Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, but I own this story/concept...And we don't talk about Bruno.
Rated for profanity and potentially triggering scenes.
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
Promise 101
A lesson in making promises
Congratulations!
We've been waiting for this to happen!
What? I thought they were already married.
"Thanks." Sango gave a curt reply as she set her bag down on her desk. She had barely even walked through the door when people started bombarding her with congratulations. Sango turned a wary eye towards the very man she had promised herself to. He was already opening the album of their engagement pictures and was showing them to everyone proudly.
While Sango had wanted to keep their engagement a bit more low-key, Miroku had posted everything on social media and was more than excited to talk about it with their coworkers.
"Look at how surprised she looks in this picture!" The guys huddled around Miroku to look at the pictures, leaving the girls to crowd around Sango.
"Let's see the ring!" The women all but yanked at Sango's hand to get a glimpse at the diamond.
Sango and Miroku had talked about wedding rings years ago when the topic came up. It was just a small conversation when watching a terrible romantic comedy, but it brought a smile to her face to see that he had remembered exactly what she said. The ring adorning her finger was braided in a loop with the smallest of diamonds woven between each braid. The center of the ring held three-stone diamonds that sparkled under the light with each turn of her finger. She had to give Miroku a pat on the back for choosing a ring far more beautiful than what was previously described.
"It's beautiful," Hari and Ruri cooed.
Sango barely mumbled her gratitude as she turned her back to them. She couldn't stand them.
Hari was someone Sango worked with on a daily basis with both being moral studies teachers and all. She was diligent and good at her job, but whenever she got around Ruri, they became the worst people to be around, nothing but gossip and shit-talkers. Even Miroku didn't like being around Ruri and he liked mingling with everyone. That said something.
"So when's the wedding?"
"In six months," Sango answered as she turned from the girls and began looking for her documents for the morning meeting.
As if the room hadn't been a buzz, it suddenly became very quiet. The elephant in the room had all but suffocated everyone as they waited for someone to ask the question at hand.
One of the men that had overheard asked, "Six months?"
I dare one of these idiots to say I'm pregnant. I'll kill them all.
With Sango's nonchalant shrug of her shoulders, everyone turned to Miroku who also shrugged his shoulders.
It must be stated again that Sango did not want her coworkers in her business. Anyone that needed to know would know and would get the invitation. Other than that, it was nothing she wanted to be talked about.
"It's our anniversary in six months," Miroku clarified.
Both had decided it would be nice to have everything on one day. One big day full of love and friends and excitement. They had talked about just signing the papers and not having a ceremony but felt that family and friends alike would enjoy the festivities. It was just convenient if they did it on the same day.
"So did you start planning already?" Ruri asked.
"Ms. Shinahara, I just got engaged a couple of days ago. The only thing set is the date."
"I think it's smart to have everything on one day. Less to celebrate and less special events to eventually forget."
Sango rolled her eyes with a smile as Inuyasha came into the room. He would salvage the last few minutes they had before the morning meeting. Though Inuyasha rarely came to the teacher's office, his desk was next to Sango's, leaving that to be the only truly redeeming point of their seating arrangements in the office.
"You looked handsome in the pictures, Mr. Takahashi. You all looked very great. Are you trying to settle down next, Mr. Takahashi?"
Inuyasha set his coffee down with nothing more than a side glance at the coworker that asked that. It was way too early in the morning for such foolery.
"Ahh, there's my soon-to-be best man," Miroku gleamed.
Inuyasha would obviously be the best man seeing as Miroku considered him his closest confidant. Plus the fact that Inuyasha was the only one that would put up with his antics. They were the best of chums, so it was only natural that they'd be the best man in each other's weddings.
If I'm best man, Kagome would most likely be maid of honor. Inuyasha liked that idea. Sango had a select group of friends that she associated with. None of which Inuyasha could say Sango would ever consider asking to have such an important role in their wedding. So we'll walk down the aisle together… Dreams do come true.
Hari was quick to saunter up to Inuyasha. "Miroku said you helped a lot with the proposal, that was very sweet. How would you propose?"
It's too early in the morning for this. Inuyasha hadn't given thought to how he would propose to anyone since there was no point…At least no point until recently. "Depends on the girl…." He'd try to tailor it to how he thought she'd like it while also including elements that he liked himself. "I'd do something simple, kind of like Sango and Miroku. Just us two with something unique, maybe something with flowers." His mother loved flowers. Kagome really likes flowers too, doesn't she? It was just a guess but if she was willing to play in the garden with the gardener and eat in the garden, maybe she liked them? "Definitely something with flowers."
"Awww that's so romantic."
Inuyasha went back to unpacking his bag, obviously not interested in continuing the conversation with his coworkers.
"Too simple, gotta' do something grand and big in my opinion," Hiten chimed in.
No one asked you. Inuyasha thought as he turned a side-eye to the man. "Uh-huh."
"How else will she feel loved?"
"I don't know, I quite liked Mr. Takahashi's idea very much. Something more intimate and private sounds lovely. And the flowers would be the cherry on top, I really like flowers, especially roses." Kagome said as she joined her coworkers. She directed a smile Inuyasha's way before standing next to Sango. "The moment was beautiful and the pictures don't show just how amazing it was."
Inuyasha could feel his heart jump out of his chest with Kagome's words. Not just her words but from being near her in general. Since the engagement…since the kiss….things had been a bit fast-paced.
Inuyasha hardly had time to process it as right after the two had to rush to be in the next pictures with the beautiful couple. After that, they had gotten dinner together and had stayed out all night. By the time Inuyasha got back home after a day of working to make sure everything was perfect and with alcohol in his system, he had gone straight to sleep.
