Why Don't You Stay? by Naraku's Faithful Servant

You'll Never Get Your Studies Finished

A/N Alright! This is based off of the song called Stay by Sugarland. The lyrics will be included in various spots where they actually begin to tie into the story. Each verse will be a chapter. There are approximately nine verses so you should probably expect around 9 chapters. In the mean time, it would be nice to have constructive criticism as I haven't written in a while and I am rusty. Flames will be used to roast marshmallows with. Mmm s'mores. ^_^

"ABC." Characters are speaking.

'ABC.' Characters are thinking.

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Kagome had been sitting at her desk working on her math homework when her mom knocked on the door. The sound of glasses and various dishes clinking together permeated the air. Kagome jumped when she heard someone knocking at her bedroom entrance and pushed back her chair, the wheels glided lightly over her carpet. Her leg muscles tightened lightly as she put her weight on them to stand up and walk over to the door. The knob was shiny and reflected the light from her lamp across the room. Turning the knob she heard it squeak as the gears were forced to work and pull the latch out from the plate. The hinges groaned as she pulled the door to the left and stepped around to see who was knocking.

"Oh! Mom!"

"Hey Kagome, I just thought you'd like something to eat. I'll start you a warm bath in a little while. It's been so long since you've been back, how are you feeling?"

Her mom gave her a comforting smile and invited herself in to set the tray of food and a hot cup of tea on the table next to Kagome's homework and various text books. Kagome closed the door and sat on her bed, the springs whimpered with the added weight. Her mom sat down next to Kagome and put a lock of hair behind her daughters ear.

"Well..." Kagome started " I just thought that I should come home and work on my studies. I figured that it would be nice to come home for a while. I missed you guys a whole lot."

Kagome looked over at her mother, a sincere smile pulling at her pink lips. Mrs. Higurashi wrapped her arms around Kagome and sighed.

"We miss you too Kagome. It's so hard with you going to the feudal era; we never know when you're coming home. Grandpa is having a harder and harder time trying to find different ailments for you to keep missing classes. "

Kagome broke the hug and looked at her hands as she started to fidget and wring her palms together.

"Yeah, I know mom. I'm sorry I keep putting you through this, I just have to finish what I started. I can't just abandon my friends and everything. I have to complete the Shikon No Tama and stop Naraku from taking over."

"I understand but it would still be nice if you visited more often."

"I wish I could, I really do."

A sigh escaped Kagome's lips and her mom ruffled her child's hair like she used to do when Kagome was little.

"Alright hunnie, I have to go but you take some time off from your studies. All you've been doing lately is studying since you've come home and it's not healthy. Your bath will be ready when you need it."

Mrs. Higurashi stood from the bed and her feet padded the carpet as she made her way to the door. While she was leaving she grabbed hold of the door knob and made sure to close the door gently. Hearing the reassuring click as the door closed, she soon directed herself toward the bathroom to get Kagome's bath ready.

Kagome giggled and shook her head.

'Oh mom.' She thought to herself while she stood and walked toward her chair. She sat down and the small pillow whispered as air escaped out of it. Kagome leaned over slightly, her pink pajama shirt, complete with comical feline faces, ever so slightly lifted up over the small of her back. She picked up her chopsticks and began to dine on the various food choices on her plate. Her mom had really gone all out with dinner tonight.

'Probably because she wanted it to be special since I came home.'

She reached for her tea, which was surprisingly still steaming, and brought it to her lips. She sniffed the beverage and reveled in the aroma filling her lungs with sweetness. The liquid snuck past her lips and lapped at her throat as it swam down into her stomach making her feel as if she was engulfed in a comforting warmth.

'Ah' She thought as she leaned back in her chair. 'Boy, I've missed being home.'

"Oy! Kagome! What are you up to!" A red clad hanyou exclaimed as he set his foot down onto her carpet, leaving a small stain of dirt.

"Ack!" She squealed as her hands went up and tea splashed all over her legs and the floor. "Inuyasha! What did you do that for? Sit!"

Inuyasha yelped as his body slammed into the carpet, regretting just popping in without asking. His gray ears flattened against his head, making him look like a sad puppy. He pulled his face from the carpet and looked at her angrily. His voice was harsh and he almost regretted yelling at her as such....almost.

"What the hell! Why did you do that?! All I did was say hi!" He grit his teeth together and sat up with his legs crossed along with his arms.

Kagome whined softly and ran to the bathroom to grab a towel and wipe the hot tea off of her legs. After a good amount of time, Kagome returned to her room with a grumpy Inuyasha sitting on her bed and another towel to pad her red and irritated legs with. She glared at Inuyasha and pointed at the stain the tea had left on her floor.

"The least you could have done was try to dry up the tea." She sighed and grabbed the bridge on her nose.

Inuyasha gave out a small 'Keh!' sound and tried to act as though he didn't care while inside he felt guilty and confused.

"How am I s'posed to know that you want me to clean up a mess that you made?! S' not my fault that you go around dropping tea everywhere when someone says hi to you."

Kagome opened her mouth to retort but a hiss came forth as she rubbed the cloth on her legs the wrong way. She limped over and sat down next to Inuyasha and took the towel away from her burns. Tiny blisters had formed on her skin and she gasped while putting her hand to her mouth. Inuyasha's eyes widened as he looked at her legs.

He got down off of the bed and onto his knees to inspect the burns. He put his clawed fingers around her calves to keep her legs steady while he gazed at the blisters. A slight blush laid itself over Kagome's cheeks as she noticed Inuyasha staring intensely at the blisters. He gazed back up at her, his amber irises shimmering, as an identical blush danced over his cheeks as well.

"I'm not to sure about these burns." Inuyasha said as he avoided her gaze to look back at her knees. "They look bad but I'm sure if you wait a while they will go away. Just don't pop these things...the blisters. I'm sure the wound could get infected and I don't think that it would relieve any sort of pain from the area."

Kagome nodded, understanding what was said. She already knew this, of course, from when she had health classes back in school but she didn't tell Inuyasha this. She didn't quite feel like she had to, seeing as they both knew what to do in case of burns.

"Yeah." She said. "I figured I shouldn't pop them but the area around them really hurts, especially if you press on the blisters. It feels like the burning is still there, it's almost like a stinging sensation."

He put his hands on his own knees and stood up while giving a grunting sort of sigh.

"Well, Kagome... I th-"

His best friend interrupted him unexpectedly and fluttered her hands at him.

"I should probably put some ointment or something on....my burns.....oh! I just remembered! Mama had readied me a bath....though why I didn't notice it when I went to grab the towels is beyond me!"

Inuyasha nodded as he folded his hands into his red haori. I-I'll go get your mom..."

"No! Don't Inuyasha! If you do, she'll only worry more and she doesn't need that in her life right now. She already does so much for Grandpa, Souta and I, she shouldn't have to sit around and worry about me."

"Alright Kagome....if you say so."

Kagome and Inuyasha avoided eye contact and decided to just look in opposite directions. The air was thick with tension and it made them both uncomfortable.

'Why Is Inuyasha being so nice to me....'

'Why Isn't Kagome still yelling at me about the stain....'

It was then that the padding of feet surrounded the hallway and in popped a young boy with brown hair.

"Hey Kago.....Alriiight! Inuyasha's here!!!" The child's face bloomed into a giant smile and he ran in to grab Inuyasha's haori and tried to tug him away. "Come on Inuyasha! You promised that next time you came over that you'd show me some of your super cool demon powers!" Inuyasha's face faltered and he had to be dragged back on his one foot while he tried to get away. He tried to reach for the bed post as Souta pulled him around the corner. Souta's mouth seemed to run a mile a minute and Kagome just watched and waved at Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha, go hang out with my brother for a little bit, I have studies to do and I want to take a bath." Kagome picked herself up off of her bed and closed the door gently as soon as Inuyasha and Souta left the room.

