A huge yawn escaped Harry as he made his way to the kitchen.  He hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, mainly because of the blue-eyed girl.  He didn’t dream of her again, but still she plagued his thoughts.  Walking past his aunt, who was scrubbing a pan, he made himself a bowl of cereal before pulling up a chair between his cousin and uncle.

            His uncle, Vernon, grunted as he sat down.  Harry glanced at him.  If he was acknowledging his nephew’s presence then he had to have something to say.  Vernon did not look up at Harry, but shifted the newspaper in his hands before speaking.  “My company was recently bought by a larger company in Japan, and our branch here in England, was given a new head of directors.”

            Green eyes just blinked in a bored expression.  “Okaay…”  What does this have to do with me?  Harry thought as he took a bite of his breakfast, crunching loudly.

            Vernon glared down at Harry before continuing.  “I’ve invited her and her family to diner tonight, and it is very important that I make a good impression.  If she finds my progress dissatisfactory, then she has grounds to fire me.”  He narrowed his piggy little eyes on the dark haired wizard.  “You, boy, are to stay in your room.  And will be silent as the grave.”

            Harry just rolled his eyes and turned back to his food.  He figured their guests were why his aunt, Petunia, was freaking out.  She had finished with her pan and moved on to the counters.  Uninterested, his eyes stole a cursory glance to his cousin, who was being strangely quiet.

            Getting a better look at Dudley, he saw that, in between bites of his grand slam breakfast a-la-Petunia, he was studying a piece of paper.  Harry leaned forward more to see what his cousin was trying so hard to memorize.

            ‘Konnichiwa.  Watashiwa Dudley desu.  Dozo Yoroshiku.’  had been scribbled onto his sheet loose leaf.  Harry snorted at how hard Dudley was staring at the paper.  I bet he can’t even read it.  If he says that to Ms. Head-of-Directors, she’ll take it as an insult to her lineage.  He grinned into his cereal as that thought crossed his mind.

            Dudley had glanced at his ‘abnormal’ cousin when he heard him choke down a laugh.  The shit-eating grin on Harry’s face was a dead give away and he instantly felt indignant.  Shifting his fat bottom on the chair, Dudley thrust out his leg and kicked his cousin in the shin.

            Harry resisted the urge strike back as he gently rubbed his bruised leg.  Instead, he got up and washed his bowl.  Sending the fat retarded pig (ahem… his dear loving cousin) a glare, Harry made his way back up the stairs and into his room, not caring to shut his door gently (as per usual).

________------------------________

            Kagome let out a huge yawn before she took a seat and joined her family at the kitchen table.  “Morning, ‘kaa-san.” She greeted her mother.

            “Good morning, dear.  How are you?  Souta tells me you had another nightmare last night.”  Her mother began talking to her, but Kagome’s thoughts were elsewhere and she didn’t respond.

            Tohru Higurashi frowned at her pokerfaced daughter.  She has been worried for Kagome.  To go through such a tragedy, and at such a young age…  She couldn’t even being to imagine the amount of stress and heartache her baby girl had been put through.

            Souta glanced between his mother and sister.  Silence had befallen their breakfast and it was driving him crazy.  “Okaa-san, what was it your were saying, about the dinner tonight?”

            “Mmm?  Oh, yes.”  Ms. Higurashi looked up from her meal to address her children.  “Remember Azumi, my old friend who I had lent money to a while back?  She had used that money to start her own business, which is growing beautifully.  Anyways, she has offered me a job.  It’s a pretty high up position, one where I could work from home.”  Tohru chuckled to herself, “Although I use the term ‘work’ loosely, I just get to boss others around.”

            Kagome’s brows furrowed as she spoke, “That’s great, ‘kaa-san, but what does that have to do with tonight’s dinner plans?”

Souta nodded in agreement, also wondering where his mother was going with this.

“Humm?” Their mother stopped mid-bite, “Oh, yeah.  We’re to have dinner with a manager from one of the companies Azumi had bought here.  He lives close by too, from what I remember…”

Kagome nodded numbly, allowing herself to be consumed by her thoughts once more.  Only to be ripped out of her reverie again.  She glanced up to see her mother looking at her expectantly, only then did she realize she had been asked a question.  “Umm… sorry, what were you saying?”

Her brother made a snorting type of noise and rolled his dark eyes at her, earning him a quick clip on the ear.  “Oww… geeze Kags.  Not my fault you’ve been acting like a space cadet.”

Kagome proceeded to playfully stick her tongue out at her sibling and it went on like that before their mother interrupted their lighthearted retaliations.

“As I said,” she grabbed her kids’ attentions, “the manager guy has a son your age, Kagome.  I’m sure that you’ll get along nicely.  It wouldn’t reflect well on me if my daughter wasn’t completely polite with Mr. What’s-his-face’s son.”

Kagome smirked into her breakfast resisting the urge to snort at her mother’s words.  “I’m always polite.  Besides, how would it reflect on you if you can’t remember Mr. What’s-his-face’s name before dinner, ‘kaa-san?”

Her mother grinned behind her hand before putting on a half-hearted frown.  “As I recall, the last time you didn’t get along well with somebody else you hit him over the head with a broomstick.”  Tohru was trying to choke down her giggles at the memory, “In any case, I’ll figure out the man’s name sooner or later.”  She couldn’t hold back a wide smile as she saw her daughter beaming at her mother’s behavior.

She tried her hardest to seem annoyed as Kagome rolled her blue eyes, but the large grin on her face gave away her amusement.  “That was, what, ten years ago?  I was only five or six.  Besides, he deserved it.”  She didn’t care to lower her voice at the last sentence, causing both her family members to burst into a new fit of laughter.

Ms. Higurashi was glad her daughter was feeling better.  Ever since she had returned from the feudal era, she wouldn’t really open up to anyone.  Sure, she had explained what happened, but she kept her feelings locked up in a place no one was able to reach.  It made her mother smile at how care-free Kagome was acting this morning.  She could only hope that it would last long enough for her daughter to heal.

________------------------________

            Harry was hanging out in his bedroom writing letters to his friends when he started noticing the owls.  Being a young wizard, seeing owls delivering mail was not an unusual thing.  But these owls weren’t giving him mail, and as far as he knew, he was the only non-muggle around for miles.

            He glanced out the window.  About three houses down there were nearly twenty birds on its’ roof.  What the heck?  Watching the various owls down the street, he didn’t notice his own fly up to the window.

            Hedwig, his snowy white owl, screeched at Harry when he didn’t realize the letter delivered to him.  Jumping in surprise, green eyes tore away from number seven private drive.  He reached over and grabbed the letter, stroking Hedwig as his hand passed by.

            Carefully he tore open the envelope, inside was his letter and another envelope.  Harry eyed the second envelope curiously before placing it down and reading his own note.

--