He wasn't sure of how to go about broaching the topic so he had texted a simple good morning text that Kagome responded to as if everything was normal. As if the two had never kissed. As if what was a magical experience for him never transpired. And now here was Monday. A Monday where it was his first time seeing her since the engagement.
"Romantic wasn't it? Wish my husband would've done something like that." Another woman started.
So she liked that idea now did she? Inuyasha looked at Kagome as she started a conversation about God knows what. Their eyes locked for a split second before she offered him an all-knowing glance, smile growing ever so slightly.
Inuyasha was long passed hesitating with Kagome. They had already kissed for God's sake. And if he was being honest with himself, he wanted to do it again. Now just wasn't the time to have a discussion about it. If anything, knowing that Kagome definitely felt something back made him feel an odd combination of antsy and relieved. It was up to him to take the next steps with her is all. The next steps would be asking her on a date, marrying her, having 2.5 babies, and living happily ever after. It was all coming together.
"Let's start the meeting," Tsubaki stated as she came into the teacher's office.
The group moved to the front of the room where the meetings were typically held. Inuyasha all but cringed as he looked at Tsubaki.
Why the hell is she smiling so hard?
Was it a full moon? Did she win the lotto? Tsubaki was rarely in such a good mood during the morning meetings and yet here she was grinning from ear to ear.
"I appreciate everyone submitting their ideas in a timely manner last week. The principal approved each idea. Have there been any problems that need to be discussed?"
There was a small bit of chatter, but nothing more as the room returned to silence. They rarely had problems that needed to be addressed in these morning meetings. Inuyasha glanced at Menomaru. If there was the odd chance that something came up, he would've most likely come to Inuyasha about the problem. Menomaru lightly shook his head before turning his attention back to the front of the room.
"Great," she handed one of the teachers a stack of flyers. "I'll be passing around the itinerary and schedule for everything. We had a few questions about the fireworks. The students will be in a separate designated area for the viewing. Where they can and can't go is marked on the map. The principal has signed off on all of it so now it's just a matter of preparing the students and going on the trip in a couple of weeks. Any questions?" She scanned the room before motioning to the door. "Please talk amongst yourselves and check the details to make sure everything is perfect. We'll continue the meeting in five minutes with big news."
As everyone began to talk about the final details of the field trip, Inuyasha turned to Miroku while skimming through the itinerary.
"Did the field trip go smoothly last year?"
Miroku thought about it before nodding. "It's not as hectic as it sounds. It's actually really fun, it's nice to see the students out in a different environment. Plus there's a lot of downtime."
Inuyasha hoped Miroku's words would hold true. Most of the students at the school were pretty well-behaved. Maybe it wouldn't be like babysitting as much as he thought it would be. Inuyasha really did like his students so being able to see them in a different setting was bound to be interesting.
It wasn't long before Tsubaki strutted back into the room with a young man behind her. The first thing Inuyasha noted was that the guy was very noticeably a demon. Hmmmmmm. The guy looked around the room, eyes locking and listening in on conversations with passive indifference as he waited for Tsubaki to give him more instructions. They hadn't had a new teacher since Inuyasha had come, but he couldn't remember a position needing to be filled at this point in time.
"Alright, if I can have everyone's attention before we end the meeting. There's a new addition to our team. In saying that, we might be moving rooms around soon; I'll have the full update in our meeting next week," Tsubaki stated with a warm smile. "Now as some of you may have heard, we're getting a new teacher today for the physical education department."
No one said a word, but it was clear on many faces that no one knew about the new addition. Was something wrong with their current gym teacher?
That's news to me.
What happened to that one guy?
Do they ever get teachers during the correct time?
Why the hell is a new teacher coming in now of all times? It's already July.
He's easy on the eyes.
"He was supposed to join us at the beginning of the semester back in April, but couldn't due to a few technicalities. It's a bit sudden, but it seems that Byakuya will no longer be working with us as he received a promotion."
Oh yea. Inuyasha had only seen the guy a handful of times since coming to work in January. Since the gym teacher was always in the gym, they really had no reason to meet, let alone talk.
Tsubaki continued, "Please allow me to introduce Kouga Matsuno."
Inuyasha looked at Miroku and even he seemed shocked by the news. If Miroku didn't know about this with as much as he was in everyone's business, there was no doubt that most other teachers didn't know as well. There was always the possibility that the gym teacher really did get a promotion….Or this was on the hush-hush and they must have tried to keep it on the down low for some reason rather than because of a promotion. It would be more interesting if there was a demotion or the guy had gotten fired in Inuyasha's eyes. Either way, Inuyasha honestly didn't care.
Ahhh so this is why she looked like a kid in a candy store. A nice new shiny toy to play with. Inuyasha groaned to himself. New guy meant slightly longer meeting. It was the morning time and he just wanted the meeting to end. Honestly, he couldn't care less about getting a new teacher. The crowd of teachers started talking amongst themselves again as they waited.
"Looks like fresh meat for you, Kagome," Hiten said with a smirk.
Kagome rolled her eyes as she took a few steps away from him. She wasn't sure why he felt the need to continuously pick on her when she had already made it quite clear she wanted nothing to do with him. It was beyond her at this point, all she knew is that she wanted him to stop.
Tsubaki took a step back to allow the new teacher to step forward and introduce himself.
"I'll be in your care from now on. I'm looking forward to working with each and every one of you." He gave a deep bow before allowing Tsubaki to continue the meeting.
