Chapter 2
She sat beside Inuyasha on the metallic seat and observed him. He still looked magnificent even when he looks bothered. His hair is flowing with the wind, the soft silvery locks calling out to her fingers to be stroked. And the amber eyes were piercing than ever, contrasted by the darkness of the night.
A soft "Hey" disturbed Inuyasha from his thoughts and he found Kagome sitting close beside him, a small smile on her lips. "I'm sorry about earlier, I have no right to say those things to you. If I'm your friend, things would have been different and voicing my opinions about you would be acceptable…But we're not, so, it was wrong for me to do that," Kagome said incessantly. "I might have hurt your feelings or at least I think because you made a different facial expression other than your usual poker-face...That was a bit harsh, let me correct that. Er, since you became my classmate, I noticed that you always have this same expression on your face. Like this," and Kagome tried to imitate Inuyasha's neutral expression and added, "but earlier your face was like this," as she tried to imitate the frown that Inuyasha was wearing on their conversation in the room. Inuyasha just watched her, fascinated that she was able to talk so fast and surprised that she had been keeping tabs on how he was like every day. "And so I think you were perturbed by what I have been saying. And now I'm rattling on like an idiot," Kagome said rapidly without stopping and mentioned the last thoughts slowly upon realization.
Noticing that her tirade has subsided, he went back on staring at something far ahead, in thought. Thinking she pissed him off with her 'little' chat, she sighed dejectedly and made a move to stand up when she heard Inuyasha say, "Stay for a while, it's lonely alone here…"
One word and he gets Kagome to settle down with him.
"Why didn't you grab the oppo
rtunity then, Kagome? I thought you are one fan of the Carpi Diem motto, and what the heck did you do with him there? Sit down and had a staring match with the sky?" Sango had pestered her friend the whole lunch time they have been together. The cafeteria was noisy as usual with students passing every now and then, trying to find tables where they could eat. Kagome slowly ate her hash brown after dipping it into ketchup.
"Weren't you listening to what I was saying? I said he looked upset already. I don't think he even considers me as a friend yet so I don't know how he'll react to my prying. I don't know about you, but I don't like to be at the receiving end of Inuyasha's wrath," Kagome infuriately said.
"Now that you mention it, I wonder how he gets angry… You think he still looks sexy when frustrated?" Sango teased Kagome and added, "Isn't that something to add on your list of 'Getting to know Inuyasha'?"
"That would come later when I've successfully turned him as a friend," Kagome said as she wondered the progress of her 'relationship' with Inuyasha. Last night at the party, she somehow felt contented sitting with Inuyasha beside her. No words were exchanged after he asked, rather ordered, Kagome to stay with him but the silence was at ease between them. Oftentimes, she was tempted to ask him about his relationship with Kikyou; not because she was jealous but because she was curious on how he chose a girlfriend and kept a steady relationship with her, as Miroku had said. Then, there was the question about him being sent to America by his dad. What was his dad protecting him from? Does his family have adversaries or did he make some at school? After all, being popular has it drawbacks — being envied and criticized by people are one of the many. Is he still a reserved person around people close to him or is he different?
'I'm truly interested in you, Inuyasha…'
Thump, thump, thump
Kagome's pencil was thumping on her table while she has been thinking of what to write in her reaction paper on the The Raven. Something, or someone, was always diverting her attention during English class and she wasn't able to understand the Raven's story at all. 'This is not like you at all, Kagome Higurashi. Getting sidetracked by a guy, racking your brains for a reaction paper, which you could have normally done in 15 minutes…Stupid Kagome, stupid Kagome, stupid Kagome…' she chanted. A long tanned finger stopped her pencil on bumping the table and she followed the body of whose hand stopped it. A black Adidas shirt fitting his well-toned muscles, a smooth neck, amber eyes, oh no…Not her distraction again.
And just as she was about to ask him what he is doing, Inuyasha said coolly, "The speaker, a man who pines for his deceased love, Lenore, has been visited by a talking bird who knows only the word: 'Nevermore.' The narrator feels so grieved over the loss of his love that he allows his imagination to transform the bird into a prophet bringing news that the lovers will 'Nevermore' be reunited, not even in heaven. Poe describes the poem as one that reveals the human penchant for 'self-torture' as evidenced by the speaker's tendency to weigh himself down with grief."
Kagome's mouth was slightly open from shock. Did he just summarize 'The Raven' for her? "The deadline's in 15 minutes, I suggest you write your reaction and pass it to Prof. Jaken before that time comes. Ja," Inuyasha waved his hand, showing his back to Kagome while he was walking down the aisle to submit his paper to the professor at front. Kagome was astonished at what happened and followed Inuyasha with her eyes until he went out of the room. 'Yosh! Kagome, he just helped you out! You can do this in less than 15 minutes!' she cheered for herself.
After 10 minutes, she passed her one whole paper of reaction paper to the professor and went out of the room, invigorated.
