Inutori: Hey, minna-san!
Sagi: We're back with another chapter!
Inutori: I don't own Inuyasha, but I do own Inutora and after reading an older story I had written, feel inspired to continue with this one. I think this is almost over, but I'm just going to have to wait and see…and so will all of you…
Kagome: Enjoy the story, and please review once you're done reading!

Chapter 19
Young and Bold

A yawn escaped Inuyasha's lips as he slumped further into the passenger seat. Only a few more minutes until they reached the city, but it was fairly pointless now. The sun had set a while ago and their dinners had been planned for over an hour and a half earlier.

Kagome seemed just as out of it as himself, and he was surprised they hadn't veered off of the narrow road already. The silence clung to the vehicle and stuffed his head with opaque clouds. There wasn't even the droning sound of a radio to keep the car in a more pleasurable atmosphere.

Inuyasha sighed and looked miserably out the window. It was a Friday night, so luckily he wouldn't have to deal with civilization for at least a few days. Lights zipped by the window, replaced by new lights that would follow their predecessors.

He felt the car slow, and realized that they must be getting off of the highway. To amuse himself, he watched the streets go by and tested how well he knew the area by predicting which one would come next. It was pretty easy considering most were 17th street or 23rd street or something. Every once in awhile a street would pop up that didn't follow the pattern of increasing numbers, but they were many blocks separating those roads.

Before he realized it, Kagome was pulling into the parking lot of his apartment complex and parking just in front of the steps that led up to his room.

"Goodnight, Inuyasha." Her words shattered the silence suddenly, and Inuyasha jumped slightly in surprise.

"G'night, 'Gome." He was so tired and out of it. That boring drive back into the city had drained his senses of any feeling of being awake.

It was a Friday two and a half weeks into the spring semester and already he was drained of all energy. Maybe it had to do with the sudden transformation that he had undergone just a little while ago. But he was already a junior, so maybe he could get away with slacking off somewhat.

"You okay, Inuyasha?" The concern in her voice was so obvious, but Inuyasha was too tired to care if someone pitied him or not. Her car turned off and Kagome looked over at him with bright blue eyes.

That's when he realized he still hadn't moved from the passenger seat. Inuyasha groaned and unbuckled, sluggishly dragging himself out of the car. Kagome followed suit, rushing to his side of the car and putting his arm over her shoulders for support.

"What's wrong?"

He didn't answer, just mumbling to himself about needing sleep. Kagome guided him up the stairs and fished in his coat pockets to find his key. Unfortunately, there wasn't one. Inuyasha could have told her that, but his lack of energy made him uncaring about the minor details.

She led him back down the stairs and towards her car and he wasn't sure what she was planning.

A cold cloth was placed on his forehead, making Inuyasha jump. His eyes shot open and he was met with a small room. He was lying on a bed with Kagome hovering over him, her eyes catching the light gently.

"You're awake." She seemed relieved, and Inuyasha had to look at her curiously. What was so great about him being awake? He hadn't gone to sleep yet.

"What are you talking about, wench?"

The sigh that escaped her small mouth told him that she was either annoyed or tired. "You've been just lying there for the last two days."

He jerked to a sitting position and regretted it instantly. "Nani?" They had just been at his apartment, what was this all about?

"You blacked out on me, so I brought you to my place. You've just been lying there for the last two days, as I already told you." She was annoyed, but the bags decorating the base of both of her eyes told a silent tale of something deeper.

Inuyasha laid back down, a quick breeze of air whizzing out of his own mouth. He realized his head was pounding and that his sight was a little hazy. "What's wrong with me?" The words left him before he could stop them, and he quickly regretted it for fear that it made him sound weak.

"I think that it has something to do with your suddenly gaining your hanyou appearance and full abilities."

He looked up at Kagome, who sat down lightly on the bed where he was lying. The poor lighting made her look like some foreign enchantress that had come to please him. Inuyasha turned bright red and turned away from her, trying to rid his head of the images that had just popped into it.

"Are you okay?" Kagome leaned over him and looked intently into his eyes. The concern there couldn't be mistaken.

Her lips were so full and they looked soft. He could just grab her and kiss her if he wanted to, and man did he want to. But why?

"Inuyasha?" She leaned in closer to him, her arm reaching over him to support herself to stay hovering above him.

Why did she have to do that? Inuyasha tried to avoid looking into her eyes, but only ended up staring at her lips. He found himself licking his own lips with some sort of unexplainable anticipation.

She was one of his professors. Wasn't she like ten years his senior? No, that wasn't right. Miroku had already proven that she was only about to turn twenty-one in two weeks…that was two weeks ago. Over two weeks ago, actually.

He had blacked out on her birthday! His eyes widened in guilty realization and he looked right into Kagome's eyes. Those eyes were his downfall.

Sango lazily dragged her boomerang out of the back of Miroku's car, grumbling about having had to spend the weekend out in the boonies with the pervert. The stupid guy had let his car break down and they had to wait nearly twelve hours for a tow truck to come retrieve him.

She would swear that this had been her worst weekend ever. Grumbling, she trudged up to her dorm room, freezing just before she grabbed for her key. Her head slowly turned to look back at Miroku and saw him just standing there, leaning against the wall next to her.

He. Knew. Where. She. Lived.