Inuyasha yawned. He wasn't one for changes, but it would be interesting to have a new face around after months of seeing the same people.
"If there are no further questions. I'll end this meeting. Come Mr. Matsuno, let's start that tour."
He held up a hand in protest. "Actually, I was thinking she could give it." He pointed at who he was hoping to get a tour from.
Everyone followed his pointed claw to see who he was wanting to spend more time with. Said girl pointed at herself as if to confirm.
"Me?"
"Yea, Kagome was it based on what that lad said, right? If you've got time, how about a quick tour of the school?"
"Uhh…Ummm-I…" She had been so caught off guard by the question that she began stuttering.
Say no, say no. Inuyasha properly looked the guy over now that he had his attention. Tan. That was the first thing Inuyasha noticed. No second, since he had immediately noticed the demon, specifically wolf demon, features with his ears, claws, and tail. Mr. Matsuno was very tan though, definitely not from this area unless he just lived in the sun. His long jet-black hair was tied back in a high ponytail, providing him with a sleek look. He wore a light brown shirt tucked into black slacks and fresh loafers to match. Curse the principal's affixation with hiring well-dressed, young attractive employees.
Okay, Fabio. Back off.
The fact that he had addressed Kagome without even knowing her, by her first name at that, left a bad taste in Inuyasha's mouth.
"It'll only take about five minutes, right?" Kouga asked as he turned to Tsubaki. "If you have the time that is." He repeated once more in Kagome's direction.
"I mean…I don't have first period, but I have homeroom…"
"I can wait until you finish with homeroom. I've got to set some things up at my desk anyways."
Tsubaki's eyes practically bulged out of her head as she glared at Kagome. No one in the room really knew what to say about his blatant interest in Kagome. The poor girl would be in her casket right now if looks could kill. She looked like she didn't know what to do seeing as she had no real reason to refuse him.
"The meeting is adjourned. If you have any further questions, please ask me, Mr. Matsuno," Tsubaki said with a tight-lipped smile.
If she smiles any harder she'll pop a goddamn blood vessel.
The women went off to their own area to talk about the attractive new teacher while the men did the same, though the conversation was far from praising his looks.
In their own little group, Sango, Inuyasha, Miroku, and Kagome huddled together.
"Glad we're at least on the same bus for this school trip," Sango pointed out as she tapped their packets.
"That's true," Kagome said with a smile. "I should probably get things ready in homeroom for now. I'll see you at lunch?" Kagome asked Sango.
"Where are we meeting?" Miroku asked before pointing at his desk. "I got some stuff-"
"Girls only, sorry," Sango said smugly.
"But I brought snacks."
She shrugged her shoulders as if to say she didn't care before taking Kagome's hand in hers. "Let's head out now."
"Guess it's just us today then, buddy," Miroku said as he patted Inuyasha's shoulder.
Inuyasha could hear Miroku saying words, but his attention was elsewhere. He could smell it from a mile away. They would not mix well.
xXx
Things had certainly taken an interesting turn. Interesting turn as in boring. The only reason he could call it interesting was that Inuyasha hadn't expected things to turn out this way. Not in a million years.
Least to say, he had yet to really speak with Kagome since Monday. It was Saturday now. They had talked on and off again throughout the day but the new guy kept bugging Kagome. Inuyasha had barely even had a second alone with her since the wolf arrived and it was starting to piss him off. Literally every second of the day, the guy was next to Kagome, talking to Kagome, or calling out to her. If Inuyasha didn't know any better, he'd swear out the guy had a damn radar for her with how often he was finding her throughout the school.
It was fine though. Inuyasha felt that he and Kagome were stable as could be. Whenever she caught his eye and he caught hers, her eyes would light up with glee and she would smile. Didn't last long when the wolf came around though.
As I thought, I hate him.
Inuyasha had yet to say one word to the guy but he knew he didn't like him at all. Sharing the same breath of air in school for the rest of their school careers wouldn't be fun.
"You're thinking about that Kouga guy again aren't you," Miroku asked as he kicked his feet up on the couch. With it officially being the weekend, Inuyasha and Miroku had time to just sit and relax in Inuyasha's condo.
"No," Inuyasha said as he went to down his beer.
"You finished that can off a while ago, bud," Miroku pointed out. "You sure you're not a little antsy because you haven't really talked to Kagome? Cuz you seem a bit…" The look Inuyasha was giving him was telling him to choose his words carefully. "Jittery."
"I'm fine."
"So you're not mad about earlier?"
"Why would I be?" Had Inuyasha been a little peeved earlier? Maybe a little bit. Just a dash.
Inuyasha wanted to talk things over with Kagome and…Well, he wasn't sure yet, but he had asked her to meet up to which she politely declined while saying that she was showing Kouga around all day. Inuyasha could feel himself grinding his teeth over the whole situation. By no means was he jealous though, just a wee bit irritated.
Miroku watched Inuyasha carefully, indigo eyes roaming over his friend intrusively. Inuyasha looked like he was handling it about as well as any of their students would, which wasn't all that great since his annoyance showed on his face every time a certain young wolf was mentioned. Miroku could say with ease that his best friend was a bit riled up about the new guy whether he said it in words or not. It was only icing on top of the cake that Mr. Matsuno was hanging out with Kagome all day, the day that Inuyasha had asked her to meet up.
Miroku couldn't help but laugh. At Inuyasha's odd stare, he laughed harder. "Just offer to take her to the shrine tomorrow or something to talk with her."
"No."
"Why not?"
Inuyasha grew silent. His silence was answer enough.
