Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Golden Gaze ❯ Chapter 12

Yusuke groaned in frustration as he twirled the lock on his locker, trying futilely to remember what his combination was. He had long ago forgotten it since he not only didn't often turn up at school, but when he did he rarely ever actually went to class. He was about to lean over and ask Keiko when he felt rather than saw and amused stare on his back.

Angry, thinking that it was some punk who dared to mess with the great Uremeshi or maybe just Kuwabara he whirled around, a fist already formed, eager to pummel whoever was laughing at him. Unfortunately it was just Kurama. His scarlet haired friend was leaning casually against his locker, which just happened to be across from Yusuke's. His emerald eyes were dancing with a smile that hadn't quite made it to his lips and his arms were folded across his chest in a reserved, yet open, gesture.

Yusuke scowled and this time the smile pulled at the corner of Suuichi's lips.

"Yo, are you just going to stand there and laugh at me all day or are you actually going to help me out here?!" The spirit detective demanded in a loud gruff voice that caused more than a couple people to halt in their actions and stare at him. He however didn't even acknowledge the many curious and cautious glances being thrown his way and instead continued to strare at Kurama, who was now pushing off of the locker to walk over and aid Uremeshi in his plight.

The locker next the Yusuke closed and Keiko's face appeared where the door had been. "Yusuke you gib bloke, did you forget your locker combination again?" She demanded in a mothering tone. Had she been anyone else, the Spirit Detective would have most likely exploded at the innocent comment, demanding a fight or yelling. As it was though Yusuke was reduced to a stuttering puddle as he tried to come up with a good excuse.

He hadn't been to his locker in so long that he had forgotten Keiko's was only one over from it. He had to come up with an answer soon or else...

And Keiko hit REALLY hard for a girl.

Luckily Kurama reached his friends side just before the young woman in front of them lost her patience. "Why hello Keiko." Suuichi greeted her with his sensual drawl that would have most girls swooning. While he spoke one hand reached behind Yusuke and began to twirl the dial.

Keiko didn't notice though as she continued to glare daggers at Yusuke.

"Honestly Yusuke, can't you ever just do a simple thing like go to school AND remember your combination?" She demanded, her hands now firmly planted on her hips.

"But Keiko..." Yusuke whined almost pitifully. Kurama resisted the urge to cluck his tongue and shake his head. The Spirit Detective had no problem fighting demon that could easily kill him with a flick of their wrist, yet when faced with the challenge known as Keiko his behavior turned cowardly almost to the point of pathetic.

"Yusuke's locker is unlocked though." Suuichi calmly stated, abruptly halting the lecture that was about to come streaming out of Keiko's mouth like a river from an opened dam. Two pairs of brown eyes turned to look at him, bewildered. Kurama only shrugged.

Truth be told, he loved puzzles, and because Yusuke skipped class so much and thus often forget his combination, the perfect reason to figure it out had been presented to him. Of course it had been child's play to the ex legendary kistune thief, but still, it was better than nothing.

"It is." Kurama insisted, nodding his head and glancing out of the corner of his eye at the locker. Both his hands were now safely tucked into the pockets of his pants. Keiko continued to stare at him, confused while Yusuke's eyes narrowed in doubt.

Suuichi merely shrugged.

Brown eyes narrowing even further, Yusuke slowly lifted his hand to the lock. Sure enough, when he pressed on the latch, the door sprang open...

...and a mountain of books came flying out.

Keiko however was quite content with the fact that Yusuke had 'remembered' his locker combination. With a burst of speed that surprised both young men, she had thrown her arms around the spirit detectives neck and planted a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Oh I'm sorry Yusuke! I'm so proud that you remembered on your own!"

Uremeshi only smiled like an idiot on cloud nine and rubbed his cheek as he made a mental note to do that more often and thank Kurama later.

Kurama was just about to snap his black haired starry-eyed friend out of his stupor when he smelled it. It was that scent.

The scent that he thought he had only imagined that belonged to the girl in his dreams.

And it was coming from down the hall.

He whirled around to see who it was that smelled like that, and when he saw, he could barely believe his eyes.

It was her.

There she was standing before him, looking slightly nervous and out of place next to Mr. Takenaka as the man scanned the hallway for something. Her hair was loose, cascading around her shoulders like an ebony waterfall. The sapphire eyes that he so vividly remembered from his dreams were darting around, absorbing all the activity happening around her.

The only thing that was different were the clothes. But of course they would be, she was wearing his school's uniform of blue and gold, not red white and green.

He blinked and fought off the urge to rub his eyes and he stared down the hallway once more. He was faintly aware of Yusuke tapping on his shoulder, asking him something, but the words didn't register.

There was only one thought going through his mind.

'It really is her.'

Suddenly her sapphire eyes lifted and looked right into his own. His breath was pulled away and he was lost in the ocean depths, drowning, but not sure if he actually wanted to come up for air.

'It really is her.'

Did that mean that his dreams were real?

A deep, rough voice interrupted his thoughts less than a moment later.

