Disclaimer- Inuyashanot owned by me
Under the influence of the sun, Kagome stirred and yawned, stretching out her arms and sitting slowly up in her bed. She glanced out her window and smiled. Eri had been right about Hojo.
Early the following morning, no more than an hour or two after she had finished her breakfast, Hojo had come by their house to check on her. The girl remembered the time vividly.
Flashback
"Um, hello Mrs. Higurashi. Is Kagome home?"
Kagome had been doing work at a table and looked up when she heard the familiar voice at the door. For a moment or so she couldn't place it, having her mind stuck between math and language arts, but realized it was Hojo.
"Yes she is. Come in, she's just catching up on some schoolwork Hojo," Her mother said proudly, standing aside and letting him in.
As he smiled and approached Kagome, even Souta looked up from the floor, where he was drawing a picture of something or other. He laughed, noticing the looked on his sister's face. His mother shot him an odd look and he fell silent, dying from laughter in his mind.
Looking up with a slight blush, Kagome dropped the pen and used her feet to push out a chair for Hojo to sit in, but not before giving her mom a warning look.
"Hey Kagome," He said kindly.
"Hi Hojo. What are you doing here?" She had asked, genuinely curious.
"Um, well," Hojo started, a little bit unsure, "I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go out sometime, like tomorrow, if you weren't feeling too bad?" He had been hopeful when he spoke, yet still very sincere.
She thought. It was the previous night Inuyasha had said two days… this was day one, so what was wrong with tomorrow? He never said she had to come back early. She could go back afterwards. Wait, why was she even thinking what Inuyasha said mattered about anything? He had no say in her life.
Determinedly, she nodded with a smile. "Sure. That sounds like fun," Kagome replied, causing Hojo to smile even more.
"That's good. What would you think about maybe a walk around the park and either lunch or dinner?" Kagome enjoyed the thought of a walk around the park.
"Sure. Why not dinner? You always take me out for lunch," She offered innocently. Her true goal was to have a reason to stay longer.
"Great. Do… you want me to come and get you around seven then, maybe?" Hojo asked. Kagome shrugged slightly before nodding a yes, giving the boy a very victorious look. "So, I'll see you then. Tomorrow, seven, walk and dinner. Thanks Kagome."
"No, thank you Hojo. It's been a while since I've been out," the girl lied, but very well. He only smiled more sincerely and stood, taking his leave as Mrs. Higurashi opened the door.
There was a silence for a couple minutes after he left, during which time everyone in the room stared at the door. Souta broke the tranquility.
"Kagome's going on a date! What do you think Inuyasha's going to do? We all heard him telling you he wanted you back in Feudal Japan in a couple days."
Kagome turned and glared at him.
"It's not like he owns me. I can do what I want when I want, and I'll just go back after I get home. It's fine," Kagome persisted, sighing and getting back to work.
End Flashback
That's right, she had a date today, seven o'clock. She was not going to let herself mess this up. No stupid lies about sicknesses, no expeditions with Inuyasha, just her, Tokyo, and Hojo.
Getting up with a second yawn, Kagome rushed over to her drawer. Being a person who favored skirts, she quickly was able to find a black one, perhaps six or seven inches longer than her school uniform skirt. She also managed to locate a somewhat tight-fitting dark blue long sleeved shirt that was neither too cold nor too warm. She got dressed quickly and made her bed, moving out of her room and to the bathroom to brush her teeth.
After spending a few minutes on teeth and a few more on her hair, Kagome was pleased with how she looked for the day. Happy, she left the bathroom and headed for the kitchen, where Souta was already eating a bowl of cereal.
"Good morning Souta. How did you sleep?"
Souta looked up and blinked, swallowing the food he had been chewing and blinking again. "You're just happy you're going to be all making out tonight, aren't you?" He asked 'innocently', eyeing his sister carefully.
"Souta!" Kagome reddened both from anger and embarrassment. "Of course not! We are just going to be going for a walk and dinner, and then I'm going back with Inuyasha and them. It's nothing big."
"Yeah," He taunted, starting to spoon up more cereal, "Nothing big but a date. You are never this happy when you wake up, so don't try and kid yourself Kagome. I saw your look yesterday, and so did mom. And P.S, I slept fine. Apparently you did too." Purposefully, he finished rapidly and dropped the bowl in the sink, leaving the room so Kagome was alone.
