InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shikon High ❯ Joining Up ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy XI does not belong to me, none of them do, PlayStation2 does not, and neither does Winamp. And, of course, Inu-Yasha doesn't.

A/N: I have no idea about the basis of Final Fantasy XI; only what I've heard. Most of the references in this chapter are from Final Fantasy VIII (my first and favorite FF game!) as well as Final Fantasy X, just to let you know. (I own Final Fantasy VIII-Final Fantasy X as well as Final Fantasy Tactics and all the books, hehe.) If you want to know about the school schedule, please read the Author's Note at the end of the chapter. Ja ne, and on with the story!

Chapter 3: Joining Up

The awkwardness of earlier now set aside, the threesome kept staring at the clock, which looked like a gray box with a tan face and black numbers, of their Japanese History class, praying that the minute hand and the hour hand would mark two o'clock PM within their young lifetimes-they'd headed to study hall and lunch before hand. Right now it was five minutes till. Damn, still enough time to actually learn something from this awful teacher; Kagome found her Chemistry teacher much more riveting; for Inu-Yasha it was his mechanical pencil, which he tried to see how many rotations of the little, circular ring that made the eraser go up and down it took prior to it hitting its stopping point; and Miroku was enjoying counting how many blue lines were in his three-subject notebook.

"Now, class," the nasal-voiced instructor was saying, tapping his yellow chalk on the green chalkboard, "the Sengoku Jidai period was a terrible time for demons and humans alike. This period was roughly from the 1400's to the 1500's." The balding man turned around to stare pointedly at his half-asleep students from behind his thick, square glasses. His beady eyes shifted to where the group of teenaged demons and humans were looking to. A frown crossed his thin lips. "Focus, people," he pushed his spectacles up his long, bony nose, "we're nearly done. Why, in my day-"

"The Sengoku Jidai was occurring all around him," Miroku whispered softly, his gaze not moving from the paper as he started to doodle along the margin of his notebook.

Inu-Yasha and Kagome both stifled a laugh as the history teacher continued, unnoticing the slight giggles from some of his students. "In any case, your assignment is to read chapter five by Thursday. That's two days, people." He whirled around in his black and white saddle shoes, and began transcribing the homework on the board. The chalk squawked and screeched as the man languorously wrote.

Inu-Yasha pressed his dog ears firmly against his skull, adding the coverage of his hands; the sound pierced his eardrums with such little pricks. The problem was, those pricks were numerous, and they all would begin spiraling outward, ripping his eardrums to shreds. He glanced around to find that he wasn't the only one who was protecting precious hearing.

Just as the instructor was going to say more, the bell rang and the students darted out of the classroom as fast as their feet could carry them. The man only looked slightly affronted as he shuffled to his desk with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Gods, if I was stuck in there any longer, I would've killed myself!" the hanyou said, letting out a long breath. "That was so boring."

"And to think I normally like history…" Kagome mumbled with a shake of her head.

Miroku simply nodded, appearing to be absorbed in his green folder and its contents. Lagging after the pair, the monk peered over the edge of the folder, watching as they interacted. Surprisingly, it was good, even if most of their conversation was sarcastic. They seemed to like each other well enough, considering the fact Inu-Yasha normally took his sweet time to warm up to another person. Perhaps…I should give him a nudge in the right direction…still moping over Kikyo is not healthy…. The boy grinned to himself as the hanyou made his way back to him, Kagome having hustled over to her locker where Sango was waving furiously. "Inu-Yasha, do you feel like going to that festival on Saturday?"

Tilting his head, suspecting something was up with Miroku, the dog-demon slowly answered, "Yeah, maybe. Why?"

"Well, maybe it would be a good idea to take Kagome with us so-"

"Why the hell are you suggesting that, monk?!" he queried, figuring that he'd caught the cryptic message. Hmph, no one could put something past him without him noticing it. "Are you trying to get me a date or something?!" He leered at Miroku, leaning towards him with his claws drumming over the cover of his textbook. "Huh? Well, are you?!"

The other boy blinked; his expression vacant for a few seconds, his violet eyes befuddled before quietly smiling again. "Oh, I was just going to say that it would be a lot cheaper if the four of us went together as couples so we wouldn't have to pay so much," replied Miroku brightly, sheepishly scratching the back of his head with a hand, eyes shut while Inu-Yasha did a pratfall. "But I suppose if you do want to go on a date with Kagome, I'm sure all you have to do is ask."

Recovering, Inu-Yasha gawked at Miroku with a look of incredulity. "Are you fucking nuts? Why the hell would I want to ask that wench on a date?"

He shrugged, one arm still encircling his books. Probably because you keep stuttering every time she gets close enough to you…. "Just a suggestion, after all, that was what you'd been expecting me to say, wasn't it?"

"Uh…" the hanyou sweat dropped, his momentum broken. "Just…shut up."

"Hey, guys," Sango greeted, approaching them with Kagome walking in her wake. "How were you?" She pushed her hand through her black hair, letting it resettle on the black, long sleeved shirt she was wearing. Her school bag was against her khaki skirt clad hip.

"The day was nowhere near as wonderful as it is when you're around, my fair Sango," Miroku purred, wrapping his free arm round her shoulder. "Shall we go for a stroll? I can drop you off again if you'd like."

Leaning into him, the girl replied, "Sure, Miroku. But would you mind picking up Kohaku later, too?" She played with the kitty cat keychain hanging off her little, black book bag's zipper for a moment.

Leading her away from the other two, the monk grinned, holding her to him tighter. "Of course not. Oh, Sango, would you like to go to the school festival?"

"Sounds great to me," she replied, unnoticing that her boyfriend turned his head quickly to wink at Inu-Yasha.

Together, the couple promenaded out the side door that was not far from the soccer field. A few, stray autumn leaves scuttled into the white, faux marble hallway as the door swung shut.

Kagome smiled at Inu-Yasha, her little black school bag clasped in her hand. "Well, I'll see you later. Bye, Inu-Yasha!" Giving a small wave, she jogged off; raven hair bouncing along after her.

The hanyou stood there for a moment, watching in the direction in which the girl left. I'll kill that lecher one day. I mean it…. He meandered to his locker and grabbed a few books, shoving them unceremoniously into his briefcase-like school bag-a standard of Japanese students. It's not like it'd be a date… he thought with a slight blush, lengthening the shoulder strap of his bag. I'd just be showing the girl the festival, get her some more company…besides, she's ok, I guess. And, that lecher is right, it'd cost less. Nodding to himself, Inu-Yasha slung the bag's strap over one muscular shoulder. "I'll just ask her later. Oh, yeah, right, she baby-sits that brat Shippo. She'll probably be there to watch him again. I'll talk to her before she goes home."

Deciding to take the short route, Inu-Yasha shot out the same door Miroku and Sango had exited through and ran at full speed passed the trees of the school ground. Maintaining that pace, the hanyou zipped over the sidewalks and leapt over any walls or fences in his way. The air whooshed in his dog ears, and his clothes plastered themselves against him from the sheer rapidity. He slid to a halt just before the front screen door; he'd bounded over the front walk and the lawn. Smirking with satisfaction, he settled himself on the porch swing, tossing his school case to the deck with a small thud. "She'll be here any minute," he told himself, beginning to rock back and forth on the wooden swing.

The sky was a docile periwinkle-just like Kagome's sweatshirt-, and the clouds were a fluffy, white mass. Gentle wind blew, ruffling his silvery hair a bit. It brought tidings of the foliage and of some dying flowers. A few people from school that he didn't really know passed on the sidewalk; he watched them with vague interest. A little brown bird swooped from above and rested on the porch railing not far from Inu-Yasha. It hopped about, twittering a song. He stared at if for a moment, a faint half-grin lighting his face as the bird took off to its nest on the corner of the rain gutter.

He sat there for a while more. Checking his watch, he saw he'd been waiting half an hour. "The hell…? She's late?" he muttered to himself. His mind, without acquiescence, began bringing up all the possibilities, like maybe she was hurt or worse…. He shook it off with a waggle of his light-haired noggin. "Keh, whatever. One way to find out where she is." A bit reluctantly, Inu-Yasha moved from his comfortable spot and trotted down the steps. Walking a curved path to the house next-door, which was positioned a bit further back than his own home, he spotted his prey. "Hey, Shippo!"

Glancing up from his miniature, wooden rocking horse, the fox-child saw Inu-Yasha and frowned. "What do you want?" he asked waspishly, folding his arms tightly over his chest, horsy still swaying to and fro.

"Where's Kagome?" He crouched down in front of the kid.

Shippo stuck his tongue out. "Why do you want to know? Is she your woman or something?"

"Huh?" The hanyou blinked his ambry eyes stupidly for a minute; that definitely wasn't a question he was expecting out of a kindergartener. Forcing the kid's head down into the soil of the flowerbed-Shippo's parents nowhere in sight-Inu-Yasha, in a flash, rose to his feet and whipped around, crossing his arms over his chest. "She ain't my woman!" he snapped defensively back.

Shippo shook his noggin, bits of debris falling from his bright orange hair, mud smeared over his visage. I didn't think it'd get him THAT riled. "Well, my mommy's home today, so Kagome has the day off." He plucked a leaf out of his mop of hair and wondered if he should put it to good use…but decided against it, for fear of his life; he wanted to see the age of six really badly.

Defeated, Inu-Yasha gave a light sigh, his pose slacking and he slumped home. "Feh, thanks, brat." Hopping onto his porch again, ignoring Shippo's insisting remarks that he wasn't a brat, the hanyou shoved his hand into his jeans pocket and retrieved his keys. Fiddling with them, he found the house key and promptly unlocked the dwelling; Kaede wouldn't be home for a while.

Slamming the dark green front door shut, Inu-Yasha jogged up to his room and flung his bag to the polished wood floor. Not having much schoolwork, the dog-hanyou flopped in his computer chair, giving it a whirl around, before to breaking his pc out of sleep mode; his screen saver popped up briefly with the message of "If you care to taste the ground, feel free to attack me" scrolling over the monitor. Logging online, thankful for cable internet access, the boy joined the many other online gamers of the world. Double-checking that his PlayStation2 was hooked up, Inu-Yasha went to the website for Final Fantasy XI and logged in. Seeing if his teammates, i.e. Sango and Miroku were on, which they weren't, the hanyou begrudgingly started his character's trek from Timber to Galbadia Garden by himself; it was always more fun when you had a companion. He was still staying at the inn with the little train set on the lower left-hand side of the screen.

His original character, Tetsuo, was like him in…well…every way. He just didn't want some psychopathic weirdo knowing his name or falling in love with him; some people would get so attached that they'd want you to be willing to die with them in real life. Crazy people. Inu-Yasha took the PS2 controller in his hand and went to work, keyboard resting in his lap.

Moving Tetsuo into the streets of the liberated Timber, he spotted a struggle going on not far off on the screen. The game-having been automated to utilize the player's voice for their character, for realistic affect, in addition to inputting habits-showed a young woman with long, raven-black hair struggling against four bulky-looking clunk-heads. Venturing to them, he could hear the woman's cries of protest louder through his speakers.

"Let me go!" she screamed. "I told you, I don't want to go with you!" She was completely unable to reach her weapon, a bow and arrows, or do much else; the guys had grabbed her arms and had hoisted her high off the ground, her feet kicking wildly in the air.

If there was one thing Inu-Yasha/Tetsuo couldn't stand, it was stupid assholes that thought they could waltz about and order others around. People like them just pissed him off. "Hey, you stupid fuckers!" Tetsuo bellowed at them, crackling the knuckles irately. "Leave her alone."

One of the four, presumably the leader, as he'd been eyeing the girl, looked at him with a bored expression on his face before flipping him off. "You scrawny pest, get out of here. It's dangerous for a girl to be traveling alone."

