InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Father Figure ❯ The Way Things Will Be ( Chapter 2 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: RozeFire 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Psychological / Comedy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 04.14.2003 | Pages: 6 | Words: 5.8K | Visits: 2.4K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Psychological / Comedy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 04.14.2003 | Pages: 6 | Words: 5.8K | Visits: 2.4K | Status: Completed
AN: I probably should go dedicate this fic to a close friend of mine who suffers from evil step mother syndrome. I met the woman and it's unbelievable that her father ever married the cow...
And I noticed a lot of people who reviewed could also relate to evil step fathers and mothers - and sometimes just evil mothers and fathers. I can't really relate to the former (but I can to the latter >_<)... but you have my sympathies.
Anyway, back with a second chapter, it's not like me to leave things on the shelf to rot away. And I swear I'm making a move on 28 Days... and Where no man has gone before
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Father Figure
The Way Things Will Be
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"Do you think he's dead?" Sango asked Miroku as she stepped out of Kaede's hut onto the porch where the monk sat dangling some scrap string for Kirara to taggle at.
Miroku glanced up at the half demon she was referring to, eyeing him critically. Inuyasha was laid flat out on his back under the shade of one of the nearby trees. Shippo was dancing around him singing some rhymes... who really by now should have been pummelled into the ground by the hanyou. "I don't think so... I'd say he's about three hours away from carving that tree into Kagome's look-alike replacement though..."
Sango shifted with concern. "Why don't you check... make sure he hasn't choked himself of something..."
Miroku sighed and set down the string he'd been playing with and took off his sandal. He picked it up and tossed it gently in his palm a moment before flinging it in the general direction of Inuyasha...
"Whatthefuck - MONK!"
The sandal came sailing back and Sango quickly dodged out of the way as it shot past and clonked Miroku on the head. "Thanks for saving me there..."
"No problem." Sango smiled and picked up Kirara to head back inside.
"And you can put a sodding sock in it as well!" Inuyasha yelled, grabbing Shippo and throwing him up into the precarious branches of the tree above.
"Inuyasha! Inuyasha! Get me down - you know I don't climb trees!" Shippo yelled at the top of his lungs. "Inuyasha!"
The hanyou rolled his eyes and pushed himself onto his feet to go stomp off somewhere else for some peace. The well would do nicely for some solitude just then...
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Kagome had never felt more uncomfortable in her own home than she did right then. Actually... she felt like she was a visitor, or a guest... or something that had been caught out of the loop on this one.
The brief introduction to Denji had been... well... out of the blue and like a slap in the face. Kagome was still standing, reeling over the shock in the hallway, still in her shoes. She'd barely walked in the door before this shocking bit of news was thrust into her attention.
Grandpa had to bodily move her into the living room so they could all sit down. Denji and her mother talked with her... actually, they talked AT her. Kagome couldn't find anything intelligent or coherent to say. She just sat with a stumped expression on her face as she tried to absorb all the information that was being thrown at her.
She managed to catch to odd titbit... Denji was a School teacher, teaching maths of all things. He was forty eight... two years older than her mother... and worked out at the gym four times a week for three hours straight each session.
Kagome couldn't remove her gaze from his face. He was watching her with a neutral, slight smile. But every now and then as Mrs Higurashi chattered away happily about him, his smile would disappear and he would be giving her a rather penetrating stare. In some ways, his whole vibe reminded her vaguely of Sesshomaru...
"Well, now that we all know a little more about one another, I'll go make us some tea." Kagome's mother stood and turned to head into the kitchen.
"I'll help you." Denji offered, earning a happy smile from his fiancée.
As soon as they were gone Kagome leapt up like she'd finally been freed of invisible bonds. She grabbed Souta's shoulders and jerked him away from the TV set. "What the heck is going on around here?"
Souta looked around. "You what?"
"Who IS this Denji guy?" Kagome hissed, trying to keep her voice down.
"Haven't you been listening?" Souta rolled his eyes. "Jeez, Kagome, stay with it."
"Aren't you surprised by this?" Kagome stared at him in bewilderment. "Mom suddenly just brings a man home claiming to be her husband-to-be and everyone here is all hunk-dory?!"
"She didn't just 'bring him in' like a stray, Kag." Souta pried her hands off his shirt and went back to watching TV. "She told us about him over dinner, said he was a great guy and that she hoped to let him stay with us."
So it hadn't been smack in his face like it had just been for her... she still felt slightly ill and glanced at her grandfather for some guidance. "When did all this happen?"
"While you were away, Kagome dear." He answered with a plain shrug, obviously not aware of her distress. "He's a very nice fellow, you'll like him when you get to know him."
Kagome still didn't understand what was happening in her house. So she stood up and followed her mother into the kitchen. She really wished she hadn't... "Oh god - I'm sorry!"
Denji and her mother suddenly broke apart from where they had been in a light embrace doing you know what... disgusting really at their age. Kagome could have sworn her mother was blushing like a school girl again.
A rather tense pause followed as Kagome refused to leave. Denji cleared his throat and shot Mrs Higurashi a smile. "I'll just go... make the beds..." he excused himself and walked out.
Kagome turned her gaze to her mother who quickly busied herself with finishing brewing the tea. Kagome narrowed her eyes slightly. "Nice of you to warn me before I got back..."
"Well - it was rather sudden, I'm sorry." Her mother apologised quickly and flippantly. She didn't really mean her words.
"Why haven't you ever talked about him?" Kagome asked, seeing her mother refuse to meet her eyes. "Which room is he staying in? Are you really going to marry him?"
"Yes!" Mrs Higurashi stopped and turned to her daughter with a smile. "Why else would he be living here if it wasn't serious?"
Kagome suddenly got hold of a rather nasty thought. She probably should have kept quiet, but her adrenaline was running a little high and her mouth was moving faster than her brain... like Inuyasha in so many ways. "You're not dating him just because you're jealous that Dad is marrying Mari, are you?"
Her mother set down the china tea cups so hard they chingled together with a bang. "I will not have you say things like that, Kagome! I have been seeing Denji for a very long time, I only kept things to myself because I thought it would upset you!"
"It's upset me more that you suddenly decided to slam it in my face with no warning!" Kagome cried.
"Well what would you have preferred? I marry him in secret and three years later introduce you to your new step father?" Her mother scowled. "Why are you being like this Kagome? I thought I could trust you to be mature about this. You could at least be polite to him - don't think I didn't notice how you stared so rudely at him."
"Well he was staring at me!" Kagome argued.
"Stop behaving like a child Kagome! Souta behaved better than this! Denji is a member of the family now and you should treat him as such! I don't need you making him feel unwelcome!"
Kagome couldn't help but feel that SHE was the one feeling unwelcome. But her mother's words sobered her slightly and she dropped her head. "I'm sorry... it's just really sudden... I didn't expect this..."
