Chapter 5

To the guest who asked a bunch of questions about the story, I'm not sure if the questions were rhetorical, but if I do answer the questions, it'll just ruin the story. Again, I do not know if they are rhetorical.

And littlexsiren, Hikaru is a demon of the season, as well as Etsuko, Kikyo, and Kagome. Basically, they can control things that relate to the seasons, but Kikyo has priestess powers.

The kids all took a walk through the garden, deciding that it was good to get to know one another. Of course, the twins expressed their displeasure with this, and Sesshomaru gave no input, so it was unanimous.

Aki and Akio were talking among themselves about the selection of flowers. Kikyo and InuYasha were talking about their families, Kagome and Kaoru were talking about small things, with Kagome doing most of the talking and occasionally picking flowers from the wall of flowers running along the edge of the garden to give them to Kaoru. Kouga was standing behind them, watching the interaction with a smile. Sesshomaru was standing behind the group, bored out of his mind. He sighed, rolling his eyes.

How much longer must we stay in this place? He thought to himself. Kagome noticed this and looked to her new friend.

"I'll talk to you later." She said. Kaoru nodded and turned to her brother to show him the bouquet of flowers she received. Kagome jogged to Sesshomaru, and began to walk beside him.

"Hi Sesshomaru." She said with a small wave and a bright smile. Sesshomaru looked down at her.

"Hn."

"You don't like to talk much, do you?" She asked him. Sesshomaru looked away. Kagome giggled.

"That's alright, I can do all the talking. I always do!" She said, laughing.

Kagome proceeded to talk about her life. He was told that she had never met her mother as she had died during birthing, something that he already knew. He was told about her favorite things, like her favorite flower was a hydrangea, her favorite tea was green tea with a splash of honey (apparently, these were her mother's favorite things too). Her favorite animal was a dog, her least favorite was anything that was slimy. Her favorite season was spring, because that was when all the flowers were in bloom. Her voice seemed to drift away as he was no longer paying attention to what she was saying.

"...my sister is always mean to me-" He snapped to attention when he heard that. He looked down at her.

"What was that?" He asked her. She looked up at him in confusion before speaking up again.

"Oh. I was saying that my sister is always so mean to me. She always blames our mother's death on me. But my father says it wasn't my fault. Kikyo also says that ever since I was born, everyone had ignored her. She says I ruined her life." Kagome explained, eyes downcast. They became bright again as she looked at Kikyo talking to InuYasha.

"But I'm glad that she has someone to talk to now." She said.

Sesshomaru couldn't understand why Kikyo would hate such a creature like Kagome. She was full of so much happiness and love, he felt that even he was being cast under her spell. She'd already gotten the attention of Kouga and Kaoru and now himself. It was only a matter of time that the twins and InuYasha would be caught in her bubble of sunshine and happiness.

"In fact," Sesshomaru was pulled out of her thoughts when Kagome spoke up. "I'm going to give her a gift!" She exclaimed. She looked up at him. "Kikyo just loves red and white roses. She's in a good mood now, maybe she'll be nicer to me after today." She said with a bright smile. They had walked into the part of the garden that was filled with red roses. She walked to either side of them, carefully picking out only the best roses. Once she could no longer carry anymore roses, she ran back to Sesshomaru.

"Is this good?" He looked down at the red roses.

"All of these are red. Did you not say that she loved red and white roses?" Sesshomaru questioned. Kagome looked down at the bouquet and smiled.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." She began to touch some of the roses and he watched in fascination as they turned white. Sesshomaru had never watched a Demon of the Season in action. They were such a rare species that the Southern family along with a few others that were in hiding were the only known ones of the species left.

No wonder their garden is so healthy. Sesshomaru thought.

"What about now?" She asked him. He nodded his head.

"I'm sure your sister will believe these to be acceptable." He said. Kagome smiled brightly and ran off to Kikyo.

