I die inside when I think of you

- The running of thoughts

   Thank you, thank you, thank you to those few of you that reviewed my story… dang, three chapters in one day… I really don't have anything to do over my vacation do I? hmmm… my Microsoft word program is saying that grammatically, the "I" at the end of the previous sentence should be "me". Hmm… "do me." *snort* sorry… *grin* well, I've given this a pg-13 or higher rating after all!

   Poor Kagome, she's all down in the dumps, doesn't know what to do! On to the story! (I'm hyper at this time… can you tell??? Yep, yep, yep, cookies can do that to a person!)

   It should also be noted that I'm upping the ante so-to-speak on the ages of the characters… I'm not sure of the correct ages anyway seeing as I haven't watched much of the story – which isn't complete yet to begin with. I'm just more comfortable putting characters my age or higher in uncomfortable situations rather than fourteen/fifteen year olds (no offense to those in that age range. I just write what I know). Some elements may be a bit construed to fit my story, though I'm going to remain true to character personas as much as possible. I also decided that I'm gonna make this into a sort of drama/epic type story as well, though the main theme is going to remain centered around frustrated, angsty romance that turns out well in the end. It will remain Inuyasha/Kagome oriented… I'm just not into alternant pairings – I'm too much of an avid book reader/fan. Also, if you have any ideas as to funny things that could happen in a scene between Inuyasha, Kagome, and Hojo put together, please lend me an ear… I have this idea turning around in my head that won't leave me alone… and I find myself a bit lost when it comes to humor which is an integral part of the Inuyasha universe! (I also don't know how to spell Fonzee from Happy Days' name! aiiiiiieeeecha!) Ah well, on to the story!

   I do not own Inuyasha… though I do wish I had him at the end of a chain right now… eh-hmm… *cough**cough*

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   Kagome forced herself to dry her tears before entering the girl's locker room. She was already berating herself for her earlier outburst. After all, she had sworn not to involve anyone in her problems, hadn't she?

   Around the corner, Hojo was quickening his pace, hoping to catch the raven haired beauty before she made it into the locker room. He never had a chance to talk to her one-on-one after gym class started; her horde of clucking hens always surrounded her, waiting for every opportunity to pounce on both of them. Hojo supposed he should be flattered that they felt it necessary to call a war council every time he attempted to ask Kagome out to dinner or a movie, but admittedly, it was often frustrating and, from Hojo's opinion anyway, pointless and not really any of their business.

   But just as he rounded the corner, he was forced to stop at the site of a large yellow backpack disappearing through the red painted door that labeled the girl's locker room. Sighing in frustration, Hojo turned, disappearing in turn through the next door painted, not surprisingly, blue.

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  Dressed in uncomfortably short, red shorts and a big white sweatshirt, Kagome leaned back against the cold, chain link fence that surrounded the concrete slab at the back of the school. She watched the hordes of high schoolers cavorting around it apathetically, looking upon them with a mind's eye that seemed to be in some dimension just this side of reality. It was only dimly that she noticed the uncomfortable tilt her head made due to her ponytail obscuring direct, flat contact with the chain link, was barely conscience of the pinch given by her worn tennis shoes.

   They seem so… oblivious. So unaware…

   The familiar twinge down her spine noted the close passage of a demon. Kagome looked up and past the grounds to the distant sidewalk where a man in a sports jacket walked through the early throng of errand runners, a modest briefcase clutched under his arm. His glance pinned hers even from that distance, feeling her silent scrutiny, nodding once as in surprised greeting or to say, 'I'm aware of you, I'm aware you seem to wish me no harm.' And Kagome nodded back saying, 'yes, I know what you are and I mean you no ill will as of this moment.'

   This silent exchange only served to compliment her current train of thought. Demons, however currently subdued, moved among and through these people and they had no knowledge what-so-ever of it.

   Just as Kagome began to run along that vein of philosophy, another presence made itself known to her. She felt a small frown begin to tug at the corners of her mouth, but fought it down. Hojo was a nice boy, however ignorant. He didn't deserve the cold shoulder or her rudeness.

   Forcing a smile to her face, she turned to look up at him.

   "Hello Hojo!" Kagome almost gagged when she heard the sickingly sweet tone that emitted from her throat.

   'God, do I really sound that bad?! No wonder Sota can never stand listening to me talk on the phone!'

   Hojo grinned with pleasure, thankful that for once it was she that called out to him and not the other way around. He leaned against the fence beside her, arms crossed haphazardly and his head tilted slightly to the side.

   "How ya' doin' Kagome?" he ventured, hoping he hadn't botched the smooth, sexy-type voice he was attempting to put into use. Kagome's friends had told him she liked to be wooed. He chuckled a bit. Even if he considered her friends a nuisance they still had their uses!

   "Not too shabby," the miko offered as a gesture of peace, rather than her usual, clipped "fine". It was more a peace offering to herself and her own guilt for wishing Hojo would leave her be.

