InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity ❯ The Substitute ( Chapter 13 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Kagome dropped down in the grass beside her whispering, giggling friends with a heavy sigh and dug into her bag to retrieve her bentou.  They didn't seem to notice Kagome's arrival, and for a fleeting moment, she couldn't help but to feel as though she were sorely out of place—as though she honestly didn't belong.  'Stop that, Kagome,' she told herself sternly, impatiently pushing away the unsettling thought.

"What are you guys talking about?" Kagome asked, raising her voice to be heard over Ayumi's giggles.

Ayumi grabbed Kagome's arm and turned to her, eyes sparkling with excitement. "Didn't you hear? Takumi-sensei broke her leg chasing down a soccer ball yesterday! She's out for the rest of the year!"

Kagome looked aghast.  Takumi-sensei was the girls' physical education teacher, and that was their next class of the day. "That's awful!" she gasped, genuinely shocked at her friends' humor over the unfortunate accident.

Eri waved off Kagome's concern. "No, it's wonderful!  You haven't seen the substitute teacher!"

Kagome made a face and shoved her lunch box back into her bag. Somehow she'd lost her appetite when her friends had started their chatter over the teacher's unfortunate injuries. "I can't believe you guys," she chastised them. "Takumi-sensei is really nice, and besides that, what could possibly be so great about a substitute?"

Yuka squealed. "You'll see," she gushed. "He's . . . there . . ."

Kagome turned to see why her friends were behaving so bizarrely.  Her eyes found him immediately.  Tall though not overly so, the substitute looked very young, hardly old enough to be a teacher. He wore a loose crimson colored sweatshirt with the sleeves pushed up almost to his elbows and the black warm up pants did nothing to hide the man's physique. Broad shoulders, his trim waist, everything in perfect symmetry, perfect balance, and somehow Kagome knew that he possessed a very real physical strength.  She felt an instant draw on her body, almost like she needed to be near him, coupled with the strangest sense of familiarity that she just couldn't shake.  Something about him beckoned her, whispered to her in a voice so subdued that she couldn't quite discern the words, and still, the absolute lure of him was hard to ignore.  She didn't move—or maybe she simply couldn't . . .

What surprised her most was his longer than waist-length white-silver hair that was caught back at the nape of his neck with what looked like a black leather strap.  He moved with an innate sort of grace, a deliberate agility. His head slowly turned, as if he could feel her watching him, and she gasped as liquid golden eyes locked with hers.  Those eyes were the color of a candle flame lit from behind with flecks of light and the intensity behind that simple gaze was enough to make the breath catch in her throat as her heart slammed to a stop for one dizzying, beautiful moment before hammering to life once more with a force so hard that she had to press her hands over her heart to keep it contained.  Something about that gaze, about the strange light that ignited the moment their eyes locked . . . but if she were pressed to put her thoughts into words, she knew that she couldn't.  He almost seemed to be trying to tell her something, as though he were trying to speak to her through his eyes alone.  Too bemused by the instant connection, however, those words were lost, falling away like the tapering off of a gentle spring rain . . . `Lava,' Kagome thought absently, `flowing over me . . . He's going to burn me . . .'

Then he smiled almost shyly.  Kagome could feel her face explode in hot flames, and yet she couldn't force her eyes away to save her soul.  Had she ever seen anyone who looked quite like him before?  She swallowed hard. No, she hadn't, and she had the distinct feeling she never would, again, either . . .

"He's staring at you, Kagome-chan," Yuka whispered into her ear with a shrill giggle.

"His name is Izayoi-sensei," Eri added. "He's Inutaisho-sensei's brother-in-law, I heard."

Kagome vaguely heard her friends' words.  Inutaisho-sensei was the school's head mistress, and her husband, Inutaisho Sesshoumaru, was one of the wealthiest men in Asia, if not in all of the world. Inutaisho International was a software conglomerate—one of the world's largest software producers.

Curiously, the substitute teacher didn't take his eyes off Kagome as he continued moving along the path, which was why he ran smack into another of the other teachers. Kagome gasped and shot to her feet as both teachers crashed to the ground. Incredibly, Izayoi-sensei was able to roll at the last second and therefore took the brunt of the fall as the middle-aged geometry teacher landed on his chest.

Kagome didn't think. She swiped up her backpack and ran forward to extend her hand to the young teacher, momentarily surprised to find that he looked even younger up close.  His cheeks were tinged red in embarrassment, and he pointedly ignored the hand Kagome had offered as he hopped up in one fluid movement, once more exhibiting that extraordinary grace she had sensed.

"Are you all right?" Kagome asked, concern furrowing her brow as she stared at the man.

He ignored her question and looked at the geometry marm instead. "Sorry," he bit out, his tone almost accusing as he caught her hand and pulled her to her feet.  The teacher assured him that she was all right before hurrying away.  He finally turned those amber eyes on her once more.  Kagome shifted uncomfortably as a hot little spark ignited in her belly.  The instant heat there seemed to drain any other warmth from her limbs as her arms and legs went curiously numb.  "Shouldn't you be in class, Kagome?"

