Living For Today Chapter 7.
InuYasha walked in the girls front door, and sat down on the couch. She smiled at him, and sat down beside him.
"So, your sure about this?" She asked. InuYasha nodded.
"Yeah, completely sure, I'll have no regrets, nobody will care." He said. The girl nodded.
"Okay." She said. She pulled a briefcase off the table, and opened it, setting it on her lap. She withdrew a pen and a bunch of papers. InuYasha took the offered pen, and quickly skimmed over the first page of the paper, before going straight to the back. He signed his name, and piled the rest of the papers together, handing them back to her. She smiled wryly at his behaviour, not even taking time to read the papers that were going to change his life.
"You know that you could have taken that home with you to read, you know that right?" She said. InuYasha shrugged. "I don't care what it says, I just want some action." He said. The girl smiled again, this time a bit sadly, and shook her head.
"It's a shame that young people like you are throwing your lives away at such an age." She said.
InuYasha smiled dangerously. "I don't think I'd be throwing my life away." He said.
The girl looked at him.
"More of that patriotic, 'ready to die for my country' talk?" She asked. "I get that all the time from you young recruits."
InuYasha snorted.
"Hardly." He said. "I could care less if the country blew up tomorrow, as long as I have fun while it's happening." He said. "And that's all I'm doing this for. For fun."
The girl smiled again, and again, it was a sad smile.
"Your not fighting for anyone, no one you love?"
InuYasha shook his head. "Well, besides the fun, there's three people that I'll be fighting for, but I don't really consider it fighting for them, because I doubt if the war will ever reach them at home." He said.
The girl shook her head. "You'd be surprised."
InuYasha looked at her questioningly for a second, but she shook her head. "Forget it." She said.
"So, I'm required to ask you one more time, are you sure you want to do this?" She asked.
InuYasha nodded. "Yes."
She smiled one last time.
"Welcome to the unit, InuYasha." She said.
InuYasha walked down the sidewalk, the bag he had received slung over his shoulder. He kept his head down, thinking of what it was going to be like telling his mother and his friends, when two of his friends' voices reached his ears.
"InuYasha!"
"InuYashaaaa!"
InuYasha stopped, and looked up, seeing Sango and Ayame running toward him. He set his bag down, and opened his arms as they crashed into him, hugging him.
Where were you, InuYasha?" Sango asked.
Ayame nodded, catching her breath.
"Yeah, we were sitting on your steps all day, waiting for you." She said.
InuYasha smiled wryly. "Sorry guys, I was busy." He said.
Sango looked down and saw the bag. She saw the camouflaged pattern on it, and pointed to it.
"InuYasha, what's that?" She asked.
InuYasha picked up the bag.
"Aww, this? This is nothing." He said. Quick as lightning, Ayame grabbed it out of his hands, and opened it, turning around so he couldn't grab it back, going through it.
"InuYasha." She said, her voice going flat. "What is this?" She asked, turning around and holding up the top to a military uniform. InuYasha shrugged.
"Nothing."
Ayame stared at him.
"Did you sign up for the military, InuYasha?" She asked. InuYasha sighed. He couldn't keep the truth from them any longer.
"Yeah, I signed up as part of a six man unit designed to infiltrate enemy fortresses, and stuff like that." He said.
Ayame dropped the shirt and the bag. "So your going to war?" She asked softly.
InuYasha nodded. "Yeah, I am." He said.
Ayame shook her head.
"You can't." She whispered. Her large green eyes filled with tears. "You can't!" She said. She looked up at him, tears running down her race.
"What about my dream, InuYasha?" She asked him. Without waiting for an answer, she turned around, running off in the direction of her house. InuYasha stared after her, hoping that he hadn't hurt her, yet knowing that he had.
Sango glanced at him.
"Why'd you have to go and do that, InuYasha?" She asked. "We were all happy with you here. We don't want you to leave." She said, before dismissing him, and taking off after Ayame.
