My Girl

by Foayasha

Disclaimer: The epic of Inuyasha, while wonderful, does not belong to me. Thus I cannot, and do not, claim to own any of the characters in this short story... sadly, that includes the two who like to go jogging together.

ShagstheDustmop – thanks again for being such a great beta!

My Girl Chpt 2 – The guy who fell out of the tree

When he got home that afternoon he went straight to his closet and pulled out a small shoebox. Its appearance seemed tattered, and uncared for, but it held more memories than the rest of his belongings combined. He carried the worn out cardboard to his kitchen table and lifted the top. A few odds and ends were reveled from within, including several photos gracing the top of the pile. There was a girl in the images who looked faintly like the woman from the park this afternoon. In most of the photographs she was standing next to him holding his hand: Kikyo.

Sure, the girl in the photo had fairer skin than the Higurashi girl had, and her hair seemed more of a brown-black, where the younger girl's gleamed blue. If he recalled correctly, Kikyo was a bit taller as well, but in general those details were superficial. The biggest difference were in their expressions; their very aura. In his memories, she was always sad. Her brown eyes always reflected a bit of disappointment; how often had she really smiled? When he told her he loved her, or when he held her close? At those times she may have seemed calm, or serene, but cheerful or filled with joy? Such expressions were foreign to her.

Kagome, on the other hand, seemed to blossom with spirit and liveliness. He could tell the moment she rushed to his side, with the exuberance of a school girl (and he would know), there was something special within her. Her entire being was a beacon of light, shining brighter than he had ever seen before. Living life to its fullest must have been the same as breathing to her soul.

Ka go me...

Golden eyes softened at the thought of her name. He had done his best to not seem out of the ordinary while they were together. Well, the best he could after falling out of a tree. Maybe he had gone a little into left field at his attempt. Didn't he accuse her of staring at him? A smirk crossed his lips and he failed to notice how his face softened at the memory of meeting the young woman. He felt so at peace when she sat next to him, how could one random woman have such an effect on him.

Random, could he call her that? Maybe if he hadn't noticed how much she looked like Kikyo.

He briskly tossed his head, breathing deep, attempting to move away from those thoughts. How could he muse about this woman so blissfully? It was disrespectful to his past lover, and this woman he barely knew. The only reason he even paid her any attention was because of her resemblance to Kikyo. Right? Would she have had the same effect on him if she didn't resemble her? Oh well, no reason to worry about it, he would probably never see the woman again.

Why did that make him feel lonelier than he did a moment ago?

He couldn't think about being with someone who was so like his past love, even if he had moved past the relationship. Could he? Of course he couldn't. He couldn't even think about being with a woman that he just met. There are normally procedures that go in between gathering a name, and mating; at least there are now. Was that what he wanted? Gods he was so confused, where were all of these thoughts coming from? He needed to rid his mind of this woman. She could be a lesbian for all he knew, all bets are off at that point.

It just seemed wrong, considering the details of the past. He still has some fond memories of his relationship with Kikyo; she was his first real love. He kept a special place in his heart for her, but they had mutually decided to split up and go their separate ways. They knew it wasn't meant to be, and although he was sad to see it end, he was also excited to begin again.

He thought back to his last memory of her, a little more than five years since that 'encounter'. He learned a good lesson that night: just because you weren't 'together' when you showed up, doesn't mean that you won't 'get together' after fifteen or so Jager-bombs. The next evening, when they finally woke up, they both agreed it was a mistake; so they parted once more, without expectations, or hard feelings. That was the last he ever saw of her, and his only word that she still existed was from rumors, and gossip, but who can really trust it.

In the end he could say he wanted her to be happy, and he had heard that she was engaged, but he wasn't sure to whom. He truly was glad for her, and had hoped to find the same happiness for himself. Kikyo was a wonderful part of his life, but that was all she could be anymore, a part. A part that he had since moved forward from; if she had lived, she would have done the same.

[~~~~~]

3 Years Earlier

"Takahashi. Who's this?" He answered his phone candidly.

"Inuyasha? It's Kaede, remember me? Kikyo's sister," he heard the unfamiliar voice on the other end of the line. She didn't seem happy.

"Yeah, I recall. What's this about?" he questioned. What did Kikyo's sister have to call him about?

"I just wanted to let you know, since I knew you and Kikyo were very close at one time," she began, but he heard her choked sob. What was going on? She sighed, and sniffed, "I just wanted to let you know that Kikyo passed away this week."

"What? Passed away," he whispered, almost as if it weren't possible. Kikyo... Had died? He held his head down, dejected and mournful. "May I ask what happened?"

"She was donating a kidney," she began, and he could hear her smile a bit as she continued. "You know how generous she always was. During the procedure there was a scuffle in the main lobby; there was a gun. When the man ran, he found himself in the hall next to where her surgery was proceeding." She stopped for a moment, attempting to catch her breath between hiccupping sobs, "I was there when it happened. A shot went off, and cleared the wall into her room. They say that it was instant, and that she wouldn't have felt any pain, since she was already under anesthesia." Her broken sobbing finished her statement, while he sat silently.

"Thank you for calling me, Kaede," he said gruffly, attempting to cloud his sadness. "Take care of yourself."

"You do the same."

[~~~~~]

When he learned of her death, he grieved for the only woman he had ever loved. She had lived a tough life, and he was sad to see her hard work thrown in the gutter. At least she was in a better place now.

Sighing at the depressing thoughts he was bringing up from his past and the confusing ones from earlier, he casually tossed the photos back into the box. Even though he knew Kikyo wasn't the one, he hadn't truly been able to say he had found better. The other 'romances' he tried out, if they could even be called that, were shallow.

It was a mystery to him how he always seemed to attract the worst sort of women, time never changing their selfish desires. Some of the girls he met were plain gold diggers, through some obscure channel had learned he had a decent inheritance. Well, he wasn't Scrooge McDuck, but he didn't really need to work.

Oh, but it only gets better; he would even get females seeking a powerful youkai for a mate. At first he thought they had weird youkai fetishes, but then it would turn into something more sinister. What were they thinking? It wasn't like they lived in the Sengoku Jidai; he couldn't just waltz into a town and kill the headmaster. Maybe they thought he was the leader of some youkai mafia, bent on uprising, soon to take over the world. The imbeciles didn't even realize that as a hanyou, most full youkai didn't even recognize him on the same plane of existence.

The best of the bad were the women wanting a trophy husband. Really? Having great hair and rock hard abs doesn't automatically put him into the 'beautiful man' category... did it? What did they expect him to do? Clean their pools in only a loin cloth? Bend over to pick up the 'fallen' remote control? Chop wood unnecessarily in the front lawn while shirtless?

They were stupid wenches, the lot of em'; he could see through their ploys from the beginning. If he couldn't find a woman who would be as good for him as Kikyo had been, he wasn't going to waste his time. Going one step forward three steps back wasn't appealing in the least, it was downright illogical.

Feeling some odd urge, he rummaged around the box a few more minutes, digging at the odds and ends that it held; some of them were worn children toys, which he assumed were centuries old. There were several old letters that his father had written to his mother. As well as a few pictures of Sesshoumaru dangling him by the neck at their beach estate while he clung to him for dear life. Fond memories.

He scowled at a pair of small gleaming discs resting in the corner of the box. When his parents died, Sesshoumaru took most of the possessions and had them auctioned off; most except for a pair of swords, and a couple personal items. He was given Tessaiga, as a memory of his father, and a set of jewelry as a reminder of his mother. He weighed the discs in his hand, while admiring the craftsmanship. On the face of each was a picture of a white dog, a youkai seal, indicating Inu heritage.

Growling he remembered his mother wearing the entire set, but here he held what he had left of the now incomplete set. A piece was missing, and he had no clues as to where it had been misplaced. How could he have lost something so special? He felt like a fool, and it was just another reminder of some of his life failures.

He stood from the table, and walked to the cupboards, to pick out his selection of ramen for the evening. Afterwards he would need to start his lesson plans for work. He chuckled at that thought. Whenever he mused about his profession, it was humorous to him (and really, anyone else who knew him). Who would have ever thought that he, self-proclaimed 'worlds toughest hanyou', would end up as a kindergarten teacher.

[:::]

Inuyasha climbed out of his car, and walked eagerly toward the teachers' entrance of the school. He had been in several days previous, getting all of his lesson plans in order, cleaning up his room, and adding a few items he had picked up over his break. Today was the first day of his new class, but this was his smallest group as of yet. He only had fifteen kids, and only two of them were youkai, all the others were human. He preferred it when he had at least a handful of youkai, hanyou or hanpa* students in his class.

After getting a mug of coffee, and exchanging a few words with other faculty members, he headed made his way to the lounge exit. He stopped short when he noticed that his mail box, which was normally pretty empty, had several items in it already. One in particular catching his attention: a note from the principle. It was alerting him to a student transfer from another class into his. Apparently the distribution was uneven, and they needed to spread them out.

[~~~]

Mr. Takahashi,

We are migrating several students from Mr. Suikotsu's class, due to the accidental overload he was given. For your class we will be adding Aimi Akitoki. Your attendance sheet has been amended for the day. The change will be permanent as of tomorrow.

Please notice, the girl's mother said she was tested for youkai blood at birth, but they came back negative. She is not sure of the girl's lineage, and has doubts of her full human blood.

