Chapter Four! Finally! I'm so sorry about my last little author's corner. My dad cuts the internet off at 11:00 on weekdays so we don't spend all night on the internet and not get up for school. Last chapter, it was litterally 10:59 so I was kinda rushed. I honestly don't think I'm going to live through high school. Damn teachers are going to kill me with their damn homework. Anyway, I finally finished chapter four. I hope you like it. Oh, and I noticed that some people do the whole "previously on blah blah blah" in the beginning of their chapters. I think it'd be easier if I did too. Anyway, enjoy!

Previously on "The Project":

"Just give it up." Inu-yasha let out an annoyed/depressed/angry sigh. He mumbled 'feh'. Neither of them had homework so they dropped by their lockers to put their stuff away and then they went outside. They said bye and then went to their separate cars.

As Inu-yasha drove out of the parking lot he thought, What a hell of a first day of school.

Chapter Four

Bad Case of Karma

Inu-yasha, relived that he'd beat Sesshomaru home, pulled up into his drive-way. He'd lived in this house his whole life. Sesshomaru hadn't though. Their father moved there when he'd found out Izayoi was pregnant. Sesshomaru'd lived in his mom's house for two years before that.

The house was large, but not too big. It was big enough to have a few maids and butlers around. There was a four car garage which Inu-yasha'd just pulled into. He walked in, jogged up the stairs (grinned when he'd saw a light red stain in it (from Sesshomaru's hair that morning)), and jumped on his fluffy bed. He sighed.

One down, he thought. He was already tired. He was going to take a nap but just then he heard the front door open. No doubt, it was Sesshomaru. Inu-yasha was going to lock his door so that he could delay his pounding but then he remembered that he was talking to his (future) girlfriend when gym was over. Just the thought made Inu-yasha's blood boil. He bravely marched out of his room and into the direct line of vision of Sesshomaru.

"Hey, you know that girl you were talking to after the bell rang in gym?" He decided to get right to the point. His brother didn't say anything or even nod but Inu-yasha continued anyway. "What did she say?"

"Why do you care?" Sesshomaru snapped, trying to walk past his little brother and to his room. He was blocking the way so Sesshomaru had to answer.

"I just do."

"Go ask her. She was the one who was talking to me." Inu-yasha's jaw dropped slightly. She started the conversation! Sesshomaru took advantage of Inu-yasha's shock and went past him and in the room.

Inu-yasha should've figured that his brother didn't start talking because, well, he never talks to anyone he doesn't know. But he didn't expect her to go to him. He just couldn't accept it for some reason. She knew that he liked her. She was just toying with him. Either way, he'd be asking what the hell that was all about.

Inu-yasha also thought it was odd that Sesshomaru didn't beat him down. In fact, their conversation, although short, was actually normal. It wasn't possible that Sesshomaru forgotten what happened that morning… right?

Inu-yasha decided he didn't have a problem with that though. Inu-yasha was tired of sitting around in his room and, after a while, wondered around, looking for Tami, their maid who they treated like family. He wanted to see if she had any advice for him and his project issue.

Inu-yasha wondered around the large house. Their house wasn't really a mansion but it was larger than a normal house. Inu-yasha liked it that way though. He didn't like too much space but he didn't want to live in a closet. He wondered in and out of doors, making his way to the kitchen. That's were Tami usually could be found. And she was there.

"Hey, Tami," Inu-yasha said cheerfully.

"Hi baby," Tami said. She knew that Inu-yasha had a mother, and a very good one at that, but it was just her nature to act motherly to everyone.

There were only three people who Inu-yasha was nice to, well, in his own special way: Tami, his mom, and Miroku. He usually laughed at people, not with them but the exception where those three people. But it seemed that he'd have to add Kagome's name to his short list. (In the back of his mind he realized he still didn't know her last name.)

Inu-yasha saw Tami chopping up some onions. He wrinkled his nose but said, "Whatcha making?"

"Meatloaf." It wasn't his favorite but Tami somehow made all of her food taste divine.

"Hmm," Inu-yasha nodded.

Tami looked at him. "What's wrong?"

Inu-yasha laughed. She always saw right threw him, just like Miroku. "Nothing."

