Chapter 16
Important Note: I can't apologize enough for how late this chapter is, and there isn't an excuse good enough in the world to forgive me. However, if you would please read my explanation for the delay at the end of this chapter, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
Chapter Note: I realized that I haven't shown a whole lot of interaction between Kagome and her family, so I added some into this chapter.
He hated everything about the mall. Every small, stupid detail. He hated the shopping, he hated the people, he hated the stores, he hated the smell—he didn't really mind the food court, but that doesn't count—and he especially hated the clothes. Inuyasha tried to imagine living the life of a mallrat, spending every day lounging at the Orange Julius and playing Dance Dance Revolution in the small arcade, but the thought made him want to vomit. Rolling his eyes as he passed through the door, Inuyasha grabbed his girlfriend's hand and braced himself for the terrors that awaited him.
"You don't have to be such a guy about this," the voice next to him teased, and if it wasn't Kagome he probably would have had blood on his hands.
"Don't have to be such a guy? What are you saying, that you want me to be a woman?" when she rolled her eyes at him he decided not to push his luck.
They walked hand-in-hand until they met up with Kagome's friends outside of Borders, the second she saw them her hand left his and she rushed to their sides. He noted briefly how cold his hand felt after that, but ignored in favor of stuffing them into his pockets.
The girls chatted pointlessly for a few minutes, squealing on in high pitched voices about this week's pop star and trend in clothing. Inuyasha couldn't help but roll his eyes at the topic of conversation. If it were up to him, he'd be browsing through the food court by now. Deciding it would be best to stay out of their way, he shoved his hands deeper in his pockets and tried to find something to distract himself with. There was an American guy selling remote-controlled cars at a little booth nearby.
"Inuyasha!" he heard someone call from a few feet ahead. As he looked up he saw Kagome waving her hands to get his attention, her friends looking annoyed behind her. He must have dazed off… "We're going into PacSun, are you coming with us?"
"Whatever," he grumbled, slouching his shoulders to show just how pissed he was. The girls obviously didn't notice as they made their way inside.
The first two things Inuyasha noted about PacSun was mind-numbingly bright clothes and the horrifying pop music blasting from the stereos. The sound was semi-reminiscent of nails on a chalk board and that thought alone made him want to turn tail and run.
"Welcome to Pacific Sunwear, can I help you find anything today?" a chirpy woman asked, placing a friendly hand on his shoulder. Her faux-smile was wider than anything he had ever seen before and he had to squelch the urge to punch the employee in the face.
"No, I'm good," he answered, wrenching his arm away and wandering deeper into the war-zone of a store.
It didn't take him very long to find the girls, but he decided to stay back and not bother them too much. The store was definitely crowded and every step Inuyasha made he bumped into another customer. It was like a moshpit—except without the good music and the actual moshing.
"God I fucking hate this," he mumbled as silently as possibly, trying not to attract any attention to himself.
"Did you say something, Inuyasha?" Too late. Kagome had turned around and placed a warm hand on his arm, the same place where that employee's had been a minute ago, and gave him a questioning look. He had to answer this one correctly—not sure if she was about to hug him or tear his head off.
"Uhm, no, I was just commenting on this lovely sweater!" before she could say anything he grabbed the closest thing to him and waved it in the air: a pastel-pink wool sweater from a nearby rack. Kagome knew that somebody wasn't being honest.
"Oh, okay then," she smiled wickedly, causing Inuyasha to gulp and take a timid step backwards. "Maybe you should buy it, I think pink is definitely your color."
"I agree!" Yuki had to chime in her two-cents behind her.
"I don't think I have enough money to spend on this kind of thing…" he tried to argue, quickly moving to put the sweater back.
"Nonsense," Kagome grabbed it. "I saw your wallet earlier; you have more than enough for this silly thing!"
"God dammit," he couldn't hold back the grumble. The look Kagome gave him reminded him of one his mother would give, but he quickly stuck his tongue out at her and moved to go pay for the stupid sweater.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"To…pay for the haggard pink sweater?" he asked, not sure if that was the correct answer or not.
"Not yet you're not, you still need to help us with our shopping," she smiled and gave him an evil wink before turning back to her friends.
Shoulders hunched and curses falling from his lips with practiced ease, Inuyasha trudged deeper into the store behind them. Little did he know, it would be another hour before he left.
"God, it feels like we've been stuck in this hell four seven days!" Inuyasha shouted as they walked through the mall hallways. A few people turned to stare at the shouting mad man, but for the most part things continued on as normal.
"Stop exaggerating, Inuyasha," Kagome scolded ahead of him, not bothering to turn around. "It's only been three hours, so hold your horses, we're almost done."
"You said that two hours ago!" he whined, his eyes growing wide and pouty as he stuck out his bottom lip like a small child.
"You can go if you want," she smiled kindly, his hopes lifting for the briefest of moments before she added, "But how would we get home?"
"Goddamn you cruel people," he grumbled once more, sticking his hands in his pockets and following them once more through the evil mall of doom. "Can I at least go chill in the food court or something?"
"Well…" Kagome seemed to think about it. "I guess that would be okay, but don't leave the food court. If we need to find you later and you're not there…"
"Don't worry about that, where else would I go in this dreaded place?" he scoffed, turning around to leave before she could answer.
Half way to the food court Inuyasha abandoned his promise and wandered into a small record store. Normally he found it offensive to buy albums from the market, but why not look while he's here?
The store wasn't organized very well, split into three categories: Rap/R&B, Country, and Other. He tried to think of how people found anything in this store, and decided to look around to find out for himself.
Browsing the 'Other' section seemed to be his best guess, seeing as he didn't like Rap or Country. Plus, it was the biggest section, unsurprisingly. At the front of the section was Avril Lavigne, quickly followed by Good Charlotte and Fallout Boy. Thing obviously weren't in alphabetical order, which just made it harder to navigate. He figured that if they even carried what he liked, it would probably be at the very end.
Towards the back of the row he spotted something that caught his eye. A dark CD covered in a decorative design sat on the top next to the new HIM CD. The labeling was just as dark, the words only visible when he tilted the cover toward the light.
"The Rasmus, huh?" he read aloud, his eyes scanning the small plastic case. Taking a quick glance of the store, he spotted the single camera placed foolishly over the cash register. Could it be any more perfect?
Swiping a sharp nail along the edges and tearing off the protective tape, Inuyasha popped the CD open and pulled it out. The book was thick and there was something written in a foreign language on the inside. Deciding on visuals alone, he stuffed the CD into one of his deeper pockets and continued to scanning the shelves.
A little further down he spotted a Wednesday 13 CD and repeated the same procedure. Five minutes later he had ten CDs packed in his deep pockets, none of them noticeable as he walked towards the door.
"Find everything you need, sir?" a pimple-faced teenager asked from behind the counter.
"No, this store fucking sucks," Inuyasha tossed over his shoulder as he meandered out into the mall and headed for the food court.
Grabbing a burger from Wendys and some French Fries from the McDonalds right next door, Inuyasha found a seat in a semi-secluded spot and began digging through his pockets.
Pulling out a worn CD player and the fist CD he found, Inuyasha popped the headphones over his ears and began his meal with the CD on random. The song 'Nymphetamine' by Cradle of Filth began to blast in his ears and he couldn't help but smile at the beauty of it. Of course he already knew the song; he had downloaded it on one of his Pirating sprees. But now he owned the CD, which was fan-fucking-tastic.
Half way through the CD he felt a timid finger tap on his right shoulder three times. Turning around, the headphones falling to lie around his neck, Inuyasha came face to face with Kagome and all of her friends.
"Cradle of Filth?" she asked, the music faintly reaching her ears as he friends grimaced. "Nice choice. Hey, we're ready to go when you are, if that's okay."
"Yeah, definitely," he shoved three more French Fries into his mouth and stood up after grabbing his CD player and walking a head of them towards the parking lot. He turned the volume up on his CD player so he could still listen to the music with out having to put the headphones over his ears and miss anything important Kagome might say.
"How can you listen to that junk?" Yuki fake-gagged, sticking her finger down her throat. Her friends nodded in agreement.
"I think it rocks," Kagome smiled. "Plus, the chick who does vocals for that song is hot."
"You think a girl is hot, Kagome?"
"Get over yourselves, this is the modern age and I can say a chick is hot any day," she winked and headed out the door after Inuyasha. Her friends stumbled for a moment before walking out also.
In the car Inuyasha popped in the Rasmus CD, deciding that he should probably listen to it if he was going to keep it.
