Dee: All right, these next few chapters won't be as directed at Inuyasha as the others. It'll be more towards Kagome, so be afraid. Very afraid. MWAHHAHAHAHAHA!
Chapter Eight
Kagome sighed heavily as she looked outside at the drizzling rain. The roof of the hut was leaking and everything just seemed…dreary. The sky was gray, the wind was still, and all her friends looked depressed. Especially Inuyasha.
But he always seemed sad during the rain, probably because his sense of smell----which was probably his greatest strength----was no longer useful, really. He couldn't even tell if someone was standing behind him.
His hearing was affected too. The rain made too much noise for him to actually hear what was going on. During the rain, he was almost as vulnerable as when the new moon shone in the sky.
Hmm, I might be able to use this to my advantage…he might want to let me go to my time, if only to get away from the rain. Of course, he'll be there too, but my mother and Souta will keep him busy, I'm sure.
When Inuyasha had taken her back after the bear attack, her mother and brother had literally attacked him when they saw Kagome in the state she'd been in. Ms. Higurashi had broken several wooden stirring spoons on his head while Souta had taken a baseball bat----his new sport since he seeing a Twins vs. Red Sox game----to his knees. Inuyasha had gently pried the weapons out of their hands, not flinching and told them about the bear.
Her mother hadn't, evidently, believed him since she had thrown a few pots at him, denting them beyond repair. Souta had believed him, though, going back to his adoring mind.
Inuyasha started climbing the stairs to Kagome's room just in time for her grandfather to come home from his trip and shout seconds later, "What is that Inuyasha doing here now?! What did I miss for the two weeks I've been gone?!"
Ms. Higurashi explained and more yelling could be heard.
"But he didn't try to contact her in any way for the past three years and now he decides to?! What happened to her college?!"
Kagome sighed again. Her family was torn on the decision of whether to try and take her away from Inuyasha or not. Her mother could go either way, while her grandfather was set on her going to college. Souta didn't think there was anything wrong with her going back and forth between the past and present. She'd done it before and come out just fine was his excuse.
Except for a broken heart and not being able to find anyone else who could measure up to Inuyasha in my mind. But, you know, I have to get over it sometime. Once I can stop seeing Inuyasha everywhere I turn, at least. God, please let that be soon.
"Inuyasha, do you think I could go home?" she asked, expressionless. She knew better than to give too much feeling into it or if they fought, it would be even worse.
He grunted in response, clearly not able to tell what she was saying.
Deciding that that was enough of a yes she'd get from him, she stood and left the hut. He, of course, followed.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" he demanded. He grabbed her arm, forcing her to look back at him. She didn't answer, didn't feel the need to, so he snarled primitively. "Kagome, I asked you a question!"
She rolled her eyes, knowing it wasn't an argument worth fighting. She just lightly tugged her arm away, walking towards the well.
He was stalking behind her the whole time, commanding she tell him what she thought she was doing. That, of course, did not faze her. She just continued on her way, paying little to no attention to him. What was the point of getting into a fight when she was going to be in her world anyways?
"Kagome!" Inuyasha roared. "Get back here!"
She swung her legs into the well, turned her head so she could smile sweetly at him. "Just going back home for a little while." She slid into the well, watching him and waving as she disappeared.
"Kagome!" she heard one last time before she was back in her world. She climbed steadily out of the well, determined to just have a relaxing bath. She would wait until she thought the rain was gone in the Feudal Era before going back.
She knew Inuyasha followed her even before the flash of light. Luckily, she was already close enough to her house for her family to have seen her, meaning they were ready to fight him with useless frying pans and anything else they could get their hands on if he tried to do anything to her. She knew it was a false sense of hope, but didn't want to fully believe he would bring her back without her wanting him to, though he'd done it countless times before.
"Kagome!" Souta shouted, running to his sister, baseball bat hitting her as wrapped her in a hug. "How long are you going to be here? I've got a baseball game coming up; you should come watch!" He half dragged her into the house.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha snarled when he landed in front of them, anger evident on his face. "Who gave you the idea you could go home?!" He grabbed her arm.
She swiftly grabbed the bat from her brother and pulled away from Inuyasha. Going into the pose Souta had taught her and swung with all her might right into his side. He flew with a loud, "Mmph!" onto the ground. She knew it was only because he was surprised so she couldn't get away with it again.
He stood, his fury coming easily. "What the hell was that for?!"
"Don't try to force me back to the Feudal Era. I refuse to go." She continued to her house, awaiting the long bath she would be taking. Thinking about it made her exhale happily. Finally! I won't smell like dirt and grime!
Inuyasha walked to her side, ready to yell at her, but changed his mind when he saw the peaceful look on her face. Instead, he folded his arms into his sleeves and walked beside her, Souta on his other side, into the house. There was no argument, no fighting. He just stood by her, obviously thinking about something.
"Kagome! You're home! Would you like something to eat?" Ms. Higurashi asked. Her smile was gentle and her words were directed at both her daughter and the hanyou.
"No, thanks, Mom. I'm going to go take a bath. Can you entertain Inuyasha until I'm done?"
Her mother nodded, then led a confused Inuyasha into the kitchen to show him how to make his all time favorite, Ramen.
Kagome breathed a sigh of relief before heading upstairs to the waiting bathtub.
X---X
"Are you almost ready to go back?" Inuyasha asked sometime later. She'd done everything but sleep in her warm, soft bed that she had planned to do.
But she wasn't ready to go. Not by a long shot. "Nope. I'm going to call Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi to see if they want to go out and then I'm going to the club. You can do whatever you want." She waved him off with an ineffectual hand.
"Kagome." Inuyasha elongated her name in warning. "We need to go back. Soon. Probably even now. We don't have time for your little friends."
She slammed her hands on her hips and cocked one to the side. "Uh huh. My little friends, are they? Well, I'm sorry if I have to get away from you every once in awhile. I don't always want to be right by you, Inuyasha. In fact, a lot of the time I can barely stand you. This is my break time from you." What am I saying?! I've barely survived the last three years thinking about him! I don't need a BREAK TIME! Why am I lying?
Pride. That's why.
She watched as Inuyasha's ears drooped in hurt. "You…you don't want to be with me?" His voice was that of a young boy's, not understanding why things were going the way they were, pure innocence. Except the markings on his face made the picture of him as a young child fade away painfully, making her aware that he wasn't the Inuyasha she had fallen in love with. He'd changed a great deal.
But she still loved him.
This prompted her to ask him, stupidly, of course, because he would never do it, but never the less, she asked him, "Inuyasha, would you like to go to the club with us?"
X---X
Kagome kept her arm hooked with Inuyasha's to keep him from clawing at the shirt and pants he wore. She had brushed his hair but hadn't known what to do about his ears, so she'd just put a black beady over them, giving him the look of a "bad boy". The black pants were loose fitting and a little long, despite his height. He wore a black button up shirt with long sleeves that gave a hint to the muscle beneath.
Oh, God, the muscles. She remembered when he had called her in to help him figure out the buttons, which he had clumsily been unable to fasten. Every other movement had made her hand brush his rigid abdomen and chest, making her suck in a breath each time.
I'm bringing Inuyasha to a CLUB?! Am I criminally stupid?! "Okay, Inuyasha, when we're in front of other people, try and act human. I really don't want to have to explain why you tear something apart with claws that magically glow. So please, please, just don't do anything rash. All right?"
Inuyasha muttered but nodded.
When her friends made it to the spot where they were meeting, they moved their gaze from their dates to Inuyasha, who seemed uncomfortable in their presence. He actually inched slightly behind Kagome under their glares. He sent her a why-are-they-looking-at-me-like-that look that she ignored. She couldn't just say why they were so angry at him because then their dates would be pulled in. And Kagome couldn't let that happen. There were already enough people in on the whole Kagome and Inuyasha thing.
"So, Kagome, we see that you brought Inuyasha with you," Yuka said. She crossed her arms over her chest stiffly. "How…odd."
Ayumi, who was back to her idealistic ways, sighed and brought her hands to her face, "I think it's romantic that hey got back together after so long, got past their differences." Her date, who Kagome recognized as Kin from her English class the year before, laughed quietly before putting his arm around her shoulders.
"Ayumi, maybe you need to get your nose out of their relationship. Whatever they are doing, I'm sure they don't want people to bother them about it."
Kagome smiled thankfully to him.
Eri kept her arms tight around her middle as her date's arms came around hers. "Riku, what do you say we get on our way?"
He nodded weakly before giving Inuyasha, Kin, and Yama, Yuka's date, a look of defeat before motioning for them to follow.
They did, Kagome pulling Inuyasha along. Yuka and Eri were at the front of the group with Riku and Yama. Ayumi and Kagome were having a conversation about what they wanted to do with their lives while Inuyasha and Kin got to know one another.
The hanyou ignored questions he didn't think would be good to answer.
Kin clearly noticed, but didn't pay much attention to it. "So, how long have you and Kagome been together, then?" he asked.
"Well, a couple years ago, we were always together for a few months. But," Inuyasha paused to glare at Kagome before continuing with, "Kagome ran off one day."
"Wow, that's a long time. Me and Ayumi have been dating for a couple weeks now. Have you and Kagome talked much during the last three years? Or was it a hard break up?" Kin seemed to remember what the girls had said. "But I'm going to guess something really bad happened."
"That's the thing! I don't know what I did! One day she was just gone!"
Kagome disregarded the guys' conversation and giggled with Ayumi about a new actor who they didn't know anything about other than he was hot. Which was just fine in their minds.
But the second Kagome started talking about another guy, Inuyasha ditched his conversation and turned on her with an angry, "Who the hell is this guy you're talking about?" He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.
Kagome rolled her eyes. "He's an actor, Inuyasha. Calm down." She continued on her way.
Inuyasha followed, sulking the entire way.
When they finally got to the club, Kagome couldn't help but be relieved. She'd be surrounded by people so she wouldn't have to worry as much about Inuyasha. Except that he doesn't care if humans see him as a half-demon.
She felt Inuyasha cringe as the doors opened to the pounding music. "Kagome, this is really loud!" he shouted, but it seemed to be barely a whisper in the room.
"Inuyasha, it'll be all right. It just takes a second to get used to."
He didn't show any acknowledgement for her words, but followed her into the crowded club, none the less.
Almost instantly girls were circling them, wanting to see who this new, tall, white-haired arrival was. They all began giggling annoyingly when they saw him. Except one who seemed to take a whole different approach. Her face turned predatory as she shoved through the group, a seductive smile curling her lips. Something panged in Kagome's stomach.
Jealous? The thought was in someone else's voice.
X---X
Dee: CLIFFY!!!! MWAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I AM EVIL INCARNATE!!!!! Or so my step mom says….