"Oh, don't give me that." Tami waved the knife in his direction and said, "You tell me the truth boy."

Inu-yasha sighed. "Well, there's this girl…"

"Ah, love life problems," Tami smiled understandingly.

"Yeah. She's just so… difficult," Inu-yasha said, frustrated.

"She's already your girlfriend?" Tami asked, slightly surprised since it was only the first day of school.

"No." Tami visibly relaxed.

"Then find someone else."

"I can't." Tami just stared at him. "I can't explain it; I'm just… drawn to her."

"Oh, I get it," Tami nodded understandingly. "That happened to me once. The guy was rude to me but I stuck with him. I realized later that he was already married."

Now Inu-yasha stared. "So are you saying that maybe she has a boyfriend already?"

"Well, if she did, she'd have told you by now right? Yes, so maybe there's some other reason for it."

"But there isn't anything else," Inu-yasha exasperated. "I've never done anything to her. What does she have against me?" Tami was just about to say something else when the echo of the door closing reached them. He smiled at Tami and said, "Talk to ya later," before going out to meet his mom.

"Hi Mom," Inu-yasha said while giving her a bear hug.

"Hello son. Have any homework?"

Inu-yasha groaned. "It's only the first day of school."

"Okay," Izayoi said. She looked around and then said, "Where's Sesshomaru?"

Inu-yasha scoffed and said, "In his room, where else?"

"Did you tell him you have his chores?" Inu-yasha gave her a guilty look. She sighed. "Your father can tell him if you don't want to." She said the relief in Inu-yasha's face. It was all a matter of pride. Even if Inu-yasha didn't really have to do them, he didn't want to see his brother's laughing when he told him. He'd be too tempted to throw the truth at his face, just to see Sesshomaru's reaction.

The two talked about school and work as she walked up the stairs to her room. Izayoi had flexible work hours and got off work early today, no doubt to look after the boys, especially after that morning. After some time, they separated, getting on with their daily activities.

Inu-yasha filled his afternoon with pranks on the other maids and butlers (he'd never do any on Tami though; she'd have his head cleaved off with her handy butcher knife), games, and avoiding Sesshomaru, which wasn't hard since he'd stayed in his room since he'd gotten home except to use the restroom.

When Inutaisho got home, he and Inu-yasha exchanged a greeting similar to the one he'd had with Izayoi. When they'd reached his room, however, Inutaisho closed the door, locked it, and whirled around to face Inu-yasha who was casually sitting on the bed.

"So what exactly happened this morning?" He sounded like a thirty old woman who gossiped on a regular basis.

Inu-yasha, who'd thought his dad was joking that morning, started off uneasily, but as he went on, it flowed more easily. Pretty soon they were both laughing and Inu-yasha was released from the room.

Dinner was quiet and polite. Sesshomaru didn't talk at all. Inu-yasha had a smug smile planted on his face the whole time, thinking Sesshomaru was still butt-hurt about what'd happened (which, of course, meant he'd done a very good job). Izayoi and Inutaisho talked about their issues at work, all of which were ignored by Inu-yasha and Sesshomaru. They both had too much on their minds.

When Sesshomaru was done, he excused himself quickly and went to his room. Inu-yasha thought it was to sulk some more and excused himself happily.

Inu-yasha had just dozed off when his cell phone vibrated. It was on his desk so the vibrating was loud. He sleepily grabbed it and flipped it open, not catching the name on the phone before he said, "Hello?"

"Inu-yasha?"

"Miroku! What do you want? I'm trying to sleep! What time is it?"

"It's almost eleven. Look, I just thought that maybe you wanted to move our little sneak-out date up."

"Huh?" Inu-yasha was still trying to fully awake.

"You know the house we were going to tepee tomorrow night?"

"Yeah," Inu-yasha said groggily.

"Let's do it tonight."

"What? Lord, I'm so tired, just wait until tomorrow." Inu-yasha was just about to hang up.

"Wait!" He did. "Come on, please? I can't sleep and I'm bored. Either way, I'm going to do it tonight so either you come or you don't."

"What?" Inu-yasha couldn't believe it. Miroku was going to leave him and do it himself when they'd been wanting to do this house for so long. "Oh, alright, you win. Come over in about an hour." Then Inu-yasha flipped the phone closed. He ran a hand over his face before flipping the covers off his body and getting black clothes.

