Disclaimer: ...:thwack:...oh yeah...right...I disclaim! ;P Ehehe...sorry 'bout that...I was spacing out... :D
Author's Note: To my dearest readers:
It has come to my attention (THANK YOU, CHERRY::smooch: ) that the posting of thank-you-s here could very well get my story deleted. As this is the unfortunate case, please know that I am very, very grateful for all of your reviews, even if I am not able to verbalize it here. :D Don't worry—I will find a way. :D
Also, as to the contest mentioned in the last chapter, nobody's won the prize yet! ;P gillianraine missed one answer, so everyone still has a shot at it. :D Nice try though, sweetie. :P
Grrr...my Author's Note is so short without my thank-you-s...why, why! Ehe...ehehehe. ;P Anyway...enjoy this chapter—I hope you like it! ;P
Chapter 7
Opportunities to be "Agreeable"
A pregnant silence hung in the hallway and the cafeteria. People had stopped scuffling to get a look and instead were listening with all their might, ears straining painfully away from their heads as they caught Kagome's barely audible voice and Koga's sharply clear one.
Koga.
The last time she had seen him he had been standing in front of her family's shrine, gilded in the full moon's silvery light. It had been the end of summer over a year ago and after a brisk, casual goodbye earlier she had been surprised—but not overly so—to see him that evening. She had felt extremely sad but deadly calm when she'd faced him then, compassionate but firm in her rejection of him in the face of his own passionate determination. She was certain he'd ended it then—certain that he knew that a confrontation wherein he forced her to face his feelings for her openly would mean closure and he would be able to move on easily into his new life continents away from her.
Yet here he was, solid and real, over a year later, dressed in a torn pair of Levi's and a black tee, a Nike sports band keeping his bangs off his face and a strong elastic holding it securely up. His warm skin was kissed with a fresh tan and his charged eyes were sending out sparks as needy and meaningful as the ones she'd received years ago.
Maybe even more so.
"What—" she swallowed, suddenly finding her throat dry—"What are you doing here?"
His electric blue eyes softened into an almost dreamy hue, his smirk mellowing into something tender. She felt her heart ache just then and she knew it showed because he winced, looking away from her awkwardly and rubbing his neck.
"Listen," he said earnestly, his voice low so that only she could hear him. "I know you think it was finished between us then—believe me, so did I. But we were wrong, Kagome. I just realized that I put myself through a year of unnecessary agony because no matter what I do I—"
"You son of a bitch."
The next instant was a blur of silver and black as a tangle of limbs crashed into the wall, causing people to scatter and scream. The mayhem that had died down in favor of suspenseful observation was once more in full swing and Kagome felt her sluggish pulse begin to race as she heard people on their cell phones calling for help and others resuming the delighted hooting and catcalling of earlier.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed, seeing red on the silver that she knew was his hair. "Koga, stop it!"
But neither of them seemed to hear her. And while she could hear them well enough, she could only hear incoherent growling and indistinguishable sounds of agony and breaking concrete—or was that bone? Blood was starting to spray onto the walls and snarls and howls only heightened the hysteria. Miroku—his lip bleeding and blood soaking the fabric on his left shoulder—was making his way through the crowd to Sango.
"Miroku!" she cried, her face draining of color as she spotted his shoulder. "What's going on—"
"Never mind that for now," he said shortly, panting from exertion. "We have to get these two to stop fighting before anyone else gets hurt and they wreck this entire building." Turning to Ayumi and Yuka—who were covering their ears and had their eyes shut tight, he spoke kindly. "Ayumi? Yuka? Would you please start ushering everyone out of here?"
"W-What?" Yuka's voice was small and frightened, but her eyes lifted a fraction.
"Please get everyone away from this place," Miroku repeated gently. "I'm afraid that more people will get hurt if we allow them to stay and they're not helping the situation at all."
Yuka nodded hesitantly, lowering her hands and flinching as the sights and sounds hit her full blast. Taking Ayumi—who was in worse shape—by the hand, she took one more look at Miroku's supportive, encouraging expression and hurried over to the person who had momentarily served as Inuyashi's crash buffer.
"Akagi-sempai!" she could be heard saying vaguely over the din. "Please help us get everyone out of here! Miroku said to..."
"Now, Sango," Miroku resumed grimly as Yuka's voice faded into the background, "we're going to have to pull those two apart. I'd ask Kagome, but you're much more capable and you've done this sort of thing before."
Sango nodded in understanding. She had a cousin who was part-demon, and growing up she'd gotten used to pulling him and his overly-aggressive friends apart come Street Fighter night, when video game rivalry and beatings more often than not evolved into real-life brawls.
