Thanks to Purple Crush, Inu-mimi, Rosecat, and Tsubaki the Dark Priestess for their reviews.
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Chapter 6 Sleep Walk
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After the first week, Inuyasha and Kagome fell into a comfortable rhythm in school. Inuyasha couldn't help but show off in gym class, resulting in his drafting onto the school's football team and tennis team. Kagome went to watch him at all of his practices. Often Eri, Yuka, and/or Ayami tagged along to watch.
"He's so strong," Yuka appraisingly, as he served the tennis ball with roaring speed.
"You're so lucky, Kagome-chan," sighed Eri. "He's so cute when he's playing sports. I bet he's showing off just for you."
"I'm kind of surprised," said Kagome, watching him dart back and forth from one side of the court to the other with his easy quickness. "I never though he'd like sports. I mean, I used to play ball with Shippou-chan and he'd never-"
"Shippou? Who is Shippou?" asked Ayami.
"Shippou is…Inuyasha's younger brother," Kagome paraphrased. "He's a trickster. But we'd play ball and Inuyasha always refused to join us." She suddenly remembered him telling her once that he'd had bad memories about playing kemari.
"Inuyasha has a brother? Is he as handsome, too?" asked Eri. The four girls giggled.
"No, no, Shippou is little," said Kagome. She couldn't very well say young, because Shippou had once told her he was about five times her age. "He does have an older brother, Sesshoumaru."
"Sesshoumaru?" the girls asked. Eri sighed. "He sounds so good-looking."
"I guess so," said Kagome with surprise. "I never thought of him that way. He's…not exactly the dating type. He's very reserved and maybe stronger than Inuyasha. He doesn't say much."
"I wish I could see him," Eri said enviously. Kagome didn't add that if Sesshoumaru ever caught Eri fawning over him he would probably hold her at sword-point.
"He could be horrible, Eri-chan," Yuka said, as if reading Kagome's mind. "Kagome-chan would know. Is he a delinquent like Inuyasha?"
"Yes," said Kagome with a funny grin. She tried to imagine someone calling Sesshoumaru a delinquent and not getting their head chopped off. "Definitely a delinquent."
The girls conversed about Australian boys and delinquents while they kicked off their shoes and socks to cool their feet under the warm summer sun. It had been a long time since Kagome had relaxed like this. It was true that Sango was very close to her. Her best girlfriend, anyone would say. But Sango knew nothing of training bras, the four basic flavors of lip gloss (cherry, grape, bubble gum and orange), Brad Pitt or karaoke. She had not giggled so much in years.
The girls quieted and decided to tan their forearms and legs. They took off their scarves and rolled up their sleeves, relaxing against the cool grass. Kagome sat up and looked around for a moment, watching Inuyasha. He met her gaze. She blushed and looked away, but watched as he served perfectly and with break-neck speed. Show-off, she thought fondly before she tried to tan again. The Shikon no Tama sparkled in the afternoon sun.
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Kagome tapped her foot waiting for Inuyasha. All of the boys on the tennis team came out of the locker room. Some of them winked or waved at her, but she just smiled and clenched her teeth, wondering when the stupid kid would get done.
"Took you long enough," she sighed as he came out. His silver hair was drenched to a dark gray.
"I don't like your waterfall baths," he grumbled. "Especially in with all those other guys."
"You don't mind bathing with Miroku-sama," Kagome frowned. "Why can't you shower with the team?"
"Bathing with one lech is bad enough," he complained. "All they talk about is women. Like I care."
"At least you play really well. Your serve is awesome, Inuyasha."
"Keh. What did you expect, that I'd fall on my face?" he asked with a self-satisfied smirk.
"I don't know, I've never seen you play sports, except during gym class." They left the school grounds and walked down the streets of Tokyo toward the city bus stop. Inuyasha's ears and nose twitched at the sounds and smells but he was otherwise focused on their conversation.
"How could you doubt?" he asked with proud look. "I'm stronger than anyone in this world and the other one."
"Sports isn't all strength. There's timing, speed, teamwork, and accuracy, too."
"I bet that's what the girls say to themselves. When I heard there was a girl's sports team, I knew they only played against other girls because the boy's team would probably kill them."
"What?" Kagome asked furiously. "Girls can be just as good as boys at sports. Shows how much you know!"
"Oh yeah?" he asked smugly. "Name one thing you can beat me at."
Kagome gave it some thought before she came up with her answer.
"Table tennis," she said with a cheerful smile. "I can whip your tail any day at ping-pong. Just ask Houjo-kun how badly I beat him last year at the tournament."
"Table tennis?" he asked with his eyebrow raised. "What kind of baka thing is that?"
"You'll see. When the tournament comes, I will waste you, Inuyasha."
"Did you just threaten me, bitch?" he asked tersely. "Because you will eat your words, so you'll wish they'd been sweeter."
"Wanna make a bet on it?" she asked.
"A what?"
"A bet. A wager," she said. The bus rumbled up to the stop. Kagome paid their fare. Inuyasha twitched at the sight of the giant machine and stayed close behind Kagome to protect her. They boarded and Kagome sat towards the bus.
