Curiosity – Chapter 17 – "To The Modern Era We Go"

"What do ye mean 'replacement'?" Kaede exclaimed horrified. She had never given any hint of wanting to give up her post as village miko. Had someone decided to go behind her back and get rid of her? Had they thought her to old and wore down to continue her duties?

Now the young woman stepped fully into the hut to give everyone a view of her miko attire. She didn't look as tall as Kikyo but she was definitely taller than Kaede and had beauty to match. The odd thing was that this woman looked even younger than Kagome.

Setting down her few possessions down by the door, the young miko walked over to Kaede and gave her a low bow before introducing herself.

"My name is Lady Takara and I hail from a village far towards the south of Musashi. I know I am young in age for a miko, but I have excellent marksmanship and a wealth of knowledge about herbal remedies."

"Ye have not answered my question child." Kaede interrupted. She was starting to panic with all of this runaround.

"I am sorry fellow miko. You are thinking I was summoned to permanently replace you yes? Many people seem to think that about me, but in actuality I am only here on behalf of another priestess. She asked me to fill in as village priestess for a few days while you are away. I honestly don't mean any harm." Lady Takara explained calmly. She didn't want to upset Lady Kaede any more than she already seemed to be.

Kaede looked at Lady Takara in bewilderment. "Gone? Gone where? I'm not planning to go anywhere."

Kagome had stayed silent for the entire exchange, in fact everyone was, but Kagome saw the pieces fall in place when Lady Takara had said something about Kaede going away.

"You had this all planned out didn't you?" She whispered out as she stared at Kikyo.

All eyes fell onto Kikyo, waiting for an explanation of what Kagome could have meant.

Smirking, Kikyo stared back at her reincarnation before retorting.

"You don't seem as dumb as I thought you to be. Of course I had this all planned out. I knew that you would finally cave and take me through to your world due to the fact that you are so concerned about missing out on your education. But I knew from the memories of your life that we share that as soon as we reached your home that you would give me the silent treatment, and that is where Kaede comes in at. I know that you will talk to her because she isn't a threat towards you."

Everyone could see that Kagome was obviously fuming at being thought of as dumb while Kaede visibly calmed from the knowledge that she was not going to be replaced. Now if only someone would break the continuing silence that seemed to be happening as of late, that would make everyone feel much better.

A giggle broke through the silence and everyone waited for an explanation.

"This whole situation is so ridiculous it's actually funny." Kagome said still giggling, but unfortunately none of the others could see what she was seeing about the present circumstances.

It was then that Touga stood along with Izayoi and cleared his throat.

"I believe we should get going if we wish to make it to Kagome's time before sundown. If we can make it by then that is."

"You mean you wish to go to my home as well? But why would you want to do that?"

Izayoi gave the young miko a small smile before she answered for herself and Touga, "That is simple my dear. You are our son's friend and if we wish to be reunited with him peacefully then we feel that you should get to know you better and you us so that it would be simpler to convince him that we truly have returned to him."

"And I wish to meet the family of my son's alpha-female. Since she seems to be so important to him, perhaps her family is too." Touga added silently.

Agreeing whole heartedly with their logic, Kagome went and grabbed her bag up with her good arm and waited for Kaede to gather a couple of things and making sure that Takara knew of the current sick villagers before finally making their way into the Forest of Inuyasha.

Kikyo decided that she would be self-proclaimed leader and led the way to their destination and Inuyasha's parents followed above in the trees while Kaede and Kagome brought up the rear.

Kaede noticed that Kagome was being quiet and that every once in a while she would pinch her arm, which was something she found odd. It was with that that she voiced her concern to Kagome.

"Don't worry about me Kaede. I guess you could say that all this is beginning to overwhelm me. I mean it's just weird that suddenly Kikyo wants to know all about me and my home and then Inuyasha's parents show up which makes things even weirder. On top of that I've had what, two near death experiences since coming back to the village. It seems too much like a dream to me and I keep pinching myself to see if I can wake up. I just can't shed the feeling that something is going to happen soon and it is really starting to scare me." Kagome explained the best she could.

