-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-
Kagome stopped short on the porch and leaned forward, ear cocked slightly.
"—No! I did not—" came an angry voice, slightly muffled.
"I really don't see why you're making a big deal about thi—" someone started, voice just as muffled.
"Because you're blaming me for something I didn't do!" the angry voice—Kyo, she could now tell it was him—retorted.
"I didn't do anything," the other person—most likely Yuki—coolly and calmly replied. "And I never blamed you of doing anythin—"
"Yes, you did!" Kyo spat.
"Um, Kyo," a gentle voice interrupted.
There was a short silence and Kagome could almost picture Kyo whirling to face her. The miko's hands balled when she remembered people did rash things in moments of intense rage. If Kyo did anything to hurt Tohru in his current state of mind, he was going to pay . . .
She was surprised when she heard him speak. "Tohru," he said softly, tone gentle.
"I—um—hope it's not a bother—I know I should have told you sooner, and I was going to, but . . ."
"Just spit it out," Kyo prodded, confused as to what she was talking about.
"I-invited-someone-over-is-that-too-much-trouble-because-I-know-should-have-told-you-but-I-didn't-think—" Tohru blurted, words jumbling out one after another, sounding like one huge, giant, monster-of-a-word.
It was Yuki who interrupted her. "That'll be fine," he warmly assured her. "So long as we're careful not to let it slip, which means no close contact with us."
'What?' Kagome wondered, thoroughly confused as to what they were talking about.
"Oh, good," she sighed, sounding greatly relieved. "I know Kagome-chan won't be a bother and I can keep her from finding out about—"
"Wait," Kyo abruptly cut in. "This guest of yours is Kagome? Kagome Higurashi?"
Momentarily, Kagome wasn't sure if she should be complimented that he sounded slightly excited or insulted that he also sounded alarmed and not all for the idea.
"Yeah, Kagome-chan's coming over soon—Kyo, do you know Kagome-chan?"
"Of course I know her, you introduced us," Kyo replied testily. "And then I bumped into her in the hall—and—why are you asking?"
Yuki was the next to comment, and from his tone, Kagome guessed that the words merely slipped out; they couldn't be contained no matter how much Yuki might've fought with himself to keep his thoughts to himself. "Kyo—are you—" there was a pause and Kagome thought Yuki must've stopped to try and stifle a small laugh. "Are you blushing?" he finally finished. "There's to be embarrassed about."
"Kyo?" Tohru chimed in, curiosity laced in her tone. "Do you have a fever? You do look a little pink—"
"Red, more like," Yuki commented.
"—is there anything wrong—?" Tohru continued.
"There is nothing wrong!" Kyo thundered. "And I am not blushing. The heat is awful, is all."
"In an air-conditioned room," came the calm even-toned retort from Yuki.
"It's not—I just—She's just—I—I'm going to bed! And I don't want anyone to interrupt me!" he snapped, his voice getting fainter and fainter as he most likely traveled in the direction of his room.
There was a silence and Kagome imagined Tohru and Yuki staring after him as he disappeared. She heard a loud slam! and knew Kyo had reached his destination. The silence inside continued.
It was then that Kagome decided to make an entrance. She stepped up to the door and knocked lightly. There was a two second pause as Tohru and Yuki most likely whipped their heads in the direction of the door.
"Oh!" Tohru happily exclaimed. "That must be Kagome-chan now."
Kagome heard the ecstatic girl advance towards the door and open it. Kagome smiled when she saw Tohru's grinning face. "Hey," she greeted.
"Kagome-chan! Please, come in," Tohru latched on to her hand and gently yanked her inside, closing the door with her foot when the miko was through. "Kagome-chan, I already introduced you to Yuki-kun, but in case you forgot who he was, this is Yuki-kun," Tohru told her, gesturing to the silver-haired boy on the couch inside.
"Hey, Sohma-san," Kagome greeted.
"Higurashi-sa—"
"No," Kagome firmly interrupted, causing Yuki to give her a bewildered look. "It's not Higurashi. It's Kagome. First names were made to be used."
