Huzzah! Reviews make me happy. ---- :)
Thanks for all the support, and it's given my muse (currently Ryoma Echizen --- stekki!) a boost enough to give me a whack over the head over the head with his tennis racket. :P
His way cranking up the inspiration! We must all thank him by making bentos!
I'm in a very weird mood… :P
'I just want to breathe again, learn how to face joy and pain, discover how to laugh a little, cry a little, live a little more.'
--- Breathe Again, a song from The Outsiders.
XP Everyone's urging me to watch The Outsiders, it's 'really amazing.' I don't know about it, I've borrowed it but I haven't watched it. Breathe Again is an purely amazing song in it though, the lyrics speak so clearly: 'Starting out again is never easy, disappointments come and go, but life still goes on; With a bit of luck, it's a brand new start, that might just go my way.'
Right, now I'm getting pissed off for being thrashed about something I know I didn't do. Misstress of the Wolf Clan: OK, please, CHECK. The review was left by an anonymous reviewer called Myob. I don't know who that is, and I don't care. I put the review up there as an EXAMPLE. Not a QUOTE from me. An EXAMPLE, from someone else. Frankly, I'm getting upset of being accused of something I didn't do.
ATTENTION: I know it's a long way off, but an early warning: I'm going to Hong Kong for Christmas (on the 25th I'm on the plane… T.T) so updates will be delayed then. :P I'm gone for two weeks… so… you know.
Plus, I've started a new story! Huzzah! I know, I'm stupid for doing another when I haven't even finished THIS one :P but I've had this idea rolling around in my head for a while, so I wrote it. It's much more serious, about life's ups and downs, and it takes place in therapy… Here's to hoping it goes as well as this one!
Erm… in response to a few reviews: I don't believe in true love, or soul mates. I do believe in love, and romance --- because I am a romantic:P (How do you think I get to make such tender scenes? It sure as hell ain't from my life, and definitely due to my overactive imagination) but I believe that love is like… when the sparks have gone (that's the romance) you're only left with friendship and fondness, with still perhaps, if you're lucky, still quite a fair amount of attraction, but it's not as exciting as it first was. Which brings on the main question: How do you know when the relationships gone dud, or it's just died down a little? Very tricky indeed.
Priestess Kag-chan: And nope, I've definitely haven't experienced true love before. True love… makes me think of those people running into each other's arms on beaches… kinda like Baywatch. I love the concept, how you accept each other completely, and whole-heartedly, but its far too fragile and unrealistic. So, yes to love, but no to true love.
About the soul mates thing: I don't believe in soul mates, I believe that there are more suitable people for us, and hopefully can bring out the best in you, and you bring out the best in them. Technically, you have to date everyone in the whole world to find your soul mate, and I don't think anyone has the patience --- or the will --- to do that.
Darkangelprincess24: I know Chinese, Cantonese. Traditional. 'I love you' in Chinese is: 我 愛 你。It's hard to pronounce it, since Chinese is one of the hardest languages to learn, so you may need someone to tell you how to pronounce it. :P Good luck in finding that person.
Uwaki Aisu: :P Read the above section, it's for you also. Gomen about the maths, I came home from school and my last period was Maths, and I had to work my frustration out! Gah, I suck at it so bad. Plus, I'm really bad at statistics, so you may be seeing Kagome struggle with her Statistics too… :P
Yay for your support! And your 'epic poems.' I deeply appreciate them. ;) You have a little brother? Cute! Better then my great big slouching one, who's nineteen and makes me fetch him cups of water and the remote…
It's sad, really. The remote is two inches from him, but NO, I have to get it… :P I ramble a lot. Sorry…
NefCanuck: Nice reviews. Way, way nicer then mine. I just normally leave a note going, 'Hey, that was great! Write another chapter soon!' XD Seriously, I love your support, and the thought you put into them. Thanks!
And… FINALLY, without any further delay (XD), I give you:
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha… as I've repeatedly bleated these past few chapters. :P And I don't own whatever names I've used in this… like Versace and so on.
