Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, or Kagome, or Miroku, or Sango or…
AUGH!! I'M SO SORRY THAT IT TOOK ME LIKE….20 YEARS TO UPDATE!! My sincere apologies.
I hope that's good enough.
I also hope the chapter's good enough…
Chapter 5:
Crush? Hahaha...
"So who *was* that guy, Kagome? The one trying to break your arm?"
Mrs. Kashiyama isn't about to let the issue go, I see.
"That was Naraku. Hibara, Naraku. He claims to be my boyfriend but…" I began.
"But you don't like him?" she asked me.
"No. I don't like him at all but he seems to not care because he's filthy rich."
"I see."
"And pelting him on the head with your purse probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I appreciate it all the same." I thanked her.
She glanced to the back seat and smiled at me as she kept driving. I noticed a light in her eye that showed she liked helping me against some rich freak. I was grateful.
* * *
We sat in Sango's room, after a small snack. Our plan was to have dinner, I could choose something to wear out of her closet, and then we would walk to Miroku's house before the dance. Miroku happened to live like…right next to the school.
How nice.
So… We had a dinner of pizza up in her room while Sango went through her closet to pull out anything that would be appropriate and would fit. I spied a lime green halter-top that said "Angel " but Sango shook her head saying that it didn't fit the dress code. I pouted and kept looking with her. In the end, I wore flare jeans and a glittery blue tank top. I fell in love with the tank top. It was so sparkly and glittered every time I moved just an inch! Sango wore something very similar: pair of flare jeans, and a hot pink tank top with white wavy stripes running from her left shoulder to her right hip.
"The stripes will glow when they turn on the dark lights!" she told me.
We applied our makeup, pulled back out hair into ponytails, and stuffed some money for food in our pocket. Mrs. Kashiyama didn't even let us ask: she demanded that she give us a ride to Miroku's.
"Thank you very much, Mrs. Kashiyama!" I smiled widely.
"Oh don't think much of it, dear, I just don't want any…one… picking you up on your way there…" her eyes narrowed.
Sango and I glanced at each other.
We stepped into the car and Mrs. Kashiyama drove us to Miroku's house.
"You girls look great!!" She called after us as we arrived and exited the vehicle.
We waved and smiled as we continued up the steps to the front door.
I barely had to touch the doorbell when it flew open.
"LADIES~!! I'M SOOOO GLAD THAT YOU COULD MAKE IT!!" Miroku yelled and swept his arm showing that we were permitted to enter.
"WHY *THANK YOU*, MIROKU!!" I hollered back.
He completely ignored me.
"Sango, my dear, may I have the first dance?" He asked her on bended knee.
"Miroku asked everyone that…" Minami said, while climbing the stairs from the basement.
"Why on *earth* am I not surprised…." I muttered.
"Watch out, Sango…he'll be asking for a piece of your butt in a second." Haruna rolled her eyes.
I rolled mine too and Miroku (as usual) tried to look offended.
"Back down stairs!!" Yumi called.
"Why, so we can keep kicking your butt?" Sayori yelled after her.
"Sayori and Minami are playing Haruna and Yumi at Dead or Alive 3." Miroku told us. "They all suck, if you ask me. I creamed all of 'em easily."
"You never told me you had that game!" I told him.
"Oh. I have that game!" He responded intelligently.
"And so far I'm the only player he calls 'competent'." Sango muttered.
"Hah! He ain't seen nothing! Miroku!! I challenge you!!!" I yelled at him.
He raised his eyebrows at me. "Very well. …just don't cry when you lose: Your mascara will run."
Sango looked at me. "For that you've *got* to cream him."
"Have no fear."
Miroku swiftly kicked the four girls off the X-box and passed me player 2's controller. He chose Tina and put her in her…cowgirl costume….I won't say more, other than Sango hit him for it…. While I chose Random.
"Pretty confident, are we?" he teased me while picking the 'random' scene.
"Like I said, you ain't seen nothing."
Heh. I got Ayane. My favourite and best player.
Needless to say his ego got the better of him and I whipped him. All 3 rounds.
"One more round!!" He yelled and pressed the "again" button.
The scene changed and I got Hayabusa.
Heh. I whipped him again.
"Th-th-that's not fair!!" he spluttered. "You can do the best move in the game!!"
"It took lots of practice." I chortled at his expression. "Want me to pass you a hankey, Miroku-CHAN?"
Sango snickered. The doorbell rang.
"That'll be Tadashi." Minami chirped and leapt up to get the door.
We heard brief conversation and then a "SHE BEAT HIM?? THE GREAT MIROKU??"
Miroku turned red.
"OH SHUT UP!!" he yelled.
Insert soft snickering from spectators here___________________.
Tadashi thundered down the stairs and gave me a high-five. "It's about time someone beat him. Maybe that'll shrink his head a little…."
More muttering from Miroku.
* * *
6:45 rolled around…
"We should start walking to the school…" Miroku stated.
"HAH! You're just saying that so that I can't beat you again!!" I shouted gleefully.
Score:
Me: 10 Miroku: 0
Tadashi suddenly had a thoughtful look about him. "You know, I wonder if you could beat Inuyasha…"
"When'd you play him?" Miroku asked while his character flew through the air and landed on its head.
"I ran into him in a game store. I played him there. He was awesome! The game had just come out and he was doing moves I didn't know existed."
"I might play him sometime." I answered while watching my character land on the stomach of Miroku's and grind him into the floor.
"Anyways, we should start walking to the school." Sango seconded Miroku's idea. "Sometimes they start letting people in early."
"Ah, very well then…" I responded.
We quit the game and crowded into the front hall. Miroku sweetly said his farewells to his mother and we left for the school.
Sango was right, they were letting people in early: we got in as soon as we arrived there. There was a beat pulsing and our group crowded around the DJ table that was the host of the flashing, colourful lights. It wasn't long before the dance was in full swing. I saw Inuyasha and Kikyo out by the side when 'The Anthem' by Good Charlotte came on, and I could see the longing look in Inuyasha's eyes to join us…but Kikyo looked like she was enjoying herself by standing there looking "hot" *cough COUGH!!!*. I made a motion for him to come and join us and Miroku caught my gesture. He also made a welcoming motion with his hands and Inuyasha sighed. He muttered something to Kikyo who protested but followed him to our group.
Inuyasha started talking avidly to Miroku and Tadashi while Kikyo just stood there looking rather bored.
"Dance!" I yelled to her, letting her know she was welcome if she wanted.
"Make me." She responded acidly.
I don't think she would know kindness if it danced naked in front of her.
Ah well.
We continued dancing and I heard eavesdropped the boys conversation. I noticed Sango doing the same.
"Inuyasha, we've found you a challenger!" Tadashi announced.
"The hell are you talking about?"
"Dead or Alive 3! Miroku was whipped!"
"Yea, well you didn't play, now did you?" Miroku retorted.
"Who is he?" Inuyasha asked with interest, "And how am I supposed to know if he's competent? I've only ever played Tadashi so I don't know how good Miroku is."
"Miroku's a little better than I am."
"And it's not a he, it's a she."
