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Curiosity ~ Chapter Twenty-Eight ~ "If He Hollers"

Back inside WacDonald's, Inuyasha had just about had enough of the subject being changed on him at every turn.

How difficult could it be to just tell him what in the hell happened to the wench's arm? He didn't know how many times he had turned to ask the old hag what had occurred in his absence only to become distracted by Suki or interrupted by Kagome asking him some sort of useless question; which he knew she was doing that to try to veer him off course of getting an answer to his question.

Finally he couldn't take it anymore.

"Listen wench, I want to know how in the hell you broke your arm and I want to know now. Don't you dare try to stop her either Kikyo." His eyes narrowed just a bit to emphasize how serious he was.

Inuyasha didn't want to be mean to his first love, but he had noticed the last couple times he had asked Kagome about her arm a look appeared upon Kikyo's face that promised some sort of recourse if the young miko had said anything regarding the subject.

"Could Kikyo have had something to do with this?" He wondered absentmindedly.

"Well, out with it. What the f*** happened to you Kagome?"

A slap on his arm, courtesy of the small child sitting in his lap, made his gaze switch to her for a moment to see what was wrong.

"Ya-ya no say bad words." She chastised. "Have to be nice to Gooey and Kick-you cause they put Ya-ya in time out and make Ya-ya 'sit' if you don't be good boy."

The group had cracked up at not only what little Suki said but also at the dumbstruck look on Inuyasha's face. In fact, they were surprised when Kikyo herself let out a laugh or two. They hadn't known the elder priestess had a funny bone in that clay body of hers.

"Perhaps you should listen to the child Inuyasha; you might actually learn something from one so young. A few manners might actually keep you out of trouble, or would you rather go to sleep without your ramen for dinner?" Kikyo said jokingly, complete with a smile of pure joy on her face.

Was this what it felt like to be happy again; to have pure, unadulterated joy? Maybe she would gain more from this little escapade of hers than she thought. It made her feel good, no, feel human to laugh and be cheery; it certainly seemed like it made Kaede happy to see this side of her sister again – even if it did scare the others at their table a bit.

But back to the subject at hand -

"Wench I mean it, I want to know how you broke your arm."

"And I told you that I would explain later. Right now we have to go pick up Sota from his soccer game, go to the store, and get back home before Gramps goes crazy with Iza… I mean them in the house."

Kagome stood and took their waste to the trashcan and returned to grab her bag to get ready to go.

Miroku noticed Kagome's slip up. "Lady Kagome who is 'Iza' and why would she cause your grandfather to go crazy?"

"Um… She's my cousin! Yeah and she was supposed to help Gramps with a couple things today at the shrine because of how handy she is with repairing things. Isn't that what he said Kaede?"

The old priestess could tell that she was supposed to play along. "Aye child that is what he said."

Little did they know that their scents told a certain hanyou the truth about what they had just spoken.

"What is she hiding?"


It took her a while but Kagome finally convinced her Feudal Era friends that it was alright and that the car wouldn't eat them and it would let them out when they got to their destination. She tried to get everyone seated in the car but was delayed due to Inuyasha deciding to be an ass.

"I want to sit in the front. Somebody's gotta watch out in case something decides to attack your clumsy self."

A sigh escaped the young priestess. "For the last time, oldest person sits in the front and that just happens to be Kaede. Now can we please leave?"

"She ain't the oldest I am! Or did you forget that I'm over two hundred years old? Hey!"

Kagome ignored the hanyou and helped Kaede ease down into the passenger seat while the others got into the back. She just kept ignoring his ranting while she herself got into the driver's seat.

"Let me put it this way, my car, my rules. Kaede is riding in the front now get in the back or you can walk home." Boy was this day getting to her.

Making sure that everyone had their seatbelts on and that the Hiraikotsu was strapped down to the top of the Edsel, Kagome started the car (assuring everyone again that it wasn't a demon about to eat them) and took off towards the local soccer fields.

"My goodness Kagome you certainly have very good control over this beast." Sango praised.

Shippo jumped into the front to sit next to Kagome, watching her as she turned the round piece of plastic connected to the stick (steering wheel), he wondered what such a thing was used for.

"Kagome, what's that round thing for? Do you control the demon with it?" He asked innocently.

Giggling erupted from her; it was so cute how he asked that question that she just couldn't help herself.

"Yes Shippo, this is how I drive the car. Watch," She turned around the corner to the street that would lead her to the soccer fields. "See? I can make the car drive anyway I want."

A thought popped into her head then, one that she was sure Shippo would enjoy.

"Shippo, would you like to help me drive?"

"Really?" He was excited now.

"Yes, come here and put your hands on the wheel. Now you can't drive it by yourself but you can help me keep it steady alright."

A joyful smile spread its way across the kitsune's face as he took his spot on Kagome's lap and drove the car.

This was turning out to be a fun day indeed.


It took another five minutes to get to the fields. Most of the kids were already waiting at the curb for their rides but Kagome couldn't spot her brother in the crowd so she pulled up to the curb and honked the horn, which set everyone in the car on alert.

After she got them all calmed down Inuyasha noticed a taller boy walking towards Kagome and began to growl. When she turned to see what was the matter she was interrupted by a tapping at her window.

"Sis, please tell me that is the Hiraikotsu strapped to the top of your car!" The young man spoke excitedly.

Growling still escaped from the back seat.

"Shove off boy we're waitin' for the wench's brother not you!"

Said boy stuck his head through the window to look into the rest of the car.

"Hey Inu-nii-chan!" He promptly got his head shoved out the window for yelling in Kagome's ear.

"Souta, will you please stop freaking Inuyasha out and get in the very back set of seats? I've got to get to the store and get home to make dinner before Gramps gets upset."

Miroku could barely keep from laughing as he turned around and placed a hand on the hanyou's shoulder.

"Yes 'Dog Brother' please stop freaking out. You'll scare our lovely ladies." One hand tried to sneak over the seat to rest upon Sango's bosom, regrettably his attempt failed and he received a bright new red accessory to his face.

A slight blush appeared across the hanyou's cheeks before he erupted again as the young miko began to drive away.

"You can't be serious Kagome, that kid ain't your brother! Your brother a little brat!"

"Well it's not my fault he had a bizarre growth spurt in the month that we were gone."

Inuyasha could tell that he wasn't going to win this fight so he decided to drop it; he really didn't feel like being sat today, especially in front of Kikyo.

"Feh, whatever, and if you didn't notice wench that market of yours if the other way."

"Oh he did not just do that."Anger began to bubble throughout the young priestess.

"And if you didn't notice Inuyasha this is a one way street therefore I have to get to the end of the street before I can turn around and go back."

"You still ain't doin it right."

She stopped the car right then and there and turned her clearly annoyed face to the "loveable" hanyou.

"Don't you start Inuyasha; you know I don't like people backseat driving me! If you feel the need to keep going you can just get out of the car right now and walk home."

The hanyou just sat there silently staring, daring the miko to try to get him to leave the car. With a huff from Kagome, Inuyasha knew he had won this battle of wills.

"That's one more for the hanyou." He mentally added a tally to his score sheet.


The group of friends were amazed when they saw the size of the building that Kagome had said housed the market. Did her village really have that many merchants to warrant such a large marketplace?

But when they got inside – that was when they were truly awed.

Never in their lives had they seen so many wondrous things. They knew Kagome's time was advanced but they couldn't imagine anything like this! Inuyasha, Suki, and Kaede weren't too surprised by everything (after all, they'd been to this market before), but the rest of them were just itching to go through this new place and explore, and they just about did, that is until Kagome stopped them.

"I know this is all a lot to take in but will you guys please try to not look all bug-eyed. I figured we could split up into groups of two or three that way you wouldn't have to stay with me the entire time and it would give you all a chance to explore the modern market."

She noticed that Miroku hadn't seemed to be listening.

"Miroku you've got a bit of drool on your chin. Miroku? Hey are you ok?" She waved her hand in front of his face trying to snap him out of his daze.

Unfortunately for him it was Sango who made the connection between his daze and what he was looking at. The monk Miroku was staring at a female mannequin that was featuring clothing…

…from the lingerie section.

Determined to get the monk's prying eyes away from such scandalous clothing (at least in her opinion), Sango grabbed ahold of Miroku's ear and began to drag him towards the back if the store.

"Well now that that's taken care of, you guys can figure out whatever while I wonder off." Souta began to blow his sister off but a hand grabbing the collar of his shirt stopped him.

"Not so fast Souta, you're taking Shippo with you. Shippo, do you think that you could change yourself into a human for about half an hour?"

Shippo was excited, he had been practicing his fox magic for a while now and this would be the first time he'd get to try it out for a long amount of time. He gently eased his way out of the piece of cloth that was holding Kagome's broken arm in place and with a small poof an eight-year-old human child. (He was hiding because he didn't want to scare the humans in the store.)

As he went off with Souta, Kagome grabbed a large cart and began to make her way to the beginning of the grocery aisles when a disgruntled hanyou stopped her.

"My ramen comes first wench."

"Inuyasha that's clear in the middle of the store, it's easier to make my way from one side of the store to the other. Can't you wait?"

The look on his face clearly showed that he didn't want to wait for his beloved noodles.

"Ugh fine, how about you go get a cart and go get the ramen yourself?"

Before she even finished speaking he was back with one of the large carts.

"Oh no Inuyasha, go get one of the smaller ones. I can't carry that much ramen with all of the other supplies."

With a returning "feh" he came back with the smaller cart and got the directions to where his beloved ramen was.

"Alright, come on Suki let's go!" Kagome began to attempt to lift the little girl into her cart but Suki had run away giggling and attached herself to Inuyasha's leg.

"Suki go with Ya-ya!" The proud child had declared.

Kagome bent down to Suki's level. "Now Suki, I think that Inuyasha can get his ramen by himself, he is a big boy after all."

"No, stay wiff Ya-ya!" She grasps his leg tighter and buried her face into his hakama.

"Suki…"

"Leave the kid alone, she can come with me if it will get her to shut up. Come on Kikyo."

A cheer of joy erupted from the three year old as she raised her arms up to the hanyou in silent begging to be carried to which the hanyou complied, after all, how could he say no to the little girl he thought of as a daughter. (Though he wouldn't admit it to anyone, he has to keep his pride you know.)

Inuyasha hadn't even stayed to get the directions for where his ramen was; he just followed the scent of his favorite noodles, leaving the two miko's behind.


The adventure surrounding the purchase of supplies for the upcoming trip was certainly an eventful one, or in Kagome's case a nightmare.

She'd been called over the intercom a total of three times to deal with a great variety of things, and boy did she not want to think about it. Let's just say that the calls involved Miroku harassing one of the female employee's, Shippo just about setting the toy department on fire (he thought the talking toys were demon possessed), and the last, once again, being Miroku; seems he was trying to get some of the girls to model some of the more skimpy lingerie. It was all she could do to keep him from getting arrested.

Thank God Kaede, Sango, Kikyo, and surprisingly Inuyasha had enough sense not to do something so stupid.

Speaking of Inuyasha, it certainly made Kagome's day a little brighter when she found out about his little occurrence that happened while he was getting his treasured ramen.

*With Inuyasha, Kikyo, and Suki in the Ramen aisle before they left the store*

It didn't take the hanyou long to find his way his way to the aisle that held his beloved treat, nor did it take any longer to locate on said aisle. His mouth was watering when he saw all of the ramen that was stocked upon the shelves. He couldn't wait to get home and start eating it, just the thought of it was making him hungry as his hands inched closer to the shelves.

If only Kikyo hadn't interrupted him.

"Why do you require such food? Is there not plenty of food in our own era? Or is it that you are getting lazy in your hanyou ways?"

People were staring at her while she was talking and Inuyasha noticed this. What the hell was their problem? Hadn't they ever heard someone talk before? A feeling of protectiveness fell over him and he turned to put his full attention upon Kikyo, leaving Suki to her own deeds.

"You know damn good and well that I ain't lazy. And as far as the food goes, don't you remember before the whole Naraku thing happened and we had to make camp in those demon infested forests? I knew you could take care of yourself while I went to hunt but I could also sense the nervousness you tried so hard to hide. Taking food from this era just makes a few things easier; I do hunt when I can, but sometimes it's easier for the wench to just make up some of her instant food, especially if it's just after a fight and I'm down for the count."

He huffed and struck his normal arrogant pose before closing his eyes and started to turn back towards his cart.

"If you don't got any more questions Kikyo I'd like to get the ninja food and get out of here; to many humans in this damn place and it's… what the heck did you do kid?"

It was then that he had opened his eyes to reveal a grinning Suki and his cart already filled with ramen; all of it the same flavor… his least favorite flavor… shrimp.

The giggling of the little girl brought his gaze from the overflowing cart to the grinning child; her hands covering her mouth, attempting to keep her giggles in.

"What in the world did you do kid?" Inuyasha's eye twitched in irritation.

Suki looked up innocently to her favorite hanyou.

"Ya-ya needed all the pretty pink ones!"

He lifted her up into his arms. "You know I don't like the shrimp ones."

"But Suki like the pretty pink ones and so does Ya-ya!"

"We're putting them back kid, I ain't getting them."

"Yes!" Suki crossed her arms and gave Inuyasha a pointed stare.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

Inuyasha started to see the quivering of a bottom lip and decided he really didn't want to deal with a crying child.

"Keh, fine we'll get SOME of the shrimp but the rest of it I get to pick out ok?"

Suki's face instantly brightened. "Yay!" Her chubby little arms wound themselves around Inuyasha's neck and squeezed him as tight as her child-like muscles would allow. When she pulled away, much to the hanyou's surprise, she gave him a big wet kiss right on his cheek.

An older woman's laugh interrupted their little moment.

"Your daughter is very cute. You both must be very proud of her." The woman praised before she walked away to finish her shopping, leaving the two shocked adults to blatantly stare at each other.

Kikyo was sure that she was blushing, although she had no idea how since her body was now made of clay, and Inuyasha's jaw was practically on the ground in disbelief. Once, years ago, both had thought about the possibility of having a family, but that dream had been lost.

Neither knew what to say to the other to get over the awkwardness of the situation. Thankfully though, Suki took care of that for them… well, sort of.

The little girl had gripped the hanyou in the biggest, strongest bear hug her little body could muster and practically announced to everyone in the store -

"I love you Daddy Ya-ya!"

*Back at the Sunset Shrine unloading the groceries from the car*

Inuyasha noticed that Kagome had been quiet during the entire ride home and it was beginning to bug him. He knew that she must have been up to something due to the glittering look in her eyes and the smile across her face.

While he gathered all of his ramen into his arms he made the decision to get to the bottom of whatever she was planning.

"What are you scheming wench? I know there's something bouncing around in that head of yours."

It was getting harder and harder for the young miko to contain her laughter. She ignored Inuyasha while she took up one of the many shopping bags and began following her friends to her home. She could sense the anger pouring off of Inuyasha where she left him at the car.

Figuring that she let him linger enough, Kagome turned around when she got to the back door and called back to him.

"Well come on Daddy Ya-ya! You wouldn't want Shippo and Suki to eat all of your ramen would you?"

"Oi!"

Chapter End Notes:
A/N ~ Thought I would make a lighter chapter before I get into the next set of epicness. Just so everyone knows, I am trying to get back into a schedule for getting the chapters up… Hopefully within the next month everything will be back to normal.

Suki has a BIG obsession with pink... god I loved writing that part! XD

SPOILER ALERT! ~ One of the upcoming OC I'm going to present will be nicknamed "Zebra". Can you guess who that person might possibly be related to? (OMG DOUBLE SPOILER!)

Did anyone get the chance to read the second chapter of "They Weren't The Only Ones" (posted here on FF)? I was wondering if anyone thought if I should expand on the Gramps/Kaede pairing… just wondering your thoughts.

BIG THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO SUBSCRIBED AND FAVED AFTER THE LAST CHAPTER! I REALLY LOVE YOU GUYS!

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS ~ FLAMES WELCOMED ~ REVIEWS MAKE ME TYPE FASTER!

PROUD TO BE A KAEDE/GRAMPS SUPPORTER! 3 3

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