Yuki gave her an amused sort of half-smile. "Then you can call me Yuki—"
"No," Kagome interrupted firmly again. Yuki gave her another look. "I'll call you Sohma-kun. That's the best I'll do." There was no one who ever said she was good with boys and comfortable about them . . .
Yuki blinked at her, thoroughly confused, before shaking his head. "Whatever floats your boat," he replied slowly.
"Okay," she easily agreed before whirling to face Tohru. "I have my copy of Falling In. Are you ready to start?"
Tohru nodded. "Let me just check in on dinner and then I'll be right with you. Just stay here a sec, okay?"
Kagome shrugged easily. "Sure."
Tohru left the room and Kagome stood with her book clutched in her hand. She was feeling rather awkward when she heard Yuki speak. "You can sit down, Kagome-san."
She whirled and her cheeks pinkened as she remembered he was there and most likely staring at her. "Oh, um . . . Sure," she replied, not wanting to appear rude. She made her way over to the larger couch and sat on the very edge opposite the silvery-haired boy. She crossed her legs and stared at her calves for a second before she felt a slight shift in the cushion beneath her.
Kagome's bottom lip nearly trembled as she turned to see Yuki, hand bracing his weight on the cushion, leaning towards her with curiosity. "Kagome . . . Are you sure you're alright? You seem flush—"
"I'm fine," Kagome instantly replied, cutting him off and nearly leaping back three feet, almost off the couch. "I just—I just—I merely—" 'I can't stand being so close to guys!' "I—"
"Alright!" came a bright and cheery voice as the person came out of the kitchen. "We have some time before dinner, so we should be able to get a lot ofwork done . . . before . . . we . . . eat," Tohru finished, the last three words slowly fading as she stared in confusion at the two on the couch who were in what could be taken as a suggestive pose—with Yuki leaning towards Kagome and Kagome a dark red. But, Tohru being Tohru, she came to another conclusion. "Erm . . . Yuki-kun. Please . . . please forgive me if I'm wrong, but . . . are you harassing Kagome-chan?" Tohru's eyes were wide with surprise beyond her wildest dreams. Yuki-kun . . . Yuki-kun, the one who never showed a sign of interest in anybody, was suddenly harassing her new friend?
Did he have a fever?
Yuki, in response, turned to a shade that threatened Kagome's. "N—No!" he automatically denied. "I was just worried about her! She looks a little sick—like you do when you overexert yourself."
In response, Tohru gave a small sigh of relief then smiled. "That makes more sense. But Kagome-chan . . . You know, I think Yuki-kun might be right . . . You look a light red."
"Eh-heh-heh . . . Yeah, I bet I do! It's fine! I just—erm—am a little hot. It's a little toasty down here from all the cooking. So do you mind if we go upstairs?" The awkward situation did not bode well at all with the miko. She eagerly jumped up from the couch and stood by Tohru, shifting her weight from one foot to the other while nervously playing with her notebook.
"Oh, sure, Kagome-chan, we can go to my room," Tohru told her, smiling reassuringly. "This way," she said aloud, taking Kagome's hand and pulling her along. She was led up the stairs and partway down one of the halls. "Here it is," Tohru finally announced, pushing the door open.
"Oh, it's nice!" Kagome complimented as she walked in. "I like it—it's homey! But . . . Tohru . . . You don't have anything on your walls. Usually people would hang posters or something. Why don't you have anything like that?"
Tohru shook her head, smiling gently. "No. Oh, we better start!" The optimistic girl sat on her bed and patted the mattress next to her. "We'll have to get started right away."
Kagome frowned. 'No' wasn't an answer to her question. After a few seconds, however, she shrugged it off and joined Tohru.
"Okay, so you have the book?"
"Mm-hmm!"
"And I have the notepad, so here we go!" Kagome paused for a concentrated sigh. "Alright! We left off right after chapter eight."
Tohru nodded and flipped the book open, a serious expression on her face.
-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-
Kagome cocked her head as she looked down at the book. They had managed to translate another chapter and a half and had paused to gloat over themselves. "Fantastic!" Kagome finally exclaimed, looking up to beam at Tohru.