Kagome was sidetracked from her discomfort by his question. "H-How do you know my name?"

She missed the odd flush that darkened on his cheeks as well as the quick, almost scared, glance he shot her. "Kagura must've told me about you."

"Kagura?"

He made a sound that reminded Kagome of an animal's growl. "My half-brother's ma—err, wife—Inutaisho-sensei."

She frowned at the odd way he'd said that. But she shrugged it off, falling into step beside him as they headed toward the school again. "I don't think I've seen you around here before.  Is this your first teaching assignment?"

"Yeah, it took awhile to get here."

There was something strange in the way he'd said that, a hint of anger or maybe frustration that she didn't completely comprehend.   Kagome hitched her bag up on her shoulder as he held the door open for her. "Will you be substituting the whole time that Takumi-sensei is recovering?"

He shrugged. She could still feel his eyes on her. "I guess. She'll be out the rest of the term."

"I'm in your next class," Kagome explained as she walked next to him, trying to hide the ridiculous smile at the very idea of seeing Izayoi-sensei every other day for the rest of the term. Her hands were sweating, and her heart hammering wildly against her ribcage. He shot her a strangely knowing look that she intercepted as she lifted her hand to flutter over her chest. `Trying to hold in my heart? And why does it seem like he knows what I'm feeling?' She smiled at her own fanciful thoughts. "You're kind of young to be a teacher, aren't you?"

He faltered in his stride but she didn't seem to notice. "Yeah, I guess . . . I, uh, finished school early. Home schooled . . ."

Kagome hitched up her bag again and sighed softly. Curiously enough, that pronounced discomfort of her first impressions had all but disappeared as they continued onward. It was comfortable, walking beside him. She felt like she knew him, like she had already known him for a long, long time. She frowned. That was a strange thought.

They reached the hallway that led to the changing rooms. Kagome made an awkward hand gesture toward the left and forced a dim smile. "Guess I'd better change for class," she offered brightly.

Izayoi-sensei blinked a few times, like he didn't understand what she was talking about then reddened slightly. "Oh . . . yeah . . . all right."


He watched her go, her back blanketed in the glossy black hair that he loved.  InuYasha sighed.  Something had to be wrong in the great cosmic alliance, or surely he'd irritated one of the many gods in the universe.  Why else couldn't Kagome recognize him?  He'd thought—hoped—that coming face to face would jog her memory, but it didn't, and it didn't make sense, either.  She loved him.  He knew she did.  You couldn't just forget someone you loved, could you?

He sighed, a most dejected look stealing over his features. Apparently, she could.  Damn.

Sesshoumaru derived far too much joy when he'd sat InuYasha down just after he'd finished getting the results of his teaching exams, only to explain that he'd already taken the liberty of arranging a few things that InuYasha would need. Most of the papers in the manila envelope that Sesshoumaru had dropped in his lap were uninteresting.  A couple, though, had intrigued him.  First off, it seemed that Izayoi InuYasha really did exist. He'd been born nearly twenty years ago, if the paper that he'd stared at had meant anything at all.  It had surprised him that Sesshoumaru had honored InuYasha's mother in such a way as to give InuYasha her name for his surname.

There were some bank account books, a few small plastic things—he'd seen some like that before—and a land title deed. Interesting, he had to admit. According to the paper, he still owned InuYasha's Forest—his forest . . . and the Higurashi shrine, too, since it was on forest grounds.

"What are these?" InuYasha asked grudgingly as he sniffed at the small plastic cards. They didn't smell like much of anything, really, and, though they resembled the ones that Kagura carried around in her bag, he also couldn't rightfully say that he'd paid enough attention to know exactly what they were used for.

Sesshoumaru chuckled and plucked the cards from InuYasha's hands—he was getting ready to chew on the corner of the one marked `Visa'—only to drop them onto the table. "They're credit cards. If you eat them, you can't use them.  Don't worry.  You can use them like money, so long as the store accepts those cards.  The bills for such go to the family's accountant.  You don't have to worry about paying them.  Just take care not to buy a car or anything, will you?"

InuYasha frowned at Sesshoumaru's dry tone, but remained silent. "What the hell ever," he grumbled, dropping the other card onto the pile of paperwork.  Then he retrieved another document, scowling at it as he tried to figure out exactly what it meant.  "What's this?"

Sesshoumaru pushed his wire rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose and took the paper that InuYasha extended toward him. "This, baka, is a contract.  You shall be substitute teaching, starting tomorrow."

InuYasha let the deliberate slur pass. "Teaching?  Keh!  I'll pass, thanks."

Sesshoumaru didn't raise his head. But his eyes lifted to stare over the top of the glasses frame. "Tomorrow," he reiterated in an even more bland tone.  "Worry not.  Surely you don't think you took that examination for nothing, now did you?  Kagura requires you to step in.  It's nothing you cannot handle.  You'll be substituting for the physical education teacher.  She had an unfortunate mishap and will not be able to teach for the rest of the term.  A bit of brawn and not much brain-work.  Should be right up your alley, baka that you are."

InuYasha refrained from comment as he continued to rifle through the stack of papers. "I own a house?" he muttered with a distinct snort.

