Broken Glass
Chapter Eight

-

Kagome hopped off of the bus Monday morning. Waving to her bus driver and mumbling a quick 'thank you,' Kagome trotted towards the downstairs area of her high school. Inuyasha had called the night before to tell her that he had something he needed to do this morning and therefore could not escort her to school. After the reassurance from Kagome that she'd be okay on the bus, they'd parted ways for the night.

Now, Kagome moved slowly down the staircase. Being used to having Inuyasha around her to make sure she didn't fall or trip had left her careless and now that she was alone for the most part she had to grab the railing leading the down the staircase just in case.

As she reached the bottom, she went down the hallway and was pleased to see that Sango was there waiting. Picking up her steps, Kagome sat down beside Sango and smiled at her. "Good morning," she chirped. "And happy Valentine's Day," she added thoughtfully.

"Thanks," Sango mumbled and stared at the ceiling lazily. Kagome blinked her eyes and then scurried to the plastic bag she'd been holding. Extracting a box of chocolate turtles, Kagome placed them in Sango's lap.

"Ta da!" Kagome smiled brightly. "I got you chocolates."

"Thanks," Sango repeated in the same monotonous voice. She sighed gently and looked at the giant pink box her best friend had given her.

Slowly, she unzipped her backpack and placed the giant heart-shaped box into it. Kagome watched her silently as she extracted a wrapped box. "Happy Valentine's Day," she said with a shrug and then returned to the homework she'd been working on. Kagome continued to watch her.

"Sango…?" Kagome questioned gently. "Is something the matter?"

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Sango questioned as she scribbled on a math handout. Kagome frowned and fiddled with the hem of her skirt.

"Well… I don't know…"

"You shouldn't assume things when you don't have any proof," Sango said causally, though there was an underlying bitterness in her voice. Kagome was taken aback and shifted on the bench.

"I'm sorry, I just—"

"Don't apologize," Sango snapped and turned angry maroon eyes towards her friend. Kagome cowered when Sango gave what sounded like a growl. "You're always apologizing. Cut it out!"

"Sango…"

"What?" she snapped out again, trying her hardest to keep herself under control.

"What's… wrong?" Kagome questioned with her blue eyes threatening to fill with tears. Sango had never snapped at her before…

"What do you think?" Sango countered.

Kagome fidgeted nervously, biting her lower lip. "I… I…"

"God!" Sango hissed out and Kagome felt like rolling into a ball and crawling under a rock. She seemed to calm down and a long silence followed. "Where's that guy?" Sango questioned after a long moment. Kagome seemed startled but quickly answered,

"He had an errand he needed run… he'll be late today," she explained. Sango nodded curtly. "Why…?"

"I thought it was weird how he wasn't following you around," Sango said snidely.

Kagome blinked. "Sango… I…"

"It doesn't matter," Sango cut her off and turned her head away. "I mean it's not like I care about him."

"Sango…" Kagome murmured out and gently touched her friend's shoulder. "Why don't you like Inuyasha…?"

"What?" Sango turned angry eyes towards her. "You don't see it?"

"See what, Sango?" Kagome questioned, distressed and scared by her best friend's behavior.

"Him! Don't you see him?" Sango demanded and turned towards her completely. Kagome looked positively lost, so Sango cut her off before she could speak and voice her confusion. "Damn it, Kagome! Don't you see what he's doing?"

Once again, Sango cut her off. "You've spent a whole damned week with him and he's been absolutely perfect, I take it, or else you wouldn't be blushing right now." True to Sango's word, Kagome was indeed blushing. Just the mere thought of Inuyasha spending time with her threw her into a flurry of butterflies and stomach drops. Sango's face became fierce when she saw Kagome duck her head. "No guy is that nice, Kagome."

"But—"

"Teenagers, Kagome," Sango growled out. "We're damned teenagers, for God's sake! Teenaged guys have one thing in mind, and that's sex. There is no way that Inuyasha can be as perfect as he is unless he's acting."

"But Sango he's—"

"He's not acting," Sango mocked Kagome's voice, adding salt to Kagome's wound. She cringed at Sango's voice. "That is bullshit! No guy can be that sweet, that charming and that friendly unless he had an ulterior motive."

"Sango…"

"He thinks you're easy, Kagome!" Sango protested, her eyes misty as she clenched her fist. "He's hanging out with you because he thinks he can get you into his bed!"

