I finally get to type this up. This is going to be a novel of mine and I sort of just replaced the characters with Inuyasha people, but see, it still makes sense. I'm not going OOC on people. Okay, so the way that I'm doing chapters is weird BECAUSE I couldn't think of a good way of dividing up chapters so I get to 300 k and then the chapter stops because fanfiction.net is really picky about it. So, you get really long chapters. ^_^.
Note: Just forget all the relations right now. No one is related like they are in the series. Yeah.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha
Warnings: Sad, angst, bullying, depression, adult situations.
Fade Away
Inuyasha tugged on the collar of his suit. He didn't like it because it was too tight and the suit was hot and prickly. It was August and he was outdoors. Most people sent him dirty looks every time he fidgeted during his uncle's speech. The speech was boring and depressing. Hadn't they been feeling this way for long enough?
Next to him, his little sister Rin tugged on his sleeve and whimpered slightly. The adults just sent her sympathetic looks. She was a six-year-old girl, and so was entitled to sympathy, but Inuyasha should know how to behave at the age of ten.
"Okay, come on." Inuyasha took her hand and they stood up and walked away from the open grave. Did he want to see his parents lowered into the ground? That made the death final, irreversible. He didn't want to think about it right then.
They walked a fair distance away, while relatives and friends all looked at the two orphaned children with pity as they stood under the shade of a tree in the cemetery.
"Why do they have to talk about it like that?" Rin asked in a small voice. "Mommy and daddy were happy, they didn't act all sad."
"That's because they don't know." Inuyasha looked at the crowd bitterly. He hated the pity he was receiving and the impersonal pity from people he barely knew was the worst of it all. No one could possibly understand what was going on. "They don't know anything."
"I don't wanna go back to that." Rin sat down, tugging Inuyasha to the ground next to her.
"Neither do I." Inuyasha agreed, putting his arm around his sister. "It would be cool if we could just sit here and never have to listen to everyone feel sorry for us."
"I wish mommy and daddy were still here." Rin voiced what they were both really thinking.
So do I.
But we don't have control over that.
"Inuyasha, Rin, we're just running to the store real quick, okay?" Their mother, a dark-haired woman with brown eyes poked her head into the living room where Rin was coloring and Inuyasha was playing video games.
"'Kay." The two of them said simultaneously, obviously distracted by their activities.
Their parents had never come back. They had been rushed to the hospital when they had gotten into a head on collision with a drunk driver. Inuyasha and Rin had been taken there by their aunt and uncle. As soon as they arrived and were about to go in, their parents died. They had never gotten to say anything to them. Not an 'I love you' or an 'it'll be okay.' It was the fact that there was no reassurance that had stung for Inuyasha and Rin the most. They were gone, and they weren't sure how it was going to be anymore.
But they were about to find out.
* * *
Although it seems nothing worse can happen, something does, destroying our faith in the undying belief that of course things had to get better. This is not so. But to the human mind, yes, it feels that way. For our suffering we should be rewarded. Is your suffering worth anything? Is an emotion so great that it should be given some sort of payment for being felt?
Inuyasha and Rin looked at the woman sitting in front of them with mild curiosity, but something in Inuyasha was giving him a bad feeling. She had met them at the gathering after the funeral, briefly introducing herself, telling them they were neat little children after a small talk and then leaving. What could she possibly want now?
"Hello, Inuyasha, Rin." She folded her hands on her clipboard, gave them a smile that was reminiscent of a first grade teacher. "You remember me don't you?"
"Mitada-san." Inuyasha spoke.
"That's right." Mitada-san's smile widened as if he had just done something brilliant. "I'm your social worker. Do you know what that means?"
"No." Inuyasha already didn't like the woman. Rin clung to his arm as she sat next to him on the couch.
"It means that I have to make sure that you live in a nice home now that your parents have passed away." Mitada-san explained to the two of them in a bright voice.
"I thought we were living with our aunt and uncle now." Inuyasha gave her an odd look.
"Well," Her smile faded just the smallest amount. "The thing is, your aunt and uncle already have five children. Two more couldn't possibly fit in this house."
"Who's taking us in then? Grandpa?" Inuyasha guessed.
"None of your relatives are able to take you." She went on, her smile going to its usual brightness. "So, we have to turn to other options."
"What the hell does that mean?" Inuyasha was now thoroughly alarmed by her. What was she saying? Next to him, Rin wasn't saying anything, but was watching the woman with large, fearful eyes.
"Now, there's no need to get upset." The woman's expression changed to plastic concern. "I'm about to tell you."
"Get on with it then!" Inuyasha snapped at the woman, tired of her faked expressions as though she knew the children at all or really cared.
"Alright, calm down. Now, we've found a home for Rin." The woman hesitated before going on. "But we couldn't find a family for you Inuyasha, so, we're going to put in what we like to call a home. It's a place with other children who are waiting to be adopted."
"An orphanage?" A swelling indignity and rush of anger was flowing through Inuyasha. "You're going to separate us?!"
"I don't wanna go!" Rin yelled, standing up as though her height would give her some sort of advantage. "You can't take Inuyasha away from me!"
"Now children, you have to listen." Mitada-san began patiently. "The law says that you have to live with a family until your eighteen. I didn't want you two to get separated, but I couldn't find a home that would take in both of you. And Inuyasha, it is not an orphanage. It's a home."
"It's an orphanage!" Inuyasha stood up next to Rin. "What the hell else do you call it?"
"Really, you should watch your language at your age." Mitada-san frowned slightly. "Now-"
"We aren't going, lady and you can't make us!" Inuyasha grabbed his sister's hand and together they ran out of the room and upstairs to the bedroom they had to share. Their cousins that had been in that room now all shared a different room because their mother insisted on it. Inuyasha slammed the door shut and Rin burst into tears.
"Inuyasha, Inuyasha, don't let them take me away." Rin hugged her brother and cried against him. "Please, don't let them."
"We aren't going." Inuyasha said it again, somehow making it finalized.
There was a tentative knock on the door.
"Inuyasha? Rin?" Their aunt opened the door. "I just got done talking to Mitada-san."
"We aren't going!" Inuyasha insisted.
"I'm sorry, you have to." Their aunt closed her eyes. "We just can't afford to keep the two of you. I'm sorry."
"I hate you!" Rin yelled at her. Their aunt looked shocked before nodding her head.
"I...I'll go get your suitcases." Their aunt turned and walked out the door. "You're leaving tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Inuyasha felt his mouth go dry.
Why was this happening? Wasn't it enough that his parents died? No, whatever demons were cursing him had to take his sister from him, his little sister. Oh, he would pretend that he was annoyed by her and she was just a bother to him, but he loved her. She was always there, trying to draw him pictures to make him feel better, sing silly songs and run around, laughing over some matter that only she knew about.
Why don't they just kill us too?
Then we could all be together again.
"Inuyasha, I turned six today!" Rin announced proudly. "One day, I'll be as big as you!"
"You can't be as big as me. I'm older." Inuyasha told her in a superior tone.
"Then I'm gonna as old as you." Rin insisted.
"You can't be, dummy." Inuyasha poked her forehead. It was a childish flight of fancy that Rin was giving him.
"But what if we get older and don't know each other? If we're the same age, we can always be together because you won't get older and forget about me." Rin explained.
"Hey, do you think I could just forget about you? I'll always remember that I have a little sister named Rin." Inuyasha reassured her.
He didn't say anything like that now. He would remember her, but they wouldn't separate the two of them. They couldn't just tear them apart.
* * *
They had been no help with packing at all, partly hoping that if they weren't packed, they wouldn't have to go. Their aunt and uncle packed up all of their things anyway.
They had refused to go down to dinner.
But that didn't stop it either.
So they went to bed. Maybe they could sleep through it or wake up and find that everything had worked itself out. Ah, the human imagination and it's beautiful optimism! And, oh! Oh, reality and it's ugly truth.
They were woken up and forced to dress in nice clothes. Then they waited in the living room before they heard the sound of a car drive up and knew what it meant. It meant that they were going to be taken away. It was here and there was no stopping it.
Mitada-san kept trying to talk to them, but they said nothing to her. They just watched out the windows, dreading the moment the car stopped and they would never see each other again. It was hours of knowing with each passing moment that they couldn't stop it. Everything had been taken away from them.
And finally, the car stopped in front of a white house with blue trim. Mitada-san opened Rin's door and Rin screamed.
"NO!" She hit Mitada-san and dove into Inuyasha's seat, clinging to him. "No, no, no!"
"Rin, it's time to meet your new family." Mitada-san gave that fake concern, and Rin only held onto the only constant in her life with all her might.
"They aren't my family! Inuyasha is my family!" Rin declared, tears starting to run down her cheeks.
"I won't let you take her away." Inuyasha held on just as tight.
"I didn't want to have to do this..." Mitada-san's gaze hardened and she firmly put her hands on Rin's waist and pulled. Rin cried out. Inuyasha tried to keep a hold on her but Mitada-san was stronger then him. She pulled Rin until Inuyasha was only holding onto her by his hands.
Rin's brown eyes full of tears met his violet ones and he realized that he was crying as well. He was crying, even though he hadn't cried since the day he found out his parents were gone.
"I'll come and get you one day!" Inuyasha promised. "I'll come back for you and we'll run away together!"
"I love you Inuyasha." Rin held on tightly. "Don't let go."
"I can't hold on." He was so frustrated and his tears blurred his vision on her. "I can't hold on."
"You'll come back and get me some day!" Rin was finally tugged completely free and she struggled, kicking and flailing to get to her brother. Mitada-san shut Rin's car door and held firmly onto her as she took her to the front door.
The last time Inuyasha saw her that day was when Rin turned toward him just as the door opened and the two went inside. Rin's face was full of tears but she smiled at him.
She smiled to tell him she believed in him.
* * *
"I'm Yumi, but you can call me anything you want." The woman beamed at the little girl, feeling a little uneasy because the girl had the signs of someone who had just been crying. Her husband, Kenji, and her son Sesshomaru were also there. Kenji was smiling at Rin as well, but Sesshomaru was just as he always was. Silent, and simply watching what was happening around him without expression.
Sesshomaru hadn't spoken since he was five years old. Yumi and Kenji continually prayed that one day he would speak again. He was now eleven years old and had been to psychiatrist after psychiatrist who could just not get him to open up no matter what they did. He wasn't catatonic though, and he even went to school.
"I'm Kenji, but same goes for me." Kenji introduced himself.
"And this is Sesshomaru." Yumi introduced the boy. "He's your new brother."
"I don't want a new brother!" Rin twisted free from Mitada-san's hand on her shoulder and ran from the room, into a bathroom, closing the door and locking it behind her.
"She seems a bit upset..." Kenji looked at the social worker for an explanation.
"She just needs to adjust." Mitada-san explained easily. "This is a common thing among children when they are first taken in. Some won't eat, some won't even speak."
Sesshomaru walked quietly out of the room. Yumi watched him go, feeling even worse. Mitada-san got Rin's clothes and things before giving them one final pep talk and leaving to drive Inuyasha to the orphanage.
Yumi went and knocked on the bathroom door.
"Rin, are you alright in there?" Yumi asked.
"Go away!" Rin's voice came brokenly through the door.
"I would but..." Yumi tried to think. "The bathroom is an everybody room and we can't have it all to ourselves. If you do want to be by yourself, you might want to go to your room. Bedrooms are a personal room, which means that it's yours and you can be in there by yourself if you want."
The bathroom door opened, much to Yumi's relief. Rin stepped out.
"Would you like to see your room?" Yumi asked. Rin nodded in reply and Yumi led her to the room that they had set up for her. Adopting a child had been a big deal. Many people had said she should give Sesshomaru up for adoption, even her own parents. But her and Kenji weren't willing to give up. It was amazing the amount of patience Kenji had for the child who wasn't even his. He was just the stepfather, but he seemed to truly want to help Sesshomaru.
They had adopted another child in the hopes that maybe a sibling would help Sesshomaru. But what if it didn't work? Yumi tried to push those thoughts out of her mind.
"This is your room." Yumi opened the door. The room was decorated in a neutral blue, since they had not been sure what kind of color Rin would like. "If you don't like the color, you just tell me or Kenji and we'll change it." There were a couple of nice paintings of landscapes on the walls, a closet and chest of drawers that were both empty. And a bookshelf full of books that they had picked up secondhand that should be suitable for Rin's age.
Rin didn't say anything, she just went and laid down on her bed. Yumi took that as her cue to exit, and she did.
"Just call if you need anything." Yumi wondered if somehow, she had broken this little girl's heart.
* * *
"This is it, The Takahashi Home For Children." Mitada-san looked in the rearview mirror at Inuyasha. The last traces that he had been crying were gone now.
"It looks stupid." Inuyasha glared at her as she came around the side and opened his door.
"Hey! Mitada-san!" Another woman came out. "How are you?"
"Fine, I've just come to drop off our newest arrival." Mitada-san gestured toward Inuyasha, who was openly glaring at everything that happened to wander into his gaze. "Can you get some help with Inuyasha's bags?"
"Oh yeah." The woman signaled inside and a man came out to get the bags. "Come on Inuyasha, let me show you around." Inuyasha made a noise that showed he didn't care one way or another if he saw the place.
"Well, I've got to get back now." Mitada-san patted Inuyasha on the head, and he swatted rather viciously at her. The woman decided not to try and touch the ten-year-old boy as she began to show him where the cafeteria was located, as well as the two classrooms before deciding to just show him to his room.
Inuyasha wasn't even paying attention to her.
"You'll be sharing a room with our three other ten-year olds." Mitada-san patted him on the head. "You'll all get along great."
"I wouldn't bet on it." Inuyasha muttered under his breath. She opened the door.
"Kouga? Kikyo? Kagura? Are you in?" The woman asked. There was no one in there but a giggle that sounded muffled revealed that indeed, there was someone in the room.
"Shh." A voice hushed the giggler.
"How long do we have to do this?" A boy's voice tried to whisper but failed miserably.
"Shut up Kouga!" A girlish voice snapped.
"Where are you hiding?" The woman chirped merrily.
"You ruined it, dork." The female voice snorted before there was the surprised sound of someone being shoved and a boy came out from under the bed.
He was scrawny and a little on the short side, the type of kid that usually get picked on, wearing thick black framed glasses. His hair was long, but pulled back in a ponytail, and he had deep blue eyes.
