Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, but I own this story/concept...and your heart. ;)
Rated for profanity.
Summary:
There are some things that can be taught and others you can only learn through experience. Some subjects you can master and others you can completely fail at. No one ever said love was easy, but damn, no one ever told Inuyasha it was THIS difficult. Love in his 30's is harder than he thought. Can he get an A+ in the subject of love?
Learn It by Heart
Friends 101
A lesson in how to be friends
I fucking hate these things.
These damn morning meetings would get the best of him one day. Once a week, they were required to go to morning meetings to talk about any difficulties they were having in classes, with the curriculum, if there were supplies that were needed, and so on. This month had been different as everyone had been preparing for the upcoming class field trip.
All of the teachers stood around the front of the teacher's lounge as each team leader reported on their progress. Inuyasha's team leader had presented in the very beginning about the money that would be spent on each student for food and lodging at the facility they would stay at. Inuyasha had been bored ever since. Had he known the meeting would drag on this long, he would have said they should present in the middle or towards the end so that he'd at least have something to look forward to.
Not only did he hate morning meetings, but he hated the rain. It was pouring cats and dogs outside, which made him even more irritable than usual. He was prepared with an umbrella, thanks to Miroku reminding him of the shitty weather earlier that morning...But why couldn't it just be a bright day with a short meeting? Or no meeting at all for that matter.
"I have a new update, so listen up."
New information?
Inuyasha mentally groaned, it felt like this discussion would go on forever. As the head teacher took the stand, Inuyasha frowned.
The new information better not be anything that would mess up what was already put in place. They had exactly one month to tie things up before the field trip in late June after midterms. Why were they being told that there was new information now?
Inuyasha eyed the head leader of organizing the field trip as she wrote on the board while rattling on about the changes. Tsubaki Yamada, the English teacher, stood tall and confident as she wrote out her notes on the board. She was a woman of many talents from what Inuyasha had learned from watching her and speaking with her. She taught English very well based on how her students were enthusiastic about learning a new language, though she had taught history prior to it. From what Inuyasha had gathered, she was qualified to teach almost all main subjects after studying avidly for years. Math, history, English, communications- she had studied hard and had managed to master it all. Aside from how amazing she was at teaching, her appearance was just as impressive.
She was as slim as they come, as pretty as any other person, and as smart as any other scholar, but as if to take away from all that she was, she was vain. Not to be confused with confidence, but outright vain and it disgusted Inuyasha in so many ways. She was nice enough to him, though the air around her completely spelled out that she felt she was better than other teachers without actually saying it.
"So the principal wants us to connect our trip to Kyoto to our lessons during the 2 days and 2 nights. For example, the science teacher should try to include something about nature, the language arts teachers can have the students write a poem afterward, and things like that." She slightly tugged on her skirt, drawing Inuyasha's attention to how short it was. She was teetering on the very thin line of work-appropriate and going out for a night of fun.
"I've devised a plan for teachers that teach the same subject to group up together. You will be paired together for the three days, minus the bus ride and each meal that the classes eat together. Any questions?" How did she make that sound pretentious? It was a talent at this point.
Inuyasha sucked his teeth in mild agitation. How the hell was he supposed to incorporate math into this? Count how many shrines they pass? Tell how long the fish are at the lake in centimeters?
That means I'll have to work with Menomaru.
Inuyasha eyed him from his peripheral vision. Menomaru was an alright teacher. The only way to describe him was average in Inuyasha's mind. Average work performance, average clothes, average physique. The only thing that wasn't average about him was his family line. Inuyasha had heard that the guy came from some kind of prestigious family that used to own a lot of land. Inuyasha hadn't cared to listen too much about it at the time it was explained to him so he honestly wasn't even sure if that was true. The only thing Inuyasha was focused on was how well he could work with Menomaru and after working with him this long, Inuyasha could honestly say he wouldn't want to be paired with anyone else… Aside from Sango.
In saying that, Inuyasha liked the guy. It was easy to work on the curriculum with him. They got the work done without much chit-chat and worked fairly well together. Inuyasha would go as far as to say he liked him since every experience with him was fairly pleasant. Even if he did have money, the guy didn't show it and certainly didn't act like it.
Menomaru offered Inuyasha a nod of acknowledgement, drawing Inuyasha's full attention in his direction. However, Inuyasha's attention was drawn past Menomaru as his new friend had now captured his interest. Her face looked oddly serious as she concentrated on something on the floor, no doubt just listening to everything that Tsubaki was rattling on about.
God, she's gorgeous.
How could she make everything look so beautiful? One could say Inuyasha was blinded by 'like', however he felt like he would steal a second glance at her even if he didn't feel this way towards her. Ms. Higurashi adorned a simple cream-colored light sweater tucked into green slacks with a simple gold necklace. Compared to Tsubaki, who looked stunning in anything and everything, it was interesting to juxtapose the two together.
At feeling a pair of eyes on her, she began to look around the room. Inuyasha smiled and waved at her as she finally looked his way. She carefully pointed a finger at herself as her eyes widened ever so slightly as if to ask if he was talking to her. Inuyasha nodded his head with a slight snicker to himself. The way her eyes lit up as she returned his smile with one of her own made his smile grow. She was too damn cute.
Her smile felt like slight encouragement to walk up to her and spend the rest of the meeting next to her. She was openly smiling at him, who wouldn't feel like they could do anything with a smile like that being flashed their way? Maybe it was a sign from the God's to take the small opportunity given?
"Ms. Higurashi."
The moment was short-lived as God clearly had other plans for them.
She looked at Tsubaki as her name had been called. All eyes seemed to be on her. She slightly squirmed as she was put under the spotlight.
"You haven't exactly contributed to the discussion, do you have any thoughts about the plan or what to do? It seems like you're not taking this very seriously since you're laughing now." Why was her tone so heavy with arrogance? The room was filled with only Tsubaki talking, no laughter whatsoever. With that logic, she should be calling Inuyasha out for that small chuckle he did earlier.
This girl here.
Inuyasha could see Sango roll her eyes out of his peripheral, no doubt annoyed by more of Tsubaki's bullshit. Sango didn't like most of the female coworkers for one reason or another, but Tsubaki had always seemed to rub her the wrong way since day one. Well, it didn't take rocket science to figure it out, but as if Sango knew right after being introduced to her, Sango had immediately kept her distance. Leave it up to Tsubaki to feel like she could control the room.
Ms. Higurashi somewhat nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders, any trace of a smile dropped from her face as her eyes darted to the side before returning to Tsubaki's lean figure. "I'm so sorry if that's what it came across as." Kagome pointed at the board with all of Tsukbaki's notes on it. "It just seemed that this plan was a bit inconvenient."
"Excuse me?" Tsubaki didn't hesitate to express her confusion for how anything she said may be anything other than a masterpiece.
"Well, if you think about it, it doesn't make sense to pair all teachers up with their same subject. Wouldn't it make more sense for the teachers of the same subject to plan together, but pair each teacher with one that teaches a different subject? The kids will get to do more and experience more than just one thing that way."
That's not such a bad idea.
It would mean that the students could really enjoy the trip by doing more activities before having free time. Inuyasha could feel his face heat up as it dawned on him. Here were the gods doing their best to help him.
