Well…big number 20. Part of me wonders how long it's going to be till I close this up. Oh well. I write because I like it, and well, yea. But I think an ends in sight!
Chapter 20: You Know Each Other?
It was early, four AM at the latest and no matter how hard he tried, Inuyasha couldn't fall back asleep. He lay there, staring up at his ceiling, having flashbacks of all the times he'd had with Kagome, but more of the sites that he saw of her. He saw her laying in a ruby puddle of her own blood, a instant reply of her fighting for her life that made him want to cringe, and of course Kagome, smiling brilliantly as she sang in front of thousands of people. He smiled faintly as that last picture formed in his head. He knew today he would walk the halls she did, but that was later, and this was now. He threw off the covers and threw his legs over, staring down at his plaid boxers. Yawning, he stood up and crossed the room till he retrieved his old acoustic guitar. It was one of his oldest, but he always did his best song writing with it, and right now, he needed one. While he was thinking, his fingers automatically found chords and started playing in a soft melodious tune.
He kept thinking of her, and was unnerving at how he couldn't possibly get her out of his head. Scratch unnerving, it was darn right scary. At that, he struck a sour chord and shook his head as the soft melody returned. Maybe it was that whole accident that had her image permanently burned in his head. An idea struck him, and he chuckled low at the brilliance of it. Today, he would talk to Sango and the others, after they got over the shock of him being there, about a concert held in Kagome's, and possibly even Kikyo's, honor. Like a get well concert. Of course it would be held after they recovered, but it was still brilliant. He kept playing and thinking and his thoughts soon wandered off to the Darkest Hour, and to his own group of friends. He thought it was kind of ironic, how everything turned out. His band and Kagome's kind of clicking like that, he couldn't explain it, and therefore wouldn't even try.
Sunlight poured into his room through the closed blinds and he closed his eyes, savoring its warmth. Wait, sunlight? He opened his eyes and quit playing as his hand snaked out and with lightning fast reflexes, grabbed the alarm clock by the bed. His eyes almost popped out of his head. What the hell; six already? He sighed irritably and set the old guitar where he kept it and walked off to the shower before his brother claimed it.
Ten minutes later Inuyasha strolled out of the shower, a towel around his waist and a hairbrush in hand. He meticulously brushed his hair and then let it air dry. Walking into his room, he closed the door and stood in front of the full length mirror and postured a bit. Once he was satisfied with the way his biceps flexed and his pectoral muscles rippled, he grinned and walked to his closet, his confidence regained. But, then again, it had never been lacking in the first place. But a little confidence never hurt anyone, especially him. After all, he had to maintain his rock-star mentality and posturing was good for that. He didn't want to get complicated, since he wanted to play it low key like he hoped the rest did. Kagome wasn't there, so he didn't need to be spiffy. Wait, there he was again thinking of Kagome, he shook his head, trying harder to banish the thought and concentrate on one thing that wasn't Kagome.
He was tempted to close his eyes and pick from his vast collection of shirts, but didn't as he chose a simple black shirt with a silver dragon on the right breast, over the pocket. It had a gray long-sleeved wife beater under it that had designs of black up the forearm on both sides. On the back it had a huge insignia which had on the top "Rock and Roll". He shrugged on both shirts and adjusted it, while he looked for pants. He pulled out a pair of jeans and put on his converse. He sighed and grabbed his black beanie with the rim and fit it snugly to his head. He kicked open his door and walked downstairs, seeing Sesshomaru in a plain snowy white button up shirt with the first few buttons open, revealing a black wife beater and black pants with red converse. His little sister was seated in Sesshomaru's lap, in a purple collared shirt with a guitar on it with a black skirt that went down to her knees and rainbow striped leggings on with red high top converse. She was humming happily while munching on a breakfast sandwich their mom had made. He grunted. "Is today red converse day," He asked absently, poking around the kitchen for any trace of a third—his father was there so fourth—breakfast sandwich for him some where, "if it is, I didn't get the message." He said, looking in the microwave.
"Looking for something Inuyasha?" His mother asked from behind the newspaper. She knew damn well he was looking for one of her godsend sandwiches.
"Nope," He said, his tone dripping sarcasm, "Nothing at all."
"That's good." She answered absently. He rolled his eyes and continued his search of the kitchen. He heard something flying through the air, in a plastic baggie by the sound of it, and coming straight for him and he whirled around, having a little slice of heaven land in his hands. He snickered. Even if his mother was human, she certainly kept up in a house full of demons. Well, more than kept up. She outdid her own demon and half demon children all the time. Hell, she outdid his dad all the time. Outdid, and outsmarted. You had to admire a woman like that.
"Thanks, Mom." He said taking a seat next to his brother and sister and opened the bag and took a bite. God, the woman could make a sandwich to die for!
"So," His father started out, trying to sound nonchalant, "I heard you playing at 4 this morning. I think your career is already booming, and I don't think you need any new songs just yet." He said gruffly.
"I didn't mean to…" he took another bite of his sandwich, avoiding eye contact.
"So why were you up at 4?" His mother asked, taking a lighter tone as she flipped the page in the newspaper and folded it, seemingly finding something worthwhile.
"I couldn't sleep." Inuyasha muttered and concentrated on his sandwich. One thing he hated more than pricks were playing 20 questions. And somehow, that was his family's favorite way of extracting information. He rolled his eyes and got up, grabbing his backpack and a loose black zip up hoodie out of the closet in the hall and slung it over his shoulder, opening the door and stepping out smoothly while calling out to his brother. "Hey Fluffy, I'm leaving. Go ahead and take Shiori to school when you go." He shut the door before his brother could protest. His brother and sister were a good 6/7 years apart yet they were closer than him and Sesshomaru. He shrugged it off, and opted on walking to school.
While walking down the sidewalk of the seemingly silent street, the haunting melody he had played this morning came back with a vengeance and replayed itself over and over in his head. He couldn't get it out, and he couldn't think of lyrics to it. The melody was beautiful, but haunting. He shrugged his backpack higher on his shoulder as he continued down the street, pulling the rim of his hat further down to shield his eyes. He already heard people gasping. Damn it. That's why he hated going into public places. Fame was great, it was a damn good life but once in a while, he really got tired of the screaming people yelling 'Inuyasha can I have your autograph?' or 'Inuyasha I love you!' and even the occasional, 'Inuyasha can I bear your children?'. Miroku loved the screaming women, and Inuyasha defiantly got his kick out of flashing a smile and watching people fall over. For once, he kind of wanted to blend it. Oh well. He guessed he could count himself lucky; his father was this huge scary ass dog demon so no paparazzi bothered his house. That was something to be thankful for. Before he knew it, the building of Fireside high loomed above him.
The place was incredible. The shape reminded him much of a theater with it's tall pillars, that had a red design dancing across the middle, in the front with large glass windows stretching from the ceiling to the floor behind them. There was a large space of red brick in between the pillars and the glass windows, and he suspected wooden beams lay between the glass windows behind the pillars. Students were everywhere, and through the large glass he could see that there was an upstairs, too, with a spiral staircase in the middle of the school, as he could see from the window, leading up to the second floor where classroom after classroom adorned the walls. The building led to a long wide hallway off to his right, and at the other end it was much shorter. He could see straight though the school and saw the glass doors leading to the back where there was a large bowl shaped stadium with no doubt a track inside.
He scanned the outside looking for his friends. On first glance, he couldn't see them. But by using his nose, he picked up on Miroku's scent and saw as it led to a tree where three boys waited, their noses in books and magazines. On the first glace, it would look like the normal goth squad, but thanks to his enhanced senses, not only was it not a goth squad but the Hardcore Dogs. He walked over inconspicuously. Miroku was leaning against tree, his nose in a book that no doubt had a Playboy magazine inside. He adorned average jeans and a dark purple button up shirt with the top buttons open and a black t-shirt under it. He had on a black cap with sunglasses, and surprisingly, his golden earrings had been taken out. The second one he spotted, which by smell had to be Kouga, was sitting on the lowest branch, one leg hung over the side, his nose in a dirt bike magazine. He had on tight faded jeans with the legs tucked inside knee-high combat boots and a black trench coat on that concealed his shirt. His black cap was turned around and his brown bangs shot out of the opening. His hair had been tied in a low ponytail that was tucked into the trench coat and he had black sunglasses on concealing his eyes. Shippo sat close by on a picnic table, facing the wrong way out and leaning against it. His bright orange hair was carefully hidden behind a black cowboy hat with a feather on it. He had black TRIPP pants with a silver outline and a red shirt with a black hoodie zip-up over it that was only zipped half way. He had dark glasses on that concealed his emerald eyes and most of his face. He had his nose in a sci-fi book. "Yee-haw," Inuyasha muttered as he leaned beside Miroku on the tree. Miroku pulled out a pair of dark glasses and handed them to him.
