Curiosity – Chapter 18 – "Welcome To The Future"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Back up!" Kagome hollered as she walked back into the living room after hearing her grandfather's last remark, Souta following her after hearing his outburst.

Before she started in on Gramps, Kagome saw everyone she had brought back from the Feudal Era took a step back.

"Um, not literally guys. Why don't all of you si… I mean have a seat while I straighten Gramps out." Kagome suggested as she showed Touga and Izayoi the couch and Kaede in one of the easy chairs while Kikyo preferred standing.

Gramps was already nervous with Inuyasha's father around, but he got downright scared when he saw the stone cold look upon Kikyo's face. Apparently she didn't like the thought of herself and Kagome being twins.

"Gramps, what in the world are you thinking? You know I don't have a twin sister. Besides that you were right outside the room the day I was born." Kagome explained calmly to her grandfather.

"How am I supposed to know if that is true or not? She could have been hidden away for all I know!" He exclaimed.

Smacking her forehead with her good hand and sighing due to her grandfather's antics, she tried to reason with him.

"Yeah Gramps, she's been hidden away all this time. We've been keeping her in the basement for the past fifteen years." Kagome said sarcastically as her patience began to wear thin. Honestly, where had he come up with any of this?

An insistent tugging on her top brought Kagome's attention back to her brother.

"Sis, this is starting to burn." Souta spoke while pointing at the super glued sutra still attached to his head.

Immediately going into nursing mode, Kagome took hold of her brother's hand again and began leading him up stairs and into the bathroom. But before they even hit the first step Kagome turned back to face her grandfather once again.

"I'll be back in a few minutes and if I find even one little hint of a sutra I WILL call mom and you can face her wrath."

When she turned around to leave Gramps reached back into his sleeve to grab yet another sutra. Unfortunately for him, Kagome's sixth sense kicked in as she walked back over to him and commandeered the rest of his stash.

"I saw that Gramps. It's gonna take more than that to hide your sutras from me."

Facing the rest of her guests, a soft smile spread across her face before she spoke. "Please make yourselves comfortable while I take care of my brother. When we're done I'll make some tea and get you properly introduced to my family."

Not knowing what else they could do, the four people from the Feudal Era made themselves as comfy as they could in their new surroundings. Gramps seated himself as well, grumbling the whole time about being stuck in a room with four people he didn't know. But he just couldn't get one thing off his mind the entire time.

"It couldn't possibly be her could it? No, it isn't and you know it. I'm just an old man imagining that he is about to finally get the happily ever after that he's always dreamed of. Anyway, I knew I would never see her again."

Minutes passed by in uncomfortable silence, this began to really start bothering Kaede. How many bouts of silence could someone take in almost three days? Certainly not this much that was for sure. She never was one of the silent types; she always liked to hear some sort of chatter because it made her feel less lonely.

Talking could be heard coming from the hall before Kagome and Souta made their way back into the living room. Souta went and took up his usual spot in front of the television while Kagome made her way to the easy chair, this way she could face everyone.

"Well, now that that little incident is taken care of I believe I can properly introduce all of you to my family. That is everyone except my mother of course since she isn't here at the moment."

"It's about time." Gramps muttered under his breath.

"I heard that Gramps. Since you're having some issues today you can be introduced first. This is my grandfather Yasuhiro Higurashi; he is the priest of this shrine. Gramps, this is Touga and Izayoi, they are Inuyasha's parents, and this is Kikyo, she is my pre-incarnation that I told you about, and finally this is her younger sister Kaede." Kagome explained while pointing everyone out.

Souta's eyes had become wide when Kagome had started provided names to the faces, but what really freaked him out was how Gramps and Kaede wouldn't stop glancing at each other, as if something was up or if they both knew some dirty little secret.

"Souta I asked if you were alright." Kagome repeated once again.

He took a big gulp before answering. "Um, yeah sis, I'm fine. It's just… didn't you say once that both of Inuyasha's parents and Kikyo were dead?"

"Yes I did, but what does that have to do with anything?" Kagome responded as her forehead scrunched in confusion. What she didn't expect was Souta suddenly swishing past her and hiding behind the other easy chair she was currently occupying.

"Protect me sis!" Souta yelled out from his hiding place.

A giggle made its way out of her before she turned in an attempt to get a glimpse of her brother. "Awe, are you afraid of the dust bunnies living under the couch? Seriously, what could I ever have to protect you from here?"

The boy came out from around the couch sporting an astonished look upon his face as he stared at his sister before he burst into hysterics. "Kagome are you nuts? You should be freaking out right now! There are DEAD people in the house who are going to eat our brains!"

"I do not eat brains." Kikyo declared darkly which made Souta take a step away from her in fear.

"You have been watching way to many horror movies Souta. And besides that only zombies eat brains, and they aren't real." Kagome reasoned.

"Yes they are. There are three of them in the room to prove my point." Souta said proudly.

"Boy my brother can be so stupid." Kagome thought exasperated.

Using her good arm and hand, Kagome grabbed a hold of her brother's chin and turned his face to those whom he had called zombies. Keeping a firm grip on him the entire time, she began to disprove his theory.

"So you think they are literally the walking dead. Tell me Souta, do any of them have limbs hanging only by a thread?"

"No."

"Discolored skin?"

"No."

"Are they saying anything about eating some sort of human body parts?"

"No."

"And finally, do you smell any rotting flesh?"

"Um… no."

"Does this not mean that we are not these 'zombies' that you speak of?" Izayoi asked.

Souta nodded his head furiously to alert all of them that he understood perfectly and also because his sister's grip was really starting to hurt his chin. When Kagome released him, he quickly made his way to his room for he didn't want to face his sister or Kikyo's, who he now deemed Kagome's evil twin sister, wrath.

"The things that boy comes up with." Gramps muttered as he read the afternoon paper.

A snort left Kagome as she turned to face her grandfather. "Well he gets it from you. I don't know how many times you've come up with some sort of harebrained story about one thing or another, plus all those wild tales you told Inuyasha about the Higurashi ancestors that you know never happened. Oh I forgot the tea! I'm sorry everyone, will green tea be alright or would you like something different?" Kagome asked while she stood and headed into the kitchen to begin preparing the tea.

"I had better help ye child. You have no business carrying a tray of tea with your arm in that condition." Kaede stated as they both made their way into the kitchen after making sure everyone was ok with green tea.

Kaede made her way over to the tea kettle while Kagome was busy trying to pull out the tea, cups, and the tray. But she stopped cold when she heard the water begin to run. She turned to her left and watched in astonishment as Kaede set the tea kettle under the faucet, which she had somehow managed to turn on, then turn around and shut it off, put the kettle on the stove and turn it on as well.

"There is no way I just saw her do that." Kagome thought in disbelief. She even pinched herself to make sure that she wasn't dreaming. Nope, she wasn't in some sort of weird dream. That means that Kaede actually did just work the sink and stove, but how?

"Are ye alright child?" Kaede asked concerned.

"Close your mouth girl or you might just catch flies." Kikyo spoke from the doorway. This made Kagome snap out of it and go back to getting out the tea cups, which showed Kaede that she was in fact ok.

Within moments everything was out and ready for the tea to be served, now all they had to do was wait for the water to boil.

All three women were startled out of yet another bout of awkward silence by the tea kettle going off and a knock coming from the door. Both Kaede and Kagome went after the kettle while Gramps got up to answer the door, leaving Touga and Izayoi by themselves in the living room, which neither of them minded.

"Here we go!" Kagome announced as she, Kaede, and Kikyo made their way back into the room with the tea and all the fixings. Once they all made themselves comfortable, Gramps made his way back into the room followed by an older woman and a little girl.

The woman had shoulder length black hair, a beautiful smile, and bright violet eyes that seemed to be filled with compassion. The thing that surprised everyone though was her stature. Surely no woman could be as tall as she was. This woman must be as tall as Sesshomaru, and that was without heels on!

The girl on the other hand was vastly different. She didn't have the traditional black or brown hair; in fact her two pigtails were almost blonde in color. And her eyes, they were the color of the sea and were filled with the playfulness that could only come from a child. They could all tell that she would be shorter in stature to that of her mother for she was barely above her mother's kneecap in height, which made her about two and a half foot tall.

When the little girl glanced around the room at all of the people, she took everyone warily until her young eyes finally landed on Kaede and a huge grin made its way across her face.

"Ma-maw!" She screamed before launching herself into Kaede's arms, startling her and making her almost spill her tea.

"Suki don't do that! It isn't nice and besides that she isn't Grandma." Her mother scolded gently.

"Tis alright, I am often called Grandma by the village children." Kaede answered as she set her tea down and pulled the little girl into her lap to return her hug.

The woman only smiled warmly as she turned to Gramps, who had sat back down in his rocking chair.

"Daddy, I was wondering if you would mind having Suki stay here for the night. Ollie's mother took a nasty fall down the stairs and I need to help get her settled. I know you have your duties around the shrine, but I'm sure Suki wouldn't mind spending all her time with Kagome or Souta; she does adore them after all. She seems to be quite attached to… oh what was his name? I just don't remember, all I know is that my little darling calls him 'Ya-ya'."

Kaede lost her breath at what the woman had said. "Daddy? Could he have moved on? No, you foolish old woman, it couldn't possibly be him. How could you ever think that?"

"Oh Auntie Aisha we would be glad to watch her while you take care of Uncle's mother." Kagome spoke cheerfully.

Smiling appreciatively, Aisha looked to her watch before walking towards Suki, who was still sitting on Kaede's lap.

"Oh dear, I didn't know I was running so late. Now Suki, you be a good girl for Gramps and Kagome ok. Mommy will be back sometime tomorrow to pick you up. I love you baby." She said as she gave Suki a hug and a kiss.

"Ok lady I love you bye-bye!" Suki waved happily from Kaede's lap.

An exasperated sigh left Aisha's lips as she stood up from being down at Suki's level. "Call me mommy baby, not 'lady'."

Giggling erupted from the tiny toddler as she slid out of Kaede's lap and glanced up at her mother through her bangs. "Silly lady."

Once the goodbyes were said again, Aisha left the shrine and Suki stood facing Kagome with a huge grin on her face and almost bouncing with contained excitement. Kagome knew all too well what this meant and with a gentle jerk of her head towards the back door, Suki ran outside and into the woods behind the shrine.

"Where is she going?" Izayoi asked curiously.

"You'll see." Gramps replied as he took another sip of his tea.

Moments later Suki reappeared before them, somehow managing to carry two white puppies while another white dog, that was taller than her, walked obediently beside her. After setting the puppies down, the little girl was distracted by them when they began to play with her clothes.

"Pups and a dog." Touga said skeptically.

A small giggle escaped from Kagome. "Yes, she is always bringing animals over from the farm she lives on to try and get us friends. She somehow gets them to follow her all the way here without her mother noticing. Last time she snuck over a couple of ducklings in her bag and the time before that it was a horse. I still haven't figured out how she managed to get that horse here without anyone seeing it though."

After that, Kagome tried to answer the various questions about the futuristic items in the living room. Minutes later, she noticed they were almost out of tea and she went to boil more water. It was about this time that Suki decided it was time to give a certain someone special to her their gift.

Lifting up one of the puppies, she turned to the great dog demon, prepared to present him with his new friend.

"Ya-ya, look what I…" Suki stopped short when she noticed something was missing, and it scared her. When Touga turned to look at her, it only frightened her more because she thought something had happened to her beloved Ya-ya. At this point she couldn't hold in the big, wet tears anymore and she sat on the floor and began to cry.

It was at this time that Kagome was returning with the tea and when she saw Suki on the floor crying she immediately gathered the small girl up in her good arm and began calming her down.

"Shhhh Suki, it's ok. What's wrong?" Kagome questioned.

"Ears gone." She heard mumbled into her neck.

"Oh she thinks something happened to him." Kagome realized in her head.

She then turned Suki around to face the perplexed inu-youkai to show her that it wasn't who she thought it was and that there was no reason to be upset.

"Suki, look at him for a minute. What do you see that is different?"

Tear filled eyes took in all of Touga's form before Suki sniffled and turned back to Kagome. "Ears gone."

"Yes we know that, but what else is missing?"

"Red and hair and scar and um… Ya-ya no wear boots. Oh no!" Suki yelled out the last part before standing and walking towards Touga with a determined look on her face before slapping his knee and glaring up at him.

"Bad Fluffy! You no hurt Ya-ya no more! You do and I put you in time out!" She proclaimed courageously.

Light giggling caused a stunned Touga to turn towards his mate. He rose an eyebrow in silent questioning to see what he believed was so funny.

"Darling, I believe little Suki thought that at first you were Inuyasha and that something had happened to him since she didn't see his cute ears upon your head. Now, if my thinking is correct, she believes you are Sesshomaru and she feels the need to punish you for something he must have done to Inuyasha."

"Bad Fluffy!" Suki said again as she hit Touga's knee once again which brought his attention back to her.

He stared at her for only a moment before he gathered her up in his arms and set her in his lap, only to gaze at her now prone and fearful looking form.

Ever so gently, Touga brought Suki's small hands into his large clawed ones and he gazed into her eyes as he saw realization pass through them. He watched as she used her right hand to feel and poke his left hand and arm. She even went as far as to roll his sleeve up to stare at his bare arm before turning to look back at him confused.

"You have arm. You not Fluffy, who are you?" Suki asked quietly.

Izayoi was the one to answer her, "Suki, I am Izayoi, Inuyasha's mother. And this is Touga, Inuyasha's father."

There was silence for a few moments while Suki processed this new information. She then turned her gaze towards Kagome and cocked her head questioningly.

"Ya-ya has a daddy?"

With that small question, laughter erupted throughout the room.