Chapter Two
A/N: I'm really glad you guys liked the last chapter! ^^ I REALLY appreciate all the reviews! It's what keeps me writing…so keep on reviewing, ne? By the way, part of this chapter focuses on Inu-Yasha and part of it focuses on Kagome.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this fanfic. They all belong to Rumiko Takahashi (and so does the anime "Ranma ½" which is also mentioned in this chapter)!
Inu-Yasha stepped into his house and slammed the door hard behind him, hoping that his strange new neighbor would get the message and leave him alone. 'I wonder if ALL humans of this era are as annoying as she is…'
Even though the house looked ancient on the outside, everything was pretty modern on the inside. The family room was near the kitchen, so one wouldn't have to walk very far if they wanted a beer to drink while watching a football game. There was a medium-sized, flat screen TV in the family room, and a glass coffee table placed strategically in front of a cushy sofa.
The hanyou sat on the couch and turned on the TV lazily. He flipped the channel…another soap opera. These stupid human shows made Inu-Yasha want to gag. He turned the channel again. This time it was a baseball game. A man hit a ball with a metal stick and ran around the field until he reached the place where he had first started. The crowd went wild.
"Hmph! What's so great about that?" scoffed Inu-Yasha. "I could've run ten times faster! They call THIS entertainment?!"
Finally, Inu-Yasha settled for an animated show called "Ranma ½". It seemed to be the closest thing to 'entertainment' that Inu-Yasha could find. Inu-Yasha smirked as a shorthaired girl chased some guy across the screen, yelling at him loudly. The panda at the kitchen table blinked at them, and every once and awhile, a cat and a duck could be seen darting back and forth in the background. The fact that Inu-Yasha couldn't make sense of any of it is what made the show so amusing.
An hour later, Inu-Yasha grew tired of watching TV, and decided to raid the fridge instead. Just as he was about to make himself some ramen noodles, he heard someone knocking on the door.
"NO ONE'S HERE!" Inu-Yasha yelled at the door.
The person knocked again. 'Could it be Kagome again?!' Inu-Yasha wondered.
The girl Kagome was still a puzzle to him. She reminded him so much of Kikyou…but was she really her reincarnation? The thought was so bizarre, he wasn't even sure if it was true. 'But she IS as beautiful as Kikyou was…her eyes are the same shade of brown, but her expression is more compassionate…' Inu-Yasha shook his head back and forth, suddenly. 'I did NOT just think that…'
"Is anybody home??" A voice yelled from outside the house. "I know you're in there, Inu-Yasha!" Yeah, it was Kagome all right.
"Alright, ALRIGHT, I'm coming!" Inu-Yasha grumbled as shoved the ramen back into the kitchen cabinet. 'That stupid woman!'
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Kagome waited impatiently for Inu-Yasha to open the door. 'I've been waiting for five minutes!' she thought angrily. 'Is he ignoring me?!'
Finally, the door opened a bit, giving Kagome a view of the inside of Inu-Yasha's house. 'Well at least their houses don't look ancient on the INSIDE, too…' Kagome thought.
"What NOW?!" shouted Inu-Yasha, still wearing the red kimono and grumpy expression that Kagome had seen him in last time.
"It's about time you answered the door! You're so rude! If someone's at the door, you're supposed to LET THEM IN!" Kagome fumed, averting her eyes from the house, to Inu-Yasha.
"Why should I let YOU in?! Haven't you bothered me enough?" growled Inu-Yasha.
"I just wanted to ask you a few more questions!" Kagome said, turning back into her normal, cheerful self. Without saying another word, she marched into Inu-Yasha's house and seated herself comfortably on the sofa.
"H-hey! WAITAMINUTE! You can't just invite yourself into other people's houses!" a dumbfounded Inu-Yasha exclaimed.
"Well, since YOU wouldn't invite me in, I invited myself in!" the girl on the couch grinned.
"UGH! Why're you so damn annoying?! FINE. I'll listen to your stupid questions! Just as long as you get outta my house right after that!"
"Okay, okay, I will! Geez…are you always this cranky?"
"JUST GET ON WITH THE QUESTIONS!"
"Well…I've decided to introduce myself to all of my neighbors, but first, I wanted to ask you if you were serious when you said your brother likes to…kill humans." Kagome gulped.
"He's my HALF-brother," Inu-Yasha corrected her. "And he doesn't just kill humans, either…he told me once that he eats them too…"
Kagome turned green.