"Ow, Kagura." He rubbed his shoulder.
"Wuss." Another female voice told him and the other female giggled. The two girls crawled out from under the bed.
One of the females has a slightly superior expression on her face as she came out, her dark hair pulled back from blood red eyes in a ponytail, while the other girl had a rather uncaring expression that suggested she was bored, long dark hair that was braided, and dark brown eyes. They both stood and surveyed Inuyasha with mild disdain.
"Another boy?" The one with blood red eyes asked with a semi pout.
"What's wrong with boys?" The boy adjusted his glasses as he got up.
"Inuyasha, these are your new roommates." The woman had an expectant smile as she turned to the others.
"I'm Kagura." The red-eyed girl pointed to herself. "This is Kikyo." The long-haired girl nodded her head at him.
"And I'm Kouga." The boy spoke up. Kagura patted him on the back with an innocent expression.
"Oh sorry Kouga, almost forgot about you." Kagura gave the blue-eyed boy a sweet smile. "Can you go get Kikyo and me a snack?"
"Okay! I'll get you something too, Inuyasha." Kouga nodded eagerly before leaving. Inuyasha felt a snicker escape as he saw a 'kick-me' sign on Kouga's back. Kagura and Kikyo collapsed in laughter.
"Falls for it every time." Kagura choked out. The woman had missed the sign on Kouga's back, and just smiled indulgently before leaving. "That's the empty dresser, you'll be sleeping in that bunk. Kouga sleeps in the top one but you can just kick him out if you want to."
"Okay." Inuyasha shrugged. He threw his suitcases on the bed. Kikyo climbed up the ladder to the bunk above him and came right back down a moment later with a Gameboy in hand.
"Why doesn't he hide it somewhere else?" Kagura asked. Kikyo grunted in reply. Kagura turned to Inuyasha. "Welcome to the Takahashi Home For Unwanted Kids."
"What?" Inuyasha turned towards her.
"This is where they put kids when they can't find 'em a home." Kagura explained. "Then they forget about them."
"I'm only going to be here a month." Inuyasha frowned.
"Ha!" Kikyo didn't look up from the Gameboy. "That's what they told me."
"Kikyo and I have both been here since we were seven." Kagura explained. "Another three years and we can kiss being adopted good-bye."
"Three years?" Inuyasha raised his eyebrows in question.
"We'll be thirteen, and no one wants to adopt a teenager." Kikyo explained as she concentrated on her video game.
Kouga came in with the 'kick-me' sign in his hand, a plate full of cookies, and his face red with embarrassment and anger.
"Kagura!" Kouga threw the piece of paper down. "Stop doing that!" Kagura and Kikyo started laughing. Kagura waltzed over and grabbed the plate.
"Thanks Kouga." Kagura grinned at him.
"I mean it." Kouga tried to pull himself up to full height but he was still shorter then Kagura.
"Maybe I'd stop if you didn't fall for it all the time." Kagura rolled her eyes. "What are you going to do about it Kouga?"
"I...I..." Kouga tried not to look down at his feet.
"He'll stutter." Kikyo cracked quietly from the Gameboy.
"Hey! Kikyo! That's mine!" Kouga protested when he spotted what Kikyo was playing with.
"No it's not." Kikyo countered calmly.
"Yeah it is, I wrote my name on it!" Kouga pointed out. Sure enough, on the back written in black sharpie was Kouga's name.
"Kagura?" Kikyo asked in something close to a plea, though she was obviously distracted.
"It's hers." Kagura punched him in the arm and then bought the plate of cookies over to Kikyo.
"I want one." Kouga piped up.
"Oh! How rude of me, do you want some Inuyasha?" Kagura offered the plate to Inuyasha who took some. Kagura divided the rest of the cookies between her and Kikyo before handing the empty plate to Kouga.
"Kagura..." Kouga was shaking as he held onto the plate. Kagura looked up with a cookie in her mouth. "Just stop it!" As he ran from the room, Kagura and Kikyo just laughed. Inuyasha briefly wondered why they picked on the blue-eyed boy, but didn't ask.
* * *
That night, Inuyasha was woken up by Kouga, who was hanging over his bunk.
"What?" Inuyasha groaned.
"Shhhh! They'll wake up." Kouga pointed at the girls' bed. "Help me get the Gameboy back from Kikyo."
"Do it yourself." Inuyasha rolled over so he wasn't facing Kouga.
"Come on, we're the only boys in the room." Kouga pointed out. "If you stick up for me, I'll stick up for you."
"You'll stick up for me?" Inuyasha looked at him incredulously. "You can't even stand up to Kagura."
"Yeah I can!" Kouga defended loudly.
"Shut up, Kouga." Kagura's voice came from the other side of the room.
"And don't even think about trying to steal my Gameboy." Kikyo added on.
"It's mine, right Inuyasha?" Kouga asked the violet-eyed boy.
"Whatever, I don't care." Inuyasha grumbled.
"See?" Kouga looked at the other bunk smugly.
"Kouga, if I have to get up, I'm so going to hit you." Kagura threatened.
"Go ahead, Inuyasha will hit you back." Kouga countered.
"Shut up Kouga." Inuyasha told him.
"Thank you." Kikyo's voice sounded irritated.
Kouga felt betrayed before climbing back under his blankets, his arms curled around his pillow until he was in a tight little ball.
He had been alone since his father had died of a heart attack. The kids at school had shoved him and made fun of him. He had hoped that the kids at the orphanage would understand and accept him. But they acted the same way.
Maybe no one could like him. Maybe this was the way things would always be. Kouga squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. No, he would change that. One day he would be liked by lots of people. One day...
I'll show them.
I'll show them that they shouldn't treat me like I'm nothing...
I'll show you Kagura...
* * *
"Rin? Rin are you hungry?" Yumi knocked on the door. "Rin, are you in there?" Yumi heard someone behind her and turned to see her son standing there silently, looking past her at the closed door. "Oh, Sesshomaru, there's breakfast waiting for you in the dining room." Sesshomaru gave no sign he had heard her but walked off toward the dining room.
"Is she still in there?" Kenji questioned his wife.
"I think so." Yumi bit her lip. "Oh Kenji, what if she doesn't come out?"
"Just give her some time." Kenji told her. "In the meanwhile, why don't you eat something?"
"Alright." Yumi nodded. "Do you think we should call Mitada-san?"
"Why don't I call her and see if there's anything we can do to comfort Rin?" Kenji suggested. They went into the kitchen where Sesshomaru was taking a plate of toast out of the room.
"Sesshomaru, wouldn't you rather eat that in here?" Yumi tried to stop him, but he shrugged her away and went out of the dining room.
I wish I didn't have the feeling I'm a shoo-in for World's Worst Mom.
A few minutes later, Kenji came in.
"Well, she said just what I did." Kenji informed his wife. "She's just having trouble adjusting."
"I'm going to go check on her again." Yumi stood up, not bothering to eat anything.
"Yumi, will you eat something after this?" Kenji asked in worry.
"Yes." Yumi smiled at his concern. She made her way to the hallway where she saw Rin's door opened. She peeked inside.
The sight made her heart skip a beat.
Sesshomaru with the plate of toast and Rin with a puffy face looking at him in confusion.
"Do you want some?" Yumi felt her eyes tear up at the sound of her son's voice.
"O-okay." Rin smiled at him. "You're Sesshomaru, right?"
"Yes." Sesshomaru reaffirmed. "Why are you crying?"
"Because my brother...they took him away..." Rin's eyes teared up.
"Oh." Sesshomaru seemed to understand exactly what was going on. "They're always telling me not to be sad, but if you want to be, then you can."
"Are you sad?" Rin inquired.
"Hmm..." Sesshomaru seemed to think about it.
"This toast is good. My mom used to make it extra buttery for me like this." Rin seemed to realize that Sesshomaru wasn't going to say anything more on that particular subject. Yumi turned and ran into the dining room.
"Are you going-" Kenji was cut off.
"He's...he's talking!" Yumi felt tears of happiness start to run down her face. "He was talking to her!"
"Sesshomaru was talking?!" Kenji stood up and they ran back where Sesshomaru and Rin were eating toast on Rin's bed.
"You have pretty hair." Rin commented as she looked studiously at his long white locks. "It's white like an old man's."
"Old man's?" Sesshomaru looked a little perturbed. Then he seemed to understand as comprehension relieved the slight tension in his face. "It's always been like this."
Yumi and Kenji turned to each other and hugged. It seemed they had found the cure that they had been looking for.
* * *
The psychiatrists said it was remarkable that this new sibling had caused him to speak. Sesshomaru spoke primarily to Rin and not in front of other people. He spoke rarely to his parents, but he became mute anytime someone tried to get him to talk about why he hadn't spoken or what made him speak again.
Yumi watched the two siblings happily, just glad to see Sesshomaru starting to enjoy his childhood as he pushed Rin in the swing Kenji had hung from a tree in the backyard. They would spend hours like that, Rin swinging or picking flowers and Sesshomaru, always there, watching out for her. When the school year started, Sesshomaru was with Rin as often as possible. You rarely saw Rin without Sesshomaru right next to her.
She would read to him. Sesshomaru listened to Dr. Seuss and other books that he had read when he was her age over and over again. Sesshomaru would sketch pictures of castles for Rin because Rin had decided that she was going to be a princess when she grew up. He would call her a princess and act as her knight. Yumi found it endearing and took pictures and videotaped this whole happy time.
Rin would speak freely of her feelings. She would talk about how she missed her big brother Inuyasha, whom previously the family had known nothing about. Sesshomaru didn't seem to like any mention of this brother. In fact, whenever someone was doing something with Rin, Sesshomaru got extremely annoyed and jealous.
"He worships her." Kenji said, shaking his head next to her. "I don't know what her secret is, but I have to admit, she's an amazing little girl. And you know what? She doesn't even know it."
"She'll realize it one day." Yumi stated clearly.
"I don't think anything could separate those two." Kenji commented. "At least, even if it tried to, Sesshomaru wouldn't allow it."
* * *
"Dammit, no, Kagura stay out there and keep watch." Inuyasha told the dark-haired girl before shutting the door. They were thirteen years old now, the official age of especially unwanted kids as Kikyo put it. He turned to look around the records room. The records of all the kids in the home.
"Dammit Kagura, stay out here and and keep watch." Kagura mimicked on her side of the door. "Whatever. Kikyo, is anyone coming?"
"No." Kikyo was leaning against a wall where the hall turned playing the Gameboy. "Apparently, Kouga can actually do something."
"Yeah right. He didn't even want to jump." Kagura rolled her eyes. "We're relying on his acting skills, this is doomed to fail."
"I know, but really, would you want to actually break your leg as a diversion?" Kikyo shut off the Gameboy.
"He didn't want to be a diversion period. I don't know what Inuyasha wants to do, but he won't even let me in there." Kagura folded her arms. "That's a bunch of crap. I wanted to read files."
"It's not really that important." Kikyo yawned. "Hey, someone's coming with Kouga."
"Oh, he totally told on us!" Kagura whirled angrily and opened the door to the filing room. "Inuyasha, code red, Kouga turned us in."
"I've got it, let's get the hell out of here!" Inuyasha swiped something from one of the files before shoving the drawer shut and running out of the room. The three ran around the corner to come to a dead end.
"Damn." Kagura swore.
"Bathroom." Kikyo turned and ran into the room. Kagura followed her but Inuyasha stared at the door in disgust.
"It's a girl's bathroom." Inuyasha pointed out.
"Come on!" The two girls yelled at him and he ran inside, hoping no one would see him. Kagura and Kikyo were already opening a window. They went out of it and then closed the window before running across the grounds with all the speed they had. They climbed through an open window that led into one of the rooms, but it was empty. They ran up the stairs and quickly into their own room.
They collapsed on the floor.
"Okay, I'm going to kick Kouga's ass." Kagura tried to catch her breath.
"Me too." Inuyasha agreed.
"-I can't believe you would make something like that up." They heard a woman's voice and hurriedly started doing some innocent looking activity. While Inuyasha and Kagura had clearly grabbed the nearest object in panic, Kikyo had homework out and looked as though she had been working on it for quite some time.
"I'm telling the truth!" Kouga defended as the door opened and a young woman led him inside.
"Kouga here has just been telling me the most ridiculous story that the three of you snuck into the Records Room." The woman rolled her eyes.
"I've been doing my homework for an hour." Kikyo held up a book.
"I've been um..." Inuyasha looked at the shirt he was holding. "Trying to clean up."
"And I've been reading." Kagura held up a book that she was holding upside down.
"I don't know why you lied about such a thing, they've clearly been in here this time." The woman tsked. "Really, Kouga, at your age, making up stories." And with that she was gone. The minute they heard her footsteps fade, Kagura threw the book at Kouga.
"You told on us?!" Kagura put her hands on her hips.
"But...I-I, well, well, I was trying to get revenge on you guys." Kouga stuck up his chin. "You guys are always mean to me."
"I wonder why." Kagura stalked over and kicked him in the shin. He winced. "You're such a loser Kouga."
"'Cause telling on us really turned things in your favor." Kikyo closed her math book. "By the way, I left your Gameboy in a girl's bathroom next to the Records Room."
"What?!" Kouga whined. "I can't go in there!"
"Tough shit." Inuyasha threw his shirt at him. "It doesn't matter you guys, I got what I was looking for."
"What were you looking for?" Kagura tried to peer at the piece of paper curiously.
"None of your business." Inuyasha batted her away. "Go knit with Kikyo or something."
"You're just pissed because we won't knit you a sweater." Kagura spoke matter of factly. Her and Kikyo had both knitted sweaters for each other after Kikyo taught Kagura how to knit. They wore them a lot, which Inuyasha said was lame.
Inuyasha looked down at the piece of paper. It was handwritten, but the handwriting was easy enough to understand.
Inuyasha's sister, Rin was six at time of adoption. She is living at the following address:
Inuyasha smiled as he read the address. For three years he had formed plans to find out exactly where Rin was, and now he knew. It wasn't that far from the orphanage. In fact, it was about a half hour from there. Inuyasha could easily walk there.
I'm gonna keep my promise Rin.
* * *
He was dressed all in black.
It was a rather clichéd way of breaking into someone's house, but black was the ideal color for doing so. It would be easier to hide in the shadows if need be.
