The betrayal

Chapter 7

Kagome's POV

So, as soon as we were back in Inuyasha's time, Sesshoumaru appeared out of nowhere and snatched Kagura away from us. I don't know why he did this and how he managed to hide his and Kagura's scents and demon aura afterwards. I just hoped that she was in good hands with him. The others had to comfort me because I was so down after those events.

After a day of recovery from the pain of her death (which is nowhere near enough time to get over such a thing), I went back to my time to check on my family. I really needed to check on them. Inuyasha didn't even complain about me going back. He probably knew that he couldn't stop me anyways.

When I got home, I was really, really and I mean really relieved that I was greeted the moment I stepped into our house. Mom immediately hugged me and brought me into the kitchen. She was preparing Ramen. Inuyasha's favourite food.

I wonder where Sota and Grandpa went.

"Where are the boys?" I asked. "Sota should be on his way home from school now. And your Grandpa is out walking. We can eat as soon as they are home."

They should be fine, too. I'm not that worried anymore.

"I'm going to my room until dinner is ready." I said, as I walked out of the kitchen. But before I even arrived at the door, mom stopped me. "Kagome, what's wrong?" My mother had this caring voice again. She could always see right through me. I couldn't deceive her with anything. "It's… nothing." That lie didn't get through. How could it? I was still sad about Kagura's death. My fake smile probably didn't seem real, too. "Kagome, you know you can't lie to me, right?" I let out a sigh and began talking. "I told you from Kagura before, right?" A single tear escaped my left eye and rolled down my cheek. Mom slowly nodded. She saw my discomfort and turned me around, so she could take me in her arms in another hug. Then I told her the whole story. About how Kagura talked to me, how she 'abducted' me. How we got through that passage, where she set herself on fire. How we met Naraku and she got tortured close to death. How she told me about that cage. How my friends came to save me. How she got stabbed by that filthy demon. How I tried to save her afterwards. How she died in front of me. Her last words. How Naraku got defeated by Inuyasha. And finally how Sesshoumaru took Kagura from us.

My tears were practically streaming from my eyes. While I was telling the story, we seated ourselves on the couch, since mom realized that I couldn't hold myself on my feet for much longer. I had my head on her shoulder and her arms were still around me, constantly stroking me reassuringly. We sat like this for quite some time. During the whole story, mom didn't say a word and listened to me patiently. Even when I was finished talking, she stayed quiet. The silence felt somewhat comforting. But also gut-wrenching. I didn't only come back to check on my family. I also wanted to attend to school again, so I could catch up with stuff again. And also to distract myself from Kagura's death. "I know how hard it is to lose a friend." She finally spoke up. "I had an even harder time when your father died. But I won't go deeper into that. How long would it take you to get Inuyasha to come here?"

She probably wants to invite him to Ramen. And actually, I kind of like the idea. When Ramen gets served, he'll be convinced to come without a second thought, anyways. And having him nearby would be quite nice now.

"With Ramen, I'd say something about fifteen minutes." I said. I was speaking a lot calmer now, thanks to mom. "Alright then. Go get him. Sota and Grandpa should be back by then too. I'll set up some more Ramen, so there will be enough for everyone." She smiled at me and I stood up to go and get Inuyasha.

Around 15 minutes later

"We're here!" I shout through the house. Inuyasha really didn't waver long before taking me on his back and speeding to the well. He can be so childish at times. "Hello Inuyasha. How are you?" My mom was the first one to get us. "I'm fine, thanks." After the short greetings, mom gestured me to go into the kitchen and get seated at the table with the others. Then she turned to Inuyasha again and talked to him. I figured that it was nothing important and went to the kitchen. I greeted both Sota and Grandpa and sat down at the table.

Not long after I sat down, Inuyasha and mom entered and sat down too. "Well then, shall we start?" Mom said. Before anyone could say anything at all, Inuyasha grabbed his chopsticks, digging in his food. That's Inuyasha for you. "Inuyasha, sit boy!" I shout, to send him flying to the ground. Luckily, he didn't have any Ramen on the sticks yet. "Ugh… Why?" He groaned. "We're saying the grace first." Annoyed I clasped together my hands to say the grace before we can start. It's not much, but it's tradition. After Inuyasha joined in, we all at once said the words. "Thank you for the food."

And unsurprisingly Inuyasha was the first one to dig in again. I had to smile. That was one of the first real smiles since I was with Kagura before she was killed. In thoughts of the passed woman, my smile faded again. I quietly started eating my Ramen. I only just swallowed, when, to my

surprise, Inuyasha lay a hand on my leg and looked at me. "You alright?" He asked me in a comforting and soothing voice. I don't know how much, but my face was red. But according to the heat I felt rising in my face, I'd say beet red. I would never ever expect Inuyasha to interrupt his favourite food, just so he can check up on me. I was so completely startled, I didn't bring out a single word. My incoherent stuttering made Inuyasha look at my face from a closer distance. If it was even possible, my face probably flushed even more. From the corner of my eye, I saw mom smiling to herself and quietly and innocently eating her Ramen. The situation was so desperate to me, I completely didn't know what to do. My mind was going crazy.

