Author's Note: Aaaaaaand, here's chapter 4! Thanks so much to everybody who reviewed, unfortunately there are still too many of you for me to reply to everything... but thanks so much guys! I answered a couple of your questions at the end of this chappie.

CHAPTER 4: The Beginnings

Inuyasha had planned to get to Cameron Drake High School early so that he could avoid the crowd, and have some time to think. The previous day had been really busy, and everything had happened so fast; almost too fast. In the morning he had hated Kagome, and by the end of the day, he was asking for her forgiveness. Why had he done that? He had no idea. Something about Kagome and all her friends had triggered something in him: something alien and unfamiliar. In just one or two days, Kagome had filled his head with new ideas, made him see new truths; had made him a completely different person, almost. In just one or two days, he had gone from being first-class bully to a complete outcast.

What really surprised him was the fact that he didn't mind. He felt...reborn, almost, now that he wasn't being fawned over all the time. He enjoyed not having girls follow him, giggling, down the hallways. He enjoyed not having rooms fall silent in awe whenever he entered. It was kind of nice, not being popular.

The only problem was that, since it had all happened so damn fast, he had a crazy headache. So he had come to school early in the morning to get some fresh air, clear his thoughts; basically pull himself together before facing the turmoil of high school life.

But when he got there, he realized that he wasn't alone. Sitting beneath the same tree under which Inuyasha had apologized to her, sat Kagome, her head bent low over a piece of paper, writing something with the same pen that Inuyasha saw her use in class; the one that left raised ink marks so that she could 'see' what she was doing. Inuyasha held his breath, willing himself not to make any noise. He could hear her singing something; some beautiful, cheerful melody. His ears perked up on his head; her voice was amazing.

Not wanting to disturb her, he walked as quietly as he possibly could around the tree, keeping far away from it, until he was looking at the back of the tree, Kagome on the other side. Confident that she hadn't heard him, he began to approach the tree. He froze when the singing stopped for a moment. Had she heard him coming? What would she do if she had?

But these thoughts only lasted a second as the girl yawned and went back to her song. Smiling, Inuyasha continued tip-toeing up to her until he was almost directly behind her, on the other side of the tree. He looked over her shoulder at what she was writing.

It was a picture; a surprisingly accurate and realistic picture, considering that Kagome couldn't see what she was doing. It was a picture of a large tree in bloom, flowers dotting its foliage. There was a child sitting beneath the tree; a girl in a flowing skirt, with long hair that was dancing in the breeze. The girl was leaning against the trunk of the tree, looking up at the sky, looking for all the world the happiest child on earth.

Kagome ran her fingers over the surface of her drawing, smiling as she continued to hum the melody of the song. A thought suddenly surfaced in Inuyasha's mind and he grinned, somewhat evilly. Why not? he thought to himself. There's no-one else here...

He turned his head around the other side of the tree so that he could speak over Kagome's right shoulder, but kept the rest of him to her left.

"What a lovely picture," he said quietly, immediately turning back to Kagome's left. She looked over her right shoulder, standing up and scowling.

"Inuyasha?" she asked, beginning to back away, coming closer and closer to Inuyasha, who had moved behind her. "Come on, I know you're there." She kept one hand trailing along the trunk of the tree as she circled it, Inuyasha staying one step behind her. "Inuyasha," she called again, her voice almost sing-song, as if she was playing Hide-And-Seek.

Suddenly Inuyasha grabbed her from behind, pulling her close to him in a bear hug, then quickly let go of her and ran up the tree, laughing happily. "Got you!" he shouted down at her. He had climbed the tree quickly; he was now almost at the top, with a clear view of Kagome.

She looked up at the tree, her hands feeling around on the bark for something to grab on to. She found a particularly low-hanging branch, tested its strength, and then easily hoisted herself up on it. Inuyasha was surprised by her strength.

"Be careful," he said. "You wouldn't want to fall."

"Come on, that's not fair," Kagome called, her voice cheery. "And when did you have this lovely change of heart, that you didn't completely hate me?"

"Hey!" Inuyasha said, pretending to be hurt by her words. "I apologized yesterday..."

"But what changed your mind about being cool and having popular friends and everything?" Kagome asked, finding another branch and hoisting herself up on that one, coming closer to where Inuyasha sat so that she wouldn't have to speak so loudly. He watched her approach, amazed at her bravery. He didn't think he'd be willing to climb a tree with his eyes closed.

"I guess you changed my mind," he answered. "I don't know. Everything that you said about them not being true friends...I guess it put doubts in my head."

"You realized that they were just using you?" Kagome asked, feeling around for another branch.

"Yeah, I guess. Kagome, I don't think you should be climbing the tree," Inuyasha said, climbing down a couple of branches so that he was sitting right next to her. She stopped looking for another branch, instead turning her gaze to Inuyasha.

"When did you start caring so much?" she asked, her voice still a bit suspicious.

"When I realized that nobody cared about me," Inuyasha answered. Kagome smiled.

"Do you miss being popular?" she asked, leaning into the tree's thick trunk, wincing as she had to put some of her weight on the bruises that were almost covering her, reminiscent of her fall down the stairs.

"Not really," Inuyasha replied. "I mean, at least now I can have friends that actually care about me."

"And do you still think that Kaede's an idiot?" Kagome asked. Inuyasha paused, considering this.

"No," he answered, finally. "I think that she was planning this. It was almost as if she was trying to teach me a lesson."

"Well, it -is- her job to look out for all her students, not just the blind ones," Kagome said, smiling. "So you've really changed, then? No more trying to be cool or accepted? You just want to be friends with me, Sango and Miroku?"

Inuyasha took a deep breath. That was a lot to promise, but for some reason the answer seemed really obvious. "Yeah, surprisingly," he said. Kagome closed her eyes, smiling. A tear slid down her cheek and Inuyasha stared at her.

"Why are you crying?" he asked. "What did I say wrong?"

"Nothing," she answered, still smiling. "I just can't believe that it worked out so perfectly. I mean, you...just, look at you!" she said, waving her arm at Inuyasha, almost hitting him in the face. Inuyasha grinned. "You're so different, you're so...nice," she said, looking up at the tree's branches. Then she looked down to where the ground would be.

"How high up are we?" she asked, suddenly gripping the branch below her with renewed strength.

"Maybe eight or ten feet," Inuyasha answered.

"Okay, I want to get down from here," Kagome said. "Where's the branch below me?"

"Hold on, I'll help you out," Inuyasha said, and Kagome stopped moving. He slipped down so that he was below her, well-balanced on a particularly thick branch. "Okay, just slide down and I'll catch you," he said.

"No way," Kagome said. "I still don't trust you completely." She grinned as evilly as Inuyasha had done before. "How do I know you're not just going to let me fall?"

"Why would I do that?" Inuyasha asked, grinning now as well. Kagome shrugged.

"You could be lying about everything," she said, her voice telling Inuyasha that she was just teasing him. "You could still be trying to be popular and everything."

"Then I'll have to make you trust me," Inuyasha said, standing up suddenly and easily lifting Kagome from the branch that she was sitting on, being careful not to put too much pressure on her bruises. She shrieked a bit as she suddenly found herself wrapped in Inuyasha's arms, the wind whistling through her hair as the dog-demon jumped out of the tree. Scared, she wrapped her arms around Inuyasha's neck, burying her face in his shoulder. He grinned widely, setting her down on the ground below the tree that she had been occupying before he had arrived. She laughed, feeling around for the notebook that she had been drawing in, and putting it back into her back, along with the pen. Inuyasha looked around the yard, noticing that Sango and Miroku were approaching them. He waved at them cheerfully.

"Your other friends are coming," Inuyasha said to Kagome, who looked up with a large grin on her face, waving.

"Kagome!" Sango shouted. "Do I need to pound Inuyasha again?"

Kagome laughed. "Maybe just a bit!" she shouted back.

"What'd he do?" Miroku asked, not shouting since he was close enough to Kagome to be heard when speaking normally.

"He freaked me out!" the blind girl replied, the huge smile not yet leaving her face. Sango sat down next to her. "But it wasn't so bad," she added, giggling a bit. Inuyasha's face glowed with pride.

"You have no idea how fun it is to make a girl shriek," he said, evilly. Kagome gasped and threw a rock at him. It flew past him, missing his headby about a foot.

