How Many Silver Linings in a Thunderstorm?
Chapter Two: Bygone Dreams
Wow, I've finally posted chapter two. Took me long enough, eh? Anyways, I just want to make a few comments about the story before we move on:
1) From now on, I'm using ningen (human), hanyou (half-demon), and youkai (demon), because they sound cool. And because so much stuff is already in Japanese anyways.
2) This and the next seven chapters or so will all begin with part of the legend of the Shikon Jewel, although the number may drop if I choose to add it into the storyline. Please do read it! The story of the jewel does in fact matter to the plot!
3) This particular chapter is written in three different styles. The first is a legend-relating voice, a bit more formal than I usually use. Next is a very childish, rather unpolished style. If you think it seems very immature, please keep in mind that IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE THAT WAY. Since I'm writing from a child's perspective, it seems appropriate to write as a child would think. The last style is my usual style, since I'm writing from a teenager's POV. Just thought I'd alert you if the flow seemed to stop and start a lot.
Japanese Word of the Day: yume- dream.
Disclaimer: Regarding this chapter and all remaining chapters in this story: I DON'T OWN INUYASHA!
-- -- --
Long ago, in a time almost lost to memory, our land was torn by war. Ningen fought youkai, youkai fought ningen, and both fought amongst themselves. The rice—if any farmers who had not been killed or conscripted were left to farm it—took nourishment from water running with blood. Children watched their parents, their siblings, and their friends as they were killed, sometimes slowly, sometimes as quick as lightning. Be the killer ningen or youkai, it soon ceased to matter. Life became nothing but a short reprieve before death.
And then, from a land far to the east, there came salvation. A miko named Midoriko with the power of a goddess came to our home, armed with compassion in one hand and ruthlessness in the other. People first thought her mad when she tried to negotiate with ningen and youkai alike. But their skepticism changed to respect when they witnessed her treatment of those who refused to live peacefully. Calling down the gods' fire, she razed their bodies and ruptured their very souls. Their identities did not matter to her; all who called for war were struck down.
Yet while many respected and worshipped Midoriko for her victories, there were also many who hated her for her sense of justice and merciless treatment of the bloodthirsty. And so, thousands of youkai and ningen fused in a bloodbath of devoured flesh and corrupted souls, until a great youkai, the likes of which had never before and, gods willing, would never again walk the earth, was born. This youkai, its body, mind, and soul crying for the miko's death, confronted Midoriko, and the greatest battle in all of time ensued.
For seven days, lightning struck the battlefield like rain, and fire raged around its borders, sending plumes of smoke so high they blocked the sun for many weeks after. The ground shook violently and the oceans roared and frothed with angry spray. Those strong-willed enough to look upon the battle saw that miko and youkai were well matched during those seven days of destruction.
But on the dawn of the eighth day, Midoriko began to tire. Seeing this advantage, the youkai reached out and grabbed hold of the exhausted woman, piercing her chest with one of its massive claws. The miko was dying, but she had one last spell to cast. For the last time, she called lightning down from the heavens, called it and ordered it to strike her. As the lightning blazed through her, she found the strength to entwine the demon's own soul with hers as her magic began ripping her apart.
The demon shrieked in fury and tried to drop its captive, but was paralyzed by Midoriko's power. Together, they perished encased in heavenly fire, and their bodies crumbled to ash.
For many more weeks, the fires burned, the lightning struck, the earth trembled, and the seas shuddered from the aftershocks of the battle. Slowly, the fires burned out, and a few ningen ventured out to the still battlefield. All that remained of the two mighty warriors was a single jewel they called Ka-Tama, meaning 'beautiful jewel'.
Centuries later, this mysterious jewel would come to be known as the Shikon no Tama.
-- -- --
Kagome knew she looked like a baby, but she couldn't stop herself; it was nighttime and she felt all alone and really, really tired. She stuck her thumb in her mouth, squishing Fluffy between her arm and her chest, and looked up at the old lady with wide eyes.
"You're Miss Kagome Higurashi, right?" the lady asked with a smile. She looked nice.
She pulled her thumb out of her mouth—"Yes"—and stuck it back in.
From behind her, the lady who had taken her from the hospital said cheerfully, "This is Miss Kaede, Kagome. She's going to help take care of you while you're staying at Shikon Orphanage."
Kagome felt her eyes fill with tears. "But why can't Mommy and Daddy take care of me?" she asked the lady. "Miss Chieko, why didn't my Mommy and Daddy visit me in the hospital? Where are they?" Do they still love me?