Thank you for your cooperation,
Principle Myoga Theflea

[~~~]

Well, that's odd. The parent doesn't know if the girl has youkai blood or not? She was either really wasted when she got knocked up, or the child was adopted. Is the mother worried about it? If she was tested at birth, that means the mother, or father, had concerns.

Damn, he didn't need this sort of parent. Prejudice was far from common anymore, but he still got his fair share. If this mother was going to give him trouble, it would be a pain, but he wasn't going to put up with it.

Later that morning the students began to file into class. He welcomed parents into the room, most of them very pleasant, and the others just seemed indifferent. He even had the pleasure of instructing his brother's adopted daughter, Rin. Sesshoumaru was very specific when addressing the girl, never calling her his daughter. He would instead only refer to her as 'his ward'. When he stopped by the class he told him to take the best care of her, or death and pain would soon follow for him. He followed that up with a comment about how his occupation and blood were an insult to his Inu heritage. That was just the sort of brotherly love he had learned to expect from him.

He only had one full youkai student, Shippo Takata, who was also adopted. This was one of the boys he remembered seeing at the park. He had yet to show up, but he was a Kitsune, which made Inuyasha cringe at the thought of his last Kitsune student. The illusions and tricks the runt played on him had his head ready to explode. In the old days he would have just pummeled the kit in the head, but that was hardly allowed any longer.

His other youkai student, Shiori, was a hanyou like himself. When she arrived, her grandfather seemed nice enough, but he got the feeling the old bat wasn't as nice as he seemed. The girl was quiet, and she obediently took her seat once she was directed to it. Her polite attitude in class would be nice, but at the same time he felt it would be good for her to make some new friends. Learning that she was welcomed and wanted would be good for her self-esteem.

Most of his human students were similar to others that he had before, with varying personalities, a mix of girls and boys. Most of them were playing at various volumes within the classrooms desks, and mats. He watched them carefully, letting them play until all of his students arrived. Class wasn't scheduled to start until nine, and it was still at least fifteen minutes before.

Checking away at his attendance sheet, he glanced at the name 'Akitoki, Aimi'; it had been scribbled next to the neatly printed names of his other students. This child was still nowhere to be found, but that could be easily explained. Her parents thought she was in a different class; they were probably searching for the wrong room.

He frowned that he would probably need to hunt for the Akitoki's, but he couldn't leave his class unattended. As luck would have it though, the kindergarten and first grade all shared one intern, who was currently passing by.

"Hey, wolf breath," he called to the Ookami who was walking down the hall. He was just a college student who was doing his teaching internship, but he liked to tease him. "Keep an eye on my class; I think I'm missing someone who might be walking around the halls."

Koga glared at him as entered the room, but took a seat patiently at his desk; without another word Inuyasha went out into the school halls in search of his missing student. As he walked through his classroom door, Shippo, his Kitsune pupil, came scampering in. He was followed closely by his parents. Inuyasha actually knew Miroku, and he greeted him properly. The two men jogged the same route each morning, and had become decent friends.

After the Takata's had left, he went back into the hallway, only to find it had been blocked by several large tables. Lines had formed in front of each and were manned by pairs of parents handing out leaflets; the notorious PTA doing signups for all the new children to the school district.

Through the murmuring of the gathered adults, he could hear a small pleading voice; a child calling to someone in a distressed tone. Whoever it was, they were beyond the crowd of people who were busy signing paperwork, or casually mingling like the nosey parents in the town seemed to enjoy. He pushed past the mob, and looked around, straining his ears for the child that drew his attention.

"Mommy, we need to go inside," he heard a young girl say, in a patient, yet nervous voice. "I'll protect you, I swear Mommy. I don't want to be late for class. My friend said if I'm late, the teacher will eat me."

He rolled his eyes at her unnecessary paranoia, but smiled at the idea of a young girl protecting her mother. It reminded him of the child from the park the other day; the one who had shooed him away. As a matter of fact, it was meeting that hanpa in particular which solidified his choice to leave the park that day, despite wanting to stay a bit longer with the Higurashi woman. The child's scent was odd to him, and the fact that she had the family traits of his blood made him extremely uncomfortable. Once again, shaking off the troublesome thoughts, he moved forward to find the girl he had heard.

Directly outside of the doors to the school stood a woman, bundled in a burgundy dress coat, leaning against the wall. Her back was to him, with a shoulder resting heavily on the brick of the school. The young girl had one of her hands clasped in her mothers, gently tugging at her, requesting that they go into the school.

The girl had a hat covering her head, and her hair had been tucked into the back of her own light blue puffy coat. He pushed open the doorway, and walked over to the pair.

"Is there a problem here?" he asked calmly. The girl didn't let her face turn to him when she replied.

"My Mommy doesn't like lots of people, it makes her very scared," she replied sadly. He could hear the worried tone in her voice, making him almost feel sorry for the huddling woman.

