Disclaimer: Nope, I don't...
A/N: Okay...I'm going to try and post this one ASAP, before 9:30 PM here, if I can manage it...so it'll be a really quick edit/check and answering and thank you session (I apologize for the shortness but I had to write an essay last night and what I WANTED to be doing was writing on a few more of these fics...particularly Somebody's Waiting For Me, I wanna finish it...) anyway...this is mostly humor again...
To Lie or Not To Lie
They'd been in Kagome's era for the better of a week now—or so the hanyou thought—it was time that he went back, even if it was only to check up briefly on how things were going at the estate. Without shards to search for and evil Narakus to worry about the hanyou had no reason to try and hurry Kagome along—other than, of course, that he was getting restless. Inuyasha had a natural wandering spirit. He had only stayed in one place when he was very young, at his mother's side. After she'd died he'd moved to survive. Staying in one place was a luxury he couldn't really, on the whole, afford. Kagome's era allowed that rest…but he could only have so much of it before he became bored. (My dad actually suffered something like this on our vacation and if we weren't out doing something everyday he'd get all hyped up and restless and angry, he bit my mom's head off more times than I can count!)
But he knew a fast way to cure that…
A quick trip to the estate and the Feudal era…being gone this long there were bound to be problems springing up. A demon might've been sighted, just waiting for him to come home and pick a fight with it. Or maybe the roof was leaking over Sango and Miroku's room again and he'd have to climb the roof—which was moderately exciting—to repair it. Maybe he could travel to a silk shop and buy Kagome a nice expensive kimono…anything seemed possible.
So it was that the day after Kagome had bathed Koinu in the sink and gotten heavily splashed, Inuyasha kissed her and his son quickly goodbye and hopped through the well, promising to be back either at the end of the day or the next afternoon. Mrs. Higurashi and Kagome both mused that there had been a time when the hanyou wouldn't have even dreamed of giving her that kind of space.
"Amazing how much things can change!" Mrs. Higurashi exclaimed, sighing as they walked back into the house.
Trailing behind her mother Kagome was nodding to herself silently. Her gaze was directed at Koinu in her arms. The pup's innocent, little blue eyes, bright and clear as the sky on a sunny summer day, gleamed up at her, happy and content. He yawned and the tiny little clawed fists he'd inherited from his powerful father clung more tightly to her shirt. His ears shifted and tweaked one way and then the other on her cheek as the pup laid his sleepy head against her neck. She chuckled when she heard and felt Koinu breathing her scent in, snuggling up to her a lot like his father did unconsciously at night. When she stroked his silver head the pup responded by giving her short, sweet little licks under her chin…
Kagome snickered to herself contentedly, just like a real puppy sometimes…
"I'm going to go lie down and nap with Koinu for a while, ok Mom?" she asked when they were in out of the cold.
"Go right ahead Kagome…" Mrs. Higurashi gave her grandson a quick tweak of the ears before she left Kagome alone to sleep.
From out in the living room, where he'd overheard her plans, Kagome's grandfatheryelled, "Whatever you do, Kagome, don't roll over on my great-grandson! You'd squish him flat like a pancake!"
She rolled her eyes, "I won't Gramps! Honestly!"
"I'm just saying, you know," he shot back apologetically, and then cleared his throat, saying what it was likely he'd been trying to get at the whole time, "That's what happened to Sota you know, your mother just went to sleep with him one day and rolled over on him. The boy's never recovered!"
"But he's not squished, Gramps!" Kagome chuckled. She had to admit that sometimes he was funny.
"I know…not physically anyway…"
"Gramps! Shut up! You know I can hear you! And that isn't true!" Sota spoke up then, defending himself.
Kagome shook her head at their continued nonsense, and then noticed that Koinu was squirming unhappily in her arms—he wanted to lie down now and his whimpering told her that if he didn't get his way and soon, there'd be some crying to deal with…she started to ascend the stairs, shushing him gently. The pup settled relatively easily, but Kagome couldn't keep the smirk from her face as below the family battle went on…
"Ah yes, I'm sure your lady friends would love to hear that one!" Gramps was chuckling.
"I swear I'd run away and never come back if you did that Gramps!"
"Yes, that is a little harsh," Mrs. Higurashi was saying with a sigh, joining the fight now, "But then again, Sota could always tell those girls about your constipation problems, Dad…"
"Uh…" Gramps suddenly seemed to have lost his ammo, but only for a moment, "Well…I'm an old, old man. That's a natural problem at my age. But Sota was five when he did that! And I don't care what the circumstances were!"
