Hi everyone! It's me again! Hope you're all doing well! I wanna thank the readers who reveiw on every chapter of my story! Thanks for always being so nice! Well, here's a new chapter! Enjoy!

4 - Prejudice

When Kagome entered her new home, she was bombarded with a series of questions from her mother, grandfather and little brother.

"Where have you been!"

"How was your first day, dear?"

"Did you bring me anything?"

"Stop talking!" Kagome yelled above the voices. Everyone went quiet immediately. "Okay," she started. "One- I was at school, getting tutored in math. Two- my day was fine, thank you. And three- no, I didn't bring you anything, Souta."

The young boy let out a sigh. He was hoping she brought him something.

"Kagome, dear," her mother said. Mrs. Hirugashi stepped forward and looked at her daughter with worried eyes. "You should have come home right after school, or at least called. I thought something might have happened... You know what I mean."

Kagome went over and hugged her mom. "I sorry for making you worry. Next time I'll call, I promise," she told her. With everything that happened over the last year and moving into a new house, Kagome didn't want to be the cause of any excess worry.

Her mother pulled back and looked into her eyes. "Just don't take any chances, dear."

Kagome nodded and sat at the kitchen table to eat with her family.

"So, did you make any new friends, Kagome?" her grandpa asked. He was an old geiser with ancient ways, but he had run the shrine for years all by himself. When Kagome and her family moved in, he wouldn't let them help at all in the shrine except with cleaning up after lazy tourists.

"Yeah, I met some great people. First I met Miroku. He's a nice enough guy, just a little odd. Then there was Sango. She's so nice and she has a blackbelt in karate! And there was..." She hesitated before continuing. Her grandpa had a problem with demons. He had told her many storied of years ago when the demons ran rampant over the land, killing people and desroying cities because they were treated unfairly. Finally the government made a bargan with the demon population. In exchange for the demons stopping their attacks, the govenment would pass a law for the equal rights of demons. The demons readily accepted and they were declared equal japanese citizens - in law, that is. Many people who lived through the demon attacks harbored deep feelings of resentment toward them; they felt as though the demons deserved no lienency and should be punished. Kagome's grandpa was one of them.

"Spit it out, sis," Souta told her.

"Well, there was Inuyasha, and..."

At the moment Inuyasha's name was said, Kagome's grandpa spit out the coffee he was drinking.

"Dad!" Mrs. Hirugashi yelled as she went to the counter to get some paper towels. His face was so red with anger, steam could of come out of his ears. In fact, it did. "Kagome! You mean that half-breed that lives in the apartment building across the street!"

"Don't call him a half-breed! That's rude! Hey, you know him?" Kagome said as everything sunk in.

"Know him! Remember when I had to remodle the whole well house about eight years ago?" he questioned.

Kagome nodded with recollection. When she was ten, the small house that held the bone eater's well was destroyed and had to be compleately rebuilt. She also remembered it costed a pretty penny.

"Well you can thank your little dog demon friend for that! Him and the little boy with the ponytail and the little girl with the iron fist!" her grandpa ranted.

She could only assume that he was refering to Miroku and Sango. "How in the world did he do that?" she asked as she remembered the extensive damage done to the building.

"He and his little friends thought it would be fun to try to get in the well. When they couldn't break the seal, they decided to invent a bomb! Well, it didn't break the well open, but it was powerful enough to destoy the well house!" he hollered. "I don't much like demons, but I especially don't like that one! You shouldn't hang around... creatures... like that! You hear me?"

Kagome's face held a shocked expression. Her grandpa was a grumpy one, but she never expected him to yell at her like that. "Grandpa," she said in a quiet voice. Suddenly she stood, flames of fury in her chocolate brown eyes. "I'll be eighteen years old in a week! Don't treat me like a baby, because I'm not! You can't tell me who I can and cannot be friends with!" she said with venom in her voice as she stood and stalked out of the house, into the yard.

The shrine under the weak moonlight was beautiful. Pale shades of blue and white covered the grounds, casting long shadows as the sun decended on the horizon. Kagome walked to the center of the shrine, where the god tree was planted. It was the largest tree she had ever seen. When she was little, she would come to the tree when her family came to visit and sit under it, feeling safe under it's thick branches and canopy of leaves. Her father would come out and sit with her, talking to her about the world. She smiled.

