Lola: It's 11:00 pm on a school, night. I'm screwed. But it's going up, I swear to god. Mom is gonna kill me. Anyway, new chapter. I'm happy. Paris will be happy. The whole world better be happy, dammit!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, or its characters. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Get it got it good.

Also: A new disclaimer: I, Lola-Gurl, do not stand for any statements the characters may say in my stories. They are simply said to fit the character as best I can. (I hope that is understood clearly now…)

With that, lets go already.


Chapter 7: Alterations

"You…you did that for me?" Rin asked uncertainly. She looked at the large number of shopping bags sitting in her new bedroom.

"I didn't. I have a cousin who works at the mall. She was happy to do it. Needless to say, if I would have done it, I would have gotten some strange looks," Sesshoumaru drawled.

Rin felt close to tears. Joyful ones at that, which seemed quite rare in her lifetime. "You did take care of everything, thank you. I can't even say how grateful I am! You've given me everything! Sesshoumaru-sama, thank you!" She felt like hugging him, but she knew no good would come of that.

'I've given her everything she deserves,' he thought to himself, 'Now I hope she'll be happy enough to leave me to myself'.

"There are a few things you should know," he said, instructing her, "I told my parents that I hired a new maid, so if they see you around the house and tell you to get to work, that's why. Also, I'm not sure your cuts and bruises won't last much longer, but don't go back to school until next week. And don't leave the house anymore, I mean that."

"Does Inuyasha know I'm here?" Rin asked.

"No. And don't tell him either. He'd be liable to tell my parents the truth, and they would make a fuss. Eventually, he might find out. But until that time, try not to be seen by him. Also, don't tell any of your friends you're here yet, and if you must, don't be truthful about it."

She nodded. "I understand."

"Thank you. I'm going to go now. If you need anything, find Tadako. She's always on hand around here somewhere."


Kagome awoke on Saturday to the deafening tone of her alarm clock. Half asleep, she grabbed it from her bedside table and smothered it underneath her pillow. Eventually she realized that it wasn't going to stop unless she turned it off. She regretfully took it out from underneath her pillow and turned it off. It was currently 8:00.

She and Inuyasha had agreed to meet at 10:00, so he could leave earlier. Groggily, she stepped out of bed, nearly landing on Buyo.

"Good morning, Buyo," she said softly, picking up the overweight cat. "I bet you want to eat, huh? Okay, I'll feed you. Sometimes I wish Souta'd do it."

"Morning Kagome!" Souta said, jumping out of nowhere to greet his sister. Kagome was so startled she nearly dropped Buyo.

"Souta, don't do that!" She demanded angrily. He put his head down sadly and apologized. Kagome sighed and set Buyo down. "Souta, I'm sorry. I love you." She hugged her little brother.

"I already fed Buyo. He was scratching at my door this morning, so I decided I'd do it before he woke you up," Souta said.

"Thanks," Kagome said gratefully, heading downstairs, "I appreciate it. It makes this morning much less hectic."

"Why?" Souta asked curiously, "what's going on this morning that's hectic? It's a Saturday."

"I know," Kagome sighed. "I have to go to the library in 2 hours and meet some stupid kid from school. We're doing a project together and I would much rather have a different partner."

"I see," Souta said, nodding. "That sucks. I'm sorry, sis. Don't let him bother you, okay? He's just trying to make you angry."

"Why? Why would anyone try to make someone angry or hurt them on purpose?" Kagome asked, more to herself than to Souta.

"Because he thinks its funny or something. He wants to see you angry," Souta said, shrugging. It seemed less than obvious to him. Why not to Kagome?

She asked herself this question internally as she surveyed her little brother.

"You're pretty smart," she said, ruffling his hair with a smile, "Thanks."

"No problem. Mom had to go to the store, so she said we could have cereal this morning. She didn't have ingredients to make anything special today. She said she'd be back in an hour or so. She left you a note on the table." Souta pointed to the note that lay on the kitchen counter.

Kagome picked it up and read her mother's neat handwriting.

Kagome,

I went to the grocery store. You and Souta can have cereal this morning, unless you want toast or something. I'm writing you this note because I'm not sure I trust Souta with the message. I'll be back around 9:00. Behave yourselves!

Lots of Love,

Mom

Kagome smiled at her mother's note. It seemed to depict her personality flawlessly. "Okay," Kagome said with a shrug. "Lets make some cereal." She went to the cupboard and grabbed a box of sugary cereal and poured it into two bowls. She didn't have much of a taste for it, but she knew it was what her little brother desired.

