Hello all! Behold, my first new chapter on this sight! Woot woot! I hope all my old fans had no problems finding this, and i'm sorry for the confusion. I'm also sorry about making you wait so long for an update, but besides moving to my own sight, I was also :

to a new house.

with half a bazillion freaking assignments.

TO MY 2ND EVER ANIME CONVENTION! IT WAS BEYOND AWESOME! WOOT! WOOT! I GOT WAY INTO GLOMPING IT WAS AMAZINGLY FUN!

That being said, I think I have upated this at a completely reasonable time.

Enjoy!

Sand.

That was Kagome's first conscious thought upon waking.

The second was that it was on her bed. And her. God, it was everywhere!

Including several places sand just shouldn't be and she was vaguely curious how it had gotten there. She sat up for a minute, to spit a small accumulation of sand from her mouth, silently wishing the muddy taste away before falling back onto the comforter. The previously fallen sand bounced somewhat dramatically upon her landing.

Great.

Rolling over, ignoring the light scrape of sand against her skin, she buried her face in her pillow, only to find it covered in sand she assumed was from her hair. Flipping it over, she tried it again, this time achieving a much better result.

Now to try and figure things out.

Important things. Like why she was covered in sand.

Well that was easy enough, she found, as memories of the previous night slid back into her mind. She'd gone down to the lake, lay down in the sand, cried. She brought a hand up to her face and found sand stuck to it in lines she assumed were from tear tracks. It also explained why her eyes were so hot and slightly gritty.

Sighing, she rolled over onto her back, her arms still around the pillow so that it moved with her, still covering her face. Holding it with one arm, she reached the other out to search blindly over her bed. After a short while she curled her fingers around the cool plastic of her cell phone, pulling it under the pillow so that she could check the time.

5:30 AM

Great...it was early. She threw the phone against the other pillow and racked her brain once more.

The lake. Okay. That's where the sand was from. That's where she was last night. Slowly the foggy memories grew clearer, details sharper. The cool feeling of the sand, the relaxing scent of the water, the sound of it's gentle waves. The Lion King and the stars, and crying herself to sleep.

So how had she ended up here?

She was fairly sure she hadn't done it herself. She couldn't remember ever sleepwalking before, no one had ever told her that she had. Even if she did, she was sure she'd run into something. She was clumsy enough awake and somehow she doubted that she'd suddenly be amazingly coordinated while asleep.

No, she hadn't brought herself here. Besides, she never slept on top of the covers. She liked to burrow, like a mole, deep into the sheets, twisting them around her until she was completely cocooned. Even if she did somehow manage to make it up from the shore, through the maze of this gigantic, over-sized "house" and into her room without hurting herself or anyone else, she would have definitely gone under the comforter at least.

Someone had to have found her, brought her, but who?

She considered, with a quick jolt of panic, that it had been Taisho. Had he and Izayoi come home and looked for her? Had they worried, asked their sons where the new girl was hiding? Been scared when they didn't know? After all, she hadn't told anybody and liked to think that she was at least fairly sneaky. Had they searched frantically, running onto the beach, checking to see if she was alright?

That was what her mother had done, her mother and Kameko, a few years ago when her and Ayame had sneaked away during their picnic at the beach. They had one every year for everyone in Kameko's office, and Kameko always brought the Higurashis.

Her and Ayame hadn't liked having to stay in sight, like the little kids did. They were 11 for God's sake! They were in Junior High, so why should they have to follow the same rules as the little grade-schoolers. Plus, there was an island a little off the coast. Just a small one, and not very far, but it just begged to be explored. So what if the water was deep? They were both in the top of the junior lifeguarding class they were taking this summer. They were good swimmers.

So they swam. They went to the little island and found it to be just as exciting as they'd hoped. They'd played on it's beach, the one on the side away from to coast so as not to be seen, and swam in the water and were as loud as they wanted, saying whatever words they wanted. There was no one to tell them not to say those types of things around the younger kids, that they had to be role models. That they should help the little kids build sand castles.

When the water was cold, Ayame announced that it was cold as hell, and nobody reprimanded her for using bad language. Kagome yelled, " shit!", when she cut her foot on a shell, and her and Ayame laughed. It was possibly the greatest afternoon she'd ever spent.

