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The Breakup
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It is never a good thing when a parent-teacher conference is called but there are some consistencies that can best prepare you. The first thing any teacher tells you at a parent teacher conference will let you know how much trouble your child is actually in and exactly what type. For Kagome, it was always she's such a sweet girl whenever she was struggling academically and she's doing so well in class when it was a problem with another student or behavior. It set the tone, it let you know what to expect.
Or it usually does.
"He has such lovely hair," the teacher began in a sickeningly sweet voice.
"Yes he does," Ms. Higuarashi chuckled nervously, "So, the results from his testing are in I take it?"
The ebony haired woman began shuffling the paperwork on her desk into a neat pile as she gave Ms. Higurashi the most awkward, forced smile the matron had ever seen.
"I have a few questions," the woman began nervously, "Is he…uh. Oh, how do I put this? Is he…um, special needs?"
"Special needs?" Ms. Higurashi laughed once, "Whatever do you mean."
"He…um, in his age group…uh, he is very…developmentally delayed, I guess would be a nice way of putting it," the woman cleared her throat before continuing in that same sickly sweet voice, "He reads on a…um, first grade level and his…uh, aptitude in math is virtually non-existent. Has he ever had any form of formal education before now?"
"He was homeschooled but his mother has since passed away," Ms. Higurashi began slowly, "So what does this mean in terms of enrolling him in school?"
"Before we get to that," the woman sighed before giving the mother a forced smile, "We need to discuss further testing. He seems to have problems handling the most basic of activities. You know, how to use a water fountain, bathroom facilities, computers, light switches. He couldn't identify most countries or cities, objects or historical figures. In fact, he acted like he had never heard of any of them and kept asking whether the countries were part of 'the continent'. He had never heard of the atomic bomb – he actually asked what a bomb was – and seemed genuinely alarmed once we were forced to explain the bubonic plague. He had never heard of Osaka or Nagasaki. He wasn't even sure of the name of the city he lives in. He insisted that most of the animals we showed him – elephants, giraffes, lions, tigers, monkeys – were types of 'demons'. And that's just academically."
Ms. Higurashi shifted nervously in her chair, her mind racing as she tried to come up with a plausible excuse, any excuse, as the woman continued.
"Based on his responses, he may have some psychosis or mental illness of some kind. Testing also showed violent tendencies and a lack of awareness for social norms," the woman continued – her voice quickly losing its sickly sweet tone, "He had abnormal spatial issues in regards to touching. One of our testing monitors touched his shoulder to check on his status and Inuyasha hit him."
"Hit him?" Ms. Higuarshi chuckled nervously as she grimaced and gave the woman an imploring look, "Surely, you're joking."
"Well, he, uh…the notation states that the boy – and I'm quoting here – 'pushed my hand away almost as if by instinct with a fair bit of force and exhibited an exaggerated startle reflex.'" the teacher read affectedly as she gave an offended looking Ms. Higurashi an exasperated and slightly disgusted look, "He is so developmentally delayed and his behavior so abnormal that we may have to place him in a facility for individuals with his…uh, condition until he has been properly diagnosed. There is absolutely no way that we can give approval for him to attend Kagome's school. I don't know how you haven't noticed any of these abnormalities. You said you've known him for years."
"Would it be possible to homeschool him?" Ms. Higurashi began with a note of panic creeping into her voice, "My father has a bachelor's degrees and a teaching certificate that he could renew."
"Your family runs a shrine," the woman clipped back condescendingly earning a truly outraged gasp from Ms. Higurashi, "I can send a recommendation for homeschooling to the state with the condition that we assign a social worker and a teacher to you. Luckily for you we're a private testing facility and we have more sway in terms of homeschooling recommendations. A public testing facility would've rejected your proposal right away."
"Well, thank you for working with us," Ms. Higuarshi ground out through gritted teeth as she stood to leave, "I look forward to your call."
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"So, um Lord Inuyasha you see..." Myoga began nervously as the demon held him between his clawed fingertips, "I have looked far and wide and...uh, there's no way to break the spell."
"That's not a good enough answer," the demon growled as he put pressure on the flea's tiny body, "I bet you didn't even try."
"No, I did! I swear it!" Myoga begged as he began to writhe in vain, "I spent weeks trying to learn all I could. You both must be united in your desires. There can be no hesitation or doubt! But...but aside from what you already know there's nothing that can be done I swear!"