He was rather glad that there was no dog, an attack dog chasing him through the streets was not something he thought of until he was halfway there, and he wasn't about to turn around. It was Rin's birthday after all. Or, it would be Rin's birthday by the time he arrived. He had tried to think of a good present to bring her, but then he realized he had no idea what she liked now. Was she completely different from what he remembered?
But he knew that Rin had no pictures of him. No pictures of them at all. So he had taken one of his two prized pictures of the two of them and written a small message on the back of it. Now she would have a picture too, and even though they were running away together, she would want a picture, he was sure.
Inuyasha quietly slipped in through the unlocked back door. No alarm system either, but then, they lived in one of those neighborhoods were people forgot to lock their door all the time. It wasn't like he was planning to steal anything. That would be stupid. He was there to be reunited with his little sister.
Now to find her room. He started up the stairs and silently opened every door. A bathroom, a linen closet, and then...
He opened the door and saw a girl's things. He opened the door more and saw a girl sleeping in the bed. It was Rin.
She was older now, her hair was longer and she was definitely bigger. But it was her. She had the same nose and he was sure if he woke her, the same big brown eyes he remembered would be staring at him in the same way they always had. He was about to take a step in.
Then a hand grabbed his shoulder and jerked him backwards and he hit the ground. A teenage boy was towering over him.
"What the hell-" Inuyasha was cut off as the boy kicked him hard in the side. He grabbed the boy's foot and pushed all his weight into it and the boy fell backwards through Rin's door, throwing it open. The boy quickly got up, but so did Inuyasha, and thus the struggle began.
Punches were thrown, and Inuyasha only briefly wiped at his bleeding nose as he tried to land a good hit on the older boy. The white-haired boy was at the disadvantage because he was easier to spot with his long pale head of hair.
Then the fight was stopped dead in its tracks.
"What's going on?" Rin sat up in alarm. "Sesshomaru!"
"Rin, stay right there, there's a burglar." Sesshomaru ordered her as he tried to dodge Inuyasha's punch.
"I'm not a fucking burglar!" Inuyasha protested angrily. Rin completely ignored what Sesshomaru had said and got up, walking between the two.
"Don't hurt Sesshomaru!" Rin pleaded with him and Inuyasha stopped what he was doing. "Please don't hurt him."
"Rin!" Sesshomaru seemed surprised by her actions.
"Rin...i-it's me." Inuyasha choked on his words. Would she remember him? Or had she put it all behind her and never thought about him again?
She started a little. Then she walked toward him. Sesshomaru tried to stop her, but she shrugged him away, much to the white-haired boy's shock. She peered at him curiously. "Inuyasha?"
"Yeah. It's me." Inuyasha confirmed. She threw her arms around him and he hugged her.
"Inuyasha, I knew...I knew you would come one day." Rin felt tears start to come up. "You didn't forget me."
"Sesshomaru? Rin? What's going on up there?" Yumi's voice came up the stairs and Rin stiffened.
"Inuyasha, you have to get out of here! She'll call the police before I have a chance to say anything." Rin started to herd him out the door. "Hide in the bathroom until she goes back downstairs, then you can get out."
"But...we're supposed to run away together." Inuyasha spoke slowly in his confusion. "I promised you."
"I can't run away with you." Rin shook her head sadly. Sesshomaru put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her toward him. "Because Sesshomaru is also my brother now...he needs me."
Inuyasha glared at the white-haired boy with all his might. He had taken away his sister. The one thing he had clung to these three years at the orphanage. He remembered the present and took it out of his pocket, handing it to Rin.
"I guess, this is goodbye." Inuyasha tried to fight the emotions welling up in him. Suddenly he hurt so bad he thought he was going to cry. She was supposed to run away with him. They were supposed to be happy. And Rin was happy. Happy where she was. He turned and hid behind the bathroom door.
"Goodbye." Rin whispered after him, her heart felt like it was breaking in two. She had to leave her brother twice. She looked down at what he had handed her.
Happy Birthday Rin!
From your brother,
Inuyasha
She turned it over. On the other side was a picture of her, having just turned six and in a brand new dress with Inuyasha behind her, his arms draped over her shoulders. They were both smiling.
Inuyasha...those days...they're gone...
I'm sorry.
Smiling at the camera where their mom was trying to take the picture and their father was making silly faces at them.
You wanted to be there for me again.
And I couldn't be there for you.
Inuyasha, for my birthday wish, I'm going to wish that you'll be happy.
Smiling because they were innocent and didn't think things like growing up or death even existed in the world.
Smiling, because they were happy.
Rin tried not to get tears all over her birthday present. Sesshomaru hugged her while she cried.
* * *
"So...we were thinking about adoption." Higurashi Noduko spoke to her thirteen-year-old daughter.
"What?!" Kagome stood up in indignation. "Adoption?!" She was outraged. How could they even consider such a thing? What kind of parents were they?
"Kagome, listen to what your mother and I have to say." Yasumu took a deep breath. He knew perfectly well where Kagome got her temper.
"Souta's dead and you want to adopt another kid?" Kagome slammed her hands down on the table.
"He's been dead for a year!" Noduko countered in anger and then closed her eyes in pain. She hated thinking about it sometimes. It hurt so much, even after a year. Sometimes she would cry herself to sleep thinking about Souta. Hit by a car one afternoon while chasing after their cat. "And-"
"What, you want a replacement?" Kagome asked bitterly.
"Kagome!" Yasumu and Noduko both looked shocked.
"How could you say such a thing? We loved Souta, we still do!" Yasumu countered. "We want to adopt another child because when Souta died, I thought about how there were many kids in the world that nobody would even notice if they died."
"I don't care, you can't understand because you don't care!" Kagome stormed out of the room. Noduko started to go after her, but her husband put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
"She doesn't want to hear it. She's not going to listen." Yasumu shook his head. "We can't make her either."
"I still want to adopt a child, is that selfish?" Noduko asked.
"No, it's not. I guess this only leaves us with one option." Yasumu sighed.
Meanwhile, Kagome had her face buried into her pillow. How could they even suggest it? Well, they wouldn't dare adopt a child now. Not after Kagome had put them in their place.
It's alright Souta. They can't replace you.
I know they can't.
* * *
Noduko and Yasumu shielded their eyes from the sun as they walked up the front steps of The Takahashi Home For Children. It was a bright sunny day and they had dropped Kagome off for school before heading over there. It had been a forty-five minute drive that had seemed to last forever.
Was it wrong to lie to Kagome? Was it lying if they didn't bring up the subject in front of their daughter? It was a moral dilemma that made the two of them uneasy, but they knew that perhaps, if their daughter just met the person, she would accept them.
"Hello, you must be the Higurashis." A woman greeted them.
"Yeah, that's us." Yasumu shook her hand.
"Shall we go meet the children?" The woman was already leading them inside. They watched little kids run by and Noduko smiled at how young and happy some of them seemed.
But wouldn't that really be replacing their dead son to get another little boy or girl?
"Are there any teenagers? We have a thirteen-year-old daughter, and we'd like to adopt somebody the same age." Noduko asked, Yasumu turned around and looked at her with surprise. Then he stared at her for a moment longer before realizing what she was doing.
"Of course." The woman nodded as though this was a logical request. "Actually, we have four thirteen year olds. They always go on about how they won't get adopted now." The woman rolled her eyes. "They'll be in their rooms."
She led them up a staircase and down the hall a little ways where she knocked on a door.
"Come in!" Voices chorused from inside and the three of them entered. All four teenagers were in the room. One was reading on a top bunk, his black-framed glasses sliding down his nose as he looked up. There was an exuberant looking young lady with red eyes who was doing homework with another girl who had brown eyes and a pale face. And then, another young man who was laying sitting on his bed, leaning against the wall and just staring at the wall opposite of him.
"Heeeey, it's parents!" The red-eyed girl elbowed the brown-eyed girl. "Do you think they wandered into the wrong room?"
"It's possible." The brown-eyed girl shrugged.
"Hey, Inuyasha, there's parents in here." The blue-eyed boy said, staring at Yasumu and Noduko as though he had never seen people like them before.
"Feh!" The boy sitting on his bed looked to the side with his chin propped up on his hand.
"Okay you four, stop being silly." The woman folded her arms. "These are the Higurashis."
"Konnichiwa Higurashi-san!" The red-eyed girl sprang up, forgetting her homework, much to the irritation of the brown-eyed girl.
"These four are Kagura, Kikyo, Kouga, and Inuyasha." The woman pointed to them each respectively.
"Hello." Noduko tried tentatively.
"Kagura sit down." Kikyo rolled her eyes.
"Sorry, sorry." Kagura sat down and gathered up her math book.
"Inuyasha, are you going to hide under there?" The woman asked.
"He's been like that for a week." Kagura informed her. "I have no clue why."
Noduko leaned over to catch a glimpse of the young man's face. It was angry and looked ready to snap. His violet eyes were staring at the wall as though they were looking for some sort of answer. His long black hair went down to his waist.
"Hello." Noduko greeted him.
"What do you want, lady?" Inuyasha snapped. "You aren't going to adopt any of us, you're going to adopt some cute little kid."
"Inuyasha!" The woman reprimanded.
"Well, he does have a point." Kagura nodded her head in a knowledgeable fashion. "We are thirteen."
"I don't want to be adopted anyways." Kikyo declared. "Kagura and I are going to move away together when we turn eighteen."
"You two are so stupid." Inuyasha told them.
"You're stupid." Kagura shot back.
"Inuyasha's right." Kouga tried to join a side.
"Shut up Kouga!" Kagura and Inuyasha snapped at the blue-eyed boy, who just sent an odd look at Kagura.
"It was nice meeting the four of you." Yasumu broke into the fighting and four heads turned towards him.
"I'm sure we'll see you around." Noduko smiled at them before turning and following her husband and the woman out the door.
They went into the office and the woman sat facing them. Noduko and Yasumu had a small conference while the woman pretended not to hear.
"How about one of those girls? Kagome might like a sister." Yasumu suggested.
"No, those two seemed very close, if we separated them, they would be miserable." Noduko ruled out that suggestion. "What about..." She tried to think. A pair of violet eyes filled her vision, searching for an answer, searching for something that he couldn't seem to find. What was it…"What about that Inuyasha boy?"
"He seemed a bit..." Yasumu hesitated.
"He's angry at the whole world and really, when you think about it, I'm sure he has his reasons. But I feel that if we leave him here, he won't get better." Noduko explained her feelings.
"You know, he kind of reminds me of me at that age." Yasumu half-smiled. "I hated everyone and everything but I rose up out of that. If I hadn't...well, I would have probably been in jail."
"So..." Noduko trailed off. "Do you want to adopt him?"
"Yeah, I think so." Yasumu nodded. "Maybe Kagome and him can help each other."
"We'd like to adopt Inuyasha." Noduko announced.
* * *
Keeping the whole thing under wraps was far harder than they originally expected. Long ago they had moved Souta's things to the attic, and now they had to make the barren room look like a bedroom without attracting Kagome's notice. They set up most of it while she was at school and since Kagome barely ever went into Souta's room, it was a safe bet.
Then, of course, Noduko was barely able to contain her excitement. Surely, Kagome would be able to tell something was up. But she didn't.
So when Yasumu saw Kagome wave good-bye to her friends and turn to run up the front steps he was suddenly gripped with a nervous anticipation.
Inuyasha was sitting on the couch in front of a plate of cookies and a soda, looking around the place speculatively as though he was just watching the scene and not actually there. He seemed nervous too, from his odd, clumsy movements. He had been just as astounded as everyone else that he was being adopted. Kagura had congratulated him and Kikyo wished him luck (an odd occurrence), and Kouga had sulkily said good-bye. Why was Kouga so sulky all of a sudden? Did Kagura finally go too far that last time?
"I'm home!" Kagome announced as she ran through the door.
"We're in the living room." Noduko called out. She then swallowed and straightened a little. Inuyasha didn't know what to do.
"Hey-" Kagome came in but stopped when she saw Inuyasha. She looked at him curiously for a few moments before continuing on. "Who's he?"
"Well, we have an announcement to make." Noduko looked at her husband for support and he put a hand on her shoulder, instantly making her feel better. "We've adopted a kid."
"You adopted a kid?" Kagome's face tightened with anger. She glanced at Inuyasha again.
"Your mother and I-" Yasumu was cut off.
"That's just fine!" Kagome yelled. Then she turned to Inuyasha. "I want you to know one thing. You aren't my brother, so don't ever even think that you can call yourself that." And she turned, rushing from the room because she couldn't stand the idea of what they had done.
"She...well, she's just angry right now, but you'll see. Kagome can't hold a grudge very well." Noduko tried to make the best of things.
"Not fucking likely." Inuyasha murmured as he thought about the dark-haired girl's reaction.
* * *
It turned out that Inuyasha was right. The two seemed to hate each other, arguing, making snide remarks at each other whenever possible, it didn't seem like the two would ever be able to know each other and not be at each other's throats.
But then senior year happened. It began on the first day of school, which didn't go well for Inuyasha at first.
Kagome took the last bagel.
"Fucking pig." Inuyasha growled as he watched her spread cream cheese over her bagel. Kagome gave him a sweet and exaggeratedly innocent look.
"Oh gee, Inuyasha, did you want a bagel?" Kagome took a bite of it.
"Bitch." Inuyasha stole the other half of her bagel.
"That's mine!" Kagome protested.
"Cry me a fucking river." Inuyasha walked out of the kitchen with it to go get his stuff. When he came back, he found out that his bad morning was being added on to.
Kagome had taken their car.
The parents had decided that if they bought one car, the two could share it, perhaps even getting the two to compromise with each other. How wrong they were. Instead, they used guerilla-ninja warfare tactics to drive it. Inuyasha would be forced to walk to school.
When he got there, first he glared at Kagome and tried to think of a good way of stealing the car keys from her. They did have first period together, and if he was sneaky enough, he could get away with it. So busy doing this was he that he bumped into a girl.
"Oh, sorry!" He looked at her and realized that he had run into Rin.
"Rin?" Inuyasha blinked in surprise. Rin looked up and her mouth opened.
"Inuyasha!" Rin clapped her hands together and then hugged him. "Omigod! What are you doing here?!"
"Rin, who is this?" A male voice asked suspiciously.
