Arg, this is harder to write than Memories of the Present was.^_^; *laughs* Maybe because that had two problem layers (shards gone haywire and mysterious guy), while this story has at least four or five.^_^;*giggles* Oh well, c'est la vie.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters in it. If I did I'd be rich, but I'm not... and if I had lots of money I'd probably spend it on anime anyway so pleeaasseee, don't sue me.^_^ lol
Oh, and as always,
_= thoughts *_* = sound/ italicized "_" = speech
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Recap:
"Look," Inu interrupted, "we have to be here whether we want to be or not, and I would personally prefer not. Let's just make the most of this and be through with it as quickly as possible. I'm wasting valuable 'sitting around doing nothing' time on you, so just tell me what homework you have so we can get it over with."
This was going to be trouble.
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Do the Math
Chapter 3: When You have Eggs, Make Bacon
Well, that had been easy enough. A little bet here, a little bet there, and soon she had had him thinking that he couldn't lose. That's when she pulled out the big guns. He had found out just how invincible he was, not very. Kagome chuckled softly to herself; now that the stage was set, maybe he'd be a little more pleasant to her, if he didn't want to sit like the dog he was being that is. With his pride the way it was, he could never go back on a bet. Yeah, this could be fun.
"Alright look, this is the Side Angle Side constraint. It says that two triangles are similar if the same two sides of both triangles are proportional, but you have to have an angle in between those sides, and that angle has to be the same in both triang... um, Kagome?"
Kagome groaned, the arm keeping her head off of Inu Yasha's living room table slowly slipping away. "Geometry... is... evil."
Inu Yasha laughed, "Just wait until you have to find ALL of the twenty-five angles in a shape with nothing more than some lines and one angle to start you off."
The poor, tortured appendage finally gave way, leaving a very hearty smacking sound as Kagome's forehead connected with the wooden table. "You... are... evil."
After waiting a minute, Inu stood and pointed at the door; ".Damnit, that's it! Get out of my house!"
"Inu Yasha!" Mr. Khioto stormed in, muttering and glaring at Inu for all he was worth.
"What?!" Kagome watched as Sesshoumaru walked in. Obviously, considering the lack of clothing and the many puddles collecting from the drips streaming from snowy mane, he had just gotten out of the shower. Now, normally she would've blushed and turned away like a bat out of hell, but come on, the poor guy walked right into the middle of Mr. Khioto's line of sight, and his father did NOT seem very happy that day. Honestly, she almost felt bad for him, almost being the key word. She really would've warned him, but Inutaisho got there first.
"Ugh, Sesshoumaru, talk some sense into your brother." Grunting, Sesshoumaru raised his towel a bit and huffed.
"I will not lower myself to associate with that indignant little..." he looked to Kagome, and then back to Inu Yasha, "nuisance." With that, the eldest brother made his way down the hall and towards his room.
"Why that little...!!!" Inu stormed off after his brother, defiance bleeding from every pour of his hot-headed rant, and left to soak into what was once an atmosphere boring enough to put Kagome to sleep, literally. Well, it didn't look like she'd have that problem anymore, but what to do about the new, more awkward feeling in the room? Inutaisho simply sighed and shook head, leaving his hand to rest behind his neck where it had been rubbing only seconds before.
He looked apologetically at Kagome, for once seeming almost weary, and looking as old as he probably was. Kagome wondered what could have happened to cause such a change in his demeanor, but that thought was quickly swept away as he began to speak. "Sorry Kagome, we're both kind of high-strung today. I hate to do this, but I really need to talk with Inu Yasha. I'm sorry, but..."
"No, it's okay Mr. Khioto; it's about time for me to head home anyway." Gathering her books, Kagome stood and walked to the door, thanking Inutaisho along the way for his hospitality, and silently thanking whatever gods were listening for letting her out of her tutoring session early. Of course, this meant that she still had homework to do, and that she had to do it on her own, but what surprised her the most was that her homework wasn't the thing worrying her; why was everyone there so upset? Had she done something wrong?
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"Kagome, where's Souta?" A smiling Kagome met the overly excited boy at the door. Though a little older than her brother, Kohaku and Souta got along perfectly, much like their sisters. The boy beamed. His eyes shining in the light from the newly risen sun, he twisted his orange shirt anxiously and bounced around with the energy only a little boy is capable of having.
Kagome stifled a giggle at the boy's enthusiasm, "He'll be down in a second Kohaku. Where's your..."
"Right here Kagome-chan."
