InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Best Kind of Friend ❯ 6 ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and co are owned by Rumimko Takahashi and Co.

 

AN: Thanks for reading! Sorry it took a little while for me a write this … its noisy in my house and I cant write when its noisy.

 

Chapter 6

 

Kagome rested her head on her arms folded atop the table and sighed again. She stared at the seemingly innocent white envelope lying in the center of the table. She willed it to breathe to move to blink to something besides just lay there looking all innocent. She new better, she knew that it was anything but innocent. It was mocking her. It held her very future in its evil white clutches. It was Friday and the damn thing had been sitting there when she came home from school … 6 hours ago.

 

“Kagome, just open it!” Souta whined from across the table.

 

“Kagome, dear, do what your brother says. You are filling the house with negative energy.” Her mother's cheery voice chimed in from her spot at the kitchen sink.

 

“It looks thin Kagome. I saw on TV that if the envelope is thin that means you didn't get in and if it's fat you got in. That's a thin envelope.” Souta explained pointing to the evil envelope on the table.

 

He was right. That is what they say isn't it. It was rather thin. Kagome felt her brow twitch. This was definitely not good. She picked up the envelope and sniffed it carefully.

 

“What are you doing?!” Souta shifted away from the table, obviously scandalized.

 

Kagome looked down at the envelope in her hand and realized that she was, in fact, sniffing it. Why, she did not know; it just seemed like the thing to do. Kagome shook her head, clearing it of all these stray thoughts.

 

Her grandfather walked into the room, completely oblivious to the tension on the room or the cause of it. He took his place at the end of the table and unfolded the news paper he had been carrying under his arm. He reached across the table and picked up the envelope, ripping it open unceremoniously, and tossed it aside. He read the letter within painfully slowly.

 

“Hn.” Was all he said as he refolded the letter and placed it back in its spot on the table before picking his newspaper back up.

 

Kagome's eye ticked.

 

Souta flinched.

 

Kagome lunged at her grandfather, “WHAT DID IT SAY?!?!?!?!” She shook him like a crazed woman.

 

Her mother and Souta jumped into action immediately, prying the crazed teen off of her grandfather.

 

“Kagome, dear, calm down!” Her mother attempted to reason. Seeing that Kagome was completely beyond reason, she turned to her father, “Dad, please just tell us what it says.”

 

Grandpa huffed, “Insolent child! It's nothing really it just said that registration is in July and they will send the registration paperwork in May.” He was so casual about the whole thing, as if her future and self worth were not at stake here.

 

Kagome sat down in her chair utterly defeated, wait… “Registration?” She grabbed the letter and scanned it over.

 

“I GOT IN!!” She crushed the letter to her heart, still in a state of shock, as her family surrounded her with hugs and congratulatory words.

 

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

 

Sesshomaru typed away at his laptop, completely engrossed in his task, when he heard the click of the door opening followed immediately by the room filling with the scent of rain and grass. Kagome was there. He saved his work and shut the laptop in order to give her his undivided attention. He hadn't seen her since that Monday when he fought with Inuyasha, he tried calling her twice, but on each occasion she had been busy. He felt a little neglected. Not that he would admit such.

 

Kagome came flouncing into his office with a grin so bright, it could have illuminated the darkest realm of hell, and jammed a paper in his face.

 

She shifted her weight from one foot to another while he read. He watched her nibble on her bottom lip and pick at the hem of her uniform sleeves; both nervous habits of hers.

 

“Congratulations are in order.” He finally said after dragging enough time out to driver Kagome completely insane.

 

Upon hearing his response her smile got bigger, if at all possible. “I know! I got in! Tokyo U… do you know what this means?” By this point she was bouncing, he knew what she wanted, but he found some sort of sadistic satisfaction in denying her.

 

He knew she was on the verge of exploding when she stated clapping her hands so he gave in. Spreading his arms wide he welcomed her, she ran to him and collided with an `umph'. Sesshomaru closed his eyes and took a deep breath of her scent. When she was happy she smelt more like fresh cut grass; it was much more enjoyable than when she was angry or afraid, then she smelt like the beginning of a storm. She was a rarity amongst humans who mostly smelt like things manufactured rather than nature.

