Prologue: Part 2

Over the next few months, Inuyasha and I had become the best of friends. A couple of times Kanji and his friends tried to hurt me again. Each time Inuyasha protected me like he promised he would. After awhile they stopped and I was happy. I was always happy when I was with Inuyasha.

One day I was feeling a little sick and couldn't come to school so Inuyasha came to my house to see if I was alright.

"So do you feel better now?" he asked coming into the house.

"Yeah, my mom gave me egg drop soup for lunch and I've been in bed all day so now I feel way better." We both sat down on the couch as I flicked on the TV. "So do you have my homework?" I asked.

"No, we didn't have homework today." he said as he put his backpack down.

"Do you want a snack?" I asked getting up.

"Uh… yeah sure."

"Okay, wait here while I ask my mom first." I said walking into the kitchen where my mom was getting ready to make dinner. "Hey mom, do we have any Nagaraya nuts left?"

"Yeah sweetie, they're in the cupboard." my mom said over her shoulder. "Is that Inuyasha out there?"

"Yeah, is it alright that he came over?"

"That's fine as long as his Aunt said he could."

"She did."

"Ok, but don't forget when your dad gets home he's redoing the driveway so if you want, Inuyasha can join you to do handprints." That day my dad was going to repave the drive way. My mom had told me a couple of weeks ago that if I wanted I could put my name and handprints in the cement.

"Really? You don't care if he puts his name in our driveway?" I asked happily.

"No, I don't care. After all he is your best friend right?" She asked smiling.

"Yeah, he is. Thanks mom," I said as I grabbed the bag of snacks from the cupboard. I walked into the living room to find Inuyasha watching an anime about pirates. "What are you watching?" I asked as I sat down next to him on the couch.

"One piece. Miroku said it was really cool so I thought I might try to watch it."

Miroku? I thought. "So, um… who's Miroku?" I asked, curiously.

He turned to face me. "Didn't I tell you?"

"No."

"Oh, I thought I did. Anyways he's this new kid in class. Too bad you missed school today. He's really cool." I opened the bag of Nagaraya nuts and poured them into a dish. "I told him that if you were better tomorrow we could play together at recess."

"You did?" I asked stupidly.

"Yeah, why? You don't want to?"

"No, I do. It would be cool to play with some other kids for once too right?" I said smiling. He smiled back and turned his head back to the TV. "Oh and by the way…" I said as I grabbed the remote from him "It's Thursday. Which means…"

"Sailor Moon," He said in the best girlie voice he could imitate.

"Duh." I said smiling.

"You're lucky I don't want to hang out with my brother or I would be out of here." I laughed at this.

"Awww, but I thought you liked watching it with me. Didn't you say Serena was pretty?"

"Yeah, but that was before I realized it was for girls."

"Oh well too bad for you. You know, you can leave but you won't get to stick your hands in the driveway when my dad gets home." I said teasingly.

"Really?" He asked surprised.

"Yeah my mom said that if you wanted you could do handprints and names with me when he gets back from work." I took a hand full of nuts and sat back in the couch enjoying my favorite show on TV. That night Inuyasha stayed over for dinner and afterwards we did our prints while the cement was still dry. While we did so I asked Inuyasha more about Miroku. As it turns out Miroku was like Inuyasha, only Miroku never knew his mom and it was his dad that died when he was young. Miroku had been raised and adopted by his father's best friend. He had no brother's or sister's and he had a pet squirrel named Hachi. Inuyasha also mentioned that he really liked girls and was always trying to make them smile. When we were done our hand prints were next to each other. Inuyasha's was of course a bit bigger. Before We went back inside to wait for Inuyasha's Aunt, I felt the need to add something to it. When I was done it read "Inuyasha and Kagome 2gethr 4evr." I smiled before my mom started calling me into the house. I liked how it sounded, it had a nice ring to it.

"So do you guys want to come over after school?" I asked pulling my lunch out of it's lunchbox. We were now in the second grade and had to eat lunch in the cafeteria.

"What's the occasion?" Miroku asked before taking a bite of his own lunch.

"My aunt is coming over to help with my mom's baby shower this weekend."

"And…" Inuyasha asked, urging me to go on.

I sighed. "And my cousin Kikyo will be there. I know how much you both love her, so I am being nice so you guys can see her. It should be fun."

"Hey," Miroku began, "I never said I liked her. I said she was just really pretty, and nice. Our good friend Inuyasha over here is the one with a major crush on her. Isn't that right Inuyasha?" Miroku said making Inuyasha only slightly blush.

