InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Treading Water ❯ 4- A Friend In Need ( Chapter 4 )

“Hello. Name's Kouga.” He extended one clawed hand to me. Claws, ears, fangs, I'm not sure if it was woman's intuition or miko's intuition but I was beginning to get an idea of what he was. I couldn't sense anything in him that would suggest he meant to do me harm though, so I shook his hand with a smile.

 

“Hajimemashite. I'm Kagome. Ookami, ne?” He grinned and tipped his head in affirmation.

 

“You just extremely observant or a miko?” Normally youkai spit the word miko like a curse. It didn't matter that we all tried to live in peace nowadays, mikos had always been used by law enforcement agencies to subdue youkai when police were not enough. But Kouga asked as though he couldn't care less if I was one of those rare humans who could actually pose a threat to a demon. Interesting.

 

“I'd like to think it's a little bit of both, Kouga.” I said with a wink.

 

“So what's a young woman like you doing downtown?”

 

“I could ask the same of you, you look much too young to be here, not to mention your ears and nose must hate you by now.”

 

“It's true,” he sighed dramatically, making me smile, “I'm not here by choice. My cousins have human girlfriends who insisted on vacationing in this hellish city. And because they were idiots and didn't book a hotel early there are no available rooms on the strip right now.” His gaze slid off me to look absently on the flashing lights behind me. “So my poor nose is stuck with a week of cigar smoke and old man smell just so they can get…” He seemed to remember whom he was talking to and change his mind about finishing that sentence. He cleared his throat and looked into my eyes again. “You still haven't answered me.”

 

“Visiting family that lives here.” He looked to the hotel/casino I came out of.

 

“Your family lives in a casino?” He asked, his face the picture of puzzlement. I laughed and shook my head.

 

“No, but close enough. My ji-chan lives maybe ten minutes from here so I just dropped him off. This is his favorite casino and he swears he has a good feeling about tonight's bingo.”

 

Laughing had left a smile on my face and I found I liked this demon. And when he asked me to dinner I threw caution to the wind and agreed. When I was not taking care of my grandfather I spent most of my free time with Kouga and I found out a lot about him.

 

He was currently living in New York with his best friends and cousins, Ginta and Hakkaku, helping his aunt and uncle to finish building a house in the Catskills. He also told me that he loved the ocean, but the Atlantic was too cold for him and that as soon as he was done helping his aunt he planned on moving to the west coast, somewhere on the ocean.

 

“Maybe we could see each other again?”

 

I nodded and hunted for a piece of paper to write down my cell phone number and email address for him.

 

When I got back from Nevada it was time to start my computer class. I've always loved computers and I hate feeling helpless when something goes wrong, so I decided to take a class or two to fix the situation. It was a night course, meaning I could work at my own speed and as long as the assignments I turned in passed with high marks I could keep going until I finished the whole damn course. The night class contract says you have a year to complete it and that most people need about eight weeks to complete the material. I turned in the final assignment exactly two weeks after receiving my assignment list.

 

Having completed my course I had little to do. Sango was still away and Roku was probably halfway across Canada by now and summer vacation was only half over.

 

During my computer class I had barely kept in touch with Kouga, my mind being on my grades. Once I had completed the class, however, I was emailing or calling Kouga once a day. He was almost everything I wanted. He read all the books I recommended to him and enjoyed them, and I was pleasantly surprised by the books he told me to read. While his tastes in music were not as eclectic as mine I liked the music he listened to, I just wouldn't be playing my more diverse pieces for him anytime soon. We like the same kind of movies and even the same kinds of television shows. His only major flaw(that I could see) was that he didn't like anime.

 

I'm not quite sure when but I noticed after a while that I had been flirting with Kouga from the start. It worried me because I thought he would get the wrong idea about our friendship. And then the little light clicked on above my head.

 

Didn't I just admit he was almost perfect?

 

What was wrong with letting the guy know I was interested? I'd been single damn long enough.

 

I was actually glad our friendship got started long distance, he wasn't able to detect my nervousness with those damn youkai senses. Even so I'm sure he picked up my interest, for immediately I saw the change in him. He was exceptionally attentive without being smothering, he was romantic but didn't make me feel like a clod, chivalrous without making me feel like a weak woman. He was…perfect. I could only hope he stayed that way when next I saw him. I could easily see having him for a boyfriend.

 

And then Yura called.

