Author's Notes: And I sit down to write some more. I wish I had more to say, but it's been a really uneventful week.
Lights, Camera, Action!
Chapter 5- Promises and Meetings
Kagome felt like she was swimming in darkness. She vaguely heard a voice, but it sounded like it was trying to get through a mound of cotton. She felt something touch her face and slowly but surely her vision came back. At first, all she could see were shadows. Then shapes and colors started to form. She blinked a few times to try and clear her eyes and realized she was lying face down on the floor. Inuyasha was kneeling beside her and trying to wake her. The weak light in the room came from a tiny flashlight Inuyasha had on a keychain. "Inuyasha?" she asked groggilly as if trying to confirm to herself that she was awake. "What's going on?"
"The elevator collapsed. This one works on hydraulics, not cables. Piece of shit." As he helped her up, the memories came rushing back to Kagome, hitting her like a fist.
For a moment, Kagome felt numb. As it all set in, she felt the tears coming. Her body shook with the first few sobs.
Inuyasha noticed immediately. "Wait... Kagome hold on..."
No good. She collapsed into him and started crying. He was tense at first, but slowly eased up and wrapped his arms around her. "Kagome, please... Stop crying," he pleaded desperately. "Come on, we're okay. No, no... please stop..."
"I'm sorry," Kagome sobbed into his shoulder. "I just... I was so scared..."
"It's okay." Inuyasha clearly wasn't very comfortable with trying to comfort her. "You just got knocked out for a couple minutes... Look, you don't have to worry... You don't ever have to be afraid like that. I promise I'll protect you."
There was something about the sincerity in his voice that struck a chord with Kagome. She sniffed back another sob and looked up into his eyes. They weren't cold or snide. He looked like he really had every intention of fulfilling that promise.
After a minute Inuyasha wiped away her tears and smiled softly. "Okay?"
Kagome did her best to smile and nodded once. "Okay," she whispered.
"Good... um..." At this, Inuyasha blushed a little. "Kagome, this is going to sound really awkward, but I'm going to need you to take off your shirt for a second."
Kagome just blinked at him in surprise. Did he just say what she thought he just said? She felt like her face was about burst into flames.
"I just need to check to see if you have any injuries," he quickly explained. With that, he took up his flashlight and lifted the corner of his shirt to show a large bruise on his hip that went down underneath his boxers. "I guess I hit the ground at a wierd angle."
Kagome nodded in understanding then slowly and, to her surprise, reluctantly climbed out of his arms. She hesitated for a moment before deciding to just get it overwith quickly and yanked her shirt up over her head. She kept her head down as Inuyasha inched forward a little and gently started using one hand to check for any bruises, occassionally asking if anything hurt. She was too embarassed to speak so she simply shook her head. At one point, Kagome glanced up to see Inuyasha's face every bit as red as she imagined hers was.
After a moment, the only part Inuyasha hadn't checked was her chest. And he didn't seem terribly inclined to be bold. "D-do you feel... any pain in your um... y-your brea-er... chest?" Nice save.
Kagome took a deep breath in, deciding to ignore his Freudian slip. Her ribs were a little sore, but then again, so was the rest of her. "I'm fine," she said quickly and hastily put her shirt back on.
An awkward silence passed between the two of them. They leaned back against opposite walls of the elevator, trying not to look at each other. Kagome wondered what they were going to do. She asked Inuyasha if there was an emergency call button, but he waved it off, saying he had already tried and found it was damaged in the crash. And even if it was working, they'd be grilled for not having their IDs anyway. Screwed no matter what.
At last, Kagome decided to break the silence. "Inuyasha?"
Inuyasha looked up at her wearily. "Hmm?"
"Thank you. I remember just as the elevator started to drop you pulled me down with you and tried to cover me."
Inuyasha opened his mouth as if to say something before closing and opening it again. "S-sure," he stuttered. "I-I'd read that somewhere. And... Kagome, I'm sorry about all those things I said earlier."
Kagome just smiled softly. She crawled over to Inuyasha and sat beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. He seemed tense at first, but soon relaxed again. For once the silence was comfortable.
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Inuyasha still felt a little nervous. For some reason, Kagome brought the wierdest reactions from him. He had never met anyone who had been so unconditionally nice to him before. He must have built up some good karma somewhere along the line to deserve someone like her in his life.
"Inuyasha?" she asked wearily beside him.
"What's up?" he asked back softly.
"You never really talk about yourself." Kagome didn't seem to be implying anything. Though it was clear she did want to make conversation.
The problem was that Inuyasha wasn't a great conversationalist and he knew it. Miroku was the one in their little gang who did all the talking. And his past was something he never felt entirely comfortable talking about anyway. "I just didn't think you'd be interested," he lied.
