Author's Note: Aaaand, Chapter 3 is completed in record time! All the reviews I'm getting, I swear they're like hyper-drugs, propelling me to write faster and faster. I don't think I've ever turned out this many chapters in such a short time, ever in my life. :D
Aaanyways, time to respond to reviews!
Att3nt10n D3f1c1t M3GG0: Yeah, Kagome knows what she's talking about... :D Thanks so much for the compliments and the awesome review!
PurityFlower1989: Haha, here's your update. :P Thanks for the review!
Tinkies: Omigosh, thanks so much for the awesomefull review! Great enthusiasm lol
Akihanah: It is a little fast, isn't it? Oh well, my first Inuyasha fic can't be perfect. :P I do martial arts too! That's so cool! But I've never fallen down stairs before so I don't know what it'd be like. Thanks for the review:D
HelikaAkileh: Wow, you were almost crying :P If I had thought that Kagome really died, I probably would be too, but I am the all-knowing author:D:D Thanks for the review!
Nekomata-17: Yeah, I hate Kikyou too :D Thanks for the review!
Bottlecaps: Wow, thanks so much for the compliments :D I try to be as original as I can, but it can be difficult when there's over 48,000 different Inuyasha fanfics on this site alone! Thanks so much for the review! .
spongekid A.K.A numbuh33: I'm glad you love it:D Thanks for the review!
inuyasha-backslashwave: Thanks so much:D I'm glad you're enjoying it! Thanks for the great review!
Kogas-angel: Thanks so much! I'm glad it's not cheesy...I'm always afraid that it's going to sound corny or otherwise horrible. But I'm glad that you don't think it is:D Thanks so much for the review!
Inuyashangel: Yeah, I wish I knew a guy that was like Inuyasha... :P Thanks so much for the review! I'll read your fic as soon as I get some time lol :P
...oh. my. gosh. OVERNIGHT I GOT LIKE 20 MORE REVIEWS SO I CAN'T POSSIBLY REPLY TO THEM ALL
Sorry guys, but there are just too many of you! . So I'll kind of reply to them all together. YOU GUYS ARE SO AWESOME! To everybody who complimented my writing, thanks so much :D I try hard to keep grammar and spelling correct and everything. To everyone who said they were crying, I know how you feel :D And...just...wow, there are so many reviews! asterix hugs everyone asterix.
Okay...on with chapter 3, since so many of you requested updates :D:D
CHAPTER 3: Old habits die hard
When Inuyasha reached the sick room, Kagome still unconscious in his arms, he knocked on the door. About ten seconds passed, and Inuyasha raised his hand to knock a second time, when a tall woman with long black hair and smiling eyes opened the door. Her eyes widened, shocked at the sight of the half-demon boy carrying a girl that she had never seen before.
"Please," Inuyasha said, holding Kagome out a bit. "She fell down the stairs. I think she hit her head."
"Bring her in," the nurse said immediately, bustling about to prepare a bed for Kagome. "Tell me where she hit herself."
"I'm not sure, I wasn't watching her fall, I just found her at the bottom of the stairs," Inuyasha said, telling a half-truth. "I think she hit her head; she has a couple of cuts on her face," Inuyasha said, another flare of guilt coming to life in his heart as he ran his fingers over the already-clotting wounds. "They're not too deep, but still, they could get infected."
"Of course," the nurse said, coming back to the bed that Inuyasha had placed Kagome on. "Did you notice if she fell forwards or backwards?"
Inuyasha tried to remember exactly how it had happened. "Backwards, I'm pretty sure," he said. The nurse winced.
"Help me turn her over," she said commandingly. "We need to make sure there wasn't any permanent damage to her spine. Did she manage to break her fall against the ground?"
"I really don't know, but I can't imagine she would have; she wouldn't have been able to see the ground."
"Why not?" the nurse asked, while rubbing a lotion of sorts over the cuts on her face before motioning to Inuyasha to help her flip Kagome over. Inuyasha picked the girl up again, this time turning her over in his arms, and placed her back down on the bed, this time on her stomach. Without missing a beat, the nurse lifted up the back of Kagome's shirt and Inuyasha found himself looking at a series of bad-looking bruises that were already beginning to form along her spine.
"Why wouldn't she have been able to see the ground?" the nurse asked again.
