Chapter Twenty-Nine:
Recap:
But it wasn't them that made the spectators gasp. It was Kagome that had just walked through the doors and into the large room.
End Recap
Kagome was…for lack of a better word, gorgeous. She looked ethereal in a blue, strapless dress that flowed out from her waist all the way down the her knee. Silver ink made up ivy and spiral patterns all over the dress, glowing a little in the lights. Blue heels were on her feet and had blue ribbons crisscrossing all the way up her legs. Her hair was up in a high ponytail, but her hair flowed around her like ebony silk and one simple blue ribbon was around her pale neck.
"Holy…" Kiba breathed out, Akamaru barking his agreement. The large dog bounded over to Kagome's side and proceeded to growl out his approvement.
"You look very nice, Kagome-sama." he barked out, his tongue lolling out. Kagome gave him a small smile and an affectionate scratch behind the ears. The other males gave the dog a jealous glare.
Ino and Sakura quickly jumped over and grabbed Kagome's arms, dragging her over to the microphone.
"Say something." Ino hissed at her playfully.
Kagome looked out at all the people and sighed. "I'm really sorry that these four girls dragged you all out here, but I want you all to enjoy yourselves, since you are all out here for my sake." The crowd gave snickers at Ino and Sakura's outraged faces, but even they started to laugh along with the others.
"Well, 'nuff said, let's dance!" Temari shouted as the band started to play a fast song. Temari grabbed Shikamaru and hauled him off to the dance floor while Sakura and Ino started to bicker over who got to dance with Sasuke. Tenten went over to Lee and asked him shyly for a dance. He quickly accepted, shouting some nonsense about "Youth" once again. Before she went onto the dance floor though, she leaned over to Neji and whispered in his ear, "Kagome's a much better match for you than me…"
He looked at her dumbfounded before looking at Kagome who was right now dancing with Kiba. Akamaru was off somewhere in a corner sulking about how he couldn't since he didn't have hands or feet, instead he had paws. Hinata was off comforting the poor dog.
Back to Kagome, soon after she had finished the first song with him, Sasuke cut in and danced a slow song with her, smirking all the time at the glaring boys behind him that were currently hoping that Ino and Sakura would come over and drag him away but they had no such luck. Ino and Sakura were still oblivious to the tiny little fact due to another tiny little fact that they were yelling at each other so loud that they didn't bother taking the 3 seconds to look around and see if the object of their interests was even there.
Kagome rolled her eyes mentally when dancing with Sasuke since the only reason he was doing it was to gloat. It was because of this knowledge that she was very relieved when Neji decided to cut in.
As soon as Sasuke stepped away from her, albeit grudgingly and not without a glare at the Hyuuga, and went over to Sakura to pull her to the dance floor, Kagome breathed a sigh of relief and let Neji lead her in a semi-fast song. "Thank you." she said, still relieved.
Neji gave her a small smirk and kept her as a dance partner even for the next song, a waltz. Kagome was silent throughout the entire song and when it ended, she gave him a smile and stepped out into the cool air of the street, letting out a breath she didn't know that she had been holding.
'Haven't been around so many people in so long…' she thought, looking up at the sky. The Feudal Era definitely had more stars than here, but at least you could see them. In Tokyo, the pollution was so bad that all you could see was a hazy fog in the sky. AGH! 'Thinking about home is definitely something you should not do when you were stuck in a place/world you weren't supposed to be in in the first place without any familiar faces.' Kagome thought, wiping away a single tear that had somehow found its way down her cheek.
"Thinking of something?" a voice asked behind her. Gaara walked over to her and sat down beside her on the ground. Whoa. Kagome didn't even know when she had even gotten onto the ground.
"I was just thinking about…" she didn't know if she should tell him anything that might lead to further questioning. Well, whatever. Out of the frying pan into the fire. "…home." Gaara's eyebrow's rose, but he didn't voice anything out, choosing to let her continue.
Kagome sighed. This is why you should never tell then anything, it leads to UNWANTED questions. "I want to go back and see my family at least one more time. I wasn't able to say a proper goodbye." 'When I was practically dragged through a rip in the dimensions and transported from the Feudal Era to this weird ninja world.' she added silently in her head. Gaara looked away from her piercing eyes and to the inky sky, lost in his own thoughts.
xX Flashback Xx
"Did you really think that I loved you? Cared for you? I hated you for taking away my beloved sister. I hated the fact that she had to die to give birth to a monster. You." Gaara watched as the only person to ever get close to him died by his own hands. It ripped his heart even further when she opened her jacket and he saw all the explosive tags starting to detonate. But it was the last words that she said that completely broke his soul.
"Please die." Unfortunately for both her and Gaara, his sand would not let him die whether he wanted it or not. It had a mind of its own, and it swirled around him, protecting him from the huge explosion and carving the symbol for 'love' on his forehead.
He wouldn't trust anyone. Not anymore.
xX End Flashback Xx
Funny, yet ironic. Now he had hope that he could trust people and open up to them. Thanks to Naruto. But looking at the girl beside him, he realized that no one had done that for her. No one had given her a reason to trust them. Not even a hope. He understood this when he saw Kagome's eyes mist over with broken and painful memories. Memories that she's rather keep hidden away. Just like him.
Before he knew what was happening, Gaara had leaned forward and placed his lips on her own soft ones. His and her eyes both widened, before they shut and leaned into the chaste kiss a bit more. They slowly pulled away and they met each other, eye for eye.
Kagome gave him one of her more rare smiles and looked up at the sky. Just as she looked up, a shooting star shot across the sky and she closed her eyes making a wish.
I wish I could become happy here.
"Thanks." Kagome said.
"For what?" Gaara was confused. As far as he was concerned, he really hadn't done anything for him to be thanked. In fact, he was kinda expecting her to look at him with disgust and push him away because he had just kissed her.
"For staying with me." she said simply. They were both silent for the rest of the night, parting ways when I got too late to stay there.
The next day…
Ino and Sakura were both in a rare agreement for once, both on a warpath to figure out where Kagome had disappeared to in the middle of a party they had thrown in HER honour. They stopped when they saw the very girl they were looking for training with the elusive Byakugan-user. Ino and Sakura looked at each other with mischievous smirks and inched away, letting the two have their alone time.
Kagome POV
I felt the two raging auras of Ino and Sakura approaching me, but they got close, the auras slowly calmed, and then they left. I was puzzled, but I didn't have time to dwell on it as Neji nearly impaled me with a kunai. It landed on the ground behind me and I heard a hissing noise. I whipped around quickly and saw an explosive note attached to the handle of the kunai. I completely blanked. This hadn't happened since around 7 years ago, staying there and being helpless. The note exploded and I only had enough time to bring up my arms in a defensive stance and let the debris bruise and cut me.
End Kagome POV
Neji's eyes widened and he ran towards the fallen girl who just lie there, staring up at nothing. He rushed over to her side and crouched over her, shaking her shoulder urgently, but still gently.
"Kagome?! Kagome!? Are you okay?" he asked her, looking for any major injuries.
"Yeah…I'm fine." Kagome relied quietly, sitting up. Her eyes glazed over and Neji watched in morbid fascination as her body emitted a purple glow, her wounds and bruises quickly healing. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Kagome was once again unhurt, but his relief didn't last long as he saw that Kagome's eyes were still glazed over.
Memories were flashing through her mind. Memories that she supposedly had locked away a long time ago.
xX Flashback Xx
Shippo biting Inuyasha on the ear.
Sango hitting Miroku over the head with her Hiraikotsu for his perverseness.
Miroku giving her wise advice, and then making her laugh by being a pervert and causing Sango to blush.
Inuyasha huffing and turning red whenever she gave him an affectionate hug or rubbing his ears.
Kirara purring sympathetically in comfort whenever she was feeling down.
Her mom, always welcoming her home with a smile on her face and complete understanding of her situations and her life in the Sengoku Era.
Grandpa and him slapping his sutras on everyone's head and shouting "Demon begone!"
Souta and his dorky imitations of Inuyasha and his claw attacks.
Sesshomaru and Rin. Sesshomaru watching as Jaken was tortured by Rin, amusement clearly showing in his eyes.
xX End Flashbacks Xx
Memories were flashing by before her eyes in a rapid pace, never breaking their pace.
That is, until Neji gave her a particularly sharp shove on her shoulder, effectively breaking her out of her trance.
"Neji? What's wrong?" Kagome asked, still a bit woozy from her very odd experience in her memories flashing by in a very broken pace.
"What's wrong? What's wrong?! I have been here, kneeling and shouting your name for the last ten minutes, worried because I thought I had cause you permanent mental damage and you think that you can just say 'Neji, what's wrong?' and expect me to think you're okay-" he was suddenly cut off by Kagome pressing her own lips to his (in a moment of insanity, I might add).
Neji's eyes slid shut and they both pressed their lips together more firmly, deepening the kiss. His eyes snapped open suddenly and he realized just what he was doing and who he was doing it with. 'I…am…kissing…Kagome.' Kagome broke off the kiss and walked away, letting him have an internal spazz attack.
The only thing Kagome was thinking as she was walking away though was, 'Gaara? Or Neji?'