"You don't know—"

"And neither do you!" Sango protested. "You've known the guy for a week! You've followed him around like a lost child for a week, Kagome. And, for what? So he can take care of you? You can do that yourself! I could do that!"

"But Sango, you're only in one of my classes!"

"So?" Sango and Kagome both appeared to be on the verge of tears. "You still hang out with him after school and over the weekend! You're probably going to hang out with him after school today, too, because… because… I don't know why!"

Kagome stared at her best friend with a horror-stricken expression on her face. "I'm…"

"I could be watching after you! I could be spending time with you!" Sango protested, a stray tear falling down her cheek. "We have barely any classes together this semester! I haven't talked to you —really talked to you— in a week, and you're spending all your free time with this guy. You've completely forgotten about me!"

Kagome felt tears pooling in her eyes, but couldn't bring herself to say anything to her best friend, who seemed just as distraught and depressed as she was. "But I haven't… forgotten about you…"

"Then why are you letting him cart you around like some kind of souvenir? I could take care of you and you wouldn't have to worry about ulterior motives… Kagome!" Sango felt a sob bubble from her throat and she squared her shoulders. "I just can't talk to you right now," she decided and grasped her backpack. "I'll talk to you later."

Kagome watched with tears in her eyes as her best friend stormed down the hall, knocking against people who dared to get in the way of her path. Once she was out of sight, Kagome pulled her knees to her chest and fruitlessly tried to hold in the tears. The first fight she'd ever had with Sango and she knew that she was in the wrong.

-

When Inuyasha came back to class, Mr. Kyo was in the process of explaining the Spanish assignment they'd have to do by the end of the week. Inuyasha grinned brightly at his Spanish teacher and handed him his note excusing him for his tardiness.

"Okay," their Spanish teacher said with a light frown as Inuyasha made his way to his seat and sat down, staring up at Mr. Kyo innocently. "I've decided that it's okay if you choose your partners this time, niños, since you're more likely to do your assignment outside of class if you know the person." He nodded his head at the logic and looked around the classroom at the faces of the boys and girls he was supposed to be teaching. Clapping his hands he made a shooing motion. "Go at it, pick your partner and sit down when you've made your decision."

Kagome's eyes immediately darted to Sango. She had to prove to her best friend that she cared about her and therefore would pursue her to do this project. After all, she couldn't depend on Inuyasha forever. They wouldn't be spending as much time together once her glasses were fixed. Nodding her head, she tried to catch Sango's eye, but the girl refused to look at her.

Instead, the brown-haired girl turned towards the girl she sat in front of and spoke to her. When the girl nodded so did Sango, and they didn't move from their seats. Kagome paled and felt like a cold bucket of water had been thrown on her head. Sango already had a partner, it seemed.

She sighed and felt a hand touch her shoulder. Looking up, she met the honey orbs of her escort. He smiled at her. "Want to be partners?"

Kagome meekly nodded her head, hiding her disappointment in the fact that she couldn't go and be Sango's partner. Inuyasha seemed satisfied because he leaned back against his desk and propped his feet up on the chair in front of him, annoying the boy who sat there. Sighing slightly, Inuyasha tapped his fingers against the surface of his desk.

Once the project was passed out, Mr. Kyo allowed the class to go on about their way. Inuyasha observed Kagome as she lazily drew spirals in her notebook. "Are you okay, Kagome?" he questioned after five minutes of silence from the girl.

She shook her head. "I'm fine."

Inuyasha bit his bottom lip but didn't press the issue any further. They worked in relative silence for the rest of the period.

When the bell rang, Sango stood up abruptly, packed her things and stormed out of the room before Kagome could so much as call after her. Kagome stood stupidly and watched her angered friend retreat with misty blue eyes, threatening tears. She let out a distressed sigh and packed away her backpack. Why wouldn't Sango let her talk to her?

"Ready?" Inuyasha questioned beside her as he zipped up his black hoodie with Jack the Pumpkin King's giant head across his stomach. The giant character from Tim Burrton's The Nightmare Before Christmas grinned stupidly and Kagome found herself staring at it. 'Why are you so happy…?' she questioned silently to the boy's jacket. Her eyes widened. 'Why am I talking to Inuyasha's jacket?'

They walked from their classroom and journeyed towards the portable that their math class was in. Kagome silently followed after Inuyasha, allowing him to place a hand on her forearm and guide her around a patch of stray ice she hadn't spotted due to her poor eyesight. She smiled at him gratefully but didn't say anything in acknowledgement to his efforts. She just didn't feel like talking. Sango's outburst, though cruel, was founded on just arguments and left her feeling depressed and slightly ashamed of herself.

Inuyasha's grip tightened on her arm as he steered her rather abruptly from the middle of the path and onto the grass hill that led down to the parking lot. Kagome gulped when she felt the traction she'd once possess leave her and her shoes slip slightly.

"Yikes," she heard Inuyasha say, as he too looked down at the icy, hard ground that descended down towards hard, cold pavement. "That would hurt like a bitch."

"Yeah," Kagome agreed as she felt the color leave her cheeks, staring down at the hill with dread. Her acrophobia grasped her and she felt her breath come out shorter. Before she could truly freak out, however, Inuyasha was already moving up the ramp that led to their classroom's portable's door, ushering her gently.

Once they entered, they were greeted by the sight of their math teacher smiling cheerfully and chatting with Jenny as the T.A. typed away on the computer, recording grades of the students and shifting through tests. Kagome felt herself frown.

"I guess we'll have to sit in our assigned seats now," she heard Inuyasha say, speaking her mind perfectly. Kagome nodded and sighed. Inuyasha grasped her shoulder and ushered her to her seat, and made sure she was okay before placing his hands on the desk's surface and leap-frogging over two rows of desks and plopping down into his assigned seat. Grinning cheekily and waving, Kagome blushed at the attention he gave her.

Class proceeded as such and eventually Inuyasha managed to weasel his way over to her seat without her spacey teacher noticing. He sat behind her and stared at her back for a long moment before raising an index finger and poking her in between the shoulder blades. Kagome tensed and blinked her bright blue eyes in surprise before turning around and giving him a glare.

"What?" she asked with a small frown, giving him a dry look. Inuyasha grinned happily and twiddled his pencil in between his fingers.

"Well…" he trailed off and smiled. He continued to smile silently until Kagome found a smile tickling the corners of her lips. Eventually a ghost of a smile grazed over her lips and her eyes glanced at him curiously. "There, that's what I wanted." Not saying any more, the boy returned to his homework and tapped away on his graphing calculator. Kagome didn't seem content with that because she continued to look at him. Finally, he looked up and laughed. "Well, I was waiting for you to smile."

Kagome stared at his homework in stunned silence. He laughed again and waved aside some eraser bits that had collected on his graph paper. He continued with his homework and Kagome turned around. "Kagome!" her teacher snapped with her heavy accent, causing Kagome to jump in surprise. She swore to herself that her heart had actually stopped. "What are you doing?"

Kagome's face ignited into flames and she struggled to get words to flutter from her mouth. "She was helping me," Inuyasha called out and grinned. "I don't understand trigonometry."

"Well, that's certainly a problem, Inuyasha," their teacher said with a light frown. "But we're not learning trigonometry, you should have learned that last year. Secondly, that's not your assigned seat."

"Hey! Look at that! It's not." Inuyasha acted shocked as he stood up, grabbed his stuff and jumped on top of the rows of desks that were in his way of his own desk. The teacher seemed rather annoyed, but didn't issue any punishment. Instead, she turned back to her grading of tests as Jenny recorded them for her. Inuyasha chuckled softly to himself and retreated back to the desk behind Kagome when their teacher wasn't looking.

-

"Everything okay?" Rin questioned when she sat down beside Kagome the following period. Kagome nodded her head quickly and the brunette stared at her for a long moment before sighing and proclaiming, "Liar."

"Sango and I had a fight," Kagome mumbled out as she drew spirals on her desk with a finger. Rin eyed her finger's path but stayed silent. "She claims that I spend too much time with Inuyasha."

"So?" Rin gushed with a bright, dazzling smile. "Sango's jealous of your relationship!"

"What? No! Inuyasha and I don't even have a relationship. We're just friends," Kagome said with a frown. "Speaking of which, you told him what I said— about that I was scared of the rumors that followed him."

Rin shrugged it off and ignored her allegation, not bothering to deny it. "Yeah, but Sango is jealous. Maybe not of Inuyasha, per say, but definitely of the fact that you have a relationship with a guy and you're spending more time with him then you are with her."

"But I didn't mean to…"

"You might not have meant to, but the truth is that you did."

Kagome frowned, feeling even more scummy than she had in first period. She sighed and blinked her eyes, willing the tears away. "But—"

"Did you apologize?" Rin questioned.