"Who are these guys?" Kagome asked as she climbed into the passenger seat and placed a quick kiss on his cheek.
"Some band called the Rasmus, but their CDs in some weird language…" he tossed her the case and put the car in drive.
"Is it in English?" she teased as she caught the flying case, flipping it around to pull out the booklet. "Oh, it's in Finnish!"
"Finnish?" he raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, they're singing in English. Where the fuck is Finland, anyway?"
"Somewhere in Scandinavia, but there are a lot of really good bands coming out of there right now…" she paused to turn up the volume on the CD, the song 'Bullet' blasting throughout the car. "They sound pretty good to me."
"If you say so," he nodded. They were a bit light for his taste, but he couldn't deny that they had talent.
The rest of the ride was spent in near-silence. Inuyasha eventually tossing in a Libertines CD hoping it would be poppy enough to cheer up the preps in the back seat. It seemed to work for a bit, but he was still very relieved to drop them off.
It took the girls a total of seven minutes to completely get out of the car—they had to finish off their conversation and say an extensive goodbye to Kagome.
"Thank god they're gone," he sighed once they walked off, his head falling to rest on the steering wheel.
"It couldn't have been that bad," Kagome commented, rubbing a comforting hand along his hunched-over back.
"Couldn't be that bad! I swear to god, if I ever step in that mall again my head is going to explode!"
She couldn't help but laugh at the site of him pulling at his hair and crossing his eyes. "I'm sure it will. So where'd you get all these CDs?"
"That crap store in the mall," he smirked.
"Jesus, you bought a bunch of them, that must have cost you a fortune."
"It didn't cost me a dime," he winked, once more putting the car in drive and heading off to drive Kagome home.
"This is the part where you tell me you're just borrowing them, right?" she joked with a carefully raised eyebrow.
"No, I stole them, why would I return a perfectly good CD?" he answered he question with a question, a smile growing on both of their lips. "Do you like the Damned?"
"Of course I like the Damned," she smiled from ear to ear.
"Well then here you go," he smiled right back and popped in their greatest hits CD, the old school punk blasting throughout the car. The drive to her house was spent analyzing every form of music from Hanoi Rocks to Jay Z.
"What about 'Pressure Drop' by the Specials?" she asked as they pulled up to her house.
"Isn't that a cover song? I could have sworn I heard Joe Strummer sing that once…" he thought, his eyebrows scrunching up in confusion.
"Well, I know the Specials version is a SKA version, but I don't know who did the other one…"
"Hmn, well we're here," he nodded absently towards the door, a part of him not wanting her to go.
"Yeah, home sweet home," she sighed, her hand reaching up to grab the door handle. Before she could pull it she heard Inuyasha's door open and slam shut and in an instant he had her door open and a grin on his face.
"I figured I could be polite for once," he grinned, taking her hand and helping her out of the car. She giggled as her feet hit the ground, her hand not leaving his.
"That's very kind of you, sir," she teased, giving him friendly kiss on the cheek.
"Is that all I get, a measly kiss on the cheek?" he feigned hurt, a pout spreading across his lips.
Without answering, she leaned up and placed on his lips. "Maybe later, big boy."
"Aw, fine, fine," he grumbled. "I guess I'll just go home and jack off to gay porn, it's the only option I have left."
"Sometimes I wonder about you," she laughed. "But send that gay porn my way, it sounds like a party."
"I think I have the right to whore it off myself, thank you very much," he teased right back, twirling his car keys around his fingers. "Well, I guess today wasn't a complete waste."
"Of course it wasn't, you got to spend it with me."
"The last few minutes of it, you mean," he grumbled.
"Inuyasha," she sighed. "I promise I won't make you take us to the mall any more. In fact, I won't make you hang around them ever again, if that'll make you happy."
"Soooooooo happy," he squealed, shaking with excitement.
"Good then," she whispered. "Don't tell anyone, but I kind of hate them, too."
"Then why do you put up with it?" he asked, his nose scrunched up in disgust.
"I guess it's a girl thing," she shrugged. "That or a popularity thing….I'm not really sure."
"Fuck popularity, I don't have it and I'm fine."
"Right, you're perfectly fine," she sighed, her eyes glazing over for a second.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he asked angrily, feeling himself lose control for a second before calming down.
