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Inuyasha: College Days - Four

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Inuyasha: College Days

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Piece Four: Dining Style

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Kikyo headed for the school gate, her bag in tow, preparing to meet the others at the gate. It was such an awkward living arrangement, to be living on her own in an apartment only a block away from Inuyasha and Kagome's home. She suddenly remembered that she had a bit of unpacking to do, which was going to be a pain.

Really, she should have just stayed at the Higurashi shrine and conducted herself as a priestess, but she was curious. Kagome had left at the beginning of last year to come to school here, and one of the best colleges in Japan, and Inuyasha had made his choice: He went with her. He chose her.

She had expected this to bother her more than it did right now, but it didn’t. From what she could only identify as a detachment from her emotions for so long, Kikyo did not feel any sad or bitterness, despite Inuyasha leaving her for Kagome.

And now they were going to the same school. Though she could really only guess that it was going to be awkward, something told her that she was right.

As she left the front gates, she found Sesshomaru leaning up against one of the stone pillars the gate was attached to, with his nose in a book. Near him, Rin was swaying back and forth and humming. Though he was aware of this, it didn’t bother him that much since he could block it out.

She walked over and stood beside him, not saying a word. They weren’t strangers to each others presence, given the fact that they had both just had the same government class not to long ago.

“Hello Priestess Kikyo,” Rin greeted when she finally noticed Kikyo had silently slipped up beside them. Leave it to Rin to not have a clue about any awkwardness.

“Hello, Rin,” Kikyo returned, more so to be polite than to actually want to greet the girl.

Sesshomaru briefly lowered his book and sighed. “Rin,” he called, and Rin’s attention was suddenly his, “Something has just occurred to me,” he explained, “Kohaku doesn’t know you are with me. You should probably call him and let him know before he phones the police.”

Rin nodded and walked a couple steps away. Without hesitation, she pulled out her cell phone and speed dialed Kohaku. He picked up after two rings, and Rin began chatting away with him.

Kikyo watched Rin, then glanced at Sesshomaru. Was he… keeping her from speaking with Rin?

She shook her head and chased the thought from her head, No, that’s ridiculous… isn’t it?

Sesshomaru waited for Rin to become engrossed in her conversation, then turned to the once walking-dead priestess beside him. “We are not friends,” he stated to her, his voice as cold as ice, and his glare just as hard, “Whatever relationship you had with my brother does, in no way, constitute that you and I are friends. As such, find it in yourself to become invisible, because I don’t want to know you exist.”

Oh wow, Kikyo’s eyes widened at him, He’s mad because I said ‘Hello’ to Rin? Because I spoke to his daughter?

Lifting the book back up – Kikyo now identified it as The Odyssey - Sesshomaru returned to his reading, as Rin carried on a conversation with Kohaku over the phone. “And don’t ever stick up for Rin or I again,” he spat.

Kikyo was close to laughing. She really was. It took a lot of self-control for her to hold herself quiet. That’s what all this was about? She had bruised his ego, and he was trying to cover it up by lashing out on her.

She. Bruised. His. Ego.

You have to admit. It was kind of funny.

“Oh, hello guys,” Sango suddenly appeared, Miroku at her side as always, “Just you two? Where’s everyone else?”

“Three,” Sesshomaru corrected, “Just us three. Koga and Ayame have cleaning duties, so they won’t be meeting us at Kagome and Inuyasha's house until later. Hakkaku and Ginta are sticking around to wait for them. Kagura already left to pick up Kohaku from the High School, and Shippo from the Middle School - she'll meet us there, where Kanna already is, apparently - though as to how she got in I have no idea." He closed his book and sighed, “As for Kagome and my idiot little brother… I don't know what’s holding them up.”

Miroku looked over at the College just as Kagome and Inuyasha were leaving the doors, laughing and seeming to be having a good time. “There they are,” he informed everyone.

Kikyo took a step towards Miroku and Sango, and glanced down the direction Miroku was looking. Inuyasha was smiling and walking beside Kagome, holding his and her schoolbags over one shoulder, and her hand in his. She expected there to be some sort of crushing blow to the heart or something the instant she saw them together, but there was nothing.

