Heart's Illusion Chapter 2: Prologue 2:Second Encounter, Second Miss, an inuyasha fanfic

A/N: I'd apologize for the loooong delay, but I don't think there are people who like this story enough to actually hate me for not updating -.- But anyway! For the people who may read this story, this is an monstrously long chapter from me. That's kind of why it took me so long...

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha & company. Hope you (-cough-stinking-cough-) lawyers appreciate my bluntness.

Jiwe Presents:

Heart's Illusion----Prologue Part 2: Second Encounter, Second Miss

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Kagome held her breath anxiously, resisting the urge to squeal loudly and deafen everyone within a one mile radius. She couldn't believe it! After five years of begging and bribing, her mom had finally agreed, and she had finally, finally, gotten a puppy.

It was currently wriggling inside a large, breathable cardboard box two inches away from her, waiting to just jump into her arms. Eagerly Kagome worked the huge ribbon, grinning so widely that her mouth practically did stretch from ear to ear.

As soon as the ribbons released their hold, the lid of the box popped open and out jumped a furry ball of something silver and red. It tackled Kagome and promptly started licking the girl's face. Giggling wildly, Kagome got a hold of her new puppy by its forearms to have a good look at it. Interesting…she had never seen its breed before, but that didn't exactly matter. With glee she noted that it had beautiful silver fur with small, adorable triangular ears and a pair of big, golden eyes. It was wearing a red doggy sweater and even a Santa hat sat on top of its head. So incredibly cute…

This was simply the best Christmas ever!

The puppy got tired of being idle and decided that its new owner had stared long enough. With a 'woof!' it launched itself at Kagome once more, resuming its previous task of licking her cheek.

Kagome laughed loudly. "Hey, that tickles…ha ha! Ooh…so ticklish…ha ha ha…"

Souta regarded his sister with a devilish expression. What was she dreaming about that's got her so giggly?

'Who cares. All I want is for her to wake up so that I can complete the mission that mama sent me on.' With a bored sigh, Souta resumed his actions more vigorously. "C'mon sis, wake up already!"

"…ha ha ha…you've gotta stop now…I'm getting a stomach ache…ha ha ha - ah choo!" Kagome sniffed loudly. "Aaaah - choooo!" Sniff, sniff. "Ugh…"

Eyes still closed, she rubbed her nose briskly, trying to get rid of the annoying itch while letting out an enormous yawn. After that problem was taken care of, she groggily opened her eyes a millimetre and squinted at her alarm clock.

"It's eight o'clock. If you get up now you can still make the bus," Souta told his sister cheerfully.

Now that got the sleepy girl's attention. "WHAT! Why didn't mama wake me up? Why didn't - " she stopped, then regarded her seven year old brother suspiciously. He was holding their mother's feather duster rather innocently. "What are you doing in my room?"

"Mama's busy cooking breakfast so she sent me on a mission to wake you up. I guess feather dusters really does work in wakin' people up…" He grinned toothily (which wasn't very toothy) at his sister who was madly scrambling out of bed.

Kagome glanced at her clock. Twenty minutes! "Get out of my room you little twerp, before I wrap you in duct tape and throw you in the basement for all the rats to feed on and - "

"I'm going, I'm going! Sheesh…no respect for little brothers these days…" Still muttering, Souta walked out of the conspicuously pink room, taking the offensive brown feather duster with him.

Fifteen minutes! No way was Kagome going to be late on her first day at a new school. As she frantically searched for a matching pair of socks, she vaguely decided that having such a cute puppy like the one in her dream wouldn't be so bad…

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The ox youkai exhaled a big puff of air through his enlarged nostrils. Why did recesses at Juban Middle School always have to be so boring? The basketball nets were broken, the soccer field was grassless…

...There were no nerds to bully...

…That was, until he spotted a scene that had caused his fiery temper to fuel up at full force. Atsushi narrowed his eyes as a disturbing conversation drifted into his ears.