I might have the chance to work with Kagome…
The other teachers began murmuring around each other about the potential change in ideas. It was clear which idea they favored more based on their hushed whispers. Inuyasha could practically see steam fuming out of Tsubaki's ears at the obvious rejection of her idea.
"That's a great idea, Ms. Higuarshi." Hiten exclaimed as he slung his arm around her shoulder.
She didn't bother to hide her disdain as she shrugged his arm off of her. "It's just a suggestion though. I think any idea is good as long as the students enjoy it." She stated honestly. That seemed to piss Tsubaki off even more, as if she needed Kagome to throw her a bone.
Tsubaki had already started shaking her head. "That's much more work for us and we'll need to figure out how to partner up, and-"
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure there shouldn't be a problem with the teachers having another small meeting to plan things out. Matter of fact, I would love to be Kagome's partner." Sango said as she winked at Kagome.
Damn it. I didn't even get the chance to ask her.
"I'll be Inuyasha's partner," Miroku stated as he nudged Inuyasha. "All 4 of us can even team up to figure out what to do and how to do our lessons and work."
In hindsight that might just be okay. It seemed like he'd get an extra chance to work with Kagome and he was more than happy with that.
"Sounds like a plan to me." Inuyasha chimed in with a high five to Miroku. Tsubaki was practically foaming at the mouth. Inuyasha just might have laughed had they not been in a work setting. This child-like behavior was something he expected from the kids he taught, not from an 'adult figure'.
All of the teachers began to partner up and pair themselves with fellow colleagues without a problem. Easy to say, Tsubaki didn't look too pleased about the sudden change of plans, especially since no one seemed to back up her idea. Annoyance graced her features while watching everyone go around and choose who to work with.
"So let's say we go with this idea," she started as everyone finished pairing up. "How do we go about choosing activities and such?"
"We'll all come up with two or three ideas with the same teachers that teach the same group, we can narrow it down and decide from there later," Sango answered with ease.
Despite Sango being the one to answer, Tsubaki narrowed her eyes on Ms. Higurashi. "I'll leave it up to you to plan this out and make sure each group goes to a place within the designated areas. Report back to me with everyone's details by next Tuesday." While she was speaking mainly to Ms. Higurashi, part of it was directed towards all of us other teachers to make sure we turn in the information as soon as possible. "We're done here."
"Finally." The meeting seemed to drag on for much too long. Inuyasha heaved a heavy sigh at the lack of time due to the meeting. He would have five minutes to get his stuff and get ready for the next class. That was more than enough time but he wanted more time to laze around and prepare himself to deal with these demons.
Inuyasha's eyes locked with Ms. Higurashi's, seemingly having the same idea of continuing a conversation with the five minutes they had left before class started. Before they could even take three steps towards each other, she was all but yanked back by the arm. Inuyasha watched as the dream he had of finally having a conversation with her shrunk, dwindled, and just vanished altogether.
"I need to stay back and talk to you about your brilliant idea. Let's go to my room and talk before the first class, I don't have first period so it's fine." Tsubaki smiled in a way that showed just how much disdain she had for talking about Kagome's idea.
Ms. Higurashi eyed the hand that had made a home on her shoulder before returning the same smile her way, tight-lipped and all. "Of course." She seemed rather annoyed at the thought of her last minutes of freedom before class being wasted on something like this.
She turned an apologetic look Inuyasha's way before turning to Tsubaki so that they could go into the next classroom to speak
Great, now my five minutes of fun is up.
This was shit. If he kept waiting and letting people get in the way of him talking with Ms. Higurashi, they'd never get the chance to talk. Had she not shown a bit of enthusiasm when acknowledging him during the meeting, he just might not have been able to have this sudden change of attitude. It had been over a week since they decided to be friends and he had yet to get the slightest chance to breathe in her direction. Now that he was around her again, he wanted to take full advantage of it. It was time to stop playing games. We're friends dammit, so why is it so hard for us to talk to each other?
He had long since decided that he wanted to speak with Ms. Higurashi more and it just seemed that obstacles kept getting in their way. It was time to get serious. No more games. No more people getting in his way. He was officially a man on a mission. Dare he call his new plan to get closer to her Operation Higurashi? It was quite the operation seeing as he had yet to really talk to her since their conversation in the nurse's office. He'd get her one way or another.
"Come on, bud. Let's head to class." Miroku said as he patted Inuyasha's shoulder.
Inuyasha couldn't help but be reminded of how Tsubaki had grabbed Ms. Higuarashi's arm. "Don't touch me." Inuyasha shrugged him off.
One of these days Miroku was going to get beaten up for putting his hands on the wrong person. Inuyasha was waiting for that day to come. Miroku was always so touchy feely, it was disgusting.
"I saw you." Miroku snickered as they walked down the hall.
Inuyasha side-eyed Miroku, partially from confusion, partially from agitation at the tone he used to say it, as if there was some sort of joke that Inuyasha was completely unaware of. "Saw me what?"
Miroku's eyes widened with an innocence that simply didn't suit him. Over the course of the last 5 seconds, what could he have possibly seen? "You know what I saw."
"What did you see?" Inuyasha asked as he waved at a couple of students in the hall. If he had to ask one more time, he would slap Miroku.
"You trying and failing to flirt with Ms. Kagome."
Boy was Miroku lucky they were in a public place with students scurrying around them to get to class. Any otherwise and Inuyasha just may have tossed him out the window. Inuyasha didn't bother to hide his annoyance as Miroku gleamed up at him. First of all, there was no trying of anything seeing as all Inuyasha did was say hi. Second of all, even if he had tried, with the way she had smiled at him, there was no way he could classify that as a failure. And when the hell did he get on a semi-first-name basis with Ms. Higurashi? Either he called her 'Kagome' or 'Ms. Higurashi', but a combination of the two was just weird.
"Shut up, all I did was say hi. If that's flirting, then you flirt with a lot of people each day."
Miroku stopped walking as he eyed Inuyasha down. There was something unnerving about Miroku just staring at him, he was starting to break a sweat. Time seemed to pass slowly as Miroku continued to give Inuyasha a very curious look over. Gentle pats were given to Inuyasha's shoulder once more as Miroku nodded his head in an apparent understanding.
What the f-
"Okay, my dear friend," Miroku said before he continued walking ahead of Inuyasha.
Did Miroku have a whole other conversation in his head during that time span? What the hell was he on about? This wasn't the oddest thing Miroku had done throughout their friendship, so Inuyasha felt the need to just ignore his friend's quirky behavior, though he was still rubbed the wrong way.
As Inuyasha continued walking, he gave more thought to Miroku's words. And then it hit him, hard. Miroku was only ever silent when he was thinking. When he was thinking, it was never a good thing. It could mean many things, however, there was one thing Inuyasha wanted to be 1000% sure of.
Inuyasha none-too gently grabbed Miroku's shoulder. "Don't butt in." His tone weighed down with a seriousness that showed just how desperate he was for Miroku to stay out of his goddamn business. There was a reason Inuyasha hadn't said anything to anyone about whatever he felt for Ms. Higurashi. Specifically, there was a reason he hadn't said anything to Miroku. He was nosy as hell and had a way of meddling in affairs that simply didn't involve him. Inuyasha hated it. It was fine when it was other people, but Inuyasha would do everything he could to keep Miroku from bothering him about this specific thing.
