Her home was meant for comfort not extravagance. A hand-made quilt lay over the futons of the couch, made by her grandmother before she'd died. Some shabby furniture that was meant for use not decoration.

Her eyes slanted as she glared at them. Those spoiled rich brats no doubt had their ways at finding out before she did. Probably Tamaki's father! His lips had surely been the ones to call everyone and tell them to come and greet the new student. Unknown to Kagome, Tamaki had been harassing his dad for days about whether or not she'd passed. Mr. Suoh would cover his face dramatically and shout out 'I can't tell you,' before taking off running away from his son all teary eyed from keeping secrets. Such theatrics the club members were used to seeing between father and son at school.

"You get to start next week-" Began Hikaru as he came on beside Kagome and place an arm around her shoulder.

"Or this week if you want to," proclaimed Kaoru coming up to his other side.

"Oh my, what beauty is this that graces the kitchen? Kagome's sister perhaps, but not her mother," cried out Tamaki! He was coating on the princely charm thick as he miraculously appeared out of nowhere before Mrs. Higurashi's hand and kissed it.

"I like your new friends," Mrs. Higurashi chirped, heart all a flutter and cheeks blushing from the compliment. No. Damn them! Those fast wastrels had gotten to her mother! "Hello Kyoya! I hope you found the place easy-" Kagome swung her gaze around to stare in astonishment at Kyoya. That dark prince smirking high on his pedestal at having slipped past her security blanket. Oh she wanted to knock him off it. How did her mother know him? When did this happen? Wouldn't she have mentioned it? 'Oh Kagome I met that dark character who oozes evil.' Nope, her mother had never mentioned him.

"Of course we did Mrs. Higurashi." Kyoya wore his mask, the one where you couldn't tell if he was honestly glad to see you even if it just appeared he was. "And you were right, that shop down the street does sell the best sweets I've sampled," said Kyoya. No doubt he'd done a background check on her entire family. Kagome's hand clenched. Kyoya made people accept him to get information! That two faced shadow king! She did not want her mother being brought over on account of false affections. "I'm so glad to have talked to you on the phone." He smiled brightly. Demons usually smile too before they eat you, thought Kagome wryly. "You've no idea how much money you helped us save. The patrons at our club love those sweets much better than what we usually give them."

It all suddenly made sense to Kagome why she was on her toes around Kyoya. She was a priestess who was used to warding off evil and Kyoya was apparently an evil incarnate sent from the underworld. Maybe he was Naraku's reincarnation! Clearly he'd infiltrated her house without her knowing it and had bewitched her mother. Kyoya would definitely be the one to make friends with everyone before supreme conquest. A truly Machiavellian man of tactics.

Haruhi sat in front of Kagome, looking apologetic for the scene, and Kagome pushed her coffee cup towards a grateful Haruhi who drank it like it was her life force.

And then amidst all the commotion a little voice cried out, having been stirred from bed by all of the noise. A little angry voice directed at the twins who were dangling on Kagome. "Hey! Get off my mama!"

All eyes swung down to the red haired child who'd done well to mask his demon features so early in the morning. This was a little outlier in the whole family that Kyoya had absolutely no information on and hadn't known existed until the child had come into the room. Tamaki let go of Mrs. Higurashi's hand, "I'm sorry for-"

"No. Not you," squeaked Shippo, padding over towards Kagome and pushing Hikaru away from her before hopping up into her lap. He was slowly becoming heavier in her lap now a days. "Them," he stuck his tongue out at Hikaru and Kaoru before wrapping his arms around Kagome's waist territorially. The little boy waved over at Honey and Mori, "Hey Honey-chan!"

"Hey Shippo," chirped Honey as he went to raid the fridge for cupcakes. Mori was silently hovering behind him in case he made a mess in his quest for sweets. By now those two teenage boys were considered family.

There was a hushed silence as Kagome looked down at Shippo and squeezed him close to her. She waited for it. Waited for those rich snooty bastards to leave. Waited for them to accuse her of getting knocked up at such an age with some foreigner and call her a tramp or worse. She didn't want them to call her son something. She'd heard the term one time directed at Shippo when the duo had run into one of her old classmates on the streets. Bastard. That day Kagome had thrown herself into such a fit of rage at the person who'd dared called Shippo that word. Sota had to pry Kagome away before she had a chance to place a cursed sutra on them. It was stupid how people didn't think children understood what they said. Kagome bit her lips waiting for the moment her mother would kindly show them out the door. She was quietly anticipating them immediately refusing her from the school for a 'sordid past' that no one took the time to learn about when they jumped to conclusions.

Kagome didn't expect Tamaki to squeal, "He's so adorable!"

"He looks like-"

"Us," finished Hikaru with a wide smirk as Kaoru reached out to touch a strand of bright colored hair. Shippo didn't push the curious twins away this time now that the focus was on him. Fox children always loved being the center of attention and Shippo felt a comradeship with those two. He could smell a trickster a mile away. "Maybe he belongs to one of us," snickered Hikaru.

"Get your hands off him," spouted Tamaki! The prince ran to swat Hikaru and Kaoru's hands away from Shippo. "You will not corrupt my grandchild! And neither one of you has ever soiled our pure Kagome!"

