InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Syndrome ❯ He Just Wants To Be Left Alone ( Chapter 18 )

Chapter 18 - He Just Wants To Be Left Alone

 

 

@@ 4 Years Ago @@

 

 

It had finally arrived, the first day of their freshman year, and Kagome wished she had a time machine. She wasn't ready, not yet. She wasn't ready for high school. She turned around and started to walk the opposite direction, away from the giant building that the very sight of terrified her. She didn't make it three steps when her elbows were caught by her friends, one on each side.

 

“Lemme go! I'm not going in there! Maybe tomorrow,” she said while struggling against them.

 

Bankotsu let out a sigh before tossing his bag to Miroku and taking hold of her with both hands. “Kagome, tomorrow isn't gonna work. Today. You're going in there today. Now come on.” When she refused to move on her own he picked her up with absolutely no effort like she was nothing but a child. Her hands came up to rest on his shoulders and her legs wrapped around his hips. “You're really gonna make me carry you inside, aren't you?”

 

She buried her head in his neck and nodded against him. “I can't look. Tell me when we make it in.”

 

Miroku laughed at the sight of her wrapped around their friend like a little girl clinging to her daddy. “Kags, the school isn't gonna bite you.”

 

She turned and glared at him. “I know that,” she hissed. “I just don't wanna go!”

 

“According to your mother you didn't want to go to Kindergarten or Middle School either, but both of those turned out okay, didn't they?”

 

“I don't know. That's how I ended up with you guys,” she said sarcastically.

 

“Oh my sweet Kagome, you wound me,” Miroku said in a pained voice while clutching at his chest.

 

“Yeah, sure I do.”

 

Bankotsu smiled and nudged her with his head since his arms were busy holding her up. “We're inside, Kaggie. And the big bad building didn't get you.” Her arms tightened around his neck. “Still not ready?”

 

“Nuh-Uhn. Nope, not in the slightest.”

 

“You do realize how odd we must look.”

 

“Since when do you care,” she said while tugging on his trademark braid.

 

“Yeah, you're right. I don't care. But you could at least pick up your head and look around. This day's only gonna happen once.”

 

“If only it would happen just once. This morning is going to happen every day for four years!” she said in a frustrated tone, but she still lifted her face from its hiding place and looked around. She grinned when she noticed all the girls glaring at her. “Hey Bankie, I think they might be a little jealous.”

 

He turned around in place and shot a smile at all the staring girls. “I think you might be right Kaggie.” He glanced at Miroku who looked like a kid in a candy store as he took in the wide variety of asses just begging to be groped. “Keep your hands to yourself, monk. I'm not gonna save ya if you piss them off.”

 

“At least wait a couple of days before you turn the female population against you, huh Miroku?” Kagome said with a laugh.

 

 

 

@@@@@The Syndrome@@@@@

 

 

 

It was just like he'd expected when he went inside. The whispers started almost immediately and some people didn't even bother to whisper at all. `Why? Why can't I be home schooled? I can't take this for four more years,' Inuyasha thought to himself as he walked towards his locker, ears flattened to his skull as if that could block out their horrible words. He was almost there when he heard laughter, the same sweet laughter of an angel. The hanyou stopped in his tracks, his head turned all on its own, and he took in the sight of her again.

 

She was being carried again by the same human male as before, but this time she was wrapped around his waist. The angle she was being held at drew his attention to the curve of her spine and the snug fit of her faded jeans over her perfect ass. `Lucky bastard,' he thought as he ached to touch her, to hold her close to him. There was just something about her, something that made him sure that just her touch could end his suffering. Too bad she was a miko who would never lower herself to touch a half-demon. Too bad she was obviously involved with the guy blessed by the Kamis with the chance to hold her. Too bad he was nothing and she was everything.

 

As the small group passed him his gaze followed and soon he found his eyes locked with hers again as she looked over the male's shoulder at him. A flood of warmth spread rapidly through his entire body but his blood ran cold when she started to laugh. She was laughing at him! He sighed heavily before turning and punching the locker that was unfortunate enough to be the closest, leaving a large fist shaped dent before moving on to his own. He was no longer feeling sorry for himself. Now he was pissed.

