Disclaimer: I don't own Inu-yasha... but I have a plan... and it involves a tic tac, a tie, and a piece of toast. Lol! (Don't feel confused, it's an inside joke.)
Chapter Seven already! Yes, victory! Anyway, I just want to thank all of the peope reviewing. It's really helping me. Give me suggestions, please. Some of them are really good and I end up using them... or half of them. Sorry if this one isn't as good as the others or as long. This chapter is mostly just talking. I noticed earlier that all seven chapters have only occured over two days. That's it. I think I should probably speed things up soon... Anyway, enjoy!
Previously on "The Project":
Suddenly, a figure appeared. It was too dark to really see them so only a silhouette showed.
Inu-yasha's heart froze. Although he couldn't see who it was, he could make out long hair and thin legs…
Chapter Seven
"I Hate You"
Inu-yasha was frozen in place. He was beyond dead. That's all there was to it. She knew now. How the hell was he supposed to win her heart now!
Inu-yasha took in a shaky breath. "Kagome?" he asked softly even though he was sure it was her. The silhouette didn't move an inch. For one hopeful second, he thought that maybe he was hallucinating. Yes, that's it, he told himself. Now that he thought about it, she did seem… different.
But all those thoughts were wiped away when the figure moved. It seemed to Inu-yasha that she meant to run away.
"Wait Kagome," Inu-yasha said. The figure obeyed. "H-How much of that conversation… did you hear?" he asked, afraid of the answer.
Then she did the most unbelievable thing, considering the situation. She laughed. Inu-yasha's jaw fell open. He scratched his head uneasily. "Um…"
She was laughing almost uncontrollably. Then Inu-yasha noticed something. Her voice was deeper. Does she have a cold? he thought. Is that why she's acting so weird? Her laugh didn't seem right…
"Kagome…?" Inu-yasha said, taking a small step closer. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she said still laughing. "You should've seen the look on your face though, it was hilarious!" Inu-yasha was certain she had a cold; her voice was way too deep. Was that why she didn't kiss me? he thought. …Because she had a cold and didn't want to give it to me? But how did she get a cold so quick? She was fine earlier…
"Kagome…" Inu-yasha said uncertainly again.
"Would you stop calling me that? I'd rather not be compared to my sister." Then the figure stepped forward, closer to the lantern light. There he was, Souta, eyes full of amusement. He had on Inu-yasha's jacket, the hood over his head. Inu-yasha now understood why he had mistaken him for his sister. The hood made it look like he had long hair. It was so dark now that Inu-yasha could barely see the white on his jacket. And now that he thought about it, both Souta and Kagome had thin legs.
Souta laughed again. "Surprised? You know, you looked like that a few seconds ago when you first saw me." Souta watched the display of multiple emotions cross Inu-yasha's face. It was an amalgam of relief, anger, and terror.
Inu-yasha kept opening and closing his mouth, not sure where to start. Why is he here? Why did he act like he was Kagome? Why is he torturing me?... And why the hell is he wearing my jacket!
"Well, spit it out!" Souta said impatiently.
Inu-yasha found his voice again. "Did you hear that whole conversation?"
"Sure did," Souta said, suddenly finding his nails very interesting.
"So then… you know… I did it?" Inu-yasha already knew the answer but he needed to hear it from his mouth.
"Yup." Souta stuck his hand out further to examine his nails from a distance. A smirk played on his lips.
Inu-yasha's eyes widened in fear. "Are you going to tell her?"
Souta shrugged uncaringly. "I might… or I might not."
"Please don't, please."
"Why not?" Souta asked stubbornly.
"Because then it means that my chances of getting her will go all the way to zero."
Souta scoffed. "And what are your chances now? One?"
Inu-yasha clenched his fist but knew that if he tried anything, he'd go running to Kagome. "As a matter of fact, I think I might've won her over tonight. Well… almost."
"Yeah, almost…until you were rejected!" Souta exploded into laughter.
Inu-yasha's face flushed red as the anger shot through his veins. "You saw that?" he asked through clenched teeth.
"The whole thing! She just flat-out walked away! And you were standing there like an idiot with your lips still puckered up…" Souta was cut off by his own laughter. He grasped his stomach trying to stop the pain that his giggles caused. When Souta had calmed down enough to fully open his eyes, Inu-yasha was towering a good two feet over him with a murderous look on his face. His eyes had such a flame in them that they almost looked red.
Needless to say, Souta shut up quicker than lightning and took cover behind his arms. Since he still had Inu-yasha's jacket on, the enormous sleeves covered his whole head.
Inu-yasha was just about to pound the hell out of him when his mind registered the fact that his jacket on the kid. "Why are you wearing my jacket?" He really tried to keep his voice from being too malicious.
Souta gulped behind the protection of the cloth.
Inu-yasha sighed. "I'm not going to hurt you," he said although he wasn't making promises. Souta peeked out from behind the white sleeve. Inu-yasha tried his best to look as innocent and harmless as he could. Souta ducked behind the sleeve again and Inu-yasha guessed that his best wasn't enough. "Oh come on!" Inu-yasha said impatiently. "I just want to talk now. I won't kill you…yet." Souta shuddered. "I didn't mean that! Um… Look, you're Kagome's little brother, I'd never hurt her or her family." Souta seemed to believe that. By now, Inu-yasha had cooled off a little. Souta seemed uncertain but fully stood up now.
"Come on," Inu-yasha said and pointed to the bench hidden by the willow branches. "Let's sit."
The light from the lantern light flickered across his hesitant face. He had a feeling this conversation would be bad. He slowly followed Inu-yasha behind the willow branches. The willow trees were a pale green and quite healthy. Inu-yasha was sitting on the bench already and patted the seat next to him, meaning for Souta to sit down next to him. Souta sat on the opposite side of the bench.
It was quiet for a moment or two. The lilacs surrounding the small clearing glowed a dull gold. The scent was still overpowering even though they weren't close to the flowers any more. Inu-yasha too a deep breath, drinking in the feminine scent. It was so calming…
"Now," Inu-yasha said slowly, "will you tell me why you're wearing my jacket?"
"Kagome," Souta said in a high voice. After he cleared his voice he continued. "Kagome asked me to bring it to you. She forgot to give it to you after…" Souta didn't want to bring up that subject again. "…after… well, you know. She didn't want to talk to you, especially after…" He gulped.
Inu-yasha was amused by his effort to not bring up "that" again but he didn't let it show at all. "That still doesn't explain why you're wearing it." Souta flinched a little at the anger that was still apparent in his voice.
"I couldn't find you. When I saw that you weren't near or in your car, I started to look around. After the first five minutes, it got cold. And you're jacket looked so warm…"
"You didn't bring your own jacket?" Inu-yasha asked impatiently.
"I didn't know I was going to be out here for nearly ten minutes!" Souta defended himself.
"Alright!" Inu-yasha matched Souta's tone. "Why did you spy on me?" he asked accusingly.
Souta looked a little guilty and said, "I didn't mean to at first. But when I heard the word 'tepeed' I decided to listen in."
"You shouldn't have eavesdropped!" Inu-yasha said harshly.
"You shouldn't have tepeed our house!" Souta shot back.
Inu-yasha opened his mouth to protest but then realized that the boy was right. He sighed tiredly and said, "I didn't know it was her house. If I did, this wouldn't have happened."
"Think of it this way: if you hadn't, you wouldn't have had so much fun with Kagome today," Souta said warmly.
Inu-yasha paused to consider it and then smiled. "Yeah, you're right," he said softly. "But she still doesn't like me enough to kiss me…"
Souta sighed. "It isn't you, you know," he said softly.
"What?" Inu-yasha looked into Souta's eyes fully, confusion obvious in his eyes.
"She doesn't hate you."
Inu-yasha had a hard time believing that. Souta saw the doubtful glint in Inu-yasha's eye.
Souta looked uncertain now, like he wasn't sure he should be saying anything to him. "She… has a bad past. It makes some of the boys she knows (and may want to date) off-limits."
"What happened to her?" Inu-yasha asked intrigued.
Souta bit his lower lip and said, "It really isn't my place to tell you… It should come out of her mouth, not mine."
(I bet you thought you'd find out the secret right now. Guess again! Muahaha, being evil is so much fun! Lol!)
Inu-yasha looked disappointed. Souta studied his look for a minute and then said, "Look, you have two options: either give up on her or keep bugging her until she gives in. She'll tell you if she knows you well enough."
"How do you know?" Inu-yasha asked.
"That's what happened with Sango."
Inu-yasha blinked. "You mean her friend?"