"Sango-chan!" As the small boy ran past, the two girls exchanged greetings and began to catch up on the day or two that they had been apart. They had been talking for but a few minutes before two streaks of flesh passed them, and bolted down the stairs before honking the horn from Sango's car.
"Sango, nii-chan, hurry up; we're going to be late again!"
"Must run in the family ne?" Kagome glared at her friend as they walked to the car; "Look who's talking."
Sango's home life was usually a touchy subject around people. The only reason that Kagome could talk about it, or in this case joke about it, was because she had special "best friend" privileges. The thing was, it wasn't that Sango was touchy about her life now, but about the memories that talking about it brought up. She was kind of closed off to it, understandably mind you, especially after...
"Kagome, are you getting in?" Kagome could practically feel Souta roll his eyes in the back seat.
"Oh! Sorry Sango!"
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The house was warm, its occupants on time, the sun had risen, casting a warm, earthy glow over that half of the world, and two brothers...
"I can't believe you're taking me."
"You should be grateful mutt." Oh yeah, family bonding.
About a week go Inu Yasha had gotten into an accident while driving home, partially due to a bad day, and partially due to the fact that the other guy was a jerk. Nevertheless, Inu's car was now in the shop, so how would he get to school? He could take the bus... with the sweaty, smelly, loud, obnoxious people... no. How about Miroku? Um, shall we say no? In Inu Yasha's opinion, Miroku drove like a grandma, going slowly so that he could wait for girls to drive by. Besides, Miroku was always getting mad at him for telling him how to drive. It's not a crime to be a back seat driver when your mind is about to explode from lack of speed is it? Hmmm... could that really happen? At least he could take a na... no, he didn't really trust Miroku around him while he slept. Actually, he didn't trust Miroku in a car with girls on his mind in the first place; who KNOWS what that man thinks, or how easily he could get distracted? Actually, Inu knew, he just didn't want to think about it. In any case, that only left one person, Sesshoumaru. Now, the most frightening thing of it all was that he was having his brother take him willingly. What had the world become? Screw cats and dogs, but he and Sesshoumaru, speaking to each other willingly, and without threats, even if it was a bit hostile, now THAT'S the end of the world.
Inu Yasha grabbed his lunch off of the kitchen counter, and practically stormed out the front door; he was still mad about his car being in the shop. After waiting a minute, he spun around to find out "what was taking so long", only to see his brother gently pluck his lunch from the counter and practically glide towards him with the ever-present blank mask etched onto his face. Why did he have to be so damned graceful?!
As they walked though the front door, both boys turned to the yard next door.
"Look who's talking." The two girls walked by, and Sesshoumaru turned to his younger sibling. Nonchalantly strolling over to the car, he opened his door and cocked an eyebrow.
"It seems that Miss Higurashi is leaving for school as well." Inu Yasha scowled and jumped into the passenger seat.
"Keh. Whatever."
"Kagome, are you getting in or what?"
"Oh! Sorry Sango!"
"Baka."
Sesshoumaru glided into the driver's seat and they took off. "You know *brother*, it wouldn't hurt for you to learn some manners." He thought for a second, "... or polite conversation; though I'm sure intelligent conversation is a bit out of your league"
Inu Yasha snarled and glared at his brother. With a dejected sigh, Inu Yasha let his head fall into his open palm, his elbow resting gently against the door's black interior. This was going to be a long morning... unless...
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
Are we there yet?"
"No."
Are we there yet?"
"No."
Yep, definitely going to be a long morning.
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"Hey Kagome, I haven't been able to reach you all weekend. Did something happen?"
Kagome sighed as her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Ugh, you'll never believe this."
"You had a date with a cute guy and were too busy having fun to tell me?"
"I wish." Souta and Kohaku rolled their eyes from the back seat, making gagging motions when Sango winked at Kagome teasingly. "No, Mom hired a math tutor for me." The older girl winced.
"Ooooh, ouch. Well, it can't be that bad right?"
"She hired Inu-noniichan!"
"INU YASHA?!" The car swerved and both girls darted forward to steady the wheel.
"Jeeze sis, are you *trying* to give us a heart attack?!" Sango just glared at her younger sibling.
"Yeah, and I guess he wasn't too happy about it either."
"But, but why? I would've done it. I had that class last year."
"Hey, what's wrong with Inu-noniichan?" Kagome frowned and spoke under her breath.
"A lot..." At Kagome's glare, the younger boy sunk deeply into his shirt, the green horizontal stripe making an odd sight as it bulged against the orange coloring covering his face. Kohaku was about to say something to defend his friend, but seeing that his sister still had a glare of her own, just hid back, much the way Souta had just done. Kagome turned back to Sango.
