Recap: After two months apart, Inu-Yasha and Kagome see each other again and Inu-Yasha asks Kagome out for breakfast.
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Chapter Twenty Nine
Sweet Toast on A Morning Mess.
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Running her palms over the creases of her shirt, she unconsciously tugged her tank top down. She groaned. Something didn't fit. Walking over to the mirror, she checked her hair and sighed. Maybe she should just open her hair tie and wear her hair down; it didn't look good in two braids anyway.
She was pulling down the elastic when she snapped back into place.
No. She wasn't going to freak out over breakfast with Inu-Yasha.
It was just breakfast for goodness sake.
Not a date.
Blinking at herself in the mirror, she felt a rural wave of self-consciousness wash over her. What if he noticed the few pounds she'd stacked up?
"It's not a date, Kagome." She sang to herself. Even if she had gained weight, she didn't care... not much anyway. He'd just have to keep his thoughts to himself, since his opinion never really mattered.And she would've believed herself only if her heart didn't begin to race every time his name came up and her palms began to sweat whenever she thought of him.
Looking at the mirror, she wrapped a warm checkered scarf around her neck and turned around. She had to stop berating herself over this, because if it came down to it; all this breakfast would turn out to be would be an awkward hour-long get-together. Nothing more.
Creaking open her parents room, she skimmed her eyes over her rents's bed to make sure they were still asleep before tiptoeing out to living room. If anything, if her parents didn't know she was about to meet Inu-Yasha, it would be best. They'd only think of it as a joke, anyway.
As she tied the second shoelace for her shoe, she tried to think of anything other than the following meeting.
Souta introduced her to the new Nintendo Wii last night; and she swore it was made just for her. She played it till one in the morning too, but honestly it wasn't her fault that Link needed her to guide his destiny.
Inu-Yasha had loved Zelda when he was fifteen-ish didn't he?
Walking to the elevator, she ran a hand over her forehead. Why couldn't she just relax over these things like everyone else could?
As the elevator door dinged open, she got in and slowly pressed for the lobby. It was seven thirty, which meant Inu-Yasha would be waiting at Centennial Park at exactly half an hour. Knowing him, he'd probably come late. Smiling at the little bit of information, her trail of thought went back to the first day of summer when she'd received the news of where she'd be staying for the next two months.
Gosh, if she'd known she'd have become this close to him, just to have the relationship ripped to pieces again (by herself, nonetheless), she would've never gotten on that limousine even if it meant clinging onto her mother for dear life.
Ah well.
Since it happened, she didn't regret it. Surprisingly enough, she realized as she thought to herself, she wouldn't have changed one detail of her summer vacation.
Well… there was that whole Naraku business, but that was in the past.
As the elevator stopped in front of the lobby, she jerked a little as she felt something against her thigh vibrate. Remembering that her cell phone was tucked away in her pocket, she quickly took it out and flipped it open.
"Hello?"
For a moment, there was simply static.
"Hey, Kagome?"
Kagome wrinkled her forehead as she tried to put a name to the voice. "Ah, Tiffany?"
"You remember me!"
"Of course." How had she gotten her cell number? "So how are you?"
"I'm fine. I just wanted to make sure you're okay."
Kagome berated herself for the cold wind as she stepped outside the apartment building. To her relief, there was only a mild breeze. "That's nice of you. I'm fine though but you sound worried."
There was more static before Tiffany replied, "I have to go so I'll be quick. Well, Naraku's trial started. Yesterday, he started saying some stuff about how he had people following you. I don't know if he was just bluffing."
Kagome halted, a chill running down her spine. "What?"
"Sorry for worrying you. I'm sure he was saying it to get a rise out of the jury. Sorry. Calling you was stupid of me, I shouldn't have burdened you with this."
As the static got worse, Kagome tried walking around for a good signal. "Wait, Tiffany – tell me more -."
"I can't really hear you Kagome. Listen, he'll be sentenced tonight, so just stay safe until then, for the heck of it. Actually, forget I said anything. I'm pretty sure he was lying now, it seems far fetched he'd go to that extreme to get revenge on you."
It didn't seem far-fetched to Kagome, however. Desperate to keep Tiffany on the line, she headed back into the lobby of her apartment building, where to her misfortune, the static got worse. "Tiffany, can you hear me?"
"Hello – Kag -." The static deafened her left ear and she pulled the phone away. When she put it back, she got a dial tone.
x.x
Inu-Yasha looked down at the dozens of pennies scattered all over the fountain floor. As he idly stared, a random burst of water from the gargoyles sprayed out and splashed on top of the clear water; contorting the perfect image he had of the fountain base.