Miroku stretched before standing. "If you want things to go well with Kagome, you'll need to lose the pride. It's not like you had very much to be prideful of in the first place."
"Why you little-"
"Now, now. Hurtful words will get you nowhere." He downed the rest of his drink before jutting a finger out to the door. "It's going on 10pm and I told Sango I would come home tonight."
"Keh, not like I wanted you to stay anyway."
Miroku heaved a heavy sigh. Kagome was in for the ride of her life with this one. As much as Inuyasha was a fighter, he was just as much a lover. He was like a big aggressive teddy bear. Hard on the outside but soft on the inside. Kagome would just have to chip away the hard layers of his exterior to get to the fluff is all.
"Is that your way of saying you want me to stay cuz I'll call Sa-"
"Get out," Inuyasha said with a roll of his eyes. It had been a long day of spending time with Miroku, he had more than enough of him at this point. It would be nice to just spend the rest of the night relaxing and drinking alone which was more than fine with him after a whole day of being around the eccentric young man.
Miroku threw himself back on the couch, practically throwing himself all over Inuyasha. "Nah, I'll spend the night in your big condo since you're so desperate for my attention."
"If you don-"
Ring Ring Ring
Both stared at the kitchen island where Inuyasha's phone sat ringing away. As Inuyasha's ringtone went off, he threw Miroku off of his body. There was only one person that ever called him on LINE so there was no doubt who was calling.
"Get out, I'm busy," Inuyasha said as he pointed at the door before going to retrieve his phone.
"See you on Monday." Miroku waved before seeing himself out.
Inuyasha had barely even heard Miroku as he focused on who was now calling him.
"Hey," he answered smoothly as if his heart wasn't beating a hundred miles a minute.
"Hi, Inuyasha." He could practically hear the smile in her voice as her tone was upbeat and lively. "Glad to know you're not asleep yet."
"It's a Saturday."
"If I can, I always try to sleep early on the weekends or I just sleep throughout the day. It's the only time we really get to rest when we're not tending to club activities," she laughed. "I felt a bit bad about our phone call earlier. I really wanted to meet up but I had already made a promise with Kouga."
Inuyasha felt his heart leap with joy. Okay so maybe she thought he was more fun to hang out with than wolf shit. She hadn't said it in those exact words but she might as well have.
"Oh, did you now?"
"I did," she laughed a little more. "Sooo I was thinking. I still kind of owe you that meal for patching me up. If you're up for a midnight snack, we can meet at the park between our places and pig out on convenience store food…..If you're okay with it that is."
Hell yea he was. "I treat you to the best udon of your life and you only want to give me convenience store food?" He joked. "Yea, let's make it happen. I'll meet you there in about 20 minutes. No getting all dressed up though." He looked down at his sweats in contentment.
"Dang it, guess I'll take off my heels now then. I'll meet you by the picnic tables, k?"
"Gotcha."
"See you soon.."
"See ya'." Inuyasha couldn't help but grin. Seems that God was on his side tonight.
It only took him a couple of minutes to find his keys before he was out the door and making his way to the park. With it being one of the hottest months in Japan, it was humid though cool as the wind blew from time to time.
He was pretty jolly in his shoes to know she had been thinking about him to the point of asking to meet even though it was so late at night. Late night + the most beautiful woman in the world + food = Perfect night.
Inuyasha was there in no time, scanning the area and looking for the girl of his dreams. As he spotted her waving, he was a bit surprised.
One reason being that Kagome was a dream come true. She was in more relaxed, casual clothing. Simple oversized white shirt, black shorts, and a snapback hat to conceal wavy locks tightly tucked back in a high ponytail. The second was that she had bought a lot more food than he had expected. Chips, pasta, steamed buns, takoyaki, drinks. It was like she wanted to buy one of everything from their local Family Mart.
"Isn't this a little more than a midnight snack?" Inuyasha asked as he picked up one of the dumplings.
"I did say the words 'pig' and 'out' as well," she stated pointedly as she opened up one of the bags of chips. Kagome held out the bag for Inuyasha to take some knowing that it was one of his favorite brands. "So what did you do all day?"
Inuyasha shrugged his shoulders as he took them from her. "Not much. Was at home all day, Miroku came by around after his club activities finished up and we just chilled until then. How was your day?" Inuyasha was more than curious about what she had been up to.
In a similar fashion, Kagome shrugged her shoulders. "Not much. Was out all day with Kouga."
Inuyasha scoffed. First name basis? Interesting. "What'd you guys do?"
Kagome handed him one of the dumplings before taking one herself and carefully peeling off the wrapper. "I just gave him a tour of the town is all. We went to the main city, shopped a little, ate, all that stuff."
Inuyasha nodded his head slowly. If they could manage to spend all day together, they must've enjoyed themselves, right? Inuyasha didn't feel jealous, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't want to be the one occupying her time. It's not like this Kouga guy was the one that got to kiss her, right? Plus she had been thinking about him even after spending all day with another man. There was nothing to worry about. "That's it?" He sat on the picnic table before dusting off his hands on his legs.
Kagome quirked up an eyebrow. "Oh, would you have taken him to all the temples and castles in town? How discourteous of me for not thinking of that."
"Keh." Inuyasha rolled his eyes before opening a can of beer. "Couldn't care less where you took him."
If possible, her eyebrow rose higher on her head "Ya' know…" She took the beer from him before taking a swig of it. "I think you and Kouga have a lot in common. If you and Kouga actually talked, you would probably become the…best…of…friends…" Her words died down at the expression he was giving her. His face had twisted into a very disdainful, maybe even pained, look at the idea of befriending Kouga.
