InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shikon High ❯ Anniversary ( Chapter 6 )

A/N: *deep breath* Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, ---I really am!

Ok, here's the scoop: I've been really busy finishing "The Mysterious Little Visitor", which I finally finished on Maundy Thursday! I am very happy with how it turned out and eventually I will go back and make the earlier chapters better. Second, it's a battle between my SH readers and my OaL ("On a Leash") readers. Basically, both sets want me to update their favorite fic first, and the in between people don't care as long as I update. Well, after a very scientific analysis of the problem and a highly intellectual solution… *watches as everyone stares dubiously at her* Oh, fine, I flipped a damn coin, ok?! *huffs* And, sadly, OaL won. It's very hard, I've found out, for me to run two stories at once, and since I know common threads woven between the two, I will have to neglect this one more. I'm very sorry, but I will get to this ever-so-often; when OaL finished, this one is next, and it will get all the love and attention it deserves. Fair deal? I figured that I should, at the very least, give you one chapter as apology. And also, check out my other stories, and join my notify list (hanyoumiko.notifylist.com) so you know what's going on. Also, I am going to use (~*~*~*~*) to also signify time passage; just easier.

Now, without further ado….

Chapter Six: Anniversary

Kagome flopped onto her bed, reaching over and hitting her reading lamp off, leaving her room in darkness, save the moonlight outside her window that shined through the grayish night-clouds. Her mind replayed the conversation from earlier that night when Miroku had dropped her off.

"Inu-Yasha's family is very well-off, you see," Miroku said, parallel parking by the sidewalk of the shrine steps. "His family owns a nice security company called WesternTerritories."

"THE Western Territories Company?" Kagome echoed back in surprise, the remnant tears making her skin feel slightly stiff. "The one that makes the stuff to protect politicians and famous people? With the dogs and alarms and weapons and everything?"

He nodded. "The very same. Inu-Yasha chooses to save his money because he will have to use it later for college, no doubt, and when he's old enough to help his brother in the running of the corporation. The other reason being," he chuckled slightly, "that it is locked up in trust until he's eighteen. He goes back to the mansion every month or so to check up on everything. Kaede is an old friend of the family's, and his parents had named her as guardian, should something happen to them…."

The girl looked down, only murmuring, "Oh."

"He can take care of himself, Kagome." The monk flashed an assuring smile. "I wouldn't worry too much. He will bounce back…it will just…it will take him time."

She nodded. "I understand."

It still didn't make a whole lot of sense, but Kagome was slowly piecing it together.

Miroku had told her a bit before that Inu-Yasha's older brother Sesshomaru was very good at handling college in the United States and the company, but still could not take care of his brother at the same time and it would have been absolutely stupidity to leave Inu-Yasha in a huge mansion to his own devices. Even so, he apparently had help from some other family friends and associates.

Kagome shuddered at what an even bigger egotistical guy he would be if he was surrounded by money all the time; he probably would turn into some high class jerk off.

So he would grow up in a fairly stable home, Ms. Kaede was his legal guardian because his parents died. She turned over; eyes narrowed in pensiveness, yet also brought on drowsiness. I wonder though…how did his parents die…?

~*~*~*~*

"Now you have to pivot your hip-watch carefully, Yuki-until you stand with your toes facing the front while your other leg spins around and hooks the other person," Inu-Yasha said arms up in a guard, and demonstrating the position he voiced. "Understand?"

A loud chorus of young girls' and boys' voice replied, "Yes, Sensei!"

Inu-Yasha looped his leg around, facing his class full-on. "Good. Now, I want all of you to try doing the same thing during our warm-up routine as we go down the floor. I know some of you are more experience than others, but that doesn't mean you have to give up. Always try something, even if you're not sure you can do it."

Twenty-some-odd noggins bobbled in unison.

"Let's begin then."

Warm-ups were always one of Inu-Yasha's favorite parts of class, even when he was a student and not an instructor. Maybe it was the feeling he always had when he knew he could work his muscles and let them flex and move and do all the cool kicks and punches that his mother insisted he wasn't supposed to do on another kid, which he'd followed through on…

Until he met Kouga when he hit high school, but Mother had always said not to fight the weak, the innocent, the elderly, women, or anyone else who was not able to defend themselves. Well, that stupid wolf knew how to fight, and Mother had never mentioned not fighting an ignoramus, so…

Still, it was nice that after starting martial arts at the age of three-his father had started teaching him then-and joining a dojo when he was six and learning from the master there that he was now a master himself.

