Complete the Circle
Chapter Twenty: A Tutoring Session
Shippou was both happy and surprised when he saw Inuyasha at the shrine. As soon as he had seen Inuyasha, he had run down the stairs to greet him, followed by Souta. It seemed like Souta had greatly admired the past Inuyasha, and had used to call him "Inuyasha no nii-chan," which Shippou guiltily admitted to himself had made him slightly jealous. To think that Inuyasha would ever have tolerated someone to call him that! Shippou admitted that there were many things he did not know about his former protector, but that didn't make him any less surprised when he had first heard Souta say it this morning.
Shippou watched from the stairs as the entire group entered the house. He heard Kagome quickly explain to her mother that the group was there for studying for the math test coming up. Suddenly he felt someone tapping on his shoulder.
"Don't you have homework to do?" asked Inuyasha, still holding a million coats. "If you finish early, we might get to do something together before I have to head home."
"Really?" Shippou asked, only mildly surprised. He was starting to get used to the differences between the old Inuyasha and the new one.
"Do you promise, Inuyasha no—ah, um, Inu-nii-chan?" Souta asked excitedly, joining their conversation.
"Sure, but that's only if you two finish your homework," he answered, trying to find a good place to hang up all the coats he was carrying. Mrs. Higurashi came and took the coats from him, smiling as she simply dumped them all on the sofa.
"Dear, why don't you take your coat off?" asked Mrs. Higurashi, noticing that Inuyasha seemed a bit warm under his jacket.
"No thanks," he said quickly, grinning nervously. Miroku's ears picked up his friend's nervous accent and decided to investigate.
"Why not, Inuyasha?" he asked, eyeing his friend suspiciously.
"Why what?" Inuyasha asked in false innocence.
"You know, Inuyasha, it's not exactly healthy to wear a jacket when you're hot," Kagome said, wondering why he insisted on keeping that jacket on.
"None of your business, woman," he said, scowling. Shippou saw the first signs of annoyance in Kagome. He prepared himself for the familiar fight that usually ensued.
"What's wrong with you? It's just a stupid jacket!" Kagome said, hands on hips.
"Feh! What do you know?" Inuyasha retorted. Shippou saw Kagome's face contort in the anger she usually reserved for Inuyasha. He wondered if Inuyasha would ever get the common sense to not fight with Kagome.
"I'm just trying to show my concern for you!" Kagome shouted. Shippou saw Miroku and Sango slowly inch away from the two. Shippou decided to follow their example, along with Mrs. Higurashi and Souta.
"What do I care about your concern?" scoffed Inuyasha haughtily. Shippou mentally heard a string snap in Kagome. And she did what she usually did when she was angry.
"OSUWARI!" she shouted. Nothing happened. Inuyasha just looked at her in confusion, along with Miroku. Shippou noticed the confusion in Miroku's eyes quickly changed to something else, but he couldn't figure out what.
"Oops. Eh, heh heh," Kagome laughed nervously, remembering that this wasn't the old Inuyasha. He had sure acted like him in that moment though.
"Are you treating me like a dog because of my name?" asked Inuyasha, all confusion gone from his eyes.
"No! Of course not!" Kagome said quickly. "I already told you I wouldn't make fun of your name."
"Humph," he grunted, ignoring her excuse. He started to walk out of the door.
"Where are you going?" asked Kagome, anger gone from her voice.
"Home," he said simply.
"You can't go now. I need you to tutor me," Kagome said, blocking his path. Shippou was reminded of times when Inuyasha prevented Kagome from going home.
"Oh, so I'm just a dumb tool to you, eh?" he asked, irritated with her actions. Kagome was about to say something but stopped. She was probably reminded of times when Inuyasha had called her his "tama detector." Suddenly a slapping sound was heard from the other side of the room.
"You should at least let me explain," Miroku said calmly, a red handprint on his face.
"You don't need to explain," Sango said, walking to Kagome's side, "It's probably going to be a lie anyway."
"No, honestly, I didn't know you were there next to me," he said as innocent as ever. There was a snort from Inuyasha. Miroku looked at him sharply.
"Oh puh-lease," Inuyasha snorted, "you're always groping people when an opportunity arises."
"How 'bout you?" Miroku retorted, "You always get touchy whenever you're embarrassed. It's the same thing!"
"How is it the same thing?" Inuyasha shouted. Miroku looked at him shrewdly.
"Wait a minute… You've been touchy ever since Kagome's mentioned your jacket," Miroku said, a grin starting on his face. "You normally don't care if someone makes fun of your name, but today…" He grinned evilly. "Your mom made you wear something embarrassing under that jacket, didn't she?" Inuyasha was looking very nervous right about now. Suddenly Miroku pounced on him.
"Oi! Get off! What do you think you're doing?" yelled Inuyasha as Miroku started to pull at his jacket.
"This doesn't exactly look right," Sango said, turning red. Shippou didn't know what she meant. Suddenly there was crash, and Shippou saw that Miroku had managed to yank the jacket off. The buttons of the jacket were barely attached to the jacket.
"Miroku!" Inuyasha shouted. Shippou saw Inuyasha wearing a lumpy hand-knitted red sweater with something that looked like a dog on a branch and the words "Inuyasha" on it. Just below the name, he noticed that there was something written in a different language.
"Uh, why does it say 'my dog-eared sonny-poo'?" asked Sango, reading the English easily. Inuyasha got very red. Miroku started laughing.
"Oh, I get what this is about," Miroku laughed. Inuyasha was giving him death glares, but Miroku ignored him. "I remember the time she first called you that. Weren't you stuck in that tree 'cause you were too afraid to get down again? Oh I remember that day very well," Miroku said, grinning, "Picture this: little four year old Inuyasha tells me that he isn't afraid to climb any stupid trees, finds the tallest tree in the park and climbs it, climbs to the top before he realizes he doesn't know how to get down, and the adults can't get him down because the tree wasn't strong enough to support a full grown adult. They had to call the fire station and everything, but the ladder wasn't long enough, and finally his mom had to coax him down. And Inuyasha," said Miroku, grinning crazily at his friend's embarrassment, "didn't you need to go to the restroom?"
"Miroku, you asshole!" Inuyasha yelled, chasing after Miroku as he quickly ran away. "You're going to die!!!"
Miroku had run outside, and the people in the house heard some banging and laughter from Miroku, then cursing before everything quieted down. The two entered the house again, Inuyasha scowling terribly while dragging Miroku in, who seemed to be unconscious with several bumps on his head.
"Let's get to studying before anything else interrupts us," Inuyasha said through gritted teeth, dumping Miroku on the floor. Kagome decided that it was a good idea.
They had all decided to do their homework at the kitchen table because that was the only room with enough space to do their homework and accommodate all of them. Inuyasha finished his homework faster than the rest of them, despite his tutoring and helping them, and was soon wandering around the house, bored.
"If only we had Literature homework," Miroku said under his breath while trying to solve a problem using the method that Inuyasha taught him. "Then he wouldn't be so cocky."
Inuyasha re-entered the kitchen for the hundredth time and asked, "Are you guys done yet?" All he got in response were three sets of glares, and he decided to exit the kitchen again. Souta suddenly appeared next to him.
"I'm done with my homework," he announced, scaring Inuyasha for a moment.
"Don't sneak up on me," Inuyasha said gruffly.
"Shippou's not done yet, so how about I show you around the house first?" asked Souta. Inuyasha shrugged, and Souta started to pull him upstairs.
"See, this is the bathroom, and this is my sister's room," Souta said quickly, pulling Inuyasha into the room. He stood there as if waiting for a reaction from Inuyasha. He never got it.
"What?" Inuyasha asked, looking at the boy in confusion.
"Doesn't anything seem familiar to you?" asked Souta, sounding slightly disappointed.
"How can something be familiar if I've never seen it before?" asked Inuyasha. He thought the boy was acting a bit weird. Souta started showing him the different things in the room.
"See this alarm clock? My sister's other alarm clock was broken, remember? And how about this bottle?" Souta asked, holding up a small empty bottle. "This used to have the Shikon shards in them before they were combined. Here, I'll show you the Shikon shard that my sister has," Souta said, gesturing for Inuyasha to get closer. Inuyasha was starting to feel nervous. Souta tried to open the drawer where he had seen his sister put the shard in, but it was locked. "Don't worry, I know where the key is," Souta said, about to search for the key when Inuyasha stopped him.
"Don't," he said, looking slightly pale. "Just leave it." Souta looked at Inuyasha in confusion but nodded his assent.
"Inuyasha! I'm done with my homework!" Shippou announced loudly from downstairs. Inuyasha quickly went down the stairs, seemingly glad to be away from Kagome's room. The whole shrine was making him feel funny, and he had a feeling that it had nothing to do with him being a youkai.
