Started: 15 February 2007
Ended: 18 February 2007
Summary: A modern reinterpretation of Inuyasha, the likes of which you've never seen before. Very, very AU.
Author's Ramblings: I dedicate this chapter to that scar of mine whose presence I cannot explain.
Chapter Two: Wonder
Kibasenshi Inuyasha had not returned to school for an entire week.
The first absence was legit; he had still been in the hospital. But even after he was released, he had not returned to Juuban High.
Scowling, he threw a half-empty tube of Neosporin at his reflection in his bathroom mirror. "Fucking pansy," he chastised himself. As much as he didn't want to admit it, the reality was that he was terrified of going back to that school. There was no doubt that that bastard Jakotsu had already spread to the entire high school the fact that Inuyasha was neither male nor female, but some grotesque combination of the two. The rumor mill, however, wasn't what frightened Inuyasha. What frightened him was that he could easily find himself in a situation to be mauled again. As masculine as he usually tried to be, his female chromosomes tended to impede his potential strength. He might not be able to fend off Jakotsu again (if the previous incident could be called "fending off" at all), or anyone else who wanted to put the hermaphrodite out of his misery.
But more than that, more than any other fear or paranoia Inuyasha held, was the terror that, should he be attacked again, Kagome would not be the one to find him. Instead it would be some other person who would not scream in worried fright but in disgusted horror, and who would not seek to help him but to finish him off once and for all.
Truth be told, he wasn't even sure why he had called out for help that day in the first place. He must have been really out of it to have drawn even more attention to himself.
But…Kagome had been the one to come. Kagome. His only ally; his savior.
He breathed her name aloud, lightly touching his healing wounds.
No, he could not go back to Juuban High yet. To do so was to risk death. He couldn't do it yet; he just wasn't ready. Even though he felt like a fucking pansy for it.
He winced as his fingers brushed over a particularly sore spot on his left tit.
Why couldn't Jakotsu have just hacked them clean off? Inuyasha would have appreciated some free plastic surgery.
Then again, that probably would have left even more gruesome scars.
And Kagome would have cried harder.
Kagome.
He wondered how she was, what she was doing. He had not seen her since that day she saved him. He had passed out from the medication not long after she had discovered the two most obvious betrayers of his (he looked away from the mirror, leaving the bathroom) deformity.
He padded into the living room and parked his ass on the couch, flicking on the television, not really caring what the current channel was airing. He did make sure the blinds were shut. He didn't want anyone in the apartment building across alley to peep at his bare, injured tits.
Tits. Female. Girl. Breasts. (He blushed) Kagome….
Had Kagome thought of him at all this past week?
When he had awoken from his medicated slumber the day after the incident and she was not there, he had briefly panicked that perhaps he had dreamed it all. It made sense that his brain would concoct for him a young, pretty, full-fledged girl who had worried and cried for him as a way to cope with the pain of his injuries. Kagome couldn't have been real, he reasoned, because there was no one in the world who would do such things for him. His eyes had watered a bit then, because Kagome had been such a believable dream—and he would go through the pain of being stabbed over and over again if it meant that in his pained stupor he could see her again and feel cared for.
And then he looked to the small wooden two-drawer piece of furniture right next to the window and, to his great bafflement, saw a well-worn bra and a folded piece of paper with his name on it.
He reached out for it—the letter, not the bra—and opened it, his hands slightly shaking.
Inuyasha, it began, I'm sorry I had to leave while you were asleep. I waited a while to see if you would wake up soon, but you were pretty out of it. I hope you sleep well and get better soon! And…well, I know this is embarrassing, but I know firsthand how much it hurts for sore breasts to be jiggling around without support. I know…I know that you picked male, but…well, I just wanted to be helpful. So, I left you my bra. I have more at home, so I don't mind giving it up. I hope I haven't offended you! And then she signed her name: Kagome.
He lost his composure then. He had cried, and sniffled, and cursed his damn female half—all while smiling the most absurd, wide smile he had ever smiled.
Kagome had been real.
He hadn't dreamed her up.
He hadn't worn the bra, of course. The cups were two sizes too large. But that hadn't mattered; what mattered was that he had a piece of her—a physical representation of her heart, which had room enough for the likes of Inuyasha, even if it would probably only be temporary. Like a druggie in withdrawal he had pressed that bra to his face and inhaled deeply, not caring that it pulled like hell at his stitches, and savored her sweet sweet scent.
Inuyasha was jarred from his memories by the shrill sound of a car alarm. He soon relaxed; he didn't own a car. He changed the TV channel, still not really watching it. He noted absently that a graphic predicted a heavy thunderstorm tomorrow.
He had the sudden mental image of Kagome giving away her umbrella to someone who didn't already have one.
He wondered if she went to Juuban Jr High.
Meta-ramblings: Please give me your thoughts on this latest chapter, and let me know if you are interested in more. Appetizers for future chapters: details concerning Inuyasha's both-ness will be explained, Jakotsu's motivation for stabbing Inuyasha will come to light, Kikyou will make an appearance (but definitely not in the way most of you likely assume), and likely some light citrus.
