Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I give all my thanks to Rumiko Takahashi for bringing that extraordinary story to life! You rock!

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN: SAY GOODBYE

"How was your day?"

Pretty normal question. About as bland as "What's up?" or "How are you?" or any of the other stupid small talk questions that so many people ask, when they know fully well that the other person will just say "Nothing" and fall into an awkward silence.

Not the case when it's me and Rin.

"Well, Menomaru and Gatenmaru threatened my life and I thought for a split second that Inuyasha looked cute," I stated. "I don't know which one is scarier."

Rin laughed that pealing laugh of hers that always makes me jealous. "You're so funny, Kagome."

Groaning, I said, "I'm glad you think my emotional distress is funny, Rin."

She opened her mouth to object, so I grinned and said, "Kidding."

Rin can take things very personally sometimes… it's something I always have to watch out for.

Rin nodded, understanding. "What happened with Menomaru and Gatenmaru?" she asked.

"Inuyasha helped me out," I said. Frowning, I amended, "Well, so did Suikotsu. Kind of both." I groaned. "That guy is really, really creepy."

"Who, Suikotsu?" Rin asked in surprise. "I thought you liked him."

"I do! He's a great teacher. I mean… he's creepy in a good way. Not Hakudoshi-creepy," I tried to explain.

Sometimes I think that I'm not very good at getting my point across.

"Oooooh." Rin nodded. "Well. Okay."

Grinning, I said, "You'll get it when you have him."

Rin nodded again… she'd been nodding a lot, I noticed. Rather absent-mindedly.

Which probably means she's thinking about something which I guess she thinks is much more important than my impending demise.

"So…" I scrutinized her face, the thoughtful look in her eyes. "What's new with you?" Rin continued to stare into space. "Rin?"

She jumped, almost as if she hadn't even realized I'd been speaking. "What? Me? What?"

"Rin, you're not on trial," I laughed. "I just wanted to know if anything was going on."

"Oh." She frowned. "Not much. Well… we were assigned a project with partners in chemistry."

I didn't really need to hear any more… I knew how much Rin hated group projects when she didn't know anybody in the class. And I cringed, imagining it in my head: my sister, staying still in her seat, motionless as if dead… her classmates, seniors much bigger and taller than her, running around to find their friends, leaving her by herself….

It was so, so wrong, and I wanted to scream at the wrongness of it.

"Rin, if you need a partner, I—"

Before I tell you what she said next, can I explain to you that I've never once heard Rin snap at me before? That's right. Rin and I are so close… I can't remember ever losing patience with her once, not for real. And I definitely can't remember her raising her voice at me. Actually, I've never heard her raise her voice at ANYONE.

Which was why it surprised me that I was the first one to get such special treatment.

"Who says I need a partner?" Rin snapped.

For a second I almost didn't realize she had really spoken. Actually, she seemed just as surprised.

"Rin—"

"No, I'm sorry," she said quickly. Rin frowned, eyebrows furrowing, and raised a slightly trembling hand to brush her bangs out of her eyes. "I don't know what came over me. Really, I…" she trailed off suddenly, frown deepening, falling into an utterly confused silence.

I wasn't sure what to say… but I didn't want this silence to continue. "Rin, I…" I put my hand on her shoulder, making her look at me. "I didn't mean that. I'm sorry. It wasn't like charity or anything—I just thought you wouldn't want to tolerate any of those bozos in your class." It was true enough—in all respects. I hadn't been offering her charity, just a friend. And we both knew that she was probably wading through a sea of bozos in that class, even though it WAS an advanced class. No matter where you go, it's unavoidable when you're as smart as Rin.

Rin smiled slightly, and I felt the corners of my mouth turn upwards when I knew I was forgiven. "It's okay. I get it." She raised her eyebrows at me. "But how could you be my partner anyway? I'd have to teach chemistry to you first."

"Fine—get me a desk, a textbook, and a lot of Pocky, and I'm ready to learn!"

