Title: Birth Control Glasses
By: Aki_Yume
Synopsis: Kagome has a problem; she’s all kinds of weird. Her solution? Ask her brand new neighbor Sesshoumaru how to come to terms with her inner geek. Too bad he’s more than a simple geek, and Kagome has no idea just how complicated things can get.
Aki Note: Yeah, this idea sprung off Cybernetic Mishap, sort of like a different take on the nerdy story; I can’t get over the idea of nerdy Sesshoumaru. xP And another thing, I have... NO idea where this fic will go. xD Sort of a ‘spur of the moment’ thing. I post (like with all my fics) the ‘I’m SLOW AT WRITING’ stamp as well as a "I also write short sometimes", just to warn everyone. xD I also posted the genre as dark/angst/action because of what happens later; not by this chapter. xP
Chapter 1: Seeking New Friends
Nervous laughter was heard from all around the room. It was rather unsettling in her stomach. Kagome laid a soft hand over her middle and joined in the laughter; the tone of her outburst much more forced than anyone else’s, but that went unnoticed.
“Really, Kaggie,” Kagome’s best friend of fourteen years smiled with a twinkle in her eye. “That’s just insane. Who even likes Star Trek anymore?”
“I would have to admit,” The brunette’s boyfriend Miroku shook his head. “I am not a ‘Trekie’, and that is a rather interesting label to throw onto someone.”
Kagome could almost see the “xD” on his face, and she really didn’t like it. God, there she went again; comparing faces to emoticons. Would she ever stop that ridiculousness?
“Well,” She sighed, wishing her friends were a tad more understanding. “I like Star Trek more than Star Wars.”
A collective gasp from three different sources rung in the room.
“Kagome!” Sango gasped and clutched her chest, sputtering on the water she’s just taken a sip of. “How could you betray the Wars? You Kirk-Loving, Spock-sucker!”
Kagome rolled her eyes playfully against the collective onslaught against her taste. Maybe this was why she had been single for twenty-three years, and counting. Sango and Miroku had been together since high school, and the absent InuYasha was probably meeting up with her cousin Kagura, in hopes to ask her hand in marriage.
The young raven haired girl sighed, wishing her friends would stop teasing her.
“Look,” She chided. “If I wanted to spend an hour playing, ‘Let’s Make Fun of Kagome’, I’d go to Kikyo and Kagura’s, okay?”
A blanket of silence enveloped the threesome like it had so many times before. The Double K gang was never mentioned between them, as their ill-treatment of Kagome was how the girl had developed such awkward social skills as well as a lack of confidence.
“Sorry, Kaggie,” Sango bit her lip. Her eyes reflected the bit of sympathy Kagome hated being privy to, and soon Miroku would follow suit and apologize. Like clockwork. “I didn’t mean to be that rude, it was a joke.”
“Sango speaks the truth, Kagome-san,” Miroku spoke ever so politely, as he always did. “We were simply being playful with you. No offense was intended.”
Kagome nodded her forgiveness and checked the time on her antique pocket watch. Her two companions staring at the small silver contraption in awe, like they had so many times before.
“There’s nothing special about it guys,” She waved the circular time device in front of their eyes. “It’s just a clock.”
Sango laughed and took another sip of her colorful alcoholic beverage. Kagome’s right eye twitched when she was a tiny droplet of the tangy sweet drink leak down the corner of her lip. Miroku followed Kagome’s gaze to the source of annoyance and smirked at what he saw. He leaned closer to his girlfriend and slid his tongue from the bottom of her chin all the way to her lips, erasing the thin line of grasshopper from Sango’s chin.
“I gotta go,” Kagome looked away as the couple shared a kiss meant more for the bedroom than anything else. “I need to pick up Shippou, it’s almost three.”
“Oh,” Sango pulled away from the borderline frisking and tongue exchange long enough to see off her best friend. “Already? When are you finalizing those adoption papers, anyway?”
Kagome chuckled excitedly and stuffed the silver watch into her pocket.
