InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Future Beginnings ❯ Ch 9: Getting to Know You ( Chapter 9 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

 

Ch 9: Getting to Know You

 

 

Inuyasha stayed behind the next day while Kagome went to class. He took another shower and watched all his shows in Kagome's bathrobe, her pink fluffy towel wrapped around his head. One of her roommates even gave him a cup of tea before she, too, left for class, although it didn't taste like any tea Inuyasha had had before. He liked it, though. It was sweet.

 

After several hours, however, Inuyasha began to grow impatient. Kagome had begged him to stay here until she got back, even though she had agreed last night that there would be no more hiding. “Just until I get some modern clothes for you,” she had told him. “Then you can go out with me and meet my friends.”

 

Just when he had made up his mind to go looking for her, Kagome opened the front door and called up the stairs. “Inuyasha, are you dressed?”

 

What kind of question was that? Granted, he had spent much of the day wearing Kagome's bathrobe, but now he had on his own fire-rat robes again. At no time, except when he was actually in the shower, was he un-dressed. Unless she didn't want him to be dressed. A little shiver went through him at that thought. Old habits die hard, however.

 

“What kind of question is that?” he asked in an annoyed voice, standing at the top of the stairs with his arms folded in the sleeves of his haori.

 

Kagome stood just inside the door with two big plastic bags in her arms. She didn't look like she was hoping he'd still be in bed. She frowned up at him.

 

“I bought you some clothes to try on.”

 

“Oh,” said Inuyasha, vaguely disappointed. He cleared the steps in one easy jump and took the bags out of her hands. He started digging in the bags, pulling out different colored cloths—clothes, apparently—and a hat to hide his ears.

 

“Now can we go to the big food place at your school?”

 

“Yes, go put some of these clothes on—and be sure to put on the shoes, too.” Kagome indicated a box at the bottom of one of the bags. Inuyasha pulled off the cover and took out a pair of flat soft shoes. He eyed them with distaste.

 

“Go on,” Kagome said. “They're big and they slip on your feet. Try them.”

 

He sat on the bottom step and shoved his foot inside one of the shoes. He didn't like the feeling, but at least it didn't pinch.

 

Kagome gathered all the clothes he had scattered at the bottom of the stairs. “Let's try some of these on,” she told him.

 

Inuyasha eagerly followed Kagome to her room, ready to get un-dressed if that's what Kagome wanted. Unfortunately, she made him try on each piece of clothing, including the hat, until she was satisfied that he would fit in, as much as he could fit in, being what he was.

 

“Ok, let's go eat,” she said, approving of his new look. His long white hair still flowed wildly out from underneath his baseball cap, but he wouldn't be Inuyasha without his distinctive hair. He had folded his red fire rat clothes and put them on the shelf in her closet. It had been harder to get him to leave his sword there, too, but the promise of getting to go to `the big food place' finally convinced him to leave Tetsusaiga behind.

 

He looked—exotic. He looked like her Inuyasha might have if he had been born in this time. Kagome didn't know how this was going to work. As much as she wanted him to be with her out in the open, she still worried what people would do to him if they found out what he really was. For his sake, she kept her fears to herself at least for tonight.

 

They made it to the bottom parking lot where the shuttle would pick up students to go to the main campus when Inuyasha grabbed her around the waist and jumped into the nearest tree.

 

“Wait, Inuyasha! What if somebody sees!” protested Kagome.

 

“They won't,” he assured her. “This way we'll get to the big food place much faster.”

 

That was true. The shuttle bus was notoriously unreliable. Kagome relaxed and trusted in Inuyasha to get her to school unnoticed. With him, she knew she had to pick her battles. This was one she knew she wouldn't win.

 

He set her down near one of the deserted classroom buildings and they walked across the campus common area towards the cafeteria. Kagome took his hand and smiled up at him. At the food place, there were many students going in and out. Kagome dug her little square card out of her pocket and handed it to the girl at the counter. “Could you scan it twice, please?” she asked.

 

Inuyasha heard a faint `beep, beep,' then the girl waved them through the line and he was finally in the big food place. There were lots of different smells, mostly good ones. Kagome showed him how to take a tray and go through the lines to choose what he wanted. He wanted everything.

 

“Slow down! You can go back for more later!”

 

She steered him over to a long table and sat down with him at the unoccupied end. “So this is the cafeteria,” she said.

 

“Mm,” replied Inuyasha, his mouth full. His eyes scanned the room briefly, then dropped back down to his plate where he continued to shovel food in. Kagome had barely started her meal when he stood up and said, “I'm ready for more.”

 

“You can go back to where the food is, but take a new tray and stay in line—don't go in front of other people. Don't go out through the big doors or you can't get back in. I'll be right here.”

 

Kagome watched him go. He seemed so happy and carefree. She was glad to be able to give him a good experience in her time. Hopefully they would have many more.

 

“Hi, Kagome, mind if I sit here?” asked Noriko, as she slid back a chair and sat. “Is that Inuyasha over there? “ She pointed across the room to where Inuyasha was busily piling more food on his already overflowing plate. “Hi, Inuyasha!” she called and waved. Inuyasha looked up briefly and nodded as he headed back towards their table.

 

“Noriko,” he said and even gave her a brief smile. Then he turned to Kagome. “This stuff is good.” He pointed to a slice of pizza. “This stuff isn't so good.” He picked up a pat of butter and put it in his mouth. Both girls giggled.

 

Just then, a group of boys pushed by their table, deliberately bumping Inuyasha's shoulder as they passed. “Nice hair,” one of them said sarcastically as the others laughed.

