A/N: Sorry this chapter took a while to upload; but the good news is this one is super long! Hope you guys enjoy! Thanks for reading and don't forget to leave a review if you can ^^
Chapter 6
The infamous son
Kouga stood completely still, smack in front of his dorm that'd just been shut closed. After realizing there was no point to rotting away in the bathroom, Kouga found himself dragging his feet back to his dorm hallway, preparing himself to apologize to his roommate. Now, the whole idea of waiting for the right moment to knock on the door was becoming many, many moments. The longer Kouga stood, the more he was able to hear the sounds of rustling and jostling through the door. It continuously reminded him that his roommate was, in fact, in his room and that itself was an repetitive circle of mental torture for Kouga. However, the abrupt noise of cheerful laughter poured from another room being opened managed to break Kouga from his trance, and he took a deep sigh and knocked on the door twice. The movement in the room stopped. Just as Kouga was about to knock again, a slightly irritated voice escaped from inside.
"You can come in."
Kouga inhaled one quick breath before swinging the door open. As he shut the door closed behind him, Kouga eyed the contents of the room, which was looking transformed in some ways. The guy's things were a bit more organized and nearly all packed away. Kouga also noticed his own luggage changed positions from the center of the room to the edge of wall, neatly placed. Somehow, that made Kouga feel a little better. Maybe getting in his roommate's good graces wouldn't be too hard, he just had to work at it.
Kouga found his roommate at the edge of the room, his back faced to the door and fiddling with the tacky desk that Kouga suspected could actually be made out of cardboard. It seemed like one of the drawers were jammed and he was struggling to get it open.
Without looking behind to Kouga, the guy took his hand off the drawer momentarily to point in a vague direction behind him. He could have been pointing anywhere, to be honest. "Luggage is by the bedpost if you're looking for it. There's some room in the closet for your stuff."
"Right." Kouga trailed as he knelt down to open up his zippers, but didn't exactly know where to start. If he was being honest with himself, he sort of wanted to hide behind the bedpost for a good three hours or so. He really wanted to just walk out and complain to Ginta and Hakkaku, but that was out of the question. However, Kouga knew what he needed to do...and what he needed to do was to apologize.
As Kouga noticed the weird scratching noise from the drawers had stopped, Kouga grabbed a handful of random clothes and peered to the other end of the cramped room. The guy was rubbing off some dust from his hands when he noticed Kouga staring right at him. The guy just stared at him blankly in return.
"Hey, uh. Listen..." Kouga began, his voice raising in so many pitches he didn't realize he had due to being nervous. He cleared his throat before continuing. "Sorry about earlier, dude. I just thought you were someone else but I was mistaken. No hard feelings?"
"Whatever, man." The guy nearly turned away, not even bothering to look at Kouga. "My foot's fine. We're good." Even though he said they were good, he said it with complete nonchalance.
Still, Kouga's arms relaxed out of relief. The guy seemed like a complete downer, but at least they were on good terms.
"Great." Kouga nodded before turning to the closet. Surprisingly, his roommate didn't have many clothes or shoes, so there was an ample amount of space left in the closet. The middle of the rack was separated with a university branded plastic divider, which made storing clothes for two in the closet so much easier. Kouga hung his uniform up first, then some athletic jackets. When he hung up everything he'd brought over, he turned to grab his suitcase on the other side of the room, and unexpectedly caught the stare of his roommate. He was in the middle of making his sheets, though it was looking terribly sloppy. "I just had a rough night. End of semester parties, you know how it is."
"Oh?" The roommate cocked an eyebrow, though Kouga didn't catch the slight alarm in his face.
"Drinking, get decked in the face, upbeat music...just the usual." Kouga laughed bitterly. His hand unconsciously lifted to touch his tender black eye, though it thankfully wasn't as dark as it could have been, thanks to the ice from the night of the party. He shrugged as he continued. "Kind of why I'm not going to anymore parties like, ever. If you stay in, study and go to sleep early, we'll get along just fine. But if you like to get in and go out late I really don't mind either way, I'm a heavy sleeper..."
Kouga was just about to drag his luggage to the closet when his hand paused and his words trailed. His roommate was staring right at him, deathly still, but this time with a look of surprise and eventually, complete disgust written on his face.
"A party last night, huh?" The guy smiled cockily, crossing his arms. "Maybe you weren't so mistaken after all."
