InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ On a Leash ❯ A Much Worse Place ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: Stupid legal system…alright, alright! No need to be pushy! *mutters* I don't own Inuyasha-- (*is jabbed by a man in a black suit*) Let me rephrase that: I don't own the entire crew of Inuyasha, just a small few-ow! Quit poking me! I don't own Inuyasha or anything except my own characters, and this plot, and-ow! *pulls down a convenient black curtain and kicks the guy in the black suit's ass. A few seconds pass* Better. *smacks hands together* On with the story.

Chapter Five: A Much Worse Place

"I believe you have filled out all the necessary forms," the middle-aged dog trainer said, tapping her clawed fingers over the dark hardwood of the desk. Her dog ears swiveled about as noises that Kagome couldn't pick up made their way in. Her dull brown hair was cropped perfectly straight above her shoulders and hung in a no-nonsense manner.

Pretty sad if even her hair was afraid of her.

Flexing her hand, Kagome thought, tear in one eye as she stared at the woman, It'd better have been the last of them. Any more and my hand's gonna cramp up! She gazed down at Inuyasha; the poor canine had been sulking ever since he'd been ordered to go to obedience school.

The girl had tried to dissuade her mother, but to no avail. Mama always won out in things like this, and Kagome was well aware of her mother's Mom Power when she found herself seated in this obnoxious blue chair that was much too big for her. Several times she'd just about been sucked in.

Kind of like how she'd managed to find Inuyasha and her in Kaeko's Obedience Academy on a nice Sunday afternoon.

Kaeko was the dog-demon-woman sitting primly fore her; she wasn't too fond of her snooty youki, besides her natural air of the same stuffy genre.

Kagome wondered to herself why this place couldn't have just been an obedience school, rather than an academy. What was the big difference, they both would instruct in about the same things, right? And from what she could see, it wasn't exactly anything earth-shaking.

It was, "A hellhole, plain and simple," Inuyasha believed without a doubt in his doggy brain. The whole time his mistress had pleaded with her mother, he'd trotted after her, adding his own-unheard-comments; he would've gone along with Kagome's reasoning if he was her mother.

Then again, he was pretty biased about not going, wasn't he?

But, he'd heard stories about how these institutes could seriously change a person-er, dog-and life would never be the same!

Not like he actually listened to everything he heard.

Well, not by choice, anyway.

He could've really done without that conversation Gramps had with himself in the bathroom the other day…

Back to the point, Inuyasha had seen too many other dogs crowding the main hall. The truth be told, Kikyou had never let him out of the house. Not really anyway. Only to go and do his business, then she'd lock him back in that awful room. At least there'd been plenty of books in there, so he'd, at the very least, kept up with the times-somewhat-and educated himself further for lack of anything better to do.

It wasn't that he was intimidated by those mutts hanging around outside the abysmal office, not by any stretch of the imagination; it was the fact that he was disgusted by how much they yielded to their masters. He didn't hate Kagome or anything, he liked her a bit, he supposed, and he'd listen to her basic commands…when he felt like it. He wasn't willing to become that tame; thankfully, the girl understood that fully.

All she had asked was that he would try to behave.

Try being the operative word there. Sure, he'd try, but how hard…eh, depended upon his mood, the location of the moon, what kind of burger the guy down the road had…. If all those factors were in perfect alignment, it'd all be fine and he'd be the perfect angel.

Keh! Yeah right. He was a demon thru and thru, no questions asked.

Kaeko leaned over the top of the desk, eying Kagome somewhat while jotting a few things down on her yellow legal pad. "Alright, Miss Higurashi, your dog-what was his name again?"

Feeling a bit unnerved by the rather manly-looking dog-demon, she answered quietly, hooking her fingers together slightly, "Um, his name's Inuyasha, ma'am."

The woman stopped her scribbling to bring her thunderous green glower on the girl. "Is that supposed to be funny, Miss Higurashi?" she interrogated rather stiffly.

"N-no, Miss Kaeko," Kagome responded softly, a slight stutter to her words, slinking back in her chair a tad before becoming engulfed in faux velvet.

"I should like to think not." Sniffing, Kaeko glanced from the struggling girl down to Inuyasha.

Another snarl had been born deep within his chest. "That is my actual name, you idiotic witch!" He flashed his fangs at her, practically plastering his side to his mistress's legs. "And don't be getting superior over Kagome, bitch. You may be a she-dog-demon, but it doesn't mean a damn thing if you upset the wench." The only one allowed to give his mistress hell was him, damn it, and that was his sacred rite as her pet!

She wrinkled her nose a faintly prior to giving it a pretentious little flip up in the air. "Hmph. It seems your pet is in need of some dire guidance. I have the feeling he's rather unruly." Kaeko turned her gaze pointedly to the frazzled girl.

