I ran so fast that later, the track coach asked me if I'd like to try out
for the team.
But Sango was wrong an all three accounts. Mother Kaede wasn't dead. Neither was Kouga.
And there'd been nothing accidental about it.
As near as anyone could figure out, what happened was this: Kouga went into the principal's office for something- nobody knew what. A late pass, maybe, since he'd missed Assembly- but not, as I'd hoped, because Mother Kaede had got hold of him. Kouga had been standing in front of the secretary's desk beneath the giant Buddha statue Miroku told me, would weep tears of blood if a virgin ever graduated from here (the secretary hadn't been there, she'd been out serving coffee to the cops who were still hanging around the courtyard) when the six-foot-tall Buddha suddenly came loose from the wall. Mother Kaede opened her office door just in time to see it falling, where it surely would have crushed Kouga's skull. But because Mother Kaede shoved him to safety, it succeeded only in delivering a glancing blow that crushed Kouga's collarbone.
Unfortunately, Mother Kaede ended up taking the weight of the fallen cross herself. It pinned her to the office floor, smashing most of her ribs, and breaking on of her legs.
Mrs. Walden and a bunch of the teachers tried to get us to go to class instead of crowding the breezeway, watching for Mother Kaede and Kouga to emerge from the principal's office. Some people went when they threatened everyone with detention, but not me. I didn't care if I got detention. I had to make sure they were all right. The same teacher who had blocked my entrance to Mother Kaede's office earlier that day, said something about how maybe Miss Higurashi didn't realize how unpleasant detention here could be. I assured her that if she was threatening corporal punishment, I would tell my mother, who was a local news anchorwoman and would be over here with a TV camera so fast, nobody would have time to chant a single little prayer thing.
She was pretty quiet after that.
It was shortly after this that I found Dumb pressed up pretty close to me. I looked down and said, "What are YOU doing here?" since the little kids are supposed to stay way on the other side of the school.
"I want to see if he's all right." Dumb's freckles were standing out, he was so pale.
"You're going to get in trouble," I warned him. Teachers were busy writing people up.
"I don't care," Dumb said. "I want to see."
I shrugged. He was a funny kid, that Dumb. He wasn't anything like his big brothers, and it wasn't because of his red hair either. I remembered Dumberer's teasing comment about the car key's and "Shippo's ghost," and wondered how much, if anything, Dumb knew about what had been going on lately at his school.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, they came out. Kouga was first, strapped onto a stretcher and moaning, I'm sorry to say, like a bit of a baby. I've had plenty of broken and dislocated bones, and believe me it hurts, but not enough to lie there moaning. Usually when I get hurt, I don't even notice. Like last night, for instance. When I'm really hurt all I can do is laugh because it hurts so much that it's actually funny.
Okay I have to admit I sort of stopped liking Kouga so much when I saw him acting like such a baby...
Especially when I saw Mother Kaede, who the paramedics wheeled out next. She was unconscious; her white hair sort of flopped over in a sad way, a jagged cut, partially covered by gauze, over her right eye. I hadn't eaten any breakfast in my haste to get to school, and I have to admit the sight of poor Mother Kaede with her eyes closed and her glasses gone, made me feel a little woozy.
In fact I might have swayed a little on my feet, and probably would have fallen over if Dumb hadn't grabbed my hand and said confidently, "I know. The sight of blood makes me sick too."
But it wasn't the sight of Mother Kaede's blood seeping through the bandage on her head that had made me sick. It was the realization that I had failed. I had failed miserably. It was only dumb blind luck that Ayame hadn't succeeded in killing them both. It was only because of Mother Kaede's quick thinking that she and Kouga were alive. It was no thanks to me. No thanks to me whatsoever.
Because if I had handled things better the night before it wouldn't have happened. It wouldn't have happened at all.
That's when I got mad. I mean REALLY mad.
Suddenly I knew what I had to do. I looked down at Dumb. "Is there a computer here at school? One with Internet access?"
"Sure," Dumb said, looking surprised. "In the library. Why?"
I dropped his hand. "Never mind. Go back to class."
"Kagome..."
"Anyone who isn't in his or her classroom in one minute," than REALLY annoying teacher said, imperiously, "will be suspended indefinitely!"
Dumb tugged on my sleeve.
