InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Time and Time Again ❯ Quick Fights ( Chapter 5 )

*AN: Ohayo! Skiing here in Winter Park is awesome. The snow on the lower slopes is all slush though and that sucks, but overall it's been great. I took lifts up to 12,050 feet, and the view was amazing. I love the mountains. Oh, and I have come to the conclusion that no one in Winter Park is actually from Colorado. The person who set up my lesson was from Brazil, and I just ate at a German restaurant owned by a Swiss person with a Lithuanian waitress. That, and we were sitting to a Spanish woman and a man from Germany. Plus, almost everyone I've heard on the slopes has an Australian or English accent. Anyway, getting to business, this should be up at the same time as the previous chapter. I am really trying to make my chapters longer, so please bear with me.

PS: Guess what? I found a site of Japanese baby names, and I found my dog's name! My dog is (surprise) an akita inu-or akita. Akitas were used in Japan to watch over the children while the adults worked in the fields. Anyway, her name is Miki, and I just found out that her name means 'beautiful tree' in Japanese. Woot woot! Using the same site, I found 'Fujita' for Shippou. I think it fits since he's a fox demon. (Or was, in this case)

Disclaimer: I do not own Inu-Yasha, but I do own the Chicago CD that I'm listening to (Mr. Billy Flynn in the press-conference rag. Notice how his mouth never moves . . . almost).

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The next day at four Saku stood outside of Kagome's house. Well, here goes nothing, he thought unhappily, shifting the unwieldy book of legends to his other arm and ringing the doorbell with his free hand. I wish I was in the same class as Kyo and Saya. They've got the same legend-maybe I can talk Kagome into working with them. Hell, I know I'd feel more comfortable. Kagome just gives me the creeps. His train of thought was interrupted when Kagome's mother opened the door.

"Hello! You must be Saku. You can come on in; Kagome should be down in a minute."

Saku stepped in to the small brick house and took his shoes off. Well, her mother seems normal, if not a little over-perky. Realizing that Kagome's mother was still talking to him, he rather guiltily tuned back in.

"It's so nice that you came over. It's a relief to see that Kagome is finally making friends. She's been so quiet and depressed for the past year; I've been really worried about her. She used to be so happy-go-lucky; I don't know why she changed so drastically."

"Uh . . . yeah. Would it be okay if she came over to my friend's house? It's just that he and another one of my friends are doing a report on the same legend, and we could get more done with them."

Mrs. Higurashi beamed. "That would be wonderful! Have you asked Kagome?"

"Not yet." As he looked around the living room, Kagome came down the stairs to his left. He almost groaned when he saw her. What is withher and that red haori?

"Hello Saku. Where would you like to work?"

Saku was about to open his mouth when Mrs. Higurashi spoke up. "Kagome, dear, why don't you take him up to your room? I need to clean, so it'd be too distracting for you elsewhere."

Saku could've sworn that Kagome paled by several shades. "But-"

"No buts! Off with you now," Mrs. Higurashi interrupted, shooing both Saku and Kagome up the stairs. Saku followed Kagome up to her room, and looked in. It was surprisingly bare-the only major items being a neat desk and chair and a bed. The walls were devoid of pictures, but a window let light in, even if the large tree outside blocked some of it.

"Nice room." He commented, to break the uneasy silence. There was something about that window and tree that was uncomfortably familiar. Kagome gave him a small, "Thanks," as she closed the door behind him. "You can sit on the bed if you want." He complied as she sat at her desk.

"So," Saku began, "what do you know about the legend so far?"

Kagome responded in a dead voice, "I know the story. I . . . used to live at a shrine. We used to sell replicas."

Saku raised his eyebrows in surprise and opened the book to start searching for the right page. "Oh? Well, that's an advantage. Anyway, my friend Kyo lent me this. It has the story if we need to do any checking." Kagome gave him a nod of affirmation and turned her head to look out of the window. As she did so Saku caught sight of a round jewel on a chain around her neck. "What's that?"

Kagome snapped her head around to look at him. "What?"

He gestured at her neck. "That jewel."

Kagome paled and put her hand up to the jewel, feeling its perfect roundness under her fingers. "It . . . it's . . . it was a . . . present."

Saku raised his eyebrows. Bullshit. "Okay, okay. No need to get all defensive." When Kagome didn't say anything, he decided to shed some light on the issue of the haori. "Speaking of which, why do you always wear that haori?" At this, Kagome put her head down so her bangs covered her eyes. What . . . what is she . . . Then he noticed the small sparkle making its way down her cheek. Oh shit . . . nice going Saku. "H-hey. Don't cry. Please don't cry." She turned her head away from him. "Fuck! Look, Kagome, I hate it when girls cry! Stop it! All I did was ask about that stupid haori you always wear!"

When she finally turned her head to look at him, Saku was stunned at the look in her eyes. It was if someone had sucked all of the life out of her. "It was a gift too," she said, mechanically.

"Uh . . . was it someone at your old school?"

". . . No."

"So why do you wear it?" Look Kagome, I don't like you very much, but for god's sake I didn't hurt you! Why the hell do you have that dead look in your eyes?

She looked away again. "It was a gift . . . from a very good friend of mine."

"Okay, fair enough, but I meant why do you wear it all the time?"

In a whisper so quiet that he could barely hear it, Kagome murmured, "He died last year."

That whisper felt like a stab to Saku. Well that explains why she was acting so weird when I asked her about the haori. But . . . wait . . . "Kagome . . ."

"What?" she whispered hoarsely.

"Was his name Inu-Yasha?"

". . ."

"Was it?"

