InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bad Influences ❯ Bad Influence # Twenty-Three: Arguing ( Chapter 23 )

Well, here's another chapter for you all. Sorry it took so long, I've been WAAAAY too busy with chemistry. Speaking of which, I have a chemistry midterm coming up. UH! Wish me luck!

 

This chapter is dedicated to my sister who celebrated her sixteenth birthday yesterday. Happy birthday sis!

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha nor will I take credit for Romiko Takahashi's genius. Seriously, I can't come up with stuff like that!

 

 

 

Bad Influence # Twenty-Three: Arguing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kagome's eyes stung from all the morning dust. One more mile and she'd be done with her morning jog. The beach house rose up in the distance as she ran toward it. Skidding to a stop by the steps, Kagome bent on her knees to catch her breath. This was so much better then running in the city.

 

Revitalizing herself with oxygen, she opened the door to the kitchen as quietly as she could, removing her shoes on the porch behind the house. The inside was cooler because of the air conditioning and as Kagome entered fully into the kitchen, she noticed her boyfriend by the fridge and almost hopped back out, but he'd already seen her.

 

“You're up already?” He squinted as he closed the refrigerator door and opened a can of soda.

 

“Yeah, I was out for my m-morning jog.” Kagome felt hot from sweat for the first time that morning. Inuyasha moved and sat on the stool with his drink on the kitchen's island. He yawned, completely relaxed, as though walking around the house in the early morning wearing only his boxers was an everyday thing. Unfortunately, this brought up conflicting feelings in his girlfriend.

 

Kagome was trying not to gawk and stealthily escape from the kitchen at the same time. Sure, she'd seen him topless before, but not half naked. She wanted out and fast before he noticed. It would be just her luck for him to have another reason to mock her. Maybe Kagome got more then she bargained for, not that she was complaining, but it didn't mean the situation was any less awkward.

 

“Don't you want some coffee or something?” Inuyasha asked. He got up to fetch the pot and Kagome stuttered.

 

“No thanks! I'm a bit tired from that running, I'm going to go and relax.” She inched toward the hallway.

 

Inuyasha turned to look at her over his shoulder with a brow raised. “You're going back to sleep right after exercise? You know that's not good for your muscles, you have to stay awake and active for a little while.”

 

Surprised, Kagome turned, her initial embarrassment forgotten. “Where'd you learn that?”

 

Inuyasha turned back to the cabinets and pulled out a coffee mug. “I used to play soccer in middle school, you know. Do you want sugar?” He asked.

 

“No, I don't really want coffee.” Kagome pulled open a drawer and pulled out a cup. She smiled, thinking about how she memorized the kitchen yesterday while she and the other girls were making pizza. Maki had been right, Kagome thought: Inuyasha did three whole pizzas by himself.

 

“Speaking of heath,” Kagome said while Inuyasha began boiling water, “why were you drinking soda so early in the morning? Planning on getting hyper already?”

 

“No. I'm not a morning person, okay.” He said as he rubbed an eye.

 

“Then why are you up so early?”

 

“Couldn't sleep. Once I'm up, I can't go back to sleep.” He yawned again.

 

“And this has nothing to do with the fact that you slept half the day yesterday?” Kagome poured water in her cup.

 

“Whatever.” He seemed too tired to argue. Once his coffee was poured, he sat back down on his original seat. Kagome leaned against the marble and sipped from her water.

 

“Do you run everyday?” Inuyasha asked.

 

“Not on Sundays.” Kagome said.

 

“So you have to practice over the summer too. When does training start?”

 

“In a week and a half, right before my summer prep classes start. Which reminds me, how are we going to spent time together if I'm so busy?” She felt a little guilty for having so many responsibilities. Though she hadn't known she'd be with Inuyasha at the time, she still felt as though she were neglecting him.

 

Inuyasha on the other hand almost burned his tongue when he took a long gulp from his mug. He knew there were other things that would keep them apart for the summer. How he was going to tell her was just one big hurdle in his path and how he was going to survive the summer away was another. “Don't worry about it. We still have this week. Though, I'm not sure how much privacy we are going to get,” his voice rose, “with all the eavesdropper's in this house.” He turned on his stool and glared into the hallway. “How long were you standing there?”

 

Maki rounded the corner, fully dressed, and shrugged. “It's not my fault you two were in the kitchen when I came to get water.” She said without a single hint of guilt on her face.

 

“What were you two doing?” Maki frowned suddenly, noticing the way Kagome's shorts and sleeveless shirt clung to her and how Inuyasha only wore boxers.

