InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Sweetest Escape ❯ Time Waster? ( Chapter 8 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, Rumiko Takahashi does. I don't own Madden either, but do you know how freakin' rich I'd be if I did?

Author's Notes: Okay, so I know I haven't updated in, like, a month. And I guess that's really bad. But, school started, I'm filling out college applications (which is stressful enough) and I will admit, I had writer's block. Majorly. Seriously couldn't think about how to get him over to her house without it being weird.

So maybe what I came up with is STILL kind of weird. Sorry. Really, I am.

Chapter 8: Time Waster?

“So…do you wanna come over?” she blurted into the phone. Her fingers gripped the hard plastic of the receiver tightly, knuckles turning white from the strain. She couldn't believe she'd just asked him that. The silence on the other end of the line killed her. Boy, she'd really stepped in it now. He was gonna say no.

How had she gotten the nerve to even ask him something like that in the first place?

Earlier that day, Kagome sat at her usual place at the table, shifting the flavorful blend of noodles and vegetables around her bowl with the tip of her chopsticks. She hadn't been hungry, but her mother had cooked her favorite meal, and she felt obligated to at least push the food around. She gave another deep sigh, propping her chin up in her hand.

“Kagome?” her mother called from across the table. “Is everything okay, Sweetheart?” she asked. Kagome didn't hear the woman, and continued to stare absently into her bowl. “Kagome?”

“Hey, Doofus,” her younger brother, Souta, called. Kagome jerked a bit and snapped out of her daze.

“Don't call me a doofus, you moron,” she shot back. The boy smiled impishly and shrugged.

“Mom's calling you,” he said.

“Kagome, are you alright?” her mother asked again.

“I'm fine, Mom. Why do you ask?”

“You're acting very distant, Sweetie,” the woman explained around a cheekful of food. “The phone hasn't rung, you haven't had any friends over, haven't gone out, nothing. Now that's not like my little social butterfly,” she said good-naturedly. Kagome shrugged, ducking her head so that her mother couldn't see her eyes. Her mother could always read her like an open book.

“I dunno…everyone's kind of busy this year,” she lied. “A lot of people have gone out of town on vacation…things like that.”

“Everyone?” her mother questioned.

“Ha, ha! Kagome's got no friends!” her brother taunted. Kagome's heart lurched. She knew Souta was only joking, but…if only he knew how true that was. Well…she had to save face and act as though everything was normal.

“Shut up, you peon. You're only jealous because you're a social leper,” she retorted.

“Hey!”

“Okay, you two,” their grandfather interceded. “That's enough of that.”

“Perhaps you should call someone, Dear. You usually have a friend over to ring in the New Year with. You know Grandpa and I don't mind,” her mother reminded with an encouraging smile.

“…you really wouldn't mind?” Kagome asked.

“Of course not, Sweetheart.”

“…what if…” Kagome hesitated. “What if it was a boy?” she asked, testing the waters. She waited for the deadpan `no' to ring out. Instead, her mother raised an eyebrow with a tiny smirk. Kagome quickly raised her hands. “Mom! No, not like that!” she insisted, shaking her head. “It's just that…um…he's new at Daisuke, and he doesn't have any friends, and I've been tutoring him…I figured maybe I could reach out, you know?” she explained quickly. The older woman smiled fondly.

“Well, that's rather sweet of you, Kagome. I don't see why not.”

“Then can I be excused? I need to call him and see if he can come over.”

“Sure, Dear.”

“What about me, Mom? Can I have Jiro over?” Souta asked excitedly.

“Now you know you're on punishment, young man. Do you remember what I said? No friends over for two weeks.” The woman's voice booked no room for argument.

“Aw, but Mo-om—“

“No `buts', Souta. Maybe you'll think the next time you decide to pull the fire alarm at school.”

Souta crossed his arms grumpily and pouted while Kagome slipped into the hallway and grabbed the cordless phone. She ran with it all the way up to her room and shut the door, turning the tiny latch to lock it. Sitting at her desk, she prepared the dial the number that somehow had managed to stick in her mind, her right index finger poised a millimeter over the number two.

“Just do it, Kagome,” she coached herself. “What's the worst that could happen? Just do it.” She punched in the number, pressed the receiver to her ear and waited with baited breath.

In the silence of her room, the thrum of the phone's ringer was the only sound. Once, twice, thrice, four times it rang, and she was just about to press the `End' button and give up with at the last moment—

“Hullo?” came the hushed greeting. Kagome's mouth opened and closed for a few seconds before she could finally speak.