Perhaps, she was loosing her humanity?

“Kagome!” a girl behind Kagome shouted, bursting out of the schools doors, “Kagome! Come here a second!”

Kagome frowned, it was Yuki, probably wanting Kagome to lend her a few bucks or something. “I’ll be right back,” she told Inuyasha quickly, then ran back to the school building to speak with her friend.

Inuyasha stared at Kagome, conversing with her old friend, for a moment or two before he got an eerie feeling of being watched. His eyebrow scrunched together in frustration, and he turned around, only to find more than one person staring at him.

Only one pair of eyes caught his attention though, and his own pair widened.

Damn, she cursed in her thoughts, He’s staring right at me! Shouldn’t there be something? Some sort of feeling or something? What is wrong with me?

Gold locked to brown. Inuyasha locked to Kikyo. The two just stared at each other for a moment. Their eyes said nothing to each other, but they were still looking for something.

Finally, Inuyasha broke away. He looked down at the ground, then back up at her, then turned away completely, and re-focused his attention on Kagome.

Kikyo sighed and dropped her eyes as well. There was nothing. Nothing at all. Shouldn’t that have been a bit enough hint that they were never going to be together again? But… Then what? What was she supposed to do now? Pretend, more for her sake than his, that everything was just fine between them?

She wanted there to be something. She wanted more than anything for there to be something between them now.

I guess… I’ll just have to be the childhood friend until I can figure this out, she decided, turning away from him slightly, Kagome has already started treating me like a friend… Perhaps I can one worth having, and stay away from Inuyasha.

Just then, Inuyasha – having been rejoined by Kagome – walked over to the group waiting for them at the front gates.

“Hey guys,” Kagome greeted, “Is this really everyone? Where are the wolves?”

“Busy,” Sango answered, “They’ll catch up with us at the house.”

Kagome glanced back at the school building, then looked back to Sango with a smile, “All right then, let’s go.”

The group of six began walking away from the school when Sesshomaru stopped and looked back. Rin was still chatting away on the phone, completely oblivious to the fact that they were leaving. He rolled his eyes, “Rin.”

“Huh?” Rin turned around to face him, “Yes, Sesshomaru?”

Sesshomaru motioned his head to the group, who had also stopped and waited for Rin. Quick enough, Rin said ‘good-bye’ to Kohaku and joined the group in their walk home.

“Rin?” Inuyasha raised an eyebrow curiously, “What the heck are you doing here?”

Rin laughed nervously, obviously embarrassed, “Funny story, actually, you see, it was a half day today for Freshmen, and I kind of left school and…”

“She got lost,” Sesshomaru interrupted blankly, “I went to go get her, then brought her back to school with me.”

Rin’s expression went flat, “Way to ruin a story, dad.”

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes and once again took out the Odyssey to read while he was walking. This didn’t surprise anyone, of course, because Sesshomaru’s peripheral vision was just as good as his normal vision.

“So, what? You went to Sesshomaru’s classes for half the day?” Kagome asked, then added in her head, Can she even do that?

“Yeah,” Rin answered, “His first class was really boring, but the others weren’t so bad.”

Sesshomaru lifted his eyes from his book briefly, “Speaking of my classes, Rin… You’re grounded.”

Rin stopped in her tracks, even though the rest of the group kept walking, “I’m what? But… But why?”

From his pocket, Sesshomaru pulled a mangled bobby pin that Rin automatically recognized. “You’re not slick,” he told her, tossing the bobby pin at her, and ducking back into his book.

With a sigh, Rin discarded the pin and began walking – more of trudging, actually – along with the rest of the group.

“What’s with the bobby pin?” Kagome asked neither Rin nor Sesshomaru specifically, but her answer came from Rin.

“I sort of messed with Sesshomaru’s laptop settings,” she sighed again, Great, grounded. And I had a date tonight.

Miroku shifted his bag from one shoulder to the other. “Sort of?” he pressed.

“Okay, I did,” Rin’s head hung down as she thought of the impending doom to her evening that would come from her being grounded.

The group walked in silence after that. No one wanted to admit it, but the way Rin was hanging her head and sighing as if being grounded was the end of the world, it was kind of funny to the rest of them. Even Sesshomaru was amused by his daughter’s dramatics.

“Oh, Kikyo,” Kagome suddenly noticed, “You’re wearing your hair down.”

Kikyo blinked, then blushed and let some of her exceedingly long hair fall in front of her face. “Yeah,” she murmured, “Well, my hair tie broke this morning, so it’s just kind of fallen everywhere.”

Kagome smiled, “I like it… It sort of cascades around you, like a waterfall.”

Kikyo’s blush deepened, but she pushed her hair back behind her shoulders and down her back. “Thank you, Kagome,” she replied.

“What do you think, Inuyasha?” Kagome asked, “You think I should grow my hair out like Kikyo’s?”

Inuyasha swallowed, Oh, crap, he panicked, She’s testing me… What do I say? THINK! INUYASHA! THINK! “Um… well…” he stumbled, “I guess if you’re looking to have people confuse the two of you even more. I mean, if you grew your hair out like… like Kikyo’s, then wouldn’t you two look almost exactly the same?”

“He’s got a point you know,” Miroku came to Inuyasha’s rescue, “Besides… Personally, I like your hair the length it is now.”

“Hmm…” Kagome thought about this, “I suppose you’re right.”

Miroku and Inuyasha exchanged glances, and Inuyasha’s eyes clearly said, ‘I owe you one man’. ‘Yeah, you do,’ Miroku’s said back.

After some more walking and talking, the seven of them finally arrived at Inuyasha and Kagome's home. It was a quiant little town house - one of a set of 10 on the block. They lived with Shippo, Myoga, and Kanna, while Sango, Miroku, Kohaku, Hachie and Kirara lived in the one attached to theirs. Unlike Kikyo, who lived in a small one bedroom apartment in a building on the next block.

Sesshomaru, Rin, Jaken and AuUn lived in a huge flat a couple miles uptown, but every morning Sesshomaru drove them all to Inuyasha's, so he could park his sleek, black, two-door Lexis in front of Inuyasha's house rather than have to pay a monthly fee for a parking permit to park on campus, and they would walk to school with his brother and his brothers companions.

Kagura lived alone - sort of. She lived on the roof of the combined town houses of Inuyasha's group and Miroku's group. The only time she ever came in was for dinner. No one was allowed up there, so no one knew what it was like. Not even Kanna - who stayed in one of the rooms in Inuyasha's home.

The wolves hadn't been fast enough to get one of the town houses, so they lived a few blocks away, in a different set of town houses, but in a town house none the less.

Kagome headed up the few steps to the porch of her home. She unlocked the door and went in. One by one, everyone removed their shoes and placed them inside the door, then went off in separate directions.

“Ooooo… Hoooo… Hoooo…” an annoying, and all too familiar voice came from the living room, “They’re home! They’re home!”

Jaken scurried into the hallway, holding a rag and a spray bottle. Sesshomaru gave him nothing more than a passing glance, and headed past the demon to the living room - where he would probably stay untl dinner. “Oh…” Jaken groaned, “I didn’t even get to welcome him back before he got upset with me and stormed off.”

“It’s not your fault, Jaken,” Rin told him, giving him an awkward hug, “I’m grounded… again.”

“Foolish child,” Jaken set his spray bottle and rag off to the side. He could return to cleaning the front windows in a minute. “What did you do this time? You weren’t hacking again, were you?” he interrogated.

Rin held her hand out as if she were holding a single grain of rice between her middle finger and her thumb. “Just a tiny bit,” she answered, “And if you want to get technical, I wasn’t hacking, I was reconstructing a hard drive.”

Jaken rolled his eyes. “Yes, well, I don’t want to get technical,” he snapped, “Go on to the living room and work on your homework! It might have been the first day of High School for you, but Kanna has homework, so I know you must have homework as well.”

