Author's Note: Wow! I got a lot more reviews than I expected to! Thank you so much guys! And a note: Usually I use asterixes around actions, but unfortunately they don't show up, so if you just see a random word like 'dances' or 'cries' or 'gives everyone hugs', then remember that there are supposed to be asterixes around it, and it's an action. :D

And now...responding to reviews:D

Suckatwriting: Aw, come on, I'm sure that you don't really suck at writing. :P But thanks for the awesome review! Your enthusiasm is astounding. :P

Att3nt10n D3f1c1t M3GG0: I'm not even going to try to figure out what your name means. :P But yay for the McDonald's theme song! I'm glad you like my fic! Thanks for the coolios review!

Elenion-Ancalima: Wow! I'm so happy that you like my story . After this chapter you can already see the opportunities for Inuyasha to start falling for Kagome, and Miroku gets brought into the play! I'm not sure how I'm going to bring Shippo in, but I do want to. Thanks for the great review!

PurityFlower1989: lol! Thanks so much for the review!

HelikaAkileh: I'm so glad that you like my story :D Thanks a bunch for the review! .

Nekomata-17: I'm glad that Kagome found a friend too. :D Thanks for the review!

Akihanah: Wow, you were practically crying? I was so sad too...I get really attached to characters I use in stories... cries Anyways, thanks for the awesome review!

Okay...I think that's everyone...wow:D Thanks so much guys! gives everyone a hug

Now...on with the chapter!

CHAPTER 2: The goodness of friends

Sango sat next to the blind girl, smiling at Kagome's obvious happiness at the prospect of having a new friend. She herself was delighted at the idea; she hadn't fit in very well with the rest of the girls at Cameron Drake High School, what with her set-in-stone belief that Kikyou was an idiot. So she sat with Kagome in front of her locker, giving death-glares to all the people that passed them and shook their heads, as if in disgust.

When a tall boy with black hair tied back in a small ponytail walked up to them, Sango prepared the glare that she had grown so accustomed to delivering. "Kagome, a boy just walked up to us, and he looks really stupid," Sango said, explaining the situation to the blind girl who, in a very short timespan, had become her best friend. "He's wearing a ridiculous shirt."

"Oh, your words are like a knife thrust through my heart," the boy said, dramatically staggering backwards, feigning a violent death. "And you don't even know my name!"

"Fine," Sango said, rolling her eyes. "What's your name?"

"Miroku," the boy answered, a large smile plastered on his face. "And you, my dear; your name could only be Artemis, for your beauty seems to know no bounds."

"I'll be right back, Kagome," Sango said, standing up and approaching Miroku. He smiled as Sango approached, expecting a kiss or some other reward for his compliment.

So when his cheek was stinging with the oh-so-familiar feeling of an open palm being slapped across his face, he was very shocked. "But my dear lady, whatever did I do to anger you?" he asked, holding his hand across his face where she had slapped him. "I just paid you a compliment."

"Miroku, the school pervert," Sango explained aloud. "I might not have been here for very long, but trust me, I've already heard your reputation."

"A lovely woman with such strength as you possess could only be Sango," Miroku said. "I've already heard about your thing with fighting."

"Oh?" Sango asked. "Then why are you still standing here?" She cracked her knuckles threateningly. Miroku ignored her.

"And this must be the much-whispered-about Kagome," Miroku said, stepping past Sango and crouching in front of the other girl. "I must say, I feel pity for you."

"Why, because I'm blind?" Kagome said, a touch of anger in her own voice. "Don't give me pity just because I can't see how stupid you undoubtedly look."

Sango snickered, sitting back down beside Kagome. Miroku took the opportunity to sit down in front of Kagome.

"No, not at all; in fact, I think that it might be rather nice not to have to see the vulgar graffiti inscribed all over these lovely walls," Miroku said. "Nah, I feel bad for you because you're stuck with Inuyasha to lead you around. That must be awful."

Sango blinked. Maybe this boy had more to him than the perverted rumours that she had heard. Kagome said, "Yeah, it's not very good."

"I'd love to exchange places with the half-demon, but unfortunately I do not share many of your classes," Miroku said.

"Sure, you'd just love the chance to lead a blind girl around the school, groping at her whenever you'd like," Sango said, getting angry again. Miroku raised his hands in the air, playing innocent.

