A/N: We're back!
H: Did you miss us?
C: I missed us! Where'd we go? Oh right, I had College stuffs.
H: Yeah, school is distracting. Bu~ut, guess what we have for you?
C: THE NEXT CHAPTER! It's an adorably cute one as well with some *gasp* ACTUAL PLOT sneaking in there!
H: *cue dramatic music* Bet you're all excited now, right?
C: Hehe! Yes, this story ACTUALLY has a plot. Don't look so surprised. Onto reviews!
H: Our first reviewer on Chapter 2 was brz! Chibi?
C: On it.
C: brz - Well . . . Miroku's a lech and it's probably gonna be our running joke that he's a lech even while in Kindergarten. And I actually learned numbers in Pre-K and basic addition in Kindergarten so a lot of this is being based off of Kindergarten experience. And with today's technology . . . I have a cousin who got her first cell phone while in Kindergarten. Relationships aren't far off. (WHAT'S TODAY'S WORLD COMING TO? T-T)
H: Yeah, that sounds about right. I think kids' behavior is based a lot on how they are raised, and Miroku was raised to be a smooth-talking lech. XD ^^; Also, I never went to Kindergarten. But for the times, this is about what I would imagine.
C: 0.0 You never . . .? Erm Never mind. Next review Hyper?
H: ... Yes. Our next reviewer was aras the crazy writer.
C: aras the crazy writer - Um . . . Arigato. Here's the update. . . . Anything to add Hyper?
H: I'm glad you enjoyed? It must be fun to have energy. XD Who was next?
C: Luvandia was next.
H: Luvandia - I liked Ninja Turtles too! XD I watched PPG with my sisters, though. And anime shall forever rule supreme! XD As for Rin... Chibi?
C: All I can say is . . . Rin does not show up in this story as she has not yet been born. However! All you SesshyxRin fans out there! Do not fear! There will be a . . . *dramatic drumroll* SEQUEL! Where we will bring in all the younger characters that will be missed in this story and maybe a few of the other Inu characters that we just haven't been able to focus on here. I'm not saying who Sessy-kun ends up with though.
H: This is big, folks, I don't even know what she has in store for us. =D Next up was InuDemoness1525!
C: InuDemoness1525 - Thanks! Here's the next chapter! Hope you find this one to be just as lovable.
H: Yep, We're working hard. I'm glad you're enjoying our efforts!
C: Up next, BlueForestAngelCat.
H: BlueForestAngelCat - ... I know where you sleep, Evan. And no, you *never* update. You set a bad example for me. As for the rest, I think you covered it, Chibi. XD
C: I'll . . . not get between siblings. Though I'll definitely keep your Hyper deserving retribution offer in mind. *grin*. And yes, Younger people will not show up until the sequel. Mainly because everyone's just too young in this one for the younger people to really show up in the same context.
H: Meh.
H: Anyway, next was inusgirllovesmonkeys.
C: inusgirllovesmonkeys - Thanks! We work hard at it! :)
H: We love it too. 'Tis our baby. =D
C: Up next is our final reviewer for Chapter 2: Novalia1001.
H: Novalia1001 - *o,o* Wow. Thank you, we will definitely keep working hard! *dazedly staring at the screen with dorky grin*
C: I really don't have much to say. Thanks I guess. We're working very hard at it.
H: And with that, I guess... Enjoy Chapter 3!
C: Don't sue us, please. We don't own stuff.
Chapter 3: Pinkie Promise
Miss Kikyo glanced up from her desk, looking at the clock on the wall for a moment.
"Alright, class. It's time for recess." She waited out the excited chatter that sprung up, smiling leniently. "Mrs. Lyreed is in the hallway, and she'll walk you out to the playground, so everybody line up except for Kouga and Kagome. Be sure to behave for her, and be quiet in the hall."
