InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ I'm Teaching Myself To Dream ❯ The Future... Oh Joy ( Chapter 7 )

I'm Teaching Myself To Dream

Disclaimer: Don't own Inuyasha, JC Penny, Spitfire, Independent, Blockbuster, any of the stores, movies, or any of the songs, lyrics, music, all songs are work done by geniuses who I think are awesome, so please, Don't sue me please… it's official…I'm poor… *sniff* ~___~ Roses are red, Violets are blue, I no own, So you no sue!

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I'm Teaching Myself To Dream

Chapter 7: The Future…Oh Joy

"She's in… America."

Inuyasha didn't like the sound of this. He didn't know what America was, but Souta didn't seem too happy about it.

"What's America?" Shippo asked innocently.

"It's… um, a different country." He glanced at the others. "You know what that is right?" He asked.

"Yeah." Inuyasha said curtly. "We know." He set down his slice of pizza. He had forgotten all about Kagome with everything that had happened that day. That was the first time in years he had forgotten about her, and he had forgotten her for an entire day. He looked out the kitchen window, at the beautiful golden sunset, which was wasted once more on someone who didn't care about beautiful sights. "Where's America? How far away is it?" Inuyasha asked sadly.

"Well, um… in your time, it hasn't really even been discovered yet… uh, if it has, almost no one is there." He looked at Inuyasha. "Now, it's actually a pretty big country, not as big as China, but big." He stared down at his pizza, suddenly he didn't feel like eating. "It's not that far away… it's just over the ocean a little-"

"OVER THE OCEAN?!" Everyone yelled in unison.

Souta didn't see the problem… oh yeah, warring states era, no good boats or planes…

"No, see, it's not a problem in this era." He explained. "We can travel across the oceans easily, in a matter of hours."

"Hours?" Miroku asked disbelieving.

"Yeah, transportation has improved a whole lot. Traveling long distances is nothing anymore." Souta said regaining hope.

"Long distances?" Inuyasha asked. "I thought you said it wasn't that far away." He crossed his arms.

"Well, anyplace that you have to cross the ocean to get to is considered a long way away. And besides, she's in the part of America that's closest to Japan, Hawaii."

Inuyasha just slumped in his chair with his arms crossed. "Well why would she want to go there anyway?" Inuyasha asked rudely.

Souta looked at him with sad eyes. "Because she was born there."

Inuyasha jerked his head towards Souta. "Huh?"

The others also stared at Souta.

"You mean," Sango said. "She wasn't born in this country?"

"No." Souta explained. "See, my dad was American, and my mom came over to America for a visit or something and met him. They fell in love, got married, yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, Kagome was born there, in Hawaii, a state in America, but I guess they came back to visit my Gramps for some reason, and that's when I was born. We went back to live in America for awhile, until…" He hesitated. "Until my dad died, when she was four. Then we moved back here to the shrine in Tokyo. I was born here, but Kagome was born in America. She can live here and in America and now she's living there. I can only live here. I can visit her in America, but I can't live there." Souta said sadly.

"So," Inuyasha said. "She went to visit her home country?"

"Well yeah," he said tilting his head to the side. "That and she wanted to see her best friend Leo, she hadn't seen him-"

"Him?" Inuyasha immediately tensed and lowered his eyebrows.

Souta, sensing danger, quickly explained.

"Yeah, him, they've been friends since we were in America. We lived next door to them, and they were always hanging out." Inuyasha wasn't getting any happier, and Souta quickly tried to find something to keep Inuyasha swimming the ocean just to rip out Leo's guts. "But it's not what it sounds like, they aren't seeing each other that way, he's like our brother." Souta saw that Inuyasha was loosening up a bit, which was a very good sign.

"Feh! Why would I care if she liked him that way?" Inuyasha lied crossing his arms.

Miroku threw a fork at him and it hit him square on the forehead.

"OUCH! What was that for?" Inuyasha snapped and whipped a hand up to rub his forehead.

"Inuyasha, don't deny your feelings for Kagome. Everyone knows, and if you were to deny to have any feelings for her now, after all you've been through, then you truly are a simple-minded fool."

"It means that even if you don't admit liking Kagome, we can still see right through you!" Shippo piped in.

"Feh!" Was all Inuyasha said and closed his eyes, ready to listen to what Souta had to say next. He didn't like it when others would analyze his feelings, especially if they were true.

The fact that whoever this guy is, was just like a brother, was somewhat a relief to Inuyasha. He just hoped there wasn't any other guy in her life that was more than like a brother…

"Anyway," Souta continued. "She kept in touch with him over the years, even during the years when… it was possible for her to go down the well…" Souta stopped as sudden realization hit him. "Why didn't you guys come earlier anyway?" Souta asked with a little venom in his voice.

"We wanted to," Sango said eager to explain. "We all missed her," she looked at a now sulking Inuyasha and Shippo. "And Inuyasha tried but he couldn't get through. The only reason we made it through this time was because of the shards."

"And why didn't Kagome come back?" Inuyasha asked Souta, with a little venom in his own voice.

"Like I said, she wasn't able to… she had the shards, half of them, and the well wouldn't let her…" Souta said miserably.

"So, she tried to get back?" Shippo asked hopefully.

"Duh." Souta said, with a tint of sadness and not much enthusiasm to his tone. "She missed all you guys so much. It took her awhile to get over it… she was moping a lot of the time…"

Inuyasha felt slightly better. If she was moping around, that meant she missed him and that meant that there was a chance that she still loved him… wait, it took her awhile to get over it?

"So um," Inuyasha swallowed. "How is she? I mean, um, what is she doing?" Inuyasha tried to find a good way to phrase it.

Souta didn't know how to answer. Should he tell them that she's famous, fulfilling her dream, rich, and happier than ever? Souta didn't know how he could break it to them nicely. They had traveled 500 years in the future to come see her, and all of them were obviously disappointed enough that she wasn't here, should he add on to their misery?

"Uh, she's doing okay." He said. "I haven't seen her in a few months but, I guess you could say she`s doing fine."

The group nodded their heads slowly. They had their heart set on seeing Kagome again, and he was the bearer of bad news. But…there was one way he could get them to see Kagome… nah. He couldn't do that. He'd have to take them out into this era, educate them on the way they did things, and that would be almost impossible. He couldn't… but they were so sad…maybe, if he blended them in… and they were human, except for Kirara, but human, is human… maybe this could work out after all…

"Um…" Souta started. "She won't be coming home for months, like until winter for Christmas, a um, holiday we celebrate. But, I uh, I think… I might have a way that you could go see her."

Instantly everyone sat up, had eyes wide, and mouths in the forms of smiles.

"REALLY?" Shippo jumped out of his chair next to Souta.

"Uh, yeah, sure." Souta said. "I was leaving tomorrow to go visit them in Oahu Hawaii for my summer break from school, my mom and Gramps knew that so they went out to Kyoto to see my aunt. Anyway, I guess I could take you guys with me."

"Are you sure that's alright?" Sango asked with hope filled in her eyes.

"Yeah." Souta said. "I could just call Leo and tell him that I'm bringing some friends, I don't have to tell him that it's you guys, so it can be like a surprise or something…" Souta offered.

"That sounds like a great idea, Souta." Miroku said smiling. "Inuyasha? What do you think?" He turned to look at Inuyasha who was smiling for the first time in long time.

"What do you think I think?" Inuyasha said rudely.

`YES! YES! YES!' His mind screamed with joy.

Miroku just smiled some more then turned back to Souta. "That's his way of saying he thinks it's a great idea."

Souta smiled while Inuyasha `Fehed'.

"Uh, I need to pack, and we can go shopping for your guys' clothes in a few minutes. I just got to clean up and get ready." Souta said.

"What's wrong with our clothes?" Sango asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Shippo said.

They looked down at their dirty, bloodstained, old-fashioned kimonos.

"We don't wear kimonos anymore, at least not unless it's a special holiday or occasion. We wear things like these." He tugged at his shirt and pants. "You've seen my sister's school uniform right?"

They looked at him in confusion.

"What she usually wears." He explained. "It's what she has to wear to school, all the girls here do." Then a thought struck him. "Of course, she graduated from school a couple years ago…but anyway, we dress differently and do things differently. So if you guys want to go, you have to learn okay?"

"Okay." Everyone said in unison.

"And you guys will have to leave your weapons here." Souta said calmly.

"What do ya mean?" Inuyasha asked rudely.

"People take those kind of things differently now, you get caught with those and you can get into trouble with the police, and believe me, you don't want to do that. Especially because you guys don't have any records or anything, you guys have to be careful."

Inuyasha thought he could take these `police' guys on, but Souta said that they shouldn't and sounded like he meant it to. He didn't want to mess up his chances with Kagome now.

"Kirara, you'll have to stay here too." He said sadly.

"Meow." She meowed even sadder.

"I'm sorry but the mall doesn't let animals in, you're just gonna have to stay here."

Kirara sadly nodded then walked out of the room to take a nap on the couch.

"Now, we can walk down to the store, it's not so far, but you'll have to wear your stuff you're wearing now there." He got up from his chair and walked into the living room. The others followed him.

"Hold on, let me get my-" Souta started but was cut off.

RING! RING! RING!

The telephone rang and once again, Inuyasha and co. are in battle positions, while Souta sweat dropped.

RING! RING! RING!

"Okay," Souta said. "Calm down!"

Everyone reluctantly went back to normal.

"First lesson," he said. "If I'm not freaking out, you don't have to freak out, okay? Now this," he walked over to the phone and pointed to it. "Is a phone. You pick it up, and when you do, someone on the other end of the line," He picked up the chord. "Whether they are one mile or 1,000 miles away, will talk to you. When you pick it up you say `hello.' Okay?" Everyone nodded. "Whenever you hear that ring, stay calm, and do that."

RING! RING! RIN-

Souta picked up the phone as he demonstrated.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Hey bud, what's up?" Leo asked on the end of the line.

Souta glanced at the gang. "Hey Leo." The others recognized the name, and were trying to listen to the conversation. "Nothing much, how are you?"

`Why couldn't I have my demon senses now?' Inuyasha thought unhappily crossing his arms.

"I'm good. Me and Kag got back alright, I just took a shower, and Kag is taking a nap right now, but it looks like she's out for the night." He said.

"Oh, okay."

"Are you all set to come tomorrow?"

"Uh, yeah, about that."

"What?"

"Well, I was wondering… Is it alright if I bring some friends?"

"Uh," There was a slight pause. "Guess so. Doesn't matter to me, they'll have to stay at the hotel with you, but I'm cool with it. I don't think your sister will mind either."

"Neither do I." He muttered and took a glance at Inuyasha.

"Huh?"

"Oh nothing."

"Ooooooookay. Anyway, you got your passport right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, I'll tell Drake to take the private jet over for you."

"Thanks."

"No problem, see ya soon."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Souta heard a click then hung up the phone. "See? Easy."

"That was Leo?" Inuyasha asked.

"Yeah, he said it was okay if I took you guys with me. We better go shopping first though." Souta said.

"Alright." Inuyasha said. "Let's go."

"Hold on, let me get my shoes." Souta walked over to a closet.

`Uh oh.' Miroku thought.

"Hurry up." Inuyasha said tapping his foot.

"I'm going, I'm going." Souta said as he turned the closet's handle.

`OH NO!' Miroku cried mentally.

Souta carefully turned the handle and opened the door normally. Miroku squinted his eyes expecting shoes to come piling down. However, Souta opened the closet and no waterfall of shoes came tumbling down, all the shoes were not exactly neat inside the closet, but in the closet nonetheless. Miroku had his eyes squinted shut and was still expecting to hear the thuds of a hundred different shoes come tumbling down to the floor.

"Something in your eye monk?" Inuyasha asked with his arms crossed.

Miroku instantly snapped his eyes open. "No, why on Earth would you think that?" He gave him an innocent look.

"Feh." Inuyasha said.

Miroku looked at Souta and to his relief, he found that the shoes weren't everywhere…until Souta started throwing them left and right.

`NO!' He thought. `All my hard work.' He felt like banging his head on the wall as he saw each and every shoe thrown out of the closet… well except one.

"UGH!" Souta groaned.

"What is it?" Sango asked.

"My shoe! I can't find it."

Miroku gulped and glanced at Kirara. She was facing the ceiling with her nose up in the air, in a snooty kind of look.

"Uh… where could it be?" Miroku asked innocently.

"I don't know… Have you guys seen it? It's a little white one." He said still searching through the shoes.

"Huh, I'll definitely keep my eyes open…" Miroku said innocently, every once and a while throwing nervous glances at Kirara.

^_^

"I can't believe I lost my shoe!" Souta said angrily as he walked down the sidewalk with the others.

"Just buy some more when we get there." Inuyasha said annoyed. Souta had been complaining about those darn shoes for awhile now and he was starting to get a headache.

Inuyasha and Souta were in the front of the group while Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kirara are following behind. Shippo was trudging along behind Souta and Inuyasha with Kirara while Sango and Miroku dropped behind. Earlier while the others were looking for the shoe, Kirara promised not to snitch, but Miroku had to give up something in return. He couldn't ask any woman to bear his child until she was able to turn demon again. (The horror!) He almost didn't agree to it, but in the end, he made the promise.

Souta was grumbling about his shoes, and how his black ones weren't as good as his white ones as he remembered not being able to find them anywhere. He couldn't imagine where they could've gone. Inuyasha had offered to carry him so he could go barefoot, but Souta said that people would start looking at them, and they shouldn't attract any more attention than necessary. And besides, the mall had a policy of "No Shoes, No service." Which gladly reminded him that Inuyasha and Shippo were barefoot. He gave them some flip-flops to where, much to Inuyasha's and Shippo's discomfort, but they were willing to do almost anything to see Kagome again.

In the back of the group, Sango was thinking about seeing Kagome again when she started to glance at Miroku every now and then. He was deep in thought and looked kind of dazed. She wondered what he was thinking about, if he was thinking about her, or why would she care for that matter. It's not like she liked him or anything, or him touching her. Speaking of which, he hadn't done so in awhile, at least since this whole thing with the time traveling and human-appearance spell. Maybe he was just too busy thinking about this stuff. Maybe she was reading too much into it, and why would she care anyway? It's not like she liked him. She definitely didn't like him. Besides, even if she did, he would always be around other girls, asking them to bear his child and the usual groping, and she wouldn't want to be with someone like that, someone like Miroku.

`I don't care.' She thought. `Why would I care? It's not like he likes me or anything, and I DEFINITELY do NOT like him.' She kept telling herself that over and over. But as she thought further into the subject, she was trying to figure out, just whom was she trying to convince? Miroku and every other being on this Earth, or herself?

"Sango? Are you alright?" Miroku was thinking about this era when he noticed that Sango had a grim look on her face, and she seemed to be thinking about something. What that was, he didn't know.

Instantly, Sango was snapped out of her thoughts, and returned to reality. How long had she been thinking about this? Souta and Inuyasha were still carrying out a conversation about his shoes so she figured it hadn't been too long.

"Oh, nothing." Sango lied. What was she supposed to do? Tell him that she was questioning her feelings for him, and ask him if he felt anything for her? She didn't think so.

Miroku didn't buy it and was starting to get a little suspicious. He wondered if he had done something to offend her somehow. How that could've happened, he had no clue, but he could never tell with Sango.

Sango was different than the other girls. Yes, he liked flirting with girls, and asking them his number one favorite pick-up line, but they were all the same. Stupid and giggly as he throws in some flattery here, some compliments there, gets them to be willing to bear his child, have them willing to marry, zip, zane, zoom. That's all. Sango, however, was different than all the rest. She was smart, strong, and although many of the other girls were pretty, Sango was by far the most beautiful. She was every thing that most of the other girls lacked. Sango had education, wisdom, but sometimes he questioned her taste… He also admired her, believe it or not, for her resistance against him. He had some feeling, whether intuition or hope, that she felt something for him.

Sango was the one girl that he hadn't asked to bear his child. This was because, that when he asked any other woman, he didn't truly mean it. He was just desperate to produce an heir. He didn't want it to be that way with Sango. Just like she was different, he wanted his relationship with Sango to be different. He didn't want her to be a "one-night-stand." He wanted it to be more than that. Although he knew that she probably didn't feel anything towards him, he hoped that someday she would.

Pushing these thoughts aside and going back to the matter at hand, he further questioned her about her thoughts.

"Are you sure you're alright? You look a little grim." He asked, genuinely concerned.

"Yes, I'm just kind of worn out from everything recently. This whole thing happened so fast and it's beginning to take its toll." Sango said. Actually what she said was true. Everything happened so soon, and it was going so quickly that Sango was beginning to question if this was all just a dream.

"Yes, I know what you mean." Miroku nodded. "I'm getting tired already and will be looking forward to getting some rest." He took a look around at the scenery. "So much has changed." He said.

"Indeed." Sango also glanced around. "It's hard to believe that this was once Kaede's village." Miroku nodded silently and the two walked along together, not once uttering a word, just looking at all the changes in this era.

Some of things the two couldn't understand or figure out. Like the hard, black stuff that they walked on, which according to Souta, was called pavement, or Sango's least favorite invention, the TV. What was wrong with the way everything was back in their time? They could understand the `grocery stores' and the indoor plumbing and heating part, no matter how ridiculous these "toilet" and "flush" things that Souta explained were, but they couldn't understand why they would go through all the trouble to make pavement, and TVs'.

"I don't know how we'll be able to learn all these things." Sango said glancing at a Wacdonalds across the street from her.

"Neither do I." Miroku said. "I never really thought of what it must be like for Kagome." He added.

"What?" Sango asked, confused.

"I mean, look at everything here in her era." He looked at small thrift and pawnshops on the sides of the streets. He looked at the bakeries, toy stores, restaurants, candy stores, and jewelry stores. "She has everything she needs on one single street. Anything she'll ever need will be here waiting for her." Miroku points to an insurance (although he didn't know what insurance was) company's store and at some people walking out. "But when she comes back to our era, there's nothing like this. Everything is from scratch, nothing is ready, we do everything ourselves. And yet," he paused. "When she still could, she always came back, she never complained, give or take a time about cold water for a bath." He said which got him a glare from Sango. "Not that I would be spying on her while she takes a bath or anything." He lied innocently.

Sango was about to slug him when he continued.

"What I'm trying to say is, she could've said that she didn't have to search for the shards anymore, leave, seal up the well and never come back. She could've given up the dangerous fights that usually always got someone hurt, and the endless days of shard hunting, and been happy in her time with all of this stuff, but she didn't. Before the well sealed up, she came back to our era every time. Think of everything she was giving up, just in the two years she was with us." Miroku said.

"Wow." Sango said. "I never really thought of it that way, sure I mean I guessed she was missing part of her life when she was with us, but I didn't know what she was missing." Sango said as she glanced around at the scenery for the umpteenth time that day.

"I wonder." Miroku thought out loud.

"You wonder what?" Sango asked.

"I wonder if this is the reason for the well sealing up." He said.

"What are you talking about?" Sango asked.

"I wonder if the well sealed because we were supposed to learn some things about Kagome and her era. I know it sounds crazy, but…" Miroku trailed off.

Sango nodded. "I guess that could be it. Part of it makes sense." She tilted her head to the side.

"Never mind, it was just some crazy theory, just forget I mentioned it." Miroku waved a hand through the air.

Sango was about to respond when Souta said:

"We're here! Inuyasha and company, welcome to the Tokyo Mall!" Souta announced their arrival with arms open wide and the biggest of smiles on his face while the others just stared at the giant building in front of them in awe.

"It's huge…" Shippo said staring wide-eyed at the building.

"Bigger than any castle I've ever seen." Miroku added.

"I know," Souta said walking towards the doors. "Isn't it great?" Souta asked.

But no one answered, they were to busy standing in the middle of the sidewalks like idiots, admiring the gigantic building to pay attention to Souta or any of the other customers passing by that were giving them weird looks.

Souta had reached one of the multiple sets of doors when he realized that they weren't following him.

"Come on." He said as he motioned for them to come with him.

Like a bunch of mindless robots, the gang followed him in, still getting over the shock of seeing such a big building. When the gang entered the mall, they were even more surprised.

"How do you not get lost in a place like this?" Sango asked.

The gang looked on in awe, for the 100th time that day, at the busily crowded Tokyo mall with just as many stores as the town did practically. Noise and chatting was everywhere, and the large wall's echo didn't help. Small stores were on the left and right, and big department stores were off at dead end section every now and then. In the giant aisles on the first floor, there were shops that were too small to be called stores, but too big to be called stands. Some sold candy and pretzels, while others sold anything from jewelry to cell phones. Also inside the mall, were benches, garbage cans, and little potted trees.

Souta let them have it all soak in before saying that it was time to go, and it was almost dark.

As the gang walked through the long, tiled hallways, they once again, marveled at everything in sight. They smelt the cinnamon sugar coming from the "Auntie Anne's Pretzel Shop" and the milky chocolate scent from the candy store. Especially a certain hyper ten-year-old, who still happened to be sugar-high from all those cookies.

"Okay, here's our first stop." Souta lead the group to a JC Penny store entrance and announced their arrival.

"What is it?" Shippo asked as he stood in the entrance looking at all the "Sale" signs on the display windows.

"It's a JC Penny store, just one of the many stores we have where we get clothes. I would've taken you to a better store, but we're short on time, and I don't' feel like walking around the mall all night. Besides, this one has pretty much everything in it." Souta explained.

"I still think our clothes should be fine." Inuyasha mumbled under his breath, too quiet for Souta or anyone else to hear.

Souta, oblivious to Inuyasha's little comment, showed the gang in. They glanced around at all the clothes hanging on racks and folded on shelves. In the background they gang could hear the music the store played and nearby registers ringing and clicking.

"Okay," Souta said. "I know this is probably no a good idea and I will regret doing it later, but I don't have a choice, it's really getting late and there's a curfew we have to follow, so we're going to have to split up." Souta said.

"How will we know when to meet again?" Sango asked.

"Here." Souta said. "See this?" He said pulling out his watch from under his red hoodie. "This tells me what time it is."

"You mean it talks?" Shippo asked excitedly.

"Uh… no." All Shippo's enthusiasm died instantly. "What I mean is, I read it off of this, it's called a watch. There are other watches around the store, some on people's wrists. Now if you look over here on this wall," He pointed to a clock on the wall behind him. "There are bigger ones called "clocks." There is a clock on each wall. So whenever you need to know what time it is, you look at these. There are easy to read. There are twelve numbers, and two hands. The small hand is the hour hand, and the big hand is the minute hand. Okay?" Souta waited for them to show him they understand, and was answered with a round of nods. "See right now, the little hand is on the eight, and the big hand, is on the twelve, see?" They nodded. "That means it's 8:00. Get it?" Souta asked.

The group all nodded in unison.

"Uh, just one thing." Shippo said.

"What's that?" Souta asked.

"What's an eight?" Shippo asked sheepishly.

Souta falls over anime-style.

"You mean you guys don't know?" Souta asked incredulously.

Everyone but Miroku nodded sheepishly.

"I kind of do, because of my education." Miroku said.

Souta slapped himself on the forehead.

"Right." He said.

`They don't make anything easy, do they?' He thought.

"Uh… just ask someone else in store what time it is, and we'll all meet back here at eight thirty. If people say something like HALF-PAST eight, then it means the same thing. Sango, I'm not too good at shopping for girls so, unfortunately, you're on your own. Miroku and Inuyasha, I can help you guys out, but I don't know what good I'll do. Shippo, same for you as Inuyasha and Miroku. Um…" Souta thought of what else there was to say. "Okay, Sango girl's and women's section is over there," points to a spot behind her. "If you see the sign hanging from the ceiling with the girl on it, that's it. To find the meeting place either look for, or ask directions for the registers," Points to some registers to show them what they are. "Then when you get here, wait for everyone to get back. Don't worry about prices of clothes for now, just get everything you think you might need, but please don't go overboard." Souta said. "Okay, I think that covers just about everything. See you Sango at 8:30. Alright?"

"Alright." Sango said. She turned around and instantly saw the sign with the girl on it. She walked in that direction.

"Okay, let's go." Souta said as he started walking in the opposite direction towards the men's section.

`This won't be too bad, Inuyasha and Miroku won't be too picky about their clothes, will they?'

^_^

Sango didn't see anything she liked.

She had been shopping for awhile now and had two pairs of jeans (it took her awhile to figure out there were different sizes) two pairs of shorts, sneakers, some khaki Capri's, a blue tank top, a small khaki corduroy purse that she liked, a traveling suitcase with wheels, and a few tee-shirts. She got some of these "socks" and "underwear" things that Souta reminded her to buy, she even had a toothbrush, a regular brush, and some shampoo (she remembered the ones of Kagome's that she liked) all she had left to buy was this… "bra" thing…

There was too much to decide from… way too many colors, way too much lace, and way too many details… Sango wasn't even sure what this thing was for, Souta wasn't really enthusiastic about it when he tried to explain to her earlier. He just got red and said to ask some other lady salesperson there when she got there. Sango didn't know why at the time, but now looking at them she did.

A little girl in a green dress about 5, comes up to Sango.

"Hello. Your clothes are funny, whatcha doin'?" She asks.

Sango sees the little girl staring up at her with brilliant blue eyes and smiles.

"I'm shopping for a…" Sango turns her gaze back at the aisles. "bra."

The girl smiles and nods her head.

"My mommy wears one of those, I don't know what they're for but she's a 36B, whatever that means." The girls tilts her head to the side and looks confused for a moment before lifting it upright and smiling again. "O well."

Sango smiled at the little girl, she was just too cute.

`Hmm, maybe I could use this 36B number.' She thought.

"Um," Sango started. "Can you read?" She asked.

"Uh huh." The girl said happily. "I know my whole alphabet and all my numbers to a-gazillion.

"You could you help me find something that says 36B?" Sango asked nicely.

"Sure." The little girl says. She walks over to a certain bra, reads it, goes on to the next one and says "Here it is. It's the one with the pinkish tag and a 36 on it, see?" She points to the tag.

"Uh huh, thank you little girl." She says sweetly.

"Your welcome, I have to go. Nice meeting you lady." She says as she skips toward another part of the store.

"You too." Sango said sweetly. Then a thought struck Sango. "Wait!" She called out. The girls stopped and turned around. "Is there a place I could change?" Sango asks.

The girl nods and says "Uh huh, right over there." Points to a doorway a few meters down from where Sango is standing. "Bye bye." She waves then leaves.

Sango searches for bras with a pinkish tag and a 36 on it for a few more minutes before going into the changing room.

^_^

Sango opened the changing stall's red door. Inside was a full-length mirror on one wall, some hangers on the opposite wall, and a small bench in between the two. Sango set her clothes on the bench and then closed the door. As she started to undo her kimono, she forgot about the pictures and they silently floated down to the floor, without her noticing.

^_^

When Sango was done getting changed, she ripped the tags off of a pair of jeans, one of her bras and pairs of underwear, a tee- shirt and stuffed them in her purse (for which she also ripped the tag off of. She put her sandals back in the shoe box where her sneakers once were, and put on the socks and sneakers along with the jeans, the tee-shirt (and yes underwear and bra) She got all of the clothes she liked in a pile and secured them in her arms so they wouldn't fall. Just as she was about to get up to open the door, she spotted the pictures on the ground. She slowly picked them up and looked them over to make sure they weren't damaged.

`Must've dropped them.' She thought.

She carefully slid them into her new purse and opened the stall's door. She started walking towards the doorway when a woman in a "May I Help You?" vest asked if she needed her to take the clothes she didn't want. Sango gave her the clothes that didn't fit and then asked her the time.

"Uh…" The lady pulled up her sleeve to look at her watch. "It's almost 8:30. My watch is a little slow so it should be around 8:25." She told Sango.

Sango smiled politely and thanked her.

`8:25, it's time to go back, right?' Sango asked herself. She gave a very heavy sigh. `What a day.'

^_^

"You guys, we… have… enough…" Souta said in between gasps.

Souta had a cart and armload full of anything from baggy jeans to hoodies. Souta let out a giant gasp as he put another heavy load onto the second cart.

"We won't be able to buy all this stuff ya know." He said to Miroku (who was modeling his new clothes (without tags) in front of the three-way mirror) and Inuyasha (who was also in new clothes, and figuring out which shirt made him look tougher).

Shippo was sitting happily in the corner on a bench waiting for the others to finish up. He finished shopping long before, and was content to play with the laces on his new sneakers.

"Yeah," Shippo said. "You guys are expensive, and I thought you guys didn't want new clothes."

"I'm not shopping anymore." Miroku said turning the other way in the mirror, smiling at his reflection. "I've just never seen one of these before, and frankly, I could do this all day." Miroku did another pose in the mirror, giving it a dashing smile that made it sparkle.

Meanwhile Shippo sweat-dropped.

"Oi, which one's better Shippo?" He held up a red hoodie labeled "Independent" and a black one labeled "Spitfire".

"Uh…" Shippo said. "That one." He pointed to a random sweatshirt, which happened to be the "Spitfire" one.

Inuyasha threw the red one on top of a clothes rack and dropped the black on on top of the cart.

"Alright, I'm done, let's go." He said as he went over to Shippo.

"Is it time to meet up with Sango?" Shippo asked.

Souta checked his watch.

"Oh my God! It's 8:35! We shoulda been there by now! GO!" Souta ran to the cart, grabbed the handle and pushed as hard as he could, running like a madman for the register.

Inuyasha grabbed Shippo's hand and ran with Miroku, trying to catch up to Souta. As the passed the other customers, all the customers saw was a blur. Half way to the register, Shippo gave up trying to run, and just let Inuyasha drag him there…

^_^

At register five, Sango was waiting with one cart, almost full, but not exactly. She glanced around again, nope, still no sign of them.

`Maybe the woman read the watch thing wrong…' She thought.

"Um, excuse me?" Sango asked a bald guy with glasses in another one of those "May I Help You?" vests.

"Yes?" He said.

"Could you tell me what time it is?" Sango asked politely.

"Sure, it's…" He looked at the digital clock on his computer/register's screen. "8:36."

Sango nodded and thanked him then turned around and gave a sigh.

`I was supposed to be here at 8:30…right?' Sango asked herself.

Just as she was about to go look for them she heard a screech. Instantly her head flew in that direction, only to see four guys rushing at her full speed, well, three and one being dragged… She stood very, very still.

"STOP!" Souta yelled trying to stop the cart with all his strength. Inuyasha and Miroku joined in while Shippo dangled off of Inuyasha's baggy jeans hanging on for dear life.

The cart came to a screeching halt, causing everyone in the store to direct all their attention on them. The three teenagers were out of breath and gasping for air when the cart stopped at a mere two inches from register five.

The guys felt like they had a near-death experience and just wanted to fall to the ground and take a nap when Sango raised her eyebrows and said:

"What took you guys so long?"

^_^

Souta reluctantly used his mom's credit card for ALL their clothes (DUN, DUN, DUN!), and was too afraid to hear the price, so the bald guy at register didn't even tell him. He just gave him the receipt and told him if he wanted it, it was in there.

Everyone was showing off their new clothes on the way home, carrying three bags each, while Souta stayed in the back with his head down, chanting: "I'm dead, I'm done, I'm gone, My mom is soooo gonna kill me…"

On the way back to the shrine, Shippo spotted a store he liked.

"Hey Souta?" He asked.

Souta was in the middle of "I'm dead" and "I'm done" when he heard Shippo saying: "HE~LLO? Anybody in there?" Before he felt someone tapping on his head. "Huh? What?" Souta snapped his head back up instantly, sending Shippo flying into Inuyasha.

"Watch it twerp!" Inuyasha snapped.

"Wasn't my fault!" Shippo snapped back.

"Was too!" Inuyasha said.

"Was not!" Shippo said.

"Guys!" Souta said, finally back in reality. "Stop! Now, what did you want Shippo?" He asked.

"What's that?" Shippo pointed to the store, forgetting all about the pointless argument he was just having with Inuyasha a few seconds ago.

"Oh, that's a Blockbuster."

They look at him confused.

"Heh, right. You think I'd remember by now. Um, a video rental store. There we can buy movies or rent movies, which means to pay money to keep them for a little bit. Um, movies are a kind of entertainment here for us, you watch them on the TV." He explained.

`Not the TV again.' Sango thought.

"Wow!" Shippo said. "Can we get one of these `movie' things?"

Souta thought about it. `Maybe some movies could help `educate' them on some of the stuff in this era… I've already got myself grounded until I'm Inuyasha's age including the years he was pinned to the tree… o well, couldn't hurt.'

"Sure, let's go in." Souta said.

Souta led them inside the glass doors.

"Okay, umm…" Souta thought for a second. "I don't know what you guys would want to watch, so I'm just gonna let you look around. I'll let you guys get one movie each cause I'm already spending a lot, so in won't matter. While you guys are doing that, I'm gonna grab some that I think will let you guys have some idea of what it's like in this era. Alright, I'll call you to the register when I'm done. Comedy is over there, Romance over there, Kids stuff, right here, Drama over in that section, Horror, right over there, and Action is this way." Souta pointed out directions for all the types of movies. "Look at the boxes and take the white box behind it if you like it. See ya in a bit." Souta said as he went on his search for the movies that he thought are best suited for them to watch…

^_^

The gang was walking up the shrine steps in the dark. Everyone but Souta was carrying the JC Penny bags, while Souta carried the Blockbuster movies. No one knew what the movies were, and if they did, they probably wouldn't have known what they were about anyway…

Souta was actually pretty proud of himself, he picked out a few good movies, and some he could care less about, but they were diverse and he thought that they could possibly give the guys a better understanding of this era.

When they got inside, Souta told them to put their stuff in their suitcases. It took them about an hour, and by the time everyone was packed with about two bags and ready for bed, it was 9:52. Souta then suggested they watch all the movies…

The first one was…

Kagome's personal favorite: A Walk To Remember

Inuyasha thought it was sappy, Miroku fell asleep along with Souta, Shippo played with his clothes, Kirara watched every second of it, and Sango cried.

"I can't believe you fell asleep!" Sango yelled in the two boys' ears.

They jumped up "I wasn't asleep!" Miroku said defensively. "I was just *yawn* resting." He said stretching.

"Sure." Sango said, giving him the evil eye.

"Just to let you know, this movie was kind of a `chick-flick'." Souta said. "Or in other words, a movie that usually girls would rather watch it than guys would." He explained.

All Sango did was "Hmph." Before going to sit down on the living room couch. She wrapped herself up in her blanket and got herself comfortable. Kirara crawled over to sit on her lap. Miroku was also on the couch, and in between them was Shippo. Inuyasha was on the floor, laying down and Souta was in the big stuffed chair.

"Okay," Shippo said. "What's next?"

And the second was…

Animated: The Lion King

The gang wasn't too impressed with it… well excluding Shippo…

"Let's watch it again!" He said, very enthusiastically, I might add.

