My teethe are chattering so much that my chin is starting to go numb. Can you believe it's only November and it's already snowed? I guess this is one of the set backs of living in the wonderful "paradise"of New York...not only are there harsh summers but the winters are even worse! I shall never complain about summer again! Okay...I might a little...

I DON'T OWN INUYASHA

Chapter 37: Bullethead

"Okay kids, good work today, you can all change. And for those who are staying for Martial Arts class, just change and come back out here and get warmed up" Keade directed. As all of the children walked out, Kagome tried to blend in with the mass of students hurrying for the door. But all of the sudden, she felt someone pull her by the shoulder and out of the crowd.

"I do recall that you have training to go to"

"Aw come on Hoshiko...four years agoyou would have been doing the same thing"

"You're right...but that was four years ago. And now...as you know it's different...besides you wouldn't want to miss my lesson now would you?"

"You mean you're teaching?"

'Oh god...if she's the teacher then we're all gonna need serious therapy afterwards...'

"First of all, I'm not a bad teacher...second, you will be getting therapy...only it will be just you...and I..." Hoshiko said grinning. Kagome took a few steps away from her but Hoshiko shoved her into her office.

"Is there a reason your office is in the boy's locker room?"

"It's a budget thing...I share it...besides, if you try and escape at least you'll get an eyeful for your punishment...oh wait...that's right...you're already tied down...what was the name? Inu something..."

"I am not going out with Inuyasha!"

"Ah, that was it! Inuyasha! Don't worry, I think you two will make a great couple...as soon as you learn how to get rid of your baggage..."

"I don't have baggage" she growled baring her fangs.

"Would you like to let the cards decided that?" Hoshiko asked un-phased.

"I don't care. It'll just show you the same thing I just told you. I'm fine"

"We'll see Kagome...we'll see. You know the drill. Draw five and we'll go from there" Hoshiko said smirking. Kagome snorted and drew the cards and set them onto her desk. Then suddenly the gray faded into different pictures. The first two reveal a small bird up in a tree staring down at the ground and a sun rising up from the horizon. The next two, showed a large ice wall with the same person on each side a person on one side trying to get to the other and a mirror with a girl looking in. Her real face had a frown on it, but her reflection was beaming with happiness. The last one had nothing but a big black X on it.

"You said there was nothing wrong with you...but do you want to know what I see? I see denial...as well as mental conflict, hesitance and rebirth. You've grown since the last time I saw you, I'll admit that...and I know you have become wiser...but you're still afraid...and it's all right to be...but you need to move on. You, and everyone around you, is suffering now, because you can't let go...and you're afraid to get close to anyone. Which in return is making you more distant, resentful and colder to those who try and get close. Kagome, not everyone is like him. You've gotta learn that...you and I both know that Inuyasha is nothing compared to Koga...so why are you afraid to give him a chance? Hasn't he proved it enough that he isn't anything like him... you're pushing everyone away that you care about...but you have to learn...we're here for you...and we will always be here...whether you like it or not" Hoshiko explained to her. Kagome laughed half-heartedly as she looked down at the cards.

"I guess there's no hiding from it now..."

"Yes. And that's exactly why I came...to help you through this. Don't worry, big sis has got your back"

"Thanks Hoshiko"

"No prob. Oh, and tell Jan I said hi, okay?"

"Sure. Don't wait up"

The next day...

As Miroku got out of his car he felt as if everyone around him was boring a hole into the back of his head as he locked it.

"She's not with him either" he heard a girl whisper to her friend as he passed. Suddenly Miroku got a foreboding feeling in the pit of his stomach as he hurried inside.

"I heard that the new teacher yelled at her so much she switched schools"

"Well I heard that she got sent to jail for robbing a bank last week and the cops finally caught her" some girls whispered as he passed them. As he turned the corner, he saw Hitomi and her groupies hanging out in the hall and she looked towards him and smiled.

"Miroku, I heard about your cousin. It was probably better of that she left. Send her my regard back home" Hitomi said snidely. Her groupies walked away with her giggling.

"Inuyasha! Have you seen Kagome around?" Miroku asked panicking.

"Nope. I thought she was with you yesterday. She hasn't come to any classes." he said unconcerned.

"What...did you say?" he asked slowly. Inuyasha gulped trying to rephrase his answer.

"Well...you see...I thought she was with you, because she didn't come back to my house...but I'm sure there's a good reason why neither of us knows where she is. Let's ask Sango!" he said changing the subject. They both roamed the halls like hawks, searching for their prey, before they finally found her in the in the main office, sorting mail into the filing cabinets with her back turned to them. Without her noticing him, Miroku walked up behind her and rested a hand on her rear. Out of instinct she whipped around and smacked the person touching her.

