Kagome waltzed into her apartment with a smile on her lips and green apple
tapioca in her hands. Life, at the moment, was good. Money was fast
accumulating in her savings account for her car, her tutoring problem had
been solved, the tapioca was especially tasty, and she was free from
homework due to a strange accident in the Science Hall that cancelled
classes.
"Hello, Sango! Isn't today a wonderful day?"
Igenshi Sango turned from the television to look at her roommate curiously.
"Hey Kagome-chan. You're awfully happy today. It can't just be the Science Hall half blowing up."
Kagome laughed. "That's part of it. Wait till I get changed and I'll tell you all about my day. Hey, is that my green tea mochi?"
Sango grinned up at her from her position of the couch. "Yes, but I promise to run out and get another box as soon as I finish editing this video."
Sango turned back to her task with another ice cream mochi clamped in her teeth, fiddling with buttons on her laptop and the remote of the VCR. Kagome headed toward her room and changed into a pair of pale blue pajama bottoms and an oversized t-shirt. Plopping down next to Sango with the rest of her tapioca in hand, Kagome watched Sango work for a bit.
"Ooo! What's this one about? Which song are you using?"
"Mmm...Darude's Sandstorm. I want a faster paced music video this time. Besides, this is just for fun. I need to unwind after the one with Nightingale."
"That one was beautiful. I knew you'd win first place with that video. Are you almost done with this one? Can I see it?"
"Wait a sec. I just need to fix this part and erase some text off a couple more frames and then I'll be done. Here, there's one more mochi left."
Kagome sighed and reached for the little tray filled with a layer of flour and one green tea ice cream mochi.
"I wish they'd put more into these boxes. Six of these little guys just isn't enough," Kagome mumble around a bite of the cold, sweet confection.
"There!" Sango declared with a flourished stab at her keyboard. "Done! Here, tell me what you think."
Sango clicked the play button and the crescendo of a dance-mix began playing. On the screen, images of anime flashed to the growing beat, and at the climax of the music, Kagome couldn't help moving to the rhythm that overtook her. The action-filled music video illustrated the music through their sequences and when the video ended, Kagome squealed praise for her friend.
"That was wonderful! I love this video! Where did you find that song? How could you keep still listening to it? Oh, enter this one at the next con! I'm sure you'll win again."
Sango grinned at Kagome's enthusiasm.
"Thanks Kagome-chan, but this one was just for fun. I'm sure there are a bunch of flaws in this Denshi would love to nitpick out."
"Who cares about that jerk? He's just jealous because he didn't even make honorable mention."
"Mmm...it was fun to see the look on his face when his name wasn't announced. But enough about this thing, we can pack it away and use it for sleepovers where we have an excuse to dance like crazy people to loud music."
"Sango-chan, we live together now..."
"Oh, right. Eh heh...anyway, tell me what happened today. How was your tutoring session? Did you get another Hojo?"
Kagome grimaced at the mention of Hojo's name. He was her first tutee and almost made her swear off tutoring ever again. It wasn't that Hojo was a bad student; in fact, he was very eager to learn and was a very nice boy. The only problem was, eager as he was for knowledge, he was exceptionally dense and turned out to become somewhat of a stalker. It was nothing too serious, just a disturbing crush on her and the memorization of her schedule. During their sessions, Hojo kept trying to get her to talk about herself instead of paying attention to the books, which of course caused him to fail his midterm and had her check cut back. Kagome shuddered at the memory of her time with him.
"No, nothing that bad, but I can't be sure. This time I got a delinquent who hates me and acts stupid but I think he's just trying to make things difficult."
"Does he really have white hair?"
Kagome looked at her. "Have you been going through my things again?"
Sango adopted an innocent expression. "The folder slipped out of your bag and happened to open to his profile before slipping back into your bag again."
"Right... Anyway, this first session was turning out to be a nightmare. I swear he was purposely giving me ignorant answers just to piss me off. I finally had to bribe him into studying."
