Chapter 2

Grandpa’s new assistant

Mai was packing her books into her bag. She sighed. She hadn’t seen Kagome in a week now. For a couple of days she went every day to the Higurashi Shrine to teach Kagome math. Basically, she nearly lived there. She ate meals with Kagome’s family, explained some material to Kagome, did her own homework, together with Kagome, and in the meantime was lying on the bed reading books, which belonged to Kagome’s grandpa. For about a week she experienced the feeling of actually having a friend – the one she could talk to and laugh together with.

Now her friend was missing. Of course Mai knew there wasn’t anything unusual about Higurashi not being at school, but earlier she didn’t really care. However, now the situation was different. Her friends mentioned that she was sick. Perhaps Mai should visit her. Yes, she will visit Kagome – cheer her up or do something friends usually do and bring her notes over and get her to study. In the worst case she would use sita-method.

Having decided, Mai set off vigorously for the Higurashi Shrine. “Crap,” she thought, “Why so many stairs?” In the yard grandpa Higurashi was sweeping pathways. Mai waved to him.

“Hello, grandpa Higurashi!” she called. The old man looked slightly bewildered and he was glancing from Mai to the well house. He cleared his throat.

“Umm… Hello, Mai. Nice to see you again.”

“Kagome’s sick?” asked Mai. “I brought notes and homework. I want to say hello to her and cheer her up.”

“It’s impossible!” exclaimed grandpa Higurashi, grabbing Mai’s shoulders. He stared intensely into her eyes. “She has smallpox, and it’s serious. And highly contagious.”

“Oh.” said Mai, trying to break free of grandpa’s hold, but it was too strong. “I had smallpox when I was four. I won’t get sick.”

“It’s bird smallpox!” said grandpa. Mai looked baffled. She has heard of bird flu, but bird smallpox…? She was almost positive something like that didn’t exist. She tried to free herself from old man’s grasp once again, and again she failed. The old bugger was holding her stronger than she thought he would.

“Alright, but please pass these notes to her, and tell her there is a test in Japanese next week.” Mai gave up. “Oh, here’s the book you lent me. Can I have another one?”

Grandpa brightened up now that Mai was not insisting on seeing Kagome.

“Follow me.” he said and led the girl to the storage house.

Mai looked around, amazed at how much junk the old man had here. There were so many vases, strange artifacts, and old scrolls and books that grandpa was claiming were authentic. Who would believe that? Grandpa climbed on a stool and was looking for something among old tomes while Mai stood with her arms folded.

“Grandpa Higurashi?” she started. The old man mumbled something inaudible as one of the tomes fell on his head. Mai sighed and continued, “You could use some cleaning up here, wouldn’t you say? And I don’t really have much to do. So maybe I could help you some day?”

Before she began tutoring Kagome, Mai got used to spending time alone, reading. She had to admit though, that now she missed human company. Books were fun as always, but she liked being with Kagome’s family even better.

Grandpa Higurashi thought that the girl had a point. He could use a helping hand around here. His daughter was busy with work and housekeeping, Souta was still small and Kagome… she was never interested in the Shrine and was always busy travelling to feudal era. An assistant would be in order, but he had to keep Kagome’s travels secret. He had an idea…

“You start tomorrow then.” grandpa Higurashi decided. Mai’s green eyes brightened with joy. She will have a chance to go through all those weird things. Legally. She couldn’t hide how excited she was.

“Which do you want? About healing herbs or demons?” The voice of grandpa Higurashi returned Mai to reality. The old man was holding two books.

“Demons, of course!” answered Mai, reaching for the book. “I’ll come tomorrow after school then, and say hi to Kagome!”

Mai quickly threw the book into her bag and darted off to her own apartment. She restrained herself from skipping and singing. That would be just pathetic, but she really felt like this today. During the past week her life changed abruptly. She gained a friend – unfortunately unavailable right now -- a substitute for a family and an interesting part-time job, and she had more people to talk to than just to the old librarian. Mai darted to her apartment and slammed door shut. She kicked off her shoes, took out the book, the one grandpa Higurashi gave her, threw herself onto couch and started to read. The tome was like an encyclopedia – it described various types of demons, their habits, origin and stories about them. Mai had loved reading mythologies since childhood – every one: Greek, Roman, Scandinavian, Chinese, and of course Japanese.

Mai went to the kitchen and opened fridge only to discover that all the food had already expired. She made herself coffee instead. Mad, she went back towards the couch and continued reading. Where was she? Ah, dog demons. Mai learned that those were particularly powerful ones, had white fur and golden eyes. In human form they would have white hair. Hmm… white… Mai remembered. Kagome’s boyfriend… what was his name again… something funny… got it! Inuyasha! Yes, that was his name. He must have had a costume of a dog demon during culture festival. Well… it wasn’t so surprising considering the name of the poor guy. Mai yawned, read several more fantastic stories about dog demons – she particularly liked the one about dog demon king and beautiful princess – and she fell asleep still in her clothes.