"I understand." Her mother said curtly and walked off with the tray of tea, back into the living room.
Kagome slumped into one of the chairs beside the kitchen table and ran her hands through her hair. She was being immature about this. She'd accepted Mari just fine... why not Denji?
Because there was something about the way he looked at her... a mild form of the Sesshomaru gaze. Like he was looking right past her body and seeing her soul... and looking on in contempt at it. That unblinking penetrating glare...
But that was just being stupid! She'd barely met the guy for a few minutes and she was believing he could be the spawn of evil. No... he was a teacher... a maths teacher... he was naturally supposed to have that evil look... but he was probably a really nice guy. Souta seemed to like him well enough.
"Wait..." she suddenly lifted her head, her face lax with sudden realisation. She shoved away from the table and ran into the living room where her real family was sitting down to watch the evening television. "Um - does Denji know?!"
"Know what, dear?" her grandpa asked as he calmly sipped his tea.
"About Inuyasha - the well!" Kagome asked urgently.
The three family members exchanged looks. "We thought it best if you told him. From the horse's mouth as it were." Her mother told her.
Kagome didn't know if that was supposed to be a good or bad thing... She didn't get much of a chance to ponder on that as Denji entered suddenly and took his seat close next to her mother. He looked at Kagome and suddenly smiled. "You're mom tells me you're having trouble with your maths."
Kagome's fists clenched behind her back. she had to force her mouth to open and speak, though she spoke jerkily. "Did she?"
"And since I specialise in maths, we thought maybe I could help tutor you." Denji placed the offer on the table.
She wanted to refuse loudly. She hated maths but she wasn't miserably failing it like other people in her class were. She'd pass the exams with a C, maybe even a B if she put her back into it. She didn't want or need a tutor.
"See? Isn't that nice of Denji." Kagome's mother prompted her after her silent pause. "What do you say?"
Kagome forced a big fake smile on her face and laughed. "That's great - that's perfect. Yep! I'm down with that! Yep, yep, yep!" she toddled of with her fixed smile until she was out of the room and halfway up the stairs. Then the happy expression slipped to agony and she slapped her forehead repeatedly. "Great, great, great, great! Moron!" she muttered angrily under her breath.
"Oh and Kagome!" she stopped when she heard her mother calling her. "Don't go visiting your... friends for a while, ok? I want you to stay home for the holidays!"
Kagome's heart sunk further, if that was at all possible. A whole holiday without seeing Inuyasha and her friends? A whole holiday with a math tutor living in the next room over? This sucked completely...
With a sigh she continued up to her room and shivered as she turned on the light. The heating hadn't been turned on in there and it was particularly cold. The light bulb was without a shade and hung starkly from the ceiling and it all seemed very quiet. Downstairs she could hear the muffled sounds of the television going... and remembered how warm and cosy it had been in there.
But there was no place for her to sit other than floor... just like when she'd been a kid and their father had still been living there. He and her mother had sat on the two-seater couch while grandpa sat on his separate armchair. The kids had sat on the floor before their parents legs like the family usually did in the evening.
But seeing Denji sit in her father's place was too much. Seeing his arm curled around her mother's shoulder like HE was the father of the family had been too much. Kagome didn't want to be a part of his family just yet. She needed to get used to these circumstances... so she needed to sit in her room and think.
She shivered again and looked across at the window. It was open and there was one rather bold muddy footprint on her desk. No doubt belonging to Inuyasha...
Well... it warmed her heart to know he'd visited, even though he'd known she wouldn't be there. What was he trying to achieve by that? Perhaps he was just trying to catch her out... to see if she was at home with one of her human boyfriends. Like she had any in the first place...
Though she didn't want him to visit again... if he bumped into Denji, then what? She didn't want Denji to know about this close family secret yet... she didn't see him as a member of the family yet... but she wanted nothing more than to slip off and go see them all.
For no reason whatsoever, Kagome flopped down onto her bed and began to cry in her cold lonely room. Though she wasn't sure why..
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"Ok - it's been six and a half days - this is fucking ridiculous!" Inuyasha snapped as he passed alongside the well. Miroku watched him blankly from a nearby log. "What the hell could be taking so long?!"
"She did say she would be gone a while, didn't she?" Miroku pointed out.
"Four to five days she said! Not six! Not six and a half!" Inuyasha stopped and rapidly rapped his fingers against the lip of the well, so much wasted and frustrated energy burned under his skin... and he could get rid of it. There was nothing to do! "I could build the three fucking imperial palaces with the amount of energy I have! I could probably tear Naraku to pieces in one swing!"
"Then by all means, do so." Miroku told him bluntly.
"Can't be bothered..." Inuyasha down on the well side, suddenly feeling that energy leave him.
Miroku sighed and stood up, shifting his weight against his staff. "Of all the things to master in this world, Inuyasha, the one you need to master most would be patience."
"I don't have the time!" he snapped back. "Every precious second is being wasted - Kagome could be here and we could be doing something interesting!"
"Like walking?" Miroku guessed dully.
"Yes! Walking - to Naraku and demons and other things that are capable of blowing up when you hit them." Inuyasha kicked the well angrily, but not hard enough to fell it. Didn't want to block Kagome's way back just yet...
"Only fools rush around, Inuyasha."
"And only morons sit back and watch life and youth just float by, Miroku!" Inuyasha growled. "Kagome's taking too long!"
Miroku frowned lightly. "Maybe something's amiss in her world?"
"What do you mean?" Inuyasha turned to him sharply.
"Kagome is late from time to time... but..." the young monk sighed. "She usually sticks to her promises like this one. Normally she'd be back by now... I'd say there's something wrong."
Great... now Miroku had him worried. What if a demon like the Noh mask was in Kagome's time again. Inuyasha jumped to the worst case scenario at once. Was Kagome dead?!
Miroku suddenly smiled mildly. "Well I'll be off. I do believe I smell Kaede cooking something tasty."
"Like Shippo..." Inuyasha muttered under his breath, turning his back on the departing monk to crouch beside the well and rest his arms on the edge and his chin on his arms.
He sighed and closed his eyes. No point getting so stressed just yet. She was late... so what? She was late sometimes. Granted, not late by days, but usually by hours. What if something really was wrong...?
Inuyasha decided to give her until sundown... and then he'd go check and make sure everything would was ok. She probably wouldn't be there again... still off on the other side of that huge city with her father...
He wasn't about to hurry her back. And he calmed down to think she was probably spending some nice quality time with her father, she could afford to be late. But she better come back soon or Inuyasha wasn't too secure about maintaining his sanity.
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"There once was an ugly duckling..." Kagome sung gently under her breath as she chopped up some carrots in an orderly fashion, making sure the little slices were all roughly equal. "And something, something... swan...!"
