Standard disclaimer applies. I do not own Inuyasha.
All chapters were originally posted to Live Journal on January 3, 2012.
1st place winner in the One-shot Contest on Dokuga(underscore)Contest on Live Journal – One-shot #090, First Aid!
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Dandelion Dust
Chapter One
By: Luna
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"We never know when we're going to meet the people that will change our lives until we finally meet them. And sometimes, we don't even know until they're already gone."
- Anonymous
"Get out of here, you stupid delinquent!" Yelled a teacher, bitterness ripe in his tone. "All you do is get into fights – that's all you're good for!"
"Yeah, yeah," muttered Sesshoumaru, ignoring the teacher as he walked away. His shoulders were slightly slouched, his hands shoved into his pockets, and his cold gaze was fixed on the ground as he kicked at a rock in his path. He really didn't care what the teacher yelled at him; he's heard it all before, and it didn't really matter. The likelihood of him graduating junior high was slim, and he was tempted to drop out entirely since it was most likely useless for him to continue going to school.
Go through the back garden if you want to escape Isa-sensei, Minako, the schools infirmary nurse, told him with a wink. No one ever goes back there anymore.
With a scowl, Sesshoumaru did just that. His gakuen uniform was dirty and had blood smeared in some places. Though he didn't give a damn what others thought of him, he also didn't want to be stopped by more teachers. Taking his hands out of his pockets, he checked to make sure the bandages were holding over his bruised and bloodied knuckles. He learned fast that they healed faster if he just listened to what Minako-sensei told him, and since fights inevitably happened (that just happened to involve him) he liked to be as whole as possible until someone else decided to pick a fight with him.
The bandage on his left cheek hid a scrape and darkening bruise, but there wasn't anything that'd be able to hide the bruising at the corner of his mouth. He looked like he got the shit beat out of him – and he had. But it was all right, because his opponents got the shit beat out of them more, and that was all that mattered.
Damn cowards, he sneered, thinking of the four students who thought they could get the better of him. He was solidly kicking the crap out of them when the teachers interfered, but that was alright; they had learned their lesson by that time. He was known throughout campus as a delinquent, and students generally avoided him. He didn't have many friends – and the ones he did have he couldn't really give two shits about, so he supposed they weren't really friends at all, and merely people he occasionally hung out with when he felt like it.
Scowling, he rounded the corner of a building, and had to stop himself from almost walking over a girl that was kneeling in front of a small grouping of weeds that surrounded an oak tree.
Even as she blinked up at him, he scowled down at her.
She had the prettiest blue eyes he could remember seeing, unusual in most Japanese, surrounded by long black eyelashes. Her skin was slightly tan, her raven hair long and wavy, gleaming even from under the wide brim of her straw hat. She wore an apron over her green and white school uniform, and leather gloves covered hands he was sure were just as small as the rest of her. Pretty, he thought, until he recognized her face.
His scowl only deepened. "You're the class president, aren't you? Kagome-something. What the hell do you think you're doing? Get out of my way."
Though other students would have scurried away, she only looked delighted. "You know who I am? That's awesome! I didn't think you came to school enough to know. What are you doing here, Sesshoumaru-san?"
"That's none of your business," he hissed, his bandaged fists clenching. "Get. Out. Of. My. Way."
She cocked her head to the side, raising a slim, elegant brow. "You do realize there's a whole garden behind me where you can walk around… don't you?"
"I don't want to walk there," he growled, knowing he was sounding petulant, but he didn't really care. She'd do as he said. They always did as he said. "Get out of my way."
She seemed to consider that for a moment. "No," she said simply, then turned back to what she was doing.
Sesshoumaru gritted his teeth, frustration winning over his control. "For fucks sake, why aren't you running? Everyone else knows to be scared of me. Are you stupid or something?"
She sent him a smile from under the brim of her hat. "Nope! You just haven't given me a reason to be scared, I guess."
"You should be," he said darkly.
"Why? Are you going to hit me?" She didn't even look at him when she asked.
Clenching his fist, he raised it slowly, his narrowed eyes focused on her head. With a curse, he dropped it back to his side. "What the hell are you doing, anyways?"
"Planning world peace," she said as she patted moist soil around a flower.
Sesshoumaru stared blankly down at her. "Really?" He could see her as the type.
Kagome blinked up at him, then surprised him when she started to laugh. "No, you dummy. I'm tending the garden. Want to help?"
Rolling his eyes, he dropped down into the dirt and leaned up against the tree that grew amongst the flowers. "No."
Kagome only smiled back. "It's not really unmanly unless other people see you doing it, right?"
"You're here," he said, closing his eyes.
"That's true." She agreed. "I am so gonna tell my friends about it. Like, 'Hey, Eri, guess what? The schools reigning bad ass planted flowers with me in the garden! Don't you think that's cute?'" Kagome giggled at the deadpan expression he gave her. "Like anyone would believe me. Don't worry, Sesshoumaru-san, you're secret's safe with me."