"We need to work on your aim," Inuyasha said, sitting in front of the girl. Mirok sat next to Sango, smiling a bit.

"Well, although Sango-of-heavenly-beauty does not seem to approve of Mr. Inuyasha," Miroku said, making Sango blush a little, "I think that he's earned the trust of Kagome, and hence should be welcomed into our group."

"We're not a triangle anymore!" Kagome said cheerfully.

"Oh, being square is so much better," Sango said sarcastically, glaring at Miroku. "But I guess I can't argue with you guys." She sighed, looking at Inuyasha. "I swear on my honour that if you ever do anything at all to hurt her, I'll-"

Miroku placed his hand over Sango's, grinning widely. "My dear Sango, we all know that you will rip Inuyasha apart painfully, limb by limb, and watch him die if he ever does anything to precious Kagome," he said. "But I must say thatbeing killedby your hands would be a very honourable way to die." He quickly made a grab at Sango's butt. She slapped him, hard on the face.

"This is the most bizarre square of friends I've ever seen," Kagome commented.

"Kikyou, are you alright?" Rhia asked her, looking at the most popular girl in school with concern in her eyes. Kikyou had been unusually quiet, keeping to herself, not answering everybody's pounding questions, not saying 'hello' to people that greeted her in the hallway; not even taking the time to glare at any boys who tried to flirt with her. Rhia was starting to really worry about the girl.

"This is about Inuyasha, isn't it?" she asked. Kikyou immediately whirled around and glared at her; she took a step back and muttered, "Sorry," as quietly as she could. Kikyou glared at her again and continued to walk down the hallway.

"Look, it's not your fault that he left," Rhia said again, desperately trying to get Kikyou to listen to her. "It's that girl's fault...Kagome...right?"

"Yeah," Kikyou snarled. "It'sall her fault."

"What are you going to do?" Rhia asked.

"What we always do when people think they can stand up to the leaders of Cameron Drake High School," Kikyou said. "Teach her a lesson."

Throughout their morning classes, Inuyasha watched Kagome taking her notes with that odd pen of hers. He made a mental note to ask her about it later. Although he was now friends with Kagome, and his emotions were all sorted out, he still found it difficult to pay attention to the teachers; now something else was bothering him.

He knew why Miroku and Sango didn't care for popularity. But what was Kagome's story?

She had been so quick to avoid answering the question, Inuyasha figured that it must be something bad. He couldn't stop thinking about her; about how she was so different from everybody he had ever met. She lived like a normal teenage girl; learning in school, making friends, even climbing trees - but she had such a disadvantage. She was definitely something special, and Inuyasha really wanted to find out what had happened to her.

By lunchtime, his head was hurting.

He led Kagome up to her locker and left her there for only a minute as he ran back to his own locker, picked up his lunch, and ran back. When he got there she was sitting on the floor, her back to her locker, carrying on a happy-looking conversation with Sango and Miroku. When Inuyasha approached the familiar look of suspicion arose in Sango's eyes, but Miroku waved cheerfully at him. Kagome, once Miroku told her what was going on, did the same.

"Do you guys want to eat outside?" Inuyasha asked. "It's a nice day."

"Oooh, can we go back to that tree?" Miroku inquired. "It's so nice and shady, and I must say that the leaves provide a beautiful background to the lovely Sango's face."

Sango blushed and pushed Miroku over. He sat up quickly, staring at her.

"What, no slap?" he asked, very surprised. "My dear Sango, surely you can't have-"

WHAM.

Miroku raised a hand to his stinging cheek. "Ah, she's back," he said. Kagome laughed.

"To the tree, then!" she said, standing up. Sango and Miroku stood as well, Sango taking Kagome's hand. The group of friends made their way outside, everybody but Kagome shielding their eyes against the bright sunlight. Since most of the students were eating their lunch in the cafeteria, the foursome found themselves pretty much alone. They made their way to the tree, all four of them sitting with their backs to the tree, so that they made a kind of ring around it. Sango, sitting next to Kagome, whispered in her ear, "We've become the Tree Cult." Kagome giggled.

It only took about fifteen minutes for the four of them to finish off their lunches, leaving a full forty-five minutes for them to do whatever they wanted. Miroku and Inuyasha stood and walked around the other side of the tree and sat in front of Kagome and Sango.

