AN: I decided to post two chapters in a row because…well I felt like it. Enjoy!

000000

They approached Hirgurashi shrine, and Kagome was glad. The walk home with Inuyasha had resulted in nothing but silence and she was sick of it. It was uncomfortable and it was shadowed over the fact that Inuyasha declared she had feelings for Kouga. She cringed of all the things he should be upset about! She had just met the wolf demon today and there was no way in hell she could possibly say she liked him. Why did Inuyasha care who she liked anyways? Wait, was he jealous? She smiled to herself as they approached the steps of the shrine, and then shook her head. Inuyasha being jealous didn't matter to her, besides he didn't even like her, why was she secretly hoping he would care?

At the steps of the shrine, Kagome turned to face Inuyasha. "Thank you for walking me home, Inuyasha."

"Yea, whatever it's not like it's a big deal," Inuyasha replied.

"Kagome," said a friendly voice. Kagome turned to see her mother. Mrs. Hirgurashi approached the two teenagers with a bag of groceries in her arms. She smiled at them, "How was school, dear?"

"Fine Mama, do you need help?"

"No sweetheart, I have it, who's your new friend?"

Kagome felt a slight blush rise in her cheeks, "Um, Mama, this is Inuyasha."

"Oh, Inuyasha, it's nice to meet you! Would you like to come in for some tea?"

Inuyasha blinked. Kagome couldn't believe what she was hearing. She intervened before Inuyasha could answer, "Oh, Mama, that's not necessary, Inuyasha was just about to leave…"

"Hey, says who?" Inuyasha suddenly said. He wasn't about to be rude to Kagome's mother. He turned to Mrs. Hirgurashi, "Sure I'll come in for a little bit, thanks."

Kagome's mouth dropped open. Was he serious? He wanted to come see where she lived? But, he was so rude to her all time! He's just doing this to torture me!

"Great!" said Mrs. Hirgurashi, "Just let me put these groceries away. Kagome, why don't you show Inuyasha around the shrine while you're waiting?"

Kagome nodded. This was just great. How was she supposed to keep Inuyasha entertained? All they had done since she met him was argued and fight. Why would he be so interested in seeing where she lived? She sighed as they walked up the steps that led to the shrine.

Inuyasha glanced around the area with a small look of wonder. The shrine was ancient, and one of the most well-known and prominent one's in the city. He had heard of it before, but had never actually seen it in person. He noted the cluster of buildings on the grounds, particularly the house that stood in the middle.

"So this is where you live?" said Inuyasha.

"Um yea," muttered Kagome, "I'm sorry about this, Inuyasha, you don't have to be here if you don't want."

He shrugged, "I don't mind." He walked up to a large tree that was surrounded by a small fence. He sighed as he looked at it, immediately recognizing one of the most scared exhibits the shrine held. The breeze blew around him, and his silver hair floated gently with it. A small smile curved made its way across his face and for a brief moment he closed his eyes.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked. The boy was standing under the Goshinboku Tree with a completely serene look on his face. She noticed for the first time, since she had met him, how he had let his hard exterior fall. He turned to meet her gaze and Kagome nearly gasped. His amber eyes met hers and she suddenly felt as if she could see into his soul. They were pained, having suffered so many hardships in his life before she had met him. Wishing to break the silence, Kagome took a deep breath and spoke to him softly, "Do you like the tree?"

Inuyasha shrugged, "Its peaceful here, Kagome, you're really lucky."

Her eyes went wide. It was the first time he had actually used her name. She nodded her head and approached him, both standing and looking at the ancient tree. "I like to come out here and sit under the tree sometimes," she said softly. "It's a nice place to come when you have something on your mind. Visitors who come to the shrine will sometimes sit out here for hours praying that the power of the tree will give them some sort of guidance. My father even proposed to my mother under it."

Inuyasha looked at her. He noted how her upturned face stared at the tree with a sense of tranquility. Her eyes sparkled with a strange emotion that he could not quite place, but he shrugged it off. How different this girl was. He knew so little about her, but she was so familiar to him all at the same time, even though she could tend to be annoying.

"Kagome, Inuyasha, your tea is ready!" called Kagome's mother from the house.

Kagome snapped out of her thoughts and blushed when she notice Inuyasha was staring at her. "Um, the house is over here," she muttered.

Inuyasha nodded and followed her.

0000000

It was nightfall by the time Inuyasha had finally taken his leave. Kagome's mother had insisted he stay for dinner, and the teenage boy could not refuse. It was rare for him to get a good home cooked meal. Souta had instantly taken an immediate liking to him, as soon as he found out Inuyasha was the running back for Academy's football team. Throughout dinner, Kagome was baffled at how sociable Inuyasha could be. He seemed so distant at school, but while he dined with her family, he had been nothing but polite to her mother and grandfather, and even to her. Kagome smiled slightly to herself for she and Inuyasha had not argued once since they had been at the house.

