I had someone ask me before but… did the explanation on what's going on in the previous chapter seem too confusing to you? Because there won't be another explanation like that… not really so if anyone is confused, I'll be more than happy to explain it to you.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, Prince of Tennis or any of its characters.
New Beginnings
(9) Colors of the Rainbow
For the past two nights Kagome dreamt so much green she might as well answered to Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. She woke up late on a bright Sunday afternoon, blinking the last of what seemed to be green oranges from her eyelids. Never had dreams like this before, she thought, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands. Kagome smiled almost mockingly. It might be trying to tell me something?
Green.
Her thought automatically flew towards Sesshomaru poisonous yellow-green acid. Her smile fell.
Kagome shook her head, reminding herself that Sesshomaru was a friend now and friends do not kill other friends (or at least, she hoped not).
She yawned, stretching out her limbs as far out as they could go. With a groan, Kagome rolled away from the sunlight and promptly rolled right off her bed and onto the floor with a loud thud. Well, today was going to be a great day, she just knew it.
Kagome stumbled down the stairs, still half asleep and stared at the scene in front of her. She blinked. Her cousin's house had apparently been taken over by his teammates.
Fuji was the first one to see her. "Higurashi-san," he greeted warmly. "Good morning!"
"Uh… yes." Kagome flushed and glared at Ryoma. "You could have told me your friends were coming." She pulled her pajamas almost shyly and wondered why the hell she hadn't heard them from upstairs especially with all the noise they were making. Ryoma's friends weren't exactly what one would call… quiet.
"I didn't know they were coming either," he replied. He glared at Momoshiro.
"A celebration for winning our match yesterday," Fuji added helpfully.
"Oh…" Kagome smoothed her tangled hair with her fingers. "I see… well, congratulations." Not that, of course, she cared at all. Besides, wouldn't Ryoma win all his matches anyway?
"We usually go to Taka-senpai's sushi shop for celebrations," Ryoma replied.
"I-I thought it would be fun going elsewhere for a change," Momoshiro stuttered. "Besides Echizen has his own tennis court in his backyard!" He averted his gaze from the young girl as her pajama top was too far down for comfort.
"You are disgusting," Ryoma muttered.
Momoshiro flushed.
"Have a match with me, Momo-sempai," Ryoma continued. He made his way towards his racket and pulled the familiar red racket from its bag. He looked back at his taller friend and glared. "I'll trash you."
Oishi laughed almost nervously. "Echizen… that's not a good idea. Momoshiro hurt his wrist yesterday, remember?"
There was something about the younger man's glare that told him that no, Echizen did not care and he probably wouldn't care unless Momoshiro was dead or something. He shivered.
Kagome laughed softly at the sight. Ryoma was actually hanging out with friends! She was so proud of him and was sure that Rinko must be too. Ryoma never was a person to talk about others but if she remembered correctly, when he had started middle school, whenever Ryoma talked about his tennis teammates back then (the same ones now, surprisingly), he almost seemed… fond.
Her cousin glanced up at her and frowned. Kagome had a feeling that he was reading her mind.
"Go change," he ordered.
Kagome immediately blushed upon being reminded of her current state of dress. "Sorry," she squeaked out and flew up the stairs and back into her room.
Ryoma nodded slightly, satisfied. He resisted the urge, to once again, glare at Momoshiro.
"Are you being a little too possessive of Higurashi-san?" Fuji asked slyly, opening his blue eyes and smiled almost knowingly at the younger boy. The young tennis prodigy frowned but didn't comment further. He sincerely hoped that Fuji wasn't implying that him and Kagome had a relationship beyond being normal cousins. He almost made a remark about Yuuta but decided better. If anyone was way to possessive over their family members, it was Fuji-senpai.
When Kagome came back down the stairs, the tennis Regulars have fallen into another comfortable conversation broken only when Ryoma's cell phone gave off a rather loud beep. He frowned and pulled it out, wondering who would text him (especially since all his friends were with him).
"For you," he muttered, passing his cell phone to Kagome when she took a seat on the couch next to him.
