Title: A Christmas to Remember
Chapter: Hidden Questions
Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha and Co.
Summery: She sat there arguing with her clueless professor until he asked her "Higurashi, you act as if you knew him in person. Tell me, did you and the mythological Lord have tea together?" He asked with sarcasm in his voice. Kagome refused to let him belittle her, so with a smirk that spoke a thousand words she replied "No professor, The Lord of the Western lands and I never had tea together, although we did spend Christmas together."
A/N- Just going through the old chapters and cleaning them up a bit. I promise the changes are nothing drastic but just making it look nicer. Hope everyone enjoys!
Kagome stormed through the foot of snow with annoyance. At the current moment, she was on a mission—one that consisted of getting off campus as soon as possible. She had been disappointed and upset at the results of today. Reluctantly, she had to admit that the more she addressed the topic, the less disappointed she got.
After her initial interruption, the speaker known as Shinji had simply praised her. That was all he had done. She had never felt more like a child than she did when he spoke. The Inu may as well have given her a pat on the head. Then, just like that, he had gone on his way and continued talking to the room of students as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
How dare he.
That simple thought had caused her to question what she had truly wanted to happen. What reaction would have sufficed? After all, had she truly thought that he would stand up in front of the class and—and do what? What had she really expected him to do? Surely, she did not think it would have been a large ordeal where he stood there baffled, lost for words, and then excused the both of them and questioned her. Yet as naïve and childish as it sounded, that was what she had wanted.
It seemed that yet again, reality had reared its ugly head. Lately, it had been happening quiet often. Still, she could not shake off the feeling of surprise when the Inu, known as Shinji, had not fully taken her bait—or at least not all of it.
He had to be a tad bit interested, if not a little. Would not the knowledge of a being from five hundred years ago raise a few questions—especially when it came from a human? However, as she walked through the snow and away from campus, there was no apparent evidence that he had been intrigued, or curious in the least bit. He had just let her go—just like that.
The thought made her instantly turn cold. She knew better then to think it was from the simple coldness of the harsh winter. The Inu had done the same thing to her as her group of friends had done when she had gone home. They had let her go.
"Higurashi!" A voice called out and in complete shock, Kagome spun around in the direction of the voice.
There, in front of her, stood Shinji Murasaki—the Inu Youkai. Like all the other Inu Youkai's she knew, he stood in all his glory with a smirk. While his hair was not silver but a black color, it was put in a low ponytail. His narrow amber colored eyes were all too familiar to her and the smirk that he held was almost identical to the ones she constantly saw on the Inu brother's.
"Yes?"
She was not even sure why she had responded. At the moment, her teeth were chattering due to the piercing wind, and all she really wanted to do was get back home. Deep down she wondered if he was here for what she thought. Had she been wrong? Had he really chased after her?
"I was wondering if you would like to grab some coffee." He asked in what seemed like an uneasy tone.
"Coffee?" Kagome repeated slightly baffled at his request.
"We could talk about—well, we could talk about Sesshoumaru."
She noticed he was fidgeting and couldn't help but wonder as to why. What did the Inu have to be nervous about? Giving him a look of doubt and suspicion, she waited for him to continue.
"And how you knew his name." Shinji finally added in a much calmer tone.
Her heart leapt and sank at the same time. He seemed to have understood the importance of such a name, but she also wondered what he wanted to know from her. To be fair, she was surprised at his initial ability to disguise his interest. Smiling, she vaguely remembered another Inu whom was able to hide his feelings from most.
"I told you already, I read it from a book." She replied nonchalantly. There was no point in revealing delicate information—especially when a trade of information was much more beneficial to hre.
"Except there is a problem with that."
"Which is?"
"No books have ever stated that name in regards to the Daiyoukai."
Kagome gulped as she wondered why she was so nervous to be caught in such an easy lie.
"Perhaps you simply have not read the same material as I?" She replied nervously to the Inu.
"I doubt it." Was his only response, as he continued to follow her trail while she continued to walk away from the campus.