She walked him down the steps of the shrine. When they reached the bottom, Inuyasha turned to face her. "Tell your mom I said thanks again," he said.

"No problem, she was glad to do it," Kagome replied softly.

Inuyasha nodded and was about to turn and leave when a thought struck in his brain. He had been debating on asking her earlier, but he was fearful of offending the girl. He spun back around quickly and looked at her, "Kagome, where is your father at?"

His question certainly surprised her. She bowed her head, "He died when I was young…he had cancer."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Inuyasha replied.

She shook her head, "It's alright, and I'm just blessed to have Mama and Gramps and Sota."

Inuyasha looked at her with a bemusing smile. That was indeed a selfless answer. "My father died too, when I was young," he suddenly said.

Kagome nodded, "Sango told me about your parents, Inuyasha. I'm sorry to here it."

He shrugged his shoulders, "It's no big deal. I get along just fine."

"Do you live alone?" asked Kagome.

Inuyasha wasn't prepared for that question. He shrugged his shoulders again, "Keh, yea, but like I said, I get by. My parents didn't leave me with nothing. I'm alright."

Kagome nodded, a small feeling of sadness coming cross her eyes. "Well I'm glad to hear that, Inuyasha."

"Yea, well goodbye, Kagome, see you at school."

"Goodbye," she said as he turned to walk away.

She walked back up the steps to the shrine, and into her house. Her mother was in the kitchen washing the dishes from dinner. She smiled at her daughter as she walked in and handed her a dish towel to dry. "Kagome, your friend was so nice; you should bring him by more often."

Kagome smiled sweetly, "Yea…I guess he's not so bad is he?"

000000

Naraku stood looking out the window. That young woman had managed to shatter the jewel shards. He frowned. This complicated things. Powerful as he may be, he did not have a way to detect the shards to recollect them. No matter though, he would find a way.

"Kagura," he said.

A woman appeared from behind him, approaching him slowly. Her hair and manner of dress was in a traditional style. She wore a white kimono accented by purple stripes. Her crimson eyes glared at Naraku with a menacing look, but the man did not seem to care. She gripped the fan she held in her right hand tightly and she spoke to him.

"What do you ask of me?"

"You and your sister have an assignment. Take her with you and find the girl, Kagome. Keep her alive, do you understand?"

Kagura bowed, "Yes."

"Good," Naraku sneered. "I will meet you later."

Kagura nodded and left the room.

000000

It was Friday night and Academy was busy celebrating another football victory. As everyone crowded outside the locker rooms waiting for the team to emerge, Kagome heard a small child cry out her name. She turned and smiled as she saw, Shippou, Kaede, and Sango approaching her.

"Kagome!" he squealed.

"Hi, Shippou!" she said with a big smile.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Much better, thanks to Sango and Kaede, I'm as good as new!"

"Are you ready to go out tomorrow?" Sango asked her quietly.

"Yes, I think so," Kagome nodded. There were all going out to search for jewel shard tomorrow and Kagome had to admit she was a little nervous. She had been practicing her archery skills all week with Kaede and learning more and more about her spiritual powers, but it still did not change the fact that she was an inexperienced fighter. She hated to feel like a burden to the group, being so new and all and she also did not want to upset Inuyasha. He had been watching her practice after school and managed to complain enough about her skills. But, Kagome knew it was necessary for her to go because of her ability to detect jewel shards. They had a three day weekend, due to a teacher's conference on Monday, and Inuyasha wanted to use it to their advantage.

Kagome was interrupted from her thoughts when she heard a loud smack. She turned to see Miroku, who had finally appeared from the locker room, rubbing his cheek. Sango glared at him angrily. "Keep your hands to yourself you pervert!" she said angrily.

Miroku smiled, "Sango, how can I when you have such a beautiful body?"

"Oh yea, well tell you're sneaky little hand to stay above the border line, got it?"

"Are you two done so we can get going?" asked an irritated Inuyasha. He swung his gym bag over his shoulder. They had all planned on staying the night at Sango's together so that they could get an early start in the morning. On top of that, Sango's father wanted to make sure the group was properly equipped before they went.

"Inuyasha, why are you in such a hurry? Why don't we go out and celebrate a little bit. I here there is a big party tonight," Miroku said slyly, "lots of pretty girls."

"Miroku," Sango warned.

"We're not going anywhere!" Inuyasha declared. "We have to get an early start tomorrow. Let's go."

The others sighed in defeat and grabbed their things and began to walk out the door. Kagome tried to follow, but was abruptly grabbed around the waist.

"Hey!" she cried. She was spun around to come face to face with Kouga. "Oh, hi Kouga, do you need something?"

The wolf demon grinned from ear to ear. Kagome smelled so good up close and he was definitely enjoying the feel of the young girl in his arms. "Kagome, did you forget about our date tonight?"

Kagome's face went pale. She had forgotten, but then again, she had not seen the wolf demon since the other day, "Um, Kouga I'm really sorry, but I can't go with you to the party."