InuYasha watched her go, until she rounded a corner and was out of sight. He sighed, and picked up his shirt, stuffing it into his bag. He slung it over his shoulder again, and walked up his driveway, noticing that his mothers car was gone. She wasn't home yet. He shrugged, and opened the door, disappearing into the house.
Sango caught up to Ayame, and grabbed her hand, pulling the crying girl to a stop. Ayame turned, and hugged Sango, crying harder now. Sango ignored the looks she was getting from people walking by on the streets, and rubbed Ayame's back, whispering softly in her ear.
A few minutes later, Ayame had calmed down enough to start walking, and Sango led Ayame to her house. As they climbed Ayame's steps, Sango realized that she might have to stay the night here, to make sure that Ayame was okay. It was fine with her, but she might need to call her mother later.
Sango waited until Ayame unlocked the door, before gently pushing Ayame inside, and leading her up to her room. Ayame sat down on the bed, and Sango sat down beside her, her arm around her shoulder.
"Are you okay?" She asked, and Ayame shook her head, wiping away a tear.
"I really love him, and now he's going away to war." She said. Sango shushed her gently and rubbed her back.
"We all love him, Ayame." She said. "We all have to deal with him making this choice together." She said. "Why don't you call Kagome and tell her what happened?" She asked.
Ayame nodded, and forced the tears to stop. She got up, and walked to the bathroom, blowing her nose. She spent a few minutes in there and when she came out, she looked a lot better. She had washed her face and was done crying.
Sango handed her the phone, and Ayame swiftly dialed the number, before raising the phone to her ear. She waited a few seconds until the phone was answered, then asked for Kagome. A few seconds later, Kagome's cheerful voice answered the phone.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Hey." Ayame said softly.
Kagome immediately sensed that something was wrong.
"Ayame, what's going on? You don't sound like your usual self." She said. Then her voice became sterner. "Did InuYasha do something? If he did I'll kick his--"
She was cut off by Ayame giggling, despite what had happened.
"Yeah, it was InuYasha, but he didn't do anything directly to me, or Sango, and it wasn't one of his usual stupid stunts, although it was stupid..." She trailed off.
Kagome sighed.
"What did he do now?" She asked.
Ayame felt the tears coming back just thinking of it, but she held them back.
"He joined the military."
Ayame heard Kagome's gasp over the phone, then a loud banging. Ayame held the phone away from her for a second, before bringing it back to her ear.
"Hello?" She asked. Kagome's voice was heard a few seconds later.
"I-I'm sorry Ayame, I dropped the phone." She said. "What do you mean he joined the military?" She asked.
Ayame shrugged. "I don't know." She said, feeling the tears running down her face. "He just came home and we met him outside his house, and he had an army bag with him, and when I went through it it had a military uniform in it, and thats when he said that he had joined the military."
Kagome sighed, and sat down on her bed, cursing the stupidity of InuYasha.
"Why would he go and do this?" She asked.
"I don't know..." Ayame said sadly. Sango moved a bit closer to Ayame. Ayame leaned her head on Sango's shoulder, and Sango put her arms around Ayame.
"Doesn't he like us anymore?" She said softly, speaking neither to Sango or Kagome. It was just as well, because neither of them had an answer to that, for neither of them knew if he had even liked them to start with.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, Sango hugging Ayame, while Ayame listened to and took comfort in the sound of Kagome's breathing over the phone. After a few minutes, Ayame's mind was made up.
"Okay, I'm going to see him." She said. "You should come over to his house too Kagome, that's where I'm going. Otherwise, I'll talk to ya later." She said, hanging up.
She stood, and wiped the tears off her face, before taking Sango's hand, and smiling at her.
"Friends might get mad at each other and not talk to each other for a week over something like this, but we're his real friends, so we should be with him every second of the day, until he leaves."
Sango nodded in agreement, and they left, heading over to InuYasha's.
InuYasha threw his bag onto his bed, and started going through it. He pulled out his uniform, and laid it out on his bed, then reached into the bag again. His hand closed against a thin metal bar, and his eyes widened as he pulled out an assault rifle, with no magasine. He was holding it by the barrel. He grinned, and set it down on his bed, next to his uniform. He reached in, and pulled out a set of blank dog-tags. Those too went next to his clothes, and he emptied out the bag, staring through all the small items that came with it. One of which was a cell phone. He picked it up, and opened it.
