Author's Notes: Yes, I'm going to continue this story. A couple things I just wanted to say. With the surnames, I figured i'd give everyone Japanese ones since they already have Japanese given names. Bonus points to the person who can tell me what show I got three of the surnames from. Also, I think I should mention right now that I'm rather picky about my music, and it will show in the story. I only listen to songs I can really get into so I tend to pick songs here an there without rhyme or reason and listen to only a few groups consistently. That said, let's go on to the next chapter.
Let the Music Be Your Master
Chapter 2: It's Been a While Since I Said Sorry
Later that day, Mrs. Higurashi was fixing dinner for her family when the phone rang. She was a middle-aged woman, but hardly seemed it. She looked much younger than she really was and had more energy than women half her age. She reached out for the phone and tucked it into the crook of her neck, supporting it with her shoulder. "Hello. Higurashi residence, Keiko speaking."
"Ah, Mrs. Higurashi," came a deep masculine voice from the other end. "Just who I wanted to talk to. This is Sesshoumaru Morimoto."
"Oh, Sesshoumaru! It's been ages, dear. How are you doing? How's college?" she asked excitedly.
"I'm fine, but that's not the reason I called." Sesshoumaru seemed to pause uneasily. "I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I had a talk with Inuyasha and it seems that earlier today your daughter Kagome said some rather... upsetting things to my little brother."
Mrs. Higurashi tried to look down at the phone as if seeing it would provide an answer. "What do you mean? What did she say?"
"Well... He tells me she started by mocking his appearance, but then she went on to... How can I put this delicately?... It seems I can't. She implied that his mother was a... a bestiality fetishist."
*****************************
Kagome was up in her room trying her hardest to get through her homework. Why did teachers insist on assigning homework every day of the week? And all of them at once! She was beginning to nod off as she became bored with her physics work when the silence was pierced with a familiar scream.
"KAGOME HIGURASHI, GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!!"
"What did I do this time?" Kagome wondered miserably. Her mother didn't often raise her voice, but when she did it was trouble. Also add in the fact that her mother had used Kagome's full name and the situation only became worse.
There was no point in putting it off. Best to get it over with since delays only made it worse. Kagome stood up and dragged herself downstairs to see her mother with the phone in the living room.
"I'm sorry again about that outburst dear," she apologized into the reciever. "No, no you did right bringing this to my attention... Alright... Give your brother my best regards... Mm-hmm... Good bye, dear." She hung up the phone and glowered at her youngest daughter. "Do you know who I just got off the phone with?"
Kagome tried to avoid making eye contact with her mother. It was rare that the woman got angry, but when she did it was the stuff nightmares are made of. Always the quiet ones, isn't it? "Uh..."
"Sesshoumaru Morimoto," Mrs. Higurashi finished. "He tells me that you decided to insult his brother and step-mother, calling her a, and I quote, 'bestiality fetishist.'"
"Mom," Kagome began desperately, "I can explain!"
"Start explaining then."
"Well, you see..." Kagome said, fumbling with her words. "I was out with friends... and we... that is... we were just..."
"Just what?" Mrs. Higurashi asked coldly.
"Well... he deserved it!" Kagome tried desperately.
"Really? Inuyasha? What did he do to you?"
Kagome wrung her hands in her lap. "He... he threatened to bite us!"
"Why would he do something like that?"
"Because he's insane," Kagome mumbled under her breath.
"I heard that, young lady," Mrs. Higurashi scolded. "Why would he do something like that without provocation? Did you or your friends provoke him?"
Kagome merely kept her mouth shut, not trusting herself to not blurt out a worthless answer. Of course, her silence spoke volumes.
"I see," her mother said flatly. "I'm not going to bother asking which of you started it. Do you know that Sakura Morimoto was a good friend of mine?"
Kagome looked up at her mother in surprise. How come she never heard about this? "You're kidding, right?"
Mrs. Higurashi merely scowled. "No I'm not. Sakura and I grew up together. She lived out of town until about ten years ago. She died only three months after coming home. I believe you were staying with your father when I attended her wake and the funeral."
Kagome looked down at the floor and tried to will it to open up and swallow her whole. She had really screwed up this time.
Mrs. Higurashi was not finished, however. "I'm very disappointed in you, Kagome. I thought I raised you better than this. If you want to see your friends outside of school any time in the near future, you are going to prove to me that you can be a decent humon being by marching over to the Morimoto house and apologizing to Inuyasha for what you said about him and his mother."
"Mom!" Kagome tried to protest, but the glare she recieved her mother silenced any further complaints. This was a no-win scenario. Her mother would undoubtedly call Sesshoumaru after Kagome came home to see if she really had apologized. If she tried to get out of it, punishment would be swift. Mrs. Higurashi was rather idealistic and would go to any lengths to teach her children what was right and what was wrong.
'Oh yeah,' Kagome thought, 'I'm screwed.'
******************************
Inuyasha was in his room with his stereo blasting out the best of Led Zeppelin. He had talked to Sesshoumaru about the incident earlier, and it really did help to get it off his chest. Though the two brothers never showed it in public, they were very close, especially since their father died two years ago in a plane crash over the Atlantic.
The young man stood in the middle of his room playing air guitar to Communication Breakdown and visualizing what it would be like to perform on-stage in front of a real audience. Sure it was childish, but it helped keep him going. It was what he strove for, and he would do anything to make that dream a reality.
Inuyasha was pulled rather abrbuptly out of his thoughts, however, at the sound of the dogs going wild. He and his brother kept five dogs in the house, two of which used to belong to his parents. Out of curiosity, he walked over to the window over-looking the front yard and saw all five dogs jumping excitedly around the wrought iron gate that lead into the yard and Kagome Higurashi standing just outside the gate looking terrified.
'What's she doing here?' He scratched at one of his ears in thought before noticing Sesshoumaru going out to the gate. He calmed the dogs down instantly and started talking to Kagome. Not that Inuyasha could hear. Even with his sensitive hearing, his speakers simply drowned out everything else outside of his room.
His surprise only doubled when Sesshoumaru opened the gate and Kagome slipped in looking very nervous.
******************************
Kagome barely noticed the walk to the Morimoto house. She was too absorbed in silently lamenting her fate. It figures that her mother just had to be friends with the freak's late mother. God must have something against her. She was startled out of her thoughts, however, by the barking of five dogs which came charging up the yard to see her. She jumped back in surprise as a huge, white Great Dane stood up on its hind legs with its massive paws on the top of the gate and barked at her. At least now she had an excuse not to apologize. She could just tell her mother that the dogs chased her off and she wouldn't have to... Was that Sesshoumaru coming up the path? He calmed the dogs instantly and Kagome felt her hopes sink again.
"Good to see you made it," he said tonelessly.
"You know why I'm here?" she asked softly.
Sesshoumaru merely nodded and opened the gate. "You're mother called a few minutes ago and told me to expect you. You'll find Inuyasha in his room in the loft. Go up the stairs, turn left, and you'll find the stairs to his room behind the door at the end of the hall with the Led Zeppelin poster on it."
"The what poster?" Led Zeppelin? What was he talking about? Was it a band?
"Nevermind," 4Sesshoumaru shrugged. "You can't miss it, anyway." He then turned to the dogs and took on a commanding tone. "Spike! Edge! Sparks! Alexander! Hadrian! Let's go!" With that he strode off to the backyward with the five dogs obediently following behind him.
Kagome stood staring for a moment before shutting the gate and walking inside. The Morimoto family was easily upper middle-class, something their luxurious home and expensive furniture showed easily. She had a nice home, make no mistake, but she felt a little uncomfortable in a house that flaunted its wealth like this. She quietly made her way upstairs, following Sesshoumaru's directions.
At last, she reached the door he had told her of. The poster he spoke of had Led Zeppelin in silver letters at the top and showed four men in their mid-twenties all with long hair. In the background was a picture she recognized from history class as a scene from the Hindenberg disaster.
Taking a deep breath, Kagome opened the door and slowly made her way upstairs. One more door was all that stood between her and the difficult task ahead.
******************************
Inuyasha turned off his stereo when he saw Kagome come into the house. What did she want? Why would she come here of all places?
He watched his door anxiously, waiting for some sign of anyone. There was a tentative knock on the door and he swallowed, twitching his ears a little. "Come in," he said as calmly as possible.
He folded his arms over his chest as Kagome came in looking just as nervous as he felt. He had to admit, she looked really pretty in the outfit she was wearing: a green T-shirt with a knee-length denim skirt and her hair hanging freely down her back. "You need something?" he managed to ask casually. She may have been the last person on earth he wanted to see right now, much less see in his room, his sanctuary, but he still was smart enough to know that for her to come here, she had to have a damn good reason.
"I, uh..." Kagome started, playing with a lock of her hair nervously. "I wanted to tell you... that... that I'm... I'm sorry about what I said earlier." Now she refused to even look him in his face. She just kept staring at the floor.
Inuyasha stood mute for a second in surprise. Had Kagome Higurashi, one of the most stuck-up girls in the entire school apologized to the lowest of the low? "What?"
