Yay! Air conditioning went out! I'm sweating like I do in marching band practice! Yay…

Well, I am currently very tired and sore from the bad sleep on the couch I had last night. And, since the AC still isn't working, you can add bitchy and hot to the list. Woo. And, Fred, my big plecko (and second fish) died yesterday (6/19/05). I miss him.

Oh, and to the person who reviewed about Takegawa -I know. I noticed it when I read them together and I nearly slapped myself. Oh well.

Discalimer: see last chapter.

Into the Fray

Chapter 7

Hello Again

I looked about me in discomfort. I had been put in the closet again. I had been bad. The clothes that I knew that were in there with me looked like giants of cloth -huge and scary. They looked like the goons Stepmother liked to keep around her.

I shifted on my hard wooden chair and tried to think of something to do. Stepmother was worried about the Karsons -she was trying to impress them or something- and she didn't want me to show up in the middle of their meeting. Not like I would in the first place, but she said she liked to take precautions. I sighed and tried to undo the door latch from inside, but I already knew it was useless. The lock wouldn't come undone that easily.

Suddenly, I heard the door unlock and there stood Stepmother, looking grim and foul as always. She half-shoved a plate of food into my hands and said, "There. There's your dinner. Now don't you make a sound in here." As she was closing the door, I asked her a question that had been bothering me.

"Why do you hate me so much?" my tiny little voice asked. She stopped for a moment and stared at me for a while. Then, her face contorted into one of mixed hatred and pleasure.

"Because you're the bastard son of my husband's affair. Why wouldn't I hate you? You're ugly, you're despicable, and you'll be just like that whore of a mother you used to have. I'm surprised I didn't kill you when I had the chance."

Now that my suspicions were confirmed, my eyes began to water and my throat began to close. "Why didn't you?" I heard myself ask.

"Why?" She paused and thought for a moment. "Because then I would have a scandal on my hands. And scandals aren't what win money. Now shut up and eat. I don't want to hear a sound from you."

…………………

I woke up face down on my futon. With the memory still echoing in my mind, a thought went through my brain. Today could really suck…

However, I shook it off. It had been one week since I started staying with the Higurashi's. Mrs. Higurashi still thought I was much too skinny to be healthy, Grandpa Higurashi still gave me glares when he thought I wasn't looking, Sota had made me his personal hero, and I still refused to call Kagome by her name. Why, I don't really know. "Higurashi girl" just had a nice ring to it.

I sighed and pushed myself up. Today was Sunday, meaning no school (thank God) and rehearsal. It started at four and ended at six, so it was a rehearsal I could stand. The Kyoto competition was on Saturday, so Takegawa wanted us to be as good as we could get. I looked at the digital clock sitting on Sota's nightstand, telling me it was 9:00. Debating on whether or not to get up, Kagome burst into the room, screaming.

"Sota, if you've hurt my clarinet, I will beat you senseless with the remains!" she cried. I heard Sota begin to giggle downstairs, which pissed her off all the more. She looked at me and then snarled.

"Well?" she spat. "Have you seen it?"

I blinked sleepily and replied, "Perhaps you lost it in that huge mouth of yours?"

She groaned and then kicked me in the stomach, to which I tripped her in retaliation. She landed on her butt with a thud, and then reached for one of Sota's transformer toys. I glared at her as she aimed her ammo at me.

"Oh no you don't!" I warned. She nodded, and then threw it at me, hitting my in the shoulder. "Bitch!" I cried, and then lunged at her. We were wrestling around on the floor when Mrs. Higurashi walked into the room.

"Children!" she cried, which brought our match to a screeching halt. I was on the ground and on my back, hands gripped onto each of Kagome's wrists and feet planted on her stomach -I was about to toss her. We both looked up to the mother, who had a scowl on her face.

"Kagome, I found your clarinet. It was in the laundry. Inu-Yasha, I don't want to hear that foul language. Kagome, when you find your brother downstairs, I will not allow you to dismember him like you promised a few minutes ago. Understood?"

"Just one arm?" the Higurashi girl pleaded.

The elder Higurashi glared. "No. Now come down for breakfast. It's getting cold."

………………..

Breakfast went by without much quarreling… except for the fact that everyone was glaring at one another. I was glaring at the Higurashi girl, Mrs. Higurashi was glaring at Sota, Sota was glaring at Kagome, and Kagome and her grandfather at me. I didn't pay attention to either of them and quietly ate my breakfast. It was then the phone rang.

