InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Divine Interventions ❯ Hanyou Hunting ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5 Hanyou Hunting

After an hour on the phone, Kagome was given a full withdrawal from all her classes without any damage to her academic records. Luckily, it was just the beginning of the term, and classes had just started. It was early enough to withdraw without penalties, but she wouldn't get a tuition refund. Hearing this, Kagome sighed, figuring this must be part of her cosmic debt. She explained to the official in academic records and the dean of the health sciences college that she had hepatitis C, was feeling terribly weak, and needed time to rest at home and deal with the side-effects of the heavy medications she would be taking to repair the liver damage.

“Shit! I've gotten too good at lying. I don't even think grandpa would have thought up this illness!”

The sympathy Dr. Venti and the academic records lady expressed made her cringe with guilt:

“Kagome, don't worry about a thing. When you have medical consent to return to school, you can pick up right where you left off. The important thing is you getting better.”

“You're one of my star students, Higurashi. I want you well and back on your feet, so you follow doctor's orders and recover. Are you up to calling Austin and telling them you won't be there for the summer program? . . . “

The dean was right. She would have to call the University of Texas and let them know she was going to have to decline the scholarship. This was one of the most difficult things to give up. She had been looking forward to going back to the states and was so thrilled when she was accepted into the summer seminar on nanotechnology and molecular medicine. Oh well, easy come, and now, easy go. She would also have to call Paul, but could put off those phone calls until tonight after she came back to the apartment.

After this, she called the bank and arranged for the funds the next six months of her rent and utilities to be transferred to the apartment's management account, using a sizable amount of her inheritance from her grandfather to do it. She also made calls to other friends, using the same lie about hepatitis so things wouldn't get too complicated or raise suspicions if anyone at school asked about her.

As Kagome sat on her bed making these calls from her room, Inuyasha waited, content to give her some “privacy” as he listened to her through the closed door telling her lies to humans. He actually didn't mind waiting on her now, and was in a good mood, knowing that soon they would be returning to his home. Even sooner, however, he was going to find out what Kagome was hiding from him.

 

“I don't care what she tells anyone else, as long as she isn't lying to me.”

Again he smiled to himself, a predatory, dangerous smile.

After she finished her calls, she had a call from the campus police, calling to check-in after a disturbance in front of her building with a strange man had been reported. Assuring the officer that she was fine and that no, she hadn't seen anyone like that but would be extra careful, she hung up the phone and shook her head.

“God, how much trouble would he get into if he stayed in her time for more than a few hours or days?”

She didn't know exactly what had happened outside, but she was sure the rumors were already flying, with her name at the center. She could imagine her frustrated hanyou running into some of the undergrad guys who lived in her building. As a group, they were nice enough, and Kagome's age, but very immature and way too macho to even consider dating.

“Macho and immature-aren't those the exact words you could use to describe someone else you know and used to like VERY much?”

Kagome showered and dressed in jeans and a long-sleeve blouse to hide the ugly bruise spreading down her arm. It didn't hurt much, but she winced when she looked at it. “Inuyasha would never hurt me. He just didn't remember his own strength. Still,” she thought, “I wish I didn't take the rosary off of him.”

She honestly didn't think she needed any protection from him, but the rosary at least had given her some control. She smiled and shook her head when she thought of all the times she had over-used it, the times that she strung many, many, “sits” together just to make sure he would be eating dirt for a good, long time. “Oh, you were a spiteful little thing back then. I guess it is better this way, I think I'm a little power-hungry.”

After she dressed, she smiled at Inuyasha and told him she had things taken care of. She went into the kitchen to fix a bowl of ramen for him, and stayed in the kitchen longer than she needed to, busying herself with tidying up and putting away dishes.

Inuyasha watched as Kagome emerged from her room and moved to the kitchen, quickly putting distance between them again. She looked and smelled incredible, her wet, fragranced hair hanging in heavy waves around her face. Inuyasha stared, trying not to be too obvious, but mesmerized by her looks, her smile, her fluid body movements. “What happened to the clumsy, funny, girl-child? How did she become this woman, so sure of herself?” He thought.

He noticed the change in her mood as soon as she came out of her room. She wasn't particularly anxious anymore, “Now that she thinks her secret is safe.”

No, it was something else. Kagome seemed, what? Shy? When he followed her into the kitchen, she definitely tensed, just a little, but he could sense it.

