Disclaimer: Hot diggity dog, Inuyasha I own not.
Sorry for the tardiness. I had problems logging in for days now.
Note: Um... I know every true fan of Inuyasha's has read/heard/dreamed about the Jewel's story at least a Gazillion times, but just in case someone didn't read it the last chapter (#7), my version is a tad bit different, especially the ending. So maybe you should check it out. After all, that's what I'm basing this fic on. You'll see soon enough : )
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Chapter 8: Inuyasha's Forest
Kagome was in a girly haze, this day being the first time she actually hung out with her 'fighting group' since she came to the new school.
This was also the first time she ever saw her friends wearing anything but their school uniforms or fighting outfits on. For some reason, though, they didn't change in color: the boys wore nice jeans, Inuyasha wearing a white, sleeve-less shirt under a red jacket that showed off his tight muscles, while Miroku wore ablack sleeveless t-shirt that read I'm yo' man under an un-buttoned purple shirt. His clothes and beads on his right arm matched perfectly with his wear. Shippo had on a nice, green shirt that matched his bow, with brown leaf drawings on.
On to the girls: Kagome had a nice, soft, pink dress on that went up to her thighs with little flowers at the bottom, and shiny, silver earrings accompanying her small, thin necklace of the same color. Sango wore a soft, green mini skirt on with a mixture of pink and dark pink colors on her long-sleeved shirt. She had the arm extensions from her ninja outfit on, which reminded a certain someone to keep his hands to himself. Both girls wore sandals.
A little over a month had passed and the weekend's assignment was to make a group outing with your partners in battle. So far they had only managed to walk for what seemed like forever and it was almost noon.
"So, where exactly is this place?" Kagome asked to no one in particular.
Inuyasha was the first to reply, from the head of the group. "What, you mean Inuyasha's Forest? It's only a few more minutes away, wench, so stop nagging already. Heck, even Shippo's a lot less of a nuisance than you are." He talked in an F.Y.I tone, apparently a little bothered by Kagome's constant questioning ever since they had left for the club.
Kagome closed her fists and growled. She didn't waste time and pointed a finger at him and screamed, "Sit boy!"
Inuyasha turned around and stuck out his tongue at her. "Make me!" Kagome growled even fiercer.
The rest of the group sighed. The two were always fighting over petty things like this, and ever since Kagome had used the 'sit' command on the hanyou as if he were a real dog who had misbehaved, she always used it just to tick him off—and it worked. It was her only defense against Inuyasha.
Before anyone could say anything else Sango said annoyed, "Hey guys, will you cut it out already? I don't feel like spending any of my free weekend time with you guys either, so let's just get this over with as soon as possible and leave, alright?" Normally she'd be okay with assignments like these, but this time she had indirectly meant that the monk was the problem here.
"What? Are you still mad about yesterday?" Miroku, who was ahead of the pack alongside Inuyasha, had turned to face Sango and asked her.
"You bloody hell know it's that!"
Shippo, tagging atop of Kagome's shoulder, decided to be the adult in this situation and gave his voice of reason. "Miroku, if I were you, which, thank the heavens I am not, for more personal reasons, I'd shut up right about now." Inuyasha smirked. Sometimes Shippo was a lot more mature and smarter than the pervert and, though the half-mutt never realized it, the squirt could be more mature than him also.
Sometimes everyone except Miroku could see his forth-coming cheek slaps, so this made the monk realize this was one of those moments when making Sango remember how he had groped her yesterday was just not a good idea. He decided to keep it all to himself, smirking at his pervert-ways and naughty thoughts. Sango looked away. The monk turned forward once again, and didn't say another word for the rest of their walk.
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To everyone's relief, their destination was reached sooner than they thought possible. In front of them stood a very fancy, young and hip-looking hot spot for teens, the name Inuyasha's Forest in neon letters atop the front, glass-fogged doors. Kagome's breath caught in her throat. She couldn't believe that Inuyasha was actually telling the truth. The fact that he could own a place like this was still unbelievable—him, of all people! The others swore it was true, but she still couldn't believe it when they told her. His family must be rich to own such a place: it was in between many other stores and clubs, but none of them had such a big and eccentric entrance as Inuyasha's.