Or at least it was, until afternoon faded into evening. The girls started to get tired, unused to staying up late no matter how much they wanted to. Sitting on the beach, behind a large rock on the shore, they watched the embers from the bonfire across the water float up to dance in the sky, merging with the stars. They'd wanted to return soon, but they couldn't will their limbs to move. They didn't want to make the swim.

"Maybe just a little nap", Ayame suggested, leaning back against the rock, letting her head fall on her friend's shoulder.

"Yeah", Kagome agreed, leaning against Ayame as well, "We can swim back after."

"Yeah."

The next thing they knew they were being shaken, grabbed at, pulled into smothering embraces. They were pressed into bodies wet with ocean and tears and clutched at for dear life.

Later they'd been yelled at, grounded, and then hugged again. They'd scared their mothers to death and they loved them both dearly. That was why they were taking away the TV, the phone, and the PS2. Because they loved them.

The two had felt bad about it, guilty, although they both agreed that it was one of the most amazing days they'd ever had. They'd decided this at 1:00 AM that morning, after the adults had gone to bed, each girl hiding in her closet with the stolen phone pressed tight against her ear.

Kagome shifted, the thought of Taisho and Izayoi behaving that way making her uncomfortable. She didn't want them to worry like that, like parents. Sure, they were parents, but not her's. If Shippo wanted to disappear for a few hours then they were totally entitled to a parental freak out, but not over her. In fact she was sure they hadn't. They had no reason to, except possibly a sense of responsibility.

No, they probably hadn't rushed around in a panic. If anything they'd be upset with her this morning for staying up so late on a school night.

Well technically she'd been asleep. They just wanted her to go to sleep, they never specified where. Could she use that as a legitimate defense? Would she even need a defense?

Maybe not. After all, she wasn't even positive that it'd been Taisho, though she couldn't imagine who else it could have been. Somehow, she couldn't imagine Sesshomaru carrying her off to bed like a princess, hell she couldn't even remember if she'd said two words to him this whole time. Shippo was too small, even if he didn't loathe her, and Inuyasha...

He'd be more likely to throw her in the lake.

No, chances were it was probably Taisho. Either way, she now had about an hour and a half until school. Groaning, she pulled herself up, making a mental note to vacuum up the sand that hit the ground as she stood, and groggily rummaged through her suitcase.

Another mental note : Unpack.

She yawned, heading out into the hallway, hoping no one was in the bathroom... Actually...they probably had ,like, eight in this place so it probably wouldn't hurt anything... except this was the only one she could locate...

Shrugging, she yawned again as she reached the bathroom, reaching for the knob. As her hands closed around it, she felt it move, twist beneath her grasp. She just barely avoided getting hit by the door, just to run into something equally as solid.

And warm.

And wet.

And bare...very, very bare.

Her eyes shooting open she found herself staring into equally surprised amber ones.

Inuyasha.

He was standing there with a towel around his waist, his hands on her arms, having reached out instinctively as they made contact. His eyes were wide in surprise, and there was a glimmer of something she wasn't quite sure about as he looked down at her. She was determined not to give his admittedly well toned chest a hint of a look, and if she hadn't been so preoccupied with the task she might have noticed his eyes dart downwards to where the short towel hung low on his hips, the faint blush that crossed his cheeks.

Damn it! He despised blushing.

The steam from his shower wafted out, carrying with it the scent of Axe Phoenix...

Damn it...he had to be an Axe guy...

Well he'd be damned if she was going to go all boom chicka wah wah. He could burn in hell before she'd even consider it.

And the fact that she could even think about him thinking that pissed her off. Angry with the him in her imagination, she opened her mouth to snap at him, but he beat her to it.

" Bitch! Watch where you're going!"

"Bi- Wah-" she sputtered at the air where he once stood, Inuyasha having retreated down the hall. She stared into the open doorway for another moment trying to figure out just what the hell had just happened...

She wasn't sure. The only thing did know, was that there was absolutely no way that this asshole had carried her to bed last night.

