A Jealousy War
Inuyasha jumped out of Kagome’s bed at a sudden shriek, dropping the alarm clock that he was fiddling with. “What the f…” He mumbled as he saw Kagome standing near the door, three human girls and a boy behind her, their expressions filled with curiosity. Still shirtless, a chill went through him as he stood up suddenly. Then as he saw the other four strangers, another chill went down his spine. Even for a guy, Inuyasha is normally shy around strangers, especially around girls that he never met before.

“What are you doing in my room?” Kagome interrogated him, totally forgetting the fact that her friends were standing right beside her. Her tone was calmer than he thought it would be.

“I uh… was…” Inuyasha nervously scanned the room, in a flash he bent down and picked up the alarm clock. “I was just… playing around… with this thing.” It was the best thing he could come up with.

Watching him fiddling with the alarm clock, shirtless, and in front of four people that he never met before, Kagome almost started cracking up. But of course, she had to keep up a poker face, because she’s still nervous about having her friends meet Inuyasha, human form or not. Besides… seeing him shirtless again does not help.

“Go to Souta’s room!” Kagome is trying desperately not to raise her voice, she can’t lose her posture, not in front of her friends.

“Is this your cousin, Kagome-chan?” Kagome turned halfway and saw Ayumi’s head sticking out, trying to get a good look at Inuyasha. Oh no, I know that look. Kagome sighed silently. It’s obvious that she’s not the only one affected by the half-naked Inuyasha. She swept her eyes around, and saw the other two girls, also drooling over Inuyasha’s figure. Not that she blame them of course, but it was kinda disgusting to see all three of them not blinking at all.

“Yeah, I’m her cousin.” Inuyasha answered instead when Kagome was taking a long time studying the three odd looking girls with big eyes and open mouth. By the look on their faces, Inuyasha wondered if Kagome’s female friends were all mentally retarded. “Who are you?” Yea, he knew they were Kagome’s friends from school, he saw them before when he was following Kagome, and a few times when he flipped through the picture book that she called a “photo album”.

“I’m Ayumi.”

“I’m Emi.”

“And I’m… Emi, you’re squishing me, I’m Yuka.”

Kagome rolled her eyeballs in disgust as her three best friends squeezed closer and closer to Inuyasha. It was clear that the three were doing their best to restrain themselves from touching Inuyasha’s bare chest. Kagome let out a barely audible growl.

“I bet you’re our age.”

“Yeah, I bet you’re really smart.”

“Will you stay with us and help us study?”

“Please!” The three girls laid it on thick altogether for that last “please”. Inuyasha almost fell over, for one night he was actually glad to be without his dog ears so that he wouldn’t take in the girls’ high tones more than necessary.

And even more to his surprise, he found that Kagome isn’t the only modern girl that he’s unable to deal with. Apparently, all girls from the future had a skill, a certain talent that made him heel, despite the fact that they lacked the power to sit him.

“I…” Inuyasha couldn’t speak, he couldn’t move, he could barely breathe with three girls sticking their faces in front of him.

Kagome went “humph” again; silently she blamed Inuyasha for not pushing her “friends” away. But what could she do about it? For all her visitors know, Inuyasha is just her cousin.

“Oh, what’s your name?” Emi asked Inuyasha. Kagome could see that the girl was having trouble holding back the desire to flap her eyelashes, she wanted to throw up.

“Inu… Inuyasha.” Inuyasha somehow found the strength to squeak out his name.

“Inuyasha?” Ayumi blinked. “‘dog demon’?”

“Inuyasha had dysfunctional parents.” Unable to hold back any longer, Kagome released a long breathe and aimed her visible anger toward Inuyasha. The hanyou didn’t even think about firing back an insult, probably too weak to do anything. “Now can we just focus and study?!”

“Oh, Inuyasha-kun, tell us that you’ll study with us?” Even the innocent Yuka was getting dragged into this. Kagome couldn’t blame her or her other two friends, who wouldn’t fall for that cute face and hot body? But “Inuyasha-kun”? This is just way too much.

Inuyasha looked at Kagome with a blank look. Like he told her the night before in the Sengoku Jidai, he’s not stupid. It took him two more seconds, but he finally figured out that look on Kagome’s face… She’s jealous!!!