"Plus I can tell that my medicine has kicked in so it is making me a little loopy." Kagome added in.

Kaede furrowed her eyebrows and looked up to Kagome. "Loopy? I have never heard of such a term. Another odd word from your era perhaps, what does it mean?"

"Um, it's another word for crazy, mildly insane, silly, and daft. This only happens when I take any kind of pain medicine with Red Bull though. AH!" Kagome screamed out, finally realizing that Kikyo had stopped so she could hear the conversation and that she had almost run into her.

"Then why did you do such a thing if you knew that you would act as such?" Kikyo asked.

Kagome knew exactly how to respond to her question, plus get a laugh out of Kaede and possibly Touga, if he liked jokes that is. She put a really dumb look upon her face and peered into Kikyo's eyes.

"Well Kikyo you should have stopped me if you didn't want me to act this way. After all, you put yourself in charge so that would mean that you are responsible for my actions. If you have any more of my memories then you should have known that this would happen. Besides that mom always says that the eldest is left in charge and we can't determine that until we figure out if we are going by human or demon years, which would make Kaede or Touga in charge. Then again, if we went by either set of ages Touga would most likely be the eldest anyway so you really shouldn't be in charge at all. End of discussion."

A bellowing laugh erupted from the tree above them which in turn made both Kaede and Kagome laugh as Kikyo once again began to make her way to the well. After about a minute, Touga hopped down from the tree with Izayoi in his arms and all four of them set out once again towards the well.

"My goodness Kagome, you certainly come up with some good ideas to make Lady Kikyo upset. And quite frankly I enjoy it; she deserves a little something like that with all she has done to my son." Izayoi praised.

The closer they got to the well, the more Kagome kept getting distracted with the woods around her. Touga had found it quite amusing, but still asked in concern if she was alright, to which Kagome told him that whenever she took that kind of medicine along with the Red Bull it always made her hyper and easily distracted by shiny things and cute puppies. That had gotten another bellowing laugh from the great youkai and announced that he would make sure the medicine had worn off before transforming into his true form because if he did that would definitely distract her for a while.

What they didn't know was that this reaction also made her say random things. At one point she had asked Kaede if she wanted to hear a random fact, to which Kaede agreed, finding this side of Kagome quite amusing.

"Ok, in the 1966 Batman Television series King Tut's henchman were called 'Tutlings'." Kagome had told her, her reason for saying it being that it was a fact that everyone had needed to know for no apparent reason, which they had all found funny.

Now that they were all at the well, Kagome felt that she needed to explain something to them, that way they wouldn't do anything drastic in her world.

"Just to give you a bit of forewarning, Gramps will probably try to throw sutras at you because I've pretty much told him about everything that goes on here. But don't worry; just let him throw them at you to get it out of his system. His sutras won't hurt you at all, believe me he hardly has any power. You don't know how many times he has thrown them at Inuyasha and all he does is look at the sutra, peel it off his body and hand it back to Gramps."

"You mean he is a priest and he doesn't have any power?" Kikyo asked skeptically.

Kagome bit her bottom lip out of habit before answering.

"Well, I'm sure that he had power at one time. According to his brothers he did, but now he doesn't even have enough to make a simple barrier. But I'm sure that once everything is explained he won't even bother with the sutras and if he does all we have to do is go get mom. He really doesn't like to get on her bad side."

"I'm positive we can't all go through the well at once so how are we going to do this?" Kagome questioned.

Izayoi's wide eyes turned to Touga and then to Kagome, "You mean we have to go through this well to get to your home?"

It was then that both Kaede and Kagome realized that Inuyasha's parents didn't know the story behind the magical well, so they both tried to explain it as best they could. After that, they decided in what order they would all go down the well.

Kagome would take Kikyo first, since she basically demanded to be brought to the future first. Then Kagome would come back for Kaede, Touga, and Izayoi that way he could carry both women out of the well and Kagome could just climb up the ladder.