Tohru nodded, the smallest hint of a blush tingeing her cheeks at the compliment. "Kagome-chan is too kind! You were the one who translated most of it!"
Kagome shook her head. "You know that's not true. Tohru, you did a lot of work, too." Seeing that Tohru was ready to protest further, Kagome suddenly broke in. "Ah! Excuse me, Tohru-chan, I'm really thirsty. So you mind if I get a drink?"
"Oh!" The other jumped to her feet. "I'm so sorry, Kagome-chan. I've been so rude to you—"
Kagome nearly laughed. "Nonsense," she chided, also standing up and pushing the other girl back down. "I am perfectly capable of doing it myself." By this time, the miko was near the door. "This is . . . If you don't mind me helping myself when I'm at your house? I'm probably the one seeming rude."
Tohru vigorously shook her head. "No! Feel free to help yourself."
Kagome nodded and left. About four or five steps out of the room, she stopped suddenly and turned. "Oh, do you also want something?" she called back to Tohru.
"Do you . . . mind getting me something? Whatever you pick up is fine." The answer was slightly muffled from the fact that they were in separate rooms.
"Sure!" she called, her tone making it obvious she didn't mind at all.
With that, Kagome made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen to explore for something to drink. She opened the fridge and found some sodas. She grabbed one for herself and then hesitated. There were three different kinds . . . While Tohru said she didn't mind what she was given, Kagome didn't want to grab something Tohru didn't like. The poor girl would drink it so she wouldn't make the miko feel bad or guilty, regardless of her like or dislike of it.
After hesitating a second longer, she decided to grab one of the other flavors and decided to let Tohru pick the one she wanted, that way, it was a win-win situation.
Loaded with the goods, Kagome climbed back up the stairs. She was walking down the hallway when one of the doors opened and a yawning Kyo came out. And it was then that Kagome once again collided into him. They crashed to the ground and the moment the miko's knees made impact with the floor, she fell forward. She winced and moaned. Kyo moaned, too. Kagome went to apologize—for crashing into him yet again—when she realized that the moan had come from beneath her and that she was laying on something warm and soft—skin.. Blinking, she looked down only to see that she was sitting on his stomach. She squeaked and jumped to her feet. "I'm—I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, turning a deep red. "So, so, so, so sorry!"
She helped him up. "S'okay," he mumbled as Kagome picked up the sodas—which hadn't gone flying, but had merely rolled out of her hands, meaning they wouldn't explode, much to her relief, and would save her another trip downstairs to the fridge. Kyo was looking at his hands in curiosity.
"Uh . . . What are you—?"
"Nothing," Kyo interrupted, quickly looking up at her.
"Okay then," she muttered in reply before turning and continuing to Tohru's room. "Sorry again," she called over her shoulder, her cheeks still slightly pink.
She had barely closed the door before there was a poof! and Kyo suddenly found himself much shorter and on all fours. He blinked before looking at himself. He had transformed . . . Of course he had transformed. Kagome was a girl and had been sitting on him. But then . . . Kyo shook his head in wonderment as he pulled hic clothes towards him.
Why hadn't he transformed right away?
-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-
Kagome, though she really didn't want to admit it, was bored senseless. Her mind begged to do something else. Conjugating hadn't been what she had wanted to do all night.
'You hypocrite. You very willingly said you would work on this,' a voice mentally chided her.
'I didn't know it was going to be this hard, though!' she complained grumpily.
"Kagome-chan?" Tohru murmured, interrupting her thoughts. "Um . . . Are you okay?"
"Oh, I'm fine!" the other assured immediately, purely from impulse. It had become an automatic reply whenever anyone asked anything like that.
"Are you sure? You look a little . . . Well, out of it." Tohru paused when Kagome didn't answer before suddenly jumping up, horrified. "Oh, my gosh! Dinner!" And with that, she dashed out of the room. Kagome blinked before allowing her shoulders to relax in a slump. It was quite tiresome to have to hold the same pose for long lengths of time, especially when all she wanted to do was sit back and sleep or something . . .
Kagome must have dozed off because the next thing she knew, Tohru was crying, "Kagome-chan! Dinner's ready!" and the said miko was jerking out of a small period of nothingness.
She jumped to her feet, a little embarrassed and ashamed she hadn't asked Tohru if she could help set dinner since she was as guest. Somehow, she felt she had to earn her food.
Kagome blinked and shook her head as she traveled through the hall to the staircase. The feeling had to be from her adventures in the Feudal Era. Inuyasha was always telling her that he only kept her around so she could detect the jewel shards. And while Kagome could sense that this was merely a cover-up for the fact that he had become a total softie, the feeling that she somehow needed to 'earn her keep' remained.
And then, quite suddenly, Kagome froze, halfway through to the dining area door.
Tohru, who was bustling around the table as she put down cups of tea for the Sohmas—there were three Kagome subconsciously noted—paused in her work as she gave Kagome a curious stare. "Kagome-chan, is there something wrong?"
There was something wrong. In fact, there was a huge problem that currently flooded her mind. 'I forgot to apologize to Inuyasha . . .' In fact, she had momentarily forgot about Inuyasha, the feudal Era, Shippo, Sango, Miroku, the Jewel shards—All thoughts stopped abruptly as Kagome realized she had forgotten the Jewel shards. While the realization itself wasn't bad, it meant that if she had forgotten the shards, and she hadn't come into contact with them for a while, meaning they hadn't been in her hands for an amount of time. That was bad. Automatically, her hand flew up to her chest, where she had put the Jewel originally, suspended from a chain.
Her hand made contact with her flesh.
Immediately her eyes widened in horror. Tohru noticed this, as did the Sohmas, and they all openly gawked at her. "Um," Tohru finally stuttered, trying to break the silence. "Eh? Is there something wrong with Kagome-chan?"
Kagome didn't trust her voice momentarily, afraid it would crack or something, so she mutely nodded, mouth forming a small 'o' in shock.
Tohru immediately worried. "What's wrong Kagome-chan?" She looked panicked as she dropped the tea pot she had been carrying on the table—the liquid inside spilling—and ran over to the miko. "Are you hurt? I thought you looked a little out of it earlier. What's wrong? Can I help?"
Kagome blinked and gave a small sigh. "I—I lost it . . ." she finally murmured after a pause.
Tohru, in reply, blinked in confusion. "Lost what?" she asked, genuinely curious.
"The—" Kagome stopped herself as she realized that she could not tell Tohru about the
Shikon no Tama, obviously. Instead, she danced around the problem by replying, "My necklace."
Tohru cocked her head. "And this necklace means a lot to you, Kagome-chan?"
The miko mutely nodded again.
Tohru beamed. "Then I'll help you find it!" she chirped happily.
"I don't think you understand—" Kagome started.
"Now, where did you have it last?" Tohru mused, not hearing her. "Well, since you don't know where it is, I suppose you're not sure . . ." Tohru's face became her 'serious' face—scrunched eyebrows, set eyes, clenched hand, and determined mind.
Deciding not to break the girl's 'happiness,' Kagome weakly replied, "I suppose it's possible that I dropped it in your room . . ."
Tohru gasped. "Yes!" she exclaimed happily. "I'll go check for you. Meanwhile, please feel free to sit down and eat. I don't want to keep you guys waiting."
Kagome gave the smallest of nods as the optimistic girl rushed up the stairs. She then slowly turned around, knowing full well it was going to be awkward as hell when she did so since she would most likely make eye contact with one of the Sohmas, but also knowing it would be even worse to just stand there until Tohru returned. She slowly let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding when she saw that not one of the three Sohmas were looking at her, but instead off doing their own thing. Yuki held his chin in his palm as he stared off into space, Kyo was glaring at the wall across from him, and the other, older Sohma was leaning back on his hands, staring at nothing while humming something softly and bobbing his head slightly to its beat, a dazed grin whispering across is lips.
Kagome stood for a few seconds longer as she looked around curiously. She couldn't help but notice there was a window on one side and peeked through it, idly wondering just how late it had gotten. An early evening darkness was spreading across the sky, making it harder to see the trees that surrounded the house. Through the dim light she could almost see the path she had taken to get—
A sudden flash caused her to blink as she jerked slightly. She blinked again twice before cocking her head in puzzlement. She could have sworn she had seen something zip across the window . . . She could also have sworn it wasn't an animal, either . . .
