All's Fair in Love and War

Chapter Thirty One

Tweaked

Inu Yasha, once sure his father was well consumed in being angry at the team that lost, arose silently from the couch and padded to his room. He stood on his bed (a mattress on the floor) and opened the window near it. "Shippou?" he called quietly. His ears picked up some rustling in a nearby bush and soon enough, Shippou bounded towards the window and leapt up to the sill. He purred as he rubbed against Inu Yasha. He picked up the cat and sat down on the bed with him. "He … didn't hit me." Inu Yasha said as he faced the orange cat. "Not even once… although he did throw a bottle at my foot. But that's nothing." Inu Yasha pressed his back against the wall and sunk into the bed. "He … he lectured me. It was … really weird."

Shippou walked over to the mattress and morphed into his boy form. "Lectured you? You got off lucky!" The cat boy smiled and ran over to Inu Yasha's lap, purring. "I'm so happy you didn't get hurt!" The boy nuzzled against him.

"Yeah but … I don't know. It was scary … what he said." Inu Yasha held Shippou's warm body close to him.

"What did he say?" the boy asked.

The man's words rang through his head and he shuddered. "He … thinks Kagome doesn't like me." Shippou cackled a strange laugh.

"But she's your friend, of course she likes you!" he said.

It was useless to explain to Shippou what he actually meant by 'didn't like'. "Ah, it's nothing. I'm okay, right? We got lucky. See, we're both okay." Inu Yasha smiled at him and Shippou grinned back.

Inu Yasha had arrived later to school the next day. He was usually so motivated to see Kagome and talk to her by the tree they usually chat by in the morning that he didn't mind getting up early to do housework so he could see her, but … today felt different. He woke up later, slugged his way through dishes and cleaning up around the house, he was just slower. He paid special care to go out of his way to avoid the tree he liked to sit in.

He arrived to his first period class on time and Kagome was already seated. "You're late today." she said. "We always meet by the tree." Her brows arched and pushed towards each other in worry. "Are you okay? Did something happen?"

"Ah, I had trouble waking up." He said and smiled at her.

"Oh." she said, surprised. "You always wake up so early is all. Well, I'm glad you got some sleep." She grinned at him and Ms. Kikyo got up to the front of the class to teach.

After his fourth period, Inu Yasha fast walked to lunch and was there a minute or two before Kagome or Sango. Miroku came first. He sat across from Inu Yasha. "Ello." he said cheerfully.

"Hi." Inu Yasha said quickly and raised a palm to the seventh grader.

"Inu Yasha?" the boy said a tiny bit nervously and looked down at his hands.

"Huh?"

"What … um, what do girls like for presents?" he spat out. Inu Yasha raised a brow. "I … I mean … I just thought, you know, since you're older and all … you were more …" His mouth tugged at the corner and he sunk into his shoulders. " …experienced?" Inu Yasha looked at him blankly.

After the initial shock of hearing someone say he thought he was 'experienced' he thought of the obvious thing to say. "Why are you getting something for Sango? Is it her birthday?" This was confusing since if that was true, then wouldn't they be in the same grade?

"Yeah! Well, um, I mean … kind of. See, she lives here with her mom during the school year and then goes to America during the summers to live with her dad. And since her birthday is in the summer, she has a half birthday with her mom. She gets two. Lucky." he explained. And Inu Yasha thought to himself why it would make sense that someone would have two birthday parties every year, and yet, he couldn't remember his last one.

"Oh." he said as he soaked in the information. "Well … I guess I would draw her something. That's what I would do." This seemed nice, though only Inu Yasha knew that this was just because he had no spending money to buy her something with.

"Ugh, which would be great, if I could draw." His head fell down onto the table. "What am I going to get her?" His head smudged across the table and he looked up to Inu Yasha past his brow. "I'm doomed."