She finished chopping the carrots and shoved them into the boiling pot of water for cooking. Mechanically, she pulled over a bunch of leaks and set them on the chopping board to cut them as well, like she'd done a thousand times. She hummed slightly to herself as she worked.
"Kagome-chan?"
Her knife slipped and she narrowly avoided slicing her own thumb off. She dropped the handle quickly and spun around to face Denji, a little embarrassed at being caught humming to herself. It annoyed her as well... for the past two days she'd been living in the same house with this man - and he'd already started adding 'chan' to her name. From an outside point of view it make have seemed innocent enough, that Denji had grown fond enough of her to call her that. But Kagome felt he was only calling her this in a condescending fashion... making her seem below him like a little child would be.
She resented that a lot.
But once more she had no real evidence or proof that would make all these claims tangible. It was more likely that it was all in her head.
"What is it Denji?" she asked with a tight-lipped smile, waiting for him to reach for that butcher knife rack beside him and attempt to do her in.
He sighed and smiled placidly, seemingly not noticing her almost hostile air. "You know how we were talking about helping your math tutoring?"
Kagome scowled slightly. They hadn't talked about anything - at least, they'd not really talked much to Kagome to see how she felt about it. "Uh- huh." She opted for the non-committed answer.
"Well I've been looking at you school time table and you appear to have a few exams the first week back - Maths is one of the first I believe." He said casually.
Kagome nodded, until she realised with a start that her time table was in her room - meaning Denji must have gone in there to see it. She felt a little violated all of a sudden. But she shouldn't... lots of people went in her room. Souta, her mother, not so much of Grandpa... definitely a lot of Inuyasha though. Why would Denji make her feel uneasy?
"So I've been talking with you mother and we've decided that it's best if you start having little tutoring sessions with me, an hour a night." He smiled. "What do you say?"
"Every night?" Kagome asked dubiously.
"Until the real exams hit in May." He nodded.
Kagome shifted uneasily. "But..." she wouldn't be at home most of the time in the run up to May. She'd hopefully be in the Sengoku Jidai. She had to go back some point... and Inuyasha wasn't going to be happy about her spending most of her time in her own world.
"Come on, Kagome-chan. If you don't put the effort in, you'll fail." He chided. "You won't get that medical degree if you fail maths."
So he knew about her dream career too? It figured... "I would have though biology was more important." She argued, just to spite him.
"You biology grades have fallen - though it is your best subject so far."
"That's because I get to see things dissected on a regular day to day basis." She said with all seriousness, hoping to unnerve him... it didn't work.
"That's what TV does to kids these days." He shrugged. "We might as well start tonight. Say eight o'clock?"
"It's a date." Kagome nodded with forced cheerfulness. "See you later Denji."
"Oh, and you can start calling me Dad if you'd like." He said before he left.
Kagome nearly buckled like she'd been punched in the gut. She already had a dad... and it would be an insult to start calling some new man she hardly new 'dad' too. She opened her mouth to refuse point blank. She was willing to accept a few things about this sudden change in her home - but actually accepting Denji as a father was over the line.
But then her mother would be angry at her for being rude to Denji. Kagome closed her mouth suddenly as she mentally slapped herself for being stubborn and immature. This man was going to be here for a while... and she was going to have to start accepting the fact that he would be her step father. Why delay the inevitable?
"Ok... dad..." she said jerkily and saw him flash her a brief smile before walking out of the kitchen.
Kagome stood dumbly for a few moments, contemplating on how wrong it felt to call him that. It was like calling Naraku 'sweetheart' - just unnatural! She shivered and turned to pick up her knife with a peeved expression puckering her brow. She began chopping at the leaks angrily, making odd little pieces fly off the counter and over her shoulders.
A new song flashed into her head which she sung through clenched teeth and punctuated with bangs of the knife on the board. "You know sometimes I want to bash in your teeth... daddy... I'm gonna use your tongue as a stamp... I'm gonna rip your heart out..."
Yeah, she was spending too much time around Inuyasha. Now she was beginning to think like him...
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"Oh come on, Kagome-chan... you must at least know how to solve a quadratic equation." Denji tapped his pencil against the surface of her desk with impatience.
"A what?" She stared at him blankly .
He sighed and pulled the paper towards him and started making quick calculations and talking whilst he did so. Kagome tried to follow at first until she gave up and turned her gaze away from him to various objects around her room, until she finally found herself gazing out the window behind Denji.
Her desk was only made to seat one person, so she'd had to pull it away from the window to allow Denji a place to sit. Now he sat with his back to his window... which perhaps on hind sight, had been a good thing too.
"There - is that clear?" Denji set the pencil down.
"Yeah sure." About as clear as mud. She nodded and pretended she understood everything he was rambling on about.
"Good-" and off he went again about the love of his life - Maths! Kagome gave a quiet little sighed and rested her chin on her upturned palm while her eyes glazed over with boredom and felt like the supreme cretin of all time. How had she been talked into this?
A flicker of red outside her window caught her attention and she snapped to alert at once to dart a look outside, behind Denji. It was unmistakably Inuyasha - balancing easily on the branch, but obscured slightly because it was so dark out there. Kagome couldn't contain her cry or joy and surprise.
"What?" Denji looked up at her with a scowl and saw her looking out the window. He started to turn, intent of seeing what had surprised her.
Kagome shot a frantic glance between the curious Denji and a rather irritated Inuyasha who was mouthing things and pointing to her step father. "Uh, uh - I just remembered my favourite SIT com. is on!" she yelled.
"Huh?" Denji glanced back at her but then turned back to the window suddenly when a muffled thud could be heard. "What was that?"
"Buyo - he was on the branch - stupid cat's too fat to climb trees." Kagome said quickly.
"Ok." He shrugged with a strange expression. He stood up suddenly and put his pen down. "Well our hour's up so you can go watch your show. Later Kagome-chan."
"Bye... dad..." Kagome had to force the words out without sounding like she was choking on them.
He smiled as he shut the door behind him and Kagome glowered. All his smiles were fake... who did he think he was trying to kid?
"Oh!" She suddenly remembered who was waiting outside the window at that moment and ran around the desk to push it open and lean out. "Inuyasha?" she called into the darkness. "You there?"
"Seven fucking days Kagome!" he suddenly shoved his way past her into the room, startling the living day lights out of her. "Do you know how long that is?!"
"A week?" she asked before making a quieting gesture. "Could we keep it down a bit? I don't want everyone downstairs to hear us."
"Seven days - that's a hundred and sixty eight hours you know." He fumed, pacing her room with clenched fists.
"Really?" Kagome blinked in surprise.
"A hundred and sixty eight hours... ten thousand and eight minutes..." he scowled angrily and shot her a poisoned glare. "Six hundred and forty eight thousand fucking seconds!"
