InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Wake Me Up Inside ❯ Chapter 19

Wake Me Up Inside

 

Chapter 19

 

 

Note: Standard disclaimer applies.

 

Beta-read by: DarklessVasion and Nysoku.

 

Japanese Glossery

 

Baka - idiot, dummy, fool, etc.

Osuwari - Sit
Moshi, moshi - Greeting used on a telephone

Gomen nasai - Very sorry

Kono - this

Anata - You, used for people of equal or lower rank than oneself

Omae - You, used for people of equal or higher rank than oneself

Dare - who?

Hiroshi - Male name meaning “generous”

 

*Sentences in full Japanese will be immediately followed by translations.

 

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Last time…

 

 

Kagome felt tired, yet warm and pleasantly numb. She felt herself drop out of the waking world like a rock. Yet it was strange. Someone was there to catch her. Waves of numbness pulsed through her, yet instinct told her to hold onto this person. She softly cooed as she snuggled in the warm arms that held her in this place of unending darkness. She felt soft silky hair tickle her nose and a familiar well-worn, yet slightly course material rub against her flesh. Slowly she opened her eyes and waited for her sight to swim into focus. What met her eyes first was a thick lock of moon-silver hair directly in her line of sight. It was that hair that her nose was brushing against. Beneath the hair was a scarlet haori that she knew as well as she knew the hair. Slowly, she tilted her head back to pan her gaze up a masculine throat to a face she hadn't seen in far too long.

 

Inuyasha was gently smiling at her as the cute little doggie ears twitched in the thick mass of silver hair on the top of his head. His soft amber eyes burned their own light in this all consuming darkness as they looked down at her with affection rarely ever seen to such a degree on this particular individual.

 

“Inu…yasha?” Kagome inquired sluggishly. She felt him sink into a sitting position and settle her in his lap before wrapping his arms warmly and protectively around her.

 

“Damn, I wish the Stooges could be around to wear you out more often. Snagging you was a piece of cake this time!” Inuyasha cackled.

 

“Inuyasha?” Kagome started in a different tone. “Osuwari!” It was too late by the time the miko realized the flaw in that action. Both of them slammed into the ground.

 

 

Inside the room, no one that was awake was around to notice the brief glow of the rosary around Yue's neck that sent a shudder through the bed from it's effect.

 

 

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“Oh yes, I missed you too, Kagome,” Inuyasha snickered as he laid on his stomach sprawled across the top of Kagome who'd been sandwiched by him and the ground as the rosary did it's job.

 

“Baka!” the miko snapped in a raspy voice from having the wind knocked out of her.

 

“Why am I the baka? You're the one who caused this, wench!”

 

“I started it? I don't think so! It was you're pig-headed mouth!”

 

The rosary spell died but Inuyasha didn't move. Kagome gave him a shove and he rolled slightly to the side as he curled up a bit. Blinking, she sat up and looked at him wondering what was wrong. Then she realized what was happening. He was laughing at her.

 

“Osuwari!! Baka!!” Kagome bellowed. The rosary once again engaged to pound the hanyou into the ground. He sputtered but then only laughed harder.

 

“Kag…Kagome! I…I can't…breathe dammit!” he panted in between fits of laughter.

 

“What's your problem, dog boy?!” she demanded. Again the rosary let up and Inuyasha sat up to look at her. He tried to hold back his laughter but failed miserably. Instead, he glomped her and hugged her while trying to laugh out his attack of hysterics.

 

“YOU! You're my problem you silly girl! Here we are, getting to talk for the first time since we parted ways in the Feudal Era. And almost immediately, we start arguing. You get pissed at me for something I've said and osuwari the living crap out of me! Of course, this time you just had to mess it up the first time!” the hanyou told her before busting up laughing all over again.

 

Kagome realized his point and groaned before joining him in laughing at the stupidity of it all. She tightly returned his hug while tears of laughter, joy, and relief began to pool in her eyes. The hanyou smelled them instantly and shot back to look at her, laughter suddenly gone, “Kagome?”

