6

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha.

Special Thanks to: To my Beta ReviewerWriter and anyone who reviews.

Recap:

The bell was going to ring soon and she wasn't going to let HIM interfere with her studies and schoolwork; it was the only thing she had left to hold onto. She frowned at the floor, thinking of how pathetic she must seem. She felt rather small, even to herself.

Classes had passed by as uneventful as ever, due to the fact that nobody would even give her a second glance. Now that Hojo had left her for Kikyo—'that little slut' she thought bitterly—everyone treated poor Kagome like trash…she had lost her popularity ticket and was now coined a loser.

Broken Wings

Chapter 2

A New Friend

Lunch was no exception to these dreadful feelings. She decided to distance herself from everyone in the school. She still didn't eat, so she instead walked outside to meet the forest that borders the back of the school. This always seemed to relax her. She looked around to see a rather large tree near the edge of the forest; an area she hadn't ventured in before.

Touching the bark of that great tree, she glided her fingers delicately over its rough, yet warm, surface. It felt calming…comforting. For a moment, it seemed that she had forgotten all about that two-timing Hojo.

She stayed there, under her new tree, for a while; just watching the forest, she sighed lightly in bliss. Closing her eyes, she dozed off in peace.

Upon a quick awakening, she bolted off to school, hoping that the late bell wouldn't ring and she wouldn't be late…though, she wasn't sure how long she slept under the tree and, in turn, didn't know what class she had to be in now.

As a mental note, Kagome had personally named the tree she slept under; it would be called Kami, for it had such a tranquil effect on her and made her forget her woes.

In her frenzy to get to class, she made painful contact with someone's chest. Kagome fell back on her butt and resisted to urge to yell out in shock. She hesitantly looked up to see whose chest she had bumped into; it was a fellow student's.

'He has beautiful eyes,' she thought factually when she made eye contact with his wonderfully golden eyes from her pitiful spot on the floor. He had looked down at her, his expression not so straight forward.

"I-I'm sorry…" Kagome apologized, averting her eyes from his gaze.

The guy reached out a hand and in a teasing voice said;

"Just keep your eyes on the road next time," he offered with a smile.

"Yes officer," she stated in response to his joke. She looked up once more to see a smirk on his face as she accepted his helping help. She involuntarily blushed a little, thinking that she had actually made a friend. A few smiles were exchange as she walked off to her class.

Kagome was hoping, in the back of her head, that she would get to see him again. She decided then that she didn't feel up to going to anymore classes today. She walked right out of the backside of the building, being extra careful to avoid teachers or any hall monitors that may have been lurking about.

She realized she couldn't take the chance to visit her tree Kami; she would have been seen by other students in the above classrooms with the windows. Not wanting to get busted for playing hooky, she stayed by the back of the school where nobody would be lurking about.

Those golden eyes made her instantly perk up as she saw the boy leaning against the side of the building…he seemed to be very engrossed in a sketchbook as his pencil quickly moved back and forth, creating a picture of…well, she didn't know, but wanted to find out.

She hadn't gotten a very good look at him from their little interlude in the hallway. But now she could see what a great looking guy he was. He had long, flowing white hair and the cutest doggy ears on the top of his head. He, also, was dressed very darkly.

'Must be a Goth' she thought to herself with a mix of amusement and satisfaction. He was wearing a tight black shirt that said; 'I'm busy doing nothing—so don't talk to me.' He had on a pair of baggy, tar-black pants with metallic chains connecting the back to the front.

From his position holstered on the wall, he stared at her, dropping the sketchpad and mechanical pencil in the process; he hadn't realized before how gorgeous she was before! Looking her over, he saw that she was wearing an over-sized black hoody and tight black pants with matching shoes. Her hair was long, hanging down and very wavy; her coffee-brown eyes looked like they were stolen from a porcelain doll's and put into a human face.

'Wow! I didn't notice how damn beautiful she looks' he thought absently, admiring her Gothic appearance. He blushed at the intensity of their stare; noticing this, she blushed in return. He quickly retrieved the fallen sketchbook and pencil.

"Um…what are you doing here?" Kagome asked, trying to break the awkward silence. He smirked confidently and left no trace of his former blush.

"I could ask you the same thing," he stated flatly but had on a very big smile. She returned the gesture and sat down next to him. She tried to see what he had been drawing and craned her neck over the book; he quickly noticed this and shut his sketchpad. He smiled nervously at her, another blush creeping onto his face.

"I don't like to show my work before it's done," he admitted, forcing the creeping embracement to go away.

"My name is Kagome Higurashi," she stated, reaching out her hand for him to shake it.

"InuYasha Takashi; pleasure," he stated cockily, accepting the handshake. She felt unusually calm around this new boy…he had a certain serenity about him that she found fascinating…and very attractive. It was as if she had known him from some time ago. Unbeknownst to her, he felt the same way.

They had drifted off into a simple conversation but somewhere down the line had drifted into a small game of Truth or Dare.

They finished laughing from the previous dare; it had ended with InuYasha dancing about like a ballerina…it was funny, even to him. He felt very comfortable around her; you had to be in order to dance around like that with someone you just met. Soon after, it was Kagome's turn to ask him again.