"Forgot the glasses this morning?" He asked quietly. Inuyasha nodded thanks and shoved them on his face, thankful for the coverage. He pulled on the black zip up and pulled the hood over his beanie, plunging his features more into the dark. He was careful to keep his head down and opened his phone, pretending to be doing something important while searching continually for his big brother. Almost immediately, Sesshomaru came waltzing through the parking lot. He almost couldn't tell because of the black trench coat he wore with the collar turned up and a black hat on. He saw him pause to study the school and then turned and saw them. He came over silently and stepped up on the bench Shippo was sitting on and sat on the table, pulling out that 500 page novel his mother had been talking about. Shippo tossed a look at Kouga, who'd returned it and tossed a pair of black glasses to Sesshomaru, who caught it out of the air and nodded, then shoved them on in haste.
"Do we have to think of everything for you two?" Shippo asked quietly, going back to his book. Both brothers grumbled and went back to looking inconspicuous.
A shadow loomed over Miroku as a raspy, feminine, obviously pissed voice said, "You guys must be new here because everyone around here knows this our tree,"
"And our bench…" Another girl grumbled. Recognition struck through all five boys as Miroku worked to conceal a smile. He reached up and tipped down his sunglasses, revealing his glittering violet eyes to Sango.
"My dear, is that how you treat all new students? If so, I'm afraid your manners need terrible work." He said calmly, his eyes drifting over her plain worn jeans and black shirt. "You're looking lovely like always, Sango my dear." He said seductively and winked at her. All four girls' eyes went wide and their faces paled as they looked at them. Each boy, one by one, lifted down their glasses to reveal themselves. Sango's mouth hung open as her face got red.
"Miro--" She yelled and Miroku's hand snaked out and clasped itself over her mouth.
"Sango, please, as much as I love hearing you scream my name, I'm afraid now is not the time." He said quietly and glanced around, making sure no one noticed. Sango blushed.
"We're trying to blend in. If you didn't recognize us, seems to me we're doing a damn good job." Inuyasha rasped, looking up from his phone.
"Oh my God," Kagura whispered, "what the hell are you guys doing here?" She asked, glancing up at Sesshomaru, who had returned to his book.
"The twins' old man transferred us all two days ago from Fireside to here. We'd decided it would be funny to see your reaction when you found out we invaded your school." Kouga informed her in Sesshomaru's absence. He didn't move a muscle, but his deep baritone vibrated throughout them. Sango sighed and lifted Miroku's hand from her mouth. She glared at Inuyasha.
"Did you have something to do with this?" She growled softly, getting the inconspicuous thing and following suit. Inuyasha raised his hands in a submissive gesture, shaking his head.
"Oh no; don't even try to blame this on me. My brother and I had nothing to do with it. If you wanna pick a fight with someone," He looked around, "try my mom or dad because it was their idea." He whispered gruffly.
"He thought it would help 'speed up her recovery'." Sesshomaru said, not even looking up at the girls.
"So what are you going to do when the principle announces you're here? I mean, two bands in one school is quite an accomplishment don't you think?" Ayame said, jumping up into the tree beside Kouga, her legs dangling down.
"Simple," Sesshomaru then closed his book and looked up at them. Even through the dark glasses, each girl could feel the glittering golden gaze on them. "The bell will ring and we'll march into the office. We'll explain that we want to keep our presence to a minimum and we'll ask for him to phone all our teachers and explain. Then, we'll give them false names until we're ready to reveal ourselves." He said coolly, adjusting his hat and tucking his book back in his backpack.
"Ok and what will you're false names be?" Rin asked quietly, sitting in the grass under the tree. She pulled out a deck of cards as Sango sat in front of her and Rin dealt the cards. Shippo shot a look to Sesshomaru.
"Yea, what will our false names be?"
"And why are we just hearing about this?" Miroku asked. Sesshomaru shrugged.
"I had an epiphany this morning." Sesshomaru answered and Shippo rubbed his forehead.
"My name will be Kyle…" Inuyasha trailed off, looking around for something to use as a last name. He spotted a bright red Mustang pull into the parking lot. He smirked. "My name will be Kyle Mustang."
"And that means my last name must also be Mustang. Brilliant choice of last name, little brother," Sesshomaru mumbled, slightly exasperated. "I suppose my name will be Phillip Mustang." Everyone had the impression of him rolling his eyes. Shippo sighed.
"My name's Simon Walters."
"Simon, Shippo? I always hated the name 'Simon'. Change it." Rin said as she got a stack of Sango's cards.
"Fine," he looked around and spotted someone with a Tommy Hilfinger shirt on. "Tommy," he said suddenly grinning. "I'm Tommy Walters. How do you like that Rin?" she nodded her approval as he smiled.
"I'm Chad Wolf." Kouga said gruffly. He didn't much like the idea of changing his name, but he's always been told he'd look like a 'Chad', so he figured now would be the time to try it out. Ayame scoffed.
"Wolf? Might as well write, 'Hey I'm Kouga from Hardcore Dogs' on your forehead, stupid; it's totally obvious." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. Kouga scooted the glasses down and glared at her.
"Keep talking like that and see where it gets you." He growled. Miroku sighed and had the urge to beat Kouga with a stick, or possibly spray him with water to get him to behave. Of course, that wouldn't get him much except Kouga ticked at him and getting his head ripped off. Possibly he should keep that thought to himself.
"No need to get hostile Kouga, just pick another last name and make the lady happy." He said calmly, adjusting his glasses.
"Fine," He agreed gruffly, "I'll be Chad…"He stumbled with some words as genius finally struck him, "I'll be Chad Kingman." Ayame stared dumbfounded at him.
"You conceited son of a bitch. Kingman?" She rolled her eyes. He almost threw down the magazine and whispered fiercely, "Well you didn't like Wolf so I chose Kingman! Take it or leave it!" He growled. She shrugged.
"Whatever, you're the idiot, not me." She said nonchalantly and went to examining her claws. Sango looked up at Miroku.
"So, Mr. Big-shot, what will you're undercover name be?" Miroku turned his gaze skyward and thought on it for a moment.
"My name will be River…The River Sango." He smiled at her. She held up her hand.
"Don't even go there. Pick another last name, now." She grumbled out.
"Fine, fine. If I must, then my name shall be River Marshal." He said. Kagura nodded.
"Nice name Miroku. I think 'River' fits you." She nodded toward him and took an overall look at the boys. "So we have Kyle and Phil Mustang, Tommy Walters, Chad Kingman, and River Marshal. Brilliant. Well girls, I think we ought to be going and leave these men to their scheming. We wouldn't want to add attention to them just yet. Plus, the bells going to ring soon," She turned around and headed toward the building. "Sango, if your late again Mrs. Aberdeen will tear you a brand new ass." She said as she walked off. Sango had to the look of complete and utter fear and terror cross her face as she picked up her bag and dashed after Kagura with speed that would have made a cheetah jealous.
"Kagura! Wait up! Don't let me go there all alone!" She yelled. Inuyasha looked at Miroku and patted his shoulder.
"Wow, man, you certainly know how to pick your women." He said lightly and stifled a laugh. Apparently so did the rest of the group with the grunts that were heard.
"So it seems, so it seems…" Miroku trailed off and shook his head. Rin giggled a bit and stood up, returning the cards to her bag as she turned around.
