InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Changes ❯ Zoo ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or its characters. Besides, I'm a poor, jobless, college student, all you're going to get is ramen.

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“KAGOME!” Souta yelled as he bounded onto her bed. “Wake up! We've got a lot to do! I wanna go to the zoo and the arcade and rollerblading, and swimming…”

 

The sleeping Kagome just groaned as her younger brother went on about the plans he had made for the day, just wishing for another few minutes of sleep. As a last resort, Kagome pulled the blankets over her head, hoping Souta would get the point and leave her be for the time. Souta wouldn't have it though.

 

Grinning, he made a mad dash for the freezer downstairs. He pulled up a chair to the freezer and pulled out a bad of small marbles from the back of the freezer. After pushing his chair back in place, he ran upstairs, then tiptoed into his sister's room. `If this doesn't get her, I don't know what will' he thought to himself as he silently lifted the side of her covers. He poured the entire bag of frozen marbles underneath the covers, all automatically rolling towards the middle where her body sunk into the mattress, then ran out of her room to watch the excitement from the safety of the hallway. Souta knew his sister wasn't much of a morning person and that she would be reluctant to wake up so early. So the night before he had taken his bag of marbles and hidden it in the very back of the freezer to let them chill for the night.

 

“EEK! Souta!!! What the hell did you do?” Kagome screamed as she tried to get away from the coldness that was attacking her side. She tried to roll away from them, but as she shifted her weight, the marbles followed. Frustrated that she couldn't get away from whatever was attacking her, she jumped out of bed and looked down to see fifteen small marbles clinking together where she had just been sleeping. `I'm gonna kill him!' she thought to herself.

 

“What is all the commotion in here? And, Kagome, you KNOW better then to use that language around your little brother!” Their mother scolded as she walked in to the room.

 

“Did you see what the little twerp did?” Kagome asked as she pointed to the offending objects still lying on her bed.

 

“Well, you shouldn't have slept in then. Her mother replied, as Souta smirked from the doorway. “I think it's pretty clever myself. Just think, if you ever get around to having kids, you already know how to get them out of bed.” Then getting a more somber look on her face, her mother continued, “Kagome… I don't mean to pry, or pressure you, but I've been wondering about this for a while now. You've been off conquering the world for the last ten years, and you know we are all so very proud of you. I hate to sound so mother-ish, but when are you going to settle down? I would like to see grandbabies while I'm still young enough to enjoy them.”

 

“I don't know, Momma. I'm starting to feel like something's missing. I guess, whenever I find the right guy. I just haven't found him, yet.” Kagome replied, staring off into space. “I guess now is a good a time as any to let you know that Inuyasha asked me for a date last night.” She continued as she watcher her mother from the corner of her eyes.

 

Her mother gave a knowing smile before telling Kagome, “I figured as much. Since he moved down the street, he's been asking about you. And that Shippo of his, now he's a delight to have around in the afternoons. Him and Souta normally walk home from school together, and Shippo stays here until Inuyasha gets off of work. I'm sure you'll adore him once you meet him.

 

Kagome had a feeling there was more to it then her mother was letting on, but Souta bounced back into her room before she had a chance to voice her opinion. “Hurry up, Sis!” Souta exclaimed as he hopped from one foot to another impatiently. “I'm ready to go!” With that, Kagome shooed her mother and brother out of her room, and readied herself for the day.

 

She considered calling up Inuyasha, and inviting him and Shippo along for the day, but decided against it. Today would be all about Souta. As she made her way down the last few steps to the first floor, she almost fell backwards as Souta attached himself to her once again. “It's about time! Let's go, the zoo opens up in one hour, and I want to be there when the gates open!”

