Friendly Persuasion
The Walk Home
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Kagome kept her eyes down as her mysterious rescuer led her
back to the main street.
“Listen, uh, about what happened back there...”
“I told you to forget about it.” He snapped.
“But I haven’t thanked you properly.”
He looked over his shoulder, “Now you listen to me,
Kagome-san: you can thank me by never going in those alleys again.
I don’t want you to get hurt because I’m not always gonna be there to
help you. Either you learn to help
yourself, or you just avoid places that you can get hurt.
Kagome’s face turned red as she answered, “Yes, Kyo-san.”
Kyo sighed as he turned to face her fully, “Kagome-san,
promise, no, swear to me that you will never set foot in those alleys
again.”
“But...”
“Swear it!” He
demanded.
“All right.”
“All right what?”
“I swear to never go into those alleys again.
Kyo’s lips were drawn into a fine line, “More than you can
ever know.”
That said, Kyo turned back around and began walking
again. Wondering how he could have such
violent mood swings and so quickly, Kagome followed him dumbly.
doing so, saw a sword sheathed at Kyo’s left side.
“Is that legal?”
“What? Crossing the
street? Of course it is.”
“No, I mean that sword at your hip. Are you allowed to have that in public like this?”
Kyo seemed to almost trip, but he covered it so well that
Kagome almost didn’t see it, except that her time with Inu-Yasha had trained her.
brought up Kikyo, Inu-Yasha’s previous girlfriend that had been dead for fifty
years that had just recently been brought back to life.
His breath caught as he answered, “Yes, Kagome-san, it’s
legal. I’ve had it cleared and
everything. See that policeman?
street? I know all of them by name, and
in turn, they all know me, too. In all
of the major cities, the policemen of those cities know me by name.
shows them I’m allowed to carry this.
This, and other weapons, too.”
“But why? Why would
you need to carry a sword? Are you
paranoid?” Kagome asked, very curious
about this Kyo person.
“Well, I guess you could call me paranoid if you wanted, but
I’ve always been taught to watch my back, so, I thought that if I carried a
sword out in the open like this, no one would mess with me unless they were
extremely stupid.”
“And what do you do about the ‘extremely stupid’ people that
challenge you?”
“What anyone else would do.”
“You run away?”
Kyo stopped and turned around so quickly that Kagome didn’t
have time to blink, “No, I don’t run.
I put my hand on the hilt of my sword, charge the bastards, draw my
sword, cut them down so that they’re guaranteed not to walk for several months,
stand over them with a crooked smile on my face, and then I laugh.”
Kagome’s eyes were wide as Kyo turned back around and began
walking away, crossing the street once more.
Looking in both directions before crossing, Kagome ran after him, hoping
she hadn’t angered him.
“What?” He asked
angrily, not even turning to look at her.
“I’m sorry.”
“What for?”
“For saying that you run away.”
“Was it your intention to anger me?”
“No! Of course not!”
“But that’s what you’re telling me by saying ‘I’m sorry’.”
“Huh?”
“When you say, ‘I’m sorry’, you’re saying ‘I said that on
purpose, and now I want to apologize for getting you angry even though that was
my intention all along’. So what I’m
trying to tell you is: unless you intentionally meant to do something, don’t
say ‘I’m sorry’.”
“Oh, all right. So
what am I supposed to say?”
“When you anger any normal person, just deal with them the
same way you would when they’re angry.
Give ’em chocolate or flowers, or whatever. For me, though, it’s been proven to be better if you just
don’t say anything for twelve minutes, let me punch or kick something, and then
I’m fine.”
“Twelve minutes? Why
not ten?”
“Because someone a long time ago found out that every time
I’m angry, it takes me twelve full minutes to cool down.
an inanimate object before being able to function normally again.”
“I see.” Kagome said
as Kyo stopped in front of a set of stairs.
“Here we are.”
“But where is ‘here’?”
Kyo blinked, “You’re Higurashi Kagome, right?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you live at the Higurashi Shrine?
Higurashi?”
Now it was Kagome’s turn to blink and blush as she realized
that Kyo had walked her home, “Oh my gosh!
I didn’t even recognize where we were going! Yes, this is my house.
Thank you so much, Kyo-san!”
Kyo turned his head, his bangs covering his eyes, “You know,
you don’t have to call me that if you don’t want to.”
“What?”
“That name, ‘Kyo-san’.
Most of my friends say ‘Kyo-sama’, or ‘Sama-sama’, or if they know me
very well, Kun-kun. But never
‘Kyo-san’.”
“So which do you want me to call you?”
Kyo turned his deep green eyes to Kagome’s brown ones,
“Whatever you damn well please.”
As he started to walk away, Kagome’s mind threw an idea to
her attention, “Wait! Uh, would you
like to come in and have dinner with us... um, Kyo-kun?”
He turned, a little quicker than he would have liked, “But
you’ve only just met me.”
Kagome blushed quickly, “I know, but you seem like such a
nice guy, and I think my mom wouldn’t mind, and Grandpa won’t mind, and I doubt
my little brother will object once he sees your sword.”
“Your brother likes swords?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Do you ever let him touch one?”
“Oh no! Mom and I
would hurt him if we ever caught a sword in his hands.”
Kyo gave a wry smile as he looked down, “I only wish someone
had been willing to do that for me when I was little.”
“What do you mean?”
Kagome asked.
“I’ve had a sword by my side since I was seven, and no one’s
ever told me ‘Put that down!’ or anything like that. I’m almost glad someone didn’t, because then I wouldn’t be who I
am, but I wish someone did then. Maybe
if I had picked up the sword when I was ten, I wouldn’t mind so much now.
them. They can warp your mind something
fierce if you’re not careful.”
Remembering when Sesshomaru’s sword’s creator, Kaijin-bo, had
been possessed by the very sword he had created, Tokijin, Kagome nodded.
“So anyway, Kyo-kun, will you come in and eat with us?”
Sighing, Kyo smiled weakly, “I suppose it would be all right
as long as no one in your family minds.”
“Don’t worry, Kyo-kun, I’m sure no one will mind one more
person.”
“I hope so, because I’d hate to intrude.”
“Don’t worry about it!”
Smiled Kagome as she began jogging up the stairs to her house.
Kyo followed her, jogging at a steady pace so that he kept up
with her, his breathing even compared to Kagome’s ragged breath as she reached
the top.
“Are you okay?” He
asked, an eyebrow raised. The first
real sign of concern Kagome had seen cross his face.
“Oh yeah, I’m fine. I
only run up these stairs everyday, but I just can’t seem to keep my breath with
me.”
“Pace yourself more.
It’ll help.”
“I will, thanks. Come
on, let’s go.” Kagome said, joggip
tp
to the front door.