InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Sloppy Seconds ❯ Council Of War ( Chapter 5 )

A shrill ring interrupted the silence and made both Inuyasha and Kagome jump, blushing, as they broke their embrace. Kagome was the first to react, running into the kitchen to grab the phone.

"Moshi, moshi!…Hi, Eri…No, no, you didn't interrupt anything…Heh, no, really, just hanging around the house today….NO! I mean, no. Not sulking about my jealous, two-timing, arrogant boyfriend, hey wait, I told you, he's not my…."
Inuyasha plopped on the couch in the living room while Kagome talked to her friend on the phone. He tried not to listed to the conversation, but he only succeeded in becoming angrier by the second. 'Feh, didn't interrupt anything, eh? So, I guess that wasn't anything. Fine. Just hanging around? Hmph….WAIT… WAIT…WAIT a minute! WHAT boyfriend ?!?'

Inuyasha sulked, but his impatience and pride got the better of him. He stomped into the kitchen and grabbed the cord from the wall with a quick tug, successfully cutting short Kagome's call.

"INUYASHA! What did you do that for? That was rude! I didn't even get to say good-bye to my friend!"

"Feh. We have things to do, bitch."

Kagome sputtered, "B….B….BITCH? So, we're back to that already. That's what I get for thinking….Well, FINE! I just need to pack some things and leave a note for my family."

Inuyasha grabbed her arm and started tugging her towards the door, "Look, we've already wasted enough time today, we'll come back tomorrow for supplies, let's just…"

Kagome cut him short, pulled her arm back and hissed at him. "WASTED ENOUGH TIME ?!? What the…no, never mind…ugh!"

Out of habit she shouted, " OSUWARI!" Kagome started up the stairs as Inuyasha landed like a ton of bricks on the floor behind her.

"Damn it, what was that for?"

Kagome halted in mid stride, her eyes round, and her mouth open. "But…I took your rosary off…."

"Feh."

Kagome turned around and crouched near the subdued hanyou. Reaching her hand under the collar of his haori, she found the rosary in its customary place.

"But…how? I snapped it. You put it back together? Why…why did you put it back on?"

Inuyasha pulled himself up and sat on his haunches, his ears drooped, "Feh. I just did, thats all."

"Oh…they remind you of Kikyo, huh?"

"Kami! No. Sango told me you'd think that. If you'd done it last year, before any of that crap, I would have done the same. It has nothing to do with that. Just drop it."

"Um, alright." Kagome noticed the rosary looked a little different. If she didn't know better, she would have thought that Inuyasha had restrung the rosary on with the locket she had give him before they went to Kaguya's castle. The one with a picture of the two of them in it. Hmmm.

Inuyasha sat on the bottom rung of the stairs, near Kagome.

"Hey, Kagome, I was thinking…"

"Don't hurt yourself."

"Yeah, yeah," He said, rolling his eyes, "I think we need a council of war."

"Council of war?"

"Yeah, before a daimyo heads into battle, they convene with their allies and advisors, prepare their armories, and strategize. I think we need to determine who our allies will be, coordinate our efforts and plan our attack. A council of war."

"Uhhhh…" Kagome gaped at him, her jaw on the floor, "Inuyasha? How do you about all of that? I thought you were the swing first, ask questions later type."

"Helllloooo….Second son of the Lord of the Western Lands mean anything to you? I know I'm only a hanyou and I was just a pup when he was killed, but he was known to be an excellent warrior. Usually the heir is trained on rule, other sons on battle to defend their Lord. Sesshomaru was trained to be the Lord, but my father did teach me something."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just…it was just unexpected, that's all."

"Feh."

"So, how do we do this council of war?"

Inuyasha fell silent for so long, Kagome was beginning to think he had either not heard or forgotten her question when he spoke. Clearing his throat, he began, "Well, there are the obvious allies, ourselves, Sango and Kirara, Miroku, Shippo and Kaede. Oh, and I guess Myoga would count as an advisor. Then there are those that I believe will join us, either for their own reasons, revenge or whatnot, or for the cause, like Sesshomaru, fleabag, and, um, Kikyo." Inuyasha looked out of the corner of his eye to see Kagome stiffen at Kikyo's name. He rushed on, speaking a little more quickly and changing the subject, "Then there are those who may help us that may not ally themselves with us; that will help or not help as the opportunity arises. Those we shouldn't trust outright, as they may act only in their own best interests. I was thinking of Kagura in particular, but there may be others."