 

Inuyasha bristled. He didn't know exactly what they had said, but he understood the tone. His fists curled and he glared at their backs as they continued past the table.

 

“Inuyasha,” said Kagome in a low voice. “Remember, they're only human.”

 

Noriko looked up sharply. Only human? She glanced at Inuyasha who had half-risen out of his seat and what she saw scared her. This boy seemed incredibly dangerous, she thought. Then Kagome put her small hand over his tensed one and stared up into his angry eyes. “Ignore them.” For a moment, Noriko didn't think he would listen. Then, with an audible sigh, he sank back down into his chair, squeezed Kagome's hand briefly, and resumed his meal. “This time,” he muttered between bites.

 

Kagome suddenly had a great idea. “Noriko,” she turned to the other girl. “Inuyasha needs a tutor to help him learn English. Would you be willing to do it?”

 

Noriko thought it was a great idea, too. She agreed to meet Inuyasha every morning at the library while Kagome was at class. All her own classes were scheduled in the afternoons and she had rehearsals most evenings, so her mornings were free.

 

“Why do I have to learn more English?” Inuyasha wanted to know. “I already know enough.”

 

“Noriko can explain it better to you because she can also speak Japanese. Besides, don't you want to know what those boys said to you?” asked Kagome, knowing that would get him going.

 

Inuyasha growled, making Noriko jump. She gave him a strange look. “Fine,” he said, turning to face her. “You can teach me English, starting right now. What did those boys say to me?”

 

“Noriko told him in English. “Tomorrow I'll tell you what the words mean.”

 

 

It was cold when they left the cafeteria. Stars dotted the pieces of sky they could see through the treetops. They walked arm in arm like a real couple. Kagome glanced up at Inuyasha.

 

“I didn't think this would ever happen,” she said.

 

“What?”

 

“Us. Together. Like this.”

 

“Why? Don't you like it?” he asked.

 

Kagome patted his arm reassuringly. “I love it.”

 

Inuyasha pulled her closer. “I want to show you the forest place I found. You'll love it there.”

 

“This weekend. You can take me there this weekend and it will just be the two of us. In a way it will be like going back to your time.” Kagome paused. “I miss Shippo. And Sango and Miroku. When we go back in December, we….” Her voice died away.

 

“What now? You said we could go back in December.”

 

“Inuyasha, how are you going to get back to Japan? You have no ID, no passport. How can we get you a plane ticket? I can't believe you actually made it here the first time without getting caught—or killed!”

 

Inuyasha scoffed at that idea. “I'm not that easy to kill, remember?”

 

“Still, we have to think of some way to get you home safely,” she continued.

 

“Wait a minute. We're both going home in December. Don't even think I'll go quietly down the well and stay there while you come back here and go dancing and drink beer!”

 

“What?”

 

“You heard me.”

 

Kagome began to laugh. “Inuyasha, I really meant what I said. You're stuck with me now, on either side of the well. I wouldn't be able to leave you there, even for a day. I guess we'll have to figure out a way to go back home together.

 

The next day Inuyasha started his English lessons while Kagome tried to come up with a solution to their problem. Ironically, she had English class too, although her class was reading short stories and writing critiques on them. She couldn't concentrate on her book, though. She wondered what Inuyasha was doing right then.

 

Noriko had set them at a small desk in the back of the library so their voices wouldn't disturb the other students. Inuyasha sat down with ill grace, arms folded, one leg jiggling up and down as he regarded her. “Ok, what do we do first?”

 

“First you repeat after me: book.” She picked up a book as she said the English word.

 

“Book.”

 

Chair. Table. Window. Library. . . she pointed out different objects in the room and made him say them afterwards. When they ran out of inanimate objects, she started on him. She touched his silvery white hair. “Hair,” she said, and he dutifully repeated the word.

 

“Hair?” He tugged at a lock of his own hair. “Those boys said that word,” he said to her in Japanese.”

 

Noriko was pleased. “Yes, they did. You have a good memory.” She continued naming his eyes, nose, mouth, and face, and had just raised her left hand to point to where his ear should have been when he grabbed her wrist and held it away from him.

 

“What's this?” he asked, distracting her. “Hand, fingers, arm.” The lesson went on for a while longer until Noriko started to get bored. “That's enough for the first day,” she said in Japanese. “Tell me, how long have you known Kagome?”

 

“Kagome? Some years now, I guess.”

 

“How did you two meet?”

 

“She woke me up,” said Inuyasha, matter of factly.

 

“Do you know she comes from a shrine family? Did you ever meet her family?”

 

“Yeah, I met them. I don't know how Kagome got born into that family. She's the only one with any real--“ Inuyasha stopped as Noriko looked at him incredulously. “Yeah, well…none of that stuff's real anymore, is it?”

 

“We're lucky we come from Japan where at least we keep the old traditions alive. Would you like to see some books on Japan?” asked Noriko. At his nod, she went to seemingly random places on the shelves and pulled out several books about Japan. Inuyasha wondered how she knew they were there.

 

They set the time for their next lesson for the morning, and Noriko left Inuyasha sitting in the library looking at picture books of Mount Fuji. “Hair,” he muttered. “They were talking about my hair.” Abruptly he stood up. “I can probably find them,” he thought. He started to sniff and then remembered Kagome's words and stopped. “Stupid humans,” he said.

 

He left the library and passed Noriko on the walkway as she headed back to her dorm. Kagome's scent was somewhere ahead and to the left. Her class should be over about now….

 

With a quick glance around him to be sure nobody was looking, Inuyasha jumped to the roof of the building where Kagome had her class. Noriko, turning back to say something to Inuyasha, gasped. Where did he go? He was right behind her a second ago.