A/N: Hey, Chapter 5 is up and ready to go! I want to thank all of you holiday fiends who have been reading this story. I do like it, I'm a big fan of angst and high school drama. I promise to update A Fighter's Story after Christmas, I really want to finish this one first. I hope you enjoy this chapter, there is some Sango/Miroku fluff. And get ready for a flashback with some insight as to the 'accident'. All will be explained next chapter.
Inu-yasha Wizz: Here is more of what you wanted. Thanks for the review and please continue reading!
Gopher2806: Well, I wish I could take credit for them both, but alas, I can not. The story and poem are mine, but the songs in this fic are not. All the original lyrics in this story were co-written by my brother and his band, Chaos Legion. Although I did help! Thanks for the review and please keep reading!
Amieva: I'm so happy that this story is worthy of your favorites list and that you think it's uber-awesome. I do hope the Glomp Gods smile upon you as well. Here is the review that you asked for. I dedicate this chapter to you! Thanks for the review and for reading.
hanyougal: Thank you, I'm glad you liked the chapter. I like to dedicate each chapter to a new reader, the ones who send me spiffy reviews, lol. In answer to your question, I co-wrote the lyrics to Smile and Lovestory, the song from chapter 2. Alone, the song from Chapter 1 was written by my brother. Each of these songs are actual songs performed by their band, Chaos Legion. Thanks for reading and for the review!
Kayanna: Thank you for reading my story, and I'm glad you like it so much. Yes, I like how Kagome turned out as well. She's a little like me, an old soul with a lot of energy. No, she didn't kill Hojo…come on people, she's not a murderer! But if you read this chapter, you'll understand that she was there when he died. Thanks for the review.
asian-anime: Thank you for reading my story, your liking of my work gives me great joy. I'm glad that you also like my writing skills, I know I've worked really hard to develop them. Thanks for putting me on your favorites list. As for the songs, I co-wrote Smile and Lovestory. Alone, the song from the first chapter, was written by my brother. All these songs are actually performed by my brother's band, Chaos Legion. Thanks for reading and for the review.
Miko Sakura-sama: I hope you're faith in me is right. I'm trying my hardest to get this done by Christmas day. All the support of my readers helps a bunch. Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Psycho-Sk8er-Girl: Thank you for reading my story, and I'm glad that you like it! I've worked really hard to make this an interesting plot and takes place during my favorite time of the year. Don't worry, this Christmas Story is only the beginning. I plan on using this same story for a few other holiday shorts. Just want to get it done for Christmas. Thanks for the review!
Josie: Thank you for the compliment, you make me blush! Everyone keeps asking me if she killed Hojo…why do you think she's a murderer?!? Even if it was an accident, I wouldn't make her kill Hojo! He's too cute and innocent to be killed by our loveable heroine! You'll get a look at what happened in this chapter, and all will be explained in the next chapter, so keep reading. Thanks for reviewing!
All I Want For Christmas Is You
Chapter 5: Under the Christmas Tree
Kagome spent most of her weekend in her room. Someone had read her notebook, the most sacred possession she owned. The one thing that no one was ever supposed to see in her lifetime. And who was the person to read it? The one person she would have killed to keep from reading it. Questions flitted through her mind. Did he read all of it? Did he understand it? Could he tell what the last entries, the poem and the songs…could he know?
"No," Kagome told herself harshly. "There is no way in all the seven hells that he could know what any of that meant. He's never read Light and the Darkness, he wouldn't know the metaphor." But if there was one thing about Inuyasha that she knew, it was that he was not dense. He may have been immature and self-centered, but he was far from stupid. He might know that the poem was referring to him.
Kagome ran her fingers through her hair and fell back on to her pillows. There really wasn't much she could do about it now. He'd already read it. There was no way to change the past, that was a lesson she knew quite well. But she knew others things too. Like not to avoid a subject, because if people think you're hiding something they are more likely to blow it out of proportion. Confrontation was not always the easiest of solutions, but it helped resolve issues a lot quicker than walking on eggshells.
Kagome was a master of self-reliance. Over the last few months, she had to rely on herself a lot more than she ever had before. She loved her family, but they just didn't understand what it had felt like. Her body clenched and went cold. Kagome took several deep breaths, willing herself to calm down, to not give in to the turning of her stomach. If she didn't get a handle on this problem, her family might think she was bulimic.