Kagome was running an errand for her mother in the grocery store when big drops of rain started to pour out. "Fantastic. The one time I don't bring my umbrella, it actually rains…" Kagome muttered bitterly. Clutching the grocery bags on one hand, she rushed to the next shelter to shield herself from the onslaught of the downpour. She wasn't halfway to her house and she was already dripping wet. Busy squeezing her hair of water, she didn't notice a person sharing an umbrella with her. "It's going to rain all night, I might as well give you a ride home," a familiar baritone said. Looking up to the owner of the voice, she noticed Inuyasha beside her, carrying a black umbrella. 'Can he get any more dazzling in the rain?' Kagome thought in the back of her mind. When she came back to her senses, she saw Inuyasha going inside the driver's seat in his black Ford auto, folding back the umbrella and started the engine. He flashed her with the vehicle's high beam, making Kagome instinctively cover her eyes with her arm. Getting the hint, she ran to the passenger seat, made herself comfortable and with a grateful smile, said "Higurashi Shrine please, two blocks from here. Thanks a lot, Inuyasha."
"No prob…" and he went towards the direction.
"Arigatou. Please let me repay you. Come inside our house to eat snack," looking at her watch, she noticed it was past eight, and added sheepishly, "How about dinner?"
c:
"Mom, Souta, Grandpa, I'm back!" Kagome greeted upon opening the door. She changed her shoes into slippers and Inuyasha did the same except he was wearing guest slippers.
"Kagome! Are you alright? I got worried when the rain began; you didn't bring your umbrella. Change into dry clothes now or you'll get a cold…" Mrs. Higurashi stopped her motherly talk when she saw her daughter come out from the hallway with a good-looking guest. "Why, hello. Thanks for helping my Kagome get out from the rain. Are you one of her friends?"
"Yes, I'm Inuyasha. Pleased to meet you" and he offered a small smile. To say that she was a little surprised at acknowledging himself as her friend was an understatement. She didn't know what to say to that or if she ever has to say something to that. "Dinner will be ready soon, come join us, Inuyasha. I'm preparing obento, Kagome's favorite," Mrs. Higurashi called out after retreating into the kitchen but not before giving a knowing smile to her daughter.
Kagome left Inuyasha with Souta, who was playing his PSP on the living room to get into dry clothes. She emerged later with a comfortable big clothes, which she usually wears at home. Inuyasha was amazed at how small and comfortable Kagome appears now, dressing up for her own comfort instead of impressing Inuyasha. She looked at Inuyasha to see him looking at her with a different expression in his eyes but simple shrugged off the thought when she heard her stomach complain of hunger. Awkward at being heard by Inuyasha, she guided him to the dining room to eat supper.
The Higurashi family, Inuyasha found out, was warm and hospitable at heart. It felt natural for him to eat and laugh with them, especially over Souta's antics on pestering Kagome by telling her embarrassing moments.
"And Kagome, not remembering where she left Mom's graduation gift for her, turned the house upside-down in search of it. When she couldn't find it, she worked a sideline job for Miroku to buy the gift she lost and replace it. I think she actually spent a month working her ass off for that, ne nee-chan? Only to find out that Mom borrowed the gift and was wearing it all those time. Kagome actually cried after that." Everyone burst into laughter except Kagome, who was so embarrassed by her idiocy.
"So tell us about you, stranger. Where in the seven hells did you come from to bless us with your presence tonight, youkai?" Grandpa said, remembering his ill feeling toward Inuyasha. "Grandpa!" Kagome and her mother warned the old man for his lack of tact.
"I actually live near the grocery store and to pass time, I drove around the premises and saw Kagome sheltered in one of the closed shops," Inuyasha replied.
"And from what family did you hail?" Grandpa further questioned.
"The Takahashi, my dad's Inutaisho and-"
"Inutaisho?! The great powerful youkai, the current business tycoon?" Souta excitedly asked Inuyasha.
"Where did you learn that, Souta?" Kagome asked.
"Grandpa rants about the Inutaisho every now and then, Kagome!" Souta looked at his grandpa for confirmation.
"Hai," the curt reply of Inuyasha.
"You must introduce me to your dad sometime, Inuyasha! I heard he's real cool! Can I? Can I?" Souta pleaded with his hands together in front of him with doggy eyes.
"Souta, that's too much to ask!" Kagome cut out her brother's antics and Souta's smile turned into a pout. "But, Kagome…."he added.
"It's okay, Kagome. My friends are always welcome to our home," Inuyasha placated the siblings. Kagome, at a loss for words, just smiled gratefully to him. 'He really counts me as a friend now…' Kagome happily thought.
c:
"It was really fun dining with your family, Kagome. Thanks again," Inuyasha told Kagome and went on trekking the long stairs to his automobile.
Inuyasha midway down the stairs, Kagome shouted, "Did you really mean what you said earlier? Are we friends now?" Inuyasha slowed down in his steps and turned, "Yeah. Is something wrong with that?" Kagome just shook her head and muttered into the air, "I'd actually like that…" and it carried into Inuyasha's sensitive hearing. He nodded and proceeded going down the stairs.
