Broken
The Homework
"Wow" Kagome sighed, "It sure is hot today"
A growl from beside her alerted her to the fact that she was trying to slip a finger through the gap in her cast to itch her arm.
The miko sighed again. It's been two weeks since that day she broke her arm and frankly she was sick of the stupid cast. Apart from hampering her balance and making her clumsier than she already was, it was making her arm feel very uncomfortable now that the temperature was going up, it being summer now.
But on the upside, Inuyasha had started to become a little less protective; at least he let her walk now, provided it was a flat surface. He considered the stairs too dangerous for her to climb on her own, but hey, something was better than nothing right?
The hanyou beside her yawned, his sharp fangs glinted in the sunlight filtering in through her window. Kagome giggled slightly.
"You can go down and watch T.V or something if you're bored Inuyasha"
"Yeah right!" he snorted, "You'll probably break you're other arm too if I leave you alone, no way, ain't gonna happen"
Kagome huffed in annoyance; this was a rather new development. Or maybe she just noticed it a few days ago but Inuyasha was always there wherever she was; never leaving her side unless she needed to use the bathroom but even then he was right outside the door.
Her mother told her to humor him and that he was only acting like this because he was worried about her but she was starting to feel suffocated, like he was a second shadow or something.
"Inuyasha, I am not going to break my other arm, I am just going to sit here on this bed and wait for my friends"
Yes, she was waiting for her loud, giggly friends, Yuka, Eri and Ayumi who had generously volunteered to drop off Kagome's homework after school. Kagome secretly guessed that it was only to see her 'rude arrogant boyfriend' again.
"Speaking of your friends, where the hell are they?!"
"They should be here in a few minutes and stop yelling in my ear!"
"Why? You do it all the time" he mumbled, but Kagome heard him anyway.
"What was that?" she snarled.
"Kagome!" her mom called out from downstairs, "Your friends are here!"
The hanyou sighed in relief; he never thought he'd actually feel grateful for the miko's annoying friends, but he sure was now.
"Kagome!" he heard three squeals as three girls, wearing the same clothes that Kagome usually wore, came bursting in through the door.
"Hey guys" Kagome managed to get out over their squawking.
Then, all of them started talking at once and Inuyasha had to pin his ears down under the cap he was wearing. Kagome threw him a helpless look from inside the circle her friends had barricaded her with and the hanyou sighed. Seriously, what would she do without him?
"Shut the hell up!" he yelled, making the room go very quiet, "You are not helping Kagome's broken arm by talking at her like that, so give her the damn homework and get out of here"
Kagome hit her forehead with the hand attached to her good arm; she needed to teach him what 'tact' was one of these days.
"Kagome" the girl with the headband said, grinning widely, "Looks like you've gotten closer to your boyfriend now"
"Yeah, you've got him taking care of you and everything" the girl with the short hair was wearing an identical grin.
"Aww, come one guys, I think its sweet he cares about her so much" the girl with curly hair piped up. She gave Inuyasha a warm smile.
"W-What?" the miko stuttered, she was blushing crimson by now, "You don't know what you're talking about!"
Inuyasha was blushing as well, on second thought, he wasn't all that grateful at all.
"Keh"
"Alright alright" The girl with the headband said, "We'll leave you two alone"
Kagome sighed, why was she friends with them again?
"Here's your homework Kagome" Yuka handed her a folder.
Oh yeah, this was why.
"We'll leave" Eri started saying as she dug in her backpack for something, "Right after you let us sign your cast!"
She held up a black permanent marker for all to see. The other two girls squealed at this and proceeded to fight about who would be first.
"What are they doing?" The hanyou looked at them warily.
"I gave up trying to figure them out a long time ago" Kagome said, looking just as wary.
"So" Kagome said, flipping through her homework folder, "What should I start with first?"
"Uh…should I answer that?" Inuyasha stared at the back of her head.
