Hikaru Mitsukai: Well, here I am, again. If you're thinking that I sound kinda down, you're right, my exams are starting tomorrow, but for you lovely people at fanfiction, I finished up my second chapter, and I have to admit something. I really didn't know what was going to happen in this chapter, it's part of this phenomenon that I have now termed "Spontaniata Fingata" more commonly known as spontaneous fingers. My chapters might take long to come out because my computer refuses to let me use the Internet (Bad Eriol-chan), so I use my next-door neighbour's/cousin's Internet access. But enough of my useless chatter and on with the story...
Disclaimer: Must I do this for every chapter? sighs here goes, I don't own Inuyasha, although I wish I did, and I am so poor that I don't even have any of the merchandise, and the one book of manga I do have was a Christmas present. So suing me won't do any good...
Chasing A Far Away Dream
Chapter 2: Welcome to Chaos High
The sun shone brightly on that fine day, the day that Kagome had to go to school in a new school. She didn't look remotely bothered although everyone thought that she was probably on the brink of tears inside. It was now Monday and in a new city, with a new life, a new school and a new attitude, she decided that nothing else would go better with that than a pair of brand new...shoes? Ever since that trip to the grocery store on Saturday, she seemed a whole lot better; almost as good as she was when her father was still alive. She regained most of her fire, her passion, the things that made and defined Higurashi Kagome. The girl with the fiery passion.
The car ride had been so cheerful compared to the one that brought them to Tokyo. With Kagome practically fully recovered from the sting of her father's death, and Souta brimming to the top with his boyish charm, what more could Mrs. Higurashi ask for?
Kagome's new school loomed into view and then all noise was drained from the family car. The school building was huge and spanking clean. There were so many students, it was hard to keep track as each wave of students seemed to be replaced by another in the blink of an eye.
She instantly knew why she was here. At birth, it had been discovered that she had holy powers, thus making her a miko. She trained with her father, who had been trained at that renowned institute, so she at least had a rough idea of how to keep her powers in check, although, actually using them was a different story.
Sure, she knew all about channeling her miko power through the arrow...in theory. She would've learned how to actually do it if her father hadn't taken sick. Stupid cancer, always ruining somebody's parade. Well, there's no time like the present to learn, right?
Kagome got out of the car and waved her family goodbye before taking a deep breath and walking up to the large stone steps. No sooner had she gotten to the door, silence engulfed the crowd and then murmurs broke out. Everyone started to whisper to their neighbor who nodded their heads and then confirmed whatever had been said. She knew that this was bound to happen, but our dear Kagome had yet to figure out that this had something she did (or didn't do rather) on a certain trip to the grocery store.
Having been privately orientated on the Sunday, she prided herself on knowing where to go. She made her way over to her locker and began to put books inside it, when she felt a hand firmly planted on her behind. At first she stiffened in shock, then a blush crept across her face. She had never had this kind of bodily contact before because the folks in Onoda were kind enough to keep their hands to themselves and they never were that bold either. Damn Tokyo lechers.
After not moving for a couple of minutes, she turned around and stared into a pair of dark violet eyes. It was one of the guys from Saturday. He smiled seductively at her and as a response; she went into the fight-or-flight mode and decided that at that moment in time, it would be a better time for flight. She jumped to her right and hit into something hard like a wall, except it was breathing. 'Breathing? What the...walls don't breathe!' she told herself as someone's hot breath twirled the hairs near her ear.
She turned her head and found herself looking at the person's neck. She looked past the jaw and stared into a pair of fierce golden-amber eyes again. Would they be destined to meet like this all the time? That was something to ponder on later, at the moment, she was staring into the eyes of a very pissed hanyou.
She heard him growl and then decided that it would be smart to remove herself from his person and jumped backwards, where she hit into yet another solid form. Was this the way that people in Tokyo met each other? Because if it was, she had a few million more to run into. 'Life never gets tired of playing jokes on me.' she thought as she turned to see another neck. This time, she looked up into a pair of icy blue eyes attached to the face of a person who didn't seem to mind her presence on his body.
Her eye twitched as she scoped out her situation: two perverts and a killer in the making, now that is an interesting combination. She was about to leave this scary triangle when a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist, pressing her closer against the owner's body, which was undoubtedly the boy with the blue eyes. He resting his chin on her forehead and began to hug her very tightly.