"Would you just shut up. I do not like her." Inuyasha said taking a bite of his fish.

"You do too." I said in a high pitched voice. "You've had like the biggest crush on her since the day you met her." I said this last part as if it were a fact, which it was. "Besides if you didn't like her you would just treat her like you treat me." I said with a smirk. He opened his mouth to say something but having nothing to say closed it.

"Ha, see kagome we were right." Miroku said giving me a high five.

"So what if I like her." He said indignantly. "Kagome's the one who likes that jerk Kouga."

"Hey, he's not a jerk. He's really nice." I said protecting my crush.

"So you admit that you like him?" Miroku said smiling.

I blushed "Yeah, and what of it?"

"Oh nothing I was just saying how it's so obvious."

"Oh no! Do you think he knows?" I asked worried. The boys just laughed. "UGHH! You guys are so mean!"

"Oh c'mon kagome don't be mad, we were just joking." Inuyasha said pleadingly.

"Whatever. I'm going outside to play, you guys coming?" I asked getting up to leave and throw my trash away.

"Yeah we're coming" Said Miroku. They both got up and followed me. When we got outside we played some tether ball until the bell rang, and it was time for class.

After school the boys walked home with me. When we got there my aunt's car was already in the driveway and I could see my cousin Kikyo Playing on the swing. At that age we were got along like good friends. We were about the same age, only she was a couple months older. "Hey Kikyo!" I yelled over to her as I ran towards her, the boys following close behind. When she saw me, she smiled and called out my name. She ran to greet me with a hug as we both burst out in giggles.

"Nice to see you again. I missed you." She said releasing the embrace.

"Yeah, me too. Do you remember my friends?" I asked gesturing towards them.

"Inuyasha and… Miroku, right?" she said turning her attention to me.

"Yup. So did you already put your stuff in my room for this weekend?" I asked walking towards the swing set.

"I did that when we got here." she said as we both sat down on the swings. The boys just followed. I looked over at them to see that they were whispering something.

"Hey!" I yelled loudly startling them. They looked at me as I gave them a nod towards Kikyo, who was just staring down at the dirt. They seemed to get my message because they both rushed to her side offering to push her.

She looked at me and I smiled. She looked back at them and blushed as she told them yes. Then they proceeded to fight over who would push her completely forgetting about me. At the time I didn't care. My cousin had always been prettier than me and when she got older she would use it to her advantage. But for now we were both oblivious to the fact. Finally the fighting had ceased when Inuyasha shoved Miroku out of the way. He didn't fall. Instead he just grumbled something and stood back as Inuyasha proceeded, quite shyly, to push Kikyo. I stopped my swing, and looked over at Miroku who looked angry because he had no one to push.

"Miroku," I said as he turned his face to me.

"Yeah?"

"You can push me if you want to. I mean I don't need you to push me, but you can if you want," I said repeating my words.

He shrugged, "Ok," he said as he walked towards me.

Inuyasha, to curious and nosy for his own good turned to look our way and as he did so was hit in the face with Kikyo's swing. Kikyo took in a sharp breath as she turned to see what happened. He fell backwards grasping his cheek. I stopped my swing first and ran towards him as Kikyo tried to do the same. "I'm so sorry. Are you ok?" Kikyo sounded really scared as if she thought she was going to get in trouble. Inuyasha didn't say anything, but his eyes were shiny and he bit his lip trying to be brave. There was a small scrape near his eye where the swing had impacted.

"Maybe I should go get my mom." I said standing up. What Kikyo didn't know at the time was that demons and half demons healed a lot quicker than humans. Inuyasha might be hurting now but by the next day he probably wouldn't even have a scar or bruise on him.

"Please don't tell on me kagome! I didn't mean to hit him, but he wasn't looking!" Kikyo said panicking.

"Don't worry I won't tell. Just… go get my mom and tell her what happened." I told her this as if I was the older one, which I wasn't. I went to my back pack and got my hanky that I took with me everywhere. It was the one that Inuyasha had given me for my last birthday, along with a Sailor Moon Barbie doll. Kikyo just nodded and ran towards the house yelling for my mom. I walked over to Inuyasha and kneeled down next to him. Some tears had started to drip down his face. "Are you ok?" I asked getting closer to him. He nodded, probably too embarrassed that he was crying. Miroku just stood there. "Hey Miroku can you go see what's taking my cousin so long?" I asked him nicely.

