A/N: Can't get this stupid chappy right. Sorry it's boring. The next one will be better and hopefully funnier if it turns out right. Right then.

Kagome and Koga left the classroom together, both of them getting up and hitting the door at the same time because they had been seated in the same area. Behind them a sea of pushy students were all trying to shove their way out the doorframe to safety, or in other words, far, far away from Sensei Sesshomaru.

"So you're new here too?" Koga asked conversationally as they started down the painted cement hall together, their books in hand. His voice was sort of rough… but it was friendly.

"Yeah, we just moved back here from Osaka." Kagome replied, trying to sound friendly; she was still grateful for the note he had sent her in the middle of class.

"Osaka, huh?" Koga asked, his voice thoughtful, "Never been."

"Well you're not missing out on anything," Kagome said. "Tokyo's way better than it is over there."

Koga smiled at her before nodding his head back at the classroom behind them. "So what did you think of that Sensei back there? Completely gay, right?"

Kagome half laughed as she found her locker door and reached in to grab her books for next period. "I don't know… but he is kind of scary." She admitted, fishing around till she found The Conquests of Rome.

"Him? Nah, he ain't nothing to worry about." Koga said off-handedly, tilting his head in order to move some of his black hair out of his eyes as he leaned back lazily on the locker next to hers. "Too bad you were late," he said, studying the delicately pale azure sky out the window with a distracted interest. "We could have been partners for that stupid project he assigned."

"Yeah, too bad." Kagome said sincerely, closing her locker door. She would have liked to have found out more about Koga. "Well, I've got history next. What about you?"

"Science." Koga made a disgusted face. "I heard that they make you dissect kittens."

Kagome smothered her laughter beneath her hand, remembering Rin's horrified face from earlier that morning. She wondered if her friend had been able to make it through first period without having a mental breakdown.

Koga raised an alarmed eyebrow at her reaction. "Uh, Okaay." He said, straightening off the lockers and scratching the back of his neck in the awkwardness. "Take it you don't like kittens that much…"

"What? Oh, no," Kagome said still laughing a little beneath her breath. "It's not that… it's just my friend, she um, well, never mind."

Koga gave her a funny look before he shrugged and started walking away toward the science lab. "Ok whatever." He said as he started off. "See ya later, kitten hater." He shouted as he left her standing at her locker.

"I'm not a kitten hater!" She called after him, trying and failing to sound annoyed as she let out a short breath of laughter.

He smiled over his shoulder at her before he rounded the corner, making her feel a little bit better than she had earlier that morning. At least she now had one friend in her English class, a friend she figured she would need with a teacher like Sesshomaru.

She turned around and headed in the general direction of what she thought was the history room, only to have a hand latch onto her arm as and yank her forcefully into the girl's bathroom without warning.

"KAGOME!"

"Whoa!" Kagome gasped as stumbled into a large blue tiled room that smelled like cheap perfume and nail polish remover. The wall parallel to her was lined with white sinks and a broad expanse of mirror, and parallel to that was a set of small green bathroom stalls, written on with permanent marker; rumors like: "Sharon loves Trevor" and "Stacy is a slut". And in front of her were Rin and Sango.

The two girls were right up in her face, and both of them staring at her with intense and determined faces. It wasn't an unfamiliar expression: her two best friends were on a mission. Great.

"What?" Kagome asked a little irritated and startled by their unexpected ambush as she pulled her right arm away from Rin's grip. The smaller girl, however, was unfazed by Kagome's tone.

"Who was that!" Rin demanded excitedly as she motioned in the direction of the hallway outside. "Why haven't you introduced us before!"

"Who? Koga?" Kagome asked, still a little confused as she made her way over to the mirrors to check for hair frazzles. Sango and Rin followed her out of habit and stood closely to her, as if to try and pressure the information out of her. As if that would work.

"I don't know his name!" Rin burst out, exasperated. "I'm talking bout the total hottie that just walked you to your locker a second ago!"

Kagome sighed, running her fingers through her dark hair before looking at their reflections in the mirror beside hers. "Look, he's just some guy I met in class." Kagome said, slightly annoyed at their expectant expressions.

"Just some guy!" Rin practically screeched, making Sango and Kagome wince. "Just some guy! Kagome he was way too cute to be 'just some guy'!"

Kagome rolled her eyes, hoping no one was quietly occupying the green stalls and overhearing their conversation. That would be embarrassing. "Is that all you ever think about, Rin?"

Rin gave her a funny look, "Duh." She said bluntly, the slight valley-girl-like-tone made Sango cringe. "What do you think about?"