And he'd counted every single one.
"Inuyasha..." Kagome cocked her head. "You wanna do my math homework for me?"
"No - this isn't the time for work - we have to get back to work!" he grabbed her arm and started dragging her towards the window.
"Hang on - wait - I can't go yet!" she protested, but it didn't seem to move him. "Inuyasha - wait or I'll say the S word!"
He stopped and dropped her arm to look back at her, clearly confused. "Why are you threatening me? Don't you want to come back?"
Kagome sighed with anguish. "No - I really DO want to go back with you - but I can't right now."
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What's the problem? You said you wanted five days to go visit your dad - you've had your time! You've had extra as well! Now you're coming back home!"
"It's not MY home Inuyasha." She sighed, seeing him narrow his eyes further. She rushed on. "But new problems have come up... and I have to stay here for another week."
"What?!" he yelled.
"SHH!"
"Another six hundred and forty eight thou-"
"Yes!" Kagome hissed. "Keep your voice down!"
"You can't - I won't allow you to skip this much time off!" he grabbed her arm and began hauling her back towards the window.
"Sit!"
He managed to let go of her arm in time so he wouldn't wrench it out of its socket as he smacked into the carpet. Well... it was softer than the concrete slabs outside her window...
"I'm sorry Inuyasha..." she knelt down beside him. "But I can't go back with you just yet."
Inuyasha didn't move from his sprawled position, but he did move his hands, to rap his fingers angrily on the floor beside her knee. Kagome bit her lip and waited for him to say something. After a moment he lifted his head as the effects of the spell wore off and gave her a penetrating stare. "Who was that guy who was sitting in that chair over there?"
He jerked his chin in the direction of her desk and she darted a glance at Denji's chair before looking back at Inuyasha. "Um... that was Denji... he's... he's... my dad..."
"You're lying." Inuyasha snapped rather angrily. "If he was your father then he would smell like you - it's a biological fact that girls inherit their smell from their fathers."
"What?" Kagome stared at him.
"It's to avoid incest..." Inuyasha berated her. "So men won't accidentally... you know... with people that smell like them... - anyway the point is he's not your father!"
"You think?" Kagome rolled her eyes.
"Your father must smell a whole lot better than that guy, that's for sure." He pushed his way to his feet while Kagome tried to figure out the meaning of his words. Nah... he couldn't really mean she smelled nice... slip of the tongue.
"Denji isn't my real father. He's my step father." Kagome explained.
"Oh..." Inuyasha looked slightly relieved. "I thought he was too old to be your boyfriend."
"Inuyasha - with the amount of time I spend around you, I don't have enough time to find other boys to be my friends." She sighed. "And the reason why I can't go with you is because of Denji. I have to stay here for a while because of him."
Inuyasha scowled at her before sticking a hand out to help her to her feet. "Why do you have to stay? He's not your real father."
"I still have to call him dad." Kagome sighed.
Inuyasha still didn't understand. "Is your real father dead?"
"No!"
"Then why are you calling someone else 'dad'?"
"Because..." Kagome struggled to explain. "Because he's going to be acting as father of this family from now on. I have to respect him and stay here to get to know him."
"Why should you? If he's no relation to you, you shouldn't have to respect him." Inuyasha pointed out. "Unless you LIKE the guy. Do you like him more than us?"
"No!" Kagome said hurriedly. "I really don't respect or like him in anyway! I'd much rather go shard hunting than stay here with that... that Sesshomaru wannabe!"
"Then why are you bothering? Just say no!"
"I can't - because if I do I will upset my mother and she's had it tough recently! She deserves some happiness and she doesn't need me being insolent and rude!" Kagome snapped. "I want to make her happy... so I'm going to try and get to like this guy... but she wants me to stay here for a few months until my exams are over and the wedding will probably be over... then I can go back to the feudal era with you.
"Shit no!" Inuyasha yelled. "One week was long enough as it was."
"I know, I know!" she tried to calm him down quickly. "That's why after next week when school starts again... I'll go back through the well. They'll think I'm at school... and you'll have me for six hours a day to do shard hunting. But I have to come back here every night to make it look like I've been at school."
"No!" Inuyasha shook his head. "That's unreasonable."
"Or I could just not bother at all. I could just go to school and catch up on my work and go join you in a few months." She folded her arms seriously. "Is that a better solution."
"That's worse!"
"Six hours a day Inuyasha. That's the best I can do!" she sighed. "I'm sorry..."
Inuyasha stared heatedly at her a moment before cursing under his breath and giving her a dirty roll of the eyes. "I should never have let you come back in the first place..."
Maybe he was right. If she hadn't been able to come back she wouldn't have gone to her father's place and found out about Mari. Then she wouldn't have caused her Mother to come clean about Denji. And Denji wouldn't have moved into the house. Then Kagome would still be free to pass between worlds whenever she wanted.
"I don't think it would have made a difference." She said quietly, turning her eyes to the ground.
She saw annoyed and frustrated expressions flicker over Inuyasha's face... vaguely reminding her of times when Souta was deprived his favourite food, TV show or refused chances to go see his friends. She wanted to kick herself for being so unfair to him.
Suddenly without warning he jerked her forward and pulled her into an excruciatingly tight embrace. "I-Inuyasha?"
He closed his eyes with an anguished frown as he hugged her tighter, trying to savour the moment as best he could - get enough reassurance from her to last another week alone. He didn't like the terms she'd laid out... but he had no choice...
He was just going to have to go insane over the next few months till summer...
Kagome was just moving to reciprocate the embrace when he suddenly jerked away with a closed expression. He opened his mouth to say something before closing it and stomping over to the window. He swung himself out with one word of farewell. "Bye."
He disappeared before Kagome had the chance to echo the word... the cool breeze blew through the window and she shivered, suddenly feeling very open and alone. She didn't often feel this way... but she usually had lots of people around her that she could depend on.
She almost always had Inuyasha... he was usually there even when she wanted him gone. He was always a good support to lean against... to talk to... and her family was supposedly even more of a stronger support. But recently... she was feeling that she was being separated from it all. Her mother didn't come and have those frequent mother-daughter chats that they usually had. Souta wasn't much of a person to confide in and depend on... and the less send about Grandpa's dependability the better. They were her emotional support... and they were drifting away at a shocking rate.
And Inuyasha... the person she depended on with her life was not going to be around as much as she would have liked.
That horrible lonely feeling crept up on her and she quietly went over to close the window... hesitating slightly as if it symbolised how she was shutting out Inuyasha from her life. But she shook her head at her silliness and closed it quickly.
But she couldn't shake the feeling as she slipped under the covers of her bed, still fully dressed, and only at nine o'clock. She figured this would be a good time to devise a way out of her problems...
