InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ I'm Sorry ❯ Chapter 9

Chapter 9

 

Disclaimer: I don't own, didn't create, but I sure do love it.

Author's Note: Thank you very much for the thoughtful reviews. I intend to update regularly, at least twice a week, until I catch up to the chapter I am working on (which ever one that is at the time) after that it will probably be once a week.

 

 

Kagome led her friends up to the shrine, but rather than taking them to the house, she pointed them to a small garden at the other end of the grounds, and asked them to wait for her there, while she told her mother that she was home.

 

Entering the house, Kagome saw her mother folding some laundry and said, “Mama, my friends dropped by for chat; I'm going to take some drinks out to the garden for us all, okay?”

 

“Of course, dear. There's some lemonade in the fridge, or you can take some soda, if you prefer. Oh, by the way, Inuyasha said that he would put the packages in your room, alright?”

 

“Thanks, mama. I'll take care of that stuff later. Bye!” As she spoke, Kagome took a pitcher of fresh lemonade from the refrigerator and a small stack of paper cups from the cupboard and headed back outside.

 

Joining up with her friends, she passed out cups of filled lemonade, and settled down on one of the benches, waiting for her friends to begin the interrogation.

 

Yuka jumped in first, “Okay, so is he the same `bad-tempered, selfish, two-timing jerk' you mentioned a few months ago?”

 

“Hmm,” Kagome responded, “Yes and no.”

 

“Yes and no? What kind of an answer is that, girl? Is he or isn't he?” Yuka demanded.

 

“Yes and no,” Kagome said again, this time with a giggle. “Yes, he is the same boy, but no, he isn't selfish, bad-tempered or a two-timing jerk. Not really.”

 

“Not really?” Ayumi repeated back at her. “What do you mean? Isn't that what you said he was?”

 

“Yes, I did,” Kagome answered her, “But, well, I was sort of mad at him at the time, and…well, I said some things about him that aren't really true. Or, at least,” she looked just a bit ashamed, “that he didn't deserve.”

 

“So, is he bad-tempered?” Eri asked curiously.

 

“Sometimes, he hates to be idle; if he gets frustrated, his temper can get pretty short.” Kagome explained.

 

“Is he violent,” Yuka asked, a fearful look on her face, “has he ever…hurt you, Kagome?”

 

“What!? Are you crazy!? Inuyasha would never hurt me! When I said his temper gets short, I just meant that some times he yells a lot.” Kagome shrugged, her face flushing just a little. “It's not like I don't yell back. To be honest, I sometimes lose my temper, too. But, seriously, Inuyasha would NEVER hurt me.”

 

“I see,” said Yuka, “but what about `selfish' and `possessive'? That doesn't sound too good. What's up with that?

 

Kagome looked at her for a moment, then snickered. “He's a teenaged boy, of course he's selfish! I think it's like, a rule or something. Seriously, can you name any teenager who isn't selfish?”

 

“What about Hojo, Kagome? He's very thoughtful and nice. He's not at all selfish.” Ayumi said, thinking that Hojo would be much better for her friend than this boy, Inuyasha.

 

Kagome looked at Ayumi for a moment, then said, “Ayumi, do you know how many times I've told Hojo that I was not interested in being his girlfriend? In how many different ways? How many times I've suggested that he find another girl? And, yet he keeps coming back with his different gifts, always asking me to go out with him. Don't you think that doing that, no matter what I say or do, is pretty selfish?” She closed her eyes, and sighed. “Hojo is a very nice boy, but he is just not for me.” Opening her eyes, she went on, “To be honest, he would either drive me insane, by being so constantly nice, or I'd end up running right over him. Not exactly a recipe for a good relationship, true?”

 

Eri spoke up, deciding to settle things once and for all, “Okay, is he a little possessive, Kagome?”

 

Kagome smiled and said, “That's just a bit of an understatement, Eri. Inuyasha is very possessive. Or, to be more accurate, Inuyasha is veryprotective. He just doesn't understand what the difference between the two is. His social skills are a bit…primitive. He means well, but he isn't exactly subtle when dealing with people.”

 

“And you're okay with this, Kagome? You don't mind if he acts selfish and possessive?” Yuka asked, still worried for her friend.

 

“Yeah, I'm okay with this. For all of his faults, and believe me, I'm not blind to them, I trust Inuyasha. Period. I know that he cares about me, and that he would never hurt me, or let me be hurt, if he could possibly prevent it. And when you get right down to it, what more could I ask for?” Kagome said, a very serious expression on her face.