A female voice from behind him spoke. "Just … write her something. As long as it says 'I love you' in big pink letters on the front, she wont care what else is in there." Kagome briefly sat next to Miroku and rubbed the top of his head, pursing her lips into a small 'o'. "But it's soooo cute you cared." she said like she was talking to a kitten. Miroku rolled his eyes and Kagome tossed her head back and let lose a couple hearty laughs. Inu Yasha watched with particular interest the way her throat shook when she laughed. She walked around the table and sat close to Inu Yasha, who pulled his arms in and placed his hands in his lap. "Just remember," she said sternly, "Sango can have anything she wants, so your present should be from your heart." she said shrilly as she looked upwards and batted her eye lashes.

"I'm bad at that." he moaned. "But I'll try for her." he rolled his head around on his shoulders. "Girlfriends are hard work." he sighed. Inu Yasha looked over to the door of the cafeteria and saw Sango coming closer, huffing as she power walked. She reached the table and threw herself on the seat next to Miroku.

"I … hate … walking to lunch." she huffed out. After a few seconds she stood again and everyone watched as she shuffled through her bag. "I mean … my last period is all the way across school! I have to stop at my locker and then run here so I still get to eat! And what's worse is I have to walk all the way back for my fifth period!" She withdrew an envelope from her bag and handed it to Inu Yasha. "Here." she said cheerfully. "For you!"

Inu Yasha took what he already assumed to be an invitation to her birthday. "It's in two weeks." she said as he opened it. "I hope you can come."

"Oh. A birthday party. It's at a hotel?" He looked at her and raised an eyebrow slightly

"Yeah?" she said as if wondering why he was surprised.

"Who else is coming?" he asked

"Just you guys and Kagome. I want to keep it kind of small. My dad bought a suite for one night so I guess boys will sleep in pull out and mwah and Kagome can sleep in the big bed." she explained. Kagome grinned cherubically and bounced twice in her seat as she took a bite of noodles. "I don't know, maybe there'll be a big room with two beds and we'll all be able to stay in the same room … unless … Maybe one boy will sleep in a bed and the other will sleep on a couch? Ugh, we'll figure that stuff out when we get there."

"You're parents are okay with having us come too?" He said. The meaning of 'us' was understood.

"Well, my mom won't be there, for one, and she doesn't really care, I guess. I mean … it's not like we'll do anything bad or anything," she shrugged. "Besides, pft, it's not like we'll have time to sleep since we'll be up all night CLUBBIN'! Whoo!" She giggled girlishly with Kagome and fell onto the shoulder of Miroku. "Ahaa… I'm hungry." She took out her lunch and began to eat.

Kagome looked over to Inu Yasha and pushed her noodles towards him. "This is becoming kind of ritualistic. I don't even get hungry at lunch anymore …"

Inu Yasha sat in the tree on the soccer field after school. (Which, due to school budgeting, was also the football field, the volley bald court, and the track team meeting place.) He had brought some paper with him and was sketching out a few ideas for a present for Sango. Maybe he could go 'shopping' with Miroku and steal some chocolate to give to her as well. But then, Sango was a 'body-conscious' person so she might not ever eat them, and Miroku might already have taken the idea for his present. He was utterly in the dark.

He wanted to do something pretty for his drawing. Flowers. Girls like flowers. But he wanted to draw something for Kagome that had flowers in it. If he did flowers for them both it would seem … not good. For Kagome, he had already promised to draw something. And now he also had to draw something for Sango. The idea of stealing chocolates seemed suddenly appealing.

But he would need a ride to a shopping place. The nearest chocolate shop to his house would be a good distance of a run, even for him. Running would be more difficult but it would make stealing easier. If he didn't have to worry about his friends catching him, on top of having to worry about shop workers catching him, then the steal would be quick and simple. He could wait until the shop got full and busy and then grab something and run. They would never even notice. But before the shop was full he would stroll the isles for what he wanted to take. "Oh, just looking!" he would say to the attendant, who would suspect nothing more of him because his ears would be covered by a hat or hood.