Kagome made a small whimpering sound and even Kouga seemed to let out a small whine, ashamed to have caused Kagome to be in trouble . . . though it was really the mutt's fault. Kouga wasn't sure how, but he knew that the mutt was somehow to blame.
InuYasha was reluctant to leave his friend, but Kagome put on a brave face and smiled.
"It's okay, Inu'asha. Go have fun." she said, though her voice trembled.
Still, InuYasha was reluctant to go outside. He especially didn't like the thought of her alone with the wolf-boy. After a short second of internal debate, he walked around the table and pulled Kagome into a tentative hug. In her ear, he murmured, "I'll be waiting for you outside, m'kay?" Surprised that he had instigated an embrace, Kagome was too surprised to respond verbally. Instead, she wrapped her arms gratefully around his midriff and nodded against his shoulder.
Then Miss Kikyo came over and smiled at the both of them.
"Don't worry. I'll take good care of your friend. Nothing bad will happen to her. I promise." she said.
Reassured, InuYasha gave a small, hesitant smile back before offering Kagome one last comforting squeeze and running out to join Miroku and Sango for recess.
After the rest of her class had been successfully herded out of her room, Miss Kikyo returned her attention to her two detainees.
"I don't enjoy having to keep you both late on the first day," she admitted sternly. "But your behavior this morning was NOT acceptable, and there are punishments for misbehaving."
Giving the shaking Kagome a chance to calm down, she addressed Kouga again first. "InuYasha is your classmate, and saying things like you did this morning is hurtful and uncalled for. I don't ever want to hear you say anything like that to him *ever* again. And you are going to apologize after recess. Understand?" The teacher leveled him with a firm frown; she didn't have to raise her voice to get the reprimand across.
The little wolf demon averted his eyes, replying sullenly, "Yeah, whateber. I get it."
Miss Kikyo nodded in the direction of the door. "Then you may go. Mr. Raime is waiting in the hall to walk you to the playground."
With an apologetic glance over his shoulder, Kouga slunk out of the room.
Kagome looked fearfully up at Miss Kikyo, wondering what her punishment was going to be. She had just been trying to help her friend . . .
To her surprise, however, Miss Kikyo smiled down at her. "While I don't like that you called Kouga names, I am proud of you for standing up for your friend." she said, crouching down to Kagome's level.
Kagome brightened visibly.
"However," Miss Kikyo added, "I can't let people think that I'm playing favorites, so will you keep this a secret for me?" she asked, holding out her pinkie in the time-honored tradition of a pinkie promise.
Kagome nodded solemnly, hooking her smaller pinkie with Miss Kikyo's. "I promise Miss Kikyo." she said and since she was now feeling much more at ease with the teacher, decided to comment on something that had attracted her attention since the beginning of class.
"Miss Kikyo? What's that shiny thing around your neck?"
The teacher blinked, taken aback. "The shiny th-? ...! You... do you mean my necklace?" Miss Kikyo asked slowly, head tilted and brows furrowed prettily.
"Mmhm!" Kagome assented, smiling. "It's real'y pretty." Her teacher looked troubled, and Kagome hoped she hadn't said something to upset her.
"'M sorry, was I not s'posta ask?" she apologized quickly.
"No, no, Kagome. It's fine," the woman assured. "I just... wasn't expecting anyone to notice it." She smiled slightly, and Kagome found herself encouraged.
"Wull... Why not? It's all... glowy," the girl concluded with a vague gesture, nose scrunched as she tried to understand Miss Kikyo's reasoning.
The teacher placed her hand over the glowing thing, but Kagome found she could still see the glow. "Well . . . only very few people can see this Kagome." Miss Kikyo informed, smiling. "Now, why don't you go out and enjoy the rest of recess? I'm sure you'll have some friends waiting for you," she said, gently ushering the little girl out to the hall where Ms. Ravenwood waited to escort Kagome to the playground.
As soon as Kagome was out of sight, Miss Kikyo let her smile drop and went back into the classroom, going to her desk and pulling out Kagome's contact list. Dialing a number on her phone she waited for someone to pick up. "Hello? Mrs. Higurashi? I'd like to talk to you about Kagome," Kikyo said, fingering the jewel that was resting around her neck with a smile. "No, she's not in trouble..."
InuYasha could never have imagined the level of noise his classmates were capable of when released from the confines of a classroom. He watched in awe as the crowd dispersed with shrieks of laughter, seamlessly melting in with the other children and enjoying themselves near instantly.
Too nervous to join the melee himself, the hanyou hung back by the door. He wanted to wait for Kagome, anyway. The playground looked daunting without his best friend by his side.
As InuYasha stood, waiting for Kagome, he couldn't help as he gazed into the crowd of wild youth, he saw, near the top of the play structure, an older kid, certainly no one he recognized in his class, glaring down at him, one of the girls from his class standing next to him. InuYasha glared right back, not one to back down easily when the sudden scent of wolf pulled his attention back to what he was doing.
InuYasha waited hopefully as Kouga's scent got stronger, but at the same time, a niggling worry started to eat away at him. As close as Kouga seemed to be getting, InuYasha couldn't pick up Kagome's scent anywhere. So when Kouga exited from the door, WITHOUT Kagome, InuYasha couldn't hold back the growls as he glared at the wolf that got her into all this trouble in the first place.
"Hey Wolf-breath! Where's K'gome?" InuYasha snapped as soon as the teacher who had been escorting Kouga to the playground left. Kouga was still standing by the door - like he was waiting for Kagome too - which just ticked InuYasha off even more.
"'S none of your dumb buwisness Mutt-face!" Kouga shot back, glaring at the hanyou, his hands clenching into fists as he turned from trying to see if Kagome was anywhere close to following him to the dog-eared individual before him.
"Is so my biss'nus, stupid! K'gome's my friend and you got her in trouble, so Where. Is. She?" the red clad boy demanded, crossing his arms over his chest like he'd seen his father do in arguments.
Kouga snorted, tilting his head up to glare down his nose at the hanyou. "Like I'd tell you, loser. It's your fault my K'gome's in trouble, you useless..." The boy fumbled for an appropriate word, scrunching his nose up in thought. "Useless... jerk! Yeah. Stupid useless jerk!" He smiled, obviously proud of his retort.
Fuming, InuYasha glared disdainfully at the ornery wolf.
Thankfully, before sparks could really start flying, Kagome entered into the playground, blinking in confusion to see Kouga and InuYasha glaring at each other.
"K'gome!" InuYasha said happily, seeing his friend wasn't hurt, his ears perking up.
Kagome only had time to smile at her friend before she found her hands grasped firmly by the wolf-demon.
"K'gome, I'm so happy you're okay." He said, grinning down at her, ignoring the growls coming from the less than happy hanyou.
Kagome felt really awkward, but she didn't want to be unfriendly, so she continued to smile, turning her attention to Kouga. "Um . . . thanks . . ." she muttered, looking quickly down at their hands, giving and experimental tug to see if she could free them.
"Hey Wolf-breath! Leave K'gome alone!" InuYasha snapped angrily.
Kouga let go of Kagome's hands to turn back to InuYasha. "Why don't YOU leave her alone? Why'd she want to hang out with someone like you?"
Kagome frowned at Kouga, and opened her mouth to speak when InuYasha's outburst cut her off.
"Well why would she want to hang out with a stupid-head like you?"
"Jerk!"
"Mangy wolf!"
By this point, the two canines were mere inches from each other, glaring daggers, and poor Kagome hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise.
Thankfully, before Kagome could start to cry from being ignored, Sango ran up, giving the little girl the attention she needed.
"K'gome-chan!" Sango called out, waving towards her friend.
Leaving the two stubborn canines to growl at each other, Kagome ran off to greet her friend and talk to Sango who actually seemed interested in what had happened.
