InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Playgrounds of the Mind ❯ Reflections and Recollections ( Chapter 9 )

Playgrounds of the Mind

Chapter Nine: Reflections and Recollections

[Disclaimer: Inuyasha and "Annie" do not belong to me.]

Author's Notes: Everyone said so many nice things! * blushes * Thanks for the reviews! CX-Chan, are you Russian by any chance? My cousin's name is Xenja. Just curious. Inuyasha selling the tape to MTV! That's genius, maybe he should do that, eh? ^_^ Yep, food should be fool. Oops! Thanks for pointing it out. Hmmm, lots of people want the characters to dance . . and they will! Well, not in the way most of my readers suggested, but it will be even funnier . . .a musical! Hehe.

CHALLENGE ANSWER: Anyone seen the movie "Fame"? It's about a Performing Arts School with really colorful characters. The kids dance on the tables during lunch hour. ^_^ Somehow, I think Miroku will have to keep his dance moves to himself, ne?

The rest of the day seemed to go by in a blur. After all, Organic Chemistry and Multi-Variable Calculus are just plain boring in comparison to Professor Chopin's torture-session, er, class. Inuyasha and Miroku met up with the girls for dinner. Kagome came in animatedly talking to a freshman with sandy-red colored hair.

"Hey guys," she greeted, "this is Shippou Fox, he was in our Psychology class, although with your performance, Miroku, I'm not surprised if no one had a chance to meet new students!"

Shippou waved to the little group. Miroku and Sango smiled amicably. Inuyasha, on the other hand, seemed to glower slightly.

"What do we need with a freshman?" he questioned.

"Inuyasha, we should have as many friends as possible," Kagome reproached. "In a school like this, having friends is the only thing that keeps someone sane, I'm being to see. Shippou is new; we should try to make him feel comfortable." Shippou nodded emphatically behind her. Inuyasha turned his nose up.

"I already know him. Or at least of him." He looked at the underclassman out of the corner of his eye. "My dad was a client of your dad's firm, right?"

Shippou nodded affirmatively. "Yeah, uh, sorry to hear about your dad."

"You too," Inuyasha added after a moment. Shippou looked down, biting his lower lip. Kagome had a concerned look on her face. Their fathers are both . . dead? She thought to herself. It's not just me, then . . .

The five students sat down to eat. Inuyasha was in a pensive mood, lazily shifting food around on his plate, not really tasting anything. Shippou seemed to have lost his chipper attitude as well. They ate in silence almost, except for the few pleasantries Sango or Kagome spoke.

"I guess we're all tired," Miroku stated. "We should all just retire and try to get our homework done before midnight!" He smiled weakly. Kagome shuddered.

They departed, the boys slouching off to their dorm, the girls, walking somewhat more properly, to theirs.

The next morning, Sango slumped out of bed, still trying to fathom how she was supposed to take any more of Miroku singing, with or without her. She stumbled over to her desk, still in the dark, and turned on her computer, praying for some kind of overnight miracle that would prevent her from going to class, like needing immediate triple bypass surgery.

Her prayers, strangely enough, were answered. An email reported that Ms. Davis was to report to the front of the school instead of normal classes, for the Academy's semi-annual community service.

"Yes!!" She cried out gleefully, running out into the hallway in only her nightshirt, banging on Kagome's door to share her good news.

The other girl opened her door, eyes filled with panic. "Where's the fire?! Is there a bomb threat?"

"No, no Kagome, I just wanted to tell you that I won't be in classes today! I have community service requirements today!"

"You mean I have to suffer by myself?"

Sango's jubilance subsided a bit. "Oh, I forgot about your plight. Oh, Kagome, you poor thing! But wait, maybe you got service duty today too?"

The two girls rushed to Kagome's computer to check her mail. Even more good luck, as Kagome had been called too. Sango beamed at her friend. The two rushed to get ready.

This is almost like a field trip, Kagome thought as she washed her hair. She felt less stressful already.

The girls grabbed a quick breakfast and went out to meet in the stated place. What they saw made their mouths drop open.