"No, I don't think he was really five when you caught him drinking out of the toilet…"
"See Gramps! Mom's right, Mom remembers…" Sota interjected, but it was a little too soon for his celebration.
"He was more like seven or eight when that happened…"
Gramps burst out laughing and Sota started yelling hurriedly to try and repair the damage that had been done…but Kagome couldn't hear it anymore, she'd already closed her bedroom door and collapsed on the bed, Koinu at her side, almost immediately asleep.
Well…everything looked okay…
Casual and confident, the hanyou leapt straight up and over the walls of his own estate and into the still frozen gardens. He headed toward the house in a meandering way, threading through the various leafless trees, until, just shy of the door a scent caught him. It tickled his nose, teased his mind, and worried his soul…the hanyou restrained an abrupt shiver.
A demon was here…Panicked now he dashed to the house, threw open the door and yelled, "Miroku, Sango, Shippo…?"
A reddish streak flew up from seemingly out of nowhere and Inuyasha cringed at it, instinctively expecting attack, only to find Shippo crouched on his shoulder, grinning. The kit's gleaming green eyes drilled into his, unmoving, while his lips chattered away like mad.
"Inuyasha! We're all so glad that you're back now! See normally we don't miss you so much but this time there was a strange demon woman that came. She smelled like you and Sesshomaru do, but she was a she and she talked softly and wore better kimono than you do—and she brushed her hair too, probably. And she wanted to talk to you but you weren't home! And Miroku and Sango tried to lie to save their boys and Kasai—but she knew better! And then Miroku and Mayuko found weird tracks outside the gates that had five toes!" he stopped to take one very large breath, and was about to jabber onward with his strange, warped and grammatically incorrect tale, when Inuyasha clamped his hand over the kit's mouth, silencing him.
"Where are Miroku and Sango?" he asked in a growl of annoyance.
"Where are Kagome and Koinu?" Shippo countered, his tail twitching nervously.
"They're on the other side of the well still. Now, where are Miroku and Sango?"
"Miroku went to the village to listen to what they have to say about the demon…and Sango's watching the boys and Kasai."
Inuyasha nodded curtly and started to walk into the house, but as he passed a corner he bumped the shoulder that Shippo was perched on, knocking the kit off him. Shippo screeched momentarily when he fell, although there was no real damage. Then, growling about how Inuyasha was such a jerk, he followed the hanyou into the sitting room where Sango had fallen asleep, her head supported by the table. Inuyasha moved to sit opposite the demon slayer and shook her awake—with surprising gentleness, considering his usual rudeness. He understood Sango's chronic fatigue now, much better since becoming a parent himself and therefore he respected the sleeping woman more now than he ever had before.
Sango stirred with a jolt, slapping the hanyou's hands away as if he were holding a knife or some such thing. Her chocolate brown eyes were dazed and hazy when she opened them to look around at the world of the waking. "Miroku!"
"Whoa! Sango, calm down, it's just me." Inuyasha choked briefly when the demon slayer lunged one still heavily muscled arm out to grab him by the collar. With one clawed hand he battered her fist away with only minor discomfort, although Sango, who was now awake and rational, was blushing profusely.
"Oh, Inuyasha!" she covered her mouth with her hands in astonished embarrassment, "I'm so sorry!"
The hanyou ignored her awkwardness and pressed straight to the point, "What happened while I was away?"
"But I already told you, Inuyasha!" Shippo squealed, leaping up and down beside the hanyou, desperately trying to be recognized. He soon regretted his interference when Inuyasha turned glowering amber eyes on him in irritation. With a shout the kitsune leapt behind Sango for protection—but on his way there he stumbled over Kasai, who had fallen asleep on the floor a short distance from Sango. The little girl immediately woke and began to sniffling and crying.
Sango didn't hesitate the moment she heard—and saw—the result of Shippo's mad dash. With a sigh she moved to scoop her daughter into her arms and rock the little child in her arms. Kasai quieted quickly once she was with her mother again. The baby's blue eyes and black hair—both almost identical to her father's with the exception of their being possessed by a female instead—were a mess. Her hair was frazzled and uncombed. There appeared to be some prayer beads caught in it, acting as a rudimentary tie to keep her hair out of her face, but it was swiftly failing. The corners of her eyes were crusty with the remnants of sleep and her nose was running. As Inuyasha watched, the little child sneezed, sniffled, and started coughing.
