THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW:

"Speak"

'Think'

"Flashbacks"

Xeroderma Pigmentosum/XP: A disease that, with the short answer, means one is allergic to light. It's a genetic disorder thing. If you want to know any more about it, just ask me. I did I for a Biology report.

Inu-Papa: Inu-Yasha's dad. Calling him Inu-Papa is just a habit of mine.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own ANY Inu-Yasha characters. They are all property of Rumiko Takahashi. But the pocky is MINE!! MIIIINE, I TELL YOU::Glomps Pocky.::

Inu-Yasha walked sullenly down the sidewalk. It was dark and rainy, which did nothing to lighten his dismal mood. The rain soaked through his jacket. "Damn it all!" he cursed, startling passers-by with his sudden outburst. He "keh!'ed, and ripped off his jacket. 'What good is it doin' anyway?' he thought bitterly.

He had gotten into another fight with his father. Inu-Yasha's grades have been slipping due to his spending every afternoon at the Martial Arts dojo. He was so close to his black belt, and had gone home that day in a happy, if not cocky, mood. But when he walked in, his father had been right there, giving him an earful. "Your schooling is more important than fighting, Inu-Yasha!" The fight escalated from there.

Inu-Yasha scowled at the memory. 'Keh, I don't need an education. I plan on becoming a Martial Arts master, anyway. Who needs school for that? What I need is that black belt.' he thought to himself.

Inu-Yasha finally pulled himself out of his thoughts to survey his surroundings. He had walked much further than he had intended. Just up ahead was the entrance to a Shrine. "Higurashi Shrine…" he said aloud. "Yup! Not the most original idea, using our last name for our Shrine, but whatever works, right?" Said a voice behind him. A female voice. Inu-Yasha spun around, and spotted the speaker. The first thing about her appearance that drew his attention was her skin. It was completely white, like it had never been in sunlight. It was a startling contrast to her long, black hair. Then he noticed her eyes. They were pretty; a unique dark green, with long eyelashes, making the colour stand out. She was smiling up at him from under an umbrella. "Are you alright? You're soaked!" The girl handed Inu-Yasha the umbrella. "You want to borrow it? I'm about to go in anyway, and I don't need it."

He finally jerked himself back to reality. And in doing do, he jerked on his jerk face. "Keh! I'm fine! Umbrellas are for wimps, anyway." He retorted, looking away. The girl's face fell slightly. "I see." She responded with a slight edge in her voice. "Well, then, you should be fine on your way back to Macho-Man Land."

This surprised Inu-Yasha. One moment this girl was smiling at him, and now she's insulting him. "What'd you just say, wench?" he snarled. The girl looked at him coolly, a slight smile on her face. "Last time I checked, my name was Kagome. Unless my mother changed it on me and I just missed the memo." Inu-Yasha paused. He was not a very clever insulter; he usually just called people names or swore at them. But he never admitted it. "Keh! Whatever, bitch, it's not like I give a damn."

The girl called Kagome just nodded and smiled again. "Yuh-huh. Okay." She looked at her watch. "Well, it's 11:30, Tiger, and I think tomorrow's a school day, so you may want to run along home now." She closed the umbrella and put it down at Inu-Yasha's feet. "Bye," she said, and walked up the Shrine steps, and out of his sight.

Inu-Yasha glared after her, but his "withering stare" was interrupted by a sneeze. "Damn….." He looked down at the umbrella that Kagome had left. Making sure she couldn't see, he picked it up and opened it, and started to head home.

Once he got back to his house and kicked off his shoes, his father came to him. Inu-Yasha expected him to start yelling again, and was slightly surprised by his father's worried expression. "Where were you, son? It's late, were you trying to make me worry?!" Inu-Yasha blinked at his father. Still irritated by the earlier fight, Inu-Yasha sniped at him. "Keh, what'd ya think would happen to me? I'm practically a black belt, I can beat up anyone if I have to. You'd know that if you'd listen once in a while instead of yellin' at me for stupid stuff all the damn time." He pushed past his father and walked upstairs to his room, slamming the door. He pulled off his wet clothes, and changed into his night boxers.

When he had turned off the light and collapsed onto his bed, Inu-Yasha's thoughts wandered to the strange girl he met today. Higurashi Kagome. She was so pale…..As his mind replayed their conversation, he wondered at her cool way of handling his insults. Then something struck him. "Well, it's 11:30, Tiger, and I think tomorrow's a school day, so you may want to run along home now." How come she only THOUGHT tomorrow was a school day? Why didn't she know? 'Unless she doesn't go to school,' he thought. 'But why wouldn't she? Wonder if she couldn't get in.'

Inu-Yasha rolled onto his side. "Keh, s'not like it's my problem, and I won't see her again, so why give a flying rat's ass?" he spoke aloud. Then he remembered the umbrella. 'Oh, yeah. I gotta return that. Guess I will see her soon.' With that, he pulled his pillow over his head, and fell asleep.

A/N: Oooooh, intrigue! Okay, not really. And yes, Kagome's personality is going to be slightly different, since she grew up differently in this. Hey, it's AU, whaddya expect? Lol! Oh, and Inu-Yasha's human. Just sos ya know.

I do have the next chapter of Ever After done, I just have to fine-tune it a bit. I'm terrible at describing things, so the description of the castle is bad. ;

Anyone notice the Spider-Man reference in this:P I LOOOOOOOBES me Spider-Man. I'm getting issues 1-4 of Spider-Girl soon. WOOT!

Max