“Hi!” she burst out, all too enthusiastically.

“Who is this?” he asked, sounding rather annoyed.

“Oh—it's me, Kagome,” she answered. The silence that followed seemed to stretch on into eternity, and Kagome winced.

“Ka-K…Kagome?” he stuttered, his voice finally at a normal level. “Wh-what…how—why—“

“You know, most people say it in order: Who, What, When, Where, then why. But, hey, whatever floats your boat,” she said breezily, chuckling at her own lame joke. He was still spluttering and hadn't noticed.

“How the fuck did you get this number?” he finally blurted. Kagome grimaced. She could just see his face: slightly red from being flustered, eyes squinting a bit, and dark brows drawn dangerously together. It was that same look that came over his features every time he was thrown for a loop. She was positive he was wearing it now.

“You…um…you gave it to me, remember?” she lied, hoping he'd just go along with it even if he didn't rememb—

“No.”

So much for that hope.

“You don't? Oh…well—“

“Seriously, how did you—“

“Okay, okay! Remember when you showed me your grade report?” she began leadingly. He was silent again.

“You remembered my number from looking on my grade report,” he stated more than asked. Kagome began to wish his voice would stop being so darned monotone. She was starting to feel like a stalker. “How does that work?”

“Well…I am a photographer…guess it just follows that my memory is photographic too,” she mumbled. It was true. She had a knack for remembering things after looking at them only once…which was also why she knew that his father had a different last name than he did, and that his birthday was March 5th. But those were entirely different matters.

“Okay…” he said slowly, and Kagome was unsure whether he believed the bit about her memory or not. “Why…why are you calling me?” he asked bluntly. She bit her lip. `How to start, how to start?' she thought.

“Well…I was calling to…talk. Chit-chat. Converse with you. Whatever you'd like,” she shrugged, settling her chin down into the palm of her hand.

“Um…I'm really not supposed to be on the phone—“

“Oh, bad boy, huh? Breaking all the rules?”

“No, I…I'm just answering it, that's all. I can't talk—I gotta go—“

“Okay, but wait, before you get off,” she exclaimed. “I, um…I'd wanted to ask you something.”

“What?”

“Um…well…I…I was wondering if you were doing anything tonight. You know, for New Year's.”

“No…” he said suspiciously. “What's it to you?”

“Well, my mom said I could have a friend over. To bring in the New Year with, and, well, you know, I was just thinking…maybe if you weren't doing anything…” she trailed off. He said nothing. She waited. He still said nothing. `How much clearer can I make this invitation?' she thought, frustrated.

“Are you say—“

“So…do you want to come over?” she blurted into the phone. She nervously bit the tip of her pinky, waiting out the long stretch of silence. He was gonna say no. He was gonna say no, and he was gonna sat it bluntly. Her ears picked up the sharp sound of his inhale.

Kagome was shocked by how absolutely shocked he sounded.

“Um…do you want to come over?” she repeated, feeling a bit surer of herself once he didn't reject her invitation from the jump.

“Y-you…you're inviting me…over?” he parroted back, voice faint.

“Yes…” Kagome said slowly.

“…T-t-to your house? F-for New Year's?” he clarified.

“Yes. For New Year's. That would be tonight,” she said with a giggle. He didn't say anything, and Kagome grew unsure again. “You don't have to if you don't want to,” she informed him. “I, um…I just wanted to have a friend over, and I figured you might be game.”

“Friend?” he wheezed. Kagome frowned. Was he okay?

“Um, yeah. Are you okay? You sound kind of out of breath.”

“Y-y-yeah…I'm f-fine,” came his faint reply.

“Oh. O-okay…so, is that a yes? Do you wanna come?” she prodded.

“Uh…I-I…ah-alright,” he finally said, weakly. Kagome grinned.

“Okay, great! Do you want me to pick you up?”

“Um…n-no, it's fine.”

“Alright-y, then…in that case you can just come over whenever you're ready. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Alright. See you soon,” she said.

“Mm-hmn.”

Kagome pressed the `End' button, feeling very satisfied with herself.

~*~ ^_^

Inuyasha carefully set the phone back into its cradle on the wall, his mouth still hanging slightly ajar, his hands icy and slick with sweat. He'd quickly realized after Kagome had hung up the first time that she'd forgotten to tell him where she lived, or he'd forgotten to ask. He didn't know how to handle these social things, and he didn't know whether the faux pas was his or hers.