_______________________________________________________________ ________

===============================================================

"Ah! Keiko, there you are! Just the person that I was looking for." Called out Mr. Takenaka as he began to steer Kagome through the sea of bustling students. The miko couldn't help but feel a little suffocated as she was rudely pushed around by the occasional elbow or so. Sarayashiki High was definately not like her old highschool.

But at the same time she barely noticed the discomfort as she stared into a fascinating pair of emerald eyes. She had never seen anyone with eyes that color before. But that wasn't what really captivated her.

Something about him was just so familiar.

She allowed her eyes to wander for a moment, taking in his masculine structure and firm shoulders. His legs were long and a bit slender for a man, but undoubtedly well muscled. One glance at his abdomen told her that the same could be said for there as well. In fact his entire body looked like it was well built.

But it was nothing compared to the head that rested on its shoulders.

He had beautiful scarlet hair, longer than most guys as it fell around his shoulders, a deep red that she never thought was humanly possible to have. But when she looked at it she was somehow sure that it was natural. She found herself itching to run her hands through it.

His features were all so delicate, yet undeniably masculine. They almost reminded her of Sesshomaru's. His skin was almost as pale as her own, but still it never appeared feminine. Only to seductively masculine.

And then there were his eyes.

His beautiful eyes.

There were so many emotions running through them, each one of them drawing her in and enchanting her. But the most prominent was...Surprise? Had they met before? But Kagome's thoughts couldn't stay on that topic for much longer, they just kept returning to his eyes. She could get lost in those emerald depths. And if she did she wouldn't be sure that she would ever want to get out.

"Kagome, this is Keiko Atsukura, your class president. She'll guide you around today and help get you acquainted with your fellow classmen."

The miko had to shake her head and clear her thoughts in order to register what Mr. Takenaka was saying. Realizing what she had done, and how blatantly she had been staring, she felt her cheeks begin to burn. No doubt her face was now bright red, and to make it worse, a dark haired boy whom she had only just noticed was smirking at her for it in a very Inuyasha-like manner.

She hated how easily she blushed.

Mr. Takenaka and the scarlet haired stranger seemed not to notice though, and she felt silently relieved. In fact, Mr. Redhead was still staring unabashedly at HER. She felt herself wanting to squirm under his heated gaze and she couldn't shake off the feeling that somehow it felt SO familiar.

"Well I'll leave you all to get to know each other." Mr Takenaka said as he turned to walk away. "And Yusuke, make sure you're in ALL of your classes today." He called one last time over his shoulder before he was gone, swallowed by the sea of activity that lay behind the group.

The dark haired boy scowled, again in an Inuyasha-like fashion, and muttered a few choice words under his breath that Kagome had only heard come from the hanyou. She looked up at him for a moment, her eyes wide in surprise as a sudden thought passed through her head.

What if the boy was Inuyasha's reincarnation?

A smile lit up her face as she thought about it. It was just too absurd. But at the thought more than a few amusing mental pictures passed through her head of a modern day Inuyasha.

She would have to really feel sorry for his mother.

Deciding to break the silence that had followed the principal's departure, Kagome stuck out her hand to the still scowling boy in a friendly gesture. With her brightest smile she introduced herself.

"Hello. I'm Higurashi Kagome."

For a moment the boy looked stunned, almost as if he didn't know what to do with the hand in front of him. Kagome's smile only grew as she thought of once again how he reminded her of a certain inu back in the Feudal era. But after a moment's hesitation he seemed to get it and accepted her hand clumsily in his own for a brief shake.

"Uremeshi Yusuke." He said, the scowl still in place though it looked like it was there more from habit rather than being directed at her. She nodded briefly in acknowledgement before turning to the girl that she assumed was Keiko and repeating the gesture.

"Keiko Atsukura!" The young woman chirped, heartily returned both the smile and the hand shake. Kagome began to feel a little more at ease, confident that at least in Keiko she had found a companion.

'Though I could always start an interesting relationship with Yusuke.' She thought to herself. 'I wonder what he would think of a rosary?'

A small chuckle escaped her as she pictured herself sitting the adolescent boy and she turned to the last member of the small group.

Mr. Redhead.

She held out her hand and he immediately engulfed it in his own. She couldn't help the pleasant shiver that went up her spine nor the warmth that spread through her body at the contact.

"Minamino Suuichi." He said as he shook her hand. His voice was smooth and silken. It was so familiar...

Suddenly Kagome's eyes widened as she recognized the voice. The boy in front of her sounded just like Youko Kurama, the kitsune thief she had met in the feudal era!

_______________________________________________________________ ________

=============================================================== =

Kurama looked at the girl in front of him with concern.

She was still clutching his hand.

When he had introduced himself, her eyes had gone wide in recognition, then surprise, then confusion. He had no idea what to make of her reaction. Suuchi was sure that they had never met before.

For some reason Youko was getting excited and dancing on the edges of his subconcious. Kurama had never felt his kitsune side's emotions this strongly before. There was recognition, determination, and some other undefinable emotions flying through his mind.