 

Yuka decided to ask one more question, hoping to ease her mind on one last item. “Kagome, please don't get angry at me, but…is he two-timing you? I think that you like him very much, and I really don't want to see you get hurt.”

 

Kagome sighed sadly, and then said, “No, he isn't two-timing me. There is someone else, someone that he cares for very much.” Closing her eyes, she fought back tears at the thought of Kikyo taking Inuyasha with her to hell, as she had promised to do. Then she went on, “Right now, she's in a lot of trouble, and he worries about her, and he wants to help her out. And, as much as that bothers me, I would think less of him if he didn't want to help her.” Opening her eyes, she looked at the worried faces of her friends. “It's okay. I meant it when I said that I had made my choice, and that I would stand by it. He knew her before we ever met, and well, sometimes life just hands you a great, big lemon, you know? I guess I'll just keep on trying to make lemonade, that's all.” As she finished speaking, her friends saw the unshed tears in her eyes, and just didn't know what else to say or do.

 

At last, Eri, trying to change the subject to something less intense, asked, “So, leaving aside your boyfriend, how have you been lately? Your grandfather said that you had, what was it again? TB? How come he always seems to think that you have so many weird illnesses? I mean, you don't look bad right now, but sometimes you look, well, pretty bad. So, what's up with him?”

 

Yuka added, “Actually, sometimes you look like death warmed over; but other times, like today, you look fine, and…”

 

Kagome broke in, hoping to redirect their questions, “Jii-chan is…confused, by my condition. Mama has tried to explain it to him a couple of times, but he seems to just, I don't know, create his own explanations for why I'm always getting sick.” She shrugged, trying to project a feeling of `oh well, he's just old' in the hopes of closing this topic. Fortunately, Ayumi, usually the least aware of her friends, got the message and switched the topic to a really good movie she had just seen, and the other girls went along with her.

 

Kagome spent the rest of the afternoon just enjoying the opportunity to relax and forget about the Shikon No Tama, Naraku and everything to do with the Sengoku Jidai, and just be a normal middle school girl for a little while.

 

Eventually, her friends had to go back to their own homes for dinner, and Kagome picked up the mess they had made and went back inside her own house.

 

“I'm back, mama, the girls have all gone back home now,” Kagome said as she came in and began disposing of the trash and put the empty lemonade pitcher in the sink. “Would you like some help with dinner?” she asked, seeing that her mother was taking some food out the freezer and putting it on the counter.

 

“Thank you, Kagome, but it's all under control. Why don't you go and take care of the stuff you picked up earlier, okay?” Her mother said, as she went around the kitchen, getting out what she needed for dinner.

 

“Okay,” Kagome said, heading up the stairs to her room. When she went in, she saw that all of the bags had been emptied, and the contents were neatly piled on her bed. Taking a deep breath, she decided to start with the first aid kit, so she took it out of her backpack, and started to restock it from the supplies that they had bought earlier. After refilling the kit, she looked at all of the remaining supplies and decided to bring them back and leave them with Kaede, figuring that it would allow them to move faster, and that Kaede could use them as well, if she needed to. She went down to the kitchen to get some large, resealable, plastic bags that she then used to store the extra items in. She also packed all of the extra antibiotic cream and burn ointment into separate bags, since they were intended for Kaede's use anyways.

 

Once she finished with the medical supplies, she packed them away in her backpack and stashed away the belt pouches, writing pads, and the workbooks and coloring books she had picked out for Shippo and then put the backpack in her closet until later.

 

Taking the stack of books she had bought, as well as the ones her mother had given her, Kagome flopped down on her bed and started skimming through them, trying to get a good feel for which would be the most helpful. Eventually, her mother's voice calling everyone to dinner broke her out of her studies, and she marked her place and headed on down to eat.

 

After eating dinner in peace, well relative peace anyways, Sota had pestered both Inuyasha and her for stories about their adventures down the well until, desperate to stop Inuyasha from bopping her brother, Kagome had promised to tell him TWO adventures after supper. Content with her promise, Sota let the rest of the meal pass in peace.

 

As usual, Kagome helped her mother with the supper dishes while Sota and Jii-chan retired to the living room to squabble over the remote. Inuyasha went upstairs and came back down with one of the books they had picked out that afternoon. Before leaving, he told her he would be in the Go-Shim-Boku until sunset.

 

When all of the dishes were done, Kagome fetched Sota from the living room and took him outside to keep her promise to him.

 

“Okay, what kind of a story do you want to hear this time, Sota?” Kagome asked, as she settled down on the ground at the foot of tree Inuyasha was resting in.

 

“I don't know, something with a really evil monster in it. Like, I don't know, a man-eating monster, or something.” Sota asked hopefully.

