Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own it. Never will – except in my dreams.
Author's Notes: Nothing much going on here, I just wanted to apologize for the long wait. I was a bit busy, school plays, here and there… I just hope you didn't lose all your patience.
But um, I glad you guys didn't pelt me with tomatoes yet. ^.~;
Oh yes, I've currently taken up the obsession over Evangelion, and the pairing of Shinji/Asuka. It's a depressing anime, I know, but I love it. It's like my craving for coffee. It's bad, but it keeps you awake in the mornings, ya know?
Well, okay, here's the story.
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The Life of a Janitor
x Iced Insanity
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"You two will be washing the blackboards of every classroom on the west wing. If you don't finish your task before five o' clock, it will only result in an extra detention. Understand?" Myouga said, acting superior over the two of us for once. I had the urge to squash him like a bug… But no, my mother would be outraged, and therefore ground me for the rest of eternity. It is something to look forward to, ne?
"Yeah, whatever," Inuyasha said, next to me. I merely shrugged, heading outside. I left Inuyasha back at the room, expecting him to follow.
I was in a bad mood. Me? Clean blackboards? I, Kagome Higurashi, daughter of a multi-millionaire woman? I don't think so. I had servants to do this sort of shitty thing, but apparently I couldn't call on them to do my work now.
The janitors better be happy now, look at me, sacrificing my own good life and time to do their work. This is two freaking hours of my freaking teenage life, the certain part of my life where I stay and form my future! And what am I doing now? I am heading to the Janitors' closet to collect a bucket of rags and cleaning detergent, that's what.
"Oi! Kikyo!" I heard Inuyasha call, knowing that he meant me. My temper flared; I was seriously getting offended. First, his brother calls me by my sister's name, and now him? What, did I wear those introductory stickers that said, "Hello, My name is Kikyo"?
I checked my clothing apparel. Nope… Nothing on me that said Kikyo.
I rudely continued on walking, my gaze directed straight towards the Janitor's closet. The little bastard continued on following me, and calling me "Kikyo", which made me wonder how low his IQ was.
I heard his soft footsteps, and with each beat he gained more ground, getting faster and faster. I could tell he was pretty pissed; I wouldn't blame him, since he was actually ignored – he appeared to be a guy with a huge, but fragile ego, and I practically beat it to a pulp. Not that I'm cruel or anything… but because his ego was fragile. Mmm hmm.
Suddenly I felt his warm breath on the back of my neck, and before I could whirl around and tell the freak to get the hell away from me, he pinned me against the wall, his hand gripping the both of mine in a vice-like grip. I stared up at him with wide, astonished eyes, while his amber ones searched probingly at my face. His gaze stopped at my eyes, studying them, confused. That's probably the big difference between Kikyo and I – while she has her brown eyes, I have my… blue-and-brown hybrid ones. I don't know what you color you would call it; it's probably those co-dominant genes someone learns from Biology class.
He appeared lost, gazing at my face in somewhat of a daze. I glare at him anyway, giving no sympathy, because… well, hey! Look at me, with my hands pinned up behind my head, pressed up against the wall, with some creepy guy with dog ears just staring at me. I may be paranoid, but this is something that I would call an almost-rape.
"Why did you ignore me earlier?" He said, finally at last. He said this reluctantly, as if he weren't too sure of himself.
I smirked. Most people would consider him stupid, for his actions earlier, but for me, I just added him to my 'pure genius' list, for he was one of the few people who actually noticed one of mine and Kikyo's physical differences. We get confused with each other so much, and often we do get the saying… "You two girls look exactly alike!" At this statement, Kikyo would offer an offended, but polite smile, while I would merely roll my eyes and let out a snort.
It wasn't that I was some super-mega bitch or anything… I was – still am pissed about not being my own person.
I felt Inuyasha's grip tighten around my wrists, and I suddenly realized that – again, I had drifted off into La la land. I look up and start to give him an apologetic smile, and suddenly I think against it, realizing who I was smiling towards. I gave him a disgusted face, and struggled in his hold, which only became tighter as I did so.
"Answer me!" He commanded, while I, glaring up at him, forced myself to not spit at his face. But how tempting it was… Oh, how tempting it was to do so…
"Because you did not call out my name," I remarked instead, fighting my temper down to look up at him placidly. He appeared confused again, to my delight, gazing down at me with bewildered eyes.
"What?" He said, an eyebrow raised.
"What are you doing with my girl?!" Said a voice behind us, causing Inuyasha to jump and release me from his grip. I rubbed my wrists, gone white from my captor's tight hold. After sending a glare to the character mentioned, I turned my gaze to Kouga, smiling at him gratefully.
He had been carrying large packages from classroom to classroom, a task Myouga was probably too lazy to do, or just too suspicious of breaking his back to even bother to do. A box, probably weighing a ton because of a shitload of textbooks was in his arms. He appeared not to notice it, however…
"Will you stop talking about me as if I were an object?" I snorted, placing my hands on my hips.
