InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dressing the part ❯ Batting for the Other Team ( Chapter 17 )

AN- I'm sorry. Some parts of the last chapter just felt wrong. I feel like I tried to force the situation with Miroku and Sango. I wanted it to happen before the game because now is when I start to strictly focus on Kagome, her secret, and wrapping things up. I tried to do a little damage control. Tell me what you think, especially parts that don't feel right. Thank you.

Dressing the Part

Chapter Seventeen

Batting for the other Team

"What?!" She couldn't believe it. "How could you not tell me this until now?!" Why would he do this to her? "Sesshoumaru! Why didn't you tell me grandpa's been lying to me for the last couple of years?!"

"He wasn't lying precisely. He did, however, embellish quite a bit. He did sleep with one of your model friends and she quit, but it wasn't because of shame. He and your friend, Kaede, were secretly married a few months after they met and she was impregnated. The suicide ploy was just to keep you from having sex."

"What about Yuka, Ayumi, and Eri?" Her rage was apparent in her bellows. This new information was not sitting well with her.

"They simply quit. They were jealous of their friend being far more successful. Their evasiveness only played into your grandfather's hands." The man snorted and crossed his arms.

Kagome simply sat dejectedly on her bed. "Why now? Why not tell me last night?"

"I figured it better to explain the situation with you in a calmer state." He felt a little guilty for not telling her, but they hadn't seen each other since before her grandfather relayed the false information to the adolescent girl. It nearly broke him to know the girl he had watched grow up was losing her trust, her faith in him. She hadn't looked up from the floor in quite a while.

"I assumed it would be harder for you to have the separation from friends by their choosing instead of dire circumstance. Your grandfather may have established the fabrication out of his concern for you purity, but I chose not to reveal it because of my own concerns. You would have been heartbroken to find yourself without the relationships you thought you had. Now I realize you would have been bereft of such connections regardless of the causes of their severance. I apologize." His voice had grown softer as tears streamed down her face.

"I...I can't look at you right now. I have to go. I need to talk to Miroku before the game. Don't contact me. I'll come to you...when I'm ready."

`Kensuke, what have I done?'

She felt horrible. How could she have said those things to Miroku? How could she compare to Mushin? How could she have kissed Sango? A million different regrets were swarming into her brain at once.

She had to go talk to Miroku immediately. She left after assuring Jak she was alright. She anxiously trudged to the senior hall.

What if he couldn't forgive her? What if he hated her?

She softly knocked on the door. "Miroku?"

Upon hearing Kagome's voice, Miroku flung the door open and greeted his teammate exuberantly. "Kagome! Isn't it a glorious morning?! Possibly the best god ever created. Don't you think so?"

Kagome, not feeling worthy of such cheer, spoke to him in her pained and somber tone. "Miroku, I need to talk with you."

"Then by all means, please speak."

"About last night--"

"Wasn't it great?"

"No. Miroku I came here to apologize about the things I said to you."

The words sunk into Miroku's brain. He appeared far less enthusiastic. "Well, that's too bad. I was about to thank you."

"For what?! Saying those horrible accusations? Kissing Sango? I'd really love to hear what you're going to thank me for!"

Kagome's sarcasm only brought a smile to Miroku's lips. For one of the few times since she had known him, Miroku was being completely serious. "I don't know if you realize this, but all that crap you spewed out last night did two things. It made me openly express truly how much I love Sango and how much I have loved Sango for all these years. The second thing it did was make Sango openly stand up for me in a display of trust. She would not have come to my defense, therein showing me how much she cares, and I wouldn't have kissed her. You helped us admit things we have been unable to do for a very long time. I don't know what would have happened without you."

The serious look left his eyes and in its place appeared a sparkle of mischief. "Now, go get ready for the game. You've got like twenty minutes." Kagome got up from Miroku's bed, where they had been sitting during the conversation. She began to walk toward the door when some very unwelcome words left his mouth. "Oh, by the way, I have some friends who `bat for the other team' coming to the game today. You had better do well."

"That's kinda silly. All the players on the other team bat for..." Just then, it dawned on her exactly what he meant. He was trying to set her up with a bunch of gay guys. Was this really her life? It was depressing. It was pathetic. It was...hilarious. Kagome started laughing so hard she started to cry. She had wondered how she got herself into such a situation. She started from her enrollment into the school and kept going. It was all really funny to her.

In all reality, she was probably extremely tired and emotionally taxed from the previous night. After grieving for her father in Sesshoumaru's office the night before, her normal functioning snapped. She displaced her anger into anything and everything she could. Her emotional instability almost revealed her secret. Not that it would matter tomorrow morning.

She walked out of Miroku's room, down to the junior dorms, and into her room. Jak was dressed and waiting for her. He was expecting a shattered shell of Kagome, but what he saw was something far different. She seemed giddy and relieved. He was glad. She didn't deserve to be unhappy. But, it was an odd turn around.

After she dressed, they left to go to the charter bus together. They had some ass to kick.

After the team arrived and warmed up, Inuyasha posted the line-up:

1) Kouga -- CF

2) Kagome -- P

3) Miroku -- SS

4) Inuyasha -- LF

5) Souta -- 2B

6) Hiten -- 3B

7) Jakotsu -- 1B

8) Jinenji -- C

9) Kohaku -- RF

Bankotsu, Ginta, Hakkaku, and Manten were all sitting and ready to go if they were needed.

They had exchanged line-ups with the girls. They looked pretty tough. The line-up was:

1) Ayame -- CF

2) Kagura -- SS

3) Abi -- 3B

4) Sango -- C

5) Nazuna -- LF

6) Kikyo -- P

7) Koharu -- 1B

8) Shiori -- 2B

9) Kanna -- RF

It would be a great game.

AN- Short. I know. This was a damage control / set-up chapter. Who should win the game, boys or girls? I am thinking about a sequel? Acting the Part. Maybe. Tell me what you think. In other words, please review.