InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Future Beginnings ❯ Ch 6: Reflections ( Chapter 6 )

DISCLAIMER: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

 

Ch. 6: Reflections

 

Kagome worried about Inuyasha as the weather turned colder. The leaves started to turn color and the temperature dropped down to near freezing at night. She thought about him all alone out there and wondered if he had really gone back to Japan. She almost hoped he had. It would be better than thinking of him outdoors cold and hungry in Connecticut.

 

One Sunday she called her mother in Japan and asked her if she happened to have seen Inuyasha lately. Inuyasha, listening from outside as he often did these days, felt gratified to find out that she was worried about him. He was even more gratified when, after her mother apparently told her that she had not seen the half-demon, Kagome paled and sat down suddenly on the edge of her bed. So maybe she did care what happened to him, he thought to himself.

 

After her phone call, Kagome put on a heavy sweater and went outside. On Sundays there was no shuttle bus to the main campus, but it was a beautiful fall day and she decided to walk. In the distance she could see tall buildings from the city, but where she was the trees were all red and gold. She scuffed leaves as she walked, thinking about all the things that had happened to her since she turned fifteen. Life would have been much simpler if she had never fallen into the old well, but then she would never have met Inuyasha. That was the turning point for her—time Before Inuyasha, and time After Inuyasha. She defined her entire existence that way now.

 

If only she knew what he really thought about her. She knew he barely tolerated his time spent in her era, and she couldn't really blame him. He was a free spirit, a creature of the woods. He didn't belong in a world of concrete and glass. Truthfully, Kagome loved the sweet clean air, the crystal clear water and especially the starry nights of Inuyasha's time, unclouded by the pollution that dimmed them here.

 

She gazed up into the autumn trees. “I wouldn't even be able to see Inuyasha if he was up there,” she thought to herself. “There's so much red up there now he'd blend right in.” She sighed. “It really is beautiful here.”

 

Kagome had to laugh at herself. A moment ago she was just thinking about how ugly her time was, and just now she was amazed at its beauty. To be fair, even though Inuyasha's time was definitely less polluted, there were still lots of things she didn't like about it, too, like all the killing, the lack of sanitation, disease, poverty, evil youkai….She ticked the negative aspects off on her fingers. “I guess every time period has its good and bad points,” she concluded.

 

That didn't leave her any closer to figuring out what Inuyasha's real intentions were. Did he come here becaue he liked her, or just to drag her back to his time again? But for what? The shikon jewel was whole again. He didn't need her to help find the shards anymore. Why would he want to drag her back? Unless he did like her, and wanted her to stay with him in his time.

 

She shook her head. It was too confusing. Even if he liked her as much as she liked him, he shouldn't tell her what she could or couldn't do. She was a modern woman—no that wasn't it—Sango would never let Miroku tell her what to do either! Kagome wanted the whole college experience like other girls her age. She also wanted Inuyasha. That was where her two worlds collided.

 

“Where are you, Inuyasha?” she whispered.

 

Inuyasha, hidden above exactly among those red leaves, froze. Could she see him? Did she sense him? She didn't stop walking, though, so he relaxed and continued to follow at a distance. She seemed so unhappy. Maybe now was the time he should finally talk to her. All this sneaking around grated on his nerves.

 

When Kagome got to campus she went directly to that large food place Inuyasha wished he could visit. It was about a week away from the new moon. He would have to wait until then and slip on his Miroku persona again. For now, he slouched outside the food building, leaning against the far wall where no humans walked, and breathed in all the interesting smells. His stomach growled.

 

Inside, Kagome met Jen and some of her theatre friends for lunch. They were an animated bunch, girls and boys combined. Everyone talked at once and their conversation was so fast that Kagome had a hard time following all that was said. One of the students was another Japanese girl, Noriko, and she filled Kagome in when she started to look lost.

 

“We're all going downtown tonight. If you want to come, I'll pick you up at nine and we can go in Liz's car.”

 

“Isn't nine a little bit late?”

 

“No, not really. They said to dress up,” Noriko told her. “We're going to a club after.”

 

“I guess I'll go,” said Kagome. Maybe it would take her mind off Inuyasha.

 

Later Noriko walked back to Kagome's dorm with her. She happily chattered in Japanese with Kagome, telling her that she was a Junior this year and even though she enjoyed going to school and especially the theatre program, there weren't many Japanese students here so she was glad to have this opportunity to speak to someone from home. Kagome confessed that she felt the same way. The two girls had a great time discussing clothes and boys and news from home.

 

Inuyasha, trailing behind, had a great time just listening to them because he could finally understand the conversation! He hadn't realized that Kagome, a Japanese student attending a foreign school, had felt like he often did as a hanyou in a human world.

 

Noriko was fascinated when she learned that Kagome came from a shrine family. “So, does your Grandfather have holy powers or anything?”

 

Kagome colored. “Of course not. He just thinks he does,” she replied. “I think it's mostly an act for the tourists.”

 

“Oh,” said Noriko, disappointed. “I always wished those things were real.”

 

“No, you don't.” thought Kagome, but she only smiled at the other girl and turned the conversation back to school. “Are there many other Japanese students here?”

 

“Not in Theatre, but there are a few others around campus. I saw this one cute guy at a party a few weeks ago. I didn't speak to him myself, but someone said he was Japanese. I think his name was Miroku.”

 

Inuyasha almost fell out of the tree.

 

“Miroku!” exclaimed Kagome. “Wait a minute. What color was his hair? What was he wearing?”

 

“What do you mean? His hair was black, of course. I don't remember what he was wearing. Jeans, I think. Why? Do you know him?”

 

“No-o. I thought maybe I did, but it doesn't sound like my friend,” said Kagome.

 

The two girls went upstairs to Kagome's room while Inuyasha sprang to his usual perch outside her window. He gathered from their conversation that they were going somewhere and he wanted to find out the details before he took care of his own lunch.

 

They pulled all kinds of clothes from Kagome's closet. Inuyasha had to turn away when they started trying different things on. As much as he was tempted to look, deep down he didn't feel right about it. He was spying on Kagome, but it was for her own good, not for any—any—well, he might have borrowed the name but he was certainly not Miroku! Besides, if she ever found out, she would sit him a hundred times! He fingered the beads around his neck. Maybe now would be a good time to get lunch.

 

He jumped up to the roof, then to the path on the other side, and headed out towards his forest. He bypassed the school, jumping over the black roads until he got to an area where there were few houses and he could run and stretch his legs. He couldn't run as fast as cars for any sustained period, but for short bursts like this, he was faster.

 

By the time he was done eating and had chased a few little gray animals up a tree for fun, the sun was setting. Inuyasha stood at the top of his hill. “The girls must be finished trying on clothes by now,” he thought. The sun bathed him in reddish light, turning his hair an amber gold to match his eyes. He jumped off the cliff, one foot raised, the other slightly behind him, and seemed to float out and down, touching lightly at the bottom. Half-hopping, half-running, he made his way back to Kagome's little house-village.

 

Nobody was in Kagome's room when he peeked in, but clothes were still strewn all over the place. Inuyasha stuck his head over the other edge of the roof and looked through the big window into the TV room. The Japanese girl was gone, but one of Kagome's roommates, the one who dressed in black, was there and she was drinking a beer. He briefly wondered what would happen if he knocked on the door and asked to see Kagome. This girl seemed tough. Maybe she wouldn't scream in fright if she saw his demon features. The people who had seen him on the roof of the car when Kagome first arrived hadn't screamed.

 

“Kagome! Are you done yet?” the girl called out.

 

Inuyasha saw Kagome's towel-wrapped head appear at the top of the stairs and he quickly pulled his head back up.

 

“OK, it's your turn,” said Kagome. The rest of her appeared at the top of the stairs, wearing a bathrobe and slippers.

 

Jen headed down the stairs to take her shower. “Help yourself to a beer,” she told Kagome.

 

Inuyasha growled as he caught the word “beer,” but Kagome didn't go to the little refrigerator. Instead, she went right to her room to get dressed. Good thing, thought Inuyasha.

 

He waited on the roof since he knew it would be a while before she was ready. He still didn't know where she was going. When he determined that enough time had passed for her to have put some clothes on, he dared to peek in her window.

 

He hopped to his branch and stared. Kagome was sitting at her little desk looking into a round mirror while she put some smelly stuff on her face. That was nothing new. He'd seen her do that before. He didn't like it, but he tolerated it, mainly because she didn't give him any choice about the matter.

 

It was what she was wearing that had him open-mouthed with shock. He had seen her in her old school uniform enough times that the short skirt didn't particularly faze him. But her top was so low cut and tight-fitting it left nothing to the imagination. He hoped she wasn't going out in that! Then she stood up and he got a good look at her sandals, or whatever it was she had on her feet. It looked like her heels were up on little poles and her toes were at the bottom of the mountain. The overall effect made her short skirt look even shorter.

 

He liked it and he didn't like it. His stance changed until he was leaning forward, hands and feet both planted on the branch. Where did she think she was going dressed like that?

 

A knock sounded on Kagome's door. “Kagome, are you ready yet? They're here.” Jen's voice came from the other side of the door.

 

“Coming!” said Kagome, as she grabbed her purse and ran out of the room. Inuyasha honestly couldn't see how she balanced on those shoes.

 

He saw her get into a car which already contained three other people, including Jen and that new girl, Noriko. Good, since Noriko was here, she and Kagome might talk in Japanese and he would know what was going on.