Scowling, Inuyasha stood near Miroku. To their right stood Kouga with some of his buddies, and Sesshoumaru. Behind them, milling about were the freshman Shippou, Kanna, Rin, and a few others unknown to Kagome. Kagura, Yura, Hiten and Manten were there as well. Sango exchanged a glance with Kagome.

"Feh. This might as well be our Psychology class!" Inuyasha spat angrily, glaring off in Kouga's direction.

Miroku seemed to light up when he saw the girls approaching. "Well, now the whole gang's together."

"Yeah, if you mean `gang' as in `snake pit'," the pale-haired boy complained.

"Oh, Inuyasha, I didn't realize you disliked my presence so much," Kagome teased, although there was a bit of hurt, hidden somewhere in her words.

"It's not you," he replied, somewhat chastised, "it's all the bastards from our classes."

"So, anyone know our destination this year?" Sango questioned the group at large.

"It's the Orphanage on 53rd street," Kouga off-handedly replied. His gaze darkened.

Inuyasha also let his eyes drop. Shippou followed suite, and Kagome noticed that Rin, Kanna, Kohaku and Kagura had fallen silent. Miroku and Sango seemed to sigh heavily exactly at the same moment. Sango's eyes drifted to her brother's and volumes of unspoken words seemed to flow between them.

What?, Kagome mused, troubled. Certainly the Orphanage isn't the happiest place on earth, but such a response . . . it's as if everyone's taken it personally. Her thoughts turned to Souta, and her mother and grandfather, and . . .father. She shook off the feelings of sadness and tried to put a less depressing look on her face.

A man appeared, holding a clipboard. He took a roll call and described their destination and what they would be expected to do. "The directors of the Orphanage will meet us and tell each of you your specific tasks." He gave them each a nametag and ushered them onto the Academy's bus for such occasions.

Kagome was one of the last students on the bus. She noticed Kagura sitting with her sister. Kohaku, Rin and Shippou were sitting together across the wide bench at the very back, all three already seeming like the best of friends, speaking vivaciously to one another. Kouga and his friends congregated around two seats, playing cards. Yura sat with Hiten, who didn't seem to mind her at all, although Manten looked on, somewhat jealously. Sesshoumaru sat alone, with an unreadable mask drawn on his face, staring impassively ahead. Inuyasha and Miroku were arguing about something. Sango smiled at her and patted the seat next to her.

"Finally, I've got someone to talk to, instead of listening to those two quibble," Sango said. Kagome returned the smile and joined her friend.

Kagome watched the streets of the city, avidly taking everything in. Sango pointed out some interesting sites. The bus pulled up to a non-descript gray building and released the students. A representative met them at the doors. Apparently the school had donated some toys, and the sweet-natured representative asked the group to hand out the gifts first, and spend some time with the kids.

Kagome grinned, happy to do some good deeds. The other girls seemed excited too, even Kagura and Yura, who acted like severely spoiled princesses most of the time, appeared willing to offer a hand.

Everyone grabbed a sack and walked down the hall to a large playroom. The little kids hung back at first, surveying the crowd of new people who had just arrived. Inuyasha stepped forward, as usual, losing his temper.

"Hey, don't you brats want this stuff?" He shook the bag he was carrying out onto the floor. The children of the Orphanage rushed forward, oooing and ahhing.

"What's your name?" A little girl inquired of Inuyasha.

"Eh? It's Inuyasha."

"Thank you Uncle Inuyasha!" she yelled. The other kids took their cue from her, and ran up, shouting.

"Thank you, Uncle Inuyasha!" they chorused. They flung themselves about him, logging him down.

"Ack! Someone help me," he yelped, falling underneath the sea of little bodies. "Miroku! Sango!" he shouted, muffled somewhat.

Miroku stepped forward tentatively. "Uh, where are you, exactly?" He looked under a large teddy bear. Nope, not there. He let his sack slip in concentration, and the children were upon the new haul.