Kikyo and InuYasha were talking to each other about their own families, Kikyo mostly talking about how her sister was a nuisance. InuYasha was hesitant to believe her, especially when she told him that Kagome was the cause of their mother's death. He had heard that their mother died during Kagome's birth, so it couldn't have been her fault. He had voiced his opinion to her, but Kikyo seemed set on believing it was Kagome's fault. He began to partly believe her when she told him that she had been completely ignored since Kagome's birth, and began to tell him times when she was ignored.

"Kikyo!" They turned around when her named was called to see Kagome jogging up to them with a bouquet of red and white roses in her hands. She stopped when she got beside them. She held out the bouquet to Kikyo.

"I got these for you." She said with a bright smile. Kikyo grabbed the flowers and looked at them before looking to Kagome. Kagome giggled lightly.

"I know that you like red and white roses so I gathered some for you. I hope you like them." She said before walking away. InuYasha and Kikyo continued to walk after a moment.

"Are you sure that's the same sister you were talking about?" InuYasha said with a chuckle. "She doesn't seem like an attention hog to me. If anything, she's just a big ray of sunshine." He said, looking behind him at Kagome who was talking to one of the twins. Kikyo looked back at Kagome and her eyes narrowed, her face becoming stony.

"I'm positive that's the same girl." She said, throwing the bouquet away into a nearby bush.

Kagome was stopped in her path back to Sesshomaru by Akio.

"Kagome." She looked up into his red eyes. "You wouldn't mind me asking you a few questions?" He asked her. Kagome shook her head.

"Good." He said. They began to walk side by side.

"I couldn't help but overhear your sister's and InuYasha's conversation. Answer me this, what is your relationship with your sister?" He asked. Kagome looked down.

"Well..." Akio rested his hand on her head.

"Come on Kagome. You can tell me." Kagome looked up at him.

"Uh, Kikyo doesn't exactly, like me." She said. Akio nodded his head. "She's never spent time with me. The only times we've been around each other are when we are eating. She even said that when I was a baby, and she had to watch after me, she would leave me with the maids." Kagome explained, eyes downcast.

"And why is that?" He asked.

"She blames me for our mother's death."

"Yes, I heard that your mother died during your birth. But that should not be your fault." He said. Kagome shrugged.

"She also says that I'm an attention hog." She said, rubbing her shoulders. Akio raised his eyebrow, signaling for her to go on.

"Well, our father has been spending time with her for a while. I guess that has to do with me." She said. Akio shook his head.

"Women are strange." He mumbled under his breath, making Kagome giggle.

"Do you have any other questions?" She asked him. He shook his head again.

"You can go." He turned away from her. Kagome shrugged and walked back to Sesshomaru and she started talking about mindless things again. Akio felt eyes on the back of his head and looked over his shoulder to see his brother Aki, who was walking with Kouga and Kaoru, looking at him with an eyebrow raised. Akio shrugged his shoulders and looked forward again, eyes closing slightly.

Aki had been listening to his brother talk to the strange child. He had wondered why his brother had told him to go talk to the Eastern children. Now, he was wondering why the hell his brother wanted to talk to the girl in "privacy" when it was obvious that there would be no type of privacy. He shrugged it off as one of his brother's plans that were not thought through. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Kouga spoke up.

"So why are you still here? Your brother is done talking with Kagome, you can go back now." He said. Deciding that he wanted to have a little fun, he began to tease the wolf.

"You know," he began. "I heard from my mother that Kaoru and I might be future mates." He said wiggling his eyebrows. Aki was always the more outgoing, confident one of the twins. He liked to tease people while Akio was calm and reserved. He only talked when he felt it necessary (or when he was finishing his brother's sentences). Though Akio couldn't deny that even he enjoyed teasing people. Kaoru blushed and Kouga growled, pulling his sister away from the dragon.

"You better watch it boy." Kouga growled out. Aki laughed and winked at Kaoru.

"I'm sure we'll see more of each other." He said, walking back to his brother. He laughed as Kouga let out a string of curses in his direction.

Yes, the kids were getting to know each other well.