A/N: Thanks for the reads and reviews, guys!

I'M SO, SO SORRY FOR THE HUGE LONG DELAY! But school has been crazily hectic and I've had no time to write whatsoever. Sorry again!

Clouds of the Sky: Ah, my dear reader. You have much to learn about this world. I myself am a member of the three most outrageous hobos in the universe – and it's true! It was just a coincidence that you brought it up again, because it was in the back of my mind until now. Oh, those were good times…

Anyway. Thanks a LOT! I enjoy reading your reviews and they make me laugh :) Squidgy? You don't know squidgy?! Yes it is a crime… It's another word for squishy! My teacher used it once to describe this stuffed panda that he often throws at our heads… it's so round and cute! Though it's not as cute when it bashes at like 200 miles per hour into the back o' your brain, but oh well. :P

O.o I like your nickname for moi :)

MushyJello: Thanks! Was it that long a wait? Sorrrii… :P Ah, you flatter me so… I'm sorry, I tried to update soon! But failed miserably =.=

MirrorFlower and DarkWind: Thanks, I'm glad you liked Sango's character – I was afraid that nobody else would see her the way I wanted to portray her. You think the ending was sad? Hmmm… I'm sure there'll be some sadder ones along the way, so brace yourself! Thanks for the review!

gold sea glass: Thanks! Inuyasha might get kinda OOC in some parts – because the real Inuyasha just isn't cut out for the mushy stuff :P Nor is he cut out to be a flirty, popular player so…? Well keep on reading anyway and thank you!

Inuyashamate: Thank you! I'm sorry I didn't update soon… I just can't find the

Nobody answered my question… --wails-- Should Ayame be in this fanfiction or not? If I get no responses, though, I'll just keep it like it was before (no Ayame), which is fine by me :P

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Holding Fast

Chapter 3

So Long Sweet Summer

"Wake up…"

Huh? Who is it?

"Kagome!"

… Inuyasha?

"WAKE UP, bitch!"

That was not Inuyasha. Kagome felt a blow to her side and woke up with a start and a small scream.

"Shut up," Naraku snarled, his fist withdrawn and ready to throw another punch. "Get your sorry ass to school."

Kagome clamped her mouth shut and pulled herself out of the bed, stumbling to the bathroom and shutting and locking the door behind her. She leaned against it and let out a small sigh of relief. At least he'd only gotten one blow in before she got to the bathroom.

Sometimes he'd chase after her if he was in the mood, and give her a good beating before leaving her alone. Always careful to avoid the face, hands and whatever skin might be exposed. And if he accidentally caused her to sprain anything, or break a bone, it was always blamed on some form of sports. Her friends knew her as very accident-prone.

Checking the clock on the wall, Kagome pushed herself off the door. It was seven in the morning. She must have slept through her alarm- then she remembered that Naraku had broken the other night, when he'd knocked her around a bit before she went to bed. Kagome leant on her elbows and stared into the mirror, rubbing the dark circles under her strikingly blue eyes.

The first day of her last year of high school.

Good luck to me, then.

A few minutes later, she emerged cautiously from the bathroom, face washed and long raven locks combed. Locking her room door – just for precautions – she walked over to the cupboard and opened the door, looking for an outfit.

Kagome settled for a pair of black skinny jeans, a pair of green low-rise Converse and a t-shirt under her checkered hoodie.

She clenched the ends of her sleeves in her fists, rushed downstairs – breathing in relief when she found the kitchen empty – and grabbed a piece of toast off the counter. She held it in her mouth as she grabbed her bag from the doorway and then tapped on Souta's door. His room was downstairs while hers was upstairs with Naraku's. All the better that he was safe.

She heard the sound of a lock, the door swung open and her 12-year-old brother stood there, hair tousled slightly, but fully dressed and ready. It had almost become a ritual. If he heard Naraku in the kitchen, he stayed in his room with the door locked until Kagome tapped on his door. If he heard her coming downstairs – then being intercepted by Naraku, he was not to come out no matter what.

