A/N: Hi everyone! Thanks for reviewing the last chapter! Now, before I get any complaints, I know that we never see any evidence of this in the manga or anime. Suffice to say that I think it's a plausible scenario and, more importantly, think it's cute. I mean, they have to bond over more then blood and gore, right? Good! I'm glad we're all in agreement. Enjoy!
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Meaning of Math and deeper concepts:
Kagome peered intently at her math book. Consulting her notes and the pages, she valiantly attempted to do her homework.
Inuyasha fidgeted, bored out of his mind. "What is that?"
Blue eyes flickered up and back down in a quick movement. "A book."
"It's weird," Inuyasha pronounced.
Kagome sighed. "It's like a scroll but bound together at the sides of the pages. You turn the papers and go to next thing to read."
Nothing more was said as the schoolgirl dove back into her work. The restless hanyou jiggled his foot with barely contained energy.
"Kagome…" Inuyasha whined piteously. "Make me something to eat…."
The teenaged girl looked up and glared. "I am trying to study. Back off."
Crouching on the balls of his feet, Inuyasha sighed loudly. "But I'm hungry," he pouted.
"Aren't you the dangerous hanyou?" Kagome asked, sounding completely uninterested. "Go hunt or something."
"But it's not as good as Ramen!" Inuyasha said stubbornly. "And it takes a lot longer!"
"I'm studying and don't have time," she insisted, moving back a few pages in her textbook. "I have to go home soon to take this exam."
"…Exam?" Inuyasha asked blankly.
"It's a test of my abilities," Kagome explained, already knowing what the half demon would understand.
Inuyasha snorted a laugh. "What abilities? Whining? Complaining?"
Kagome didn't look up from her homework page. "Math."
The amusement Inuyasha derived from this was obvious. "I have never heard of this 'math' thing…do you have to kill it?"
Sighing wistfully, Kagome replied, "No I wish. No killing in math."
"Well then what's the point?" Inuyasha asked practically.
"It's knowledge," Kagome answered.
"Keh," Inuyasha said dismissively. "Then there is no point."
"There is more to life then killing!"
That earned her an mocking snort. "Keh."
"Knowledge is important!" Kagome said, finally looking up. "And it's harder then just swinging a sword around."
Inuyasha plucked the math book from his companion's lap. "Let's see this math stuff."
There was silence by the campfire as Inuyasha stared at the triangles, angles, fractions and percentages. The numbers, tangents, cosigns, derivatives, velocity and slopes all swam before his golden eyes.
"What, what is all this?" he asked in stupefaction.
"Algebra," Kagome said succinctly, enjoying his pain. "Math."
The half demon gave the modern girl a hard and piercing look. "So you get what this is saying?" he inquired, jabbing his clawed finger at the page.
"Mostly," Kagome said with a deprecating shrug. "Once you get taught, it's not the biggest deal."
Inuyasha stared down at the book, all the mysterious symbols and complicated formulas mocking him. "Keh," he said dismissively as he thought of his own uneducated past.
An uncomfortable silence descended upon the pair. Kagome recognized the tense air coming from Inuyasha but couldn't figure out what could have made the self-assured hanyou so edgy.
"Are you okay?" she asked as the silence stretched on.
"Keh," Inuyasha huffed. "Fancy, weird scrolls….stupid and useless…"
Leaning back, Kagome stared at the white haired boy, his nonchalance transparently a facade. Opening her mouth, she was cut off by her new companion.
"I don't need book learning!" Inuyasha snapped.
Kagome jumped a little. "I never said you did," she said slowly.
"I kill things. I don't need to read. Or do this math stuff. I'm a hunter and a half demon. Half breeds don't care about books or knowledge," Inuyasha went on.
"Oh well-"
"This math stuff is stupid," Inuyasha spat out. "All of it is shit assed and for monks, noblemen and people with nothing to do."
Blinking, Kagome tried to process what Inuyasha was so furious over. "You already do math," she informed the incredulous hanyou.
"I do not!" he protested vehemently.
Sighing, the schoolgirl plucked two twigs from the ground. "How many do I have?" she asked, holding one stick.
"One," Inuyasha answered in disgust. "I'm not an imbecile, you know."
Adding the other twig to her hand, Kagome repeated her question.
"What the hell? Two!" growled Inuyasha.
"If I had, let's say, two more?"
"Four," he replied, a vein twitching with pent up aggression.
"If I took away two?"
"Two," the hanyou said with clenched fists.
Putting one stick back onto the ground, Kagome asked for the last time, "How many do I have?"
"ONE!" finally shouted the impatient boy. "Fuckin' hell, you bitch! ONE! What the fuck is with all the god damn questions? Are you stupid? Anyone can answer those damn questions!"
Kagome allowed herself a gloat. "Exactly. Those questions you just answered are the key to all math. Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Once you have those down, the rest is all just extra learning." Tossing the two sticks into the fire, Kagome said softly, "But I suppose that learning is up to a person. If someone doesn't want to learn, they don't have to."
Inuyasha's fists slowly unclenched and the red in his face diminished as comprehension dawned. For a long moment, he stared at Kagome's serene face as old insults and slurs about his capacities rumbled through his conflicted mind..
Without a word, he leapt into a tree's branches and stayed there the entire night.
The next day, when Kagome returned from her dip in the local river, she noticed that her books had claw marks in them. She did not mention the obvious implications to her agitated companion and Inuyasha remained mute on the subject.
Instead, she merely began to explain aloud her textbook.
High above her, Inuyasha listened and digested her words.
Between them, a tenuous bond of more then shard hunting developed slowly through a mutual desire to learn.
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A/N: See what I meant? Not anywhere there but I think Inuyasha would enjoy knowledge. He just wouldn't admit it. Hope you liked it! Review and let me know what you think! (BTB, 'Wardrobe Malfunction' will be updated within the next two weeks!)