"Did I tell you that you look fantastic in that skirt, Emika? Of course, it's because you have such nice legs…"

Emika giggled. "Really? I didn't know if I should like, wear it, because it's like, so short."

"Oh no. Skirts are definitely your thing. The shorter the better."

Atsushi smirked as he made his way to the conversing couple leaning against the brick wall of the school. Oh that Miroku boy is going down…

Emika giggled again. "You're such a flirt. Like, what did you say your name was again?"

"It's Miroku. And I already know what your name is, beautiful." He winked. "Hey you wanna go out some -" A low guttural sound from behind abruptly cut Miroku off, giving him a warning of the consequences to come because of his earlier words. The flirtatious boy gulped, and he both saw and felt an enormous shadow tower over himself, effectively blocking out his sun.

He had a really bad feeling about this…but before Miroku could summon up the courage to turn around, Atsushi did it for him.

The poor boy was spun around and tossed to the cement ground like a leaf.

"Ow…" When Miroku managed to get rid of the stars swirling around his head, the first thing he saw was a rather large yellow nose ring hanging between two equally large nostrils.

"You picked the wrong girl to flirt with, pervert." The mouth under the nose ring said in a low voice.

"Wrong girl…?" Miroku was still a bit dazed. He touched a finger to a pounding spot on his forehead, and wasn't surprised to find blood.

"That's right, pervert. Emika's my girlfriend so you'd better keep your dirty hands off of her." The threat could have been a lot more threatening if Atsushi's nose ring hadn't been so big that it moved every time his lips moved.

The said girl retreated a few steps, clear of the brewing fight and plopped down on a nearby bench, then crossed one leg over the other. She was just close enough to hear what was being said and far enough so that no accidental punches could hit her. Sighing out of boredom, she took out a tube of Strawberry Shortcake flavoured lip gloss and unscrewed the lid. She coated her lips with the thick, shiny oil and then smacked her lips together to make sure every inch of her lips were covered. Then she re-screwed the lip gloss tube, and leaned back to enjoy the show. After all, fights over her are always fun to watch.

Miroku picked himself off of the ground and dusted himself off. In a situation like this, he should have felt scared, but he wasn't. There were far too many past occurrences of incidents like this one for him to feel that emotion anymore.

It was time for the Warding-Off-Jealous-Boyfriends-Strategy. It should work beautifully today, considering who he was dealing with. Atsushi had the whole package of being an intimidating bully; he was tall, he was strong (like an ox), and he was mean. He was also very dense. Emika is probably only dating him because she needs someone to carry all her shopping bags when she goes to the mall.

Miroku quirked a little smile at Atsushi. "My man, let's not let our hands do the talking. Words work better in solving our little misunderstanding - uh uh uh! Didn't I tell you not to go around swinging that fist? Now, let's analyse this problem of ours -"

"Using what? Your pea-sized brain?" Atsushi sneered, then mentally applauded himself for coming up with such a cool insult.

Miroku sighed. But it wasn't just any sigh. It was the sigh that had the you-are-so-stupid feel to it. Only Miroku could sigh like that. It was used at times like these to make the other person feel self-conscious.

"What?" Atsushi demanded, in the typical self-conscious tone.

Miroku walked closer to the Atushi and slung one arm over the ox youkai's shoulder - a bold action - and led them further away from Emika and her cross-legged position on the bench.

Emika arranged her face into a pout slash frown. Where were they going? 'Oh whatever. I don't like, have time for this anyway. Like, where's that Asae? That girl like, promised me a free manicure from like, her mom's shop…' She had to live up to her reputation of Juban's hottest girl. And so, Emika stood up in a huff, and went off to see to more important matters.

The guys kept walking.

"I think you're a good guy…so I'm gonna pass on the secret to my success in the girl department to you."

"Yeah? And what would that be?" Atsushi had to admit that he was curious. He'd heard of this boy's perverted behaviour, but no matter how perverted he was, he was still quite popular with girls.

"Ok, I'm gonna tell you, but this is between you and me. Don't let anyone else know, especially the girls."

