"The Meteor Garden Story"
An Inu Yasha A/U Fanfic by Nozomi
[A/N: FF.NET has been down for two days! Good gracious! Anyway, I probably won't be able to update during the weekends, I realized that. Oh yeah, I have an important note, people!
For those who have read my fic before July 19, I want to mention that out of respect for Sorena, I have renamed the group from Y4 to D4, which stands for Demonic 4. Demon 4, if you're finicky. And this starts with Chapter 5, which is what you'll be reading below. ^_^ Also, since the only Japanese word I have mentioned in this entire fic is ofuda (coz demon ward didn't sound as good and ofuda gets my point across quicker), renaming them to D4 will be keeping with the Westernized theme of the story. But take note that everything is happening in Japan, alright? For those who read this fic on July 19 or after, you'll have known the group as D4 from the very beginning. ^_^
Review responses at the bottom!]
Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha and company, Meteor Garden, Hana Yori Dango, or any of the brands I mention here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 5: All is Fair in Love and War
Sesshomaru stopped just before he reached the glass doors that led outside the school. A young woman was standing there, her hands clasped behind her back as she examined the front gates. Her face held mere interest as she waited for someone.
Then he made his way slowly towards her. He watched as she found him with her eyes, the expression on her face changing. A small smile appeared on her mouth, which grew wider as he stepped closer to her. She unclasped her hands, and he could see the joy reach her eyes as he opened his arms to her.
Kagome turned the corner with Kouga just in time to see a girl walk straight into Sesshomaru's arms.
"Oops," he whispered, pulling her back behind the wall so they couldn't see any more. "Let's just let them have a little privacy first."
The image of Sesshomaru embracing a girl in a tender way, Kagome knew, would be imprinted in her mind for the days to come.
A few minutes after Inu Yasha and Miroku joined them, they stepped out together towards the couple now engaged in idle chit chat.
"Yasha! Miroku! Kouga!" Rin greeted joyfully as she saw them approach. She didn't know the girl with them, but her friendly smile held, and Kagome could feel herself responding with a smile of her own.
"Rin, it's good to see you again! Did you grow taller? France must've been wonderful!" Miroku greeted, kissing her cheek.
Inu Yasha grinned too. "Careful Miroku, you don't want Sess to hit you in front of Rin."
"Hah, as he would hit Miroku in front of Rin," Kouga joked. He pulled Kagome closer. "This…"
"This is Kagome," Inu Yasha introduced quickly, taking Kagome's other arm and pulling her forward and closer to him as well. He ignored the look Kouga shot his way and added, "Rin's family is in good terms with ours, and we practically grew up together."
"Hi!" Rin said brightly, her hand already outstretched to Kagome. Kagome shook her hand.
"I'm very pleased to meet you!"
Miroku chuckled. "Kagome, do you know that this girl is responsible for Sesshomaru's behavior? He was quite the autistic child, you know. Rin was the one who made him normal."
Rin giggled, looping her arm in Sesshomaru's. "That's not true, Sesshomaru has always been normal. It was unkind of you to suggest he was autistic, Miroku!"
Sesshomaru put his hand over hers. "I was quiet, not autistic."
Kagome half-listened to the group's conversation. She was more interested in how Sesshomaru seemed to really dote over Rin.
~*~*~*~
She rubbed her eyes sleepily as she made her way to class. D4 and Rin had insisted that she join them in a small dinner party, which lasted into the night. She and Rin had bonded during the evening, and she couldn't find it in her heart to dislike the enthusiastic girl who was Sesshomaru's girlfriend. She had been studying in France for the last two years because of their family's business, and now that they were pretty well-established there, Rin had decided to finish her last two years of school in Shikon. Since she had missed the start of the schoolyear, and was still waiting for her records to be credited here, she decided to start in the next semester.
It had been an interesting evening. She learned that Inu Yasha and Sesshomaru were half-brothers, which explained why they both had the same uncommon silver hair and golden eyes. Sesshomaru and Miroku were actually in their last year of college. She had been surprised to discover that she was in the same year as Kouga and Inu Yasha, but had never been in the same class with them because they were either taking the advanced courses, or cutting class. She had never expected the members to have brains. She had also not expected them to have impeccable manners, which they displayed all throughout dinner. Their personalities outside of school were completely different from the reputation that they had built.
Sesshomaru was the silent type. He was considered the thinker of the group, and he made his decisions based on logic. As the eldest, he was also the most knowledgeable. He oozed sophistication and dressed with elegance.
Miroku was the peacemaker. He reacted to things calmly and lightly, being careful to never take things too seriously. He liked wine, merriment, and women. In fact, when Kagome discovered how much of a playboy he was, she commented she had never seen him with any girl in school, to which Miroku had replied "My dear, what I do inside and outside of school are very different." Kagome had chosen to ignore the suggestive tone in his voice when he said that.
Kouga was strong-willed and hardheaded. When he wanted something, he kept at it. He had this sense of loyalty that made you feel like you were a member of his family. He liked things done fast and accurately.
But Kagome found Inu Yasha's personality the most intriguing, though she would never admit it out loud. He acts childishly, but he also has this street-wise sense about him. He was violent and hot-tempered, but could be extremely thoughtful if he really wanted to be. He also didn't like showing his true emotions to people, which made him stubborn and defensive.
In fact, when it was finally time to leave, Kouga and Inu Yasha had argued over who was going to take Kagome home. They wouldn't let her go by herself on her bike, as it was late, and had insisted she ride with one of them. When Miroku casually remarked that it was the first time Inu Yasha had offered to do something nice for a girl, Inu Yasha started blustering that Kouga should be the one to take her home. But when she and Kouga had reached his car, Inu Yasha had stalked over to them, caught Kagome by the arm, and dragged her to his car. Kouga then caught up with them and they argued all over again. Sesshomaru finally solved the problem by shoving Inu Yasha and Kouga into the car, with Kagome in the middle, then getting Miroku to "chauffeur" them. Miroku had chattered animatedly by himself in the front, not expecting responses from the quiet trio sitting in the back.
She sighed. How in the world did she ever get involved with a bunch of weird people?
"Kagome? Kagome is that you? It *IS* you! Kagome!"
She looked around for the owner of the familiar voice, and almost got run over.
"Hojo?"
The said boy nodded happily, almost glomping onto her. "Kagome! I'm so happy to see you! It's been quite a long time!"
Kagome smiled at him. They had been friends in elementary school with Sango. "Hold on a moment. Hojo, what are you doing here?"
His chest puffed up as he explained "Dad won the lottery last summer. I'm now one of the rich people!"
"Really? Wow, that's amazing Hojo, I'm so glad for you! But if your dad won last summer, how come you weren't here during the start of the schoolyear?"
"They put my application on hold until yesterday. I've been waiting for the call from Shikon to let me in."
Kagome found it odd that the school withheld the application until now, which was already into the middle of the semester, but shrugged it off, happy that she once again had a friend to talk to in school.
Hojo grabbed her hand. "Have you eaten lunch yet? Come on, it's my treat!" Kagome smiled and let him pull her along the hallway, unaware of the person who had paused on the stairwell to watch them, his eyes narrowed.
~*~*~*~
It was nice to spend lunch with someone, talking the time away, Kagome mused. It was now afternoon, and she had spent all her free time from classes with Hojo. She had gotten used to being alone, but now that she had a friend again, she began to realize how much she missed the company.
"Wait Kagome, I need to check out my locker. Can you help me find it?"
She studied the piece of paper. "Yeah, you're near me. That used to be Jinenji's."
"Oh? So where's Jinenji now?"
Her eyes clouded over. "Never mind that. Come on, I'll show you." She thought to herself as they walked. Jinenji had a red card stuck on his locker door. I remember seeing that red card removed by the janitor a few days after Jinenji left.
Sure enough, there was no red card on the locker.
"Oh thank you Kagome. I guess I can leave a few books here so I wouldn't have to bring them around with me. Hey, what's this red card?"
Kagome stared, wide-eyed. There, hanging from the inside of the locker, was a red card with the D4 logo.
"This must be some sort of welcome for new students here, huh? Hey Kagome, where are you going?"
Hojo watched as his friend ran down the hallway and out the door. Behind him, groups of students began whispering excitedly.
~*~*~*~
"INU YASHA!!!"
He was sitting on top of a branch of one of the numerous trees in the lawn, with the other members of D4 sitting languidly at the bottom of the trunk. He looked down to see Kagome's flushed face. He gave her a crooked grin.
"Yes?"
"Get down from there so that I can talk to you! No, so that I can hit you!"
He sat up a little straighter, maintaining his eye contact with her. "If you ask me nicely, I'll come down."
She looked up at him and decided compliancy was easier. "Would you please come down here and sit with me so that I can talk to you?"
He dangled his legs over, while the others shuffled up from their positions. He gave her a toothy grin. "No."
