A/N: This is it. The one you've all been waiting for. The moment with no shirt.
Dedication: To the Incarnation of Pure Evil, (you know who you are.) look, he's even human. Of course, we know what happens when he's human and shirtless, don't we? ^_~
Disclaimer: Not… mine… *drool*
And so, without further ado…
A/N 2: OK, I lied. Further ado. I have no idea what the final battle with Naraku was like. This is my version. When I can get the translation, I'll change this one. Until then…
Ahem. Without Further Ado…
Chapter Three
Shirtless Excellence
"Kagome!!"He shrieked, as the gulf between them grew. She was still on the other side, she hadn't leapt. The chasm continued to grow. Beside him, Miroku lay slumped on the ground. The rosary around his wrist had come loose, that was what had gotten them into this mess in the first place. His Kazaana had opened, and was still sucking up the very ground beneath them. Naraku had done something to it to make sure it could absorb all of this…
"Inu-Yasha!" Kagome called, desperately. The gap widened more, nearly reaching two feet. Sango, fighting a demon behind her, won her battle and ran up to the crevice, gaining speed as she ran. With a leap, she crossed the still-growing ravine, stumbling a little at the end. Inu-Yasha grabbed her arm and hauled her up. Steady, she rushed to Miroku's side and fixed the rosary, closing the Kazaana and trying to get the monk to regain consciousness.
"Kagome! Jump, now!" He screamed. The Kazaana snatched the cloth from Sango's hands, she just barely managed to hold on the rosary. It would not close. The chasm continued to widen. It had widened four inches since Sango had jumped and Kagome possessed none of the older girl's athletic prowess. Taking a deep breath, she backed up and charged, calling on her Miko powers, envisioning Kikiyo as she leapt gracefully across the void.
For a minute, he thought she was going to make it. Her feet reached the other side, but with a much more tentative balance then Sango's had. He tried to reach her, but super strength or not, he couldn't fight the basic laws of physics. She slipped backward, and he caught her hand just as her feet left solid ground. However, by that time it was too late, and gravity was stronger then even him. He felt his feet slipping against the ground She looked at him, eyes wide, mouthing something he couldn't hear. He leaned down, also to give himself better leverage.
Suspended against the tugging force drawing her into the chasm temporarily, Kagome boosted herself up. "Drop… me…" She whispered, voice catching on the effort to keep herself up.
"No!" He hissed vehemently, keeping his hold on her. "No, no, no!"
"Yes!" She whispered stubbornly. "I'll take you with me… otherwise, and… they need you."
"We need you, too… to get the Shikon shard from Naraku, so he can be defeated"
She smiled at him, pressing something into his hands. It was small, perfectly round, and smooth. He knew immediately what it was. She smiled at him, and mouthed something he didn't need to hear to know what she'd said. 'Please…' closing his eyes, resolve broken, he stood up, and let go.
Left in his hand, gleaming, was a full, complete Shikon no Tama.
Inu-Yasha startled awake, banging his head against the low roof of their dorm. "Ooow…" he muttered, rubbing his head. It had been over a year since he'd dreamed of that final battle with Naraku, the one that had ended everything. At first, he'd been ashamed to admit that he, Inu-Yasha, the great-Hanyou-soon-to-be-great-Youkai, had mortal nightmares, of all things. He'd cracked, however, when he learned that Sango, Miroku, Kagome, and even Shippo were waking up with the same dreams. The four had formed a late-night club that Kagome had jokingly called, 'Insomniacs Anonymous," and she'd supplied them with beverages she'd brought from home, to keep them awake. 'Caffinated,' she called them. They'd done the task of keeping them awake and alert until they were ready to face the dreams.
He lay back down and rolled over, thinking he could at least get a little more sleep before classes forced them back awake. He was peeved when it turned out he was wrong, but even he had to crack a grin at the scream that echoed through the campus, waking all but the heaviest sleepers in each dorm.
"KAAAAAAGOOOOOOOMEEEEEE-CHAAAAAAAAAN!!"
§
Sango sat on her bed, watching with interest as the two went at each other. She hadn't been awake to hear how this fight had started, but whatever it was, it was vicious. The two stood in the middle of the room, Siri in a tank top and a pair of pajama pants, Kagome in a man's style shirt that fell to just above her knees, and Sango thought looked strangely familiar. The two were screaming at each other, at the top of their lungs, and she had no doubt that the entire dorm could hear them through the paper-thin walls.
"Uhm… you guys?" She inserted quietly. The two spun looked at her. "We do have class in a half an hour."
Both girls sweatdropped, rubbing a hand against the back of their neck in acute embarrassment. "Er…" giggled as one. Sango smiled, smoothing her hands over her skirt, (She was already dressed) as the two turned the room into a whirlwind as they got ready. "Kagome-Chan," Siri began quietly, "Are you sure I can't—"
"Mine. No share." Kagome replied firmly.