   "That's great to hear! I was worried that you-" here he reached out with a bent finger to chuck her gently under the chin – missed slightly on the first pass and just clipped it before correcting his trajectory and chucking a bit too hard, "were going to be out for another week like last time! Hope it wasn't anything too painful this time!"

   "No, nothing like that…" was her wry response. She knew her face must have been a strange mix of incredulity and humorous astonishment, but also knew she could do nothing to change its expression. Every time Hojo attempted a relationship with her, he tried some new tactic, each one possibly as different as night and day from its predecessors. One time, he had even tried to dress in a leather jacket with his hair slicked back and ask her out Fonzee style.

   It was amusing to Kagome really, the way he tried to act all suave and debonair when he was actually a rather goofy, awkward kid - even if he did live alone. He seemed like a puppet hindered by strings, knowing what to do, yet unable to convince his body to work with him. He was nothing like Inuyasha, who's fluid, eloquent body movement served him well in the normal passage of time as well as it served him in battle. She couldn't imagine him ever appearing awkward – except for the few times she'd caught him off guard and he'd back away swiftly, a light blush flooding his visage. Even in his anger she could tell his seemingly unplanned explosions were well controlled; he moved within the flames of his fury, molding and shaping it to his will, rather than letting it shape him. It was a part of his demon side she supposed, a thing that mildly frightened her occasionally. Not that he realized it. Sometimes she couldn't understand why he never realized just how much like Sesshoumaru he really was. Or perhaps he understood and wished to hide the knowledge, hiding behind the wall of spontaneous outburst (not that she believed his puppy-like ignorance when it came to dealing with strange humans was a front!)

   …and when she thought of Inuyasha standing before her, attempting the same thing as Hojo, it was easy to picture him doing everything right, right down to the sexy, seductive expression partly shaded by feathery bangs… to feel his presence as he moved slowly closer, murmuring softly as he inquired about her health… reaching with a delicately clawed hand to brush her ponytail back over her shoulder, his nail tips trailing goose bumps along her neck…

   "Ow!" she exclaimed, jolted from her thoughts. Hojo had accidentally thumped the large bruise on her neck – also acquired from her run in with the boar demon - in his attempt to move her ponytail… wait a minute… Hojo had been moving her ponytail???

   Kagome felt her face flush a million shades of red as well as her neck and the skin beneath her shirt, when she realized she'd been imposing Inuyasha's image over that of Hojo's clumsy antics.

   'I really need to not let my thoughts run away from me like that! I mean, I almost, I mean I was, I mean… INUYASHA!!!'

   Poor Hojo looked as if he'd been mugged, so startled he had been by Kagome's outcry!

   "Ka-kagome? What's the matter? Is it your back again???"

   "Wha-what?" Kagome forced her speeding mind to slow down, urging herself to berate her wild imagination later. She wasn't fully successful though, as her voice was still a bit shaky and her eyes were as wide around as a cat's under a dark sky.
   "What are you saying?"

   "Your back! Is your back hurt again?"

   Kagome could only stare without comprehension – she had become a bit too good at forcing her mind to clear – it had cleared so well, she couldn't get it moving again!

   Hojo leaned in closer, hands outreached in concern, wondering why Kagome had screeched and was currently hyperventilating with her body pressed full force against the chain link fence. Another hand, belonging to someone unknown, reached out to block his further advance though. He was forced to back up, blinking, when it was put in front of his face as if he was a car heading into oncoming traffic – which, in a way, he kind of was.

   "Wha?"

   "Whoa, easy tiger; let the lady have some room."

   Hojo followed the path the hand made, all the way up the slim, obviously feminine arm, to the unfamiliar face of a girl that appeared to be about seventeen or eighteen. She wore the same, regulation red shorts as the rest of the girl's gym class, but where Kagome wore a large, white sweatshirt as if to compensate for the amount of skin the shorts revealed, this female wore a white tank top that showed a slim band of midriff. Hojo found himself staring at her pierced bellybutton that sported a simple, silver stud.

   "Ah, never seen one of these before, huh? Girls at this school don't usually wear such things, do they? Well, sorry to spoil your fun, sweetheart, but my face is up here." She motioned as if cajoling a baby to perform a trick, directing Hojo's attention to a pale, heart-shaped face framed by razor cut, mahogany hair. Small, slightly pointed ears were pierced with three silver studs of ordered size in the left, and a loop and ruby gemstone in the right. Her lips were painted a shade just a bit lighter than black cherry. Her eyes were rimmed, darkly but elegantly, with black eyeliner blended smoothly with the rest of her makeup so as not to appear stark and unnatural.

   Kagome's gaze blinked back and forth between the two, her mind slowly starting to register things again.

   "So what were you doin' before you scared her half to death?" the girl asked with a knowing grin. Hojo just continued to stare silently at the site she made, his mouth open much like a fish's.

   "Ah, I know… you were gonna ask her out weren't you?"

