Button Mashing

Summary: An arbitrary text leads to a unique bond that transcends normalcy.

Anime/Manga: InuYasha/Big Windup

Pairing: Kagome/?

Genre: Friendship/Humor/Romance

Rated: T - M

-x-x-x-

Bzz Bzzzz

Barely opening her eyes, Kagome glanced at the bedside table, tentatively reaching out for her phone. Not able to reach it, she rolled over and went back to bed.

"Kagome, breakfast is ready~!"

'Or not,' rolling onto her back, she stared up at the ceiling. "Can't sleep in at home, can't sleep in five hundred years in the past. I mean, if you can't sleep in five hundred years off your timeline, then where can you?"

"Kagome?" The door opened, and she turned her head, eyes meeting her mothers, "did you hear me?"

"Yes, I'm getting up now."

"Alright, hurry up then."

As soon as the door shut, Kagome was sitting up and pulling herself out of her bed. Kicking the comforter from her feet, she reached out for her phone and swiped her thumb across the screen. "...who's this?"

: Where are you, man? You're almost an hour late! :
Sent at 5:44 am

She swyped a quick response and waited a second before placing her phone back down and making her way to the bathroom.

: I'm sorry? Late for what? :
Sent at 5:51 am

-x-x-x-

Rai sat down with her coffee, listening to both her children as they ran around upstairs. The two were getting ready for the day. Her youngest was quick to join her at the table, while her oldest was in no hurry to make her way downstairs.

"Take your time, Souta."

Downing his orange juice, Souta grinned, "I have a soccer meet, can't take my time." As he said this, he finished off his eggs and rice, grabbing the toast, he took off towards the front door and pulled on his shoes. "Bwa waa!" (Bye Mom!)

Barely lifting her hand to wave her son off, she called out to her daughter.

"I'm coming!" this followed by an annoyed mutter as she finally descended. "Someone's texting me that I'm late, and I have no clue who this number belongs. I'm almost one hundred percent certain they misdialed the number."

"Did you tell them?"

"Not yet, I just read their message." She eyed the text on her phone.

: Damn it, get your ass to the Pitch, the coach is squeezing oranges again! :
Sent at 6:08 am

'Pretty sure he's got the wrong number...'

"You're going to school today?"

"Yeah, I have tests all this week." She responded without looking up from her phone.

: I think you've got the wrong number, friend. Check the number, and get back to me. :
Sent at 6:11 am

Setting her phone down on the table, she sat beside her mom and started on her food.

"Have you given any thought to what we talked about yesterday?"

'...' Kagome nodded, "yeah, I thought about it. I'll talk with Inuyasha this Sunday, and I'll let you know what happens."

Rai smiled, "I just want to see you happy, Kagome. Your adventure ended some weeks ago, but you're still jumping time. You need to decide where your life is, and if your life is here, you need to commit to it properly."

"I know,"

"I got your transcripts from your old school; you need to hand them into your principal." Taking another sip from her coffee, Rai placed the mug down. Across from her, she watched her daughter as she messed with the rice in her bowl. "How is the new school so far?"

"It's fine. I need to join a club, though. It's a requirement at this school."

"Any ideas on what you might want to join?"

"Archery is a thought."

Laughing, Rai shook her head, "you'd certainly be good at it. Think you can do it without glowing?"

Huffing, Kagome put her chopsticks down as her head dropped forward a bit. "So long as none of my targets turn out to be Demons, I think I'll be fine." Standing, she grabbed her phone and started towards the front door, "I'll probably be home late today. I'm going to take a glance around at the clubs available."

"Alright, text me when you're heading home then."

-x-x-x-

'Hmm?' Feeling her phone vibrate against her leg, Kagome reached into her bag and swiped her screen to reveal a new message from Mr. or Miss. Unidentified.

: Crap, my bad! Just ignore everything I said. Sorry! :
Sent at 7:39 am

Smiling, she replied with a simple "no problem, have a good day." and dropped her phone back into her bag as she walked through the gates of her school. She'd been going to Nishiura for about two weeks, and it wasn't so bad so far. She hadn't associated with anyone in her class. No more than necessary, at least. She had spoken with them when she transferred in, and she answered their questions as honestly as one could in her situation. A few tried to include her in their day-to-day conversations, but she wasn't interested in sports like they were. The Soccer club here was apparently impressive, and they just got a new Baseball team, so the students were all the buzz about the two.