"It…it rumbles," Inuyasha said, crouching on his plastic seat, sitting on his haunches, growling in response to the low hum of the engine. Some of the people stared and a child in the front giggled. Kagome blushed and tugged on Inuyasha's sleeve to get him to sit normally.
"Did you hear me?" she asked quickly to distract him. "I want to make a wager with you on the outcome of our future table tennis match."
"Oh?" he asked. "What are the terms?"
"If I win…"Kagome thought. What could she make Inuyasha do that he didn't do regularly? Be polite? Too vague, and no fun, anyway. "You will call me Mistress Kagome-sama and be my slave for a week."
"Feh," Inuyasha said with distaste. "If I win, you can't 'sit' me for a whole month."
"Fine by me," Kagome sighed. "Not that it matters. It's going to be fun not having to do the dishes after dinner. I'll have a half an hour of free time."
"You wish. It'll be nice for my face to have some down-time because you abuse it so much. When is this tournament anyway?"
"Well, it's usually held around Christmastime or so, so you'll have plenty of time to practice. If you want a prayer you'll need to."
"Keh. Whatever. I don't know when I'll be able to. I have practice for the soccer team tomorrow after school."
"What?" asked Kagome. "You're on the soccer team too?"
"The gym teacher asked me to. It says so on this ofuda." He gave Kagome the piece of paper to look at. She heard herself correct him that it wasn't a spell, just a message. She read it over. He had also been conscripted to the cross country team.
"You're going to be so busy!" she exclaimed. "Momma, Souta and Jii-chan will all want to come watch you play."
"They will? Why?" he asked.
"That's what families do, silly," Kagome said. She folded the paper with a small blush and smiled at him. "If you haven't figured it out by now by the name he gives you, Souta thinks of you as a brother. Momma and Jii-chan see you as a second son and grandson."
"W-why?" he asked, flabbergasted. "What'd I do? It's not like I saved them or anything. They don't owe me anything. They don't need to do all that."
"It's because you protect me. So they love you."
"I—I…don't know…that's stupid," he finished lamely. "No one should worry about me. Not you or your family."
"Give it up, Inuyasha," Kagome said as they stepped off the bus. It had rolled up to the curb at the foot of the stairs to the shrine. "You're practically a Higurashi now."
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Kagome reread the instructions at the beginning of the section again. She should have covered this last year partially.
But I wasn't there last year, she sighed mentally. She went back a few chapters and did a few problems to practice. Math was the worst. It was laborious and tedious to learn two years of math at the same time. Why does 'x' always change? Why can't it just stay one number, like four or something? Kagome thought.
She turned back to the original assignments, thirty problems due the next day. All motivation drained out of her and she closed the book, pushing it onto the ground off her desk. She realized that Inuyasha was probably more than capable of tutoring her, but she would rather endure Miroku's lecherous butt-grab than the arrogant look on her hanyou's face as he taunted her for not learning her lessons properly.
She turned out her bedroom light and wondered where Inuyasha was. He usually didn't watch TV, it made his sensitive eyes hurt, he claimed. Then she saw a flash of red on the ground below her house. She sat on her windowsill and watched.
"Are you going to teach me how to throw a punch?" asked Souta eagerly. Although it was dark, it was not hard to see the gleam of excitement in his eyes.
"No way," said Inuyasha, cracking his knuckles. "First things first. You need to know how to take a hit."
"What do you mean, Inu-no-nii-chan?" asked Souta.
"You're gonna get slapped around, kid. Get ready." Inuyasha rushed swiftly and knocked Souta to the ground.
"Owww!" he whined, examining his knee. "That hurt!"
"Get up."
"My knee still hurts."
"Up, kid. You always get up, no matter how bad it hurts. Sometimes how fast you get up determines who wins the fight. As long you're up, you haven't lost."
Souta nodded, and shifted his weight to his other leg and stood up shakily. As soon as he had planted his foot, Inuyasha pushed him over again.
"Up."
Souta rose, fell, rose, fell. They repeated the exercise several times. Kagome understood what Inuyasha was doing; Souta had probably asked for his advice again. Unlike the last time when he sought love-life rescue, Souta had gone to the right person when he had asked Inuyasha for help in self-defense. Inuyasha was a great warrior, but was he an equally apt sensei? Kagome was afraid he was pushing Souta too hard. She was one push away from going downstairs and telling them to call it quits when Inuyasha let him alone.
"I'm not going to push you again because I know you'll just keep getting up. That's good. We'll meet again tomorrow." Souta began to limp toward the door. Kagome almost ran downstairs to help him, but smiled when she saw Inuyasha support him with his arm and helped him upstairs.
Kagome pretended to be asleep when Inuyasha came into her room. She wondered if he could tell the difference with his senses, but he made no motion to wake her. He quietly laid down on his cot and drifted off to sleep as soon as he hit the mattress.
