Pendulum

Chapter 9: Fun and Games

The last week of the school year arrived with a fizzle rather than a bang. While Kagome was glad she'd no longer be a freshman, she still had three years to slough through and worse, because of her slipping grades she found herself slated with a full scholarship to some fancy pants summer school. Worse, Sesshomaru arrogantly decided to leverage the juicy bits of their supposed past for good grades for reasons beyond her. It'd be years before she figured everything out, but Kagome wanted to know things now!

"It's not fair!" Kagome protested, slamming a foam hammer atop a misfortunate plastic mole that was forced from its hole in the flashy arcade game. "I'm completely being blackmailed." another mole popped its head up and Kagome could only see the image of a white inu-youkai. "Stupid! Secretive! Dog!" each point was accompanied by a hard whack to the grinning moles below her. Kagome wasn't sure what frustrated her more, Sesshomaru's secrecy or her inability to do anything about it.

"Kagome you shouldn't be with anyone who tries to manipulate you, even if he's doing it with 'good intentions'." Yuka advised from the side of the game as she sipped her milkshake.

"Yeah, what if his intentions stop being good? What if this is a test?" Eri agreed. "You've heard the stories of older guys thinking they can manipulate young girls like us because they think we're stupid."

"Yeah, remember that junior girl Kaori in homeroom 1D? She got together with some college kid and ended up dropping out." Yuka warned. "Kagome this guy is bad news. Don't fall for his tricks."

"Thanks guys." Kagome said, truly appreciative of her friends concerns. Unfortunately, they had no clue what she was up against. To that point, neither did Kagome.

Eri stepped forward to place a hand on her shoulder. "No one says you have to stick around him Kagome. Just because his brother's away doesn't mean you have to visit him because they're family."

"Yeah she's got a point!" Yuka agreed with an air of mischief. "What you need is to fix your focus..." she said, looking around the busy arcade. "Perfect." she grinned. "Oh Hojo!" she called musically.

Kagome flinched in panic, remembering the countless times she'd snubbed her classmate. Turning like a door without oil, Kagome faced the blinding grin of Hojo as he approached. "Kagome! I didn't know you were here!" he greeted, taking her hands in his. "How are you feeling? Have your illness resolved themselves?"

"Oh, I'm fine Hojo." she explained sheepishly. "All better now."

"Bye Kagome!" waved Eri and Yuka as they innocently retreated from her to exit the arcade.

A weak, "Hey wait..." caught in her throat which was promptly masked by a series of light coughs. Hojo looked to her, his hand going to her shoulder.

"Kagome are you alright?" he asked, his brow labored with concern.

"Oh, I'm fine." she answered with a forced grin.

"That's good." he breathed in relief. "I heard you got into Shiro's summer program. This is your first time right?"

"Uh yeah." she answered, with a strained grin upholding her quivering cheeks. "I-uh- got a scholarship–"

"Scholarship?" he echoed, his face brightening. "Wow Kagome, that program is tough enough to get into, but they gave you a scholarship? That's awesome."

"Yeah, well, you know." she laughed. "I needed to make up for all of my absences so...study hard and all that."

"I've been going every year since middle school. Maybe we could study together? Shiro's program can be pretty tough but if we work together I know we'll succeed."