Therefore, Souta was much less bruised than his older sister. He hated that, but she forced him to do it nonetheless.

"Let's go," She told him quietly, and opened the front door with a shout of "Dad, we're leaving!"

She didn't wait to hear his answer, and closed and locked the front door behind her. Souta set off walking for his school – he was going to middle school this year – and Kagome saw him around the corner before digging out her cell phone.

"Hey, Inuyasha?" She heard him answer with a muffled 'What?'. She smiled.

"Could you pick me up?"

"Fine." She heard him grumbling about something, then the sound of his motorbike. Her visage paled just the tiniest bit at the thought of riding on the bike again, but Miroku should have fixed it… shouldn't he? Gulp.

Inuyasha pulled up at the curb 5 minutes later, the bike fixed and in tip top condition. Kagome pulled herself on, settled her bag in front of her, then held gingerly to the back of his jacket.

After he took off towards Shikon High in a spray of gravel, her hold quickly became a death grip around his waist, her face almost pressing against his back as they sped along the roads, wind whipping at her hair. This time, however, she found that she actually enjoyed it.

xxx

"Sango." The extremely short and relatively bug-eyed teacher ran a finger down the attendance list, peering at the names from behind a pair of huge spectacles.

"Here."

Sango raised her hand. Today, her outfit consisted of black skinny jeans and a slim green t-shirt. The things that really drew your attention were the hot pink fishnet glove that she wore on one hand, and the bright orange shoes she was wearing.

Myouga – sensei raised an eyebrow at her choice of dress, but said nothing and continued on. "Miroku…"

There was no answer.

"Is a Miroku-san here?" Myouga raised his spectacles and examined the class under them, then lowered them and peered over the rims instead, in case he missed anybody raising their hand.

"Miroku?"

Sango sighed and aimed a kick at the dark-haired boy slumped in the desk next to her, snoring ever so slightly. Her lurid orange shoe connected with his shin, accompanied by a loud 'thwak'.

"Wha-?!" Miroku jolted awake and sat up. "Did I miss anything?" He asked sheepishly, seeing Myouga – sensei giving him a glare through the huge glasses.

Myouga – sensei suspiciously scribbled something down next to Miroku's name, frowning.

"Inuyasha," Myouga continued.

No answer.

"Tardy," he muttered, scribbling it down. "Kagome?"

No answer.

"Tardy…" he growled under his breath, writing it down again.

"I'm sorry we're late, sensei." A meek voice came from the doorway and Myouga – along with the rest of the class – turned to see Kagome and Inuyasha standing there.

"TARDY!" Myouga burst out in a childish shriek. "You're all tardy!" He looked as if he was about to rip the attendance list to shreds, but he caught sight of something next to Inuyasha's name.

"Could you be…?" He left the sentence hanging in the air, a big question mark written all over his face.

"Yea." Inuyasha muttered, grabbing Kagome's sleeve and towing her to the back of the classroom, where Sango and Miroku were.

Myouga – sensei chuckled and rubbed his hands together gleefully, then continued on with class like nothing was wrong.

"Does the school know about your heritage?" Kagome turned to Inuyasha.

"Yeah. So do several other friends like Miroku and Sango and a few others," He murmured, barely loud enough to hear over Myouga – sensei's droning. "Sesshoumaru helps me to pay off the teachers and principal to be quiet."

"Sesshoumaru?"

"My half-brother," Inuyasha's lip curled. "An arrogant, self centered idiot."

"Like someone else I know," Kagome mused, smiling. Inuyasha growled.

"Is there something you'd like to share with the class, Ms. Higurashi, Mr… Takahashi?"

Inuyasha bristled, but Kagome patted him gently on the arm. Many people had the last name Takahashi so nobody would suspect anything.

She heard the familiar voice of Sango behind her.

"Well, you see, sir," She started, removing her legs from the desk where they were resting and crossing them. "Miroku was just telling us about how he had a crush on someone but was too shy to confess." She fixed a pitying, pouting expression on her face.