"Kagome-chan," a voice suddenly interrupted her. The miko blinked out of her thoughts before turning to Tohru. "I'm sorry." The other girl's tone was laced with misery. "I couldn't find anything that fit your description. I looked all through my bed and under it and all over the floor and everything, but . . ." she let off and her eyes flicked to the ground. "Sorry," she repeated.
Kagome gave a small smile. "Aw, don't worry about it, Tohru," she replied easily. "It's not like it was . . . that important to me." The lie came easily.
A small spark of hope ignited in the other girl's eye. "Really?" she murmured.
Kagome nodded in affirmation. "Yeah, I suppose I could . . ." 'Go to the Feudal Age, get Midoriko to forge another, and then shatter it again?' ". . . Just buy another one."
Tohru looked at her skeptically. "It probably cost a lot . . ." she murmured. "Sorry I couldn't find it—"
The miko waved her off as she made her way over to the table. "I said don't worry about it. If it had been I that went up there to look, only to also find nothing, the situation wouldn't be any different."
"But I'm sorry you lost it to begin with. I shouldn't have—"
"Oh, wow!" Kagome exclaimed, cutting her off as she took a seat. "This looks great, Tohru!"
And suddenly, the Sohma that Kagome didn't know the name of nodded in agreement. "Doesn't it? Tohru-kun always makes us the best meals. I hope you're ready for a life-changing dinner."
A playful glint danced in the miko's eyes. "I'm not so sure," she replied. "My mother's cooking is unbeatable."
"Nothing can beat Tohru's dinners," he replied smoothly, a lazy grin forming on his face.
Kagome smiled, humored. "I suppose I'll find out if it's as good as you say I a minute, won't I, Mr . . .?" she let off, hoping he would fill her in on his name.
Tohru suddenly gasped as she sat down only to jump up as the epiphany dawned on her. "I haven't introduced the two of you yet, have I? Oh, how rude. Kagome-chan, this is Shigure-san; Shigure-san, Kagome-chan."
Kagome smiled a greeting and murmured, "It's a pleasure," to him.
Shigure, in reply, gave a lazy grin and answered, "Ah, no, Kagome-kun, this pleasure is definitely mine."
The statement resulted in two fists to his head. Both Kyo and Yuki glowered down at him. "Why must you always act so lascivious?" Yuki demanded, a little disgusted at his elder.
"Why am I related to you?" Kyo demanded in turn, nearly twitching at barely suppressed frustration.
"You were acting like a good dog for a while there, I was hoping that maybe you'd lost your perversion . . ." Yuki murmured as he took his seat again as did Kyo.
Kagome merely blinked at the exchange. "Uh . . ." she mumbled incoherently, a little perplexed at the antics of the Sohmas.
Deciding to move the topic along before anything worse happened, Yuki turned to Tohru, smiled, and told her, "Honda-san, dinner is even better than usual."
Tohru's cheeks turned a delicate shade of pink as she beamed cutely at the compliment. "Yuki-kun is too nice," she dismissed quite modestly.
Kagome made an 'ah!' sound as she realized she had not yet tried Tohru's cooking, She placed a small bite in her mouth and chewed delicately, wanting a thorough knowledge of what it tasted like. She made a 'hmmm' noise as she chewed. Once she swallowed, she beamed. "Wow! It is good! I'm jealous, Tohru! If I cooked half this good, I would never hear complaints from—" she abruptly cut herself off and when Tohru gave her a curious look, encouraging her to continue, the miko shoved another bite of the scrumptious meal into her mouth.
The other girl blinked in curiousness, not planning to let the topic go by unfinished. But as soon as Kagome had swallowed again, she blurted out, "So I'm thinking that if we continue at the pace we have set, we'll be able to finish translating that book with plenty of time to go through it again for mistakes. We might even finish early and hand it in for a little bit of extra credit."
Tohru's expression blossomed at the words 'extra credit.' "Really? You think so?" she asked hopefully.