Miss Chieko and Miss Kaede looked at each other before Miss Kaede said, "It'll take some time to explain, Kagome. For now, why don't you come inside and meet your new friends? There are a few kids here your age who you might like to play with."
She didn't want to look like a baby, so she pulled her thumb out of her mouth and wiped it on Fluffy's fuzzy white ear. For a second, she thought she wanted to put Fluffy down, but she liked him. So when Miss Kaede reached down to take Fluffy, Kagome shook her head and hugged the stuffed dog. "Fluffy wants to stay with me." So the lady nodded and took Kagome's suitcases and led her through a lot of hallways and doors before she stopped in a playroom. There were three kids there. One was a girl with big, red eyes. There were two boys, one who was sleeping on the couch and one who was playing blocks with the girl.
"Here we are, Kagome!" Kaede said happily. "You two, would you like to come here for a moment?" The two who were awake jumped up and ran to Kagome. Kaede told them, "This is Kagome Higurashi. She's also going to stay here for a while. Would you like to introduce yourselves?"
"I'm Miroku Katen," the boy said. He had funny purple eyes and a little black ponytail, and when he held out his hand for her to shake, Kagome saw that he was wearing something like a big purple glove on that arm. She stared at it before Miroku said, "You're supposed to take my hand and shake it."
"I know that!" Kagome was angry. She wasn't stupid!
She took his hand and shook, and Miroku asked her, "Hey, Kagome, want to be my girlfriend?"
"Ew, no!" She jumped away from him and glared at him, clutching Fluffy in front of her. "I don't want a boyfriend!"
The other girl stuck out her tongue at the boy and said, "I toldja! Boys've got cooties!" She turned to Kagome and smiled. "I'm Sango Chikara! Finally, there's another girl here! Miroku here is boring because he keeps complaining if you don't say you'll be his girlfriend, and that kid over there just won't wake up." She waved a hand at the boy sleeping on the couch. "I even tried shouting in his ear."
"Now, now, Sango, that's not nice. Leave him alone until he wakes up, okay?" Kaede gently pushed Kagome toward the pile of blocks that Sango and Miroku had been playing with. "Until then, you three play together, okay? I'll come back every once in a while to check on you. I don't want you leaving this room until I tell you to, all right?"
"All right, Miss Kaede," the three of them answered, sitting down by the blocks. Kagome put Fluffy down to the side and picked up a yellow block. She put it back down in the middle of the floor, and Sango put a green one on top. Then, Miroku stacked a blue one on top of that one. Silently, they kept building up and out, until the tower was as high as Kagome's bellybutton and as wide at the bottom as her foot. Then, she sighed. "I'm bored."
"Me, too," Sango said, yawning and poking Fluffy's nose. "And I'm tired."
"Ooh, Sango's a baby, she wants to take a nap!" Miroku teased, standing up and hopping from one foot to the other.
"I do not!" she snapped. "I'm just saying that I'm tired! I bet you're tired, too!"
"Yeah, but I bet that kid is even tireder than me!" Miroku argued, pointing at the sleeping boy.
Suddenly, he moved.
Kagome jumped to her feet. "Hey, I think he's waking up!" She ran over to the boy and looked down at his face. He was a youkai, that was for sure; no ningen had long silver hair and ears like his. He looked sad.
"Let me see!" Sango ran up on Kagome's other side, trying to look around Kagome at the boy. "Yeah, his eyes are starting to move."
"So are his ears!" Kagome squealed. They looked just like doggie ears!
"Ooh, really?" Miroku rushed to the armrest so he was at the top of Inuyasha's head. "Haha, look at 'em!"
"Hey, do you think I can touch them?" Kagome asked, reaching out with one hand.
Miroku stopped her. "No, I don't know if he'll like it."
She glared at him and said, "Why not?"
"Because I wouldn't like it if someone touched my ears, and Mushin Papa always told me to treat other people the same way I want to be treated."
With a shrug, Kagome reached out again. "But I don't care if he touches my ears. And look, they're doggie ears! Dogs like it when you pet their ears. Fluffy likes it." She pointed back at the little white toy she had left by the blocks.
"Yeah, but Fluffy's a toy."
"So? Doggies like getting their ears petted."
"He's no doggie!"
"He has doggie ears, so his ears will like it!"
"Shut up!"
The two of them looked down in surprise. The boy was awake and glaring at them with sparkling golden eyes. "You two stupidheads woke me up!" he snarled.
Kagome gasped and jumped away. "You said two bad words! It's not nice to call people…you know. So say sorry!"
He looked angry and sat up. "Make me!"
"Say it!"
"Make me!"
