A Time for Changes

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha nor make profit from my story

Author’s Notes: Hey all, I wanted to say sorry for the weird lack of italics, bold, and underline. When I saved the file as a txt it took them all out, so thank you for the review that brought that to my attention, Lissa. Keep reviewing! It encourages me

Description: Kagome's college years are getting complicated and just when things seem impossible she finds haven in a small café and its clerk. (Iny/Kagome)

Chapter 2 - Newly Found Stray

Kagome didn’t sleep much after her strange dream. After showering and blow-drying her hair she left her room. Today she had decided to wear a casual pair of jeans and a black sweatshirt. Simple beauty was Kagome’s alleyway, she wasn’t one for the makeup, glitz, or glam, neither was Sango. Despite the tension from last night, Kagome entered the kitchen to see pancakes for her, a signature of Sango’s.

“Made them for you, to apologize,” Sango explained, sliding the plate in front of Kagome, along with a cup of coffee.

Kagome smiled weakly and sighed, “I’m sorry that I’m not more understanding. He is leaving after all.” With her fork she began to break the pancakes into four sections. “Maybe I’m also jealous, too.”

“You have nothing to be jealous of, a perverted monk who can’t keep his hands off me,” Sango explained with a huff, sitting down across from her, sipping at some herbal tea. “But seriously, Kagome, consider a date. Just one.”

“You know my answer, so please don’t try,” Kagome smiled. “I have a double major, it’s not the easiest thing to handle, especially to be a teacher.” There was sadness to her eyes, “I couldn’t accept the idea of me failing, and you know that.” She shoved a piece of pancake into her mouth.

Sango smiled and looked at her best friend. Although Kagome smiled, Sango knew of the burdens she harbored. “Just don’t overdo it, Kagome. I’m going to need some seriously girl time when Miroku leaves, our Friday nights can be spent watching movies and eating popcorn.”

Mid-chew oh her pancake Kagome stifled a laugh and nodded. After taking a sip of coffee she said, “That I’ll do, a good movie now and again is great.” Her wrist watch began to beep and Kagome jumped up startled, “Oh no, I have fifteen minutes to get to work. Thanks for the breakfast, Sango. I’ll see you in a couple hours.”

Bags and all, Kagome stumbled down the six flights of stairs, past the main lobby, and onto the sidewalk. The blow-drying was for nothing, now that her hair whipped behind her as she ran between the people. It was getting colder with each day; the first winter snow was due soon. The white clouds of exhale from her quick breath rushed past her face and vanished quickly. Kagome was a group coordinator at the local Tokyo museum, she loved being so close to the history she would one day teach to her students. The Feudal Era/ Sengoku jidai was especially her favorite, some of the artificats, so old and abused, told the stories of great warriors. A lot of her inspiration in her paintings came from this place.

Sliding in through the automatic doors Kagome held her arms up, “I’m here! I’m on time.”

“Wow Kagome, you’re actually a whole two minutes early,” the clerk chuckled, her good old friend Houjo. “Better go clock in and get into uniform, the first tour group is coming they said in about twenty minutes.”

Across Town

“Taishou-san, you’re pretty early today,” his boss snickered at him, today her hair a bright green. The woman always wanted to change her hair. He didn’t even know her real name; she just said to call her Nana-chan.

A ‘keh” was all she got in response as he began to mop the floors. All this boy did was work and go to class; it wasn’t like he had much else to do. Usually he just wanted to die at this café, this boring old café, but last night had been, different.

“Hoping that girl will come back?”

That got Taishou-san to stop his work; he turned his head to her, she innocently behind the counter stirring some batter. “Why the hell would I care of that girl come back?”

Nana waved her finger at him, “She’s the first customer you’ve ever given the time of day too besides Kikyo-chan. Don’t deny it either.”

He frowned and turned from her, “Maybe it’s because she isn’t boring as fucking hell. She actually had a personality.”

Nana laughed again and smiled, “Taishou-kun, I’ll only tell you this because you’ve been working here so long and you remind me of a son; if she comes back, take a chance. You can’t live thinking about her.”

Taishou-san scowled, “Leave me alone, you crazy hag.”

With Kagome

“Hello and welcome to the museum,” Kagome chanted, giving a full bow to her new tour group of sixth graders, who bowed in return. “Did you all have fun getting here?”

The little group of children cheered and smiled.

Great, it’s another group of sixth graders who are going to try and touch everything.