1 New Message!
InuYasha accessed it, and started reading.
Welcome to the unit. Although the enrolement was a bit different from what you were expecting, you have signed the paper, so now you are property of the government and the unit leader to be used as they see fit. Familiarize yourself with your weapon, then, anywhere from an hour after recieving your bag, to six hours from when this text was opened, this phone will be called. Once it is answered, you will recieve instructions, and you must follow them, for now you are a soldier.
InuYasha looked at the phone, turning it over in his hands. This was actually happening a lot faster than he thought it would, and it was starting to become unbelievable. The fitness test he had went through, he remembered, was rigorous, but not beyond him, and he had passed it easily. Now, apparently, from the time he had put his name to paper, he was a soldier. He sighed, then grinned. From here on out, it was all about how much fun he could have. Of course, he would also have to strictly follow orders, or he'd get his ass kicked, but that was beside the point. He slipped the phone into his pocket, and packed all his stuff up, realizing that he might be called out before he could even tell his mom goodbye.
He sat on the bed for a minute, thinking about it, before shrugging. "It would suck, sure, but I can't stay home forever." He told himself. "Besides, I'll have time to come visit..."
Even as he said it, it sounded like a lie, and he knew it was one. He knew what he had signed up for from that booklet, and now he was going to go through with it.
He stood as he heard knocking on his door, and he ran downstairs, skidding at the bottom of the stairs. He ran to the front door, and skidded to a stop in front of it, placing his hand on the door handle. He shook his head, fixing his ruffled hair, then opened the door.
"Hello?"
"InuYasha!" Kagome yelled, stomping into the house, grabbing his shoulders and slamming him back against the wall. "Why didn't you tell us about something like this?" She asked angrily. "You could have at least talked it over with us!" She said. InuYasha, stunned and surprised, looked down at her. "Tell you about what?"
"About joining some Army thing!" She said, not knowing nor caring enough to use the right term.
InuYasha's eyes widened. "Ahh, I'm sorry Kagome, I totally forgot." He said. Kagome stopped pressing him against the wall, and she slowly lowered her arms to her sides, staring at him disbelievingly. "You...forgot...to tell your friends about something like going away to war?" She asked softly. "If I didn't know better, InuYasha, I'd say you really don't care about me, Ayame, or Sango." She said. InuYasha's heartbeat increased, and he shook his head. "No, Kagome, you know it isn't like that." He said. "I love all of you guys, and I'd never do anything to intentionally hurt you, you have to believe me." He said. "It's just, I..."
Sango and Ayame stepped through the doorway, the former staring impassionately at him, the latter, on the edge of tears.
"It's just what, InuYasha?" Sango asked, herself wondering how InuYasha could keep something like this from them. "How long have you planned out this little stunt?"
"I just...didn't know how to tell you guys in a way that wouldn't hurt you." He said softly. Then he looked up at Sango. "And this isn't a stunt, and I haven't planned it very long." He said. "I decided the other night that I'd go check it out."
Sango moved to InuYasha's side, and pressed him against the wall, her head on his shoulders. "You know, if you wanted to find a way to tell us without hurting us this much, all you had to do was call us or visit us, and tell us." She said. "It just hurts more this way, thinking that you didn't trust us enough to tell us you were thinking about something like this." She said. "I guess we caught you before you had a chance to ditch us, eh?"
InuYasha felt a sharp pain in his heart at her words, and once more he shook his head. He put his arms around Sango as her tears soaked through his T-shirt.
"It's not like that, Sango, and you know it." He said. "I didn't know how you would take it, and I didn't want to bring you all down." He said. "I see now that my way was wrong, and it would have been better to talk to you all about it, but I can't change it now." He said. "I'm committed." He said. "I don't know what I was thinking when I kept it from you, but believe me, I didn't want to hurt you."