"Dirty pervert. Can't ever keep his hands to himself" she muttered.

"Sango. Have you seen Kagome?"

"No. I was just about to ask you the same question. I haven't seen her in a few days. I was getting worried about her"

"You mean you haven't seen her either?" Miroku suddenly asked.

"No, I saw her right after she had a talk with that weird gym teacher"

Flashback

"Hey Kagome, where are you going?" Sango asked, seeing her walk out of the school building.

"I've gotta go think for a bit. I'll be back soon...unless someone comes and arrests me. But that's not gonna happen" Kagome said shrugging.

"Uh...okay. I'll tell Miro you left"

"NO! It'll just be our secret okay? Even if he beats it out of you just you won't tell him where I went"

"Okay. I promise..."

End of Flashback

"I guess that all we can do is wait."

"Or we can go and look harder"

"And where do you suppose we look, oh wise leader?" Sango asked rolling her eyes.

"Simple. Go to the last person we saw her with"

"Kagome hasn't been to school in a few days... may I inquire about her session with ye before her absence?" Keade brought up out of the blue.

"Well...if she's not here at school...then she must be sick" Hoshiko lied.

"I know ye know where she is...now tell me"Keade said menacingly.

"These past four years have totally messed her up in the head...so I sent her on a little trip to find herself."

"Are ye mad! Why you ye give her permission to do such a foolish thing?"

"Well technically I didn't give her permission...I just knew what she would do afterwards. You didn't know her four years ago like I did...she's practically my baby sister...and seeing her like this...it just broke my heart. And I've also seen her powers as well. Before you can learn anything, you've got to get rid of your baggage...isn't that what you taught me?"

"Aye...ye would be correct...but don't let the staff know about this or heads will roll..." Keade warned her chuckling. Then suddenly Hoshiko got a shuddering sensation in her head. (Her spidey senses are tingling)

"What is wrong child?"

"Well I don't know about the staff knowing...but Jupiter and Mars just aligned...and so I know that there are three people coming who probably have found out by now...and aren't too happy about it..."

3...

2...

1...

And as of queue, all three students came bursting through the door.

"What did you do with Kagome!"

"Why does everybody come accusing me of having something to do with her skipping!" Hoshiko yelled in frustration.

"You were the last person with her"

"You're suppose to be her friends. You should know for a fact that when she doesn't want to deal with things she runs!"

"She is right...and Kagome can be very stubborn when she wants to. We'll never find her!"

"You're not suppose to. She'll come when she's ready...she's just got to find herself first"

"Then I guess I shouldn't be expecting her for class for the rest of the week"

"She shouldn't take that long. She left in a pretty good mood...I'm sure Jan will send her back in a few days..."

'Jan? I remember that name from somewhere...'

Flashback

"Yashie! I knew you'd come!" Kagome squealed, running up and jumping into his arms.

"Uh yeah well...you were running late so I decided to drag your ass back myself, so we could get on with what was suppose to be our rehearsal" he said regaining his composure.

"Well thank you anyway...I see you've already met Jan"

"Seems like a pretty nice guy too...you've sure got good taste Kags"

"Yeah well once you get used to his mouth I guess he grows on you...ready Yash?"

"Sure...but what about bail?"

"Hah! She's been in here so much it's like throwing money down the drain to pay all the bails she's needed to get out considering it's only a matter of time before she comes back"

End of Flashback

"What do you know about her and this Jan person?" Inuyasha asked out of the blue.

"Simple. She's with him" Hoshiko shot back smirking.

"And just where are we suppose to find him?"Sango demanded.

"You don't find him. She will come to you instead."

"Aye...the best thing for us to do is wait, and let her come to us..."

"Jan! I'm back...fire up the cell and d...don't let me out 'til I-hic-say so..." Kagome slurred walking into a prison cell and locking herself in. As soon as she sat on the bench she passed out.

"Is she drunk?" Jantiri asked incredulously.

"Not that I know of. I found her staggering through the city. When I passed her, she demanded to see you. And then jumped into the car, and so I drove her down. Oddly enough, she's got no signs of alcohol in her at all...but other than that, she shows all signs of being drunk"

"I''ll check her for you" a girl said walking over to Kagome. Minutes later she came back giggling.

"What's so funny" both Jantiri and the other officer asked in unison.

"These" she answered throwing down about a pound of little packets. Then the both broke out laughing.

"What are those?"