"Yeah," Souta said. "Sango pushed Kagome for a whole year before she finally gave in."
"A whole year!" Inu-yasha exclaimed.
"A whole year," Souta confirmed.
"Fuck that! I'm not waiting a whole damn year!"
Souta looked at Inu-yasha with surprise. He didn't think of Inu-yasha as the quitting type. "You mean you're giving up!" he exclaimed incredulously.
"Hell no! I never said that! I mean that I'm gonna get her in six weeks or less! Not a whole fucking year!" Inu-yasha said with a determined glint in his eyes.
Souta's doubtful look dissipated. He smiled warmly. "So you'll still try to get her?"
"Of course! You didn't think I was going to give up, did you?" Inu-yasha asked with an accusing look.
Souta shook his head vigorously. "No, of course not!"
Inu-yasha grinned at him. Then he looked confused. "Why do you want me to get with Kagome?" he asked after a pause, looking straight at him.
Souta looked down at his shoes. "We may fight a lot but I still love her. I can tell that she's really hurt and sad when she can't have a guy she wants."
"She wants me?" Inu-yasha asked hopefully.
"I didn't say that," Souta said with a side-ways glance (Inu-yasha looked depressed), "but I've never seen her so sad… she looked worse than ever after she closed the door."
Inu-yasha thought a minute. Then he said to himself out loud, "Never give up on a project."
"Project?" Souta asked baffled.
"It's this thing I do every year," Inu-yasha explained. "It's like my big goal for the year. Your sister just happens to be my project this year." Inu-yasha looked at Souta and said, "So I'm not going to give up on her. I can't give up. My projects are meant to be hard and challenging. When your sister refuses me, it only makes me want to win her over even more."
Souta nodded happily. Then he got an evil look in his eye. "So, if you don't get her in six weeks, can I tell her?"
"Tell her what?" They'd gone too far from the original subject so Inu-yasha was kinda clueless.
"That you were the one who tepeed our house," Souta said with that same villainous look.
"Tell her!" Inu-yasha raged. "Hell no! Never tell her! Ever in a million years! She'd kill me, whether she loved me or not!"
"Exactly," Souta said. "More fun for me. If you aren't going out with her by day one of the seventh week then I win and I get to tell her."
"Why would you want to do that?" Inu-yasha couldn't believe this little boy was so merciless, even to a fellow male.
"Nothing is more fun than tormenting siblings!"
"But I'm not your sibling!" Inu-yasha pleaded.
"No, but whether you're my brother or not, I'm still a little brother. It is my nature to annoy older kids," Souta said happily. "Besides, do you know how funny it would be to see the look on your face when Kagome comes at you with sharp and pointy objects?" He laughed.
Inu-yasha's jaw was wide open once again.
Souta laughed again and pointed at his face. "It'd look something like that," he said gleefully.
Inu-yasha angrily (but embarrassedly) snapped his jaw back into place. "I can't believe this," he said to himself. "Even I'm not evil enough to do something like this."
"It's okay if you can't do it," Souta mocked. "I understand if you're not determined enough to chase her so hard like Sango did. You know, Kagome's female friend. I mean, after all, you'd only have six weeks. You probably couldn't do much in such little time, I mean, it is you we're talking about."
"WHAT?" Inu-yasha's blood boiled.
"It's okay," Souta said as he reached over and pat Inu-yasha on the back. "I understand. I'll just tell Kagome now then since you're going to give up."
Inu-yasha's face looked a little disfigured for a minute. His rage kept him from even uttering words.
Souta burst out laughing again.
"You're on!" Inu-yasha finally spat out. "Six weeks. If she isn't my girlfriend by then, you can tell her. But I highly doubt it will even take two weeks."
"I'll be sure to break it to her easily."
Inu-yasha grit his teeth. "You won't be 'breaking' anything to her!"
"We'll see about that!" Souta thrust out his pinky. "Pinky swear!"
Inu-yasha grabbed his pinky with his own so roughly that Souta nearly fell over. They broke apart and then he growled, "Kami, if I had a little brother, he wouldn't be as worse as you."
"I know," Souta said smugly, "'cause I'm the best!" Inu-yasha narrowed his eyes at him.
Souta looked at Inu-yasha who had crossed his arms across his chest stubbornly. "Why did you even tepee the house in the first place?" he asked.
