InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Double Life ❯ Unpleasant Surprises ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

AN: I find my cousins very interesting. It seems that one of my cousin's wife's sister's house got hit by lightning. It blew out a section of her wall, fried the air conditioner, a computer, and the electric garage opener. Then later that afternoon, her husband drove home after hearing about accident. Both of his front tires blew out and almost caused an accident. Then her mother got sick. It seemed as though her liver and kidney were not function correctly.

Well, my cousin thought all this bad luck was a result of his sisters and brothers being too loud and eating too much at the reunion that we had in Lake Tahoe, causing the gods of indigestion and sleepiness to be very upset. So he decided that in order to keep peace with the gods, he needed to perform the sacred rain dance involving him holding two pieces of KFC chicken and run around the house singing "ngu+o+`i ye^u co^ -do+n" (which roughly translates into "I'm a Lonely Lover"). So he has either frightened the gods or scared his neighbor. But apparently whichever comes first was fine to him.

Me and my family.

I don't know whether I should be proud or ashamed.

"Back in junior high, I knew this girl. Her name was Higurashi Kagome."

Oh, crap.

"So I was just wondering..."

Kagome felt her limbs turn into stone and her feet root into the ground. It had been only a couple of days and already...

"Are you two related or something? I figured since you have the same last name and all."

If she had any less self-restraint, Kagome would have taken off her shoes and smacked him clean across the head.

"And if I remember her face correctly, it does look quite similar to yours."

If it wasn't his naivety, then it was his stupidity that saved her.

"So do you have any relation with her?"

Words slipped out of her mouth before she could think. "Yeah, she's my cousin. Her mom's my mom's twin sister."

Hojou made a thoughtful face. "Oh, so I guess that's why you two look so much alike. And I'm guessing 'Kagome' is a name for both genders since she's a girl and you're a guy."

Oh, dear God.

"Uh, yeah..."

He smiled brightly. "Okay, well I just wanted to clear that up. If you ever talk to her, tell her I said, 'Hi.'"

"Yeah, sure..."

"Thanks! Well I'll see you around." Hojou waved and walked into the dorm building.

Kagome waved back weakly.

She remembered now. Aki had also mentioned Hojou being one of the most naive boys she had ever met. Kagome couldn't do more but agree. Nice, sweet, but so naive.

Kagome shook her head. It was something she didn't want to worry about at the moment. Why worry about Hojou when you could have mountains of food served on a table? With a big grin, she turned and reached for the door handle when something caught her eye.

She straightened and tottered backwards to see who was standing at the school gate. She gaped and swung her arms when she felt herself losing balance.

It was that girl. The one Inuyasha was with.

Kagome snorted and smoothed her shirt. Whoever she was, Kagome had no interest in having anything to do with her. She wasn't even that pretty. Why would Inuyasha want anything with that girl?

Kagome smacked her forehead. What was wrong with her? It wasn't her to think bad thoughts of other people. She sighed. If she wanted to go unnoticed, it was best to leave now.

But fate always have this thing about going against your wishes.

Kagome heard approaching footsteps and reluctantly turned to its owner. She looked up at the surprise girl's face.

"You're the one from before..."

Kagome blinked. Then nodded. She turned to walk away. It was strangely uncomfortable talking to that girl. Besides, she was hungry.

"Wait!"

Kagome stiffened. Why couldn't she be meaner and keep on walking?

"You're Higurashi Kagome, right?"

Kagome turned. "Yeah."

"I hear you're roommates with Inuyasha. He told me. I'm Sana, an old friend of his."

Wait a minute. Kagome frowned. "I thought your name was Fuuka."

Sana signed heavily. "Inuyasha was never good at remembering my name, I guess. I figure Fuuka was the closest he could remember and stuck with it."

Kagome gave a deadpan look. Fuuka sounded nothing like Sana.

"I was the manager of Inuyasha's club in junior high...or at least, I felt that way." Sana's features grew sad and her eyes drooped slightly as she looked down to the ground.

