Disclaimer: I am never going to own InuYasha or any of the characters (Sad, ain't it?).
A/N: Well, I've gotten a fair amount of stuff done for English, so my reward was getting to write/edit this. Yay for me! :D It looks long, but it's actually a little shorter than usual. Oh well. I'll try to make the next one longer. Also, you'll probably notice that I use the honorifics (things like san, kun, ect.) randomly. Yeah, it's usually based on my mood and also how it sounds. InuYasha-kun, now that just sounds odd. :P Takes away a little of his bad-assedness, you know? ;)
As Day Turns to Night
Chapter 4-Nuisances
The walk to his house was considerably less awkward that day, at least in one respect. It almost seemed like Kagome had prepared questions in advance to avoid the same silence that'd befallen them previously. InuYasha didn't exactly appreciate it, though.
"So what's your favourite number?" she asked.
"Twenty-seven," InuYasha replied, a bored look in his eyes.
"What do you like to eat?"
"Anything that isn't good for me."
"Favourite animal?" He had to think for a moment about that one.
"Anything but a dog. A cat. I like cats," he decided.
"Really? I have a cat. His name's Buyo and he's super cute!" she gushed.
"Swell," he responded rather dully.
"What'd you like to do in your free time?"
"Work, work, and more work." Kami, was she ever going to shut up?
"That's it?" Her expression changed to one of surprise then.
"Yep." The ground was unusually interesting to him today.
"No clubs? Sports? Anything like that?"
"Nope." That was a nice rock.
"Oh. Do you like movies?" Kagome tried to change the subject.
"Not particularly." Oh, and a bug.
"Oh. So, really? I mean, all you do is school work?"
"Well, on occasion I hang out with a pervert." InuYasha hoped that that would shut her up, but it didn't.
"What?"
"Yep. I like to think of it as community service." He was more involved in the conversation now, but there still were a lot of nice rocks around.
"...How is that community service?" Kagome inquired, extremely confused.
"I rehabilitate him and keep women safe from his happy hands at the same time." Well, sometimes he kept them safe, but Miroku was pretty damn persistent.
"Okay then."
"Mhm."
"Um, do you know what you want to do after you graduate?" She was grasping at straws then.
"Go to university and get a degree so I can have a high-paying job that I don't really care about," he told her honestly.
"Oh. You're quite the cynic, aren't you?"
"That's as good a word as any." By this point, they were walking up his drive, and InuYasha was shocked, showing more emotion than he had all day, when he saw the door opening to reveal his brother standing smugly on the other side, though he really should have expected as much.
"Well, hello. If it isn't the two lovebirds," Kagome giggled nervously at that while InuYasha just scowled. "Come on in, why don't you? Time stops for no one, especially here, and every second of daylight is precious." Sesshoumaru winked at InuYasha as he ushered Kagome through the door.
"Do you really have nothing better to do?" InuYasha hissed through clenched teeth, "I thought you had classes or something? Expensive ones."
"Ah, yes, but they can wait. This is much more interesting. Oh, Izayoi!" he called and InuYasha froze.
"Yes?" came the reply from the living room.
"InuYasha and his little friend are home."
"Oh, really?" was her excited response as she walked into the genkan.
"Jeez, watch yourself," InuYasha reprimanded Kagome as he caught her arm and saved her from a nasty fall. She had decided to take her shoes off while still standing, but her backpack had pulled her to one side and that coupled with balancing on only one leg had spelled a slight disaster.
"Thanks," she told him gratefully. "I'm a bit of a klutz."
"I never would have known," he muttered, receiving a sharp look from his mother.
"Hi, Kagome, I'm InuYasha's mother," Izayoi introduced herself.
"Hello, Takahashi-san," Kagome chirped while bowing. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise," she smiled. "So, I understand InuYasha is helping you with math?"
"Yes, he is. He's really smart."
"As he should be. He spends enough time up in his room studying."
"Can we just go now, please?" InuYasha pleaded desperately. He wanted to get out of there before it became anymore awkward.
"Certainly, although it wouldn't hurt you to have a little more patience," Izayoi chastised her son.
"Fine. We'll be in my room." InuYasha started trudging up the stairs, and Kagome, though a little unsure, followed.
"Leave the door open," Sesshoumaru reminded them. "We don't want any hanky-panky, now do we?"
"Shut up!" InuYasha snapped. It had just become a whole hell of a lot more awkward.
.~*~.
"You don't like me very much, do you?" InuYasha looked up from his work, startled by Kagome's words.
"What?"
"You're just looking at the clock an awful lot and not really talking. I'm kind of getting the feeling that you don't want me here." How'd you guess? he thought sarcastically.
"No, that's not it at all."
"Then what's the problem?" Kagome asked him with a quizzical look on her face.
"Only forty-three minutes," he told her absentmindedly, glancing at his alarm clock again.
"What?" Kagome asked, looking at InuYasha as if he'd grown another head.
"Hmm?"
"Forty-three minutes until what?"
"Oh, um, forty-three minutes until you have to, well...go," he stammered, realizing what he had said.
"Really? But I thought we were going to do something after," she objected, "It is Friday. Don't you want to get out?"
"I have no desire to 'get out'," he remarked.
"Come on, it'll be fun. I know you said you don't like movies, but there are some good ones out right now."
"Thank you, but no."
"It doesn't have to be a movie. We could...go to the park?" she suggested rather lamely.
"The park? At night?" InuYasha raised his eyebrow.
"Erm, maybe not. We could get something to eat?"
"I have perfectly good food right here, in my house," he retorted.
"But that's no fun!" she protested.
"I'm sorry, but nothing is happening tonight. Do you hear me? Nothing." InuYasha wore an expression that effectively conveyed that it wasn't up for discussion, but Kagome wasn't going to drop it without putting up a fight.
"Give me one good reason why," she demanded, hands on her hips in an effort to make herself look more imposing and authoritative.
"You don't need one."
"Yes I do. It's the weekend; so why can you not go do something for once?" Kagome persisted.
"Why are you suddenly so obsessed with my life? What does it mean to you?" he raised his voice and slammed his textbook shut at the same time.
"Because you look so unhappy, and I hate seeing it!" InuYasha paused for a moment.
"What?"
"I said, I don't want to see you like this," she confessed. "We've been going to the same school for two years now, and you've always just looked so...depressed. I decided that maybe it was time I did something about it."
"Kagome, that's..." he ran his hand through his hair, collecting his thoughts, "nice, but I really...it's just...you hanging around me like this is not going to help anything. I'm...I'm not like this because of choice. I'm like this out of necessity."
"Why? What could be so important that you're willing to miss out on so much because of it?" InuYasha laughed, dryly and without humour.
"Something that you would never expect."
"Try me," she shot back obstinately.
"Sorry, but I'm going to have to decline on that offer. I admire your determination, though. Now are we going to get back to math? There are only another..." InuYasha checked the clock again, "thirty-nine minutes left."
"You keep a tight schedule, don't you?" she muttered.
"As I said, out of necessity."
.~*~.
InuYasha sighed as he shut the door, glad that Kagome was finally gone. She had actually threatened to stay for an extra five minutes because, as she had put it, 'wasn't going to have her life dictated by some schedule'. In response, he had threatened her with the prospect of meeting his father if she stuck around any longer, who, he assured her, was worse than his mother and brother combined, which was not a lie. Although by the looks of it, she was about to run into him on the walk. He's rather late, InuYasha thought suspiciously.
"Trouble in paradise?" Sesshoumaru commented as he made his way back upstairs.
"Bite me."
"Isn't that a little barbaric? I'm sure that arsenic will suffice. Or perhaps a well-aimed poison dart," he mused. "But that will have to wait for right now. You have a phone call." Sesshoumaru held out the device to him.
"From who?"
"Your lecherous compatriot, of course."
"Why the hell is he calling now?" InuYasha grumbled.
"I wouldn't know. I am not clairvoyant." InuYasha snatched the phone from his brother's outstretched hand and stomped into his room. "Savage," Sesshoumaru muttered.
"Miroku, why the fuck are you calling now?" InuYasha barked as he slammed his door shut.
"Yes, I realize it's bad timing, but I'm just so excited! Our dear Miss Sango agreed to meet with me tomorrow!" Miroku exclaimed gleefully.
"Fantastic. I'm hanging up now."
"Wait!"
"What?" InuYasha snapped. His head was beginning to throb and he lay down on his bed to try to quell some of his body's complaints. Downstairs he could hear the front door being shut rather forcefully, and assumed that his father had finally figured out getting his ass inside would be a bright idea.
"You need to be there as well."
"There is...no fucking way...I am doing that," he panted between groans. Damn, it was getting worse. Did the pervert not think these kinds of things through?
"All right, now I understand that you're in pain and this may not be the best time to ask, but I beg you to not let the circumstances cloud your judgement," Miroku implored.
"I wouldn't agree...even if it didn't feel...like my head was being...stabbed full of daggers," he growled.
"Well, I'm going to go now, let you get through this, and you call me back when you're feeling better. Okay, buddy?"
"Screw...you." InuYasha hung up.
A/N: I added a little extra Sess/Inu there at the end because you all seem to love it so much. XD I also set it up for a little Mir/San action next chapter which is always good. So on to thank you's! Once again, you guys are amazing. I love reading all your reviews; they are awesome and they make me laugh. :D
chakira16, Lionsheart13771, AwaitingMyBlackKnight, SailorKagome, MissG2020, and CookieNet.
So thanks again to all my reviewers, and I hope everyone reads, enjoys, reviews, and all that good stuff. :)