Okay! You guys ready for Chapter 13? I'm so happy that it didn't take me a month to update. Only eight days this time! My plan is to finish before school starts... Anyway, enjoy!
Previously on 'The Project':
Then there was Kagome. She'd be mad that the party was larger than he had said it would be. His depression was increased when he realized that it didn't take him long to ruin everything. Four days... had to be a new record for him. They had gotten pretty close for only four days. But now on the relationship scale, he was at negative fifty. How was he ever going to get her back? How was he going to convince her that it really wasn't what it had looked like with Kikyo and himself? How could he gain Kagome's trust again?
Chapter 13
Honesty
Kagome tossed for the tenth time in her bed. After only a few minutes she rolled over again. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table. The red digital numbers shone 2:09 on the dot. She groaned.
Once she had gotten back from the party she had locked herself in her room and refused to come out. Her mom had offered to make her something to eat since they hadn't stayed long enough to eat much at Inu-yasha's house. She refused it. None of her family memebers dared to ask why they had left so soon. They all figured it had to be something terrible for her not to even come out of her room. Kagome's mother usually allowed a day for her to calm down before she tried to ask what had happened.
After it was ten and Kagome still wasn't asleep, she had taken another shower and tried to sleep again. She had been there ever since.
All the girl could think about was that foul image she'd seen right before she took off. That girl... she was familiar but Kagome couldn't figure out who it was. She had been to far to see really. However, she hadn't been looking at her anyway. Her gaze had been focused on the boy she was with.
Inu-yasha... how dare he? Kagome associated that name with nothing but anger and betrayal. Even after what she had witnessed, his sexy looks and smug attitude that she loved was still there and so she couldn't really hate him. But she got pretty close to it. She was angry with herself as well. She had allowed her self to fall for his persitance and funny personality only to have the picture of him with another girl shoved in her face. She hated that he had dared to chase her so hard only to turn his back on her. Was he bored? Was she boring? Or did he lack the will power to keep going?
What was more was she was more scared than ever about her past. Inu-yasha had lied and said the party would be small. It wasn't and now she feared that she had become 'noticed'. If that was the case, would she have to move again?
No, she could do that to her family again. Not a second time. Once had been hard enough. Trying to find a house that they all liked, a decent school for the two kids to go to, and a nice neighborhood were not easy tasks. She didn't want to put her mother through the stress of that again.
Last time she had decided to end it with Inu-yasha before it got further she hadn't kept true to her word. He had managed to get her to say yes to his invite. Now she had no reason to want to be even near him. Yes she was mad at him, very mad at him. But she also feared that he would find his way into her heart again if he was able to talk to her again. Because of tonight, she had a perfect excuse to get away from him. Before it was only her past and she didn't want to tell him that. Now it was this and he already knew about it.
In truth, she could get over the issue tonight after some time. After all, they weren't even going out. She had just been hurt to see him dump her for someone else so easily and quickly.
Kagome looked at her clock again. '2:30' it said. She groaned again and turned away from it so she was facing the wall. This time tomorrow, it was over for good. With that thought in her mind, Kagome finally fell asleep.
xXx
Kagome was so tired when she woke up. She was practically a zombie as she walked out of her room to get something to eat to hopefully wake her up. Her brother took the liberty of pointing out her zombie look as soon as she reached the kitchen. He was already eating some corn flakes, having had more sleep than her and woken up faster. Kagome waved him off sleepily and yawned widely as she poured some Captain Crunch into a bowl.
After breakfast and a shower, Kagome felt better. But by then, she had remembered that night before. She sulked around the house. When she remembered her thoughts from last night, she called Sango.
"Sango? Wake up," she said when she heard a groggy 'hello'.
"Kagome? I don't think I ordered a wake-up call." came the cranky reply.
Kagome chuckled briefly before getting serious. "Sango come on. I need you to pick me up this morning."
"Why?" she asked. Sango was out of bed by now, realizing she was a bit late.
"I don't want to walk to or from school anymore."
Sango chuckled lightly and said matter-of-factly, "Kagome, there's a lot of things we don't want to do but we don't have a choice."
"No, I mean I can't walk. I might run into Inu-yasha."
