AN Okay, I don't own Inuyasha, and if I use songs in this chapter I don't own them either unless specified. I've never been good at finishing stories, but I really want to finish this one because I HATE it when I start reading a good story and find out it's not done and hasn't been updated in five years, I get angry, so unless I die (it could happen lol) I WILL finish this story! My muse has decided to go on strike, I need some inspiration so yeah I can't promise all my updates will be on time for a bit but I will try to keep them going.
Kagome had been settling into her new job just fine, trying her hardest to forget about what had happened between her and Inuyasha. Kagome was glad that winter break started next week, she hoped that working full time would keep her mind off of Inuyasha. Zuki helped as much as she could, but Kagome felt that only keeping herself busy would do it. Kagome had been spending less and less time at home, she was grateful that her mother understood. Most of the time she found herself sleeping at Zuki's place, mostly because it was closer to their high school, Takanawadai Senior High School, and because Zuki's parents were gone. Yasu tried to fill the role of a responsible older brother, but failed most of the time, Zuki wasn't an out of control teen, not by a long shot. It just happened that she took care of her brother more then he took care of her. Kagome was glad when Friday rolled around, she would have a whole weekend without Kikyou or Inuyasha. All she had to do was get through the day, which was proving harder then she had anticipated. Tanaka-sensei, their language teacher, was rambling on about some book when a note was passed onto her desk.
Want to get dinner with the girls after school?
Kagome looked over to Zuki and nodded with a smile. Zuki smiled back then continued to pretend to take notes. The bell rang signaling the end of the school day, and the three week break they had. Kagome stretched and sighed, happy to be done for the week. Zuki and Ayame stopped in front of her desk and waited for her to collect her things before heading to the front steps to meet Sango.
"Wanna bet that she got in another fight with Miroku?" Ayame said with a smirk, noticing Sango storming out of the school looking riled.
"She can't have, he's at work, Sango told me at lunch," Kagome said wondering what had made her friend so mad.
"Let's get out of here, I'm so fucking sick of that whore!" Sango screamed stomping past her friend. The other three girls exchanged a look before running after Sango.
"Who's a whore Sango?" Zuki asked the first girl to catch up to her. Sango didn't seem to hear her as she kept mumbling to herself. Before Zuki could question anymore Kagome's phone rang.
"Moshi moshi…Oh hey mom…no I'm with the girls…we were going to get dinner…okay I'll ask them one sec. Hey you guys want to eat at my place instead, my mom is cooking?" Kagome asked moving the phone away from her mouth. Ayame stopped and looked a little crestfallen.
"I'm so sorry guys, I have to go meet with the tribe elders, I can't," Ayame said looking highly upset about having to go to the north.
"I can't either, I have to watch Kohaku while my dad is out of town," Sango said finally paying attention to her friends. Kagome looked at Zuki begging her to say yes with her eyes. Zuki smiled at her.
"I love your mom's cooking, wouldn't miss it for the world!" She responded enthusiastically. Kagome told her mom and hung up. The four girls headed to the train station together before they departed. Ayame took the train that Zuki normally took home, but Kagome and Zuki took a different one to get to the Higurashi Shrine. Zuki was a bit nervous, she knew why Kagome had almost begged her to come, Kikyou and Inuyasha would be there. The ride to the shrine was uneventful, it wasn't until they got to the bottom of the steps that things got interesting. Zuki looked up the long stairwell to the shrine and almost groaned, she loved Kagome's shrine, but walking up the steps was hell. On their way up, with Kagome taking the stairs fine, and Zuki breathing a bit faster then normal a young boys voice called out to Kagome.
"Oh hey Souta, Shippou," Kagome said happily to the two boys coming up the steps. Souta was Kagome's little brother, and Shippou was his best friend, they rarely ever went anywhere without each other.
"Hey sis, hi Zuki," Souta said happily quickly catching up to them. Zuki seemed to be the only one who was tiring, Shippou was a kitsune so he didn't get tired from bounding up thousands of shrine steps.
"Where have you been Kagome? I rarely ever see you anymore," Shippou said sounding very pitiful. Kagome laughed as she ruffled his hair.
"Sorry kiddo, my house is just a bit too crowded for me right now." Zuki and the whole world knew that Shippou had a small crush on Kagome. They made their way to the top, Zuki catching her breath.
"I…really…hate….those…steps," she gasped bending over. Kagome and Souta laughed before the bounded off to their house. It didn't take long for Zuki to catch her breath and run after them, Shippou following her. Shippou was practically family to Zuki, her aunt had taken him in after his family had been killed by some thunder demons, she thought of him more as a little brother then a cousin though, and he treated her like a sister.
"Zu, why has Kagome been gone a lot," he asked walking with her. Zuki looked down at her little cousin contemplating what to tell him, Shippou was smart, she trusted him with the truth.
'Well, ever since Kikyou woke up, she hasn't been the nicest person in the world. Mind you she wasn't ever warm in the first place, but now she just seems cruel. You know how Kagome feels about Inuyasha, Kikyou knows it too and does everything she can to rub it in Kagome's face, so she has been spending a lot of time at my place. If you want to see her you and Souta are more then welcome to hang out," Zuki said smiling down at her adoptive cousin. Shippou scrunched his face in concentration before shaking his head.
"Inuyasha is such an idiot," he said sadly. Zuki laughed and agreed with him as they walked into the Higurashi's house.
"Zuki! I'm so glad you could come, it's been so long since I've seen you," Mrs. Higurashi said before pulling Zuki into a strong hug.
"It's good to see you Mrs. Higurashi," she said retrning the hug.
"Kagome is in her room, I'll start on dinner in a couple hours. Oh, Kikyou hasn't come home yet," she added with a meaningful look. Zuki nodded as she put the house slippers on and bounded up to Kagome's room. Kagome was laying face down on the bed, Zuki was worried she was upset but realized that she was just asleep. Zuki didn't want to disturb her friend so instead she headed downstairs to the sounds of two young boys playing video games in the living room. Zuki plopped onto the couch and watched Souta and Shippou play some fighting game that she hadn't seen before. It was an hour before Kikyou came home, sadly with Inuyasha.
"Aunt Kun-Loon, I'm home!" Kikyou shouted. Zuki immediately tensed up before sinking lower into the couch, hoping that Inuyasha wouldn't smell her. Her wish didn't come true as some familiar silver hair swept over the back of the couch.
"Hey Zuki, what are you doing here?" Inuyasha asked, thoroughly confused.
"Came over for dinner," she said quickly before sitting up right again to try to ignore him. Inuyasha didn't take the hint and plopped down next to her.
"Does that mean Kagome's here?" He asked not hiding the excitement in his voice.
"So what if she is, you know I won't let you talk to her," a cold voice shot from the hallway. Inuyasha flinched before growling a bit.
"Kikyou, I can talk to whoever I want! Kagome is my friend," he said turning to glare at her. Not wanting to be in the middle of a lovers spat. Zuki got up and rushed to Kagome's bedroom before the war broke out. Souta and Shippou had the same idea and hid themselves in Souta's room. Softly closing the door behind her, Zuki almost jumped with she saw Kagome sitting up on her bed.
"Kikyou is home I hear," she said her voice sounded dead.
"Yeah, Inuyasha too," Zuki said moving to sit on her friends bed. Kagome gave a small grunt of acknowledgement before she continued to stare at her feet. The shouting from the living room was growing, when it stopped suddenly and they could hear two people running up the stairs. Zuki figured that Kikyou and Inuyasha were going to Kikyou's room to make out before dinner. Zuki and Kagome jumped when there was a timid knock on the door.
"Come in," Kagome choked out quietly. Zuki glared at the person standing in the open door.
"Uh, hey Kagome, how are you?" Inuyasha asked looking at his feet.
"What do you want Takahashi?" Zuki asked noticing her friends tense posture.
"I want to talk to Kagome, is that a problem?" he retorted angrily. Zuki stood up to face Inuyasha. Before she could get a word in Kagome was standing and screaming at Inuyasha.
"I don't want to talk to you! All you do is waffle back and forth, and you know what? I'm sick of it! You can't keep doing this, you have to figure out what the hell you want, when you do let me know, until then just leave me alone!" Kagome shoved Inuyasha out of her room and slammed the door. She stood facing the door clenching her fists in anger.
"Um, Kags you okay?" Zuki asked softly. She heard Kagome sigh before she turned around.
"Yeah, I'm just, I don't know, after that day at the store I don't know what Inuyasha is doing or feeling." Zuki moved quickly and hugged her friend, she didn't know what to say. Kagome hugged her back before stepping out of her arms.
"Lets try to get some studying done before dinner," Kagome said with a small smile. Zuki smiled back and nodded before moving to get her bag. They tried to study, at first it was hard because Kikyou was yelling at Inuyasha for something. Kikyou yelled for about half an hour before the house got quiet again. They got in about an hour of studying before they were called to dinner. Zuki had always loved Mrs. Higurashi's cooking, but dinner was unusually quiet and tense. Kikyou was trying to be lovey dovey with Inuyasha and feed him but Kikyou seemed to be the only one who wanted that.
"Kikyou, stop," Inuyasha muttered glancing at Kagome. Kagome hadn't looked up from her food the entire meal, giving only one word answers when spoken too.
"Suzuki, tell me how your dancing is going?" Mrs. Higurashi asked suddenly. Zuki jumped when she was addressed causing a bit of fish to be flung from her chopsticks.
"Oh, um, sorry. Dancing has been going well, the store has been selling much more now that the holiday's are closer," Zuki said quickly. Mrs. Higurashi gave Zuki a warm smile before turning to her daughter.
"How is school going?" Kagome looked up at her mother looking slightly worried.
"It-it's going okay," Kagome said softly. Zuki knew that Kagome was having a hard time studying and focusing on school when she had to deal with Kikyou. Mrs. Higurashi noticed her daughters' hesitance but didn't say anything more. The rest of the dinner crept by in stony silence, Souta and Shippou finished first and looked nervously around before asking to be excused. They put their dishes in the sink before running up to Souta's room. Soon after Kagome said she was done even though most of her food hadn't been touched.
"May I be excused?" Kagome asked politely.
"Yes dear," Mrs. Higurashi said sounding mildly sad. Kagome gave Zuki a defeated glance before walking quickly to the stairs. Zuki heard Kagome run the rest of the way to her room.
"Thank you for dinner Mrs. Higurashi, it was wonderful," Zuki said with a small bow.
"You are very welcome Zuki-chan, I suppose you are finished?" Zuki nodded with an apologetic smile. "You are excused." Zuki deposited her dishes in the sink before running up to Kagome's room. Zuki was slightly surprised to see that Kagome wasn't crying, but was also happy about it.
"You okay Kags?" Zuki asked sitting at Kagome's desk.
"Yeah, I don't feel up to studying anymore, I'm pretty tired," Kagome said with a sigh. Zuki was worried for her friend, Kagome just wasn't herself anymore and Zuki didn't know what to do about it.
"Well, I guess I'll head home, you sure you're okay?" Zuki asked as she stood up. Kagome looked up at her and gave her a smile that never reached her eyes.
"I'll be fine." Zuki collected her things and gave Kagome a quick hug before heading home. Kagome sat on her bed thinking about everything. She knew that she shouldn't let things with Inuyasha affect her so, but she couldn't help it. She cared about him deeply and nothing she did made those feelings go away. There was a knock on her door before it opened, and the last person she wanted to see was standing there.
"What do you want Kikyou?" Kagome groaned getting off her bed. Kikyou didn't say anything so Kagome looked over at her cousin. Kikyou had an odd expression on her face, a mix of sadness and fear clouded her eyes.
"Ki you okay?" Kagome asked using the name she had called her when they were kids. Kikyou closed her eyes and shook her head as if to clear it.
"Uh, yeah, do-do you have a pen I could borrow?" Kikyou said quickly masking her face. Kagome was thoroughly confused.
"Um yeah, here," Kagome said grabbing a pen off her desk and handing it to her.
"Thanks, well, 'night," Kikyou said softly before shutting the door. Kagome stared at the door as if it was about to sprout wings.
What was that about? She asked herself turning away from the door. Kagome changed into her pajamas and crawled into bed thinking about Kikyou's strange behavior.
The next day was just as strange. Kikyou wasn't being as spiteful as she had been lately, she was almost nice. Kagome didn't know what to make of the new Kikyou, she wasn't back to her old self, but she wasn't berating Kagome every chance she got either. Inuyasha hadn't changed much though, he tried to talk to Kagome when he got to her house to pick up Kikyou. Kagome bolted out the door before he could stop her running so she would put distance between the two. Kagome met her Zuki at her metro station and explained everything as they rode to Sango's house.
"So, she just asked to borrow a pen?" Zuki asked trying to make sense of the situation.
"Yes, and then this morning she was nice, well not really nice, but she was civil, I don't know what's going on," Kagome said wringing her hands.
"Well, maybe she was just knocked crazy from the accident and is finally getting her marbles back?" Zuki offered just as in the dark as Kagome. The Before Kagome could respond, a tall young man with brown hair and brown eyes ran up to Kagome.
"Higurashi, how are you?" he asked with a smile.
"Hojo, I'm doing okay, how are you?" Kagome said politely. Zuki was trying to hold back her laughter. They had been going to school with Hojo for years and he still didn't call Kagome by her given name.
"I am well, but there was something I wanted to ask you…" Hojo looked nervous and started looking around.
"What did you want to ask me?" Kagome asked not paying attention to him. Everyone knew that Hojo liked Kagome, he had been trying to work up the nerve to ask her out but always seemed to loose it.
"Oh, I was wondering, do you want to go out to a movie with me this weekend?" He asked suddenly. Kagome whipped her head around to look at him.
"A movie?" Kagome looked to Zuki for help, Zuki just shrugged. "Well, sure Hojo, a movie would be nice," Kagome said slowly. Relief washed over the boy as he beamed at Kagome.
"Great, I'll pick you up around five on Saturday, alright?" He said as the train slowed to a stop.
"Okay," Kagome said as he moved off the train. Kagome looked at her hands then up at Zuki.
"Did he just ask me out on a date?" Kagome asked looking slightly frightened.
"Yes, I believe he did," Zuki said biting her lip to keep from laughing. Kagome, thankfully, didn't notice and continued to stare at her hands, her issues with Kikyou momentarily forgotten. Kagome was silent the rest of the ride and didn't say much even when they got to Sango's house.
"What's up with Kagome?" Sango asked Zuki closing her front door.
"Hojo asked her out this Saturday, oh and Kikyou isn't being a bitch anymore," Zuki said slipping her shoes off. Kagome had already taken her shoes off and wandered into the living room.
"He finally got the nerve huh?" Sango said crossing her arms and smirking. Zuki snorted and nodded slipping off her shoes and heading further into the house.
"What was that about Kikyou?" Sango asked following her friends into the living room. Zuki glanced at Kagome before divulging the story about Kikyou, Kagome was still in her own world when the story the done. Sango didn't quite know what to make of the new Kikyou, she wanted to believe that Kikyou was changing back to her old self but she wasn't ready to forgive her yet.
"What do you think of all this?" Sango asked. Zuki thought for a moment not sure how she was reacting to the new Kikyou.
"I guess, I'm glad, maybe life will get easier, but I can't help wondering if this is just a new angle she is playing," Zuki said with a sigh.
"Yeah, I'm not ready to trust her either, well I guess we'll just have to see," Sango said shrugging before turning to look at Kagome.
"Whatdya think we'll have to do to snap her out of it?" She asked an evil grin crossing her face. Zuki looked at the ceiling thinking then matched Sango's grin. Without words they knew what the other was thinking, slowly the edged closer to Kagome. Zuki and Sango grinned at each other before pouncing on their friend. Kagome looked up just in time to see her two friends with maniacal grins on their faces.
"Wha- NO!" Kagome was pinned to the floor having the life tickled out of her.
"S-stop it!" Kagome gasped between breaths. Zuki and Sango were laughing just as hard tickling Kagome mercilessly.
"What are you guys doing?" A young mans voice asked from the hall. Zuki glanced up with a grin and sat back on the floor.
"Hey Kohaku, just tickling Kagome."
"Kohaku! Help!" Kagome gasped from the floor. Sango had to stop tickling Kagome because she was laughing too hard. Kagome saw her chance and jumped to her feet running to hid behind Kohaku. Kagome had a wild look in her eyes and her hair was a mess. Zuki and Sango were trying to catch their breath but kept bursting out in laughter when they looked at Kagome. Zuki was the first to get herself under control.
"Sorry Kags, we had to get you out of your head," Zuki said standing up and straightening her clothes. Kagome figured they weren't going to attack her again so she crept from behind Kohaku keeping an eye on Sango. Kohaku shook his head mumbling something about girls making his way into the kitchen.
"Well, you girls ready to go to Shibuya?" Sango asked finally catching her breath. Kagome fixed her hair then nodded with a huge smile.
AN: Okay, so I'm not happy with this chapter but I don't want to make people angry so here ya go lol, I think my muse is slightly less mad at me but she still isn't helping me as much as normal, if there isn't an update next week it's because I'm not settling. Thank you! R&R