The sun is far too bright, far too sunny, and the entire day is far too damn chipper for his mood. Satoru crosses his arms. He couldn't sleep last night. Lying in the bed without Kagome felt wrong. Her sweet perfume still clung to the pillows and sheets, and it was all too raw for him to deal with. He spent the entire night hunting down curses. He stormed into Yakeru's shop, but the fox wasn't there—something about being on vacation, or whatever the sign said. The shrine was a dead end, but he figured the spiders were lying to him about Kagome still being there.
"What's wrong with you?" Utahime asks, coming to a stop next to him. She's dressed down in a baseball uniform with the hat to match. Good, he thinks, he'd lose it if she was wearing one of her priestess robes. "Kagome-san finally figure it out?"
"How do you think the demons have been able to survive?"
"Gakuganji said that they were all wiped out. The ones that attacked the school were probably just a freak accident."
"And you believe that?"
Utahime pulls her baseball cap down further. "Is Kagome-san alright?"
Satoru clenches his teeth. "Yes." She has to be okay. If death was what they were after, then they would have hit them harder during the exchange event or killed her yesterday. The probability of if being Shikon related is high, though he is not sure just how they can harness the power of the jewel through Kagome. Hell, he doesn't even know what kind of power the jewel has as it's never been that important of a topic to him.
"Then, no. Either Gakuganji is covering up or he really does not know." Utahime turns to face him, though he keeps his focus on the students joking around with the Kyoto students. "I'll look into it."
"Meow!" Buyo Jr. leaps from the shadows and brushes against his infinity. Satoru narrows his eyes behind his dark shades. He didn't even sense him coming. Was this a Buyo thing or something Megumi could manipulate now?
"Megumi's Shikigami right?" Utahime lowers herself into a squat and holds out a hand for Buyo Jr to sniff. Buyo regards the hand with an air of indifference, seemingly content to stay by Satoru.
"Demon, actually." A range of emotions filters through Utahime's face. If he wasn't in such a piss poor mood, he'd find it funny. But now, he just wants this event to wrap up, so he can continue looking for Kagome.
"Wait, demons are bloodthirsty and ugly like curses, right?"
"Not all of them. Buyo won't hurt you unless you give him reason to like any other living being."
"Meow!" Buyo paws at his infinity.
"Does Megumi know that you're out?" He picks Buyo up by the scruff, ignoring Utahime's gasp of disapproval.
"Meow." Buyo lifts a paw and points it left. Satoru pulls Buyo in closer, his shades slip down his nose as he peers at the nekomata over the rims.
"Is your sense of smell that great?"
"Gojo, what the hell are you talking about?" Utahime stands, dusts her hands off on her pants.
"Tell Megumi that I had to borrow his Shikigami, Buyo," he says, stressing the shikigami word. He sets Buyo Jr. down on the ground and motions for him to walk. For once, Utahime does not argue with him. She gives him a jerky nod. The students will understand. He'll probably get shit from Yaga about dipping out early, but he can handle the repercussions later.
It takes Satoru roughly 30 minutes into their walk to realize that Buyo Jr. is heading towards the apartment, so he scoops his furry companion up and walks into the nearest alleyway, away from inquiring eyes. "If I'm wrong, you can scratch me later," he says, right before teleporting inside of the apartment. Buyo leaps out of his arms, trots towards the kitchen. The apartment smells of tempura. He holds his breath as he slips out of his shoes, placing them next to hers.
Buyo better not be fucking with him.
"Gome-chan?" he calls out, as he takes measured strides to the kitchen. Each step heavier than the last, as though he's afraid of what he might find.
"You're home!" She comes bustling out of the kitchen with flour coating her cheeks.
"What? How?" He scans her from head to toe, zeroing in on the flow of her energy. He exhales. It is her. He pulls her into his embrace, muffling her response. He's not shaking, he tells himself.
"I killed Yumi."
"Murder is okay," he tells her, placing a kiss on her forehead. Buyo Jr. circles around them, brushing up against Kagome's legs.
"Yakeru's sister."
"Murder is okay," he repeats. Why should he care about Yakeru's sister? "How did you get back? I tried tracking your phone."
"Mhm, I'll need a new one. I have no idea what they did with it. Uh, well, since they took all my stuff, I sold some gold hairpins that Yumi gifted me. I cleaned them off first." Kagome pulls away, a grimace on her face. "I'm an awful person."
"For selling some hairpins?"
"For selling the murder weapons," she says, with a sigh.
"You killed a demon with a hairpin?" He shouldn't laugh, but he can't help it. He would have paid money to see that. He cups her cheeks, leans down to brush his lips against hers. "Proud of you," he murmurs. The smell of burning food stops him from taking the moment further.
"Crap!" Kagome hurries back into the kitchen. Satoru trails behind her and plops down onto one of the chairs. His body sags with relief. There's not even a scratch on her.
"I stand by you staying home. It could be fun. You can greet me wearing that cute little apron, and I don't have to worry about someone trying to kidnap you."
"What's stopping someone from breaking into our home?" Kagome sets a plate of the unburned pieces of tempura down in front of him and places a bowl of rice to the side.
"You can set up a barrier, right? Yakeru mentioned it once when he stopped by the school."
"I guess that could work on the home front," she replies, sitting down next to him. "But let's pretend for a moment that I go along with this stay-at-home fantasy. I still need to go out for groceries and other errands. You can't be with me all the time." She picks up the chopsticks and holds out a piece of meat for him.
"Hire bodyguards," he quips before taking a bite. He chews mechanically, noting how she isn't eating. She looks tired, though that is to be expected. It probably took her some time to escape, find a place to sell those hairpins, and then catch a train back home. "So, Yakeru betrayed us?"
"No, Yumi was acting apart from him. She hated how he fawned over me because of the Shikon." She holds out another piece of meat for him to eat. "She was working with Naraku since the other foxes like me too much."
"If it's about the jewel, why didn't Naraku try to take you himself?"
"Uh, well. I don't think Naraku knew she was planning on kidnapping me." She darts her eyes away.
"Gome-chan, look at me," he commands.
"Is it possible to have Shoko-san check me out? I know I'm a sorcerer…" she looks everywhere but at him, wringing her hands. He scoots his chair closer and takes her hands into his.
"Did they touch you?"
"No. They actually set me up in a pretty comfortable room."
"Then why do you need to see Shoko?"
"Yumi didn't kidnap me because of the jewel. I just want a visual confirmation, just to be sure." Satoru glances at her stomach.
"Because of the small amount of cursed energy coming from you?" He squeezes her hands gently.
"There's cursed energy coming from me?"
"Yeah… I figured it's because that special grade managed to taint it."
"I purified the jewel right after that happened." Buyo Jr. jumps up on the table and swipes his remaining tempura pieces. The plate clatters and rice spills out on the table. "He's lost all of his manners," Kagome complains.
"Ah, I think Buyo said that you were taking too long." He pulls her attention away from the mess on the table. "It's just me."
Kagome sucks in a breath and nods to herself. "I'm like 99% sure that Yumi was telling the truth as it's the whole reason why she kidnapped me in the first place." She wets her lips before speaking. "I might be pregnant."
Satoru takes in a shaky breath, hunches his shoulders forward, and gives Kagome a wide smile. "So, stay at home mom it is."
A/N: Thank you everyone for your reviews. It was a tough week for me, but you guys helped me push through. Thank you for all of your support and sticking with the story, even though Satoru highjacks the story from time to time. Have a good week everyone :)