“What the hell is her problem now?

“Here Inuyasha. I hope you like it, “she said, smiling brightly as she handed him the steaming bowl.

“Thanks,” he said sitting down at the small kitchen table. He watched as she smiled again, then, quickly turned around to face the pantry.

“If you want more while I'm gone,” Kagome continued, “I've left the kettle with hot water on the stove, and here are some more packages. Just fill them to the top and let them sit for a few minutes before you eat them.”

Inuyasha stopped eating and looked up at her. He shook his head and decided that he wasn't going to put up with this “shy act” of hers any longer either. “Kagome, what's wrong?”

Kagome turned round, forcibly smiling to the point where it looked painful. “Wrong? Nothing's wrong.”

“Then why are you acting weird?”

“I'm not,” she replied stiffly.

“You sure as hell are. You're never this quiet. You're acting like, like, I don't know, shy or somethin'.”

“Ohh,” she said softy, looking down and taking a deep breath and puffing it out.

“It's just that well, it's been a long time and . . . .we don't really know each other all-that-well anymore.”

Inuyasha stared at her, growing red.

“Is she fucking kidding! After all we've gone through together, hell, after all she said TODAY now she has the nerve to say we don't really know each other!?”

He kept his voice measured. “Kagome, I know we haven't talked about everything yet, but we will when we get back, okay?”

“Um, sure, I'd love to talk to you more later.” Kagome fidgeted with a drawer, opening it and closing it, not looking up at him.

Oh, he wanted to yell at her now.

“YOU are the one keeping secrets, bitch, not me!”

He didn't say it though, and was actually proud of his self- control. “You'll be fine when we get back again. You'll see, nothing has changed.”

He meant the words to be comforting, to reassure her. He didn't expect her response.

“Nothing has CHANGED! God, Inuyasha. Everything has changed! I'm not the same person I was back then and you do not know me! I don't know you anymore either. I feel like I'm leaving my life and everything I know for shadows and I'm not sure it's wise.”

She felt her heart hammering in her chest admitting this to him, but he just couldn't let well-enough alone. They were doing fine, she thought, probably better than expected given the circumstances. She met his eyes and was devastated to see the effect of her words on him.

“I am a stranger to you, Kagome? You don't trust me anymore?” The questions sounded of sorrow, his voice was heavy and cold.

Inuyasha, her hero, the man who had saved her life countless times, who had proven by his actions over and over that he was her friend, the man who was her first love and first heartache, sat in front of her deeply hurt by her words and actions.

She didn't know what to do to make him feel better. What he said wasn't entirely un-true, but it wasn't exactly what he thought either. Like it or not, she couldn't just pretend that everything was the same. Far too much had happened since the last time she had been in the feudal era. But more than any of this, Kagome knew what lay at the root of the problem, and knew this was something she could never tell him: “After all this time, I'm still in love with him. God! Why do have to still feel like this every time I look at him? I trust him completely with my life, it's my heart I'm afraid for. How can I protect my heart from him?”

“Inuyasha, No! Of course I trust you! I'm sorry I made it sound like I didn't. I didn't mean that. You were right, I am nervous, but I'll adjust. Don't worry about it, okay?”

She hoped what she said sounded convincing and was enough to make him feel better. None of this, not any of it, was his fault, and she didn't want him feeling bad over her problems ever again.

“I really have missed everyone. It'll be great to them all again, especially sweet, little Shippo.”

At this Inuyasha glanced up at her and smirked. “Shippo, SWEET?”

“Of course he's sweet. He's darling. And I am glad that he hasn't had a chance to grow-up too much while I've been gone. I'll get him some fresh chocolate while I'm out.”

Inuyasha was relieved. For a moment, he felt an uncomfortable tightness, like a weight on his chest, squeezing in. He thought she had changed her mind about coming back again, and her words were like a slap. He looked at the young woman watching him, concern and comfort for him reflected in her beautiful eyes.

“Shippo hasn't changed Kagome. No one in my time, including me, changed. The only changed one is you. You're coming back only because I made you feel you have to. It's true, we do need your help, but I also need your-- I need- Kagome, are you still my friend?”

Kagome glanced down at her watch “Oh no! I'm running late again! I've barely got enough time to make it, so I have to now, okay? Make yourself comfortable and I'll see you soon!”