(The disclaimer? XD)
Make Me
All was well in the Takahashi household. Kagome and Inuyasha were over their latest row, Kagome was wearing her normal short skirts (of which Inuyasha and Miroku were deeply appreciative of; Miroku perhaps a little more vocally so), and birds were chirping in the trees. The early morning silence was beautiful, and it was hard not to admire the scenery outside. Kagome leaned out the window, enjoying the sheer peacefulness and passivity it had to offer ---
"OK… WHO LEFT THE MILK OUT?"
She turned around to see a rather mussed Inuyasha, clearly having woken up from his heavy slumber. Padded in a scarlet dressing gown, he was a picture to behold, holding a half full milk carton in one hand, and a grumpy expression on his face.
"So… good morning to you, Inuyasha."
Inuyasha held out the milk in one hand, thrusting it out to her. "It's warm. I hate warm milk."
Kagome finally made her jaw work again. "You're rich enough to buy a million milk cartons. Why are you getting so worked up about this one?"
His sleepy gold eyes narrowed. "I knew it! It's you, isn't it, wench? You left it out!"
She threw her hands in the air. "I'm neater then you, you slob. Of course I'd put it back." She fisted her hands on her hips. "Anyway, it's way better then you. You drink it straight from the carton. You don't even bother with a glass. People are drinking your saliva. That's way more disgusting."
Inuyasha reluctantly sloshed the milk into his Cap 'n' Crunch, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like: "Nothing you haven't tasted before…"
She made a face, and he raised his eyes from the bowl, turning to face her, when his dressing gown fell open. Her first instinct was to cover her eyes violently, but instead she found herself gaping at his wincyette pyjamas.
He retied his dressing gown hastily, a faint pink staining his cheeks. "…"
"Cute," Kagome teased. "Where can I get a pair like that?"
All the colour and humour fled from his face. "…They were in the attic, where my parents' stuff is kept. I… wore them… because they smell of my mother…" He pronounced the words stiffly, looking down at his cornflakes.
She instantly became sympathetic, crossing the distance between them, touching his arm. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."
Inuyasha didn't answer, continuing to swirl the milk around in his bowl. Kagome ventured a question.
"I haven't seen you wear them before now… did you get them out for a special reason?"
Still no answer. Kagome was about to back off, when a slight mumble was heard. "…I had a bad dream…"
He stole a glance side ways at Kagome, who was looking concerned, as she fussed over him. Ever since she'd been nursing him since he was 'sick,' he'd gotten an unearthly feeling of being mothered, something he'd hadn't had much of an experience of. It was nice, he realized, to have someone worry about him.
He didn't really have much of a bad dream, more like a hard time sleeping. There was always a slight prickling at his senses, a feeling that there was someone was in the room with him, which made it difficult to sleep. When he'd eventually fallen into uneasy slumber, he'd kept waking up, the prickling a little stronger, which had left him feeling vulnerable --- something he objected to strongly.
Ironically, Inuyasha slept best when Kagome had been there to tuck him in, albeit him disliking sleeping when there was someone else in the room. But waking up to the sight of her face dozing heavily in a chair which she'd dragged up to his bedside to keep watch on him and his 'fever,' had touched him, and gave him a light sense of déjà vu of his mother watching over him the same way.
Inuyasha had known she was the maternal type, especially watching her with Shippou, who she spoiled endlessly, and which he received delightedly. Not many had paid him much attention, since everyone was busy with a purpose in the mansion, but Kagome had been the first one to take time out of her schedule to talk to him and play with him. Playing Candyland like seven million times with Shippou had actually appealed to her, for some strange, inane reason.
It was kind of stupid, though, to rely on Kagome to mother him. For one thing, Kagome was nothing like his mother, apart from being maternal and the watching over him thing. Kagome was only a fifteen year old schoolgirl, which made it even more ridiculous to have her fussing over him. Plus, there was no way he was attracted to his mother.
Which, he admitted, was a bonus Kagome had over his mother.
>>>>>>>>>
She was there again that night.
Dark eyes narrowed at the small girl, as she pulled the covers up to envelop Inuyasha's body. His gold eyes glowed in the dark, attentive in watching the girl's face, she unaware as she focused her attention in neatening the bedspread.
His eyes followed her wherever she went, even when she left him shortly to fetch a chair and a thin blanket. Arranging herself as comfortably as she could get, she gave a warm smile to the superstar, who gave a small one back, before closing his eyes.
The girl watched him a few minutes more, before falling asleep.
