Kagome angrily walked back to her house and marched up to her room without bothering to say hi to her little brother as she passed him on the stairs. Looks like those two got into another arguement again. thought Sota, continuing down the stairs. Kagome immediately locked her door and collapsed onto her bed, taking a pillow and hugging it tightly. It's the same routine everytime he meets someone new, she thought, Why does he always have to pick a fight before he becomes friends with a person? She buried her face into the pillow as she recalled the memories of when she and Inuyasha first met her friends from the feudal era; Sango and Miroku: The monk, Miroku, tried to steal the sacred jewel shards from her and Inuyasha had to fight him to get them back. And Sango, a demonslayer, had been persuaded by the demon lord Naraku to fight the hanyou with the help of a shard embedded into her back.

"Kagome?" asked the sorrow-filled voice of her mate. The female hanyou gasped and whipped her head around, expecting to see her door busted in and Inuyasha standing there, but he wasn't. "Kagome are you okay?" asked the male half-demon. Kagome turned her head and saw him sitting on the windowsill in her room. Damn! I forgot to lock the window. thought the girl, angry at herself. "Are you okay?" repeated Inuyasha. "Don't you know how to knock first?" she shouted. "Excuse me, I was worried about you! Why'd you storm off?" shot back the other hanyou. "Why did you try to pick a fight with Ranma?" she asked him.

"He stared it! You heard him, he called me a half-breed!" said Inuyasha, defending himself. "Yeah, he regretted it right after he said it!" she argued, "Do you have to fight a person before you become friends with them?" "Not always!" he said. "But it seems like it!" she snapped. "Kagome..." he started. "Osuwari!" she shouted, cutting him off. Inuyasha fell flat on his face, but hitting her carpeted floor didn't hurt as much as the hard dirt. "Kagome, why did you do that?" asked the male hanyou, looking up.

To his surprise, Kagome was on her knees sitting next to him. "Kagome..." started Inuyasha before Kagome wrapped her arms around his neck. "Inuyasha, please don't fight with Ranma," she pleaded with him. The male half-demon hugged his mate and said, "I promise." They held each other for the longest time with Kagome placing her head on his shoulder.

Watching Inuyasha walk away, Ranma stepped out from behind Akane. "Why do you have to start things?" she asked. "Me? He started it, not me, Akane. Then he had to use that 'Ms.' crack, that was too much." argued the boy. "But you had to call him a half-breed!" shouted the girl. "It slipped out!" yelled the black-haired boy. "Didn't you see it hurt Kagome too?" asked Akane in an eeriely calm tone. "I didn't notice..." said Ranma, dropping his head, "I forgot it refered to her as well." "Yeah, well, now you know," she replied in a snapish manner. "Oh, come on, Akane! I apologized, what more do you want?" he asked.

"You're apologizing to the wrong person, baka." she snapped, "Sometimes I don't even know why I invite you to come along with me."

"You didn't, your father told me to come," Ranma corrected her. "But I wanted to invite you! My father beat me to it!" she yelled at him. "Akane..." said the boy. "Can't you tell I like having you come with me to places? I do that so we can get to know each other better, but you always mess it up, Ranma!" she shouted, "If we're gonna get married someday, don't you think we should at least find out more about each other first?"

Ranma dropped his head again and said, "You're right." "I-" started the girl, stopping herself before she could finish. She expected him to come back with a rude remark like, 'Why would I want to get to know an uncute tomboy like yourself?' His response stunned her into almost complete silence. "Huh?" she managed to ask finally. "I have no idea why I pick fights, Akane. I guess it's another thing we can blame my pops for. I was taught the only way to make friends was to test out their abilities first. I don't like doing it, it just happens sometimes," explained the boy. "Ranma, I had no idea," said Akane. "Yeah , well don't tell anyone, okay?" asked the teenager. "Okay," she replied, giving him a warm smile. That was the last thing he expected her to do. The only thing he could think of doing was to smile back. She really is cute when she smiles. he said to himself.

The two teens from Nerima managed to finish their conversastion in time to see Kagome and Inuyasha walking back up the hill, holding hands, and with her hanging her head on his shoulder. "You two okay?" asked Akane. "Yeah, we're better now," answered her cousin, "How about you two?"

"Same here," replied the boy. Then he added, "Look, I'm sorry for the 'half-breed' comment, it slipped out. I never meant to say it. I sincerely apologize," he bowed to go along with the apology. He then held out his hand and Inuyasha shook it, giving his own apology, "Yeah and I'm sorry for what I said too."

"Now that that is over with, are we ready to go?" interjected Akane, breaking up the moment. "I told you two, you're not coming!" yelled the male hanyou. "Inuyasha, don't start again," moaned Kagome, putting her head into her free hand. "Kagome, how do you think I'd feel if one of them died?" he asked, looking at her. "Inuyasha, we understand the risks we're taking by going, but we still want to go anyway," explained Ranma, "Maybe we'd be able to help you in some way when we get there." "Please," said Kagome and Akane in unison, pleading to the male half-demon with their eyes. I'm going to regret this, I know it. though Inuyasha.