"Do you know him, Kagome?" Kouga asked me, sizing Inuyasha up, probably considering whether to make an enemy or not.
"Um." I blinked stupidly. "Kikyo knows him…"
"And is this supposed to be good or bad news?" He asked, warily casting a concerned gaze over at me. I leaned against the wall, feeling like an overprotected child. This could be classified as sexism right here. I mean, hello! I can fend for myself against incorrigible jerks, thank you very much.
"Depends—" I started to say, until Inuyasha cut both of us off.
"Alright, alright! Will you two just shut up?!" He said. His arms were crossed in an arrogant manner. "I'm here, you know, and I can hear both of you – it's as if you were talking behind my back!"
"So?" Kouga asked coolly.
"Oh Kouga!" A feminine voice called from the hallway, and looking up, I noticed a redhead girl stand by a classroom door. She appeared to be relaxed, as if all she had been doing was sitting and ordering poor Kouga about. I looked at her and smiled, raising a hand to wave at her.
"Hey Ayame!" I greeted, while Kouga let out a loud groan. "Kouga is on his way – he's taking a breather, you know? Since he's too weak to—"
"I'm coming!" He suddenly hissed. Both him and I knew very well that he was a real butt-kicker, but when his dignity was at stake, especially with Ayame, Kouga would deny, deny, and deny. He cast a goodbye glance my way and started walking off, only stopping once to glance at Inuyasha.
"If I ever see you touch my girl ever again…" He hissed. "You'll be going through hell."
Inuyasha ignored this, his gaze directed towards Ayame, a skeptical eyebrow raised. "Who was she?"
"His girlfriend," I replied, smiling innocently up at him.
--
While the both of us cleaned the blackboards, I couldn't help but feel Inuyasha's gaze on me. I fidgeted uncomfortably, trying my best to ignore it. Opting to start a conversation, I switched my gaze to him, smiling softly, in a manner only Kikyo and I could have done.
"My sister talked about you, you know," I told him silently, while he busied himself at a blackboard next to the one I was cleaning. His amber eyed gaze flicked towards mine, nodding silently.
"From what I heard from her, you were quite a guy…" I said, squeezing the moist rag in my hands. Inuyasha's ears perked up a bit, betraying his I-could-care-less façade. Inwardly, I smiled in victory, for once capturing his attention.
"She said you were sweet, caring, and concerned…" I continued, and during this, his gaze met mine – head on, unflinching. "…But from what I see, you're just a dork. Shy, and quiet, ya know?"
"Feh," He crossed his arms arrogantly. "Just because I'm quiet doesn't mean that I'm shy. Ever heard of the saying… 'I'm only quiet because I don't like you'?"
"Oh yeah," I pretended to look dumbstruck for a moment. "But it's only a cheerleader-like saying, so I don't bother around with those. They're only a waste of my breath. I have better things to do than just sit there, polishing my nails and waving pom-poms."
"Really." He said. "You could have surprised me there."
I didn't bother to reply, and again we stood in silence, cleaning the boards. Kouga and Miroku popped in every once and awhile, to check in on me, their little Kagome. Inuyasha stood quietly with glaring eyes during the entire time – and I must say, I sort of felt bad for him. Being the new guy was probably not easy; I experienced being the new kid once or twice, but I had it easy because of Kikyo. Everybody knew me and accepted me because they loved my sister, so therefore bullying Kikyo's little sister was out of the question. And besides, doing anything that Kikyo would disapprove of would have been the deadliest sin they could have performed.
Kikyo was my shield, and at the same time the weapon of the enemy.
It's hard trying to step out of your elder sister's shadow.
"Do you have any friends here, Inuyasha?" I suddenly asked, surprising the both of us. He looked at me, and that intense gaze began, making me suddenly feel like a form of jell-o.
"What's it to you?" He said arrogantly, throwing his rag in his bucket. His eyes narrowed, arms crossing against his chest. I could tell I possibly hit a nerve, but I didn't fall back, I stood tall – er, as tall as I could get, that is.
"Nothing, I was just wondering," I shrugged, dropping my own rag into my bucket. I was finished with this classroom, and only just one more to go, before I went to archery lessons. Idly, I glanced at the clock in the room, peering at the time: 4:31.
"But you know…" I ventured into the earlier subject again, peering at Inuyasha from under my lashes. "My table is always free for you to sit at during lunch. I'm pretty sure my friends won't mind."
Oh, jee, Kagome, a point goes to you for being so damn blunt. I probably freaked the guy out – which wasn't such a surprise, I did it all the time, but there was something about him that didn't want him to run away. I just had these freakish intuitions, which could have been considered a gift, or a curse. It was like reading the end of a book before you ever knew what it was all about… In a way, it helped you, but it also spoiled your fun.
"Keh," I heard him say, and I smiled.