"She's blind," Inuyasha answered simply, looking away from the girl as the nurse put her shirt down.
"Turn her over again," the nurse said simply, not acknowledging this new piece of information. Inuyasha did as he was told, but this time when he lifted Kagome into his arms, she stirred. He paused for a moment before putting her back down on the bed.
"Is she going to be okay?" Inuyasha asked.
"There doesn't seem to be any major damage," the nurse said, "but she was very lucky. She'll be rather sore for a while. Why was nobody with her?"
Because you're an arrogant jerk, a voice in his head answered. Outwardly, Inuyasha just shrugged. The nurse scowled, but didn't push the matter any further.
"What's her name?" the nurse asked.
"Kagome Higurashi."
"Okay. You stay with her, if you please, while I go phone her parents and tell them to come here. Will you be able to manage that?"
Inuyasha glared at the nurse. "Of course I can manage it," he said, coldly. He pulled up a chair that had been leaning against the wall and sat himself down in it with a forceful air, as if trying to prove to the nurse that he wasn't useless. The nurse smiled warmly at him, and left the room.
Inuyasha looked again at the visible cuts and bruises that were now decorating Kagome. He bit his lip. It was his fault, wasn't it? He had caused her to look like this. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this guilty; couldn't remember when he had last cared so much about any one person. What was it that was drawing him to her like this? Was it the fact that she was blind, helpless? Or was she just so different from everything that Inuyasha was used to, that he couldn't help but be curious?
Kagome stirred again, opening her eyes and blinking a few times. Inuyasha held very still, not making any sound; there was no way that Kagome could possibly know that he was there. That was why he was so surprised when she held out her hand, in his direction, and said, "Inuyasha," very quietly, her voice hoarse.
He blinked, not moving, not taking the offered hand. She couldn't see him; how did she know he was there.
"Inuyasha, are you there?" she said quietly. "I need..." Her voice faded away as she slipped back into unconsciousness, her hand falling back onto the bed. Inuyasha bit his lip again, taking the hand that she had held out to him. It was the one that he had bruised; he ran his fingers over the ugly purple marks that covered her palm. This was his fault.
He heard footsteps outside the nurse's office and was very shocked when Kikyou opened the door, looking at him. "Inuyasha?" she asked, her voice full of the innocence that it always carried. "Inuyasha, what are you doing here?"
A sudden blast of anger flared up in Inuyasha. "What do you mean?" he asked, standing up and approaching Kikyou. "The question is, what are -you- doing here?"
"I was looking for someone," Kikyou said. She noticed Kagome lying on the bed, and scowled at Inuyasha. "I thought you said you were completely done with her!" she said, her voice growing louder as the scowl turned into a glare.
"Yeah, well, I guess I was wrong," Inuyasha said. "What the hell were you thinking, pushing her down the stairs!"
Kikyou gasped. "I was thinking about how she insulted you, and I, and all our friends!" she almost-shouted. "Don't you remember everything she and her two pathetic friends said to you at lunch?"
Inuyasha fell quiet, beginning to remember everything that had been said. Kikyou moved closer to him, her scent filling him, making him want to pull her closer to him; almost intoxicating him. "What has she done to you?" Kikyou whispered into his ear. "What lies did she tell you?"
"You guys aren't true friends," Inuyasha said, his voice quiet now as he pulled Kikyou even closer to him. "That you don't really care about me."
Kikyou gasped quietly. "We -are- your true friends," Kikyou said. "At least, I am." She pulled away from him slightly so she could look him in the eye. "I love you, Yasha. Now, come on; leave her here, she doesn't deserve to be with you."
Inuyasha looked back at Kagome, all of the emotions that he had felt when he had first met her coming back to him. Hate, disgust, abandonment. "Just leave her here," Kikyou said again, her voice encouraging, innocent. "Come back to the people that love you. Cameron Drake High School loves you, Yasha."
"Yeah, they do," Inuyasha said, remembering how nobody ever shouted at him, insulted him. Only Kagome and her pathetic friends had done that. "You're right, Kikyou." All traces of guilt gone from his heart, he kissed Kikyou, and then the two of them left the sick room. Leaving Kagome behind.
Kagome's eyelids fluttered as tears fell down her face. She had been listening to the whole thing.