Kagome looked at Sana sympathetically. She understood now. Sana also loved Inuyasha.

Kagome stiffened. Also? Why did she--

"Anyways," Sana continued. "I have a request to make? Is that okay?"

Kagome sighed heavily. But I wanna eat.

"Yeah, sure."

Tell Inuyasha that I'll be waiting for him in the front of the park after school tomorrow.

Kagome fiddled with her chopsticks. How should she do this? For all she knew, he could still be mad at her.

"What? You aren't eating?" Chopsticks hovered over her bowl of udon. "Should I eat it, then?"

Kagome pushed the chopsticks away with her own as she narrowed her eyes at Miroku. "I'm eating. You're just fast."

Miroku pouted and sat across the table from Kagome.

"Why don't you go get food from the counter instead from other people?"

Miroku leaned on his palm and said with a frown. "The lunch lady won't go near the counter. If I come near within a ten foot radius, she comes running out with her oily spatula."

"That's because you kept coming up for food at least ten times." Daisuke smirked as he slid into a chair.

"I'm a growing teenager. I need food."

"And so do the rest of us."

Kagome laughed when she felt her bowl slide from her. She abruptly slammed her hand down on her thief's to stop him.

"Ow! That hurt!"

She looked up.

Oops.

Kagome quickly withdrew her hand from Inuyasha. He pulled back his and rubbed it. "You weren't eating it, so I thought I'd take it," he grumbled.

"Why does everybody think that if I'm not eating it, it's okay to take it?" Silence greeted her question. "Thought so..."

"Yo."

Shun and Chiaki slid into their seats, each holding trays with two bowls of noodles. Miroku reached over with glazed eyes.

"Fantastic..."

But Chiaki quickly swatted Miroku's greedy fingers away. "Food. Mine."

Shun smirked up at Inuyasha, ignoring the tussle with Miroku and Chiaki beside him. "Hey, Inuyasha. I hope you're not having anymore trouble with your homework."

Inuyasha stared at Shun for a moment before standing up and turned to walk away. Toji strode over and quickly took his empty seat.

"Wait, where you going Inuyasha?" Shun called after him. "'You is going to track meet?'"

Chiaki and Miroku stopped their tussle, leaving them in awkward positions, as they stared at Inuyasha waiting for his reaction; while, Toji started guffawing.

Inuyasha stopped in his steps. He turned and grabbed one of the dumplings off Shun's plate. He stepped over to Toji and crammed it into his opened mouth. "Stuff it."

Shun reached and tugged his shoulder before he could walk off again. "You know I was just fooling right? You're always so glum so..."

Inuyasha shrugged off his hand. "Yeah, sure."

He turned on his heel and made his way out of the cafeteria. Kagome stared after his retreating back. Poor Inuyasha...

"Hey, there's shrimp in here." Toji bit into the dumpling and started to chew happily.

Miroku gaped at Toji. "I love shrimp! Give me some!"

Toji held the dumpling protectively. "No way. You're just saying that 'cause you want food."

"I'm hungry!"

"You ate four bowls of udon already."

Kagome slid out of her seat. This was a conversation she didn't want to get into. Besides, she had to give Inuyasha that message. She stood up and looked around. Where could he have gone...?

Kagome felt someone tug her sleeve. She looked down to see Daisuke's smiling face.

"If you're looking for Inuyasha, he went that way."

Daisuke pointed to the east exit.

Kagome nodded her thanks and quickly ran out. As she opened the door, she caught Inuyasha's figure walking towards the dorm rooms.

Once she had reached him, she grabbed his sleeves to stop his long strides.

He looked down at her. "What?"

She released his sleeves. "Sana asked me to tell you that she'll be waiting in the front of the park after school tomorrow for you."

Inuyasha frowned. "Who's Sana?"

"The girl you were talking to earlier."

"That's Fuuka."

"Nooo....her name's Sana."