Inu-yasha relaxed a little. "It's just my nature. I can't help it. I have to pull pranks on other people. I can't function without a good laugh."
Souta looked at him questioningly. That's a little harsh isn't it?"
"Oh, and since when do you have sympathy?" Inu-yasha growled.
"Since you did it to our house and I learned how much it really isn't funny."
Inu-yasha grinned. "It's still funny. Even if it was my house, I'd laugh."
"No you wouldn't," Souta said matter-of-factly. "You'd hunt them down like a dog."
"Don't act like you know me," Inu-yasha growled.
"But you know it's true."
"Is not," Inu-yasha said. He knew it was true but there was no way he was going to admit to this little boy that he was wrong.
Souta seemed used to denial (experience from Kaogme) and shrugged. "So what's the last prank you pulled?"
"Doesn't matter."
"I wanna know," he whined.
"Why?"
"Well, if you're as good as you say you are and do start to go out with Kagome then I want to know about the boy she's dating."
Inu-yasha scoffed. "You sound like a mother."
"Yeah right," Souta said doubtfully. The truth was that he still didn't quite trust Inu-yasha. After all, he did almost kill him. Souta was just looking after his big sister. He did this with every boy friend (notice the space between the words) she had.
"It's just that," Souta continued, "sometimes I have to help Kagome "chase off" some of the guy friends she has. I find that it's easier to do that if I have a little background knowledge on them."
Inu-yasha couldn't help but think that this kid was smart. He did that before he tepeed the house (but we all know that it didn't quite work out as planned). "So you're trying to chase me off?" Inu-yasha asked.
"No, not yet. I only do that if Kagome asks me to."
"So how do you "chase" people off?" Inu-yasha thought that he could take lessons from this kid.
"Well, sometimes, I am just as annoying as I possible can be. Most guys leave once they think that they have to deal with me in order to keep Kagome. Sometimes you have to scare them off. Like finding out something about their past and blackmailing."
"Blackmailing?" Inu-yasha asked. It couldn't be true that this little kid would blackmail… right?
"Yeah. Once, I threatened some guy to tell Kagome that he wore cat pajamas and slept with a big purple teddy bear (which he called Snooky-poo) if he didn't leave her alone. Those are the best because either way, they lose. They either lose Kagome or they lose their dignity… and then Kagome."
Inu-yasha just stared. This kid was amazing. He was clever and merciless when needed. The little boy didn't seem so harmless at first glance… Now Inu-yasha thought otherwise.
"But I was thinking of using a new strategy to get rid of them: pranking," Souta continued. "That's also why I asked you. You might be able to help me."
Inu-yasha just kept on staring. Then he got the same evil look as Souta and said, "If it's to scare away boys getting too close to my Kagome, then I think you have yourself a deal."
Souta shook his outstretched hand. "Alright then," he grinned. "This should be fun… even though Kagome isn't even yours yet."
Inu-yasha's eyebrow twitched. "She will be."
Souta frowned mockingly. "Doubtful."
Inu-yasha clenched his fist. "I suggest you not act so cocky around me. You know I'm just gonna make you eat your words."
"Yeah right," Souta scoffed.
Inu-yasha pulled a fist back.
"Don't even think about it!" Souta said with only a hint of fear. Over the past half hour or so, he'd gotten to know Inu-yasha too well to be really scared of him.
"Or you'll what?" Inu-yasha said in a low menacing voice.
Souta took a deep breath and screamed at the top of his lungs. "KAGO—"
Inu-yasha clamped his upraised hand over Souta's still open mouth. "Alright, I get it," Inu-yasha growled in a whisper.
He released Souta and he had a smirk playing on his lips. "I win," he said smugly.
Inu-yasha balled his fists up tight. "I hate you," he said. It wasn't harsh but it definitely wasn't nice either.
Souta smiled and then sweetly said, "I love you too big brother!"
Haha, Souta's so funny in this chapter! Yes, a little OOC but still funny. Besides, how do we really know what Souta is like? We don't see him as often as everyone else in the story. So, Inu-yasha's little secret is still unknown to Kagome. Is he going to beat the six week time limit? What will come out of the little alliance that Souta and Inu-yasha have? How the hell is Inu-yasha going to get Kagome love him? Hmm... so many questions but no answers. You have to keep reading to find out. Muahaha! Anyway, please review! They're really appreciated! Thank you so much!
Hiko