Too bad she fell asleep before she came to any real solution...
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AN: Seems to be a little trouble uploading these chapters. The gaps don't show up unless you put something in them like a *. Don't know why. But I thought I better change it so I wouldn't confuse you all (but you're probably still confused anyway).
And I noticed a lot of people who reviewed could also relate to evil step fathers and mothers - and sometimes just evil mothers and fathers. I can't really relate to the former (but I can to the latter >_<)... but you have my sympathies.
Anyway, back with a second chapter, it's not like me to leave things on the shelf to rot away. And I swear I'm making a move on 28 Days... and Where no man has gone before
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Father Figure
The Way Things Will Be
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"Do you think he's dead?" Sango asked Miroku as she stepped out of Kaede's hut onto the porch where the monk sat dangling some scrap string for Kirara to taggle at.
Miroku glanced up at the half demon she was referring to, eyeing him critically. Inuyasha was laid flat out on his back under the shade of one of the nearby trees. Shippo was dancing around him singing some rhymes... who really by now should have been pummelled into the ground by the hanyou. "I don't think so... I'd say he's about three hours away from carving that tree into Kagome's look-alike replacement though..."
Sango shifted with concern. "Why don't you check... make sure he hasn't choked himself of something..."
Miroku sighed and set down the string he'd been playing with and took off his sandal. He picked it up and tossed it gently in his palm a moment before flinging it in the general direction of Inuyasha...
"Whatthefuck - MONK!"
The sandal came sailing back and Sango quickly dodged out of the way as it shot past and clonked Miroku on the head. "Thanks for saving me there..."
"No problem." Sango smiled and picked up Kirara to head back inside.
"And you can put a sodding sock in it as well!" Inuyasha yelled, grabbing Shippo and throwing him up into the precarious branches of the tree above.
"Inuyasha! Inuyasha! Get me down - you know I don't climb trees!" Shippo yelled at the top of his lungs. "Inuyasha!"
The hanyou rolled his eyes and pushed himself onto his feet to go stomp off somewhere else for some peace. The well would do nicely for some solitude just then...
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Kagome had never felt more uncomfortable in her own home than she did right then. Actually... she felt like she was a visitor, or a guest... or something that had been caught out of the loop on this one.
The brief introduction to Denji had been... well... out of the blue and like a slap in the face. Kagome was still standing, reeling over the shock in the hallway, still in her shoes. She'd barely walked in the door before this shocking bit of news was thrust into her attention.
Grandpa had to bodily move her into the living room so they could all sit down. Denji and her mother talked with her... actually, they talked AT her. Kagome couldn't find anything intelligent or coherent to say. She just sat with a stumped expression on her face as she tried to absorb all the information that was being thrown at her.
She managed to catch to odd titbit... Denji was a School teacher, teaching maths of all things. He was forty eight... two years older than her mother... and worked out at the gym four times a week for three hours straight each session.
Kagome couldn't remove her gaze from his face. He was watching her with a neutral, slight smile. But every now and then as Mrs Higurashi chattered away happily about him, his smile would disappear and he would be giving her a rather penetrating stare. In some ways, his whole vibe reminded her vaguely of Sesshomaru...
"Well, now that we all know a little more about one another, I'll go make us some tea." Kagome's mother stood and turned to head into the kitchen.
"I'll help you." Denji offered, earning a happy smile from his fiancée.
As soon as they were gone Kagome leapt up like she'd finally been freed of invisible bonds. She grabbed Souta's shoulders and jerked him away from the TV set. "What the heck is going on around here?"
Souta looked around. "You what?"
"Who IS this Denji guy?" Kagome hissed, trying to keep her voice down.
"Haven't you been listening?" Souta rolled his eyes. "Jeez, Kagome, stay with it."
"Aren't you surprised by this?" Kagome stared at him in bewilderment. "Mom suddenly just brings a man home claiming to be her husband-to-be and everyone here is all hunk-dory?!"
"She didn't just 'bring him in' like a stray, Kag." Souta pried her hands off his shirt and went back to watching TV. "She told us about him over dinner, said he was a great guy and that she hoped to let him stay with us."
So it hadn't been smack in his face like it had just been for her... she still felt slightly ill and glanced at her grandfather for some guidance. "When did all this happen?"
"While you were away, Kagome dear." He answered with a plain shrug, obviously not aware of her distress. "He's a very nice fellow, you'll like him when you get to know him."
Kagome still didn't understand what was happening in her house. So she stood up and followed her mother into the kitchen. She really wished she hadn't... "Oh god - I'm sorry!"
Denji and her mother suddenly broke apart from where they had been in a light embrace doing you know what... disgusting really at their age. Kagome could have sworn her mother was blushing like a school girl again.
A rather tense pause followed as Kagome refused to leave. Denji cleared his throat and shot Mrs Higurashi a smile. "I'll just go... make the beds..." he excused himself and walked out.
Kagome turned her gaze to her mother who quickly busied herself with finishing brewing the tea. Kagome narrowed her eyes slightly. "Nice of you to warn me before I got back..."
"Well - it was rather sudden, I'm sorry." Her mother apologised quickly and flippantly. She didn't really mean her words.
"Why haven't you ever talked about him?" Kagome asked, seeing her mother refuse to meet her eyes. "Which room is he staying in? Are you really going to marry him?"
"Yes!" Mrs Higurashi stopped and turned to her daughter with a smile. "Why else would he be living here if it wasn't serious?"
Kagome suddenly got hold of a rather nasty thought. She probably should have kept quiet, but her adrenaline was running a little high and her mouth was moving faster than her brain... like Inuyasha in so many ways. "You're not dating him just because you're jealous that Dad is marrying Mari, are you?"
Her mother set down the china tea cups so hard they chingled together with a bang. "I will not have you say things like that, Kagome! I have been seeing Denji for a very long time, I only kept things to myself because I thought it would upset you!"
"It's upset me more that you suddenly decided to slam it in my face with no warning!" Kagome cried.
"Well what would you have preferred? I marry him in secret and three years later introduce you to your new step father?" Her mother scowled. "Why are you being like this Kagome? I thought I could trust you to be mature about this. You could at least be polite to him - don't think I didn't notice how you stared so rudely at him."
"Well he was staring at me!" Kagome argued.
"Stop behaving like a child Kagome! Souta behaved better than this! Denji is a member of the family now and you should treat him as such! I don't need you making him feel unwelcome!"
Kagome couldn't help but feel that SHE was the one feeling unwelcome. But her mother's words sobered her slightly and she dropped her head. "I'm sorry... it's just really sudden... I didn't expect this..."
"I understand." Her mother said curtly and walked off with the tray of tea, back into the living room.
Kagome slumped into one of the chairs beside the kitchen table and ran her hands through her hair. She was being immature about this. She'd accepted Mari just fine... why not Denji?