"Huh?"
"Sesshomaru."
Kagome paled. She leaned away from Ryoma's outstretch hands. "I don't want to talk to him right now."
He stared at her.
"Don't ignore your boyfriend, nya," Kikumaru teased.
Kagome flushed. "He's not my boyfriend." She wondered if she should just give up. She glanced over at Ryoma again, who was staring at her, still holding out his phone for her. With a sigh, she took it and then stared at the screen. "I-is this Sesshomaru's number?" She tilted her head. She had, of course (attempted) to call Sesshomaru before but had forgotten it.
Ryoma stared at her.
Kagome pursed her lips, hesitating and not wanting to call the number.
Ryoma sighed, took his phone and made Kagome's decision for her.
"No!" Kagome squeaked out. "I'm not ready to talk to him yet!" She jumped for the phone but Ryoma held it out of her reach and his teammates watched as Kagome practically straddled her cousin.
At least Higurashi-san isn't still wearing her pajamas, Momoshiro thought.
"Give it back!" Kagome squealed.
"What the fuck do you want, bastard?" a voice sounded through the phone. And even though it was on speaker, it was rather loud.
Kagome froze and everyone person turned, staring with wide eyes at the small innocent phone in Ryoma's hands.
"I'm in New York, you asswipe," Inuyasha's familiar voice continued. "I don't know if you remember but it's two in the fucking morning where I am."
Kagome reached for the phone again, hands shaking and this time, Ryoma did not pull it further from her reach. She cradled the phone close to her. "Inuyasha…"
"What's so fucking important that you need to—" he cut himself off.
Silence.
"Kagome?"
Kagome laughed, hearing his voice made her insides flutter in excitement. It's been so long since she heard his voice and even his less than beautiful vocabulary was welcome. She swallowed. "Inuyasha."
"Kagome," Ryoma muttered. "Get off of me." Her knee was stabbing into his stomach.
She gave him a half-hearted glare. "Just sit still."
A crash followed by a string of colorful words could be heard from the other end of the phone. Kagome pulled the phone away and stared at it with wide eyes. She laughed, standing up and making her way out of the living room and back up the stairs. "Inuyasha! Are you okay?"
"Fucking wench," he groaned out. "I'll kill you."
The occupants of the room watched as Kagome walked away with an unfamiliar bright smile on her face. "Inuyasha," they heard her say fondly. "It's been five hundred years and you're still wearing that?"
Whatever the man replied was lost to their ears as Kagome wandered too far from them.
"Did she say five hundred years?" Momoshiro said with a frown.
They stared at him.
"What kind of inside joke is that?" Momoshiro continued.
Ryoma raised his eyebrows. "It's an inside joke," he replied. "So obviously you wouldn't understand it."
Momoshiro huffed.
"That… Inuyasha… he has a rather unique vocabulary," Fuji commented.
"He's always been like that," Ryoma said, shrugging.
Tezuka stared.
Catching his captain's stare of disbelief, Ryoma defended, "My father's like that too."
"Wait," Oishi commented. "I thought you guys were seven the last time you met."
"He's a couple years older than us," Ryoma commented, not really caring. He wisely chose not to mention that by a couple, he actually meant two. Which made Inuyasha nine when such colorful words were already deeply engraved into the man's vocabulary.
Tezuka cleared his throat. "They do not seem to be the best influential figures."
The young man glanced up at his captain. Tezuka wasn't the type to tell Ryoma to do something just for the fun of it so it was highly possible that he saw something that he, Ryoma himself had missed. "Kagome is fine," Ryoma pressed. "I stay away from Sesshomaru and I don't like Inuyasha."
Tezuka stared at him.
"She does give off an uneasy feeling," agreed Fuji with open eyes. Inui's eyebrows shot upwards at the genius's words and he took out his familiar green notebook.
"What do you mean?" Kikumaru asked worriedly.
"Hm…" Fuji said. "How do I put this?" He tapped a long finger against his chin. "Higurashi-san seems to be hiding something."
"You don't have secrets, senpai?" Ryoma countered.
Fuji opened his eyes again. "Perhaps," he answered. "But I don't think Higurashi-san hiding a usual type of secret."
Kikumaru gasped. "Maybe she's actually an axe-murderer," he said.
Ryoma snorted softly. "Sure, and I'm a slasher," he muttered.
"Higurashi-san's not weird," Momoshiro defended.
Kaidou hissed in amusement.
"You would say that," Ryoma commented.
"W-what is that—"
"You're not exactly being subtle," Fuji said with a smile.
Momoshiro blushed.
Before they could tease Momoshiro further on the subject, Kagome made her way back down the stairs, catching everyone's attention. She smiled brightly at them. "Sorry about that!"
"You seem happy," Fuji said.
"Hmm…" Kagome agreed, still smiling happy as she handed Ryoma his cell phone back. "Thanks."
Ryoma stared. "He's not… coming, is he?"
Kagome laughed. "He's in New York." She sighed happily and reclaimed her seat. "Tell Sesshomaru I said thanks."
Ryoma frowned. "You tell him."
"Are you scared of him or something?" Kagome said, laughing.
"Are you?" he countered back.
"Yes," Kagome answered seriously.
Ryoma stared at her for a few moments, blinking at her unexpected answer. "Heeh," he muttered softly. He sighed and then shrugged. "He isn't as intimating with black hair."
Kagome stared sideways at her cousin. From what she knew, Sesshomaru should always have kept up his human illusion but from what Ryoma was implying, Sesshomaru didn't do that with him. Either that or there was something else on play here (which, in Kagome's case, there always was). "We'll talk later," she said seriously.
"Hmm…"
"Sesshomaru, huh?" Kikumaru said. "You sure make scary friends."
Kagome turned towards him. "You have no idea."
"But at least he's rich and powerful, ne?" A pause. "And good-looking, according to Sasabe."
Kagome wrinkled her nose. "If you're implying what I think you're implying, that's disgusting."
Kikumaru laughed.
"And," Kagome continued. "I'm fine about you teasing me about that and all… but don't do it in front of Sesshomaru. He'll kill me." Kagome shuddered, as if to emphasize her point. "If I'm lucky."
Oishi frowned. "I thought you guys were friends?" he asked worriedly.
"Oh yes," Kagome breathed. "That too. Please don't mention that to Sesshomaru."
"Eh?"
Kagome stayed silent and was thankful when the conversation went from her to their tennis match yesterday. While she was obviously left out of their tennis-related conversation, Kagome didn't mind. She preferred listening to something she didn't understand than talk about her relationship (or lack thereof) with Sesshomaru.
She looked at Ryoma again and noticed that he was beginning to fall asleep. Her lips quirked upwards, it was a relief to know that while her life was currently getting ripped in half, there were things that were still the same as always. She didn't so much as flinched when Ryoma's head fell sideways, hitting the edge of her shoulder. Kagome, however, did wince when he slid off the edge of her shoulder and face-planted into her lap.
"Bastard," she heard Momoshiro whisper as everyone attention focused on Ryoma.
Kagome laughed softly, reaching out to adjust Ryoma into a more comfortable position.
"It's good to see that you guys are still so close," Oishi said softly, "despite being apart for so long."
"Oh no," Kagome replied. She brushed away a loose hair from Ryoma's face. "We might not have seen each other since we were kids but we still—or at least, used to—call each other every week."
"Echizen never mentioned that..." Momoshiro muttered.
"We should leave," Tezuka said, standing up.
His fellow regulars followed his example and began gathering up their stuff.
"I would see you guys out but..." Kagome trailed off.
"It's fine," Tezuka answered and then bowed. Kagome blinked rapidly and bowed her head too. There was just something about that older boy that made one want to follow his perfect-teenager example.
"Echizen must be tired," Fuji commented. "That match yesterday might have taken more out of him than he let on."
As if hearing his words, Ryoma turned his head to the left, burrowing into Kagome's stomach. "Che."
Tezuka raised his eyebrows. He gave a slight shook of his head before turning away and leaving the room, his teammates following faithfully behind him.
