InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ I'm Teaching Myself To Dream ❯ Home, Sweet Home ( Chapter 6 )

I'm Teaching Myself To Dream

Chapter 5: Home, Sweet Home

Kagome stared at the back of the couch in front of her on her private plane. Her eyes were focused yet unfocused because she was deep in thought. Last night's concert had her pooped, but it was a success, or so Takanaka and Sheryl told her a million times. Despite the Sony earphones on her head, blaring pop music (not hers), their voices echoed in her mind.

"Great job Kagome! Your top artist in three countries!"

"You're at the top of the charts!"

"Madonna wants YOUR autograph!"

"Over 10 million copies of your album were sold!"

"The concert was sold out!"

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. She knew she should be more excited, but she wasn't. She thought that it was just probably that now the concert was over, she didn't have to worry about numbers concerning her songs, and she could get some time off. Both Takanaka and Sheryl were reluctant at first, even when Kagome was begging for a vacation, but Leo jumped in the conversation and gave them some reasonable explanations on why she needed some rest. Thank God, what would she do without him? Kagome figured they wanted her to go on the world tour more than she realized.

"You need to go on tour while the album is still hot!"

"People will wonder where you've gone after such a big bang at NYC!"

She really needed to stop thinking about this. The reason why she was going back home to Hawaii was to get away from the music business. She didn't want to think about Takanaka and Sheryl, or the press and tabloids, or the concert, or the tour. All she wanted was to stay at home, relax, pig-out, and surf. Was that so much to ask?

`Apparently, if you're the world's hottest new artist, it is.' Kagome thought groaning.

She leaned back in the very expensive, very comfortable, and very `first-class' blue seat. She gave a heavy sigh of relief and exhaustion before closing her eyes. She listened to the music that was now playing medium volume.

Author's note: This is "The Art of Letting Go" by Mikala. I do not own it!

Put away the pictures, put away the memories

I go over and over through my tears

I've held them 'til I'm blind, they kept my hope alive

As if somehow that might keep you here

Won't you believe in a love forevermore?

How do you leave it in a drawer?

Now here it comes, the hardest part of all

Unchain my heart that's holding on

How do I start to live my life alone?

Guess I'm just learning, learning the art of letting go

Try to say it's over, say the word good bye

But each time it catches in my throat

You're still here with me and I can't set you free

So I hold on to what I wanted most

Maybe someday we'll be friends forevermore

Wish I could open up that door

Now here it comes the hardest part of all

Unchain my heart that's holding on

How do I start to live my life alone?

Guess I'm just learning, learning the art of letting go

What can I say, what can I do

But try to make it through the pain

Not one more day without you

Where do I start to live my life alone?

I guess I'm learning, I'll be learning

Learning the art of letting go

As much as she hated to admit, she felt she could relate to the song.

`Arrrrrrgghhhh,' She groaned mentally. `Don't start thinking about him again.'

Try as hard as she might, she couldn't get the certain `him' out of her mind.

Inuyasha.

`Come on girl, he's not coming back for you.' She thought sadly. `He hasn't for two years, what's gonna make him come now?' Her frown was getting deeper by the second. `Besides,' she sunk down in her chair. `He loves Kikyo.'

Kagome was in an all out frown now, and in the `depressed' mode, but Leo calls it `Inuyasha' mode. Kagome knew that if Leo saw her like this he would make her feel better somehow. Whether making her laugh or just talking to her. She also knew that Leo had a thing against Inuyasha because of what happened. Whenever someone broke her heart, like Inuyasha or another boyfriend, Leo would automatically switch into the "protective-big-brother". Not the violent type, but the kind that will help her get over things and move on. She would always find a way to move on. But with Inuyasha, it wasn't the case…

She had thought she was over Inuyasha, many times in fact. But somehow, he always pops up at the most unexpected times, and he wouldn't leave her mind unless she was occupied, like with the concert or the tour. That was a good thing about the tour, she thought if she could go on tour, then her mind wouldn't have time to even think the name Inuyasha. But part of her didn't want that to happen. Part of her wanted to remember Inuyasha.