“What are you, my mother?” Rin started walking away, “I finished my homework already.” She left the little toad demon and went up the stairs to Kagome's room – third door on the left, where she and Kohaku usually...uh... "hung out" until dinner.

Kikyo went to the kitchen. She was hungry because sitting at the same lunch table with Inuyasha had made it too uncomfortable to eat. In the kitchen, she opened the fridge and found a platter of cold rice balls. She helped herself to one, remaining in the kitchen to eat it. Some of the rice fell onto her shirt and she brushed it off quickly, not wanting to gunk up one of the few shirts she had.

She looked down at her outfit. Perhaps it was a little nostalgic of her, but she preferred to stay close to her priestess clothing. She wore a white, short-sleeve shirt, with flattening, rippled material on her bust, Kagome called a Ruched Knit Top. For pants she wore red corduroys that Kagome referred to as “skinny jeans”. It was a little odd for her to wear pants on her hips, but Kagome insisted that was the style, so she just kind of let it go. Her shoes were Yizel White Suede, heeled sandals, which she absolutely adored. Sandals were always more comfortable for her to wear than regular shoes, and once she had gotten the hang of walking in heels, she loved wearing them. To finish her outfit, she simply tied a red string up on her neck, in sort of a choker fashion, with a little bow to one side.

Having been analyzing her outfit, Kikyo didn’t notice when Inuyasha walked into the kitchen, but she saw him now. Standing in the doorway, staring at her.

“Oh,” Kikyo started to say something, then realized she still had rice in her mouth and paused to swallow it before continuing. “Hi,” she greeted him half-heartedly, “Did you, uh, need something?”

Inuyasha shook his head. “No, never mind,” he mumbled, “Forget it.” He turned to leave the kitchen, halfway out the doorway when Kikyo stopped him.

“Inuyasha!”

He froze, but he didn’t turn back. He didn’t even look at her. He didn’t know if it was because he didn’t want to, or because he couldn’t bring himself to.

“Inuyasha… I don’t…” Kikyo had no idea how to phrase what he wanted to say, “I just… I don’t want, things to be awkward between us.” Inuyasha said nothing, so Kikyo went on, “I lost. I get that, and I want you to be happy with Kagome, so just know that we can still be… I don’t know… friends, I guess.”

There was a bit of a silent moment, and Kikyo began considering saying something else, when Inuyasha finally spoke. “You didn’t lose,” he told her, “Just, took second place.” Having said that, he left.

Kikyo sighed, He always had annoying way of being optimistically macabre.

~~~

Later that evening, Kagome was hard at work in the kitchen with Sango and Kanna when Inuyasha came in.

“Hey,” he greeted the girls, “Mmm… Food.”

“Not yet, Inuyasha,” Kagome told him, chopping up some Miso for the soup, “We’ve still got about twenty minutes until everything’s ready.”

Sango didn’t look up from the Yakitori she was grilling. “If you want to help, Inuyasha, there are a lot of vegetables to be chopped up,” she informed him.

Inuyasha sighed, “May as well.”

He went over to a pile of all different vegetables and picked up a squash. Rather than get a knife, he just threw the squash up and slashed his claws through it – cutting it into perfect slices, which fell into a bowl in front of him.

“Inuyasha, if you’re going to cut the vegetables with you hands, please wash your hands,” Kagome suggested.

“Fine,” Inuyasha replied, going over to the sink.



Out in the living room, Sesshomaru was reading his book on the couch when Kagura came in. “Oh, hi,” she greeted, slightly surprised to find him, which was odd, since he really should have been the one to be surprised about her coming down from the roof before dinner was done.

Sesshomaru’s eye flicked up to Kagura. “Hello,” he returned, closing his book.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Kagura brought her hands up in sort of a nervous gesture. And why wouldn’t she be nervous? Sesshomaru was not only a bit intimidating, but very sexy, which was a dangerous combination. It wasn’t that she was a shy person, not at all, but since living in the modern era, she had definitely become much more self-reserved. “Were you wanting to be alone?” she asked, trying to make her voice sound more confident than her body language suggested, “Because I can leave…”

“No,” he answered, his eyes never leaving hers, “I’m fine with some company.”

Kagura smiled a little and went to sit on the other side of the couch. She brought her legs up, tucking one under her, and resting her chin on the knee of the other one. Sesshomaru turned his body towards her a little, bringing his right foot up to rest on his left knee, dropping his right arm across his stomach, and placing his left elbow on the back of the couch.

“So…” Kagura tried to think of something to talk about, which she discovered was easier said than done, “How was your first day?”

Sesshomaru shrugged, “Fine, considering I spent every hour in a room full of humans.”

Kagura suddenly brightened. Now this was something they could talk about. “I know,” she tried relating, “There is this one annoying one in my Human Relations class, who sits behind me. I think it’s a girl, but her hair is so short, and she has sort of manly features, you know? Anyway, she always mumbles to herself and sings under her breath and it’s really quite creepy…”

Though he was looking straight at her, Sesshomaru wasn’t exactly listening to her. Nope, instead he was eyeing her pajamas. Though he was still in the clothes he wore to school that day, it didn’t surprise him that she had changed into something more comfortable. Magenta, cotton pajamas with a V-neck, long sleeved, button down, top and long bottoms. Seemingly loose and decorated with lighter magenta swirls and such, with a pocket on the left side of her chest, he thought they looked quite nice on her.

“Sesshomaru?” she called to recapture his attention, “You all right?”

“Huh? Yes, fine,” he replied quickly, surprised at himself for wandering off like that. He really had spent too much time around humans.

Kagura didn’t press him. Instead, she tried to change the subject. “What do you think we’re having for dinner?” she asked him.

Sesshomaru collected himself once more and looked back over his shoulder to the doorway, where he could see Rin busy in the kitchen across the hall. “From what they have told me…” he turned back to Kagura, “I honestly have no clue.”

Kagura giggled, and Sesshomaru chuckled along with her.



When at last, Shippo came up and got Kohaku and Rin for dinner, the three of them went downstairs to find almost everyone already piled in at the huge table in the dining room. Shippo went and sat beside an empty seat that Kohaku could only guess was meant for Kagome. Kohaku and Rin went to the other end of the long table and sat down on two empty pillow-seat-things.

“Hey,” her tone was regretful, “I’m sorry about getting grounded again.”

Kohaku smiled at her, “It’s fine. We’ll just go another night.”

“Ugh,” she groaned, “You’re too nice! What did I do to deserve you?”

“I could ask you the same question,” he told her.

Rin blushed.

Just then, Inuyasha walked in carrying two large platters of Tempura, which he set on the table.

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at his younger brother. “Inuyasha, I didn’t know you could cook,” he mocked.

“He can’t,” Kagome interrupted before Inuyasha was able to swear at Sesshomaru. She set a pot of Miso Soup down on a hot-pad on the table. “That’s what I’m here for,” she said.

Inuyasha and Kagome left two more times, bringing back Gyoza, Nikujaga, Gomaae, and Soba Noodles. When at last, they sat down, everyone was allowed to eat.

“Oh, wow, Kagome,” Shippo tried to compliment the Gyoza he was chewing, “This is delicious.”

“Actually, Kanna made that,” Kagome informed him.

Shippo looked across the table at Kanna, who sat silently beside her sister, Kagura. “Nice job, Kanna,” Shippo said hesitantly, since he had never been very settled about living with someone as creepy as Kanna.

Kanna looked up at him and blinked. “Thank you,” she mumbled, then returned to her food.

Kagura sighed and pulled her chopsticks out of her mouth, chewing on her Gomaae. Ooo… two words. That’s about her verbal limit for the night, she thought with a smile.

“Hey, mutt,” Koga called to Inuyasha, “Pass me one of those Gyoza, will you?”

Inuyasha frowned and picked up a Gyoza, then threw it. It hit Koga square in the face, and splattered all over him.

“There you go,” Inuyasha sneered.

Koga grabbed a napkin and wiped off his face. “Very funny, pup,” he snapped, “Too bad I don’t have to hit you back.”

Inuyasha was confused. This wasn’t like Koga at all. “Why not?” he asked.

“Inuyasha! Sit!” ordered the only person in the room who could make Inuyasha hit the floor face first.

Koga folded his arms and smirked, “That’s why.”

Cocky bastard… Inuyasha thought, starting to lift himself off the hardwood. Once he was sitting back up though, he got a face full of Nikujaga.

“Koga!” Ayamae exclaimed next to him.

“What?” Koga asked, giving her the innocent eyes, “I said I didn’t have to get him back, not that I wouldn’t.”

“Stop throwing the food that Kagome, Rin and Kanna worked so hard to make for us,” Aymae scolded him.

Koga picked up his chopsticks and went for a new Gyoza. “Wouldn’t dream of it,” he told her.

For some reason, Aymae didn’t believe him.

“You two are going to have to start getting along better,” Ginta announced, pointing his chopsticks at Koga.

“Yeah,” Hakkaku added, “You wouldn’t want Kagome to send one of you back to the Higurashi Shrine, would you?”

Inuyasha swallowed some Soba Noodles. “Yeah, right,” his tone was cocky as ever, “Like Kagome would send me back. If anything, she’ll send that mangy wolf away.”

Kagome thought about this, Send one of them to live with mom, Souta and Grandpa? I don’t think mom could stomach them anymore.

Kohaku lifted a piece of meat out of his bowl with his chopsticks. Before he had the chance to get it in his mouth, however, Rin leaned over and snatched it away with her mouth. Kohaku looked at her quizzically for a moment, then started laughing. From across the table, Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at the two of them.

“Hey! Hey! Hey!” Jaken screeched in his normal annoying voice at Kohaku and Rin, “Let’s get some space between you two!”

Rin rolled her eyes and scooted away from Kohaku. After a quick thought, she smiled a sly smile and leaned over to peck Kohaku on the cheek before returning to her dinner.

“Hey!” Jaken hissed.

“What?” Rin asked, “You said to put some space between us, so I did. You never said I couldn’t cross back over that space.”

Kohaku’s cheeks were flaming, making his sister and Miroku chuckle.

“Now look what you started!” Ayame snapped at Koga.

“Sorry,” Koga sighed and pecked her on the cheek, “But they started that.”

Miroku, ever the pervert, leaned over and pecked Sango on the cheek, at the same time fondling her butt. Sango, of course, slapped him.

“Okay, guys, knock it off,” Kagome tried to call the table to order, “No kissing at the table!”

Inuyasha shook his head, but smiled. They were certainly breaking in their new home.

“Kagome, you’re such a kill-joy…!” Rin joked, but her words seemed to trail off as Inuyasha looked over at Kikyo.

Kikyo wasn’t looking at him. In fact, she was looking at Rin, smiling and laughing as everyone poked jokes around the table that Inuyasha didn’t take the time to listen to. He watched her, sitting beside his brother, whom he had once hated, and all he could do was smile.

Maybe, this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

~~~~~~~~~~

:::OUTFITS:::

Kikyo:

Shirt: cdn.overstock.com/images/produ…

Pants: images1.like.com/product-image…

Shoes: cdn.overstock.com/images/produ…

---

Kagura:

Pajamas: www.sleepwear.tv/bh1min7f.html

---

Kohaku:

Pajamas: z.about.com/d/couponing/1/0/F/…
FINALLY!

Jeez. It took me like three days to finish this. I've been SO FREAKIN BUSY!

~~~~~~~~~~

::: DINNER :::

Yakitori: [link]

Tempura: [link]

Miso Soup: [link]

Gyoza: [link]

Nikujaga: [link]

Gomaae: [link]

Soba Noodles: [link]
© 2009 - 2024 writingISmyART
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FatesGuardian's avatar
Haha awesome. I need more this is epic I love it. Specially the dinner scene...also do I hint a Shippo/Kanna pairing? Hmm...no freaking way...I think you just looked into my mind....ur freaky...wait this was written before I thought of those two characters I created...and I'm just now reading this weeks later which means...I WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS GIFT GRANDFATHER I WILL NOT!!!