InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Clumsy ❯ Mixed Nuts ( Chapter 5 )

Clumsy

Author's Notes: A few things I wish to make note of. It's mentioned it the story perhaps more than once than Inuyasha is two years older than Kagome. Kikyo is the same age -both are 17. Kagome is 15 and in 9th grade. Any mention I make of her schoolwork is based on what my brother is studying right now since he's in 9th grade.

Even though neither will see this I wish to thank my mother and younger brother who were both of invaluable help in planning the future chapters. ^_^

I've described the layout of the studio in this chapter. I borrowed this layout from an actual dance studio I've been to. Except for the upstairs section, this entire floor doesn't exist in the studio I modeled it after.

Lastly, please excuse the last names assigned in this story. For the most part the last names won't be used, but for some people they'll be needed because they aren't in the actual series because of death, etc.

Act Five: Mixed Nuts

The door was pulled open leisurely and a stiffly silent Sesshoumaru met them. He leveled cold gazes on either of them, barely with recognition, but stepped aside to allow Kagome entrance. He cast a taut glance at Miroku.

"Is Inuyasha here?"

He stepped away from the door and disappeared into one of the corridors without a word. Miroku stepped inside after Kagome.

"That guy is not very sociable."

Kagome smiled. "Sometimes he's difficult and it's just easier to go around him. Well, I'll see you later."

She cast him a half wave and began walking in an opposite direction that Sesshoumaru had gone in. She heard him following her after a few footsteps and slowed to allow him to catch up with her.

"Have you ever been here before?"

"Actually, no. I've been here but never in the house before. Inuyasha usually comes to my house,"

At the end of the corridor was the practice room. Standing outside was Sango and another girl she couldn't identify because she was facing her back.

"Hey, I was wondering when you'd show up,"

"I forgot my bag," Kagome sheepishly admitted.

"Why'd you bring him?" Sango asked somewhat sharply.

She was set to reply when Miroku interrupted. "I'm wounded by your words!"

He clutched a hand over his chest dramatically and Sango rolled her eyes. By this time the other female had since turned in their direction and Kagome readily recognized her as the infamous Kikyo. She wasn't surprised to see her here.

"I warned you!"

"I know, I know," a younger voice whined.

Inutaisho appeared, another figure trailing behind him. It was momentarily apparent that Inuyasha was tagging along after his father, sporting a new cut clear across his cheek.

"Why don't you behave more like your brother?"

Inuyasha made a face, which got him promptly, glared at by his father and he quickly straightened up, the mocking face vanishing.

"No more fighting at school!" There was no denying the threat in his tone and Inuyasha shrank away from his scowling father slightly mumbling in agreement.

"What happened to you?" Kagome dared to venture.

He scoffed. "Stupid Kouga…" then added as an afterthought. "What do you care?"

She shrugged. "Just curious really. Good afternoon Masaharu-san,"

"Good afternoon. Are you two ready? I'm expecting three other girls from your class. Come on in,"

The three of them stepped into the room and preparations began. Kagome quickly peeled off her outer layers of clothes and grabbed her pink flowered chiffon wrap skirt. Most of the girls she knew wore them about their waists although they weren't really required. It didn't escape her notice that Kikyo was standing at the windows peering inside.

After slipping on and securing her shoes she was directed to the center of the room to begin. Sango followed suit. They were a minute through "Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies" when the music suddenly stopped. Both girls turned toward their teacher who was staring intently at the door.

He looked toward them suddenly, apologized, and asked them to continue without him, and without another word, he walked out. Kagome turned the CD player back on and they continued as he said.

"What do you think that was about?" Sango asked.

"I don't know, he probably has something to take care of. How is Kohaku doing?"

Sango brightened immediately. "He's fine. My mom just got him a new video game with racecars and he's been going crazy over it ever since. How is Souta?"

They shared a smile. "The same,"

Kagome paused and then stopped dancing, noticing Sango stopped as well.

