4. Face to Face

Yuka, Eri and Ayumi encircled the waiting couple, greeting them happily. Hojo approached them much slower. He wasted a while to admire Higurashi's attire and the way her hair was swaying behind her back when she was moving. She was like a heavenly maiden from legends and Hojo found his heart skip a beat when she smiled at him.

"Um, hi, guys!" she said. "I didn't know you were here."

"We would go another way if we knew," added the boy standing beside her. Eri patted his bare bicep with a playful giggle, but then grabbed and squeezed it, her fingertips grazing his skin. The boy glared at her and freed his arm. "Keep your distance, woman!" he barked in an annoyed voice. Hojo frowned at his rude behavior towards one of his friends. Eri just giggled and made a move as if to reach for the boy's arm again. The white-haired individual moved to Higurashi's other side, trying to use her as a living shield against her friends. The girl looked back at him, but just bit her bottom lip.

"Hello," Hojo said as he stood in front of them. his eyes trained on the other boy. "I believe we weren't introduced to each other. I'm Hojo Keichi," he outstretched his hand towards the other boy. He could be a gang member, but it was not a reason to drop his own manners. Yellow eyes looked at his hand in bewilderment and a dark brow was raised as if asking why Hojo offered his hand to him.

"Inuyasha," the gang boy shrugged and turned his head to look at the girls gathered around Higurashi, all four of them were observing him - Higurashi with worry while her friends with curiosity. Yuka whispered something to Eri's ear and both girls grinned like crazy.

"May I ask for your last name?" Hojo inquired, his arm dropping limply to his side when it became obvious Inuyasha wasn't going to shake it. The boy didn't realize at first that the other male had his arms full of boxes and bags, too focused on his bad manners. The gang boy opened his mouth to answer, but Higurashi was faster.

"It's Akita," she revealed and stood just beside Inuyasha, giving him a glance. The boy closed his mouth, surprise clear on his face. 'He probably didn't expect Higurashi to tell me,' Hojo thought. 'It'll be easier to track him down with his last name. If it was his real last name...'

"Akita? Isn't it a dog breed?" Hojo tilted his head. The other boy growled at him, quite realistically imitating an annoyed dog's growl. To Hojo it was almost certain both his first and last names were fake, derived from his behavior and probably given to him by his fellow gang members. Still, there was a chance Hojo could track him down by them.

"At least it doesn't mean 'pathetic'," he looked Hojo straight in the eye, obviously challenging him. Hojo decided not to dwell on the matter to prevent the other boy from growing suspicious or - gods forbid - violent.

"See? They're already fighting over Kagome!" came Yuka's excited voice. The bad boy's glare turned her way and she gave him an encouraging grin.

"Ah, this is so romantic!" Ayumi grabbed Eri's shoulder for support when she looked dazedly at the blushing Higurashi and glaring Akita.

"It ain't romantic and we sure as hell aren't fightin' over Kagome!" the silver-haired boy stated.

"Yeah, right, right." Yuka nodded with a grin and leaned in to say in a loud whisper to Kagome. "We're jealous!"

"Um... I... You, guys..." replied Higurashi weakly and laughed awkwardly. "Just let's go home, okay?"

Hojo frowned at the trio immediately swarming the couple and practically dragging them down the sidewalk, almost forgetting Hojo was standing there. The three friends of Higurashi's bad been always rooting for him, but now it was clear to him they were bewitched by the bad boy's charm.

'It's true, girls are drawn to dangerous men over the good ones,' he sighed in his mind. He walked a little behind the whole group - the Akita boy was staying at Higurashi's side, but wasn't engaging the girls in a pleasant talk as he should - he was just cutting in from time to time, mostly adding short comments or answering questions directed to him.

'And being silent adds more mysterious vibe to it,' the school boy thought, frowning a little more. It was obvious to him that Akita Inuyasha was pretending to be someone else around Higurashi's friends to make them think he was actually cool. It was apparent their opinion about him had changed after meeting the boy and Hojo had to be honest with himself - he was amazed by the other boy's acting skills. 'Well, I suppose, you must know how to fool normal people when you're a gang member,' Hojo thought, listening to the Ayumi talking about a movie she wanted the rest of the group to see.

"Hey, Kagome," Eri grinned at Higurashi when the other girl managed to convince the rest to give it a try. She looked back at the boy walking behind her and grinned. "Hojo told us he wants to help you studying for the next test," she winked.

"Ah, yes, I can lend my notes to you, but I'd like to explain to you things you can not get," Hojo nodded vigorously. Learning and tutoring others was his thing, he was often helping his other class mates. He was sure he could also use his alone time with Higurashi to talk to her about her choice of a boyfriend.

"Keh, as if Kagome needs some idiot helping her studyin'. She's plenty studied," Inuyasha voiced his opinion and earned three giggles from their friends and a glance from Higurashi, who then looked at Hojo with a thankful smile. The school boy was looking at the other male with a small frown, unpleased by his words, but didn't have time to voice his opinion about rude people.

"It is very kind of you, but I don't want to trouble you," she said with an apologetic expression. "But I won't turn down an offer of lending me your notes for a day, if it's okay?" she added with hope in her brown eyes. How could he deny her anything when she was looking so cute? Hojo reached in his bag and took out of it a notebook before realizing what he was doing. With a smile he offered her the notebook.

"Here, keep it as long as you want and if you need an explanation or anything just let me know," he said, utterly happy. Well, it was disappointing he wouldn't be visiting her, but her hands touched his when she took the notebook and stuffed it in one of the bags hanging from Inuyasha's elbow.

"Thanks, Hojo, you're a real friend," Higurashi grinned. "And don't mind Inuyasha, he's always like this around new people," Akita scowled at Hojo, but remained silent. The group resumed walking, with the girls doing majority of talking. Hojo was sometimes joining in the talk, telling Higurashi some stories from the school life she had missed, but otherwise he was thinking about the boy still walking beside her.

A/N: Is it good? Is it bad? Is this story in general pleasant to read?
Actually this chapter grew to be too long (I'm trying to keep chaps of this story ca 1.5k words long) and I had to cut it in half - the next chapter will be under 1k words, but I'll post it in a few hours.
And, to answer my lovely reviewers - yes, there will be a day when Hojo learns thr truth about youkai, Inuyasha and stuff. But this is not this day. I'm still unsure Yuka, Eri and Ayumi will learn the truth...