Les Yeux Bleus

Autumn's Smile

Chapter 10 - Forced Farewells

Kagome was your average romantic. She wanted a home, children and a husband she could cook for- someone who appreciated her food ('like Yukito!' her traitorously bold mind stated brightly). She was rather green at it though- she could cook, clean and be the perfect domesticated wife but she had trouble sometimes in the love department. She was jubilant and slightly envious of what appeared to be the absolutely perfect match-made-in-heaven that was her brother and Sakura. Not many girls had bothered to get to know the real Souta Higurashi- they were all enamoured of his good looks and athleticism but Kagome was pretty sure that no other "girlfriend" Souta had had ever known that he was even remotely interested in art.

On her own personal agenda, Kagome hoped to find someone like that. Guys were interested in her body and her gorgeous face, but like the girls chasing Souta, none of them were ever interested in knowing her as a person- or if they did, they were the absolute bland sort. Kagome shuddered, remember the kind but dim Hojo who had pursued her when she was collecting the shards of the Shikon no Tama. They were all fine and nice but Kagome wanted someone who excited her and made her feel... special.

She left her house, hoping to give Souta and Sakura some privacy- she knew her brother well enough to know that he wouldn't go to thatstage yet with Sakura. She had more faith and trust in his wooing ability. His newfound skill (it really was newfound, considering when he had first liked Hitomi, he was enough of a wreck to go to Inuyasha for advice!) made up for her lack of it. She was the greatest matchmaker but she was absolutely clueless when it came to herself. And when she did end up falling for someone, he usually died. She looked up to the dusky skies and sent a prayer to the gods that Kurama was happy in the otherworlds.

"I'm depressing myself," she murmured to herself, "I miss him. But he would be disappointed in me if he knew how I was acting now. He would never have wanted me to be so unhappy." She sighed, remembering his gorgeous red hair and bright green eyes that looked at her with such love and concern. "I'm going to get icecream," she decided. Eating never solved the problem, but it took her mind off of it sometimes. Thankfully, she was extremely fit and planned to keep it that way.

She walked to the small local ice cream parlour. It was better than any commercial, chain ice cream shop. The icecream was always extremely flavourful without being disgustingly sweet and it was always always always refreshing. She walked up to the smiling man at the counter and asked for a waffle cone with bordeaux cherry ice cream (three scoops of course!) and gave the man 360-en. Thanking him politely, she sat down in one of the elegant but old chairs with the detailed metal backing and worn, plush lilac cushion. The entire shop was done in whimsical, daydream-like purples and pale pale yellows and a classical CD was being played. She listened to the violins sweetly play Pachbell's Cannon and let her mind wander absentmindedly as she ate her icecream. She vaguely heard the tinkering bells announcing that someone had entered the parlour but payed no mind to it.

A few moments later, she was interrupted by someone sitting across from her. He had a large waffle cone with rocky road icecream- it matched his hair, Kagome mused amusedly. She told him this.

"Ha ha ha very funny," he replied mock-sarcastically- he couldn't really help it. It was his natural tone, but the playful look he levelled her let her know that he was just joking. She smiled in return.

"What brings you out here when you could be at home studying or doing something productive mister?" she chided him. They had a final to do tomorrow- a summative before the actual exams started that would count as ten percent of their mark. Fortunately for her, it was in history, which she was actually good at. Kinomoto Touya however, wasn't all that great at it.

"I could be asking you the same question," he countered, "but I'm way too lazy. I'm also supposed to be out looking for Sakura but I decided to stop in for a snack when I saw you and just couldn't help but bother you." He finished on his usually snarky note and she grinned.

"I'm glad to know you cared," she quipped back, and then decided to mention, "Sakura's at my house. She's umm... hanging out with Souta." Touya raised an eyebrow at her. He was rather protective of his little sister, and while he didn't hold as much animosity for Souta as he did for Syaoran, he inwardly frowned at the thought of his sister being unchaperoned in a house with a boy that she obviously had a crush on and the boy just happened to like her back.

"I see," he stated flatly, "so if she's hanging outwith Souta, why are you here and not hanging out with Yukito?" He leaned forward almost confidentially and said, "You like Yukito, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" she replied a little loudly and he smiled just as a voice behind her said,

"I like you too Kagome." She froze and blushed. Yukito was about to pull up a chair and sit with them when Touya shook his head.

"Take this seat. I'm going to go now. I have to save my sister from mini-Higurashi's clutches," he winked at Kagome and she glared at him. He had totally set her up for that! They watched as he left before an almost awkward silence fell. Kagome blushed. She felt like a tomato!

"So," Kagome said slowly, "what kind of icecream have you got there?" Under normal circumstances she would have mentally berated herself immensely for asking such a question but Yukito was always happy to talk about food and it wasn't like she could guess the eleven flavours stacked on the cone all by herself.

His whole face brightened as he smiled. Enthusiastically, he began to list each flavour. "There's rocky road, vanilla, taro, red bean, strawberry, bordeaux cherry, green tea, orange sherbert, butterscotch, mint chocolate chip, and cookies and cream." He pointed at each different coloured scoop. "I get limited to only eleven instead of the full fifteen because Nakajima-san says I'm such a great customer that I'd eat it all and leave nothing for everyone else." He laughed and Kagome couldn't help but giggle. He was so boyish; his pretty olive-green eyes would light up and he smiled so easily. She could see herself falling for him and staying in love for a very long time. She only wished he were partly demon or something so that she wouldn't have to pretend and hide things from him. She didn't want to hide things from him at all. Something about his open nature made her want to talk to him all day.

"My bordeaux cherry seems kind of boring now," she smiled wryly and finished off her icecream. They were getting more comfortable in each others' presences now, thankfully and they began to talk in earnest and even debate/discuss the more hot-topics. He finished his icecream and the shop was going to close soon. They left and decided to walk around for a while and enjoy the fresh and beautifully crisp November weather. They went from politics to history to family to society. It was like they could talk about anything. Intellectual talks had always been a strong point with Shuichi and Kagome missed them immensely. He would practically teacher higher applied sciences and she would hotly discuss and vent about political going-ons and things like laws and unfair social issues. Kagome loved it when a guy could challenge her mentally without going overboard.

"You know what Kagome?" Yukito said abruptly after she went on about orphans and how they could help the surrogate parents as much as the parents could help them (she had enough experience and had seen the wonders Rin had worked on Sesshoumaru) "I think you're heart's in the right place, I really do. I think the reason why I like you so much is because you're intelligent but you're very kind." He smiled gently at her and in the depths of his eyes she could see how much he really did care. She felt her heart race and unconsciously she bit her bottom lip. They'd stopped walking now and he was holding her hand.

Nervously he swooped forward and kissed her lightly. She didn't pull back and he relaxed, deepening the kiss. He hadn't really kissed a girl before, and let her lead a little. Soon, she slowly pulled back and smiled.

"I really like you too Yukito."

Sakura and Souta had sat in the living room of his home and "hung out" for a while when someone knocked on the door. Souta went to go open the door and was surprised to see a stony-faced Touya.

"Kinomoto-san," he greeted him, bowing politely. The older man nodded in return before asking where his sister was. Souta opened the door a bit wider and Touya could clearly see his sister lounging on the couch, absentmindedly channel-surfing. Touya raised an eyebrow at Souta- they were obviously pretty good at masking whatever they'd been doing beforehand. If Sakura's hair was just a tad bit neater and Souta's lips weren't all red he might have thought that they weren't doing anything improper. They were only a bunch of junior highschool students anyway, right?

"Sakura's going to have to come home now," he told the couple and Sakura nodded before gathering the small bag she always carried with her from where she had deposited it in front of the closet. She walked out, quickly grasping Souta's hand before leaving and slanting him a look without her brother noticing. She dropped it like nothing had happened and primly bowed as she walkled out the front door.

"Bye Souta," she called out as they walked away. He waved before slowly closing the door and smiling to himself.

When Kagome came home later, Souta was still in a happy mood. She decided not to disturb him and called Shippou over to their house for dinner. The family supped together before they retired to their living room to talk. Souta's good mood still hadn't evaporated and Kagome seemed halfway on cloud nine herself. Shippou seemed bemused and the general air was really pleasant. Before long however, they had to talk about their plans.

"I think," Shippou was the first to broach the topic, "that we need to make sure that we know the route for sure. The Makai has changed somewhat, and there are always creatures that want to fight too much for their own good. We need to have a map and proper equipment. I'm assuming we have all necessary weapons."

"I'll need a few extra quivers full of arrows," Kagome volunteered, sucking on the back of her pink pen before scribbling it down on a pad of paper that she always kept on top of the television.

"We'll need camping supplies obviously," Souta added, "and food in case. This is going to be like one of your trips to the feudal era almost. Except this time, I get to go." He was really excited, this was his first real adventure. Kagome had always been the lucky one, fate allowed her to travel and see places. Souta had always stayed back and tended to the house and his family. On top of that, he was getting to travel with Sakura. Of course, the nuisance that was Syaoran was also coming along on the trip but Souta could definitely handle him.

They continued to plan and decide on what they were doing for the rest of the night.

Meanwhile, Sakura was at home planning on how to escape school. Unlike Kagome, Souta and Shippou, she had a father and protective older brother at home who would definitely question why she had been gone for a week. They also didn't know about her magical, extracurricular activites. She was wracking her brain to come up with excuses. She needed someone who would cover for her- she couldn't lie and say there was a trip of some sort because Tomoeda was a pretty small town. If there was an overnight trip, the town would be almost ghostly without the teenagers who inhabited it. She wondered if somehow she could get Higuarshi Kagome-san to cover for them but she realized that she did not know how to explain her absence to her either.

She had almost two and a half weeks left. It was plenty of time- except she needed to gather what supplies she would take with her right away because needed to slip away without any fuss. Also, it calmed her nerves and made her feel like she was doing things properly.

They also needed a plan. She trusted Cat... and Bird made her feel very secure and warm but she was very afraid of being wrong. She could be leading Yue and Syaoran to their deaths. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Thinking about everything that could go wrong did not help her at all. She began writing her list.

The next day and that entire week of school went by in a blur. Kagome, Souta, and Shippou had politely told each of their teachers that they would be absent in two and a half weeks, claiming that they had to go back to Tokyo for an important family issue. This was almost true- in three and a half weeks (after they had cleaned up the problem Naraku posed or died in the process) they were going to visit Shuichi's grave- it would mark the anniversary of his death.

Sakura had overheard Souta talking with the teacher, discussing the situation and she had an idea. She could ask Kagome to go to Tokyo and then at the very last moment, Sakura could get Souta to claim that she couldn't go anymore. That way, she would have an excuse to be out of town but not with Kagome and Souta! She actually wanted to go to Tokyo and meet Souta's mom and see the pretty shrine he mentioned to her once but she needed to take Naraku down and get Keroberos back. Maybe someday after that, she decided, she wanted to go to Tokyo.

It took a week before she discussed her plan with Souta. She expected to have to plead and somehow worm her way through all possible loopholes but surprisingly, she easily got both her father and Kagome's permission. She marvelled at how simple it had been. She had almost as easy a time as Syaoran and Yukito did, and they didn't even have to get any permission from anyone because they lived alone! Maybe her lying skills weren't that bad, she mused one day. She was crossing her fingers and was now just waiting for time to pass.

The last day was excruciatingly long. Tomoyou kept bothering her the entire day and the teacher's lessons just dragged on and on. Halfway through second period she was already tempted to just put her head down on her desk and just sleep but she knew that she had to be as good as possible. She didn't want the teacher calling home and asking her father if Sakura was alright. The teacher was very caring but she made too many personal phonecalls to her students' households. If the teacher called home, her dad might get worried and call Kagome. Kagome would tell her dad that she had decided not to leave Tomoeda to come to Tokyo and then she'd be absolutely screwed. She wasn't sure how long she was going to be in the Makai for and gut instinct told her that it would probably be at least four days, if not a week. She sighed and recounted to make sure she had all of her necessities. Murmuring a whispered farewell to her father and brother, she opened her Key and activated the Fly. She hoisted her heavy bag on her back before mounting her winged wand and flying out into the night to her destination- Penguin Park- where she intended to meet Cat, Bird and Fox to rescue Kero.

END CHAPTER