"Say it or…or I won't play with you!"
"Do I care?" He shrugged and looked pointedly away. "Nope."
"Fine," Kagome huffed. She grabbed Miroku and Sango's sleeves and tugged them both back to the blocks. "Let's leave the meanie alone."
The three of them sat on the floor, ignoring the mean boy and picking up more blocks to make their tower even bigger. Kagome didn't know how long they kept it up before she felt someone tap her shoulder. When she looked back, the boy was standing right behind her. He had picked up Fluffy and was letting it dangle at his side from one hand. "I wanna play blocks, too."
She frowned at him. "First, give me back my Fluffy. And second, you gotta say you're sorry for being mean."
"Fine." The boy dropped Fluffy onto Kagome's head and muttered, "S'ry."
Sango didn't look happy, but Kagome thought it was enough. The boy still looked sad; maybe he needed friends. "Okay! Sit then, and start building!"
Slowly, the boy sat down at her side and picked up a red block. He put it down on one side of the tower and began building a wall around the tower. "Keep it safe from bad guys," he said.
"Hey, yeah! And Fluffy can be a century!" Kagome happily plopped her dog down inside the wall.
Miroku looked at her. "What's a century?"
"A century is this soldier guy who stands on walls of castles and forts and stuff and watches out for bad guys. If he sees one, he tells his friends, and they all guard whatever's inside their wall," Kagome explained, the role of teacher making her feel very important.
"I think you mean 'sentry,' Kagome," said Miss Kaede's voice. The kids all turned around and saw her standing the doorway. "So you've woken up?" she asked the new boy. "Did you introduce yourself yet?"
He shook his head.
"So introduce yourself now," she said with a smile.
"I'm Inuyasha Tsuki," he said quickly. "I, uh…I guess it's nice to meet you or something like that."
Miss Kaede smiled again and walked into the room. "Very good. Inuyasha, these three are Sango, Miroku, and Kagome. They're going to be your friends while you stay here, okay?"
The three of them smiled at Inuyasha, but he looked down.
She sighed and said, "Okay kids, it's time for bed."
She led them all up one flight of stairs and pointed to two doors. "Inuyasha, Miroku, this one's your room. And Sango and Kagome, you two are going to stay in this one."
Kagome was suddenly very tired. She held Fluffy against her chest and yawned. "So it's time to sleep now?"
"Well, first we have to brush your teeth, wash your faces, and get you changed," Miss Kaede reminded her. And they did, with her help. Finally, in her favorite set of yellow ducky pajamas, Kagome toddled into her room and fell onto the bed. "Good night, Miss Kaede," she said when the woman came in to tuck them in. Sango was already asleep.
She picked up the blanket and let it drop onto Kagome's shoulders. "Sweet dreams, Kagome."
-- -- --
Kagome's eyes blinked open. She was disoriented for a moment. This wasn't the room where she had fallen asleep…Fluffy was gone…there were pictures all over the wall…
She grinned. Just a dream. The memory had seemed so real while she was asleep. There had been so many little things that she was sure she would have forgotten while she was awake, but in her dreams, everything was perfectly detailed. Even ten years later, the memory was completely intact.
The mattress squeaked as Kagome forced herself to sit up. The bed she had fallen asleep in while wearing her ducky pajamas was in one of the temporary rooms on the second floor, the rooms reserved for room-less new arrivals to Shikon Orphanage. This room was on the third floor; it had been her room for years now. The pictures on the bulletin board—photographs, sketches, magazine clippings, several postcards—were familiar and dearly treasured. Each one held some kind of special memory for Kagome, from the amazingly accurate sketch of spring's first robin to the ratty old postcard from Los Angeles.
Her half of the room was just as cluttered as the board. Schoolbooks, papers, bags, and clothes lay in haphazard piles on the floor, at the foot of her bed, on her chair, and on her desk. An older, worn version of Fluffy reigned over the disorder from his throne atop a mountain of clothing, books, and CDs. A teenaged girl's room, not a temporary housing bedroom.
But one thing from her dream had not changed. Across the room from Kagome was another bed, drifting in sea of clutter much like hers. A blanket-covered lump was breathing deeply on the bed, a mass of long black hair tumbling out from the cocoon and across the forgotten pillow. Somewhere amidst all of those blankets was Sango, Kagome's roommate and best girlfriend.
Kagome glanced over at the clock. 7:30. It's not worth going back to sleep if I'm going to be up again at 8 to prepare for the visitors. With a sigh, she swung her feet over the edge of the bed and gingerly placed them on the cold floorboards that weren't yet covered by junk. After a moment, she stood and stretched.