"Yeah sure" he said speeding of towards the house.

I moved Inuyasha's hand off his cheek so I could wipe part of the scrape. He winced and quickly grabbed my hand. "I'm sorry did that hurt?" I asked apologetically.

"It's ok." The initial pain must have been wearing off because he had stopped crying and he let go of my hand. "Don't press too hard please."

"Ok." I gently pressed the cloth against his cheek and held it there.

"Thanks Kagome." He said as my mom came walking towards us. She walked considerably fast for a women who was 7 months pregnant.

"Oh my goodness! Are you all right Inuyasha?" She said kneeling down beside him. My mom was followed by my aunt Megumi, Miroku and Kikyo, who was walking slowly. "C'mon inside so we can put some ice on that." My mom got up as Inuyasha nodded. "The rest of you need to come inside too so you can do your homework." We all groaned as we picked up our backpacks and followed my mother. My mom had a strict policy when it came to homework. Homework was to be done as soon as we got home from school. Even if it was Inuyasha and Miroku, she still made them do their homework. She had met Inuyasha's aunt and Miroku's uncle and they were all friends. When they came over they also couldn't leave until someone picked them up. My mom was always so paranoid about us going off by ourselves. Now, we had to do homework. After we went inside we started our homework as my mom put some band aids on Inuyasha's face as well as some ice. She ordered him to keep it on until she told him to take it off. That night we did our homework and played some on my Sega that I had gotten for Christmas. Kikyo was shy at first because she still felt bad about what had happened. But after she saw that Inuyasha was ok and playing, she lightened up. When the boys left that night, Kikyo and I stayed up playing with Barbie dolls. We had also talked about the boys we liked and Kikyo had assumed I liked Inuyasha.

"NO WAY!" I said giggling. "He's my best friend. I like this boy at my school named Kouga. He's really nice."

"Really? Because it seems like he likes you," she stated as if it were so obvious.

My giggling subsided, "no he doesn't like me. He likes this other girl. She's really pretty and smart and she's older than me." I didn't want to give away Inuyasha's secret.

"Oh, Ok." we ended up talking a little more before our mom's came in and told us to go to sleep. That night I thought about the day Inuyasha and I had met and how different it would be if we weren't friends. I saw Inuyasha's face fade as I slipped into the unconsciousness of sleep.

When I was in the fourth grade, I met Sango. Another person who I would come to cherish. It happened after school, during a week when Inuyasha was on vacation with his Aunt, her boyfriend and his brother. So it was just me and Miroku. I had a few other friends now but Inuyasha and Miroku were my best friends. We were walking home when it started.

"Hey Kagome," said a familiar voice. I already knew who it was before I turned around to see it was Kanji. He Had few friends with him. Before I met Inuyasha and Miroku, I would have been afraid, but not now. "How've you been lately?" he asked acting as if we were friends. He wanted to play games with me, so I thought I'd play along.

"I've been really great. How about you? I heard you got detention for fighting with a girl. What is it about us that you hate so much, hmmm? I said with a smirk. Ever since I met Inuyasha I felt stronger and more confident about myself. I wasn't afraid of him anymore.

His eyes narrowed and his mouth turned up in an angry smile. "I really don't Know. Maybe It's just the fact that you're all so stupid."

Miroku stepped in front of me, ready to defend me. "Or maybe it's just the fact that you're too weak and stupid to fight somebody your own size. You can't even fight by yourself, you have to get other kids to help you."

"Why don't you stay out of this orphan boy." Kanji was referring to the fact that Miroku was adopted.

This made Miroku really mad. "I'm not an orphan!" He said as he charged towards Kanji. He ran straight into him knocking him down. Miroku got a few good punches before Kanji's friends grabbed him and held him as Kanji stood up.

Kanji walked over to Miroku and stared at him. He then punched Miroku in the gut. "So who's weaker, orphan boy?" Kanji then proceeded to hit Miroku over and over again.

I just stood their staring. Kagome what are you doing? Do something! I thought. Leave him alone! Let him go! Before I knew it I was running towards Kanji screaming "Leave him alone!" I collided with kanji as he turned to face me. As we hit the dirt he rolled over on top of me.

"Looks like you've gotten tougher kagome. It must be that half breed." He held my wrists firmly to the ground.

"Don't talk about Inuyasha like that!" I tried squirming out of his grip, but he was to strong and he was heavier than me. I didn't know what else to do, so I spat in his face.

"UUGH! Gross!" He said wiping his face.