 

 

 

@@@@@The Syndrome@@@@@

 

 

 

When she saw him, the one with the adorable ears, she couldn't help but look at him. Again his golden eyes seemed to cry out to her for something and she was more than willing to help. Apparently she wasn't paying attention because right when she was about to smile at him Miroku started tickling her sides. She couldn't help but laugh, but the way the half-demon's face fell she wished she hadn't. He thought she was laughing at him.

 

Bankotsu finally made her stand on her own two feet when they reached their lockers. Having already committed the combination to memory, Kagome opened hers and stashed everything she didn't need for the morning away in the little metal cupboard before closing it and replacing the lock. Both Bankotsu and Miroku were in her first class of the day and once the guys were ready they were all off to face the music.

 

 

 

@@@@@The Syndrome@@@@@

 

 

 

His first class had royally sucked. No one wanted to sit next to him and even the teacher treated him like a lower life form. It wasn't fair! It wasn't his fault! Why did he have to suffer for it? His already crappy mood was nearing explosive proportions as he entered his second class of the morning. Most of the desks were already taken and he knew that as soon as he picked a seat everyone around him would move. It always happened that way, like he smelled like a skunk or would bite them or something. He was avoided like the plague and no matter how many times it happened it always hurt.

 

Deciding to just get it over with he plopped into an empty seat and did his best to ignore it when everyone cleared out. He sat and stared at the white board at the front of the room, pretending that there was no one around. His attention was drawn to the door when he heard her again. `Great! She's in this class too. So, any other way to kick me in the teeth today?' he thought while glaring at the ceiling. `You guys just can't fuckin' torture me enough can you?'

 

He was confused when he saw that it wasn't the guy with the mark that she was talking to but the monk. Inuyasha watched as he leaned down and kissed her forehead while snaking his hand around her back to grab her ass. Something inside him snarled viciously, apparently disliking the view of another male touching her. She laughed and gave him a shove out of the room before she came fully inside and glanced around for an empty seat.

 

When she saw him surrounded by the only available desks she frowned. `Nice. These people are assholes!' she growled mentally. Her anger showed on her face and in her eyes as she stalked over and sat down beside him, tossing her bag to the floor at her feet.

 

It didn't escape him how disgusted she was to have to sit beside him. He couldn't blame her. He wouldn't want to sit next to himself either. `Just like everyone else. You have to stop thinking that anyone is ever going to see past the half-breed,' he chastised himself.

 

Kagome glanced over and saw the angry look on his face and her eyes softened. She couldn't even begin to imagine just how hard this had to be for him. She quickly looked away when his head turned towards her, not wanting him to catch her staring. Of course he noticed it, but he misinterpreted it again. “Why don't you take a fucking picture? Then you can show all your friends the circus freak,” he said in the most hateful tone he could muster so she wouldn't hear the sadness in his voice.

 

Kagome looked at him in shock. “Excuse me?”

 

“You heard me bitch. I'm not here for your goddamned entertainment.”

 

She just looked at him for a minute, blinking in confusion. “I…”

 

Her words were cut off before they even got started when the bell rang and the teacher walked in, closing the door behind her.

 

 

 

@@@@@The Syndrome@@@@@

 

 

 

Kagome was glad when the class had ended. She didn't know how to react to his anger. Sure, he was being an asshole but she was almost certain that it was just to hide his pain. He'd snapped at several other students and even swore at the teacher and she couldn't help but think that he was angry so no one would see the sadness and loneliness. He'd almost knocked over several students on his way out of the room and she wondered if she would see him in any of her other classes.

 

Bankotsu had met her in the hall and they walked together to their next class. All the while Kagome told him about what had happened with the boy with the puppy ears. She had to make him promise not to say or do anything because when he heard how rude the hanyou had been to her he'd wanted to teach him a lesson in manners. “You can't shield me from everything Bank, and I don't blame him anyway. He's just trying to protect himself.”