 

“Drinking tea.” Inuyasha said nonchalantly as he stood up.

 

“Go put some clothes on!” Maki whispered harshly, pointing to the hallway, her nose turning pink. “I don't want to see you in your skivvies!”

 

“Like what you see?” Inuyasha smiled evilly.

 

“Ew, no. Go get dressed.” Make looked away.

 

“Should I go all the way to convince you?” Inuyasha playfully reached for his waist.

 

“Stop!” Maki and Kagome said at the same time. “Get. Dressed. Now.” Maki hissed, helping Kagome push him into the hall.

 

“Relax, I was just kidding. Like I was actually going to do it.” Inuyasha rolled his eyes as he walked to his room.

 

With him gone, the pink finally cleared from the girls' faces. “That was close.” Maki rubbed her temple.

 

“Yeah.” Kagome chugged down the rest of her water to make it wash away the bubbly feeling in her stomach.

 

“Jerk face. Aunt Jun should have included hurtful sarcasm on her `things not allowed list.'”

 

“Is she still asleep?” Kagome asked.

 

“Nope, she's up.” Maki grinned.

 

“How do you know?”

 

A yell came from down the hallway. “I thought I said no streaking in this house!”

 

“That's how I know.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By nine o' clock, the house was vibrating with activity. After a quick breakfast, Inuyasha and Satoshi had left to go “buy some basic necessities,” and Jun, who was sure not to trust them, had left with them. Kagome spent most of the morning trying to beat Maki at videogames, and she was losing terribly when Inuyasha and the others returned with bagfuls of groceries.

 

Sango and Miroku were watching the competition with mild interest and chuckling whenever Kagome lost. “Fighting games aren't your thing.” Sango said when Kagome's character died for the tenth time.

 

“Just you wait, I will beat her eventually.” Kagome insisted, starting another round.

 

“So what's the score?” Inuyasha said when he returned from the kitchen after dropping off the supplies they'd gotten from the store.

 

“Kagome zero, Maki twelve.” Miroku answered. “This is quite entertaining.”

 

“Again with the double meaning?” Inuyasha's joke made Sango give Miroku a suspicious glance.

 

“You know, it really hurts that you always assume I have some ulterior thought in my mind.” Miroku scuffed.

 

“That's because most of the time you do.” Sango glared.

 

“But you love me for it, don't you?” Miroku batted his eyes innocently.

 

“You dummy.” Sango smiled.

 

“Darn it!” Kagome growled. Maki had just drown her character down a pit, resulting in another loss.

 

“Give up Kagome. I'm an RPG queen, fighting game master, melee commandant, and first person shooter boss. You may beat me in running, but in videogames you don't have a change.” Maki boasted. Kagome put down her controller and sighed.

 

“Don't you think your putting it on a little bit thick there?” Inuyasha asked as he sat between the two in front of the television.

 

“Well, it's true. Rarely do you or even Satoshi beat me.” Maki gloated, inviting Inuyasha in to a challenge.

 

“I bet if the two of us worked against you at the same time, you wouldn't win.” Inuyasha returned.

 

“Want to bet?”

 

“For the sake of my girlfriend's videogame honor, I will help her defeat you. Come on Kagome.” Inuyasha boomed in a commanding voice as he picked up a control. With a giggle, Kagome grasped the control.

 

Satoshi and Jun walked into the room, saying that the groceries were all put away before they noticed the mini-war in front of the big screen. Inuyasha and Kagome were doing a tag team against Maki in virtual fighting, but even then it seemed like Maki had the upper hand, for she had already obliterated half of Inuyasha's health.

 

“Give it up you two.” Satoshi said as he came close to the three of them. “You'll never beat her in a million years.”

 

“Shut up, I need to concentrate!” Inuyasha growled.

 

“And he's not listening.” Satoshi clicked his teeth.

 

“What did you expect? It takes every ounce of will to beat Maki.” Jun said proudly.

 

“Ah. Look what you did!” Inuyasha yelled when Maki threw his player out of the battlefield.

 

“This is my fault?” Satoshi rolled his eyes.

 

“Kagome, you have to avenge me!” Inuyasha cheered while Kagome's eyes were fixed to the screen. “I'm trying!” She growled, but a moment later Maki had beaten her.

 

“I give up.” Kagome said. “You really are the video-game queen. And I thought Souta was the best.”

 

“I told you so.” Maki chirped.

 

Satoshi sat down between Maki and Inuyasha and reached for the last controller. “One game between just you and me.” He said to Maki.

 

“Are you sure?” Maki sent him a glare.

 

“Bring it.”

 

They were off and in five minutes the score was tied. Kagome was reminded of the day she had skipped school to play air-hockey with Inuyasha. They had a tie back then too. She then remembered how Inuyasha had told her that Maki had feelings for Satoshi. Did he like her too? Or was she just reading too much into things? Either way, Kagome decided that it was not her place to ask such things.

 

They watched Maki and Satoshi play for another half-hour before the entertaining battle was disrupted by Inuyasha's sudden yell. “Where did you get that?” He pointed at Miroku.

 

Miroku glanced at the bag of beef jerky he'd been sharing with Sango. “I found it in the kitchen.”

 

“That's MINE!” Inuyasha made a move to snatch the snack away from him. Miroku slipped easily from his chair and put a fare distance between his angry friend and himself. “I don't see your name on it.” He said reasonably.

 

“Shut up! I'm not allowed to smoke or drink while I'm here for the whole week, and you know I always buy that when I have to be sober!”

 

Miroku pulled a piece of jerky from the bag and put it between his teeth. “And your point is?” He said with an unwavering voice.

 

“That's it!” Inuyasha rushed forward to steal back what was his, but Miroku playfully dodged, while eating more bits of jerky. “Men.” Sango sighed while watching her boyfriend effortlessly moved away from every swipe of Inuyasha's fingers till finally the empty snack bag fell to the floor.

 

“Why you-you owe me a new bag!”

 

“If you don't beat me, I'm not getting you anything.”

 

“Enough!” Jun shouted when the two looked like they were about to get into a fistfight. While she scolded the two boys, Kagome leaned in to speak to Maki, who was still in the middle of her videogame war.

 

“Does this happen often?” She asked.

 

“Hmm, oh yeah. It's quite the common occurrence.” She said with her tongue between her teeth.

 

“One thing you should know about Inuyasha by now is that he loves to eat.” Satoshi added without looking away from the television. “There's usually some kind of food war. I should know.” He smirked. “I've stolen some of his food plenty of times.”

 

“Don't worry Kagome. You're a good cook.” Maki said. “You should be more then enough to feed him.”

 

“Does that have a double meaning?” Satoshi laughed.

 

“It could.” Maki echoed his chuckle.

 

“Oh, I'm going to beat you up videogame style for that.” Kagome said, reaching for the control and making a temporary alliance with Satoshi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inuyasha had been right: it was hard for them to get a moment alone. It had been a great first day. For the most part, Jun had played the role of supervisor well. She watched from a distance, and only made her presence known when someone was doing something wrong. Usually, it was only the boys that made the most trouble.

 

After Inuyasha and Miroku had grudgingly apologized to each other, the rest of the early afternoon was spent trying to beat Maki in different kinds of videogames. Sango had surprised everyone when she beat Maki twice. After they had gotten tired of electronic games, they ate lunch and Satoshi challenged Inuyasha to a ping-pong tournament, saying that the loser had to drink a whole bottle of hot sauce. Kagome tried to stop them, not liking the stakes, but they went ahead and played. It resulted with Inuyasha having to gulp down the sauce and then drink a gallon of water right afterward.

 

“This is your own fault you know.” Kagome said while she had watched him stuff ice down his throat in the kitchen.

 

“I'm so going to beat him next time.” Inuyasha coughed.

 

The rest of the day progressed without another mini-fight on the boys' parts. The six of them sat around chatting and comparing embarrassing stories from school before they decided to go out on the beach. Maki and Inuyasha tried to teach Kagome how to surf while Satoshi played soccer with Miroku and Sango. By the time Kagome had learned to get on the board without splashing into the water the sun was already starting to go down.

 

“Maybe my feet are meant to be on the ground.” Kagome said while following Inuyasha and Maki back toward the shore.

 

“Surfing takes practice Kagome. If you really want to learn how, you'll get the hang of it.” Maki smiled. “Besides, you fall, we have Inuyasha here to catch you.”

 

“Will you stop teasing her?” Inuyasha huffed.

 

“Oh? You sure are sweet on her.”

 

“No, making fun of her is my job.”

 

“Very funny, Inuyasha.” Kagome shook her head.

 

“Oh don't mind him, that's how he shows affection.” Maki giggled while Inuyasha turned orange. “MAKI!” She was already running toward the porch with her surfboard tucked under her arm. Kagome couldn't wipe the large grin off her face. She snuck looks at Inuyasha's petulant face as they walked with Satoshi and the others back toward the house.

