The Best Thing

The Best Thing

By: Sharys Aogail

“How about this one mommy?”

Kagome smiled at the dark-haired little girl twirling before her. The pink flowered dress swirled about the girl’s bare feet as she danced around her mother. Her happy face suddenly took a downswing. “Do you think Grandma will like it?”

Kagome gave the tiny six-year-old girl a hug. “Don’t worry Mira, she’ll love it.”

All smiles once more, Mira gave her mother a kiss on the cheek and then bounced out the door and back to her own bedroom, black hair trailing after her. Kagome just shook her head, a small smile playing across her lips.

Ah, children.

Mira had the right to be excited though. For the first time she was going to her grandparents house to visit. Every time before this they had come to see her, usually with gifts or treats for her to nibble on.

Kagome couldn’t help but worry just the tiniest bit. It was the first time in nearly seven years since she had gone back to her childhood home. Seven long years of running suddenly brought to a halt by a friendly invitation and a little girl’s pleading eyes. Big gold puppy eyes that could have made the hardest heart melt like butter placed in an oven. How could she possibly deny a child the simple pleasure of visiting her grandparents for a couple of days with a look like that?

Well, I had to stop running eventually.

The question was if she would be able to make amends.



“GRANDMA!”

Kagome watched as her mother was ambushed the moment she opened the door. She smiled delightedly. “Mira! My goodness, you’re getting so big! How are you doing sweetheart?”

The little girl gave the old woman her most contagious grin. “Great! Do you have any presents for me?”

The woman exchanged a look with Kagome. “Hmm, let me see . . . well I was thinking of making a batch of cookies just for you, but it has to be alright with your mother.”

The girl whirled around, hands clasped. “Please?”

Kagome pretended to look disapproving. “I don’t know if you’ve been good enough lately . . .”
Mira looked terrified. “I’ll be good! Promise!” she gave her mother another pleading look. “Please?”

“Well . . .” she watched the hopeful expression on her face change. “Alright.”

With a squeal, Mira attached herself to her mother’s leg, with ‘thank you’s pouring out of her mouth a mile a minute. She then whirled around to grab her grandmother’s hand and Kagome followed them into the house.

Mira was thoroughly enjoying herself. She and Grandma had baked a large batch of chocolate chip cookies, but she was only allowed one until after dinner. After that she had wanted to play with Grandma, but her plans were interrupted when her mommy started to talk about boring adult stuff. No matter, she would find something else to keep her mind occupied.

She drifted around the house for a while, looking at the neat things that were strewn about here and there. But soon even that had lost its interest and her mom and Grandma were still talking. Convinced there was nothing else to do, Mira went outside to explore.

As soon as she stepped out into the sunlight she spotted an old wooden building that was left wide open. Instant possibilities were soon swimming in her head. The tiny girl smiled.
Perfect!
She entered the small building with the curiosity and eagerness that only a six-year old could posses. She was somewhat disappointed to find that an old well was the only real thing to see. She quietly walked down the small group of steps to sit on the bottom rung.

Mira sat there quietly for a few minutes. Her brain worked hard to find a game she could play in here by herself. For lack of a better thing to do she began to trace flowers and butterflies into the dirt floor. The ground was kind of hard so she began to use her fingernails to scratch out the designs. Soon her entire attention was focused on each new pattern she made.

“What are you doing here? Are you lost?”

Mira lifted her head to see a strange man perched on the edge of the well. She smiled brightly at him. “Oh, hello. No I’m not lost. Do you want to play with me? You can draw too.”

He looked around, possibly for an adult and then asked, “Where are your parents, kid?”

She pointed. “My mommy’s in the house.”

The man was silent for a moment.

Mira looked at the man with newfound curiosity. “Do you live here?”

“No. I’m just visiting.”

“Oh.” Her face suddenly brightened. “Did you come to play with me then?”

“Well . . . actually I . . .”

Mira tilted her head to the side, then, not waiting for an answer, said, “You’re dressed funny.”

The man blinked at her and then glanced down at his loose red clothing.

“And you have long hair.”

His lip gave an involuntary twitch upwards.

“And what are those?”

The man turned to look for what Mira was pointing at. “What’s what?”

