Disclaimer - my, we just love these, don't we? Following suit... I do not own Inuyasha, happy! You made me admit it, now go...
"And where do you think you're going? Not back to your stupid era, are ya?"
"Leave me alone Inuyasha! I need to see my family; it's been a couple weeks now. You wouldn't understand, you hard-headed idiot!"
The half demon in question came crashing to the ground in front of Kagome's bike, causing the girl to slam on the breaks and almost go flying off of the contraption. She managed to stop before hitting the unmoving person in front of her. She glared at him.
"Damn right I wouldn't. It doesn't mean you can go though; we're close to getting to Naraku, you can't go back yet! You're acting more stupid than normal," Inuyasha said a bit too casually.
Kagome grew slightly red with anger.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" She demanded hotly, trying to pedal forward against him. Her companion wouldn't let her, seeing as he'd held out a hand and kept the bike in place with a solitary clawed finger. His ears were perked in interest, golden eyes sharp on her.
"What's the point of trying to move if you know you're not going to, wench?"
"AH! I GIVE UP!" Kagome screamed, stopping her furious pedaling and using her right leg to hold the bike still. Her expression lightened falsely and she smiled.
Inuyasha had his ears back and hand off the bike within half a second of her mood shift. He knew what always followed it.
"You better not Kagome. You wouldn't dare. I'm warning you..."
"SIT BOY!"
BOOM! Inuyasha slammed face first into the ground with a stream of curses following shortly after. Looking satisfied, Kagome sped away from him and eventually leaped down the well, bike and all, without another word to the arrogant hanyou.
Sango and Miroku, having heard the argument, came into the well clearing not much longer after Inuyasha was able to stand up again. He glared at them as they approached, all too ready to hear the scolds he had been accustomed to by now.
"Inuyasha," Miroku began, "you really should be nicer to Kagome. Wouldn't you want to see your family?"
"Feh, you stupid monk. In case you haven't noticed, my family ain't one I'd like to see. Where the hell have you been? Ignoring Sesshomaru, huh?" Inuyasha asked in an irritated tone, flicking his ears in agitation. What was the lecher of a monk going on about now?
"Of course, how stupid of me… but you have met Kagome's family, have you not? You should know if she likes them or not. Considering she's always sitting you when you try and stop her from leaving, I think she does."
"Ya think?" growled an increasingly angry Inuyasha.
"Why yes, I do."
"I was being sarcastic, you stupid monk!"
"Inuyasha," Sango interrupted, stepping between the peaceful Miroku and fuming Inuyasha, "Calm down. She'll be back. We go through this every time she leaves, why can't you just let her be for once?"
Inuyasha snorted, not answering the question and looking the other way. "Why can't you stop defending her? What's in her era she needs so much that she's got the nerve to leave? One of these days that… Shippo, get off of my head!"
The kitsune had leapt onto his head and was biting an ear.
"Leave Kagome alone! She didn't do anything to you, you big meanie." Shippo kept trying to tear off the right ear, but was punched off of the head he was perched on in a couple moments, falling in defeat and bouncing slightly across the ground, stopping when he hit Kirara.
"If Kagome were here she'd sit you right now!"
"Well," Inuyasha growled, cracking his knuckles, "She ain't here, now is she? I'm gonna give you a five second head start you fuzz ball…" He warned. Squeaking in fright something about wanting Kagome back now, Shippo started running madly towards the village. After the five second were up, Inuyasha bolted after him with ready claws, leaving Miroku, Sango, and Kirara standing in the clearing alone.
Sango blinked for a moment before slowly picking up her little cat demon in her arms. Seeing the demon slayer bend over was too much for Miroku, and he took the opportunity to grope the woman's behind. A loud slap quickly filled the area, leaving a writhing Miroku on the ground and a very annoyed looking Sango walking back to the village alone.
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"Mom, I'm home!" Kagome cried out as she opened the front door.
"In the kitchen dear," The reply came from Mrs. Higurashi. She was making something over the stove when her daughter stepped into the kitchen. Smiling, she stopped and turned; wiping her hands on the little apron she wore. "So, how are your friends? Especially the one with the cute ears."
Kagome sighed, sitting down daintily and mumbling, "It's Inuyasha," under her breath before looking directly at her mother.
"They are all fine. Inuyasha and I just got into a fight before coming here, again. He still really likes depriving me of seeing my family. He can be such an insensitive jerk at times! Or most times actually…" She sighed.
"Maybe he likes you," Mrs. Higurashi offered with a smile only a mother could give. "Oh, there's another boy who wants my daughter all for himself!" She beamed with pride and made Kagome blush.
"Hardly. He wants me as a jewel detector. Sometimes I doubt he has more than a few emotions at all…" She trailed off. "And what do you mean by 'another' boy?"