She sighed. Stupid little brother… what did he know? She was just going out for dinner and a walk, like she had said. On the other hand, she couldn't deny she was acting abnormally happy.
"Good morning, Kagome. Souta says you're in a good mood." Her mother's voice preceded the actual person, and a moment later Mrs. Higurashi entered the kitchen to make some eggs. Souta, even though he already had had a small bowl of cereal, would likely still have some eggs if offered.
"Morning mom. And why shouldn't I be happy? I'm home, aren't I? No demon tailing me, or Inuyasha telling me what I can and cannot do. I love being home."
From then until the end of breakfast, not much was said on the matter of Kagome, Inuyasha, or Hojo. In fact, Kagome was still so preoccupied with missing schoolwork that she didn't have much time to talk about anything. She knew she could get Souta to take her work to school but she herself would again probably not be back for a while.
It was around three that a very tired looking Kagome finally gave up the effort, having made good headway. At this point, there was only about a sixth of the original work left to complete, and she was positive she'd be able to get it done.
Glancing at the clock that was ticking ominously from the wall, she looked around her bedroom. Four hours until Hojo came… that was enough time to finish the work, take a short break now, and get tidied up before he stopped by. Definitely enough.
Kagome went to join her brother in watching T.V. for a half hour. It was something on making cartoons or other animated things, which Souta seemed very interested in, but not so much for Kagome. She actually preferred to just do work, and went off to finish hers for the remainder of the time.
About twenty minutes before seven, Kagome started to rush. She made sure her breath didn't smell, her hair was combed, and the clothes she had on were still clean.
"Dear, calm down," Her mother had said. They had asked for Jii-chan's opinion on the matter, but he had just said something that sounded oddly like 'never in my day did people act like this' and then something or other about demons and whatnot. Mother and daughter had shared a worried glance and went about their businesses.
Five minutes after seven, Kagome was sitting nervously on her couch, wondering where Hojo was. She knew she couldn't risk not making it back to Sengoku Jidai before Inuyasha came exploding through the well looking for her. Rather… why hadn't he come already?
A knock at the door!
"Good luck sis," Souta told her.
"Where is she going?" Jii-chan asked, staring at his granddaughter and causing Souta to sigh.
"Grandpa…"
Ignoring her clueless grandfather and the explaining Souta, Kagome answered the door. She was relieved, somewhat, that her mom wasn't in the room.
"Hey Kagome. Are you ready to go?" Hojo asked, presenting her with a small collection of flowers. Kagome smiled and took them, hurrying off to put them in a cup of water and returning a moment later.
"Yes, I'm ready to go. Thanks for the flowers." Kagome said graciously, closing the door behind her just as Mrs. Higurashi walked into the room. The pair departed, heading first for a walk in the park.
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"LET…. ME… GO!"
"That idiot… how long are you going to keep him in there, Kaede?" Shippo asked, eyeing a building along with about twenty other people. It was trembling as if it was undergoing an earthquake… or at least a very angry hanyou.
Kaede looked at it and smiled wearily. The old woman had used a sutra to keep Inuyasha from getting out and rushing off to get Kagome very early on that day. As expected, he had not stopped attempting to fight his way out since then. Plenty of villagers had come to stare at the quivering building, wondering what was going on.
"I plan I should release Inuyasha come nightfall. Ye would not like seeing him go after young Kagome before then, would ye?" She asked the kitsune earnestly. Though it was directed at him, Sango and Miroku also nodded.
"But when you let him leave, you'll make sure I'm far away right? I don't wanna be killed," Shippo squeaked, watching the building carefully as Inuyasha roared out again and apparently had rammed into the door.
"If ye wish," Kaede said simply turning back to making a remedy for a sick child in the village.
Some three hours later, nearing darkness, Kaede had come back to the building.
"You're gonna let him out now then?"
Smiling at the worried kitsune, Kaede nodded, moving slowly up to where she had placed the restraining sutra. It was all he needed to hear. In one instant, Shippo had run off to get a safe distance from the building.
Dramatically (if only for fun), Kaede reached towards the sutra in a drawled out manner and then, after a few seconds of silence, she tore the thing off.
A couple seconds later, there was a rumbling from inside the now still structure, and some people stood back.
"OLD HAG!" Inuyasha roared, jumping straight up from the middle of the building and breaking the ceiling easily, causing the building itself to falter and some of the spectators to screech in surprise and fright.
