I Was Invincible: Chapter 1
Somewhere in Tokyo...
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Tick, Tock. Tick, Tock...
Kagome glanced up at the black clock above the classroom door. She bit her lip.
Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock...
Rubbing the blunt pink end of her eraser against the orderly test sheet, she put her previous answer out of existence and filled in the bubble adjacent to it with an agitated scribble of her pencil.
She flicked a sideways look up to that pushy, polished clock again. Two minutes left! Focusing back upon the test on the desk before her, she brought the pencil to her mouth and began to subconsciously chew on the stub of the eraser, or what remained of it.
'Come on, Kagome. Just five questions left!' she admonished herself inwardly. She could do it, really. She had to... sure, she hadn't studied for this particular test, on this one particular day that she had told one particular hanyou about. He had a fit about it, as usual. Still, she would not be swayed. The dark-haired miko was bound and determined to make up for all the time she had lost in the modern era, and so with many angry words and a 'Sit!' or two later, here she was.
The classroom was like many on the school compound; orderly, stark, and tending towards the certain nostalgia of a hospital room with its sanitary atmosphere. School had let out nearly an hour ago, reducing the environment to an even harsher comparison without the lively students present. Kagome was alone save for the stony-faced teacher seated at the front of the room, behind a large metal desk. The educator was awaiting Kagome's test with all the patience of a guru embedded somewhere high in a mountainous realm where none but the extremely desperate sought his guidance. The teacher had the angular look of someone twice his age, even though Kagome knew him to be a middle-aged man. Thick-rimmed glasses that were more kin to goggles than spectacles filled out his face like two obscene picture frames. Every now and then they would slip down his rotund nose, before halting at the base where his wide nostrils flared out.
"Time's up. Are you done?" the teacher asked calmly, steepling his long fingers upon the green ink blotter that lay across his desk.
Kagome sighed heavily, nearly punched a hole through her the scoring sheet as she winged the last answer, and then set her pencil down. Slumping defeatedly in her seat, she nodded numbly. "Yes, Mr. Kyoto."
Mr. Kyoto adjusted his glasses again, and then motioned for her to silently bring the test up to him.
Inwardly, Kagome felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She hadn't done well on this make-up exam, she just knew it. She still had several ahead of her, and between dodging youkai, hunting Shikon shards and putting up with Inuyasha's stubborn mood swings, it was getting a lot harder to fit in schoolwork with the overall picture.
No, scratch that... it was simply getting harder to fit her modern life into the overall picture. It wasn't fair. She should have the equivalent of 'Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free' cards for times like these!
Rising from her much smaller student's desk, Kagome bowed her head slightly in shame and closed the gap between herself and the seated Mr. Kyoto. The older man accepted the score sheet from her with an air of regality. Kagome suddenly found it harder to breathe.
Regarding the test as if it were an interesting specimen on display in a museum exhibit, he nodded cordially to her. "I'll see you here tomorrow for Exam Two, same time." His words were polite enough, but they held a certain distance to them.
"I'll be here, Mr. Kyoto." Nodding in return, Kagome wanted nothing more in that moment than to be free of the stiff teacher, the white-walled rooms and the empty resonance of a place that was usually thrumming with the sound of students.
"Alright, Kagome. Thank you... I hope you remain well from here on out." His words seemed even further away, and Kagome realized that he was now eying her test studiously. He arched a brow while still inspecting it, and Kagome took that as her time to leave. She didn't want to stand there while he began to size her up as a failure based on what she was sure was a bad test score.
"Uh.. thanks.. bye, Mr. Kyoto!" With an upward flip of her hand, Kagome emitted a short, embarrassed wave and hurriedly scurried out the door. Once beyond the classroom and in the hall, she gave another deep sigh and stood there for a long moment or two, gazing at the seemingly endless stretch of lockers and hallway. She began to believe that if she stood there long enough, the two wide entry doors to the school would burst open and a uniformed rush of students would invade the premises, just as if it were early morning and school was about to commence. They would laugh, call to one another, and then grow temporarily quiet when a stern look would hasten their way from a teacher standing nearby. When the bell rang, they would trade sympathetic looks, finish with their gossip and plans to meet after school, and shuffle into their homerooms.
Oh, how she missed that.
'What are you doing, standing here like a baka? Get going... you still need to study for tomorrow!' she chided herself, and then bolted down the hallway towards home.
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Once home, Kagome practically flew up the stairs. She didn't even stop to say hello to Sota, who was standing by the stairwell when she zipped by. "Hi, Sota!" she called by way of greeting, and then was gone.
A low, undulating rumbling sound from behind the young boy turned his attention to the ground. The noise was not unlike the dying grumbles of an old man, but Sota knew them well.
Bending down to pick up the lethargic family cat, Sota absently scritched behind one of Buyo's ears. "I wonder what's wrong with her?"
Shrugging, he turned and wandered over towards the kitchen where his mother was cooking. It was the place that made Buyo the happiest, after all.
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Once on the second floor, Kagome dropped her backpack off onto her bed, where it bounced once before going still. The schoolgirl made a mental note to bug her mom for a new backpack - hers was travel worn and riddled with grass stains, dirt, and other dark smudges that were really hard to explain to a certain wide-eyed pack of close friends that seemed to follow her wherever she went on the few times she went to school. With all those holes and stretched stitching, it was a miracle in itself that the backpack had held up as long as it did.
Next, to the bathroom. Kagome exited her bedroom with a neat bundle of pajamas in her arms. She entered the bathroom, shut the door behind her and proceeded to turn on the hot water after she had set her P.J.'s down on the edge of the bathroom sink. It might have been too early to consider getting changed into nightclothes, but she was far too tired to care. All she wanted now was a nice, long bath with real soaps, real shampoos and Kami forbid - conditioner before she went to bed. Just the thought of sleeping on an actual mattress was soothing to the soul.
As she undressed and slipped down into the hot water, Kagome closed her eyes and threw her head back against the gentle slope of the tub behind her. She inhaled deeply, taking in the intoxicating warmth of the steaming water all about her. The goal to orient herself with the cleaner Kagome would come in just a moment. For now, she just wanted to relax and enjoy the feel of hot water that came from a tap the instant you turned the knob.
It was a luxury she had often taken for granted before she met...
"Inuyasha, I think Kagome's in the bathroom right now." Kagome went rigid, every possible muscle in her backside tensing as the all-too-familiar name reached her ears. Her eyes snapped open, and she went as still as death.
'What is he doing here? I thought we agreed I'd come back in two days?!' her panicked mind thought.
It was her mother's voice, alright. Just beyond the door, in the hallway. The same door she had closed, and had forgotten to lock in her hurry to get into the bathtub. That very same door that had a knob that was slowly turning...
Kagome did what any proper schoolgirl would do; she closed her eyes tightly, crossed her arms against her chest, hunkered down in the water and screamed.
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A/N Well, that's Chapter 1! I actually wanna do an epic Inuyasha tale.. who woulda thought? There will be many more chapters after this, so it's not ending anytime soon! Let me know what you think.. R&R! :)