She was going to get in the way. A rather unwelcome hiccup in the grand schemes. The dark eyes narrowed again, pursing blood red lips. The plan would have to be speeded up a little.
>>>>>>>>>>
Kagome listened carefully around for sounds of anyone coming up, before opening a new Internet Explorer page on the laptop that'd been brought up by Sango. Under the pretenses of wanting to revise from web pages, Kagome had requested for an laptop, thinking a computer was too much bother --- a laptop was far simpler to buy.
Looking over now, she wasn't too sure. The gleaming silver complemented the gray stylishly, and shone expensively. Kagome was positive she'd only seen this model appear a couple of days ago, and all the latest software had already been installed for her.
Ah, the hardships of being wealthy…
Typing quickly, the words 'Milten's Military school' were tapped out. 'Inuyasha Takahashi' was further searched alongside the words.
Eyes widening, she gazed at the screen and saw…
No match to your search was found. Please search again.
…
Well. She certainly hadn't expected that. Wasn't he meant to be in there, mucking hours, because of his dark past?
Sighing with disappointment, she exited the web page, and settled down glumly to do some (actual) revision. Kagome was staring blankly at her Chemistry (balancing equations --- the end result was often a very unbalanced Kagome) before deciding she was sick to the core of them and would listen to the web page and 'search again.'
Into the Milten's Military school home page she went. Into 'records' she went. Eyes narrowing, she looked meticulously for Inuyasha's name… before realizing she could've just as easily pressed Control and 'f' and used that.
Finished searching document.
Damn!
So normal methods couldn't be used. It looked like something extreme was needed --- something like hacking.
The only problem was, Kagome's haxxing sux.
Truly.
Information would have to be obtained another way --- from the prime source himself --- Inuyasha Takahashi.
Kagome grimaced. She was not looking forward to it. Trying to pry about his sore spots in his life was like trying to squeeze water out of a rock.
It was ironic, because some rocks were formed together --- because of water.
>>>>>>>>>>>
It wasn't a rose.
Miroku was well versed in flowers, seeing as he'd sent a lot of them. In fact, you could almost say he was a connoisseur in them, since he'd discovered the fact that lots of women didn't exactly object to a bouquet or two.
A red carnation.
It was like a cheap mimic of a red rose, and Miroku all but turned his head up at it. Honestly, if you were going to send flowers, at least opt for the most class kind. …It was wearing something you bought in chain stores to Oscars and trying to pass it off as Versace.
Only… the carnation was nothing like the ones he'd ever seen before. Everyone knew if you left a carnation in a container with some water and red ink for two days or so, the carnation would slowly soak up the water and turn red --- from the ink.
But this particular shade was almost ridiculous. It looked like someone had left it for twenty days, instead of the customary two.
A fresh, poppy red was normally the result… but this deep crimson, so dark and thick it could almost pass for paint… that wasn't normal, was it?
It was only when Miroku narrowed his eyes at the stalk, that when he realized it --- extreme disgust covered his normally serene features, and unconsciously he pressed his lips together --- something he only did when he was worried.
The thinnest layer of scarlet remained on the stalk.
Congealed blood.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Kohaku was a sweetheart, Sango thought fondly. He'd managed to persuade Rin that the bridesmaids would look beautiful in their own gowns --- something that Sango had agreed heartily on, as she gazed at the dress she'd hung up in her wardrobe. Dark burgundy, it was flattering in the extreme, with the straight neckline that revealed her shoulders and graceful neck, and the dress followed the lines of her body to the end --- where it grazed against her knees, showing off slender legs. Sango was slim, mostly due to hyperactivity then exercise, preferring to work than to sit still.
Rin had been a nice girl --- pretty, self confident but not arrogant, she had an air of naiveté that made Sango sometimes fear for her, but was startling sharp (apart from dressing sense) when she needed to be. She had a wit that had made Sango laugh, and over dinner she had given Kohaku a barely perceptive nod --- telling him she approved. Kohaku had grinned and proposed a toast.
It was a surprise to find out she had been chosen to be maid of honour, something that made Sango kink her lips up in a garish smile still. Rin had no family, apart from a foster father, and was often a shy girl when it came to facing other people (apparently Kohaku had bullied her into coming). She'd admitted timidly that she had been banking on Sango accepting the position. Intensely relieved she had agreed, it'd dissolved some of her shyness and Sango, warm and straight forward, had burnt off the rest.