"Thank you, Uncle Miroku!" A new cheer went up, and Miroku was similarly swallowed by happy kids. The others walked into the room, trying not to trip and go under. The content shrieks and thanks continued for a good while. Kagome gladly helped some little girls free their dolls from the plastic casing. She looked up, wondering if Inuyasha were still alive. She met Kouga's gaze. He was staring at her from across the crowed and wrapping paper-strewn room, a wolfish grin plastered across his features. Kagome gulped and went in search of Sango. She made a round of the room, and spotted Inuyasha out in the hallway. She stepped out to join him.

"Whew," she commented, "quite a room, eh?"

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow and sighed. "Yeah."

"What are you doing out here?"

"Came out for some air."

"Oh." Why is he so clothed-mouth today, Kagome wondered.

An attendant walked by. "What else can we do?" Inuyasha barked out, folding his arms against his chest and lifting his head, so that his beautiful hair cascaded down his back in waves. Kagome had to resist reaching out and stroking it. In the mood he's in, I doubt he'd take to that well, she thought.

"Um, well, if you don't want to spend more time with the children," the Orphanage employee put a finger to her chin, "I suppose you could clean the stairwell. With the city-wide janitor strike, we've been short-handed around here, and the place could use some dusting and mopping."

Even Kagome found that amusing. As if Inuyasha would clean anything. She doubt he even knew how to go about it.

"Alright," he gruffly responded following the attendant to a utility closet and getting out a wringer and mop. Kagome stooped to pick up a pail and went to fill it in the little sink nearby.

"Hey, Kagome," he started.

Kagome blushed in anticipation, hoping he would complement her on how good she was with kids, or how she was helping him with the washing without even being asked. She was sorely mistaken.

"What's this thing, anyway?" he waved the mop about. "I mean, is it for the walls, or the floor or what?"

She sweat dropped and hung her head. "Oh, Inuyasha, just let me do it."

Inuyasha was in deep thought, as he held the bucket for Kagome, moving along side her as she mopped the floor. The wood had been waxed and buffed recently, and the soapy water was making it very slippery. Inuyasha found himself absent-mindedly steadying Kagome every now and then, still holding the pail of water.

His thoughts were tumultuous. This is the kind of place Sess and I would have ended up in, if we didn't have a huge inheritance and a bunch of servants hanging around. He sighed. These kids weren't as lucky, he reflected, if you could call having money lucky. Sometimes it seemed like a burden. It separated him from his brother, from what little family he had left. Sesshoumaru spent his days locked up in his wing of the house, and Inuyasha's in his; their paths hardly crossed, even at school. How have I grown up not even knowing my own brother? Inuyasha had to wonder. Didn't anybody stop and think it was wrong? Nobody looked out for us, not really, he worked out. I mean, they sent us to the best school and gave us the best of everything, but did that make us happy and taken care of? We hate each other like enemies. He winced internally at the word. My brother is my enemy.

"Inuyasha, let's go up to the second floor landing," Kagome called, interrupting his thoughts. He complied, following her up the stairs.

Sesshoumaru eyed Rin from across the playroom on his way out. That crazy girl keeps following me, even if she cannot help it, he thought. Why were all the forces throwing the two of them together? Wasn't Inuyasha bad enough to have to run into during the day, and at Kendo Club? Sesshoumaru made his way past the door and leaned against the wall right next to the first floor landing. He let his mind leave Rin behind and focus on Inuyasha. We're both orphans, money or not, he reflected. As much as I try to forget him and pretend it's only me, I know he's right there the whole time. Why don't I treat him better? Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes; he was always annoyed when his conscience asked him that question. He never had a response. His mother replaced Sesshoumaru's, but was that Inuyasha's fault? Inuyasha had, at least he felt he had, replaced Sesshoumaru as the apple of his father's eye. Had that been Inuyasha's fault as well? He had been scarcely two years old when their father passed away. I was almost five, I understood more than people thought. He did not remember his mother at all, only Inuyasha's mother. She too had passed away soon after. Inuyasha at least remembers his own mother, who loved him over all else. Sesshoumaru shifted his position, crossing one foot over the other and leaning back again. Many times in the past, he wanted to reach out to his stepmother, to let her love him too, but pride kept him back. Now she was gone, and he could not reach her. Inuyasha was probably a lost hope as well. He might have been young, but he surely remembered how cruel Sesshoumaru had been in the years after their father's death. Unbearable, really. Every time I wanted to be kind, it only came out as malice. It's just too late to start being compassionate-he would only see it as a weakness-I've trained him myself to see it that way. I walked down that path, and closed the gate behind me. I can never return.