Because there was something about the way he looked at her... a mild form of the Sesshomaru gaze. Like he was looking right past her body and seeing her soul... and looking on in contempt at it. That unblinking penetrating glare...
But that was just being stupid! She'd barely met the guy for a few minutes and she was believing he could be the spawn of evil. No... he was a teacher... a maths teacher... he was naturally supposed to have that evil look... but he was probably a really nice guy. Souta seemed to like him well enough.
"Wait..." she suddenly lifted her head, her face lax with sudden realisation. She shoved away from the table and ran into the living room where her real family was sitting down to watch the evening television. "Um - does Denji know?!"
"Know what, dear?" her grandpa asked as he calmly sipped his tea.
"About Inuyasha - the well!" Kagome asked urgently.
The three family members exchanged looks. "We thought it best if you told him. From the horse's mouth as it were." Her mother told her.
Kagome didn't know if that was supposed to be a good or bad thing... She didn't get much of a chance to ponder on that as Denji entered suddenly and took his seat close next to her mother. He looked at Kagome and suddenly smiled. "You're mom tells me you're having trouble with your maths."
Kagome's fists clenched behind her back. she had to force her mouth to open and speak, though she spoke jerkily. "Did she?"
"And since I specialise in maths, we thought maybe I could help tutor you." Denji placed the offer on the table.
She wanted to refuse loudly. She hated maths but she wasn't miserably failing it like other people in her class were. She'd pass the exams with a C, maybe even a B if she put her back into it. She didn't want or need a tutor.
"See? Isn't that nice of Denji." Kagome's mother prompted her after her silent pause. "What do you say?"
Kagome forced a big fake smile on her face and laughed. "That's great - that's perfect. Yep! I'm down with that! Yep, yep, yep!" she toddled of with her fixed smile until she was out of the room and halfway up the stairs. Then the happy expression slipped to agony and she slapped her forehead repeatedly. "Great, great, great, great! Moron!" she muttered angrily under her breath.
"Oh and Kagome!" she stopped when she heard her mother calling her. "Don't go visiting your... friends for a while, ok? I want you to stay home for the holidays!"
Kagome's heart sunk further, if that was at all possible. A whole holiday without seeing Inuyasha and her friends? A whole holiday with a math tutor living in the next room over? This sucked completely...
With a sigh she continued up to her room and shivered as she turned on the light. The heating hadn't been turned on in there and it was particularly cold. The light bulb was without a shade and hung starkly from the ceiling and it all seemed very quiet. Downstairs she could hear the muffled sounds of the television going... and remembered how warm and cosy it had been in there.
But there was no place for her to sit other than floor... just like when she'd been a kid and their father had still been living there. He and her mother had sat on the two-seater couch while grandpa sat on his separate armchair. The kids had sat on the floor before their parents legs like the family usually did in the evening.
But seeing Denji sit in her father's place was too much. Seeing his arm curled around her mother's shoulder like HE was the father of the family had been too much. Kagome didn't want to be a part of his family just yet. She needed to get used to these circumstances... so she needed to sit in her room and think.
She shivered again and looked across at the window. It was open and there was one rather bold muddy footprint on her desk. No doubt belonging to Inuyasha...
Well... it warmed her heart to know he'd visited, even though he'd known she wouldn't be there. What was he trying to achieve by that? Perhaps he was just trying to catch her out... to see if she was at home with one of her human boyfriends. Like she had any in the first place...
Though she didn't want him to visit again... if he bumped into Denji, then what? She didn't want Denji to know about this close family secret yet... she didn't see him as a member of the family yet... but she wanted nothing more than to slip off and go see them all.
For no reason whatsoever, Kagome flopped down onto her bed and began to cry in her cold lonely room. Though she wasn't sure why..
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"Ok - it's been six and a half days - this is fucking ridiculous!" Inuyasha snapped as he passed alongside the well. Miroku watched him blankly from a nearby log. "What the hell could be taking so long?!"
"She did say she would be gone a while, didn't she?" Miroku pointed out.
"Four to five days she said! Not six! Not six and a half!" Inuyasha stopped and rapidly rapped his fingers against the lip of the well, so much wasted and frustrated energy burned under his skin... and he could get rid of it. There was nothing to do! "I could build the three fucking imperial palaces with the amount of energy I have! I could probably tear Naraku to pieces in one swing!"
"Then by all means, do so." Miroku told him bluntly.
"Can't be bothered..." Inuyasha down on the well side, suddenly feeling that energy leave him.
Miroku sighed and stood up, shifting his weight against his staff. "Of all the things to master in this world, Inuyasha, the one you need to master most would be patience."
"I don't have the time!" he snapped back. "Every precious second is being wasted - Kagome could be here and we could be doing something interesting!"
"Like walking?" Miroku guessed dully.
"Yes! Walking - to Naraku and demons and other things that are capable of blowing up when you hit them." Inuyasha kicked the well angrily, but not hard enough to fell it. Didn't want to block Kagome's way back just yet...
"Only fools rush around, Inuyasha."
"And only morons sit back and watch life and youth just float by, Miroku!" Inuyasha growled. "Kagome's taking too long!"
Miroku frowned lightly. "Maybe something's amiss in her world?"
"What do you mean?" Inuyasha turned to him sharply.
"Kagome is late from time to time... but..." the young monk sighed. "She usually sticks to her promises like this one. Normally she'd be back by now... I'd say there's something wrong."
Great... now Miroku had him worried. What if a demon like the Noh mask was in Kagome's time again. Inuyasha jumped to the worst case scenario at once. Was Kagome dead?!
Miroku suddenly smiled mildly. "Well I'll be off. I do believe I smell Kaede cooking something tasty."
"Like Shippo..." Inuyasha muttered under his breath, turning his back on the departing monk to crouch beside the well and rest his arms on the edge and his chin on his arms.
He sighed and closed his eyes. No point getting so stressed just yet. She was late... so what? She was late sometimes. Granted, not late by days, but usually by hours. What if something really was wrong...?
Inuyasha decided to give her until sundown... and then he'd go check and make sure everything would was ok. She probably wouldn't be there again... still off on the other side of that huge city with her father...
He wasn't about to hurry her back. And he calmed down to think she was probably spending some nice quality time with her father, she could afford to be late. But she better come back soon or Inuyasha wasn't too secure about maintaining his sanity.
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"There once was an ugly duckling..." Kagome sung gently under her breath as she chopped up some carrots in an orderly fashion, making sure the little slices were all roughly equal. "And something, something... swan...!"
She finished chopping the carrots and shoved them into the boiling pot of water for cooking. Mechanically, she pulled over a bunch of leaks and set them on the chopping board to cut them as well, like she'd done a thousand times. She hummed slightly to herself as she worked.
