Chapter 14: Winter Ball
Author's POV with InuYasha
It was the Saturday after Kagome's team and Kikyo's team had fought. InuYasha and Miroku, who were both on the football team, were flipping out.
Why, you ask?
They were headed to state in another week and a half, but they weren't playing for another two weeks after that.
And for InuYasha's part, he still hadn't gotten up the courage to ask Kagome to the Winter Ball. He'd bought two tickets for him and Kagome. Sesshomaru was sitting in InuYasha's room one night after practice. He said, "So you still haven't asked her yet?" He wondered how Rin was dealing with Kagome.
His younger brother gave him a glare. "No shit, Sherlock! How did you figure that out?!"
Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. "Uh…Let me see. You're pacing. Haven't really talked to Kagome for a week. Haven't been sleeping well. Miroku says you're pissier than usual. Haven't once asked Sota how he's doing. You're turning in all your homework—"
"I always turn in my homework!"
"—and Kagome still doesn't have a date."
InuYasha's dog ears perked up at this. "What? She doesn't?"
"Nope. She was telling Rin last night at dinner. You would have heard if you were there."
InuYasha groaned and sat down on his bed, head in his hands. "Sess…What am I going to do?"
"Ask her as a friend."
The hanyou looked at his brother. "As a what?"
"As. A. Friend." Sesshomaru was speaking slowly, as if talking to a 2 year old. Right then, Sesshomaru was thinking that a two year old had more intelligence than InuYasha.
"But I don't have a suit and Kagome doesn't have a dress."
Sesshomaru resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "You, little brother, are lucky that I am the same size as you. Just a few inches taller. They fitted it to me, and then shortened the pant legs and sleeves of the jacket. Rin and Kagome are the same height and weight, so the dress fits her."
InuYasha looked at his brother like he was an alien. "Who are you and what have you done to Sesshomaru?"
"Nothing. Rin's idea."
InuYasha pretended to wipe sweat off his forehead. "Good. I was going to say…Sesshomaru, being nice to me? Beware, the apocalypse is coming!" He chuckled a bit.
Sesshomaru even laughed a bit. "Now. I'm going. Get changed and go down to Kagome's. Ask her."
InuYasha nodded and Sesshomaru left.
InuYasha changed into his sleeping clothes, which were boxers. He texted Kagome, "Hey. Can I come down?"
"Yesh. Come on down."
He ran downstairs and grabbed some cookies and cream ice cream, placing two spoons in it.
Author's POV with Kagome
Kagome was pacing her room, with Rin sitting on her bed. Kagome was pulling on her hair. "Rin…! What am I going to do?!"
Rin rolled her eyes. She had considerably less patience than her fiancée, who was dealing with his brother. She wondered how he was doing.
"Kags…I'm sure InuYasha will ask you soon. Just give him time. You'll be fine. In fact, I'm sure Izzy will ground InuYasha if he doesn't ask you soon." Rin rubbed her temples.
And this was the truth. Izayoi wanted InuYasha and Kagome to go to the Winter Ball almost as much as Rin, Sesshomaru, Sota, Sango, Miroku, Kohaku, Koga, Ayame, Mika, Ai, the football team, and Naoko. The key word is 'almost'. Rin, Sesshomaru, Sango and Miroku are the top four.
"But what if he doesn't ask me?"
"He will."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Uh…Let me see. He hasn't really talked to you for a week. According to Sesshomaru he hasn't been sleeping well. Miroku says he's pissier than usual. He hasn't once asked Sota how he's doing. He's turning in all his homework—"
"He always turns in his homework!"
"—and you still doesn't have a date."
"No duh, sis! Otherwise you'd be doing whatever it is you do with Sesshomaru right now!"
Rin blushed bright, bright red. ((Think InuYasha's haori…)) "Whatever are you talking about, dearest sister of mine…?"
Kagome snorted. "You know. By the way, it's too late to go get a dress. What would I do about that?"
Rin rolled her eyes. "You and I are the same weight and height. Sesshomaru and InuYasha are the same weight, but Sesshomaru is a few inches taller. We had that adjusted but, it should fit him. We bought you a dress—a good one, mind you, not a cheep-ass, crappy dress from Macy's—and a nice tux for InuYasha."
Kagome raised a hand to signal silence. "You. Did. What?"
"We bought you a nice dress your compliment your eyes, and skin tone."
Kagome squealed and hugged her sister. "Thank you!"
Rin said, "Get changed. I need sleep. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"Will do." Kagome ran to her bathroom to get changed into a sexy turquoise nightdress. It was thigh-length, with spaghetti straps, that showed quite a bit of cleavage. The lace detailing was exquisite. She normally pulled it out when she felt she needed to feel sexy. Or just wanted to.
Just then, her phone rang. It was InuYasha's text ring. It said, "Hey. Can I come down?"
Rin, who got to Kagome's phone first, typed back, "Yesh. Come on down." Kagome, who was brushing her teeth, had no idea that InuYasha was coming. Rin quietly opened the balcony door for InuYasha and slipped downstairs into her room.
Kagome walked into her room and settled down with a good book. Eragon was her favourite book. You could tell because the spine was so broken that it was barely holding the book together.
InuYasha knocked on the door and glided into her room. He saw her sitting with a book, almost as if she was waiting for him. He said, "Hey."
She jumped a mile high. "Kami, InuYasha! Don't scare me like that!"
He raised an eyebrow. "I told you I was coming down…"
Kagome groaned and reached for her phone, scanning her texts. "I am going to kill that girl…"
"Who?"
"Rin."
"Oh."
She went to move, but then said, "What the hell. I'll get her in the morning." She patted the bed beside her. But not before saying, "Nice boxers."
He grinned and sat beside her, offering the ice cream. She grabbed a spoon and took a bite. He said, "Nice pj's."
She smiled. "Thanks. What's up? I haven't seen you except for in class since Tuesday."
He shrugged. "Nothing really. Kags?"
"Yeah?"
"WanttogototheWinterBallwithme?"
She blinked at him for a few moments. "Sorry, Inu…Could you say that again?"
He took a deep breath. "Want to go to the Winter Ball with me? As a friend?"
Her heart dropped at those last words. As a friend? Only as friends? "Yeah! That'd be nice. Good thing Rin already bought me a dress."
"Good thing Sesshomaru brought me a tux." InuYasha picked her up and set her in his lap. "Like the ice cream? It was sort of a peace offering."
She nodded and her hair tickled her nose. They talked about everything and nothing at the same time. Finally, they fell asleep, with the ice cream carton on the floor, curled up next to each other.
5 hours before the Winter Ball
Kagome was running around her room, looking for the shoes Rin had bought her. Sango was holding a portable curling iron, following. "Kagome Sakura Higuashi! Sit down and let me do your hair!"
"But, Sango…" she whined, "I can't find my shoes!"
Rin came up the stairs. "You mean these?"
Kagome's dress was a silvery-blue that brought out the flecks of silver in Kagome's eyes and accented her pale skin tone by making it almost seem to glow. It was a strapless dress with gloves that reached her upper arms. The dress was floor length. Her shoes, that her dear, sweet, loving, caring sister, that if she knew what was good for her would give them back to Kagome, were two inch heals. Much more and Kagome would have broken her neck walking down the stairs. The shoes were strappy things, that accentuated Kagome's legs.
"Yes! Now give those here!"
"Nope. Not until I do your make up."
Sango said, "Thank you, Rin!"
Sango had straightened her own hair and left it down, knowing that Miroku liked it that way. He had told her that the other day. They had finished sparing, and Sango had let her hair down, and had shaken it out. Miroku had said, "I like your hair down. It's beautiful. You should wear it like that more often."
She had blushed and brushed it off, but wore it down around Miroku more often.
Sango's dress was a pale pink dress with straps. The dress also reached the floor, as it was a formal dance. ((A/N: I don't know if I mentioned that before, but it is a formal dance. Also sort of like homecoming, Fall Ball, and Winter Ball all rolled into one.)) As she was tanner than Kagome, the dress set off her skin tone in a way pink would not have done for Kagome.
Sango put Kagome's hair up in an intricate style and giggled when Kagome looked into the mirror. Rin's make up made her eyes pop out. The silvery blue eye shadow matched her dress.
Sango's was pink and matched her dress.
They looked at the clock. The boys were to pick them up in ten minutes. Rin said, "Nervous?"
Both girls nodded and Rin laughed. "You'll be fine. Just remember not to drink the punch. A foreign exchange student from America, Sabrina, drank the punch, and lets just say, she was the life of the party. Kaede and Totosai were laughing so hard. I still think they were the ones who spiked the drink…Sesshomaru doesn't believe me."
Sango nodded. "I'll remember that. I never drink the punch at parties anyway."
Kagome said, "Isn't Kohaku here?"
Her friend nodded. "Shippo too."
"Rin, can you check and make sure those little hellions didn't do anything."
Rin nodded and frowned. "You'd think they'd know better by now."
She walked downstairs and screamed. "SOTA!! KOHAKU!! SHIPPO!! YOU ARE SO LUCKY I CAME DOWN BEFORE KAGOME!! GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE AND CLEAN IT UP!! NO POWERS EITHER!!"
Kagome and Sango sighed. "Boys…"
Miroku and InuYasha pulled up in the limo Inutaisho had let them use. They knocked on the door and Mrs. Higurashi opened the door, snapping a picture with the dreaded camera.
InuYasha had a suit that complimented Kagome's dress. Miroku, one that did the same for Sango's dress. Once Mrs. Higurashi finished with the pictures, InuYasha and Miroku looked towards Kagome's door.
Rin was standing over three cowering figures, and it wasn't hard to imagine, how she had scared so many girls away from Sesshomaru. Not to mention reporters. Sota said, "Rin, i-it was just a j-joke!"
"Joke my ass! You wanted Kagome and Sango to step in this sticky, glue-y shit and ruin their night!"
Mrs. Higurashi then noticed her son and two friends. "What did you boys do…?"
And it wasn't hard to see where Kagome and Rin got their fire from.
Sota hung his head. "We dumped Elmer's glue in front of Kagome's door?"
"Sota, go to your room. Shippo, I'm calling your mother. Same for you Kohaku. I expected better from you. Now, I can't do anything about your punishment, but I can do something about Sota's…"
She dragged the three boys into the living room by their ears. Rin waved her hand, and light blue miko powers dissipated the glue.
InuYasha raised his eyebrows at Miroku who shrugged. Rin noticed the boys and said, "Sango! Ready?"
There was a muffled reply of "Yeah!"
Sango came down the stairs, and into Miroku's line of sight. Miroku's reaction: drool. Drool. Drool. And drool some more. In all his short-lived life, he'd never seen anyone who looked anywhere close as beautiful as Sango. And believe you me, he's dated a LOT of chicks.
He recovered when Sango's giggled broke him out of his reverie. "Sango, you look absolutely gorgeous."
"Buttering me up won't get you a dance, Monk."
He pretended to pout. "Fine. Make a man work."
"Yup. I will."
InuYasha had missed this whole conversation. Kagome's appearance had made his jaw drop to the ground. Rin, who was standing next to him, picked it up off the floor for him. "Smooth, InuYasha," she murmured in his ear.
Kagome smiled shyly. "So…What do you think?"
"I…uh…I, uh…"
Miroku cut in for him to save his friend the embarrassment. "What he means to say, is, 'Kagome, you look excellent tonight. In fact, you look wonderful!' Ow! Sango…what was that for?" He frowned.
"Don't put words in InuYasha's mouth!"
"Sorry…"
Again, InuYasha and Kagome missed the conversation. Kagome said, "InuYasha?"
"Kagome, you look beautiful." InuYasha's voice was a low whisper over Mrs. Higurashi shouting at Sota, Shippo and Kohaku, and Sango smacking Miroku because of the usual.
She smiled a brilliant smile. InuYasha held his arm out to her and the both stepped over Miroku, who was on the floor, unconscious.
Kagome and InuYasha were seated in the limo when Sango came in, dragging Miroku by his ponytail. "Perverted bastard," she was muttering. "Baka. Had to go and ruin the night."
Kagome smiled at her friend. "Don't let him ruin this. If you want, and I'm sure InuYasha won't mind, you, Ayame and I will dance tons."
InuYasha hid a frown. He really didn't want Kagome dancing with anyone other than himself, but hey…Whatever kept her happy. He spoke then. "We're also picking up Ayame and Koga on the way."
Kagome smiled. "Thanks, InuYasha."
He smirked. "Feh, wench."
Her smiled faded into a frown. "Never mind InuYasha, Sango. We can dance all night long."
After picking up Ayame, with lots of squealing, and Koga, with more squealing from Ayame, the pulled up into the school parking lot, where Rin had tried to kill the four girls before with her horrible driving.
The driver, a little toad youkai by the name of Jaken, said, "I will be back at midnight to pick you up." When he saw InuYasha open his mouth to protest Jaken said, "It's your father's orders."
"Whatever, dork."
"What? You have to be out of the ball by midnight," Jaken said.
"We aren't in some stupid faerie tale, Jaken no baka," Kagome said.
Jaken frowned. "Are you sure? Because, look! There's Sleeping Beauty!"
He was pointing to Miroku.
InuYasha slapped his friend. "Miroku, wake up! We're here."
Miroku jumped up. "What? Huh? I'm up!"
Sango rolled here eyes and the three girls in the limo climbed over their dates to get out of the car. Kagome poked her head back in. "Hurry up, boys! We don't want to be later than we already are!"
The three boys sighed. Koga said, "Why did we agree to this again?"
"We love them," Miroku said.
"Speak for yourself. Kagome and I came as friends," InuYasha huffed.
Koga's eyes widened. "What? You came as friends only? Shit!" He reached into his back pocket, and pulled out a twenty and a five and handed it to Miroku, who pulled out his own wallet and pocketed the money.
InuYasha raised his eyebrows at his friends. "Huh?"
Miroku said, "Koga thought you two would be a couple by tonight. I said no, because you are a baka." He took one look at InuYasha and said, "Now, bye, bye!" As Miroku ran from the car, he could be heard shouting, "Sango! Dearest! SAVE ME!!"
Ayame and Kagome were waiting for their dates. Miroku had caught up with them, and Sango and Miroku had gotten in.
Koga leaned over and whispered into Ayame's ear. She groaned and pulled out thirty dollars and handed them over to Koga. She said, "I hate you."
Kagome raised an eyebrow at InuYasha as if to say, "What is going on?"
InuYasha shook his head as if to say, "Don't ask. No clue."
Ayame and Koga entered the dance, with Kagome and InuYasha close behind. Kagome spotted an empty table and sat down at it before InuYasha could even ask her to dance. He sat beside her. He said, "Hey, Kagome, wanna—"
"No."
Her reply was so short, he wondered if it was a bad idea to come in the first place.
One of the cheerleaders, Leiko, came over to InuYasha in, what she and half the male population in the room thought was, a sexy walk. Leiko was a neko youkai, with cat ears and a cat tail. She purred, "Hi, InuYasha…"
"Hello…" He looked bored with the conversation already and Kagome was stiff as a board as Leiko talked.
"Leiko."
"Hn."
"InuYasha, do you want to dance?"
"No."
Leiko was surprised. Normally, no guy dared refuse her. Now that Kikyo was out of the way, and mated to Naraku, InuYasha was open. So why hadn't he been dating. She glanced at Kagome and knew immediately why. She smirked inwardly.
"But, Yash…"
InuYasha glared up at the girl, and spoke in a deadly tone, "Do. Not. Call. Me. Yash."
She blinked and Kagome let a small snort. Kagome said, "Um…InuYasha, I'm going to go find Ayame and Sango. Have fun!"
With that she left, leaving the poor, poor, poor InuYasha stranded with Leiko. He kicked his own shin, and heard Kagome shout, "Watch it, buddy!"
InuYasha suddenly felt a stabbing pain in is right foot, as if someone had driven the heel of a spiked heeled shoe into his foot. Which, of course, had happened, not to him, but to Kagome. She had stepped on her own foot on purpose.
Lekio said, "Inu…?"
"Don't call me Inu. My name is InuYa—ow!"
Leiko's eyebrows came together in a frown. "I thought your name was InuYasha…?"
InuYasha was rubbing his forearm and muttering under his breath. "It is. Damn, I am going to kill her. Slowly, painfully…Maybe hang her by her thumbnails somewhere…"
Leiko, having a strong sense of self-preservation, took a step away, and said, "InuYasha? Are you talking about me?"
"No, but I could be," he growled, watching Kagome being dragged out onto the dance floor by Sango and Ayame.
She said, "Are you sure you don't want to—"
"Aiko."
"It's Leiko!" Never, ever, had a guy like InuYasha said her name wrong before. She was offended! "My name is Leiko! I'm the assistant head-cheerleader!"
"Whatever, Aiko. Listen—"
"It's Leiko!"
"Get away from me. I don't ever want to see your face near me ever again." When she didn't move, InuYasha said, "Move, whore, before I make you!"
She stomped off, really offended now. Maybe it was time to take her cousin up on his offer…
InuYasha slipped through the crowds, and to Kagome, Ayame, and Sango. He shouted over the music, "Kagome!"
She whirled around to face him. "InuYasha!"
"Wanna dance?!"
"Sure!"
Ayame and Sango glided through the crowds and to their dates, who were talking football. Koga said, "No! JNFL is so much better than NFL!"
Miroku shook his head. "No! The NFL is so much better! It's Amanda—I mean America for God's sake!"
Sango, remembering Rin's warning, wondered if the boy's had drunk any punch. "Boys!"
They weren't listening. Ayame and Sango rolled their eyes. Sango said, "I am SO glad that little toad man is picking us up. Because I would NOT trust the boys to drive us in this condidtion."
Ayame nodded and said, "Thank Kami for that."
They grabbed their respective guy's heads and turned them to InuYasha and Kagome dancing on the floor. Suddenly the boys lost interest in whether the JNFL ((A/N: Japanese National Football League)) or the NFL were better. Miroku rubbed his eyes and said, "I must have drunk way to much punch. Is that InuYasha and Kagome?!"
Koga took a closer look. "Kami save us, I think it is."
Sango said, "They are so cute together!"
Miroku giggled, putting his arm around Sango's waist, drawing her closer. "And you don't think I'm cute, Sango-chan?"
She glared at him and pushed him away. "You are one drunk monk."
Koga sniggered. "Hey! That rhymed! Tis funny!"
Ayame said, "You drank the punch, didn't you…?"
Koga nodded and pulled her into his embrace. He started sniffing her neck, as if searching for a spot to mark her as his own.
She kneed him in the gut. "Maybe you don't get this, Koga. You. Are. Drunk. Stay here until you get sober." She grabbed Sango and dragged her out onto the dance floor. Well, at least across the room where the tables were so they could sit down. The two girls sat and Sango said, "You really are in love with Koga aren't you?"
Ayame was as red as her dress. "Wh—What makes you say that?"
"You want romance. Koga's not likely to give that while drunk. He's nice and all, and he isn't a mean drunk. He's got a cute sense of romance once you really get down to it."
Ayame looked over at her. "How would you know?"
"Kagome dated Koga in 7th grade. I heard ALL about it."
"Did they…?"
"No! Oh Gods no! Wuh duh ma huh ta duh fung-kwong duh wai-shung doh! Hell no! As far as I know, Koga's still a virgin. Same for Kagome. In fact I know Kagome's still a virgin."
Ayame sighed. "OK…because once a Ookami youkai mates, there's no turning back."
Sango sighed. "Couldn't you smell it? Kagome would smell like Koga. InuYasha would be nowhere near you, and Koga would not have just tried to mark you."
"True…"
The boys ended sobering up a bit by the time the dance was over at midnight. Koga pulled Ayame aside and said, "Aya…What did I try to do? Anything stupid?"
Ayame looked him in the eye. "Sorta…"
Koga blanched. "What did I do?"
"You tried…" Her voice drifted off into a mutter that even Koga's demonic hearing couldn't pick up.
"What? What did I do…?" He was worried he hurt her, but he didn't smell any blood.
"You tried to mark me…"
Koga almost fainted. "I what?"
"Yeah. You did. But no harm, no foul. It is OK. Everything will be fine."
InuYasha was the first to spot the limo. He said, "OK. Let's go home people."
Kagome climbed in first, followed by InuYasha. Next came Sango and Miroku. Then Koga and Ayame. Koga didn't want Miroku anywhere NEAR his Aya.
The girls fell asleep on their dates shoulders and did not wake until they were at Kagome's house.
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Decication! Serahrose! xoxo!! 3! Love you!! So glad you like it!
OK. Do not kill me. Please. I beg of you. I know it took me forever to get this up, but school, drivers ed, riding lessons, painting and karate have been getting in the way.
I just got Brisingr today. I'm happy! You should be too. I stopped reading just to finish the last few lines of this! And a few Kathy Reichs books today! Yes!
And I got the second season of Bones on DVD. I am so happy! And I've finished the third season online. YAY!! If you like Bones, and have missed a few episodes, go to watchbones (dot) net. Or www (dot) hulu (dot) com.
It might take me a while to get Chapter 15 up, because I have so much homework from my history teacher, it isn't funny. And sports don't help.
REVIEWS!! Shout outs go to… marie 53 I'm so glad you liked it!
To... Drama Kagome I'm continuing!
To The Blood Ruby You reviewed every chapter. How could I not give you a dedication? And I am writing...Just busy.
To lululuvsanime I'm so glad you liked the beggining of Chptr 13!
To Diamond 369 I'm so glad you liked it! I'm updating!
To MoonsDaughterLuv Wouldn't be a review, without it, would it? I agree. Don't piss InuYasha off! Tell me what you thinked of Leiko.
To BoredGirl17 He's a mink. Not a monk. ((grins)) I'm so happy you think my writing is special!
To emi131995 Sorry...You can blame school! I'm updating!
To holiday55 Yeah. It is cute. I don't know how I got that idea, but it just popped into my head. ((smirks))
To InuyashaKagome4lyfe Thank you for your offer! I am so glad! Yup. Naraku "died". My friend loved it too. So did my boyfriend.
To Serahrose Yeah. I am soooooo glad you think so. You are my muse and keep my ideas flowing. You are my lifeline on this site. I liked the normal ideas too. I kept imagining Miroku's reaction to Sango's outfit and had to stop several times from laughing so hard.
To funnybunny52 I'm updating, so you can't kill me. And you want me to write, correct? Sorry for this Chptrs lateness!