"Higurashi, I heard Sensei say you were looking for a club to join!"

'Not even to class yet,' Kagome smiled, "yeah, I was going to take a look around after school today."

The guy who'd called out to her grinned, "why not join the cheering squad?!" His eyes lit up as he asked.

"...what was your name? I haven't spoken much with anyone, and so I don't remember everyone's name."

"H-Hamada, Yoshiro! It's good to meet you, Higurashi!" Hands at his sides, eyes forwards, straight face.

Kagome couldn't help but laugh at how serious he looked, "it's nice to meet you properly, I'm Higurashi, Kagome. Um, I don't know if I would be a good fit with the Cheering Squad, though."

The most depressing sound left him as he seemed to deflate a bit, but that moment lasted barely a few seconds when he straightened back up and grinned, "how about I walk around with you after school today, we can look over the options, and you can get a better idea of the clubs at our school!"

Thinking about it, she thought of the time it would save her, going around with Someone who knew the clubs and where to find all of them, rather than second-guessing and getting lost. Could she use her energy to feel out students? Yes. Would that be helpful at a school filled with students? No. She had discovered a while back just how useless her Miko abilities were in an Era that no longer believed in healing energy or purification abilities. "That sounds nice," she smiled, "but only if it's no trouble for Hamada-San."

"I-it's no trouble, none." Opening the door to their class, he stepped aside so that she could enter first. "Many of us have wanted to talk to you for some time; I just used the fact that you needed a club as an excuse."

"Many?"

"Well, me and a few friends in class. One of my friends is a nervous ball of energy, though he's a great guy, he's too scared to reach out on his own. Then another is very outspoken and very energetic, to the point that he's got no filter and tends to not think before speaking. The last is much more levelheaded than the other two, and can usually be found mediating between people."

"So, I understand why it was difficult for the nervous one to come up to me, but the other two..." the sentence was left open, she knew the boy was following.

"Honestly?"

"That's certainly preferable."

Sitting down in his seat as Kagome too the one beside his, "you didn't look open to conversation. None of us were sure how to approach you, because you always looked to be far away in thought." Looking down at his desk in silence, he tapped the surface once, twice, and again, "sorry if that sounded rude, but we just didn't want to bother you."

"I probably did have a lot on my mind." She wasn't mad; she understood clearly how she'd been the last two weeks. She hadn't wanted to move schools, but because she'd missed so much of it, she hadn't had much choice. Then, on top of that, her grandfather wasn't doing well physically, and then her mother was pressuring her to choose between the Edo era or Present-day Japan. 'I don't even know how to approach that topic in my head. Every time I try and think about it, I blank out.'

"Yeah, that look!"

Another laugh slipped past her, "I'm sorry. I promise you, nothing I'm thinking about is ever so important that you guys can't come up and talk to me. It may take me a bit to get to know you, but I won't yell at you for saying 'hi' and just, generally, starting a conversation."

"Sweet!"

"Huh? N-no way!"

Hamada and Kagome turned to the classroom door, where two boys were just now walking in, "Tajima and Izumi! How was practice?"

"Tch, this Mihashi never showed up!"

Hamada frowned, "did somebody text him? Mihashi isn't the type to skip out on practice, you know?"

Tajima's cheeks burned. "Abe did, he's sick with the flu and will be out for the next day or two."

Sighing, Izumi shook his head as he gave Tajima a look. Sitting down in his seat, he turned to Kagome, "Higurashi, Kagome, right?"

"Yes,"

"I'm Izumi, Kosuke, and that's Tajima."

"Tajima, Yuichiro! That's me! Oh, hey, you haven't said much since you got here. Are you going to join any clubs? You haven't yet, right!? There's room on the baseball team!"

"Dude, it's a boys baseball team." Izumi interjected, "though we do have Hamada's Cheer Squad. I guess I kind of associate them with the Baseball Team."

Hamada grinned, "I'm taking Higurashi around the school after classes, that was she can properly look at the clubs. I did ask her if she'd be interested in joining the Cheer Squad, though."

Izumi eyed Hamada before smirking, "shot down?"

"What? No! She just wants to look around before deciding!"

"I didn't necessarily say 'no,' but I still don't know if Cheer Squad is Something I want to do."