OhmygodOhmygodOhmygod! He's so close, what should I do? It's almost as if he'd want to… NO! No, no, no. He would never do that.

"Kagome, you are kind of red. Do you feel sick?"

What? I'm not sick, you idiot. I'm embarrassed. Why can't I say anything? I'm not even moving. I want to shove him away and get out of here as fast as even possible. But I can't. My body is not doing what I'm telling him to do. Inuyasha, please. Just leave me alone. This is too much for me.

So, probably out of habit, my mouth acted on its own accord. Although I didn't want to sit him. He didn't do anything wrong. He only looked out for me. But my body didn't do what I wanted. "SIT BOY!" And there it was. Great, Kagome. Just great. Now I'm not only sad, but I'll have to deal with an annoyed Inuyasha too. Yay… Inuyasha got up and sat himself back at the table. "Sorry." After his mumbled, but hearable apology, he continued eating in a (for Inuyasha) very slow pace.

And that did it for me. Today definitely was not normal. Mom talking to Inuyasha alone? Sota not nearly jumping Inuyasha out of excitement? Inuyasha interrupting his meal to look for me? Him not even getting angry at all after being sat and apologizing? And, to top all of it, he even continued eating in a slow pace? What was wrong with today? Everything seemed so unreal. I needed to get out of here. This was too uncomfortable. I ate my Ramen as fast as even possible. I stood up, voiced a quick apology for leaving the table and went out of the kitchen, to run up the stairs and into my room. I let myself fall into the sheets of my bed and grabbed my pillow to lie my head on it and let my mind wander off. I thought about all that happened since I came home and how out of character Inuyasha behaved. There also were some tears when my thoughts drifted to Kagura again.

I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't realize just how much the time flew. I heard a knock on my door, then a voice on the other side of it. "Kagome, are you awake?" It was Inuyasha. "Yes. Come in." I answered. The door was opened and Inuyasha came in. To welcome him, I sat up on my bed, with my legs over the edge of the mattress, put my sheets and the pillow away and moved to my right to give Inuyasha some space to sit on.

"Are you alright? You were crying again, weren't you?" Inuyasha spoke with a soothing voice again.

"What? No, I didn't cry."

"Kagome, don't try to lie. I can smell the salt from your tears. It's not like I haven't smelled it before."

"Sorry. Kagura will be in my mind for some time."

"I know. Just so you know, you shouldn't hide your feelings. If you feel like crying, you have your family, our friends in my time and me. We'll always be here for you."

I didn't expect that. It seemed like Inuyasha didn't have enough of acting out of character yet.

"I know that. Thank you, Inuyasha."

I slowly inched closer to him to lean my body against his and put my head on his shoulder. Inuyasha didn't move or say a thing. He tensed up a little at first, but it didn't take him long to relax and put his right arm around me to lay his hand on my waist. He pulled a little bit to get me even closer to him. I really enjoyed this moment. It seemed like the whole world was in peace and I didn't worry about anything. And in this peaceful moment I soon felt my consciousness starting to fade away. My eyelids started to drop closed. Before I fell asleep, I spoke a few more words. "Thank y… Inu…sha… for… there… me…" My eyelids finally closed shut and I fell asleep. The last things I could really keep in mind before drifting off to dreamland completely, were my body being shifted, Inuyasha saying something about night and precious and something quite soft pressing to the top of my head.

The next morning

"Kagome. Time for school." That day seemed to start great. Being woken up with the word 'school'. I didn't want to wake up yet. I had such a pleasant dream. I tried to fight off consciousness. "Come on. You don't want to be late, do you?" In that dream Inuyasha was holding me close to him. We both sat on my bed. Funny thing is, I dreamt about me falling asleep. My head was lying on his shoulder. It was like I was watching the scene from a third person view. When I fell asleep on Inuyasha, he lifted me up and lay me down on the bed. He quietly whispered "Good night, my precious Kagome." Then he pressed his lips to my head and covered me with the blanket. After that, he left the room. And here I was, being woken up by that annoying voice.

Wait a moment. This scene seems all too familiar. That was what happened last night. After I fled from the kitchen and he came to my room. And he told me about our friends, him and my family being there for me. It couldn't be, right? He wouldn't kiss me. There's no way. Nor would he call me precious. But I'm sure I heard him saying the words 'night' and 'precious'. And I also felt something press to my head. Could he really have…?

Now I wanted to stay asleep even more. I was way too embarrassed to get up now and see Inuyasha. But either way, my eyes snapped open. Only to see the one person I didn't want to see. Inuyasha. Cowering in front of my bed. Looking at me. Right at my face. Great.

I felt heat rising to my face again. A lot of heat. A blush didn't even get close to describing the colour of my face. I was so extremely embarrassed. I couldn't bare it anymore. "Sit Boy!" For the third time in about 12 hours, I sent him flying to the ground. "Sit. Sit. Sit. Sit. Sit. Sit. Sit." I looked at him lying on the ground and guilt overcame me. "I'm so sorry!" I half screamed and grabbed my clothes before running out of my room. I ran straight to the bathroom, closed the door after me and locked it. As soon as the lock in the door clicked, I leaned my back against it. I was panting heavily and my heart was beating like crazy. I sank down to the floor trying to calm myself down. Being in love was so much trouble. During the time I was thinking about what happened just now, I used the time to get dressed for school. As always, I put on the green skirt with the white blouse, the green foulard over my shoulders and the red tie.