Inu-yasha woke up by the warmth of the lemon-colored sunlight rays. The birds sung in perfect harmony and Inu-yasha allowed himself to listen to their glorious song for a few seconds. Their song was lulling him to sleep. He was so tired from the night before. He and Miroku were out until after two in the morning trying to finish the job.

Suddenly, thundering footsteps nearly shook Inu-yasha out of his bed. The sound created by foot connecting with floor was overwhelming. They were getting closer and closer until…

"INU-YASHA!" a deep voice roared. They pounded on the door, and it seemed the whole door would crumble at the force. Inu-yasha's face went deathly pale. He knew that voice and whenever it yelled, it meant death, or worse.

The person tried the door, but it was locked. Inu-yasha vaguely remembered locking it in case Sesshomaru tried to come in and pound him in his sleep. They hammered the door more. "INU-YASHA, OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!"

Inu-yasha scrabbled out of the bed, falling out of it in his haste. The sheets were twisted around his legs.

"INU-YASHA, IF YOU DON'T OPEN THIS DOOR NOW, I WILL BREAK IT DOWN!" But from the way he was pounding on the door, Inu-yasha'd guess that it would break anyway.

"Wait!" Inu-yasha yelled but his voice was drown out by the angry one. Inu-yasha desperately clawed at the merciless sheets but it was too late.

The door was kicked open, splinters of wood flying all over the place. The door flew open and slammed into the wall, no doubt making a dent and came swinging back. Even from the floor, Inu-yasha could plainly see the anger written, or rather ironed, on his father's face as he held the door open.

Then Inu-yasha burst out laughing. He could not believe what he was seeing. There his dad was, his face red with anger, with hot pink hair. Yes, his hair had been dyed pink and it was the hottest pink Inu-yasha had ever seen. Inu-yasha couldn't stop laughing and this only made Inutaisho madder.

"YOU'RE GROUNDED!" he bellowed, barely able to get the words through his anger.

"W-What! Why!" Needless to say, Inu-yasha was no longer laughing.

"DON'T FUCK WITH ME! YOU'RE GROUNDED!"

"Why?"

"Are you fucking blind!" Inutaisho roared. "You did this," he jabbed a finger at his destroyed hair "to me!"

"W-What? No I didn't!" Inu-yasha was yelling too but he was no match for his dad.

"Lying is just making it worse! You're grounded until further notice!" And he marched/stomped away.

Inu-yasha gawked after him. If he had a mirror, he could've seen that his jaw was practically dragging on the floor. Inu-yasha crawled (he was still tangled in the sheets) to the door and looked down the stairs and caught a glimpse of his dad's pink hair.

Then he heard a snicker behind him. He turned and there Sesshomaru was, arms crossed, with a smug smile planted on his face. Inu-yasha's blood boiled. He didn't even have to ask to know what'd happened. So that was what Sesshomaru decided to do to him to get even. Instead of killing, he got Inutaisho to do it for him. Clever.

Damn karma, Inu-yasha thought as he slammed the door shut, no longer wanting to see Sesshomaru's laughing face. But you know what Sesshomaru? You've just started a war you can't win.

Inu-yasha drove to school soon after breakfast. He didn't even look at his dad or Sesshomaru, although he did pour salt on the rest of the breakfast, enough so that Sesshomaru wouldn't be able to stand it. It was only a small part of his payback.

Inu-yasha pulled up into his parking spot at school from the day before. He caught a glimpse of Miroku, who was making a bee-line for three girls (and their asses). Just as he was going to make it, Inu-yasha grabbed his collar, much like Miroku had the day before to him after gym.

"Hey! I was so close!" Of course that was Miroku who said that.

"You really have issues," Inu-yasha declared (as if we didn't know, lol). Inu-yasha had walked a good ten yards away from them when he decided to let go of Miroku. Needless to say, Miroku pouted.

"Why'd you do that?"

"Hey, I like ass as much as the next guy but you're gonna get in trouble for that kinda stuff one day."

Miroku still pouted. "So, it's worth it," he mumbled. Inu-yasha scoffed.