Kagome nodded as she took another bite. "Mm-hmm."
Tohru's laughing face suddenly became somber and serious again. Kagome decided she didn't like the look. It didn't fit the young girl. She was too care-free and optimistic to look so troubled. "Something wrong?" the miko murmured in concern.
"Ah—no. It's just—I—that I . . ." Tohru drifted off as she looked away. "I really am sorry that you lost your necklace."
Kagome blinked in genuine amazement. "You're still thinking about that?" Kagome mused aloud. "I promise that it"—'will'—"won't hurt anything too much, okay? I'm sure that I probably left it at home . . . somewhere." 'Or maybe a demon or something stole it while I was distracted.' She mentally winced at the thought before shooting it down. She did not want pessimistic thoughts at this point.
Tohru looked at the miko with troubled eyes. "I still feel really awful that you—"
"Um . . ." a voice suddenly interrupted. Both Tohru and Kagome turned to face Kyo, who had been the one to stutter.
"Is something the matter, Kyo-kun?" Tohru inquired, looking worried.
"No, but . . . um . . . Kagome, that necklace you lost . . .?"
Kagome nodded in encouragement. "Yes?"
"Well . . . After you—after we—when I—and you . . ." After stuttering for a while, Kyo finally gave a disgusted noise at himself, stopped trying to verbally say it, and instead stood to fish through his left pocket. After several seconds of shuffling, Kyo produced a chain with a small pendant suspended from it.
'Hold the phone . . .' Kagome told herself, her eyes narrowing to make out the pendant. 'That's—' The miko gasped sharply, jumping to her feet. "O—Oh! You found it! Thank you ever-so-much!" She scurried over to the orange-haired teen and accepted the Jewel from him. "Where did you find it?" she asked breathlessly, happy at finding it again. She put the chain around her neck, flipped her hair, and allowed the jewel to slip behind her shirt, hiding it from view.
"Uh . . . after our little accident, I found it mixed in with my clothes—On the floor! I found it on the floor!" he hastily amended in an almost panicked manner.
Kagome cocked her head at him curiously. "Uh, okay. Well, thanks. I owe you a lot. This thing means too much to lose it like that . . ."
Tohru gave her a glare—which wasn't even technically a glare, considering it was Tohru. "I thought Kagome-chan said that the necklace wasn't that important."
"Eh, well, I mean . . . that is . . . um . . . The necklace itself is important to me," she started hesitantly, picking her words very carefully, "because it was given to me by someone very important. I'm sure that I could easily go out and buy another"—'Like bloody hell I could just walk out and buy another!'—"but it's merely the fact that I received this as a gist that makes it important."
There was a small pause as it dawned on Tohru. "Ah, I see. That still makes it important, though, Kagome-chan, and you should've said so."
Kagome gave a nervous smile. "I'm sure that it would've been—"
And then, suddenly, Kagome's eyes swam in darkness. She found herself incredibly light-headed and the miko subconsciously noted that she was falling. She was expecting to hit the ground with a painful impact and was surprised when she landed softly on something comfortable. Several minutes went by and fuzzy voices went in one ear and out the other.
"Kuuugggooo-uhh-mmeee, uuuuh yuuh-oo allr-uuh-iitt?"
"Duuyiid shuheh huuh-yert heeersu-yeeelf?"
"Muu-yake shuuuh-hooore shu-yeees nuu-yuuut bluuu-yeeding."
"Puuu-yuuut yuuh-uuur duuuh-yu-haam cluuu-hooothes buuuy-haaack ooo-yoon."
Her head was swimming with voices that were bouncing off each other, muffling each other and leaving her confused as to what anyone may have been saying.
"Stupid wench."
Kagome gave a small smile. She knew that voice anywhere. " 'M sorry, In'yasha . . . I don't mean 'be stupid . . ." she mumbled.
She felt something warm against her chest as slowly the darkness in her head and eyes faded away and she blinked groggily, her gaze returning. Four faces looked down at her with concern.
She blinked again and groaned.
"Oh, good. She's alive," Shigure noted.
