Chapter Two: Stalking
Kagome sighed in relief as she darted though the school gates, right before they closed. As she ran to her class, she wondered if Sota had been as lucky. Once in her classroom, she plopped into her chair, exhausted from her extended sprint. Kagome had scarcely taken a deep breath before she was descended upon by a horde of female peers intent on discussing their favorite subject. Kagome mentally quailed in dread of the coming ordeal. Ever since Hojo had first given her those rheumatism sandals, every girlfriend she had had became obsessed with Hojo. She waited for the inevitable deluge of questions. . . Had they gone out yet?, Would they go to the same high school?, Didn't she love him?, etc.
"Have you seen the new guy?"
"Eh?" Kagome exclaimed in surprise. "He sure is exotic!"
"I've never seen eyes like his before."
"And so handsome!"
"He doesn't talk much. . . "
"Yeah, he seems kinda shy."
"I wonder if he has a girlfriend?"
"I heard he's German!"
"Really? His Japanese is perfect!"
"I used to have a boyfriend who looked like that. . . " "ohmigod!!"
"hee, he's looking over at you, Kagome." "he likes Kagome?"
"See how he's staring at her!"
"It must be love at first sight"
"sigh, how romantic"
"oh no, but what about Hojo?"
"He'll be so sad"
"Kagome, how could you do this to Hojo?" "Poor, lonely, unattached Hojo . . . he needs someone to help him forget Kagome"
"NO! Kagome would never betray their love like that! She'll stand by Hojo!"
"But what about the new boy? She can't deny true love!" "They will both nobly resist their feelings for each other, and deny their fiery passion, for Hojo's sake!"
"sigh, how romantic."
Fortunately, class started and her over-imaginative friends returned to their seats. As the teacher started taking role, Kagome looked at the new guy out of the corner of her eyes. He was staring at her. Their eyes met and he smiled at her. Kagome blushed furiously and broke eye contact, gluing her eyes to the front of her desk to avoid further eye contact with him. Just what she didn't need, another guy interested in her. She sighed glumly. The teacher, after finishing the role, introduced the new boy as John Steinmann, a foreign exchange student from Germany.
Three hours later,
Kagome dropped her head to her desk and expelled her breath in a ragged sob. Arc lengths, how could she have forgotten to go over arc lengths when she was studying for her test? She hoped she'd still passed, but a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach told her she hadn't. Kagome wasn't hungry, maybe she'd just stay in here during lunch, she wasn't in the mood to go to the cafeteria and let her friends pick up the conversation where they'd left off this morning. Kagome directed a morose look towards the clock, which un-obligingly was moving very slowly, what a horrible day.
"Ahem," somebody cleared their throat behind her, well they didn't exactly clear their throat, it was more the polite noise to let somebody know you're in the room type of "ahem". "Were you planning on eating lunch?", the new guy, John that was his name, asked. Kagome looked around, the classroom was deserted he must have been waiting around for quite some time. "I haven't had the opportunity to tour the school yet, and I'm afraid I need some help finding the cafeteria," John continued, giving her a schoolboy grin (heck, he was a schoolboy).
Unable to politely refuse, Kagome got up murmuring "Oh it's not far at all, come on I'll show you where it is."
"Great," he exclaimed, grabbing her hand in his enthusiasm and running towards the door. "He jogged down the halls, pulling the unenthusiastic Kagome behind him." Gee, Kagome thought he sure doesn't seem to be having any trouble finding the cafeteria. "Come on," he chided her, turning his head and giving her a playful grin, "hurry up, I'm hungry". Kagome suffered herself to be dragged to the cafeteria, and ate lunch with John, all the while sneaking despairing looks at the clock while John single-handedly carried the conversation with Kagome nodding periodically and making polite noises of agreement at the proper intervals. What was wrong with her? Two months ago she would have been ecstatic to have someone like him showing interest in her. Of course two months ago she hadn't known Inuyasha. What???? How had that thought gotten there? No, she resolutely shoved the idea aside and tried to pay attention to John. Inuyasha had nothing to do with this.
"How sweet that he's already walking her to lunch," sighed a starry eyed schoolgirl. "They're destined to be together," agreed her equally star-struck companion.