"Yea, Miroku was down in like…10 seconds flat when she played him."
"Who??" Inuyasha demanded again and now looked interested.
They were either about to tell him or keep teasing him about it when "Don't Speak", by No Doubt played. Kikyo snapped out of her glazed look and snatched Inuyasha. She practically leapt at him and he looked startled. I snickered at him and he responded with a frosty glare. Shrugging, and wandered over to where Miroku was pleading Sango to dance with him. I watched Sango sigh and give in and Miroku positively beamed. I rolled my eyes and stood over by the gym wall. With Minami, Sayori, Yumi, Haruna, and Tadashi. We were all standing around expectantly looking for a lonely and worthy guy to ask us to dance.
Tadashi finally sighed impatiently and said, "Ok fine! Minami will you dance with me?"
Minami looked genuinely shocked, but quickly recovered and accepted with a larger-than-normal-smile.
And then there were four.
Sayori, Haruna, Yumi and I all stood against the wall together. The three of them started calmly chatting while I stared at the pretty lights…..they were so hypnotizing…
Suddenly, Yumi nudged my arm and I jolted out of my trance.
"Wha-?"
"I suggest you hide in the crowd…your boyfriend has just arrived and he doesn't look too amused…"
Naraku had indeed just entered the gym and 10 or so other guys entered with him.
I gulped and thanked her.
I wove my way amongst the crowd of dancing couples, much to their and my dismay. I imagine that when you dance with someone you want to be dancing with, you don't want to have to budge to an 'excuse me please'. I was well aware that I was interrupting many romantic auras, but it was also to save my own skin. It was certainly annoying to be ignored when I politely asked to push by to be in the middle of the crowd.
"Move!" I muttered to a couple that not only ignored me but started kissing right in front of me. I barged past them, blowing them sideways until I was comfortably hidden in the middle of the crowd.
Hm…Naraku must have seen the kissing couple fly through the air or something cause he was still coming right at me…
He was very ungentle with the way he was shoving his way towards me. I stood and prayed he was walking towards someone else…the DJ table perhaps…I hoped…I prayed…
…Too bad for me…
"Hello, baby…" he said in a very dangerous tone.
A baby am I? Well two can play the age game.
"Well hello, old man! I see you found me. Now why don't you toddle back to your nursing home and let me—ouch!" he twisted my arm.
"Very funny, Kagome, darling. Now why don't we dance together and you tell me why you didn't wait at your house for me to pick you up? Oh that's right… you were going to Sango-chan's house, now weren't you? Yes, and the woman with the bricks in her purse…I remember now…"
I was contemplating another witty remark about the purse rattling his brains a bit and instead of the nursing home, perhaps a doctor or a little lie down in a jail cell would suffice to make him a better person…until he brought Sango and her mother into the scene. It annoyed me that he added the friendly 'chan' to the end of her name and it also worried me.
"Leave them out of this. They were only sticking up for me." I told him in an equally dangerous tone…the only difference was that mine held a shade of fear in it.
He chuckled darkly, "But you see, baby, they won't learn their lesson if I just let it be… In fact, it might even happen again, and we wouldn't want that, now would we?"
"You know," I hissed venomously, "if you weren't terrorizing me at all any more, there would be no chance of it happening."
"Yes, but if you would just *cooperate*, instead of fighting me, you wouldn't be terrorized…"
I could see myself reaching a dead end. "But I don't want to cooperate with someone who tries to unfairly run my life."
Heh. Answer that, you twit.
"Who else would run it then?"
That was a poisoned barb he stuck at me and it made me angry.
I threw him away from me. "I would run my own life, asshole. I'm perfectly capable and I don't need your help. Back off and let me be. Besides, boyfriends aren't supposed to do that. Fathers are. You are not my father."
I stomped away as the music changed back to lively, but that didn't stop me from hearing his retort: "Yes, but you don't have a father, Kagome. Seeing as only you and I know why, I think that because I'm keeping it secret that you should at least be able to thank me by staying by my side as mine."
I stopped and tried to push my anger and fury down as I marched back to Sango and my friends, but it didn't work.
Instead of rejoining them, I turned and ran for the bathrooms.
There was no one inside the unnaturally white room as I flung myself inside one of the small cubicles and cried.
I hate him. I hate him so much. My father… how *dare* he use that as a threat!! I missed my father so much as I leaned up against the wall of the stall. If he was here, he wouldn't let his only daughter be threatened like this. He was strong and he believed in me… when he died, my whole world turned upside down. So did my mother's, which is why I didn't want her to know about my dilemma. I was no longer Daddy's little princess… I was nobody's princess… Sure I tried to be strong and cool on the outside…but on the inside I'm just a girl. A weak little girl who's too scared to go get help from people she trusted because she loved them and didn't want them to get hurt.
"I am so pathetic." I whispered to myself. "I can't let him hurt Sango and her mother. It's not right. What if…what if I tried cooperating again…? Would that work?"
The thought mortified me but at the same time it seemed like the safest way out. Mind you it wasn't exactly a way out…but it was a start.
But I wasn't gonna start tonight.
Nope, tonight I was going to party like there was no tomorrow: with my friends.
I could only hope that if I 'behaved' and did everything Naraku told me to do, he would get bored of me and perhaps stop seeing me as a challenge, and then chase someone else.
I exited the stall and listened to the 'click-clack' of my shoes on the tile floor. At the sink, I washed off my face as delicately as I could so to not wash off the eye shadow that I had so carefully applied earlier, but so to rub off the mascara shadow under my eyes.
As I scrubbed at my face a few girls entered the bathroom and, shooting me disapproving looks, they entered stalls and proceeded to do what they came in to the bathroom to do.
I stared at my reflection in the mirror.
My eyes were red and so were my eyelids around them. I looked pathetic.
But as I said, perhaps that's who I was. Pathetic. Maybe my personality matched my tear-soaked face to a T.
No…it couldn't.
I smiled a weak smile.
Empty.
I smiled a larger smile and thought of Sango and Tadashi and Sayori and Miroku and the rest of my friends and then focused at the mirror.
There was Kagome Higurashi. I knew I was looking at myself when I smiled.
I reapplied my makeup and returned to the dance, where my friends asked me where I'd gone.
I shrugged it off and then joined them with smiles and by shaking my hair around like they were as the beat of the song consumed me.
* * *
"Wow…she cannot sing…" I heard Haruna dully mention.
I glanced up at the karaoke machine where a girl was "singing". I quote the word because I think that's what she was trying to accomplish.
"Can you do better?" I asked.
She rolled her eyes like it was the most *obvious* thing in the world. "Of course I can do better. *anybody* can do better than *she* can!!"
"Go ahead then." I said bluntly.
"What?"
"Go sign up! Sing after she does."
"Tell you what. I'll do it if you do it after I do. Deal?"
The girls watched me. There were about 50 people in the room and I wasn't *entirely* confident with my singing voice, but what the heck, right? Plus if Haruna was going to do it first…
"Deal."
Miroku whooped, "I'll judge!!"
"You're only going to judge their figures." Sango retorted dryly.
