InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Great Mom Detective ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

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Blanket Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters listed below. They all are the property of Rumiko Takahashi.  I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.  


Chapter 3

Akina shook her head.  There was not near enough evidence to support the slightly wild theory she just came up with.  She bent down to her pad of paper and began to recall the next odd incident.

****FLASHBACK to 4 Months Ago****

“Mom!  I’m home!” Akina heard her youngest child exclaim just as the newly-replaced front door slammed shut.  It looks like Souta was sure going to make sure that the door will be well worn before he even enters middle school.

“Ok dear,” Akina called back.  “Remember your homework.”  If she didn’t remind her son to do his school work as soon as he got home, it was usually forgotten about until breakfast the next morning.

Souta entered the living room where she was currently taking a break from her housework by watching TV until it was time to start on supper.

“Moooommmm… I always remember my homework,” Souta replied as he sat next to her.  She gave him a disbelieving look.  He finally flushed and looked away and muttered, “I remember before school the day it’s due anyway…”

Akina laughed and gave him a quick little squeeze.  “It’s usually better to remember at least the day before.  How was school today?”

Souta took a deep breath, and Akina braced herself for what was to come.  So much for a, ‘Fine Mom...’

“Oh, it was so cool!  Ichiro and Toru almost got into a fight at lunch.  They would have started hitting each other too if my substitute teacher hadn’t come by and stopped them.  The teacher moved real fast and got in the middle of the two and then grabbed both of their ears and dragged them all the way to the principal’s office!  The teacher seems ok.  He’s going to be there the rest of the week and he already gave us a project and I’m going to need your help, Mama.”

Fortunately, Akina could understand ‘excited-or-emotional-Higurashi-child-speak’ so she didn’t have any problems following her son’s excited rambling.  “Oh?  What do you need help with, sweetie?”

“He wants us to ask one of our parents for a copy of their yearbook pictures and stuff.  I’m supposed to interview you with some questions he handed out and write it all up.  He said the more pictures we use from the yearbooks, the better the grade will be.”

“Oh, ok dear.  When is your report due?

“On Friday.”

“Oh my.  Today is already Tuesday.  I guess let me go find one of my high school yearbooks before I have to start supper.”  Akina stood up and went upstairs.  It had been years since she looked at her yearbooks and she wasn’t sure where they had ended up.  The last time she remembered seeing them was before Kagome was born.

She decided to try the attic first.  Hopefully her father hadn’t stuffed too many ‘antique’ items up there since she last climbed the stairs.  Once she arrived in the dusty, dusty attic and when she was done with a sneezing fit, she carefully maneuvered herself through the random, forgotten junk that every household accumulates.  And since her family has lived in this house for generations, there were lots of ‘mementos.’

After about a half hour, she finally located a couple boxes that looked like they belonged to her.  She opened one to find old dresses that were worn to one dance or another and a few scattered photographs of who must have been friends of hers at the time.  Looking at the photos now though, she did not recognize or remember the people in them.  It had been at least twenty years since those photos were taken after all, and she had lost contact with most of the people she went to school with.

She sighed and packed them back in the box with the dresses and opened the other.  Sitting on top of old school papers was her old yearbooks.  She smiled as she grabbed them up.  It would be nice to browse through them again.  Once she looked them over, she thought that she just might torture her son by sitting him down and telling him some ‘in-my-day’ stories.  That was a perk of motherhood after all.

Her smile slowly turned into a mischievous grin as she brought her treasures down from the attic and to the kitchen.  She set them aside to look at later because it was time to start cooking.  No rest for the weary, after all…

The next morning, Akina was finally able to sit down with her yearbooks.  She had just sent Souta off to school and her father out to tend the shrine.  Kagome was still on the other side of the well, so Akina had the house to herself.  She had fixed herself a cup of tea and opened one of the yearbooks to travel down memory lane.

She flipped through the first several pages rather quickly.  They were filled with faculty and staff and that wasn’t what she was looking through the book for.  She quickly found the first section with pictures of the students and then took her time.  She was fondly remembering classmates and some of the goings-on at the school.  

She took a sip of her tea and turned the page.  When she saw the picture on the next page, her eyes widened and she dropped the cup from her nerveless fingers causing it to shatter on the floor.  There, in front of her, was a black and white picture of Kagome and Inuyasha eating lunch under a tree.  She shook her head and looked at the picture a little closer.  The guy in the picture looked like Inuyasha except he had dark hair that was tied back and human ears.  But the girl looked exactly like her daughter only wearing glasses and with her hair styled a little differently…  She read the caption under the picture, ‘Seniors Yoshiaki Taisho and Kagome Inukai are enjoying being outdoors during their lunch break.’

Akina was actually shaking a little bit as she pushed away from the table.  ‘I…I remember them… We were in the same class, but never hung out together.  I always thought she had a pretty name and it influenced my choices when I was pregnant with Kagome… but that’s not them...it can’t be!  That was twenty years ago!  Kagome told me she looks just like Inuyasha’s old girlfriend, maybe it’s just that reincarnation stuff again.  Or they say everyone has a twin somewhere… Or…maybe it’s just the camera angle and the lighting…’

To prove to herself that her eyes were trying to trick her, she looked up their names in the index so she could see all the pictures of those two classmates in the book.  Yoshiaki wasn’t in very many pictures, just that one she found, his individual picture (the only person on the page that was scowling), and a group picture of the kendo team.  Kagome Inukai only had a couple more photos than that.  She was in the one Akina found, her individual photo, the debate team, and the yearbook staff.  In all the photos they were in, they continued to look like her daughter and her daughter’s unofficial boyfriend.  She flipped back to the first photo she found and just stared at it while thinking.  

‘It has to just be a coincidence.  They’re just look-alikes, that’s all.’  Nodding firmly to herself she stood up once again, this time to clean up the mess from the dropped teacup.

She pushed all thoughts of former classmates out of her mind and carefully swept up the pieces of glass.  Just as she was throwing it away, she heard a familiar voice in the shrine courtyard.

“No, Inuyasha!  Get away, I don’t want to hear it!  You said you could tell!  You did this on purpose, didn’t you!!  Did you even think about Naraku and the jewel shards?!  Ooohhhh!!!”

‘Ahh, sounds like the ‘just friends’ are back,’ Akina thought as she debated going out there to cool things off or let them argue things out.  Then again, the way their arguments usually turn out, she thought she’d better head on outside.

“Oi, Bitch-“

“OSUWARI!  Don’t you dare call me that right now!”

Akina was already running outside and found her very angry daughter stomping towards the house and Inuyasha was lying on his face in a small crater in the middle of the yard.

“Kagome?  Inuyasha?  What’s wrong?” Akina interrupted.

Kagome jumped when she heard Akina’s voice, then turned to face her.  Kagome took a calming breath and told her, “Nothing.  I…I just need to be alone right now.  And I mean it, Inuyasha!”  With that, she turned and ran into the house.  Akina could hear her start to cry before she even passed through the door.

Akina sighed and went to help the poor boy up.  She took his hand and helped him up.  She noticed that his eyes widened in surprise and then he looked down at where she still had his hand grasped.  ‘Just how deep are this boy’s emotional scars that he’s surprised by a helping hand?’ she wondered.  Once he was back on his feet, she started brushing down his outfit to shake off the loose dirt.  She looked up at his face and saw a couple smudges on his cheeks.  Without thinking, she licked her thumb and brought the moistened thumb to his face to clear the smudges.

He quickly, but gently, grabbed her wrist before she touched his face and blushed lightly.  “W…what are you doing?”

Akina realized she had slipped into ‘Mom-mode,’ and was about to use the super-cleaning-powers of Mommy-spit on her daughter’s boyfriend.  She mentally shrugged and went with it.  If anyone needed a little extra mothering, it was this boy in front of her.

“Oh, sorry dear.  You just have a bit of smut on your cheeks I was going to get for you.  Why don’t you come inside and I’ll fix you some Ramen, then you can tell me what’s going on, ok?”

He raised his hand to his cheek while she was talking, then nodded when she finished.  She turned and led him back into the kitchen and she set some water on to boil.  Inuyasha quietly sat at the table behind her.

When she turned around to give him a moistened rag, she saw that he was looking at the open yearbook she had left on the table.  She saw him look up at her then back down to the book.

“What’s this?” he asked and pointed to the picture.

“Oh, that’s a memory book from when I was in school and not much older than Kagome.  Souta has a project and I dug it out for him.  Would you like to see a picture of me from back then?” she asked as she handed him the damp rag and took the book away from him.  She knew what he was really asking, and she didn’t know the answers so she would play the part of the air-head mom she knew she had down.  She flipped to her individual picture and showed it to him.

“See, that was me.  Looks like Kagome took much more after me than she did her father, huh?  She almost looks just like me.”  Akina was surprised by that as well.  She knew Kagome took after her, but not having seen these old pictures in forever she never realized how much.  She heard the water boil and left to fix Inuyasha his Ramen.

Akina turned around to give the boy his bowl and a cup of tea.  He wasn’t looking at the book anymore and his ears were straight up and alert.  He flinched at something right before she handed him his meal.  She guessed he heard something from Kagome’s room.  He smiled sheepishly as he took the bowl from her with softly mumbled thanks.

She smiled back and sat down across from him.  For some reason, she enjoyed watching him eat.  He always ate like he was half-starved and just knowing that she was feeding the poor boy made her feel good.  It wasn’t good to tell him, but she currently had enough water on boil for at least four or five more servings of his favorite comfort food.