`Get a grip girl!' She scolded herself mentally. `Get over it already! Forget about him! He's not here anymore!' Her head screamed and screamed. Her eyes were teary but she fought it off. She couldn't let Leo see her like this, and she didn't want Inuyasha to get to her even when he wasn't even here. `Come on Kagome,' she told herself. `Stop dwelling on the past, find someone knew.' But she knew it wasn't that easy. She had tried dating again numerous times, but everyone who she liked ended up to be very boring (Hojo was actually given a chance -___-), neat (she dated a neat-freak and he kept rearranging the silverware at dinner), or just plain not her type (dated someone who was into both Einstein and Pokemon).

The radio was now playing "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion.

`Geese,' she thought, opening her eyes and glaring at her portable Sony radio. `Does everything remind me of Inuyasha anymore?" She turned off the radio and dropped the headphones from her ears onto her neck.

She pulled up the shade on her window and looked at the scenery.

Blue. A lot of blue. Blue sky and blue ocean.

`No wonder it's my favorite color.' Kagome thought. She wanted to get out on the ocean more than anything. Kagome just wanted to get back to the small house on the beach (which was blue), grab her surfboard and hit the waves. Because she knew that she would arrive at the airport around noon, she wore her bathing suit (no, not blue, black) under her tee-shirt and jeans so all she had to do when she got home was strip and run (0.0, there's an interesting thought… sorry for being a tad perverted everyone).

She leaned back in her seat and lifted up her legs to rest on the top of the armrest of the couch in front of her.

`Very comfortable,' she thought sleepily. `I'll just sit here until we land and take a nap.' She was already getting tired and closed her eyes. `Yeah. Just go to sleep and not think about Inu…yasha…' She was already drifting into la-la land. In fact, she was so close to sleep that she didn't hear the footsteps coming from the pilot's room toward her seat.

The feet tiptoed their way over, careful not to make a sound that would cause the girl to stir. Slowly, and carefully the feet walked right up to the back of the seat. If Kagome had had her eyes open, she still wouldn't have been able to see the figure hovering over her. Very cautiously, and very, very quietly, the figure crouched down until the two were eye level. The figure held his breath as he inched closer and closer to her ear. Kagome, still unaware and abstracted from all of this, slept peacefully. When he was finally close enough…

"BOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He shouted, loud enough to scare her, but not to bust her eardrum.

"AAAAAAH!" Instantly she jumped up in her seat. She sat up so fast she almost bumped her head on the seat and drop her radio, but thanks to Leo's quick reflexes he grabbed her and the radio before anything got broken. Automatically out of instinct she put a hand over her chest to calm her heart from beating so rapidly and to prevent a heart attack. Meanwhile, Leo had fallen back on his butt in the middle of the floor, laughing his head off and pointing.

"HA! HA! Ha! Ha! You-ha-should've-ha-seen your-ha-face! HA! HA!" He managed to get out in between spasms of laughter.

When Kagome's brain finally registered what had happened, she wasn't too happy.

"You!" She gasped which only made Leo laugh harder.

Kagome reached over to the seat next to her (the plane is a private plane, so there are couches in this room, and she's sitting in a loveseat right now, just to clear that up) and grabbed a small blue (what else is new?) throw pillow at his face.

It hit him square in the nose and he went backwards and sprawled out on the floor. Leo was still laughing but with the pillow covering his face, it came out muffled. Kagome sat on the couch, arms and legs crossed (much like Inuyasha, but she didn't think about it), and had a scowl on her face.

"It's not funny." She said.

"Yea-ha-yes-it is-ha!" He removed the pillow from his face and stood up. Kagome glared at him for a few seconds then said:

"What?"

Leo had been smiling at her not laughing but in a thoughtful kind of way.

"How do you think everyone's going to react to the famous Kagome Higurashi now?" He said with a teasing kind of tone.

Kagome really hadn't thought about it until he mentioned it. Would everyone treat her different? Or would everything be normal?

"I don't know." She said as Leo sat on the couch beside her. He was playing with the pillow in his hands, tossing it in the air and catching it, spinning it around, and stuff like that. "I mean, I never really thought about it."

