CHAPTER 1 : the blind leading the blind

Inuyasha was sitting in his first-period class, wondering why he had been seated next to an empty desk. Everyone else in the class had a partner sitting next to them, and it made him wonder why he had been chosen to sit alone. Was it something he had done?

His ears perked up as he heard the voice of his principal, Keade, blare over the P.A. system.

"Would Inuyasha please come to the office? Inuyasha."

His classmates all turned to look at him, and he shrugged; he knew as much about the summons as the rest of them did. He swung his legs out from under his desk and, with a nod to his teacher, left the room. He walked down the dull hallway, following the well-trodden path to the school office, hesitating only a moment when he came to the large oak door. Pushing it open, he found that he was the only one in the room, aside from a female secretary with large glasses and long, straight brown hair. She waved at the door to Kaede's room, indicating that he should go there; he answered with a smile, pushed open the door, and walked in.

The first thing he saw was Kaede herself, sitting on the far side of a dark wooden desk, smiling warmly at him and beckoning him to sit down in the free chair. There were two chairs in front of the principal's desk; the one that Inuyasha was now sitting in, and the one that held the girl he was now staring at.

She was very pretty; she had long, raven-black hair that was swept neatly behind her ears, and large brown eyes with a slight twinkle in them that Inuyasha couldn't recognize. That alone puzzled him; he was good at knowing what people were feeling from looking at their eyes. She was wearing plain clothes, and looked in his general direction without ever meeting his eyes. Her constant yet inaccurate gaze was starting to unnerve him. What was she looking at?

"Good morning, Inuyasha," Kaede said warmly. "Are you enjoying your first day of school?"

"Well, not much has happened to make it enjoyable," Inuyasha replied, with a hint of sarcasm. "Who's this?"

"This is Kagome," Kaede said, motioning towards the girl. "She's new to Cameron Drake High School."

"I can tell," Inuyasha said, laughing a bit. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the girl, doing the typical "cool" act that always got girls blushing a bit. Kagome, however, was unfazed: she simply turned her gaze from him back to Kaede.

"Kagome, Inuyasha is the one I've selected to be your guide around the school." Kaede looked pointedly at Inuyasha. "Inuyasha, that means that you're going to be showing her around, since she's new and doesn't know her way about our hallowed halls."

Inuyasha snorted. "So long as she looks where she's going, she should be able to figure it out," he said. He scratched at the dog-ears that protruded from his silvery-white hair. "Well, Kagome, what do you think?"

"Of what?" she responded, a hint of confusedness in her voice. Inuyasha scowled.

"Usually people are a bit creeped out the first time they see me," the dog-boy said. "I mean, can't you see I'm a hanyou?"

Kagome laughed. Her laughter was as pretty as she was. "No, actually."

"What do you mean, 'no, actually'?" Inuyasha asked. "You blind or something?"

"Yes," was the girl's simple response. "Why else would I need an escort?"

Inuyasha was silent as he pondered this new development. Him, chosen to lead a blind girl around the school? Was this some kind of joke? He had better things that he wanted to do with his time! He wanted to be with his friends; imagine the damage to his reputation if he was seen leading some girl everywhere!

"Oh, no," Inuyasha said, waving his hands in the air. "I can't do this."

"Why not?" Kaede asked. "I believe that you could learn something from this experience, Inuyasha."

"What, how to lead people away from walls?" he asked. "What could possibly be the benefit of having to take a blind girl with me everywhere I go? I don't want to do this!" he said, his voice getting consistently louder. "What the hell were you thinking, choosing me?"

"I'm thinking that Kagome can't be left to take care of herself, on account of her sightlessness," Kaede said, scowling a bit as Inuyasha began to wave his hand in front of Kagome's face, to no effect. "And I'm also thinking that, since you and her have chosen the exact same classes, it would be a perfect match. You wouldn't have to take her anywhere you yourself weren't going."

"What about the bathroom?" Inuyasha asked, his voice still angry. "You can't possibly expect me to lead her around the ladies' room."

"I can take care of myself," Kagome said, annoyed. "I'm not some baby."

"Then why do you need an escort in the first place?" Inuyasha asked. "Come on, Kaede! I have a life!"

Kaede sighed and shook her head. "Inuyasha, there's no way that you can talk me out of this. I truly believe that it would be the best for both of you."

