Away From The Well

Chapter Two

by KikyouCommitsSuicide

Disclaimer:

Dis - Not

Claim - Saying that something is yours

You do the math.

Author's note: Yay! My first continuing fic... uh... continues! For someone who scored close to perfect on the Connecticut Mastery Tests, I sure have a limited and uninspiring vocab.

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Inuyasha was standing in front of his brother's rather large residence. He was, after all, the Lord of the Western Lands. But how come Inuyasha got a tree and Sesshoumaru got a gargantuan, expensive-looking palace? And the Tensaiga? And the money? And the respect? And the power? And, most importantly, the LOOKS? Some guys just had it made. And this wasn't just a cliche. Sesshoumaru really did.

He strode into his ancestral home that he was kicked out of because his brother decided to live there. The gates, however, satisfactorily recognized his blood and let him through. He knew that Sesshoumaru had tried to get different gates that wouldn't like his brother, but such a smith was impossible to find - they were all dead by now, either killed by unhappy clients or of old age.

"Sesshoumaru, I want to speak with you," Inuyasha said dangerously. His youkai brother wanted respect from his servants, and no gossip, but that would only happen if he deserved it. So, his brother never did anything too incriminating in his own home.

Usually.

"Hey, Sesshy-chan (a/n: Inu does whatever he can to provoke his brother when he can. Evil little dog, ain't he?). I just came to ask you for some money. Since I have none, and all."

"This is the THIRD time you've come asking for money, Inuyasha," his brother said impatiently (for him, anyway), his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Well, if I had any of my inheritance, I wouldn't need money. And think about it. I've only needed money three times in my life. Impressive, ne?"

"Indeed. So what do you need it for?"

"Why're you askin'?"

"Always know what you're investing in, dear brother," he was answered. He noticed that Sess hesitated a little and clenched his fists under the table before he said the phrase, 'dear brother'. His face, though, was as stoic as ever.

"That's a nice little tip, there, Sess-chan, I'll be sure to tell you if I ever need it," he replied, as cocky as he could be. These times in his brother's house were priceless. "Hey, speaking of business, there is a little that you probably don't want the whole world to know... you know, something like... hickies?!"

Oh, how he hated his brother. It wasn't very commonly known that when his father was alive, Sesshoumaru had been quite the rebellious child - he even got a permanent hickie from one of his former servants. It was now so small and faded that he could pass it off as a battle scar, but if anyone knew about it, it would totally and completely ruin his reputation. "I despise you," he said poisonously before giving him a tiny bag. "Will this do?"

Inuyasha examined the contents. It was a very well-crafted pearl necklace with a gold chain. "It will do nicely. Thank you." Sesshoumaru just glowered, and he decided that he had overstayed his welcome. "I must be going. Good-bye."

With that, Inuyasha walked composedly out of his brothers home, but when he had passed the gates and made sure he was out of sight, he jumped onto a tree, where he really was much more at home than the dirty ground, and started on the way back to the well.

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Kagome was packing her clothes when the phone rang again. Kami, she was really wanting to smash it into dozens of little pieces by now. That thing had become her worst enemy in two little calls.

"Hai?"

"Is this Higurashi Kagome?"

"Hai. May I ask who is calling?"

"This is the boarding school you were enrolled in by your mother's wishes. We have provided two plane tickets for you out of Tokyo's airport. Please be packed and such by then. Goodbye."

And then they just hung up, forgetting to tell her why they had given her two tickets. Rather rude, but they got their point across. Unfortunately. Kagome just hoped that Inuyasha would be back soon. She wanted to go to Sengoku Jidai and just disappear.

But wouldn't the people, mainly the boarding school, which hadn't even given it's name, wonder where she was? And they went down the well to look for her? Surely she couldn't be the only one in her time who could time-travel. What if they went through? And found out her secret? No, she couldn't take that chance. She'd just have to go to New York and live there until she turned eighteen and got enough money to go home. Then she could disappear.

The thought of a future that might not hold her dearest friends made her cheeks become wet with tears. Well, that was the life that was bestowed upon her, and she would take whatever came her way. Hmph. She'd show Inuyasha that she wasn't a weak human. And then she'd gloat and say 'sit' for many times without reason. That thought alone made her smile, wipe the tears away, and start packing her belongings. And everything else.

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Inuyasha was panting, but had a huge grin on his face. He couldn't wait to see the look on her face when he told her that he was going to the same school she was. At the moment, he was standing in front of the well, hands on his knees and trying to catch his breath. Damn breath - it was hard to catch. If he ever found it in the flesh, he'd give it a hard whack with the Testusaiga...

Breathing better after about five minutes, he jumped in the well, the little satin pouch clutched tightly in his hand.

Once through the well, he realized that he needed clothes that weren't bright red and fire-proof. He saw a guy about his height and stature on the side of the road, knocked him out from behind, and stole the guy's clothes, leaving the poor unconscious boy in a dark alleyway where he wouldn't be discovered for a few hours. Inuyasha snickered. Getting away with mugging a random person on the street was an old, never-satisfied bliss. And the best part was he wouldn't be thrown head-first into the rather hard, black ground.

Hehe. Maybe he should've snuck into Kagome's time more often. He just hoped that no one would notice a weird red outfit hidden under a relatively empty trashcan.

He walked a little ways along the road, making sure that no one saw the pouch that contained the necklace. Then he stopped a lady who looked like she knew where she was going so well that she didn't even pay attention to her whereabouts. The kind of person who just spaced out and let her feet carry her where she was supposed to go.

"Oi, uh, ma'am? Is there somewhere where I can sell a necklace for some money?"

"Hai. There's a pawn shop over on the next street. I don't even need to give you directions. The oldest looking shop in the middle of the street. You can't miss it. Unless you're blind, of course..." She looked curiously at his oddly colored eyes. "Are those real?"

Noticing where she was looking, and realizing that she would only ask if there was a chance that they weren't, he told her iie, and set off for the shop.

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Kagome was just packing her underwear when Inuyasha burst through the door to her bedroom, a huge grin on his face. "Wench! You'll never guess what... oi, what are those?"

Kagome felt her cheeks color and, in mortification, yelled, "Osuwari!"

"Owwwww... what was that for?"

"Nothing. Learn to knock from now on."

"Hai, whatever," he said, peeling himself from her floor. "Anyway, I got some money, not telling you how, but it's so I can go to that school with you!" Noticing her stern glare, he added, "I didn't steal it, or anything." Not really.

Her expression lightened considerably, and she actually smiled at him. The look on her face is priceless, he thought. If only I could bottle it up, I wouldn't need to ask Sesshoumaru for money anymore! Hm... he'd have to ask Kaede about that later.

"Uh, Inuyasha? How'd you get the uniform from Yotsubadai (a/n: So I stole the name of the school from Fushigi Yuugi. Whaddya gonna do, sue me? Oh yeah, don't own FY either, by the way :P)? That's a really geeky school, and only really smart people get in it. Which you're not."

"Um... you see... there was this guy..."

"Osuwari."

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So Kagome looked at how much money he had and found that he had enough for five years at the school. It wasn't a very expensive school, but it did have a good reputation - that's why her mother chose it.

That night, Inuyasha was dragged out of Kagome's house and into the drug store, where they bought two bottles of black hair dye, some eye color changing contacts, and some eye drops. And a bandanna.

And then the mall, where he got two changes of clothing. "This is coming out of your money, of course," he was told.

They also got some ramen, which was paid by Inuyasha, of course. "I'm not buying anything else!!" He yelled, before paying for a bracelet on pain of an 'osuwari'.

Kagome just smiled in a rather scary way.

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"Hm. You don't look half-bad," Kagome commented, admiring her work. Inuyasha now looked human, with his hair dyed black, his ears (unfortunately) black also, and covered in a rolled up bandanna. It had taken two times of dyeing of his hair to actually become black. The first time, it had turned a stormy gray - apparently hanyou hair resisted coloring, cause it was extra-strength dye, too. It was still soft and shiny, though. She wondered what he used to clean it.

"Hai? Well, I ain't doing this again. It hurts my ears."

"Well, you'll do this if your hair grows." It was supposed to be a smart remark, because of course hair grows.

"Once it reaches a certain length, it just stops."

"Oh. I guess you won't be, then..."

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The next day, Inuyasha did some heavy lifting for Kagome's neighbor, who was also moving out. She paid him rather well for it, since he carried most of her possessions quite a ways to her new apartment halfway across the city. Apparently, she couldn't afford a moving van, which was weird from the amount of money she gave Inuyasha.

And when they went back to the shrine, they watched some anime that the Higurashis had on DVD. Kagome went to bed after two episodes, but Inuyasha watched them all night. He needed all the information he could have on the modern day world. Plus the fact that they were addictive. Just like ramen.

Taking into account that Kagome was human, she woke up pretty early the next morning. About four o'clock by his estimate. She had taught him about reading time, but he used the light in the sky. It just took less time.

"What're you doing?"

"I have to catch a plane in two hours. And it'll take about that long to get a bus, check in, and stuff. Hey! They gave me two tickets! I must be really lucky. Come on, you haven't packed all your stuff yet." She threw him a duffel bag and he stuffed his purchases and, on afterthought, some food. Who knew what these tickets were for?

"Hey, um, Inuyasha? Where are your real clothes?"

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Kk! That's Chapter Two! Do you like it? Tell me!

I started jumping for joy when I found out how many reviews one of my stories generated. Then my dad walked in on me mid-jump (hey, I know it's his room, but why do people put computers with Internet access in bedrooms anyway??), looked at me funny, and asked, "Lauren? How much sugar have you had today?"

"Um... a pack of gummy worms, three scoops of ice cream, some ch -"

"Yeah. That's too much. Now go to bed."

"...Okay."

See how terribly uncreative parents can be? They always say the same thing! And they're hurting my online career (Well, I suppose writing could be called a career... right?)! Seriously.

And I know that in the little scene where Inu blackmails Sesshoumaru, he acts all weird and formal. Well, he's acting like the half-brother of Sesshoumaru should act. So the servants won't gossip. And I think he likes acting once in a while... ;)

Ja for now!