When the party made their way outside and into the shrine grounds, their breaths were all taken away, especially Kikyo's and Kaede's. Neither had ever seen a shrine so big before. And the center of it all was the Sacred Tree that was so important to them each in different ways.

Not wanting to overwhelm the group to much in one day, Kagome led them to the back of the grounds to her home.

"I have never seen a hut like this before. Is your father the headman of your village?" Touga asked, intrigued at the structure before him.

"No, my father died when I was little. This is the kind of house most people in this day and age have if they have a bigger family." Kagome replied while trying to open up her front door. It wouldn't budge so Kagome figured it was locked and went about looking for her keys. She searched in her jeans pockets, her kimono top, and all throughout her backpack to no avail.

Finally she turned to Kaede, "Did I give you my keys?"

With a shake of her head to indicate "no" Kagome began to get upset with a certain inu-hanyou.

"Grrr… Stupid Inuyasha took my keys again!"

"You mean he has done this before?" Touga asked curiously.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, Kagome knocked on the front door before replying. "Yes, he thinks that if he takes my keys that I won't be able to get into the house which would make me go back to the Feudal Era to hunt more jewel shards. What he doesn't seem to realize is that usually there is usually someone home to let me inside which would mean I get to stay home anyway."

No one had come to the door yet o Kagome had knocked again, this time though someone did come to answer.

"Who is it?" A young male voice asked.

"It's me Souta. Would you please let me in?" Kagome answered back.

"What's the password?" Souta inquired.

"Souta we don't have a password." She airily laughed back while she gazed at the perplexed people surrounding her.

"Yes we do, I made one up while you were gone."

Rolling her eyes, Kagome leaned against the doorframe before responding to her brother.

"Souta see if you can follow me on this ok? If you made up a password to get into our house, while I was five hundred years in the past mind you. Then how, pray tell, would I know what said password is?"

There was a long pause before the sound of locks unlocking could be heard.

"Good point sis. For future reference the password is 'Souta is awesome'."

Just as the door was opening and Kagome was about to lead the way inside, it was slammed shut followed by an urgent yell.

"Don't let that demon into our home! He'll kill us all!" An obviously male voice hollered.

Slapping her forehead and letting out an exasperated sigh, Kagome began the task of calming down her grandfather.

"Gramps calm down he's not going to hurt us! This is Inuyasha's father and he wants me to help him reunite with Inuyasha peacefully. He won't do us any harm!"

"He has bewitched you Kagome and as head of the Higurashi clan I will release you from his trickery!"

Kagome turned and gave Touga a sorrowful look to try and show that she was sorry on her grandfather's behalf before turning back to reason with him. What none of them noticed though was the gasp that came from a certain priestess.

"First of all you are not head of the Higurashi clan and second you can't honestly be serious about this. He isn't going to do anything to us; all he wants is to bring back together his family. Will you please let us in?"

There was no response from the other side of the door so this meant that her grandfather was up to something and it obviously involved some sort of family heirloom that would destroy demons that didn't actually work.

"Now how are we supposed to get into ye home?" Kaede asked

Kagome then bit her lip again and then came up with a marvelous plan that would even make Kikyo jealous. She led everyone to the side of the house and out of view of any windows so that Gramps couldn't see what she was doing.

Once she was sure that Gramps couldn't see her, Kagome put her hands together and began visualizing what she wanted to create.

"What are you doing girl?" Kikyo ask callously.

Grinning widely as her hands began to glow a pale pink, Kagome began explaining.

"Well, there was one day where I didn't have anything to do here at home and I began wondering if I had any other kind of cool priestess powers. I started playing around trying to figure out what I could do while I was listening to some music by this man named Elvis Presley when suddenly my hands started glowing like this and he unexpectedly appeared in front of me. So I tried to do something similar again but with different people and the same thing happened. I can make them do whatever I want; walk, talk, run, dance, fight, anything and everything I wish. And all I have to do is blow into my hands like this."

After saying that she opened her hands, palms up, and blew the pink energy from her hands to in front of her where it started swirling and taking shape until finally a middle aged woman stood before them, looking as if she had just come from the store.