"I thought you said you didn't care if he talked to you anymore." Sango's voice wavered as she tried to put some clothes on. She wouldn't have time for shower, especially if she had to pick up her friend.
"Remember that party I told you I was going to? You know, at Inu-yasha's house?" She waited for Sango to confirm. "Yeah, well, we didn't quite get along last night. Besides, we both know that I don't need to be near him anyway." She decided not to tell her what had happened. Her friend would only scold her for caring about him so much. It wasn't that Sango didn't like him, it was just that she always made sure her friend was careful since Kagome was sometimes careless about her choice of friends. They knew Inu-yasha was off-limits so if Sango found out Kagome cared, Sango would go into over-protective mode.
"Well, alright, we can start riding to and from school now." Sango had finished dressing and was now headed to eat breakfast. Her mother had prepared pancakes that morning as a treat. "But what are you going to do about your classes? Don't you have few classes with him?"
"I guess I'll have to transfer out of them." Kagome was quiet for a while before she said, "Do you think I'm over doing it?"
Sango thanked her mother for the plate of freshly made pancakes and then told her friend, "Well, it's the perfect way to get him away from you. It's safest that way but... what do you want?"
Kagome was quiet for moment. She brushed the question off by saying, "It doesn't matter what I want though. I have to keep it safe. Isn't that what you've always told me?"
"Yeah," Sango said softly. She knew that it really wasn't what Kagome wanted but she was worried about her friends safety and so didn't press the matter. "Okay, so I'll be over in a few minutes, alright?"
"Yeah. Thanks Sango," she said warmly with a smile before she hung up.
Once the girls pulled into the parking lot, Kagome went straight to the main office. They had gotten there early so Kagome wouldn't have the issue of seeing Inu-yasha there like she did the day before. True to her word, Kagome transfered out of all the classes she had with him. She managed to convince her counsiler that the classes were too easy for her. She said she had already taken gym the year before so she should have health instead. It was all true but really unecessary. She didn't need to get out of the classes. One more year of gym wouldn't have killed her and the easy classes just meant easy credits. But she had to do it.
Her counsiler handed her her new schedule for the year and told her the teachers would expect to see her in their classes starting today. She thanked the woman and left. Kagome hid in the library until the bell rang.
The rest of the day she spent avoiding Inu-yasha. It wasn't too hard though because they only crossed paths once or twice. She had managed to see him before he had seen her so she took a different route to her class. During lunch she hid out in the library with Sango. By the end of the day, she thought she was paranoid. Every time she saw silver hair, she heart skipped a beat. And every time someone called her name, she feared it was Inu-yasha.
In order to aviod running into Inu-yasha on the way outside of the building after school, she and Sango volunteered to help one of the teachers grade some papers. It was Friday and the woman had wanted to get out soon. So the two girls helped her so she'd have an easy weekend. In the woman's eyes, it was an act of kindness. In their eyes, it was an excuse.
Once they were done, the climbed into Sango's dark blue car. Kagome waved as Sango sped off toward her own house which was only two or three blocks away. Kagome was smiling as she said good bye but as soon as the car was out of sight she dropped the happy look. It was a mask, put in place to avoid people's comments like 'are you okay?' and 'you look so sad!'. She didn't want to deal with it.
Today had been successful. Maybe after so many days of this he'd give up his chase, if he hadn't already. What bugged Kagome was the thought of being paranoid about him all the time at school. Would she have to vear off every time she saw his face in the halls? Would she have to aviod him like this for the rest of the school year that had only just started? Not only did she have to steer clear of Inu-yasha but she also had to do the same with Miroku and Sesshomaru. She wasn't sure if Sesshomaru cared but she knew for certain that Miroku would tell his best friend if he had seen her.
Kagome heaved a huge sigh and decided to walk up the stairs to the front door now. Her head down, she thought about how hard the rest of school was going to be if she was to do this routine every day. Luckily it was Friday so she had two days to rest from this hecktic week and prepare for the next.
When Kagome reached the stairs she jumped in surprise at what sat on the door step before her. It was a basket with a large bow on top. A card was tangled in the pink bow. Inside were red, white, and pink velvety rose petals. There was a small stuffed animal bear inside whose bottom portion was covered with the petals. On either side of him were two small boquets of flowers.
