Author's Note: Hey everyone, I hope you enjoy this fanfic, please let me know what you think, thanks! And no, of course I don't own Inuyasha. Enjoy!

Side note: "Normal parenthesis" means that someone is talking; "parentheses italicized" means that it's a message- email and "parentheses italicized and underlined" is Kagome's thoughts during that moment or her reflecting back on that scene. As always, enjoy!

Part 7: The Tide That Stung

"Geez, she did that? That's just horrible. Sorry you had to face that Priestess..." Sango's latest email read. Scratching my head, I leaned back in my chair, finally able to relax now that Kanna had gone home for the weekend. I had just finished updating Sango and Miroku on what had happened. Sango was the first to reply. Mother's schedule as usual was very busy and he hadn't been online for some time now.

"Its alright. You have to experience the bad before the good, I guess lol."

"Stay away from that roommate, or yourself a favor and just move out or choose another one next year." Miroku's email said.

"Thanks for the support, both of you! It's alright, I can endure. Freshman year is supposed to be tough lol."

"Well, good luck sister! You can do it!" Sango wrote back.

"Priestess, keep at it!" Miroku's and Sango's words of encouragement gave me that much needed boost, as I knew I could count on them to help improve my mood.

"Hey."

Oh. A new email from Inugami… Moving to my bed, I lay on my stomach, propping the laptop up in front of me.

"Hey! :)"

"Wyd?"

Again, he's so fast with his replies.. "Staying up late tonight. Its the weekend, so I figure why not?"

"Great :) What's been going on in your life? Anything happen?"

Telling him quickly about my roommate and Naraku, he wrote back, "Is that so? Well, that doesn't seem like a very nice thing to do.. Are you ok now?"

Blinking, I realized that no one else had asked that question yet. Always believing in me, Sango and Miroku had thought I was ok and cheered me on in my decision to suck it up for the year.

"Yeah, I'm ok, feeling much better now though. Thanks :)"

"Do you like that guy or something?"

Eh? Blinking in confusion, I didn't expect that question and replied, "Nah, he's just a friend." Besides, he won't notice me now.. Not with the memory of Kanna approaching him like that..

"Is that so? And your plan worked? He helps you with homework and the class?"

"Don't make it sound like that.. Sounds like I'm using him when you put it that way..." Stretching my legs out behind me, I thought to myself; Well, I'm not using him for homework.. But that seems to be all we ever talk about.. I mean, how would I even go about confessing to Naraku? Groaning, I put my head down on my blankets. How do girls do this? Hearing a sudden "ping!", I looked up. Another email.

"Haha sorry, didn't mean it that way. I guess what I meant was, are you doing ok with your work?"

"lol I'll survive somehow. Thank you for asking ^_^."

And so the weekend passed like that, very happily as I could talk to my online friends in private. Then Monday came and as I sat down for dinner that night, I met with Kanna and Kagura.

"That's Kagome, Kagome this is Kagura." Kanna said.

"Nice to meet you." Reaching out my hand, she shook it firmly.

"You too, thanks."

Noticing her bag full of anime pins I asked, "You're a fan of anime? I am too!"

"Oh, its really no big deal. I go to conventions and stuff like that haha."

Unlike Kanna, she had a very open personality. She was always happy to speak out her mind and listen, while being full of emotion. We became friends very fast, bonding over how much anime we had seen or wanted to see.

"Hey, you wanna go to dinner?" This was the first time I had ever asked Naraku this question and I hoped that he would say yes.

"Dinner? Tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Sure, what time?" Looking over at me, Naraku smiled that handsome smile of his and I nearly forgot to reply.

"Oh, um. Well I usually go with Kanna at 6pm.. But, Kanna is staying for an extra accounting club meeting tonight.." Seeing how I was rambling off, I organized my thoughts and said, "Is 6 ok?"

"Yeah, I can do 6."

"Great!" I can't believe it! He said yes! Play it cool Kagome! Get it straight!