"See you guys around and welcome to Fireside High." She said and turned to look at Ayame. "Hurry up Ayame. Mr. Barnette's gonna tear your ass apart if you don't pass that test today. Get to!" She giggled and walked off. Ayame sighed and hopped off the branch shouldering her backpack. She stretched and started walking then she turned around and grinned at them.
"Good luck with your negotiations with the principle. Principle Barkley can be a real hard ass sometimes. Later." She said and ran off just as the bell rung. If one listened closely, they could hear her curse that her class was on the other side of the building. Oh well, she was a demon. She could handle it. Kouga jumped off the branch and landed in a crouch and straightened up to put his magazine in his backpack. He shouldered it and waited for his friends. Shippo and Sesshomaru, or Tommy and Phillip, slowly peeled themselves from the bench and Shippo tucked his book into his backpack and put it on. Inuyasha shoved his phone in his pants pocket and stretched his neck as him and Miroku shouldered their packs and they, as a group walked toward the principles office. Quite a fine plan Sesshomaru had, Inuyasha had to admit. He supposed he could stand being called 'Kyle' for a while.
Negotiations over with, they all sat on a bench outside the principles office, trying to look as bored and inconspicuous as possible, waiting for the student who was supposed to escort them around. It had gone well, considering the hardcore debating Sesshomaru had to do with Barkley to agree to their terms. But, Sesshomaru being the first son of a successful businessman had it all under control. He finally got the principle to delay the announcement of the arrival of the band and to call all their teachers to change their name on the rosters from their real names to their undercover names. Ayame was right, Barkley was defiantly a hard ass and as a group they made a silent treaty to stay out of as much trouble as possible. One bad thing from either of them, and the principle was bound to reveal them.
They sat back as a shadow loomed over Sesshomaru, who sat right in the middle, his nose in a book. He looked up as a panther demon girl was in front of them, her shoulder length deep black hair back in pigtails at the back of her head. Her dark large sunglasses sat on the top of her head and her bright emerald eyes shone with laughter. She had on a simple red tank top with black jeans and red converse. She smiled and held out a hand to introduce herself. "Hello, my name Becka Panthera and I'll be your guide for today." She said softly. Sesshomaru spared a glance to the other boys as to say 'Action'.
"Hello, Becka. My name is Phillip Mustang," He shook her head and gestured to Inuyasha who sat right next to him. She seemed to gaze into the glasses. Sesshomaru was always the silent-and-mysterious-heartthrob. "This is my brother Kyle Mustang," Inuyasha smiled.
"Hey." He said deeply, his fangs sparkling. She looked like she was about to faint. Inuyasha was heartthrob number one. Sesshomaru pointed to Kouga.
"This is K—Chad…" He trailed off and cursed himself. He forgot his last name. Lucky for him, Kouga filled him in.
"Kingman." Kouga said as his voice seemed to affect her more than Inuyasha's. He took advantage of this by smiling. "Hello Becka." He said intimately, and she took a deep breath, feeling shaken. Kouga obviously loved the affect his deep voice had on the female population; it damn near undid all of them. Kouga, was of course, heartthrob number two, but was a very, very close second. Sesshomaru nodded this thanks and pointed to Shippo on the other side of him.
"This is Tommy Walters." He said as Shippo smiled brightly. Everyone could tell she was about to swoon over how cute Shippo was. He was the cute factor in their little group.
"And next to Tommy is River Marshal." He said. Miroku nodded toward her and took her hand in his and kissed it.
"Is River your real name?" She asked, flushed. Miroku nodded.
"Indeed it is. My parents had a certain…fondness…for rivers." He said as he wiggled his eyebrows at 'fondness'. Her breath caught in her lungs as the group had to stifle laughter. "Becka, my dear, you're absolutely beautiful. Would you ever considering…" Before he could finish, Shippo popped him in the back of the head. They all sighed. Miroku, of course, was the pervert in the group. They seemed to all balance out and Becka shook all their hands and they all stood up.
"Hey…Wait, why is everyone wearing glasses and hats?" she asked, finally noticing the strange trend in the group. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha had their hair to worry about, of course, and Inuyasha wouldn't dare show his ears. The group exchanged looks.
"All of his have this strange, rare eye disease where we have to either where special contacts or glasses when we go out because their extra, ultra sensitive to light." Miroku said calmly. "We seemed to all choose the sunglasses this morning." He nodded to put emphasis on his point. She nodded in understanding.
"What about the hats?" She asked. Sesshomaru opened his mouth to give an over complicated reason like they all knew him to do, but Inuyasha cut in.
"We all really like hats and if the sunglasses slip they help shield the sun or light till we get our glasses back on." He answered coolly and walked past her as she turned around, watching him. He put his hand on the small of her back and took her hand. "So," he growled seductively, "are you going to show us around or not?" She had the grace to flush.
"Yea, yes, of course. Come on." She squeaked and started down the hall, the group grinning to themselves and following her. This might actually be fun after all.
First period and her mind was in scrambles. She damn near threw her pencil down and put her hands to her temples, trying to calm down the raging headache that threatened to consume her. How was she supposed to last the rest of the day when she could even properly decipher a 'b' from a'd'? And if she couldn't do that, how could she possibly even decipher Edgar Allen Poe from Dr.-fucking-Seuss? She growled and put her head on her desk as she felt Kagura's hand rubbing circles on her back. The soothing circles suddenly stopped as she felt Mrs. Aberdeen hovering above her.
"Ms. Sango. Is there a problem here young lady? Do you possibly have an excuse to miss my class yet again? I understand young Kagome is in the hospital but that doesn't mean you get to doze off in my class." Her high pitched whiny voice lectured, making Sango want to strangle her even more than when she first met the damn woman. She looked up and plastered a smile on her face. She felt her blood boil as she mentioned Kagome. Damn the woman, damn her to fucking hell!
"Mrs. Aberdeen, there isn't anything wrong here." She smiled wider, but her eyes held death. "My feeble sixteen year old brain just can't handle your excellent instruction, that's all." She said her voice light and carefree. But if looks could kill, well, she
wouldn't be having this conversation. The old hag would be dead and buried, ten times over. Mrs. Aberdeen shook her head, and looked appalled.
"Sango! Are you using sarcasm on me?" She asked. Sango had the urge to say 'damn right' and walk out, but didn't, instead mustering the strength to look surprised.
"Course not!" She exclaimed and received a dirty look as she walked back to the front of the class. Sango glared bloody murder at her back and put her head down again. Damn Miroku. Damn him to hell! If he hadn't shown up at her school, looking so damn sexy and leaning up against her tree, she wouldn't be this worked up right now! Was it even legal for a man to look that good? She didn't think so. And when he said, "Sango my dear," and "The River Sango," she damn near came apart and turned to mush in front of him. Another thing that really shook her confidence was that voice of his. Damn that…the door opened and the devil him-fucking-self waltzed in the room looking just as sexy as always. Behind him, Inuyasha strolled in and all the girls turned to stare and gawk at them.
"Class," Mrs. Aberdeen started, walking over and place a plump hand on Miroku's shoulder. She had the urge to growl. "We have new students our class transferring from Oceans High. Please meet," She looked at the boys for their names.
"Kyle Mustang," Inuyasha rasped crossing his arms over his chest and nodding. You couldn't even see his face and girls started to go crazy just by the rasp of his voice.
"River Marshal." Miroku said, looking at Sango. She felt herself start to swoon and caught herself, returning his stare. The teacher's eyes widened as she realized the cover names and she smiled to the class.
"Ah, yes, Kyle and River. Please do not ask them about the glasses because they both have rare eye conditions that limit the light. Please be kind and courteous to your new classmates. You may take a seat…" She trailed off, searching for some seats. Kagura raised her hand.
"Mrs. Aberdeen," She crooned sweetly, "We have three open seats behind us." She gestured to the seats. Mrs. Aberdeen nodded.
"Of course. Kyle, River, you must know Sango and Kagura from…that band."
"The Darkest Hour," Miroku whispered, scooting down his glasses to wink at Sango, "Yes, we know them. They are, after all, the hottest girl band in the history of girl bands." He and Inuyasha made their way over to the seats at sat down, Miroku behind Sango and Inuyasha behind an empty seat behind Kagura.