Miroku only shrugged his shoulders before continuing his walk to his classroom.
Whatever that shrug meant, Inuyasha didn't know. The only thing he knew was that he didn't have a good feeling about this.
Inuyasha sighed as he locked up the last classroom he used and made his way out of the school. It was a long day, a long day but a good day. Minus the morning meeting, Inuyasha could honestly say that the day had gone well. Good students, easy lessons, even an enjoyable lunch with Miroku that involved no talk of Ms. Higurashi, much to his relief. The day would have been better if it weren't raining, but beggars can't be choosers now can they.
I hate the rain. He thought as he changed into his outdoor shoes. Was it so much to ask for one semi-perfect day without one complaint? It had been years since he'd had a day where he thought, Ah, there's absolutely nothing to complain about. When would another day like that come again? Inuyasha wasn't too sure if he was the problem or if it was just life that was keeping him from his perfect day.
Damnit. The rain had refused to stop pouring throughout the day and continued to persist even now. It was times like this where Inuyasha felt ridiculous for walking instead of driving. He hadn't driven his car to work in months, but today would've been one of the days he should have. The more he watched the rain pour, the more he felt bothered by it. Before he had been distracted by students and his lessons, but now he was dreading the walk home. Just which God had he angered for them to make it rain as hard as it was today? He continued to grumble to himself as he changed his shoes and made his way outside.
Oh. Right outside the door, Ms. Higurashi stood staring at the rain. He had stayed late to finish prepping for a new lesson and honestly hadn't expected to see any teachers leaving on his way out. She seemed a bit off-put by the rain as her lips formed into a soft pout. She was completely still as if mesmerized by the rain itself, so captivated by it that she had yet to notice Inuyasha watching her.
Part of Inuyasha really did want to walk up to her and start a conversation, but it was one of those rare times where he was actually able to just look at her and see her without the commotion of others around.
Aside from what anyone else could see about her in a glance, he wanted to take more time to focus on what he hadn't noticed about her. Like the beauty mark on the back of her right hand. Or even how as she tilted her head to look up at the rain, the layers of her hair fell in almost a perfect layered cascade down her back in the neatest of rivets. Inuyasha honestly wouldn't have noticed small things like this had he not been looking at her this closely, but he liked it. Almost like these were things that he knew and most other people probably didn't.
God, I'm really teetering on stalker status. Even he couldn't deny how strange this would seem to anyone else.
He was just a few feet from her, the only thing keeping them apart was the door he refused to open so as to not disturb her. Would he ever really get this close to her again? Would she willingly let him get this close if they became better friends? Maybe even something more…?
Before he could even start thinking that far ahead, a dreadful thought forced its way back into his head.
She has a boyfriend.
It slipped his mind every now and then when he started going down the wormhole that was his thoughts, but the same thought always lingered at the end of the day. Those dirty ass nikes and other shoes that were at the front door when she had pushed him out. She hadn't even batted an eyelash when he brought it up during their little tiff, so clearly she was unbothered by him knowing about it. It was a bit much to think about when he felt he was getting direct signs of encouragement from her.
Maybe she just doesn't like her boyfriend and is looking for someone else to occupy her time? She hadn't opposed being friends...She didn't exactly seem the type to mess around while in a relationship, but then again, he had to consider the fact that he still didn't know her very well.
I'll need to ask her a- Before Inuyasha could even open the door to speak with her, she dashed out into the rain, immediately getting soaked.
Inuyasha didn't need even a second to think as he opened the door and reached out to grab her arm. Her eyes widened as she was suddenly pulled back. She seemed quite alarmed at first until her eyes locked with Inuyasha's deep amber gaze.
"Mr. Takahashi?" Her voice held confusion as she looked at the hand continuing to grip her arm.
Inuyasha temporarily lost his train of thought as she stared at him. He officially had her hand...arm….in his and now it was as if everything he had wanted to say had completely gone from his head. He had to think about how stupid what he did was. Not only had he just run out and suddenly grabbed her, but he had completely neglected to use the umbrella gripped tightly in his left hand.
I'm such a fucking idiot. She hadn't realized his mistake as they were now getting soaked to the bone. Not only that, but she was obviously going to be cold now that she was dripping wet. Inuyasha quickly opened the umbrella and held it over the two. "You ran out before I could stop you."
Her eyes lit up, softened by his kindness. "Sorry, I figured I wouldn't get as wet if I just ran home. My umbrella broke on the way here this morning."
The Gods were throwing opportunity after opportunity. Okay, Inuyasha could officially say he was one of God's favorites now. He would take the hint, he would take it and run.
"I'll walk you home." Not only would this be the perfect chance to spend time with her, but they would be very close together under his umbrella. He wished he could have offered her a jacket or something to at least cover herself now that they were wet, but with the weather being warm, he had stopped wearing coats and such to work.
She seemed nearly ready to deny his offer as her gaze dropped to the floor. "...It's not too much trouble?"
"Not at all." Inuyasha rushed out. "Besides we live close enough to each other right?"
She lived closer to him than he had originally thought. A good ten to fifteen minute walk from each other. Despite being in such close proximity, Inuyasha wasn't too surprised they'd never run into each other on the way to school, they were just far enough to the point that they were in completely different neighborhoods. Seeing as her apartment was closer to Minami Shinjuku station and he was closer towards Sangubashi station, they had no real reason to run into each other even though they were within walking distance.
"I guess you would know…" She seemed to chew on the idea before flashing a pearly white smile his way. "If you could, it would be great." As if an afterthought occured, she added, "Or even to a convenience store nearby so I can buy a new umbrella."
"There's one around your home," Inuyasha suggested. There were convenience stores literally everywhere, but if they bought one too close to the school, then he wouldn't be able to walk with her for a long period of time.
He knew it, she knew it, everyone on this goddamn planet knew there were so many places she could buy an umbrella, and yet, "Sounds good to me," left her mouth.
If he knew it would be that easy, he would've long since offered her his umbrella. As they exited the school and made their way to her apartment, Inuyasha could only think of one thing as a comfortable silence bubbled around them.
How can I make this last longer?
It was a strange sensation, having her at his side and immediately feeling comfortable with her there. He tried to steal a glance at her as the rain provided music around them. Did she think anything similar to what he was thinking? She seemed to be in her own little world as she walked quietly beside him. A part of him wanted to strike up a conversation with her, but another part was just grateful she could walk next to him without needing conversation to fill the air between them.
The rain didn't seem as bad now that he was taking full advantage of it. After a full week of imagining what he would say if they could start a conversation, he wasn't sure why he couldn't think of a single damn thing to say to her now. The walk would seem much too short considering that they were only about twenty minutes from around where they lived. What should he say during this time?
"Mr. Takahashi…" She gently called out, causing him to stop walking. It would be an understatement to say he was surprised that she had been the one to start talking first. She seemed to shy away from him as she backed away a bit, forcing him to push forward to keep the rain from getting on her. "How about getting a meal together before heading home?" She rubbed her arm nervously as her eyes trailed off towards the direction they were headed. "It's my treat since you patched me up last time."
