Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

I know this chapter is shorter than my usual chapters, but it's just one of those fill-in chapters you have to do every now and then to move the story along. I have a few thank you's to make: Hanmajo for editing and being AMAZING, Paul for being grossed out by the egg and giving me the idea for the opening of this chapter , and 30 Seconds to Mars for being amazing. I was hooked on their music for the past two weeks which is the reason they are mentioned. What I would give to see them live…

NoRMaL

Chapter 12: The Start of a Beautiful…

Tip #10: Concentration is the key to normality.

"You smell horrible," Inuyasha bluntly stated when I walked into Literature, covering his nose with his sleeve. "What the hell is that?"

"Vinegar." I dropped my books onto my desk and fell into my seat. "With a slight whiff of rotten egg." Inuyasha looked at me with raised brows and I sighed. "It's this lab we're doing in Biology. We're testing to see if osmosis will occur in an egg and my lab partner happens to be a really big baby, so, I'm the one doing all the hard work." I tilted my head back and closed my eyes. "Some guys really care about their clothes."

"Weren't you supposed to take Biology last year?" Inuyasha asked, still not moving his sleeve away from his nose which made me feel so much better.

"Yeah, but last year I doubled up in math. My counselor said that I'd have to take Biology this year; Pre-Calc would replace Biology. Since I only need three science credits to graduate I decided to take Biology this year and Chemistry next year."

"Why would you double up in math?" Inuyasha has been here for a month and it is painfully obvious that he doesn't mix well with math.

"Because now I can take Calculus this year and Physics next year and have two more AP classes under my belt."

"That's stupid," Inuyasha declared, finally lowering his arm from his sleeve and I felt a little bit less self conscious.

"That is what colleges and the people handing out scholarships like," I countered, opening up my binder to review the notes I took yesterday in case we had a pop quiz.

"And college is that important to you?"

"Yes." It's my one way ticket to a better life.

After Inuyasha and I cleared up the terms of our relationship (no interrogating and no blatant lies) being around him is much easier. I don't get the feeling of dread when he pops up around the corner anymore and I'm not as tense when I speak to him. I reveal more about myself when we're in normal conversations like this than when he kept asking a bunch of questions.

To sum it up, I don't hate Inuyasha. In the past month he has moved to the tolerable stage and I can laugh with him. It would be what normal people call friendship, but a month isn't long enough for me to just call anybody a friend. Giving Inuyasha that title will have him thinking that it's okay to dig deeper into my personal life, more than I'm already allowing him to.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom," I declared. Technically, you're not supposed to let students out ten minutes before or after the bell, but I am well rehearsed in the art of sweet talking teachers. It's simply called "a female emergency". Works every time.

"Don't have too much fun without me."

"I'll try not to jump for joy knowing that I'll be out of your presence," I said with a roll of my eyes and the corner of Inuyasha's lip pulled upwards into a smirk. "I was actually serious."

"Bye Kagome."

I slid out of my seat and hesitated for a second before grabbing my notebook to take with me. For warm-ups, Mr. Fujimoto has us do a journal entry on something personal and if it's too personal, we would fold the page down so he can't read it. Half of my pages are folded and even though Mr. Fujimoto gave us his word that he wasn't going to read it, the rest of the class didn't. Inuyasha didn't. He was in the tolerable stage now, but he hasn't made it to the trustworthy stage.

But, there's still time.

-x-

"Can I interest a pretty little thing like you in a shopping spree with her best friend ever!"

I closed my locker to see Rin hopping on her toes in anticipation, holding something behind her back. This week was bohemian week and she was wearing a colorful floor length skirt that was layered with different designs, a red tank top with an earthy color short green jacket over it and lots and lots of wooden jewelry. It looked great on her, but I wasn't too sure if it was actually her.

"Do you want my opinion on your character for next week before you actually wear it to school?"

"Would I be this excited," she pointed to her face with one finger, "if I just wanted your opinion on something? Really Kagome, think about this."

"You want some serious female bonding time?"

"N— well, that would be great too, but that's not the reason. Guess again."

"I'm all out of guesses," I shrugged and Rin sighed at my lack of creativity, but whatever was making her so excited outweighed her brief disappointment. "So why must I go on a shopping spree with you?"

