InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Open Your Eyes ❯ Reluctance ( Chapter 2 )

They had 3 classes together. Being seniors in particularly more ambitious classes, there were typically the same people in each class. Right now was Forensics, and some low-budget crime video was blaring on the tiny television poised in the upper corner of the room. Needless to say, no one was paying attention. Inuyasha spared a glance at her and then began absentmindedly playing with the pen in his pocket.

 

why did you take the pen? it was her own stupid fault for leaving it behind

 

i saw it there. I don't know, no one saw me take it.

 

oh yeah I forgot…………. you know its pointless, you know you can't

 

don't even think about it

 

He whipped his hand out of his pocket as if the pen lit fire and began angrily thinking about anything but her. Well, tried to. She seemed to consume every thought in his head, as painful as it was to admit.

 

The lights flicked on and he saw her head come up from her desk across the room. The video was evidently over and Mr. Thompson, their no-nonsense, stick-up-his-ass teacher, began droning. Inuyasha continued to not pay attention and started to fumble with the pen again. At least until he heard two names that should never be spoken next to eachother. Upon hearing them, he promptly began listening for the first time this year.

 

“….. and Kagome Higurashi and Inuyasha Takahashi. I count on these projects to be as thorough as though real forensic scientists worked on them. Tomorrow you will come into the classroom and you and your partner will examine the crime scene before you. With the evidence you gather I expect you to give a detailed list of evidence, an explanation of the crime and a sketch of the crime scene.”

 

“Meet with your partners today and discuss who will do what and review all the steps needed to identify evidence and prepare for an intensive investigation. Get comfortable with your partner because they will be your new best friends for the next two weeks.” Mr. Thompson, pleased with the sudden lively turn in his classroom, slammed his book down.

 

As if on cue, the bell rang. Inuyasha and Kagome's thoughts were in tune with one another, for once.

 

Oh, shit.

 

 

 

 

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Terrific.

 

Kagome could only sum up the situation in one word, as she pondered her excellent good fortune that only exponentially increased with each passing day. Now she had to work with the one person who made her feel more impossibly self-conscious than she already was. Not to mention incredibly defenseless, brainless, and hopeless. Any word that ended with -less could fittingly describe how she felt.

 

Kagome sighed, leaned back in the old, director's style chair in her dismal room, and reluctantly accepted her fate. She was stuck in the most infuriating situation possible.

 

 

 

Kagome, still trying to act as if nothing was out of the ordinary, gathered her books and stood ready to leave the room. Inuyasha walked over and, directly and arrogantly, ordered,

 

“You take notes. I'll sketch.”

 

Before Kagome could utter a response, his face whipped out of sight and all she saw was a glint of silver in the distance.

 

Her reaction surprised even her. Kagome was filled with indignant fury, instead of the usual depression and hopelessness. She was one second away from standing up for herself and demanding that he come back here, apologize, and treat her like a human being.

 

Well, she was close to doing just that. Instead, Kagome collected herself, mumbled “asshole”, and stomped off to her next class.

 

As she was tearing through the halls, Kagome failed to realize the most shocking thing of all. For once, her anger was directed at someone other than herself.

 

 

 

Kagome was torn between annoyance and resignation as she recollected what happened earlier in the day. She knew that she wasn't the most interesting person to be buddied up with, and maybe they were forced to work together, but did that mean that she was dirt on the floor he could scuff with his shoes whenever he wanted.

 

Her anger slowly dissipated, and she fell back into her usual safety net. Blaming herself. When Kagome really thought about it, she couldn't blame a guy for not wanting to work with her.

 

This wasn't some cliché love story where the nerdish, yet beautiful girl is partnered up with the popular bad boy, and in the end overcome their differences and fall madly in love.

 

thank God that's not the case because Inuyasha is a prick

 

This was cold, mind-numbing reality, and she really had nothing to offer to the opposite sex, save for some emotional baggage and insecurity. We all know how much guys love that.

 

 

 

 

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Inuyasha sat with his “buddies” at the table, mentally poking at the greasy slice of pepperoni pizza growing stale on the paper plate in front of him.

 

His current bitch, Kikyo, was trying to hang herself all over him, but only managed to slime on his elbow. She was hot, but she smelled like 10 different kinds of nasty and there was definitely a smudge of makeup on his previously nice, clean sleeve.

 

She was partially the reason for his loss of appetite, but other reason was about a thousand times more irritating and unavoidable.

 

His “infatuation” with a girl who has never said a word to him.

 

Kagome Higurashi had the power to make him feel guilty. To make him “feel.” It made him want to vomit. If there was anything Inuyasha could do, it was control, and he could get what he wanted and avoid what he didn't want. There wasn't room for anxiety and compassion, because he just didn't care.

 

A piece of him realized what a selfish and peer-pressure formed dick he was, but he knew the secret. The seedy underbelly that people try to hide behind fake smiles, plastic surgery, and sweat-shop-made designer clothes. Humans are just self-obsessed bastards.

 

He was a believer in Darwin's theory(who knew he cared?). Survival-of-the-fittest. Years were spent carefully structuring the wall he built around himself, and the idea that this one

 

beautiful

 

girl could penetrate his guard was so infuriating that he gripped the table involuntarily in an attempt to satiate the desire to destroy something.

 

He was direct. He settled how their project would work in 5 words. Settled their involvement with one another.

 

And never had he felt like such shit when he saw the look on her face. Inuyasha turned quickly to escape the guilt and went as fast as he could to his next class without looking like a retard.

 

Coward.

