InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Future Beginnings ❯ Ch 20: Life Goes On ( Chapter 20 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

 

 

Chapter 20: Life Goes On

 

 

Inuyasha was torn. On the one hand, he really didn't want to go to school, in any way, shape or form. On the other hand, if he didn't go to school they wouldn't let him keep the little square card that got him in and out of the cafeteria all by himself. He really liked that little square card.

 

Kagome pointed out that he already went to school, sort of, when he had his English lessons with Noriko. She enlisted Noriko's help in getting him to his first ESL class. Since he was starting so late in the semester, the school and Sesshomaru had arranged for Inuyasha to join only the ESL class. Usually foreign students who needed extra instruction in English took the ESL class in addition to their normal class load. Inuyasha would be eligible to choose a major and take actual academic classes next semester, if his English skills improved. For now, he would continue to be tutored by Noriko every morning, and he would attend the ESL class on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. That was the plan.

 

The reality was Kagome and Noriko, on either side of Inuyasha, futiley pulling his arms in an attempt to get him to move into the classroom. It was like trying to move a mountain. Between them they had dressed him in jeans and sneakers, and even cajoled him into wearing a jacket although he protested that he wasn't cold.

 

“Yes, but everybody else is wearing one. It would look weird if you didn't have a jacket,” Kagome tried to reason with him.

 

“Whatever.”

 

He suffered through having his hair braided and tied, like Sesshomaru's, behind his head. He had rolled his eyes at that. He'd known that once Kagome figured out what Sesshomaru had done to his hair, she would want to try it out on him. Unfortunately, Inuyasha's ears were on top of his head and not so easy to disguise. The hood of his jacket worked perfectly, but it sent the wrong signal, or so the girls told him. “Besides,” Noriko had said, “the school won't allow hoods in class. I'm not sure they'll even allow hats.” They finally settled on a bandana and told him to say it was a cultural thing, if anyone asked.

 

So now they stood outside the ESL classroom, and Inuyasha was having second thoughts. The other students had been filing past them for some time now, casting curious looks at the three Japanese students in the hallway. These ESL students were as varied as youkai, Inuyasha thought, as he took in their different sizes, colors and clothes. At least two other boys didn't have jackets on at all, he noticed. They were all standing in small groups, divided as far as he could tell by the languages they spoke, none of which were English.

 

Abruptly Inuyasha shrugged off the two girls clinging to his arms. “Might as well get this over with,” he said, as he strode into the classroom.

 

Kagome giggled. “You'd think he was going to fight a battle,” she said.

 

From inside the classroom Inuyasha glanced up and glared at Kagome.

 

“Oops!” she said, having forgotten about his keen hearing. She waved good-bye to him as the classroom door closed. He scowled.

 

His new teacher didn't speak any Japanese. In fact, she spoke nothing but English. As soon as class began, the other students stopped speaking their own languages and spoke only English, even to each other. Inuyasha found it odd.

 

Most of the other students had a solid background in written English. They had to, in order to get accepted to an American college. But most of their knowledge came from books or teachers from their own countries whose command of English wasn't much better than theirs. The ESL class was supposed to improve their spoken English skills.

 

Inuyasha was already better than many of the other students thanks to Noriko and PBS children's programming. He didn't have the book learning, and his written English skills were rudimentary, but necessity is a great teacher. Inuyasha needed to communicate, at first so that he could get something good to eat, then later so that he could talk to Peter or Jen without a translator. He quickly became Teacher's Pet.

 

When class was over Inuyasha sauntered out, a small smile on his lips. Kagome waited in the hallway. Noriko had class and hadn't stayed. “So, how did it go?” Kagome asked.

 

“It was easy,” answered Inuyasha. They walked directly over to the cafeteria, Inuyasha's `reward' for having gone to class, even though it was a little early for dinner. Their other friends still had classes, so they sat at the end of their usual table and shared a quiet meal.

 

“Are you up for more apartment hunting?” asked Kagome. “I called a few places, and we can go see them tonight if you want.”

 

“Sure,” said Inuyasha between mouthfuls.

 

They traveled Inuyasha-style as far as the club where Kagome had gone dancing. From there, they walked up three blocks and over three more to the first set of apartments Kagome wanted to view. Inuyasha pulled up his hood and pulled Kagome close under his arm as they walked.