"Welcome to Fireside High, boys." The teacher said and resumed her lesson. Great, just great; as if she wasn't feeling enough pressure with Miroku in the same building, now he's sitting behind her! God, she swore she was going to have a breakdown. As if seeing the tension in her shoulders and sensing her turmoil, Miroku put his large hands on her shoulders and gently massaged them. She immediately melted into his touch and leaned back in her seat.
"Sango, babe," He purred in her ear, "you have to relax," Sango almost froze. She knew he was going to mention something about him and her. He always does it. She closed her eyes, ready for the blow to her ego, "it's only English." He laughed softly as she rolled her eyes, a smile coming to her lips. That ass, she thought gratefully as he continued massaging her shoulders.
Little did they know Inuyasha sat reclined in a seat behind them, watching the scene unfold. He shook his head. A match made in heaven.
Ayame sat in class, hearing Mr. Barnett's voice drone on and on. Her head lolled back and Rin poked her skull with her pencil, and her head shot up. Damn it, the boys' arrival must be really getting to her. She stared down at the test in front of her; trigonometry. Damn it. However, the longer she stared, the face of the handsome wolf demon appeared in her head, the same way he did when he was up in her tree this morning…on her branch. He just looked so sexy just sitting up there like that. She'd been a lot of places and seen quite of bit of guys and Kouga was, by far, the finest specimen of a man she'd ever seen. She was actually quite grateful that he would have glasses on today. She honestly couldn't handle those ice blue eyes boring into her all day. But curiously, she liked it. Of course, Kouga would never and will never know of her secret feelings of him. But the only feeling he would know would be, and she made sure, that he knew she enjoyed every time she beat him at something. He was so adorable when he was angry.
"Begin." Mr. Barnett said as she was sucked violently back into the real world. Back to the stupid-ass trig test in front of her. She took a deep breath, picked up her pencil and tapped into the Rin in her. With that, she began the test.
Rin, on the other hand, was done with the three page test within a matter of minutes. She sat back, and straightened out the chains on her jeans and crossed her arms over her plaid corset. She sat, studying the class while they were taking their test as her thoughts shortly drifted to the newcomers at their school, but to one in particular. Whenever she thought about Shippo, she wanted to laugh, and now, she let herself smile. He was amazing. And absolutely adorable, who cares if he's a high school boy, he's absolutely adorable!
She realized that everyone had a romantic connection with someone in the opposing group. Kagome and Inuyasha, Rin could tell, were going to be inseparable. She had the urge to giggle thinking about how they probably had to throw Inuyasha out of Kagome's hospital bed. Sango and Miroku were damn near made for each other, although if Miroku didn't clean up his perverted ways soon, Sango was going to snap and it wasn't going to be pretty. Sango would end up with a broken heart, and Miroku would land himself square in a hospital bed because four very angry girls had him on the top of their shit lists. If Miroku was as smart as she gave him credit for, he would clean up, fast.
Kouga and Ayame damn near spoke for themselves. Kouga didn't like getting beaten by Ayame and she loved nothing more than watching him squirm. However, counting her current behavior, she was crazy about the man. Rin had to admit, all the boys of the Hardcore Dogs were particularly fine. But Kouga's voice was probably Ayame's downfall. Rin saw the way Ayame melted when he spoke her name. Priceless! Hm, Kagura and Sesshomaru were a pretty interesting. Not as dynamic as Miroku and Sango, but not horribly complicated like Ayame and Kouga. They were more of a subtle couple, Sesshomaru not being a real…go getter, for lack of a better word. She supposed he sat and make his move when the time was right, unlike his rash younger brother, going after what he wanted and expecting to get it, now. She supposed Sesshomaru's way of dating was like a game of chess: plan, plan, and plan then attack. He was certainly an interesting one.
But, Shippo and she weren't really a couple. They were like a long lost set of twins. They were close but not romantic close and she accepted that. Even though he was adorable, she didn't expect a relationship because everyone else had one. She glanced across the room at the hazel haired beauty that sat in front of the class. He had cool emo glasses that shielded glowing teal eyes. He was human, and the only boy in school to not fawn over her and her friends. His hazel hair was long, falling in silky threads along his shoulders and wore white shirt underneath an open light blue collared shirt and jeans. He never said a word to her, but she always found time to fawn over him when he was in the vicinity. Sean Marques, the sexiest, country listening, genius in the whole damn school and he wouldn't even talk to her! What the hell was the point of being famous when the boy of her dreams didn't so much as glance at her! Damn it! At this time he had finished shortly after her and was gracefully reading a Steven King book. The class had already finished and the door had opened, Shippo and Kouga walking in. Rin, like everyone else, turned to look and saw, with a grin, all blood drain from Ayame's face.
"Class," Mr. Barnett said softly, walking over to the two boys, "We have two new students today." Shippo raised his hand.
"My name's Tommy Walters." He said softly and Rin finger waved a bit at him and he smiled and returned it. Kouga's deep baritone soon filtered out Shippo's light voice.
"Chad Kingman." He said, obviously enjoying the girls swooning over his deep voice. He spotted Ayame and scooted his glasses down and winked at her as Shippo elbowed him.
"Ah, Tommy and Chad, welcome to Fireside High and please take a seat next to Ayame and Rin and the back there." He said and waved to the general area. Kouga grinned and Shippo gasped.
"Oh wow. Do you mean Ayame from Darkest Hour?" He asked and the teacher nodded. "Well, well," He said smoothly, strolling over and sitting beside Ayame, "must be my lucky day. She is so hot." He said and smirked her. Several wolf calls hollered out, in agreement and Ayame's blood came back in a rush and she turned away.
"Class, simmer down! Be quiet! Class isn't over yet!" Mr. Barnett yelled over the hooting boys.
Shippo took a seat next to Rin and extended a hand. "Hi Rin, I'm a huge fan. My name's Tommy!" He said cutely and she could see his emerald eyes glittering with laughter. She giggled and shook his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Tommy. Glad you like our music." She said, smiling widely. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sean eyeing them and looked away. Immediately she sobered.
"Rin, what's wrong?" Shippo asked concerned. Rin shook her head and looked after Sean.
"See the guy right there?" she pointed to him. "Brown hair, glasses? Steven King book? His name's Sean Marques and I've had a crush on the kid ever since last year and he's never once talked to me. I'm running out of options." She sighed, exasperated and put her head down. Shippo rubbed her back and when she came back up to look at him, he grinned. "What's so fucking funny?" She whispered fiercely, her cheeks warming. "Do I amuse you?"
"No, no. I just think I can help you out with you're Sean problem." He grinned wider. Rin stared wide eyed for a moment.
"You can? How? Why would you do that?" She almost bolted out of her seat. Shippo can get her a chance with Sean? Finally, her luck has arrived!
"Yea, since I'm not a rock star, I'll just talk to him for you. Because Rin, you're a friend and if you want something that I can get you, I'll do it." He smiled and wrapped an arm around her. She stared for a minute and hugged him.
"Thank you Shippo!" She said and let go of him as he did and nodded. Rin glanced over to see Ayame's progress and wasn't surprised to see her hot faced and arguing with Kouga over some no doubt stupid shit. She nudged Shippo and pointed toward them.
"A match made in heaven." She whispered and Kouga and Ayame both turned to them and glared as Shippo laughed and Rin held her hands up in a submissive gesture. "I call em as I see em." She nodded and giggled with Shippo while feeling the dirty looks they were receiving.
Damn, it had been a long day and he damn sure had his share of couple drama. He'd defiantly seen more than enough of that from Miroku and Sango, and from Kouga and Ayame. Most of the time while they were all together, those four were squabbling amongst themselves and Shippo and Rin were off scheming, he could tell, and his brother and Kagura were off having their own intellectual conversation. All this couple stuff really made him miss his spunky counterpart.
