"Look kid, I just want to get home, alright? If she can get me back, than I'm out of here. K?"

Hitaro stared at the kid, but as he did, he started to realize something very odd. Gin had a very similar appearance to Kagome. It was then that he realized what he said about wanting to see his mom. His eyes widened in complete shock this finally registered. Now he knew something was wrong.

"Kid, how old's your mom?"

Gin said in an irritated tone: "How THE HELL should I know?! I don't care about that. AND STOP CALLING ME KID!!!" Gin whipped his sword around and point at Hitaro's chest. "Call me kid one more time...and I swear..."

Ryune watched the exchange before her, mutedly. A few men of the village started towards them, concerned with the amount of weapons being unsheathed in the area, but Ryune shook her head at them and turned on her heel, heading towards Lady Kaede's cottage; if the two wanted to get all macho with each other, let them.

"Then tell me your name or something," he said cynically. "I don't exactly know what the hell I'm supposed to call you by."

With that, he turned away and followed Ryune. His eye began to twitch with irritation. This was already becoming an unpleasant trip that he wanted to end as soon as possible. Without trying to even make eye contact with everyone else, he shoved his hands in his pockets and trailed behind Ryune. He quickened his pace in order to ask her a question.

"Who's he?" he asked.

"I don't know," she answered truthfully. They were nearly at the Lady's house.

She snuck a glance at Hitaro, finding that he looked pretty frusterated. "Something on your mind?" She asked, before realizing how stupid it sounded. "I mean, other than the obvious."

"Just the obvious," he said bluntly.

He looked around, examining people. Many of them were staring at him. Obviously the event was going to alter perceptions of him. He didn't really care though. They'd probably have the right one of him. People always thought the same thing... that he was a violent punk. They were right. However, as he followed Ryune, he heard something from the villagers; he began to hear that he looked like someone named Inuyasha. He had no idea what to think, considering he never met even heard of him.

I wonder who that guy is?

Gin has been walking behind the two of them for a while now. When the villagers began to whisper, Gin heard it all and told Hitaro: "Oiii, you....You don't look like my dad, why the hell are they saying that?" His mom should be somewhere around here, and so should his dad. Since the villagers are linking that man to Gin's father, it maybe best if his parents meet this man.

Gin piped up: "Oh, hey! Do you want to meet my parents?"

Ryune's eyes widened and she whirled to face Gin. "Your parents are here?" She demanded. If they were, indeed, then that would be best for Hitaro. She turned to face the man himself, gaze questioning. "Would you like to see Lady Kaede first, or the Priestess?"

In the back of her mind, she wondered if Sango was here as well; she knew her cousin always travelled with her friends...perhaps that was why Kohaku had been visiting earlier. Either way, it seemed like good news.

"Does it really matter? I think one's no worse than the other at this point."

He still tried to register the fact that this was Kagome who was the kid's mother. That just didn't seem possible. A part of him was tempted to see Kagome first, just to understand what was going on. If she was the first to go through, she'd be able to explain everything.

"You know what? Kagome would probably be better..."

((Hey Jack, you take control of my 'parents' okay?))

Gin said: "Alright, follow me." He walked towards the south side of the village. A few minutes later, they reached a decent looking house, built by Inuyasha, and Gin calls out: "MOM!!!!! Some guy wants to talk to you!!!"

Ryune followed the two silently, walking a few steps behind the two. It was an odd thing...usually, Ryune was pretty up to date with the latest news concerning the village, but she'd never managed to hear about InuYasha's family living so close. It bothered her slightly, but she shrugged it off, careful to keep her expression passive. She kept an eye on Hitaro, though; he'd seen a full demon, but she wasn't so sure what his reaction would be to a half-demon, someone so close to his race yet different, like InuYasha.

Ryune personally didn't know Kagome or InuYasha, except for being introduced to them by her cousins; a polite conversation [on Kagome's part] and an exchange of civil glances with InuYasha was enough for her to know that she was better off as an apprentice of Lady Kaede; these were legendary people.