"Thanks Kag!" He said, hugging his sister round the middle.

She patted the top of his head absently. At the moment, she had other things on her mind.


Sango set down the dish of cat food for her small kitten.

"Eat up Kirara," She said, petting the adorable little figure that ran eagerly to the dish. She smiled at her kitten as it ate.

The phone began to ring.

Sango ignored it, figuring it was far too early to socialize. Eventually, Kohaku decided to pick it up himself. He came into the kitchen with the cordless phone in hand.

"Sango, the phone's for you," he said, holding it out for her.

"Who's calling?" She asked, pouring water in Kirara's water dish.

Kohaku shrugged. "I dunno. Some guy. He didn't tell me his name."

Sango stiffed slightly at these words. It was that lecher of a partner Miroku, she was certain. What other guy would call her on a Saturday? What other guy would ever call her?

"Okay," she said, taking the phone from her little brother. "Hello?"

"Sango dearest, it's Miroku-"

"What do you want?" She tried to be terse and to the point. She had no desire to stay on the phone any longer than necessary.

"Oh, don't be so harsh San-chan!" He wined.

"Don't call me that," she hissed in a deadly voice. She could nearly her Miroku shuddering on the other line.

"You' re cold Sango, really you are. I called about the debate research we need to do," He said, beginning to sound more serious than she had heard him.

"Yea, what about it? I thought we agreed that we'd both do some researching this weekend and meet back on Monday with the information we found," she said, sounding questioning, "what's the problem?"

"Well, you see Sango, my computer is broken. It got some sort of virus, and I have to wait until Tuesday afternoon to get it fixed. So I thought it would be logical that we get together and do research," he said this all smoothly, trying to sound as realistic as possible. "It makes sense, does it not?"

Sango groaned inwardly. She had no desire of wasting her Saturday in the presence of that perverted jerk. "Yes, I suppose so. We're going to the library then?" She asked listlessly.

"That's a wonderful idea Sango!" He said enthusiastically, not really because of the idea, moreover because his plan had worked. "What do you say we meet about 1:00?"

"That's fine Miroku."

"Wonderful! I'll see you then!" He hung up and grinned mischievously. "See Inu? I told you that it'd work." Inuyasha rolled his eyes at his hopeless friend.

"I think you're wasting your time Miroku. The girls impossible to break. You'll never get her to like you with what you're doing. What happens if she finds out your computer is in perfect working condition?" Inuyasha asked coolly.

Miroku shrugged. "I'll don't know. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it."


Kagome arrived outside the library at promptly 10:00. She waited nervously, afraid Inuyasha would pull some sort of prank on her and not show up, or worse; humiliate her in public. He had already done enough with the super glue in math class. Anything else would send her over the edge.

The air held a bit of chill, which Kagome unwillingly accepted. For after that came the colder weather, and with it, winter. It wasn't as if she disliked winter at all, she just couldn't stand the cold. She hugged her thin jacket closer to her body, wishing sincerely that she had worn something warmer.

"You're more idiotic than I thought, wench. At least wear a real jacket," A disdainful voice proclaimed.

Her mood worsened even more at these words. Thinking about him was bad enough. Actually being in his presence was even worse. She turned her head grudgingly to see Inuyasha standing there, his hands jammed in his coat pockets. Unlike her, he had been smart enough to wear a warmer jacket.

"I've realized that now," she said bitterly, "can we go inside now?"

He nodded and followed her inside the building. Kagome was extremely appreciative for the warm air that circulated throughout the large library. "Okay," she said in a quiet voice, "I think one of us should do research on the computer, while one looks through printed material. Then we can meet up a little later and write down some important facts."

It was her plan. If they were split up using two different sources, she wouldn't have to worry about being around him, fighting with him, or (god forbid) getting kicked out of the library.

"That would work," Inuyasha said in agreement, "if everyone weren't using the computers."

Kagome looked around to library and groaned. Every single computer was occupied one person or another. "We should check the second floor," she said determinedly, "there's computers there too. I'm sure there will be an open one somewhere." She rushed up the stairs, Inuyasha in reluctantly following.

This girl was insanely determined, he thought to himself, and it's sort of amusing. Kagome looked miserable when she saw that the upstairs computers too were unavailable for use.

"Well, that throws a fairly large wrench in our plans," she said forlornly, "I guess we won't be doing any internet research."

"See, that's why I'm the smart one and you're completely retarded," Inuyasha said with a scoff.