Atsushi exhaled a puff of air that made his nose ring jingle.

Miroku took that as a 'yes'. So he continued, "There are two parts to this. First, you must change your view of girls."

"Change my view of chicks?"

"Uh huh. That earlier possessive behaviour over Emika was unacceptable. Made you look entirely like a lovesick and jealous bull

youkai -"

"I'm an ox youkai!"

"Uh huh. And all I did was compliment her. And lucky for me, that's about as far as I got." Miroku glared pointedly at the ox youkai.

Atsushi looked guiltily down at his feet . "My bad…"

Miroku smirked inwardly. This was easier than he thought…"My point is, you can't be so serious all the time."

"Serious?"

"Yeah! I mean, look at you!" Miroku patted Atsushi's back. "You, my friend, are what the girls call 'cute'." That, of course, was a white lie. "And that means you've gotta act like you're cute…you've gotta be…more promiscuous."

"What's pro…uh, thingy mean?"

Miroku scratched his head lightly. "Never mind." It's not his fault that he's too smart for his peers. Time for a different approach. "Its just that you've gotta be more whatever about girls, you know? You gotta let loose."

"Ooh…"

"If Emika's flirting with another guy, then why can't you? That's the way you have to look at it. And if she pisses at you because of it then just move on. There's plenty of fish in the sea is what I always say." Miroku looked at Atsushi. He finally seemed to be getting it. "Besides, right now we're at the ripe ol' age of thirteen - er, and fourteen - it's the beginning of the rest of our dating lives! You can't be too serious about just one girl my friend, 'cause what about the tons of other girls just waiting to meet us?"

Atsushi looked dazed. "You right man, you right…"

"So you won't get jealous anymore when other people flirt with Emika?"

"Never…"

"So I can have her?"

"Yeah…" Atsushi snapped to attention once he realized what he'd just said. "WHAT, NO!"

Miroku winced at the loud volume. "How about if I tell you the secret?"

Atsushi gaped at him. "You mean all that stuff wasn't it?"

Miroku shrugged. "Emika or the secret. Your choice."

Atsushi could feel sweat forming on his forehead. Oh man…the school's most popular girl or the secret to getting all girls? It was such a tough decision!

Miroku decided to help him out. "Honestly, it is not difficult. Giving up this one girl means you can have all the others."

"Ok…" The pained expression on Atsushi's face was almost comical…he was, after all, contemplating dumping the hottest girl at school. But wait! There was always Emika's sister…"Ok, fine. Your secret."

Miroku beamed. "Great. My secret is -" He paused for dramatic effect. "- my hands."

"Your hands?" Atsushi regarded Miroku's outstretched hands with confusion. "They seem like nothing special to me."

"But they are. Hoh the things they can do. These are blessed hands, I tell you. They can make a girl blush like that -" finger snap, "as soon as they touch her…and once a girl blushes, her attention's all yours." 'Of course, that's good AND bad.' Miroku mused silently.

Atsushi looked genuinely interested now. But then… "They're your special hands. I don't have these hands."

Miroku had to give the guy credit for not being a complete blockhead. "Well, that's where this next ceremony comes in," He replied easily.

"What ceremony?" Atsushi looked slightly nervous.

"Gimme your hands. And close your eyes. Just concentrate on what you want," Miroku ordered. "I'm going to transfer the power of my hands into yours," he finished dramatically.

"But what if it doesn't work? What if -"

"Geez! Just gimme your hands!" For having a reputation as a big mean bully, Atsushi sure was a scaredy cat.

The ox youkai hesitated but followed orders anyways.

Ten seconds later…

"All done. You officially have the power of 'Miroku Hands'," Miroku said solemnly. "Congratulations."

Atsushi brought his hands close to his face for inspection. "I don't see no difference," was his conclusion.

"It's all in the feeling. You'll see. Just remember to be brave and use lots of contact!"