Disgusted, Inuyasha finally squished the flea and tossed him unceremoniously to the ground. It had been two months of pure hell. As much as he reveled in finally being free, he also hated every second of it. Kagome was gone for much longer now. One, even two weeks at a time, and it killed him. She'd never been away more than three days in the past two years and any more than that felt like pure torture. What killed him the most, however, was that she had changed around him. She didn't smile at him the way she used to. That special smile that she only gave him, that melted his heart and made him feel invincible, was replaced by something that merely made a knot grow in his stomach. It seemed...distant. Not afraid...just...like her heart wasn't in it anymore. She didn't love him anymore...and all he could think of was her loving his human half. That that was the reason she was away for so long. That he was right...and his human half could truly give her what she wanted. Why would a human like her choose him when there was someone who looked exactly like him running around who could truly give her a normal life? Someone who literally was him even...
"We need to get going," Inuyasha huffed dejectedly as he folded his arms across his chest and glared at the others, "Kagome's supposed to get back tomorrow and we're too far."
Sango and Miroku had both noticed the change in Kagome and as a result in the demon Inuyasha as well. While at first he had been talkative and actually much friendlier than usual, anymore he spent much of his time in silence - most likely brooding over Kagome's increasingly long absences. The slayer had spoken to her friend about it - an innocent question that was not without cause but one that made Kagome burst into tears. Despite Inuyasha still being, well... Inuyasha, the miko grieved the half-demon she loved and felt tremendously guilty that she didn't feel the same when they were split in halves. They seemed foreign to her. They were so different...and it broke Sango's heart that tomorrow they'd have to tell her there was no way to put them back together again.
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"My mom will be back soon," Kagome soothed, "But I'm sure you didn't do that badly on your tests. I mean…"
"No, it was bad," the ebony haired Inuyasha groaned as he buried his face in his hands, "So bad. I didn't know anything, Kagome. I felt so, so stupid."
"You're not stupid," Kagome sighed exasperatedly as she rubbed his back, "You're just from a different time. That's not your fault."
"Do you know…" Inuyasha began in a broken tone of such bitterness and sorrow that it had Kagome's eyes widening incrementally, "I always…I had hoped that…that maybe if…if the well closed I could've…if you had to choose…that I could've gone with you and found a place here if I ever got the balls to actually tell you how I felt and managed to….I didn't want for you to feel…but now…"
"I'm sure you did fine," Kagome sighed helplessly as tears began welling in the corner of his chocolate eyes and he turned his head away from her, "And even if you didn't, who cares?"
"Don't you?" Inuyasha whispered dejectedly – still avoiding her gaze as he clenched his eyes shut as if waiting for the axe to fall, "Don't you want someone who can give you a normal life?"
"Ever since I fell down that well and met you, my life hasn't been normal," Kagome snorted before adding quickly when he flinched. Sighing, she tried to force him to look at her before continuing kindly, "I don't think it'll ever be normal again even if I do come back here to stay and I wouldn't want it to be. Wouldn't know what to do with myself."
Sniffing slightly, Inuyasha timidly made eye contact with her before skittishly looking away, "It's weird, ya know. When I'm…well I guess how I normally am, it's so hard to…"
He paused and sighed, "It's really hard to say what I want to say, I guess. To be able to tell you how I feel and talk about what scares me. Even when I'm human for a night it's not the same as I feel right now. I hope…I hope I'm still the same person. I seem…seem different, really different since I've been split. I almost feel broken."
"Well…you are kinda I guess," Kagome sighed before adding quickly at the hurt that briefly flashed through his eyes, "I mean you're split into two halves. I didn't mean…"
"I know," the human whispered quietly as he played with his hands, "Maybe…maybe I should just go back to how I was but I don't want to, not really. I feel…I feel like maybe…maybe I could learn and…it wouldn't be so bad to live in your era. I can't help how I feel about any of it. I'm the problem."
Kagome bit her lip as she tried to come up with something to say to comfort him but what he said was true. They had to desire- truly desire – to become whole again. Otherwise, it was a battle of souls so Totosai had said. One being would fight the other until one of them succeeded in completing their soul. It was subconscious and if human Inuyasha had the wherewithal to know he still truly desired to be separate then here in this time he'd have to stay.