 

“No, what does it mean, Kagome?” he finally said when he had enough of her scent.

 

Something inside of Kagome shuddered at the richness of his baritone voice so close to her ear. How many times in the past ten years had she hugged him? How many times had she fallen asleep with her head in his lap, or wrapped up in his arms? How many times had he stroked her hair or rubbed her legs when they were watching TV or just sitting around reading? Never, ever, had she felt this kind of an intimate connection with him until now. Now, all of those times seemed more than what they were; more than friendly touches. Damn Miroku and Sango. Damn them and their damn insinuations!

 

Somewhere in the back of her mind Kagome remembered that he had asked her something. What did he ask her? Oh yah … “It means I am staying here in Tokyo” … with you.

 

Sesshomaru pulled away from her and led her out of his office and into the living room.

He had expected this day; prepared for it. “How will you be paying?” His demeanor completely serious as if he were dealing with a business associate rather than a friend, he sat down and motioned for her to take a seat beside him on the couch.

 

“Scholarships, I guess, and loans. I've already applied for a few. And I have the track thing going for me.” She really hadn't thought much about it until now; she didn't want to get her hopes up about going to Tokyo U until she got in.

 

He knew how important doing things on her own merit was to Kagome. He could have gotten her into Tokyo U by pulling a few strings, but chose not to. She was an independent person and hated being made to feel like anything less.

 

“If you do not get approved for any of the scholarships that you have applied for; I have the means to support you in this. You will go to college.”

 

He gives you gifts.

 

But, God, this was more than a gift. He was offering to pay for her education … $30,000 per year not including room and board, and he was offering to pay it for her … a friend.

 

Kagome closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. She could feel the tears building up behind her eyes attempting to fall. Why, because she was happy, because she had a friend that would willingly do just about anything for her, because she felt guilty for all the times that she let him.

 

“Thank you.” She finally said, unable to look at him. She knew that she had to do everything in her power to get the scholarships that she needed. She couldn't take the money from him even if she needed it.

 

Sesshomaru, sensing that she was going through some kind of inner struggle that he somehow caused, but couldn't help, moved to lighten the mood. “Celebration is in order. Ice cream?” He suggested hoping it would help.

 

Kagomes' mood picked up instantly at the mention of ice cream. “OK!” She jumped up and glanced around the room a few times.

 

Sesshomaru watched her, a little confused by her actions. What was she looking for? He watched, feigning disinterest, as she walked down the hall to Inuyasha's room and knocked on the door. She frowned a little when there was no answer, then tried knocking and calling his name this time.

 

“He is not in there.” He said just as she made to open the door.

 

“Oh,” Her shoulders slumped visibly and her brows knitted together. “Uh, I wanted to tell him. And … I don't know if you know, but he hasn't been in school all week; I just wanted to make sure he was ok and give him some of the assignments that he has missed.”

 

Sesshomarus expression took on a look that Kagome had never seen before. He looked so hard, so cold. It wasn't that she had ever seen him looking cold, on the contrary, he always had a bit of coldness to him, but this was a whole new level and she couldn't help but to be glad that it wasn't directed at her.

 

“I am aware of his truancy.” He caught her elbow and, carefully as to not let his intention be known, began to lead her away from the door and away from the questions that he was sure would come.

 

“Oh, is he ok? I mean, I've been a little worried. Can you tell him to call me tomorrow and I can give him his homework.” Kagome stopped and took her elbow away from him. Something wasn't right. He was trying to lead her away and out of the house, he said they were going to go get ice cream but, Sesshomaru was never in a hurry to leave.

 

“I will.” Kagome noted that he didn't say anything about how Inuyasha was.

 

“Is he sick?”

 

“No.”

 

“Is he out of town for something?”

 

“No.”

 

“Did he get a job and he's been working?”

 

“No.”

 

“Did he get abducted by aliens?”

 

“What? No.” This was not the way Sesshomaru wanted this conversation to go.

 

“He hasn't been here as he? You don't know where he is.” Kagome crossed her arms over her chest and gave him the firmest look she could muster.

