Fingertips

Chapter Six

By: Lil' Inu-Yahsa

A quality I really love about Inu Yasha is his adorable quirkiness. He handed me the chapter he graciously writ for my little story and asked me what chapter it would be in and I told him I did not know so he asked if I could put in chapter five, or an even numbered chapter. He hates odd numbers, (Except those divisible by five) I found out. Even in his house, if the A/C is set on an odd number he gets completely freaked out and has to change it. I laughed at this when he told me but then he looked at me in a bitter kind of way and I could tell he was offended by me laughing at him. He hates when people laugh at him.

This is because he was teased and laughed at as a child. He has a rather short tolerance for provocation so he ended up being just a little violent as a child. Once, he told me, he grabbed another boys throat and the teachers had to pull him off and he had a fit. If he absolutely has to, he will touch other people, but this was a rare exception. As it turns out, the boy had been teasing him for months, and Inu Yasha's anger just peaked and he grabbed the other boy's throat and scared the poor kid shitless. (That's what he said.) He told the boy if he ever made fun of him again, he would kill him. Though after that, a few of the stronger kids would say a thing or two to get a rise out of him. Most kids left him alone for the most part. A few months later, he kept his Swiss Army Knife with him every where he went. Needless to say, no one even sent him a bad look after that, but his possibilities of developing a friend were minimal at most.

But he liked it that way. Inu Yasha does not mind being lonely. If anything, he enjoys it. He would rather be left alone than have friends, which includes me, and that upsets me just a little.

I bring red pants to school with me every Wednesday. This is because my school uniform is a green skirt. Inu Yasha does not like green so I change clothing. Some of the girls make fun of me because of it. They'll say 'Oh, Kagome, going to see your idiot boyfriend?' But there are an assortment of words they have used in place of 'idiot'. I hate people like that.

They think that somehow having something wrong with your brain means that you are incapable of breathing on your own. But, mental retardation is true with some autism cases, so at first, I kindly explained to them that Inu Yasha is in fact, very intelligent, but just not capable other things. Like smiling for example. But the teasing would not stop. I've gotten into many fights because of him.

Some girls think it is stupid I continue to see Inu Yasha because he doesn't seem to care about me, and he won't smile or be touched. They say "I don't get it. Why are you so into that guy? He can't love." But who are they to say?-they don't know whether he can or not. Maybe he can, but he does not have words to describe his feelings. But maybe he is as cold as he seems. It's a risk I take in being involved with Inu Yasha.

Sango understands. The other girls could never understand because they were paired with kids that are more on the dull side. Erika's child poops in his pants and always smells like it, so I can understand why she does not like seeing him, but that's no reason to be mean.

But Sango knows how I feel.

She was paired with a twelve year old boy named Kohaku. When he was eleven, he was in a car accident and he lost his short term memory. So every day when he wakes up he asks where his family is, but he can't see them because he lost them in the accident too. So, when Sango comes, she has to re-introduce herself every time and tell him who she is.

She sometimes will take him on her lap and tell him, "Well, since your sister is not here now, I can be your sister, for now at least." Then he will laugh and give her a hug and tell her "Okay! But only 'till I get back home." And Sango will smile because she thinks the world of Kohaku, but inside she is sad, because she knows he will never get back home, because he does not have a home any more. It was sold to another family. And he will never see his sister again, because she is dead.

Sango does not even get half as much trouble as I do from other people because a lot of the people in my school liked Kohaku and were jealous of Sango for getting him. This is because, other than the fact that he can't remember anything that happens after his accident, he is a normal boy and not bad to look at. Kohaku is adorable and sweet and hugs anything with legs. (I was lucky enough to witness him hugging an oak tree once too.)

They have a problem with Inu Yasha though. This is because Inu Yasha is difficult. He isn't sweet, and hates hugs, and although he is kind of beautiful in a strange way, it's like the pretty pieces of art at the museum. They're lovely to look at, but don't you dare touch them. Inu Yasha is lovable, but he is harder to love than Kohaku, because it's nearly impossible not to love Kohaku.

Kohaku lives in a special ward of the school where children that can not live without constant help are. He has his own room, and since he inherited his parent's money, he is allowed to get a toy once in a while, so he has a Playstation 2. Every day when he wakes up, the counselor's tell him that this is a special fun summer camp his parents sent him to overnight because he was being such a good boy. He only goes to the actual school once in a while, because he can not learn, but he likes going to Creativity classes and fun electives like that.

Once every month, Creativity will be held in the music room. Me and Inu Yasha prefer the keyboards because I can play piano and he likes listening to me play. He has been able to learn three songs from me just from watching me play them so much. He can play them perfectly, and even better than I can. He has a photographic memory, and even though he can't read music, if he hears something that I play, and watches my fingers, he can replay it fairly well. The good thing about the recitals I hold for Inu Yasha are that he never gets tired of my songs. If I like a song and play it a lot, people usually get upset with me, but not Inu Yasha. He enjoys every time just as much as the last.

A lot of people think he is unfriendly and cold and distant. And he is, or so he appears to be. But I can understand why he is that way.

When I was little, my family used to go to Canada for vacations in the winter time. My parents fought a lot back then and every night, my dad and mom would end up screaming at each other, and that got Souta crying. So I would sit in a corner and tuck my head in between my knees and pretend I was back at school with my friends. But then my parents would drag me into their fights because they would have arguments about what to do with me and how to raise me. I would feel like it was my fault and I would run out side and put on my ice skates and skate until I could not even feel my arms.

And it stung at first because it was so cold, but after a while, that freezing cold becomes a comfort. Because it hurt so much, I could not remember or think. And I could not hear my parents fighting because I was concentrating so hard on pretending that I was nice and warm beside a fire place, snuggling into my father's warm belly. He would be holding my mother's hand, and my mom would be cradling Souta, who would be sleeping peacefully.

At first my fingers were numb, then my hands. The cold crept up slowly and before you knew it, your entire body was frozen and your lips were blue. Then I would go back inside and shiver as I defrosted. So I would sit beside the fireplace and try to feel warm. I did, but I was not snuggling into my father's tummy, and he was not holding my mother's hand, and Souta was not sleeping peacefully.

It was far from perfect, but it was home.

I think that is what happened to Inu Yasha. When he was little, all those children being so cold towards him only made his disease creep and make him sicker and more and more detached. Plus the added fact that his parents had troubles with him. He was not diagnosed with autism until after they died and they could not understand what was wrong with him. They thought he was just going through a stage, but he only got worse. He never got the therapy or help that he needed as a kid and his parents didn't stop once to think that maybe there was something wrong with him. And because of that, he went through a lot of stuff he should not have had to go through. He was once telling me how a group of kids in his class had all planned against him.

One boy invited him to play football with him and he decided he could keep score or something so he went to the foot ball field. Then, all the kids suddenly jumped on top of him and he said he felt like he was going to suffocate so he thrashed about under the kids and ended up fracturing his arm from the impact and the continued struggle. The teacher thought that they were just playing around and all the boys got away unscathed, except for the few he kicked. I wanted to hug him when he was telling me, but I held myself back.

Author's Notes

The story has been extended a chapter because I realized I was missing some parts. Sorry for taking so long on updating. I guess I was kind of disappointed that not many people reviewed so I was sort of waiting to reach eighty until I update this chapter, but eh, I don't want to wait any more.

Anyways PLEASE REVIEW! I don't want to put up the next chapter till I hit 90 because Inu Kun Loooves numbers that are divisible by ten. Zero is such a clean and simple number. I like it. I especially like it when it is accompanied by a couple other zeros after a number.

Review! (Hee!)