Kagome sighed as she walked over to her desk where her textbooks were and put her head down. Her feet pressed against the stain the tea had made, it was still cool and partially damp. Kagome wasn't sure weather to get up and clean it or to just leave it there and not say anything to her mom. She chewed gently on her bottom lip and picked her head up out of her text book. She closed the book and put it in the stack that was on her desk and put the stack on the floor next to the trash.

'Ha! The way this is all going, I should just throw the darn things in the trash. I don't think I'll ever graduate. ' She put her hand on her leg to stand up but yelped when she pressed on her burn. 'Ow ow ow ow!.....ugh! It's alright Kagome...you can get through this, just stand up and make your way to the bathroom.' She stood up on her feet and remembered to walk over to her bed and grab the towel she had been using to wipe tea off of herself before heading towards the bathroom.

She entered through the threshold of the new room and the bottom of her feet were chilled at they came in contact with the cold tile of the waste room. After a few steps in, she closed the door and noticed that her mother had set out a few towels and a rag for her to use in the tub. She smiled and grabbed hold of the cream colored cloths and set then gently on the lid of the toilet. She dipped her hand into the almost halfway full tub and noticed that it was barely luke warm. She sighed and recalled the vents that caused her to miss her hot bath.

'I'll have to remember to get him back for that.....though I guess he didn't really mean to scare me....I still think he should know to at least knock instead of just barging in on me like that! Hmt.' Kagome's brow was pressed together as she drifted off into deep thought, her body just moving out of habit.

She grabbed her various cherry and strawberry scented soaps and hair car products and set them on the floor next to the tub. She reached over to the knobs of the faucet and turned the water on so that it would fill the tub all the way with nice hot water. She unscrewed a small, light pink, bottle and poured a tablespoon amount of the liquid into the water and the scent of vanilla filled the room while turning the tubs contents a salt water green. Kagome walked over towards the mirror and came out of her stupor when she looked at herself.

She fluffed her hair a little bit and gave herself a soft smile not exactly fantastically happy with the way she looked but not hating it. She gave herself a short reassuring nod that she was prettier than the average girl but she wasn't exactly a model. She lifted off her pajama shirt which had been stained a soft brown at the very edges and sat it on the edge of the sink after folding it. She pushed her pajama bottoms off and made sure to fold them before setting them on top of her shirt.

She took off her socks along with her bra and undergarments and stuck them inside of the pants legs so they were out of sight. Steam had risen out of the tub and was beginning to fog up the mirror and the walls were dripping with condensation. Kagome itched the side of her left arm, leaving small light scratch marks on her skin that would soon disappear. She made her way towards the tub and turned the water off. She held onto the side of the tub and in a graceful way, almost like a swan, she dipped her left foot into the steaming water. She then put her other foot into the water, the murky liquid slowly devouring her foot, up to her ankle and then grabbed for her mid calve.

She gnawed on the bottom of her lip, the skin started to tare off in small pieces. She chewed them between her incisors and then swallowed. She closed her eyes tightly and grit her teeth together as she slowly bent her legs and brought her bottom into the water. She whined as the hot water came deadly close to her burns as her rear reached the base of the tub. She quickly sucked in air as she forced herself to put her legs under the water. She slowly brought her legs back up so the burns were out of the water and sighed. She closed her eyes and shook her head as she reached for her liquid soap to wash herself with.

'I can't wait till these wounds go away.....what am I going to tell Mama?'

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Souta was walking excitedly with Inuyasha outside; he was switching from walking backwards while facing him and walking next to him. They were out in Kagome's back yard and Souta ran ahead and grabbed his soccer ball. It was muddied up and had footprints all over it but Souta loved it like it was his best friend. He would constantly go out and practice with the ball. Everyone assumed that he wanted to be on a team one day. He thought that it would be nice but to have it as a career would be tiring. Inuyasha had his hat on that was given to him to wear when he went outside and his hands were folded into his haori. His head was down and his eyes were closed as he leaned up against the side of Kagome's grandfathers shed. His left leg was bent and he tried as hard as he could to look as though he was uninterested in everything that was going on around him.