Inuyasha cheered silently, if Kagome focused on his face, she would’ve found a trace of triumph. Maybe I could use this to my advantage. Inuyasha smirked. He cleared his throat and stood tall, sticking out his upper body, as though he was trying to flaunt his muscles.

“Umm… of course, I’m the best in my region on… that stuff you’re learning.” Inuyasha turned around to pick up his shirt, and used the chance to hide a huge grin as he saw the surprised look on Kagome’s face. After he put on the shirt (now skilled at it), he turned around. “So what do you say, Kagome? I’ll stay and help your friends.” He looked at Kagome challengingly, almost daring her to say “no”.

Of course Kagome noticed this. She tried her best to hide her jealousy and anger and pretended that she didn’t care. “Sure, why not?” You wanna stay? Go right ahead. Let’s see if you can handle Emi and them. Besides… Kagome looked at the boy standing next to her. I have Hojo-kun.

And so it began… a jealousy war.

*****~~~~~*****

“Haruko-sama, we have something to tell you.” Miroku walked up to Haruko with an emotionless expression. He looked at Shippo and Rin, lying on their backs, debating over whether three hundred is san-byaku or san-hyaku. “Let’s leave them here; we’ll be close enough if they get into trouble.” He didn’t even look at Haruko twice before walking further away. Sango was approaching them slowly, with a fierce blush on her face. Haruko blinked a few times before finally deciding to put down her work and to follow Miroku.

“What is it, Miroku-sama?”

“Saa…” Miroku cleared his throat, not sure how to start. “Every time Inuyasha and Kagome comes back, they’re either very grouchy or in a bad mood. So it wouldn’t be best to ask them to do anything except for searching for shards at those times. So…” He paused to look at the confused Haruko. “Sango and I decided to tell you everything. That will save you the suspense and the insults you’ll get from Inuyasha. Good idea, ne?” Realizing that he’s being a little too serious, Miroku flashed a charming smile and a wink to show that he’s still the same Miroku. And surprisingly, that calmed Haruko down a lot.

“Really? Do you have the authority to do that?”

Miroku sweat-dropped. “Guess I can’t blame you for thinking that Inuyasha is the leader of this group.” He almost laughed. “The right word is agreement, Haruko-sama. Afterall, Inuyasha is not the boss of me.”

Haruko whispered a sarcastic “of course he isn’t”, making sure that the Houshi couldn’t hear her. “Oh, umm… sorry, I just assumed.” She sat down not far from Miroku as the Houshi sat lotus style under a tree. “So, where do we start?”

Miroku waited for Sango to sit before he started his… their tale. “We’ve heard Kagome-sama and Inuyasha talk about this a lot of times before, the details might be a little off, but you’ll get the whole story.

“It all goes back to fifty years ago, when none of us were born. There was a priestess named Kikyo (he paused when he heard Haruko gasp at that name, and when he saw Sango shiver), Kikyo was Kaede’s older sister, the miko of this village and protector of the Shikon no Tama. Then there was Inuyasha, a hanyou whom wanted to become a youkai. I guess if I was to tell this in a story form, the first chapter would be about the jewel that brought a miko and a hanyou together……”

*****~~~~~*****

“Inuyasha-kun, what school do you go to?”

“Inuyasha-kun, how old are you?”

“Inuyasha-kun, do you have a girlfriend?”

Kagome growled each time her friends asked Inuyasha a question, and each time they said “Inuyasha-kun”. She was so sure that if she was just a little bit sick, she would’ve thrown up already.

“So what’s x, Higurashi-san?” Kagome was snatched back from her daydreams of choking her friends to death by Hojo’s question.

“Umm…” Having not been paying attention to anything Hojo said, she was clueless. “ehh… x is equal to… four?”

“Close!” Hojo smiled at her brightly. “It’s 81.”

“How’s that even remotely close?” Inuyasha questioned from his spot on the bed. The three girls surrounded him. Yuka on the left; Ayumi on the right; and Emi was sitting (almost kneeling) on the flooring front of him. Kagome sat on her chair with her back to them so she didn’t have to see them fawning all over Inuyasha. But apparently, Inuyasha was not going to ignore her, or the human boy sitting next to her.

Kagome rolled her eyes. “Ignore him, Hojo-kun, he’s just bitter.” Kagome tried to focus her attention on the practice test paper, trying to figure out why x was equal to 81.

