InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Torn Apart ❯ Chapter 5

 

Chapter 5:

 

“Miss Higurashi, your exam time is up.” Impatient foot tapping ensued from the irate sensei standing in front of Kagome's desk. “If you do not hand in your exam right now, I will be forced to fail you.”

 

Kagome looked up from her exam to see sensei Saimisaibou Waizu standing in front of her. Blinking, she noticed the scowl gracing his face as he waited impatiently for her to hand him her advanced bio exam. All of the other students had exited the room on their way home or to coveted study niches to prepare for the next round tomorrow. Blushing, she realized she was staring at her teacher and quickly handed her test materials to the sensei. “Sorry, sensei.”

 

Sighing, she watched as he walked back to his desk with her unfinished exam held firmly in his hand. Taking a deep breath, Kagome stood up and grabbed her back-pack and walked as calmly as she could out the door, hoping that her teacher wasn't staring at her as hard as she was imagining him to be.

 

Checking the hallway, Kagome hurried down the corridor. She did not want to repeat the horror she endured at lunch when she had been accosted by half the school population. She shuddered in remembrance…

 

—Earlier that day at Lunchtime—

 

Kagome groaned as she set her book bag down on the table next to Sango who was furiously studying for calculus. History wasn't quite so bad, but Sango, being Sango, finished it in the first half of the three hours they had to complete it. Kagome had finished it with half an hour to spare.

 

“How in the world do you take exams so fast, Sango?”

 

Sango looked up from her calculus book and blinked owlishly. “Is it lunchtime already?”

 

Kagome playfully bopped Sango on the head as she sank into the seat next to her. “Yes it is, now tell me how you were able to finish the history final so fast!”

 

“I just do. Now what's for lunch?”

 

Kagome shook her head and pulled out the lunch Mrs. Higurashi had packed for the two girls and set it on the lunch table. Sango reached for a rice ball and the buri daikon while Kagome grabbed the cucumber sunomono and a rice ball. Just as she was about to take a mouthful of rice, someone tapped her on the shoulder.

 

Turning her head to see who was behind her, she groaned in misery. It was Eri, Yuka, Ayumi, Harumi, and Shizuko. The first three were friends of hers from before she fell in the well whereas the last two, she met her first year of high school.

 

“So are you going to tell us now what all the fuss was yesterday?” asked Eri, the one who had tapped Kagome's shoulder. “You kind of ran off without telling us you know.”

 

“Yeah!” piped up Harumi. “Just who were those guys?”

 

Sango started to stand up, threatening them with a cold glare.

 

Kagome touched Sango's arm and motioned her to go back to eating. Sango blanched, but complied, angrily munching her way through the rice ball.

 

“They're just old friends.”

 

“Old friends!” cried Ayame. “What does that make us then? New ones? You've never once mentioned that someone wanted to marry you let alone two hot men!”

 

The remaining four nodded their heads in agreement and shuffled a little closer as Kagome's eyes filled with panic. “I, uh, mean that they're just people I meet when I was recuperating in the country.”

 

Ayame took another threatening step forward. Kagome swallowed and looked toward Shizuko, the peacekeeper among their little group. Looking behind her friends, she could see the rest of the school lean a little forward, anxious to find out for themselves what the spectacle the day before had been all about.

 

“Well, you remember all those times when I'd be gone for a week or more?” Each friend nodded in acknowledgement. Kagome cleared her throat yet again. “Well, um, I meet Inuyasha, the one who was wearing the pinstriped suit yesterday and had the dog ears, at the hospital while I was waiting for some results to come in. You know, was the treatment working and everything. Well, anyways, Inuyasha was really kind and kept me company, and he just kept looking me up afterwards. I didn't really want to encourage him or anything, but he was persistent. We became great friends.”

 

`Great,' Kagome thought looking at the disbelieving looks on their faces. `I don't think they're buying this at all.'

 

“Still doesn't explain why you never told us about him,” huffed Eri.

 

Kagome's ire began to rise looking at her friends. “I told you about him all the time! You know, `Kagome, I don't see why you won't go out with Hojo.' `Are you over him yet? Hojo wanted to take you out to the movies this weekend.' and on and on and on!”

 

Eri, Ayame, and Yume looked askance at each other.

 

“Oh yeah, him, the possessive jerk.”

 

“Wasn't he two-timing you?”

 

Sango smirked from behind the rice ball. “Yeah, that would be him.”

 

Kagome glared at Sango.

 

“Well he was!”