Having just turned fifteen, Kagome had a respectable figure, but was also a little shorter than average. Her tousled hair, a wavy, bluish-black curtain when brushed, fell a little past her shoulders. Her bangs, limp for lack of attention from a brush or comb, fell repeatedly into her wide gray eyes as she twisted from side to side, working the stiffness out of her back. Pinched with sleep though it was, her face was sweet and open. Her mouth was the kind that smiled easily, and everything, even up to her thin eyebrows and slightly curled eyelashes, was very expressive. The face of a girl who was easily hurt, but who forgave just as easily; who loved and trusted when most others with a shred of common sense did not.
With a sigh, Kagome let herself sit back onto her bed and idly kicked her feet. The pink sheets looked very cheerful with her yellow pajama-covered legs on top of them. What to do, what to do…
Her eyes fell upon a sketchbook on top of her also yellow backpack, and she smiled. What else? She hooked the book with her toes and managed to grab it before it slipped back to the ground. A mechanical pencil and a white rubber eraser were marking the spot of her latest sketch, but Kagome didn't immediately turn to that spot.
She opened the book and began slowly flipping through almost three months' worth of sketches. Sango, having fallen asleep while listening to her mp3 player—good heavens, had it only been three months since she had last drawn such atrocious feet?—a tree in the garden visible from their window, a baseball glove, a restaurant café packed with customers on a snowy evening, a roughed-out human shape aiming a bow and arrow at a practice target—ooh, the thighs were way too long—some random person she had seen amongst the visitors, and so many, many more.
Kagome smiled at the visible progress she had made. Others often gushed over her drawings, but there were always so many flaws that made her itch to pick up an eraser and pencil and start editing. But she had a policy of refusing to alter a sketch once it was finished, unless she intended to polish it and make it into an actual drawing or painting. There was something very nostalgic about looking through her past works.
Finally, she reached the last one, a rough sketch of a dog sniffing eagerly around the kitchen exit. After contemplating it for a moment, she shook her head, not in the mood to go back to something old just yet. Instead, Kagome flipped to the next blank page.
And sat.
Gods, why is it always so hard to think up a topic? Kagome griped, glaring unseeingly at Sango's wall, which was covered with posters and several large, multi-pocket CD-holders.
One poster drew her attention. It was for some new band called Potential; contrary to the name, the band held little promise. Their songs were rather dull and cliché, and Kagome had already heard Sango bemoan the money wasted on their album and poster several times.
Very little potential…except for now. The band had set wheels turning in Kagome's head, and she grinned. Potential…power…change…I've got it! She turned the pad so it was horizontal and began to draw eagerly. So preoccupied was she that she jumped violently when Sango's alarm clock went off. "Sh-shit!" she breathed, grabbing her eraser and shakily removing the harsh line her pencil had left when she jerked with surprise.
In the past twenty minutes, she had managed to rough out one person and had started on a second. For now, she closed her sketchbook and set it down on her bed.
A hand emerged from the Sango-cocoon, groping blindly for the clock. After fifteen seconds of fruitless, noisy searching, the hand's motions became jerkier, as if the owner were getting irritated.
Another ten seconds passed.
The hand was slapped against everything it touched in a distinctly pissed fashion.
Five more seconds.
"Damn clock!" Sango shouted, her voice slightly rough from sleepiness. She reared up out of the cocoon like a monster rising out of the deep blue sea. Yes, like a monster. A fresh-out-of-bed Sango was not exactly a treat on the eyes. Her ruby eyes were a little dull with grogginess, although an angry fire smoldered somewhere behind the sleepiness, and there was plenty of sleepy sand in her eyes. Her tangled black hair, sun-bleached to almost-very-dark-brown, was normally the envy of many girls at school. Kagome grinned wryly. If only they could see the Medusa-esque hairdo that Sango woke to every morning.
But minus the bed head and sleepy sand, Sango was a beautiful girl in a semi-plain, semi-exotic sort of way. Nonsensical as the description was, it was the only way Kagome could explain it. Her friend was strong, with long, lean muscles everywhere and a figure Kagome would die for. Her wine-colored eyes and long eyelashes made her seem sultry and otherworldly, even though Sango herself was anything but that. Yet at the same time, Sango's shy smile was sweet and made her seem young and in need of protection. Once again, Sango was anything but that.
Finally locating the elusive alarm clock, Kagome's roommate flopped down on her back with a sigh. She stared up at the ceiling and commented a perfectly normal tone of voice, "Sorry if I woke you, Kagome."