And just outside the cafeteria window, behind the bushes, standing on tiptoe was what looked like a little boy....with a tail, a bug on his shoulder, and funny ears. The boy was straining to hear the girl's conversation, occasionally he would jump up and peer through the window.
"Destined?", Shippou gulped. How had this happened? He'd thought Kagome was Inuyasha's woman. But she was betrothed to another? Oh cruel betrayal!! But no,-wait perhaps Kagome was being forced. Yes, forced into marriage! "Poor Kagome, I shall free you from this unholy union!", Shippou made a whispered declaration. Turning his head to direct a commanding gaze at Myoga, the flea demon who was perched on his shoulder he ordered. "Myoga, check the well for Inuyasha, I'll search for him at Kagome's house." "Hmph, I thought *you* were going to free Kagome from this 'unholy union' Myoga muttered at the already distant figure of Shippou.
A short while later, at Kagome's house. . .
"Oh," said a woman who must be Kagome's mother. She was dressed in worn clothes and her shining black hair was slightly disheveled. There were smile lines around her eyes, and laugh lines around her mouth, but just now she was giving Shippou an inscrutable look from below her delicately arched, but frowning eyebrows. "You're a friend of Kagome's, aren't you?", she said her voice decidedly cool.
"Ah, I'm just looking for Inuyasha," Shippou replied, widening his eyes in a look of calculated innocence and edging away from the door. Kagome's mother nodded her head as if she'd come to a decision. She swung the old wooden door open wide and smiled tightly at the Kitsune. "Come in," she said bending down to grasp the fox kit firmly by the shoulder and pull him gently but surely into the house. Within moments, she'd dragged the confused Shippou across a dark, musty hall and into a warm, sunlit room full of strange objects. Shippou was so engrossed in looking around the room and trying to find something he recognized that he didn't hear Kagome's mother. ". . said, we need to talk," she reiterated, giving him a very stern look. The Kitsune realized with a start that he was ensconced in a soft/bouncy chair directly across from Kagome's mother who was staring at him intently, expecting an answer.
"I, um, I'm just looking for Inuyasha," he stammered, squirming in the suddenly uncomfortable chair and staring at the warped wood of the floor, unable to look Kagome's mother in the eyes. What had just happened? Why was Kagome's mother mad at him? He'd never even met her before. Probably Inuyasha's fault the Kitsune decided, his child's face scowling at the mentally conjured image of the half-demon.
"Yes, you've told me that. Repeatedly.", the mother said in her cool voice, "he's not here, but I wa-"
"WellthenI'lljustkeeplooking,sorrytobotheryouBYE!", Shippou said, jumping out of his chair and making a rush for the door. A sudden tug from the vicinity of his tailbone stopped him in his tracks. The poor kitsune found himself hanging suspended in midair, Kagome's mother had an iron grip on his tail. She slowly raised Shippou until his eyes were on the same level as hers. "_Sit_down_and_listen!", she forcefully enunciated each word, he could feel her warm breath on his forehead. She dropped the Kitsune inelegantly back into the cushioned chair she'd seated him in only a few minutes before. Shippou clutched his head, wincing as his world reoriented itself. "I don't like having Kagome gone every weekend, holiday, and sometimes even school days. Her grades are dropping and we hardly see her any more. I especially don't like her putting herself in mortal danger fighting demons. -But I accept that it's necessary for her to do so" the mother said in a tone that did not sound particularly accepting "What I don't see the need for," her voice started rising, "is that dog boy coming uninvited to our house, in the middle of the night doing who knows what with Kagome in the bathroom!"
"What?", Shippou squeaked, his vision going hazy. "Inuyasha took advantage of Kagome? That jerk! No wonder Kagome's gotten betrothed to that guy at her school. And to think I was coming here to warn him! This is unforgivable!" the brash Kitsune declared driving his balled fist into the soft material of the chair. "I will. . . "
". . . Keep an eye on them," the mother finished his sentence. "Kagome's too young to be running around the country, unescorted for days on end with an attractive boy her age. I'd be crazy if I thought nothing would happen," she explained giving Shippou a troubled look. Shippou nodded his head in agreement, absentmindedly stroking the smooth fur of his tail. Yes, Kagome needed to be protected, he'd been wrong to try and help Inuyasha and Kagome's relationship. Indeed, he reasoned sadly, Kagome must be protected from Inuyasha's attentions as well. "Mrs. ah umm," he stared blankly at Kagome's mother, what was her name? Kagome's mother grinned broadly, the little lines around her eyes crinkling," Kagome never told you our last name? I'm Mrs. Higurashi." she said in a voice of barely suppressed, friendly laughter.