"Inuyasha, you idiot, stop it!" Kagome was still screaming frantically, unsure as to who—or what, for that matter—she was supposed to jump in order to get them to settle.
"Kagome, let us handle this," Sango said reassuringly, taking her friend by the shoulder and making her step back gently.
"Ready?" Miroku murmured tersely, straightening admirably despite the obvious pain he was in. "One...two...three!"
They lunged towards the struggling mass of bloody torsos and limbs and Kagome felt blood spray onto her arms at that instant.
"Stop it!" she groaned weakly as the thick, metallic smell invaded her senses and she closed shaking fingers over the sticky substance.
Her world reeled.
---
Kill.
Agony exploded in his brain as he felt Koga's claws rip into his shoulder, nails digging inches deep into the flesh before tearing upwards, lacerating muscle and scratching bone. It joined the stream of emotions and sensations flooding his body, joined the weight that was steadily pulling him down.
Kill.
The thought was the only thing that kept him going now. It herded all other thoughts—the weight—into a secondary role, flooding his entire being. It manipulated his physical pain into fueling his anger—the black rage that came from depths only youkai could reach.
Dimly he heard Miroku's voice, heard the desperation and worry belying pain. Was he hurt? A fresh surge of hate filled him.
It was Koga's fault.
Everything was Koga's fault.
"...because I belong here, with Kagome. Not that it's any of your business though, mutt-face."
"Having delusions again, wolf?" he sneered, baring his fangs as something dangerously aggressive settled on his mood. "Didn't Kagome reject you last year? What makes you think you belong with her?"
Someone had a vice-like grip on his arm—Miroku?
"Inuyasha, stop it," came his friend's steady, pacifying voice. "You should just ignore him."
Koga's smirk hardened, his eyes narrowed. "Like I said, puppy, it isn't any of your business what goes on between us. Besides, what the hell do you know about marking and mating? Your woman got away, didn't she? You didn't even have enough guts to follow her, you mangy dog—what do you know about devotion? Ha! You're so pathetic I actually feel sorry for you! I'll even give you a hand! I ran into that cold bitch you're obsessed with in America—why don't we play fetch? I give you her address and you leave this place and stay out of my face!"
"Stop it!"
Inuyasha howled and covered his ears, trying to block out Koga's voice, his words.
It was then that he realized the agonized whisper was not his own.
---
"You're going to be expelled."
It was the first thing that cut into Kagome's consciousness through the haze of vague sounds that were steadily becoming clearer. The weight of unconsciousness was being lifted from her head, leaving only a dull, throbbing ache where it had settled. She became aware of a soft fanning sound to her right and the cool air kissing her face.
What had happened?
"Thank you, Captain Obvious! You know, if you try really hard and we're both really lucky, you'll figure out in the next five minutes that you're coming with me!"
"Oy! Would you two keep it down!"
"I'll have you know, wolf, that this school would never even dream of expelling me! Eight generations of Takahashi successors have been schooled here and it wouldn't be the same without us!"
She lifted eyelids a fraction only to see a confusing swirl of colors—predominantly red—and she hastily shut them again as the throbbing sensation in her head spun away into dizziness. She became aware of the smell of blood and sweat and the recent events came crashing back down on her as the red she had seen registered. Instinctively, she turned her face to the right, where the smell gave way to Sango's signature perfume.
"Still banking on your washed out heritage, are you? Remember, you're talking about eight generations of full-fledged demons, not wannabe hanyous!"
"You lousy—I'll kill you!"
"Same thing you said earlier, dog! Come at me then!"
"No, you two!"
"Koga," she whispered weakly, the clearest occurrence in her mind the one wherein she came face to face with him after he had knocked down Inuyasha.
"She asked for me, mutt," she heard him say with sharp smugness before she felt the heat of his body radiating into her from her left. His voice flipped onto the other end of the spectrum as he addressed her. "Are you all right, Kagome?" She felt him clasp her hand and sighed inwardly. Not even an hour in each other's company and already he was falling back into the old habits.
"All right...I guess," she replied, placing her other hand over her forehead. She didn't want to open her eyes just yet—she was sure that if she saw blood she'd go out cold again.
"She'll feel better if you stop breathing in her face, wolf!" came Inuyasha's voice, and she heard (and felt—considering Koga's hand tightened almost painfully around her own as Inuyasha shoved him) a scuffle as a second warm body settled on her left. "And you!" She flinched when she heard him direct his anger at her. "What the hell is wrong with you, fainting like that!"
She grit her teeth, resisting the urge to scream at him.
Urgh, Koga's right! He is a stupid mutt! Can't he see I was worried about him?