"I wouldn't think of taking advantage of her like that," he said. "But you, on the other hand, lovely Sango..." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Kagome laughed. "Come on, Sango, he's just being an idiot," she said, when she felt Sango tense up next to her. "If he thinks Inuyasha's as stupid as he is, then he can't just be another one of the incredibly ignorant males."

Sango paused, thinking this over. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she said, almost reluctantly.

"Oooh!" Miroku said. "Does this mean that I will receive the ultimate privilege of being one of your surely numerous friends?"

"Numerous?" Kagome said, laughing. "Yeah, right."

"Well..." Sango said, doubtfully; but Kagome gave her a bit of a shove.

"If he joins our lovely group of friends, then we'll still just be a triangle; but it's better than a line," Kagome said. Sango shook her head.

"Yeah, whatever," she said reluctantly. "You can hang out with us. But no groping!" she added. Miroku shrugged.

"These hands, they have minds of their own," he said innocently, waving his hands in the air as if to demonstrate his point. "Now, do tell me what kind of morning you two lovely ladies have been having!"

Kagome laughed a bit, but soon sank into more depressed spirits as Sango recounted both of their tales of rejection; about how she had been pretty much avoided by everyone, and how badly Inuyasha had treated Kagome. All through the story, Miroku sat and listened, his expression becoming more and more aghast, to the point where it looked comical. Sango described these shifts of expressions to Kagome as she was telling the story.

When Sango had finished, Miroku sighed. "It's so sad that two ladies as lovely as yourselves should have had such a malignant morning," he said. "But, since the three of us have already been cast away from popularity with no hope of return, why not give Inuyasha a piece of the lovely Kagome's mind?"

"What do you mean by that?" Sango asked, looking suspiciously at Miroku. Kagome cleared her throat.

"I think he means to say that we should shout and scream at Inuyasha about what an idiot he is, because we obviously don't have anything to lose," Kagome said.

"But we have everything to gain!" Miroku said enthusiastically. "I know from experience that shouting at Inuyasha is fun. Unfortunately, most of the fun is watching his facial expressions change, but I'm sure that the beautiful Sango can tell you exactly what's going on."

"How much time do we have left in lunch?" Kagome asked. "Even if I had a watch, I wouldn't be able to read it."

"We still have half an hour," Miroku said. "More than enough time to give Inuyasha a good shouting at."

Smirking, he stood up and offered a hand to Sango, who took it and hoisted herself up before bending over to help Kagome. Miroku took the opportunity to make a grab at Sango's butt. As soon as Sango had finished helping Kagome stand, she whirled around to face Miroku and slapped him very hard on the face, again.

"Pervert!" she said. "I don't know why I'm letting you hang out with us."

Miroku rubbed his cheek. "Think of it this way," he offered. "After spending some time with you, I'm sure that my face will be stronger. Now, the cafeteria is this way," he said, and began to lead Sango and Kagome downstairs.

The cafeteria was a lot less full than it had been; at Inuyasha's table, there only sat the dog-demon himself, Kikyou beside him, Arik, and Kikyou's friend Rhia. Maybe fifteen other people sat around the room, scattered in handfuls amongst the various tables. When Miroku, Sango, and Kagome entered the room, most of them looked up in surprise and then went back to their conversations. Inuyasha's table, however, didn't resume their chatter. When the threesome approached them, the whole cafeteria fell silent.

The group stopped upon reaching the edge of the table. Inuyasha glared at them. "What do you want?" he practically snarled at the three friends. Kikyou joined her boyfriend in scowling at the three of them.

Miroku cleared his throat. "Dearest Inuyasha, it has come to our attention that you have not been...shall I say, particularly kind to our lovely friend Kagome."

"Friend?" Inuyasha sneered. "That blind idiot actually got herself some friends?" Sango felt Kagome tense at her side, and wrapped her arm around the girl's shoulder encouragingly.

"If anybody's unworthy of friends, it's you, you arrogant ass," Sango said to Inuyasha, her voice growing louder. All heads in the cafeteria turned to watch what would surely become an interesting argument. "It's not her fault that you were picked to guide her around! She doesn't want to be with you any more than you want to be with her! And you just drag her around and dump her in any old place like some random piece of trash!"

Loud whispers were beginning to spread among the sparse amount of people that were seated in the cafeteria, and some students that had been idly wandering the hallways poked their heads into the room to see what was going on. Inuyasha noticed all of this, and it made him angrier.