Inuyasha couldn't help but chuckle at her sudden shyness. It was just a meal, why was she so nervous? But I guess that's like the pot calling the kettle black, ain't it? He had been struggling to even think of a conversation with her and he clearly remembered how nervous he had been when he first talked to her at the bar. I can have some fun with this.
"Tell you what Ms. Higurashi," Inuyasha started with a bit of playfulness in his voice. "I'll treat you out first since you helped me out when I was drunk. You can treat me next time to pay me back for that time at the nurse's office."
"I like the sounds of that." Her answer was much too quick for someone that wasn't interested, right?
The only real question was where to take her. There were a million places they could go to eat, but he wanted to take her somewhere out of the ordinary. How else was he to make a good impression? He snapped his fingers as he realized he knew the perfect place for someone like her to go. "Great, there's this spot that Sango, Miroku, and I always go to around here. You like udon and ramen, right?"
"I love it." She answered breathlessly.
Marry me. She would fit in with their group just fine if she liked the place he planned to take her to.
"Do you mind walking for another fifteen minutes in the opposite direction? It'll take another 30 minutes to get home if we walk back to your place though."
She seemed completely unbothered by it as she patted her stomach. "I'm starving and I could probably use the exercise," she joked.
No complaints, just pure excitement for being able to go to a restaurant and eat. They had stayed an extra two hours after work, he was pretty hungry too.
"Then let's head to one of the best underground places in town."
In some sick and twisted way, Inuyasha felt like this was a small test to see how well Kagome would do in a place like where he planned to take her. Compared to the nice izakaya bar that they went to last time, they were going to a smaller family owned chain store that was Inuyasha's favorite place to eat at.
As they stood outside the restaurant, Inuyasha watched as Kagome examined the place. They were far from being in a bad area of Tokyo, however this specific restaurant had a rather different feeling to it compared to the surrounding area. In fact, the place was somewhat hard to find unless you knew exactly what place you were looking for and where you wanted to go. The outside decor gave no hint as to what type of place it was. A simple cream colored wall attached to other restaurants with a small gray door in the center was the only way to describe it. There wasn't even a sign in the front, as if the restaurant didn't want guests to come.
"This is the place?" She inquired.
Inuyasha nodded his head. He would've been confused too if someone had brought him to just a wall with a randomly placed door. He held the door open for her as he let her walk in before him. Sure the outside wasn't much of anything at all, but he had no doubt she would be surprised with how the inside looked.
"Wow." Her eyes lit up as her head whipped in all sorts of directions to look at the decor. It was a rather old themed place with wall scroll pictures of varying themes from feudal Japan. Towards their right, a projector displayed beautiful nature scenes from the time period. The greenest of deep flushing grasses, beautiful mountains that were brought to life by the beauty of spring, coursing river waters with koi fish swimming about. Inuyasha had seen the clips numerous times after coming here for as long as he had, but it always made him feel calm to see them time and time again, as if brand new for the very first time. Polaroids of historical figures scattered the wall along with some of the guests of this fine establishment.
With it being a work day, the place wasn't filled and there was more than enough room for the two to sit anywhere they pleased.
"I figured a history teacher would enjoy coming to this kind of place." Inuyasha beamed. He knew it, what better place to take her than here?
"I love it." She began to look through the pictures, spellbound by all of the history around her.
"Inuyasha?" Both Inuyasha and Ms. Higurashi turned towards the back door where an older man stood. His eyes darted from Inuyasha to Ms. Higurashi and then back to Inuyasha once more, before lingering on the unfamiliar woman. "With a woman?"
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at the balding old man, sending one direct message in that instant.
Don't fucking embarrass me.
"Higurashi-san, I'd like for you to meet one of the biggest pains in my ass, Myouga."
The short man rounded the bar and happily greeted the raven haired young woman. Myouga stood at a short 4 foot 7. As if his moustache had snatched all the hair from his head, his moustache hung down low, coming to just around his collar bones. To match the decor of the restaurant, he sported an olive green haori with black dashes on it paired with deep grey hakama pants.
Her eyes lingered on him for a mere second before she held out her hand for him to take with a gentle smile. "Kagome Higurashi, pleased to meet you."
"Kagome, what a lovely name for a lovely person." He firmly shook her hand before leading her to one of the floor seats on the other side of the restaurant. Inuyasha watched on with a roll of his eyes. Myouga knew Inuyasha hated sitting on the floor seats.
He probably put us here so he can easily talk with her. Rather than sitting them at a booth or high chair, talking would be much easier with them on the floor. Why was it that whenever Inuyasha brought a new person, a rare occasion in itself, Myouga always doted on them more than him? Inuyasha could see it in the man's wide eyes, he was a) curious about Inuyasha bringing a woman here without other colleagues and b) fascinated by her.
"Thank you." She lightly giggled, clearly flattered by the compliment. "I really love how everything is set up here. The polaroids of historical figures are a really nice touch too. I really can't imagine Toyotomi Hideyoshi in that kind of pose." The two shared a laugh that Inuyasha simply couldn't join in since he had no idea who that was, nor did he care to know. He had long since forgotten his history lessons and felt no reason to think about it...unless a certain history teacher was willing to give him private lessons.
Inuyasha trailed after them before taking the seat in front of his guest. "I'll have the same thing I always get."
Myouga placed a menu in front of Kagome. "I'll come back in a few minutes after you've had time to look at the menu," he said before going to tend to the only other customer in the restaurant.
Rather than look at the menu, she faced the menu towards Inuyasha. "What do you recommend since it seems you've been here a couple of times, Mr. Takahashi."
Try about a million and a half times. Inuyasha couldn't even look at the menu as a glaring problem slapped him in the face.
"Ms. Higurashi….."
She seemed not to notice as she tilted her head in confusion at the shift in his tone. "Yes?"
Inuyasha pointed to the space in between them. "We're friends, so why the hell do we keep going by our last names? We're not even on school grounds anymore." Anyone he called his friend either called him by his first name or a nickname, she was way past work colleague status with him at this point...kind of….so they should just skip the formalities.
It was her turn to tilt her head as her face became slightly rosy, though this time in thought rather than confusion. "I thought the same thing too. I can only ever recall you calling me by my last name, so I just kind of stuck with it."
"Alright, then Kagome, " Inuyasha stressed. "I recommend you get the sweet meat broth udon. It's one of his specialties."
Outside he may have seemed calm, but he was praising himself for a job well done at pushing the boundaries with her.
"Okay, Inuyasha," she followed in a similar suit, "Then I'll take that and a lemon chuu-hai."
It was only Wednesday but she wanted to drink a bit? Yup, Inuyasha definitely made the right choice. "My usual and the sweet meat broth with a chuu-hai and asahi beer, Myouga!" Inuyasha called out.
"I'm on it." He called back as he went behind the bar.
Her eyes danced around once more as she took in the scenery. Kagome really seems to like it. Inuyasha felt his pride swell at knowing he had made the right choice by taking her here. He knew a good amount of people that would be upset by coming to such a 'humdrum' place, none of which he liked.
"So," she called out. "How did you know about his kind of place?"
