InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Count the Pretty Spiders ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

Title: Count the Pretty Spiders

 

Author: Anonymous Fangirl

 

Summary: After the death of Kagome's grandfather, she had two options: quite school to help with the shrine, or hire a new priest who will work for room and board. But. . . what's Naraku doing there? (Naraku x Kagome)

 

Rating: Mature. I don't think that you're ready to know why yet. I am going to just. . . ease you all in to the Naraku Kagome pairing. . . give it a chance!

 

Etc: Okay, okay, so I know this is a Naraku x Kagome, but hear me out!

 

Fans: (walk away)

 

Anonymous Fangirl: Okay, so it's not normal. What made you think I was normal? But I can promise you this: You will think twice about hating Naraku by the time this story is finished.

 

Fans: . . . Our interest is piked. . .

 

Anonymous Fangirl: . . . Read and review (And for the love of god. . . Give Naraku a chance!)

 

 

Chapter One

 

She was not crying. Even as she thought it, the tears threatened painfully, burningly, unfamiliarly, Kagome was much to proud to admit that she wanted to cry when the only one who should be crying right now was Sango.

 

Kohaku was dead. Kagome wiped her eyes, and the tears that had managed to gather there were flung from her face in to a dark oblivion before they ever had the chance to fall. Words couldn't describe what she felt. Betrayed. . . hurt. . . like a rock had painfully managed to lodge itself in her throat. . . she shook her head and watched Sango hold her dead brother's body. How must it feel, Kagome wondered, to be the only one left?

 

Kagome would think later that she had been foolish. They all were the only ones of there kind. The last surviving demon slayer from her village, Sango was a work of art. Beautiful enough to shame the most trained of Geisha, and strong enough to save the world alone. But she wasn't alone. Not with the rest of them.

 

Shippo, the orphaned Kitsune. Parents murdered, Shippo, even at the young age of nine, still managed to be the most adult out of all of them, making Kagome often wonder about is age.

 

Miroku, the cursed monk. He wasn't born cursed, but he couldn't remember a time when he wasn't. He couldn't remember when he didn't feel the hell hole tearing at his arm from the inside, begging to be released. Begging to eat him alive. . .

 

Inuyasha- the demon half breed. Now that was one fine one of a kind specimen, Kagome would think with an appreciative nodd. Born in a world where he was shuned for his birthright, he had all of the powers of a demon and the life span of a human. He had once told her that he thought life was a cruel joke for humans. They were put on this planet just long enough to find what they wanted, but not long enough to obtain it. But Kagome thought that he had the crueler fate. Not only did he only have enough time to find what he wanted, he would be able to look back on his younger days as an old man of sixty, and know that if he had been smarter, he had the power to obtain his goals then.

 

And then there was her. The time-traveling, jewel shard detecting, all around super miko Kagome Higurashi. She supposed, if she thought about it out of her own perceptive, she would have seen that while she was worrying about everyone else, she was actually the one who was the most alone. In this time, she was shunned for things she would be praised for in her own time, her worth determined by her status.

 

“Kagome?” Shippo asked as he came over and touched her hand reverantly. “Are you alright?”

 

Kagome smiled. Shippo's tiny clawed hands fit just inside of her palm, the nails frigid and damp from the snow that had gathered beneath them. She nodded. “Of course I am fine, Shippo. Sango is the one who lost her brother, not me.”

 

Shippo nodded. “Yes, but you so recently lost your grandfather. . . I can imagine that it is difficult for you to be here, watching her mourn when you aren't mourning properly yourself.”

 

Kagome shook her head and watched Sango's shoulders quiver twice beneath her thick cotton kimono. “No, Shippo. I'm fine. For now, at least. I'll cry for him later though. I promise.”

 

And when is later. . . The words rung in silence between the two of them. Inuyasha turned to face Kagome, his ears having picked up hers and Shippo's conversation.

 

“Kagome. . . I know that I push you hard a lot, but I don't understand why you stayed here instead of going to your grandfathers funeral. I mean, you're always going for your tests, but he was your grandfather. Shouldn't you have gone to see him be buried?” Inuyasha asked, kneeling besides her.

