Innocent Kisses in the Rain

After School, running away from school, Tokyo, Japan, July 13, 2004

"Bye-bye Inuyasha!" Kagome cried, running as fast as she could away from the school to get to her swimming lesson on time.

"Bye Kik - Kagome!" Inuyasha called back, blanching at his half mistake.

She looked back curiously but continued running until he was nothing but a spot in the distance.

"I can't believe what time it is. I'm gonna have to jump in the pool with my clothes on to be on time!" Kagome groaned, and picked up her pace.

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Kagome lowered herself into the pool with a sigh, under the glare of her swimming instructor, and went to join her fellow swimmer - Eri.

"Well, now that we're all here…" The woman said, and Kagome's eyes glittered with curiosity. Usually her swimming instructor's glares were playful, and her tone… light. She usually didn't rub it in like this.

"You're both to do six laps of the front crawl." She sniffed carelessly and slid up to sit on the wall.

"What?!" They both exclaimed… It was a long pool!

"Be careful before I lose my patience and make you do eight." She said threateningly.

They both started swimming furiously, stopping at the other side of the pool for a short conversation…

"What's with her? She's usually not like this…" Kagome gasped, clinging to the wall and looking back cautiously.

"I heard she's in heartbreak mode. Her boyfriend was cheating on her after seven months!" Eri said in either amusement, exhaustion, or disbelief.

"Seven months?!" Kagome exclaimed, casting a sympathetic look back at the woman.

"Yeah - it must have been terrible. Now she's taking it out on everybody." Eri said and they both took off again.

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"At least we're getting our full money's worth for these classes though." Eri commented in the shower, steaming water beating down on her back.

From the neighboring shower, Kagome nodded.

"Sure thing. We did everything today - no doubt about it!" Kagome said. "We've never gotten this much done in one day, ever…"

"She almost drowned us with the butterfly… Whatever happened to woman's intuition telling her when not to go to torturous, back breaking swimming lessons?" Eri giggled.

"Don't ask me. Whatever this 'intuition' thing is, its life goal must be to spend my whole life evading me." Kagome stuck her tongue out at the wall.

They both laughed for a while as they both took advantage of the gyms showers…

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Kagome toweled off her dripping hair and looked with curious, bark colored eyes at the girl next to her locker.

She stared at her with harsh muddy eyes, as if she was scrutinizing her… for some reason. They looked terribly alike.

Kagome walked up to her locker an tightened her hand around the knot that held the towel around her body.

The hairs on her neck rose at the girl's mean stare. Kagome retrieved her clothes and looked another glance at the girl. She blinked threateningly and Kagome swiftly moved for the bathrooms to change instead.

Eri was still in the shower.

Kagome pulled on the peasant-top-blue-blouse mix and blue jeans. The top was a thin fabric, but not see-through. It had slightly puffed short sleeves, barely going over her shoulder, and a vanilla tie in the front. It had a wide, circular neckline and was accented with a wheat color. Her jeans were belled at the bottom. She wore a necklace, essentially a black cord with twin rainbow 'beads' and a dolphin charm between them.

Kagome yanked on her sneakers and walked back to retrieve her gym bag, knowing that there would only be a few feet between her and the black-haired girl if she was still there.

Kagome waked like a soldier back to the locker and saw that the girl indeed was still there. Kagome fastened her watch with the golden face around her wrist before slinging her bag over her shoulder and turning to leave.

"Wait." The girls cold voice broke the silence. Eri had obviously already left. Kagome had been stalling in the bathroom - hoping that the spooky girl would leave. Kagome turned slowly on her heel to face the said girl nervously.

"Yes? Who are you?" Kagome asked, meeting the girls icy eyes with her own.

"My name is Kikyou… I know Inuyasha." Kikyou sounded bored. Kagome nodded slowly and then something struck her mind…

"Oh! We look so much alike - Inuyasha almost called me by your name today!" Kagome smiled brightly in revelation as she tilted her head friendlily.

"Did he?" Kikyou's voice dropped a few degrees.

Kagome jumped at her tone and opened her troubled eyes once more to try to distinguish why the opposing girl was so… angry.

"How do you know Inuyasha?" Kikyou suddenly asked, her eyes flickering for an instant as she looked up at Kagome from her place on the bench.

"Eh -" Kagome recoiled at the sudden question but recovered quickly, approaching a step closer to the girl.

"Me and Inuyasha are good friends. We're kind of… 'dating', as well." Kagome smiled kindly but Kikyou seemed to seethe at her words.

"I don't suppose you know much about Inuyasha." Kikyou hissed, and Kagome visibly jumped. She went to the defensive when she felt the almost evilly mean 'aura' bubbling around Kikyou's pretty figure.

"I… know everything that he wants me to know…" Kagome seemed uncertain…

"I knew Inuyasha when he was six, when he needed someone. Then I had to move away. I know him again now, and you need to go away." Kikyou said straight-forwardly.

"Eh - um… Well, I can't 'go away' unless Inuyasha wants me to… And even if I did 'go away'… I live here… And Inuyasha and I will still be friends." Kagome tried to narrow her eyes to match Kikyou's, but Kikyou's became mere slits with hers.

"You're under the impression that Inuyasha likes you more than a friend. He doesn't. He remembers me when he looks at you, girl." Kikyou said and stood.

Kagome stepped back as Kikyou rose, and unconsciously fell into an inexperienced defensive pose.

Then her words struck and Kagome blinked.

'I don't like being used.' She thought suddenly, but her words were filled with sorrow, not anger. '… Inuyasha… wouldn't do that…'

Kagome had thought that she herself was making Inuyasha happy… by being her… Not by being the substitute for a girl he used to know… A girl could take offense at that…

"Think about that. Inuyasha doesn't care at all for you. He's only ever liked me. He will never like anyone else. He cannot even think of you as a friend. He thinks of me as a friend, and you are just like me." Kikyou said hatefully, before walking past Kagome and out the door.

Kagome blinked. She wasn't sure whether to feel hurt or… what.

Now, she decided, it was up to Inuyasha to figure out who he wanted to make him happy. She would not be the look alike that did nice things but always wore a shadow around him that he liked her for.

She had not had the time to like Inuyasha more than a merciful thirteen-year-old could, because… she always compared him to someone else, didn't she?

If Inuyasha was happier with the 'real thing', they could be friends… And he could be happy. That was all she ever wanted, for her friends to be happy.

How close to Kikyou was Sesshoumaru?