"Yeah, but Mom has this notion that we need to get 'back in touch' or something like that. It's okay though, I just have to last for about two months and get better grades. Besides, I've found myself a way to make the time a little more, oh, shall we say, enjoyable?" Sango smirked as a positively angelic expression made it's way across Kagome's face, revealing her evil grin from her chestnut eyes alone.
"Oh? And how is that?"
"Let's just say that bets are my friend."
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"Thank Buddha it's lunch." Miroku wiped the sweat from his brow.
He and Inu Yasha had just gotten out of gym class. Though Miroku was a grade higher than his short-tempered counterpart, gym was the only class that had shared grade levels, but, unfortunately for Miroku, wasn't co-ed.
"You're just mad that you lost to me." Miroku scoffed and mumbled a few key phrases under his breath. "What was that?"
"I can't imagine why." The sarcasm in his voice only added fuel to the younger boy's boasting. But, fortunately, it was not to last.
"You won't believe what happened to me this weekend."
"Hmm... let me guess," Miroku tapped his chin in mock thought, "Your father made you do something you didn't want to do with someone you didn't want to do it with?"
"How did you...?"
"That's every weekend for you Inu Yasha." Inu scowled.
"Oh yeah, well tell me something else about my weekend problem *Holmes*."
"Gladly, it's elementary my dear Watson." Houshi smirked at Inu's patented lowest level death glare. "The only way you would have actually done what he wanted you to do is if you SERIOUSLY didn't want to, and insisted on protesting until you pissed your father off, thus leaving you no choice but to do it or face his wrath."
"Uhh..."
"Oh, I'm not done." Miroku pushed his nose in the air and pretended to look down upon his friend. He lifted his had as if pretending to have a pipe and blew into the air. "The only person you would ever get *that* mad about having to be with, or so it would seem lately," Miroku was shot with a second level glare from Inu, "would be Kagome Higurashi. But, what would she be doing forced to be with you? It's true that your families know each other, but if it were a gathering of families, you'd just ignore everyone and wouldn't be separated. You must've had to do something singling you two out..." welcome to stage three, the promise of a long painful death glare, "Come to think of it, I wouldn't mind being singled out with Kagome. She is quite lovely, but her friend Sango, now *she* is a vision of pure beauty." Inu Yasha stared, seething at Miroku's shocked, yet approving, and almost gleeful face; "Alone with Kagome? Why Inu Yasha, I didn't know you had it in..."
"Damnit Miroku, enough with your deductions!" Inu screamed, "I'm tutoring her okay, T-U-T-O-R-I-N-G!!!" Wait for it... wait... wa... Miroku practically fell to the floor laughing.
"YOU, a TUTOR, for *HER*?!" He wiped his eyes and tried to gain control of himself.
"Shut up. She has low math grades; it's no big deal."
"Mhmm, well, if you're doing it, you must've made a big deal out of it then."
"And that's not the worst of it," Inu Yasha mumbled.
"And what, praytell, may the worst be?" For that little bit of observation, Miroku received a priceless shocked look from Inu. (Going once, going twice!) "I'm used to your mumbling; I listen for it." Turning on his heels, Inu stomped away from Miroku and towards the cafeteria.
"Keh." Miroku walked after him.
"Hey, what'd she do? Did she embarrass you in front of Fluffy, oh, or maybe you two were caught doing something..."
"Miroku..." Welcome to death glare six. Even Miroku wasn't stupid enough to mess with that one. Actually, that was about as far as he had ever seen Inu go when it came to glares. After that he just hospitalized them... or worse.
"Fine, fine, but what happened? Did lady Kagome win a bet or something?"
"Feh."
Miroku's eyes widened "Well, this is new. What do you have to do?" They walked through the cafeteria doors.
"Shut up monk."
"What is it?" Steaming, Inu pivoted and bopped Miroku on the head.
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"Why didn't you call me?"
"Don't worry Kouga-kun, I'm fine, really." The raven-haired boy paused for a moment, thought evident from his facial features. His black leather coat ruffled against his lighter school uniform, protecting him from the chilled winds that had been picking up lately, and his long ponytail danced around in the breeze as if it had acquired a life of its own.