Tetsuo snorted, as did his real life counterpart. "Keh, whatever." He swiped at the two grasping the mysterious, young woman player's right arm with his claws; they released her immediately, as did the other one on her left. Drawing her into him when he caught her, Tetsuo smirked at the angry few. "What are you gonna do? Fight me?" The screen swirled, initiating a battle sequence. "Can you fight?" he asked the girl in his arms.

She nodded. "Yes, I can. I've accepted the battle."

The names of the four thugs popped up, as did the mystery girl's. She called herself Amaya. Her hit points, HP, were quite good especially since she didn't seem to be the strict warrior type he was.

The guys, although large, weren't nearly as strong as Tetsuo and Amaya; however, one of the louts had an Ultima spell and cast it on them. It drained at least half of their maximum HP. Amaya was then bowled over by the leader of the gang, and her HP hit critical; he'd used a Limit Break on her.

Not wanting the girl to pass out, Tetsuo was about to use an X-potion on her -one of the many he had-when he heard her cry out, "Sacred Arrow!" She emanated a massive, bright light around one of her arrows and she shot it at the four, knocking all of them out cold.

The battle concluded and they were victorious, gaining Gil and experience points.

"Are you all right, girl?" Tetsuo/Inu-Yasha asked, lending her a hand out of common courtesy since she was slumped on her knees; the thugs from earlier retreated, having to nurse their wounds.

Accepting his hand, she nodded as she allowed him to pull her to her feet. "Yes. I'm Amaya. You're Tetsuo?"

"Yeah. What are you doing away from your party?"

Amaya laughed and smiled; for some reason, to Inu-Yasha, the sound of the player's laugh sounded familiar. "I don't have one. Thanks for all your help. I guess I'll be on my way."

She looks and sounds so familiar…. But who? Mentally slapping himself, Inu-Yasha said into his microphone, "No, wait." He had Tetsuo grab the girl's wrist. "I'm not traveling with my companions right now; they're up at Galbadia Garden. We don't have a very good mage or anything, so would you be interested in joining our entourage?" Ok, he normally didn't like inviting people into Sango, Miroku, and his group, but he had just witnessed her unbelievable Limit Break…and he felt he should protect her, like he was obligated to. Shit, he was turning into one of those loopy people that fell in love over the internet! All right, not quite, but it was that déjà vu feeling of duty….

Amaya stared at him for a second, thinking. "Well, you're an awesome fighter, and I guess I shouldn't be on my own. It's more fun with other people…. Sure, I'll join you, Tetsuo."

Another little screen blipped onto Inu-Yasha's monitor stating that she was going to join and asking if he would accept. He hit the 'X' button on the PS2 controller to affirm and he, along with his new companion, started going towards Galbadia Garden. Releasing her wrist, he asked, "Hey, Amaya, what's that Limit Break called?"

Kagome stretched in front of the computer monitor for a moment; Buyo, the fat, calico cat, curled in her lap. Smiling, she stroked the obese fur ball. She gently pushed the feline off, and scooted closer to the keyboard, the PlayStation2 controller resting beside it at the moment. Adjusting the microphone by her mouth, her character Amaya responded, to this Tetsuo guy, her new companion, "It's called Purification."

She and her new friend traversed out of Timber and into the plains on the way to Galbadia Garden, where Tetsuo told her that the rest of his group was waiting, to which he said he was the leader. They came across a few random battles, but nothing they couldn't handle amidst chatting; in their fight with the four thugs, they were concentrating more on defeating the enemy before conversing any. When they reached the woods that was just before the destination, the pair encountered a set of three Wendigos; horrible creatures that were not only ugly, like a mess of green and yellow and muscle-bound, but incredibly mean. They took quite a few chomps out of Amaya's HP, but she managed to keep her strength up by casting Protect on herself and Tetsuo. The boy unleashed a wicked Limit Break that he later told her was called Tetsusaiga, the same as his sword.

Upon reaching Galbadia Garden, Amaya/Kagome liked her slightly grumpy, very sarcastic, companion, swearing and all; there was this feeling of trust she got from him…something about him really rang familiar. She didn't know what, but how was she supposed to know that Tetsuo was Inu-Yasha at that moment?

Amaya and Tetsuo strolled around the Garden until they came to the spot where his friends had designated as the meeting place.

"You know, for a magic user, you're not half bad a fighter, that is, if you can keep your Hit Points up," Tetsuo said, giving her a backhanded compliment.

She laughed, rolling her eyes. "Oh, thanks, I think I'm doing pretty well considering the HP handicap. At least I can utilize both magic and a weapon."

"Keh, yeah, yeah, whatever." He turned his nose up, crossing his arms.

Kagome peered intently at the computer screen prior to blinking a few times, drawing the microphone away from her mouth for a second. "'Keh'? Inu-Yasha says that all the time. And the pose is just like his, too…. Well, and he obviously looks like him, but looks can be deceiving. Hmm…I wonder…." Grinning, Kagome returned the microphone to its former location and stretched her fingers before typing in an action. Her character Amaya playfully poked Tetsuo in the stomach. "Ok, so where are your friends?"

The boy instinctively laid a hand over the place where he'd been lightly jabbed. "They're not on right now." He frowned, his dog ears twitching in aggravation. "Lazy bums."

She watched those ears for a moment before reaching up and giving them both a good tweak. She giggled impishly as he growled at her, though not making a move to stop her. She finally ceased. "Sorry, but I couldn't resist…."

"You're not the first one to do that," he grunted back.

The unknowing pair spent the rest of the night together, and Amaya/Kagome got to meet Tetsuo/Inu-Yasha's companions. A smooth-tongued guy called Yuki and his sassy girlfriend Sora. The new addition to the entourage really liked her companions and was looking forward to their journey to get to the ultimate bosses and the 'end' of the game…which could take literal months or years, depending how much they dawdled and much free time they all had.

"Tetsuo, are you going to do what I was suggesting earlier?" Yuki asked as they all battled three Chimeras and two Gold Elementals.