"Sango-chan!" The younger girl grinned thankfully, hugging her friend. A glance found the boys still butting heads, which aggravated Kagome to no end. "Let's go sit over there," Sango suggested gently, tugging the stewing Kagome over to the wall where they could converse in peace.
"So what happ'nd with Miss Kikyo?" The brunette asked curiously, tucking her skirt under herself as she sat down and patted the space next to her. She waited until Kagome was seated as well to continue questioning. "Why did she make you stay longer than Kouga?
"Hey, Kouga!"
The boy whose name had been called turned, ignoring InuYasha in favor of greeting the two boys who had run up to him. "Hey Ginta, Hakkaku," he said loftily, waving.
"We'll settle this later, Mutt-face. Immuna go play on the swings with Ginta and Hakkaku." And with that, InuYasha had been ditched.
Annoyed and somewhat at a loss, InuYasha finally realized that Kagome had moved on.
InuYasha looked around and soon located Kagome with the other girl from their table, Sango. He walked over just as Kagome said, "I promised to keep it secret." she said with a smile.
"Keep what a secret?" The dog-eared boy asked curiously, one ear perking up and the other one drooping slightly in confusion.
Kagome suddenly fixed InuYasha with a look that caused both ears to instantly fold back against his head as a whimper came up out of his throat.
"If you hadn't been spending so much time ar'uing with Kouga, maybe I'd tell you." she snapped, her temper flaring up again as it had earlier during class.
He was reminded of his mother's behavior when his father had done something stupid. There was a strong urge to back down: Kagome's behavior was registering particularly dominant, and the canine part of his nature read, for that one moment, that she was the alpha in this situation.
But, when the rest of his brain caught up with that tangent, any thoughts of submission fizzled out under his annoyance. "He star'td it!" The hanyou defended angrily, eyebrows scrunching together. "I was wo'wied about you and he was...!" InuYasha cut off, looking away stubbornly. "Keh," he scoffed, crossing his arms and trying to make up for his moment of almost weakness by sounding tough. "Whassit matter an'way. Let's jus go play... or somethin'..."
Kagome couldn't help but smile a little as InuYasha said that he was worried about her. However . . . she wasn't quite ready to forgive him just yet. So instead, she reached up and grabbed hold of the silver ears atop her friend's head.
InuYasha froze as she grabbed his ears and had to stoop down a little to prevent her from pulling on them. "H-hey! Stop that!" he muttered, though he had to admit . . . he kinda liked it when Kagome pet his ears.
Sango watched with wide eyes. "Can I touch?" she murmured softly.
InuYasha glared at the young girl. "Nuh-uh!" he snarled, earning a sharp tug on his ear from Kagome who sent a quick glare his way before she smiled at her female friend.
"Yeah, but you gotta be real gentle. They're senensesitive." she said with a smile, completely butchering the word 'sensitive' as she tried to wrap her tongue around it.
"That's 'snessnitive'," Sango corrected softly, still entirely off the mark. But neither of the girls really cared, both enthralled with the fuzzy triangles under their fingers. Kagome was practically climbing atop her friend, and it was all InuYasha could do to hold her up.
"Don' I get a say in this?" the hanyou muttered, too busy trying not to get squished to put any real venom in his words.
Kagome grinned. "Nuh uh." she said with a giggle.
Just then, the youngest Lech ever in existence on the planet walked up to the trio. "Oh my, InuYasha . . . Not even in school for a day and you've already got the girl's crawling all over you. Lucky dog." Miroku said with a smile.
InuYasha growled. "What's that apposed to mean?"
Once again, Miroku was saved from having to reply. A cry spilled out over from the sandbox nearby, and all four children immediately turned to the source of the noise, smiles dropped.
Four boys that looked to be probably first/second graders were surrounding a misshapen looking child who towered over all of them. The sobbing giant had been the origin of the sound.