He'd stared at the phone, paralyzed, and unsure whether he should fish her number out of the phone's electric directory and ask her for the address, or whether he should wait for her to realize the mistake and call him back. He prayed for her to do the second, and let out a huge sigh of relief when the phone rang once more. He didn't know what he would have done if he'd had to call her and one of her family members had answered. He probably would have passed out. No, he wouldn't have called her back in the first place, and would have forgotten the whole ludicrous notion, had she not called him back so promptly.

Called him back. What a foreign concept. He'd never had anyone `call him back'. He'd never had anyone call him in the first place, never mind to invite him to do something. `Oh, Kami,' he thought, dazed, as he trudged up the stairs to his room. `What the hell did I just agree to?' Once in his room, he ran agitated clawed fingers through his hair, taking deep breaths. `And why the hell did I just agree to it in the first place?' he asked himself. It was a pointless question.

He'd agreed because as much as he ignored it, as much as he tried to be nonchalant about it, as much as he hated to admit it, even to himself, he was lonely. Achingly so. And Kagome, strange and overly talkative as she was, had not-so-discreetly offered him something that he'd never had before: the chance for friendship.

“She's crazy,” he told himself, his voice echoing off the stark walls of his room. `She's gotta be. The girl invited me to her house, for Kami's sake! What kind of normal person does that? Me? A hanyou? Yeah, she's crazy,' he thought. “Fucking deranged,” he whispered. He slid his closet door open and regarded his meager wardrobe with a disdainful eye, figuring that it would probably be in poor taste to show up in the grubby sweats and t-shirt that he'd scrubbed the floors with.

That being said, he didn't have much to choose from.

`What the hell do people wear on New Year's Eve anyway?' he asked himself. He had no idea. Prior experience had told him…absolutely nothing. The demon woman his father was currently entertaining in the living room had shown up in something akin to streetwalker attire with a sultry `Happy New Year's' on her lips, and a bottle of whiskey in her hand. He doubted very seriously that anyone aside from her wore things like that for this particular occasion.

His hands rifled through the few hangers that held clothing idly as he pondered the escapade upon which he was soon to embark. There was no other word for it. It was insane. Absolutely insane. `What to wear, what to wea—“

“What are you doing?” he growled at himself, once he realized he'd been shuffling through his clothes for a good seven minutes. “You're acting like a woman, that's what you're doing. For Kami's sake, just pick something, you moron,” he berated himself. He shut his eyes and yanked out the first t-shirt his fingers happened upon.

“Black. Surprise, surprise,” he grumbled, jamming his arms into the shirt and pulling it over his head. He wouldn't complain. Black was a very useful color when trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. He tugged on the jeans he'd discarded onto his bed earlier, and donned his shoes, slipping into his customary sweatshirt last.

Dallying in the doorjamb that stood between the living room and the foyer, Inuyasha tried to think of the best excuse to give his father, for his leaving. Though he'd considered it, there was no way he could hope to just slip out of the front door unnoticed. He'd simply wait until the man noticed him and demanded what he wanted.

“What the fuck do you want?” the older demon demanded. `Like clockwork,' Inuyasha thought.

“I was wondering if I might be able to go to the library,” he lied humbly, head bowed in respect he didn't feel.

“Since when does your dumb ass go to the library?” he snorted over the woman's shoulder. She turned around to regard him under heavy eye make up, a condescending smirk twisting her kirsch-red lips. Inuyasha was hard-pressed to stop from curling his own lips in disgust. Her scent, coupled with the many men she'd been with previously, on top of his father's own inebriated scent, on top of the stench of cigarettes, cloyed in the air, and it was enough to make him gag. He wasn't sure whether she was a prostitute of just promiscuous, as his father had the tendency to be at times. Either way, she was simply another anonymous woman who had stumbled her way into his father's bed, and would stumble out the same way. His father and the woman would both get what they were searching for that night: hours of empty sex, each simply a vessel with which to sate their base desires.

With their deceitfulness, how was it that he was the one subject to scorn?

“I've got a project,” he said vaguely.

“Project. Yeah, right. I don't give a shit what you do, just don't fucking interrupt us again, you hear? I told you that when she got here, you asshole,” his father fussed.