 

Seshomaru stood to his full height and met her challenge. “He is old enough to make his own decisions and take care of himself.”

 

“You really don't know where he is. He is your brother!” Kagome didn't know what happened between them for him to not care so much. She knew him. She knew his heart, even when he did his best to pretend that he didn't have one most of the time.

 

“25 minutes.” She mumbled to herself. But, nothing was really ever said to yourself when in the hearing range of a dog demon.

 

“25 minutes?” Sessomaru repeated.

 

“That day when I fell asleep at Sango's house. Mamma didn't know where I was, she was worried. She called you to see if you had seen me. It took you 25 minutes to find me and you had no idea where I could have been. I could have been anywhere in Tokyo and you followed my scent all round until you found me and it only took you 25 minutes.” Kagome was steadily moving further and further away from him, unable to look in him in the eye.

 

Sesshomaru seemed completely unaffected and continued to stare at her, studying her like a bacteria under a microscope.

 

“Of what importance is that?”

 

Now she looked at him. He did not like the fiery anger in her eyes or the way her scent was changing.

 

“You could have found him. It would be easy for you. He could be hurt. He could be dead.”

 

“Then he failed at a task as simple as taking care of himself for a few days.” Kagome shivered at his words, she couldn't help it.

 

“How can you say something like that? He is your brother. I am going to go look for him.” Kagome stepped past him toward to door.

 

Sesshomaru looked at the bright green numbers of the VCR clock, 9:30. “It is too late for you to go alone.” He went to reach for her hand to stop her, but she pulled away from him.

 

“He is out there alone!” Kagome took a moment to get her temper in check. “Then come with me.”

 

“We will go in the morning. I'll give you a ride home.” He turned to go get his keys then heard the door open.

 

Kagome was halfway out the door when she turned around to speak to him again. “I'll be fine. It's just around the corner. I'll see you first thing tomorrow and we will go look for him, ok?” She was smiling, a big fake smile plastered across her face, and then she was gone.

 

Sesshomaru stood there for a moment. He should have gone after her and he knew it. But, he couldn't. He knew she would go look for the boy, but he couldn't find it in himself to care.

 

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

 

A little after midnight Kagome finally found the lead she had had been looking for. She started looking for Inuyasha at Hachi's, remembering Miroku said that they had gone there and he was the last one who had seen him. From there she rode the bus around the city for a few hours. Finally she saw his car parked along the road in a `rougher' part of the town.

 

Ok, it was a down right dangerous part of town. The area was full of strip clubs, brothels, and gambling dens. The only people who came around here were criminals and gang members. And there she was, a 17 year old, still in her green and white school uniform, walking around after midnight, looking for a friend.

 

Kagome didn't care. She was too mad to care. She was mad at Sesshomaru for not caring about his brother. She was mad at him for making her mad at him. He had always been perfect to her, he never made mistakes, never made apologies; he was just perfect. Then, over the course of a week, he became some uncaring, cruel, cold man who didn't even care if his only brother was dead.

 

Maybe he had more brothers somewhere so it didn't matter if he lost one.

 

Stupid Sesshomaru. She really could have used his help in this. She didn't have any super demon sense of smell. She had to look for Inuyasha the old fashioned way; by walking around and actually looking. She looked down every ally and peered through the windows of every bar and warehouse hoping to catch a glimpse of him.

 

After about ten blocks she started to panic a little. What if his car was here because it was stolen? What if he had been kidnapped? What if he drove to this part of town and got lost and then killed when he asked for directions.

 

She unconsciously wrapped her arms tighter around herself in an attempt to look smaller, invisible if possible, as she walked past a group of guys about her age that were standing around talking and laughing.

 

They looked like a bunch of punks with their torn jeans, silver jewelry, and died hair.

 

“Hey, what's a pretty girl like you doing out so late?” One of them guys with bleached blonde hair asked her, blocking her path.

 

What did Sango tell her about self defense? Look sure of yourself; that was it. “I am looking for a friend. Have you seen a half-demon with white hair around here?” She tried to stand tall and look confident, but she could hear them shifting around behind her surrounding her.