He felt her chuckle lightly against him. "Don't be silly. What's your family like?"
It figures Kagome would ask that first. Inuyasha puffed a stray lock of hair from his face and sighed. "For the time being I live with my father. He's a lawyer. My... My mother passed away when I was a kid."
"I'm sorry," Kagome whispered. "My father died years ago, too."
It got really awkward again. Neither one of them said anything. For Inuyasha, it was mostly a matter of having no idea what to say next. He wasn't sure why Kagome was so quiet.
He felt himself nodding off after a minute, when an idea hit him. "Kagome. Get up for a second. I want to try something."
Kagome looked up at him in surprise but did as she was told and the two of them stood up. Inuyasha took a moment stretch himself out and try to get the tension out of his system. "I'm going to try and force the door open," he explained.
Kagome only nodded as Inuyasha stepped up to the elevator doors. He dug the tips of his fingers into the crack between the two sliding doors that sealed them into this little prison and began pulling them apart with all his strength. Jesus tap-dancing Christ that was painful! He felt like his fingers were going to snap. But he felt the door budge slightly. There was hope.
Inuyasha dug his fingers in deeper trying to pull open those god damn doors. He swore they were starting to mock him. He was now audibly grunting and straining with the effort. The stupid things must have been damaged in the crash along with everything else in this piece of crap.
At last, he had pulled open enough of a crack that light came through. He heard Kagome behind him squeal with joy. Another minute of straining and he was able to force his shoulder in, constantly changing positions to see which would give him the best leverage.
It felt like an eternity, but at last, the doors were open enough to free the two of them. Inuyasha's arms were numb and Kagome still looked flushed.
They both immediately bolted out the nearest exit and decided to take the long route through the campus back to the dorms. It was actually kind of funny. Inuyasha was sure they would have looked rather comical the way they were sneaking through the shadows and around corners. He could almost hear the Mission: Impossible theme playing in his head.
They reached Ravencroft Hall first and stopped to catch their breath. "I can't wait to tell Sango about this," Kagome said after gasping in another lungful of air.
"Heh, yeah," Inuyasha said half-heartedly. He hoped she wouldn't go into too much detail. He had a reputation to uphold and his friends would never let him hear the end of this.
Kagome surprised him though when she walked up and gave him a hug. "Thanks for being such a sweetheart." With that she gave hm a kiss on the cheek and went back to the front door, smiling over her shoulder at him as she let herself in.
Inuyasha stood there a moment in shock. Had she just kissed him? He wondered back to Barker Hall replaying that scene over and over again in his mind. It seemed like only a heartbeat when he found himself walking into his room where Miroku was just climbing into bed.
"'Bout time you got back," Miroku remarked, still clearly peeved about earlier. He furrowed his brow though at the look on Inuyasha's face. "You feeling okay?"
"I'm fine." With that, Inuyasha kicked off his shoes and dropped into the bed still fully clothed. It all had felt like a dream. Was it? No, it had been real. The strange thing was... normally Inuyasha spent an hour or two tossing and turning before he could go to sleep. Tonight, he was out like a light in a matter of minutes.
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The elevator was repaired days later. The TV club was treated to Kagome's dramatic retelling of the crash and the escape. Things seemed to be returning to normal. The club had now also managed to get four shows on the air, and a schedule posted up by the mailroom. They now had News and Reviews, Ace Spade: Private Eye, Shippo's comedy show called Substance with Style, and Ghost Walk which was hosted by Miroku and was about famous historical tragedies and legends throughout the town.
Inuyasha was on his way back to the table for the weekly TV club brunch. It was now October and the school was already gearing up for Halloween. Halloween of course was Inuyasha's favorite holiday. It was a day dedicated to free food and rampant hedonism. What's not to like? He still hadn't decided on a costume, though. Last year he went to the campus party dressed as a vampire to show off his then-new fangs. The year before that, he w went to Miroku's party as Galgarion from the RPG World comic. Hmm...
Inuyasha was pulled rather abruptly out of his thoughts when he heard someone shout out at him. "Hey, Ace Spade!"
He looked over to the direction the shout had come from and saw a couple of guys from the lacrosse team laughing and smiling as they watched him. "You guys watch the show?" he asked curiously.
"Hell yeah!" one with blonde hair said. "That last episode with the big fight scene in the alley was great."
"Yeah," added another guy with red hair. "And the girl who plays Roxanne is hot." Roxanne Stone was Kagome's character on the show. She was the Jade to Ace's Race Bannon. They were sometimes-partners and on-again/off-again lovers.
