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Bitter or Sweet?
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha
Chapter 2: Hell Begins
Now, don't just walk away
pretending everything's ok
and you don't care about me
and I know there's just no use
when all your lies become your truths
And I don't care!
~Michelle Branch: Are you happy now?
3 YEARS LATER
KAGOME'S POV
I wake up sleepily, yet content. Ah, I love Saturdays.
I slip into the shower with my pink cat bathrobe and take a long, hot shower. When I come out, I towel-dry my hair and put on a soft, blue turtleneck sweater I got for Christmas, and faded jeans.
Snow falls steadily outside, and everything is still and quiet… except for the roaring of the engine of a truck.
I look outside my window.
A moving truck.
Ahh, was it today that the new neighbors were moving in? I thought it was next weekend.
I would miss my old neighbors. They were an elderly couple who always made cookies for me and my brother, Sota. We would often visit them and share stories on their porch while drinking lemonade. My mother liked them, too. It was a shame they had to leave, but they told us it was time for them to move into the local elderly home.
Who would be moving in? I hope they're friendly.
Excited, I rush downstairs, quickly making myself some cereal. Nobody else is downstairs, probably meaning that they're outside, helping the moving family into their new house and welcoming them to our street.
Eager to join them, I put on my boots and run outside. I feel like an excited six-year-old!
Sure enough, while the movers and busy moving the furniture into the house right next to ours, Mom is talking to a very beautiful woman who looks maybe a few years older than Mom, with shiny black locks coming to her shoulders and sweet, brown eyes. Sota's playing in the snow, and Grandpa is saying something to the driver of the moving truck. I approach Mom and the lady.
"… very excited to meet her," the lady was saying.
"Hello!"
They both turn to me.
"Oh, Izayoi, here she is now! This is my daughter, Kagome. Kagome, this is Mrs. Takahashi who is our new neighbor."
The woman holds out her hand, and I shake it. "Please call me Izayoi, Kagome. The 'Mrs.' makes me feel a tad old."
I laugh. How could she feel old?
"I have two sons," she continues. "One who's in University now, specializing in business, and one who's one year older than you. Of course, my eldest son is my foster child, but he's my husband's first son, so I love him just the same. Speaking of which, where is that man? Taisho! Where are you?" she calls.
And, quicker than lightning, he appears by Izayoi's side. I blink at the speed, and when my eyes register the man's looks, I almost gasp.
He's a demon!
He has snow white, long hair pulled up into a high ponytails, and sharp ears and eyes, as well as markings on his cheeks and a crescent moon on his forehead. His striking appearance startles me momentarily, before I introduce myself.
"My name's Kagome Higurashi. It's a pleasure to meet you."
He chuckles. "The pleasure's all mine! Aren't you the prettiest little thing? Izayoi, where's the ignorant son of mine?"
Izayoi laughs. "That 'ignorant son of yours' is already in his empty bedroom. I told him to come down, but he won't listen, being the moody teenager he is. By the way, Kagome, right after we get settled in, he's going to be registered into your school! Isn't that exciting?"
"Oh, absolutely. Can I meet him?"
"If you can get him to come out of his room, then, sure. Would you like to go get him yourself?"
"Am I allowed to?"
"Of course, dear."
Grinning, I walk into the house, take of my boots, then bolt up the stairs. Following the sound of a dribbling ball, I enter one of the bedrooms, to find myself staring at a pair of large, golden eyes.
I take in the rest of his body, from his sharp nails to a pair of snowy dog ears perched on the crown of his head, which swivel at the sound of my breathing.
The ball he'd been dribbling was on the ground, now rolling towards me, and stops at my feet.
The familiarity of him brinks back a sense of déjà vu. Who was he?
"Do I know you?" he asks rudely, and suddenly I remember.
"Inuyasha!" I realize, snapping my fingers. He raises a brow, face humorless. "Oh, I'm sorry- you don't know who I am. I'm Kagome. I live right next door. We used to go to elementary school together."
He looks different. He lost all the baby fat, and his face is now chiseled with high cheekbones, framed by his mass of silver hair.
"Look, I don't really care who you are, so just go back to your house or whatever. I'm not in the mood for company."
"You don't have to be so rude about it," I mutter. "I just wanted to say hi."
He smirks. "What? Hurt that I don't have the time of day to even talk to you? It's not my fault you're not my type."
I stiffen. "I wasn't trying to impress you or anything. Unlike you, some people like being friendly!"
He scoffs. "I'm so sure."
"Jerk."
"Bitch."
"What did you call me?"
"Oh, so you're deaf, too?"
I growl. "Bastard!"
"Wench!"
I point a finger at him. "Ugh, I hate you!"