 

This apartment building was taller than the others they had looked at. It was on the main road and had gated parking, whatever that meant. The manager brought them up the elevator to the fourth floor and let them go in by themselves to view the apartment. It looked just like the other ones, thought Inuyasha. The manager wanted an answer right then and there, which set Kagome's mind against it. They left, with the manager's final words—you're not going to find anything better than this for the money—ringing in Kagome's ears. “Come on.” She took Inuyasha's arm, looking more determined than ever to find them a place. “Next.”

 

Next was the third floor in an old house. It was actually nicer than the apartments they had seen so far. The neighborhood was a little run down, and most of the multi-family houses were rented to students. There was a separate entrance to the third floor apartment up a rickety flight of stairs on the outside of the building. The floors creaked and were a little uneven, but the rooms were fairly big, and heat and hot water were included. Inuyasha peeked his head into the bathroom, which had an old-fashioned claw-foot tub. “I like this one,” he said.

 

They looked at two more places before they decided to go with Inuyasha's choice. Since it was currently empty, the landlord said they could move in on the fifteenth of the month, which was in a few days. Kagome wondered what her mother was going to say when she told her.

 

Later that evening Kagome un-did Inuyasha's braid and combed her fingers through his long hair. His ears, freed from the bandana at last, poked straight up through the masses of hair. Kagome scratched them as Inuyasha leaned back against her. A noise on the stairs let them know someone was coming up.

 

“Sarah,” said Inuyasha, recognizing the scent of Kagome's other roommate.

 

Kagome hurriedly flung a towel over Inuyasha's head and pretended to dry his hair. Sarah didn't know about Inuyasha.

 

“Hi, Kagome. Inuyasha. What's new?” asked Sarah as she rummaged through the cabinets for a bag of chips.

 

“We got an apartment off campus,” Kagome told her. “We'll probably be moving this weekend.”

 

“Oh, that's great!” said Sarah. “I'll miss you—but that's great!” She grabbed two cans of soda from the fridge and headed back downstairs. “Let me know if you guys need any help Saturday.”

 

Inuyasha grunted. She probably wanted Kagome's room for her and her own boyfriend. He could smell the other guy, whom he'd never met, downstairs.

 

 

After his lesson with Noriko, Inuyasha changed into his regular clothes, as he thought of them, and grabbed Tetsusaiga off Kagome's desk. He wanted to hurry up and visit his own little forest while Kagome was at class. She'd probably tell him to stay home if she knew what he had planned. Inuyasha rationalized it by telling himself that what she didn't know couldn't hurt him. He still remembered her reaction when he had tried to take Jen for a ride on his back.

 

The weather was definitely getting colder. It would snow soon. Since Inuyasha had a time frame, he went as fast as he could, which was very fast indeed. It still irritated him when Kagome worried that humans might see him. He was enough youkai that that wouldn't happen unless he willed it.

 

The small lean-to he had built for Kagome was still there. Inuyasha spent some of his time improving on it. From a distance it looked like a stand of trees, but inside he had shored it up and insulated it with fragrant evergreen boughs. He made sure his scent permeated the inside and outside so that no animal or youkai either, for that matter, would dare to approach it. One of these weekends he would bring Kagome up here again, and it would be just the two of them. Satisfied with his handiwork, he took off for the nearby woods, intending to check the perimeter for any changes since the last time he had been up here. Now that the youkai of this land knew he was their Lord, he didn't want any trouble. He still needed to meet with Mr. Rinks again to discuss what had happened the other night. But not tonight.

 

He definitely sensed a stronger youkai presence this time. But again, as it had been when Kagome was with him, he didn't get a sense of malevolence, only curiousity. Ok, he could deal with curiosity.

 

“Come out,” he called. He purposely left Tetsusaiga sheathed. He saw a small creature, a youkai, peek at him from behind a tree. As he locked gazes with the creature, he became aware of its scent. That wasn't how it was supposed to work. He should have been able to smell the youkai long before he saw it. Slowly other youkai appeared and he registered their scents as he spotted them. Maybe there was something to this theory that these youkai were on the verge of fading from reality. There was something insubstantial about them.

 

Inuyasha glanced at the sky, then back at the waiting youkai. “You know who I am,” he began, hoping he wouldn't need to try speaking English. But some of them nodded. Good. “This is my woods.” He gestured in a circle all around him. The youkai nodded again. “You live here?” A third nod.

