Welcome Home

A/N: Okay, so I know I should be working on Once in a Blue Moon, and I will, soon! But, I've had this idea in my head for a long time and I REALLY need to get it out! It was 'Good-bye Earl' by the Dixie Chicks that got me off my lazy bum. If you haven't heard it, find a way to listen to it because the lyrics are hilarious (though slightly homicidal), at least they are to me. Enjoy!

"Kagome, you're not going home and that's final!" A loud and obnoxious voice cut through the sounds of the torrential downpour outside a small hut in Feudal Japan.

"Well there's nothing you can do to stop me as long as you're wearing the beads!" The source of the afore mentioned voice looked at the beads in question with a thoughtful look on his face. He weighed his options, considered the outcomes and made the right choice, telling the young woman in front of him that she could go see her family and that he had no right to tell her what she could and couldn't do, but hoped she would return soon. The day that happens outside this author's crazy head will probably be the start of a very frightening happy-pink-and-loving world in which we would all surely die. What actually happened was the following:

"Go ahead and sit me, there's not a chance in hell you're going home for a week!" Bad decision...3...2...1...

"SIT! SIT! SIT! SIT! SIT! SIT! SIT!" Kagome, by now, was extremely flushed from lack of breath. You probably would too, had you just yelled 7 'sits' in one breath. That, and she was VERY pissed off at Inuyasha, who was currently twitching inside an Inuyasha shaped crater. Ouch, that's gotta hurt!

Kagome, unaware of Inuyasha's pain (either that, or she was ignoring it), grabbed an umbrella and made a mad dash to the Bone Eater's Well. Jumping in, she silently hoped that Inuyasha made the right choice and instead of following her, moped until she came back. Soon, she would regret hoping that.

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"Mom, I'm home!" When her announcement went unheeded, she decided to try out a new trick Keade had taught her. She searched out the auras of her family and discovered an unfamiliar aura, one that she did not like in the slightest. It seemed malevolent and bent on evil. It was black. 'I must still be thinking of the Feudal Era. I'll have to practice clearing my mind again tonight.' she thought, vouching for a snack. As she made her way to the kitchen, she heard the voices of Souta, Mamma, Gramps, and a male voice that was unfamiliar to her. Anxiety and confusion clouded her mind as she continued her journey to the snack cupboard and entered the kitchen.

"Oh, dear, I didn't know you were home yet!" Kagome's mother (let's call her Mina) exclaimed.

The source of the unknown voice was sitting in her seat.

"That's okay, I just got back a few minutes ago," Kagome tryed to maintain her generally pleasant demeanor as she poured herself some milk, "Who's your friend?"

Souta was all over him.

No extra seat had been set out for her.

Something serious was up.

"That's Etashi, but you can call him-" Mina's explaination was interupted by Souta's exclaimation. She wasn't liking this in the slightest.

Something very serious.

"That's amazing, Dad!" Kagome promptly choked on her milk.

Something very serious, indeed.

Sputtering in a rather undignified way, Kagome unleashed a string of nonsense gibberish, unable to come up with anything intelligent to say.

"You know, you really shouldn't mumble, it really does nothing for you," Etashi piped up.

This was now beyond serious.

"Excuse us for a minute," Kagome said, in her best very-polite-and-happy voice. However, the second that the shoji screen had slid into place, that voice was replaced by sheer, unadulterated anger. Not just ordinary sheer, unadulterated anger, but there was a Kagome-induced element to this sheer, unadulterated anger that would make even the cold, stoic Sesshomaru quake in sheer, unadulterated terror.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!"

"Kagome, watch your tongue!" Mina shifted her weight to her left foot (her right foot, which she had been resting on, had become quite numb).

"Why should I? I come home from battling demons to find out that while I was 500 hundred years in the past you REMARRIED! It's only been a year! How could you do this to me! You didn't even tell me," Her last remark was little more than a whisper, her eyes pleading with her mother's, pleading for this to be some kind of dream where she would wake up to Inuyasha grumbling about 'lazy wenches' who 'sleep too long' and 'cut into important jewel hunting time'.

"Honey, I'm sorry, but while you've been off galivanting on some dangerous quest in the past, I stopped living my life a year ago and continued on with my life now. Now all I expect from you is that you do the same," Mina's voice was firm, but held some sympathy and slight annoyance. Her statement shocked Kagome and rocked her to her core. Her voice was quiet and reserved as she asked, "Does he know?". Mina's curt nod told her that yes, he did know.

"If he knows, then is it alright for me to just grab some supplies and go back, then. Inuyasha was in a bad mood today."

"Yes, I'll have your things ready in a few minutes. How about you get to know Etashi a little before you go?" Kagome stiffened at the thought, but complied. Resuming her posistion in the kitchen as Mina set about gathering ramen and other items, Kagome attempted to smile and seem cheerful.

"So, how long have you known my mother?" She kept her voice light.

"About 6 months or so," He did the same, though his reply sent Kagome for a loop. Coughing slightly, she excused herself to her room, ignoring the glare from her mother.

This was wrong, this was all wrong.

O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#O#

This was wrong, this was all wrong.

Inuyasha's demon side was not pleased. Inuyasha's half demon side was not pleased. Inuyasha's human side was not pleased. It was safe to say that all of Inuyasha's sides were not pleased. This was a rare occurance. They didn't usually agree. It was safe to say Kagome was in trouble. One could even venture to say that Kagome was in sheer, unadulterated trouble. But Kagome was not in ordinary sheer, unadulterated trouble, for there was an Inuyasha-induced element to this sheer, unadulterated trouble that would make even the cold, stoic Lord Fluffy quake in sheer, unadulterated terror. Boy, was Kagome ever in for it! What Inuyasha didn't know was that at the same time this was happening, Kagome needed him to save her. Inuyasha would have an even longer wait to go before finding out.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As it turned out, Etashi went up to Kagome's room and asked her to stay for the night. Kagome's reaction, much like anyone else's reaction when asked to spend an day with someone who was disturbing the balance in their respective lives, was to immediately yell a rather loud "NO!", which is a much more polite way of saying "NOT A CHANCE IN HELL!", or "OVER MY DEAD BODY!", or both.

Now, Etashi felt that Kagome was disrupting the family that he had found for himself.

(There isn't supposed to be a daughter.

There wasn't one before.

This is all wrong.)

This in mind, Etashi was also an exetremely violent person. So, his reaction was that of any other exetremely violent person's who is trying to be nice to someone who was disturbing the balance in their respective lives. Etashi punched her. Hard. In the shoulder.

"If you tell anyone about that, I'll kill you."

(Inuyasha!)

His punching her was his own unique way of saying "Come to dinner.". Kagome complied. Her left shoulder was searing in pain. She ignored it. She stayed silent through dinner. And then she waited. And waited. And waited. And as she waited, they all fell asleep. And as they all fell asleep, she left. And as she left, she remembered her father. And as she remembered, her hatred for Etashi grew.

(If you tell anyone, I'll kill you...)

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Etashi was good at watching and waiting. He watched her stay silent through dinner. And then he watched. And then he waited. And as he watched and waited, they all fell asleep. And as they all fell asleep, he watched her leave. And as he watched her leave, he remembered the family before. And as he remembered the family before, his hatred for Kagome grew. And so he would wait. He would wait for her to come back. Then, when she did, the real fun could start.

"Honey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine Mina, I was only thinking about Kagome. Don't you think she was rather rude this evening?"

"Yes, she's usually so nice to everyone. Her behaviour tonight startled me. Knowing Kagome, though, she'll probably warm up to you tomorrow, she's really a nice girl! Well, good night, Etashi." Rolling over, Mina quickly fell back asleep. Etashi stared at the dark window, and as he stared, he plotted. Perhaps this could work to his advantage. Yes, perhaps indeed.

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Inuyasha was standing guard inside the hut when Kagome came back, her clothes and bag both muddy and drenched. Her shoulder was dislocated, but Kagome hid her pain. She didn't want him to know about what Etashi did yet. Maybe she wouldn't tell him at all.

The hut was dimly lit, as the firelight was pathetic due to the damp wood and weather (it was still raining). However, despite this lack of light, Kagome could tell that Inuyasha was ticked off. His glare was colder than the weather outside.

"Inuyasha, please, don't even start. I'm seriously not in the mood."

"Think I care if you're in the mood or not? We've got to talk about this whole 'yell-sit-and-run' thing you've been doing lately. It's not working at all."

"Inuyasha, leave it be. We can talk tomorrow, if you want, but leave me be for now."

(If you tell anyone, I'll...

"I don't think so. We're gonna talk now, or we're not gonna talk at all!"

...kill you.)

"Not talking at all sounds good to me..." This statement earned a growl from the irrate half-demon. Kagome gasped and looked up in suprise.

"No! You're gonna sit here and listen and then you're gonna do what I say!" Kagome just ignored him and set up her sleeping bag. She grabbed some dry clothes and a towel from her bag and went into the hut's dressing area (I don't know if there is one, but for the sake of controversy, I'll say there is. Just picture one of those folding screen enclosure things you see in the movies). As Kagome changed into her dryer clothes, she tuned out Inuyasha's ranting. Exiting the screen enclosure designated for changing, she curled up in her sleeping bag to go to sleep...and hissed sharply in pain.

(If you tell anyone, I'll kill you.)

"Furthermore, if you say you trust me so much, why don't you just remove these damn beads-hold on, you're hurt!" Inuyasha paused in his rant to inspect the girl before him, "Right there, on your left shoulder! Kagome, why didn't you say something! Have you seen how swollen it is!" Inuyasha's new rant about Kagome's injury awoke the whole hut within a matter of seconds as Kagome tryed to bury herself as far into her sleeping bag as possible.

"Lady Kagome, you have returned so soon?" Miroku inquired.

(If you

"You're hurt?" Sango's voice was etched with worry.

tell

"10 more minutes, Inuyasha..." Shippo mumbled, oblivious to the world.

anyone, I'll

"Child, do ye need assistance?" Kaede was already shuffling towards her to examine her injury.

kill you)

"No, I'm fine! Really! I just...uh...fell down the...uh...steps! That's it! I just fell down the steps of the well house! No big deal!"

"No, she's not! I can actually HEAR the blood rushing to her shoulder! And no wonder, have you SEEN how swollen it is!"

"Calm ye self, Inuyasha. I shall inspect this injury regardless of both ye claims." Kaede carefully inspected the injury to Kagome's shoulder, "Child, ye shoulder be dislocated, and probably hurts very much. Why do ye insist it is nothing?"

"It's just uh..."

(If you tell anyone, I'll kill you)

"I'm embarassed about falling down the stairs..." She even made herself blush to empower the statement. Kaede simply nodded and began tending to the injury.

"Kagome, that's nothing to be ashamed of! It's a simple mistake!" Apparently, Shippo had finally woken up.

(...If you tell anyone...

Kagome smiled sheepishly, hoping for it to look believe able, and shrugged. This was going to be one very long night...

...I'll kill you...)

!#((&$$))$&)&&$#$$(&$$$(&)&#$#$)&&$$$#$&(($#$$&()&$$$#$#)(

A/N: Okay, there it is! Chapter 1! Hope you all enjoyed it and the last chapter of the story will have the lyrics to 'Good-bye Earl' so that everyone can know why I finally got off my bum! Peace out!

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