Brand Names

Candy Coated Chocolates

Froggeh12

A/N: This is the chapter where Inuyasha starts to become more of a main character. Once again, please review, especially if you have critique, as long as it's not "u suck k bai". I'm never going to get better without knowing what I'm doing wrong… right? XD Almost twice as long chapter this time!

That night, I couldn't remember anything beyond that archery incident. I think Naraku yanked on my ponytail or something in the cafeteria line, but nothing seemed more important than talking to Sesshomaru. There was something so incredible about his presence… he was so different from the other demons at this school. I called Rin that night.

"Oh, he was so cool!"I gushed. "Rin, you'd love him." Rin had always been drawn to those quiet types. I guess she was a firm believer in "opposites attract".

"Ooh, guess I'll have to see when we visit!" Rin said happily.

"Yeah, that's right!" I replied. "When are you guys coming, again?"

"Umm-uh… it's when we have that week off that you don't…today next month!"

"Oh…" I sighed.

That long? I could've sworn that more time had passed. I missed my old friends like crazy. Eri, Yuka, Ayumi, Rin, and Ayame were all coming to stay at my house for 9 days… for some reason public school had off an entire week of school while my private school was still in session.

"Kagome, that's not that far away, is it? Come on, think of the fun we'll have! It'll be fun!" Rin squealed in her best comforting voice. Rin was too naïve and giggly to be comforting. Sophie and Evana reminded me of her a way.

"Easy for you to say - you all see each other every day. I haven't seen you in three months and by the time I do it'll be over four."

"We're not that interesting; you're getting on without us! You said you have new friends, right?"

"Yes, but they're not you guys."

I wasn't sure what I had meant by that… my new friends were great, weren't they? But again, they weren't them… the friends that I grew up with. We had played tea party and dress-up together… we had banded together against scary big kids at Halloween… we had taken double-dutch jump rope, competed, and won… we had went to Backstreet Boys concerts and squealed over our pre-teen crushes.

Then all of a sudden we were older, and realized that boys weren't quite as fun anymore - they could be difficult and heartbreaking. We realized that parents made mistakes, too. We realized that some drugs wouldn't exactly help the flu; that some kids had known that long before we had.

The day that Rin lost her cat, and we all spent eight hours looking for it, the day Yuka had gotten her first kiss, only to find out that he had a girlfriend, when Ayumi was the first in our grade to get braces, when Eri found out she hadn't made cheerleading, the time Ayame's parents got a divorce, the day my dad died of cancer… big problem or small, we were there to help each other through it.

"Cheer up Kagome, the month will pass you by in a flash! Oh, I gotta go help my mom with dinner, talk to you tomorrow, m'kay?"

There was a click and the dial tone sounded. "Yeah…" I sighed. I punched the end button and threw the phone down on the bed. My thoughts once again drifted back to Sesshomaru. Ah…much better.

---

"Kagome, time to get up!" my mother called. Evil brightness filled the room as she yanked open the curtains. "Rise and shine, it's time for school."

"Mmf…" I muttered in reply, reaching to pull my pillow around my head - only to discover that I wasn't sleeping on a pillow. I cracked an eyelid open to see that I had fallen asleep sprawled across the foot of my bed. My legs were hanging off the side.

"Ugh… what a way to fall asleep," I groaned. I got up and stretched. "Must've dozed off at some point there."

"Get dressed," Mom said, pointing a stern finger at my dresser. "You're going to be late as it is. Someone forgot to set their alarm clock."

"Yeah, yeah…"

She walked swiftly out of the room and closed the door behind her.

I pulled on my school uniform and ran a brush through my hair, then trudged over to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth.

"Kagome, hurry up!" Souta called from outside the bathroom door. "Your bus left twenty minutes ago and my school starts in ten minutes!"

"Mk uhn sekhund," I answered through a mouth full of tooth paste. I finished up and walked out yawning.

"No time for breakfast, just grab a cereal bar or something," Mom sighed. "I have to drive you again… we're all going to be late today."

I blushed. "Sorry…"

"Let's just leave now."

I grabbed a cereal bar as she had suggested and walked out to the car. Souta was already there pouting.

"What is it? You can't like school that much."

"It's not that! I…I can't be late again!"

I raised an eyebrow and turned around to give him a sharp look. "What do you mean 'again'? You take the bus."

He squirmed in his seat and looked away. "I uh… I hate science."

Ahh… now I understood. "Souta, you can't just skip!" I scolded furiously.

"But I'm not the only one!" he complained. "Ben and Itsuo skip too!"

"Then you shouldn't be with them!" I snapped.

"They're not my boyfriends, Kagome."

"Listen to me, I'm serious! Do you really want to be known as the troublemaker? Stop or I'll tell Mom."

He glared at me and sighed. "Don't worry about it. My teacher is suspicious of something, and said she'll phone our parents next time we're late."

