Summary: An odd woman with two young children ends up befriending Tohru after she rescues the girl from a demon. She has many secrets and offers nothing but good intentions. She's familiar with the Mabudachi Trio, and the curse has no effect on her. Oddly enough, that's not even the strangest thing about her! That definitely goes to the demon "father" of her children.

Pairing: Ayame x Kagome.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Fruits Basket. Each belongs to their rightful owner.

Note:
Rated for language, and in case of potential "mature content."

Chapter One

She listened to the directions and instructions Tohru listed off to her, chatting with both her and Rin during the moments where nothing else was to be said. Kagome fell silent for a moment, allowing Rin and Tohru to continue their discussion about random things. She closed her eyes with a mute sigh. She'd have to call Sesshoumaru when she had the chance so she could let him know that the demon had been taken care of, as well as to let him know that they'd be gone for a few extra hours. He wasn't the kind to worry, nor was the one to care- as long as the both of them were safe, that is.

"Go right down this path, and you'll soon see the house!" Tohru instructed. She pointed down a path with one finger before tightening her grip on Kagome's shoulders again. "Thank you so much, again!"

"It's no problem," Kagome responded. "I'm just glad you'll be okay. You have a first aid kit, right?"

"Oh, of course," Tohru said with a smile on her face.

A minute more of walking led her to a large house, and Kagome froze in her tracks at feeling an aura she had gone so long without sensing. She felt a cold sweat drip down the back of her neck, and she glanced back at Tohru. "... Are you positive this is where you live, dear?"

"Yes," Tohru nodded. "I'm not alone out here, but, I'm sure if we explain what happened then it'll be okay."

That wasn't what she was worried about. Having to deal with that man again was, though. She hid her sigh of unease as Rin spoke up.

"Mama?" Rin cocked her head to the side as she looked up, confusion flashing alive in her eyes. "Are we going?"

"A-ah! Yes!" Kagome nodded her head to clear it, and she began to head up a couple of steps so she could reach the door. She was a bit hesitant, but she soon reached a hand out to open the door so the three of them could enter.

"I'm back!" Tohru called out. Not long after, an answering call met her ears.

"Oh, Tohru, welcome back," Shigure greeted her as he stepped into the room. "Kyo and Yuki are still out elsewhere doing who knows what, but-" he stopped dead in the middle of his sentence upon opening his eyes and allowing his stare to land on the trio of girls. "Oh, what a lovely surprise it is to see you again, Kagome!"

"Oh… do you two know one another?" Tohru asked, but she did not get much of an answer before Kagome spoke up.

"We'll talk later," she said. "Go get the first aid kit. A rag and some warm water, too, while you're at it."

Upon seeing the bloodied jacket wrapped around Tohru's leg, Shigure backed out of the room to retrieve the items the raven-haired woman had requested. Kagome set Tohru down on a cushion as Rin placed the bag she had been toting down on the table.

"I can't help but wonder what has happened to poor, sweet Tohru," Shigure commented as he returned to the room. He offered Kagome the items he held and settled down at the other end of the table as Kagome turned her attention to Tohru's injury.

"Oh!" Tohru took that as the chance to explain, and she averted her attention away from the wound as Kagome got to work on it. "Something attacked me on my way home, and Kagome saved me from it."

"Despite what brought this to happen, it is nice to have you back here, Kagome!" Shigure said once Tohru silenced herself. "It's been a few years, has it not?" He looked towards Rin and smiled. "Who is this little darling you have with you, by the way?"

Rin looked at Shigure and offered him a smile in greeting. "My name's Rin," she introduced herself.

"She's my daughter," Kagome stated from where she sat, dabbing the cloth along the edges of Tohru's wound. She rustled around in the first aid kit to search for something to disinfect the area. "This will hurt a bit," she told her in warning before finally using it. Tohru yelped at the sudden sting, and Kagome offered her an apologetic glance before fully cleaning the entire area up. She reached for a pair of tweezers and began to remove what remained stuck in the area with a close eye.

"Daughter…?!" Shigure stood from where he sat out of astonishment. "That couldn't possibly be why you disappeared so suddenly, could it?!"

Kagome glared at him and resisted the urge to lob the now-shut first aid kit at the man. "She's twelve. What do you think?" she shot back at him. She set the tweezers down and finally healed the wound so all that remained was a barely visible scar. The rest of the room observed in amazement as such a thing happened, and, once she was done, Kagome sat up and let out a quiet sigh. "You're all better, Tohru. How do you feel?" she asked her.

"I feel great! Really, thank you so much, Kagome!" Tohru said, standing up to show that she really was feeling as good as she said.

Kagome smiled at Tohru before standing up. "If you don't mind, I have a call I really should make before I push it off any further. Please excuse me."

"Of course," Shigure said. "Take your time."

As Kagome stepped from the room, she left Rin behind in the room with Tohru and Shigure. Not long after, Tohru remembered the shopping and rushed to put it away, leaving just Rin and Shigure. She sat as she watched him in curiosity.

"How do you know my mama?" Rin asked him after a moment of undisturbed silence.

"Why, we're old friends," he responded with a flick of his hand. "Though a few years were in between us, we attended school together. She certainly was an odd one, yes she was. Though, perhaps she still is that same odd bird she was back then." Shigure looked back at Rin and smiled. "Though, her showing up today after being gone for so long with a daughter of her own was unexpected."

Rin smiled broader and nodded. "I have a brother, too, but he's with my papa today," she told him.

"So, not one kid, but two?" Shigure shrugged his shoulders as a smile appeared on his face. "Well, she has always been the mothering type."

Though he sat with a smile present, inwardly he was curious about the father of Kagome's children. He wasn't able to recall any guy she would have spent so much time around during those days. Unless… had she married a man with children already?

Before he could say much else, the door opened again and Kagome walked back in and settled down next to Rin.

"May I ask who you needed to call?" Shigure questioned her with a smile present on his face.

"Oh, um, I had to call Rin's father," she told him. "I needed to let him know what happened and everything, y'know?"

"Would you like to stay a while for tea?" he asked her. "I'd love the chance to catch up with you after so long."

She debated turning down the offer and leaving not long after, but she ended up nodding and accepting. "That sounds okay, I guess," she said. "After all, I have a few things I need to discuss with Tohru." Though she smiled, her tone turned serious as she adjusted the way she was sitting.

"I figured as much," he responded. "Though, I wonder… will you tell her everything, or keep it short?"

"I will inform her of as much as she needs to know in order to understand."

"Oh, well, I will go fetch dear Tohru and let her know you'd like to have a chat with her," Shigure said as he stood up. "And I hope you decide to stay a bit later after you finish your chat with her so we can have the chance to catch up on all the missed years."

"I'll consider it."

At hearing her tell him that, Shigure turned and left the two alone in the room to go find Tohru. She was in the kitchen, already preparing the kettle for tea, and he popped his head into the room to inform her.

"Oh, Tohru, when you get the chance, go see Kagome," he told her. "It seems she has a few things she is needing to discuss with you."

She gave him a confirmation, and he continued on his way.

He'd head back a bit later, but first, he had his own phone call to make. With hope, the talk between Tohru and Kagome would trail on long enough so she wouldn't leave too soon.

Tohru was having a brain overload. She laid slumped over the table as a quiet whine fell non-stop from her lips. Kagome took a sip of her tea and offered her a smile.

"I think that is everything you must know," she told her. It hadn't been nearly everything, but it was enough that would definitely satisfy her curiosity. From getting attacked by a demon, to watching her purify it, she knew she'd have to explain something to Tohru.

She had told her about the existence of demons and how some were evil and some were not. She had also told her a bit about the Shikon no Tama and her powers, going into depth to explain how she had managed to heal her so quickly once Tohru had blurted the question out.

"That's… I don't even know how to respond!" Tohru said once she finally picked herself up. "You're a miko- a real-life miko! Like the ones from history books."

"I am," Kagome nodded.

"I promise I won't tell anyone what you told me!"

"I know you won't," Kagome responded and took another sip of her tea. "You have a lot of different qualities, Tohru, and I am able to sense that you would keep my secret safe. I… presume you do the same for the Sohma's secret, right?"

"Huh?! You know about that?"

"Of course I do," Kagome laughed. "I can sense that, as well."

An approaching aura stole her attention, and Kagome turned to watch the door with a curious eye. When it opened, her eyes fell to land on a boy Tohru's age. He had dark hair that was cut short and dark eyes. The aura of a rat fell over him, and she counted him as another member of the Zodiac. He looked taken by surprise at seeing her, and she smiled at him in greeting.

"Oh, hello."

"Yuki, this is Higurashi Kagome," Tohru took to introducing the two, "Kagome, this is Sohma Yuki."

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Higurashi," he greeted her with a smile.

She frowned a bit as she looked up at him. There was something about him that was eerily familiar. She looked him over a bit closer before concluding it was the eyes- definitely his eyes. Something about them was familiar to her.

"... Miss Higurashi?" Yuki tilted his head to the side when all she did in response was stare at him. Kagome blinked a few times before shaking her head. Her cheeks heated a bit at realizing she had been caught staring.

"Oh, sorry," Kagome laughed. "It's just… something about you seems so familiar. I hope you didn't mind me staring like that, Yuki."

"Not at all," he responded.

Not long after those words left his mouth, Shigure reentered the room with a smile on his face.

"Oh, welcome back Yuki. Is Kyo not with you?"

"Why would I know where that stupid cat ran off to?"

"Oh, right, right," he laughed and sat down. "I trust everything got settled between you and Tohru, right Kagome?"

She nodded. "I explained everything she could possibly need to know."

"Goodie!" Shigure clapped his hands together and continued, "now how about you and I have our turn to chat, hm?"

She felt uncertain at seeing his smile, and she glanced around the room due to her suspicions.

"What are you up to…?" she asked him.

"Me?" Shigure blinked in mock innocence before brushing her comment off. "Oh, I'm up to nothing, my dear Kagome. All I want is the chance to talk to you after so long. Is that so wrong?"

She was about to respond, only to hold her tongue when another aura brushed along her senses. This one was familiar to her, and she turned to stare at Shigure with an incredulous look. "Oh my god, Shigure! You called him, didn't you?!"

"Hm… I may have," he responded as he began to laugh. "I felt obligated to, anyway."

She was unable to form a coherent response as she worked on holding herself back from launching over the table at him. Instead, she stood up just in time for the door to slide open and a silver-haired figure appeared in the room.

"Kagome! Oh, how I've missed you!"

She whirled around at the appearance of the snake of the Zodiac, nearly stumbling over the cushion under her feet as he ran towards her. "Ayame!?"

She shot over the table to keep away from him, but it didn't do much in the end. He followed her, and, though Yuki attempted to keep him from running to hug her, it didn't work out that well. He stepped back at the last second to keep from falling to the floor with Ayame and Kagome. Though, to his surprise, he ended up seeing Ayame land on top of Kagome without transforming into his animal form.

The rest in the room was left to observe the pair. Ayame laying on her with his cheek resting on the front of her bosom, and Kagome scrambling for freedom by digging her fingernails into the hardwood.

"Get off of me, Ayame!"

C.R: Ready to post.

Anyway, thank you all for reading, and I hope you all enjoyed. Hopefully I caught all the errors before posting, but, if not, apologies. (my spellcheck isn't working properly atm, so I'm serious with this one.)

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Bye for now~