Torn

~*~one year later~*~

InuYasha had never forgotten Kagome. How can one ever forget their first love? He thought about her daily, dreamed about her at night, and swore he saw her walking down the streets sometimes. He and his oldest friends, Miroku and Sango, had grown apart since that day Kagome left, taking his heart with her. What damage had he inflicted upon her he often wondered. What she was doing now, what she looked like, did she think of him.? He supposed he would never know the answers to his desperate questions. He was still with Kikyo, yet it was no comparison to the way things had been with Kagome. He had to try and forget her though. He wanted to be happy with Kikyo, he really did. It was what was expected of him. To Hell with everyone though. He wished he had followed his heart that day instead of the idiotic notions of his supposed friends. Miroku, Sango and InuYasha had been together for as long as he could remember. However, once high school started, he found himself being pulled into another crowd, one that encouraged him to distance himself from his friends. But, once he saw Kagome, he saw something special. So, despite his new friends objections, he pursued her and won her heart, and she his. Now she was gone, and he was left with Kikyo. He loved her, but not enough it seemed.

He sighed. Kikyo hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t paying attention, as usual. Kagome had always known when something was off. 'Stop thinking about her, its too late!' he reprimanded his brain.

“Oh my God, and you’ll never guess what I overheard!" Kikyo said excitedly.

'You’re always overhearing something,’ InuYasha thought to himself

“That girl you used to, I don't know, ‘go’ with is coming back. Isn’t that funny? Like, why would she ever show her geeky face around here again?” Kikyo laughed picturing an even geekier version of Kagome.

InuYasha still wasn’t paying attention so he muttered a “Yeah, right Kikyo."

He looked over to the picnic table where his former friends were sitting. They seemed excited about something. And it appeared as if both of them were going to go to class today. That was something unusual. Usually they skipped. But here they were, giggling and laughing. InuYasha strained his sensitive dog ears to catch what they were saying. It wasn’t easy over Kikyo’s non stop ramblings.

"Remember when she....and it went everywhere...her face!" Laughter accompanied Sango’s comment.

Miroku got a dreamy look in his face “I remember the time.. roller coaster.. so fast...and then...." Sango’s hand made contact with his face after the last words faded from his lips.

Who were they talking about? InuYasha strained harder to hear. But Kikyo’s voice was so obnoxious, there would be only one way to shut her up. He turned her around in his arms and kissed her. Now, silence filled the air around him, just in time to hear Sango’s comments.

"The way she and Inu where together, how they...I don’t know...meshed? They were like meant for each other. I used to be jealous of her, ya know, that she had found her someone special, that she loved him, and InuYasha really seemed to love Kagome back. " She sighed heavily. "I just miss the old days so much, you know? When we could all hang out, before that Kikyo bitch showed up. I’m so glad that Kagome..." The last words were lost to him as Kikyo pulled back from the kiss.

"Wow, Inu baby, you sure are good at that!" giving him a sexy smirk. "Come on, class is about to begin. It’s math with Myoga, again! Can you believe they haven’t fired him yet?...." On and on she went. Miroku and Sango followed InuYasha into the room. He could feel their eyes burning through him. They had never forgiven him for dumping Kagome for Kikyo. Why should they? He didn’t forgive himself. But he was confused. Why had they been talking about Kagome? He knew they must miss her too, but she had been gone for so long. The memories he possessed of her were bittersweet, a distant dream he could never hope to regain.

They all sat down and Myoga began the class. InuYasha noticed that his former friends seemed to be waiting for something, but what he had no idea. About 20 minutes into class there was a knock at the door.

"Oh that’s right,” Myoga said, coming out of the difficult equation he had finally finished writing on the board. It looked impossible to solve, and he had previously informed the class that it was quite difficult and to expect a similar question on the next test. No one had any idea what to do. The knocking sounded again at the door, this time more impatient.

"Class, we're getting a new student, well sort of, do you all remember Kagome?"