In the time it took Sango and Miroku to look over their shoulders for a nearby teacher, Kagome had already crossed half of the distance with InuYasha's hand clasped tightly in her own.
Never-mind that she'd just had a talking to. Bullying was something that Kagome absolutely couldn't accept. And InuYasha's nose had already informed him that the unfortunate victim in this instance was a hanyou, just the same as himself. Not like he could let Kagome barge stupidly into danger, either.
The hanyou in torment sat unresisting in the sandbox, his hands covering his head as the four boys threw sand, rocks, sticks, - and whatever else they could grab quickly off the ground - at him. He wouldn't have even cried out if one of the rocks hadn't been particularly sharp, causing a cut on the large hanyou's body; one that was bleeding and stung the boy as the sand that was thrown penetrated the wound.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE, MEANIE-HEADS!" Kagome shouted, three quarters of the way to the young boy who was having items thrown at him.
All four of the bullies as well as the hanyou looked at the girl in surprise, the items that were about to be thrown dropping from the bullies hands. The large boy's hands dropped slightly, allowing his large blue eyes to peek through his fingers more at the girl who was storming over.
"Well?" The irate girl demanded as she finally reached the sandbox, dropping InuYasha's hand to place her tiny fists on her hips and leveling the perpetrators with her most scathing glare. "Whatuya think you meanies are doing? Apol'jize to 'im!"
In case Kagome's verbal attack wasn't sufficient, InuYasha crossed his arms and added his own glare and a low, rumbling growl. The cowards that they were, the scent of their fear clouded the air almost instantly. Part of his nature was enjoying this immensely: his expression pulled into a smirk as Sango finally dragged a teacher over.
Watching Kagome dish out an imperious tongue-lashing to four very deserving humans was probably the highlight of his day so far.
While the bullies got a harsh lecture from the teacher - who had dutifully taken over her bully-thrashing duties- Kagome went over to the boy who had been getting bullied. "Are you okay now?" She asked softly, her voice entirely different from what it had been when she yelled at the bullies.
The large boy blushed and nodded and Kagome's face bloomed into a smile. "My name's Kagome! What's yours?"
"Jinenji." The boy murmured.
InuYasha walked over. "Why didn't you defend yourself? You're big enough." he said, crossing his arms again and raising one eyebrow.
"I don't like fighting . . ." Jinenji muttered, looking down to the sand beneath him.
"If you don't stan' up for yourself, they won't ever stop," the inu hanyou informed, even as he helped his friend dust the sand from the larger child's shoulders.
"I don't unnerstan how kids can be so mean..." Kagome lamented as she gingerly swept sand away from the cut on Jinenji's arm. Her eyes welled up with tears and she turned to bury her face in InuYasha's shoulder.
Jinenji shrugged. "It's okay . . ." he murmured, surprised that the little human girl was crying. Awkwardly, he patted her back, wanting to somehow comfort her.
"No it's not!" Kagome insisted, frowning. "They shouldn't do that to other peoples!"
InuYasha and Jinenji blinked, looking at Kagome with surprise. That she would be so accepting of them as people... Even so young, they both knew the truth of the world, as much as family had tried to shelter them from it. There were a lot of people out there who saw things in a much different light than innocent little Kagome.
"Kagome, right?" The teacher finally interrupted. "We're going to take Jinenji to the nurse's office now. You and your friend need to be getting back to recess, okay?"
Petulant and prepared to refuse, Kagome was surprised as both Jinenji and InuYasha hushed her unformed protests.
"I'll be okay, Kagome," the bulky horse hanyou assured quietly. "We'll meet again tomorrow..."
InuYasha hugged her closer, saying simply, "C'mon, K'gome."
Kagome frowned and, not to be deterred easily, wormed her way out of InuYasha's grip, going over to Jinenji. "Pinkie promise?" she asked, holding up her pinkie.
The horse hanyou blinked before smiling softly and gently locking his large pinkie with her much smaller one. "Pinkie promise," he said before following after the teacher.