InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Birth Marks ❯ Seeds for change ( Chapter 42 )

Chapter 42: Seeds For Change

 

Disclaimer: I would have thought this before: I obviously don't own Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho.

 

Last time: Holding up a hand up, she grinned at Kurama, “No, that's okay. I have it.” She shifted her bag to a more comfortable position and left, “I don't want to disturb your conversation,” she commented lightly and closed the door. What the boys didn't see was Kagome's grim expression as she turned toward the stairs.

 

This time: “Kagome, honey, are you okay?” Gin asked, looking into Kagome's face as she came down the stairs. Standing up, Gin reached to stroke her daughters face, but she was pushed away gently by her daughter's delicately clawed hand.

 

“Yeah mom, I'm fine. Just thinking, that's all.”

 

“It doesn't look like `just thinking' to me; what's bothering you?”

”I-I,” Kagome hated lying to her mother, “I just overheard the boys talking, that's all.” Kagome gave her mother a bright smile, though her eyes brimmed with unshed tears of worry, “Yusuke's boss doesn't give him much of a break lately. He has a mission to obser—look after something when he gets better.” She wasn't lying technically, just not telling her mother what the real cause of her worry was. That was as good as the truth, right?

 

Gin gave Kagome a skeptical look, her head tilted into her closed palm, “whatever you say Kagome. When you want to tell me what really happened, you know where to find me.” Kagome gave her mother a watery smile and hugged her tightly.

 

“I wish I could tell you.” She murmured, almost below her mother's human hearing range, as she pulled away. Swiping her moist eyes, Kagome went into the kitchen to get Yusuke and Kurama's soup. Dropping her bag by the back door, Kagome tossed the cabinet's stock of ramen by her bag before reaching toward the pocky and other various snacks and supplies that her mother had hidden within the depths of the cabinet dedicated to Kagome's travels into the past.

 

Pursing her lips briefly, Kagome looked at her bag and its contents strewn all over the table before taking the soup up to the boys. Standing in front of her own door, Kagome sighed in exasperation and bent down to put down one of the soup bowls so that she could open the door, or at least knock. Halfway down, Kurama opened the door and gracefully took the bowls before she spilled them on the carpet. “Careful, `Kaa-chan, I don't think you'd like the smell of soup in your carpet.” He gave her a teasing smile and turned to put the bowls on her side table. Brandishing two spoons stuck handle-first in her jeans pocked, she handed the utensils to Kurama.

 

“Do you need anything from the store Yusuke? I have to get some more ramen and other stuff for my next trip.” At the mention of the well, Yusuke turned a shade of pale green.

 

Shaking his head to bring his coloring back to normal, Yusuke looked into the soup that he idly stirred in his bowl. “Well, I guess I owe Auntie Gin a meal now, don't I? Can you bring back the usual groceries? I'll pay you back when I get my next paycheck, okay.”

 

“You know you don't owe us anything, but if you insist… do you want me to pick up chicken or beef this time?”

 

“Do you know if the unagi is in season? If it is, could you pick up some.” Yusuke said thoughtfully, “if not, the usual cut of beef.”

 

“Unagi? Are you sure you want to try it with eel?” Yusuke shrugged and smiled.

 

“I said that I'd pay you back, cousin, and I meant it. Besides, you don't spend your money on anything but the cheap stuff anyway.”

 

Trying to dissuade her cousin, Kagome turned toward Yusuke and frowned at him. “If I get unagi, you have to use it tonight and I doubt that Kurama-kun would let you out of bed.

 

“Actually…” he faltered briefly as Kagome leveled a stern look at him, “Yusuke can get up in a couple of hours safely. His body recovered from the time-travel already and his energy just needs to restore to its usual levels and he'll be good as new.” Kagome growled in frustration and threw her hands up into the air before turning around and exiting.

 

“Fine, be that way. Don't expect me to catch you when you pass out in the kitchen!”

 

“I don't want you in the kitchen anyway, water-burner.” Yusuke goaded, sounding almost exactly like Inuyasha, just without the `feh' in the beginning.

 

Kagome's growling ceased and she turned around, pinning Kurama with a cavity-inducing face. “Kurama-kun, would you like to stay for dinner tonight? I'm sure that Yusuke,” she shot a warning glare at her cousin, which he shot right back, flicking his eyes to Kurama briefly, “wouldn't mind making enough for you also.”

 

Kurama gave Kagome a winning look, “I must decline this time, `Kaa-chan. My human mother wishes to have dinner with the entire family tonight and I am afraid that I must leave soon or I'll be late.” Kagome nodded with a genuine, but disappointed, smile on her face.