“Would you like to tell me what’s going on, Inuyasha?” she asked gently.  Rule Number 15 for dealing with daughter’s boyfriends:  Keep them preoccupied when you want information, food is a good distraction, and attempt to minimize escape routes.

At her question, he visibly paled and gasped.  Unfortunately, his mouth was full of noodles that took the opportunity to travel the wrong way down his throat.  The gasp turned into a coughing fit until all the rogue noodles were dislodged.  Once the excitement calmed down, he picked up the damp rag she handed him earlier and wiped his mouth.  Akina couldn’t help it and motioned for his cheeks also.  He frowned in confusion and wiped the rag along his cheeks also.  When she saw that the smudges were still there, it was her turn to frown.

“Oh, those?” he asked and blushed slightly.  “They won’t come off.  It’s….um…they’re demon markings,” he said softly in an embarrassed tone of voice.

“Really?” she asked, genuinely interested.  “You didn’t use to have those did you?  I would have thought I’d notice…”

“No, no… they’re new…kinda…”

“’Kinda’?  What do you mean, ‘kinda’?”

“Umm…K…Kagome hasn’t told you about that before?  About my sword?” he asked hopefully.  She shook her head.  He sighed and continued in a defeated voice, “My sword seals my demon blood.  Since I’m just a half-breed my half-human body can’t handle my demonic blood if it fully rises.  If I lose my sword, it’s possible that the demonic blood can take over and I go mad.  That used to be the only times these stripes appeared.”  He continued in a more firm tone of voice then, “That’s why I don’t want Kagome to remove the rosary.  If I go mad, she can subdue me and get my sword to me to seal my blood again.”  He looked her straight in the eye then, “I will never harm your daughter.  I have strengthened my sword, so it’s less likely to break and so I’m less likely to lose it in a battle.  The beads are ultimately for her protection, and she knows if they don’t work for some reason that she has my permission to purify me until I’m under control again.  I also have reason to believe that I recognize her when I’m in my youkai state and would not harm her even then.”

Akina blinked.  Kagome had never told her about him going mad on them, and she could understand why.  Akina had also never heard the young man talk so much since he first burst into their dining room to take Kagome back to the past with him.  He looked really determined that she know how dangerous he could be to her daughter.  Akina knew and trusted her daughter, and she had always felt she could trust Inuyasha or she never would have let him take Kagome with him that first night.  She reached out and placed her hand over one of his clenched fists.

“It’s ok, dear.  I know you would never hurt Kagome and it sounds like you have backup plans in place.  Thank you for taking such good care of her.”

“Feh,” he muttered and looked away while blushing again.  Akina was sure she could make a game of that someday.  It was so cute!  She stood and fixed him another bowl of Ramen as a reward for talking to her.  She still didn’t know what their argument was about, but she did learn something.

She handed him the fresh bowl and allowed him to start in on it before asking another question, “So you said that the marks used to only appear when you lost control of your blood.  Why do you have them now?” she continued curiously.

He blushed again!  “Feh, beats me.  They just stayed after the last time I transformed.”

“Oh?  Well, if you want some help figuring it out you can always talk it out with me dear.”

“Feh.”  Akina smiled and stood up.  She knew he wouldn’t voluntarily open up with her, but she wanted to make the offer.  She knew he was also probably talked out.  She told him about the hot water and to feel free to make more Ramen if he wanted.

Akina headed up the stairs.  Kagome had probably cooled down enough to talk with her if not with Inuyasha.  As Akina neared the new door to Kagome’s room, she heard her daughter sobbing on the other side of it.  ‘Odd.  Usually when she’s this upset with Inuyasha she leaves him on the other side of the well…’  She knocked on the door.

“Inuyasha, I said go away!  I don’t want to see you right now!” came choked out words from the other side of the door.

“Kagome?  It’s me.  May I come in?”  Akina her rustling beyond the entryway and then the door unlatched and was thrown open.

“Oh, Mama!” Akina heard exclaimed right before she had an arm-full of crying teenage girl.  Akina sighed and began make soft, soothing, there-there noises and led her emotional daughter back to the bed.  Akina just held her and let her cry.  When the water-works lessened, Kagome would tell her what was wrong.

Eventually the full-blown sobs lessened to whimpers and sniffles and Akina gently pulled away, “What’s the matter, baby?” she asked.

Kagome kept her head bowed with her hair covering her face.  “Just…just an argument, Mama…” she muttered.

“Uh-huh.  And I’m the Empress.  Pull the other one, it’s got bells on,” Akina replied drily.  You would think her children would know not to just flat-out lie to her.

Kagome snorted a suppressed chuckle, then continued softly with, “He…he went to see Kikyo when he promised he wouldn’t…  Ex…excuse me!” she suddenly exclaimed as she jumped up and ran down the hall to the bathroom.  Akina followed and heard her daughter retching as she got closer.  Akina waited and soon heard the toilet flush and the water run in the sink for a while.  Soon after, Kagome opened the door and saw her standing there.