Sango, feeling oddly frivolous, switched the television on --- and the smile she'd been wearing turned upside down instantly.
"Oh Gods…" she breathed.
"Earlier this morning five people where found, piled dead in a hidden alleyway. Proved to have been dead for several days, the alleyway was undisturbed apart from the bodies. There is no link between them to explain why the killer had chose them, but it was discovered that only one thing was in common --- they were all drained of blood."
>>>>>>>>>
Soft gasps… brown eyes closed in rapture, smooth, silky skin; dark hair tumbled about wildly. She was mewing his name, moaning in his ear…
Inuyasha sat up abruptly, sheets tangled around his waist.
Shit!
What the hell was that?
Groaning, he closed his eyes and slumped back down onto his pillow.
Well… obviously… he knew.
Otherwise, he wouldn't really jump to conclusions about who it was… and what they were doing, he thought with a flush.
…They could've been voicing in a play.
Or… or… acting.
Maybe he was having a vision. Of what kind of scene they would be acting later.
…Wasn't the movie meant to be a fifteen?
Kuso!
…But that still didn't wrench his attention from the fact that he was inexplicably, unexplainably, without-a-doubt turned on.
Which meant… he liked the dream. That he wouldn't mind having it again. Or even, maybe, he would actually play it out in reality.
Glancing to his left, he saw the chair, devoid of Kagome, with the thin blanket she'd used to keep herself warm with, folded neatly and placed on it.
The wench would do that… stupid girl. Doesn't she realize we have maids here?
The wench in question obviously didn't, because the only thing he was aware of next was a soft rap on his door, and she swept inside, with a friendly but slightly mocking smile, carrying a tray.
"For you, my royal Highness." She deposited the tray in front of him, and he stared idiotically down at it.
"Breakfast in bed?"
Kagome perched herself on the chair, and crossed her legs, not realizing the small movement was being avidly followed by his eyes.
…Those legs had been featured in his dream. A lot.
"Well, not really. It's about eight now. You're so lazy!" She added thoughtfully: "Or maybe just tired. You did say you haven't been sleeping well these past few nights."
Numbly, he stared at his dinner again. Lasagna and a small salad, and dessert was…
"You made dog shaped cookies."
"Uh huh. Chocolate chip, homemade from me! My Mama taught me how to make them."
He poked one cautiously, hiding a smile. "Will I die if I eat them?"
She pouted, tossing her hair.
…Dark hair tumbled about wildly…
Shit.
"Mou, you're so mean!" Peering at his tray, she examined the contents. "They look fine! And I ate one… it wasn't that bad --- oh! I forgot the salad dressing! I'll be right back!"
Kagome disappeared almost instantly, the only lingering trace of her the intoxicating scent. No wonder he'd dreamed about her --- the only question was why he dreamed about her in such a way.
…
Well… he did know. On some level.
Inuyasha wasn't exactly… repelled by her. Oh no, quite the opposite. In fact, one of his first thoughts when he'd seen her was: "Christ, she's fuckable."
But he was growing steadily far from the notion that Kagome could only be a one-time thing. For one thing, she'd kick up such a fuss that he might have to move to America --- ironically, then, she would win their little 'game.' She'd been sore enough when he'd taken her first kiss, Lord knows what'd happen if he took her…
Virginity.
Gods. She was a virgin.
…He'd never 'had' a virgin before. All the women he'd ever been with had been… 'experienced,' to say the least.
And he was kind of… drawn… to the idea.
To Kagome.
Christ.
"Hey, I've got the salad dressing!"
Shit.
>>>>>>>>>>
…Erm... the dream, I think, was added on a whim. Well, it kind of proves that Inuyasha really does want her, and both in the sexual (the dream) and non-sexual way (the maternal bit).
The plan, indeed, is moving quicker now. ;)
Hope this chapter tolls you along. I've got an inkling I may be slow to write a new one… you know, coursework, yadda, yadda, yadda. I was typing this up and my mom was yelling how I spend too much time in front of the computer… --'.
The fridge is making this really annoying beeping sound… continuously. I tried to fix it, but now it's making the noise all the time as opposed to every few seconds…
Ah… well, review, onegai!