Half-caste
'They'
" Kagome honey, it's time to get up." Kagome stirred in bed as she heard her mothers voice drift down the hallway. She grumbled rolling over closer to the edge of her bed. Slowly she moved off the bed and stretched. She scuffed her feet on the floorboards as she walk down the hall towards the kitchen.
" Good morning Ma," she yawned. Mrs. Higurashi smiled kindly kissing her daughter on her forehead and placed a plate of food in front of her. Kagome was halfway through her breakfast when Souta came out of his room and grabbed the rest of her toast. He ate it greedily and smacked his lips when he was done. Mrs. Higurashi scolded him for taking Kagomes food but Kagome brushed it off saying she was full already. She took her plate back to sink and then left for her room.
Every morning was like this. It was a routine, one that the Higurashi family stuck to. " Be gone evil spirits!" Right on queue grandpa would come out with a bunch of ofas and try to cleanse the place for demons. A routine wasn't a bad thing, it kept everything organized and left no room for mistakes.
After Kagome had gotten ready for school she left the house with Souta lagging slightly behind her. He would yell out for her to wait up and she would tell him to walk faster. Today however, the routine failed her. As she walked out of her house an unusual sight caught her eye. There at the back of the shrine near the Gonshi tree was a white haired boy. She recognized him immediately as her next-door neighbor. Yelling back at Souta to stay inside she ran to the tree. 'What is he doing here?' she wondered as she gazed upon his motionless figure. She could tell he was still alive because his chest rose with each breath. Though it was ragged and quick, like he was running. She watched him for a while before actually daring to try and wake him up. Carefully she leant down and gently shook him. He didn't seem to stir in the least. She leaned closer and tried again. He wasn't responding to her touch at all. She turned her gaze to his face. She gasped as she saw a deep blue bruise on his upper right cheek. She touched it delicately. He flinched slightly but still didn't wake. She got up and ran back to the house.
" Ma do we have an ice pack?"
" Yah honey, it's in the freezer," said her mother while chasing Grandpa through the house trying to get Buyo back. He claimed that the cat had been in contact with a demon and needed to be cleansed. Kagome went to the freezer and filtered through the contents until she found the ice pack. Grabbing it she started to run for the door but Souta stood in her way.
" Why do you want me to stay in here?" he asked suspiciously.
" Well because there is an unconscious hanyou at the Gonshi tree." Kagome pushed past her stunned brother and ran back to where Inuyasha lay. She knelt down again and gently placed the ice pack on his cheek. She was amazed when he didn't wake up. She was sure the cold would have woken anyone else up. Like on TV when they want someone to wake up they tip cold water on them. Well apparently it didn't work for this boy. She placed her bum on the floor so that she was comfortable as she sat next to him. She watched him curiously as he made yelping noises. She assumed he was having a bad dream. Whenever she had a bad dream her mother would stroke her head to comfort her. She decided to do the same, but then she noticed his ears. They were so cute, like white fluffy triangles. Her hand moved to them as she stroked them lightly. Inuyasha seemed to calm down a bit after that so she continued the action. She stayed like this for at least five minutes before Souta popped his head out the front door and yelled,
" Kagome we're going to be late!" Kagome groaned as she realized he was right.
She yelled back, " Okay I'll just be a minute!" Suddenly Inuyasha's eyes opened and his hand streaked out and grabbed Kagome's arm. She gasped and tried to free her arm. He gripped it tighter, painfully. His golden eyes where fully alert staring at her sharply. " Let go, your hurting me," she cried.
" I know you," he said quietly. He looked around at his surroundings and quickly let her go. She pulled her arm back and began to rub it. He also became aware of the cold that was pressed against his cheek. He quickly reached up and grabbed the ice pack. He got up quickly and threw the ice pack at Kagome. He turned and started to head back to his house. What had happened? He remembered last night, he had that delivery to do. He got the money from that female wolf youkai. Then some demons had beaten the shit out of him and took the money. But then what? How had he ended up here? What was this girl doing to him?
Kagomes voice broke through his thoughts. " Hey you're hurt, you should keep this." She threw him the ice pack. He caught it was a swift movement.
" Keh, I don't need any help bitch." He threw it back to her. She caught it but not as gracefully as he had managed. She watched him as he walked back to his house and slammed the door after him.
