Please, people, go through your spelling and grammar when it comes to your own fanfiction. Week after week, I want to read fanfiction, but have to stop as the level of grammar, spelling and punctuation goes from bad to worse. It really, really disrupts a story.

Tessadragon

Disclaimer: Inuyasha isn't mine.

Chapter 1

"Congratulations!"

Streamers twisted lazily and distantly in the pure blue sky. Sunlight bathed the crowds in joyful warmth. The air shivered with elation, and Kagome stood in a daze, the graduation cap perched precariously on her head, the scroll that declared her 'appropriately educated' dangling from her hand. Her mind whirled in confusion at the sights surrounding her, of many different natures. I have graduated...I have managed, even despite having to go to the feudal era so often! Pride welled up in her at that.

"Kagome!" Yuki grabbed her arm, "Look! Look!" she frantically pointed at their best friend, Eri, who stood stunned, before her boyfriend, Li, whose cheeks were flushed, his dark hair tousled beneath his graduation cap that was close to falling off.

"Eri?" Kagome whispered, amazed.

Eri was crying, and not just from the euphoric effect of graduation. There her boyfriend knelt on one knee before her, on the steps of their high school, and in his hands, he held out a diamond ring to Eri, and he'd just asked her to be his wife. Her lips parted and she was trying to say 'yes', but failed the first three times.

"Just say it!" Yuki yelled, pale with excitement.

"Y-yes," Eri stammered, then flung herself on Li, "Oh yes! I will! I mean, I do! I mean, no, I will! Oh! Yes!"

He's asking her to marry her, Kagome thought, stunned. They've only been going out…five months? She refused to let the other more bitter thought intrude on this amazing, happy moment, but still it nagged at the edge of her consciousness…I've been with Inuyasha for two years and he's never even come close to even saying he wants to be with me.

This is Eri's moment, Kagome thought, and a smile came to her face, though her eyes remained distant, trained on the stark familiar figure standing at the very back of the crowd, his silver hair flowing down his shoulders, his red haori draping down his trim figure. She couldn't see his expression from here, but she could easily imagine it! She imagined he was scowling, hating being in this crowd…

But she was wrong.

He didn't claim to understand why education was so important to Kagome, but she'd insisted so hard on it, and this event, with everyone marching up to receive a scroll and a handshake in such a time-consuming manner…there was something to the air, something addictively exciting, and though he was bewildered, disliking the level of noise as everyone congratulated each other…he was proud. Proud of Kagome. His Kagome, he even considered her, though he'd never told her as much.

From this distance, he easily watched the scene unfold, even saw the tears glittering at Kagome's eyes.

Is she crying because she's happy? Or because she's sad? He wanted to know.

"Psst," Yuki whispered to another of Kagome's friends, tugging at her sleeve, "Isn't that Kagome's boyfriend coming over?"

Toya clapped her hands together, remembering Inuyasha. A smile glowed on her face, "That hunk!"

Kagome wistfully watched Eri and Li, whose hands were clasped together, gazing adoringly into each other's eyes.

"What a perfect couple," Yuki said wistfully, voicing Kagome's thoughts. Kagome forced a smile, "I'm so happy for you two."

Eri hardly heard anyone.

"Why not get Inuyasha to propose to you," Yuki whispered in her ear.

Kagome went red.

"And don't you try to deny it," Yuki said sternly. "You've got it on your face…you want him so bad, and you're always waiting for him to ask you to be his."

Kagome's face fell. "Really?"

Yuki smiled and nodded, then wandered away to congratulate Eri again, who seemed to be still trapped in that moment of gazing into her fiancé's eyes.

"I've got to go," Kagome mumbled and went back to her family: her mother, Grandfather and little brother, Souta. Her mother greeted her with a hug and kissed her forehead, "I'm so proud of you!"

"Yeah, sis!" Souta chipped in, grinning.

"Keh." Inuyasha wandered over, his hands hidden inside the sleeves of his haori. Kagome prepared herself for a scathing remark about how 'useless' education was, but instead…

"Well done." Inuyasha sounded a little awkward about it.

Kagome gazed at him, surprised. "Thank you," she said, startled.

"But that gown looks silly on you," he said, true to his nature.

"It's a symbol of education and honour!" Kagome yelled.

"But it still looks stupid on you!" Inuyasha yelled back.

Kagome's mother hastily intervened, whispering in Kagome's ear, "Goodness, Kagome! He's saying you're too pretty for your graduation gown!" Then she gave her daughter such a warm smile that Kagome sighed and gave up. But emblazoned on her mind was the image of Eri and Li.

Inuyasha frowned at Kagome, then grabbed her hand and towed her away. "Inuyasha!" Kagome protested.

"Uh uh," Inuyasha retorted, and came to a halt when they were a sufficient distance from everyone else, out of hearing range. "Kagome, what's wrong?"

"Wrong? Nothing's wrong!" Kagome protested.

"Kagome, your voice's gone up a pitch," Inuyasha commented.

Kagome gritted her teeth, "Nothing's wrong, Inuyasha."

"And what was the deal with that guy kneeling in front of that girl?" he continued.

She was silent for a moment, biting down frustration, then she said it. "He was asking her to marry him. Because he loves her."

There was an awkward silence.

"C'mon," Inuyasha hadn't let go of her hand. "Let's go home."

"Which home?" Kagome asked suspiciously, and Inuyasha shrugged. "Does it matter? Let's just have…peace and quiet."