Her mother didn't answer right away, but got Kagome a small glass of milk and a couple cookies. "Trying to hide it? Don't be naïve Kagome! Who's that charming young lad from you're school? Hokie? Hosheen… Horoko…"
"Hojo," Kagome offered, remembering him perfectly. He wasn't as smart as Inuyasha could be (which in most cases wasn't saying much, she figured) but plenty more kind. But again, Inuyasha had no interest in her other than having her as his own personal jewel shard detector.
Satisfied with her work, Mrs. Higurashi went into asking about how the last couple of weeks had been. Kagome answered her questions happily, but grew angry in any mention of Inuyasha.
Once finished, she excused herself saying that she wanted a nice, warm bath. Understanding perfectly, her mother didn't attempt to stall her. On the way to the bathroom she asked her grandfather what foolish disease she had come down with this time, and he hesitated in answering something that sounded like a rare fungus, but he didn't clarify.
Again, she thought, a disease I'm never going to even be able to get until I'm fifty! I wonder why no one notices these things?
She passed Souta in the hall on the way to the bathroom with her towels.
"Hey sis! How's the feudal time going for you?" He asked casually. Souta was obviously interested in the status of his hero.
Kagome smiled and said, "Everything's just fine, don't worry. Now go play more video games or something, I want to take a bath in peace," She explained, moving past him and into the bathroom.
Ten minutes later, Kagome slid into a warm bathtub of soapy water, allowing a sigh of happiness to escape her, finding bliss in the bubbles.
What is with Inuyasha? I wonder why the guy is so mean. He doesn't care about me, just getting the Shikon Jewel and killing Naraku. That's important, but I have family! Why can't he understand that? I wonder what he's doing now. Maybe he's startling someone else.
FlashbackShe was sitting by a small stream, having a small drink and a little time alone from her traveling group. Just about to get another bit of water, a red streak flashed by behind her, causing her to loose balance and fall forward into the water.
"Inuyasha… what was that all about!" She exclaimed angrily, pulling from the water and turning to look at him. Inuyasha had stopped and was standing behind her.
"Feh. It's not my fault you fell in the water, jumpy baka. I didn't do anything, I was just passing by. You're the one who fell forward like an idiot and-"
"SIT!"
He went plummeting into the ground, using a wide range of vocabulary as he growled into the dirt.
"STUPID GIRL!"
"Sit, sit, sit, SIT!"
End Flashback
"Egotistic maniac…" She muttered into the water, sinking below the surface for a moment. For the next half hour the girl thoroughly washed her jet-black hair and scrubbed every inch of her body, thanking everything there were baths nowadays.
Kagome stepped out after another fifteen minutes of lounging in the water, lost in thought about her adventures in Sengoku Jidai. She looked over to the slightly glowing pink jewel on the bathroom counter. The Shikon no Tama was close to being entirely complete, but chances were each of the shards remaining were under Naraku's control.
Will Inuyasha still want to become a full-fledged demon by the time we get the rest of the shards?
She sure hoped he wouldn't. At least, hoped he wouldn't become the mindless killing machine that he transformed into on rare occasions.
"Kagome, are you done with your bath? One of your friends is here to see you."
"All right mom," Kagome responded from the other side of the closed door. Carefully and quickly, she wrapped a towel around herself and fled to her room to get changed into some clothes before running hastily to the living room.
"Hey Kagome!" Eri said happily, leaping up from the couch when Kagome stepped into view. "I guess you were taking a bath like your brother said. It's good to see that your able to walk with that foot fungus and all."
She put on a very blank face, but her eye was twitching in irritation. "I don't have foot fungus. Jii-chan meant to say I had a bad cold."
Eri blinked. "Oh. Okay. Either way, its good to see you!"
"Same here," The girl said in a slightly distant voice. Even with one of her friends here, she couldn't stop thinking about the argument she had had with Inuyasha before leaping through the well.
Both friends shared a brief hug, Kagome being careful not to get Eri wet from her hair, which hung damp across her shoulders.
"I have some schoolwork for you and stuff somewhere in my bag… but on a better note, I think Hojo is going to ask you out on another date! I think I heard him and his friends talking about it. You'll say yes, right?" Eri's voice was tingling with excitement.
Another date? In an odd way she was tired of him asking her out on them.
"I might. It depends Eri, I may have something else to do." Yeah, like stopping Inuyasha from killing Shippo.
"Kagome, that guy so totally loves you! Why don't you just accept it?"
At this point, Mrs. Higurashi stepped happily from the kitchen and said, "See Kagome? I told you! You have that one boy and this boy. I'm so proud!"
The girl in question was glaring at her mother, but remaining else wise very still. Was it necessary for her mother to say that?