"And what would the name of that person be?" Myouga leaned forward, examining Sango through his spectacles.

"Kouga." Sango replied smoothly, keeping a straight face.

Kagome and Inuyasha fell about laughing while Miroku half-rose out of his chair with a cry of 'No!'. Kouga was a particularly hot-tempered and competitive guy in the same grade as them. He was almost as popular as Inuyasha, but was always annoyed when he came in second place and Inuyasha was liked better than he was – especially amongst the girls.

"Would this be a certain Kouga in your grade?" Myouga craned his neck for a better look at Miroku.

"Yes," Sango replied, cocking her head. "Miroku is love stricken, sensei. I don't know what to do with him."

"Ah, my son," Myouga removed his huge spectacles and started polishing them on his equally voluminous shirt. "I've heard of these kinds of things before."

He put his glasses back on. "Go with your instincts, my son, and I promise you that-"

"I'm not your son!" Miroku wailed, almost comically. "And I do not like Kouga."

"There's no need to be embarrassed about it, it's perfectly all right to-" Sango started, a smirk fixed on her lips, but Miroku interrupted her.

"I'm not gay!" He almost shouted, a hint of desperation in his voice. Immediately, the heads of the students in the classroom, even those who had been talking or ignoring Myouga, swiveled in his direction.

"I'm not gay…" Miroku mumbled forlornly, collapsing spinelessly back into his seat.

Everyone else chuckled. Kagome was gripping Inuyasha for support as her shoulders shook with silent, gut wrenching laughter. Sango was still in her seat, but now slumped over the desk in the same state as Kagome. Inuyasha took no care to hide his own laughter and threw his head back with mirth.

Miroku whimpered.

Myouga looked confused.

"We'll … uh, continue with the lesson now." He vaguely told the laughing students, adjusting his glasses and clearing his throat.

In a few minutes, class had settled back to normal, though Inuyasha was holding Kagome's shoulder for support now, having burst out into helpless laughter upon looking at Miroku. He straightened up, his hand brushing against hers. Neither of them said a word, but they both looked at each other in that moment, cerulean blue against molten gold, and found their eyes glued to each other.

Then Myouga – sensei threw a book at Inuyasha and he realized he was very capable of tearing his gaze away from Kagome when it collided at 200 miles per hour with his head.

It was the beginning of a very eventful day.

xxx

The class poured out into the hallway once the bell rang. At Shikon High, there were four blocks each day, each block lasting 80 minutes. First block was over and now there was a break before the next block.

Sango frowned as yet another person nearly pushed her over while she was trying to put her stuff into her locker and get books for her next block.

"This is the third time!" She raged. "I swear, if another person pushes me over again, I'm gonna-"

"Sorry!"

Someone bashed into her full tilt and she nearly fell.

"Dammit!" Sango cursed and grabbed for her books, which were sliding out of the locker. "Who was that?"

Silence.

"I said," She nearly growled. "Who was that?"

A young boy stepped forward, orange hair tousled and messy. He was obviously in his first year of high school, from the way he was nearly shivering in his shoes. Not everyone encountered Sango the Monster on their first day – it must have been terrifying. His large eyes stared worriedly at her.

"Sango-chan…" Kagome reached out tentatively. "Sango?"

"He's… he's …" Sango seemed speechless for a moment, before clamping her arms around the boy and squealing. "He's so cute!"

Kagome laughed. "What's your name?" She asked him.

"S-Shippo." Was the answer that came from the depths of Sango's arms.

"Well, Shippo. Welcome to high school." Kagome wrapped her arms around him from the other side.

"C-can't breathe!" Shippo yelled desperately.

Miroku, standing nearby, laughed and reached for Sango from behind. "Group hug!"

"Perv." She snapped her leg out straight and it collided with his stomach. He fell over groaning.

Inuyasha laughed. "I think Shippo's turning blue." He added helpfully.