Inuyasha came to school early the next morning, not wanting to be bothered by people. During the past night, his emotions had decided to rebel against him, making him very confused. He had spent a lot of time remembering all the things that he could; everything about his time at Cameron Drake High School, he had called back to his mind. He had found two main conflicting things. One was that the entire student body seemed to love him, and never disagreed with him, or insulted him; all characteristics of friends. But when he came to school in a bad mood for whatever reason, they avoided him instead of comforting him, which isn't what friends would do. All in all, he had no idea what was going on, but decided to go with what he knew; that Kikyou was a good friend, that Kagome was pathetic and helpless, and that he was virtually worshipped throughout Cameron Drake High School. He would put up with Kagome only because it was necessary, but hated her once again, all guilt gone from his heart.
He was sitting on the steps, chatting with Kikyou and Arik, when he saw Kagome approach the school, being led by Sango. The cuts were still fresh on her face, and the bruises on her hand had fully formed, looking very painful. Sango glared at Inuyasha before muttering something to Kagome, bringing her inside.
Inuyasha said a quick farewell to Arik and Kikyou before following Sango inside. They walked up to Kagome's locker and Sango helped the other girl get all of her stuff ready for the next day.
"Inuyasha's here," Sango said to Kagome. "I need to go get my stuff ready, as well. If he treats you as horribly as he did yesterday, just tell me and I'll pound him for you."
Kagome smiled weakly. "Sure thing," she said. "Have a great morning. Say hi to Miroku for me," she said. Sango hugged her quickly before giving Inuyasha one final glare and walking off.
Kagome didn't say anything to Inuyasha as she closed her locker and swung her knapsack onto her back, wincing slightly. Inuyasha found himself snickering at her pain, an obvious display of the fact that he was back to his normal self. She glared at him, her gaze surprisingly accurate.
"What? You shouldn't have shouted at me yesterday, you wouldn't have taken that nasty fall," Inuyasha said. There was a moment of silence as the girl seemed to think about this.
"What happened to you?" Kagome asked, out of the blue. Inuyasha was caught off guard.
"What do you mean?" he asked, the coldness gone from his voice.
"Nothing," Kagome said dismissively, holding out her good hand, indicating that Inuyasha should take her to their first period class. Inuyasha grabbed it roughly, but not roughly enough for bruises to form.
"I still hate you," Inuyasha said to the girl, leading her around the masses of people and down the stairs to their classroom. He received no answer, the girl instead focusing on keeping a very tight grip on the handrail, making her own way down the stairs.
When they reached the classroom, Kagome sat down at her table and Inuyasha sat next to her. She still wasn't looking at him or talking to him, nor acknowledging his presence in any way. Inuyasha found himself wondering what she meant when she had said, "What happened to you?". What was she referring to? He had no idea, and would have asked her for clarification, except for the fact that she obviously wasn't talking to him.
In second period, their teacher was late, and Kagome took the opportunity to say a few words to Inuyasha. "Why do you listen to Kikyou?" she asked.
"Because she's my -friend-," Inuyasha answered. "Can't you understand that, or are you too stupid?" He bit his lip after that, wondering why he had just insulted her; the words had come out almost by reflex. Guilt flared in him again.
Kagome ignored the insult, falling silent again. Inuyasha opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment the teacher walked into the room, looking hassled; Inuyasha decided against talking in the teacher's presence, lest he should get into serious trouble. Instead, he used the classtime to think about everything that had been happening to him; about everything that Kikyou had said, and everything that Kagome had said. He didn't pay any attention at all to what the teacher was saying, but by the end of the class, he had made up his mind.
At lunchtime, Inuyasha took Kagome back to her locker, and upon seeing Sango and Miroku already waiting for her, left her standing alone without bidding her farewell. He stalked off, slightly frustrated by the fact that he couldn't stop thinking about the blind girl. After seeing Kagome being pushed down the stairs, so badly hurt like that; well, it was difficult to get that image out of his mind.
He found Kikyou waiting for him in front of his locker, in the same fashion that Kagome's friends had waited for her. He smiled, kissing Kikyou. "Hey."
"Hey yourself," Kikyou replied, smiling.
"We need to talk," Inuyasha said, making Kikyou look shocked for a moment. Seeing her confusion, he clarified: "It's about Kagome."
"What, you're still thinking about that creature?" Kikyou asked, disappointment in her voice. "That's twice now you've said you're done with her, only to talk about her again."
