Punk Rock Princess
3: Mr. Brightside

Six bottles went down the drain
One hour's a waste of time
I'd ask you if you feel the same
Still pushing that chance to try
Your breath in this cool room chill
Long hair that blows side to side
You speak and make time stand still
And each time you walk right on by

Violence
Blink 182

The hallways were crammed with people trying to get out of hell—err, school. Almost every locker was thrown open wide, papers and books flying wildly from packs to shelves. The corridor rang with voices, the noise echoing loudly. The tiled floors were covered in dark scuff marks and leftovers from lunch, as well as their packages. All in all, it was a frenzy of wild pigs in their pen.

Kagome began to shove her way through the crowd, heading towards her locker at the other end of the hall. So far, she had been ambushed by the loaded packs of freshmen, being much lower to the ground than she. A few she shoved out of her way out of pure irritation, but otherwise, she slid through the gaps that were provided. As far as the noise went, it was nothing against the music that was blaring in her ears. Most of it contained heavy bass with some long guitar bridges, and not to mention the recognizable beat that only drums could produce. It was so loud, that anyone who stood anywhere remotely near her, could hear the music like it were their own.

The song changed, and if possible, a louder one came on. She rocked her head gently, sliding between two exchange students, playing around with their id's. When the lyrics came upon, she mouthed her words to them, practically imagining her screaming them into the mic. Her face held no remote expression, but that of a sealed emotion. Her pace slowed as she neared her destination, waiting a moment for a line of friends to pass through the only gap. She headed towards her locker, dodging bodies and waiting for those to move out of her way.

But as she neared, there was a body right in front of her. It took her a moment to recognize him, but it was only when she took in the colour of his eyes. But along with the colour of his eyes came the memory of the outcome of their meeting. Although, it didn't bring a frown to her face as expected. Not a word was passed between the two of them, and as soon as he appeared, he disappeared down the hall. But he didn't leave her mind.

It wasn't the usual, obsessive over the first attractive male that wasn't under the 'Kikyou' curse. But rather, it was the constant reminder that her guitar was broken, and they couldn't practice until she got it fixed. There was the idea that she could try to imagine playing it, but that didn't give her much to work with. Air guitar wasn't her forte. She glanced down the hall, a desperate look in her eyes. I hope he's true to his word.

Even though he had been shown the entire school, he still felt lost. Especially with all the bodies closing in around him. Oh, and not to mention the whispers, and looks his way. He was beginning to feel the trials of a newbie. Half of him told him to turn around and threaten to rip their kidneys out through their mouths, while the other just told him to continue on walking. He had to say, it was a difficult decision to make. Both sounded equally satisfying. Though, he barely had a chance to decide when a woman strutting down the hallway before him caught his attention.

And let me tell you, it was difficult for him not to stare.

At first he thought it was the girl he had seen down the hallway only moments before, but there were certain aspects of her wardrobe that decided against that. For, not a single musical device was located anywhere on her. And the only black that was recognizable were the silky ebony locks that was floating behind her, completely flat ironed. And though their faces seemed as identical as it could get, he could clearly see the powder across her face, whereas the other thought it better to wear hardly any.

And her eyes—oh her eyes!—came off as a metallic gray. But it wasn't as full of shimmer as his own amber orbs held. He broke away from her gaze, trying to figure out exactly where it was directed. It didn't take him long to figure out it was him.

"I don't believe we've met." She said, sticking out her hand as her words passed by her red lips, adorned in lipstick. "I'm Kikyou, Kikyou Venalti."

"Inuyasha Dai." He said simply, for he believed that's all he could say as he took a hold of her waiting hand. He made sure he didn't grasp it too firm, for it felt so fragile that it could shatter like glass under his hold.

"Pleasure Mr. Dai." She said, that same smirk etching itself across her lips. All round him, he could hear whispers, but he tried to drown them out as she continued speaking. "You look a little lost, do you need help finding something?"

"I—" he gulped, trying not to sound too much like a fool. But he didn't get a chance to even utter the word 'locker' before she had taken the paper from between his fingers and skimming over the information.

"C Wing. I can help you, it's not too far." She said, hooking her arm around his before they began walking the way where he had come from.

"I just want to go home!" Kagome whined as she tapped her skateboard against her leg in anticipation.

"Well you're going to have to wait, because until I find my math textbook, no one's going anywhere." Sango said irritably, the prior event of Kikyou and her snide remarks still fresh upon her mind.

"Why do you need it anyway?" Kagome whined, the tapping beginning to tenderize her leg.

"Because," she growled, dropping binders and balls of paper on the ground around her. "If I don't at least try and study for the test, I'll get a definite I and my parents won't let me see the light of day again."

"I could help you, math is my best subject." A slick voice said from the crowd. Sango rolled her eyes, already knowing who it was and what it wanted.

"Right," she said, giving him the same look that she gave him at every attempt to get her alone. "And that 47 is the best mark you can get?"

"It's not my fault that old hag doesn't like me!" He defended himself, the bringing up of his mark wounding his pride.