"His face is beginning to look like a clown's," Sango whispered to Kagome, who giggled.

"I don't need to take care of some stupid girl!" Inuyasha said, his voice rising to match the volume of Sango's. "Apparently she's got friends now who can deal with her! I don't want to have anything to do with her!"

"We would love to replace you, but we're not in all of her classes!" Sango replied, her voice louder than Inuyasha's, now. "In the meantime, Principal Kaede chose -you- to be her escort, and you're obviously not doing your job!"

"Well, it's not my fault if Kaede is too stupid to see that I won't be bothered with some blind girl!" Inuyasha shouted. "It's her fault, not mine!"

"It's entirely your fault!" Miroku said, joining the argument. "Just because she's blind, doesn't mean you can go around treating her like garbage! She's a person too!"

"Oh, what lovely friends you've gotten yourself, Kagome," Inuyasha sneered. "Miss Fighter and Mr. Pervert. I do admire your choice of personalities."

"You jerk!" Kagome cried. "You're so stuck up, at least these people are true friends! These idiots that hang around you just want to be popular! At least my friends won't whisper behind my back just to get to a certain status!"

"How dare you insult me!" Inuyasha said. Kagome grinned a little bit; if Inyuasha had had any true friends, he would have said, 'how dare you insult my friends'. It was obvious to her - and also to Sango and Miroku, for they were grinning as well - that Inuyasha was very alone.

"What are you all grinning for?" Inuyasha shouted, his face going a bit red. "Now, seeing as she's obviously so well taken-care-of, I don't need to drag her around anymore!" He sat back down on the cafeteria bench. "Good riddance," he added.

"If you don't continue to act as her escort, we'll tell Kaede that you're shirking your duties," Miroku said. "We're already told you, we can't go with Kagome to all her classes; they're not the same as ours."

"But I-" Inuyasha began, but was interrupted by a furious Sango.

"Listen, jerk," she said. "We don't know why Kaede chose you. But she did. We have to make the best of this! Now, either you do your job and do it -well-, or we'll inform Kaede of what you've been up to."

"Oh, I'm so afraid of tattle-tales," Inuyasha said sarcastically, but Kikyou wrapped her arm through his and whispered something in his ear. His face blanched and he looked up at Kagome again.

"Fine. I'll take you to your classes. But I'm not taking you home or whatever," he said, angrily. "So long as you know I hate you, you idiot girl, then we should be fine."

"And I hate you, too," Kagome replied, her voice sickeningly sweet. Sango chuckled to herself, and then led Kagome out of the cafeteria, and away from the now-fuming Inuyasha. Miroku followed.

Sango and Miroku went with Kagome to the first class she had after lunch, but after that it was once again up to Inyuasha to guide her around the school. He grabbed her hand tightly (-too- tightly, she was already getting ugly-looking bruises) and virtually dragged her around. They never spoke to each other, not once; through all the classes that they sat together in they never looked at each other, nor acknowledged each other's presence. In fact, only at the end of the day did Inuyasha even glance at her.

The first thing he looked at was her hand, feeling a little guilty when he saw the ugly bruises that were forming. Throughout the day, the angry words that had been spoken at lunch had been tumbling around his mind. After the three of them had left - Kagome, Sango, and Miroku - he had turned to Kikyou, Arik and Rhia and asked them, "You guys are my good friends, right?"

They had all hesitated a fraction of a second before enthusiastically replying, "Yes, of course!" And that fraction of a second was an infinite amount of time too long. Inuyasha had also begun to realize that most people didn't address him by his name; it was almost as if they didn't think of him as a person, but as an object of status, something that they all needed to be on good terms with. As much as he hated to admit it, he was starting to be slightly jealous of the way that Kagome's exceptionally new friends had stood up for her, shouting at him - the most popular guy at the school - losing all hope of popularity for themselves, and all because one girl had been unhappy.

But by the end of the day, he was still angry with her, so he let go of her hand when he had brought her to her locker. "You can take care of yourself from here," he said, turning to leave.

"Wait!" Kagome had said, and he had stopped for a second. It was then that he had noticed her hand; he had picked it up again, turned it over, examined the bruises that were marring her unquestionably skin. He had lifted her hand to her face.

"Is this my fault?" he asked, poking her hand gingerly, his eyes flashing with guilt when she winced.