With a giggle, Kagome slid off her bed and knelt to reach the drawers under the bed. "Don't worry, I was already up. And it was quite amusing to watch."
"You say that every time," Sango said snippily, sitting up again. With a sigh, she dragged herself upright again, proving herself tall and in command of a predatory sort of grace, and approached her desk. There was a terrifyingly tough-looking brush lying on top of a pile of her Spring Break homework, which she picked up and began to run mercilessly through her hair. Between her winces and whimpers as thousands of knots snagged and were either straightened or ripped out of her scalp, she asked Kagome, "What time's the visit?"
She made a face. "9:30. You'd better make a run for the showers if you want to look presentable, or else they'll all be taken."
The left side of Sango's hair had become a long, sheer curtain of black that looked brown in the sunlight from the window. But the right was still a mess. With a deep breath, she attacked the chaos of hair and snorted, "You know I stopped caring years ago. Once you're past twelve or thirteen, it's over. Besides, you haven't showered either."
Kagome had changed into a black T-shirt and a pair of jeans. Now, she moved to one strangely neat corner of her desk and began to poke through the box of earrings she kept there. "Like you, I don't care. This is our home now. No point in leaving it for just one year." The black and silver earring in her hand suddenly halted halfway between the box and her ear. "One year," she breathed. "And then we're on our own."
Sango grimaced. Her hair was finally fully brushed, and she tied it back with a white ribbon just a few inches above the ends. The tip of the extremely low ponytail just brushed the waistband of the shorts she wore to bed. "Less," she corrected. "Try under three months. Once school's out for the year, we're moving, remember?"
As her roommate changed, Kagome gazed thoughtfully out the window. They had a view of the garden, for which she was grateful whenever she was strapped for sketch ideas. Since the window was to the west, she had even gotten in a few decent paintings of the sunset.
Less than three months here, she mused, lightly running her hand along the edge of the desk. Less than three months before we have to strike out on our own…
A chill of apprehension ran down Kagome's spine, but she shook it brusquely away. She had a job, she had her brain, and she had her friends. With that sort of combination, what could go wrong?
She almost immediately grimaced in a wry sort of way. What couldn't go wrong, knowing her friends?
Sango was trying to decide between a blue baseball shirt and a layered pink shirt when someone knocked on the door. "Who is it?" Kagome called out, gesturing emphatically at the baseball shirt. Blue, surprisingly, emphasized her friend's elegant eyes, and the style of shirt was very flattering for her athletic body shape.
"Your gallant knights, fair ladies, come to escort you to your meal," said a smooth, dramatic voice.
At the sound, Sango almost viciously pulled her shirt on and closed her underwear drawer, a nervous blush on her face. "I'll never hear the end of it if he sees that," she muttered, glaring at the door. "All right, Miroku, come in!"
The door swung open, and the violet-eyed boy, ten years older than he had been in Kagome's dream, swept inside with a flamboyant bow. He was several inches taller than the already-tall Sango. His hair was cut at the shoulders and always bound back in a small ponytail, with a few stray bangs framing his relaxed face. His eyes were kind and almost always bright with cheerfulness, which, in combination with his fresh, sophisticatedappearance and natural charm, had several girls at school following him around with stars in their eyes.
Miroku was a looker…and infuriatingly enough, he knew it. He straightened out of his bow, smoothing down his light blue polo shirt, and flashed a winning grin at the two girls. "If the ladies would come with me?" He held out his two arms, waiting for them to link arms with him and allow him to accompany them downstairs.
Instead, they eyed his hands suspiciously. "You must think sleep curdles my brain or something," Sango said lightly, shaking her head and taking her cell phone off of her desk. Sticking it in the pocket of her loose capris, she pointed out, "We've known each other for ten years, Miroku. I know very well how much your hands 'fidget' whenever a girl is within reach. Honestly, I'm surprised no one's called you in for sexual harassment yet."
Dropping the knight act, Miroku shrugged easily and took a seat on Kagome's bed. She shifted away from his wandering hands, but otherwise didn't react; they were all too close to worry about little things like sitting on beds. Heck, they still snuck into each others' rooms for sleepovers! "Remember, Sango"—Kagome answered her friend—"most of those who are harassed are too starstruck by the beautiful Miroku Katen's wit and charm to mind."
Miroku nodded. "But of course! Can I help it if the ladies love me?"
His words were haughty, but his eyes were sparkling with mischief, so Kagome let it go. Instead, she turned to Miroku and asked, "And speaking of ladies, where's Inuyasha?"