Like every Sunday, Inu-Yasha got the children's group at six o'clock at night, which constituted of kids from ages 8 thru 11; anything younger than that was the Little Tigers class. This wasn't his dojo, but it was the downtown Tokyo gym, one of his preferred training spots.

It wasn't required that he come and teach, but he'd seen the flier outside asking for people to come teach martial arts to children and any other people who wanted to learn. Naturally, he'd accepted the call, and after 'testing' him, he was hired to start that very first day.

Normally, he'd teach at the Sato dojo, under the watchful, if not slightly amused, eye of his own sensei.

Either way, it gave him money, regardless that most teenagers pilfered from whomever their reigning authority was. He didn't mind; he wouldn't take too much from Kaede, and it gave him an excuse to run off excess energy with a bunch of human and demon children who had as much energy as he.

Only a few times had he ever had a student pulled out because he was half-demon. Inu-Yasha knew there were jerks like Kouga and his stuck-up kin who frowned upon hanyou because of their mixed blood, and then there were people like Sango and Miroku, whose families had been dedicated to alleviating the world of youki in previous generations.

It bothered him a bit, considering the number of hanyou was not exactly a minority. It made up a third of the people on the planet, so why were they still treated, by certain numbskulls, as second class citizens?

Well, right now, Inu-Yasha didn't want to think too deeply on the wiles of mortal nature, yet on the sweetness of little children who were now limbered up enough to practice on the bags.

"We're going to start with kicking techniques," he started loudly, waiting until yammering quieted some, standing in their respective rows. "Yoshi and Kusaku, I want you two to roll out a bag and I want everyone else to form two lines."

The boys did as they were told and rolled out a single bag together, while their instructor moved one on his own. After straightening everyone up, he issued a few more instructions, and then observed as his pupils attacked the bags.

Ever so often he'd have to step into show the best way to deliver a kick or break up a small fight.

The kids loved to watch him do tricks in the air and complex moves during their break; Inu-Yasha could only smirk with pride as he would land, remembering the amount of time it had taken him to execute them so fluently.

Only forty-five minutes long, the kids thought that class ended all too soon, and Inu-Yasha, though not admitting aloud, felt the same way. Parents would start to show up along with his second wave of students, which was the teenage group. Off they'd go, waving and yelling "bye!" as either Mom or Dad walked them out of the padded gym room.

~*~*~*~*

It wasn't until after nine Inu-Yasha left the gym, and by that time, rain had started to descend in fat, cold drops. With only his light windbreaker and his gi on, he jogged to the bullet train terminal. Hopping down the stairs, he made it to the alcove where a few other people hung around in the worn plastic chairs.

Moving up to the lone window in the corner, he leaned against the inside of the marred Plexiglas. Inu-Yasha crossed his arms over his chest and lolled his head, waiting for the next train to arrive.

It's been two weeks since Kagome came to Shikon High, he thought, the rainfall chiming quickly on the metal rails.

Not much had really happened the second week. Kagome had pretty much melded into his group of friends and she was steadily getting used to having to walk from class to class instead of having her instructors come to her like in a 'normal' high school.

The hanyou frowned slightly for some unknown reason. My student ambassadorship is almost over…. Maybe it was the fact he'd grown pretty fond of the ebony-haired girl, as ditzy as she could be as well as sharp-witted as she could be.

Though only in a platonic sort of way, of course.

Inu-Yasha reasoned his wanting to kiss back at the festival was because of her niceness and the mood had seemed right and maybe…. He sighed softly. Maybe because she looked so much like Kikyo…

Even so, the boy had learned after many a-year of Miroku's lady-killing that girls like to celebrate things like anniversaries; if not for his friend, he probably would have had absolutely no idea on what to do. (That and Miroku had continued to pester him to give Kagome a gift. Inu-Yasha had known, by the smile and his face, that the monk was up to something, but what…he wasn't sure…yet…).

Getting her something would probably be the right thing to do. Kagome's a good person, and I guess she's pretty good friend. He smirked to himself.

All week long, the girl had been exceptionally helpful, especially when he'd forgotten about their reading assignment in history; she'd leant him her notes to copy. Before that, Kagome had stopped him-yet again-from getting in a fight with Kouga, effectively steering him away from the path of detention or Saturday school or whatever. But, the thing that really had touched him the most, was probably their first day together when she'd said that it didn't matter if he was hanyou or not, and that meant a lot.

The sound of the bullet train pulling up roused him from his musings, and he lurched to the open sliding doors and climbed on, grasping hold of the metal triangle as he stood.

~*~*~*~*

"Are you nervous, Kagome?" Sango asked on Wednesday afternoon.

"A little," the girl admitted quietly.