"She thinks about drawing their portraits." Sango teased, poking at Kagome's stomach. "That's it."

Kagome smiled. "Shut up." She said, pretending to be mean. "Anyway, it's not even like that. Koga's new here too so it was easier for me to talk to him."

"Well obviously he likes you!" Rin whispered excitedly, even though there was no possible way for Koga to have heard them now. And if there was a girl hiding in the bathroom, she was still well in hearing range as there was a small echo in the bathroom. "I mean you two are already on nick-name terms!" She squealed excitedly.

Kagome shot her friend an alarmed look. "What?"

"Kagome… 'kitten-hater' weren't you listening?" Rin said, as if it were obvious that that had been what she was talking about.

"Oh yeah, because 'kitten-hater' is what every girl dreams of being called by a guy like Koga." Sango sad dryly, rolling her eyes at Rin. "When you hear that you just know that they're getting warm and fuzzy." Her sarcasm dropped and she smiled, starting to sound sincere. "If she says he's just a friend, then he's just a friend, Rin. Let it go."

Sango had never been one for gossip and rumors, or boys for that matter. And now that she was certain that there wasn't anything between Kagome and the new guy, she was satisfied to leave the topic alone. Too bad Rin wasn't.

"So you're telling me that if he asked you out a week from now, you wouldn't say yes?" Rin asked Kagome coyly, apparently choosing to ignore Sango's statement.

"That's what I'm saying." Kagome said firmly. "Yeah he's… cute… I'll admit, but he's just a friend kind of person. I don't feel any… you know… sparks."

"Sparks?"

"Yeah… you know like… sparks."

At this, Sango smirked. "Oh yeah… that helped."

Kagome punched the other girl's arm playfully. "You know what I mean."

Sango grinned. "Yeah, whatever. Listen, I've got to, I've got home ec. next."

At that Kagome's jaw practically hit the sink and she whipped around to face Sango. "You take home ec!" She managed, still staring in awe at her.

This time Sango punched Kagome's arm. "Hey, knock it off, I'm trying aren't I? Besides, its not any worse than the idea of you taking drivers ed."

Rin burst into giggles while Kagome started to frown. "What?"

At that Sango started giggling too, and soon both girls were too breathless to explain.

"Hey!" Kagome nudged Sango by the shoulder. "What's wrong with my driving?"

Sango broke free of the giggles and checked her watch, still smiling. "Nothing, Kagome, nothing at all." She said as she opened the door and started in the same direction that Koga had. "I've got to go, guys, see you at lunch!"

Kagome stared suspiciously after the taller girl while Rin still giggled at her side.

"Ok, enough of that." Kagome said, putting her hands on her hips and nudging at Rin. "Show me the way to history, Silly."

"Oh, you've got history?" Rin asked, her giggles finally subsiding as she sighed for breath. "So do I, come on, I'll take you."

The three girls met up later at lunch, and led Kagome out onto the campus to eat under a nearby willow.

"This is the best spot in the entire shool!" Rin declared proudly before dropping her bags and sitting down on the ground to eat.

"Hm… guess I'll just have to trust you guys." Kagome said skeptically as she eyed the sparse grass, dappled sunlight poured through the leaves and hit the earth like specs of gold, gently moving back and forth.

"Trust us, it's the best!" Rin giggled happily to herself as she started unwrapping the layer of saran wrap on her all-vegetarian-sandwich.

"So, Kagome, how's your first day going?" Sango asked conversationally as she dug her spoon into her vanilla pudding cup. "New girl experience still sucks?"

Kagome sighed as she took a bite out of her apple, positioning herself so that she was sitting on hers side, supporting the brunt of her weight on her hand without the apple. "Yeah… basically." She admitted, preparing to pour her new girl stress out to her friends in hopes that it would make herself feel better. "As it was I almost got detention during my first period." She miserably, taking another bite from the crisp fruit, licking the juice off of her lips with her tongue before swallowing.

"Detention?" Sango raised an eyebrow. "You? That's almost as bizarre as the idea of Rin getting a dention."

"I did." Rin interrupted pointedly, looking up from her sandwich for the first time.

"Did what?'

"Got a detention." Rin answered, blushing a little.

Sango looked alarmed and set down the pudding. "You got a detention too? From who?"

"Ms. Dubose." Rin said in a tone of disgust, sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth and rolling her eyes before she took a chunk out of her tofu, lettuce and tomato sandwich.

"I thought she liked you." Kagome frowned. "What happened?"

"She wanted me to agree to dissect a kitten!" Rin shrieked. At which Sango nearly choked on her pudding. (which takes talent, considering it normally just slides down your throat).

"What?" Sango asked, apparently just as mortified as Rin was. If you knew anything about Rin, you knew not to ask her to do anything remotely harmful to anything cute and fuzzy. You just didn't. Not unless you wanted a protest with megaphones and signs and angry chants outside your door the next day.

"I know!" Rin screeched, the begging of tears starting to well up in her pretty hazel eyes. "It's was so mean! She showed me a pic-picture! And it was just sitting there on the tray… it was…" her voice cracked and she wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "I can't believe how horrible the entire school is! I mean, kittens!"

"Yeah… I wonder how Koga did in that class…" Kagome said off-handedly.

"Oh!" Rin said suddenly, dropping her sandwich into her lunch pail, the thought of kittens quite completely forgotten. "I almost forgot! Gimme all the juicy details on your new boyfriend!" She said with a sniffle.

Kagome rolled her eyes and groaned. "He's not my boyfriend!"

"Whatever! Boy-friend to be!" Rin said excitedly. "When did you meet him?"

"First period." Kagome said darkly, remembering again just how miserable that specific class had been; what with the impossible project she had been assigned and the way Sensei Sesshomaru had treated her for being late. "Which is when I almost got a detention by the way."

"Who gave it to you?" Sango asked, shooting her pudding cup and plastic spoon away effortlessly into a nearby garbage can.

"Sensei Sesshomaru." Kagome sad, biting her apple again. Sango suddenly stiffened, her eyes shooting sideways to Rin who didn't seem to notice.

"Oh, him?" Rin asked, picking up her sandwich again and leaning against the trunk. "How did you get him to let you go?" She asked, tilting her head a bit with mild curiosity.

Kagome frowned at Sango who seemed to let out a breath of relief before rummaging in her lunch box again. "Um… actually I'm not sure. I just told him why I was late and he said he'd let it pass."

At that both Rin and Sango blinked and looked at her. "That's it?" They said together, their tones exactly same: shock.

"Yeah. I don't know what I did right but I must have done something."

Sango frowned. "Wait, so what exactly did you say to him?"

"I said that-"

"Hey!" Rin interrupted the conversation shamelessly, her left hand darting up into the air and waving frantically. "Jaken! Come sit with us!"

Kagome turned to look where Rin was looking, her crystal blue eyes falling on a dwarfish boy who was waddling past them on the sidewalk. He had incredibly large, coke-bottle lens glasses that bugged out his eyes to an unbelievable size and a scraggly shock of mousy greenish hair that was barely even there. His nose was incredibly short and snout-like, and seemed to rest on his lips which were inhumanly thin, and shot out of his face as if they were pursed 24/7.

Kagome glanced over at Sango, and her friend returned with a look that clearly stated her disgust. But… he was Rin's friend. With this in mind, Kagome reluctantly scooted herself over to clear a space for him, all the while silently whishing he wouldn't come over.

The boy, however, jerked his head around to look at Rin, saw her and abruptly snapped his head down to stare at his feet as he then hurried into the school. He was moving at a speed which suggested that he thought Rin was going to spring up and chase after him. Which, now that she thought about it, Kagome wouldn't put past the rambunctious girl.

"Huh… that was weird." Rin said, lowering her hand and tilting her pretty face in confusion. "I wonder where he's going."

Kagome closed the triangle of friends again so that there was no more empty space for a visitor, while Sango tucked some soft brown hair behind her face. "He's probably going to fawn over-" But she stopped abruptly before she finished, glancing quickly at Rin before taking a chug of her water from her sports bottle. "Some girl." She finished lamely.

Kagome narrowed her eyes. She knew something was going on. "Okay. Spill." She said, setting down her half finished apple. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." Both girls replied, their positions straightening a bit as they glanced at each other. Sango began picking at her palms while Rin grabbed hold of her bottom lip with her teeth and began to suck gently on it. Both were unconscious signs of nervousness. And Kagome could recognize each of them.

Kagome gave a wry smile. "Come on, guys… I haven't been gone that long. What's the secret?"

"Secret?" Sango asked, an eyebrow raising in apparent confusion, she dropped her palms when she saw Kagome looking at them. "What are you talking about?"

Kagome felt her annoyance irk. If they thought that she didn't know them well enough to be able to tell when they were hiding something… "Come on guys! What gives? What are you keeping from me?"