Oh sweet, sweet Kagome, not a fucking chance in hell. Inuyasha could smell guys like Kouga a mile away. He was big-headed and it showed in how he addressed Kagome in their morning meeting.
"Yea, sure." He took the beer back from her. Not even if hell froze over.
"I'm serious," she laughed. "We talked a lot today and you guys really have a lot in common." Inuyasha dropped his face into a deadpanned expression to communicate just how likely that would happen. Inuyasha didn't care if they had every single detail in common, he wasn't interested in befriending someone like that. Kagome held her hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. You'll come around eventually. Isn't there something else you want to talk about though?" She asked, playful coyness held in her voice.
She had changed the conversation so quickly that Inuyasha nearly got whiplash. He could see where she was going with this.
She wants to talk about the kiss.
Glad they were on the same page about bringing it up. Inuyasha had planned to talk about it eventually, but with everything going on, he just couldn't find the right timing. He probably wanted to talk about it more than she did if he were honest with himself. However, he could have a bit of fun with this.
"Actually there is, I've been waiting all week to talk about it with you." Inuyasha made sure to look Kagome directly in her big doe eyes. He could see the eagerness in them, it almost made him not want to mess with her. Almost. "You know Miroku's birthday is coming up pretty soon, right?"
She didn't hide her disappointment as she blinked in confusion while sporting a frown. "What?"
"Yea, end of July. He told me he wants to do some kind of party."
"...You wanted to talk to me about Miroku's birthday party?" She asked for clarification.
"Yup, he's already planning the invites." Inuyasha feigned confusion as he tilted his chin to the side. "Why? Is there something else we should talk about?"
"Mou!" Kagome lightly shoved him with a laugh. Fine, two could play that game. "I can't stand you. No, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to come with me to the shrine next time. I plan to go after work on Wednesday for a couple of hours, maybe stop by and see mom."
Inuyasha laughed. Damn, she was too cute. "Yea, we can take my car." He wouldn't dream of missing more time to spend with Kagome and her mother. Keh. I highly doubt Kouga will get to meet her mom.
"I was thinking about getting someone to take over handling the shrine," Kagome said as she grabbed the takoyaki. "Someone in town to run it while I'm away. It would save me a lot of stress and give me more time to spend with mom when I'm in town. It's been on my mind for a while now, what do you think?"
Inuyasha used one of the toothpicks to pick up one of the takoyaki balls before popping it in his mouth. "If it saves you stress, do it. I'll take you whenever you need to do interviews and help you out until you can find someone. We can take care of the shrine together until we get it set up."
Kagome gave Inuyasha a bright smile. "You're the absolute best," she said as she began to go for the small box of Pino ice cream before offering him one.
"I know."
Damn did this girl not eat all day? She was going to get a stomachache if she kept eating all this junk food like that. Inuyasha shook his head as he tapped his beer can.
The two fell into a comfortable silence as they enjoyed drinking and eating together. Feeling this calm and happy and just downright peaceful was a combination Inuyasha hadn't felt in a long time, at least not until becoming friends with Kagome. It was such a great feeling knowing that they could enjoy laughing and joking with each other, but also enjoy quiet times like these just as much.
He glanced down at her as she worked to finish off the last of the ice cream and smirked to himself. Knowing that this was the girl for him and that if she would have him, they'd have hundreds of more nights like this made him feel even more at peace, maybe even excited.
"Kagome?" Inuyasha started.
"Mhm?" She answered as she focused on sticking the pick through the soft chocolate shell of the ice cream. With it being as hot as it was, she regretted not eating the ice cream first now that it was melting at a fast pace. After she finally managed to stick the toothpick through the shell and work it out of the container and towards her mouth, she turned to give him her attention. "Yes?"
"We kissed right? So why don't you be my date to Miroku's and Sango's wedding?"
Kagome froze as she tried to process what was being said. He could see the wheels in her head turning as her face burned red. As she was thinking over his words, the ice cream slipped from the toothpick and onto her white shirt. "Damn it. You," she glared at Inuyasha before scrambling to find a napkin.
"Me?" Inuyasha pointed at himself. "What did I do?"
"You-you! You know what you did, mister," she said as she began to wipe at her shirt. "How could you just suddenly bring it up like that?"
Inuyasha laughed. "Just a minute ago you wanted to talk about it, right?"
"You even asked me to be your date to the wedding. Goodness, what lovely timing?"
"Well, I didn't plan to do it like this," Inuyasha said with a shrug of his shoulders. He had thought about asking her a bit more romantically somewhere between now and the wedding but now felt like a pretty good time to him. "I feel like I don't plan a lot of stuff that goes on between us, but things seem to work out in the end. So will you be my date?"
Kagome actually seemed to be thinking about it as she grew silent. Inuyasha hadn't expected her to really weigh her pros and cons of going on a date with him, he felt an onset of nerves enter him as she thought.
She looked down at the ice cream on her shirt. "This is how you want to ask me? Ice cream stains, messy hair, no make-up. You really want me to be your date?" She joked. He loved that she felt so comfortable around him regardless of being dressed up or dressed down.
There wasn't a single thing that would sway his choice in wanting her as his date. "The fact that you look this beautiful without even trying." He clicked his teeth as he rolled his eyes at her. "I can't imagine anyone else I would want as my date. So yes or no for the third time?" The anticipation was about to kill him at this point.
"Of course, silly," she said as she smiled at him. "Since you think I'm soooooo beautiful. I'll be your arm candy for a night."
