Author's Notes: And I'm back! Thank you sooo much to everyone who reviewed! That totally made my day. And I was so excited to see that this had actually been added to favorites of some people! I was so happy that day. And I'm sorry I took so long to update! I'll try to be better. Life just kinda got in the way, and I've been in a weird funk.
So! Thanks to: inukagfan, Anime-Girl-of-04 (I won't tell you the ending p, but Kouga and Kikyo do have roles to play. I know exactly what I'm using Kikyo for, but not Kouga quite yet), HoshiChick08, jade (sleep-talking could be interesting – my roommate does that a lot, so I know how it goes ), Tasha, Kumoritora, and Chocobo-Girl
DISCLAIMER: Still not mine. You know the drill.
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Chapter Three
My Hero?
"Have you ever seen a lovelier girl in your life, Inuyasha?" Miroku gushed for what seemed the millionth time that night, throwing himself onto his bed as the two boys entered his room.
Inuyasha rolled his eyes – an all too familiar motion by this point in the night. The girls had left quickly after Sakuya's announcements to claim their shares of the food, getting lost in the crowd in the process. He suspected that they had retreated to their rooms. The promised food was only sub sandwiches, after all. But their retreat didn't stop Miroku from talking about them. Non-stop.
"Yes. Lovely," Inuyasha said dryly as he sauntered through the bathroom to his own quarters.
"Seriously, Inuyasha," Miroku sighed dramatically and rolled onto his stomach to look at his roommate through the doorway.
"Seriously, what? Lovely like every other girl you've 'fallen for'? Lovely like the five girls you tried to hit on before we even got on the train? Lovely like the girl you tried to hit on on the train, only to find out she's our neighbor? That kind of lovely?"
"Ha! So you do think Kagome is pretty!" Miroku grinned triumphantly, purposely avoiding the point.
"What? No! That wasn't what I was saying!" Inuyasha hastily turned away from him to dig through the papers that already littered his desk. "I was just…"he trailed off, distracted, "where is that stupid paper…?"
"What are you looking for?" Miroku sat up, intrigued. He knew Inuyasha was changing the subject, but he decided to let it drop. For the time being, at least.
"Nothing." More rummaging. "Just my schedule. I know it was here somewhere…"
"What, the great Inuyasha is actually planning ahead? I'm amazed." He put his hand over his heart in a mock faint.
"Hey, I paid good money to get here. I want to see how far away everything is and if any of the classes are at least worth walking that far."
Miroku chuckled, "Got it. Hate to think you were actually being responsible or something."
"Glad to know you think so highly of me – ha! Found it!" He held up a slightly crumpled paper in victory. After a little more rummaging, he found some tape and attached it to the wall without unfolding it. "Now it won't get lost again."
"I thought you were going to see where your classes were."
"I was. Am. Tomorrow." He said simply, adding as an afterthought, "Duh."
It was Miroku's turn to roll his eyes. "I see." He got a mischievous glint in his eye, "You do have a good idea though. For once." Inuyasha snorted as Miroku pull his own schedule out of a folder on his desk. "I do think I shall pay our neighbors a visit and see if we have any classes in common." He grinned and turned as he was walking out the door, "Shall I give your compliments to the lovely lady Kago-aah!" He ducked to miss the balled up sock Inuyasha chucked at him (or in his general direction) and quickly closed the door behind him, laughing.
-
The girls had indeed retreated to their rooms as soon as they had the chance.
"You know, we can't avoid them forever. They live across the stupid hall," Kagome said, as the two entered her room to eat.
"Yeah. But it's worth a try, isn't it? At least for a couple days. Or one day actually, since we start the Buddy thing on Monday." Sango made herself comfortable at Kagome's desk and unwrapped her sandwich as Kagome sat on her bed.
Kagome fell back dramatically and groaned, "Don't remind me." Sango laughed and took a bite.
Kagome sat back up to unwrap her own sub. "At least we can plan on how we want to wake them up. Did anything come to mind for you?"