"You sure Kikyo doesn't belong in that category?" Kagome said quietly.

Inuyasha ignored her, continuing, "We need to not only meet with our allies, but also do it so that Naraku is not aware that we are conspiring. It won't be so difficult for you, me, Sango and Miroku to get together, but it's going to be hard to hide meeting with the others."

Kagome was now very interested in this new, calculating side of Inuyasha and began forming ideas of her own. "Well, I can approach Sesshomaru about something with Rin, or you can some how draw him out, using a battle to hide your talks. And we can use one of your sparring matches over me to talk to fleabag, I mean Kouga." Inuyasha couldn't hide his smirk at Kagome's slip. "He'll come for me, you fight, I go to 'console' him, and I tell him what's going on." Kagome looked away and whispered, "And you can handle the other one. You go to her all the time anyway, so that won't be too difficult."

Inuyasha sighed, "Well, now that we have a plan for our allies, we should figure out what our strengths and weaknesses are. What we will need for the battle and what not. And what role everyone will play. But before we get into all of that, I think we need to get with the others and bring them in on this. If nothing else, they have been missing you and they are just as much a part of this as us. Sango is a warrior and tactician, so she will have want to have input. And though I'd never admit it to his face, Miroku can be wise when he keeps his hands to himself. If you tell him I said that though, I'll make you regret it." Inuyasha finished with a glare at Kagome, who remained unfazed.

"Humph. I won't say anything. You know, I think that maybe we should try to get them over here. Just for a day or two. I was thinking about going shopping at the sporting goods store- there may be some things from my era that might help us and Sango would be the best one to take with me to pick things out."

"I don't know what this sporting good store is, but shopping isn't going to help us defeat Naraku." Inuyasha scowled, remembering the time Kagome and her mother had taken him to the mall for some modern clothes.

Understanding what he was thinking, Kagome explained, "The sporting goods store is where they sell items for hunting and um, fighting. Stuff for outdoors too. My sleeping bag, my tent and my portable stove came from there. There are all sorts of things we might be able to use. It's where I go for arrows in this time, too"

"Well, that might be good then. We won't know if we can bring them until we try, so we should go now. The sooner we get there, the sooner we get this over with."

"Ok… Hey, Inuyasha?"

"Hmmm?"

"Tomorrow I want to go by my school for a little bit…"

"NANI? We need to get ready, not wait for you to take your damned tests!"

"INUYASHA! Don't make me say it! …Listen, I know what we need to do, that's why I want to go to school tomorrow!"

Inuyasha took a deep breath to calm himself. He was getting antsy now that they had begun talks about the final battle. "Ok. Gomen. What do you need to do there then?"

Kagome got up and started walking to the door, hearing Inuyasha following her as they walked to the well.

"Kagome?"

After entering the well house and closing the door behind them, Kagome turned back to him. "I need to go withdraw from school," she said finally with a quiver in her voice.

Inuyasha furrowed his brow. "But I thought you kept coming here all those times for your 'tests.' Why are you going to pull out now, after insisting on coming back all those times?"

"Because, Inuyasha, I'm eighteen now. That makes me an adult in this era. I still have half a year left, and before now I wasn't old enough to drop out with out parent permission. Plus, I wanted to keep things so that I could have a life here someday. But now that I'm old enough, I can sign myself out of school. If things turn out that way, I can take an equivalency test and still get my diploma. But there are so many things we don't know right now. I may not be able to continue in school. Something could happen to me, or to the well, after we purify the jewel… Or I might not want to come back." Kagome turned away and started walking up the steps to the well.

Inuyasha gasped, all of his hopes and fears riding in that one sentence. He was afraid, but he had to ask. "You might not want to come back here?"

Kagome's head and shoulders dropped and she sighed.

"Sometimes, I don't feel like I belong here any more… like I belong in the Segoku Jidai."

Straightening her back, with determination in her eyes, she stood on the lip of the well and forced a smile, "But there's no point talking about it now, we just have to see how things turn out."

With that, Kagome jumped into the well, back to the Feudal Era, leaving Inuyasha staring at where she had been, a small smile on his face, before he jumped in too.