“They’re already done!” She said. Grabbing her purse, Kagome took a moment to decide if she wanted to take the rest of her soda with her for her adopted son. “Shippou’’s Social Worker Kaede sealed the deal with me last week, and I was finally notified this morning.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Sango admonished. “You haven’t even grown up enough to get a decent boyfriend, let alone a whole child.”
“Sango!” Kagome reprimanded as she got up from her chair. She haphazardly capped her soda and threw it in her bag. “I don’t need that right now; stop being such a pessimist! I think I’ll manage fine with Shippou; his parents have been family friends for years.”
Those words were really for herself rather than for her friends. Kagome had honestly never really been able to handle a lot of responsibility in her life; at the first sign of trouble, she’d always run away and hand off the mess to someone else. With Shippou, things would be different. His parents had died in a car crash a few months back, and he was at a tender age; he needed someone there for him, and the young woman had a long talk with her mother and little brother about it.
“Sorry, Kagome,” Sango frowned and tipped her glass at the retreating modern woman. “I’m sure you’ll make a great mom!”
Ugh, Kagome squeezed her eyes shut as she walked out the double doors to the cafe. I never thought I’d hate the word ‘mother’ attached to my name. For some reason lately, everyone she hung out with bugged her to a certain degree. Kagome didn’t really understand it, but she expected it was because she had been embracing more of her interests as of late.
“Yeah, yeah,” She smiled sheepishly at her friends. “I’ll see you guys later, text me Sango.”
“No problem, kiddo!” Kagome rolled her eyes as she left the building and walked the few steps to her new car. She was still getting used to the thing; a great deal on a foreign car she’d gotten through connections had saved her money in that checkbook of hers.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
It didn’t take long to drive to the young boy’s school; he attended a local public elementary. Kagome couldn’t afford the tuition and uniforms for a private elementary, but she’d decided to save up for a good private high school; Shippou was very intelligent, and Kagome would help him study all he needed to get into whatever school he decided on. Kagome already had three school in mind.
“Hi Kagome!” Shippou’s voice rang in excitement as he greeted his new mother.
“Hi Shippou,” Kagome replied, adjusting the strap of her purse on her shoulder. “How was school today?”
The little red head smirked innocently and rocked back and forth in his sneakers.
“It was great,” He said, his gaze everywhere except his mother. “Yep. Awesome.”
“Okay,” Kagome crossed her arms and tapped a foot onto the pavement. “What did you do?”
Her adoptive son smiled, large sea green eyes glittering their innocent intent.
“I just sorta invited a friend over today,” The eleven year old looked to the ground and pushed his index fingers together. “Her dad’s not getting home until late today, and she’s in the middle of moving, so there’s boxes all over her house and she’s got nowhere to study.”
“Oh,” Kagome frowned for a bit; she hadn’t really expected any company back at the Higurashi shrine. “Well... Let me call grandma and we’ll see.”
With hopeful eyes from the little rugrat, Kagome flipped open her clamshell phone and dialed her mother.
“Hi sweetie!” Thank goodness for caller ID. If Himiko had answered her cell like that to one of her employers, talk about awkward.
“Hi mom,” She replied. “Shippou invited a friend to your house for studying, are we okay for company?”
Kagome and Shippou lived in their own apartment closer to downtown Tokyo, but today was a “Let’s visit Grandma day!”, and Himiko had been extremely excited at the notion of her daughter and adoptive grandson coming for a visit.
“Oh, that’s fine,” Kagome could hear the large smile on her sweet older mother’s face. “I just cleaned the living room.”
They hung up after deciding what to get for dinner, and Kagome slipped the pink clamshell back into her purse.
“Okay Shippou-kun, who did you invite?”
Shippou grinned and scampered around the corner and came back just as quickly, the most adorable little girl with hair identical to hers, and the cutest brown eyes Kagome’d ever seen. She fashioned a pair of worn-out jeans, paint splotches in different colors covered almost every inch of the blue fabric. Her shirt was close to thread worn, a cute tank top Kagome remembered owning herself, so it was definitely old. Her wrists were decorated with flashy plastic beads; even her shoes looked old and ready to fall apart.
Poor girl.