" Kagome! Come on if I'm late I'll get detention!" Kagome looked back to Souta and nodded. She quickly picked herself off the ground and ran to his side. She held out her hand for him to take. " Kagome I'm not a baby. I don't need to hold your hand."
" Oh right," she murmured retracting her hand and started to power walk down the path. Souta was close behind her. First she had to take him to school then she had to somehow get to the other side of the district to her school all before the siren went. It was entirely possible for Souta to make it, but she wasn't sure about herself. She sped up slightly pushing through numerous people trying to get to school and work themselves. Every few moments she would look back to check if Souta was still behind her. A couple of times a few red lights slowed her down but she ended up getting Souta to school on time. She ruffled his hair and started off to her own school.
Now the trouble began. Her school was at least fifteen minutes walking distance and school started in around ten minutes. She sighed as she started to run, although physical endurance was not one of her strong points. The traffic lights seemed to be against her. Every time she got to one it turned red, but there seemed to be no traffic around what so ever. However as she was a good law abiding citizen she still didn't cross the trafficless street until the little green man flashed. She was about half way there when she started to get a stitch. She grumbled at her own lack of fitness. 'I knew I should have done sport in school.' She slowed down her pace to a brisk walk. Even then the stitch caused her pain. To make matters worse a car slowed down next to her with the driver yelling, " Hey show us ya tits!"
Kagomes patience had reached its peak. She turned on the strange car and yelled, " YOU PERVERT!!!" The driver poked his head out the window with a wide cheeky grin that Kagome recognized immediately.
" Kagome, you have no idea how many times a girls have called me a pervert today. You could have at least tried to be original."
Kagome burst out into a full-fledged smile. " Miroku you idiot!" she scolded while laughing.
He teasingly pouted, " Fine if you want to be like that I won't give you a ride."
" Did I say idiot? What I meant to say was sexy genius." Miroku's smile widened as he leant over and opened the door for her to get in. Once inside she did up her seatbelt and placed her school bag on the car floor.
They got to school with plenty of time to spare. " Thanks a lot Miroku. You really saved my bum."
" Hey what are friends for if not to pick each other up on the side of the road and drive them to school?" She laughed, " I don't know Miroku, I really don't know." She looked over to her long time friend and hugged him tightly. He wasn't one to argue as he hugged her back, but his hands did hover dangerously close to her ass. " You better not have your hands anywhere near my bum Miroku," Kagome warned.
" No of course not Kagome." He raised his hands to the center of her back. She was the only girl to which he tried really hard not to touch. They'd been friends since lower school and he really cherished their friendship. He didn't want to strain it with his bad habit. As Kagome leaned back Miroku asked, " So what was that hug for?"
She shrugged, she wasn't the sort of person that went around hugging everyone like some of the other girls at her school who just wanted physical contact. " I just wanted to hug you is all."
" I can handle that. As long as you're not coming onto me or anything." He laughed scratching his head. Suddenly he saw a flash of white come towards Kagome. " Watch out!" he yelled, but was to late as Kagome went crashing to the ground.
"Oww," she moaned rubbing her sore bum. She looked down into familiar golden eyes. Then she realized she was sitting on top of him. Quickly she scrambled off him and blurted out, " Sorry." Inuyasha quickly got off the ground and shrugged off her apology. Then started off running again. Kagome stared at his back in shock. " What was that?" she said to no one in particular.
" Hey Kagome," Miroku offered out his hand to pull her up. She accepted and was on her feet in no time. " Geez he was rude don't you reckon?" Kagome didn't answer so Miroku just continued. " You said sorry for his mistake. Then he runs off without even apologizing to you."
" He was in a hurry, I guess he didn't have time to say sorry."
" Don't defend him Kagome, just because he's a hanyou. I know how you feel about the legislation but you can't defend them against everything, especially if they knew what they were doing."
" Excuse me? They? Look I don't defend demons or hanyous because of what they are. I defend everyone, it's in my nature." She continued to walk until she turned around thinking of an example, "Like when I first met you. I defended you against those girls claiming you were sexually harassing them. Too bad they were right."
