Well, this is my first fanfic. Hopefully it will be enjoyable. Please read and review. It will be very helpful for me to know what you think about it. I would like to say the first chapter will be up soon but I can't. I'm in school right now so it might be a while before the next chapter is out butI have an outline for it. I know. I know. The title isn't very orignial but I think it fits. I guess I should say that I don't own Inuyasha but I pretty sure you already knew that. Well, on with the show...
Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
By: merlinstalker
"What we call 'Progress' is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance."
-Havelock Ellis (1859-1939)
Prelude
The mid-afternoon summer sun glared through the open window onto a small gathering. A fair-haired boy slouched grumpily in his chair and glared into the line of sagging bookcases along the wall. The boy's wardrobe was an informal one with a red shirt and torn cut-off shorts. Next to him, his mother sat stiffly in an unforgiving wooden chair. Her long shiny black hair was pulled into a messy bun. Her outfit was more formal with a white silk blouse and navy blue business skirt. Her worried hazel eyes was a strange contrast to her son's golden sullen ones.
In front of them, behind a desk, sat an old woman that seemed unconcerned with their discomfort. The fair-haired boy pointedly avoided looking at the old woman and scrutinized the bookcases behind her. They sagged beneath the heavy tomes that filled their shelves. And in some distance way, the boy felt sorry for them. To the left of them a small rotating fan was the only noise in the room. It was small defense against the heat and he swore he could feel the right side of his face sizzle.
The old woman flipped quietly through a folder on her desk; her one beady eye scrutinized the text, while a black eye patch covered the other. The boy frowned. How had the old bat lost her eye anyway? It wasn't exactly like her line of work was that dangerous. Several scenarios wandered through his brain. Cafeteria food fight gone wrong? Tripped and fell, and happened to lose an eye in the process? Or perhaps it was something more sinister. Suddenly an image of an over-stressed student, pushed to his last limits, rammed a ruler into the woman's eye.
The old woman looked up from her papers and eyed the faraway look on the boy's face.
"Thinking ill thoughts Mr. Inuyasha?"
Startled, Inuyasha answered too quickly "No Ms. Kaede,"
Kaede snorted. Inuyasha scowled at the bookcase. A thick silence settled between the three. Inuyasha briefly wondered if he kept sweating at his current rate if he would melt into a puddle. Some how it seemed like a better situation then he was in now.
"I'm sorry for the heat, Mrs. Inutaisho," Ms. Kaede's grave voice broke the silence of the whirling fan. "I've been told the air conditioning should be working when school starts." Inuyasha's brooding golden eyes glanced over Kaede's wrinkled face to his mother's smooth worried one.
"This is stupid," Inuyasha muttered finding the bookcase fascinating again. Kaede's beady eye skewered the broody boy.
"Failing high school is not stupid Mr. Inuyasha,"
Inuyasha's face darkened and he slouched further in his chair.
"Ms. Kaede what can be done now?" Izayoi leaned forward worry etched in her brow as her dark eyes searched for answers. Kaede sighed and fingered the manila folder on her desk.
"As you know Mrs. Inutaisho we have high standards here at Spring Valley High. Your son at the moment has failed to meet these standards. He barely passed his freshman year with four Ds and two Fs. He fared barely better in summer school and has just managed to stay within the standards of this school,"
"You finished yet," Inuyasha growled.
"Inuyasha," Izayoi commanded and pleaded her son. Inuyasha scooted further down his chair and stared gloomily out a window.
"Mrs. Inutaisho…"
"Please, Ms. Kaede call me Izayoi,"
"Mrs. Izayoi," Kaede sighed. "If your son's grades do not improve he will fail out of school."
"Oh dear," Izayoi frowned.
"I do not believe your son is incapable of succeeding he just needs some…assistance,"
Inuyasha sat up. His golden eyes glared suspiciously at the old woman.
"What sort of assistance?" Izayoi asked.
Kaede stood up slowly and her chair creaked with the movement. She shuffled over to the gray filing cabinet behind her desk and pulled a handful of folders out.
"We have here at Spring Valley an Honor Society. Students enrolled in the Honor Society are required to tutor other students for a certain number of hours to remain in the honor program."
"I don't need help from a nerd! " Inuyasha bellowed.
"This nerd, Mr. Inuyasha, may save you from failing out of school,"
Inuyasha opened his mouth but his mother bet him to it.
"Do you know who will tutor my son?" Izayoi leaned forward placing a hand on her son's arm.
Kaede nodded. "I have a couple of students in mind but I'll have to met with them separately when school starts to see if their schedules will allow for the extensive tutoring your son will require,"
Inuyasha crossed his arms and slouched again. "I told you this was stupid,"