"Sorry, Kikyou; but I just can't understand why you pushed her down the stairs. She may be weak and everything, but she doesn't deserve being hurt like that."
Many people walking by him paused, obviously eavesdropping on his conversation. He snarled at everyone and they quickly hurried away, carrying their lunches with them. Inuyasha turned back to Kikyou, who was clicking her tongue at him.
"Of course she deserved it," Kikyou said. "She's a burden to you; an obstacle in your life. Don't you think she should be punished for that?"
"It's not her fault," Inuyasha said, realizing that he was defending Kagome, but not minding all that much. "Really. She didn't choose to be blind."
Now more and more people were openly listening, staring at him, their expressions gawking. Kikyou, too, was staring at him. Inuyasha turned to look back at everyone, confused. "What?" he asked threateningly.
"You've changed, Inuyasha," Kikyou said, placing her hand alongside his face, turning his gaze back to her. "What has she done to you?" she asked, quietly; almost concernedly.
"What, is it required that I hate the blind girl?" Inuyasha asked, searching Kikyou's eyes. He had always been good at finding emotions in people's eyes, and as he searched Kikyou's he found what he was looking for; a complete and utter lack of love, and instead, suspicion and disappointment. Kikyou's eyes gave him her answer, and everybody's answer: in order to be cool, you had to hate Kagome and her friends; in order to be popular, you had to do what everybody else was doing.
How long had he been blind to that? How many years had he played the bully, the big tough guy that everybody worshipped? All of the sudden his emotions weren't confusing him anymore; they were laid out plain and clear, as were the emotions of everyone else in Cameron Drake High School.
He had no true friends. The people that never argued with him, never insulted him; they were afraid of him. They were afraid of losing all chance at popularity by getting on his bad side. He was just an object to them.
As all of this snapped into place, so did one other thing; he himself, by not hating the outcasts, was losing popularity. In just five minutes, maybe less, he had plunged from being the coolest guy in school to an outcast himself. He smiled wryly to himself.
"If all you guys are thick enough to think that people who are nice to outcasts should be outcasts themselves, then I don't know why I ever called you friends," Inuyasha said. "See ya." He grabbed his lunch and moved for the door, when Kikyou grabbed his arm. He looked up at her, looked into her eyes.
"You don't have to do this," she said. "Don't give yourself up like that. You can still be cool. You can still take back what you said."
Understanding flashed in Inuyasha's mind once again. "If being cool means acting mean and cold to the few people that really need friends, then I don't want to have anything to do with it. Ever again." With that, he broke away from Kikyou and walked out the door, into the bright sunshine outside.
He found Kagome, Sango and Miroku sitting beneath a tree in the schoolyard. Sango and Miroku saw him coming, lifting their heads up and glaring at him; Sango also explained what was going on to Kagome, who shrugged and continued to eat her sandwich. Their conversation fell dead the moment that Sango and Miroku saw him; Inuyasha wondered if they had been talking about him.
"Can I sit down?" he asked. He didn't receive an answer, only more glares, so he shrugged and made himself comfortable in front of Kagome.
"What are you doing here?" Sango asked, her voice angry. Inuyasha smiled grimly.
"I wanted to apologize," he said, wincing at the words. They seemed so unfamiliar, so...weak. "You know, for being a jerk and everything."
"Get out of here," Kagome said, her voice cracking, betraying the fact that she was close to tears. "Go away, and stop mocking me and my friends."
Inuyasha was very taken aback by her harsh words. "I'm not mocking you," he said, his voice sincere. "Really. I want to apologize."
"What, so you can push her down the stairs yourself this time?" Miroku retorted. "Get back to your cronies, fiend."
Inuyasha's eyebrows furrowed. "I don't have cronies anymore."
"Oh, sorry; I forgot that you call them -friends-," Sango sneered. "Some people never learn."
Inuyasha sighed. The situation seemed so hopeless. "No, I know it sounds bad, but you guys were right," he said, trying to explain himself, but seeing the disbelief in all their eyes. "I know they're not my friends. I can see that now. Somehow it just all fell apart so fast...and then it kind of came back together...and I saw that I was being an idiot. Really!" he exclaimed.
"Get out of here," Sango said again. Inuyasha shook his head.