 

A loud slam tore Inuyasha from his thoughts and he looked up to see one of his dumbass friends getting very animated about whatever crap he was saying.

 

Miroku, one of his friends and another classmate in Inuyasha's forensics class, was bragging about his spectacular luck in matchmaking a-la the project, “……I got this hot ass girl, Sango. She's bitchy but I like `em feisty. Girls who get with me like that…,” he snapped his fingers for emphasis, “...are boring and nasty as hell. Plus she's a closet nerd so I can get some while gettin' an A. God loves me…” Miroku put on a corny grin and continued his fantasy.

 

Inuyasha, not interested in whatever sick dream Miroku had concerning his “plan” to bed some bitch, abruptly stood up to leave, when Miroku suddenly exclaimed, “Hey, Inuyasha got that prude Higurashi girl. Have fun with that, you'll probably stand next to her and she'll accuse you of rape. What a tightass.”

 

Inuyasha grimaced and responded, “I don't give a shit about that bitch. I just want to finish this project without having to deal with little Miss `I'm-so-shy-but-that's-just-to-hide-all-the-bullshit' any longer than I have to.”

 

Ignoring his friend's odd look, he turned and left, dragging Kikyo with him. She could distract him for a couple hours.

 

 

 

 

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Kagome looked up happily as she heard the front door open and slam closed. She came out of her room and saw that her father and brother were home, and her mother resumed her usual position, glaring at the kitchen table.

 

She decided not to tell them about what happened yesterday. It was her fault anyway, and it would just start a very unpleasant and unneeded fight.

 

Kagome treasured whatever few hours of “normalcy” she got, and her family had gotten used to ignoring the elephant in the room. She hugged her brother and exclaimed, “Souta! Daddy! Why are you so late? I thought you were just going to clean the Thompson's house for a couple of hours,” Kagome exclaimed conversationally, even thought she knew his schedule by heart. She counted the hours she would be stuck at home alone.

 

“Oh, we went shopping and you know the traffic on the way home….Why is this a mess?” Her father asked, tired and frustrated from lack of sleep and the dirty dishes he was pointing to.

 

He worked in construction, waking up at around 4am to work all day and then to work in a few odd jobs later on, including housecleaning. Needless to say, the aggressiveness of his work load and the stress from being the only functioning parent didn't put him in the best of moods.

 

Souta, already tired of their father's bad mood, as cheerfully as he could said, “Hi!” and went to his room to avoid his disgruntled father and unresponsive mother. Kagome smiled weakly at him and turned back to her father.

 

“I'm really sorry Dad, I just forgot….,” Kagome apologized meekly, ashamed and guilty that she had left the kitchen a mess because she had been avoiding her mother, who was still sitting, quietly and motionless, in her chair.

 

She rolled up her sleeves and started to clean the dishes as her father continued on his tirade, “I work all day and I expect a few things out of you. Just clean up the house. I don't know what to do anymore, maybe I ask too much. All I want when I get home from a long day's work is to relax in a nice, clean home…,” Her father trailed off distractedly as he turned on the television and came back to the kitchen to get a cup of water.

 

“How did you get that bruise?” Her father asked offhandedly, as he reached over her to get a clean cup. Kagome momentarily panicked as she realized that the bruise she hid today with a long sleeved shirt was currently exposed, and she tried to act nonchalant.

 

“Oh, I just bumped into a banister when I was walking down the stairs at school. You know how clumsy I am.” Kagome chuckled, an expert liar by now. Years of practice.

 

Her father, satisfied, went back to the couch and half-napped in his spot while Kagome finished the dishes and went back to her room. She changed into her pajamas and sat down to do her homework while she heard her father slightly bickering in Spanish to her mother. Her mother uttered some unintelligible Spanish in response and their argument escalated.

 

As the angry music of the Higurashi household drifted through the walls, Kagome grew drowsy and laid her head on her notebook, just to nap for a little while.

 

 

 

Her father bounced her on his knee, telling her a story of long ago. He was a vivid storyteller when he opened up, and Kagome treasured every moment when he was like this.

 

He spoke of when he was an adventurous young man; a diligent, young Japanese transfer student in Brazil. Kiyoshi Higurashi stuck out like a sore thumb but loved it that way, and was respected despite his ethnicity and cultural differences.

 

He was president of his senior class at the University of Sao Paolo, and dreamt of being a famous chemist who could create a medicine that could cure any disease under the sun.

 

One day, he was walking down the street and was struck dumb by the sight he saw. In the dirty street, congested with people and buildings, there was the loveliest woman he'd ever seen, standing in the middle of the street.

 

She had the most curious expression of bliss on her face, simply glowing…golden in the midst of the urban decay. He walked up to her and inquired, “Miss?”

 

She opened her beautiful blue eyes and murmured, “I'm sorry, the sun…its out. Don't you feel it? Today is new…”

 

Coming back to her senses, she blushed and offered her hand. “Maria Pereira, I apologize, I can act like a child sometimes.” Laughter like the softest, sweetest, music followed.

 

Smiling, Kiyoshi asked her out to lunch and the rest was history. They were both in love and married, and Kiyoshi dreamt of a better future for his children than the dangerous Sao Paolo. They came to the United States, struggled, and Maria became pregnant with Kagome.

 

“And that's when you were born!” Her father twirled Kagome on his knee and she screamed in laughter, loving him. Later on, Kagome realized that he left something out. He was too kind of a man to ever let her know.

 

At the moment she was born, an evil, festering and growing in her mother's womb, was born as well. As Maria held her daughter in her arms, the darkness clouded Maria's mind, and a monster took over.....

 

 

 

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