--
So her name was Kagome. I repeated the name over and over in my mind, watching her as she cleaned the blackboards. As she did so, she hummed a small little tune, as if she were in her own little world. She was strange… just so strange. So peaceful, so carefree, as if the world were just a happy place.
Maybe it was. Maybe she grew up in a sheltered life, not the one I had known. The world, in my perspective, was cold and cruel, without any close ally there by your side to protect you. It wasn't easy to see my parents slaughtered at the age of six. And, for these ten years, it's only been my brother Sesshomaru and me. Only this year, we found out that we did have an uncle – Myouga, a man who ran a very wealthy school under the multi-millionaire woman Higurashi. So we moved in with my uncle and my little cousin, Rin.
And then came the time when I met Kikyo. She showed us around our new school, stopping at this particular site or that, while I could only watch her, entranced. She showered me with smiles, but with Sesshomaru, she only showered him with more. I became jealous, and that moment I vowed to myself that she would be mine.
So when she came into detention today I thought I was in luck. My eyes followed her every single move as she walked in, and probably through this electro-magnetic thing she saw me. And we just stared at each other; one, two, three, and the gaze continued. I wished it could have continued forever, but apparently her thoughts were not the same.
Our gaze ended when she turned to the guy next to her, and the look in her eyes changed. I don't know what it was… love, affection, friendship? I yearned to have that gaze directed on me. And when she smiled at the guy, I yearned to have her smile at me. Only me.
When Uncle Myouga paired me up with her, I thought my day could get no better. I looked at her, and she looked at me; I felt something click. It was then that I knew she would be mine.
She walked out to the hallway, and I called out to her, but she did not respond. Baffled, I continued on following her, quickening my pace to catch up. She was a quick little buggar, that she was. I kept on calling out her name, but she did not reply. Was it something I have done? Or said?
So, desperate, I pinned her against the wall, and she stared at me with large eyes, and I stared at her back. There was something different about her eyes, though… At my first day of school, I noticed that she had these half lidded brown eyes, polite, but bored, like my brother. However, with her pinned up against the wall, I noticed that her eyes weren't as brown as I thought, or even half lidded.
They were wide, and staring. Yeah, they were brown, but so dark that I couldn't see the pupil. And it was a certain shade of brown that made me want to continue staring at her eyes… It was speckled with blue. The blue speckles, seemingly blended in with that brown, didn't stand out – one could only get a good look at them if you just… stared. I was entranced, in a daze.
When I asked her why she had ignored me earlier, she only glared at me. I felt my temper rise, and I'm pretty sure her own did too, because the look she gave me was deadly. It puzzled me. Kikyo didn't seem like the type to openly glare. Maybe… there was a certain side to her that I didn't notice yet.
I told her to answer me, a little bit too roughly. Almost immediately I felt ashamed, expecting a blow to the head, like my brother would have done. But she only looked at me calmly, and in a soft, but firm voice, she had said that she didn't call out her name. Right then, I took her as some mental invalid, for I had been calling her name incessantly, like some crazed lover who hadn't seen his beloved for all eternity.
I was going to ask her to repeat what she said, before we both got interrupted. Startled, I let go of her hands, and turned to the speaker. He seemed like a possessive fellow, glaring at me before his gaze slid over to Kikyo. There was something about his eyes that made me know that he wasn't just her friend, but more of a boyfriend. But the look Kikyo gave him was one of mere friendship… just as if he were a simple acquaintance.
I felt a low rumbling in my throat; I was going to growl… again. But something stopped me. The boy called her 'Kagome', and not Kikyo. I stared at her, startled, expecting her to retaliate and correct him. But she didn't.
Kagome is Kikyo's little sister.
I felt betrayed… somehow. Let down, like I've been on a long journey for many years, searching for something valuable, but once I got into reach for that valuable item, it was only torn away from me.
When Kouga left, leaving Kagome and I alone, she simply turned to me and sent me a soft smile. She led me through the corridors, starting with an empty, desolate classroom. With a cautious glance at her, I started my work, immersed in my thoughts. My thoughts were muddled, cloudy.
Kagome was different from Kikyo; so blunt, so… childish. I was a fool for not noticing the difference earlier. Though she probably may not have noticed, I snuck looks at her as she worked, studying her features, contrasting the two sisters from each other. Kikyo seemed always at peace, haunted, even. She knew the world, and all its hardships. Kikyo had a wisdom that an eighty-year-old would possess. Kagome, however, was like a hyperactive puppy, peering around the world with new eyes.
Kikyo was a person's friend from the start. With Kagome, she asked someone to be her friend, even though that someone already knew the answer. Which was a yes.
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Author's Notes: So how did you like it? Somehow I'm tempted to just throw my plot out the window and leave the story at that; just let you guys guessing. But I won't, I'll strive on and on. Just be patient for me, people, because writing again is getting harder than it used to be. =/
Thanks, and please review?
Onto searching for Evangelion fics! *giggles and skips away*