InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Safe ❯ Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: Inuyasha, world and characters, belong to Rumiko Takahashi and not to me. The only things that belong to me are the plot and any additional characters. I make no profit of this story, and am doing it only for my own enjoyment.

 

Warning: mention of school shootings and suicide in chapter. I am not trying in any way to make light of what I know to be very serious subjects.

 

Chapter 2

 

Inuyasha hated waiting for Kagome to come back from her own time. He always had. At first it was simply because of the reason he gave, that every minute Kagome was in her time was another minute she wasn't with him looking for more Jewel Shards. Back then he had still wanted to use the completed Jewel to become a full Youkai, and hadn't wanted to wait around for that damn girl who had broken the Jewel in the first place to get her ass back there to start working on putting it back together. Over time though, his feelings had changed. As he found himself enjoying her company, he found himself being becoming bored while on his own and wanting her to come back to help relieve his boredom. Then Shippo and Miroku had joined the group, and he wanted her to come back sooner to help save him from their pestering.

 

These days though, he mostly hated it when she went to his world because then she wasn't with him and he missed her. He missed her smile, her scent, her overly happy attitude that somehow made even the most depressing of situations more bearable. He wanted, needed her by his side. He no longer felt whole when she was gone, it was like a piece of his soul went with her every time she travelled through the well and he couldn't get it back until they were together again. Inuyasha had long since stopped denying that he had feelings for the future girl, at least to himself, and he knew she had feeling for him too. He still didn't know where things were going between them or how they could be together when they were so different and came from two different world (literally), but more than anything he wanted the chance to try and find out. Maybe once Naraku was defeated they would get the chance to do just that.

 

It had been a long two days, but finally it was over. Kagome should be getting home from her `school' now and would be coming back soon. Deciding that it was safe to go get her, and not really looking forward to having Shippo come back and whine at him about when Kagome would be coming back again, Inuyasha jumped into the well and through the five hundred years separating him from Kagome.

 

Inuyasha exited the well house cautiously, wary of both the shrine visitors whom Kagome had repeatedly told him he was not allowed to let see him, and the crazy old man who still tried to banish him with his useless sutras every now and then. He didn't see any visitors, which wasn't all that uncommon for a `weekday' at this time of day if he remembered correctly. He also didn't see the old man, which did surprise him slightly, but Inuyasha just figured that he was doing something in one of the storerooms or something. Deciding to take advantage as this bit of luck and cherish this chance to avoid getting a sutra posted to his forehead, he took off towards the house.

 

Inuyasha had been had been to Kagome home enough times to get some idea of what to expect when he entered the house. Clean and well ordered house, fat cat sleeping on the sofa, Kagome's mother usually in the kitchen cooking something and giving him a warm smile as she welcomed him into her home. If it was later in the day, Souta would probably be stretched out in front of the `TV' playing his `video games' while Kagome would be up in her room studying something else for her school. Inuyasha had expected to walk into a similar scene.

 

Instead, what he saw was a house that had clearly been left in a hurry. The TV in the living room was still on, and pile of magazine that had been sitting on the coffee table had been knocked to the fall and not been picked up. The phone in the hallway was left off the hook. There had been something cooking on the stove, which still sat there half finished, although whoever had been cooking it had at least remembered to turn the stove off before leaving.

 

Inuyasha was starting to get confused and a little scared by now. What had happened that would cause Kagome's family to leave while their house was in this state? They had been gone for a couple of hours too, if what he was smelling was correct. Had something happened? Were they okay?

 

From the look of things, it might be a while before anyone got home, so Inuyasha decided that maybe he should go looking for his answers. Not knowing where else to look Inuyasha headed back out in the direction of Kagome's school, barely remembering to grab a hat to go over his ears before he left. It was still a little early, so maybe she was still there. Who knew, maybe she knew what had happened, or would at least be able to point him in the direction of the answers and they could look together.

 

***

 

Okay, now Inuyasha was really worried. What the hell had happened while Kagome was in her time? Inuyasha had arrived at Kagome's school a few minutes ago, to find it surrounded by a mass of people and vehicles. Some were people Kagome's age wearing the `school uniforms' that told him they belonged there, but most people weren't. Some were carrying strange equipment on their shoulders or speaking into sticks they held in their hands as they gestured to the main building, some were try to maintain barricades and keep people out of the school grounds, but most people appeared to be just normal everyday people from this time who were curious or concerned about whatever had happened to cause such a stir. What really worried Inuyasha was that some of the people were clearly those `police' that were meant to uphold the law and protect people in Kagome's time. He had never seen them in real life before, but he had seen enough of them on the TV while waiting for Kagome to come back with him to recognise what they were.

 

Something bad had happened at Kagome's school, Inuyasha was sure of it, and he needed to find out what. Despite his usual aversion to crowds, Inuyasha started to push his way through the mob of people, trying to get to the front and find out what had happened. As he made his way through he heard snatches of conversation, and what he heard didn't make him feel any better.