"Sesshomaru, it's Inuyasha!" Rin pulled away from him. Sesshomaru's eyebrow twitched very slightly. "Oh it's so good to see you again! Do you go to school here, were you adopted?"
"Uh, yeah." Inuyasha tried to keep up with his hyper sister.
"I need your phone number so we can get together." Rin pulled on Sesshomaru's sleeve. "Sesshomaru, can you put his number in your cell phone? Please, please, please?" She made her eyes as big as they could go. Sesshomaru got out his cell phone.
"What is it?" Sesshomaru grumbled. Inuyasha gave her the number and Sesshomaru punched it in.
"This is so great, I was scared because it was my first day of high school, but now I'm not." Rin grinned. "Sesshomaru, shouldn't you be going to class?"
"It can wait." Sesshomaru brushed off the subject. "I'll wait till your school starts."
"Sesshomaru, you promised me that you'd stop being late for classes." Rin folded her arms. "Remember?"
"I don't want to leave yet." Sesshomaru looked irritated. "Are you sure you're going to be okay?"
"Oh Sesshomaru!" Rin threw her arms around the white-haired young man. "I'll be fine! You worry too much. No wonder you have white hair!" Inuyasha snickered until Sesshomaru glared at him and kept his arms possessively around Rin.
Great, that guy is a fucking psycho.
And why is he hugging her like that? He's way older than her. Fucking pedophile, he better not try anything with Rin or I'll kill him.
The bell rang and Rin hugged Sesshomaru and Inuyasha one last time before running off. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha sent each other murderous looks before Inuyasha went inside. The way that guy was acting, he wouldn't be surprised if he was there when Rin got out of school.
Inuyasha slept through first period, like anything really happens on the first day of school anyway. He woke up long enough to steal the keys from Kagome's bag without Kagome noticing.
So he left first period, swinging the keys on his index finger, paying far more attention to his triumph than to where he was walking. And so he was nearly knocked over.
"Pay some fucking attention." He snapped at the person.
"No way, no way!" A female voice sounded astonished. He looked over at the person, expecting a random airhead.
Instead, it was Kagura.
What the hell was Kagura doing at his high school? He looked at her and saw that she had changed a lot in the years he hadn't seen her, unless of course he simply never noticed how long her legs were before. This was only accentuated by her short skirt. And her shirt was also doing some accentuating, not that Inuyasha thought those needed it.
"Kagura?" He guessed, even though he knew. The only person who could be perky this damn early in the day.
"It is you!" Kagura exclaimed. "How bizarre is that? We moved over the summer and we're going to the same high school as you!"
"Uh, so you were adopted?" Inuyasha guessed.
"No, I randomly go to high schools. Of course I was adopted." Kagura rolled her eyes. "You didn't get any smarter."
"Shut up." He grumbled.
"You didn't bother to keep in touch either. Well, neither did Kouga but then, who cares?" Kagura asked.
"Let me guess, you and Kikyo call each other every day? You guys would." Inuyasha snorted derisively.
"We don't need to." Kagura informed him. "Remember why Kikyo never wanted to be adopted?"
"'Cause you two were joined at the fucking hip?" Inuyasha hazarded a guess.
"Yeah, well, we got adopted by the same parents." Kagura told him smugly. "How's that for luck? Oh there she is! Kikyo!" Kagura began waving and Inuyasha wondered just how long Kagura planned to stall him on his way to his next class.
Kikyo approached, just as pale and expressionless as ever. She raised her eyebrows at him for a few moments as if trying to decide who he was. She was a lot more modestly dressed than Kagura. She was wearing a black turtleneck and a pair of black pants.
"Inuyasha." Kikyo finally decided.
"Hey Kikyo." Inuyasha greeted her.
"Class is about to start." Kikyo announced.
"It's the first day of school, they don't care if you're late. We can just say we got lost." Kagura rolled her arms. "We have to get together and catch up on things."
"Swell." Inuyasha said in a voice that suggested the opposite.
"I'll say." Kikyo agreed dryly. "Here's us catching up, you're alive, we're alive."
"You guys are no fun." Kagura pouted. "Oh well, let's go to class."
"Whatever." Inuyasha rolled his eyes. He swore if he met Kouga too, he would just go home. Hadn't he left all these people behind? And didn't he have enough problems having to live with Kagome, whose only goal in life was to make sure his was unhappy?
Life was unfair. Something he already had known all too well. On the bright side of things, he was glad to see Rin again, sure it could never be like it was, but that didn't mean he was going to shun her. Plus, he had to protect her from Sesshomaru. That guy had a weird-ass adopted sister complex.
* * *
"Hey, Inuyasha!" Rin ran up to him after school. "Do you need a ride? Sesshomaru will probably give you one if I ask."
"No, I've got a car." Inuyasha thought back to the triumph for the day. "Thanks anyways."
"Rin, let's go." Sesshomaru was standing there rather impatiently.
"It's not like we have to be anywhere." Rin shrugged. "How was your day? What subjects do you take?"
"Actually..." Inuyasha thought about his classes. Did he really want to tell Rin that her older brother was taking remedial math which if he didn't pass, he wasn't graduating? "Just the regular stuff, math, english, that sort of stuff."
"I'm taking drama." Rin told him. "And Art 1."
"Hey, I'm in art classes too." Inuyasha smiled at the coincidence. "Must run in the family."
"Indeed." Sesshomaru didn't look pleased.
"Nobody asked you." Inuyasha glared.
"Hey Inuyasha!" Kagura ran up to him, Kikyo was behind, walking at a normal pace. "Do you need a ride?"
"Nope." Inuyasha brandished his keys triumphantly.
"I guess I'm going to go home now." Rin started to walk away with Sesshomaru. "I'll see you later, Inuyasha."
"Oh, who was that?" Kagura asked, her eyes gleaming. "That man sure was pretty." Kikyo snorted. "Kikyo, don't be jealous."
"I'm not." Kikyo flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I'm going home now."
"She's jealous." Kagura told Inuyasha as the three of them started to walk toward the parking lot.
"Wait..." Inuyasha stopped to think about this. "Are you guys like..."
"It's none of your business." Kikyo's voice was completely icy.
"Never mind then." Inuyasha decided that he didn't want to die, which is what Kikyo's expression suggested would happen to him if he continued with that line of questioning. "So where's your guys' car?"
"Cars." Kagura corrected immediately. "We have two separate ones."
"Whoa. Is your family well off?" Inuyasha inquired.
"Completely and utterly loaded." Kagura announced. "You should have seen us trying to pick out our cars. Mom had to convince us to buy two because Kikyo and me were just going to share one."
"I don't think Inuyasha is interested in a shopping story." Kikyo supplied.
"At first I wanted a convertible but then I saw it." Kagura went on. "It was without a doubt the coolest car I'd ever seen."
"Um...a Jaguar?" Inuyasha guessed, trying to think of a cool car.
"Nope. Two words." Kagura reached into her purse and pulled out a set of keys. "Mini-cooper."
"Mini...cooper?" Inuyasha raised his eyebrows and then looked to where Kagura pointed. Two small cars parked side by side. One was black with white strips and the other was a cherry red with white stripes. "They look like circus clown cars."
"Whatever." Kagura looked a little miffed. "Where's your P.O.S.?"
"Over there..." Inuyasha pointed a little ways down towards the blue secondhand car. Kagome was standing by it, tapping her feet impatiently with her hands on her hips. "Oh shit."
"What?" Kagura looked over towards Kagome. "Is that Kagome? I have her in my math class! She's really nice."
"She's a freaking bitch." Inuyasha told them. "She thinks she's fucking queen of the whole goddamn world."
"A friend of yours?" Kikyo asked snidely. Kagura snickered.
"She's...well, I guess you could say a sister even though I don't really like to think of it like that. I usually call her that bitch that lives in my house and takes all the hot water in the mornings." Inuyasha explained. "My parents are cool though."
"Well, we'll see you tomorrow." Kagura shrugged.
"Yeah, bye." Inuyasha parted ways from the two girls and walked over to his car. Kagome waited until he was a foot from her before letting him have it.
"You stole the car keys from me, you prick!" Kagome accused.
"You're the one who stole the car." Inuyasha reminded her. "Whine to somebody else."
"It's my car." Kagome stomped over to the passenger door. "Who were those girls?"
"None of your fucking business." Inuyasha muttered.
"Come on." Kagome would order him around when he had the car keys and could so easily just not unlock her door and drive home. But then she would complain to the parents. Inuyasha unlocked his door and then hers.
They drove home having an argument over the radio the whole time. (Kagome turned it away from one of Inuyasha's favorite songs.) Then they got home, fought over the last soda in the fridge before stomping off toward their separate rooms and slamming their doors.
As Inuyasha drank his soda, he was glad the day was almost over.
At least it couldn't get anymore complicated.
* * *
He wasn't too happy about moving, but his mom and dad got transferred to a different location. He liked all his friends, and he was even thinking about asking a certain girl on a date. But now they had moved.
He liked the new house, it was bigger than their old one, and his parents were getting raises, so they had agreed to buy him a car. He was optimistic, and thought about how the school did have good sports teams; they had beaten his old school last year during the soccer season. Maybe he could try out for their team, he wasn't half bad. Maybe there'd be lots of cute girls at the school as well.
Then his mother had sent him with some money down to the local corner store so he could get himself a soda, since he had been moving heavy boxes all day. But as he was approaching, he saw something. Something he thought he would never see again.
He saw her.
He stopped dead in his tracks and then immediately hid behind the corner of the store. She was coming out with her constant companion, sodas in hand as they made their way to their cars. Her eyes twinkling as they joked about something.
She looks happy.
She always looks happy.
And I hate her.
I hate her because she can walk away from all that and be happy.
And she can forget me.
But I remember her.
"I'll get you back one day!"
And what did she do? She laughed. She laughed at me. It was raining and she was laughing under her umbrella while it rained on me, I was soaked and I got in trouble for dripping water all through the front hallway.
"I can't believe you fell for it!"
"What a loser!"
I hate you.
Things are different now. I know they are.
He smiled at her a little. She couldn't see him and what he was already planning. She was laughing because she thought that everything was behind her. What a painful reminder she was going to have.
He'd get them all back. One day. But he'd start with her and her friend. They were still together like they had always been. That would end when he was through with them.
Truthfully, he had plotted this revenge ever since that day. That day he had been left in the rain. And now it was coming to fruition.
"I'll show you." He whispered as he watched her. How perfectly everything was falling into place.
Suddenly, moving seemed to be a very good thing.
* * *
"Tea?" Kagura asked as she came in with a huge platter that had tea and cookies on it. Kikyo set her book down.
"Okay." Kikyo waited until Kagura set it down and they started to take the things off the tray. "I was actually just thinking about tea."
"Hey, great minds think alike." Kagura grinned. "When are mom and dad supposed to get back?"
"Two weeks from now, and then three days after that, they have to go to London for a month." Kikyo answered.
"Remember when they took us to London for the summer?" Kagura smiled at the memory. "And the two of us decided to go sneak off to a night club? With fake ID's?"
"And then we got lost and had to call them?" Kikyo added on. "They were so mad at us."
"Yeah and then dad said, 'Remember when we got lost in Central Park and our parents called the cops?' And mom started laughing, so we didn't get into trouble." Kagura blew on her tea before drinking it.
"That's right up there with the time we broke into the wine cellar and tried to get away with it." Kikyo shook her head. "It would have worked if that bottle hadn't rolled out from under your bed because of all the stuff crammed under it."
"'Cause they couldn't tell from the way you tried to high five dad." Kagura reminded her.
"I was a lot more convincing than you. You were hanging all over me." Kikyo protested.
"I do that when I'm awake too." Kagura patted her hand across the table. Their fingers entwined. "I was totally convincing."
"Keep telling yourself that." Kikyo smiled faintly. They finished off the tea and then started to get ready for bed. The two bedrooms were connected by a large living room with a fireplace so there was frequent traffic through there.
Kikyo came into Kagura's room with her long hair braided, wearing her white nightgown. Kagura was just getting under the covers.
"Come on." Kagura patted the bed next to her. Kikyo walked in and got under the covers as well. "I think it's funny, you always wait to be invited in."
"One day you might not." Kikyo replied as they curled up together after Kagura turned off the light.
"Kikyo, what do you always tell me?" Kagura asked her. "That we're sisters first and everything else second? My sister can come and sleep in my bed."
"But can your sister do this?" Kikyo kissed her gently on the lips. "I'd miss that."
"You act like I'm going to leave you." Kagura moved her head to look her in the eyes. "I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere."
"I just had a bad feeling." Kikyo studied her face before reaching up and caressing Kagura's cheek with one hand. "Just a bad feeling."
"I love you Kikyo." Kagura kissed her, a bit more heatedly than Kikyo had kissed her. "So bad feelings don't mean a thing."
"Agreed."
* * *
Kagura was looking for Kikyo in the crowd of students so she could get her homework from Kikyo's bag.
Where is she?
She thought she saw Kikyo and began running straight for her, which wasn't a good idea in the crowded hallways. She learned this the hard way when she ran into a rather solid object and was sent flying backwards, landing rather ungracefully on her butt.
"Excuse me." Kagura grabbed her purse, which had slipped out of her hand on impact. Then she looked up to see a hand offering to help her up and a pair of beautiful blue eyes beyond that. She took the hand and straightened.
"Careful." Kagura saw the face and it struck her that she knew this person from somewhere. But surely she couldn't forget someone like this.
He's hot.
Bad Kagura, bad.
"Sorry about that." Kagura put on a charming smile despite herself. "I was distracted."
"It's okay." He smiled back, a slow sexy smile. "My name's Kouga."
"Kouga?" Kagura looked at him in bewilderment and she realized how much he looked like the Kouga she had grown up with. But in the four years since she'd last seen him, he seemed to have blossomed. His body was nicely toned, not super muscular, but still rather nice. He wasn't wearing those horrid thick glasses, his hair was shiny and soft looking, and his eyes really shined as a spectacular blue. "No way!"
"Hmm?" Kouga now looked confused.
"It's me! Kagura!" Kagura rolled her eyes as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "How weird! All four of us at the same high school!"
"Kagura?" Kouga looked genuinely surprised. "It is you." His eyes went from her long legs, up past her round hips, her full bust, and then her eyes. "You're...beautiful."