"Oh! Sorry!" Sango and Kagome released their prisoner. Shippou took big gulps of oxygen before assuring the girls that it was all right. Not everybody got hugged by two girls simultaneously on their first day of high school either.

They bid their goodbyes and Kagome and Sango turned to walk to their next classes, retrieving their bags from beside the lockers. However, being the klutzy person she was, Kagome happened to slip on a math book and fell.

"Ow." She rubbed her back and tried to stand, but slipped again. A hand appeared in her line of vision and she looked up to see Inuyasha had extended his arm for her to take. He was smiling at the way she had fallen, but as she looked, his smile faded slightly, his eyes fixed on something behind her.

"What's with this commotion?" A voice reached Kagome's ears and, grabbing Inuyasha's hand, she turned to face the owner of the voice.

"Hey Kikyo…" Inuyasha greeted the newcomer with a dull expression.

"Hello," She answered pleasantly, latching onto his arm and sending Kagome a venomous glare. "Who's she?"

"I'm Kagome," said girl replied, slightly miffed at being addressed as 'she' in such a tone.

"Kagome-chan?" Kikyo started at her, surprised.

"Kikyo?" Kagome looked at Kikyo for the first time, fully. Revulsion bloomed across her features.

And before Inuyasha could even comprehend what was going on, Kikyo launched herself at Kagome and wrapped her in a huge hug before gabbling away quickly . He was confuzzled… nobody ever told him anything! (x] I just had to put that in.)

"Ehh…" Inuyasha hesitantly shook Kikyo off his arm. She was wearing a red hoodie over a checkered miniskirt and black tights with knee-length boots that lifted her about four inches higher off the ground than she actually was.

She shot a nice smile at Kagome. "Are you new? I am!"

"Actually, I've been here for three years," Kagome informed her dryly. "But welcome to Shikon high." She didn't sound like she meant it.

"Treat your cousin better, Kagome-chan," Kikyo pouted, and then everyone started to understand what was happening.

"I don't remember you treating me any better. Why the change?" Kagome retorted coldly.

Kikyo was still all smiles, snatching Inuyasha's arm up again in her vice-like grip. "There's so much I have to tell you!" She gushed excitedly with a giggle. "You're still living with Naraku-sama" She smiled, but Inuyasha saw more of a smirk.

Kagome scowled so fiercely that Kikyo took an involuntary step backwards into Inuyasha and nearly fell. He made no attempt to catch her.

"Kikyo," A low voice came from behind her. Kikyo turned along with Kagome and Inuyasha, to see another girl standing the corridor, staring at them balefully from her glittering crimson eyes, lined with black eyeliner.

"Right. Coming, Kagura," Kikyo unlatched herself from Inuyasha and the two girls left, Kagura walking normally while Kikyo's hips traveled about a metre in each direction.

"She's a nice girl," Kagome commented wryly with a small smile.

"Feh," Inuyasha agreed, suddenly figuring out that he was still holding Kagome's hand and dropping it as if it had burnt him.

"How do you know her anyway?" Kagome cocked her head at him curiously.

"We ran into each other over the holidays… we got to be good friends. And then she came to my apartment to confess her love for me…"

"You mean she practically jumped you," Kagome rephrased it.

"Yeah. Then she did it Kouga. Then Bankotsu. Then who knows who else."

"Oh."

"I thought you'd know. Isn't she your cousin?"

Kagome glared at the books in her hand. "Not to me she isn't."

The bell rang, and they all hurried off to their next class.

Later, at lunch:

"How does this count as food?" Miroku complained, staring at his supposedly chicken and broccoli dish with undisguised disgust. The sludge on his plate resembled something similar to what Kagome thought she might find if she ever decided to enter a sewage system to explore.

"Apparently," Sango poked a piece with her fork and made a face. "Unless they cooked us some road kill to cut costs…"

That started Shippo off, whom they had invited to eat lunch with them.