"Maybe it's because you grope every woman in the class except for her." Kagome mumbled, just loud enough for Miroku to hear.

"I do not!" He said, trying not to think of going anywhere near his math teacher's butt. "Only—"

"Me, I know." Sango sighed, dropping her hands in defeat, her locker practically empty. 'It's not here."

"I can see that." Kagome said, stifling back the urge to laugh.

"My offer still holds firm. We can study together if you'd like my dear, two heads are better than one." He said casually, a smile playing at his lips.

Sango looked up at her two friends from the ground, a little deflated from her search. She was dealing with the fail or try situation. And frankly, the fail didn't seem to bad involving a certain someone. But then again, there was the prospect of how angry her father would be…

"Fine," She said, before narrowing her eyes and saying with much emphasis. "But keep your hands to yourself."

"Roger!" He said, acting like he was at boot camp.

Kagome began to laugh at his action, and Sango got angry. She punched Miroku in the knee and pushed Kagome backwards, taking her anger out in the only way she knew. Violence. Or when it came to her friends, mild violence.

"Hey!" Kagome said as she stumbled backwards, colliding heavily into someone behind her. When she steadied herself, she turned around to apologize to the poor victim when she realized who it was. Though, by that time, she had already gone off. A look on he face like she had stepped in a wild animal's feces crossed her face.

"I think I've just been contaminated," She said, unlatching herself from her male companion.

"Oh no, you're going to die. You've got cooties." Kagome said sarcastically, shaking her hands in the air gently.

"Watch it Higurashi, you're just asking for it!"

"I'm so scared; I'm shaking in my boots!" Miroku laughed from beside her.

"Glad to see you're still that 6-year-old that has evidently not grown up."

"I apologize m'lady, next time I'll make sure to bow and kiss your feet."

"Good, at least you know where your place is."

Before Kagome could react to that comeback, she whisked away her companion, already heading up the stairs.

"When I get my hands on that little bi—"

"Calm down, or you'll give yourself a heart attack." Miroku said, trying to steer the conversation away from Kikyou. "She's not worth it anyway."

"But—"

"Just wait, we'll get her back. When she least expects it." Much to their surprise, Sango said, a dark look crossing her face. And at that, the both of them broke out into grins, plans of revenge forming in their heads.

Kagome slowly boarded home, practically dropping Sango off with Miroku, a wide smile adorning her face. The streets were fairly abandoned from life—students having already left for home a good while ago. Cars were only in the distance, and all that was heard was her music and the low rumbling of the wheels against pavement. Once again, she got too into her music, and soon she her only sense that she could use was sight. She made sure to keep alert, since the last time she was distracted, something terrible ended up happening. Or at least it was terrible to her.

Only a block or so away from her house, skating in the middle of the road, enabling anyone to get by, another meeting between Inuyasha and she occurred. A loud honk sounded behind her, creeping through her music after a few times of the sound repeating. At first, she thought it was a glitch in he music, but then as she removed her ear phones, the noise grew louder. She looked behind he, still rolling along, to see an expensive black car behind her, an angry man behind the wheel. She recognized the man from the morning, and laughed. She skated along slowly, knowing that she was holding him up. She slipped back on her music and went along, laughing to herself at the enjoyment she was going through.

I love being me.

"Now, you're going to have to keep a 90 grade point average, unless you want to end up in some community college like the rest of those kids. Math might be tricky, so you'll be assigned a tutor if you acquire one. As fo—" Sesshoumaru's rant stopped as he slammed on the brakes, nearly plowing down a young woman on a skateboard. Once again, the familiar words drifted through his mind, seeing those 'punks' as lower than he.

He honked the horn twice, but saw no reaction. Then he honked it a few more times, becoming almost in sequence to some sort of alarm.

"She looks familiar…" Inuyasha mumbled to himself, practically squinting to recognize the woman. But he soon got his wish when she pulled her earphones off and turned her head to glare at the car. He smirked, realizing that this wasn't the second time he's had the pleasure of meeting her. For it would be his fourth time that day he had seen her.

"Get out of the way!" Sesshoumaru mumbled, growing more and more aggravated as she continued to ignore their presence. "Now these are the exact people who are going to end up on the streets. No respect for higher class, and clearly don't have enough taste to wear decent clothing. She's a woman for god's sake! And she looks like she just came from some thrift store!"

Most was true, for rather than customary woman's clothing, Kagome wore nothing that seemed 'proper' in the man's eyes. A pair of jeans hacked in almost every inch, revealing skin in almost every section of the 'pants'. And not only the ripped pants, but her shirt looked to be found at the bottom of a hamper. It looked black from the looks of it, but there were darker splotches on it that could be taken as stains.

"Won't move for a car! What does she want? To be hit?" He said exasperated.

"She doesn't live that far, just up a little. Won't be long till you can rip up the road Sess." Inuyasha said, rolling his eyes at his guardian's impatience.

"What did you say?" Sesshoumaru's voice became more stern.

"I said—"

"Do you associate yourself with her kind?"

"No but—"

"You'd better not, or I'd disown you from the family."

"You can—"

"How do you know where she lives then? A little relationship with that filthy creature?"