With those words Kagome did something else that completely shocked the hanyou. She bent over him, gave him a hug and a quick, light kiss on the cheek, part of her lips connecting with the corner of his stunned mouth. She hurried out the kitchen and he heard her close the door behind him. His eyes wide with shock, he reached up and touched the warm, moist spot on his face where her lips had been just seconds before. His heart was starting to pound in his chest and his mouth dropped open in a smile.

“Oh wench, I think I'm going to like this new you!”

He waited exactly two minutes and left the apartment through the kitchen window. He spotted her quickly walking across the parking lot. She was stopped for a moment by a group of people, and from what he heard, some of the men where the ones he “met” earlier. He listened as Kagome acted shocked and relieved that the “scary-sounding guy” didn't find her. “Hhmmph!” he grunted. “That's what she thinks.”

To his luck, she didn't get in a car, which would have made tracking her a bit trickier. She stayed on sidewalks and walked in front of many small shops and restaurants, waving at people and giving greetings as she hurried. He could tell she wanted to run, but in her stilleto heels, didn't attempt it. “Stupid girl! How do you expect to get anywhere like that?”

He thought about swooping down from the rooftop where he now watched her wait to cross a street and grabbing her up in his arms to take her wherever her work was, but decided to stick with his original plan. It was getting dark out, and the area of town she was now in was heavily congested with cars and people. Noises of all kinds assaulted his ears-car horns and breaks, people shouting, laughing, a child crying, several different kinds of music blaring from car radios with open windows. Kagome didn't seem to mind any of this, but Inuyasha frowned and thought again of how much more pleasant nights were at home, where, beside from the occasional vicious demons screaming in the night, everything was still, quiet and the air smelled a lot better.

Kagome crossed the street and was absorbed into a human mob. Hundreds of young people, all dressed in strange fashions were standing in a group, waiting like swarming ants to get into the building they stood in front of. Inuyasha jumped closer and strained to keep an eye on Kagome. He was a little surprise to see how well she was able to move in the swarm.

“Excuse me,” she said sweetly, “I need to get by.” She gently touched people on the shoulder or arm while making her “excuse me's,” moving quickly to the front. Several people in the group recognized her, and called her name, she looked back to smile and wave in the direction of each person. Finally, he could see her no more and knew she was inside her work.

Inuyasha deftly joined the throng on the street and tried Kagome's maneuver: “Excuse me, I need to get in,” he said in a voice that sounded reasonable and pleasant to his ears.

“Hey, buddy! What are you trying to do?”

“You gotta wait in line like everyone else, quit shoving!”

Kagome's way didn't work.

“I SAID I needed to get in, now PLEASE get out of my way!” Sweeping his arms in front of him, Inuyasha pushed several people in front of him into others, and, like dominos, they are started falling over, tangling up with each other as they came down.

“Hmmph! Stupid Humans! I said PLEASE!”

He was at the front of the entrance, stepping down a set of stairs into waves of loud sound and darkness. Suddenly, two very burly men in jeans and black t-shirts stood with their arms crossed in front of him.

“SIR. I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you to leave.”

“More of this shit? Great.”

“I'm not going anywhere, jerk!”

“This is a private party tonight sir, and you're not on the list.”

“I don't need to be on your stupid list. I'm here with Kagome.” He didn't know why, but he thought that he might get somewhere with this. “First, try this, then ass-kick my way in.”

The men looked at each other and back at Inuyasha, skeptically. “Look, go get her if you don't believe me, tell her Inuyasha's here.”

“I'm sorry sir, but it's not possible to disturb Miss Higurashi now. You'll have to leave.”

“Hells, time for plan B.”

Just as he was about to swing, a young woman grabbed one of the men by his arm and started to talk to him about a burned-out left spotlight.

“Chloe!” Inuyasha got her attention and her head turned round. He noticed that she was hiding her pale blue eyes behind some sort of dark glasses.

“Oh, hi! It's Inu-yosha, right?”

“Inuyasha.”

“Right. You umm. . . . decided to come for the show tonight?” Inuyasha could tell by the young woman's voice and suddenly sour, nervous smell she wasn't too happy about seeing him now, and that made him smile.

“Oh, I wouldn't miss it!”

Chloe gave a defeated sigh and said, “It's okay guys, let him in”

The two guards immediately parted, allowing Inuyasha to walk down the last step and stand by Chloe. Chloe grabbed his arm and said, “Come on, Inuyasha, I'll show you to a table.”