Miroku laughed agreeing." Yeah, you're too nice Kagome. But still I think you should be more careful around demons and such. Your too trusting." He wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
" Yes big brother," she said sarcastically taking hold of his hand that was draped on her shoulder.
" I just don't want to see anything bad happen to you okay?" Kagome nodded and smiled.
" Don't worry Miroku. I'm a big girl, I can handle myself." Miroku had to agree with that. She had broken many hearts and noses while at this school. Any guys who got to close, and that weren't Miroku got a punch in the face. Overall she was a pacifist but need be she could take care of herself.
Kagome entered her busy English room and took a seat at her usual desk. There Hojo was waiting for her. She smiled politely and waved.
" Hi Higurashi, how are you today?" Hojo was really sweet, he would always ask how she was and be a perfect gentleman. Sometimes when she was sick he would bring her some medicine and her books. All in all he was a really nice guy.
" I'm fine Hojo, how about you?" But they always met with this nice pleasant talk. Like when you first meet a person you have to be nice and don't voice your feelings and opinions as much as you would with a close friend. Kagome called this the 'pleasant stage'. She'd never gotten past this stage with Hojo. She just didn't think he was a person she could get close to. He did try though, and you can't blame a boy for trying.
" I'm good. Did you finish your essay?"
" Yah, it was a bit sketchy though. I don't really understand how Romeo and Juliet could be in love at their age." The conversation went on like this for a while before the class was silenced and told to sit down. Once Kagome sat down she put her essay at the front of her desk to be collected. She started to daydream when something outside caught her attention.
It was Inuyasha again. She would recognize his platinum tresses anywhere. Sitting up in her seat she watched as he spoke to three demons. She recognized one to be Naraku. Everyone knew him, if not by his scary exterior then by his reputation. He was the leader of the most prominent demon gang in the school. He was said to be the most dangerous demon at the school, even the other demons where scared of him. As Kagome watched Inuyasha exchanged words with him she noticed his didn't seem frightened at all. His face remained stoic as he met Naraku eye to eye. Their conversation seemed to get more serious as Inuyasha started to yell and ball his fists. Suddenly one of the other two demons came at him swiftly. Kagome watched as Inuyasha went tumbling to the ground. She stood up quickly gasping. Everyone in her class turned to look at her.
She pointed to Inuyasha lying still on the ground. " Someone has to help him!" she yelled. Their attention was draw to Inuyasha and the demons surrounding him. One of the girls scoffed.
" He's a demon, why should we help him?" she spat the word demon as if poison on her tongue.
Kagome glared her anger boiling, " So! He's human too! We can't just sit here and do nothing! They'll kill him!"
Another student, this time a boy spoke up, " He's one of them, let his own kind take care of him!"
" WHAT!? 'Them', who the heck is 'them'?" Kagomes face was red with anger her words burning.
The teacher came down to Kagome and tried to calm her down. " Kagome you know what the students mean. Demons they… cause trouble. It's better if we leave them be."
Kagome blanched. " I can't believe I'm hearing this," she whispered, her anger lingering under the surface. She balled her fists causing her knuckles to become white. " You can't do that! You can't group them all together and say they're all the same. It's just stupid!"
The teacher gave her a sympathetic look. " Look I'm sorry Kagome but there is nothing we can do about it. It's best if you just try and ignore what's happening outside." Clearing his voice he spoke loudly to the whole class. " Alright the drama's over back to work." Slowly the students began to take their seats until Kagome was the last one standing. She didn't dare take her eyes off the window. She watched as the two unknown demons kicked Inuyasha while he was lying on the ground. Kagome couldn't help a single tear as it ran down her cheek. She couldn't bear watching people suffer.
" Kagome?"
Suddenly Inuyasha jumped up. He sucker punched one of the demons in the jaw and grabbed the other one hurling him into a tree. Naraku stood watching the whole thing not moving a muscle.
" Kagome?"
While the other two demons were slightly out of it Inuyasha took his chance and started to run. It wasn't exactly the bravest thing to do but it was the smartest. Kagome could tell by the look on his face that he hated leaving a fight unfinished.
" Kagome!" The image from the window was suddenly blocked. Kagome jumped as her teacher slammed down the curtain. " Are you going to sit down Miss. Higurashi?"
Slowly she replied, " Yes sensei."