InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Go Home Kagome ❯ That Damned Well... ( Chapter 1 )

Go Home Kagome!

Kagome returns home to the Higurashi family shrine after attending Veterinary school in the United States. Her mother's urged her to give up on Inuyasha but has he given up on her?

Separation & reunion & curses

One

Florence SC 2005:

 

Kagome leaned into the center armrest as the tiny convertible whipped around an almost impossible curve. The wind flew through her long black hair and dislodged her sunglasses. They whipped over her head landing safely in the seat behind her. Oh hell! She thought. It's too dark for them anyway.

 

Excluding the fact she might be speeding towards her death, she felt great. Free even. Finals were finished and graduation had been last weekend.

She was now officially Dr. Higurashi. She stretched out her right arm and let her fingers cut into the air rushing by her.

“Boog!” She screamed over the wind. “Are you sure this is the right way?”

The tiny blonde girl in the driver's seat yelled back. “Yeah National Cemetery road is a short cut.”

 

Kagome doubted this but lay back in her seat and watched as the landscape flew by. Green fields with tiny houses soon gave way to tall iron fences and a convenience store with so much graffiti it seemed more subway station than mini food mart.

 

Boog's cell phone ran and she answered it without missing a beat. The red convertible, dubbed Topless by it's personalized license plates, sped over a set of train tracks at a cool 70 mph. Topless was Boog's baby and no one but her was allowed to abuse it.

They pulled up to a stop light and the unmarked police car behind them flashed his lights.

 

“Shit!” said Boog. “Where'd he come from? I've be driving the sped limit ever since we passed the city limit sign.”

 

Kagome muttered, “He's probably been chasing us the last ten miles and just caught up to us.”

 

Boog, who was now Dr. Angie Walker, was still too happy to let a small thing like the possibility of a suspended driver's license get her down. She smirked and turned to Kagome.

 

“Dr. Higurashi, do you think I could cute my way outta this one?”

Kagome laughed, “Dr. Walker this is not likely.” And of course it turned out Kagome was right. Half an hour and one speeding ticket later they finally pulled up in front of Shooters.

 

WMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

 

Kagome sat on the barstool, her feet dangling high above the concrete floor of the barroom. She stirred her drink and smiled wanly at Boog who was dancing on top a neighboring stool. Kagome pointed a shaky finger at her friend.

 

“Girl, you are so waaasted…”

 

Boog laughed and then nearly toppled off the stool. “So are you, Ka-go-me.” She drew out the syllables, it was an old joke from the first day they met and Kagome had to explain three times how to pronounce her name. Boog slid of the stool and safely on the floor.

 

Boog's full nickname was Booger. She was given this esteemed title by their English roommate Nicky. Nicky confused Angie with British slang such as loo and nancy. One day she called Angie a bugger, Angie thought she'd said booger and the nickname stuck. Oddly enough the name never detracted from Boog's busy social life.

 

Boog pulled Kagome from her seat and forced her to dance.

The band, Craven Melon was an extremely popular local group and the floor was crowded. A group of guys grudgingly made room for the two inebriated young women.

 

When she'd first arrived Kagome felt uncomfortable in the tiny club but she loosened up as the night and drinks wore on. Now she danced freely almost causing personal injury to those unlucky enough to be standing next to her.

 

The crowd began to chant along with Doug, the lead singer. The jostling of the crowd worsened and Kagome was forced to stand on tiptoe to see the stage.

 

“Baby don't temp me…”

 

“I'm where I wanna be...”

“Cause on the eighth day……GOD MADE SWEET TEA!”

 

At this popular lyric the crowd went nuts and Kagome was pushed back to the tiny bar. Her stomach connected with the bar top and all the air in her lungs was forced out in a whoosh. She stood temporarily winded as Kevin, the bartender, shimmed up to her.

“How's my favorite Japanese Doc doing? Need a new drink cause that guy at the end of the bar is buying.”

 

Kagome strained to see through the smoky haze and saw a well built kid with shoulder length blonde hair wearing a Francis Marion University shirt. He waved and she smiled back.

 

Nice but such a frat boy…is he even old enough to drink?