"So, how much sleep did you get last night?" Inu-yasha asked after he saw Miroku yawn.

"Oh hell, probably three hours. It took me like a half hour to even get in my house. My mom was up for her late night snack or something and she almost caught me. I had to climb up that tree next to my room and jump through the window."

Inu-yasha snickered. "My family was knocked out." And then he remembered what Sesshomaru had done. "Well," Inu-yasha huffed, "Sesshomaru was up at one point. He dyed my dad's hair bright pink."

Miroku's jaw hung open. "And he got in trouble right?"

"No," Inu-yasha growled. "Dad blamed me. Sesshomaru's never pulled a prank before but I have done plenty. Dad thought I did it. So now, I'm grounded for life."

Miroku chuckled. "Too bad for you! Well, did you tell him the truth yet?"

"Haven't had a chance to yet. But even if I did, he wouldn't listen to me."

Miroku shrugged. "It's worth trying."

Inu-yasha sighed. "Yeah, I guess."

Just then, the bell rang. The two repeated what they did the day before, talking while going to their lockers. Inu-yasha had a hard time concentrating on their conversation though. He kept thinking about Kagome and what she'd said to Sesshomaru. He was glad they had the same class. He wanted to ask her what she'd said to him.

When they walked into Myoga-sensei's class, Inu-yasha's eyes immediately found Kagome. She was doodling on paper again. By the way her hand jerked, he'd guess she was in a bad mood. Funny, he thought, how I can already tell what her mood is and I've only known her for a day.

Miroku went to his seat and Inu-yasha detoured. He sat in an empty seat next to her. He was going to go to his seat but for now he just had to know what his brother had said to her.

"Hi." Kagome frowned more than she already was. "Whatcha drawing?" He leaned over to look at her paper. It said (in perfect large cursive letters) 'fuck off, I'm not in the mood.' Apparently, she already knew he'd do this. Inu-yasha chuckled and said, "Is that so?"

Kagome glared. "Yes." He could've sworn there was poison dripping from her words.

"What's the matter?"

"It's none of your business." More poison.

"Suppose I'm making it my business." Kagome fully turned to look at him and her eyes were burning into his. Inu-yasha could almost see the flame licking her cocoa pupils. "Alright, I'm going." Even Inu-yasha wouldn't mess with that. Kagome smiled but it was clearly forced and it still held hostility. "Just answer one question before I go." Kagome growled in annoyance. "What did you say to that silver haired boy yesterday after school?" Inu-yasha decided not to use Sesshomaru's name since he wasn't sure she knew it or not.

"You mean Sesshomaru?" Apparently she did. Inu-yasha nodded, feeling betrayal for some reason, because she knew his name. Kagome looked at him quizzically.

"Just answer truthfully and I'll be gone," Inu-yasha said with a smile to let her know he wasn't lying.

Kagome stared for a little while longer and said, "I just asked if he had any connection to you. You two look so much alike." Inu-yasha was sure she could see the relief that washed over him. It was like a tsunami. He'd thought it was something more.

"What did he say?"

"He said you were his half-brother, although he did stress the half part."

That was all Inu-yasha needed to know. He didn't think she was lying, especially after she said he stressed the 'half.' "Thank you." Inu-yasha said kindly (odd, he'd thought, to be kind to her when she hadn't said a single nice thing to him yet (not to mention that it just wasn't his nature to be kind at all, no matter who it was)) and walked away. Kagome still had the burn in her eyes so he thought it best to stay away.

The bell conveniently rang just then. Myoga bustled into the classroom, busying himself with pulling papers from his black bag. He looked rushed.

"Good morning, class," he said as the last of the students seated themselves. "Well, as you can see, I'm running a little late…" He distractedly said still trying to get the papers out of his bag. Inu-yasha rolled his eyes. He was bored already.

"So," Miroku whispered, "did you get anything other than a glare out of her?" He liked to keep tabs on Inu-yasha's projects… to make sure he hadn't given up mostly. It was Miroku's way of looking after him since Inu-yasha was too proud to let him do anything else.

"Sure, if you could call it that. I just asked why she was talking to Sesshomaru." Inu-yasha saw Miroku's curious face. "She just wanted to know if we were related." Even now, Inu-yasha couldn't keep the relief out of his voice. "But I'm surprised I even got that. She seemed really pissed about something."