"I heard that, Kagome." Another boy stood in the doorway, frowning at the three of them. Everything about him, his golden eyes, his silver hair, his twitching dog ears, his clawed hands, his posture, spoke of strength and defiance. He wore a simple red T-shirt and baggy black jeans, but the loose clothing did little to conceal the fact that he was very well built. There were girls out there who liked him for that, for his blazing eyes, for his rough, devil-may-care face, but those who admitted it were few and far between.
Kagome felt her good mood drop a few notches. Don't think about that now, she told herself, instead focusing on Inuyasha as he asked her, "Care to tell me exactly what you meant?"
She widened her eyes innocently at him. "Why, Inuyasha, don't tell me I've offended you! Is 'lady' not elevated enough for your majesty and grace? Perhaps 'empress'! Or 'goddess'!"
Miroku hid a smile and added, "Or maybe he thinks lady is too high-born sounding for someone so modest as him. Maybe just 'young miss' or 'mistress' or 'little girl'—"
"Very funny, asshole," Inuyasha interrupted, ambling into the room and rapping sharply on Miroku's forehead with his knuckles. "Some friend you are."
"Ow…" Miroku massaged the offended spot and wiped an invisible tear from his eye. "You are too cruel…"
Rolling two fiery eyes to the ceiling, Inuyasha turned to Kagome. "As for you…"
Kagome squeaked and tried to duck, but he was too fast for her. He pinched one of her cheeks between his thumb and fingers and shook slightly. "Just who are you calling a lady?"
She winced a little. The pinch ached a bit, but that was to be expected; Inuyasha possessed the strength of ten men. Literally. They had compared him with the ningen gym teacher during their last fitness exam. But she was surprised that the pinch didn't hurt more. Considering Inuyasha's claws and generally antagonistic personality, it was easy to forget that he had iron control over his strength, enough control to prevent the knife-sharp claws from puncturing her cheek.
After a moment of thought that brought no witty response to mind, she gently tugged her cheek free. "Come on, O Violent, Scary One, we've got breakfast to eat."
Inuyasha grinned at her, revealing a set of abnormally sharp canines. "What, too sleepy to think just yet, Kagome?"
She stuck her tongue out at him and flounced out of the room. "Awake enough to beat you to the food," she retorted from the hallway.
Without a word, the hanyou raced out of the room and began heading for the stairs.
"Hey, no fair! You got a head start, and I'm just a ningen! Stop right there! Inuyasha!"
-- -- --
"—and then Kouga pulled a hilarious face"—Miroku paused to demonstrate, letting his eyes widen to the size of purple dinner plates—"and started stammering all over the place. He kept saying things like, 'Yeah, you're pretty and all, and I think you're cool,' which of course did nothing to make Ayame think that he didn't want to be her boyfriend."
Inuyasha smiled predatorily and tapped lazily at one of his claws. "The stuck-up wolf deserves it," he said happily.
The four of them were sitting on a pair of couches in the corner of the main lounge. Since the girls refused to sit with Miroku, the two boys were sitting together, as were the girls. They had spent the last half hour recalling little things that had happened to them last week before Spring Break had started, although Miroku's story of Ayame's love confession at the last track meet was certainly the most interesting.
Now, they lapsed temporarily into silence, letting the noise of the other people in the room drift over them. The little kids were playing something that looked like a tackle football spin on 'Duck, Duck, Goose.' The older ones, mostly between second and fifth grade, were clustered around the small TV that was connected to an old, clunky Playstation. Every once in a while, the girls would shriek and the boys would cheer as a spectacular shattering noise blasted out of the speakers. The middle schoolers were playing a whispered game of Truth or Dare, occasionally bursting into laughter and shouts of protest.
Kagome, Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha were the only high schoolers here. All the other kids their age had already been adopted through visits like this one. Prospective parents strolled around the room, eyeing the children almost like horses they were interested in buying. The most by far were watching the little kids, although some were studying the elementary school kids and the middle-schoolers. Few people did more than glance in their direction.
But the few who did pay more than cursory attention to them were entirely unwelcome.
"Take a look, Maki," they heard one man whisper to his wife. "The one with the silver hair…the hanyou…"
Inuyasha's claws tightened on the seat cushion.
"He's the heir to Tsuki Corporation."
"No kidding! What's he doing in a place like this?"
"I hear no one wanted to take him in."
Miroku poked Inuyasha's arm, and, with an effort, Inuyasha relaxed his hands, saving the cushions a violent shredding.
"Really? Why? He may be a hanyou, but he's rich all the same. There should be plenty of people out there who are willing to sacrifice all propriety for money."
