Disclaimer: The plot is mine. The Inuyasha isn't.
Chapter Four ~ Betrayal
'One week...' That thought continued to reverberate in Kagome's mind as she moved throughout the rest of the school day, her attention occupied with things more interesting than Shakespeare's plays. For Kami-sama's sake, the ancient poet didn't even talk right! All this fame, and he couldn't even come up with an insult better than, 'Thou vile scoundrel'?
She spent the entire English class passing notes with Kiyoshi, whose subtlety had to be admired. He could fold the most intricate designs with sheets of notebook paper, and he'd stuff them in places unheard of; the first message arrived shoved in the cap of his pen after she'd asked to borrow one.
Unfortunately, she was not as imaginative, nor as surreptitious, and before long...
"Higurashi! Hand me that note!"
Mentally, she groaned, and she heard Kiyoshi do it out loud, since the information they'd been discussing was rather...private. She woefully relinquished the paper, praying for the teacher not to read it out loud.
"Well, Higurashi, Taisho, I think as an example to the class, I will read your conversation out loud."
Heaven hated her.
"Please, sensei," Kagome begged, "I'll never do it again!"
"Yeah, neither will I! Just don't read it out loud!" Kiyoshi added frantically.
Glancing at the two students suspiciously, the professor scanned the contents of the note, his expression changing drastically from surprised to disgusted to delighted. "Why, this is too good to waste! I can't let you get by with only a warning. Perhaps I should photocopy this and tape it across the school! But first, let's let the class point out the grammatical errors."
Moving to the board, the teacher copied down every aspect of the message:
'Hey Kag!'
'Kiyoshi...we're not supposed to be passing notes...'
'Well, who listens to that asshole teaching, anyways? So, what's new?
'Not much...did you mean what you said earlier?'
'And what would that be?'
'Ugh! Kiyoshi! You know perfectly well what I'm talking about!'
'Well, firstly, was I a good kisser?'
As soon as the professor had finished that sentence, the entire class burst into laughter, Kagome's face turned a bright crimson, and Kiyoshi tried – futilely – to run out the door, but he was stopped by a hall monitor who pushed him back in the room.
"How...interesting. Don't worry, there's more," the teacher informed the class, trying not to snicker himself.
'Um...I guess...'
'You guess? Wow, you're really good for my ego.'
'Fine, you were! Happy now?'
'Delighted. And by the way, the answer to your previous question is
perhaps.'
'Damn it!'
'What? You were hoping for a firm negative?'
'Well...yes...because of, you know, Inuyasha...'
'Still bound to your bastard, I see.'
'Don't call him that!' 'Why? Sesshoumaru calls him that often enough. I reserve the privilege.'
'I suppose...'
'So, now that I've admitted that I love you, what's your decision?'
'My decision? It's' (A/N: At this point the note was intercepted.
MWAHAHAHA!)
Kagome was trying to hide behind Kiyoshi, who was trying to jump out the window. This resulted in somewhat of a precarious balance. The class was in hysterics by now, with the obvious exception of the two victims.
"I'm moving," Kagome muttered to Kiyoshi.
"Take me with you," he replied hopelessly.
*
"You love each other? That's so sweet!" Ayumi shrieked in delight, accosting Kiyoshi and Kagome during lunch.
"Um...Ayumi..."
"Yeah, really! And you never bothered telling us?" Yuka interrupted.
"Well, she told me! Except I never knew that Taisho loved you back!" Eri squealed.
"Higurashi?" a very hurt, very quiet voice asked.
'Oh, great. Kuso. How am I going to explain this?'
"Konnichiwa, Hojo," she replied wearily.
"Higurashi, was this the reason why you always have something else to do during our dates?"
Noticing that her friends were all sidling away during this growingly uncomfortable confrontation, she glanced at Kiyoshi for help, only to find that he'd followed the example of her other companions. Mentally reminding herself to kill all those betrayers once she escaped from Hojo, she quickly replied, "Of course not, Hojo. I just usually don't feel good. You know those spurts of sickness I get."
Brightening, he answered, "Of course! So is that date on Friday still on?"
"Well, actually, I feel sort of sick right now. I'll call you if I feel too bad on Friday, but I'll probably go with you!" she called cheerfully, though she had no intention of doing anything like that.
"All right, Higurashi! See you!" the clueless boy called, his smile back on his face.
'One down,' Kagome thought, 'Inuyasha to go.'
*
The rest of the day wasn't as bad as she'd assumed it would be. Managing to rip down the copies of her conversation with Kiyoshi as quickly as they were posted, only the students from her English class knew about their supposed romantic relationship.
