Chapter 2

Here they were, Nikki and her father were standing in front of a beautiful family shrine owned by a family that goes by the name of … Nikki's mind went blank for a moment. "Oh geeze, please don't tell me I forgot their name," she yelled at herself in her thoughts, "I guess the plane ride here made me forget." She wiped a little bit of sweat off her brow as she started to panic. The last thing she wanted to do was seem impolite. This was going to be the place they lived for the next several months, possibly longer if their new family approved of them.

She unconsciously snapped her fingers and said the family's last name out loud, "Oh, Higurashi," nearly exclaiming their names out loud as soon as the Higurashi family walked out their front door to greet Nikki and her father. Her face turned bright red as the Higurashi family gave her a blank look, but all of them started laughing when they seen the embarrassment on her face. She rubbed her warming cheeks in an effort to cool them down, "Oh, uh, Hello," giving off a nervous laugh and then rubbed the back of her neck, elbowing her dad to give him the signal of "please say something, please say something."

She could hear her father snicker under his breath as he stepped forward to extend his hand out to Grandpa Higurashi first, "Hello Mr. Higurashi, I am David Richards and this is my daughter," putting an arm around Nikki, "Dominique, or Nikki as she so rather go by." He gave Grandpa a bright smile and grandpa nodded his approval, graciously taking David's hand and giving it a few excited shakes.

"Welcome David and Nikki, to the Higurashi shrine. Please allow my granddaughter Kagome," he motioned Kagome towards them, "to show you where you'll be sleeping." The old man chuckled and beamed a smile towards the Richards family. It was quite obvious that he was excited that they were here. Nikki watched the family with interest. They seemed rather nice and excitable. All of them were starring back at her and her father. It made her a little awkward and she gave them another nervous giggle

Kagome made her way up to the two Americans and said her hellos as well. She took Nikki's hand and pulled her along as she took them into the Higurashi home.

A delicious smell of curry filled their nostrils as they entered the house. It made Nikki's stomach give an inaudible grumble. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in before anyone noticed and quickly opened her eyes again to look at her surroundings.

"This is the living room. Oh, please remember to take your shoes off," she gave off a light hearted giggle, and they all proceeded to do as Kagome wished and they continued, "This is the kitchen and the bathroom." They passed some stairs and were lead to the door to the basement. Kagome led them downward. Nikki wasn't sure what to expect at first. She was a bit worried that their living arrangements were going to change quite strange, but then her eyes fell upon a well-put together basement. It looked lovely in fact, with a mixture of Japanese and American themes. There were pictures of Sakura Trees blooming along with roses and bonsai trees lining a hallway that connected two bedrooms, a small bathroom, and a small living area, "And this is where you'll be staying. There is another door down here that will lead you back outside, so you don't have to worry about waking us up if you need to go out during the middle of the night."

"You have a very lovely home," Nikki said as she tried to make small talk. She wasn't always so nervous when speaking with people, but she felt quite off her game at the present, "did your family work on this basement just for us, because it's so beautiful." Nikki walked over to a picture of New York City and ran her finger along the edge of the painting and then ran her hand over one of the bonsai trees.

"Yeah, we wanted you both to feel comfortable and not too far away from home while you stay here. We also wanted to integrate some of our culture into yours! I hope you like it. It took a few weeks to put all this together! But don't worry, the walls and carpet were already here. We just needed to add the furniture and decorations."

David looked a bit worried, but nodded his head in appreciation, "thank you Kagome." Then his stomach rumbled, quite loudly in fact, and he gave out a small grunt, "excuse me," he apologized as he held his stomach.

"Oh! Please excuse our manners! You both must be really hungry after that plane ride," Kagome let out a small laugh, "come, come, mother made a welcome dinner for you. Put your bags away and come upstairs when you're ready!"

After watching Kagome run up the stairs and hearing her yell, "Hey mom, they'll be ready to eat in a few minutes, is supper almost finished," David and Nikki unpacked and changed into some different clothes. Certainly spending hours upon hours in a plane didn't provide a very nice smell for their hosts but there was no time for a shower, only a quick fix.

You could barely hear the soft "yes dear" that came from her mother's mouth. Though almost inaudible, Nikki tightly closed her eyes at the sound of her voice. She then proceeded to find her bedroom, "Haha," she laughed out loud. Her room was pink and purple. There were cute stuffed animals and plush dolls of various anime characters placed neatly along the walls. It was so adorable, and even though Nikki never really got into too much anime, she always thought the characters were so cute.

After a few minutes of unpacking Kagome's brother, Sōta yelled down the stairs, "Hurry, dinner is going to get cold and Grandpa will eat it all!"

Nikki looked towards her father and they both gave each other a laugh and headed upstairs to join the Higurashi for dinner.

She was going to like it here. That was a for sure thing.