Inuyasha flinched when Kagome didn’t even seem to care that he’s got three girls surrounding him. His thoughts were everywhere at once. Does she call every guy with a suffix except for me? Is that because we’re close or she doesn’t respect me? Wonder what Miroku would say if he sees me like this? Am I becoming that lech? Who’s this guy anyway? Why the fuck is he sitting so close to Kagome? Hey, why am I getting jealous?! I’m suppose to make Kagome jealous.

Inuyasha has been unconsciously blocking out the last two minutes of conversation in the room. When his newly formed fan club saw him suddenly quiet and deep in thought, they became somewhat disturbed.

“Are you alright, Inuyasha-kun?”

Another “Inuyasha-kun”! Kagome screamed inside her head, almost breaking the pencil in her hand.

“Huh?” Inuyasha snapped back. “Oh, yea, I’m fine, what?”

“Your hair is so long and neat, Inuyasha-kun.” Ayumi almost reached out and touched it, but something in Inuyasha’s eyes told her that maybe she shouldn’t.

“That’s because he uses women’s conditioner.” Kagome’s hearing was still focused on the conversation behind her. No matter how much she would’ve loved not to care, she just couldn’t do that.

Inuyasha didn’t know what a conditioner is. But he did wonder why he would use anything that belongs to a woman. Surely in this time period that would be equally weird.

“I do not!” He yelled loudly. His reaction surprised Kagome enough to make her turn and face him. But what greeted her eyes when she turned was the human Inuyasha wearing the tight cloths, the same outfit that made her heart take a bungee jump earlier. She mentally slapped herself as she felt her cheeks heating up and turned around to try to focus on the trig problem before her. Hojo, who was totally oblivious to Kagome’s change of attitude, still went on patiently with his math lecture.

Because Kagome didn’t fire back an insult at Inuyasha, the two didn’t talk for the next half an hour. The three girls had no intention of studying as they asked Inuyasha question after question about his life, which usually took him two minutes to think up an answer. Hojo was still trying to get Kagome to understand the difference of domain and range. But inside Kagome’s head, she was oblivious to anything. The only thing she could think of was going up to ask Inuyasha why he was still flirting with her friends. And unknown to her, Inuyasha was wondering to himself why Hojo was sitting so close to his Kagome.

*****~~~~~*****

It’s been a long while since Miroku started his story. Shippo and Rin were put to bed by Sango, whom had to bring bowls after bowls of water to the thirsty monk as his lips ran dry. From the breaking of Inuyasha’s seal to them meeting Shippo, and then to when they met him, the thing that surprised Haruko the most was Kikyo’s resurrection. And of course later, he told the tale of how Kohaku killed every member of Sango’s family and their best exterminators. During this part, Sango moved away silently and didn’t return until much later.

After Sango returned, Haruko couldn’t help but look at her admiringly. Before she didn’t understand why they needed Sango’s permission to tell her everything, but now that she does, she found a newly formed respect for the young exterminator. She also thought about just how sheltered her own life has been, and remembered the fact that Sango never seemed sad or bitter. How can she be so strong? Haruko questioned inside. I wouldn’t be able to live if I was in her situation.

“…and so that’s how we met Kouga.” Miroku paused to take a sip of water. His throat was becoming incredibly scratchy and hurt every time he swallowed saliva. He rubbed his neck slowly.

Haruko noticed this change in his behavior. “Houshi-sama, it’s okay if you want to continue tomorrow. It’s getting late, and you seem tired.”

Miroku sighed in relief. “Yes, perhaps that would be best. We’ll continue first thing tomorrow and…”

“I’ll tell you the rest.” Sango suddenly spoke up, surprising both Miroku and Haruko since she hasn’t said a word all night. When Sango noticed everyone staring at her, she smiled slightly. “I don’t think you can wait until tomorrow, Haruko-chan. I’ll tell you the rest. There’s so much you don’t know yet.”

“I don’t…” Haruko hesitated. Sango was right. She did want to hear everything all at once. There are a lot of questions that still aren’t answered. Like where is Naraku now. “If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Not at all.”

*****~~~~~*****

“Gochisosama!!!” Everyone said their after dinner thanks and started up for Kagome for more “studying”.

