AN: Oh hello, hello, I'm back:) But… I'm sorry to say, I haven't written a bit for this story over the hiatus time O.o; Eighth grade turned out to be harder than I thought… I've had five projects and five essays due already, and this is just the end of the fifth week X.x! Harsh…
I hope none of you gave up on me :(
Btw, as you can see… a new pen name, 'cause I got tired of the Pailynne-a-tron one, hhaha.
I think I'm going to take off the briefs from now on. :P
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha & co.
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A figure in skimpy clothing hiding behind a plastic plant held a digital camera in her hand, staring at Miroku and Kagome.
'Hah… wait 'til Inuyasha sees this... this little love fest.' Kikyou cackled insanely, making others stare weirdly at her. 'It seems awfully suspicious…' she skipped across the mall in her short skirt and tube top, making her chest bounce and skirt ride up.
'He will be mine.'
- - - -
Chapter 21: Doubt
Kagome slipped a white and indigo skinny-striped t-shirt over her head and a slightly shorter long sleeved black shirt with a hood on it. Her dark blue jeans were folded up twice at the ends, making the pants look straight-legged, and showed off her black Converse high tops.
Her mind drifted away to what happened yesterday, remembering what she had told Miroku.
-Flashback-
-Kagome's POV-
Miroku looked angry, which was strange compared to his usual calm self. I felt his fingers brush my hair from my neck, and I could tell; he had seen the bruises. I'd seem them myself, passing by a mirror shop.
"Kami, Kagome…" he said, and then he rested his head on my neck, though it seemed strained. I guess he was trying not to hurt me or something. "Don't leave my sight ever again, please…" He sounded almost desperate, and I just replied with a "Mhm".
We just stayed there for a while. It felt nice to be hugged by Miroku… like an older brother I never had. People passed by and took no notice of us, and I pulled away.
"Miroku…" I said, as he looked down (seeing as I was about a head shorter than him) at me. "Don't tell Inuyasha or Sango about this, okay?"
His face turned into somewhat of a confused look, with his eyebrows all scrunched together. "But, shouldn't at least Inuyasha know, so that…" I cut him off, and told him that I didn't want Inuyasha to worry.
Miroku frowned, but nodded anyway.
All I was worrying about now was if my hair would hide those bruises forever… or at least, until they heal and are gone.
-End POV-
-Flashback End-
Kagome sighed, lacing the air slightly with worry. She ran her hand delicately across her neck, feeling a bit of pain, causing her to wince. Foundation was applied lightly, and her hair was left down, trying her best to cover the wounds.
'I can't stand how boring my hair looks today… just down, and so plain…' she sighed frustratingly. She took out a clip from her drawers and slid her bangs to the side, and snapped on the clip to a few pieces of her bangs. It was a small black and white striped bow, matching her outfit.
She smiled happily, grabbed her backpack, and ran down the stairs, giving into her temptation of eating her mother's homemade bacon and egg breakfast.
- - - -
Inuyasha leaned against the large tree in the school's courtyard, with his hands stuffed in his pockets; protecting them from the cold autumn breeze. He placed his foot on top of an orange leaf, smiling when he heard the crunching sound.
He took a look at the number on his watch, wondering what day it was. 'November third… huh. Just a little bit over three weeks until Kagome's birthday…' he smiled. As if on cue, Kagome popped up in front of him, giving him a hug with her arms around his mid-back.
"Inuyasha! Hi!" Kagome said as she stood in his embrace, relishing the warmth he emitted around her cold body.
The lightest tint of red graced Inuyasha's features, reeling him into confusion. 'Why the hell am I blushing. She's done this everyday…' he placed a kiss on top of her head, trying to keep it in the 'boy and girl best friends' category. "Hey."
Kagome broke the hug and twirled, looking up at the sky, with her face turned away from Inuyasha's. "Feels good…" she murmured, and turned back around to Inuyasha and smiled.
He smiled back in response, and tugged on the hair near her neck, making her self conscious and slightly stiff, which he took notice of. "You look like such a cute little girl with that bow clip and your big blue eyes," he teased nevertheless, calming Kagome down a bit.
She giggled, but it was cut off by Miroku's rather loud entrance. "Hello!" he exclaimed, making sure to accentuate the 'o' and matching his greeting with a large wave of his hand.
"Inuyasha! My buddy, ol' pal!" Miroku threw his hands into the air, smiling like a lunatic. He slapped his 'buddy, ol' pal' on the back roughly, as Inuyasha strained to keep his face straight.
"Kagome!" he sing-songed, shaking his head back and forth, looking as if he was having a seizure. He linked his arm with hers and dragged her in a circle, singing 'Ring around the Rosie'.
A sweat drop appeared on her head as she stood her ground and tried to stop Miroku from skipping in circles. "What made you so happy today?" she raised an eyebrow.
The answer came when Sango came stalking over to Miroku, grumbling and red faced. "Miroku…" Danger waves practically rammed over their beings, as Miroku automatically stopped skipping and cowered behind Kagome's smaller figure.
"Who ever gave you the permission to grope my chest!" she screamed out in pure aggravation, forming her hand into a fist and pulling up the sleeves of her magenta colored shirt. Miroku whimpered and squealed, hiding further behind the unwilling Kagome.
Sango stomped around Kagome and to Miroku, who sat, curled up in a protective ball with his arms over his head. He let out an 'eep!' before running for the sake of his manhood, as Sango had threatened to chop it off with a kitchen knife.
The sound of the homeroom bell was music to Miroku's ears as he zipped through the entrance doors, and through the crowd, with Sango still following closely behind.
Kagome and Inuyasha stared at the throng of people entering the school, before remembering they had to get to homeroom, too.
Inuyasha ran ahead with Kagome following closely behind, with a small glint in her shiny blue eyes. She suddenly ran a little faster, and jumped onto the unsuspecting Inuyasha's back. He let out an 'oof!' at the sudden weight on him, before getting back into pace and running to the homeroom door, with Kagome and her big radiating smile.
- - - -
Kagome sighed happily as she plopped onto the out-growing roots of the Goshinboku, with no troubles lying heavily on her shoulders. "Finally… lunch!" she cheered, bringing out her chocolate pudding.
Sango stared at her friend. "You're having pudding for lunch?"
She nodded in response, unable to speak, as her mouth was full of pudding. "Only pudding?" Sango asked. Kagome nodded again, sticking a spoonful in her mouth.
"You can have some of my macaroni and cheese…?" Sango offered, waving the bowl under her nose.
The scent wafted around her, sending her into the cheesy bliss. Before she could answer "okay", Kikyou invited herself into the little group.
"What do you want?" Inuyasha spat with a dirty glare on his face, showing his annoyance and irritation for invading their peace.
"You?" Kikyou attempted cheekiness, though the batting of her eyelashes and swinging her bottom ruined the effect… not that it wasn't already ruined, with her saying it.
Inuyasha scrunched his face up in disgust. "You're not the one I want, bitch."
She glared in response, growing angrier inside. "Well is it her?" she pointed with a stiff index finger at the surprised Kagome. "This is the reason I even, like, came here. Because of… her," she spat out 'her' as if it was poisonous.
Inuyasha raised one eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Like, yes! I have to talk to you, like, alone," Kikyou said, not giving him a choice and dragged him across the courtyard to the entrance steps.
"Look at this," Kikyou said in a low voice, although it was practically deserted around them. She held out a picture to Inuyasha, who stared at it for a long while. 'Kagome and Miroku…?' he thought, conclusions jumping into his mind like poor rabbits on fire.
"I saw them," she was still whispering, while glancing back at the group a little. "They were just, like, standing there, hugging. It seemed like they were in, like, a love fest!" Little drops of spit flew to the ground.
Inuyasha closed his eyes and shook his head, throwing the picture to the ground forcefully. "I won't believe it, until Kagome tells me it. Only Kagome."
A glint of anger appeared in Kikyou's eyes. "What if she never tells you!" she yelled, before toning it down. "What if she doesn't want you to know!"
"Then I guess I'm not supposed to know it." Inuyasha shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pockets, looking down to the ground. He resisted the urge to turn his eyes to the tempting picture, teasing him with little glimpses.
"Humph," Kikyou's plucked eyebrows crinkled angrily as she crossed her arms.
"Fine, go back to your so called 'best friend'. You know, I don't think a best friend would go off and have some little love tryst with your other friend. Should be illegal, shouldn't it?" Kikyou glanced slightly at Inuyasha's emotionless face, before walking off.
Kagome looked up, hearing footsteps toward their group. Seeing Inuyasha's almost melancholy face worried her. "Inuyasha, are you okay?" Her big blue eyes drew Inuyasha in, almost making him believe she'd be too innocent to do anything like go off with his best friend.
"Yeah, I'm okay." He plastered on a small smile for her, sitting down and leaning against the tree. They all stared at him as he got lost in his forest of thoughts.
'Well, it's not like she's cheating… she's not my girlfriend or anything, so it's okay, right?' Inuyasha closed his eyes as the fall breeze brushed his cheeks and went through his hair. 'But, I know for sure, now, I love her as more than a best friend. So much more…' He felt a pang of hurt as his mind wandered back in memories to the photograph Kikyou had showed him. 'It's real, I know… but I don't want to believe it.'
Kagome frowned at the unusually quiet Inuyasha. "Inuyasha, are you sure you're okay?" she pushed at him, causing him to snap unexpectedly.
"Shut up! No, I am not okay, because I just found out you and Miroku had some kind of love meeting at the mall!" His anger got the best of him as he stomped away, leaving Kagome and Miroku confused, with a slightly hurt Sango.
'They had a love meeting…?' she looked dejectedly down at her legs.
"What's he talking about, love meeting…?" Kagome said quietly, turning her head towards Miroku.
Miroku thought. 'At the mall…?' He looked back at Kagome. "Kagome, that time at the mall, that was when… you know…"
"Oh…" Kagome placed her hand on her mouth. She shut her eyes tight, feeling bad. "Maybe I should have told him what happened, and now he's jumping to conclusions…"
"How about you tell me first?" Sango said with a hurt look on her face.
Kagome looked at Miroku for help, but he only urged her to confess to Sango. Starting with a sigh, Kagome spoke.
"Well, that day I went to the mall with just Miroku, since you and Inuyasha were busy… and, um, remember that Naraku guy at the haunted house…?"
Sango's eyes were questioning. "You mean, he was there!"
Kagome nodded. "He carried me away to some ally, and he was choking me… he wanted revenge for that Halloween." She brushed away the hair from her neck and wiped off part of the foundation applied on her neck, showing Sango a few of the finger shaped bruises.
Sango gasped as her eyes became watery. "Oh my gosh, Kagome, I'm so sorry for jumping to conclusions, I didn't mean to…" The two friends entangled in a hug, Kagome patting Sango's back.
"It's okay; it's my fault that I didn't tell you, anyway."
Sango frowned, and pushed Kagome off to her feet, making an 'eep' sound out. "Go tell Inuyasha, he thinks you and Miroku were having a date or something! Hurry!" Kagome replied with continuous 'okay's as she ran into the school, where she saw Inuyasha stomp (quite angrily) into.
Her eye caught sight of a picture thrown onto the ground, and picked it up. 'Oh… it's me and Miroku, hugging at the mall…' Kagome frown turned deeper as she stuffed the photograph into her pocket.
That was the thing with pictures—they were worth a thousand words, but sometimes, they just weren't the right ones.
- - - -
This chapter… is the worst, shortest chapter ever. -o- I like the ending though.. tahaha. :D
So I'd like to know… are you all willing to wait more than a week for updates, since I didn't write much over the summer and school's tough? Or… what do you prefer? I write it all over the year and post it gradually.. which seems.. not-better XD;
Plus, I'm glad some people still found my story and reviewed during the hiatus. :) And holy… asdfasdfads, 30,728 HITS? I love you all so very much… that's a lot more than before this story went on hold. "You are on the favorites list of 52 members." O.O! Thank you so much TT.TT
Until next time,
-Pailynne.