As soon as she returned home, she threw herself in the shower, scrubbing off any trace of Kiyoshi's scent she may have had on her. Pulling on a simple t-shirt and pair of shorts, she grabbed her pack and moved to the well house.
She leapt in, but instead of the familiar disorientating swirl of the time portal, she smashed into the bottom of the well. Confused, her hand flew up to her throat, searching for the jewel shards.
Her hand encountered only bare skin.
Straightening, she glanced around for the chain, suspecting that she might have dropped it on her way. That was when she felt it: the presence of a large amount of the shards, moving towards her.
Other than Naraku, she thought she'd been the only one who possessed that many.
She scrambled out of the well, moving towards the door, but someone stepped in before she could do it.
"Kiyoshi?"
He held up his hand. A thin chain dangled there, along with the Shikon shards, glimmering faintly.
"Sorry, Kagome," he said quietly. "I thought you wouldn't notice, seeing as you were preoccupied with other things."
"That...was when you were kissing me," she whispered, staring in disbelief.
"I'm sorry," he reiterated. "But I don't want to die."
"You made me think you cared for me so you could steal the jewels?" she asked, her voice still soft. Betrayal followed her everywhere; Inuyasha running off to be with Kikyo, and now Kiyoshi, pledging his love to her so he could steal the one thing letting her communicate with the Feudal Era.
"Yes..." he admitted reluctantly.
"I've lost everything," she mumbled, reminiscing about Inuyasha's expression when he'd accused her of contacting Sesshoumaru. "Everything..."
Kiyoshi watched as she stumbled out of the wellhouse in a daze, her tears glistening like miniscule replicas of the jewel before slipping to the ground and shattering into a million tiny fragments.
*
He couldn't help but feel the guilt, after seeing the girl run out of the well. 'If anything,' he thought, 'I have to explain this to her companions before they think she's betrayed them.' It caused him to shudder momentarily at the thought that he was the betrayer, the one who'd stabbed a mental knife into her already fragile heart and twisted.
The well wouldn't accept him.
Peering more closely at the jewel fragments, he frowned. 'Why won't it let me through? If it has something to do with Kagome...'
Turning, he raced out of the wellhouse, only to see the dazed girl wander out into the street, unnoticing of the cars converging on either side of her.
That was a really short chapter. Sorry! However, it was also my first cliffie...although that situation has been stereotyped and all, I sorta ran out of ideas. ~Wolfshade
Chapter Four ~ Betrayal
'One week...' That thought continued to reverberate in Kagome's mind as she moved throughout the rest of the school day, her attention occupied with things more interesting than Shakespeare's plays. For Kami-sama's sake, the ancient poet didn't even talk right! All this fame, and he couldn't even come up with an insult better than, 'Thou vile scoundrel'?
She spent the entire English class passing notes with Kiyoshi, whose subtlety had to be admired. He could fold the most intricate designs with sheets of notebook paper, and he'd stuff them in places unheard of; the first message arrived shoved in the cap of his pen after she'd asked to borrow one.
Unfortunately, she was not as imaginative, nor as surreptitious, and before long...
"Higurashi! Hand me that note!"
Mentally, she groaned, and she heard Kiyoshi do it out loud, since the information they'd been discussing was rather...private. She woefully relinquished the paper, praying for the teacher not to read it out loud.
"Well, Higurashi, Taisho, I think as an example to the class, I will read your conversation out loud."
Heaven hated her.
"Please, sensei," Kagome begged, "I'll never do it again!"
"Yeah, neither will I! Just don't read it out loud!" Kiyoshi added frantically.
Glancing at the two students suspiciously, the professor scanned the contents of the note, his expression changing drastically from surprised to disgusted to delighted. "Why, this is too good to waste! I can't let you get by with only a warning. Perhaps I should photocopy this and tape it across the school! But first, let's let the class point out the grammatical errors."
Moving to the board, the teacher copied down every aspect of the message:
'Hey Kag!'
'Kiyoshi...we're not supposed to be passing notes...'
'Well, who listens to that asshole teaching, anyways? So, what's new?
'Not much...did you mean what you said earlier?'
'And what would that be?'
'Ugh! Kiyoshi! You know perfectly well what I'm talking about!'
'Well, firstly, was I a good kisser?'
As soon as the professor had finished that sentence, the entire class burst into laughter, Kagome's face turned a bright crimson, and Kiyoshi tried – futilely – to run out the door, but he was stopped by a hall monitor who pushed him back in the room.
"How...interesting. Don't worry, there's more," the teacher informed the class, trying not to snicker himself.
'Um...I guess...'
'You guess? Wow, you're really good for my ego.'
'Fine, you were! Happy now?'