"I would be honored to chaperone your daughter Mrs. Higurashi," the still serious Shippou declared in a firm voice, hands clenched, looking earnestly at Mrs. Higurashi. "I will protect her virtue with my life!"
"My, what a dedicated friend you are, but I really just need you to keep an eye out, and let me know if things get a bit too serious," Mrs. Higurashi explained to Shippou, valiantly resisting the urge to laugh at an image of the cute little two foot tall kitsune facing legions of towering demons intent on harming her daughter. "Would you like to wait here till Kagome gets home from school?" she inquired in a friendly tone, then confessed with a rueful smile, "I have another request to make"
"Anything!", the fox declared, his bright eyes shining with dedicated resolve, his voice almost shaking with fervency. He leaned towards her, eagerly anticipating her request, body quivering with anticipation. "Can I. . . can I. . . "
The Kitsune leaned forward even more.
Mrs. Higurashi blushed and clutched her hands together, eyes shyly lowered. "That is, would you. . ., would you let me. . . ", she reached a slim, elegant, un-ringed hand towards Shippou and looked entreatingly at him. " . . . touch your ears"
THUMP
Shippou had been leaning so far towards her he fell off the chair. "Oh, poor thing", Mrs. Higurashi commiserated, as she solicitously helped him up off the floor, grasping the back of his rough cotton tunic and setting him squarely on his feet. "They're just so cute" she enthused, no longer waiting for permission to poke at his delicate, triangular ears with their soft lining of downy fur, and tug (just a little) to see if they were really attached. Shippou flinched back, scowling and cupping his hands protectively over his sensitive ears. Mrs. Higurashi didn't even notice, she'd already shifted her attention to Shippou's long, silky tail. She was seized with this sudden impish desire to yank it, it was so soft, and fluffy, and cute, and well, yankable.
Kagome looked nervously over her shoulder as she hurried home from school. She'd figured out what was so odd about John Steinmann. Well, maybe he wasn't odd. For a demon he was probably perfectly normal. For a demon. Kagome would have recognized him sooner, if she had been back in Inuyasha's time, but she just hadn't expected to find a demon in her time, not at school anyway. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled. He's following me, Kagome thought, scanning the cracked, cement sidewalk and the near- empty street for some sign of him. Nothing. Kagome ducked into the doorway of a nearby store and flattened herself against it, peering sideways out the doorway and onto the street. She waited like that for a few minutes, ignoring the curious glances of the store's owner and customers. THERE! He was walking across the street. (singin' doo a diddy diddy dum diddy doo -sorry couldn't help it, I've been typing too long o.0)
Common sense told Kagome that she should go get Inuyasha, fighting was his job after all. She was just supposed to find the jewel shards. But she didn't want to have to go through this morning's scene all over again, why couldn't Inuyasha understand how important school was? She'd have to take care of this herself, she decided, firming her jaw and preparing to slip back out onto the street. She waited until John turned a corner, then sprang out of the doorway and sprinted towards the corner he'd turned at. Breathing heavily, she peeked cautiously around the corner. There he was, sauntering down the street. He didn't appear to be looking for anyone, maybe I'm just overreacting, maybe this is the route he walks home from school. A part of Kagome's mind, the same part that said there just *couldn't* be demons in modern Japan, said. The thought didn't last long, a demon that just happened to appear at her school and just happened to walk home the same way she did, coincidence? Not likely. 'OK', she thought, pressing her back up to the rough bricks of the corner building, head turned, she could feel their gritty texture against her cheek. "count of five, I turn the corner and follow him at a distance. That should be enough time for him to get far enough ahead that he won't notice me behind him." "one", she clenched her hands, her palms slick with sweat. "Two", she unclenched them, and rubbed them nervously on the polyester-cotton blend of her school uniform's skirt.
"Three", she picked nervously at the crumbling mortar between the bricks of the building.
"Four", she gulped audibly, closed her eyes tightly, and prepared to leap around the corner.
"Five!", She grabbed the sharp edge of the building with both hands, using it as a base to twist around the corner. Then, bending her elbows slightly to push off of it like a spring board, she vaulted around and past the corner. Kagome thereupon learned one of the essential rules for vaulting around corners, namely to look before you vault. She was headed face first toward a little boy. Kagome's nose crunched sickeningly into the top of the boy's head. They landed in a Gordian knot of tangled arms, legs, backpacks, etc. Kagome clutched her nose with both hands (and one of the boy's which seemed to be tangled with them) ohhhh, it throbbed, not just hurt, but throbbed, the sort of pain that doesn't go away and that you don't get used to. Kagome blinked rapidly and swallowed, trying to hold back the tears that were pricking at the corners of her eyes. She swallowed blood, and felt blood pooling in her cupped hands, warm and sticky. "Eww", the boy beneath her complained trying to get out from underneath her "leggo of my hand."
It took them several minutes to untangle themselves, with Kagome apologizing profusely, and the boy looking in disgust at his bloody hand. "I'm really, really, really, really, really, really, sorry", Kagome babbled, holding a handkerchief to her bloody nose and offering one to the boy for his hand. Then she looked down the street, there was no sign of John, so she turned to the boy who was busily scrubbing at the blood on his hand, muttering something derogatory about "girl cooties". "Did you pass a guy about my age in a school uniform when you were walking down the street?", Kagome grabbed his shoulders and looked earnestly into his eyes. His eyes were looking with horror at the blood Kagome was inadvertently smearing all over his sleeves. "With funky hair?"
"Yes, that's him!"
"He went straight that way, the boy said pointing to a street that led to one of the city parks.
Good, she hadn't lost him "Thanks", she called sprinting in the direction the boy had pointed.
Next chapter: the abduction of Kagome!
Kagome sighed in relief as she darted though the school gates, right before they closed. As she ran to her class, she wondered if Sota had been as lucky. Once in her classroom, she plopped into her chair, exhausted from her extended sprint. Kagome had scarcely taken a deep breath before she was descended upon by a horde of female peers intent on discussing their favorite subject. Kagome mentally quailed in dread of the coming ordeal. Ever since Hojo had first given her those rheumatism sandals, every girlfriend she had had became obsessed with Hojo. She waited for the inevitable deluge of questions. . . Had they gone out yet?, Would they go to the same high school?, Didn't she love him?, etc.
"Have you seen the new guy?"
"Eh?" Kagome exclaimed in surprise. "He sure is exotic!"
"I've never seen eyes like his before."
"And so handsome!"
"He doesn't talk much. . . "
"Yeah, he seems kinda shy."
"I wonder if he has a girlfriend?"
"I heard he's German!"
"Really? His Japanese is perfect!"
"I used to have a boyfriend who looked like that. . . " "ohmigod!!"
"hee, he's looking over at you, Kagome." "he likes Kagome?"
"See how he's staring at her!"
"It must be love at first sight"
"sigh, how romantic"
"oh no, but what about Hojo?"
"He'll be so sad"
"Kagome, how could you do this to Hojo?" "Poor, lonely, unattached Hojo . . . he needs someone to help him forget Kagome"
"NO! Kagome would never betray their love like that! She'll stand by Hojo!"
"But what about the new boy? She can't deny true love!" "They will both nobly resist their feelings for each other, and deny their fiery passion, for Hojo's sake!"
"sigh, how romantic."
Fortunately, class started and her over-imaginative friends returned to their seats. As the teacher started taking role, Kagome looked at the new guy out of the corner of her eyes. He was staring at her. Their eyes met and he smiled at her. Kagome blushed furiously and broke eye contact, gluing her eyes to the front of her desk to avoid further eye contact with him. Just what she didn't need, another guy interested in her. She sighed glumly. The teacher, after finishing the role, introduced the new boy as John Steinmann, a foreign exchange student from Germany.
Three hours later,
Kagome dropped her head to her desk and expelled her breath in a ragged sob. Arc lengths, how could she have forgotten to go over arc lengths when she was studying for her test? She hoped she'd still passed, but a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach told her she hadn't. Kagome wasn't hungry, maybe she'd just stay in here during lunch, she wasn't in the mood to go to the cafeteria and let her friends pick up the conversation where they'd left off this morning. Kagome directed a morose look towards the clock, which un-obligingly was moving very slowly, what a horrible day.
"Ahem," somebody cleared their throat behind her, well they didn't exactly clear their throat, it was more the polite noise to let somebody know you're in the room type of "ahem". "Were you planning on eating lunch?", the new guy, John that was his name, asked. Kagome looked around, the classroom was deserted he must have been waiting around for quite some time. "I haven't had the opportunity to tour the school yet, and I'm afraid I need some help finding the cafeteria," John continued, giving her a schoolboy grin (heck, he was a schoolboy).
Unable to politely refuse, Kagome got up murmuring "Oh it's not far at all, come on I'll show you where it is."
"Great," he exclaimed, grabbing her hand in his enthusiasm and running towards the door. "He jogged down the halls, pulling the unenthusiastic Kagome behind him." Gee, Kagome thought he sure doesn't seem to be having any trouble finding the cafeteria. "Come on," he chided her, turning his head and giving her a playful grin, "hurry up, I'm hungry". Kagome suffered herself to be dragged to the cafeteria, and ate lunch with John, all the while sneaking despairing looks at the clock while John single-handedly carried the conversation with Kagome nodding periodically and making polite noises of agreement at the proper intervals. What was wrong with her? Two months ago she would have been ecstatic to have someone like him showing interest in her. Of course two months ago she hadn't known Inuyasha. What???? How had that thought gotten there? No, she resolutely shoved the idea aside and tried to pay attention to John. Inuyasha had nothing to do with this.
"How sweet that he's already walking her to lunch," sighed a starry eyed schoolgirl. "They're destined to be together," agreed her equally star-struck companion.
And just outside the cafeteria window, behind the bushes, standing on tiptoe was what looked like a little boy....with a tail, a bug on his shoulder, and funny ears. The boy was straining to hear the girl's conversation, occasionally he would jump up and peer through the window.
"Destined?", Shippou gulped. How had this happened? He'd thought Kagome was Inuyasha's woman. But she was betrothed to another? Oh cruel betrayal!! But no,-wait perhaps Kagome was being forced. Yes, forced into marriage! "Poor Kagome, I shall free you from this unholy union!", Shippou made a whispered declaration. Turning his head to direct a commanding gaze at Myoga, the flea demon who was perched on his shoulder he ordered. "Myoga, check the well for Inuyasha, I'll search for him at Kagome's house." "Hmph, I thought *you* were going to free Kagome from this 'unholy union' Myoga muttered at the already distant figure of Shippou.
A short while later, at Kagome's house. . .
"Oh," said a woman who must be Kagome's mother. She was dressed in worn clothes and her shining black hair was slightly disheveled. There were smile lines around her eyes, and laugh lines around her mouth, but just now she was giving Shippou an inscrutable look from below her delicately arched, but frowning eyebrows. "You're a friend of Kagome's, aren't you?", she said her voice decidedly cool.
"Ah, I'm just looking for Inuyasha," Shippou replied, widening his eyes in a look of calculated innocence and edging away from the door. Kagome's mother nodded her head as if she'd come to a decision. She swung the old wooden door open wide and smiled tightly at the Kitsune. "Come in," she said bending down to grasp the fox kit firmly by the shoulder and pull him gently but surely into the house. Within moments, she'd dragged the confused Shippou across a dark, musty hall and into a warm, sunlit room full of strange objects. Shippou was so engrossed in looking around the room and trying to find something he recognized that he didn't hear Kagome's mother. ". . said, we need to talk," she reiterated, giving him a very stern look. The Kitsune realized with a start that he was ensconced in a soft/bouncy chair directly across from Kagome's mother who was staring at him intently, expecting an answer.
"I, um, I'm just looking for Inuyasha," he stammered, squirming in the suddenly uncomfortable chair and staring at the warped wood of the floor, unable to look Kagome's mother in the eyes. What had just happened? Why was Kagome's mother mad at him? He'd never even met her before. Probably Inuyasha's fault the Kitsune decided, his child's face scowling at the mentally conjured image of the half-demon.
"Yes, you've told me that. Repeatedly.", the mother said in her cool voice, "he's not here, but I wa-"
"WellthenI'lljustkeeplooking,sorrytobotheryouBYE!", Shippou said, jumping out of his chair and making a rush for the door. A sudden tug from the vicinity of his tailbone stopped him in his tracks. The poor kitsune found himself hanging suspended in midair, Kagome's mother had an iron grip on his tail. She slowly raised Shippou until his eyes were on the same level as hers. "_Sit_down_and_listen!", she forcefully enunciated each word, he could feel her warm breath on his forehead. She dropped the Kitsune inelegantly back into the cushioned chair she'd seated him in only a few minutes before. Shippou clutched his head, wincing as his world reoriented itself. "I don't like having Kagome gone every weekend, holiday, and sometimes even school days. Her grades are dropping and we hardly see her any more. I especially don't like her putting herself in mortal danger fighting demons. -But I accept that it's necessary for her to do so" the mother said in a tone that did not sound particularly accepting "What I don't see the need for," her voice started rising, "is that dog boy coming uninvited to our house, in the middle of the night doing who knows what with Kagome in the bathroom!"
"What?", Shippou squeaked, his vision going hazy. "Inuyasha took advantage of Kagome? That jerk! No wonder Kagome's gotten betrothed to that guy at her school. And to think I was coming here to warn him! This is unforgivable!" the brash Kitsune declared driving his balled fist into the soft material of the chair. "I will. . . "
". . . Keep an eye on them," the mother finished his sentence. "Kagome's too young to be running around the country, unescorted for days on end with an attractive boy her age. I'd be crazy if I thought nothing would happen," she explained giving Shippou a troubled look. Shippou nodded his head in agreement, absentmindedly stroking the smooth fur of his tail. Yes, Kagome needed to be protected, he'd been wrong to try and help Inuyasha and Kagome's relationship. Indeed, he reasoned sadly, Kagome must be protected from Inuyasha's attentions as well. "Mrs. ah umm," he stared blankly at Kagome's mother, what was her name? Kagome's mother grinned broadly, the little lines around her eyes crinkling," Kagome never told you our last name? I'm Mrs. Higurashi." she said in a voice of barely suppressed, friendly laughter.
"I would be honored to chaperone your daughter Mrs. Higurashi," the still serious Shippou declared in a firm voice, hands clenched, looking earnestly at Mrs. Higurashi. "I will protect her virtue with my life!"
"My, what a dedicated friend you are, but I really just need you to keep an eye out, and let me know if things get a bit too serious," Mrs. Higurashi explained to Shippou, valiantly resisting the urge to laugh at an image of the cute little two foot tall kitsune facing legions of towering demons intent on harming her daughter. "Would you like to wait here till Kagome gets home from school?" she inquired in a friendly tone, then confessed with a rueful smile, "I have another request to make"
"Anything!", the fox declared, his bright eyes shining with dedicated resolve, his voice almost shaking with fervency. He leaned towards her, eagerly anticipating her request, body quivering with anticipation. "Can I. . . can I. . . "
The Kitsune leaned forward even more.
Mrs. Higurashi blushed and clutched her hands together, eyes shyly lowered. "That is, would you. . ., would you let me. . . ", she reached a slim, elegant, un-ringed hand towards Shippou and looked entreatingly at him. " . . . touch your ears"
THUMP
Shippou had been leaning so far towards her he fell off the chair. "Oh, poor thing", Mrs. Higurashi commiserated, as she solicitously helped him up off the floor, grasping the back of his rough cotton tunic and setting him squarely on his feet. "They're just so cute" she enthused, no longer waiting for permission to poke at his delicate, triangular ears with their soft lining of downy fur, and tug (just a little) to see if they were really attached. Shippou flinched back, scowling and cupping his hands protectively over his sensitive ears. Mrs. Higurashi didn't even notice, she'd already shifted her attention to Shippou's long, silky tail. She was seized with this sudden impish desire to yank it, it was so soft, and fluffy, and cute, and well, yankable.
Kagome looked nervously over her shoulder as she hurried home from school. She'd figured out what was so odd about John Steinmann. Well, maybe he wasn't odd. For a demon he was probably perfectly normal. For a demon. Kagome would have recognized him sooner, if she had been back in Inuyasha's time, but she just hadn't expected to find a demon in her time, not at school anyway. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled. He's following me, Kagome thought, scanning the cracked, cement sidewalk and the near- empty street for some sign of him. Nothing. Kagome ducked into the doorway of a nearby store and flattened herself against it, peering sideways out the doorway and onto the street. She waited like that for a few minutes, ignoring the curious glances of the store's owner and customers. THERE! He was walking across the street. (singin' doo a diddy diddy dum diddy doo -sorry couldn't help it, I've been typing too long o.0)
Common sense told Kagome that she should go get Inuyasha, fighting was his job after all. She was just supposed to find the jewel shards. But she didn't want to have to go through this morning's scene all over again, why couldn't Inuyasha understand how important school was? She'd have to take care of this herself, she decided, firming her jaw and preparing to slip back out onto the street. She waited until John turned a corner, then sprang out of the doorway and sprinted towards the corner he'd turned at. Breathing heavily, she peeked cautiously around the corner. There he was, sauntering down the street. He didn't appear to be looking for anyone, maybe I'm just overreacting, maybe this is the route he walks home from school. A part of Kagome's mind, the same part that said there just *couldn't* be demons in modern Japan, said. The thought didn't last long, a demon that just happened to appear at her school and just happened to walk home the same way she did, coincidence? Not likely. 'OK', she thought, pressing her back up to the rough bricks of the corner building, head turned, she could feel their gritty texture against her cheek. "count of five, I turn the corner and follow him at a distance. That should be enough time for him to get far enough ahead that he won't notice me behind him." "one", she clenched her hands, her palms slick with sweat. "Two", she unclenched them, and rubbed them nervously on the polyester-cotton blend of her school uniform's skirt.
"Three", she picked nervously at the crumbling mortar between the bricks of the building.
"Four", she gulped audibly, closed her eyes tightly, and prepared to leap around the corner.
"Five!", She grabbed the sharp edge of the building with both hands, using it as a base to twist around the corner. Then, bending her elbows slightly to push off of it like a spring board, she vaulted around and past the corner. Kagome thereupon learned one of the essential rules for vaulting around corners, namely to look before you vault. She was headed face first toward a little boy. Kagome's nose crunched sickeningly into the top of the boy's head. They landed in a Gordian knot of tangled arms, legs, backpacks, etc. Kagome clutched her nose with both hands (and one of the boy's which seemed to be tangled with them) ohhhh, it throbbed, not just hurt, but throbbed, the sort of pain that doesn't go away and that you don't get used to. Kagome blinked rapidly and swallowed, trying to hold back the tears that were pricking at the corners of her eyes. She swallowed blood, and felt blood pooling in her cupped hands, warm and sticky. "Eww", the boy beneath her complained trying to get out from underneath her "leggo of my hand."
It took them several minutes to untangle themselves, with Kagome apologizing profusely, and the boy looking in disgust at his bloody hand. "I'm really, really, really, really, really, really, sorry", Kagome babbled, holding a handkerchief to her bloody nose and offering one to the boy for his hand. Then she looked down the street, there was no sign of John, so she turned to the boy who was busily scrubbing at the blood on his hand, muttering something derogatory about "girl cooties". "Did you pass a guy about my age in a school uniform when you were walking down the street?", Kagome grabbed his shoulders and looked earnestly into his eyes. His eyes were looking with horror at the blood Kagome was inadvertently smearing all over his sleeves. "With funky hair?"
"Yes, that's him!"
"He went straight that way, the boy said pointing to a street that led to one of the city parks.
Good, she hadn't lost him "Thanks", she called sprinting in the direction the boy had pointed.
Next chapter: the abduction of Kagome!