"Yeah, but I've heard rumors…you know how the whole family was brutally murdered?"
"Yeah?"
"Some people say the kid killed them all."
"No!"
"That's what they say."
"So, you know that Ayame?" Kagome finally said, making sure she spoke loudly enough to drown out the couple's scandalous whispers. Miroku and Sango immediately feigned attention, although they were all focusing on the suddenly smoldering Inuyasha. There had been a time when inuyoukai had been feared predators; the many years of peace between ningen and youkai had not entirely erased his kind's ability to get very dangerous. "She's…um…she's lucky! I mean…she, um, had the courage to approach the guy she likes. I bet Kouga will really warm up to a forthright girl like her! Yeah, lucky her."
That last sentence did the trick. Inuyasha's ears had been swiveling between her and the conversations floating around the lounge, but now they were focused rather unnervingly on her. "What did you say?" he asked incredulously.
"I said Ayame's lucky," she said blithely, hiding a grim smile. It's either that couple or me that he takes it out on…at least I can give as good as I get.
"To have a guy like Kouga, you mean?" Inuyasha asked, sounding slightly dazed.
She smiled brightly. "Yup! Someone like Kouga!"
"What, are you saying that you want the mangy wolf?" His voice had darkened again, but he still looked more disbelieving than enraged.
"Really? Is that what you heard?" She feigned sudden disinterest, wondering if she could make herself blush on command. Let's see…something embarrassing…tripping in the middle of the cafeteria…getting toilet paper stuck to my shoe…Miroku looking through all of my underwear… Her cheeks reddened at the thought, although not with humiliation.
The blush did it. "You do want him for yourself!" Inuyasha squawked, glaring angrily at her.
And now, I just hold on for dear life, Kagome thought fatalistically. No stopping him once he's sunk his teeth this far in.
Of course, she wouldn't take her own advice. Kagome never 'held on for dear life' when she was fighting with her friends. When they dragged her through the mud, she fought back and dragged them around in turn. Although it had been years since she had fought with Sango or Miroku. It was Inuyasha who riled her the most.
"And why would you care if I did?" she said coolly, pretending to check her nails. "You've got a girlfriend. Although I don't blame you if you've finally wizened up and seen that she's a complete—"
"Don't change the subject," he snapped, his voice doubling in its sharpness thanks to Kagome's reference to Kouga and the insult to his girlfriend. "The mangy wolf is a jerk. Why the hell would you like someone like him?"
Kagome tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Well, let's see. He's good-looking, he's athletic, romantic, and chivalrous, he has impeccable manners, he's practically the chief of police's son…" She trailed off and looked pointedly at her shell-shocked friend. "Why the hell wouldn't I like someone like him?"
Seemingly in defeat, the hanyou slumped back into the couch. "Yeah, I guess that's true. Beggars can't be choosers, after all."
She had been preoccupied with worry that she'd have to stir Inuyasha up again to keep him from attacking the vicious gossips—but she immediately forgot her mission at Inuyasha's words. Her head snapped up. "Excuse me?" she said softly, noticing that Sango was leaning away slightly.
He shrugged. "Beggars can't be choosers. I should have seen before; it's easy for a girl as desperate as you are to stoop so low as to pant after Kouga, of all people—"
"Are you implying that I'm just throwing myself at every single available man?" Kagome hissed, standing and walking to Inuyasha's couch. She loomed over him, glaring down at the apparently unperturbed hanyou.
"Well, how else is a bitch like you going to find herself a hunk of meat to call a boyfriend?"
"Don't call me a bitch!" she snarled quietly, prodding his chest. "And I'm not about to settle for just any 'hunk of meat', I'll have you know!"
"Really? What else would you call that stupid wolf?"
"Why are you so jealous of him?"
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"Kouga! You wouldn't care if I had said Kuranosuke, or Hojo—"
"Wanna bet?"
"My point is, why are you always picking on Kouga?"
"I'm picking on him? Kagome, did you knock your stupid brain loose last night? Who's been doing the picking for the past nine years?"
"Both of you, but—"
"So why are you only yelling at me?"
"Because you're one of my best friends, so I expected you to take the criticism calmly and gratefully. I don't like the idea of offending Kouga—"
"Yeah, some best friend you are!"
"Excuse me? Who rescued your stupid ass the last four times you cut chemistry? Who gave you her special glowstick when we were seven years old? Who has defended you at every turn—"
"Not at this turn, you haven't!"
"Because Kouga is my friend!"
"I thought I was your friend!"
"But this is different!"