"You know that guy Miroku? He was asking about you,"

Sango turned abruptly away, trying unsuccessfully to hide the blush that crept across her cheeks. "When did you see him?"

"Earlier today, we walked here together. He was asking if you were dating anyone and stuff like that. I think he likes you,"

"He likes everyone,"

Kagome shrugged with a sympathetic smile. "Maybe you're right, I don't know him hardly at all,"

The song that was playing ended and "March of the Toy Soldiers" began playing after it. They weren't performing "The Nutcracker" but their teacher seemed to like the music.

"Our Recital is in two weeks, then we begin formal rehearsal for the play," Kagome reminded her friend grimly.

Sango pulled the door open and immediately frowned.

"Sango!"

Miroku was seated on one of the chairs by the bench in the hall. He rose to meet her when she walked by him wordlessly. He followed.

Kagome stepped out after shutting off the CD player and putting her cover clothes back on and putting her things away. Kikyo, she noticed was still by the windows. She was contemplating saying hello when Inuyasha appeared.

"You're still here?" he scoffed at her.

"I'm leaving, not that it's any of your business!" she snapped at him.

"Inuyasha!"

He winced at the sharp call of his father and hastily retreated leaving the two girls alone.

"I know you, don't I?"

"Eh?" Kagome turned toward the girl who was approaching her. Like Inuyasha, Kikyo was two years older than her. "Sort of, I guess. I'm Higurashi Kagome,"

"Yamada Kikyo,"

Kagome smiled and nodded. "Everyone's been talking about you returning. Are you happy to be back?"

Her reply was mumbled and noncommittal. "How do you know Inuyasha?"

"Oh, our parents are friends. They used to come to our house a lot,"

She nodded. "You're one of Masaharu's dancers then. Are there classes available at this time of year?"

"Uh, I think classes are open all year. Are you thinking of joining?"

"No, I think my younger sister Kaede might be interested,"

"Masaharu-san could probably help you more with that. Well, I should probably get home, it was nice to meet you,"

Kagome smiled and quickly rushed away. She sighed when she finally reached the outdoors relieved to be away from her. Kikyo seemed nice enough but she was so intense. The rigid look in her eyes and the stiff posture were unnerving. She was so… formal.

The wind was brisk and seemed ominous but then she scolded herself for being over dramatic. The walk home seemed different than other days. Tomorrow would be busy. She had school, then dance, and then she had to talk to Toshiki-san about jazz class. She was dreading it. She liked Toshiki-san, and was not looking forward to telling her she was quitting her class. She direly hoped the woman wouldn't try to talk her out of it.

She looked up the shrine stairs from the sidewalk before beginning the trek upward. Souta was standing outside with the broom as she had yesterday, but her grandfather was standing over him giving him pointers on sweeping. She couldn't fight the smile as she walked by them, Souta was quietly mumbling.

~X~

"Kagome,"

"Hmm?"

She turned and stepped back instinctively flattening herself against the locker after finding herself nose to nose with Kaga Kouga.

"Kaga-"

"Kouga," he snapped. "I've said a million times to call me Kouga. Where have you been? You promised-"

She groaned, wishing she would melt as she spotted Sesshoumaru coming down the hall. He wasn't looking directly at them, but he saw them, of that she was certain. Her cheeks flushed red, and she brought a hand up to her face in embarrassment as he walked by without any change in his expression or visage.

Kouga was still talking, but she'd heard not a word of it. The moment Sesshoumaru was out the door and out of hearing range she flung him away from her violently shoving him backwards.

"What do you think you're doing?! How could you do that?" She pointed like a madwoman at him and then at the door but he clearly had no idea what she was talking about.

"Eh? Do what?"

"I don't believe this," she muttered to herself. She grabbed her bag and ran to the door. "I gotta go!"

"Kagome!" he shouted after her, but she was gone and he didn't bother chasing after her.