Inuyasha frowned deeply. "Huh, I was pretty sure it was--"

"It's Sana."

"She specifically told you?"

"No, I ran into her and she asked me to..."

Inuyasha abruptly turned away. "Butt out. This is between me and Suuka."

"Sana."

"Whatever."

Kagome clenched her fists. This guy....

"Just go for her sake, will you?"

Kagome looked away when Inuyasha turned his gaze to her. For some reason, she felt she couldn't look at him in the eye as she said this.

"She's...she's worried about you, Inuyasha. So, be sure to go for her."

There was an awkward silence before Inuyasha broke it by turning away.

"This guy and that guy," he mumbled. "I'm surrounded by meddlers."

Kagome stared at him as he strode away. She bit her lip. She did the right thing. She knew that.

But why was her heart hurting?

"So basically you came to my office to talk about something that made you upset. This isn't a teen consolation room!" Doctor Izumi growled.

Kagome hugged the couch pillow snugly. "But, I can't help but wonder. Those two...what are they talking about right now?"

Izumi dipped a tea bag into his cup. "Well, why is it bothering you so much? It's not like you came here to see him, right?" He dropped the tea bag completely into the hot mug. He gaped at Kagome as she started to take interest in the seams of the pillow.

"You did come here to see him, didn't you?" he accused.

"No, that's not it!" Kagome protested, then she looked down in shame. "Well, actually that was only part of the reason I came here."

Izumi sighed and picked the tea bag out with the tips of his fingers. "You love him?"

"No!" Kagome cried. She swallowed and settled down. In a lower tone, she said, "I want to see him high jump."

Izumi tossed the soaked tea bag into the trash and pulled out a new one. "Ah, I see. So, you're worried about him and this girl because...?"

"I don't know. It just makes me a bit uncomfortable. I just keep wondering what they're talking about..."

Izumi looked at Kagome's bowed head as he cocked his head. He dipped his tea bag into his mug several times before taking it out and placing it on his saucer with a subtle smile.

"Well, what about that goal of yours? Didn't you want to see him jump?" Izumi grinned. "Worrying about things you can't change is stupid. Just start with the things you can do."

Kagome stared off into the distance. Things she could do, huh.

After a half hour of pointless wandering, Kagome found herself at the school field. Then she saw something that made her stop in her tracks.

Inuyasha.

He had probably finished talking with Sana.

He wasn't looking at her either, more at something else. Jirou was also with him, paws on the wired fence and tail wagging. Kagome followed their gaze and gave a small gasp.

There was a large cushion-like platform on the field with two poles standing parallel on its side and another pole held up horizontally by the two poles. Kagome was just in time to see one teenage boy jump up and over the horizontal bar to land roughly onto the cushioned mat.

"Woof! Woof!"

Kagome's thoughts scattered as she looked down to see Jirou at her feet. He sat down on his hindquarters and gave her a lopsided grin. She looked up to see Inuyasha's slightly surprised face.

"Oh, it's you."

Kagome frowned mentally. She just let him slide on that one.

She knelt down to Jirou and stroked his furry head. "So this is Jirou's walking course."

"Yeah." Inuyasha hesitantly looked at her before turning his gaze to the field. "...I went."

Kagome stopped petting Jirou, much to his displeasure, and stared at Inuyasha for a moment. Then she looked down again, unable to hide her growing smile. She stood up and dusted the dirt off her pants. She faced him.

"Okay. Let's go home."

I get it now.

You don't really hate the high jump. I know now.

Inuyasha's lips quirked slightly. "Yeah, I'm hungry."

Kagome laughed and they both walked off with Jirou bouncing at their heels, oblivious to the girl staring at them from afar.

"No, you can't do that. But you can go here."

Kagome looked down at the board thoughtfully. "Oh, I see now. But what about here?"

Daisuke stroked his chin. "Hm, actually that's even a better move. Yeah, place it down there."

"Okay."