 

One of the youkai seemed to take on a more human appearance as he spoke, and this young-looking girl-fox came out from behind a tree and walked towards him. She smiled, and the feel of her aura pulsed gently against his senses. Mr. Rinks was right. They weren't very strong. She said something in a melodic voice. Inuyasha didn't understand the words but he knew what she said. She wanted to know why he was like them yet he walked fully upon the earth like a human.

 

Inuyasha sighed. This again. “Look,” he said, “I was born this way.”

 

The fox-girl's eyes widened. Her words came across something like, “You mean we can interact with humans?” Inuyasha smiled. Interact. He couldn't wait to bring Kagome here to meet these youkai. Maybe he did have something to teach them. It seemed they had forgotten a lot.

 

“Yeah,” he answered.

 

“How?”

 

He knew she meant how could they maintain a physical shape solid enough to bleed, among other things.

 

“Want it,” he told her, told them all. “You're doing it already. Since I've been here you all seem more `present.' I can sense your auras, I can smell you, and I can see you better than I could when you first showed yourselves to me.”

 

The youkai looked at each other in astonishment. They forgot to be afraid and crept out of their hiding places to stand shyly in front of Inuyasha. He glanced at the sky again. Kagome would be getting out of class soon. “I need to go,” he told the youkai. He felt a wave of disappointment shiver through them. “But I'll be back soon,” he promised. “Keep an eye on my forest.”

 

With a final wave he leapt high into the air, catching a branch with hands and bare feet, and pushing off again. He needed to hurry.

 

 

He waited for Kagome a their table in the cafeteria. The stupid girl who checked the square card almost didn't let him in. She kept looking at his picture and then looking back at him. The growing line of people behind him finally convinced her to let him through.

 

“Inuyasha!” Kagome slid her tray onto the table beside him as she sat down. “I completely forgot what night tonight is! What are we going to do?”

 

“What do you mean, `What are we going to do?'”

 

Just then Noriko sat down, followed by Peter. “Hey, Miroku,” said Peter. “What are you doing here?”

 

Inuyasha kept eating. Jen finally made it through the line and sat down too. “Hi,” she said, glancing curiously at Inuyasha. She looked around the table. “Where's Inuyasha?”

 

Everyone except Inuyasha turned to look at Kagome, who reddened. What was she supposed to say now?

 

Inuyasha exploded. “Are you all that stupid?” he asked—in English. “It's me.” He glared at them through very brown eyes.

 

“Inuyasha?” Noriko caught on first. “But how?”

 

“Why do you look like Miroku?” asked Peter, still confused.

 

“I look like Miroku because I am Miroku! I mean,” Inuyasha amended in a quieter tone of voice, “Miroku is me. We're the same person.”

 

“I get it!” said Peter. “Because you're hanyou, right?” Noriko was nodding.

 

“That's right. Because Inuyasha is hanyou, there are certain times he shows his human side.” Kagome explained without going into detail. It was better for all of them if they didn't connect Inuyasha's human times to the night of the new moon.

 

“So this is your human side?” commented Jen. “Nice. Can you turn it on and off whenever you want?”

 

Inuyasha asked Kagome what Jen meant by `turn it on and off.'

 

“Keh. If I could do that, you wouldn't ever see me like this,” he replied in Japanese, which Kagome tactfully translated as, “No, he can't.” Noriko raised her eyebrows.

 

“Why did you say you were Miroku?” asked Noriko. In a way, she was disappointed. She had hoped she might have a chance with Miroku since Kagome liked Inuyasha.

 

“Miroku is a friend of ours from back—home,” said Kagome. “Inuyasha used his name for his human identity so it would be easier to explain his black hair, since Inuyasha looks quite a bit different. But now that you all know Inuyasha is hanyou, he probably decided it was time you found out the truth about Miroku.” She glanced at Inuyasha. “Isn't that right?”

 

“Something like that,” Inuyasha agreed. He honestly was surprised that at least Peter and Noriko hadn't figured it out already. “Now you know.”

 

“Are there any other secrets we should know about?” asked Jen.

 

Kagome and Inuyasha looked at each other. “No, that's about it,” said Kagome cheerfully. Some secrets were not meant to be shared.