 

“I will see you again soon, okay?” Kagome asked, giving her adopted son a hug, “and be nice to the poor woman that can deal with you.” Kurama nodded and hugged Kagome back.

 

“Here's my number,” Kurama handed Kagome a card with his number and address on it. “I live on the other side of Tokyo, so maybe we could meet somewhere in the middle next time.”

 

Kagome nodded, studying the card “Shuichi Minamino? I heard about you when I'm able to manage to go to school. I think Eri's in your official fan club's branch at my school.” Blushing, Kurama sputtered as he tried to explain himself but Kagome waved him off. “I'm just giving you a hard time, Kurama-kun; now go before your mother starts worrying about you, okay? It takes a while to cross town, you don't want to be late.” Nodding dumbly, Kurama allowed Kagome to push him out the front door with a smile.

 

“Oh, Kaa-chan, when are you going back?” he asked swiftly before the door was shut on him. Kagome shrugged and leaned on the partially open door.

 

“I don't really know. I was thinking of staying tonight and heading out tomorrow morning sometime. It all really depends on Inuyasha though.” Kurama nodded and turned to leave.

 

“Call when you get back, okay. Maybe we can go on a `date' Mama,” Kagome couldn't help but laugh at the teasing tone in Kurama's voice, as well as the wink he gave during his offer.

 

“It's a `date' then Kurama-kun.” Kurama waved over his shoulder and headed down the shrine steps two at a time.

 

Going back inside, Kagome grabbed her purse and her mother's grocery list and headed to the local store to pick up the night's ingredients. “… Unagi…” she mused, shrugging, “he must have been experimenting at Keiko's parents' restaurant again.” Shrugging, Kagome couldn't complain. Unagi was relatively cheap this time of year and it tasted good also. Skipping halfway down the steps, she decided to slide down the smooth side edges of the stair well. It had been a while since she had felt the rush of racing down the slide opposite of Yusuke or Souta on their way out to do something. There had even been a time a few years ago that Yusuke lived with his cousins and went to the same school. Atsuko, Yusuke's mother, was having a few issues and her sister had invited both to stay with her a while. Atsuko stayed, saying that she had to deal with her own problem and, from what Kagome could tell at the time, had all but rejoiced when Yusuke `the worthless kid' had left to stay with Gin and the rest of the family.

 

Jumping into the grass before the bottom of the stairs, Kagome avoided hitting the Torii pole head-on. Experience had told her that hitting the pole at any speed hurt. Turning left at the sidewalk, Kagome headed to the nearest store that she knew would sell all of the things she needed to get for the night. She couldn't help but smile, for she was a typical teenage girl at heart, `time to shop.'

 

(O)

 

“Kagome!” Gin called, peering out of the kitchen toward the front door, wiping her hands dry, “Can you come here a moment.” Kagome froze, half way to the front door, big yellow bag in hand.

 

“Yes Momma?” glancing to the front door, she cringed at the tongue-lashing that she'd get from Inuyasha for making everyone wait. What was the big deal anyway? It's not like they had to worry about beating Naraku to the last jewel shards anymore. Dropping her bag, Kagome faced her mother and tried to smile, but she only managed a grimace.

 

“Do you think you could run out and get some kitty litter really quick? I forgot to put it on the list before you went out shopping last night.” It wasn't a request; it was an order to stall Kagome from going over to the other side of the well. She couldn't help but groan as she took the bills that Gin held out for the purchase and sulk out the front door.

 

It was a beautiful day outside and the modern era tended to reflect the weather in the feudal era on most days. Inuyasha would have liked to head out and travel early on this type of day, before the heat of the day stole their energy during the noon hours. Inuyasha would be no doubt waiting for her in the modern era by the time that she got back from finding the special brand that Buyo used and refused to use any other brand. Grabbing the biggest bag she could that the bills that Gin gave her could pay for, she bought the kitty litter and headed home, sneezing once or twice as her sensitive nose picked up the scent of sawdust and cramped animals in the confined space of the pet store.

 

“I'll carry that for you,” a set of hands grabbing the bag out of her hand snapped her out of her stupor. Staring up at the face that her mind said should have belonged to Hojo; she was surprised that Kurama was the one that had said the Hojo-like phrase.

 

“Hojo, I can deal with my own—oh, Kurama-kun, what are you doing on this side of town this early?” Kagome allowed Kurama to carry the kitty litter bag and led her back to the shrine.

 

“I wanted to catch you before you left and your mom said that you were still asleep, so I hoped...”

