InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Centre ❯ Good Deeds ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter three, coming right up!

 

Disclaimer: Don't own Inuyasha. (Sounds a little bitter, doesn't it? ^_^;;)

 

Chapter Three: Good Deeds

 

 

Kagome arrived at the herb garden five minutes later, sweating and out of breath. None of the other mikos kneeling by various plants gave her so much as a glance—this was not an uncommon occurrence for her—but the old, grey-haired woman standing in their midst fixed her errant pupil with a calm stare.

 

“Kagome, child, ye are just in time to move on to your next class,” she said, the small smile on her face taking the sting out of her words. Her voice, despite sounding as ancient as she was, contained strength.

 

Kagome coloured slightly, quickly grabbing a woven basket and kneeling next to a row of herbs like the rest of her classmates. “I'm sorry, Kaede.” Like Kikyo, the old miko did not insist on formalities. “I promise it won't happen again.”

 

Kaede eyed her doubtfully, clearly unsure as to whether Kagome could hold to that promise. “Just… do your best, child.”

 

Still red, Kagome nodded and bent her head over the leafy herb next to her, her fingers deftly stripping the green leaves from the stalk and depositing them in the basket. She worked mechanically, studying Kaede covertly as her thoughts wandered. They say that she's Kikyo's younger sister, but how can that be? If anything, Kaede looks like Kikyo's grandmother! Something tugged at her mind, a half-remembered conversation she'd had with one of the older miko pupils at the Centre. What was it she said? Something about an accident… no, an accidental spell? And Kikyo… Kagome tried to gave up on remembering and shook her head. It was hard to picture Kikyo making any kind of mistake—she had virtually no flaws, if you only looked at the surface.

 

Which is what boys do, Kagome thought, a little petulantly. Most of the male mikos and even some of the demons showed more interest in Kikyo than a pupil should have in their instructor. Unfortunately for them—or maybe fortunately, depending on how you looked at it—Kikyo didn't seem to return the feelings or even notice them in the first place.

 

As thoughts of boys generally did, this turned Kagome's mind to a certain rude hanyou. The girl bent her head over the herbs, letting her hair hang in front of her face to hide her faint blush. She'd had a crush on Inuyasha since the first time she'd seen him, despite the fact that he'd never said a single civil word to her. It didn't make sense that she should feel this way, given his abrasive attitude and temper, but something strong—some strange, unknown attraction—drew her to him like a moth to a flame.

 

Kagome grimaced a little at that particular visual, but thought that it was fitting. Inuyasha was a flame, a dangerously unpredictable one that could flare up at any second and consume those around him if they weren't careful. As far as she could tell, he didn't let anyone get close, choosing to pick fights instead of making friends. So she taunted him, annoyed him until he responded, because she didn't know how else to talk to him. God, this is so embarrassing, she thought, trying to push down the colour in her cheeks. Toddlers tease each other to flirt, not people my age!

 

“Kagome, did ye hear me?”

 

Kagome's head snapped up at the sound of Kaede's voice, thoughts of Kikyo, Inuyasha and everything else disappearing. The old miko was sitting cross-legged on the grass in front of a semi-circle of students in a similar position. A dark green, waxy-looking plant was held in her hand and a pestle stood on the ground in front of her.

 

“Er…” Kagome replied intelligently.

 

Someone in the group of mikos snickered, and a girl with her chestnut-coloured hair pulled into a complicated knot shook her head in resigned amusement. Kagome caught her eye and grinned embarrassedly—as one of her closer friends at the Centre, Arika was used to Kagome's daydreaming.

 

Kaede merely suppressed a sigh and motioned for the dark-haired girl to join the rest of the mikos. “Come, child, we are done gathering herbs for the day. Right now, I will show ye one of the more complex uses for this herb, which ye should all be able to recognize by the distinct pattern of the leaves.” She flattened one of the leaves on the plant with a finger, showing them all the tracing of veins beneath its surface. “Now, can anyone tell me the three names by which this plant is known?”

 

Kagome settled in beside Arika, determined to keep her mind on task for once. She knew that if she applied herself and worked hard, she possessed the ability to equal even Kikyo. Success is everything, she told herself, repeating one of the first rules you learned at the Centre. Fail, and you lose any worth you might have had.

 

“…mixed with even simple herbs like rosemary—a plant that is often used in cooking—these leaves have the ability to…”

 

Kagome forced herself to sit straight, focusing on Kaede's words. I guess when it comes down to it, they mean succeed… or else.

 

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“Sai, you idiot, that's a sword you're holding, not a bouquet!” Hiten's voice cut through the clang of weapons and the harsh breathing of those wielding them. The dark-haired man strode over to Sai and his opponent, his tall pike held as if he'd like to club them both with it. Grabbing Sai's sword, Hiten showed the younger demon how he was supposed to hold it in order to strike properly. “It's a smooth, decisive movement,” Hiten said as patiently as he could through gritted teeth. “You don't offer him you're sword point like some timid fool giving his wench a love token!”

 

The unfortunate Sai nodded hastily, taking the sword back and trying to imitate his instructor's motion. Hiten watched him parry and strike for a few moments before nodding fractionally and moving to join his brother Manten in the centre of the paired off students.

 

Inuyasha watched this exchange out of the corner of his eye, glad that he hadn't been singled out by either of the two thunder demons today. He was rewarded for his lack of attention with a sharp whack across his hand from the dulled blade of his opponent's practice sword. Swearing, he jerked his own blade up in a defensive position and stepped back. That's going to leave a bruise, he growled to himself, flexing his throbbing knuckles around the hilt of his sword.

 

“Your guard is terrible,” Nari remarked, smoothly pulling her arm back from her strike. Imitating him, she stepped back and put up her blade, flipping her dark braid over her shoulder.

 

“Shut up,” Inuyasha snapped. He was mostly angry with himself for letting his attention wander—he was better than any of his classmates with a sword if he focused.

 

“You'd better work on that attitude of yours, or you might earn us another extra class this weekend,” Nari replied, sapphire eyes glinting with anger of her own.

 

In response, Inuyasha growled deep in his throat and pushed hard off the floor in a furious assault. His clawed feet left deep scratches in the wood and a particularly painful splinter got wedged in his heel, but he ignored this, his sword flashing as he concentrated on forcing Nari back. Or maybe it was her words he was trying to push back—he couldn't really decide which.

 

Red circles of chalk were drawn on each student's “fatal areas,” including their neck, abdomen, hamstrings, upper chest, and face—if they were hit in these areas, they would be “dead” and have to concede defeat. Technically, they weren't supposed to do more than touch their weapons to the red-chalked zones so as not to injure each other, but the instructors looked the other way when injuries did happen, remarking that the students would never be ready for real battle if they didn't learn how to take hits now.

 

All this passed through Inuyasha's mind in a split second, his brain automatically rattling off the things he'd been taught day in and day out. In fact, the whole art of armed combat was a lot like a well-rehearsed dance—strike and disengage, parry and strike again, all in one continuous motion that was as much a part of him as breathing. The familiar pattern of blows and blocks smoothed over Inuyasha's anger, and as he grew calmer his strikes became more precise and skilful, forcing Nari to take more hits than she was giving.

 

If I can make her slip up just once… Inuyasha was unaware that he was grinning, a maddeningly calm show of teeth that unnerved even as it infuriated. Bringing his blade down in a heavy overhand slash, he heard Nari exhale sharply in exertion as she caught the blow on her sword. But he didn't disengage and step back, as she expected him to—instead, Inuyasha flipped his blade and let the momentum of his strike carry the point forward in a quick stab that hit her in the centre of the red mark on her stomach. Gasping as much in surprise as pain, Nari stumbled backwards. She recovered quickly however, bowing her head and offering the hanyou her sword hilt-first, a customary sign of defeat.

 

“Lucky strike,” she muttered, but her eyes flashed with reluctant admiration.

 

“Just admit that I'm better,” Inuyasha said, his feral grin still in place.

