InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Last Thing I Need ❯ Act I Scene3 ( Chapter 3 )

A/N:

Warnings: none

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, who is owned by VIZ and Takahashi Rumiko. I just have him on a very expensive lease.

Glossary: Painappuru: Pineapple. Pineapples are a symbol of welcome, and the small buffet will return as a sanctuary for Kagome.

Thanks to my reviewers and my wonderful beta reader, Amaya Mishugosha!

The Last Thing I Need

Act I Scene 3

Kagome had been asleep all of five minutes when Sango came barging in with some drunk guy on her arm. Not seeing that Kagome was asleep, Sango just yelled out without abandon, “Kags, Haru needs a place to crash tonight, do you mind?”

It was only then that Sango looked around and discovered Kagome's slowly stirring form in her bed. She sheepishly waited until her friend was completely awake. “Kagome, I'm really sorry I woke you up, but I have a small problem. Haru here had a little too much to drink at the party tonight, and you know that students can't get into their dorms when they're so intoxicated. I figured you wouldn't mind too much. I didn't realize that you'd be in bed already.”

Rubbing her eyes and blinking, Kagome looked over at Sango and her friend. Haru had his eyes crossed and was smirking at some invisible object on the other side of the room.

“Oh, no, Kagome, don't even think that! I won't put you out of your bed- I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't mind.” Sango said, before Kagome even had a chance to register the company.

Kagome gave her friend a deadpan expression. “Sango, tell me. Why would I mind? As long as you two are quiet enough that I can finally get some sleep, I don't care what you do.” Sango's weak smile twitched; she honestly hadn't even realized that Kagome might not mind. “Now, please make sure he doesn't throw up on the carpet. Good night.” Kagome reached over to her nightstand and grabbed her eye-mask to block out the light that Sango would need. She snapped it into place and pulled the blankets up over her head.

“Good night, Kagome. I'll be as quiet as I can.” Aforementioned girl only mumbled incoherently in reply.

Seeing that her friend was already asleep, Sango gathered up the spare blanket from her bed and carried it into the small bathroom. She fashioned a small nest on the floor for Haru, who was sitting inside the doorway with his legs bent underneath him.

Sango guided Haru inside the small bathroom, which she thought was still probably larger then the ones back at the dorm, Haru down in the blanket bed and returned to the main room, muttering a quiet `good night' at the prostrate boy on the floor.

Kagome woke with a start the next morning. She gaped around the room soundlessly for a moment before she realized that there was no light, from outside or otherwise. Everything was silent, leaving no clue as to why she had woken up so unexpectedly. The clock on the cable box read four twenty-eight in the morning, which explained why there was no light.

She was just about to pull the covers back over her head when a loud choking sound filled the room. “Who's there,” Kagome called out softly. Se received no reply other then more choking and a splashing sound that was suspiciously similar to the sound of somebody throwing up.

It was another moment before she realized that Sango had a friend somewhere in the room who was drunk, probably suffering a hangover by now. Sango herself was sleeping like a rock on her own bed, being the kind of girl that could stay out all night doing Kami-knew-what and then fall asleep instantly. She was also a night-owl, and was never happy to be woken up before eight. Unfortunately for Kagome, four thirty am just happened to be before eight.

A small single-battery powered flashlight resided in the top drawer of the nightstand, so Kagome groped blindly for the handle of the drawer, then for the light itself. She found it and clicked the switch, which failed to turn the light on. She banged it on her wrist, under the covers to muffle the sound, and the light flicked on.

Kagome did a quick sweep of the floor to make sure that what's-his-face hadn't puked on the floor itself. The last thing that Good Samaritan Kagome needed was to step in a puddle of vomit. Luckily, there was no puddles on the floor of the main room.

Another vomiting sound ensued, and Kagome sighed as she dragged herself off her bed and waddled toward the bathroom.

Once there, she flicked the light switch, making sure that the light wouldn't reach the sleeping Sango and that she wouldn't accidentally step in a puddle on the bathroom floor.

The scene that unfolded was less then pretty. Haru was pale, about the same color as the yellow bathroom tiles, and his breath rattled as he breathed in. The boy seemed to be asleep or unconscious again, and a small drip of drool or vomit was trailing out the side of his mouth. Haru was laying in a half sitting half laying position propped up on the sink. A cough wracked his body, and his eyes flew open as he sat up and leaned over the toilet in a hurry.