Kagome smiled instantly at the romantic and sweet gesture. She took the card from out of the bow and read it.
"Kagome,
I'm so sorry for what happened at the party.
Please call me and we can talk about it.
Inu-yasha
P.S. I didn't see you in school today. I hope
you aren't sick. If you are, I hope you feel better soon."
He drew a sloppy smiley face at the end and on the bottom was his phone number. Kagome smiled widely and picked the basket up, careful not to spill the rose petals. She opened the door and went straight to her room, hoping not to be detected by her brother. He'd only mock her and say 'who is that from?'. She closed her door once she reached her bedroom. She set her school stuff down and took the bear out of the basket delicately. His brown fur could have been envied by all of her other stuffed animals. It was so soft! She took out the small bouquets and got some water for them from the bathroom. She set them on her desk so they were on either side of her computer monitor.
Kagome didn't know what to think. It was a really sweet gesture. She giggled because she knew he would've had to have help with that idea. Suddenly, she scowled. She was supposed to be angry at him. Even if he had done that, it didn't make up for last night.
Still, Kagome couldn't help smiling when she put the bear on her pillow and the basket under her window so the breeze would help to circulate the smell.
Kagome looked at the card with his number on it. 'Call me' it said. Not a chance, she thought although she decided to put the card in her desk drawer.
Kagome sat at her desk and glanced at the bear. She sighed. She hated being so confused about what to do. But at least it was the weekend. She wouldn't have to worry about him for two days until the next school day.
xXx
Inu-yasha didn't like taking Miroku's advice and leaving Kagome the basket. But Miroku seemed to know all the romantic details of a relationship so he went to him. He had ran to the store right after school to get everything. It only took him a moment to pick all the rose petals from the flowers he had gotten. Miroku had told him not to expect Kagome to call him but Inu-yasha was still disappointed when it was well past ten o'clock and she still hadn't called. He ended up calling Miroku for support.
"What am I going to do?" Inu-yasha complained. "What am I going to do if she never calls me or talks to me again?"
"I'm sure you'll talk to her eventually," Miroku reassured him. "Come on, could we talk about something else? Like how we're gonna get your brother back?" It wasn't that Miroku didn't care about his friend's dilema. He just wanted to get his friend's mind away from Kagome. It was all his friend could talk about and Miroku didn't like to see his normally tough friend sad.
"We can't do anything," Inu-yasha pointed out. "We're at a stalemate. If we do something to him, he'll tell Kagome about us tepeeing her house. If he does something to us, we'll post that picture on the internet. We're stuck."
"Yeah, but we can't just let him get away with what he did to our cars!" Miroku groaned. "He did the last prank. That means he won!"
"I know, I know," Inu-yasha growled impatiently. "But what can we do? He'll suspect everything."
"We could make it seem like an accident," Miroku suggested.
"Yeah, like he'll think his car was just accidentally pushed off a cliff." Inu-yasha chuckled at the thought.
Miroku laughed. "No, I don't think that would quite work."
The two pondered about revenge. After an hour and they still didn't make any progress, Inu-yasha decided to call it quits for the night and went to sleep. Miroku hoped that their talk had filled his friend's thoughts for the night. This was the worse he had ever seen Inu-yasha and he decided he didn't like it at all. Miroku wanted Kagome and him to make up almost as much as Inu-yasha did.
Inu-yasha went to sleep angry at his brother but woke up the next morning depressed about Kagome. He wondered what she was doing and hoped she wasn't still mad. He thought about the basket he had left her and wondered if she had kept it or just thrown it out.
Inu-yasha sulked around the house, not even bothering to shower and put on some real clothes. As always, whenever he was confused and unhappy, he went to Tami. He always either went to his mother or Tami but sometimes, a parent can be too judgemental and scolding about their children's actions and thoughts so he found it best to go to the family maid instead about this particular subject.
He wondered into the kitchen were he knew Tami would be busy preparing some kind of snack. He had waken up too late for breakfast and it was too early for lunch.
"Goodness," Tami smiled when she saw Inu-yasha in his pajama bottoms with no shirt and a frown. "You look like you just ate some brussel sprouts," she smiled. Tami knew he hated those. When Inu-yasha didn't laugh or even smile she frowned and said, "What's wrong baby?"
