Take Two
Chapter 2
What am I gonna do? What am I
gonna do? How can I fix this? What am I gonna do?
Thoughts circled through Kagome’s mind like the cyclones thrown by
Inuyasha’s Bakuryuuha, tearing up order and logic, leaving her standing
in a hall and staring at the only man, or boy, she would ever love, who
didn’t seem to know her from a hole in the wall.
Mom didn’t catch Buyo last
time. That was the difference; I can remember it now. She
told Souta to make sure the cat was fed before he left, and Souta
thought he was in the well-house. So how am I gonna-
Her thought was cut off by a sharp elbow in the ribs and a hiss in her
ear. “Kagome, don’t just stand there. Say something.”
Kagome shook her head and blinked at Eri’s voice, looking up into
Houjou’s slightly puzzled face. And
what am I gonna do about you, Puppy-chan? “Arigato,
Houjou-kun. Would you believe it completely slipped my mind?”
His expression smoothed out, in spite of the strangeness of her
explanation. “So da ne… Say, Higurashi, if you’re not busy
later…” The circle of bodies around them pressed in closer, and
he broke off. “Can I talk to you after school?” he asked quietly.
Overhead, the warning bell chimed, and Kagome nodded. “I’ll meet
you outside after the last class.”
He smiled at her, that shy, quirky smile, then bobbed his head quickly
and headed back toward Room B, the rest of his class a huddled knot of
conversation.
“Wow, Kagome-chan,” Eri breathed as her friends hustled her back to
class. “Houjou-kun must really like you.”
“Heh heh,” Kagome chuckled hollowly. “Assuming he doesn’t think
I’m a big idiot, forgetting my own birthday like that.” She slid
into her seat and picked up her pen, anxious to blend back in with the
middle-school crowd. Her gaze strayed out the window, though, to
a ledge where she had once seen a golden-eyed face staring back at her.
She could only hope she’d see that face again.
She packed up slowly at the end of the day, a little reluctant to face
Inuyasha now that there were no more hours to stand between them.
I can’t think of him as Inuyasha,
she reminded herself. I’ll
just start acting stupid if I do. He’s just Houjou-kun, a cute
boy who likes me. But did he like her, still? What
if Houjou’s sole interest in her had been dictated by his previous life
in the Sengoku Jidai? What if, freed from the hanyou’s spirit, he
simply had feelings of friendship for her? “What if I’m a
paranoid moron?” she muttered to herself, shoving her math text into
her bag.
“Higurashi-san, are you ready?”
Kagome looked up to see Houjou standing in the doorway, his own
schoolbag in hand. “Ano, maybe I ought to stay…” she hesitated,
casting a glance to Eri, Yuki and Ayumi as they wiped the board clean.
“No, no, you go on,” Ayumi chirped.
“Yeah, have fun, Kagome-chan,” Eri said.
“You can trade with one of us next time,” Yuki offered.
“Well, if you’re sure…” Kagome shouldered her bag slowly.
“Go, go. See you tomorrow.” They shooed her away like a mad
Greek Chorus.
They walked down the hall together, in what Kagome was sure felt like
awkward silence. They stopped at the lockers to change shoes,
then walked out into the afternoon sunshine. As they walked,
Kagome wracked her brain, tying to figure out how she was going to
sufficiently change everything and get the past, and future, back where
they belonged.
“Kagome?”
“Yes?”
“Is it okay if I use your name? I meant what I said
earlier. It’s pretty.”
Kagome suppressed a sigh. “Sure, Houjou-kun. I don’t
mind. What’s on your mind?”
“You can call me Koinu, if you want.”
She looked over at him to see his head ducked and his cheeks faintly
pink, making his dusting of freckles fade. She’d catalogued each
of those freckles over a long succession of nights, until she could
close her eyes and see them in her mind. “Not Inuyasha?”
“Every time someone calls me Inuyasha, it means I’m in trouble.
Not many people are named Inuyasha. It kind of stands out.”
Kagome nodded in understanding. “I like it, though.”
He glanced over at her. “Really?”
“Yeah. But I’m pretty sure that’s not what you wanted to talk to
me about.” They were nearing the Shrine, Kagome realized, and
pretty soon, she’d have to do something about the well.
“It’s not. You said something this morning. Something about
a well. I just… I wondered what it meant.”
She waved a dismissive hand. “It’s nothing, Inuyasha-kun.
Really. I just left something in the well, and I was supposed to
get it out this morning. It will probably still be there when I
get home.”
“Can I help you with it?” he asked.
“It’s not big, really. And I don’t want you to be running late
because of me.”
“Because of you is a wonderful reason.”
Kagome stopped dead in her tracks and turned to stare at him.
“What did you say?” she whispered, world starting to gray at the edges.
“Kagome?” He grabbed at her hand, and she felt something nearly
electric pass between them, and for a moment, she could see a flash of
gold in his eyes. “Kagome? Kagome!”
There was no stopping it. The world was going even darker, and
her legs refused to support her.
“Kagome!” Inuyasha was shouting as her eyes slid closed. Then,
she heard one last thing before sliding into the darkness.
“Shit.”
---
Chapter
1 (Off-site link)
Chapter 3
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