Maybe it was the fact that he had to introduce himself to the countless girls he met as 'Kyle' and had almost forgotten his own name and almost blew his cover more times than he could count. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru had decided that when they got home, they were going to dye their hair some color to keep themselves hidden, possibly get some colored contacts, too. Their silver hair and golden eyes would give them away in a minute. Maybe it was all the days' activity's that made him miss her. He certainly wasn't that romantic type and the fact that he was turning so now made him slightly question his sanity. He wasn't sure what compelled him to write that poem, but he didn't dare examine it too closely. He remembered that tonight he was supposed to bring his dad in to see her father. His head hurt. Way too much crap for one day for one guy who just wanted to see his girlfriend…wait, not girlfriend, his sexy friend, in the hospital.
Sango said her and the crew would stop by right after school, to give flowers and chat. They all decided to keep the element of surprise and not tell her that they all went to one big chaotic school now. They would save that for later. Sango and the girls liked the concert idea, and they said they would start working on songs next time they got together. When they saw Kagome today they would tell her too. After a long walk home, Inuyasha promising to take Shiori to school the next day, and picking up Shiori, Inuyasha collapsed on the couch when he got home.
"How was school, guys?" His dad asked. Inuyasha groaned in response.
"It was fine." Sesshomaru said, walking up stairs. Their dad smiled as Shiori bounded over to him and sat down next to him.
"Hi Daddy!" She yelled, giving him a hug. He kissed the top of her head.
"Hi Sweetie, how was school?" he asked
"It was so cool! At lunch, Souta and I…" Inuyasha didn't bother to listen. He was too damn tired.
"I always wonder why your brother's never talk to me about their day." he mused to his daughter.
"Because Yasha's a grump and Fluffy's too quiet to talk." Shiori said, nodding.
"You want to know how today went? It was dramatic; damn dramatic, dad." Inuyasha said and flung himself off the couch and up the stairs.
"Told you Yasha was grumpy." He heard Shiori say as he had the urge to stop and beat his head into the wall.
"No, Shiori, he's not grumpy. He's lonely. Leave him alone, he'll get better." He heard his dad whisper and he growled.
"I can hear you!" He yelled and marched loudly up to his room. "And I am not lonely!" He yelled. Shiori shook her head at her father.
"What's got his undies in a bunch?" She asked, glancing up at the stairs. Her father patted her shoulder.
"Hormones," He answered, shaking her head. "trust me dear, hormones are not one to be messed with."
Today had proven more hospitable than the last. Yesterday all she had to worry about was getting well. Today, today they expected her to actually work. Damn it, she was too tired to work. Work on her spirit balls, work on getting out of bed, work on anything but sleeping! She was too tired; yet, these damn people didn't understand that. Ms. Waters had come in that morning to give her spiritual boot camp for a while that morning, sending both girls into a world of pain for three hours until she left them for a little while of sleep. They were rudely awakened by other specialists, and doctors giving them food and water and checking all the machines they were hooked up too. While in their down time, they sat and chatted with their father, who was there when they awakened that morning. Somehow, a couple crazy paparazzi had managed to get in there but were thankfully quickly tossed out of the room, literally, by their father.
They got a nice surprise as everyone, Kikyo and Kagome's friends, came by. Well, every one of Kagome's friends except Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, which she thought strange. She didn't dwell on it and let herself be consumed by her friends' concern and laughter and love. They had stayed for a while, and were introduced to her mysterious father, and just left before she ate dinner. Now that they were gone, she found it strange that she hadn't seen any hint of Inuyasha at all. She began to worry, and tried to tell herself that if he didn't visit, that didn't mean anything was wrong. It wasn't like they were attached at the hip or anything. He didn't have to come. But she couldn't help but wonder what happened to him. She didn't have to wonder long though, because three tall silver-haired men strolled into the room, taking their places in front of her bed. She recognized the first as Inuyasha immediately, then Sesshomaru, then it was they guy who had given them their record deals. Who was he again? Oh that's right, he was—
"Kagome, I'm sure you remember my dad from battle of the bands." Ah, that's right. His dad. It was quite amazing. All three of them looked like triplets. Hard to believe one was their father. He had his back to the door.
"Hello again Kagome," He said softly, smiling. His voice was low, but reminded Kagome of a clear stream of water running over smooth rocks embedded in the earth. It was strangely comforting. It had the rasp of Inuyasha's voice, but the coolness of Sesshomaru's. Amazing. "How are you feeling?" He asked. She nodded, not able to find her voice. He smiled and looked around. "I heard your father was back, where is he?"
"That depends on whose looking for him." A male voice asked from the door. Kagome looked and saw her father staring closely at Inuyasha's father. "You wouldn't happen to be InuTashio, would you?" He asked, taking a step in. InuTashio stiffened and turned, looking at the door. For a minute, it seemed like the world had stopped and tension levels in the room skyrocketed. Even Evan and Kikyo had stopped talking. InuTashio walked over to the door and stood in striking distance in front of Logan. It was like having two large wild cats pacing each other, ready to rip each other's throats out at any given moment. A shiver ran up her spine.
"I would. You wouldn't happen to be Logan, would you?" He asked coolly, staring blankly at the other man.
"I would. So you're the big bad son of a bitch everyone's afraid of. You don't look too big or bad to me." Logan said, still keeping eye contact with InuTashio. Kagome looked at Inuyasha to find him staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at Logan. It defiantly didn't look like someone spoke to his father like that too often. Even Sesshomaru, Mr. Ice King, had a shocked, and if she wasn't mistaken, amused look on his face.
"And you're the cold smartass assassin that has everyone running for their life. You barely look like a girl scout let alone an assassin." InuTashio replied coolly. What the hell! Her father was an assassin?! That's what he's been doing all this time? And did he just say her dad, in all his dark mysterious glory, looked like a girl scout? Was she loosing her mind? After a few minutes of deafening silence, the stone faced men broke out in smiles and laughter. They clasped hands then gave each other brief hugs. InuTashio held Logan by his shoulders and looked at him. "God damn, buddy! Where the hell have you been? It was like you just got wiped off the face of the fucking planet! People were staying you got abducted by aliens and shit!" He yelled, laughing.
"Ah, InuTashio, it certainly has been a long time." Calm, as usual, though the joy in his eyes was almost frightening. "Knowing the people we worked with, they would say something like that. Always believing aliens abducted someone when they took a lunch break." He smiled, but his eyes sobered a bit. "I've been with the SDO."
"The SDO? You're still with them? I thought you retired years ago."
"Believe me, I would've liked to." Logan noticed Inuyasha and Sesshomaru and the back and took off his glasses, staring at the boys. "InuTashio, are those boys yours? Those can't be those pups that used to crawl all over each other, are they? And don't tell me that Inuyasha is the same one who threw macaroni in my hair, is it? And that tall, silent thing over there isn't the shy little boy who cowered behind his father's legs every time I showed up, is it? "
"Yep, those are them." He laughed. "I can't believe you remember them."
"Of course I remember them! It's hard to think they grew up so much. They look just like you, InuTashio. Damn you and you're not ageing, you three look like triplets. Somehow I knew you would end up like that." He smiled. Sesshomaru laughed, and Inuyasha started at his brother not believing his ears.
"Sesshomaru, are you laughing?" He asked, poking his brother.
"Scary Assassin Man!" Sesshomaru laughed and walked over to Logan. "I remember you now! You were the scary assassin man!" Logan raised an eyebrow and chuckled deeply.
"The…'Scary Assassin Man'? So is that why you starting crying every time I smiled?" He asked, chuckling. Sesshomaru blushed, and Kagome's and Inuyasha's jaws almost dropped out of their heads. Was Sesshomaru actually blushing? What are all these emotions coming out of the Ice King? Good God, it must be the apocalypse!
"Yea, I remember that. Little Sesshomaru was a little cry baby." InuTashio smiled affectionately at his son, nudging him.
"Sesshomaru, a cry baby? I can't believe it." Kagome said, shaking her head.
"Sesshomaru's code name is…"
"Mr. Ice King." Inuyasha helped her supply.
"Really?" Her father looked interested. "He was full of emotion when I knew him. He was always falling over stuff, and crying to his father, and running into still standing objects. I always used to watch him and laugh. T and I used to say he was more entertaining than pro wrestling." He chuckled again.
"T?" Sesshomaru asked, "Do you mean dad?" Logan nodded.
