A/N: I know, I know, yell at me, pummel me, beat me, skin me. I'm late. I'm later than late. I'm like… I can't find a strong enough word to describe it. But believe it or not, I'm probably going to be writing at this pace for a while… in all my stories, this one and MMH included. Please forgive and feel free to abandon, I wouldn't stick with an author as crappy as me that takes this long to update. Quick… free yourselves while you still can.

Disclaimer: no recognizable material belongs to me. Just thought we should clear that up… again.

"No."

"Come on."

"No."

"Sango-"

"No."

"What could it hurt?"

"No."

"Sango, I love you…"

"No."

"But-!"

"NO! How many times to I have to say it! No, No, No, No, No!" She said, turning around and glaring at her stalker, who also happened to be one of her best friends. "I've already told you a thousand times, I'm not marrying you, Kuranosuke!"

"But Sango, we've been friends since preschool," the young man argued, trying his best to convince the woman of his dreams that the two of them were meant to be.

"And we're still in high school, Kuran." She said as she shot the perfect basket, calling by his nickname.

"So? What does that matter?" Kuranosuke asked, taking her by the hand. She shook him off to catch the rebounding ball. "We're old enough."

"Maybe you are… but I'm not, and I don't-" She stopped herself with a sudden jerk, the movement almost messing up her lay-up. She was about to say "I don't love you" but then… she'd crush him. Kuranosuke may have been a love-sick idiot (the kind of guy she hated)… but what he said had been true: the two of them had been friends since preschool. "I don't really feel like marrying anyone right now." She finished. Kuranosuke's silence was frightening.

"But I love you." He said, his voice soft.

Sango felt the pressure growing in her chest, as she looked at her old friend's face. 'But I don't…' she thought, a little sadly. The world would have been so much easier if she could only love Kuranosuke back… but…

"Kuranosuke, nice to see you… again."

Both Sango and Kuranosuke turned around to see a tall man standing behind them, his hair as black as coal, his eyes a smoky lavender color. He was strong, and dark, and gorgeous, and his eyes watched Kuranosuke steadily, as if to say, 'Why are you here…?'

Kuranosuke, gentleman at heart, could tell when he wasn't wanted… most of the time anyway.

"Hoshima." He said, nodding at the man with a mask of politeness. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"Unlike Sango has, I'm sure."

Sango blushed. "Miroku… what are you doing here?"

The young man smiled, his attitude totally changing when he turned to talk to her. "Sango," he said casually, in that stupid voice that always made her lose herself. "How are you?"

"I'd rather you didn't ask." She said softly, looking at him with eyes that clearly said: 'Please… please just go away.' She hated the way she was around him… she hated how strange it felt when they tried to talk… she wished she had never even met Hoshima, Miroku. He made her life so complicated.

Sango turned around, trying to ignore Miroku and shot a perfect basket, waiting for the ball to loop through the net and come back to her. At least she could always count on the ball to come back…

She could feel him standing behind her still. And Kuranosuke continued to stand with her as well, as if he were trying to keep her from being alone with him… and for once in her life she was grateful. She could always count of Kuranosuke too…

Finally, she felt Miroku leave, his steps slow and hesitant, as if half of him were unsure of what he were doing… as if half of him were lingering behind her, his breath still warm on the back of her neck. She half expected to feel his arms to come around her waist like they used to… and when they didn't she felt strangely relieved… and strangely cold.

She caught the ball for the fifth time and felt the loneliness, trying to get used to it, wishing that he had never come over, because then she wouldn't have felt so sad, or so cold.

"Sango… are you alright?" Kuranosuke asked, putting his hand on her shoulder, trying to be a friend. She shrugged it off because she wasn't ready to be touched yet. Not by Kuranosuke… not by anyone. Not after that little emotion hurricane she had just gone through with Miroku. Her ex.

"I'm fine…" She said slowly, glancing across the gym to where he was standing, leaning against the wall with his crowd of friends, his profile turned toward her. Quickly she turned her eyes away, and shot the ball, but right as she finished it out, his smoky lavender eyes clashed with hers, and for the first time in a long time, Sango Tijia missed her shot.

Rin was waiting outside Ms. Dubose's room, sighing with tiredness as she leaned against the wall and sunk down to the floor. 'Kittens… secrets… trust issues… man, how am I supposed to deal with all this drama?'

The sound of long, slow steps filled her mind and as she recognized them, she let a small smile touch her face. She knew the sound of his stride. Only he could sound that way… so slow and so steady and so strong… only him.

She opened her soft hazel eyes when she heard the steady rhythm stop, turning her head upwards, she saw the figure who stood in the bend of the hall, seeing her.

"Hi." Was all she said.

The man looked down at her, his face so strangely captivating. And finally she felt safe again. She felt so completely safe that it was as if she could never be in any kind of danger ever again… his face was all it took.

The end of the day was like salvation for Kagome. She had survived. Yes! She had a ton of homework to do, and she still hadn't found her English partner… even though she had spent most of her free period scanning the halls for him, but she had survived. You had to give her points for that. For some reason, though no one ever seemed to want to tell her where that Inuyasha-guy was. Sometimes she got funny looks, and the occasional "you're new, aren't you?" but she brushed them off. She didn't have time to be embarrassed. She wasn't going to fail this project.

When the glass doors opened, Kagome allowed the flow of bodies to pull her into the parking lot, all the while her eyes scanning faces and hair for flashes of gold or silver. She found none. Just when she thought that maybe she'd never find him again, and that meeting him had probably been just a dream in the first place, a voice behind her caught her attention. It sounded like a boy. Someone who she thought she knew…

"Look. He's up there again. You think he's gonna jump?"

"He'd fucking better not. My car's parked under him. I don't want freak guts on my hood."

Kagome turned, her lips parted in something like shock as she looked at the two boys behind her. They're necks were craned upward, staring at something near the sky. Instinctively she followed their gaze. Her grip tightened on her bag as she saw the boy's legs hanging over the edge of the roof. His long silver hair shinning in the sun. He was a spot of black and silver against the pale blue sky, his heavy combat boots swinging like weighted pendulums that were waiting to be dropped over the edge. Hanyouri, Inuyasha.

"It's him…" She said softly, making one of the boys turn and look at her. Catching her face and her figure, the boy lowered his sunglasses looking her up and down and took a step towards her, smiling.

"You think he'll actually do it?" He asked her, something akin to a grin spreading across his face. "We've all been waiting for it to happen. One day the guy's just going to lose it."

Kagome turned and looked at him, knowing that that he was trying to flirt in the ridiculously stupid and senseless way that only guys did. Too bad she wasn't interested. "No." She said, wondering what kind of idiot would ask her such a question. "I don't think he will." And with that she shoved her way back into the building, making her way through he current of the crowd, her mind thinking only about getting to the roof.

Inuyasha watched the crowd of students flow out of the double doors beneath him when the bell rang at 2:45. They looked like some sort of black ocean, all bunched up and just released from a dam, the way they poured out from the doors and spread across campus, gushing till they were everywhere, and his quiet world was broken. He hated it when they did that. The young man watched with vague interest as he took a drag from his cigarettes and flicked the ashes over the sea of black. They would be cool by the time they reached the people below him, but still he watched as the red specks floated down and turned to black.

Ash black. Just like her eyes had been that night… distant and falling gradually away from him and their world… sometimes he still wondered what had made her do it… why…

"Hey."

It was the first time he could ever remember jumping out of surprise. Turning around, a little stunned that someone was actually there, with him… it felt so strange… and the he saw her face. His whole body stilled, the cigarette smoldering in his hand as he stared. It was her face. Standing right here in front of him… 'Kikyo's…'

Only it was different. She was smiling at him. Kikyo had never really smiled… and when she did it had seemed like the best thing on earth to him. And her eyes were different too. Unlike Kikyo, this girl's eyes were a startling shade of crystal blue. In all truths they struck him in his chest, startling him like he had been started by her smile… Eventually his scowl came back to his face as he inhaled the smoky toxic into his lungs. "Can I help you?" He asked, glaring.

Kagome bit at the corner of her bottom lip, and he could tell that she was nervous. He regretted it a little… regret… the feeling seemed to be overpowering him these days. "No." She said slowly, her eyes looking right at his. "Not really." She figured he had forgotten meeting her, when in reality he just pretended not to care.

He stared at her blankly and she moved towards him, filling him with the strangest sensation. Someone was coming near him. Actually, willingly coming near him. He didn't like the feeling. It freaked him out. He had gotten used to being alone. Really alone. And now there was a girl walking towards him, being nice, trying to have a conversation. Either she was incredibly brave… or she was really stupid.

