InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ His Wish ❯ The Sweetest Thing ( Chapter 12 )

A/N: Hey guys. Here's a nice chapter for you all to read. I sincerely apologize for being so long in writing it. My head hasn't been up for writing lately. There are three different meanings to this title buried in the chapter itself (scenes and what-not). I'll give a cookie to whoever can guess all three.

 

Remember: Inuyasha may not be mine, but I do love making him squirm on my little fan fiction fishing line. He makes such lovely bait, don't you think?

 

Reminder: E-mail/review me with anything you have to say. I want to hear from you all.

 

Chapter Twelve: The Sweetest Thing

 

When the bell signifying lunch finally rang, Inuyasha hurried to the roof of the school. He had to dodge around the grasping hands of hormone driven teenage schoolgirls (who had, for some reason, practically tackled him when the teacher had introduced him to the class), but eventually he retreated to the safety of outside. Now, as he lounged atop the stairwell`s little building, he reflected on how his first day of school was going.

 

`I think I understand a little of Kagome's difficulty with homework. How they expect us to finish all that work by the next day is beyond me.'

 

The first half of his day had been full of Algebra, Chemistry, and History. The history class hadn't been so bad, just listening to the teacher droning on. Considering that Inuyasha still had plenty to learn about the five hundred years separating his time and this, he found the subject enlightening at best, repetitive at worst. The math and science, however, was an entirely different story. Algebra was almost completely over his head. If Kagome had never worked on her math homework way back when, Inuyasha would've been totally lost. As it was, Kagome had actually taken the time to explain a bit about the more advanced math and with the tutoring sessions he'd had since arriving, he was able to understand some of the formulas.

 

Chemistry had been a complete disaster. Not only did he know nothing about chemicals, but he'd managed to break two beakers, blow up a microscope (he had no idea how that had happened), and had set one of the fawning schoolgirls' hair on fire. Luckily there were minimal injuries and the girl's hair had been put out before it was more than singed, but Inuyasha was still glad when the bell rang, excusing them for lunch.

 

He sighed and rolled to his side, hand propping up his head. `I still don't get why all those girls were trying to talk to me.' As soon as he'd walked in the classroom, every girl in the room had been staring at him with the strangest looks. Several of them had even come up and attempted talking to him. Inuyasha had pretty much ignored them, scaring off all but the most persistent with his patented scowl. 'Maybe Kagome will explain it to me when she gets up here.'

 

They hadn't exactly agreed on a place to meet, but Inuyasha figured the roof was the reasonable choice. Before, when he'd met her at school, it'd been on the rooftop. Therefore, this was the most likely spot for her to find him.

 

`Wench is late though.' Inuyasha was just about to check his watch, when the door below him swung open. He crawled to the edge of the structure, prepared to scold the tardy girl. “About time, Kagome. What took you so… ah, who the hell are you?”

 

For it wasn't Kagome who had appeared, but someone else entirely. A boy, about the same age as Inuyasha, with short auburn hair turned to face the hanyou. His brown eyes carried a look of guileless innocence that Inuyasha recognized almost immediately.

 

“Akitoki?” But it couldn't be, especially when the boy frowned in confusion. It was further confirmed when the boy spoke.

 

“Ah, I'm sorry. You must have me confused for someone else. My name is Hojo.”

 

Then it clicked. This was the ancestor of that bumbling idiot from Inuyasha's time. `I remember Kagome saying something about knowing Akitoki's relative here. This must be him.' Inuyasha leapt down from his perch to size up this new challenge.

 

Hojo was just about his height, maybe an inch or two taller. Roughly the same build, slim and compact, but while Inuyasha carried coiled strength in his muscles, Hojo was more wiry than strong. The hanyou remembered, though it seemed ages ago, confronting this boy during one of Kagome's cultural festivals with sword in hand. He'd had to grudgingly admit that Hojo had a kind of idiotic bravery to attempt standing up to him.