Did she want the long story or the short version of it? Inuyasha jutted a sharp finger out at Myouga. "He's a family friend. Kind of used to work for my dad, when he retired he opened up a bunch of chain restaurants around Tokyo with his wife. I've always gone to his restaurants, so I just started going to this one more when I moved around this area."
Inuyasha was actually surprised when he had heard news of the old man opening a restaurant. With all of the retirement money he had, there was no reason to need any more income than what he already had. Then again, Inuyasha had just thought of cloud gazing the other day when he was old, so why the hell shouldn't anyone open up varying restaurants if given the chance?
Kagome nodded her head as Myouga placed the drinks in front of them. "Thank you. It sounds nice, opening a restaurant - a chain restaurant at that."
Myouga slid Kagome his business card. "I don't just hand these out to anyone. There's three other restaurants around the northern, western, and southern areas of Tokyo. You should check them out when you get a chance, they're all differently themed." With a wink, he went back to preparing the food.
Kagome looked at the simple card. It was fairly basic, written on what Kagome could only assume to be paper stock made of recycled paper based on the texture. It was written in a fashion very similar to the scrolls on the wall in the neatest calligraphy Kagome had ever seen.
"He's not lying," Inuyasha said as he took a swig of his beer. "He really doesn't hand them out to everyone."
It was the oddest of things to Inuyasha. It's like Myouga really didn't want people to come to his restaurant, but it was typically always packed with people given the weekends or holidays. He didn't give out business cards and only two of the other restaurants actually looked like restaurants from the outside. Aside from his restaurant being searchable on all map apps and on the internet, Inuyasha was sure the only way he was able to get so much business was through word of mouth.
"Then I guess I'm one of the lucky chosen ones." She smiled as she placed the card in her bag. Her eyes lingered on Inuyasha as her smile grew. "Isn't this so different from before?"
Inuyasha shifted in his seat, his legs already feeling numb. "What?"
"Think about how awkward we were around each other when we all went to izakaya together." Inuyasha's face twisted into a cringe full of embarrassment. It was one thing to feel awkward, it was another for someone else to call it out. She burst out laughing at his expression. "Don't look like that! I was super awkward too." She held her sides as she took another swig of her drink. "Come on, it was obvious I made you uncomfortable. It made me even more nervous than I already was."
Inuyasha would shoot himself dead before openly saying that he was nervous because he liked her. Her nervousness certainly explained why she had immediately started drinking upon arrival. But she had a good point. That awkward feeling felt like a distant memory now that he just felt comfortable around her even though it was their first time hanging out alone.
"You didn't make me uncomfortable so to say…"
"You practically held your breath when I walked in." She pointed out. "I even considered changing seats during that time because I didn't want to scare you off." How did she not realize that she took his breath away? Even Inuyasha had to cringe with the thought. Enough with the clichés...
"Keh, well, I'm glad you didn't." Inuyasha shifted once more. It wasn't until he felt her eyes on him at his declaration that he realized how it sounded. "Because you got to talk more with Sango and Miroku, ya' know?"
A fond smile came to her face for the couple. "Yea, that part was great. I haven't really spoken with Miroku since then, but I've been talking with Sango more. She's really great!"
She hasn't talked with Miroku, but she's calling him by his first name with ease? Something about that just struck him as odd. Even the way Miroku addressed her earlier was weird too.
"She is," Inuyasha responded warmly. Inuyasha hoped Kagome could become great friends with Sango, he could see the two getting along very well. It could work in my favor too….
Sango and Kagome become best friends. Sango whispers in Kagome's ear about how amazing he is. Sango suggests that Kagome marry Inuyasha. They get married and live happily ever after. In a perfect world, this would be the easiest way to get her attention and ask her out. His eyes drifted to her left hand as she complimented Sango, or at least that's what he thought she was doing since he had completely zoned out.
Kagome talks a lot with her hands. He thought as she moved her hands while speaking. She had fairly slender fingers and what little bit of peach nail polish was on her fingernails was slightly coming off. No ring and yet….she had a boyfriend that kept seeming to creep into Inuyasha's mind at the worst of times.
The dream has ended.
Inuyasha fidgeted in his seat as it hit him. "How are you not dying right now?" This girl hadn't budged even once since sitting down.
She looked at her position on the floor before watching him shift positions for the hundredth time and laughing. "Are your legs bothering you?" It was an innocent enough question but she knew his legs were killing him.
"Nah, just trying out a new dance I learned that requires me to sit on the floor like this." He joked.
"I lived in my family's shrine. Helping out, attending ceremonies, and sitting in this position for long periods of time is necessary."
So she was a shrine girl? He could see her working at a shrine to help out her family. Inuyasha knew absolutely nothing about how shrines worked but he could picture her sweeping the grounds and doing basic fortune telling for the shrine. He had been to his family gravesite to pay his respects often as a child back when his mother would force him to go, but other than that, he didn't visit them. He'd go as far as to say he hated going and was glad he was no longer forced to do that type of shit anymore.
"Sounds..nice?"
She grimaced as she finished off her drink. "Not really, but it was kind of family duty, so I had to."
He chuckled. He knew a thing or two about family obligations and could understand her scowl. "It was so bad that you became a high school teacher to get away?"
"Life never works out the way you want it to, ya' know? Even I'm kind of surprised I ended up here. Oh-, thank you." She instantly turned her attention to Myouga as he brought out the food.
It was almost like talking to himself. Was he looking in a mirror? Similar to her, he had never expected to end up at this job. He was even more curious about her after hearing this.
Myouga smiled at Kagome's reaction to his specialties. Her bowl was full of deep boiled meaty pork placed in sweet and tangy broth with gently strung udon noodles. Most customers requested this though he felt the need to make it a little sweeter for Inuyasha's lady friend.
"I hope you enjoy it, Kagome."
Before Kagome could answer, Inuyasha butted in. "And what about me?" Inuyasha asked as he broke apart his chopsticks.
Myouga didn't hesitate to roll his eyes before turning back to Kagome. "I know this one will enjoy it. I'm more interested in you."
Kagome laughed. "I know I'll absolutely love it." She took in a big whiff and practically started dancing in her seat.
"I have no doubt you will." Myouga turned back to Inuyasha. "Quite the beauty you've brought to me, just as beautiful as Lady Izayoi herself. Now that was a woman of pure beauty and grac-"
Kagome stopped trying to break apart her chopsticks at the mention of another woman's name.
"Myouga, shut it." Inuyasha all but growled at Myouga as he sent him a sharp glare.
Myouga, seemingly unfazed, winked at Kagome. "I speak nothing but the truth. Let me know if you two need anything."
Inuyasha didn't stop glaring at Myouga until he was completely out of eyesight. He could've taken embarrassing stories, which Myouga was more than loaded with after knowing Inuyasha for so long. Hell- he would've even taken the last blunder Inuyasha had from the last time he came here with Sango and Miroku. Just not-
Inuyasha could see a mixture of curiosity and wonder for who they were talking about. Inuyasha sighed, agitated by the new topic of conversation.
"Myouga bring two more beers! Which better be on the house!" Inuyasha hollered before turning back to Kagome. There was nothing to hide but it didn't mean he felt like talking about certain things. "My mother, he said to her. It was the most simple and obvious answer he could give.