'Or…' he thought, watching her as she stood beside him and looked at the expanse of blue sky. 'Maybe she doesn't care…'

"It's beautiful up here." She seemed to say, absently, as if she didn't know he was there. She was talking to herself… he realized, lost. And he was alone again… and relieved. "Oh, um, look, we got assigned a project… in English. And, since I was the last one in, and you weren't there at all, we ended up being partners." She said, turning her attention back to him as she shuffled through her messenger bag. She pulled out a handful of stapled paper, holding it out to him with her hand, making him catch the faint traces of charcoal and pencil lead… she was an artist. "I got you an extra copy."

He stared blankly at her. And she could tell that he didn't even have a clue as to what she was talking about. "You showed me to the English class that you missed this morning… remember? Do you think we can meet sometime to work on this?"

'No. Never…'

To Kagome, he didn't say anything. He didn't even take the papers from her hand. He simply got up, ignoring her quietly as he took a drag from the cigarette, acting as if the papers she had offered him weren't even there, and he made his way to the exit of the roof, leaving her to standing there, alone.

But she wasn't the kind of girl, "Hey!" who allowed herself to be left behind. And she wasn't going to be the kind of girl to take a hint either. Even if that hint was something as strong as a punch in the face. How he would come to love that about her…

OoOoOoO

Inuyasha stopped when he heard the pounding of footsteps racing after him on the stairs. He frowned, slightly bewildered, almost not believing that the rhythmic echo he was hearing on the concrete walls was real. What was wrong with her? Was she actually following him? Willingly? Didn't she know anything? Couldn't she tell that he wanted to be alone? He was a little too shocked to be annoyed, otherwise he would have probably told her to fuck off right when she appeared on the staircase, a level to his right, breathless and panting from having to catch up.

"Where are you going?" She asked, a stray wisp of black hair that had fallen into her face moving upward with her breath.

His gaze got harder as he stared at her, moving the cigarette away from his lips. "Why do you care?" He asked, his voice quiet and dark and threatening, as if he were daring her to answer.

"I…" She paused, her mouth in a perfect shape and her eyes so lost that it was almost cute. Almost… "I can't fail this class." She said quietly, as if she were ashamed.

"Sure you can." He replied, flicking the cigg to make the cold ashes fall to the ground. His voice was much harder and blunt than hers. Her's sounded... seemed human, he noticed, and his just sounded… cold. "Just don't do anything. That's easy enough, isn't it?" Clearly, he was annoyed, and clearly, she didn't care.

"Well, at least… take these." She said, giving him the papers that were still in her hand. "I don't need two sets anyway so you might as well."

He was about to scowl at her and ask her what the hell her problem was, why the fuck should he give a damn, and why in the name of the Gods was she following him around like a lost puppy with no mother to cuddle with it. And then he noticed the look she had on her face. A gentle, determined, beautiful expression that was so full of life and happiness… so full of Kagome. And for a fraction of a second, he was caught off guard, admiring her. She really was beautiful… just like Kikyo had been beautiful. But this girl was different… somehow.

Without being able to stop himself, he reached out and took the papers, telling himself that it was just to get her to leave him alone, but knowing inside himself that it was something more. "Happy now?" he asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice as he sucked in smoke from his cigarette.

Her smile surprised him. He hadn't been expecting it.

"Thanks." She said, being completely sincere with him, "it means a lot to me."

After he recovered from seeing her smile so sweetly at him, Inuyasha rolled his eyes and blew the steady stream of gray smoke from the corner of his lips, being careful to avoid directing the smoke into her face, though he wasn't quite sure why. Wordlessly he left her, walking down the stairs with much heavier, louder footsteps than Kagome would ever make… heavier than she could understand.

OoOoOoO

Next time, on TSP:

"YOU'RE ENGLISH PARTNERS WITH INUYASHA!" – Rin

"These questions are so personal, how am I ever supposed to ask him these? How am I ever supposed to answer?" – Kagome

"You never leave me alone, do you?" – Sango

"I really wish I could." – Miroku

"Sometimes when things get hard, I just feel like the best thing I can do is run." – Koga

"I just wish I could forget." – Inuyasha

"I just don't want to be alone." – mystery person