Souta kicked his soccer ball around and bounced it off of his head a few times before letting it fall to his knee and doing the same. He glanced over at Inuyasha who was letting out a 'feh' sound while reaching up to itch underneath his nose. His thick gray hair swayed in the slight breeze that carried the scent of the Goshinboku tree over towards them. Souta smiled at his hero but was a little disappointed that he didn't want to play with him.

"Inuyasha! Heads up!" Souta smiled as he kicked his ball over towards Inuyasha.

The ball shimmered lightly around the sides as the sun hit it and flew towards Inuyasha's head. He snorted and looked towards the ball as it was a foot away from his head. His body tensed as the ball came forth and he clawed at the object not knowing it was just for playing with. Yellow strikes faded slowly as the ball flopped to the ground now in three pieces. Inuyasha stood back up straight and huffed as he looked at the shredded soccer ball. He heard Souta sniffle and he looked up at the young boy. His eyes were focused on the ball and Inuyasha finally realized what had happened.

"Souta! Don't Cry!" Inuyasha's arms were faced back at him as if he were angry and his hands were balled up into fists. Another sniffle came from the boy as he looked up at his hero who had destroyed his favorite toy. Inuyasha walked towards Souta and was close to him. "Don't you cry!" Souta's hands balled into fists as well and he looked Inuyasha in the eyes, brown clashed against gold as they stared each other down in sorts.

"I-Inuyasha.....THAT WAS SO COOL! Teach me how to do that! Please please please?!" Souta jumped up and down excitedly and once again a smile was plastered over his face. Inuyasha groaned and put his face in his palm.

'That was close. Kagome would have sat me to next year if I made her brother cry.' Inuyasha put his hand back down at his side and looked down at the little boy who reminded him much of Shippou. 'Ha! Just not as annoying.....' Inuyasha grinned to himself at his own joke.

"Alright Souta, I'll teach you how, I guess." He didn't have the heart to tell him he couldn't do it because he was human.

He didn't like people telling him he couldn't do things because he was a half-demon either. 'Well....this is a little different but...it's alright. He'll figure it out eventually.' He remembered back to the time Souta was too embarrassed to go talk to a girl he liked and practiced doing Iron Reaver Soul Stealer until his confidence was built up enough to go...eventually.

Inuyasha stood facing a tree but not so close as to hit it. His feet were set in his battle ready stance and he cracked his fingers as his claws extended slightly. His face was in a determined, almost cocky sort of grin that much resembled Kouga's. Inuyasha's breath hitched in his throat as he brought his arm back and then tore at the air while yelling

"SANKONTESSOU!" Yellow blades came forth and split the air as they made their way towards the tree he was facing. The made a perfect arch and slowly died down three inches away from the bark of the tree. Inuyasha let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and looked over at Souta who's mouth was agape.

"That was awesome!" Souta jumped in front of Inuyasha and in an excited frenzy took a leap and clawed at the air. "Snanknontesssu!!" Souta landed on his knees and looked up expecting yellow blades to be cutting the air but this was not the case. His smile faltered and he looked over at the hanyou. Inuyasha walked over to him and smiled. He patted Souta on his shoulder as he stood up.

"You'll get it soon, just keep practicing. No one gets it on the first try. Like Kagome always says uh....Ramone doesn't...like to build things in one day." Souta giggled at him, knowing he was saying it wrong but understanding what was mean. The two men nodded at each other and Souta went back to practicing.

Inuyasha snorted and made his way back to Kagome's house.

~End of chapter.~

What do you think? Longer? Shorter? Are the characters OOC? Hm? Input please!