"Don't yell at her, you idiot!" Koga and Sango snapped at the same time, and beside her she felt Inuyasha flinch.
"Hey, I'll do whatever the hell I want so just back off!"
Wearily, Kagome tightened her grasp in Koga's hand and instantly she felt him go still.
"Leave him alone," she ordered tiredly. "I don't want to open my eyes and see you two all bloodied and battered...I know you two are in bad shape already."
"Of course, Kagome," he murmured softly, and he let go of her hand. "I'll let Sango take care of you now and get myself cleaned up. Can we talk after? Dinner later, maybe?"
"Koga..."
I have nothing more to say to you.
"...I still have a lot to do," she reasoned lamely, trying to make him believe the slowness of her words was due to her not feeling well. "I did really bad in the prelims and I was hoping to drop by the theatre guild."
"You're doing a play?" She was so relieved at the lack of disappointment in his voice that she missed the marked interest that was there.
"Auditioning for a part, yes. If I get in, I'll be able to make up for my score. So, you see...I'll be really busy...I don't know if we'll get a chance to..."
"I understand, Kagome." And it sounded like he did. She just lay there stupidly as he swooped down to peck her cheek, reeling so much from the normalness of his voice that Inuyasha's indignant growl was lost to her ears. His long hair slid over her cheek and she got a whiff of his aftershave beneath the blood and sweat before he was pulling away and straightening. "If the chance ever does come, and we get to spend time together, let's talk, all right?"
"Er...right."
"Good. I'm off then."
"Hey!" Miroku made himself heard for the first time since Kagome had come to, and he didn't sound the least bit happy. "Not so fast, Koga. You and Inuyasha have some serious cleaning up to do before you get yourselves patched up. And you've both got to deal with the dean once he's been notified."
"Fine." Kagome could almost see Koga roll his eyes. "Sango, why don't you get Kagome out of here? I'll start cleaning up already."
Kagome missed the expression on Koga's face as Sango helped her up. She kept her eyes scrupulously fixed on Sango's face (There's a bruise on her chin! Ooh, Inuyasha is so going to get it once I'm feeling better!) as she helped her away from the impromptu arena.
Inuyasha, however, whose eyes were fixed murderously on Koga 90 percent of the time, saw it all too clearly. Refraining from acting on the spot because he knew he would only be handing his points over to Koga if he did, he instead picked up one of the mops that the cleaning staff had abandoned when the fight had began and began ruthlessly attacking the blood on the floor.
He'd have a chance later. Koga was all too easy to read.
Especially since he was thinking the exact same thing.
---
"Psst. Kitsune."
Irritably, Shuichi Minamino lowered the book he was reading and cocked a brow at the hanyou who was leaning forward on the seat to his left.
"What?" he mouthed, casting a wary look in the direction of the check-out desk. Mesho-san was a nice enough woman, but she was—delicately worded—"excitable"—and any sort of "commotion" was amplified into a full-fledged scream session when she got wind.
"You're in the theater guild, aren't you?" Inuyasha said carefully, shooting an apprehensive glance at the same woman—as well as a few dozen people who were regarding two of the most popular guys in the university with frank interest.
Now this is interesting. Turning back to the book, he nodded.
"Oy, I'm still talking to you!" Inuyasha hissed indignantly, wincing when Mesho-san stood up suddenly. When she moved towards the water dispenser, he took it as an opportunity to scoot his chair closer to Shuichi's desk.
"Keep talking," Shuichi invited blandly, his looking down the only thing hiding the amusement in his eyes. "I assure you, I'm positively riveted by what you're about to say."
Further Author's Notes: Huhuhu...nobody said anything about putting thank-you-s here, right? ;;) Ehehehe! ;D Kidding. :D Seriously, to all the members who reviewed, from now on I'll be sending you PMs with my thanks. :D This segment is for the non-members who I can't send personal messages to. :D So, to the following reviewers:
cougiecat: Thank you so much! ;P Koga and Kagome's relationship is revealed a bit in this chapter—I'll put more in the next. :D I'm really glad you like what I write and I hope you'll let me know what you think of this update. :D
-beautifullychaotic-: Here's the update, honey! ;P I'm trying to cure myself of my cliffie-creating addiction...bear with me, hehe! ;P
If you read, review, you guys! ;P You don't know how far a little encouragement will go. ;P Come on, don't you feel empowered? ;;) The fate of my work is in your hands—just click that little button over there (lower left, sweetheart... :D ) and type, "Oh, I loved it, but this part...", etc. etc. :D And remember—the contest! ;P So that you guys have an easier time of it, I'll leave a clue: there are three characters mentioned in this chapter who are from other animes. Good luck, and have fun! ;P