InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tree Messaging ❯ Chapter 13 ( Chapter 13 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

 

Sorry if this chapter seems rushed, but I really have to get moving. Thanks for the reviews.

 

Chapter 13

 

 

With Inuyasha's fire-rat suikan around her, Kagome slowly climbed up the web of hair.

 

“That girl!” Yura seethed as she waved her hand, causing Kagome's hold to slip. Inuyasha came up behind the youkai and hit her with her own sword.

 

“You shut up!” she screamed as she pinned the hanyou against the rock wall. The miko didn't pay much attention; she had to get to that skull. There was something about it…

 

“Inuyasha, that skull over there…its doing something!” she called down. Before she could do anything else, Yura was right on her.

 

“KUSHI NO ORI!” Just like the name, Kagome was surrounded by a cage of hair.

 

“Damn,” she heard Inuyasha curse as he tried to get through. Starting to fall, the miko grabs the first thing she can, which turns out to be an eye socket of the enchanted skull.

 

“Ohhh…it feels creepy…” she complained.

 

“If you don't like it, you can let go,” the youkai said as she descended from the top of the cage. With another wave of her hand, Yura sent her sword sailing towards Kagome and hit her in the arm.

 

“Gotcha!”

 

 

 

~*~

 

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP

 

Kagome bolted upright in her bed and looked over to her loud alarm clock.

 

“It…was just a dream…?” The clock read eight o'clock. The girl slowly crawled out of bed and grabbed her bath robe from her closet. It was Monday, the third day of her vacation, kami knew she needed it.

 

First giant dog skeletons, now a woman obsessed with hair; am I going crazy here? Kagome shook her head and headed for the bathroom. Half way there, she bumped into a hard body.

 

“Oi Kagome-san, watch where you're going!”

 

She blushed, “Sorry, I have a lot on my mind…” The hanyou snorted and pushed past her. He was wearing his uniform again.

 

“Kagome, Inuyasha-kun; breakfast,” her mother called from downstairs.

 

“Ok mom, give me a minute,” she called back.

 

“Don't complain if there's no food left when you finally come down.”

 

The miko glared over to Inuyasha, “Excuse me for liking a morning bath!”

 

“And one in the afternoon, before dinner, after dinner, before you go to bed…” he tallied off on his clawed hand.

 

“Hey, you're the one who took forever in the bathroom yesterday!”

 

“Only because I couldn't figure out that automatic waterfall of yours. Your brother had to come in to help me.”

 

“It's called a shower, Kouken-kun. Don't they have those in the Nansei Islands?” she teased. They had both decided that they should call each other by the polite terms in presence of her family so that Mrs. Higurashi didn't suspect anything

 

“Whatever,” the hanyou snorted before going down the stairs.

 

Kagome sighed and continued her way to the bathroom. One week; that was all the time it took for her life to be, literally, turned upside down. Youkai, miko, her grandfather's crazy tales, everything was true.

 

Though I still doubt the authenticity of that dragon whisker…

 

As the miko sat in the steaming tub, she thought back on the weekend.

 

 

*FLASH BACK*

 

 

“Hurry up Kagome! Your headmaster will be here any minute.”

 

“Coming Mama,” Kagome called down to her mother. The miko was in her room taking one last look at herself in the mirror. Her uniform was starched, pressed, and most importantly, clean.

 

I told Souta not to give Buyo that chocolate. He never listens.

 

“I hope Inuyasha remembered to get that spell from Shippou-san …” she murmured to herself. Just then, a wad of used tissues bounced off the mirror and landed next to her on the floor.

 

“Ok, I think I got it all,” her brother said from the hallway. After Buyo's accident, Mrs. Higurashi had told him to clean it up. The miko marched over to her brother and pointed a finger accusingly at him.

 

“Squirt, I swear if you mess up this uniform too…!”

 

“It wasn't me, it was Buyo,” he fiend innocence.

 

“Who happened to be well positioned in your arms after you `accidentally' fed her chocolate.”

 

“Coincidence…?” he offered.

 

Kagome shook her head, “Go downstairs before I clobber you.” Grimacing, he quickly obeyed. She walked back over to her mirror and picked up the lump on the floor.

 

“Gross, he got cat bile all over my mirror,” she complained as she threw it out. “I'll have to clean it up later. I think I can feel them coming…”

 

Quickly, she headed downstairs just as her mother opened the shoji to allow two tall figures into the house.

 

“Welcome, please come in,” she said. Sesshomaru was the first to walk into the living room, soon followed by Inuyasha. Kagome's mouth dropped open when she saw the hanyou wearing the boy's uniform from her school and carrying a stuffed duffel bag. He had always complained that modern clothes were too constricting and…Wait, when did he say that?

 

She shook her head before composing herself and asking, “Would you please sit down?”

 

“That is acceptable,” the taiyoukai said as he sat down on the couch. He motioned Inuyasha to follow suit. The hanyou did so without complaint, but his twitching ears gave away his annoyance.

 

“Tea?” Mrs. Higurashi asked as she came from the kitchen with a tray holding a steaming kettle and several empty cups.

 

The taiyoukai nodded and accepted a hot cup, then glared at Inuyasha until he reluctantly grabbed the cup offered to him.

 

After taking another sip of his tea, Sesshomaru set his cup down on a convenient coaster and cleared his throat, “Thank you for your time and hospitality. I won't take long.

 

“As you read in my letter, your daughter has been chosen to host our exchange student from the Nansei Islands. We are ecstatic that you accepted, words cannot explain our thanks.

 

“Now I think I'll allow Kouken to tell you more about himself.” Inuyasha shot his brother a glare, but an equally cold glare had him clearing his throat.

 

“Thank you, for your hospitality, Higurashi-san. I promise I won't be a burden to your family and to help in anyway that I can.”

 

“Thank you, Kouken-kun. I'm sure you will fit in rather well and enjoy your time here in Tokyo,” Mrs. Higurashi said to the anxious adolescent, then turned to the taiyoukai, “but now I would like to ask Ninku-san something. Kagome, would you show Kouken-kun around the shrine.” It was a command, not a question.

 

“Of course, Mama. Please follow me, Kouken-kun.”

 

Both teenagers stood up, bowed, and then left the house. When they got outside, they walked over and sat at the bench under Goshinboku.

 

“How are you doing Inuyasha?” Kagome asked with concern.

 

“Keh, I'm fine.”

 

“What did you do last night? I mean, where did you get the uniform?”

 

“Sesshomaru took me to this indoor market place. The whole area stank of perfume. Anyway, he shoved me into this little room and had me try a bunch of clothes until he decided we were done. Then he brought us to this inn to spend the night in a strange room that smelled of urine.”

 

“So you went shopping and spent the night at a hotel?”

 

“I guess…so when do I have to go to this school thing?”

 

“Lucky for you, our vacation just started, meaning that we have an entire month off. That might give us enough time to get you up to date in our lessons.”

 

“Sesshomaru did say something about getting a tutor…”

 

“Then it's settled, I'll teach you everything you need to over vacation, and you protect me from any youkai that want the jewel.”

 

“Keh.” Inuyasha looked up as Sesshomaru walked out of the house and towards them.

 

“You will both come to my office on Monday morning. Do not be late,” he said then left.

 

 

*END FLASHBACK*

 

 

Kagome was showered, dressed and downstairs within thirty minutes, and thankfully there was still food left on the breakfast table. She sat down at her spot next to Inuyasha, who was still scarfing down food, and began eating. Her mother walked in from the other room.

 

“Kagome, don't forget that Ninku-san wanted to see you and Inuyasha-kun at the school today. You shouldn't be late.”

 

“Well, if she didn't take so long to get ready, we'd be gone by now,” the hanyou said after he swallowed his mouthful.

 

“Alright, but can we go see a friend after we're done, Kouken-kun?” By `friend' she meant a certain tree resident of the shrine.

 

“Why?”

 

“I have to talk to her about something, its nothing big.”

 

~*~

 

Across town, a certain ookami youkai brought the last box up to his new apartment. It was small, and in one of the worse parts of Tokyo, but that's what he needed right now. Sesshomaru or Ayame, or even both of them could be on his tail right now ready to rip him to shreds.

 

As he reached his door, Kouga dug through his pocket for his keys and opened it. Inside, he found piles and piles of boxes stacked up to the ceiling. Funny thing was, when he had left for his car, the room had been clean.