"Sango I'm hurt… …and yet I'm so pleased that you know me so well!"
She whacked him lightly with a set expression.
Haruna and I floated over to the table to sign up and pick a song.
Haruna chose "I wanna be bad" by Willa Ford, while I flipped through the book and was pleased when I found "Fighter" by Christina Aguilera.
After Ms. I-couldn't-sing-even-if-I-was-hanging-over-a-vat-of-boiling-water-to-save-my-life-and-it-would-be-best-if-I-never-picked-up-a-microphone-again-so-as-to-spare-the-ears-of-all-who-happen-to-be-listening, Haruna got up and the pop music started playing through the speakers.
In all, I think she did a decent job but she was trying to mimic the original artist and didn't do so well at that.
Oh boy.
My turn.
I nervously walked up and I saw the words appear on the screen of the T.V and started to relax. I didn't even need the T.V because I'd heard the song so many times and had sung along.
I closed my eyes and imagined that I was in my bedroom, holding my hair-brush as a microphone, with my music blasting and I just sang along when Christina was supposed to. When the song ended, I opened my eyes and returned the mic. to the table where the sign ups were.
"Great job, Kagome!" the guy there told me.
I gave a small smile to him and then returned to my friends.
"Kagome wins." Tadashi declared.
"You were definitely better than Haruna; No offence at all Haruna!!" Sayori quickly said.
"None taken. You did well." She told me.
"Wow, you must have really sucked then, cause I know I did terrible." I teased her.
"Nuh-uh, Haruna did well, and you know it." Sango shook her head.
"Cool." I responded bluntly. "So what's my prize?"
They all looked at each other.
* * *
Well, they decided that it was good enough to pitch in about six cents each and buy me a pop.
Hmph.
Ah well. It was better than nothing, right?
But then they were mean and threatened to leave me and go back to the dance floor so I had to chug and I am not good at that.
Chugging pop and then trying to jump up and down to music isn't great either.
Urgg.
Ah well, when the next slow song came on, it was really hilarious. Kikyo *and* Naraku didn't even look at each other (I guess) as they grabbed each other and danced. It wasn't entirely hard to see why Naraku thought I was Kikyo. Aside from the fact that her hair is twice as long as mine, and she was wearing a completely different outfit, we have similarities and I'll give him that it's dark.
But how in the dickens did Kikyo think that Naraku was Inuyasha??
Maybe she's blind in the near-dark.
Who knows?
Who cares?
Not me!!
Lalala!!!
Hm…Inuyasha seemed to care though. I saw him begin to stalk over to them but, as you can see this was a lovely opportunity for me to *not* have to dance with the Ugly King.
I ran over and tugged on Inuyasha's t-shirt sleeve.
"What??" he spat at me.
"Ok, could you, just this once, not think of yourself," I glanced over, "and Kikyo? Could you think of doing a little favor for me and just let it be for this song?" I pleaded.
Gods, he gave me an astonished look as if the thought had never crossed his mind.
"Pretty please?" I added.
He looked unfazed for a moment but then pursed his lips and turned away.
Then Kouga found me.
Help!!!
"Sweet buttercup born amongst the stars, will you dance with me?"
"I, uh…I already have a dance partner!!" I desperately grabbed for Inuyasha's arm and dragged him towards me.
It was either Inuyasha or someone already dancing.
Kouga's "dashing" look dissolved into a disappointed look. "Oh."
"Are you sure you wouldn't want to dance with him, Kagome? I don't mind one bit." Inuyasha told me with pretend kindness.
"Oh, no, not this time." I told Kouga while digging my nails into Inuyasha's neck to shut him up.
He turned away and left.
Inuyasha winced. "Geeze, did you file your nails into points? People are going to be asking me if I was bitten by a vampire or something now!"
"Oh whoops." I replied dryly. "It's just for instead of trying to set it up so that I'm dancing with someone who should die, you tried to switch it so I would dance with someone who should have tomatoes thrown at him for eternity."
"Tomatoes?"
"Yea… The fruit commonly mistaken for a vegetable? Come in several different types? Grow in many different countries? Delicious to—"
"Yea, yea, I know what a tomato is! I'm just wondering what made you think that Kouga should have tomatoes thrown at him."
I glanced over at him attempting to breakdance to attract attention. Sadly, the only person I think he will end up attracting is a paramedic. "Do I really need to elaborate?"
Inuyasha followed my stare.
"No." he muttered.
I must admit it was really nice dancing with Inuyasha. I've actually never (and don't be surprised by this) danced with anybody other than Naraku. Ever. I'm not entirely proud to say that my first "real" slow dance was with Inuyasha, but there wasn't anybody else that I would have really preferred.
Of course the girls were going to giggle and squeal afterwards that I danced with someone. Yea-hoo. I noticed Sango and Miroku looking our way (they were dancing together again ^.~) and Miroku gave me a wink and thumbs up. I rolled my eyes. I was really hoping that Inuyasha was sort of enjoying himself. I know I'm not Kikyo, but as long as he wasn't bored, I suppose that would be ok.
Not-so-abruptly, the romantic music dissolved into a beat and then we all heard a shriek and then a roar. Roar from Kikyo, shriek from Naraku.
Just kidding, just kidding.
I charged away from Inuyasha to my friends so that Naraku and Kikyo wouldn't have caught us dancing together. In fact, for bonus, I ran out of the main gym to the karaoke room and then turned around and returned to the main gym. Naraku and Kikyo were in the middle of a heated battle and Inuyasha was dutifully behind Kikyo, trying to coax her into just letting it be.
"Let it be?? LET IT BE?? DO YOU KNOW WHO I JUST DANCED WITH??"
Inuyasha looked tired. "Yes, Kikyo, I do know. And just so you know I'm not angry at him if you are. If you're upset, then it clearly was not on purpose." He turned and gave Naraku a hard glare, "It was not on purpose, was it?"
Naraku went from angry to shocked to angry again, "As if I'd dance with that whore on purpose!" he said, lip curling.
"Take that back." Inuyasha hissed.
"Why should I? The truth hurts, you know."
"Take…that…back…" Inuyasha repeated with a greater threat.
"I don't have to." Naraku sneered.
Inuyasha looked like he was going to punch Naraku so I decided to keep Inuyasha out of trouble. It was, after all, my fault that Inuyasha had not gone over to break them apart in the first place. Mind you, if he had of done it himself, I think that this scene would have played out anyways but just during a calmer song and would have been way out of context. I mean, "Headstrong" was playing so the lyrics of the chorus seemed to be spurring them on.
Ah well. Time for kamikaze. I ran between the two enemies.
"Alright, you two, that's enough. We don't need you guys getting suspended, now do we?" I asked them reasonably.
Inuyasha relaxed a bit as that sentence sunk in while Naraku turned his glare towards me and added a little ironic eyebrow. "You wouldn't be sticking up for him, now would you be, Kagome dear?" I was surprised to hear that he sounded almost bored.
"No, I'm trying to talk some sense into the two of you." I told him irritably. "I mean, you were lucky to get away with only cleaning lunch tables last time but other people could get hurt here."