 

“Gee, a man-eating monster? I don't know of any stories like that,” Kagome answered with a nervous giggle, not really wanting to tell Sota about some of the truly terrifying things that they had fought. Before she could think of something that wouldn't give her brother nightmares, Inuyasha spoke from above them.

 

“How about the `Peach Man' or the false `Water God'? Those might amuse him.”

 

“The `Peach Man', are you crazy!? Inuyasha, I can't tell him that one!” Kagome exclaimed, a blush appearing on her face.

 

At this, Sota became extremely interested, “Why not, Kagome, it sounds like it would be a good one.”

 

“NO!” she said, very firmly.

 

“What's wrong with telling him that one, wench. The bad guy died, didn't he?” Inuyasha asked, puzzled by her vehemence.

 

“Inuyasha! The kitchen?!” She sputtered, remembering how Inuyasha had smashed the door down when she had been trying to escape the huge cooking vat full of sake.

`I think that that's the first time he really saw me, and I was stark naked! But, I didn't `sit' him for seeing me, did I? And he gave me his haori to wear… I can't believe that he thought I'd mind that his blood was on it! He lost that blood for me, and I think that that was when I really saw him. He was human that night and he's always…gentler… on that night. He was so relieved to see me alive and so was I. And later, when he took the `Peach Man' with him off the cliff, oh god, I thought he was dead…' Just the memory of that night was enough to make her eyes sting with unshed tears.

 

“Oh! I…ah…sorry about that,” he said, a faint blush appearing on his face as he remembered finding her in the kitchen that time. “Maybe, um, how about Ryoukan, he wasn't a man-eater, but he did try to kill us.”

 

“That's no good, I wasn't there for most of that one, remember? You had tried to seal the well, with me stuck over here, remember?” As she spoke, she remembered how hurt and upset she had been, being unable to see him and help with his injuries.

 

“Tsubaki? Juramaru/Kageramaru? Ryukotsusei? Come on, wench, just tell him a story!” Inuyasha suggested, hoping she would just start telling him something.

 

“Ryukotsusei? That is a good one. Okay, Sota, I'll tell you the story of how Inuyasha fought and destroyed a huge dragon, one that even Inuyasha's father was unable to destroy.” Kagome offered, feeling that this story was pretty safe for her brother.

 

For the next hour, Kagome kept her brother, and although she didn't realize it, her mother and grandfather, enthralled as she told how Inuyasha had to master Tetsusaiga again after it had been broken and repaired. She glossed over how he had transformed into full youkai, but made it clear that he had chosen to defeat his foe using only his sword, so that he could truly master Tetsusaiga. When she had finished telling the story, her mother spoke up and said that even though she had promised two stories, the second would have to wait for another day, as it was Sota's bedtime.

 

“Aww, Mom! I don't have school tomorrow; can't I stay up just a little later? Please?” Sota begged, not wanting to miss out on another story as good as the last one. Usually, Kagome's stories didn't last nearly that long, or sound as exciting, and he wanted to hear even more.

 

“No. She can tell you another story tomorrow or Monday. Now, scoot,” his mother said, shooing him towards the house. Turning her head back towards the tree, she called out, “Kagome, you and Inuyasha shouldn't stay out too late, either, Okay?”

 

“Okay, mama. I'll be just a bit longer,” she answered back. Leaning back against the tree, Kagome closed her eyes and relaxed, just enjoying the night.

 

After a few minutes, she heard a soft thud, as Inuyasha gently landed next to her and sat down against the tree with her. Both sat there in silence, just enjoying the peace and quiet.

 

As the night sky darkened, Kagome finally broke the silence. “Hey. I'm going to bed now, do you want to come in or do you want to stay out here for a while? If you do, just be quiet when you come in, okay? Mama is a light sleeper and you don't want to wake her up unnecessarily.”

 

Inuyasha snorted, “Why? Does she wake up swinging like you?”

 

“I don't wake up swinging!” she denied hotly.

 

“Yeah, right. Why do you think I stopped waking you up, and started letting Shippo do it? You've got a solid punch, y'know? It smarts,” Inuyasha said with a smirk.

 

Kagome stared at him for a minute, than began blushing as she remembered a couple of instances when she had woken up with Inuyasha right next to her. Dropping her face into her hands, she mumbled, “I can't believe I did that. Arrgh. I'm sorry.” Looking back up at Inuyasha's face, which still had a little smirk on it, she blushed and said, “I'm sorry, I didn't realize…Arrgh!” Still blushing she got up and brushed herself off. “Well, I think on that note, I will just say `Good Night'” and Kagome walked back to her house, leaving Inuyasha at the Go-Shim-Boku, still smiling at her antics.