 

Nari's gaze darkened momentarily and the hair on Inuyasha's arms stirred as the air around them crackled with demonic energy. “Don't push it, half-breed. No one's forgiven you yet.”

 

Inuyasha was about to reply when Hiten's voice once again cut through the din in the room.

 

“Alright, that's enough—weapons down. I didn't say throw them down, Sai! Gods, it's a wonder you haven't killed yourself by now.” Hiten briefly closed his eyes and counted to ten, before opening them again with some semblance of calm. “Good work today—” he glanced at the embarrassed Sai with a small grimace “—for the most part. With a little more practice, I think you'll be ready to use real weapons. But that means introducing armour, too, which completely changes the techniques used in battle. Either way, it will be a while before you can be trusted with anything like that.”

 

There were a few mutters and dark looks from the group of demons—everyone had been looking forward to fighting with real weapons instead of the bundles of sticks they had started with and the dull steel replicas they used now—but Manten shifted warningly and they quieted. The younger of the two Thunder Brothers, as they were known, was not very bright, but he certainly kept the students in line.

 

“And that's about it for this lesson,” Hiten concluded, idly twirling his pike. “Next week is archery, and the week after that we're back to spears and pikes. Put your swords away, and then you can go to lunch.”

 

Inuyasha scowled as he snatched up his sword. He hated archery. Clawed hands were just not meant to handle the slender bows and arrows they used. Despite this, his scowl faded a little as he saw Nari bend over and pick up her own sword. I won, he thought smugly.

 

Feeling considerably happier than he had been all day, the hanyou hung his practice sword on one of the racks against the wall and went to get something to eat.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~

 

Should I go talk to him? I mean, he's not sitting with anyone—I could say I just wanted to know if his chest was feeling any better. Ugh, that sounds creepy. I don't want him to think I'm some sort of stalker. Besides, I don't need an excuse, right?

 

Kagome glanced for the hundredth time at the solitary figure propped up casually against the thick trunk of one of the Centre's many huge trees. Lunch break was almost over and she still hadn't managed to convince herself to walk over and talk to Inuyasha. Idiot, she told herself, angrily jerking her gaze back to the food in front of her. You've never had any problem speaking to guys before. Why should this be any different?

 

Kagome picked at her lunch with her chopsticks, lost in thought. Arika, sitting next to her on the white stone steps that lead into the Centre, rolled her eyes at her friend.

 

“Kagome, if you don't get up and go talk to that boy right now, I'm going to haul you over there by your ear and push you into his lap,” she said bluntly.

 

The dark-haired girl started as if Arika had pinched her, eyes comically wide. “Wh-what boy?”

 

“Come on, don't play dumb with me. You've been staring at that demon for the past half hour and have barely touched your food.” Arika grinned, opening her eyes as wide as they could go and heaving exaggerated, lovesick sighs.

 

Kagome flushed crimson to the roots of her hair. Without thinking, she snapped, “He's a half-demon, not a full one.”

 

Arika simply looked at her meaningfully and shoved her off of the step, in the direction of the tree. When Kagome sputtered indignantly and struggled to her feet, the chestnut-haired girl made shooing motions with her hands, still grinning.

 

There was simply no graceful way to go back to her position on the step. No more excuses. This is it. Unconsciously running her fingers through her raven hair, Kagome took a deep breath and began walking towards Inuyasha.

 

Arika laughed quietly, pleased that Kagome was finally acting on her feelings instead of constantly worrying about them. “They'll thank me at the wedding,” she told herself. Spotting Kagome's abandoned lunch, she quickly glanced at her friend's retreating back before shrugging and adding it to her own.

 

After all, one good deed deserves another.

 

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And there ya go, another chapter hot off the press… or something like that, anyway. I'm planning on the next chappy being the trigger incident of the story—for those of you who don't remember that from English class, it means that the action starts here! ^_^ Anywho, don't expect anything from me for a few weeks because I'll be in Cuba, trying desperately to get a tan (I bet you're all jealous, eh ^_~). Until next time, R&R!

 

~SilverMyste~