Inu-yasha sighed loudly. "A lot," he grumbled.
Tami stirred up some batter. "Is it too much to be fixed by my famous pumpkin chocolate chip cookies?" Tami gestured with her flour plastered finger at a jar of pumpkin jam.
Inu-yasha smiled weakily. "Maybe," he said as he dipped his finger in her batter and tasted it. Normally, Tami would have chopped off his whole hand if he had dared to do that but this time, she let it slide.
Tami put her batter down and said worridly, "What's the matter?"
Inu-yasha sat down. "Well, Kagome might never talk to me again. She saw me with another girl and I know it just looked all wrong. I don't know what to do." The words tumbled out of Inu-yasha's mouth. He didn't bother to stop them though. He knew Tami wouldn't think any differently of him if Inu-yasha showed the soft, worried side of him.
Tami nodded, taking in his words. "Well, I can't guarentee it, but I bet that girl is just as sad as you are. Most girls are fragile when it comes to boys. They might act tough but when their feelings are hurt," Tami shook her head for emphasis, "they are hurt." She took up stirring her batter again.
Inu-yasha let out a depressed sigh. What Tami just said only made him feel more guilty. But he could always count on her to give it to him straight.
"You said she won't talk to you?" Tami asked. Inu-yasha nodded. "What you got to do is find a way to make her talk to you. Give her no choice. Then explain yourself. I'm not going to say it will make her forgive you and love you again. But it will make you feel better. And after you explain, she'll be happy to know the full story and not just what she had assumed." Tami grunted knowingly. "You'd be surprised how much a girl can assume in one night."
Inu-yasha smiled and thought about what Tami said. "But how do I get her to talk to me? What if she avoids me at school?"
Tami smiled. "I'm sure you'll find a way to find her." Tami added some extra chocolate chips to her batter.
Suddenly Inu-yasha smiled widely and said, "Thank you Tami." He didn't quite have an idea about what he was going to do but he was glad for her advice. As always, it helped and reassured him greatly.
"Anytime," she smiled. He stole a few chocolate chips before he left the kitchen.
Just as Inu-yasha entered the foyer on his way to his room, he saw a particularly angry man leaning against the banister. Inu-yasha took one look at him and veered off into the other direction, hoping his father didn't quite see him.
"Inu-yasha!" Inutaisho called. Damn, Inu-yasha thought. So close.
Inu-yasha obediantly went back to his father. He stood under the watchful gaze of his dad with his head down.
"Would you be so kind as to tell me why your girlfriend never bothered to show up last night?" There it was again, that deadly calm tone. Any normal person would have shouted that question.
Inu-yasha gulped. "Actually, she was there. You just didn't see her. She told me that she had to leave early and left before I could introduce you two." Inutaisho stared at Inu-yasha, his eyes alert for any sign of lying. "She said she would be more than happy to make it up to you."
After a moment, Inutaisho said, "Why did she leave? And why did you wait until now to tell me?"
"She didn't even tell me why she had to leave, just that she had to leave right then. I just forgot to tell you." Inu-yasha hoped so much that Inutaisho couldn't see through his white lies. Anyone who didn't know him would think he was telling the truth. Unfortunetly, Inutaisho knew him very well.
Inu-yasha waited patiently for Inutaisho to respond. The longer he stood there, the more he thought he had pulled it off. If his dad had to think about it, it meant he wasn't certain. Inu-yasha smiled to himself.
Inutaisho wondered what to think. If his son was lying, he could easily punish him. But if he wasn't, he didn't want to leave a bad impression on the girl. "Alright," he finally said, "we are going to have another party in her honor next Friday. I expect to see her here this time." With that he walked away. If Inu-yasha was telling the truth, she'd have no problem coming over a second time to make up for not showing last time. If he turned out to be lying, he'd have to tell the truth on the night of the second party, or even sooner. Either way, he won.
Inu-yasha's eyes widened as his father turned his back to him. So now he had a limit to how soon needed to talk to Kagome. He had a week and he knew it wouldn't be that hard to talk to her in that time but he coudn't guarentee that she would be willing to go to another party for him. He grumbled about his father the whole way up to his room.
xXx
Four Days Later
xXx
Thump...
