punkish furball—Hey! I know I'm uber late and everyone's about to attack me with torches and pitchforks. I won't give any excuses except…life's a bitch. And let's leave it at that.

Words to Ponder:

I did some editing and re-formatted so please read the previous chapters. I made some key changes so go look at them please.

Thank you, LadySakuraForest, xXKillorbeKilledXx, Sevvy101, vnienhuis, StarlitBady, Death By Squishy, DeathNoteMaker, shadow miko, uniqu3s0u7, Alternate Life, kunoichiKagi, Kagome Lady of Darknesss, Bloodcherry, Sugar Sprite, Evil RULZ, PrincessVictoriaAnnMacbeth, IceDarkness, person, Mistress Kira- Fires of Hell, IhaveIdeas.ANIME, cowgirlkitten2000, starkitty, Kurai Oujou, Bloody Serpent 2, Anime Punk Kitty, Tsukai501, Hoku ala, Shiori Abarai-Sohma, Dark Inu Fan, Lostintransit, Translucent Dreams, Lady Light, regrettfully-yours-Cassy-chan, Raine44354, AthruShinnandKira'sgirl, wickedlfairy17, kitty-goes-meow42, EverD, xXxLuna-the-ChosenxXx, Penneay7, Anonymous, fallenteshi412, Kagekitsonegal, and Saturnble for reviewing.

I'm also happy to announce that shadow miko is my 200th reviewer. (fireworks and confetti)

Kagome and the well and the past and the InuYasha will be mentioned soon. I didn't forget about that.

That is all.

Chapter 8

Kyo walked up to Shigure's house with a good feeling bubbling in his chest. . He could still feel Kagome pressed against him with her arms clung tightly around his neck. Never before had Kyo wanted another person so close to him—excluding Tohru.

When Kyo opened the door, he was immediately confronted with the sight of Yuki walking down the stairs.

"So what took you so long?" Yuki asked in a hard voice. Kyo inwardly winced.

'Man, is he angry,' Kyo thought.

"None of your business," Kyo said, "I didn't ask you to wait up for me. So take your rat ass to bed and don't bother me."

"I wasn't concern about you," Yuki countered, "I was just making sure you didn't get Kagome hurt with your stupidity."

"Oh really," Kyo said with his voice increasing its volume, "You think you could have done a better job?! I think you're just jealous."

"Why would I be jealous of a stupid cat like you?" Yuki asked, trying to refrain from yelling.

"That's it!" Kyo shouted, "Let's take this outside!"

"Be quiet!" Yuki shouted, losing the battle with himself, "You'll wake everyone up! And as for your humiliation, it can wait until morning."

Kyo scowled and turned his head away and took a deep breath; he couldn't bring this up with Yuki looking at him.

"Kagome's gonna ask you something," Kyo said in a reasonably lowered voice. Yuki didn't say anything, but he raised his eyebrow slightly.

"Shigure asked her to come live here with us," Kyo continued, "She wants to come, but she's worried about what you and Tohru would think. She's probably gonna ask you about it." Kyo lifted his head and looked Yuki directly in the eye.

"Don't tell her no," Kyo said in an even voice. Without waiting for Yuki to respond, Kyo walked passed him to his room without causing a fight. Yuki watched as Kyo left.

'Kagome wants to come live here with us?' Yuki thought to himself. That would be an absolute perfect idea. He could talk to her without the hindrance of school or his fan club girls which Kagome didn't seem to have encountered and for that he was grateful. Still there is the matter of Kyo and Haru to consider and more importantly Akito. Now that he thought about Akito another question was raised in Yuki's mind. Why would Shigure ask Kagome such a question? He did seem to care for her at least a little, similar to the way he cares for Tohru, but he wouldn't do something like that unless he had ran it by Akito or at least planned to.

'Could he have told Akito of his intentions before he had asked Kagome?' Yuki thought, 'Or maybe it is the whole thing Akito's idea?' The thought that Kagome could possibly be playing in Akito's hands left an unsettling feeling in Yuki's stomach.

'Still, if she were here,' Yuki thought, 'It would be much easier to look after her. I mean, Akito could probably get to her easier this way, but with her here, Kagome wouldn't have to worry about meeting up with him out of the blue. And she would most likely be with me, Haru, or even…Kyo most of the time.'

Yuki decided. It would be much better is Kagome were here…for her sake of course. He turned back and began to walk upstairs towards her room.

-O0o0O-

Kagome let out a big yawn as she made her way to her classroom. She couldn't get any sleep last night. She kept thinking about Shigure's offer and what Kyo had told her.

'No doubt about it,' she thought to herself that night, 'I would definitely be happier at Shigure's but how am I gonna convince my mom and my aunt? Mom will go for it for sure, but want about auntie? Okay, she did say all that stuff before, but I don't want her to worry about me. There has to be some way to solve that solution.'

Kagome spent all night thinking about it but did not solve the problem.

"Good morning, Kagome!" Momiji shouted when she had entered the classroom and throw himself in her arms. Kagome caught him and rubbed the blonde's hair affectionately.

