Colorful Emotions

Chapter 6: Multi-Colored Clown

Kagome watched, perplexed, at the shadowy figure of Inuyasha, faraway, as he had stalked toward the forest a few hours ago. Usually he would've come back by now. Was he really mad then?

Deciding to find out what was the matter, she walked towards him and plopped down on the ground next to him.

"Hey," she said.

Inuyasha didn't say anything but she knew that he noticed she was there. He was staring at the silvery moon reflected in the dark water.

Everything was silent for a while as they both looked out at the moon. A slight breeze completed the feeling of peace.

"You expect me to take this all as a joke?"

Kagome jumped at the sound of Inuyasha's voice and blurted out somewhat stupidly, "What?"

"Do you think I enjoy being laughed at constantly? Do you think I enjoy having my emotions posted up for the public to read? Do you think I like it? Do you expect me to feel good when you laugh at me like I'm some little kid? Because, Kagome, I have news for you. I don't," Inuyasha said bitterly, throwing a rock across the pond. "I do have feelings, you know. Just because…"

He trailed off, apparently angry at himself for admitting he was angry.

Kagome was sincerely upset now. This was the only time Inuyasha had actually confided in her willingly, and he'd basically told her she was an insensitive jerk.

Not that it wasn't true, she thought guiltily. No, she wasn't mad at him. She was mad at herself. How could she have been such an idiot?

And it was true. She had acted like Inuyasha was some robot with no feelings, continuously teasing him, laughing at him…She, who prided herself with being empathetic.

"I…I'm sorry," she said to him, looking at his face and purposely avoiding looking at his ears.

"Forget it," Inuyasha said gruffly.

"But I—"

"I'm fine," he snapped.

Kagome sighed. So much for a deep conversation.

XXX

Inuyasha and Kagome sat in silence for a while, although not uncomfortably. It was something Inuyasha liked about Kagome; she was content with him being quiet and didn't treat it as him giving her the silent treatment (which he was too mature for anyway.)

Soon he realized that was a stereotypical "romantic moment" with the standard perfect scenery and all. He cleared this throat, a bit embarrassed.

"The others will be looking for us," he mumbled. "Let's go." He shot up so quickly it was as if he had just seen Naraku. Kagome stood too.

They both walked over back to Kaede's hut, making an unspoken agreement not to tell Miroku, Sango, or Shippou anything.

XXX

"No," Inuyasha said stubbornly.

Sango, who had just walked into the room, only heard that last word. "What?"

Of course, it's such a wonderful thing to wake up in the morning and the first things you hear, rather than the sweet melody of birds chirping, is the lovely voices of your friends shouting at each other.

Sango glanced at them…from Inuyasha, wearing his scowl like an outfit…from Kagome who looked like she was begging him to do something.

"Just for an hour," Kagome was whining, apparently not noticing that Sango was there.

Sango cleared her throat, and both looked at her, surprised. "Will someone please tell me what is going on?" she demanded.

Inuyasha snarled. "She…she…her brother! Party!" he sputtered, too angry for words.

Kagome sighed. "I was asking him to come to my brother's birthday party to entertain the little kids. Not that it's too much to ask or anything."

Sango smirked. "I'll just leave you guys to it…"

She walked out quickly.

On second thought, I don't really need to know the story.

XXX

Inuyasha seethed. How dare she—?

Some nerve Kagome had.

Just yesterday he had told her that he hated the stupid curse on his stupid ears and now here she was, only a day later, she was telling him to show his ears off for a bunch of spoiled, bratty, rotten, little kids?

Not a chance.

Kagome seemed to understand what Inuyasha was thinking. "Look," she began. "I know how you are feeling."

"Do you really?" he muttered, sneering under his breath.

She gave him a sharp glance and continued. "I'm not trying to embarrass you though."

(Inuyasha gave a "yeah, right".)

"I just need you to do me a favor. Because my brother really admires you, you know. And he'll think you'll even cooler. And I'm not exactly the funniest person there was," Kagome blabbed.

Inuyasha sighed. At least no one would be there to watch him make a fool of himself. And it would get Kagome off his back. For a while anyway.

"All right," he grumbled, "but I'd better get something for this."

XXX

"This is Inuyasha," Kagome said slowly, pronouncing every syllable clearly for the kids.

"Inuwasha!" a little girl said, grinning.

(A/N: It just annoys me so much when people call him INUWASHA! I mean…where did that come from anyway!)

Souta blinked. "Inuyasha? What are you wearing?"

Inuyasha scowled, staring down at himself. A red clown nose perched on top of his nose. A frizzy blue-and-purple wig sat on his head, but was cut so that his ears showed. He wore striped trousers with ugly brown shoes twice the size of his face. He sighed. "A clown costume," he muttered, trying to be patient.

"Come on, Inuyasha." Kagome motioned him forward. Then she turned towards the children. "He's going to start now, okay? He's very funny."

Inuyasha glared at her. Gee, thanks. She shrugged in reply and sat on the sofa.

He blinked. "I…er…"

"Inuwasha! Inuwasha!" the kids chanted. He wanted to strangle each and every one of them but merely gave a small (fake) smile.

"I…okay," he said, racking his brain for a joke, for a modern one that Kagome had supplied him with. "Okay. Um. This is a blonde joke," he blurted, remembering the words and the whole joke from the "internet." Which Kagome had showed him. He had no idea what magic it took to accomplish that miracle and was oddly fascinated by the object known as the "computer". He had therefore spent a good thirty minutes poking the screen and pressing buttons.

"A blonde went to a hair dresser's one day, listening to a Walkman. The hair dresser asked her what she wanted, and the blonde replied, "I need to get my hair trimmed; just make sure that you do not take these headphones off." The woman looked at the blonde surprised, but did as she was told. While she was brushing the blonde's hair, she accidentally bumped the headphones, knocking them to the ground. As she bent down to pick them up, the blonde fell over onto the floor. The hair dresser was very confused. She picked up the head phones and listened. This is what she heard: "Breathe in...breathe out...breathe in...breathe out..."!"

Kagome grinned slightly. The kids stared. No one laughed.

Inuyasha sighed. Next.

"Two blondes are walking down the street. One reaches into her pocketbook for a make-up compact and looks into the mirror. "This picture looks like someone I know," she says. The other one has a look and says, "Of course dummy, it's ME!""

The kids blinked.

"You suck, Inuwasha," the little girl cried.

"Yeah," everyone except Souta agreed.

And then they began throwing things at the poor half-demon, who had no idea what was going on. Shoes flew threw the air. A banana whacked the side of his head. Even a piece of cake was thrown.

Inuyasha lost his patience and grew angry…which was a mistake.

"Cool!" Souta exclaimed. "His ears are red."

At this, he got an idea. Slowly, he willed himself to feel sadness, then jealousy, happiness, and random other colors to make the kids stop throwing things at him—or, um, to make them happy because he wanted to be a good person from the bottom of his heart. Or not.

But, even though he didn't admit it, he was actually having fun.

XXX