“Yes, Sir, I hear you,” Inuyasha said unassumingly as he slipped out of the door. The fact that the man had said `she' instead of the woman's name wasn't lost on Inuyasha. His father was already smashed, and couldn't remember her name. He probably, hopefully, would be passed out when he returned.

~*~ ^_^

He stared up at the numerous stairs that led to the modest house at the top of the hill. Glancing at his palm, he rechecked once, twice, three times, that the address scribbled there matched the one on the plaque adorning a small post adjacent to the stairs. Taking the steps two at a time, he reached the top, and found himself in a fairly decent-sized courtyard. Two benches lined opposite sides of the neatly-kept area, complete with freshly swept, varying shades of slate-colored stone fashioned as a path leading to a snug-looking home. Tiny lanterns glowed low to the ground along the sides of the path, bathing the white snow beneath them in a nasturtium golden blush; had it been warmer, the tiny fountain in the far corner would have bubbled happily. Beyond the house was the formidable-looking shrine that had given the property its name: Higurashi Shrine, obviously. And beyond that stood the tall and imposing forest, the tops of the trees swaying gently and making a soft rustling sound in the evening breeze.

He made his feet transport him up the walkway and to the door. Stiffly, mechanically, painstakingly slowly, he lifted his hand and allowed his fist to fall faintly on the door twice.

He suddenly wanted to hide. He wanted to duck behind the little fountain and hide. Inuyasha didn't consider himself a coward, per se. But he knew he wasn't going to be able to handle this. He'd never done anything like this before. And it was as if of his body's on volition, it had gotten him here, because he was certain that his clear, level-headed brain was left back at home, in the hallway by the phone.

“Oh, shit…I'm gonna be sick,” he murmured faintly to himself. What if this was a prank? What if she had a ton of people over at this very moment, and she'd only invited him as a joke? What if she was about to open the door and laugh in his face? What if…what if her mother answered the door? He was just about to turn around and bolt home when a warm whoosh of air hit him in the face.

“Inuyasha! You're here!” Kagome greeted warmly. His anxiety level sank. Only the smallest, most fractional bit. `Thank Kami it wasn't her mother,' he thought. If it had been, he just might have passed out.

“I can't do this,” he blurted. She raised an eyebrow and frowned.

“What are you talking about? You're already here,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, I know, but I—“

“You come all the way over here to knock on the door and tell me you can't do this? Yeah, right. No buts. You're doing it,” she insisted, and grabbed the boy's wrist, jerking him inside.

“Kagome, really, I can't—“

“Take your jacket?” she offered, holding out a hand as she pulled open a closet.

“What? My jacket?”

“Yeah, that black thing you've got on your body?” she joked with a smile. Inuyasha didn't smile.

“What are you talking about? You can't take my sweatshirt!”

“Why not? You're inside—“

“It stays!” he hissed, his fingers clutching the fabric of the jacket as if his life depended on it.

“Inuyasha, you cannot meet my mother and grandfather looking like a hooligan. Souta would probably think you look cool, but Mama and Grandpa definitely wouldn't approve,” she explained.

“Well, what do you think will scare them more? A hooligan or a hanyou?” he sneered through clenched teeth. She softened, and frowned.

“Aw, Inuyasha…they're not gonna care about that, I pro—“

“You don't know that! Of course they're gonna care! They have to care! Everyone cares!” he whispered furiously.

“I don't,” she said softly, truthfully. Inuyasha stared at her for a long moment, unsure of what to say.

“Well…that…that's because you're crazy! Doesn't mean the rest of your family isn't sane!” Kagome sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Stop being difficulty. They're my family, and I know them, and I know they won't care!” she exclaimed in hushed tones, sweeping a hand over the top of his head and swiping the obstructing hood off. His snowy bangs flopped over into his eyes.

“Hey!” he barked, clamping his hands over his ears, peeking angrily at her through the strands. She gave him a dry look.

“You gonna walk around like that all night?” she asked skeptically. He gave her a bewildered look, sighed dejectedly, and let his hands slip from his head. She smiled lightly, fondly at the tiny puppy ears that twitched a bit at their newfound freedom. “I think you look fine,” she assured him, unzipping his sweatshirt for him and tugging it off of his shoulders.

“Who cares what you think?” he grumbled as he wiggled his feet out of his shoes. She didn't seem to hear him as she proceeded to hang his jacket in the closet. Beckoning him further into the house with a tilt of her head and a flick of her wrist, she began to continue down the short hallway.