"Deep breaths," Kagome whispered to herself. "In and out. Inhale…exhale…inhale…" After a few minutes of coaching herself into calm, Kagome fell into a restless sleep. Like always, her dreams were nightmares.
The car was waiting on the street, just like he said it would be. Kagome tossed her backpack out the window and shimmied down the fire escape to the ground floor. Hojo caught her on the bottom. Hand in hand, they made it back to his car. Kagome in the passenger seat; he was driving.
The drive was really blurred for her. Songs from the radio meshed together. The scenery flew by the tinted windows. The car was filled with music and laughing. The echo was the laughing. Hojo's low, hearty laughter that always sounded like he was laughing from the tip of his toes to the roots of his hair. He was never fake, not even with the black eye and fresh bruises he sported.
They had parked the car on the side of the road around 3 am. He was too tired to drive anymore and Kagome was half asleep as it was. Hojo had roused her, pulling her out of the passenger seat and on to the road.
"Come on Kag, you can't fall asleep on me now," he teased, an arm around her waist. "We've got such a long way to go."
"I'm awake," she replied, though her droopy eyes gave her away. "I'm just not sure that I'll stay that way."
"Sure, abandon me for sleep while I pine away in the backseat." Kagome giggled and leaned into him as they walked a little ways from the car, trying to stay awake by moving.
"Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" she asked, her smile fading. "We could get help. There can be others ways than this."
"Kagome," Hojo breathed, his arms tightening around her. "You know as well as I do, no one will ever believe me. He's too powerful. I can't do anything but run away." He sighed and held her back from him, hands cupping each side of her face. "You don't have to come with me. I'll take you home, right now, if you asked me to."
Kagome shook her head fiercely. "Hojo, you're my best friend. Whatever happens, I'm on your side. There is nowhere you could go that I wouldn't go with you." She smiled, a few tears falling from her stormy eyes. "It's you and me, just like always."
Hojo nodded, tears glittering in his own eyes. Kagome felt that he didn't trust himself to speak. They stood there for a while, in the silent, semi-dark street. There were no towns for miles on either side. They were far enough now that they could sleep a few hours and continue on before anyone found them. They weren't really sure where to go, just away.
That was when everything went wrong. That was when they saw lights coming from behind. Coming from the direction they had come. The car was speeding, coming up the curve of the road faster than was legal.
"It's him," Hojo breathed, his entire body tensed.
"Go," Kagome said, pushing him towards the car. They had to make it back to Hojo's car. The speeding vehicle rounded the bend, and Kagome got the clear view of a blue BMW flooring toward them. She clawed at the handle to the door of the car, but it was locked. The car was coming, it had turned sharply. Kagome stood in front of her door.
Everything moved in slow motion. The car was going to hit her, ram into the other car. She was about to be hit by a car. She was going to die. There was only a breath before the car would strike her, but that was when she saw him. Hojo.
"Kagome!" he yelled, just as he crashed into her. Kagome was flung ten feet from the car, skittering across the asphalt. She somersaulted to a stop just in time to see the BMW strike Hojo and ram the car into the roadside trees.
"Hojo!" she screamed. Screaming echoed in her ears, the shattering of glass. It fell everywhere, cutting into her hands as she held them up to shield her face. The crunch of metal, the screeching of tires. All of it was burned into her mind forever.
It was hot somewhere, there must have been a fire but she didn't see it. Smoke was circling the area and she choked as she fell to her knees. Kagome made her way to the crash by crawling. For a moment, she forgot about the cell phone in her back pocket, but when she remembered, she quickly dialed 9-1-1. She didn't approach the offending car, she was looking for Hojo.
Because she had been yelling at the operator, Kagome hadn't noticed Hojo was laying there at first. But when she saw him, on the ground in a pool of blood-his blood-she dropped the phone and crawled to him. Glassy eyes the color of chocolate looked up at her. She took his hand as his chest rose and fell for the last few times.