Groups of girls jogged around the basketball floor as the pair came in. The coach motioned for them to start their warm-ups.

"It's really no big deal," the older girl insisted, stretching out her legs. "The tournament's a lot of fun."

"Still," Kagome mimicked her, "it's my first practice with all the other girls."

Sango smiled good-naturedly as she moved into the splits. "It's not all that bad. Besides, you're only doing the archery division. You get to watch most of the other people. Don't worry about it." She leaned over one leg, grabbing hold of her toe and counting quietly into her knee.

"I guess so."

The whole practice wasn't as terrible as Kagome would have expected. It was much easier than she would have thought, and a lot of fun. They did tug-of-war, practiced with wooden swords, practiced archery, and she even sparred with Sango.

Even though the older girl went easy on her, Kagome still made sure to always stay on Sango's good side. The coach had warned the training would get a bit tougher, but it would go in unnoticeable increments. Everyone had been very pleasant to her, yet also impressed at her skill with a bow.

"Kagome," her friend asked as they walked out and lay in a leaf pile, "what would you want for Christmas?"

She blew a crimson leaf off her nose. "I don't know. Um…" she stared at the soft clouds above. "I guess perfume would be really nice, like a body mist or something. I'm not sure. Why do you wanna know?"

Smiling, Sango merely picked up a piece of grass and made little buzzing sounds, never answering Kagome's question.

That night, Sango had reported to Inu-Yasha her findings.

~*~*~*~*

"'Jun's Body Indulgence', huh." Inu-Yasha stood just outside the yawning entrance. Other people passed by him as he surveyed the place from the safety of the bustling walkway of the mall. From this distance, the candles and various other therapeutic things smelled pleasant; however, every time he got closer, he'd have to hustle back, gagging while his eyes watered.

Stupid, ultra sensitive nose…

Why couldn't she have wanted something like jewelry or a book or something but-Nooo. She had to have perfume, his mind grumbled. "Me and my stupid karma…." Taking a deep breath, the half-demon zoomed into the shop and started searching.

Candles…soap…oil…lotion…and at the very back on the shelves was their entire display of fragrances and body mists.

He sloppily scanned through the various labels, breathing once every thirty seconds. There were way too many bottles! Too many colors! Too many of everything! And every time he breathed in through his mouth he'd taste it, and if he inhaled via his nose, he'd get dizzy.

"Sir, are you ok?" a sales associate asked, touching his arm.

"Yeah," he replied swiftly, feeling evermore light-headed. He heard her shuffle away, saying something about how his pupils were dilated. Finally grabbing a bottle of sage and lemongrass body mist, he galloped to the counter. "I'll take this." He took in another deep breath, feeling damn near choked.

"Let's see…" the young woman behind the counter said, slowly taking the bottle from his hand and swiping it at an even more lethargic pace over the scanner. She raised an eyebrow at him as he drummed his fingers in annoyance on the counter. "Sir, what seems to be the problem?" She popped her pink bubble gum.

Inu-Yasha didn't respond as he didn't really hear her. He was too fascinated by the music all the colors were making, and the way the dazzled in the store lights, and all the incense and---

He crashed to one side, giggling like a lunatic.

"Sir?!" the woman cried, leaning over the counter. "Are you ok?!"

"Hehehe…" was his response before he passed out, sprawled eagle-style on the peach tile flooring.

~*~*~*~*

The week whirled pretty much by, and Inu-Yasha paid little attention to his history teacher's lecture, catching up on some much needed shut eye. The smells from that bath and body shop had bothered him; there was no way he was ever going to enter that place again.

Next time, he'd send Miroku.

The floral scents and earthy aromas and all the other smells had permeated his hair and clothes. Regardless that he washed his silver locks several times, the faint scent was enough to bother him, hence why he couldn't sleep; better than passing out and seeing some really rotund man about to give you mouth-to-mouth, which made him involuntarily shudder at the thought. Having that lingering scent around…it was like standing behind the little old lady at the grocery store whom one would swear had bathed in perfume.

Right now though, he was trying to fend off Kagome-for whom he'd gone through such misery for-who was irritatingly poking him in the side with her pencil. He grunted and batted at her hand. "Quit it, wench," he groused, turning his head on his notebook enough to half-assed glare at her.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Come on, Inu-Yasha, stay awake!" she hissed. "I'm not going to let you skive off my lecture notes for the rest of school year."

"Fine." He closed his gold eyes again.

He heard her tsk. "You're such a pain…"

"Hmph." The end of the day bell finally, rang, and he leapt out of his chair, scurrying out of the classroom. "Hey, Kagome," he called to her.

Pushing her way through the crowd, the girl sidled up next to him. "Yeah?"

"I got a present for you."

She blinked widely. "Really?"

"Yeah, come on."

Together, they wormed their way through the throng, sliding around the inevitable groups of people who stood in the middle of the hallways and blabbed. It took them a minute or so until they reached his locker. Inu-Yasha twisted the combination in quickly while Kagome stared wonderingly at him. The door clicked open and he threw his books onto the top shelf. A package wrapped up in blue tissue paper sat on the bottom shelf.

Seizing it, he handed it to the girl. "Here," he grunted. "This is for you,"

Setting her books down, Kagome undid the white ribbon on it and smiled when she saw the small glass bottle filled with jade liquid. Looking up, "Thank you…but, what's this for?"

He blinked at her. "You mean…you mean you don't know?" He gaped.

"Uh…no…?" she responded cutely.

"You mean I went through the hell of getting that stupid ass perfume and you didn't even remember?!" he shouted, his voice rising a bit. Kagome was about to open her mouth when he cut her off, continuing with his tantrum, "I'm fucking worried that you'll be all pissy if I forget the fact I've been your student ambassador for three weeks now, you don't even remember…?! Fuck…."

"I-Inu-Yasha…" she stammered, but was cut off again when he slammed his locker door shut and stomped angrily away. "I'm sorry…" she whispered in his wake.

~*~*~*~*

Two nights later, Kagome tossed and turned. Sighing, she flipped her light on. "There's no way I can get to sleep," she murmured, rubbing her eyes. Her fat cat Buyo jumped off the bed and stretched. Climbing out of bed, the girl padded over to her desk. She stared at the books and papers adorning it. No ideas were forming. She only felt guilty.

The day after his blow-up, Inu-Yasha hadn't said a single word to her. He would scowl and huff, but not a single word. Not even a rude remark. Nada.

He remembered…and I forgot, she cogitated surreptitiously. I completely forgot that… "Well, what do I know about Inu-Yasha?" He's pushy, he can be sweet, he's arrogant, he can be thoughtful, he loves martial arts, he likes art… Kagome smiled to herself. "I'm going to do a little shopping before school."

~*~*~*~*

She was about an hour early, but Kagome didn't mind; she knew from earlier experiences that Inu-Yasha liked to jog around the halls. Waiting by his locker, she fiddled nervously with the long package in her hands. The sense of dread that continued to seep through her was unnerving, yet the girl forced herself to stay put. Mind over matter.

About ten minutes passed till she heard the familiar slapping of running shoes echo down the passageway and began to slow. Around the corner came the hanyou, his hair tied held back by a rubber band. Solemn eyes lit upon her and then narrowed slightly. "Whaddya want?"

She scuffed the ground for a moment until she gained enough gusto to meet gazes with him. "I'm really sorry, Inu-Yasha." He grunted. "No, I really am! So…this is for you…" Kagome presented the parcel to him, her courage spent. "I-I really didn't mean to forget, I guess…I guess I just figured you wouldn't care and I didn't want to make a big deal about it…" She stared at his shoes until she felt the weight shift from her hands, and the gentle brushing of his claws against the back of her hand.

Paper was ripped and tossed into the trashcan by the double doors. Inu-Yasha's scowl gradually lost its touch, until all he could do was, "Keh, don't worry about," when he saw the colored pencil set, a few charcoal pencils, and an expensive type of sketch paper. "A gift's a gift, right?"

Kagome stared up at him, relief flooding her azure eyes. "I guess that means you like it."

He smirked at her. Jokingly, "No, I'm just placating you."

She laughed softly before coming up and catching him in an embrace. "Then just don't tell me that you don't like it…. I really am sorry."

Inu-Yasha stood ramrod straight, started. One arm circled behind her back and hugged her gently, unable to say anything in response to her apology, and even when she murmured into his sweaty tee-shirt, "Happy anniversary, Inu-Yasha," all he did was softly give the same regard. His senses were ensnared by something else about her.

She smelled like sage and lemongrass…

~*~*~*~*

A/N: So sorry! Once again, I'm sorry if this is so short, but this is a transition thing. See, I kind of go with the flow, and right now I'm still working on how I want to get from this point to another point later on…. But, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

On another note, this chapter, although short, is dedicated to Vistadel Lago High School! I've been pretty much adopted by the students there, and I thank you. Like I said, "On a Leash" won the coin toss, but this too shall have its day.

Check out my other stuff until then. I've written some one shots, and started other stuff so…enjoy!

Jane,

~Moonlight Shadow

P.S. I hope it wasn't too horrible… ^^;