We're switching to Inuyasha's POV here. Just to change things up a little. It's going to be pretty boring if it's one or the other whole time, right?
Thanks for your continued support, Spiderfreak. Definitely means a lot to me.
Thanks for your review, whiteraven.
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Kagome showed him where his next class was on the third floor. It was Level Two Algebra, a class a year harder than what Kagome was taking. He guessed Kagome had to be really dense if she had been the one that had sat through the classes but didn't take in all the information. He had the benefit of being exposed to her learning subconscious, which had taken in everything, but hadn't properly manifested itself into her waking abilities.
He found himself, in his head, correcting the spoken grammar around him. It was a tiny nuisance, like when Shippou "accidentally" kicked his heel repeatedly on the walking paths or when he felt strange longings after having smelled Kagome was on her time of month. He would never say anything, for it would be undignified, but it bothered him nonetheless.
He looked over next to him and received an unwelcome shock.
"Akitoki!" he exclaimed, looking at the descendant of Houjou no Akitoki. However, on closer inspection, Inuyasha recognized him as the boy that had tried to embrace Kagome during that weird culture fair. He figured the strange smells from the food, which had been dizzying to him, had completely confounded her in her weaker human body, explaining why she had dressed in a stupid-looking kimono and started talking nonsense on a platform before an audience. Well, he would never let any man take advantage of Kagome. He had challenged this "Pierre Pannacotta", as the imposter was calling himself, to a duel, and he would have won, were it not for the youkai that was on the platform and potentially threatening Kagome.
" 'Akitoki'? That's a strange greeting," said the boy with a friendly smile on his face.
"Thought you were someone else," mumbled Inuyasha before turning his face away.
"It's an unusual name," mused the boy. "I think my family tree has an 'Akitoki' on it. Hey wait, you're Pekopon from the play!"
"What?" asked Inuyasha with surprise.
"At the culture festival last year! We never rehearsed together, I guess Eri put you in last minute. It turned out awesome, though! But no one knows why the stage was blown up."
Inuyasha stared at him.
"My name's Houjou. What's yours?"
"It's none of your business," said Inuyasha.
"Aren't you a friend of Hirgurashi Kagome's? I think I've seen you with her," said Houjou, his cheeks reddening slightly.
"What's your relationship to Kagome?" asked Inuyasha with narrowed eyes.
"I—I don't know," said Houjou, blushing even deeper. "I'm rather fond of her…wait, aren't you living with her on exchange from Australia?"
"Yeah, I am. Go on, and don't change the subject."
"I guess you didn't know her when she was young," said Houjou with a smile. Inuyasha's ears twitched under the yarmulke with curiosity. "I myself didn't meet her until junior high school. I heard she was strong for a girl. Not physically, I mean, but on the playground she'd always stand up to bullies who were hurting others. Even if she didn't know the kid she was standing up for. She got a beat up a few times, I heard-" Inuyasha ground his teeth and growled a bit at that part. "-and yeah, I didn't like hearing that either, but more often than not the bullies were so impressed by her display that they just generally left her alone. Her friends—Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi—were all victims of bullies and sort of started to follow her."
"Did they follow her for protection?" he asked.
"No, more for friendship, I think," he said pensively. Sounds like Kagome, thought Inuyasha, impressed by Houjou's story. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how strong Kagome actually was. The casual onlooker to any of their battles might have said Kagome was a liability and that Inuyasha often had to interrupt his concentration and take Kagome to a safe spot. Kagome's arrows more often than not missed their marks and she was always calling on Inuyasha to save her. But Inuyasha knew better. He'd never admit it, but sometimes he became afraid of an opponent, if only for a fraction of an instant, remembering back to his childhood where he'd had to fight off wild youkai much larger than him to survive or new moon nights when he couldn't get to his hiding place fast enough. The youkai would say something that would bring this back: the fact that he was a hanyou, or that he would be alone, or that maybe it was really just not his day. Then Kagome would give a rousing shout at the youkai to back off and leave them alone, that the youkai was stupid and underestimated Inuyasha. Her words were often just what he needed to get going. She often did come through in the clutch with her arrows, as well. Her strength was unwavering, no matter how weak she was; she always though of everyone and their safety first.
"She's amazing," Houjou sighed, bringing Inuyasha out of his Kagome reverie. "She's brilliant—I mean, her grades don't reflect it, and she's sick so often. But she had straight A's before she started getting sick. She used to be a football demon, but not since she's been sick. We hung out a lot—I mean, that is-"
"You hung out a lot before she got sick," Inuyasha finished for him. 'Sick', Kagome had told him, was the code word for 'searching for jewel shards in the Sengoku Jidai'. Kagome had given up a lot to be with him.
"Yeah. But one thing that her sickness didn't change is that she's still kind of pretty," said Houjou wistfully. Inuyasha turned a cold gaze onto Houjou, and he wondered if Houjou's face could turn anymore red.
"You shouldn't start a sentence with the word 'but'," Inuyasha growled. "It's grammatically incorrect."
"Sorry," mumbled Houjou. "I'll remember that."
Inuyasha looked toward the front of the room, hoping to end the conversation, but the baka just kept pushing it.
"So you like Kagome, too?"
"That's a stupid thing to say," said Inuyasha, looking away.
"Oh. Well, at any rate, you're lucky, you know? You live with her. In the same house!"
Inuyasha didn't get a chance to respond because of the bell ringing, indicating the start of class.
Kagome and Inuyasha were reunited in Chemistry class. Inuyasha's nose was twitching all hour from the unfamiliar smells of chemicals. They had a stroke of luck and were able to select their own lab partners. Kagome and Inuyasha were instantly by each other's sides, the first to be paired. Eri went with Yuka, and other pairs slowly began forming.
After choosing a partner, they began a lab safety speech.
"I don't need any googles," said Inuyasha out loud after the teacher announced the mandatory standard. "Nothing in this lab can hurt me."
"Osuwari," Kagome whispered. Once again, Inuyasha somehow managed to trip while sitting in a desk, smacking his face on the desktop. The whole class laughed and she could feel Inuyasha's wrath in the look he shot at her.
"I beg to differ, Mr. Yasha," said the instructor, forcing himself not to smile. "Goggles are for everyone, as you have clearly demonstrated."
"That's the third time you've sat me today," growled Inuyasha after class as they walked to Japanese Composition. "Knock it off, wench. You're humiliating me."
"Maybe you need to be humiliated," Kagome said angrily. "Quit talking in class, and just follow the rules, and I won't say the word."
"You know Houjou?" asked Inuyasha. Kagome nearly tripped from surprise.
"Y-yeah," said Kagome. "What about Houjou-kun?"
"He looks just like Akitoki."
"Yeah, I know. Akitoki is his ancestor."
"I knew that, baka," snapped Inuyasha. "I was just saying it. Anyway, he remembered me from the battle with the himono youkai."
"He—he wasn't suspicious, was he?" she asked tentatively.
"Nah. He's a baka, if you ask me."
"Inuyasha!" Kagome scolded. "Houjou-kun's really nice. He was always bringing me treatments for my fake illnesses and tutoring me when I got behind. He's smart, too—he was in an advanced math class, after all."
"Do you love him?" asked Inuyasha sharply.
"What?" asked Kagome, and this time she really did trip. Inuyasha caught her however, just before she fell over. "Why—why do you ask such a thing?"
"I—I…just answer the question, dammit," said Inuyasha angrily. Kagome felt her own anger rise to match his. How two-faced was that? She'd never put him on the spot and ask if he loved Kikyou or not.
"It's none of your business, Inuyasha. I can love whoever I want."
"Whomever," he muttered.
"What?"
"I can love 'whomever' I want."
"Shut up!" she snapped. "Quit doing that." She began to walk quickly. Inuyasha was annoyed and didn't go after her at first, confident he could follow her scent. However, there were so many people jostling him he couldn't get near the ground to sniff her out. Her scent in the air was lost with everyone else's and he had no idea how to get to his last two classes.
"Dammit," he murmured to himself. He had nowhere to go except back to the Higurashi's. He had no idea how to get to the next class.
He was hesitant to leave Kagome at school, but figured she'd be fine. All those humans could protect their fortress of a school (it was unseemly how strong of a building it was, made of those 'bricks') and Kagome with it. He bounded back to the shrine and went inside to see Mrs. Higurashi preparing a meat course for dinner.
"Back so soon, Inuyasha?" asked Mrs. Higurashi, checking the clock. "I thought school didn't get out for another two hours."
"Hie," mumbled Inuyasha. "Kagome got mad at me, so I figured I'd come back here."
"Well, I guess just for today you can come home early," she said wither her genuine, loving mother smile. It made Inuyasha feel a little fuzzy inside, although he quickly smashed the feeling with an iron fist. "Souta's home from school already, why don't you spend some time with him?"
"Sure thing," Inuyasha said, surprised at her mercy and lack of anger. How could this possibly be the same mother of the hot-tempered Kagome that he had always fought with? As soon as he got into Kagome's room, he changed back into his red robes, ripped off the skull cap and went into Souta's room.
"Whatcha doing, kid?" he asked, standing in the doorway.
"Inu-no-nii-chan!" exclaimed Souta. He was sitting on the carpet, a plastic device in his hand that was hooked up to the funny box with the moving pictures. "You're home early! Come play this video game with me."
"Okay," said Inuyasha, sitting down. A plastic machine identical to Souta's was thrust into his hands. He watched as the pictures and characters on the screen flicked by with speed as Souta set up the game. He examined the device: there were a few circles and a stick that could wiggled around. Souta gave him a quick tutorial on how to use it.
They began the game. Inuyasha had a little car that he drove around a track. Souta passed him three times and won the race with Inuyasha in last place. Inuyasha had crashed four times (this was further proof that Kagome had no business being in a car).
"That was stupid," said Inuyasha.
"How about this one?" asked Souta, pulling out a Mario Party game.
"What's with this drawing?" asked Inuyasha. "His eyes are all big and freaky. I mean, look how big his head is compared to his body. He can't even stand up right."
"It's called 'anime', Inu-no-nii-chan. It's just a cartoon."
"Sounds retarded." He threw the game aside.
"How about this game?" Souta asked, rummaging through his pile and producing a football game.
"What? That sport is stupid enough in real life. I'm not staring at a box and playing it, too."
"Well…" Souta said, looking anxiously at the door. It was open a crack. "I have one game you might like, but you have to keep it a secret from Mom, okay? Promise?"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Souta dug to bottom of the pile and pulled out a game with a red and black case. On the cover it said Carnal Rampage 2: Return of the Bloodthirsty Antichrist.
"This is a game?" asked Inuyasha, his eyes wide. "This is what you do for fun?"
"Well, Mom would be mad if she knew I played it," said Souta nervously.
"Put the thing in," Inuyasha said aggressively. "I will dominate you." The game got underway. Souta had the lead in the RPG, but Inuyasha quickly excelled, timing his moves perfectly. He had been half afraid he would break the controller, as he did with a great wealth of Kagome's belongings, but now he realized his nimble, strong fingers possibly were created for the sole purpose of playing video games.
"Wow, you're so good," said Souta enviously. "I wish I was as good as you…"
"Why?" asked Inuyasha as he smashed two zombies with one fatal swing.
"Then all the guys at school would respect me more," he grumbled.
"Who doesn't respect you?" asked Inuyasha, pausing the game.
"Stupid…bullies…" Souta murmured.
"What about Hitomi, or what's her face," he added quickly. "Your mate."
"She…she told me I'm not her boyfriend anymore," he said, his eyes welling up with tears. "I couldn't stand up to the bullies. I'm not strong like Neechan. Hitomi-chan said she couldn't be the girlfriend of a man who can't face bullies."
"She's right," said Inuyasha confidently.
"Inu-no-nii-chan? You think I'm weak, too?" he asked. He looked as though he were close to tears.
"You can stand up to bullies. If a weakling like Kagome can do it, so can you, kid."
"But…I don't…I don't want to get hurt. I'm kind of small." Souta looked down, hugging his knees.
Without a moment's notice, Inuyasha slapped him upside the head, hard.
"Owwwww!" Souta wailed, looking hurt. "That stings!"
"Wait," said Inuyasha. "Does it hurt as much as when I first did it?"
"No," said Souta, holding his head.
"It probably hurts less…now."
"Yeah," said Souta, removing his hand.
"Pain is only in a moment. You can't be afraid of it. Be afraid of losing your fight, if anything. Think about what you will lose. If I got punched in the face, I'd be more worried if Kagome's safe. That's the way it works. And the more punches you can take, the tougher you'll be. Kagome's been beat up before too. And you're your sister's brother, so you can do it, too."
"I am a Higurashi!" proclaimed Souta. "Say, Inu-no-nii-chan, could you teach me to be tough like you? I know you taught me Sankoutessou, but I'm not sure that's the right attack for me."
Inuyasha surveyed the eight-year-old before nodding his approval.
"I can, Higurashi no Souta, but I must have your word you will not become a murderer."
"A… murderer? No! Never."
"Hie! Then we'll get started tomorrow."
"Souta?" asked Kagome from the door, peering in. School must have been out for half an hour now, if she was home. Had they really been playing for two and a half hours? She looked at the TV screen. "Souta, you're not supposed to play that game, you know that. Don't encourage him, Inuyasha!" she warned as Inuyasha made motions to protest. He decided to let it go, not wanting to incense Kagome for the fourth time that day.
Instead, he stood up to follow Kagome wherever she chose to go.
"Arigatou, Inu-no-nii-chan!" Souta called after him.
"What did you say to him?" asked Kagome. "He's been kind of sullen for awhile. He seems cheerful now."
"Just man stuff."
"Oh, okay," said Kagome with a smile. She walked into her room and dropped her book bag on the floor near the foot of her bed. She went to her desk and started on her Japanese Composition assignment that Inuyasha had missed. She handed him a copy of the assignment. "I think that's really nice of you to spend time with my brother."
"Well, you're pissed off at me half of the time." He surveyed the paper he had taken from her. He rummaged around in her backpack for paper and a pen. He decided against it and just laid back on her bed, closing his eyes.
"Am not," she said, her heart not really in the argument. "Well, you do tend to kind of make me mad. But you say so many rude things. Any normal person would be mad. I mean, if I had to compare your rudeness to someone else's vices, I would say you are as rude as Miroku is fond of women. It's something for you to work on. I mean, you could start referring to others with their given titles. Saying 'arigatou' once in awhile wouldn't kill you. Then there's common decency, like opening doors for ladies and such. Oh, you'll never get to that point, what am I saying…"
"Zzzz," Inuyasha responded, passed out on Kagome's bed.
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-The Red Snowsled.