The Club

Christielea54

Chapter Fourteen

An hour later and Hojo was still droning on about medical school.

"Hojo!" she interrupted him.

He looked a little surprised, but smiled at her pleasantly. "Yes Kagome?"

"Let's play a game!"

"A… game?" he asked puzzled.

"Yeah! Like, how about tic-tac-toe?"

"Okay…" He took out a pen and neatly drew the board on a napkin. "You can go first," he told her.

She sighed. Inuyasha had always demanded to go first. Then they would fight over it, and end up settling it by playing another game like rock-paper-scissors. Sure it was immature, but it was so much fun!

Hojo put o's on the board like he was supposed to, but Kagome couldn't help but be disappointed. Inuyasha had always used whatever symbol he damn well felt like, whether it was an 'I' for his name, or even something as crazy as smiley faces.

With a start Kagome realized that Hojo had let her win. Her mother had let her win when she was five! What did he think? That she couldn't win on her own?! Even if he didn't think that, what was he thinking? Inuyasha would never ever in a million years have let her, or anyone else for that matter, win. And if he lost, which wasn't nearly as often as Kagome would've liked to see, he'd pout until he got a rematch.

With tears nearly coming to her eyes, she realized that it wasn't the things themselves that were fun, it was Inuyasha who made them that way. She missed him…

And why on Earth was she thinking of another guy while on a date?!

"Kagome?"

"Huh?" she looked up, still distracted by her thoughts.

"I said, are you still upset about your grandfather?"

Grandpa had been up and about for days now. He was perfectly fine. "Of course-" She'd been about to say 'of course not', but then realized that this was her chance out. "Of course I am. I'm really sorry, but I'll see you Hojo. Bye!" she called, already on her way out the door.

A waitress, having witnessed the scene Kagome made, came over to the forlorn looking Hojo with a lemonade. "Here sweetie. Extra sugary. On the house."

"No, you don't understand, it's her grandfather," he explained.

"I'm sure it is honey," the waitress said with a pitying look.

Inuyasha was aimlessly walking along the old beaten sidewalks of his town. He didn't know where he was going, and he was only vaguely aware that it was cold out.

He was irritated.

He was angry that Miroku had been able to read him like that. Hell, Miroku had known that he liked her before he did! That was just wrong on a million different levels! And even more upsetting was the fact that he did like her. He wasn't supposed to like her! She was just another annoying girl who had no idea what his life was like. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that she did know a lot of it. And the more he thought about that, the more he realized that he didn't really mind all that much.

No! This wasn't supposed to happen to him! He was supposed to be the teenage loner! The misunderstood musician!

It was at this point in his thoughts that he rounded a corner, and not paying a whole lot of attention, literally bumped into someone running in the opposite direction. "Kagome?!"

"Inuyasha?! What are you doing here?"

"I-" Wait, he was mad at her! All the irritation came flooding back. "I'm coming to drag you back to work!"

"How'd you know I was here?" she asked suspiciously.

"I, um," he floundered. Dammit! She had him there.

"See?" she pointed out. "You're skipping too!" she smiled, but it faltered when she saw him shiver. She had her jacket on and was still freezing! "Aren't you cold?"

"Of course not," he scoffed.

She rolled her eyes, but remembered that this part of him was what made him so much fun to be around. "Oh, I'm sure," she replied sarcastically.

"Feh."

"Hey, do you want to come back to my house for dinner? It's on the way." She stopped suddenly, as thoughts of food entered her brain. "Do you even know how to cook?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "Not all that much. Why?"

"Inuyasha!" she yelled as if it were the biggest scandal ever. "What do you live off of? Ramen noodles?" she asked sarcastically, but upon seeing his face quickly said, "Wait. Don't answer that."

He laughed at her. "It's not so bad. They're my favorite food."

"Don't you miss having hot meals cooked for you when you get home? Jesus Inuyasha, you're only in high school."

Yet again he was reminded that Kagome knew the single biggest secret in his life. "I thought I told you I didn't want you feeling sorry for me!" he said darkly.

Immediately Kagome noticed the deep orangey color his eyes were turning to and knew that she was treading on thin ice. Well, she couldn't let it bother her too much. Why not deal with it like he would? She crossed her arms and stuck up her nose. "I'm not feeling sorry for you. I'm helping you. End of story." She stomped off ahead of him. "And you're coming to my house for dinner tonight."

"Hey!" he yelled after her. "You can't order me around like that!"

"I wasn't ordering you around."

"You were to!"

"I was not!"

"Were to!"

"Was not!"

"Were to!"

"Was not!"

"Were to!"

"Oh, here's my house!" And she skipped happily up the porch steps.

"Were- wait, what?" he broke off confused.

"My house. This is it." She smiled. How could she be yelling at him one second, and then be all bubbly the next?! It was so weird!

He trailed after Kagome into her small cozy house cautiously. They ran into a middle aged woman, and surprised registered on her face, before settling into a motherly smile. "Hello Inuyasha dear."

"How do you know me?"

"I'm guessing that there aren't many teenage boys Kagome knows with hair that long. Tell me, do you condition it?"

"MOM!" Kagome shrieked.

"What's all the ruckus?" an old raspy voice asked as Grandpa walked into the entrance room. "Who are you?" he asked.

Souta appeared by his side. "That's Kagome's boyfriend."

"Souta! He's not my boyfriend!"

"Sure he isn't," he said in that teasing way that only little brothers can manage. "I think he's cool. How long did it take for you to grow your hair so long?" he asked amazed.

"Nice to meet you my boy!" Grandpa declared, holding out his hand.

Inuyasha took it, and thought, so this is what a grandparent feels like…

Ten minutes later, Kagome managed to get her mother and Inuyasha into the kitchen without any distractions. "Mom, do you think you could teach Inuyasha how to make a few quick hot meals?"

She looked at the two teenagers suspiciously. "Why?"

"Um, because," Kagome wasn't sure what to say.

"It's for a home ec. class," Inuyasha lied. It was easier that way.

However, Mrs. Higurashi didn't seem convinced. It struck her as odd that the bad boy from The Club with the long black hair would be taking a home economics class. But she'd go along with it. At least for now… She smiled. "Do you like pasta Inuyasha?"

Kagome could literally see his eyes light up at the thought of real food. "Sure," he readily supplied.

"Then you can make our dinner tonight. Spaghetti, ravioli, or goulash?" she asked.

He'd never even heard of goulash before… "Umm, spaghetti sounds okay."

"Great!"

Half an hour later the whole Higurashi clan, plus Inuyasha, were seated around the big kitchen table.

Inuyasha was new to this kind of atmosphere. It was noisy, but extremely comfortable. Kagome's family was just like Kagome herself. They traded smiles over the big platters of food, and asked how each others day went. But it wasn't the fake I'm-only-asking-you-this-because-I-have-to type that he'd cynically been expecting. It was a plain and honest type. The smell of good food hung in the air, and he could hear the clanking of dishes and chitchat, and over all, it was rather pleasant.

Kagome turned to the seat on her right where Inuyasha sat. "You've been awfully quiet. Is everything okay?"

"The boy can probably feel the souls of the dead who lived in this household before us. Why, did you know that hundreds of years ago this property was used for-" Grandpa's voice faded into the background noise as Kagome leaned over and whispered behind her hand. "This could take a while…"

He gave her a small smile in return.

"You're last lesson today Inuyasha, is that every cook must clean up his mess."

"Dishes?" he asked, dread passing over his face.

Kagome's mother nodded happily. She wouldn't have to do them for once in her life!

"Don't look so upset," Kagome interjected. "I can help you with them."

So it was later, when Inuyasha was washing and Kagome drying that she asked the question she'd had on her mind all night. "Inuyasha, are your grandparents… not alive, or have you just not met them?" she asked quietly.

"I don't see what difference it makes," he grumbled. "Why do you care anyways?"

"I think… I think we could find them. You could talk to them." Seeing the incredulous look on his face she hurried on. "I mean, we don't have to or anything, I just thought that maybe you'd like to and-"

"How could you even find them?" he asked suddenly, an odd look on his face.

She smiled. He was going to let her help him! "I know this guy who can get us their medical records. Birth certificates and stuff. His name's Hojo…"

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Dun dun dun! Will Inuyasha actually meet Hojo? Will Kagome risk putting them in the same room together? See next time, on The Club!

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