Deceitful Time
Chapter Three: Diffident

"That's…" Kagome awed as her shaky, pale, smooth hand rose up to trace the black kanji that had been printed upon him. Alas, with a hazy mind still her fingers slid away from the tattoo and traced his arm almost fully, "you were always strong but looked scrawny most of the time. But now you don't, you are very toned."

He just gave a slow nod with a raised brow before he snatched her hand, winning her confused gaze to lock back onto his eyes, "Kagome."

"Inuyasha," she soothed, his eyes were so different. His body was a bit more buff, not drastically, but noticeably, his hair was short and black, his doggy ears were gone, but nothing stood out to her like his eyes. It wasn't even the color so much as what they were laced with, what was it…? The Inuyasha she knew had his burdens, his sorrows, but was strong nevertheless and short-tempered to counter it all but this Inuyasha… there was something mixed in with the emptiness.

Something that even an intoxicated Kagome wanted to make go away, with a step forward she almost had her body pressed against his, "Inu—"

But he didn't allow her the time to finish his name before he literally swept her off of her feet to plop her down on his spacious, luxurious, red bed. Bafflement might have blemished her beauty some but he leaned down to kiss her before she could protest. Her eyes widened as his closed, it only took a moment for hers to do the same, for her to lie down fully as his lips left hers to trail down her neck.

He was gentle, more so than he had ever been with another. It wasn't until she relaxed fully that he moved down to remove her boots and socks. Gradually, he let his hand roam up to the outer side of her leg until he reached her oversized shirt. She was lovely and possessed a natural splendor; he knew how rare that was and had always been partial to it. Perhaps she had a strange behavior, but if it subsided some he could easily see how she had enchanted him enough to—

"What?" He growled as he looked up to the oddly quiet girl that ought to be whimpering, fiddling around some, or asking him to go slower, faster, to be gentle with her, to be harsh, but… his brow twitched as he placed a hand beside her head to look her straight in the face.

She. Had. Fallen. Asleep.

No one, he was quiet sure of it, had ever fallen asleep on him before! This woman, he shook some as he got off the bed and grabbed his not yet finished glass of brandy.

"Pain in the ass," he grunted to himself.

{xoxoxoxoxox}

When had the ground ever been so comfy? When had her sleeping bag ever really kept her hair free from twigs, dirt or leaves? She smiled softly to herself as she rolled over and snuggled closer to the pillow below her… wait… pillow? Fluttered eyes finally opened up enough for her to focus on her surroundings. That was right, she wasn't with Inuyasha back in the past, she was at home.

Hold it, she snapped up and spun out of the foreign bed. No she wasn't; where was she?

"Oh my god!" Kagome shrieked as she grabbed the alarm clock beside the bed, "I'm going to be late to school!"

"What are you complaining about?" Inuyasha inquired as he walked into the room only to stop dead in his tracks when he saw the look on her face. Stun, shock, and utter disgust.

"Oh my god!" she repeated, had she really gone home with a stranger? What did she do? What did she do? She closed her eyes and took a breath before checking to see and, yes, thankfully, she had her clothes on. The only thing missing were her boots. She would never do something inappropriate even if she was intoxicated... right?

"What is wrong with you?" He bickered while she jumped about to get her boots back on, completely disregarding her socks. He stepped aside as she ran by him, "where are you going?"

"School! Stay away from me you creeper! How could you take a drunken high schooler back to your apartment!?" Kagome lectured as she went to the door and yanked it open, only turning around enough to give him one hell of a look, "creeper!"

Creeper? His jaw actually dropped, creeper? He was a creeper? He'd never been called that… "wait—!" but it was useless, she slammed the door shut with all her might.

{xoxoxoxoxoxo}

"Kagome, where have you been?" Her mother worriedly questioned as her daughter darted past her and up the stairs, "Kagome!"

"Sorry, mom! I have to change, I'm going to be late for school!" she shouted back down as she pulled her shirt off and changed into her uniform quicker than she ever had in her entire life.

"Kagome," her mother kept up as soon as she exited her room, "please, tell me where you went last night. Did you go back through the well? I wish you'd tell me when you do that. I worry. I am probably the only mother in the entire world that would allow you to do something so dangerous… but I accept it is your fate… so the least you can do is tell me where you are when you are here. I called Eri's home and her mother said you weren't there…"

"Sorry, mom, I have to go, I can't miss my final. I'll tell you everything later," Kagome promised after she gave her mother a quick peck on the cheek, "I am sorry for making you worry!"

{xoxoxoxoxox}

"Kagome," Ayumi smirked as she rested her arms on his friend's desk after the final bell rung, then her chin upon them, "where'd you end up going last night, hm? With Mr. Cutie? Naughty, naughty."

"Shut up, it's not like that," Kagome ordered but it came out far less firm than she would have hoped since she had her head buried in her folded arms. Could it get any worse? She defiantly got at best a D on her history final and left, drunkenly, with some creeper the night before. Granted, a cute creeper.

"What are you talking about?" Hojo asked with a bit of a frown, he had always sat right next to Kagome in any class they had together.