There were roman-like columns surrounding the front of the building and each had real, green vines circling them in spirals. Real trees sprouted out from the walls and tiny bugs and insects inhabited them-- just like the real thing. An occasional butterfly appeared here and there. The floor was of a rough texture, almost like sand paper and of that same color.
Inuyasha smiled as he noticed Kagome's shock and amazement and broke the silence. "So, are you gonna come in or what?"
Kagome looked at him and nodded, still breathless. Inuyasha opened the front doors slowly and his friends let Kagome go inside first, knowing she'd get a kick out of what was coming next.
The whole place was almost unreal. It had a night-like feeling to it, being a little dark and the ceiling completely covered in tiny lights that resembled stars. Brown, green, blue and light pink and white lights shown from the ceiling and walls, creating an atmosphere of that of a deep forest. The fog that emanated silently every now and then from hoses hidden between the walls and floors gave it a mysterious feeling, while the forest-like music and sound affects coming from speakers made it warm and inviting. An occasional tall, real tree here and there gave the club's name authenticity.
Kagome's mouth dropped open, and everyone in her party smiled. That's how everyone would react once stepping inside Inuyasha's Forest.
"Heh. It's that good, huh?" Inuyasha faced Kagome with a broad smirk, pleased that she enjoyed it as much as he new she would.
Kagome spoke up, still trying to absorb everything she saw. "This… is…amazing!" She turned with one quick swoop to face Inuyasha. "This is incredible! I never knew or even thought that a place like this could even exist!" That made Inuyasha's cockiness go up a notch and he decided to leave the group to go and find a table to sit at, followed by a hopping, cheery Shippo.
"Like it?" Sango asked, knowing all too well that Kagome had had.
"Like it? I love it! This is awesome!" Kagome kept reading the sites in the room.
The waitresses' uniform resembled a one-piece bathing suit either blue, green, light purple or gray, long, wavy tresses of silk dangling from the bottom like a Hawaiian skirt would; some ended short, right under the thighs while others dragged on the floor. Some of the girls wore high heels while others just flat, adorned shoes. Their make up matched their outfit color and small, shiny stones sparkled on their face and arm's skin, thanks to the lighting in the room. They also had authentic-looking wood-inhabiting creatures that adorned their stylish hair, some of them being real and crawling every now and then.
"The waitresses are hot and the dance music is off the hook!" Miroku said, as he eyed the behind of one of them passing by.
Sango glared at the monk furiously, mostly jealous at the thought that he'd rather be going after the women instead of enjoying a good time with his friends. The fact that very few male waiters worked at the club didn't help ease her own eye candy needs, either.
"Forget about the people here, what do you think of the place, Kagome? Everything's real here, even the trees! It's amazing how Inuyasha's father could make this all happen, but just look at it! It's unbelievable!"
At the sound of Inuyasha's father Kagome frowned; she had heard that he died some time ago and Inuyasha had been left orphan along with his older brother. They seemed like they hated each other, mainly because Inuyasha had been the son of the remarkable and wealthy Inu no Tashio's second wife, which Sesshomaru could never accept, thinking that his own father had forgotten and undervalued his love for his own youkai mother who had died from a tragic disease earlier on. The fact that he had chosen a human nonetheless made things worse.
Sango continued. "He made everything work together perfectly; the tree's leaves don't wither or fall down and everything else is done in a way so that they won't actually act like mother nature intended, rather be enjoyed in their most fruitful and beautiful stage."
Miroku took a moment from his womanizing the waitresses that passed along to say, "Yeah, yeah, that too."
Kagome smiled. She'd never been at a club before, although a hang out that had a dining corner, a dance floor and a game room between other things in it really couldn't be called a 'club'. No; this was unique. This experience would definitely be remembered forever.
Shippo came back shortly and took them to their table, which was in a corner in a semi-circled booth. Kagome sat on one end, Shippo next to her, followed by Sango in the middle of the circle and Miroku the last at the other end, in front of Shippo. Soon after Inuyasha joined them, holding a tray of exotic drinks in one hand. After handing them out, everyone looked on as Kagome took a sip, followed by a squeal of enjoyment. "Wow! This is great! What is this?"