 

“You can call her Obaa-chan if you want, it would just make her day if you did that,” Kagome interrupted, climbing up the stairs. “Now why did you come so early again?” shifting the bag of kitty litter to free one arm, Kurama dug into his side pocket.

 

“I wanted to catch you before you left so I could give you this,” he said, holding up a small simple satchel filled with something. “Actually, I want you to give this to my younger self...” he fidgeted slightly, “say it's from a friend.” Seeing Kagome's questioning look, he put the bag down on a nearby bench so that he could pour some of the contents of the smaller bag into his hand. “They're seeds. I spend most of last night picking which ones to give to… myself, for starting my plant training. There are mostly rose seeds that I've worked on crossbreeding over the years, and there's a few others that might come in handy eventually.” He pointed out the miniscule seeds that looked like black dots in his hands. “I hope that's okay, Okaa?” Kurama looked up from the seeds to seek approval in his mother's eyes. She nodded faintly, taking the tightly closed satchel and storing it in her pant pocket.

 

“I'm going to leave you soon, won't I?” biting his lip, Kurama picked up the bag of kitty litter and walked the rest of the way to the house with Kagome trailing behind. “Shippou-kun, what's going to happen, please tell me.”

 

Looking away, Kurama deposited the kitty litter bag next to the shoe rack inside the door. “I'm sorry mother, I can't tell you.”

 

“You can't or you won't.” Kagome put her hand on his shoulder and he turned away.

 

“A little of both. I don't know when it'll happen, or even what happened. All I know is that Inuyasha told me not to tell you anything.” Firming her gaze, Kagome hugged her son.

 

“Thank you Kurama-kun. I hope that I'll be able to see you soon, alright?” vaguely nodding, Kurama shut the door behind himself and walked off of the shrine grounds. Hugging herself, Kagome closed her eyes and faced the door, trying to calm her breathing and heart rate.

 

“Kagome, honey, are you okay?” turning, Kagome gave her mother a watery smile and wiped one of her eyes.

 

“Yeah momma, I'm fine. I'm going to go get dressed and go now, okay?” giving her daughter an unsure smile, Gin nodded and moved off to the side of the hallway.

 

“Kagome, you know that I'll always be right her for you, okay?” hugging her mother briefly, Kagome muttered an `I love you' and ran up the stairs to her room.

 

Quickly getting dressed in the feudal attire, Kagome held up her haori and decided to leave it on the bed. If she was eventually going to disappear, she was going to leave one of her most valuable things behind so that her mother could take care of it. Leaving her window unhitched, Kagome left out her door, only stopping briefly to stare at her mother in the kitchen and to grab her large yellow bag. Little satchel in hand and large backpack strapped to her back, Kagome jumped down into the well before she lost her nerve to the possibility of never seeing her family again. “No, that's not true. Inuyasha and the others are my family also.” Landing in the bottom of the well, Kagome jumped out and landed safely on the grass in the meadow. “One thing I have to say about being a hanyou, I don't have to climb out of the well anymore.”

 

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Kagome sniffed the surrounding area. She gave herself a small smile. Everyone was at the village this time of the morning, helping Kaede make some of the stew from the previous night into porridge with rice to thicken it. From the smell of it, Shippou and Inuyasha had stayed the night, but had only left an hour or so beforehand. Taking the trek at a slow pace to calm her nerves, Kagome smiled as she neared the village. Various farmers that were at first wary of her change (and even before that the fact that she wore strange clothes) waved at her as they looked up from weeding their rice paddies.

 

“Hello Kagome-sama! You did not come with the others last night?”

 

Kagome shook her head and waved, “Hello Nobisu, good to see you again. I had to take care of something last night, but I'm here now!” Kagome walked off before the villager could keep talking. He was a kind villager, but Kagome was wary of allowing him to talk more than a greeting after one time of being roped into helping him weed his patty once. That was one thing that she would like to avoid to do in most cases. Even from the fields on the opposite side of the village, Kagome could smell Kaede's cooking carried on the wind. Smiling, Kagome couldn't wait to see the others even though she had only been gone for an entire day.

 

Inside the hut, Inuyasha tilted his chin up slightly, sniffing the air discreetly. “Kagome-okaa's back!” squealed Shippou, running out to meet Kagome halfway through the village. Kaede looked up at Inuyasha and he nodded and started to get up lazily. Exiting, Inuyasha came back in a few moments later with Kagome's bag flung over his shoulder.

 

“They'll take a while. Kagome wants to talk to Shippou first.” Nodding, Kaede sat the bowl that she had scooped out for Kagome near the fire for it to keep warm.