"Listen, I have to go home. I have homework to do, and quite frankly the wind is a little cold." She replied hastily while quickening her pace. As she came closer and closer to her destination, she pondered on what to do. What did he want from her? Better yet, what did he know? She wondered if an exchange of information was honestly the best course of action in this situation.
"We could talk about the Christmas that you spent with him."
Stopping midway in her steps, she could not control the glare that was directed at the Inu. For someone whom just met her—he was bold. She hadn't talked about that winter with anyone—and at the moment, she hadn't planned to. That memory belonged to her, and her alone.
"We both know that I only said that to shut up the professor."
She hoped that the icy tone that she took with the Inu would inform him of how guarded such a topic was. While she knew the chances of him believing such a thing were small—he could at least smell her suspicion and annoyance.
Opening the door the train-station, she glanced at him in slight wonder. She silently hoped she was making the right decision in retreating.
"Miss Higurashi-" He began once more but Kagome didn't let him finish.
"What do you want from me?"
Along with the annoyance came her anger. Who did he think he was? Better yet, he truly was confused as to what it was exactly that he wanted from her. Sure, maybe curiosity of how a human knew such a thing—but to this extent? Perhaps he knew Sesshoumaru better than she initially thought.
"Answers. How do you know what very few know?"
Multitasking on finding the right train and weaving herself through the crowd, she rolled her eyes at such a question.
"Why is it such a secret?" She asked curiously, yet at the same time knowing the answer to her question. It had to be a secret. She should not have known what she knew. After all, she was only human. Yet the extent that he was going to for such answers confused her even more. Why not just walk away and forget her? Why was it so important to him?
Finally, she decided to stop with the game of charades and turned to face him.
"Tell me—since I know your kind tends to be more curious then cats themselves; is it me being a human that baffles you the most, or are you honestly trying to figure out how I knew the Killing Perfection's name? What are you really asking here?"
She had meant to ask him in a calm and emotionless tone but what had come out instead was a voice that shook with anger. His eyes widened at the realization that she had known what he was and more than likely, shocked by the boldness of such a question.
"You-" He began but Kagome began to step onto the train.
"I assure you, I know nothing of what you ask. I merely know a name."
Why she insisted on lying to him when she knew he would smell it was beyond her. At this point, it no longer mattered. The doors to the train began closing and she knew that soon the mysterious Inu would be a thing of the past—like the rest of her memories regard Youkai.
To her shock, the Inu refused to give up. Shouting over all the sound, he loudly began to speak.
"You are lying, Miss. Higurashi. I had simply asked for an explanation. If you cannot provide me that—then perhaps you can answer a simple question." He stated in such haste, that at first, she didn't fully process his request.
"What?" Once again, she reminded that a simple question would no longer matter in the grand scheme of things. What was so damn important to him? Curiosity had gotten the better of her and now she waited for his response. To her surprise, the Inu somehow managed to answer her question just before the doors closed.
"What song was it that you taught his ward that irritated him so much? Was it perhaps 'Deck the Halls'? I only ask because it seemed that Jaken was not fond of it either."
She had not expected it but the expression on her face stayed for what seemed like hours until it was much too late. Her eyes had widened and her mouth had dropped in shock. The few seconds of interactions that they had left had given it all away. She knew herself well enough to know that the expressions that her face held had gone from that of complete shock to then awe.
That had been her mistake.
The Inu was grinning proudly as he soaked in the vast amount of information that he received just from her expression. As the train began to move, it had finally dawned on her what exactly had happened. His question had not been much different from what he had asked. His real question had not made itself known until after she reacted to his words.
He had really asked such a simple question.
Who are you?
Moreover, she had answered before she could stop herself.
The worst part of the entire thing was that he had left her with several questions of her own.
Who was he?
How did he know her when she did not know him? As the train picked up speed, she could not help looking outside at the winter wonderland. A smile appeared on her face and she recalled the Christmas she would and never could have forgotten.
A/N- As I update each chapter, i'll change my A/N to something regarding the topic of cleaning up the chapters. :)