InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Helping the Helpless ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter Two:

The next morning, she was running late. Running out of the house at 7:38 with her car keys and an orange in her hand, she got in her car only to realize her purse was still inside. By the time she parked her '99 used Lexus in the school's parking lot, it was 7:46 and she had orange peel all over the inside of her car, and it would've been all over her shirt if she hadn't grabbed a napkin from the dash and tucked it in her collar. The tardy bell rang at 7:50. Her homeroom class was on the top level. The fourth floor. She was, in short, screwed.

Just as she went to reach for her purse, she discovered a problem. Her shirtsleeves were tight, revealing a large and suspicious lump where her bandage was. Cursing under her breath, she hurriedly tore off her bandages, praying it wouldn't start bleeding in the middle of class. She shoved the blood-covered bandages in her plastic bag full of garbage, where her orange peels should be.

Slamming her car door shut and breaking into a run, Kagome knew she was going to be late. `Fuck. Whitby's gonna kill me for this!' Mr. `The Whip' Whitby was her homeroom and first period teacher, and a former captain in the army. The man was crazy about being on time and getting things done.

Her chest heaving, Kagome made it to the top floor about 5 minutes later. Stopping by her locker to grab her book bag, she caught the unwelcome stares of the assistant principal. Kagome bowed her head and rolled her eyes.

She peeked into the small rectangular window on her homeroom door. `Whip's back was turned away from the door. Cautiously, Kagome turned the doorknob. Sneaking in, she crouched down, getting most of the class's attention. Putting her finger to her mouth and raised her eyebrows, she continued making her way towards her second row desk quietly.

At last, she was only four desks away from hers when…. Suddenly, the tune of Britney Spears' `In the Zone' was heard. It was Kagome's cell phone. Standing up slowly, her eyes closed, she held her breath.

The teacher's back was still turned, but the class knew better than to think the catchy ring tone had gone unnoticed.

"Higurashi, you late again?" The girl gulped for air. "Yes, sir." Mr. Whitby sighed. "There has to be a way to get through your thick skull, Higurashi. I'll try something new. You will not get another detention. Instead, you will get a zero on your next test, as long as you have a good grade on it. However, if you fail, you will get a zero on the next two tests."

Kagome gasped. "What?! That's not fair! You can't do that! You sick freak, do you feed off of pain and mis-" She was cut off. The teacher feigned a sickly sweet tone. "Ms. Kagome Higurashi. Correct me if I'm wrong. If you get one more time, you get suspended for the second time. One can hardly be on the honor roll if you get suspended again. Wouldn't that just ruin your financial plans?" Everyone but Kagome's closest friends was confused.

The raved-haired beauty seethed. How did he know about that? She casually glanced around the room, feeling everyone's eyes on her. The only person not staring at her was in the back of the room, headphones blaring in the silence, eyes closed, and silver haired head bobbing.

Kagome knew defeat, especially when it was staring her dead in the eyes. She bowed her head. "Yes, sir. I understand. Thank you for your…" Kagome searched for a word. `Cruelty, unfairness, threats, stubborn jackass personality…' The list went on. "Understanding."

Making her way in front of the last few desks before hers, she sat down just as the bell rang, signaling the end of homeroom.

Most of the class got up, save for her three best friends and Inuyasha, trench coat, hoodie and bondage panted loner at Tokyo High.

Kagome went over to her two closest friends, the twins Koi and Kin. Their mothers had been high school friends, and they had grown up together.

"I cannot believe he said that!" Exclaimed Koi. Her curly-haired sister bobbed her head up and down in excitement. "He's such a jerk!" She exclaimed, looking over towards his desk where he was working with headphones in his ears, waiting for class to begin.

Their classmates started filtering into the room, and the small group dispersed, heading towards their seats at the long tables in the front of the room.

Mr. Whitby stood up and took off his headphones, clearing his throat as some students lagged behind, talking among themselves.

As soon as everyone was in their appropriate seat, he began. "Class, today we will begin a project, which will take up a very large portion of your grade. You will be working with partners." The class whooped and hollered in excitement. This was a hard class, chemistry III honors, and large projects assigned by `The Whip' were always too hard to do by yourself. "I will be assigning partners to you." The entire class groaned. "Unless, of course, you wanted to work by yourselves, and no class time offered." The large group collectively shut up. "That's what I thought. Now, I want Ai with Junnosuke, Bokkai with Etsuya…" And so he continued in alphabetical order, finally coming to Kagome's name. He paused and gave a strange smile. "Kagome, you shall be paired with…Inuyasha."

She gasped and glared at him harshly, but she dared not argue with him again, lest she want to be humiliated in front the entire class. "Yes, sir." She mumbled.

And so he continued down the list of names, until at last he was done.

"Alright, everyone, I want everyone to be seated in their pairs in front of a mini-lab."

Kagome sat down at a burner next to Koi's, waiting for Inuyasha to come over. A minute or two later, she looked around for him and finally spotted him in the back, sitting next to a Bunsen burner and a collection of beakers, already set up. Sighing in frustration, she heaved up her large pink backpack and sat down next to him.

Silence ensued for the next 15 minutes.

"In case you hadn't noticed, I did have a seat for us over there." She said, quietly sighing. "Keh, like I would sit over there next to you and your prep brigade. All you'd fucking do is yak. Like this shit would ever get done that way."

Kagome stared at him for a minute. She had been in at least one of his classes every year for the past four years, and she had almost never heard him talk, unless, of course, he was mouthing off to a teacher. Then she got irritated.

"You know, I'm not too fond of this arrangement either, but the least you could do is be a little nice about it! I wasn't trying to even be rude to you, and you're already acting like a jerk, I -" She was cut off.

"Oi, wench. Shut the hell up and hand me the beaker over there." Kagome reached her right arm in front of her, grabbing the liquid filled glass vial.

When something very, very bad happened.

Her sleeve went up.

On her injured arm.

And he saw.

Inuyasha's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Well, well, what have we here?"