 

“Yeah, I remember you now,“ Inuyasha said. “At Kagome's festival a year or so ago. You were on-stage and I tried to-, um-”

 

“Steal the show?” Hojo offered with a lifted brow.

 

Inuyasha coughed. “Yeah, something like that.”

 

“Don't worry about it.” Hojo waved his hand dismissively. “The show was a great hit. The only thing that really bothered me was we never found out who rigged up those weird special effects.”

 

“Hehheh, yeah,” Inuyasha chuckled nervously. He also remembered that during the `fight', one of the youkai he and Kagome had been pursuing decided to drop in. He, of course, had blasted the thing (along with half the gym) to smithereens. Then, with Kagome, had made a quick exit out the gaping hole in the roof.

 

“Hey.” Inuyasha was brought back to reality by Hojo's voice. “You know I never caught your name. I mean I know you`re a friend of Higurashi, but-”

 

“Inuyasha.”

 

Hojo extended his hand and smiled. “Nice to meet you. Formally, that is.”

 

Inuyasha grinned back as he shook the boy's hand. This guy was all right.

 

After the (formal) introduction, the two teenagers sat on the roof and chatted for bit. Nothing specific, just generalities. How do you like the school, can you help me with this math problem, so on so forth. A few minutes passed and Inuyasha was beginning to get worried about Kagome again when the stairwell door slammed open once more.

 

“Hey, Inuyasha. Sorry I'm late. My teacher was being a total- Hojo?” Kagome screeched to a halt when she saw her hanyou and the Boy-Who-Wouldn't-Give-Up talking like they'd known each other for years. She edged closer and set her bag down, not quite sure what to do.

 

But Inuyasha did, fortunately. He leapt to his feet, rushed over to her, and delivered a quick peck to her cheek. He then began talking at high speed about his day so far. Kagome could only smile and nod, and wonder how the hell Inuyasha, the most jealous creature on the face of the planet, could become friends with her most adamant admirer. It boggled her mind.

 

“Kagome?”

 

Inuyasha's concerned voice broke through the haze of confusion. She shook her head slightly and smiled sweetly up at her hanyou. “I'm sorry, Inuyasha. I'm a little out of it. I can't believe you blew up a microscope.” She giggled at the look on his face, part pout and part frown as he tried to figure out how exactly he blew the thing up. While he contemplated that, Kagome turned to Hojo, a bit on the wary side. The boy just smiled benignly up at her from his seat on the ground. “Hello Higurashi. How are you?”

 

“I'm fine, Hojo. And you?” she answered.

 

“I'm good. I was just having a chat with your boyfriend there. Apparently we`re in the same class.”

 

Kagome stared. `Well, this is awkward.' She cleared her throat, “Ah, Hojo, I-”

 

He put up a hand to stop her. “It's all right. I don't mind. Not really, at any rate.” He stood and brushed off the back of his pants with an air of dignity. “As long as you're happy, I'm good.”

 

“Ah.” Kagome didn't know what to say. Hojo, the guy who had been trying to get a single complete date from her since junior high, was giving her his blessing. `This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder.'

 

“Hey Inuyasha,” Hojo called.

 

The hanyou pulled himself out of his reverie on exploding chemistry equipment and looked up. “Yeah?”

 

“I'll see you in class, okay? Don't be too late.” Hojo winked suggestively, and then, after a quick wave to Kagome, he was gone.

 

Inuyasha sidled up to Kagome and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. He then sat down, pulling her with him so that she was now sitting in his lap. She simply let herself lean back into the embrace and not think anymore. Her life had turned upside down the past twenty-four hours and all she wanted to do now was be in the arms of the man she loved. She closed her eyes and willed her mind off. Minutes passed before either of them said anything. Inuyasha was the first to speak.

 

“You know something?” he said, and Kagome turned her head to the side to look at him. “From what you've told me about him, I didn't think I'd like Hojo.”