"I guess I should get math done with" she continued, ignoring him. She took out a few sheets of paper and smoothed them out on her desk before pulling a pen out from the top drawer.
The hanyou leaned back against the wall next to the bed and closed his eyes, until a strange grunting sound made the ears on the top of his head swivel.
"Dang it!" the miko yelled in frustration as she slammed the pen down on the desk.
"What's wrong?" Inuyasha asked, his eyes still closed.
"I can't write with my left hand!" Kagome wailed, letting her head drop down on the homework sheets.
The half dog demon sighed, he pulled himself up off the comfy bed and walked over to the miko and looked over her shoulder after she'd straightened up. He saw something that looked like a really squiggly one and then something that looked suspiciously like a four, or maybe it was an eight?
Kagome suddenly snapped her head up to look at him; her mouth was set in a thin line, almost in resignation.
"What?" the hanyou asked, a little scared about what she was thinking.
"You'll have to write it for me"
"What!" Inuyasha backed up several feet, "But I don't know anything about your homework"
The miko sighed, "You don't have to do my homework, just write what I dictate"
Seeing no other way around it and not really feeling like being 'sat', Inuyasha growled. Seriously, the things he did for his Kagome
"Fine, bitch"
"So he wants a bag with a red ball?"
"No, he already has the bag"
"Then what the hell is he whining for?"
"He's not whining! He just wants to take a red ball out of the bag" Kagome sighed, trying to explain the concept of probability to a half demon was worse than actually having to do the problems.
Inuyasha stared blankly at her, the pen was held unmoving above the sheet of paper.
"Now see here" Kagome said pointing at the homework sheet, "The problem says, 'A man has two bags, one with five red balls and seven white balls and the other bag contains eight red balls and four white balls. Considering that he chooses the first bag, what is the probability of pulling out a red ball from the bag?'"
"See he already has the first bag, and that bag has twelve balls in it out of which five are red. So the probability of pulling out a red ball from the bag is 5/12. Get it?"
The hanyou's eyebrow twitched.
"Alright then" Kagome put the sheets back inside the folder, "Lets see what we have in Physics"
"Ok, it says, 'A bird perches on a bare high power line but nothing happens to it while a man standing on the ground suffers a shock on touching the same line. Why?' Kagome read out from the sheet of paper.
"What the hell is a high power line?"
"It's sort of like a rope that carries electricity" the miko tried to explain.
"Eklek…what?"
"Electricity" Kagome corrected, "it's kind of like lightning"
"Ok, so the man dies if he touches one of these power things?" The hanyou asked.
"Well, it doesn't say here, but I guess so" It'd probably take her all night and maybe even the whole of next day to finish her homework at the rate this was going.
Kagome gave a resigned sigh.
"So is the bird a demon then?" Inuyasha distracted her from her depressing thoughts.
"What? No, it's just a regular bird"
"Then, why doesn't the bird die too?"
"Because it's in the air and air doesn't conduct electricity as good as the earth does and so the man standing on the ground gets a shock and the bird doesn't"
"Kagome…" Inuyasha stared at her, "That makes no sense at all!"
"Just write it!"
It was really hot, her broken arm was itchy and Inuyasha wouldn't let her scratch it, she had a ton of homework to do and being told that she made no sense grated menacingly on her already thinning patience.
"Alright, next question, 'A comb run through one's dry hair attracts small bits of paper. Why? What happens if the hair is wet or it is a rainy day?'"
"Is it a magic comb?"
"Oh for the love of…!" Kagome stuffed the sheets into the folder with a rather impressive growl.
"We should have started with English first anyway" the miko said as she smoothed the English homework down on her desk as best she could, having just one functioning arm.
"Keh" Inuyasha grunted, he personally liked those Physics questions. They were fun.
"Write down a favorite poem or song and explain why it's special to you in not more than a hundred words" Kagome read out, her voice breaking a little on the 'special'.
This day just kept getting better and better…
"Who the hell is this Drew guy you keep talking about? Are you hiding something from me Kagome?!"