Kagome stood up straight, running her hands down her museum uniform that reminded her slightly of a flight attendant. It was a one-piece dress with a button down front with a nice collar. It was short without being too short; she swore it was Miroku who designed this outfit, because if she bent the wrong way the dress rose slightly. On the top of her head was a tiny blue hat, which to her was what made her look like a dumb flight attendant.

“Today your teacher wanted me to show you the Sengoku Jidai area. Let’s go!” The group cheered and continued on after her. Thankfully this area of the museum had a lot of swords and artifacts that would intrigue the children, some of the exhibits did get a little boring. “We believe this sword was carved from the fang of a great demon. If you look at all the jagged marks on it you can tell this sword was used a lot.”

“If I was a great warrior I’d want a sword just like that,” a boy in the group cheered, all the other boys agreed as well.

Kagome smiled, “Would you slay all the demons and protect your village and the women?” They all nodded viciously. “Good thing, cause those demons sure were scary back them.” She put on her best scary face and hovered over them, “I am the demon Kagome-baba and I am here to steal all your lunches.”

“Ahhh! Not our lunches, TourLady-chan!” the children screamed and hugged their lunches possessively.

Okay, so the kids are cuter than I thought. I’m such a sucker for them.

Because it was Saturday, that was the only group of students Kagome had to give a tour to. The rest of the day she just helped answer any basic questions about the museum pieces. Most of the time she got the elderly or the kids with their moms, but Kagome didn’t mind. There was something about history, there was a connection she felt in her bones seemed to call her to this place. She actually traced her family back to the Sengoku Jidai, and it said that her greatest ancestors were involved in priestess and shaman work.

During her lunch break she removed her hat and sat down in her favorite section. Her eyes were always drawn to the large sword carved from a dog demon’s fang. The sword was so old and battered, looking useless like any old samurai sword, but it seemed to have a story to tell.

With her sketchbook on her lap, she used a piece of charcoal to start the hilt of the sword. There was something about charcoal, the roughness to its appearance on paper, which made her think of the sword. The two together seemed to convey battles, hardships. She was so deep into her work she didn’t hear someone walk up behind her.

“Small world, you think?”

The world she had been imagining vanished around her as she looked up. “Taishou-san, what are you doing here?” Kagome asked with shock. He was out of uniform, in a baggy pair of jeans, a loose t-shirt, and a blue jacket. To match the blue jacket he had a blue bandana.

“Keh,” he sat down beside her and frowned. “Can’t a person visit a museum on their break?” Kagome blushed furiously, realizing he was right, and turned her eyes down towards her sketch, which caught Taishou-san’s attention. “Always drawing. Nice sword.”

Kagome’s face was on fire. She felt like such a klutz, and somehow very exposed. No one ever really noticed her drawing in the museum; it was like her little secret. And stupidly, she just asked what he had been doing here. Duh, it’s a museum, people visit it. It shouldn’t be that strange! Come on, Kagome! Duhhhhh!

“Hey, would you calm down, it’s not that big of a deal.” Taishou-san found himself smirking, he had missed this energetic aura.

Tilting her head back to gaze at him, she noticed he was smiling, which in turn got her to smile as well. “I’m sorry, I just feel like my big secret was revealed or something. I always draw on break, I love this era, especially these swords.” Kagome pointed to the sword locked away in the glass case, “The sword’s name is Tessaiga, and it belonged to a great warrior.”

“A great warrior, how do you know?” Taishou-san had read the description plate, but all it had said was the name and the era of the sword. Also, it gave credit to whoever had found the sword, but Taishou-san didn’t really care about that detail.

Kagome ran a hand through her hair and held the sketch board on her lap, “I’m not sure how to say it, but I just know. Look at all the cuts and chips embedded into the sword. If the owner was a weak warrior the sword would have broken, but these are marks of endurance. They’re battle scars, stories.”

His amber eyes were glued to her presence, he’d never heard a woman speak with such wisdom and compassion based just on mere observation. Kikyo had spoken with such elegance, each of her words picked precisely and carefully. With no decent comment he merely let out a, “Keh. There are no warriors like that in this time.”

“Forgive me for saying so, but I disagree.”

That caught him off guard, “What are you talking about? There are no great warriors here, I mean, soldiers if you want to take that route cause of your brother, but what on earth are you talking about, baka—“ but he found he could not continue. The look in her eyes, so sincere and kind, almost with a slight pity in them, gazed deep into his amber eyes. “Wh—what?”