Inuyasha could breathe a sigh of relief. This girl. Kagome was officially his date for the wedding. He wished he could frame this moment in glass with her smiling as much as she was at him.
"Ah." Inuyasha took out his phone as he flipped on the camera. "Let's take that profile picture now."
"What, wait. Inuyasha you're killing me here," she laughed. She easily recalled their conversation about profile pictures, it was a bit beyond her why he was asking her to take one now of all times. "I thought you didn't want a profile picture for your LINE account."
"But…a picture is worth a thousand words," Inuyasha started, throwing her own words back in her face. "It reveals small details and-"
"Okay, okay," she said with a glare. "With me?"
"I thought you wanted to be my arm candy. Yea, with you. That's the only way I'll post the picture."
"You're lying." Call it odd but she felt a bit of pressure knowing that the very first time he'd post a profile picture is only with her. Lots of pressure, but also that this was a bit of an honor.
"I'm dead serious. Besides," he said as he flipped the camera on them. "It'll be the perfect memory about how I asked you to be my wedding date and how we ate convenience store food together at the park."
"And about the kiss?" She obviously wasn't going to let it go.
"You like me and I like you, right?" Okay, Inuyasha could feel himself getting a bigger ego and a bit more confidence now that they had kissed and she was asking about it. She had kissed him back and had shown that she was open to his advances toward her specifically.
Kagome didn't confirm or deny that statement out loud, though she nodded her head up and down.
"I like you. I very obviously like you and I know you're not that dense," Inuyasha stated clearly for her.
Kagome didn't look all that pleased with his words as her lips curved into a small frown. "And what does that mean for us?" So what if they liked each other or even that he liked her? Did they like each other but were still friends? Did he want to date her? Marry her? What? Because he surely hadn't made any move to further define their relationship.
"It means, I like you. As in you're the only girl that has my attention. As in, not now when we're in our pajamas, but eventually, I would like to take you on a date and maybe be more….exclusive?" Inuyasha could feel his face warming up. "That clear enough?"
Inuyasha already knew this was the girl he would one day walk down the aisle with…again…So he wanted to do things right and take her on a proper date. Not a family charity event, but an actual thought-out date. Kagome deserved at least that much. He'd take her out as a more romantic gesture when he actually had time to think about what she may like. It was fair to say that he had been more than ready to finally say his feelings for her, but he still had a few reservations about them dating. Specifically, her dating him. After he felt she had a clear idea of what their relationship would be like and if she seriously wanted to be with him, then they could happily date, get married, and live happily ever after.
"You really like me?"
"Is there anyone else that I'm asking to take a profile picture with?"
For the first time since starting this conversation, she smiled. "You really like me," she mumbled to herself. "Fine to the picture, just put a sticker over the stain on my shirt."
Inuyasha handed her the phone. "You can choose a filter or sticker or whatever you like for the picture."
"Any?" She innocently questioned as she took his phone in her hands.
"Yea, just don't make me regret giving you that much power."
xXx
Kagome smiled as she tapped away on her phone.
This is too cute.
Over the last several hours she found herself clicking on Inuyasha's profile picture. As he said he would, he allowed her to decorate the picture in any way that she pleased. She had added bunny ears to her head and cat whiskers to him while also putting a variety of stars around the border of the picture. It took her back to her high school days when she would go to the purikura machines with her friends after a long day of hanging out in town. She let out a small laugh. After Inuyasha saw how childlike the end result was, he looked like he wanted to delete the picture but stuck true to his word while saying he hated it. The fact that he even posted it scored him a few extra points with Kagome, though she would never tell him that.
"What are you giggling about over there?"
"Nothing," Kagome said as she clicked her phone off. Teachers technically weren't supposed to use their cellphones in front of the students, but she was in the comfort of her own room so it didn't really matter.
"Thinking of Uncle Inu?" Rin asked, not bothering to look up from the sketch she was deeply invested in.
"Actually, yes."
"You really like him, don't you?" Rin smiled to herself but didn't comment further. For the first time since coming to Kagome's classroom, Rin looked up from her artwork. "Ms. Higurashi, can I ask you for a little advice?..."
Nothing more needed to be said, Kagome was ready to play big sister and give any type of help she could. She was quick to take the seat in front of Rin. "Ask away." Now that Kagome was closer, she could finally see the sketch Rin had been penning away at for the last thirty minutes. A detailed sketch of a peony with water droplets scattered on the page came to life, it was sure to look even more beautiful with color. Kagome wished she had the skill to draw something like that just from imagination alone.
"Well, a friend's birthday is coming up and I don't know what to get him. What do you think I should get?"
Kagome tapped her finger to her chin. How could she answer that without actually knowing the person? "Who is it?" Rin whispered a name that Kagome couldn't hear. Oh, it must be a special friend…She did say he….. "A little louder please," she giggled.
"Kohaku…"
There was only one Kohaku that Kagome knew. "You mean Ms. Kuwashima's little brother?" Kagome had forgotten they even knew each other considering that Rin was a grade younger than him and that she had never seen them around each other. Then again…..Kagome could clearly remember a strong look of protection on Kohaku's face when he was defending Rin from the group of girls.
"Yes, you're best friends with Ms. Kuwashima, right? So you definitely have to know a lot about Kohaku!" She exclaimed, face bright red in embarrassment.
Kagome laughed. While she considered Sango a close friend at this point, would it be safe to call them best friends after several weeks of talking almost every day? It was something to think about. "I'm sure you know more about Kohaku since you probably see him more than I do."