"Lady Izayoi...is your mother?" She questioned. At Inuyasha's lack of response, she felt the need to push. "Oh please, don't feel the need to talk about why she was referred to as Lady or what Myouga ji-ji was going on about.
Myouga ji-ji? It took her weeks for her to address him by his first name but she was so easily calling Miroku and Myouga. What the hell?
Inuyasha shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "What's there to say?" Inuyasha sighed as he pointed up.
"Up?" Kagome asked as she looked at the ceiling. "As beautiful as the ceiling is, I don't know what that means."
"Remember how I said Myouga worked for my family? Like I said, family friend as well, so he knows my mom real' well. From even before my parents married, he was really good to my mom. They were pretty close before she passed." Inuyasha replied before using his chopsticks to move the ramen around. He didn't want things to be awkward with the sudden topic of death. It just felt odd to speak about right now. With her latching onto every word he was saying, she hadn't even touched her food. "Go ahead and eat before it gets cold," Inuyasha said before digging into his own food.
Kagome nodded her head as she chewed on every word he had said. It was clear she had about a million questions sitting on the tip of her tongue, but she held quiet. Instead, she focused on the food in front of her. She finally broke her chopsticks before swirling the mixture around and taking her first bite. Inuyasha wished he could've recorded her reaction. The way her cheeks bubbled up and flushed to a nice pinky shade as her eyes widened was just hilarious.
"Myouga Ji-ji, my taste buds are in heaven!" Kagome called out.
"My heart is in heaven with your words." Myouga called back.
"Cut the bullshit, where are my drinks, old man?" Inuyasha joined in before taking a bite of his ramen. It had been years of eating the same ramen and yet here he was still feeling as if it were brand new. This happened every time much to his pleasure. The only difference was that he was sharing it with someone new tonight. He couldn't help but smile at her child-like reaction. "You like it?"
"I love it! Thank you so much for taking me here."
She really likes it. She passed the test. She was fine and even seemed to enjoy being at smaller fast food joints rather than the more expensive places the other teachers seemed to like going to.
Myouga brought two beers and an extra chuu-hai for the two. "All on the house for my new favorite customer and for one of my oldest customers."
If Myouga didn't get out of here, Inuyasha was gonna' show him a thing or two. He was not above hitting an old man.
"Thank you Myouga ji-ji, you're the sweetest."
As the only other customer flagged him down, he turned to Inuyasha. "It's getting late and I want to go home. After he leaves, I'll clean up. You mind closing up for me?"
It wouldn't be the first time Myouga had asked him to close up during one of his visits. "Pack up the ramen to go and you have yourself a deal."
"I already did. A set for you and the missus is in the back." Myouga thanked him before scurrying off.
Kagome looked down at her watch. "Ah, it is getting pretty late, isn't it?" She frowned as she took out her phone. "I didn't even say I was working late or going out to eat. Sorry, I'm just going to send a quick text."
There was something very sour about watching her text another man in front of him. It was annoying and despite it being a childish thought, he wanted to throw her phone across the room. Yet again, he was reminded that she had someone to go home to tonight. He was forced back into his place as hers was much further away from him.
"Ah, you're texting your boyfriend, right? Sorry, I didn't even think about it." Inuyasha stated as it just hit him how she may have planned to eat with her boyfriend or something. Did he really care? Not so much. But he might as well attempt to seem polite.
Kagome looked at her phone before sliding it in her back pocket. "Inuyasha, that's the second time you've brought up my boyfriend…." It was something that she had noticed and had not bothered bringing up before. With his current tone and expression while talking about it, she just couldn't let it slide a second time.
"What of it?" He asked as he cracked open his second beer and chugged it down.
Kagome watched in slight amusement as he downed more than half of it quite quickly. "I was just curious about how you knew about him is all...I haven't mentioned him to anyone." She asked before eating more of her noodles.
Why did it feel so awkward to talk about this? "I saw his shoes at your front door as you kicked me out of your apartment." He replied honestly.
She smiled as she remembered the incident that seemed like ages ago now that they were talking. She could see his disdain at her laughter for the rather bitter moment. "Sorry, sorry. You're talking about my boyfriend's dirty Nikes in the front that he never picks up, ne?" She asked as she leaned forward in thought. Kagome heaved a heavy sigh. "It's so annoying, always having to pick up after him, but ya' know he's just so sweet that I have to put up with it."
"I'm sure of it." Inuyasha said through clenched teeth. Was this her way of teasing him? By talking about her great dirty boyfriend? Inuyasha finished off the rest of his beer before opening the next one.
"I should take some of this ramen back for him too. He works so hard to provide for me and take care of me and to stay so amazing. I'm such a bad girlfriend not preparing dinner for him. The greatest man in the world deserves a nice meal such as this though." She stated as she happily patted her bowl with a smile.
Would it be rude to tell her to stop talking about her boyfriend? Did she not realize how this was torture for him? Inuyasha had never been put in this kind of position before, where the girl he wants openly talks about the person she's going home to. What was he to do?
"Keh." A lack of a response was sure to get her to shut up about it. At least he hoped it would. Inuyasha quickly went to down the last of his drink but was forced to stop as Kagome placed her hands around the can.
"Enough of that, we don't want a repeat of the other night," Kagome said as she took the can from him. She flashed a gentle smile at him before going to eat more of her noodles. Inuyasha watched her carefully.
If she knew how much her words and her touch affected him, she wouldn't dare say another word about her stupid ass boyfriend. "Y-"
"I don't have a boyfriend." She said as she patted her mouth with her napkin. It was the simplest of words and yet Inuyasha could not process them.
I don't have a boyfriend.
I don't have a boyfriend.
I don't have a boyfriend.
He wasn't sure if he should be happy or kill her for the mini heart attack she gave him.
"But you just said-"
"I know what I just said." She pointed an accusatory finger at him with a slight tilt of her head. "Serves you right for not asking me and just spouting stuff. When you assume things, you just make an ass out of you and me."
Inuyasha hardly had the time to be impressed with her clever wordplay, he was still trying to comprehend what had just happened. She was a tease, she could see he was bothered by her words and had played a trick on him. Inuyasha could feel his face heating up.
"I wasn't bothered by it."
She shrugged her shoulders. "I never said you were, Inuyasha." It was taking everything in Kagome not to laugh at his reaction. Does he always wear his emotions on his face? He was too easy to read. She had a good mind to tease him a bit more, but felt she should let him pass this time. "Those dirty shoes at the front door are my kid brother's. He always tosses them around when he comes home. Speaking of, I kicked you out so quickly because I wanted you to leave before my brother walked in."
Everything seemed to be clicking into place as some of Inuyasha's unanswered questions were finally getting answered. It was his turn to point a finger at her. "You could've just told me and that would've avoided a lot of the misunderstandings we had."
"Well where's the fun in that?" She laughed. "I was panicking at the time and really needed you out. He came home literally 40 seconds after you left, I'm sorry to have rushed you out like that though."
Inuyasha ate some of his noodles as he chewed on her words. Out of everything she said, one thing was quite clear.
She did not have a boyfriend.
Meaning Inuyasha stood a chance as of this moment.
"Speaking of," he mocked her, causing her to stick her tongue out at him. "What happened when I was drunk?"
She fell awfully silent as her face turned a deep hue of red. Oh god, he thought as his face battled against hers for whose could get most red. If she was looking as uncomfortable as she was, what the hell had he done?
She lightly coughed into her hand as she found something on the floor interesting. "Absolutely nothing."
"That's not the face of someone that has seen me do absolutely nothing." She buried her face in her drink as if to avoid such a topic. "What did I do, Kagome?"
"Just drop it, okay?" She asked as she put her glass down. "That's a conversation for another day. Anyways," she racked her brain for a new topic. "Why did you become a teacher?"
Inuyasha scoffed as he looked at what remained of his nearly empty bowl. "Now that's a conversation for another day." With her curiosity piqued and a light in her eyes, Inuyasha could see she wasn't going to let this go either. "Same as you, I didn't expect to end up here. I needed a job …..amongst a couple of other reasons." Well one main reason to be exact, but there was no chance in hell he was going to talk about it now. Inuyasha's eyes unconsciously drifted to the scar on her cheek. It had healed well, but there was still a fairly clear mark left behind.
"Other reasons?" She nitpicked. "Like….wanting to be a good teacher to the students? I hear how the other students talk about you and I see how they look at you and how you look at them. You're great." If there was one thing to be said, it was that he was a good teacher. From time to time since the day they became friends, she would think about how kind he was with helping the other student and helping her that one time.
"Is that your reason? What's your tragic backstory? Had a bad teacher and wanted to be what you never had?" Inuyasha questioned.
She finished off the rest of her drink with a content sigh. "Stop answering my question with a question. And if you must know, no." A fond smile graced her features. "My high school life was great. I had lots of friends, I loved my teachers, I was active in different clubs, and I graduated as one of the top students in my year."
Damn. He had a feeling she was smart, but top student worthy? He could picture a young energetic Kagome running around, laughing with her friends, studying hard and asking questions in class.
"So that's why becoming a teacher was a choice of yours?" Inuyasha asked.
"I'm out! See ya' next time maybe!" He tossed Inuyasha the keys before giving Kagome a wave. "Get home safely."
"Will do." Inuyasha waited until Myouga had left before he turned back to Kagome. "Have I spoken the truth?"
"You have, that's why this was a backup option. What about you? What were you like in high school?"
Inuyasha thought about how to answer this question. "Quiet?"
"You lie," she instantly accused him. Out of all of the ways Kagome thought he would describe himself, 'quiet' wasn't one of them. "You must have been on different sports teams or often went out with your friends?"
"What was that you said about assuming and making an ass out of you and me? I was homeschooled. No sports club after school, though I was forced to do kendo for over 8 years. I also did judo for a bit."
She grew quiet, as if not believing what he had said. Inuyasha waited for her to tell him he was lying again, but it never came.
She looked at him as if he had spouted complete bullshit. "I'm serious." Inuyasha stated. "Is it that hard to believe?"
"You were homeschooled?" She asked once more.
"Mhm. For all 12 years before I was free during university….My parents traveled a lot for business, so it was just easier for me to be home schooled….It wasn't too bad though…." He couldn't read her expression. "...Okay, what else do you want me to say about it?" Her face was blank and she wasn't making an attempt to say anything. Inuyasha honestly couldn't tell if it was because she was waiting for him to give more detail, talk in depth about his experience, or for something else.
She shook her head as her eyes bore into him. "I was just thinking I may not have learned that about you if we didn't eat out together today." Her face brightened with a smile. "I'm happy that we can talk like this and learn more about each other."
Come to think of it...Would he have learned about her family living in a shrine or even about her boyfriend...lack of a boyfriend... if it weren't for the rain?
The rain isn't that bad I guess. Maybe it was the little bit of alcohol he had, but Inuyasha was feeling very encouraged with her words and with how everything was taking place.
"We're friends, right?"
She seemed somewhat confused by the question but nodded her head. "We've established that a couple of times here and there, why?"
Inuyasha placed his phone on the table. "Don't you think it would be easier to be friends if I had your number? Ya' know, to text or call if there's any trouble or if you need an umbrella?"
Kagome clenched her sides as she doubled over in laughter. "You're so weird, if you wanted my number, all you had to do was ask. That's such an old-school way of asking. What are we, in high school?" She opened her LINE application and went to her QR code. "I use LINE though, I don't really text."
Inuyasha went to his application as he tried not to feel embarrassed by his strange way of asking her. "Just to clarify, this is my way of guaranteeing that you treat me out next time, that's all." After adding her and sending a swift 'hi', he pushed her phone back towards her.
Kagome rolled her eyes. "You could always hunt me down at work." She looked at the message he sent her and frowned. "Why don't you have a profile picture?"
"Anyone that has my ID knows who I am and what I look like." He stated. He hadn't had a profile picture since getting the application way back when he was in high school, it just didn't seem necessary. He wasn't even sure of what kind of picture he would take for his profile. "There's no point."
"A picture is worth a thousand words." She sang. "It reveals a lot of small details about you that others may not have known any other way." She sent a kitten stamp back to him.
Inuyasha clicked on her profile picture. As he examined everything in the picture, he couldn't help but smile. Her profile picture was fairly cute, however there wasn't much to it. "All I'm getting from your profile picture is that you like food, a lot." Kagome sat in what looked like a beautiful lace blouse with all sorts of traditional food spread out before her as she looked peacefully down at the array. Chirashi, sashi, unagi, tempura, karaage- you name it, she probably ate it that day.
"Exactly! I really like eating traditional food. It wasn't even a special occasion that day. A group of my high school friends and I got together and cooked everything at the shrine."
"I was supposed to get all of that from your picture?" Either he just didn't think enough or she was expecting people to read too much into it.
"Of course not." She shook her now empty can. "But that picture always leads to a good story about my love for traditional food. You should think about taking a profile picture with a nice backstory. It'll give you something to talk about with your friends."
"I'll think about it," Inuyasha said as he grabbed their bowls and glasses as he began heading to the back of the restaurant. "I'll put these in the back and then we can head out."
"At least I learned more about the food she likes...though it sounds like she'll eat almost anything," Inuyasha mumbled to himself as he ran the bowls in hot water. He debated running it through the dishwasher system but felt it'd be easier by hand.
Keh. I guess it wasn't so hard to make friends with her. Inuyasha laughed to himself. To think he spent all these months watching her from afar when she was actually fairly easy to talk to. Playful, sweet, and seemed pretty down to earth.
Now all he could think was
Why did I wait so long?
"I love it, but I hate it."
It was morning time, meaning Kagome had immediately gone to the classroom she always uses to take care of any work she needed to finish or to relax before class. Her classroom was on the other side away from everyone else that was a teacher in her grade. There wasn't much sunshine over here and she was practically in a boxed-in corner, as if unwanted goods. As she had said before, she loves it, but she hates it.
I can't wait until I can change classrooms one day….That's not exactly true…. She grumbled to herself but smiled nonetheless. Sure the classroom she always used was a bit further away from everyone and everything, but the part about being away from 'everyone' had its perks. Plus she was able to see over the lovely garden if she stepped out of her classroom and looked out the window across from her room.
