It Started With A Kiss

By: Queen Beryl

Chapter Eleven: Enter Kouga

I spent the weekend in more or less solitary confinement. Souta decided that Kohaku's house was more interesting than ours was, and Mama was out shopping with some friends. I was alone. It gave me a lot of time to think about where everything was going. I couldn't wait till Monday... I had some investigating to do.

"So he never really said?" Sango questioned for the fifth time.

"Nope." I idly swirled a fry around in the ketchup before Miroku reached across the table and stole it.

"Miroku." Sango warned, hitting his arm.

"What? It was apparent she wasn't going to eat it." He defended himself. Suddenly, he looked at Sango very oddly.

"Who is that?" Sango pointed over to the cafeteria doors. I turned around, searching for somebody wearing gold or something.

"Where are you looking?" I peered around people who were blocking my view.

"That hottie right there! Kagome, he looks... familiar." Sango pointed again, and I turned back around.

That's when I saw him. The only person I really didn't want to see.

"Kouga?!" I demanded, staring in disbelief at the figure that was now heading towards us. His soft brown eyes were fixed on me, and I knew he'd spotted me. I turned around, not sure what to do. It wasn't as if our relationship had ended badly or anything... it was just that... well, what do you say to your ex-boyfriend who you know is still madly in love with you?

"Yo!" Kouga waved at our little group and sat down right next to me... where Inuyasha usually sat.

"Hi, Kouga." Sango smiled brightly. Miroku saluted.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded without pretense.

"It's good to see you, too, Kagome." Kouga winked.

"It is pretty good to see you, Kouga, but what are you doing here?"

"I just moved here. Dad finally got stationed here for at least six months, so he wanted to put me in a public school." Kouga explained. His father was in the army, so they moved around a lot. Actually, that was mostly the reason we broke up: he was moving.

"You'll be staying in one place that long?" I smiled, now fully intrigued.

"Yeah, it's about time, too."

That's where the conversation lull occurred. We all sat there, looking around, except for Kouga, whose eyes were trained on me. I tried to ignore that fact, but couldn't help it, especially after what he said next.

"So, Kagome, was there anyone after me?"

I froze. If I answered truthfully, he'd get jealous; if I answered with a lie, I could never live with myself, and Kouga would most likely find out anyway. I sighed heavily and smiled.

"Yes, actually. It's sorta on ice right now." I stated slowly.

"So you're more or less available?" Kouga asked casually. If it was anyone else I would have not even thought about an ulterior motive, but it was Kouga, so I knew he was up to no good.

"Well, we're just having a little trouble right now, but hopefully it will improve soon."

"That means she's available." Sango put in bluntly, taking a bit of Miroku's sandwich.

"Hey!" Miroku protested in the background.

"That's great, Kagome." Kouga winked again. "You know I missed you a lot. I thought about you, too. Everyday, actually... so it's really good to finally see you again."

"I've actually missed talking to you, Kouga. We were always more like friends than boyfriend and girlfriend." I probably should have stopped after "Kouga," but I didn't; of course, with my luck, the only person who didn't need to hear that just happened to be right behind me.

"You two went out?" Inuyasha's furious voice demanded from just over my shoulder. He placed a hand on my shoulder as if to say, "she's mine, and back off."

"Yeah, we did. Who are you?" Kouga demanded, standing up when he noticed Inuyasha's arm on me.

"Kagome's boyfriend." Inuyasha replied without hesitation. I felt his grip tighten and knew he wasn't going to be happy.

"I just heard that you two were taking a break." It sounded like a simple comment, but if you knew Kouga, you knew it was a challenge.

"You were misinformed. Back off." Inuyasha spat angrily. I'd never seen him jealous before... this was definitely new.

"I don't have to do anything I don't wanna do, dog-breath!" Kouga growled menacingly. I put my head in my hands. I never thought I'd be fought over... especially by these two.

"Shut up, stupid wolf!" Inuyasha roared, balling his hands into fists. I could practically feel his anger radiating off of him.

"Easy, boys. Remember: we're still in school. Save it for later." Sango warned, shooting a warning glance at the lunch ladies who where looking in our direction and talking to each other in low tones.

Inuyasha sat down, forcing some random kid to the side, right next to me, while Kouga slid closer to me on my other side. I felt surrounded and suddenly claustrophobic. I mouthed a quick "thank you" to Sango and proceeded to eat my egg salad sandwich.

When the final bell rang, I was completely excited. I was going home! No more being pulled by each of my arms in different directions. As it turns out, Kouga ended up having Family Life with me, and he sat too close to me for Inuyasha's comfort. Kikyo was luckily absent today, lucky for her that I didn't rip her hair out for trying to steal Inuyasha from me. As I exited the class, Kaede-sensei called me back.

"I see things are going well with you and Inuyasha now." She smiled good-naturedly.

"We had a nice talk and worked everything out." I confirmed.

"Is Kouga going to be a problem?"

"I'm hoping not. You see, he was my old boyfriend, and Inuyasha knows. He doesn't like it very much, and apparently neither does Kouga. I really hope it doesn't escalate any more than it already has." I explained, running my fingers through my hair.

"Well, good luck then. You'll get the assignment finished, though, right?" Kaede-sensei smiled with a twinkle in her eye.

"I promise." I headed home, praying for no more confrontation.

I had no such luck.

NOTE: I had this done a while ago, but the system was down or something so I couldn't upload it, sorry.

Okies, I'm officially angry. This new "quick edit" crap totally screwed with my HTML formatting, so now my documents look like crap. Grr! I hope you all still want to read this, even though it doesn't look as good as it used to. The lines take the place of && as breaks in the story.

I'm sorry it took me so long to update. I had major writer's block on this chapter and I was also confused on how to work this stupid "quick editor." I'm ashamed. ; It was long-awaited for, and I'm sure you're all going to hate me when it's not good enough [especially because it's so freaking short], but I really hope you like it. Nothing much really happens in this chapter. I really had a hard time on this one. I'll work hard on the next one, I promise. Thank you all for your wonderful support and reviews. You're super!!