"Mom! Stop it, please!"
"She's talking about that other guy you like, right? That 'two-timer' as you call him, right? Yeah, when are you going to fully introduce him to us?"
Inuyasha… her friends… trying to get them to know each other. That was a scary yet somehow funny thing to picture. He would never agree, and even if by some miracle he did, it would be too hard to keep him from letting something slip about the real reason she was always missing school.
"He's not a social person," Kagome said in thought.
"Still," Eri said persistently, "I want to meet him either way Kagome."
Shrugging, Eri turned around and reached into her school bag, pulling out a rather thick pile of papers and books. Her schoolwork…
"Yeah, we did a lot this time while you were gone. I wrote down everything you have to do on that piece of paper at the top of the pile so you won't get confused. I have to go now Kagome, but it was great seeing you. I'll tell Yuka and Ayumi you're feeling better. Maybe we can have a girl's day out soon? It's been a while." There was a note of begging in her voice. At this point, spending a day with her friends seemed just right.
"I'll do my best to make it happen," Kagome said firmly, sharing a smile with Eri.
From his place on the floor playing video games, Souta mumbled "Girls", under his breath but not taking his eyes off the screen, where he was beating the living daylights out of his fighting opponent.
After a few moments Eri left with a smile and left Kagome with all the work and a slight groan of distaste.
"Maybe you shouldn't hang out in the past so much if you don't like having to catch up on all your work, sis," Souta said, still mostly concentrated on the game.
"Inuyasha would kill me. He doesn't even like me coming back here as it is. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get some of this work done and then get back and explain to the group what's going on."
With no need for more words, Kagome left quickly for her room with the pile of papers and schoolbooks.
It was for the next couple of hours that she ended up hunched over the desk in her room, deciphering English, solving algebraic expressions, trying to understand some advanced study of DNA, and writing a rough draft of an essay on history.
By the time the couple of hours were up, Kagome wasn't even half way through the pile of work. By this time it had gotten to get slightly dark and all her brainpower made her exhausted.
"Maybe if I just take a little nap…"
BAM!
Kagome almost fell out of her seat in shock, her heart suddenly racing from the scare. Her eyes shot to her bedroom window in an instant and she grew angry all over again.
Inuyasha was banging on the closed glass a bit too hard. Fearing it might shatter, she rushed over and flung it open. Unfortunately for the hanyou, he hadn't expected the window to open so suddenly and ended up striking air and falling forward onto his face into Kagome's carpet with a growl.
"Wench, why the hell did you close the damn window?"
"Because it's my window Inuyasha!" She said angrily, stepping back and falling onto her bed as he stood up. "I can open and close it when I want; I thought it was a little bit chilly."
He laughed slightly, "Chilly. Right. It's perfectly fine, baka. Have you seen your family yet?" He asked sharply.
Kagome blinked and answered very slowly, "Yeeesss…"
"Good," Inuyasha said quickly, grabbing her wrist, "so you can come back with me now."
"No! Let go of me Inuyasha, let go! Now!" She was struggling against his grip and failing, still being dragged slowly towards the window. Sighing, she leaned forward and closed her teeth on Inuyasha's wrist.
He recalled his hand instantly, shocked that she actually had the nerve to bite him. Glaring at her he yelled, "Why did you bite me? You said you had to come back and see your family, you saw them, now come on. Stop wasting time in this stupid era, there are more important things to be done!"
It was her turn to glare angrily. If she hadn't been unsure if the force of a sit would break the floor or not, it would have happened right then and there. Instead, she settled for sitting stubbornly back on her bed with narrowed eyes and crossed arms.
"And I have things I need to do here too. I'm going to be here for a couple of days. I have friends besides you guys, and I need to spend time with them. Besides, one of my friends says this guy named Hojo wants to ask me on a date."
It was like a switch was flipped. Inuyasha started growling very low in his chest. "No Hobo is going to ask you out on one of your futuristic dates," He told her firmly, clenching his fists. She had once explained to him what a date was in her era, and he had hoped she had never gone on one of them.
"I'll go on a date with whoever I want to, Inuyasha. You or anyone else can't stop me. Now go back and wait for me like a good dog," She instructed, her temper rising ever so steadily.
"I'm not… a dog…" He said slowly, eyeing her.
"Dog, dog demon, half dog demon, it doesn't matter to me!" Kagome cried, fed up now. "Just go! I still have loads of school work to do because of all the time I spend with you guys."
Inuyasha blinked and said angrily, "You don't spend enough time if you keep coming back here."
"That's IT!" Kagome yelled.