 

“Yeah well he better not talk to you like that in front of me. I don't care if his life does suck, no one insults you.”

 

“Mmm-hmm,” she mumbled, not wanting to talk about it anymore.

 

When they entered their third class Kagome spotted him again instantly. This time he was sitting in the back in the farthest corner, trying to isolate himself from everyone else. Bank tried to stop her but she made her way over and sat beside him anyway. He turned and looked at her in confusion and just as he was about to ask her what the hell was the matter with her another voice made itself known.

 

“There's my woman! I was afraid we wouldn't have any classes together!” Kouga said loudly. He gave her an appreciative once over before noticing who or rather what she was sitting beside. “What the fuck are you doing sitting next to this filth?” He turned and glared at Bankotsu. “I thought you protected her! Why the hell would you let her sit next to a disgusting half-breed?”

 

Kagome looked up at the wolf demon and he froze. Her eyes were flashing dangerously and he took a few steps backward. “I will sit wherever the hell I want so you can keep your nose out of it! And I am NOT your woman!”

 

Instead of replying to the obviously furious miko, Kouga turned and focused his frustrations on the hanyou beside her. “If you so much as breathe in her direction I'll kill you,” he snarled threateningly. “She's mine and she doesn't need to be tainted by your kind.”

 

Kagome was halfway out of her seat when Bankotsu caught the back of her jeans and pulled her back, standing himself instead. “Do you really enjoy it that much?”

 

“Huh?” Kouga asked; having no idea what the `human' was talking about.

 

“Do you really enjoy me rearranging your face that much that you keep coming back for more?”

 

Inuyasha, who'd been trying to ignore everything happening around him, couldn't help the snort of laughter that escaped.

 

“What the fuck are you laughing at, half-breed?” Kouga snarled.

 

“You. I'm laughing at you. A human kicked your ass? You, a big strong full demon?”

 

“I'd watch my mouth if I were you, hanyou,” the wolf said before spitting right in Inuyasha's face.

 

When Kagome saw that she was up and out of her seat before anyone could stop her. “If you don't leave us alone right now I'd be more than happy to take you down again myself. And don't even think I won't. I rather enjoy seeing you whimpering on the floor. And I know that Bank would be more than happy to break your jaw again. I'm surprised you can still talk after having your jaw shattered so many times. Really, I wish you didn't have such rapid healing abilities. The world could use a reprieve from your mouth.” Kagome stood there and glared at the wolf demon, her eyes flashing and her entire body starting to shimmer with a pink light.

 

Inuyasha didn't need a human girl to stand up for him. He could take care of himself and was about to tell her so when the glow started. His eyes widened in fear and he began to scoot backwards while Kouga did the same in the opposite direction. The hanyou didn't have very far to go though, and when the back of his chair hit the wall he could do nothing but watch as the pink glow approached him. He silently said his good-byes as he waited for the pain of purification but it never came. Instead he found himself suddenly feeling very safe and secure, something he hadn't ever felt before, not even in his mother's arms as a child. He shoulders drooped and he sighed in pleasure at the feeling. Whatever it was he hoped that it never ended. Too bad it did, all too soon.

 

When the bell rang Kagome immediately stopped glowing and dropped to her seat, Bankotsu doing the same and before the teacher walked in Inuyasha scooted his desk back to its original position. He couldn't keep his eyes off her the entire class but she didn't look at him once. He could still feel her rage boiling just under the surface but he wasn't sure what she was angry about. Was she pissed about the wolf calling her his woman? Or was she angry about being associated with a hanyou? He had no clue and all he could do was silently beg for her to meet eyes with him so he could figure it out.

 

 

 

@@@@@The Syndrome@@@@@

 

 

 

The next few days followed the same pattern. Kagome would see Inuyasha but look away, still unsure of what to say to him. Inuyasha felt his heart being torn in two every time she turned away from him in disgust. The half-demon decided that nothing he'd ever experienced was quite as painful as having her refuse to acknowledge his existence and several times he had snapped at her for some imagined slight against him. Both Bankotsu and Miroku wanted to strangle him but Kagome had made them promise to leave him alone. Kouga had appointed himself as the hanyou's number one tormentor and more than once the two had to be forcibly dragged off of each other. The wolf's behavior only made Kagome dislike him more. She couldn't stand the way people were treating the hanyou.

 

It was during lunch on the fourth day of high school when she finally spoke to Miroku and Bankotsu about the half-demon she'd found out was named Inuyasha. “I know he seems abrasive but I really think he's just protecting himself. I want to find a way to be his friend.”

 

Both males looked up at her in surprise. They knew she'd been upset over the hanyou's treatment but neither had expected her to want to befriend someone who was so rude to her so many times. “Are you sure you want to do that, Kags?” Miroku asked slowly, not wanting to anger her but concerned nonetheless.

 

“Why wouldn't I?”

 

Bankotsu answered. “Because he's been nothing but rude to you. He's a jerk, Kagome. You don't need to go out of your way to try and make friends with him. He doesn't want friends. He just wants to be left alone.”

 

“How do you know? How can you be so sure?”

 

“If he was anything but an ass he wouldn't be nasty to you for no reason. All he does is yell, swear, and pick fights,” Miroku said.

 

“There's more to him. I know there is. I can see it in his eyes. He's in pain. He's lonely. The anger, it's just a defense mechanism.”

 

“I don't think so Kaggie. I think that what you see is what you get with that one. He's not gonna change,” Bank replied.

 

“Yeah, Bank's right. There's not a nice guy inside trying to get out. He's an asshole through and through.”

 

Kagome glared at them both. “I can't believe you would both judge him like that without even getting to know him! You remember what happened the last time you did that?” she asked with a scowl plastered to her face. “You two ended up fighting and you both almost lost me. I'm not going through that again so you'd better get over it now.” Picking up her lunch and her bag, Kagome stood and walked away, not bothering to look back.

 

 

 

@@@@@The Syndrome@@@@@

 

 

 

“When I was young I knew everything, She a punk who rarely ever took advice. Now I'm guilt stricken, sobbing with my head on the floor…” Kagome was singing softly to herself as she wandered around the courtyard of the high school. They had the option to eat lunch outside and there were people sitting at picnic tables and under trees everywhere.

 

He was sitting high in the branches of a tree, trying to be invisible, when he heard her voice. He'd been trying to make himself hate her, just so it would hurt less, but he couldn't. There was just something about her.

 

“I can't be held responsible. She was touching her face. I won't be held responsible. She fell in love in the first place. For the life of me, I cannot remember…” Kagome wondered where he was. She'd never seen him during lunch, like he disappeared. She let out a sigh before she started singing again. “For the life of me I cannot remember what made us think that we were wise and we'd never compromise. For the life of me I cannot believe we'd ever die for these sins. We were merely freshmen…”

 

He listened to her sweet voice as it got closer and finally he looked down, seeing her leaning against the trunk of the tree he sat in. She leaned her head back and glanced at the puffy white clouds floating through the brilliant blue sky. She knew she was right. She knew that there was more to him. There just had to be.

 

Neither of them noticed the approaching demon, at least not until he opened his big mouth. “What did I tell you about her, half-breed?” Kouga yelled up into the branches of the tree while standing a few feet in front of Kagome.

 

“Kouga, what the hell are you yelling about?” Kagome asked, her tone clearly portraying that she was tired of this.

 

“The fucking half-breed is up in the tree spying on you! I'm gonna kick his fucking ass until he learns to keep his eyes off my woman!”

 

Kagome glanced up into the tree in surprise and she watched as the half-demon dressed in a red t-shirt and faded blue jeans dropped to the ground beside her. “I didn't know you were up there,” she said in surprise.

 

“Of course you didn't! He was trying to hide from you. He's a fucking stalker!”

 

“Kouga, just stop,” the miko said in frustration. “Just leave me alone. I don't need you to protect me.”