Thump...
Thump!
Inu-yasha raised his head to bang it on the bench again when Miroku caught him. Inu-yasha rolled his eyes to look at his friend. Miroku could easily see the frustration and sadness in them. They were at Reanu Park after school on their favorite bench under the shade of some trees. The two of them had gotten slurpies from the local 7-11 but Inu-yasha hadn't even touched his.
It was Wednesday.
"It's been four days," Inu-yasha moaned sadly, his head on the bench. "Where the hell is she?"
Miroku sighed. "I don't know. Just don't hit your head again... You're giving me a headache."
After three school days, Inu-yasha still hadn't even caught a glimpse of Kagome. By now, he knew she was avoiding him (and doing an incredibly good job at it). Was she skipping school just to get away from him? Did she decide to move again and was at home packing now? The possibilities were driving Inu-yasha crazy.
He never saw her at school. Monday after school he had waited for her at her house. By four thirty, he started to get uneasy. Either she never came home from school or she had gotten there before him and never came out of the house. Tuesday night he worked up the courage to knock on the door. A woman Inu-yasha guessed to be Kagome's mother opened the door. She said she was staying the night at a friend's house so they could finish a project. Today he didn't want to sit by her house again. He felt like a stalker. Miroku suggested they stay at their favorite park for a snack to try and cheer Inu-yasha up. So far it wasn't working. He was so out of it that sometimes, he didn't even notice Miroku talking to him.
He had been like this the past four days. He was always distracted with his own thoughts about various things, mostly concerning Kagome. Miroku had tried in vain to get him to think about revenge concerning his brother but it didn't seem to be working. He would be distracted for a little while but then his mind would be back on Kagome. It was driving both of them crazy.
Inu-yasha's prank feeling had come a long time ago but he brushed it off. He had never ignored it before and he found out that if he disregarded it for so long, it became a numb feeling that never went away. It annoyed the hell out of him but with his thoughts on Kagome all the time, he didn't notice it as much any more. Miroku was dying to prank someone, anybody. At this point it didn't matter who it was. But without his partner in crime, pranking didn't feel the same and so Miroku didn't bother either.
Inu-yasha looked up at the slurpie he hadn't touched. It was his favorite, blueberry. Even as a kid, he loved how it turned his tongue and teeth blue. Finally, Inu-yasha took a sip. It made him feel a little better.
Miroku groaned. "Come on Inu-yasha, you can't be like this for the rest of the year. She's just one girl out of millions. You can find a different project. Just stop being so depressed. It's putting me in a bad mood too." Miroku had been okay with it the first few days. But then he figured it wouldn't be long before his friend got over Kagome. Inu-yasha didn't seem to be getting out of his depression any time soon. Now seeing his long time best friend at his worst was killing him. He was willing to do anything to get Inu-yasha happy again.
"I can't find a different project," Inu-yasha grumbled. "That would mean I'm giving up and I haven't failed a project yet. I'm not going to start now."
"Yeah but you're going to put yourself through all this?"
Inu-yasha sighed and didn't answer. He asked himself if he really was going to put up with this for one girl. He thought about Kagome's smile and all the times she had snapped at him. He thought about the pain he could see in her eyes on rare occasions. He thought about her laugh and how carefree she could seem. Inu-yasha smiled and said, "If it's for her, I don't mind so much."
Miroku smiled and sighed with a shake of his head. "You're too stubborn for your own good," he chuckled. He was annoyed by all this but he was happy to see that Inu-yasha was still strong enough not to quit.
xXx
Inu-yasha rolled over onto his side in his king sized bed. He sighed. This no sleep at night thing was really getting old. It was later that night and his thoughts were still plagued by Kagome. For all that thinking he did about her, he still didn't have a clue how to get her back into his reach.
Suddenly, he got an idea. Why hadn't he thought of this three days ago? He looked at his clock which shown '11:52'. It figures he would get an idea at twelve o'clock when it was too late. With a smirk, he thought, who says it's too late? It would be risky but nothing could make Kagome hate him more than she did so it was worth a shot.