"What did you do before coming to Nishiura?" Again, Izumi seemed to be the one starting conversations for them. Tajima was sitting on the desk in front of Kagome as the four talked.

"Ah,"

"Silence, Naraku! I'm sick of listening to your nonsense!"

"Sango!"

"Sango~."

"You expect to defeat me with Hiraikotsu at this point?"

Kagome's eyes widened, watching as Sango's Hiraikotsu cut through Naraku before boomeranging back around and slicing through him again.

"Okay! Adamant Barrage!"

Kagome gripped her bow and drew back an arrow, "you won't get away!"

"Kazaana!"

Smiling, Kagome answered, "I did a couple of different things. Archery, for one."

"First Aid treatment? I don't need it; go away!"

"You do too. I was there, remember? Come down here!"

"Nothin doin."

"I said c'mere!"

"Tch."

Kagome gave Inuyasha a hard glare, closing her eyes; she took a breath, "sit, boy!"

-BANG!-

"I dabbled a bit in Debate." She listed, revealing two fingers as she counted them off for the three in front of her.

Running out of the way of the claws of a demon, Kagome ducked into a roll as she tripped. "Ah, no!"

"Heh, Inuyasha's wench ain't so tough."

He descended on her just as she rolled out of his reach and stood back onto her feet, "if you want me, you're gonna have to catch me, you weirdo!"

"What was that!?"

She was gone before he was even standing back up. Sprinting through the forest as she tried to reach Inuyasha before it was too late.

"Track too...oh, and Volleyball." She added the last as an afterthought. 'Technically, that's the only actual school activity I did among the four I listed, while the others were...self-indulgence activities.'

"I guess you are one of those who can do anything they put their mind to."

"Well, I do try. I played with swords for a bit, but I can't use them to save my life." She laughed because it was true. "I like camping and adventures, anything that gets the blood flowing."

"That's baseball!"

Izumi groaned, "Tajima, we're an all-boys team!"

"We have a girl on the team, though, so it's technically coed."

"I don't think the manager counts as part of the Baseball lineup, though."

"I've never thrown a ball, much less hit one with a bat."

"Can you catch a ball?"

"I guess, but not one that is flying a hundred kilometers at my face."

"So, Higurashi, baseball aside, do you have any siblings?"

'They are an inquisitive trio,' not that she was bothered by all the questions, "a younger brother. Souta is twelve, and he plays soccer."

"Is his school near Nishiura too?"

'Izumi, he's the one who asks most of the questions.' Kagome smiled, "his school is closer to Sunset Shrine, in Tokyo."

"Ah, so that's almost an hour commute."

"Hey, hey! Why are you coming such a long way from home?"

Turning to Tajima, she thought of her answer and how best to give it. Ultimately, she decided to be upfront...sort of. "I missed too much school, and so, they kicked me out."

"...no way." Hamada didn't seem to believe her. "How? How much school could you have missed? I mean, you don't come off as a delinquent type."

"Hm? 'Delinquent' type? I mean, I did get into a lot of fights, but I don't think that had anything to do with why I was kicked out. Oh, maybe it did." She paused thoughtfully, 'Come to think of it, I missed school because I was down the well, fighting demons and searching for the shards, in a group of individuals that also fought demons.' Smiling, she shook her head, "thinking about it like that; I almost sound like a Yankee. And with all this baseball talk, maybe I should walk around with a long skirt, a bat, and a crop top. Maybe a mask too?"

"Eh...hee hee! YEAH!"

Surprised by the excitement, she leaned back as Tajima leaned forward, Izumi standing up and putting a hand on his friends' shoulder just in case.

"I don't care about the Yankee bit, but I'll do anything to get a bat in your hands!"

He didn't care if the baseball team was all boys. He was completely ignoring the fact. "Something tells me I wouldn't be all that great at baseball unless you can win a game by being hit. I'm more of the "audience participation ribbon" type."

Izumi looked thoughtfully, "well, actually, you could win a game getting hit by the ball, it just wouldn't feel nearly as good as it does winning the game by hitting the ball."

"Everyone to your seats~."

Tajima jumped, and Izumi let him go, the two returning to their chairs before the Class Rep had everyone stand and bow before taking their seats. It was only the beginning of her day, but so far, so far, it was pretty good.

-x-x-x-

Me: Here is chapter one.