"But—" Siri tried again.
"Mine. No share!" Kagome repeated. Sango rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"Now what are you two bickering over?"
"The same thing we were 'bickering' over earlier. She wants to use my pearl hairpin."
"For the party tonight!" Siri replied defensively.
(Asreena says: Hey, it's me. I know I don't normally cut in like this in this sort of fic {Kaze-chan—remember W & Q?!} but I just wanted to give you the tiny tidbit that it's currently 2:32 on Wednesday morning, and I just got done watching Moulin Rouge and Princess Diaries. {Both never fail to make me cry, so get ready for sap!!})
Sango raised one eyebrow. "I thought you said you weren't going…" She trailed. Siri blushed, twirling a strand of hair around her fingers.
"Weee-eell, maybe I changed my mind." She grinned.
Kagome pouted, running a brush through her hair. "Mine. No share." Sango clapped a hand over Siri's mouth before she could respond.
"Breakfast. Now. Let's go." She instructed, shrieking when Siri bit the palm of her hand.
§
"Are you two coming to the party?" Was the immediate question as Miroku and Inu-Yasha joined the girls for breakfast. Miroku shrugged, mouth full.
"Which party?" He asked, not bothering to swallow. Sango glared.
"The one tonight in our dorm. Why? Are those girls still propositioning you? I told you to stop encouraging them!" Sango cried, one hand reaching for her boomerang threateningly. Miroku, good looking and far more approachable then Inu-Yasha had been getting party invitations from all sides, much to everyone but Sango's amusement. For his own safety, he turned most of them down.
Siri launched herself at Inu-Yasha, smiling. "What about you, Inu-Yasha?" Kagome raised her eyebrow at him, watching with amusement as he tried to rid himself of the pint-sized pest.
"I'm… not sure yet." He temporized, sending a desperate glance at Kagome. She looked innocent, checking her watch.
"Class, you guys, let's go." She replied, grabbing her books.
The five of them had worked out a note passing system- instead of using one sheet of paper, they used a five-subject notebook. IN the first page, there were two numbers that changed from class to class. The first one you divided by 2 and it told you which section, the other was the page number. They slowly passed the spiral around in a circle, (due to the way they were arranged, Inu-Yasha and Kagome sat a row ahead of the other three,) and when you got the notebook, you wrote down your notes to everybody. They answered when the spiral got to them, and so on.
~IY to K—does this lecture have any point at all?
IY to M—you will pay for that.
K to IY—no M bashing, please. Not in class.
SA to all—I'm gonna fall asleep.
M to SA—I think I speak for us all when I say, SA, if you don't have anything interesting to say, don't talk at all. Although, if you want to go *sleep*
M to IY and K—I second the no M bashing movement.
SI to M—Hentai.
~IY to M—and proud. Just you wait till K's not around, M.
K to IY—you don't do subtle well, do you?
None of the other three commented, merely passing it around, waiting with interest for Inu-Yasha's response.
~IY to K—Feh. Shuttup.
K to IY—make me.
SA, M, and SI to K and IY—Don't go there.
They continued along that vein for a while. Eventually, they came back around to the subject of the ball. After the sever threat of another Siri/Kagome cat fight, Miroku diplomatically suggested that instead of going as couples, why didn't they simply go as a group somehow throughout the conversation, Siri managed to con Kagome into letting her borrow the hair pin. They'd just resolved the matter as class let out.
§
Kagome knocked warily on Inu-Yasha and Miroku's dorm door. Inside, she could here the sound of running water. Just as she was getting ready to leave, the door opened to reveal a very ticked, (and very shirtless,) Inu-Yasha. Expecting to find one of the other guys, or at the very least, one of the girls from the dorm, and was extremely surprised to find Kagome there instead. "Er… hey…" He greeted, suddenly very self concious of his lack-of-shirt.
Kagome couldn't help noticing (and appreciating) the slimly well-muscled build and the very clearly defined wash-board abs. "H-hey…" she stuttered, catching on the words. He turned around, embarrassed, and Kagome took the chance to observe he had a very nice back, too. "I… uhm… came over because, well.. uhm.." Come on! She hissed at herself quietly. You had a purpose a minute ago. Are you going to let the sight of him, albeit shirtless and incredibly hot, distract you from what you came here to do?
Yes.
"Oh, great, so now you don't even have a set purpose?" Inu-Yasha fumed, watching her. "Why didn't she say anything? "After you walked in on me and everything?"
She snapped her mouth shut in outrage. "I did not walk in on you. I knocked, and you answered the door!"
He blinked, considered this, and flopped backwards onto the bed. "Feh."