 

Kagome just chuckled as she made her way out the door, with her brother still attached. The day turned out to be wonderful. They arrived at the zoo just in time to see the hawks performing tricks and routines for a woman that looked vaguely familiar to Kagome. Kagome watched the red-headed young woman who was motioning different commands to the birds with ease. As the brother and sister got closer to the stage, Kagome was able to see the woman's face. In her mind's eye, she saw a younger version of the woman, but now, instead of the long pony-tails that hung on either side of her head, the woman was sporting a red braid that hung low on her back.

 

The show ended before much longer with the main hawk swooping once more over the audience before landing on his mistress's outstretched arm and chattering his farewell to the audience. The woman and bird bowed before exiting the stage. Kagome followed the woman, with Souta close in tow. “Ayame!” she yelled out, trying to get the woman's attention. “Over here!”

 

Seeing where the voice was coming from, Ayame waved, and motioned that she would be over in a moment. “Souta, that is one of my other friends, Ayame. She was a year younger then me, but she still hung out with us every chance she had.”

 

“Kagome!” Ayame said as she appeared next to them, and hugged her old friend. “What are you doing here?”

 

“Well, I was in town, and I try and do something special with my brother Souta here every time I come to town, so here we are. Are you a trainer here?”

 

“Me? Well, yea, that's one of my jobs. I'm actually the head zookeeper at this zoo. I run the place. Paperwork gets boring though, and I try to keep my hands in everything that goes on around here.”

 

“Wow, I knew you'd end up working with animals from the first time I saw you volunteering at that shelter.” Kagome said with a laugh.

 

“Tell you what, how would you two like a behind-the-scenes tour of the zoo, I'll even let you help me feed some of the animals if you want to Souta.”

“Yea! Sounds like fun!”

 

Kagome and Souta followed Ayame around the zoo, stopping at each of the cages and listening to the stories about each animal. “Each one has a distinct personality. That lioness over there, she's a sweetheart, but she has to get her slab of meat first or she'll try and fight the others. This cub over here seems to know when there's a crowd around. She'll climb up the rocks and start doing her antics trying to draw attention to herself.”

 

Ayame filled Kagome in on how she had finally captured Kouga for herself, and about the jealousy she'd felt towards the attention Kouga had given Kagome all those years ago. “You know, I think he was trying to make me jealous by doting on you. I finally gave up on him, and went on a date with Hinten, which made Kouga think I was over him. He didn't like that as much as he thought he would. I made him work to get me back after that, but he did, and now he's all mine.”

 

“Kouga always was an odd one,” Kagome laughed, “you just had to show him you weren't interested in him to make him be interested in you. Is he going to the reunion tomorrow night?”

“Yeah. He's out of town for a promotion for his latest game right now, but he'll be back in time for the reunion.” Ayame replied as she led them towards the gift shop.

 

“Great, your going with him aren't you?”

“Oh, of course, there's no way I'm letting him near all those crazy woman that you graduated with by himself. I may have won him, but it's a battle to make sure every one else remembers it.” Ayame said with a chuckle. Then she turned towards Souta, “Hey, Souta, pick out anything you want, and it's yours. That's for helping me out with the animals earlier.”

 

“Really? Thanks! That was fun! The monkeys were awesome. That one was sneaky! He stole the food from me from above me!” Souta wandered around the gift shop looking for the perfect gift as the two friends stood talking.

 

“You heard about Kikyo right?”
“Yea, I ran into Inuyasha last night when I got to town. He told me what had happened. I can't believe I didn't hear anything about it.”

“Me either. It was all over the news here, especially since Inuyasha was just starting to make a name for himself. Last time I saw him though, he was looking good. Shippo's grown a lot, too, but he seems a bit sad at times.”

 

“I haven't had the chance to meet him yet. Inuyasha's taking me to dinner tonight, so I'll probably meet him when Inuyasha picks me up since Mom usually baby-sits for him.”

“It's about time he got out. You know that he hasn't dated much since the accident. You always were able to get through to him though. I was actually surprised when he started dating Kikyo, all through school, I thought it would've been you that he was going to ask out.”