The stupefied expression was still on Atsushi's face, though he looked a little bit more reassured than a minute ago. "Ok, man…thanks…I guess…"

Miroku waved cheerfully until the ox youkai had slipped into the flood of students. "Oh dear God, what a dense idiot…" he muttered, shaking his head. He shrugged; that Atsushi was at least going to have a bruised cheek or two by lunch break.

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Kagome jumped when the loud rings of the bell suddenly shattered the silence.

"It's lunch already…?" She muttered to herself as she gathered up her notebooks and dropped them into her bag. Her old school didn't have lunch until twelve. 'I guess Japan and the US really are different.'

The eleven year old girl felt a twinge of sadness as she realized the predicament she was in. She hadn't made any new friends yet…which meant she was going to have to eat lunch alone, something she had never done before. In her old school, she was well liked, but now…she wasn't so sure. When her teacher introduced her to the class, he mentioned that she had lived in the US for a couple of years. As a result, the students were half fascinated, half fearful of her.

"Hey."

Kagome paused but didn't turn around. Was that "hey" directed at her?

"Hey!"

Kagome turned around. A short girl with short hair and short eyebrows was looking at her. She had a timid smile on her face. "Hi," Kagome replied.

"Wanna have lunch with me? We can skip rope after."

Kagome grinned. "Sure."

Why was she even worried? There are a lot of nice people in this world.

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"A sandwich. It's called a sandwich."

Keiko nodded like she knew all about sandwiches. "Right. So, what kind of sand is in your san-do-wich?"

Kagome giggled. "There's no sand in my sandwich. That's just the name." How good would a sandwich taste if it actually had sand in it? She lifted up one piece of bread a little to find out what exactly was in her sandwich. "Mmm, look! My mom made my favourite today - smoked ham with grilled cheese and lettuce."

Keiko nodded again. "So about this 'smoked ham' - "

"It's just meat," Kagome explained patiently. Keiko was nice, but she wasn't very bright. Kagome took a bite of her sandwich, while Keiko gobbled down a sushi.

"So…do you normally eat lunch alone, Keiko?" She hoped this wouldn't be too much of a personal question.

The other girl didn't seem offended. "No, it's just today. One friend stayed home sick today, another friend went on a trip and wouldn't be back 'till next week and another friend…I think she's off hiding somewhere. She promised Emika she'd get her a free manicure from her mom's shop…but poor girl, she's never going to manage that. "

"Oh." Kagome chewed. "Hey - who's that?"

A girl with long, glossy black hair and blonde highlights walked by, chattering away on her cell phone. She was wearing an impossibly short denim skirt which showed off her long, thin legs. Kagome thought she looked beautiful - intimidating, yes - but beautiful.

"That would be Emika, the manicure seeking one. She also happens to be the school's hottest girl. She's a bit of an airhead…" Keiko sighed wistfully. "But she's beautiful. And that's all that matters."

"And let me guess, she's the girlfriend of the hottest guy in school right? So typical," Kagome finished.

"Well, actually she's not, surprisingly," Keiko informed her.

Now this was something new to Kagome. "Why not?"

"Because the hottest guy is Inuyasha. He's two years ahead of us and he's a total bad boy - you know, getting into fights every other day. I think he only has one more chance before he gets expelled…"

Kagome rolled her eyes, though she tried not to be too obvious. "This makes him so much more appealing though, right?"

A dreamy sigh was her answer. "Sure does. But sadly, girls and him don't mix," Keiko's voice was rather put-out.

"And why not?"

"Well, in all the time he's been at Juban, he's never looked twice at a girl. The shy ones, the loud ones, the tall, the short - " Keiko sighed dejectedly, " - the brainy ones, the dumb ones…even the beautiful and popular - they're all not his type. I don't think he knows girls even exist."

"Well…too bad?" Kagome wasn't the type of girl who cares about this kind of stuff. She took another huge bite of her sandwich and chewed thoughtfully. Suddenly she thought of something quite unusual, but very possible. "Hey Keiko?"

"What?" The other girl answered faintly, still lost in her Inuyasha bubble.

"Haven't you ever heard about some guys who only like guys?"

Keiko's Inuyasha bubble burst with an inaudible pop. She blinked. "You mean like gay people?"

Kagome nodded. "You're telling me this Inuyasha guy don't seem to like girls so I just thought that maybe -"

"Oh, my god!" Keiko shrieked. Her eyes were as wide as saucers. "Oh my god!" She shouted again.

"What?" Kagome asked nervously. Perhaps she'd just deeply offended her new friend? She sure didn't hope so…

"Nothing! It's just that I think you've solved the Inuyasha mystery!" Keiko's eyes were still very wide. Then she stood up and declared loudly:

"Oh my god! Inuyasha is gay! Just wait 'till everyone hears about this!"

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"So…" Inuyasha drawled. "Why the hell are you doing in here cleaning chalkboards? Last time I checked, what you usually liked to do is dashing outside as soon as break starts to flirt with girls and then letting your hands do the talking and thinking. And then getting slapped a few times. Not volunteering to brush chalkboards."

"People - change - my - friend," Miroku grunted, each word accented by a jump. White chalk marks were on the upper left corner of the blackboard and he just couldn't reach!

"Uh huh. I so believe that." Inuyasha plopped down on a desk and watched Miroku suffer with an amused expression.

Finally, the idea that he just wasn't tall enough registered in Miroku's head. He turned around and fixed Inuyasha with a pointed get-your-ass-here-and-help-me look.

Too bad Inuyasha wasn't making eye contact…but he still kind of felt the glare. "I ain't helping you until you tell me why you're here."

The other boy sighed. "Look, last recess I was talking -"

"Flirting."

"- fine, flirting with Emika and then Atsushi came -"

"And gave you that big gash on the forehead for flirting with his girlfriend," Inuyasha finished in a bored tone. "Typical."

"Will you let me finish?" Miroku asked, annoyed. "So he pushed me to the ground and I hit my head. I had to think of a way to get outta there in one piece so -"

"You used the Warding-Off-Jealous-Boyfriends-Strategy," Inuyasha interrupted again. "Also typical."

"I figured Atsushi was too dumb to see through it…and I got a little carried away."

Inuyasha's ears perked up with mild interest. "What'd you do?"

"I kinda messed around in his head. I told him that my success with the girls was because of my hands -"

Inuyasha snorted.

"- so now he's probably been slapped a few dozen times. But I forgot to think of what would happen when he finally gets that I made a fool of him," Miroku finished miserably.

"And here I thought you were smart. So what are you gonna do? Brush chalk boards for the rest of the year? He'll find you eventually, you know."

"Yeah I know. I just don't want to get beaten to pulp today. Good thing bull youkai don't have noses like yours."

"Actually, he's a -" Inuyasha broke off. He faced Miroku with a grim expression. "He found you."

Right on cue, the classroom door burst open, revealing a livid Atsushi. His nose ring jingled as he practically breathed fire through his large nostrils.

"YOU!" He roared, black eyes fixed on Miroku. "YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY! I'LL SHOW YOU FUNNY!" His heavy feet shook the floor as he closed the distance between himself and his prey.

Miroku saw the big, meaty fist coming and brought up his arms to protect his head. He braced for the blow -

- but realized it wasn't coming. He opened his eyes and saw Inuyasha quite calmly blocking Atushi's fist with his palm.

"It's your own fault that you're stupid. You can't go around beating people for that."

Atushi snapped out of his shock and narrowed his eyes. His other fist swiftly landed a blow to Inuyasha's right cheek. The hanyou staggered back a little, not prepared for it. Angrily, he lashed back and punched the ox youkai squarely on the nose, effectively breaking it.

Atsushi was surprised at the feel of his own blood trickling out from his nose and then over his mouth and chin. "Fucking asshole! No one makes me bleed my own blood and gets away with it!" Breathing deeply, he eyes rapidly darted around for some kind of weapon. A metal chair was his choice.

"Aaaargh!" The ox cried, about to hurl the chair at Inuyasha.

"All of you, stop what you're doing!"

The three boys froze immediately to regard the teacher standing at the doorway. She had her hands on her hips and she was glaring at them as if daring them to challenge her words.

'Shit.' Inuyasha thought warily. 'Bye bye Juban.'

Miroku, reading his thoughts, gave Inuyasha an apologetic look. Atushi reluctantly put the chair back on the floor.

"Unbelievable! You three shall report to the principal's office immediately to explain your violent behaviour. I should think you'll all be getting suitable punishment, no matter whose fault it is."

The three teenage boys followed obediently. Atushi was hunched over, shuffling his feet up front, while Inuyasha and Miroku dragged a few feet behind.

"Sorry."

"Keh."

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Kagome self-consciously squeezed her way through the horde of students socializing in the hallway. She kept a nervous smile on her face and focused her eyes on the principal's door at the end of the hallway. She tried her best to ignore the many stares she was getting, even though she had no idea if the feeling behind those looks were positive or negative.

These thoughts fled as she entered the office. She was told she had to pick up some transfer stuff from her old school in America…but there was no one here. The secretary's chair behind the broad, marble counter was empty.

'Maybe she's not back from lunch yet,' Kagome reasoned. But what was she supposed to do here? Wait here? Or come back later?

She decided to wait. Keiko had disappeared somewhere and it wasn't like she had anything better to do. She'll wait until the bell rings, then if no one arrives, she'll just come back after class.

'Somewhere to sit would be nice.' Looking around, Kagome spotted a comfy looking couch placed against a corner, right beside the principal's office.

There was someone sitting on it.

Kagome jumped; she hadn't noticed at all. But no wonder. A boy slightly older than herself was comfortably spread out on the couch, fast asleep. His head was lolled to one side, and he was using his arm as a pillow.

Kagome unconsciously crept closer. She had trouble seeing his face…he had pulled up the hood of his sweatshirt over his head and it covered his face a little. What she could undeniably see was a mass of silver hair, fanned out on the couch.

Quite suddenly, Kagome was hit by a wave of déjà vu.

It was because of his hair…she was almost sure she had seen that specific silver somewhere before…yet the memory was too far out of her reach for her to grasp. She struggled to remember…

But she just couldn't. It was too foreign; there was too little familiarity. She brushed it off as unimportant.

So Kagome stared some more. His face, she decided, was okay to look at, and could even be considered 'hot'. She looked closer, and felt herself getting a little sad as what she saw. It was his expression; his face was arranged like someone who had just let out an enormous sigh - full of resignation and weariness. She just knew she would be remembering this face for a long time.

Yup…trust Kagome to look notice way beyond what was expected for her age…

She didn't know what to do. To any other person this was just a simple situation…but Kagome felt stranded. She could very well brush off this boy's apparent sorrow and walk away. Of course, this means that she would then spend a good chunk of her time thinking about it and then the nagging sentence of 'you could've done something' would be wriggling in her mind and then she would regret it.

So, just because Kagome was Kagome, she decided to do something about it. And she knew just what she was going to do.

After a few minutes of rummaging in her backpack, Kagome pulled out her personal sticky notes. They were rose-shaped, rose scented and rose-decorated; her favourite sticky notes in the whole world. She had gotten two packs and a matching journal as an eleventh birthday present.

Taking out a black pen, she scribbled a quick "Chin Up!" on the note. As an afterthought, she drew her signature rose at the bottom corner, then peeled the piece of paper off. Note stuck on her fingers, she stood up and proceeded to walk over to the boy. He was still immersed deeply in la-la land.

Quietly, Kagome bent over and gently plastered her note on the front on his sweatshirt, where she decided was a visible enough spot. Mood lifting already, she straightened up and walked softly out the door.

Inuyasha slept.

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A/N: Man oh man, did I drag it out. I originally planned this chapter to be a quarter of the length that it is...but as you can see, I got lil carried away. Before you ask, yes, this is the LAST part of the prologue. I swear. I'll be working on chapter one, when the story will actually start.

...Feedback is appreciated.