Inuyasha just raised his eyebrows trying to fight off the awkward feeling. He was just plain bad at taking compliments. That, and lately he got this growling sensation in the back of his mind whenever some guy started admiring Kagome. "Uh, thanks. I'll pass that on to the crew."
"Awesome. See ya 'round, man."
Inuyasha walked back to the table, still surprised to find out that they had viewers. And fans, no less. When he sat down at the table, everyone looked up to ackowledge his presence so they could begin. "Hey, guys. Before we start, I just wanted to let you know I found out about 30 seconds ago that we have fans."
Shippo nearly did a spit take, Miroku did a double take, Sango looked wide-eyed in surprise, and Kagome's eyebrows shot up toward her hairline. "No shit?" Shippo asked in disbelief.
"Yeah." Inuyasha jerked his head in the general direction of the guys he had spoken with. "Apparently a bunch of guys on the lacrosse team are fans of Ace Spade."
Sango and Kagome immediately hugged each other laughing. "This is great!" Sango shouted. "We have people watching! Now we just need to spread things through word of mouth, and we'll get all the new stuff we need next semester."
"Not to interrupt," Shippo chimed in, "but I just wanted to know who's going to be available next week since it's family weekend."
Inuyasha had almost forgotten about that. Every year, second week of October, the students' families were invited to come down and visit for the weekend. His father had promised to come this year since he missed the last. "Not me," he answered. "My dad's coming in."
"My family's coming over, too," Kagome answered. "I promised them all dinner at Rudy's." Ever since that first evening, Rudy's had been Kagome's favorite place to go eat. They always went there if they had enough time after shooting an episode.
"My father and my brother are supposed to visit," Sango added.
"I guess that just leaves me," Miroku said. His mother had died when he was 12, and ever since then he'd been drifting further apart from his father who was on a downward spiral physically and mentally.
"And me," Shippo said. "For obvious reasons."
Inuyasha gave an internal bemused sigh. They certainly were a motley crew. Still, he doubted he would rather hang out with anyone else even if he wouldn't consciously admit it. Kagome in particular. She was the first person to so easily get through the walls he had put up.
He glanced over at the raven-haired girl next to him and smiled to himself. He wondered absently what his father would think of her. The old man had really wanted his son to meet more people. Maybe they'd get a chance to meet next week.
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The week went by quickly for Kagome. In between studying, writing new scripts, shooting the next episodes of their shows, and of course going to class, she also was trying to set things up for family weekend and fan the flames spreading word about the TV station. She and Sango had put up a couple posters for Ace Spade and Substance with Style and got Inuyasha to convince the other campus radio DJs to plug for the shows.
News of the TV station's revived steam was spreading across the campus like wildfire. One thing Inuyasha had apparently neglected to tell Kagome was that the entire lacrosse team seemed to have a crush on her and whenever she saw them had to endure cat calls and shouts of "You don't have to put on the red light!" She really didn't like guys who tried so hard, though. A little macho swaggering was cute, but going overboard like that was actually annoying after the first few times.
Eventually, Friday night arrived. Kagome was waiting for her family to arrive in the lounge of the college center. Sango and Inuyasha were there too, also waiting on the arrival of their families.
The first to arrive were a tall, thin man with a goatee and a boy in his early teens. Sango immediately jumped up and ran to them. "Dad! Kohaku!" They all shared a big family hug and Kagome couldn't help but smile.
After a few pleasantries, Sango dragged her two family members over to see Kagome and Inuyasha. "I want you guys to meet some of my friends! This is Kagome and Inuyasha. Guys, this is my dad and my little brother, Kohaku."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Kagome said sweetly.
"Yo," Inuyasha said nonchalantly. Figures that he'd be back to doing his bad-ass act in public. He was slouching deep into an arm chair with one leg over one of the arms.
"So you're the ones Sango's been telling us about," Sango's father said. "Good to see you. I'd like to meet the rest of the crew, as well. Especially this Miroku boy you told me so much about."
Sango turned bright red at that and laughed nervously. "Well... you'll probably get a chance to meet him if you show up for brunch tomorrow. But let's go! We don't want to miss the movie!"
Once Sango was gone, Kagome looked over at Inuyasha who was watching the doors expectantly. He must have really cared more about his family than he let on.
Kagome looked over at the door right at the moment it opened and swore the scene couldn't have been any more like something out of a movie. A tall middle-aged man with long iron grey hair and shoulders like a Cadillac dressed in fancy black slacks and a polo shirt had walked in and was holding the door open for none other than Kagome's mother, grandfather, and little brother. Inuyasha had stood up the instant the grey-haired man had stepped in.
