Hey guys! This chapter is a bit longer than the last two. Thanks to everyone who reveiwed! Also, I don't own Inuyasha. Just thought I would let you know. Enjoy!

3 - Stroll through the Park

Kagome was still fuming ten minutes later from the run in with the wolf demons. "I can't believe the nerve of some people! They think they're such big hot shots, those football playing idiots! Well, he won't get me, that's for sure!" she said as she stared at the table and chugged her water furiously.

Inuyasha watched the usually mild tempered girl kill her sandwhich as she bit into it. Honestly, he liked this side of her, even though it made him nervous. He made a mental note not to be on the other side of her temper.

"Calm down, Kagome," Miroku said kindly. "I'm sure they'll be back, but if your lucky, Inuyasha will protect you."

Miroku was silenced with two withering looks from Kagome and Inuyasha. Sango giggled at the sight.

"Oh, Kagome don't let them get to you. That's what they want, you know," Sango told her with a smile.

Kagome suddenly smiled. "You're right! Why am I letting them get to me? Those wolves are idiots if they think I'll follow them around like most of the other girls do." She was right. Over in the corner where the wolf demons sat, a huge group of pretty teenagers gathered aroung the table. Some of the girls looked over at Kagome angrily.

"Are they mad at me for slapping Kouga?" she questioned.

"Feh. They're probably more mad that he likes you instead of them," Inuyasha replied.

The group laughed and finished their lunches.

After school, Kagome and Inuyasha found themselves in the library. A frusterated inu-hanyou looked over the young woman's shoulder as he tried to explain the problem for the tenth time. She just couldn't concentrate on what he was saying. Around the fourth attemted to get her to understand, he got up and went around her to look over her shoulder. As his soothing voice poured into her ear from a couple inches away, she tried her hardest not to just melt in her seat. Even to her human nose his scent was intoxicating. All the numbers on the page swirled as he leaned closer to take her pencil and fix the problem himself. She tried to grab the pencil back. "Inuyasha, you're supposed to explain how to do the problem, not do it for me!"

"Well, you're not getting it so I'm going to show you," he replied, struggling with her to get the pencil back. He had to admit, he wasn't paying much attention, either. She sat there looking so cute and innocent, asking questions with obvious answers. Her scent calmed his body, helping him stay patient with her. She really just wasn't getting it. Luckily, math was Inuyasha's best subject. When his frusteration got the best of him, he tried to take the pencil to show her how to do it, but she tried to grab it back. She was extremely determined to get it right by doing it herself. He was surprised when she had accepted his offer to help her so happily, since she seemed like a fairly independent person. Now, fighting over a pencil with her, he sensed her stubborn nature, along with her playfullness as she got out of her seat to pull harder on the pencil. He had her now. Within a second, he shot forward and went nose to nose with her while taking her small hands with the pencil in them in his large clawed ones, looking deep into her sparkling chocolate brown eyes.

When he shot toward her, Kagome thought he was going to hit her. Instantly she regreted the thought as he stopped mere inches from her face. She looked up into his intense amber eyes, stunned by their sudden closeness. He gently took the pencil from her hand and sat it on the table by her book. Slowly their faces started to come together, the gap between them becoming ever smaller. Just as their lips were about to touch, the library door was busted open and Miroku came flying into the room, landing with a thud.

"I told you to keep your hands to yourself and off my butt!" the two heard Sango yell as she came into the library. Suddenly both Miroku and Sango realized Kagome and Inuyasha were there, standing very close together.

Miroku shakily got to his feet, rubbing his right cheek as a bruise appeared in it. "Sorry if we interupted anything that might be going on..." he said with a grin, his perverted mind working overtime.

The two blushed furiously, Inuyasha stepping over to Miroku with one stride. "Ya know, you'd look really stupid with three bruises on your face instead of two!" Inuyasha yelled, refering to the two he had from Sango. He stepped forward about to hit him, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't hit him, Inuyasha. Please, don't hit him," Kagome said in a shaky voice. She just couldn't stand it if she came to find out Inuyasha solved all his problems with his fists. She looked into his eyes, her hand still on his shoulder.

