Whee! I never thought I'd go back again and edit the earlier chapters (yeah, I'm lazy, I know). I guess some readers are a bit turned off at the first few chapters, seeing they are not as well written as the later chapters. I don't want to do any major revisions on the earlier chapters because, well, I like them as they are. I also decided that I will do very little changes/additions to the early chapters, except when completely necessary. Reading them makes me nostalgic, so sue me.
You'll be happy to know I did corrections in grammar. If there are other errors I missed, forgive me. I'm only human...unless you want to apply as my beta-reader and correct all my wrong grammar. :LOL:
I kept the my original author's comments too. I dunno... I just like reading and laughing at myself. :LOL:
Konnichiwa! In this story, Kagome first has glasses and has her hair in braids. If you can't imagine that, it would be something like Naru Narusegawa in Love Hina. But that look is only temporary, okay?
I'm really sorry for my first upload of this chapter. The paragraphs had very little spacing. The good news is the italics are here so you can enjoy the story more. Once again, gomen.
Disclaimer: Inuyasha doesn't belong to me. It is the fine work of Rumiko Takahashi.
Chapter 1
Endings and First Meetings
Inuyasha stared at Kikyo with utter disbelief. "What?" he blurted out.
"You heard me, Inuyasha," Kikyo said silently. "It's over."
The two of them were at the rooftop of Shikon Kokusai Gakuen. Inuyasha could hardly believe what he was hearing. He numbly recalled the events that led to this.
Flashback.
Inuyasha looked pissed. But by the look on his face, being pissed was an understatement.
"Where is she?" Inuyasha hissed as he scanned the cafeteria, looking through the sea of blue uniforms for any signs of Kikyo.
Miroku patted him on the shoulder. "Calm down, my friend. She was absent during class. You don't expect her to suddenly be present at lunchtime, do you?"
Inuyasha sat down with a huff. "I know that!" Right now he was so angry, livid even, that his hand was itching to hit anybody, even his best friend right now. Only he and Miroku sat at a large table and the other students wisely kept away as they went on with their lunchtime business. After all, nobody wanted to mess up with the richest kid in school who belonged to one of Japan's most powerful and influential families: the Takahashis.
"And why do we have to sit in the cafeteria again?" Inuyasha growled. "We always have lunch at the rooftop."
Miroku sighed. He was pretty used to Inuyasha's tantrums. After all, they had been friends as long as he can remember. Were they five or six when they first met? He could not quite recall.
"It's raining. I told you that a minute ago."
"Feh," Inuyasha's replied. "How could Kikyo be absent today?" He wondered. Today of all days. Today was their seventh month as a couple together. How could she forget that?
He stared at his cell phone. Since he could not reach her on the cell, he had called her home to see if she was sick. Her mother even sounded surprised she wasn't in school. Kikyo was not the type who would just skip classes. He asked her close friends where she was, but to no avail.
"The food in the cafeteria isn't so bad." Miroku piped in, interrupting Inuyasha's thoughts.
Inuyasha looked at him, eyes slanted. "Yeah right. Or maybe you just want to meet girls that you're going to say stupid pick up lines to." Inuyasha pretended to hold an invisible hand. "Will you bear my child?" He said trying to imitate Miroku.
Miroku waved his chopsticks holding an octopus-shaped sausage at Inuyasha's face, ignoring his best friend's almost perfect imitation. "Well, partly. Besides, I can't ignore the free food I get from those girls over there." He motioned to the girls sitting across them, a few tables away from Inuyasha's back.
Inuyasha turned his head to see a couple of girls in their high school waving a banner that said, "We luv Miroku-sama". He managed to smirk.
"I thought you said they were a pain in the neck."
"They aren't as bad as you think, Inuyasha. I think you're just a little jealous you don't have girls chasing after you and giving you tons of free food and snacks."
"Because I have a girlfriend, idiot," Inuyasha retorted. "If you had a real girlfriend yourself, maybe they'd stop chasing after you. Weren't those girls also the ones who tried to kidnap you by putting a sleeping drug on the cookies they sent you two months ago?"
Miroku made some choking sounds. Inuyasha smiled contentedly. "What's wrong Miroku? They trying to kidnap you now again?"
On the way to class after lunch, he suddenly found himself being pulled aside by Yura Kashiwahara, a close friend of Kikyo's. Miroku, who belonged to another section, winked at him and proceeded ahead, trying to ignore the hoard of girls following him.
Yura quickly slipped a piece of paper at Inuyasha's hand. "She handed this to me a few minutes ago." She whispered hurriedly. Before Inuyasha could start asking any questions, Yura gave him a quick smile and hurried off.
Inuyasha unfolded the small piece of paper. It was one of Kikyo's stationery notepads. He automatically recognized Kikyo's neat handwriting.
Wondering what Kikyo was up to, he shot a quick glance at his watch. It was ten minutes before lunch was over. He had to be quick. His teacher on the next subject did not particularly like him and he was not about to get another lame detention for getting late. Besides, he had something to give to Kikyo.
He rushed to the rooftop.
End of flashback.
"But why?" Inuyasha asked.
Kikyo looked at him, her expression neutral. "I think you already know why, Inuyasha."
Inuyasha blinked. He was completely clueless why. "I don't know! What the heck are you talking about?"
There was no reply. Kikyo fingered the necklace, which held a silver ring that Inuyasha had given minutes earlier.
"You do know Inuyasha." Kikyo took his hand and placed the necklace with the ring on his palm. She closed his hand over the jewelry. "You and I were just not meant to be," she said quietly.
Kikyo gave him a light peck on the cheek and elegantly strode towards the rooftop staircase. Inuyasha looked over his shoulder at the door closing behind him. As the bell rang, he threw the necklace away, watching it hit the small puddles that formed on the rooftop after the rain.
Sango marched beside her best friend, sighing tiredly. They were headed back to their classrooms after finishing their lunch. They were walking at a deserted corridor at the back part of the school. "Can you believe my luck?" She moaned. "This isn't a good day…"
"What?" Kagome grinned. "Kohaku bleached your uniforms again?"
Sango eyed her, eyes slanted. "No. Even worse than that. Remember what I said about our History professor giving us a research paper where we have to work in pairs?"
Kagome adjusted her glasses. "Yeah, what about it?" She and Sango were the best of friends since elementary, and always sat beside each other in class. Now that they were in high school though, they were not evenin the same section. Kagome found it a little ironic.
"I got paired with that lecher."
Kagome couldn't help laughing. She stopped walking and looked ready to burst from suppressed laughter.
"Oi, what's so funny?" Sango didn't look the slightest bit amused.
"Wasn't he your crush a couple of months ago?"
Sango looked ready to strangle Kagome. Her fingers were twitching. "Yeah, so what?" She replied hotly. "Until I found out he was a notorious playboy and an even more notorious lecher!"
"Who's a lecher?"
The two girls whirled around, much to Sango's horror, to see Miroku pop his head behind a staircase banister.
"What are you doing here?" Sango demanded, starting to turn bright red. Behind her, Kagome couldn't help laughing some more.
Miroku dusted his sleeve. "I was hiding from…some people."
"Oh, your little fan club?" Kagome piped in, trying to keep a straight face. "Sango here was—" before she could finish, her best friend elbowed her to shut up.
"Who's your friend?" Miroku asked, turning to the girl in glasses and braids.
"Kagome," Sango answered for her. "And why are you still here? Shouldn't you be going by now? Or should I tell your fan club where you are? "
"So who was that notorious lecher you've been talking about whom you had a crush on?" Miroku eyed Sango with a weird glint in his eyes. He casually ignored Sango's threat, knowing she was notactually going to do that, and arched a brow. "Anyone I know?"
Sango was turning into a darker shade of red by the minute. "No!" She shot back.
"So why are you so red?"
Sango grabbed Miroku's collar and started shaking him about. "None of your business, you stupid idiot!"
"Sango-chan, you don't want to injure your History partner now, do you?" Miroku said calmly, although he looked slightly swirly-eyed.
"Don't you Sango-chan me, you lecher you!"
Kagome had to grab Sango before she could deprive Miroku of oxygen with the stranglehold she had on his neck. Miroku straightened himself up. "Me thinks I know the person you are talking about." He grinned.
Sango realized her mistake and clapped a hand to her mouth. Right now, she wanted the ground to just swallow her up. But unfortunately, the floor stayed completely solid.
"It's me right?" Miroku pressed.
At that moment, the bell rang. Sango thanked the heavens and ran towards their classroom. "Yeah right!" She yelled back. "In your dreams!" She pulled Kagome, who looked like she had just watched a classic comedy show on TV.
"Why didn't you help me out on that one?" Sango growled, her ponytail flying as they raced towards their classes.
Kagome beamed, looking at her apologetically. "Because you guys were so much fun to watch."
Sango looked at her, eyes narrowed in annoyance. She made a mental note to strangle her best friend after classes were over.
Kagome climbed the staircase towards the rooftop. After that amusing incident between Sango and Miroku, things started to go downhill.
If Sango thought Miroku was the worst partner one could have, she begged to differ. Kagome had the unfortunate fate of being teamed up with Inuyasha Takahashi in their History research. He was not in class but she knew he would rather be teamed up with Kikyo Sanada than her. They are a couple after all.
She sighed as she pushed the door open. She wanted to tell Sango of her unfortunate pairing but Sango was part of the Taekwondo Club and will not be available until some time later that afternoon. And until that time, she would be at the rooftop, waiting for her best friend.
There was a single bench at the rooftop, and Kagome was surprised that it wasn't empty.
Inuyasha's mind was blank as he sat on the bench. He didn't know how long he had been sitting there, but he did not care. He was holding the necklace with the ring. He sighed. He stared at the inside of the ring. He had had it engraved with Kikyo's name.
"It's a fine afternoon for you to be sitting alone," somebody said.
Inuyasha looked up to see a girl in braids and glasses looking at him.
"Keh!" He growled. "Who are you?! What do you want?" He glared at her angrily, quickly tucking the necklace in his pocket.
"You're really cranky. I wonder how you ever got popular. Must be all that money, I guess." She frowned. "I'm just trying to be friendly, you know, since we are partners at History research."
"What History research are you talking about?" Inuyasha demanded. "And who the heck are you!?"
He saw the girl taking a deep breath, as if calming herself down.
"I'm Kagome. Kagome Higurashi," she told him. "And for your information, I'm your classmate. We both belong to the same section. Or are you too stupid to know that?"
"Say that again and I'll throw you off the side of this building!" Inuyasha yelled. He was in no mood to be insulted by a complete nobody.
"I dare you!" Kagome glared at him. "You are such a jerk, you know that? I wonder how Kikyo ever put up with someone like you!"
At the mention of Kikyo's name, Inuyasha instantly became quiet.
"Leave." he said firmly but silently.
"Why? This rooftop doesn't belong to you."
"I said LEAVE!" Inuyasha yelled, glaring at her menacingly.
Kagome had the feeling she didn't want to know what would happen if she challenged what he said, so she backed off.
"Fine! I'm telling Himura-sensei that I'll do the research myself!"
She slammed the rooftop door as hard as she could as she left. She hoped the door would get stuck so he would never get out of the roof. "Jerk!"