She dusted her hands on her skirt and stood up. The man watched curiously as the tiny girl walked right up to him, stretched her arm upwards and tugged on a hand full of long white hair. Being none too gentle, she pulled him off the well and down to her level. “Silly! What are these?” She yanked on one of the furry things that were poking out of his head.

“Ow! Hey, not so hard! That’s my ear!” He jerked out of her grasp reflexively and began to rub the offended ear.

Mira began to sniffle. Her eyes were becoming watery. “I d-didn’t mean it. I’m s-sorry . . .”

The poor man looked startled then he suddenly became very nervous. “Oh no, please don’t cry,” he said. He dropped to one knee. “I’m okay, see? Just no crying!”

Mira sniffed once, rubbing one eye with a tiny fist. “I didn’t do a bad thing?”

He shook his head. “No, kid. You didn’t do a bad thing. Just don’t pull so hard, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I think it might be better if you go back to your parents now.”

“No!” cried Mira. “I want to stay and play! Mommy will still be talking! I’ll be good!”

The pale-haired man glanced around for an escape route. “Well actually I have to get going . . .”

“You’re not going to stay and play with me?”

“I really can’t today.”

She turned her shiny gold eyes to him. “What about tomorrow?” she asked. “Can you play with me tomorrow?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I, uh . . .”

“Please?” she begged, giving him The Look.

The poor guy didn’t stand a chance.



“What do you mean ‘he visits sometimes’?!”

The elder woman looked at her growling daughter and took another sip of tea. “Like I said. Sometimes. I have only seen him a couple of times since you left dear, and even that was a long time ago.”

Kagome gritted her teeth and prayed for patience. “And you refrained from mentioning this why?”

Her mother put an absent finger to her lips. “Well, he never stayed for long, half an hour at best. It must have slipped my mind. And anyway, he’s such a nice boy.”

“Boy? Mother, I’m almost thirty. Inu-Yasha himself is over twice that. He stopped being a boy a long time ago.”

“Whatever did happen between you two anyway?”

Huffily, Kagome crossed her arms and looked away. “If he didn’t tell you then I’m not either.”
Her mother smiled. “Almost thirty, huh?”

Kagome blushed. “Dinner’s almost ready, right? I’ll go get Mira.”

With that she left in search of her daughter. She was surprised to find her standing outside of the shrine, giggling and waving at the wall. “Who are you waving to sweetheart?”

Mira whirled around and gave her mother a brilliant smile. “Hello Mommy. I was saying goodbye to my friend. He had to go home.”

“Oh,” she said simply. She had played this game before. Mira often created make-believe friends, so she had long since gotten into the habit of playing along. It was good for children to use their imaginations. “Is he coming to play tomorrow? Or is a different friend coming over?”

Mira shook her head, black hair bouncing about her face. “No, just him. He promised!”

Kagome smiled. “Oh, really now? What is his name?”

The little girl attached herself to her mother’s hand and began to swing it back and forth. “I don’t know yet. I can go back tomorrow, can’t I mommy?”

“Of course you can,” Kagome answered. Her ‘friend’ must be pretty new if he didn’t even have a name yet. “Just don’t go anywhere else.”

“Okay!”



Inu-Yasha crept around the outside of the shrine. He carefully inspected the bushes out of the corner of his eye and smiled to himself when he saw a slight rustle in the greenery. He stood straight and deliberately turned his back to the occupied bush. “I wonder where that pipsqueak went,” he said out loud.

The bush giggled.

Smirking, he leapt backwards and landed softly behind the tiny girl. “Gotcha!” He tickled her sides. She squealed and burst out of the bush. She spun and pointed an accusing finger at him, still laughing. “No fair! No fair! No jumping! You broke the rules!”

Inu-Yasha looked at her innocently. “That was a rule? Oops.”

She puffed up her chest and said sulkily, “Adults never play by the rules.”

“Your parents cheat too?”

She nodded firmly. “Mommy does. She cheats all the time. She can’t jump like you though. I want to learn how to jump like you!”

“Maybe another time.”

The tiny waif of a girl had much more energy than Inu-Yasha himself did as a child, and that was saying something. He was beginning to wonder how he was tricked into this, but then he recalled those great big puppy eyes . . .

He sighed inwardly. He was losing his touch. To be undone by a human child was somewhat embarrassing.

Well, she was ridiculously adorable.

Dammit.

“Mr. Snow-man? Are you okay?”

Mr. Snow-man? What the . . . “What did you call me?”

