A/N: Weird chapter. I'm really losing it… O__o Feh, when inspiration dawns upon me, I'll try to touch it up. I know my chapters are pretty short. I can always combine two chapters into one, I guess, but then updates will take even longer~~~~ +

Disclaimer: (sigh) What a shame that I'm not the one who created Inuyasha, or else I'd be earning big bucks right now……..

Chapter 3

They walked down the street without speaking a word to each other. Inuyasha was leading in the front. Kagome trod behind him, twiddling her fingers because she felt a bit uncomfortable about this suffocating silence. She wanted to break it, but didn't know how and dared not to. What exactly was she supposed to say if Inuyasha ask her what had happened in the alley? Would he believe her if she tells him the truth? Or would he think her deluded? Yet…he might not ask her anything at all, like he'd done up until now.

Her right hand unconsciously travelled to the handkerchief tied on her upper left arm. Her gaze rested on Inuyasha's back for an instant before moving away, soft brown eyes turning thoughtful.

Even though they were in the same class, she felt that she hardly knew Inuyasha at all. Her impression of him was that he was crude, loud, and didn't give a damn about what others thought of him. And he was the best friend of that lecher Miroku, which probably revealed a lot about him judging from the company he kept.

To her, he was like one of those few individuals in class that one would never really talk to all the way through high school to graduation, and left locked up in distant memory as each went his or her own way.

Their paths had never crossed before.

She had thought that they never would.

"Um…hello Inuyasha," she said a bit uncertainly, taking a step back away from him.

"Kagome." He said. He stared at her.

Kagome fidgeted. She felt awkward under Inuyasha's intense gaze. Should she say something, even attempt to explain what she was doing in the alley?

"You're hurt." He stated, eyes locked on the redness seeping through her green and white school uniform.

"Oh." She looked down to see that the cut on her left arm had reopened. She fumbled around her pockets for her handkerchief, but couldn't find it. Drat, I must have dropped it somewhere.

"Let me." A strong hand grabbed her arm and tied a blue handkerchief over her wound skillfully.

She was taken by surprise and could only look up at him with wide eyes. "Inuyasha?"

The young man didn't respond immediately. Instead, he took over Kagome's bag and started heading down the street. "Come on, I'll walk you home."

Kagome, touched yet confused at the same time, could only follow his lead.

"Well?" A slightly irritated voice asked, waking Kagome from her trance.

"Well?" She started twiddling her fingers again.

"Aren't you going to tell me what happened to you? I figured that I should wait a bit for you to calm down. Now can you tell me who roughed you up? And what were you doing jumping up and down like a rabid monkey back there?" He had now turned around to face her, waiting expectantly and crossing his arms in a "spill-it" pose, although that proved quite difficult considering the numerous bags he had in hand.

"Rabid monkey!? How dare you! I was fighting for my dear life back there and all you can say is that I looked like a rabid monkey??" Kagome cried out incredulously, temper flaring up. "For your information, monkeys cannot be rabid. At least I think not."

"Who the hell cares whether if monkeys are rabid or not?" It was Inuyasha's turn to yell. Then he gaped at her. "Fighting for your life? I didn't see any bloody being out there that you were fighting with. There were only you moving around doing all those karate stuff."

Kagome was annoyed. "That was because…" She shut her mouth abruptly.

"Because?" Inuyasha raised an eyebrow.

"Because nothing." Kagome snapped.

"Damn it, woman! Just say it!" He glared at her.

"Why should I?" She glared back.

'Because I say so."

"Well, screw you then." She wretched her bag from his hand and ran the direction of home.

Footsteps echoed behind her. She looked back to see Inuyasha persistently following her, still carrying the grocery bags while running.

"What's your problem?" She yelled, not even bothering to slow down to talk to him face to face.

"What's your problem?" He called back.

"My problem is you!" She thought she would go mad. What on earth was wrong with him, to keep on following her like that?

"I said I would walk you home!" Came the reply.

"You needn't bother. I'm really not worth your time," she commented dryly.

"Well, too bad. I say you are." He trotted behind her.

A shrine came into view after they climbed the muscle-killing steps. They were both panting and sweating profusely, ready to collapse any moment.

Kagome felt that she would either faint from fatigue or die with a burst heart. How she longed for a hot shower and her soft fluffy bed after a day's toil. She really wasn't up to dealing with that pesky Inuyasha at the moment. However nice and thoughtful he had seemed when he treated her wound before, he was now a source of annoyance with his demand to know what had happened to her.

Didn't he know not to pry into a woman's secret? He really was too pigheaded.

Eyeing him somewhat wearily, the ebony-haired young woman spoke. "Okay, now that you've seen me safely home, you can leave."

"Your family keeps a shrine?" He looked amazed.

"Yeah, we do. You can come here and pray if you want. Make some donations to God. Maybe he'll feel merciful and give you a brain."

"What was that?" Inuyasha's eyes narrowed. "You don't have to bite me every chance you get, you know. You may think me nosy, but I only want to know what happened!"

"Curiosity can kill a cat," she sighed in defeat.

"The thing is, I'm not a cat, so I won't be killed." He smirked.

"All right, if you really want to know, I'll tell you. Nobody assaulted me technically. I was…um… I was only practising my karate moves and I tripped a couple of times. It's embarrassing to let others know that." She dared not look at him, for she knew her eyes would definitely betray her. She was never good at this kind of thing.

"That's a downright lie," he growled. It seemed that he didn't even need to look at her in the eye in order to tell that she was lying. Either she was extremely terrible at it or that the silver-haired young man was smarter than the girl took him for.

"Well, lies are all you're gonna hear from me." She lifted her chin defiantly and looked challengingly at him. Suddenly, she turned and ran towards her house without even a backward glance.

Inuyasha, stupefied, could only stare open-mouthed at Kagome's receding silhouette in the setting sun.

A/N: Oh~~thanx to all those who read and review my stories. ^___^ I really appreciate that. Yes, tesuo, I know my ending in the other story is a bit...farfetched. -__-" I'll try to improve on my writing skills and story structure (wow! lotta work!)

Awww~~~ Cheery Wolf and Queeney~~~ don't cry~~ (hug you guys. You look at me with horror before fleeing). Ooooooops, I suppose. ^0