Then he would wait outside, casually enjoying the fresh air. Soon, people would flock to the store and it would be overflowing with people wanting to buy early Christmas presents or candy for their friends, their families, or themselves, and he would slip in, unnoticed. It would be like the chocolate was never there. Just a mistake in inventory, the workers would think.

It sounded perfect but stealing was getting more and more difficult as he got older. When he was a little boy, no one suspected any thing of him. How could such a sweet innocent boy be a thief? On occasion, when he was younger, being a half demon also meant being a better beggar. Some people, feeling sorry for him, would give him a dollar or two to get something from a store nearby as he held the door open for them. That was generally the only way he got money, which he saved for emergencies. Looking back on those years, he felt disgusted with the human race as he realized that the only kindness they had in them came from pity. But, no matter the feeling that sprouted generosity in few of them, the money he got from smiling and holding open doors and seeming pathetic did help him stay alive and well at times.

He rubbed his back against the trunk of the tree. It seemed like, at the worst time, he had … artists block. Sango's party was in two weeks and he didn't want to give her some half baked unfinished piece of crap. Sango was nice, and friendly and generous and seemed not to discriminate against his bloodline. Did she even know he was half human? She had to know, he assumed. But she didn't seem like the kind of person who would care about trivial things like that. Sango liked the people she liked because they were nice or attractive.

He was happy he had met people like Sango and Miroku. They were 'typical' teenage humans, and they didn't seem to be very biased against demons and the such. Perhaps the age of racism was ending in this generation? Sure, the rest of the school might not want to be around him but three people did. And he had seen humans who were worse of than he was - socially wise.

He crossed out the idea of flowers because he was saving flowers for Kagome. For Sango … Kittens? He 'ugh'ed and rubbed his forehead on the pad of paper. He put his pencil to the page and angrily scribbled dark lines all over his picture ideas and then was more upset when he realized that he had wasted a piece of paper. He would have to draw his ideas on the back too and there would be indents and bumps because of the scribbles on the other side.

He gave up and closed his sketch book. He had about five minutes of free time to relax on the tree before he had to go home. Kagome hadn't come today but somehow, it didn't bother him. In fact, he felt some how relieved. It's not that he valued her less as a friend, but he just felt like he wanted to avoid her. She was just different now. But she was still his best and closest friend.

He hopped off of the tree branch he was sitting on and bounded off towards his home.

That night he scribbled through two and a half pages, front and back. He had no idea what he should draw for Sango. The kitten thing would be a good idea. Sango kind of looked like one anyways. He ended up putting the sketch book away and waiting until later to decide what to draw. Two days later, it was Wednesday and he still had no idea what he was going to draw for her. He had been feeling anxious lately. It wasn't school work that was busying him though. Something else. His nerves were on edge. Something inside him clicked and he had been feeling pretty weirdly lately. He just couldn't figure out why.

Presently, he strolled ginger-footed through the kitchen and opened the fridge. "You want another beer?" he called to his father.

A voice called to him. "Yeah. Open it for me." He reached in to the fridge and pulled out not only a beer but also a half gallon of milk and a pack of pre-cooked hotdogs. He found that using beer as a way to open the fridge worked very effectively in getting food. When he went shopping (every Wednesday) he purposely picked out things like pre cooked hot dogs. Things that are filling as well as easy. They don't need to be cooked (although it did make them taste better) and they weren't really something his father would notice if a few were missing. Also, Shippou, who detested any thing that wasn't meat or dairy, could eat them without problem when he could not hunt enough to feed himself. (Which rarely happened, really.)

He opened the top with his hands and carried the drink out to the man on the couch. He took it and didn't say thank you. "Get out the mop er something'. These carpets are filthy as shit." Inu Yasha went back to the kitchen and snagged the food and milk off the kitchen floor. He placed it there to make sure that even if his father did look back behind him, he wouldn't see the food sitting on the counter that separated the kitchen from the room where he sat.

