~There She Goes~

Chapter Three: Food for Thought

"Why the hell do you keep talking to me?"

Smile fading, Kagome turned back to her open soda with an almost bored expression. She'd heard that before. "Why shouldn't I?"

"It's only getting worse, y'know. The rumors." Inuyasha's arms came up the rest atop his folded knees, physically closing himself off from her. She frowned. "We're not the first people to have rumors follow us" she responded coolly, "they'll forget about us in a week and find someone new to gossip about."

"Or we could put out the fire now." Inuyasha turned to look at her with determination, and her frown worsened. There was no reasoning with him when he got that look. "You could just stop talking to me – stop following me around. Then they'd have nothing to complain about."

She couldn't help her teasing grin as she asked "Where's the fun in that?" but Inuyasha's stern frown remained firm. "I'm serious, Kagome. You don't seem to get it, but everyone in school is obsessed with you. Even the teachers think you're great! You're gonna ruin your life hanging out with a loser like me."

"Don't be so dramatic, Inuyasha!" Rolling her eyes, Kagome scooted just a little bit closer to him on the grass under the tree, and his shoulders tensed. "People know me because I talk to them. The teachers like me because I don't get in trouble." Her smile returned as she raised an eyebrow at him and said "You should try that sometime. Does wonders."

Inuyasha growled in frustration, throwing out his hands as he groused "But that's the whole point! I'm a trouble-maker. A low-class loser. I'm the guy that gets in fights and no one bothers to report it because they think I deserve the beating. The kind that stumbles through classes with passing grades and never gets so much as a glance from the teachers because what's the use? I'm not like you, Kagome, and everyone knows that."

Her eyebrows pinched in anger, and for the briefest moment, Inuyasha looked afraid. "Well then everyone's wrong" she said evenly, daringly reaching across the space between them to grab one of his hands. His meager protest was ignored as she pulled his hand into her lap and tightly threaded their fingers. "You care about people – I've seen it. You always step in to help when people are being bullied. You volunteer for the jobs no one wants. You gave up your lunch to that boy the other day – the one who forgot his money. You do kind things all the time… it's just that no one ever notices."

"You did" he said softly, a hint of awe in his eyes. He knew he'd done those things, but… honestly, he hadn't thought about them. Not like that.

"I just wish I wasn't the only one" she said with a sad smile, still not relinquishing her hold on his clawed hand.

He scoffed, ignoring the warmth against his palm. "Yeah, well, I don't need people's opinions. They can take their opinions to hell for all I care."

Kagome shook her head with a laugh and said "I thought you were worried about all the rumors and gossip."

He turned to her suddenly with sharp yellow eyes and said pointedly "That's cuz it ain't just about me. They can talk all they want about me – I don't care. But they got no right to say stuff about you."

Her cheeks warmed and she glanced away, her eyes focusing on the dried blades of grass beside her, her free hand absently seeking to pull them up. "They've got as much a right as anyone. I'm nothing special."

"Yeah you are."

Whipping her head back around, her startled brown eyes met his sheepish golden ones, his head lowered as if to hide the fact that he'd been the one to speak. The hand clasped in hers grew sweaty, and Inuyasha pulled from her grip to nervously wipe it against his acid-wash jeans. "A-anyways, you've got a lot more to lose, y'know? Everyone's sayin' you should run for Student Body President. You hang around me much more and you can kiss that dream goodbye."

"You're part of the student body too, aren't you? Would you vote for me?" He buckled under her expectant stare, fumbling with excuses. "W-well yeah, but… better you than all the losers in school, right? But that don't matter – I'm only one person!"

"And that's good enough for me" she said with a nod, picking up her sandwich and taking a determined bite. "If it comes down to it" she mumbled around her mouthful of peanut butter and jelly, "then people will either have to accept me being your friend, or find someone else to be Pres!"

Inuyasha barked a laugh, tearing open a bag of chips. "Yeah right, like you'd just let that slip by ya. You could really go places, you know? Preps like you are always paddin' your resume with that kinda 'extracurricular' crap." Stuffing a few chips in his mouth, he crunched noisily, resolutely ignoring the girl beside him. "You wouldn't go riskin' all that for some dumbass boy you hardly know."

Kagome was silent, chewing slowly at her sandwich. Her eyes were set on the patches of grass and dead soil at their feet. She swallowed, blinking thoughtfully, and turned to Inuyasha with an unexpected smile. "Then I guess I'll have to get to know you better, huh?"

He stared, slack-jawed, even as she giggled and turned back to her lunch. It was another moment or so before he remembered his own food, and went back to his potato chips with significantly less gusto. They spent the rest of the break in weighty silence, neither daring another attempt at conversation. Enough had been said to keep them both reeling for the rest of the day.

At the piercing ring of the school bell, the half-demon jumped to his feet, balling up the garbage in his clawed hands and tossing it across the yard with perfect accuracy to the metal can. Kagome's quick laugh behind him kept him rooted to the ground, and as she stepped up beside him and gave him a grin, Inuyasha resigned himself to his fate. If she really wanted to walk with him back to class… there wasn't much he could do to stop her, was there? His lip quirked, threatening to break his moody façade with a fond smile, but Inuyasha kept it at bay. Maybe he'd save it for later – after he let her get to know him.

*Author's Note:

A short little snippet from their early friendship! Enjoy ;3