"He's my best friend," she said with a smile. "He's always making me smile and he's the best person in the whole world, so I want to give him the best gift. You probably have more experience with guys than I do, so I want your advice on what to get him."
Kagome sighed dreamily. She absolutely loved talking about love. There hadn't been a single time in Kagome's life where she had been so obvious about who she loved, she almost wished she could easily say such lovely things as Rin had. Hell, she hadn't even outright said she liked a certain half-demon when asked. I could serve to take lessons from her. "I personally think something from the heart or something only you can give him would be sweet." Rin's look of dissatisfaction said it all. Clearly she wasn't pleased with such a generic answer. Kagome checked the clock on the wall. "Tell you what, how about I ask Sango about what Kohaku might want for his birthday?"
"You're the best!" Rin squealed as she reached across the desk to hug Kagome.
It warmed Kagome's heart to see Rin so giddy about her love interest. "Thank you. I have to get going to the morning meeting now though." If she left now, she would be right on time.
"Okay, I'll only stay for five more minutes before I go to meet Kohaku."
"Oh la la, morning rendezvous, how cute!" Kagome laughed as Rin's face flamed red and she yelled in protest.
Kagome gave a quick wave before heading to the teacher's office room. Oh what I would give to be young again. There was something about being around lively and excited high school students every day that made Kagome feel nostalgic. There were a lot of things she would have done differently in her high school years had she known what she knew now. One being holding on and cherishing those moments a little longer. Time flew much too quickly.
As Kagome walked into the room, she was greeted with a warm smile from her best friend.
"Got this for you," Sango said as she handed Kagome a new packet and a to-go cup of lemon tea. "I stopped at the cafe we like on the way to work."
Okay, yup, definitely best friend status. It was small things like this that Kagome truly appreciated. "Thank you."
"No worries," Sango said as she pointed at the packet. "This is everything about how the field trip is scheduled, the locations, activities, and such."
Kagome flipped through the pages as she noted which bus and activities she was set to do. Oh Kouga's around our group too. She knew for a fact that he didn't have a homeroom, so it was great that he could be included as an extra set of hands and for their team at that. She noted a few changes to the schedule and teachers' list, no doubt due to the change in teachers, but other than that she felt she was aware of everything listed on the papers. "I'm so excited."
"At least someone is," Miroku said as he walked up to the girls. "This guy here was talking about not wanting to go. He was really going to talk with the principal about opting out." Miroku jutted a finger out towards Inuyasha. Inuyasha seemed to look fairly grim at the idea of going, downright ill in Kagome's opinion.
"It'll be more fun with you there," Kagome stated honestly as she offered him a worried look. He seemed okay about going on the field trip before but now it looked like it was the last thing he wanted to do.
Inuyasha's face noticeably softened with her words though he didn't say anything.
"Alright, alright. Listen up, please," Tsubaki said as she drew everyone's attention to the front of the office. "Thank you for your hard work and working things out quickly. Everything has been approved and we're ready to go." Tsubaki pointed at a stack of papers. "Make sure to grab these and distribute them to your students for those that have homerooms. It has all of the final information, waivers, and checklist items the students need."
Miroku was quick to raise his hand as he scanned the papers. "I know some students asked about the free time portion again. They asked if it was okay for the teachers to join in on the activities, like karaoke, canoeing, etc. Just double checking."
"It's fine. Just let them know not to stray too far from the city center since they only have four hours of free time. Any other questions?" She waited for a beat before continuing on. "Alright, everything is settled. For those of you that have been on the field trip before, please help out with those that haven't," she requested, mainly eyeing the three most recent newcomers. "If there are any other questions, ask me anytime. Let's move on." She turned towards Kagome. "Ms. Higarashi."
Kagome nearly jumped as her name was suddenly called. Last she checked, she hadn't done anything wrong. "Yes?"
"As you know, your room is in a section of the school different from the teachers of your grade. We'll be moving around. We'll be switching your room with Mr. Canna's room in the C wing."
A loud groan came from the back of the room, no doubt Hiten annoyed that he had to move everything from his room over to a different one.
Then that means….Kagome's glance darted to Inuyasha's. I'll be one room away from Inuyasha.
It would certainly be a change from him having to walk all the way to her room. A change in a wonderful direction.
The meeting was done after a few updates from other teachers, leaving them all to due what they pleased until the morning bell rang. The room buzzed with talk of the field trip as teachers grabbed the paperwork to give to their students. While everyone seemed to think about the trip, Kagome was preoccupied thinking about her new room situation. With a new set of keys to her new classroom, she wasn't really sure what to think.
She was jolted from her thoughts as Inuyasha gently nudged her. "I don't have first or second period today so I can help you move stuff around after homeroom," Inuyasha offered as they began filing out of the room.
"I don't either. That would be nice," she replied with a smile.
Kagome felt that everything went by in a blur as she conducted homeroom and watched the last kid walk out. "I did complain about this room a lot," she mumbled to herself as she went to grab books from her desk. "And it doesn't have a window." That was her biggest grievance about the room. Was it a classroom or a prison cell?
"It's not like I didn't know I would probably end up changing rooms too…" There wasn't much to move if she was being honest with herself since she typically went to different classrooms to teach. It was her first time for her homeroom to be moved though. She crowded all of her extra papers and notebooks on the desk. "Oh God, am I going to miss this room?" After all of the complaining she did, it had its good points. It was nice to be away from the chaos that was all of the other teachers in her grade. Plus she enjoyed the little walk she did to get to this side of the school.
"Knock knock," Inuyasha said as he slid her door back. "Brought some boxes for the move." In his hands, he held three boxes stacked on top of each other.