Inuyasha came out of the bathroom door with a towel draped over his bare shoulders. "Hey, Kagome. The bathroom's free now--What?" He looked curiously from Daisuke to Kagome. "What are you two doing?"

Daisuke looked up and smiled. "We're playing Go."

Kagome scratched her head. "Well, I still don't really get it but--" Her voice trailed off as she looked up at Inuyasha. Her sentence ended with a yelp and her outstretched arm knocked the stones off the goban.*

*goban - a go board.

Inuyasha grabbed her arm before she could fall on her back. Daisuke started to pick up the scattered stones but his gaze stayed steadily on Kagome.

"What happened, Kagome?"

Kagome yanked her arm away from Inuyasha's grasp and abruptly stood up, missing Daisuke's head by inches.

"N-Nothing! S-Sorry!"

She quickly shuffled into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

Daisuke blinked before turning to Inuyasha. "I think you scared him."

Inuyasha leaned down to picked the stones. "What do you mean? I didn't do anything."

Daisuke stuck his hand under the bed, groping for some of the stones that had slid under. "Well, your hair's all over the place so you probably reminded her of Big Foot or something--Ow!!"

He brought his arm up to shield his face from the stones that Inuyasha were throwing at him. "Those stones hurt you know!"

He abruptly stood up, but his arm, which was still under the bed, yanked him down and his head bounced off the bedpost. "Ow...."

Kagome leaned against the bathroom door. What was she thinking? Yelping like that and making that mess. But what could she do? It wasn't her fault.

Not really anyways.

But Inuyasha had surprised her. It never occurred to her that he would look amazingly hot when he was wet...and shirtless. Kagome blushed at the thought.

Suddenly, loud guffaws echoed from the room outside. Kagome turned around curiously. What was going on? It sounded oddly like Daisuke. Kagome shrugged. She'll just ask Inuyasha later. But now it was time to shower.

Inuyasha grumbled angrily as he pulled his shirt down over his head. Stupid Daisuke. Why he found it funny that a stone had somehow lodged itself up Inuyasha's nose was beyond him. But after he managed to get it out, he threatened to throw the goban at him, and Daisuke quickly left.

Inuyasha pulled on his socks then stopped when he saw his empty wrist. It wasn't supposed to be empty. His shoulders slumped.

Crap. My watch.

Inuyasha quickly strode to the bathroom door. Thankfully it was unlocked...

He quickly opened the door and ignored the steam that rolled out. "Hey, Kagome, I left my....ah...."

Kagome stiffened.

Crap.

Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap.

How could she have forgotten to lock the door?!

"C-Can you hand me my watch? It's not water-resistant."

Kagome quietly reached for the watch and handed it out stiffly from behind her. She heard him quickly take it and mutter a quick 'thanks' before slamming the door behind him.

Kagome let out a heavy sigh of relief, ignoring her reddening cheeks. That scared the hell out of her! But then she shrugged it off. It was okay, right? He only saw her back. Although he probably saw her butt...

Inuyasha staggered onto his bed. He was such an idiot!

How could he have forgotten that Kagome was a girl?!

He fell on his back as he tried to rub the image out of his eyes. He saw perfectly. He growled. Why didn't she pull the curtain though? Hm, it was probably an American thing.

But somehow, she was hard to get mad at.

Inuyasha groped for a magazine and pulled it over his face when he heard the bathroom door open.

"Hey, was your watch alright?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, that's good."

Kagome stared at him for a moment before climbing up the bunk. Hopefully, she wasn't discovered yet.

When he was sure Kagome was up in the bunk, Inuyasha flung the "Playboy" magazine under the bed.

Damn Miroku. He needed to remember to tell him to stop leaving his perverted magazines in his room.

Kagome walked aside the wall, one hand on it for support while the other lay tightly on her side. She grimaced in pain. Days like these were curses to be a girl. She quickly shuffled towards the health room. Hopefully Doctor Izumi had something to ease the pain. Well, the real question was whether he'd give her anything at all.