"Kagome!" Mrs. Higurashi shouted excitedly and rushed to her daughter. The two enveloped each other in a hug.
Kagome glanced over her mother's shoulder to see Inuyasha standing with his father.
"What's the matter?" she heard him say in a rumbling voice. "Think you're too much of a bad-ass to hug your old man."
She smiled as Inuyasha just chuckled after a moment and he and his father gave each other a bear hug, each one looking like they were trying to crush the other.
She looked down as she felt Sota hug her as well. "Oh, I missed you all," she said happily. "Thanks for coming out here."
"Oh we wouldn't miss it," her grandfather said with a smile. "Any chance you can give us a tour of the studio while we're here? Maybe show us your latest opus?"
Kagome blushed lightly. "I think I can pull some strings. Oh! There's someone I want you to meet."
With that, she lead them over to Inuyasha who looked from his father to her in surprise. "This is Inuyasha. He's the one I told you about from the detective show."
"Ah, so you're the one," Mrs. Higurashi said with a smile. "I also want to personally thank you. young man, for what you did for my daughter in that whole elevator incident."
Kagome flushed slightly. Inuyasha went beat red and looked at the ground. His father looked at him with curiosity and bemusement. "Mom, this isn't exactly the best place to have this conversation. Let's just go to the diner and I'll explain when we get there."
"Would you mind if we joined you?" Mr. Takamura asked in his booming voice. "Inuyasha told me about a girl named Kagome, whom I assume is your daughter there, but I don't believe he ever mentioned an 'elevator incident.'"
"Oh, not at all," Mrs. Higurashi said. "I assure you, it really is a very interesting story. My name is Miho Higurashi, by the way."
"Inutaisho Takamura. When you tell the story, please don't spare any details."
Kagome couldn't help but giggle. Inuyasha looked like he wanted to be anywhere but right here at that moment. She should have expected that he'd be tight-lipped about the whole elevator incident, just like everything else.
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A short drive later and Inuyasha found himself sitting at a table with his father and Kagome's family. This felt a little awkward. He almost felt as if Kagome was bringing him home to meet her parents, but he quickly squashed that thought.
"So," his father said after they ordered their appetizers, "tell me about this elevator incident."
Inuyasha felt his face heating up once again.
"Well, from what Kagome tells me, she and Inuyasha were spying on a couple friends of theirs," Mrs. Higurashi started. "She always did want to play matchmaker. Anyway, they were caught and decided to duck out. They both realized that they didn't have their student IDs on them so they tried to sneak back to the dorms, taking the elevator in the college center as a shortcut.
"The elevator broke down though and they dropped down to the ground floor about 30 feet. Your son, Inuyasha, apparently knows how to keep a cool head. He pulled Kagome down to the ground with him as they fell and covered her head to protect her."
"Is that a fact?" Inutaisho asked, glancing over at his son. Inuyasha found it difficult to make eye contact.
"What's more, he promised to protect Kagome when he saw how shaken she was from the crash and then pried the doors open with his bare hands." Mrs. Higurashi looked like she could have just burst with joy. It was a wonder she managed to keep her voice level with all the apparent excitement underneath.
Inuyasha glanced over at Kagome who had a light blush on her face, but was also smiling softly.
"As impressed as I am, I think we better switch topics," Inutaisho said with a chuckle. "Inuyasha prefers to think of himself as a hellraiser instead of a hero."
"Dad," Inuyasha groaned, "please shut up." He looked around the table. Kagome's mother and grandfather were smiling at him and her little brother was watching him with stars in his eyes. In the name of all that which is sacred, he truly hated being put on the spotlight.
It was going to be a loooong weekend.
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Author's Notes: There. Cliffhanger all wrapped up, and a setup for things to come.
By the way, when I mentioned caffeine in the last chapter, it's very interesting that I soon after found the caffeine section of ThinkGeek .com. I was not aware that there was such a thing as caffeinated soap, but I do know that I want some Jolt Gum and guarana mints.
On to my reviewers...
Cynical Chaos: To answer your earlier question, no. But I and others I know are very clever when it comes to revenge. A friend of my mother's is a gay writer from New York who really is quite ingenious when it comes to vengeance.
Em Starcatcher: There's more fluff to come, I assure you.
Divine-Red-Crayon: Actually, you spelled "consciousness" right. And how did this chapter measure up to your expectations.
Neptunie10: Fortunately my pact with dark forces is protecting me. Good trade-off for my immortal. It wasn't like I was really using it. ;)
bluefuzzyelf: I wish I could write dialog like that all the time. Though no woman has ever said that to me, I get the distinct feeling that's what they were thinking.
