September 16

I hate to be wrong. Is it obvious? What Shippou said struck an honest chord in me, and I realized, with an almost permeable sense of revulsion and horror, that he could be right and I wrong. I was so used to being constantly desired, it flared me up that this halfling would be so audacious as to contradict that, when there had been many women, full-fledged vampires, even, to succumb to my charms.

Forgive me if I seem to be rambling a tad. I tend to get a little verbose when I'm confused, and I've never been more so. I've been in a shell-shocked stupor these past days, numbly considering a truth in Shippou's otherwise innocent words. I knew he'd only been joking—he reiterated this several times—, but that didn't make it any less possible that there could be a shred of truth within the jest.

My thoughts and vexation sapped all of my angry energy usually directed at the girl—

The pencil froze in Inuyasha's hand and he groaned, his thoughts having been more on the old track of "wench", not "girl", but he felt too lazy to erase and rewrite, so he let it remain, staring sullenly at the door.

, so I haven't been myself lately; that is to say, snappish. I haven't even begun flirting with Kagura as I had planned so many days ago, nor have I even made any further progress with Gingitsune, which brought me under suspicion in her eyes. She's bound to ask me about it sometime.

Today is the first day I have attended that study session Royama-san arranged for me. If you'll recall, the halfling is to be my tutor. The only reason I even came was to conduct a little experiment to verify whether Shippou was right, or if all that alcohol-ridden blood has finally gotten to my head.

"Dude..." Gingitsune came into the room with a slight frown on her face, surveying the small room. "What are you doing in here? It's so...dark and depressing." Inuyasha looked around at the fluorescent light, the colorful, exotic plants, the flamboyant carpeting, and the several vibrant drawings adorning the walls, and he nodded gravely.

"You're right. It looks like a torture chamber in here. I'm waiting on my stupid tutor." The neko chuckled and sat down beside him.

"You realize that tutoring isn't mandatory...right?"

"Yes, but so far, I've been failing all my math assignments. It's mandatory for me."

"Heh. All I gotta do is apply myself and I'll have these by the boatload." She pulled a glittery test paper out of her bag, marked A, smirking proudly. Inuyasha huffed in annoyance, crossing his arms.

"So? That doesn't mean you're automatically smart or something."

"Au contraire, my perpetually horny friend. I am indeed that."

"Then why are you in here, Gingitsune?" Inuyasha forced himself to look at the cockily grinning girl in the doorway.

"Ah, you know. Just wanna teach you a few things."

"Well, you're welcome to stay and help your friend there." Inuyasha scowled; how dare she so tawdrily tack him on at the end of the statement! As if he were a crappy honorable mention!

"Whatever." He mumbled sourly.

"Ooh, I see someone's just come fresh from cheerleading practice." Gingitsune prattled on, but before Kagome could smile and reply, Inuyasha cleared his throat loudly.

"Yeah, I'd like to get this over with, PLEASE." He drawled.

"Like you had someplace to go!" Gingitsune laughed, but Kagome merely chuckled and nodded.

"You're right, Inuyasha. Let's get started." Inuyasha took out his math notebook and grudgingly listened to his tutor, pretending to write everything she said verbatim, but really writing in his journal. He watched her attentively, attempting to gauge just how potentially attractive she was.

So far, I haven't noticed much worth talking about. She's not really all that ugly anymore, which I attribute to the lack of sickness—though I wouldn't go so far as to say pretty—, and she's smart, I guess. I don't think I'm intimidated, per se, by smart women, but it's just a turnoff to know that I wouldn't have her completely under my control. Sexy and stupid, that's the way I like 'em!

Her legs are okay, but not as silky smooth as Tsune-chan's...

As he wrote this, he crept his cool fingers up Gingitsune's bare legs, making the neko squeak in startled surprise and blush. Kagome's back remained turned to them, but even so, Gingitsune would not stand for his lewdness. She grabbed his hand and chomped his fingers, forcing him to bite the inside of his cheek in order to keep from howling in pain. Inuyasha tenderly clutched his fingers, bitten and bleeding, and mouthed, "You bitch!"

"Perv!" She hissed back, silently blowing a raspberry at him. She got to her feet and said aloud, "This has been oodles of fun, Kagome, really it has, but I've got to jet, darlin'."

"Okay. Sorry I'm boring you." Kagome smiled, waving goodbye to Gingitsune. Inuyasha's eyes were transfixed on that smile, analyzing it.

She has a rather unusual smile...ambiguous. It could mean anything at any time: happiness, malice...lust.

Inuyasha stared down at his writings with a shudder.

I'm not saying I like it. It's just weird, that's all.

Sighing, he put away his journal, his findings inconclusive. He figured that now, he might as well pay real attention, because hitherto, he hadn't done anything in the way of homework.

"I hope that, just because your friend's gone, you won't be any more bored." Kagome smirked wryly, an amused glimmer in her eye telling him that she had indeed seen him catching a feel of Gingitsune's legs.

"Har har." Inuyasha snorted, refusing to let this faze or embarrass him. "I severely doubt I can be any more bored."

"Sure, but you're learning something, aren't you? And to top it all off, you're actually talking to me! Oh, hallelujah! Praise the gods!" She added, much too exuberantly to be serious. Inuyasha glared at her.

"Look, bitch, the sarcasm is sorely overdone. Stuff a fucking cork in it and teach me something, goddamn it."

"Not before I learn a little something first. Why the sudden change in attitude? God only knows, if you'd been this verbal with me from the start, I might've fallen in love with you much quicker." Kagome smiled sardonically, sitting on the desk and crossing her legs.

"As if it's any of your business. And even if it were, I wouldn't tell you." He sneered. To explain his motives would be too much like surrendering his pride, and that was one thing he absolutely refused to do.

For God's sake, it, aside from Shippou, Miroku, and Gingitsune, of course, is the only thing on my side nowadays.

"Okay, then. Have you done your homework?" She beamed, as if she were a doting mother talking down to her dim-witted child.

"No, I haven't done this stupid shit because you haven't taught me anything!" Inuyasha yelled, his blood boiling. Not only was the brazen halfling annoying him out of his wits, but condescending to him as well.

"Haven't I, Inuyasha? Haven't I? Or weren't you just paying attention?" She gestured to the board, on which was written the exact definition of absolute value—what Inuyasha's homework was on—, as well as several examples to be modeled after.

...Damn crafty wench. Thinks she's so damn smart.

"Well, in any case..." Kagome shrugged, "it's not my place to teach you these things, or even to make sure you do your homework. I help you along; those who get it, good. Those who don't, it ain't no skin off my nose. You either get it or you don't." To be honest, none of this was hard. Inuyasha just felt like being a lazy brat, and maybe she'd be exposed as the inadequate imbecile she truly was and lose her position. Plus, if he pretended slowness, maybe the wench would be blamed and berated for it. But now, it seemed that only he would, and that just would not work for him.

"As long as I retain my perfect A-double-plus average, I honestly don't care what happens to you." His overcompetitive spirit flared up like a bad rash and he leapt out of his seat.

"Yeah?! Well, so what?!" He snapped. "I'm no idiot; I can make an A-triple-plus and make your sorry double look like piss on a dirty window!"

"Can you really?" Kagome drawled, obviously uninterested in his emphatic declarations.

"You're fucking right I can!" Inuyasha slung his bag onto his shoulders and grabbed his books. "I require your retarded tutoring services no longer, MADAM." Sarcasm came in clear as a bell in his tone, and it wasn't missed on the ever-sharp Kagome. She just looked at him, half-bored, a quarter amused, and a quarter...triumphant? Inuyasha's furious scowl deepened.

She's probably just so fucking proud she bested me. Well, that gratuitous sense of pride won't last much longer. I'm gonna take that bigoted bitch down a few pegs where she belongs—in a half-breed's place!

This foregone conclusion firmly planted in his mind, Inuyasha stalked out, slamming the door behind him and creating a gust of wind that blew several papers around. The room was now a complete disaster area. Kagome chuckled with a shake of her head as she began collecting the papers from the floor.

"My work here is done. Boys are so gullible..."

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"I don't know, dude." Gingitsune scratched her ear as she relaxed in Inuyasha's plush apartment, Shippou close by. "Seems to me like you were just a little too harsh on her."

"Harsh, hell. She deserved every lash of that verbal ass-whipping I dealt her, and she knows it, I know it, and you know it."

"But she took time out of her personal schedule to tutor you, Yash. I don't know; I just feel like you didn't treat her as fairly as you should have."

"Halflings like her are content to take what they can get." Inuyasha said curtly, crossing his arms. "She's lucky to be so well-liked, but then again, this is generally an ignorant society. Most don't even know about our existence, much less that of a half-breed. Those are supposed to be executed at birth, by law." Inuyasha shook his head. "By all accounts and purposes, she should be dead."

"Only if somebody doesn't keep his fat, fangy trap shut." Shippou growled.

"What do I look like, some kind of snitch?" Inuyasha mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"You were certainly some kind of something last week." Shippou snorted.

"Hey, don't get your nose boxed in." Inuyasha threatened, lazily holding up a fist. Gingitsune chuckled, then her expression sobered.

"Well, don't tell on her, Inuyasha. That's cold, even for you, and you're cold as ice." To emphasize the statement, she leaned on his shirtless shoulder and shivered. Inuyasha grinned, putting his arm around her.

"Bet you could get used to this little position, couldn't you?" Gingitsune blushed, then huffed.

"Don't get full of yourself. I was just making a demonstration."

"Yet you're still in my arms." The neko nearly protested, then sighed wearily, deciding she might as well tell the truth.

"Yeah, well...you get warm after prolonged exposure to others."

"More specifically, women. Soft, hot-blooded, mature women...like you." Gingitsune blanched a little at the mention of blood, and Inuyasha, taking note of her sudden discomfort, quickly amended, "No, no, hold on. Sorry; that was a little slip of the tongue. Force of habit...sorry."

"Right...now I really don't think you consider me a midday snack." She muttered, and in order to soothe her raised hackles, Inuyasha stroked her back. As any able-minded cat would, Gingitsune immediately commenced to purring languorously, sounding like a well-oiled machine. Inuyasha couldn't help a smile as she drifted off to sleep.

"Shippou," he mumbled quietly, so as not to wake Gingitsune, "you awake?"

"Do I ever sleep?" was the yawning reply.

"Good. Bring me my journal, then you can go back to sleep." His smile curved into a smirk. "I've got a lot to record."

A few moments later, Inuyasha had his notebook in hand, his finger quivering excitedly. He had so much tow rite, he wasn't sure where to start.

The wench has inadvertently relinquished the very privilege of being called "girl", and instead must now settle for the derogatory "wench", "bitch", and, of course,the occasional "slut". Why, you ask?

Knowing that her very world was new to me, knowing I hadn't yet fully acclimated to these learnings, that bitch threw her retained education up in my face. She as well had the very gall to insult my intelligence even further by talking to me as if I were a doddering child to be mollycoddled.

I think very well I proved myself contrary.

I'll spare further detail; just know that I made my point quite clear.

I came back home with Gingitsune—under the annoyingly careful watch of Shippou—and told all that had occurred. She was—and more than likely still is—of the belief that I was "too harsh" in my judgement regarding the wench. I retorted that I wasn't—the half-breed got off on an extraordinary lucky break. I could've called her out for what she really was, but I was far too gentlemanly to do that, so I left it alone. Besides, when she sees that I'm much smarter than her, the crushing blow to ego will be far more satisfying than her reaction to my knowledge of her damning parentage.

Gingitsune, who lies on my lap as I write, is a very effective diversion from my problems with the halfling. Though her blood, warm and sweet-scented, calls out to me, I dare not sacrifice her friendship for something so petty as sustenance.

Inuyasha paused to chuckle.

I never thought I'd even think those words, much less know them to be true. Gingitsune is a good friend, and a prospectively delicious morsel, and it flatters my beyond words that, despite the sometimey air of discomfort she tends to develop around me, she trusts me enough to actually sleep near me.

He unconsciously licked his lips, staring down at the neko's neck with a shuddery exhalation.

So mature, yet so naïve...

For some reason, however, I get the feeling that she is not entirely asleep. She's more than likely on her guard in a state of half-sleep, ready to retreat, should I make even the slightest gesture to harm her.

This is the one time I thank Sesshoumaru for having strengthened my willpower with his stupid tests.

Without warning, the front door was heard opening, then closing, but even though Inuyasha's eyes remained trained on the pages of his journal, he knew the cuase of the sound.

Shippou has just left. He comes and goes, but it doesn't take a genius to know where—next door, to the wench's home, probably in his guise as a domesticated dog.

Inuyasha grimaced with a small shake of his head.

I can't stomach even the notion of subjecting oneself to a lower life form. I can barely stand the presence of humans, and they're only one species beneath me...

Gingitsune fidgeted in her sleep, an indication that she would soon be waking up.

I must go; the silver fox is stirring.

Inuyasha smirked and closed the journal.

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Black Ice: Wow, this chapter was unusually longer than usual.

Blood Rain: Or was it? I wonder. (Shakes head)

Black Ice: Don't you have a chain to find?

Blood Rain: (growls) I know you hid my goddamn chain, you little slut. And when I find it, I'm going to whip the piss right out of you!! (stalks off in search of chain)

Black Ice: (gaze shifts suspiciously, then beckons readers closer to whisper) Shh...don't tell, but I hid the chain. Where, I'll never tell. Some of you may be spies...and I just cannot afford to have this beautiful face marred any further by those damned hurty chains!

Blood Rain: DAMN YOU, ICE! WHERE IS MY CHAIN?! (breaks out in tears)

Black Ice: (smirks) That's my favorite sound in the entire universe. (Eats popcorn and watches while Blood Rain has a nervous breakdown)