Kagome strained her ears and waited until she heard the click when the front door closed. She glanced amusingly at her cousin and pinched his cheek softly. "You are so rude," she said.
Ryoma's eyes slid open and gold met blue. "Hmm," he mumbled. "They shouldn't even have been here to begin with."
"Oh?" Kagome raised an eyebrow and then forced it back down again. Apparently seeing Sesshomaru the other day was quite influential. "What does that mean?"
"Momo-senpai thought it would be a "change" to hang out here."
"You guys said that already."
Ryoma yawned. "I've known him since middle school. He goes where the food is. There's not much food here."
Kagome tilted her head. She didn't get it but the fact didn't bother her. Kagome never pretended that she knew Ryoma's friends anyway. "Well... if you put it that way, I can see how that's unusual. But..."
"He has a crush on you." He huffed.
Kagome gave a small jump in surprise and she looked back down at Ryoma who was staring back with an almost calculating look. "Eh?"
"He likes you."
"Eh?"
"It means—"
"I know what it means," Kagome interrupted, her face growing warm. "I—oh gods! That's awkward. I wish you hadn't told me that."
"Hmm..."
They fell silent again. Kagome pressed a hand against her warm cheeks, shaking her head slightly as if trying to expel the thought from her head. "Oh dear, what am I going to do?"
Ryoma stared.
"Everything's going to be so awkward now!"
"Tell him you're going out with Sesshomaru," Ryoma said, rolling his face back into her stomach. It might work; everyone seemed to be rather intimated by the older man. Although… Momo-senpai was rather stubborn when it came to things he wanted.
"Sesshomaru..." Kagome muttered. "Ryoma, what's your relationship with him?"
"Relationship," repeated Ryoma. "Don't have one."
"How did you guys meet? Why did he want to sponsor you?" He didn't answer. Kagome rolled him over again so that she could stare straight down at his face. "Ryoma."
"My secret," he mumbled, the corners of his mouth twitched upwards in amusement. He rolled.
"Ryoma!"
"My secret," he repeated.
Kagome groaned. "Ugh! I can't believe you're using that against me!"
"You're warm," he said, quietly.
"Don't fall asleep," Kagome commanded, poking him in the cheek. He shivered. Kagome frowned and reached down, laying a cool hand on his forehead. "Are you coming down with something?"
"Hmm..."
His forehead didn't feel warm or anything but there was something about Ryoma's current attitude that was making warning bells in her head ring. He reached up and grabbed her hands again. "Your hand tingles."
"It has to do with the pink light."
Ryoma looked at her and then back down at their joined hands. "Hmm..."
It was quite possible that Ryoma was also pulling a Momoshiro and Tezuka and was beginning to show some demonic powers of his own. She sighed and hoped that when this is all over and Ryoma gets all the demonic powers that he's supposed to get in order to balance the world or whatever, she doesn't end up purifying him by accident.
"It feels nice," Ryoma whispered, closing his eyes again.
"Does it?" Kagome asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise.
Kagome reached down, wiggled her fingers into Ryoma's pocket and pulled out his cell phone. She glanced down at her cousin. "Does Sesshomaru have a personal number?" she asked, not wanting to go through that secretary of his again.
He stayed silent.
Which means either, "I don't know," or "No," Kagome thought.
Kagome flipped open the cell phone and scrolled down through his recent calls. She raised her eyebrows amusingly when she noticed that the most recent calls were Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. Kagome clicked her tongue. Beyond that, she noticed a long list of incoming calls from "Buchou".
"You're sure cozy with Tezuka."
Ryoma eyes slid open again. He huffed slightly and turned away from her. "I'm usually late for practices," he mumbled. "And matches." A pause. "And celebration parities." Another pause. "And—"
"I get it," Kagome said, laughing. She shook her head lightly and stared at Ryoma's phone again. Her fingers hovered over the phone for a moment before she pressed Sesshomaru's number. The shrill ring of the phone filled the otherwise silent air.
Then:
"Hello, welcome to Wakagami Corporation, how may we assist you?"