"Are you trying to get into the school? Are you here for class young lady?" he attempted to get some information out of the girl; otherwise she might have been stuck out here forever it seemed. Her mother just stood frozen to the wall. Was she even awake? Maybe she was able to pass out, and still remain upright.

"This is so embarrassing, I'm so sorry," the woman disproved his earlier thought. "Yes, my daughter is here for her first day of school, but I can't go in the building. I took one look at that crowd, and panicked."

"Alright, I can take you in another entrance," he replied, attempting to relieve the situation. "One that isn't in a direct path of the PTA sign-ups. What class is your daughter in?"

"She's in Mr. Suikotsu's class," she said shakily, still leaning heavily on the wall of the school. "Would you really mind taking us?"

"Not at all, I'm on staff here," he replied, turning around to lead her into the school, "Just follow me."

He led them to the side entrance of the school, on the other side of the playground, the exit the teachers for the first grade used to go for recess. He opened the doorway, and two swiftly made their way into the building, both of their faces still shrouded. He noticed that their scents were somewhat familiar, but with all of the trips he had made to the park recently, he could have seen them there before.

"Suikotsu's room is just this way," he said, again taking the lead. Only a moment later, they came to the doorway. His breath hitched in his throat when the woman removed her daughter's hat, finally standing up straight, and facing him directly. It was the woman from the park the other day, and her daughter.

"Mrs. Higurashi, I didn't even recognize you," he said with a smile. He knew he shouldn't be so excited to see her again, but he was. She still appeared to be extremely distressed from her troubles earlier, and hadn't noticed his excitement.

"Ahh, the guy who fell out of the tree, stalking kids again are you?" she said in a cold tone. Stony eyes locked onto his when she answered, crossing her arms haughtily.

The hell? What's her damn problem?

"Keh… not exactly," he answered equally cold. "I told you, I'm a teacher here. I go to the park on certain days to see potential new students."

"No, you said you're on staff," She quipped dryly, never losing her skeptical glare, "Are you sure you aren't a janitor, or possibly a bus driver?"

"Let's go with no," he replied unimpressed. "This is your stop. You can take the same exit when you're ready to leave." He turned without waiting for her reply, deciding to return to his class. He had just helped the wench, but instead of being grateful, she called him… a janitor. Well, he didn't need to waste his time with PMSing women anyways. Maybe the Akitoki girl had made it in while he was helping the Higurashis.

Once he got back into his room, Koga was fiddling with some of the toys he had sitting on his desk. After swatting the Ookami in the head, he let him excuse himself. While he was walking out, Inuyasha heard him making some sort of conversation right outside his door, which he ignored. Taking stock of his class, he saw two minutes remained before school would begin. Aimi had yet to show up, so he would probably need to mark the girl as absent.

Only a moment later, there was another knock at his open door. He looked over to see Kagome, who was standing behind her daughter, unbundled at this point. She had worn a pair of sleek jeans, and a casual t-shirt, giving her a laid back look. High contrast to his suit pants, tie and collared shirt. What he would give to be able to dress casually at work. Her hair was down, framing her lovely heart shaped face, which was accented with a sheepish smile. She was beautiful, he had to admit.

"Mr. Takahashi," she began coyly, "I'm sorry to have put the run around on you, but my daughter seems to be your missing student."

"No, I don't have a Higurashi in my class," he stated in monotone, still feeling a bit irritated by her put off demeanor earlier.

"I understand, but that isn't her name. This is my daughter, Aimi Akitoki," she finished with a smile. Had she forgotten that she called him a janitor a few minutes ago? Well at least she was proud of her daughter, and had a good healthy relationship, which made him happy.

Inuyasha showed Aimi to her desk, and stared to walk back to his own. Her mother walked over to him before he started his class, to ask him quickly if he knew of her 'special case'.

"What do you mean, 'special case', Mrs. Higurashi," he huffed, attempting to not sound insulted.

"I just mean that I haven't had her tested since she was adopted, but I'm fairly positive one of her natural parents was hanyou, if not youkai," she said plainly. She didn't seem to have any sort of affliction to the idea, but she still felt it necessary to point it out. So what if her daughter was part youkai, what difference did it make?

"Well, I had better be off. Have a good day, darling," she said sweetly to her daughter, before exiting his class.

[~A:|:N~]

4108

Vocab Time!

Ookami – Wolf

*Hanpa – Fragment, or Incompleteness [This term will be used to describe those who are ¼ youkai or less.]

special case - Something you don't call your 5 year old daughter ^_^

Inuyasha's POV… man that isn't easy to write. I want to say 'Keh' before everything he says, lol. Because that's just how I imagine him acting, always so defensive.

- Foayasha