InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Simple and Clean ❯ Reminiscence ( Chapter 14 )

I know, I know… I've been gone forever and you guys have given up on hoping I was alive and started instead to hope I was dead… *SOB* I've just got sooo much going on, I am SOOO SORRY!!! Please forgive me!!! I got sick yet again, and on Christmas too! First it was the sore throat, then the coughing, and now sneezing! I feel like a humanoid hose. Oh, well. I know that my feeble excuse for an apology is less than satisfying, but maybe this chapter will help?

 

Recap:

Somehow, he managed to roll into bed, clothes and all. He stared impassively at the moon, halfway through the sky, and wondered what Kagome was doing at that moment. Was she thinking of him? He impulsively wiped his eyes to find that they were damp. He pulled the covers over his head to hide the tears from the moon… and from his heart.

Alone, he was alone again.

 

 

Chapter 14

 

Reminiscence

 

The alarm clock rang again that morning as it had every morning since the day school had started. The same call for her to get out of bed, never failing to do the job it was made for. It comforted her that at least one thing in her upside down life had stayed the same.

Kagome's eyes felt bloodshot and it was as though she had stayed too long in a chlorinated pool without goggles. Her stomach rumbled uncomfortably, reminding her of the meal she had missed the night before. She slipped on her school uniform, which had been lying haphazardly on the floor and tried halfheartedly to smooth out the wrinkles. Giving up on the task, she shuffled down the stairs.

Eyes half open, Kagome stumbled as she walked, bracing herself against the cold walls. She didn't feel the cold. She was numb from the inside out. A single tear rolled down her unprotected cheek, and as it engraved its salty path down her skin, feeling flowed back into her heart.

She wished feverently that it hadn't, for the moment it arrived, a dull pain lodged itself into her chest. She had never felt anything quite like it before, and the sensation confused and baffled her. She plunged into a dark mood as she realized yet another new and unusual thing had altered more of her dismally depressing excuse for a life.

Searching for a solution to the unusual throb in her heart, she probed her own mind. The answer was there, behind a closed door, the lock far from her reach. She stretched her mind for clarification, dejectedly pulling away when she realized she could not breach the walls of her own psyche.

“Kagome,” A warm voice flooded her mind, causing her mental hand to shrink back from the dark door of secrets she had been trying so hard to discover. “Are you ready for breakfast?” Her mother placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Shaking her head to clear the last blurs from her eyes, she looked up at her mother.

Seeing the sadness in her daughters deep brown eyes, Mrs. Higurashi pulled the girl to her in a knowing embrace. Kagome fell gratefully against her mother, feeling like the five year old she once was, crying from a scraped knee. She wished the tears would come, but there was nothing left inside of her except for the relentless throb, a thorn pricked deep into her tender heart.

* * *

School felt like a passing daydream, almost an alternate reality. A few of Kagome's teachers and friends enquired if she was doing alright, but she just brushed them off. “I'm fine, just a little tired.” The minutes passed slowly, but finally the bell rang, sounding like a distant echo.

Picking up her backpack, Kagome didn't notice its weight, just the deep pain, nagging at her as if eating her from the inside out. She didn't see the other people crowding past her in the hall. The entire school felt empty, even though it had never been more full of life. She wished Sango was there to comfort her, taking condolence in the fact that she would visit her soon.

For the second time since the year had begun, she bumped into Sesshomaru. “I hope this isn't going to become a habit of yours.” He said coolly, looking down at the confused and dishelved young girl. Lifting herself slowly, she deftly dusted her clothes off. The older man noticed the glazed look in her normally sharp eyes. Lifting her chin up, he examined her face closely.

She was a mess. Besides her eyes, her entire face looked older. Dark circles ringed her reddened eyes. Her face was pale as death and her eyes held a look of sorrow that had not been there when he had seen her in the hospital visiting her friend. “What has he done to you?” He asked her, not expecting a reply.

“He's made me love him.”

* * *

“Good you're here! It was getting pretty boring in here!” Sango graced Kagome with a string of sentences as she entered her room (she got to go home from the hospital). “There is nothing on television in the afternoon, no wonder housewives…” Sango trailed off as she noticed her friend's sullen face.

“What's the matter Kagome?” She asked, concerned. Kagome sat down on the edge of the bed and fell back into the blankets. Looking at Sango's face from upside down she asked, “What have I done?”

Sango smiled, stroking her friend's hair, comforting her. “Boy problems?” She asked. Kagome managed a small smile, Sango knew more than anyone about boys. She had dated more than a few herself, much more than Kagome could even hope to. She nodded, feeling pathetic and vulnerable.

“It's Inuyasha isn't it?” Kagome looked at her, hoping that she wouldn't see a look of disgust on her friend's face. Instead she was faced with the same warm smile her mother had given her. Mom knew all about what happened! She realized. She nodded slightly, still feeling embarrassed. “What happened?”

Kagome began, explaining about her fight with Inuyasha about Koga, and soon she was spilling out the whole story. Her mind was filled with things that she felt needed to be blurted out. She was like a pitcher filled with too much water that it was spilling out from its edges. When she had finished, she laid back against the soft pillows of Sango's bed.

“You've got it all right, and you've got it bad.” Sango told her frankly. Then she smiled comfortingly and put her hand in Kagome's, offering her silent support. “At least we're in the same boat together.”

* * *

Inuyasha sat in the waiting room and surprise, surprise, waited. He looked around desperately, trying to focus his feelings on someone else than the girl who had flooded his thoughts since the moment she had left him standing alone and confused in front of the school the day before. He felt a strange something welled up inside of him, but he paid no mind to it.

“Kagayaku, Inuyasha.” The young assistant looked around the room. Inuyasha raised his hand in a sort of salute as he stood. The woman looked him up and down, and with a deciding look in her eyes she led him to a room at the end of the hall.

The room was filled with bean bag chairs, building blocks and books and the walls were hung with crayon drawings. His eyes flicked over the bright, uplifting colors to land on the one filled only with black scribbles. He remembered drawing it, long ago… he ran his finger along the angry lines, remembering.

“I'm sorry honey, but your parents won't be coming home for a while.” The young boy looked up at the kindly, but unfamiliar woman. “Who're you?” He asked suspiciously, wondering where his parents were. She smiled at him warmly, but Inuyasha only saw an evil grin.

“I'm Kaede, you'll be staying with me until your parents come back.”

“They won't come back. They won't ever come back.” He told the picture angrily, “They're dead.”

“I see we've made a new development: talking to pictures.” An older man with a strange goatee, abnormally pointed ears and hair that looked straight out of the feudal era sat down in a chair, resting his clipboard on his desk and jotting something down. Glaring at the man, Inuyasha sat down gloomily on the other side of the desk.

“Nice to see you too, Inuyasha.” He remarked, still writing.

“Shut up old man.” Inuyasha growled, already wondering why he had even decided to visit his therapist. The man just smiled, and looked up at him expectantly. “How are you feeling Inuyasha?” He asked in his I-get-paid-lots-of-money-for-this kind of voice. Flexing his fingers into a fist underneath the desk Inuyasha unwillingly answered.

“I'm having problems.”

“Yes I kind of figured that.”

“Do you want me to leave or not old man?”

“My name is Totousai.” Totousai corrected Inuyasha. He looked at the young man, his large eyes probing into Inuyasha's mind. Smiling slightly he jotted something down on the clipboard. Inuyasha leaned over to look at what he had written, but the therapist tilted the board out of Inuyasha's sight.

“Tell me about her.” Inuyasha stared at the old man in amazement. “H-how did you know it was-?” He stuttered, surprised by Totousai's statement. The older man just sighed almost in satisfaction. “I don't have this PhD for nothing you know.” Feeling more comfortable with this man than he had with anyone (other than Kagome) for a long time, he decided to talk.

“I got mad at her yesterday and now I feel… weird.” Totousai looked at him in interest. Tapping his pen on the desk he asked, “How does it feel?”

“Like someone tied my stomach in knots.” He said, trying to put the feeling into words, “Except-deeper inside.”

“I see.”

This exchange went on for a while, with Inuyasha talking and Totousai asking questions and writing feverishly. As he talked, Inuyasha remembered his first meeting with the therapist. He had been about seven, a year after his parents had left on what Kaede had called a long-term “business trip”.

“Hello Inuyasha.” The strange, ugly old man stuck his wizened hand out to Inuyasha. Taking one look at it he said disdainfully, “Eww.” Totousai withdrew his hand and rested back in his chair. “Well Inuyasha, how do you feel today?”

“Bad.” The small boy answered picking up a red fire truck. Ignoring the man, he ran the truck across the desk's lustrous wooden surface. The old man said in a voice that was sweeter than sugar, “I'm Totousai. I'm a therapist. Do you know what a therapist is, Inuyasha?”

The young boy looked up at the therapist, a bored expression on his face. “Yup. I've had four already.” With this he threw that fire truck with all of his might, aiming for Totousai's balding crown. When it hit its mark with a thump, the boy darted out of the room, casting behind him a mischievous smile that didn't seem to reach his eyes.

“See ya, old man.”

* * *

 

As Inuyasha left, Totousai looked down at the notes he had written down on his clipboard. His eyes scanned the writing, checking the facts. As he came to his conclusion, he wrote his solution down at the bottom of the paper, shaking his head. He couldn't help hoping the troubled teenager would come back next week. It would add some excitement to his schedule. Leaving the clipboard on the table, he got up for some coffee.

On the space labeled “Diagnosis” only two short sentences were written, but that was all the therapist needed to get his point across.

 

The kid's head over heels in love. The poor sucker.

 

* * *

 

Hoped you liked this installment! If you did, review!! It doesn't take long, and it motivates me! So, spend a minute or two (or if you really like the chapter, maybe five?) and review! You guys rock, don't give up on me! And remember: there are no subliminal messages [REVIEW OR ELSE] in this story. Sorry for me and all my late-ness, you are all allowed to sick whatever kinds of rabid rodents, large metal objects, and even WMD (if Georgie ever finds them) on me if you'd like.

P.S. Please excuse my blatant use of political satire. I don't mean to enrage anyone by my take on our current president , it's just my way of showing I care.

P.P.S. Happy Chrismahannukwanzaka!! (And all of the other awesome holidays celebrated `round the world!)