"Nothing," she smiled, trying to hide the fact that she was lying. "I guess you wouldn't understand, but I don't want you to, so it's okay. I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"
"Right," he scoffed. "Call me tonight, we'll make plans."
And with that he was back in his car, starting the ignition before she could even respond. With a puzzled look on her face, Kagome made her way inside, figuring that it was just one of his moods and that he'd get over it in no time.
The house was quiet as she pushed the door open, stopping it before it could slam into the wall. Tossing her backpack down in the vestibule, she made her way to the kitchen and began to rummage through the refrigerator. She pushed aside yesterday's spaghetti and grabbed a freshly chilled apple. Turning the stem clockwork to pull it off, unconsciously mumbling a childhood game, Kagome grinned and brought the apple to her lips.
"Kagome, dear, is that you?" her mother asked, poking her head around the wall-partition.
"Yeah mom, it's me," she called back. "Sorry it took so long to get home; we went to the mall after school."
"Who'd you go with?" she asked, trying to make small talk as she moved into the kitchen to begin washing dishes.
"Just the girls and Inuyasha," she smiled. "Have you seen Buyo anywhere? I think I forgot to feed him this morning…"
Her mother just gave parental glare before saying, "Don't worry about it, I took care of him after you left."
"Oh, thanks," as Kagome moved to head toward her room she was stopped by a warm hand on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw her mom shake her head.
"Why don't you tell me a bit about this Inuyasha boy?" she asked, sitting down at the kitchen table and motioning for Kagome to do the same.
Kagome took a seat across from her mother, her fingers locked on the table before her. "What do you want to know?"
"I don't know," she shrugged. "Are you two dating?"
"Uhm…" Kagome reached out and began subconsciously picking at the plastic flower arrangement in the center of the table. She had never really thought about it before. Sure, she felt different about him than she'd ever felt about anyone before; but were they really dating? "I guess we are, I haven't really given it much thought."
"You guess?" her mother chuckled. "Ah, I was your age once, I guess I understand. Just tell me he treats you well."
"Oh, of course, mom," Kagome smiled, quickly jumping to Inuyasha's defense. "I couldn't be treated any better, honest."
"That's good to here. I'm just looking out for my daughter, you know?" Kagome blushed before giving her a mother a thankful smile. "Maybe you should invite him over for dinner sometime?"
"Well, I—" Just as she was about to answer the front door crashed open and four boys came running in, each one soaked from head to toe in mud.
"Hi mom! Hi sis!" Sota yelled as he and his friends rushed past and marched up the stairs, leaving a muddy trail behind him.
As the sound of their feet pounding against the floor grew fainter, Kagome heard her mother laugh. "Boys will be boys," she sighed. "I better start cleaning this up before you grandfather comes in, he'll have a fit."
Letting the previous subject drop, her mother moved to pick up the cleaning bucket and shooed Kagome out of the room. With a reluctant shrug, Kagome grabbed her bag and followed the mud-trail up the steps, splitting off in the opposite direction as she entered her room. Kicking off her shoes, she rummaged around her room for the cordless phone and proceeded to call Inuyasha.
A Message Of My Humility: Dear readers, I want to thank you very, very much for keeping up with this story despite my recent lapse into update-less-ness. (Yeah, I know that's not a word.) I was very relieved to open my mailbox recently and not find any hate-mail, so I must thank you for that.
As for my disgustingly prolonged absence, I guess I can explain that. Keep in mind, I'm not here to make excuses for my mistakes, it was irresponsible and rude to not update my story as promised. I only hope that these few reasons will help you gain better knowledge of where I've been lately:
I. Right after my last post my computer decided to pull a Dell. I have a laptop, so when it breaks I can't really take it to a computer store—I have to take it to the actual manufacturer, where they charge you an arm and a leg to fix a ten-dollar problem. It cost me two hundred dollars to fix my computer, and it took me a little while to gain that money.
II. Not to bring my social life into this, but I've been going through a hard time recently. This includes and tough move over an ocean, my parents threatening for divorce, and me switching to a new school. With all this going on, it was hard for me to sit down and focus on this story.
III. My boyfriend's band recently got signed to a major record label, which is big news for both of us. I've been trying my hardest to help him out as much as possible, though, and that's been taking time away from my writing.
I'm not going to sit here and ask for forgiveness; all I hope for is that you now have a better understanding as to where the hell I've been. Thank you for your time.
(Damn, that was a long a/n.)
