InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Best Man Steals the Bride ❯ Striking A Deal ( Chapter 3 )

I don't own Inuyasha or anything having to do with this show. It is owned by Rumiko Takahashi and others. I also don't own Harry Potter either, it belongs to J.K. Rowling. (Just a book they read, this isn't a crossover.) I make this entire story and all of it's chapters only for entertainment purposes, (and an excuse to avoid my homework:). I make no profit off of this fic.

Chapter Three: Striking a Deal.

Day: Friday

Time: 6:54 A.M.

Place: Ito Hall

Hojo smiled nervously at Kagome as she passed by him and his friends. Kagome just continued to ignore him.

Miroku raised an eyebrow at Inuyasha suspiciously.

Inuyasha frowned. "What's your problem?"

Miroku continued to eye him suspiciously. "You did not utter the word 'bitch' underneath your breath as she passed by."

Inuyasha scoffed. "So?"

"So you always do." Miroku frowned at his friends bafflement.

Hojo glanced at Inuyasha. "She did something yesterday, didn't she?"

Inuyasha ignored his glance. "Sort of."

"She did?" Miroku looked in awe at Inuyasha. "What exactly did she do?"

"Nothin' important." Inuyasha uttered under his breath.

Hojo sighed. "It's never earth-shattering, just something trivial, but nice." He started to walk away from his friends. "That's my Kagome."

Miroku looked back at Inuyasha eagerly.

"Told you, it was nothin'." Inuyasha growled. "Now come on, we'll be late for our stupid first class."

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Time: 4:35 P.M.

Place: Abe Hall/ World Literature Class

Inuyasha looked at his watch as he watched Kagome come into their literature class.

Kagome gave him a strange look. He was sitting net to her usual seat in front. 'Doesn't he usually hide out in the back?'

Inuyasha glanced at her as she sat down. "Yeah. You?"

Kagome looked at him.

"Yeah. I wanted to...ya know. For last night." he replied.

Kagome looked at him a little blank. "Oh. Sure, it was no problem really."

"Yeah well." Inuyasha stretched in his desk. "I still owe you a jacket."

Kagome shrugged it off. "It's really nothing. It was getting old anyway."

Inuyasha knew she was lying about the first part. She wore that jacket he ruined practically every day at lunchtime.

Ten minutes later, the literature teacher Dr. Salmon dropped in. Five minutes late, as usual.

Dr. Salmon erased the writing on the board that the previous teacher left up. "Alright, and how is everyone today?"

No one answered, as per the usual.

The teacher lifted his eyebrow at Inuyasha. "Well Mr. Kikuchi A-"

"Inuyasha." Inuyasha growled correcting him.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot again. Inuyasha." the teacher corrected himself as he brought out his books. "It's nice to see you in the front for a change. Perhaps, we should start with you to get the ball rolling today."

Inuyasha grimaced. 'Tch. Great. Shoulda known'.

"What was your impression of Achebe's Things Fall Apart?" Dr. Salmon smiled.

'Great. Like I've even started that book.' Inuyasha grumbled to himself. "...it was okay."

"That's good. I'm glad you enjoyed it." the teacher replied. "What part seemed to reach out to you the most?"

Inuyasha stopped to think. 'Crap. What were they chatting about in the beginning of the class?' "The end?"

Dr. Salmon raised his eyebrows. "Fascinating. You actually enjoyed when Okonkwo died in the end? That's very interesting, most people didn't like it."

'Great.' Inuyasha grumbled to himself. 'Did I just mess up?'

Kagome raised her hand. Inuyasha was actually being nice to her for once. She just had to get the poor spotlight off of him.

"Yes Kagome?" the teacher smiled.

"I was wondering..." Kagome tapped her pencil on the desk. "...could we discuss how the women were treated in this book?"

Inuyasha looked back at her. 'Did she just take the heat off of me?'

The rest of the period continued with discussion around the book. But right before the ending, the teacher addressed something new to the class. "Alright, now next time we meet you should begin 'The Good Earth'. Try to read up to at least page 40."

Inuyasha groaned and rolled his eyes. 'All this class is about is reading. Reading, reading, reading.'