Downstairs, Souta and Mrs. Higurashi were just starting to eat. They had heard the commotion and looked up just as Jii-chan entered the room. Soon all three were staring up at the ceiling in interest, all ignoring the food except for Souta- he had a few noodles hanging from his mouth. They all agreed that Inuyasha had definitely stopped by.
The half demon had drawn back a little at the teenager's fury, not sure what to do. Kagome moved first, standing and walking boldly up to him.
"Inuyasha?"
"What?" He asked a little cautiously, ears against his skull.
Summoning up all her strength, Kagome shoved her arms out into his chest and pushed him out of the window, yelling at the top of her lungs,
"SIT BOY!"
"YAAA!"
After a couple of seconds, Kagome looked out of the window. Inuyasha was lying sprawled out across the ground as usual after the command. Oddly, as Kagome noticed, a downstairs window was open and her mother, grandfather, and brother were also looking at him.
"Now go!" She screamed down at him as he was finally able to stand up. Grumbling things under his breath, Inuyasha brushed off his haori and glared up at the girl. How dare she!
"Feh… whatever. You better be back by two days or I'm coming to get you," He warned her, running quickly to the well house and disappearing, leaving the echo of a loud curse after him before returning to his won era. Kagome reddened from anger at what he had called back ('stupid baka of a bitch') but let it go. The nerve of some people! For now, though, she was just happy she had managed to push him outside before giving the command and that nothing broke inside her room.
What a selfish jerk! She kept telling herself, stomping down the stairs to join her family for dinner.
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"What is her problem?"
"What is whose problem, Inuyasha?" Sango asked, coming forward from the foliage, hearing Inuyasha's return as he leapt from the well.
He glared at her for a moment. As if she didn't already know!
"And who else would you think it would be? Who could it even possibly be you idiot?" Inuyasha growled at her. Sango grinned as he sat down in dignity, back against the edge of the well.
"Give her some time. Sure, I want her back as much as the next person, but she has a family. They probably miss her after all the time she spends away from them.
His ears twitched and he turned to look at the demon slayer for a second or so. He muttered something incoherent under his breath before looking back the other way.
"It doesn't matter. She's got more important stuff to do here."
Sango sighed, shifting the weapon across her back. Maybe it was best to just leave him be like usual. Blinking once, she turned and walked off as smoothly as she had came, leaving Inuyasha and his thoughts in peace.
Who was this Hobo guy she had mentioned? Was he safe for her to be around? Given his nature, he was, of course, very protective over Kagome. Like Sango and Miroku had somewhat assumed, they believed the two did indeed secretly love each other, and Inuyasha did not want Kagome hanging around some other guy.
The night passed by rather slowly, the two golden eyes never shutting for longer than a blink. Luckily, no demon came to attack him, no villagers came to question him, and Miroku, Sango, and Shippo stayed away from him. He was positive Shippo would have come and annoyed him if he had his way, but the monk and slayer had probably restrained him.
The next day, he stood slowly at about them time he probably would have woken up, had he actually slept. Quickly, he made his way back to the village, even if he only meant it to get food before returning to the well. Inuyasha was just waiting for two days to be up so he could go back to her time and drag her back. This time he had warned her, after all. She couldn't say it was unfair.
Though planning to stay only for the food, Miroku pulled him aside before he could leave.
"Inuyasha, do you really plan to just sit by the well all day and all tomorrow?"
"Yeah, what's wrong with that? You got a problem with it?"
Miroku blinked and said in a measured voice, "Yes and no. I know that you must be waiting for Kagome…"
"No duh, monk. Even brat boy over there could figure that out! You think you're all smart all of a sudden? Cause I don't."
The half awake and half asleep kitsune looked up at being called 'brat boy'. Normally he would have leapt at the hanyou's head, but he was still too tired. Giving up a defeated yawn, he decided to let Miroku handle this one.
"Kagome will come back when she is ready. If you pester her further, you will probably be looking down a long and painful road of sits."
Inuyasha snorted and growled, "I'm used to it by now."
This caused the monk to raise an eyebrow and comment, "And I wonder why. Fine. You may go wait for her, but don't complain when you crash face first into the ground again. And Again. And again."
"I wasn't asking for your permission, you idiot. I don't need anyone's permission to do anything. Feh, you stupid monk. Get outa my way!" Inuyasha pushed Miroku roughly aside and leapt from the hut, speeding back to the well.
And for the rest of that day and night, he again sat alone by the well with his mind. Some part of it did say Miroku was right, and he didn't want to be sat to death. Another part said it didn't matter, and he listened to that part. He'd never been one to listen to logic as it was.
That night, however, he did allow himself to catch some sleep. He wanted to be wide-awake when Kagome got back so that he could have full energy to show off full anger.
"Stupid wench…" He muttered hazily, eyes shutting and eventually allowing sleep to take over him.