The Trouble with Love

Disclaimer : I don't own Inuyasha.... at least, that's what my mom says I have to say to exorcise the demon lawyers who keep trying to kill me through suing.

A/N : You my currently be wondering one of many things. First off, why am I writing a Souta/Kanna fic? Simple: A few days ago I got sleepy, and started to think about good Inuyasha pairings that would never happen in a canon setting, and viola! I think of Souta/Kanna. Despite the fact that they could make a cute couple - not to mention the fact that neither is given a love interest in any form - it could obviously never happen in canon for one major reason: they could never meet. I mean, she lives in the Feudal Era, he lives in modern times, and neither can travel through the well (at least, I don't think Kanna can...). The only way it would work out is that Kanna lives really long and meets up with him when he's like... nineteen or something (because, in modern times, she would be a great deal older than him). Even then, it would be a bit weird.

Second, why is a self-proclaimed Miroku/Sango prophetess writing a Souta/Kanna? Simple, as well: They're so cute!

Third, why is a self-righteous "canon fan" writing an alternate pairing? Also simple: neither is given a love interest in any form. Therefore, I'm not messing with canon couplings. Therefore, I have an open playing field. You follow me? Good.

The biggest reason for writing this, though, is that I will soon be writing a Rin/Kohaku fic which will have a good deal of Souta/Kanna in it, and I wish to get a feel for the characters before I take them on in a huge fic. This is loosely based upon my upcoming fic, so if you don't understand it then you should once I publish my Rin/Kohaku story. After all, deleting/rewriting a one-shot is much easier than rewriting an entire fanfic, ne?

Now read my cute little one-shot!

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Her shimmering pale blonde locks fell into her face as she turned her head down in shame. She had promised herself that, despite her other friends' constant attempts to find her a boyfriend, she would never fall in love, yet there she was thinking about the way his short russet hair perfectly framed his face. She remembered everything about him, from his deep, calming chocolate eyes to the way he dotted his i's and j's.

She had seen its effects - on both her sister and her companions. It had made Rin overly giddy and even more irrational than she had been prior to falling for the boy called 'Kohaku', Souten had become moody - Rin called it eternal PMS, and even Rin's annoying friend, Koharu, became more annoying, though in her case it was more along the lines of 'infatuation with a teacher'.

'At least I'm not swooning over someone older than me,' she reminded herself dryly, kicking the metal legs of her chair and violently scribbling down science notes. 'Not to mention, he's engaged,' she added, thinking of the language arts teacher which her acquaintance professed to love.

Love was a dangerous emotion, held responsible for more dangerous crimes than any other emotion, save for maybe anger or hostility and possibly jealousy, and those sometimes went hand in hand. Koharu did once admit she despised their drama instructor because she was the one whom their language teacher had wanted, and not Koharu. She even confessed that she wished the woman was never born. The moment that she heard that confession come from a girl who had a perfect record and cried at the drop of a hat, Kanna had promised herself that she would never, ever fall in love.

Love was something that she wanted to never have to experience, and yet here she was filled with giddiness and childish delight every time the boy glanced in her direction. She hated it.

She glanced over at the boy, and he at her. As their eyes caught, a warm sensation rushed over her cheeks and the hair on her arms rose. She smiled at her, just before turning back towards the blackboard.

'But love isn't always bad,' she admitted, scratching down notes which she thought were on the periodic table. She didn't remember. 'Mr. Tsujitani and Ms. Kuwashima have a good relationship, at least if you don't count Koharu's infatuation, and neither of them even know about that.'

It wasn't that her two teachers didn't have relationship problems - it was quite the opposite. According to the hotline - Kohaku, Ms. Kuwashima's brother, told Rin, who told her - something came up almost every day. The fact was they knew how to handle problems. Kanna didn't - she wasn't ready to fall in love, or even in lust. If she had to fall in love, she wanted to wait until she was old enough to act on her desires, and wisely. She wanted to get through her schooling before anything like this happened to her. She didn't want distractions.

'I'm not even fifteen yet,' she scolded herself. 'I shouldn't worry about boys until I'm eighteen, or at least sixteen.' There was nothing she could do about it: she had fallen, and the more she tried to pull herself out of the pit she'd found herself in, the further she fell into it.

"Class dismissed," the red-headed woman behind the desk called. "I'll see you tomorrow, and don't forget your homework." Kanna sighed, scraping her pencils, pens, paper, and books into her open backpack. Zipping it, she flung it over her shoulder and headed towards the exit. After this she had lunch, and then she would have no more classes with this boy she had found herself stuck on.

"Hey, Kanna!" a voice called after her. She looked back to him, ready to melt after hearing her name pour so perfectly out of his mouth.

"Higurashi," she greeted flatly instead as she continued towards to cafeteria, setting her gaze in front of her.

"Kohaku and Rin are eating lunch together again, and it makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable... since they're a couple and all," Kohaku's roommate and best friend reminisced. Kanna nodded to prove she was listening. "I was wondering if you'd like to eat with me. Since everyone else pairs up and all, and neither of us are paired up." He paused, watching the worried expression pervade the girl's pale face. "As friends," he reminded her with a grin.

She sighed in relief, turning to him. "I'd like that," she admitted, letting her usually distant eyes brighten.

"After all," he confessed, "I don't think I'm ready for a serious relationship yet. It's probably the only thing Kohaku and I don't have in common." The two smiled warmly at each other, reaching an understanding.

'That's the trouble with love,' she thought as they entered the line to pick up their lunches: 'people rush into things without thinking first. They're so desperate for love that they don't take the time to be friends.'

-

In case you couldn't tell, at the beginning of this one-shot, the person who Koharu was swooning over was Miroku, and the drama instructor was Sango - also called Mr. Tsujitani and Ms. Kuwashima, which are the last names of Sango and Miroku's Japanese voice actors. The 'red-headed woman', as you can't tell, is Ayame. Don't ask why I decided to have her teach science...

In places it might not make sense, but that's where the actual fic will come into play. Huzzah!