Chapter 2
After the initial shock wore off, the councilors began ushering students to their dormitories. Kagome caught a brief glimpse of the headmaster bending over the red-clad figure sprawled on the floor, but the current of several moving bodies was too much, and she couldn't stay to watch. Catching up with her friend, Yuka, she tossed one last look over her shoulder before asking,
"So, what have you heard about him so far?"
Yuka, delighted at actually being asked about the latest gossip (by Kagome of all people…) eagerly jumped to the juiciest rumor she had heard so far,
"Well," she began, grinning excitedly, "My friend said that she overheard a councilor talking about her little sister who sat at the very end of the table, close to the door. It seems that the man isn't just some random psycho, buuut…" she paused, enjoying the fact that, for once, she had Kagome's undivided attention.
"But what?" Kagome urged impatiently, causing Yuka's grin to widen.
"But," she continued, "a youkai! And not a bad looking one at that." She added. Kagome resisted the urge to strangle her friend,
"That's it?"
"What do you mean, that's it? A male youkai just barged into the all girl school we attend. This is so much more interesting then Kanna's detention. Hey! Maybe we should spy on him…you know, see if he's really all they say he is." She joked, but froze at Kagome's suddenly thoughtful and mischievous expression. 'Oh no,' she thought in dismay as a slow smile graced her friend's lips. That innocent smile never meant any thing good. Scooting nervously away from Kagome, Yuka failed to her murmur,
"Yes. Maybe we should pay a visit to our…guest." (o.0 …didn't that line come out of some movie? Ah well.)
When Kagome finally reached her bed, tucked all the way in the corner of the room, she chose to sit straight and upright on it rather then lie down and go immediately to asleep. A fat, gray cat with a rather sour-looking face trotted across the blankets, hopped onto her lap, and nudged her hand.
"Hey Mr. Toodles." She said. Absently she stroked the cat with one hand, while the other lay clenched under her chin in thought.
"He has something to do with it. That man…youkai….whatever he is, is involved. He mentioned that Naraku. What do you think?" The cat just stared at her before climbing onto one of her pillows. Chuckling softly to herself, she crawled underneath the cover. 'Tonight,' she thought to herself as the lights in the rooms started to dim, 'tonight I'm going to find out who he is.'
Slowly she opened her eyes and, with a jolt, realized that she must've fell asleep. Sitting up she looked at the fluorescent green numbers on the clock that sat on her bedside table; 2:45. Sliding out of bed she wrinkled her nose in disgust; she had fallen asleep in her uniform again. Shrugging it off, she crept towards the door, barefoot since she was quieter that way.
Guests usually slept in the West Wing, all the way on the other side of the school, but if there was only one or two they were usually placed in the four rooms close to the main stairway. It would take only a matter of time before Kagome found the right one.
The first two rooms were dusty with misuse, but when she quietly pushed open the third door, she saw several strange articles of clothing scattered around the room and heard the sound of light breathing. She could vaguely make out the outline of a large canopy bed, and a small, round table close to the fireplace. Deciding not to risk waking the roon's inhabitant, she carefully avoided the bed and went directly to the table. Kagome found and empty knapsack with various items surrounding it. One interested her in particular, it being a very worn looking book. Undoing the clasp that held it shut, she winced, thinking it sounded too loud in the silence.
When she felt it was "safe" to continue her investigation of the book, she opened it and discovered that it was actually some sort of diary. Flipping through the soft, leather pages, she stopped at one with a whole page covered din runes. At the very top of the page, in the bold, messy writing the rest of the pages were covered in, it read: Went to base of mountain. Found these runes.
Against her better judgment, Kagome brought the book about an inch away from her face. Lightly touching the runes she whispered and interpretation of each of them:
"When the land falls into constant winter
Helpless, hopeless, without light
Only a piece of the evil can go hither
To the nest of the devil
And retrieve the jewel of bright
And upon dark mountain top
Embedded deep upon the stone
Rests the altar that will stop
The evil, yet only him alone
Journey next to fair Elisia
Where powers will greatly grow
The queen will rise within that time
And her terror and might will show."
She re-read the passage one more time before reluctantly turning the page. Some slammed into her then, causing her to take a small step backwards. She was surrounded by voices, but unlike the organized voices of her premonition, these sounded chaotic and often time interrupted each other.
"Run! No, don't worry about me! Just run dammit!" a male voice barked.
"No, I can't just leave you here—" a female voice retorted.
"Yes you can. Just turn around and get out of here. I'll follow you."
"But nothing. Listen, I love you Kikyou. There I said, now get the hell outta here—"
A hand roughly grabbed her shoulder while she felt something sharp brush against her neck,
"Who're you and what the hell are you doing in my room?" He paused and, though it was dark, Kagome was aware that he was leaning closer to her face. She grimaced as the hold on her shoulder tightned.
"Kikyou? No…" the man said softly, and, despite the situation, Kagome remembered the small dialogue she had overheard earlier, and felt a little sorry for the man… that is, until she heard something that sounded suspiciously like sniffing.
"No, you're not her. Who are you wench?"
"My name is Kagome."
A silence followed and then, much to her relief, the man took his hand away from her shoulder and walked over to some corner of the room. Nervously she strained to see what the mean was doing, rubbing the spot on her should that he had gripped so tightly. With a click, the room was suddenly flooded with light.
"C'mere and get comfortable and…erm…tell me why the hell you have my journal."
Sheepishly Kagome placed the book she was still holding back onto the table, before walking over to the man's bedside. When her eyes finally adjusted to the sudden exposure to light, she saw that, up close, "the man" looked barely a year older then herself. Kagome, being raised in an all girl's school, couldn't really tell whether one would consider this boy attractive, he seemed rather harsh and distant, but his snowy white hair was nice enough. Not to mention his eyes. They were a beautiful warm gold with a wild, dangerously, angry look that was strangely comforting. And his ear—unbeknownst to her, a look of confusion flew onto her face. Where were his ears? Her eyes traveled upwards and finally rested on…the most adorable pair of ears she ever saw.
"Are they real?" she wondered aloud, clapping her hands over her mouth in dismay. 'I said that aloud didn't I?' she mentally groaned.
"Yes," the dog boy snapped, the ears in question twitching, "Do you have a problem with that?"
"N-no. I think they look…cute." He started at her blankly for a few seconds, as if wondering whether she was quite sane of not.
"So anyway," he said, breaking the (obviously) awkward silence that had followed her comment, "Why were you in my room wench?"
"My name's Kagome—"
"Whatever."
"And," she continued, rolling her eyes, "I was just curious about you. I mean, how many male youkais burst into the all girl school you attend every day?"
"…hanyou."
"What?"
"I'm just a hanyou."
"Oh."
"And you also came to see whether I was connected to your premonition at all." He added with a smirk, folding his arms over his chest smugly.
"How did you—"
"Your headmaster told me about it. Seems like the whole time you were having it you were speaking a different language, but they heard you mention Naraku…yeah." The way he had spat out the name Naraku caused Kagome to look up at his face n surprise and, for a brief moment, she caught a glimpse of hatred and pain cloud his features before it returned to its original smug expression. Unaware of the embarrassed flush spreading throughout his companion's face, he asked offhandedly,
"So, exactly what happened in your premonition thing any way?"
She stiffened and responded vaguely,
"Oh well, you know, the usual. Any way, why should I tell you when I don't even know your name?"
"Feh, why does it matter? Whatever, it's Inu Yasha."
"…dog demon?" she asked, amused. He just smirked again and changed the subject,
"I told you my name, now tell me your premonition."
"No! I haven't even told the headmaster about it!"
"So? What's the big deal wench?"
She glowered at him, "Hey buddy, the name's Kagome, and why do you want to know so badly?"
He reddened and crossed his arms again, "None of your business."
Rolling her eyes Kagome sighed and, "Fine. Why don't you tell me why came to this school, of all places, and I'll tell you my premonition." At this, Inu Yasha jumped up from the bed and pointed an accusing finger at her,
"What are you up to little girl?"
"Nothing! Just calm yourself and sit—" SLAM! "…down?"
"What the hell? How'd you do that wench?"
"I don't know! All I said was sit—" SLAM!
"Stop doing that!" they both cried in unison.
"Yeah, like I'm friggin slamming myself , face first, on the floor on purpose," he muttered.
"Well I don't know! People are strange these days. For all I know, you may get random masochistic urges to fall flat on your face." She said, attempting to defend herself. Noticing the glare he was throwing her, Kagome sighed and snapped, "Fine, fine. You're right I'm wrong. I won't say that stupid word again…tonight. There, happy?"
"Yes."
"Now tell me why you came here."
"You sure are a stubborn bitch aren't you?"
"Are you trying to change the subject?" She smiled, her voice sickeningly sweet. Scowling, he finally shrugged and said, "Naraku came and destroyed everything in the village I stayed in. Killed a helluva lot of people while he was at it. So I came here to see whether your headmaster had received any premonitions of me killing the son of a bitch. There, I told you my story, don't go backing out of the deal."
She still had several question to ask him, but a deal was a deal… With great reluctance, she slowly told him of the voices, the flame red building, and the Shikon no Tama. The events that occurred at the base of the mountain were mentioned just as a pale finger of dawn stretched upwards from the horizon and she trailed off then, unwilling to describe any more; Inu Yasha didn't seem to notice. He was gazing at something out the window, all of his features softened, except for his eyes; they remained harsh and guarded. Turning to her, he opened his mouth to say something, but, seeing something over her shoulder, motioned for her to turn around. Nodding, she fearfully did an about face and was met with two familiar pair of yellow eyes. Letting out a sigh of relief, she said,
"Mr. Toodles, what are you doing here?"
"Mr. Toodles?"
"My cat," she answered.
"Oh, so that's what you reek of." His voice was filled with disdain.
Ignoring his comment, she scooped up the large feline who, overcome with joy, hissed and struggled to escape her grip. Tightening her hold on it she smiled apologetically,
"I better get going. Sorry I kept you up so late."
He waved her apology aside, "Whatever. I don't need to sleep as much as you weak humans do. Any way, listen wench, after you eat breakfast meet me back here, I have a plan."
"A plan? For what?"
"You'll just have to see for yourself." He said, displaying his seemingly trademark smirk again.
"But right after breakfast is class!" Kagome protested.
"So?"
"Are you asking me to cut class?" she demanded, incredulously.
"Uh, basically. What, you scared to or something?" he was smiling patronizingly at her making it difficult for her not to stomp her foot and pout.
"Fine," Kagome snapped, making her way towards the door, "I'll be here. It better be good, though."
"It will." He replied, following her. To his surprise, though, she didn't just walk right out the door. Instead, she carefully placed the cat on the floor before turning to face him. Tilting her head to the side, she studied his face for a moment, ignoring the way he began to nervously fidget
"W-what?" he practically snarled.
She didn't respond and only took a step closer to him, the calm, thoughtful look still on her face. Slowly she raised her hands and rubbed his ears. 'They're so soft!' she thought to herself, secretly delighted. Then she noticed the expression on Inu Yasha's face and abruptly dropped her hands to her sides.
"I've been wanting to do that this whole time." Kagome explained. When she received no response, she gave Inu Yasha one last smile before grabbing the cat and hastily making her way to her dorm, leaving Inu Yasha debating whether to smirk or scowl as he watched her figure disappear down the hall.
I'm so excited! I finally figured out how to save the word document as an HTML file. And it's all thanks to Kaylana, so yeth, I dedicate this chapter to you. ^_^ If you hadn't told me to save it as an html file I probably would've just stared at the computer for a couple of hours willing my story to look right when I posted it on the site. Standard disclaimers apply to the fic, of course. I'm going to go eat cereal and hot chocolate for lunch now. Chappy 3 should be up soon unless my teachers feel particularly sadistic this week…
Oh, and I should say now that this is mainly gonna be an Inu and Kagome fic, but there will be a little Sango and Miroku on the side. Anywayz, yeah. On to my cereal…