"You know this is for your own good, right?" I said softly. "You're still in elementary school."

"Yes. Now let's drop it," Souta muttered, watching our mother walk towards the car.

"And we're off," Mom said irritably. "Finally."

I was extremely relieved when she finally reached Souta's school, and even more relieved when I reached my own school. I was quite late, but anything was better than having to be in the car with my mom when she had road rage. Being late always put her in an awful mood.

I sighed and walked intoscience class grudgingly.

"Ah, nice of you to join us…" The science teacher, Mrs. Sato began, before turning around and beaming instantly. "Oh, Kagome! Have a seat!"

I sighed. Teachers seemed to favor me at this school. I looked over and saw Inuyasha snickering. Kikyou glared at him from the front row and flicked him off. He instantly fell silent and looked away irritably.

I took my seat next to Kikyou and whispered, "Do you have magical powers or something?"

Kikyou shrugged. "No. We just have a bit of… bad blood between us. Don't worry about him; he's not as tough as he looks."

I felt bad about my feelings towards Kikyou earlier. After the first week, Kikyou had started to warm up. She had gotten a lot nicer as I got to know her better.

"Oh, by the way Kagome…" Mrs. Sato began. I looked up at her. "There's a project." She smirked at Inuyasha. "I guess your plans to be alone have changed, Inuyasha. Meet your new partner, Kagome Higurashi."

"Umm… wait… what!"

"Sorry Kagome," she said apologetically. "Inuyasha was also a bit late. Neither of you were here when we were choosing partners."

"No!" Inuyasha snapped. "Can't I do it myself anyhow?"

"No, Mr. Hidaka. You chose to come late, and therefore you do not get to choose your partner." She looked at me again. "Sorry again Miss Higurashi, but I can't allow you to go without a partner either." She handed me a packet of information about the project.

I shot a glare at Kikyou and then over at Sophie. "Thanks a lot, friends."

"Sorry," Kikyou said sincerely. "But Sophie and I assumed that there would be some option for you other than him."

I sighed and glanced over the project. Apparently it was a year-long thing. It would be showcased at the end of the year and they were giving us a nice big jump start on it. It was required that one of us went to the other's house twice a month.

"Ok, so if he comes to my house, do I have to be there?" I said quietly to myself.

Kikyou heard me and smirked. "It'll be ok, Kagome. He won't kill you. Promise."

---

Sango gasped. "No! Sato made you partners with Inuyasha? Inuyasha Hidaka?"

It was lunch time, and while the others were at the picnic table, Sango and I were eating lunch underneath the tree, where we had the rare treat of sitting on cut grass at the school. I was telling her about my latest life problem.

"Yes!" I groaned. "Isn't it awful?"

"Terrible," she said sympathetically. "My partner is Shippo. Evana got that one girl, Emi."

"Well, that's perfect! I'll ask to be with Evana!"

Sango shook her head. "Emi and Evana's mothers are best friends. The mothers have known each other since high school, back when Emi's mother lived in America as well. Evana's mom would be furious if she found out that she left Emi to be with some thug like Inuyasha. Besides…" She suddenly grinned. "Sesshomaru is Inuyasha's brother!"

"Oh. My. God. He is!" I squealed.

Sango laughed. "I know you, Kagome. You can turn any situation like this around and make it something good. Trust me."

I smiled at Sango, surprised to realize she was right. Not just about my ability to turn bad situations good, but about knowing me well. Sango and I had become fast friends and pretty good ones, too.

"You're right… I'll try to turn it into something good." I sighed again. "Tonight is the first little meeting… I'm going over to his house, at least."

"That's the spirit," Sango said cheerfully. She took out her paper bag lunch and cringed upon seeing an egg salad sandwich. She glanced down at my half eaten turkey sandwich. "Um… wanna trade?"

---

"Kagome, I'm sure he's really a nice boy, he just shows off in front of his friends," Mom said cheerfully. She was driving me to Inuyasha's house, as he lived two cities over.

"No, Mom. I'm sure this is the kind of guy where what you see is what you get."

"Well, either way, try your best. Don't let this bias of yours ruin your grade."

"It's a justified bias, Mom!"

"Do your best, Kagome."

"I will, I will…" I sighed as the car rolled to a stop. "Thanks for the ride. Pick me up in two hours."

"You have your cell phone just in case, right?"

"They have phones at their house."

"Kagome Maya Higurashi, do you have your cell phone?"

"Yes, I have my cell! Bye Mom!" I sent an annoyed glance her way before slamming the car door shut and running up to the Hidaka house. She could be so overprotective.

I suppressed the sudden urge to go running back into the car. I did not want to spend two hours here…well, not with Inuyasha anyhow. I reminded myself for the twelfth time that I probably wouldn't even see Sesshomaru. Before I could even reach the doorbell, a woman opened the door. I jumped and looked at her. "Hello, um, I'm here to…"

"Oh, I know why you're here, Kagome! You have a project with Inuyasha!" The woman smiled warmly. She was very pretty with long, straight black hair, a pale complexion, and dark brown eyes. She opened the door even wider in invitation to go inside. "Come on in. I'm Mrs. Hidaka, of course."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Hidaka," I said politely and stepped inside the house. It was an average-looking house; I had expected Inuyasha to live in an area with gang fights and drug peddlers. I was almost positive I had made a mistake until Sesshomaru stepped down the stairs. He paused for a moment, gave me a nod of recognition, and carried on walking to the kitchen.

Mrs. Hidaka touched my arm lightly. "You'd better go and get started on your project, dear. Inuyasha's room is the third door to the right."

I nodded. "Thank you." I watched her walk away before walking slowly up the steps. Down the hall I counted the doors to the right. One…two…three, ok, here it was.

I knocked on the door. "Inuyasha, uh… it's me. Kagome."

He opened the door and scowled. "Come on, let's get this over with."

I walked in and took a glance around. It was the typical teenage boy's room - a lot like my eleven-year-old brothers, except with more posters and junk on the floor. I walked over to his computer desk and he flopped down on his bed. "Do you mind if I sit here?" I asked carefully, pointing to his computer chair. He rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"So, do you have an ideas for the experiment were supposed to do?" I asked.

"Nope."

I scowled. "Uh, ok…what kind of thing do you think we should do? We could do plants, those are the easiest…"

"I don't care."

"Well you have to care!" I snapped, getting up and glaring at him.

"Keh," he scoffed and turned away.

"Inuyasha!" I grabbed a lock of his hair and yanked. "This is your project too! If you think I'm going to sit here and do your project for you, you are so sadly mistaken, and… um… what are you staring at?"

He had turned around and was staring at me with a sneer. "You think you're so tough, don't you?"

"That's my line!" I hissed. "You're the one who goes around school campus acting like you're better than everyone!"

"And you're the one who acts like I'm a ticking time bomb and lasting around me for five seconds will make you a hero."

"I do not!"

He mimicked a ditzy high-pitched voice. "Oh, um… so… you're not going to hack me up into little pieces of I walk inside your room, do you? We should do plants, because those are the easiest and I want to make sure you get the easiest topic for your little hanyou brain, sir."

I scowled. "I have no desire to do this project with you, and I know you'd rather be science partners with one of your little demon buddies but hey, that's what happens sometimes. Let's just work together the best we can until this whole mess is over with."

"Then stop whining and pick a topic already."

"I need your cooperation!"

"Alright, fine! I'm cooperating!" he snapped, sitting up.

"Ok, so," I continued, as though nothing had just happened. "Plants are really boring to do, so I was thinking maybe like… a survey. It'd make it at least kind of interesting."

"Right, and what do you want this survey to be on?"

"Mm…well, you know how all of these grocery stores and stuff make their own brands, and people say they like name brands better? Like…Rice Krispies versus crispy rice cereal. Well, what if we first question the people as to which they like better, name brand or store brand, and then test it?"

"And we will test it by…"

I rolled my eyes. "Blindfolding the people and having them try each one, and asking if they liked the first or second better."

"Ok, fine with me."

"Fine," I replied, scribbling down what I had just said. "So… now what?"

Inuyasha looked down at his information packet. "It just says to discuss the project on the first night." He shrugged. "And our parents have to sign off on us discussing it for two hours." He turned his attention towards the television in his room. "So let's watch TV."

I blinked in surprise. "Ok, sure."

He took the black remote and turned the tv on, which was much closer and easier to see from his bed. I craned my neck to watch.

Inuyasha glanced over at me and rolled his eyes. He moved slightly to the right on the bed. "You can sit down here, you know. I won't shoot you."

"I'm fine, thanks." But I really wasn't. It sucked having to watch it from across the room, so I gave up after another minute or so and lied down on my stomach…on the bed of the rudest demon in school.

"Fine, huh?"

"Oh, shut up," I muttered, directing my attention towards the movie that was on.

---

After another hour and 45 minutes, the movie was ending. I was crying as I watched the end - the boyfriend had ended up dying in the war.

Inuyasha turned his attention to the doorway suddenly. "What do you want, Sesshomaru?"

I looked over to see Sesshomaru standing there. He gave a smirk. "Sorry to interrupt your study session, but Izayoi wanted to know if Kagome wanted to stay for dinner. We're having oden."

"I…I'll call my mom," I sniffed. I was so embarrassed - here was the gorgeous Sesshomaru and I was sitting here with awful puffy red eyes. I was surprised I hadn't refused right away… must've been Sesshomaru there… or the oden.

