Hey all! Thank you for such nice reviews and this is my first fic for Inuyasha! Writing updates as quick as I can! To answer more questions

— I'm leaning towards making this fic more like the anime that's on Adult Swim. So yes, Koga will go after Kagome at some point. But will he win her over? Can't say! You must read and see!

That's all for now folks. On with the story!

Chapter 4
The Way Things Are

The day finally ended after what seemed like forever to Inuyasha. With his books tucked under his arm, he felt relief sweep over him as he walked down the hallway, Kagome in the lead of course as they walked outside into the sun. He could finally go home and do nothing. Just strew himself across the couch and watch TV – that would be his afternoon until his Mother would get dinner done and he'd have her delicious cooking and do homework later before hitting the sack. Because he was lost in his own thought, Inuyasha paid no attention to what Kagome was doing in front of him until he almost crashed into her, abruptly stopping when he finally noticed that Kagome had stopped.

"HEY, GUYS!" She called, waving to somebody across the school court. Inuyasha looked up and saw two teenagers, a boy and girl, approaching them.
"Hey, Kagome," Sango greeted as she and Miroku came up to them. Inuyasha almost immediately felt like the third wheel as Sango went on to tell Kagome something, Miroku agreeing with the two as they giggled amongst themselves. They were their own group and Inuyasha was, well...nobody. He didn't know who these two people were and just standing there, unable to comment on the conversation he had no idea what they were talking about just made him more uneasy and like he had been forgotten about. He was wrong, however, when to his slight surprise, Kagome turned to him and faced her friends.

"Guys, you know Inuyasha from history. Inuyasha, these are my friends Miroku and Sango," Kagome explained. Sango and Miroku gave Inuyasha their greets and Inuyasha had to admit to himself, he felt the tension in him slipping away.
"Yes, we've heard all about your first meeting with the...less than polite Koga and that's very brave, considering that you've probably made yourself an enemy and on your first day," Miroku said that Inuyasha made feel a bit annoyed. So he already had a reputation for getting in trouble — what a nice way to start of his school year.
"I don't think that's an awful thing," Sango started, everybody staring at her. "I mean, nobody's ever been brave enough to actually stand up to Koga because of the gang he runs around the school. The fact that Inuyasha did do what he did, defending Kagome and all," Hearing this, Inuyasha gave Kagome a look but she gave him an innocent smile. "That's very right of him to put Koga in his place." A small smirk spread across Inuyasha's face that Kagome couldn't help but smile.
"Feh..." Inuyasha just shrugged, knowing it wasn't that big of deal but Kagome still couldn't stop smiling.
"Inuyasha," Kagome started that he turned to her. "We're going to Wacdonald's...I was wondering, you wanna come?
"Uh...I-I um..." Inuyasha tried to think of what to say, Kagome's smiling slowly fading at his hesitance. "I-I need to get home. I..."
"It's fine," Kagome said with a smile, Inuyasha staring at her slightly surprised but relieved.
"I-I have stuff to do and...stuff." Inuyasha felt his face burning, knowing how stupid that sounded as he looked down, his face turning red. Kagome couldn't help but smirk – he looked so CUTE turning red like that.
"It's really okay," Kagome swore, resting a hand reassuringly to his shoulder. "Maybe another time?"
"Yeah...sure...maybe..." Inuyasha said quietly, shrugging.
"Well, since you found your way here this morning, I'll assume you know your way back and I don't need to show you home, do I?" Kagome asked that Inuyasha gave her look; he wasn't that helpless. Kagome just smiled. "I didn't think so. We'll see you tomorrow, Inuyasha!" Kagome said with a smile, the others chiming and Inuyasha watched as they walked off the school campus towards the city.