Ever since the incident last night, Inuyasha never said anything or referred back to it. That, being very good thing. Kagome nodded confidently to herself. He didn't know. She was pretty sure at that.

"I thought I would run into you if I waited here."

Kagome looked up in surprise. "Sana!"

Sana leaned casually against the building gate with crossed arms. Her eyes stay intently on Kagome, making her squirm slightly.

"Thank you for giving him my message." She gave a dry laugh. "No matter how I asked him in the past, he would never come...but he does what you ask, huh?"

Kagome straightened as she frowned. "Is there something you want with Yasha? I can get him--"

"No, today I came for you."

Kagome's frown grew deeper. "What?"

Sana stepped from the gate as her expression grew angry. "I don't want you to get nearer to Inuyasha than you already are!"

Kagome blinked with confusion. Close with Inuyasha? She could only wish.

"I heard rumors about you. Trailing Inuyasha without consideration that you were annoying him. I want you to stop doing things like that!"

Rumors? From who?

"Inuyasha isn't the type of person to be distracted. Every day I wish for him to make his comeback. But if he's constantly hanging around with you, he'll lose sight of that!"

"You're wrong--" Kagome started but Sana abruptly cut her off.

"How could you possibly understand? To think of Inuyasha quitting the high jump, or anything at all! To think of him not getting the championship...that's not him at all!"

Kagome bit her lip angrily. She probably didn't know anything at all, but she did know this.

"The one who doesn't understand is you--"

"Wha--"

But Kagome continued, refusing to let Sana interrupt her any more.

"Is getting the championship such an important thing? Are you saying that Inuyasha has no meaning if he doesn't jump? Even though he stopped high jumping and kendo, he's still himself."

Kagome squirmed uncomfortably. Words were coming out of her mouth before she could stop them. Wasn't she the one who wanted to see Inuyasha do all those things? See him high jump? See him spar in kendo matches? Yet, here she was, contradicting herself.

"Don't speak as if you understand!" Sana cried.

Kagome gasped as Sana held her hand up high, with every intention to slap her. But a large hand enclose over Sana's wrist before her hand could come within an inch towards Kagome's face.

"I came to see what all the voices were about. What's wrong with you, Fuuna?!" shouted Inuyasha.

Sana pulled her hand away. "Sana, Inuyasha! I'm Sana!"

"What difference does it make? What are you thinking hitting him?"

"I was doing it for you!" Sana cried desperately.

"When did I ever ask for something like that?! You never understood the reason why I quit, nor will you ever. So stop acting like you do!"

Sana's eyes brimmed with tears. "How could I ever understand if you never tell me?"

"Why should I tell you?! It's none of your business! More importantly, you don't need to understand!"

"You're such a jerk, Inuyasha!" Sana cried through her sobs. "I don't know what happen in that accident but whatever it was, it changed you. It changed you a lot! And it's making everyone worried about you!"

"I never asked anyone to worry about me," Inuyasha hissed. "It's my business and it's not something I can take lightly. No one understands that!"

"You've never given anyone the chance to!"

"It's because I don't want to!"

Kagome looked helplessly from Sana to Inuyasha. What was she suppose to do? She couldn't just jump right in between them. Inuyasha could easily push her out and the both of them would get angry with her for butting in. The tension between the two seemed so thick.

Suddenly there was a clatter of footsteps. Kagome turned around to locate the source but there was nothing behind her but the gate wall. She looked up and nearly yelped in surprise when she saw Miroku and Daisuke clambering over the wall.

"Daisuke! Miroku!" Kagome whispered urgently, yet in surprise.

The two gave up in trying climb the foothold-less wall and jumped down beside Kagome.

Miroku gave a disappointed sigh. "Fighting again?"

"We heard raised voices and came over to see what the problem was," Daisuke explained to Kagome.

"--Listen, this is between me and Kikyou! Don't you--"

Kagome turned. Kikyou? Who was Kikyou?