She smiled. “I don’t know your name, but your hair is white so that’s what I decided to call you!”

Inu-Yasha rubbed his forehead. “That’s cute kid,” he said. “Real cute.”

“I’m glad you like it!” she chirped.

Oh, that’s right . . . young children don’t know what sarcasm is. Terrific.

“Well, I guess I better be off now,” he told her. “It’s been fun.”

He turned to leave only to find that the girl had latched onto his arm. He groaned. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Don’t go yet! We just started!”

“We started about two hours ago,” he informed her. “Go to the house and eat lunch or something.”

“I’m not hungry!” Her stomach gave a small growl. “Well . . . maybe just a little. Will you be here when I get back?”

His ears tilted back. “I don’t think anyone in your family would like it if you spent too much time with strangers,” he said. “It can be a dangerous habit.”

She clutched his sleeve harder and shook her head. “You wouldn’t hurt me!” she said firmly. Then she smiled. “Besides, we’re not strangers!”

Inu-Yasha blinked. “We’re not?”

Her smile became a grin. “Nope! You’re Mr. Snow-man and I’m Mira! See? We’re not strangers!”

He sighed, shoulders slumping in defeat. He touched his head with his free hand. “Exactly how long is your family staying in town?” he asked.

Mira looked absently at the wall and began ticking off fingers. She held up four fingers for him to see. “Five more day’s.”

He sighed again. It was going to be a long week.



Kagome sat in her old room. It was comforting in a way, and for a short while she allowed herself to pretend that she was a teenager once more. She would be studying hard for her exams and soon a certain demon boy would come to more or less drag her back to his time. Everyone would be waiting there of course. Shippo, Sango, and Miroku . . .

She sighed as the dream faded.

Three days left, then she would leave behind the memories. Three more days then she would be running. Again.

Kagome stood. Her mother would announce dinner soon. It was about time to go fetch Mira. What did that girl do all day in the shrine? Whenever she asked Mira would just smile and say, “I was playing with Mr. Snow-man!” Really! She was beginning to worry about her, for none of her daughter’s make believe friends sounded quite like an actual person.

I have to have a little talk with her soon, she thought.

As Kagome came near the shrine’s entrance she called Mira, but received no answer. “Mira?” she called again. “Mira? Are you in h-”

The words died on Kagome’s lips.

Mira was there all right. She was curled up in an enormous cloak, and was snuggled comfortably in the lap of Inu-Yasha. He had propped himself up against the Bone-Eater’s well. Both were fast asleep.

She suddenly understood who Mr. Snow-man was.

Okay, she told herself faintly, don’t panic, keep breathing, you’ll think of something . . . oh god, I need to sit down.

She groped the air beneath her for the wooden stairs and plopped down. Inu-Yasha’s ears twitched and his amber eyes slid open.

Damn those sensitive ears.

The moment stretched.

“It’s been awhile,” he said simply.

“Yes it has,” she said quietly.

He indicated the girl sleeping in his arms. “She’s yours then?”

“Ours.”

Inu-Yasha nodded, as if he had suspected as much. Then, voice empty, he said, “You never came back.”

Kagome turned away, words stinging in her ears.

“I was going to come for you. But by the time I swallowed my pride you were already gone. I came to see your mother sometimes to see if you had come back. But you know how that turned out. I never heard from you. Why?”

Kagome smiled bitterly. “I was angry,” she said. “And I was scared. I was going to come back eventually, but then I found out I was pregnant. I couldn’t go back after that.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“When I left, I told myself that when I apologized everything would be alright and that things would go back to the way they were. If I had come back and then told you we were going to have a child, how do you think that would have looked?”

“It wouldn’t have mattered to me.”

She hung her head. “I’m sorry.”

They sat there in silence for a long moment. Kagome’s heart pounded in her chest as emotions thought long-buried made their way back to the surface. The silence was painful, and maddening. She suppressed a sob.

“Everyone misses you.”

She looked up at him. What? Did he . . .

“I’m sorry too. And I . . .” he stopped for a moment to look down at Mira, who was snuggling closer to him. He gave a soft smile. “Kagome, I still want you to come back. Both of you.”

She closed her eyes once more, and she smiled, tears of relief streaming down her face. A weight lifted from her shoulders, and as it left she sighed. “Thank you.”

END.