Assassination

A/N: So, I was anxiously awaiting aff to finish upgrading. I must say, nice. Takes some time to get used to, right?
Anyhoo, this chapter is bloody long, mainly because I couldn't help myself but to give an insane background into Inu and Kagome's past-thingie. It won't be my only use of the venerable flashback, especially as I am evil.
Enjoy, my luvvies.

Disclaimer: No. I don't own it. Geez. It has yet to change. And as Rumiko Takahashi does not know of my existence and cannot make me the sole beneficiary of her will, it never will. I don't own Inuyasha.

CHAPTER 8: Flashbacks

Inuyasha sat on the high, thick branch, legs and arms crossed and his face tilted to the sky.
He had been sitting there for hours, contemplating the clouds. Ever since he had seen Kagome in the forest almost two weeks ago, he had been plagued with strong feelings of guilt and introspection. As he had told Sesshomaru, he had been a friend of Kagome's for the better part of a decade. He had met her in college, after Sesshomaru had needled him about his lack of formal education.
He had strolled into the huge, imposing campus, bag slung negligently over his shoulder, the confidence of a few centuries of life under his belt, giving his walk a cocky swagger.
He had walked into the school as though he had owned it.
He cracked a tiny smile at the memory of his and Kagome’s first encounter.

************
FLASHBACK
************

Inuyasha strolled down the graveled pathway, smirking at the obsequious manner of the university president a few minutes before.
He had practically offered Inuyasha free reign in the university, short of pure mayhem. Perhaps these four years would not be quite as bad as he first imagined. Only the gods knew why he had allowed Sesshomaru to needle him all the way into University. Usually, he would have shrugged it off as residual jackass behaviour popping up from its rightful place a few centuries back. He might even have followed it up with a nice, long, bloody fight.
But for some reason, he found himself taking Sesshomaru’s snide comment to heart.
And his threat that, without formal qualifications, their father would not name him co-head of their family business with Sesshomaru when he wanted to stand down.
So here he found himself, in what was perhaps the most prestigious University in this century.
He was rudely shaken out of his musings when a slight figure slammed into him, knocking them both to the ground.
He blinked stupidly at the sky, what was unmistakably a woman on top of him, her long black hair strewn all over his face and body.
With a moan that stuttered his heart a bit, she propped herself up on one hand, looking down at him.
Sapphire eyes met golden as he stared into the most beautiful face he had ever seen.

“Oh, my gosh! I’m so so so so sorry.” She breathed, obviously frantic.

For once in his very long life, Inuyasha Kingreaves was, quite literally, struck speechless.

“Are you alright?” she asked, those eyes narrowing in concern.

As her body still lay on his, flush against all his –thankfully- working parts, he was having difficulty thinking.
When he still didn’t answer, instead stared at her, mute, she rested one tiny hand on his forehead.
He shot up at that contact, tumbling the girl into his lap.
She stared up at him, her mouth an ‘o’ of surprise.
He stood, sending her, butt-first, to the ground, where she landed with a thump and a small cloud of dust.

“Watch where you’re going, you clumsy wench!” he shot, even managing to copy Sesshomaru’s infamous sneer at the girl staring up at him, eyes wide.

Suddenly, those amazing blue orbs turned molten with temper, and she shot up from the ground, eyes blazing.

“I apologized, you rude, ill-mannered waste of air!” she ground out, even poking him once in the chest with a slender, tapered finger.

“Ha! First you slammed into me with the force of an exceptionally heavy sumo, and then you manhandle me!” he snarled, a bit surprised at the yells and poke. No one, but no one, ever yelled back at him. Excluding Sesshomaru, of course, but Sesshomaru didn’t qualify as anyone.

If possible, her blazing eyes became even hotter, until he could swear flames licked up her long eyelashes as her temper skyrocketed.

“Oooh…you…insensitive…you…mean…you…oooh…you…you…you…dog…you…aargh!” she fumed.
Inuyasha inwardly smiled. She had no idea of how right she was.

“You find this funny?” she snarled, poking him once more.

“What? No! I don’t find being tackled and then sexually harassed funny!” he yelped.

“I did not tackle you! I was running from-.” He watched, interested, as she flushed and cut herself off.