"So how old are you?" Haruhi asked, a bright smile on her face as she spoke to Shippo. The little fox demon couldn't tell the truth, after all demons aged far differently than humans. He was at least eighty years old but appeared around eight. He held up eight little fingers to illustrate his age since his mother had raised him not to lie, in this way he wouldn't technically be telling a falsehood. Shippo was gradually getting leaner and losing his baby fat. He was skinny as a weed and slowly growing. Shippo was almost at mother's hips now in height.

Kyoya wrote in his notebook and came to sit at the table as well. "I wondered why she took to Honey so well," he commented offhandedly. His grey eyes regarded her for a long moment, eyes flashing between mother and son as he found the answer to the unbidden question in his head. Red spiky hair. Black luscious curls. Sharp green eyes. Captivating blues. Tanned skin from head to toe. White and creamy expanse of skin. He came to his conclusion. Kagome had a big heart so who was she to turn away orphans? Some slight worry had peaked in Kyoya's head when he'd been trying to figure out the connection between the two. If she had a son than she could possibly have a lover… there was no wedding ring on her finger. Kagome was also graciously endowed with beauty even if her lips couldn't speak and wouldn't want for many suitors. Kyoya found himself oddly relieved when he'd found no traces of familiar genetics between the two. The ice king steeled himself from his train of thoughts, which still feared she could have a lover, and looked away. Hadn't she already declared her love had died? But that didn't mean you couldn't love anew. And Kyoya's fingers clenched. He was becoming far too close in his thoughts with this pretty puzzle.

Shippo decided to speak up and clear out the question that everyone was probably wondering without asking it because they were so kind. "Kagome found me and adopted me when she was fifteen," he crowed. Found meaning that Kyoya wouldn't likely find any adoption papers on the little boy to give further insight to this family. Shippo proudly puffed up his chest. "I've been taking care of her ever since." Kagome pulled her son to her chest and just hugged him, happy little tears filled up her eyes as she kissed his head. He hopped off from her laugh and if he'd been in his normal form his bushy tail would've been wagging. Kagome was so unbelievably happy. These people didn't once regard her any differently than she was. "Mama what's wrong?" He tugged on her robe and Kagome's smile just brimmed to bursting as she glanced around at the other club members. She had to hug someone. She just had to. So Kagome leaned over hugged the person she disliked the most because even though she disliked him he had a hand in making everything so perfect. He was a friend to be considered too, despite how evil she thought he was. Kagome hugged Kyoya. And another silence fell over the club members. Haruhi decided she was going to need a second cup of coffee because she was sure she was dreaming. Kyoya numbly patted a euphoric Kagome's back as she hugged him in pure delight. And Kyoya's thoughts fell to the gutter as one thing registered in his head proving that no matter how smart a guy was he was essentially still a normal guy. Kagome wasn't wearing a bra through that robe.

"Mama we need to fix breakfast before I go to school," the fox announced as he padded over to the fridge.

Kagome heaved a sigh as she sat eyeing herself in from of her vanity mirror. Her friends were gone to school and she had her acceptance letter from Ouran taped on the side of her mirror with its golden emblem sparkling in the light of the sunshine coming from outside her window. Shippo had happily forgone his mother picking him up for the club members to drop him off at the elementary school. It was far out of the way, but they'd done it wanting nothing more than to throw questions at Shippo who was eager to make friends. That and Shippo preferred the idea of traveling with them in a rich and fancy car instead of having Kagome walk him down the street to the bus. Whenever he missed the bus Kagome would go out of her way to bike him to school, but most of the time Sota and him trekked it on foot.

Honey had waved Kagome off when she'd made to follow after them, stating: 'Gome-chan we've got this covered. You go relax Mama Gome. We'll bring him home too for you!' So Kagome had gratefully packed Shippo's lunch, checked to make sure his homework was in his backpack, and gone down the steps to kiss him on the cheek with the rest of the Host Club eager about them. Tamaki had gone crazy with taking pictures, where the hell he'd pulled out a camera she hadn't a clue. Kyoya regarded her with some scrutiny as she patted Shippo on the head and gave him a long look until he sighed like an embarrassed kid in front of his friends and muttered: 'I love you too mom.'

Now Kagome actually had some spare time to herself before she began on shrine chores. She watched her lips, open and close trying to form their names silently. Not a single sound rolled off her tongue. She wasn't really trying though. She was still scared to do it. After all, so long had passed since she'd even used her voice and she still didn't know if she could. Was it still in effect? So scared. So many worries and fears that controlled her. Kagome balled up her fist with fury. No! She was taking her life back! She was going to Ouran Academy and life was going to continue and get better dammit! She opened her mouth for another attempt as if to defy the dead one who'd cursed her. "Ahh," her voice cracked in anger and it wasn't a pretty sound that came out, but it was a sound nevertheless. She'd heard it! Kagome's hands covered her cheeks as she looked around waiting for someone to come in and triumphantly congratulate her for making a noise with her mouth. It was a start. She went to retrieve a glass of water and for the next hour practiced mouthing words without sound. At the very end of her little experiment she tried again making a sound or two. They weren't the best results, but they were results regardless.

Maybe the curse is finally breaking, Kagome thought elatedly.