 

“I'm fine, baka. I'm happy. The past week was incredibly hard…being with you and yet not getting to hear your voice. I'm happy. It's you that I'm here dreaming about and talking to. No one else,” she told him.

 

“Yeah, it's me. You finally found me,” he answered softly. Unable to resist any longer, he leaned down to place a firm, longing kiss to her lips. Even though this was merely a dream to mingling spirits, he could hear, feel, smell, and taste her as though this was in reality. It was likewise for her. All the things she had been pooling up to say instantly became abandoned as she gave in to the power of his lips. She pouted when he broke the kiss to look at her once more. But the pout left when he spoke. “I've missed you.”

 

“Inuyasha,” Kagome crooned as she wrapped her arms around his neck to hug him with all the strength she could muster. “I've missed you too. I left Japan because everywhere I went I saw things that reminded me of you. So I came to America to try and start something new. Then the other day, I went on this field trip for school and here you were. Yet, instead of Inuyasha, they called you Yue.”

 

“Funny how the past can come back to smack you in the ass, isn't it?” he grinned. Then he blinked and grasped a lock of her hair. “You changed your hair too?”

 

“Well duh! Every time I looked in the mirror, I saw Kikyou's reincarnation. My hair was the first thing I changed,” Kagome told him pointedly. “And it took you this long to notice? Gees! You're such a man!” she berated gruffly.

 

“Of course, I am. You've seen for yourself several times,” he retorted before winking and sticking his tongue out at her. “To answer your question, I noticed right off the bat. I was just too busy keeping up with the argument to say anything before. As for my opinion on it…”

 

Kagome's breath froze in her chest as her heart ceased its beating for a single pregnant moment. Deep in her heart, she remained hopeful that he would approve of, or at least understand why she'd done what she'd done.

 

“It's several shades too light. Go a little darker with the red, like the color it was when the bonfire light hit it. Now on the wavy curly bit, it can work on Sherry, but not on you. But red's sexy and matches your fiery temper, “ he told her honestly with a smirk. “You know what they say about redheads. You know a guy's dating one when he has her name scratched into his back from her fingernails.”

 

“Inuyasha!”

 

“What? Keito told me that one.”

 

“I should have known,” Kagome answered wryly, unable to keep from smiling. “I like your three friends. Zach's an excellent peacemaker. He'll make a good shrink. Keito's absolutely hilarious. He can probably brighten the worst of moods. And Dave… he's a bit harsh on the outside, but I can see why you like him. He's a lot like you. Beneath that rough exterior is someone who's kind, protective, honorable, and an awesome friend.”

 

“Yeah, they rock. I got into lots of trouble with them, but they still rock. Sherry and Beth do too. Though, I swear payback's coming for that damn camera of Beth's.”

 

Kagome laughed, “I've seen the results of her work. She's a great photographer. Her house is covered in pictures she's taken. She showed me the portfolio she's done with you. It's amazing some of the things she's done with you in her camera lens.”

 

“Really? Now you've got me curious. And speaking of curious, what exactly did you have them put on me? I know it's something old-style Japanese but…”

 

“Oh, it's a deep purple haori and hakama with an amber yukata underneath. There's a design on the front and back of the haori of a rising sun in red, orange, and golden yellow. It's… perfect on you. Words just can't describe the impact it makes.”

 

“No, but the way it shut you up when you walked in the room did,” he snickered.

 

“Are you saying I talk to much?” Kagome shot back in flaring anger.

 

“No, I'm saying the whole city must have heard your jaw when it hit the floor,” Inuyasha replied with mirth.

 

“That's not even that half of what it'll do to me when your hanyou side shows up,” Kagome muttered, then slapped a hand over her mouth with a deer-in-headlights look. Inuyasha gawked at her.

 

“Damn! It's that sexy, huh? I'll remember that,” he laughed.

 

“In-Inuyasha!” Kagome sputtered as a blush rushed across her face. Inuyasha stopped any further retaliation by slapping his hand over her mouth.

 

“Hush! Don't you dare say it! That is, unless you have a really good explanation for the night nurses for exactly how you broke the bed,” the hanyou smirked. Kagome turned beat-red with anger and embarrassment. Inuyasha found a way to grin still more as the mischievous gleam in his amber eyes brightened.

 

“You perverted moron!” Kagome snapped irritably realizing he had a damn good point.

 

“You know, you're sexy when you look like that,” he told her, his eyes seductively heavy-lidded as his face drew closer to hers. Her body froze while her heart pounded within her chest and her eyes grew wide. “Why else would I enjoy pissing you off so much?” he whispered with a chuckle.

 

No matter how hard she tried to get mad at him for the implications of his words, she couldn't. Just the mere heat of his gaze was melting her to molten goop. The sound of his voice, the smell of his scent, the electricity of his nearness, all sought to make it just that much worse. Kagome gave up fighting, and growled back, “Go ahead and kiss me already you exasperating fool!”

 

“Well since you're going to twist my arm about it… “ he laughed before letting his lips descend again to capture hers. This time, there was nothing gentle about it. The single kiss encompassed every ounce of love, devotion, hunger, and impatience that had built up during the time they'd spent apart. Their arms tangled about the spiritual bodies of each other, gripping as though there were no tomorrow.

 

Kagome found herself whimpering when Inuyasha finally pulled back to break the kiss. The two of them panted, each wondering how such a difficulty in getting air was possible here. But neither cared enough to dwell on the matter. Inuyasha leaned his forehead against hers, closing his eyes as he breathed in her intoxicating scent.

 

“We have to stop now. We have to save the best for when we can do this with real physical bodies rather than ones caught in a dream, even as tempting as going further sounds,” he reasoned a bit hoarsely.

 

“You're right,” Kagome nodded in agreement, though somewhat dejectedly.

 

“Kagome,” Inuyasha softly scolded as he gave her a squeeze with the arms he had wrapped around her. “That doesn't mean that we have to part. That doesn't mean that we can't still enjoy this time,” he told her as he scooped her up and settled down again with her in his lap. On second thought, he lazily flopped backwards to lay back on whatever served as ground here. She responded with a girlie grunt that caused him to chuckle. “As I was saying when you were out there settling down with me in the first place, you have school tomorrow. You need sleep. I won't go anywhere. There's nothing I need to do but hold you for as long as I can.”

 

“But, I have so much to say. I don't want to waste this-“ Kagome started to protest only to get shut up by his lips. She groaned into his kiss that ended far too soon. “Jackass,” she grumbled.

 

“Yeah, I know that. I taught them three Stooges all they know. Now shut up and go to sleep. We'll have plenty of time later to play our stupid little argue wars. I'll not have you bitching at me because I caused your grades to slip. Gods know I put up with enough of that when we were chasing Naraku!”

 

A couple of moments passed before Kagome again responded, “Jackass.”

 

It was Inuyasha's turn to groan, “Woman, you are impossible.”

 

“You know, you're cute when you pout,” Kagome giggled. The hanyou sputtered.

 

“Pout? I am not pouting!” he shot back defensively. “Pout…KEH!”

 

Kagome burst into giggles, listening to his crabby tirade. No matter how mad it had often made her, she missed this part of him just as much as the rest. Inuyasha just wasn't Inuyasha if he wasn't getting all hot under the collar about something. She leaned up and kissed his cheek causing a fierce streak of rose to splash across his face, making him look all the more adorable. His grumbling growl died into stunned, bashful silence. Then her hand sought out a soft fuzzy silver ear and gently rubbed in the motions she remembered he'd liked the most. The pouting blush on his face morphed into an expression of pure bliss as a huge sigh heaved in his chest and left as a deep purr rumbling up through his vocal chords. Kagome giggled.

 

“I'll let you keep playing with them if you promise to try and get some sleep,” he bargained in a suddenly soft and weary voice.