'Delighted. And by the way, the answer to your previous question is
perhaps.'
'Damn it!'
'What? You were hoping for a firm negative?'
'Well...yes...because of, you know, Inuyasha...'
'Still bound to your bastard, I see.'
'Don't call him that!' 'Why? Sesshoumaru calls him that often enough. I reserve the privilege.'
'I suppose...'
'So, now that I've admitted that I love you, what's your decision?'
'My decision? It's' (A/N: At this point the note was intercepted.
MWAHAHAHA!)
Kagome was trying to hide behind Kiyoshi, who was trying to jump out the window. This resulted in somewhat of a precarious balance. The class was in hysterics by now, with the obvious exception of the two victims.
"I'm moving," Kagome muttered to Kiyoshi.
"Take me with you," he replied hopelessly.
*
"You love each other? That's so sweet!" Ayumi shrieked in delight, accosting Kiyoshi and Kagome during lunch.
"Um...Ayumi..."
"Yeah, really! And you never bothered telling us?" Yuka interrupted.
"Well, she told me! Except I never knew that Taisho loved you back!" Eri squealed.
"Higurashi?" a very hurt, very quiet voice asked.
'Oh, great. Kuso. How am I going to explain this?'
"Konnichiwa, Hojo," she replied wearily.
"Higurashi, was this the reason why you always have something else to do during our dates?"
Noticing that her friends were all sidling away during this growingly uncomfortable confrontation, she glanced at Kiyoshi for help, only to find that he'd followed the example of her other companions. Mentally reminding herself to kill all those betrayers once she escaped from Hojo, she quickly replied, "Of course not, Hojo. I just usually don't feel good. You know those spurts of sickness I get."
Brightening, he answered, "Of course! So is that date on Friday still on?"
"Well, actually, I feel sort of sick right now. I'll call you if I feel too bad on Friday, but I'll probably go with you!" she called cheerfully, though she had no intention of doing anything like that.
"All right, Higurashi! See you!" the clueless boy called, his smile back on his face.
'One down,' Kagome thought, 'Inuyasha to go.'
*
The rest of the day wasn't as bad as she'd assumed it would be. Managing to rip down the copies of her conversation with Kiyoshi as quickly as they were posted, only the students from her English class knew about their supposed romantic relationship.
As soon as she returned home, she threw herself in the shower, scrubbing off any trace of Kiyoshi's scent she may have had on her. Pulling on a simple t-shirt and pair of shorts, she grabbed her pack and moved to the well house.
She leapt in, but instead of the familiar disorientating swirl of the time portal, she smashed into the bottom of the well. Confused, her hand flew up to her throat, searching for the jewel shards.
Her hand encountered only bare skin.
Straightening, she glanced around for the chain, suspecting that she might have dropped it on her way. That was when she felt it: the presence of a large amount of the shards, moving towards her.
Other than Naraku, she thought she'd been the only one who possessed that many.
She scrambled out of the well, moving towards the door, but someone stepped in before she could do it.
"Kiyoshi?"
He held up his hand. A thin chain dangled there, along with the Shikon shards, glimmering faintly.
"Sorry, Kagome," he said quietly. "I thought you wouldn't notice, seeing as you were preoccupied with other things."
"That...was when you were kissing me," she whispered, staring in disbelief.
"I'm sorry," he reiterated. "But I don't want to die."
"You made me think you cared for me so you could steal the jewels?" she asked, her voice still soft. Betrayal followed her everywhere; Inuyasha running off to be with Kikyo, and now Kiyoshi, pledging his love to her so he could steal the one thing letting her communicate with the Feudal Era.
"Yes..." he admitted reluctantly.
"I've lost everything," she mumbled, reminiscing about Inuyasha's expression when he'd accused her of contacting Sesshoumaru. "Everything..."
Kiyoshi watched as she stumbled out of the wellhouse in a daze, her tears glistening like miniscule replicas of the jewel before slipping to the ground and shattering into a million tiny fragments.
*
He couldn't help but feel the guilt, after seeing the girl run out of the well. 'If anything,' he thought, 'I have to explain this to her companions before they think she's betrayed them.' It caused him to shudder momentarily at the thought that he was the betrayer, the one who'd stabbed a mental knife into her already fragile heart and twisted.
The well wouldn't accept him.
Peering more closely at the jewel fragments, he frowned. 'Why won't it let me through? If it has something to do with Kagome...'
Turning, he raced out of the wellhouse, only to see the dazed girl wander out into the street, unnoticing of the cars converging on either side of her.
That was a really short chapter. Sorry! However, it was also my first cliffie...although that situation has been stereotyped and all, I sorta ran out of ideas. ~Wolfshade