“It’s okay, if you don’t understand what I see, most people don’t,” Kagome whispered gently, laying her sketchpad on the bench they shared. She glanced at the sword then back to Taishou-san. “People, are warriors, Taishou-san. We are all our own warriors and weapons. Each fights, and each carries scars of our times.” Her eyes wandered momentarily, Taishou-san seemed to think she was holding back. “I probably think too much.”

“Kaagggooooommeeeeeee---channnn! Your break is up, time to get back to work!”

That was Hojo calling for her, probably searching the whole museum in all honesty. She didn’t want him on top of Taishou-san to know of her secret haven. Jumping up, Kagome ran her hand through her hair one more time before putting the little blue hat on again. “Sorry, Taishou-san, I’ve got to run. I really don’t need Hojo-sempai knowing my secret either. I’ll see you around, Ja,” and with that she was sprinting off down the hall, careful not to hit the pedestrians.

As Taishou sat there, watching her fleeting frame, he heard something fall to the floor. His amber eyes watched the charcoal pencil roll gently, realizing that Higurashi had left her things here. “Oye, that klutz, I bet she leaves her wallet and purse behind all the time. Keh, stupid girl.” Picking up the sketchpad and charcoal gingerly, he left and headed back to work.

The rest of Kagome’s work shift was easy-going, a few cute kids, a few elderly couples, and some high school kids just trying to have a nice day in the city. She clocked out and walked home. It was about 5:30 when she turned the handle to her apartment, “I’m home. Sango, you where?” She slid off her shoes and shrugged off her coat.

“I’m in here Kagome-chan,” Sango raised her arm from the couch and waved. “How was work?”

Kagome sauntered over to the fridge and pulled out some chilled coffee, “Fine I guess, there weren’t too many large groups so I wandered most of the day answering questions.” She grabbed a cup with her right hand and started pouring, “And on break I got in some sketching.”

“What did you draw today?” Sango was now leaning over the couch looking at Kagome upside down.

“I can show you, I’m really starting to like the sketch.” In her bare feet she walked across the tile back towards her coat and bag. With one hand she searched her large purse, purposely large to hold sketchbooks. “That’s strange….I know I put it in here.”

Sango let out a groan, “Kagome, don’t tell me you left another sketch pad at work!”

“Sango, I could’ve sworn I had it with me. I was on break talking with Taishou-san when Hojo-senpai called me back to ----“

“Wait wait wait! Taishou-san? What was he doing there?” Sango sneered, raising an eyebrow.

Kagome, still distracted by her missing sketchpad, turned her purse upside down, “He said he was on break and came to the museum. I think he got mad when I like blatantly asked him why he was there.”

“Oh Kagome, maybe he found out that you worked there. He could like you,” Sango snickered, teasing Kagome, who was already turning red.

“ Seriously Sango, not the point. I need those sketches for class,” Kagome muttered and sank to the floor. “It’s official, it’s not here. I guess I’ll have to go get it tomorrow, since they closed already.” She leaned her head against the wall and sighed, “Why can’t things, for once, just be easy?”

Sango was by Kagome’s side, holding out a hand, “Come on, at least get out of that ridiculous uniform and sit on the couch in something cozier. Lets go, up and at ‘em.”

With chilled coffee still in hand, Kagome allowed Sango to pull her off the floor. “Thanks, Sango. It would be kind of nice to get out of this uniform, I always feel like I’m a stewardess on a plane.”

In the safety of her room Kagome locked the door and fell onto her bed, face down into the pillows. Turning her head slightly she looked at the picture on her night table; it was a picture of her and her brother, their arms around each other, smiling. He was her last family member, and they had fought before he left for the war.

”Please Kami, let him be safe. I’ll do anything if you bring him home safely to me.”

She changed and put on a pair of hipster jeans and a sweatshirt, the center cut to a v mid-chest. Plopping down beside Sango with her now lukewarm chilled coffee she sighed. “How was your day?”

“I worked on some of our assignments, spent the day away from Miroku. He has some exams to finish up before his trip. He doesn’t want to leave anything unfinished.”

“Well that’s good of him, you don’t want to leave with strings attached.” Kagome smiled and took a sip of her drink, “Except you of course, you’re the only string he wants. If it weren’t for you he’d probably stay there and terrorize all the girls there until they deported him.”

Sango chuckled weakly, “He’s a hopeless hentai, don’t rub it in.”

Leaning the chair into a reclining position Kagome glanced over at her friend. As much as Sango as serious and tough skinned, her eyes held a shimmer of worry. Kagome smiled, it really showed how much she loved Miroku even if he drove her nuts. “Sango, as your best friend, I know that Miroku will not fall in love with anyone else while he’s abroad. If anything he’ll call you at the airport and every single day. He’ll be so sad unable to visit you everyday from across the hall.”

Absent-mindedly Sango started to flick through the channels on the television as she spoke, not actually watching the shows that rolled by, “When he gets back he wants us to move in together. He thinks since we’ll be seniors there won’t be anything wrong with us moving in, there wouldn’t be much of a difference from the same room and across the hall.”

Kagome quietly sipped her drink, a knot growing in her stomach. The three of them in one apartment that sounded rough for her. What if they wanted her to move out? Where would she go? She didn’t have the money to pay for everything herself. Still, Kagome was expected to speak, so she cleared her throat. “Um, I think that it’s great you and Miroku have thought about this, it shows how serious you two are. I can’t wait for the day he proposes to you.”

With that Sango blushed and firmly glued her eyes to the television, “Yeah well, I’m not sure Miroku is that ready for commitment.”

But Kagome’s mind was already reeling, what was she going to do? Slowly she rose from her seat on the couch and dumped the rest of her drink into the sink. Why hadn’t they even thought of her? Asked her? She felt so abandoned. After shimmying on her jacket she turned to Sango, who was still on the couch.

“I’m going to go out for a while, I need another sketch for tomorrow now that I don’t have my sketchpad.”

Sango put up a hand and waved. The door clicked shut.

The rest of her classes Kagome found she hadn’t paid attention to at all. The only thing she felt was this overwhelming numbness that spread throughout her body like a horrible poison. Because her lecture classes were so large no one seemed to care or notice. She could always pick up some of the notes from Koga or get them online if her professor posted them there.

Across town Taishou-san was sitting on a café table thumbing through the pages of Kagome’s sketchpad. He realized after the first picture he shouldn’t be doing this, but felt compelled to, it was like he was reading her soul. The first sketch had been of two adults, a full portrait of a woman, and a man’s face in the faded background. The second had been a young boy, possibly the brother. The mother encompassing a child had also shown up a few times with few variations.

The chimes above the door jingled and he quickly shut the book and hid it behind him. And to his surprise, stood Kagome-chan, looking defeated. He could sense tears on her face by the way she sniffled and hid her eyes. Slowly he slid off the tabletop and cleared his throat lightly, hoping to catch her attention.

His amber eyes followed her frame as she sat down on the same couch she had the night before, pulling her bag off her shoulder and settling it on the floor. Kagome-chan took a few long breaths; Taishou-san assumed she was trying to settle herself before going to place an order. He watched stand up from the couch and he quickly jumped over the counter so he could be ready to serve her.

Kagome spread her hands across the counter and sighed. As she lifted her head up to stare at the menu, she noticed how severe Taishou-san’s gaze was upon her. “Is something wrong, Taishou-san? Am I taking too long?”

Taishou-san frowned, “You’re upset.” Kagome-chan noticed today that his hair was tied back in a long braid but the bandana was still covering the top of his head. She figured it would be something that’d never change, a fashion statement of Taishou-sans.

“I’m fine, Taishou-san,” she told him sweetly, trying to smile. “What do you think I should drink today?”

Taishou-san sighed and rolled his eyes, he hated it when people lied about how they were feeling. It was obvious something was upsetting Kagome-chan and she was purposely not telling him. “I’ll bring it to you, just go sit and wait. Keh,” and with that he turned his back to her.

Kagome frowned lightly and went back to the couch. With no sketchpad at her disposal she was resorted to sorting through the assortment of periodicals on the table. She found herself staring at the housing section, maybe, while still sort of in denial, hoping to find an empty apartment at a reasonable price.

Taishou-san stirred his little concoction together on the back counter, adding the lightest touch of lemon to the mixture. He hoped this would make her smile a little; it had been something his own mother made for him after he threw tantrums. His eyes wandered to the bakery goods, a pulled a miniature cinnamon muffin from the display case. After taking both the drink and the muffin onto one tray he grabbed the sketchpad with the other. She was probably worried sick about losing that pad, even if she was a total klutz.

“Here’s your drink. White tea. I don’t usually give this out to anyone, so you better like it,” Taishou-san told her. She seemed worried but he gave her a grin, fang sticking out over his lip and sat down beside her. “No scones today, but the old hag made these muffins this morning.”

Kagome graciously took the cup and blew on the top, watching the steam blow away and vanish. “Thank you, Taishou-san, I don’t know how you ever got your hands on white tea but you sure are lucky. My dad used to bring this back for me when he traveled for work.” Sipping on it slowly her eyes lit up and she smiled, “It’s delicious. Thanks!”

He cursed himself for the blush he knew was spreading on his cheeks. “Keh, I just thought you’d want something to cheer you up,” Taishou-san mumbled, a slight irritation in his voice. “You looked like you’d been crying.”

She rotated the cup in her hands and nodded, “Just a bad day; I was almost late to work, again, I lost my sketchpad sometime during my shift, I had five classes today I couldn’t focus through, I haven’t heard from my brother in two weeks, and….” Kagome closed her mouth and turned to him, looking like she was about to cry again. She realized that, this was just a cashier, a guy who probably wanted to hear she’d been dumped by a boyfriend or failed a test, not her life story. Turning her cerulean eyes away from him she stared down at her cup, “Kami, I’m so stupid.” A teardrop fell into the cup.

“Hey!” Taishou-san growled, taking her chin with his right hand and tilting it to look up at him, small tears running down her face. “You might be stupid in some aspect of your life I don’t know about you, you might be absolutely fucking insane, but if you think you’re stupid for telling me what’s wrong you’re nuts. You’d be stupid if you didn’t.” He realized his grip was probably too rough and he let her go, but to his surprise, she continued to gaze at him. “Look, it’s easy to tell when something’s wrong, but no one’s a freaking mind reader.”

“I….I….” Kagome felt blush on her but continued to stare at him. This guy had gone out of his way to try and help her, just because she walked through the door that gloomy? “Sorry, Taishou-san.”

“Keh, is that all that’s bothering you, Higurashi?” he asked quietly.

“Kagome,” she told him automatically. Turning her eyes back to her cup she took another sip slowly, letting the warmth slide down her throat and sooth her insides. “My best friend’s boyfriend is studying abroad for a little while, and when he gets back, they want to move in together.”

Taishou-san found himself breaking off a piece of her muffin as he listened to her, nodding his head slowly. “Is he moving in to your apartment, then?”

Kagome shook her head, “I think that’s what they think they would do. But, I can’t live like that. I can’t be awkward in my home. I’d be more afraid to come home at night than I am now.” She took a piece of the muffin too, absentmindedly, not realizing food tended to be her comfort. “So what, I have, less than four months to find a new place to stay that I can afford. Did I mention I can’t afford anything by myself, that’s why I go half with Sango?” Kagome sighed and leaned back on the couch, “I don’t know what to do.”

That really does suck. Taishou-san found himself mentally cursing whoever was putting this girl through such a hell. He barely knew her, but found himself so relaxed around her. The two had already eaten the entire muffin together. He sighed and shook his head. “I do have something that might help your day, baka,” he mumbled, leaning over behind him.

“What could that be, a million dollars?”

He laughed, “In your dreams, but here.” He placed the sketchbook in her hands and shrugged his shoulders, “When you sped off after your break you left it on the bench. You didn’t seem to want that Hobo-sempai to know about your drawings, so I didn’t think leaving it with him would make you very happy. I took it back with me, thinking you might wander in here, eventually.”

Kagome smiled and quickly gave Taishou-san a hug, “Thank you so so much for finding this!” Without a second though about her actions she released him and began to flip through the pages of the book.

Taishou-san, startled by the human contact, stumbled to find something to say, “I…I kinda lost the piece of charcoal though.”

“That’s okay. I have a million pieces of that, the sketches are irreplaceable though, and these are my favorite ones. I’ve made them into bigger pieces and put them in displays, but these are the originals.”

Taishou-san rubbed the back of his head with his hand, eyes still locked on her now cheerful frame, “Can I ask you something?”

She looked up at him and smiled, tilting her head to the side like a curious puppy, “Sure Taishou-san, anything, it’s the least I can do after you brought this back to me.”

“None of the sketches have any color, except the first two. But, the first one of the two adults, the old woman and the old man, who are they?”

“Those are my parents.”

“I should have guessed, the old woman looked sort of like you, had the hair, and the man and you have the same damn cerulean eyes.” A thought dawned on him and he smiled, “Why don’t you ask them to help you out with the apartment thing, I mean, until you find a better place? There ain’t no shame asking someone for help I guess. Right?”

“I can’t, Taishou-san,” Kagome mumbled, finishing off the last of her tea, then closing the pad shut. “My parents died five years ago.”

Kami, I’m so stupid…

Author’s Notes: And…that’s all she wrote. For now anyway. Please read and review! Constructive criticism welcomed!