 

“Oh, all right. If you insist,” she grinned goofily. He shifted to the side slightly and bowed his head towards her hand. She responded by freeing her other hand to rub the other ear at the same time. She could feel the purr he made reverberate through the both of them and smiled. She had to admit, it was making her rather tired.

 

“Sherry likes doing that too,” he mumbled lazily.

 

“Oh?”

 

“It's the second thing she did when she managed to finally see me here,” he explained. “First thing being pouncing the hell out of me,” he finished with a half chuckle.

 

“Gee, I can't imagine why,” came Kagome's teasing response with a soft giggle.

 

“Hrmh, me neither,” his voice was at a whisper now.

 

“Baka,” she whispered back with a broad grin.

 

“Go to sleep, woman,” he softly but firmly reprimanded. A dramatic pause ensued followed by, “Else I'm going to have to spank you. Then you'll sit me for being a pervert, break the bed, and still wind up with some interesting explaining to do to the nurses.”

 

“Oh for the love of gods, Inuyasha!” Kagome growled and laughed at the same time as she gave his ear a tweak then smacked him in the shoulder opposite her head. He immediately growled and lifted her up before flipping her to lie against him on her back.

 

“You smack me for being a pervert when you're the one who's being naughty! Gods, bitch, what am I going to do with you? Now go to sleep, dammit!” he chided moodily.

 

“Okay, okay! I give up! You win!” Kagome conceded as she laughed at the silliness of their little spat. She sighed and snuggled into his arms. She felt his nose twitch somewhere in the thick mass of her now auburn hair. It snuffled then nuzzled a bit before the hanyou holding her finally became still. The miko basked in the warmth of his spiritual embrace till she finally lost her grip on any sort of consciousness whatsoever and fell into a deep healing sleep for the few hours she had left to do so.

 

Inuyasha's last conscious thought was a soundless whine that this was all still only a spiritual dream. What's worse, no matter how close they'd gotten, the string that bound him here still had not broken. His heart pained for a mere moment before he gave up for the night to fight it again some other day.

 

 

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Inuyasha sluggishly drifted up out of the land of sleep at his senses warning him about something. He shook himself awake enough to pay attention to what his body was telling him. He then picked up on two facts. One, there was daylight pouring through the window somewhere to his right that was turning his world slightly red through the cover of his eyelids. Two, there were footsteps coming closer to his room.

 

He glanced to the pink glow of the miko's spirit still held in his arms. He smiled and slowly sat up, cradling her against him as he gave her a nudge, “Kagome?” She moaned softly but didn't wake. He smiled and shook his head. He was going to tease the crap out of her later for fighting with him last night so much when he tried to get her to sleep. He leaned down to whisper in her ear while nudging again, “Kagome, wake up. Beth's coming in. It's time to get up.”

 

This time Kagome stirred and opened her eyes to gaze lethargically up at him, “Hmm?”

 

“It's time for you to wake up. Beth's standing in the door,” he repeated as he carefully stood up with her and set her on her feet.

 

“Rats,” she frowned.

 

“What time is your first class?”

 

“Ummm… 8 am.”

 

“Then you'd better get scramming. There'll be time to talk again later,” he said before indulging in one last chaste kiss for the time being. “Go on. You're soul will know the way back.”

 

“Thanks Inuyasha,” she smiled warmly, though still a bit dazed from sleeping. “I love you.”

 

“I love you too. Now go on, baka. Else you'll be late. I can't run you this time.”

 

“Jackass,” she said sticking her tongue out and turning to leave.

 

He sighed, “This we already agreed upon when you wouldn't quit fussing with me last night!”

 

She giggled then vanished into the darkness. A great awful longing filled him just as it did whenever she left his side for one reason or another. He blew out a heavy puff of air and sank to perch on his rear. His ears listened to the quick exchange of greetings between Beth and Kagome before the miko grabbed her belongings and dashed out the door. His mood sank further. Then came Beth with her little flash light and other tools of torture.

 

“GOD DAMMIT!! What the hell did I do to deserve this?!!” he bellowed angrily at his inability to fight back against the nurse's onslaught of routine exercises.

 

 

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Though very busy, the day went by swiftly for Kagome. Before she knew it, it was five in the afternoon and her classes were done for the day. She headed home to drop off books and other items she didn't need, while picking up others that she needed. She took a shower and changed clothes. Then she packed together a quick dinner that only needed to be nuked in a microwave. Stopping for a moment, she checked her answering machine and mail that had been neglected for several days.

 

Kagome shuddered when Peggy's voice came on asking to get together sometime. She deleted the message. There was only so much of that girl that Kagome could stand to put up with. The second message was from Beth saying that she would be taking Sherry home. Kagome looked up at the clock to see that it was ten minutes till. Beth must have called while she was in the shower. Kagome vowed to call Sherry a little later for a few minutes in repentance for missing her earlier.

 

Kagome deleted the second message, then flipped through her mail. Most of it was just bills that needed to be paid and junk mail. She smiled when she came upon a letter from a familiar group of three females in Japan. Higurashi tucked the letter into her book bag, then grabbed her dinner and her purse. She locked the door then was out to spend the rest of the evening studying in the one place she felt most comfortable anymore.

 

 

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Mark flipped through the channels on the television looking for anything remotely interesting. He'd just arrived at a channel showing a lot of things getting blown up when a knock came to the door. He put the television on mute then tossed the remote onto the coffee table. Rising, he strode over to answer the door.

 

On the other side stood a chocolate-haired Japanese man with green Martian antennae on his head, googly-eyed glasses, a pig nose, and a geek's yellow clip-on tie with red plaid stripes. Along with that, he wore a Super Mario Brothers shirt and blue painters jeans with giant safety pins in both main front pockets. Mark chuckled, remembering this guy as the wild man known as Keito Yamada.

 

“Hello Keito. I should have known you'd find some interesting way to show up,” Mark laughed as he stepped back. “Come on in. Please ignore the ferret toys. Believe me it was clean around here half an hour ago. They just had to drag half of them back out again.”

 

“Hey dude! Not a problem! Critters are totally cool with me,” Keito grinned as he followed the man inside. He played his eyes over the place. “Nice layout. Mine's this tiny thing where you feel like you're living on a boat it's so cramped.”

 

“Thanks. Come with me, I'll show you around. Though first I should introduce you to the two terrors,” Mark told him as he stepped over to the ferret play area. Meanwhile, Keito removed the headband, glasses, and hog nose. He set them on the mail stand by the door then turned to Mark who extracted one white ferret and one brown ferret, “This is Salt and Pepper.”

 

“Pleasure to meet the both of you,” Keito grinned, reaching out to pet the two fuzzy heads. The ferrets squeaked and squirmed, trying to get closer to check him out.

 

“You must be one of those guys that everybody happens to like,” Mark told him as he passed the two ferrets to the hands Keito made available.

 

“That's kind of a required trait for a funny man,” Yamada nodded as he calmly let the critters climb all over him.

 

“You have a point,” Mark conceded with a chuckling nod. From there, he turned and began giving a tour of the place.

 

The apartment was furnished with non-valuable things that could easily be replaced should two naughty ferrets get to them. Though, there seemed to be a purple, gold, ivory, and ebony theme going on. The living room took up the full front of the apartment with a large couch, recliner, coffee table and entertainment center on the right, and a bookcase and ferret city on the left. Behind the seating area was the kitchen. On the opposite side was a small dining area. Behind that were two doors, one leading to the bathroom, the other to an occupied bedroom. Opposite the bedroom and behind the kitchen was the other bedroom which was empty. Then on the back wall between the two bedrooms was a backdoor.

 

Keito stepped out of the bedroom he would be staying in with Pepper sitting on his head and Salt trying to see what's down his shirt, “The name's Keito. Keito CrockettPot.”

 

“Nice hat, Mr. CrockettPot,” Mark laughed. “Everything's good on this end. The bosses certainly seem to approve. I should warn, they do like to hunt toes.”

