"The Meteor Garden Story"
An Inu Yasha A/U Fanfic by Nozomi
[A/N: Nobody read my other fic. *pouts*
Sorry for the delay in updating. I've been busy, then I got sick. -_- Wow! 46 reviews for Chapter 7 alone! Could I get around 50 or more for this one? ^_^
Ahhh… review responses are at the end, coz there's so many… I *did* however, read some reviews telling me it wasn't clear if Kagome was kissing Inu Yasha or Sesshomaru. Uhm folks, look for the paragraph describing Miroku found with all those slap marks, and you'll find that I explicitly mention Sesshomaru cradling Rin.
So who else has amber eyes? ^_^ Sess couldn't be kissing both Rin and Kagome, right? Hehe.
I have one word for this chapter. F L U F F! ^_^]
Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha and company, Meteor Garden, Hana Yori Dango, or any of the brands I mention here.
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Chapter 8: Confessions of a Kiss
When she opened her eyes, she expected to be the recipient of warm, beguiling eyes that promised to love and cherish her. She expected to be swept away by the passion she would find in those eyes, the ardor of which would match the passion she herself felt flowing in her veins the instant she responded to his kiss. As she floated back down to reality, she expected to meet the man of her dreams. Perhaps her soul mate.
That's why when she opened her eyes, her mind reeled.
The instant her blue eyes locked with amber gold, it took her brain cells some time to process the information. The eyes that held her gaze mirrored her own; they were fiery with the same passion she knew glazed her own eyes. The sensual curve of her partner's mouth was seductive enough to pull her own lips back towards it. The tender feel of his arms around her made her want to melt into those arms once again.
But her annoying brain was still making her head spin, and she was wondering why it decided to go into shock at this poignant moment in her life. Wait a moment… amber eyes?
As far as she knew, there were only two men on this boat who had amber eyes.
Then the corners of her partner's mouth curved into a smile. No, it was a smirk.
Of the two people she knew with those rare amber eyes, only one of them ever smirked. Or smiled, for that matter.
It was the smirk that finally triggered recognition in her poor, befuddled brain. Her eyes grew wide, her body tensed, and the last of her little fantasies about her soul mate disappeared in that fleeting instant.
"Kagome… where are… Kagome!"
Kagome was still staring at her partner when Hojo reached her side. The sandy-haired boy glanced at her, then back to her partner. In absolute bewilderment, he said, in a very loud voice that Kagome was later sure everyone on the floor heard,
"Oh my god! Kagome, you kissed Inu Yasha?!"
^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^
Inu Yasha rubbed his sore jaw, lost in his thoughts about the events that occurred last night. When that idiot Joho blurted out that Kagome had kissed him, they were suddenly the attention of everyone on the dance floor. He didn't mind being seen kissing Kagome, but he had been unprepared for the consequences of his actions.
After Hoyo's little announcement, several things happened at once. Whispers broke out through the room. He had expected that. Kagome's stunned realization that everyone had seen them. He had expected that too. He had also expected Kagome to slap him soundly after that, but she hadn't. Kouga, however, had hit him soundly on the jaw. Caught by surprise, he had instinctively reacted to protect himself, his own fist coming up to land a punch in Kouga's stomach before he realized who had attacked him. He wanted to stop, but Kouga was in a foul rage, and Inu Yasha was his target. He had no choice but to take the defensive or be hurt. When he momentarily turned to move Kagome to safety, she was running away from them.
And she was crying.
Everyone else had stayed to watch Kouga and Inu Yasha fight each other. Rather, they watched Kouga try to beat his silver-haired friend while Inu Yasha masterfully countered each move. The two opponents' movements were fluid, graceful and powerful.
This affirmed everyone's belief that the D4 were not a group to be messed with.
It was only after a few minutes of this that Sesshomaru tired of watching them, and he motioned for Miroku to assist him in disengaging the two combatants. They each held Kouga on either arm, effectively pinning him between the two of them long enough for him to calm down.
The student body on board the ship was smart enough to know they were not supposed to listen to D4 berate each other in hushed tones, so while D4 was on one side of floor gesturing angrily among themselves, they found something else to talk about.
By the time Inu Yasha and his friends decided to leave the dance floor, he had realized two things:
One, Kouga had apparently had his eyes on Kagome.
Two, even though *he* had been the one to initiate the kiss on Kagome, everyone was now saying bad things about her, because that idiot Fojo had said "Kagome, *you* kissed Inu Yasha?!"
It was one of those rare instances he disliked being one of the most popular boys in school.