Using the directions his mother gave him that morning to get to the school, Inuyasha backtracked based on his memory and he found his way home fairly quickly. The city was a HUGE place and so tightly packed compared to the countryside he had lived in. Houses there could be miles apart from and the fields stretched for miles as far as the eye could see. It was definitely much more quiet there than here. There, the only sounds you'd hear would be birds twittering in the trees, the sound of trees rustling when the wind blew...it was a wonderful place for peace and quiet and to be alone. Inuyasha preferred the solitary so much more than this sardine-like area. Walking up the sidewalk, he spotted his house. The house looked similar to any of the houses in the neighborhood but was larger than most. Large (like a mansion) and modern, a large camphor tree stood in the far left corner of the yard near the gazebo that his father had built summers ago and when they started packing for their move, he couldn't bear part with it or have it destroyed so he had it go with them. A bunch of chairs were gathered in one area of the yard, set up on an area of concrete beside a picnic table and with a bunch of brush and shrubs around, that was the backyard. Walking up the stone steps beside the concrete driveway to his house and crossing across the sidewalk, he found the door unlocked, as his mother didn't work and would be home, he entered the silent house. Looking around as he closed the door, he noticed how eerily silent it was, all lights but the overhead lamp in the family room were off.

"Mother?...MOTHER?" Inuyasha raised his voice as slightly as he dropped his books on the table in the family room, looking around, not noticing the figure approaching him.
"Inuyasha, I –" Inuyasha's mother, Izayoi who appeared from the kitchen, dressed in a blue button-down blouse with the sleeves rolled up and khaki pants, she had on a apron over that came into the room upon hearing her son's voice. She gently placed a hand on his shoulder but stopped what she started when Inuyasha sharply turned at her, startled at her sudden appearance but he rolled his eyes in exasperation when he saw who it was. "Goodness, I'm sorry!" Izayoi laughed as she saw how badly she startled her son. "It's just me." Inuyasha just shrugged as he walked into the room all the way, plopping down on the sofa, snatching the remote off the coffee table and turned the TV on.
"So, how was your first day?" Izayoi asked as she seated herself on the recliner beside the sofa.
"Eh," Inuyasha stated with a shrug. "It was boring, I'll put it at that. Remind me again why I can't just keep being home schooled?" Inuyasha gave his mother an irritable look, Izayoi sighing as she put a hand to her forehead. This was a topic that never died.
"Because...my dear, it's better if you experience school as you only have this and next year before you enter the real world! You've spent almost all of your childhood in that house in the country. You never had children your own age around and when the children did visit with their parents when your father hosted those parties, you never talked to them..."
"That's 'cause they made fun of me, Mother...!" Inuyasha said it all in a it-is-so-obvious tone that made Izayoi give him a look.
"Yes. That was when you were 6, sweetie. Children can be cruel to one another when they're young. But you're 17 now, a teenager, almost an adult. I would think the kids in high school would be mature, yes?"
"Feh...Yeah, you can call girls who gawk at you all period in class or guys who pick fits because he was unbelievably rude to one girl and because the length of your hair mature."
"Oh!" Izayoi was suddenly interested in the conversation. "A girl?"
"Yes, a girl."
"What was her name?"
"Uh, Kagome, I think..."
"What is she like?"
"MOTHER!" Inuyasha sat up as he gave his mother a look, his face turning beet red. "We're just classmates, for crying out loud! We're not dating! We didn't talk! She helped me get class to class 'cause we have the same schedule, that's all!"
"Same schedule?" Inuyasha just glared at his mother as she giggled girly-like as though she was a teenager again. "You'll never know, dear. Things might happen..." She giggled again as Inuyasha merely rolled his eyes and thrust himself back into the sofa. "She does sound like a sweet girl, if she helped you around the school."
"She's a total weirdo, I'll tell you that. All she did was stare. Real annoying."
"Oh, I was just like that when I met your father," Takara started with a small smile, recalling her days of youth. "We first..."
"I've heard this story, Mom," Inuyasha stated in an exasperated tone but she paid no attention to him and went on, Inuyasha mouthing everything she said.
"...Met when I was in 9th grade and he was in 11th grade. Math class, he was in the second middle row and I was one row over from him, a seat behind. He had failed math the previous year so he had to take the class over again. He was so different from all the other boys I had met. With his long white hair and the peace sign sticker that was on his binder, he looked almost like a hippie, that was the early 70s, a time of rebellion and change, not just in America. I was 14 and he was 17. I always stared at him in class because he was so...mysterious that you wanted to know more. He had all the girl's attention. Mysterious, almost arrogant in a way, and definitely handsome..." Izayoi chuckled a bit as her gaze focused on the wedding photo set on the shelf over the television. There they were: young, seemingly arrogant, and feeling like they were atop of the world 'cause they were out of high school out into the real world. Izayoi could recall that day being the she felt most beautiful and lucky. She was in her gorgeous wedding gown, her hair and makeup done with precision, and she was with the man she loved. Izayoi sighed, knowing that those days were so long ago as she turned back to Inuyasha, still recalling the times she and her husband were teenagers in high school.