Inuyasha sat down next to Miroku, in front of Kagome. "It's called 'Heart of the Arrow' and trust me, you don't want to know what it's made of, so don't ask." This made the girl look weirdly at her drink, hoping it wasn't made from anything that once crawled.
"So, why don't we look at our menus?" Sango suggested. Inuyasha caught her drift and called on a demon waitress, which bowed at him and fetched their menus, returning less than a minute later and left them to decide what they wanted.
As they eyed the choices and flipped open the folded, colorful pages, Kagome asked, "So where's Hatchi? I thought he was coming, too."
Miroku looked up from his menu. "I figure he woke up late again and that he's not coming. Happens a lot. Besides, the important thing here is that we're together, and not accompanied by ones such as him." He finished by crossing his arms, closing his statement.
Inuyasha nodded, knowing that Miroku had meant Myoga as well, and no one needed a pain in the neck-- or nose-- around when looking to have a good time. Kilala had been feeling bad, so she too was at her master's home, resting.
"So, what are we supposed to do then, according to the assignment?" Kagome asked, still undecided if she should go for the regulars or try something new.
Shippo put his menu down and laid his hands on the table, standing on his tiptoes on the seat. "We don't have to do anything exactly; we just have to spend time together, away from school. We always come here; other times we go over to Inuyasha's house, but seeing that Sesshomaru is over there with his own group, Inuyasha wanted to go somewhere as far away from him as possible. That's why we came here this time." That last comment earned him a whack on the head from the hanyou.
Kagome didn't even intervene this time, although she always acted like a second mother to the kitsune. She knew he had been traveling dangerous water there, when he should have stayed in the shallow end of the pool. She took another sip from her drink.
"Well looky here… it's Kagome! Fancy meeting you here, sweetheart." Everyone looked up to find Koga and his two pals standing next to their table. Inuyasha growled and Kagome laughed nervously.
"What is a pretty thing like you doing in a place like this, sitting in the same table as the mutt-face?" Inuyasha practically lunged toward him but Miroku held him back by his shirt.
Kagome tried to speak above Inuyasha's dog growls. "We're on our assignment, Koga," she smiled.
Koga then cupped her hands in his and knelt a little to come face to face with her. "I'm sorry you have to put up with him, Kagome; I only wish that Lady Kaede would've sent you to my pack. I still don't know why she chose Inuyasha instead of me to be the one to take care of ya." Kagome turned a nervous red and laughed a little.
Inuyasha snorted. "Feh! Maybe it's because she knew I would've been a better partner than you would, you mangy wolf!" Kagome looked at Inuyasha. He never really spoke of her as a partner in that way before. " He continued, "And it's probably because I'm much stronger than you, too!" Kagome closed her eyes in disillusion.
Then again he never was one for small talk, she thought.
Koga let Kagome's hands go and stood up, annoyed. He put a fist in the air. "Grr, you want to say that to my face again, mutt!"
Inuyasha stood up abruptly from the booth and challenged him. Miroku almost fell from trying to hold him back, which was to no use. "I'll say it a million times if I have to!" The gang looked on worried that the guys would start a fight and trash the place, which would not look good if Inuyasha was a partaker of it. It would be all over the news; the son of the late, great businessman Inu no Tashio would catch eyefuls of press.
Kagome stood up and put her self in between the two. "Stop it, you two! Let's just have a good time, alright? If you want to fight, take it somewhere else."
"Grr, fine by me!" said Inuyasha.
"Yeah, me too!" growled Koga.
Kagome shook her head. They got it all wrong! How foolish could guys be! "No, no, no! I meant, like some other time. Maybe even in a match at school. Don't ruin our assignment!" She took Inuyasha by the shoulders and sat him down. "Here. Now Koga," she turned to face him, "Maybe we could talk some other time. It's my first time here and I also want to do the assignment-- without involving spilled blood this time, got it? Could you please leave us to ourselves for now?"
This made Koga feel let down but nonetheless he smiled. "Alright Kagome, your right. I'm sorry for ruining your time. I'll see you at school then, ok?" Kagome smiled back warmly and nodded, thanking him for understating her situation. Inuyasha smirked; one way or another the wolf was gone, though he'd preferred that it were him to make him go away. He didn't matter though just as long as he stayed away from Kagome. It was more like a guard dog protecting jealously his master.