Sesshomaru waited at the doorway, not taking another step closer, as I called my mom. I got the faint idea that he wasn't too fond of his brother.

"Hello?" I heard Souta's voice answer.

"S-Souta, put Mom on."

"Why are you crying?" Souta demanded suddenly. "Did he make you cry?"

"N-no, no, just a movie, now put Mom on!"

"Alright, hang on." I heard him calling for Mom in the background.

"Hello?" Mom answered.

"Mom, is it ok if I stay for dinner? Just pick me up a half hour later, I suppose."

"Kagome, are you sure? Are they in the room with you right now?" Mom asked suspiciously.

"Mm…yeah…but, yeah," I said, trying to find the best way to be discreet about letting her know that yes, they were in the room with me, but no, they weren't holding a gun to my head so I could have dinner with them.

"Well…if you want. I'll see you in about half an hour then."

"Alright, thanks… bye!"

"Bye, honey."

I slapped the flip phone shut. "She says it's fine."

Sesshomaru nodded and walked out. "She says yes, Izayoi…"

Inuyasha got off the bed and crossed the room to slam the door shut. "God I hate him."

"Why? He seems really nice."

Inuyasha snorted. "I guess you're one of his drooling fan girls."

What, there's more? I thought desperately.

Inuyasha seemed to be able to read minds, because he replied, "Yep, everyone's after Sesshomaru. You're just one of his thousands of obsessees."

I shrugged. "Whatever." I didn't try to deny it; he was the type to believe whatever they wanted anyhow. "So, Inuyasha…what's with you and Kikyou?"

His ears twitched upon hearing me mention Kikyou. "Nothing," he said gruffly.

"Yeah, right, "nothing"! Kikyou admitted that there was something herself. Kikyou is one of my good friends - I think I'd believe her word over yours!" I persisted.

Inuyasha frowned. "She's uh… my ex, and it wasn't a good break up. That's about it."

"What happened?"

He glanced at me, almost like he was about to answer… before simply shrugging. "It's none of your business."

"I'll find out from her, eventually."

"Well then fine, but I'm not going to," he replied simply.

I was about to say something about how he might as well tell me, then, but Mrs. Hidaka interrupted from the bottom of the stairs. "Inuyasha, Kagome! Dinner's done!"

"Coming!" Inuyasha shouted back. "Come on." He led the way out of the room. I followed him, but not without sneaking one last glance at the movie. The girl had found a new love. I sighed. Typical, of course…

---

"So, Kagome, we haven't heard much of you from Inuyasha. What kind of sports do you do?" Mr. Hidaka asked, starting polite conversation.

"Gymnastics," I replied. "I'm on the gymnastics team… or at least, I was. We're trying to find a gym around here."

"Ah," Inuyasha's parents said, nodding.

"She sucks at archery," Sesshomaru said suddenly, giving a small hint of a grin.

"Sesshomaru, that's rude!" Mrs. Hidaka scolded.

"That's ok," I said, laughing. I was just happy he had remembered. "This is really good, by the way, Mrs. Hidaka."

"Oh, thank you," Mrs. Hidaka said sincerely. "I'm glad you like it. So how is your project coming along?"

"We've decided to a survey," Inuyasha said suddenly, before I could answer. "About name brands and stuff."

"Well, that's interesting," Mrs. Hidaka replied, nodding.

We spent the rest of the evening making small talk about school. I was surprised at how friendly his parents were, and even Sesshomaru made an attempt at conversation. Inuyasha was the only one who ate silently for the rest of dinner. At the end, I got up to help clear away dishes.

"Oh, no, Kagome," Mr. Hidaka said, taking my plate with his to bring to the kitchen. "You're our guest."

"Thank you," I smiled. They were so nice!

A couple of seconds later, the doorbell rang.

"That must be my mom," I said as Sesshomaru got up to answer. He nodded and answered the door. He greeted whoever it was and let them come through the door. Rather than it being my mother, it was Souta.

"C'mon sis, time to go," Souta said. He looked over at Inuyasha and gave a wave. "Hey."

"Hey kid," Inuyasha said with indifference.

"Alright, I'll be leaving then!" I called to the Hidaka parents in the kitchen.

"Bye, Kagome, dear!" called Mrs. Hidaka, as Mr. Hidaka came out to shake my hand and say goodbye.

"You're welcome back any time you'd like," Mr. Hidaka said with a smile.

"Thank you!" I replied. I gathered up my school bag and turned to Inuyasha. "Well…bye."

"Later."

"Bye Sesshomaru," I said as I walked out with Souta.

"I'll see you in school, Kagome."

My heart fluttered. He'll see me in school? Hopefully…!

I got into the car with Souta. Mom turned to me. "How was it, Kagome?"

"It was…pretty nice, actually." And that was the truth.

A/N: I know, I know… doesn't seem very InuxKag yet. But you just wait. XD