Widening her eyes in realization, she thought, 'He called me Kagome twice today…'
When Inuyasha said he'll introduce Souta and Kagome to his dad, he meant it, and the siblings were really enthusiastic at meeting up with one of the most successful man in the town. Inutaisho was a good father figure, something they've been missing after their dad's depart from this world. After an hour or so spent at the Takahashi Manor, the two went back to the shrine to tell the rest of the family on how welcoming Inutaisho was. And from then on, Kagome and Inuyasha grew closer as friends.
Kagome happily chats with Inuyasha in the cafeteria at lunch. "I can't believe that girl did that to poor Miroku!"
"Poor? He groped on the waitress and she was wearing a short skirt then, it was the idiot's fault in the first place," Inuyasha defended his friend's victim.
"But to break his nose with a single punch? What an Amazonian!"
It had been months since dinner with Inutaisho and Kagome and Inuyasha have been taking lunch in the cafeteria together with Sango. Other times, Sango's schedule is busy with her student council meetings and only the two are left to eat. Anything under the sun was discussed and the two got closer in time.
"What are you going to do after high school, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked and looked upwards where Inuyasha was sitting on a thick branch of the Goshinboku tree, the largest tree on the Shrine. Plans after graduation have always been a part of conversation between friends. Somehow, one would confess all his ambitions and aims in life to a friend and whatever happens, whether the goal has been reached or not, that friend will know and sympathize or rejoice with that person. As friends, you would know each others' deepest desires or greatest aspiration and keep an unspoken agreement to support each other.
"I have to follow my brother's footsteps and work in our company. It's the family's legacy after all," Inuyasha answered as if someone just asked his name, in other words, automatically.
"What about your plans? Don't you have plans as an individual, uninfluenced by your family?"
"I don't think about that. It's not like I have a say anyway. After all my family has given to me - their name, reputation, money – working for them is the least that you can do for them-"
"That's sad. Letting them decide for your life course is the biggest thing you can offer to them. It's your life and no one else should fix on how you would live it but you."
Inuyasha just shrugged. He was used to the idea of being an employee of the Takahashi Corp. that his mind just stops wondering about 'what ifs'. Interested on what his friend plans, he asked her the same question.
"I want to study medicine after graduation though I'm telling you now that that role is just a super dream for me," Kagome said looking at a distance.
"Why is it 'super'?
Kagome looked at him honestly, "We cannot afford to have that kind of education. You know very well that only my mom and I are the ones working and the income is just enough for our expenditures."
"Somehow, hearing you give up on your dreams strikes me as unbelievable. You just implied how we should decide for our own lives, to live our dreams and not just abandon them because of our circumstance."
"To open the eyes of other people, sometimes you just have to act as broomsticks, cleaning the area when you yourself are not clean. In our case, coaching people the right way to act, even you yourself cannot do it. How do you think the priests live, Inuyasha? Every so often, they turn out to be the number one violators of their own sermons," Kagome said softly. Silence was kept between the friends. Dozing off, she was scooped up by Inuyasha and carried to the branch he left. He laid Kagome's head on his shoulder and supported her body with his, knowing she's fond of sleeping on the branch. Gazing at her sleeping face, he tucked hair strands behind her ears and whispered, 'I don't want you to be a broomstick, Kagome.'
c:
She popped one eye open, followed by the other. Seeing the pink ceiling with stick-on glow-in-the-dark stars, she recognized that she was in her room. Going down the stairs, she learned that Inuyasha had carried her from the Goshinboku tree from her mom. "Inuyasha is the sweetest boy, dear. He had that loving look when he had put you into bed," her mother winked at her and she blushed madly. "It's caring, mom. Not loving," she corrected her mother though her heart was beating rapidly from what her mom told her.
After her mom's disturbing comment, Kagome had been more perceptive on how Inuyasha would act towards her. A little silence from Kagome, and he would ask if anything's bothering her; a word from Kagome to come over dinner, and he would go without questions; she would catch him looking at her intently from time to time; and he would tuck her hair at the back of her ear whenever they have their heart-to-heart moments.
One night, after dinner with his family, Inuyasha and Kagome were lounging at his bedroom, watching "While You Were Sleeping". Inuyasha contentedly leans on the headboard with his legs straight on the bed, Kagome's head slanted to his shoulder. The film they're watching isn't really Inuyasha's line of movies but Kagome swayed his solid decision by threatening to slip telling the whole school about his loud snoring, backed up by her cellphone record. Habitually hanging up after school and watching DVD's, Inuyasha eventually fall asleep and Kagome would record his obnoxious snores. Sango and Miroku also hang out with them, but more often than not, they say they're busy doing 'something'. Not only does Kagome feel comfortable with Inuyasha now; she also feels something else for him — something she doesn't want to face yet. All she knows is that she's satisfied on how everything is going. She's slowly getting to know Inuyasha and their friendship is getting deeper than before. 'And if I'm lucky, this could lead to something more,' Kagome blushed, surprised at what came to her mind. She expected friendship with Inuyasha, she expected to slowly know what lies beneath his cool exterior, but what she didn't expect is reality to face her.
"Inuyasha," a soft feminine voice drifting from Inuyasha's bedroom doorway called.
Turning at the direction of her voice, "Kikyou…" a stunned Inuyasha whispered.
And it was all it took to wash Kagome's dreams down the drain.