Koga ignored Inuyasha and was about to leave, when a second waitress came to the table.
"Koga! It's so nice to meet you here!" The girl smiled beautifully and cocked her head to one side, her green-laced adorned ponytails swaying to the left behind her. Koga smiled nervously.
"Oh hi, Ayame. Nice to see you too." Kagome exhaled deeply. Finally, she was off the hook. She knew that Ayame liked Koga and that she'd take him off her hands for her.
Koga looked back at the table and waved good bye to everyone, taking one last long look at Kagome, winking, then started walking off without looking at Ayame. He knew she liked him, but he liked Kagome, so he didn't want to get caught up in anything else.
Ayame stared sadly at his parting figure and got lost in her own thoughts, since she cared for him deeply, ever since she met him when they were kids; more than anyone could ever know. Ayame would always glare jealously at Kagome because somehow she could always get her man's attention and she couldn't. She thought that she would lose him to a mere human who didn't even like him back, which was frustrating.
Kagome laughed nervously when she received that look that Ayame always gave her and sat down. She knew that Ayame had it tough, liking a guy who liked her when she didn't see him in that way and would gladly let Ayame take him instead. But that's easier said than done.
An awkward silence came to the table, Kagome groaning about her bad luck with guys and holding her head in her hands, looking down. Koga wanted her to be his 'woman' ever since he knew about her being a miko. It had to do with that legendary Shikon Jewel and her ability to see something that no one else could. He never really liked humans before, but Kagome managed to catch his heart— especially since she was the only one who seemed to care enough about his fights with Inuyasha to intervene; him thinking that she did it for his sake, to protect him from the dog, although it wasn't all true. And seeing Kagome fight against Naraku on her first day at school made Koga instantly fall in love with her, to both Kagome's and Ayame's misfortune.
Ayame stood there holding her little booklet out as if asking for the guy's orders, but refrained from speaking until Inuyasha cut the tension with his loud voice, saying what he wanted and Miroku and everyone else following. When they were finished Ayame smiled weakly and bowed at them, leaving to fulfill the orders.
"You know, I feel really bad for her-- about Koga and all. Usually she's really happy and energetic, but things like that make her so sad," said Sango. Kagome felt guilty because of her comment, thinking it was all her fault. If she hadn't gone to the school in the first place, everything would've gone better for Ayame and a lot of things she always blamed herself on, like her weakness and all, wouldn't be a problem for her friends.
Miroku nodded in agreement. "Yes; and having to go through that in front of everyone else, too. She must be embarrassed." Kagome sank into her seat.
"Yeah. At least this time there wasn't a show," pointed out Shippo, reminding everyone how many times the two wolves had fought about anything while in public, mostly about their own faint, ally connection in school subjects which Koga completely ignored at times and always left Ayame deserted and alone after each discussion.
Inuyasha held his face in his left hand while the other rested on the table, seemingly bored. Looking towards the crowds of people now joining together on the dance floor, he said, "Well, at least there's never a dull moment when you're around, Kagome." This made her look at him furiously, but she refrained from speaking. Nothing else would ruin her day today.
Changing the subject, she asked, "Does everyone here bow to you or what?"
Inuyasha's eyes moved to her direction in a glance without moving his face, which made her suddenly not want to throw him a fit from the last comment he had made. His eyes caught her breathe from the way he turned to look at her.
He answered in a neutral yet bored tone, "Yeah. Since I'm the owner of this place and son of my father, the 'oh-so-renowned Inu no Tashio', everyone tries to be as nice to me as possible." He lifted his head and looked at her strait on. "I just think they're a bunch of suck-ups."
That information was a little more than Kagome had asked for, but she'd want to know later on what it meant to own a place like this, which she thought never in a million years could the hanyou sitting in front of her manage to have. "No, no. I meant, if it's customary for the waitresses to bow like that to all the customers."
