Authors Note : Thanks for everyone being so patient! I made this chapter a little longer than the others since it took so long for me to crank it out! Finals are finally over so now I can write whenever I want! Thanks for everyone who wrote a review! Helps me stay motivated to write!
I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi
Taking in a deep breath, I let the world fall away leaving only myself and the target. Pulling the string back as far as I could, I brought my hand up to rest against my cheek for balance. Focusing all of my strength and energy, I let it pulse through my body. I slowly let out the breath that I had been holding, then released. Hit the mark! The arrow went flying, almost cutting through the air itself piercing the center of the bullseye. Got it! I internally celebrated, giving myself a small smile in triumph.
"Very well done Kagome," I turn to see our instructor Ms. Izawa clapping in approval. "I'm positive you will do well in the upcoming tournament. Now if you would please go to the front, there is a student here that needs to speak with you. You may pack up for the day if needed," someone who needs to talk to me? Giving her a small nod, I quickly made my way to the front. Standing at the entrance I see a boy with sandy brown hair waving at me with a huge smile plastered on his face.
"Hello Higurashi! Mr. Totosai asked me to tell you he needs your help with something so if you could please report to his classroom!" he explained practically leaping with enthusiasm. I've never met someone more cheerful than me, I mused quietly to myself. Frowning, I give the boy a curt nod. What could Mr. Totosai want now?
"Alright, thank you for telling me. Just let me get changed back into my uniform and I'll head over," I reply turning away to put my gear away.
"Great! I'll just wait in the hall then and I'll walk you over! Just let me know when you're ready to go!" he responds, a little too cheery.
"Ah that's not-" but before I can even retort he's already out the door shutting it behind himself. Geez, I don't need an escort, I scold internally. Putting away my bow I change quickly and head out to the hall way to meet up with him.
"Ready to go?!" he says racing over to my side with a silly grin on his face. It takes everything in my power not to roll my eyes. I'm really not in the mood to socialize.
"You know, I can walk to the classroom myself, no need to go through all this trouble," I try to reassure him giving him a friendly smile.
"It's no trouble at all Higurashi! And besides, I've been wanting to talk to you anyways," he says waving me off with his hand and begins to lead the way. We walk in silence for a little while, and it's hard to not notice how he keeps fidgeting with his uniform or how flustered he looks.
"So… what did you need to talk to me about?" I begin, desperate to break the awkward silence between us.
"Oh yeah! I wanted to thank you for standing up for me the other day!" cocking my head to the side I gave him a confused look. Thank me? For what? "You're pretty forgetful now a days Higurashi," he says chuckling at my expression. "Remember, the new guy got angry and tried to pick a fight with me? Thank goodness for you being there or else I would have been in big trouble!" he says flashing me another cheery smile.
"Oh that?! Don't worry about that, it's not a problem! I'm not sure why Inuyasha reacted like that," I say grimacing at the thought of the jerk. "But I wasn't going to just stand there and do nothing! I'm sorry where are my manners, what was your name?" I say mirroring his friendly tone. So that's where he's from!
"There you go again being forgetful," he says once more laughing, this time more whole heartedly. "Remember we went to the same middle school together? Hojo Fujimoto?" he waves toward himself. That's when it finally hit me, why he had looked so familiar.
"Oh my god Hojo?!" I practically scream stopping in my tracks to take in his appearance once more. The once scrawny, wide eye boy that used to pester me to go out on dates with him and just couldn't take a hint? Now all grown up. His boyish features, although still innocent, were more defined. More manly. He was taller, enough to where I had to look up and his shoulders slightly broader. Blushing at my wandering eyes, I quickly began to walk once more. "I'm sorry! I didn't recognize you! It's been a while!" I say, letting out a nervous laugh.
"Don't worry about it Higurashi! I know, you've definitely changed since that last time I saw you," he states softly, turning his gaze away from me but I can still see his cheeks stain with pink. I can feel my own cheeks begin to burn. Geez, it's only Hojo. Get ahold of yourself Kagome! Before I knew it we had arrived at Mr. Totosai's classroom, and we were left exchanging awkward glances unsure of how to proceed.
"Well, I'll see you around Higurashi. It was… nice seeing you," he says softly, keeping his eyes lowered.
"Same. You know Hojo you can call me Kagome. See you," I replied sweetly, giving him a small wave and one final smile over my shoulder before entering the classroom.
"Ah Kagome, about time you showed up," Mr. Totosai says pointedly as he keeps his attention on something his scribbling at his desk. "I need a favor from you. I need you to tutor Inuyasha here," he says giving me a sideways glance then looking at the boy sitting at one of the back window seats. Following his gaze I am met with golden intensity. NO! NO! NO! "With midterms right around the corner, and you being one of my top students I really need your assistance," opening my mouth to protest, he holds up his hand to silence me. "This is not a request, you will do this. I also need you two to deliver these papers to the head office before the end of the day," he says nodding at the large stack of career plan worksheets in front of him.
"I told you Totosai, I don't need no damn help!" Inuyasha snarled, slamming his fist down hard on his desk causing me to jump.
"Please, save me the back talk. You're test scores are some of the lowest in the class. And I don't want to see you in my class next year because you flunked. You'll let her help you," Mr. Totosai snaps giving the grumbling boy a pointed look. Surprisingly, Inuyasha doesn't argue but instead gives me an annoyed, almost defeated look. Standing up to pack his things, Mr. Totosai heads for the door. "Then it's decided. I will see you tomorrow. Don't forget to deliver those career plans to the office," he finishes throwing us one final wave before leaving. WHY ME?! I HAVE TO STUDY TOO! WHY, WHY, WHY!
-A couple hours later-
"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP WENCH!" Inuyasha yells, slamming his math book down hard on the desk causing me to jump. Crumpling up the worksheets we had been working on he angrily threw them across the room. "This is so annoying," he grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest and lowering his eyes so they disappear under his dark bangs. We had been studying now for almost two hours and all we had done is bicker about every little thing. I'm not really sure how Inuyasha got this far in school, he barely knows anything! He's never going to pass midterms at this rate. Groaning inwardly, I got up to retrieve the his crumpled up notes.
"Please Inuyasha, I'm tired of arguing. I'm trying to help you. Do you honestly think that I want to sit here all afternoon listening to you yell or call me names?" I say softly but the only response I get is him turning to scowl out the window. "You're so exhausting," I mutter letting out a defeated sigh.
"Why are you even still here?" he snaps. I can feel my temper beginning to flare so I try counting in my head to calm myself. One… two… three.. stay calm Kagome, he's just in a bad mood like always. "As if I would need help from you," THAT IS IT!
"SHUT UP YOU STUPID IDIOT!" I scream at the top of my lungs stomping my foot hard as I turn to face him. Jumping slightly he turned to stare at me with his eyes wide in shock. "You are such an arrogant jerk! I am here because I didn't have a choice!" all the pent up stress and anger is now oozing out of me and I am unable to control it. "You are the LAST person I would want to help!" I hiss throwing his crumpled notes at his face but he dodges it just in time without breaking our eye contact. "I don't understand why you are always like this! What have I ever done to you?!" Oh no… fresh tears begin to brim my eyes. No don't cry over this stupid jerk! "You know what I'm done with this. Let's just deliver these papers for Mr. Totosai so I can go home already," I manage to get out in a steady tone before quickly wipping away my tears with the back of my sleeve and facing my back to him.
"Oi wench! Are you… crying?" if I didn't know any better I would say his voice sounded shaky, but I refuse to give him the satisfaction of knowing he upset me this much.
"Shut. Up." I replied sharply grabbing half of the papers and stalking out of the classroom. Stumbling to catch up, Inuyasha followed behind me quietly grumbling to himself. The stupid jerk! He always has to push my buttons! Just for once I wish we could have a civil conversation without him insulting me every other second.
"Come on man give it back!" I hear someone yell over a sea of laughter. "Hey cut it out! Seriously give it ba-" one minute I was turning to see a group of boys coming out of a classroom we were passing and the next I was falling, landing hard on my right side. I can't help but cry out from the excruciating pain in my right shoulder, somehow this feels so familiar. Lifting my head slightly, wincing at the sharp pain near my temple I looked around and notice that the papers I had been holding were scattered around me.
"What happe-" suddenly I hear a shrill scream and someone lands on his back next to me causing me to let out a small scream in shock. "Oh my god are you alright?!" I shriek reaching my good hand out to the motionless boy.
"You bastards! You'll pay for what you did to Kagome!" I can hear more screaming followed by pleads for forgiveness. "Hold on Kagome! I'm coming!" wait I know that voice.. it couldn't be.. Looking up I see Inuyasha racing down a flight of stairs I'm laying in front of, his golden eyes intense with worry and never leaving mine. Somehow I can't help but feel relief wash over me knowing that he's coming for me. In fact it almost feels.. familiar. Like he's done this before. Wait. How did I end up at the bottom of the stairs? Did I.. did I really fall down another flight of stairs? Geez, I'm such a klutz. Sota's never going to let me live this down. Groaning I let myself collapse back on the floor shutting my eyes, willing the embarrassment to go away.
"Kagome! Kagome! Are you alright?" his voice is surprisingly worried, with no trace of annoyance or anger. Well that's a first. Before I can respond he gathers me up in his arms so he can hold me bridal style and I can feel my face begin to burn. What the heck is he doing?!
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?! Put me down Inuyasha!" I demand looking up at his distressed face.
"We have to take you to the infirmary immediately," he commands, holding me tighter to his chest as he begins to walk down the hall. Any attempt I was going to make to get out of his hold was soon abandoned when the pain in my shoulder caused me to cry out. "See don't struggle," he hissed but I could have sworn I saw a small smirk tugging at his lips.
"Why are you doing this? And what did you do to those boys back there?!" I hiss back. I don't need his pity. I can go to the nurse myself!
"I beat the crap out of those guys! They were too busy fooling around and knocked you down a flight of stairs! What would you have rather I'd done? Just leave you there lying on the ground injured?" he snapped throwing me a chilling glare.
"But why are you doing this? You clearly hate me, so I don't understand why.." I say through gritted teeth, I don't understand him. One minute he's insulting me and the next he's all worked up about me seeing the nurse. There's an awkward silence between us, and I wonder if he's even going to acknowledge that I asked him a question.
"I don't hate you Kagome," snapping my head up to meet his gaze I notice that he has stopped walking. "I just… you're infuriating, you ask too many questions, you're too cheery, you're optimism puts me in the worst moods, and you…" but I can't stand to hear anymore.
"See you hate me," I say quietly. Pain flashes across his features and shakes his head at me.
"You're wrong!" he yells causing me to flinch. "I don't. I get angry because I can't hate you," he whispers, his warm golden spheres paralyzing me as they search my eyes "but there's something about you that I can't quite figure out. And for some reason when I saw you at the bottom of the stairs.. I just.. I don't know I felt like I needed to protect you okay? You're so damn clumsy!" I can feel my ears getting hot and my heart feels like it's going to explode. He.. doesn't hate me. "We can talk later alright? We need to get you to the infirmary," he quickly says cutting off my train of thought and heading down the hall once more. What is this feeling..? Why do I feel so happy to know that he doesn't hate me? Letting my head rest against his chest I can't help but take in a deep breath a small smile appearing on my face at the smell of fresh air and shampoo.
"I guess its a good thing I gave you a tour of the school last week or else you'd be lost," I chuckled feeling completely content in his arms once more.
"Keh," was all he said as he held me to his chest tighter. The emptiness that haunts me.. somehow with him around… I don't know what it is but it's not so bad now.