Mai lazily opened her eyes and glanced at the clock. “Oh, it’s eleven.” Suddenly Mai sat up, panicking as she realized it was already morning… no, nearly noon and she was not in school! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. She would be so dead. She showered quickly and dressed herself in a fresh uniform, grabbed the books she needed and ran to the school, her hair still wet and clinging to her face. What a terrible day! Mai had never once come to school late.

“I’m late!” she screamed as she darted into classroom. The math teacher looked at her, obviously annoyed.

“I’m sure that everyone noticed. Now sit. It seems you are around Higurashi too much for your own good, Asakura, and next time dress properly.” he said pointing at her wet uniform.

Mai looked down. The uniform put on her wet body was clinging to Mai tightly, leaving very little to imagination. Boys whistled and Mai got red. She ran over to her desk and started unpacking. She couldn’t find her math textbook though. She packed the tome about demons instead. Not to add that Kagome was nowhere in sight, probably still sick. “What a nightmare. This day just can’t get any worse.”

Mai didn’t know how wrong she was.

In the meantime, grandpa Higurashi was installing a lock on the door to well house. One key he hid in the pocket of his sleeve, and the other placed near the door inside the building, along with a note to Kagome, which forbade her to go out if the door was locked or to sneak into house. With a satisfied smile, the old man locked the door and waited for his new assistant.

And there she came, looking furious and unkempt. Her hair, now dry, hadn’t been touched by a brush today. She reminded him of his granddaughter.

“I’m ready.” stated Mai, and she stomped over to the storage house. Grandpa sighed and followed the girl.

For the next few hours they were segregating numerous items and Mai was making a list. In the meantime, Kagome’s mom brought dinner.

“Can I see Kagome today?” asked Mai. Kagome’s mom shifted her gaze uneasily.

“Maybe sometime later. Oh, I must go look for Souta.” with those words Mrs. Higurashi nearly escaped. “Something here smells fishy,” thought Mai.

They wouldn’t let her see Kagome and they’re obviously lying. Mai was never the quickest one when it came to discerning lies from the truth, but this deception was apparent even for her. The girl decided to leave the matter alone for now. “I’ll figure it out later.” She looked at the next item. It was a sheathed sword. Mai wondered if it was sharp. Well, there was only one way to find out. She tried to pull it out of the sheath. Nothing. She tried harder, but it still wouldn’t come out.

“Uff, Grandpa Higurashi!” Mai called to get the old man’s attention. “The sword must be rusty. What sword is it supposed to be?”

“Ooo, it’s an important heirloom. It’s the Murakumo no Tsurugi and was passed down through generations…”

“I think it’s fake.” Mai interrupted him. She read about that legendary sword, but she was nearly sure it wasn’t the same sword she was holding. Grandpa frowned.

“On the sheath it says: Murakumo no Tsurugi,” the old man defended himself. Mai brought the sword closer to her eyes to read the characters.

“I believe you got one character wrong. If you read it differently, as in “fang” you get “Sounga,” said Mai, but grandpa wasn’t ready to give up.

“So you say it’s worthless?”

“I didn’t say that!” exclaimed Mai. “This sword may not be the Murakumo no Tsurugi, but it’s very old. I bet it has some amazing history!”

“It’s Murakumo no Tsurugi,” stated grandpa stubbornly. Mai opened her mouth to argue more, but a loud noise from the well house interrupted her. The girl grabbed grandpa’s arm and began pulling him towards the well house.

“It may be thieves,” said Mai. “Mrs. Higurashi and Souta should be out shopping.”

Mai, along with grandpa being dragged behind her, found themselves in front of the well house; the door was wide open. Grandpa muttered a curse under his nose. Mai darted into the well house, and the old man couldn’t stop her. She looked around and found nothing out of the ordinary. She even looked inside the well, but there was also nothing was to be found. Mai went outside and noticed something bright yellow in the bushes near the old tree Goshinboku. It was a backpack, and it looked a lot like Kagome’s. She wanted to examine it closer, but grandpa snatched it quickly from her hands.

“Oh, thank you Mai. You’re such a good girl. I’ve been looking for this all morning. Now let’s continue our work. We’re still not done yet.” with those words, he ushered her in the direction of storage house. Mai followed reluctantly.

Meanwhile behind the Goshinboku, Kagome and Inuyasha let out their breaths. Both were still plastered to the tree in a tight embrace.

“She’s gone,” stated Inuyasha sniffing air.

“Ekhem,” Kagome cleared her throat. “Inuyasha, you’re crushing my ribs.”

Inuyasha looked at her, surprised, when she spoke and realized the position they were in. He quickly released her. Both Inuyasha and Kagome looked away, blushing.

“That was close.” said Kagome, mostly to break uncomfortable silence. The hanyou nodded.

“What is she doing here anyway? You should just get rid of her!” he snapped angrily.

“Inuyasha,” Kagome said quietly, her eyes sending death glares towards Inuyasha. “Osuwari.”

Mai thought she heard a thud.

“Don’t pay attention.” grandpa said wearily.