Miroku glanced in her direction. She had her eyes narrowed looking at the same piece of paper she was writing on earlier and was smashing her pencil into it and bringing it the length of the paper, not caring when it ripped. "Ya think?" he asked sarcastically. "What's up with her?"

"I don't know but it wasn't me this time. She was already pissed before I got there."

"Well, are you going to find out?"

Inu-yasha didn't want to admit that he was afraid of her. She just looked pure evil like that. He was actually relived when the teacher snapped at them for talking. Miroku and he semi-behaved themselves for the rest of the class, mostly so they wouldn't have to the teacher get after them again. He really was annoying, Myoga-sensei.

Throughout the class Inu-yasha kept glancing at Kagome, as he usually did. He was worried about her. He found that slightly unbelievable since she hadn't even thrown a single nice comment at him. He didn't like to see her mad, or in her case, beyond infuriated. He wondered what mad her so mad. Maybe she just had a bad morning but for her to be that mad, she'd have had to have fallen down the stairs with red ooze in her hair virtually naked, fall a second time in front of a gloating brother, and then yelled at by the dad. (Sound familiar? Lol!) He was itching to know but he didn't want to risk upsetting her even more. Funny, he though, how I don't even want to risk upsetting her when she's done that and more to me. She had NO idea how hard this is.

The rest of his morning, he spent avoiding her, so as not to upset her further (it drove him crazierthat he went out of his way to make her happy). It wasn't hard since he didn't have any more classes with her in the morning, but he still had that feeling all morning, the yearning to want to know what had upset her so he could fix it.

After English (just so you know, they live in America, that's why they have English) with Kaede-sensei, Inu-yasha went to the bathroom, his and Miroku's general meeting place. This time they were meeting so they could fully see the effects of their prank from the day before. Art with Takina-sensei wasn't as important as this. Just as the warning bell rang, Miroku showed up and the two sneaked out the back door. They went through the kitchen back door and hid in the shadows where they could see most of the kitchen and thus, the lunch ladies when they came in five minutes later.

They really had to try to not laugh out loud when the women looked in the apron cabinet and saw gloves and nets. They were pretty clueless and were arguing and blaming each other. It took them a while to think to look in the glove and net boxes to see if they could find out what had happened to their aprons. When they saw the ice they stopped arguing. They all pieced it together. The freezer.

Inu-yasha and Miroku were practically about to explode from holding it in too long. They decided they had to get out of there after the ladies put on the frozen aprons or they'd get caught. They were stupid, in Inu-yasha's eyes, for thinking that if they wore the aprons, they'd warm up faster. If it were him, he'd have ditched the aprons. He guessed they were so upset that they weren't thinking straight.

Inu-yasha and Miroku were soon outside in the chilly autumn wind. Then they started their laughing fest.

After wondering around for forty-five minutes (lunch was delayed… hmm… wonder why?), the boys went to lunch. They both noticed the lunch ladies seemed to be having a very bad day. After Inu-yasha sat down, he immediately looked at Kagome's table. She was still in her mood. Again, he wondered what it was. He managed to stop thinking about it when he and Miroku were spying on the cafeteria ladies but now it was back full force. Maybe he should ask he what was wrong…

"What are you doing?" Miroku asked when Inu-yasha stood up.

"It's bugging the hell out of me. I want to know what's got her in such a bad mood."

"Are you sure about this?" Miroku asked uncertainty.

"Am I ever sure?" Inu-yasha countered with a smile and walked over to Kagome and Sango.

Oh God, he's just going to make it worse, Miroku thought but he didn't even bother to try to stop him.

"Hey, Kagome," he said cheerfully and sat right next to her (although he was in a position that allowed him to make a quick escape if need be though.)

Glare. From Kagome and Sango.

"I thought you said he wouldn't be sitting here anymore," Sango said irritably.

"I did say that." Kagome turned to Inu-yasha, the fire in her eyes blazing even livelier, if that was even possible. "What do you want?"

Inu-yasha blinked at the hostility. "I just wanted to know why you're so mad." He decided to go ahead and not waste time. He had a feeling that she was going to chase him away soon anyway.

