Blurb: Kagome's eyeglasses. Sesshoumaru's curiosity. A story in which many things are explained about the anime series Inuyasha . . . or not.

Author's Note: In which many things are explained about Kagome.

Disclaimer: I own a pair of glasses, but not the series Inuyasha.

Lucky Shot

Chapter 1: Loosing an Eye

"Inuyasha! If I don't find it," cried the miko from the future for what seemed like the hundreth time. "Then I can't leave. It's like loosing an eye!"

The kitsune cub had long since given up on understanding his adopted mother. He unconditionally loved her, quirks and all. But on the odd occasion when she degraded into strange fits like this, he often found himself far closer to Inuyasha that he wanted to be, both physically and emotionally. It was merely from a sense of solidarity between two youkai men, that was all. It wasn't as if he liked the hanyou or something. Really! Inuyasha was still a jerk, but at least he was less … weird… than his adoptive mother could be at times. Times like these.

After frantically searching through her bag, then returning to the hot springs and checking the area, Kagome had at last resorted to crawling around in the dirt, poking the grass, looking for an ostensibly invisible item. "It's clear, and round, and about 'this' big!" she had explained earlier, motioning to the others with her fingers to show what the tiny, round piece of glass supposedly looked like. But no matter how much perusal she gave the earth below her, the contact lens did not appear.

For a while, Sango had helped, but eventually even the taijiya had packed her things and shouldered the hiraikotsu, timidly suggesting to her bosom friend that perhaps the item was simply …lost. At this, Kagome had burst into hysterics. "It can't be gone," she had wailed, sounding much like Shippou when he was hit over the head by his irritable hanyou guardian. "I can't see!"

Miroku had politely concurred with the rest of the group. Wisely pointing out to Kagome that she had been able to see the day before, and the day before that, quite well, the monk had recommended they move onward. The sun was high in the sky, and it was high time they left the clearing. Finally, the reincarnated miko had explained. The 'contact' that she sought was neither that of a kindly monk's hand on her posterior, nor that of communicative interaction with a liaison. Instead, the priestess was looking for a tiny shard of glass.

At that point, Inuyasha had grumbled something about 'what is it with this woman and shards, anyway'… and earned himself a quick dive into the dirt by way of the miko's subjugation beads.

In any case, they had progressed no further than three inches in three hours, and tempers were fraying as the temperature rose. The monk knew it was time for drastic measures. Surprisingly enough, measures that did not involve fondling or caressing or lecherous thoughts of any kind. The idea he was about to propose, however, would inspire explosive consequences.

"Perhaps," intoned the monk calmly, violet eyes searching the sky for inspiration since the grass had yielded none yet today, "if Kagome-sama were to return to her time…?" Trailing off into a limitless void of possibility, he let the implications of his words work for him, hopefully avoiding the worst of Inuyasha's temper.

But it was the miko who answered first. "Well, er… actually," Kagome replied nervously, turning pale with worry, "Contacts are really expensive in the future so it might take some time to buy more, and…"

"NO!" bellowed the hanyou. "Absolutely not! We have wasted enough time here, we're not wasting more trekking all the way back to Kaede no obaa-chan's stupid village and letting you go home."

Seeming to agree with the hanyou for once, Kagome never even batted an eye at his rude behavior. Truly, she was not looking forward to explaining to her mother how she had lost one of the expensive hard contacts the eye-doctor had prescribed. She had begged her mother to allow her contacts for so long, and finally, for her thirteenth birthday, her wish had been granted! Never again would she look like the four-eyed freak in class. However, liberty and beauty had come with a price. Her mother had cautioned her that the contacts were hers on a trial basis only – she had to prove she was responsible enough to take care of the lenses, not lose one down the drain or in the bathtub.

And later, when she had been pulled into the past, she had thanked her lucky stars for having contacts. Bad enough, she had been dragged through a well by a demon, whereupon she had shattered a mystical jewel and had begun an interminable quest for shards of power, while fighting an evil bad-guy. Bad enough, that she was constantly delaying the quest with her studies, annoying her friends in the Warring States Era, at the same time as she worried her mother in the future and sponged off her family's meager pocketbook to buy ramen for her traveling companions. Now, she was going to have to tell her mother that she had lost her most expensive, precious gift… Remembering how disappointed her mother had been about the destruction of the pink bicycle, in the past, Kagome shuddered.

In fact, the very reason why she had been grateful to have contacts while she scoured Japan for shards was the one rationale that she could not give her mother. When she fought youkai and was bumped around (a.k.a. tossed fifty feet in the air or slammed into trees), it was extremely helpful to have contacts and not glasses. Eyeglasses would fall off her face in battle, contacts stayed with her. But this 'better-for-battle' angle was not the line of reasoning she wished to pursue with her mother.

For all her family knew, these sojourns in the past were spiritual training. She had tea with Kaede, the wise village miko, and backed up Inuyasha when the 'strong and powerful' hanyou went and argued with people. No fighting. None. Her mother received the clean version of the story. And while the lady may have guessed her daughter wasn't telling her the whole truth, Kagome still did not deem it wise to point out exactly how violent their battles could be.

There was a third option, of course. And although Kagome did not really like this outcome either, it seemed the only way around her current dilemma. When in doubt, procrastinate!

"Well," she murmured thoughtfully, tapping her chin with one finger, "I guess… I could use my glasses. But I'll have to stay out of battles for the most part."

"FINALLY!" crowed the hanyou, completely enjoying his moment of triumph. Why, he had been trying to tell the stupid wench that for years! Obviously, someone weak and powerless should not jump into fights between demons and esteemed warriors (such as himself). "So let's get a move on, already."