Inuyasha began to panic. What was he gonna do? What did she even have planned for them to do that night? Eat? Watch television? Perhaps, oh, dear Kami…talk? What did teenagers even talk about anyways? Sure, he'd eavesdropped on his fair share of conversations, as it was practically unavoidable, what with his sensitive hearing and all. But he'd never actually…had a conversation before…not one that could be characterized as what was termed a `normal teenager conversation'. Sure, he'd spoken to Kagome. On several occasions, in fact. But the topics of those conversations couldn't be considered `normal'. On the occasions he had spoken to her without biting her head off, they'd been talking about either Lit class, or…Lit class. That was pretty much the extent of their dialogue. And now, he'd actually have to talk to her. About what, he had no idea, since he couldn't exactly pull from his repertoire of conversation topics. `This is gonna be a disaster,' he thought miserably as she led him into the house.

In the midst of his melancholy and near-panic, he took in the sights around him. Her house couldn't have been more opposite to his. Where his house had tile and hardwood floors, hers had soft carpet, worn thin in places. Where the walls of his house were stark white, the walls of her home were painted with dusky earth hues and warm reds. Where his house smelled of alcohol, sex, and blood, her home smelled of spicy incense, various mouth-watering scents of food, and…and a cat. He looked at the back of the girl's head as she shuffled in her navy blue socks ahead of him, and envied her.

Suddenly aware that her family was just in the next room, he ducked his head and lowered his ears as flat as they would go. He didn't want to look at anyone; didn't want to see their wrinkled brows, upturned noses and questioning eyes, faces all posed in the expression he knew so well—the one he'd painted so many times over. He was suddenly wishing he'd had his wits about him and tied his hair back. With the stuff just hanging down his back, he was bound to be more of a spectacle.

“It's okay,” he heard Kagome whisper. He peeked at her out of the corner of his eye, to see her reassuring half-smile. “It's okay,” she repeated.

And then she promptly grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers through his.

He was so shocked at the action, that he followed his first instinct and tried to tug his hand away. Her grip was surprisingly firm, and she wouldn't relinquish her hold, despite his two more efforts to loose himself. He stared down at their joined hands dangling between his left thigh and her right thigh, her own olive complexion against his opaline white flesh, her fingers pressed into the back of his hand, while his own twitched nervously. He felt his throat constrict, and he swallowed thickly. If the action was meant to be comforting, as he was sure she could mean nothing else by it, it wasn't in the least. Now, on top of the anxiety and tenseness he felt at meeting her family, he felt jittery and edgy, and his hands were beginning to become quite clammy as well. `Just wake me when it's over,' he moaned inwardly.

“Hey,” she said, tugging on his hand a bit. He still hadn't tightened his own grip on her hand. “Relax,” she instructed softly, giving the appendage what was mean to be a comforting squeeze.

“Mom, Grandpa, this is Inuyasha Chikamatsu. Inuyasha, this is my mom, Mrs. Higurashi, and my grandpa,” she said. Inuyasha was stunned at how she sounded so proud—as if he were worth showing off. Risking a glance upward, he saw a pleasant faced woman of a bout forty-six, stirring something that smelled heavenly at a stove with a cream apron tied in a voluminous bow around her waist. `Grandpa' was a squat looking old-man, who sat at the kitchen table, adroitly separating a large bag of peanut M&Ms by color with long, knobby fingers that reminded Inuyasha of Totosai's.

“Well, it certainly is nice to meet you, Inuyasha,” the woman greeted benignly. She left her pot and wiped her hands briefly on her apron before stepping forward with one hand out. `What is it with these people and hands?' he thought. Inuyasha stared at her outstretched hand for a long moment before he mentally kicked himself. `Shake it, you dumbass!' he yelled at himself. But what of his claws? He pulled his remaining hand out of his pocket, curling his fingers under just so that his claws weren't visible. He briefly held the woman's fingertips between the knuckle of his thumb and the second knuckle of his index finger, being careful that his claws didn't touch her. It was the flimsiest, most fleeting handshake ever, he knew, but he'd rather have the woman think him a pansy than a monster. He had enough of that already.

“You too,” he mumbled briefly. `Oh, Kami, kill me now,' he thought, bewildered.

She gave him a curious look, but said nothing of the matter.

“Hello,” the old man said briefly.

“Hi,” Inuyasha replied. `Oh, yeah. The old man hates me,' he told himself. The silence that followed was crippling. At least, it was to Inuyasha. “Where's the bathroom?” he blurted, reddening immediately. `Just announce it to the whole world, why don't you?' he thought embarrassedly.