 

Kagome huffed and resumed her fabricated story. “Well, uh, the next thing I know, I ended up meeting his brother, Sesshoumaru. Well, that's not quite true. His brother never liked me. Err, he never liked his brother. They always got into fights all the time. That's how I met him. Anyways, he was jealous of the fact that his father remarried and had Inuyasha whereas Inuyasha was always jealous of Sesshoumaru for getting the estate. One thing lead to the other and the next I know I'm getting proposed to by both brothers.”

 

Kagome took a deep breath and crossed her fingers where they were hidden in her lap. “I was so grateful when the doctor came back and told me I was all better and could return to a normal life. It made my day. Since then, I've been back here in Tokyo hoping that they wouldn't find out where I was going to school since I switched over to high school and well, I just hoped that they'd never figure out where I lived either.”

 

Kagome sighed. Sango decided to take pity on the poor girl and patted a shoulder. “There, there Kagome. You shouldn't be too hard on yourself. It's not your fault you have a tendency to attract insensitive jerks who can't mind their own business.”

 

“Sango!” gasped Kagome. “Don't say that about them! Just because they're a little arrogant doesn't mean they're insensitive!”

 

“Kagome, that's just like you. Always forgiving,” said Eri in resignation.

 

“But just think about how nice it would be to have one guy, let alone two, fight over you.” Shizuko sighed in dreamy wonder.

 

“And so well dressed too!” cried Harumi as she finally grabbed a seat and sat next to Kagome and Sango. “They must have money. What do they do?”

 

Kagome licked her lips nervously and wondered how in the world she was going to survive this.

 

—Lunchtime Horrors—

 

Forty-five minutes of being drilled about their dislikes, likes, business ventures, manners, past, present, future, and just about everything and anything had just about given Kagome indigestion. At least it would have if she could eat anything. If it wasn't for Sango filling in a few details and being able to gloss over the difficult ones like what they did, she'd have jumped off a cliff. As it was, she was almost thankful for the random schoolmates who had wandered by their group and asked about what happened the previous day. By the end of lunch, she had the story down pat and could almost turn the grimace she wore into a smile every time she spun her tale anew. She had repeated it so often that her friends had started reciting it instead of herself with wild glee shining in their faces. Thank-fully the bell rang and everyone scurried off to take their last exam, leaving Kagome with the remainder of her mostly untouched lunch and an exam she had hoped to study for. If she had to tell her story one more time though…..

 

—Outside Tokyo High—

 

A hand plopped down on her shoulder and spun her around as she exited the main entrance. Gasping in shock, Kagome stared into the human looking face of her son.

 

“Shippou!” cried Kagome as she threw her hands around his neck. “You don't know how glad I am to see you!”

 

Shippou smiled happily as he returned her hug. “I'm glad you missed me.”

 

Kagome broke the hug and stared at the smirking Shippou. Narrowing her eyes, Kagome jabbed Shippou with a finger. “Why didn't you tell me what you guys have been up to the last few years? I've had hundreds of people asking me all day for who you guys are!” Kagome continued to jab and rant as she pushed him backwards down the street uncaring of the stares she was attracting.

 

Shippou held his arms up in defense as his frame shook in silent mirth. “Cal---calm down Kagome! You're over-reacting!”

 

Kagome sputtered in speechlessness. “Wha---Huh?----Me?---Gah!” Kagome threw her hands up in despair as she took a deep breath. “Fine. Be that way.” Kagome turned around with the intent of leaving Shippou behind. Taking a few steps forward, she saw Eri and Yuka catch sight of her and start running towards her down the street. Panic lighting up her face, she turned around and marched right back to Shippou and grabbed his arm.

 

“Hurry! We've got to hide!”

 

Shippou laughed and allowed himself to be pulled along the street. “Afraid of a couple of teenagers, okaa-san?”

 

Kagome hissed through her teeth. “You would be to if you'd seen them today firing off question after question.”

 

“Okay, okay.” Shippou grasped Kagome's hand on his sleeve and pried her fingers off. Keeping a firm grip on her hand, he looked around the street and pulled her towards a nearby alley.

 

“Wait!” yelled Eri as she ran a little faster, sensing that they were about to escape.

 

Kagome glanced over her shoulder as she was yanked into the alley and felt thin wiry arms grasp her around her waist as she was lifted off the ground. Muffling a cry of surprise, Kagome turned and buried her face into her son's dress shirt.

 

Gently landing on the rooftop, Shippou loosened his arms and wiped his sweaty brow. “Whew, that's a lot harder then it looks.”

 

Kagome glanced up from the folds of the crisp white shirt Shippou was wearing. Confusion creased her face as she looked into her son's eyes. “What do you mean? I thought all youkai could do that.”

 

Shippou laughed. “Well, I'm a kitsune. We're built more for speed then strength. Don't get me wrong, I'm still stronger then any human, but trying to jump three stories while carrying someone even as light as you takes a lot of brute strength.”

 

Kagome looked down and released her arms from Shippou's waist. Stepping back, she said, “Oh, I never thought of that. I just assumed since Inuyasha never seemed to have a problem and he was a hanyou that you wouldn't either.”

 

Shippou nodded in understanding. “True, Inuyasha is strong, but I compensate for my lack in intelligence.”

 

Kagome gasped and smacked Shippou lightly in the arm. “Don't say that about Inuyasha! He might be good at hiding it and act before thinking, but he is extremely intelligent!”

 

Shippou laughed and threw up his arms in defeat. “I never said Inuyasha was stupid, although he is a baka. I just said I was smarter then him.”

 

“Oh, well, in that case, how do we get down from here?” Kagome moved to peer over the edge of the building and noticed that the coast was clear. Eri and Yuka had turned back in dejection and were heading home. Kagome sighed in relief as she continued to look for a fire escape ladder.

 

Shippou shook his head and sat down. “Kagome, I never said I couldn't get us back down. I just said that it was harder then it looked.”

 

Kagome looked at Shippou. “What are you doing sitting on the ground?”

 

“I thought you might like to know how papa and uncle took the news. It's why I came by the school. That and it's not exactly the greatest atmosphere in the office right now. Especially after Sesshoumaru realized I canceled all his appointments for the day.”

 

“Oh,” said Kagome as she plopped down on the roof as well. “Why did you do that?”

 

Shippou laughed as he relaxed his charm spell for a moment so he could flick his tail at Kagome. “I didn't know how long our meeting was going to last, or if he would need a while to calm down. He still doesn't take well to being dictated to.”

 

Kagome smiled in remembrance of another spring day when she had convinced Sesshoumaru to go hunting for jewel shards. “You just have to know how.”

 

Shippou gazed at her in perplexity for a minute, noticing the glaze covering her eyes as she drifted into memory. Clearing his throat, he wondered what in the world she had done to get Sesshoumaru to take anything well. “How do you do that?”

 

Kagome's eyes snapped back into focus as a blush stained her face. “Um, never mind. You were saying about the news? I hope everything went alright.”

 

Shippou stared a moment longer before dropping the subject. “Only as well as could be expected.”

 

“Not very well at all then,” said Kagome gloomily as she stared into the distance.

 

“No, not really. Both threw fits when they found out they had to be nice to each other.” Shippou, almost in an aside, continued to say, “Sesshoumaru even threatened to off Inuyasha if he tried anything.”

 

“Who does he think he is! He can't just go around killing people because he feels like it!” cried Kagome in indignation as she jumped to her feet and began to pace the rooftop. “I mean, they've gotten along fine for five hundred years from what I hear. You'd think they'd be able to make it through one lousy dinner. Bakas!”

 

Kagome did an about face to look at Shippou, determination reflecting in her eyes. “Tell them that if they so much as even threaten to kill a fly there will be no dinners, no courting, no anything. You got that?”

 

Shippou nodded as he gazed at the towering female standing in front of him. “Of course, okaa-san. I'll be sure to tell them that, but don't you think it'd be better if you told them yourself? I mean, you do have a tendency to forgive every transgression so unless you tell them, they might not take it as seriously.”

 

Kagome groaned. “Am I that predictable? I just can't help but forgive them. It's who they are. They might threaten each other, but I know they'd never actually go through with it. At least not between themselves.” Kagome trailed off in thought. “Well, maybe Inuyasha would, but Sesshoumaru wouldn't.”

 

“I know, Kagome. That is why I think you need to tell them yourself. Makes the threat more believable.”

 

Kagome sighed and looked across the gravel strewn rooftop. “I know, but if I see them then they'll only be encouraged to do it again.”

 

Shippou nodded in thoughtfulness. “Well, there's always a phone call or a letter.”

 

“I suppose I could write a letter. That'd probably be better then letting you get in the middle of everything, even though you already are. I just hate this. There's just to much going on right now!”

 

Shippou hugged his okaa-san, hoping to relieve some of her tension. “Well, one good thing came out of everything today.”

 

Kagome looked up into the green eyes of her kitsune son. “Oh? What's that? I don't think anything good can happen today.”

 

Shippou chuckled. “They never objected to the chaperones!”

 

Kagome laughed as the tension left her body. Perhaps it wasn't going to be such a bad day after all.

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