"Come on, you had to have given it some thought." He said looking at her and putting the pillow aside.

"No. Actually, I haven't." Kagome said sadly putting her legs down on the carpeted floor (blue) and slouched back in the seat. She didn't know why she sounded so sad.

`Must be because I just thought of Inuyasha… AH! No! Not again!'

Leo observed her actions, and then after a few seconds, he "diagnosed" the problem. He bent over his legs to rest his elbows on his knees and turned back to look at the slouching Kagome.

"You've been thinking about Inuyasha again?" He asked concerned. Looking at her eyes every time she looked up.

"Is it that obvious?" Kagome said sheepishly. When she looked up at him she noticed how concerned he was, just like always.

"Well," He said turning to look out the window for a second. "You do kinda have the"-holds fingers up to do the quotation marks-"Inuyasha Look." He brought his hands back down to rest on his legs.

Kagome just stared at the floor. She promised she wouldn't torture herself over Inuyasha during her vacation, but she couldn't get him out of her mind. Finally, she found her voice.

"I can't stop thinking about him." She said sadly, trying her hardest to fight back the tears. "I thought about him after the concert, in the hotel and now here. It's like," She lifted her head up to look at him. "Like, if I'm not busy, just relaxing, then he pops up into my brain." She shrugged. "I don't know."

Leo put a comforting hand on her knee. He hated seeing her like this, and although he did some good to make her feel better, he felt totally helpless. He couldn't believe how Inuyasha could do this to her. It was like her whole world revolved around him, and for a few years, he guessed it did. But he thought, if Inuyasha truly loved her, then he would have come back for her, or at least made up with her.

"Hey." He said soothingly. "Don't worry about it, alright? If you have to be busy to not think about him then there's plenty of stuff to do back home."

"Yeah." Kagome answered.

"And not just the usual stuff." He continued. "There was loads of stuff when you were only the `surfer girl' (old lame nickname of Kagome's), but now, you're the famous big-headed rock star that screams at some poor stage crew member that you ordered herbal tea, not decaf coffee." Of course none of this was true, but it didn't stop Kagome from smiling. "Not only are you going to have to sign everybody's autograph, but you're going to have to tell everyone what it's like being the `hot-shot' superstar." Kagome began to smile a little more. "AND," he continued. "You'll have to watch out for the press." Kagome's smile faltered a little. "I can see it now…" He lifted up a hand and waved one big wave in front of his face. "You running down the street, ducking in and out of alleys, surf shops, and hot dog stands, while hundreds of reporters are running down the street screaming"-high pitched imitation voice-"Wait! Wait! Come back Kagome! Who's this ex-boyfriend of yours? Our sources tell us he was a fan of…Pokemon?"

"OKAY! OKAY!" Kagome sat up, still smiling. She had grabbed the pillow and was about to smack him upside the head with it. "Don't remind me of him!"

"Alright!" He had gone back to his normal voice. "Okay! You win, just don't hit me!" He covered his head with both hands.

Kagome lowered the pillow down and set it back on the seat. She gave a small sigh.

"Oh yeah," Kagome remembered. "Where were you before you so kindly woke me up?" Leo laughed a little when she emphasized kindly. "I thought you were talking to the pilot. What happened?"

"Umm…" Leo stopped laughing instantly and went to scratch his head. "Well, you know how he's a World War II veteran?" Kagome nodded. "Well, he had A LOT, of stories to tell about the good ol' days, and when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. None of which, happen to be exciting or entertaining in anyway… he kept getting Hitler mixed up with a monkey…" Both Kagome and Leo looked confused now. "Wait," He said. "Did you see this guy's have a pilot license or something?"

"No." Kagome said timidly.

Then a voice could be heard from the door that Leo came in.

"Now…where is that youngster? Aaaaah! Leo, mi boy, come in here! I got another one for ya!" The pilot shouted through the curtain door.

"Ugh." Leo groaned. "Speak of the devil." He muttered and Kagome couldn't help but give off a small chuckle.

"Leo! Where are ya sonny? Don't ya wan't to listen to mi tale?"