"Dammit," he cursed aloud, punching the wall. Last night, he had tried to get Kagome to open the door to her suite so he could talk with her. After all, he was probably the cause of her tears, right? Kouga had tried to visit her as well, but she wouldn't open the door for them. She wouldn't even open the door for Rin. They couldn't hear her sobbing in her room, the suites in this ship had been built to keep prying ears out after all, but they were sure that's what she was doing. Even when everyone retired for the evening, Inu Yasha sat outside her door, trying to coax her to open it so he could come in. Her refusal to see them was making him feel guilty. Guilty! Since when had he, Inu Yasha, ever felt guilty?!
Ever since he met Higurashi Kagome.
He sighed, leaning his back against Kagome's door. It was morning already. He had spent the night sitting here, waiting for her to open. Sure, she probably fell asleep some time ago, but he wasn't going to go into his room until he got to talk to her. If he went to sleep in his room now, she might try to sneak out. He would stubbornly wait here, until she opened the door.
After all, she had to go out to get food right?
"Uhmm… Captain?"
Inu Yasha looked up to find a waiter pushing a breakfast trolley. He got up off his butt. How embarrassing to have the employees see him sitting outside a door! "What are you doing here?" he growled.
The bad mood that seemed to be emanating from his employer only confirmed the waiter's initial suspicion that he had intruded on a lover's quarrel, and that the loser of the quarrel had been thrown out of the room. He gave a discreet cough and then said in a hushed voice, "Miss Higurashi had called room service a few minutes ago, asking if breakfast could be sent up to her so she wouldn't have to leave the room, and…"
The waiter trailed off, alarm creeping into his features. The scowl on his employer's face had just broken into a sly grin.
^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^
Kagome stared at her reflection in the mirror. Well, the girl in the mirror certainly didn't look like her! Her hair was scraggly and unkempt, her eyes sunken with dark circles under them. Okay, she didn't cry last night, but she was so angry she couldn't get a wink of sleep! She looked horrible!
But not quite as horrible as she felt. Last night was probably the worst night of her existence. It had been bad enough to discover that her kissing partner was Inu Yasha, but to have Hojo declare to everyone within hearing distance (well, the whole room!) that *she* had kissed Inu Yasha… she had never felt more humiliated in her entire life! That… that jerk had once again caused irreparable damage to her reputation! What would people think? She had been badmouthing and defying D4 all this time, then she suddenly decided to chase after one of them?
She shook her head. Yes, that's probably what those spoiled, rich, STUPID brats think. And since I've still got that red card hanging over my head, they're not likely to pass it off as some ploy to catch his attention. She sighed. Why me?
Leaning closer to the mirror, she examined her face further, wondering how she could minimize the dark circles under her eyes. I'll be damned if I let that jerk mar me with any kind of scar, emotionally or physically! Her fingers prodded the skin under her eyes gently, then moved down to trace her cheek till she felt her fingertips touch her lips.
But, Kagome amended, the frown on her lips disappearing at the unbidden memory, he is a great kisser. She watched her cheeks flush with the thought and immediately scowled at herself.
- KNOCK KNOCK -
"Room service!"
"Yes, just a moment!" Kagome called out, hurriedly running a brush through her hair. With any luck, she could avoid everyone until the cruise ended. Satisfied that her hair wasn't too messy, she went to the door.
"You can just set it aside over there please, thank you," she pointed over to the coffee table in the room for the waiters, as she peered outside her doorway. Funny, she could've sworn Inu Yasha threatening her last night about staying outside her door till she opened it. Maybe he finally got tired and went to sleep. All for the best.
So why did she suddenly feel a pang of disappointment?
She shrugged off the feeling as the waiter pushed the breakfast trolley outside into the hallway, wishing her a nice breakfast. It wasn't until she had closed the door, locked it, and walked a little way back to the coffee table when she realized something.
Hadn't two waiters come in? But only one of them left?
She saw a movement from the corner of her right eye and turned around just in time to see Inu Yasha shrugging out of the waiter's vest.
"YOU!"
He had the audacity to chuckle. "Yes, me."
Kagome lunged herself at him, her anger from last night resurfacing. He caught her arms, but her momentum threw him off balance, sending them both to the floor. He grunted as the wind got knocked out of him. His back was to the floor, and he had a hellion on top of him. Her struggling did not help the situation.
"You bastard!" she hissed, trying to free her wrists from his grip. "Jerk!"
"Kagome, stop!"
"I won't! You hear me? I hate you! You're descpicable! You kissed me last night!"
"Yeah, well you kissed me back!"
"… Well, you kissed me first!"
"Dammit girl, we kissed each other!"
"Dammit Inu Yasha, you stole my first kiss!"
Inu Yasha was tired from lack of sleep, but not so tired that he didn't hear the shattered admission in those words. He immediately released her hands, only to wrap his arms around the girl and pull her close against his chest. He felt her stiffen, her two free hands pinching him painfully on both arms to get him to release her, but he just held on tighter.
"I'm sorry."