I used the distraction and pushed him off of me. I scrambled to my feet and backed away from him. I admit that I was getting a little scared.

Kanji got to his feet and looked straight at me. "You should have just ran when you had the chance Kagome."

"I…I won't leave my friend!" I yelled trying to sound confident.

"That's too bad. Cuz' now I'm really mad." He charged towards me. He threw a punch at my face. I ducked but he saw and brought his knee up to slam into my stomach. It knocked the wind out of me causing me to fall over. I held on to my stomach. I heard Miroku calling my name, but I didn't look. "That half breed isn't here to protect you. No one is going to save you now." And as his foot slammed into my side I knew it was true.

I cried out in pain as he continued to kick my side. Then I heard her voice.

"I thought you would have learned your lesson from earlier this week." I lifted my head to see a girl leaning against a tree. She walked towards us.

"What are you doing here?" Kanji asked angrily.

I leaned my head back down. My side hurt so much. I watched as my tears fell into the dirt.

"I'm waiting for an apology." She said passing me. "Unless you want a rematch?"

"Gladly," said Kanji. I heard them as they began to fight. The others must have threw Miroku down because I heard him as he came towards me.

"Are you ok, Kagome?" He asked putting a hand on my back. I looked up to see Miroku's face through bleary eyes. Blood was slowly dripping out of a cut on his cheek. "C'mon," he said as he stood up, to help me stand. I was about half way there before I felt a very sharp pain by my ribs. I screamed and fell forward. "Kagome!" Miroku yelled as he caught me. He gently laid me down. "Wait here." He ran towards the fight. I could barely see but I did see that the girl, whoever she was, was very good at fighting. They were going to win, and at that moment my eyes became very heavy. For some reason before my mind went completely black I saw his face and thought Why aren't you here, like you promised you'd always be?

I woke up in a small white room. I assumed it was the hospital. I tried sitting up as I hissed in pain.

"Hey you're awake!" I turned to see Inuyasha, walking towards me. "Your mom said she would be back, she just had to go to the store for something. So, how are you feeling?"

"It still hurts, but I think I'll be ok. What about you? What are you doing here? I mean, I thought you were on vacation."

"I was. I came back the day after Kanji and his friends beat you up."

"So you know about that?"

"Miroku and that new girl, Sango, told me about it."

"Oh my god. Miroku, is he ok?" I asked worried.

"He's fine. He got a few stitches, but he wasn't as bad as you. You've been out for a week. The doctor said that nothings broken, but your ribs will be sore for awhile because they were bruised pretty badly. You also had a pretty big cut on your side there." He said pointing at the said spot.

I slowly lifted my shirt to see what he was talking about. There was a very large bruise covering most of my left side. There was also a large cut that had been sown together with stitches. I laid my shirt back down and looked at Inuyasha. Then I looked at the clock realizing something. It was only 1:30 in the afternoon. I looked back at Inuyasha. "It's Thursday, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Um…why aren't you at school? Did you get excused?"

He turned away. "I guess you could say…I've been excused for a total of two weeks." He said turning back to face me.

"What do you mean?"

"Ok, I'm going to tell you but you can't get mad."

"Ok, I won't. I mean how bad can it be?"

"After Miroku told me what happened, I went and beat up Kanji. I got suspended for two weeks."

"What!" I asked Incredulously.

"See, I knew you would get mad. But hey look on the bright side, after we told the principal what happened, Kanji got expelled. She called his parents and everything."

"I can't…believe you did that." I said looking down.

"I can't believe your upset about this. I mean-"

"That's not what I meant. I just can't believe you would do something like that… for me. I mean, you had to have known you would've gotten in trouble."

"Yeah, well you're my best friend Kagome. I told you before that I'll always be there for you. I'm sorry I wasn't there this time to protect you. But I'm not going to let this happen ever again."

I blushed from embarrassment. "Thanks Inuyasha. I know I can always count on you to be there when I need you."

A/N--Hey people! I can't believe how long it took me to update this chapter. Oh well. I am sorry for not updating when I said i would but you can't blame me because I did explain in my profile that I would update when I want to. And so I did. I have no excuse for taking a month to update though. I have just been lazy and tired. So please review and I hoped you liked it. Oh and from now on I will not be updating until I get at least ten reviews. I also would like to say that my new title is going to be Always There. I would like to thank the reviewer who gave me the idea. And I dedicate this story to that person. you know who you are. After my next update the title will be changed So until next time...

This is Nana saying "I'm Outie!"