"Have ye not heard of a thing called a door?" The elderly lady asked calmly, watching Inuyasha casually.
Inuyasha glared at her and tensed one finger threateningly. When the old lady still refused to falter, he growled and leapt off away from the village and towards the well. It was far too late, and Kagome should have been back a long time ago!
He didn't even hesitate in throwing himself over the well and paid no attention to the lights during the time shift. Instantly he leapt out and bolted to Kagome's house, leaving the well house in his wake.
The girl's window was open, so he took that route in through the house.
"Stupid girl… she's not even in her room," He breathed angrily under his breath, perched on the windowsill carelessly and looking around the dark and deserted room. Growling, Inuyasha leapt down softly onto the carpet and stormed out of the room to find the other people.
He had been heading towards the living room when he spotted a cup of flowers on a small table. They smelled of both Kagome and someone else… that one boy he'd seen before. That Hobo person… and the growl in his throat increased.
"Inuyasha, what are you doing here?" Souta said happily, spotting the half-demon almost instantly and running over to him. Inuyasha turned to look at the enthusiastic boy, replying in a monotone barely over a second after Souta had stopped speaking, "Where is Kagome?"
Souta blinked and said slowly, "She went out with a guy named Hojo on a date. She told us she'd told you."
I thought she was kidding! He exclaimed in his head. Inuyasha didn't answer Souta, but rather cracked his knuckles angrily. Just wait till she got back…
She had actually gone out on that date thing? Inuyasha had expected maybe she might have lied to get him angry and go out with those friends she was always talking about, but not that Hobo guy! He'd rather her go somewhere with any guy but him. How could she do this to him?
"That idiot…" he mumbled, standing stone still and glaring at the flowers.
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"Eri told me you're grandfather had a mix up and you didn't have that rare fungus; only had a bad cold. That's been going around then, hasn't it Kagome?"
Kagome had been staring dully at her plate, lost in deep thought. She snapped back to reality when she heard someone saying her name and smiled, trying to both cover up and apologize for her distractedness at the exact same time. Hojo, however, didn't seem to mind.
"Oh, yes, I suppose it has. I don't know why my grandfather made such a silly mistake, but I forgive him I guess. It's not entirely his fault. Fungus and cold… for him its reasonable to mix the two up," She said distractedly, mind wandering to Inuyasha yet again. She had a very strong feeling that he was going to be angry with her when she got back…
"I guess. Let's go," Hojo offered, having paid their bill already. Kagome smiled softly, getting up and following him from the restaurant for another walk home through the park. This time their walk was mostly in the dark, and it was a major shift from the first one, but welcome nonetheless.
The two went slowly down the park path for a little while in silence, enjoying the cool and crisp night air, but Hojo tried a bit at conversation.
"So… have you caught up on all the schoolwork you've missed?"
Kagome nodded happily. "Yeah, I finished the last part of it right before you got to my house. I just can't wait to get to school tomorrow," She lied in a very believing tone. That way, it would seem she was eager to go to school, not have a fun weekend then blow it off.
"You seem fine. I don't think anything could catch you during the night, right?" He asked hopefully. Looking once again falsely positive, Kagome smiled and nodded to him, pretending it was impossible for anything of the sort to happen.
"Watch out!"
For the split second she had taken her eyes off of the path, a person on a bike sped by, causing Kagome to jump (quite literally) to Hojo.
She blushed effusively when she noticed their close contact, but recognized something odd in Hojo's eyes… she'd seen it in Inuyasha's own eyes a few times before. He seemed to lean into her a bit, and she widened her eyes with shock when she realized he was trying to kiss her!
Taking a step back, Kagome looked a little to the side, still blushing greatly. Hojo looked a little bit hurt, but smiled weakly, continuing to walk on towards her house. This time, they remained silent the rest of the way.
When at last they finally reached her house, their farewells were… odd, to say the least. Different and not happy, nothing like one would expect. Kagome sighed as Hojo walked away and turned to open the door.
The door was maybe half an inch open when someone from the other side grabbed it and latterly flung it open and away from her grasp, grasping her arm and pulling her forward in a flash and wall of red.
Kagome would have screamed, and she did, but the person muffled her. Realizing it was Inuyasha she calmed down a little, but started getting very angry internally. This was no way to greet someone!
"What were you doing with that guy, Kagome?" An irritated hanyou demanded, setting Kagome straight. Jii-chan was being held back by Souta, and once again Mrs. Higurashi doing something else somewhere else.
Recovering her dignity and stature, Kagome didn't answer at once. She straightened her now ruffled skirt and shirt, making them lie smooth again before looking up to meet his eyes. What emotion were they showing now? Worry? Anger? She couldn't quite tell and sighed, cocking her head slightly and blinking.
"None of your concern. We were just taking a walk together Inuyasha, calm down. Now you said I had two days to stay here if I recall, right? And it hasn't been more than the set two days until midnight comes around. Just give me a couple minutes and I'll get ready to go."
"Whatever, but you're still… wait, what?"
His expression was priceless. Kagome didn't dare to laugh out loud to anger him though; only inwardly. The normally dominant Inuyasha had gone from looking high and mighty to confused and unsure. She smiled, pleased with herself and the dumbstruck hanyou before her.
"That's right, I'm not going to put up a fight about coming back. Now it's your turn to hurry up," She instructed, running off to get her bag.
All three men left in the room stared after her. Souta looked almost as confused as Inuyasha, and Jii-chan was looking Inuyasha over angrily, annoyed at how he had handled his granddaughter. Inuyasha twitched his ears, hearing a pair of footsteps on the stairs less then three minutes after Kagome had departed.
Not long after detecting the noise, Kagome reappeared with a full backpack. Oddly, he didn't even protest when she passed by without talking to him or anyone into the kitchen. He could hear her rummaging through the cupboards. He could only hope she was gathering up ramen. Bored, Inuyasha leapt onto the back of the couch and sat gracefully on that, staring at the doorway to the kitchen, waiting for Kagome to be finished.
"Done!" A victorious voice sounded, echoing through the house.
"Done with what?" Her mother's voice came curiously. She was wondering what all the noise had been about. Mrs. Higurashi knew Inuyasha was here, but didn't want to assume things. "So you are leaving again?"
Kagome pulled out of the kitchen and smiled, throwing her backup over her shoulder. "Yeah. Can you please remind grandpa to give me a regular sickness? Like a high fever or something people my age can actually get?" She pleaded withy both voice and eyes. Her mother smiled.
"Of course. I don't want to hold you up though. Have a good time honey," Mrs. Higurashi said firmly, hugging her daughter before Kagome walked over to Inuyasha.
"I… you… wench… FEH!" He said at last. Kagome smiled as he looked away, still trying to act like he was in control of the situation.
"Lead the way then," Kagome offered.
He eyed her over and blinked. In one fluid movement he had leapt from his place on the back of the couch and dashed to and jumped out of the nearest open window. Sighing again at his ways, Kagome quickly found her way out of the back door and rushed to the shrine, where Inuyasha was already waiting for her.
"Come on wench," He said in a voice slightly more soft than normal, though that really wasn't saying much at all. Grabbing her arm, the both of them leapt down into the well, welcoming the lights emitted as they traveled through time, landing daintily on the other side. Still grasping Kagome's arm, Inuyasha leapt up from the well, pulling her along and setting her down when they stood.
"Inuyasha?"
"Yeah? What do you want?" He asked rather snappily, glancing over at her.
She smiled and said softly, "Thanks." Her comment was barely audible but still able to be heard by him and accompanied by a picked up wind. He flicked one of his ears but made no other comment.
"Is that a demon already?" He said suddenly, looking around. He had definitely caught wind of something. It smelled like a demon, but no ordinary one. It angered him when he realized that when it seemed it wasn't ordinary, it wasn't due to a matter of strengths and thus not a Jewel Shard, but… something he couldn't understand.
"I don't see the glow of the jewel anywhere…" Kagome muttered a little bit confused, drawing a little bit closer to Inuyasha. In an instant he had drawn Tetsusaiga and held it at the ready. The odd smell seemed to come from all around, so he didn't know where to expect an attack if there was to be one at all.
"What's that?" Kagome asked in a whisper.
Both of their pairs of eyes closely followed a trail of emerald, pink, and white sparks that seemed to come from nowhere. It was growing closer to the edge of the trees every moment, and Inuyasha brandished his blade at it, ready for anything to protect Kagome, who currently had come even closer than before to him.
"Do not be alarmed…" A misty voice came. Kagome's heart skipped a beat. It sounded like a voice you'd find in a dream. Inuyasha tightened his grip on Tetsusaiga but didn't move to attack yet.
The trail of sparks at last exited the trees and entered the clearing with the two others. In a shimmering glow of white light, an orb appeared from nowhere and expanded much like a star undergoing nova. When it extended large enough it broke into white shatters of glass that disintegrated before they met the grass.
"Who the hell are you?" Inuyasha demanded, still not being able to see, as the white light hadn't quite dyed down yet. When it did, Kagome gasped.
The creature before them seemed too… innocent and beautiful to be a malcontented demon. It had large light blue and yellow wings almost like a butterfly or fairy might, which emitted the sparks they had originally seen. It had the body of a young woman with long, perfect golden hair and albino-white skin. She had icy blue eyes with black specks and soft features, clothed in a long, flowing blue and white silk dress. Her ears were slightly pointed and had hair decorated with a dark brown dust to offset the gold color wrapped behind them. Her whole body seemed to have a white aura that protruded perhaps half a foot.
"I am Kinenrosu. You two are Inuyasha and Kagome, I do believe…"
"And what do you plan to make of it?" Inuyasha threatened, spinning his blade masterfully. Kagome, however, remained silent. She was too awed by the beauty of what floated before them.
Kinenrosu smiled softly to reveal bleached white teeth, each ending in a soft point and met together like a perfectly carved puzzle. With a tremendous beat of her wings, the sparks (or what they realized was dust) was sent spiraling forward around them but disappeared when the wings drew back.
"Whatever I wish. I am like all beings; I cannot pass up fun. Do you know what I am capable of, you two?"
Kagome dully shook her head, now clinging onto Inuyasha's haori with slightly whitened hands. Inuyasha growled, baring his fangs, but also an apparent answer of 'no'.
With a smile, Kinenrosu explained, "Allow me to demonstrate…" As she said this, she held out a hand lazily (which it could be noted had long blue nails) and pointed a finger at Kagome, causing Inuyasha to pull her even closer and stand directly in front of her. Kinenrosu just sighed and pointed upwards towards the sky. Her eyes seemed to light up and a very slender white something looking suspiciously like a lightening bolt was extracted from the sky and fell upon Kagome for a moment in which she blinked and looked around curiously.
"Where am I?" She asked, freezing when she saw the creature that was Kinenrosu. The thing in question reclaimed her finger and Kagome blinked again, muttering, "Whoa… that felt weird…"
Her half demon protector growled even more, but wasn't entirely positive what had just happened.
"Don't tell me you still do not know? Oh well…you will probably learn eventually. I must be taking my leave, you two. But not before…" She looked at both of them and faced both palms down to the ground, and her eyes seemed to glow once more.
Inuyasha pushed Kagome back some as a bright light filled the ground beneath Kinenrosu that extended forward and stopped when reaching the ground that the pair stood on.
"Coward! Come over here and fight," Inuyasha demanded, irritated and angry. He only caused the demon to smile.
"But I do not wish to fight… farewell!"
Both Kagome and Inuyasha shielded their eyes as Kinenrosu gave another gigantic wing beat and showering them in the glittery, shining dust before being engulfed in the sphere of before and disappearing without a trace. Both seemed to falter for a second and the Tetsusaiga transformed back.
"How very odd…" Kagome muttered, rubbing her forehead as she felt a headache coming on. In an even worse coincidence, Inuyasha did the same.
"You are in no shape to travel," He said kind of distantly, as if under the impression they had just gotten out of a great fight with someone like Sesshomaru. Kagome did not protest when he came and told her to sit down, sitting next to her.
A chill wind picked up and caused Kagome to shiver and say in an undertone, "Inuyasha… it's cold…"
He looked over to her with eyes heavy from false exhaustion. Kinenrosu only needed to alter his recollection enough to have him forget the reason of them being out there and the events involving her.
"Come on…" He muttered, wrapping his arm around her and drawing her up next to him. She rested her head on his shoulder, already being overtaken with slumber. Inuyasha listened as her breathing and heartbeat lowered and steadied and smiled softly, taking in Kagome's scent in a state of bliss. He, too, closed his eyes and fell asleep next to her.
From somewhere above them, a white shimmer in the sky glowed down in a taunting fashion.
"Oh, this game should be rather interesting indeed…" Kinenrosu said softly. With a snap of the finger, her entire form shattered into the dust that fell from her wings and she was carried over the wind, leaving nothing but a trace of laughter in the air to remind any being of her presence.