"I can remember seeing all the girls being so jealous when he asked me out on our first date and that was to the Cultural Festival at Spring Time in school. After that..." Izayoi just shrugged as she saw Inuyasha just laying there, looking bored as he listened to the story he had already heard a thousand times but she couldn't help but continue. "When he graduated high school, I still had two years to go but we kept dating off and on until I finished high school. He was in his third year of college in Kōobe and...Well, you know what happens. We got married the following summer. I had Sesshoumaru and then a couple of years later, you."
"Thanks for that history lesson, Mother," Inuyasha stated, clearly bored of hearing that story when he heard a car pulling up into the driveway. A second later, car doors could be heard opening and closing. Not long after, the door opened and Takara smiled as she recognized the tall figure in the doorway, getting to her feet as Inuyasha looked over.

"Kon-nichi-wa, dearest wife," Inuyasha's father, Sesshoumaru Sr. greeted his wife in a voice that sounded almost every bit like his eldest sons but was obviously a bit different. He stood there, in his black jacket over a white button down shirt with a maroon red tie and black pants, in slick shoes and holding a leather carrier case. What made him stand out though from every man wearing a suit was his snow white hair. Pulled back into a neat ponytail, it seemed blinding when in the light but still gorgeous. His face was rugged, having left unshaven for a couple of weeks but that was him — a married man in his early 40s with two sons.
"Kon-nichi-wa, sweetie," Izayoi said with a smile as she walked over and very gently but sweetly, the two kissed. Inuyasha just rolled his eyes as he kicked off his shoes, the shoes thumping on the wooden floor. His parents broke apart as his father stared at him.
"How are you, son?" He asked as Izayoi took his bag.
"Fine," Inuyasha replied simply.
"How'd school go?"
"Fine."

Sesshoumaru Sr stared at his son with eyes narrowed but knowing that all he was gonna get, he walked in and taking his jacket off as he walked up the stairs. A moment, later the other, more annoying and a jerk to Inuyasha, 25-year-old brother Sesshoumaru walked in. The spitting image of his father, he wore a leather jacket over a loose navy blue button down shirt, black pants and shoes, his sleek white hair down, the only thing separating him and his father from looking like twin brothers. Upon seeing his little brother, just precariously strewn across the sofa while he carried an armful of stuff from work, he scowled at him.

"Little brother," He said coolly and Inuyasha just scowled back at him before putting his attention back on the TV.
"What do you want?" Inuyasha asked, not looking at him but his attention on the police drama on the television.
"Just noticing how you aren't doing anything. What, don't have any homework? And...oh my! You haven't be suspended for your horrible temper!" He mocked Inuyasha, knowing how jealous he was that he could work with father.
"Shut up!" Inuyasha snapped loudly, giving his older brother the nastiest look.
"Don't start, you two!" Inuyasha heard his mother warn from the kitchen.
"That's not going to last very long," Sesshoumaru said quietly, narrowing his eyes at Inuyasha. "You're bond to have somebody hate you..."
"I already have," Inuyasha said flatly, watching TV. Sesshoumaru chuckled as he shook his head and kicking the door closed with his foot, he walked in and placed his stuff on the floor before looking back at his little brother to give him a look. He hadn't even gone a week of school and already, made somebody detest him. This wasn't a surprise to Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha had such a bad temper and pissed people off so easily, it was like second nature for him to piss somebody off.
"Little Inuyasha, always having to make enemies," Sesshoumaru said coolly as he walked around and stood behind the sofa, staring down at Inuyasha. "You can never do anything right. Always getting somebody mad, fighting somebody, need to feel bold. Makes you seem like...I don't know if this is too strong a word...a bastard?" That was it for Inuyasha as he got up, glaring fiercely at his brother.
"SHUT THE HELL UP! WHEN I WANT YOUR OPINION...NO, I'LL NEVER WANT YOUR OPINION!" He shouted. "Why don't you go get a soap box, stand on that and go preach to somebody who gives a damn 'cause I sure as hell DON'T!"
"INUYASHA!" Inuyasha stopped as Izayoi stood in the doorway, glaring at her son for such language in the family household. "What have I told you about swearing in this house!"
"Hey, he started it. He called me a bastard!" Inuyasha said indignantly. Izayoi glared him once again for the language before giving her eldest son a look.
"You are lucky your father didn't hear any of that, as he's downstairs in his office on the phone."