The dog eared boy ignored the guy with the staff as he attacked a Chimera, unleashing a great crash of energy.

"What're they talking about, Sora?" inquired Amaya as she cast alternating Waterga spells on the two Gold Elementals, having already cast Triple on herself.

Sora knocked back a Chimera coming towards her and her new female pal with a large boomerang that she referred to as Hiraikotsu. "Beats me. Probably some bonehead scheme they're planning."

A Gold Elemental cast Thundara on Tetsuo, knocking him down 600 HP out of his 4, 894 maximum. Yuki used a bit of White Magic to restore about 482 HP to his friend. "It is not a stupid scheme, my dear," the boy said as the battle concluded when the aforementioned youth used another strong bushido technique; they gained more Gil and some new armor. "I'll tell you later when he's not around."

Sora nodded. "Fine by me."

Amaya smiled. "Well, I gotta log off; my little brother's bugging for the PlayStation2. Later!"

The rest called their good-byes as she took off.

Kagome slid out of the chair and stared at Sota, who had his hand out, awaiting the PS2 controller to be placed within it. "Get it yourself. I'm not your servant."

He stuck his tongue. "Whatever, Kagome." He scurried over to the game system, unhooked it, and set it up in front of the TV in the room.

Rolling her eyes, the girl walked out and into the hall, making her way leisurely to her bedroom. "Huh, that really sounded like Miroku, Sango, and Inu-Yasha. I think I'll ask them about it…." She gave a petite yawn as she entered her bedroom, a book tucked underneath her arm. "Maybe I'll just crash. I was reading history while playing…." Without further ado, the girl gathered her night clothes and trotted off to take a relaxing bath.

The next day of school, the day started off for Kagome with P.E. class…well; actually, she talked to her new friends prior to class. Coincidentally, all three of them had greeted her at her locker. "Good morning," she said, after their good wishes-or, Inu-Yasha's case, a grunt-and smiled. Staying quiet for a moment, she figured this instant was the best to approach her friends with her question. "Do you guys play Final Fantasy XI?" shyly asked the girl.

The threesome exchanged befuddled glances.

"Yeah," Sango replied slowly, before it clicked. "Oh! You're Amaya, aren't you?"

Kagome nodded vigorously and giggled. "Yeah, so I joined you guys again."

"That's great. Now we can keep in better contact." The girl beamed happily at this new development with her friend.

Raising an eyebrow in amusement, Miroku put in, "I had no idea you were that good."

"Hehe, thanks. My little brother Sota plays games a lot, too. I normally don't get to, well, didn't get to, because of school."

"Yeah, well…" Inu-Yasha mumbled with a grunt, not looking at her, opting for his shoes, for once again saying his lame line, "you're a natural, if nothing else." His face felt a little warm, nothing noticeable, but it had that strange heat he gained when he was around her like this….

Stunned at first, she grinned at the bashful-looking half-demon, enjoying his compliment. "Thanks, Inu-Yasha. Going to take me to P.E.?"

"Yeah. Sango's with you, again, so you're lucky. I'm stuck with Miroku," he got bopped by the Buddhist monk, "in Psychology." He didn't move from his position of having his fists jammed in his pockets. "I'll pick you up right after class."

"Ok."

Sango's eyes darted from Inu-Yasha to Kagome and then to Miroku, who gave a slight cough. She gave a small gasp, her eyes going a little wide as a rather giddy smile made its way to her lips, remembering what Miroku had told her the night before about setting the other pair up as well as Inu-Yasha's bout of protectiveness. "Hey, why don't I walk Kagome to class for you, Inu-Yasha? Miroku said he had something to talk to you about," she suggested, getting her boyfriend's hint.

"H-hey, wait a minute, Sango!" he called, but she and the other girl had already jogged out to the gymnasium. The hanyou stood there, stupid, for a moment before sighing and glaring at the monk. "All right, what do you want?"

"Are you going to ask her, or not?" was his friend's simple answer. Seeing as Inu-Yasha wasn't saying anything yet, he decided to fill in the silence. "Well, I have noticed how you refer to getting Kagome as 'picking her up'. Is there some form of foreshadowing there?" He smirked as his dog-demon friend took a blind swing at him. "Ah, I'll take that as a yes!" Miroku ran off as fast as he could, Inu-Yasha hot on his trail as they made their way to Psychology, their books already in the classroom.

Sango and Kagome's Physical Education class was fairly…boring. Most of the girls there were the really prissy sort; not that these two didn't do some girly stuff, but some of them in there were supremely stupid. All were dressed in the shorts, green of course, that hit like the bottom part of a traditional one-piece swimsuit and all the girls with long hair had put it up into high ponytails. Over this, they all wore baggy, white sweatshirts that had a single stripe of green on each cuff. The prissy girls were giggling about how cute their Physical Education clothes were; the aforesaid pair wondered how these Barbie dolls even passed the entrance exams. Thankfully, there came a time for some fun that came in the form of archery.

"I'm really good at this," Kagome mumbled to Sango as they all picked up bows, the arrows in tall, metal tubes at the front of the lines. "I practice all the time out in the grove by the shrine."

"Whoa, you practice at a shrine?" the other girl asked as they proceeded up the line, blinking her chocolaty eyes, looking very impressed and surprised.

She dipped her head with a cheerful grin, knocking an arrow onto her bow. "Yeah, I live at the Sunset Shrine. My grandfather is the priest." Pivoting her body, Kagome carefully aimed and let loose her arrow.

Coach Izuko, who taught all the P.E. classes, had been observing the, for the most part, girls' less than stellar archery; however, he saw Kagome's go whizzing over to the target, a faint light coming off it before it hit around the bull's-eye. "Damn…" he whispered, his dark eyes sparkling as a new proposition lit in his mind. Taking long strides to the two celebrating girls at the back of the line, Coach Izuko called out, "Excuse me," he glimpsed at his attendance sheet, "Miss Higurashi?"

Kagome stopped chatting with Sango and turned her attention to her teacher. "Yes, sir?"

"Your aim is spectacular. I've only seen one other archer that was that good and she left," he went on, a grin spread over his furry face.

Sango, however, frowned at the mention of the other archer and stood, somewhat defensively, behind her friend.

"O-oh, well, thank you. I practice quite a bit at home." She blushed lightly as she peered downwards, fingers intertwining humbly.

"Kagome, I want to sign you up for the Tokyo Weapons Tournament."

"H-huh?" She stared at the bright, dark haired person before her. "Are you sure?"

He nodded like an eager child. "Yes, of course! Shall I make arrangements to add you to the registry?"

"Uh…" she glanced at the other girl.

"I'm in the tournament, too, Kagome. Miroku and Inu-Yasha both are, if that's what you're worried about," Sango said, reading the uncertain look on her face.

Smiling, Kagome bobbed her head. "All right, Coach Izuko, I'll join the tournament."

"Great!" The man clapped his swarthy hands together happily, making him drop his attendance clipboard with a smack. "You'll have all the information you'll need at lunch."

After showering and changing back into their other clothes, as well as letting their hair down, Sango and Kagome decided to occupy them selves as they waited for Inu-Yasha to come; Sango hadn't been all that keen on the news of the pervert in her friend's Computer Tech class.

"I hate people like that," she muttered, still frowning a bit. At least Miroku…has…um…stopped…? Or…lessened his horizon of candidates and frequency…. Sango sighed, a sweat drop sliding down her face at her unvoiced conclusions. Well, at least he wasn't cheating on her…. She tapped her foot, for something better to do, and glanced at her watch. Getting annoyed at the two 'geniuses' was more than enough to cheer her up. "Where is Inu-Yasha and Miroku?"

The boys in question had spent a good deal of psychology making Chinese footballs and aiming them at their teacher's overly done, American-1980's hairdo. Or hair-don't was more like it.

"Bet she could put a bird nest in there…" Miroku joked in a hushed whisper as the oblivious woman turned to write on the marker board.

Inu-Yasha smirked at his friend, aiming for a second and flicking his football for her column of hair as he remarked, "I think a bird wouldn't need a nest." He waited as the little, triangular paper wedged itself in the woman's poodle-like, spray can curls. Inu-Yasha leaned back into his chair, satisfied. "A whole migrating flock could move in there for winter without worries."

Miroku held out his palm as his pal slapped it, though mutely. "Nice one there, Dog Boy."

"Keh."

"What happens to be so much more interesting than the complexities of one's psyche, Mr. Saragaku and Mr. Tanaka?" the bushy-haired teacher asked crossly when she turned around, narrowing her eyes at the two troublemakers.

Raising an eyebrow at Miroku, Inu-Yasha waited for his friend to think of some grandiose scheme to save their asses from a lame detention. And the monk, never to let his loyal 'fans' down, came up with nice cover story.

"Well," he said slowly, rising to his feet, having slid out the side of his desk, "ma'am, Inu-Yasha and I were discussing how one's mind can complicate a person's outlook on even the most simple of functions. An example would be that just because we are laughing, our instructors automatically assume that we are disrespecting them." The boy placed a dramatic hand over his heart, feigning the cruelty of it all. "We just feel so…at ease when in the classroom, that we unwind a bit, making completing our assignments easier for the courses we feel more zealous about." Miroku lavishly bowed, returning to his seat, sighing overly heavy, ignoring the snickers of some of the other students. "But, if you must punish Inu-Yasha and I for such behavior, what can I say but that you must do what you must."

The hanyou was having trouble not laughing or bopping Miroku for even making a suggestion to detention; however, having been through this a thousand times before, he'd learned the same routine. It wasn't like the monk was stealing things or doing something like blackmail…well, not during school hours…as far as the faculty knew.

Taken aback, the teacher smiled slowly. "My apologies. I thought there was some form of shenanigans occurring, but apparently I'm losing my touch. Ahem," she cleared her throat, "read chapter three and I expect a five hundred word essay on the phases in which sleeping is broken into, due next time we meet." The ball rang. "Good-bye class."

"At ease in the classroom my ass," Inu-Yasha muttered as he and the other boy were out in the buzzing hallway. He frowned. "You're so tainted, so corrupted…."

Miroku grinned quietly. "At least I'm not stupid," he retorted.

"I'm not a monk!" the hanyou shot back, a very faint half-smirk lighting his face. "And I'm not stupid…. You lying bastard…."

"Why thank you, Inu-Yasha. I'm flattered."

The two walked along to the gym entrance-the interior one-and decided to play a small game of 'let's shove each other like idiots for the hell of it' on their venture. They weren't pushing very hard, just light nudges. When they passed by Kouga's locker, they simultaneously whammed the unsuspecting wolf-demon's head into his locker door. As not to get caught, the pair managed to skid around the corner and ran into Kaede.

"Good morning, boys," she said softly, peering at them with the sneaking suspicion that they were up to some form of mischief.

"Good morning, Ms. Kaede." The monk bowed. "Inu-Yasha and I were going to find Sango and Kagome."

The old lady principal nodded, her eye twinkled. "You two wouldn't be up to no good again, would you, by chance?"

Placing his hand over his heart, Miroku struck an abashed pose. "Ms. Kaede, how could ever suspect that we would ever do any such thing?"

She shook her head with a faint laugh. "Ah, what this school wouldn't be without you two…." With that she ambled passed them, still chuckling to herself as she returned to her office.

Both smirking, knowing they had Kaede's endorsement in the high jinks department, the best friends strode up to the chatting girls.

"About time you got here," Sango scolded. "What have you been up to?"

Not wishing to answer, Miroku gave his girlfriend his response in a form of a quick kiss on the lips. "Oh, nothing out of the ordinary."

She sighed, yet smiled nonetheless. "Sure. Bye, Kagome. I'll talk to you later."