Kaga Kouga was a guy she knew from outside school. Consequently, she'd met him through Inuyasha. She'd been walking to school one day with him, which they no longer did, and Kouga and a small group of his friends approached them. She had been horrified when the two began snarling insults at one another and which escalated quickly into a fight. It hadn't been until one of his friends insulted her that Kouga had even noticed her there.

When he had the results had been far more embarrassing than being insulted by his friends. He calmly stepped away from Inuyasha and walked up, took her hand and somewhat rudely asked her name. This had only served to anger Inuyasha further, and he stood back spouting profanities at the boy who was ignoring him.

She almost laughed at the memory.

"How'd you like to be my woman, Kagome? You don't really like dogface do you?"

It was the first time she'd heard anyone insult Inuyasha straight to his face. She wasn't sure what was infuriating him more, the insult, or the proposition.

Ever since then she'd had to deal with his friends referring to her as "Kouga's girl" and things like that. She didn't mind too much as long as he stayed away from her school. They were essentially harmless, but they did have a tendency of being embarrassing.

She ran, as far and as fast as she could go. She went straight to the studio, already having her dance bag in her hand. She'd brought it earlier hoping to get there early to talk to Toshiki-san but doubted it would be possible. She wasn't sure when Toshiki-san's classes began and ended except for her own.

The two other reasons for heading directly there were she wasn't likely to run into Sesshoumaru on the way. The second reason was she'd wanted to be there before he arrived and already be well past the front desk where he'd be sitting.

The studio was full and humming with life by the time Kagome arrived. She knew she was early because her classmates weren't even standing around in the hall yet. Any of them who were there were probably in the changing room. She trudged through the crowd of girls and their mothers standing in front of the first class.

Inutaisho's studio was quite large but this section was actually quite small. It consisted of only three teaching rooms, one office and one changing room and the bathroom up front. When you first walked in there was an open space that opened up to the right. The front desk was there and to the right of that two large windows, in front of which were two tables to sit at. Directly to the left was the bathroom. Straight in front of you was the hallway where the classrooms were.

It was a pretty narrow hallway, it didn't help that there were two long benches where people sat. On the right side of the hall were windows, where the blinds were usually drawn up so you could see inside. There were two classrooms on the right hall. Beginner ballet, all tap and all jazz classes took place in these two rooms. At the left was another small hall with the changing room at the end of the hall and Inutaisho's office just inside on the right. On the left side of this small hall was the door that led to the stairs; no one was allowed up there.

At the very end of the main hall was the advanced ballet class. It was at the back of the building and the largest room. The only window to see inside was the window in the door. This was where advanced ballet courses were taken.

The rest of the building was inaccessible to the students. The entire upstairs floor as well as the smaller building connected to this one was reserved for Inutaisho's professional ballet company. His company traveled around performing plays and ballets. Inutaisho himself didn't travel with the Company, instead preferring to remain at his teaching post. Upstairs and in the other buildings were the women dancers. It was unlikely to see them since there was very little contact between the two and the 'keep out' signs posted on the stair well door and the door that led to the other building.

Kagome made her way down the hall and to the changing room. It was surprisingly empty, although she was quite early and that was feat in itself.

~X~

Sesshoumaru pulled the heavy glass door of his father's studio open and stepped inside. He already dreaded the din created by the mass of female chatter. He hated coming here everyday, but he did like being paid for it, so here he was. The front desk was empty and he just barely held back the scowl. The woman who worked here during the daytime, his most esteemed opinion, should be fired. She was never there when he arrived which meant there was fifteen minutes when the front desk was empty. He stepped up and sat down at the desk, drawing his physics book from his school bag. There was little to do unless someone needed help with billing, information or etc. He was also responsible for selling the merchandise his father made available, shoes, and things like that.

He found himself wondering who the guy was with Kagome at her locker from earlier that afternoon. He didn't look familiar to him but he didn't know everyone at the school, least of all the younger students. Kagome was four years his junior, this was the last year he'd be in school with her, and his stupid brother.