His legs were low enough for her to reach. She debated with herself over the wisdom of what she was about to do. Images of the torment she had gone through the first few weeks fleeted by. Making up her mind, she took a deep breath. "I said COME DOWN HERE,"
She jumped up and pulled hard on his leg.
"AND"
He lost his balance from the added weight and began to fall over, his arms flailing.
"SIT"
The back of his legs lost contact with the branch.
"WITH"
He fell face-first into the ground below.
"ME." Kagome finished, as she towered over him, her hands on her hips.
"Bitch," Inu Yasha growled out, starting to get up. "That hurt!"
"Well, good! You deserved it! What were you thinking, giving Hojo a red card?"
"Oh, so Hobo is his name, is it?"
"It's Hojo! Well?"
"This is your fault. Idiot. Spending the whole day with him? Holding hands with him when I already declared to you that you're mine?!"
"My fault? How in the world is spending a day with a friend my fault? And I never agreed to be 'yours'. Dammit, what kind of logic is that?"
"It's my logic!"
"Well your logic sucks! Take back the red card!"
"What are you? Some kind of dumb person? I've never taken back a red card and I'm not going to start with him. He'll just have to suffer for it!"
She threw her hands up in disgust. "You're such a jerk! You won't get away with this! I'm not about to get my only friend in the school forced out!"
She ran away from them, gritting her teeth.
Inu Yasha rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
~*~*~*~
"Noooo! Help!"
Kagome could hear sucking noises as kicked out at the boys who were attacking Hojo's face with plungers. "Go away!" she yelled at them, hurriedly pulling Hojo to his feet.
They ran together down the corridors, away from the growing mob who chased after them, waving plungers, mops and brooms in the air.
Hojo was rubbing his swollen face. "Kagome, the students in this school sure have a strange way of welcoming new students."
They ducked together as a mop went sailing past their heads.
"And what makes you think this is a welcome??!"
~*~*~*~
When Inu Yasha opened his locker later that afternoon, Miroku heard something POP. He whipped his head around to find Inu Yasha covered with soot.
"What's going on?"
His friend coughed. "I have no idea." Cough cough. "But when I find the bastard who did this, they've got it coming!"
Miroku stifled a laugh as he peered into the booby-trapped locker. "I can bet you that you won't lay a finger on the culprit."
"What? Why?"
Inside his locker, tied to the remains of the balloon that held the soot, was a piece of paper. It read "I'll show you! - Kagome"
[A/N: I didn't want to stop here, but I got a migraine, and I guess this is a good place to stop as any. *sigh* I'm using a flatscreen monitor, but somehow, I don't feel that my eyestrain is being reduced as much as I would like.
Karen: *Nozomi lets go of Karen sheepishly* Hehe. They will! I'm getting ready to have them meet. Probably by Chapter 5 or 6. In the original MG story, they're not supposed to meet until wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy later, but I'll hurry it up for M/S fans. ^_^ I am one myself.
Angel-Shock/Shock-Angel: Your suggestion is well-taken. I actually noticed the lack of detail myself. I never realized it was hard to write a story based off something else, and that's why I'm lacking descriptive parts in the story. Also, MG is a 19-hour Tv series, with lots of subplots. If I took too much time describing, I think this would be a 50-chapter fic, and I don't think I want to make it that long (too long gets too boring ^_^). However, I'm starting to break off the MG storyline already, so you may find the later chapters more to your liking. ^_^ Sorena is more descriptive in her adaptation than I am, and she does the MG story justice.
Kagome-Sama: I think "The Red Card" follows the MG storyline closer than what I'm doing (what you think, Sorena?). But no, I'll be changing a lot of the plots soon. ^_^
(**): Whew! Thanks, I must've missed that one when I was proofreading. Eyestrain, you know. *grin* Corrections have been made.
Jazzy: Hmm. I'll think about the fan art, I would like to see that image in paper as well. ^_^ Don't worry, it'll be free of charge!
mothz 2a flaim: Well, Shan Tsai in MG was all torn up about it. ^_^ Don't worry, I can see Kagome getting disappointed, but not teary over that. She hasn't cried yet, has she? *Nozomi re-reads her work to check* But would it be okay if she cries about Inu later on? Coz she does and she will. ^_^
emerald dragon hanyou: Well, if you really want to know, give me your email or email me and I'll try to explain it without giving too much of the story away.
Thanks again to everyone who reviewed! It keeps me inspired!