"Hojo," she sobbed. "It's me, it's Kagome." There was no recognition that he heard her. No blinking of the eyes nor movement of the lips. "You can't die on me Hojo. You can't leave me alone. Please!" His breath came out in a low hiss, eyelids fluttered closed, and his chest didn't rise again. "No, Hojo!"
"Hojo!" Kagome screamed, throwing off her blanket and sitting up in bed. Cold sweat had broken out all over her body and tears had fallen from her eyes. Kagome took several deep breaths, willing her heart to stop beating so fast. But even though her heart rate was down, Kagome raced from her bed to the bathroom.
Inuyasha waited in the parking lot until the second bell, hoping to grab Kagome before homeroom. Now that she had had a weekend to cool off, he wanted to apologize properly. The only catch was that Kagome wasn't in school. Rin was the one to tell him as she leaned against the doorway beside him just before the last bell rang. Kagome was sick and couldn't come to school. He hoped that he wasn't the cause of that.
The truth was, he had nothing to do with it. Kagome had been caught in the bathroom once again by her father, and he made her stay home from school the next day. Everyone started worrying about Kagome again. Poor, sweet Kagome who never seemed to do anything right. Monday's activities included sleeping, hiding under her pillows, sleeping, watching old reruns of NYPD Blue, and sleeping some more. There was one point where she tried to play her guitar, but it had felt strange in her hands. Like she shouldn't touch something like that when feeling as low as she did. If she didn't feel as guilty and shameful as she did.
The rest of the week passed along those lines. Rin and Sango did their best to cheer her up, and Kagome loved them for it, but she was just too far down the self-pity trail to come back so easily. Neither of the other girls knew what was really wrong wit Kagome. They knew that something bad had happened to Kagome before she had moved, she had hinted at something but never told them what exactly. Whatever it was, that was Kagome's prerogative to keep it to herself. But Rin and Sango would be damned if they let her miss out on holiday festivities because of bad memories.
The trip to New York was still planned for Saturday, trouble was that the girls needed to get other people to come with them in order to get permission to go. Preferably someone older, and more mature. That was when they enlisted aid, and it was not cheaply given.
"You want me to go to New York with you?" Miroku asked Sango with wide and suspicious eyes. "Is this some kind of a trick?"
"No trick," she assured him. "It's just that, Kagome's been feeling so down and we want to cheer her up."
"She's always saying how she wants to go see the tree in New York," Rin added. "But we can't go unless we get other people to come with us."
"But why me?" Miroku asked again.
"We want you to persuade Inuyasha and Sesshomaru to come with us too," Sango said at last, glaring at Rin from the corner of her eye. Oh, she'd hate this once it was over. "Please, Miroku?" Sango asked, pouting slightly and trying her best not to wince. Sango was not the kind of girl to rely on the weakness of her sex, but that was the only card she had over Miroku.
"One condition," he said at last. "And I can't make any guarantees because those brothers are freaks and could refuse."
"What's the condition?" Rin asked.
"Sango has to spend the majority of the trip with me." He grinned in triumph. Sango looked like she was going to have a stroke.
"Deal," Rin agreed and steered Sango off before she came to her senses again.
"Oh, I'm good," Miroku commented to himself with a smug smile and went off in search of his friend.
He found Inuyasha same place he always was once school let out, laying on the hood of Sesshomaru's car. It was the one thing Sesshomaru hated the most--when people touched his car. Especially Inuyasha. "Hey Inuyasha," Miroku said cheerily, trying to come up with a tactful way of getting this done. "What are you doing tomorrow?"
"Cartoons, man," Inuyasha replied without getting up. "New Teen Titans."
"To hell with that," Miroku said suddenly, pulling Inuyasha off the car by his ankles. "Come to New York with me."
"What?" Inuyasha asked, hitting the ground hard and two seconds before he vowed to kill Miroku with the fire of a thousand suns.
"I'm going to New York tomorrow afternoon, to go see the tree. Come with us."
"Who's 'we'?"
"Damn," Miroku thought to himself. "Let it slip. Oh well." "Me and the girls, Sango, Rin, and Kagome. Come with us?"
Inuyasha shrugged once and brushed himself off. "Sure, why not?"
Miroku only blinked back at him. Since when was Inuyasha so meek? Today really was a freaky day. "Do, ah, Do you think you could get Sesshomaru to come?"