Kagome opened her mouth to answer when the door opened and a small boy with a mop of red hair poked his head into the room. "Kagome?"

"Come in Fujita."

Fujita walked over to Kagome, clambered into her lap, and hugged her. "'Gome, why are you crying?" He turned to Saku. "You made 'Gome cry didn't you!"

"Uh . . ."

"I knew it! You big meanie! Leave 'Gome alone! She never did anything to you!"

"What the hell, brat! What the hell are you doing here?"

"I live here!"

"Yeah? Well-"

"Saku, please leave."

Kagome's request broke through Saku's tirade. "What?"

"Please leave. We need to continue this another time."

"Feh," he snarled, not failing to notice how Kagome tensed as he said it. "Go to Kyo Ono's house tomorrow at five. He and Saya are doing the same legend, so we can work with them. He lives at the Shiba temple, not too far from the school." With that, he left.

Once he got into his car, he took out his cell phone and dialed Kyo's number.

"If this isn't an insanely beautiful woman, I'm hanging up." From the other end of the phone Saku could hear something collide with Kyo's head as someone-probably Saya-threw it at him.

"Sorry, Kyo. You're just not my type. Anyway, Kagome and I will be coming over tomorrow at five. Oh, and I learned something about Kagome that might be important. You know that red haori she always wears?" He said as he started his car and pulled out of the Higurashi's driveway.

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Well, evidently it was a gift from her boyfriend or something."

"So?"

"She told me that he died last year."

"Oh."

"And get this-I think his name was Inu-Yasha."

"Well, that explains some things at least. But I have two questions. Number one: Why did she call you by her boyfriend's name? And two: Wouldn't a year be enough time to get over him?"

"Well, I guess so, but . . . wait . . ."

"What? Did you have an unprecedented flash of intelligence?"

"Shut up. I just remembered something weird that her mom said."

"What? Saya will want to know about this and she'll kill me if I don't get all the details."

Saku heard a faint, "Damn straight!" just before he began to speak. He smirked slightly and answered, "Well, her mom said that Kagome used to be really happy-go-lucky, but has been really sad and depressed ever since last year-I'm guessing that it was when Inu-Yasha died. But Mrs. Higurashi also said that she didn't know why. It seems odd that she wouldn't associate Kagome's boyfriend's death with her being depressed. Unless . . ."

"Yes? Unless . . ."

"Unless . . . unless she never knew about it?"

A low whistle came from the other end of the phone. "So you think that Kagome's boyfriend died, but her mother never found out about it? Now why would that be?"

"I dunno. Drugs maybe? Maybe he was in a gang."

"Hmm. I think this merits further thought. I have to hang up now, because if I don't get off the phone and tell Saya what this is all about, she will inflict severe bodily harm on me."

"Didn't she hear us talk?"

"She went to the bathroom."

Saku narrowed his eyes, though he kept his eyes on the road. "Don't peek on her."

"Saku, I am hurt that-"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

"She locked the door anyway."

"How do you know that?" Saku inquired suspiciously.

"I heard it, doofus. I'm not that perverted."

"Feh. See you later."

"Same to you."

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The next day after school, Saku tried to catch up with Kagome, but Kagome had been ignoring him to the best of her ability all day. However, her ignoring him only made him determined to talk to her about what had transpired yesterday. I don't care what she thinks; I want to find out why she called me by her boyfriend's name.

As he neared her locker however, a mob blocked his way. That could only mean one thing-a fight. Half annoyed, Saku pushed his way through the crowd to where the 'combatants' were. As soon as he saw them however, his heart sank. Raidon and Zinan, two brothers that no one in their right mind messed with, had Kagome cornered against her locker.

"What the hell did you think you were doing, bitch?" hissed Raidon, the older of the two.

"You were beating up Fujita. I stopped you," Kagome said, as calmly as she could.

Saku almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. Kagome, timid, quiet, shy Kagome, had stood up to the self proclaimed, 'Thunder Brothers?'

"Hur hur hur," sniggered the younger brother, Zinan, "when we're done with you, it's going to hurt more than the broken board you used."

Saku's eyes bugged out. She attacked them with a board?!

"Shut up," hissed the older brother. Then to Kagome, "You'll pay for messing with the Thunder Brothers, Higurashi."

At those words, something flared in Kagome's eyes that Saku had never seen before-recognition and rage. Complete and utter fury took over Kagome's normally passive expression.

"Bastards," she hissed, "you have no idea what you're getting yourselves into."

Raidon, instead of answering, lunged at her. For a second it seemed that he had hit her, but as soon as he got close, Kagome was behind him. He snarled and repeatedly lunged at her, but she dodged every blow with a speed that didn't seem possible. When the younger brother joined in however, Kagome started fighting in earnest. What had originally promised to be a good fight was drastically shortened as the skills that Kagome had gained in Feudal Japan kicked in. It didn't help the Thunder Brothers that the Shikon Jewel Kagome wore lent her strength far beyond theirs. When Zinan charged her, she swiftly kicked him in the gut, then slammed both fists down on his back as he bent over in pain. Dropping to the ground, she kicked Raidon's legs out from under him, causing him to hit the tile floor with a loud smack. She straightened almost haughtily and picked up her books from where they had been knocked to the floor.

Dead silence swept over the hallway.

Turning to the brothers, Kagome said quietly, "Maybe . . . in your next lives you'll learn to leave little boys alone." That said, she turned and walked out of the school, her shoes clicking audibly in the stunned silence.

Kagome, what in the seven hells happened to you to make you act like this?

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*AN: Yeah, yeah, my fight scenes suck, no need to tell me.