Shikon no Go
The Language of the Shikon
A Fanfic in 100 Chapters
By DQBunny

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DISCLAIMER: This story is based off of "Kendo no Go: A Fanfic in 100 Chapters" by Akai Kitsune. Her story in turn is a parody of "In the Language of Love," a story by Diane Schoemperlen. My thanks and appreciation goes out to Akai Kitsune for letting me borrow her fic idea! "Inuyasha" is the property of Takahashi Rumiko.

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Chapter 1: Table

Kagome couldn't remember a time when she didn't take at least one meal at the dining table with her family. Usually that meal was breakfast - when a half-sleepy Souta absently shoved his egg, rice and pickle into his mouth while Ji-chan read the newspaper aloud to Mama.

If it wasn't breakfast, then it was dinner - a slightly more elaborate occasion that Mama took extra pains to fix. When she turned 11, Kagome began helping with the task, preparing one of the side dishes or making sure the table was set. Talk centered on their activities for the day and their plans for the next. Mama insisted that no negative talk enter their dining room. No politics, no news, nothing that would cause an argument.

Loneliness stabbed Kagome as she trudged down the path leading to Kaede's hut, her arms loaded with daikon and other food from the villagers. She estimated it had been more than a day since she slipped through time and landed in the Sengoku Jidai. When she wasn't fighting off youkai and hanyou who were after the Shikon no Tama, she missed her family deeply.

It wouldn't had been so bad, she thought, if I hadn't skipped breakfast yesterday. If I hadn't rushed out the door or had even called out a good- bye. If only I hadn't been in such a rush to get those notes to Yuka-chan. If only...if only.

Kagome sighed and decided right at that moment that she couldn't keep sad. She would find her way home and say all the things she'd meant to say before she left. And that was that.

Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that Kaede had left before she woke up that morning and she'd missed breakfast. Kagome scanned the countryside, looking for the miko. She'd share some of her food with her. At least she would have someone to eat lunch with.

She didn't think she could eat alone.

Instead, her gaze fell on a brooding Inuyasha, perched in a tree several feet away from her. She bit her lip, studied the hanyou. He didn't seem that bad, she thought, even if he did want to kill her.

But if he truly wanted to do so, he would had done it while she slept.

Part of the food is his, Kagome reasoned. Besides, eating with him was better than not eating with anyone at all. She fought back tears, remembering a joke Souta shared at the table two nights earlier and everyone's reaction to it. Pushing that aside, she approached Inuyasha.

She hesitated a few feet away from the tree, not sure how he would react. Would he yell at her? Try to hurt her? Knowing she had the rosary as a final resort, Kagome reached in her bag, pulled out a vegetable and tossed it up to him.

Without looking, he caught it, glanced over his shoulder at it...at her. "Eh?"

"There. That's part of your share," Kagome replied.

He turned around, still in a crouch. "What's with all the food?"

"Offerings from the villagers." Kagome sucked in a deep breath. "Come on down...we'll share it."

Inuyasha stared at her for so long, she was sure that he was going to refuse or do something worse. Instead, he jumped down, crouched next to the tree. Kagome smiled, sat down next to him, and prepared an impromptu dining table so they could eat.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: A number of months ago, I read Akai Kitsune's "Kendo no Go: A Fanfic in 100 Chapters," written for the Rurouni Kenshin series. It was absolutely beautiful. Please go and read it, she just posted chapter 92! She started the fic as a parody of "In the Language of Love," a story by Diane Schoemperlen. The nature of the fic was to probe deeper into the character's lives and see more than what we see in the series (anime or manga.) What turned out was an absolutely gorgeous piece of work.

A week or so ago, I had just finished reading chapter 91 and fell asleep dreaming about the fic. I started playing out some of the scenes using Inuyasha characters. It fits perfectly. So I wrote Akai-san and asked her if I could use her concept and write a fic based on hers. She graciously consented and so I decided to start in on this fic.

The title, Shikon no Go, is Japanese for "Language of the Shikon." I chose to use the Shikon no Tama as the center because this story will have many pieces, just like the Shikon has many shards. All of those shards put together create one jewel. All of the many different pieces of this story will remain one.

The original title for this chapter in the original novel was "Table."