"Hand warmers" Jantiri said chucking.

"Hand warmers? But it's the middle of spring"

"Oh yeah...that's right. You never did meet wildfire did you?"

"That is the famous wildfire I've heard so much about?"

"Uh huh. She keeps us on our toes alright..."

"I'm guessing she probably used the hand warmers to take away the edge instead of getting alcohol"

I told ya. She's a good kid...just a little...odd..."

"I'll go reach her brother" the woman said walking away.

Kagome's POV

I woke up sometime later with a monster headache. My eyes were all burry and I could barely make out where I was...then the past two days came crashing back to me...I was with Hoshiko and she told me I needed to stop worrying about Koga and open up.

"Bout time you woke up...I was beginning to wonder if you were even still alive" I heard a voice say next to me.

"Who are you?"

"The name's Stanley...but you can call me Bullethead"

"Bullethead?"

"Yeah, because I've got a bullet...in my head"

"How did you survive?"

"I dunno I just...did"

"It must be really pleasant to know there's a piece of metal in your head..."I said sarcastically.

"Yeah I know...that's probably why this is the only prison within a five-mile radius with a metal detector instead of a camera...so let me guess, you're this Wildfire they're always talking about right?"

"How'd you know?"

"Because there's no other reason a girl like you would be in here" he answered carelessly.

"Shows how much you know"I scoffed.

"Compared to what others may believe, I do know a lot...because, you're just like me..."

"Oh? And how do you figure that?"

"Because, I can tell just by the way they talk about you. Like he said..."you're a really nice kid"...except you went too far and ended up doing something you didn't plan on doing, instead of trying to cool off..."

"And how do you know this?"

"That's the only reason people like us ever come back...because it becomes a refuge...it's the only place where we can honestly say we'll be safe. And this is the only place we can go, where we don't have to face the outside world...that's probably the reason you come back...isn't it?"

"That's none of your business"

"That means it's exactly it. See you and me, we're alike, we're probably both running away from something or someone that we don't want to face again...when I was your age I did something really bad...you see, my grandma was a real bitch right? Well she had just gone through a heart attack a few months ago and couldn't take too much stress...and she was pissed because I never talked to her, and so she always whined to my dad about how she didn't deserve it...but in truth I was being very lenient after what she put me and my mom through when I was a kid...and one day she got totally stressed out until she croaked..."

"That's terrible!" I gasped.

"Yeah, I guess. Well anyway, according to law technically I was the cause of her stress...and so here I am..."

"Why are you still here then? It was obviously an accident!" I asked interested. I didn't mean to get so engrossed in what he said, but I couldn't help it. I had nothing better to do anyway, who knows how long I'd be in here...probably until I got kicked out like last time...

"Yeah...well after "killing" the mother of 3, sisters of 7, aunts of 23 and grandmother of 9 do you think they'd be very warm to the murderer? This is my alternative home"

"But it was an accident, and you were family"

"Yeah, well obviously that wasn't enough...I wasn't on their good side anyway...some even testified against me. So now this is the only place I have left...and I actually like it better here. Besides it's not like I've got a home to go back to now. But you're lucky, you haven't screwed up as much as I have, and there's still hope for you. Don't turn out like me and choose to live here for the rest of your life. You've probably still got people who care and are waiting for you to come back. Believe me, you don't want to lose that. Because when you do...you've lost everything" he said staring blankly at the wall. His voice seemed saddened as he told me about himself. We sat in silence for the remainder of the time, he sounded like he had fallen asleep, leaving me to contemplate over what he had just said.

I laid down on the other bunk and stared up at the gray bricked ceiling above me, thinking...just thinking about my like in general, and processing what Bullethead had said, into my life and current "problems". Compared to what he had been through so far, I was just one step away from making the same mistake as Bullethead but I still had a chance to change like Hoshiko had said, I could either forget about what happened and move on...or dwell on it and soon let my anger take over me...and so as I fell asleep, I finally decided to forget all about Koga and move on...

'Tomorrow's gonna be a new day..'

Ta da! I decided to end it here because if I didn't it would be way too long. But fear not, the best is yet to come! This next chapter is like the first thing I thought of when I thought of this story. I will be sure to take a lot of time to do it just for my own pleasure...unfortunately for me, I will now be compelled to type with gloves on in my own house because that's how damn cold it gets up here...why can't it just snow so my idiot parents can get the hint to buy winter clothes? Just because it has snowedand meltedonce doesn't mean your kids can still wear summer clothes! Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go put the usual 3 blankets on top of my bed so I can get to sleep...