"Maybe I could…change his mind about that," Kagome said nervously. "So he doesn't kill…or eat my family."
"Hmph. You can try, but be careful, alright? He's not exactly the nicest of people…"
"Alright," Kagome smiled. 'So he DOES care about others…kind of...'
Kagome turned around and walked out of Inu-Yasha's house. She stared at Sesshoumaru's house across the street, wondering if she should risk introducing herself. Then she noticed the house on the OTHER side of her own house. The house was half-hidden in the numerous trees in her neighborhood, so she hadn't really noticed it before. 'I have ANOTHER next-door neighbor? I can't believe I didn't notice earlier!'
Kagome started walking towards the house hidden in the trees. 'Sesshoumaru can wait.'
As Kagome stepped closer to the house, she noticed it was painted green to match the trees.
"No WONDER I didn't see it earlier!" Kagome exclaimed, knocking hard on the door. 'I really wish these houses had doorbells…"
Kagome knocked on the door again. She could hear lots of noise and music coming from the inside. Were they having a party? She hoped who-ever lived in the house would still hear her knocking.
About a minute later, the door opened, revealing a man…or was it a demon? He had pointed ears, and had his hair tied up in a high ponytail. Kagome also noticed that he had a long, brown tail and fang-like teeth. Was he a wolf-youkai? He was actually kind of attractive…in a scruffy sort of way.
"Hey, babe! Are you the woman that just moved in next door?" the man asked.
"Yes, actually! My name is Higurashi Kagome…" Kagome's voice drifted off as she noticed the other men in the background, whom all seemed to be staring at her. About twenty pairs of eyes stared at her curiously. Kagome suddenly noticed that every single one of them was wearing fur…lots and lots of brown fur. Kagome wondered how many animals they had to kill to make their clothes.
"My name's Kouga! I'm glad you came, Kagome," answered the wolf demon. "I threw this party just for you-"
"No you didn't!" interrupted one of the many wolf demons behind Kouga.
"SHUT UP!" Kouga yelled at him.
"Um…nice to meet you too, Kouga-kun!" Kagome said, getting more uncomfortable by the second. The twenty other wolf youkai seemed to have averted their gazes from Kagome's face, to the short green skirt of her school uniform.
"Hey, boss! Hear that? She called you Kouga-kun," said another wolf youkai. The other men whistled loudly, and Kagome was beginning to feel severely agitated.
"Then it's settled!" Kouga exclaimed, turning around to face the men behind him. "From now on, Kagome's MY woman!"
"Y-YOUR woman??" Kagome said astonished. 'No!' she thought. 'I don't want to be his woman! But I won't tell him that…it'll probably really hurt his feelings. But JUST because I called him Kouga-kun shouldn't mean I'm his woman, should it? Maybe it's a wolf demon tradition or something…'
"Yeah! Don't you want to be my woman? There isn't…someone ELSE, is there?"
"Well…no…" Should she lie? Kagome looked again at the men behind Kouga. She noticed some of them were drooling. 'Ugh…anything to get out of here…'
"Actually, yes…" Kagome said. "Yes, there is someone else. See, I just met my OTHER next-door neighbor, Inu-Yasha, and-"
"What?! You've already met dog turd?" Kouga's expression turned into one of dislike as he thought about Inu-Yasha. "Don't listen to anything HE says! That stupid, arrogant mutt! You'd be better off with me, Kagome!"
"Yes, well…I'd better be going!" Kagome said quickly, smiling at Kouga. One of the other wolf youkai had somehow come up next to her, and he was coming awfully close. "I've gotta introduce myself to the other neighbors, so I'll see you later!"
"Right. I'll see you around then, Kagome!"
Kagome let out a sigh of relief as she stepped out of Kouga's house. The guy was nice…but maybe a little TOO nice…
The schoolgirl walked back to her cobblestone driveway, and stared at the house across the street from her…Sesshoumaru's house. She noticed a young girl, about five or six-years old, running in circles around a green toad youkai in the front yard. 'If Sesshoumaru hates humans so much…why is there one running in his front yard?' Kagome wondered, as she walked across the street towards the giant, gray house. 'Maybe Inu-Yasha was exaggerating when he said Sesshoumaru hated humans. How dare he make me worry like that!' Kagome let out another long sigh of relief. Maybe this guy wouldn't be so bad after all…
"Hello!" the little girl in the front yard greeted cheerfully, running towards Kagome. "I'm Rin! Rin just saw you move in the house across the street!"