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That night Kagome had a strange dream. Dreams were unusual for Kagome and she had the tendency to not forget them when she awoke. She had had nightmares about ghoulish youkai from her grandfather's stories when she was small and had always run into her mother's arms at night where she would calm down. The nightmares had stopped when she was older and any sort of nighttime irregularity had almost ceased altogether.
In her dream state, she was in a cave. It had wards hanging on a string outside. She recognized the cave and the nearby village, but couldn't put her finger on exactly where she was. It was a dark night, without a single star or lantern and only a sliver of the moon to light her way. She felt herself stand up and walk slowly and cautiously into the cave.
Down, down, down through the cave…a bright blue light was coming up from somewhere deep inside, something out of place and holy in this beast of a cavern. She was falling now toward the light.
"Kagome, do you know who I am?" the light asked. Kagome had heard the voice before. It was a soothing voice, as though a protector were introducing herself. It was a female voice, confident and strong, yet struggling. It filled Kagome with a sort of hope inside the darkness.
"Yes!" Kagome answered into the depths. "And no…"
"Kagome, you need to wake up." The female voice began to zone into a male voice.
"What?"
"Kagome, you're dreaming. Wake up." The male voice was all too familiar and she knew better than to not obey. She opened her eyes slightly and realized she was face-planted into Inuyasha's red haori, her hands clutching a handful of fabric each. He was holding her upright slightly.
"Wha-what?" asked Kagome. "Inuyasha. What are you doing here?"
"What do you mean, 'what am I doing here?' You almost got yourself killed tripping down the stairs, baka. You were sleepwalking."
"Why?" she asked, letting go of his robe and rubbing her eyes. He let go of her and let her stand on her own.
"How the hell should I know? You just got out of bed. Your footsteps woke me up but your eyes were closed, so I knew something was up. I caught you just before you smashed your skull against the floor."
"Was I really sleepwalking?" she asked. "That's never happened to me before." She frowned and rubbed her eyes some more to get used to the dark.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she said. "Let's go back to bed, Inuyasha. It's still early in the morning." They climbed back up the stairs. Inuyasha was step by step behind her.
"Kagome…what were you dreaming about?" he asked when they reentered her room. Kagome crawled under her covers once again.
"Huh?"
"In your dream, you called out 'yes and no'. What does that mean?"
"I…I don't know. I don't remember at all. Good night, Inuyasha." She was asleep once more after a few moments of silence. Inuyasha's yellow flashing eyes remained open from the remainder of the night, making sure Kagome had no more nighttime wanderings.
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A week from then, on a Friday, the last Friday of the month, was Inuyasha's first tennis match. As Kagome had expected, Momma, Souta and her grandfather all fawned over Inuyasha with pride.
"I've saved your life countless times and they're all worked up over this?" he asked as he wiped Mrs. Higurashi's lipstick off his face, but he glowed slightly with pleasure. They walked toward the bus stop at the bottom of the stairs to the shrine.
"Sports are a big deal in this time period, for some reason. If you become a skilled athlete, you can become very wealthy."
"Seriously?" Inuyasha. "I can make money from hitting a ball around?"
"Yeah, I know. The logic escapes me."
"I'm thinking the lecher Miroku would like this place." Inuyasha never bothered to walk down the steps. In a single bound he had scaled them and landed easily at the bottom.
"Do you like it?" she asked when she got to the bottom of the stairs.
"Keh. I'm fine anywhere. Doesn't matter."
"I don't know whether I like it better here or in the Sengoku Jidai. I mean, here, there's all sorts of great stuff. There's music, video games, Tamagochis, and shampoo. I can take a shower whenever. I can see my friends at school. Heck, free education is great too. Life here's definitely easier."
"I didn't ask for you opinion," Inuyasha said, annoyed, mostly because he was impatient for the bus.
"And my family is in this time period," Kagome went on. "I guess that's the only reason I come back here. The Sengoku Jidai has our friends, though. I don't know if I could go the rest of my life without seeing Sango, Miroku, Shippou and Kaede again."
"Yeah," Inuyasha said, but his misty-looking eyes told Kagome he was thinking of someone else he would miss, a certain dead miko.
"But the Sengoku Jidai doesn't have indoor plumbing!" she said quickly, not wanting to ruin her day by thinking about Kikyou. "There's no toilet paper. And I can only take a bath every other day. If I were to stay forever there, I'd probably outgrow my school uniform and have to start wearing something else. All these things, I've never said them out loud before."
"I wish you'd shut up," said Inuyasha.
"Don't interrupt, I'm not done talking yet," Kagome continued, ignoring him. "I guess…I like both places equally. I couldn't pick one or the other."
"That's what you said five minutes ago. You've been saying nothing for five minutes."
"Well, if you didn't like what I was saying, why didn't you ask me to be quiet?" she asked.
"I did!" he protested angrily. "I said-"
"Oh, look. Bus." Kagome peered down the street as the bus rumbled up toward them. Inuyasha looked dumbstruck as she looked at him. "Well don't just stand there Inuyasha, get on the bus. It's not going to wait all day."
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Chapter 7 will be up soon. Review please if you liked it or hated it.