"Okay, okay," she said as she tried to catch her breath, still laughing from his little jig a moment ago. "Truth or Dare, InuYasha?" she asked playfully. He seemed to be thinking it over for a minute before answering.

"Truth me," he stated excitedly.

"Okay…umm…what's your favorite band?" she asked, not really knowing anything good to inquire about. He thought about it for a moment.

"Korn," he stated mater-of-factly. "My turn then…Truth or Dare?"

Not feeling up to doing a dare, she said;

"Truth".

"Hmm…who do you really hate?" he asked slowly, as if forming the sentence while he spoke it. Kagome didn't have to think hard at all to answer that one.

All of her thoughts about Hojo that she had tried so viciously to push away to the corner of her mind came flooding back with a vengeance. She thought about everything he had said to her…all the sweet things he had whispered in her ears, the dates, the laughing and the happiness they shared…and then that breakup. It was evocative and taunting to her.

She stared off into space thinking about how much it had hurt her to see him with that Kikyo thing…

Regretfully, Kagome felt like she needed some bloody relief right now…she had the urge to use that knife of hers and make another gash to the arm…she practically yearend for it, like an addict to alcohol or cigarettes.

No! She could hold off the temptation…couldn't she?

"Hojo," she answered finally. InuYasha thought about this for a moment…then the name began to ring some bells for him.

"Hojo Takine?" he asked surprised.

"Yes…him," she stated blandly.

"But aren't you dating him?" he asked innocently. With InuYasha being a Goth, he was at the bottom of the social food chain; right next to the nerds and the geeks. He didn't get 'vital' information often, like about breakups and who-is-dating-who, but somehow this news had reached his doggy ears.

She looked away from him, feeling ashamed for some unknown reason.

"Not anymore," she stated coldly. 'There's no reason to cry…so don't you dare cry' her mind commanded her.

"His loss then," InuYasha said happily in an attempt to cheer her up. She blushed at the compliment…she still couldn't handle it anymore.

"I think I need to use the restroom," she stated out-of-the-blue as she stood up quickly. He got up as well and dusted off. He reached down for his sketchpad and pencil again.

"Allow me the pleasure of accompanying you to the lavatories, ma'am," InuYasha said in a mock-English voice. He held out his elbow as an escort and she let her arm intertwine with his. They walked down the hallway to the nearest bathroom, careful not to be caught by any goody-good hall monitor or creepy teachers.

Kagome silently slipped into the woman's restroom, quickly looking around to see if anyone was around. The cost was clear. She locked herself in a stall and took out her army knife. She pulled up the sleeve of her hoody, opened the knife, and pressed the blade to her skin.

Peeling downwards, the knife felt warm as it glided across her flesh, making light, thin cuts. She did it again; twice more, three more, four; eventually six cuts were made before the pain of Hojo was forgotten and replaced with the new stinging sensation of the self-inflicted wounds.

She held her arm over the toilet so that the blood wouldn't spill on the floor and scare off the next user of the toilet. She got lost in the grim rush; it felt relieving, like all the pain just flowed away along with the blood.

She smiled dourly at the slits in her arm. It made time slip by silently; the only one that could have noticed a flow of time now would have been InuYasha…

'InuYasha!' she mentally yelled. She had completely forgotten that he was still waiting for her outside! She looked down into the waters of the toilet, now tainted with her body's crimson fluids. Grabbing some toilet paper, she whipped away the thin bloody lines. Holding the wad down to stop the bleeding, she opened the stall door and walked over to the sinks.

After tending to the wounds, and washing off the dried drops of blood on her fingertips, she pocketed her knife and walked out the door. She crept up silently behind InuYasha in an attempt to see what he was doodling. His sensitive ears easily picked up her pathetic attempt to be stealthy and he shut the sketchbook again. He looked at her with a triumphant smirk and she pretended to pout.

They came up to Kagome's locker next. They had decided they wanted to skip school for today and just go hang out around town. It was easier this way; besides it was Friday and nobody wants to be at school on this great day.

She put her hand absently into her pockets and felt the money that was in there; at least she could afford to go about town for a little bit. Her hand scraped against the crumpled note that her mother left; Kagome winced lightly as her finger danced across the edge of the paper and made an unwanted sever.

Retrieving her wounded hand from the pocket, she examined the slender paper cut. She watched intently as the new scratch bleed a single red tear. It trickled down her finger as she stared at it in awe.

InuYasha watched her as she did this; he raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"You don't seem to be the kind of girl to watch blood," he stated awkwardly. This snapped her out of the daze and she looked at him in mild shock; once again, she forgot he was standing right beside her.

"Oh, sorry," she apologized. "I was just remembering…well, the cut just reminded me of…something…" she trailed off with a nervous smile. She didn't want to say 'Hojo', even though it was the truth. Her blood always made her think of Hojo and what he had done to her.

"Oookay…" InuYasha stated weirdly. "No more blood for you, Kagz," he stated with an amused smile, already giving her a nickname.

----------------------------------------To Be Continued----------------------------------------

Kinda dark but I hope you enjoyed! And no, I don't cut myself. But I've been reading cut and it inspired me (along with a few depressing individuals)… I'm a pessimist and all, but I don't like pain or self inflicted wounds and such. R&R please!