"Kagome-chan?"
Her knife slipped and she narrowly avoided slicing her own thumb off. She dropped the handle quickly and spun around to face Denji, a little embarrassed at being caught humming to herself. It annoyed her as well... for the past two days she'd been living in the same house with this man - and he'd already started adding 'chan' to her name. From an outside point of view it make have seemed innocent enough, that Denji had grown fond enough of her to call her that. But Kagome felt he was only calling her this in a condescending fashion... making her seem below him like a little child would be.
She resented that a lot.
But once more she had no real evidence or proof that would make all these claims tangible. It was more likely that it was all in her head.
"What is it Denji?" she asked with a tight-lipped smile, waiting for him to reach for that butcher knife rack beside him and attempt to do her in.
He sighed and smiled placidly, seemingly not noticing her almost hostile air. "You know how we were talking about helping your math tutoring?"
Kagome scowled slightly. They hadn't talked about anything - at least, they'd not really talked much to Kagome to see how she felt about it. "Uh- huh." She opted for the non-committed answer.
"Well I've been looking at you school time table and you appear to have a few exams the first week back - Maths is one of the first I believe." He said casually.
Kagome nodded, until she realised with a start that her time table was in her room - meaning Denji must have gone in there to see it. She felt a little violated all of a sudden. But she shouldn't... lots of people went in her room. Souta, her mother, not so much of Grandpa... definitely a lot of Inuyasha though. Why would Denji make her feel uneasy?
"So I've been talking with you mother and we've decided that it's best if you start having little tutoring sessions with me, an hour a night." He smiled. "What do you say?"
"Every night?" Kagome asked dubiously.
"Until the real exams hit in May." He nodded.
Kagome shifted uneasily. "But..." she wouldn't be at home most of the time in the run up to May. She'd hopefully be in the Sengoku Jidai. She had to go back some point... and Inuyasha wasn't going to be happy about her spending most of her time in her own world.
"Come on, Kagome-chan. If you don't put the effort in, you'll fail." He chided. "You won't get that medical degree if you fail maths."
So he knew about her dream career too? It figured... "I would have though biology was more important." She argued, just to spite him.
"You biology grades have fallen - though it is your best subject so far."
"That's because I get to see things dissected on a regular day to day basis." She said with all seriousness, hoping to unnerve him... it didn't work.
"That's what TV does to kids these days." He shrugged. "We might as well start tonight. Say eight o'clock?"
"It's a date." Kagome nodded with forced cheerfulness. "See you later Denji."
"Oh, and you can start calling me Dad if you'd like." He said before he left.
Kagome nearly buckled like she'd been punched in the gut. She already had a dad... and it would be an insult to start calling some new man she hardly new 'dad' too. She opened her mouth to refuse point blank. She was willing to accept a few things about this sudden change in her home - but actually accepting Denji as a father was over the line.
But then her mother would be angry at her for being rude to Denji. Kagome closed her mouth suddenly as she mentally slapped herself for being stubborn and immature. This man was going to be here for a while... and she was going to have to start accepting the fact that he would be her step father. Why delay the inevitable?
"Ok... dad..." she said jerkily and saw him flash her a brief smile before walking out of the kitchen.
Kagome stood dumbly for a few moments, contemplating on how wrong it felt to call him that. It was like calling Naraku 'sweetheart' - just unnatural! She shivered and turned to pick up her knife with a peeved expression puckering her brow. She began chopping at the leaks angrily, making odd little pieces fly off the counter and over her shoulders.
A new song flashed into her head which she sung through clenched teeth and punctuated with bangs of the knife on the board. "You know sometimes I want to bash in your teeth... daddy... I'm gonna use your tongue as a stamp... I'm gonna rip your heart out..."
Yeah, she was spending too much time around Inuyasha. Now she was beginning to think like him...
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"Oh come on, Kagome-chan... you must at least know how to solve a quadratic equation." Denji tapped his pencil against the surface of her desk with impatience.
"A what?" She stared at him blankly .
He sighed and pulled the paper towards him and started making quick calculations and talking whilst he did so. Kagome tried to follow at first until she gave up and turned her gaze away from him to various objects around her room, until she finally found herself gazing out the window behind Denji.
Her desk was only made to seat one person, so she'd had to pull it away from the window to allow Denji a place to sit. Now he sat with his back to his window... which perhaps on hind sight, had been a good thing too.
"There - is that clear?" Denji set the pencil down.
"Yeah sure." About as clear as mud. She nodded and pretended she understood everything he was rambling on about.
"Good-" and off he went again about the love of his life - Maths! Kagome gave a quiet little sighed and rested her chin on her upturned palm while her eyes glazed over with boredom and felt like the supreme cretin of all time. How had she been talked into this?
A flicker of red outside her window caught her attention and she snapped to alert at once to dart a look outside, behind Denji. It was unmistakably Inuyasha - balancing easily on the branch, but obscured slightly because it was so dark out there. Kagome couldn't contain her cry or joy and surprise.
"What?" Denji looked up at her with a scowl and saw her looking out the window. He started to turn, intent of seeing what had surprised her.
Kagome shot a frantic glance between the curious Denji and a rather irritated Inuyasha who was mouthing things and pointing to her step father. "Uh, uh - I just remembered my favourite SIT com. is on!" she yelled.
"Huh?" Denji glanced back at her but then turned back to the window suddenly when a muffled thud could be heard. "What was that?"
"Buyo - he was on the branch - stupid cat's too fat to climb trees." Kagome said quickly.
"Ok." He shrugged with a strange expression. He stood up suddenly and put his pen down. "Well our hour's up so you can go watch your show. Later Kagome-chan."
"Bye... dad..." Kagome had to force the words out without sounding like she was choking on them.
He smiled as he shut the door behind him and Kagome glowered. All his smiles were fake... who did he think he was trying to kid?
"Oh!" She suddenly remembered who was waiting outside the window at that moment and ran around the desk to push it open and lean out. "Inuyasha?" she called into the darkness. "You there?"
"Seven fucking days Kagome!" he suddenly shoved his way past her into the room, startling the living day lights out of her. "Do you know how long that is?!"
"A week?" she asked before making a quieting gesture. "Could we keep it down a bit? I don't want everyone downstairs to hear us."
"Seven days - that's a hundred and sixty eight hours you know." He fumed, pacing her room with clenched fists.
"Really?" Kagome blinked in surprise.
"A hundred and sixty eight hours... ten thousand and eight minutes..." he scowled angrily and shot her a poisoned glare. "Six hundred and forty eight thousand fucking seconds!"
And he'd counted every single one.
"Inuyasha..." Kagome cocked her head. "You wanna do my math homework for me?"
"No - this isn't the time for work - we have to get back to work!" he grabbed her arm and started dragging her towards the window.