 

“Sorry, Pretty, I haven't seen any half-demons.” He took a few steps closer to her, invading her personal space. “You know it's late and a pretty girl like you shouldn't be alone in a neighbor hood like this. You could run into someone dangerous.”

 

The guys behind her snickered. Think fast Kagome! “Oh I'm not out here by myself.” She looked around her quickly and noticed a few buildings down there was a pretty intimidating looking guy lighting a cigarette. She smiled and waved as if she knew him. Thankfully he didn't see her.

 

“Oh, you're with him?” Good, she thought, they looked intimidated.

 

“Yah, I better get going.” She stated to walk away but the blond guy stopped her with a hand on her hip.

 

“That guy? Right down there?” He pointed to Mr. Intimidating.

 

Kagome nodded.

 

“Ok.” The guy nodded to himself, but didn't move his hand form her hip. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a phone. “Yo Kai! You know this pretty little bitch here?” He spoke into the walkie-talkie.

 

Kagome held her breath as the echo of the conversation could be heard from the guy down the street's phone. He beeped back. “No, but I'll take her if you don't want her.” She could hear him laugh even after the conversation was over.

 

Shit, this was not good!

 

“Well, Pretty, looks like you were lying. Don't they teach you in school that lying is bad?” Blondie- she decided to call him- flicked the collar of her uniform. He grabbed her arm and half pushed, half threw, her into the ally behind them.

 

The force of his push made her lose her footing for a second and she started to trip. Luckily she caught herself, but not before Blondie slapped her, hard, on the butt. No, he spanked her.

 

The other men burst into fits of laughter. Despite the danger of her situation, Kagome's temper got the best of her. She turned quickly, to look into the smug face of Blondie, and with all the force she could muster, she slapped him.

 

The ally and surrounding area went deadly quiet. The only sound that could be heard was the echo of flesh hitting flesh.

 

Kagome stared, wide eyed, as Blondie touched his reddened cheek then wiped a little blood off of his lip where his tooth broke the skin. He clucked his tongue and shook his head at her. “That was not very nice.”

 

Kagome's eyes snapped shut as he reached his arm up and she waited for the back hand to come. Instead of a hard hand to her face, she heard some scuffling, curses, and a few screams, followed, once again, by nothing.

 

A strong hand came to rest on her shoulder. Slowly, she opened her eyes to look at the hand of her savior. She expected claws and stripes, but there was no stripes; just claws. Her gaze followed the hand up to the arm, then the shoulder, then the neck, and finally the deep golden eyes.

 

“Inu…yasha?”

 

 

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

 

Inuyasha was the first person to admit that his life was a waste. He was coming form nowhere headed nowhere. He was just some dumb half-demon with no home or family to speak of. Sure, he had Sesshomaru, but he was a bastard who only took him in because the state had run out of alternatives.

 

After he dropped off Kikyo he went back to Sesshomaru's house, grabbed a change of clothes, and stole some money, then left to wallow in his self-pity. He just needed to clear his head and large amounts of drugs and hard liquor seemed like the best way to achieve his goal.

 

Days went by, he wasn't sure how many, the only indication that they had passed was the fact that he remembered the sun coming out a couple of times. It didn't matter, none of it mattered, no one would care that he was gone. Sesshomaru could care less if he was dead.

 

He finished off the beer that he had been nursing and watched, fascinated, as it fell from the fire escape he was perched on and shattered in the ally below. It fell unnaturally slow, or maybe it was just that he was so wasted that it seemed slower than normal.

 

He flopped back down on the fire escape and let his head loll back against the wall. “Ouch” he groaned when his skull made contact with the brick.

 

“It smells like it's going to rain.” Inuyasha said to himself. He looked up to the cloudless sky, finding it odd that it would rain when there wasn't a cloud in sight.

 

No, it wasn't going to rain. It was Kagome. He jumped up and leapt up to the roof of a neighboring building. Leaping from building to building, he followed the scent till he found her.

 

She was on the sidewalk with a bunch of guys. One pushed her and slapped her butt, Inuyasha growled softly at that. He was about to attack the guy until she slapped him. Inuaysha sat back on his heels and waited from his spot on the roof, he was fairly impressed and wanted to see if she would do more.