 

The next morning, Kagome was awoken by her mother's voice calling her to breakfast.

 

“Wha…what time is it?” Looking for her alarm clock, she only then remembered that she had thrown it against the wall when it went off yesterday. Flopping back on her bed, she covered her eyes with her arm, and groaned. “Gaaaah. Inuyasha was right, I must be terrible to wake up. And I still have to buy a new alarm clock.” Groaning again, she got up and dressed in a skirt and a short-sleeved top, decorated with pink and white flowers. Grabbing her hairbrush, she went into the bathroom to start her day.

 

Going down to breakfast a few minutes later, she saw that Sota was still missing, although everyone else was already sitting down. Taking her seat, she apologized for being late and accepted a plate of food from her mother.

 

“Thank you, mama, this looks great.” As she began eating, she thought about what she wanted to do today; unfortunately, studying and schoolwork were high on the list, but she still needed to go out and buy a new alarm clock, too.

 

After breakfast, Sota and Jii-chan went out to do some work in the shrine, Kagome and her mother cleaned up the kitchen and then separated to do some of the other housework that needed to be done. Inuyasha, feeling uncomfortable as everyone else was doing chores, went upstairs and changed into modern clothes before he left the shrine and headed down the shrine stairs towards the local grocery store that he had followed Kagome to once before when she went shopping for Ramen.

 

As he walked down the street, he thought about his realization that he was now a pack leader, and just what that meant, both here and back in the Sengoku Jidai. He thought about his responsibility to provide for and protect his strange pack; on the whole he decided that he did pretty good at protecting, but maybe he needed to do better at providing. With these ideas running around in his head, he decided that today was a good day to start making some changes. When he reached the entrance to the store, he stopped and took a deep breath before pushing the door open and walking in. Looking around the store, he decided to simply walk around and see where things were located, and watch the other people do their shopping, especially paying for the food.

 

Inuyasha spent the next 15 minutes simply observing, before he went back to the entrance and took an empty cart to put stuff in. Deciding to take care of the important things first, he put about two dozen boxes of Ramen in the cart, followed by almost as many boxes of the snack bars, `Granola' if he remembered what Kagome had called them. As he went around the store, he tried to recall the different types of food that Kagome would bring with her, hoping that this would make things easier for her. Finally, with the cart filled almost to the top, he decided to pay for the stuff and head back to the shrine.

 

Waiting until the clerk near the door wasn't busy, Inuyasha spotted a clock that looked just like the one he had smashed many months before. Pausing, uncertain if she would remember the event, he decided to buy it for her anyways. Taking another deep breath, he made his face as expressionless as possible and went up to the clerk. When he got there, he put all of the items that he wanted on the counter, just like he had seen other people do, and waited for the clerk to put them in bags. When the clerk was done, she said, “That will be 4,350 yen please.”

 

Inuyasha took out the leather wallet that Kagome had given him, opened it and took out the stack of yen inside. Looking at it carefully, masking his uncertainty, he pulled out a piece of paper that were marked 5,000 yen, and handed it to the clerk.

 

“Thank you, sir. Your change is 650 yen. Here you go, sir. Have a nice day.” The young clerk smiled cheerfully at Inuyasha as he put the paper she handed him into the wallet, then the coins and his wallet went back into his belt pouch, and started picking up the bags full of food. By carefully holding the loops in each bag, he was able to carry them easily. Pushing the door open with his shoulder, he left the store and headed back to the shrine.

 

Entering the shrine, Inuyasha saw that Sota was sweeping out the main shrine building, and that Kagome and her mother were behind the house hanging out sheets to dry. Deciding not to stop and talk to Kagome, he went into the house, kicked off his sandals, and took his packages upstairs to his room. Dropping them onto the futon, he decided to organize them on the desk, not that he would be using it for anything else, and let Kagome decide how to pack them for their return through the well. A quick five minutes work finished that task and left him with only one last thing to do. The alarm clock.

 

Taking it out of the box, he tried to read the directions that came with it, but, not knowing how to tell time in this modern age, he finally gave up. Folding the directions back up, he took the clock and directions to Kagome's room and put them on the little table next to her bed. Looking around her room, he saw some of the books that she had bought yesterday sitting on her desk. That was when he remembered the one he had been reading last night. Or, at least trying to read; it seemed like every third symbol was unfamiliar or just plain odd-looking. As much as he hated to admit that he needed help, he thought that he might have no choice but to ask Kagome to help him read the book.

 

Going back to his room, he picked up the book and went outside to find Kagome. Going around to the back of the house, where he had seen them hanging up the laundry, he found Kagome and her mother were almost done. Deciding to wait until she was finished, he sat down with his back to the house and opened the book up to try reading it again.

 

A few minutes later, a shadow blocked his light and he looked up to see Kagome approaching.

 

“Hey, what're you reading, Inuyasha? Is that one of the books we got yesterday?”

 

“Feh,” was his only reply.

 

Leaning over, Kagome looked at the cover, blinked, and said, “Home schooling? Why in the world would you be reading about home schooling, Inuyasha? I got that to help me figure out how to teach Shippo to read properly,” she said, clearly puzzled at his choice of book.

 

“Feh.”

 

Leaning back to sit next to him, she started to speak, than closed her mouth and turned and looked at him with a shocked look on her face. “Inuyasha, I just realized that you can read! I mean, in all the months we've been together, I don't think I've ever seen you read anything! At all!”

 

“Of course I can read, wench! My mother taught me when I was just a pup. Besides, how do you think I picked out the books for Shippo? Feh,” he said, turning his head away.

 

Kagome saw his face and thought that she had hurt his feelings with her remarks. Reaching out, she touched his shoulder, “I'm sorry Inuyasha, I didn't mean it the way it sounded. It's just that I've never seen you read anything, and somehow I just assumed that you didn't read because you couldn't. That was thoughtless and rude, and I am so sorry. I never meant to…” pausing to find the right words, Kagome finally clasped her hands in her lap and bowed her head over them and said, “I apologize, Inuyasha. Please forgive me.”

 

Turning back to face her, Inuyasha covered her hands with one of his and said, “It's okay, Kagome. You didn't know.” He used his other hand to lift her gaze to meet his, “My mother taught me to read after my father died, but I always wanted to go outside and play or go into the woods and hunt.” He snorted, “Or at least, try to hunt. A four year old pup can't do a very good job of hunting, no matter how much he tries to pretend he can.” He smirked at her and then added, “The rabbits could outrun me with out even trying, and just about everything else was bigger than me.”

 

Kagome smiled back at him, even if her smile was a little shaky and said, “I wish I could have seen that, I bet it is was pretty cute.” Taking in a deep breath, she went on, “Let's start over. So, Inuyasha, which book are you reading?”

 

Inuyasha looked surprised, but said, “Okay. Umm, it's about `Home schooling' and I was curious to see what it meant. I was hoping that it might give me some ideas about teaching Shippo how to track, hunt, and fight. I mean, I know how to do those things, but I've never tried to teach anyone else to do something before.”

 

Kagome looked back, puzzled by his words until at last she realized what he had to be intending. “Inuyasha, do you mean that you want to teach Shippo how to track and hunt?” She asked, with her amazement very clear in her voice.

 

Inuyasha just sighed and leaned back against the wall of the house. “Kagome, I just started to realize some things lately. And one of them is that I have some responsibilities towards Shippo, that I haven't been taking care of.”

 

“Responsibilities? What kind of responsibilities…and why towards Shippo? I don't understand?” Kagome was confused and a little bit uneasy about Inuyasha's statement. `Inuyasha worrying about not fulfilling his responsibilities to SHIPPO! That's just not like him.' She thought to herself, `I mean, he's always protected him, but that's it…nothing more. So, why now? What happened? He's been acting sort of weird every since we left Kaede's.' As she sat next to him, Inuyasha went on.

 

“It's sort of complicated, but I, umm, well, I…” Taking another deep breath, Inuyasha tried again. “You and I, together we, I mean, I didn't know what I doing, and well, um…well, we created a pack.” Dropping his voice even lower than it had gotten during his confused explanation, he added, “Sort of.”

 

Kagome sat there listening to Inuyasha, and she realized that although his explanation hadn't helped her to understand what was going on, it was very important to him. “Okay, so you created a pack. Umm, what does that mean?” Thinking a moment, she added, “And what did you mean “you and I, together'? What did we do that created a pack? And just who is in this pack?”

 

Inuyasha bit his lip and went on. “All of us are in the pack. You, me, Shippo, Kaede, Sango, Miroku, Myoga, Kirara. All of us. We are a pack. Sort of.”

 

Frowning in concentration, Kagome broke in. “Wait a minute. I thought that a pack was a group of the same type of, well, demons or animals. How can it be a pack when everyone is different?”

 

He just shrugged and said, “I don't know. All I know is that somehow, it happened. I think I did it instinctively, without even realizing it. All I know is that after you talked to me about wanting to teach Shippo the proper way to behave, I started trying to figure out just what in the hell that was. I mean, I wasn't raised with dog-demons, and even humans didn't want anything to do with me after my mother died.” The look on Inuyasha's face was one she had never seen before, a little bit sad and a little bit angry, and she wondered if he was remembering his mother while she was still alive, or if he was remembering her death. “Then, on the night of the new moon, you said that you were going to have your mother get some of your money out of the `bank' so you could go shopping. That's when I realized that it was my responsibility to provide for you, because I was the pack leader.” Shrugging, he added, “I think that was when you got upset because I wasn't listening to you. You were right, I really wasn't listening to you. I was kind of busy trying to figure out why I thought I was the pack leader and it was pretty distracting.”

 

“Huh. I guess that would be pretty distracting.” Kagome looked at the young dog-demon sitting next to her for a couple of minutes in thoughtful silence. Finally she broke the silence by asking, “So, what kind of responsibilities do you have as the pack leader? And what kind of responsibilities do I have in the pack? What should I be doing? And…do the others know about this? Sango, Miroku and the others.”

 

``Well, you see, I'm not really sure. Umm, you know that my father died when I was very young, right? And that my mother died when I was about five years old…” he stopped and a look of anger flashed across his face. “According to what Myoga's told me about dog-demon customs, since my mother's family didn't want me around, I should have been taken in and raised by another member of my family.”

 

“But,” she interrupted, “that means that Sesshomaru was supposed to take you in right? But he hates you!”

 

“Oh, you noticed that did you?” he asked sarcastically. Continuing on, he added in a calmer tone of voice, “To be honest, I think that he always despised me because of my human blood, but it wasn't until I had Tetsusaiga that he really hated me. Before that, I think I was beneath his notice.”

 

“Getting back to what I was saying before, I wasn't raised with dog-demons, so I'm going with what my instincts are telling me and some things that Myoga has mentioned. I'm supposed to protect my pack, provide for them, and do whatever is necessary so that all the members of the pack prosper. Up to this point, I think I've done a pretty good job of protecting us all, but I haven't done much in the way of providing for us, and my instincts are telling me that I haven't done anything to help us prosper. I think I'm supposed to be teaching and guiding, and I really don't have a damn clue how to go about any of that!” As he spoke, his fists clenched and his voice got a bit louder and much more intense.

 

“Inuyasha, it's not your fault! You didn't know about any of this until now! Now that you do, you've made it quite clear that you want to take care of your responsibilities, and I think you'll do just fine,” Kagome said, rising to her knees, and placing her hand on his shoulder. “Just tell me what you do know, or what you think you know, and I'll help you in any way I can. You know I will!”

 

Touched, Inuyasha covered her small hand with his much larger one and said seriously, “I hope so, but there are some things that you need to know, about the pack and where you stand in it.”

 

She just smiled and said, “After every thing that we've gone through, I think I can handle it. Just tell me what I need to know, okay?”

 

Inuyasha smiled a bit nervously and said, “Okay. The first thing is that I think that we formed our pack when we took Shippo in and let him stay with us. Even when he would challenge me, and piss me off, part of the problem was that I'm still way too young to be a pack leader, so I'd treat him like a litter-mate instead of like the pup he is, which meant that I'd just bop him on the head, instead of treating him like a little pup. When I did that, I went against both my instincts and, I think, his.” He stopped and looked at Kagome, trying to see how she was taking it so far. Going on, he said, “The other part of the problem is that, well, the way you treat him.” Gulping, he added “You said it yourself, two days ago, that you made it okay for him to go against me, remember?”

 

Kagome nodded, “Yes, I did. And I meant it, too. But, I think there is more to it, than just my `s'ing you when you and Shippo got into a fight, isn't there?”

 

“Yeah, there is. But, I'm not sure you're going to be happy about the rest of it.” Taking a deep breath, he continued, “You see, when we took him in, you became, well…umm, you became his, umm, his mother,” he finished with a rush.

 

“His…what?! I'm his mother?! But, I'm only 15! I can't be his mother!” Her voice rose as she spoke, until she was almost shouting. As she realized what she had said, she covered her mouth with both hands, as if to take back her words.

 

Inuyasha looked at her a bit sadly and said, “Well, how do you think I felt, when I realized that I was the little twerp's new father?! I've spent most of the last year treating him like a little pest, when I should have been teaching him how to hunt and track, and…and, I don't even know what else I should have been doing! All I know is that I need to figure out how to do it right.”

 

As Kagome watched Inuyasha, she felt a little ashamed of how she had reacted to his words. “I'm sorry, Inuyasha. You just took me by surprise, that's all. And you did tell me what I wanted to know. It's not your fault that I reacted so badly.” Getting to her feet, she reached down to Inuyasha, and said, “Come on, I think we need to go for a walk and talk about this. In detail, okay?”

