Disclaimer: You're telling me I don't own Inuyasha? Wow, fancy that... I would have never have guessed...

A/N Alrighty! Thanks for all your wonderful reviews from last chapter; I really appreciated them. Sorry if the poems sounded slightly corny; I needed them to be there though. Kagome and Inuyasha have to wonder about each other and what better way for it to happen than evil teachers giving you a stupid assignment?

Anyways, I'll also warn you all that though there is the pairing of Miroku/Sango, the main pairing will be Inuyasha/Kagome. I'll focus more on that couple throughout it and Miroku and Sango will play a lesser role. Although they will be in it a goodly amount, and they will hook up eventually; be assured of that.

Okay, on with the glorious fifth chapter! By this time, I'm just flying by the seat of my pants with a general outline in mind... Don't be afraid to tell me if I'm rushing something or anything; I really want to make this fic the best it can be. Okay? Okay! Let's do this thing!

There was something disturbing in the way Inuyasha had been looking at her the morning after she had accidently knocked on his door with tears streaming down her cheeks. It was curious, and calculating. Kagome felt squeamish and uncomfortable under that gaze as it felt that he was trying to pry into her mind and extract secrets no one else had been perceptive enough to realize she had. She felt exposed when she could feel his eyes trained on her, watching her every move for signs of the distress she exhibited the night before.

At the moment, they were in their Physics class and the lesson had just finished. They had nearly three quarters of an hour to work on the homework assigned, but Kagome was feeling far from up to doing it. Instead, she crossed her arms on her desk and buried her face in them, letting her memories of the previous night come to her.

After leaving Inuyasha shocked and confused in the hallway, she and Souta had entered his dorm room. She had proceeded to cry her heart out and recount to Souta her horrible nightmare; one he had heard about countless times before. He had tried to comfort her as best he could, and tried to help her get over her terrible memory of her friend, but only after Shippo had woken up did Kagome's tears subside. Souta's roommate looked thoroughly disturbed at the sight of the older girl in tears and being comforted by her much younger brother across the room.

When the young fox demon hesitantly inquired after the situation, Souta tried to explain that it was nothing serious and that Shippo should ignore it, but the other boy didn't look as if he believed him. Shippo stayed awake for the remainder of the night, watching Kagome with wide eyes and a slight look of fear. Once the older girl had regained her composure, just before dawn, she self-consciously exited the room and slowly made her way back to her own dorm, not looking back at her brother or his frightened roommate.

Kagome had then decided to take a shower to cleanse herself of the memories and to refresh herself after shedding so many tears. When Sango had woken up, Kagome had felt secure enough about herself to continue on with the day as if nothing had happened. She was resolved not to talk to Inuyasha and to avoid him completely if at all possible.

But now here she was, sitting in class right beside Inuyasha, with his eyes boring into the back of her head. There was light noise as the other students chatted around and in front of them, but to Kagome, it felt as if there was nothing but intense and awkward silence.

"Hey..." Inuyasha's voice spoke up from beside her.

Kagome didn't answer, hoping by some fluke he was talking to someone else.

A blunt claw poked her shoulder and the voice repeated, "Hey..."

Kagome turned her head to the side and glared at Inuyasha. "What?"

Inuyasha seemed to be struggling to find the right words to express what he wanted to say. "What was... I mean, you were..."

"Did you have something to say?" Kagome asked as cooly as possible.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "I would think you would know..."

"Oh?" Kagome asked, feigning obliviousness. "What would I know you wanted to say to me?"

Inuyasha made an irritated noise in his throat as she danced around the subject. "Quit acting like you don't know what I'm talking about. What the hell was that last night?" he hissed, leaning closer to her so the other students wouldn't overhear.

"What was what?" Kagome asked nervously, hoping to distract him long enough for her to think up an excuse.

Inuyasha gave her a flat stare. "Would the words 'bawling your eyes out at my door last night' mean anything to you?"

"It was nothing," Kagome muttered, burying her head once more in her arms.

"Excuse me?" Inuyasha said incredulously. "Last I checked, emptying your tear ducts at other people's doors wasn't a nightly ritual."

"Well...then you're behind the times!" Kagome blurted out frantically, lifting her head. "Um...I mean...that is... Can we just drop it already?"

Inuyasha kept his gaze trained on her, not taking his eyes off of her nervously flicking ones. "Why don't you just tell me what was freakin' going on last night? I mean, you're not even supposed to be in the boys' dorm room area anyways...so why were you there sobbing up a storm?"