"Wha-what?" Kagura's eyes bugged out and she blushed. Oh gods, why was she blushing?
"I've been waiting to meet you again for a long time." Kouga gave her another melting smile before walking away. "See you around."
"Yeah." Kagura nodded almost in a daze after him.
That was a bit...weird.
I can't believe that guy was actually Kouga...Kouga was different. Always so...sulky and annoying. That guy was different.
He was...well, cool.
I wonder what Kikyo will say.
* * *
"Fucking peanut butter." Inuyasha grumbled as he chewed his bite of sandwich. "She took the last of the lunch meat. Totally fucking smug about it too."
"I'm sure it was malicious." Kagura opened her coke. "Why don't you just go off campus for lunch if you don't like what you have? Or pack something else?"
"I don't have any money." Inuyasha kicked a piece of trash by him. "I don't have a wallet full of fucking credit cards."
"Get a job then." Kagura flicked a French fry at him.
"Kagura, coming from someone who probably won't have to work a day of their life," Kikyo began. "That isn't all that convincing."
"Whatever." Kagura rolled her eyes. "I was just being logical."
"For once." Kikyo quipped.
"Hey Kagura." A male voice made three heads turn and look up. Kouga was standing there with his lunch. "Hey, is this Kikyo and Inuyasha?"
"Um, do we know you?" Inuyasha quirked an eyebrow.
"It's me, Kouga." He smiled at them. "I didn't realize we all went to high school together. I ran into Kagura earlier. Can I eat with you guys?"
"No." Inuyasha answered gruffly.
"I don't care." Kagura shrugged. Inuyasha blinked in surprise. Since when was Kagura chummy with Kouga? Kikyo looked a bit weirded out by it as well, almost grimacing at Kouga's presence.
"Great." Kouga sat down next to her. Inuyasha noticed that he didn't have his glasses and it made his face look a lot different. He looked different all around, like he had finally had a growth spurt. "Kikyo, you must feel pretty lucky, you and Kagura were so close, it's cool you two are at the same high school."
"We live together." Kikyo told him coldly.
"Oh?" Kouga's eyes widened. "That's really lucky." Inuyasha took another bite of his sandwich.
"Just wait till she finds out I stole the keys again." Inuyasha muttered around his sandwich.
"You two are so petty!" Kagura declared. "I mean, why are you two always at each other's throats?"
"'Cause she's a bitch." Inuyasha said it as though it was a valid point and cleared up the whole thing.
"Who's he talking about?" Kouga inquired.
"His adopted sister." Kagura explained. Inuyasha sent her a look. "I mean, 'that bitch that lives in his house and takes all the hot water in the mornings.' My mistake. Her name's Kagome, she's really nice. Those two just bring out the absolute worst in each other."
"That sucks, man." Kouga laughed. "I don't have any siblings, you guys are lucky."
"You can have mine." Inuyasha offered. "She's constantly fucking PMSing."
"So, what's your next class?" Kouga turned towards Kagura.
"Er, art." Kagura answered after a moment. "What about you?"
"English." Kouga pointed toward her soda. "Do you think I could have a drink of that? I forgot my wallet and I need a little bit of caffeine."
"Okay." Kagura handed him the soda, he took a few gulps and handed it back to her. The bell rang and Inuyasha started to follow Kagura and Kouga, but Kikyo grabbed his shirt, causing him to stay.
"What the fuck?" Inuyasha turned around and looked at the pale girl. "What?"
"Don't you think that was weird?" Kikyo asked him. "Kouga was awfully nice to Kagura."
"Yeah, well it wasn't like she was blowing him off." Inuyasha commented. "That's weird though. I mean, she wouldn't have given him the time of day at the orphanage."
"Hmm..." Kikyo's eyes narrowed a little. "Come on, let's go to class." The two walked off toward class.
* * *
Kagome desperately needed a ride. She had tripped and gotten her papers everywhere in her rush to get to the car before Inuyasha drove off without her. So of course, by the time she got there, the car was gone, and she really didn't feel like walking.
"Inuyasha, you asshole." She growled as she looked around for one of her friends. She swore she was going to kill him when she got a hold of him.
Of course I say I'm going to kill him like three hundred times a day.
I wish I didn't have to live with him.
What were my parents thinking when they adopted him? Oh that's right, they weren't. They weren't thinking about me, and they were especially not thinking of Souta.
Kagome kicked a rock on the ground. Great, none of her friends were there. Perfect. She turned on her heel and started to stalk off before she saw him.
He was saying good-bye to some guy and then he looked up and saw her. His eyes were an incredible shade of blue, and his long, dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail. He had one hand on a car door.
"Hey." He smiled confidently at her.
"Hey." Kagome smiled back shyly.
He's so cute. This could be my lucky day.
She tried to look a little less like a dork and flipped some of her hair over her shoulder in an elegant manner.
"What's your name?" He asked her.
"Kagome." Kagome walked a little closer and offered her hand. "Higurashi Kagome."
"Kagome..." He said the name as if trying it out. "You wouldn't happen to be related to Inuyasha, would you?"
"Unfortunately." Kagome couldn't believe her bad luck. He was one of Inuyasha's friends? That could only mean he had heard how bitchy she was three thousand times a day. But instead he laughed good-naturedly. Then he shook her hand.
"I'm Ookami Kouga." He told her with a slight smile. "Nice to meet you, I'm new here."
"Oh really?" Kagome felt her hopes going back up. He probably only briefly heard from Inuyasha about her and she could easily dispel that.
"You wouldn't happen to know where a coffee place is, would you?" Kouga looked at her hopefully. "I really feel like a mocha."
"I know a couple of good places." Kagome supplied. "Much better than ending up at a Starbucks, anyway."
"Hey, I said I wanted coffee not a cup of warm milk." Kouga joked.
"I know what you mean. I don't think they understand the concept of putting coffee in their coffee drinks." Kagome giggled.
"But mochas suck when you're by yourself." Kouga gave her a charming smile. "Do you want to get one with me? I'll give you a ride home too."
"Sure!" Kagome agreed. Coffee with a cute guy and she didn't have to walk home. It was only right, after Inuyasha being so horrible to her.
She got in to his car and Kouga and her began to talk as they drove to the coffee shop.
* * *
"Homo called." Inuyasha didn't look up from the TV as Kagome walked by, glowing from getting coffee with Kouga. He was so nice and smart and funny! Just the opposite of Inuyasha, who was watching something on TV while eating the last of the barbecue potato chips and drinking soda.
"His name is not homo, it's Hojou." Kagome put her hands on her hips.
"Hobo, whatever." Inuyasha blew her off.
"What did he want?" Kagome inquired.
"How the fuck should I know?" Inuyasha asked. "Probably wanted to whack off while he talked to you on the phone. Closest thing he'll ever get to oral." Kagome hit him over the head with a pillow, causing soda to spill all over him. He jumped up off the couch.
"Dammit Kagome!" He swore. "What the fuck was that for?"
"Stop making fun of him! He's a lot better than you. The closest thing you'll get to oral is that presentation in first period." Kagome fired at him smugly.
"Feh! Like you're some fucking prize, you ugly bitch?" Inuyasha asked her. "When's the last time you've been on a date? Never?"
"Like ten minutes ago!" Kagome countered. Inuyasha was taken aback. "That's right. I went and had coffee 'cause you ran off with the car."
"With who?" Inuyasha demanded.
"None of your business." Kagome replied with a superior expression.
"You're making it up." Inuyasha sat back down on the couch, looking bored.
"I am not! I went with Kouga, if you're so damn curious." Kagome kicked the back of the couch, which of course didn't really do anything.
"Kouga?!" Inuyasha sat up and turned towards Kagome. "What the fuck?!"
"What's it to you?" Kagome asked before grabbing the cordless phone. "Now stay out of my private life and next time don't make fun of my friends." She stomped out of the room. Inuyasha sat on the couch, slightly stunned by this turn of events.
What the hell? Kouga?! The same guy that Kagura used to beat up constantly?
That's just fucking weird.
Inuyasha decided his best course of action was to sit on the couch and watch TV, waiting to see if the problem would solve itself.
* * *
"So then I said, 'Um, sir, that's not a piece of candy.' His face went bright red." Kouga finished his story and Kagura laughed heartily at it. Kikyo made some noise that Inuyasha didn't quite understand, but it sounded like she didn't find the story that funny. Inuyasha felt an overwhelming urge to punch Kouga.
"That's so funny." Kagura took a deep breath. "Remember yesterday when we got yelled at in the mall?"
"I know, all we were doing was going up the down escalator and vice versa." Kouga agreed that this was a great injustice. Kikyo checked her watch.
"Class is going to start soon." Kikyo spoke up.
"And then you asked the guy six times in a row to repeat all the smoothie flavors?" Kagura giggled, not having heard the brown-eyed girl.
"I just wanted to see if he could do it." Kouga defended while laughing. "I thought it might have been a fluke the first five times."
"How utterly fascinating." Kikyo interrupted the two dryly. "Come on Kagura, we have class soon." Kagura looked over at Kouga and they both started laughing. Inuyasha had no idea what to do so he just stood there.
"I'll see you later." Kagura winked at Kouga before walking off with Kikyo. Kouga was about to walk off as well, but Inuyasha stopped him.
"What the fuck is the deal with you and Kagome?" Inuyasha asked dangerously. He had been bottling this up for a while, what with Kouga calling Kagome every day. He was so damn uppity now, always hanging around, and Kikyo obviously didn't like him for one reason or another.
"What are you talking about?" Kouga asked him innocently.
"I mean stop fucking calling all the time, it's damn annoying." Inuyasha didn't bother explaining before starting to walk off.
"Inuyasha," Kouga's voice made him pause. "What are you going to do? You can't even stand up for yourself." Inuyasha whirled around and for a moment caught a glimpse of small, secretive gleam in Kouga's eyes that made him seem like he was plotting something.
"What the hell?" Inuyasha asked himself as Kouga walked away.
"You can't even stand up to Kagura."
He shook his head, wondering what was going on. Every since Kouga had arrived two weeks ago, things had been getting weirder and weirder at home and at school. There was some sort of weird tension whenever Kouga came around or was brought up in conversation.
And why had he said that?
It was like he was reminding Inuyasha of the time at the orphanage deliberately. But why? Inuyasha decided to get to class before he was late and had to do another detention.
* * *
Kikyo came into the large living room where Kagura was prancing around the room, eating out of a half-gallon of cookie dough ice-cream, singing.
"In touch with the ground, I'm on the hunt I'm after you. Smell like I sound, I'm lost in a crowd, and I'm hungry like the wolf," Kagura didn't seem to sense the other girl's presence. "Straddle the line in discord and rhyme, I'm on the hunt I'm after you! Mouth is alive, with juices like wine, and I'm hungry like the woooooolf!"
"I thought you were going to start on your homework?" Kikyo raised her eyebrows, and Kagura stopped dancing around the room almost sheepishly.
"Well I was..." Kagura trailed off.
"But?" Kikyo continued for her.
"But Kouga called and asked if I'd go see this movie with him that he's been dying to see, but he doesn't wanna go by himself." Kagura explained. "Do you wanna come?"
"Kagura, I know that it's senior year, but you've got to keep your grades up." Kikyo lectured. "You're behind on your homework, and I don't want you failing because I know you want to go to college."
"I know, I swear I'll come straight home right after and do all my homework." Kagura put a hand over her heart. "But you know, I'm not exactly Smith-bound like you."
"You could be." Kikyo's eyes were downcast.
"Ooooh, Kikyo, you know even if we don't end up at the same college we'll be okay! Besides, college is like what, four years? We'll have the rest of our lives!" Kagura hugged her. "We'll travel and go club hopping and shopping and we'll buy a huge house and we'll set aside one room just as a library like the one here and we'll have a twenty-four hour chef-"
"A necessity." Kikyo began to smile.
"Duh, and we'll never do anything we don't want to-"
"Except pay taxes."
"Gah, why do you always have to shoot everything down?" Kagura looked tragic.
"I'm not shooting it down, I'm just being realistic." Kikyo played with a lock of her dark hair. "So you'll be back soon?"
"Of course." Kagura promised. "Right after the movie."
* * *
"Omigod, it's one in the morning." Kagura looked at her watch. "Kikyo's gonna be pissed."
"I don't know why she's so uptight, I mean it's senior year." Kouga rolled his eyes. "What is she, your mom?"
"Well no, but if she didn't do it, no one would." Kagura defended. "Plus, I do have a bunch of homework."
"Sorry I took you away from it. I really thought it was just gonna be a movie. But then I was hungry." Kouga began to tick off the items. "Then ice-cream. Then coffee. It just got late. I'm sure Kikyo will understand."
"I'm not mad at you or anything." Kagura assured him. "I should've paid attention to the time too."
"No, go ahead and use me as your scapegoat." Kouga's eyes were twinkling. "I don't mind."
"Yeah, whatever, let's just hightail it home." Kagura ordered.
Upon arrival, Kagura told him goodnight before slipping out of the car and into the house. She wondered if Kikyo wasn't already in bed, it was a school night after all. Kagura tiptoed up the stairs, then into the living room that connected the two bedrooms.
Kikyo was reading quietly, sitting in an armchair.
Or so it would look to the untrained eye.
She was sitting just a bit too stiffly, her movements, such as turning a page were overly rigid. This could only mean that Kikyo was upset. She didn't look up as Kagura closed the door. Kagura came into the room looking sheepish, biting her lip a little.
"What is she, your mom?"
Kagura almost laughed. Why was she scared of Kikyo all of a sudden? It wasn't as if Kikyo was going to punish her or anything. No, Kagura was old enough that she could stroll in whatever hour of the night she felt like and she'd be damned if anyone stopped her. Kikyo could sit up as straight as she wanted, her back not touching the chair once all night, that didn't change a thing.
Right?
"Hey Kikyo." Kagura tried confidently. Kikyo carefully marked her place before closing her book and then putting on the table next to her. Then her brown eyes met Kagura's. Within the pools of brown was swirling a mixture of anger and worry.
"Where were you?" Kikyo questioned quietly, her voice still cutting through the air even though it was barely above a whisper.
"Kouga and I lost track of time." Kagura shrugged.
"I see."
"Kikyo, don't be like that." Kagura pleaded with her. "Come on, what are you doing? Staying up to tell me off for staying up late? Are you my mom now?"