"She's dead, Inuyasha! Dead! Why do you keep bringing her up?! Get over it! She's not here anymore! She's dead! Gone! And she's not coming back no matter what you do!" Sana cried. Her face was glistening with tears and her blouse was spotted with fallen tears.

Inuyasha looked outraged. It looked like every muscle in his face was tensed with anger. It seemed what Sana had said was not a very good idea.

Miroku started to roll up his sleeves as Daisuke did the same. "This is looking bad."

Daisuke nodded. "This needs to stop now."

Miroku agreed and started towards Sana but was abruptly yanked back by his collar by Daisuke. "No," Daisuke said firmly. "You get Inuyasha. I'll deal with Sana."

"Wh--"

"Last time, you scared her off."

"I--"

"No."

Before Miroku could protest anymore, Kagome slightly pushed him towards Inuyasha's direction. "Please," she whispered. "Just do something. Just make them stop."

Miroku looked down at her briefly before stalking over to Inuyasha.

Inuyasha pointed an accusing finger at Sana. "Don't you dare--Gah!"

Miroku locked his arms over Inuyasha's and started to drag him back.

"Miroku, you asshole! Let me go!"

"No," Miroku said seriously. "Just calm down. We need to talk this over."

"No! I need to finish this once and for all with Fana!"

"Sana."

"I don't care!" Sana's chest heaved as she gasped sharply in hurt. Daisuke placed a comforting arm around her shoulders as he turned her away from Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha, if you want this to finish, the way you're doing it is only making it worse," Miroku said flatly as he struggled to keep Inuyasha restrained.

Daisuke slowly pulled Sana away and quietly gestured Kagome to follow him. Kagome moved to protest but he sharply shook his head and pulled her closer to him as he whispered into her ear.

"Let him deal with Inuyasha. Miroku knows what he's doing. Right now I need you to accompany me in escorting Miss Sana out. I don't think it's safe for her to stay here a minute longer. Both physically and mentally."

Kagome shot Inuyasha one last glance but he seemed too busy trying to pull Miroku into an unsuccessful headlock.

"Kagome!" Daisuke hissed urgently.

She reluctantly turned away and followed Daisuke and Sana out to the front school gate. Sana was a mess.

Her eyes were red and swollen and her cheeks were streaming with her tears. Her once neat hair was tangled and the edges were wet with her tears. Kagome could only feel pity towards her. She just couldn't be mad at the grief-stricken girl. She tapped her shoulder. Sana jumped at the sudden contact.

"Hey," Kagome muttered. "Don't cry anymore. What Inuyasha said to you wasn't right. I think it came out meaner and crueler than he meant to be. I don't know Inuyasha that well yet, but I know he isn't very good with words. His temper tends to get the better of him. So don't cry anymore, 'kay? I know deep inside, Inuyasha wouldn't want to see you cry."

It was harder to say such things than Kagome had expected. She was really making assumptions. She knew that she didn't know Inuyasha well enough to say anything and be certain that it was true. But it seemed to have helped.

Sana looked at Kagome, slightly aghast. "How can you be like this? I was such a - a bitch to you! But, here you are, trying to comfort me. How can you do such things?"

Kagome blinked. She thought it was kind of obvious. "Well, I guess you could say that I understood what you were trying to do. I knew that you just really cared about Inuyasha. Your intentions were good...you just didn't show them very well. I don't think I can really blame you for that, can I?"

Sana stared at Kagome in amazement. Daisuke gently cut in and leaned down slightly so he was at eye level with Sana. "Kagome's right. I know very well how you feel about Inuyasha but the actions you're taking aren't helping him. Inuyasha was right on some parts too. There are certain things he needs to work on his own and most of things he does are his own fault. So don't involve others. Kagome had no hand in this."

Sana nodded slowly. Daisuke breathed out heavily and ran a hand through his untidy hair.

"And I don't think you should come here anymore. I'm afraid it's more troubling to him than you think it is."

She nodded again, but more hesitantly and reluctantly. She wiped her tears with her sleeve before smiling gently. "Thank you."

Kagome watched silently as Sana left and disappeared from her range of view. Daisuke exhaled a large amount of air before trudging to a garden bench and throwing himself onto it.

Kagome stayed standing as she gazed at him with sympathy. Poor Daisuke. By the looks of it, Inuyasha and Sana must've went through many more fights before this one and Daisuke was probably one trying to stop them all. The fights probably made him look like an incompetent dorm head.

"I guess you're probably curious about the relationship between Inuyasha and Sana."

Kagome jumped. She had not expected him to speak. "A bit," she admitted guiltily. She moved to sit on the far end of the bench.

Daisuke leaned back. "Ever since Junior High, Sana was in love with Inuyasha. She always supported him and she wasn't afraid to make it clear. Inuyasha appreciated her support but he was too busy to notice her feelings for him. But it didn't seem to bother her as long he allowed her to hang around. I guess when he quitted, that destroyed her chance to be with him. So every once in a while, she would come and try to persuade him to come back but he'd always brush her off."

Kagome frowned. "She also said things about rumors. She said how I was too close to Inuyasha and other things that weren't true."

"Yeah, I'm guessing she probably made them up so she could have an excuse to yell at you."

Kagome blinked in surprise. "Why would she do that?"

Daisuke smirked, but not in a harsh way. "She saw that you were changing him. She saw that Inuyasha was slowly starting to return to his former self. She got jealous that she wasn't the one who was changing him since she came to see him practically all the time. But that's all theory of course," he quickly added when Kagome turned away, afraid she would burst in angry protest.

But she was really trying to hide her blush. All theory. Of course it was. What was she expecting? Feeling disappointment was stupid.

"Oh, that reminds me," Kagome said, hasty to change to subject. "Who's Kikyou?"

"Kikyou?" Daisuke chuckled. "She was Inuyasha's girlfriend."

Girlfriend? Suddenly, for a millisecond, Kagome felt crestfallen. Damn hormones.

"'Was'?"

Daisuke nodded. "She...died not too long ago."

"Oh..." was all she could find herself to say. After a long silence, Kagome hesitantly asked, "Was it in that accident?"

Daisuke was motionless before he shrugged indifferently.

Kagome looked down to her feet. "I guess I reached the limit of what you can tell me, huh?"

Daisuke smiled softly before giving her a small nod. Kagome opened her mouth to say more but stopped short when he suddenly stood up. He stretched his arms for a moment, giving Kagome a very nice view of his amazingly fit body, before turning to face her.

He gave her a brilliant smile. "It's getting late. You should get back to your dorm."

Kagome gave a reluctant nod and padded to the dorm building. As she passed the caretaker's office, the caretaker stuck his head out the window and yelled out, "Wait, Higurashi!"

Kagome turned. "Yes?"

"I have some mail for you from America." He handed her two white envelopes and Kagome took him before thanking him.

She continued down the hallway as she read the addresses on the envelopes. Her stomach fluttered with excitement as she read. One was from her father and the other was from Aki. Kagome smiled brightly. This should be good.

As she reached her room, she ripped opened the one from her divorced father. She was ten when her father left to the other side of the country. She still kept contact with him after deciding she wouldn't hold any hard feelings against him.

She had only taken a couple steps into her empty room when her hand went limp and everything in her hand except her father's letter fluttered to the ground.

No. No way. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't!

Dear Kagome,

How've you been? When your mother told me you went to Japan, I was shocked! I can't say I wasn't disappointed that I couldn't see you off. Have you made many friends? Well, I have great news! My work has sent me to a business trip, can you guess where? Japan! So I hope to see you tomorrow. I look forward to see my little girl again.

Dad.

Crap.

End of Chapter 4

---

AN: FF.net's been acting really weird. So I'll be posting my most recent chapters on my site if it acts up again.

I HATE mosquitoes.

Yeah, just needed to say that out loud.