"In addition to this." the teacher went on. "We need to start to discuss your discussion papers."

The whole class joined Inuyasha and Kagome in a huge groan.

"I want you to read a book, or a series of books of around 1500 pages." the teacher announced.

Everyone groaned again.

"Now, I will assign partners. You will both read the same material, but give in two separate papers." the teacher finished.

Inuyasha sighed. Great. More reading. Like he didn't have a life?!

As the teacher was finishing up choosing partners, he looked at Inuyasha and Kagome. "And I think you two will do fine together."

Kagome and Inuyasha both glanced at each other.

Dr. Salmon just smiled as he started to pack up his own things. "As soon as you choose your book or series, then I want you to tell me as soon as possible. No two groups will do the same thing. And if you take too long, then I will assign you a book."

As the teacher left, everyone else started to pack up.

Kagome looked over at Inuyasha wearily.

"What?" Inuyasha grumbled.

"What did you want to do?" Kagome asked as she finished putting her book away.

Inuyasha shrugged his shoulders. "How about nothin'?"

Kagome frowned. He was joking, right? "This isn't an ordinary paper Kikuchi. It's worth 50 percent of our grade for this class."

Inuyasha choked. "50?!"

Kagome frowned. "Didn't you read the syllabus?"

Inuyasha just groaned. 'Awww crap!'

"Come on, this is a good thing, not a bad thing." Kagome replied. "I know you probably haven't done so well on the pop quizzes we've had so far. If we do a good job, it'll help raise your grade."

"Feh." Inuyasha frowned. "You just don't want me to stick you with all the work."

Kagome smirked back at him. "Can't. You have to write your own paper, remember? And I really don't think my writing voice could ever be like yours."

"Huh? What writing voice?" Inuyasha asked confused.

Kagome sighed. Didn't he ever listen in class? "Writing voice: The way you create your own paper."

"Oh. Yeah, whatever." Inuyasha geniusly replied as he looked at his watch. "Supper time. Outta here."

"Wait a minute." Kagome interrupted as he heaved his bookbag onto his shoulder. "No two groups can do the same books, remember? Unless we want to be stuck with something boring or assigned to us, I think we should figure out what we're going to do."

Inuyasha just groaned. "Fine, whatever. Then let's go to my place and get this over with."

Kagome shook her head no to his suggestion. "Look, I know you are an old friend of Hojo's, but I just don't know you well enough to go to your place." she explained as she put on her bookbag. "How about we go to my dorm instead?"

Inuyasha crossed his arms. "You live in a dinky dorm? What's so great about that?"

Kagome smiled sagely as they started to leave the classroom. "The fact that the dorm is Kadowaki, and any lecherous moves may result in facing tons of women at the same time."

Inuyasha stopped in his tracks. "Kadowaki? You mean, the only all-girl dorm on campus where guys can't come in?"

"Oh, guys can come in but they each need a female escort." Kagome pointed out.

Inuyasha started to walk along with her again. 'Kadowaki. Shit, Miroku's wanted to get in that place since before he even first enrolled here. Huh. Wonder what it's really like?' "Alright, but I say we call for Pizza when we get there."

"Pizza?"

"Yeah. We'll split the cost 50/50." Inuyasha added.

Kagome sighed and then laughed.

Inuyasha looked at her like she had just gone crazy. "What the hell's so funny?"

Kagome shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing. You're just nicer to be around when you're not calling me 'bitch'."

"Feh. Yeah, well don't let it go to your head." Inuyasha frowned. "I'm only doing this so I pass this stupid class." He shared a small peak at her. 'And if she thinks I'm not using this to Hojo's advantage, she's got another thing coming.'

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Time: 5:40 P.M.

Place: Miroku's dorm.

Miroku looked out the window, watching the lovely ladies leaving to and from the place of his dreams. Kadowaki. Mmmmm...

Hojo sighed. Coming to visit Miroku at his dorm was pointless sometimes. "Miroku? Are you listening?"

"Mhm." He replied as he watched two young women in nicely fitting jeans enter the building. 'Binoculars are a wonderful invention.'