Annie: Cheers. (plays The Soulforged in the background)
Lights, Camera, Action!
Chapter 5- Promises and Meetings
Kagome felt like she was swimming in darkness. She vaguely heard a voice, but it sounded like it was trying to get through a mound of cotton. She felt something touch her face and slowly but surely her vision came back. At first, all she could see were shadows. Then shapes and colors started to form. She blinked a few times to try and clear her eyes and realized she was lying face down on the floor. Inuyasha was kneeling beside her and trying to wake her. The weak light in the room came from a tiny flashlight Inuyasha had on a keychain. "Inuyasha?" she asked groggilly as if trying to confirm to herself that she was awake. "What's going on?"
"The elevator collapsed. This one works on hydraulics, not cables. Piece of shit." As he helped her up, the memories came rushing back to Kagome, hitting her like a fist.
For a moment, Kagome felt numb. As it all set in, she felt the tears coming. Her body shook with the first few sobs.
Inuyasha noticed immediately. "Wait... Kagome hold on..."
No good. She collapsed into him and started crying. He was tense at first, but slowly eased up and wrapped his arms around her. "Kagome, please... Stop crying," he pleaded desperately. "Come on, we're okay. No, no... please stop..."
"I'm sorry," Kagome sobbed into his shoulder. "I just... I was so scared..."
"It's okay." Inuyasha clearly wasn't very comfortable with trying to comfort her. "You just got knocked out for a couple minutes... Look, you don't have to worry... You don't ever have to be afraid like that. I promise I'll protect you."
There was something about the sincerity in his voice that struck a chord with Kagome. She sniffed back another sob and looked up into his eyes. They weren't cold or snide. He looked like he really had every intention of fulfilling that promise.
After a minute Inuyasha wiped away her tears and smiled softly. "Okay?"
Kagome did her best to smile and nodded once. "Okay," she whispered.
"Good... um..." At this, Inuyasha blushed a little. "Kagome, this is going to sound really awkward, but I'm going to need you to take off your shirt for a second."
Kagome just blinked at him in surprise. Did he just say what she thought he just said? She felt like her face was about burst into flames.
"I just need to check to see if you have any injuries," he quickly explained. With that, he took up his flashlight and lifted the corner of his shirt to show a large bruise on his hip that went down underneath his boxers. "I guess I hit the ground at a wierd angle."
Kagome nodded in understanding then slowly and, to her surprise, reluctantly climbed out of his arms. She hesitated for a moment before deciding to just get it overwith quickly and yanked her shirt up over her head. She kept her head down as Inuyasha inched forward a little and gently started using one hand to check for any bruises, occassionally asking if anything hurt. She was too embarassed to speak so she simply shook her head. At one point, Kagome glanced up to see Inuyasha's face every bit as red as she imagined hers was.
After a moment, the only part Inuyasha hadn't checked was her chest. And he didn't seem terribly inclined to be bold. "D-do you feel... any pain in your um... y-your brea-er... chest?" Nice save.
Kagome took a deep breath in, deciding to ignore his Freudian slip. Her ribs were a little sore, but then again, so was the rest of her. "I'm fine," she said quickly and hastily put her shirt back on.
An awkward silence passed between the two of them. They leaned back against opposite walls of the elevator, trying not to look at each other. Kagome wondered what they were going to do. She asked Inuyasha if there was an emergency call button, but he waved it off, saying he had already tried and found it was damaged in the crash. And even if it was working, they'd be grilled for not having their IDs anyway. Screwed no matter what.
At last, Kagome decided to break the silence. "Inuyasha?"
Inuyasha looked up at her wearily. "Hmm?"
"Thank you. I remember just as the elevator started to drop you pulled me down with you and tried to cover me."
Inuyasha opened his mouth as if to say something before closing and opening it again. "S-sure," he stuttered. "I-I'd read that somewhere. And... Kagome, I'm sorry about all those things I said earlier."
Kagome just smiled softly. She crawled over to Inuyasha and sat beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. He seemed tense at first, but soon relaxed again. For once the silence was comfortable.
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Inuyasha still felt a little nervous. For some reason, Kagome brought the wierdest reactions from him. He had never met anyone who had been so unconditionally nice to him before. He must have built up some good karma somewhere along the line to deserve someone like her in his life.
"Inuyasha?" she asked wearily beside him.
"What's up?" he asked back softly.
"You never really talk about yourself." Kagome didn't seem to be implying anything. Though it was clear she did want to make conversation.
The problem was that Inuyasha wasn't a great conversationalist and he knew it. Miroku was the one in their little gang who did all the talking. And his past was something he never felt entirely comfortable talking about anyway. "I just didn't think you'd be interested," he lied.