Since the beginning of junior high, Ookami, Kouga had doted on Kagome like a little puppy dog. Though nothing had ever been official, everyone knew that he had feelings for her, but she had never excepted his offers as anything more than a friend. Still, he never stopped fussing over her, protecting her as if she were his own, and actually calling her "his", much to Kagome's discontent. Come to think of it, the situation had never really bothered Kagome much, except in times like this. As soon as he had seen her in the hall, he rushed over to her and began asking a million questions. He, like the rest of the school, had heard about her run-in with one of the members of Naraku's gang. Even she hadn't known that part until she had gotten there. She was fine, but he hadn't stopped. Actually, the only thing that seemed to get through to his mind was that Inu Yasha had been the one to save her. For some unknown reason, Inu Yasha and Kouga had always had a competition in everything. No matter what it was, they'd fight over it. Well, anything but her. Then again, neither had her, nor was she some object to be had. Anyway, why couldn't he just get over it? She was fine, so why wouldn't he just let it be and stop fussing over her as if she were made of glass? Much worse, as if she were his and made of glass? Oh well, his intentions were sweet and it's the thought that counts.
"Well, you still should've called me." He smiled, "Come on, I'll buy you lunch."
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Sango had been walking towards the cafeteria. Her last class had been such a bore. Man, she REALLY hated the new TA in her history class. For as long as she could remember, she had had a natural ability for history and dates. It was something she enjoyed, rivaled only by the thrill of working out and gym. In those areas, she was far stronger than any others in her class, and enjoyed the challenge and predictability they provided. It was amazing how one person could practically ruin a good class though.
While strolling down the hall, Sango noticed Kagome and Kouga. She knew her friend and knew that Kouga pampering her was something she didn't like. Intent on saving Kagome, Sango made her way towards the two.
"Well, you still should've called me." Kouga smiled, "Come on, I'll buy you lunch."
"No, really, that's okay..." By now Kagome had begun to squirm a little, and Sango picked up speed. Seeing her, Kagome sighed in short-lived relief before Kouga grabbed her arm and dragged her off towards the cafeteria doors.
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Miroku watched Sango with a slight fascination. He had noticed earlier that she was attempting to rescue Kagome, and he knew that she had no chance. He may seem oblivious, but Kouga knew very good and well what was going on around him, not like that Hojo guy.
"But I insist." He watched as Kouga pulled Kagome through the doors from which he and Inu Yasha had just entered. Kouga's crystal blue eyes shone happily, and Miroku couldn't help but smirk to himself; Kouga hadn't a chance.
"Well, it looks like Kouga's dragging Kagome in again."
"Keh, like I care." Miroku and Inu Yasha walked over to an uninhabited table and dropped their trays before plopping themselves down as well. Miroku watched, planning, as Inu Yasha ate the cafeteria food, wondering how anyone could digest that stuff. Of course, it didn't hurt that his "condition" gave him a high metabolism, but still, no one should be able to survive eating that. Peering to each side to make sure that the coast was clear, Miroku made his move.
"So... what do you have to do?" Inu Yasha put down his lunch and growled as he leapt to tackle the not-so-unsuspecting Miroku. Seeing Sango walk in, Miroku bent slightly to the left to get a better view, and barely missed getting tackled by the pissed teenager who was, at that moment, crouching on the ground glaring at him. With a simple "Keh." Inu was back in his seat scarfing down his food, his eyes never once leaving the lecher, and a prominent pout on his face.
"Ugh, where'd they go now?"
"Looking for Kagome Sango?" The girl turned and he could see the way she instantly became wary of him. He would've been hurt if he hadn't seen it every day of his life. That was due to his reputation, but it was one well deserved, as much as he hated to admit. Stupid genetics, making him a pervert. Now, if only he could believe that.
"Yeah, do you know where they went?" Miroku smiled. If there was one thing he was, well, besides a lecher, it was charming.
"Of course my lady." Sango hesitated a moment, waiting for him to continue.
"... and that would be?"
"For a price." And she had almost believed he'd tell her too. Of course, he would've told her anyway, but getting something for it was never a bad idea either. Too bad she had stormed off before he could tell her. Ahh women, beautiful and confusing.
"Keh, you really did it that time lech. When are you going to realize that girls don't go for that?" Miroku raised an eyebrow at his friend.
"Like you're one to talk, look what happened with..." Before he could even think to finish, Inu Yasha had him by the collar, one remark away from lifting him off of the ground. If Miroku hadn't been Inu Yasha's friend, he wouldn't really have been so lucky, but then again, if he weren't his friend, he wouldn't taunt him to that point either.
"Don't EVEN go there."
Eventually things died down and they continued to eat, as they always did. This was a usual cycle for them. Hey, they had to get it out of their systems before their next class right? Normally they wouldn't have cared, but Inu Yasha had Geometry next, and that Kaede Miko wasn't your ordinary math teacher.