 

I hadn't heard from her since summer began. She told me she needed someone to talk to and it couldn't be Ayumi. Immediately I wondered if there were problems between them and I desperately hoped that was not the case. I grabbed my bag, hoped in my car and drove as she gave directions and asked about my vacation. I stuck my cell's headset in my ear as I drove, not wanting to drive one handed. I smiled, cell phones were so useful, we were getting the pleasantries out of the way now, she was showing an interest in my life before I got there so that once I arrived my visit would be completely about her and why she needed me there.

 

When I got there she threw herself into my arms, a radiant smile greeting me, and showed me to her room.

 

The room was painted a creamy light yellow color and over that was a dark wood brown color done to look like garden lattice that reached almost to my waist. And the prettiest garden flowers were painted growing up the lattice, reaching for the light thrown by the light in the ceiling. It was very beautiful, very feminine, very earthy.

 

I told her as much.

 

Yura smiled and pointed toward the ceiling. Someone had taken fishing wire and created a grid on the ceiling that would have made graph paper jealous. And at each intersection, where two pieces of wire crossed, hung a few flowers, each bundle in different phases of drying. Here and there I noticed empty areas, apparently it was still an ongoing ritual.

 

As I scanned the rest of the room I noticed little picture frames and jewelry and trinkets boxes everywhere, accented by tiny vase fully of dried flowers. It looked so old fashioned, the sunlight streaming in and bouncing off the yellow walls gave everything a golden patina which added to the aged look. I had a terrible urge to see if Yura had a flapper dress in her closet, seeing as how the rest of the room could have easily come from the 1920's.

 

Yura and her green hair and nails look ridiculously out of place in this perfect prim and proper room. As soon she closed the door her smile fell and she looked at me uncertainly.

 

“I really, really am sorry to do this to you.” She crossed her arms in front of her, unconsciously defensive. “It's just, of all our friends I figure I can talk to you…” She looked up at me pleadingly, hoping she was right.

 

“You can always talk to me Yura. I just wonder why you didn't call Ayumi.” At the mention of her best friend she made a face.

 

“Don't get me wrong, I love her like a sister. But if she was my sister she would be the younger, naïve, innocent sister. She can come to me with all her problems, but I think mine are a little beyond her comprehension.” I nod, I understand perfectly. Even if I had questions about relationships and sex I'd never talk to Souta about it, he's my younger brother for cripes sake. I saw Yura fidget, she doesn't know how to continue. I put an arm around her shoulder and lead her to the bed, where we sat.

 

“Oi, look at me.” I put as much of a smile into my gaze as possible. A faint dusting of pink brightened her cheeks as she looked away from me. “You can tell me, Yura. If I can help I will, and I will tell no one, I promise.” Head down, refusing to look at me she mumbled something I couldn't hear, so I asked her to repeat it.

 

“I think I'm falling for one of my friends.” Ok, so far this didn't seem like the kind of news she would have to hide from Ayumi. It made me wonder what she hadn't said. I didn't have long to wait.

 

“Not one of my guy friends.”

 

Oh.

 

Yeah, that definitely changed the situation.

 

Still, I don't think she could have picked a better set of friends to explore her sexuality with. Every single one of use was a member of the Gay-Straight Alliance. It was just another school club, met every Wednesday at lunch. It was a place for people to come together to support that lifestyle, whether or not it was your own. In fact I think more than half of us in that club were straight. We just felt no one had a right to tell anyone else whom they were allowed to love.

 

“Ok, I admit that changes the situation a bit but I still don't see what's so bad about this that you needed someone to talk to…” I want to be here for her, I really do, I just hate feeling confused, I can't help her if I don't see the problem.

 

“It's Botan.” I felt my eyes go wide.

 

“Momiji's Botan?”

 

“Hai.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Yeah, `oh.'”

 

Momiji and Botan were best friends. Had been best friends since preschool. They loved finishing each other's sentences. Being a year younger than we were they were freshmen, but still a part of the alliance. Yura wouldn't have it any other way, Momiji was her little sister.

 

 

 

 

|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|

 

Hai - Yes

Nani - What?

Onegai - Please

Konoama - Bitch

Temee - Bastard

Hajimemashite - Nice to meet you.

Ookami - Wolf

Oi - Hey

 

A/N: I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving(if you don't celebrate I then hope you had a good day.) I don't know about anyone else but when I upload chapters they aren't easy to see for at least a few hours. The link that should appear on the right of the page, the ^next^ if you will, just won't show but if you use the drop down box you can see the chap is there. I'm trying hard to stick to posting once every 7-10 days so if it's been too long and nothing appears check the box. Or if someone knows something I can do to fix it please PLEASE let me know. *Waves* Ok, off to start the next bit, which I promise to get posted before Dec. 5th, if not sooner.

 

 

 

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