"Yes. We used to call him T instead of InuTashio because when you're on a mission, it's easier to say 'T' through a walkie-talkie; short and quick." He said. InuTashio sobered suddenly and turned the full force of his silver gaze onto his friend.
"Logan, we've been best friends for a long, long time." He said. Logan sighed, seemingly sensing what was coming up.
"Yes, T, longer than two people should know each other." He answered calmly.
"Eleven years is a long time to disappear off the face of the planet, Logan, and it's cruel to leave your family in friends with no way to reach you. Not paying me my five bucks is even crueler." He said with a straight face. Kikyo sighed.
"Way to ruin it." She said, rolling her eyes. Logan rolled his eyes, mimicking his daughter. He gave his friend a dead pan look.
"You can't still remember that." He said calmly, rubbing his head. By this time, Inuyasha had taken a seat on the side of Kagome's bed, taking her small hand in his much larger one, threading his fingers through hers with one hand, while rubbing the top of hers with the other.
"What happened?" He asked, distracted. Logan sighed.
"He bet me five bucks that I couldn't get the hottest girl in the bar that night, and I did." InuTashio said, smiling proudly. Sesshomaru ran an eyebrow.
"Who was she?" He asked quietly and his father turned to Inuyasha, who was watching intently.
"Your mother." He said with a straight face as Inuyasha turned his horrified gaze at Logan. Kagome giggled.
"You asked my mother out?" He asked and Logan shrugged.
"She said no. So she ended up as you're mother instead of Kagome's." He said, noting their linked hands. He was about to say something, Inuyasha could tell, but his father's voice cut in.
"Anyway, Logan," He gave his friend a pointed look, "Eleven years is a long time to be gone; to disappear just like that," He snapped, "What happened, Logan?" The said man sighed, and turned the chair that rested in between his daughters' beds around and straddled it. InuTashio sat in a chair across from him while Sesshomaru sat on the edge of Kikyo's bed. After a small silence, he began.
"I didn't want to leave, but duty called, and as much as I begged, it couldn't have been refused or handed off to anyone else. As you know, I'm an assassin for the SDO, I was working in South America, Middle East, Africa, and places similar to those. It was the day Souta was released from the hospital; I hadn't spent one moment with him alone yet when I went in to tell Captain that I was taking a few days off because my son was born. Unfortunately, something had come up. I will never forget those words. He said, 'Logan, you were called to Duty last night, that boy of yours will have to wait.'
"I hated him. In that moment I hated him, and everything that came out of his mouth. I hated the SDO, I hated life, I suddenly hated myself, that I had let myself be caught it that position. It was like I was suddenly possessed. I never have felt such intense hate for anyone or anything before. If there weren't witnesses, I still swear to this day that I would have ripped his head from his very shoulders and not have a second thought about it." He lost his fierce cool for a second. His eyes flashed with sudden anger, his clenched hands were shaking with controlled anger, his knuckles white. "Captain and I had become fairly good friends over the years, but all that suddenly meant nothing to me. It was the way he said it that got me going. Like he didn't care about my son was just born and I wouldn't have a minute with him. To him, it sounded like I would drop all that and go for a mission willingly." He stared blankly out, caught in his memories.
"Dad…"She whispered. He took a deep breath and continued.
"He explained my mission and objective, my weapons and teammates, my place and identity and went through the whole thing. I wasn't listening. I vividly remember having visions of different ways I could take him out right there and then. Aside from anger, I felt lost, and faintly scared at what Allie would say, or how the girls would act, or how everything would happen. I was scared for Souta. It was like a battle between my kids and the mission. Fuck the mission when my child is involved! No one seemed to understand that. What father honestly wants to leave his newborn for a mission?" He paused. It was a rhetorical question, but InuTashio felt compelled to answer. He gripped his friends shoulder and smiled sympathetically and Logan crossed his arms on the top of the chair that he sat in and put his head down, taking deep even breaths. Kagome was worried. She didn't really know her father, but he seemed pretty calm and collected. Right now, he was the solar opposite of that and he looked like he was barely holding on to sanity.
"Not a good one. I remember when Shiori was born. Everyone at the SDO went to hell when Shiori was born. I left a sticky note in Captains office saying I would be gone for three months. No one was getting in the way of me and my little girl." Logan looked up at that, questioning.
"Shiori? Who's Shiori? What little girl?" He sounded so lost; it almost broke Kagome's heart to hear it. Inuyasha answered him.
"Shiori's my little sister. Now that I think about it, she was born a little while after Souta. They're around the same age." He said quietly. His father took over.
"A few months after you left, I noticed a bump in Izoyai's stomach. We took her to the doctor and found out she was a month pregnant." He paused there, his eyes searching the floor, "When I found out, I almost passed out. They had to lay me down on the bed in the room there. It was difficult knowing my best friend wasn't there to share the good news." InuTashio's voice got softer and Logan looked up at his friend.
"How's she doing? Everything went alright, right?" He asked. InuTashio nodded.
"Oh believe me, Mr. Higurashi, she's alive and kicking. The little brat called me grumpy after school today." Inuyasha scowled and Logan chuckled.
"Looks like you and me turned out to be a lot a like from the beginning." He said.
"Daddy, finish the story. What happened next?" Kikyo asked, now sitting up in the bed. He nodded toward his daughter and took a deep breath, plunging back into his memory once again.
"I went home to try to explain to Allie what I had to do. The mission was, he said, a six month to a year long, but later when I thought about it, I shouldn't have been getting them. When someone had a family the SDO strictly cut them down to missions that will last a month at the latest. But, somehow I was stuck with that one but was too wound up and pissed off at the time to notice. It was almost as if she knew, because when I came home we stayed outside. As expected, she had a fit. She was yelling and screaming and crying… I felt so bad I wanted to shoot myself. I told her I had one day to spend with my family, and to pack and get ready to go. She spent about the next hour yelling and cursing at me for all I was worth, which at that time wasn't much.
"The next day I departed, and ironically it was raining. I told everyone I loved them, and left, no questions asked or answered. A year went by, yet I couldn't go home. 'You are a soldier first and foremost, a husband second, a father last.' He told me." A low growl echoed the room.
"What? He told you that? It's the other way around. Father, Husband, Soldier. Captain is loosing his fucking job tomorrow." InuTashio growled out, his golden eyes spitting fire.
"It was mission after undeniable mission that kept popping up that I, personally, had to do. Even my team went home but I couldn't. I had sometimes ten months down time but I couldn't be allowed to leave. A year came by, then another, and finally, eleven years came by and I open up the newspaper to see the headline 'Pop Stars Go At It!' and see two girls…battered and bruised and bloody. At first, I didn't believe it was them. But I knew it was.
"Immediately and I took it to the Captain, and I pleaded my case. Three hours I sat negotiating with that twit. Three hours where I could have used on a plane to my girls." His voice got softer, more menacing, "He said they were stupid and deserved whatever they got for doing this. They reap what they sow or some other bullshit. Before I knew what was happening I had my hands around his throat. I wanted to kill him, I wanted to kill him so bad but I dropped him, and I'll be damned if that wasn't the largest urge to kill I've ever had."
"Fuck loosing his job, I'm snipping his ass." InuTashio muttered again.
"After, I turned and walked out. I figured I didn't need his permission and I did what I deemed necessary. I went back to my room, packed my bags, and left. I left the newspaper article on bed, just so he would know that I went without his god damned permission. I expect Hojo to call the Captain and tell him where I am, but I honestly don't care anymore." He looked lovingly at his twins, "I let him take me away from them once, and I don't know what kind of father I'd be if I let them take me again."
"Daddy…" Kagome said, her voice breaking, tears quickly gathering in her eyes. "Daddy, I'm so sorry!" Logan smiled and rubbed his daughter's leg.
"Nothing to be sorry for baby," He said softly, "I did what I had to do and I'm not leaving again. We'll have plenty time to catch up."
"Logan, I still work for the SDO, I can get you a job and a rifle, and we can blow Captain's head off together if you want." InuTashio said. Sesshomaru cleared his throat.
"I'm sure everyone's wondering, but what the hell is the SDO?" He asked, looking at his father for the answer. Logan and InuTashio sighed simultaneously.