"Oh, I see how it is. Kouga, handsome Kouga, kind Kouga, track star, well-connected, chivalrous, polite Kouga, can't offend him, now, can we? He's just too perfect to offend, isn't he? No, I wouldn't dare defend a pure-blooded youkai, no, but my best friend who just happens to be a hanyou—"
"Shut up! You know I don't think that!"
"Then what the hell is all this about Kouga? What's so special about him that makes you so slow to insult him, huh?"
The whole conversation had been communicated through an exchange of whisper-shouts, so although some people were giving them odd looks, no one could hear their words. Kagome rubbed a hand across her face and tried to take a deep breath. "There is nothing about Kouga that would make me prefer him as a friend over you."
Inuyasha leveled a long, cold glare at her before rising and shoving past her. He stomped out of the lounge and down a hallway that would lead to the garden.
Sango and Miroku turned to Kagome, smiling sympathetically. She made face at them and flopped back down beside Sango. "The things I go through for that stupid jerk…" she muttered.
"Perhaps you should explain to him that you were just trying to distract him?" Miroku suggested, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "Once you both have cooled off, that is."
Kagome smiled wryly at that. "Inuyasha, cool off? The boy's like the sun: always white hot."
They were interrupted from their chuckling, a bit forced on Kagome's part, by an old woman's voice. The speaker, Kaede, had aged since Kagome's dream had taken place; she had only been fifty then. But now she was sixty, a real old lady. But her one good eye was still crackling with youthful energy; the other was covered with a pirate-esque patch. The loss of her eye had come with the total destruction of her first car, and also with a slight limp.
Yet she looked very kind and welcoming as she waved for attention at the front of the room. A vaguely familiar man was standing next to her, and he looked…odd. Kagome wasn't sure what it was. He was a ningen—his long, scraggly black hair had not covered the tell-tale ears—but his eyes were red, like Sango's. But no, that wasn't the strange part.
It almost seemed to Kagome as if something was flickering just under his pale skin, as if his smiling face was hiding some sort of roiling motion within.
She shook her head. I'm just being ridiculous.
"Please, allow me to interrupt the visit for just a few moments with a quick announcement. I would like to introduce—to those of you who do not know him—Naraku Hoshii. He formerly served as Shikon Orphanage's manager's assistant"—ah, that was why he looked familiar—"but now he has been promoted. Manager Onigumo Houka has decided to retire early, and has recommended Mr. Hoshii to take his place. So in three weeks, our new manager will be this wonderfully capable man! Let's welcome him to his new position!"
Polite applause broke out through the room, but Kagome never noticed. She had slipped out of the room the moment Kaede stopped speaking, deciding to explain things to Inuyasha before his jealousy—the best name for his actions, even though he was already committed to someone—spun out of control and she ended up dealing with a week-long battle for understanding. It had happened before, and the results had not been pretty.
As she had guessed, Inuyasha was in the garden. He sat high up in the same tree that Kagome could see from her bedroom window, his arms crossed and a heavy frown on his face.
The moment she stepped outside into the cool March air, he said, "Are you sure you want to be here? Won't the wonderful, flawless Kouga pine for you?"
"Inuyasha, can you just give me a minute to explain?"
He looked away and grunted. Inuyasha-speak for: why the fuck have you waited this long to start talking sense, you moron?
"Back there, I was just trying to distract you. You were about to explode at that one couple, and we all know it would have ended badly. So I figured I'd distract you and let you vent some other way…and since you hate Kouga so much, I figured it'd be the easiest way to get you riled up."
Inuyasha turned toward her and gave her a long, unreadable stare. "So in there, you were just fucking around to keep me out of trouble?"
"Well…" Kagome shivered slightly. She wore only a T-shirt, and the snow had only just melted a week ago. It couldn't be warmer than 50 degrees. "I'll admit that I did actually get upset toward the end, when you were calling me desperate and a bad friend…but, yeah, I just wanted to save you another grounding."
"Hm. Fine then." He seemed to relax and said nonchalantly, "Go back inside. It's cold."
"You come, too," she encouraged him, relieved that he had given way so easily. "You don't want to catch a cold, do you?"
He raised an eyebrow at her, and she had to laugh. "Okay, okay, you're a hanyou, you're tough, you can handle what we puny ningen can't…" She walked back to the door and, while opening it, paused and said, "See you at lunch?"
"At lunch."
"Okay."
"Later."
The door closed.
(end)
-- -- --
Eep, quite long…oh well, a long chapter to make up for a long wait, right? Can't think of much to say...although according to my current plans, the plot will be moving much faster this time around. Until next time, then!