 

Inuyasha looked up at her for a moment, then took her offered hand and stood up with her. “Okay. Let's go for a walk.”

 

Stopping for a moment to tell her mother that they were going to take a walk, and that they would pick up lunch while they were out, the two headed down the shrine steps and towards a nearby park.

 

As they walked down the street, still holding hands, Inuyasha tried to explain what his instincts were telling him about their unusual pack.

 

“Most demon packs are formed by dog- or wolf demons, kitsune don't really form packs, even though they like to live close together. It's more like they will form a village or small community; at least that's what Myoga told me when I asked about Shippo, one time. But, normally, a pack is formed only from one type of demon, and never from demons and humans.” He laughed and said, “Our pack is downright weird; a hanyou, three full demons, four humans; and two of the humans are Miko's, one's a Buddhist monk, and one is a taijiya, a demon exterminator! That's not even weird, it's impossible.”

 

Kagome just smiled at him and said “Hey, just because its never been done before, that doesn't mean it's impossible, ya' know. Besides, I think that all of us have more important things to worry about, than whether or not we're supposed to be together! Finding the shards and defeating Naraku comes first, for everyone! And if in the process, we've formed a pack, and become our own family, well as far as I am concerned…GOOD!”

 

Inuyasha just shook his head and said, “That may be how you feel, but I don't know if the rest of them will be as pleased about it.”

 

“Fine. Let's go back and tell them right now. I don't think they'll be upset, I think that they'll be pretty pleased. At least, once they think about it for a minute. So, if you're worried about it, let's go home and tell them!” Kagome started to turn back towards the shrine, but Inuyasha just shook his head and pulled her back in the direction they had been walking.

 

“No, it can wait until you're ready to go back. I'd rather talk with you first, and settle things here before we go back. “

 

“Settle what kinds of things?” she asked as they crossed the busy street and went into the park.

 

“Things like, just what we need to teach Shippo, and how we're going to teach him. I suspect that teaching him to read and write will be easy; the little twerp is actually pretty smart. And if nothing else, I can just take him with me when I go hunting, and let him watch, he'll probably be able to pick it up that way. But, I haven't any idea how to teach him to behave…I'm not even sure just what behavior is supposed to be acceptable.” As he talked, Inuyasha let go of Kagome's hand so he could emphasize his points. Without realizing it, he led her down one of the smaller paths that led into the small grove of trees in the center of the park.

 

Kagome listened intently as they walked and waited until he had stopped speaking before she replied. “You know, one of my teachers gave me an extra credit assignment that was about wild animal behavior, specifically wolf packs. Maybe some of that stuff applies to our problem, or at least maybe it can give us some ideas. I'll dig it back out and read it again, but with you this time and see if it helps. Plus, we can go to the library and look up stuff on-line, that's where a lot of the articles she gave me came from.” Pausing to think some more, she continued, “Aside from Shippo, how does our being a pack change things for us. Will there be anything else we need to do, does this change how we act towards Miroku or Sango?”

 

Inuyasha shrugged his shoulders and said, “I don't think it makes any difference for the rest of us, not really. Umm, there is one thing though…it may make a difference or not, I'm not sure.” As he paused, he looked at Kagome out of the corner of his eye. “You see, since I'm pack leader, that makes you…umm, well it makes you…” he stopped, unable to finish what he had started to say.

 

“It makes me…what? What does your being pack leader have to do with me?” Kagome was a little uneasy at how hard a time Inuyasha was having with his explanation, and she was beginning to think that she might not like what he had to say. “Come on, just tell me, okay? It can't be that bad.”

 

Taking a deep breath, he said, “It means that you're the lead female in our pack. And, look I'm going with what my instincts are telling me, okay? I'm not really sure I'm getting this right, and well…I don't want you to take it wrong, Okay?”

 

“Okay, now you are making me uneasy. Would you please just tell me whatever it is you're trying to say!” By this time, Kagome was starting to get scared at the way he was avoiding telling her.

 

Mumbling, he said, “It means that you're my mate.”

 

Kagome stopped dead in her tracks and said, “I'm your what!?”

 

Turning back to face her, Inuyasha repeated, “You're my mate. And I'm yours.”

 

Kagome stood in the middle of the path, stunned for a moment at his words, but especially at what images had sprung into her mind. Firmly grabbing control of her imagination, which was starting to wander in some frankly naughty directions, she blushed quite pink. Finally, she shook her head and said, “I need to stop and think about this.” Spotting a bench set back from the path, close to the trees, she walked over and sat down, smoothed out her skirt, and pointed at the bench and said “Inuyasha, come over here and s…sorry, have a seat next to me. We need to talk.”