Was he her boyfriend? He didn't know if she was dating anyone, he'd only asked her if she were dating his brother. He could conceivably be her boyfriend. Although he could hardly imagine why she chose such a scruffy looking boy. The unruly long hair pulled back and the horrible attire. He'd been dressed in the most ghastly shade of brown. He pushed the thoughts aside. If Kagome wanted to date slackers with no sense of dress, then let her. What business was it of his?

"Excuse me?"

He looked up to find a woman, holding the hand of a small girl. She had short brown colored hair with bright green eyes. The little girl was hiding halfway behind her mother shyly. Her large brown eyes peered up at him innocently. The girl's hair, much longer than her mothers was hanging loosely about her head with one sprout of hair collected at the side.

"Today is supposed to be her first day, I wasn't sure what to do,"

"Who is her teacher?"

"Toshiki-san,"

He nodded and began searching through some papers. "Your daughter's name?"

"Ishikagi Rin," the woman replied quietly.

He found the roster list he was searching for and scanned the page. He found her name near the bottom.

"She's with a class right now. Your daughter's class is schedule to begin in fifteen minutes,"

She smiled gratefully. "Thank you,"

"You'll have to do her hair,"

"Oh?"

"Like them,"

He motioned to some older girls coming in. He recognized one of them as a friend of Kagome's, but Kagome herself had yet to show up. He wondered if she was coming, perhaps she'd opted to go out with her boyfriend? Although such a course of action wasn't one he'd attribute to her, but then again he hadn't thought of her dating idiots either.

Maybe they weren't dating. Maybe he was harassing her. Strangely, that possibility hadn't popped up until now.

"I see… I hadn't thought of that,"

"Do you have some things for her hair?"

The woman turned, as did Sesshoumaru. That voice sounded familiar.

Kagome was now standing there, dressed and prepped for her class with a small bag in her hands.

"She can use mine if you want. I always bring way too many hair pins and bands anyway,"

The woman seemed relieved. "Thank you,"

Kagome smiled. "You're welcome. Is this the new student?"

Rin peered around her mother and reluctantly came around.

"I'm Kagome,"

"Rin," she spoke up.

"What kind of classes are you taking, Rin?" Kagome leaned down in an effort to be friendly and eye-level with the little girl.

"Ballet,"

"Oh? Me too. It's lots of fun,"

The girl smiled revealing a missing front tooth. Her mother led the girl to the table and sat her down and began brushing through her hair.

"Kagome, can you help me?"

"You haven't done your hair yet, Sango?" She started to leave and paused. "One second. Here,"

She turned toward the counter holding out an envelope. "It's my order form and payment for my costume. For the recital," she clarified.

Then she walked off with Sango.

Kagome early. That was something. There was no sign of the boy she'd been with earlier. Maybe he was right, maybe the guy was harassing her and she'd ditched him somewhere. His thoughts took a different turn when Inuyasha stepped rudely into the building, almost knocking over a young girl standing by the door waiting for her mother. The girl stumbled away from him and toward a group of other little girls Inuyasha remained oblivious.

Behind him a taller female, Kikyo, he realized and a little girl stepped in.

"Where's dad?"

"Teaching,"

Inuyasha scoffed. "Oh, Clumsy back at it, is she?"

"What do you want?"

He wasn't in the mood to deal with his brother's idiocy and he wasn't about to discuss Kagome with him either.

Kikyo stepped forward. "I'd like to enroll my sister Kaede,"

Sesshoumaru repressed the sigh. Of all things this job entailed he hated this part the most, explaining and signing up new students. It was long, tedious and utterly beneath him, but he did it anyway.

He was still involved with Kikyo answering questions about dress, payment, schedules, shoes, hair, instructors, and general when his father appeared. Sesshoumaru glanced at the clock on the computer monitor; it had actually been an hour.