Suddenly, he heard someone on the stairs above him. He went up to investigate, trying to push the dismal thoughts from his mind.

Shippou sat with Rin on a small couch in the room, listening to her soft voice. She had looked sad before, so he had come over. He did not even realize the nature of the conversation they had fallen into. It was one he rarely liked to talk about.

"So, I've been living with my aunt ever since the accident," Rin continued. "I still think about them all the time. They really wanted me to come here, so I studied really hard . . it's all I could do after the funeral. I just lost interest in everything else."

"Yeah," Shippou agreed quietly, "it was the same for me. First my mom and then my dad . . at least I didn't loose them both at the same time, though. It must have been tougher for you, Rin." He laid his hand warmly over her smaller one.

She looked up and smiled. "Well, I hope we can be friends, Shippou! We've so much in common, already."

"What's in common?" asked Kohaku, who had just walked over from speaking to his sister. He sat on the other side of Rin, leaning an elbow against the cushions.

"We were discussing our parents," stated Shippou. He greatly valued the newfound friendship with this sophomore.

"Oh, I see." Observing Rin's questioning stare, Kohaku supplied, "It's just my sister and my dad back home." She nodded, sympathetically.

Rin suddenly rose, pulling both boys up by their arms. "Come on, lets see what else we can do around here," she said merrily.

"Where do you suppose they're going?" Miroku asked Sango who had just finished braiding a little girl's hair.

"Hmm?" She looked up, her eyes following the underclassmen. "Don't know."

Miroku played with some of his bracelets, restlessly. "Are you thinking of your mom?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "And you, thinking of your dad?" She straightened up, readjusting her uniform.

He bent his head, studying the floor. "It's hard not to, in a place like this." Sango stared at his bent head in concern, her own loneliness forgotten. She, at least, had Kohaku at school. Apart from Inuyasha and herself, Miroku had never gotten very close to anyone in the years she had known him. She laid her hand on his upper arm.

"Come on, let's go see where everybody went," noting the disappearance of most of her classmates. She gently pulled the boy out of his partial trance.

Kagura was sitting on the steps of the first floor landing, running her fingers through Kanna's hair. It had always calmed the younger Helena when she was upset as a child.

"You know, Kanna, you can tell me anything," Kagura reminded her. Their father was a harsh man who hated his daughters' inquisitive nature. He was always complaining, telling them to be silent and do only as he told. And he certainly had a lot of things for us to do, Kagura thought bitterly. She was surprised that he let them attend the boarding academy. Their father was accustomed to using his children to do his dirty work, not trusting any of his other henchmen and goons. Kagura thought back to when she was a little girl, how her father would coax her to bring a package to an "uncle" she had never heard of before, or to "hide" something in her room. She was always the unfortunate barer of his secrets. He treated her more like an ally in a war, or a spy, then a daughter. He put Kanna to work as well. And their brother . . she trailed off, tears threatening to spill over her darkly outlined eyelids. No, she wouldn't think of his death, his death at their father's arrogant and hasty-made plans. Things had gone terribly wrong that day . . and Naraku just shrugged it off, like any simple bad thing, like a dish breaking. Naraku. Yes, from now on she would no longer call him father. Neither should Kanna. She bent down to look into her sister's face. She had grown so quiet over the last few years, especially after the funeral. Detached from the world, Kagura feared her little sister would become fully catatonic one day. She fiercely wished for their mother, or even a memory of her, but of course there were none. Naraku had completely erased her existence from their household, from their very minds. She did the right thing, to leave him, Kagura thought viciously; one day, so will I. Kanna and I will go someplace where he will never find us. I won't be some pawn in his master chess game anymore, she resolved. If only I knew where mother went, so I could go to her.

