Family Game Night Prologue
It was a quiet evening in the Sengoku era. Cooling off comfortably, after the heat of an early summer day, everyone was intent on their own amusements. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru had combined their respective packs in order to find and destroy Naraku. Tonight, they were far from any settlements, but there were currently no shards detected, no enemies to fight. Caught up on her homework, for once, Kagome closed her text book with a sigh.
"What ails you this time, miko?", queried Sesshoumaru, staring at her from his seat against a tree trunk.
"What?!", Kagome stammered, "Oh! Nothing, really, I'm fine. I'm just, well, ummm, missing my family tonight. It's Thursday. But we're too far from the Bone well to scoot home."
"Is this a day of significance? A feast day? A memorial?" probed the daiyouki.
"No, no that's not it. Thursdays are family game night", she replied.
"Family game night", Sesshoumaru repeated slowly, as if tasting each word and finding them lacking. "What does that mean?"
"It's our family tradition that on Thursday nights, after we've finished chores and homework, we play games together as a family. They can be simple card games, or board games or word games. Souta, my little brother, likes to play video games, but the rest of us don't enjoy those as much." Sensing that Sesshoumaru might be getting a bit impatient with her rambling, Kagome hurriedly continued her explanation. "Most of the time when I'm here on a Thursday, it's because we're busy resting after a fight, or we're in a village helping Miroku with one of his schemes, or we're close enough to Kaede's village that I can just go home for game night. Tonight, it's just so quiet and I'm feeling like I'm missing something."
"It seems as though you will continue with your disquiet as long as your need for 'game night' is unfulfilled." Looking around the encampment, he said "Do you not have a family here that will play with you?"
Following his gaze, Kagome saw Rin and Shippo coloring with crayons in the coloring books she had brought for them from modern times.
"You're right!", she exclaimed, "I have family here. I'm going to introduce them to Thursday family game night. They may be too young for Go or Shogi or Gin, but they are old enough for Tic-Tac-Toe or maybe even checkers! Thanks, Sesshoumaru."
With that, she leapt up, hurried over to the two children, and began instructing them on the rules for Tic-Tac-Toe.
"Hmmm, not only is she literate, the miko has knowledge of the Game of Kings and also of Go", thought Sesshoumaru. "These are skills only the aristocracy are taught. Perhaps there is more to the miko than I originally thought. Intriguing. I believe I shall indulge her need in this 'family game night' to see what other games she has learned."
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the related characters. Inuyasha is created by Rumiko Takahashi and owned by the author and the studios/publishers that she has designated. This story is intended for entertainment purposes only. I am not making any profit from this story. All rights of Inuyasha belong to its owner.