During dinner, the three girls insisted on sitting next to Inuyasha, leaving Kagome no choice but to sit with the other three men: Sota, her grandfather, and Hojo. Hojo was caring and clueless as always. He was constantly reminding Kagome that she needed to eat more vegetables. Each time Kagome replied with a polite smile.

It was very formal, and with no skin contact whatsoever. But to Inuyasha’s eyes, the two were acting like a couple. He growled through dinner, eyes fixated on Kagome and Hojo’s every movement. But somehow, nobody noticed this.

Inuyasha was the first to climb up, since he didn’t want to see Hojo and Kagome go up together. But his movement attracted more attention than necessarily. Still remember those semi-tight pants? Well, it just gets tighter when he’s going up the stairs. And this led three squealing girls following close behind him, and another girl ready to throw something at him.

Ayumi stopped moving half way and dragged Kagome back down. When she saw that everybody else was gone, she started to speak in a very hyper manner.

“Kami-sama! Kagome-chan, how could you not tell us about your absolutely fabulous looking cousin?!”

Kagome groaned. “He’s umm… distant, a very, very distant cousin, barely related.” Just the opposite of Ayumi, Kagome sounded like a mix of anger, fatigue, and impatience.

Ayumi cupped her red cheeks and sighed overdramatically. “He’s the hottest guy I’ve ever seen.” Another sigh. “Please tell me he’s single.”

Kagome rolled her eyes and sighed as well, but in a different way. “He used to have a girlfriend, who’s currently obsessed about dragging him down to hell with her.” Maybe I could scare her a little. Who’s not afraid of a possessive ex?

“So he’s single now.” Obviously, scary doesn’t work for Ayumi.

Kagome almost wanted to say that he’s not. But then she started thinking. Can Inuyasha and I be considered as boyfriend/girlfriend? We’ve hugged, I’ve told him that I’ll always follow him, and he accepted. But we’ve never even kissed. What does that mean?

“Am I right?” Ayumi’s impatient question snapped Kagome back to reality.

“Huh? I… I don’t know. I’m not sure.” Kagome looked down, now a bit sad and disappointed. So we don’t officially have a bond or a title, does that mean we can be separated easily?

“Great!” Ayumi cheered. She smiled brightly to Kagome and practically ran back to the room. Kagome slowly dragged herself up too, trying to push aside the confusion and the question and focus on tomorrow’s two tests.

It seemed like an eternity until Kagome finally sat back down in her chair and picked up the math book. She waited for Hojo to start, but he was quietly looking, no, staring at her.

“Umm… Hojo-kun? What’s wrong?” Kagome asked cautiously, well aware of the four other pairs of eyes on the two of them.

“Saa…” Hojo sat up and straightened his uniform. “Higurashi-san, I’m sure you know about the tradition of the fall festival.”

Kagome nodded. If Hojo hasn’t brought it up, she would’ve forgotten all about it. Every year, on the Monday after the midterms, the graduating seniors are responsible for organizing a fall festival. And this year, it’s their turn. Every few kids are to form a small group, make their own food, and sell them in a stand. The profit goes to the school.

“Well, this year, as you’re well aware, it’s our turn.” Hojo grinned brightly. “The vice-principle said that because of your constant sickness, you don’t have to contribute to the festival, and you’ll be given two free sets of tickets. I was wondering… would you… would you like to go to the festival with me. I mean, after I finish selling my share. We could just… walk around, and maybe go to a movie afterwards.” Hojo shifted slightly in his seat, somewhat uncomfortable about asking a girl out in front of for other people.

Perhaps it was just in the back of her head, but Kagome could swear that she heard Inuyasha choking on air. Should I go? How am I suppose to answer in front of Inuyasha? Kagome gulped, she tried to shift her eyes to look at Inuyasha, but something in Hojo’s voice made her focus on him. Then another voice in her head screamed. You’ve turned down Hojo-kun so many times. You owe him this!

But before she could reply, or even think any more about this, she heard another voice, this time, not her own.

“Hey, I have an idea!” Kagome could hear Ayumi’s loud shriek. “Inuyasha-kun, why don’t you come too? You can take Kagome-chan’s other set of free tickets. After all, the vice-principle is giving her two sets. I’ll take you around to all the tasty stands. And afterwards, I’ll take you around town. I bet you haven’t had the chance to go sightseeing yet!”

Now it’s Kagome’s turn to choke. Is Ayumi-chan asking Inuyasha out on a date?!? Is she out of her mind!!!!????!!!! Inuyasha doesn’t even understand the meaning of a date, that clueless baka will probably say yes just to spite me.

If there’s one thing Inuyasha learned from Kagome’s black box, the one she called “television”, it’s the relationship between a modern male and female. He has seen her watch one of those “soapy opera”, and every one of the problems started with a guy or a girl asking someone of the opposite sex to go out with them alone. What’s that thing called again? Ah, yes, it was called a “date”. So this girl is asking me out to one of those “date” things? Why? What do they do on “dates”? Inuyasha forced his mind to think back to the shows. First there’s always a pretty outfit, then gifts, food, stupid songs, and… what was that last thing again? Hmm… it was…

Inuyasha almost screamed as he finally remembered. Kami-sama! If I go to the “date”, does that mean I’ll have to… kiss… this girl?! Eww!!! Inuyasha blinked intensely, trying to block out the image that was already forming in his mind. But his memory didn’t stop there. After the kiss, the couple always goes inside and…

“Ahh!!!” Inuyasha screamed, this time really grossed out. What is this girl thinking!?!

“Inuyasha-kun?” Ayumi asked in concern when Inuyasha suddenly screamed.

But Inuyasha didn’t answer her, he was too engrossed in his mind. I can’t do that with this girl? I haven’t even done it with Kikyo! Inuyasha blushed at that thought. Besides, what would Kagome think if I agreed? He looked up Kagome, even if it was just to reassure his heart. But before he can calm down, he remembered what Hojo just asked Kagome.

Wait… no way!!! Did that bastard… just ask Kagome out on a “date”?!? Inuyasha almost fainted at the thought. Say no, say no, Kagome, please say no. Say no and tomorrow I’ll kill this bastard so he’ll never bother you again. You’ll say no, and I’ll say no. Please say no… say no… say no… say no…

Inuyasha was so engrossed in his silent prayer that he didn’t notice the color on Kagome’s cheek change from a slight pink to anger red.

Why isn’t Inuyasha saying no? Kagome steamed up inside. I knew it! He’s way over his head! Baka! Fine, if he wants to go out with Ayumi-chan, then I’ll go out with Hojo-kun!

“Hojo-kun, what time should I be there?” Kagome faced Hojo once again and asked indifferently. Her anger is so much now that she can’t even feel embarrassment anymore.

This brought a big smile to Hojo’s face, and almost brought Inuyasha down to the floor. “Hontoo, Higurashi-san?”

“Call me Kagome.” Kagome sweetened it up. She’s not in it to be with Hojo, she’s only doing it to anger Inuyasha. And it worked all too well.

While Hojo was saying thank you and grinning like a monkey, Ayumi tried desperately to grab Inuyasha’s attention. She didn’t even care that her other two friends were screaming at her for asking Inuyasha out first. “Inuyasha-kun? Are you…”

“I’ll go.” Inuyasha answered sternly. Why did she say yes? He cursed at Kagome over and over in his heart, completely hurt by her “betrayal”. Did she always want to be with that guy? What about all the promises she made to me? Don’t I mean anything to her anymore? If she’s going to do something like that with him, then why should I feel guilty?

Except for Hojo, everyone else heard his answer to Ayumi’s question. And except for Ayumi, everyone else was sad. But Kagome was hurt the most. So he did want someone else. Kagome swallowed her tears. That’s just fine with me!

Inuyasha whispered to himself: “but Kagome, don’t think I’ll take my eyes off of you that day.” Even with the moon gone, Inuyasha can feel his demon blood trying to take over: the revenge part, the blood-thirst part.

This is one jealousy war gone too far.

<><><><><>

Hahahaha… I’m so tired. Finally done with this chapter. C’mon, people, give me some nice reviews. I’m sick and I still managed to finish this chapter. A little note: 500 years ago, no matter in which culture, a kiss is something very serious, that a normal, pure girl would not do. And the other thing that Inuyasha was thinking, well, that’s strictly for husband and wife. So you can see why Inuyasha is so freaked out about this. Of course, it’s a misunderstanding. But this little confusion/conflict will go on to another big problem. So stay tuned!!! We’ll be back after two weeks or so of commercials.

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