"Nothing." The unfamiliarity of Rin's voice made Kagome turn and look at her other friend. She practically bit her tongue when she met those cold hazel eyes. Rin was glaring at her. She was giving Kagome genuine, threatening, blood-chilling glare. And her tone had been sharp and alien. Kagome was stunned. She had never seen Rin give that look to anyone…

And then slowly, the hurt began to sink in. Trying to hide it, Kagome turned silently away and picked up her apple, not failing to notice the slightly guilty look Sango gave her before looking back to Rin again, alerting Kagome once more to the hurtful fact that she was being left out. But… she had never been left out before.

And Rin, the biggest gossiper she had ever known in her entire life had never held away secrets from anybody… let alone one of her best friends. It was a well known fact that Rin couldn't keep a secret, even if the life of a baby koala bear depended on it. Could it have been Sango's secret then?

No… it couldn't be. Not while Sango kept on looking nervously at Rin, as if asking her what to do, what to say, trying not to betray her. So it had to be Rin's secret… But even if the younger girl had somehow managed to keep a decent rumor quiet without exploding, why would she confide in Sango and not Kagome too? Sure she had been away for a while but…

"So," Sango said uneasily, trying awkwardly to break the ice. "What do you guys have next?"

"Algebra." Kagome said dryly, not ready to forgive either of them yet for snipping her.

"I've got to go write lines for Ms. Dubose." Rin said, her voice no longer cold but not quite as bouncy as usual either. "Fifteen minutes and then I'm going down to gym class."

"I guess I'll see you down there." Sango said. "I've got gym too."

They fell into a stifling silence. And the specs of golden sunlight danced as the wind rustled the leaves.

"Ugh… I can't believe my mom keeps packing me these things." Rin said quietly after a while, her voice ringing out into the thick silence as if it were somehow offensive. It annoyed Kagome slightly… she didn't know why. "Here, you want it, Kagome?"

Kagome turned and looked at the outstretched brownie in Rin's hand. A thick square of soft brown chocolate, little red sprinkles of sugar drizzled along the top… She knew very well that Rin loved brownies; in fact it was probably one she had made herself. And while this was an offering of peace, it wasn't a full-out confession of what the two girls were hiding. But still… it wasn't as if she could really blame them for having secrets now. She had been gone for two years.

She smiled, rather forcefully. "Thanks."

Rin let a grateful smile, weak with the passing tension spread across her face. Her body relaxed visibly, making Kagome realize just how on-edge her friend had been. "Welcome."

When the bell rang for the end of lunch, the three girls walked together from to the willow tree to their lockers, talking happily to each other, the slight moment of tension regarding the secret was gone and everything seemed to be forgiven.

"Alright I'm off to Algebra, I'll see you guys later."

"Later!" Sango and Rin called as Kagome disappeared around the corner of the hall. She had a rough idea where the Algebra room was, having passed it earlier on her way to history with Rin, so for now she didn't need a guide. And after Rin was finished writing lines for Ms. Dubose, she would meet Sango down at the gym. But for now the two girls were alone. And once Kagome had disappeared around the corner, the smiles fell of their faces and they looked at each other awkwardly, both knowing what the other was thinking about.

"Rin." Sango said as they started walking down the hall together, heading in the opposite direction Kagome had gone. "Are you going to tell her?"

Rin frowned and worried her lip, a kind of torn expression surfacing in her hazel eyes. "I don't know…" She said quietly. "I hate keeping anything from her but… I'm not supposed to tell anyone. I promised."

"You told me." Sango reminded her gently. "Why can't you tell Kagome too?"

"Because you found out on your own." Rin said with a smile for her friend. "Remember? I didn't actually come out and tell you, you tracked me down."

"Yeah but… Kagome will find out too. She's knows us too well to not realize…"

Rin nodded, seeming uncharacteristically introverted as she glanced at the English room, which they were passing by. Inside a cold, quiet voice was lecturing the students in a monotone, yet somehow it seemed like it could have been heard for miles. As she passed by the glass in the door the voice fell silent for a moment when it shouldn't have, making the sentence odd and choppy when it resumed. Rin smiled a little.

"Yeah… I know… I think I'll have to tell her…" Rin said quietly as she passed by the door. "I guess."

A/N: Umm… sorry for the wait? I'm pretty sure you all know what's going on. Heh. What can I say? Drama drama drama. Miroku comes along in the next chapter. (And Inuyasha will be back soon, don't worry I haven't forgotten about him I just need to set the rest of their story lines up). And a question for all you readers, a sort of poll, if that's what you want to call it, in the next chapter when Sango and Miroku meet, should they be meeting for the first time? Or should they already know each other? You decide.)

xoxnanirain