"He's just a guy in the song Inuyasha" It was bad enough she had to spill her guts out like this, but did he have to ask questions on each and every line of the song as well? The gods really hated her. Why else would they have made her break her right arm…
"Write the chorus again in the next line" she said, secretly admiring his penmanship. Really, her hanyou was just full of surprises.
"Right what's next?" Inuyasha asked, his pen already positioned in place waiting for her dictation.
"So I drive home alone, as I turn out the light"
She saw the pen glide along the paper as it inked in the words.
"I'll put his picture down and maybe get some sleep tonight"
Kagome closed her eyes, ever since she first heard this song; she couldn't help wonder at how well this fit her life. Just change the name 'Drew' with 'Inuyasha' and this would be her song.
"He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar, the only one who's got enough of me to break my heart"
"He's the song in the car I keep singing, don't know why I do"
"He's the time taken up, but there's never enough and he's all that I need to fall into"
"Drew" Inuyasha "Looks at me, I fake a smile so he won't see…"
"Is that all?" the hanyou asked, putting the pen down and cracking his knuckles.
"We just have that hundred word paragraph left" Kagome said, her lips twitching up slightly.
And this was probably as good as it was ever going to get.
She was his best friend, and that was all she would ever be to him. She loved him, but he loved someone else and there was nothing she could do about it. But that didn't stop her; she still loved him and she still hoped, still believed that he could somehow love her back. But in the end, it was all just wishful thinking. Life isn't a fairytale, and she wasn't the princess. Reality could be cruel. That is why this song is special to me, deep down she knows she might never get what she wants, but that doesn't stop her from believing…
Inuyasha re-read what he had written, or rather, what Kagome had just said. Is that what she truly believed?
He sneaked a glance at the object of his affections, could it be that she thought of him the same way?
Kagome was going through her homework folder, a slight crease to her forehead as she read through something. But he didn't miss the shine in her eyes or the faint scent of salt.
He absolutely hated it when she cried; it made him feel so useless, like he had failed to protect her. Especially when those tears were because of him, he bit back a whine.
His amber orbs drifted to the cast and he saw the black scribbles that her friends had written on it. The miko had told him that it wouldn't hurt her arm in any way if someone wrote on the cast; in fact she had said that it was almost a tradition over here to have people sign your cast.
"H-hey Kagome"
Her eyes snapped up to meet his, "Yeah?"
"Can I sign your cast?"
"What?" her face filled with surprise.
"Can I sign your cast?! Damnit, are you deaf wench?" he hated it when she made him repeat himself.
"Uh…O-Ok?" Now she sure wasn't expecting that…
She held out her cast to him and he held it carefully, being mindful of his claws and started etching whatever it was he wanted to write, onto an empty space with the pen.
Once he was done, he let go of her broken arm, the floor suddenly became very interesting.
She took back her arm and read what he wrote, her eyes widening in disbelief. She looked back up at him but he was looking everywhere but at her. A slight blush was marring his cheeks.
There, right in the middle of her friends' messy scribbles…
Don't stop believing
-Inuyasha
Her lips curved into a beautiful smile, "Thank you...Inuyasha"
"Keh" he snorted, "Whatever wench"
He looked at her from the corner of his eyes and his heart nearly melted when he saw her smiling so happily down at her cast. Someday, he just might tell her how he truly felt, but until then...he hoped that sign on her cast would be enough.
"So..." he said after a few moments of silence, "Can we do more of those Physics questions now?"
AN: - I am so so sorry this took so long to update but had tests at school the whole of last month. But, I'm not really very satisfied with the way this chapter turned out, Somehow, the last two chapters seemed more...fun? But I guess that's what you get when you write a chapter about homework...ugh!
I promise though, the next chapter should be much better, so stay tuned!
Thank you so much! *passes out little Inuyasha cookies to all the amazing reviewers*
Please read and review
Till next time...