 

He saw the punk make a move to hit her, and leapt into action. Taking the little punk ass kids out was no problem for him; they were gone in less than a minute.

 

Kagome was horrified, he could tell. She was shaking, her heart was pounding, and she had her eyes shut tightly. Carefully, so not to scare her further, he placed a hand on her shoulder.

 

“Inu…yasha?” She said when she finally opened her eyes.

 

“Kagome? What are you doing out here you stupid girl!” He brought his other hand up to her other shoulder and shook her gently. She really had no business being in a place like this.

 

“I was looking for you.” She said softly, not meeting his eyes.

 

“Me?” She was looking for him? She was out in the middle of the night, in the worst part of town, alone, looking for him? She put herself in danger to find him?

 

“Yah, you! You had me worried sick! You haven't been at school or at home all week!” Kagome pushed him away from her and poked him in the chest.

 

“You were… worried? About me?” Kagome noticed that for a second, just for a second, he had a deep look of longing in his eyes

 

 

“Yes, I was worried about you.” She looked deep into his eyes hoping to effectively convey the message that she did care about him; even if no one else did.

 

“Keh, come on, lets get you home.” He was gruff, as usual, but his mannerisms were a little less aggressive, as he wrapped his coat around Kagome and led her to his car.

 

“Inuyasha?”

 

“Yah, Kagome?”

 

“Your going the wrong way, your car is back there.” Kagome pointed in the opposite direction of the one they were headed in.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

They pulled up to the front of the shrine, but Kagome didn't want to go in yet. She had a long night and was not only physically tired, but emotionally as well. Despite everything, there was no way she would be able to go to sleep any time soon.

 

The ride back to the shrine had been a little scary, Kagome could smell the liquor on Inuyasha's breath, and he was swerving a little. She did her best to squelch her nervousness; she wanted him to know that she trusted him. That didn't stop her being relived when they finally stopped.

 

“I'm not ready to go to bed yet.” She turned her hopeful eyes to Inuyasha.

 

Taking the hint he got out of the car and opened her door for her. Swiftly picking her up, he leapt up the stairs and to the roof of one of the shrine buildings.

 

They laid there together in silence under the stars, both lost in their own minds, for what seemed like forever.

 

Kagome suddenly remembered how the whole night had started. “I got into Tokyo U.” She broke through the silence of the evening. She watched his reaction out of the corner of her eyes.

 

Inuyasha tensed for a moment then relaxed again. “That's great. What are you going to study?” He said, but there was an undertone of something else in his words, bitterness maybe.

 

“Religion. I am going to take over the shrine someday.” She hadn't meant to make him feel bad or anything. Kagome didn't know much about his life or goals, or if he had any. “Have you applied anywhere?”

 

“No, I aint going to college.” He said it like he had something against college, like he didn't want to go, but the way his shoulders slumped and he turned away from her, she could tell that the problem lay elsewhere.

 

“What are you going to do then, after school? We graduate in a few months.”

 

“You graduate in a few months.” He corrected her. “I'll probably get a job at a garage or something. I put that car together you know. Painted it and everything.” Kagome smiled at how proud he looked when he said that.

 

“That's good, but why do you think you're not going to graduate?”

 

“I aint the scholarly type. The only reason I'm a senior because that bastard paid my way into the school.” Truth was, between jumping from one foster home to another and then the two years in a detention center when they ran out of foster homes who would take him in, he never even made it past the eighth grade.

 

Kagome sat up and rested her weight on her elbow so that she could look at him better. “I can help you.”

 

Inuyasha looked back at her. She really did want to help him. No one ever wanted to help him before; no one ever cared enough. He was a tainted and could make his way in the world by force if he needed to. That was what Kikyo had insinuated about demon nature. But, if he could do something on his own he could maybe, just maybe, be accepted for being himself. It wasn't that he wanted to impress Kikyo per-se, but if he she could accept him, then they all could.

 

Inuyasha nodded and lay back on the roof, smiling despite himself. Kagome did the same. They laid there on the roof till the sun came up.