He brought it to his room and Shippou, in boy form, attempted to messily drink out of the half gallon bottle. A runnel of white fluid ran down his cheek and got on the bed where they sat. Inu Yasha ate one hotdog and dutifully reported to the laundry room where a mop awaited his use.

The next day, he arrived late to school again. He had been doing this every day this week and he didn't know why, but he had just been feeling so tired and lazy in the mornings. He didn't feel sick though. He just felt exhausted at the thought of going to school. He liked school though. His head spun.

He sauntered over to Ms Kikyo's class room. The pretty woman was sitting in a chair grading papers but she looked up and smiled at Inu Yasha as he walked through. She was a good teacher, though not many other boy children in his class would notice because they were too busy anticipating the time she would finally drop the chalk and lean down to pick it up.

He sat next to Kagome who looked at him and tugged up the sides of her mouth. He waved and mouthed 'hi'.

At lunch, he arrived first, as he had grown accustomed to. He and Miroku always chatted before the girls arrived, which was fun, since Miroku could be pretty fun to talk to at times. He had yet to decide upon a present for her. The chocolate idea seemed nice, but he also felt like he had to draw something. But what? He and Miroku were at the table now, and Miroku was distressing over what he should get Sango. In aiding him to find a good gift, Inu Yasha was close to useless. A few minutes later Sango arrived, huffing her way across the courtyard. She sat next to Miroku, cheerfully greeted Inu Yasha and pulled out her lunch. "That's weird." said Miroku.

"What?"

"Well, it's just Kagome always comes before Sango gets here." he said, though didn't spend much time thinking on the matter. "Do you know if she missed school today or something, Inu Yasha? I saw her in home room but maybe she went home early." He shrugged.

A few minutes later, Kagome arrived, carrying a thick book under her arm.

"What's that?" Miroku asked as she set it down on the table.

"Animals. Um, animal book."

"Why do you have an animal book, Kagome?"

"For something for school. Inu Yasha knows about it, right Inu Yasha?" she said, throwing the conversation his way.

"Oh, yup. Me and Kagome are working together for a science project. We have to research and answer questions and write papers and all that stuff on a certain animal."

"Which would that be?" Miroku asked.

"Bonnet head sharks." he replied.

Kagome situated herself next to Inu Yasha and pulled out the stack out papers full of questions and essay prompts they needed to finish sometime with the next couple weeks. "We haven't even started yet so I figured that I should get a head start and rent a book from the library."

Sango looked over at the book and then grabbed it away, making it face her. "Do you mind if I look at it?" she asked. Kagome smiled and Sango flipped open the book. She looked through a few pages and then gasped and pointed to a page with tigers on it. "Aren't they pretty?" she asked anyone. The group nodded in response and continued on eating their lunch. All of them except Inu Yasha, who suddenly knew what he was going to draw Sango for her birthday.

Author's Notes

INTRODUCING! Plot twisty #1! A couple chapters more and you guys will be some happy clams! Mmm, plot twisty #2 ...

(Paid Programming!) Well … ahahaha, not to advertise my own stuff but will SOMEBODY please read my spiffy new one shot? I really like it and um … I don't think anyone read it … which bothers me … Now that every one is finished not listening, on to more important things.

IM SOOOOOOOOO SORRY! for taking so long to update

As for the late updating thing, I'll explain now 'WHY THIS UPDATE TOOK FOREVER!'

Well, long story short, I skipped a few classes and got grounded at my dad's for three months (three very LONG PAINFUL months) which means: no computer. And since my mom just got internet back, I hadn't had time to type this chapter until recently, after recovering from a case of author laziness. But it's up and I am already starting on the next chapter. I actually got a PM from someone asking when I would update. Now, I am usually a faithful updater and that's never happened before. Yup, I realized I was in trouble. This story was wilting pretty quickly … so I watered it WITH MY LOOOVE.

Oh, and the Spanish I's are now gone from chapter 30 are GONE. Yay!