"Not really," she took another bite. "But we have a couple days to plan. Or we could just go off what the guys do and plan from there."
"Yeah," Kagome was silent for a moment as she ate and thought. "Yeah, we'll just wait and see how bad they are."
The silence returned for a moment, filled only with the sound of crinkling paper and chewing, each girl lost in her own thoughts.
'I wonder what kind of things Inuyasha has in mind,' Kagome mused to herself. 'It couldn't be that bad, could it?'
Suddenly, the silence was broken as a loud knock-knock sounded from the door. The two girls looked at each other with a slightly panicked expression. What if it was the boys?
"You answer it!" Sango hissed.
"What? No way! Why should I answer it?"
"We're in your side!"
"So?"
"So you answer it!"
Knowing she was fighting a pointless battle, Kagome took a deep breath and got off her bed to go to the door. "We need peep-holes," She muttered as she opened the door slightly.
Naturally, it was Miroku. He smiled widely and practically forced Kagome to open the door wider and let him in. He leaned against the door frame and made himself quite at home. "Hello again! We didn't see you after Orientaion; how could you deprive us poor guys to bask in the presences of such lovely acquaintances?" He asked, feigning insult.
"Ummm," was all that Kagome eloquently spoke before Miroku started again.
"Anyway, we thought it'd be a great idea to compare schedules and see if we have any classes together!" He said, excited.
"Keh!" Miroku nearly lost his balance as he turned in surprise to see Inuyasha in the hallway behind him. Inuyasha stood with his arms folded, looking cool as can be - as if a koala could do a tap-dance on his nose and he wouldn't even bat an eyelash.
"Ah, Inuyasha! I didn't think we would be graced with your presence tonight!" Miroku said as he tried to recover his own cool.
Inuyasha shrugged. "Nothing better to do."
Miroku grinned and Inuyasha knew he'd be hearing about this later. Even if there was no 'this' to hear about. He rolled his eyes and Miroku returned to his request. "So, ladies?"
What could it hurt? Kagome pulled her schedule out of a folder on her desk as Sango disappeared into her own room, returned a minute later. They handed the sheets to Miroku as Inuyasha inconspicuously dug a piece of paper of his pocket.
Miroku studied the schedules and broke out into a huge smile, "Hey this is great! We all have Japanese Heritage together at 11! And Sango, you and I have Physical Sciences together at 1 on Tuesdays and Thursdays!" He looked like he had just died and gone to heaven. Inuyasha glanced over Miroku's shoulder and back at the paper in his own hands. He smirked. He didn't have any classes alone with the "fair" Sango, but he was in that Japanese Heritage class. And, of course, he was in Health and Fitness with Kagome. Perfect.
Since Miroku was currently floating away on Cloud 9, Inuyasha decided to break the news to Kagome. "Looks like it'll be all four of us in Japanese Heritage. And, oh look! You're in my Health and Fitness class." Kagome's face paled slightly, but he didn't notice. He was already too busy plotting.
With both boys now firmly distracted, Kagome shot Sango a panicked look that plainly said, 'What do we do now?' Sango looked equally panicked. She had to spend a whole hour together with the floor flirt! Alone! Twice a week!
Miroku snapped out of his reverie once he realized that several moments had passed without anyone saying or doing anything. "So, would you ladies give us the pleasure of accompanying us to the ice cream shop for some dessert?" He asked elegantly. Inuyasha shot him a glare as he snapped out of his own little dream world.
Kagome quickly said, "Uh, actually, we really should get back to unpacking and stuff."
Miroku slumped a little. Inuyasha showed neither happiness nor disappointment. "Ah well. There will be many other opportunities, I suppose." He straightened and gave a little mock bow, "Then we shall leave you ladies to your unpacking and will see you later!"
With that, he and Inuyasha disappeared into the hallway and into their own rooms. Kagome and Sango looked at each other, and Kagome summed up their thoughts in one word:
"Crap."