"The SDO is Specialized Demon Operations. It deals with all the missions Special Ops won't, and can't, handle. All the supernatural things that go bump in the night are the things we go after. Our missions mostly consist of the most secret and, most of the time, most dangerous missions." Logan answered quietly, and calmly, with a sigh at the end. It sounded as if he was getting really tired off his job.
"We're a branch of the military that no one knows about. Therefore, we don't get a lot of publicity for being the dare devils we are." InuTashio said and shrugged.
"Wait, Dad, why are you in the Specialized Demon Ops? You're a human, right? Or are Kagome and I part demon?" Kikyo asked, staring intently at her father. If they weren't mistaken, Logan had a faint blush on his cheeks. Because of this, InuTashio answered.
"Oh no, Logan's human alright. But he was just so damn good, he surpassed Special Ops. They feared that if he went rogue, he'd take out everyone in the god damned team. So, they gave him to us. He fights like a demon, he's the strongest priest on base anywhere, and a gun, a sword to, is like an extension of his hand. In all my years of living I've never seen anyone nearly as good as him, well, except myself of course." He chuckled then, "But seriously, girls, your dad is damn good. In truth, I'm not surprised you're both so strong. And when Souta comes of age, he'll be one for the history books, just like the rest of you." He nodded almost solemnly, thinking about it.
"Dad, you're an assassin?" Kagome asked. He nodded.
"Yes." He answered, almost shyly. InuTashio chuckled again.
"No. Not only is he an assassin, he's a computer tech, navigations officer, new recruit trainer, secretary, the best strategist I've ever seen, possibly the best the SDO has; pilot, and he reeks hell in an office. This guy gets a months work done in a 5-day week." He said, nudging Logan. Logan sighed.
"Yes. I do that, too." He said.
"Wow…" His twins said, gaping. It made sense, she thought, that her and her sister were so strong. Their dad was not only strong, but he was smart too. Learning this, she wondered how Souta would turn out in his quest to control his newfound powers. Him starting to go through puberty would prove interesting, also. Good thing their dad was there now. Maybe he wouldn't feel so alone. She was glad their family was complete now, that maybe his life would be a bit easier having someone to turn to. If they were lucky, Souta would turn out to be another Logan.
"Dad, what are you going to now that you're back? Once we recover are you going to go again? Leave?" Kikyo asked bitterly. Logan turned to Kikyo and smiled softly.
"No, not if I can't help it." He shook his head, looking down. "As a matter of fact, I'm not leaving again." He turned to InuTashio. "T, what do you do?" He asked. His friend shrugged.
"This and that. I have my own company now, but I still do a bit of work for the SDO sometimes. Since I'm immortal, they do call on me every now and again for missions, but it's like hit and run kind of thing. We go in, do our job and get out. At the most it's a week long. I'm sure I can get you into that program too." He said.
"Do you do office work?" His friend nodded.
"Yes, I did what you did in your off time; when you weren't in the field."
"You're not going to work with the SDO again, are you?" Kikyo asked, her voice on the edge of hysteria. Logan faltered in his answer. In all truth, he really did want to no matter how much they annoyed and infuriated him sometimes. How was he going to explain that he got his kick out of the thrill of the kill and the feel of being on the edge of death? How was he going to explain those primitive feelings to his pretty-in-pink daughter? He glanced at Kagome, who was staring at Kikyo with disbelief in her eyes. Kagome would understand. She was like him in that sense; she loved danger and was an adrenaline junkie. Kikyo on the other hand…she liked to start fights. She didn't actually want to engage, and that's why he was surprised when he heard about this. Kikyo didn't do fights, Kagome did. He still hadn't answered, thinking of a way to explain when Kagome spoke.
"Of course he is." She answered, looking at him. He froze, searching her eyes for a hint of condemnation, betrayal, hurt. He found nothing but acceptance, and was that pride?
"What?" Kikyo all but screeched. "How can he when they sent him away from us for all this time? Would he really leave us again when we need him the most?" She hissed the last sentence at her sister, glaring, then she looked at her dad, almost pleading him to say no. "You wouldn't, would you?" she sounded so hurt, so lost; he almost wanted to say he wouldn't just to take that look out of her eyes. He felt stuck between a rock and a hard place: between what he wants and loves and between what his daughter wants, and possibly needs. He held in a groan as he debated his answer. 'No, but…' or 'Yes, but…'
"Kikyo, he loves doing this. He loves his job! Could you really see him doing some ordinary job like being stuck in a cubical somewhere or working at Wal-Mart?" Kagome said, almost like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "He would never be happy doing that." She stole a glance at her dad, and then turned to her sister, "He would like coming home everyday to see us, but he would never be happy with his job. He likes danger, the adrenaline. There's no better place for him than the SDO. Now that he's found us, I don't think he'd be gone for too long." She said, smiling, then turned back to Logan. "Isn't that right, dad?" He was successfully shocked and stared at Kagome. She just took the words right out of his mouth. Kikyo might not like it, but his place and passion was at the SDO. He defiantly recognized pride in her voice
Kagome laughed quietly. She saw the expression on his face, and was pleased that she guessed it right. When she thought about Mr. Big-Bad-Assassin Man-Logan sitting up in a cubicle, the picture of Mr. Incredible working at the insurance place came to mind. It was hilarious, and it didn't even fit right. Her father sighed.
"It is true, Kikyo. As much as I can wish that I could work a civilian job, I can't." His deep voice was weighted down with guilt. "But I do promise you, that I will never be gone as long as I have. You have my word." He said sincerely looking at Kikyo. Tears shown her eyes, and he felt like hating himself. He never meant for her to cry! Evan was instantly there, comforting her. He felt like a horrible father! Maybe he should just give up and work, as Kagome put it, 'in a cubicle somewhere'.
As if reading his thoughts, Kagome shook her head and almost bolted from the bed to him, but was weighted down by her various injuries and came crashing back down to the bed with a cry. Inuyasha was instantly there, helping her back down to the pillows, and rubbing the muscles she jarred. Still, she tried to speak to him. "No, Dad…"she moaned in pain as Inuyasha touched a sore muscle on her arm. "You can't give up…what you love. Don't worry about her…she'll get over it. As long as you don't leave for a year… and come home every night… we'll be fine." She grunted out.
"Kagome," Logan said, smiling. "Please, for both our sakes, remember your injured, and don't ever try anything like that again. You're going to get both of us sent to the emergency room." He said, trying to force his heart into a normal rhythm. It felt like it was going to burst. He turned his attention back to his other daughter. "Kiky, are you alright?"
"Don't you love us dad?" She asked quietly. He was quite taken back by the question. He thought it was rather self explanatory that he did. What father who didn't love his children jump ship from an eleven year mission because they were hurt? He was thoroughly devoted to his children, no doubt.
"Of course I do." He answered softly.
"Then why would you leave us?" She asked.
"Kikyo, Captain's breathing his last breaths as we speak. No one's sending Logan anywhere he doesn't want to go. Now that he's back, I'm going to do all I can in my power to keep him near you. What kind of godfather would I be if I didn't?" he said. All four teens' eyes in the room almost popped out of their heads.
"Godfather?!" they all screamed, looking at disbelief at the two men. The two men looked confused at each other.
"You didn't tell them?" Logan asked, calm as usual.
"No! Did you?" InuTashio asked, his voice depicting the mood: hysterical.
"No…I thought Allie did." Logan said, and sighed.
"Wait, Inuyasha is my god-brother?" Kagome asked InuTashio. "And you're my godfather?" Her eyebrows were stretched toward her hairline and Inuyasha looked ready to die. Sesshomaru's look said 'why didn't anyone tell me' and Kikyo looked confused and angry. InuTashio nodded.
"That doesn't make any sense!" Kikyo cried. "If you are my godfather, shouldn't you have known we were here? Shouldn't we and the Tashio twins met before? Shouldn't we already be old friends?" She asked, staring at her father and godfather.
"Well, funny story…" InuTashio cleared his throat. "When you two were born, you were somewhere else, a town or two over I think. Anyway, a while after Logan left I went out to the apartment you lived in with my boys to find out how your mother was doing. When I got there the whole place was cleaned out. I had no idea where you all went. And I defiantly didn't know that his parents lived here. Hell, you all would have met already if I did." He muttered.