He winced at the guilt he felt flowing in him as soon as he said the words.
"Are you?" he heard her snarl at him.
"It was mine too."
And that simple confession accomplished what his apology could not. She stopped struggling. Her hands now rested on his arms where she had been pinching him, and she slacked against him.
They stayed like that for a while, neither one of them moving.
Kagome's face was pressed to his chest, and she could hear his heartbeat. Her cheeks felt warm and she was glad he couldn't see her face from this position. She really should demand that he let go of her, so she could remove herself from the compromising position they were in, but right now, it just felt too good to be held like this.
Inu Yasha, meanwhile, was thinking along the same lines, but he was getting drowsy. Before he fell asleep, he wanted to run his fingers through her hair to satisfy his curiosity. What would her hair feel like? Would it be like running silk through his fingers, as he had imagined so many times before? He was lifting one hand off her back to answer that question when she spoke.
"Inu Yasha?"
"Hn?"
"Why did you kiss me?"
She felt him heave a sigh in answer to her question.
"Kagome… I-- didn't get much sleep last night, sitting outside your door, waiting for you to open it so we can talk…"
She felt oddly touched at the knowledge that he *had* been sitting outside her door all night.
"Could we…"
*yawn*
"…maybe postpone this talk… later?"
He felt her lift herself up to look at him as his grip around her loosened.
"Okay, I didn't get much sleep last night either."
He watched her face as she got up and tried to pull him up with her.
"You… didn't cry about… last night?"
"Nah, I'm a tough girl," she smiled at him. "As you should already know, it takes more than little things like that to make me cry."
He remembered all those times she stood up to him at school. "You're right." He was still awake enough to take himself out the door. He paused suddenly. "Kagome…"
"Yes?"
"Can you… come with me to my room a moment? Take your room key with you."
She eyed him questioningly, but he just walked out the door and stuck his key into his own door opposite hers. She quickly grabbed her key out of her dresser, closed the door behind her, and ran out after him.
As soon as she stepped into the room, he closed the door behind her, locking it. Alarm rose in her throat, but she waited to see his next course of action. He walked back to the center of the room, stopping beside the huge sofa by the coffee table.
"You can sleep on my bed."
"WHAT!? I should've known you'd try something, you…" Kagome grit out, already racing back towards the door. He grabbed her wrist.
"Don't misunderstand. If you stayed in your room, Rin and Kouga and…"
*yawn*
"…and whoever will come pounding at your door, trying to get you to come out to talk to them. You won't get any sleep. You can stay here in my room and rest. They won't think of looking in here."
He let go of her and loosened the top two buttons of his shirt. She was still eyeing him suspiciously.
"Ah hell woman, it's up to you!"
Then he promptly sat down, pulled off his shoes, lay back on the sofa and closed his eyes.
She stood where she was, thinking. Why in the world did he offer his room? Surely he didn't care how much sleep she got? And why was he sleeping on the sofa? He would have expected him to try to convince her to sleep on the bed with him. Instead, he had taken the couch and offered her his bed. She didn't know how long she stood there, processing all these thoughts. When her attention finally went back to the silver-haired boy, he was already taking deep, even breaths.
He was really asleep! He hadn't planned anything funny at all!
Kagome looked him over once, then went to the bed. She pulled off a blanket from under the covers and carefully lay it on the sleeping boy. Satisfied he wouldn't catch cold, she tiptoed back towards the bed and got in, crawling under the bed covers to finally get some rest.
Her last thought before she drifted off to unconsciousness was that maybe she had kissed the man of her dreams after all.
[A/N: Again, I'm so sorry for the delay in posting this!
Fat Cat Buyo: I think you can buy MG somewhere… be ready though. It's about 19 CDs. ^_^
Dude!: Don't worry. Sango and Miroku will meet soon. Since Kagome is still on the 3-day cruise, it won't happen for a few more chapters.
Gueshoo: The cheapest way is to know someone who already has it! ^_^ No seriously, I can't find HYD anywhere, and I got my MG VCDs from my cousin…
Pensquared, Sailor Universe3, Shi-Koi: She's kissing Inu Yasha! ^_^ Sess is with Rin in this fic, hehe. And a few sentences before I describe Miroku after the lights got turned on in Chapter 7, I describe Sess cradling Rin in one part of the room. ^_^
fluffy+kagome=kawaii: No, sorry… Kagome doesn't slap him.
Kagome-Sama: MG is Meteor Garden, the story I based this fic on. ^_^ Thanks for noticing the change in writing styles!
Ame Kurayami: *avoids swining mallet* I'm sorry! *ducks* I've described her reaction in this Chapter, I hope this is satisfactory. *hides* ^_^
Ty: Uhhm, well, I was planning to have them meet at Rin's birthday party, which will be soon. Dunno how soon though.