 

“Sorry but I think I'm done for tonight.”

 

Kevin laughed, “It wouldn't do for the good doc to die of alcohol poisoning so soon after graduation. “

 

Boog sauntered up. “I'm worried that after school we will all suffer from low blood alcohol levels.”

 

Kagome swatted her, “That's such a lie, we studied our asses off. No time to party. Besides you forget. I have to go back home and be respectable.”

 

Boog scoffed at this notion. “There is no fun to be had in respectability.”

“Maybe but my family has expectations for me to live up to.”

 

Boog tossed her arm around Kagome's shoulder. “Remember that conversation we had about Asian stereotypes? Girl, if ya work too hard I will call the ACLU on your ass for self-discrimination.”

 

Kagome doubled over in laughter. Leave it to Boog to turn the serious into the ridiculous.

 

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

 

March 2002 The Higurashi home:

 

Three years earlier and only months before another graduation; Kagome opened the kitchen door to find her mother waiting for her. She was leaning against the kitchen counter with an open letter on one hand. Her hair was frizzy and her face tear stained.

 

Oh my God, must be bad news!

 

It wasn't exactly bad news but then Kagome learned a long time ago no experience was ever all good or bad. She'd never forget that day or what her mother said.

 

“You won a complete scholarship…How could you forget applying? University of Georgia Veterinary program…it's your dream and our family could never afford veterinary school without this…it's in America…Great opportunity…see some of the world…met new people…we can't afford to fly you home for holidays…think of your future…three years isn't as long as you think…and you'd be free of that damned well.”

 

Free of that damned well? Until that moment Kagome never knew how her mother really felt about the well and her adventures in the Feudal Era. The truth was spoken in the soft serious tones her mother reserved for times she'd decided on something and couldn't be budged.

 

“He isn't good for you. He loves you but has no future.”

 

Kagome countered, “No he loves Kikyo. I'm just a…well I don't know what I am.”

 

Her mother gave a low laugh. “I maybe only your mother but I'm still a woman. I've seen the way he looks at you. I know he sleeps outside your window. I've caught him sleeping on your floor while you were away at the university.”

 

“Kikyo isn't really alive; she isn't even a warm body. You are his life. She is the cold white moon but you are the hot sun his world revolves around. If he loved that corpse he'd be there with her but he is here with you.”

 

She pulled out a dining room chair and gently urged Kagome to sit. The she sat next to her, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one.

 

“Mom, you don't smoke!” protested Kagome.

 

Her mother laughed. “There's a lot you don't know. It's time to wake up Kagome.”

 

She took a deep drag of the alien cigarette. Kagome felt betrayed seeing her mother smoke after all those anti-smoking lectures she'd endured. However it also helped her see her mother as more of a person and less of a mom.

 

“Dad and I researched your Inuyasha. He's not a youth. He's 150 years old. Well 200 if you count the 50 years he was pinned to the sacred tree.

 

He isn't human. You can't have a life together. Do you think he will still want you when are fifty and he has only physically aged four or five years?”

 

Kagome sat in dumbfounded silence. Her mother continued between puffs.

 

“He's not a puppy or a pet. He's a man, one whose killed people.”

 

“I never realized,” breathed Kagome, “that you felt this way. Why have you kept quiet the past six years?”

 

“Because I know my kid, you are stubborn. We couldn't board up the well. But the shards were found years ago and destroyed. You are an adult and it's time I treated you like one. What would you do with a baby who had dog ears? What if Sesshomaru began stalking your children? It's time to move on.”

 

The horrible truth was these were already her worst fears. She'd wondered how it would end. Nothing really good ever lasts.

 

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

 

2005:

Boog and Kagome stumbled out of the club and raced across the road to the payphone. Boog called a cab while Kagome stood studying the pick building they'd just left. Hot pink? Who picked that color? It's an atrocity.

 

The cab pulled up and both girls climbed into it. Kagome was struck by the sad thought that this might be the last time she ever rode back to Boog's home after a night out. She doubted once she was home in Tokyo she'd be back any time soon. She watched from the window as Topless, alone in the parking lot, shrank in the distance.