Kikyo glared at me. "I *DID* get hurt last time."
"Right. But what I'm saying is that it's more crowded here and *more* people could get hu—"
"*You* kicked me, last time I checked." Kikyo continued with malice.
"Oh! That's right, I did too, didn't I? I thought you were referring to when Naraku punched you in the face. Compared to that, I wouldn't have remembered a tiny little tap on the leg. But that's not the point." I went on as her eyes darkened. "The point is, is that the two of you are behaving appallingly for 15-year-olds. Are you 15 or are you 3? If you are 3, then you shouldn't be here. You should be in bed right now. If you are 15, act like it."
I whirled around on my heel and left, making it no more of my business.
When I didn't hear anybody scream, I assumed that my little speech had been successful. I was relatively surprised but pleased and I managed to enjoy a few more songs. There was yet again another slow song (ooooh, biiiiiig surprise) and I managed to avoid Naraku. Amazingly.
"Oi, Kagome! You wanna dance?"
I gave Tadashi a half smile, "Sure. But where's Minami?" I added.
"Taking a break." He replied confidently.
I found that dancing with Tadashi is very different than dancing with Inuyasha. I was a little more at ease with Tadashi cause I knew him better, and I also found that I didn't have the rare case of 'butterfly in the stomach' syndrome (like what I had experienced with the last romantic song).
ANYWAYS…
I stared at the pretty lights for a bit but then got bored. I realize that when dancing with someone, you are not likely to want to make conversation with your partner, but I was, well, *just* a tiny bit bored. "So, you like Minami, eh?"
Tadashi blushed. "How do you know?"
I nearly whacked him. "EVERYBODY knows!! It's so obvious you like her!"
"phfft. Yea well. So what if I do. Do you think she likes me back?"
"Tadashi…she likes smart people…so stop acting like a dim-wit and figure it out!! YES she likes you back."
There was that light in his eyes that you can get when you're so totally happy.
Good for the boy. I saw my own problem walking around near by and with all good intentions, I told Tadashi to go and sit with Minami. As he shuffled over to her, I waltzed off to avoid Naraku.
Ah but somehow I managed to forget that Naraku's little minions are getting paid to keep an eye on me and one of them grabbed hold of my wrist and made some sort of finger signal in the air and in like .5 seconds, my dear old boyfriend was over here with his arms around my waist.
Remind me to scrub myself down when I get home, ok?
Not that I'll forget to.
"Naraku, why do you ever bother coming to the dances?" I asked him. "You don't actually dance here."
"Well you're going, so I need to. Besides, I enjoy dancing with you."
"Well, I don't like dancing." I lied. "And just because I'm going doesn't mean that you need to force yourself to come."
"Tut tut, I couldn't leave you unguarded here amongst all of these lonely boys."
"I'm well respected enough that they back off when I yell at them." I replied harshly.
He narrowed his eyes at me, "What are you implying, Kagome."
"That it would be nice if you did that every now and then and gave me some peace." I snarled.
He slapped me.
It wasn't hard, just a warning, but I still felt my jaw drop and the tears prickle at my eyes.
I looked up at him like a disobedient puppy and saw the hardness in his eyes. "Don't talk to me like that, Kagome. I am going to break you and you will stop running away."
I turned away with my hand up against my soar cheek and stumbled back to the wall.
I sat and hunkered down against the wall and wrenched my elastic out of my ponytail, causing my hair to fall around me and hide my face.
He'd never hit me before, but then I'd never had the courage to snap at him.
Ouch. It didn't actually hurt, it just stung. But he hit me. Boys aren't supposed to hit their girls.
Screw him, I thought viciously and I cleared my eyes just as I felt the air pulse again with "Punk Rock 101". I brushed my hair out of my eyes and started to stand up when Sango poked me on the shoulder.
"What's up?" she asked me.
"What?"
"You're eyes are red."
"And….is that a hand mark on your cheek? Only *I* get those!!" Miroku asked me incredulously.
I cast my eyes downward. "So?" I whispered.
"Who hit you, Kagome? I know you wouldn't do anything unreasonable to deserve it," demanded Sango.
I turned my gaze up to her, "I talked back."
Miroku looked disgusted, "he HIT you? For that?? For heaven's sake!! You're not his *kid*!!"
"I've already…mentioned…that to him."
"And that's why he slapped you." Sango understood.
I nodded. "But I told him rather rudely and so he seemed to feel the need to 'put me in line.'"
Miroku cracked his knuckles but I stuck an arm out. "Miroku, don't. That would be stupid."
"So what…you're gonna let him get away with it??"
I paused.
"Go on!! You can do better than that!" he urged.
"Miroku, I don't want any trouble, and I certainly don't want you to get hurt." He made a sound of protest but I shushed him. "Next time. If he hits me again, I'll let you know and I won't hold you back."
"Well, I suppose you have good judgment, Kagome." He huffed.
"Thanks." I smiled.
He turned away and joined Tadashi, and Inuyasha. I was sure Miroku was passing info over that Naraku had abused me by the looks on their faces and expressions.
"Do you think they're forming a lynch group or something?" Sango asked me.
I shrugged.
I'm just glad I've got so many fans.
Ok, ok, friends.
Anyways, in total I enjoyed the rest of the dance and neglected to mention my plan of boring Naraku into leaving by cooperating.
We gathered outside after the dance and waited for our rides.
"Hey Kagome! Wanna get together this weekend?"
I grinned at Sango. "Perhaps!"
"I'll call you!" she yelled.
"Ok!"
With that I walked away when someone poked me on the shoulder. I whirled around and to my surprise, I came face to face with Inuyasha.
"Hey…um…I…uh….I just wanted to let you know that I heard you sing with the karaoke thingy," I blushed but let him continue, "and I think you did great. You've got a great singing voice." He quirked a smile at me and then turned away.
"THANKS!" I called after him. "By the way!" he turned and looked at me, "Thanks for saving my butt! It was nice dancing with you!!"
His mouth twitched into another smile and then shrugged and left.
"Somebody's got a crush~!" a voice sang into my ear.
I jumped with surprise, "Tadashi!!"
He snickered and my expression changed.
"First of all, don't sneak up on me. Second…I do *not* have a crush on Inuyasha."
I rolled my eyes as he laughed at me again. "Whatever." He said.
"Yea…whatever…anyways, I'll see you on Monday."
"Later."
Crush?? CRUSH???? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhewishes.
Nah, I didn't have a crush on Inuyasha. I mean, he's already got a girlfriend. A werewolf, perhaps, but a girlfriend nonetheless. Bah. And if I did have a crush on him, so what? Hmph.
"Good night Kagome." Arms circled me.
"Good night." I replied sharply.
"I will have you at my house on Sunday."
"Sure. Pick me up then."
I left.
Break me. Hah. He won't break me. I won't be broken. He can sure as hell try, but it won't work.
That's final.
* * *
Oooook……..i'm not entirely sure I did a great job on that chapter, but I hope the majority of you liked it. Let me know when you review.
Second, I have an…amusing idea for the next chapter…it involves a prank on Inuyasha…I hope I get around to it soon..—
Review!!
