-A/N- Hallo! I know I have other stories to write, but the idea for this one wouldn't leave me alone... So here it is!
-Disclaimer- Me not ownin' teh inu. Me see problem here. Me sad.
-*-
Kagome stared at her toes, trying to come up with a response to the question that had just been asked of her.
She had been attending History class, just like a good little student. She had walked into the class, found her seat, set her belongings down, and waited for the bell that signaled the beginning of class patiently, just like a good little student. She had opened her textbook to the right page at the teacher's command, just like a good little student. She had read the story in the book quietly, just like a good little student.
Then her expression had changed to that of abject horror.
She had started wailing, screaming and crying in the middle of class, just like a bad little student. She had received prolonged attention and many odd stares from her classmates, just like a bad little student. She refused to stop when the teacher requested she calm down, just like a bad little student. She had been called down to the office, just like a bad little student.
And so she stood outside the heavy wooden doors, awaiting her fate. Just like a bad little student.
Her eyes were red, her nose was running, and the silence was only punctuated by the occasional sniffles that drifted from her direction.
"Come in, come in," Boomed a loud, friendly voice, belonging to the school principal.
So she walked cautiously past the large doors and the secretary pointed her in the right direction, after handing her a tissue. She continued on, still sniffling occasionally. Eventually, she walked through the door to the principal's office, and he asked that she sit down. She obliged, staring at her hands in her lap, but still feeling the principal's gaze.
"I hear you had an outburst in History, Higurashi."
She only nodded.
"I hear you were crying."
She nodded a second time.
"You must have been very upset."
Again, a nod.
"What exactly was so upsetting?"
This time, only a sniffle. And a dab from the already soaked tissue.
"I see. Would you prefer to speak to a counselor?"
Another nod.
"Alright, Fukawa-sensei's office is in that direction."
She nodded with a sort of finality, got up, and walked in the direction the principal pointed, still holding the damp tissue. She walked through this smaller door, and immediately felt out of place in the cheery room, brightly colored flowers on the desk and pictures of who must have been children and relatives littering the walls with their smiling faces. A small, plump woman peeked out from behind the vase of the aforementioned flowers, and gave the teen a greeting.
"You don't look very happy, dear..." The woman, probably in her mid-forties, regarded her kindly.
A nod. Accompanied by a sniffle.
"Let's see..." She said, picking up a stack of papers and donning a small pair of glasses. "The report says your name is Higurashi Kagome, correct?" She looked up and Kagome nodded.
"You were crying in class?"
A nod.
"And screaming?"
A more sheepish nod.
"Why?"
A sniffle.
"What was so upsetting?"
A shuffle of feet and another sniffle.
And this is how she found herself, Cowering with a runny nose in a small but cheery room, before a middle-aged woman named Fukawa, with a kind smile and a few gray hairs.
"I-I was..." Kagome's voice sounded small and afraid. "I..."
She still couldn't find a response and she sighed.
"Why don't you sit down?"
A scraping of chair legs against the ground and she sat. And dabbed her face with the ever-present soggy tissue.
"Now," She began, "Let's start at the beginning."
Kagome gave a shuddering sigh of resignation.
"You were in class. Which class?"
"History." She meekly replied.
"I see. What were you doing in History?"
"Reading."
"Ah. What were you reading?"
"A story in the textbook."
"And what was this story about?"
Kagome looked away, tears pooling in her eyes.
"I'd rather not say..."
"Well, If you can come back tomorrow, maybe you'd feel more comfortable discussing it then?"
"Maybe..."
"Alright, sometime tomorrow I'll call you over the intercom, and we can talk more about it. Just have another moment to calm down, and here, have a new tissue..."
She passes a pink and orange tie-dye patterned tissue box towards Kagome, and she gladly took one, discarding the no longer ever-present soggy tissue. Then she stood, gave a polite bow, and pushed the chair in.
"Bye, Fukawa-sensei."
"Please, just call me Hana." The older woman smiled warmly.
"Alright, Hana-sensei... Thank you."
With that, she turned on her heel and walked out of the office.
But then she wished she had stayed and dreaded going back to class. Luckily, the bell rang and she was spared having to return to stares and giggles and whispers. She hurried on to her next class.
-*-
She walked in the front door, briefly stopping to remove her shoes in the genkan.
"Tadaima!" She greeted.
But instead of the warm reply she had expected, she was met with her mother standing in the kitchen doorway, hands on her hips, a frown on her face.
"The school called today."
"Ohh..." She groaned, rolling her eyes.
"You had a fit over something in the textbook?" She asked, incredulous. "What could be that bad?"
"Mom, you wouldn't understand..."
"Well, make me understand!"
She hesitated momentarily.
"It was about Inuyasha... Mom, can you believe it? Inuyasha's in the textbook!"
"And just how did this make you cry?"
Kagome paused, her eyes brimmed over with tears, and she tumbled sobbing, up the stairs to her room. Sota popped his head around the living room door to watch his sister leave a soggy trail behind and slam the door.
"Wow... Are all girls this weird, Grandpa?"
"Well, when girls get closer to Kagome's age, they can be very emotional, so it's best just not to upset them..." But all Sota heard was "Well, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah..."
"Okay, Gramps, I got it." He sighed, sitting back down in front of the TV.
-*-
When Kagome had calmed down enough to stop crying, she sniffled a few times and pulled her History textbook out of her bag, and onto her bed. She opened it to the story she had read earlier, and began rereading it, forcing herself not to burst into tears another time. She just sniffled and was soon engrossed in the story.
There is a legend, from the sixteenth century, that states there was a brave inu-hanyou who, with the help of his five companions, a miko, a monk, a taijiya, the taijiya's nekomata, and a kitsune-youkai child, he defeated an evil kumo-hanyou who was the fear of all in the land. He was known as the savior of all Nippon, and was mated to the miko who traveled with him almost exactly a year later. The monk and the taijiya were wed a few months after this, and the kitsune grew up and moved out into the world, still making frequent visits to the miko and hanyou, because they had been like second parents to him after his own were killed.
However, this was a short-lived happiness, for in the year 1507, the savior of all the nation made a simple mistake, and his house was set aflame by an unattended cooking fire, and he, without his customary robes that could have protected him against the fire, was burned alive while his house fell around him and his mate was out visiting friends. The house had been positioned away from others in the village, as to promote solitude, and this is why nobody else spotted the flames until too late. It was an awful end, and his friends grieved for him constantly.
Despite her hard efforts, Kagome was again in tears by the end, and she cried herself to sleep this way, her head still on the page she had been reading.
Later, her mother came up to turn out the lights when she had seen they were still on, but was sidetracked by the book under her daughter's head. She pulled it away as gently as she could, and read it as well, wondering what could have distraught Kagome so. She finished with tears in her eyes as well, and quietly turned out the lights, leaving the teen to sleep.
I'm so sorry, Kagome...
-*-
-A/N- Well, how did you like it? PLEASE review, tell me what you think. I live off your reviews, feed me!
~Xie xie, Joy