"How are you coming along with the homework now? Is it a bit easier to understand?"

"With your help, yes! I've started to learn the functions and now I am passing those mini quizzes per week."

My mind started wandering to our study sessions after class. How his serious mode would switch on and how he took the time to explain things to me, going over things more than once if necessary, and staying out as late as I asked. I remembered how close we would sit and how his hand would gently take the mouse, guiding my hand to hit the correct sequences. How his leg accidentally brushed past mine several times and he had said, "Sorry," really fast as if embarrassed. And how he would walk back with me after because our dorms were so close.

"See, I knew you would be able to do it! You just gotta put some more effort in it and it will become easier." Reaching out, he softly patted my head, something he had grown accustomed to doing to tease me.

Smiling, I said, "Yeah, thank you for your help, it really does mean a lot." Am I relying on him too much though? I wondered.

That night at dinner, we were sitting across from each other in the packed dining hall. He was telling me how much of a luxury it was to live in the dorm rooms because his bedroom at home had been turned into a storage room for his parents since he left for college. Laughing, I said "Oh no, that sounds horrible. Do you sleep on the floor?"

"Luckily, I made this cot so I just sleep on it. It's mobile so I can move it anywhere in my house. Usually I sleep outside with it, it's not so bad." Seeing him laugh back so genuinely, I felt like I was getting to know more about this motorcycle nerdy computer science major. Besides, feeling his eyes only on me in this packed dining hall gave me a "Cinderella meeting her prince" sort of feeling.

Feeling a tap suddenly on my shoulder, I turned around to see Kagura standing there in a black dress.

"Kagome! Oh, I knew it was you! I thought I recognized you from the back. Oh.. You are..?"

Seeing how her eyes had shifted to Naraku, I quickly introduced them. "This is Naraku. He's in my science class. This is Kagura, she's a friend of Kanna's."

"Nice to meet you" Getting up, Naraku shook hands with Kagura.

"You as well. Can I join you guys? This place is very full tonight, I couldn't find any seats." Although disappointed, I nodded, gesturing to the seat beside mine.

And that's how Naraku and Kagura met. Naraku started frequently cancelling on me afterwards, not coming to the study sessions nor helping me anymore with the class. From then on, wherever Naraku was, Kagura would be there too. To put it plainly, he stopped noticing my presence and only perked up when Kagura showed up. Leaving my dorm one morning, I noticed that Naraku was not waiting outside like usual, so I had gone to the dining hall alone. Kagura it seemed, had walked down with him and would do so from now on. Perhaps I was being bitter. Perhaps I was being replaced.

Walking to class after breakfast would now be awkward, as he would walk faster than me, no longer bothering to match my pace.

"Hey, um.. The weather is pretty hot today, huh?" Trying to make some form of conversation, I thought to myself: the weather is pretty hot? What sort of small talk is that?

"Huh?" He turned briefly. "What did you say?"

"Um.. I said the weather is pretty hot, huh?" He wasn't even listening..

"You mean it doesn't get this hot where you're from?"

Confused, I stopped in my tracks. What? Does that mean what I think it means…? "What?" I asked out loud.

"You're joking, right? It doesn't get this hot in Japan? You're Asian, right? Shouldn't you be used to the heat by now?"

I know.. I should've yelled at him. I should've said something back in retaliation. Instead, I stood there like an idiot, feeling the lasting sting of his cold words. I didn't reply. For a few minutes, I stood there in silence as he continued walking to class. Then shaking it off, I walked faster and would later pass him in silence. The ironic thing is; I had told him before that I was born in Japan but lived in the United States for my whole life. It was over. That midnight bell had rung. Leaving Cinderella to go back alone.

Author's Note: Hey everyone, thank you very much for reading! As always, please leave your reviews on what you think about what you've read so far. Would you want to see more? Please favorite the story or feel free to hit the "follow" button for me, so you'll be notified first of any new stories. Thank you guys again!