He steps up, so that we're face-to-face. And even though I make my glare more menacing, the fact that I only come up to his nose doesn't help. "Right back at 'ya!" he snarls.
Hate at first sight… or second sight, rather. Beautiful, isn't it?
I head back to my house early, my temper blazing because of the previous conversation I shared with what's-his-name. When Mama comes back, she looks happier than ever since… since my father's death.
"I am just so happy I met her!" she gushes over dinner. "We've agreed to get together and take cooking classes together! You know, like desserts and other things. I used to be so into that when I was younger, and I'd love to pick it up again! We're going to go to the lessons two days a week together." She beams at me, and even though I feel the urge to tell her just how much of a jerk the son of her new best friend is, I just don't have the heart to ruin her mood like that.
"That's great mom- I'm so happy for you. Which days are your classes on?"
Mom spears a ravioli. "Mondays and Fridays. And they last from 5 to 8:30, so Izayoi and I have come up with the solution that on Mondays, you can go to his house while we're at cooking school, and on Friday's he can come to ours.
My jaw drops. "And what exactly would we do together, huh?"
"Oh, I don't know. Do your homework, or watch a movie… something preferably where you two don't kill each other." She grins.
"But Mom-"
"Oh! And both of you will be walking home together from now on. Then you can get to know each other and become friends."
I snort. "Become friends with that jerk? I don't think so."
Mom pouts. "Kagome… It's just that he and you look so cute together…"
I sputter, almost choking on my pasta. "MOM!"
"I'm sorry, dear, but he's not so bad once you get used to him. He's actually a very kind, thoughtful boy."
I glance at her. "So you became friends with him so fast that you know all this?"
"Well, no, but Izayoi told me. She said that he's very rough on the outside, but it's just because he used to be bullied severely as a child. It was only from around grade four that he became popular because of his looks. Before that, he was treated very poorly because of his race. So please have patience with him even when you feel like ripping your hair out."
"I'll do my best."
The next morning starts off as it usually does: I get up early to shower, eat breakfast, change into my uniform, and get my school bag in my room, then leave.
But before I can go out the door, my mother stops me.
"Don't you want to walk to school with Inuyasha?"
"Not particularly," I answer.
"Well, he's waiting for you outside, so there's nothing you can do, sweetie. I'm dropping Sota off to his school now, okay? Have a nice day at school! Oh yeah, and Kagome? I'm getting the groceries sometime today so I might be late!"
When I do get onto the sidewalk, Mom was right; he is waiting for me… if you can consider being held captive by the arm by his mother "waiting." A look of pure annoyance and anger flashes through his eyes when he sees me but I stick my tongue out at him. It's not like I want to start my day by seeing his face that clearly reads: I'm-king-of-the-flipping-world.
"Good morning, Izayoi," I greet politely, remembering how she wanted me to talk to her on a first-name basis.
She smiles. "The same to you, Kagome. Alright, Inuyasha, I'm leaving now. You and Kagome go to school peacefully, okay? And don't try to ditch her because if I hear that you do…" She cracks her knuckles with that smile still on her face.
God, she can be scary! Actually, all moms can be freakishly scary at times. It's a fact of life.
Inuyasha gulps, but nods, and begins walking. Sighing, I follow. We head towards Shikon HS in eerie silence.
"So," he finally says, "I assume you heard from your mom about the 'we're going to cooking lessons together because we're now official BFFs so you two stay at one house and do your homework or watch a movie together' thing?"
I pretend not to understand. "Wait, what?"
"Oh wait- you don't know? Actually, forget everything I said."
I roll my eyes. "I was just joking, you moron."
"Damn," he curses. "I knew it was too good to be true."
"Well, I'm sorry I'm not the best company but it's not like you're one to talk! I have to see you more than I already do, and that's seriously annoying!"
"Feh, well it's not like I'm a pain to look at! I'm probably the hottest person you've ever seen in your life!"
I mock laugh. "In your dreams!"
"I'm sorry, but I have better things to dream about than you!"
"Jerk!"
"Bitch!"
"What did you call me, you bastard?" I growl.
"Wench!"
"You know what? This is stupid! I'm going to school," I hiss, walking faster.
"No shit, Sherlock? Of course you're going to school! And you might've forgotten, but that's where I'm headed too!"
I stop abruptly and glare at him. "Sucks for me!"
"Bitch!"
"You already used that insult! And I'm tired of listening to your stupid remarks, so I'm going on ahead!"
"Not if I get there first!"
"Is that a challenge?"
"No, it's a promise."
"Fine then! Ready, set, go!" And we sprint off to the building. In the end, nobody really won because we went off in different directions. After I arrive, I look around for Sango. "There you are!" I shout out when I spot her. She walks over.
"Oh, hey, Kagome- why are you panting?"