Kyo shot him a withering look. "No shit?" he retorted sarcastically.
Shigure nodded. "No shit," he assured.
Kyo's glower darkened. "Just shut up, baka-inu."
"Inu . . .?" Kagome echoed, still not all up there in the head. "Where's Inu . . . yasha?" she asked curiously. This earned her baffled stares. She blinked and abruptly the fogginess in her mind dissipated, leaving nothing but common sense and realization. She bolted up into a sitting position, looking around wildly. "Wuh—what happened?" she finally inquired no one in particular.
"You collapsed," Kyo informed her easily.
The miko's eyes flicked in his direction before she abruptly looked away, a slight blush on her cheeks. "Um . . ." she squeaked. "Why exactly don't you have a shirt on?"
Kyo paused for a second before looking down at himself. He softly swore. "I know I forgot something," he muttered, looking around for the missing article of clothing. Finding it under the table, he shoved it on unceremoniously. "There," he assured everyone. "Now I'm dressed."
Kagome peeked at him from the corner of her eye and upon seeing he was telling the truth, gave a small sigh of relief. "Oh, good . . . Now, do you mind explaining why you were missing your shirt to begin with?"
"Oh, um, Kyo-kun caught you when you fell," Tohru supplied as though it explained the world.
Kagome nodded. "Okay, thanks, Kyo. I really appreciate it. You probably spared me of a concussion or something. But that doesn't explain why you're suddenly missing a shirt."
"Ah! Uh . . . the impact of you falling against Kyo-kun made his shirt fly off!"
Kagome gave the other girl an incredulous stare. "I don't think that's quite possible—"
"It's true!" Shigure piped in, giving Kyo a mischievous grin. "Upon feeling your luscious skin upon his own, Kyo's body reacted and his clothes grew a mind of their own, starting to remove themselves so he wouldn't be hindered when he—"
Yuki intervened before Shigure could continue—but not before giving him a good whack on the back of the head. "Ah . . . yes," he agreed very reluctantly. "After you fell, you pushed against him, showing his shirt off—"
"And sending it flying!" Tohru finished, beaming brightly—and nervously—at the excuse.
Kagome blinked. "Oh . . . okay . . ." she reluctantly agreed. "Oh!" she exclaimed out of no where, jumping to her feet, grabbing onto Kyo for support as she righted herself. Somehow she missed the horrified look the others were giving her as she continued, "We should finish eating! Tohru, I was completely rude to—" But she never finished her sentence because quite suddenly there was no Kyo under her hands to help her stay steady. There was a poof! and then she was stumbling to gain her balance, grabbing onto the material of Kyo's shirt. What shocked her more than anything was that there was no Kyo attached to it as her arm flung wildly around stopping in front of her as she finally managed to stay on her feet.
There was a long pause as everyone stared at Kagome, who in turn was staring at the shirt in her hand.
". . ."
"Alright," the miko finally uttered. "Now I know that . . . flying shirts seem pretty common in this house, but . . ." she drifted off and waved the shirt slightly. "Where the hell did Kyo go?"
-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-
Votes for Kagome:
Kyo: 118
Inuyasha: 110
Haru: 4 (Sorry, but this won't be, no matter what.)
Akito: 1 (Um, not gonna happen, but I'll put it up, anyway)
Ayame: 18 ( . . .Ooooookay xD)
Yuki: 25 (I'll admit that after a while I was thinking of having Kaggy with 'im and Tohru with Kyo (since they look so cute together), but… I now have a plot that involves the pairing!)
W00t:) I bought volume 18… Loved it, as usual. (Akito's real gender was finally released—yes, I know Akito is female)! In the end, Inuyasha and Kyo were pretty close, eh? Almost tied… Which will it be? xD I ain't sayin'! Actually… If you want to know that bad tell me through a review and I'll consider letting you in on it if enough of you care. D
And gomenasai it took so long for this to be released… I'm actually going to update every story that I am currently working on sometime before Sunday because if you took notice, it's my two year anniversary (and a review for this story was loooong due) today:) Hey! How about you all review as a present? –hopefully- Maybe I'll reach 100 reviews with this chapter…?