"Yeah, I guess so," she said, her voice quiet. "But please don't leave just yet. There are stairs, and I don't know what they're like, and -"

"Hold on to the handrail," Inuyasha had interrupted, letting go of her hand as anger flashed in his mind again. He was sick and tired of having this blind her following him around like some sick animal! She could walk down the stairs fine on her own. Like he had said, there was a handrail she could hold on to.

So he left her at her locker, instead crossing the hallway and going down the stairs to his own personal cabinet. He was slow in getting all his things together, though; he was noticing the sideways glances that people were giving him, as if they were checking on him constantly, seeing what he was doing; if he flicked some of his long silver hair out of his face, many other people did the same. It was as if they were all trying to be him. It unnerved Inuyasha, somewhat. In fact, it made him feel so awkward that as soon as he had gotten his knapsack together he went back up the stairs and across the empty hallway. Well, there was still one person there; Kagome, with her knapsack on her back, standing at the top of the stairs, her knuckles white as she gripped the handrail as tightly as she could.

Inuyasha stopped. If Kagome heard him coming, then she would know that he had come back for her; she would feel as if she had won the argument. He couldn't let that happen; the -hadn't- won the argument. She had been wrong in everything that she had said.

But had she been?

Yes, Inuyasha told himself. My friends would never hurt anyone. They're good friends.

So he didn't approach Kagome. In fact, he hid himself behind another group of lockers when he saw Kikyou approaching the blind girl from behind, and watched the following scene completely hidden from the fully-functioning eyes of his girlfriend.

"Hello, Kagome," he heard Kikou say. He saw Kagome turn herself away from the stairs, to look in the direction of the voice she had heard.

"Who is it?" Kagome asked. "I can't see you."

"Of course you can't," Kikyou had said. "Now, I just wanted you to know what happens to blind girls who challenge me."

Challenge her? Inuyasha thought. How did Kagome challenge her? But these thoughts were swept out of his mind when he saw Kikyou extend her arms in Kagome's direction, and roughly push her down the stairs. Kikyou stood there and watched Kagome fall, listened to her scream as her arms flailed, trying to reach the handrail, or stop her fall, or something; and then the girl that Inuyasha had called "girlfriend" walked down the stairs and away from the fallen Kagome, laughing.

Inuyasha was frozen in place, utterly shocked at what he had just witnessed. How could she...how could anyone...

Without thinking, he stood up and ran across the hallway to the stairs that Kagome had fallen down, looking down them to see Kagome lying on her side, not moving. He ran down the stairs, feeling horribly guilty; if he hadn't left her alone, if he had just listened to her...

"Kagome!" he said, kneeling next to the unconscious girl. "Come on, Kagome, wake up! This isn't funny," he threatened. When the girl didn't answer, he began to freak out a bit. What if Kikyou had somehow killed her? What if Kaede found out?

He shook the girl's shoulders, trying to get her to wake up; Kagome responded by groaning a bit. She then fell into utter unconsciousness again, but it was enough to send a thorough wave of relief through Inyuasha; she wasn't dead.

"It's okay," he said to her, even though he knew she wouldn't be able to hear him. "I'll take care of you, come on." He lifted her carefully from the ground and held her in his arms, turning in the direction of the nurse's office.

You should just leave her there, a voice in his head said. She deserved what she got; she stood up to you! How many times in the past have you exacted similar revenge on people that got on your bad side?

Inuyasha froze, realizing how true this was. It hadn't been that long since he had been the ruthless, cold-blooded, conscienceless bully that he now knew Kikyou had become. He looked down at Kagome, still lying limp in his arms. What had changed him?

Had it been her?

Maybe Kaede had made a good choice after all; maybe she had just wanted to teach him this lesson. It had only been one day and already Inuyasha was realizing that friendship, true friendship, was something he was utterly lacking; and also something that he wanted dearly.

Trying to get rid of these thoughts, he carried Kagome to the sick room, confident that he would never be the cold, reputation-loving bully that Cameron Drake High School knew him as. As he shrugged his wants for popularity aside, he was surprised at how happy he felt; as if a large weight had been taken off his shoulders. He smiled down at the unconscious girl.

What a bizarre turn of events, he thought to himself. Thanks, Kaede.

Author's Note: Dum-dum-dum! Well, I hope that you guys are all happy with the update; I'm really surprised at the amount of reviews I got! Thanks so much!

More reviews, more updates. :D

hugs everyone