"Hi, Rin!" Kagome beamed at her. "My name's Kagome! Tell me…is this were Sesshoumaru lives?"
"Rin go and ask Sesshoumaru-sama to come outside!" exclaimed Rin. "Sesshoumaru-sama doesn't have visitors very often!"
'What a sweet little girl!' Kagome thought as she watched Rin run into the house. 'Her master can't REALLY be a bloodthirsty murderer, can he?'
"Why do you want to talk to Sesshoumaru-sama, girl?!" the small toad youkai that was standing next to Rin asked her suddenly, his yellow eyes bulging out as he spoke. "Rin is the one exception, but Sesshoumaru-sama hates all other humans! Just go back to your own house of filthy humans…"
"Oh, we're filthy, are we?!" Kagome asked, stomping hard on the toad youkai's head. She wouldn't be talked down by a demon almost four feet shorter than she was!
A few minutes later, Rin bounded outside again, followed by a tall youkai with long, shiny silver hair that seemed much better kept than Inu-Yasha's hair. Sesshoumaru had red stripes, most likely demon marks, on his face and a crescent moon on his forehead. He wore a kimono with a breastplate over it; there was also a long, white furry object on his shoulder. Kagome's best guess was that its purpose was to enhance the exotic look of his outfit…either that or it was a common accessory in the Feudal Era. Kagome noticed that he was wearing red eyeshadow as well. Even though his face wasn't particularly feminine, one might describe him as such if they saw him front a distance. All in all, he looked very remotely similar to Inu-Yasha. The only features that made him looking like his half-brother, were his golden eyes and long, silver hair.
"What do you want?" Sesshoumaru asked, regarding her coldly. "You had better have a good reason, because I, Sesshoumaru, will not be bothered by annoying human wenches often." The youkai glared down at her, as if she didn't even deserve to be in his presence. 'Who does this guy think he is?!' Kagome thought angrily.
"Inu-Yasha was right about you! You're as unfriendly as someone can get! I JUST wanted to introduce myself, since I just moved into the house across the street! I THOUGHT it was a NEIGHBORLY THING TO DO! You don't have to act so cold! I DIDN'T mean to interrupt whatever you were doing! And by the way, my name is KAGOME…NOT 'annoying wench'! " Kagome realized she had said too much, when she noticed Sesshoumaru glaring daggers at her.
"So…you have met my worthless half-demon brother, have you, wench? Heh…it's just like him…always befriending humans…just like our father." Sesshoumaru sneered.
"Inu-Yasha's not a full youkai, then? He's…a hanyou?" Kagome wondered if Inu-Yasha was ashamed that he was half-demon. Maybe that was why he hadn't told her about it.
"Did the whelp not tell you? Unlike the mother of I, Sesshoumaru, his mother was human."
"So what happened to his parents?" Kagome questioned. She hadn't remembered seeing anyone else inside of Inu-Yasha's house.
"They are both dead," stated Sesshoumaru, his face expressionless as ever.
"And what about your parents, Sesshoumaru?"
"I am not obligated to tell such information to the likes of you. Leave now, wench, before I kill you. I have wasted valuable time speaking with you." And with that, Sesshoumaru turned and walked back into the house, his stumpy toad youkai servant following closely behind. Rin stopped and waved 'farewell' to Kagome before skipping back into the house again.
Kagome stood on the green lawn, staring after the threesome.
"Both of Inu-Yasha's parents are dead? And he's a hanyou too? He's…not full demon, but not full human either…the poor guy. No wonder he seems so angry!" Kagome suddenly felt a great deal of sympathy for Inu-Yasha. 'Maybe I should be nicer to him from now on…'
A/N: Well, I managed to post another chapter before I leave on my three-week trip to Singapore (which starts tomarrow)! I'll be fourteen (my b-day's February 12th) when I post the next chapter! ^_~ PLEASE review while I'm gone! It'll make me really glad to know that I'll have some reviews when I come back. Thanks so much!
Next chapter: Kagome meets a certain monk and a youkai exterminator, and is relieved to see that there ARE some fellow humans in her neighborhood. Also, Kagome finds out the hard way that some neighbors DON'T like visitors (It's a good thing she's not allergic to bee *cough*saimyoshou*cough* stings! ^^;).