He didn't understand what had just happened. Kagome, a human girl, had just stopped him from fighting with the tone in her voice. She sounded so sad and hurt. 'Why did she react like that?' he wondered.

"Why can't I hit him?" he questioned her, feeling the pain in her eyes.

"I... well... I don't like violence, if it can be helped. That's all," she replied. In truth, there was more. Much more, in fact. But, before she divulged her secrets, she would get to know Inuyasha and the others better. You couldn't trust just anyone with your secrets.

'She's lying' Inuyasha thought. 'I can see it in her eyes that she's lying. Maybe she doesn't feel like she can trust us yet. Or maybe she can't trust me, because of what I am... No! She's different! I won't let prejudice take her away from me!' He was stunned at his last thought. 'Take her away from me... she not mine... but why did I think that, and why did it feel so natural...'

By now Kagome had snapped out of her thoughts and looked tentavely at Inuyasha's amber eyes. "Hey, Inuyasha, awake in there!" she said, jarring him from his thoughts as she waved a hand infront of his face. He reached out and grabbed it instinctively.

"Sorry," he mummbled to her as he let go and walked to the table, picking up Kagome's book and pencil.

"Inuyasha..." she trailed off, seeing his behavior as strange. He gently handed her the book and walked toward the door.

"Come on, Kagome, Sango, I'm leaving."

"Okay," she said as she followed him. 'I think he could tell I wasn't telling the whole truth. Did he think I didn't trust him because he's a hanyou? Oh, dear. If that's the case, I'll have to talk to him. When he does find out why I don't like fighting... Well, then we'll see if there can really be a relationship between us'

Sango and Miroku were stunned at the scene that just unfolded. First they walk in on them, nose to nose, looking longingly into eachother's eyes. Then Kagome stops him from fighting, sending him into deep thought, and whatever he came up with in that brain of his really pissed him off. Then Kagome turned quiet and submissive as she followed him out of the room.

Sango suddenly blinked out of her confusion. "Oh, Inuyasha, I was looking for you to tell you... Well... You're not gonna like this," she said, nervous at the inu-hanyou's reaction.

He stopped in his tracks and turned to her with the sparks of anger in his eyes. "What is it?" His tone sent shivers down the spines of everyone in the room. It was deadly.

"Well, I was out in the parking lot, getting ready to put my karate outfit in the back seat and come find you when..."

Inuyasha was getting agrivated at Sango's attempts to beat around the bush. "Out with it already!"

"Kouga backed into your car!"

Inuyasha was shocked. Then he started to shake with anger. In a surprisingly calm voice he said, "How bad is the damage, Sango?"

She cringed. She was hoping she wouldn't have to tell him herself. "I don't think you'll be driving that car anytime soon... "

His shoulders sagged as he walked out of the library. His friends followed. They all walked out to his car in the school parking lot. The group gasped when they saw the entire back end was totaled. This was no fender bender. The damage went into the backseat of the car, the seats torn compleately in half with the metal from the trunk. The back tires were flat, imbedded with glass from the windows and back windsheild. There was no way that car would ever work again.

Inuyasha looked at the car that he bought himself with wide eyes. Of coarse, he could buy a new car, but still...

"What about Kouga's car? From how this looks, shouldn't his car have been damaged too?" Kagome asked softly.

"Kouga drives a damn hummer! Like the back of my car would even cause a fucking scratch on it!" Inuyasha replied as he walked to his car. He opened the driver side door and reached to where he kept his insurance information and pulled out his cell phone.

"Inuyasha's right. Kouga backed into the car, then rolled down the window and laughed when he saw who's car he backed into," Sango told them.

"Give me a fucking break! He planned this! Next time I see him, I'm pounding his wolf ass into the ground!" Inuyasha said while he pounded the off button on his cell phone. "The tow truck will be here in an hour. I'm walking home," Inuyasha said as he walked out of the parking lot, leaving the three high schoolers standing in a daze.

Kagome snapped out of it. "Hey Inuyasha! Wait up!"

He didn't turn around, but he waited for her to catch up and started walking again. They walked in the direction of the park.

"Do you think Inuyasha is really that pissed off about his car being smashed?" Miroku questioned as they watched the odd couple walk away.

