DISCLAIMER: As it become more and more PAINFULLY obvious that I DON'T own Inu-Yasha or any of his friends, I don't think there's going to be a problem, is there?
A/N: You can thank Rozefire for the name. The title comes from one of her chapters in "28 Days". Edit: 25.07.2007, For fleshing out the chapter, because I was too excited to get anything down properly and too eager to post to do a proper edit on the chapter. You can reread it and then move on without missing anything now.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
Her heart pounded furiously in her chest as she gripped the pencil harder in her clammy hand.
The numbers on the page seemed to swim across the graph.
She raised her eyes to the clock. One minute left.
Swallowing hard, she scrambled to finish solving and graphing the equation.
"And time is up," the instructor called out. "Please put your pencils down."
Kagome set her pencil down and leaned back in her seat with a sigh. Around her, others were doing the same and the tense silence that had engulfed the room during the test dissolved into quiet chatter as the students compared answers.
From behind, she heard a familiar voice. "Solve for y?! Oh no!"
That would be Eri, who would be talking to Yuka, Kagome absently noted.
"Well, that wasn't so bad," another voiced commented in a relieved tone.
Kagome looked up to see Ayami, the smartest of the four of them, turned in her seat to face Kagome.
"That's easy for you to say," Kagome insisted. "I studied all night last night. And I think I had a nightmare about this exam."
"There had better be some more letters in this equation," Yuka could be heard warning.
Eri's moan was the only response.
"At least I'm not the only one," Kagome noted with relief. She reluctantly handed her test and her answers to the instructor, who was passing by.
The bell announced the end of classes for the day.
"Today's results will be posted tomorrow," the instructor informed them. "I will see you next time."
The scrape of chairs was nearly deafening as the students rose to leave.
"Can you believe we're almost sophomores?" Yuka asked as the four of them left the room. "Freshman term has gone by so quickly."
"That's because we've spent the whole time with our noses in books, trying to keep up," Kagome joked.
"You say that, but you're the only one with the boyfriend. So you must have time to date," Eri pointed out.
Kagome blushed. "Hojo? He's not….we're not really…"
"Higurashi!"
The quartet turned to see a young man making his way toward them--or Kagome, to be more specific.
Yuka glanced slyly at Kagome. "You were saying?"
"We'll wait for you outside, Kagome," Ayumi told her and ushered the other two off towards the school gate.
Kagome nodded and turned to face the young man who was now standing in front of her. "Hi, Hojo."
Hojo, from class B, was arguably the most handsome boy in their grade, and certainly the most sought after. Much to many girls' dismay, he seemed to take an interest in Kagome.
"How do you think you did on the maths practice exam?" he greeted.
Kagome rolled her eyes and groaned. "Horribly."
Hojo looked concerned. "Really? How much did you study?"
"Three nights including all night last night, but everything just kind of melds together in my brain."
"I could…tutor you," the young man offered sincerely. He was so sweet.
"It might be too late for that," Kagome warned kindly. "Exams are only a week away."
"So, are you going home to study now? I could walk you there."
"Actually, I promised my friends that I would go to WacDonald's with them after school."
Hojo's shoulders visibly drooped and Kagome felt a twinge of remorse. For the last two weeks he had been mostly unsuccessful in carving out some time alone together, due to his soccer practice and school exams looming near. And she did feel bad about not having extra time, but being seriously pursued (however romantic and honest his intentions towards her were), kind of intimidated Kagome. This was the first time a good-looking boy had taken interest in her.
"Oh," said the boy, dejectedly. "Well, how about tomorrow then?"
"Alright," Kagome agreed. "We could study together, as well."
Hojo's head snapped up. Apparently, he had been expecting to be rejected again. Hope sparked in his eyes as they made plans to meet after school at the shoe lockers and Kagome resolved to try to do more than 'toss him the occasional bone'…. as soon as exams were over.
"Another date?" Yuka asked with a grin as Kagome rejoined their group.
"He's just going to walk me home tomorrow," Kagome insisted. She decided to keep the part about her study-date a secret from the other girls; otherwise, she'd never hear the end of it.
"Do you know how many girls would love to have Hojo walk them home?" Eri asked.
"You are at least going to be grateful enough to invite him inside, right?" Yuka probed menacingly. "And your mother won't be home yet, you could have some private time."
Kagome could feel herself turning red. "It's not like that at all!" she hissed as they crossed the street. She prayed they wouldn't guess too closely. "Hojo is a gentleman." And she wasn't that type of girl. "Besides, we wouldn't be alone, not with Jii-chan and Souta home too."
Actually, between her grandfather and her little brother vying for Hojo's attention every time he came over, Kagome could barely find two minutes alone to call her own with her suitor. If Jii-chan wasn't dragging the poor young man around the grounds and recounting the past of every sacred object on her family's shrine, then he insisted on playing shogi; hinting heavily of Hojo "taking good care of Kagome". And Souta just loved having the older boy around to play with or tutor him. Really, one would think that the family's males--not Kagome--invited the young man into the Higurashi home.
"He could climb into your bedroom window and you could close your door," Ayumi suggested.
"Not you, too!" Kagome moaned. Now, they were just getting ridiculous.
"Well, they do that all the time in the teen dramas on television!" Ayumi insisted, completely missing the eye rolls the other girls exchanged between themselves. "And it's so romantic…"
"Ugh, I am so full!" Eri exclaimed, holding her stomach as the girls walked out of WacDonald's.
"Well, that wasn't exactly a snack you had there," Yuka pointed out not unkindly.
"Yeah, I know, but it's been such a long time since I've been there and it all tasted so good," Eri whined.
"Well, enjoy it while it lasts, because we've got to really buckle down now and study for these exams," Kagome reminded them. "No more distractions," she said, quoting their motto from studying for entrance exams.
"Don't ruin such a good moment yet!" Eri cried in indignation. "It's too early to get so depressed." Beside her, Yuka nodded.
"We could come back and celebrate the end of exams here," Ayumi suggested.
The girls all agreed that Ayumi's idea had merit and made the agreement to save their pocket money for their next date to celebrate the end of exams, for better or for worse.
"Well, I've going home to study," Kagome insisted. "I don't want to celebrate a 'for worse' exam week."
Her comment was met with concurrence and the girls said their goodbyes and parted from Kagome.
As Kagome headed down the block in the direction opposite from her friends, the crosswalk light at the end of the block flashed the Walk signal, with its bright white light.
Not normally one for compulsion, Kagome made the quick decision to catch up to the light and cross with the tail of the pedestrian-train. She wasn't far from the end of the block and this particular light tended to favour the cross walkers a little longer. With a burst of speed, she caught up to the street just as the light was starting to blink in warning of its imminent change and stepped off the sidewalk a mere metre behind the last person.
Her miniscule feeling of triumph was interrupted by a huge flock of birds that had taken to flight, giving onlookers—Kagome included, a moment to pause in awe of the natural wonder.
Unfortunately, with her attention diverted, Kagome failed to notice that the light had changed. And that she was the only one left on the crosswalk.
She never saw the car coming.
The squeal of brakes was her only warning before she was sent flying through the air. Just like the birds.
For a moment all Kagome saw was sky….and then….nothing.
A/N: Yay for re-writes! I remember having the idea for this and trying so hard to capture the essence of the story, that apparently, I couldn't be bothered for details. So, now that it's fixed and the characters are in place a little better (especially, Hojo), we can move on to the next chapter, ne?