"Class, time to write!" declared their bubbly teacher as she threw her arms over her head and waved them like a spaz. The students stared at her silently for a long moment before each of them retreated to their designated seats. She walked to the overhead and clicked it on, sporting the new prompt. Then, as she always did, she began to read it out loud. "Write a poem about a deep emotion. Preferably love."

Kagome thought about it for a long moment, tapping her pencil against her lined notebook paper. Her teacher was famous for giving them vague and abstract prompts such as this, but right now she wished that it had been a little more descriptive. Sighing gently, she began writing out and scribbling. After about five minutes of thinking and writing she came up with this:

I stand all alone
as you walk out the door
tears in my eyes
and my heart on the floor.

Who am I
To deny you this wish?
Its not the love that I lost
its the friendship I miss

Kagome stared at it for a long moment and felt a silent sob rack her body. Why wouldn't Sango let her talk to her? Why wasn't Sango letting her explain herself? She frowned at the words sloppily written across her page. Her teacher hadn't specified how long it had to be or what kind of poem it had to be. Content with the poem she'd created, the girl sat back and sighed, staring at the clock despite the fact she couldn't read the digital numbers.

-

Inuyasha was waiting faithfully outside her third period class once the bell rang. She smiled feebly as he lead her in the opposite direction of the library. She looked up at him in confusion as he turned a corner and took her towards the back of the school. "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere. We're not going to the library today," Inuyasha chirped happily and Kagome blinked her eyes, looking at him in shock as he opened a closed door and revealed an empty classroom. She reeled back in shock. "Ta da!" he said happily.

"I-Inuyasha! This is a classroom, we can't eat in here!" Kagome protested as she looked around her empty science room. "What if the teacher sees?"

"Nah, she's off to lunch this period. And besides, she's teaching in a different classroom next period so she won't come here. Relax, it doesn't smell like onions yet."

Kagome fell silent and allowed him to lead her towards a table. He sat her down and plopped down across from her after pulling up a swivel chair. Kagome smoothed the folds in her pleated skirt as she leaned over and unzipped her backpack before pulling out a packaged box. Inuyasha looked at it in shock as she opened it to reveal tightly packed food. Inuyasha's eyes widened and he grinned.

"You really made me lunch?" he asked happily as he took the food and stared at it. A sandwich, sliced carrots, a box of apple juice, potato chips and a sugar cookie filled the box.

"I made sure to make it a sugar cookie instead of chocolate," Kagome said proudly.

Inuyasha smiled brightly. "You remembered my allergies?"

Kagome beamed and nodded. Inuyasha closed the box. "Thanks; I'll eat it in a bit, okay?" At Kagome's nod he placed it aside and dug around his backpack. "Before I forget, I have your Valentine's gift."

Kagome blinked in surprise. "Huh? Really?"

Inuyasha nodded his head and placed a wrapped box in front of her. Simple pink wrapping paper complete with a giant white bow decorated the would-have-been a plain old box. Inuyasha seemed extremely proud of himself and Kagome removed the card with shaky fingers.

She opened the giant pink envelope that had 'Kagome' scrawled across in gorgeous calligraphy that Kagome recognized as a refined version of Inuyasha's handwriting.

Removing the card she looked at it. An abstract rose with dew drops decorated it and sprawled out in Inuyasha's writing it read, 'Happy Valentine's Day.'

Staring at it for a long moment she studied the obvious artwork that Inuyasha had made. "You drew this?"

"Painted, actually," Inuyasha said with a smile. "But I scanned it and resized it so I could make it card sized. I hope you don't mind." Kagome quickly shook her head. "Open it."

Obeying his command, Kagome flipped the card open. It was completely blank except for a small, nearly invisible pink font that read, 'I wanted to give you a rose for every time I thought of you… but there weren't enough roses in this world to cover a single day.'

Her hands quivered as she stared at the writing and then looked up at him in shock, her mouth flopping open and closed like a fish out of water. Inuyasha seemed unfazed as he leaned down and retracted a red, long stemmed rose. Kagome watched in silent awe as he grasped her hand and placed the flower in her hand. His hands were marked with small cuts as he placed the thornless stem in her hand and curled her fingers around it.

"Inuyasha…"

"Happy Valentine's Day, Kagome," Inuyasha stated without missing a beat, smiling at her charmingly. Kagome continued to look flabbergasted and she lifted the bud to her nose to smell it.

"Thank you," she squeaked out.