"Why would you want him to come?" Inuyasha said with a raised eyebrow.
"Rin's idea."
"Ah, well, I don't know. I'll have to ask him."
"Ask him what?" Sesshomaru commented, unlocking the driver's side door and then unlocking the backseat for his two passengers.
"Want to come to New York with us tomorrow?" Miroku asked. "Rin asked me to ask you and 'Yash. Therefore I ask."
"I have nothing better to do," Sesshomaru said after a minute of consideration. "I guess someone has to make sure you two idiots don't get arrested."
"Shut up Fluffy," Inuyasha grumbled.
"Inuyasha," Sesshomaru said in warning, holding up his cell phone.
"Ok, ok, I'm sorry. Just don't call Mom!"
"Thank you."
Kagome really did not want to go now that she knew Inuyasha was going to be there. Why did they have to invite him, of all people! She didn't care if she ever saw the Christmas Tree. She didn't want to have anything to do with him, not after he read her notebook. The small fact that he had read the most insightful bits of her mind made Kagome feel extremely exposed when around him.
But Rin and Sango could not take no for an answer. They showed up at the Shrine at noon on Saturday, just as promised, and kidnapped her away to the bus station with a promise to her parents that they would be home by midnight. The bus station was where they met the boys. Sesshomaru had been the one to suggest the bus. He'd been to New York the most times out of any of them, and knew that the bus was a much safer route than driving there yourself.
Sango, as per the agreement, sat with Miroku in the back of the bus. Every now and then during the drive, you'd hear a shout of 'pervert' and a loud thud. Once Miroku landed three rows up the aisle and had to crawl back to his seat. Kagome watched in amusement, listening to her Finch cd on her headphones during the ride.
When they reached the station, Sesshomaru took charge. "Okay people, let me lay down a few rules." Inuyasha groaned and was given a dark glare. "I still have my cell phone." That shut up the younger brother. "As I was saying, I don't want anyone getting lost, so never wander off on your own. There are six of us, so it would be best to walk in pairs of two."
"Anything else?" Inuyasha asked in a sarcastically nice way.
"Yes," his brother replied smoothly. "No buying anything illegal. Do doing anything that could get you arrested. Miroku, try to refrain from grabbing New York's female population."
"Don't worry," the junior piped up. "With Sango around, I don't need to grope anyone else." Sango blushed, looking a mixture of flattered and disgusted.
"Yes well," Sesshomaru said with a shrug. "Just attempt to pretend you have manners."
"Will do boss," Inuyasha said, snapping off a salute. Sesshomaru rolled his eyes and started walking off. Rin fell into step beside him. Sango ran off after them, Miroku hot on the trail. Thus left Kagome and Inuyasha together. "And then there were two," he quipped.
"She left me, little fink," Kagome crowed, vowing eternal revenge on Rin.
"Sorry I'm not the most glittering of company," Inuyasha said, looking slightly wounded.
"You read my notebook," Kagome said with narrowed eyes. "Did you expect me to thank you?"
"It's not like I stole it!" he retorted. "You dropped it, I picked it up. I was only flipping through some of the pages to see who it belonged to." It wasn't a complete lie. He knew who it belonged to right off, but he had wanted to see what really made this girl tick.
Kagome flushed. "My name is on the inside cover," she said hotly. "It's hard to miss."
"I read it backwards!"
"Why?!"
"Mango overdose!" he cried. Kagome blinked at him. Inuyasha was the picture of outrage, and yet, he looked…comical. His eyebrow twitched as if he was trying very, very hard not to do her physical harm. There was just something about the way he stood that made her want to laugh. So she did. She laughed right in his face. Inuyasha only blinked, anger dissipating. Why the hell was she laughing at him?
"Hey, lagers," Sesshomaru called. "Let's pick up the pace a little."
Kagome felt a million times better. Sometimes, a person only needs a good laugh to shed a large burden. In this case, Inuyasha was both the cause and solution. For some odd reason, that didn't bother her. In fact, she kind of liked that about him. At least spending the day with Inuyasha wouldn't be boring. With a smile, she grabbed his hand in her own. He stared from there joined hands to her smile.
"Let's go, before we get left behind."
"Ok," was his lame response. Inuyasha realized it right then. Kagome Higurashi was out of her mind, and he would never understand one thing about her. That was when he started to like her.
After an afternoon of roaming the city, eating at a nice little Italian restaurant, and taking one of those horse carriages around the park, the six teenagers made it to the Center just as the sky turned dark. All the lights were on and music played through speakers around the ice rink. It was a sight that was even better than any on TV. It took Kagome's breath away. Her face conveyed that same innocent pleasure as a child seeing their first Christmas tree. This was hardly her first tree, but it felt like it was.
Rin and Sango patted themselves on the back, happy that they had cheered Kagome back to her old self. She held clasped hands in front of her chest and smiled broadly up at the others. "Can we skate? Pretty please?" she begged.
"Yeah, come on," Sango agreed, grabbing one of Kagome's elbows. Rin grabbed the other one and the three girls ran off toward the ice rink.
"Do you know how to skate?" Sango asked Kagome as they neared the skate rental both. "Being from Florida and all."
"Yeah. Where I used to live, they had a skate rink in the winters. I would go there almost every weekend with Eri and Hojo." The mention of his name made her throat tighten, but even the horror of what had happened to her friend would not take away the magic that had flooded her.
"I can't wait to see your skills then," Rin challenged, renting herself a pair of skates and sitting on a bench to change her footwear. Neither she nor Sango had noticed any change in Kagome, for which the third girl was grateful.
"You'll be sorry," Kagome retorted, renting her own pair and preparing for the ice.
"I'm the worst skater in the world, so don't mind me," Sango said with a laugh.
"It's true," Rin giggled. "Sango has no balance."
"Then I guess I'll have to help her," Miroku said, coming up behind them. He had rented himself a pair of skates and sat down next to Sango to change into them. She looked halfway between embarrassed and relieved. As Kagome suspected, Sango really did like Miroku, but was very lax in showing her affection. "I used to play hockey, so I'm pretty good on the ice."
"But I'm better," Inuyasha bragged, already in his skates. "Ready to go?" he asked Kagome as he headed for the ice.
"You do know that you'll never beat me," she taunted, getting up and following after him. "See you guys on the ice," she waved to her friends.
"Since when did she want to spend time with Inuyasha?" Rin asked as she watched them.
"Metamorphosis takes most people by surprise," Sesshomaru said lightly as he laced up his remaining skate. "I haven't been on these since I was ten."
"Don't worry," Rin teased. "I won't let you fall."
"How very comforting." Sango and Miroku had already headed to the ice, so the two of them headed out as well. Rin and Sesshomaru chose to skate slow near the center of the ring. Sango and Miroku were near the edge so Sango could hold on to the wall. Miroku skated backwards, holding one of her hands so she wouldn't fall. Inuyasha and Kagome were speed skating, whizzing in and out of others, trying to get the better of each other. One of the rink officials had warned them twice to slow down, or they'd be thrown out. So they settled into a leisurely pace.
"So," Inuyasha began, trying to think of clever conversation. Kagome only flashed him a smile, as if to say that she didn't mind if he wasn't clever or brilliant just right then. He felt a little more at ease. "Christmas is next week," he commented, looking up at the towering tree as they passed it. "What do you want?"
"I don't know," Kagome replied. She swayed a little to the song Silent Night, closing her eyes and skating confidently. "My grandfather has been asking me that since I got here and I still don't know."
"Then you should definitely think of something," he teased. "There are a million and one things you could ask for and never get, just to get them off your back."
"Sounds like you speak from experience," she said with a sly grin. Inuyasha shrugged.
"That usually backfires for me. They'll end up getting me one of those over-the-hill presents that I put down for the hell of it."
"Such as?" Kagome asked curiously.
"Hmm," Inuyasha thought, scratching his chin. "Last year's was Icelandic rap music. The year before that was the box set of anime that could be played in German. The year before that--"
"Okay," Kagome interrupted. "I get the idea." Inuyasha flashed her a rueful smile.
"What about you?" he asked. "What'd you get last year?"
"Let's see, I got clothes and gift cards. My little brother gave me this music book so I could write down notes for my songs. The rest was a few little things from my parents, Grandpa, and my two friends."