Kagome scoffed and said, "Why do you care?"

"How come you can't just answer the question?" he sighed.

Kagome growled and said, "Because I'm hoping that by asking you annoying questions you'll get the drift and go away."

Inu-yasha smiled through his anger. "It'd be easier if you just answered the question."

"Humph," Kagome said. "It really isn't any of your business. It's… a family problem."

Inu-yasha shrugged. That was the best he'd get out of her. He knew she was lying but he walked away anyway (after a friendly 'bye' and wave). He didn't want to push his luck too far in the beginning of the game. He couldn't believe how nice he was being to this girl. And he still didn't even know her last name. If he wasn't so interested in her, he'd have strangled her already.

Science consisted of watching Kagome doodle, talking to Miroku, and getting scolded at by Jizani-sensei. (Inu-yasha noticed that the kind woman didn't like to yell at her students and instead either warned them or playfully scolded them, like she did with his note the day before.)

About half way into the class, Miroku fell asleep on his desk, most likely from lack of sleep (they were up the night before, trying to finish that damn house. The place didn't look so big until they were close to it.). Inu-yasha got a brilliant idea just to make fun of Miroku. They were doing a problem out of the textbook so Inu-yasha wasn't scowled at when he stood and went to Jizani-sensei. He whispered something into her ear and she glanced in Miroku's direction. Inu-yasha knew she'd want to do it because it was funny and it would also teach him not to sleep in class again.

Softly, after Inu-yasha sat down, she told to class to quietly stand up. The confused class hesitated but then obeyed. She walked to the door and walked out, motioning for the class to follow her but holding her hand to her lips to tell them to be quiet. They followed, catching on when they saw Miroku sleeping. Once everyone was outside, Jizani closed the door a hard as she could.

Miroku's head shot up. He looked utterly confused at first. Then he got panicky and started to shove his things in his backpack, thinking he missed the bell. But then he noticed that everyone's stuff was still there.

Meanwhile everyone outside was laughing softly, trying to hold it in so he wouldn't hear it. Then Inu-yasha opened the door and everyone laughed at Miroku, who was still looking around for any form of life. Miroku immediately caught on to what had happened (Inu-yasha had done this to him before) and, being the good sport he is, joined them in their laughing.

Other than that, Science class was pretty easy-going. Inu-yasha had tried his best to keep clear of Kagome who was obviously at least happy about that.

When the bell rang, Inu-yasha waited for Miroku this time. They walked to gym together. George (he refused to be called George-sensei) told the class they were having another free day since more than half the class didn't bring gym clothes. Inu-yasha joined a game of basketball like the day before and this time Miroku joined instead of chasing after blondes. Inu-yasha tried to pay attention to the game but his eyes kept wondering back to Kagome's form. She was writing or drawing in a notebook the whole time. She didn't talk to Sesshomaru so Inu-yasha was better than the day before. Still, he had a hard time concentrating whenever he saw Kagome's scowling face. He wildly began to think her face would stay that way for the rest of the year.

The bell finally rang and Inu-yasha took his time leaving. Tired, he and Miroku said 'bye' and promised to call that night to plan their next prank instead of discussing it over an afternoon snack like they usually did.

As Inu-yasha drove, he thought about Kagome. What could've made her so mad, he asked himself. I just can't get it out of my mind. I feel like it's my duty to fix her mood… What the fuck! Why is this happening to me? Why did she—

Just then he saw a familiar large black hoddy, raven hair, and baggy jeans. He slowed down as he got closer.

"Hey, I didn't know you walked home," Inu-yasha said.

Kagome's head snapped up but once she saw who it was her usual scowl was in place. "That's very observant of you." She didn't even bother to stop walking.

Inu-yasha narrowed his eyes but then tried to be nice again. "Do you want a ride?"

"No," she said flatly.

"Why not?"

"My house is only a few blocks away."

"A few too many. Just let me give you a ride. It might cheer you up."

"I'd be cheered up if you went away," Kagome snapped.

"Please?" Inu-yasha smiled and puppy dog pouted.

Kagome thought the puppy dog look suited him but she definitely wasn't going to tell him that. "No," was all she said.