For the hell of it, he fished out a quarter, looked at it for a moment and flipped it in the fountain. It plopped a few feet away and sunk to the tiles below, on top of a dollar and a penny.
She was late.
And when he meant she, he was referring to Kagome who was already three minutes behind schedule. If she stood him up, he'd never be able to show his face to the public eye again.
Ok. So maybe he was exaggerating; but nevertheless, he'd be humiliated. He'd be hurt first since he'd pumped himself up so much for this beforehand, and humiliation would follow next. He checked his watch and frowned as the numbers switched to 8:04.
The park was usually empty till nine; after that, locals would start filling in and he couldn't be here when that happened or else he'd be running down the street with a pack of girls anxious to lay their hands on whichever body part of his they could reach.
He shivered. God, that was scary.
"Inu-Yasha?"
He felt his breath hold in his lungs as he turned around and saw Kagome standing in front of him. Her shoulders were hunched and her hands were stuffed in her pant pockets as she gave him a nervous smile.
He smiled back. "You're late."
She raised an eyebrow and looked at the cell phone that was clutched in her hand, "I'm a minute early."
Inu-Yasha opened his mouth to retort but was silenced as the few bells on the centennial park clock brushed each other slightly and began to chime, hitting the eight-o-clock mark.
Kagome smirked, "And you were saying?"
Blushing slightly, he lifted his gaze to the decent trail a few ways off from where they were. "Let's go to breakfast."
Kagome fell in step beside Inu-Yasha as he led her down the trail to a small, highly prestigious breakfast restaurant.
Not knowing what to say to her after her awkward departure two months ago, he set his jaw and looked ahead, feeling an uncontrollable anxiety uncurling in him as the silence between them thickened.
As the sign for the restaurant came in view, he restrained himself from thanking the lord that a conversation starter had literally fallen in their footsteps. "Have you ever been here before?"
Kagome looked around the cute little spot and shrugged, "I don't think I have."
He clicked his tongue, "Then I suggest you only try the French toast, because everything else is awful."
She giggled, "A place with a good selection. Thanks."
He grinned as he opened the door for her, "Anytime."
The little restaurant was just as cutesy inside as it was outside. Flowers of who knows what kind were lined neatly across the small burrows in front of the windows, in all different colors; well, mostly peach, violet and red. The tables were round and the chair edges curved, with peachy cushions for backrests. The air was scented with jasmine and sunlight poured in from any creak in the burrow like place.
His eyes swiftly searched for any reaction from Kagome and he eased a little as he saw her gasp to herself.
Honestly, he hated this place with a passion. He couldn't stand the jasmine, and he hated all the different colors; seriously, it was too much for the morning. However, it was either this or his personal favorite; breakfast in bed.
You could see which alternative won.
He let her choose the table, which to his great misfortune was right beside a blinding sunny window and literally beside a bouquet of flowers. Swallowing his masculine pride, he called a waitress over.
"I'll just have French Toast with jam."
She planted a fake smile on her face and scribbled it down, "What kind of jam?"
He frowned, "Strawberry."
"Alright, shall we whip on some cream, syrup and chocolate chips as well?"
Inu-Yasha felt his stomach squeeze at the image of breakfast. "Sounds goods."
"Alright. What'll we serve you, miss."
Kagome genuinely looked troubled as she picked up the menu, "I don't know yet!"
Inu-Yasha felt like an ass as he realized he'd given her no time to even look at the menu, "Oh, just come back -."
Kagome waved him off, "I'll have what he's having."
"It's fattening."
She raised her eyebrows and put down the menu, "Are you calling me fat?"
"No. I just thought… you'd want something healthier – ah, never mind." He nodded to the waitress, indicating her to leave. Leaning back in his chair, he looked at Kagome who stared straight back at him.
She tapped her nails on the table, talking after a long pause "You do know that I didn't mind the whole 'fattening' thing."
He laughed in exasperation, "I didn't mean it that way."
She smiled, "Okay, just making sure."
Silence elapsed between them, however this time it was more relaxed than awkward or uneasy. As Kagome looked down to read over the menu for fun, he let himself look her over, allowing himself to finally see how much she'd changed.
Her hair had grown longer, as long as it could have over two months and now it drifted a few ways past her shoulders. If anything, she'd actually begun to wear some makeup; something he remembered she wasn't that fond of. It wasn't much though, just a light brush of mascara punctuating her eyelashes. Nevertheless, working in the fashion industry had an obvious effect on her clothes. He'd never seen her wear boots before, or match her scarf with her skirt; but as she sat before him, he realized – she did.