 

“Oi, when I said to help me move in, I didn't mean that you had to take my closet apart!”

 

A pearlescent-haired head popped up from behind one of the stacks, “You said to put your futon away, and I tried and got buried under a ton of cardboard.”

 

“So why didn't you put everything back the way it was?!” Kouga put his box on his kitchen table and made his way across the room towards the hanyou.

 

“I considered it, but then realized if you really expected to live here, you had to make up the most of the limited space you had.”

 

“It's a one room apartment!”

 

“Exactly, you don't have that much space to begin with, so why crowd it with all of this junk, which, by the way, you seem to have a lot of considering you claim to live the simple life.”

 

Kouga moved some boxes away so he could get closer to her, “Hey, a lot of this stuff holds some value.”

 

The bat hanyou held up a coconut bra, “You are kidding, right?”

 

Kouga blushed, “That goes in the closet. Look, can you stop? I hate it when people go through my stuff!”

 

She raised an eyebrow as she obeyed, “You see, this is why you need a woman around; to make sure you throw anything unnecessary away. Now start going through these boxes before I just throw everything out.”

 

“Oi, you're not here to criticize, you're here to help.” The ookami had ripped open the box closest to him and was digging through its contents.

 

Shiori walked back over to her work area and opened up another box, “Interesting…”

 

Kouga looked up as his eyes widened in horror. This was why he hated people looking through his stuff.

 

“I never thought of you as a `plushy person',” she stated as she held up a Goku character doll.

 

~*~

 

“So why do you want to see Aki again?” Inuyasha asked as they made their way through the gathering crowd on one of Tokyo's main streets.

 

Kagome sighed as she hefted her book bag higher onto her shoulder, “If you really have to know, I've been having these weird dreams lately.”

 

“Is that all?”

 

Kagome shook her head, “Only you would be unfazed by something like this.”

 

“Maybe you've been eating something weird. A lot of your modern foods do have a lot of strange shit in them.”

 

“No, that's not it. These dreams seem…I don't know familiar. And they always involve me and you fighting something or someone.”

 

Inuyasha's head suddenly shot up as his ears twitched wildly. His eyes darted all over the street, looking for something.

 

“Inuyasha?”

 

“Be quiet and follow me. We're being watched,” he grabbed her by the shoulder and dragged her into a nearby alley. It was dark and quiet. Close by there was one of those new panties vending machines and she could hear the scrabbling of rats in the nearby dumpster. Kagome paused when she saw something shimmer from within a nearby shadow, it looked almost like a wire, but what would that be doing in a place like this? Then, it moved.

 

“Inuyasha, we have to get out of here,” she whispered. The hanyou grunted and was about to get back out into the street when a rat ran past him. They both watched in horror as the rodent was suddenly sliced into several pieces for no apparent reason.

 

“What…?”

 

“If you leave, you'll die, and if you stay…well, let's hope you've enjoyed your pathetic little lives,” a voice chimed out from the other end of the alley.

 

“Who are you?” Inuyasha demanded as he pushed the miko behind him, away from the dark figure walking towards them.

 

“What a cute puppy with such pretty hair. It's a shame you've let it get so matted and tangled.”

 

That voice, it's so familiar, Kagome thought, where have I heard it before?

 

“My master demands the Shikon jewel. If you hand it over now, I promised to make your deaths quick and painless,” the figure finally stepped into the light. She wore a black cat suit with a katana strapped to her hip. Her hair was short and tied back with a ribbon.

 

“Yura…” Kagome said as she grabbed onto the back of Inuyasha's uniform.

 

“Ah, so you've heard of me,” the woman replied happily, “Then you already know of what I can do.”

 

“Inuyasha,” the miko whispered, “we really have to get out of here.” She looked up towards the roofs of the buildings surrounding them, “Do you think you can get up there?”

 

“No problem, just get ready to hang on,” he replied, then said, “You really think you're that powerful, witch?”

 

“Of course I am,” the youkai said, “I can defeat a lowly hanyou and an untrained miko any day!”

 

“I wouldn't count on it!” Inuyasha said as he jumped up towards the rooftops.

 

“Fool, as if I didn't see that coming,” Yura said as she moved her hands around. Suddenly, Inuyasha and Kagome were surrounded by a wall of hair.

 

“This is just like my dream,” Kagome realized.