Inuyasha slammed his hands down on the desk, raising himself up to glare pointedly down at Kaede. "What if I don't agree with you?" he practically shouted, right in her face. She glared right back at him.

"Then you obviously have difficulty realizing that I am the principal of this school, and you can't argue with me," was Kaede's cold response. Kagome was sitting quietly in her chair, trying not to look as hurt as she was. It wasn't her fault she was blind, and as she heard the argument that centered around her, she couldn't help but feel that it was her fault.

"Really, Kaede; it's okay, if he doesn't want to be my escort he -" Kagome began, trying to make Kaede realize that there was more than one person who could help her around school. But Kaede interrupted her.

"Kagome, your arguing will be just as pointless as Inuyasha's," she said, her voice still kind and gentle when she addressed the blind girl. "It may seem as if I made a bad choice in the beginning, but I promise that it'll all work out fine in the end."

Inuyasha snorted. "We'll see how long you can keep up that attitude," he said, rising from his chair and preparing to exit the room. "So I guess that the reason nobody's sitting next to me yet in any of my classes is because she's going to be following me around?"

"I'm so glad you're beginning to understand," Kaede said, with an enthusiastic smile. "Now, you two should probably be going; you're already late for your first class."

Kagome, though she couldn't see it, knew that Inuyasha would be glaring at her. She fought to hold back tears at the boy's obvious rejection of her. It wasn't her fault!

She flinched as Inuyasha roughly grabbed her hand and began to pull her out of the office. Not having any other choice, she followed him out into the hallway, the sound of Kaede's secretary rustling papers disappearing as she was led further away from the office.

She winced a bit as Inuyasha tightened his grip on her hand, his fingernails more like claws than anything else. "Inuyasha, wait, slow down," she tried to say, her attempts at pulling him back failing miserably. Eventually, she got fed up.

"Stop right this second," she said, managing to pull her hand completely away from Inuyasha's. She heard his hurried footsteps stop.

Inuyasha glared at her, wondering what her problem was. Couldn't she understand that he didn't want to have to pull her around everywhere? He just wanted to go to class. But now she was acting as if she could tell him what to do.

"Inuyasha, -please- listen to me," she said, her voice pleading. He growled at her and she flinched.

"Okay. Now, I don't know you and you don't know me, but I'm sorry about this - really," she said, when Inuyasha snorted in disbelief. "I don't know why Kaede chose you to guide me around, and if I had had my own choice, I wouldn't have a guide at all. So please, -please- stop acting as if this is all my fault! I don't want it any more than you do."

Inuyasha snorted again. "Yeah, right. Damn, what's Kikyou going to think?" he wondered aloud.

"Kikyou?" Kagome asked, curious. "She your girlfriend or something?"

"Yeah," Inuyasha mumbled.

"Well, I don't want to be stuck with you any longer than I have to," Kagome said. "After school's done, I'll be gone quickly. I just need to know where everything is and then I should be fine. So just...chill, okay?" she said, sounding frustrated. "This is only temporary. I just need to know where everything in the school is, and then you can do your own thing."

"Whatever," Inuyasha said, obviously not believing it. "But don't go around thinking I'm going to be showing you around the school. You're just with me when absolutely necessary, okay?"

Kagome was silent, looking at the floor. Inuyasha didn't see it, but there were tears in her eyes.

The morning's classes passed uneventfully. In each one, the teacher introduced Kagome to the class and explained her predicament of sorts. Instead of taking notes with a normal pen or pencil, Kagome was using some sort of special tool that left raised marks on the paper. When she needed to go over something, she would run her finger over it; it fascinated Inuyasha, that she could read by feeling the letters. He didn't recognize the alphabet, though; it must be some blind person thing.

When lunchtime came, Inuyasha pulled Kagome back to her locker. "Eat anywhere you want," he said, his voice bored. "I'll come back to your locker five minutes before the end of lunch so we can get to the next class."

"Wait," Kagome said, but Inuyasha didn't care for whatever she was going to say; she could already hear his heavy footsteps disappearing into the crowd. She fought back tears. He had just left her there! Amongst a crowd of people that she didn't know at all!

She fumbled with her lock, finally getting it open after three tries, felt around for her lunchbag, pulled it out, locked the locker door, and slumped down in front of it. Her lunch fell into her lap. She could hear the sounds of people walking past her, not noticing the girl that was sitting with a sad expression on her face, with a small bag in her lap.

