-Chapter One-

-Me Against the World-

"Chance Meeting"

Kagome grumbles angrily as she trudges up the steep hill to her grandmother's house. Oh, forgive me. Her grandmother's compound.

Trotting lazily beside her is a small, sleek black and sapphire dragonet. His milky blue eyes closed, as they're not much use anyway. Kagome and Sango had rescued the young dragon from a large bear demon, and from then on he had followed Kagome around. The two girls had named him Shikuro. Shiku for short.

Kagome continues grumbling all the way up the stairs until she finally reaches the top. She gives a long yawn before stretching out like a cat. "Hey Shiku, where do you think grandma is?"

"BACK OFF YOU CRAZY OLD HAG!" Comes a yell from the back.

Kagome raises an eyebrow. "Well, I guess that would explain it. C'mon Shiku, lets go see who or what grandma's bugging."

2 years have passed since Kagome first fell into the bone-eaters well. Naraku has already been destroyed, however, in the final battle the Shikon no Tama had been shattered once again. For the past half a year the group has been traveling, once again in search of the jewel shards.

Sango and Miroku are happily married, and Sango is carrying Miroku's first child. Kikyo had been killed by Inuyasha in the final battle, due to her betrayal. Shippo met up with his uncle somewhere along the journey, and now lives in Kaede's village with the older red fox demon. As for Kagome and Inuyasha… Their bond has grown easily stronger, but this time it's a sibling bond.

Kagome barely glances up as a beam of blue light shoots up into the sky. Shikuro however, flaps his wings slightly in protest to the sudden energy spike, as he is only able to feel and sense the energy.

About one year ago Kagome had gone to Sango and Miroku, asking the two to train her. Inuyasha heard about it after a few weeks, and pitched in as well. But even after all of that, and having their sibling bond, he still calls her a 'weak, shard detector'. And of course the demons that they fight call her weak as well. Thank god Sango and Miroku are always there to cheer her up.

The girl and dragonet round the corner of the house just in time to see Genkai send Yusuke flying backward through the trees. Kagome grins at the sight. 'Grandma's never been in better shape.'

"Ya-ho, obaa-san!"

Genkai nods her head to Kagome's yell. "Hello Kagome, give me a moment to take care of my dimwitted student who doesn't know when to quit."

Kagome laughs. "Okay, grandma. I'll see you inside. Want some tea?" She smirks as the raven haired boy comes flying out of the woods and begins punching and kicking Genkai. Unfortunately for him, barely any of the hits make it.

"Tea's fine!"

Kagome grins as Genkai once again knocks the poor boy back into the woods.

"Alright, grandma!"

Kagome silently sips her tea before looking up at Yukina. "So, your name's Yukina, right? My mom told me grandma had someone living with her, but I figured it was the boy that grandma's beating up right now."

Yukina smiles. "Hai, I'm Yukina. So, are you really Genkai's granddaughter? Forgive me for saying this but…" She gently sets down her cup of green tea. "You don't really look like her."

Kagome cracks a grin. "Yeah, I get that a lot. Grandma's actually the only one in the family with pink hair. I do have her eyes, though. And according to my mom and grandpa, I have her attitude as well." She glances thoughtfully at the door. "I don't see how exactly…"

Yukina giggles softly as the door slides open and a certain grumbling, raven haired boy stumbles in. Right behind him is Genkai, muttering something along the lines of 'dimwitted students who couldn't kick my ass even on my worst day', to which Kagome cracks up over.

"And what the hell's so funny?" Yusuke snaps.

Kagome immediately stops laughing and glares at the boy. She inwardly gasps at the sight of him and then mentally groans. 'Why do all the cute guys have to be cocky pricks'
Yusuke glares at the raven haired beauty in front of him. 'Wait a sec, raven haired beauty? What the hell am I thinking? I just got over the break up with Keiko!'

Yukina almost giggles at the look on the two's faces. "I'm going to start on dinner, Genkai." She says, standing up and walking out of the room.

Genkai nods before taking a seat at the table away from Kagome. Yusuke, however, sits down right across from the young priestess.

"So, who are you and what are you doing here?" Yusuke asks.

Kagome smiles lightly. "My name's Higurashi Kagome, I'm here to visit my grandma." She takes a sip of her tea. "So, you must be Grandma's student, right? What's your name."

"Urameshi Yusuke." He replies.

A half-smirk forms on Kagome's face. "So you're the great Urameshi Yusuke, ne? I've heard about you from my younger brother. Apparently you're now his role model." She rolls her eyes at this. "So, was it really you who beat up Hojo?"

"Who?" Comes the brilliant reply.

Kagome sighs. "Never mind. He's just some guy at my school who decided to stalk me for a while."

Yusuke thinks for a minute. "That sounds familiar… I was wondering why I thought I'd seen you before. I was going to some arcade in the Musashi district when I saw this boy stalking you and takin' pictures. Can't stand wusses like him, so I beat him up. I wasn't in the best mood either…"

Kagome sweat drops at this statement. "Well, umm… thanks." She sighs and stares at her cup, her mouth forming a sad smile. "Guess I'm too weak to even get a human idiot away from me."

Yusuke lazily stretches and quotes something Genkai once told him. "'You're only weak if you allow yourself to be.' Genkai told me that once when I was about ready to give up." He watches out of the corner of his eye as Genkai smirks. "It's the truth, if you don't think you can do something, then you're not going to be able to do it"
Kagome smiles. "Thanks Urameshi, I needed to hear that."

"Just Yusuke, please. I get called by my last name enough by one of my teammates." He says, smiling. "As long as I can call you by your first name of course."

Kagome smiles coyly and twirls a piece of hair around her finger. "Well… I guess you can."

"Well good, because I was going to do that anyway."

Kagome breaks out into a true smile for the first time in what seems like a long time. "I'm glad."

-This is Dark Ice Kitsune here, and I'm gonna try and edit the story to where I have a better feel on how I want to write it. So if you'd like to re-read it in my terms, that's cool :D-