“Oh…uh… I think the meat in the stew last night was a little off,” she said with a nervous chuckle.  “I’m ok, Mama.  I think I’ll just go take a nap.”  Akina nodded and let her daughter pass.

“Ok dear.  Let me know if you need anything,” she replied.  When Kagome shut the door to her room, Akina sighed.  At least Souta wasn’t constantly trying to hide things from her yet…

She went back downstairs, but saw that Inuyasha was missing.  Knowing him, he was either perched in the tree or sitting outside Kagome’s window.  She just shrugged and started on her housework for the day.

That afternoon, Akina was sitting in the living room with her yearbooks on the coffee table.  Kagome and Inuyasha had come down the stairs about ten minutes earlier.  While Kagome still didn’t look like the cheerful girl she usually was, she was getting there Inuyasha’s help.  At some point he was obviously able to talk with her and work some of the issues out.  Akina was watching TV and waiting on Souta so they could begin his project.  Inuyasha and Kagome were also on the couch with her while she waited.

Akina heard Kagome gasp.  Since the commercial that was on wasn’t really surprising, Akina looked over at her daughter.  Kagome had picked up one of her yearbooks while Akina was distracted and had found the same picture she found earlier.

“Yes, dear?  What is it?”

Kagome gave the open book to her and Akina noticed she was watching her face as she did so, “These people...” was all she said.

Akina took the book and looked at the picture.  “Hmm…yes I think I remember those two.  We were in the same class, but we weren’t exactly friends.  We just hung out in different crowds.”  Akina handed the book back.

As Kagome was opening her mouth to say something, the front door slammed open and a voice rang out, “Mom, I’m home!  And Mr. Shippo said that if we turn in the project tomorrow that he’ll give out extra credit!”

Kagome and Inuyasha quickly looked at each other when Souta mentioned his teacher’s name then looked back at him.  Finally Souta noticed that Akina wasn’t alone, “Kagome!  Inuyasha!  Wow!  I didn’t know you were here!”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Kagome told him with her hands raised in a stopping motion.  “Back up.  What did you say your teacher’s name was?”

“Mr. Shippo.  He’s a substitute while Mrs. Sato is out sick.”

“Do you think…” Kagome started while looking at Inuyasha.

“Feh, could be,” Inuyasha shrugged.

“Shippo?  Isn’t that the name of the kitsune child you two adopted?” Akina asked while thinking out loud.

“Feh, you mean the runt we can’t get rid of,“ Inuyasha scoffed.  

Kagome hit him on the shoulder and replied, “Yes, Mama.  That’s his name.  But I’m sure this is just a coincidence.”

“You mean my teacher is a demon!  Wow!  That is so awesome!!!!” Souta exclaimed.

“No, Souta dear,” Akina replied, mostly to calm her son down, “We were just surprised by the similar name is all.”  And if it really was the same kitsune, then she didn’t want her excitable son blowing the poor dear’s cover.

*****END FLASHBACK*****

Akina wrote down:

4)  Assignment given by Mr. ‘Shippo’ (name of child kitsune in the past) to Souta – find people that look like Kagome and Inuyasha that was in my same class twenty years ago.  (Kagome Inukai  and Yoshiaki Taisho)

Ok, so the name ‘Shippo,’ could be a coincidence or even a name passed down through the family and the teacher is only descended from Shippo-from-the-past.  What about those teenagers in the photo, Kagome Inukai and Yoshiaki Taisho?  Another coincidence?  They looked just like her daughter and future son-in-law…  Inukai even means “Dog Keeper”…that has her daughter’s sense of humor all over it even if it is an actual surname.  ‘Yoshi’ is a little close to ‘Yasha.’  Close enough to link it, but far enough to hide.

But Yoshiaki had human ears and dark hair.  Surely it’s just a look-alike…That had a friend that was Kagome’s look-alike…

She picked up the phonebook again and this time searched for ‘Taisho.’  This time she found multiple entries.  As her eyes scanned the list, one entry caught her eye.  It read, ‘Taisho, I. & K.’  ‘No, it can’t be.  This is all just me looking for a connection.  I got a crazy idea in my head and I’m trying to twist things to fit…’

She thought about that for a minute, ‘But I’m not, am I?  I keep trying to convince myself that I’m wrong, not that I’m right…I could call tomorrow… and claim a wrong number…’

She continued to think and jotted down:

5)  Taisho, I. & K. listed in phonebook (address, phone number)

‘I guess the main question is, how many coincidences becomes one too many?  And am I drawing false positives from connections that aren’t even there?’ she reached for her tea just as she remembered that she didn’t think to brew any.  She sighed as she got up to grab something to drink.  

~tbc~