"Oh, last night we took Kagome to the clubs for the first time and she got a bit intoxicated for the first time," Ayumi began.

"Did you get your first kiss last night, Kagome?" Sachiko smiled innocently as she knelt beside her friend, "was it a good kiss? My first kiss was nasty, that guy opened his mouth so much, ew," she shivered at the thought.

"First... kiss...?" Hojo awed, Kagome, the most beautiful girl in all the school, had never been kissed before and he failed to become her first? That would have just completed his life if he had.

"Leave me alone," she kept up as she raised her head to glare at Ayumi, "of course I didn't do anything with that guy. I'm not a tramp or anything. My clothes never came off around him."

"That's too bad," Eri giggled as she came up to her, "he was good looking, I hope you got his number at the least."

"I told you Kagome probably just went home," Sachiko defended.

"No, why would I get his number? I hope I never see him again in my life," she stated with a 'hmph'. Because, really it would be so embarrassing to see that guy, he must think she's such an easy catch…

"Doesn't look like that's going to happen," Eri declared with a nod towards the window, "that guy's waiting at the front gate."

"Oh, Kagome, nice," Sachiko praised with two thumbs up, "you got him coming to pick you up from school. Does he go to college? He looks old enough."

What was he doing there? Kagome could feel the color drain from her face as she looked out to see him lazily lean against the gate, staring aimlessly ahead

"Who is that, Kagome?" Hojo asked but a few seconds too late, since when he looked back to where she had just stood she was gone.

"It's OK, Hojo," Ayumi assured with a pat on his back, "do you want to walk me home instead?"

"What are you doing here?!" Kagome cried out as she stomped over to him, it wasn't until she was only a few feet away when he stood up and looked at her. "How do you even know what school I go to? You stalker!"

"You left this," he began as he held out her student ID. "Settle down, Kagome," he did enjoy saying that name when he had someone to say it to. "I want to talk to you."

"No," she snapped as she swiftly pulled the ID out of his grasp, "leave me alone!" Forget her next final; she was only going to fail it anyway so she'd just go back to the feudal era that night. Without once making eye contact with him, because that would have been too shameful, her cheeks were too red to start out with anyway, she'd leave. She was sure he thought it was out of anger but it wasn't… she closed her eyes before turning around and running off towards her home. It was just too embarrassing knowing she had gone home with that guy! Oh, Inuyasha would be so mad at her…

She had to go see him, go back a day early. Maybe she should just do what Souta was always told her to do and give up on school for a year and start over later. That would probably be best for her college chances, yeah! She'd just devote the rest of the year to finishing off Naraku and the shikon no tama. That way everyone would be happy, sure her friends would be a year ahead of her but wouldn't she just be held back anyway for her horrid grades? At least this way she could blame it on her 'illness' and most colleges would probably understanding her being out for a year of high school because of whatever her grandpa came up with.

A gasp for air was deeply needed after she finally slowed down in front of the well's hut; she had gotten very good at long distance running. You had to be when demons were out to kill you almost every day, after all.

"Kagome," the sound of her own name almost made her jump right out of her skin as her hand slapped against her heart, "sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"Mom," she sighed after turning around to give a weak smile, "nothing, what's up?"

"I was doing your laundry today…" her mother began with furrowed brows and the most discrete frown, "and your clothes from last night smelled of alcohol… where did you go? I understand nowadays high school children go out and do things they shouldn't but… couldn't you not? I let you go back and forth; I let you do so poorly in school, is it too much to ask that you focus on school when you are home?"

"M-mom," she stuttered before her eyes met the ground, "I'm sorry…"

"It's alright, children make mistakes," her mother smoothed as she placed a hand on her shoulder, "did anything bad happen last night?"

"No! I promise, I didn't do anything," she sped, "I promise."

Her mother opened her mouth to inquire about her dearest daughter's strange behavior but someone caught her eye first, "can we help you?"

Reluctantly, Kagome took a breath before turning her head to see just who she expected… him, Shiro…

"What, Shiro?" Kagome sighed.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Kagome…? Is this a friend of yours from school?"

With a breath she was able to let her tension hide behind a bright smile, for her mother's sake, "he is a friend of mine, can you give me a moment, mom? We can talk about this later, OK?"

"If you say so, Kagome," her mother wirily replied before looking over the boy she had never seen before, but he was oddly familiar, as she walked back into their house.

"How do you know where I live?" Kagome harshly spoke in between grinned teeth as soon as she was completely sure her mother was not eavesdropping at the backdoor, "leave me alone already!"

"Look," he lifted one hand to try and sooth her, "settle down," apparently she was a forgetful drink, how could she not remember any of last night? Any of what he said? "I'm Inuyasha, remember? It's been five hundred years since we've seen each other, I used the shikon no tama to become a full fledged demon hence how I could track your scent with ease. I told you all this last—"

"Why?" Kagome murmured as her tension drizzled out of her, "why are you going through all this effort to make fun of me?"

"Make…?" But he couldn't even repeat it before her eyes began to water, "what?! Are you really gonna crying?"

"No," she objected crackly as she lifted her sleeve up to whip her eyes clean, "stop being such a jerk and just leave! I must have been really amusing last night, huh?! Saying such strange things, you must have gotten a real kick out of it! So much so that you come all this way to make fun of me?"