With that said, he opened the door and gestured for the person to enter. InuYasha’s ears perked up and he looked at the girl standing in front of the class. There was no way that this was his Kagome. This girl had dark brown, almost black, hair going down to her butt, long, straight and shiny. She wore baggy black pants and an equally baggy sweatshirt. A baby blue backpack lay by her sneakered feet, and black straps could be seen, indicating there was another bag on her shoulders, but no one could see it.

"Hello Myoga." she said, her once shy voice replaced with a colder, more worldly sort of voice. InuYasha couldn’t describe it even if he wanted too.

"Young lady..." Myoga started. "The name is Mr. Myoga, and class began 20 minutes ago. I know you’ve been gone for some time, but things have not changed that drastically."

Darkened eyes swept around the room, containing two best friends, one ex love, his brother, as well as a ton of people she wished she would never have to see again.

'Well this should prove to be fun.' she thought to herself quirking an eyebrow.

Suddenly, the sound of ringing filled the room.

"What is that noise" Myoga asked, rather annoyed.

No one answered. Then, during the deadly silence, Kagome’s voice cut through.

"It’s Dolly." she simply said, as if that answered everything.

"And what is Dolly? " Myoga asked, hardly amused.

Kagome slowly took the straps away from her shoulders and put the coffin shaped bag on Myoga’s desk. Groans of "Gross" and "Ew" filled the room. She quickly looked over to where Sango and Miroku sat and gave them a knowing look. The only ones other than those two to witness it were the half brothers, InuYasha and Sesshomaru. She undid one clasp at a time, the ringing still echoing throughout the calm room. All eyes were on her simple slow movements. She flung the lid back suddenly and said, "This is Dolly!" proudly while pulling out a doll. This was hardly an ordinary doll though. The one Kagome gripped dangled from a length of rope, forming a noose around her neck, the head slightly cocked to one side, x's for eyes. In the dolls dead hands sat a cell phone, which continued to ring.

Cries of disgust ran rampart throughout the room. Kagome smiled slightly and answered her phone. InuYasha was utterly confused. There was no way this was his Kagome, yet her eyes, even though they held much more pain and knowledge than before, he knew those eyes anywhere. He heard someone make a coughing noise from behind him and turned to see his normally zombie like brother trying desperately not to laugh. He couldn’t believe it. An actual response form Sesshomaru? He looked back to Kagome, who was still on the phone. Myoga was recovering from his shock and was yelling at her to get off the damn contraption. She ignored him and twirled her dolly around by the rope hanging from the noose around the dolls neck.

"I mean it young lady, get off that phone NOW!" Myoga was furious.

"K ....ya...I’ll see ya in a few k? (-laughs-) No, not much, just in class.....Yes I go .....sometimes..…(-laughs-) K, bye." She hung up the phone and turned to the class and the flustered teacher

"Well its been real… something. However, I have a previous engagement I must keep, so I’ll be off now. Later." She waved her hand and turned to leave the room when Myoga said. “You cant leave! You haven’t even done anything!"

“Oh… okay then." she replied as if she heard it everyday. She turned to the black board and picked up a piece of chalk. Almost with super speed she wrote out the confusing answer to the near impossible equation Myoga had placed upon the board. Satisfied with her handiwork, she turned to the surprised teacher. "There I did something, can I leave now?" Then, without waiting for an answer she left the room. Myoga muttered under his breathe, "Yeah, sure go." He was staring at the board. That answer seemed right, but there was no way. How had she done that?

Sesshomaru glanced down at the piece of paper in front of him. It contained the question and answer, an exact match for Kagome’s. 'Well, she has a brain too!' he thought, somewhat amused to himself. ‘This ought to be interesting!‘ He quickly stole a glance at his half brother who looked like he had just seen a ghost. ‘Oh yes,’ Sesshomaru thought, suppressing the laughter he hadn’t felt in so long. ‘Fun indeed.’