“I did not tackle you, and I did not sexually harass you! I was checking to see if you were alright!” she tried again, regaining her furious fire.

“Sure, just keep telling yourself that.” He drawled, pleased when she glared at him.

“Ooh, you’re all so…impossible! Always assuming that women always want you! Well, let me tell you, buster, it isn’t so!” she punctuated her last sentence with a poke after each word.
He opened his mouth to reply, but stopped when he heard a commotion in front of him. She turned, and he was surprised to see her turn pale, before shooting him one last, fulminating glare before dashing off. His eyes widened at her grace and speed, and only stopped watching when she skidded into a dormitory and disappeared through its doors.
He turned at a youkai aura, and his lips pulled back in a snarl at a familiar face and smell.
The youkai almost dashed by him, in the direction of the girl, but skidded to a stop when Inuyasha grabbed him by the arm and stopped him.

“Prince Inuyasha, what are you doing here?” the youkai asked respectfully, looking highly surprised.

“I’m starting school here. And you?”

“As am I. Isn’t this great? Us, going to school together? These ningen women don’t stand a chance.” The youkai said, grinning.

“Idiot.” But Inuyasha said it with a smile as he shook hands with his childhood friend.

“As always.” Kouga Westing grinned back.

“So, do you know which dormitory this is?” Inuyasha asked, proffering the slip of paper with his dorm on it at Kouga.

“Yeah! I know it like I know my own scent. My goddess lives there.” He said, pointing towards the building where the girl with the fiery eyes had disappeared.

“Really? Petite, long black hair, blue eyes?” Inuyasha asked, remembering that she had said that she had been running from something, or someone.

“That’s my Kagome. She’s playing hard to get.” He imparted with a smirk.

As they headed for the building, Kouga boasting about the affections of his ‘woman’, Inuyasha refrained from commenting that when a girl flew away from you like a bat escaping hell, there was little chance that she was actually interested.
They entered the building and searched for his room, quickly realizing that he was at the top of the building, where all the expensive, apartment-like rooms were.
Reserved for those that could afford it; the floor even came with its own private elevator and guards at the entry doors.
Inuyasha stopped at the last room of the floor, dug into his pocket for the electronic card-key and swiped his way into his room.
He eyed the large, spacious rooms, nodded his satisfaction, and tossed his backpack carelessly on a nearby sofa.
His bags had already been brought up, and one of his family servants was already busily packing his stuff away.

“Morning, Jaken. Everything cool?” he asked the small, greenish toad youkai.

“Yes, Master Inuyasha.” The tiny man beamed back, looking positively thrilled at the prospect of spending his days waiting hand and foot on the messy Inuyasha.

“Leave the domestics to the domestics! Let’s make friendly with the neighbours!” Kouga whooped, waggling his eyebrows at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha laughed, before waving goodbye to Jaken and exiting.
Kouga was already knocking on the door directly opposite Inuyasha’s, his best smile fixed onto his face.
The door opened, and Kouga’s smile morphed into a lecherous smirk.
The occupant gasped at Kouga, before turning to look at an equally surprised Inuyasha.

“You! Both of you!” the girl gasped, before slamming the door shut. The unmistakable sound of locks falling into place had Kouga turning, confused, to Inuyasha, whose brows were drawn down into a frown.

“Why d’you think Kagome did that? Maybe she didn’t recognize us?”

Inuyasha sincerely doubted that. Well, university would definitely not be boring at all.

Not at all.

******************

That first collision was the beginning of many subsequent meetings. Contact was unavoidable, seeing as they were neighbours, and Kouga took full advantage of his proximity to the proximity of Kagome. He practically lived in Inuyasha’s apartments in the hope of seeing Kagome.
She, however, was adept at avoiding Kouga.
Inuyasha had looked on in amusement, crushing his initial attraction to Kagome, as his friend was obviously obsessed. He was ever as obnoxious to Kagome as he had been on their first encounter, and she wasted no opportunity to insult him rather creatively.
In this way, they became semi-friends.
The bickering and teasing, not to mention the insults, somehow brought them together.
And one snowy day in their second year at college together, their childish hate-hate relationship changed.
All over someone else’s relationship.