As she flipped the menu, he sighed as he realized her wrist was bare which meant his bracelet was probably stashed away in some drawer. He snapped himself back to earth and gave himself a reality check. He had absolutely no right being upset over something so trivial because they'd broken up… and even though he still had feelings for her, it was obvious she didn't so consequently, it was his job to shut up and just take the place of a friend.
Kagome looked up from the menu, catching his eye immediately. "What?"
"Nothing."
She looked at him strangely, "Ookay… so…" she looked at him expectedly but as he pointedly stared back, she fell silent, "Never mind."
And this was where the silence went from relaxing to award again. He cleared his throat. "Well, anyway, how's it going?"
She nodded slowly, "Good, good. Nothing new that you don't know about." She stopped abruptly but decidedly went back to nodding her head, "And you?"
"Same."
"Inu-Yasha… today…" she began tapping her nails against the table. "Forget it."
Finally, he clicked in to her clues. "Did something happen today?"
She sighed deeply, letting her back slump and shoulders drop, "Well, I don't wanna' ruin the breakfast or anything."
Concerned, he straightened his back. "No, tell me."
She looked at him, her eyes brimming with worry. "It's just that Tiffany called. Remember her?"
It took him a while but as he scrutinized his mind to remember, it came to him. "...Yeah! The last time I saw her was forever ago."
Kagome stopped her anxious tapping and placed her hand firmly on the table, "She called me this morning, and it was so random; I mean, I didn't expect her to call or anything. Well," She began her tapping again, "She told me Naraku said in trial that he'd sent some people to follow me and today, apparently was the day when whatever was to happen had to happen so I'm just really scared."
Inu-Yasha felt his palm ball in a fist. "Shit." Shaking his head he sighed, obviously pissed off, "The nerve of that guy."
Her face crinkled in fear, "What should I do?"
"Well, for one you can't be alone, not even for a minute." Inu-Yasha watched her earnestly as she nodded in agreement, "And just stay out of public places."
"I have to go to work, though."
"Kagome, your mom will understand."
Kagome shut herself up as the waitress who they'd ordered from came and put two plates on their table, loaded with heavy French toast. As she left, she went back to the conversation. "I don't want to disappoint my mom and I've been doing that a lot lately."
"Kagome, I know you've disappointed a lot of people in life," he said jokingly, and didn't flinch as she smacked his arm, "But trust me, I know your mom's not disappointed in you."
She sulked, "You don't know that."
"You moved countries to help her." He waited until she looked directly at him. "Got it?"
"Okay... Yeah. Whatever." She murmured quietly.
x.x
Kagome wolfed down the French toast hungrily, the whipped cream melting in her mouth alongside the chocolate chips. Stuffing the last piece of soggy toast in her mouth, she laughed as Inu-Yasha made another lame but sarcastically funny joke about toilet seats and how they're connected to the FBI.
As she sipped the last quarter of her milk down quickly, she peered over her cup at Inu-Yasha and giggled as his French toast dropped off his fork and onto the ground.
Honestly, it was as if what had transpired between them had never happened and all of a sudden, it felt like they were back to normal – whatever normal was to them, anyway.
"Should we go?"
Not wanting to delay his plans, she resentfully put down her glass of milk and got up, "Go where?"
"We could wander around New York City." He flashed a grin at her, his excitement resonating through. "I have sunglasses. No one will recognize me."
Kagome rolled her eyes and pushed her chair back underneath the table, "You know, Inu-Yasha, some humans actually have things call brains – and often, they use them. I'm sure they'll see right through your sunglasses."
As Inu-Yasha pulled out a thick wad of bills from his wallet, he rambled on, "But I don't want to go back to work."
Knowing that that was as near enough compliment she'd get from him now, she felt herself warm up and smiled to herself happily.
This actually wasn't too bad.
After Inu-Yasha finished paying for the breakfast, they headed back outside, where the wind had calmed down drastically. Loosening her scarf, they talked about where to head next and finally, decided to head deeper into the park.
Running in front of Inu-Yasha, Kagome stood under a tall tree and looked up, squinting her eyes as the bright light her in the eyes. "If you stand here and look up, the leaves almost block out the sun."
Inu-Yasha looked up at the hordes of branches, confused and raised an eyebrow, "…so?"
Kagome sighed exasperatedly, "Well. It's pretty." Shuffling through the bag she had brought with her, she took out her camera, aimed it at the sky and clicked.
"I'm not going out with Mona, you know."
Kagome felt her body tense anxiously as the words registered in her mind and she slowly brought down her camera to her chest. "Wait, what?" He'd said it so randomly that she almost staggered back.
An obvious blush flushed across his cheeks, "I know this is out of the blue but, I thought you thought that I was going out with her."
Kagome clenched her jaw together, ignoring the gut squirming pain in her chest as he said that. Shrugging, she continued walking down the trail while fiddling with the camera, "Well. Yeah. You are going out with her, aren't you?"
He came up behind her, "No, I'm not. You know those tabloids write crap."
Looking up at him, her voice dropped to quiet level. "So… you're not?"
"I'm not." He looked at her innocently, and Kagome looked away immediately as she felt a little happiness inside her as he said that. She wasn't going to fall for him again, and no innocent pout was going to change that.
Fiddling with her camera, she nodded slowly, "Well. Okay. I don't like her anyway. She's totally wrong for you."
His ears perked up as she said that, "She is?"
"Well," Kagome casually pulled the camera back up to her eye and took a random picture of the trees. "Yeah."
Pulling the camera out of her hands, he took a few steps back as Kagome tried to snatch it back. "So are you saying I have a type?"
Shivering as he looked down at her mischievously, she jumped for the camera as he held it high above his head. "Give that back."
"You didn't answer my question."
She groaned, "I'm not going to answer that Inu-Yasha."
Taking a few steps away from her, he laughed as she lunged for it. "Why not?"
"Because it's a stupid question, that's why." Holding down his left arm as she tried to jump for the camera in his right, she sighed with frustration as he tore out of her grasp and broke into a run. "Inu-Yasha!"
He grinned back at her, "Yeah?"
Dropping her bag to the floor, Kagome kept in a laugh as she ran after him, "It cost me my paycheck!"
He was a good ways away from her and he turned around to boast, "Well thank god there's a stream up ahead, eh? All the better to throw this in."
Gasping, she sprinted after him, and literally lunged on his back as she got within a feet, tackling him to the dirt trail. As he let out a loud 'oomph', she crawled across his back and reached for the camera, but to no avail as he pulled his arm in and underneath his stomach.
"Seriously, Inu-Yasha, you're going to damage it."
"Well, what's my type?"
Kagome growled in frustration and let her forehead rest against the ground. Looking at him from the corner of her eye, she watched him smirk as he shifted the camera underneath him to make himself more comfortable. "I said I'm not answering that."
Inu-Yasha tried to get up but she pushed him back down, "Why?"
She laughed, "Because, what kind of question is that anyway? You're supposed to know the answer."
He sighed sarcastically, "Well, I suppose I'll just take this.."
Eyes widening as he took the camera out from underneath his abdomen area and accidentally scuffed it against the ground, she reached out for it again. "Fine, moron. I'll tell you."
He let the camera rest against the ground, and looked at her with the same mischievous smirk still plastered across his face. "Go on."
'Oh, lord, help Me.' she thought before opening her mouth; "Well, first and foremost, she can't be like Mona – at all."
He shifted his position, letting his back rest against the ground as Kagome fell off and made herself comfortable beside him. He crunched his forehead, "Okay, how come?"
She threw her hands in the air and made dramatic gestures as if he was supposed to know, "Because she lets you boss her around, she grubs for your money, she has no idea when to back off, she doesn't know the difference between materialistic affection and actual emotional heart-to-heart affection, she doesn't realize when her skirts too high and her shirt too low, she wears too much makeup which completely defies the purpose of natural beauty, she'll never be there for you when you need her, your family doesn't like her, she doesn't connect with your siblings… and she has no respect for anyone else either." Letting out a deep breath, she looked away from Inu-Yasha and back up at the sky. "That's it."
Inu-Yasha chuckled, "Wow."
Feeling like she was on a roll, she punched him lightly, "And you need someone who's completely the opposite of that." After a pause, she continued, "Someone who won't just bail when things get rough either."
Inu-Yasha looked at her, and the seriousness on his face let her know he knew exactly what she was talking about. He didn't say anything though, which gave her leisure to continue talking.
"Inu-Yasha, I'm sorry about that. It was completely moronic and stupid of me, you know?"
He brought his hands behind his head to give his head some sort of a pillow, "I think I over exaggerated when I heard about it too."
Kagome smiled slyly, "Well, you did…"
He pointed a finger at the air, which was supposed to be directed at her but he was too lazy to do so. "You have no right to speak right now."
She laughed, "Okay. I'll shut up."
Sitting up, Inu-Yasha ignored the dust on his shirt and handed the camera back to Kagome. "Don't worry about it though. I'm over it."
Not knowing if he was talking about the fight or the relationship, Kagome felt a dose of sadness drowse her as he said that anyway. Ignoring it, she sat up beside him, and put the camera to the side. "So we're cool?"
Inu-Yasha looked at her; and not just with that simple glance people often pass to each other but with a hard stare that shook her to the core. Glancing away, he frowned, "If you want me to tell you the truth… well… I missed you, Kagome."
Her heart almost skipped a beat and she searched his face to make sure he wasn't joking. "Well, I missed you too -."
"But I don't just mean it like that, forget it, you wont understand." Getting up, his mood obviously ruined, he brushed off dirt from his clothes and began walking back.
Not about to let him go, she caught up with him and pulled on his arm. "Just say what you wanted to say."
"It's not worth it." He flinched as what he said came out wrong, "I mean, I know what you'll say."
Kagome let her shoulders drop, "How has this conversation suddenly gone so sour?"
Inu-Yasha gave a half-hearted grin, "It's always been like that between us Kagome."
Kagome shook her head; going through different possibilities she could run with, "Well it doesn't have to. For example, if you want to say something, just say it. If we both gave an effort to be open with each other, things that happen probably wouldn't happen."
He looked straight at her, and for a second, almost looked defeated. "Do you really want to hear it?"
Gosh, she didn't know if she actually wanted to. She nodded furiously anyway.
"Kagome, I want to try us again."
Her mind going blank, her mouth dropped open. Feeling a flurry of emotions race through her, she didn't know if she wanted to run right now or drown in a pool of black nothingness. Oh dear lord, this was the last thing that she'd wanted to hear for hadn't she decided she simply couldn't let herself go through with him again?
…Even if she wanted to.
Rephrase that - Desperately wanted to.
Her mouth open and closed several times, each instant nothing came out. Finally, Inu-Yasha put his hands in his pockets.
His sigh was almost sad. "I knew it."
Kagome gulped down whatever substance had come in her throat, disabling her to talk. "Inu-Yasha…"
He simply looked away.
"No. Look at me." When he didn't listen to her, Kagome stepped in front of him. "You know why we can't go out again."
He scoffed, "Give me a good reason."
She waved around at the park, "Inu-Yasha, we live no where close to each other."
He shrugged carelessly, "We could work around it."
"Everyone will be against it."
"When did what other people think matter so much?"
She stumbled for something else, "We always end up fighting."
"But we always work through it, too." He ran a hand through his hair to calm himself down, "Kagome, admit it, you're just afraid of committing -."
"I am not afraid of commitment, Inu-Yasha." Desperate for him to understand, she met his glare as he snapped his eyes to her.
"Then what is it?"
"I just -." She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. "Whenever I give you my trust, you just hurt me every single time."
He groaned, "I know I've made mistakes."
"Please stop." Shaking her head, she pressed her hands against her warm cheeks and hopelessly looked for the perfect thing to say, "We -."
His chest deflated, as if he had finally gone to his last help line, "I know you want to give it another shot."
"I need time to think, Inu-Yasha." Looking anywhere but him, she let the silence between them stretch before glancing up at him. "I'll call you. Seriously. I just have to be alone, right now."
Inu-Yasha gave her a hard stare before letting out a resentful, deep breath. Taking a heavy step forward, he brushed her shoulder before walking back to the exit of the trail, leaving her in solitude.
x.x
Kagome idly looked at her cell phone, the time blinking on it barely registering in her mind.
Walking down the street back to her apartment, she could hardly think logically.
Inu-Yasha… wanted to get back with her?
Closing her eyes, she replayed the scene in her head again, and again, and again. What the hell was wrong with her? Why… hadn't she agreed?
She knew, for a fact she was afraid of committing herself to him for the fear of just to be torn apart again by a pointless fight, but… honestly, was going on without him even worth it?
Turning the corner, she sulked as she thought about it. The day had gone from amazing to absolutely horrible and knowing that when she got home, her parents were probably going to tag on her for going missing in the morning just made it even worse.
As the pedestrian light flashed green, she looked both ways before putting her right foot forward to cross.
Frowning, she sighed for the umpteenth time that day.
She was jerked out of her daze however as a car to her left reared into drive and as she quickly craned her head to see what was happening; the white van horned loudly and drove straight at her.
x.x
Heello! Just a note – no, Inu-Yasha isn't going to jump out of nowhere and pick her up and fly.
Alriteo – next chapter is the FINAL chapter of Being Backstage. Wow!! The last one of all. Chapter Thirty. The ending. The epilogue (did I have a prologue? No?)
See you then!
Ahh! And review and tell me what you thought of this chapter? I'll love you.