Hojo frowned. "Miroku. Your computer's on fire."

"Mhm." Miroku said again as another two...wait...

'Long white hair? Amber eyes? Inuyasha?!' He peaked through his binoculars again. 'And he is walking in with who?!' He watched all the dimensions, trying to guess who, but gave up and looked at her face. 'Hojo's girl?!'

"Miroku? What are you looking at that is so interesting?" Hojo sighed as he started to walk over toward the window.

"Nothing!" Miroku cheefully shouted/smiled suspiciously as he quickly dropped the curtains. "Nothing at all. Now, what were you saying about my computer?"

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Time: 5:42 P.M.

Place: Kadowaki/Outside Kagome's Dorm room.

Inuyasha waited impatiently as Kagome fumbled for her keys.

"Kagome?!"

Kagome looked up from her door to across the hall. "Oh, hi Eri. How were your classes today?"

Eri ughed. "Okay so far, but I still have a night class." She looked over suspiciously at Inuyasha.

"He's my partner for literature." Kagome explained as she unlocked the door and opened it.

Inuyasha looked around as he followed Kagome into the small living area. On the north wall, where the door was, she had her telephone and a stand. On the bottom of the stand there was a dvd/vcr. On the top of the stand there was a refrigerator that held a small 13" T.V. on top of it. On the east wall she had a bulletin board with some anime posters on it, plus shelves that displayed some of her books. On the south wall there was a huge window with a small windowseal that had her girly bathtime stuff. Beneath that was her AC. Then, on the west wall, she had her cupboards, drawers, 2 closets and a place to put her computer, printer, microwave, and small knick knacks that cluttered everything up.

The only thing that was big about her dorm were her two couches she had put together to create a bed.

Inuyasha groaned. He had had the grand tour within 5 seconds of stepping foot into her dorm. "I was right. This place is so puny, I bet you couldn't get five people in here."

Kagome gave him a suspicious smile. "Not true." She looked over at the phone. "Would you call for the pizza while I put my stuff away?"

"Yeah, yeah." Inuyasha muttered as he dropped his stuff next to her small T.V. set and picked up her non-cordless out-of-date phone. He wasn't gonna waste his money on this call.

After Kagome shoved her stuff into her left closet, she shut the door and looked at Inuyasha.

"45." Inuyasha simply said as he sat on her bed.

"As always." Kagome replied as she sat on the bed next to him. "So, is there a series you'd like to do?"

"Nope." Inuyasha answered.

Kagome continued to stare at him. "Anything at all?"

"Hmmm...well..." Inuyasha looked over at Kagome. "No."

Kagome frowned at him. "You aren't helping very much."

"So sue me." Inuyasha smirked.

Kagome crossed her arms. "Well, if you think I'm choosing something, without your input, then you are an idiot."

Inuyasha laughed it off. "That the best you can do?"

Kagome humphed. "This isn't a contest. Now, any ideas? What's the last book you can remember really liking?"

Inuyasha scratched his head. "With 1500 pages? Oh, this is gonna be awhile..."

Time: 6:28

Inuyasha and Kagome were both sitting cross-legged on her bed eating the pizza that finally arrived.

"Why can't I write a paper over pizza? It'd be easier." Inuyasha grumbled.

Kagome frowned at him as she took another slice. "I don't know. Probably for the same reason I can't write a paper about how a certain someone managed to make me pay for hot wings!"

Inuyasha just smiled egotistically. "I said I'd go 50/50 on the pizza. Never said I'd pitch in on the hot wings."

"No one told you to order them." Kagome growled as she took a bite out of her slice.

"Feh. My stomach did." Inuyasha replied truthfully. "Besides, it's not my fault you weren't listening when you shoved all your crap in your closet."

"Ooohhh..." Kagome steamed. "I don't see how Hojo could've ever become friends with you!"

Inuyasha bit into his hot wing as he replied. "Then maybe you didn't ever know Racoon." Inuyasha quickly took the hot wing out of his mouth as he realized what he had just said. 'Dammit! This is supposed to be helping Racoon, not hurting him more!'

Kagome sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right. Maybe I did never really know him."