Mrs. Higurashi got up from her seat and took the receiver in her hands, but not before giving the whole table a "you-better-be-quiet" glare. She answered the phone with a pleasant, "Higurashi house, Mrs. Higurashi speaking. May I help you?"

There was a pause. Mrs. Higurashi's face contorted into one of confusion, and she held it out to me. "It's for you. I don't recognize the voice."

I gingerly picked it from her and went into Sota's and my room and shut the door. I put the phone to my ear. "Hello?" I asked uncertainly.

"I hope you're enjoying your stay," a smooth, familiar, masculine voice answered from the other line. "Unfortunately, you better pack your bags. She's coming to get you. Thought I'd just tell you in advance."

Many flags with question marks on them flew up in my head. What the hell was the guy talking about? "Who are you?" I ask. "What the hell are you talking about?"

However, to my disdain, I heard silence and a faint clicking sound. He had hung up.

I took the receiver from my ear and stared at it in utter befuddlement. Who was that guy? What was he talking about? Who was coming to get me? As I went back downstairs, Sota flew up to me and began to bombard me with questions.

"Who was it? Was it your director? Your secret girlfriend? Santa? Who was it? Whowasitwhowasitwhowasit?" I lightly slapped him upside the head to get him to shut up.

"I don't know," I replied softly as I hung the phone back up in its cradle. It was a little unnerving, to tell the truth. However, I didn't get much time to contemplate it since Sota began to dance around me singing, "Inu-Yasha has a girlfriend! Inu-Yasha has a girlfriend!"

"Or boyfriend…" the Higurashi girl muttered under her breath. At my red face, she looked up to me calmly. "Well? Is he cute at least? Or did you get a brown bag special?"

I put on my big, fake smile and began to laugh. "Oh, oh that was so funny! Did you make that up all by yourself? You didn't hurt yourself, did you?" The Higurashi girl snarled back, since she didn't have anymore ammo. I flipped her off when Mrs. Higurashi wasn't looking.

The morning went by quickly, and all too soon, it was time for rehearsal. We had already learned most of our show and were going to learn the rest of the closer today. The Higurashi girl, Mrs. Higurashi and myself piled into the car and set out for the school, much to the dismay of Grandpa Higurashi, who saw a black cat and didn't want anyone to leave the house. However, I doubted Takegawa would let the Higurashi girl and I skip practice because we saw a black cat. On the way to the school, I tried to contain my screams, but when we almost hit an old lady, I couldn't help but give a little screech.

The Higurashi girl and I, somehow walking away from another near escape with death, silently made our way to the band hall. She had her clarinet case in tow, and I was empty-handed. About midway, she bumped me with her case.

"So who was on the phone -really?" she asked in a somber tone. I looked at her with curiosity -she was serious. I shrugged and returned my gaze back to the concrete.

"I don't know," I said without much enthusiasm. "The voice was familiar, but I can't put my finger on who's it was."

"What did they have to say?" she asked. I gave a sideways glance at her, and she had a slight smile on her face. She was really curious as to who called me.

I didn't feel very comfortable with telling her, however. I didn't care if her family took me in -that information was personal. Besides, I didn't really understand him myself. I shrugged. "Nothing of importance."

Her neck craned back from me, and her blue eyes narrowed. "You know your eyes move a lot when you're lying?"

That shocked me. I turned to her, astonished. "What was that?"

She turned back to the front. "Nothing," she replied smugly while speeding up a bit to get ahead of me. I felt my face flush. How did she know that after only a week or so after meeting me? Am I really that obvious?

I shook the thought out of my mind and caught up to her, where she was opening the door to the band hall. Not very many people were there, seeing as how it was half an hour before practice, but I had to be there in order to set the pit up outside. I left the Higurashi girl in the band hall as I crossed said room and walked out of two sets of double doors, which led into a hallway. I turned to my right and walked until I came to another room on the left, which was the drum room -where all percussion instruments were stored. Domoru, Yoshi and a couple of others were already inside, getting equipment ready for the move.

I walked in and Yoshi was on me in a second. She put both of her hands on my shoulders and pressed me to the wall, then bored into me with her big, scary pale gray eyes.

I was scared out of my mind. "Y-Yoshi, what…"

Her glare narrowed. "Where are my mallets?" she asked calmly. Domoru chuckled from the drum shelves, where the marching drums were placed. He was busy polishing his snare.

"Don't make any sudden moves, Inu-Ya-h-sa. She might eat you."

"Or take your soul," another snare drummer, Matt, said. Matt was short, had blonde, short-cropped hair and bright blue eyes. (Needless to say, he wasn't Japanese.) He was fixing his carrier as he looked up at me with humor in his eyes. "Just don't say you know where the Blue Baby is."

"Inu-Yasha, where are my mallets?" Yoshi repeated. Her grip was getting tighter on my shoulders.

"I don't know!" I pleaded. "Now let go of me!"

Her eyes narrowed, and, to my shoulders' relief, she let go. "Very well." She blinked slowly, turned, and returned to her marimba. I sighed in relief and made my way to the drum shelf and retrieved my snare.

Practice wasn't one of remembrance -a very plain, stock rehearsal. Like always, it was hot, humid, and boring. We learned the rest of our show (music containing a piece from a CD named "Interstellar Suite", and three pieces from one of my favorite PS2 games, Kingdom Hearts) and actually performed our first run-through. It wasn't too spectacular, though. Miroku "tripped" again and ran into a colorguard girl's boobs, Yoshi got mad at a flute for missing her part (Yoshi had to listen to it in order to play her own part) so she threw a mallet at the flute player, and I screwed up the last ten sets of the show. Nevertheless, no one was killed.

Takegawa dismissed us wearily, as tired as the rest of us. He was the one who had to restrain the colorguard girl from trying to kill Miroku. I was walking by said director when he called my name. "Shirosenshi?"

I turned, and found him sitting on a curb, looking exhausted. He looked up at me through his black sunglasses, and then surveyed the now empty parking lot. He sighed heavily and asked carefully, "So how are you doing?"

I was puzzled. What…? "I'm… fine, sir. Why?"

He looked up at me. It was his turn to be confused. "You… Are you all right? About… about the move…?"

I blinked. Had the mighty Takegawa finally gotten a fever or something? "I've told you, I'm fine with the Higurashi's. The girl is a bit annoying, but I have a roof over my head. Beggars can't be choosers." I chuckled, but it didn't seem to stir any mirth in the director before me.

He shook his head solemnly. "No, your move to-"

Mrs. Higurashi's horn interrupted him, and I turned to see her and her daughter in the SUV from Hell behind me, waiting. The girl rolled down her window. "Come on, Inu-Yasha!" she called. "That X-play special's about to come on!"

A smile grew on my face. I had wanted to watch this one for about three days now. "Sweet! Be right there!" I bowed to my panting director and said, "See ya, Takegawa-san!" Taking my snare off and placing it beside me in the SUV, I buckled my seatbelt and braced myself for the ride.

It troubled me, though. Why did Takegawa ask me? He already knew about the move the Higurashi's. And made fun of me for it. I doubted he was really that concerned -what the people being the Higurashi's. They had a respectable reputation in Osaka, so he shouldn't have been that worried. I could see, that behind those dark sunglasses, he was really concerned. But about what?

I was so absorbed in my thoughts, I didn't notice that we were already back at the shrine. I decided to leave my snare in the SUV -I didn't feel like hauling it around. When I got out, I noticed a strange, blue Lexus beside the road, parked in front of the shrine. Mrs. Higurashi noticed it as well. "I guess we have company."

I assumed one of Sota's friends had come over -he liked to show me off as his newly attained big brother- so I dismissed the car. The Higurashi girl came to my side and said, "Man, I really thought that colorguard girl was gonna impale Miroku with her saber -did you see her face?"

I laughed. "Yeah. But she's a prep, so she should be used to that by now."

She laughed as well. "Wonder how many kids she's had so far?"

The conversation went on as we went up the steps. However, when I opened the door, I stopped in mid sentence while talking about preps. The person in front of me stilled my lips, paralyzed me. My face paled. My hand shook as it still lay on the doorknob. I felt my heart begin to quicken and pound. This couldn't be happening… How could she…

I saw the Higurashi girl look at me out of the corner of my eye. She turned to the person I was staring at, who was having a seemingly pleasant conversation with the eldest Higurashi. She wore a black, laced evening gown with those god-awful black shoes she always wore. Her once glamorous black hair was tied back in a neat bun. She wore black gloves and her face had more wrinkles than the last time I saw it. With my entrance, she turned to me and smiled that wicked, grim smile that still haunted my dreams.

Stepmother stood up and strode with her usual pride to me. "Hello again, Inu-Yasha."

…………………..

And that's where I end it. Sorry if the writing sucks. You get the gist of the story.

Ja.