InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Present Perfect ❯ Present Perfect 1 ( Chapter 1 )

PRESENT PERFECT

 

 

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

 

 

Chapter 1:

 

 

Kagome ran her fingers reverently over the coarse material. Kaede's gift. She wondered what Inuyasha would say if she put it on. She had brought it with her halfway across the world to America and kept it in her top drawer where she could see it every day when she got dressed. To remember.

 

Once, long ago, five hundred years ago to be exact, she had functioned as a miko but she didn't wear the clothing. Someone else already did—Kikyou. Now. . . she was a college student in the twenty-first century and Kikyou was dust. Except that Kikyou was also a part of her, they shared a soul even if only Kagome had a body now. She was herself and Kikyou had been Kikyou, and yet there undoubtedly was a connection.

 

The door slammed. “Hey, Kagome! I thought we were going over to the cafeteria for dinner tonight. Aren't you ready?” Inuyasha bounded through the open bedroom door and nuzzled Kagome's neck. She gently slid the drawer shut and turned into his embrace.

 

“Sure, I'm ready. Let's go,” she agreed. Her arms snaked around his neck and she kissed him.

 

“Damn,” he mumbled in between kisses. “Now I don't want to go.”

 

Kagome laughed, and went to get her purse. Inuyasha stared after her. How could she do that?

 

He grabbed Kagome around the waist and dropped down from the third floor landing to the snow-packed driveway below. “Inuyasha!” Kagome hissed, as she glanced nervously around. The next house was only a few feet away.

 

“What? Nobody saw,” Inuyasha assured her. He set her down and led her around the corner to the street where Peter's SUV idled at the curb. He and Noriko waited in the front seat. When they saw Inuyasha coming back with Kagome, Jen moved from the middle row to the way back to give them room.

 

Inuyasha was a real student this semester. He had regular classes, not just ESL classes, although he hadn't declared a major. Kagome thought he should go into business management, since he was the leader of the local youkai. Inuyasha frowned at that. How was school going to teach him to take care of youkai problems? He didn't think they even knew about the youkai. Kagome just shook her head. “Never mind,” she told him. “I was joking.” Inuyasha wasn't sure he believed her, but he let it go. She had helped him choose his classes, keeping it very basic yet varied so he could get a taste of different subjects. She had a hard time convincing him that they couldn't take classes together. Technically, she was a year ahead of him, her English was much better, and she had different interests. Therefore, it was inevitable that their schedules didn't always match.

 

Peter parked in the lower lot after he dropped the others off at the cafeteria entrance. He had bumped into Inuyasha at the student union just as Inuyasha was about to go back to the apartment, and offered to give him a ride. He suggested that they all go back to the cafeteria for dinner. It was a good opportunity for everyone to get together, as they hadn't had a chance to really talk to each other since classes had started up again. He picked up Noriko and Jen at the theatre building, while Inuyasha called Kagome with the change of plans.

 

“So how was Japan?” asked Jen, once they were all settled at their usual table. Inuyasha's tray was piled so high the food looked like miniature leaning towers. He started in on it right away, leaving Kagome to answer their questions.

 

“We had a nice time. Saw lots of old friends, things like that,” Kagome said. They didn't know about the time slip, so she had to be careful how she phrased things.

 

“Any—ahem—youkai business?” asked Peter, fascinated as always by the subject.

 

Kagome wasn't sure how to answer. She and Inuyasha hadn't really had any dealings with modern-day youkai in Japan. In fact, they only had Sesshomaru's word for it that youkai still existed over there. Then again, they hadn't really looked, either. Most of their time had been spent in the Sengoku Jidai with their old friends.

 

“Yeah, some,” Inuyasha answered, spewing crumbs. “How `bout here? Any youkai problems here while we were gone?” He didn't really expect an answer. These friends were human, after all. They wouldn't have had any dealings with youkai if it weren't for him.

 

Peter surprised him. “Yeah, some.” Jen and Noriko both nodded.

 

Inuyasha stopped eating and stared intently at Peter, waiting.

 

“Well, Sesshomaru was around a lot while you were away,” Peter began.

 

“Sesshomaru!”

 

“He stopped by your apartment a couple of times while you were gone. He said he had a key.”