"What did you offer him?"
"To pay for part of his prom expenses depending on how well he does at his history finals. Don't give me that look, how expensive can prom be for a guy. Souta didn't spend more than 600 dollars for his Junior Prom and that's about the same, isn't it?"
"Still, if you're going to be giving away part of your paycheck, how long do you think it'll be before you get that car?"
"Don't worry, I still have my job at the ice cream parlor. Speaking of ice cream, weren't you suppose to get another box of mochi now that you finished the video?"
Sango sighed. "I was hoping you forgot about that."
"Nothing doing, especially when it concerns ice cream. Now, don't forget to get green tea."
"Alright, alright, I'll get your beloved green tea. But Kagome, you really need to try different flavors."
"Why deter from what's good?" Kagome said sweetly from her place on the couch. When Sango had hoisted herself up to go pick up the ice cream Kagome took over the freed space on the couch, and sprawled lazily in it, like a cat soaking up the sun.
Sango flashed a smile at Kagome and grabbed a pillow to throw at Kagome.
"I better see that spot empty when I get back."
"Hai, hai. Hurry now Sango-chan, it's going to get dark soon."
v^_^v ~*~ v^_^v
Kagome huddled at one end of the couch; clutching a pillow so hard she nearly burst the seams. Just as the monster in the movie slammed the door open as it burst onto a hapless victim, the apartment door slammed open, inducing a scream and fall off the couch.
"AAAAAHHHH!!! Don't kill me!!"
"What are you talking about-oh... Kagome-chan, you should stop watching those horror movies if you know you're going to get scared. Besides, they're so corny."
Kagome sat up and brushed the hair that got into her face from her tumble off the couch.
"Sango-chan, what took you so long?"
Sango's face darkened and she said nothing, heading into the kitchen with heavier footsteps than necessary.
"Sango?" Kagome asked, getting up from the floor and following her.
"Sango, what's wrong?"
"He's got some nerve...!" Sango mumbled, shoving the mochi boxes into the freezer and slamming the freezer door shut. Taking a deep, sort of calming breath, she turned around and walked back into the living room with Kagome trailing behind.
"I am never going to that ice cream parlor ever again. Not as long as that pervert is alive." Sango turned on Kagome. "Kagome-chan, how can you work next to such a lech?!"
Kagome looked puzzled. "Lech? What lech?"
"Ruijin Miroku," huffed Sango.
"Ruijin Miroku...Ruijin Miroku...hmm, I'm sorry Sango-chan, but I don't know anyone by that name. Are you sure he works at the ice cream parlor? What did he do anyway?"
Sango's cheeks colored again and she replied with clenched teeth.
"He...he...touched me."
Kagome's eyes grew wide. "You mean...? Oh gosh, Sango, what did you do?"
"I'd be surprised if half his head isn't swollen by morning."
Kagome started giggling, and then laughing like a maniac. " What I...What I wouldn't give to see...see that!" she said between laughs.
"It's not funny!"
"Sure it isn't, Sango."
"Kagome-chan...."
"....Yes?"
Pillows flew for the next hour.
v^_^v ~*~ v^_^v
Inu-Yasha heaved a sigh as the clock neared 3:30. School was almost over, but then he'd have to face another two hours with Kagome the Wench. How life did favor him. Kikyo had recently been getting on his case about not spending enough time with her, as if he had any control over that. The school and his parents kept throwing tutors at him and if he failed another final he can kiss his social calendar goodbye.
Inu-Yasha looked at the clock again and his eyebrows shot up when he saw the minute hand ticking backwards. His worries about a disturbance in the time space continuum was put at ease when the hand ticked ahead two minutes to make up for its backward step.
'Damn stupid school supplies. They can't even make the clocks fully functional.'
Inu-Yasha spent the rest of his last class, History, doodling different ways the world will end before the bell rang, and the zombie-like students mechanically packed away their notebooks and binders to head for home. Or in the over-achievers' case, to their after school clubs. Lucky Inu-Yasha got to meet dear Tutor Kagome in half an hour.
Outside the classroom, Inu-Yasha met up with Kikyo. To his irritation, Kikyo looked mighty cozy talking *cough*flirting*cough* with the head of the football team. Inu-Yasha growled and stalked his way over to them, stepping between the two and putting his arm around Kikyo's shoulder.
"Ready to go, Kikyo?"
Kikyo looked undisturbed and glanced blandly at Inu-Yasha before turning to the football player.
"Well, Taishi, I have to go now, my boyfriend's here. I'll talk to you later."
When Taishi left, Kikyo turned on Inu-Yasha, annoyance flashing in her eyes.
"What do you think you were doing? I almost got vital information out of him and you just had to interrupt."
"Yeah, like I'm suppose to stand by and watch while my girlfriend flirts with other guys," Inu-Yasha shot back.
"I've been over this, and I'm not going to explain myself to you again. Besides, what about all those other women you see behind my back?"
"It's obviously not behind your back if you know about them, and especially not if I tell you about them! I've told you, Kikyo, they're the tutors my parents keep hiring for me."
"You must not be fighting against it very hard if they keep giving them to you. And I've noticed they're all girls. What do you have to say about that?"
"Like hell I haven't been fighting with them about it! And can I control which person they hire?! You know what, I'm tired of arguing with you about this. I have a tutoring session to get to. I'll see you later, Kikyo."
Inu-Yasha all but stomped away from her, leaving Kikyo glaring at his back. When he reached the parking lot and got into the car, he just sat there for a moment, thinking.
'God, why am I fighting so much with Kikyo these days? Why does she set me off so easily?'
Running a hand through his hair, Inu-Yasha revved up his car and drove toward the college about ten minutes away, riffling through facts about the Heian War to distract him from his problems with Kikyo.
v^_^v ~*~ v^_^v ~*~ v^_^v ~*~ v^_^v ~*~ v^_^v ~*~ v^_^v
See, all your reviews have encouraged me to write another chapter! The "More reviews= faster chapters" theory works! Hooray!! ^^ I know, I know, this chapter was boring, but I needed this as a character introduction chapter. We'll get to more Inu-Yasha and Kagome stuff in the next chapter.
!!!!!!REVIEW RESPONSES!!!!!!!!
Here is where I'll be replying to reviews (duh) but since Fanfiction.net won't let me see my reviews, I can't respond to them personally or specifically. I'll go with what I remember from the first time I read the reviews, and reply to anything I missed in the next chapter. I hope that by then, Fanfiction.net will let me access my wonderful reviews. (Thank you again you absolutely fantastic reviewers!)
First: Yes, Kagome is older than Inu-Yasha in this story and Sango is older than Miroku. Inu-Yasha, Kikyo, and Miroku are seniors in high school and Sango and Kagome are juniors in college. Even though this is set in Japan, I'm going to have to go with American school systems because I don't know enough about the Japanese school systems yet.
Before anyone asks, Kohaku and Souta (should they make appearances in this fic) are juniors in high school.
Second: I'm generally conventional when it comes to pairings, so I'm a definite Inu-Yasha/Kagome and Sango/Miroku fan. No exceptions. As wonderful as Sesshoumaru is, I can't picture him with Kagome. (Note: I don't know if Sesshoumaru is going to be in this. Don't ask!) For now, I don't know how I'm going to make a clean break between Kikyo and Inu-Yasha. While I don't like the girl, I don't HATE her either, though the episode when she stole the Shikon no Kakera from Kagome drew me close to hatred.
While this isn't an answer to a question, I just want to thank those who complimented me on my grammar. It makes me so happy that my efforts are noticed and appreciated. I'll try my hardest to make sure I don't make stupid mistakes, as I'm prone to do. But really, it's my Word Processor that's doing all the work. ^^ ;;
That should be it. I can't remember what else people asked me to explain, but as soon as I can access my reviews page again I'll be out with another chapter so I can write in the replies. ^^ Please do me the honor of reviewing again so I can answer more questions! =D
"Hello, Sango! Isn't today a wonderful day?"
Igenshi Sango turned from the television to look at her roommate curiously.
"Hey Kagome-chan. You're awfully happy today. It can't just be the Science Hall half blowing up."
Kagome laughed. "That's part of it. Wait till I get changed and I'll tell you all about my day. Hey, is that my green tea mochi?"
Sango grinned up at her from her position of the couch. "Yes, but I promise to run out and get another box as soon as I finish editing this video."
Sango turned back to her task with another ice cream mochi clamped in her teeth, fiddling with buttons on her laptop and the remote of the VCR. Kagome headed toward her room and changed into a pair of pale blue pajama bottoms and an oversized t-shirt. Plopping down next to Sango with the rest of her tapioca in hand, Kagome watched Sango work for a bit.
"Ooo! What's this one about? Which song are you using?"
"Mmm...Darude's Sandstorm. I want a faster paced music video this time. Besides, this is just for fun. I need to unwind after the one with Nightingale."
"That one was beautiful. I knew you'd win first place with that video. Are you almost done with this one? Can I see it?"
"Wait a sec. I just need to fix this part and erase some text off a couple more frames and then I'll be done. Here, there's one more mochi left."
Kagome sighed and reached for the little tray filled with a layer of flour and one green tea ice cream mochi.
"I wish they'd put more into these boxes. Six of these little guys just isn't enough," Kagome mumble around a bite of the cold, sweet confection.
"There!" Sango declared with a flourished stab at her keyboard. "Done! Here, tell me what you think."
Sango clicked the play button and the crescendo of a dance-mix began playing. On the screen, images of anime flashed to the growing beat, and at the climax of the music, Kagome couldn't help moving to the rhythm that overtook her. The action-filled music video illustrated the music through their sequences and when the video ended, Kagome squealed praise for her friend.
"That was wonderful! I love this video! Where did you find that song? How could you keep still listening to it? Oh, enter this one at the next con! I'm sure you'll win again."
Sango grinned at Kagome's enthusiasm.
"Thanks Kagome-chan, but this one was just for fun. I'm sure there are a bunch of flaws in this Denshi would love to nitpick out."
"Who cares about that jerk? He's just jealous because he didn't even make honorable mention."
"Mmm...it was fun to see the look on his face when his name wasn't announced. But enough about this thing, we can pack it away and use it for sleepovers where we have an excuse to dance like crazy people to loud music."
"Sango-chan, we live together now..."
"Oh, right. Eh heh...anyway, tell me what happened today. How was your tutoring session? Did you get another Hojo?"
Kagome grimaced at the mention of Hojo's name. He was her first tutee and almost made her swear off tutoring ever again. It wasn't that Hojo was a bad student; in fact, he was very eager to learn and was a very nice boy. The only problem was, eager as he was for knowledge, he was exceptionally dense and turned out to become somewhat of a stalker. It was nothing too serious, just a disturbing crush on her and the memorization of her schedule. During their sessions, Hojo kept trying to get her to talk about herself instead of paying attention to the books, which of course caused him to fail his midterm and had her check cut back. Kagome shuddered at the memory of her time with him.
"No, nothing that bad, but I can't be sure. This time I got a delinquent who hates me and acts stupid but I think he's just trying to make things difficult."
"Does he really have white hair?"
Kagome looked at her. "Have you been going through my things again?"
Sango adopted an innocent expression. "The folder slipped out of your bag and happened to open to his profile before slipping back into your bag again."
"Right... Anyway, this first session was turning out to be a nightmare. I swear he was purposely giving me ignorant answers just to piss me off. I finally had to bribe him into studying."
"What did you offer him?"
"To pay for part of his prom expenses depending on how well he does at his history finals. Don't give me that look, how expensive can prom be for a guy. Souta didn't spend more than 600 dollars for his Junior Prom and that's about the same, isn't it?"
