Chapter 2
The girl named Kagome
It had been nine years since Inuyasha was released from the hospital with a bright smile on his face. Nine years since he was miraculously cured from his 'curse' of pneumonia. Nine years since he had first heard of the name Kagome Higurashi. And nine years since he had last seen her.
It was odd how the thought of a ghost healing him still bugged him. You would think he would grow out of that thought sometime around elementary school, but no. It still bugged him to this very moment, and he was in high school now.
He had even tried to get it off his mind by talking about it to someone. He had informed his mother about it when he had gotten out of the hospital that day, but she simply disregarded it and told him he was only dreaming.
One time, he had even started to consider it being a dream. And he would have completely followed along with that idea if his conscience hadn't told him to go visit the hospital again. Apparently when he got there, he met up with a nurse who claimed to have spoken with the mystery girl who came to him. This was the only proof that pointed to the fact that she was there.
But even if he had a witness it still didn't make sense.
People don't just fall out of windows and disappear like that. It was impossible!
And all of this still pointed to the thought of her being a ghost... But she seemed so real. So alive at the time. Was it possible for a wandering spirit to be that cheerful and bright?
Inuyasha snapped out of his daze as he stared off into space, all the while sitting on the park bench that was set on school grounds. A gentle breeze billowed around him, playing with his long silver locks as the birds cheerfully chirped to themselves and others.
He still couldn't believe that after all these years he still couldn't figure out if this "Kagome" person were real or not. His gaze didn't falter as his thoughts took over him, staring blankly off into space while the sun shown in his eyes. But he didn't seem to care for the light in his eyes right now.
The hanyou had been so worked up and excited about that encounter that he even told his friends in elementary school about it when he was little... But that was a big mistake.
There was a rustle in the bushes behind him, but he paid no attention to the person who was trying to sneak up on him.
"So, Inuyasha?" his ears twitched a bit at the sound of another male voice, "Thinking about that ghost girl again?" a chuckle escaped the teaser's mouth, causing Inuyasha to get into his irritated mood.
Yup... It was a big mistake to tell Miroku about all of that. He hadn't stopped poking fun at that since he told him.
"Will you shut up!" he shot back, subconsciously throwing a rather weak punch to the dark haired boy's head. Luckily for Miroku, Inuyasha was so out of it that he had missed without caring.
Miroku saw the look of seriousness on his friend's face when he turned his head to face him, "Something the matter?" his eyebrow arching a bit, curiosity had always gotten the better of him.
"Why the heck would there be?" Inuyasha retorted, still staring into the blossoming tree, whose branch was hanging over him. The shadows had fell on top of them when the cottony white clouds had moved out of the way of the sun, letting its radiant glows emanate.
Hmmm.... The sun was shining, a slight breeze was blowing by, and the birds were chirping.... Remind you of something?
It was just like the day that he had gotten out and met her. Days like this always seemed to make him think about that problem even more than usual.
Miroku leaned against edge of the park bench, now gazing upon the beauty of the trees. "You seem a bit out of it," he remarked, answering the hanyou's earlier retort, closing his eyes and feeling the warm winds bind around him. A slight, gentle smile found it's way to the surface.
Inuaysha immediately stopped spacing off when he realized that what Miroku said was absolutely right. And he didn't like it when Miroku was right. He shook his head only slightly so that the pervert wouldn't see and then blinked a couple of times. Damn those early school days! They were starting to take effect on him.
"And what makes you say that?" he couldn't let his friend have the last remark.
"Maybe because you're staring at nothing in the trees," he stifled a yawn a bit from the boring questions and answers. Time to get to the point, "So... Were you thinking about that girl again?"
Inuyasha froze a bit before turning his head to glare and scowl at the nosy boy. It was back to this question again. "No, I said!" he answered boredly yet abruptly. He leaned forward letting his chin rest on his palm, which was no planted on his knee.
Miroku motioned his hands in a way that looked like he had just touched something that was about to blow up, "Ok, ok!" he answered defensively before Inuyasha's fuse burned up. "Just wondering," A sweatdrop was starting to form on the back of his head.
The birds chirped to each other as a plague of silence passed over them. He still hated silences, and Miroku knew that, so he started to whistle a tune that was now commonly heard around the area. And right now Inuyasha wasn't really in the mood for that, he just wanted to be alone right now.
Miroku heard a sigh come from his friend as he felt cold golden eyes glare up at him, "Miroku, why don't yo-"
"Hey you guys!!"
Inuyasha stopped mid-sentence as he heard the object he was focused on talking about come closer.
Miroku looked away from the hanyou and gazed at the girl that was coming towards them. His former gentle smile being abandoned for an over all happy smile. Yes, Sango was definitely a sight to see with her knee-length denim skirt and white blouse. Her low-tied hair was caught in the breeze as the wind began to tease her while she came running for them.
But she had stopped about 10 feet away from them and instead called out, "C'mon you guys! Class is starting soon!" she beckoned to them and held a hand close to the side of her mouth, trying to echo her voice.
"Ok, we'll be right there!" Miroku called and waved back to reply, getting off his seat as he watched Sango take off.... Or more like watch her bottom. This guy would never change. Nor would his thoughts or focus when it came to women, or just one certain woman.
"Dirty pervert," Inuyasha mumbled under his breath, his eyes were narrowed at Miroku.
"Now, now, Inuyasha," he calmed with his hands in front of him. "No need to be jealous, but sorry! Sango's taken." He announced with a smile on his face. His friend was now arching en eyebrow at him with a confused look on his face.
"She's going out with you?" The hanyou asked inquisitively, the eyebrow still arched on his forehead. That didn't sound like Sango. Miroku had asked her out several times and each time it was the same answer of "No".
"No..." Miroku faked a sad expression on his face, "But she will be!" The smile revived on his features as Inuyasha stared at him with a blank look. How much self-confidence could he get?
A lot when it came to Miroku.
"Coughconcieteddirtypervertcough" Inuyasha coughed, a fist in front of his mouth to add to the look of real coughing. But nobody could have missed what he said.
"If you say so Inuyasha," Miroku turned away from him, unfazed from his name calling, he was pretty much used to it by now. The standing boy then started to walk towards the tall, white school building, following Sango's previous trail as he waved a hand back at Inuyasha, "You might wanna hurry up with your thinking! And say 'hi' to the ghost girl for me if you see her!" he called back as he entered through the double doors and out of sight.
The hanyou turned away from the entrance with a frown and continued his earlier scrutiny of the tree branches that hung above him. The birds were still chirping while one of them came down to perch itself on the park bench.
He took note of this as it began to sing a few seconds later. Isolated rays of light started to shine upon him as the sun tried to peak through the blossoms on the trees. It was going to be beautiful today. But he couldn't help but wonder why.
It was usually raining in these areas nowadays. The forecast had predicted an 80 percent chance of rain today and yet the sunny side still won over this area. Sure it made him feel a bit happy that today would be different (and water wouldn't get in his ears). But there was still something that was troubling him.
Something just didn't feel right. Something in the back of his head was telling him that something unexpected was going to happen today.... But what?
The bird ceased its singing and flew off into the blossom filled branches, leaving Inuyasha alone in eerie silence. The other birds had stopped chirping and flew off somewhere as the hanyou's golden orbs struck gazes at them.
Looked like the birds didn't like him today..... Had they ever?
Well, there was that one exception of when he was little and in the hospital.
The silver haired boy let out a sigh as he got up from his seat. Class would be starting any minute now and if he was late he would piss off sensei. Which in turn would piss him off. And so all hell would break loose after that.
This wouldn't be the first time that would happen anyway.
The wind continued to dance around him as he watched some flower petals swirl around in circles while he walked passed them and entered the school building.
Today was going to be one interesting day.
Class had started only minutes ago. And today was just like any school day.
And every school day started out with the teacher, Takada-sensei, being late.
Inuyasha leaned his chin against his palm, which was rested on the smooth surface of his desk. Several books and papers were littered on the surface, but he didn't seem to care. In fact he never did care for cleanliness. He'd always left everything where he damn felt like it.
He heard Miroku pull up his chair at the desk behind him and take his seat, while Sango did the same at the desk beside the pervert. Yup, today was just like any regular day.
But all that was just about to change.
Inuyasha felt his downy, doggy ears twitch as the sliding door to the room slowly opened up. He checked the clock momentarily before he realized something.
He felt Miroku lean forward across his desk as he whispered, "Sensei broke the record for 15 minutes," he informed with a tone that practically said, 'Oh-my-gosh-what's-wrong-with-her?!'
The hanyou nodded in agreement and disregarded it, in favor of staring out the window and impatiently tapping his clawed hands against the desk's surface. Seconds ticked away with each tap while the teacher was talking with someone outside the hallway.
Nobody could see who it was since sensei had only opened the door with a small crack to allow sound to flow out. A few moments passed until she finally closed it and let herself in completely
Sango waited patiently as she unpacked her books out of her bag slowly and quietly. All the while watching the middle-aged, female teacher walk over to her desk and setting a rather thick pile of papers on top. That must have been tonight's homework.
'Joy' Both Miroku and Inuyasha thought at the same time with just the same amount of sarcasm.
The other boys and girls in the classroom waited for sensei to unpack everything as her long, curly brown locks bounced with each movement until she finally set her glasses in front of her eyes and made her way to the front of them room.
The first thing she did was clap her hands together as a wide, giddy smile grew upon her features.
What the heck was she so happy about?
"Good morning class!" she started off in her un-sleepy like, sugar coated tone. It was a bit frustrating to hear such a perky voice so early in the morning. Well to Inuyasha anyway. He considered 9:00 in the morning rather early to start a school day.
"Good morning," the students replied with either bored tones or partially happy tones. But none of them even qualified to rival against Takada-sensei's overly perky tone.
Her smile grew brighter and she clapped her hands again. "It's so good to see all of you so bright and ready to learn, but first thing's first." She paused and picked up a purple piece of paper from her thinner stack on top of the podium.
Inuyasha heard murmurs echo across the room as she did so. When she picked up a paper of that color before she started lessons it meant someone was in deep trouble, or something good was about to happen.
"Hmmm.... Yes, well," she mumbled as she looked over the information she already knew, re-reading it again to make sure. "It seems that we have a new student transferring in today," she concluded other people's suspicions while at the same time relieving the troubled souls of some.
But then after a while of those few mumbles, the news finally started sinking in.
Wow, they were getting a new classmate. They couldn't help but think about that. In fact it had been a long time since they received one. So far the last transfer student had been Kikyo, and she came to them about a year ago. Usually transfers would come up more often then you would think, but nowadays it seemed like people didn't want to come to this school.
"Is this person a girl?" Miroku rang out, disturbing Inuyasha's thoughts in the process. Everybody in the classroom stared at him as silence washed over them. They all knew that Miroku was completely fond of girls, but of all the questions to ask first thing in the morning.
Takada-sensei took a moment to check the sheet, even though they all knew that she knew the answer already. She just liked to play dumb sometimes.
"Yes, she is a girl," she answered, looking up from the form as more questions about the new girl rang in.
Inuyasha stayed silent and ignored the interrogation as he looked around the room. The hanyou lifted his head off his palm in wonder as his eyes wandered. If there were a new student there would have to be an empty seat for her to sit at. He continued to scrutinize the large room, searching for the empty seat in question.
Although, it took a while until he finally realized that the only empty seat was the one that was placed right beside him and in front of Sango.
His chin landed in his palm again with a huff as the information registered. 'Great,' he thought as his eyes shifted from place to place around the room, 'This girl is gonna be bothering me, or Sango, if she's confused,'
The hanyou wasn't very fond of new kids. They would always pester the old people... ok, not old people... The more informed kids, for directions and whatnot. And continually explaining it over and over again would always frustrate him and make him want to throw them out the window or something just as equally violent.
"Now, now," The teacher held her hands in front of her face, much like the expression that Miroku had used earlier that morning. "If you want to know all this information why don't you just ask her and make your judgements yourself," she calmed as all the students began to quiet down.
The moment of truth was coming.
"Now, may I introduce, Miss-"
Inuyasha shifted his eyes towards the door, waiting for the new, and probably clueless, girl to walk in.
"Kagome Higurashi,"
The hanyou's eyes shot open and widened at the sound of that name as the door slowly slid open. But he didn't have a chance to see her face. He was so overwhelmed by this surprise that he didn't even notice that his elbow had slipped, causing him to crash onto the floor and out of his seat in bewilderment.
'WHAT?!'
AN: Heh-heh! Hello everyone! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Sorry this was a bit short, but I wanted to hold off the Kagome's full introduction till next chapter. So I'll try my best to get that up as quickly as I can.
If there are any questions you need answered just post them in your review and I'll make sure to answer them. If I don't answer them, then it will probably be answered in a later chapter.
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