Chapter 15: Family Matters

Words: 1,500

There was a cluster of buds in her laundry. There was a stem through her refrigerator. There were leaves beneath her rice cooker. And there was a fox in her head.

"I need you to focus, Kagome-san, please," Kurama was saying, though she was hardly paying attention to the words at this point. Her bleary eyes turned to look at the alarm clock on her nightstand, only to find it positioned several feet higher in the air, twisted around tightly with a thin, green vine. Still, she could make out the glaring red numbers: 3:03 AM. 3:03 AM, and she had work tomorrow. Today. Whatever.

"Minamino-san, do you think we could do this some other time?" Kagome muttered, knowing the yūreihana would transmit her every word back to him in perfect clarity. That came with having the plant completely dominating her apartment.

He sounded slightly exasperated when his voice filtered back through to her, seeming to echo inside her very skull. He'd said it was really carried through the plant's pollen, or… something like that. She hadn't quite been paying attention. She wasn't quite paying attention now. That's why he was exasperated. "You know the only time we can do our work over here is when you're in your apartment," Kurama's voice told her through the pollen or whatever it was that had clogged itself into her ears. "So unless you plan on quitting your job and remaining inside at all hours of the day–"

"Maybe I'll do just that," Kagome murmured, her eyes already falling shut again. It was entirely too much effort to keep them open.

"Now, you know that's not actually what I meant…," Kurama admonished, seeming frustrated that they were getting off-track. Again.

"I'll call in sick tomorrow," Kagome said into the darkness. "If I call in sick tomorrow, and stay in all day, will you please let me sleep through tonight?"

She could hear his sigh as though it had come from just behind her eyes. "Yes, I suppose that would be fine. You may sleep. Please try to get enough rest that you will be of use tomorrow."

But Kagome was no longer even trying to listen to him.

~o~

"It will help if you're focused on a specific memory or set of memories," Kurama coached her quietly, his gentle voice doing nothing to break her concentration. That was his purpose, after all. "Try to remember him the last time you saw him, so that we can pick up on his most recent energy signature."

Kagome, who was sitting atop her futon in her pajamas with her limbs coiled into a very loose impression of meditation, couldn't help but wince at the suggestion. "My most recent memory?" she asked faintly, trying not to bring herself out of the trance. "That's not really something I like to dwell on."

"Well, then, try to focus on a happy memory," Kurama suggested in her ear, and Kagome took another breath to bring herself back into her memories. A happy memory…, she thought. And suddenly a crystal-clear image appeared in her head, one of Shippou leaning over a pad of paper, scribbling with the crayons she'd given him as a surprise present. She could clearly smell the charred wood and savory stew of Kaede's hut, hear the gentle conversation of Sango and Miroku in the spring weather outside, feel the soft cotton of her old middle school uniform, see Shippou's childish drawings of Inuyasha and Kouga and herself.

And she could feel, with her sixth sense, with her mikoki, Shippou's gentle youki brushing against her own, curling into her, seeking her comfort as though she were his own mother. And she felt her own aura return in kind, enveloping him like a spiritual embrace, calming and nurturing and loving.

She'd forgotten, after so long, how it had felt to have such a close link with another spiritual being.

"There! Got it!" Kurama's voice intruded harshly into her memory, breaking it like glass. Kagome huffed and opened her eyes, turning to glare at the original bloom of the yūreihana, which still held occupancy in her bedroom window.

"If you want me to concentrate, I'll need you to not interrupt me, thanks," she said sarcastically, her lack of sleep contributing to her sour attitude.

"I have a lock on his youki now, Kagome-san," Kurama said, seeming to be much less concentrated on her now.

She huffed, still speaking towards the yūreihana, though she doubted he was paying any attention to its images now. "So we're done? Does that mean you can get all of this out of my apartment?" she asked, glancing around at the complete jungle her few rooms had become.

"No, not at all. I may easily lose sight of him in this wilderness, and we'll need evidence of your mikoki to get him to trust us enough to follow me back through the portal. You may take a break for now, but the yūreihana must stay fully active in your apartment so that I can maintain the link."

Kagome groaned, throwing herself back down on her futon, which was at least half leaves by now. "Fine. Well, I'm going out," she said, standing and moving to her dresser to grab something to wear.

When Kurama answered, it was absentmindedly. "Of course. Try to return within a few hours so that I can update my information."

Kagome rolled her eyes, looking pointedly at the yūreihana bloom, which was staring straight at her. "Think you could look the other way while I change?" she asked pointedly. Kurama didn't respond, but the flower turned minutely back towards the window. "What a gentleman," she muttered.

She changed quickly, all too eager to get out of the stifling vegetation that was her apartment. She called Souta on her way down the stairs, loathe to spend the day alone.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Hi, Souta-kun," she greeted into the receiver with her first genuine smile in two weeks. "Are you at home today? Think I could stop by for a visit?"

"Sure, Nee-chan," he said easily. "Kaa-san's missing you, anyway. Want us to make something to eat so we can all have dinner?"

"Yes, please," Kagome said, her stomach grumbling in displeasure. Worry and irritation had been working in tandem to keep her from regular meal times. "Think you could work up something special?"

Souta laughed. "I'll see what I can get Kaa-san to make," he promised. "See you soon, Kagome."

Kagome sighed as she hung up her phone just before stepping into the subway station, glad to have some time with her family; she didn't get nearly enough of it nowadays. It used to just be work keeping her down, but now that she was in contact with Reikai and working day and night to find Shippou…. She would appreciate a calm, quiet afternoon with just her family.

~o~

Well, she would have appreciated it. If she could have it.

"I told you before, stop nosing around in Kagome's business!"

Kagome's head cocked to the side in confusion. Souta wasn't usually one to yell. She hurried up the rest of the stairs to the Higure Shrine, somehow unsurprised to find two men standing in front of the door to her family home. In the doorway, Souta was still speaking angrily. "She's got enough to deal with without thugs like you breathing down her neck."

"Souta-kun?" Kagome asked, hurrying across the courtyard to the doorway. "What's going on?" She already recognized one of the men at the door–if his distinctive swirl of orange hair hadn't given him away, his boisterous reiki sure did–but the other was a mystery. He wasn't as tall as his companion, but still taller than her, dressed in casual clothing with his black hair slicked back. And, buzzing as though in an undercurrent of his reiki, she could feel youki coming from him. Kagome had underestimated the first man she'd met with this weird sort of combined aura; she wasn't about to do so again.

"Nee-chan," Souta said, surprised, as she moved to stand beside him.

In front of her, Kuwabara smiled sheepishly. "Hey, Kagome-san," he said, nodding a quick bow to her. "Sorry to barge in, but we've got to talk to you some more."

"And who exactly is 'we'?" she asked, shooting a pointed glance at the man she didn't recognize.

"Yo. Urameshi Yusuke," he said briefly. "The toddler sent us."

Kagome's brow furrowed in confusion. "Who… Koenma-sama?"

Kuwabara nodded. "There are still some things he needs us to talk to you about."

"But… right now?" Kagome asked, peeved. Couldn't she have an hour of peace?

"We were gonna mention them before, but Kurama's kinda been keeping you busy." At her withering glare, he mumbled a quick, "Sorry."

"Oh." They all turned to see Mrs. Higurashi at the top of the staircase, arms laden with several bags of groceries. She quickly assessed the scene, then said simply: "Maybe we should all talk inside, hm?"