Wile Haru unloaded his stomach in the toilet, Kagome was struck with the idea that this wasn't the first time that Haru had been in this position. Not that hung-over people thought too much, but it seemed that Haru had adapted to it quickly enough.

Kagome waited for the retching to end, then she went in and picked up one of the washcloths that were hanging over the edge of the sink. She turned on the water and made sure the cloth was completely soaked in cold water. She knelt down and pressed the cool cloth against Haru's forehead.

The boy moaned and closed his eyes. He visibly relaxed under the cloth's coolness. Once Kagome was fairly certain that Haru was asleep peacefully again, she tiptoed back to her own bed and laid back down for another two hours of rest.

Later that morning, Kagome awakened to the sound of a loud groan. She managed to get her eyes open enough to find that Sango was already up. Judging by the direction of the groaning noises, Sango and her friend were in the bathroom. Alieving his headache, no doubt.

Kagome decided to feign sleep for a while, and soon enough Sango and Haru stumbled out of the bathroom. By Haru's walk, Kagome could tell that he was feeling much better.

The two whispered a little out of respect for the sleeping Kagome. The only thing that Kagome could pick out of the entire conversation was Haru mentioning that, 'An angel had visited him in the middle of the night and made him feel much better.' Kagome almost blew her cover laughing at the mention of her being an angel. She could name many people who would disagree.

Unfortunately since Haru was up and paying attention, there was no convenient way for Kagome to change. She had a class in an hour, and she wanted to pay a visit to some small restaurant to get some breakfast. She couldn't go to the café, because she knew that everyone in there blamed her for their problems. Even if it was InuYasha's fault.

Kagome wound up pestering Sango to put Haru in the bathroom for a minute so she could change clothing. Haru muttered indignantly about being treated like a pet, but went calmly enough. Kagome dressed the fastest she ever had in her life; donning her pale blue halter top, black sweater jacket, denim miniskirt, and navy knee socks in record time.

She let Haru out of the bathroom with an apology and bowed as she excused herself.

The small buffet restaurant, Painappuru, was a popular hangout for the teens of Tokyo, so most college students avoided it. Kagome, however, had loved the buffet for its small-business charm and welcoming atmosphere. There were no servers to deliver food, but there were about six uniformed waitresses wandering around to assist patrons. Each meal was served on a buffet bar on one side of the room near the kitchen doors. Kagome herself had once worked there as a waitress when she was in high school, but she had been forced to quit while she was applying to colleges. She was thinking of returning if they ever needed more help.

Kagome relaxed in her favorite booth, the one in the farthest corner draped by a cascade of leaves. There was a small pina colada candle burning on the table, and she stared into the flame as she sat sipping a hot tea and picking at a pancake. Life in college was not easy, and with a bitter rival looking for her destruction Kagome was worried about passing. She was considering a transfer, but she didn't want to leave all her friends and she had an obligation to join that club with the idiot.

She glanced at the clock, finished her tea, and packed up her things. She needed to consider bringing her journal along when she came here. Sitting all by herself really inspired her. Maybe she could turn out that novel that she had in her.

Kagome's first class of the day was her foreign language. She was taking advanced English, because she was planning on moving to America when she was done with school. All of the pressure in Tokyo was just ridiculous, so Kagome planned to escape her family and the crowded city in one move. She wanted to go someplace rural, someplace without smog, someplace where she could be free.

She was the first one in the room, so she had a little extra time to set up her laptop to the network and dig out her notes. Personally, Kagome preferred taking notes the old-fashioned way with pen and paper, but laptops were required for research and submitting some assignments. She also had an English Identification program installed that mirrored the class lessons.

Slowly other students began to trickle in and connect their computers to the network cables and the power jacks. The lesson promptly started at nine, and kept them all working until eleven o'clock.

Kagome grabbed another tea on her way to her 11:30 class, ignoring the cold glares many of her fellow students were giving her. Gosh, you get involved in a fight that wasn't your fault, ruin a few people's plans, and you're the exile of the campus world. A public college was worse then high school!

Rumors spread even faster because of the school's new network internet connection. Kagome's life was over.