"Uh, Coming!" Leo reluctantly got up and faced the door. "If I'm not back in an hour," he paused and looked at her. "I'm either dead or asleep." He turned back and walked into the cockpit.

"See ya ICE!" Kagome shouted to him when he passed through the doorway. Laughing a little, she turned back around in her seat and resumed the position she was in before. When she was comfortable she put her headphones back on and turned on the radio.

`Okay.' She told herself. `Don't think about Inuyasha. No Inuyasha.' She leaned back and closed her eyes. She was content where she was, just listening to the words of the song…

Author's note: This is `Believe' by Cher.

No matter how hard I try

You keep pushing me aside

And I can't break through

There's no talking to you

It's so sad that you're leaving

It takes time to believe it

But after all is said and done

You're gonna be the lonely one

Do you believe in life after love?

I can feel something inside me say

I really don't think you're strong enough

Do you believe in life after love?

I can feel something inside me say

I really don't think you're strong enough

What am I supposed to do

Sit around and wait for you

Well I can't do that

And there's no turning back

I need time to move on

I need a love to feel strong

'Cause I've got time to think it through

And maybe I'm too good for you

Do you believe in life after love?

I can feel something inside me say

I really don't think you're strong enough

Do you believe in life after love?

I can feel something inside me say

I really don't think you're strong enough

Well I know that I'll get through this

'Cause I know that I am strong

I don't need you anymore

I don't need you anymore

I don't need you anymore

No I don't need you anymore

Do you believe in life after love?

I can feel something inside me say

I really don't think you're strong enough

Do you believe in life after love?

I can feel something inside me say

I really don't think you're strong enough

Do you believe in life after love?

I can feel something inside me say

I really don't think you're strong enough

Do you believe in life after love?

I can feel something inside me say

I really don't think you're strong enough

^_^

"Attention all flight personal..." The loud speakers boomed throughout the airport, but the rest of the sentance was drowned out by the conversation of two teenagers who were very glad to be home.

Leo and Kagome were walking through the huge crowd of people in the Hawaiian airport trying to make it to the doors with the giant, bold letters "E-X-I-T." They had just gotten their luggage back, and frankly, they weren't too happy with the service...or at least one of them wasn't.

"Man!" Leo said. "I can't believe people today! All I wanted was my bag, but is that all they give me?" He asked to no one in particular. "No! They give me about five bags. I said "No, um, lady, THIS is mine, I didn't bring the other four." And she's like "Sorry, SIR, but we have it recorded that you brought all these." And I'm like "No. There must be some mistake-" AND THEN, she cut me off, "No. We don't make any mistakes." And I'm like "RIGHT. But these four bags aren't mine-"

Leo ranted on.

After awhile Kagome just kinda tuned him out. She thought he should remember that she was there with him when it happened and it only happened about ten minutes prior, but Leo was chatty when he was frustrated, and Kagome could tell he was. So, because she knew the story she stopped listening.

She took a quick glance behind her at the airport security guard carrying her suitcase. She had a backpack on her back and her suitcase was being carried by the guard. She was supposed to have a security guard with her incase a stalker attacked or something. She was supposed to prevent by keeping a low profile except to family and friends so she wouldn't be bombarded with the press. Kagome didn't see how this was going to work though with a security guard following her around. She resumed looking at the floor and let other thought drift into her mind.

'I need to get over Inuyasha... somehow... I have to do it by the end of my vacation... otherwise I'll probably never be able to do it... I have to get over him... That's it, it's settled…I WILL get over him…'

With that thought she made a promise to herself. She wasn't sure how she was going to accomplish what she promised herself to do, but she knew she would find a way.

"So after the guy who really owned the bags jumped me, the security guy came up and arrested him." She tuned him back in. "Then he's like "Sir, I'm going to have to take you too, for stealing the man's bags." And I'm like "DUDE! All I did was want MY bag and the one lady wouldn't let me leave without the other four!" And then the security dude found out the guy who attacked me was smuggling cocaine in the four bags, and the -high pitched imitation voice-"I'm sorry, we don't make mistakes"-normal voice-lady was in on the action. SO, I was caught in the middle of it all..." He said. "PERFECT way to start a vacation, huh?" He asked sarcastically.