"No. He was complaining about the car anyway and said he was going to buy a new one soon. The only reason he's pissed is because it was Kouga who forced him to buy a new car," Sango said as she balled her hand into a fist and made contact with Miroku's skull. Satisfied with the lump on his head, she smiled and walked toward Miroku's car. "For putting your hands where they don't belong, your going to give me a ride home. Got that, hentai?"

Miroku sighed as he pulled himself to his feet. 'Some day she'll come around. But until then, I'll just watched her from behind...' he thought as he walked after her, being slapped once again for his roaming hands before heading to Sango's apartment building.

Inuyasha and Kagome walked in silence through the park. Kagome felt slightly nervous. Even though she trusted the inu-hanyou, she could feel his anger. She thought it might be wise to keep her mouth shut, but then the silence would kill her. Besides, she really didn't know where she was going.

"Um... Inuyasha?"

"Feh?"

"What are you gonna do about your car, Inuyasha?" she questioned softly as they came to the path near the lake.

"Duh. I'm going to buy a new one, stupid wench. Then I'll go find Kouga and murder his wolf ass." Suddenly he felt Kagome stop. He looked back to face her just in time to see the crystal tears running down her cheeks. In an instant, all his anger vanished for concerned for her. He cupped her face in his hands and brought her eyes up to look at him. "Hey, I'm sorry," he said in a soothing tone.

She shook her head. "It's not your fault. I... I just don't like to hear... about people dieing... that's all," she mumbled inbetween sobs. She started shaking harder and Inuyasha pulled her to his chest, wrapping his arms around her. Her sobs stopped for a moment from shock, then started again as she burried her face near his shoulder. She wrapped her arms around his neck and Inuyasha closed his eyes. Her scent was covered with the salty smell of tears and fear.

'Is she scared of death?' he thought as he kept a hold on the fragile young girl. 'No, it's more than that... But what could've happened that would make her this upset with even the mention of violence?' He kept his hold as though she would break if he let go.

Kagome's breaths were ragged a couple minutes later as her tears stopped. She had cried more that day than she had since the incident... Was it because in a strange way Inuyasha reminded her of him? 'No! I said I wouldn't dwell on the past!' she thought as Inuyasha pulled away and looked her in the eyes.

"You okay now?" he asked her in a soft tone. She slowly nodded her head.

"Thanks, Inuyasha."

"It's okay. Where do you live?"

"At the Sunset Shrine," she replied, hoping he knew where it was.

"Sunset Shrine?" he questioned her. "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive."

They walked in a relaxed silence for about ten minutes. When they exited the park, Kagome started to recognize where they were.

"Hey, we're near my house!" Suddenly a thought hit her. "Inuyasha, did you go out of your way to walk me home?"

"No," he replied, walking her to the foot of the emense staircase leading to the shirine itself. He turned, pointing to an apartment building across the street. "You see that building?" he asked.

"Hai," she replied. 'Where's he going with this?'

"You see the window farthest on the left, on the top floor?" he asked her, pointing to the window as he spoke.

"Hai. What about it?"

He sighed. 'Man, she's cute and all, but she is a bit slow...'

"I live there," he told her with a grin.

"Seriously? That's awesome!" she replied, hoping around excitedly.

"I'll walk you to school tomorrow, okay?"

Suddenly she stopped bouncing and blushed. "Hai. I'll meet you here at seven. Okay?"

"You got it," he said as he turned around to leave. "Oh yeah, Kagome?"

"Huh?"

"Please, if you ever have any problems, any at all, don't hesitate to come get me, okay?" he said without looking at her.

She smiled to his back. "Of coarse, Inuyasha," she repiled with her heart in her throat.

As he walked away, she turned and started walking up the steps. 'Who would've thought I'd make such good friends the first day of school? Sango, Miroku... and especially...' she turned from the top of the stairs to see his silvery hair shine with the light from the setting sun. '...Inuyasha'

Inuyasha and Kagome are neighbors! The plot thickens! ...Well, not really. I haven't even gotten into the real plot of the story. I still have quite a few character building chapters planned before I get into it. So, please stick with me! Reveiw, reveiw, reveiw! Love ya!

-Ash