***************
FLASHBACK
***************
Inuyasha sat, pen clamped between his teeth as he stared at the piles of papers around him.
His living room floor, usually put to other purposes, was covered with homework.
Research papers, textbooks, and an unholy amount of loose-leaf paper covered in his handwriting.
He was just about ready to pull his hair out with frustration, when a knock sounded at the door.
He leapt off the carpet, grateful for any distraction. A natural procrastinator for anything he deemed unimportant, he hated homework with a passion.
He yanked open the door, surprised to see Kagome standing nervously in the hallway, something in her hands.
More books.
He groaned, head flopping down in defeat. He looked up at her through his cascading hair, not even bothering to lift his head.

“More books? Why? Why am I such an idiot?” he mumbled.

One eyebrow arched as she smiled at him.

“Professor Kipling asked me to please give you these. I don’t think they have anything to do with homework, though.” She said, displaying the title of a bright pink book.

“I must say, I never put you down as a ‘How to Make Your Very Own Jewelry’ type of guy.”

Inuyasha’s head snapped up as he took the books from her hands, then laughed.

“These aren’t for me! They’re for my niece. She’s addicted to these craft books. I told Professor K about her, and she said she’d send some over.” Inuyasha explained.

“Ah.” Kagome said, still grinning. She peeked over his shoulder at the paper explosion behind him, and her blue eyes widened.

“Having problems with your homework?” she asked curiously.

Inuyasha threw one baleful glance the sea of horror behind him, then turned to look at Kagome. To his surprise, she looked envious and hungry when she looked at his mountain of homework.

“Aah…yeah. I just can’t seem to get that stupid sociology.” He muttered, an idea forming. Inasmuch as he hated it, groveling did have its perks, the most important of which is that it always worked.

“Sociology? I love sociology. How can you not get it?” she asked, eyes shining.

Inuyasha’s stomach tightened at the animated beauty in front of him.

‘Guess I’m not as immune to her as I want to be.’ He thought ruefully.

“Because I’m an unfeeling idiot that thinks that women are automatically attracted to me?” he asked, pelting her very first words at him back at her.

She laughed, and Inuyasha’s heart went pitter-patter.

“Am I supposed to argue with that?”

“Have pity on me and help, please. Please please, please please please please?” he begged, eyes wide and expression pitiful.

A pile of paper and social science did him, a centuries old hanyou, destroyer of youkai and human evil alike, in.

She grinned at him.

“It would be my absolute pleasure.” She said solemnly, her eyes sparking with amusement.

She stepped into his room, abruptly stopping as her eyes flicked from side to side warily.

“What?” Inuyasha asked, confused.

“Is Kouga here?” she asked slowly, still peering into the room.

“Nah. He’s off for the week. Some family business.” Inuyasha found it very hard not to laugh outright at the look of patent relief on her face.

She took one look at his ‘filing system’ and let out one long sigh.

She turned wide blue eyes to him, and the look in them foretold a long, hard night.

Inuyasha groaned.

-------------------------------


“No! Never, ever, ever, ever in a million years!” she exclaimed

“Ah, you’re just saying that now. But you just wait. When you’re ten years older and therefore ancient and your prospects have dwindled to either him or Joe the janitor, you’ll sing a different tune.” Inuyasha said laughingly.

“Then just call me Mrs. Joe!” she shot back.

Inuyasha dissolved into a puddle of cackles as she wrinkled her nose.

“Why do you dislike Kouga so much?” he asked curiously, after subsiding.

Surprisingly, her eyes went soft and she looked down, fingers worrying the pillow she had in her lap.

“I don’t dislike Kouga. It’s just…well…I can’t be interested in him.” She explained softly, absently patting her knee.

“Why?” Inuyasha leaned forward, intrigued.

“Well, I have this friend. No, she really is my friend and not a metaphor for me.” She laughed as Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

“Okay, so you have this friend?” he prompted.

“Her name is Ayame. And she’s…well…she’s kind of in love with Kouga. Long, long, long before he even knew who I was. I’m just a passing obsession. I don’t know why, though.” She shrugged, her long hair cascading over one smooth shoulder.

Inuyasha almost keeled over in shock.

Did she really not know how desirable she was?

“Waitaminnit. Ayame? As in Ayame Llaine? Petite, red hair, green eyes?” he asked.