 

Kagome shook her head. “No. . . I wouldn't have been able to do it. . . I wouldn't have been able to sit there and watch them bury him. . .”

 

Shippo patted Kagome's hand. “We bury people all the time, Kagome. What would they differnce be?”

 

Kagome shook her head. “He was my grandfather. He was annonying, but he was only sixty. He should have lived longer.”

 

Inuyasha took her hand in his and squeezed it reassuringly. “Kagome. . . you need to go home. Your family needs you right now more than we do. There is only one jewel shard left. . . and nobody seems to know where it is. . . why don't you just go home until we pick up a rumor. Then you can confirm it for us.”

Kagome smiled and stood. “No, Inuyasha. I think I should stay. You guys need me too.”

 

Inuyasha growled. “You're just being a coward, Kagome! You need to quite avoiding the facts, and face it! Yur grandfather is dead! Being here, where he's not even alive yet, won't change it! Your family needs you, and where are you? Here, when you should be there.”

 

Kagome felt her eyes begin to swell with tears, but she wouldn't allow him to make her cry. Not when her own grandfather's death hadn't brought tears to her eyes. Not when she sat her, watching Sango cling to her dead brother's lifeless body in agony had not made her cry. She stood quietly, passively, and motioned for Kirere.

 

Kirere lifted her head from her master's knee and bounded over, transforming in a flash of fire as she did so. Kagome smiled. She could always count on Kirere, if no one else. "Kirere, will you take me home?” She asked, petting the fire cat's muzzle affectionately as she did so.

 

Kirere mewled and knelt, so that Kagome could gain access to her back. “Thank you, Kirere.” Kagome said, not giving Inuyasha a backwards glance.

 

 

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When Kagome walked in to her house, so late that night that the moon was nearly setting, making way for the rising sun, she hadn't expected anyone to still be up. But there her mother was, tapping away at a calculator as she shook her head and dried her eyes. Looking around her, Kagome saw a half emptied pot of coffee, indicating that Sasha Higurashi had truly needed to get her work done. Her mother hated coffee, and only drank it when it was absolutely necessary to remain awake. She said the taste was bitter and strong. . . much too strong for Sasha, who preferred to drink lightly flavored fruit drinks.

 

“Mama. . .” Kagome whispered as she took her first step in to the kitchen, flipping on anoter light as he went. It was too dark in here to do anything. “I'm home.”

 

Sasha looked up from her work with a tiny smile playing on her lips. “Thank god. . . I worry so much about you when you're in the past. . .”

 

Kagome nodded and hugged her mother. “I know, mama. I know.” She said, rubbing her mother's hair as if she was the child, instead of the other way around. “What are you doing, this late at night?”

 

Sasha made Kagome let go of her as she gathered a few papers, as if she had forgotten them. “Oh. . . I'm just trying to figure out how I am going to be able to keep this shrine afloat. . . you're grandfather was the one who always ran the businesses, and I worked the finances, so now that he's gone, I have to do both. And with the expenses of the funeral. . .” Sasha said as she shook her head. “I am in deep.” She said with a sigh as she shut off the calculator and rubbed the bridge of her nose, as if deep in thought.

 

“Mama. . .” Kagome said mournfully. “I'm sorry I wasn't tere to help. . . I should have been there to help.”

 

Sasha waved her hand. “Don't be ridiculus. You have your own things to do in the past. We need you to save the world, you know.”

 

Kagome grabbed her mother's hand out of the air. “Mama. . . don't do this. I should have been here, and from now on, I will be.” She said, twisting her mother's hand so that her pinky stuck out and grabbing it with her own.

 

Sasha pulled her hand from her daughter's. “Don't make promises you can't keep, Kagome. You know as well as I do that your new life is in the past . . . with that cute doggie friend of yours, Inuyasha. They're your family as much as I am.”

 

“Yes mama. . . but you were my family first. And Inuyasha understands. Besides, ther's only one jewel shard left. Once the search is over, I can come back here and help you full time.” Kagome said, guiding her mother from the chair and up the stairs to put her to bed.