"Haha, now we can see you," Miroku said. "Sango, fifteen minutes is an awful long time to go without seeing your lovely face."

Sango slapped him again, but not as hard as she usually did. She was smiling. Kagome looked at her, confused.

"I get the feeling that you didn't hit him as hard as you normally do," she said. Sango raised her eyebrows.

"How do you figure?" she asked.

"It wasn't as loud," Kagome said, shrugging. "Ah, well." Sango sighed and looked away. With an evil grin on her face, Kagome put her hands behind Sango's back and pushed her best friend towards Miroku.

"Ack!" Sango cried, finding herself toppled over on top of Miroku. She blushed furiously, immediately picking herself up, but not before Miroku took the opportunity to grab her butt. She slapped him; harder than usual, this time.

"What'd you do that for?" she asked, rounding on Kagome, who had fallen over laughing. Sango grinned a bit, Kagome's laughter being infectious; but walked over to the blind girl.

"Inuyasha, could you maybe help me get revenge on her?" she asked, grinning just as evilly as Kagome had. Inuyasha returned the expression.

"But of course!" he said, cackling. Kagome stood, ran around the tree, dragging her hands along the bark; and when she had done a half-circle around the tree and knew she was facing away from her friends she began to run. Sango and Inuyasha caught up to her easily.

"You can't run from us, blind girl," Sango said, laughing as Inuyasha lifted Kagome easily off her feet. Kagome shrieked when she felt the ground move away from her, and Sango laughed again. "Haha! Payback!" she said, punching the air in celebration. Inuyasha spun around quickly, trying to make Kagome dizzy,and Kagome leaned in closer to him.

"Put me down put me down put me down," she said, her smile betraying the fact that she was somewhat enjoying this. Miroku, missing out on the action, ran up to Inuyasha and began to poke Kagome in the forehead.

"Why is it that you touch her forehead, while you can't seem to resist my ass?" Sango asked, placing her hands on her hips, shaking her head at Miroku, who smiled innocently.

"I simply cannot help myself when it comes to you, dear Sango," he said. "Your fury is what makes it so much fun." Sango suddenly ran at him, bopping him over the head with her fist. Miroku laughed. "See? My point has been confirmed." Sango sighed, realizing that she couldn't win, and Inyuasha spun Kagome around again.

"Okay, okay, put me down, I'm too dizzy," Kagome said, and Inuyasha complied, being careful not to accidentally poke her in the back, knowing that there were bad bruises there. When her feet hit the ground Kagome sighed, sitting down immediately and grabbing fistfuls of grass. "Land!" she cried, laughing.

Inuyasha noticed that Sango had somehow managed to chase Miroku up the tree. "Hey, Kagome," he said. "Mr. Pervert ran up the tree in order to avoid the wrath of Sango."

"Seriously?" Kagome asked, standing up quickly, taking a moment to regain her balance as she was still somewhat dizzy. "Can you take me over to them?" she asked, holding out her still-bruised hand. Seeing the purple marks all over her palm brought back some guilt to Inuyasha. He desperately wanted to ask her what had happened to her, probably all those years ago, to make her not care about popularity; but they were having too much fun, and he didn't want to make her upset when she was just starting to trust him.

So instead he said, "Sure," and took her hand in his, leading her towards the tree.

"Get back down here, you stupid pervert," Sango was shouting up at Miroku. "I need to beat the crap out of you."

"Oh, -that's- an incentive to go back to you," Miroku said jokingly. "I'll tell you what. I'll come down there and let you do whatever you want with me if you'll do just one thing."

"And what would that be?" Sango asked, sounding annoyed.

"Go on a date with me."

"No!" Sango shouted back, blushing again. Inuyasha led Kagome up to Sango and Kagome grabbed Sango's hand. Inuyasha quickly climbed the tree, making himself comfortable next to the other boy, and whispered something in his ear. Miroku laughed.

"You should go out with him," Kagome said to Sango, now that they were alone. She whirled around to face her; Kagome felt Sango's hair whip against her face and grinned. "Come on; I know you like him."

"I do not!" Sango said, a little too loudly. Miroku and Inuyasha stared down at them. "What are you looking at?" Sango shouted at them, flustered now.

