My Signs Misread
By Imperfectly-Yours

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. I just use the characters to fulfill my own sinister desires.

Summary: Kagome always thought Inuyasha was the one boy that would make her life complete. Turns out he wasn't.

Neglected Author's Notes: Please enjoy. Reviews can make a writer's day – why not make mine? :)

Chapter Two

A gleaming of purple sparkled in the sun. Reflected in her eyes, Kagome looked down at two shards within her hands, turning them in the sun's gaze.

She sighed and put them on her desk beside her. The only two shards that remained of the Shikon no Tama; she wondered if she and the rest of her small party were even accomplishing anything at all. It had been months since any trails of Naraku, any signs of jewel shards; there had been nothing. One false path after another, and now the dust of their failure was beginning to kick up and sting their eyes.

She had already decided, as most things, it was a battle already lost.

Just another reason not to go back, and just another reason why she should.

Inuyasha had not come back that night. Or that morning. Kagome had been looking out her window towards the shrine every chance she had, having a hope she would not admit to herself that he would come to her and drag her to the other time, forcefully or not, and apologize the whole way back. And perhaps she would apologize too, for the mishap of yesterday's time was not all the dog demon's fault.

I'm probably the only one mature enough to admit that, too. She thought scornfully.

She got up from her chair and moved across her room, now laying down on her bed, face in pillow. The event of yesterday reeled continuously in her mind like some terrible movie. Even in sleep she could not escape, for she relived the moments again and again in her dreams, play by play, screaming at herself to wake up. And when she did, awakening drenched in sweat, it was no surprise that the faint light of dawn had barely touched the city beyond her house. And she tried to fall back asleep once more, because she was so desperately tired, but it was no use.

And so she sat and thought and cried for many an hour.

And still Inuyasha never came. And that was expected and wanted, and at the same time terribly hurt.

You're useless. Words like ice to her ears. Words like knives to her heart. The only words that had ever stuck to her this long and burned this much. She wished to erase them but words cannot erase once heard and will forever remain within.

Kagome continued to lay face down on her bed, breathing into the fabric of her aqua bedspread. Tears pricked her eyes and she blinked them away, wishing she was stronger, wishing she was less sensitive, wishing that she didn't care.

Because, most likely, somewhere in the groves and fields of the old times, Inuyasha didn't care about it himself.

Kagome let out a sob that she couldn't contain, tears rolling out faster than she could blink them away. There was no point in trying to ignore what was said, or pretend it didn't hurt, because it did, it hurt so much. The words themselves were blank, monotonous, but the fact that Inuyasha had said them, meant them, had put fire in her body where she did not wish to burn.

And her heart, her poor heart! If Sango had said these words to her, Kagome would have figured she was just having a bad day. But Inuyasha was the type to say mean words to anyone when the time was fitting to him, but never anything quite like this. And never disappointment from him quite like this. His lack of understanding had finally rubbed Kagome raw. Any decent guy would have asked perhaps what was bothering her before creating a storm! And any decent guy wouldn't make a storm in the first place, it would be all sunny skies, or maybe a cloud every so often with a bit of rain, but that was healthy, that was normal, and that was what she wanted.

Inuyasha was volatile, a volcano, the ocean, the sun itself.

But still, Kagome was soft for that certain youkai. The moments when he was soft, when he was compassionate and sweet and made her clutch her stomach in laughter, those were the moments when Kagome shoved the bad away. These moments, however, never did last long, and when the lightning struck, they dissolved.

All those memories, of apologetic smiles in the midst of spring flowers, of sitting on tree branches watching the world breathe below them, of the hugs, of the tears, of the kisses to save and the sacrifices and the sunrises no one thought would come – now tossed into hungry flames and all curled up and shriveled like paper.

To make her even gloomier, the whole event was over bears, over bows, over arrows, over battles, over nothing. These were events in their lives that did not add up to anything and rolled within their days with the consistency of oil. It was no surprise they had slipped and fell and Kagome was the one left with the bruise on her elbow and the scratch on her palm.

More mending. That was all it took. She knew she would return to the feudal lands but her heavy heart would not let her admit that to herself yet. She continued to cry in silent misery, these thoughts and much more collapsing and exploding inside her mind, like tiny fireworks blinding her sights.

Many minutes passed, and she could feel an exhaustion tap her shoulder and then wash over her.

Her ragged breathing turned soft and her eyes dropped close.

She had cried herself to sleep for the first time in many days.

A lone dog demon stood in the swirling light of a forest realm. White hair shining brilliantly, he stopped a companion behind him, looking to the fields beyond. A wooden mound rested alone in a large clearing, and along side, barely recognized in the grass, was a small parcel.

He stepped further, towards the wooden structure. His eyes were golden, piercing, and slightly curious. He continued alone, slowly, his white garments rippling around him with the fluidity of water. The air was cold, and his scent was pungent, powerful. Dew attached to his bare feet, and still he walked alone.

He reached the wooden structure among the grass. It appeared to be a well of some sort, but that was not his concern. His eyes narrowed towards two small items at the base: a bow and a bundle of arrows.

The demon picked up the worn bow and arrows in his large hands and felt the magic tremble inside, electricity to his skin. He looked at them for a long while, as if searching for something, and when it appeared he found it, his eyes widened.

The wind whispered and his eyes turned upward to the sky, an ethereal world of blue.

I know this scent.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock to her door. Aroused from her sleep, she turned over, hoping it was only her imagination. Another knock sounded and she grumbled as her eyes peeled open. Her head snapped to the direction of the sound and she stood up abruptly, figuring it was her pesky little brother Souta starting the tortures of the day.

"Kagome? Are you still alive in there?" Came a faint voice from beyond her walls, recognized as her mother.

"Yes Ma, I'm still alive." She sighed and fell back onto her bed, muttering "Sort of…" before her mom opened the door and entered.

"What are you doing sitting in here all morning? Normally you're out by eight o'clock the days you come to rest." Mrs. Higurashi cocked her head to the side, observing her child closely.

"I'm just tired Ma. I've had some long days." Kagome explained. However, this did not suffice.

Mrs. Higurashi raised a concerned eyebrow. "Oh Kagome dear, what did Inuyasha do? Another fight between you two?"

"No, nothing happened at all. Really! I'm just tired. Really, Ma, just tired." Kagome said quickly. She felt slightly bad for hiding this from her own mother, but she really didn't feel like discussing it. What had happened was something she had to figure out on her own, that much she knew.

"Well, why don't you try to fit in school in your schedule today? I know you are tired but lying around the house won't do much. You'll feel better once you are out and about." Skepticism still lingered in her mother's voice, but Kagome was happy the subject had been changed.

"Okay, I'll see about it." Kagome called out to her mother as she left the room. Leaning back on her bed she knew for a fact she did not want to go to school today, but in many ways, her mother was right.

Besides, it had been ages since she had seen her friends, her teachers, let alone the chalkboard. She knew she had missed so much in her subjects judging by the huge mound of papers her brother brought back from her school. Yet she made a point to ignore it. Anyone could see academics were not much part of her future; she would be majoring in Demon Hunting and Slaying as she saw it.

However, as Kagome grabbed a towel from the cupboard before entering the bathroom to take a shower, she had second thoughts. Perhaps her future was different than many thought it to be. Perhaps much different. Events had already collapsed around her that she never imagined would happen.

She undressed with raised eyebrows. She had never thought about her life so deeply. She had always imagined spending it with Inuyasha, and Sango, Miroku, and Shippo, fighting off the woes of troubled times with an arrow in one hand and a bow in the other.

She stepped into the shower, shivering and cold. Steam rose into the air and she let her head back as the water poured over herself and she reveled in the warmth.

As these thoughts dripped down her mind much like the water dripped down her body, the wind rustled a branch against her window, but yet again, she paid no attention.

First there was "Kagome!"

Then there was "Hey Kagome, I haven't seen you in ages! How are you?"

And then there was "Wow, it's YOU!"

And of course there was "Wow Kagome, you're back here already? How's your brain doing? Did the doctors remove the tumor?"

(To which, of course, Kagome grumbled inaudibly and smiled sweetly in return. She questioned her grandfather's methods.)

Kagome had received so many waves, smiles, hugs, cheers, hellos, and wide eyes that she had forgotten she was even at school. She felt like the rock star of the concert. She had no idea she even knew so many people. However, despite the many students that greeted her, she was yet to see the trio that meant so much to her.

She walked a few paces down a busy hallway before turning left into a classroom, her math class.

Kagome stood at the front of the class, trying to reach into her memory to remember where her seat was. She looked towards the back window and saw her familiar chair at the almost back of the class. She hustled over to it, books in hand, ignoring the wide eyes she received as she crossed the room. Setting her bag on the top of the desk, she half expected to see it draped with spider webs, but in fact it was very clean. She sat down with legs crossed, and heard whispers envelop the air. The teacher was apparently absent and the chalk board was covered in numbers and mathematical equations poor Kagome had never seen in her life.

The tardy bell sounded somewhere outside the room, and she sat nervously, realizing her friends she usually saw in this class were not there to accompany her.

Soon, a tall man strode into the classroom, briefcase in hand. He took a glace around the class and his eyes swept over Kagome, continued up her aisle, but fell back to her again. He appeared jostled and he fixed his glasses which sat untidy on his nose.

"Ms. Higurashi, I see you are finally back. How long will you be staying this time before another epidemic plagues you?" His deep voice filled the walls and she turned a slight shade a pink. She didn't know what half of those words meant, for she spent far too much time with people who thought grammar was a foreign language.

She had expected to be put on the spotlight at some point, but a part of her had a wild hope people would be able to contain themselves.

"Um, hopefully a while," she started and then added on off the top of her head, "the doctors removed the tumor without any trouble, and they said I was cured of um, brain tuburculosititus." Many students gasped at the made-up disease, while others seemed quite unimpressed, seeing through the false explanation.

"A tumor? My, I had heard you had the stomach flu!" He chuckled. Kagome's face darkened.

"No, nope, it was definitely brain tuburcolosititus." Kagome nodded her head, attempting to be assertive, but failed miserably.

"Well, we are all very glad that you are on your feet again." He replied, turning his back to her. She sighed in relief, thinking the worst was over. But once she saw the new set of equations on the board, she was tempted to jump out the window next to her.

"Dang Inuyasha," she muttered to herself, "look at all I've missed 'cause of him." She took out a pencil and her dusty notebook and began to write down the practice problems.

A minute later, she sat dumbfounded. There was a weird squiggly sign placed in between two ridiculously long numbers that mocked her existence and she hated it. She grumbled to herself as she scribbled something unintelligible, and sat back in her seat, exhausted.

Why she even took math, she did not know.

And then, the worst thing imaginable happened.

"Kagome, you seem to be done awfully quick. I'm glad to see you've been doing your work despite your sickness. Care to come up to the board and show the rest of the class?" The teacher smiled at her from across the room. A blood vessel on her forehead grew twice its size and pumped furiously.

She was definitely having the worst day, and because of whom?

That mangy dog.

The lone white haired demon had returned to his companions within the dark and damp of the grove. With the bow and arrows in hand, he walked slowly, feet bare and eyes flashing. He then stopped, looking beyond into the forest, where a bird called out in the silence. There was the rustling of a bush and the scampering of limbs as a human tumbled out of the brush.

"Master Sesshomaru is back! Master Sesshomaru is back!" She called out to no one in particular, straightening out the raggedy looking dress that hung over her form. She looked up at the towering demon with large brown doe eyes. He looked down, but she was not afraid.

"Rin, do you know of this?" The demon's voice was deep and powerful and filled the area with its sound. He outstretched his hand to the young human, and gave her the bow and arrow. She looked down upon it almost playfully, but she knew this was serious business.

"It looks awfully familiar, Sesshomaru-sama. But I just can't quite remember who it belongs to." She placed a finger to her chin and looked up to the sky with a thoughtful gaze. The girl was very young and yet very wise. The demon named Sesshomaru turned his back to her, his garments swaying against his body.

"Jaken." He called out abruptly. There was no reply.

"Jaken is gone. He went to go look for you." The girl said quietly, still looking down at the bow and arrows that seemed too heavy for her to carry within her bony arms.

His eyes flashed. "I told him not to move." He stated flatly.

There was a small moment of silence where the girl fiddled with the wood in her arms and the demon stood still. The wind made a momentary entrance then fled. Skies seemed to turn dark within minutes and the smell of rain hung in the air.

"Oh!" the girl exclaimed loudly. "I know who this belongs to, Sesshomaru-sama. That miko we see sometimes. Her name is Kagome, I think." The human girl Rin's face glowed with a smile.

However, Sesshomaru made no reply. He continued to stay motionless.

"Oh, it's going to rain." The girl announced. "I love the rain!" The girl then laid the bow and arrows to the ground and began to twirl around in the grass, tripping on her ankle and falling softly, giggling to herself.

The youkai ignored the human and instead continued to stare out at the horizon. It was dark and bleak and beautifully colored and within his mind brown tresses flashed.

Kagome…who?

He thought to himself.

But he knew.

Laughter hung in the air of the corner booth of a restaurant. Four girls sat, talking giddily as most girls do, sipping soda pop which sometimes fizzed up out of noses when the laughter rolled in and all four sat clutching their stomachs.

Kagome, for the first time in many days, had a smile plastered to her face as her friends explained the many ordeals that had happened since she was gone, which included troubles in the cafeteria, Hojo's undying love for Kagome, and drama class. Add a little TNT, hormones, and parental guidance and anyone could expect horrendous outcomes.

She had already admitted to herself she had dearly missed these afterschool gatherings, which were so much a part of her life only years ago. The feudal era was bleak and cold and offered no happiness; only death and decay and loss was given to by cold hands. Living in the feudal era was like living in a constant blizzard and she was glad to finally reach some sun and thaw out. Hearts had become too icy because of the time's conditions, but she tried to ignore such facts.

In fact, she was doing a rather good job of it, for no thoughts of demons, of weapons, of fights, or especially of bears, had entered her mind as soon as she was tackled by each individual friend and then pulled back up to be tackled again.

Kagome was altogether surprised, mostly for two reasons. First of all she couldn't believe she found Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi at the end of the day, not to mention in the thick of the crowd as school got out. And secondly, she couldn't believe they hadn't asked any questions about Inuyasha, or who they accurately renamed "her jerk."

"So Kagome, how's your jerk?"

Speak of the devil. Kagome winced.

"Oh, well, I wouldn't know." She stated rather bluntly, the light mood of the conversation now darkening.

The rest of the girls gasped, looking at each other and then looking back at her.

"What happened now? Did you catch him with his gardener again?" Eri squealed with concern, her hands clasped across her mouth like make-shift duct tape.

(Gardener was the name given to Kikyou by Kagome. She figured it would be hard explaining to the girls that the boy she liked still had an undying love for a clay pot, so she decided gardener was close enough.)

"Oh, no, nothing like that. We just," she paused for a moment, the words scrambled on her tongue, "had a falling out, I suppose."

There was another round of gasps and intakes of breath.

"It's nothing too big or exciting. He just decided to insult me one day, so I decided not to talk to him anymore." Kagome added on, careful not to give too much detail.

"What did he say now?" Ayumi questioned further, and Kagome wracked her brains to figure something out.

"He, just, um," She paused, not sure what would be good, but went with, "called me fat."

She cringed, expecting responses along the lines of "big deal, get over yourself." She was instead bombarded with –

"No way!"

"He didn't!"

"What a jerk!"

And then it all came rolling out. "I know! He said he was kidding and all of that, but I don't believe any bit of it at all. He was serious! I had spent hours getting ready for our date and he had the nerve to call me fat in my perfectly sleek black dress! Sometimes I just don't know what gets in his head, it's like he undergoes a transformation into a thirteen year old in under two seconds! I try so hard for him, and it seems like it doesn't even matter. And the worst part about it," she paused for effect, "is he didn't even apologize, after I was already in tears. He blamed my sensitivity!" Kagome exclaimed, surprised how close to the truth she had actually stayed.

The girls looked at her with eyes that would put dinner plates to shame. Their hands seemed to be permanently stuck to their mouths. Kagome took a look at them and shrugged, taking a sip of soda.

"This boy really needs to grow a brain." Yuka responded accurately.

Ayumi and Eri nodded in agreement.

"And so do you! You deserve better than him, Kagome. Any guy on the block knows not to call a girl fat after hours of preparation. It's in the country amendments!" Yuka added.

"Well he just isn't any guy off of any block." Kagome muttered, but her friends had not heard her.

"At least don't make the first move now. Wait for him to come crawling back to you with roses in one hand and a bag of his tears in the other." Eri told Kagome assertively.

"Yeah!" the other two yelled in agreement, and Kagome could not stop a large smile from spreading on her face.

"A bag of his tears?" She questioned and laughed in spite herself. The others joined in.

"Well," Eri started defensively, "It was the best I could come up with."

Kagome laughed again, thankful for her friends to turn something that had hurt her so much earlier into something she could laugh about. She looked down at her wrist watch and realized it was already much later than she expected. She gasped and her friend's faces were instantly wiped of smiles.

"You have to go don't you?" Ayumi asked.

"Yes. I promised my mom I'd be home an hour ago for dinner! Oh my head is on the chopping block for sure!" Kagome sprang up with the agility she did not know she possessed.

After several goodbyes, hugs, and "don't you go getting yourself sick again," Kagome was out of the restaurant, heavily weighed down by her books and bags. Already on her way, she stopped and looked back at her friends, who were watching her from the entrance of the restaurant.

She turned around and smiled. Yuka raised a hand in response and called out to her, her words loud and clear despite the rumbling of a car that had just passed.

"You know Kagome, we really miss you! Wish you weren't so sick so often!"

"Yeah, me too!" Kagome yelled back and raised a hand in goodbye.

Eyes downcast, she finally turned, traveling down the rest of the lonely street, the wind beckoning her name.

And so, the second signs had been set into place.

As always please review!

I have to do say I like where this story is going, and I hope you do too! The sexy bachelor finally made an appearance!

So guys, if you don't already know this was just mostly a filler chapter. Things aren't quite as exciting back home, they usually never are.

But do not fret! More action and "signs" as I call them will be in the next chapter, or next few chapters.

Cheers!