This is later than the last few chapters but this stroy is being updated faster than any of my other stories! I'm also getting more feedback with this story than any of my others! That definitley inspires me to continue writing it! Yosh! This chapter is mostly filler, but it's important because it shows how relationships develope. Also, I'm kind of sucky at writing romance which is why this is not under the romance genre, but I'm researching (AKA reading lots of romancy fics) so I hope that when I do put in the romance it doesnt suck so bad. Anyway, please enjoy and drop me a review at the end! I love all of you who review/fave/alert this story! Thanks so much! You are my inspiration!

The following month passed rather quickly and Kagome became very good friends with Tohru, Yuki, Kyo, Hatsuharu and Momiji as well as becoming closer with Uo and Hana. She had even met Hana's little brother who had discussed curses with her. Kagome smiled as she lay in her bed and remembered all the adventures she had had over the past month.

That first day of school Uo and Hana had introduced her to Sohma Yuki who, true to his school-wide nickname, was quite princely in every way. He was polite, respectful and very cute. They also introduced her to his cousins Sohma Kyo, Sohma Hatsuharu and Sohma Momiji. Kyo had been rather rude to her and his attitude was thoroughly off putting, but Kagome was completely undeterred. She had dealt with enough stubborn people in her lifetime to know how to handle them, so she simply ignored the block headed boy and gave her attention to everyone else. At least, that's what it seemed on the outside. Kagome was intrigued by Kyo and had promised herself that she would figure him out by the end of the year. Hatsuharu, Kagome found out, was quite the flirt. He also had a side to him that was extremely violent. However, aside from the occasional teasing flirting, Haru, as she had taken to calling him, was very brotherly. He protected Kagome from the rude girls that were in Yuki's fan club and the persistent guys that thought they had a chance with 'the hot new girl'. He was also there to help Kagome with tough math homework even though he was a year younger than her. Haru defended her against Kyo's rude and hurtful comments and the only rule that all the Sohma's seemed to share was a high regard for personal space. Kagome found that out when she saw Kyo sidestep an overexcited girl and watched her crash headlong into a streetlamp. He had gotten a stern, and loud, lecture from Kagome on how to properly shut a girl down. Haru had beat him up rather thoroughly after he had shouted vulgar things at Kagome. Kagome thought it was sweet that Haru stuck up for her even though she knew that she could take down Yuki and Haru without breaking a sweat. Not to mention Kyo who couldn't beat Haru or Yuki. Kagome had found a spectacular dojo and visited it on a daily basis to keep up her skills like she had promised Sango she would. The sensei of the dojo was impressed by Kagome's skills and had her test for the next belt rank at every opportunity. However, Kagome didn't visit the dojo to climb the ranks. She wanted to train to get stronger and the sensei agreed. Kagome could continue at her own pace, but she could only learn more if she tested for the next belt. She also honed her priestess abilities nightly before she meditated prior to going to sleep and she felt that she was getting better at controlling her power. Now she could sense where all of her friends were in the city. The tricky part that Kagome was working on was to narrow down her search and be able to tell which soul light was whose. Kagome was almost there, she could feel it.

The last Sohma she had met was Momiji. He was the smallest Sohma, but not the youngest. He was in fact fifteen years old even though he looked to be twelve. He had short blond hair and big brown eyes. The first time Kagome met him he had thrown himself at her, but before he could envelope her in a hug, Haru had grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him to a stop. Momiji really reminded Kagome of Shippou, but she tried not to show how much she missed her little boy. She just enjoyed Momiji's seemingly endless amount of energy and reveled in his apparent innocence.

Kagome smiled when she recalled saying rather bluntly, "How come all of you Sohma's are so gorgeous? It's not fair that the rest of the world has to look average while one family gets the best looks." Kagome almost laughed out loud to herself when she remembered the embarrassed looks on the Sohma's faces and the appalled and shocked looks on her female friends' faces. "What? You know it's true." Kagome had said.

"I knew there was a reason we were friends," Haru had said. "We both agree that I'm devilishly handsome!"

"Shut up Haru!" Kyo had growled while blushing pink.

"Aww, Haru, Kyo-kun's embarrassed!" Kagome had exclaimed.

"Shut up! I am not!" Kyo had whined. That was when Haru had gotten upset with Kyo for using untoward language with Kagome and challenged Kyo to a fight that he proceeded to win.

"Oh Kyo," Kagome had sighed while she pulled out bandages from her small school bag. "You really should either learn how to defend yourself better or stop picking fights with Haru. He beats you every time."

"One of these days I'll win Kagome! You'll see! Then I'll beat that damn rat Yuki!"

"How come you call Yuki a rat Kyo-kun?" Kagome had asked curiously. She had felt strange auras around all of the Sohma's she had met and strangely enough, Yuki's did seem sort of rat-ish. Kyo's seemed kind of cat-ish and Haru's and Momiji's seemed animalistic as well.

"None of your business wench!" Kyo had shouted. Kagome had then paused in what she was doing and stared off into space for a few seconds that felt like years to her as tears flooded her eyes. She hastily stood up and bent her head so that her bangs shielded her eyes before running off toward the stairs that led to the roof. Haru had stood up as well and glanced angrily at Kyo before chasing after the girl he considered his younger sister even though she was older than him.

"Kagome!" he called. "Kagome wait up!" He chased Kagome all the way up the stairs, surprised that the sprightly girl could outrun him. Kagome collapsed at the top of the staircase and tears spilled down her cheeks. "Kagome, what's wrong?" He asked softly as he laid his hand on her shoulder. She turned her reddened eyes to his grey ones and had to hold herself back from launching herself at him and wrapping her arms around him. Nobody had hugged her since she had moved into her new apartment and she missed the physical contact.

"Nothing's wrong Haru-kun," Kagome replied brokenly. "Kyo just reminded me of someone. I haven't seen him in a while and I never will again."

"Oh." Haru couldn't really think of anything else to say. He wasn't very experienced with distraught girls.

"I'll be fine. Just give me a minute." Kagome took deep, shuddering breaths and wiped her eyes. She gave Haru a watery smile and stood up. "Thanks for being here for me Haru. You're a great friend." She bowed to him and began to walk back down the stairs to gather her things from under their tree before returning to class. What Kagome missed when she turned her back was Haru's bitter smile. I wonder if she would still think that about me if she knew I turned into a cow and can't receive or give hugs to her or any other girl.

That whole day Kagome didn't talk to or even look at Kyo. She stared pointedly ahead at the teacher and tried to ignore the distractingly pulsating auras of the Sohmas that were in the same class as her. At the end of the day Kagome walked home alone and didn't say good bye to any of her friends. As she was walking down the street she heard a voice calling out, "Hey! Kagome! Wait up!" Kagome recognized the voice as Kyo's and determinedly kept walking without turning her head. "Hey! Come on!" Kyo shouted.

"What?" Kagome turned around exasperatedly. "What do you want Sohma?"

Kyo stumbled at the use of his last name. "I, uh, I wanted to uh, to see if we could talk."

Kagome rolled her eyes and turned around before beckoning him to follow her. He trailed her until they reached her apartment building and she unlocked the door. "Come on in." Kagome followed Kyo into her apartment and grabbed a water bottle from her refrigerator. "You want anything to drink?" She cursed the manners that had been drilled into her.

"No thanks."

Kagome sat on her bed and looked pointedly at Kyo. "What did you need, Sohma?"

"I wanted to… apologize." Kyo looked at the floor before his rust-red eyes connected with Kagome's blue ones. "I didn't mean to make you cry."

Kagome felt her heart stop at the honest look in Kyo's eyes. She took a deep breath and decided that Kyo hadn't meant to hurt her feelings. He had said a lot of rude things to her and the only one that she had taken to heart was the one that reminded her of InuYasha. "I accept your apology." She finally said. "And Kyo, I'm sorry too." Kyo looked a little happier at the sound of Kagome using his first name again. She still sounded depressed, but it was an improvement.

"Wait, why are you sorry?" Kyo asked.

Kagome smiled wryly and said, "I'm sorry I reacted the way I did. What you said reminded me of someone else. I just miss them, that's all."

"Oh, well that's fine. So," Kyo said, fishing around for another topic. "You live here by yourself?"

Kagome let out a short, honest laugh. "Yeah, I needed to get away from my old life so I live here. I'm looking for a job to help pay for it, but I can't really find anything."

"Well, Tohru works as part of the cleaning staff at a hotel. I can see if she can get you a job there if you want."

"That's so sweet Kyo! I would love that! Thanks!" Kyo flushed and mumbled something that sounded like a 'you're welcome.'

So, because of Kyo and Tohru, Kagome now had a job and a stronger friendship with both of them. While she was in her bed Kagome continued to remember the free time she had spent with her friends. She had stayed over at Uo's house and Hana's house and had Uo, Hana and Tohru over at her apartment. However, she had never been to Tohru's house. She knew Tohru lived with the Sohma's but she had never visited. The group always had lunch together under the Sakura tree outside of the school and studied together when necessary. Occasionally they would go to movies or the park together and they learned a lot about each other. But no one was aware that Kagome was still having nightmares about her old family or that she was even missing them. And Kagome, Uo and Hana weren't aware that the Sohmas and Tohru had a secret that they were still keeping. But that was all going to change.

Okay! So it's a cliffy. Kind of. Please REVIEW!Thanks so much!