He sighed and looked down at her smiling, which for some unknown reason sent chills down her spine.
"You are perfect." he said in a contented voice, hugging her like a little child would a teddy bear except with a much more murderous grip. This statement more than confused Kagome as she tried to piece it together, obviously not getting anywhere.
"Perfect? Perfect for what?" was her simple reply to his statement. What he said next, was but the icing on the cake of her already horrifying day. It was just one surprise after another, first the lecher, then the future serial killer, but what he said, just took said iced cake.
"Perfect for what?" he screeched as if it was the most stupid question he ever heard; as if the answer was ever so obvious. She looked to the faces surrounding her for clues, but they were of no help. The hanyou just rolled his eyes and looked away and the lecher was just giving the offending boy a Would-you-drop-dead-already? look. "I'll tell you what you're perfect for. You're perfect for being my woman. Mine and only mi..."
"WHAAAT?!" she yelled into his face. Yup, there is no way in hell that the men in Onoda were as...straight forward as the ones in Tokyo. At least they knew what they wanted, but this was just insane.
"ARE YOU INSANE? I JUST GET HERE AND YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST UP AND CLAIM ME AS YOUR WOMAN? JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"
He smirked at her question and let her go. Her eye was twitching horribly now and it was just funny to watch many of the passers-by had decided. Even the hanyou and the lecher were just waiting to see her reaction when he answered her question.
The surrounding crowd was silent with anticipation as he ran a hand through his long black hair. He opened his eyes and looked into his woman's eyes, his smirk growing wider with each passing second.
"My name is Nakajima Kouga, son of the great business youkai Nakajima Shisou."
Kagome seemed unmoved by his little introduction. By the looks of it, she looked absolutely clueless, with her eyebrow raised and a look that just said And-you-are...?
"This helps me...how?"
Everyone was shocked, but not as shocked as Kouga was right then. The look on his face was priceless. His eyes were bulging out of their sockets and his mouth was slightly open; obviously it had to be a big deal if it managed to get that sort of reaction. 'Really, people here are so stupid. All I did was ask him how it helps and he's acting as if I asked him if he was a guy or not.' she thought to herself, finally aware of all the pairs of eyes on her. They all had the same expression as Kouga's.
She looked back to Kouga and realized that his facial expression had changed from one of complete shock to one of outrage. He flicked some of his shiny black hair off of his shoulder, and then she realized something. He wasn't glaring at her, no, he couldn't be, because his eyes were looking at someone behind her, and that someone was laughing their head off.
Turning her head in the direction that everyone was now looking, she saw the hanyou laughing hysterically, tears rolling down his cheeks as his hearty laughter filled the air. Soon, the lecher started to snicker, and then joined the hanyou on the ground rolling around and clutching his stomach. The crowd also began laughing, either at the two on the ground or the one who was glaring at them.
Kouga turned and stomped off, calling out for someone to follow. Kagome followed Kouga with her eyes and then saw a girl with long silver hair and golden-amber eyes and a pair of furry triangles on top of her head smiling at her. Kouga stopped and turned to stare at the girl who was smiling at Kagome.
"I said come woman, are you deaf?!" he barked out to the girl. She blushed slightly when she realized that she was being addressed and ran to Kouga's side. He rolled his eyes, shook his head and started off again, this time with the girl by his side. She looked back, and waved at Kagome, who waved back at the smiling girl, who in turn gave Kagome an even bigger smile.
'She's a hanyou, just like that guy that I ran into on Saturday. I wonder if they're related. Maybe I'll ask her when I see her again. Yeah, I'll do that.' She turned to look at the hanyou and the lecher, who were now getting up off the ground. They wiped the tears from their eyes and broke into another laughing fit, earning them a few strange looks.
The bell rang and one by one, the crowd began to thin. Kagome decided that it would be best if she was not late for her first homeroom and left as well. After a few minutes of struggling to remember where to go, she finally found her homeroom.
She pushed the door open a looked in, everyone was busy talking to the people around them to notice her presence. Stepping in, she had the feeling that she was being watched, and turned to her right to stare into the eyes of the smiling hanyou.
"Ohayo. You must be the new girl." Her voice was very soft as if she was afraid of being overheard. Yup, the people in Tokyo were very interesting.
"Hai, I'm Higurashi Kagome, who are you?"
"I'm Inori Kati, but my friends call me Ki-chan for short."
"Don't you mean Kouga-sama calls you Ki-chan, because the last time I checked, you didn't have any friends in this school." Kagome watched as Kitai closed her eyes and clenched her fists, making her knuckles white. She took deep calming breaths before responding.
"Can it Kikyo." A shrill and cocky laugh came as a reply to her demand.
"Make me, Ki-chan. Or will you call Kouga-sama for me?"
"I said can it."
"And I said, make me half breed."
That last comment really did the trick as Kitai's eyes flew open, about to respond when the sensei walked in. Obviously, this was very normal if the sensei stared straight past Kagome and Kitai and into a pair of cold stormy eyes. He sighed and immediately began to rub his temples to alleviate the impending migraine.
"Kikyo, must you start this so early in the morning?" he asked, but received no response, just a cold glare. She huffed and stormed off, but not before Kagome could catch a glimpse of her face. With eerily identical features to her own, she smartly concluded that this was the same look-a-like from Saturday.
The sensei shook his head and walked to his desk in the front of the class, and began to clear his throat. The class immediately became silent. 'He must be something if they shut up because he cleared his throat. Probably a strict disciplinarian, or something like that.' she thought and nodded to herself in agreement.
He stood up and smiled, bringing some youth back to his features. His salt and pepper hair was messy but orderly at the same time, as if every disorderly strand had a specific place and they couldn't move no matter how much he did. His dark brown eyes were currently closed as he addressed his form.
"Today, we have a new student," he turned to her and smiled, "would you like to give us a little information about yourself?"
Obviously, he wasn't asking her for her opinion, which seemed unfortunate as she took a few steps forward then turned to face her new classmates. She immediately spotted Kitai who was giving her that infectious smile, seemingly recovered from the brawl that had ended a couple of minutes ago. This silent encouragement gave her the courage to open her mouth and speak.
"My name is Higurashi Kagome. I'm 15 years-old and I just moved here from Onoda in Hiroshima." She turned to the sensei who nodded approvingly at her short and simple introduction. At least she wasn't the type who loved to blab on about themselves like most of his students.(a/n: coughcoughKikyocoughcough)
"Domo arigatou for that lovely short introduction of yourself Ms. Higurashi, you will be seated behind Inori Kitai. Kitai, please raise your hand for Ms. Higurashi. Domo."
Kagome quickly seated herself behind her newfound friend and began to take notes in one of her least favourite classes: math.
Kagome quickly jogged to her English class. Up 'till now, she still had no idea why she had to do English with a bunch of 17 year-olds, but, then again, life had a really funny sense of humour when it came to her.
She entered the classroom and looked around and found a seat. So far so good, you're probably thinking right? It would've been, if the only seat not taken was nestled snugly between the lecher and Kouga and right in front of the hanyou. Life just keeps getting better for this girl, doesn't it?
The sensei walked in and everyone went to their seat, that's when her presence was finally acknowledged.
"Ah, Kagome-chan, how are you?" a voice to her left asked suddenly.
"Gah! How, do you know my name?"
"I have my ways Kag-chan. But enough about that, let's talk about our plans for the future."
'Plans for the future? What is it with this guy?' she thought, as she smiled nervously at Kouga, who was grinning seductively at her. Thankfully, the sensei came to her rescue.
"Class, today, we have a new student. Her name is Higurashi Kagome if I remember correctly," She turned to look at the slightly disturbed Kagome and continued, "am I right dear?"
Kagome nodded weakly and mumbled a faint "Hai, sensei." The sensei clapped her hands happily and beamed at the girl.
"Well, if I'm not mistaken, you'd have to be very good at English to be doing it at this level. So I was wondering," she said as she began to speak in English instead of Japanese, "if you could say a few lines in English for us so that I can assess your skill in order to teach you properly. So, what do you think?"
Kagome grinned and started in perfect English that stunned everyone in the class.
"Why, I'd love to Ms. ..."
"Horibuchi, dear, Ms. Horibuchi." She squealed in delight at how well versed Kagome was with the English language. This was the best thing to happen in her life since she got married. And that was twenty years ago.
"Yes, well, as I was saying Ms. Horibuchi, I'd be happy to."
The woman beamed at Kagome with tears in her eyes; she was just that happy. She wiped away her tears, and put her hand over her mouth trying to think of what to figure of this 15 yr-old who was so well versed with the English language.
"Oh my, Inuyasha my dear, it seems that Kagome may be better in English than you are."
Kagome heard a soft "Keh." behind her and she turned to look at the person seated behind her, which was of course the hanyou Inuyasha. He closed his eyes and smirked, his arms folded across his chest and his feet up on his desk.
"It's a pity she won't be able to put that English to use." He opened his eyes and stared at the girl who resembled his good friend Kikyo. He remembered the run in with her on Saturday, and judging by the sparkle in her eye, she was feeling much better.
He really wanted to know what could make one person so sad, and then make them so happy right afterwards. 'Who cares how she got better, the point is she's...better...right? What the fuck is wrong with me? Who cares about some wench and her fucking mood swings? Keh, damn wench.' he thought as he stared into those beautiful blue orbs that belonged to the girl standing in front if him.
Kagome cocked her head to a side in confusion while Inuyasha continued to glare at her. He was scowling, but his aura seemed to be indecisive, as if wondering what to think of her. She was pretty much unaware that all eyes were on her, and that Horibuchi-sensei was asking her what was wrong, because all her attention was focused on the pair of golden-amber eyes she was beginning to get lost in. But she decided that even though he had beautiful eyes, that didn't give him the right to burn holes in her.
"Is your face stuck like that, or is there a problem?" she asked in a cold tone. His eyes narrowed slightly, but he gave no reply. He just continued to stare into her eyes, which had called for his unwavering attention.
He secretly admired the way they sparkled and shone, much like those of a young child. And they weren't just the same shade of blue all over, but seemed to have different shades in strategic points, if you could call them that, giving them a sense of depth and understanding. That's when he realised that he was staring into the eyes of a caring person.
Kagome inwardly frowned when he didn't respond to her question, but just kept staring at her, as if he was trying to see into her soul with those miniature suns he had for eyes. She didn't mind really, she just wished that she hadn't snapped at him the way she did. His eyes never moved and he never blinked, he just focused on one point of her face, which she realized to be her eyes.
Eyes are supposed to be the windows to the soul, right? So what if those windows could be closed? These were the thoughts that ran through Kagome's mind at that moment, as she looked Inuyasha in the eye, keeping rather long eye contact. His eyes seemed to convey a sense of secrecy, as if he were carrying around a huge burden, which he didn't want anyone to know of. It was easily sensed in his aura. You could see it in the way he acted. His problem was his, and his alone. The boy with the unsolvable problem.
"You might want to sit down." he said suddenly, startling her. He was no longer scowling, but his face wasn't exactly one that belonged to a caring person. She blushed when she realized that she had been staring, and then realized that everyone was looking at her, causing her face to become a deep scarlet colour.
"Now Mr. Nemura, if you could please refrain from starting staring contests, I will begin with my lesson."
"Keh."
"Domo, now in today's lesson...." Her voice began to trail off as Kagome continued to think of those golden-amber eyes, blushing indiscreetly as she tried futilely to pay attention in class.
Kagome looked around in search of a place to eat her lunch, when she spotted a huge oak tree, not too far from where she was standing. She walked over, but what she didn't know was that someone in the tree was watching her with their fierce golden-amber eyes.
"This looks like a good spot," she commented to no one in particular, "it has a lot of shade and the grass isn't too bad." She shrugged and sat down next to one of the protruding branches, taking out her lunch box and leaning back onto the tough bark of the tree.
Kagome thought back on the day so far: she made one friend, two perverted admirers and one enemy, or at least she thought so. She wasn't really sure about the enemy part; she was really confused about the way he acted towards her. One minute he was angry with her, the next he had an attitude of indifference.
With a weary sigh, she began to eat her lunch when someone approached her. Someone sat down right next to Kagome, their bright aura lighting up the already tired Kagome. Turning her head slightly, she noticed the silver hair and thought immediately of Inuyasha. One full day hadn't even passed yet and she was already a lovesick puppy.
"Hey Kagome, whatcha doing?" the person asked in a cheery female voice.
"Eating my lunch, Ki-chan, so what brings you here?"
Kitai's already bright smile seemed to brighten more to Kagome; it was the least she could do for her new friend, but something began to bother Kagome. She wasn't quite sure what it was, but she had the feeling that she was being watched. This sudden change in Kagome's facial expression worried Kitai somewhat.
"What's the matter Kagome?"
"I dunno, I just feel like we're being watched, that's all."
"Oh. That, it's just your miko senses telling you a youkai is nearby, or it could just be Inuyasha, because this is his tree."
"Inu...yasha?"
"Yuppers, this is Inuyasha's tree; right Inuyasha?" she suddenly asked the tree branches. For a while, there was no response, then a soft thud caused Kagome to look to her right.
"Keh, took you long enough. Just what kind of miko are you anyway?"
Kagome didn't respond, she just sat there wondering if he had been there the whole time, which he most likely was. Many things flooded her mind right then, but that one thought stuck like glue.
"How long were you there?"
He rolled his eyes and walked off, leaving Kagome a bit hurt, but then she remembered something; the thing that may have ticked him off in the first place.
"Inuyasha, I'm sorry." She sat there half expecting him to just continue walking, but he didn't, he just froze. If he hadn't been backing her, she would've been seen the stunned look on his face. He mentally shrugged it off and replaced his mask of indifference before he went back to functioning normally.
"For what?"
"Saturday. I'm sorry that I walked into you and didn't apologize. I was a little out of it I guess, so I'm sorry, I didn't mean for us to get off on a bad foot, so I'm saying it now. I'm sorry. So am I forgiven?"
"Keh. It doesn't mean that I like you though." he replied harshly. He stalked off and eventually vanished, but for Kagome, it was enough.
"Kirara. Kirara? KIRARA! WHERE ARE YOU?" a young woman with dark brown hair screeched. She ran around a rather messy apartment looking for a certain two-tailed neko youkai we all know and love.
She had searched the apartment three times already and this was going to the fourth time and counting and as she was about to call the police, the apartment door swung open.
"Hey Sango, I was thinking of going out to get some Chinese and I was wondering if you wanted to...come?"
Sango grinned sheepishly at the black haired figure in the door, who had just dropped some bags on the floor. Her dark brown eyes quickly swept the apartment and her eyes were wide as her mouth hung open slightly.
"Hehe, hi Rin."
"Sango?"
"Yees?"
"Whose apartment is this?"
"Ano...yours?"
"No, try again."
"No, I'm pretty sure that this is your apartment because I didn't leave while you were gone."
"I can see that, but it might not take a whole hour to wreck one apartment so..."
"It's yours Rin."
Rin hauled her small form out of the doorway to trudge through the mess and grab onto to Sango's shoulders. Her face had a distant look of dismay and she looked dazed. Then she just let go and sat down on the partially mutilated sofa and ran her hands through her short hair.
"There is a good explanation behind this I trust."
"I was looking for Kirara."
Rin took her attention off the little bit of carpet she could see and looked at Sango with furrowed eyebrows.
"Kirara?"
"Mm-hm." Sango replied as she sat down next to Rin with the phone still in her hand. It was her turn to stare into space with a blank look on her face. She felt Rin's hand rubbing circles on her shoulder and she could feel the sympathy in every complete revolution Rin's hand made. The taijiya thought of everyone who was slipping away from her: Kohaku, who had just died from his brief illness, her father who decides to go to America in search of a better life (that's why she lives with Rin), Kirara, who runs away when she was needed most and Kagome who moved to Tokyo when her father...
"Kagome."
"Is in Tokyo."
"No. Kagome may have Kirara."
"And how did we come up with this brilliant idea?"
"Remember how I was saying that I didn't want her to leave because she would be lonely?"
"Yeah."
"So maybe, just maybe, Kirara went to keep her company."
"You maybe onto something there." Rin said as she momentarily paused in her comforting of Sango to think while Sango was busy dialling a number on the phone. But it wasn't the police she was calling; it was the residence of a certain family by the name of Higurashi...
Kagome looked around nervously as she realised what they had to do. The one thing that she couldn't. Connect miko power to her arrow. This was a moment she was dreading for the past fifteen minutes and there was no one to ease her mind. And it was now her turn.
Here she was at this prestigious school and she couldn't even do what they considered to be "basic skills". She stood there for a minute, flaunting her elegant form, and swallowed hard trying to remember what her father had taught her.
'Emotions into bow? Or was it let the bow be your emotions? Urgh, I can't remember. Who cares what it is, I don't. I'm trusting my otou-san on this one.'
"Excuse me Higurashi, but we don't have all day you know, we have to watch more expert archers like myself show you commoners how it's done."
Kagome narrowed her eyes and almost tried to shoot Kikyo with the arrow before she mentally scolded herself over and over again, then all of a sudden, his voice popped into her head.
"Channel your emotions through the arrow; let your spirit control you. Find that one thing in life that you love...and reach out to it with your spirit, capture and hold it with your spirit; and never let go."
Kagome's eyes were closed as she tried to find that one thing, but there were too many options and as she just thought of love and she thought of her father. But it was nothing compared to the intense feeling she got, when her mind's eye finally rested on Inuyasha.
All at once, she was entranced by the colour of his eyes. Everything around her seemed to slip away, her existence was no longer of that world, but of a fantasy realm, where everything was perfect and just the way she liked it.
She didn't see when her fingers gently lifted off her bow and arrow, letting the arrow fly with great force. She had no idea that everyone was gawking when it was covered by a deep blue purple energy. Her soul was at peace and it was floating away from her as she lazily opened her eyes to watch as the miko power covered arrow plough through the target and get stuck halfway.
It took her a while to come back to earth, but when she did, it was worth it. The lecher had just dragged Inuyasha in to see what the girls were up to, and when they saw the arrow, their eyes bulged, but when they saw Kagome, their mouths dropped. Kouga walked in not too long after and his face was the same as the two before him.
Kikyo was dumfounded to say the least and so was everyone else, but she couldn't care less, she just did it. And she wasn't the only one to realize that. Now that she had come back to earth, she realised that everyone was either staring at her or her arrow.
"Wow Kagome, I never knew that you were that good."
"Well, I'm not really that good, because, to tell you the truth," Kagome said, leaning into Kitai to make sure that only she heard what was to be said next, and that her voice was barely above a whisper, "it was the first time I did that."
Kitai's eyes opened wide in shock and stared at Kagome unbelievingly. She looked at the young miko in front of her, then at the arrow (which was still embedded in the target) and then back to Kagome.
Obviously, she wasn't the only one who heard and didn't believe it, for as soon as Kagome was about to say something else, a yell cut her off.
"NO WAY IN HELL THAT WAS HER FIRST TIME. IT JUST CAN'T BE." a male voice shouted, and there was only one person that the voice could have possibly belonged to. Inuyasha.
Kagome looked at him with wide eyes, while everyone looked at her. He quickly realised what he just did and shut up, diverting his gaze to Kagome's face to see her reaction. It was a mix between shock, embarrassment and hurt.
"I knew it was too good to be true. So what? They don't teach you how to connect miko power to an arrow in the south? Figures. You could never be as good as me...never."
"You're right Kikyo, she'll never be as good; she'll just be better, that's all."
All eyes were suddenly directed to an old woman who hobbled out of the shadows with a gray patch covering her right eye. Kagome looked around at all the stunned faces as she wondered who this mysterious woman was. Kikyo shrunk away as the woman hobbled further into the light, revealing a quiver full of arrows slung over her shoulder.
"Ka-ka-kaede-baba, how's your...eye?" she stuttered, her eyes still fixated on the old woman who was now standing in the middle of the crowd. Kagome looked around and her eyes landed on Kitai, whose jaw was hanging open and her golden eyes bulging out of their sockets.
"Ano...Ki-chan, who is that woman?" Kagome asked softly, knowing that no matter how softly she spoke, Kitai would always be able to hear her. But apparently, not today. Kitai just stood stock still, although she somehow managed to close her mouth. From all of the attention she was getting, you think that the woman was a supermodel or someone of great importance or fame, not some old woman with an eye patch.
"That's Kaede-baba." a masculine voice behind her mumbled. Kagome visibly jumped as she felt the person's hot breath tousle the hairs tucked behind her ear. At first she thought it was Kouga, but when she turned and saw Inuyasha, she almost fainted from shock. Suddenly, his lips formed a smirk which Kagome instantly knew she hated.
"Startled you did I? I'm so sorry, I forgot that you're just a miko who can't control her powers yet."
Kagome growled at him when she realized that he was...in essence...right, but he didn't need to know that. She continued to glare at him when a random thought struck her, and before she could stop herself, she just had to ask him:
"Just what were you doing so close to me any way?"
Inuyasha's eyes widened slightly when Kagome finished her question and a slight blush crept across his face and he took a couple steps back. Kouga and Miroku popped out of nowhere and they stood between the two staring at one and then at the next.
"Yes Inuyasha, what were you doing so close to my woman?"
"I am NOT your woman." Kagome said, her eye beginning to twitch horribly like it did that same morning. It didn't help when Kouga embraced her and brought their lips dangerously close.
"Of course you are Kagome-chan, you don't have to deny what you feel for me in front of the mutt and his good buddy the lecher, Miroku."
"I do if I don't have feelings for you, Kouga." she stated through gritted teeth. A few yards away from this little scene, Kaede had finally managed to make her way over to Kitai.
"Ah Kitai, how are you?"
"Fine Kaede-san, how's your eye?"
"I'm good, nothing that those people down at the hospital can't do. I'm convinced. So how is Kouga treating you?"
Kitai paused for a moment and glanced over to where Kouga was holding Kagome in a tight embrace and refusing to let go despite pleads from Miroku that she might die from lack of oxygen. Her face faltered slightly, just enough for Kaede to notice, before plastering a huge smile on her face and turning back to look at Kaede.
"He's treating me just fine." she finally answered. If it had been any other person, she might have pulled it off, but she knew she could never pull a fast one on Kaede, she was just too smart.
"If you know that you can't lie to me, why try? You might be able to pull it off with Kouga, gods know he could use with his senses sharpened, but not with me. We'll talk about this later." And with that Kaede walked off, past Kouga and Kagome, and right through the door.
Was it because he was a youkai? Or maybe they were expecting him to make the first move. Whatever the reason, he couldn't be bothered because he felt that someone was coming along soon. He didn't believe in that "There's someone for everyone" nonsense, but he couldn't help but feel it inside him. As if he were expecting someone special, that perfect someone that he always saw in the movies or read of in books.
The one he would ultimately fall for and cherish for the rest of his life. Like his father cherished his mother. He snorted and smiled to himself. How could someone who didn't believe in love ever cherish someone that much? Maybe there was no hope for him. Maybe he would just die an old man who would be unable to say that he had fallen deeply in love, not even experiencing the brief high of infatuation with a woman.
But even as these thoughts passed through his head, he couldn't help but feel that expectancy burning his very soul telling him that he wasn't hopeless and that there was someone out there who was waiting for him. Someone whom he would eventually make his mate.
Kagome stepped out onto the steps of her new school. It would take some adjusting to, but she didn't mind it all that much. Tokyo was definitely different to Onoda, but it was an pleasant difference...well, an almost pleasant difference when she thought of her brief encounter with Miroku's wandering hands. Really, and he was supposed to be a Buddhist monk?
A honking horn broke her train of thought as she looked down and saw her mother's smiling face, and Souta poking his head through the space between the two front seats to catch a glimpse of Kagome's new school, even if he had seen it that morning.
Hopping into the front seat, Kagome told her mother of all the things she had done for the day, not forgetting to mention when she connected miko power to her arrow for the first time. Nothing could get that enormous smile off Mrs. Higurashi's face, and for a moment, Nadeshiko marveled at how Kagome had managed to get back to normal so quickly, not noticing the tears that threatened to fall as Kagome desperately wished that her father had been able to see her, or even hear her retell the tale. All that Kagome had to console her aching heart was his gentle and reassuring voice saying "You don't know how proud I am of you, Kag." in her head.