"Did you know," He piped enthusiastically, "That some army rations actually consist of a mix of road kill and cat's vom-"

"I think that's enough about the food, though," Miroku interrupted hastily, shooting his lunch a worried glance as if it would reach up and attack him. Sango chuckled at his expression, then stiffened as she sensed his hand creeping subtly towards her posterior. Her eyes narrowed and she shot a concentrated death glare at him which bode ill for his hand, and indeed, his life, if he dared to grope her. He shuffled further away from her along the bench, nearly pushing Shippo off.

"Yo!" The enthusiastic greeting was given by a scruffy-looking young man, rather handsome in a rugged way, not Inuyasha's drop-dead gorgeous kind of looks but still not bad looking. At all. He had a long ponytail that went down his back, but paired with the muscles she could see from his tight t-shirt, it didn't make him look feminine. At all. Actually, he was practically oozing testosterone as he turned his gaze to pierce Inuyasha with glacial blue eyes.

"Kouga," Inuyasha greeted him shortly, lip curling upwards as he glared the newcomer down.

Kouga returned the glare evenly. "Dog."

Inuyasha actually growled.

"Uh- hi," Kagome waved frantically at Kouga in an attempt to distract him from Inuyasha. Kouga turned to look at her and immediately snapped into a charming, gentlemanly role.

"Hello there," He held her chin gently in his hand. "What's your name, beautiful?"

Kagome blushed. "Kagome."

"How about you spend some time with me? Just to get acquainted?" Kouga gave her a dazzling smile and squished up next to her on the bench.

"Um – I'm kinda having lunch with my friends…" Kagome gestured to the people around her, and Kouga looked at them curiously as if he had never noticed them before.

"Oh, well," He shot a grin at Kagome. "I'll see you later, then?" He flipped his ponytail again and slouched away – but not before Inuyasha sent him a parting growl.

"Ugh," Sango announced her opinion soon after Kouga had left, not bothering to hide her disgust. "That is one obnoxious guy."

"Kouga is not obnoxious!" Kagome defended her new friend vehemently, turning to Inuyasha for support. "Right, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha was too busy stabbing the food on his plate as if every piece of chicken and broccoli had done him great personal wrong. Kagome turned away, slightly disappointed.

"Hi Inuyashaaa!" Kikyo launched herself from just behind Inuyasha to nearly slump across Inuyasha's back, hands fastened around his neck in a death grip. He started to choke.

"Oh… sorry 'bout that," She let him go and giggled, still leaning against him. "How's your lunch so far?"
"Um…"

"Not so good now that you've come," Kagome told her boldly. Inuyasha was taken aback. She was usually such a shy person, trying not to stand out or draw any attention to herself.

Kikyo sneered. "It was never good in the first place, since you've been sitting in the cafeteria."

Kagome growled, sounding surprisingly like Inuyasha.

Inuyasha smirked. She was learning from him. Good.

Kikyo looked a bit taken aback by the growl, but quickly regained her composure. "Oh, Kagome-chan? No more smart words? I guess hanging out with animals is making you more like them… except you, of course," She smiled sweetly at Inuyasha and laid a supposedly reassuring hand on his arm. He shook her off disgustedly.

"You'll say nothing against my friends," Kagome hissed, shaking off Miroku's restraining hand and standing. Kikyo mirrored her move and they stood head to head, nearly touching, in the middle of the cafeteria. Several people were starting to stare.

"I'll say whatever I like," Kikyo spat back. "Remember, Kagome-chan? Remember our little…" She tapped her chin in a mockingly thoughtful manner. "…deal? I have a daddy too." She smirked.

"And you can keep him," Kagome growled. "Cuz I sure as hell don't want him."

And she spun away from Kikyo and stalked out of the cafeteria.

Inuyasha's mind was spinning.

What's going on?

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A/N: Remember, guys. Should I have Ayame here or not?

And thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!

Please review!

Just to clarify, Inuyasha rejected Kikyo when she confessed to him. Also, Kikyo calls Kagome a cousin but apparently there's more going on. And Inuyasha does not like Kikyo.

Thanks and please review, remember!

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