“Yep. That’s Ayame. Do you know her?”

Inuyasha’s eyes widened, until his face seemed overtaken by the golden orbs.

“What?” she asked, pushing his shoulder until he twitched.

“How would you react if I told you that Kouga only chases other girls because he believes that Ayame isn’t at all interested in him?” Inuyasha told her quietly.

Kagome’s eyes followed his, until gold and sapphire locked in shared shock and disbelief.

She shot up, sending the pillow crashing to the floor.

“What?” he asked, startled.

“I most definitely have to tell Ayame.” She said, striding for the door.

He leapt up, somehow reaching the door before her, and planted his back against the white wood.

Stretching his arms out until they gripped the edges of the doorjamb, he effectively dashed any hopes she had of opening the door.

“Oh, no you don’t.” he warned, frowning at her.

“Move your ass, Inuyasha! I need to call her.” She exclaimed, poking him in his side with a long, tapered nail.

He twitched, but still didn’t move one inch.

“No, you won’t. You can’t. You definitely can’t. Cannot. Cannot. Cannot. No, no, definitely not. Uh-uh. No way.” With each denial he shook his head wildly, silver hair exploding.

Kagome watched him in amazement, before bursting into laughter.

She laughed, non-stop, hauling in deep, broken breaths to supply her starving body with oxygen as she sank to the floor, still laughing.

She looked up at him, laughing silently, her arms pressed to her stomach.

At his confused look, she dropped to her back and stared up at the ceiling, practically cackling.

After a minute straight, she calmed down considerably; her fair skin flushed and eyes sparkling brightly.

“I’m sorry,” she hiccupped, “but that was just too funny.”

Inuyasha, still plastered to the door, raised one eyebrow.

“I gathered.” He muttered, sending her into fresh peals of laughter.

“Why can’t I tell Ayame?” she eventually asked.

Sitting at his feet, as he refused to move from the doorway, she looked up at him curiously.

“Because I said so.” He said decisively.

She let out an inelegant snort.

“So?”

Inuyasha arched one eyebrow, a la Sesshomaru.

“Don’t try that look with me, mister. But, really, why can’t I tell one of my best friends,” she stressed, “that the schmuck of her
dreams actually dreams about her too?”

“Because if you do, she won’t believe you. Just as if I told Kouga that the woman of his dreams dreams about him too, he would not believe me.” Inuyasha pointed out reasonably.

“Good point. But how do I tell her, then? I can’t leave her miserable.”

“We’re not. We’re going to get them together. You work your charm on Ayame and I’ll get Kouga to go out with me. We could,
y’know, accidentally meet. See how it goes from there.”

“And if they don’t fall at each other?” she asked, amused.

“We keep accidentally meeting until they do. Don’t you know Ayame well?” he asked.

“Well, yes.”

“I know Kouga far more than I ever wanted to. Who but their best friends could get them to talk to each other?”

Kagome’s eyes widened until it looked like they took up her entire face.

“Oh, my god. Are you actually having a moment of…intelligence?” she gasped theatrically.

Inuyasha’s brows bunched up at her shocked face.

“No need to sound so surprised.” He mumbled.

*************************

Too caught up in their scheming to get their friends together, Inuyasha and Kagome completely forgot that they hated each other. Rather, Kagome forgot that Inuyasha was highly annoying, and Inuyasha forgot to be highly annoying around Kagome.
Soon, the sight of them, silver and dark heads leant together, plotting away furiously, was a common sight in their building.
To his credit, Inuyasha really had cared about the happiness of his friend.
With a half-smile, Inuyasha admitted that being around a beautiful girl had been no great inconvenience.
Shook out of his musings by a rock speeding towards his head, Inuyasha grabbed it before it smacked into his temple, and glared down at the offender.
Sango stood below him, fists propped on her hips as she returned his glare fiercely.

“Get your dog-ass down here, right now Inuyasha Kingreaves!” she shouted, brown eyes flashing.

Heaving a long-suffering sigh, Inuyasha leapt from his branch and skidded to a halt in front of the obviously annoyed woman.

“What the hell is your problem, woman?” he growled, tossing the rock back at her.

She caught it and pelted it smack into his chest, eking a startled ‘oof’ out of him.