The miko rose from the grass, dusted herself off, and gave one last longing look toward the ground, begging it to reveal its secrets. She had searched for hours, using her left eye only, but the right contact was no where to be found. The others had searched with her! Where could the darn thing have gone? She was always so careful with them too, never taking them on and off unless she absolutely had to…

If only she had changed in and out of her contacts more often, then perhaps her friends would have been able to help. As it was, she suspected the others thought she was crazy. Respectful of their differences, she had always changed into her contacts out of sight, where Miroku wouldn't ask nosy questions, and Sango wouldn't turn green from watching her friend stick glass shards in her eyes. The taijiya had clearly never understood the purpose of such things.

Chagrined, she carefully slid the black, thin-framed glasses onto her nose, then glared at her hanyou protector for failing to be more sympathetic. Inuyasha wasn't supposed to actecstatic at the thought of keeping her out of battle! Maybe she wasn't very useful as a fighter, but he could at least pretend that she was, if he cared about her feelings a little.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

As always, the best of intentions can go astray.

Before the day was out, a swarm of youkai attacked the group, and Kagome found herself in the midst of chaos once again. Shippou stood his ground solidly, trying to shield her from the worst of the onslaught with his fox-fire, but eventually one of the youkai slipped past his guard. Because Inuyasha was dealing with the larger oni, while Sango and Miroku dealt with the main swarm, Kagome was left on her own against Mr. Ugly-head, number 2159. However scary it might be to confront extremely powerful, humanoid demons like Sesshoumaru or Naraku, every now and then Kagome had to admit it – at least they were aesthetically pleasing. The general youkai populous was made up of hideous, bulbous, slimy, warty degenerate monsters. And quite frankly, she was tired of it.

Take now for instance. When the repulsive three-eyedthing screeched and dove for her throat, the only thing that Kagome could think was "Get it off me, get it off me!"

As the creature collided with her torso, she felt the wind knocked out of her in a rush, just before her back impacted something hard and rough. Happily, she noted she had been thrown backward into yet another tree, rather than into another demon. The little things in life were promising and pleasant.

Then, her vision swam in and out, and her world blurred. "Kitsune-bi!" Shippou cried from in front of her, but all she could see was a smear of green and brown color as it streaked by her face. And she realized with horror that her glasses had been thrown off, when her head snapped back upon hitting the tree.

Well, isn't that just peachy? Kagome bemoaned her fate internally. It was exactly as she feared. All her life, her glasses had been a source of ridicule and derision, and now they would be the death of her too. All because she was careless and stupid and lost a contact! Suddenly, the scenario was too much for her to take. No one said life wasn't supposed to be easy, but for heaven's sake, it was supposed to be fair!

Her glasses were too slight to see without assistance, but her bow beckoned to her like a beacon. Starkly contrasting with the dark grass below, the light colored, flexible wood called to her, and she snatched it from the ground, quickly stringing an arrow and filling the shaft with her pure aura. Energy sparkled like pink flame, running down the wood of the arrow, and she realized she had no idea where to aim. The youkai and Shippou were right before her, yet she couldn't tell which blurry blob was which.

"Shippou!" she screamed, "Move!"

And he did, so she fired, assuming the green and brown smudge would make his way to safety, before the arrow hit. Her frustration was running so high, and her tension was so great, that the fire of her aura seemed to go much further than normal. Would the arrow hit its target? Would the arrow hit anything at all? Would she accidentally kill Kirara instead of her enemy? It was all up to fate now.

A pink light broke out over the battlefield, and she could feel the tip of the arrow strike home, even though she couldn't see it. A multitude of cries erupted, and then the youkai presence in the field was gone. Soon, Shippou tugged on the hem of her green school uniform, and helpfully handed her the black glasses he had found on the grass. She pushed them on, only to see Inuyasha's scowling face, intruding upon her personal space.

"Oi! Onna!" he growled, annoyed and puzzled all at once. "What did you do?"

"What do you mean, Inuyasha?" she asked politely. All things considered, humans were very visual creatures, and without her glasses on, she had no idea what had transpired. However, it seemed the battle was over at last, and victory was theirs.

"The arrow swerved mid-flight, then hit an immense youkai," Miroku explained, violet eyes alight with wonder and a smile on his face. "Afterward, it shattered and dusted the surrounding demons with your power. I have never seen such an amazing feat, from just a simple arrow."

The hanyou appeared flustered. It disturbed him to hear of such strange comportment on the part of the miko's arrows. Weapons had to be predictable, lest one never learn to wield them properly. For example, everyone knewthat arrows were supposed to fly straight and true. The better the archer, the farther he or she could shoot. But the implement was not designed to turn sharply in mid-flight and hit another target entirely. It just wasn't normal behavior for a bow and arrow.

And furthermore, everyone knew that Kagome was a terrible shot.

"Well," the reincarnated miko resolved slowly, "the only difference between what just happened, and what I normally do, is … this time I didn't aim?"

Apparently, Kagome really was a terrible shot. But she was also very lucky.

Luck was a proclivity she had demonstrated on numerous occasions. Like the time she had confronted Sesshoumaru and survived. Or the time she had confronted him again and survived again. Or that time that she had confronted Naraku alone… and survived. Or that one time that she…

"So, what you're saying is," the hanyou stared at the priestess, glaring daggers toward her innocent countenance, "Every time you have scored a hit in the past, it's been a lucky shot?"

"Osuwari!"

Fuming, she stomped away into the underbrush. How dare he insinuate she had not improved with time! Lucky shot, indeed. She was getting better at archery. Really, she was!