"You told me you'd be right back." Kikyo stood up, sticking her chin out. "I thought something might have happened. I was just waiting to get a phone call...from...from anyone telling me there had been an accident or..." Kikyo closed her eyes tightly as though she were in pain.
"Oh gods, Kikyo I'm sorry!" Kagura immediately realized how Kikyo must have felt. "I just, I wasn't thinking. I should have called or something."
"No, you're right." Kikyo's eyes averted to the floor. "I shouldn't reprimand you. You can do whatever you want...I'm not your mom."
"Kikyo..." Kagura trailed off as the brown-eyed girl shook her head.
"I'm going to bed." Kikyo told her before walking to her room and the door closed behind her.
Great, she's really upset.
You're so dumb sometimes, Kagura.
Kagura went into her own room and changed into her nightgown before leaving her room, turning off the lamps in the living room as she went by before proceeding to go into Kikyo's room.
"Kikyo?" Kagura whispered hesitantly. No answer. Kikyo's eyes were closed and Kagura wondered if she could already be asleep. She bent down and kissed Kikyo's cheek. "I'm really sorry."
"Stop apologizing. You know it gets on my nerves when people apologize too much." Kikyo opened her eyes and straightened up.
"Sorry." Then Kagura started giggling and after a moment, so did Kikyo. "Hey Kikyo?"
"Yes?" Kikyo was smiling from what she could make out in the darkness.
"Can I sweep wid woo tonight?" Kagura asked in a baby voice. She was rewarded with a pillow in the face.
"Not if you're going to talk like that." Kikyo told her.
"Damn, how's your aim so good in the dark?" Kagura complained before climbing into bed with Kikyo.
"Luck." Kikyo answered shortly. "Besides, I can't stand listening to couples talk like...that, it's just so...ugh. And it causes everyone else within earshot to start vomiting."
"Or in your case, causes homicidal urges." Kagura teased her. It was nice to know that Kikyo was always there, even when Kagura did something stupid, Kikyo didn't really hate her because of it. It was the security of having a family. Having someone care about her.
"Your present."
"We'll be back in a week."
"Can't you find somewhere to take her?"
"Kagura, not now. I'm busy."
Don't think about that. You don't need to think about that right now.
* * *
"Hello, I'm Rin." Rin introduced herself to Kagome. "You must be Inuyasha's sister. So am I!"
"Nice to meet you." Kagome smiled faintly and somewhat apprehensively. Who knew what Inuyasha's sister would be like? There was a stoic white-haired young man standing behind Rin who was so pretty, Kagome felt like she might start drooling.
"This is Sesshomaru." Rin seemed to catch her curious glances at the man behind her. "He's my brother. Well, my adopted brother." Sesshomaru's face tightened a little. Rin beamed at Kagome.
"Are you going to make them stand there all fucking day?" Inuyasha asked as he came up behind her.
"Yes, that was my plan Inuyasha, you figured me out." Kagome snapped sarcastically, and she moved so that Rin and Sesshomaru could come in. Inuyasha didn't seem happy to see Sesshomaru at all.
"I don't remember inviting you." He hissed at the white-haired young man.
"Oh Inuyasha, you don't mind do you? Kishi-chan would have been all alone at the house." Rin blinked wide brown eyes at him.
"I don't mind, we wouldn't Kishi-chan to feel lonely, would we?" Inuyasha snickered and Sesshomaru glared.
"I had to make sure you didn't lead my sister down the path of delinquency." Sesshomaru spoke quietly so that Rin couldn't hear him, but she still did and whirled around on him.
"Inuyasha isn't a delinquent!" Rin stuck her chin out defiantly. "You promised me that you'd be nice to him!"
"Rin, you must admit that breaking and entering is hardly law-abiding." Sesshomaru seemed surprised that Rin was sticking up for Inuyasha.
"Breaking and entering?" Kagome felt her eyebrows go up somewhere near her hairline.
"Sesshomaru!" Rin looked, angry. "Stop it or go home!" Sesshomaru actually took a step back from Rin, as though scared of her.
"I like the second idea." Inuyasha said in a voice that was just audible enough for Sesshomaru to hear. Sesshomaru shot him a murderous look before turning his yellow eyes back on Rin.
They looked so sad that Rin instantly felt bad.
"Kishi-chan, just please...don't be mean to Inuyasha. You just don't understand it...he was the only one left when our parents died..." Rin was speaking in a much softer tone and Kagome felt like she should probably leave the room. The phone rang, but unfortunately, Inuyasha answered it first.
"What?" He barked into it. Kagome hit her forehead, no matter how many times he was told otherwise, that was what Inuyasha deemed an appropriate way to answer the phone. Maybe it was one of the parents, and then Inuyasha would be in trouble. "Oh, what the fuck do you want?" He groaned. "No, she's dead."
"Inuyasha!" Kagome tried to grab hold of the phone but he held it out of her reach.
"Fuck off." Inuyasha told the person before hanging up.
"Who was that?" Kagome demanded as soon as he did.
"Wrong number." Inuyasha shrugged before sitting down.
"Was it really?" Kagome folded her arms in disbelief. "Or was it Kouga?"
"You forgot about Homo." Inuyasha reminded her.
"Was it Hojou?" Kagome darted towards the phone.
"It's not fucking important." Inuyasha shook his head. "Get out of here Kagome, go play with your fucking Barbies or something."
"BARBIES?!" Kagome screeched in protest. "TELL ME WHO CALLED!"
"What are you? Fucking queen dictator of the world?" Inuyasha asked her. "I'm not fucking telling you."
"Just because you have no friends doesn't mean you can take it out on me!" Kagome stomped one of her feet.
"Oh, my apologies Miss Freaking Popularity." Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
"Bastard."
"Bitch."
"Um...do you want us to leave?" Rin asked hesitantly. Sesshomaru looked almost superior when the suggestion was said out loud.
"No, Rin, stay." Inuyasha turned away from Kagome. "This bitch is always fucking on my case about something." The phone rang and both Inuyasha and Kagome dove for it. This caused the table it was sitting on to go crashing over and Kagome and Inuyasha to go toppling over it, Kagome hitting her head sharply on a chair, causing tears to spring up in her eyes as she wrestled with Inuyasha for the phone.
Kagome twisted it out of his grip and was fighting to get her legs free as she answered it. It was a miracle the phone was still intact and plugged in. "Hello?"
"Kagome?" Kouga's voice came over the line.
"Yeah, get off me, Inuyasha!" Kagome kicked one of her legs best she could, it hit Inuyasha, and obviously hurt him because there was a string of swear words after it. "Sorry, Kouga, Inuyasha's being a-"
"Um..." Rin wasn't sure what to do as she watched the two. Kagome was bleeding and her and Inuyasha were still struggling when Inuyasha finally caught onto the cord and yanked sharply so that it came out of the wall.
"You asshole!" Kagome kicked him off of her. Inuyasha rubbed his chest irritably.
"That guy..." Inuyasha couldn't seem to describe what exactly it was that Kouga seemed to be. "There's something about him that I don't like!"
"Fine, no one's telling you to go out with him!" Kagome began to set the phone up.
"You're not fucking going out with him!" Inuyasha looked somewhat disgusted with the mere suggestion.
"Um..." Rin tried to interrupt again.
"If you two are done?" Sesshomaru's voice brought instant silence throughout the kitchen. Inuyasha immediately straightened himself and tried to look dignified while Kagome felt her head where the blood was and left the room to go to the bathroom.
"Yeah, so...what do you guys want to drink?" Inuyasha asked as he walked into the kitchen, avoiding his sister's eyes. Something inside of him felt ashamed right then.
* * *
The next day, after school, Kouga was surprised to see Kikyo waiting for him, standing there with her arms crossed. But why was Kikyo there? She didn't look happy or even particularly grim.
"I need to talk to you." Kikyo began to walk away and Kouga followed her, as he knew that's what she expected him to do.
He couldn't think of anything to say at all. What did Kikyo want to see him about? "What's this about?"
"I know what you're doing." Kikyo told him bluntly, spinning on her heel to face him.
"What do you mean?" Kouga faked innocence rather well in his opinion.
"You know what I'm talking about. Kagura may be blinded by your illusions now, but she's smart, she'll open her eyes." Kikyo spoke calmly as though not really addressing him.
"Mad cause your girlfriend wants me?" Kouga raised his eyebrows mockingly.
"How dare you?" Kikyo looked almost angry, her jaw clenched. "You fool..."
"Too bad Kikyo, looks like I'm going to take Kagura away from you. I'm gonna make her choose. Then you'll end up all alone, just like I was." Kouga smirked dangerously. "And then I'm going to hurt her like she hurt me."
"She won't choose you." Kikyo told him fiercely, but still didn't look too ruffled. "Don't you dare try to take her away from me."
"You think she loves you or something? Kagura doesn't have a heart." Kouga felt the words leave his mouth and a hard, surprisingly strong slap from the frail looking Kikyo struck him across the face almost immediately.
"Kikyo!" Kagura came running up with a shocked and hurt expression. "Why?"
"I have to go." Kouga sent Kagura a look before turning and walking away.
"Kouga!" Kagura felt so confused right then. When had that boy she teased so maliciously become such a big deal to her? She turned back to Kikyo. "What did you do?"
"Kagura, don't you get it?" Kikyo asked. "Kouga...he's not trying to be friends with you or me, or anyone else for that matter!"
"Just give him a chance Kikyo! Not everyone is out to get you!" Kagura stood up for the blue-eyed boy.
"Gods, you actually..." Kikyo's eyes widened in disbelief. "You believe him over me..." Kikyo walked away with a disbelieving expression. "You...believe him..."
"Oh, Kikyo!" Kagura ran forward and threw her arms around her. "No, I...Kouga said you were suspicious of him..."
He's already started to manipulate her...Gods...Kagura, I love you more than anyone.
Kikyo turned and hugged Kagura back tightly, a single tear slid down her cheek, a requiem for the friend she was losing.
* * *
"You have a date?" Inuyasha watched Kagome applying make-up warily.
"Good job, Sherlock." Kagome rolled her eyes.
"Who with?" Inuyasha questioned sharply.
"None of your business!" Kagome turned toward him. "Why are you in here, anyway?"
"What do you mean, it's none of my business?" Inuyasha stood up, all ready for an argument.
"What are you? My dad?" Kagome stood up too. "It's my life, stop bothering me."
"Is it Hobo?" Inuyasha asked.
"You mean Hojou?" Kagome corrected. "No."
"It's Kouga, isn't it?" Inuyasha glared accusingly at her. "You can't go out with him."
"Shut up, yes I can!" Kagome protested. "You aren't my dad."
"Fuck, Kouga?" Inuyasha's face twisted. "Some stupid pretty boy?"
"He's not stupid!" Kagome snapped. "Like you can talk anyway, you can't even pass special ed. math." She knew by his face that she had gone too far.
"Shut up!" Inuyasha roared, grabbing her by the shoulders and shoving her against the wall. Kagome felt frightened by how wild and dangerous his eyes looked as he breathed hard. His face was inches from hers. "Just shut the fuck up about that, Kagome."
She had seen him with that angry face before, when she saw him get into a fistfight in school a couple of years ago. He was ready to take her down. He couldn't see past his rage at that moment, and it scared her.
"L-let me go." Kagome tried to push the fear out of her voice. Inuyasha's eyes widened as he realized what he had been about to do. His grip loosened immediately and he stepped back.
"Shit...Kagome...I didn't...I wasn't thinking..." Inuyasha looked down, he couldn't meet her eyes. What had he done? "You just..."
"I...I shouldn't have said that." Kagome lowered her eyes to the floor as well.
"Yeah." Inuyasha seemed to be agreeing but couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Yeah." Kagome nodded her head once. Down below them, the doorbell rang and her mother went to get it. "My date's here, I better go." She started to walk out but Inuyasha caught her wrist. She whirled to face him, he looked out from under his bangs.
"Kagome...I'm sorry." Inuyasha apologized for the first time since Kagome had met him.
"Me too." Kagome admitted, and then she left.
* * *
Kagome tried to forget the fight that night over dinner with Kouga, but her mind kept getting pulled back to it. Gods, when had their fights escalated to that point? It made her not want to go home. She made dinner last as long as she could, eating rather slowly.
"Is something wrong?" Kouga asked for the third time over dinner.
"Oh, I just..." Kagome took a deep breath, feeling uncomfortable about bringing it up. "Inuyasha and I got into an argument before I left."
"About what?" Kouga asked, his hand sliding across the table to cover her own. Kagome smiled gratefully at him.
"Well, actually, we were arguing about you. I guess Inuyasha doesn't like you." Kagome sighed. "I don't see where he gets this idea that he has a right to decide who I can see and who I can't."
"Maybe he's just being overprotective, brothers usually are." Kouga told her.
"But he's not my brother! Besides, no brother would act like that." Kagome shook her head. "He had no right..."
"Maybe he thinks he does." Kouga squeezed her hand. "If this is causing problems for you at home, you don't have to go on dates with me. If it'll make it easier for us to be just friends..."
"No, it's my choice and I want to." Kagome looked determined. "Do you think I'm just going to let Inuyasha dictate my actions?" Kouga smiled at her.
"If that's what you want." Kouga said simply, but Kagome felt as though there were more to the words than what she thought.
Something about the way he said it...
I don't why but it seems like a lot rests on this one thing. Or maybe, it's just that way for Kouga. I don't really understand it.
"Of course it's what I want." Kagome felt as though she was declaring this rather stubbornly. That was weird. But right now she just felt conflicted. Why was Inuyasha suddenly apologizing? What could he be thinking? They've always hated each other, and that was the only thing they agreed on.
The date ended when Kouga walked her to the door and there was a brief moment of awkwardness before he kissed her goodnight. Kagome went inside her house, her knees a bit weak.
* * *
Fuck that.
Inuyasha watched Kouga and Kagome kiss through a window in the living room. Half of him wanted to burst through the door, for some reason watching that made his blood boil. Why that was, he couldn't explain for the life of him. Was it any of his business? No.
But then, it felt like his business. And why Kouga? What had happened that turned Kouga into this? Why couldn't he remain that stupid, annoying kid that would just sulk after getting called names? What the hell happened to him?