"Why didn't you tell me I had god siblings?" Sesshomaru asked. He liked knowing everything about everyone and not knowing he had another three other siblings really put a dent in his armor. Not knowing one of the three other siblings were in a rival band really didn't fit his fancy at all. His father shrugged like it was nothing to get bent out of shape over. Fuck that, he was supposed to know everything! This was huge!
"It never came up." He said. Inuyasha scoffed.
"'never came up'? We're supposed to know these things, dad!" At least his brother got his point. Kagome held up her good hand.
"Wait! So I can technically marry Inuyasha and there would be nothing wrong with it because we're not related?" She asked her godfather. At that moment, all the conversation in the room stopped. Logan was suddenly red in the face, his cool calm demeanor dashed. He looked like he didn't know how to even begin to answer that question. Sesshomaru had a look of utter disbelief on his face and Kikyo had buried her face in Evan's chest, probably of embarrassment.
"Kagome," She drawled, "You're not supposed to ask that while they're in the room!" Yep, that was embarrassment. Inuyasha's face made her want to smirk with satisfaction. His eyes were big, and his golden eyes were swirling with emotions. His mouth had hung half open, not even knowing what to say, like she had successfully shushed him. The color had swept from beneath his shirt, up the back of his neck and had spread throughout his face. His ears were red too.
"You're right. You're not blood siblings, so it wouldn't be incest and you're not cousins. So you two are free to get married." His youngest son looked him, as in disbelief that he answered and InuTashio grinned. "Should you choose too." Inuyasha looked extremely embarrassed, and as a father, InuTashio felt satisfied with that. His oldest just looked uncomfortable, but that would have to do. Logan put a hand over his face.
"I can't believe you just answered that." He said, rubbing his temples.
"I don't see why not. You weren't going to." He answered.
"InuTashio and I are best friends and were back then when you were born. So it seemed at the time that they other would be the best one to raise the other's children should things go wrong." Logan said.
They all sat and talked to one another, just catching up with what happened over the years. Logan shared some entertaining war stories, some that made her cry laughing and others that just made her want to cry. Even though it was late, her mother had come in with her little brother and they explained what happened, with them all being god siblings. He took it better than they did, Kagome thought, not sure if she was irritated or impressed…maybe a bit of both. Along with bringing Souta, who sat comfortably in his father's lap most of the visit, her mother also brought Kikyo's and Kagome's song writing notebooks and Kagome's old guitar.
"Mom…Thank you!" She exclaimed as she was handed the case. Her mother just shrugged.
"No problem. I figured you all needed something to do while you were healing." She had said with a bright smile. Kagome took it as a blessing and set the guitar standing up by the bed, her notebook on the dresser next to her. It was obvious her mother expected both of them to write a song together, but while Kagome sensed her and her sister were getting closer, she doubted miracles like that would happen.
It was a little after nine when her family had left, saying that by the time they got home, it was going to be way past Souta's bed time. He had grumbled, of course, and bid his sister's goodnight and luck, and had exited the room, their father blowing both girls a kiss and trailing after his wife and son. InuTashio had walked Logan out, saying he'd meet the boys at the hospital entrance. They had nodded idly and went to talk with Kagome and spared a few short words with Kikyo, who had bid her boyfriend goodbye shortly before her family left. At the end, parting was bitter, like always as Inuyasha kissed her forehead, that sent warm chills racing through her body, and wished her a good night, and he'd see her tomorrow. He and his brother walked out and Kagome took a long silent sigh. Well, until Kikyo interrupted.
"You're head over heels, aren't you?" she asked softly. She wasn't being mean, nor annoying about it, but it was a simple question. Kagome stiffened.
"What?" Her sister sighed.
"Come on Kagome. Don't play dumb." She almost took offense to that. But seeing how she was acting, she figured she deserved it…this once. "You're damn near in love with the boy so why don't you just ask him out already, I'm sure he'd pass out if you did." She answered.
"Isn't it some kind of taboo to date your sister's ex?" She asked, not really meaning it.
"Not if your sister gives the okay first." She was about to respond, when the door opened, and Hojo's hazel head popped in, scoping the room.
"Hello Hojo." The twins said absently as he came fully in, a bouquet of roses behind his back.
"Hello girls." He blushed, looking at Kagome. "Hello Kagome. I'm sorry I came in so late but I had a lot of paper work to fill out this morning and my mother always said business before pleasure. Then I went to you're house to try to find Mr. Higurashi but he wasn't there and then I had to inform the Captain and he wasn't happy. You're father kind of deserted the Captain, if you didn't know. But I was wondering if your father was anywhere around…?" Kagome had to admit, he might be a babbling buffoon sometimes, but he was cute when he blushed. Kagome sighed and shook her head.
"No, Hojo, he isn't here." She said slowly.
"In fact, you just missed him." Kikyo had finished for her examining her immaculate nails. She glanced behind him. "And are those roses for my father?" She asked smugly, as Hojo blushed a deeper red, bringing the flowers in front of him.
"Oh, no they aren't. Mr. Higurashi has never been too fond of roses, of flowers actually. One time he got thrown into a rose brush and swore off them. It was a pretty nasty fall; he had thrones in his skin and everything. He defiantly was really cranky for a while which had everyone on the base stay away. For a lot of SDO guys they sure got scared when Mr. Higurashi was mad." It seemed as if he'd realized that he'd gone off the subject again and walked over to Kagome's bed, and handed them to her. She smelled them and smiled. "I got them for you. I read in a website about you that you really liked roses so I decided to get you some to make you feel better." He said and smiled. So besides the rambling, he had a dashing smile too.
"Thank you Hojo." She said softly, flashing him one of her smiles that made men faint, and was satisfied when he swayed a bit. "Hojo," She said sweetly, "if you're human, why are you in the SDO?" She asked. He looked surprised for a minute.
"Well I'm not sure why you know about it but I suppose since your father was in it he'd tell you where he's been. But since you already know I guess it's no harm to fill you in. I'm intelligence personal and you're father's personal assistant and to be that you really don't have to be a demon because you're not out doing all that dangerous stuff. My mom never wanted me to join because she was afraid Mr. Higurashi was going to throw me out of a plane because I talk too much. I can't believe she said a thing like that because I don't believe I talk too much, do you?" He asked. His brown eyes were wide and innocent, and she just couldn't bring herself to say what she really thought so she simply nodded, not particularly trusting her voice. But that's what Kikyo was for.
"Of course not," She drawled sarcastically, sparing him a glance. "You, talk too much, never!" He looked confused, which, Kagome had to admit, was kind of cute also.
"Was that sarcasm…?" Before Kikyo erupted into her parade of insults, Kagome cut in.
"Hojo…" She looked for something to say, "My dad isn't here, he went home a little while ago. But I don't think you should go get him now. Wait till tomorrow and I'm sure he'll listen." She said brightly. Kikyo scoffed.
"Yea…right." She murmured but before Hojo could say anything about it, Kagome spoke again.
"So we'll see you tomorrow, bye Hojo!" She said, and smiled again. He forgot everything he was going to say, which was no doubt a lot, and waved and walked out the door. As it shut behind him, Kikyo snickered.
"God, Kagome, you're just dragging them in, aren't you?" She said, her brown eyes sparkling.
"Shut up." Kagome said, shaking her head.
"You have to admit, he does talk an awful lot." Kagome nodded absently. "You know…" Kikyo picked up her song book. "I've had this tune in my head since dad came back," she flipped to a page and started writing, "And I was wondering if you'd like to work on the lyrics and music with me. It's slow and dramatic…" She trailed off, looking at her sister. Kagome picked up the guitar, and strummed a little, though her left arm hurt.
"Yea, I suppose I could help you out," she grinned, "If you promise to let me sing with you." Kikyo laughed.
"Deal." Maybe miracles do happen.
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Well, it's done. Sorry if it's so long. In truth, it wasn't supposed to be this long. But it is, and I can't break it up without feeling guilty. And yes indeed they do know each other! Amazing! Thanks for reading and please review!
Next chapter: The Road to Recovery