 

Like hell he had a key, thought Inuyasha.

 

“We came up once a week to check on the place for you,” continued Peter, as he glanced at Noriko and reddened slightly. “We saw him as he was leaving.”

 

Kagome felt funny at the thought of Peter and Noriko in her apartment, in her bed. She glanced at Inuyasha, surprised that he hadn't been able to smell any signs of them when they first got back to the apartment. Come to think of it, why hadn't Inuyasha picked up Sesshomaru's scent in the apartment either? Her hanyou must be losing his touch.

 

“I think he came up here to meet with Mr. Rinks,” said Jen. “I worked up at the camp with Mr. Rinks over the break, and I saw them together a few times. He didn't even notice me,” she finished.

 

“Oh, he probably noticed you, he just didn't acknowledge you,” said Kagome. “That's just how he is.”

 

“Did he meet with anybody else? Fenn? Skye?” Inuyasha was all ears now, under the bandana, his food forgotten.

 

“I think so,” said Jen. “Fenn and Skye were at the camp around the same times your brother was there.” Jen was curious. “Why? Is there some reason why Seshomaru shouldn't have met with them? They're both youkai, aren't they? Maybe they're friends.”

 

“Keh,” said Inuyasha. He was going to have to meet Fenn and the other youkai face to face real soon. He had been in contact with them by cellphone since he and Kagome had come back through the well, and not once had they mentioned Sesshomaru. Hell, he'd been in contact with Sesshomaru by cellphone too, and he never mentioned the other youkai either. He didn't like how this was going. Either he was the Lord here or he wasn't. “Is that it?” he asked.

 

“No, there's more,” said Noriko. “I saw a little fox girl near your apartment.” She said it in Japanese, knowing it would mean something to the two of them. Fox spirits were common legends in Japan. Now she knew they were more than just legends.

 

“What! What was she doing, where did she go?” Inuyasha demanded. He was sure she was the fox-girl who lived on his mountain, the one who had become more human in appearance and substance since he had first encountered her.

 

“I'm sorry, I don't know,” said Noriko. “She was there one minute, then she was gone.”

 

That was it. He had spent far too much time on this school stuff already. He needed to go back to his mountain, check on his youkai there first, then meet with the more organized youkai he'd thought he had a handle on, and set them straight on just who was their leader.

 

That settled, he dug back in to his food. It wasn't as good as Kouga's feast, but it was pretty tasty. It continued to amaze him at how much food he could obtain just by showing his little card with his picture on it.

 

Later that night, Kagome voiced her concerns about what Peter had told them. “Why couldn't you tell by their scent that Sesshomaru was in the apartment?” she asked him. “How come you didn't know Peter and Noriko had,” she hesitated, then continued, “done it here, probably in our bed?” She grimaced at the thought.

 

“Kagome, scents fade over time,” Inuyasha answered her. “Sesshomaru, Peter and Noriko and the others have been in our apartment lots of times. If I smelled something of them, I just figured it was from before.”

 

“But our room, what about our room? Shouldn't you have smelled Peter and Noriko's scent in our room?” Kagome asked anxiously. “Can't you tell when. . . when. . .?”

 

“I can tell, but no,” replied Inuyasha. “They never came in here. And they never did that, either. Not here.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Do you think I would be able to sleep in this bed if they had done that in it? Believe me, they didn't do that anywhere in this house. I'd know.”

 

“Oh, I'm so relieved!” said Kagome. Then she had another question. “Do you think Sesshomaru could smell us in this bed?”

 

“I certainly hope so!” stated Inuyasha. “ Let's make sure, though.” He lunged at her and she let him catch her.

 

Before he drifted off to sleep, Inuyasha called his brother. “Sesshomaru, I want to see you. Saturday? I'll be there.” He clicked off the cellphone, stupid cellphone that got him in trouble with Kagome on their return. When he took it out of his sleeve on their return, she had squealed and thrown her arms around his neck and burst into tears. She had thought the cellphone in his sleeve was what allowed him to come through the well to the twenty-first century. Stupid Kagome. Didn't she know it was her? He wrapped himself more securely around her sleeping form and let himself fall into sleep.