Kagura felt someone's eyes on her, and looked up to see Kouga standing across the hall. His head was bent quizzically to the side. She narrowed her eyes out of sheer routine and asked him curtly what he wanted.

"Nothing, just thinking." He scuffed his shoe against the other one.

"About what," Kanna inquired, surprising Kagura and Kouga both, who had though she had spaced out.

"It's just, I see your sister on campus every vacation." He looked up at Kagura. "Why don't you ever go home?" He seemed almost reproachful, "I mean, you have a home to go back to, not like me."

"You don't know anything about my father," Kagura snapped. "His `home' is my prison, and-" she cut off violently. What was she doing, telling Kouga all of this? "Who are you to even ask?" she demanded.

Kouga glared back at her from the bottom of the stairs. "You're just being so cold and removed as always. I thought someone who had a family would be kinder to those who don't. If you didn't want to come to the orphanage, you could have requested to be waitlisted on the next community service project," he huffed angrily. "I mean, everyone did their part--"

"Who everyone? If you haven't noticed, most of our classmates are nowhere to be found," she retorted.

"They hung around longer than you."

"You know, Kouga, I think you just wanted to pick on someone, and since Inuyasha isn't around, your eyes landed on me, so if you'll--"

"What?" he yelled, his eyes blazing. His shoulders slumped a bit, as his angry come back seemed to die in his throat, unspoken. "It's not like any of you would understand," he muttered at last.

"Oh, really? I just told you I didn't have a real family. And Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha's parents are dead. A lot of people in this school have wealth and power but no real love, so don't be so quick to set your tortured soul apart," she hissed, rising from her perch. She gestured for Kanna to follow her up the stairs, where she had heard some voices drift down before. She was half way up the stairs when she heard:

"Kagura, I'm sorry." He stuttered for a moment. "I guess I was looking for someone to lay my burden on."

Strangely, Kagura felt her animosity drain away. In all the years she had known Kouga, she had never heard that softness to his voice, usually so full of superciliousness.

She turned about. "I think everyone's upstairs for some reason," she said, as a way of accepting his apology. "We might as well go join them."

"Yeah," Kouga smirked. "I haven't picked on the half-demon all day, I'm beginning to go into withdrawal." He walked after Kagura, who could not see that his face had once again become somber. He never knew that about Inuyasha. He had not realized how similar his situation was to his rival's. Is everyone in our school an orphan, he had to wonder.

Kagome and Inuyasha had cleaned half the second story when everyone seemed to congregate at the same time.

"Hey look," Inuyasha said to everyone, holding out the mop, "I'm cleaning the floor with this thing-it's not that bad." Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at this. Kouga seemed skeptical as well.

Kagome rolled her eyes; hadn't these people ever seen a mop before? "If you guys want to help, there are more mops and buckets downstairs," Kagome offered. To her surprise, everyone wandered down stairs and came back with various cleaning devices.

"Um, Kouga, I think that's a vacuum cleaner," Kagome said.

"So isn't like an electric mop?"

"Hey, if it's electric, I want one too," Shippou chimed in.

"You can't use that on wood," Kagome quickly said, before a brawl broke out. "Maybe you could look around for some rags or something." Wow, Kagome thought, if someone told me I would one day be supervising a bunch of rich snobs on cleaning, I would have just laughed myself to death. This is something I can definitely put on my resume, she giggle to herself.

Soon, everyone was clumsily attempting to clean a part of the stairs. Inuyasha, apparently thinking himself second in command, walked around criticizing everyone's work. "You're not doing it right," he told Sesshoumaru.

His brother just looked at him. "What makes you an expert, Inuyasha?"

"Didn't you see me use the mop? Hey, Kagome, I used the mop correctly, right?"

"Yes, Inuyasha you did. And you held the bucket so nicely, too." Is he going to be proud of that for the rest of his life?, Kagome had to ask herself.

Her sarcasm was lost on everybody, as they all looked at Inuyasha in awe, as if he were the prophet Isaiah. Inuyasha continued his rounds, coaching his classmates.

"Hey," Yura suddenly cried out. "This is just like that Broadway musical, `Annie', remember, we analyzed it last year?" Some people murmured faint recollections.

"The orphans were cleaning the stairs just like this," Kohaku summed up, "but they were singing."

"Of course they were singing, if it was a musical," Sango said, rolling her eyes. "It's too bad Chopin isn't here to take the prime opportunity into account."

"Hey, hold on," Yura commanded, leaving her post. She ran about the staircases, arranging people. She made some get down on their knees, and some stand with a mop, and others hold buckets. "This is the exact layout of that scene," she stated triumphantly. Being a theatre buff, Yura was the only one among them who could remember such an odd thing. "Now all we have to do is sing and it would be perfect!" Her eyes shined, begging everyone to go along with her idea.

Sango felt slightly ill. She thought she had escaped singing.

"Come on everyone, I can demonstrate the dance moves, too," she continued. Miroku instantly saddled up next to her, ready to be the assiduous pupil. Sango gritted her teeth at this. Yura sang softly, to get the beat, and scrubbed at the stairs with her rag. At certain intervals, she would dip the rag into the bucket and scrub in a different place. She got up and flipped masterfully over the banister, Miroku's eyes never leaving her form. Sango frowned.

"Okay, it's that simply people," she instructed. "The song is `the hard knock life', ok? I'll sing and you guys join me when you remember the words."

She grabbed her rag. "It's the hard knock life for us, it's the hard knock life for us,"

Kagome had to smile; it was sort of cute to see Yura so devoted to something that was neither sluttish nor maniacal. Miroku was the first to sing along side her, happily sloshing his rag around. He then grabbed Kouga's mop and pretended to use it as an air guitar. The underclassmen started laughing and joining in. Kagome started to scrub and sing in her position at the very top of the stairs. Inuyasha went through the motions of scrubbing, trying to remember a part he had liked in this play. Oh yeah, he grinned. He picked up a bucket full of murky water and made his way down the stairs, keeping to the beat as if it were part of the song number. And it was, technically.

Now, who to choose? So many options, he thought sadly, and not enough water. Suddenly, Sesshoumaru and Kouga lined up. Perfect, Inuyasha thought. He heaved the bucket of water, drenching Kouga and only mildly splashing Sesshoumaru.

Kouga sputtered, and looked completely shocked. "What the hell was that for?" he yelled.

"Just part of the song," Inuyasha said innocently. "Sorry there wasn't enough for you too, Sess," he addressed his brother, who in turn regarded him coldly, although did not make any sudden moves to break his younger brother's neck.

"That was perfect, Inuyasha," Yura squealed, applauding him. Kouga growled and Inuyasha turned to run and hide behind Kagome who was helplessly laughing.

Not a bad idea, Sango thought, as she attempted to reach Miroku and deliver the same treatment. Or hitting over the head with a mop would do. Or one of those larger, electric mops, or whatever, she figured.

Someone's yelling stopped all their fun. "Um, excuse me? Everyone your bus is here to bring you back to school." The employee surveyed the sopping wet mess the students had created. "Thanks for all your help, er, we all really appreciate it."

The students murmured their goodbyes to the attendants and children as they filed out, Kouga wringing out his ponytail.

The bus ride back was uneventful and quiet, as if everyone suddenly realized how tired they had become. Kagome observed Inuyasha's head, which had fallen onto her shoulder as the bus lulled him into a light sleep. She didn't know everyone very well yet, but she felt as if this was one of the first moments when everyone had been at peace with each other.

I think they really enjoyed each other's company, for the first time, Kagome thought. She smiled, somehow comforted that Aureate Winters had become her school as well.

Endnotes: That was kind of hard to write! Let me know what you think! Also, what do you guys think of Kagura/Sesshoumaru or Kouga/Kagura? What's everybody's favorite parings, anyway?

CHALLENGE: Does anybody have any inkling as to what kind of work Naraku does?

Please review! This chapter was certainly a challenge for me to write, so I would love to hear your comments. Thanks!