Chapter 25
"It's not that bad..." Eri said, a hand on Kagome's back to comfort the upset miko.
"Not that bad? Eri! I got an F!" Kagome cried back, pushing her face into her hands as she slumped over the table of her favorite fast food restaurant.
"Maybe we should talk about something else to get her mind off the test." Ayumi offered a suggestion as she sipped her coke through a wide red straw.
"Hey, yeah! What about that boyfriend of yours? Inu...Inu..." Yuka struggled to remember his name.
"Yasha. Inuyasha. He's...fine...I've gotten to spend a lot more time with him now that he's...off of...um...work." Again, she made up something completely off the top of her head.
"Work? Really? What does he do?" Ayumi asked, taking an interest while the other two scooted really close, wanting all the details on the guy.
'I really don't like to lie...but...I can't have them finding out that Inuyasha pretty much kills demons for a living. Exterminator? No, that's too weird. Uh...'
"He's a florist!" She exclaimed, her cheeks reddening as her friends' brows raised.
"A florist." Eri repeated, looking confused and maybe even a little disgusted.
'Ugh! What was I thinking?' Kagome scolded herself as she realized what a stupid thing she had picked for her lie.
"Y-Yeah..." She said. "I guess..." She added in a whisper.
"You mean the guy works with flowers!" Yuka asked suddenly, her tone and odd one.
"Well, that is what florists do!" Eri retorted matter-of-factly.
"I like flowers...I think it's kinda cool." Ayumi said in her creamy voice from the other side of the table.
"Oi..." Kagome said, hanging her head. Maybe it was best not to talk about Inuyasha to them.
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Inuyasha sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest. His face was flushed red as he stared at the TV, the people walking around upside down. He sat, upside down, on the couch, revealing how incredibly bored he was.
"Shouldn't Kagome be home by now?" He called out to whoever was in the kitchen. The sound of running water constantly cut on and off as plates clanked together.
"She's home already, been home awhile now! Outside, hanging up the sheets!" answered an old, raspy voice. Kagome's Grandpa.
"Thanks for tellin' me..." The hanyou replied sarcastically as he pulled himself up, using only his stomach muscles. He pulled himself over the top of the couch. He quickly balanced himself as the couch tilted and swayed unevenly. He paid no mind. It wasn't his home, it wasn't his problem.
The inu half demon brushed past Buyo, the cat's calico fur brushing against his bare ankle. He had to force himself forward to keep from bending down and playing with the animal.
Inuyasha was completely silent as he crept through the back door and into the yard. His eyes snapped to a hauntingly graceful sight.
White sheets billowed wildly in the pushing wind. Flashes of pale, ghost like color moved through the air, pushing this way and that. Portions of a young miko's body revealed through the flashes of white as the girl hung up the damp sheets. Kagome stood, reaching high to clip the edges of a large sheet up on the high string.
Inuyasha moved closer on silent feet. Closer. Silent. And then even closer. The miko hadn't discovered him yet. Not even when the inu half demon moved behind her with curious, twitching ears atop his head. He quickly reached up, free to do so without standing on tip toes, and undid the clothes pins, letting a single white sheet fall to the grass below like a ghost.
The hanyou stifled a laugh as he jumped away, moving with Kagome as she turned around and stared down at the sheet.
"What? Unnn…" The miko muttered as she bent low, grasping the sheet once more and pulling it upward. As she struggled to clip it back, Inuyasha unclipped the one behind her.
The quietest of a chuckle left his lips as he moved behind Kagome again when she turned back around. Did she know he was there, that he was the one messing with her like that?
The miko growled in frustration as she picked up the sheet and clipped it back into place. She crossed her arms, knowing who the culprit could be and probably was.
"…Sit…" She muttered and listened as a choked cry rang out, followed by a crash as the hanyou smacked into the ground.
The white sheet, the one cutting their sight from each other, floated down like a ghost. It fluttered over Inuyasha's body, sprawled in the grass, face down. Kagome couldn't help but giggle, a hand over her mouth.
"That's not funny!" He cried, lifting his head from the ground, the sheet resting over his head.
Kagome didn't reply. She couldn't. She was laughing way too hard to slip even one word through her lips.
"Stop laughing!" Inuyasha cried, pulling himself onto his knees. Crumbles of dirt sprinkled across his cheeks and forehead. That only made the miko laugh harder.
"Stop that!" The hanyou cried out, a small smile starting to spread over his face. It was a good change to see Kagome so happy, even if the joke was on him.
He stood, pulling the sheet off his back and holding it wide in front of him. His brows furrowed as her laughing continued. Still, the smile pulled at his lips though he tried to push it off his face.
Suddenly, he threw himself to her, wrapping the sheet around her thin form and bringing her down to the ground under him. The miko's laughter was cut short as they hit.
"Inuyasha!" She cried out, shocked at his actions.
Now it was his turn to laugh. The hanyou let the smile grace his youthful and handsome features as deep chuckles left his throat.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome repeated, a soft giggle leaving her lips, curved upward in a gleeful smile as she shoved him gently in the shoulders.
Inuyasha moved his hands to her shoulders, pinning her against the ground as they both laughed happily. Each other's laughter rang in their ears like music. The first happy song in forever.
Kagome reached up, suddenly pushing him off of her by the shoulders. She let out a loud laugh as she pushed the hanyou completely over and pinned him to the ground as he had done to her. Inuyasha twisted away and rolled over, bringing Kagome back under him. He pushed her to the ground with his body and weight. Rushes of cold flowed through Kagome and Inuyasha's bodies as they fought playfully, the white sheet twisting around their bodies and bounding them together with each time the rolled over. One by one, the sheets came down over them, rubbing dirt and grass stains over the white surface.
Their chests heaved as the wrestling match finally began to slow. Their energy spent, Inuyasha lay over Kagome, pinning both her hands above her head by the wrists. Kagome still writhed weakly beneath him, though she knew she was no match at all for the muscular hanyou.
"No…fair…" She muttered through her heaved breathes as she twisted her wrists through Inuyasha's firm grip. How he held her…it just made her shudder and shiver.
"Payback…" Inuyasha whispered back, lowering his face a few inches in fatigue. He could feel Kagome's heart beating rapidly in her chest.
Soft breathes released onto each other's red and sweaty faces. An awkward silence smothered them like the sheets that held grip over their bodies, pressing them tightly against each other.
After a moment, a blank look drifted into the hanyou's eyes. He looked distant all of a sudden, his irises trembling.
'No…that….that's the same look he gave me that day when he…tried to…kiss me…' Kagome remembered, drifting back to the memory and feel of Inuyasha's hand grasping hers and bringing her closer and closer until the moment got so awkward, Kagome had to end it. She had shoved him off the hill, rejecting the kiss. But she had known it wasn't meant for her. The look in his eyes, it was clear that he had been looking right through her to someone that wasn't really her.
Here was that look again as his lips neared hers. Was he trying it again? Was he thinking of her? Kikyou. Didn't he know that she wasn't Kikyou. She was Kagome' s complete opposite, didn't he know that by now. It tore her up inside. A kiss. If they ever were to share one, she wanted it to be meant for her, not Kikyou.
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The beginning of this wasn't too good either. But...at least it gave something sweet to munch on, ne?
Not much to say here anymore...headin' for the next chapter then!