I'm so sorry. So so so sorry. I haven't had a computer that functioned properly for a while and it's just been completely painful to try to get any type of writing done when the computer wants to crash or randomly delete file or when the flash drive get broke. So, yes I'm very sorry.
I can't remember off the top of my head who it was (and I'm too lazy to look it up) but someone asked me if the story had a beta. The answer is No, there isn't one. You'd think with my horrible grammer and the fact that no matter how many times I re-read it I never seem to get the mistakes out, I would have tried to find one. . . I'll blame it on my laziness. . .and the creepy face on Adult Swim that just distracted me for a whole few seconds.
Someone else (still too lazy to look up names) also mention a while ago about Hojo not trying to go down the well. Truth is I haven't decided whether or not he should be able to go down the well. I've got ideas for both fuedal and modern era but I can't decide. So feel free to tell me your opinion on whether or not he should go down the well.
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Inuyasha
Chapter Ten: Promise
It had been a week since Hojo had his little slip up. He had been stressing about it since the half demon had left. He thought Inuyasha might have figured something out because of it. However, it didn't seem like he even remembered it.
Inuyasha had greeted him as he normally did, with a 'Hey, kid.' before Kagome's grandfather would put him to work, moving boxes around and lifting anything heavy in general.
He wanted to go out there and help Inuyasha with the work, but he wasn't sure if he should try to start a conversation with the other man or not. If he did, would Inuyasha know something was bothering him, or, would he not think anything of it. It could be either one. Inuyasha was complicated for some reason. Not complicated like he was unpredictable, because Inuyasha was pretty much an open book in most cases. It was just that he could be oblivious to certain things and with others he was right on target. Sometimes without even realizing it.
The half demon most likely wouldn't except the help anyway. He should probably just go make sure he got all Kagome's notes in order. At least it would keep him half way occupied.
He sighed as he sat back down at the table. Organizing the notes wasn't something he liked to do. He liked school. He liked to learn, but dealing with notes wasn't as fun as the actual learning process. However, Kagome was a close friend, who he was starting to consider family. He was taught from a young age that you sometimes had to go out of your way to help people and that doing things you didn't like to help someone else was the right thing to do.
It was true. A lot of the times helping others meant sacrificing something. Being a doctor, his mother sacrifices sleep. Kagome was sacrificing her grades to help fight demons. He, himself, sacrificed his free time to help his friends and peers at school with whatever they needed help with.
The last time he had any time to his self was a week ago when Inuyasha stormed in asking for Kagome.
'So maybe taking care of notes won't help me keep my mind off Inuyasha.' Hojo thought, tapping a pencil against the paper for a moment before setting it a side and glancing over the paper.
He doubted anything would keep his mind occupied for long. At least he could talk to his mother about it later. Not that she would be much help since she had taken a liking to teasing him non stop about his crush on the other male.
Straightening out the papers, he put them in a folder and set it to the side for when Kagome, came back. It was odd, her and her mother had been gone for nearly three hours. They were only supposed to run to the store to get a few things for dinner. 'Maybe they stopped somewhere else.' He thought as he started putting his books back in his school bag.
The door to the kitchen opened and agitated grumbling filled the room. Hojo looked over at Inuyasha, and had to fight the urge to run. He shoved his nervousness into the back of his mind the best he good, and smiled. "Done already?"
"You would think, but the very second I'm done with one thing he finds something else for me to do." Inuyasha stated glaring at nothing. "If you ask me he's just being lazy. Most of that stuff isn't even heavy."
Hojo would be lying if he said he didn't feel sorry for him. He would also be lying if he said he didn't like to see Inuyasha mad. It was just amusing to see for some reason.
Maybe it was just him, but it seemed like Inuyasha was exaggerating his annoyance for show. Not to impress anyone. More like he was keeping up his appearance of a stubborn tough guy.
"What are you grinning for?"
"No reason." Hojo hadn't realized how big his smile had gotten. He looked away from Inuyasha and went back to putting his books away. "Did you need something?" He asked.
He wasn't sure why he asked. It wasn't like the half demon didn't know his way around the house. Probably just the manners that had been drilled into his head since he could walk. This wasn't even his house.
Inuyasha was quiet for a moment, "No. I'm just hiding from the old geezer."
"Alright, I'll be upstairs. My mother's going to be here soon." He said feeling the sudden urge to get away from the other returning. "Let me know if you need something."
He walked out of the room and quickly made his way to the guest room. Why was it that every time they were in the same room, he felt like Inuyasha could read his mind? It was ridiculous. He was so paranoid around the man.
He needed to get over it quickly before Inuyasha realized something was up. He didn't think Inuyasha would take it to nicely, if he found out. Not a lot of people would.
Of course, he didn't know Inuyasha that well, yet. So he wasn't to sure what the other man thought about same sex relationships. But how was he supposed to find out? He couldn't just walk up to him and ask.
Okay, he could, but that wasn't exactly something that you were supposed to be so blunt about.
He could probably ask Kagome, but she didn't know he was into guys. After those years trying to get her to go out with him, she probably thought he was completely straight.
Why was this even bothering him so bad? It was just a little crush, maybe infatuation. It would pass and hopefully it would pass soon.
Hojo couldn't help but feel frustrated at the whole situation. He never had these issues with his crushes before.
He never felt like he had to avoid the person. Never felt like he had to watch what he said. He definitely never tried to hide how he felt. He did the complete opposite. He would talk to them, give them gifts and try to hang around them as much as possible.
He'd never been afraid of rejection either. Until he met Inuyasha. Why? The man was nothing special. Well not amazingly special. He was half-demon, but he wasn't really focused on that.
If you dismissed the fact he was a half-demon, then he was just a normal person with a bad attitude. Inuyasha wasn't the type of person he would go for. Short fuse, rude, loud and lacking even the most simple manners.
What was it about Inuyasha that was intimidating? He wasn't the most sympathetic person Hojo had ever met but he wasn't heartless. He was sure Inuyasha wouldn't kill him but if he knew, he might stop talking to him.
That thought didn't settle to well.
Rolling his eyes at his own thoughts, Hojo started getting his bags of clothes together. His mother wasn't going to be her for another couple of hours but she wasn't going to wait around if he wasn't ready on time.
Inuyasha was confused. Every time he came back and seen the kid, he was either really friendly or acting like a skittish mouse. He would say a short polite greeting and then scamper off like he was a shy child without there mothers skirt to hide behind. It was starting to get on his nerves.
Despite all the insults and arguments he actually didn't mind hanging around the kid. It was better then listening to Kagome complain about her school stuff or listening to the old geezer spew out not so idle threats. So when Hojo ran off every time he seen Inuyasha it was aggravating.
He knew something was wrong here, but he couldn't really figure out what it was. Did he upset the kid somehow. He didn't seem angry. Did he scare him? Inuyasha couldn't recall threatening him or doing anything that could be considered a threat. Yet, the human acted as if he was afraid of him.
Maybe he just figured out how scary demons could actually be. Inuyasha smirked at the thought but he already knew that wasn't the case.
It was probably best not to think about it too much. The kid had been a bit of a weirdo since he met him. How he would seem to get upset randomly and how he was overly polite when he was around adults or at school. It shouldn't be a surprise that he was suddenly wary around the half demon. He'd be back to normal soon.
Inuyasha headed up to Kagome's room, hoping to get away from the crazy old man and just relax until the girl got back. As soon as he got into the room he made himself comfortable on her bed. It wasn't like she was using it right now anyway. It would be the first time he fell asleep on her bed while she was gone.
However, it seemed he wasn't going to get any rest. He could here Hojo moving around in the guestroom. He could make out the sound of him shuffling his feet across the floor and moving things around. The irritating sound of that thing he learn not to long ago was a stapler and the movement of paper. This all went on four the next fifteen minutes before his ears perked up at one sound in particular.
Glass braking. It was followed by a few muffled words. The half demon found himself sitting up again, and listening more intently for any sign of trouble. The shuffling stopped and he was almost ready to jump out of the bed before the silence was replaced with actual footsteps and a door opening. He could hear Hojo curse under his breath about his own carelessness.
Inuyasha smirked to himself, finding the little incident entertaining. The kid wasn't clumsy, he was 'perfect' in everything he did. From school work to simply walking. His posture was straight, he didn't drag his feet, good grades, wrote neatly, was never late, he spoke clearly and didn't mumble. At least that's how he was around other people.
Inuyasha found out that Hojo preferred to slouch when he did his work, grumbled to himself and cursed when he was angry, dragged his feet when he was tired, was only sincerely polite to his elders and was well mannered to his classmates because he didn't want to be rude, and he didn't like getting up early. In fact, when ever he could he would turn off his ringing clock and continue sleeping.
Inuyasha hadn't learned any of this on purpose. He had just been watching over the kid when he was by himself at his own home. He wasn't sure why his mother left him there alone so much.
Hojo seemed to have a good relationship with his mother, but how was that possible when she was hardly around? How did a mother leave her child alone in the middle of the night when the child was most likely to get killed? He understood there weren't many demons in this time, or at least hadn't seen many, but there were other dangers like robbers and murderers. He'd seen things about it on the 'television'.
How could you be on good terms with someone who leaves you alone so often when your most likely to be attacked?
He just didn't understand humans.
Hojo had broken his drinking glass, causing it to not only leave a pile of glass behind but the contents of the glass spilt all over the floor. How the glass had broken on the carpet? He hadn't a clue. What he did know was that he had been thinking about a certain cranky, dog eared, silver haired man. Was it reasonable or logical to blame said man? No. You'd have to be completely selfish to believe that. Did it make him feel better? Oh, yes. Yes it did.
Or not.
Hojo sighed in aggravation at himself for wanting to blame the other man. It wasn't his fault that Hojo spaced out and hadn't been paying attention. 'Maybe I should stay home for a few days and try to avoid him for a while. It probably won't help, but at least I would be breaking my own dishes.' He thought as he placed the towel on the floor to soak up the water.
He glanced up at the clock hoping that by some strange miracle his mother would be there any second. Unfortunately it was only fourteen minutes passed noon. He still had two hours and a hand full of minutes left. He really wanted to talk to his mother right now. She'd be able to give him some advice or answers. Any form of guidance would help really.
He sat on the floor next to the towel and covered his face with his hands, holding back a frustrated groan. This wasn't fair. It definitely was not fair in any sense of the word. It would be so much easier if he had never met the man.
It wouldn't matter how easy it would be if he could just tell Inuyasha how he felt without the man freaking out or never speaking to him again. Or at least feeling like that's how he'd respond to a small confession. Hojo had never actually feared another guys reaction. He never hesitated to ask a guy out. There was a clear difference between asking out a girl and asking a boy though. With girls it was fine there weren't any real rules aside from being decent and not acting like an insane creepy jerk-off. With guys however, you had to make sure that they were into other guys. Then you had to make sure no one judge-mental was around at the time you asked them. Mostly because it could start trouble, but the guy just might not want others to know. So timing was important. How he wished it could be the same for both. Unfortunately it wasn't.
With girls it was simply because it was 'normal'. A guy was expected to ask a girl out somewhere down the line. Expected to get married and have a family of his own. With guys there was the fact that if the school found out there would be bullying involved and it could get violent. It wasn't as accepted as some people wished it was.
With the guys he had went out with it was kept a secret from the rest of the school. He himself wasn't afraid of other people knowing, but he wasn't going to force the other to tell anyone if they were scared. He never felt anger over it. Disappointment maybe, but never angry.
On the off chance that Inuyasha and him got into a relationship, would Inuyasha want to keep it a secret? Or would he not care if anyone knew?
Taking a deep breath, he stood up. He didn't have time for this sort of thing. There was school work to do. His own work that he'd neglected to do all morning. He wanted to get it done before his mother got there. They hadn't spoken for a while and it wouldn't be much fun if he was doing homework the whole time.
Standing up, he grabbed his text books of the desk and went over to the bed. If he had to hide in the room until his mother got there he should at least be comfortable.
Kagome mother's voice filled the house two hours later. "Inuyasha! Hojo!"
Hojo nearly had a heart-attack. He hadn't heard her come in. What was it with mothers and sneaking into their own homes? He could recall several occasions when his own mother came home in the early hours of the morning and woke him up just by cracking his bedroom door open to check on him. Sometime it would just be little noise he heard from the kitchen.
He never went down stairs just incase it wasn't his mother, but he was sure to keep his cell phone close.
He looked down at his paper and decided he could do the rest later when his mother went to sleep. He climbed off the bed and put his books away. He threw his bag on his shoulder and remembered last minute to pick the towel off the floor.
He passed by Inuyasha on his way out, and tried to ignore the half demon. Unfortunately he couldn't stop himself from smiling to the other and saying hello. He was able to make his way downstairs before Inuyasha could reply.
He dropped his bag off at the front door so he wouldn't forget it when he left. The teen walked into the dining room, were he could here the two women of the talking. "Yes ma'am?" he asked when he walked in. They were standing around the table, taking the groceries out of the bags.
Mrs. Higurashi looked and smiled cheerfully. "Hello dear. Are you going to be here for dinner? I know your mother is picking you up tonight but I wasn't sure about the time." She asked. As she continued un-bagging the food.
He smiled back and started helping by putting the food away. "No. She'll be here an hour before dinner. I do appreciate the thought though." He said, placing a loaf of bread on the counter .
"Oh, your welcome." She replied, handing him a container of juice. "Remember, you're welcome here anytime. I just need to know if I'm setting you a place at the table. . .that goes for you to Inuyasha." She added the last statement with a laugh. She could tell the man was in the living room, listening to their conversation.
"Grandpa went to the market, It's safe!" Kagome said as she put some fruits an bowl, shaking her head. She was over the humor of it by now. It's been a few year now. Inuyasha lurking about trying to avoid her grandfather was no longer funny. She just wished she knew how her mother always seemed to know when the half demon was eavesdropping.
Inuyasha walked in with a scowl. "If the old man wasn't always trying to put me to work or kill me, I wouldn't be hiding."
"You almost sound scared Inuyasha." Hojo smirked as he shut the refrigerator. He wasn't positive, where the courage to speak to the man came from. On the inside he felt that familiar urge to escape, even though he wasn't trapped. He was allowed to leave whenever he wanted. It was stupid to feel that way.
"Terrified." Was Inuyasha's sarcastic reply. He sat down on a chair, something he had grown accustomed to when he visited the modern era.
"It's not that bad, it's just a bit of paper and some talk. It's not like you're actually in any danger you know." Kagome stated rolling her eyes.
Hojo watched Inuyasha glare half heartedly at her. It was still strange for him to think this was normal. When he first met Inuyasha he worried about the two, because all they seemed to do was fight. It was recently that he would find himself smiling when he would walk into the Higurashi home to hear the two friends bickering.
The girl huffed at something the half-demon said and turned back to the food. She grabbed a few cans and stomped all two feet to the cabinet.
He looked over at Inuyasha, who looked victorious for some reason. Hojo really wished he had been paying attention to what the two had been saying.
He flinched when Kagome slammed the cabinet doors shut. She stood there with her hands on the wooden doors for a moment before returning to the table.
"Fine, we'll go after dinner. As long as you don't try to rush me." She stated and left no room for the other to argue.
That nearly made him flinch again. They were talking about going after that Naraku guy again. You'd think he'd be use to this by now, but he was far from it. He still remained on edge and worried until they would came home. Sometime they would be perfectly fine and other times one or both of them would be hurt. When they came home with injuries Hojo felt guilty. Like he should be helping them somehow, like it was his fault. He felt like a bad friend.
He knew logically, there wasn't anything he could do. That didn't stop him from feeling like he wasn't doing everything he could. Suddenly feeling depressed, he sighed. "I'm going to go get the rest of my stuff together before my mother gets here. Excuse me." He said as politely as he could at the moment, and left the room.
Inuyasha watched the human male leave the room, curiously. The kid just excused himself and left for no apparent reason.
"Inuyasha, what did you say to Hojo while we were gone?" Kagome said accusingly.
"What? I didn't say anything!" He shouted back standing up defensively. "Why does his change of attitude have to be my fault?"
The girl glared at him and crossed her arms "You were the only one home!"
"So?"
"What do you mean 'so'? Go apologize!"
Inuyasha would have slapped the girl if he wasn't against it. Why was she dead set on it being something he did wrong. He had one short conversation with the kid and he knew he didn't say anything offensive. It was the glare she was giving him however that made him bite his tongue. She was going to fight tooth and nail for him to admit he done something wrong. She was going to nag and nit-pick until he lost his temper, and he knew why.
She was looking for a way to get out from going to the feudal era. It was something she had been doing for the past year. She didn't do it constantly, but there were times when she wanted to stay home. Inuyasha understood that she wanted to spend time with her friends and family. He understood that she was tired of hunting down Naraku and getting caught up in trouble at every turn.
He felt the same way. He was half demon, fighting was in his nature. Chasing down the same enemy for three years with very little progress wasn't. He wanted nothing more then to kill the bastard and move on with his life, but he wasn't about to let Kagome just start taking breaks when she didn't need them. "Fine, I'll go say sorry to the guy, for whatever it is I could have possibly done wrong." He said and followed Hojo's trail up to the guestroom.
Instead of knocking, he glared at the door before walking in. He immediately spotted the teen laying on the bed, looking at him.
"Don't you knock?"
"No"
". . . At least you used the door this time." He said and sat up. "My mother wasn't to happy from your visit. You got mud on the blanket."
Inuyasha shut the door and walked over to the bed and sat on the edge closest to the door. "Are you always this strange?"
The teen looked at him with a raised brow and rested his head on a his hand. "What are you talking about." He asked looking towards Inuyasha but not at him. He was keeping his focus on the closet.
Inuyasha noticed how the younger man was avoiding looking at him. It seemed odd since Hojo always looked at someone when he was talking to them. "You're happy one moment, then your depressed, you get angry randomly and sometimes your like this." Inuyasha stated, pointing at Hojo's bored expression.
The teen smirked. "Are you saying I have mood swings?" He asked looking from the closet to Inuyasha ears.
"I'm saying that you're acting strange." Inuyasha felt like he was walking into a trap. Why was the kid looking at his ears. "Did I do something to piss you off?"
That seemed to get the other males attention. Hojo finally looked at him, eyes wider then normal and looking worried. "Why would you think that?"
"Maybe it has something to do with you lying to come up here and hide and Kagome yelling at me to apologize for whatever I did." He nearly growled, agitated that he had to say sorry for nothing.
Hojo smiled though, and sat a bit straighter. "You haven't done anything. I'm sorry if Kagomes blaming you for the negative mood I've been in but it's not your fault. I'm just a bit stressed out and worried. It's nothing you said or did."
"That's it. Your all moody because you're stressed?" He asked in a disbelieving tone. What was the kid so stressed about anyway? All he did was go to school. Kagome did that and she. . .
Nevermind.
The teen nodded, his face turning a light shade of red. "I'm not. . .I'm not good at handling so many things at once. I mean between school and you guys going off to fight all time, then my mother's schedule becoming even more hectic, and everything else, I guess it's just all catching up to me."
"You're worried about us?" He asked as if it was the only part he heard. It would be stupid to ask why. The answer was undeniably obvious.
"I'm not exactly as emotionally strong as Mrs. Higurashi. She can sit quietly and drink tea when she worried. I on the other hand have to dive into my school work and keep my mind busy, because if I think about it to much I'll go insane." He explained looking down.
Inuyasha thought the teen looked a embarrassed. Red in the face and he was avoiding eye contact again. It was kind of a difficult thing to admit how you felt to someone, so Inuyasha couldn't blame him. What he found disturbing was the fact that he himself was feeling an awkward kind of warmth in his chest.
He felt the urge to comfort the teen, to hug him a tell him that they'd all be fine. However, he couldn't bring himself to. Hojo was a man, more or less. Men just didn't comfort each other that way. Hugging some one to comfort them was something a man only did with a woman, or a child. Not another man.
Inuyasha couldn't look at the teen anymore and turned his on eyes to the desk. "I don't know what to tell you. I can't promise that we'll survive. " He said bluntly, straight to the point.
"I don't want comfort, Inuyasha. Especially if you're going to lie just to make me feel better. I'd rather have the truth." He said slouching forward and resting his head on his hand again.
Inuyasha didn't have to look see the kid to know that he looked exhausted. He just wasn't sure what to do. If it was Kagome he'd say a few reassuring words to her and hope that it would lift up her spirit's a bit. How was he supposed to cheer this guy up?
Suddenly a loud sound of a car horn illed the silent room. Hojo got up and looked at the window. "My mother's here." he said.
Inyasha watched the boys visible change in mood. Maybe his mother was who he needed to talk to about this. Something about that thought cause Inuyasha's warm feeling to vanish. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not.
He watched Hojo walk over to the door and stop. "Inuyasha? There is one thing you can promise me." He said
Inuyasha looked at him and stood up off the bed. "Yeah? What?"
"Promise me you'll try to survive and not act reckless."
Inuyasha looked at him seriously for a few seconds before nodding. "I promise to try." He said and earned a smile in return.
"Thank you." Hojo said before walking out the door.
The half demon walked over to the window and looked out. He could see a green car on the road. A light shining from inside of it. It wasn't long before he saw Hojo running up to the car opening a door and setting his things down, before closing it and opening another door. He got inside himself and as soon as the door closed the car drove off.
Inuyasha felt a little better then he had been, but at the same time he felt worse. It wasn't a feeling he could explain. All he knew was he promised the kid something and he was going to try like hell to keep that promise.
Not much but, at least it's getting somewhere. . .right? Sorry if it sorta loses it's quality (if you can call it that) around the end. It's four in the morning and I'm half asleep at the computer. . .Hopefully since I have a computer now that doesn't completely hate my guts I'll get another chapter up soon.. .Hopefully
Again, feel free to. . . vote I guess? on whether or not Hojo should go down the well. Or to just point out whatever I'm doing wrong.
Your patience is appreciated. It truly is.
-VJ