The girl waved at her friend. "See ya, Sango." She turned to Inu-Yasha, who had been leaning up against the brick wall outside the gymnasium. "Inu-Yasha?" she asked, tipping her head.

The hanyou was a bit absorbed in his thoughts. Like usual, the dog-demon had one arm cradling his books loosely at his side by his upper leg, a fang slipped over his bottom lip as he contemplated. Should I ask her? How? I mean, I AM supposed to help her after all, and I could've gotten stuck with some real slut rather than Kagome so…. But it's not a date or anything-

"Inu-Yasha?" queried Kagome again, waving her hand in front of his glassy eyes.

His intelligent reply was a bewildered, "What?" He blinked his ocher orbs for a second. His heart caught in his throat and it caused his whole esophagus to tremble; he tried to breathe but couldn't. Why was his body reacting this way around her? Still befuddled, Inu-Yasha gazed down at the girl when he finally noticed the reason for his actions; Kagome was very close to his chest, so near, in fact, he could feel the warmth emanating off her small form.

"Class? I don't know where the choir room is." She backed up a bit, a shade of confusion rippling in her stormy eyes. What's up with Inu-Yasha? I wonder what he's thinking about….

Joggling his head, dog boy knocked himself out of his stupor, inclining off the wall. "Come on." He motioned with his hand for her to follow and she complied. "The instructor is a really nice guy, actually. You'll like him."

She bobbed her noggin. "'k." She glanced at the analog clock on the corridor wall. "Oh no! We're going to be late!"

"Huh?" Glancing at his wristwatch, Inu-Yasha swore. "Damn, only two minutes. Don't wanna be late?" He grabbed her around the waist gently. "Neither do I!" The hanyou ran passed the stragglers, weaving around things to the choral hall and zipping into the practice room, which was deserted as everyone else was in the main chamber. "You ok?" The boy looked down at Kagome to find she had one arm still wrapped tightly around his upper arm-the one he'd snatched her with-with her face buried in his chest. He flushed lightly. "K-Kagome…?"

She released her grip, glimpsed around, and, quite pink over her countenance, the girl murmured, "You're…really fast…." I was so close to him…. Her heart gave an extra hard thump, the blush over her face deepening a tad more at the recent feeling of her head resting on his firm chest…it felt so…nice…and comforting….

"Heh. Come on." He gently seized hold of her, a little lower than her wrist, and walked hurriedly into the choir room.

Upon entering, a boy came rushing over. "Hello, Inu-Yasha! I almost thought you were going to be late."

"Oh? Hey, Nobunaga. No, I ran all the way here. This is Kagome." He motioned to the girl beside him with a tip of his head.

The boy grinned at her and bowed. "I'm Amari Nobunaga. It's nice to meet you."

Kagome bowed in return, smiling, too. "Likewise." When the bell rang, her face settled into contentment.

When his charge had repeated the polite action, Inu-Yasha realized, as he sensed something pull his arm slightly downwards, that he was still grasping her wrist…no, wait, his palm was cupped over hers…he was holding her hand…. Shit! He swiftly released her, mentally combating against the oncoming blush that so wished to rise over the bridge of his nose.

Kagome didn't say anything if she noticed.

"Nobunaga?" a girl's voice called, the aforementioned boy's face turned crimson in an instant as he turned to face the speaker.

"Ts-Tsuyu…."

Tsuyu skipped over to him, a pacific smile over her pretty visage. "I was looking for you earlier. I wanted to return these." She handed him a notebook. "Your notes were really helpful."

He blushed. "W-well, thank you, Tsuyu…."

Her coffee eyes lighted upon Kagome. "Oh, are you the new girl? I'm Mizumi Tsuyu. I'm the choral booster president. I'm glad you've decided to join us."

The girl smiled. "Thanks. I'm Higurashi Kagome."

"Kagome?" a new woman's voice inquired curiously.

Pivoting her head, she started laughing at what she saw. "Miroku, Sango, I didn't lose you two for long, did I?"

They both shook their heads, chuckling themselves.

"Who knew we'd run into each other so soon?" Sango giggled. "Are you being tested today?"

"Oh, you mean for placement? I guess."

A plump faced man waltzed happily over to Kagome. "Miss Higurashi, it's a pleasure to meet you finally, especially after all the good things I've heard about you," he briskly said, all in one breath. "I'm Mr. Ashitomi. Please, follow me."

With a smile, she nodded and trotted after the director to his office. He asked her to perform very minor things, like singing up and down the scale, sight-read a piece of music, clap a rhythm, and sing part of song on a 'la'.

Mr. Ashitomi simply beamed when she finished. "Good, good. Very good, Kagome. You're a first soprano due the pitch of your voice."

The girl blushed but smiled as she set the piece of music she'd been using on top of the ebony piano. "Thank, sir. Where do I sit?"

"Wherever there's an open spot."

She nodded her thanks and trotted out. Taking note of where all of her friends were, Kagome saw that Nobunaga was in the tenors, seated not far off from Inu-Yasha; Miroku was in the baritones and Sango was in the altos. Glimpsing at the sopranos, the girl was relieved to see Tsuyu by an open spot, waving and motioning for her to join her.

Choir was wonderful; the music department sure knew their stuff. Everything sounded so pretty, smooth, and balanced. The beautiful sound echoed off the white walls and the high ceiling. Posters of past choir trips were framed along the room. Seemed as if they'd been everywhere, from Tokyo Central to New York City to Paris to London to every place imaginable. Kagome wondered if maybe they would go on a trip this year and if they did, where?

In the interim between the end of choir and first shift lunch, she spotted Miroku and Inu-Yasha conversing avidly with Nobunaga, who was turning redder than a tomato and shaking his head vigorously. Inu-Yasha threw his hands in the air in exasperation, and Miroku looked disapprovingly. What could they be talking about?

"If you like her, just ask her out, damn it, instead of complaining to us!" Inu-Yasha said for the millionth time.

"But I can't!" Nobunaga squeaked, jiggling his thick cranium bashfully. "I can't just up and ask her…."