“Up the stairs, take a right, second door on your left,” Kagome said swiftly. He nodded once and, jerking free of her nerve-wracking hand, he fled.

“Your friend is quite nervous, isn't he?” he heard Mrs. Higurashi ask her daughter once he was out of the kitchen.

`Nervous doesn't even begin to cover it,' he thought. Wiping his sweaty hand against his jeans, he proceeded to climb the stairs. Inuyasha shut the door against the clanking of pots from Mrs. Higurashi's cooking. He turned the little lock, and finally leaned his palms heavily against the edge of the porcelain sink bowl.

“What are you doin' here?” he asked the pale reflection in the mirror above the sink. “This…is one of the dumbest things you've ever done,” he told himself. He was lonely. Okay, that was an established fact, and the very reason he'd come…but what was he expecting? After tonight, where did he expect this to go? Did he expect her to be his best friend? To hang out all the time? Where was this going?

Nowhere. Absolutely nowhere. He had no doubts in his mind that he'd screwed up any chance he might have had at being her friend. He'd screwed that up from the moment he'd stepped in the door, having only furthered the damage with his poor excuse of an introduction to her mother.

He wanted to be her friend. He could admit that much to himself now. He wanted to talk to her…he just had no idea of the proper way to go about doing either.

A loud banging on the door snapped him out of his melancholy.

“Hey, Kagome! Open up! I gotta get my socks outta there!” a shrill voice called. Inuyasha frowned, and unlocked the door, an annoyed frown on his face. He swung the door wide open and was faced with…nothing. His gaze drifted downward until he was met by two humongous eyes staring at him in wonder. He frowned. `What the hell?'

“You're Kagome's friend?” the little boy asked without preamble.

“Um…”

“I'm Souta.”

“Inuyasha.”

“Do you know how to play Madden?”

~*~

It had been thirty minutes. She didn't want to be rude and tell him to hurry and come out of the bathroom, nor did she want to embarrass him if he were in the middle of some…serious business. But, Kami, thirty minutes?

“I'm gonna go and get him,” she told her mother, setting aside the utensils she'd been setting the table with.

“And would you get Souta, too, Dear? I'm sure he's in his room, last I checked,” her mother called after her.

First thing was first. She knocked on the door to the bathroom. No answer.

“Inuyasha?” she called. No answer. `Kami, what did he eat?' she wondered incredulously. “Inuyasha?”

“No fair!” she heard Souta exclaim from his room. Frowning, and having the suspicion that she might know where her friend had wandered off to, Kagome crept the few steps to Souta's room, and pushed the slightly ajar door all the way open. There sat Inuyasha on the floor of her brother's room, sleek black Playstation 2 controller in his hands, gripping it as if his life depended on it, face absolutely plastered to the television as he leaned forward at a ridiculous angle. Her brother was standing on his knees on his bed, gripping his own controller just as fiercely, his face the perfect portrait of a man done an injustice.

“How can you say that's not fair? It's totally fair! You rushed, I tackled, I stopped you clean in your tracks. It doesn't get much fairer than that!” Inuyasha crowed.

“Facemask! You totally grabbed my guy's facemask! That's a flag! Do-over!” Souta argued.

“Are you kidding me? That was a clean tackle!”

“You liar!”

“You liar!” Inuyasha promptly retorted.

“Nuh-uh!” Souta whined.

“Yuh-huh!” the older boy argued right back. Kagome couldn't keep the snort of laughter down. Both boys turned to look at her, noticing her for the first time. Inuyasha promptly proceeded to turn red. “Oh…um…”

“Hey, Kagome!” Souta greeted his older sister cheerfully. “Inuyasha's really good at playin' video games! Did you know?” he said excitedly, jumping off the bed and coming toward her.

“No, actually, I didn't know.”

“Yeah, well, he is! I don't know how many times he's intercepted me; and plus, he already got three touchdowns!” Souta exclaimed, bragging on Inuyasha as if it were he himself who scored.

“Well, finally there's someone to knock you off your high horse,” Kagome smiled. “Come on, you guys. Dinner's ready.” Souta bounded off downstairs, announcing that he was going to tell Mom and Grandpa how good Inuyasha was at games.

“Who knew you were a Madden whiz?” Kagome asked playfully as he got up from the floor. She knew he had long hair, but she didn't know it was that long. She'd assumed that it went to his shoulder blades perhaps. She had no idea that it hit his butt. Then again, she'd never seen the length that always remained tucked down in his sweatshirt.

“Not me,” he replied with a shrug. “I never played one of those before.”

“You've never played a Playstation?” she question incredulously. “What, are you more of an X-box kind of guy?”

“No…I've never played any video games,” he elaborated. “But I now know why so many people spend hours and hours in front of that thing.” He gave her a solemn, somber look. “It's quite addictive,” he said seriously. Kagome looked at him dubiously and laughed.

“Well, you've just been crowned as Souta's hero. Don't be surprised if he latches onto you from now on,” she warned.

~*~

Kagome had only been joking when she said that Souta would latch onto Inuyasha. The boy was practically a louse. But…it was quite cute actually.

Kagome wasn't quite sure what merit being a natural video game champion had for idolizing, but whatever the case, Souta welded himself to Inuyasha's side, and didn't seem ready to give him up anytime soon. He'd sat next to the older boy at dinner, fixing his plate so that it mirrored Inuyasha's and talking incessantly about…well…anything. From the time when his first tooth got knocked out to his baseball team tryouts, Inuyasha got the long and short of Souta's autobiography. Inuyasha took it in stride, and though he looked a bit overwhelmed and confused at Souta's behavior, he appeased the child by listening sufficiently. Once, he glanced across the table at Kagome, as if silently pleading for her help, at which point she just smiled and shrugged helplessly. To her great surprise, he smiled.

It wasn't a huge, toothy, Crest kids smile. Just a simple quirk of his lips, so slight, in fact, that she was probably the only one who noticed. Whether it was because of her photographer's eye, or the fact that she'd studied him quite intently when he wasn't paying attention, she'd notice any kind of smile on his normally caustically sneering face. And upon seeing that twitch of a smile, Kagome proceeded to beam back at him as if he'd just presented her with the treasures of King Tut. He pulled a face and quickly averted his eyes back to his plate. `Well… so much for that,' Kagome thought.

~*~^_^

Watching the sunrise. Wasn't that something straight out of sappy romance movies? Inuyasha wasn't quite sure. It wasn't like he had tons of invitations to go to the cinema. In fact…he really couldn't remember the last movie he'd seen…but that was beside the point. When he had surreptitiously told Kagome that he had to go, she'd looked crestfallen and insisted that he stay and watch the sunrise with them.

“I can't,” he insisted.

“But…that's like the main event of New Year's,” she pointed out. “Come on, only a few more hours.”

“I really, really can't—“

“You sick of me already?” she asked. She was only joking. Kind of. But Inuyasha didn't know that. He frowned.

“No, I'm not sick of you!” he exclaimed, caught off guard.

“I know Souta's annoying and everything, but I thought maybe—“

“Souta's fine,” he bit out. “You're fine, your family's fine.”

“Then why are you all of a sudden in such a hurry to leave?”

“I…I just really need to go,” he muttered. It was the truth. He did need to go. It was getting late…well. It was already late. But it was 2 o'clock in the morning, and he was sure that his father wouldn't believe that the library was open 24 hours a day. Besides that, he needed to wander around outside a bit so that the scent of her home would at least fade a little. He fidgeted, running a finger around the rim of his mug. He'd come to find that Kagome made very, very good hot chocolate. Not that he was exactly a connoisseur of chocolate, but if he were, he'd have to say hers was the best. Especially with the whipped cream on top.

Her eyes were practically burning a hole in the side of his face.

“What?” he snapped.

“The New Year is when you're supposed to lay all your burdens down and start over. You know, leave last year's troubles and worries behind,” she told him quietly. He said nothing. “I get the feeling that's something that's very hard for you to do, Inuyasha.”

Either the girl was way too perceptive, or he was just being a bit more of an open book than he thought.

“You are very troubled, yes?” she prodded gently. Inuyasha stiffened

“More than you'll ever know,” he muttered, and then mentally slapped himself. Souta had long ago gone upstairs and subsequently fallen asleep. But where the hell was her mother? Her grandfather? How had they suddenly become alone in the living room, the television muted? If there was anything he knew from being alone with Kagome, it was that she had this strange ability to make him a bit loose-lipped. And he really didn't feel like having a shrink session on her couch.

“For one night though? Do you think you could let everything go, just for one night?” she asked hopefully. He didn't respond. “I think you'd feel better,” she said.