 

“A shooting is what I heard…”

 

“They said he just came into the room screaming before pulling out the gun and opening fire…”

 

“They were arguing the day before, I heard them. He sounded mad, but I didn't think he'd do this…”

 

“Always such a quite boy, it's amazing he'd result to this…”

 

“She deserved it really, leading him on like that.” “What are you nuts, no one deserved that just for breaking up with a guy. Besides, didn't you hear her yesterday, she never led him on, those so-called-friends of hers did. I always thought they were real bitches anyway, I don't know why she hang out with them…”

 

“At least one person's dead…”

 

It was the last sentence that threatened to stop Inuyasha's heart. Someone was dead, someone from Kagome's school. Could it be Kagome? Damn it, what had happened? He needed to know! Inuyasha was just about ready to grab someone and demand and explanation as to what had happened, when the sound of his own name stopped him.

 

“Inuyasha, is that you?” Turning around, Inuyasha came face to face with one of Kagome's friends from school, Yuka he thought her name was. She looked dishevelled and had clearly been crying, as she looked at him with sad and - Inuyasha thought - guilty eyes.

 

“It is you, I thought I recognised you.” Yuka said sadly.

 

“What happened here, what's going on?” Inuyasha demanded before Yuka could say anything else. He wanted, needed, answers and Yuka was going to give them to him.

 

“You don't know?” Yuka asked, clearly surprised.

 

“If I knew, would I bother asking?” Inuyasha demanded harshly, fear making him short tempered.

 

Yuka looked at the ground as tears once again started to fall from her eyes again. “Of course you wouldn't know, the press hasn't been able to release a full statement yet. Kagome… oh God, it's all my fault, mine and Eri's. Kagome told us that she didn't want to go out with him, either Ayumi kept telling us to back off. Why didn't we listen? If we had, this might have all been avoid. But we thought we knew better and… oh God, how could we have been so stupid? How could he have done something like this?” By this stage Yuka was bawling.

 

“What the hell happened?” Inuyasha almost yelled as he grabbed Yuka and gave her a shake to get through to her. He was even more scared now than he was a few minutes ago, and that was scared enough. Now he was sure something had happened to Kagome. “Where's Kagome?”

 

“It, it all started yesterday.” Yuka said as she tried to get a hold of herself and stop crying. “No, that's not true, it all started nearly two years ago when me and Eri first started trying to set Kagome up with Hojo. Did you ever meet him? Well, it doesn't matter now of you did or didn't, does it? Anyway, Kagome kept telling us that she wasn't interested, but we thought that the two of them would make a great couple so we kept doing it anyway. Sometimes we even accepted dates for her, even though Kagome would get mad at us if we did, and I don't think she ever actually went out with him. She kept trying to turn him down gently, but because of our interference he saw so sure that she liked him and didn't ever take the hint. Yesterday Kagome decided that she had had enough and told Hojo straight out that she wasn't interested, that she was seeing someone else, I guess she meant you. Well, Hojo blew up in her face, said she'd be sorry for leading him on. This morning when he came to school he… he had a gun! He barged into Kagome's classroom and started yelling at her, calling her all kind of names and then he… he… he shot her! I wasn't in there when she was shot, but I was there when they wheeled her out. The blood, there was so much blood…”

 

Inuyasha felt cold all over. It was as if his blood had frozen in his veins. No. Not Kagome. Not at the hands of some human. This couldn't be real, this couldn't be happening!

 

“Where the hell is this Hojo guy now?” Inuyasha growled. “I'm going to slaughter him!” Through all of his pain, the only thought that seemed to make sense to Inuyasha was that he was going to find this Hojo and he was going to make him pay for ever hurting his Kagome.

 

Either Yuka didn't think Inuyasha was speaking literally (which just went to prove that she didn't know him very well) or she was going numb with everything that had happened, because she barely batted an eye to Inuyasha's statement. “You're too late for that.” Yuka said dully. “As soon as he shot Kagome, Hojo turned the gun on himself and shot himself in the head. Fucking coward didn't even have the guts to face what he did. God, what was I thinking, trying to set Kagome up with him? What did I ever see in him?”

 

Inuyasha did not feel any better knowing that this `Hojo' was dead. Since his death had come by his own hand and not Inuyasha's claws, it didn't seem like enough for the hanyou. But there wasn't time to dwell on that, he had something far more important to worry about right now.

 

“What about Kagome?” Inuyasha demanded. “Is she…Did she…” He couldn't even finish that sentence, but Yuka seemed to understand.

 

“She was still alive when they got her out of there, but with an injury that bad…” Yuka chocked on another sob before she got a hold of herself again. “I heard they were taking her to Tokyo General Hospital to be treated.”

 

“Where's that?” Inuyasha demanded, his heart about to spilt in two. On one hand he was beyond relieved to hear that Kagome had survived, on the other he was scared to death that she still might die. He had to see her, he just had to!

 

Yuka pointed west. “About three miles that way, directly in front of the train station. You can't miss it with the huge `Tokyo General Hospital' sign out the front.” Yuka had barely finished speaking before Inuyasha was shoving his way out of the crowd and heading in the direction Yuka had pointed. Fortunatly, the crowd was too busy staring at the school to notice the figure that jumped onto the roofs of nearby buildings heading at impossible speeds west.

 

`Kagome, I'm coming, please hang on.' Inuyasha begged with his thoughts as he ran faster than he could ever remember running before. `damn it all, this was supposed to be the safe time!'