"I was running."
"No duh. But why were you running?"
I exhale loudly. "It's a long story…"
By lunch, Sango already knows the whole story. And so does Ayame, who's my other best friend. Sango and I met her in the seventh grade.
"Woah, so he's your next door neighbor?" Ayame gaps at lunch period.
I groan. "Stop reminding me."
"You are so lucky! Everyone heard he's back, and every single girl is all over him! It's only his first day back and he's already king of the school again- and I hear that he told the basket-ball, football, and volleyball teams that he wanted to join, and apparently, they all agreed. I still can't believe your mothers are suddenly best friends."
"Neither can I. They're, like, soul mates. But anyways, appearances are deceiving, guys. He's the rudest, most obnoxious idiot ever."
Then, loud cheers erupt from the cafeteria doors, and Sango, Ayame, and I turn our heads to see what it is. And what do you know? Speak of the devil. As the "king" sits down at some random table, a whole crowd of popular kids- the jocks, cheerleaders, and snobs- sit around him, trying to become his best friend. "What a poser," I mutter.
"Don't be so hateful towards him," Sango chides. "He can't be that bad!"
"Au contraire, my dear friend."
Despite our mothers' threats, Inuyasha and I go home separately. In fact, I haven't talked to him since the morning. When I tiredly turn the knob to the front door, I find it's locked. Arg. That's when a frightful thought occurs to me. Today's Monday, isn't it?
And Mom's classes are on Mondays and Fridays…
Why didn't she tell me her classes started today? Wait, but the lessons start at five o'clock! Oh no. The groceries. Double arg!
Muttering under my breath, I knock on Mr. Popular's door, and no one answers. So I ring the doorbell. And again. And again. And again.
Finally, I hear heavy stomps and the door swings open.
"You are so Goddamn annoying! What the hell was that for?"
"It's Monday," I inform him. "And even though the cooking class starts at five, she's picking up groceries."
His eyes widen. "Oh, no, you are not coming into my house again!"
"I have no other choice, bastard!"
"Well where's your brother? Stay with him!"
"He's at karate practice!"
"Fine, come in. Whatever. Just stay downstairs and out of my way."
So I enter the house, and I'm surprised to find that most of the boxes have been unpacked. I guess with a demon blood in the family, there are many advantages and super speed/strength is one of them. I find the kitchen, and drop my backpack onto the floor, then take out my calculus (AB) textbook and start doing my homework. By the time I've completed mostly everything, the clock reads 7:00 and I'm pretty hungry.
I figure it's rude to just go into their refrigerator and make something, but even if I ask Inuyasha, it's not like he's going to care. So I begin making some fried rice, then move onto scrambled eggs because they're easy and simple to make. And even though I have no idea why, I make extra of both for you-know-who. But he doesn't come downstairs.
So I after I finish my dinner, I put his share on a plates (which are then placed on a tray), and I take it upstairs to his room.
I knock, but he doesn't answer. "I'm coming in," I call, and I do.
The once empty room that I entered yesterday is gone, and inside, is a bed, desk, computer desk, bookshelf, and a wardrobe. Plus a whole bunch of boxes. But on the bed, lies a certain half demon, deep in slumber. And he looks so… childlike, vulnerable. With all the frown creases gone from his face, he actually looks pretty appealing. I just wish the same went for his personality.
Shaking my head, I set the tray on the floor beside the bed, and turn to leave again, but on my way out, I accidentally trip over one of the boxes- being the klutz I am- causing Inuyasha to wake.
He sits up immediately at the noise, and his eyes turn to me, confused with sleep. "What are you doing?"
"I was, uh… I was leaving your dinner in your room and then tripped on a box by mistake."
He blinks, then looks down at the dinner I made.
"You did this?"
"Yup."
"Why?"
"Because there's no harm in making extra dinner. I doubt you could make anything anyway."
"I can make ramen, thank you very much," he snaps.
"That's not exactly dinner, is it?"
Inuyasha puts his hands on his hips. "It is for me."
I roll my eyes as he starts to eat anyhow. By the time he's done, Mom and Izayoi are back and even though Inuyasha doesn't thank me for the food, I know he's grateful because he ate all of it without insulting me.
Back home, Mom asks me why I'm grinning.
"It's because I'm an idiot," I tell her. But then again, Inuyasha is, too.
AN: I updated fast because I know that I have some tests coming up. Anyways, please review everyone! =) It makes me very happy.
Oh, and thank you Daichi! You are the best beta ever ^^ PS: I'm probably going to thank you every chapter ;)
Hey! Daichi here again! Please review for this girl, she has a wonderful story! For the three of you who reviewed, you're lucky. You're not on my list tonight. (mwhahahahaha!)