"Hang on - wait - I can't go yet!" she protested, but it didn't seem to move him. "Inuyasha - wait or I'll say the S word!"
He stopped and dropped her arm to look back at her, clearly confused. "Why are you threatening me? Don't you want to come back?"
Kagome sighed with anguish. "No - I really DO want to go back with you - but I can't right now."
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What's the problem? You said you wanted five days to go visit your dad - you've had your time! You've had extra as well! Now you're coming back home!"
"It's not MY home Inuyasha." She sighed, seeing him narrow his eyes further. She rushed on. "But new problems have come up... and I have to stay here for another week."
"What?!" he yelled.
"SHH!"
"Another six hundred and forty eight thou-"
"Yes!" Kagome hissed. "Keep your voice down!"
"You can't - I won't allow you to skip this much time off!" he grabbed her arm and began hauling her back towards the window.
"Sit!"
He managed to let go of her arm in time so he wouldn't wrench it out of its socket as he smacked into the carpet. Well... it was softer than the concrete slabs outside her window...
"I'm sorry Inuyasha..." she knelt down beside him. "But I can't go back with you just yet."
Inuyasha didn't move from his sprawled position, but he did move his hands, to rap his fingers angrily on the floor beside her knee. Kagome bit her lip and waited for him to say something. After a moment he lifted his head as the effects of the spell wore off and gave her a penetrating stare. "Who was that guy who was sitting in that chair over there?"
He jerked his chin in the direction of her desk and she darted a glance at Denji's chair before looking back at Inuyasha. "Um... that was Denji... he's... he's... my dad..."
"You're lying." Inuyasha snapped rather angrily. "If he was your father then he would smell like you - it's a biological fact that girls inherit their smell from their fathers."
"What?" Kagome stared at him.
"It's to avoid incest..." Inuyasha berated her. "So men won't accidentally... you know... with people that smell like them... - anyway the point is he's not your father!"
"You think?" Kagome rolled her eyes.
"Your father must smell a whole lot better than that guy, that's for sure." He pushed his way to his feet while Kagome tried to figure out the meaning of his words. Nah... he couldn't really mean she smelled nice... slip of the tongue.
"Denji isn't my real father. He's my step father." Kagome explained.
"Oh..." Inuyasha looked slightly relieved. "I thought he was too old to be your boyfriend."
"Inuyasha - with the amount of time I spend around you, I don't have enough time to find other boys to be my friends." She sighed. "And the reason why I can't go with you is because of Denji. I have to stay here for a while because of him."
Inuyasha scowled at her before sticking a hand out to help her to her feet. "Why do you have to stay? He's not your real father."
"I still have to call him dad." Kagome sighed.
Inuyasha still didn't understand. "Is your real father dead?"
"No!"
"Then why are you calling someone else 'dad'?"
"Because..." Kagome struggled to explain. "Because he's going to be acting as father of this family from now on. I have to respect him and stay here to get to know him."
"Why should you? If he's no relation to you, you shouldn't have to respect him." Inuyasha pointed out. "Unless you LIKE the guy. Do you like him more than us?"
"No!" Kagome said hurriedly. "I really don't respect or like him in anyway! I'd much rather go shard hunting than stay here with that... that Sesshomaru wannabe!"
"Then why are you bothering? Just say no!"
"I can't - because if I do I will upset my mother and she's had it tough recently! She deserves some happiness and she doesn't need me being insolent and rude!" Kagome snapped. "I want to make her happy... so I'm going to try and get to like this guy... but she wants me to stay here for a few months until my exams are over and the wedding will probably be over... then I can go back to the feudal era with you.
"Shit no!" Inuyasha yelled. "One week was long enough as it was."
"I know, I know!" she tried to calm him down quickly. "That's why after next week when school starts again... I'll go back through the well. They'll think I'm at school... and you'll have me for six hours a day to do shard hunting. But I have to come back here every night to make it look like I've been at school."
"No!" Inuyasha shook his head. "That's unreasonable."
"Or I could just not bother at all. I could just go to school and catch up on my work and go join you in a few months." She folded her arms seriously. "Is that a better solution."
"That's worse!"
"Six hours a day Inuyasha. That's the best I can do!" she sighed. "I'm sorry..."
Inuyasha stared heatedly at her a moment before cursing under his breath and giving her a dirty roll of the eyes. "I should never have let you come back in the first place..."
Maybe he was right. If she hadn't been able to come back she wouldn't have gone to her father's place and found out about Mari. Then she wouldn't have caused her Mother to come clean about Denji. And Denji wouldn't have moved into the house. Then Kagome would still be free to pass between worlds whenever she wanted.
"I don't think it would have made a difference." She said quietly, turning her eyes to the ground.
She saw annoyed and frustrated expressions flicker over Inuyasha's face... vaguely reminding her of times when Souta was deprived his favourite food, TV show or refused chances to go see his friends. She wanted to kick herself for being so unfair to him.
Suddenly without warning he jerked her forward and pulled her into an excruciatingly tight embrace. "I-Inuyasha?"
He closed his eyes with an anguished frown as he hugged her tighter, trying to savour the moment as best he could - get enough reassurance from her to last another week alone. He didn't like the terms she'd laid out... but he had no choice...
He was just going to have to go insane over the next few months till summer...
Kagome was just moving to reciprocate the embrace when he suddenly jerked away with a closed expression. He opened his mouth to say something before closing it and stomping over to the window. He swung himself out with one word of farewell. "Bye."
He disappeared before Kagome had the chance to echo the word... the cool breeze blew through the window and she shivered, suddenly feeling very open and alone. She didn't often feel this way... but she usually had lots of people around her that she could depend on.
She almost always had Inuyasha... he was usually there even when she wanted him gone. He was always a good support to lean against... to talk to... and her family was supposedly even more of a stronger support. But recently... she was feeling that she was being separated from it all. Her mother didn't come and have those frequent mother-daughter chats that they usually had. Souta wasn't much of a person to confide in and depend on... and the less send about Grandpa's dependability the better. They were her emotional support... and they were drifting away at a shocking rate.
And Inuyasha... the person she depended on with her life was not going to be around as much as she would have liked.
That horrible lonely feeling crept up on her and she quietly went over to close the window... hesitating slightly as if it symbolised how she was shutting out Inuyasha from her life. But she shook her head at her silliness and closed it quickly.
But she couldn't shake the feeling as she slipped under the covers of her bed, still fully dressed, and only at nine o'clock. She figured this would be a good time to devise a way out of her problems...
Too bad she fell asleep before she came to any real solution...
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AN: Seems to be a little trouble uploading these chapters. The gaps don't show up unless you put something in them like a *. Don't know why. But I thought I better change it so I wouldn't confuse you all (but you're probably still confused anyway).