"Good morning," Haru said and Kagome gave him a hug as well when Momiji let her go.

"Good morning," Kagome said while she was still in Haru's arms, "I haven't been seeing too much of you two lately. What's been up?"

"Nothing really," Momiji said and skipped to his seat, "How have you been, Kagome? Have you been alright?"

"I've been fine," Kagome said and pulled herself from Haru's embrace. Before another word could have been said between the trio, the first bell rang and the students scattered to their seats. Kagome went to hers and Haru stayed to talk to Momiji. While Kagome walked to her seat, she had little whispers and trails of gossip.

"She's the one alright."

"She was all over Sohma-kun the other day."

"She's not just after one Sohma…"

"I heard about her at the club meeting…"

"Yeah, she's so after the prince too."

"She's pretty hot…"

"Wonder how easy it is to get into her pants?"

"She must be good seeing as she got that prude Yuki."

"I thought she was dating Hatsuharu."

"She should just go back to whatever brothel she came from."

"…a tramp is what she is…"

"…whore…"

"…slut…"

'Are they talking about me?' Kagome thought and that made anger boil in the pit of her stomach by the time she had reached her desk. How dare they make such accusations?! Before she could verbally express her anger, the teacher walked in and everyone stood at attention before sitting back down. Haru walked up and took his seat next to her. By the look on his face, Kagome could tell that he was not happy.

'What's he got to be so angry about?' Kagome thought. The darkening expression on Haru's face reminded her of the time Kyo had punched her in the cheek.

'It's like he's becoming a whole different person,' Kagome mused. She slipped her hand under his desk and grabbed his hand. Haru looked at her out of the corner of his eye and Kagome gave him a small smile. The dark look began to fade from Haru's eyes and Haru smiled a little himself and tighten the hold on Kagome's hand when she moved to release it.

-O0o0O-

Motoko groaned and turned her cell phone off. For once, she cursed her school's improved cell phone policy. It made for fast and easy updates concerning her club duties, but it was vibrating like crazy today. They all said the same thing. All of them were from new freshman members and all of them were about "that Higurashi girl".

'Kagome is quickly becoming more of a nuisance than I thought,' Motoko thought as she held her pen in a death grip, 'Not only is she seen a lot with Yuki, she is with his relatives as well. Kagome wouldn't be doing anything to really worry about, but even so, it looks bad to all the other members. And only Mio, Minami, and Mai know that she is my cousin.'

Motoko sighed, 'Looks like I'm going to do some damage control.'

-O0o0O-

As soon as the lunch bell rang, Haru bolted out of the room with Kagome and Momiji quickly followed. He didn't care if he had encouraged more rumors. He couldn't stand to be in that room with all of them, whispering words that should have never been directed to someone like Kagome. If she hadn't grabbed his hand back there, Haru would have gone black.

'It reminds me a lot of me as a child,' he thought sadly as he pulled Kagome behind him, 'They label her before they even get to know her.' Haru had seen Kagome trying to hold back her anger before he nearly succumbed to his own. But she did something he was sure he could never do. She abandoned her anger—if only temporarily—to help him.

"Haru," Kagome said, breaking Haru's thoughts, "where are we going?"

"Yuki and the others usually eat lunch in the courtyard outside," Haru said, "I figured it would be nicer to be with them than inside."

Kagome nodded as did Momiji.

"Plus I haven't seen Tohru in a long time either!" Momiji said.

-O0o0O-

"Hello!" Tohru said and waved over at Haru, Kagome, and Momiji when they came into sight. Yuki and Kyo were absent and Uo and Hana were with her.

"Hey," Kagome said once they were all closer and she had been released from Haru's hand.

"What's up?" Uo said with a straw poking out of her mouth. Hana just nodded at them.

"Nothing much," Kagome said and sheepishly rubbed her neck.

"A disturbance," Hana said suddenly, "A disturbance in your electric signals. Something made you very angry, Hatsuharu and Kagome."

"What happened?" Tohru asked suddenly becoming worried.

"Kagome, why don't you explain it to them?" Haru suggested, "I have to go look for Yuki." And Haru left.

'Thanks a lot,' Kagome thought bitterly.

"So, what happened?" Uo asked, "You need someone taken care of or something?"

"It's nothing like that," Kagome quickly said, "Some kids in my class were just talking about me and calling me names. That's all."

"How awful!" Tohru exclaimed, "Did you tell the teacher?" Kagome shook her head.

"Kagome," Momiji asked in a much more sober tone that his usual voice, "how long have you been picked on?"

"I haven't really been picked on," Kagome said, "Just overheard some conversations and I guess I was probably the hot topic for a while now."

"So who are these punks?" Uo asked.

"Yes," Hana said, "They must be taught a lesson."

"I don't condone fighting," Tohru said, "but people really shouldn't gossip about others. We have to do something, Kagome."

Kagome shook her head, "Let's just let it go. Now that I think about it, I wouldn't even give those guys the satisfaction of an ass kicking. Now let's not let that ruin our lunch. Tohru, I smell that you prepared something delicious."