"Still, if you're going to be giving away part of your paycheck, how long do you think it'll be before you get that car?"
"Don't worry, I still have my job at the ice cream parlor. Speaking of ice cream, weren't you suppose to get another box of mochi now that you finished the video?"
Sango sighed. "I was hoping you forgot about that."
"Nothing doing, especially when it concerns ice cream. Now, don't forget to get green tea."
"Alright, alright, I'll get your beloved green tea. But Kagome, you really need to try different flavors."
"Why deter from what's good?" Kagome said sweetly from her place on the couch. When Sango had hoisted herself up to go pick up the ice cream Kagome took over the freed space on the couch, and sprawled lazily in it, like a cat soaking up the sun.
Sango flashed a smile at Kagome and grabbed a pillow to throw at Kagome.
"I better see that spot empty when I get back."
"Hai, hai. Hurry now Sango-chan, it's going to get dark soon."
v^_^v ~*~ v^_^v
Kagome huddled at one end of the couch; clutching a pillow so hard she nearly burst the seams. Just as the monster in the movie slammed the door open as it burst onto a hapless victim, the apartment door slammed open, inducing a scream and fall off the couch.
"AAAAAHHHH!!! Don't kill me!!"
"What are you talking about-oh... Kagome-chan, you should stop watching those horror movies if you know you're going to get scared. Besides, they're so corny."
Kagome sat up and brushed the hair that got into her face from her tumble off the couch.
"Sango-chan, what took you so long?"
Sango's face darkened and she said nothing, heading into the kitchen with heavier footsteps than necessary.
"Sango?" Kagome asked, getting up from the floor and following her.
"Sango, what's wrong?"
"He's got some nerve...!" Sango mumbled, shoving the mochi boxes into the freezer and slamming the freezer door shut. Taking a deep, sort of calming breath, she turned around and walked back into the living room with Kagome trailing behind.
"I am never going to that ice cream parlor ever again. Not as long as that pervert is alive." Sango turned on Kagome. "Kagome-chan, how can you work next to such a lech?!"
Kagome looked puzzled. "Lech? What lech?"
"Ruijin Miroku," huffed Sango.
"Ruijin Miroku...Ruijin Miroku...hmm, I'm sorry Sango-chan, but I don't know anyone by that name. Are you sure he works at the ice cream parlor? What did he do anyway?"
Sango's cheeks colored again and she replied with clenched teeth.
"He...he...touched me."
Kagome's eyes grew wide. "You mean...? Oh gosh, Sango, what did you do?"
"I'd be surprised if half his head isn't swollen by morning."
Kagome started giggling, and then laughing like a maniac. " What I...What I wouldn't give to see...see that!" she said between laughs.
"It's not funny!"
"Sure it isn't, Sango."
"Kagome-chan...."
"....Yes?"
Pillows flew for the next hour.
v^_^v ~*~ v^_^v
Inu-Yasha heaved a sigh as the clock neared 3:30. School was almost over, but then he'd have to face another two hours with Kagome the Wench. How life did favor him. Kikyo had recently been getting on his case about not spending enough time with her, as if he had any control over that. The school and his parents kept throwing tutors at him and if he failed another final he can kiss his social calendar goodbye.
Inu-Yasha looked at the clock again and his eyebrows shot up when he saw the minute hand ticking backwards. His worries about a disturbance in the time space continuum was put at ease when the hand ticked ahead two minutes to make up for its backward step.
'Damn stupid school supplies. They can't even make the clocks fully functional.'
Inu-Yasha spent the rest of his last class, History, doodling different ways the world will end before the bell rang, and the zombie-like students mechanically packed away their notebooks and binders to head for home. Or in the over-achievers' case, to their after school clubs. Lucky Inu-Yasha got to meet dear Tutor Kagome in half an hour.