"Because I…" Rin paused dramatically before whipping out two tickets from behind her back and screaming, "AM GOING TO A 30 SECONDS TO MARS CONCERT!"

"And I just lost all hearing in my left ear," I mumbled, rubbing my ear.

"Next weekend you and I are going to see the greatest concert ever and we have good seats," Rin continued. "No, amazing seats. We will be able to feel the sweat flying off of Jared when he rips his shirt off." Rin held the tickets close to her chest and sighed, leaning against a locker for support. "I just love the fact that my birthday present was amazing this year. I know I asked for a car, but this is much better."

"Your birthday is in a month," I pointed out, throwing my book bag over my shoulder.

"And my gift just happened to come a month early," Rin shrugged, carefully sliding her tickets into her boots where she was sure no one could steal them without her knowing. Her iPod and phone are always hidden in her boots when she wears them. "But I am very insulted by the fact that you pointed out my birthday is a month away after I just told you we are going to see 30 Seconds to Mars. As in live. As in in-the-flesh. And only in a week!"

Next week is the end of the safe period at home. Bills would start coming, Mom and Kazuo might start fighting, Mom might start drinking, and then my peace would be ripped apart as I try to pick her back up on her feet and take the responsibilities she left behind when she picked up the bottle of wine. Making plans ahead of time wouldn't work until I knew everything and everyone would be fine. If 30 Seconds to Mars were coming this week I would agree without hesitation, but it wasn't this weekend, it was next weekend and that made a huge difference.

Rin must have spotted my hesitation because her smile instantly fell. "If you tell me you cannot go to this concert with me I will strangle you."

"It's not that I don't want to," I started, although I only knew two songs by the band which didn't qualify me as proper concert-goer material, "It's just…" I had my defense mechanism ready, a lie on the tip of my tongue, but Inuyasha turned around the corner and I stopped myself. I always feel guilty when I was about to tell a lie and I saw him, even if he wasn't in sniffing distance.

"It's just…" Rin prodded, trying to get me to finish my sentence.

"It' just, uh…" I looked away from Inuyasha's approaching figure and back down at Rin who was waiting for my answer. "Um, I'll have to see if I can get out of the house. Things might get a little hectic next week at home." It was a very broad answer, vacant of any details, but my heart still pounded in my chest as if I told Rin the full truth. Or that she might ask the dreaded question "Why?".

Rin looked at me for a long second and the corner of her mouth twitched—trying to smother a grin or a frown, I wasn't sure—before she nodded her head. "Fine. But you will prepare as if everything was already set in stone so that if you aren't locked up in your house seven days from this Saturday you can have a life with me."

"That's a very kind way to put it." Relief washed over me when Rin decided not to push for details and the tension that was present in my shoulders for a brief second left. "So why do I have to go on a shopping spree exactly?"

"To get the perfect concert attire, duh," Rin said, reaching up to flick my forehead. "You and I have a date with the mall tonight."

"Actually—"

"No can do, Rin," Inuyasha cut me off as he finally reached us, joining the conversation. "Kagome and I have a date with Frankenstein tonight." He looked down at me. "Library tonight, right?"

"Right." Lately, we've been alternating between the library and the restaurant. Inuyasha's apartment hasn't been brought back up as an option. "Be there on time tonight."

"I have never stood you up, Kagome," Inuyasha reminded me. "And I never will."

"But you will show up thirty minutes late because you're in the middle of an intense pool game at the arcade with fifty dollars on the table."

"That was going to be our dinner if you hadn't called at such a horrible time and screwed up my shot." Inuyasha shook his head. "Fifty bucks down the drain because I hit the eight ball instead of the orange one." He started walking away, having a bus to catch. I don't have to work today so I'm not in a rush as usual. "I'll be there on time today," he called over his shoulder. "Promise!"

I waited until Inuyasha completely disappeared from sight before turning away from him and back to Rin who was giving me an incredulous look.

"You're smiling."

"No I'm—" I stopped myself when I realized that I am smiling. The muscles in my face had actually moved my lips into a smile without my command or acknowledgement. This isn't the first time they have acted without my order either. Just about every time I talk to Inuyasha now I end up smiling. I'm actually starting to scare myself.

