InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Demons in Disguise ❯ Different Routes, Same Destination ( Chapter 2 )

"Just great. My first day and I'm already screwing up," Lin spoke to herself while resting her forehead against the cold glass of the city bus. She could see out onto the unfamiliar street. Her warm breath melted the frost that had collected on the window overnight. The sky was gray with clouds that threatened another wave of freezing rain like the day before. Lin's itchy, green stocking pulled all the way up to her thigh did little for her. She slid her arms inside her blue sweater and chattered.

Lin had planned to ride the city bus to school that day. Unfortunately she boarded the wrong bus. Lin had been riding around town, hopelessly lost, for a little over two hours now. When she had given up hope of finding her school she read a book that George, her foster dad, had put in her backpack. It was called the Outsiders. How ironic.

When hunger struck Lin considered eating the lunch Janice had packed for her. That is until she discovered what she had made for her. An egg-salad sandwich, eggnog, and some deviled eggs. Lin grimaced and lost her appetite. Janice was a born bargain hunter. Whatever the store had in economy sizes on sale Janice decided that would be the theme of the meals for the week. Obviously, this week the store was selling eggs.

The minutes passed by at a slow pace. Lin couldn't help feeling guilty over skipping school. Sure, she hadn't done it intentionally, but it still seemed like she was taking advantage of George and Janice's hospitality. Soon Lin started hoping that on the first day, schools don't call the parents to wonder where a student is. Then her foster parents would never know she skipped.

It actually felt kind of nice not going to school Lin admitted to herself with a guilty grin. It was always the same every time she went somewhere new. The children would mock and pick on her for being short or sometimes other reasons. And it didn't help since Lin was so sensitive that she would sometimes cry. But being taunted wasn't as bad as being ignored completely. Something that also happened a lot.

When Lin was with the orphanage she felt out of place with all the other children there. Yet she maintained her childish innocence. She was often the first pick for happy handsome couples searching for a sweet, cute, helpless little child. But Lin would always drop to the bottom of the list when the couples found out she had medical problems. It was true, too. Lin sometimes suffered memory lapses every now and then. Sometimes completely forgetting where she was or who she was with. The doctors told her it must have been from the hard it on the head she received the moment before they found her in the middle of the street. The last thing they informed her was that there was a possibility that certain extended memory lapses may occur and could result in permanent brain damage if not taken care of immediately. That had yet to happen and her usual memory lapses were short and didn't occur often, but nonetheless, healthy couples wanted healthy children.

So Lin was stuck moving from foster home to foster home. Year after year. She learned never to get her hopes up for an actual family. In the back of her mind she remembered having a family. Not the beautiful Ivory Prince she imagined but an actual family with parents, grandparents, and siblings. But it was probably just a dream.

Lin looked around curious what time it was. She was sitting near the back of the bus so that no one would ask her why she wasn't in school or just nag her with questions she would feel inclined to answer. There were only a few people on the bus at this time of the day. A couple business men up front who's Porsche's were probably getting upgraded, some homeless bums simply looking for a warm place to sleep, and Lin; sitting all alone.

Luckily, the next bus stop was in front of a shop with a clock in the window which read 3:02 PM. Lin slumped with disappointment. She wanted it to be later so she could go back to her house. Lin wasn't expected home for another two and a half hours. She could feel moisture build up at the bottom of her eyelids. Lin felt like such a cry baby. She put her index fingers on the side of each one of her eyelids trying to block the tears from falling. Lin couldn't stand the thought of another two hours in that horrible humid bus. With constant guilt weighing on her shoulders. It was then she realized that no matter how much time passed, she would still be lost and unable to find her way back to the house.

Lin's light brown eyes became glassy with moisture. Would she have to ride this stupid bus to the end of its route then call and get picked up by George or Janice? Would they figure out that she missed school? The tips of her fragile fingers weren't enough to fight the strength of her tears. Lin stuffed the sweater over her face to hide the tears and muffle her sobs. Why did she always end up so miserable? Would she be miserable forever? With all her sadness, Lin hadn't noticed the soft swoosh of the bus door closing and the hum as it started along its route once again.

* * *

Sesshou had been ten minutes late for his first lecture glass thanks to that infernal clock. When he walked down the steps to his usual seat, his classmates mocked and taunted him quietly (almost everyone knew Sesshou's name. He had a reputation for being a stuck-up prep just because he was an intelligent student and his appearance).