Like a deer caught in headlights, she didn't know what to do. Trying to act calm, Sango passed her own door and went on to the next one. Still improvising, she knocked on the door.

Miroku gave her a curious look, still watching her. "I forgot my key."

"You didn't even try looking for it." He seemed very confused with her actions, and she just cracked a smile, attempting to act normal.

Her neighbor opened his door and she realized her mistake. "What's up, San-girl?"

"Chris, let me in." She may as well act like this really was her roommate. Glancing over at Miroku, she saw an unreadable expression on his face.

Chris was also giving her a strange look, silently asking her what was going on. She returned the look with one that said "I'll explain later."

Sango shoved past her neighbor into his room and dumped her bags, popping back into the hall to get rid of Miroku. But he was already gone when she looked. Weird.

"What's the deal, Sango?"

She turned back to Chris with an apologetic smile. "I didn't want that guy to know which room I was in, and I almost goofed. I had to do something."

"Ya know, I think you might have given the poor guy the wrong impression. He looked pretty broken up about me answering the door." The expression on Chris's face told her that she should feel guilty. "Not that I mind helping out a friend, but I don't like shooting down other guys' hopes."

Sango scolded herself. She had forgotten that Chris's girlfriend had just totally ditched him and told him that she had just wanted his money and whatnot. From what she had heard it had been pretty harsh. Saying what she had probably upset him.

Not wanting to stuff her foot into her mouth further, Sango gave Chris one last apology for intruding on him and picked up her stuff to go to her own room.

Once in her room, she looked out the window down to the parking lot. Miroku was still there. His trunk was open and he was throwing random objects out of it. Things were flying everywhere and he didn't seem to care.

It was almost just as strange as his disappearing from the hall a few minutes ago.

Someone else joined him outside but Sango couldn't make out from this distance who it was. From the body shape it was obviously a guy.

They started talking, and Sango desperately wanted to know what it was about. The two guys started picking up all of the things Miroku had thrown around, still talking. She saw Miroku nod every once in awhile. Sango hated this feeling of not knowing what was being talked about.

Giving up on trying to lip read from her third story window, Sango sunk into her bed and looked up at the ceiling. She placed her hand on her stomach, feeling the bandages through her shirt.

"Have to go to the doctor tomorrow." Sango reminded herself out loud about getting her bandages changed. She took in a deep breath, remembering her last moments with her family.

Kohaku was eighteen. He was going to graduate from High School this year if he hadn't been killed. Sango closed her eyes and tried to picture him smiling. All she could see was his tear and blood-streaked face staring at her with horror.

A lump formed in her throat and she felt the tears building in her eyes. She sat up and looked around her cramped dorm. Sango's strangled cry filled each corner of the room, and she was grateful that she was alone.

She stood up fully wiping her eyes quickly and checking her appearance in the mirror. Holding her head high, she walked out of her room, making sure to lock the door before she left.

Her feet lead her down the three stories of stairs, out the front door, through the parking lot, along the sidewalk, through campus and up the lengthy steps of the shrine.

At the top she let out a sigh and looked around. Not many people were there, surprising considering that it was a Sunday afternoon. She started wandering, stopping by the different buildings to take it all in.

The air here was calming, to which she was extremely grateful. Why did life have to be so stinkin' hard? With a groan she stopped below one of the sakura trees looking into the blossoms hoping for an answer.

Of course, they didn't give her one, as could have been expected.

"Why are you crying?"

Sango turned around, but found no one there. Was she hearing things now?

"I'm up here."

She looked up into the branches of the tree she had been looking at before, suddenly noticing the dark figure surrounded by the light pink blossoms. "Who're you?"

The person jumped down to stand next to Sango, and she saw then that this other person was another girl. "The name's Inutori. So what is so bad that you're crying?"

"I'm thinking about things."

She felt a tug on her mind and then the girl called Inutori nodded. "Oh. I'm sorry."

"It isn't your fault." Sango just let the words slip from her mouth as she sat down in the soft grass at the base of the old tree.

"I know, but still. I know what it's like to lose family."

"Excuse me?" Sango's head jerked up. When had she told this girl about what had happened?

The girl's eyes widened, as if realizing she had let something slip that she hadn't meant to. "I'm just saying I know what it's like to be depressed, ya know?" Sango could tell from the look in the girl's golden eyes that she was begging Sango to accept her cover up.

Sango decided to let it go for now, since she was emotionally unstable at the moment.

"Let me just give you a bit of friendly advice: they'd want you to be happy."

The taijiya looked up to question the girl, but she was gone. Why was everyone doing that to her lately? With a sigh she leaned back up against the tree and closed her eyes.

I
Do
Not
Sleep

Inutori: Kind of short, but I figured some is better than none, ne?
Kagome: Yeah, but why is Inuyasha so OC in this chapter?
Inutori: I'm trying to fix this story from being so stupidly…well…stupid.
Inuyasha: Keh, you'll never succeed.
Inutori: I'm sorry that this story has previously veered off of its original course. I'm pretty disgusted with myself for doing that. Seeing as how there wasn't really a point. Now I'm going to try and put this story back on the right track (the one it was originally supposed to follow.)
Kagome: I thought you said this story was almost over?
Inutori: It is, I just wanted to end it on a better note. For all of you readers: there should only be another five or six chapters after this. So you can expect it to come to a closing sometime before a Chapter 26. This has been dragging on for far too long.