'It was because of my father that I turned out how I did. If it was left to my grandpa... Well, I would be pretty different' Kagome's father had told her ever since she was young that even though demons looked different and some had special abilities, they had hearts just like humans. The generational gap between her grandpa and herself was just to great for them to come to terms with something like this.

She sat under the god tree, pulling her legs up and tucking her knees under her chin. Her eyes gazed at the star- filled sky holding a sad expression. They slowly filled with tears that leaked out with no resistance. She cried for a lot of things under the tree that night: for the demons that still suffer from prejudice, for her grandpa and his judgemental ideals, for her father, and for herself and Inuyasha. 'Having him as a close friend will be hard' she thought. 'But the best things in life aren't easy' She stayed under the tree for at least another hour until all of her tears dried. Her coal black hair swayed as she stood and took a deep breath. The leaves in the god tree stirred with the light breeze as her slender legs carried her to the house. As she closed the door, she had no idea that a pair of amber eyes followed her every move.

As soon as Inuyasha arrived at his apartment, he called the car dealer that he purchased his last car from and ordered a new one exactly like it. Unfortunatly they were out of light blue, so he got his favorite color instead. A bright red car would suit him just fine. The only reason he bought a blue car in the first place was because it reminded him of his mother. Her favorite color was light blue. It dissapointed him that they were out of it; in reality he loved the color, too. He made arrangements to pick up the car the next day after school.

The breeze slowly came through the open window, carrying the scent of vanilla and sugar. Kagome's scent. 'Oh crap, that's gonna drive me insane!' he thought as he got up to close the window so he could concentrate on his global history homework. Suddenly he stopped, his sensitive ears picking up yells from across the street.

"... I don't much like demons, but I especially don't like that one! You shouldn't hang around... creatures... like that! You hear me?" His ears drooped. They were arguing about him. Instantly he recognized the old man's voice as the geiser that lived in the shrine. Inuyasha guessed that he was Kagome's grandfather when she said that she lived there. Then heard Kagome speak. His ears perked to hear what she had to say about the matter.

"Grandpa," he heard her say in a quiet voice. "I'll be eighteen years old in a week! Don't treat me like a baby, because I'm not! You can't tell me who I can and cannot be friends with!" she said with venom in her voice.

The silvery ears on his head dropped with the anger in her voice. He was shocked that she would talk like that to anyone, much less her grandfather. Suddenly he heard a door slam and her scent became clearer. His amber eyes spotted her small form stomping out of the main building into the yard. She slowly walked to the large god tree planted in the center of the shrine grounds and sat under it's large branches. When he was young, he would sneak out of his home and come to this shrine just to sit in the tree. It comforted him, and he hoped that it comforted her, too. His delicate nose picked up the traces of salt laced in the air. Every sob that escaped her throat felt like a blade stabbing his heart.

'I'm sorry, Kagome. In a way, this is all my fault. If you weren't friend's with me, then you wouldn't be so sad' he thought as her body convulged with every gasped cry. He sat and watched her, wishing he had the courage to go down there and comfort her. In his heart he knew his apperance near the shrine would only make it worse for her, so he planted himself on his windowsill. 'Tomorrow I'll have to talk to her about it. I would have had to eventually, anyway. If she doesn't like me because I'm part demon, then... well... I don't know what I'll do'

The cresent moon shined beautifully and millions of little stars twinkled like diamonds on the vast black night sky before she got up again. His eyes never left her, wishing every tear that dropped down her face would disappear. She walked slowly back to the house, unaware of his loving gaze. "Please, don't be the second woman to break my heart, Kagome," he whispered to himself, wishing it could reach her ears as she closed the front door behind her.

The next morning Inuyasha met her at her steps as promised. After small greetings, the two walked together in silence, both thinking about the other.

'She probably hates me. No, if she hated me, she wouldn't walk with me. Maybe she feels sorry for me? Damn it, I'm confused!' Inuyasha argued with himself furiously as he watched her raven blach hair sway in the breeze. She walked a couple feet infront of him, her green backpack slung over her shoulder. He assumed her favorite color was green. She wore a jean skirt and a light green tank top, covered with a white jacket. The fundings for Futal High were very low, so no one expected them to all wear uniforms. Especially sense some of the larger demons coulndn't fit in one, anyway. 'She's so pretty, damn it!'