After I sorted out my thoughts and got fully dressed, I slightly opened the door and peeked out of the bathroom to check the area. After checking twice, that no Inuyasha was around, I got out of the bathroom to go downstairs and eat breakfast. I went to the kitchen and got greeted happily by everyone. Inuyasha too. After spotting him in his normal self, not angry one little bit, I blushed a bit again. "Uhm… Morning everyone." Something was off with him. Normally he would have scolded me about sitting him, but not this time. And yesterday he didn't really react too. He even apologized, even though he did nothing wrong. I made a mental note to ask him about it later. After having eaten the delicious bacon and fried egg mom prepared, I got ready for school. I packed my bag, put on my shoes and went out of the house to go to school.

After school

School was pretty normal, like it always was. There was, except for being inspected by all the teachers about my sickness, nothing out of the normal. We just finished a math lesson (a very tiring lesson with me understanding not even half of what I should have) and I was packing my things, when Eri, Yuka and Ayumi came over to my desk to talk to me. "Kagome, you've been kind of down today. What's wrong?" Eri said. I had to think for a moment as to how much I should tell them. "Nothing. It's just…" I paused again. "A friend of mine died in a… car accident." I smiled weakly as I said this to reassure them I'm fine. "Kagome, you call this nothing? A friend who died? That's not nothing." Apparently my smile didn't work. Eri was practically freaking out. "How did it happen? Did your friend cause the accident? Or someone else?" "Look, guys, I don't want to talk about it right now. Maybe I'll tell you once, but now I just want to return to daily life in school and try to forget about what happened." I once again felt my eyes getting wet. They probably realized that I was on the verge of tears, so they stopped questioning me. "Alright, let's leave that topic aside." Yuka said. I saw a mischievous grin grow on her face. She was definitely going to ask me about my 'boyfriend' once again. Actually, I should have expected it. "So, Kagome, tell us, how are things going with your boyfriend?" That Yuka always had to know. Now she won't back down until I tell her everything. "Everything's fine. I guess. At least he's not two timing anymore." He couldn't do it anyways. Kikyou died quite some time ago. "That's great. And why did he choose you over her?" Eri now joined in too.

What kind of question is that?

"I don't know. I'm just glad he doesn't do it anymore." By now I had all my things packed and we started heading home. When we were outside in the courtyard of the school, Hojo, standing at the entrance, spotted us and waved in our direction. He walked to us and started talking. "Hello Kagome. Good to see you in school again." He was always so… I don't know. Formal. And somehow way too perfect in everything. He was like the perfect example for all the students. I didn't like that about him. I mean, sure, he was nice and everything, but… It was just too much niceness at once. But at least I had to try and be nice, to hope he would be gone as soon as possible. "Hi there, Hojo. Nice to see you too." He had that annoying huge smile again. I think nothing could ever bring him out of his happiness. "Listen, Kagome, I'm having a party this weekend to celebrate Hanami. We're meeting at my place and when everyone is present, we're going to go to the park with the cherry blossoms. We'll have a barbeque and drinks and music and so on."

Hanami. The cherry blossom festival. I had completely forgotten about that. I love this festival. It's always so pretty seeing all those pink petals floating in the air everywhere. It's so romantic. But I don't really want to spend that festival with Hojo. Not because it's him, but because I'd rather spend it with Inuyasha.

"Oh, and of course you guys can come too." He added gesturing towards the other three girls. "Alright, thanks for the offer, Hojo. I'll see that I can come." Well, I'd probably have to make up a lie to not go there. After Hojo told me the exact place and time of his party, we parted our ways and me and the others went to WC Donalds.

Of course, as always, the topic of discussion fell on me and my "boyfriend" again. They had the 'awesome' idea to bring my boyfriend to the party. Well, actually it wasn't even that bad an idea. But considering Inuyasha being socially awkward sometimes and very withdrawn towards other people, it probably wasn't that great an idea. "And then we can finally see you kiss him." Yuka practically squealed. "What? No, no, no, no, no. Forget it. I'm absolutely NOT going to kiss my boyfriend in public when dozens of people could be watching. And why would you even want to see something like that?" They all laughed out loud at my reaction. And I had no choice but to join in on their laughter.

Author's note:

So, this is chapter 7. It turned out longer than I originally wanted it to, but I'm quite satisfied with how it turned out. It is now standing at 3237 words.

So, a few things. I know that I am messing up the original plot of Inuyasha a little bit. Kagura actually died before Kikyou did, which, in my story, is the other way around. Sorry, but I really couldn't stand that priestess.

For those who didn't know and still don't know. Hanami is the fest in Japan where everyone enjoys the blooming Sakura trees. Those trees with the pink petals all over them. I thought it was nice to involve this festival because it is such a romantic scenery. You all can expect something ;)

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Only the plot of this story belongs to me. *Leaves house to meet Mrs. Takahashi and talk about ownerships.*