"Everyone, meet mom." Kagome said proudly.

"What exactly do you plan on doing with her?" Touga questioned.

"Just watch."

Laughing, Kagome took her index and middle fingers and started moving them like a person would walk, which in turn made Kagome's mother walk as well. When "mom" reached the door, Kagome peered around the corner, cleared her throat, and prepared to throw her voice in an imitation of her mothers.

"Boys! I'm back from the store and I can't seem to get the door open. Could one of you let me in please?" Kagome's 'mother' asked.

They could all hear footsteps running towards the front door and only moments later did Souta open the door and Kagome had 'Mama' walk in before she threw her voice again.

"And dear I saw Kagome and her friends outside, would you mind letting them in? I'm sure that their hungry after such a hard journey. Let them in and I will get dinner started."

Not thinking anything about it, Souta yelled outside for Kagome and everyone to come in the house. They all made their way into the house trying very hard not to laugh, well, all of them except Kikyo of course. Kagome led them to the living room to make themselves comfortable and that's when Souta finally came to his senses.

"Hey wait a minute! Mom is in Osaka helping Auntie with her new baby. So who is that?" Souta exclaimed while pointing at his 'mother'.

Gramps had heard the whole thing ran into the room as fast as he could, sutras in hand, ready to attack the imposter.

At this point, Kagome just couldn't help it anymore and began laughing at her family's antics. When she finally caught her breath, Kagome drew back in the energy that had made up her mother and turned to take care of her grandfather.

"Gramps, will you please put the sutras down? Nothing is going to happen."

"I will not! It is my responsibility to protect this family and that is just what I intend to do. I have developed a new adhesive to put on my sutras to heighten my power which will definitely eliminate any demon." Gramps declared while proudly holding up his sutras.

Rolling her eyes once again and stepping towards Gramps with her hand out, she tried to reason with him.

"Right Gramps, just like the last seven concoctions that you came up with that were 'guaranteed' to work. Now please hand them over before you do something you'll regret."

"Those last ones were only tests; this one is assured to work. It is my best mixture yet and…"

Gramps stopped himself short as his eyes caught those of the woman setting across the room, and hers caught his. It seemed as if all the muster behind his panic had been taken away just by the sight of her. He didn't even notice when the arm he had stuck out that boldly held his sutra was lowering while Souta was bending down to pick up the object the fell out of his kimono sleeve. As Souta stood with the item in hand, the special "adhesive" Gramps had put on the sutra somehow found its way to Souta's head and stuck there.

"Ugh, what is this stuff?" Souta asked as he tried to pull the piece of paper out of his hair only to have it almost rip his hair out. Gramps didn't even answer his question; he was still entranced with the lovely woman on the other side of the room.

Curious as to what had fallen out of Gramps sleeve; Kagome took the small object from her brother's hand and gazed at it. When she saw exactly what Gramps had used it infuriated her to no end.

"Gramps how could you pull such a stupid stunt! Using super glue to so call amplify your power. Now you've got it stuck in Souta's hair."

"What precisely is 'super glue'?" Izayoi wondered aloud.

Grabbing her brother's hand, Kagome turned and answered Izayoi before leading her brother out of the room.

"It is a type of substance that you use to stick two things together permanently and doesn't have any effect on spiritual energy. Come on Souta let's go get this cut out of your hair."

Just as the two siblings left the room, Gramps had finally come out of his stupor and grinned as an old idea reentered his mind.

"Well Souta, since you have to cut your hair why not shave it and join into the priesthood?"

The heated looks he received from his grandchildren made that idea leave his mind immediately.

"For the last time I/he is not entering the priesthood!" Both of them hollered at the same time before heading up to the bathroom, leaving Gramps in a room full of strangers.

But when he saw Kikyo, his heart practically stopped, which wasn't very good for a man of his age. He just couldn't believe what he was seeing and couldn't stop what he said next from blurting out of his mouth.

"Kagome has a twin sister and nobody told me!"