The Tale of the Princess of the Crescent Moon

Eight

Easily the biggest fight that Inuyasha and Kagome ever had (quite an accomplishment, considering their years of near-constant squabbling) was over Izayoi's schooling. Inuyasha saw no need or use for school, and had never understood Kagome's attachment to it. "How many times did we nearly lose everything to Naraku because you were gone doing one of those 'test' things?" he shouted. Kagome desperately wanted her little girl to have a normal childhood—of course, as Inuyasha constantly reminded her, there was nothing normal about Izayoi, at least as far as the modern era was concerned. Nonetheless, Kagome finally won out, and Izayoi was bundled into a uniform and marched off to school along with all the other children in the temple's neighborhood.

Izayoi always wore a kerchief to cover her canine ears ("It's a... religious thing," Kagome had explained to the principal on enrollment day), but to everyone's surprise and relief, she seemed to blend in quite well. Izayoi was far too much like her father for Kagome's taste; she showed little to no interest in the academic side of school, but she was extremely good in sports; her teachers all proudly referred to her as a "natural athlete" and many of them had begun entertaining championship dreams for Izayoi's high-school years. Aside from being unusually strong and agile for her age, she seemed to all intents and purposes to be a completely normal child.

Third grade had started like every other year; Izayoi had made new friends, and she was having the usual troubles with her studies and the usual successes in sports. About half way through the year, a new student joined her class: a nasty little child name Taro. Taro was quite large for his age; he was a bully, he enjoyed being a bully, and he was extremely good at it. The children all complained to their teachers about him, but none of the teachers was ever able to catch Taro doing anything wrong, and any student who tattled on Taro would receive a doubly vicious thrashing after school.

Taro was fond of elbowing people out of his way as he walked down the hallways. He only tried it once with Izayoi—because running into her felt like running into a wall. Taro expected her to be shoved easily out of the way like everyone else had been, but when he threw his weight against her, the impact sent him flying backwards, and Izayoi never even looked back at him as she passed. Taro took an immediate dislike to her (as he did with anyone who refused to be cowed by his bullying) and resolved to get his revenge by pulling off her head kerchief.

But no matter how hard he tried, Izayoi was always too fast for him. No matter how or where he reached for it, he would find his hand caught in her iron grip, and she twisted his wrist ever more viciously each time she caught him. One day, he pestered her mercilessly, trying again and again to grab her kerchief.

The teacher had just begun copying today's lesson on the board when Izayoi felt Taro's hand slowly reaching towards her kerchief.

"Taro...quit it," she whispered at him, easily dodging his hand.

For a few moments, the class was quiet again but for the soft clacking of the chalk on the board. Izayoi was struggling to copy everything from the board as fast as the teacher was writing it, when she sensed Taro's hand sneaking towards her again. She whirled, lightning-fast, and grabbed his wrist and wrenched it cruelly. "Taro...I told you to quit it!" she whispered intensely, and shoved his hand away roughly.

Taro stifled his cry of pain, and glared angrily at Izayoi while he rubbed his wrist. The teacher, thinking that he had heard something, had turned around and was looking suspiciously at the class; but seeing nothing, he turned away again and resumed writing the lesson on the board.

About ten minutes later, Izayoi sensed Taro's hand once more sneaking towards her kerchief. Furious, she spun around and slapped him hard across the face, and she shouted, "Taro! I told you to knock it off!"

The teacher whirled around to see Taro looking bewildered, Izayoi's palm-print burning redly on his cheek; and Izayoi glowering furiously, her right hand still upraised. "Higurashi!" the teacher shouted, "What are you doing?"

"He started it!" she shouted back, pointing angrily at Taro.

"Higurashi, this behavior is unacceptable. Go stand in the corner. If I have to speak to you again about this, you're going to the office." The teacher turned his back and resumed copying the lesson on the board. Izayoi stomped off to the corner, where she stood with her arms crossed defiantly. Taro checked that the teacher still had his back turned, then turned to face Izayoi and stuck his tongue out at her. Then, he reached into Izayoi's desk and took all her pencils.

"Taro..." Izayoi growled.

"Be quiet, Higurashi!" the teacher snapped without turning away from the board.

Fortunately, the rest of the morning passed without further incident. After lunch, Izayoi and her friends were on their way to gym class when Taro rushed at them from behind the lockers. He knew better than to go for Izayoi, still remembering the bruises he had received the last time he tried that particular trick; instead, he ran headlong into one of Izayoi's friends, sending her sprawling hard, face first, onto the ground.

"Taro, you jerk," yelled Izayoi, "If I ever get my hands on you..." She shook her fist at Taro, then turned to help her friend. "Hitomi-chan," she said, "Are you OK?"

Hitomi blinked back the tears as she held her skinned knee, but she nodded bravely. Izayoi extended both hands to Hitomi and gently pulled her to her feet. "Let's get you to the nurse's office," Izayoi said kindly.

Right at that moment, when both Izayoi's hands were occupied helping her friend, Taro struck. He pounced on Izayoi and grabbed hard at her head kerchief, snapping it smartly off her head; Izayoi couldn't stop him without dropping Hitomi. Taro stepped back to admire his handiwork, then he began laughing and calling to the crowd that was quickly gathering.

"Hey, everyone," Taro shouted, pointing at Izayoi's ears, "Look at the dog! So that's what you've been hiding! C'mere, girl! C'mere!" He snapped his fingers and whistled at Izayoi. "That's a good girl! Sit, girl! Sit!"

Izayoi carefully released Hitomi, letting her slide into another's child's arms, then she walked across the circle of laughing children to face Taro. She said nothing, glaring angrily at him while he laughed at her; then she grabbed him by the belt and the collar of his jacket, and she hurled him high into the air.

The children gasped, and there was a delicious silence through which Taro's terrified wailing could be easily heard as he sailed through the air, soaring over a nearby fence; and several long seconds later, he splashed into the pool. For a moment, all was still; then a chaotic rush of students and teachers burst through the pool gates, and every one of them was shouting. One of the gym teachers came upon the circle of students surrounding Izayoi; she was still glowering furiously, her arms crossed defiantly across her chest. From the terrified expressions on the faces of the other students, the teacher quickly deduced what had happened, and Izayoi was marched unceremoniously off to the office.

Kagome was, as any parent would be, quite shocked when she got the call from the school. She was relieved to hear that her daughter was unhurt, but mortified to hear that she had been taken to the vice-principal's office, and quite embarrassed to have been asked to come pick her up. Except for her extended absences, Kagome had always been a model student, and had never been called to the office in her life; it was always "bad children" who received such treatment, and she was aghast to find her daughter in that situation. She insisted that Inuyasha accompany her: "You've got to take a hand in her discipline. I can't handle this all by myself, you know," Kagome said sternly as she stuck a baseball cap on Inuyasha's head and dragged him out of the house. "Just sit there, don't say anything, agree with whatever I say, and we'll be just fine. Try to support me this time, OK, Inuyasha?"

When Kagome and Inuyasha arrived at the vice-principal's office, Izayoi was sitting on a bench outside the door, her arms still folded, her brows still knitted in fury, worrying her kerchief in one white-knuckled hand. "Iza-chan, are you alright? What happened?" Kagome asked.

Izayoi started to respond, but she was interrupted by the office door opening. It was the vice principal, Dr. Hattori, a gray-haired middle-aged gentlemen in a tidy gray suit. He introduced himself somberly but politely, then ushered the three of them into his office. The office was sparse, decorated only with a few certificates hung on the walls. There were no photos on his desk; there was only a spotless white desk blotter, a very small potted plant, and a row of very precisely arranged and precisely sharpened pencils, each precisely the same length. Dr. Hattori liked cleanliness and order.

"Thank you for coming," Dr. Hattori intoned solemnly. He had held many such conferences over the years, and they were always the same: the child's tearful denials; the parents bravely taking the child's side; his calm, firm, yet compassionate explanation of how the child had gone astray; and eventually, everyone always came around to see it his way, and the meeting always ended happily, with parents promising their support to the school and a penitent and compliant child. Dr. Hattori liked happy endings.

He began the meeting as he always did: "I appreciate the trouble that you took to come here this afternoon. It shows how much you care for your daughter and how much you support the school. I asked you to come here today because..."

Inuyasha cut him off; he faced Izayoi and asked brusquely, "Izayoi. Tell me the truth: did you kill somebody?"

"No, Daddy," she said exasperatedly, kicking at the rungs of her chair.

"Anybody hurt?"

"No, Daddy."

"Did you break anything? You know how upset your mother gets when things get broken."

Izayoi sighed wearily and rolled her eyes. "No, Daddy."

"Well, I can't see what the problem is," said Inuyasha, throwing up his hands in disgust.

"Ah...yes...well..." Kagome sputtered with embarrassment, "Perhaps we could start by hearing Izayoi's side of whatever happened today."

"Fair enough," said Dr. Hattori, who was looking rather dismayed at the direction the conference was already going. "Izayoi, please tell us what happened."

Relieved to finally be telling her side of the story, Izayoi breathlessly related the afternoon's events: "That bully Taro...he had been trying to steal my kerchief all day, and I wouldn't let him, and he tried three times today already, so I slapped him, and they made me stand in the corner..." She looked angrily at Dr. Hattori and continued, "and I've already been punished for that and it's not fair to punish me again," she informed him sternly. She then turned back to her mother and said, "And then he hurt Hitomi-chan, and I was helping her up so I couldn't stop him, and he tore off my kerchief, so I threw him in the pool."

"Over a twelve-foot fence," Dr. Hattori added, "which I have a very hard time believing... but if it's true, that's not acceptable behavior. Taro could have been seriously hurt."

"If I had wanted him seriously hurt," Izayoi said, balling her hand into a fist and squeezing hard enough to make her knuckles crack, "He would be seriously hurt."

"You threw him over a twelve-foot fence?" asked Inuyasha.

"Yup," said Izayoi, crossing her arms defiantly.

"That's my girl," said Inuyasha proudly, playfully mussing Izayoi's hair, then leaning back in his chair with a broad smile.

Kagome smiled wanly, and laughed uncomfortably. "Wait until I get you home," she muttered to Inuyasha under her breath.

Dr. Hattori buried his head in his hands. This wasn't going well at all, he thought.

"And now," Izayoi added urgently, "Everyone's seen my ears, and they all think I'm weird. Even Hitomi-chan won't talk to me," she said, hanging her head dejectedly, "And I helped her after Taro hit her, too,"

"Now, Mr. and Mrs. Higurashi..." Dr. Hattori began, trying to regain control of the meeting, but he was interrupted by Inuyasha's threatening growl. Inuyasha hated being called "Mr. Higurashi," and Kagome recognized that growl as a sure sign that very soon things were going to get...unpleasant.

Kagome quickly tried a different approach. "Now, Dr. Hattori, after all, it was that Taro boy, not my daughter, that started all this," she said, "and he's nothing but trouble from what Izayoi tells me...and he did pull off her kerchief. You can see now why we thought it was so important for her to wear it."

"Yes, I can understand," said Dr. Hattori. "If it isn't too personal for me to ask, by the way...what's wrong with her ears?"

Inuyasha jumped out of his chair, slammed his fist onto Dr. Hattori's desk, ripped off his baseball cap, and shouted, "There's nothing wrong with her ears!"

"They're...congenital," offered Kagome helpfully.

"Of...of course not," stammered Dr. Hattori, "I mean, of course they are. I mean...I beg your pardon." He looked nervously at Inuyasha, who was still leaning over the desk, fuming. "Please, Mr. Higurashi..." he began, but Inuyasha immediately growled again. "Um, please sir... Please have a seat. I'm sure we can discuss this..." he gulped, as he stared at Inuyasha's ears twitching angrily, "...calmly. After all, all we want is what's best for Izayoi...right?"

"Look, I just don't understand what the big deal is," Inuyasha said as he resumed his seat. "This jerk, Taro, this bully got what he deserved...something it doesn't sound like you people were able to take care of. Plus, everybody knows now that you don't mess with my daughter." He crossed his arms smartly and turned up his nose. "Keh. Problem solved."

"Keh. Problem solved," piped Izayoi, crossing her arms and turning up her nose.

"Ah. Yes. Well," said Dr. Hattori, desperately trying to regain his composure. "In any event, school rules are very specific about the consequences of fighting. Izayoi will have to be suspended for the rest of the week."

"No school for the rest of the week! Hooray!" shouted Izayoi happily, jumping out of her chair. "Let's go hunt youkai with Kaede-obachan!"

"Yeah, let's go!" said Inuyasha enthusiastically, jumping to his feet and proudly taking Izayoi by the hand. "Now that I know you're finally getting strong, we'll go find some big ones that you can really sharpen your claws on!" Izayoi joyfully skipped to the door and out into the hallway, happily holding her father's hand, without saying goodbye to Dr. Hattori.

"Ah...we'll...we'll talk to her," fluttered Kagome, blushing beet red as she gathered her things.

"Did she just say...that she was going to 'hunt youkai?'" asked Dr. Hattori cautiously.

"She has an...over-active imagination," said Kagome hurriedly, bowing and making quickly for the door. "Good bye, Dr. Hattori. I'm sure this won't ever happen again." She did not look at all convinced as she bowed a final time; then she dashed away to catch up with Inuyasha and her daughter.

Dr. Hattori rubbed his brow, then reached into his desk for a bottle of aspirin. "This won't ever happen again? Oh, my dear Mrs. Higurashi," he said wistfully to himself, "I'm sure we're going to be seeing quite a lot of each other over the years." He began leafing through his desk calendar. "I think ... yes: Tuesdays will be good for me."