Inuyasha growled to himself as he stalked down the hall to his room. What the hell was this? Being assaulted in the bathroom first thing in the morning. Damn girl. And what's worse he couldn't even think of any decent insults for her. In fact he could barely think at all. His thoughts were fuzzy, bouncing around inside his mind, stirred up by the image of that damn girl outside.

He slammed the door to his room, not caring if his mom got on his case about it later. He needed something to vent out this unexplainable, pent-up, frustration, and his door just so happened to be the easiest target.

Look at it, just standing there, all wooden and sturdy.

He wanted to tear it to pieces.

What the hell right did that girl have to come in here and stir him up like this?

He sat roughly on the edge of the bed, the scene replaying in his mind, very much against his will. His hand turning the knob, pushing open the door, the warm steam spilling out into the cool hallway, his hands suddenly gripping her shoulders as she fell towards him. She'd looked up at him then, her eyes wide with innocent shock, stunningly blue and puffy. There was sand in her hair, on her clothes, stuck to her face marking the lines of her tears.

Her skin had been warm beneath his fingers, her face heating further as she fully comprehended the situation.

She'd suddenly been so full of color, texture, and he'd struggled to remember the drab, dull, girl that had first arrived at his house. The one he'd found so horribly appalling.

New rage blossoming in his chest at his own thoughts, he brought a fist down hard on the mattress. It bounced off, leaving him thoroughly unsatisfied. Standing, he angrily pulled on his clothes, storming downstairs to chew the ever loving hell out of some bacon. God he hoped his mother had made bacon.

He needed something to devour unmercifully.

Something was seriously wrong with that guy. That was Kagome's opinion as she watched him storm off in a huff towards the school building. She didn't know what had crawled up his ass this morning, but between that whole scene in the bathroom and the way he'd tried to murder his oatmeal she was convinced that whatever it is must bite. Hard, and frequently.

Or he was just a dick.

There was always that.

Whatever it was, Taisho seemed to agree with her as he watched his middle son retreat, one eyebrow raised.

"Did something happen last night?"

She bit the inside of her lip discreetly. She was sure he'd been the one to return her to her bed last night, yet he hadn't mentioned it at all. Or anything about yesterday at all...until now.

Was this his silent interrogation? Did he want her to confess to being outside that late because he already knew the truth. Was he testing her honesty? Or was she just over thinking things?

" Don't know", she shrugged, sliding from the car, shutting the door behind her. She waited for an instant to see if he'd say anything, sent a glance back to the car, only to receive a wave before he drove off. Shrugging, she headed off to her second day of Takahashi High, wondering if Sango was once again hiding in the girl's bathroom.

As a matter of fact she wasn't, as Kagome soon discovered. The girl was, for the moment, sitting under a tree sending cautious looks to the left. What it was she was eying, however, was cut from Kagome's view by the corner of the building. Looking up, the other girl caught sight of her, her eyes widening a little in recognition before waving her over.

Shrugging once more, Kagome walked over to join her. After all, it wasn't as if she had anywhere else to go. She wasn't exactly beating friends off with a stick. As she walked, though, she found more than one set of eyes following her. Apparently they'd all needed time for the news about the new girl to spread before they acted.

From the looks of things it had.

It was odd really. This school just screamed gossip, she had been sure word would have got around sooner. Oh well. It'd probably stop soon enough. She wasn't really all that interesting.

Still...the stares and whispers were just a little disconcerting.

Choosing to ignore them, she plopped down in the grass besides Sango.

"What's up?"

"Nothing much", she shrugged, "just stalking my stalker."

"Excuse me?"

"It's the best way to avoid a surprise attack." She continued at Kagome's raised eyebrow. "I refuse be late one more time this week damn it!"

"Ah", she nodded as if this was actually a normal conversation. "So what's he up to now?" She leaned back a little, following Sango's line of vision. She could have asked about the binoculars at her side but decided against it. Not this early in the morning.

Maybe later.

Sango frowned, narrowing her eyes a little. "He's standing there talking to his little clique."

"Clique?"

Sango spared a moment of precious spy time to send Kagome a grin.

"Guys deny it all they want, but when you have a small group of friends that you spend all your time with and form inside jokes amongst, than you are part of a clique."