=^.^=
AUGH!! I'M SO SORRY THAT IT TOOK ME LIKE….20 YEARS TO UPDATE!! My sincere apologies.
I hope that's good enough.
I also hope the chapter's good enough…
Chapter 5:
Crush? Hahaha...
"So who *was* that guy, Kagome? The one trying to break your arm?"
Mrs. Kashiyama isn't about to let the issue go, I see.
"That was Naraku. Hibara, Naraku. He claims to be my boyfriend but…" I began.
"But you don't like him?" she asked me.
"No. I don't like him at all but he seems to not care because he's filthy rich."
"I see."
"And pelting him on the head with your purse probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I appreciate it all the same." I thanked her.
She glanced to the back seat and smiled at me as she kept driving. I noticed a light in her eye that showed she liked helping me against some rich freak. I was grateful.
* * *
We sat in Sango's room, after a small snack. Our plan was to have dinner, I could choose something to wear out of her closet, and then we would walk to Miroku's house before the dance. Miroku happened to live like…right next to the school.
How nice.
So… We had a dinner of pizza up in her room while Sango went through her closet to pull out anything that would be appropriate and would fit. I spied a lime green halter-top that said "Angel " but Sango shook her head saying that it didn't fit the dress code. I pouted and kept looking with her. In the end, I wore flare jeans and a glittery blue tank top. I fell in love with the tank top. It was so sparkly and glittered every time I moved just an inch! Sango wore something very similar: pair of flare jeans, and a hot pink tank top with white wavy stripes running from her left shoulder to her right hip.
"The stripes will glow when they turn on the dark lights!" she told me.
We applied our makeup, pulled back out hair into ponytails, and stuffed some money for food in our pocket. Mrs. Kashiyama didn't even let us ask: she demanded that she give us a ride to Miroku's.
"Thank you very much, Mrs. Kashiyama!" I smiled widely.
"Oh don't think much of it, dear, I just don't want any…one… picking you up on your way there…" her eyes narrowed.
Sango and I glanced at each other.
We stepped into the car and Mrs. Kashiyama drove us to Miroku's house.
"You girls look great!!" She called after us as we arrived and exited the vehicle.
We waved and smiled as we continued up the steps to the front door.
I barely had to touch the doorbell when it flew open.
"LADIES~!! I'M SOOOO GLAD THAT YOU COULD MAKE IT!!" Miroku yelled and swept his arm showing that we were permitted to enter.
"WHY *THANK YOU*, MIROKU!!" I hollered back.
He completely ignored me.
"Sango, my dear, may I have the first dance?" He asked her on bended knee.
"Miroku asked everyone that…" Minami said, while climbing the stairs from the basement.
"Why on *earth* am I not surprised…." I muttered.
"Watch out, Sango…he'll be asking for a piece of your butt in a second." Haruna rolled her eyes.
I rolled mine too and Miroku (as usual) tried to look offended.
"Back down stairs!!" Yumi called.
"Why, so we can keep kicking your butt?" Sayori yelled after her.
"Sayori and Minami are playing Haruna and Yumi at Dead or Alive 3." Miroku told us. "They all suck, if you ask me. I creamed all of 'em easily."
"You never told me you had that game!" I told him.
"Oh. I have that game!" He responded intelligently.
"And so far I'm the only player he calls 'competent'." Sango muttered.
"Hah! He ain't seen nothing! Miroku!! I challenge you!!!" I yelled at him.
He raised his eyebrows at me. "Very well. …just don't cry when you lose: Your mascara will run."
Sango looked at me. "For that you've *got* to cream him."
"Have no fear."
Miroku swiftly kicked the four girls off the X-box and passed me player 2's controller. He chose Tina and put her in her…cowgirl costume….I won't say more, other than Sango hit him for it…. While I chose Random.
"Pretty confident, are we?" he teased me while picking the 'random' scene.
"Like I said, you ain't seen nothing."
Heh. I got Ayane. My favourite and best player.
Needless to say his ego got the better of him and I whipped him. All 3 rounds.
"One more round!!" He yelled and pressed the "again" button.
The scene changed and I got Hayabusa.
Heh. I whipped him again.
"Th-th-that's not fair!!" he spluttered. "You can do the best move in the game!!"
"It took lots of practice." I chortled at his expression. "Want me to pass you a hankey, Miroku-CHAN?"
Sango snickered. The doorbell rang.
"That'll be Tadashi." Minami chirped and leapt up to get the door.
We heard brief conversation and then a "SHE BEAT HIM?? THE GREAT MIROKU??"
Miroku turned red.
"OH SHUT UP!!" he yelled.
Insert soft snickering from spectators here___________________.
Tadashi thundered down the stairs and gave me a high-five. "It's about time someone beat him. Maybe that'll shrink his head a little…."
More muttering from Miroku.
* * *
6:45 rolled around…
"We should start walking to the school…" Miroku stated.
"HAH! You're just saying that so that I can't beat you again!!" I shouted gleefully.
Score:
Me: 10 Miroku: 0
Tadashi suddenly had a thoughtful look about him. "You know, I wonder if you could beat Inuyasha…"
"When'd you play him?" Miroku asked while his character flew through the air and landed on its head.
"I ran into him in a game store. I played him there. He was awesome! The game had just come out and he was doing moves I didn't know existed."
"I might play him sometime." I answered while watching my character land on the stomach of Miroku's and grind him into the floor.
"Anyways, we should start walking to the school." Sango seconded Miroku's idea. "Sometimes they start letting people in early."
"Ah, very well then…" I responded.
We quit the game and crowded into the front hall. Miroku sweetly said his farewells to his mother and we left for the school.
Sango was right, they were letting people in early: we got in as soon as we arrived there. There was a beat pulsing and our group crowded around the DJ table that was the host of the flashing, colourful lights. It wasn't long before the dance was in full swing. I saw Inuyasha and Kikyo out by the side when 'The Anthem' by Good Charlotte came on, and I could see the longing look in Inuyasha's eyes to join us…but Kikyo looked like she was enjoying herself by standing there looking "hot" *cough COUGH!!!*. I made a motion for him to come and join us and Miroku caught my gesture. He also made a welcoming motion with his hands and Inuyasha sighed. He muttered something to Kikyo who protested but followed him to our group.
Inuyasha started talking avidly to Miroku and Tadashi while Kikyo just stood there looking rather bored.
"Dance!" I yelled to her, letting her know she was welcome if she wanted.
"Make me." She responded acidly.
I don't think she would know kindness if it danced naked in front of her.
Ah well.
We continued dancing and I heard eavesdropped the boys conversation. I noticed Sango doing the same.
"Inuyasha, we've found you a challenger!" Tadashi announced.
"The hell are you talking about?"
"Dead or Alive 3! Miroku was whipped!"
"Yea, well you didn't play, now did you?" Miroku retorted.
"Who is he?" Inuyasha asked with interest, "And how am I supposed to know if he's competent? I've only ever played Tadashi so I don't know how good Miroku is."
"Miroku's a little better than I am."
"And it's not a he, it's a she."