 

“Oooh…Mr. Aston says you two are naughty. Are you two naughty? Nah! Never. They'd never do that,” Keito joked. “Seriously, it's not a problem. I'll be busy Tuesday and Wednesday, but Thursday I can start moving things.”

 

“I have class in the morning and work in the afternoon, but I should be free in the evening. I'll talk to the guys at the vet clinic about arranging sometime Friday and Saturday.”

 

“Okay, sounds good. Plan on eating a really big dinner Thursday evening. I need to check with Okaa-san first, but I'm pretty sure she'll be open to having an extra person at the table.”

 

“Food is music to my stomach, my friend. Will do.”

 

 

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Beth entered Yue's room to find Kagome curled up in the armchair immersed in much neglected chemistry homework. Schoolbooks, folders, and paper work lay scattered about. An empty bag and dinner container sat on the floor. On the nightstand was a can of fizzling Coca-Cola from the vending machines.

 

“I was just dropping by to check up on you, but I can go if you need some time,” she said when Kagome looked up at her.

 

“Nope, I'm just about done with this, thankfully,” the Japanese woman smiled. “However,” she stalled long enough to reach into her purse to extract a dollar bill, “Since you're up, you can fight with the machine for a candy bar?”

 

“Sure,” Beth grinned and took the bill before leaving to run the errand. By the time she returned, Kagome was putting away her chemistry class stuff. “Too bad Romeo and I can't play monkey in the middle,” she giggled mischievously.

 

`Keh!' the hanyou replied.

 

“Oh yes. But then again, he's probably busy thinking up new ways to piss me off later on,” Kagome grinned sarcastically.

 

`I don't have to think about that, bitch. It comes naturally!' he smirked knowing he was entirely safe from getting sat for it.

 

“Oh? Does this mean you figured out how to pull Sherry's trick last night?” Beth inquired while teasing Kagome about coming back to stay last night.

 

“Go ahead, Ms. Whitty. Rub it in. Yes.”

 

“And?”

 

“And we took a grand total of fifteen seconds after meeting again before winding up arguing again. I swear to gods, the guy is a royal pain in the ass,” Kagome answered hotly as she took the Snickers bar from Beth and ripped it open.

 

`Bah! You love my ass, silly bitch.'

 

“Oh goodness!” Beth laughed. “Does this mean I'm going to have to separate you two?”

 

“What is this? Pick on Kagome Day?”

 

`Of course it is!'

 

“Yep. Since Saturday was `Pick on Beth Day', I thought it only fair,” the nurse snickered.

 

“Terrific. That's so nice of you, Beth.”

 

“I thought so too. Speaking of last night, were those arguments the reason for the strange sounds the night shift reported hearing?”

 

Kagome blanched, “W-what?!”

 

“They, couldn't quite get a fix on what they were from. I just had a hunch it had something to do with you and a certain troublesome puppy.”

 

`Puppy?! KEH! Puppy, my ass. You do know you're the first person on my shit list when I come back, right Beth?' said canine argued back.

 

Kagome recalled Inuyasha's threat of coming up with a reason why the bed was broke if she sat him too much. The thought made her turn purple with embarrassment. “Damn! I didn't realize things done there by me transferred to reality!” Though, she could only hear the nurse, two people busted up laughing at her expense.

 

“Oh my god, you are a riot!” Beth laughed. “Just try not to do it any-“

 

“I know! I know!” Kagome blurted, blushing shades Beth didn't realize were possible. “Damn, I just know the baka is over there laughing himself sick.”

 

`Told you so!' Inuyasha cackled. `Payback's a real bitch, ain't it?' he asked rhetorically before howling in laughter all over again.

 

“Probably so. But the good news is, the night shift was clueless as to what caused the noises since they were in the other wing,” Beth reasoned before spilling into another fit of laughter.

