Reinforcement

Fighting off murderous, power-hungry yōkai is nothing compared to calculus, Kagome thought as she rubbed at her tired eyes with her knuckles. Sighing, she slumped across the surface of her desk, burying her face in her folded arms.

It's all right, she told herself, trying to ignore the beginnings of panic building in her lungs. You can catch up. Just be patient. Don't panic. Panic and studying don't mix well.

She wished the sour feeling of anxiety curdling in the pit of her stomach would listen to reason.

Don't. Panic.

She'd once read online that slow, conscious breathing could be calming and centering. Kagome took a very deep breath through her nose.

But all she managed to do was inhale flecks of rubber eraser shavings scattered along her desk, which threw her into such a frenzy of coughing that she had to rear upright in her seat, thumping her chest with a fist.

Okay, she thought as her eyes watered, maybe scratch the deep breathing.

Wiping at her eyes, Kagome surveyed the textbooks spread across the expanse of her desk, along with all the crumpled up wads of notebook paper, loose mathematics worksheets, the color-coded and intimidatingly-detailed notes she'd borrowed from Ayumi... and worst of all, the failed test she'd gotten back from her teacher earlier that week, absolutely covered in red marker and written comments which got progressively more curt in tone with each failed answer.

Kagome had seen yōkai corpses with fewer red marks than her failed calculus test.

While her teacher had clearly been unimpressed with her performance, he was also laboring under the delusion that Grandpa's lies were true—what illness had Gramps told the principal she suffered from now? Mad cow disease? Gangrene?—and had offered Kagome the chance to take a makeup test. "This is an important test, Higurashi," he had said brusquely after class, "if you can't get a handle on these concepts, you won't be able to understand the next section of the material. And I don't need to tell you how vital an understanding of math is for your high school entrance exams." Her face flaming at the reprimand, Kagome had nodded fervently and bobbed a hurried bow. Just as she'd turned to leave the room, he'd added, "Study. Find a cram school, or a tutor. Make this work, Higurashi."

But considering that she'd spent the last three days studying and she still couldn't make sense of the subject, Kagome didn't have high hopes for the makeup test.

Make this work, Higurashi.

She grimaced, and resisted the urge to slump back over her desk.

That's what she'd been trying to do for six months now—ever since the day she'd been dragged 500 years into the past, ever since she'd gotten mixed up with the Bone Eater's Well and the Shikon Jewel and actual real yōkai, for heaven's sake! She'd been trying to juggle two different lives in two different eras, trying to make it all work.

It wasn't her fault that the machinations of a vengeful, homicidal demon took precedence over homework. Usually, anyway.

And the thing of it was, she wanted to do well in school. She wanted to go to class. She wanted to study regularly. There was a part of her that had always taken pride in her academic performance, that had reveled in the challenge and had pushed her to be one of the top students in her grade, year after year.

A lifetime of hard work, and it had only taken a few months of travelling between eras to completely torpedo her academic standing. Now she was one of the worst students in her grade, if not the worst.

It stung her pride, but worse than that, it left her with a vague sense of shame, a lingering fear that she was somehow letting her family down.

Her lungs constricted. Her stomach roiled.

Panic and studying don't mix. Deep breathing, Kagome, come on! Pull yourself together!

Why was it that her attempts to get a handle on her anxiety only made her more anxious?

"Okay," she whispered, slapping a hand down on her desk. "I just need a plan, is all. I can make this work. I'll make this—"

"Oi, Kagome!"

The girl shrieked and whipped around in her chair.

"Fuck," complained the hanyō swinging his leg over her windowsill, "do you try to make my ears bleed? You're loud enough to wake the dead."

"Inuyasha," Kagome breathed, pressing a hand over her fluttering heart. "Don't do that! You scared me half to death!"

"Keh!" He stood next to her bed, his frame silhouetted by the afternoon light streaming in through the window. His silver hair seemed to glow, stark against the red of his suikan. "You should've been expecting me," he said with a scowl, crossing his arms over his chest. "You said you'd be back today, remember?"

"I said—" Kagome paused, then gasped. "Oh, no! I did say that." Groaning, she dropped her face into her hands. "Inuyasha, I'm sorry, I completely forgot!"

His eyebrow twitched, and his fingers drummed against his bicep. "I figured as much."

His grouchy tone grated on her nerves in a way that only made her feel guilty instead of angry. "I'm sorry," she repeated quietly, dropping her hands to her lap and glancing up at him. "But the thing is..." She winced, then continued, "I don't think I can come back tonight."

His scowl blackened, and he took a step forward. "What?! Why the hell not?"

"I just— I have to— because I failed my—" She felt her heart rate speeding up as the awareness of everything she had to do flooded her brain. When she'd told Inuyasha she only needed a few days to catch up on homework and attend a couple classes, she hadn't been counting on the failed test, or her futile attempt at studying. The makeup was the day after tomorrow: she'd have to take two extra days, and she knew Inuyasha wouldn't be happy. She didn't blame him. Now in addition to disappointing her teacher and her family, she'd gone and let down the friends who counted on her—Inuyasha, Shippō, Miroku, Sango, all of them—because who knew what the consequences of delaying their hunt for Naraku would be?

Dimly, Kagome noticed Inuyasha's expression shifting to one of alarm as he stepped closer to her, his crossed arms dropping to his sides. "Oi, Kagome, slow down."

She'd seen complete havoc unfold in mere hours, what kind of chaos could Naraku wreak in two whole days, and all because she'd slowed them down, made them wait on her—

"Kagome!" She jumped in her seat as she felt Inuyasha's hand clamp down on her shoulder. He stood right in front of her, his bare feet on either side of hers, and he was staring down at her with a concerned frown. It was only then that Kagome became aware of her accelerated breathing, and the way she was wringing her hands.

He opened his mouth, but she shook her head vigorously, flapping her hands at him. "It's nothing! I've— I've got things under control!"

"Got what under control?" he demanded. When she didn't respond, he gripped her other shoulder and said, "What's up with you, huh? Tell me."

All she could manage then was another head shake and a gulping inhale.

He growled under his breath, then seemed to make a conscious effort at patience, because his tone gentled a little when he said, "Kagome, you need to breathe."

Remembering the inhaled eraser shavings, Kagome laughed a bit hysterically and was vaguely horrified to feel a telltale tightness in her throat, a prickling at the inner corners of her eyes.

Inuyasha's nose twitched, and his golden eyes narrowed. "If it's got you almost crying, it's not nothing." He crouched down on the balls of his feet before her, his hands sliding from her shoulders down her arms, finally settling in a loose grip around her elbows, the tips of his claws just faintly pricking through her shirt. His chest grazed her knees as he leaned forward a bit, tapping his thumb against the crook of her elbow. "Tell me," he said.

Kagome began to shake her head, but stopped mid-motion. She was caught by the look in his eyes—how unwavering they were—and the way his grip felt oddly grounding. Like he was crowding out her panic with his nearness. Forcing herself to focus on his gaze, she started taking deep, even breaths.

When the tightness in her throat had lessened somewhat and she felt a little calmer, she told him everything. She tried to stick to the bare essentials, avoiding any reference to the anxiety gnawing at her insides. But he still knew. Of course he did. It's not like she'd done a great job of hiding it so far. As she spoke his frown deepened, his nose surreptitiously sniffing at the air, no doubt scenting the true extent of her stress.

Once she'd finished talking, they looked at each other silently for a moment. Then Inuyasha made a low noise in his throat, and said gruffly, "Listen, Kagome. Just focus on, " he jerked his chin in the direction of her books and scattered papers, "whatever that shit is, all right? You don't have to worry about us. We can wait."

"But—!"

"Keh, your ears broken? Shut up and listen, will ya? We can wait. You just do what you gotta do here."

Kagome stared at him. "Are... are you sure? Because I know I promised it would only be a few days, and what if—"

He snorted, and it looked like he was trying very hard not to roll his eyes at her. "How are you this dense?" When she spluttered in indignation, he cut in, "This test thing... it's important to you, right? School is important to you."

Unsure of where he was going, she nodded slowly.

"Then it is important." Inuyasha squeezed her elbow and continued, "So stop beating yourself up. We can wait. Okay? All you need to worry about right now is taking care of this."

He sounded so matter-of-fact, so confident, as though he had no doubt she'd get it done.

She swallowed miserably and looked down at her lap. "I've been studying for nearly three days straight, and I still don't understand it."

Inuyasha leaned back, releasing her elbows in favor of bracing his arms against his bent legs. "And let me guess—you've been worrying your fool head off the whole time?"

"Hey!"

This time he did roll his eyes. "Dummy. No wonder you can't concentrate! Stop stressing about all the other shit. Just focus on what's in front of you. Ain't no different than bein' in a fight. You concentrate on your opponent and nothing else."

Kagome blinked.

Trust Inuyasha to compare her academic career to a sword fight.

Only... Kagome blinked again, and felt a spark of realization.

Only it wasn't her entire academic career she was tackling. It was just one test. Isn't that what Inuyasha was saying? It was one opponent, one fight, not an entire army.

And just like that, the tightness in Kagome's throat eased away. She felt like she could breathe freely again. "Inuyasha..."

He must have seen a change in her face, or smelled it in her scent, because he smirked at her. "Better?"

She smiled back slowly, feeling a sense of calm for the first time in days. She nodded. "Yeah... I think I can make this work now."

"Good. Get to it. I'll be ready whenever you're done." He rose to his feet and strode toward her window, but instead of leaping out of it as she expected he would, he dropped into his usual pose—cross-legged and cross-armed—underneath it, his back resting against the wall.

Puzzled, Kagome hesitated, then asked, "Are you staying?"

She might have been imagining it, but she could've sworn she saw the faintest red flush across the bridge of his nose.

"Keh!" he mumbled, turning his face away, "Not like I got anything better to do. Besides," he glanced back at her, "someone's gotta keep you from losing your shit again."

He was baiting her, but she saw right through it. She smiled at him. "Thanks, Inuyasha. I'm... I really needed that. I'm glad you came. I'd probably still be hyperventilating if you hadn't shown up."

He shrugged and closed his eyes, all gruff nonchalance. "Whatever."

She turned back to face her desk, and as she did, she heard him add under his breath, "Besides, you'd do the same for me."

Blushing and biting her lip, Kagome grinned down at her math homework.

With Inuyasha at her back, she knew she could conquer it.

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A/N: This was written for InuKag Week 2019, Day 2: Friends. Friends can give you much-needed perspective on things, don't you think? ;)

In my mind, one of the hallmarks of a good friendship is support. Friends support one another. And though I adore the many ways that Kagome supports Inuyasha through the series, I absolutely love seeing how Inuyasha supports Kagome. I wanted to play in a space where Inuyasha provides unexpected, but very welcome, support in Kagome's life, meeting her where she is and helping her along.