-
Inuyasha was right. As soon as they returned to their room, on Inuyasha's side, Miroku turned on him.
"So what inspired the great Inuyasha to make an appearance?"
Inuyasha shrugged. "Like I said. Nothing better to do."
Miroku grinned, "But you brought your schedule."
"And?"
"And you wanted to know which classes Kagome was in!" If possible, the grin widened in triumph.
"Keh, no." Inuyasha said in a matter-of-fact tone. "At least not for the reasons you're thinking of.
Miroku widened his eyes in indignant innocence. "Whatever could you mean?"
"You know exactly what I mean. I was just curious."
"Uh-huh. Sure."
"Oh shut up." Inuyasha made as if to throw a pillow and Miroku ducked into his room, laughing.
-
The next day came and went quickly. Sango and Kagome managed to dodge meeting the guys during the day by exploring campus and finding their classes, despite Miroku's best attempts to corner them.
Night was another story entirely. Especially since someone decided to throw an impromptu dance party in the basement.
"Oh look!" Kagome excitedly pointed at the flier taped to her door as they returned from their outing. "There's a dance party tonight! Oh, Sango, we have to go! It'll be a great way to meet the other people in our building!"
"I agree with that, but what about you-know-who?" She tipped her head in the direction of Miroku and Inuyasha's room.
"Oh, I'm tired to having to avoid them. Besides, it'll be crowded and dark, they'll never find us.
Sango gave her a look.
Kagome winced, "Ok, so they probably will find us. But we really need to not let their existence ruin our fun."
Sango sighed. "You're right, I guess. Alright, let's go."
Kagome smiled and did a little dance. "This'll be so much fun!"
-
Checking to make sure the coast was clear before opening the door all the way, Kagome and Sango breathed a sigh of relief at the lack of certain presences. They could already hear the bass beat from the music three floors down, it was that loud and only grew louder as they descended down the stairs.
The basement was an open area, with a nothing but a few couches along the side normally, but tonight someone had strung up lights and set up a table with enormous speakers. The fluorescent lights were off, so the only light was from the multicolored dance lights.
The dance floor was packed with bodies moving to the fast-paced music; some well and some not-so-well. People were talking and laughing all around the two girls. Kagome grabbed Sango's arm and lead her to the center, "C'mon, let's get where the fun is!" Kagome had to practically shout in Sango's ear to be heard.
As they reached the center and let themselves melt in the crowd, they didn't notice two more party-goers come down the stairs.
"This is beautiful!" Miroku shouted to Inuyasha's ear, taking in the scenery of the dancing women, determined to meet all of them.
"Don't shout at me!" Inuyasha shouted back over the noise. He had oddly sensitive hearing and didn't exactly appreciate loud noises. Why he bothered to come down here, even he wasn't sure. Probably because there was nothing else to do, and even if there was, there was no way he could do it with the music blaring. If nothing else, Miroku's woman-hunting would provide entertainment.
"Oh, come on, Inuyasha!" Miroku said in slightly less-than-shouting volume. "Lighten up! Look around! I'm sure you'll find something worth your time." With that, he winked and set off to find his own "something" – or "somethings," more likely.
Inuyasha retreated to the wall, determined not to let the loud noises get to him. He stood there, thoroughly unamused for several songs. Fast. Fast. Kinda-fast. Fast. How-do-you-dance-to-this-beat. Fast.
Finally, a slow song came on to give the dancers a bit of a breather. Lucky for Inuyasha; he didn't think he could stand much more of the "dancing" the couple nearest to him was doing. Not so luckily, the two "dancers" didn't seem to notice.
'Okay, that's just gross,' He thought in disgust, and decided to find another wall.
As he walked away, something caught the corner of his eye. 'Ha, it's that Kagome girl! Maybe this will provide some entertainment.'
But as he walked closer to get a better view, he didn't like what he was seeing. He quickened his pace.
-
Kagome was having a great time, just letting herself move with the music. She merged with the mass of people, moving, smiling, laughing. Before she knew it, she'd danced through six songs before a slow number hummed out of the speakers. She looked for Sango so they could go stand out of the way together, but Sango had already been snatched up for the dance. Laughing at her friend's poor expression as the girl towered over her partner, Kagome started to make her way to the wall when her own hand was caught by a hopeful partner.
She turned in surprise to see a tall man with a smirk on his face.
"Hey, babe, wanna dance?" The tone of his voice sent shivers up Kagome's spine.
"Ah, no thanks, I was just about to-" She tried to turn him down politely, but his grip on her wrist tightened.
"I don't think you heard me," he yanked her close to his body as she tried to wiggle away, "I asked if you wanted to dance." He leered down at her frightened form. "Or maybe it isn't dancing you're interested in," he slipped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer, "Maybe we should go somewhere a little more…private?" He grinned, showing his teeth, then licked his lips.
Kagome's eyes widened, "No!" She managed to mumble, "Let go of me!" No one could hear her over the loud music, and anyone watching them would have assumed they were just another couple fooling around.
Anyone, except of the course, the last person she wanted to see.
"You heard her, let her go." A deep voice from behind her startled both her and her captor. She twisted to see who it was and nearly died on the spot.
'Please, please, please help me! Don't be a stupid jerk!' Her eyes pleaded with him to help her.
Kagome's assailant lost his grin. "What if I don't want to?"
Inuyasha cracked his knuckles. "Then I would have to ask again. And I won't be so polite this time."
Without loosing his hold on his prey, the predator looked Inuyasha up and down, sizing him up. Suddenly, he shoved Kagome into Inuyasha's arms and strode off, muttering, "She isn't worth it. There are easier girls…"
Kagome was gripping Inuyasha's arm for support for a moment, trying to sort out what just happened while the bodies of couples around them swayed to the music, oblivious to her dilemma. 'Did he just…save me?'
"Hey," Inuyasha said, close to her ear so she could catch the words, "You okay?"
She couldn't read his face in the dim light, and didn't want to meet his eyes, so she simply nodded, not trusting her unsteady voice enough to answer vocally.
"Good," was his gruff reply. The song ended, blending into an up-beat piece. Kagome finally steadied herself, letting go of her death grip on Inuyasha's arms. She turned her head to look for Sango. She motioned to her roommate to come quickly – she was more than ready to go. Kagome turned back to thank her rescuer with a little more faith in her voice, only to see he had melted away into the crowd.
Sango approached with a worried expression across her face. "What happened? I didn't see anything until Inuyasha came up and that guy walked away. Are you alright?"
Kagome's nerves were on edge, intent on leaving as soon as possible. "I'm fine. I'll tell you in a bit. I just want to go back to our rooms."
-
And that's it! Finally! Thanks for reading and please leave a review! Don't forget, I'm still looking for a beta!
Also, right now, I have about two weeks planned out, which will be the time frame for this fic overall, I believe. I don't like rushing into romances – things need time to develop, ne? However, wake-up ideas would be appreciated. I have enough, but some of them are really lame. So again, any help would be appreciated.
Oh, I drew a kinda rough outline of what the dorm looks like. I need to get the scanned if anyone wants to get a look at it. I know exactly what the rooms look like, but I don't want to write a whole page describing that, as it would be boring. And tedious.
. I started writing this MLK weekend, and when livejournal was messed up, so I had nothing to do. Then I got in a weird funk and couldn't write. I meant for this chapter to include Monday morning, but I'm braindead, and this much has been stuck in my computer for awhile. So I'll give you this update.
Sorry for the practically non-existent Sunday, but I really need to get this moving. And impromptu dance parties are so much fun. I don't know why I added it, but whatever. I went to a dance a couple nights ago, so I have fresh images, I guess. That dance kinda sucked though. Crappy DJ. But I didn't get accosted.