"Mm-hmm." She said nonchalantly, still thinking a little of ways to get over Inuyasha.

"Stupid airport." He said. "I hope we don't have to go through anything like that again while we're here." He turned to look at her. "You sure you're okay about Inuyasha?" He asked concerned. Much to his surprise, she smiled.

"Yeah." She said. "I'm gonna get over him," she faced him. "One way or another, I will." She said still smiling.

Leo smiled back. "Alright then. Let's go." He walked out the double doors with Kagome, and the guard behind him. They walked about five feet when the heard:

"Ahem."

The two turned around to look at a bald guy wearing a black suit and sunglasses, he oddly resembled the guy from "The Matrix." The guy would get weird looks every now and then from people passing by, but he didn't pay attention to them.

"Yes?" Kagome asked trying to sound normal, but was actually kind of confused.

"I'm scheduled to be your driver today." He said calmly, with a blank expression. This guy's personality was really starting to remind her of Sesshomaru.

"Oh. Okay." Kagome said plainly. She turned around and with the other two, she followed "the Matrix guy".

They walked along silent while the guy walked like he was king and held his head high, both hands positioned behind his back.

Every now and then, Kagome and Leo would send glances to each other, catch each other's eye, look at "the Matrix guy" quickly then look back at each other. They both wanted to know who this guy was.

After about two minutes of walking around the airport parking lot, "the guy" came to a stop in the middle of an empty part of the parking lot.

"The guy" stood quietly in the parking lot doing nothing except breathing, but Kagome didn't even see him do that much. Everyone, including the guard, was starting to get a little suspicious.

"Umm…" Kagome started. "Not to be rude or anything," she looked at `the guy'. "but aren't we supposed to go to a car, or taxi, or something?" Kagome asked.

`The guy' stood the way he was and said calmly.

"We will not go to the car, the car will come to us." And he didn't say anymore, but continued to look up at the sky.

Just as Kagome and Leo were about to question him, they heard brakes off in the distance come to a screeching halt. The turned their heads instinctively and looked for the source of the noise.

And instantly regretted it.

Racing down a street was a long, but not ridiculously long black limo. The limo was cutting corners short and had cars beeping and honking at it. Then as it came to the parking lot entrance, it began to turn towards Kagome and the others.

Naturally, they started to panic. Well, I could say everyone BUT `the guy' panicked. He just continued… staring at the sky.

Meanwhile, the others were freaking out, especially since the giant limo that was speeding towards them didn't have a driver in the seat…

The guard saw this and screamed… like a little girl. He screamed and threw his hands up in the air, throwing Kagome's bag on the pavement while doing so. Kagome and Leo looked in horror from the guard running away,to the limo and back to the guard again.

`So much for a GUARD.' Kagome thought.

Then she looked back at the limo, which was increasing speed and heading their direction. Kagome didn't think the car would be able to stop with that kind of momentum.

The car was about five feet away from them when instincts kicked in and Kagome and Leo leapt out of the way. `The guy' however, (can you guess?) stared at the sky.

Kagome and Leo braced themselves for when the car would collide with `the guy'. They expected to hear screams, tires screeching, glass breaking, the sound of blood spilling on the pavement… but the sounds never came.

They reluctantly looked up to see that the car had stopped right in front of the man. FINALLY, `the guy' pulled his gaze down from the sky to look at the limo in front of him. He reached his left hand into his left front pants pocket and pulled out a pair of keys on a key chain with a small remote control. He pressed a button and the sounds from the car stopped, and the car turned off. He took off his sunglasses and hooked them on his jacket pocket.

In complete confusion and amazement, all Kagome and Leo could do was gape at him.

`The guy' walked to the passenger's side and pulled open the backseat door with his right hand, holding up the key chain in his left hand and motioning for them to get in.

`This is not going to help me keep a low profile…' Kagome mentally scowled.

Kagome and Leo, still on the ground looked at each other then back at `the guy.' Neither of them thought it was safe to ride with this guy, and neither of them wanted to, but what choice did they have.

They reluctantly stood up and made their way to the limo's door and driver. Kagome picked up her bag on the way.

"I really hope nothing's broken." She said eyeing her bag to see if she could pick out anything that would mean something got hurt. "I swear...some guard." She said looking back over her shoulder.

"Some service." Leo said agreeing. "Stupid crack-pot, almost got me arrested." He mumbled under his breath.

Kagome and Leo slid into the limo, to find a nice brown, leather interior inside. The seats were huge and you could tell that this car could fit a lot of people. The two threw their bags on the floor and laid down and the seats. `The guy' got in the driver's seat and started the car, by turning the key in the ignition.

Leo sat up and moved over to the front of the limo so he could talk to `the guy.'

"Hey," Leo said. "about that whole…" Leo moved his hand in the air to show that he was thinking of someway to explain what he was saying. "car thing." Was the best he could come up with.

"Yes?" The driver said calmly, staring straight ahead at the road.

`Man,' Kagome thought. `I gotta check out this guy's family tree, he could be of some relation to Sesshomaru.'

"What was up with the no driver in the seat?" Leo asked.

`The guy' looked up momentarily at Leo, but turned back to look at the road. While looking at the road he jingled the keys in the ignition. He fingered the small remote control on the key chain.

"I had it on…" he paused. "Auto pilot, I suppose you could call it."

"Auto pilot?" Leo repeated.

"Yes. It's one of my better inventions I think." He said placing his other hand back on the wheel.

"Inventions? As in plural?" Leo asked disbelieving.

"Yes. Being a limousine driver is a difficult task. Therefore I create, or invent, things to help me perform this task to the best of my ability." He said proudly.

"Ah." Leo nodded. "I guess that makes sense." He coughed a little to clear his throat. "But uh, haven't you thought of someway to steer it better?" Leo asked hesitantly.

`The guy' looked up from the road with a shocked expression on his face.

`Okay,' Kagome thought. `Maybe he's not as similar to Sesshomaru as I thought.'

"Why?" `The guy' said completely concerned. "Is there something wrong with the steering?"

Kagome and Leo sweat-dropped.

"Uh, no." Leo said quickly, nothing wrong at all." He leaned back from the front to sit across from Kagome.

"Very well then." `The guy' said calmly.

Kagome, who was lying down, leaned on her elbows and looked at the driver.

"Uh, by the way… Do you have name or something we could call you?" Kagome asked.

"Oh, of course, how rude of me." `The guy' slapped himself slightly on the forehead with his hand. "My name is Joe." He smiled at the two, much to their surprise.

"Nice to meet ya Joe." Kagome told him before lying back down on the seat.

As she looked out the window at her old hometown and all the things that were the same, yet somehow different, a slight smile crossed her lips.

^__^

After having some more small talk with Joe and Leo, Leo wanted to take a 10-minute nap and the driver put on some empowerment tape. Kagome decided to take out her pen and pad. Something she always did when she needed to think, and writing lyrics was a good way to get all of her thoughts and feelings out. As she sat with legs crossed, and elbow holding up her chin, she tapped the pen on the paper slightly. She bit her lower lip as she kept a steady beat with the pen.

`1 + 2 + 3…4…1 + 2+ 3-4' she chanted to herself.

She had a beat for the lyrics, and she had a melody pretty much, but the lyrics wouldn't come to her. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't think of any words. As she neared her street she put it back in her bag.

`I'll just do it later.' She thought.

She readied her bag, and cleaned up some chips Leo and she had been snacking on off the floor. All the while Leo was asleep on the long, brown, seat. Kagome knew she should wake him up, but she wanted revenge…

She quietly crouched beside him, kneeling on the floor she got up to his ear and…

"I'm awake you know."

As soon as she opened her mouth to yell he said it calmly with eyes closed. Before he opened them she sat backwards against the other seat.

"I knew that." Kagome said, not convincingly. "You…" Kagome thought for a reasonable explanation. "Um, just had some fuzzy lint or something on your shirt, and I wanted to get off." Kagome crossed her arms at the end of her false defense.

"Uh-huh." Leo said, seeing right through Kagome's lie. She was actually a pretty good fibber… unless you've known her for your whole life.

"Anyway, we're almost home." Just saying that sentence made Kagome feel warm and forget all about the lint lie. She gave him a small smile.

"I know." He smiled back before turning to look out the window.

Little houses lined the street and behind one side of the street's houses was the ocean. The sweet, sweet, Pacific Ocean. Most of the houses were brown and green but at the end was a little one that was blue.

It was a light blue, like the sky, with dark blue shutters. It had a paved driveway with a basketball hoop to the side. The basket's new was old and torn from aging and weather. The trees filled in between the houses. Some were palm trees, but most palm trees were on the beach. The roof of the house was black. The house wasn't too small, but it wasn't a mansion either.

The limo drove by all the green and brown houses and drove to the little blue one, passing a "dead end" sign on the way. At the very last house on the street, Joe stopped and waited for the two to exit.

"Here you are. Have a good day. I will be your driver if need be at anytime." He handed her a card. "Call me if you need a ride, I'm open 24 hours a day."

"Thanks." Kagome said as she took the card and opened the door. The two got their bags and got ready to leave.

"Thanks Joe." Leo said as he stepped out, followed by Kagome.

"Anytime." Joe said. Once Leo shut the door, he drove down the street. Took a turn, and then disappeared from sight.

The two just stood on the paved driveway a few moments before anyone said anything. The only sound on the deserted streets was the wind blowing the ocean's water making slight waves on the little beach in the backyard.

"So…" Leo said readjusting his backpack strap on his shoulder.

"So." Kagome responded, playing with the zipper on her bag.

The two just stood in silence as they took in their surroundings. It had been awhile since either one of them had been home, and it was a nice feeling to be back.

"We better go inside." Leo suggested.

"Yeah." Kagome answered. She turned around to look back at their little beach house. A warm smile spread on her lips and as she turned back to Leo she saw that he was smiling too. "It feels so…" Kagome tried to think of the word.

"Different?" Leo asked.

"Yeah." Kagome said. "It almost doesn't make sense." She turned her body towards the house. "The last time I was here, I was lucky if anyone outside of Oahu knew my name." Kagome said. "Now…" She looked at Leo. "I'm Lucky if I'm not bombarded with the press."

Leo gave a little laugh. "That's what you get when you live the life of the rich and famous." He said. "One shot wonders, big-time legends… just don't let it go to your head." He said with a little more seriousness to the tone in his voice with that last part.

"I won't." Kagome said. She glanced at the house. "We really should get going.

"I know, let's go in." Leo picked up his bigger bag off the pavement and with a grunt he pulled it on one of his shoulders.

The two walked to the front door, unlocked it and went in. The inside of the house was blue (no wonder) as soon as you went inside you came to the living room. You could go left or right after that. To the left was a spare room, Leo's room, and the bathroom. To the right was the kitchen and the stairs. Upstairs was Kagome's room, another bathroom, a door to the balcony/porch thingy (^__^), and a door to the attic.

Kagome walked into the living room, set down her bags in front of the TV, and laid down on the couch. She grabbed a throw pillow and put under her head and lazily let her eyes drift close.

Leo came in and set his bags by the door and his keys on the hook next to the door.

"I'm gonna take a shower." He told her. "Then I'm gonna call Souta and your mom to tell them we made it back okay."

"Alright." Kagome said with eyes still closed. "I'm gonna take a nap. Tell

them I said hi."

"Will do." He said as he went to his bathroom. She heard the water turn on shortly after.

She snuggled into the pillow with a smile.

`It's good to be back…' Kagome thought.

Author's note: Just wanted to let you guys know, that if any of you are thinking Leo is some total gold-digger who only stays by Kagome for the fame and money, you're totally wrong. I haven't got any messages saying that people think that yet but I just want to let you guys know.

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Kay! I think I'm done! YAY! ^___^ You know the drill… Read, Rate, Review! Thank you! (KC) kcook220