"Open your gift," he urged and Kagome feebly removed the bow and wrapping. She opened the box to reveal a scarf with green and purple stripes. "I know it's not that blue one you were looking at, but I decided to get you the same brand. Sorry if you don't like the Barney colors."

Kagome touched the soft fleece of her new scarf before smiling happily. "Thank you… so much…" she murmured out and Inuyasha smiled brightly at the gratefulness in her voice.

"It's no problem at all…" Inuyasha reassured.

They sat in a comfortable silence and Inuyasha munched lightly on the carrot sticks Kagome had given him. "Kagome…?" he questioned after a long moment and the girl in question glanced up. "Why are you sad today?"

"Huh?" Kagome blinked her eyes.

"You're sad… and quiet…quieter than you usually are," Inuyasha said with a blink of his honey colored eyes. Kagome ducked her head and felt her eyes mist over for the umpteenth time that day. "Kagome…?"

"Nothing's wrong," Kagome forced out, her mouth and voice quivering. Inuyasha was unconvinced and he made a small noise in the back of his throat that proved his disapproval of her sorry excuse. "Sango's just…"

"Sango? What's wrong with Sango?" Inuyasha questioned. "She seemed distant, too, come to think of it," he murmured to himself and then watched in silence as a tear fell behind the bangs that hid the eyes of the girl and splash across the table. "Kagome?" he questioned.

"Sango's mad at me." Kagome felt her shoulders quivering and she sniffed. "She hates me…"

"Kagome… don't—"

"And it's my fault she's angry," Kagome sobbed softly. "She thinks that I've forgotten about her…"

"Kagome, I…"

"She hates me!" Kagome repeated and buried her head in her hands and began to sob, allowing all the pent up stress and sadness within her to come gushing out in front of this boy. "She really, truly hates me!" She bawled feebly and tried fruitlessly to get rid of the tears leaking from her eyes.

Inuyasha stood up silently. "Where is Sango now…?"

"Huh?" Kagome sniffed, having no idea why he wanted to know. "Math… in the portable…"

But before Kagome could finish, Inuyasha had turned on his heel and was walking briskly towards the door. "Where are you going?" Kagome asked, her voice wavering from emotion.

Inuyasha turned to her and smiled charmingly. "I'll be right back," he said quietly and gave her a reassuring nod of his head. "I've got something I need to."

-

Sango sighed as she finished her homework problem and moved onto the next one. She felt like crap, to put it lightly. Despite her anger and her depression involving her best friend, she couldn't help but feel she was being cruel to the poor girl. 'She needs someone to lean on… and even though I don't trust Inuyasha, she certainly does.' Sango snorted. 'But she gives up her trust way too easily.'

The silence of her classroom was shattered when the door in the back of the room flew open and the said boy of her thoughts appeared in the doorway. The class turned and stared at them in surprise, including Jenny and the teacher, as the boy marched towards Sango, grasped her hand and pulled her from the classroom.

"What the…? What are you doing?" Sango demanded and pounded on his arm, but he refused to let go.

"Office needs you," he lied, lifting his voice loud enough for her teacher to hear. Dragging her from the classroom he moved in the opposite direction of the office.

"Where the hell are you taking me? Let go!" Sango demanded.

"You made her cry."

His cold voice stilled her next fisted punch to his bicep, and she stared at him in stunned surprise. "Who?"

"Kagome," he snapped and came to a halt, turning angry eyes towards her. He was angry at her, that much was clear and was a very large understatement. "You made your fucking best friend cry. Do you care?"

Sango felt her heart stop as his angry golden eyes turned towards him, ablaze with the molten lava within his orbs. "Y-yes…"

"Then you're coming with me," he said darkly and dragged her none too gently towards the classroom he and Kagome had been in originally. Sango didn't protest as she allowed the boy to drag her, though his grip loosened when she agreed.

"I didn't mean to make her cry."

"You should have thought about that before you sent your already low-esteemed best friend into the delusion you hated her," he said curtly, no sympathy for the brunette he held in his voice. He moved steadily as he approached the classroom. "And I hope that when I bring you to her you'll apologize."

Sango sighed gently. She couldn't argue with the fact that Kagome deserved an apology for the way she acted. 'I just… don't want her to get hurt…' she thought feebly as Inuyasha grasped the door handle and threw it open.

-

Author's notes: It has been decided. This story shall be extended and is being extended to at least twenty four chapters (plus or minus a few…)

And my first cliffhanger! Well, it's not the biggest one in the world, but whatever. So, until next time!