Miroku sat there, silent for a moment. "When I asked Sango to go on a date with me, I was quite nervous. Like you and Tsuyu, she and I had been childhood friends. I had loved her from afar-"

"Though no one could've been quite sure whilst you sat amidst your puddle of drool as the pretty girls passed by," muttered the hanyou, slouched over with elbows on his knees, and his jaw resting on one of his palms.

"-and I took a deep breath and finally asked her. She accepted rather happily-"

"After laughing her ass off from disbelief…."

"-and the rest is history. You merely have to ask Tsuyu to the festival. It will not hurt."

"What if she says 'no'?" inquired Nobunaga, distraught, hands grasping tightly onto his black hair, practically ripping it out of his scalp.

Inu-Yasha grunted and sighed, making a very strange sound. "You'll deal with rejection later. Look, either you ask her out, or I'll ask her for you. I'm pretty damn tired of you complaining about lack of worthiness. You're a good guy, a bit dense and klutzy, but good."

Distressed, the boy stared at the other guys and nodded, after gulping audibly. "A-all right. I-I-I will…. I will." Purposely, Nobunaga stood up and strode over to the girl-of-his-dreams. "T-Tsuyu?"

Whirling away from her folder stacking duty, she smiled at the boy. "Oh, hi, Nobunaga. How are you?"

"Tsuyu, I want to know if…if…" he felt something smack the back of his head and he hastily babbled out, "if you'll go with me to the festival?"

The girl stood there, shocked for a moment, blinking. Softly, she said, "Nobunaga…?"

Fearing rejection, he lowered his skull, bangs drifting over his eyes. "Yes?"

"There's a rock sitting on your head."

Standing somewhere between a pratfall and erect, Nobunaga gawked incredulously at Tsuyu. "Y-yes, Tsuyu."

She smiled at him and giggled. "You're always so sweet!" Her eyes softened, matching her smile. "Going to the festival…I'd love to go with you!"

"R-really?" He clasped her hands in his in amazement, praying that he wasn't hearing wrong.

She nodded. "Really!"

"How sweet," Inu-Yasha sarcastically mumbled from his perch on the chair beside Miroku, who'd dropped by, in the tenor section; he stared at the happy couple, Nobunaga appearing as if his heart just restarted via electric shock. He flipped a rock expertly in his fingers before shoving it in his jeans pocket.

"It is, isn't it?" the monk grinned at the hanyou. "So, are you going to ask Kagome?"

He grouched back, face contorted in irritation, "Aw, fuck, Miroku, get off my back."

The boy shrugged at his pal's actions. "Remember, it's not a date unless you want it to be."

"Yeah, yeah…whatever…." Inu-Yasha sighed as Miroku leapt down the risers to Sango and Kagome, and promenaded out with them. To ask Kagome…. Why is this so damn hard? All I have to do is say 'Hey, you feel like going to that festival?' but NOOO. It has to be difficult. Damn it all…. Just because I'm not with Kikyo doesn't mean…. A voice in his mind coyly asked, Doesn't mean what? You don't have to stew over her any more. You can move on. Miroku's right, it doesn't have to be a date unless you want it to be. It won't be so bad. She's what…an acquaintance, potential friend? No shame in that, right? The hanyou boy sighed, finally exiting the choral room. "Right…no shame in that…."

At lunch, Coach Izuko nearly flew over to Kagome, a packet in his large hand. Grinning broadly, he handed the white envelop to her. "Here's all the information you'll need. I really appreciate you signing up. You won't regret it!"

Nodding, the girl took the packet and carefully placed it in her book bag. "Thank you, Mr. Izuko. When do you want me to practice with everyone else?"

"Oh, your first practice will be on Monday. I'll update your schedule; I want you to first get used to the feel of Shikon High." His dark eyes drifted over her tablemates. "Ah, so you've made friends not only with Sango, but with Miroku and Inu-Yasha as well." He smiled at her. "Have a nice lunch period."

"Hmm? Are you going to be joining us in the tournament, Kagome?" asked Miroku with a tilt of his head, wiping his fingers off on some paper napkins.

"Yup. Mr. Izuko saw my archery and thought I was pretty good."

"Pretty good?" Sango echoed back with a laugh. "Kagome's shots are near perfect. It's unbelievable."

"W-well…." The girl blushed, looking down as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Inu-Yasha sat quietly eating his chicken sandwich, his thoughts perpetuating on the same track as earlier. He merely gave a mute dip of his platinum-haired noggin in recognition and kudos.

After lunch, the group had finished up the choir period and sped off to their classes; Sango and Miroku went to Accounting 2, followed by their Journalism 3 class, while Inu-Yasha and Kagome went through an English course-which passed without incident--and had an extra study hall in the media center, a.k.a. the library, afterwards.

Kagome leaned over Trigonometry book, nibbling on the eraser of her pencil for a moment. She sighed as she re-read the problem, looking a bit annoyed. "Stupid math…" she muttered under her breath. "I just can't seem to figure out this dumb word problem…."

Sitting across from her at the round table, Inu-Yasha peered up from his Chemistry book that he'd been 'reading' for a while. Well, at least he knew that plasma was a high-temperature physical state of matter in which atoms lose their electrons, due to re-reading that line for twenty minutes…. I'm going to ask…when…? Now? No, she's seems fairly busy-well, too bad! I'll ask her…later. Yeah, later today…. Obviously, as anyone could guess, the hanyou was, indeed, staring rather cagily at the girl with him. She appeared really sweet, and kind of cute, with that slight pout on her visage, the top part of her pencil tapping against her rosy lips as she contemplated. I bet her lips are really soft…Uh, oops, he thought she looked cute and… He sensed the flush in his face as he buried it in his book. Now plasma wasn't the only thing that was a physical state that was at a high temperature.

"How should I know…?" murmured the girl in annoyance at her textbook.

Finally tearing himself away from his book, Inu-Yasha asked gruffly, "Need some help there, girl?"