One thing was for sure though.

Youko definately wanted to get to this girl.

"Kagome, Are you alright?" Suuichi asked, his other hand went to cover their still firmly attached ones. The young woman's eyes, previously unfocused as if lost in thought, seemed to come back to reality. For a moment she stood there, as if she was unsure where she was and what she was doing.

Then she looked down at their hands.

And blushed.

She pulled away as if burned and became fasincated with the texture of her shoes, refusing to meet Suuichi's eyes as her hands fiddled with the papers that Kurama assumed were her schedule.

"Um..uh..."she stammered, never once looking up, "Sorry about that."

Just as the fox was about to reassure her that it was quite alright, leaving out the fact that he had enjoyed the contact of course, Yusuke burst into the seemingly private scene, unfortunately reminding the two that they were not alone.

"Oh that's okay. All the girl's get that way about Kurama!" He teased in a LOUD voice causing more than several students to look over at the new girl curiously.

Kagome's head shot up, she was blushing more furiously than before at his words, but there was one difference. Now she looked angry.

"Why..you...!" She stuttered, looking for a suitable insult to fling at the rude boy in front of her. However the class president beat her to it.

"Yusuke you jerk!" Keiko yelled as she hit the boy over the head with her conviently available books.

"Aww, Keiko, I was only teasing her!" Yusuke protested, clutching his wounded skull and undoubtedly his injured pride between his hands. Never one to know when to shut his mouth though he then turned to Kagome and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Unless of course you really do have the hots for Kurama."

Keiko hit him over the head again, causing him to cry out in pain and indignation once more. Kagome was about to add a retort or physical punishment of her own when suddenly Yusuke's words hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Kurama..?" She repeated in a voice barely above a whisper. 'Kurama...like Youko Kurama?'

Hearing his name fall from her lips, Suuichi halted, abandoning his effort to win the Spirit Detective some mercy, and turning to face Kagome. Once again she was frozen, her eyes looking distant and troubled. Then he realized why it was so odd hearing his name from her.

She had said Kurama, not Suuichi.

He had introduced himself as Suuichi Minamino, the name that everyone at school knew him as. But Yusuke had to be an idiot and mention his other name.

But why did she appear to recognize it?

Did she really somehow know Youko, like his dreams suggested?

Kagome's lips were moving, silently forming unreadable words as she seemed to replay past events and thoughts in her mind. Kurama found himself standing still, silently watching her, trying to form some sense out of what she was doing.

Before he completed his analysis though, Keiko came to the 'rescue'.

"Well come on Kagome. We'll leave THAT jerk with Suuichi-san and I'll show you to your first class." She said as she gestured with her head to over her shoulder where Yusuke was barely standing, still clutching his head tightly with his hands and making small whimpering noises.

Kurama frowned at the indication that he would stay behind. He wanted to learn more about this Kagome Higurashi. But before he could protest, Keiko had pulled Kagome away and they were out of his sight.

Turning slighly, he analyzed Yusuke's situation. Then he turned and walked off in the direction her thought the girl's had gone. The Spirit Detective could recover on his own.

As he walked through the crowded corridor a mantra echoed in his head.

'It's her. Kagome. The girl from my dreams.'

_______________________________________________________________ _______

===============================================================

Inuyasha scowled from his perch on the fence post outside of Kaede's garden.

He was there.

He knew he was.

A rumbling growl began in the hanyou's chest as he glared off into the forest. The cockly little shit kitsune was out there and where ever he was, he was watching him. The hanyou could practically feel the amusement from the fox's insistant stare dripping off of him it was so thick.

The growl escaped.

Kaede, who had been calmly tending to her herbs, jumped a little, startled at the malignant noise coming from the inu behind her. She had never seen him so angry before and she had thought she had seen him at his worst.

What could have been the cause.

Late last night, Inuyasha had come hobbling back to her hut, using Kiarara as a support. He had offered no explanation as to what had happened. In fact he hadn't said a word. Period. He had slept propped against the wall and thanks to his demon blood he had been healed of whatever wounds he had recieved by that morning.

He still had not said anything. Inuyasha had just been sitting on the fence all day, staring off into the forest with narrowed eyes and everynow and then flexing his claws and growling.

Suddenly amber eyes were glaring angrily back at her and Kaede realized she had been caught staring. Seeking to explain herself and perhaps draw a word or so out of the hanyou she wiped her hands on the side of her pants before rocking her crawling frame back to rest on her knees.

"What has been plaguing ye Inuyasha?" She asked in the blandest voice she could.

As expected she got no answer other than an irritated snort as Inuyasha turned his head away from her once again, flicking his silver locks over his shoulder as he crossed his arms and continued glaring at the forest.

_______________________________________________________________ __________

=============================================================== ==

YAY! It took me twelve chapters, but Suuichi and Kagome have finally met! So what did everyone think of their meeting? Did it live up to your expectations at all? Or were you disappointed?

REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW!