For some reason, when I edited the chapters (making the football to track and field change) it did not save or update the chapters with the new content. So here I am going back (with a new laptop that has none of the past chapters on it) and re-editing things. So if any of you were wondering why I might not have updated this story, well…this is your answer. Oh, and I am also going to place this little note in the beginning of each of my chapters. That way it will make things easier on you as the reader, and me as the author. happy reading!

Recap:
"But, I needed to work on my stamina…"
"Work on it at school, no need to over exert yourself."
Natsumi was trying her hardest to make herself dead weight the whole time Inuyasha was trying to pull her up. "Never!" She laughed as she yanked her arm out of his grasp. The action making him lose his balance, he started to go down, but his reaction saved him but only to some extent, he had managed to brace himself with an arm to the side of her neck and his other hand was on her side. When Natsumi looked up, she saw how close their faces were to each other. It didn't help that she was propping herself up on her elbows. Not sure what to really do, and from the slight shock of embarrassment, the two of them stared at each other with pink cheeks.

This time, Inuyasha wasn't able to turn it into a joke to get Natsumi flustered. All he could do was become embarrassed himself.

Chapter 9
Old Wounds, New Bandages (part 2)

After a long day, the three teenagers walked home together. They were all really tired, so their walk home was mainly in silence. While they walked, Natsumi's tired mind would wonder to earlier points in the day. Her cheeks would always become a bit pink when she would think of what happened that morning. Not to mention, every time Natsumi was around Inuyasha, or found him looking at her, she would start to blush again. Needless to say, the trio was walking with Matt in the middle.
Natsumi let out a sigh and stretched her arms over her head. "Ugh, I am so exhausted today…but I have so much studying to do, and then there is also that stupid math project to do…"
Matt chuckled, "sound like you have Ms. Kaede for Math." Natsumi nodded. They continued to talk amongst each other before splitting separate ways. Natsumi and Inuyasha walked for a while in silence until Inuyasha cleared his throat.
"You wanna work on the math project together tonight?"
"Oh, sure…" She glanced up at him for a second and thought, 'What the heck, why is he all of a sudden making so nervous?' Her thoughts drifted and she remembered her mother is home. "Oh, let me just let my mom know that I will be home late." He nodded and waited for her outside of her house. A few minutes later, Natsumi came back out of her house while wearing her slippers. Inuyasha raised an eyebrow and chuckled.
"Nice shoes…"
She laughed, "what? You jealous?" He shook his head and rolled his eyes.
"No way." Inuyasha grabbed drinks for them and they both headed up to his room where they would start to work on their projects. He sat on his bed, leaning up against the wall while Natsumi sat on the ground with her back against his bed. She was in the middle of a problem when her mind started to go back to this morning.

Natsumi looked up at Inuyasha, their faces close to one another. They continued to just look at each other for a few seconds until Natsumi opened her mouth to try to say something. Instead of an actual word or sentence coming out, a random noise voiced itself. This caused herself to blush even more. Then all of a sudden, Inuyasha looked at her with wide eyes and looked her up and down. "Oh…wow…" Natsumi hesitated on asking him what, but Inuyasha continued after taking in a deep breath. "You…smell…SO good." This caused Natsumi to let out another inaudible sound. Inuyasha just leaned forward and inhaled again.
"D-don't smell me!" She managed to say as she tried pushing one of his shoulders to try to get him to stop, but it just resulted in him flopping down next to her on the bed, while catching her arm to keep her still. He buried his nose in the nape of her neck and inhaled again. Natsumi let out a startled noise for the third time and her face turned a new shade of pink.
"Why do you smell so good?!" He asked her, "I can't stop myself." He proved his point by inhaling again. Natsumi was finally able to wiggle away from him but only to have him still hold onto her arm. Now standing with him on the bed, her cheeks quite noticeably red, she glares at him for a second before looking away towards the door.
"Why do you always do those things to me?!" Inuyasha sat for a second and shrugged. Then he let out a sigh along with a small smirk.
"I couldn't help it, you smelled so good that I felt like I had to keep smelling you. You know? It's that weird feeling ya know?" Natsumi couldn't help but let out a small laugh at his question.
"That makes you sound like some type of dog, one who keeps smelling even though they know what it is, yet it smells good to them for some reason." By this point, Inuyasha had released her captive arm and started laughing along with her. He shrugged his shoulders, "Well, it won't be the first time I was referred to as a dog." Natsumi just rolled her eyes and laughed.
"Somehow, I fail to see it as a good thing."

Inuyasha sifting through a few papers snapped Natsumi back to what she was originally doing. She continued to work on the problem, then, she started moving onto different questions and problems. It didn't take her long before her thoughts were drifting off to earlier today during lunch.

The three girls were all eating together, Natsumi had finished first because she only brought a light lunch. So she sat playing with a straw wrapper to try to keep herself awake. She wondered what provoked her for bringing only a light lunch today, because as of right now, she was still pretty hungry. She decided that she was going to take a small nap while the other two finished eating. She managed to doze off while listening to the other two girls talk amongst themselves, only to be awoken suddenly by having a cold drink be placed on her arm. She sat straight up and sleepily glared at the culprit to only find it to be Inuyasha.
"That was mean." She said as she rubbed her arm trying to warm up the area from the cold drink. He just smirked and shrugged his shoulders at her.
"Well you weren't waking up any of the other ways." Natsumi just looked at him and noticed that he was sitting next to her on the bench and was working on his food. She must have really been tired to not notice someone come up to them and sit down next to her. Natsumi then rested her chin in the palm of her hand as she started to the conversation that was already going on. Inuyasha had then moved the drink he pressed against her arm in front of Natsumi.
"Here, have it, it will help wake you up."
"Oh, thanks…" She took the drink and took a sip. Inuyasha looked at her for a second then continued to talk.
"Hey, where is your lunch?"
"Oh, I already finished it." Inuyasha just rolled his eyes at her.
"How many more times do I need to tell you that you have to eat more to help you get through the day. Especially now that you are having to do a lot more running?"
Natsumi gave him a guilty smile and shrugged her shoulders. "Well I feel fine, so I must be good."
Inuyasha scoffed at her, "Liar." He then gave her some of his food that was extra. "I bet your starving."
Natsumi just sat and started to pick at the food he gave her as she started to think. 'Why … or how does he know all of this about me all of a sudden?'
"Oi…" 'Why would he even care?' "I said… Oi… Natsumi!" Inuyasha called out to her. Natsumi was so preoccupied with her own thoughts that she didn't notice that he was trying to get her attention until he poked her shoulder.
"W-what?!..." She looked up at him with slight embarrassment after being caught day dreaming.
"Wow, you were seriously gone for a while there…But uh, how long are you just going to sit there? You haven't done a single problem since we started."
"What?! N-no…I have done a few…" She looked down at her paper and in a way he was right, she didn't really do much of anything, and the ones she did, were visibly incorrect. She looked back up at him and noticed that he had moved, now he was sitting on the edge of the bed leaning over her. "Okay… no more spacing out… I need to focus now." Natsumi stood up to stretch out her legs and back. She then sat up on the foot of his bed so she was a little bit more comfortable and started to erase the incorrect parts of the problems she did. Inuyasha just watched her for a second and grinned.
"Yeah, you should probably stop thinking about me like that." Natsumi just rolled her eyes at him and continued to work on her assignment.

A few weeks past and Inuyasha and Natsumi's study sessions became so frequent. Sometimes they would end up falling asleep at one another's house without anticipating it. Tonight they were back at his house, both of them were sitting on the ground leaning up against his bed. "It has been a few weeks already. Dang, and the school year is still fresh and it seems as if I have gotten so much closer to Inuyasha than Kagome and Sango in one fourth the time. Ugh, well duh Natsumi…were neighbors. So it helps, but I wonder…" She thought to herself as she looked over at Inuyasha who was studying next to her. After a few seconds he notices that she was looking at him and looks up at her. He gives her his smug grin "Daydreaming about me again?"
"Pfft not in the way you're thinking."
"Oh, so you were?" Inuyasha scoots closer to her and was about to continue but she cut him off.
"Yeah, what is it about you…I mean, you got me to trust you so quickly. It kinda pisses me off. Also sometimes it is like you are in my brain. Like that one morning where I decided to run, somehow you anticipated that I was still hungry after eating my lunch." She hesitated for a second, "Which I was…and I don't think I ever actually thanked you." Inuyasha stared at her, slightly unaware of how to respond. Her gaze was so determined and slightly annoyed, while with her last sentence it became so thoughtful and peaceful, while a hint of embarrassment? For a second he thought about Kagome. Her and Natsumi both share a lot of the characteristics that he likes. Just with Kagome, there was just something about her that didn't quite sit right with his personality. Was it that she was too optimistic? He continued to let his thoughts wander while a shift in positions from Natsumi brought him back to her question. He looked away from her and placed an elbow on a propped up knee and rested his chin in his hand. She was now sitting at an angle, but across from him.
"I don't know, probably cause I am just observant." He smirked to himself as he tried to sneak a glance over at her, but it went noticed.
Natsumi crossed her arms together and rolled her eyes. "Pfft, yeah right, you are probably as observant as a blind and deaf person in a movie theater."
Inuyasha looked at her for a second then chuckled, "That didn't make any sense…"
"Shut up…. Okay, you also have a tendency to be super dense." She leaned over and playfully knocked on his head. "Sometimes I even wonder if there is anything up here." Inuyasha gently took ahold of her arm to stop her from knocking on his head, he scooted closer to him and she tried to lean back away from him. She could tell that he was thinking of something to say, and she wasn't sure if it was going to be a good thing or a bad thing.
"It's because…I pay attention…to you."
"Well duh, I gathered that…hence my question that started this whole conversation, which you have yet to answer…Why?" Inuyasha raised an eyebrow as she continued. He was getting slightly annoyed that there was a possibility that he would have to explain further. He let go of her arm and she laid back on the floor looking up at the ceiling while using her backpack as a pillow, with her book in her lap. She looked over at him and continued. "Out of everyone that we hang out with, why me? Is it because were neighbors, do you have this feeling that since we are, that you need to protect me or something? You better not! I would be pissed!" She propped herself back up onto her elbows.
He leaned forward a little more as he let out a sigh and mumbled. "And people say I am the dense and nonobservant one."
Natsumi not really able to hear exactly what he said just looked at him. "Huh?"
Inuyasha shook his head and sighed. This time when he rested his chin in his hand he looked at Natsumi in the eye. Her expression was full of confusion and curiosity. There was also something about her that just made him want to constantly be near her. Not just because he loved the way she smells, which he found out a few weeks ago. The energy she put off, her determination, sadly everything that he enjoyed about Kagome, but with added surprises. He was feeling so many things, and yet, it still annoyed him to no end that he was able to fall for someone so quickly. She had said things that made sense, Kagome and Sango have even said things to him that were similar to what Natsumi was saying. She had things about her that Kagome didn't, and he enjoyed every second of it. He noticed a slight blush creep upon her cheeks as he kept looking her over. He could tell that she was about to say something but he cut her off with a nonchalant sigh and got up. "You're crazy, I didn't say anything." He started to head out of his room. He was starting to get annoyed by some of his thoughts and he just wanted the conversation to end. He walked behind her and opened up the door and mumbled, "I just guess things are just obvious, you should just be able to tell when someone is starting to like you." With that Natsumi perked up, she was annoyed at him because he told her he didn't say anything when he did. And the fact that he continued to mumble things that she couldn't even hear was just annoying her even more. She quickly got up and ran out of his bedroom door that he had just shut.
"Hey!" She didn't need to go far because she ran into him on the other side. "ow…" She rubbed her nose while he turned around.
"What?" He looked down at her with arms crossed. He looked like he was annoyed.
"Why won't you answer my questions?" She pouted while shoving her hands into her shorts pockets.
"Why do you keep bothering me about that stuff? It's none of your business…" He crossed his arms and looked down at her.
"W-what?! Yes it is! It is my business because it involves me!" She shifted her weight and
leaned up against the wall besides his bedroom door while crossing her arms across her chest.
"Ugh!" Inuyasha looked at her for a few minutes then rolled his eyes. "I said that things are obvious and that you being a girl and all should already know those things, and be able to figure stuff out."
Natsumi looked at him for a while with an eyebrow raised, "obvious?" She stepped forward, "what do you mean? Nothing you do or say is obvious."
"Tsk" Inuyasha was really annoyed at this point, he was already about to flip his lid.
"Nothing you do or say is obvious, there is always some sort of meaning or message beneath what you are saying, or what your actions are saying."
"Whatever."
"The only time you are obvious, let alone blunt is when you are sharing a dislike in something."
"Stop…"
"When it is something good, you rarely just come out and say it! I am sure Kagome and Sango had already told you this, so I have no idea why I am even bringing it up."
"Exactly! So why are you? Why don't you stop." They didn't realize but the whole time they were arguing they were also getting closer and closer together.
"Stop?! I don't have to listen to you! Ugh! That is another thing you do. You constantly try to tell people what to do!" "What—" Inuyasha cut her off, his own frustration and emotions gaining control over him. He was grinding his teeth the whole time but now, trying hard not to act out, his control was barley existent.
"Well?! What is it? What is so obvious that I should just understand?!" With that, Inuyasha pushed Natsumi's shoulder against the wall with one hand, and his other propping him up against the wall. His lips aggressively crashed down upon hers in one swift movement. There was an instant tingle, or a spark between the two. Inuyasha's hand came off of her shoulder slightly and crept up along her neck and held her gently while his thumb gently rubbed the side of her cheek. His other hand slid down the wall to her side. He gently pulled her closer so he could deepen the kiss. At first, she was frozen in place from shock; her instant ridged-ness seemed to melt away from her body. Her eyes slowly closed while a blush crept upon her cheeks. While her mind was still functioning it was telling her to get away and try to get out of his grasp because not too long ago they were arguing, but now that she had no thoughts going through her mind, all she could do was let her body react. Timidly she felt herself start to kiss him back, her doing so snapped Inuyasha back to what was going on and pulled away from her. He looked at her with a blush staining his cheeks. For a few more seconds he still could not release her from his grasps, but he managed to snap back completely and he turned around and went down the hallway towards his bathroom leaving a dazed Natsumi in front of his room. He cleared his throat and mumbled "I'll be right back."