Sango started crying harder, losing her self-control, and InuYasha bowed his head, ashamed that he had reduced Sango to tears, along with Ayame. He hugged Sango tightly, kissing the top of her head.
"Come on guys, I don't know when I'll have to leave, but it could be in as little as half an hour, so let's go hang in my room for a little while." He said. "We'll just hang and talk, no stupid stunts, nothing to distract my attention from you three." He said. "Please talk to me, tell me everything. I know it isn't much, but I want to do something to repay you for what I've done." He said. "I know it probably seemed I was more interested in doing guy stuff and acting stupid than paying attention to you guys, and I've realized it now, evne though it's a bit too late." He said. "But if you don't mind, I'd like to spend the last bit of time I have left with you guys, and no one else."
They all nodded, and followed him up the stairs. He opened his door, and cleared everything off his bed, laying down on it. He took Kagome on his right side, and Ayame on his left, and Sango once again laid on top of him, staring at his beautiful face, wondering why he was doing this.
Kagome leaned against him, her head on his shoulder, and didn't say anything, alone in her thoughts. Sango was still staring at him, thinking back to the day when she had awoken him in this very room, jumped on his bed and ripped his covers off, kissed his stomach, asked him again how old he was. She remembered how sexy he looked just waking up, his messy hair all over his face, his chest muscles rippling as he raised his arm to block out the light. Hell, even his response was hot, how he moaned just a bit, then answered in his sleepy voice how old he was.
Ayame, though, had finally broken down into tears again, and was cuddled up as close as she could get her body to his, her face in the crook of his neck, dampening his T-shirt with her tears, her silent sobs wracking her body, as he put his arm around her, trying to comfort her.
Kagome was the first to speak.
"Since the first day we met, I felt an attraction to you like no other." She said. "I felt like you could do anything, and you had the strength of a thousand men, and could protect yourself and me from anyone and anything." She said. She was silent for a second while she gathered her thoughts, then spoke again. "In fact, I think that's what scared me about you." She said. "You never needed my help, never needed me to tell you to be careful, or to not get hurt, because you never would." She said. "It scared me that you might not need me to tell you to be careful, and that you could continue to be fine without me. Since I'm such a worry wort, worrying and nay-saying was the only way I could show I cared, but you didn't even need it, and it felt like I was useless to you." She said. At this, she started to cry, and fell silent.
InuYasha hugged her a bit tighter, and kissed her cheek.
"Babe, you helped tremendously." He said. "Without you, I wouldn't have that lingering thought in the back of my head telling me to be careful during my stunt, so that I live and have someone to come back to, to show that I'm fine, and it was all because you told me to be careful." He said. "It wasn't that I didn't need you, it was just that you did your job so well it appeared like it was all me, but lots of times I would find myself doing something dangerous, and your memory would tell me to be careful, and I would spot something I hadn't before, or I would take an extra careful step, or jump, and at the end of the day, when I come home fine, it's 'cause of you." He said. "You might think of it as nagging, or being a worry-wort, but I know it was genuine concern, and for that I'm grateful." He said.
Kagome slowly ceased her tears, and smiled at InuYasha. "Thanks." She whispered.
Sango was the next to speak.
"I think I'm the most conservative out of us all, but that doesn't mean I don't care." She said. "I always liked you, and hearing that you want to join the army or something was a huge shock, and I'm still shocked, so I probably can't show much emotion, but deep down I know I'm badly hurt, and I probably won't be able to express how I feel until tonight or tomorrow, when you're gone." She said. "I know it'll be too late, but right now, I just have no way to express how I feel." She said. She ignored the tears threatening to leak out of the corners of her eyes, and InuYasha said nothing, knowing she wanted to appear strong.
"Sango, I know you don't know how to feel right now, angry, sad, scared, but I just want you to know, what was and is important to me is tricking, and having fun, and the way you pushed me onward, encouraged me to do my best and just go for it, that was the sweetest thing you ever could have done for me, and I appreciate it so much." InuYasha said. "Without you, half of my stunts wouldn't have been done, and to me, that would have been a real shame, because looking back, they were so fun, and they were all because of you pushing me on." He said. He reached out, and touched Sango's cheek. She looked up at him, and met his gaze.