InuYasha growled as he stumbled out of class. He hated having one over the lunch hour. Who the hell thought that up anyway? And why did a teacher want to work over lunch? So he always headed to lunch late and starving, when all the good food was gone. For example, today he had a reheated bean burrito without any toppings. The only good stuff at this time of day was the salad bar, and no MAN would ever get that.

Even if the burrito did taste like cardboard.

He slid into one of the many empty booths around the cafeteria walls with his tray. He also had a glass of cola and a small bowl of steamed carrots. The carrots weren't moving, but they still didn't look any better then the ones he was fed in junior high. InuYasha spent a few minutes poking at his food to determine if he could eat it and live. He decided that he couldn't, and threw most of his meal away.

He had the whole afternoon free, so he took his time wandering over to a nearby restaurant to find some edible food to satisfy his stomach.­­­­­­­­­­­& #173;­­­­­­­­­­­ 3;­­­

InuYasha managed to find Kouga wandering around town looking for chicks and trouble. Kouga had a punk rocker attitude, and tended to go looking for weaker gang members to beat up and prove he was `tough.'

Currently Kouga was roughing up a couple of junior high kids who were spending their days hidden in an alley experimenting with drugs. Kids like this were Kouga's favorite prey; he figured if you gave them a bad enough scare, they'd go straight. A few did, but more decided to get even tougher. So it really backfired.

InuYasha was kind of amused with Kouga's different personas. Kouga was attending college as an art major, so he was taking a lot of art-related classes. InuYasha wasn't sure if Kouga's many different personalities were a result of him practicing for all of the plays he was involved in or if Kouga just enjoyed it. He had as many clothes as the average girl, just because he changed his stereotype so often. When he was going punk bashing, Kouga had a leather jacket, torn jeans and a variety of chains. If he was acting prep in his serious classes, he had slacks, clean jeans, and polo shirts. If he felt like being a lazy bum, Kouga had a variety of sweatpants, sweatshirts, and T-shirts.

To be honest, if InuYasha hadn't known him for so long, Kouga would be the greatest puzzle. Now it was just amusing, because Kouga's outlook and demeanor changed as often as his clothing. InuYasha found it hard to keep up with how he was supposed to treat him; he was surprised that Kouga kept it all straight. This, of course, strained their relationship, and InuYasha really didn't know the real Kouga very well.

The two wandered around downtown Tokyo most of the afternoon, straightening out little punks and looking very menacing. By the time InuYasha was tired of walking, Kouga was being followed by three girls in tight minis and tube tops with wedge sandals. All three looked like they belonged in high school yet. Kouga always managed to find amusement in the trashy girls that followed them, but InuYasha wasn't as amused and always gave every girl who approached him a dirty glare.

InuYasha's signal was a well timed cough, and Kouga managed to desert the girls and they headed back to campus for supper. InuYasha, as much as he hated school meals, enjoyed eating in the cafeteria for supper. He like being around others his age for a change to eat, and around his other friends. He also liked seeing Miroku, who was a junior, meaning they shared no classes. The best part was watching Miroku annoy Kouga then seeing Kouga pound Miroku.

Besides, supper in the Café was usually Kagome-free.

Kagome sighed in exhaustion as she stepped out of her last class of the day. She had Laboratory Chemistry at 4:30pm, and she was usually out in time to meet a few friends and go out to eat at one of their regular restaurants. Today, however, the lab had lasted particularly long and Kagome was running very late.

She pulled her cell phone out of her laptop bag and called Eri, one of her best friends from junior high. They had reconnected in college, and Kagome and Eri usually joined their other friends Torayama Ayumi and Watsuyu Yuka.

Eri picked up after three rings, “Hello?”

“Hey, Eri, did you guys leave yet?”

“Not yet, Kagome. Will you be here soon?”

Kagome sighed again. “No, you guys go on without me. I just got out of lab, it'll be a while before I can make it.”

“Okay Kagome. See you tomorrow. Bye.”

“Bye Eri.” The two hung up. Kagome turned towards the school cafeteria, not caring that she was still dressed in dirty lab clothing. She was hungry enough to eat an elephant, and she didn't want to run back to her hotel room first.

Sorry that was so short! I'll try to do better next time. . .

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