"Sounds like you get good stuff," he commented.
"Yeah, they all know we really well." She smiled, but it faded when she saw the little bit of sadness that glowed in his gold eyes. It made her think that he may not have it as easy as everyone assumed he did. "Your family isn't that close, are they?"
Ha shook his head and skated a step in front of her. Kagome followed. "My Mom and I are pretty close. Me and Fluffy, we fight a lot, but I guess we're like most siblings."
"Yep, me and my brother fight a lot too," she offered, trying to cheer him up.
"My father and I don't get along well," he confided. "He's always been prouder of Sesshomaru and he thinks I'm some kind of worthless reject."
"I'm sure that's not true," Kagome insisted. "You might not get along with him, but he's your father. All parents love their children."
"All parents?" he challenged and Kagome shrunk away. She didn't trust herself to go further. She didn't want to get close to this boy and she didn't want him to get close to her. He reminded her far too much of Hojo. A ruder, badder, more attractive version…but he had that wounded deer look in his eyes. She had a feeling that Inuyasha had a lot more scars than she could ever know. So she let the argument drop and skated off ahead.
"You're doing great Sango, just stay with me," Miroku urged.
Sango wobbled, almost ready to fall over, but Miroku held her up. "I remember this being more fun when I was a kid," she grumbled.
"You only say that because you haven't found your ice legs yet," he teased her.
"Ice legs?"
"Yeah, where you feel comfortable on the ice. Like sailors have sea legs and land people have land legs, I have ice legs. We just need to help you find yours."
"What if I don't want ice legs," she complained. "I'd be much happier being a land legger all my life!"
"You say that now, but you'll come around eventually."
"No I won't."
"Yes you will."
"Shut up you pervert," Sango yelled, about ready to take off her skate and stab him with it if his hand wandered one more time.
"Sorry," he apologized for the millionth time. "My hands have minds of their own."
Sango snorted. "Well start thinking with the head above your waist, or you'll lose the one below it." Miroku gulped and nodded.
That was when Sango stumbled , her feet moving fast, trying to keep her upright but failing. Instead of falling backward, Sango succeeded in falling forward, on to Miroku. They both tumbled to the ice, Miroku breaking Sango's fall and Sango pinning Miroku to the ice. They were like that for a few, very long seconds.
"Much…as I love you on top of me…Sango…you're…crushing my lungs," Miroku wheezed. Sango quickly scrambled off of him and sat hard on the ice beside him, blushing crimson. Miroku sat up, rubbing the back of his head.
"I'm sorry," Sango was quick to apologize.
"See, you need to find your ice legs," Miroku said with a smile. "Or you'll end up killing us both." Sango blushed lightly now and smiled back at him. Miroku got up and cracked his back, then leaned down to help Sango up. "Come on, my girl, or you'll freeze to the ice." Sango got up and faltered again, falling against Miroku again, but not with enough force to knock him over this time. "If you're just doing this because you want to hug me, feel free to do so whenever you like," Miroku flirted with a smile.
Sango only smiled and shook her head. "Is that all you ever think about?"
"Basically," he admitted. A fool he was, but he was an honest fool.
Sango could never be sure why exactly she leaned forward that little bit. Maybe it was the lights of the Christmas tree behind her. Maybe it was because she had just noticed that they were passing the mistletoe arch. Maybe it was just the magic of the season and the light flurries that had just begun to fall. All she knew was that one second she was having a perfect flirt with Miroku, and the next she was having a perfect kiss with Miroku.
Many skaters went past them as they stood there together. Among those very skaters was Inuyasha and Kagome, who were deep in conversation and didn't notice. And the others were Rin and Sesshomaru who saw, but looked away out of respect.
"Never in a thousand years would I think that Sango would make out with Miroku in public," Rin commented with a smile. "At least before they started dating."
"It was only a matter of time," Sesshomaru commented. "You could tell that both of them wanted to whenever they were near one another."
"How did you know?" Rin asked in surprise.