"I hardly need one box," Kagome said as she pointed at everything she had taken out of her desk. "Just this and a few books and I'm ready to go." She stated as she went to the back of the room to grab a few of her own personal books from the shelf.
"Hadn't noticed how shitty…I mean drab, this place looked," Inuyasha said as he began putting her laptop into one of the boxes.
"It is pretty drab, isn't it?" Kagome laughed as she held the books, ready to go. "But look," she grabbed the sleeve of his shirt as she dragged him outside of her classroom. "This place has the perfect view of the garden." She gave a gentle sigh. Despite the crappy location, this was the only wing of the school with a wonderful view of the growing perennials. "I actually think I'll miss this room."
Inuyasha could see just how much she liked looking at flowers as she frowned at the thought of leaving. It made him chuckle. "Okay, come on. I've got something I want to show you." He said as he grabbed the box.
With everyone in their classrooms, the hallway was very empty, the only other noise in the hallway being their footsteps. "It may not be the garden but look at how great the view is from in front of your classroom now," Inuyasha said.
Kagome smiled as she looked out towards the very front of the school. While it wasn't as lovely as the school garden. She could see the front of the school and how oddly symmetrical everything was. The bright green of trees lined smooth pavement as the school gates shined brightly under the sun. It had been a while since the trees had blossomed, but there was no doubt the flourish of sakura blossoms would be beautiful to see at this angle in Spring. "You're certainly right," she whispered.
"And our rooms will be closer together so I don't have to exercise to get to you." Inuyasha laughed as he took the key from her and opened the door.
Kagome joined him in laughter. "That's a plus." She flipped on the lights. She had passed this classroom many times, but this was her first time to actually step into it. It was the same layout as her classroom, just with three wide windows to see the small bare field on the other side. It seemed Hiten had cleaned up well or rather that he had always kept the place tidy much to her surprise. She placed her books on the desk before moving to straighten out a student desk that was slightly unaligned from the others. "Thanks for helping me move," she said as she began taking out a few papers from the box Inuyasha carried. After a test from last week, she still had hundreds to grade. She plopped down at one of the student's desks. "You have to visit me more now that I'm closer." It was like she was moving into the same apartment complex as him and it made her smile from ear to ear. She truly loved the idea of them being closer.
"I will. I'll be able to come in and sit across from you like this," he said as he straddled the seat in front of her desk and looked up at her. "And bother you. All. Day. Long."
"I would love nothing more than for you to do that. We've got the next two periods free. Stay."
"Okay." He didn't have any other plans since he was caught up with all of his work. What better way would he want to spend it than here with her?
Inuyasha quickly went to his room to get his laptop before taking his spot across from Kagome. The desk was fairly small for two people to be working on it, but he liked having her directly in his view and neither complained. There wasn't much talk exchanged between the two as Kagome became invested in grading all of the papers.
It was interesting for Inuyasha to pick up on her small tendencies. The way her face crinkled together whenever a student wrote something odd as an answer. How she had a poor habit of nibbling or biting down on her pen while grading, realizing before taking the pen out of her mouth, and then unconsciously doing it again after some time before repeating the same action. Inuyasha might as well have not been in the room with how she had focused all of her attention on her work. He liked seeing her hard at work. It pleased him to know that he would get more moments like this where he could see her like this.
As she continued on, Inuyasha eyed one of the notebooks she had brought. It looked kind of old, most likely a notebook a student from another semester forgot about when they were supposed to clean out their desk. Inuyasha quietly reached over and picked it up so as to not disturb Kagome. He flipped through the old notebook, seeing only a single page of a student's notes before he saw Kagome's.
Remind Souta to buy new soccer cleats
Don't forget to buy more tea
Get a new book from Suyari's collection
It's a to-do list. There were a few pages of random lists before it stopped. It seemed like she wrote in the book at random times based on how a variety of pen colors were used.
Inuyasha turned to a random page in the notebook, took one of the pens out of his pocket, and began doodling. Inuyasha was nothing like his niece when it came to art, but he could manage a decent doodle of a girl if he tried. He bounced between looking at Kagome and doing his best to draw her in the notebook. It took a good thirty minutes before he had drawn a decent chibi drawing of her grading. As he worked to finish, he signed his name before writing a small note at the bottom.
"What are you doing?" Kagome asked as she looked up from her now graded papers.
"Writing a note," Inuyasha said as he worked to finish writing.
"Oh," she asked as she leaned over the desk to see what he was writing. "What are yo-"
"Secret," he mumbled, holding the notebook close to his chest. "You can read it when you're older."
"Is that so?" She asked. "You really won't let me see?"
"Not a chance in hell." Now that he had actually started a note to her, he realized he had a lot he wanted to say. Maybe he would rip the page out in the end and toss it, maybe he would let her see it one day. Who knew? He was living for the obvious curiosity that she had for what he might be writing.
"Fine," she grabbed one of her other notebooks before plopping down in her seat. "I'll just write my own note that you can see when you're older too."
Ah, a good ole case of 'two can play that game'.
What started off as a short letter eventually became a full-on page of writing that the two promised not to open until permission was given, until the time was right. Both didn't know when that time would be, but they had a strong feeling of excitement for the promise exchanged between them to open the notebooks in the future.
I'm back. Merry Christmas.
Welcome to Arc 2.
All I'm gonna say is Yikes…
See you next week~
Arc 2
Chapter: 1/ 7
(9/22)
Posted:
Finished writing on:
Words: About 10,200
Pages: 22