Sesshoumaru shrugged. "Do you really think you're living here with me?" He affected a shudder and made a face. "I think not."

"Keh. Why didn't you tell me sooner?" he demanded, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"Because you needed to stay here while you became better acquainted with this era," Sesshoumaru explained in a tone that suggested that InuYasha was being childish. "You have adapted reasonably well—as long as you can refrain from being arrested for anything else and can resist the urge to burn your new house to the ground—so there is no longer any reason for you to continue to contaminate my home with your perfidious reek."

"As if any of this has been a vacation for me," InuYasha retorted, snatching up the keyring and holding them up before his face.

Sesshoumaru gave an almost-imperceptible shake of his head.  "Lastly, I will have your vow that you will not do anything to jar the miko's memory."

"Why?  Why are you and that runt-fox so concerned with Kagome's memory?" InuYasha asked. It wasn't the first time that they had made allusions to the idea that they thought restoring Kagome's memories could be detrimental, and yes, he'd heard their reasoning ad-nauseam.  What he wanted to know went beyond that, and Sesshoumaru knew it.

Sesshoumaru sank down in the chair next to InuYasha and crossed his ankles as he sat back. In a tone that suggested that InuYasha should have already known the reason for the concern, he said, "Because we don't know what caused her memory loss. Restoring her memories might cause more harm than good, especially if it is done in such a way that it is traumatic for her."

As much as InuYasha wanted Kagome to remember him, he had to concede to Sesshoumaru's reasoning, even if the bastard was still avoiding the real question of what, exactly, Sesshoumaru's interest in the whole thing really was.  Still, the very last thing InuYasha wanted to do was to cause Kagome any pain. With a heavy sigh, InuYasha nodded slowly. "Fine. I won't tell her anything, for her sake, and her sake only." He leveled a glower at Sesshoumaru. "For the record, I'd better not find out you're trying to keep me from her for any other reasons," he warned.

"What other reasons would there be, baka?" Sesshoumaru countered mildly.

"Well, gee, I dunno, Sesshoumaru. What reasons did you ever have for making my life a living, breathing hell?" InuYasha asked sarcastically, lifting an eyebrow in silent challenge.

Sesshoumaru just chuckled.

Leaning forward, InuYasha snatched the glasses off Sesshoumaru's face and squinted as he raised them to his own eyes. It wasn’t the first time he'd noticed them, but he hadn't bothered to appease his curiosity before, either.   "What are these for?"

Sesshoumaru retrieved them and slipped them back into place. "Because, baka, dogs, by nature, don't have very good eyesight, and youkai are no different."

InuYasha snorted in response. "Keh! There's nothing wrong with my vision."

"Then thank your human mother for that," Sesshoumaru remarked dryly as he shook out a newspaper and proceeded to disappear behind it.

Surprise made InuYasha blink a few times. It was the first time he'd ever heard his arrogant brother say anything even remotely close to nice about any human, let alone InuYasha's mother. It hadn't been the first time, however, that InuYasha had noticed how much Sesshoumaru had changed during the last five hundred years. The other Sesshoumaru was easy to figure out. All InuYasha had to do was draw his sword and whack at him a few times. This Sesshoumaru, though, was almost . . . nice.

"Anyway, Kagura called this morning. It seems the girls' physical education teacher has, unfortunately, broken her leg. That's why you'll be there, first thing in the morning."

"What for?" InuYasha asked as he stuffed a sausage link into his mouth whole.

Sesshoumaru didn't reappear from behind the newspaper. "I believe we've already been over this.  So you can go to work . . . ignorant half-breed."

"So if I decide to do this—and I'm not saying I will—where's this school, bastard?" InuYasha asked as he stowed another sausage into his mouth whole. Sesshoumaru made a face at his brother's perceived lack of manners.

"In all the times that you visited the miko's era you don't know where her school is?"

InuYasha stopped mid-chew and swallowed hard. "Kagome's school?"

Sesshoumaru hid his amusement behind the paper. "Yes, that'd be the one."

InuYasha's stomach lurched with nervous anticipation at the thought of finally getting to see Kagome again without hiding in the shadow, lurking like some criminal waiting to strike.

InuYasha's ears flattened against his head, and he jumped slightly when the bell rang announcing the end of the lunch period and start of the next class.  He was still standing in the middle of the hallway where Kagome had left him, and he sighed.  Okay, so she hadn't recognized him right off the bat, and as much as hated that, he figured that he'd take what he could get, at this point.  Given that he was finally being allowed near her?

'All right,' he thought as he turned on his heel and headed down the hallway once more, 'It's all or nothing.'

Somehow, it seemed like the odds had been stacked even higher against him like an insurmountable wall.  Of course, it didn't really matter how many obstacles were left, did it?  He'd come too far to give up now—he'd be damned if he'd give in without a fight.  All that was left was to see it through.  He wasn't entirely sure exactly how it was going to all play out, but one thing was absolutely certain.

There was no way on earth that he was going to let Kagome slip away from him again.  He just had to figure out how to even those odds, if only just a little because Kagome . . .

Well, she was most definitely worth the effort.