 

The sun completely set by the time they were done eating dinner. By then Kagome had changed into warmer clothes. Even though it was summer, nighttime by the beach was rather chilly. Everyone seemed tired. It was almost eight o' clock and Sango said she was going to bed. Miroku had already passed out on the couch so he didn't give her any trouble.

 

Kagome was wondering if she herself should retire. She was on her way to her room when Inuyasha tapped her on the shoulder. “Want to go for a walk?” He asked.

 

“Sure.”

 

They snuck outside through the kitchen door to avoid looks from Satoshi and Maki, who were playing cards in the den. Jun had been sitting on the porch. When she saw them pass she said, “Don't go too far.” Kagome and Inuyasha nodded.

 

“Some day huh?” Inuyasha said when they were a little way from the house.

 

“I never thought I'd be this tired just from having fun all day.” Kagome said as she hooked her arm with his. “Aren't you cold?” She said when she noticed that he wore only a t-shit, shorts and sandals.

 

“Not really.” He said. Kagome felt a little overdressed with her knitted sweater. “Can I ask you something? Why are you so competitive?”

 

“When I was in middle school, Satoshi was my rival on the soccer team. That's just the way we are. It's not like we fight to see who's better then the other, we just like to see each other lose…and maybe get some money in doing so.”

 

“That's one way to show you guys like each other I guess.” Kagome said.

 

Inuyasha grunted in agreement. “Did you three of us wear you out?” He asked.

 

“No. I had a lot of fun.”

 

“I didn't know you played videogames. That was a surprise.”

 

“I do play with Souta.”

 

“That reminds me, how's he doing?”

 

“He's at home now and taking it easy. Well, when he isn't doing homework for all the school he missed. You should come see him. He'd be happy.”

 

Inuyasha made a face. “Oh come on! He's not going to gush like you think he is.”

 

He shook his head. “It's not that. I mean I'm glad he's okay, but I feel weird when I get such high levels of gratitude.”

 

“I never thought you'd be the shy type.” Kagome joked.

Inuyasha smirked. “You're one to talk about being shy. You freak out over the smallest things. I swear, you looked like your head would explode yesterday.”

 

“That was because you were making fun of me, you jerk.” Kagome pouted.

 

“Hey!” Inuyasha said incredulously.

 

“What?”

 

“You didn't blush. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a break-through!”

 

“Well, maybe I'm just getting used to you. Or maybe Maki's laid-back attitude is starting to rub off on me.”

 

“Oh that's JUST great!” Inuyasha huffed.

 

“What do you mean by that?” Kagome snapped.

 

“I don't need you to start pocking fun at me too.”

 

“I'd say that's fair. You make fun of me all the time.”

 

“But I really like to see your expressions. And when I make fun of you great things happen.”

 

“Like?”

 

“Like when we both fell on your bed. Aha! There it is, there's the blush I've been waiting for.”

 

Kagome unhooked her arm away from him and covered her face. “Shut up.” She squeaked, but then she became even more irritated when she realized that her face wasn't hot at all.

 

“Oh, you jerk, you did it again.”

 

Inuyasha stuck his tongue out playfully and ran. “Wait until I catch you!” Kagome growled. “Aw, I always wanted to be chased by a rapid girl!” Inuyasha yelled over his shoulder.

 

“Who's rapid?” Kagome reached him and pushed him down. He landed on his bottom, sand flying up.

 

“Ow.” Inuyasha groused.

 

“This is your fault.” Kagome said between gasps.

 

“You're one tough chick. I like that.”

 

Kagome sat down. “Don't think you can just butter me up with complements.”

 

Inuyasha laughed. “I should have known it wouldn't work.”

 

“Do you really like to make fun of me that much?” Kagome clicked her teeth.

 

“I like to watch you blush.”

 

“And if I stopped blushing?”

 

Inuyasha reached and pulled her face close to his by tugging on a lock of her hair. Kagome felt her face burning. “See, I don't think that's going to happen any time soon.”

 

“You're really something you know.” Kagome pulled on his hair.

 

“But you like me anyway right?” He winked. Before Kagome could reply he'd already kissed her and for the first time, they could kiss without interruptions. There were no children and no car alarms.

 

“Looks like we were successful this time.” Inuyasha said when Kagome broke away from him to breathe.

“Well, we have the whole summer to practice right?” Kagome smiled nervously.

 

Inuyasha became silent. “Actually, there's something I need to tell you.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry for the errors. I will go back to fix them later, but for now…TO BED! I have a lot of studying to do this weekend!