Natsumi barley nodded and turned around to go back into his room. She sat back down and tried to calm herself down. Her mind was whirling around, she understood what just happened, but she was still not able to comprehend it. She felt like she needed to leave. So she quickly picked up her things and left, her mind was just not able to handle what was going on. As she got up to leave, Inuyasha was back in the door way. He saw her with her things and embarrassed she looked away.
"I'm… I'm sorry… I need... I have to go, I forgot my mother asked me to do something." She blurted out as she walked by him. She was unable to make eye contact with him as she passed by, but she could tell that his eyes were on her.

When she got back home, she just sat on her bed. Her mind still not able to focus on just one thing. She stayed like that for about an hour or so, until she moved to her window seat. She didn't turn on her bedroom light when she got home, so she knew she couldn't be seen. She sat there, looking at Inuyasha's window with Chunky on her lap, and her head resting at the window sill. Natsumi sat there with a hand touching her lips, she could still feel his. She could still feel the warmth and the sensation she felt when their lips touched. She was able to see into Inuyasha's room a little and she just sat there, looking in. At first she was able to watch him move about his room, and every time he passed by his window he would look out at hers. All she thought about now, was that something about him made her melt when she felt the connection, the tingle that went down her spine, the feeling in the pit of her stomach. It haunted her like a pleasantly bad dream. She wanted to feel it again, but was unsure how she truly felt. She thought she liked him, but she wasn't sure if it was the right kind of like.
"I don't think I would be feeling this way if it was that kind of like…" She muttered to herself, Natsumi's voice breaking the silence that filled her room made Chunky look up at her then back out the window.

Authors Note:
Ahhhhhhhhh, yeah I have a feeling some people may not be too happy with this chapter. :p

Please let me know what you think so far. (anything I should change?)

Tralala. Okay finished with this chapter!

Some may like the new changes, I am not really sure who likes it anyways… lol you people must like it somewhat, or it is able to keep your attention to an extent because this is already the ninth chapter :p

Anyways, like I have stated before, I am working on the next chapter so I could post the totally new chapters.

Please keep reading and reviewing and telling me if you like it or not, and if you think of any changes… well, you know… let me know xD

Happy reading!