Inuyasha blushed a little because of his confusion. "Oh yeah, that too. But not as much as they do it when I'm around, though." Kagome nodded and the friends kept talking a while until their food were ready, which was brought by their first waitress. Ayame seemed to be a little too uncomfortable to serve them anymore.
They ate up delicious plates full of exotic food that Kagome had never seen, let alone tasted before, and kept eating to their heart's content, since everything was on Inuyasha.
When they finished talking a while, the girls suggested that they take a walk. The boys couldn't see why they would want something like that but went along anyways, since they preferred being with their fighting partners than having a boring time without them at the club.
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The girl's true reason behind 'taking a walk' came out in the open once they ran like children towards a nearby playground, directly towards the swings.
"Wee! This is fun!" Kagome laughed as she swung on her swing, while Sango did the same to her right. Shippo was on the monkey bars far away and the guys looked at the girls from beside the swings. Shippo thought it was a good idea to let them have some 'quality time together' without him, so he stayed away and played around everything else.
"What's the big deal, it's only a swing," complained Inuyasha.
Kagome looked at him, still laughing. "Oh come on, where's your young, spirited side, Inuyasha?"
He scoffed. "Feh. I left Sesshomaru babysitting it at home. I thought having another kid to look after wouldn't be too much of a hassle, even for him. Rin's probably playing with it right now." The guys laughed and suddenly Miroku had an idea.
Walking over to Sango's back, he held the chains of her swing, which made her stop. "Miroku, what are you doing?" she asked a little annoyed, but mostly surprised.
The monk snaked his neck to meet her eyes with his own. Smiling, he asked tenderly, "Would you like me to push you, Sango?"
Sango instantly got red. A boy had never asked her that, and this boy being Miroku was more than she could bear. Fidgeting a few words out but no answer, Miroku took this as an okay for him to do so and he pushed Sango lightly against her back, making her swing a couple of feet.
Kagome and Inuyasha had seen the whole thing, Kagome smiling warmly, thinking of how nice it would be if a guy offered her that too, since girls enjoyed little things like that.
Sango smiled after a few more pushes and enjoyed Miroku's act of play, laughing a little as she went higher and higher. Miroku laughed along too.
Kagome had slowed down her own pace, looking at her friend's happiness and knowing she felt happy for her as well. Now, if only some miracle would…
Kagome gasped as her swing came to a zigzagging stop. Someone had grabbed on to the chains and looking up she realized that the clawed hands that now resided around her waist could only belong to one hanyou: Inuyasha.
She was about to turn around and try and make out why he did it, although hoping it was for the reason she thought it was, and in less htan seconds later she got her answer.
Inuyasha began to push Kagome on the swing.
Dumbfounded for some time, Kagome would turn her head around as she got higher and higher to catch an occasional glimpse of her own boy, pushing her on the swings. The first time she caught his eye she could see a glow that was always rare in them, though little by little it started to grow and she would see more of them. He was being nice to her each day. This made Kagome laugh and in turn, Inuyasha laughed with her; the fact that he was interacting in a childish game with one of the very few people he ever let close to him was rather joyous.
While both girls laughed and kicked their legs high, Miroku glanced at Inuyasha and winked. Never had he been so proud of his pupil. Inuyasha smiled back, too into the moment to remember that it was Miroku who had told him with a quiet jester to do to Kagome what he did to Sango.
At the other end of the playground, Shippo lay stretched out with his head in his hands atop a big, fake, plastic dinosaur, watching the two couples in play. He sighed and shook his head, never understanding grownups and their ways of expressing love towards one another.
Girls…truth were that no one, not even them, could tell what they really wanted sometimes.
And boys… they just complicated things. They took everything too literal instead of romantically. But this was all part of life's purpose, since it made things interesting—very interesting
The four on the swings laughed loudly and Shippo rolled over on his back and lay with arms and legs stretched out, looking at the clouds as they slowly passed by. "They'll thank me some day for everything I do for them," he said to himself. Closing his eyes he continued his deep, psychological reasoning and concluded, boy, I hope I never have to grow up…
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And, Yeah! Somebody threw me a watermelon instead of a flame in the reviews! (thanx. I had free dessert for a whole week! Yum!) Classes are ending, and the next chap will come sooner, jut cause I love ya'll!
Please review, guys!