 

Kagome huffed as she sat down, chomping down on her candy bar. Setting the candy bar aside, she then pulled out her sketchbook. She scooted the armchair down to the foot of the bed and turned it to face Yue. Then opening the book, she took a glance at the work she'd done in art class last Wednesday. She picked up the bear and set it on the nightstand next to the vase of faux irises. She then looked to Beth, “Is there a note pad I can borrow from somewhere?”

 

“Umm, sure. Let me go grab one from the front desk,” Beth nodded.

 

“Is there any possibility you could find a feather too?”

 

“Oooh, hospice scavenger hunt. Sherry should be helping with this. I'll look around and see.”

 

“Thanks, Beth,” Kagome grinned then turned to the courtesy phone sitting next to the clock on the nightstand. She pulled out her address book, then the phone receiver before dialing Sherry's number. It rang three times before a young female voice answered.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Moshi, moshi, Sherry,” Kagome greeted with a grin.

 

“Kagome! Hi! Oops! I mean…moshi, moshi!”

 

“I'm sorry I didn't make it to sit with you this afternoon. Mondays are always my busiest. I forgot to mention it. Gomen nasai.”

 

“Oh, that's okay. I figured you were busy with school.”

 

“College isn't much different from your school. Classes are just in many separate buildings and you get three times the homework.”

 

“Yuck!”

 

“So tell me about your day,” Kagome grinned as she set into a sisterly conversation with the young girl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An hour later, Kagome had finished chatting with Sherry on the phone. She gathered Sherry enjoyed getting to tell someone about things going on in her life. At this, Kagome felt a pang of sorrow for the child. Anger boiled within her chest at the uncle who was suppose to be caring for her. She made a mental note to see what could be done on the issue.

 

Beth had stayed till half an hour ago. Casual teasing had gotten batted back and forth between the two women till Beth decided it was time to go pay attention to her animals at home. Now Kagome sat working on her art class assignment as music by BoA played on the CD-player.

 

The miko erased a line that failed to gain her liking and redrew it. She traced a few other lines she was pretty sure of keeping, then worked in some more details. The music freed her soul and let her pencil to dance to the music. Somehow, it all seemed to flow just right. Pretty soon, she had a clear image on her paper of the nightstand with it's objects sitting next to the bed of a slumbering ebony-haired Japanese man.

 

Suddenly, the phone on the nightstand rang, causing Kagome to jolt with a soft shriek of surprise. Frowning, she set aside her sketchpad and pencil as she rose. Willing her heart to calm down, she paused the CD then went to answer the phone as it finished the fourth ring, “Hello?”

 

“Moshi, moshi. Kono wa Higurashi-san desu ka? [Hello. Is this Ms. Higurashi?]” inquired a deep masculine voice in her native language.

 

“Hai. Omae wa dare desu ka? [Yes. You are whom?]” she replied back with ease. The conversation continued on in her native tongue, which the person on the other end spoke fluently.

 

“This is Hiroshi Taisho, Yue's father. Beth said that Sherry and yourself had some questions for me.”

 

 

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Penguine's Piece:

 

First off, I want to give credit for the line about the red-heads to my dear friend Doyle-kun. He's the one who told it to me when I dyed my own hair red. -lol-

 

I can't believe I got this chapter done so quickly. Then again, I'm also on Summer Break right now too. I have a bit more free time to work on things.

 

I got a little more daring with the Japanese this time. I've been working diligently over the past six months to learn more. I got a book on it for Christmas and have been working from it as often as possible. I've even managed to learn hiragana, one of the two Japanese alphabets used in conjunction with Chinese kanji symbols. I will also be taking a class in the fall, so there's a possibility I will get more courageous with it and introduce other words and phrases later on.

 

 

I want to apologize for the delay on the posting of this chapter. It's been ready for a couple of weeks, but I've not had time to post it between writing and giving speeches for an accelerated summer speech course, losing the oldest of my three dogs, painting five rooms in the house, and last night suffering a serious heart issue that put me in the ER. (Email me if you want to know what happened.) :P Life has just been so very busy.

 

Unfortunately, this post comes without review replies. I simply don't have the time for them right now. I will try to resume those next chapter.