How could Kaede have set her up with such a horrid guide? Inuyasha obviously didn't care at all about anybody other than himself. From what Kagome had gathered, he was the most popular guy in the school. He probably thought that he had lots of friends; but Kagome suspected that even his so-called girlfriend, Kikyou, only cared about his status.

She thought for a bit about the irony of the situation; in a way, the boy who had been chosen to guide her around was blind himself; he was blind to the fact that nobody really cared about him as a person. Kagome had already noticed that - while being dragged around by the half-demon - nobody called him by his name, Inuyasha.

"Hey, hanyou!"

"Yo, what's up, Mr. Cool?"

"Hey, dawg! No, seriously!"

It was obvious, at least to Kagome, the situation that Inuyasha was in. But why did she care? Inuyasha hated her, and quite frankly, the feeling was mutual. He could have at least tried harder. As Kagome's temper began to flare, hot tears began to fall down her face. Why did he have to be such a jerk! Couldn't he see that she didn't want to be stuck with him either? It wasn't -her- fault, none of this was! If only Kaede had chosen someone different, someone that actually cared about other people! Then she wouldn't be sitting in front of her locker like this, all on her own, crying.

Feeling utterly miserable, she opened her lunchbag and found the sandwich that her mother had made for her, and began to eat.

Inuyasha had abandoned Kagome without a second thought; so long as she didn't move, she wouldn't get lost or anything. He quickly went back to his own locker, grabbed his lunch, and made his way to the crowded cafeteria.

He knew that everybody was looking at him the moment he entered the room; immediately whispers shot across the cafeteria like wildfire, people no doubt spreading the rumour that he had been chosen to lead a blind girl around the school. He sat down at the table that was occupied by the group of boys that were his gang, and hence his friends; plus Kikyou and her posse. Kikyou smiled widely at him, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek and wrapping her arm around him as he sat down next to her. Inuyasha smiled back at her, and then at everyone else seated around him.

"Is it true?" one of his friends, Arik, asked. "About the girl?"

Inuyasha snorted. "Yeah. That idiot Kaede set me up with some blind girl."

"What's her name?" Kikyou asked, mockingly sweet.

"Kagome," Inuyasha almost spat. "She's so pathetic."

"One would imagine, if she's blind," a second friend of Inuyasha's said. "Sucks that you have to lead her around like that."

"Where is she now?" Kikyou asked.

"Sitting in front of her locker, eating her lunch," Inuyasha said, the hint of disgust still in his voice, as if the subject of Kagome made him want to throw up.

"Eating in front of her locker?" Arik asked incredulously. "So pathetic!"

"I know," Inuyasha said, and his gang and Kikyou's laughed cruelly at Kagome's expense. But while all of them save Kikyou and Inuyasha wondered inwardly at how Inuyasha could be so mean to the girl, none of them dared speak up; one wouldn't want to get on the bad side of the coolest guy and girl at Cameron Drake High School.

Kagome had almost finished her lunch when she heard footsteps echo through the now abandoned hallway. They stopped for a bit, and then accelerated in her direction. She felt a gust of wind on her face as someone sat down hurriedly next to her, and then felt a warm hand grab her arm.

"Kagome, right?" a kind, female voice said; it sounded like someone that could be around Kagome's age. "You're the blind girl that's in pretty much all my classes except second period!"

Kagome looked towards the source of the cheery voice, her face brightening at the prospect of a friend. "Yeah, that's me," she said. "Please, sit down, if you're willing to eat lunch sitting in front of the lockers with the blind girl," Kagome said, mocking herself.

The girl laughed. "Don't worry, I know how you're feeling," said the voice. "My name's Sango. It's my first year here as well, and trust me, I'm not fitting in any better than you are."

"Really?" Kagome asked. "But you're not...you don't have any weird disadvantages or whatever?"

Sango laughed again. "You don't have to be blind to have difficulty finding friends at a new school," she said, "though I'm sure it would make it a lot more difficult. No, I'm just a violence-loving girl."

"Violence-loving, eh?" Kagome asked, smiling. "Well, I'm sure that two misfits like us would have no problem getting along."

Kagome heard Sango making herself more comfortable on the cold ground. "Friends, then?"

Kagome beamed. "Friends."

Author's Note: Well, that's it for chapter one. Tell me what you think! I like reviews, and if you want a second chapter you're going to have to tell me that you want a second chapter. Like I said before, this fic is entirely experimental, so tell me if you want me to continue!