"But Kagome…"

"Back off wolf!" growled an angry voice. Kagome felt herself being roughly pulled out of Kouga's grip and thrown behind very angry looking Inuyasha. The half demon glared, "What do you think you're doing?"

Kouga folded his arms across his chest, "Out of my way mutt, Kagome and I have a date tonight!"

"Oh yeah, that's funny because if I remember she already has plans and they definitely aren't with you!" Inuyasha snapped back.

"Like she would ever be interested in you dog breath, Kagome and I have a date, I asked her out the other day, which I believe would make her my girlfriend."

Kagome paled: His girlfriend? She hadn't even agreed to go out with him, let alone be his girlfriend. Kouga seemed nice sure, but she wasn't ready to be anyone's girlfriend yet.

Inuyasha thought he was going to explode, "Are you delusional? She doesn't want to go out with you!"

Shippou, Sango, and Miroku stared. Inuyasha and Kouga fighting was not an unusual sight. The two were rivals in any way shape and form, but for them to be arguing about something like this was totally new.

"Why does Inuyasha care so much if Kouga wants to take Kagome out?" asked Shippou.

Miroku felt a grin creep up on his face, "Perhaps it is because Kagome reminds Inuyasha of someone."

"Miroku…" warned Sango.

"Well if you ask me they are both being really stupid," declared Shippou. "They should just let Kagome decide what she wants to do." Sango and Miroku nodded in agreement as they continued to watch the pair fight.

Kagome couldn't take it anymore however. She jumped in between the two boys before things started to get out of control. "Kouga I'm sorry but maybe we can hang out another time, I already made plans tonight with Inuyasha and the others before you asked me to go to the party. I'm sorry I should have told you sooner."

Kouga stared at her and looked away, "Fine Kagome, we can reschedule, I don't want to feel guilty because of me. But I'm warning you mutt, if you lay one hand on my Kagome, you'll wish you were never born!"

"My Kagome, are you serious you stupid wolf? She's not yours!" retorted Inuyasha angrily.

"Inuyasha," said Kagome calmly, "let's go."

Inuyasha felt a small hand grip his arm and begin to lead him away. He watched Kagome as she calmly walked over to their companions. When she turned around again, it was to wish Kouga farewell, "Goodbye Kouga, I will see you after the long weekend."

"Boy, I'm glad that that's over with," exclaimed Shippou as he rolled his eyes.

"What you little squirt?" Inuyasha demanded. He knocked Shippou on the head.

"Ouch! Kaede, Inuyasha just hit me!" cried the little fox demon.

"Inuyasha," scolded Kaede, "I'm depending on you to look out for Shippou this weekend, not hurt him."

"Whatever," muttered Inuyasha as he crossed his arms and put a scowl on his face.

Kaede sighed, "Good luck to all of you this weekend and be safe. Oh, and Kagome I almost forgot. I left something for you at Sango's house that should help you this weekend. Use it wisely." The old woman winked then waved her farewell. The group watched her go solemnly.

"Let's get to Sango's," muttered Inuyasha bitterly. The others nodded and followed his lead.

000000

Kagome looked at the strange package that lay on Sango's bed. It was large and Kagome was unsure of what exactly Kaede had given to her. She lifted it, finding it to be incredibly light and studied it closely.

"Aren't you going to open it Kagome?" asked Shippou.

Kagome nodded and tore away at the brown packaging paper. Everyone watched her. They all stared, wide eyed, as a beautiful bow, quiver, and set of arrows were revealed. Kagome smiled and touched her new weapon delicately. It was handsome, to be sure. She lifted the bow in her hands and drew back to get a feel for it. It was so lightweight; she would be able to travel with it easily.

"Wow, Kagome, that was awfully nice of Kaede to give you those," said Shippou.

"I hope she didn't go through too much trouble," said Kagome quietly. "I shall have to repay her for them…"

"Why," snorted Inuyasha. "It's not like she paid for them."

Kagome looked at him oddly, "What do you mean, Inuyasha?"

An uncomfortable silence filled the room. Kagome glanced over at Sango and Miroku, who kept their heads bowed. Kagome looked back at Inuyasha, who was glaring at her, "Inuyasha?"

The half demon did not answer but simply stormed out of the room. Confused, Kagome was about to go after him when Miroku placed an arm on her shoulder, "No Kagome, I will go to him. It is best you stay here." Miroku followed Inuyasha.

"Sango, what did I do wrong? Why is he upset over the bow?" Kagome asked.

Sango looked sad. She approached Kagome slowly, "Don't worry about Inuyasha, Kagome, just be proud that Kaede has so much faith in you. It is an honor for you to receive such a gift."

Kagome stared down at the bow in her hands, "Sango? Why?"

Sango sighed, "The bow used to belong to Kikyo."

000000

AN: I hope you liked the chapter and I promise some good action going on in the next one. Please review for me so I know if you like this story, they keep me motivated!

Email: