InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Setting Them Straight ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Ugh... this chapter was hell to write.

It's not that I don't want to make this story long, because I do! It's just that it's one of those chapters where I don't really know what I'm doing, and thus, I wish I could just skip the whole thing all together and move on to the more amusing parts.

So I guess it's only fare to warn you that because of everything that I said above, this chapter may not be all that good. Just so you know. And on that note, I would like to also say that I didn't even bother to proof-read this chapter. That's how much I hate it… but I don't particularly like most of my work, so you may like it just fine. But know that this is the reason why you may find some errors.

So yeah... anyway...

If anyone wants a picture of Kitty, leave your e-mail address in a review and I'll send it to you.

And one more thing: Shio will be coming into the story in the next chapter, and without fail. So you have something to look forward to ^_^

Now read!

~*~

When Hitomi walked into the motor home after returning from the grocery store, she came in to find Kitty making a spectacle of herself... again.

She was sitting at the table while typing on Saburo's laptop computer, eating cereal, talking on the phone, tying her sash on to secure her kimono (which she had probably changed into without leaving the computer), and she had a set of earphones hooked onto the ear that wasn't occupied by the phone.

When Kitty heard Hitomi enter, she looked up, smiled broadly and dropped everything she was doing. She then stood up and handed Hitomi the phone, saying, "It's Mrs. H. She'll tell you where I'm going. Bye!" And then she rushed out the door.

Seconds later, before Hitomi even put the phone to her ear, Kitty poked her head back in and quickly said, "Oh by the way, I decided I want to stay here." Then she closed the door again, leaving Hitomi, the the phone, and a mess where Kitty had missed her target while shoveling Rice Crispies into her mouth.

Shaking her head, she brought the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

~*~

Inuyasha was sulking at the side of the river near Kaede's hut. Kagome and the rest of them were inside, cleaning up after breakfast.

Kagome thought that he was still angry with her. The truth was though, that he never really was angry in the first place.

He was just frustrated that for some reason, he was never as contented when she was gone. He didn't like the fact that he felt weak whenever she went back to her time.

Not to mention he felt weak whenever she was with him as well. But somehow, at the same time, he felt stronger, too.

'ARG! What is this? Why does she DO that to me?' he thought, walking back to Kaede's as he got himself angry. He knew he shouldn't have thought about it... thinking leads to answering questions... and then new questions come from the answers. It's a vicious cycle that he wanted no part of, knowing that his chances of escaping it once caught were little to none.

Lucky for him though, as he came out of the woods and onto the path, a voice caught his attention and saved him from the many terrors of exercising his brain.

"I was walking through the park one day

in the merry, merry month of May!" sang the... 'Boxes with feet?'

Oh, no... it was a person carrying boxes, and he just couldn't see their face. It smelled like a cat... Inuyasha watched it as it continued to sing.

"I was taken by surprise

by a pair of-" the cat stopped suddenly. Inuyasha watched as she made a show of trying to peek over the top of the boxes, but when she couldn't she just resolved to look around them. Then she seemed to recognize him -how, he had no idea- and grinned hugely at him, continuing her song.

"By a pair or golden eyes,

in the merry, merry month of May!" Then she frolicked over to him. "You're Inuyasha, right?"

He stared at her. He didn't notice it before, but now that she was closer, he could smell that she smelled like those metal youkai in Kagome's time... those mah-sheen things. 'Why does she smell like Kagome's time?' Thinking-- no, that's bad... deciding-- deciding that he would worry about it later, he answered her with a nod.

"Great! Well I was just bringing these boxes to Kagome. She forgot to take them here with her last night." She paused and sniffed at the air, then nodded to herself as she looked in the direction of Kaede's hut. "Can you please help me carry one of these?" she asked him, lifting the boxes in her arms a bit towards him to indicate that she was talking about them.

His perpetual scowl crept onto his face as he looked at the boxes and then to her, and said, "Keh. I ain't no pack mule. Carry them yourself."

The only sign she showed that the answer might not have been the one she was looking for was that her eye twitched. But whether that was because he hurt her feelings or because she didn't really look forward to being blind to the road in front of her, Inuyasha wasn't sure.

She continued to smile at him, though. "I'll just carry both of them then," she said as she started to continue down the path. Inuyasha followed her, since he was going back to Kaede's anyway. He also had to keep an eye on her... sure, she didn't seem like a threat now, but her cheerfulness brought to mind that Suikotsu character of the Shichinintai... Annoyingly happy one second, and the next he'd be suicidal. Good thing they were all dead.

Now that he was behind her, Inuyasha could see her clothes better. Her kimono was black with stupid looking circles on it... and much to his displeasure, she had the left side of it tucked up into her sash the way Jakotsu used to wear his. He shuddered at the memory... that guy was just plain disgusting.

Kitty was getting a little paranoid that there was not a particularly happy dog (even if he was only half) behind her, and he was eerily quiet. She decided to make conversation.

"I'm Kitty, by the way."

"Keh."

...How polite. But she wouldn't let that get her down! She plastered yet another smile onto her face and asked the first thing that came into her head, "So, find any shikon shards lately?"

~*~

Back at the hut, Kagome suddenly felt the presence of shikon shards; maybe eight or nine of them. She decided to just tell Sango that she was going to look for Inuyasha. She would be fine without anyone, since Inuyasha wasn't far off. So she started towards the shards.

~*~

"I swear, I have no use for them! I was just trying to make conversation!" Kitty explained frantically.

Inuyasha had backed her up against a tree and was pointing Tetsusaiga at her. The only things separating her and that sword that scared the crap out of her with the smell of a dog's mouth were the boxes of ramen.

"Don't give me that load of bull! What makes you think I'd believe you didn't have any interest in the one thing that practically every demon would kill for? It's no use trying to deny it, you just gave yourself away!"

Kitty shook her head furiously and pleaded, "Please don't kill me! Even ask Kagome, she'll tell you that I'm not looking for them!"

"Riiight. I'll buy that."

"Really?"

"No."

Kitty watched as Inuyasha was slammed to the ground by some unseen force.

~*~

"OSUWARI!!!!!" Kagome hollered. When she saw Inuyasha and Kitty she was at first curious, then shocked, confused, worried, concerned, and then afraid for Kitty's life. So she did the only thing she could think of to stop Inuyasha as quickly as possible and sat him.

Inuyasha muttered a string of muffled curses through the dirt that would even make a sailor grimace with disgust.

"Why did you do that, wench?!" he hollered through the dirt.

"You attacked Kitty!"

'...So they really DO know each other?' Disregarding that, he said, "Kagome, she's after the shikon shards! Just let me kill her and get another demon out of our way!"

Kitty, meanwhile, was still leaning on the tree to support herself.

"No, Inuyasha! She..." Kagome stopped speaking and stared at Kitty, who she was only now getting a good look at. 'Another demon, he said?' "Two things, Kitty..." she began. "First... how are you here?"

Kitty just looked at her. "I'm not sure I understand what you mean... I just went through the well. Isn't that how you and Inuyasha do it, too?"

"...Yes, but we were always the only ones who could do it."

Kitty smiled at her, regaining her composure from losing it after Inuyasha attacking her. "I guess not anymore, then, eh?"

Kagome blinked. If only all questions could be answered so simply. "Okay then... secondly, why are you a demon?" she asked, taking in Kitty's ears, tail, stripes, claws, fangs and other assorted demonic attributes.

"My parents were demons," Kitty answered simply.

"No kidding, but you used to be human."

"I only looked human. I just concealed my demon looks by mixing herbs, spices and whatnot the way my father taught me. It works well, but wears off over night."

"..."

"..."

"...One more thing. Why are you here?"

"You forgot the ramen last night."

Inuyasha, who was being ignored at the moment, instantly perked up.

"I went looking for you last night and came here, but it was around two in the morning so I just looked around and went back home. Then I made this," she said, holding out a sleeve of her kimono and smiling, "because I just felt like having one after seeing everyone here wearing them. Then after Souta went to school I went and asked your mom if she knew that her well was a portal and she told me all about how you come here for the shikon shards and stuff. Oh that reminds me! I must have spaced out after you ran off last night because I took the shikon shards from your room with me," she said, taking the jar out of her kimono. She held it out to Kagome, who silently took it with a look of understanding slowly making its way onto her face.

Looking at the ground as she sorted out a theory in her mind, Kagome asked, "Inuyasha, do you think that the shikon shards were what brought her here last..." She stopped when she looked to where Inuyasha was, and he wasn't there anymore. "Inuyasha?" she called, looking around.

A little ways down the path was Inuyasha, walking contentedly back to Kaede's with the two enormous boxes of ramen in his arms. If anyone bothered to look closely, they would have seen a slight bounce in his step.

"Oh sure, NOW he'll carry them," Kitty said with a scowl that was only present on her face for half of a second before her ever cheerful smile took over once again.

Kagome laughed nervously at Kitty's comment. What should she do now? Kitty had come to the feudal era, perhaps thinking the whole time that it would be like some sort of field trip... should she explain things to her?

"Hey Kitty, how much did my mom tell you about this time?" she asked to get an idea of where to start.

"Oh, just about everything that she knew." Kitty then began to count off the details on her fingers, saying, "She talked about how you met Inuyasha, your quest for the jewel shards, Miroku and his air rip, Shippo and how you found him and fought the thunder brothers, Sango and her brother Kohaku, Naraku and all of his evil plots that have the potential to one day ruin all of your lives completely and possibly end them as well, Kouga and the issues that Inuyasha has with him claiming you as his woman, Inuyasha's half bother Sesshoumaru and his rivalry with Inuyasha, Kikyo and her relationship with Inuyasha and how she died and was then resurrected only to make it her duty to get in the way, the Shichinintai (which she said was probably the biggest adventure you had to go through), and finally, all of the smaller details such as you and Inuyasha being the only two who were supposed to be able to travel through the well, and the fact that you and him are completely oblivious." Kitty then stopped to take in a well-deserved breath. "Oh yeah, and she also mentioned about most of the demons here wanting the shikon shards, and thus, making them evil and unmoved by the fact that most of the time they kill anyone in their path."

Talk about run-on sentences.

'I don't even remember telling my mother half of those things... I think I need to have another discussion with her about reading my diary... but at least I don't have to explain much to Kitty now.' Kagome sighed with relief at that thought. It certainly was a lot to explain, and she had no idea how long it would take. Wait, what was that that Kitty said about her and Inuyasha being oblivious?

"When you say oblivious... what are we oblivious to, exactly?"

"Just... things in general." 'More specifically, each other.'

Kagome nodded in thought, completely ignoring the fact that most people would take that as an insult to their intelligence. 'What do I do now that she's here?'

"Hey, Kagome?" Kitty said.

"Yeah?"

"Can I meet your other friends?" she asked hopefully.

Before Kagome could take even a second to consider it, Shippo came screaming down the path and jumped into Kagome's arms, mumbling incomprehensible sentences about what Kagome could only guess was the fact that Inuyasha was going to kill him for getting too close to his ramen.

"Kagome! Hide me!" he said, scampering up the back of her shirt. Then, as if it were an afterthought, he poked his head out of the collar and noticed Kitty for the first time. "Who are you?"

It was all that Kitty could do not to squeal in delight over how adorable the little fox was, and she was left speechless by the effort of restraining the urge to pet the kid and then run to the store and buy him ten pounds of candy.

So, Kagome answered for her. "This is Kitty, Shippo. She's from my time."

Crawling out of Kagome's shirt and onto her shoulder, Shippo smiled his impeccably cute little smile at Kitty but then turned to Kagome in confusion. "I thought there were no demons in your time... and aren't you and Inuyasha supposed to be the only ones who can go through the well?"

Kitty finally found her voice and explained how she disguises herself to look human. Then Kagome told him about her theory that the jewel shards were what let Kitty get through the well.

Shippo nodded in understanding and then jumped onto the ground, where he started skipping around the two girls because he was happy to meet another person from Kagome's time and also had a ton of energy from some chocolate that he had previously eaten.

Getting back to what they were discussing before Shippo arrived, Kagome said, "Well Kitty, since you're here I guess you could come back to Kaede's and meet the rest of us--"

"Lady Kagome!"

All three of them looked down the path to see Miroku approaching them with Sango and Kirara not far in front of him. They watched as Sango looked behind her to glare at Miroku, who she must have not known was following her, and then she called out to Kagome as well.

Kagome only wondered why they had all come to find her for a moment until she figured that Sango probably just didn't want to be alone with a lech and an anti-social hanyou, and Miroku's reason for coming was either from lack of entertainment or lack of a woman within groping range.

Getting sick of just standing there, Kagome started walking towards the two approaching them and motioned for Kitty and Shippo to come with her.

"Kagome, who is that?" Sango asked as the distance between them closed and they all stopped walking while introductions were made.

So Kagome introduced Kitty to them and told them all about how she was a cat demon (and that apparently there ARE demons in her time) and came from her time through the well somehow.

"And you are just as old as Lady Kagome?" Miroku asked.

"Yup," Kitty said cheerfully, happy that she was meeting all of them.

"Ah, well in that case, I have an important question," he said, taking her hands in his and locking gazes with her as if they were old time lovers. I'm sure you know what comes next. "Will you, in all of your loveliness, consider bearing my-"

Not surprisingly, all of the years of experience had lead Sango to expect this. Slamming Hiraikotsu onto the perverted monk's head, she effectively cut him off.

With Miroku off to the side rubbing the newly acquired lump in his cranium, Sango looked at Kitty more carefully. "Are you not native to Japan? Your face looks different," she pointed out. Inuyasha and Shippo had probably noticed too but just didn't think it was important enough to mention or passed it off as some weird birth defect. I'll leave your creative minds to figure out which opinion belonged to whom.

Kitty smiled brightly at her and explained that she was from America. When Shippo asked where this 'Uh-mer-ick-ah' was though, Kagome cut into the conversation before Kitty introduced the idea that the earth might possibly be round too early in the earth's history. "Hey guys, since she's here already, how would you like it if Kitty stayed here for the rest of the day?"

At the suggestion, Sango agreed enthusiastically, Shippo cheered and rejoiced that his new friend would be hanging around for a while longer, and Miroku also agreed that it would be an interesting change to have another person from Kagome's time with them.

As they all continued on their way back to the hut, Kagome pondered about how Kitty was reacting to everything so far. She had recovered quickly from when Inuyasha attacked her, for reasons that remained as mysteries to Kagome… though she guessed that either Kitty was an extremely forgiving person, or she had been warned by Kagome's mother.

Besides Inuyasha though, she seemed to accept with no trouble at all everything else that was occurring. She even acted completely indifferent when Miroku was asking her his world-renowned 'will you bear my child' question.

But again, maybe Kagome's mother had warned her. Plus, she probably got over her shock about the well already.