"What happened to her?" Inuyasha asked, suddenly very happy that he had left Koinu back in Kagome's time. He didn't want to see his pup get sick!
"A cold. I wanted to try using Kagome's medicines on it," Sango frowned unhappily, "But until you and she came back I had no way of knowing what to use and how much and how often…everything from her era is so amazing, but also very confusing." She cuddled the fussy and rather feverish Kasai closer to her, forgetting everything when it came to her little daughter's health and happiness.
"But—what was the demon that came through here, Sango?" he asked, again, this time more urgently. Behind Sango Shippo grumbled to himself, displeased that Inuyasha hadn't simply taken his explanation…
"Oh, that…" she looked exhausted all over again, and although he never showed it Inuyasha felt a pang of guilt for having to be so blunt with the poor woman, but what was necessary was necessary!
"Well, are you gonna tell me or just sigh about it?" he snapped, crossing his arms irritated with her slow pace.
Sango frowned for a moment at his rudeness, but after so many years she knew better than to get angry with him for it and fight about it. Only Kagome could do that and possibly get anywhere…and the girl from the future didn't seem to be present at the moment…
"Where are Kagome and Koinu?"
Inuyasha's ears fell backward, his eyebrows met as one and lowered over the amber eyes, "I left them back on the other side of the well! Now would you please…"
"All right!" Sango cleared her throat, "It happened on the same day that you and Kagome and Koinu left for the well. Shippo started acting strangely, as if he smelled you at the door, so I opened it up to see and there was…"
"A big scary dog demon!" Shippo finished, poking his head out from behind Sango and shivering for emphasis.
"Yes, it was an inuyoukai…it looked a lot like Sesshomaru!"
"But it was a girl!" Shippo added, his voice screeching on the last word. Inuyasha's eyes flew between the two as they told the story, as if he were watching a ping-pong tournament.
"She was a full demon too—when Shippo and I first saw her she was in her true form, that of a large white dog. Much like Sesshomaru." She nodded again here, recalling.
"But bigger!" Shippo squealed, still shivering.
Sango's chocolate colored eyes rolled sarcastically for a moment, "No, Shippo, she was smaller, a lot smaller in fact."
"Well, what did the bitch want?" Inuyasha snapped, impatiently.
"Inuyasha!" Sango scolded, alarmed by his language, "Shippo is still a young youkai, and Kasai is my little girl! I don't want her subjected to—"
"Oh feh," the hanyou snorted, unwilling to let the mother's tirade continue any longer, "Shippo's heard it all the time, Kasai's too young to learn it anyway, and—besides—it's accurate when talking about an inuyoukai woman and you know it!"
Sango colored briefly, apparently realizing that this time Inuyasha's "strong," language was in fact, not an insult, but simply a noun, just telling it like it was. Pursing her lips with continued reluctance she glanced to where Kasai was squirming fitfully in her arms, trying to sleep through her running nose and eyes…the little child was unlikely to have taken in the hanyou's terrible language. Relieved, she cleared her throat and allowed the subject to pass without further incidence, "She said that she'd come to talk to you, that she'd only just heard of you."
Inuyasha's ears fell flat against his head again; his face appeared livid and red, "Only just heard of me! What bullshit it that!" he demanded, his fangs bared viciously.
"Inuyasha!" Sango scowled, "Didn't I just—"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know…" he grumbled, immediately realizing that had Kagome been there she would've screamed "sit," for sure on Sango's behalf. And chances were that if he messed up too much more the demon slayer would tell "Mrs. Inuyasha" of her hanyou's major offences, and he'd be smashed into the ground just the same. Even so, the thought of someone not having heard his name in spite of his tremendous accomplishments? It was just too much…this inuyoukai bitch would've had to have crawled out of a hole in the earth about five days ago to be telling the truth! It was such an obvious lie to him…or, well, at last he hoped it was a lie, wasn't he famous all over Japan? More so than his miserable brother…right? He finished his thoughts in a rush of indignant anger, "But the bitch had to be lying!"
Sango sighed loudly, exasperatedly, and buried her head in her hands, shaking her head. Kasai had started to cry in her lap unhappily and squirm. Behind her Shippo peeked out long enough to snicker mischievously and say, "Inuyasha, you might be older but you're still just as dense as when I first met you."
"Shut up you little twerp!" he barked.
"Anyway!" Sango interrupted, tired of fighting, "She said her name was…" she paused, chewing on her lips a moment to remember and correctly pronounce the name the demon woman had given, "Taikokajin." She looked quickly to Inuyasha, searching for any obvious sign of recognition, "Mean anything to you?"
"Not a thing." He mulled the name over in his head. Taiko pink. Kajin beauty. Taikokajin, pink-beauty. "I take it she was a good looking bitch?"
Sango's eyes narrowed at him in warning when she heard that word again, but she said nothing. Kasai, bored and still unhappily sick with her miserable cold, had crawled away from her mother's lap and under the table. Sango's eyes flickered there nervously and, grumbling, the fatigued mother bent to reach for Kasai to pull her back out where she could more easily watch her. The little girl started to cry again, frustrated with her mother's restrictions, and Inuyasha cringed at the rising sounds. After a second she gave up and let Kasai crawl away and offered Inuyasha further information on the strange demon, "She was an albino with pink eyes."
"Yeah, and turquoise demon marks on her face. Three on each cheek." Shippo added, confidently.
Inuyasha thought that over for a moment—but he hated to admit that although he was half dog demon he knew just about nothing when it came to his father's people. He knew only what his mother had told him: his father had been powerful and rich, handsome and strong, loyal and loving. She'd never told him such things as the color of the streaks on his cheeks or whether his "old man," liked to wear his hair down or pulled back, or even what she might've liked to call him informally. The only thing he'd ever heard was, "Inutaisho-sama this, that, and the other time…" besides that and mumblings of how much he resembled his great and victorious father, he knew nothing.
Thus it was fair to assume that Taikokajin could be Queen Bitch of the dog demons for all he knew. Maybe that was what the streaks meant? But he'd never know…
After a moment he barked a new question, "What did she say she wanted from me?"
"To 'talk.'" Sango snorted sarcastically. Shippo and Inuyasha repeated her snort of disbelief at the same time.
"Oh! Oh! Sango! Tell her about the five-toed paw prints!"
"Oh yes," the demon slayer nodded, "Outside, at the gate, Miroku ad Mayuko found strange paw prints. They thought at first that Taikokajin would've left them behind, because they were like dog footprints, only much larger…"
"But, let me guess, with five toes?"
She nodded, "Yes, we wanted to know if you knew of anything like that…any demon that would leave prints like that. Would an inuyoukai leave marks like that?"
Inuyasha frowned, distinctly remembering Sesshomaru's four-toed paws from his true form. He shook his head, "Not unless they were deformed…" he looked to where Shippo had almost completely reappeared from his hiding and asked, "Did you scent the tracks, Shippo?"
"Yes, but it was faint." The kit swallowed nervously, "It smelled weird…like nothing I've ever smelled before…the closest thing to it would've been a dog, or a wolf…" he chuckled nervously, "Or even a cat or a raccoon!"
Inuyasha scoffed, "Well, we can all tell that your nose is accurate!"
"Hey! That's not fair!" the kitsune pouted, "You go out and smell it, Inuyasha, and see if you can do any better!"
"Feh," Inuyasha stood up, glaring at the kit, "Challenge accepted, runt!"
Shippo squealed and hid behind Sango again, shivering.
"Hi Mom, I'm home!" Sota tossed his book bag down beside the door carelessly. Just behind him another young man, taller and lankier and with lighter hair than Sota, entered the house, a grin from ear to ear. Sota took another step or two forward and then called out a warning, "Where's Kagome? Tell her and Koinu to stay clear of the living room, kay, cuz I got Taro over to play some video games!" When no immediate answer came both youths kicked off their shoes and strolled into the Higurashi household just in time to almost crash into Sota's hurrying mother.
"Shh!" she hissed at her second-born impatiently, eyes flicking nervously to Taro behind him.
"What? What Mom? What is it?"
"Kagome and your nephew are asleep on the couch!"
Sota blinked, confusedly, "But…they were asleep when I left for classes too. How long do they sleep?" behind him Taro snickered.
Mrs. Higurashi shook her head, frowning, "Koinu woke her up an hour ago hungry. So she fed him down here and then they both fell back asleep. I sent Gramps out to clean the storage houses and the garage because he wouldn't stop complaining about not being able to hear the evening news when I made him turn it down so low…" she threw Sota and Taro behind him a threatening glare, "If you two can't keep quiet than I'll send you both out to help him…"
"No problem!" Sota grinned cheerily, but his words were already too loud for his mother's liking and she scowled, stepping in front of him again and rephrasing her warning.
"If you don't stay quiet Sota—well, I won't take any of the calls you get tonight or tomorrow. I'll tell each and every one of them that they have the wrong number…or worse…"
Sota gulped and nodded solemnly, "Don't worry Mom, I got it under control!" he elbowed Taro obligingly and then both young men pushed past Mrs. Higurashi and into the living room. As they neared the room Sota realized with a jolt that Taro was going to find Koinu very strange…in fact, even as he thought this, he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Taro's light brown eyes glimmering with amusement.
"Dude! You're an uncle! You never told me that! I mean, I remember your older sister from when we were growing up but…" Taro's voice had grown too loud for Sota's comfort and he shushed his friend hurriedly. Taro lowered his voice and continued what he'd been saying in a whisper. "…and I never heard what happened to her, wasn't she always a babe anyway? And Puppy? Why would she name your nephew puppy?"
Sota pursed his lips; his mind was working a thousand miles an hour. To lie or not to lie, that is the question.
(Lie?)
He pondered it, wondering if Taro's intellect was too superior to fall for Sota's usual, "He's American," lie.
(Truth?)
Was it possible to tell the truth? He doubted it, Taro would think it was crazy and spit in his face, or, worse, he'd tell the story to everyone else and they'd think Sota had been dropped on his head when he was an infant…
(Lie!)
And if the chicks thought that about him he'd never get another date…
(LIE!)
He sighed and rolled his eyes, degrading the story he was about to tell, trying to convince Taro that he thought it was just stupid. "Yea, my sister went to America some years ago, you know? I don't really know why—I mean she didn't learn much there!" he scoffed to make it convincing, but didn't risk judging Taro's expression just yet, "And anyway, while she was there she met this guy—my brother in law now—and they're madly in love and all that and a few months ago they had a baby." He shrugged and finally risked looking to Taro's face.
His friend seemed to have bought most of it, but there remained a look of steady confusion on his face. He blinked twice and then asked, "But, Sota, why would they name the baby Puppy?"
"Oh, that…" Sota tried to hide the nervous gulp his throat muscles resorted to spasmodically, "See, I forgot to tell you that the guy she married—my brother in law—has a rare, uh, American disease that makes him look more like a dog than a person…"
"What!" Taro gasped, and then bit his lip and cringed as he realized how loud his voice had been.
"I'm serious! It's not like he walks on four legs or anything, but he has—uh—unusual ears and teeth. And their baby inherited the same genetic disease. So they named him Puppy."
Taro was shaking his head in disbelief, "If that's true, Sota, what is the disease called, and how come I've never heard of it before?"
Sota forced the shaking in his voice away as he thought fast and blurted, "Honestly, Taro, are you an expert on Americans? I don't think so, and the disease, for your information, is called…" he thought like mad, dog, dog, what is something he wouldn't know? Oh I've got it! "…It's called Canis lupitus." (A/N: Canis in Latin I think means dog, it's the scientific classification of all of the dog family, Sota has just said, "Wolf," actually though, not dog, by taxonomic standards. Domestic dogs are actually called Canis familiaris. I wanted to use that but "Lupitus" sounds better than "Familiaritus.")
"Canis lupitus?" Taro repeated, mulling the strange words over again. The expression settling over his face remained confused but Sota was starting to feel calmer, more confident. He'd always been a pretty decent liar, and he was pretty sure that Taro believed him now.
"Yea, canis lupitus, try not to stare, got it? Now, you wanna play or not?" he snapped, irritably, and when Taro nodded the two young men proceeded to the living room.
Lying across the length of the couch was Kagome, wearing a red robe that reminded Sota suspiciously of Inuyasha's fire rat haori, which he'd noticed that Inuyasha hadn't worn on this visit…that was the first thing he noticed, the second thing was that her long, milk-colored legs were exposed from just above the knee all the way down…and Taro was staring at them as if he were one of those starving children that your parents tell you about from Africa and Kagome's legs were fresh, steaming moist cinnamon rolls, right out of the oven.
Appalled, Sota slugged Taro, and not gently either. With a gasp Taro clutched his ribs and looked at Sota with the outrage of the innocent. "What did I do!" he choked, his eyes were rings of red with pain and watery tears from the blow.
"Oh come off it! You hentai!" Sota turned his back on Taro and started getting the Playstation 2 ready.
"What!" Taro gasped, still blithely unaware of the way he'd been staring, "Your sister's hot and you know it Sota! You can't hit me for staring at her!"
"Say anything else and I'll tell her husband about it, Taro, and you don't want that to happen…" Sota grinned momentarily at the thought, and added, "He has fangs, remember Canis lupitus…?"