Inu-yasha rolled out of bed and sneaked down the hallway after he put some shoes and a shirt on. He was sure everyone was asleep but he still remained quiet as he slipped out of the garage. He hoped the garage opening and closing wouldn't wake anyone but he had to use his car. It was pitch black outside and there was no way he was going to run all the way to Kagome's house... Not that he was scared or anything...
Inu-yasha pulled up to Kagome's home a few minutes later. He parked and made his way to her dark house. He felt like a criminal, sneaking around at midnight like this. Inu-yasha circled the house until he thought he found Kagome's room. He was glad their house had only one story. He easily pulled himself to the window sill and peeked inside. Stuffed animals, two-inch thick textbooks, a picture of Will Smith hanging on the wall... Yup, that was definately her room. (Hehe, Will Smith is mah boi! Lol!)
With a grunt, Inu-yasha got her window open. Trying to be as quiet as possible, he slipped inside... only to trip over something and come crashing down head first into the hard carpet floor. He cursed the floor for being there but instantly took a deep breathe to keep quiet. He heard Kagome stirring in her bed. He prayed to God that she wouldn't wake up completely. Not only would she find out he had snuck into her room earlier than he would have hoped but she would also see his face imprinted into the floor. Wonderful.
When she was quiet again, Inu-yasha stood up to see what had tripped him, ready to rip it to shreds. However, he only smiled when he saw the basket of rose petals tipped over on the floor. So she had decided to keep it after all. He righted the basket and replaced the rose petals with a smile.
Now he gazed at Kagome's sleeping form. She had only an oversized shirt on that barely reached her upper thighs. By the temperature of the room Inu-yasha guessed she wore it to cool down. It was quite warm in her small room. She was on her back breathing peacefully, her arms splayed in various directions. Her cover's were tossed aside. She had no use for them in the hot bedroom. He smiled again when he saw the teddy bear he'd left for her tucked under her arm.
He had decided to take Tami's advice and trap her so she had no choice but to talk to him. What better place for that than in her own house? He'd refuse to leave until they had a few things straightened out. He hoped that with it being midnight, she wouldn't yell so much. He knew that she didn't want her family rushing in to see them together in her room so late at night... and neither did he. That was guarenteed to leave a bad first impression on the family.
Suddenly Inu-yasha hesitated. Maybe he shouldn't have come here. She would only get mad at him and the ignoring would start all over... No, he had come here to set things right and now that he was here, he might as well get it over with.
Inu-yasha leaned over Kagome, preparing to shake her awake... Only her face caught his attention. She looked like she was having a peaceful happy dream. A soft smile played on her lips. Inu-yasha smiled also.
Before he knew what he was doing, he began to lean over to give her a gentle kiss. Just as he was closing in, Kagome's eyes began to flutter open.
xXx
Kagome opened her eyes to see another face only inches away from hers. It was blurry but nevertheless, she took a deep breathe and screamed so loud, she was sure China had heard her. Her scream was cut short by a large hand that covered her mouth. Instinctivly, she bite down on it, hard. Whoever it was yelped in pain and stepped away from her killer jaws. Just as she was preparing to scream again, her vision became clear and she saw the face clearly in the moonlight filtering from her open window.
"I-Inu-Inu-yasha?" she exclaimed. Inu-yasha stared at her, fearing she'd scream again. Realizing she had probably woken up her family, she hissed in a quieter voice, "What the hell are you doing here?"
Inu-yasha chuckled nerviously as he stood there with a blush hot on his cheeks. He looked as if he had planned a whole conversation but had just forgotten the whole thing. "Hey..." he said akwardly.
Kagome was enraged. "Don't you 'hey' me! I said what are you doing here!"
"I heard you," he snapped in a quieter tone. He was still blushing from his almost-kiss. He began to wonder when he'd finally get a chance to kiss her for real...
"So, are you going to answer me or not?" Kagome snapped.
Suddenly determination glowed in Inu-yasha's eyes as he sat down on her bed. She gawked at him as if he was crazy but he began to talk before she could say anything. "Look, I know you're avoiding me. If you had given me a chance to explain myself, I wouldn't have had to come here to your room."
She rasied an annoyed eyebrow. "Are you saying that it is my fault you made me scream like that and wake half the world?"