 

Outside, Kagome hugged Shippou and started to walk back to the Goshinboku. “I was hoping to talk to you, Shippou.”

 

“Am I in trouble Momma?” grinning, Kagome hugged Shippou and tweaked one of his overly-large fox ears.

 

“No, but is there something that I should know about?” fidgeting, Shippou dug one of his paws into the dirt and looked away.

 

“He attacked me first Momma! I didn't mean to hurt him…”

 

“Shippou, what happened?”

 

“We were sparring, Momma, and Kohaku said something… I'm sorry Kagome-okaa.” Kagome nodded, accepting his apology.

 

Reaching the tree, Kagome touched the scar in the bark left by Kikyo's arrow. “Let me tell you a secret Shippou. Only those with a guilty conscious assume that the rest of the world knows that they are guilty. My mother told me that and I'm telling you now. You two were sparring, so of course one or both of you is going to get injured. There's nothing to feel guilty about, just learn to keep your head next time, okay?” Shippou nodded and Kagome scooped him up for a big hug.

 

“Now, the reason I brought you out here was to give you a present from one of my friends in my time. I've told him about you and he thought that you might like this.” Holding out the plain brown bag, Kagome took a pinch of seeds and spread them on her open palm. Shippou didn't look too impressed, but Kagome kept on talking. “They're mostly rose seeds, but there are some other plant seeds in here also that you can use. I don't know what all the seeds can do, so you'll have to learn on your own.”

 

“… But I'm a fire-type kitsune momma. I can't use these seeds. What am I supposed to do with these?”

 

Kagome shrugged, hiding a small smile. “Use them. I've heard of youkai being able to train themselves to use powers that they were not born with, especially after acquiring exposure to the opportunity to use different elements. I've even heard of some kitsune changing their element as they have gotten older, so it's not that unheard of.” Pouring the seeds back into the satchel, Kagome kept one seed out and placed it into Shippou's paw. “Why don't you just try to sense the seed for now and if you can't, I'll give the seeds back, okay.

 

“Do you know why I brought you here?” she didn't let him answer, “I brought you here because this tree represents new beginnings for me. With Naraku gone, there will eventually be different things out there that you have to fight, whether physically or mentally, and I hope that you'll be able to face them and win. Just know that if I can't be there for you physically, I'll always be there in your heart.” She touched his heart and smiled. “I know that I'll never be able to fight for you forever, but I have a feeling that my friend was right about using plants. Just try it for now, okay?”

 

Closing his eyes dutifully, Kagome wrapped her hands around his paw and concentrated. She pushed her ki into her hands enough to be able to sense the seed that Shippou grasped. She felt the seed latch onto her ki and react, bursting from its protective outer shell. Drawing back her ki and hands, Shippou stared down into his paw and saw the miniscule plant that started to grow. Slowly at first, the thorn-less vine wrapped around his hand and up his arm. Stopping midway, it soon withered and disintegrated, leaving nothing behind. Frowning at his hand, Shippou held up the lack of plant for her to see.

 

“See, my friend was right, wasn't he?”

 

“Is he a kitsune like me, I smell a kitsune hanyou on you.” Digging out another rose seed, Shippou tried again to get the rose vine to grow. This time is was slightly more difficult without Kagome's help.

 

“Actually, he's a kitsune avatar and a friend of Uncle Yusuke. I've actually met him only a few times and he reminded me of you. I told him about you and he gave me some of the seeds that he uses to fight with.”

 

Shippou looked surprised, “he can fight with plants?”

 

Kagome nodded her head, “Yes, Yusuke told me all about how he could fight with plants, although I've never really seen him fight before, I heard that he was a really good fighter too. Maybe you might get to meet him someday if you're good, okay?” nodding, Shippou put the seeds away as his second rose vine exploded in his grasp. “Don't worry, you just have to practice keeping your energy levels steady and you'll be able to keep the plants longer.” Sniffing, Kagome couldn't help but smile. “We should go, I think breakfast's ready.” Shippou nodded and leapt up to race Kagome back to the village, but staggered and tripped before he could get too far.

 

Kagome couldn't help but to laugh at Shippou's misfortune. “Be careful Shippou, you used too much energy with the seeds. I guess we have to work on energy moderation now, don't we?” Kagome smiled and picked up Shippou. “But first, breakfast!” Kagome leapt off, back to the village.

 

Walking into the hut, Inuyasha looked up from the corner as Kagome walked in with Shippou in her arms. “I can smell the runt from your time. What was he doing in the shrine?”

 

“Yusuke got sick because of the time travel and Shuichi is a friend of his that just happens to be a plant user that knows some medicinal herbs to help him.” Glancing down at Shippou in her arms, she warned Inuyasha silently not to bring up the fact of Shippou being in her time in front of the kit.

 

Nodding toward the fire pit, Inuyasha pointed attention to Kaede. “Obaa saved you food if you didn't have breakfast yet.” Taking the bowl from Kaede, Kagome thanked the old woman and sat down to eat.

 

“Yusuke-sama got ill?” Miroku prompted, waiting until Kagome had finished most of her meal. “Does he not have both human and demon blood in him also?”

 

Kagome nodded and set her hashi across the top of her bowl. “Yusuke's not exactly hanyou, but he does have diluted human blood in him… but I don't think that was the entire issue. Yusuke's just more sensitive to it since he doesn't have direct demon/human parents, I think, I think that the well's time stream might be collapsing.” Her revelation was met with silence.

 

“That does make sense Kagome-sama. How much time do you think you have left with us?”

 

Kagome looked Miroku in the eyes, trying not to cry. “I don't know. I honestly don't know. This could be my last trip, or I could be able to use the well for another year or more. I don't know.” Sango hugged her sister, shedding tears that Kagome couldn't manage.

 

“Sango-chan, I just hope that I'm able to help with the wedding before I'm unable to use the well anymore.”

 

“Wedding?” Sango asked in mild shock, wiping a tear from her cheek.

 

“Yours and Miroku's. Since there's nothing really stopping you now from getting married, right?” Sango glanced over to Miroku and blushed.

 

“Well…”

 

“Great! I brought some magazines from my time to help you with your decisions. Do you want a traditional wedding, or do you want to try something from my time?”

 

“your time…?”

 

“Have you picked out what your wedding rings are going to be like? The design of your kimono?

 

“Rings…?” Sango gave Miroku a pleading glance as she attempted to stop Kagome's wedding plan rampage, but the girl was too far gone, showing different earmarked pages that showed various women in different dresses and holding bouquets of flowers.

 

“Um… Lady Kagome… we were thinking of having my master doing the ceremony after Sango sees if she can recover her family's wedding kimono from her village. We don't really want to burden anybody with anything too large, just a small ceremony.”

 

“But…!”

 

“Please, just something small.” Sighing, Kagome closed the magazines and put them all away except for one. With red felt-tip pen cap clasped in her jaws, she started looking through the book, circling various things and completely ignoring everyone else.

 

“Actually,” Sango cringed when she saw one doggie ear twitch toward her and then turn completely away, “Miroku, Kohaku and I were planning on heading out later today if you hadn't had shown up…”

 

“Go ahead and go. I'm not stopping you.” Kagome looked up from her magazine and smiled a cavity-inducing fake smile, “Have fun out there children! And try not to do anything dangerous, okay?” ducking behind her magazine again, the others got the distinct impression that they were dismissed and Kagome was not happy… maybe it had something to do with how her ears were hidden underneath her hair and the fact that she wasn't even focusing on the magazine any more, but trying to burn holes through it with her vision. She didn't take her magazine down until she heard the humans leave, taking Kirara with them. She didn't see the sad, almost in tears, expression that her sister had in her eyes as they left.

 

Watching them leave, Inuyasha waited until he saw Kirara take off before crawling over to Kagome. “Kagome,” Inuyasha pulled the book away from Kagome's face, smelling her tears. Launching herself at Inuyasha, Kagome started bawling into his haori, unable to contain herself any longer. Startled at first, Inuyasha slowly started running his claws through her hair in an attempt to calm her.

 

“I-I'm ne-ever gonna see them ag-gain-n!” she hiccupped, futilely trying to wipe her tears away. Growling softly, Inuyasha shook his head, “Ev-ery one's-s gonna leave me!”

 

“That's not true, I'm right here.” Inuyasha murmured, placing his chin on her crown.

 

“Ahem!” Kaede cleared her throat as she stood up. “Shippou, why don't ye join me in my rounds?” Shippou took the hint and went out the door with Kaede, leaving the young couple by themselves.

 

Waiting until Kaede and Shippou left, Inuyasha scooped up Kagome and headed out the door. “I promise, I'm not going to leave you, even if it takes 500 years for me to get you back.” Inuyasha kissed Kagome's forehead, sealing his promise forever in his mind.

 

(O)

 

End of this chapter. I promised a friend of mine that she could do a Lemon for this fic, so if you want, you can look for it when I tell you to on a separate Mediaminer file. The next chapter will be the edited (extremely, totally, very edited) version of the lemon when she is able to write it.

 

Thanks for sticking with me through my writer's block!

 

Dark Inu Fan