 

“Obviously you do since your so called friends are nowhere to be seen. And you, you'd better start running!”

 

“Fuck you! I'm not gonna run from a pussy like you! If this bitch can kick your ass I think I'll be just fine,” Inuyasha said in a challenging tone.

 

Kagome's right eye twitched and her lips thinned into an angry line. “Did you just call me a bitch?”

 

“Yeah, what of it?” He was stunned into silence when the palm of her hand connected with his cheek. Kouga started laughing but stopped rather quickly when she slapped him too.

 

“I am not a bitch. You,” she pointed at Kouga, “are a huge dickhead! And you,” she whirled and pointed at Inuyasha. “You need a serious attitude adjustment!” She glowered at them before stomping away, leaving them both staring after her in surprise.

 

 

 

@@@@@The Syndrome@@@@@

 

 

 

Something had changed when she slapped him but he had no idea what. It was like she'd been super glued into his mind. No matter what he did to try to shake his thoughts of her he failed. And it just hurt more when she sat beside him but acted like he didn't exist. Something was going on with her too. He'd noticed that she was barely speaking to either of her guy friends. He still hadn't figured out which one she was dating, but at the moment it looked like they were both in the doghouse.

 

He stood in the hall near his locker, not ready to face his first class of the day. Music was pounding loudly in his ears. He'd found that if he was listening to music he didn't have to listen to the comments.

 

 

 

8 o'clock, Monday night, and I'm waiting
To finally talk to a girl a little cooler than me
Her name is Nona, she's a rocker with a nose ring
She wears a 2-way but I'm not quite sure what that means

And when she walks
All the wind blows and the angels sing
She doesn't notice me

 

 

His nose twitched as he picked up the sweetest scent to ever grace his powerful sense of smell and his eyes lifted from the floor to watch her pass. She was alone and she still walked with anger in every step. She was beautiful and all he wanted to do was fall to his knees at her feet and worship her.

 

It's like a bad movie
She's looking through me
If you were me, then you'd be
Screaming, "Someone shoot me!"
As I fail miserably
Trying to get the girl all the bad guys want
She's the girl all the bad guys want

 

 

He'd been dying to feel the tingle that came with making eye contact with her but she wouldn't look at him. He hated himself even more for being such an idiot. She'd never look at him. Why would she?

Cause she's watching wrestling
Creaming over tough guys
Listening to rap-metal
Turntables in her eyes

She likes them with a mustache
Racetrack season pass
Driving in a Trans-Am
Does a mullet make a man?

He growled as she passed, noticing how all the other guys in the hall watched her too. He wanted to claw their eyes out. None of them were worthy. Not a single one was good enough to even look at her, let alone breathe the same sweet hair as she did. Ever since that slap all he wanted to do was protect her, guard her, and be by her side.

It's like a bad movie
She's looking through me
If you were me, then you'd be
Screaming, "Someone shoot me!"
As I fail miserably
Trying to get the girl all the bad guys want

 

There she goes again
With fishnets on, and dreadlocks in her hair
She broke my heart, I wanna be sedated
All I wanted was to see her naked

 

 

When she disappeared around the corner he let his head drop once again to glare at the tiles. He was being stupid. He knew she'd never allow a half-breed by her side. And no one was ever going to let him forget what he was. He missed it when his half-brother walked by. Sesshoumaru noticed that he was in a whole other world and decided that now was a perfect time to remind the half-breed who was who in their household.

 

Kagome sighed as she turned around and headed back the way she came. She'd been so busy trying to ignore Bank and Miroku that she forgot she needed a book from her locker. She turned the corner just in time to watch Inuyasha crumble to the floor with a look of total surprise in his eyes. When she saw the cause she actually snarled before pushing her way through the quickly gathering crowd. By the time she got there the older inu was gone.

 

She knelt next to him and rolled him to the side so she could look at him. His eyes were closed tightly like he was waiting for the next blow to fall. Noticing the wires, Kagome carefully removed the ear buds so he could hear her.

 

“Are you alright?” she asked softly. All around her there were students asking why she was bothering with a half-breed, that he deserved what he got, that he was worthless, that he was nothing, and she decided it needed to stop. Her eyes snapped up and she glared at them all. “Go Away Now!” The lightning flashed in her eyes and the crowd cleared, everyone retreating to their classrooms. “Inuyasha, are you alright?”

 

He opened his eyes slowly. He had to be unconscious or dead because there was no way she was touching him and looking down at him with worried eyes. “How… how do you know my…”

 

“Your name? I'm in three classes with you. I sit next to you in all of them. How could I not know your name?”

 

He frowned. “Why are you helping me? Why are you touching a filthy half breed?”

 

She glared at him before smacking him upside the head. “Don't ever call yourself that again.”

 

“Why the fuck not? It's true!” He turned his face away, not wanting to see when she realized that she shouldn't be anywhere near him.

 

“No, it's not. You are not a filthy half-breed. You are Inuyasha. Look at me.” When he didn't move she grabbed his chin and forced his head to turn back towards her. “Are you alright? Why did he hit you like that?”

 

“Who, Sesshoumaru? It's his favorite source of entertainment, torture the family disgrace.”

 

“Well he's an asshole.”

 

“I'm aware,” he said in a snarky tone.

 

“Hey now! Don't you go and be rude to me! I'm trying to be nice to you!”

 

“Why? You're just like everyone else. You can't stand to look at me, are disgusted to sit by me, act like I don't exist, and laugh at me with your friends.”

 

She looked at him in surprise. “I do none of those things.”

 

“The fuck you don't! I'm not retarded! I can see and hear just fucking fine!”

 

Her hand came down towards his face and for a second he winced, sure she was going to slap him again. Instead she just gently cupped his cheek, her tender touch sending electricity through his entire body. “It hurts me to look at you because I can see the pain in your eyes. I sit by you by choice. If I seemed angry about it, it was only because I can't believe how everyone treats you. I try not to look at you because you don't seem to like it. You always assume I'm thinking something awful but I'm not. And I don't laugh at you with my friends. On the first day, I laughed because Miroku was tickling me. I'm not speaking to my friends because of you.”

 

He stared at her in shock. “But why…”

 

“They don't think there's anything more to you than the jerk you show everyone. I do. Am I right? Is the anger hiding the pain?”

 

He didn't know how to answer her. All he could think was how this could go wrong. What if she was pretending to be nice to him just to hurt him later? What if someone put her up to it? He couldn't show her his weakness. He couldn't leave himself open like that.

 

She understood it all as he thought. She could see the confusion and fear and she could see him fighting against himself to keep up the wall between them that protected him. “You'll believe me eventually. Until then, I understand your hesitance. I want to be your friend. There's something about you that draws me to you, just like I was drawn to Miroku and Bankotsu. We're meant to be friends, I just know it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author's Note:

 

First, thanks to the reader who nominated this story at the Feudal Association. Nominations end on March 15 th, so go nominate your favorites before it's too late!

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FeudalAssociation/

 

If you can't see the link, search yahoo groups for FeudalAssociation

 

 

Second, I'm working on the list of songs in this story right now, but it's gonna take me a while to read through everything to find them, so it probably won't go up until next chapter.

 

Third, to everyone waiting for chapter 2 of What Your Eyes Did To Me, I'm working on the lemony bit and then it will be up too. Teaser should go up on my LJ today.

 

And finally, Fourth, I had a bit of a plagiarism problem yesterday. Apparently someone had copied both SWtPF and Syndrome and was passing them off as their own (for over three weeks!), along with several other stories copied from other authors. The user and all the stories were removed but it made me think. So if you guys are ever at a site and see my work under any other name than sunset miko (or cmk2cmm on mediaminer) please let me know in an email or a review along with either a link or the site and user name. I can't search them all to make sure it isn't happening, but if you all keep your eyes open when browsing through I would really appreciate it. Thanks guys!