Oooh. When he does that, his muscles go all rippley and… Kagome! Stop that train of thought, now! She gave a huff equal to his and spun around on her heel, leaving the room. "Wait! Kagome!" He caught her hand as she left. She hadn't even heard him move.
"Yeah?"
"I know we decided… with the group and all, yeah, but… I was wondering if… you… I mean… Wannagoballwifme?
She smiled deciphering his last sentence. 'Yeah, actually… I'd like that a lot." He blinked at her in amazement, then returned the smile.
"Feh. K."
§
Going by Kagome's reaction to his shirtlessness, he'd followed a hunch and decided to wear the only non-uniform top he had. It was the one Miroku had made him buy when the girls weren't looking on the first shopping trip Kagome had taken them out on. It was deep read silk, and, luckily for Kagome, looked like someone had taken a knife to it… aside from smaller, artistically placed cuts on the side and back, it featured one long cut right down the front, that caused it to gape open, revealing a good expanse of shoulder and chest. With it, he wore dark black jeans. (All his were blue, he'd had to borrow from Miroku. Another reminder of why he hated dressing up…) Miroku's outfit was similar, only jeans were blue and he'd rolled up the sleeves of his white silk shirt and unbuttoned the top few buttons. "The girls had better make this worth it…" Inu-Yasha muttered, glaring at the ex-monk, who only grinned, knowing how the Hanyou hated to dress up.
The girls made it worth it, in any sane person's opinion. Somehow, they'd managed to choose simple gowns nearly identical to each others, in different colours and styles. Siri had gone with a plain sundress- she never felt the cold, so her bare shoulders weren't going to cause a problem, and the night wasn't that chilly, anyway. She'd gone with plain red, that brought out the cherry strands in her hair and contrasted sharply with the blonde. Sango's dress was short sleeved and deep purple, almost black at first glance. Kagome's was exactly the same, only long sleeved and slate blue. All three ended at mid thigh length—both entirely too long and entirely too short, as far as Inu-Yasha was concerned. Giggling and gaping, the group set out for the party.
§
"Hey." A tall girl bounced up to Kagome and stuck her hand out cheerfully. "Are you Higurashi Kagome? I'm Aiko, I'm you're fourth room-mate!"
Kagome shook her hand, studying her with well-hidden, growing, panic. Tall, slender and supple. Short black hair, warm brown eyes, a slightly masculine look. "You might remember my twin brother, Hojo." The girl quipped, still smiling. "You two were going out in high school for a while. I'm glad I got you as a room mate. Where are our other room-mates?
Mutely, Kagome pointed out Siri and Sango, then, when the girl left, ran out of the dorm and into the small garden behind it. The only person who saw her go was Inu-Yasha, and he followed slowly. "Kagome…?"
She was huddled by the fountain, head tilted towards it, catching the spray on her face. Mixed with the outside water, tears ran down her face. "Inu-Yasha… I just… will you… Hold me?" She whispered, collapsing into his arms. He drew her against his (nearly bare, drool…) chest, rocking her gently, all the while wondering what could have happened to cause her to break down like this.
A/N *whistles innocently* Ididn'tdoit. Anyway, three questions. (they're not urgent, but…)
What were Fluffy-chan's sword(s) called again? What's sango's boomerang called? What do you think they should all major in?Wow… I've never had so many reviews so quickly… thank you! Thank you all!!
Emmi-chan: Yep! After all, Siri's suspiciously like me, and I'd fight to the death for Inu-chan any day… just ask Kaze. ^_~
Kaze-chan: Yes, dear, this is completely unbetaed… I'm tempted just to leave it that way, but if you feel the burning desire to copy and beta what's already up, I will make corrections and repost… Hrf. As for not being ticklish… :P
Kumi Boa: Never fear, it is an IY/K fic… Not risking ANOTHER person's wrath… hehe… thanks, though. Nice to know people like the story!
LilFoxGirl: Well, Class of the Useless is based off what my HS calls "Freshman Seminar." Basically, they tell us, "If you don't know what you're doing with your life, you are going to be a failure." So we call it the Class of the Useless… pretty much the same.
Lil Yukino: Thank you! Will-do!
Lin-Ysh: Oh, Siri knows Inu-chan is strictly hands off… she just doesn't care… ~_~ thanks for your review!
Moon Angel 002: You're back! And yeah, Sango and Miroku are probably far past the kissy stage… but don't tell Kagome that, she'll freak…
UsagiPegasus: You're welcome. This soon enough for you? ~_~
To all you double-reviewers out there… You like me! You really like me!! *sniffles and runs from Kaze-chan, who undoubtedly wishes to kill her now* Well, there you have it. Inu-Yasha/Kagome kissy bits in the future… and this fic is taking a bit of a dark turn… I'll do what I can to keep it light. No matter what, nothing will happen to change the rating or categories, at least.