When he stayed quiet, Kagome seemed to fall into a contemplative mood, then perked up as if a light bulb went off over her head. "I know! You don't want to get your hands dirty!"
He was openly staring at her now, but Kagome only looked at him with a commiserating expression, as if she didn't see the blood stained bandages on his hands. "It's okay, Sesshoumaru-san, not all men are as comfortable with their masculinity either."
They stared at each other for a long moment, and when finally a corner of Sesshoumaru's bruised mouth quirked up, Kagome grinned. "So what are you doing back here, anyways? I never see anyone walk back here."
He shrugged, looking away from her, his cold golden-hazel eyes studying the flowers around him with detached interest. They may look like they were growing unsupervised, but he could tell that someone – Kagome – worked very diligently to make it appear that way. He was sure that otherwise the weeds would have choked out the flowers. "I didn't feel like listening to sensei anymore."
"Isa-sensei, right?" Kagome hummed in her throat in acknowledgement, her eyes on her flowers and not at the cool gaze of her current companion. "He's always yelling at you, it seems. At least Minako-sensei doesn't mind giving you first aid. I wouldn't worry – everyone hates Isa-sensei."
"He says I'm a weed that needs to be plucked," he murmured, reaching down for a dandelion hidden amongst the flowers. "Hmph. He can't get rid of me that easily."
"That's the spirit!" Kagome cheered, grinning when she caught another one of his blank, uncomprehending stares. "I think it's an admirable thing to follow whatever path you choose – even if others don't really agree with you."
"I fight those who challenge me," he said dryly. "And even those who don't. I can't believe that you'd agree with something like that. I don't care about others. I don't even care about you. I do whatever the hell I want, and no one can tell me differently."
"I don't agree with fighting," she told him firmly. "But it's also not my place to judge, is it?" When he only stared at her, she continued. "I think you're smart, Sesshoumaru-san, and obviously dedicated because you find people to fight no matter where you are. But I also think you're going about this the wrong way."
"Oh, really?" He murmured, his sarcasm barely veiled. "And how would a good girl like you understand?"
She laughed. "I don't understand you at all. But I think you should hear me out."
"By all means." He waved a negligent hand, absently tossing the weed away from him and watching as it landed on the ground between him and the girl.
"People, mainly Isa-sensei, think you're good for nothing. They think you can't learn, can't succeed, can't be anybody." Cocking her head to the side, she studied him with a small, confused frown. "So why are you proving them right?"
"Excuse me?" He asked her, his cool gaze settling on her, dislike plainly visible.
She seemed nonplussed. "I said you're smart, weren't you listening? Isa-sensei has already written you off. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you proved him wrong? I'm not suggesting a life changing experience, so don't look at me like I'm crazy," she said dryly. "But I also don't think attending a few lessons every now and then would hurt."
He couldn't believe she was even putting in an effort to convince him. Why? She had no reason. She didn't even know who he was except for his name and reputation. "What are you, some type of good-doer? You really were planning world peace, weren't you?"
Kagome snorted, then clapped her hand over her mouth at the sound. Before he knew it, she was practically curled over with laughter. "Oh my God, world peace. Yes, Sesshoumaru-san, I'm just that type of gal. World peace," she snorted out another laugh. "Wow, you're actually pretty funny, aren't you?"
Sesshoumaru wasn't pleased. "I wasn't trying to be funny."
"I know," she giggled some more. "I think that's why it's so funny in the first place. Here," she said, reaching for the plucked dandelion that lay between them, twirling it a little before brushing it under her nose. "Did you know that you can make wishes on dandelions?"
His flat stare answered her question, and she laughed a little more before she continued. "It's true. When they first bloom, they are this beautiful, radiant flower. People don't really think much of it, however, only that it's a weed that needs to be plucked." She smiled at him as she said it. "But did you know that dandelions are considered to be symbols of good things? Of hope, summer, and childhood. "
"And wishes?" Sesshoumaru asked, sounding bored – but he was listening.
She pointed to another planted dandelion, one topped with a white, fuzzy head. "If you blow off all its seeds in one go, they say your wish will come true."
He thought it was all a bunch of bullshit. "Have you tried it before?"
"A couple of times," she admitted with a shy smile.
"And have your wishes come true?"
"Well, I still haven't gotten my pony, if that's what you mean." She said with a laugh. "But there are some wishes that I think will only come true if you work hard to make them come true. And I think that maybe that's one of them."
She reached for the fuzzy dandelion, and held it out for him with a smile. "Well, Sesshoumaru? Would you like to make a wish?"
Sesshoumaru looked away with a scowl, his chest feeling uncomfortably tight, but he didn't know why. "I only wish to be the strongest. No weed is going to grant me that but myself."
"Hmm. Then I'll make a wish for you." Sesshoumaru watched, amazed when she held the dandelion in her hands like a prayer, her eyes closed in concentration. "I wish for Sesshoumaru to be happy – the real kind of happy, and not just what he thinks it is."
Sesshoumaru looked away… but wasn't able to resist watching as she blew the dandelion dust off the stem, and watched with her as they were gently carried away by the breeze.