He felt her chuckle lightly against him. "Don't be silly. What's your family like?"
It figures Kagome would ask that first. Inuyasha puffed a stray lock of hair from his face and sighed. "For the time being I live with my father. He's a lawyer. My... My mother passed away when I was a kid."
"I'm sorry," Kagome whispered. "My father died years ago, too."
It got really awkward again. Neither one of them said anything. For Inuyasha, it was mostly a matter of having no idea what to say next. He wasn't sure why Kagome was so quiet.
He felt himself nodding off after a minute, when an idea hit him. "Kagome. Get up for a second. I want to try something."
Kagome looked up at him in surprise but did as she was told and the two of them stood up. Inuyasha took a moment stretch himself out and try to get the tension out of his system. "I'm going to try and force the door open," he explained.
Kagome only nodded as Inuyasha stepped up to the elevator doors. He dug the tips of his fingers into the crack between the two sliding doors that sealed them into this little prison and began pulling them apart with all his strength. Jesus tap-dancing Christ that was painful! He felt like his fingers were going to snap. But he felt the door budge slightly. There was hope.
Inuyasha dug his fingers in deeper trying to pull open those god damn doors. He swore they were starting to mock him. He was now audibly grunting and straining with the effort. The stupid things must have been damaged in the crash along with everything else in this piece of crap.
At last, he had pulled open enough of a crack that light came through. He heard Kagome behind him squeal with joy. Another minute of straining and he was able to force his shoulder in, constantly changing positions to see which would give him the best leverage.
It felt like an eternity, but at last, the doors were open enough to free the two of them. Inuyasha's arms were numb and Kagome still looked flushed.
They both immediately bolted out the nearest exit and decided to take the long route through the campus back to the dorms. It was actually kind of funny. Inuyasha was sure they would have looked rather comical the way they were sneaking through the shadows and around corners. He could almost hear the Mission: Impossible theme playing in his head.
They reached Ravencroft Hall first and stopped to catch their breath. "I can't wait to tell Sango about this," Kagome said after gasping in another lungful of air.
"Heh, yeah," Inuyasha said half-heartedly. He hoped she wouldn't go into too much detail. He had a reputation to uphold and his friends would never let him hear the end of this.
Kagome surprised him though when she walked up and gave him a hug. "Thanks for being such a sweetheart." With that she gave hm a kiss on the cheek and went back to the front door, smiling over her shoulder at him as she let herself in.
Inuyasha stood there a moment in shock. Had she just kissed him? He wondered back to Barker Hall replaying that scene over and over again in his mind. It seemed like only a heartbeat when he found himself walking into his room where Miroku was just climbing into bed.
"'Bout time you got back," Miroku remarked, still clearly peeved about earlier. He furrowed his brow though at the look on Inuyasha's face. "You feeling okay?"
"I'm fine." With that, Inuyasha kicked off his shoes and dropped into the bed still fully clothed. It all had felt like a dream. Was it? No, it had been real. The strange thing was... normally Inuyasha spent an hour or two tossing and turning before he could go to sleep. Tonight, he was out like a light in a matter of minutes.
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The elevator was repaired days later. The TV club was treated to Kagome's dramatic retelling of the crash and the escape. Things seemed to be returning to normal. The club had now also managed to get four shows on the air, and a schedule posted up by the mailroom. They now had News and Reviews, Ace Spade: Private Eye, Shippo's comedy show called Substance with Style, and Ghost Walk which was hosted by Miroku and was about famous historical tragedies and legends throughout the town.
Inuyasha was on his way back to the table for the weekly TV club brunch. It was now October and the school was already gearing up for Halloween. Halloween of course was Inuyasha's favorite holiday. It was a day dedicated to free food and rampant hedonism. What's not to like? He still hadn't decided on a costume, though. Last year he went to the campus party dressed as a vampire to show off his then-new fangs. The year before that, he w went to Miroku's party as Galgarion from the RPG World comic. Hmm...
Inuyasha was pulled rather abruptly out of his thoughts when he heard someone shout out at him. "Hey, Ace Spade!"
He looked over to the direction the shout had come from and saw a couple of guys from the lacrosse team laughing and smiling as they watched him. "You guys watch the show?" he asked curiously.
"Hell yeah!" one with blonde hair said. "That last episode with the big fight scene in the alley was great."
"Yeah," added another guy with red hair. "And the girl who plays Roxanne is hot." Roxanne Stone was Kagome's character on the show. She was the Jade to Ace's Race Bannon. They were sometimes-partners and on-again/off-again lovers.