"Let's play with this airplane," Souta said, climbing down the stairs and holding an airplane that had Styrofoam wings and a cardboard body.
"Alright," Shippou said, "Let's go, Inuyasha." Shippou led him outside. "Want to see me do a cool trick?" Shippou asked. Without awaiting confirmation, he started to change his shape. Inuyasha watched in surprise as Shippou grew taller and his hair changed color. When the transformation was complete, Inuyasha found himself looking at a strange version of himself. Shippou now looked like him, except he had golden eyes and silver hair, along with curious dog-ears on the top of his head. Inuyasha felt uncomfortable looking at the image. He felt as if though some deep part of him was starting to move after a long sleep.
"Why did you transform?" asked Inuyasha, looking away from Shippou.
"This—this form is stronger," Shippou replied in a dejected voice. He wondered what was wrong with Inuyasha.
"So, now that you're stronger, O mighty kitsune, why don't you throw the plane?" asked Inuyasha, all smiles again. Shippou nodded, wondering if he had imagined that Inuyasha was acting funny. He threw the plane with all his might. The plane flew high into the air. Unfortunately, Shippou had miscalculated his strength, and he plane ended up getting stuck on top of the God tree. He heard Inuyasha whistle in awe.
"Hey, you're pretty strong," Inuyasha commented. Shippou blushed in embarrassment, then transformed himself back.
"Err, how are we going to get the plane down?" asked Souta, looking at his toy plane in worry.
"No fear," Inuyasha said in a false deep voice, "I shall save the day." Shippou gave him a funny look, but Inuyasha only grinned in response. Shippou heard the door of the house open and saw that Kagome, Sango, and Miroku had finished their homework and were walking outside just as Inuyasha walked near the God tree.
Inuyasha seemed to measure the height of the tree with his eye, and soon he jumped to the wall surrounding the shrine, and from there jumped on to the room where he jumped off and headed towards the trunk of the tree, kicking off from the trunk and catching one of the lower branches of the tree. He hoisted himself up and looked around until he found the plane. He had done everything very fast.
They all watched in silence as Inuyasha retrieved the plane and seemed to find something in the center of the top of the tree. He disappeared for a few moments, the branches hiding him from view, but reappeared moments later, jumping onto the roof softly, then jumping back to the ground. He had something in his hands other than the airplane. He walked to Souta, handing him the airplane so that he could free his other hand to better inspect the item that he had found.
"This sword is a rusted piece of junk," Inuyasha remarked, as he looked at the blade. "I wonder how long has it been left up there." The others, except for Miroku, immediately recognized the blade.
"Te-Tetsusaiga!" Kagome breathed softly. They were all surprised that the blade had been found in this time. Shippou sensed someone staring at them and turned around, only to find Miroku had that same expression on him from last time. Miroku's gaze was starting to make Shippou feel uncomfortable, even though Miroku wasn't looking at him. He was looking at Kagome with a calculating look in his eyes, which was really starting to creep Shippou out.
"Is it yours?" asked Inuyasha, breaking everyone out of their shock.
"No," Kagome answered, looking into Inuyasha's eyes. "I think you should keep it."
"Yeah, you found it, so you should keep it," Sango said. She hoped that with Tetsusaiga, some part of Inuyasha's past life would be remembered. He surprised her by refusing.
"I don't want this sword," he said, handing Kagome the sword. There was a determined look in his eyes. "You keep it. It was found on your property, so is rightfully yours. I just retrieved it for you." Sango noticed that Inuyasha seemed uneasy near the sword. He suddenly turned towards the house.
"Let's go, Miroku, it's getting late," said Inuyasha. He entered the house and retrieved his backpack and numerous coats, and headed towards the steps. Miroku followed his example.
"It has been a pleasure," Miroku said to them, bowing slightly. He didn't sound very sincere and he gave Kagome one sharp look before he left.
Kagome held Tetsusaiga in her hands. Miroku and Inuyasha were acting very strange, and their actions were confusing her.
Author's Note: Thanks to a review I got from Naatz, I realized that it is a bit difficult to keep track of which chapter is which, so I've put titles in each chapter to hopefully make it easier. I also wrote how many chapters I've uploaded in the summary, and hopefully this can prevent any confusion. If there are any other difficulties, please tell me!