Kagome chuckled, something that felt good to do after so long, before peering over again, trying to locate said, "clique." " Have you enlightened him on this?"

"Once I think, in 7th grade."

"Heh, what happened?"

"He started stalking me", she replied dryly.

"Smooth."

"I know, huh?"

Kagome smiled. It hadn't taken long for her and Sango to fall into an easy friendship, the kind she'd worried she'd never be able to form again. It was the kind she had with Ayame.

She bit her lip as her longing for her oldest friend started to swell up. Refusing to let it, she quickly stamped it back down under the mental mantra of, " This weekend. This weekend. This weekend."

God, she had never been more thankful for divorce.

"Ah! He's moving!"

"Where?"

"Over there! See?"

She pointed, directing Kagome's vision until she spotted the short, black, ponytail.

"He's right there...he's...oh praise Buddha he's just throwing something away, for a second I thought he was coming over here. Anyways he's there next to Koga."

"Ko-"

Her words froze in her mouth as she recognized a familiar mane of long, silver hair, beside the two dark haired boys.

Sango looked over, concerned. "What?"

"Inuyasha? Seriously?"

"What? Oh, yeah he's in the clique too.." She gave her a strange look. " Don't tell me you didn't know."

"Why would I?"

"True...you weren't here for that..." Her voice trailed off a moment before her face scrunched up. "Please tell me you're not in love with him or something?"

" What! No, no way in hell! Why on Earth would anyone love that rude, ill-mannered, arrogant-"

She froze, realizing that she was not only now standing, but shouting as well, and most likely leading people to believe that there really was something interesting about her. Great. She looked down to gauge Sango's reaction.

Her friend was smiling.

"So I take it you've met him?"

"You could say that."

"Nice to see he made a good impression. He must have been on his best behavior that day."

"Really? I'm terrified to see what he's like the rest of the time."

As she laughed half-heartedly, she couldn't help but wonder what Sango would think if she found out she was living with him. She was sensing pity and flowers, and possibly a muffin basket

Oh yes. There would be muffins.

Which made it almost worth telling her.

Almost.

She knew she'd have to tell her eventually, but no matter how good of friends they were already, she'd like to cement the friendship just a little more before the meet-the-people-I-now-live-with-because-apparently-my-dad-knew-them-at-one-point phase.

Some people might find that just a little intimidating.

"Really though", Sango began, sending a quick glance to make sure Miroku wasn't sneaking his way over, " He is pretty good looking, it's easy to see why a lot of girls like him. Even if it is his brother with the creepy fan club."

A mental image of Sesshomaru running like Shaggy from Scooby-doo away from rabid girl in Japanese schoolgirl uniforms flashed through her mind.

"Zoinks."

If Sango was confused she didn't mention it. "I think he used to have a small gathering too before Kikyo."

"That girl in all the pink?"

Sango sent her an arch stare. "Because that narrows it down so much."

"The one who is currently after Koga to get with his friend...", she paused, "Inuyasha?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Oh, well. It-"

She was cut off by the sound of bell resounding loudly across campus.

"It's kind of a long story, remind me to tell you later okay!" she called before booking it across campus. Blinking, Kagome realized that she still had no clue where her first period class was, calling and chasing after Sango in Miroku's stead.

How was it possible, in the history of all the world, to have not only a class this boring, but the world's least interesting teacher in charge of it. That just reeked of bad Karma.

That and oatmeal for breakfast. Seriously, what was up with that? The one day they don't have any meat products for him to take out his manly primal urge to kill on. The legal way that didn't involve jail time and tasted delicious.

It was probably his punishment for taking out his frustration on the door this morning. The door being made of wood probably had some strange cosmic link to the spirit of the earth or something like that. And apparently the earth spirit was close friends, family perhaps, with Karma. Or the goddess – something that vengeful could only come from a woman – in charge of Karma or whatever.

He knew nothing about this crap, having never really bought into the whole cosmic forces thing, but it seemed like a decent excuse.

Either way, Karma or not, his luck sucked. And he was still pissed off. No one seemed to believe him when he said that girl was the spawn of Satan sent to torture him, which was very much true. It only figured, he supposed, that Miroku would stick up for a woman, but he had no clue what Koga was getting at.