 

“We were friends. And I was a bit heartbroken when he did start dating Kikyo, but I was just happy that he was happy. And Kikyo was good for him. I think she kept him in line better then I ever could.” Kagome's smile faded, “I just can't believe she's actually gone. I mean, I'm sure everyone else has come to terms with it now, but it just seems so wrong.”

 

“Look, Kagome! It's a monkey, just like the one that was in the tree earlier.” Souta said as he came running up with a stuffed monkey attached to his neck. “His hands stick together and everything. I want him! Can I have him, Ayame?”

“Sure, he's all yours.”

 

After picking out a couple of t-shirts and hats, the siblings said their good-bye's to their friend, and headed back to Kagome's car. “Well, it's almost two, so we've got a few hours before I have to get ready for tonight. What do you want to do next?”

 

“Lets go to the mall. I want to show you the arcade. I have the top scores in almost all of the games!”

 

So Kagome started the car and set off for their next destination. They stopped and had a late lunch at the food court in the mall before heading over to the arcade.

 

“Look, Kagome! The manager had brought this one special when he found out it featured Inuyasha's old car in it! It's awesome; I use his car every time I play this game!” Kagome watched on as Souta put a coin into the slot and pulled up the car selections. A few presses of the button later, and Inuyasha's old Corvette appeared on the screen, right down to the paint job he had put on the car himself. “Someone said that one of the guys that you and Inuyasha graduated with designed the game, and that's how Inuyasha got his car put in there.”

 

“I'll bet it was Kouga, Ayame said something about him working in the game business.”

 

“Wanna try and beat me? I'll even let you use Inuyasha's car if you want to, his is fast, so that'll give you a better chance at keeping up with me, but I'll still beat you.” Souta said with a grin.

 

“Your on kiddo.” Kagome replied as she put the coins into the machine. After selecting Inuyasha's car, and watching as made his selection, they were off. Souta won the first game easily, and did a dance around his chair before sitting down again.

 

“Okay, let's try again, best two out of three.” Kagome said. This time, Kagome won, then she won another one, leaving Souta's car behind in her dust.

 

“Hey! What happened, did you cheat?” Souta said in disbelief as he stared at the screen.

“Mom never told you how much time I spent at the mall with my friends when I was still in school, did she?” Kagome replied with a smirk. She checked her watch and realized how late it was getting. “Come on kiddo, let's head home so I can get ready.”

 

“Where are you going?”

“Shippo's dad, Inuyasha, is taking me to dinner tonight. We used to be really good friends, and haven't seen each other in a long time.”

“Oh. Are you going to kiss him? Cause that's disgusting. You'll give him your girl kooties!”

“Very funny, Souta. Come on, let's go home.”

 

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“Hey Mom! We're home!”

“Look what I got! I got a monkey, his name is Monkey! The zookeeper gave him to me cause I helped her feed the monkeys and the zebras and the birds and a bunch of other animals. I even got to pet an elephant, it was awesome!”

 

“Well, sounds like you two had fun. Inuyasha called, he's just going to drop Shippo off here when he comes to pick you up. Come on, Souta, let's give Kagome some time to get ready for her date, and you can tell me more about your day.”

 

“Ok, Mom.” He replied as the two walked towards the kitchen. Kagome just shook her head, and looked at her watch. `Oh, crap' she thought as she made a mad dash towards her room.

 

After browsing through her clothes, Kagome settled on a red dress she had bought impulsively, but had not worn yet. She looked herself in the mirror and examined the new dress. The skirt fell to her mid-thighs, swaying with every move she made, while the top clung to her every curve. The neckline dipped just low enough to entice a man without looking slutty. She nodded to herself, happy with the way the dress looked, and went to work on brushing out her hair and giving her hair a few waves.

 

Kagome did not regularly wear make-up, but decided she would for the night since it wasn't often that she dated. As she was applying her make-up, she heard the doorbell ring and her mother call from downstairs.

 

“Inuyasha's here!”

 

 

 

~@Defiant_Rose@~