(A/N: Once again, not my views, just Inuyasha's words. I'm just saying this as fair warning before I get any more flames)

Kagome shot him angry looks. He pulled a stack of papers, neatly printed and paper clipped together. "I decided to do some stuff last night. And for good reason it seems," he said, raising his eyebrows at the surprised girl. Kagome reached for it, but Inuyasha held it out of her reach. She furrowed her eyebrows angrily and reached for it again. Yet once more, he held it out of her reach.

"Looks like someone wasn't taught manners!" He said, with a mocking tone. "Use the magic word."

"Please Inuyasha!" She said pleadingly, "we're wasting time fighting. Please just hand me the papers so I can look at them."

He handed them over without another word.

She blinked it complete oblivious confusion. Was it really that easy?

"Uh, thanks," she said, taking them from his hands. She eyed through the information as she walked. "Wow," she said, impressed, "this is some really good information. It's great for our argument too! Where'd you get this?"

He shrugged. "I don't know," he said nonchalantly. "some sites on the internet. The web addresses are listed at the end."

And so they were.

Kagome set her things down on one of the round tables in a small area of the library. "Wow. Inuyasha, I'm impressed."

Inuyasha was surprised to hear an actual compliment come out of her mouth. It took him off guard. "Uh...thanks," he said, unsure of what he should answer.

"Alright," she said, taking off her jacket. "I suppose we can work from books, along with this material. I brought some paper and note cards, so we can star mapping out where we want our arguments to go. But first, I think we should go get some books."

She motioned for him to follow her to a section of the library, which he did. He found cooperating with Kagome and not arguing surprisingly easy after awhile. He had to admit, as much as he didn't want to, that she knew what she was doing.

"What do you have the Dewey decimal system memorized or something?" He asked, as she passed through the many rows of books with certainty.

"No, I'm not that much of a nerd. I've just read up on the subject before. I don't know…I just find it sort of interesting, I guess. It's an important thing to think about," She said, stopping at the correct place. She scanned her eyes over the book titles and stopped to look at a few. She pulled them off the shelf and flipped through them a bit.

"Would you mind carrying the books?" She asked him. He shook his head no. Normally, he would tell her to carry her own damn books, but since he was too indifferent to care, he decided it would be easiest not to care. And to Inuyasha, easiest equaled laziest.

He held out his arms and let her pile book after book onto them. He was about to reach a point where he could no longer see where he was going when he said, "Hey Kagome, If I carry anymore books, I swear I'll ending up killing someone. This many books could flatten a sumo wrestler."

She wanted to laugh at this comment, but chose not to. It was just to weird to get along with Inuyasha that it nearly made her sick.

"You're right. I'm sure we have enough sources to come up with a good argument. Let's go." The began walking back, Inuyasha walking slightly slower than before, due to the weight of the books.

"You know, I'm being selfish. I'll carry some of those," she said, whirling around to face him. She grabbed the first few off of his pile and held lightened the weight from his tiring arms.

"Thanks," he said gratefully.

"You're welcome," she said, a small smile brushing her face. This was by far a new experience for Inuyasha. It was the first time she had smiled at him. Ever. It almost made him feel dizzy. She was so lighthearted and kind to others, and he knew well of it. So why did she have to hate him?

This thought troubled him as they read through the information. He could barely concentrate on what he was reading, and the notes he was writing didn't fully make sense. He was finally relieved of this tension when his stomach led out a large growl. Kagome looked up from the book she was reading and raised her eyebrows at him.

He shrugged sheepishly. "I guess it's lunch time," he said flippantly. She let out a small giggle and nodded.

"I guess so. I was getting hungry myself, but I didn't want to disturb you. You looked so concentrated." Kagome could hardly believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. She could hardly believe the entire situation to be completely honest.

"Well, there's a bakery down the block that has some really nice food. They've got good soup and great sandwiches. It's worth a try," Inuyasha suggested. Kagome nodded.

"That sounds good," she said, another smile appearing on her face. Why am I smiling at him? She thought to herself furiously, I dislike him! I hate him! What is going on?! Could I have misjudged him too quickly? Was Sango right when she said we just misunderstood each other?

These and many other questions ran through her head rapidly. He smiled in return, which nearly made her lose her mind. For she couldn't help admitting that without that horribly mean smirk he always gave her, he was extremely attractive.


Oooh, Kagome's in for it now. Let's just see what happens next chapter…then we'll see if these thoughts stay or go….

Next chapter will have more Miroku/Sango, I promise! I've been trying to get to this part for the last two chapters or so, and I'm sad I had to stop there (but I didn't want it getting to long. Lupine-eyes says my chapters are too long to read… TT)

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review!

Lola