"Hmm?" She turned her cobalt eyes to him and nodded with a sigh. "Yeah, I don't really understand what they want me to do…."

"Here." The hanyou got up and leaned over next to her. "Let me show you." He took the mechanical pencil from her grasp and began explaining the formulas to her from the chapter.

Kagome bobbed her head slowly as she listened to his clarification of the story problem, and it actually made a lot more sense. Out of the corner of her eye, the girl caught a glimpse of Inu-Yasha's profile, a forelock of his resting on her shoulder as he continued to illustrate the steps in her notebook; he was pretty close, now that she noticed it, but it wasn't all that bad. She felt a petite shiver tingle throughout her body. Weird…I guess it's the fact his hair is tickling my cheek, she thought with a slight shrug. She suppressed a giggle as the dog-demon finished.

"What's so funny?" he queried, scrutinizing her for a moment.

"Oh, nothing," she waved her hand, as he turned his head to look more at her face.

"What?" He moved his cranium more towards Kagome and she laughed more. "What?!"

"Your hair tickles, Inu-Yasha," she finally admitted with a tiny blush, fighting down another laugh.

"Huh?" He saw their nearness-especially the proximity of his lips to hers-thank the gods she's still got her eyes closed--and straightened up. He grunted a, "Sorry," before taking his seat again.

"Thanks for helping me out. It really makes sense."

Inu-Yasha gawked at her for a minute, waggled his head, and replied defiantly against his embarrassment, "Keh! Well, I was getting tired of hearing you mumble to yourself. It was getting on my nerves."

In return, Kagome glared at him. "Hmph…." She went back to her work, unnoticing of the smirk spreading on the boy's face.

The next few days went by without much excitement…that is, until Friday….

"Hey, Kagome! Wait up!" a male voice hollered out.

Turning a bit, the girl found herself looking into the cerulean eyes of Sawamura Kouga. "O-oh! Morning, Kouga," she greeted back, jumping to the rear, simply because she was startled.

Inu-Yasha, who was walking along with her, snorted distastefully at the wolf.

"Something up your nose, mutt?"

"Feh, only reek of wolf that overpowers it." His grip on the new girl's arm became a little stronger, and he drew her closer beside him. "What exactly are you doing here, you flea-bitten meat puppet?"

Rolling his eyes, the Wolf-Demon Gang Leader shifted his gaze to Kagome again with a cocky grin, ignoring the dog-hanyou. "Well, Kagome, I was just planning on taking you to the festival. Hang around after school and you can come to my place. My family's rich, so you'll have quite a few choices when it comes to kimonos and yukatas."

"Uh…" was her only, bewildered, answer as she stood there, blinking.

WHAT?! Don't tell me she's actually going to say 'YES' to that stupid bastard! Inu-Yasha began to growl possessively. "Fuck off, Kouga, you man-bitch! Come on, Kagome, let's go." Not giving her any time to utter a word, the hanyou swiftly dragged the girl by the arm away from the wolf-demon. That damned wolf…how dare he talk to Kagome that way!

"I-Inu-Yasha?" she queried, eyes wide with surprise. What's up with him? Did he really think I was going to agree? Was he worried? …Or jealous? Her eyes grew at the thought of the possibility.

He simply grunted something to her in passing on the way to her Home Economics class.

Peering at him, Kagome inquired, "What was that, Inu-Yasha? I didn't quite catch it."

The boy, in reply, garbled something again.

Shaking her head, the girl interrogated once more, "I still can't hear you. My hearing is only human after. What did you say?" He seemed fairly quiet until she noticed some very peculiar sound coming from him.

"Didn't you hear me that time?" he asked rigidly.

Kagome waggled her head. "Um, no," she replied timidly; she heard that noise again, and she was positive he was growling. Uh-oh…I hope I didn't do something to upset him….

The snarling got louder until he finally whipped her around to face him and he hollered exasperatedly at her, "I ASKED IF YOU'D GO TO THE SCHOOL FESTIVAL WITH ME, WENCH!"

The entire hallway-no, scratch that-the entire school went silent and froze as they awaited Kagome's answer; all eyes were turned at the awkward pair; Inu-Yasha's clawed hand on her upper arm, and Kagome's shocked expression as they stood in the middle of the corridor.

"Uh…sure…" she said softly, gazing at him carefully. What in the world…?

Later…

"My, Inu-Yasha, that was one way to ask Kagome out, and let the whole school now while you were at it," Miroku chuckled later in the locker room before gym.

From underneath the white towel on his head, "Just…shut up, Miroku…just…shut up…."

~*~*~*~*~

A/N: Ok, this chapter is largely dedicated to SaNgO _Chan595 for her numerous reviews. ^^ There are many other people. Actually, I was going to put Kagome in the tournament, so for those of you who were suggesting it, well, you read my mind. Inu-Yasha's name can be spelled several ways:

Inu-Yasha
Inuyasha
Inu-yasha
InuYasha
Inu Yasha
Inu yasha

I have seen it spelled all these ways so I just thought I'd clarify. Also, Kouga's name can be spelled two ways, Kouga or Koga. (Some of the names have different spellings, due to how things sound in Japanese versus English.) Also, I know how to spell Tetsusaiga; this is the first time I've mentioned it in this story, in all the others it is spelled this way. It can also be spelled Tessaiga.

Don't threaten to blow rockets up my ass, that really pisses me off, and discourages me to write. Thank you to all those that have cheered me on and especially to BJLee with all the e-mails.

Inu-Yasha: You don't know when to give up, do you?

Hell no.

Inu-Yasha: *sigh* What shit are you going to get me into?

If I told you, there'd be no fun for me, now would there be, my fine, doggy eared friend?

Inu-Yasha: Help….

Well, please check out my other stories and READ AND REVIEW!! I love reviews and e-mail. My e-mail is: hanyou_miko_dreamer@hotmail.com

Thanks again, and have great days; I'll write when I can, school has started.

Ja ne,

~Moonlight Shadow