"Yea, Miroku was down in like…10 seconds flat when she played him."
"Who??" Inuyasha demanded again and now looked interested.
They were either about to tell him or keep teasing him about it when "Don't Speak", by No Doubt played. Kikyo snapped out of her glazed look and snatched Inuyasha. She practically leapt at him and he looked startled. I snickered at him and he responded with a frosty glare. Shrugging, and wandered over to where Miroku was pleading Sango to dance with him. I watched Sango sigh and give in and Miroku positively beamed. I rolled my eyes and stood over by the gym wall. With Minami, Sayori, Yumi, Haruna, and Tadashi. We were all standing around expectantly looking for a lonely and worthy guy to ask us to dance.
Tadashi finally sighed impatiently and said, "Ok fine! Minami will you dance with me?"
Minami looked genuinely shocked, but quickly recovered and accepted with a larger-than-normal-smile.
And then there were four.
Sayori, Haruna, Yumi and I all stood against the wall together. The three of them started calmly chatting while I stared at the pretty lights…..they were so hypnotizing…
Suddenly, Yumi nudged my arm and I jolted out of my trance.
"Wha-?"
"I suggest you hide in the crowd…your boyfriend has just arrived and he doesn't look too amused…"
Naraku had indeed just entered the gym and 10 or so other guys entered with him.
I gulped and thanked her.
I wove my way amongst the crowd of dancing couples, much to their and my dismay. I imagine that when you dance with someone you want to be dancing with, you don't want to have to budge to an 'excuse me please'. I was well aware that I was interrupting many romantic auras, but it was also to save my own skin. It was certainly annoying to be ignored when I politely asked to push by to be in the middle of the crowd.
"Move!" I muttered to a couple that not only ignored me but started kissing right in front of me. I barged past them, blowing them sideways until I was comfortably hidden in the middle of the crowd.
Hm…Naraku must have seen the kissing couple fly through the air or something cause he was still coming right at me…
He was very ungentle with the way he was shoving his way towards me. I stood and prayed he was walking towards someone else…the DJ table perhaps…I hoped…I prayed…
…Too bad for me…
"Hello, baby…" he said in a very dangerous tone.
A baby am I? Well two can play the age game.
"Well hello, old man! I see you found me. Now why don't you toddle back to your nursing home and let me—ouch!" he twisted my arm.
"Very funny, Kagome, darling. Now why don't we dance together and you tell me why you didn't wait at your house for me to pick you up? Oh that's right… you were going to Sango-chan's house, now weren't you? Yes, and the woman with the bricks in her purse…I remember now…"
I was contemplating another witty remark about the purse rattling his brains a bit and instead of the nursing home, perhaps a doctor or a little lie down in a jail cell would suffice to make him a better person…until he brought Sango and her mother into the scene. It annoyed me that he added the friendly 'chan' to the end of her name and it also worried me.
"Leave them out of this. They were only sticking up for me." I told him in an equally dangerous tone…the only difference was that mine held a shade of fear in it.
He chuckled darkly, "But you see, baby, they won't learn their lesson if I just let it be… In fact, it might even happen again, and we wouldn't want that, now would we?"
"You know," I hissed venomously, "if you weren't terrorizing me at all any more, there would be no chance of it happening."
"Yes, but if you would just *cooperate*, instead of fighting me, you wouldn't be terrorized…"
I could see myself reaching a dead end. "But I don't want to cooperate with someone who tries to unfairly run my life."
Heh. Answer that, you twit.
"Who else would run it then?"
That was a poisoned barb he stuck at me and it made me angry.
I threw him away from me. "I would run my own life, asshole. I'm perfectly capable and I don't need your help. Back off and let me be. Besides, boyfriends aren't supposed to do that. Fathers are. You are not my father."
I stomped away as the music changed back to lively, but that didn't stop me from hearing his retort: "Yes, but you don't have a father, Kagome. Seeing as only you and I know why, I think that because I'm keeping it secret that you should at least be able to thank me by staying by my side as mine."
I stopped and tried to push my anger and fury down as I marched back to Sango and my friends, but it didn't work.
Instead of rejoining them, I turned and ran for the bathrooms.
There was no one inside the unnaturally white room as I flung myself inside one of the small cubicles and cried.
I hate him. I hate him so much. My father… how *dare* he use that as a threat!! I missed my father so much as I leaned up against the wall of the stall. If he was here, he wouldn't let his only daughter be threatened like this. He was strong and he believed in me… when he died, my whole world turned upside down. So did my mother's, which is why I didn't want her to know about my dilemma. I was no longer Daddy's little princess… I was nobody's princess… Sure I tried to be strong and cool on the outside…but on the inside I'm just a girl. A weak little girl who's too scared to go get help from people she trusted because she loved them and didn't want them to get hurt.
"I am so pathetic." I whispered to myself. "I can't let him hurt Sango and her mother. It's not right. What if…what if I tried cooperating again…? Would that work?"
The thought mortified me but at the same time it seemed like the safest way out. Mind you it wasn't exactly a way out…but it was a start.
But I wasn't gonna start tonight.
Nope, tonight I was going to party like there was no tomorrow: with my friends.
I could only hope that if I 'behaved' and did everything Naraku told me to do, he would get bored of me and perhaps stop seeing me as a challenge, and then chase someone else.
I exited the stall and listened to the 'click-clack' of my shoes on the tile floor. At the sink, I washed off my face as delicately as I could so to not wash off the eye shadow that I had so carefully applied earlier, but so to rub off the mascara shadow under my eyes.
As I scrubbed at my face a few girls entered the bathroom and, shooting me disapproving looks, they entered stalls and proceeded to do what they came in to the bathroom to do.
I stared at my reflection in the mirror.
My eyes were red and so were my eyelids around them. I looked pathetic.
But as I said, perhaps that's who I was. Pathetic. Maybe my personality matched my tear-soaked face to a T.
No…it couldn't.
I smiled a weak smile.
Empty.
I smiled a larger smile and thought of Sango and Tadashi and Sayori and Miroku and the rest of my friends and then focused at the mirror.
There was Kagome Higurashi. I knew I was looking at myself when I smiled.
I reapplied my makeup and returned to the dance, where my friends asked me where I'd gone.
I shrugged it off and then joined them with smiles and by shaking my hair around like they were as the beat of the song consumed me.
* * *
"Wow…she cannot sing…" I heard Haruna dully mention.
I glanced up at the karaoke machine where a girl was "singing". I quote the word because I think that's what she was trying to accomplish.
"Can you do better?" I asked.
She rolled her eyes like it was the most *obvious* thing in the world. "Of course I can do better. *anybody* can do better than *she* can!!"
"Go ahead then." I said bluntly.
"What?"
"Go sign up! Sing after she does."
"Tell you what. I'll do it if you do it after I do. Deal?"
The girls watched me. There were about 50 people in the room and I wasn't *entirely* confident with my singing voice, but what the heck, right? Plus if Haruna was going to do it first…
"Deal."
Miroku whooped, "I'll judge!!"
"You're only going to judge their figures." Sango retorted dryly.
