InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Trial and Error ❯ The Ball Starts Rolling ( Chapter 10 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Kagome peeked her head into what looked like an empty house. She went into the entry way and slipped off her trackies. Her mother hated it when she wore shoes in the house. "Mama?" she called again, only a bit louder. Chances looked like this: Souta was probably out with his friends, Grandpa was out in the storage shed cleaning things that were already clean, and mama was probably in her bedroom catching up on the sleep that she didn't get during the week. It was Saturday morning, after all.

Quietly she crept up the stairs. If her mother was still asleep, the last thing she wanted to do was wake her up. "Mama?" She pushed open her mother's bedroom door.

"Hey, sweetie!" Mrs. Higurashi was just where Kagome thought she would be: buried under the blankets. She lifted the side of the blanket. "Just like old times," she said with a sweet smile.

Without hesitation, Kagome darted across the room and climbed into the bed with her mother, snuggling up with her. "You forgot I was coming by today, didn't you?"

Kea Higurashi laughed. "You sounded distressed yesterday when you called. I thought a good snuggle would help." As if sealing the point, she snuggled Kagome. "Sometimes I miss having a little one around to snuggle like this. I can remember you and Souta sneaking in early in the morning, just before the sun came up. It irritated your father sometimes, but I loved it."

"Daddy never was a morning person," Kagome said, remembering her father's grumbling every morning before work. No matter how early he went to bed, at six when that alarm went off he still got irritated and would grumble all the way downstairs to the coffee pot.

"Before you were born, neither was I. Being a mother was more important to me than those few hours of sleep I was losing." She smiled. "So what was wrong when you called last night?"

Kagome laughed. "You won't believe me if I tell you, it's that crazy."

"I won't believe you, huh?" Kea raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't always your mother, you know."

Kagome scrunched her face. "Mom, I so do not want to hear about your escapades as a single woman."

"So tell me about yours. From what I hear from Inuyasha, they seem to be quite exciting!"

"You talk to Inuyasha?"

"When you aren't home and he answers the phone."

Kagome sat up and looked at her mother. "What has he told you?"

"That you have been dating a lot as of late."

She lay back down next to her mother. "Mama, it's been a disaster!" She covered her face with her hands. "The first guy just bragged about himself the entire time, the second was more concerned with Kikyo, the third just wanted sex, and the fourth wasn't really a date but turned out to be a proposition. They wanted me in bed, mama."

"They?"

"They. A gay man and his boyfriend, who still has a taste for women."

Then Kea did exactly what Kagome didn't want or expect: she broke out into peals of musical laughter. On average, Kagome loved to hear her mother's laughter. It was light and airy, and always made her tingle all over in happiness. Now, on the other hand, Kagome wanted to throttle her.

"Mama! I didn't tell you so you could laugh at me!" She crossed her arms and looked at her mother, seething. "I got that same reaction from Yash."

"I'm - I'm - I'm -" She laughed even harder, which just irked Kagome more. Kea took a moment to calm herself down before speaking again. "I'm sorry, sweetie." More bubbling laughter. "Let's go make something for breakfast. Maybe something home made would make you feel better."

Kagome grumbled as she got off of the bed. "Bank made home made food too."

"But he didn't cook mama food."

Kagome left the room while her mother got dressed. She crossed the hallway and walked into her old room, which her mother hadn't changed one bit. Honestly, Kagome had expected her mother to at least turn it into a sewing or craft room so she wouldn't have to use the living room anymore. In a way, she was thankful that it was the same. It even smelled the same.

Slowly she walked the room, surveying all of the things that she left when she moved in with Inuyasha. Her small Jenny doll collection still sat on the shelf above her desk, and the crazy Gackt wall scroll she got when she was seventeen still hung near the bed. Inuyasha thought the singer was an 'abomination' and he would never have anything of the sort in his living quarters. She tried to protest that it would be in her room, but he threatened it with all sorts of harm. She wasn't going to chance that.

Even the pink doorknob cozies were still on the door, as hideous as they were.

Kagome took one last glance around before leaving the room again. It wasn't like she would never see it again.

The smell of cooking food met her as she emerged into the hallway. 'Damn, mama's fast!'

Her mother was right. Mama food was always better.

----------

"I don't see the big deal, sis."

Kagome stared at Souta, who continued to talk around the food that was stuffed in his mouth.

"You and Inuyasha would be hot!" Souta winced as he was slapped on the hand with a wooden spoon.

"Do not speak of your sister that way, young man." At the head of the table, Grandpa held the spoon poised for more smacking if need be. "Your sister is a perfectly respectable woman, even though she is living with that thing."

"Inuyasha is a respectable young man, Grandpa," Kea chided from her place at the stove. "He graduated from college just as Kagome did, and hails from a family just as respectable as ours."

"And he's awesome!"

Kagome rolled her eyes as her family started to bicker. Her mother had fallen head over heels for Inuyasha in an instant, immediately telling him Kikyo wouldn't stand a chance if she was twenty years younger. Souta was immediately in awe of the musician, forming an almost scary hero worship that Kagome hoped he would grow out of. Unfortunately, he didn't. For Grandpa, it was hate at first sight. Inuyasha was said to have an 'unsavory' heritage, as Grandpa put it, as his great grandfather was involved with the Yakuza. Neither Inuyasha, his father, or his grandfather were involved, so Kagome turned a blind eye. After all, it wasn't Inuyasha's fault that his great grandfather chose that life. Now his father was a government official that Inuyasha rarely saw hide nor hair of.