 

Kagome blinked in confusion. “What was it that I told you again?”

 

“That he was always bugging you to go out with him and giving you weird health presents.” Inuyasha glanced down at her and smirked. “And that your friends were always trying to, I think the term was `hook you guys up', or something like that.”

 

“I told you that?!” she squeaked as she felt her face burn. At his nod she buried her face in her hands and groaned, “I can't believe I said that.”

 

Inuyasha just laughed. “Don't worry, koishi. I'm not jealous.”

 

She jerked her head up. “You're not?” she asked incredulously.

 

“Nope.”

 

She narrowed her eyes at him in disbelief. “All right, who are you and what have you done with Inuyasha?”

 

“No, really. I`m not jealous.” He sighed when she gave a look that said `yeah, right, whatever`. “I don't know how to explain it. I think maybe it's that I don't feel threatened by him.”

 

“Anymore?” Kagome supplied.

 

He glared at her out of the corner of his eye. “Right. Anymore.”

 

Finally satisfied, Kagome gave a brief nod and scrambled out of his lap to nab the lunches in her backpack. They only had about a half-hour left and she was starving. And since Inuyasha could be known as the Black Hole when it came to food, she'd made an especially large bento today, just for him. She handed him the box, which he immediately began scarfing down. Instead of asking if he liked the food, Kagome began to eat her own lunch. She didn't try to fish for compliments from Inuyasha anymore. Since that only seemed to make him complain more, she'd given up on that ages ago. Now she waited for him to offer them up of his own free will. And as a result they came more often. Although Kagome usually waved off the ones about her cooking, because could you really trust the taste buds of a man who thought instant ramen was the finest of delicacies? Not really.

 

Inuyasha finished his lunch before she was even half done, so he sprawled out on the concrete to get a little dozing in. Kagome finished her lunch shortly after and decided to join in on the nap. Pushing boxes and bags out of the way, she crawled over to the hanyou and lay her head on his stomach, her face turned towards his. She loved watching him sleep. He always looked so peaceful, not stressed or angry or depressed. And he seemed so much younger than he really was.

 

Kagome frowned slightly. There was something a little off about his appearance though. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. It didn't seem wrong, just off. Then it hit her. `No ears.' This was his Taisho disguise, as she'd come to call it. His most remarkable features: the silver-white hair, golden-amber eyes, and adorable doggy ears were turned into the more human (aka boring) versions of themselves. Platinum blond hair, hazel eyes, and dull, round human ears. Unique (except for the ears) on a Japanese, but not unheard of. `I wonder how he pulls off such a flawless disguise.' As far as she could tell, there was no wig, no contacts, and certainly no visible way to pin his ears back. In fact she could see the human ears underneath his hair. `How is he doing it?'

 

She was just reaching her hand out to touch one of his ears, when another hand dropped down onto her head. Startled, she looked up to see Inuyasha's amused expression aimed at her.

 

“Ah-”

 

“You want to know how I'm doing it, don't you?” Her cheeks flushed red, Kagome shyly nodded. “Okay.” Inuyasha moved to sit up, which forced Kagome to sit up as well. “Give me your hand.”

 

She extended her hand and he guided it up to the top of his head where his ears would normally be. Kagome gave him a confused glance until she felt the fuzzy appendages she was so used to. However, when she looked up, she was grasping nothing an inch above his head. And yet she could still feel the warmth of the ear and she could feel the fur covering it, too.

 

“You can let go now.”

 

The dry humor in Inuyasha's voice snapped Kagome out of her shock. “But how?”

 

“Illusion. It`s only sight though. If you tried to touch the human ears, you`d get nothing,” he explained.

 

Kagome gave him a slightly exasperated look. “That explains what it is, but I asked how are you doing this?”

 

Inuyasha blushed a little in embarrassment. “Sorry. Here, I'll show you.” He reached for the watch that Kagome was only just noticing. As soon as the device was removed, his Taisho disguise vanished and Inuyasha was Inuyasha again.