"No, just—"

"I forbid you to ever see that woman, and any of her kind. You hear me?"

"I—"

"I said, do you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Good, now, back to your ciriculim…" He began to ramble on once again, but Inuyasha tuned him out. He watched the girl before them as she finally sped up and turned to the staircase that led to her shrine, giving way for his brother to speed up. He heard him mumble, but only made out 'finally' and 'lives in a shrine'. Sometimes he thought his brother let his money get to his head.

"Do you get this?"

"No."

"Do you get this?"

"No."

"Do yo—"

"I don't think I get any of it!" Miroku cried, his plan desperately falling apart as soon as the textbook was opened. Sango smacked the heel of her hand against her forehead in desperation for some idea to come to mind.

"Do you get anything with numbers in it?" She asked.

"Of course!" Her face brightened. "Tracks of songs, number of beats, numbers in songs…"

Sango's face dropped once more, and she was left with nothing. "Hopeless." Was all that she could say.

"Listen I'm sorry! I thought it'd be easy!"

"Miroku, math isn't what I'd call easy! We'll both be lucky if we even get 35 on it! It's pointless to study!"

"I can think of something else we could do…"

'Don't even go there." She said, taking a quick glance. Just to make sure they were well away from her body.

"C'mon Sango, you know you can't resist my boyish nature." He said, wiggling his eyebrows in a suggestive sense.

"You're right Miroku, I can't." She said sarcastically.

"And you can't resist my handsome features, and my devilish smile…"

"How did you know?"

Slowly, he inclined his head towards hers, but continued on speaking.

"And I know deep down your heart skips a beat when I am near…"

"Oh, of course!"

"And you can't breathe when I'm so close," he whispered as face was only a few inches away from hers.

"So true…"

He stopped speaking and went in for the kill, only to be flung out of his chair by Sango's hand hitting him square in the forehead. He looked up from the ground at her, rubbing his forehead where she made contact with him.

"Keep on dreaming pervert. I'm not that easy." She snickered before once again, forced herself to understand mathematics.

A note was left on the fridge, announcing that her family had gone out for some groceries, needing something for dinner. She tossed it in the garbage can and headed up to her room, discarding her bag and shoes on the ground with the rest of the mess. She turned on her music loudly, letting it rung in her ears before she approached the computer. She sat lazily in the old chair, spinning slowly from side to side. As soon as her hand touched the mouse, the screen came to life, letting the black drain until the desktop picture was revealed, the many faces of the members of her favorite bands. But one thing was out of place. There was a blinking box on the taskbar, and she clicked it, curious as to what it was. Or as to who it was, seeing as she was still signed into MSN Messenger.

/ without I'm a mess / without you, I just don't know../ says: Kagome?

She stared at the box, and knew exactly who it was. She knew that she wasn't ready to talk about it, but what would ignoring him do? Increase the pain? Show the truth. If she didn't care, then she would openly accept any words. But since she was paining so much inside her chest, would he know? She glanced up and noticed that it hadn't been delivered until 5 minutes ago. And he still remained online.

It's hysteria; within the beats says: hi…

/ without you I'm a mess / without you, I just don't know../ says: Are you going to block me?

It's hysteria; within the beats says: No, not yet at least…

/ without I'm a mess / without you, I just don't know../ says: I know you don't want to talk to me right now, and I know you don't want to see me. But we both know it; we need to talk.

/ without I'm a mess / without you, I just don't know../ says: …

It's hysteria; within the beats says: I know.

/ without I'm a mess / without you, I just don't know../ says: It's best not to do it right now, over the internet. Would you be willing to have coffee with me Friday night? And maybe we can talk then?

It's hysteria; within the beats says: Friday night? As in THIS Friday?

/ without I'm a mess / without you, I just don't know../ says: It's Tuesday now. It should give us both some time to recollect ourselves. I want to give you space, but not so much that I'll lose you.

It's hysteria; within the beats says: Thank you.

/ without I'm a mess / without you, I just don't know../ says: So…it's okay? Friday night?

It's hysteria; within the beats says: …okay.

/ without I'm a mess / without you, I just don't know../ says: We can meet up at Blendz by the library, Parkgate Village? Around 8?

It's hysteria; within the beats says: Okay, I'll see you then.

/ without I'm a mess / without you, I just don't know../ says: Bye

it's hysteria; within the beats says: bye.

He signed out immediately after she bid him farewell, like he was waiting on her. She bit her lip, holding back any emotion that she thought she felt. He heart began to beat erratically in her chest, and she wasn't sure what was to come of them. But only one thing came to her mind as her mind began to race.

I need to talk to Miroku.

AU: Okay, so here's chapter 3…is it? Ha, can't remember. Now, you'll have to excuse all the characters being OC, but you know, sometimes stories are better when they are. Like a major one is Sesshouarmu, but I tried. And of course, you can pick out the others.

Don't get mad about some of the couplings, because you know, maybe I want them! Ha. Well yeah, I'd love to hear what you think, and I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed this story. Thank you. Ha ha.

Arriverdici,
Melody Unwinding.