"What if it ruins our friendship?" That was the one thing Kagome was terrified of.

Grandpa's eyebrows shot to his hairline. "I will disown you if you begin a relationship with him!"

"He's just kidding, Kagome," her mother said gently.

Grandpa crossed his arms. "No I'm not."

"Whatever, gramps. You said the same thing about Hitomi and I'm still here." Souta looked rather smug. Grandpa didn't like Hitomi either, namely because of an old rivalry he had with the girl's grandfather. The man beat him in a go championship when they were children only because he cheated; Granpda still held a grudge against him for that, even though they were only ten years old at the time.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Kagome held her hands up. "I never said I was going to date him!"

Kea sat down next to her. "I want grandbabies. At the rate you are going, I'll die first." She pulled a strand of her hair out for Kagome to examine. "See, I'm going gray!"

"You aren't old, mama! And one gray hair on your entire head isn't 'going gray'!"

"I wouldn't mind little ones around again," Grandpa said, almost whimsically, then his expression cleared. "Just not from him." Then the whimsical expression returned. "I could teach him how to be a fine priest. I would train him and we would be quite the formidable pair!"

"Grandpa!" both Kagome and Souta whined at the same time.

"Inuyasha could teach him how to play guitar, and I could teach him how to totally own Demonik!" Souta's smile grew by the minute, so much so Kagome wondered how long it would take for his face to feel the strain and start hurting.

"I could do her hair in cute little pigtails, and dress her up in one of those cute little sailor suits!" Kea was smiling just as much as Souta, and honestly it was beginning to scare the hell out of her.

Kagome slammed her hand down on the table. "Do you people realize that you are gushing about a baby that hasn't even been conceived yet?"

Kea just smiled at her. "Well, it is Saturday morning, and I bet Inuyasha is still in bed, so you could -"

Kagome held up a hand. "Mama, please don't complete that sentence."

----------

Inuyasha paced the apartment, his phone glued to his ear like another appendage, listening to Kikyo lecture him. Even though they were no longer dating, he still valued her as a friend (and kick ass lead singer), and very frequently phoned her for advice of some sort. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about his current love life (or lack thereof) but he couldn't exactly go to Sango. Sango wanted Kagome happy like they all did, she just had a very foul temper and wasn't afraid to unleash it when she felt something or someone she loved was being threatened. Inuyasha, being a full grown man, was automatically seen as a threat.

"Kikyo, you don't understand!"

"I don't understand? Even while we dated I put up with your mooning over her, you know. I understand it perfectly, so I don't see why it is so hard for you to grasp the concept."

He sighed and plopped down onto the couch. "What if I fuck it all up?" It was a talent.

"You fuck up almost everything, Inuyasha. I figured you knew it was a fact of life by now."

"Thanks for your vote of confidence," he replied, sarcastically. He sighed again. "I don't want to lose her."

"You won't lose her if you just act like yourself and don't start that weird mating ritual of yours that you tried to use on me."

"Mating ritual?"

"You know, the one where you followed me around for two months drooling over me, being my lapdog, then stuttering when you asked me to go to band practice instead of a nice dinner somewhere, followed up by a comment about nixing the formalities and cutting to the sex."

"I so did not act like that."

"Do you know me to lie?"

"Point taken." He pried himself off of the couch again. "What if this ruins things? What if she wants to move out and never see me again?"

Kikyo snorted. "Asking her to go to dinner with you isn't going to make her run for the hills."

"Maybe I should call one of the guys for advice..."

"Then you will fuck it all up. Just do what your heart tells you to do."

"My heart tells me to marry her as soon as possible so she will be mine, then immediately start having little Inuyashas."

"Well, it has the right idea, just a little too speedy... How about dinner first, then you can skip to the marriage and procreation."

"But what if -"

"Quit being such a damn cry baby! Be a man about it!"

The sound of keys jangling in the lock caught his attention. "Hey, she's home. Later." He shut the phone with a click and stuffed it in his pocket. Some more jangling later and Kagome's head popped through the door.

"I'm home!" she called, happily.

Inuyasha went over to her and grabbed the bag she was carrying. "Where were you so early on Saturday?"

"I went to have breakfast with mama," she replied, taking back the bag. "Then we went shopping."

"Ooh, is it lingerie?"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Is that all you think about?" She snatched the bag back from him. "As a matter of fact, it is no lingerie. It's a new yukata that I will be wearing to the fireworks festival, thank you very much."

Inuyasha's eyes slightly glazed over as his mind filled with images of a giggling Kagome prancing around the apartment in her pretty yukata. He was jerked out of the daze when she smacked him. "Wha-?" He blinked his eyes a few times as he came back to earth.

"I asked you if you wanted to go to the shrine with me for the festival! Men!" She huffed back to her bedroom and slammed the door.

Inuyasha obediently followed her. "I'd love to go with you," he called through the door. "I would like to see your mother again."

Kagome peeked her head out the door. "Will you wear something traditional?"

Against all better judgement, he nodded. "If you will go to dinner with me before we go to the shrine."

Instantly she brightened. "Perfect! Be ready at four so we can go to dinner before the festivities begin!"

The door slammed again and Inuyasha leaned against it, quickly sliding down to the floor. "What the hell did I get myself into?"

"What was that, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, her voice muffled by the closed door.

He shook his head. "I was wondering how I was going to get into my hakama. I haven't worn it since high school." 'Not very convincing, dumbass.'

"Make it work!" she replied.

He stood up and stalked off to his bedroom to dig out the clothes he was going to wear, praying to whatever deity would listen that he wouldn't fuck things up.