"No, it's 11:30, and we still have more to watch." Souta said, definitely NOT wanting to watch The Lion King over again. He got up out of his chair, put the Lion King in the rewinder, and put in…

The third movie…

Horror: Scream

"What kind of sick people make these things?" Inuyasha yelled.

Everyone but Inuyasha was on the same couch bundled up together. Inuyasha was on the floor, trying to keep whatever he had left of his pride, but secretly wishing he was up on the couch. On the couch from left to right was Shippo, Miroku, Sango, Kirara, and Souta.

"This is really the kind of stuff that happens in your time?" Sango asks as she watches a guy in a black robe and white mask chase a blonde girl, after killing her boyfriend.

"No." Souta says. "Well sometimes, but not anything like this. People make this because they like to be scared." He explained.

"And grossed out to the point of puking?" Shippo asked, as he quickly ducked his head under the covers to protect his eyes from seeing the girl get stabbed again.

"Heh, sometimes." Souta said staring at the TV.

On the screen the girl's parents came home and went outside to find their daughter hanging from a tree, stabbed many times, with the phone in her hand.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Everyone, even Inuyasha screamed that time…

And the final movie…

Romantic/Comedy: How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days

Souta kept having to pause the movie and explaining things to them that they didn't understand. The things they did understand however, were very funny to them.

Inuyasha wouldn' t admit it, but he thought it was kind of funny. Sango thought it was cute, Kirara `meowed' her approval. Souta thought it was pretty funny, and Miroku and Shippo felt the same way.

Sango was busy looking at the movie boxes when she felt a certain someone's hand in an all too familiar place…

"PERVERT!" Sango screamed as she hit Miroku over the head countless times.

"Wait-Uh-Ow-Sango!" Miroku said in between blows to the head all the while he had the goofy grin on his face that he often wore at times like these.

"I was wondering when he was going to do that. He hasn't done it in awhile now." Shippo commented as he witnessed Sango continue to hit Miroku over and over…

Souta yawned and stretched before looking at the clock.

`2:02' He thought.

"Well, we should be going to bed. We gotta get up early tomorrow."

"Alright." Sango said happily before going up the stairs to Kagome's mom's room.

"I'm going up." Souta said. "You guys should get some sleep too." He said, then went up the stairs to his own room.

Shippo yawned widely then trudged up the stairs to sleep in Kagome's old room. Tripping every now and then, but not really noticing because he was so tired.

Inuyasha went into the kitchen to get a glass of water, remembering where Souta told him the cups would be and how to use the faucets.

Meanwhile, Kirara walked over to the Miroku who was just regaining consciousness on the floor.

"Meow." Kirara said with and angry stare.

"What?" Miroku said innocently. "You said I couldn't ask any girls to bear my child, and I didn't now did I?" He said with a smile.

Kirara thought for a second, gave him a dirty look, then headed towards the stairs. Halfway up the steps she said "Meow."

Author's Note: "Meow" is roughly translated to "This sucks."

Inuyasha came back in the living room as soon as Kirara reached "Sango's room" to see Miroku still on the floor with the swirly eyes.

He gave a sigh before saying:

"Come on Monk." And pulling him up to his feet. Still half concious, Miroku fell back down. Inuyasha gave another sigh before securing Miroku on his shoulder and helping him walk up the steps into Gramp's room and putting him on the bed.

He stayed a few seconds longer, watching Miroku snore, before leaving.

"At least he'll get some sleep." He said queitly to himself.

He queitly walked over to Kagome's old room. Sometimes he half-expected all her stuff to be there, sometime he even expected to find her studying at her desk. But he always had reality crushing him down with the fact that Kagome wasn't here anymore, and he was the reason why.

Once again, he was dissapointed as he creaked open her old door to find a white, plain room. The only thing out of the ordinary was the ten year old boy wrapped up in the white blanket, sound asleep, and their bags in the corner.

As he glanced around he saw the window where he would always come in. He hated the fact that he couldn't smell Kagome's scent in the room, and cursed for not having his demon senses again. Although, he probably wouldn't have been able to smell anything with his demon senses because her scent was at least two years old…

Outside was the tree. That damn tree was everywhere to him anymore. Like the prayer beads, he felt that the God tree somehow connected him to Kagome. He just wished there was some way he could have… contacted her or something…

But that didn't really matter now. He would see her soon, and then everything would be alright. Taking in a last glance of the room he walked over to the bed. Careful not to wake Shippo, he lifted up the covers and slid in.

He thought about what he usually thought about at night, Kagome. Rememebering all the good times they had, and the bad. Remembering the fight, and the way she looked at him before she sit him and jumped into the well…and they never saw each other again…

Laying in the bed staring at the ceiling he whispered:

"God, I'm such an asshole."

He closed his eyes and started to drift asleep.

He dreamed that night, and in the morning he would remember the dream. He would know every single detail… What he wouldn't know, is that a certain star was outside the window, straight above the God tree that night… He also wouldn't know, that 1,000 miles away, over the Pacific Ocean, Kagome was having the same exact dream…

Author's note: No clue as to what Tokyo's stores are like, but I live in America, Tokyo's businesses and stores aren't my department. Sorry.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

READ, RATE, REVIEW! And thank you for all the review so far! You guys have no idea how much it means to me… ^___^