"Fine," Inu-yasha growled and sped ahead and around the corner. Kagome smiled triumphantly. Her smile evaporated a minute later when she saw Inu-yasha jogging around the corner. He grinned smugly at her surprised face. "You didn't think you won did you?" Inu-yasha asked smugly. Kagome pouted. They kept walking in the way Kagome was going.

"Why do you insist on bugging me? I don't want to even be around you."

"Why not? Did I do something to you that makes you hate me so much?"

Kagome sideways glared. "No."

"Then why do you hate me so much?"

"Right now I hate you because you won't leave me alone."

"But you didn't like me before either."

"No, I didn't." Inu-yasha was getting frustrated with her short, non-helpful answers but he was happy that she was answering him. Probably only because she had no way out of it but he didn't care.

"Soo… is there a reason for that?"

Kagome was quiet for a while. Just as Inu-yasha was going to ask her again she said, "My last relationship didn't go so well…" She wasn't scowling at him anymore. In fact, Inu-yasha could plainly see pain, hurt, and fright in her eyes.

"So, is it because you're still healing?" Inu-yasha asked softly. Inu-yasha could relate to that, with Kaori and all.

Kagome was quiet for a moment. She looked into the sky and Inu-yasha took at her raven hair softly blowing in the breeze, chocolate brown eyes still full of painful memories, and her cream-colored skin. The wind seemed to caress her face that held such a sad frown. She looked back at him and said, "Yes, you could say that."

The two were quiet for a moment. Kagome looked thoughtful and hurt. Inu-yasha felt guilty about bringing back such bad memories. He didn't mean to. She didn't have to tell him anything but she did. He was happy that she sorta maybe kinda trusting him now.

She isn't telling me the whole truth, Inu-yasha thought. She really has no reason to tell me anything. She hates me because of her past, because of her last boyfriend… Why? Is her past (or ex- boyfriend) really that bad?

Inu-yasha started to get bored with the scenery (that seemed oddly familiar) and decided the silence had to end. "So, were you mad all day because of me?" he asked.

Kagome sighed. "Do you really want to know that badly?"

"It's been driving me crazy all day," he answered.

"Why?"

"Because I care," he said calmly. Kagome turned to look at him. She was slightly surprised. It was like that was the answer she wanted to hear but she didn't think that Inu-yasha would actually say it.

She smiled the first kind smile Inu-yasha had seen her direct at himself. "If you really want to know then I'll tell you."

Inu-yasha smiled widely.

"In fact, I'll show it to you." They just rounded the corner. She stopped, pointed, and said, "That's my house."

Inu-yasha's jaw dropped. No wonder this place seemed so familiar! The word 'karma' escaped his lips after he fully took in the sight.

There in front of him was a house alright but it was virtually completely covered in toilet paper. Toothpaste went up and down the long case of stairs that lead to the house. All the trees looked more like preserved mummies. The small shrine house off to the side had its door and windows lined in tooth paste and streamers made of toilet paper all over it. The large tree next to that had a smiley face on it made of toothpaste. The grass was a blanket of tiny quilts. The empty rolls of the toilet paper were stuck onto various branches of various trees around the house.

Inu-yasha couldn't believe it. This was the house he and Miroku had tepee-d the night before!

And there's Chapter Four for you. I hope you like it. Alright, so as I said, this story takes place in America. However, if you've noticed, I add -sensei to the end of the teacher's names. Sorry! I was just so used to it. And at the time, I didn't really know where the setting was going to be.

Also, Iactually don't really like to go too much into detail. First off, I'm not really good at it. And I'd much rather read the action and not details. I know not all people are like that. But sometimes it gets me frustrated when I have to read, like, two whole paragraphs describing one thing. Then I forget where the action was. I usually skip stuff like that. Sometimes I don't because it is nice to know the setting and all but I'm just too impatient. And, if you haven't noticed, my chapters are already long enough (I think this chapter is even longer than the others! Sorry!) so adding more detail would only make it longer than it has to be. So, I'm sorry if I'm not adding enough detail.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading my story. It's nice to get support, especially since this is my first online fanfiction. So thank you to those who review! Also, please be brutally honest with me. I want to know what I can do to make it better. Thanks! Bye!

Hiko