"Fine. I've been thrown out by the popular people -and- the unpopular people," he said, feeling more alone than he ever had in his life. "How pathetic am I?"
He started to walk away, but Kagome called after him. "Wait," she said. Inuyasha's sensitive ears caught the gasps of Sango and Miroku.
"What do you mean, 'wait'?" Miroku asked, looking at Kagome as if she had lost her mind. "This guy hurt you so badly, and you want him to come back?"
"No, I want to give him a chance," Kagome replied. "By refusing him like this we're acting just as horribly as he did. Let's just hear what he has to say, okay?"
Sango shook her head. "Kagome, you're too nice," she said. "He doesn't deserve a second chance."
"Everyone deserves a second chance," Kagome said, and Inuyasha's heart was filled with wonder. How forgiving could this girl be? It was his fault that she fell down the stairs, his fault that all these bad things that been happening to her; he had ignored her, insulted her, been a horrible person. And she was willing to give him a second chance?
She was truly one of a kind.
Sango sighed and waved her hand at Inuyasha, calling him back. He almost ran back to the three of them and sat himself down in front of Kagome. "I'm back," he explained to the blind girl.
"I heard you coming," she said, sounding bored. "Now, tell me everything that happened."
The rest of the lunch hour passed with Inuyasha explaining everything that he had said to Kikyou and all the other witnesses that had been listening. Throughout his story, Kagome, Sango and Miroku pounded him with questions. When he finished, there was silence. Kagome was the one to break it.
"So tell me what you think of us," she said, cautiously.
"You're...all...really different, I guess," Inuyasha said. "You didn't care about popularity. I've never seen that before."
"Most people have never been hurt by popularity, so that's why they strive for it," Miroku said. "I don't know the history of Kagome and the lovely Sango, but I myself was once very popular." Sango and Kagome gasped mockingly.
"Miroku? Popular? Noooo," Sango said, making a large display of falling over with shock. Kagome laughed, knowing what she had done without needing to see it.
"Difficult as it is to believe, it is true," he said, shaking his head sadly. "But after five years of holding similar status to that which Inuyasha had - well,until recently -I found myself more alone than anybody in the entire world. It was horrible," he said, his eyes glazing over as he remembered it. "One mistake and suddenly it was like everyone was my enemy."
Sango grinned. "I was never popular," she said, smiling. "I never wanted to be. I always thought that the popular people were stuck up snobs. They weren't really nice to me; I ended up with the whole dark, traumatic childhood thing. I hate all popular people by default."
Inuyasha sniggered. "Well, I guess I'm not popular anymore. Kagome, what's your story."
"Sango, what time is it?" Kagome asked, looking at her best friend - and avoiding the question in the process. Sango looked down at her watch and gasped.
"Time for us to get going," she said, helping Kagome up. "Inyuasha, can you take her? Miroku and I have to go..."
Inuyasha smiled, taking Kagome's hand gently. "No worries." He began to lead Kagome back to her locker, quickly so that they wouldn't be late for class. Sango and Miroku hung back for a moment, looking after Inuyasha with confused expressions on their faces.
"Well, that shift certainly happened fast," Sango said.
"I guess Kagome knows what she's doing," Miroku agreed. "Kaede, too. I guess that, in the end, she didn't make such a bad choice after all? It's as if she wanted Inuyasha to realize what friendship is."
Sango thought about this for a moment. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she finally agreed. "It's almost like she saw this coming."
"We'd better get going to class, my beautiful Sango," Miroku said, ducking under Sango's flying hand. "Ah, and you're becoming predictable," he said, chuckling.
Kagome was still careful around Inyuasha, not yet trusting him fully. But when the rest of her day was the most bizarre she had ever experienced, she began to believe that Inuyasha really had given up on popularity. She heard people snickering when she and Inuyasha walked through the hallways, but something in her gut told her that they weren't directed at her. Maybe people whispered things like, "Look at that horrible half-blood with the blind girl." And all the while, Inyuasha never let go of her hand, keeping her close to him.
Only Kikyou didn't seem to direct her anger at Inuyasha. More than once, Kagome had gotten the feeling that the most popular girl in school was planning revenge on Kagome, for taking Inuyasha away.
Author's Note: Sorry for the cliffie, but I had to end it... lol
I am really, truly astounded by the amount of reviews I got! You guys are amazing!
Keep reviewing and I'll keep writing:D:D