-Chapter 4-
After school that day...
Inuyasha got up, gathering his things before leaving.
"Hey, wait, Inuyasha!" Kagome said after catching up to him. "What kind of a man leaves a girl to walk home, all alone in the cold, hardened, dark, and sometimes miserable world?!"
Inuyasha blushed in response.
"So, uh... Aren't you going to walk me home or something?" she persisted.
This alone made him blush even more.
"Aw, c'mon. It's just as friends! It's not like we're going out or anything!" she said. Then, as though to prove to him that she wanted him to walk her home, she grabbed hold of his upper arm and pretty much dragged him out the school. 'I'm still extremely scared of dogs... But I've heard they usually weren't all bad... Oh... What should I do?! I can't just abandon the poor guy!' she thought.
Once they were outside, Inuyasha was the one to take the lead and started walking her, instead of the other way around.
"Thanks, Inuyasha." Kagome softly thanked him.
Inuyasha did nothing more than look down at her. But the poor halfdemon was so tall, and Kagome was so short, all he could see was the very top of her head!
Kagome sighed.
Then, without any warning whatsoever, Inuyasha blushed uncontrollably. What triggered this? He felt a warmth leaning on his arm. Kagome's warmth.
'At least he doesn't seem bad. Not at all, actually. I just don't know anymore... Why won't he talk? Well, he said he couldn't. But he also said he wasn't a mute. So is there another reason? There's gotta be. Otherwise there wouldn't be any reason for him not to talk to anybody! Arg... He's so confusing! And incredibly hard to figure out... But I guess that's what makes him have a certain air of...mystery...around him. It's strange. I like it, but I hate it! Hm... I must be pretty hard to figure out myself... I suppose that's one thing we have in common. But is that alone truly enough to call ourselves friends? Maybe... Why am I thinking these things, anyway?! He's a halfdemon I just met!!!' Kagome thought.
Inuyasha nudged her gently. When Kagome looked up at him with questioning eyes, he merely looked at a house they'd come across. Except it wasn't just any old house. It was the Higurashi Shrine.
"Oh. We're here." she said plainly. She turned to Inuyasha, remembering how he was eating his lunch out of a dumpster. "So, uh. Do you have any place to go? If not, you can stay here, at my place, for the night. I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind. They're really nice people. And I'm sure they'd love to meet you!"
Inuyasha looked longingly at the shrine.
"Then it's settled! You'll stay at my place!" she happily chirped. She immediately got hold of his hand and pulled him in front of the door. Then, as he awaited the big moment when he'd meet her parents, she knocked on the door. No turning back now...
The door opened. "Oh, hey, sis. Welcome home. How was school?" Then the boy who greeted them looked behind her. "Uh... Who is he?"
"Hey, Sota? Where's Mom and Grandpa?" she said, not bothering to answer any of his questions.
"They went out about an hour before you got home. Grandpa wanted to go to a new antique shop and Mom was worried about him going by himself. She ended up going with him. If Grandpa isn't sidetracked by all those antiques, they should be home any time now." Sota explained.
"Oh, yeah! Inuyasha, this is my little brother, Sota." then Kagome turned to Sota, "And Sota, this is Inuyasha."
The two shook hands, but Inuyasha still didn't speak.
"So, anyway, Sota, Inuyasha wants to stay here for a night. We'll be upstairs if you need us. Tell Mom and Grandpa when they come back, okay?"
"H-Hey wait!" Sota protested. A tad too late, though. Kagome was already leading Inuyasha upstairs.
"Uh... Okay then." Sota was left talking to himself. 'I don't think she realizes that Dad's back from work early today.' he thought.
Inuyasha couldn't help but sniffing all around Kagome's room. 'Wow...' he thought, 'Her scent is all over the place! It's like a... a, uh... What's it called? A Kagome paradise!'
Sweat drops appeared on Kagome's forehead. 'That's right... Sometimes I forget he's part dog demon... How long is he going to keep this up?' she thought.
Inuyasha, after several minutes and several good whiffs of her room, Inuyasha stood up and finally stopped. He turned and looked at Kagome.
"So, uhm... You ready to study yet?" she asked, trying her best not to mention that sniffing a human's room isn't a good first impression.
He pulled out his history book and set it down in front of him. Then he sat down and began reading.
Kagome did the same, but before she started reading, she thought, 'I wonder what he does when he has trouble. It's not like he talks to anyone. And none of the other students seem to like him, so they surely aren't going to help him.' Then she focused her attention on cramming her head with nothing but what's left of a bunch of now dead people.
After about an hour of history, they decided to switch to biology. Biology, for them, was about several things. The normal things, such as plants and animals. The human things, such as regular humans, monks, and priestesses. And then there were the demonic things, such as demons, demonic power compared to spiritual power, demonic auras, halfdemons, and a demon's strength compared to a human's strength. Oh what fun, it is to learn, a-a-a-all this!
When they were reading about the demon part, the full demon part, Kagome noticed how engrossed Inuyasha became. Did he want to be a full demon? Or a human? Or did he want to stay a halfdemon? She liked him just the way he was, and didn't think he should change a single thing about him. But in all truthfulness, it wasn't really up to her what he wanted to do.
