Beware of a little OOC in this chapter!

Chapter 3: Substitute!

"What are you two doing here? I thought you were too busy being 'grounded', what ever that means, to come here!" stated Inuyasha.

"I am grounded, don't you notice what time it is! Anyway, I came because I just can't take it! My mom is getting married soon, and she just told me today! She is acting as though she wants the world to stop for her and her beloved Takashi," said Kagome, mockingly at the word 'beloved'.

Inuyasha snorted, "Well, then why did you bring the kid?"

"Souta wanted to get away from them as well, and the only time that he could escape for a while is now. We'll have to be back before morning, with no signs of leaving the house. I just can't stand to leave you guys for so long!" By this time, Kagome was staring to tear, and Inuyasha took her into his arms in a friendly hug.

"So, what do you two want to do between now and morning?" asked Inuyasha, though he knew the answers for both Hiragushi's.

Kagome's response was: "I want to see how Sango and Miroku are doing."

Souta's response was: "I want to have a ride on your back, please, and see all the sights!"

So, Inuyasha led the two to the village, and after successfully dropping off Kagome with the demon hunter and the monk, took Souta out for a little joy ride through the forest. The ride lasted for about ten minutes before Souta decided to head back to the village nad formulate a plan to deal with Takashi and his mom.

While Souta and Inuyasha were out, Kagome had already begun to start a plan. Sango had told her to just deal with it, and not worry about the technicalities of the marriage. Kagome should just stay in school and try to come back to the Feudal Era as soon as she is allowed.

Miroku's idea was very similar, except in his idea, she should tell her mother all about the travels and adventures, and hope that she understands the importance of the mission. Of course, this plan had a risk, because if her mother didn't like the idea of fighting demons, she could ban her for just that reason.

Souta came in, and put in his two cents. Of course, he, not knowing ALL of the dangers of the Feudal Era, suggested that they all hide out in the Feudal Era forever, and Inuyasha would protect them. That idea was immediately shot out of the sky, and Kagome decided to go with Sango's idea, and maybe incorporate Miroku's idea if it became desperate later on.

The sun was threatening to rise in about an hour, so the two Hiragushis and Inuyasha jumped down the well into the time portal between the two worlds. Inuyasha jumped them up to Kagome's room, and Souta ran to his room as quietly as possible. After Souta left, but before Inuyasha had to leave, he lowered his lips to Kagome's, and they deepened the kiss. They stopped for a breath of air, and after that, Inuyasha prepared to leave the room with a "goodbye, Kagome. I'll see you as soon as I can."

Kagome couldn't believe that he would have kissed her, especially because she had thought that he still had Kikyou, but that one act of affection was enough to quench any doubts in her mind about her beloved Inuyasha.

She managed to crawl into bed after changing her clothes just in time to look as thought she had just rolled out of bed by the time her mother walked into her room to wake her up. Kagome put on her best act to remove any doubts about her whereabouts the previous night, and so far it was working very well.

School was the most boring place on the face of the planet that day. The teachers gave out random assignments to all of the students, and they had just adopted a new concept that people have to have assigned seats in the lunchroom to "mix up the cliques and gangs that have been forming."

So, here she was, sitting at a table full of cheerleaders—she was sure that they had convinced the principal to get them their own table just because they were cheerleaders—herself, and Hojo. She and Hojo just so happened to be at the edge of the table, away from the cheerleaders.

Kagome tried to eat her Sloppy Joe—they weren't kidding when they called it sloppy—in peace, but Hojo kept on trying to goad her into meaningless conversations. She gave up on avoiding him, and tried to be kind to the oblivious boy. 'When will he ever get it that I do not like him like that?' she asked herself as he happily chatted about random things.

Finally lunch was coming to a close, and she left the room early, as most people did, and arrived at her next class five minutes early. The class—math—was her worst. But, no matter how bad she was, it was nothing compared to what was coming up next…

The class had a substitute that day. The substitue was a teacher at Tokyo University… the same place where Takashi worked. Kagome almost dreaded the teacher coming—for he was a little late.

The teacher rounded the corner of the hall, and Kagome saw him eye-to-eye and almost screamed. IT WAS TAKASHI! SHE WAS DOOMED!

Takashi acted as thought he did not see her, and instead walked into the classroom with his myriad books. He sat at the teacher's desk, and started with attendance. He went though the A's, B's, C's, and so on with a monotone voice, but when he got to the H's, he had to look twice. He looked in the room, and indeed, his future step-daughter was sitting in the class, looking as though she was going to die from the way she sat.

"I did not know that Miss Hiragushi was in this class," he stated, "Kagome, your mother told me to tell you something along the lines of 'You had better not visit you boyfriend after school today.'"

The class looked at her incredulously as she blushed ten shades of red as she tried to form a coherent sentence. Yuka looked at her with a look that said, "Boyfriend?"

Then Takashi continued, "Anyway, since that is out, let us begin with the lesson, shall we? Now, since you are all in geometry, you should know that…." And he started with the lecture.

Yuka leaned over towards Kagome, "What was that about?" she whispered.

"Mom's dating that guy," was the only response that Kagome gave, and she began taking notes, or at least what looked like notes. They were notes, but they were to Inuyasha, and not for class. She had to tell him about the recent developments, and that she should lay low for a while when this all blows over.

Classes were normal after that, but she could not get it out of her mind that her mom had told him about Inuyasha, even if it was indirect, as it seemed. She had wanted to see him, but that seemed out of the question now. At least she could send him a few letters so he would not feel like she was avoiding him.

She didn't go to WacDonalds that day just to avoid any false conclusions as to her whereabouts. She did, however, put the notes on the well house with a seal on them, so that only demons, half demons, or mikos could open them.

She walked into the house, interrupting a phone conversation between Takashi and someone on the other line. He had spent quite a bit of time over at their house since Kagome had found to about him, so it was nothing new.

She went up to her room and tried to finish her geometry homework. But, her lack of notes did not help in the least, and all of it was confusing for her. She had to read the textbook about ten times before she understood the instructions. Finally she understood it, and began on the rigorous pile of homework.

It was almost dinnertime when she finished all of her projects, homework, and make-up studying. She trudged down to the dining room, afraid of whatever news that might come up.

Her gut feeling was right. She was yelled at for the supposed sneaking out last night. Apparently, Souta had a little bit of mud on his clothes, and she drew up the conclusion that they were out. How right she was. But, the two managed to divert her attention off of the topic.

END CHAPTER

R&R