"Oh…" Taro had seemingly lost interest in the thought of video games for the moment as he was still staring at Kagome's red-clothed sleeping form. After a minute he cleared his throat quietly and whispered, "I see what you mean by Canis lupitus…the baby looks just like a puppy…"
Sota paused and turned round to look for Koinu and couldn't help but smirk at the pup's cuteness. Sleeping on his stomach on Kagome's chest he was wriggling in quite a puppyish manner, the little white ears were twitching in random directions. The pup seemed to be mostly unclothed, Sota thought, for he could see a bare shoulder protruding from the red robe Kagome was shrouded in. The thought that maybe his older sister wasn't wearing anything else beneath the robe made him blanch, but it was quickly swept from his mind when he spotted the socks on her feet and, barely visible, the edges of some purple shorts.
"Well, are we going to play or not, Sota, or should I slap you next for staring at your own sister…"
Sota blinked and scowled at Taro, "Yea we're going to play and that was not funny…"
But then, from the front door, the shrill sound of the doorbell ringing reached Sota and Taro's ears. Both cringed and looked to where Kagome and Koinu were sleeping. Nothing seemed to have changed and both youths sighed with relief…and then the doorbell rang again, somehow louder and shriller this time than before.
Koinu squirmed and jerked awake, blinking his little blue eyes fuzzily. He waited, silently, for a moment, while Kagome stirred as well, breathing deeply and adjusting Koinu's little body higher on her own instinctually, and then he started to push himself up a little on his hands. The ears atop his head shifted exactly like a dog's, seeking the source of the noise that had woken him…
It came a last time, the doorbell, but was cut short when Mrs. Higurashi hurriedly answered the door.
And then, wrinkling his little face unhappily, Koinu made a growling, whimpering sound, sniffling pathetically. That sound forced Kagome into wakefulness.
Sota and Taro smiled at her when she sat up, trying to calm Koinu down. "Evening!" Sota greeted her cheerily. "Hi Mrs…uh," Taro gave up with titles almost immediately and resorted to grinning stupidly instead.
Kagome looked from Sota to Taro, confusedly. She clutched Koinu to her a little more protectively. Taro was clearly an outsider to the family, and she wondered, with a jolt, what Sota had told the other young man to get him to accept Koinu's appearance… "Yea, she lives 500 years in the past with a half-dog demon named Inuyasha. Do you want to meet their pup? No? But he has cute white ears! You sure? Okay then, how about some rice and chicken for dinner, eh?"
She was about to ask them what time it was and begin with simple pleasantries when Mrs. Higurashi's voice floated over to all three of them from the front door, "Kagome!" it sounded strained, tight, and nervous.
"Yes, Mom?"
"You have company!"
Her heart rolled over once inside her ribcage. "Is it Inu—uh…" she looked to Taro and Sota nervously and changed her words immediately, "Is it my husband?"
"No…" and then Kagome's breath caught in her throat as she anticipated her mother's next announcement, "It's Hojo, he's come for a visit!"
Endnote: Looks like I'm not going to make 9:30 exactly... oh well... THANK YOU ALL who reviewed! Every little one helps and encourages! THANK YOU! You guys keep me in line...you never know how much you help... THANK YOU! Heather You are TOO smart...(leans forward to whisper) shh...don't tell anyone! Of course you may not be exactly right...(grins) I reserve the right to outright lie to you and surprise you in the end as authoress (winks) ... fanfiction1 hehehe...hmm... what do you think? (grins) and in answer neko, I think, means "cat" in Japanese. kirarakitty Thank you! Hmm...as for your offer of a gift, depends on how old they are...(snickers, evil wink) Mad-4-Manga I hope you recover your sleep soon! And, WOW! I didn't know you wanted the sess/rin fic so badly...(see what I mean about being short so I can write on other stuff?) Angel Yes, I AM confused...but it's good to hear from you! NefCanuck (and all others who loved Hojo's reappearance!) Just wait until the next chapter! (squeals!):
"I'm sorry Kagome, I just had some free time, and I thought that…" he shrugged and, suddenly stuttering, plastered a warm grin to his face and thrust forward his usual gift to her…a big box of Pampers.
Kagome blinked, "Uh…"
"I hope that these will fit him!" Hojo began cheerily, "I bought them a little bit too big for you intentionally. I don't know how old your baby is so I just got something for young toddlers because that means that one day he will be able to fit into them! That way they can't be useless because he's outgrown that size already…"
Gotta go! See ya next time!