We laughed together, and when we quieted, I hoped the reason she wasn't speaking was not because she was sincerely considering my proposal.

But then a thought popped into mind. "Hey, Rin. If you don't need a partner, then who is your partner?"

That was all it took for Rin to stiffen.

I glared at her, determined to find out why she was being so quiet. "If it's Hiten or Abi—"

"It's not Hiten or Abi," she said quickly. "Don't worry, I've got enough pride to know I don't need to put up with those guys."

I nodded, but didn't reply—because she still hadn't told me who it was.

And I knew that it would probably just take a few seconds of my silence for her to crack.

"Okay, okay," Rin said. "I'll tell you."

If she'd been scared… if her eyes had started pricking with tears… I still wouldn't have been as worried as I was when I saw the blush staining her cheeks.

"It's Sesshomaru."

So that was it.

I sighed. "You want me to say that I'm sorry about that, or congratulate you?"

Rin fidgeted. "Why are you so against him? Is it just cause he's Inuyasha's brother?"

"Of course not!" I said. Did she really think I was so bigoted? "And I don't hate Inuyasha anymore, remember?"

Rin nodded, thinking. "True. But then why don't you like him?"

I opened my mouth to tell her… and realized that I had to think about it.

Why didn't I like Sesshomaru?

"Well… we just don't know him well enough to trust him, you know?" I said. That was a valid argument, right? I wasn't completely and pathetically grasping at straws, right? "And besides… from what I've seen, he seems kind of aloof." And then I frowned and asked her, very sincerely, a question I'd been wanting to ask her since the subject had risen. "Why do you like him?"

"What—I—I don't like him. He's just kind of nice, that's all," Rin stuttered.

Her blush said something quite different.

"What nice things has he done?"

Rin glanced at me. "Well… why do you want to know, anyway? You said I wasn't on trial, but it's almost like he IS."

I grinned. "What, I'm not allowed to look out for my a-bit-too-trusting little sister?"

"I'm in your grade," she protested, pouting.

"Younger by four months!"

Rin glared playfully at me and looked away, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, "Overprotective older sisters…"

Do you ever have those random thoughts that just pop into your head for no reason whatsoever? I do. Cause I couldn't help thinking that that was a good name for a syndrome: Overprotective Older Sister Syndrome.

It has a ring to it.

And even in my moments of most obstinate denial… I have to admit that it's a little true, too.

"Kagome."

There's a reason why I haven't been mentioning a certain extremely scary, possibly evil, bleached-lavender-colored classmate of mine lately—and it's not cause the mildly crazy girl who controls everything that happens in our universe got lazy and forgot about him. Nope. Not at all.

It's because he hasn't really bothered me.

Over the last few days, I'd almost forgotten he existed. To me, it was like he didn't even exist… because he hadn't said a word to me. Not a wave, not a "hi," not a creepy smile, not even a text. Nothing.

Until now. Wednesday.

And the thing I had to notice about this time, the first time he'd spoken to me since last week, was that I didn't have any of my friends around to interfere.

"Kagome, you could at least manage a, 'hello,'" Hakudoshi said, smirking, walking up beside me. "Or else I might think you were ignoring me."

The smirk was teasing, his words were joking, but his eyes and tone were cool as always. Days without so much as looking at him had done nothing to help me deal with the fear his presence invoked within me.

I smiled shakily at him. "Well, I'm not ignoring you."

As much as I wished I could.

"I'm glad to hear that," he said wryly. "It'd be a problem, because I know that I'm tired of ignoring you."

Despite everything my friends had warned me about… despite the fact that some part of me had known it before he said it… that got my attention.

My head snapped toward his, and I looked at him. "Were you ignoring me?"

Hakudoshi glanced at me, looking faintly regretful… except it didn't look right on his face. Regret didn't seem like the kind of thing which should be on his face. So when it was on his face… it sent chills down my spine.

Immediately I ran over my options in my head, and my reasoning. There was no longer any reason to be nice to Hakudoshi just to get at Inuyasha… but did that mean there was any reason to ignore Hakudoshi? Could Sango and Inuyasha and Miroku and the rest of them be wrong?

But what frightened me was… were they right? And if they were… could I do anything to save myself?

As much as I liked to reconsider my options again and again, I had to wonder if I actually had any.

"Yeah…" he said, sighing. With a start, I realized I had asked him a question. Funny, the things terror-induced paralysis can do to your memory. "Sorry about that. I didn't really have a choice; I had to settle some things. It's all set now, though. So don't worry about it."

Like I could just not worry about something he was "settling." Especially if one of those things happened to be my death.

The cliché "better safe than sorry" had never sounded less corny.

"So… there's no chance of you telling me?" I asked hopefully.

Hakudoshi smirked. "Don't worry about it," he repeated.

His words didn't tell me that that was the only answer I would get. His tone did.

Because somehow I saw a threat in it.

Brushing that thought off, I asked, "Hey, how did you find me, anyway?"

He grinned. "We both have the next class together… is it so hard to believe that I might have seen you by coincidence?"

Maybe not with a normal guy… but definitely with Hakudoshi.

But I just nodded like I completely believed him, like I was completely taken in. And I think he believed me, too… because what reason could I have to suspect him?

Unless he knew that I was considering the possibility that he was an evil murderer disguised as a completely conspicuous, genius high school student, he couldn't possibly realize that I was terrified of him.

"So," Hakudoshi said suddenly, "I was thinking that, since we have this opportunity to walk to class together without your other friends following you around, we should take advantage of it more often."

That was just the kind of thing I really, really didn't want to hear, cause there was only one answer I could give.

"Uh… sure," I said uncertainly. "Okay. I guess." Grasping at straws, I added, "It sounds kind of complicated, though… I mean, where would we meet?"

Hakudoshi flashed me a smile which chilled me to the bone. "You don't have to worry about that," he promised. "I'll find you."

Great.

That was when I knew that even though he had asked whether I wanted to walk with him… I hadn't really had a choice.

"7C," Hakudoshi said, opening the door.

He held it for me again. And the gesture unnerved me just as much as it would freak me out if Inuyasha held a door for me.

And let me tell you… that's a lot.

I smiled hesitantly at Hakudoshi and slipped into the classroom. As I had done nearly every day, I scanned the room first for Menomaru to make sure he was nowhere near my seat: and just like every day before, he was in the back, dangerously near to (or just plain) making out with Yura.

I shuddered, wondering if they knew about each other's darker sides.

Moments like these felt almost surreal to me, because it made me feel like all those other times… the time when Menomaru had threatened me, when Yura had attacked me… had never happened. It was almost as if Menomaru and Yura had no memory of it happening at all.

Because they didn't give even the slightest indication of remembering it—remembering anything. Every day, in science class, I was just another student to them—another useless student who wasn't worth their attention when they were so busily involved with each other.

And I wasn't sure whether that was a good sign or a bad sign.

"Kagome."

I jumped a little, seeing Hakudoshi standing beside my desk, holding my chair out for me to sit… just like he always did.

Whereas Family class was unpredictable, this class had become eerily routine.

But the "routine" of it wasn't much comfort.

I smiled nervously at Hakudoshi and took my seat, him sitting down beside me.

As far as I could tell, Naraku didn't have a care in the world about where the students sat. Where most teachers might intervene, Naraku… doesn't. Well… it depends on who you are. Take the case of Menomaru and Yura, who probably think they will go into withdrawal if they stop making out to do basic things like study, listen, or maybe BREATHE. Maybe it's different in Tokyo, but most teachers would probably find them pretty annoying. And seeing as Naraku's a borderline psychopath, I suspect that in his class, "pretty annoying" = death.

But no. Because unfortunately, Menomaru and Yura are still very much alive.

So, liplocking during class = glare stonily and ignore; running to class two seconds late = detention and possible torture.

Who doesn't find something wrong with that?

I spun my pen around idly in my hand until I saw something on Hakudoshi's desk that struck fear into my heart.

"Hakudoshi? What is that?"

Hakudoshi glanced at me. "What is what, Kagome?"

"The paper." I gestured to his desk. "That one."

Looking like he had just realized what I meant when really I had a feeling he had known all along, Hakudoshi looked down at the paper. "This one?" he asked in innocent surprise. "It's our homework. …Don't tell me you don't have it."

And like I wasn't scared enough, Hakudoshi just HAD to turn around and stare at me in absolute horror. Geez. You'd think I told him I had a brain tumor or something.

I might as well have one.

Because I have no idea what happens to people in Naraku's class who forget their homework… only I know it isn't pretty.

On the second day of school we had our first homework assignment. And like usual, I did it and handed it in the next day. Hakudoshi, the perfect student as always, wrote up a detailed three-page report that made everyone around him take a hit on their self-esteem. Every student in the class did their homework… except one.

That one was a boy who had sat in the back, who I hadn't noticed before it seemed like he was in danger of losing his life. He wore chains, gothic makeup, and had messy, unkempt hair with a variety of strange dyes in it. And when Naraku asked him for his homework, he spit in his face.

So Naraku gave him a detention. And on the fourth day of school, I didn't even recognize him.

My eyes strayed to where the boy sat now: in the front row, hair groomed and brown, clothes clean and preppy, skin free of makeup, and arms sans explicit tattoos (the more I'm thinking about it, the more I'm wondering how I missed him on the first two days of school).

His homework lay on his desk, neatly typed.

If Naraku can do that to a bad-boy spit-in-your-eye druggie type… WHAT WILL HE DO TO A TERRIFIED WANNABE PRIESTESS?!

I had probably seconds before Naraku walked into the room, smiled and greeted me, asked for our homework, saw I didn't have it, and sentenced me to my doom. "Doom" in this case may refer to death, torture, insanity, or brainwashing. I would IMAGINE that my parents would object to ANY of them. But I also suspected that they might not mind if I came home a helpful little goody-two-shoes.

If that ends up being the case, my mother better PRAY that I never become unbrainwashed again.

"Hello Miss Higurashi. Hello Mr. Hakudoshi."

The six words that spelled my doom.

I immediately began my goodbyes:

Say goodbye to your family, Kagome. Say goodbye to your grandpa's possibly senile ravings and your mother's mildly freaky way of knowing EXACTLY what you or anyone is feeling at any moment and voicing it aloud like you'd admitted it. Say goodbye to your brother's obsession with snowballs and video games. Say goodbye to your sister and her rather problematic tastes in men. Say goodbye to Miroku and his perverted tendencies and Sango and her aggressive nature. Say goodbye to Inuyasha and his way of getting under your skin one moment… and then making you feel like doing something insanely stupid… like blushing… the next moment….

"Miss Higurashi? I didn't receive a hello from you. I was wondering if you were all right?"

Maybe it's just me, but it sounds more like he's wondering which organs should be the first he pulls out of my body.

I refused to look at Naraku, to look at his friendly face, while I managed to say, "Well… I…"

Well what was I going to say? 'Well, I forgot my homework, so you can rip my brain out of my body now and replace me with a good little clone?' Obviously not. He could use that against my family in a court of law when and if they decide to sue for damages.

I'm not THAT stupid.

"Are you sick, Miss Higurashi?" Naraku asked, voice inflected with the perfect amount of worry.

"Oh, no, I…" for the briefest moment I considered telling him I was sick. I could. I could tell him I felt sick and needed to go to the nurse… and then I could lie down in the nurse's office the whole period. And then I could get the assignment from Hakudoshi and do it after school and bring it in tomorrow and—best of all!—NOT DIE!

When it's a question of life and death, I think that telling one little lie is forgivable. But for some reason, I couldn't say it.

And then I wondered if I didn't need brainwashing to be a goody-two-shoes. Maybe I AM a goody-two-shoes.

I didn't think I was… but then why couldn't I just say the lie?

"I'm not sick," I said, feeling more nauseous than I'd felt even when I had a fever of 102. "I'm fine."

Somebody out there, ANYBODY, please explain to me: if I can't lie to save my life, WHY CAN I LIE TO KILL MYSELF?!

Naraku smiled. "I'm glad to hear that."

Like hell you are.

I watched numbly as Naraku walked to his desk, not so much as looking at any of the other students. Less than a minute now till second bell rings. Forty seconds… thirty-five….

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!?!

"So, what are you going to do?" Hakudoshi asked nonchalantly.

I stared at him. "What can I do?" I moaned, fear of Naraku overpowering my fear of Hakudoshi.

Hakudoshi seemed to contemplate it, and then he said, "You don't have to be so afraid. Naraku's a teacher. He'll probably just take a few points off for a late assignment."

I shook my head obstinately. "He'll give me a detention."

Hakudoshi smirked. "He won't give you a detention."

"Why not?!" I hissed.

But Hakudoshi was unfazed by my evident panic. He just smiled at me, leaning back in his chair… utterly relaxed and completely confident. "He won't give you detention," he promised. "Trust me."

Even though he didn't particularly emphasize the "you," I felt like for his meaning, he should have.

I wasn't sure why that didn't comfort me.

The second bell rang, and instantly the class went completely silent. Nobody wanted to experience the eerie cold or darkness again, like had happened the first day. You don't need to ask twice in Naraku's class. Actually, you DON'T ASK twice in Naraku's class. Period.

And then Naraku smiled and opened his mouth, and I knew he was about to say the words which would condemn me.

"I'm glad to see that everyone has their homework. Doesn't that make you feel so much more accomplished than lying back and being the pathetic, wasteful slobs that so many teenagers tend to be?"

I could only stare.

"It does? Good. I'm glad, because I don't want to waste my time battling with pathetic, wasteful slobs. It's my job to cultivate you all into intelligent, mature young adults."

Naraku had never missed an absent homework assignment. EVER.

"And although of course I don't need your cooperation, it makes everything much easier if you help out."

Which left me at the assumption that….

"So now, if Takano will stop doodling on her desk, we can begin the lesson."

Naraku had neglected to mention me on purpose.

Hakudoshi looked over at me… and winked.

It was difficult to concentrate on the lesson, but I managed. Well, somewhat. I have a feeling that in awhile, when I need to study and I look over the notes I'd taken today, I won't even remember writing them.

The bell rang and I hurried to collect my books. But still I managed to be one of the last ones to get ready to leave. Hakudoshi had been waiting for me, but to my relief, after a few seconds his expression changed. "I've got to go," he said, smiling at me. "See you later, Kagome."

I glanced at him, startled. "Oh. Bye, Hakudoshi."

He nodded to me and swept out of the classroom. In a way, I was relieved… Hakudoshi always unnerved me. But for some reason, I had a feeling that his sudden departure should not comfort me.

How right I was… for at that moment, I heard it.

"Miss Higurashi… may I speak with you for a moment?"

At the sound of his voice, every muscle in my body turned to stone.

And crumbled.

A/N: And that was some Hakudoshi and Naraku for you guys! Not too much Hakudoshi, unfortunately… but eventually, there will be more action with him! I just need to figure out what it is… . Thank you so much for reviewing! I got lots of reviews, I'm ECSTATIC! So here's to the amazing, awesome, unfathomably cool people who reviewed: bear lover, Skittle Dog, ILoveInuyasha4Eva, Animeroxs Rin-Sess and Inu-Kag, beautiful-surreal, EmoKittenz, LunaP, k, Daichilover, SuperHarryPotterNerd, ai, iheartinuyasha, babydoll465, Roses Kiss, Tomatosoup inc., (anonymous cause you didn't give me a name, sorry! :D) (), and BGuate224! REVIEW, people!!! I'm hoping for nine or more! Four days give or take! ^^