Tohru smiled and nodded, "Yes, and I made sure to bring enough for everyone. I guess I got distracted and forgot about it."

"Yay!" Momiji exclaimed, "Let's dig in!

-O0o0O-

"Yuki," Haru said calling attention to the rat zodiac. Yuki told the student he was talking to that he would be back in a moment and turned to Haru.

"What is it now, Haru? I have things to do," Yuki said.

"And here I thought you grew to like our heart-to-hearts more," Haru said jokily.

"Will you be serious, please?"

"Okay, I have to tell you something about Kagome."

"Go on," Yuki said and thought, 'Talk about déjà vu.'

"Let's just say that things aren't going well for her in class," Haru said, "A lot of ugly rumors have been going around and Kagome is the subject."

"What kind of rumors?"

"I'd rather not talk about them now, but let's just say they were bad enough to make me go black." In a surge of anger, Haru punched the wall to the right of them.

"I wish she hadn't stopped me," he said, "I wanted to make each and every one of those bastards pay for what they said."

Yuki sighed, "There's really not much I can do about it. I could inform the teacher on her behalf and talk to some students, but other than that there isn't much. My advice is to look after her as much as you can and try not to pay attention to idle gossip."

"You don't have to tell me about the former," Haru said, "I already took her to have lunch with Tohru and the others. She should be fine now. But tell me, where is that asshole Kyo?"

Yuki shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine. I haven't really seen much of him since last night. Not that I'm complaining about it."

"Probably on the roof or something," Haru said and shoved his fingers in his pockets, "Not that I care at the moment." Haru turned in the direction he came, "I'm going back. You should come if you have the chance, but don't mention I told you about this. She'll probably be angrier at me for telling you than those bastards."

-O0o0O-

"Tohru?" Kagome asked. Uo, Hana, and Momiji had gone ahead and went back to their respected classrooms leaving the other two girls alone.

"Yes?" Tohru asked.

"I was wondering…" Kagome said, trying to find a way to start her question off, "I guess I'll just be frank. Shigure asked me to come live in his house with you and Yuki and Kyo. I already talked to Kyo about it; I just wanted to know how you would feel about that."

"That would be so great!" Tohru exclaimed.

"Really?"

"Of course it would. We could spend much more time together and you get to meet more of the Sohma family. What could be better?"

"I guess I never thought of it like that."

'I never considered that there would be more Sohmas to worry about,' Kagome thought, 'A lot of them must have heard of me and Tohru since we know about the curse.'

"So when are you moving in?" Tohru asked excitedly.

"I'm not sure," Kagome said, "I still want to ask Yuki about since I already talked to you and Kyo. Then I'll tell Shigure I accept his offer and I'll have to tell my mom and my auntie where I'll be staying. If everything goes according to plan, Shigure told me that I could move in around Golden Week."

"Great," Tohru said, "I'm sure Yuki would love it if you came to live with us and the Sohmas are very nice people. I'm sure that if you told your mom and your aunt about them they would love to let you come stay with us. Maybe they could come over and have dinner with us."

Kagome thought about that for a moment and felt that that was not a good idea. She vaguely remembered—like she could ever forget—finding Motoko looking at some pictures of Yuki with her friends in her room. She still hadn't found out what that was all about, but it couldn't have been anything good or remotely sane-.

"Or better yet," Kagome said, "why don't you guys come over and we'll have dinner at my aunt's house. I can arrange it and everything."

"That sounds like a good idea," Tohru said, "Just tell me when and I could make something to bring."

"I'll let you know as soon as you can," Kagome said and stood up, "Lunch is almost over. We should head back to class."

"Okay," Tohru said, "You can walk home with us today and you'll have a chance to talk with Yuki."

"Alright," Kagome said, "See after school."

-O0o0O-

Kyo yawned and removed his gaze from the sky ahead of him.

'I better get back to class,' he thought to himself. He stood up from his spot on the roof and made his way downstairs. Walking in the direction of his classroom, he heard three boys talking in the hallway.

"That Higurashi girl is really hot," one of the guys said.

"I know. I bet she's easy."

"No, she's not an airhead like most of the girls here."

"But I bet she's a beast in the bed to bag Yuki and Haru."

"No doubt."

Kyo walked right up to them with his hands in his pockets.

"You guys talking about Kagome?" he asked.

"Yeah, she's pretty cute, isn't she?"

Kyo grabbed the boy by his shirt.

"Listen 'cause I'm only gonna say this once," Kyo said, "I don't know who started all this about Kagome, but if I hear you or anyone talking about Kagome, I'll kick your ass. Got that?" Kyo tossed the boy to the ground and watched him run away after nodding. The other two had left long before he did. Kyo half-smirked in their direction before cracking his knuckles.

"Kyo?" a soft voice asked behind. Kyo turned and saw Kagome looking straight at him.

-O0o0O-

punkish furball—That seemed like a good place to end. Again sorry for not updating, but that's life. L83R!