Taking in a deep breath after her irksome battle with the armchair, Kagome glared back at the woman. Kagome was usually a pretty level-headed girl and very kind to others by nature, but enough was enough! Somehow managing to sit at the very edge of her cushion, she replied, just as snippily, hands folded neatly in her lap, "I prefer 'passionately spirited'."

The hanyou had to snicker at that. It was pretty funny to watch his mistress when she'd get her dander up like this, all dignified yet smoldering beneath the surface.

And 'passionately spirited'? That really beat out on everything. Oh, if only she knew how 'passionate' he was.... It was enough to make him cease growling and opt to sit on his rump beside her, wagging his tail, all the while giving the headmistress the most sinister look.

Man, that Kaeko woman truly was the bitch among bitches, Inuyasha had to admit. Kagome seemed like a mediocre roar, even on her fiercest of days, compared to this chick. She would strut prudishly around with her hands tucked behind her back like a drill sergeant, barking out commands like missiles. She was at a good six inches shorter than Kagome, yet her grating disposition coupled with her looks reminded the pair strongly of a pug or a bulldog. Just much uglier.

Her stooges of choice were Inuyasha and Kagome. Regardless they'd been there almost two weeks, she caught every mistake they made at every turn.

And they made a lot of blunders.

"Miss Higurashi!" came Kaeko's rather shrill voice as she made an angular turn to face the girl and her pooch. "You shouldn't have to plead with your dog to make him lie down. You are the mistress and he is the dog. Master him, not the other way around!"

Oh what I wish I could do to make you leave me alone! Kagome thought huffily, glancing down at her dog; he was still sprawled on the flower-patterned carpet whereas the others had risen. "This is all your fault, you know," she hissed, remembering when he'd eaten all the liver snaps, and refused or mutilated whatever she commanded him to do. Inuyasha wagged his tail, pink tongue lolling out of his muzzle in response. The girl sighed with a sweat drop. "Who am I kidding? It's my fault-"

"Precisely," the bitch-of-the-century cut into Kagome's soliloquy. Directing the gazes of the collective forty-odd pairs of other dogs and owners towards her target, she continued on crisply, "It is your fault. You obviously do not have the skills it takes to master your," she paused for a moment to glare darkly while saying with utmost repugnance, "dog-demon, and therefore I wonder why you even have a mongrel such as he." She relished the deepening blush over the girl's cheeks with a narcissistic sneer. "Perhaps something docile like a turtle or something would've been a better choice?"

Chortling could be heard from a few of the owners, while their animals stared rather blankly at each other, not understanding what the hell that annoying woman upfront had just said.

Kagome was by far the youngest person there-with the oldest dog, strangely enough-and was she red in the face. Her head bowed low, black tresses obscuring her countenance; the girl's shoulders trembled weakly as she gripped the leash so vehemently that her knuckles turned white.

Having understood everything Kaeko had said, Inuyasha gave the most blistering, hostile look his molten eyes could muster, now on his paws. "Why you-" the hanyou ground out previous to feeling something plop on his platinum cranium softly. Interrupted before reaching insult point, he shifted his peering up to his mistress just as another teardrop smacked right in between his eyes; it slid over the bridge of his snout, to the tip of his nose where he licked it up. Tasting the salty water, Inuyasha's heart gave a small, to some extent painful, thud in his chest.

She was crying.

Quietly, but Kagome was crying.

"H-hey! No crying!" he barked up at her forcefully. If there was one thing he could never stand, it was a woman weeping. Whether it was because it was annoying or he felt bad, Inuyasha had never quite figured out. Right now though, as he stared up through her curtain of ebony hair to her puffy face, soft lips quivering whilst tears swam downwards, he only felt rage. She made Kagome cry! That's inexcusable! Forgetting his position and where he was at, Inuyasha yanked with all his might on the tether that restrained him, yipping madly. His most primal of canine instincts had taken over: protect master.

The strain on the leash was enough to break Kagome out of her spell. Watching Inuyasha as he went on like a rabid pup, she quickly jerked him back towards her. "Inuyasha! Sit!" she hollered, giving another heave.

Upon hearing her voice, the hanyou suddenly settled and promptly sat where he was, although the fire and promises of bereavement didn't disappear from his amber pools.

"Lay down," she commanded gently through gritted teeth, eyes locked on Kaeko.

Getting the idea from the tone of her voice and from her scent, Inuyasha, gape also fixated on their united enemy, lowered himself to the floor.

