(AN) Hi loyal, (and not so loyal,) readers! You know what's really annoying? I typed almost three pages of this chapter and then when I got off it didn't save, despite that I had saved it. Bummer, ne? To soothe my sorrows and hurt my brain, I wrote a song!

Readers: Meep! 0.0

Here's my song! It's to the tune of 'My Bonnie.' Enjoy!
:window breaks before she can even start:

My coat has been branded by winter.

Mud stripes across the wrists.

The equines just watching and laughing,

while I clean up their sh!t.

Clean up, clean up, while I clean up their sh!t, their sh!t!

Clean up, clean up, while I clean up their sh!t.

:car crashes:

Wasn't it beautiful?

Readers: O.O Double meep! :hide under a table.:

I blame my pets.

Review Replies:

Goddess of life and Death: Neat name. Thanks for the review!

SilverGriffen:: Geez, another awesome name! Thanks for the review!

Captain: Congrats on being my first anonymous reviewer! Oh, wait. Should I just call you anonymus? :confetti is thrown into the air: Thanks so much for your review and compliments!

Okay, onto the story!

...Oh, the questions were answered too. I'm writing it as slow as a fish in the desert.

Last chapter:

What's happening to me? Is this really me? Or is it just an act?

Will I ever know?

This chapter:

"Good morning everybody! It's really getting nasty out there, so back your umbrella! It-"

My hand dropped down on the alarm clock-radio, stopping its infernal noise. I dragged my lazy body into a sitting position and yawned, stretching my arms and narrowly missing one of my sleeping roommates heads.

It had been almost a month now since I had come to the orphanage. In that time, almost all my bruises had healed. The ones one my stomach, where him and Snake had punched me the most, had yet to heal. I was starting to believe they would never heal and would stay forever as a reminder of my horrible childhood.

Hmn, as if I could ever forget.

Quietly, I gathered my clothes for today and all my bath stuff. I walked out the door, my slippers making gently padded sounds as they hit the hard wood floor. When I reached the orphanages private bathhouse, I stuck my head passed the curtain serving as a doorway.

Empty. Thank god.

Do you know how hard it is to take a bath in a male bath when you're a girl and not supposed to be there?

No?

I thought so.

I slipped off my clothes and sat on one of the many stools. I fingered my now short hair. Although a month had past, I still hadn't gotten used to it. Sighing, I let my hand drop to my side and began shampooing my hair. I grabbed a bucket of cold water and dumped it on my head. The soapy water ran down my back as a dumped another bucket of water over my head. Assured that all the shampoo was gone, I stepped into the bath, relishing the feeling as the warm water engulfed my body.

I leaned my head back, my neck touching the cold stone. I breathed in, sweet smelling steam filling my nose.

"So, where do you think Kagome went? Almost ever morning when we wake up, he's already gone. I'm always almost sure that he's in the baths, but when we come here, he's gone. Don't you find that odd?"

My eyes snapped open. It was Miroku! I quickly jumped out of the bath, almost slipping on the wet tile.

"Maybe he just hates your goddamn happiness and is avoiding you." Inuyasha's grumpy voice showed that he was not a happy camper on yet another morning.

I heard the sliding of clothes and quickly hid behind a conveniently placed cabinet. I quickly got dressed and grabbed my bathing supplies. The curtain to the baths opened and I heard people walk into the room. The padding of the feet I heard convinced me it was just the two of them. Once I knew that both their backs were turned, I quickly and quietly ran out of the room.

I ran into our room and practically slammed the door shut, barely remembering that other people did live here. Thanking the gods that most people sleep past 6:30 on Sundays, I took out my bandages. Ever since the second day I was here and some people started staring at me I've bound my breasts. I hadn't had time to in my rush to get out of the bath, so I was extremely happy that both of them were taking baths now.

When I had finished, I went downstairs to the cafeteria. I got in line, grabbed a tray, and was served something that might have been oatmeal in a past life. Grimacing, I sat down and began to eat.

Someone put their tray next to me. I expected it to be Miroku, Inuyasha, or maybe even Shippo, but I was greeted by someone I had only seen twice, hanging around with his gang.

Let me explain one thing. At this orphanage, there are gangs as there are clichés in, say, Junior High. Instead of being things like "jocks", "geeks", "cheerleaders" and whatnot, there were three major gangs. Ookami, Inu, and Aku. I knew that this person next to me was the leader of Ookami, Inuyasha was the leader of Inu, and a person that Inuyasha and Miroku seemed to hate with passion, Naraku, was the leader of Aku.

Anyway, back to reality. While I was blabbing, the person had introduced himself and was staring at me like I was an idiot.

"What?" I said gruffly. I 'm not a big fan of being stared at.

"I said my name is Kouga. What's yours?"

"Kagome," I replied. His name sounded vaguely familiar.

He stuck his face right near my own.

"You look really familiar. What school did you go to?" He continued looking at me.

Shit! I went to school with him! Kouga Ookami was one of the most popular kids in school. How the hell did he end up here? Hopefully he never really paid attention to me, as I was so distant.

"You look a lot like that chick that Ayumi always hung out with."

At this sentence, I cracked. I had been managing to keep myself somewhat together, but that was no more.

Standing up, I knocked my knee on the table and ran out of the room.

"Wait! Did I offend you?" Kouga started running after me. I continued running until I bumped into someone, activating Newton's law.

I looked up, hoping that it was someone I knew.

"What the hell are you running from?"

Thank you, Kami! I had run into Inuyasha! Before I could answer his question, Kouga caught up to me. I thought he was way behind me, but had somehow gotten to me in record time.

"Hey, what did I say? I was just-" He stopped in the middle of his sentence, narrowing his eyes at Inuyasha, who stepped in front of me, blocking me from Kouga's view.

"We meet again Dog Breath," he said, glaring at him, his voice full of malice.

"Same to you, Wimpy Wolf," Inuyasha replied, his voice equally full of malice.

I looked back and forth between the two glaring guys. I knew that there was a feud going on between the two gangs, but they seemed ready to kick the living daylights out of each other.

"Inuyasha!"

Miroku came running down the hall, surpassingly not out of breath. He stood next to Inuyasha.

"What do you want, Kouga?" He said, his voice ringing with suspicion.

"Kouga! Wait for us!" Two people came running down the hall. I had never seen them before. One had a silver mohawk and the other had whitish/grayish hair. They both were about the same age as Inuyasha and Miroku it seemed. They, unlike Miroku, were out of breath.

"Hakaku? Ginta? What do you want?" Said Kouga, not looking away from his glaring contest with Inuyasha.

"Why -huff- did -huff- you - huff- run - huff - off- huff - like - huff- that?" Ginta, the one without the mohawk, said gasping for breath.

I wondered why they were so out of breath. Sure, they had been running rather fast, but Miroku wasn't out of breath and neither was Kouga.

"We- huff - had - huff - just -huff- caught- huff- up - huff- but you - huff -ran - huff- away -huff- again!" This time it was Hakaku, the one with the mohawk, that spoke.

Ahh. That explained why they were out of breath.

They both noticed Inuyasha at the same time.

"Gah! Kouga! It's Inuyasha! We have to get out of here!" At this, they grabbed Kouga and ran down the hall, Kouga swinging his arms wildly.

"Wait! No! Put me down you idiots! I'll be back!" After this statement, Kouga, Hakaku, and Ginta disappeared down the hall.

Inuyasha crossed his arms, smirking as if he actually did something.

"Ha, that'll teach him."

"Kagome!" I felt someone crash into my back and fall to the floor.

I turned around.

"Shippo!"

Low and behold, there lay Shippo, sitting on the floor. His face was scuffed and had a bruise forming underneath his eye. His eyes were full of tears.

"Hey, Shippo, what happened to you? I asked him as I kneeled down next to him.

I could barely understand him through his hiccuping sobs.

"They, they, they keep teasing me about my parents! I tried to get them to stop, but he just punched me and told me to go join them!"

"Calm down Shippo. Who are they?" Miroku joined me on the floor. Inuyasha continued leaning on the wall, but I knew he was listening.

Shippo rubbed his cheek, wiping away tears as he stopped crying.

"The Thunder Brothers," he said, his voice quavering.

Inuyasha leaned down.

"You mean Hiten and Manten?" He asked.

Shippo glared at him.

"Why do you care? You gonna go stop them?"

He scoffed.

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't."

I ignored Inuyasha. Standing up, I started walking down the hall.

"Come on guys, lets go kick some butt!" I had been noticing that I never really acted like a guy. I didn't really know how, since the only boy I had ever hung out with was more like a girl than a guy. Also, that was in kindergarten.

(AN) Ha, eight pages! But chapter 2 was 10... oh well! I felt like I was yammering, so I ended it. Quality is better than quantity!

You might be asking yourselves, 'where is the quality?'

I do not know. Under my mattress, sleeping, probably.

Thank you so much for sticking with this story! Review and I'll be a happy duck!

Quack!

Oh, and if someone could remind me if it's Hakaku, Hakkaku, or Hagaku, I would really appreciate it. I can't remember and I'm too lazy to look for it on my own. . I'm such a bum.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!