“Hi sweetie,” Kagome bent down on her knees, making sure she was at eleven year old eye level. “What’s your name?”
“My name is Rin, ma’am!” The small girl giggled and threw her arms around Kagome’s neck. It almost felt like her tiny family grew a member.
“Hi Rin,” She answered. “I’m Shippou’s mom, Kagome!”
“Shippou doesn’t look like you, Kagome-san,” Rin pointed out. “Is Shippou adopted like Rin is, ma’am?”
Kagome laughed and took the kids hands in hers, walking them to her vehicle.
“Yeah,” Shippou leaned towards his new friend. “I’m adopted just like you, Rin!”
The little Rin girl giggled again, and innocent giddiness radiated from her like a lollipop was colorful.
“Come on guys,” Kagome unlocked her door and ushered the kids inside. “Let’s go to grandma Himiko’s house!”
- - - - - - - - -
“It’s so nice to see you!” Kagome’s mother scooped both children off their feet and gave them a great big bear hug. “Shippou, you’re getting so tall!”
“Yeah I am!” Shippou laughed and hugged his grandma’s right arm. “Do you have cookies for me and Rin, grandma?”
The older Higurashi simply laughed and pointed to the living room table was a large plate of oversized chocolate cookies. The smell wafted across the room and filled the nostrils of young children waiting for their chance to partake in an afternoon, before homework sugar rush.
Shippou turned into a auburn blur as he raced towards the huge tray of cookies; stuffing his small mouth with three chewy circles at a time. Kagome shook her hand and placed her hands on her waist.
“Shippou!” She admonished. “What did I tell you about eating like that?”
The young boy froze in spot, a piece of the chocolate desert item in each hand.
“Sorry, Mama,” The crestfallen Shippou set the cookies on a nearby plate and focused on chewing what was in his mouth. “I don’t do it again.”
Which is a total lie. Kagome had to fight not to laugh out loud. He’ll do the same thing in two days when mom makes another tray of cookies for her little grandson.
The idea really didn’t bother Kagome; with all the leftover cookies, she never had to make her kid a dessert.
“Rin likes chocolate chip cookies!” The young girl eyed the platter from her place in Himiko’s arms. The grandmother’s eyes twinkled with delight as she let the girl out of her grasp onto the floor. Rin teetered on her feet to the covered table, and took a moment to admire the pretty cream cloth with gold trim.
“This is a pretty shade of cream,” She turned to Kagome and her mother and pointed to a corner of the cloth which a tassel hung from. “The use of a golden tassel is a classic way of showing love of pretty Victorian fabrics and schemes.”
Himiko and Kagome stood in shocked silence, gawking at the eleven year old’s observation. Was this girl a genius or something? Or did she just have an eye and sophisticated thoughts regarding design?
“Um...” Kagome didn’t know what to say. The girl’s hyper intelligence at such a young age was actually an interesting breeze. “Wow, Rin; you’re very smart!”
“That’s because she’s Sess-”
“I’m just naturally like this!” Rin strangely cut off her friend, puzzling the older women in the room. Her answer was hasty and sudden, but neither Himiko or Kagome felt like pressing the matter Shippou had almost brought up if it wasn’t for her interruption.
“Well..” That was awkward. “Your mother and father must be very proud.”
“I don’t know,” Rin stated. “I never met them. But I bet Sesshoumaru would agree with you.”
Oh right, Kagome, you dumbass! The raven head squeezed her eyes shut in annoyance at herself. She mentioned being adopted earlier!
“I’m sorry, honey,” Kagome bit her lip and sat down at the living room table. “I forgot about that.”
“It’s okay,” Rin smiled. “All of the kids in our class make fun of me for being adopted.”
“Well,” Kagome felt like strangling a certain group of little brats at the moment. “You don’t have to worry about that here.”
The little black cloud once hanging over Rin’s dark head had vanished, and the sweet smile that was growing on Kagome was present again.
“Now,” Kagome smacked the table with her flat fist. The sting made her wish she didn’t do it. “Who wants help with English?”
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~
Aki’s Note: I hope everyone likes this story once I get out a few more chapters. :P Hope to see you next time! <3