   "Uh… y-yes." Hojo stammered. Who was this wild girl? (AN: my original character! *cheer*)

   "Well, from her reaction I don't think you came off the right way. How about next time, you try not to hurt the poor thing? I think you'd find you get a more pleasing reaction.

   Well? Hurry along now. I think your answer's no."

   Still unable to think of anything coherent to say to this strange creature, Hojo just nodded and began to back away. He could always ask Kagome out again later, when this girl wasn't around.

   Kagome fought through her haze and reached out a hand to grasp Hojo's sleeve.

   "No! I'll go."

   The girl's eyes widened in surprise before she gave an odd grin and shook her head as if unable to understand Kagome's action.

   "Great! I'll pick you up at five this Saturday!" and with that, he hurried off, back to the boys' side of the slab.

   "What'd you do that for?" the girl inquired. "It seemed to me as if you were thinking he was hellfire and damnation incarnate!"

   Kagome shook her head, wondering why she had consigned herself to another evening of Hojo's mindless chatter; no matter she felt she owed him for standing him up a few weeks before.

   "I owe him." Was her simple reply to the girl's question. Her head had finally cleared and she looked at the new girl with not a bit of curiosity.

   "Are you new?"

   "Yep!" the girl sat down, her back to the chain link, motioning for Kagome to do the same. "Just got in from America three days ago."

   Complying with the girl's motions, Kagome's mood brightened suddenly at the notion of having the chance to give someone a tour of the town.

   "You speak the language here really well!"

   "Thank you. I've been studying other languages – particularly this one because I adore anime and video games-" at this Kagome grinned broadly – "for a few years now. I've never really had the chance to use it much around native speakers though."

   "You do very well. You're a foreign exchange student then?"

   The girl cocked her head to the side slightly, a small grin lightening her features.

   "Of a sorts. I was adopted recently, you see by a nice married couple a few weeks ago. They were in the states visiting relatives who worked with my Home. That's how they met me."

   Kagome was surprised.

   "But isn't that unusual? American children being placed in non-American homes?"

   The girl put a finger to the side of her jaw.

   "Ah, but I was a special case, you see? The orphanage I was in when I was little tried to put me in many homes, but for some reason I never took to the families. Around the age of five they gave up, and since then, I'd been carted around to all sorts of various Catholic schools. I've basically been raised by nuns!" she laughed, a brilliant, reverberating chuckle that warmed Kagome's mood. In a lot of ways she reminded Kagome of Sango, if not in personality or look, but by the sort of innate attractiveness she possessed. She was an affable person – Kagome's instinct was that she's get along very well with this girl.

   Kagome laughed to, imagining the punk-rockish girl surrounded by nuns teaching her to sit up straight, to count to ten, or reminding her to pick up after herself.

   "What allowed a Japanese family to adopt you though?"

   "Nothing else had worked, the government was getting tired of supporting me when I was so close to legal age of adult anyway – I'm sixteen by the way…"

   "Really? I'm seventeen. That's awesome… you look older!"

   The girl laughed again.

   "I get that a lot, believe it or not.

   Anyway, my new parents were willing, supported sufficiently financially, close to each other, raised in married homes… so they asked me what I thought, I said, "sure, why not?" and they said alright and that they didn't see any problem this time with adopting out of the country." She flung her hands out wide and shrugged, "So here I am!"

   "Wow, that's really amazing! Do you wanna come over after school today and I can show you around? Would your parents mind?" Kagome was really excited now. It was the first day in weeks that she had forgotten, at least for the time being, her depression and she saw nothing artificial in this strange young woman, nothing false or fabricated like in her other schoolmates.

   The girl thought for a moment.

   "I don't see why not. They told me I pretty much had free roam as long as I informed them first of my plans and made sure they didn't mind. They even said I might have a few people wanting to hang out with me, seeing as this town doesn't get that many strangers."

   The bell for next period began to ring out across the grounds then. Both girls stood up, ignoring the glares the coach was sending them for their lack of activity throughout the class.

   "Alright, that's great! Meet me outside the gates after school then… my house isn't that much of a walk from here… in fact, no one's really is!"

   The girl nodded beginning to back away so she could collect the bag she had brought out with her from where she had left it before.

   "No problem. Looking forward to it. Later!" she called as she started to join the crowd massing back into the school.

   "Wait!" Kagome called. "My name is Kagome! Yours?"

   The strange girl smiled genially and called back over her shoulder.

   "Call me Reena."

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   Well, there you have it. Damn, I wrote a long chapter this time. Reading it, it doesn't seem so, but considering how long it takes to type these things up… whew! I haven't written that long in a while… not since the love scene in my vampire book! Lol!

   Thank you once again to those of you that reviewed… I feel so loved! I even got placed on Panny-chan's favorites list! Do you really like my story enough to want to finish it? *cheer* *weep*

   Well, I g2g now… *yawn* so sleepy… gotta go curl up with Inu- uh, I mean, a nice warm pillow! (Well, I suppose both could be considered as warm and fluffy!) bu-byes!

--Sylph