 

Kagome was suitably impressed. “Wow. That's cool. Where did you get it?”

 

Inuyasha shrugged as he replaced the watch. “Sesshoumaru gave it to me. He also gave one to- uh, I mean he gave it to me when I first got here. I spent hours messing around with it after I learned how to use it. I can change my appearance whenever I feel like it.”

 

Kagome hadn't missed the almost slip. 'That's the second time today. What's he hiding?' Then the last thing Inuyasha said caught up with her. “Wait a minute. You can switch how you look anytime you want? Is that how that dog got in my room? It was you?”

 

The sheepish expression on his face (`That's a very odd look for him.') told her all she needed to know. `I see. I guess that makes more sense than him actually turning into a dog.' Since Inuyasha was obviously waiting for her reaction, Kagome just shrugged indifferently. At that small gesture, he relaxed and went on to tell her about all the spells and whatnot that were on the watch.

 

All too soon though, the warning bell to get back to class rang. Inuyasha and Kagome packed up their stuff and were just about to leave, when Inuyasha suddenly stopped.

 

“What is it?” Kagome asked.

 

He frowned slightly. “I wanted to ask you something.”

 

Kagome frowned as well. “Is something wrong?”

 

“Not really,” he said as he shook his head. “I was just curious.”

 

She was starting to get tired of this beating around the bush, but Kagome held her temper. “About what?”

 

“Girls.”

 

“Huh?” That wasn't what she expected.

 

“Yeah, the girls in my class were acting really weird.” Inuyasha scratched his head in thought. “When the teacher introduced me, they seemed to get really excited. And they kept trying to talk to me during class. Most of them stopped though after I lit some girl's hair on fire.”

 

That last statement froze the rampaging and somewhat murderous thoughts going through her head. “You lit someone's hair on fire?”

 

“It was an accident and only part of her hair was singed.”

 

Kagome sighed. “Well, anyway. About those other girls, I have an idea to get them to back off. Come on.” She then proceeded to escort Inuyasha down to his classroom.

 

Once they were outside the door, Kagome took his bag from him. When he tried to take it back, she simply shooed him into the room with a promise that he'd get it in a second. Inuyasha cast one last worried gaze over his shoulder, then made his way to his desk. As soon as he sat down, one member of the gaggle of girls already there detached herself from the group and sidled up to the hanyou. Kagome was almost seeing red at the way the girl was practically draping herself over Inuyasha, who kept darting glances that screamed `help me' to where Kagome was. However, she was waiting for the right moment and when the girl leaned over to write her phone number on Inuyasha's hand, Kagome made her move.

 

“Sweetie!” she called loudly, which caused both Inuyasha and the skank sitting on his desk to look up. “You forgot your backpack, darling.” When she reached the desk, Kagome placed the bag on the top and used its bulk to push the girl off the surface. Then, without missing a beat, she swooped down and gave Inuyasha the biggest kiss ever. The poor hanyou hadn't expected that, but than again, Kagome didn't really think he minded. After a few seconds of mouth-to-mouth (breathing for each other and all that), she pulled away and then pretended to have just noticed the ditz by the desk.

 

“Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't see you there. I was just returning my boyfriend's bag to him. I hope I didn't interrupt anything.” Kagome smiled the sweetest smile she could muster and not hurt her face. The girl (whose name was Mari judging by how much she'd written on Inuyasha's hand) was staring with her mouth wide open, perfect for catching flies. She finally managed to collect what little wits she had and stammer something resembling an apology, before slinking off to rejoin her friends.

 

Kagome turned back to Inuyasha, who was just as slack-jawed as Mari had been. “Close your mouth, dear,” she whispered to him. “You look like a fish.” Then with a peck to his cheek and a `see you after school', Kagome waved good-bye to Hojo (who was trying not to laugh his ass off) in the back of the room and headed off to her own class.