"I said I'm sorry," she said with a sudden panic. "I didn't mean what I said about your mother. I didn't know she... passed on. I'm sorry!"
An awkward silence filled the room. Kagome stood staring at the floor while Inuyasha remained motionless with his eyes fixed on the girl in front of him. After a while, it finally sunk what had just happened and his anger slowly dissipated like so much steam. "Apology accepted," he said softly.
******************************
"Apology accepted."
Kagome's head shot up and for the first time since coming in she made eye contact with Inuyasha. How could it be that simple? He should have thrown a fit or started acting childish and rude or something. "What do you mean?" she asked hesitantly.
"Apology accepted," he repeated and shrugged his shoulders.
"Why?" She immediately regretted that choice of words because Inuyasha fixed her with a very odd look.
He simply srugged again, though. "You seemed sincere enough. I thought I'd give you the benefit of the doubt and believe you, despite the fact that up until now you haven't given me a whole lot of reason to."
He was willing to believe she was genuinely sorry just because he thought she sounded honest this one time? Kagome couldn't believe he was so easily forgiving her. With all of her experiences with her friends, Koga and Yura in particular, she was expecting this to be a lot harder. She felt her face heat up and realized with a shock that she was blushing.
Kagome had heard that you can get rid of a blush by looking at something red, so she snapped her eyes to the first red thing she saw, which happened to be Inuyasha's shirt. This turned out to be a bad idea, however, because she now noticed how tight it was, giving her a good view of his muscular upper body. She felt her face grow even hotter and she decided to go right back to staring at her shoes.
"You ok?"
"I'm fine." Kagome forced a laugh and tried desperately to cover up her little slip in composure. "Well, that's all I wanted to say. Bye!" She took off the down the steps before Inuyasha could say anything else.
"Watch out for the dogs on your way out!" she heard him call down the steps. "They're not dangerous, but they like meeting new people and will try their damndest to escape if you give them the chance!"
******************************
By the time Kagome got home, dinner was ready. She barely tasted her food at all, though, and she didn't say a word throughout the entire meal. She was too busy thinking about what had just happened between her and Inuyasha.
She went to bed that night still thinking over the events of the day. 'I can't believe he would forgive me so easily,' she thought as she looked out her window to the stars. 'I thought he was going to be a baby about it.' She felt a little emberassed thinking about it. Sure apologies were never easy, but she had treated this one like it was the end of the world. Inuyasha was surprisingly mature about it.
'I wonder what goes on in his head,' she wondered absent-mindedly. 'I never expected him to act like that. What else is there to him that nobody knows about?'
Let the Music Be Your Master
Chapter 2: It's Been a While Since I Said Sorry
Later that day, Mrs. Higurashi was fixing dinner for her family when the phone rang. She was a middle-aged woman, but hardly seemed it. She looked much younger than she really was and had more energy than women half her age. She reached out for the phone and tucked it into the crook of her neck, supporting it with her shoulder. "Hello. Higurashi residence, Keiko speaking."
"Ah, Mrs. Higurashi," came a deep masculine voice from the other end. "Just who I wanted to talk to. This is Sesshoumaru Morimoto."
"Oh, Sesshoumaru! It's been ages, dear. How are you doing? How's college?" she asked excitedly.
"I'm fine, but that's not the reason I called." Sesshoumaru seemed to pause uneasily. "I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I had a talk with Inuyasha and it seems that earlier today your daughter Kagome said some rather... upsetting things to my little brother."
Mrs. Higurashi tried to look down at the phone as if seeing it would provide an answer. "What do you mean? What did she say?"
"Well... He tells me she started by mocking his appearance, but then she went on to... How can I put this delicately?... It seems I can't. She implied that his mother was a... a bestiality fetishist."
*****************************
Kagome was up in her room trying her hardest to get through her homework. Why did teachers insist on assigning homework every day of the week? And all of them at once! She was beginning to nod off as she became bored with her physics work when the silence was pierced with a familiar scream.
"KAGOME HIGURASHI, GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!!"
"What did I do this time?" Kagome wondered miserably. Her mother didn't often raise her voice, but when she did it was trouble. Also add in the fact that her mother had used Kagome's full name and the situation only became worse.
There was no point in putting it off. Best to get it over with since delays only made it worse. Kagome stood up and dragged herself downstairs to see her mother with the phone in the living room.
"I'm sorry again about that outburst dear," she apologized into the reciever. "No, no you did right bringing this to my attention... Alright... Give your brother my best regards... Mm-hmm... Good bye, dear." She hung up the phone and glowered at her youngest daughter. "Do you know who I just got off the phone with?"
Kagome tried to avoid making eye contact with her mother. It was rare that the woman got angry, but when she did it was the stuff nightmares are made of. Always the quiet ones, isn't it? "Uh..."
"Sesshoumaru Morimoto," Mrs. Higurashi finished. "He tells me that you decided to insult his brother and step-mother, calling her a, and I quote, 'bestiality fetishist.'"
"Mom," Kagome began desperately, "I can explain!"
"Start explaining then."
"Well, you see..." Kagome said, fumbling with her words. "I was out with friends... and we... that is... we were just..."
"Just what?" Mrs. Higurashi asked coldly.
"Well... he deserved it!" Kagome tried desperately.
"Really? Inuyasha? What did he do to you?"
Kagome wrung her hands in her lap. "He... he threatened to bite us!"
"Why would he do something like that?"
"Because he's insane," Kagome mumbled under her breath.
"I heard that, young lady," Mrs. Higurashi scolded. "Why would he do something like that without provocation? Did you or your friends provoke him?"
Kagome merely kept her mouth shut, not trusting herself to not blurt out a worthless answer. Of course, her silence spoke volumes.
"I see," her mother said flatly. "I'm not going to bother asking which of you started it. Do you know that Sakura Morimoto was a good friend of mine?"
Kagome looked up at her mother in surprise. How come she never heard about this? "You're kidding, right?"
Mrs. Higurashi merely scowled. "No I'm not. Sakura and I grew up together. She lived out of town until about ten years ago. She died only three months after coming home. I believe you were staying with your father when I attended her wake and the funeral."
Kagome looked down at the floor and tried to will it to open up and swallow her whole. She had really screwed up this time.
Mrs. Higurashi was not finished, however. "I'm very disappointed in you, Kagome. I thought I raised you better than this. If you want to see your friends outside of school any time in the near future, you are going to prove to me that you can be a decent humon being by marching over to the Morimoto house and apologizing to Inuyasha for what you said about him and his mother."
"Mom!" Kagome tried to protest, but the glare she recieved her mother silenced any further complaints. This was a no-win scenario. Her mother would undoubtedly call Sesshoumaru after Kagome came home to see if she really had apologized. If she tried to get out of it, punishment would be swift. Mrs. Higurashi was rather idealistic and would go to any lengths to teach her children what was right and what was wrong.
'Oh yeah,' Kagome thought, 'I'm screwed.'
******************************
Inuyasha was in his room with his stereo blasting out the best of Led Zeppelin. He had talked to Sesshoumaru about the incident earlier, and it really did help to get it off his chest. Though the two brothers never showed it in public, they were very close, especially since their father died two years ago in a plane crash over the Atlantic.
The young man stood in the middle of his room playing air guitar to Communication Breakdown and visualizing what it would be like to perform on-stage in front of a real audience. Sure it was childish, but it helped keep him going. It was what he strove for, and he would do anything to make that dream a reality.
Inuyasha was pulled rather abrbuptly out of his thoughts, however, at the sound of the dogs going wild. He and his brother kept five dogs in the house, two of which used to belong to his parents. Out of curiosity, he walked over to the window over-looking the front yard and saw all five dogs jumping excitedly around the wrought iron gate that lead into the yard and Kagome Higurashi standing just outside the gate looking terrified.
'What's she doing here?' He scratched at one of his ears in thought before noticing Sesshoumaru going out to the gate. He calmed the dogs down instantly and started talking to Kagome. Not that Inuyasha could hear. Even with his sensitive hearing, his speakers simply drowned out everything else outside of his room.
His surprise only doubled when Sesshoumaru opened the gate and Kagome slipped in looking very nervous.
******************************
Kagome barely noticed the walk to the Morimoto house. She was too absorbed in silently lamenting her fate. It figures that her mother just had to be friends with the freak's late mother. God must have something against her. She was startled out of her thoughts, however, by the barking of five dogs which came charging up the yard to see her. She jumped back in surprise as a huge, white Great Dane stood up on its hind legs with its massive paws on the top of the gate and barked at her. At least now she had an excuse not to apologize. She could just tell her mother that the dogs chased her off and she wouldn't have to... Was that Sesshoumaru coming up the path? He calmed the dogs instantly and Kagome felt her hopes sink again.
"Good to see you made it," he said tonelessly.
"You know why I'm here?" she asked softly.
Sesshoumaru merely nodded and opened the gate. "You're mother called a few minutes ago and told me to expect you. You'll find Inuyasha in his room in the loft. Go up the stairs, turn left, and you'll find the stairs to his room behind the door at the end of the hall with the Led Zeppelin poster on it."