Kagome rolled her eyes.
"I want to talk to Sesshomaru," Ryoma responding, turning once again so he was lying on his back again. He didn't bother opening his eyes.
"Your name, please, sir?"
Now Ryoma really did open his eyes. "Echizen Ryoma," he said, glaring at the phone.
"Echizen-sama! Hang on a second, please!"
Kagome rolled her eyes again.
"Sesshomaru, speak."
She had not expected Sesshomaru to respond so fast and jumped at his voice. As she fumbled with Ryoma's phone, Kagome had to tighten her hold on it to make sure that she didn't drop it on her cousin's face. "Sesshomaru," Kagome greeted. "I wanted to thank you for giving me Inuyasha's number."
Silence.
"Is that all?"
Kagome resisted the urge to shout. "Is there any particular reason why you sponsored Ryoma?"
"Cheater," her cousin mumbled.
A pause. "Are you alone?"
Kagome looked down at Ryoma. "It's fine," she murmured.
"Hn."
"I plan to tell Ryoma everything."
"Hn."
She resisted the urge to bang her forehead on a hard wall. Sesshomaru's "hn"was just as bad as Inuyasha's "feh" and Ryoma's "che". Sesshomaru, she pleaded in her mind. Please. At least give me two syllables.
"I caught the scent of your family's blood about a hundred years ago."
Ryoma raised his eyebrows and he eyed the phone. When he turned towards his cousin she was also staring at the phone with a faraway look in her eyes. It was a familiar look, one that he had seen it on her face ever since she moved in with him.
"Inuyasha wanted to… see you again. However, he did not wish to change the course of history and decided that when he saw you, he was not going to confront you. So we waited and followed your ancestors."
Kagome snorted in amusement. She caste her cousin a single glance when he sat up from his position, eyes flickering towards her again. "And you completely missed me and stalked Ryoma instead?"
"Hn."
"So why didn't you look for me? You knew Ryoma was related to me."
"In what way, we did not know; he could have been your ancestor. We assumed we were not in the right time period."
Kagome sat up. "What? What do you mean?"
Sesshomaru chuckled, the sound sending shivers through Kagome. "We followed your blood," he continued. "And… your style of dress was quite unique back then."
Kagome froze. For some reason, she did not feel like listening anymore.
"The shorter the lengths of those uniforms became, we knew we were getting closer to your time."
"That's…" Kagome hesitated, trying to find the right word. "That's kind of sick."
"Indeed. However, our memory… we thought your skirt was shorter back then."
"T-that—that's just because you weren't used to it!" Kagome defended.
Sesshomaru snorted. "Indeed."
"It's perfectly normal!"
"Hn."
"So you're sponsoring Ryoma to keep an eye on him, hoping to meet me?"
"Yes."
"Oh… I thought there was more to it."
"What do you mean?"
Kagome pulled down a lock of her hair and twirled it between her fingers. "Well… he said my hand tingles." She gave Ryoma another look and almost smiled. The poor boy must have been so confused at the moment but he wasn't letting it show on his face. "So I thought… you know… you knew he was involved somehow or whatever. And you're just keeping an eye on that and everything."
"Your hand…" Sesshomaru repeated. "He might be more involved than you believe."
Kagome sighed. "I'm afraid of that."
They fell into a somewhat comfortable silence. Finally, "I am busy right now. Call me when you have something important to tell me."
"What?" Kagome asked, shocked. "Jackass! Wait—"
"And stay away from my brother. His influence on your vocabulary is less than desired."
"Give me your personal number!" Kagome said quickly, hoping that he heard her because she was listening to the dial tone just as she finished speaking. "What a jerk," she mumbled.
She was ready to punch in his number again when the phone beeped at her, signaling that it was out of batteries but Kagome wouldn't be surprised if Sesshomaru somehow made it do it. That man wasn't human after all. She sighed and then looked up at Ryoma who was staring at her expectantly.
Kagome smiled. "Want to hear a story?"
Of course I'm writing Ryoma's reaction in the next chapter and I'm not sure how I'm going to go about doing that.