Before Inu-yasha could even open his mouth, Kagome jumped up and yanked on his arm for him to stand up also. She abruptly shoved him into her closet and closed it behind him. Seconds later, just as she layed back on her bed, her door burst open. An old man stood there with a wooden bat.
"Where is the demon?" he shouted. "Don't worry Kagome, I'll get it!" He then proceeded to swing the bat at the air in front of him. Kagome's mom then stepped into the room.
"Are you alright dear?" she asked, worry laced into her voice. "I heard a terrible scream..."
Kagome said from her bed, "It's nothing. I just had a nightmare."
Her mom frowned in worry and she went over to Kagome's bed. She sat down and said softly, "It wasn't about him again was it?"
"Oh no," Kagome said reassuringly. "It was just about some hideous monster I got a close up of." She said that with a glare at the closet. Inu-yasha stuck his tongue out at her even though he knew she couldn't see him.
Her mom smiled and said, "Okay. Get some sleep, hon. See you in the morning." She left the room, pushing Grandpa back to his room who was still swinging at invisible spirits. Kagome followed her mom to the door and left for a moment. She came back with a white linen wrapping and then marched over to the closet. She yanked the door open. She didn't say anything, just shoved the linen in his face and sat at her desk. Inu-yasha mumbled a thanks as he bandaged his hand, the one she had bite down on. Apparently, she had noticed the blood earlier. Inu-yasha had been too embarrassed to really take notice. Inu-yasha akwardly sat down on her bed, still wrapping his hand and wondering what she was thinking.
She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. She locked her hands together on her lap and said in a much quieter and calmer voice than before, "Alright. What are you doing here?"
Inu-yasha gulped nerviously. He licked his parched lips and replied. "We need to talk," he began. He had finished with his hand now.
"That's what we're doing, isn't it?" she snapped. Suddenly realizing she was getting loud again, she took another breath and said polietly, "About what?"
"First, about the party some nights ago." Inu-yasha was still having a hard time trying to gather his thoughts.
Kagome went quiet and looked away. She slightly bit her lower lip in remembrance. She didn't like this topic. Even after four days, she still hadn't gotten over the picture of him and that girl together.
Inu-yasha sighed. Time to get this overwith. "You ran away before I had a chance to explain. The girl I was with was your cousin, Kikyo. Remember when I asked if you had a twin? It was because I had met her at the store before and thought she was you. She even went along with it when I called her 'Kagome'. But she wasn't acting like you would and so I got suspcious. That's why I asked, just to make sure. When you saw us at the party, I had pulled her aside because I caught her pretending to be you again." When he'd finished, Inu-yasha smiled proudly to himself. That had come out better than he thought. It almost made sense.
Kagome looked at him and then turned away again. She thought about what he had said carefully. "Then..." She wasn't sure if she wanted to ask this but she forced herself to form the words. "Then why did you two look like you were... you know, about to kiss?" She blushed. She was glad the moonlight didn't reach her desk where she was sitting. Hopefully, he couldn't see it.
Inu-yasha hesitated at her question. The truth was that he had been comparing the two but he didn't want to tell her how much more he prefered her over Kikyo. It would be too... mushy for his likeing. But lying wasn't an option either. He soon found the right words. "Well... In all honesty, she was about to kiss me. I was trying to find out how I had ever mistaken her for you." Kagome was still quiet and so he continued. "You two really look nothing alike you know? And you're a lot nicer, even when you do yell at me." Kagome chuckled and so did he.
Kagome took in a shaky breathe. All she felt at the moment was relief. But the relief was soon overwhelmed by guilt. How could she have thought Inu-yasha would betray her like that? She should have known he wasn't that type of guy.
When Kagome was quiet for some time, Inu-yasha said, "Also, where the hell have you been this week?"
Kagome looked away, more guilty than ever. "Well, after that day, I transfered out of all the classes I had with you. Monday, I waited until five to come home and Tuesday, I stayed at Sango's house."
Inu-yasha bit his lip. "You didn't want to talk to me that bad?"
Kagome could only nod. Guilt washed over her. Now that Inu-yasha turned out to be innocent, she knew it wasn't really to go through with all that... But then again, the fact that he was off-limits still lingered in her mind.