 

Sasha shook her head tiredly, and Kagome felt the urge to cry swell up in her again. She had never really thought of her mother as old. . . at thirty eight, she was reletively young for a mother of two. But now, as Kagome lead her up the stairs, Kagome thought that she looked every year of her life and more. Lines of worry shaded her eyes, and Kagome felt a little more grown up herself.

 

At the top of the flight of staris, Sasha turned to face her daughter, her expression sober. “Kagome. . .” she began with a frown.

 

Kagome held up her hand to stop her. “Don't argue with me, mamma. I get too much of that from Inuyasha. We'll find a way. I know we will.” She said, heading back down the stairs to finish whatever it wa her mother had been working on. “Go to sleep now. I'll be up in a little while.”

 

Sasha frowned, but nodded, none the less. “Alright. . . but hurry up and go to sleep. You have school in the morning.” She said as she slowly shuffled to her bedroom.

 

Kagome smiled. Her mother had always wanted the best for her children. But then,she thought with a shake of her head, most mothers did.

 

Kagome stared at the papers on the table with exhaustion. How her mother managed to do this, take care of the shrine and Souta was beyond her. Kagome leafed through the papers, the math equations running through her head as she computed the average annual expenses for the care and up keep of the shrine. Kagome groaned. No wonder her mother was up this late, working on it. The math problem always ended with one answer- they had to sell the shrine.

 

Kagome shook her head as she sat down at the table, pulling a sharpened pencil out of the jar they kept them in. That wasn't going to happen. The shrine had been in their family for generations- no, longer than that. The shrine- the well, the grounds, all of it, had belonged to them before the shrine even stood. It was Kagome's link to the past she knew she would soon have to leave. It was her home, and selling it was not an option.

 

Pouring herself a cup of coffee, Kagome began from scratch, trying to see what they could sell or do to make it so that they would have enough money when tax time rolled around.

 

 

 

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And that was how Souta found her in the morning- sitting at the table, tapping away at the calculator in the dim light, just as she had found her mother.

 

“Morning sis. I didn't know you were back. Did you get in last night?” He asked as he grabbed a bowl to make himself breakfast.

 

Kagome nodded and kept working in silence, the only noise the keys on the calculator clicking.

 

Souta sat down at the table with his cerel and looked over shoulder. “Are you doing homework?” He asked when he saw the complicated equations in her hand writing.

 

“No” Kagome answered as she layed the calculator down, grinning. “I just figured out how we can keep the shrine!” She said with a smile as she hugged Souta.

 

Sasha wandered in a moment later, blinking in disbelief. “How? What did I miss?” She asked as she hurried over, leafin through the papers Kagome had rewritten. “My god! You are good at this stuff!” She said with a smile. “Yes. . . if we were to use some of the old buildings in the back instead of public storage. . .” Sasha looked down the paper, frowning. “But Kagome. . . I won't be able to do this all by myself.” She said with a frown. “I'm sorry. It was a great plan, but I only ave two hands.”

 

Kagome lifted her own. “I'm going to quite high school and help you. We can keep this place afloat if we really try. It's just-“

 

“No.” Sasha said, handing her the papers again. “We'll find some other way, but you are going to stay in school. You've been through three years of missing it, and you are still in the top fifty students at your school. You've wroked too hard to quit when you are this close to graduation.”

 

Kagome shook her head. “Mama. . . I have one year left. One year. That could be the diffrence between the shrine clsoing and it succeeding. But you can't do it alone.”

 

Sasha shrugged. “If it comes to it, I can manage. But. . .” she said as she eyed the formulas again. “Maybe we should try to hire someone. . . like a preist.”

 

Kagome shook her head. “I tried to fit it in to the equation. . . we have no extra money.”

 

Sasha frowned. “What about if we offer room and board in exchange for part time services? Then we are only out the money it takes to feed `em, and we can still have the help.”

 

Kagome frowned. “But who would come in for a job that doesn't pay?”

 

Souta shrugged. “College students?”

 

Sasha and Kagome both blinked at him. “He's right.” Kagome said quietly. “Half of college expenses are room and board, so if we were to stick up some flyers around the college campuses near by. . .” Kagome was silent for a moment. “It just might work!”

 

Sasha patted her son on the head. “For that, you don't have to do the dishes today.”

 

Souta grinned. “Sounds like a fair trade to me!”