"Thank you Sango." He said softly, and Sango felt her tears sliding down her cheek.
Ayame was the last to speak, after she had regained control of her tears.
"I always tried to act like I didn't care, like I was above you, especially in the beginning." She said. "Regarding your stunts, I always tried to think that you were just a boy doing what boys do, messing around and doing stupid stuff." She said. "It didn't actually interest me at first, but once I saw how alive you were when you were doing them, I realized that there was a whole other side to you that nobody knew much about, and I wanted to find out more, but it looks like I won't get the chance." She said. "After a while, I realized that I was starting to like you, though I mainly tried to act indifferent to these feelings. Then, holding your hand, kissing you, getting a piggy back ride from you, even, every time I touched you it felt like my body was on fire, and I realized that I was attracted to you so much, and that's when I realized I was in love with you." She said. "I love you, InuYasha."
InuYasha's eyes widened, and for a second, he felt his heart ache. He smiled at her, and leaned down, kissing her on the lips. "I love you too, Ayame." He said. "You mean the world to me, and I'm sorry that I'm about to trade my world away for a small bit of fun." He said. "Now, I'm really starting to regret it, but I can't change it now, it's something that I have-and want- to do, and nothing will change it." He said.
They had all said what they had wanted to say, and there was nothing left to say, so they all fell silent, thinking. Eventually thinking turned to sleeping, and they all drifted off to sleep, wanting to share just one more special moment with InuYasha before he left.
A loud ringing woke InuYasha up, and he realized his cell phone was ringing. He cursed, and reached into his pocket, grabbing it and flipping it open.
"Hnn, hello?" He asked.
"Mobilize at the airport in half an hour, be there. A plane will be leaving shortly, you will be introduced and briefed on the plane." A voice said, before hanging up. Inuyasha stared at the phone, before throwing it onto the bedside dresser. Sango had been awoken by the ringing, and yawned, waking Kagome and Ayame as she did so, by shaking their shoulders.
"Get up guys, I think InuYasha has to leave." She said.
Ayame and Kagome got up, rubbing their eyes.
"How long were we sleeping?" Ayame asked, yawning. InuYasha glanced at the cell phone on the counter, and shrugged. "About an hour and a half." He said. "Best hour and a half I've ever spent with you guys, I think." He said. "Even though we were sleeping most of it, at least I was with you guys and not doing something else." He said.
He got up, and straightened his clothes.
"I guess this is goodbye, then." He said, hating to be so abrupt, but not knowing how to delay it any longer.
Kagome coughed, and hugged him, holding back tears. Sango and Ayame joined in, and InuYasha hugged them for a good five minutes, realizing that deep down, he really didn't want to leave.
"It's okay though, it's not like I'm gone forever." He said. As Sango pulled away, he leaned in and whispered, "Take care of Ayame and Kagome for me when I'm gone, eh?"
Sango nodded, and wondered if there was more than one meaning behind the word 'gone.'
InuYasha grabbed his bag, and walked over to his bedroom door.
"I'm supposed to head to the airport, then we're taking off from there." He said. "I don't know how long I'll be gone, but I'll come back to say hi to you guys." He said. He glanced at his watch. "Would you guys tell it to my mom for me?" He asked.
They nodded, and were too frozen to walk him to the door. They knew that if they watched him get ready to leave, they would forcefully grab him, and beg him not to leave, and they knew that as much as they wanted him to stay, he wanted to go. And they had to respect that.
InuYasha waved a final time, then dissappeared, running down the stairs. A few seconds later, the front door slammed, and the InuYasha they had known for so long was now gone from their lives.
Sango, unable to believe it, fell onto InuYasha's bed.
"Hey Ayame, did you ever get to tell him your dream?" She asked.
Ayame sobbed, and shook her head. "No, I never got to tell him that I wanted to marry him when we got older." She said. "I hope he comes back soon...I'll tell him the next time I see him, it might convince him to stay." She said.
Kagome said nothing, and wondered if there would be a next time.
"Whatever guys, I'm going home." She said, depressed. "I'm tired, and I want to sleep for about ten hours." She said.
Sango and Ayame said their goodbyes to her, and she left, her mind on InuYasha.
Sango made sure Ayame was okay, then took off, saying she had to get home soon.
Ayame stayed, and looked around InuYasha's room. He had left so suddenly, he didn't have time to do anything with his room. She looked on the far side of his bed, the side away from the room, and saw the shirt he had been wearing earlier on the floor. She picked it up, and sniffed it, her sharp demon senses immediately picking up his scent. It brought back a flood of memories, and once more the tears flooded her eyes, and she let herself fall back onto his bed, clutching his shirt, as she tried to cry herself to sleep.
Sango sat down on her bed, and sighed. Now, the surrealism was starting to wear off, leaving only cruel reality. InuYasha was gone, and they didn't know when they'd next see him. She reached over and picked up a picture of InuYasha off her dresser. She looked at it, and smiled sadly at what she saw. It depicted InuYasha and Sango standing in front of their school, Sango with her books in her hand, InuYasha grinning beside her, with his arm around her shoulders, his other hand up by his stomach, giving a thumbs-up. Sango remembered that day, remembered how they had hung out that day, and just spent time together with each other, not doing much of anything.
"Will you be at this school long?" She asked, taking his chocolate milk from him and taking a sip. InuYasha shrugged. "Probably until I'm done school, then since this is my last year I'll be done, but I'll still be living around here." He said. "This place seems kinda fun, so yeah, I think I'll stick around for a long time." He said.
Sango nodded. "That's good." She said.
Sango wiped some teardrops off the picture, then realized that InuYasha had lied to her. Less than six months later, he was gone, leaving her alone. Sango stood up, feeling anger course through her body.
"You fucking liar!" She yelled, throwing the picture at the wall opposite her. She didn't see it smash against the wall, for the tears in her eyes blurred her vision, but she could hear it. She dropped onto her bed, and laid on her stomach, telling herself that she didn't care about the picture. The tears came freely now, and her pillow became damp, but she didn't bother turning it over, she merely cried herself to sleep.
Ayame sighed, and felt her heart ache as she thought of InuYasha, who had been sleeping with them only an hour before. Now he was gone, and Sango and Kagome hadn't the heart to stay behind and tell his mother. Ayame knew she would have to, as unpleasant as it would be. She snuggled deeper into InuYasha's blankets, and clutched his shirt to her chest, wondering how she could bear the pain of knowing she wouldn't see InuYasha for a very long time. Trying to get her mind off the realization that he was gone, she looked at the shirt she was holding. It was a pure white one, with black stencilling on it. It had 'Billabong' across it, and small spatters of what appeared to be paint that was used to make the graffiti-looking letters. She remembered what InuYasha looked like in the shirt. It was quite tight on him, and revealed the excellent condition that his body was in.
Ayame thought once more what her dream was, and how InuYasha had so innocently crushed it, without even knowing it. If only she had told him earlier, this might not have happened, but it was a bit too late for that now...
Ayame was snapped out of her thoughts as the front door opened, and she heard InuYasha's mothers voice calling out.
"Hey, InuYasha, I'm home!"
Ayame's heart skipped a beat, and she got out of InuYasha's bed, still holding his shirt. It was up to her now to tell her about InuYasha leaving, since the others didn't stay.
She walked downstairs, and said hello to InuYasha's mother.
"Hello dear." She said, quite familiar with Ayame. "Where's InuYasha? I picked up that new CD he wanted on my way home from work." She said. "I bet he'll be glad to get it."
Ayame bit her lip. "Um, there's something InuYasha wanted me to tell you..."
A/N: Well, ending there. Took forever to update, but I finally got settled down and got this typed out. Next chapter should be out soon, but no promises. Please review, tell me what you think.