From her desk Kagome continued making sideways glances at the cross-legged Inuyasha, who insisted he sit on the floor. His inpatient knee bobbed, telling her that he was uneasy. Although she knew he was aware of her gaze, his index finger and thumb pulling through a few strands of his dark hair, she couldn't stop herself.
"This is the last time I'm listening to you." His voice was low, but the words were sharp, slicing.
"I said it would be fine, and it is," Kagome said, her chair swiveling away from Inuyasha; at this point she wouldn't ever get any work done. "This world is much safer than yours."
The events involving the possessed noh mask drifted into her head, but she shook the thought away. How long ago had that been? A couple of months, maybe, but since then, and each time Kagome returned home, she scoured newspapers, television stations and internet blogs for any word of other "strange" events happening, and had so far found nothing besides the usual hoaxes and urban myths teenagers used to scare children and the gullible.
However, Kagome understood Inuyasha's worries. The last time he'd changed, she was almost eaten, and he had been eaten,having to escape the villain's belly with his mortal body. She remembered when he told her his side of the events, as he escorted her to the bone eater's well a few days later, and she had felt her own stomach turn over. During these moonless nights, Kagome felt more protective of her companion than she would ever admit; she feared prickling his ego.
A few minutes later, Inuyasha was being so quiet, Kagome almost thought he had fallen asleep, but when she turned to look at him, he was staring right at her, eyes wide, as if doing some studying of his own.
"What?" he asked at her eye contact. "Am I making too much noise… again?"
She shook her head. "Why don't you try to get some rest? There's a bed right there, you know."
Inuyasha scoffed. "Not happening. You humans can't do anything without being coddled."
She ignored him, turning back to her pre-calc assignment. His tongue clicked, as if he were displeased that she wasn't taking the bait.
"OK, fine. I'm sorry." The apology made her heart stammer.
"What for?"
"I know you're just trying to be… nice."
Sometimes, she was grateful for these rare glimpses of his humanity, but she would never tell him. He was bound to misunderstand.
Suddenly, the sound of Kagome's own name coming from downstairs made her head turn to the door. Without a word to Inuyasha – she knew he would stay put tonight – she scampered to the top of the staircase.
"What is it, Mama?"
"There's a young man here." Kagome's mom was wiping her hands on a dish towel, looking up at her daughter. "He says he's a classmate: Hojo?"
Kagome blushed at the thought of a boy coming to see her so late, but then again, Inuyasha had seen her at every hour of the day by this point. Her cheeks became hot. Stop thinking!
Mrs. Higurashi seemed to misread Kagome's facial expressions. "I can tell him you're not home if you'd like."
"Oh, no, that's fine. I'll come down."
She hadn't seen Hojo since ditching their last – and also first – date; he'd probably been worried about her. Guilt washed over her as she realized he had not crossed her mind once in all this time.
Opening the sliding door, she came face-to-face with her schoolmate. He was holding something in his hands.
"Higurashi," he said. "I'm so happy to see you! I've called a few times, but your grandfather said you were too weak to move. It looks like you've at least got your strength back."
"Uh-huh." Kagome's head ducked low, making her feel silly. She accepted his gift: something small, wrapped in paper. "So, uh, how can I help you, Hojo?"
From upstairs, Inuyasha's head leaned out of the window, not caring about the dangers of being exposed. He cursed his human ears, hearing almost nothing besides the low rumble of a man's voice, and the more pleasant, softer tone of Kagome.
She sounded uneasy, but he wasn't sure, and from where he was, he wouldn't be able to do anything. He cursed the fates; the more he stayed with this girl, the more people knew about his "secret." But if he had to expose himself to protect her, he knew there wasn't any other choice.
From outside, Kagome let Hojo prattle on about English class – his insistence he tutor her was really, very sweet, but she was distracted, her mind still with Inuyasha in her room. She hoped he was calming down.
And then a moment later, Kagome discovered she couldn't have been more wrong. From behind, an arm pulled her back. Hojo gasped out of surprise.
"Hey, who are you?" Inuyasha ignored Kagome's attempts to struggle from his grip. His human strength was still greater than hers, and he flexed his forearm as he pulled her closer. "What's your business with Kagome?"
"I'm… what?" Hojo's mouth opened and closed a couple of times, and Kagome's second-hand embarrassment prevented her from making the parallel of his expression to a fish. At Inuyasha, she almost growled in an inhuman way.
"This is my classmate. From school, Inuyasha." She managed to free herself. Inuyasha had one hand on his sword. Thank goodness it was useless tonight!
"Who is this, Higurashi?" Hojo asked. "A friend… or boyfriend?"
"A what?" Inuyasha's eyes narrowed. "What words are you saying?"
Kagome found herself wishing a demon would emerge from the shadows.
"Or a distant family member, maybe?" Hojo continued as if nothing were out of the ordinary. He eyed Inuyasha up and down. "Higurashi, are you two in a play together?"
You know what? Sure. Kagome nodded. "Uh, yeah. He is, I mean. I'm helping him… go over his lines. And you know, we're really busy. Tomorrow is opening night, so I think we probably have to get back to…"
"Ah, say no more." Hojo nodded. "Quite the method actor! Higurashi, you'll have to tell me all about it at school tomorrow."
"What? Kagome, we're going back–"
She thumped Inuyasha's chest with an open palm, silencing him. "Yeah, we're going back to rehearsing now. So, I'm sorry Hojo, but it was nice seeing you."
"You as well, Higurashi. Call me sometime. And use that gift well; it does wonders for the immune system if you boil those leaves into tea."
As Hojo turned, his foot knocking away the kick-stand of his bike, Kagome thought about how odd he was, but then again, look who she was entertaining tonight. She returned her focus to the half-demon; Inuyasha was still in a fighting stance, legs apart, eyes shooting daggers at the back of Hojo's head, which was now diminishing from sight into the darkness.
She pushed Inuyasha back into the house, slamming the door closed behind them, secure at last.
"You need to never do that again." Kagome gestured to the doorway.
"Hey, you're lucky I was there." Inuyasha folded his arms. "Who knows what he could have–"
A noise emerged from the base of her throat. "He's a friend, Inuyasha. I thought I'd told you… this world is safe! That's the whole reason I brought you…"
And then Kagome realized there was an audience, consisting of her mom, her grandfather, and Sota, who were all looking back at Inuyasha, and then at her.
"Um, sis, why is Inuyasha's hair…?" Sota said.
"OK! I'm going back to studying." She threw up her hands, waving Hojo's present in the air.
A couple of paces up the stairs, and Inuyasha was following her. He seemed anxious to speak, but didn't. Silence trailed the two all the way to her bedroom, where Kagome flopped face-first onto her bed; she knew she was unable to focus on anything related to school.
And then she started laughing.
"Um, so you aren't mad?" Inuyasha sounded like he was getting closer.
Despite herself, Kagome couldn't help the flight of giggles into her pillow. She was with a half-demon, who had lost his powers, and wasn't even from her own time period, who had even saved her life more than once in the last week, and he had just treated some boy from her class like the greatest threat they had ever faced.
She turned to look at Inuyasha, who was standing there, his eyes avoiding hers. That made her laugh even harder.
"What is so funny?" he finally said.
Kagome let out another giggle, simmering. "You."
"Hm." Inuyasha blushed, thrusting his hands into his sleeves.
"Can you please refrain from threatening anyone from school again?" she asked.
"If you'd just stop coming back here, I wouldn't need to threaten anyone." He seemed pleased with his logic; Kagome let him have the win, lacking the energy to engage. She yawned.
"You should get some sleep," Inuyasha said. He crouched down to her level, face so close to hers. She thought he was going to kiss her, and then another second later, she hoped he would.
He instead rested a hand on the back of her head, stroking her hair. She turned her face back into the pillow so he wouldn't see her smile.
"Only if you promise to stay put for the rest of the night."
"Yeah, sure, Kagome." Inuyasha didn't pull away. "I promise."
She fell asleep minutes later, the rhythm of Inuyasha's hand like a lullaby.
When the sun rose the next day, and Inuyasha grumbled all the way back to the well, his powers restored, Kagome prayed none of her schoolmates would ever see him again.