"Sango I'm hurt… …and yet I'm so pleased that you know me so well!"
She whacked him lightly with a set expression.
Haruna and I floated over to the table to sign up and pick a song.
Haruna chose "I wanna be bad" by Willa Ford, while I flipped through the book and was pleased when I found "Fighter" by Christina Aguilera.
After Ms. I-couldn't-sing-even-if-I-was-hanging-over-a-vat-of-boiling-water-to-save-my-life-and-it-would-be-best-if-I-never-picked-up-a-microphone-again-so-as-to-spare-the-ears-of-all-who-happen-to-be-listening, Haruna got up and the pop music started playing through the speakers.
In all, I think she did a decent job but she was trying to mimic the original artist and didn't do so well at that.
Oh boy.
My turn.
I nervously walked up and I saw the words appear on the screen of the T.V and started to relax. I didn't even need the T.V because I'd heard the song so many times and had sung along.
I closed my eyes and imagined that I was in my bedroom, holding my hair-brush as a microphone, with my music blasting and I just sang along when Christina was supposed to. When the song ended, I opened my eyes and returned the mic. to the table where the sign ups were.
"Great job, Kagome!" the guy there told me.
I gave a small smile to him and then returned to my friends.
"Kagome wins." Tadashi declared.
"You were definitely better than Haruna; No offence at all Haruna!!" Sayori quickly said.
"None taken. You did well." She told me.
"Wow, you must have really sucked then, cause I know I did terrible." I teased her.
"Nuh-uh, Haruna did well, and you know it." Sango shook her head.
"Cool." I responded bluntly. "So what's my prize?"
They all looked at each other.
* * *
Well, they decided that it was good enough to pitch in about six cents each and buy me a pop.
Hmph.
Ah well. It was better than nothing, right?
But then they were mean and threatened to leave me and go back to the dance floor so I had to chug and I am not good at that.
Chugging pop and then trying to jump up and down to music isn't great either.
Urgg.
Ah well, when the next slow song came on, it was really hilarious. Kikyo *and* Naraku didn't even look at each other (I guess) as they grabbed each other and danced. It wasn't entirely hard to see why Naraku thought I was Kikyo. Aside from the fact that her hair is twice as long as mine, and she was wearing a completely different outfit, we have similarities and I'll give him that it's dark.
But how in the dickens did Kikyo think that Naraku was Inuyasha??
Maybe she's blind in the near-dark.
Who knows?
Who cares?
Not me!!
Lalala!!!
Hm…Inuyasha seemed to care though. I saw him begin to stalk over to them but, as you can see this was a lovely opportunity for me to *not* have to dance with the Ugly King.
I ran over and tugged on Inuyasha's t-shirt sleeve.
"What??" he spat at me.
"Ok, could you, just this once, not think of yourself," I glanced over, "and Kikyo? Could you think of doing a little favor for me and just let it be for this song?" I pleaded.
Gods, he gave me an astonished look as if the thought had never crossed his mind.
"Pretty please?" I added.
He looked unfazed for a moment but then pursed his lips and turned away.
Then Kouga found me.
Help!!!
"Sweet buttercup born amongst the stars, will you dance with me?"
"I, uh…I already have a dance partner!!" I desperately grabbed for Inuyasha's arm and dragged him towards me.
It was either Inuyasha or someone already dancing.
Kouga's "dashing" look dissolved into a disappointed look. "Oh."
"Are you sure you wouldn't want to dance with him, Kagome? I don't mind one bit." Inuyasha told me with pretend kindness.
"Oh, no, not this time." I told Kouga while digging my nails into Inuyasha's neck to shut him up.
He turned away and left.
Inuyasha winced. "Geeze, did you file your nails into points? People are going to be asking me if I was bitten by a vampire or something now!"
"Oh whoops." I replied dryly. "It's just for instead of trying to set it up so that I'm dancing with someone who should die, you tried to switch it so I would dance with someone who should have tomatoes thrown at him for eternity."
"Tomatoes?"
"Yea… The fruit commonly mistaken for a vegetable? Come in several different types? Grow in many different countries? Delicious to—"
"Yea, yea, I know what a tomato is! I'm just wondering what made you think that Kouga should have tomatoes thrown at him."
I glanced over at him attempting to breakdance to attract attention. Sadly, the only person I think he will end up attracting is a paramedic. "Do I really need to elaborate?"
Inuyasha followed my stare.
"No." he muttered.
I must admit it was really nice dancing with Inuyasha. I've actually never (and don't be surprised by this) danced with anybody other than Naraku. Ever. I'm not entirely proud to say that my first "real" slow dance was with Inuyasha, but there wasn't anybody else that I would have really preferred.
Of course the girls were going to giggle and squeal afterwards that I danced with someone. Yea-hoo. I noticed Sango and Miroku looking our way (they were dancing together again ^.~) and Miroku gave me a wink and thumbs up. I rolled my eyes. I was really hoping that Inuyasha was sort of enjoying himself. I know I'm not Kikyo, but as long as he wasn't bored, I suppose that would be ok.
Not-so-abruptly, the romantic music dissolved into a beat and then we all heard a shriek and then a roar. Roar from Kikyo, shriek from Naraku.
Just kidding, just kidding.
I charged away from Inuyasha to my friends so that Naraku and Kikyo wouldn't have caught us dancing together. In fact, for bonus, I ran out of the main gym to the karaoke room and then turned around and returned to the main gym. Naraku and Kikyo were in the middle of a heated battle and Inuyasha was dutifully behind Kikyo, trying to coax her into just letting it be.
"Let it be?? LET IT BE?? DO YOU KNOW WHO I JUST DANCED WITH??"
Inuyasha looked tired. "Yes, Kikyo, I do know. And just so you know I'm not angry at him if you are. If you're upset, then it clearly was not on purpose." He turned and gave Naraku a hard glare, "It was not on purpose, was it?"
Naraku went from angry to shocked to angry again, "As if I'd dance with that whore on purpose!" he said, lip curling.
"Take that back." Inuyasha hissed.
"Why should I? The truth hurts, you know."
"Take…that…back…" Inuyasha repeated with a greater threat.
"I don't have to." Naraku sneered.
Inuyasha looked like he was going to punch Naraku so I decided to keep Inuyasha out of trouble. It was, after all, my fault that Inuyasha had not gone over to break them apart in the first place. Mind you, if he had of done it himself, I think that this scene would have played out anyways but just during a calmer song and would have been way out of context. I mean, "Headstrong" was playing so the lyrics of the chorus seemed to be spurring them on.
Ah well. Time for kamikaze. I ran between the two enemies.
"Alright, you two, that's enough. We don't need you guys getting suspended, now do we?" I asked them reasonably.
Inuyasha relaxed a bit as that sentence sunk in while Naraku turned his glare towards me and added a little ironic eyebrow. "You wouldn't be sticking up for him, now would you be, Kagome dear?" I was surprised to hear that he sounded almost bored.
"No, I'm trying to talk some sense into the two of you." I told him irritably. "I mean, you were lucky to get away with only cleaning lunch tables last time but other people could get hurt here."
Kikyo glared at me. "I *DID* get hurt last time."
"Right. But what I'm saying is that it's more crowded here and *more* people could get hu—"
"*You* kicked me, last time I checked." Kikyo continued with malice.
"Oh! That's right, I did too, didn't I? I thought you were referring to when Naraku punched you in the face. Compared to that, I wouldn't have remembered a tiny little tap on the leg. But that's not the point." I went on as her eyes darkened. "The point is, is that the two of you are behaving appallingly for 15-year-olds. Are you 15 or are you 3? If you are 3, then you shouldn't be here. You should be in bed right now. If you are 15, act like it."
I whirled around on my heel and left, making it no more of my business.
When I didn't hear anybody scream, I assumed that my little speech had been successful. I was relatively surprised but pleased and I managed to enjoy a few more songs. There was yet again another slow song (ooooh, biiiiiig surprise) and I managed to avoid Naraku. Amazingly.
"Oi, Kagome! You wanna dance?"
I gave Tadashi a half smile, "Sure. But where's Minami?" I added.
"Taking a break." He replied confidently.
I found that dancing with Tadashi is very different than dancing with Inuyasha. I was a little more at ease with Tadashi cause I knew him better, and I also found that I didn't have the rare case of 'butterfly in the stomach' syndrome (like what I had experienced with the last romantic song).
ANYWAYS…
I stared at the pretty lights for a bit but then got bored. I realize that when dancing with someone, you are not likely to want to make conversation with your partner, but I was, well, *just* a tiny bit bored. "So, you like Minami, eh?"
Tadashi blushed. "How do you know?"
I nearly whacked him. "EVERYBODY knows!! It's so obvious you like her!"
"phfft. Yea well. So what if I do. Do you think she likes me back?"
"Tadashi…she likes smart people…so stop acting like a dim-wit and figure it out!! YES she likes you back."
There was that light in his eyes that you can get when you're so totally happy.
Good for the boy. I saw my own problem walking around near by and with all good intentions, I told Tadashi to go and sit with Minami. As he shuffled over to her, I waltzed off to avoid Naraku.
Ah but somehow I managed to forget that Naraku's little minions are getting paid to keep an eye on me and one of them grabbed hold of my wrist and made some sort of finger signal in the air and in like .5 seconds, my dear old boyfriend was over here with his arms around my waist.
Remind me to scrub myself down when I get home, ok?
Not that I'll forget to.
"Naraku, why do you ever bother coming to the dances?" I asked him. "You don't actually dance here."
"Well you're going, so I need to. Besides, I enjoy dancing with you."
"Well, I don't like dancing." I lied. "And just because I'm going doesn't mean that you need to force yourself to come."
"Tut tut, I couldn't leave you unguarded here amongst all of these lonely boys."
"I'm well respected enough that they back off when I yell at them." I replied harshly.
He narrowed his eyes at me, "What are you implying, Kagome."
"That it would be nice if you did that every now and then and gave me some peace." I snarled.
He slapped me.
It wasn't hard, just a warning, but I still felt my jaw drop and the tears prickle at my eyes.
I looked up at him like a disobedient puppy and saw the hardness in his eyes. "Don't talk to me like that, Kagome. I am going to break you and you will stop running away."
I turned away with my hand up against my soar cheek and stumbled back to the wall.
I sat and hunkered down against the wall and wrenched my elastic out of my ponytail, causing my hair to fall around me and hide my face.
He'd never hit me before, but then I'd never had the courage to snap at him.
Ouch. It didn't actually hurt, it just stung. But he hit me. Boys aren't supposed to hit their girls.
Screw him, I thought viciously and I cleared my eyes just as I felt the air pulse again with "Punk Rock 101". I brushed my hair out of my eyes and started to stand up when Sango poked me on the shoulder.
"What's up?" she asked me.
"What?"
"You're eyes are red."
"And….is that a hand mark on your cheek? Only *I* get those!!" Miroku asked me incredulously.
I cast my eyes downward. "So?" I whispered.
"Who hit you, Kagome? I know you wouldn't do anything unreasonable to deserve it," demanded Sango.
I turned my gaze up to her, "I talked back."
Miroku looked disgusted, "he HIT you? For that?? For heaven's sake!! You're not his *kid*!!"
"I've already…mentioned…that to him."
"And that's why he slapped you." Sango understood.
I nodded. "But I told him rather rudely and so he seemed to feel the need to 'put me in line.'"
Miroku cracked his knuckles but I stuck an arm out. "Miroku, don't. That would be stupid."
"So what…you're gonna let him get away with it??"
I paused.
"Go on!! You can do better than that!" he urged.
"Miroku, I don't want any trouble, and I certainly don't want you to get hurt." He made a sound of protest but I shushed him. "Next time. If he hits me again, I'll let you know and I won't hold you back."
"Well, I suppose you have good judgment, Kagome." He huffed.
"Thanks." I smiled.
He turned away and joined Tadashi, and Inuyasha. I was sure Miroku was passing info over that Naraku had abused me by the looks on their faces and expressions.
"Do you think they're forming a lynch group or something?" Sango asked me.
I shrugged.
I'm just glad I've got so many fans.
Ok, ok, friends.
Anyways, in total I enjoyed the rest of the dance and neglected to mention my plan of boring Naraku into leaving by cooperating.
We gathered outside after the dance and waited for our rides.
"Hey Kagome! Wanna get together this weekend?"
I grinned at Sango. "Perhaps!"
"I'll call you!" she yelled.
"Ok!"
With that I walked away when someone poked me on the shoulder. I whirled around and to my surprise, I came face to face with Inuyasha.
"Hey…um…I…uh….I just wanted to let you know that I heard you sing with the karaoke thingy," I blushed but let him continue, "and I think you did great. You've got a great singing voice." He quirked a smile at me and then turned away.
"THANKS!" I called after him. "By the way!" he turned and looked at me, "Thanks for saving my butt! It was nice dancing with you!!"
His mouth twitched into another smile and then shrugged and left.
"Somebody's got a crush~!" a voice sang into my ear.
I jumped with surprise, "Tadashi!!"
He snickered and my expression changed.
"First of all, don't sneak up on me. Second…I do *not* have a crush on Inuyasha."
I rolled my eyes as he laughed at me again. "Whatever." He said.
"Yea…whatever…anyways, I'll see you on Monday."
"Later."
Crush?? CRUSH???? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhewishes.
Nah, I didn't have a crush on Inuyasha. I mean, he's already got a girlfriend. A werewolf, perhaps, but a girlfriend nonetheless. Bah. And if I did have a crush on him, so what? Hmph.
"Good night Kagome." Arms circled me.
"Good night." I replied sharply.
"I will have you at my house on Sunday."
"Sure. Pick me up then."
I left.
Break me. Hah. He won't break me. I won't be broken. He can sure as hell try, but it won't work.
That's final.
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Oooook……..i'm not entirely sure I did a great job on that chapter, but I hope the majority of you liked it. Let me know when you review.
Second, I have an…amusing idea for the next chapter…it involves a prank on Inuyasha…I hope I get around to it soon..—
Review!!
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