"What's going on?" he wanted to know. "Why do you need a computer?"
"Nothing," I said. Behind the wrought iron gate that led to the parking lot, the paramedics slammed the doors to the ambulance in which they'd loaded Mother Kaede and Kouga. A second later, they were pulling away in a whine of sirens and a flurry of flashing lights. "Just... it's stuff you wouldn't understand, Shippo. It isn't scientific."
Dumb said, with no small amount of indignation, "I can understand lots of stuff that isn't scientific. Music for instance. I've taught myself to play Chopin on my electronic keyboard at home. That isn't scientific. The appreciation of music is purely emotional as is the appreciation of art. I can understand art and music. So come on, Kagome," he said. "You can tell me. Does it have anything to do with... what we were talking about the other night?"
I turned to gaze down at him in surprise. He shrugged. "It was a logical conclusion. I made a cursory examination of the statue- cursory because I was unable to approach it closely as I would have liked thanks to the crime scene tape and evidence team- and was unable to discern any saw marks or other indication of how the head was severed. There is no possible way bronze can be cut that cleanly without the use of some sort of heavy machinery, but such machinery would never fit through..."
"Mr. Higurashi!" a teacher sounded-guess who it was- like she meant business. "Would you like to be written up?"
Shippo looked irritated. "No," he said.
"No, what?"
"No, Ma'am." he looked back at me, apologetically. "I guess I better go. But can we talk more about this tonight at home? I found out some stuff about- well, what you asked me. You know." He widened his eyes meaningfully. "About the house."
"Oh," I said. "Great. Okay."
"Mr. Higurashi!"
Shippo turned to look at her. "Hold on a minute, okay, ma'am? I'm trying to have a conversation here."
All of the blood left the middle-aged woman's face. It was incredible.
She reacted as childishly as if she were the twelve-year-old, and not Shippo.
"Come with me, young man," she said, seizing hold of Shippo's ear. "I can see your new stepsister has put some pretty big ideas into your head about how a boy speaks to his elders..."
Shippo let out a noise like a wounded animal, but went along with the woman, hunched up like a shrimp; he was in so much pain. I swear I wouldn't have done anything- anything at all- if I hadn't suddenly noticed Ayame standing just inside the gate, laughing her head off.
"Oh, God," she cried, gasping a little, she was laughing so hard. "If you could have seen your face when you heard Kouga was dead! I swear! It was the funniest thing I've ever seen!" She stopped laughing long enough to toss her long hair and say, "you know what? I think I'm going to clobber a few more people with stuff today. Maybe I'll start with that little guy over there..."
I stepped toward her. "You lay one hand on my brother, and I'll stuff you right back into that grave you crawled out of."
Ayame only laughed, but Miss Toriyama- I found out her name later- thought I was talking to her. She let go of Shippo so fast you'd have thought the kid suddenly caught on fire.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"
Miss Toriyama was turning sort of purple. Behind her, Ayame laughed delightedly. "Oh, now you've done it. Detention for a week!"
And just like that, she disappeared, leaving behind yet another mess for me to clean up.
As much to my surprise as, I think, her own, Miss Toriyama could only stare at me. Shippo stood there rubbing his ear and looking bewildered. I said as quickly as I could, "we'll go back to our classrooms now. We were only concerned about Mother Kaede, and wanted to see her off."
Miss Toriyama continued to stare at me. She didn't say anything. She was a big lady, not quite as tall as me in my two-inch-heels- I was wearing black batgirl boots- but much wider, with exceptionally large breasts.
I guess it was at that time when Shippo stopped being "Dumb", and started being Shippo.
"Don't worry," I told him, just before we parted ways because he looked so worried and cute and all with his red hair and freckles and sticky-outy ears. I reached out and rumpled some of that red hair. "Everything will be all right."
Shippo looked up at me. "How do you KNOW?" he asked.
I took my hand away.
Because, of course, the truth was I didn't. Know everything was going to be all right, I mean. Far from it as a matter of fact.
A/N: Okay, well that was a quick update. Don't expect another chapter until next weekend though, that is, unless I have a bunch of free time this week. I can almost guarantee you though, that I wont.
In the next chapter, Kagome hangs out with Miroku and Sango, notices some "tension" as far as who likes who and all, and then visits Kouga in the hospital.