"Look, his majesty has decided to grace us with his presence."

"You meeting up with the professor after class to discuss the importance of number two pencils, Sesshy?"

"There's a seat here, miss."

Sesshou didn't fall for taunts like that. He taught himself to ignore dumb remarks like that. Although, he was still struggling not to pummel the idiotic morons. He walked faster, mentally shutting his ears until he reached a seat in the second row. He began to take notes on the professor's lecture. A little more than half-way through the class, a girl sitting behind him struck up a distracting conversation with her friend.

"Oh, ain't he a cute one? I've been checking him out for over a week now. I think I'll ask him out today," the bubbly voice whispered to the girl next to her. Sesshou rolled his eyes. Empty-headed women were much too common nowadays. The same went for empty-headed men who had one too many wipe-outs on their skateboards. Sesshou wondered what thick guy that particular airhead had set her sights on.

"I've always liked tall guys. And that white hair simply drives me wild!" she squealed softly. Sesshou's back straightened and his eyes widened slightly. He scanned the other men seated in the aisles around the room praying that there was at least one other tall guy with white hair. But he didn't have that kind of luck. The bubble's next remark proved his anxiety.

"What's his name? Sessh-something? Sesshou? Ohhh, that Sesshou's gonna be my prince and I'll be his princess. How's my breath?"

Sesshou slumped in his seat and was only able to take meager notes for the rest of the class. He ran through his mind as many escape routes as he could to avoid the bubble of a girl. Just his luck that he was seated in the middle of the row blocked in by 3 people on one side, and a wall on the other. This called for desperate measures.

When the professor dismissed the class, the bubble giggled at the end of her row waiting patiently for Sesshou to pass by. He tried to push past the people in front of him but only succeeded in receiving some angry glares. His eyes peeked at the bubble waiting for him. His eyes widened with unpleasant awe when he saw her outrageous blonde hair, sparkly make-up, sequined blouse with the dangerous low neck-line, cheerleader skirt, and high-heeled pumps that added four inches on her; easily.

The bubble caught Sesshou looking at her and became a regular giggle-machine. She wiggled her fingers at him with a huge sparkly smile. Was that lipstick on her teeth? Sesshou knew at that moment he had to get out of there. He swung his head back to avoid her gaze. His amber eyes darted around the room, but there was no obvious escape route. Sesshou clung to the strap on his bag and tensed his muscles.

"Yoo, hoo! Sesshy, cutie! Up here!" the bubble called out and waved, growing impatient. That bouncy voice of her sprang Sesshou's tight muscles into action. In one graceful motion, he pushed off the desk in his row with the heel of his foot and pushed himself upwards to the row above him and landed on the top of the table. The people who hadn't yet exited the classroom dropped there mouths as he repeated this action until he was standing on top of the table in the back row. Sesshou wasn't an athlete but he worked out and was naturally agile. People stared in confusion while Sesshou ran the length of the table to the end of the row and jumped into the aisle.

Bad luck was having a field day with Sesshou. He landed on a skateboard the punk sitting at the end of that row had brought into the room. The people left in the room were already starting to laugh as the skateboard rolled out underneath him. Sesshou let unknown reflexes take over. His free hand landed on the ground before him. He spun and pushed off the ground. He arced for a moment before he landed standing without a single bruise.

The people in the room halted their laughter and bore their eyes into Sesshou with awe. A few rowdy boys shouted out things like, "Nice one!" and "Sesshou got some moves!" Sesshou just stood there, amazed. Where did he learn to do that? He had never taken gymnastics or anything related to it. The closest thing he got to sports was mimicking the older kids swordfight at the fencing academy. The bubble began to jog up to him with a smile, waving madly.

"Sesshou! That's was so totally neat! I'm Chichi! Wait for me I have something I want to ask ya!"

Sesshou's senses snapped back and his legs began to carry him as fast as they could. The irritating drone of Chichi's voice faded as he neared the bus stop. The bus was just about to leave when he arrived. It seemed like he was late for everything all day. A wave of relief passed over him as he dropped the coins into the slot and began to sit down at a seat in the front.

Sesshou paused and looked up when a small girl sitting in the back and digging her face into her sweater caught his eye. Usually he'd just leave her be, but there was something oddly familiar about this girl. Something seemed to draw him to her. As if he knew her before he had been physically born. Without much thought he walked back to her seat. Sesshou watched her weep quietly for a moment before speaking to her.