Bastard.

Where was all that male solidarity? The brotherhood ? Hell, the freaking guy code?

He growled as the image of Kagome slipped unbidden into his mind. Damn her. Damn her ass to hell.

Kagome couldn't help but groan as the coach called her name.

God she hated Gym. She could only thank God – and any other deity listening – that this was her last year of it. But still...there was a lot left to the year.

And naturally the coach had picked up on the waves of dislike that radiated from her and promptly decided to attempt to change her attitude. Apparently the standard course of action in these situations is to force the unhappy party into participating as frequently as possible until they change their mind. She wasn't sure if the coach considered this as practice or something. Did she figure that if she made her play enough she'd eventually acquire some sort of skill?

Somehow Kagome doubted the likeliness of that outcome.

Either way, however, the coach had picked her, perhaps the most uncoordinated person in the entire class, as captain of her kickball team. If you could call it being a captain really, standing in the front of the gym and pointing to people who's names she didn't know, cursing them to be on what was sure to be the losing team.

She'd already tripped three times this period, and that was just during warm-up exercises. Once on the way to the class itself.

Also a team "captain", was one of the girls from Kikyo's little clique, Kagura. She was standing there, the picture of confidence in her short, green, gym shorts. She didn't seem like she'd be having any problem with coordination the near future. She hadn't even tripped over anything during the warm-up as far as she'd noticed.

She was also moving her eyes ponderously between Sango and this other girl who's name she wasn't sure of. From the looks of things, however, she was probably part of her – Kagura that is – little group from 1st hour. It was 4th hour at the moment, and she'd been thankful to have Sango in 2nd hour with her as well. 3rd however, was less than thrilling, what with Inuyasha in it. Inuyasha and no one else she knew. Luckily she'd just sat in her desk taking very detailed notes and pretending he didn't exist. He seemed to do the same. Well, the pretending anyways, she wasn't so sure about the notes. She couldn't really imagine him taking notes...

The girl was almost sickly skinny, with huge breasts almost spilling out of her top. Kagome hadn't thought it possible to spill out of a school regulated gym shirt, but apparently it was, should the shirt be several sizes too large and go down to your knees. It completely covered her shorts, creating the illusion that she wasn't wearing any, and the over sized shirt's over sized collar hung low.

Her hair was short and black, hanging to her chin and held back from her face in little red skull clips. Her make up was fairly heavy, but otherwise she was pretty in a hooker kind of way.

An expensive hooker though, or maybe one from the Bunny Ranch. Were the Bunny Ranch hookers expensive? She really wasn't sure.

Either way, she was seriously lucky to be called first. It was the first good thing the coach had told her, today or yesterday. Pointing, she wasted no time.

"Sango!"

Sango's smile was the polar opposite of Kagura's annoyed frown. Obviously Sango was a MVP of some sort. Her frown still in place, she pointed towards the pretty-hooker girl.

"Yura."

The girl, Yura apparently, pouted her lips, slightly annoyed as she walked up.

"I'm not playing."

"I don't know why. You're good at it."

"I'm good at swimming too, it doesn't mean I'm going to the Olympics."

"Whatever", Kagura replied, sighing, "Just stand there and file your nails or something."

Yura sent her a peeved glare to which she just rolled her eyes again.

"Seriously, this is beyond retarded. I'm going to be a professional stylist in France, I'm never going to need kickball. For anything."

Kagura rolled her eyes again.

Maybe she wasn't part of the little clique after all...

"Don't mind them", Sango whispered, catching her watching the two of them. "They never agree on anything."

"So I take it they're not friends?"

Sango just blinked. "Best friends. Since third grade."

Sighing Kagome just shook her head.

"Oh, pick her", Sango whispered, pointing to one of the girls, "She's got a great leg."

With nothing else to go by, Kagome allowed Sango to practically select the entire team. Not like it mattered. She'd do a way better job anyways. She could tell, by the way Kagura glared every time another great player was snatched away. Finally it was down to just two people left.