"The what poster?" Led Zeppelin? What was he talking about? Was it a band?
"Nevermind," 4Sesshoumaru shrugged. "You can't miss it, anyway." He then turned to the dogs and took on a commanding tone. "Spike! Edge! Sparks! Alexander! Hadrian! Let's go!" With that he strode off to the backyward with the five dogs obediently following behind him.
Kagome stood staring for a moment before shutting the gate and walking inside. The Morimoto family was easily upper middle-class, something their luxurious home and expensive furniture showed easily. She had a nice home, make no mistake, but she felt a little uncomfortable in a house that flaunted its wealth like this. She quietly made her way upstairs, following Sesshoumaru's directions.
At last, she reached the door he had told her of. The poster he spoke of had Led Zeppelin in silver letters at the top and showed four men in their mid-twenties all with long hair. In the background was a picture she recognized from history class as a scene from the Hindenberg disaster.
Taking a deep breath, Kagome opened the door and slowly made her way upstairs. One more door was all that stood between her and the difficult task ahead.
******************************
Inuyasha turned off his stereo when he saw Kagome come into the house. What did she want? Why would she come here of all places?
He watched his door anxiously, waiting for some sign of anyone. There was a tentative knock on the door and he swallowed, twitching his ears a little. "Come in," he said as calmly as possible.
He folded his arms over his chest as Kagome came in looking just as nervous as he felt. He had to admit, she looked really pretty in the outfit she was wearing: a green T-shirt with a knee-length denim skirt and her hair hanging freely down her back. "You need something?" he managed to ask casually. She may have been the last person on earth he wanted to see right now, much less see in his room, his sanctuary, but he still was smart enough to know that for her to come here, she had to have a damn good reason.
"I, uh..." Kagome started, playing with a lock of her hair nervously. "I wanted to tell you... that... that I'm... I'm sorry about what I said earlier." Now she refused to even look him in his face. She just kept staring at the floor.
Inuyasha stood mute for a second in surprise. Had Kagome Higurashi, one of the most stuck-up girls in the entire school apologized to the lowest of the low? "What?"
"I said I'm sorry," she said with a sudden panic. "I didn't mean what I said about your mother. I didn't know she... passed on. I'm sorry!"
An awkward silence filled the room. Kagome stood staring at the floor while Inuyasha remained motionless with his eyes fixed on the girl in front of him. After a while, it finally sunk what had just happened and his anger slowly dissipated like so much steam. "Apology accepted," he said softly.
******************************
"Apology accepted."
Kagome's head shot up and for the first time since coming in she made eye contact with Inuyasha. How could it be that simple? He should have thrown a fit or started acting childish and rude or something. "What do you mean?" she asked hesitantly.
"Apology accepted," he repeated and shrugged his shoulders.
"Why?" She immediately regretted that choice of words because Inuyasha fixed her with a very odd look.
He simply srugged again, though. "You seemed sincere enough. I thought I'd give you the benefit of the doubt and believe you, despite the fact that up until now you haven't given me a whole lot of reason to."
He was willing to believe she was genuinely sorry just because he thought she sounded honest this one time? Kagome couldn't believe he was so easily forgiving her. With all of her experiences with her friends, Koga and Yura in particular, she was expecting this to be a lot harder. She felt her face heat up and realized with a shock that she was blushing.
Kagome had heard that you can get rid of a blush by looking at something red, so she snapped her eyes to the first red thing she saw, which happened to be Inuyasha's shirt. This turned out to be a bad idea, however, because she now noticed how tight it was, giving her a good view of his muscular upper body. She felt her face grow even hotter and she decided to go right back to staring at her shoes.
"You ok?"
"I'm fine." Kagome forced a laugh and tried desperately to cover up her little slip in composure. "Well, that's all I wanted to say. Bye!" She took off the down the steps before Inuyasha could say anything else.
"Watch out for the dogs on your way out!" she heard him call down the steps. "They're not dangerous, but they like meeting new people and will try their damndest to escape if you give them the chance!"
******************************
By the time Kagome got home, dinner was ready. She barely tasted her food at all, though, and she didn't say a word throughout the entire meal. She was too busy thinking about what had just happened between her and Inuyasha.
She went to bed that night still thinking over the events of the day. 'I can't believe he would forgive me so easily,' she thought as she looked out her window to the stars. 'I thought he was going to be a baby about it.' She felt a little emberassed thinking about it. Sure apologies were never easy, but she had treated this one like it was the end of the world. Inuyasha was surprisingly mature about it.
'I wonder what goes on in his head,' she wondered absent-mindedly. 'I never expected him to act like that. What else is there to him that nobody knows about?'