"Miroku is a simple boy, one I've know several years since he's been Inuyasha's friend. He has never loved any woman before, or at least he's never favored one. Sango is his muse, if you will. I can not tell you the times I've heard him simply run on in conversation about her for no reason what so ever." Rin giggled and shook her head. "As for Sango, you could look at her face and know that she harbored some feelings for the boy. My guess is that she's never had much male attention before."
"Not really," Rin agreed. "Her mother died when she was little. Her father raised her pretty much like a boy, with her little brother. All the guys we've ever known has just seen her as another one of them, except for Miroku. First time he met her, in the seventh grade, he shook her hand and rubbed her ass at the same time."
Sesshomaru shook his head in shame. "One day he'll be sued for sexual harassment and I'm not going to be surprised in the least."
Rin laughed and grabbed on to his arm as a speed skater flew by and almost knocked her over. Sesshomaru steadied her and Rin found her balance again. "Thanks."
"Of course."
Rin and Sesshomaru skated on in silence for another minute before Rin voiced a question. "So Sesshomaru, what are you going to do when you graduate this year? I bet you could get into any school you wanted."
"Probably," Sesshomaru remarked. "All my father has to do is make a call and I'm there. But I'm not sure where I want to go yet."
"Do you know what you want to study?"
Sesshomaru looked down at her. Rin watched him with fixated fascination. There would be no mocking from the soft-spoken girl who could play the drums and writing music like a professional. He had no doubt what she wanted to do. He was unused to sharing much information about himself, but Rin made him fell comfortable, more like himself than some icy genius like he was seen as.
"I want to be a psychologist," he said after a pause. "I think I could really help people."
"That's a very noble ambition," Rin assured him.
"I can tell a lot about a person by the way they look. Body movement and facial expression shows a lot about a person's inner workings. But the eyes tell the most."
"Eyes are the window to the soul," Rin quoted. "That's a talent worthy of being a psychologist, Sesshomaru."
"Thank you Rin," he said quietly, looking ahead as a small smile crossed his face. Rin slipped her arm through his as they continued skating.
After a few hours more of skating and walking and snacking, the six teenagers filed back to the bus station to catch their ride home. Miroku and Sango took their seats at the back once more, but this time there were no cries of pervert, and Miroku was not thrown down the aisle. Kagome was almost disappointed, it would have distracted her from the fact that Rin was sitting with Sesshomaru this time and Inuyasha was on her left.
"Listen," he began after they had been driving in silence for some time. "I'm sorry about before," he apologized.
"It's forgotten," Kagome said cheerily, turning up the volume on her cd player. He didn't look convinced and she didn't want to talk. With a sigh, he turned away and stared out the dark window. Kagome felt guilty about shunning him, she was a kind soul after all. Still looking away, she reached over and took his hand in her own.
Inuyasha looked up, but Kagome wasn't looking at him. Her warm hand had curled around his own cold hand and she laced her fingers through his. It was a uncommon gesture, but one he welcomed. Maybe she wasn't mad at him. Maybe it was something else. He squeezed her hand lightly, a small comfort saying You aren't alone. Kagome answered by running her thumb over the back of his hand, as if to say I know.
They were silent all the way home, and when the bus reached their station, the six parted ways to return to their respective homes. Kagome saw the secret smiles shared by Miroku and Sango. There was something going on their that brought a smile to her own face. Sesshomaru and Rin parted on good terms, smiling happily at one another in an easy way. She and Inuyasha parted in their own quiet way. He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. It made her shiver. Then he left and Kagome felt cold and alone, even when Rin and Sango dragged her to the car. It was then that she truly began to realize that, without her really knowing what was happening, she was starting to like Inuyasha and that was a fact that frightened her.
A/N: Here we are, the end of chapter 5. I'll get 6 out as early as I can tomorrow. 7 will come either late on the 24th or as early as I possibly can on Christmas day. Just to let you all know, the entire Hojo situation will be explained in the next chapter. And I'm sorry I didn't get this chapter out yesterday, but I recently acquired the flu and have been on my couch the past two days with only a box of tissues and some orange juice. Your reviews will give me strength!
P.S.: To Whom It May Concern: I would have had this chapter posted three hours ago, or sooner! But there was a car accident two streets down that took out a telephone pole. Yes, I was without power for most of the evening, so I am sorry this chapter was delayed even further….