"I've got the best idea for a practical joke!" Kagura bragged to the two. "Wait 'til you hear."
Was it that? Is that what changed him?
How could he be so nice to her after that? I mean, it was pretty shitty of her. I didn't like him either but...maybe that was a little too much.
"He was waiting for her."
"Out in the rain?"
"Yeah."
"Do you think...he actually...?"
"I had to walk away. I wasn't sure I could watch that."
And then when Kagura got back...
"Ahahahahahahahahahaha! You guys totally missed out! The guy was crying!"
Inuyasha frowned as he began to think about how Kouga seemed to forget what happened. For weeks afterward, he had been more withdrawn then usual. It didn't really matter to Inuyasha, big freaking deal, Kouga was sad. He was such a crybaby.
But why would he and Kagura suddenly be all buddy-buddy? Inuyasha shook his head, that wasn't really anything he was concerned with. He just wanted Kouga to stop being such a thorn in his side.
And then this whole thing about him just losing his temper with Kagome tonight. Sure, he always lost his temper with her but...that time, he was really going to hit her. He really wanted to hurt her physically. Whatever their constant fights would amount to, he had never really wanted to hurt her. The whole thing scared him a little.
Rin was his family and Kagome was supposed to be his family. If he could almost hit Kagome being that angry, what if he hit Rin when he got mad at her? There was a part of him that said he'd never, ever hurt Rin but now...what if he did? He'd hate himself forever. But Kagome never really gave him a choice. And he hated that.
Inuyasha knew he couldn't just mend things between them, and that Kagome was always so dead set against him. What the hell was he supposed to do? The kiss had ended and Inuyasha swore that just for a split second, Kouga saw him through the window and had smirked at him. He definitely wanted to hit Kouga now.
Kagome came through the door a second later. She shut the door and then turned to see Inuyasha sitting there in a chair.
"Ugh, are you guys always going to fucking snog in front of the window?" Inuyasha couldn't really help it. Kagome's eyes widened just a little, as if she wasn't expecting an attack right away.
"We weren't snogging, we were saying goodnight, and you shouldn't be spying on me." Kagome flipped her hair over her shoulder angrily.
"I wasn't spying on you." Inuyasha muttered. "You two were the ones trying to swallow each other's heads."
"Shut up Inuyasha, you're such an idiot!" Kagome shouted at him.
"Hey, hey, what's going on out here?" Noduko came out with a concerned expression. The two kids pretended that the parents didn't know about their fighting, but Noduko and Yasumu were not stupid and could usually hear at least half the yelling. They tried repeatedly to get the two to be on friendly terms, but they just refused.
"Inuyasha was spying on me and now he's being a prick." Kagome told her mother, obviously looking for justice.
"I was not." Inuyasha argued. "She's being a total b-"
"Okay, okay." Noduko shook her head. "I think I get the point. Just...go to your rooms if you two can't be around each other without being civil!"
"I can be civil, he's the problem! I bet now you realize adopting him was a mistake!" Kagome yelled at the two. Noduko's eyes widened and tears started to form there. Inuyasha's eyes narrowed dramatically.
"Just like your fucking birth! I wish I hadn't been adopted, then I wouldn't have ever met you and I'd be a lot fucking happier!" Inuyasha roared before stalking out of the room and they could hear him stomping up the stairs.
Kagome turned toward her mother who had tears openly coming down her face.
"Mom..." Kagome started to feel horrible.
"No, no. You're right. You two have always hated each other...I hoped...but that was stupid wasn't it?" Noduko lowered her eyes. "I just don't understand why...why can't you two at least...neither of you should say those things..." Noduko rushed out of the room, trying to stop her crying, but she couldn't help it.
What do you do when your two children hate each other?
* * *
Kagome stretched out on her bed, staring at the ceiling. The ceiling was white, and it was the only wall that didn't have posters on it. Posters of singers and anime she liked. There were tears in her eyes as she stared at the blankness.
Her mother didn't know it was going to end up like this. Kagome didn't even know that things were going to be this way. Why had they become so bad? They truly couldn't stand the other's presence. Kagome turned her head to the bedside table, which contained a picture of the family before Inuyasha's adoption. Before Souta's death.
Kagome was smiling in her pink kimono and holding a small fan. There were fireworks going on behind them. Souta was giving the peace sign to the camera and her parents were smiling at each other.
That was before this whole mess.
I wish Souta were still alive.
Then we wouldn't have adopted Inuyasha and we all...
We're all unhappy aren't we? Because it doesn't just affect Inuyasha and me. It affects mom and dad too. I never thought about any of that.
I'm so stupid!
"Hey."
Kagome froze before rolling over and seeing Inuyasha standing by her open door. He wasn't looking at her; his purple eyes were focused on her wall, staring at smiling anime characters wearing brightly colored clothing.
"Yeah?" Kagome wasn't angry this time. She was somewhat humbled by the sight of her mother crying like that. She had done that. Inuyasha and her.
"Why the hell do you hate me so much?" Inuyasha questioned her, his flashing eyes going to hers.
"I'm...I'm not sure." Kagome glanced over at the photo again. "I guess it has a lot to do with my brother...and...well, why do you hate me so much?"
"Because you've hated me since the moment you met me." Inuyasha muttered. "I was pissed off about a lot of things...but that's none of your business."
"I know." Kagome nodded. "It's none of your business either but...mom's upset. She was crying."
"She was?" Inuyasha blinked. He had nothing against his adopted parents; he actually thought they were pretty cool. He wasn't sure if he loved them, but he did care about them. They had taken him in after all. He did owe them a lot. "Fuck..."
"Maybe...we shouldn't...fight so much." Kagome suggested slowly. "I'm not saying we have to like each other, let's just...not when they're around. I don't want them to be upset like that."
"I don't want them to get upset either." Inuyasha agreed, frowning. "So, don't fight around them?"
"Yeah, what do you say?" Kagome didn't actually smile at him, just gave him a friendly pleading look.
"Yeah." Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah, I can do that."
* * *
"Day off of school, day off of school!" Kagura sang as her and Kikyo rode along in the limo. They were going to meet their parents at a restaurant and their parents had, of course, insisted they come in a limo. The Kazes loved to spoil the two girls rotten.
Kaze Yuriko and Kaze Chuuei were waiting at a table patiently until they saw the two of them. Kikyo with her black turtleneck and black pants with a silver cross hanging from a silver chain; and Kagura, with her tight black pants and red shirt were attracting attention from other people who whispered about the two girls for differing reasons. The couple waved happily at them.
"It's been too long!" Yuriko jumped up and hugged the two girls. And so did Chuuei. "It's too bad that we can only visit for a few days like this."
"That's okay, gives us more time to throw giant parties." Kagura grinned as they took their seats.
"Giant parties?" Chuuei looked perturbed for a few moments then started laughing. "Well, I have to admit, that's what I would be doing at your age."
"Don't worry, we haven't had any parties." Kikyo half smiled. "Yet."
"Too bad, that house is made for parties." Yuriko winked. "You girls are okay eating here right? I mean, we can go somewhere else if you don't feel like Italian."
"No, it's cool." Kagura shrugged. "This is the place with the awesome fettuccine alfredo, isn't it?"
"That stuff'll be the death of me." Chuuei took a drink of water.
"Tell me everything that's happened while we've been gone!" Yuriko looked at them brightly.
"We met people that used to live at the orphanage with us! We all ended up at the same high school." Kagura informed them.
"Are you all friends?" Yuriko asked.
"You could say that." Kikyo said dryly.
"Well, um, Kikyo doesn't get along with all of them but-" Kagura was cut off.
"I'm sorry, I don't get along with people who are conniving bastards." Kikyo snapped.
"Kikyo!" Chuuei looked stunned.
"I told you before, and I'll tell you again, Kagura," Kikyo turned toward her, brown eyes flashing. "Kouga isn't what he seems at all, you've got to open your eyes."
"Shut up." Kagura shook her head. "That's stupid. You...you're jealous!" Kikyo's eyes widened.
"That's...that's ridiculous! I'm not jealous..." Kikyo trailed off. "Do what you want then, I'm warning you though. I'm trying to show you, Kagura. Why would I lie to you?"
"Why would he lie?" Kagura asked her. "He's been nothing but nice to me and-"
"Kagura! Think about what you've done to him in the past! If you were him, what would you do? Could you really forgive and forget so easily?" Kikyo asked in a demanding tone.
"Obviously you can't." Kagura threw her napkin down. "I'm going to the restroom." And she turned on her heel, walking off. Chuuei and Yuriko looked rather stunned at Kikyo. Kikyo sighed before going after Kagura.
She caught up with her in the girls' bathroom, looking into the mirror in frustration. Kikyo walked in behind her and Kagura saw the pale girl in the mirror's reflection.
"This is stupid, I don't know why I got all defensive." Kagura shook her head. "I just...I don't see what you have against him..."
"I want you to know now, that no matter what mistakes you might make, I believe in you and I'll forgive them." Kikyo put a hand on her shoulder. Kagura turned and Kikyo saw that Kagura's eyes were watering a little.
"Kagura..." Kikyo was a little surprised. Kagura smiled reassuringly, all the while, things were going through her head.
"Can't you find somewhere to take her?"
"We don't have time."
"Later, Kagura."
"Your present."
"Momma, can you come see my painting?"
"Kagura, can't you see that I'm busy right now?"
And after that...I didn't know...where to turn...
"I'm Kikyo."
"Want me to teach you how to knit?"
"Here, I'll show you."
"I made you something for your birthday!"
"Kikyo, wanna see my painting?"
"It's beautiful."
I need something to hold onto. And there's only one person who's always been there.
Kagura wrapped her arms around Kikyo tightly. She wasn't expecting it, but still quickly returned the gesture. Kagura didn't want to let go, she wanted to bury her head in Kikyo's turtleneck, breathing in Kikyo's perfume and letting Kikyo's hands console her gently.
They left the bathroom, Kikyo and her making some sort of silent resolution not to bring up Kouga at all. They told their adopted parents about their grades and what not. Yuriko and Chuuei told them all about their latest trip and then they finished up lunch.
After lunch it was a barrage of things to do. First they went shopping, Kagura buying so much clothing that it had to be ran home ahead of time because there simply wasn't enough room. Kikyo bought a bunch of books and other things. Then they went home and changed before going out to another fancy restaurant and then to the opera.
It was good being together again like a family. Even if only for a short while.
* * *
The next day at lunch, Kagura and Kikyo were sitting in their regular spot, innocently eating lunch, waiting for Inuyasha to come and join them, now that he regularly ate lunch with the two girls. Just minding their own business until...
"Ah, it's a shame to see two beautiful ladies eating without any male company." A smooth voice spoke up melodramatically. Kikyo and Kagura both looked up at the interruption. The interruption had taken the form of a rather good-looking young man with black hair that was pulled back into a small ponytail, one ear with two piercings where small hoops dangled, and a pair of violet eyes that had somewhat of a wicked gleam to them. "Please allow this humble man to sit with you."
Kagura laughed and Kikyo gave him a semi-threatening look that suggested she might merely rip out his eyeballs and shove them down his throat if he made one false move. He took his chances and sat down facing them.
"Are you new?" Kagura asked curiously. "I don't think I've seen you around."
"Yes, I just moved here." The violet-eyed man slid closer to her, his hand smoothly going over her own. "I'm Houshi Miroku, I'm very honored to meet you."
"Hmph." Kikyo looked only a little sullen. That was until Miroku decided to make the situation better by taking her hand as well.
"Oh, don't feel ignored, your beauty is shining just as brightly as your companion's." Miroku assured her. "Would you two like to go on a-"
Something connected with the back of Miroku's head and he ended up hitting his head as he moved forward too fast to stop himself.
"Fucking pervert." Kagura and Kikyo looked up to see Inuyasha there, a Sobe bottle in his hand, the object that he clearly hit Miroku over the head with. "I knew I shouldn't have asked him to sit with us."
"You know him?" Kikyo asked in a false sweet voice.
"I met him this morning in first period, he was asking girls out on dates." Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Whenever he wasn't spouting fucking sappy poetry shit, he was okay to talk to. So far I've watched him chase after every girl that's even fucking halfway decent looking."
"That's simply not true." Miroku looked scandalized. "I just happen to appreciate beauty and it would be a crime not to stop and admire the many pretty girls at this school."
"Dude, shut up." Inuyasha groaned. "Besides, you're totally barking up the wrong tree, Kikyo's a lesbian."
"I respect the fine lesbian culture." Miroku seemed to have no problem with this.
"What about me?" Kagura seemed slightly miffed that her sexual tendencies had been overlooked.
"Well, I'm still wondering about that. Fuck, aren't you and Kouga screwing?" Inuyasha shrugged.
"No!" Kagura looked scandalized. "Gah, give me some credit. Besides, can't you tell that Kikyo and I are together, Mr. Look-At-My-Broken-Gaydar?"
"Kagura..." Kikyo began unsurely.
"I don't care what goes on between you two. Besides, I figured as freaking much, you two are always together." Inuyasha tried to look knowledgeable. "It was either that or Kikyo was just fucking pining."
"Pining?" Kikyo raised an eyebrow.
"I think it's a very admirable thing." Miroku put a hand over his heart, looking moved by the conversation. "When two beautiful women find love, truly, it's the best kind."
"You just want to watch." Inuyasha snorted.
"And I would never do anything to separate such a wonderful love, so," Miroku took a deep breath. "Would you ladies be interested in a threesome?"
A second later, Kagura and Kikyo each had one of Miroku's arms and were twisting them behind his back quite painfully. Inuyasha laughed so hard that Sobe came out his nose. Finally, when Miroku swore he would never ask again, they let him up.
"And next time..." Kikyo began to list off a number off many horrific tortures that she would subject Miroku to the next time he suggested such an idea. They were so horrible that Inuyasha thought he would vomit.
"Can you even do all that to a male without them dying first?" Kagura whispered to Inuyasha.
"..." Inuyasha was completely lost for words and scared. Very, very scared.
"I mean, like the part with the castration they might live through, but the rest...well...I mean, can you really rip someone's bowels out through their mouth?" Kagura went on skeptically.
"Oh yes." Kikyo was as calm as ever. "It's all in the wrist."
* * *
Sesshomaru finished his homework before Rin finished hers. Their mother often commented on how Sesshomaru never did his homework in his room where there was a perfectly good desk. Nope, he'd sit on Rin's floor or on her bed and do his homework right next to her.