“I think not.”

“You wanna know what I think?”

“I'm sure you're gonna tell me either way,” he said dryly. She ignored the tone.

“I think that what you need,” she started. She shifted on the couch, folding her legs under herself and facing him. `Kami, she's close,' he thought. He wanted to scoot away. But how to do that without seeming rude? `Since when do you care about being rude?' he asked himself. “I think what you need is some support,” she said finally, once she was situated. Well. He hadn't been expecting her to say that. “I know, you're feeling kind of bad because of everything that happened at the end of the term, right? That's what's wrong, right?” she asked.

Well. It was one of the many things troubling him, yes. He shrugged in rejoinder.

“I understand. I guess it's still bothering me too…but…I think that as long as you've got one good ol' reliable person there for you, well…you can't be too bad off, can you?” He could feel her eyes searching the side of his face for reassurance on that. He figured he could spare another shrug. She sighed and shook her head. “Inuyasha, please…just…tell me if I'm wasting my time here.”

“Huh?” he grunted, finally looking at her. He truly hadn't seen that look on her face before. Even when she was sobbing in the parking lot, she hadn't quite looked like…that. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth, her eyebrows slightly wrinkled, her umber-brown eyes clouded over.

“Tell me if this whole thing is a waste of time,” she clarified.

“W…what `whole thing'?”

“This. I…I want to be your friend, Inuyasha. I know you have a hard time believing that for some reason, but…I do. And I just want to know if I'm wasting my time by trying to get you to want to be my friend too.” Well, that was putting it clearly. Now he felt bad. Damn if this girl didn't have an uncanny knack for making him feel bad.

“I…I mean…you…Dammit. You're not…doing that.”

“Doing what?” Okay, so she wasn't going to make this easy for him. So she wanted it spelled out for her.

“You're not wasting your time,” he mumble finally after a few long moments.

“So…” she urged him to continue.

“So…so I guess…I want…to be…your…friend…too,” he managed to squeeze out. `Kami, when did I start sounding like such a little weenie?' he thought with a groan. But she smiled at him. Not that weird `I'm so proud of you' smile she'd given him at the dinner table. But a genuine, soft, `thank you' smile. What she was thanking him for, he had no idea. Any reasonable, sane person would realize what the implications of friendship with him meant and run for the hills. Hell, she'd already had her social life taken away from her. He would have thought she'd understand by now. But, damn, if she was gonna be that hard-headed…then he guessed he could take her up on her `deal'.

“I'm really glad,” she murmured.

~*~ ^_^

So the evening hadn't been a total disaster. Sure, he'd managed to embarrass himself quite frequently, gained an annoying, albeit kind-of-sort-of endearing worshipper, and he'd come about a hair's breadth from spilling things that he himself didn't like to dwell on to a girl he barely knew. But, all in all, he'd managed to actually have a fairly decent time. Inuyasha was quite amazed. Her family was without a doubt the nicest, most accommodating group of people he'd ever met, and probably ever would meet. On his way out the door, her mother had graciously given him a Tupperware dish full of the flavorful food she'd prepared, telling him that there was much too much left over for only the four of them to eat, and to share it with his parents, who she hoped she'd be able to meet soon. Yeah right. Her house was warm and inviting and smelled of security. And…and she'd been really, really nice too him.

Kindness…it was another foreign concept. To him at least. The last time someone had been kind to him, truly kind, had been when he was nine years old. It had been a pretty cold, empty, cruel seven years.

But…if Kagome was going to do what she said, if she was going to be good on her word…perhaps he'd be able to make it out of high school with at least some semblance of a relationship. Perhaps he'd be able to say he had one friend. Perhaps it really would be a happy new year, as so many signs seemed to suggest.

And that, Inuyasha thought, would be pretty damn cool.

Author's Notes:

Okay, I don't know if you guys noticed, but this chapter is freakin' LONG! It's 32 pages (in ms word). I honestly didn't even know it was gonna be this long…yeesh.

I don't know how I feel about this chapter. I really wanna move Inuyasha out of `holding Kagome at arm's length' mode, but I don't want to do it too quickly. Review and let me know what you think.

(I do really like Inuyasha and Souta's relationship in the show. I think it's really cute, since he rarely gets to feel respected, much less looked up to.)

And sorry if the switch between POVs is weird…I really couldn't think of a way to make it any smoother. Hopefully the next chapter will be better.

Thanks for reading!

Review!

Wowzer313