Outside the classroom, Inu-Yasha met up with Kikyo. To his irritation, Kikyo looked mighty cozy talking *cough*flirting*cough* with the head of the football team. Inu-Yasha growled and stalked his way over to them, stepping between the two and putting his arm around Kikyo's shoulder.
"Ready to go, Kikyo?"
Kikyo looked undisturbed and glanced blandly at Inu-Yasha before turning to the football player.
"Well, Taishi, I have to go now, my boyfriend's here. I'll talk to you later."
When Taishi left, Kikyo turned on Inu-Yasha, annoyance flashing in her eyes.
"What do you think you were doing? I almost got vital information out of him and you just had to interrupt."
"Yeah, like I'm suppose to stand by and watch while my girlfriend flirts with other guys," Inu-Yasha shot back.
"I've been over this, and I'm not going to explain myself to you again. Besides, what about all those other women you see behind my back?"
"It's obviously not behind your back if you know about them, and especially not if I tell you about them! I've told you, Kikyo, they're the tutors my parents keep hiring for me."
"You must not be fighting against it very hard if they keep giving them to you. And I've noticed they're all girls. What do you have to say about that?"
"Like hell I haven't been fighting with them about it! And can I control which person they hire?! You know what, I'm tired of arguing with you about this. I have a tutoring session to get to. I'll see you later, Kikyo."
Inu-Yasha all but stomped away from her, leaving Kikyo glaring at his back. When he reached the parking lot and got into the car, he just sat there for a moment, thinking.
'God, why am I fighting so much with Kikyo these days? Why does she set me off so easily?'
Running a hand through his hair, Inu-Yasha revved up his car and drove toward the college about ten minutes away, riffling through facts about the Heian War to distract him from his problems with Kikyo.
v^_^v ~*~ v^_^v ~*~ v^_^v ~*~ v^_^v ~*~ v^_^v ~*~ v^_^v
See, all your reviews have encouraged me to write another chapter! The "More reviews= faster chapters" theory works! Hooray!! ^^ I know, I know, this chapter was boring, but I needed this as a character introduction chapter. We'll get to more Inu-Yasha and Kagome stuff in the next chapter.
!!!!!!REVIEW RESPONSES!!!!!!!!
Here is where I'll be replying to reviews (duh) but since Fanfiction.net won't let me see my reviews, I can't respond to them personally or specifically. I'll go with what I remember from the first time I read the reviews, and reply to anything I missed in the next chapter. I hope that by then, Fanfiction.net will let me access my wonderful reviews. (Thank you again you absolutely fantastic reviewers!)
First: Yes, Kagome is older than Inu-Yasha in this story and Sango is older than Miroku. Inu-Yasha, Kikyo, and Miroku are seniors in high school and Sango and Kagome are juniors in college. Even though this is set in Japan, I'm going to have to go with American school systems because I don't know enough about the Japanese school systems yet.
Before anyone asks, Kohaku and Souta (should they make appearances in this fic) are juniors in high school.
Second: I'm generally conventional when it comes to pairings, so I'm a definite Inu-Yasha/Kagome and Sango/Miroku fan. No exceptions. As wonderful as Sesshoumaru is, I can't picture him with Kagome. (Note: I don't know if Sesshoumaru is going to be in this. Don't ask!) For now, I don't know how I'm going to make a clean break between Kikyo and Inu-Yasha. While I don't like the girl, I don't HATE her either, though the episode when she stole the Shikon no Kakera from Kagome drew me close to hatred.
While this isn't an answer to a question, I just want to thank those who complimented me on my grammar. It makes me so happy that my efforts are noticed and appreciated. I'll try my hardest to make sure I don't make stupid mistakes, as I'm prone to do. But really, it's my Word Processor that's doing all the work. ^^ ;;
That should be it. I can't remember what else people asked me to explain, but as soon as I can access my reviews page again I'll be out with another chapter so I can write in the replies. ^^ Please do me the honor of reviewing again so I can answer more questions! =D