Inuyasha just raised his eyebrows trying to fight off the awkward feeling. He was just plain bad at taking compliments. That, and lately he got this growling sensation in the back of his mind whenever some guy started admiring Kagome. "Uh, thanks. I'll pass that on to the crew."
"Awesome. See ya 'round, man."
Inuyasha walked back to the table, still surprised to find out that they had viewers. And fans, no less. When he sat down at the table, everyone looked up to ackowledge his presence so they could begin. "Hey, guys. Before we start, I just wanted to let you know I found out about 30 seconds ago that we have fans."
Shippo nearly did a spit take, Miroku did a double take, Sango looked wide-eyed in surprise, and Kagome's eyebrows shot up toward her hairline. "No shit?" Shippo asked in disbelief.
"Yeah." Inuyasha jerked his head in the general direction of the guys he had spoken with. "Apparently a bunch of guys on the lacrosse team are fans of Ace Spade."
Sango and Kagome immediately hugged each other laughing. "This is great!" Sango shouted. "We have people watching! Now we just need to spread things through word of mouth, and we'll get all the new stuff we need next semester."
"Not to interrupt," Shippo chimed in, "but I just wanted to know who's going to be available next week since it's family weekend."
Inuyasha had almost forgotten about that. Every year, second week of October, the students' families were invited to come down and visit for the weekend. His father had promised to come this year since he missed the last. "Not me," he answered. "My dad's coming in."
"My family's coming over, too," Kagome answered. "I promised them all dinner at Rudy's." Ever since that first evening, Rudy's had been Kagome's favorite place to go eat. They always went there if they had enough time after shooting an episode.
"My father and my brother are supposed to visit," Sango added.
"I guess that just leaves me," Miroku said. His mother had died when he was 12, and ever since then he'd been drifting further apart from his father who was on a downward spiral physically and mentally.
"And me," Shippo said. "For obvious reasons."
Inuyasha gave an internal bemused sigh. They certainly were a motley crew. Still, he doubted he would rather hang out with anyone else even if he wouldn't consciously admit it. Kagome in particular. She was the first person to so easily get through the walls he had put up.
He glanced over at the raven-haired girl next to him and smiled to himself. He wondered absently what his father would think of her. The old man had really wanted his son to meet more people. Maybe they'd get a chance to meet next week.
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The week went by quickly for Kagome. In between studying, writing new scripts, shooting the next episodes of their shows, and of course going to class, she also was trying to set things up for family weekend and fan the flames spreading word about the TV station. She and Sango had put up a couple posters for Ace Spade and Substance with Style and got Inuyasha to convince the other campus radio DJs to plug for the shows.
News of the TV station's revived steam was spreading across the campus like wildfire. One thing Inuyasha had apparently neglected to tell Kagome was that the entire lacrosse team seemed to have a crush on her and whenever she saw them had to endure cat calls and shouts of "You don't have to put on the red light!" She really didn't like guys who tried so hard, though. A little macho swaggering was cute, but going overboard like that was actually annoying after the first few times.
Eventually, Friday night arrived. Kagome was waiting for her family to arrive in the lounge of the college center. Sango and Inuyasha were there too, also waiting on the arrival of their families.
The first to arrive were a tall, thin man with a goatee and a boy in his early teens. Sango immediately jumped up and ran to them. "Dad! Kohaku!" They all shared a big family hug and Kagome couldn't help but smile.
After a few pleasantries, Sango dragged her two family members over to see Kagome and Inuyasha. "I want you guys to meet some of my friends! This is Kagome and Inuyasha. Guys, this is my dad and my little brother, Kohaku."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Kagome said sweetly.
"Yo," Inuyasha said nonchalantly. Figures that he'd be back to doing his bad-ass act in public. He was slouching deep into an arm chair with one leg over one of the arms.
"So you're the ones Sango's been telling us about," Sango's father said. "Good to see you. I'd like to meet the rest of the crew, as well. Especially this Miroku boy you told me so much about."
Sango turned bright red at that and laughed nervously. "Well... you'll probably get a chance to meet him if you show up for brunch tomorrow. But let's go! We don't want to miss the movie!"
Once Sango was gone, Kagome looked over at Inuyasha who was watching the doors expectantly. He must have really cared more about his family than he let on.
Kagome looked over at the door right at the moment it opened and swore the scene couldn't have been any more like something out of a movie. A tall middle-aged man with long iron grey hair and shoulders like a Cadillac dressed in fancy black slacks and a polo shirt had walked in and was holding the door open for none other than Kagome's mother, grandfather, and little brother. Inuyasha had stood up the instant the grey-haired man had stepped in.
"Kagome!" Mrs. Higurashi shouted excitedly and rushed to her daughter. The two enveloped each other in a hug.
Kagome glanced over her mother's shoulder to see Inuyasha standing with his father.
"What's the matter?" she heard him say in a rumbling voice. "Think you're too much of a bad-ass to hug your old man."
She smiled as Inuyasha just chuckled after a moment and he and his father gave each other a bear hug, each one looking like they were trying to crush the other.
She looked down as she felt Sota hug her as well. "Oh, I missed you all," she said happily. "Thanks for coming out here."
"Oh we wouldn't miss it," her grandfather said with a smile. "Any chance you can give us a tour of the studio while we're here? Maybe show us your latest opus?"
Kagome blushed lightly. "I think I can pull some strings. Oh! There's someone I want you to meet."
With that, she lead them over to Inuyasha who looked from his father to her in surprise. "This is Inuyasha. He's the one I told you about from the detective show."
"Ah, so you're the one," Mrs. Higurashi said with a smile. "I also want to personally thank you. young man, for what you did for my daughter in that whole elevator incident."
Kagome flushed slightly. Inuyasha went beat red and looked at the ground. His father looked at him with curiosity and bemusement. "Mom, this isn't exactly the best place to have this conversation. Let's just go to the diner and I'll explain when we get there."
"Would you mind if we joined you?" Mr. Takamura asked in his booming voice. "Inuyasha told me about a girl named Kagome, whom I assume is your daughter there, but I don't believe he ever mentioned an 'elevator incident.'"
"Oh, not at all," Mrs. Higurashi said. "I assure you, it really is a very interesting story. My name is Miho Higurashi, by the way."
"Inutaisho Takamura. When you tell the story, please don't spare any details."
Kagome couldn't help but giggle. Inuyasha looked like he wanted to be anywhere but right here at that moment. She should have expected that he'd be tight-lipped about the whole elevator incident, just like everything else.
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A short drive later and Inuyasha found himself sitting at a table with his father and Kagome's family. This felt a little awkward. He almost felt as if Kagome was bringing him home to meet her parents, but he quickly squashed that thought.
"So," his father said after they ordered their appetizers, "tell me about this elevator incident."
Inuyasha felt his face heating up once again.
"Well, from what Kagome tells me, she and Inuyasha were spying on a couple friends of theirs," Mrs. Higurashi started. "She always did want to play matchmaker. Anyway, they were caught and decided to duck out. They both realized that they didn't have their student IDs on them so they tried to sneak back to the dorms, taking the elevator in the college center as a shortcut.
"The elevator broke down though and they dropped down to the ground floor about 30 feet. Your son, Inuyasha, apparently knows how to keep a cool head. He pulled Kagome down to the ground with him as they fell and covered her head to protect her."
"Is that a fact?" Inutaisho asked, glancing over at his son. Inuyasha found it difficult to make eye contact.
"What's more, he promised to protect Kagome when he saw how shaken she was from the crash and then pried the doors open with his bare hands." Mrs. Higurashi looked like she could have just burst with joy. It was a wonder she managed to keep her voice level with all the apparent excitement underneath.
Inuyasha glanced over at Kagome who had a light blush on her face, but was also smiling softly.
"As impressed as I am, I think we better switch topics," Inutaisho said with a chuckle. "Inuyasha prefers to think of himself as a hellraiser instead of a hero."
"Dad," Inuyasha groaned, "please shut up." He looked around the table. Kagome's mother and grandfather were smiling at him and her little brother was watching him with stars in his eyes. In the name of all that which is sacred, he truly hated being put on the spotlight.
It was going to be a loooong weekend.
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Author's Notes: There. Cliffhanger all wrapped up, and a setup for things to come.
By the way, when I mentioned caffeine in the last chapter, it's very interesting that I soon after found the caffeine section of ThinkGeek .com. I was not aware that there was such a thing as caffeinated soap, but I do know that I want some Jolt Gum and guarana mints.
On to my reviewers...
Cynical Chaos: To answer your earlier question, no. But I and others I know are very clever when it comes to revenge. A friend of my mother's is a gay writer from New York who really is quite ingenious when it comes to vengeance.
Em Starcatcher: There's more fluff to come, I assure you.
Divine-Red-Crayon: Actually, you spelled "consciousness" right. And how did this chapter measure up to your expectations.
Neptunie10: Fortunately my pact with dark forces is protecting me. Good trade-off for my immortal. It wasn't like I was really using it. ;)
bluefuzzyelf: I wish I could write dialog like that all the time. Though no woman has ever said that to me, I get the distinct feeling that's what they were thinking.
Annie: Cheers. (plays The Soulforged in the background)