'Inuyasha's mad at me, I can tell. Probably because he thought I couldn't tell him about my past because he's a hanyou. Oh, if only he knew how wrong he was! I love every single thing I know about him so far, including his demon side' she thought while she walked. She could tell he was looking at her back. 'What are we gonna do, Inuyasha? Grandpa thinks you're bad news, but I can already tell you have a good heart! Somehow, within a day you've gained my trust. I just don't know anymore...' she inwardly sighed to herself. Today was going to be an interesting day.

They remained quiet until they reached the school. Sango and Miroku were sitting on the front steps under the large 'Futal High School' sign.

"Hello! Inuyasha! Kagome! Good morning!" Miroku called as he stood.

"Good morning, Miroku," Kagome replied with a forced smile and sad eyes.

"Feh!" Inuyasha breathed his normal greeting in a harsh tone.

Sango and Miroku gave eachother a stare. 'What happened here?' they both thought at the same moment. They silently agreed to help their friends work this out.

"Come on Kagome," Sango said, pulling on her arm.

"What? Where are we going?" she managed to studder out as Sango dragged her up the stairs.

"Bathroom!"

The two young men watched them go. Once they were out of earshot, Miroku turned to Inuyasha. "What happened?" he asked patiently, knowing this wasn't going to be easy.

"Who said anything was wrong, lecher?" he snapped back. Miroku sighed.

"Come on Inuyasha. Even a moron could see something is wrong. Now out with it!" he replied.

Inuyasha growled, knowing immediately that he was defeated. "Okay, last night I happened to overhear a argument between Kagome and her grandfather. They were arguing about her friendship with a demon..."

"Oh. Well, Kagome doesn't seem like the type to fall for the misconceptions. When you talked to her about it, what did she say?"

Inuyasha remained silent.

Miroku sighed. "You didn't talk to her yet, did you?" he said, aggrivated at his stupid friend.

"You know it's not that easy, Miroku!" Inuyasha hollered over the bell that suddenly rang, signaling that class started in five minutes.

"You need to talk to her today, you know."

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, knowing Miroku was right. 'I'm gonna have to talk to her about it. And it has to be today.'

When they entered the bathroom, Sango cornered Kagome. "Okay, what did I miss?"

Kagome looked confused. "What are you talking about, Sango?"

"Something happened between you and Inuyasha, didn't it?" she questioned. She took the look on Kagome's face as a yes. "So, what happened?"

Kagome bit her lip to stop the tears from coming. 'What's with me lately? Why am I crying so much?' Deciding she would find out eventually, she told Sango about the walk home last night up to this morning when they got to the school.

"Oh, Kagome. It's not fair. Even though demons have been declared equal to humans, very few people think they are. And it's even worse for Inuyasha," Sango said in a sad tone, soaking up all the information Kagome had told her.

"How is it worse for Inuyasha?" Kagome asked.

"Inuyasha's a hanyou," she said, thinking the word would explain it all.

"So?"

'Sometimes she's kinda slow to get things...' Sango sighed inwardly. "He's not quite human, not quite demon. The humans hate him because he's part demon. The demons hate him because he's part human. Miroku, you, and I are Inuyasha's only friends.

Kagome gasped, feeling more tears sneak up on her eyes. "Poor Inuyasha..."

"Inuyasha doesn't want pity. He wants you to like him for who he is on the inside."

"But I do!" Kagome said, breaking the dam that held back her tears. Sango comforted the girl until she stopped crying.

"Then you need to tell him," Sango told her. 'Because if I know Inuyasha, he's coming up with some idiotic ideas about why you're acting weird around him' she thought.

Kagome nodded as the warning bell sounded for the start of class. "Come on," Sango said, grabing her elbow and leading her out of the bathroom, snaging a few paper towels to dry her eyes.

So, I have a question. Do you guys think I should put Shippo into this story? I wasn't planning on it, but if ya want him in, I'll try. If you say yes, then give me some suggestions for fitting him in. Thanks! Reveiw, reveiw, reveiw! Adios!

-Ash