Kagome's brown eyes snapped directly to Inuyasha's golden ones. "Look, I don't want to talk about it, okay?! Anyways, why would you even care?! I don't recall you ever taking an interest in any of my affairs, and I certainly don't want you to develop one now!" With that, Kagome hid her face once again from view.

Inuyasha was about to badger the stubborn girl a bit longer, but wisely chose to restrain himself a the last moment. He withdrew his extended finger, which was an inch from poking Kagome's shoulder again, and instead crossed his arms sullenly over his chest as he regarded the strange girl.

He had to admit, her behaviour stumped him. One minute she was cool and composed, and the next, she was crying her eyes out at his dorm room door. Now, this morning, she was back to being indifferent and composed again...what was up with her?

As much as he refused to admit it, her poem had piqued his interest and some nagging feeling told him that she did not, in fact, make it all up. Some of it had to be based in truth, at least...if not all of it. So what was her secret? Her poem indicated that she'd witnessed a friends' death or something...would that alone twist her into this state?

He didn't think so. Seeing a friends' death was tragic, and it was sure to haunt a person for quite some time, but it would stand to reason that someone in that situation would surround themselves with friends in order to comfort themselves and seek solace in knowing they weren't alone. Kagome didn't act this way. From what he'd seen of her the past three weeks, she didn't attempt to talk to anyone but him, unless she needed the answer to a polite and indifferent question. And the only time she talked to him was to either fight or argue...

He smirked. He was up for a fight. And if that was the only way to get her to talk to him...

"You know...you look pretty stupid sitting there with your head stuffed in your arms," Inuyasha began. "You trying to make sure you don't catch a stray glance at yourself in a mirror or something?"

Kagome's head shot up, her eyes flashing. "No one asked you what I look like! And why would I care if I saw myself in the mirror?!"

"...'Cause you're so ugly?" Inuyasha asked, smirking.

"Urgh! Why don't you leave me alone and pick on someone else?!" Kagome fumed.

"Because you're too easy a target, that's why," Inuyasha informed her. "You're set off by everything!"

"Well, excuse me for being offended by insults!" Kagome shot back. "What am I supposed to do; just sit here and take them while smiling and nodding?!"

"That would be interesting..." Inuyasha said, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Hmph!" Kagome exclaimed, turning back to her work. "I won't give you the pleasure!" With that, she started furiously on her Physics work, seeming completely back to her normal self.

Inuyasha hid a grin.

..:V:..

Kagome waited impatiently in the lunch line. It was lunch time, and a few days after Inuyasha had bugged her about her crying incident in their Physics class. She was still trying to put that incident out of her mind, just like she did with many others.

Kagome quietly put in an order for a carton of fries and took them from the lunch lady without out a word when they were ready. She quickly paid for her food at the cash register and then headed over to the condiments. She squirted a lot of ketchup on her fries, grabbed some napkins, and then started for the cafeteria door.

Once inside the large room full of eating and talking students, Kagome started to make her way towards her usual table, seeing disappointedly that Sango and Miroku were already there.

About halfway across the cafeteria, Kagome was jostled by a passing student. Her fries lurched and tipped over, the ketchup on them spilling onto her shirt. The offending student kept walking, as if nothing had happened.

Kagome groaned and looked down at her shirt. Red was smeared into her white shirt, staining and marring it. Suddenly, in her mind's eye, the thick red turned darker, and its opaqueness shifted into a more transparentness. The cafeteria and all of the students in it began fading into darkness as the liquid spread, covering her entire shirt and then seeping down her pants. It felt sticky as it dripped down her arms and a metallic taste came into her mouth as she realized the substance was all over her face and lips as well. She was covered in it.

And it wasn't ketchup anymore.

It was blood.

Kagome let out a blood curdling scream, dropping her lunch tray in the process. In a flash, all of her surroundings came back to her and she realized she was still in the cafeteria, with nothing more than a stain of ketchup on her shirt.

But the damage was done. Everyone in the room was looking at her in confusion, and some even in disdain. Kagome realized she was shaking uncontrollably and that the cafeteria had gone as silent as a grave.

She froze for a moment while all eyes were locked on her. Then someone coughed and she was broken out of her trance. Like a frightened deer, she bolted out of the cafeteria, leaving her spilled fries and countless mystified students in her wake. She navigated what she knew of her new school in order to find the outside doors and then burst out of them into the sunlight.

Kagome ran wildly for a tree situated on a small incline beside the school. Once there, she threw herself down at its base and tried to stop shaking. Her breaths were coming out raggedly, and a few beads of sweat ran down her temples.

What had that been? Was it another premonition of what would happen when that boy...? When he–?

"Kagome!"

Kagome's head shot up. Miroku and Sango were jogging towards her. She drew in a sharp intake of breath. What would she tell them?

"Kagome, what was that?" Sango asked worriedly, coming up in front of the near petrified girl.

"Are you alright, Kagome?" Miroku asked, a serious tone in his voice for once as he stopped beside Sango.

"I...uhh..."

"What's wrong, Kagome?" Sango asked. "You can tell us."

"N–nothing's wrong... I just..."

"Kagome? You do trust us, right? I mean–"

"Do you mind?!"

"Wha...?!"

Kagome, Miroku and Sango's heads shot up in order for them to regard the lower branches of the tree Kagome was sitting under. There on the second lowest branch, sprawled completely out, was Inuyasha looking distinctly tired and grumpy.

"What does a dog have to do to get a bit of sleep around here?" the boy asked irritably as he slowly pulled himself up to a sitting position.

Kagome let out a soft giggle. "You just called yourself a dog!" she said, pointing at him.

Inuyasha's eyes snapped down to the girl below him as he grumbled, "Whatever, girl. At least I don't look as if I'm some vampire that crawled out of its grave... Yeesh, you're pale enough, aren't you? And how'd you manage to get all that ketchup all over you? You must be clumsier than I thought..."

"Clumsy? Ha! I've got so much grace, I could be a balance beam gymnast!" Kagome retorted with false pride.

"Don't make me laugh!" Inuyasha snorted. "You? Grace? Those two words shouldn't even be in the same sentence, much less indicate that they have some sort of correlation!"

"Yeah, well, laugh it up dog boy..." Kagome muttered. "Like you have any more grace than me..."

"For your information, I'm more graceful than twenty ballerinas!" Inuyasha said, jumping down and landing lightly beside her.

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you should be proud of that...? You must be really secure about yourself..."

Miroku snickered and the attention of the bickering pair was drawn to the interruption. "Who're these guys?" Inuyasha asked suspiciously. "Don't tell me you managed to make some friends, because I won't believe you."

"The name's Miroku," Miroku said, stepping forward and extending his hand. "And this is Sango. I've heard quite a bit about you... Inuyasha, I presume?"

Inuyasha's suspicious glance, if anything, became more intense at Miroku's last statement. "Oh...?" he inquired darkly. "And what stupid rumours have been floating around about me now?"

As Miroku opened his mouth to reply, Sango nudged him sharply in the ribs. "Nothing really, Inuyasha... Just, as you say, stupid ones we pay no heed to. So, um...you and Kagome seem...quite acquainted..." Sango said awkwardly.

Inuyasha snorted. "Acquainted? I guess you can say I have the misfortune of being acquainted with her..."

"It's not like I enjoy your arrogant presence, either, jerk," Kagome responded.

"Then why'd you come all the way out here to be in it?" Inuyasha asked, smirking. "I mean, I come out here every day at meal times to get away from you and everyone else, but now you're following me out...and you try to tell me you don't enjoy my presence?"

Kagome snorted. "Like I would ever willingly go searching for you. I came out here because...um...because..." she trailed off uncertainly.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "You came out here because um because? Pretty lame excuse, if you ask me. You know, you're a really horrible liar..."

"We're not exactly sure what happened to dear Kagome inside," Miroku started, "but she screamed loudly in the middle of the caf and then took off... We followed her out here..."

Inuyasha looked speculatively at Kagome as she glared at Miroku. "Really...?"

Kagome caught Inuyasha looking at her from the corner of her eye and turned to glare at him too. "None of your business!" she practically shouted, before he could even think of opening his mouth. "It's none of any of your businesses!" she said to all of them before turning abruptly and running back towards the school.

Sango glanced at the two bewildered boys before following rapidly after the fleeing girl.

Miroku and Inuyasha shot each other quizzical looks before following the two girls at a slower pace.

"There's something strange about that girl..." Miroku mused, watching Kagome dash back inside the school, Sango in her wake.

"Tell me about it..." Inuyasha muttered, an indistinguishable look in his eyes. They entered the school just as Sango was about to catch up with Kagome.

"Kagome! Wait up!" Sango shouted after the running girl in front of her. When Kagome didn't respond in any way, Sango put on a burst of speed and caught up with her. She grabbed her forearm and Kagome reluctantly halted and faced her.

"What?" Kagome said nervously, quietly, as she avoided eye contact.

"I think there's a few things we should discuss..." Sango began.

"I've got nothing to say," Kagome insisted stubbornly.

Sango sighed. "Look, what is up with you? You try to push Miroku and I away constantly, but won't explain why, you had that weird outburst today in the caf, but you again won't explain it, and now you try to shrug me off when all I want to do is help! And I also see that you're practically a chatterbox when around Inuyasha, a guy you obviously hate! Mind explaining to me why you can talk more to your enemy than your friends?!"

Kagome's brain was reeling. What was she going to say?! She had to say something to Sango, and now. She couldn't avoid the confrontation any longer. And she didn't want to be mean, because Sango was such a nice person, but...how else could she get the message across? If Sango became her friend, she'd be bound to get hurt...or something...worse... She couldn't have friendships; and she had to keep telling herself it was for Sango's sake she was going to say what she was about to...

Kagome slowly raised her brown eyes to meet Sango's dead on. In a slow, deliberate voice, she said, "Sango... I don't know where you picked up the delusion that we're friends, but we're not. You seem to think that being my roommate and then sitting with me everyday at meal times entitles you to be my automatic friend. You also think that it entitles you to know all my secrets... I don't remember ever conceding to you sitting with me when I eat, and I certainly don't remember acknowledging you as my friend. I don't mean this as any offence to who you are as a person, but I am not your friend, and I never will be!"

Sango stepped back, shocked. The other students in the hall grew silent as they watched the scene in awe and surprise. Kagome quickly wrenched her arm free of Sango's grip and raced off in the direction she'd been running in before.

No one saw her tears.

I'm sorry, Sango. I'm so sorry... I didn't want to have to do that...you didn't deserve that! But...I had to... I won't let what happen to the others happen to you... If given the choice of giving you that fate or saying what I just said to you, I would repeat my words a million times over... I hope you'll understand someday...but for now...you can't be my friend. No one can...

..:V:..

"Stupid Physics...stupid Chemistry..." Inuyasha muttered angrily. He kicked his desk in frustration. "Stupid, damn, bastard Sesshoumaru..."

"What're you whining about now, mutt face?" Inuyasha's roommate spoke up. The boy across the room sat up on his bed, shooting a disdainful look at Inuyasha with his cerulean blue eyes as he casually flicked his long, dark ponytail over his shoulder.

"Nothin' that concerns you, Kouga," Inuyasha spat. "It's just that I don't understand any of this crap..."

"Idiots do have a harder time grasping concepts than others," Kouga said snidely.

"That's why you've never grasped a concept in your life..." Inuyasha muttered.

"I'm way smarter than you could ever hope to be, dog turd," Kouga retorted.

"Oh, yeah?" Inuyasha asked. "Then why don't you try skipping from a grade seven level straight to a grade eleven one and pull off perfect marks?!"

"Relax, mutt face," Kouga said. "If I had been you, I wouldn't have gotten myself into your situation in the first place."

Inuyasha growled and leaped across the room in order to pull his roommate aggressively up by the collar. "Are you trying to imply something?!" he snarled.

Kouga pried Inuyasha's hands from his clothes and brushed himself off, giving the dog half-demon a dark look. "No... But if I had been...?"

"Then I would've ripped your good-for-nothing throat out!" Inuyasha almost yelled.

"Like you could," Kouga spat, turning his back on the irritated boy.

"Don't push me..." Inuyasha warned him lowly. "Don't you dare push me..."

"Heh," Kouga snorted, getting back in his bed and paying the fuming half–demon no more heed.

Inuyasha glared a few moments longer at the offensive wolf demon before slowly retreating to his side of the room. He angrily packed up his school books, uttering random obscenities every now and then. Then he clicked out the lights and went to his own bed, hoping the next day would be better than the one that was just ending.

..:V:..

A/N There we go, folks! Hope you enjoyed that chapter, though nothing earth–shattering happened in it, and it was slightly shorter than my last one... I'm impatient with these beginning chapters because I can't wait to get to all the good ideas I have for this fic! But I don't want to rush anything so you'll have to bear with me as I slowly develop it all. Okey dokey, then? I'll talk to you all later then and I hope to hear your thoughts on the chapter and how the story's going so far!