"Return, Inuyasha." Waiting until he settled, statue-like, at her heel, Kagome rigidly spoke directly to Kaeko, "Apparently, my Inuyasha doesn't need your stupid school or your 'instruction' as you call it." She watched with her own grim satisfaction as the headmistress exuded with fury, ears flicking irately in every direction. Cobalt eyes a bit cold, completed cured from her weeping, she followed up satirically, "I think we can manage fine without it, thanks." Chin lifted high, back straight, the girl spun around and marched out; Inuyasha mimicked her, tail held at a dignified level as they exited.

"W-well!" Kaeko called after them. "It shows that you and your mongrel are a match made in heaven, aren't you?!"

Pausing only to swivel her noggin around, quite fed up with the whole humiliation, Kagome dryly said, "Did someone hit you with a newspaper too many times as a pup or something? Maybe you should lie down with a doggy treat and take a load off." Ignoring the empty, half-lucid threats, the girl and the hanyou pushed through the glass double doors without looking back.

As they walked home-and it really was a stretch of the legs--, Kagome glimpsed down at Inuyasha. "Well, we're in a ton of trouble now, huh?" she said with a sigh. "What're we going to do?"

"Why're you asking me for? I couldn't even get my ass away from a fucking dog catcher…. Sleazy bastard…sneaking up on me while I was sleeping in a damn alley…everyone's gotta sleep sometime, lousy asshole…."

Stretching her back a bit, completely oblivious to her dog's tale of woe, the girl watched couples drift by on the busy sidewalk, jostling passed her several times without care. She was pretty used to it. She observed one couple across the street for a moment with a bit of wistfulness, making Inuyasha tip his head in curiosity, before she waggled her own to practical thoughts. "I know Mama's not going to be happy at first, but once I tell about how unkind-"

"Bitchy is the word, Kagome. Bitchy."

"-Miss Kaeko was, I'm sure she'll understand," she said uncertainly, staring back at her pet again. Stopping to scratch Inuyasha's ears tenderly, and to help work away her own slight distress as they entered the edge of the park, the redness of her eyes completely gone, she was surprised to hear someone shout her name.

"Hey! Kagome!" the boy's bouncy voice called again.

"Huh?" Peering from side to side, her orbs finally settled on a russet haired youth trotting towards her, waving his hand furiously. "Hi, Houjou," she greeted, rather perplexed as the boy came to a halt in front of her. "What a surprised to see you."

"Yeah, Hobo, and it ain't pleasant…"Inuyasha growled.

"You too, Higurashi," he said sweetly, towering over her a tad. "Say, I was wondering if you would be free sometime next week."

"Next week?" she echoed back, still bemused as she blinked several times.

"Yeah, like going to see a movie," he beamed, before quickly amending with, "as long as you're not busy, I mean."

"Well, I-I-I don't think so-" Kagome began.

"Great! I'll pick you up around six on this coming Tuesday, since there's no school that day." Grinning like a fool, Houjou jogged away from her. "See you in school, Kagome!"

As befuddled as ever, she raised her hand in a small wave, watching as the boy disappeared back into the swarm of people known as Tokyo city. "Uh, bye…?" What in the world…?

~*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N: And yet another plot twist! *cues evil music. Everyone hears "Livin' La Vida Loca".* AAAAAHHHH! Shit! Wrong torture music! *pops in the correct CD* Ah, there we go. Thank you all so much! At last count, I had 93 reviews on Fanfiction.net, 38 on MediaMiner.org, and a few more on Inuyasha.net. You all rock! This ranks higher than "Shikon High"! Bravo! Keep it up!

This is for my niece who I will not see till after Christmas, but we'll celebrate then.

Inuyasha: *from back room* I ain't coming out!

Aw, c'mon, Inu. Pretty please? With ramen and Shippo-torture, and Houjou-beatings as penance?

Inuyasha: *peeks his head around* You drive a hard bargain, bitch.

I know, dog boy, I know.

Kagome: Come on, Inuyasha! *she's dressed like Mrs. Claus, with a short skirt, as usual* Please?

Inuyasha: Feh! Alright, alright…but I'm not letting you pull this on me again. *he stomps out with a Santa hat on his head, black boots with white fur on the top (Sesshy's tail, perchance?), and his forelocks tied neatly with red ribbon at the bottom*

Hehe, don't they look cute together as Mr. and Mrs. Claus? *cues "Awww" sound effects* By the way guys, mistletoe.

Inuyasha: What the hell's that for?

Kagome: *whispers in his ear, which turns super pink* So…

Inuyasha: *leans over and gives her a moderately long kiss*

*pulls handy curtain down* Well, that's all for now.

Merry Christmas!

~Moonlight Shadow

P.S. Please, as I request again, read "The Orphan and the Conman".