One was a little on the tall side, an exact clone of her twin sister, except for her hair. While her sister, already selected for Kagura's team, had long hair, held back in a low ponytail, Momiji's was short, greatly resembling Yura's. However, where Yura's added to the sharpness of her features, Momiji's was softer. She wore considerably less make-up as well, giving her a much more natural look. She was staring longingly at Kagura's team, making her own will be known.

Kagome was happy enough to comply, the last thing she needed was people that openly opposed her team. It was bad enough the majority, if they had any sense, were cursing their foul luck inside their heads. She really didn't blame them.

So, if she didn't choose Momiji, her other option was a small, petite, girl with large eyes. Her hair was black and long, though one small portion on the left side of her head was pulled up into a little side-ponytail, held with an orange ribbon. She as smiling, a gap between her two front teeth visible, and focusing on the large lights, hanging from the gym ceiling. Somehow Kagome wasn't suspecting great athletic ability.

"Who's she?" Kagome whispered, discreetly gesturing towards the girl.

"Her name's Rin", Sango replied.

"Fill me in."

"Can't."

"Seriously? You can't tell me anything?"

Sango paused, her eyes scanning the two remaining girls.

"Um...okay. I can tell you...pick Rin."

"How come?"

"Because she's not expressing direct opposition to joining our side. Plus Momiji won't fight against her sister...unless it's over a guy, they got into a pretty bad fight last year, over Hojo of all people. But anyways, just pick her."

Well okay.

"Rin!" She called.

The girl blinked, obviously surprised at not being the last chosen, before smiling broadly. The gap between her teeth was suddenly more apparent than ever, though it looked cute on her. Drawing her attention away from the light, she skipped merrily over to Kagome's side, promptly shoving out her hand.

"Hi! I'm Rin, you're new aren't you? I'm new too! Well, kind of. I've been here a few weeks but I don't really know anybody, but nobody really knows me either but I guess you know me. Well, you know me now anyways."

Kagome just blinked, looking over the shorter girl's head at Sango and praying she hadn't just made a huge mistake.

As it turned out, Rin wasn't much better at sports thank Kagome, but she tried hard, and she could respect her for that. Besides, between Sango and the other girls on the team they were far from bad. They were actually winning, which would be a first for Kagome.

She watched, slightly awed, as Sango kicked the ball way into the outfield. She was great at this stuff, though Kagome suspected that anyone with the slightest ability would be able to play this game. It was kickball for God's sake. It was like baseball, without the hand eye coordination. Foot-eye coordination maybe, but still. It was as if someone had found baseball too difficult and decided to make it easier. Frankly, she didn't know why people kept watering down the stupid sport ; First tee-ball, now this...

She suspected that it was for people like her...

"Whoo!" Sango cheered, jogging up to her friend. She'd just made it all the way home and was back in the line-up behind Kagome. "I love this game."

"I fail to understand why."

"You're a book person aren't you?"

She frowned. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"It's not...per-say..."

"Books are good. Books require minimal physical activity and books don't injure me. Do you know how often I get injured attempting to play sports?"

"I don't think I want to."

"No", she agreed with a solemn shake of her head, "You don't. Trust me."

Sango nodded, before pointing towards home plate, "Check it out, Rin's up."

Kagome shrugged. "So? It's not like she's going to win the game for us or anything, she sucks as bad as I do."

"Book person", she scoffed accusingly, her face scrunching up as if the words were sour on her tongue.

Kagome just stuck out her tongue watching the small girl wiggle her butt on the plate, her tongue sticking out a little from the corner of her mouth in concentration. Several people, from both teams, could be heard snickering at her antics, but if she heard she ignored it. She may not have heard at all. She seemed completely focused on kicking the ball that Botan was about about to roll her way.

As it rolled across the dirt, she narrowed her eyes, bringing her leg back. She kicked and...

Missed completely, falling flat on her back.

Kagome smacked her forehead, suddenly feeling a lot better about herself.

Hey all! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm suffering from a slight case of writer's block...I have a new Inuyasha fic though, called That Damn Disney it's heavier than this one, though it does have some humor in it. You should check it out, it's gotten very good reviews. Anyways, If anyone wants to offer my some suggestions on this fic, ideas, things you'd like to see happen, let me know. