Chapter 3: Hojo's fan club

    Back at Kagome's.

    Inu Yasha watched the two dogs as they watched him. He sat outside their enclosure and peered at them through the fence. He frowned, wondering again why Kagome had two very large dogs. Now that he was outside of her room and away from the more concentrated area of the strange smell, he was thinking more clearly; though when he paused in his thoughts he felt himself smile that dopey grin again.

    The two dogs played, occasionally coming to the fence to sniff or growl at him before resuming their play fights. One was male and the other female, both members of different breeds that the hanyou was positive weren't native to Japan. They were too furry, too heavily muscled, and too damn big. No; they weren't from Japan. Inu Yasha sniffed, ignoring the musk from the two new animals and tried to determine who else was here. Even if everyone had left for the day, there should be traces of them in the area.

    His frown deepened as he analyzed the air. He turned his back on the two dogs, breathing in slow and deep, flaring his nostrils to catch everything. His ears twitched when he heard the dogs sit behind him. Inu Yasha let out the breath he held. No denying it- Kagome and the dogs were the only prominent scents. Mrs. Higurashi had been here too but fleetingly, as if she had stopped by several times to get some forgotten item and then left again. Kagome's Grandfather was there, but old- very old. The last two had not been by at all. The whole thing was extremely odd.

    The one thing that annoyed the hanyou the most, however, had nothing to do with the family's absence. It had everything to do with how he had handled himself this morning- or his lack of handling to be more accurate. The delicious odor had completely derailed his mind; it was like a drug, mellowing him out but at the same time making his blood heat. While in Kagome's room, holding the shirt that the scent had been coming from, all he wanted was to curl up with Kagome while they watched a movie or ate or read one of her textbooks- anything would have been fine as long as he got to touch her. In the end, he had only weirded Kagome out and she had slipped off to school for the day- nothing to be done about it now. If he went after her and dragged her back she's only yell and scream until he let her go.

    Inu Yasha had originally thought that the scent was coming from the school girl. When he got near her though, he could only find very faint traces of it and those could have been just his over-stimulated nose stalling. Kagome had smelled good- she always smelled good, especially after a bath of shower- but she wasn't the origin of the scent. He turned around, holding out his hand to the dogs to let them smell him. "So, the scent has something to do with her, but at the same time doesn't." Err… This is confusing. The dogs allowed him to pet them and he thanked them by scratching their favorite spots.

He picked up a ball and began tossing it, letting the dogs fetch it and repeating the process when they gave it to him. He stood there playing fetch with them for a while- almost forty five minutes- before realizing he had other things to do. Their tails wagging, Inu Yasha said good bye to the two dogs and hopped through the well.  Duchess and Socrates… He grimaced.  What stupid names.

I wasn't paying attention to where I was going as I hurried home as fast as I could go. I had passed my English exam- it had been two quizzes in reality; one quiz on the English language and the other a quiz with questions about a story we had had to read over the past weekend. Luckily I had remembered what I had read while I was sick and had passed with an A. As far as the language one went, I just hoped I'd gotten a B or higher; though I spoke the language decently, for some reason reading it was harder. It had been my turn to do clean up duty- which I'd forgotten about- and it was now late afternoon. Inu Yasha was going to kill me. To top it off, Hojo had asked me to go out with him again and my brain had stalled on a polite way to refuse. It took several minutes of apologizing, and making up excuses on the fly and then slight coughing when he got stubborn, but I managed to get away from him. I did suggest he ask one of his fan club, though; just to be nice. There were so many girls shooting glares at me after I suggested it my skin crawled- as if suggesting that one of them would be a better date was such a horrible thing. Jeeze, I'll never understand those idiots.

The sunset lit the street but cast most of it in shadow and until they were right on top of me, I didn't notice the dark figures detach themselves from the shadows. When I realized that I was surrounded, I stopped, planting my feet apart for a wider base. These people were up to no good- after all, since when has anyone ever had a positive encounter with suspicious people hiding in the shadows and then surrounding them? Exactly- no one. So I took a more aggressive stance and tried to figure out what was going on.

I had never been in a fight before- not in my time anyway- so this was a little new. I wasn't intimidated by these people though –wow; facing blood thirsty youkai in a fight does have a positive side- and I wasn't stupid. I'd hear them out, reason with them and go home. If that failed, well, there was too many of them to simply run away from or defeat so I'd just have to inflict as much damage as possible. Inside I was annoyed; I had a perfect record- not one fight or blemish- and now some idiots were going to ruin it! There better be a good reason behind all of this.

"What do you want?" I asked, making my voice carry and my tone show my annoyance. I think they were surprised that I wasn't quaking with fear- it seemed to take the wind out of their sails. They looked unsure as they looked me over. The street lights clicked on, startling everyone for a second. Now I could see who I was up against and felt better as well as annoyed.

I was surrounded by seven or eight of the girls from Hojo's fan club. I frowned, truly unimpressed. Some were in school uniforms, some were in casual clothing but those clothes were meant to intimidate: high heels and hiking boots, black pants or skirts. The whole bad-ass vibe was with them. Some of the clothing was studded with metal spikes or stars- just that added extra that would inflict damage even if you hit like a girl. I risked a glance behind me- the total was eight, damn it and the street was completely deserted except for us. There was never a cop around when you needed one.

"We're here to teach you a lesson!" The girl in front of me said.

"That you can't keep playing with Hojo-kun's heart!" said someone behind me. That cry was met with "Yay!" and "Right on!" Oh goody- stupid idiots all on a power trip.

I sighed. "Look ladies. I am really late for something important and don't have time for this crap!" I held my head high and shouted, "Now get out of my way!" Secretly I hoped they'd all just pout and leave me be but they only glared harder.

"Bitch!" one screeched on my left.

"You have a date, don't you?" demanded another.

"You dare brush Hojo-kun off to go on a date with some one else?" The girl in front of me cried. "You have no boyfriend, you tease!"

I could feel the veins in my forehead stick up. I ground my teeth, getting extremely angry. "You little…!" I couldn't think of a word bad enough to describe her.

"If you have a date, then we're going to make sure you look your best!" Some one on my right said. I didn't like the sound of that- somehow I think my version of looking my best and their version of me looking my best would differ. Greatly.

I opened my mouth to snap at her and got shoved from behind. Off balance, I tottered forward and saw the leader of this band of pissed misfits pull back her foot. I crossed my arms in front of my face and blocked just in time. Her hiking boot slammed into my arms, making them hurt and bleed from small scrapes. Right. If I had to face them I had better start swinging. I grabbed her boot when she tried again and pulled her forward. She flailed her arms, looking surprised, and tried to regain her balance. I twisted her ankle and her leg followed; she pulled down the girls on either side of her when she fell.

I spun around, keeping low to the ground and kicked the feet out from under two other girls. I rushed a girl behind me, taking her in the middle with an elbow and sending her to the ground. I got to my feet and felt someone's fist slam into my ribs. I hunched over, arms together in front of me, forearms up , hands in fists.  If I left my face and chest open, they could drop me with a few well placed hits. They attacked as best they could but my defense was too good. When it became obvious that they couldn't get to my upper body, they targeted my legs.

If they could get me on the ground, I was toast; in a kicking fight there was no defense against the damage their feet could cause. I felt someone try to jam their high heel into my knee and felt the Band Aid covering the scraps get ripped away. The pain was sharp and immediate, the blood trickling down my leg. I could still use my knee and it hadn't crumbled under my weight so the girl couldn't have punctured the skin- sliced it up more but not punctured beyond repair. If they kept aiming though, one would eventually get the hit right. Considering that they just wanted to rough me up, they were taking this to the extreme. To have this much anger over something so small was ridiculous.

Through my arms I could see one girl's face come with in range of my fist and I lashed out. I jabbed and hit her chin, knocking her head back. I couldn't get enough power in the hit because I was still trying to defend myself but it was enough to make her back up. I shifted my weight to my good legs and hit her in the stomach with my foot. This time I had the aim and force on my side and she tumbled to the ground. I repeated it with another girl, using my foot first then using my fist. However, no matter how much I hit they kept popping back up; there was always another girl to take the fallen one's place.

"Bitch!" Oh, goody; the leader of this pack of idiots had decided to join the party again. The others backed off until I could see her. Some got in a few more licks before she called them off; one girl hit my side over my kidneys and another landed a shot on my jaw. "You handle yourself better than I though you would." Translation: For being such a good girl, such a sick girl, we didn't think you'd put such a fight.  My blood boiled in my veins as my anger reached a new peak. I felt my power, the magic that slept inside of me, wake and uncurl. My anger fed it, making it stronger.

"I'll tell you what, Higurashi." The girl drawled, confident in her power and security. "How about you and I face off?"

"Depends," I panted. "Will it solve anything?" If I had to do this day in and day out, there was no way I'd be able to handle it. The girl seemed confused and then the meaning sunk home.

"If I win, you will tell Hojo you hate him and to leave you alone." She licked her lips, no doubt imaging herself in Hojo's arms when I was 'out of the way.'

Well that was harsh- I didn't hate anyone except Naraku. "And if I win?"

"What do you want?" I wanted to smack that superior smirk off her face so badly I clenched my hands to suppress the urge. She hadn't given any thought to my winning.

"You leave me the fuck alone! No more of jumping me while I walk home and no more of fighting me over Hojo." I didn't no why I was so angry that they were trying to take Hojo from me- hell, he wasn't mine- but it did just the same and I wasn't going to let them have him. I think part of it was this girl's nature; I was worried about what Hojo would become if he dated this vindictive bitch.

"Deal." She smiled and rushed me.