At the sight of the guy's sudden change in demeanor, his signature smirk sent all the moments from the party rolling back to him. In an instant, Kouga simmered. He breathed out a laugh once, then twice, then cackled manically.
"Well," Kouga pointed to his sunken eye, "I guess this would be your handiwork then, huh, mutt?"
The guy, who Kouga now confirmed was actually Inuyasha Taisho completely snapped. He guessed Miroku and Sango were right about what they said the night before; Inuyasha really didn't like the word "mutt". Inuyasha clenched his jaw and fists before smiling like a madman as well.
"I hope you like raccoons, because you're gonna look like one when I come for your other eye, bastard!"
Instantly, the two lunged at each other, struggling to pin each other down to the floor, but Inuyasha's strength was just as formidable and Kouga's. Kouga was much quicker on his feet since he was completely sobered up and managed to dodge his attacks. Kouga felt like he was finally beginning to tire out Inuyasha's million dollar fist when, suddenly, Kouga was getting farther away from Inuyasha. After getting a better handle of his surroundings, somebody was behind Kouga, holding him back, and Inuyasha was being restrained as well.
"Alright alright boys, break it up! Good God..." Kouga recognized this voice as Sango's immediately, and then saw Miroku struggling against Inuyasha in front of him. Inuyasha was blabbering about how the two of them are always butting into things or something of that matter.
Miroku turned to Sango with a smirk. "I guess God really does have a sense of humor..." He trailed off, ignoring Inuyasha's bantering.
Sango's mouth upturned once she heard Miroku's joke. "True that..."
Once the adrenaline stopped kicking in Kouga's body, he eventually broke away from Sango, and Inuyasha was being lead to the bottom bunk for their safety. Inuyasha crossed his arms and huffed angrily on the bed.
"Hey, well I wasn't the one who started it." Kouga growled.
"But you're the one who started this entire thing. Does coming up to me randomly and spilling your drink on me ring any bells?"
"You spilled your drink on me FIRST!" Kouga simmered, trying not to raise his voice to a yell. It was like an unspoken competition to them now, trying to remain somewhat civil while their heads were fuming beyond control.
"Huh? The hell are you on about?" Inuyasha growled with indignation.
"We were at the party, I was on my phone, and you bumped into me and purposely spilled your drink on me! In your exact words, you said, 'Watch where you're going, clumsy'. Does that, 'ring any bells' to you?" Kouga threw in air quotes while he repeated Inuyasha's earlier phrase, only managing to irritate him further.
"No, it doesn't, because I don't remember that at all. Now you're just makin' shit up!"
Kouga cackled with astonishment. "Wow! You've got a selective memory and anger issues! What a freakin' package!"
"Anger issues? Me? Take a look in the mirror pal—" Inuyasha immediately rose from the bed, but kept his feet planted firmly on the ground due to Miroku's watchful stare.
"Ohhh, trust me. I have looked in the mirror, buddy, and guess who gave me THAT to stare at?!" Kouga retorted, pointing at his black eye yet again.
"Well, maybe you—"
Suddenly the room was filled with Sango's deep, blood curdling yell, silencing everyone in the room.
"GUYS! JUST...SHUT THE HELL UP!" She huffed, glaring at Inuyasha and Kouga. Miroku averted his gaze to the bedpost, acting as if the cheap wood was the most intricately designed artifact he'd seen all day. When the room stayed quiet for a good couple of seconds, Sango sighed and smiled. "Thank you."
Sango let out a dramatic show of exasperation as she plopped down onto the floor and stretched her arms. "I still just can't believe you guys, of all people, are roommates..."
"What does that mean?" Inuyasha scoffed, still sounding defensive. "You know this guy?"
Sango nodded her head slowly, quirking an eyebrow at Inuyasha. "Yeah, we're friends. Kagome's friend's with him too...I guess you two...never met?"
"Only last night." Kouga remarked, still looking Inuyasha over defiantly.
Inuyasha fidgeted in his seat as his eyes darted from Miroku and Sango. He gave Kouga a satisfaction of a glare, but not a reply. "You're telling me Kagome knows this fool too?"
"We're friends." Kouga corrected, though it only proved to rile Inuyasha up yet again.
"Oh. I see how this is." Inuyasha chuckled as he crossed his arms. Miroku rubbed his temples as if he immediately felt a headache coming on, and for good reason. "You're trying to take Kagome away from me."
Kouga blinked. He let a single, loud incredulous laugh. "Wow. You're reaching way too hard on that one."
Kouga didn't want to admit that Inuyasha was kind of telling the truth, but he'd have to play saint again. Still, it wasn't like Kouga would have ever forced Kagome to break up with her boyfriend, but who's blaming a guy for dreaming of an ideal situation? Of course, Kouga had always been pure in his intentions to remain friends and value that with Kagome, he wasn't some evil creep, and he sure as hell wasn't magically manipulating things so Inuyasha was coming out as the bad guy—he was doing that all on his own.
"Are you kidding? It's so totally obvious. All of a sudden you two are "friends" now and asserting your damn protective nature right as you finally work up the courage to face me? You're too damn predictable."
Kouga's mouth twisted as he turned his body to completely face Inuyasha. He could hear Sango sigh and mumble in the background as she got up from the floor, "And here it goes again..."
"Listen up asshole; Kagome and I are just friends and we have been for awhile. Besides, you two aren't even together anymore, so why are you acting like you are? Oh! I know. Because you aren't, and you sure as hell made sure of that last night."
Miroku covered his mouth, eyes widened in shock. Sango was giving a similar look, but since she was facing Inuyasha, she tried to tone it down.
"You're full of shit." Inuyasha finally managed to say, his eyes glaring darkly and his voice kept to an overbearing tone.
"Speaking of, that...Inuyasha." Miroku cleared his throat, attempting to change the conversation, possibly to what he intended to talk about before witnessing Kouga and Inuyasha brawl like wrestlers. "Have you talked to Kagome lately? She was really upset yesterday..."
"Are you trying to say that this bastard has some kind of point?" Inuyasha snapped. He then turned his gaze to Sango. "You're really going to let this guy talk to me like this and be okay with it?"
The two of them seemed stricken with shock and disbelief in his words. Sango stuttered, at least trying to explain herself in some way, but Inuyasha wasn't having any of it. As Inuyasha lifted himself off the bed, Kouga got on defensive and prepared for the worst, but he was surprised to find Inuyasha kicking Kouga's luggage to the floor, knocking out all of it's contents on his way towards the door.
"Fuck all of you!" Inuyasha seethed before he slammed the door shut.
As the shock factor wore away and the silence went on for far too long, Sango plopped back onto the floor, and Miroku lowered himself on the bunk bed. Though they easily could have been pretending, Kouga was doubting they were. They looked exhausted, and Kouga definitely was as well.
As Kouga made his way to the scene of his eviscerated luggage, he heard Sango get up from the floor to kneel beside him, helping him pick up his things.
"Not to worry, I've got this." Kouga insisted, but Sango waved him away.
"No, we should help you." Sango glowered in Miroku's direction, but he wasn't budging. When they had everything cleaned up, Sango crossed her arms and looked at Kouga sympathetically. "Besides, I'm just sorry this happened."
"There's no need for you to apologize, it's all cool." Kouga felt a little irritated that this was happening again. Everyone was apologizing except the actual culprit. "Anyway...any idea why this guy is always so angry, and how the hell I can avoid him at all costs?"
Miroku finally lifted himself up from the bed, and then laughed in response. "You're going have a hard time doing that, Kouga, now that you're on his bad side."
"Jeez, really reassuring." Kouga sighed as he took a seat on the lightweight chair that matched its desk perfectly. "Kagome always used to talk about him, but he's so much different than I imagine. It was like she was seeing a totally different guy..."
As Kouga trailed off, he noticed Sango and Miroku seemed tense, averting their glances with Kouga. He stared at them, eyes darting between them as he desperately wanted to know what was on their minds. When Sango realized how intensely Kouga was staring, she sighed and fessed up to her inner thoughts.
"He wasn't always like this, well, he always had a temper...but it was nothing like this. To be honest, I'm just as baffled as you are...and I've known him for awhile."
Miroku nodded in agreement. "Lets just say he has some extra baggage..." He trailed, but didn't exactly elaborate on that comment. "Now that I'm thinking about it...it's probably going be awhile until your dorm manager gets word on you wanting to change, so uh...GOOD LUCK, and don't get on his bad side!" Miroku patted Kouga's shoulder, looking way too cheerful for his own good. Kouga hoped he wasn't getting amused by this entire freak show, but then again, if he was in Miroku's position he wouldn't blame him.
Sango shook her head and sighed at Miroku's careless demeanor. "Listen Kouga, maybe try to patch things up with him? Inuyasha can usually be swayed easily, and if you're really heartfelt about it, maybe you two could come to better terms."
Miroku interjected while making a drawn out cough. "Sure they will." He turned to Kouga a little more seriously. "Just try not to kill each other. Besides, with his classes and your athletics, you guys probably won't be seeing much of each other anyway."
"Yeah...thanks you guys. I'm sure things will work out. Somehow, I guess." Kouga trailed, sounding completely doubtful. He was honestly still in shock that he was actually forced to live with his sudden number one enemy like some painfully cheap television sitcom.
Sango and Miroku waved their goodbyes, concern still showing on their faces up until Kouga was left alone in the cramped dorm room by himself.
Kouga left one of the campus's buildings into a courtyard, finally finished with his classes for the day. It'd been just about a day since the grotesque roommate fiasco went down, and he'd tried his hardest to avoid going into his room. Well, their room, he supposed.
Kouga planned on traveling towards the direction of the parking lot, but he noticed somebody in the corner of his eye that brought him to a halt. Gaudy neon colors adorned with sparkly ribbons and bows filled his field of vision: Jakotsu. He was sitting at a picnic table in the courtyard by himself, engrossed in his schoolwork. Kouga ended up staring in his general direction longer then he'd anticipated, so he struggled against continuing back to his dreaded dorm or talking to Jakotsu. Since he'd already acknowledged Jakotsu's existence, he figured he'd might as well go and talk to him, though he wasn't exactly thrilled about that. Fortunately, he was feeling a little more prepared now that he was familiar with Jakotsu's energy; though as the distance between them closed, Kouga noticed something about him was somewhat off kilter. Jakotsu's head drooped over his textbook, but he wasn't entirely focused on it. His eyes were glued to his phone's home screen, not exactly doing anything with it. He was just staring at it blankly.
"Yo..." Kouga trailed, his voice sounding hideously raspy. He realized he hadn't talked to anyone for the entire day, pretty much. Now that he wasn't living with Ginta and Hakkaku, he didn't have anyone to talk to in the mornings. As soon as Jakotsu realized there was somebody looming over him, his eyes blinked rapidly. He stared at Kouga like a deer in the headlights.
"O-Oh...Kouga!" Jakotsu began stuttering, though he quickly regained his pace and his usual smile formed. "What a surprise! It's been a while since we've..." Suddenly, Jakotsu stopped himself in realization. His eyes widened in shock, then an incredibly excited expression appeared on his face. "Oh my gosh...wait—Kouga! I heard all about last night! What the hell happened at the party?"
Kouga's eyes instantly narrowed. He heaved an exasperated sigh and pointed dramatically at his right eye. Of course his bruise wasn't so terribly black, but he was certain it was noticeable, even for Jakotsu's scattered demeanor. He was sure Jakotsu was just trying to hear even more details directly from the source, but unluckily for him, Kouga wasn't feeling up for explanations. "This, obviously."
Jakotsu's face twisted as he recoiled from the sight, as if Kouga pointing it out had somehow made it more noticeable. "Yikes! Talk about a real bruiser..."
Kouga rolled his eyes, though decided to sit himself down on a seat across from Jakotsu anyway. "Yeah. Case in point; Why I don't go to parties."
Jakotsu's mouth was tight lipped, struggling against a smile. He quickly scoped out the area of the courtyard, making sure nobody was around them. When it was all clear, he leaned in and giggled, though still made sure his was voice soft when he spoke.
"I knew you were masculine, but I didn't know you'd go that far in a territory battle...talk about being a total alpha male! Rawr." Jakotsu finished with loud, manic laughter after voicing a suggestive cat roar. Kouga didn't find it funny, he just sort of found it odd, though casually ignored it like he did with most of Jakotsu's quirks.
"What?" Kouga asked blankly, absolutely curious to hear what exactly Jakotsu heard about his abuse at the hands of Kagome's boyfriend.
"Yeah, word on the street is that you're trying to break up the legendary couple. Well, its not just you anyway. Kikyo's been the champion of that world cup for a good while. Everyone's just sick of the same old same old. It's nice to have a new contestant."
"Contestant?" Kouga eyebrow's furrowed, looking gradually more and more puzzled by the minute. What were all these words alluding to world cups and championships? Was this some kind of strange competitive campus game or something? Was he secretly on some kind of reality TV show and didn't know it? Either way, Kouga had to admit he wouldn't be surprised if he were. Everything in his life was getting way too strange all of a sudden. His life had never been so...dramatic. Either that, or he was watching way too much TV with Ginta and Hakkaku and was having a serious case of cable withdrawal.
All Kouga was able to discern from Jakotsu's explanation was that, apparently, Kagome and Inuyasha were "legendary" and he was trying to break them up, along with a girl named Kikyo. In no time, Kouga was able to remember that Kikyo was the girl that started a commotion with Kagome and her boyfriend. His memory was vivid with the expensive red dress she wore at the party.
Jakotsu let out an exaggerated breath of exasperation. "Geez...I forgot you're such a lone wolf." He rolled his eyes before continuing. "You see, Inuyasha Taisho is one of the most popular guys on campus. Not always for the best reasons, but back in the day it used to be because of his money and status."
Kouga stared at Jakotsu intently, then nodded for him to go on.
"Didn't you know? His dad's the dean of the school."
"The DEAN?" Kouga immediately uttered, his voice teetering on a yell instead of a casual conversational tone.
"Oh honey..." Jakotsu pouted and sympathetically rubbed his back. "You've really been living under a rock for this past...what, entire year?"
"I guess." Kouga huffed as he glared at the kids who were staring at him after his outburst. "You said that he used to be popular because of his status. Why 'used' to?"
"Because now his relationship with Kagome has become a huge controversy. You see, he dated Kagome against his father's wishes. His father wants to arrange a marriage that will influence him in the business world. Kikyo's father is a multi-million dollar mogul, and she's crazy over him to boot. Rumors say that relationships been arranged since he was a teenager, but he wanted to spread his wings in college..."
"...And then he met Kagome. Who doesn't have a status." Kouga said, continuing Jakotsu's train of thought after finally beginning to understand the situation.
"Yep. To his father, she's just a barely middle class girl with not much to go on." Jakotsu sighed, completely exaggerated as he propped his elbows on his textbook, staring away wistfully at nothing in particular.
"And this whole thing spanned like, the whole last year. There's sooo many deets I could fill you in, but it's totes messy." Jakotsu leaned back again, this time looking more serious. "Anyway...I heard you're his roommate, too? Oh em gee, this is just getting way too interesting."
"No way!I've had enough of drama. After I can get a meeting with my dorm manager, we're splitting ways." Kouga slightly pulled himself away from the table as if the drama in question had physically manifested itself on the picnic table.
"So what about Kagome now that she's single?" Jakotsu smirked, wiggling an eyebrow. Kouga felt sweat prickling down his back. The guy was too sharp. Dangerously sharp.
"I...I don't know. It doesn't matter to me, anyway." Kouga scoffed, averting his face away from Jakotsu's stare. He knew he was totally showing his vulnerability to the subject and that wasn't helping him one bit, but he couldn't stand to stare at Jakotsu's smug face.
"Mmmmhm. Sure." Jakotsu drew out, crossing his arms defiantly.
"I don't know, man. Things are getting too complicated, especially since he's my roommate now. I don't want to get caught up in this...getting into drama isn't my style." Kouga looked down and stared at his knees, strangely realizing something extremely important. The only thing he could think about was how afraid he was to lose what he already had with Kagome and her friends. Kouga wasn't the greatest guy, and he sure as hell wasn't a saint. He could royally fuck up the tightly woven balance between everyone if he kept up this act with Kagome's boyfriend. Sure, this Inuyasha guy seemed to be having quite a moment and wasn't coming on top as the good guy, but Kouga hardly knew the gang for nearly as long as Inuyasha did. They could take his side over Kouga's any day of the week. That's what scared him, though he'd never tell anyone that. Not Kagome, and sure as hell not Ginta or Hakkaku.
Jakotsu stared blankly before his expression strangely changed to something more empathetic. He patted his back. "It'll be okay, hotstuff. Things will work out...probably."
Kouga scoffed, but his voice ended up coming out more quiet to acknowledge Jakotsu's sincerity. "Sure, thanks." Kouga rose from the seat and said a quick goodbye, and Jakotsu waved his goodbye back enthusiastically. As Kouga turned his back and made his way towards the parking lot, he found himself hearing Jakotsu's last words in his head. Either things could work out for the better...or everything could go to complete shit.
Kouga hated drama. He hated involving himself in all these complicated affairs, and now he'd unexpectedly found himself smack in the middle of them.