It made sense, she guessed, that when she got drunk she started talking about things she shouldn't. That she would probably doted over Inuyasha while she was too intoxicated to leave out the fact that he was a half-demon and that probably got her to talking about the shikon no tama and her fear of him using it to become a true demon… how she was scared he'd forget her if he did. Just like he did when he went berserk without his sword… She probably talked about the shrine her family kept, that must have been how he found her, and how she could travel five hundred years in the past through the well.

He probably laughed and laughed at her, those stupid gold-digging girls must have gotten a good giggle out of it too.

"You're right, you did say some amusing things last night but—" he tried to get closer to her yet she pushed him away and took a step closer to the hut, "Kagome—"

"I'll prove it to you!" She shouted as she spun around and slid open the door to run down the stairs and over the well, "just watch!"

She couldn't lose face in front of him, he was a stranger, he shouldn't matter, she embarrassed herself all the time but… she didn't want Shiro thinking she was insane, that she was stupid, or that she was full of it.

"What!?" Kagome cried when she felt a yank on the arm she had above her head. Instead of wooshing through the mystical blue lights that took her from one era to another she simply daggled there, "let me go!"

"No!"

"Why not?" She asked as she looked up at him all the while trying her best to yank her arm free, "let me go! I'm not going to break my leg, just watch!"

"You can't go back there!" he protested, it was a good thing he was so strong and she was so light or else hanging halfway over the well while only having hold of one of her wrists would lead to him to topple right over.

"Why!? You think I'm crazy! That's why you—"

"I'm not making fun of you! I! Am! Inuyasha! I grew up in the feudal era, my mother was a human, my father was a demon. Just come up here and I will prove it to you," and without waiting for her reply he pulled her back up enough that she could kneel of the well. He knew better then to let go even though that was exactly what her narrowed eyes demanded. He had both hands on her waist now, "look at my ears, it'll prove it to you. Just like it did last night."

Slowly she pressed her lips together and moved his short black hair out of the way so she could see what he was talking about, just like the night before her eyes widened, "they're pointed…"

"I'm a demon."

"How do I know you aren't just some demon trying to trick me into giving him the shikon no tama shards that I have?" She bickered as he picked her up and set her back down so she stood on her own.

He nodded and took a step between her and the well; he still thought that she'd make another go for it if he gave her the chance, "that's a fair question. I don't know how to answer that, but…" he removed his jacket and hung it over the well before he began to upon his shirt.

"Oh my god! What are you doing!?" Kagome shrieked as she covered her eyes and turned away, "pervert!"

"I need you to answer me something," he firmly stated as he slid his shirt down enough that his tattoo was revealed, "why would I tattoo your name on my body?"

With her hands still on her face but her fingers parted into Vs so she could still see she turned around to cautiously look, "because you are trying to prove to me that you are—"

"No, I'm not saying if I was a demon trying to deceive you or not. I'm asking you why Inuyasha, why I, would do that. Kagome, I have been looking for you five hundred years, I'm sure of that now. I've been thinking about it all day. You have to be the Kagome."

"If you are Inuyasha…" she slowly let her hands slid down her face as her hazel gaze locked onto her name upon his arm, "then you… wouldn't have… to ask me… tell me something that only Inuyasha would know and I'll believe you."

Five hundred years? He waited five hundred years for her? No, no, that's just too much, too hard to grasp. She couldn't even try to start; she couldn't even wonder why he'd need to wait for her…

"I can't," he stated as he pulled his shirt back on and began to button it up, "it's been so long… I can't remember much from back then. A lot has happened, I've had new memories replace old ones," no matter how hard he tried to resist that, "that's why I tattooed your name on my shoulder, it must be, so I could remember that I was waiting for you… but," he looked from the ground up to her hazels—hazel eyes, ebony waves, frail skin—and took a breath, "why would I want to wait for you for so long?"

"I… I… need to think," she decided with some stutters as she took a few steps back until she hit the stairs, "I need to think."

"If you come with me back to my condo I'll show you some things, maybe it'll help you believe me."

"What things?" She asked as she turned around and walked out of the hut.

"Some of the objects I've had since before I can remember," he explained as he followed her.

"I…" needed an excuse, so she took a breath and looked over at him, "need to study for my final tomorrow. Maybe… later I'll stop by. I still remember where you live…"

"Fine," he grunted as she shoved his hands into his jacket pockets, "just promise me one thing."

"Maybe, what is it?"

"Please don't go back to feudal era until we talk, you can take that the wrong way and assume I'm saying this to hurt you… so you don't go back and tell me your in danger," because he'd save her from it, right? He could travel through the well too, couldn't he? "Or you could just try trusting me. I am Inuyasha. I don't need the shikon no tama shards you have, I've already used it. Just, please, don't go back."

"Why…?"

"Tomorrow, if you come see me then, I might have an answer for you."

There had to be a reason why dread filled him at the thought of her leaving this era for the one they met in. Something happened to her back then… did she die? Or did she just end up leaving him for her own time?

He had to remember.