Inuyasha made a face as he looked down. He knew firsthand what his father was like if he was interrupted in the middle of an important phone call or if it was something important in particular. The last time that happened was when Inuyasha was 9 and Sesshoumaru was 17, when they still lived in the countryside. Sesshoumaru had taken Inuyasha's favorite action figure and was threatening to have him meet the garbage disposal. Inuyasha promptly freaked out at this and chased Sesshoumaru all over the house, screaming at him to give it back. The two made a disaster of each other's rooms, jumping over, knocking things over as it turned out to be a domestic version of World War III. It ended when they ran into the living room and Inuyasha, clumsy as he was then, ran into the end table. The thing toppled over, the $900 lamp that was on it going with it and shattered instantly upon coming into contact with the wooden floor. Inuyasha remembered the silence that followed that terrible sound of glass breaking as he and Sesshoumaru, for that one time, were both terrified. Terrified for their lives, that is. For a minute, they heard nothing but their breathing. Suddenly, then, they heard the basement door being thrown open, smacking loudly against the wall, and...the most horrible sound followed. "INUYASHA! SESSSHOUMARU!" The boys pushed and shoved each other out of the way as they ran up the stairs, hearing their father's heavy footsteps on the staircase, getting closer. Father was pissed! Because of his long legs and speed, Sesshoumaru was the first to the boy's room and, to Inuyasha's horror, the son-of-a-gun locked the door before he could get in! 9-year-old Inuyasha pounded on the door, screaming for Sesshoumaru to open the door but his older brother wouldn't relent. Desperate, little Inuyasha ended up darting into the closet and pulling the door quietly closed, he hid under a bunch of heavy blankets, hoping to Dear God that Mother would come home and distract Father or that Father wouldn't find him. Inuyasha held his breath as he heard his father's footsteps against the floor. At first the footsteps stopped when the closet door opened. OH GOD! Inuyasha didn't move or breathe as he felt the air rush into the cramped space, feeling his Father's presence bearing down on him. Without warning, the blankets were jerked off and little 9-year-old, easily scared then, Inuyasha found himself looking up into the face of a monster! (Or so he thought at the time) The monster roared at him and Inuyasha, at the top of his lungs, shrieked a sound that could only come from a little girl. With sneakers on Inuyasha kicked the monster HARD and square in the groin, anything to get it away from him. The monster instantly backed away and doubled over in pain against the wall, clutching his groin as he groaned in pain. FREEDOM! Inuyasha got to his feet and made a dart for the stairs when he suddenly came face to face with the monster — his father. Sesshoumaru Sr. was BEYOND furious as he scooped up his youngest son and took him to the master bedroom to face punishment. He had been wearing a mask, having tried to scare Inuyasha out of hiding. Oh, it worked, better than he thought.

Over 8 years later, Inuyasha could still remember being screamed at his father for breaking something that meant a whole lot to their mother and cost a large $900. As Inuyasha found out that day, Father had been on the phone with somebody very important and he had been slowly losing his patience that day with Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's antics. The breaking of the lamp was the breaking point. After that, Inuyasha stayed on his best behavior and rarely got in trouble, only on occasions. Luckily, to Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru got in trouble as well that day and was grounded for a month and had to help pay off the cost. So, as now 17-year-old Inuyasha and 25-year-old Sesshoumaru stood side-by-side in front of their mother, seeing their father was the last thing Inuyasha wanted to do.

"Sorry, Mother," Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru said in unison, their heads bowed as their mother still glared at them.

"Sometimes you two don't ever act your age. Absolutely ridiculous..." Izayoi muttered as she walked back into the kitchen. The two brothers glared at each other one last time before Sesshoumaru left for his room upstairs and Inuyasha returned to watching TV. That was life in Inuyasha's house...

There! Thanks to the wonderful Volcan300-wildcatz9, I was able to fix Inuyasha's mom's name but the dad is still a mystery...

Thanks for reading!
GrnDay4ever