“What?” he shouted, irritated.

“What’s this I hear from Rin, who heard it from Souta, that you were an ass to Kagome two fucking weeks ago?” she screamed.
Inuyasha’s ears flattened to his head in protest at the shrill noise.

“Goddamn, woman. I was not an ass to anyone! And stop shouting.” He answered, rubbing his ears, which twitched up cautiously.

“I WILL SHOUT WHENEVER THE BLOODY HELL I FEEL LIKE IT!” she bawled, smiling with vicious satisfaction when his ears retreated immediately.

Inuyasha clamped a hand to Sango’s mouth, eyes flashing dangerously.

“Shout one more time and I’ll remove your ability to speak.” He warned.
Sango wrenched his hand from her mouth and glared back at him, opening her mouth defiantly.

“Now you listen to me well, Inuyasha. I am sorry about Kikyo. She was my damned friend too. But,” she cut Inuyasha off when he tried to cut in, “Kagome is my friend too. She was also Kikyo’s friend. And I thought she was your friend.”

Sango’s quiet words had Inuyasha crossing his arms over his chest and looking to the side with a soft ‘feh’.

Sango grasped his chin gently and turned his head until he looked her squarely in the eyes.

“It’s not right, the way you’re treating her, and you know it. She’s done nothing but been your friend. You better change the way you treat her, before it’s too late.” She said softly.

She released him, and walked back into the house, shoulders slumped.
Inuyasha let out a frustrated breath.
Like he didn’t know he was hurting Kagome.
No need for the loud, bossy woman to point it out.

He couldn’t help it, though.

He just couldn’t erase the similarities between Kagome and Kikyo.
So sue him, he just couldn’t be around the face of the woman he loved so soon after she died.
Was it too much to ask that he be let alone, in peace, without Kikyo’s face haunting him? At least then, he could bloody start
to goddamned heal.

*********************
Inuyasha was perhaps the grandest idiot the universe ever spat out.
Sesshomaru came to that ever-so-startling conclusion while watching him argue furiously with Sango. Personally, Sesshomaru was of the opinion that the taijiya should have hefted a boulder at his recalcitrant brother’s head. Perhaps, then, he might have gotten some sort of sense knocked into him.
Sesshomaru’s eyes flicked to the parade of framed pictures resting on the mantelpiece of his father’s office.
Inutaisho had taken to modern photography with a passion, and countless shots of all the humans in their lives rested on the marble.
Inuyasha and Kikyo smiled back at him, happily, while Kagome held two fingers behind Kikyo’s head, eyes crossed and tongue poked out at the camera.
Immediately after that picture, Inuyasha had chased Kagome around, threatening death by tickling. Inutaisho had managed to get a photo of Kagome in full flight, hair streaming behind her, face flushed and laughing.
Sesshomaru contrasted the laughing Kagome to the sad girl in the forest, tears at her eyes.
He was going to find the biggest, heaviest boulder on the continent.

************************

Some things in life were inescapable.
The Americans had a wry saying; “As sure as death and taxes.”
Well, they had it half right. She herself had not paid taxation of any kind for about three hundred years. Before that, she lived in a place where charging someone to sell their products was utter idiocy.
Death, however. Death had a sneaky way of popping up everywhere.
And how she got onto this philosophical rant was beyond her.
She opined that it was this constant contact with the Kingreaves’, and Higurashis. For some reason, these two families…affected her. They affected her in a way she had not felt in several centuries, and she had no idea how to deal with the emotions they raised.
They had her questioning herself, something she could not afford to do. Her enemies were too great, too many, for her to doubt herself.
She even started to doubt her ability to finish her job.
Surely, she could kill them. As in, she had the skills to make the matter relatively simple.
But would she be able to?
When she looked them in the eye, finger on the trigger, would she be able to pull?
Some things in life were inescapable, this is true.
And more prevalent than death was conscience.
And after half a millennium, hers had decided to pay her a visit.
Wonderful.


A/N: Ooh, sexy. Me likey giving an already-embattled character a nice dose of conscious-nessity. Oh, Inuyasha is so in for it in the next exciting installment of this story!

REVIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWS!

Next Chapter: A New Kagome...Well...Kind of.