"It's great that you and Inuyasha are getting closer, really," Rin said, "but it is really putting a damper on our time together. Boys will come and go Kagome, but friends? Yeah, they're forever. And since I'm your only friend you should treat me extra special and ditch Inuyasha to go shopping with me."

"It's funny how a few weeks ago you would be shoving me in Inuyasha's direction." We started making our way down the hall. "But working with Inuyasha goes hand in hand with my grade and you know how obsessive I am about good grades."

"To the point where it's frustrating," Rin said with a roll of her eyes. "But seriously Kagome, you need to ditch Inuyasha and go shopping with me."

"Tomorrow," I promised.

"Pinky swear?" Rin held out her pinky, looking me right in the eye.

I hooked my pinky around hers making an unbreakable promise. "Right after work tomorrow. I promise."

"You're not lying to me?" She asked, unhooking her pinky with mine and giving me an unexpected serious look.

"Never."

-x-

"This is a crucial decision so you have to take this seriously," Inuyasha started. We're lying on our backs in between the last two bookshelves in the adult section on the upper level, our legs up in the air on the opposite shelf. Inuyasha declared that he couldn't work at the tables since they were "too uptight and stiff". So we've been conducting our work between the Tu-Uy and Va-Z shelves in the library, which most people seem to avoid.

"The only thing you should be thinking about is whether to write or type your summary," I told him, holding Frankenstein up above my head, flipping through the pages. "This project is due in about two months."

"Kagome," Inuyasha said, turning his head to look at me. I turned my head too and our noses were only two inches apart. My heartbeat quickened and I swallowed, looking back up at the ceiling. "I have a serious question to ask."

"Okay, I'm listening."

"Ramen or burgers?" When I started laughing Inuyasha jabbed me lightly in the side with his elbow. "This is serious! It's what we're going to eat for dinner tonight."

"I'm personally getting tired of only having the two to choose from. There is a huge variety of food to pick from and you always make the options ramen or burgers."

"One, I'm on a budget here, and two you actually have to sit down and wait for all those other restaurants with variety." Inuyasha was quiet for a second and I turned to look at him to find him staring at me. "Unless you want to go to a… real dinner with me."

I looked back up at the ceiling, closed my eyes and slowly released a breath of air.

"Nah," I said finally, shaking my head, making sure it came off as casual. "I'll start feeling guilty for making you pay if we go to a real restaurant."

"Right." Inuyasha cleared his throat after a second and pushed himself up off the ground, grabbing his Frankenstein book. "Want me to read?"

I nodded my head. "That would be the smart thing to do."

I don't like like Inuyasha. No. But… I would be lying to myself if I said that I wasn't attracted to him. I'm a teenage girl who can acknowledge the fact that Inuyasha has got a lot going for him in looks department. Sometimes I can get tempted when we're alone between the bookshelves. Of course, I'm not going to act on it for reasons such as common sense and the fact that Kikyo is still inviting Inuyasha to parties and making surprise visits during my shifts to hound me for details. Besides, giving into a stupid thing like lust will do nothing more than complicate things for me.

I sat up and brought my legs down from leaning against the bookshelf to cross them. I picked up my own book and pulled out a piece of paper from my binder to start our fifth journal entry. As long as I concentrated on something else I could forget how close Inuyasha's leg was to mine, how nice his voice sounded, how I could feel a few strands of his hair on my cheek.

I let out another slow breath and flexed my fingers before picking up my pen again to continue writing.

Concentration is key.

-0-0-0-0-0-

This chapter was supposed to be longer, but I liked ending it here and the way I planned to have the next part go didn't fit well with the whole… essence of this chapter. And then I was going to have the next chapter up right after I posted this, but I strayed from my original plans so I now have to organize my thoughts a bit before I can dive into typing again. Hopefully, the next chapter will be up by next week. If you haven't noticed, the InuKag portion of this story is getting closer. I can't wait to start writing that. Please Review!

~Kimiko888~

Oops, hanmajoerin went and got herself grounded thanks to that pleasant little D sitting in Herr's (Herr means Mr. in German) German III class grade book. That means no computer usage (unless it's school work) during the week. So, kudos to the one and only Kimiko888 for giving this baby the final run through (hanmajoerin still has homework waiting for her so she wasn't able to finish it like she would have liked to). THANK YOU EVER SO MUCH DEAREST KIMIKO!

~hanmajoerin