"Are you finished already?" Rin looked up brightly at him. "I'm almost done too."
"I think we should go out to dinner tonight." Sesshomaru suggested. "Just you and me."
"Oooh," Rin looked downcast. "I'd love to but..."
"What? Are you busy? What are you doing? With who?" Sesshomaru began to fire off questions. "Did someone ask you out on a date?" He looked so alarmed at that thought that Rin thought he might go into a cardiac arrest.
"No, silly!" Rin giggled. "Inuyasha and I are going to get some pizza."
"Pizza?" Sesshomaru didn't seem to like the sound of this. "I'm coming with you."
"But you and Inuyasha don't get along." Rin bit her lip. "I don't want to watch you guys be mean to each other."
"I won't say one word against him." Sesshomaru vowed.
"Well...okay!" Rin agreed.
"And Rin..." Sesshomaru trailed off pensively. "If you are going to date, you have to let your older brother meet him beforehand. I just want to make sure he's honorable of course."
And that if he doesn't leave the house in the next ten seconds I will personally kill him with my bare hands.
"I'm not going to date anyone Kishi-chan!" Rin poked him in the ribs. "Do you remember when we used to play wedding?"
"Of course, you insisted on being both the bride and the flower girl." Sesshomaru semi-smiled.
"I'm going to be both at my wedding!" Rin declared. She clapped her hands together as she often did when she got excited. "Oh, you have to be something important at my wedding too! Like the best man!"
"That's up to the groom to decide." Sesshomaru tried hard to hide his disappointment. "You always had me be the groom and the preacher." He reminded her hopefully.
"And I made you wear all those flowers in your hair, you looked so pretty!" Rin didn't seem to notice, caught up in the nostalgia. "You probably hated that though."
"I couldn't hate it, you spent so much time picking those flowers." Sesshomaru closed his eyes for a moment.
"This one looks pretty with your eyes!" An eight-year-old Rin held up a purple flower. "Now we can get married!"
"You're so sweet Kishi-chan." Rin hugged him suddenly and then got up off her bed. "Well, we should probably get going, I'm supposed to meet him soon."
"Great." Sesshomaru wasn't one to pout, but he came very close to it, watching Rin bouncing with happiness because she was going to spend time with someone else.
Rin wasn't supposed to like spending time with anybody else. She was just supposed to like him. She was so bursting with kindness that she couldn't possibly contain it, though, and seemed to love everyone and everything she came into contact with. Rin got upset when people were mean to each other or when people didn't seem to get along.
Sesshomaru hated to upset Rin or see her cry, but he felt like he could never get along with Inuyasha. For one, that stupid kid had tried to take Rin away from him years ago and Rin had always called Sesshomaru her only brother. That was until Inuyasha came back into her life this year and now she talked about having two brothers. What was so great about Inuyasha? Why did he get to be such a big part of Rin's life now as well?
Oh well, hopefully he could get through this dinner without making Rin upset.
* * *
"Goddammit, don't you have anything better to do than follow her around?" Inuyasha turned toward the yellow-eyed young man who glared in reply. Rin had run up to get their pitcher of soda. "She can go places without Kishi-chan."
"Shut up before I kill you." Sesshomaru hissed. "If you upset her, I'll shove this fork down your throat."
"It's okay that I got Dr Pepper, right?" Rin asked as she set it down with a smile. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha immediately pretended they weren't glaring at each other. "Oh! I forgot straws!" Rin walked off again.
"I'd like to see you try, Kishi-chan." Inuyasha jeered. "At least I don't have some weird ass crush on my adopted sister."
"I-" Sesshomaru began indignantly but Rin returned.
"What are you guys talking about?" She slid into the booth next to Sesshomaru.
"School." The two boys said at once.
'It's good to see you two getting along." Rin beamed at the two of them. "I've got to use the restroom." Rin left the table again.
"My sister-" Sesshomaru began but Inuyasha cut him off.
"She's my sister." Inuyasha countered.
"Yes, because you've been a great brother. Showing her how to be a burgle." Sesshomaru smirked.
"Shut up." Inuyasha snapped. And then added. "Kishi-chan."
"Stop calling me that." Sesshomaru told him in a threatening voice.
"Why, 'cause it's Rin's pretty princess pet name for you?" Inuyasha snickered. "Do you guys have tea parties and shit?"
"She obviously considers me to be a better brother than you." Seshomaru secretly flexed his fingers under the table. "I bet you don't know the first thing about her. You're just an idiotic delinquent who-"
"Busted." Inuyasha interrupted quietly and Sesshomaru turned around to see Rin looking at him, her eyes clouding over with tears and a completely hurt look dawning on her face. She brought her hands up to her mouth.
"Rin." Sesshomaru felt a stab of pain and guilt go through him.
"C-come on Inuyasha." Rin said in between small sobs. "Let's go." Inuyasha got up quickly and went over to his sister. Sesshomaru glared at him as Inuyasha put an arm around her.
"Rin, wait-" Sesshomaru tried to say something.
"No! Y-you p-promised." Rin sniffled. "A-and then you were mean to him anyways. Y-you don't even care about anyone, do you?" And with that, Rin buried her face into Inuyasha's shirt. Inuyasha half-carried her out of the place, sending one last murderous glare at Sesshomaru.
Rin and him sat down at a bench when Rin seemed almost impossible to console.
"He's usually not like that, Inuyasha." Rin told him. "Usually he's really nice."
"Yeah, I can tell, winning fucking personality." Inuyasha muttered.
"Oh don't!" Rin pushed him away. "Don't you dare start on him. I'll hate you forever!"
"Rin..." Inuyasha took a deep breath. "Come on, fuck, the guy has hated me since I met him, so sorry if I don't have anything nice to say. Damn, don't cry."
"I'm sorry." Rin wiped her eyes in vain. "I just...I can't stand to see you and him like that."
Damn, this is like mom. Sesshomaru and me better make a deal like Kagome and mine, or Rin's just going to get more depressed.
"Hey, let's go to the movies. I'll buy you all the candy you want." Inuyasha offered in an attempt to comfort her.
"Okay." Rin looked sad, but together they went off to the movies.
* * *
Sesshomaru felt so lost and hopeless at that moment. Rin was never going to forgive him now. He sat down on a barstool and after showing his ID, began to buy drink after drink.
He wasn't one for getting drunk. But he didn't know what to do, so he turned to booze to try to give him some temporary relief or a solution. Of course, the liquid that burned at his throat didn't make him feel better. He felt worse.
I'm sorry Rin.
I'm so sorry. I do care about people, I care about you! You're the most important thing.
He remembered Inuyasha walking away with his arms around Rin and he drank even faster. Sesshomaru couldn't understand his intense jealously sometimes; he just knew that he wanted to keep Rin all to himself and Rin wanted to run free.
Am I losing her?
Sesshomaru finally decided that he should get home, and so started on his way, not caring if his parents were mad at him for coming home staggering drunk. It was almost impressive that he found his way home after that much booze.
When he got there, part of him felt like just passing out on the front porch but, deciding against that, he came in. His parents were probably either asleep or in the family room watching TV like they did every night before bed. Sesshomaru made his way up the stairs with a surprising amount of balance.
Rin's door opened as he came by and she poked her head out of it.
"Sesshomaru?" Her voice was small as though she wasn't sure what to say. Sesshomaru's brain was swimming with depression and alcohol. He threw his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "Sesshomaru..."
"I'm so sorry Rin...I'm so sorry..." Sesshomaru thought he might be crying, his voice sounded hoarse enough.
"Kishi-chan..." Rin hugged him back. "It's okay. It's okay."
"Rin, I love you so much." Sesshomaru still wouldn't let her go. "I love you more than...than anything else."
"Sesshomaru..." Rin stiffened with surprise. "I love you too. You've always been a wonderful brother to me."
"I thought you were going to hate me." Sesshomaru pulled away a little.
"I'm never going to hate you." Rin told him. Then she took a close look at him. "Sesshomaru...are you...drunk?" The whole notion was so foreignly linked with the stoic white-haired man that Rin was rather taken aback.
"A little..." Sesshomaru confessed. "I...I couldn't stand you being upset like that."
"Come on, let's get you to bed." Rin helped him into his room, where she made sure he sat down on the bed before helping take his shoes off.
Sesshomaru watched her with fascination. She was so beautiful and pure, looking at him through those eyes, bright brown eyes that looked misplaced on a teenager, as though she had never grown past the age of eight. They sparkled as she helped him under the covers.
She's just the opposite of me, so innocent and kind.
So different from what I am.
"Come here Sesshomaru."
"If you ever say one word to anyone about this, I'll kill you."
"Sesshomaru, why won't you say anything?"
"I almost say it's due to trauma ma'am, though I can't say for sure without some more tests..."
"He may never speak again."
"Thank you...Rin..." Sesshomaru trailed off as Rin leaned down and kissed him gently on the forehead.
"It's no problem." Rin bowed her head quickly.
You'll never realize how much you've done for me.
* * *
"It's like we're breaking in...to your pool." Kouga laughed at Kagura who leaped the fence to the backyard.
"I forgot my keys inside and I think Kikyo's asleep." Kagura called over the fence. "Come on." Kouga hurriedly went over the fence to where he was greeted by a huge pool and hot tub. To his left looked like some small house, maybe it was a guest cottage, and then a cabana where an obvious bar set-up was.
"I don't have any swimming stuff with me." Kouga reminded her.
"Go look around in there." Kagura gestured at the small house. "That's where the changing rooms are, there's separate ones for girls and boys. I'm sure some of my dad's shorts will fit you."
"Those are your changing rooms?" Kouga blinked. He went inside them and quickly found a pair of shorts, thinking about how it was getting to be sort of cold outside and the pool might not be at it's warmest...He left the changing room wearing a pair of blue shorts. Kagura came out of the girls' entrance a second later.
His eyes widened as they locked on her scarlet bikini. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail as usual. Her slim body, long legs, and rather (in Kouga's opinion) impressive bust, were even more apparent then ever.
"Pool time!" Kagura exclaimed before starting toward the pool.
"It's a little cold..." Kouga hesitated.
"Where's your sense of adventure?" Kagura hit him in the arm. She ran towards the pool and dove in. When she surfaced again, she looked expectantly at him.
"You asked for it." Kouga grinned before cannon-balling into the pool and splashing Kagura. She shrieked and pretended to be mad but she was laughing.
"Brrr...it is cold." Kagura shivered a little when Kouga re-surfaced. "Race ya' to the hot tub!"
"You're on!" Kouga and her started swimming towards the other end of the pool where the hot tub was. They stayed tied until they both got out of the pool and began running for the hot tub. Unfortunately, Kagura stumbled and grabbed Kouga to stop from falling.
Kouga was thrown off balance and they both fell to the ground, rolling a couple of times before stopping, Kagura underneath Kouga.
Their eyes locked as they tried to catch their breaths. Kagura felt for a moment, her heart skip a beat, the air caught in her lungs, and she was very aware of Kouga's body pressed against hers. She felt blood go to her face, her cheeks warm slightly against the cold air. The two didn't move for several moments, not saying anything.
Then finally, Kagura slowly came back to reality.
"Uh...better get to that hot tub, it's cold." Kagura somehow felt as though that sounded idiotic.
"Yeah." Kouga agreed but the two didn't move.
"Er, you want something to drink?" Kagura asked.
"Yeah." Kouga blinked and then started to get up. "Sorry, I guess I sort of..."
"Spaced out." Kagura finished. "Me too." The two got some alcohol out of the bar and then got into the hot tub. Kagura wasn't sure what that had been she had felt for a second.
Kikyo watched the two with a sad expression out the window of her bedroom.
* * *
Um, that's all. For now anyways. I'm serious. Um, yeah, if you thought things were a bit complicated before...just wait, it gets worse. A LOT worse. The relationship chart is worse then Yura's hair. Sadly...no Shippo in this story. Yeah. I couldn't think of a good way to put him in THIS story. Plus...I don't think Shippo could deal with the coming plot developments. I rated this story R because of future stuff that's gonna happen and last time I deemed a story wasn't quite R, it got deleted. (I'm not bitter, I swear.)
Some random notes:
Kagura is singing "Hungry Like The Wolf" by Duran Duran in that one scene. This is because every time I heard that song I thought of this story and had to put it in somewhere. Although, at first I was tempted to have Kouga sing it. ~_^.
I realize there's a lot of American stuff in here. **Shrugs** No big deal, right?
I cried while writing some of those Inuyasha/Rin scenes at the beginning, it was just too sad.
I have no clue what the Kaze Corporation does. Think of it like the Doumyouji Corporation or something.
I know a lot of stuff is totally unexplained, a lot of pasts need to be clarified, and I swear it's all going to be told soon. Most of it's pretty sad. (Surprise! I mean, this is such a happy story.) I guess I gave enough teasers for some people to guess what happened and what's going to happen. So much foreshadowing. It's probably bad for you guys or something. I'm interested to hear what theories some of you will come up with. ^_^. Plus, sometimes it helps for story ideas. (Not that I don't know what's going to happen or anything. Teresa helped!)
'Kishi-chan', Sesshomaru's nickname is 'knight'. (Remember how I mentioned they played pretend games like that? I think it's a bit sappy but whatever. It's so Rin to nickname people.)
The title, 'Fade Away' comes from the song 'Fade Away' by Seether.
"I wanna be there when
you call
I wanna catch you when you fall
I wanna be the one you need
I wanna be the one you breathe
Today's the day we'll fade away, oh
Today's the day we'll fade away, oh
Today's the day we'll find our way grown
Today's the day we'll fade away
I wanna be there when you cry
And when you're down I'll help you fly
I wanna be the one you need
I wanna be the one you breathe
Today's the day we'll fade away, oh
Today's the day we'll fade away, oh
Today's the day we'll find our way grown
Today's the day we'll fade away, oh
But I'm coming back,
and I'm taking back everything I can
It's breaking me up and tearing me up
It's all I have
And I'm coming back,
and I'm taking back everything I can
It's breaking me up and tearing me up
It's all I have."
-I think it really represents everyone in the story.
I hope Kenkaya reviews.
I hope everyone reviews!
I gotta go, I have a chapter of IBIY I swore I would write before I went to bed. Ja ne!