OO jeeeeeez. 72?! I said 50! I really can't keep up with you guys! When the week comes, I don't know what I'll do! Okay, so here it is.
"He was there, mom, he was in school!" Kagome lifted her head off the hospital pillow, straining to get out.
"Shh, shh, dear. It'll all be alright." Miss Higurashi said. Her daughter's state of health and delirium was worrying her. How could have Inu-yasha been in Kagome's school? It just wasn't possible.
"No, mom! He was there, he really was!" Kagome screamed, thrashing her arms and legs wildly. Miss Higurashi jumped back.
"Doctor! Bring in the restraints!" cried the nurse who had been working busily at the counter.
"No! I'm not crazy!" Kagome cried, throwing the sheets off her. The doctor came rushing in with the thick white straps. In no time, he had her bound tightly to the bed below her.
"Kagome! Please calm down!"
Kagome growled loudly, and bit at the doctor's approaching hand.
"Kagome, dear, look at me." Miss Higurashi said quietly, leaning forward. Kagome quieted, and turned her eyes to her mother. "I know what happened to you has been a bit difficult to deal with, but you can't forget who you are."
"You know that I was happy when I went-"
"I know." She interrupted quickly, glancing at the doctor. "Just remember that you now have a future."
Kagome turned her head away from her mother. Tears leaked from her deep blue eyes, and not for the first time in her life, she wanted it to all end.
"Just go away." She grumbled.
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The next week, Kagome returned to school looking as healthy as her beaten body and heart could handle. She was not looking forward to when she would see him. She wanted to stay home, but her mother suggested that she go to get back to her normal life.
"Normal life indeed." Kagome muttered, walking up the front steps again. The pull of her curiosity nearly terminated her fear of rejection.
She set her books down on the table and sat down as she glanced around. Through the masses of students crowded at their friend's desks, she could just make out his smiling face. When he turned in her direction and caught her looking, she blushed and turned quickly to Eri.
"Quick, pretend I'm talking to you!" Kagome hissed, scooting closer to her friend. Right now, she didn't need a confrontation.
"What? Oh, hey!" Eri said enthusiastically to the boy that was looming over them.
Kagome made a little 'ack' sound, and fell out of her chair for the second time in two weeks.
Inu-yasha laughed loudly, grabbed her arm, and yanked her back onto her feet. Kagome's light pink blush turned tomato.
"I'm glad to see you're among the living again." Inu-yasha said with a smile.
'So this is what he would have acted like if he didn't have all of those painful memories...' Kagome thought, smiling back slightly. "Me too. Thanks for supporting me earlier... I never got your name." She said cautiously. This was the moment of truth.
"...I really don't like giving my first name..." He muttered, scratching the back of his neck.
"It's ok..." Kagome said quietly. She was disappointed, but there was nothing she could do about it.
"I'll see you all later." He said with another million-dollar smile, and turned back to his desk.
All that day, Kagome could only think about his smiling face, and how happy he seemed. He had never opened up to her like that before, and this was only the beginning. If she was correct, he still had those doggy ears.
Kagome hadn't noticed that Eri was waving her hand in front of her face.
"Earth to Kagome... Anyone in there?" Eri said with a wry smile. "You never explained to us how you know him!"
"I don't." Kagome said back, with a sheepish grin. Her self-esteem and happiness was slowly returning.
He'll never be the same person and I know it. He's lost his personality, the things that made him, him. (A/N: Anyone out there into Chobits, I'm sort of referring to this. Without the same memories, even a clone will lead a different life than it's original.) Like those times when he would visit my house... I remember he'd begin to attack the TV because it talked.
Kagome laughed at her own thoughts, and took another bite of her onigiri. It was her favorite: Salmon.
"You alright, Kag-chan? You're acting a little strange." Ayame said quickly, reaching for one of Kagome's rice balls.
"I'm fine, and no, you can't have one." Kagome said with a smile. Her heart was healing.
"Can I have one, Kag-chan?" said a mockingly high-pitched voice. Kagome spun around.
The boy who had earlier smiled and said he was glad she was ok, was now looming over the three like a shadow.
"What do you want, Inu-"
"I want you to answer a question. Why is it that you know my name?" He growled. There, now she couldn't avoid him. There was a thing about this girl that fascinated him, and he was going to find out what.
There, longer than usual! By half a page. I'm so happy with my reviewers! Thank you so much! --