Inuyasha moaned. Great. How would he get Racoon's butt out of the fire now? "No, I'm not. Racoon's a good guy, just go back to him already."

Kagome chuckled at him as if he said something funny as she shook her head no and took another bite of her pizza.

'Dangit, she didn't even take me seriously?' Inuyasha said to himself. "You are making the guy miserable. He doesn't even act like himself any more."

Kagome shrugged her shoulders. "It's not my fault. I don't control him."

Inuyasha groaned. Wasn't coming out here tonight gonna be worth it at all? "Can you at least become friends with the guy again?"

Kagome didn't reply as she reached for a hot wing.

"Alright, alright." Inuyasha said a little gruffy. "If we promise to stop messing with you?"

Kagome looked at him strangely. "Speaking of which, what did you guys do to Zenko and Robun?"

Inuyasha laughed. He looked back at Kagome, but realized what he had to say probably wouldn't put Hojo in any kind of good spotlight either. "Nothing life threatening-let's make a deal."

Kagome looked at him oddly. "A deal?"

"Yeah. If you physically start becoming Hojo's friend again..." Inuyasha grinned. "...then I'll actually work hard for this paper."

Kagome looked at him. To take or to not take the bait? "Will you really stop messing with me? And my friends?"

"Yep." Inuyasha chimed. 'Got her.'

Kagome glanced at him suspiciously. "You will actually work really hard? No matter what we decide on?"

Inuyasha gave a moment of silence to think. 'Wait. Do I got her or does she got me?' He stopped to think of the forlorn expresssion that his friend always wears. 'Dammit, that guy owes me big.' "Yeah."

Kagome sighed. "Fine. If he apologizes to me, in person, then I will become friends again. But only on 2 conditions: One, You keep up your end of the deal and Two, after this paper is done that friendship's over again. Agreed?"

"Yeah, sure." Inuyasha replied as he took the last hot wing. "But you have to ACTUALLY be friends with him. Not just in name cutey."

Kagome frowned as she put the pizza box on the floor. "For your information, I prefer to be called Kagome, not cutey."

"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure." was his heartfelt answer.

Kagome ignored him. If she wanted to get this paper done right, then she'd have to learn how to deal with this...guy. "Now, back to the subject."

"Subject?" Inuyasha said roughly. "Not back to the hot wings again!"

Kagome tried to control her temper. 'Think happy thoughts.' "No, back to choosing books."

Inuyasha threw the remains of the last hot wing on the floor into the pizza box then laid back on her bed. "I don't know any books." He was about to tell her to decide already, but took more notice of the brightly colored books she held on display on her shelves. "What about those?"

Kagome looked strangely at him. Now, what was he thinking? "What about what?"

Inuyasha pointed to the books he was looking at. "Those books with all the bright colors."

Kagome looked at what he was pointing at. Her finely displayed Harry Potter collection on the shelves. "That's my collection."

Inuyasha put his hand back down and placed it behind his head. "Hell baby, why not just read those?"

Kagome looked at Inuyasha. Great, now she was a baby? 'Temper, temper.' "I don't know. Those are very popular books. Real popular, I don't know if our teacher will let us use them."

Inuyasha shrugged it off. "Just a thought."

Kagome looked over at her phone. 'Well, it's not past 10:00. I guess I could call.'

Inuyasha watched as Kagome strolled over to her phone and started dialing. "Who are you calling?"

Kagome was about to answer him when the other person picked up.

Yes?

"Hello? Mr. Salmon? It's Kagome, from your literature class." Kagome spoke through the phone.

Inuyasha froze. 'No way. Did that broad just phone the teacher?!'

Oh yes! Mr. Salmon answered back. Of course, nice to hear from you. Have you decided upon your topic?

Kagome sighed. Could she actually ask him this? "Semi decided Mr. Salmon. Could we...use J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Collection?"

(Silence. Voice clearing.) Have you read them before?

Kagome frowned. This was probably not going to work. "Yes, but my partner hasn't."

"Hasn't what?" Interrupted Inuyasha as he started to wander around her little room and play with her knicknacks. Currently, he was annoyingly playing with her balancing balls.

Kagome tried to ignore him as her teacher continued.

Who was your partner?

Kagome frowned. "Mr. Kikuchi? Could you please stop doing that?" she asked as she started to get fed up with the noise of the balls clacking each other. "Kikuchi Inuyasha's my partner, sir."

"Stop calling me that, it's driving me crazy. My name's Inuyasha." Inuyasha grouched at her as he gave one of the balls one more clank.

Kagome waited patiently for the answer. 'It'll be a no, I know it.'

Has he seen any of the movies?

Kagome looked over at Inuyasha who sat back down on her bed. "Kikuchi, have you seen any of the Harry Potter Movies?"

"I've already told ya, call me Inuyasha." Inuyasha repeated stubbornly.

"Inuyasha." Kagome gritted through her teeth. "Have you seen any Harry Potter movies?"

"We're they rated R?" Inuyasha asked as he crossed her arms. "I still can't believe you called a teacher."

Kagome sighed. "No sir." she replied to her teacher.

(Silence. Indecisive sighing.) Alright Kagome, this is what I'm going to do. Normally, I'm not this lenient. Those are very popular books and pretty simple to read. But, since your partner is Inuyasha...

Kagome stayed silent. Yeah, she knew what the teacher was talking about.

...I will. But- he added. I want a full one page summary for each book along with the discussion paper. And I want ALL five of the books that are out now, read.

Kagome looked over at Inuyasha who decided to stroll back over to her balancing balls. 'Well, he did say he would work real hard.' "Inuyasha, he says okay."

Inuyasha just grunted a good as he continued playing.

Alright then, I will just write your choice down then...(Light scribbling) Alright then. Don't forget to read THE GOOD EARTH for Monday.

"Yes, I won't. Thank you so much for your time sir. Goodbye." Kagome said courteously as she hung up the phone. She cleared her throat lightly. "Mr. Inuyasha?"

"Not Mr., Inuyasha." Inuyasha corrected her as he looked over at her.

Kagome smiled nervously and pointed to her Harry Potter books being displayed. "You see all those books?"

Inuyasha turned around and looked at them. "Yeah."

"Well, we have to read all of them." Kagome answered.

Inuyasha looked at her in disbelief for a second before he jumped onto her bed, pulled a book down and started to flip through it. "All of these?! Shit, we only needed 1500 pages! This'll be...a whole lot more!"

Kagome shrugged her shoulders. "Don't forget our deal."

Inuyasha frowned at her. "What deal?"

Kagome frowned back at him. "That if I became Hojo's friend again, you'd actually work hard on this paper. Remember?"

Inuyasha grumbled. What he did for his friend. 'Dammit Racoon! He owes me really big this time!'

"Don't worry." Kagome smiled. "I'm going to reread them all over too, since we need to each write a full page summary for each book."

"What?!" Inuyasha looked at Kagome. "A full page summary for each one?! Damn. Is there anything ELSE he added to torture me?"

'The teacher's not torturing him.' Kagome frowned. 'If anything, he's being very nice to let us use them.' "No. That's it."

Inuyasha looked at the ground angrily. 'Reading five gigantic books in one freaking semester.' he growled to himself.

Kagome looked at the sour expression on his face and relented. "Okay, look. If you want, we can take turns reading to each other until you get into the story. Would you like to do that?"

Inuyasha grabbed his stuff. "Fine then Kaggy. Let's do that. But don't forget your end of the deal."

Kagome frowned deeply at him. 'Kaggy?!' "I won't." she glared at him.

Inuyasha opened the door to leave. "And it starts tomorrow."

Kagome looked back at him. "Tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Inuyasha smirked as he started to leave. "Volleyball game at 8:00."

Kagome raised her eyebrow at him as she watched him leave down the hallway. "Volleyball?" she shouted at him as she quickly locked her door and caught back up with him.

"Yeah. Section 6, row 8." Inuyasha said as he started to get on the elevator.

"Why?" Kagome asked as she got in the elevator and pushed 1.

"You'll find out." Inuyasha finally answered as the elevator stopped and he started to walk out.

Kagome groaned as she pushed 5. Just what was he planning?