But Sango was wrong an all three accounts. Mother Kaede wasn't dead. Neither was Kouga.
And there'd been nothing accidental about it.
As near as anyone could figure out, what happened was this: Kouga went into the principal's office for something- nobody knew what. A late pass, maybe, since he'd missed Assembly- but not, as I'd hoped, because Mother Kaede had got hold of him. Kouga had been standing in front of the secretary's desk beneath the giant Buddha statue Miroku told me, would weep tears of blood if a virgin ever graduated from here (the secretary hadn't been there, she'd been out serving coffee to the cops who were still hanging around the courtyard) when the six-foot-tall Buddha suddenly came loose from the wall. Mother Kaede opened her office door just in time to see it falling, where it surely would have crushed Kouga's skull. But because Mother Kaede shoved him to safety, it succeeded only in delivering a glancing blow that crushed Kouga's collarbone.
Unfortunately, Mother Kaede ended up taking the weight of the fallen cross herself. It pinned her to the office floor, smashing most of her ribs, and breaking on of her legs.
Mrs. Walden and a bunch of the teachers tried to get us to go to class instead of crowding the breezeway, watching for Mother Kaede and Kouga to emerge from the principal's office. Some people went when they threatened everyone with detention, but not me. I didn't care if I got detention. I had to make sure they were all right. The same teacher who had blocked my entrance to Mother Kaede's office earlier that day, said something about how maybe Miss Higurashi didn't realize how unpleasant detention here could be. I assured her that if she was threatening corporal punishment, I would tell my mother, who was a local news anchorwoman and would be over here with a TV camera so fast, nobody would have time to chant a single little prayer thing.
She was pretty quiet after that.
It was shortly after this that I found Dumb pressed up pretty close to me. I looked down and said, "What are YOU doing here?" since the little kids are supposed to stay way on the other side of the school.
"I want to see if he's all right." Dumb's freckles were standing out, he was so pale.
"You're going to get in trouble," I warned him. Teachers were busy writing people up.
"I don't care," Dumb said. "I want to see."
I shrugged. He was a funny kid, that Dumb. He wasn't anything like his big brothers, and it wasn't because of his red hair either. I remembered Dumberer's teasing comment about the car key's and "Shippo's ghost," and wondered how much, if anything, Dumb knew about what had been going on lately at his school.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, they came out. Kouga was first, strapped onto a stretcher and moaning, I'm sorry to say, like a bit of a baby. I've had plenty of broken and dislocated bones, and believe me it hurts, but not enough to lie there moaning. Usually when I get hurt, I don't even notice. Like last night, for instance. When I'm really hurt all I can do is laugh because it hurts so much that it's actually funny.
Okay I have to admit I sort of stopped liking Kouga so much when I saw him acting like such a baby...
Especially when I saw Mother Kaede, who the paramedics wheeled out next. She was unconscious; her white hair sort of flopped over in a sad way, a jagged cut, partially covered by gauze, over her right eye. I hadn't eaten any breakfast in my haste to get to school, and I have to admit the sight of poor Mother Kaede with her eyes closed and her glasses gone, made me feel a little woozy.
In fact I might have swayed a little on my feet, and probably would have fallen over if Dumb hadn't grabbed my hand and said confidently, "I know. The sight of blood makes me sick too."
But it wasn't the sight of Mother Kaede's blood seeping through the bandage on her head that had made me sick. It was the realization that I had failed. I had failed miserably. It was only dumb blind luck that Ayame hadn't succeeded in killing them both. It was only because of Mother Kaede's quick thinking that she and Kouga were alive. It was no thanks to me. No thanks to me whatsoever.
Because if I had handled things better the night before it wouldn't have happened. It wouldn't have happened at all.
That's when I got mad. I mean REALLY mad.
Suddenly I knew what I had to do. I looked down at Dumb. "Is there a computer here at school? One with Internet access?"
"Sure," Dumb said, looking surprised. "In the library. Why?"
I dropped his hand. "Never mind. Go back to class."
"Kagome..."
"Anyone who isn't in his or her classroom in one minute," than REALLY annoying teacher said, imperiously, "will be suspended indefinitely!"
Dumb tugged on my sleeve.
"What's going on?" he wanted to know. "Why do you need a computer?"
"Nothing," I said. Behind the wrought iron gate that led to the parking lot, the paramedics slammed the doors to the ambulance in which they'd loaded Mother Kaede and Kouga. A second later, they were pulling away in a whine of sirens and a flurry of flashing lights. "Just... it's stuff you wouldn't understand, Shippo. It isn't scientific."
Dumb said, with no small amount of indignation, "I can understand lots of stuff that isn't scientific. Music for instance. I've taught myself to play Chopin on my electronic keyboard at home. That isn't scientific. The appreciation of music is purely emotional as is the appreciation of art. I can understand art and music. So come on, Kagome," he said. "You can tell me. Does it have anything to do with... what we were talking about the other night?"
I turned to gaze down at him in surprise. He shrugged. "It was a logical conclusion. I made a cursory examination of the statue- cursory because I was unable to approach it closely as I would have liked thanks to the crime scene tape and evidence team- and was unable to discern any saw marks or other indication of how the head was severed. There is no possible way bronze can be cut that cleanly without the use of some sort of heavy machinery, but such machinery would never fit through..."
"Mr. Higurashi!" a teacher sounded-guess who it was- like she meant business. "Would you like to be written up?"
Shippo looked irritated. "No," he said.
"No, what?"
"No, Ma'am." he looked back at me, apologetically. "I guess I better go. But can we talk more about this tonight at home? I found out some stuff about- well, what you asked me. You know." He widened his eyes meaningfully. "About the house."
"Oh," I said. "Great. Okay."
"Mr. Higurashi!"
Shippo turned to look at her. "Hold on a minute, okay, ma'am? I'm trying to have a conversation here."
All of the blood left the middle-aged woman's face. It was incredible.
She reacted as childishly as if she were the twelve-year-old, and not Shippo.
"Come with me, young man," she said, seizing hold of Shippo's ear. "I can see your new stepsister has put some pretty big ideas into your head about how a boy speaks to his elders..."
Shippo let out a noise like a wounded animal, but went along with the woman, hunched up like a shrimp; he was in so much pain. I swear I wouldn't have done anything- anything at all- if I hadn't suddenly noticed Ayame standing just inside the gate, laughing her head off.
"Oh, God," she cried, gasping a little, she was laughing so hard. "If you could have seen your face when you heard Kouga was dead! I swear! It was the funniest thing I've ever seen!" She stopped laughing long enough to toss her long hair and say, "you know what? I think I'm going to clobber a few more people with stuff today. Maybe I'll start with that little guy over there..."
I stepped toward her. "You lay one hand on my brother, and I'll stuff you right back into that grave you crawled out of."
Ayame only laughed, but Miss Toriyama- I found out her name later- thought I was talking to her. She let go of Shippo so fast you'd have thought the kid suddenly caught on fire.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"
Miss Toriyama was turning sort of purple. Behind her, Ayame laughed delightedly. "Oh, now you've done it. Detention for a week!"
And just like that, she disappeared, leaving behind yet another mess for me to clean up.
As much to my surprise as, I think, her own, Miss Toriyama could only stare at me. Shippo stood there rubbing his ear and looking bewildered. I said as quickly as I could, "we'll go back to our classrooms now. We were only concerned about Mother Kaede, and wanted to see her off."
Miss Toriyama continued to stare at me. She didn't say anything. She was a big lady, not quite as tall as me in my two-inch-heels- I was wearing black batgirl boots- but much wider, with exceptionally large breasts.
I guess it was at that time when Shippo stopped being "Dumb", and started being Shippo.
"Don't worry," I told him, just before we parted ways because he looked so worried and cute and all with his red hair and freckles and sticky-outy ears. I reached out and rumpled some of that red hair. "Everything will be all right."
Shippo looked up at me. "How do you KNOW?" he asked.
I took my hand away.
Because, of course, the truth was I didn't. Know everything was going to be all right, I mean. Far from it as a matter of fact.
A/N: Okay, well that was a quick update. Don't expect another chapter until next weekend though, that is, unless I have a bunch of free time this week. I can almost guarantee you though, that I wont.
In the next chapter, Kagome hangs out with Miroku and Sango, notices some "tension" as far as who likes who and all, and then visits Kouga in the hospital.