 

Inuyasha nodded and sat down next to her, and looked at his hands and said, “I know, but I'm really not good at this, explaining things.” He sighed, “Especially when I'm not really sure about them to begin with.”

 

Kagome nodded at him seriously, but said “It's okay if you don't have all the answers to my questions, we'll either ask Myoga or make it up as we go along.” Tapping her lip with her finger, she finally asked him, “If you don't mind, can we put the whole topic of our being mates to one side, for now? I think I want to focus on dealing with Shippo first, okay?” `I don't know if I can handle talking about something like being `mates', when I'm not sure where I fit, what with Kikyo, and stuff. Shippo, I can deal with. I can be his mother, no problem. But Inuyasha and I, being…mates! I'll deal with that later.'

 

“Keh, if that's what you want, it's fine with me. As for Shippo, I would like to try taking him out, first thing in the mornings, to try teaching him to track and hunt rabbits. He won't catch anything for a while, but it's a lot of fun, and that might make it easier for both of us,” Inuyasha said, clearly grateful to change the subject. “When we're traveling, it'll be harder, so I think I'll just have him tell me what he can scent and see while we move. When we make camp, I'll try to have him set snares that we can check in the morning; that shouldn't slow us down too much.”

 

Kagome smiled at him and said, “That sounds really good! I can use meal times to teach him some basic things, like his numbers and arithmetic, and save reading and writing for when we stay somewhere for more than one night.” As she spoke she thought about asking the others, the other members of their pack, for help also. “Inuyasha, do Miroku and Sango have responsibilities to help teach the pups, Shippo I mean, as well? Because if they do, Miroku could be a big help with reading and writing, and I bet Sango has some experience teaching children how to fight, I mean she did grow up in a village that was dedicated to fighting demons, right? I already asked Myoga for his help, and I think the others would be happy to help to teach Shippo stuff.”

 

For the next hour, Kagome and Inuyasha sat and talked about how they wanted to go about teaching Shippo the things he needed to know, and especially how he should behave as a member of the pack. They were so intent on their discussion, that even Inuyasha was surprised when they were interrupted by a group of young men who had stopped right in front of their bench.

 

“Hey, whitey, got a light?” The largest one said, smirking at his friends.

 

Inuyasha and Kagome both looked up, startled at his loud voice, but Inuyasha just frowned and said, “Let's go, Kagome,” and stood up and offered her his hand.

 

“What!? How dare you disrespect me, you freaky punk!” The intruder said loudly, feigning shocked outrage. “Kneel down and apologize!” At this, the other young men snickered and laughed at each other.

 

“Apologize? To you? I don't think so. Get out of our way. Now!” Inuyasha snarled, his free hand flexing and the knuckles cracking loudly.

 

The largest one stepped closer to Inuyasha, while two others moved towards Kagome. Inuyasha gently pushed Kagome behind him and casually backhanded the one in front him, sending him backwards off his feet, into a crumpled heap on the path. When the other two didn't back off, he simply grabbed them by their throats and slammed their heads together with a sickening crunch! Dropping the unconscious pair, he looked at the last one and said, “Take your garbage, and get out of my sight, before I lose my temper.”

 

Shocked at the speed with which his friends had been disabled, he shook his head and pulled out a long, thin bladed knife and said, “I don't know who the hell you think you are, but nobody touches us and gets away with it.” As he spoke, he made quick slashes through the air towards Inuyasha and Kagome.

 

Growling, Inuyasha flexed his claws, but before he could strike, Kagome spoke up “Inuyasha, please don't kill him. I don't want to have to explain what happened to mama, okay?”

 

Listening to the girl's calm request, the knife-armed thug began to realize that maybe, just maybe, they had picked the wrong victims today. Before he could figure out what to do, it was too late. Moving faster than the eye could follow, Inuyasha snatched the last thug off of his feet, and slammed him into a tree next to the bench. Pulling the knife out of his hand, Inuyasha used it to pin the man's coat to the tree, so his feet were completely off the ground.

 

Walking back to Kagome, he took her hand and started back down the path they had come up earlier that day. As he passed the first of their assailants, who was just starting to get up, Inuyasha slammed his fist down on top of his head, just like he did to Shippo, only much, much harder. The man dropped to the ground, out cold, without making a sound. Neither Kagome nor Inuyasha even looked back as they left, with the four would-be muggers unconscious or out of commission.