"Just 'cause I'm blind doesn't mean I can't feel things," Kagome said. "You always tense up when he compliments you, and you're not slapping him as hard anymore."

Sango stared at the girl. "You're weird, you know that?" she said, but she was smiling. Kagome detected the submission in Sango's voice and hugged her best friend.

"I knew I was right!" she said. "Now come on, go on a date with him! It'd be fun. Trust me."

Sango sighed. "On one condition, and one condition only."

"Whatever you want," Kagome said. "Anything would be worth the fun of hearing about your date with Miroku." Kagome giggled at the very thought of it.

"You come with me," Sango said. "And Miroku'll probably bring Inuyasha."

"Oh, so you trust him now?" Kagome asked, beaming. "Yay!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So you'll come?"

"Of course I'll come!" Kagome said, practically bouncing. "I can't believe it, Sango's going on a date with Miroku, hahaha!"

Inuyasha's sensitive ears heard Kagome's cheer and he stared down at Sango. "You're -what-?" he asked incredulously. Sango groaned.

"Miroku, come down from that damned tree," she said. Miroku grinned.

"I already told you, you have to go on a date with me," he said, his voice cheery. He knew that Sango would never accept.

"I'm bringing Kagome with us," Sango said.

Miroku nearly fell out of the tree in shock; Inuyasha grabbed his hand at the last minute and he righted himself, smiling his thanks to the hanyou. He stared at Sango, in a state of complete and utter disbelief.

"You'll do it?" he asked. "Really?"

"Yeah. You can bring Inuyasha if you want. Now, get back down here and let me pummel you," Sango said, cracking her knuckles. Miroku's grin looked as if it was going to reach his ears as he practically bounced down the tree and ran up to Sango.

"My lovely, beautiful, heart-of-gold Sango," he said. "I await your punishment."

Sango slapped him three times, hard, on his cheek; he took the blows with the smile on his face. Inuyasha had descended the tree as well and was now standing next to Miroku.

"I can't believe she said yes," he said, his expression obviously surprised. "Miroku, do you want me to go with you?"

"Yeah, why not?" Miroku said. "We'll get to know you better." He grinned as Sango almost slapped him again, but then thought better of it.

"Stop smiling at me!" Sango said, beginning to smile herself. "It's just a stupid date. Don't try to kiss me or anything."

"I wouldn't think of it, Sango dear," Miroku said, looking at his watch. "Holy crap! We have to get going!" he exclaimed. "See you after school, Sango, my love," he said, wiggling his eyebrows. Sango rolled her eyes and walked back to the school. Inuyasha took Kagome's hand and led her up to her locker.

"You're going to be okay getting your stuff together on your own?" Inuyasha asked. "I need to get my knapsack."

"Yeah, just come back when you're done," Kagome said. "I don't know where the classroom is."

Inuyasha grinned. "See you in a minute," he said, and ran off to his own locker. Kagome stood frozen in front of her own locker for a few seconds, thinking of the prospect of Sango going on a date with Miroku. Now that would be absolutely hilarious.

She opened her locker, reading the Braille inscriptions on her various binders and textbooks until she found all the ones she would need, and stuffed them in her knapsack. She had just gotten everything together when she heard footsteps approaching her. She smiled, closed her locker door, and gingerly placed her knapsack on her back.

"Ready to go?" Inuyasha asked her. She smiled as he took her hand, not waiting for an answer before leading her away from her locker and towards their next class.

Author's Note: OMIGOSH 50 REVIEWS! THAT'S SO AWESOME! Wow... I bet we could hit 60 reviews before the next chapter's ready to go. That's amazing:D:D:D

Tell me what you thought of this chapter! Too sappy / fluffy? Should I start getting into the plot with Kikyou and stuff?

Oh, and for those of you that asked questions about Kagome's sight: Kagome might be getting her sight back eventually, remember that the doctor had promised her that it would come back soon :D

And also to Secret411, I just upload my story like normal; upload the .doc file through the Document Manager, check it over with the Edit/Preview function, then enter the Chapter section of the stories and add the uploaded document as a new chapter. I don't know how else to explain it, sorry...

More reviews: faster and more numerous updates. . Thanks so much to everyone that's reading this!