Suddenly Kagome remembered something. "Why were you so close to me when I woke up?" she asked suspiciously.
Inu-yasha's eyes widened. He had forgotten about that! "Th-That's not important now," he stammered.
"Oh yes it is," Kagome said, rising from her seat. She took a step closer to Inu-yasha and said, "You want to straighten things out? Now's you chance. Answer me."
Inu-yasha abruptly stood up from the bed and inched his way to the open window. "Um... Well, you see, uh..." His words weren't coming quick to save him this time.
Kagome jumped in the way of the window and Inu-yasha took a step back toward the bed. "No answer?" she asked in a deadly tone.
Inu-yasha frantically tried to think of an excuse. Bingo! He smiled wickedly and said, "I'll tell you if you promise me something."
Kagome stopped her steady pace toward him and hesitated. "Promise what?"
He smiled again and said, "You have to come to dinner with me tomorrow. And this time, it's a real date." He crossed his arms stubbornly and sat down on her bed, his chin raised defiantly in the air.
"What?" Kagome exclaimed. She covered her mouth right after for fear of waking her family again.
Inu-yasha was really pushing his luck. He had only just went from 'hated' to 'neutral' on her relationship bar and he was already asking her on a date. And it was their first real one, no less! She should say no, right to his face... But she also really wanted to hear Inu-yasha admit to her he had tried to kiss her. Yes, she knew what he was trying to do. She wasn't blind. But she wanted the satisfaction of him admitting it. Yes it was cruel but she liked winning against him that way. She just liked to tease him since he seemed to like doing it to her. Call it revenge if you like. Now she could win the game but at a cost, and it was a bit pricey...
Inu-yasha knew for sure she would turn him down. But it was actually what he wanted. He really didn't want to tell her 'yeah, I was just about to give you a big fat kiss'. That was the last thing he wanted to do. So he picked the last thing she would want to do to get out of it. He figured it would still take time for Kagome to completely forgive him, even if he had just explained everything. There was no way she would say--
"Yes," Kagome said determinedly.
Inu-yasha's smirk quickly faded. His stubborn stance instantly loosened. He gawked at her. "What?" he asked disbelieving.
"I said alright, it's a date. I promise." She was loving his reaction. She hadn't been expecting it since she thought it was what he wanted but she enjoyed it nonetheless. "So now that I promised, you have to tell me."
Inu-yasha growled at her. "You know, I don't like your games." By now he figured out that there was now way she didn't know what he was trying to do before she woke up. She was just trying to get him to say it out loud to her.
"Who said anything about games?" she asked innocently. She paused then grinned from ear to ear. "Say it," she smirked.
"You're really enjoying this aren't you?" he groaned.
Kagome just continued to smile widely. "Come on, a deal's a deal. I'm waiting..." She cupped her hand around her ear.
Inu-yasha blushed madly. He had no choice. She was right, a deal's a deal. Of course, he wouldn't have made the deal if he had known it would backfire. "I was... I was about to kiss you," he mumbled. "Now are you happy?" he growled.
She went over to him and enclosed him in a big bear hug. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" she asked when she pulled away.
Inu-yasha grumbled a string of curse words, his blush still in plain sight. Kagome laughed.
XxXxX
So whatcha think? You know, I'm somewhat pleased with this chapter. I tried to add some funny so it wasn't all dramatic and depressing. I'm hoping that I didn't make Kagome seem too bad with the way she likes to tease him. Only fun and games though. I had planned on adding more to this chapter but I hadn't noticed how long it was. This is my longest chapter yet. I actually didn't want to cut it off here and put their date in as well but I guess that's not going to happen. Next chapter will have their date in it.
I'm reaching the end of my story now. If the chapters go as planned, there is going to be only one more. But knowing me, I'll end up writing so much that I'll have to put the last bit of the story into two instead of only one. I can't say when my next update will be though. The next chapter's going to be hard for me to write. You see, when I had started this story, I only had a vague idea of how I was going to end it. Now that the end is actually here, I really have no clue how to wrap it up effectively. I'll figure something out though. Might be hard with school starting shortly but I'll do it.
Anyway, thanks for sticking with me and putting up with me so far! You readers and reviewers are really what inspires me to go on. Thank you!
Hiko18