Over The Edge

three

Still baffled by the abrupt encounter Kagome slipped the black pearl into her pocket as she let herself slip into the well. It’s welcoming magic washed over her, tugging her through time. Lightly touching the ground she let out a shuddering breath as her shoulders slumped, her forehead resting on the cool wood of the well.

The scent of dirt and rotting wood entered her nostrils, calming her a bit. The last few days had been so overwhelming. All she wanted to do was take a nice hot bath and curl up while her mother ran her fingers through her hair like she had when she was a young girl. It was childish, she knew this, but god if it wasn’t what she needed right now. 

Everything was crumbling around her and she knew she could count on her mother to help her. She had always been there in the past to help her with her problems, always seeing the reason in things when she herself was too upset to see it.

Sighing she used the ladder to climb out of the well, setting her bag down by the side of it. It felt like it weighed a ton. With slow sluggish steps she made her way into the house, a small smile gracing her face as she heard her mother humming in the kitchen. Walking into it she was greeted with the sight of her mother humming as she did the morning's dishes.

“M-mama?” Her voice was hoarse from her crying, her cheeks red and puffy, she had no doubt she looked like she felt. Like shit.

Ku Loon Higurashi frowned at the small broken voice of her daughter, turning to face her as she gasped. She looked like she’d been crying, her hair was a mess and she had dirt smudged on her face. Quickly she dried her hands on the nearby dish towel and pulled her trembling from into hers. “Oh honey what happened?” 

Kagome gave a lurching cry as she wrapped her arms around her mother's small frame and began wailing. No coherent words tumbled from her lips, just sounds of pain and sorrow. Eventually her sobs lessened into dry silent ones, her eyes burning as her mother shushed her and rubbed her back in comfort.

“Shhh, go take a bath I’ll make some tea. I’ll bring it up to you and we can have a talk.” Pulling back she placed a kiss on Kagome's forehead before turning her around and shooing her away. Giving a watery smile Kagome slowly made her way upstairs into the bathroom and began to shrug off her clothes. Turning on the water she let it run as she poured some bubble bath and got in. 

Letting out a deep sigh, her muscles relaxing in the hot water she glanced at her discarded clothes and blinked as she saw the small pearl that had been gifted to her. Leaning over the side of the tub, hissing as the cold porcelain pressed into her naked skin, she grabbed the pearl and began to look at it. Holding it up to the light she marveled as the light refracted off of it casting a light sheen of sparkles.
“Honey I’m coming in!” Almost dropping the pearl Kagome placed it in the soap dish so as to not lose it. Leaning over to shut off the water she cast her mother a smile as she entered the bathroom, two cups of tea on a small tray. 

“Here honey.” She placed one of the cups on the edge of the bathtub and settled herself on the ground facing away from the tub with her own cup of tea in her hand.

This had become a bit of a ritual, whenever Kagome came back upset over a fight with Inuyasha or something they would have this ‘girl time’ and talk things over. Usually it would be a day or so and Kagome would bounce back and go running back to the past. 

“So, what happened this time?” She assumed it was another fight with the inu hanyou, the boy had no manners, no filter, and was over all rough around the edges but he meant well. He was just from another time, literally. He came from a time where men were in charge and women were baby makers...

Shoving the thoughts down she began to pay attention to Kagome as she rambled on about what had happened. She listened