Riinnggg
As Kagome looked at the new message on her phone, a smile found its way to her face. She had sent her friend a text earlier that morning and was glad to see that he had just responded. It was a simple groggy-looking frog sticker that he had sent, probably meaning that he was tired and didn't want to be at work. Kagome laughed as she imagined Inuyasha making the same exact expression.
"He certainly doesn't look like a morning person."
The few times she had glanced over at Inuyasha during morning meetings, he always looked like he didn't want to be there or like he was half asleep.
"It's cute." She giggled to herself.
"Excuse me?" There was a curt knock at her door before the door swung open.
"Oh, it's you." Kagome didn't bother hiding her surprise as her new guest closed the door behind her.
The young student gently smiled at Kagome as she examined the lackluster classroom. "It's me. You're Ms. Higurashi, right? I asked around until someone could tell me your name. I always see you but I never knew how to address you haha."
Kagome breathed a small sigh of relief at seeing the bubbly girl in front of her, quite different from the first time they met back when Kagome was defending her in front of the girls in the back courtyard.
"Yes, Ms. Higurashi is just fine. What brings you to my class this early?" There was still a good twenty to thirty minutes until classes started.
"I'm here for you!" She fumbled with a bag in her hands. "I wanted to say thank you so much for jumping in and helping me during that time." The girl laughed to herself. "The other students like to make fun at times and take it too far."
Kagome recalled back to the argument the girls were having, if she could even call it that. The girl was going on and on about how the young woman before her played innocent or always got her way or something like that.
But this girl...she's an innocent little bean. Kagome was sure the only reason this girl was picked on was out of pure jealousy. She was fairly small and was quite cute if Kagome had to describe her in a word or two. There was no doubt the girls would envy her and the boys probably confessed to her every other day.
"Well, any time they take it too far or even look at you funny, you just come and get me, k?" Kagome asked as she placed a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder. Kagome didn't have any experience with this since this hadn't happened to her, but there were certainly other students when she was in high school that had gotten bullied and Kagome knew what she would want a teacher to say to her if it was happening to her. "I mean it, you know where to find me."
For a fraction of a second, Kagome could see the girl's bubbly smile drop. "I just wish they didn't treat me differently because I'm different. It's not my fault I am the way I am." She heaved a heavy sigh before turning yet another charming smile Kagome's way. "I'm at least glad for the people I do have on my side and the friends I do have."
Kagome couldn't figure out what she meant by being different, but no one should ever feel that way. "I kind of know how that feels." While she had a great high school career, her actual career made her feel ostracized at times. "Tell you what, anytime I'm in this room, you're more than welcome to come here. Anytime you want to escape all of the craziness of high school life or when you just want to talk, you're welcome in my room."
The way this student's eyes lit up as if a kid in a candy store made Kagome laugh. "Really?"
"Of course. I'm basically always here alone, so it's quite boring and dull. Maybe you can brighten it up."
Before Kagome knew it, she was being tackled in a deep hug. "Thank you, that's so sweet. I was thinking it looked rather drab in here. I'm in the art club so I'll paint you a nice picture to really brighten it up."
Kagome could see the young girl's eyes dance around the room as idea after idea lept into her mind about what to paint. Wish I was this creative as a kid. Sports was one thing, being creative was something else that she just wasn't. It must've been nice to be good at something so interesting.
"I'll definitely work on something for this room. I'll bring my paint supplies next time. I'm sure I can concentrate on my work more so here than with girls all talking loudly in the art room." As if temporarily forgetting something, she gently knocked her head with her knuckle. "But for now," her long black hair swung to the side as she dug around in her bag until she pulled out a small bag of cookies.
Once it hit Kagome that the girl was trying to give her a gift, she quickly waved her hands. "No, no. You don't need to thank me, that's so sweet though. I'm happy I came when I did at that time."
"It would make me happy if you took my gift."
These are home made. In very neat packaging lay an array of 12 different cookies with the most beautiful and intricate lace designs Kagome had ever seen.
This girl is good at everything isn't she? It surely didn't look homemade, more so bought at a store. Had it not been in the cute plastic containers Kagome typically bought for packaging hers and her brother's lunch, she would have definitely thought these were baked in a store.
"Wow, they look so delicious!"
The student clapped in delight, happy with the compliment. "I'm pretty confident in the taste. They're lemon cookies."
Kagome eyed them, her sweet tooth winning over being polite and not accepting the gift. "Can I really have them?"
The young girl's eyes drifted to the scar on her Kagome's cheek. She offered a genuine smile. "It would make me the happiest girl in the world if you did."
"Oh goodness they're almost too beautiful to eat," she gushed. Kagome planned to take a million pictures of them after the student left.
"I'm not finished yet. In case you didn't like lemon, these are for you too." She began to dig around in the bag once more before pulling out a big navy blue box with a gold ribbon around it. This was definitely bought at a store.
"...Really?" If the size said anything, she was sure to gain a few pounds over the next couple of days.
"Of course, my father insisted. Lemon isn't exactly a traditional flavor, so my dad ordered these when he was in France a few days ago. The first container has vanilla, the middle layer has chocolate cookies, and the top layer is strawberry. He wanted to be sure that there was a flavor that you liked inside. He told me lemon was an unconventional flavor soooo it was safer to get the basics." The student finished explaining as she placed the box in Kagome's hand.
Kagome nearly dropped the box as it was heavier than she had expected. "Please tell him I said thank you." This was the first time a student had given her a gift and it was by far probably the most expensive one she'd ever received.
"He said the same." She smiled. "I just came to give you those. He brought them back from his business trip and specifically asked for me to wait until he returned before I baked my cookies for you so I could give them to you at the same time."
Was this girl rich or something? Give or take, Kagome tried to do her best to get to know her students, but she had never seen this girl before. Considering that this girl wasn't even one of her students, Kagome was surprised at how generous she was being. Her family must be pretty well off. She was already thinking of all the places she would have to hide the cookies to keep her brother from eating them.
"Well, I should get going. I need to finish up a painting I'm working on. Again, thank you so much for everything. I'll definitely come back on Friday," she said as she zipped up her bag and began heading out.
"Wait!" Kagome called out as she set the cookies down on her desk. "What's your name?"
"Silly me," the girl laughed. "Second year class C, Rin Takahashi."
She's a 2nd year? Kagome smiled as she waved at Rin. "Let's eat some of the cookies together on Friday then, Rin."
As Rin took off, Kagome found her smile growing. Her life had suddenly gotten very interesting lately. For one reason or another, she was being placed in these odd situations.
"I have a feeling my life is changing for the better."
Arc 1
Chapter: 3/ 8
(3/22)
Posted on: 11/06/21
Words: About 13, 000
Pages: 30 pages
My bad I meant to post yesterday but…Yea I didn't. No excuses, I just forgot to lol.
I'll post every 5th, 15th, and 25th of the month Until December 25th when the first arc is finished ;)
So they're friends now… It's about to get REALLY fun :)
I know exactly how this story ends (I finished the chapter outline months ago) so I'm so excited to finish it off. We've got a looooong journey ahead of us with lots of twisties and turnies.
Just remember, EVERY LITTLE DETAIL is written for a reason and will certainly come back to haunt.
See you on November 15th.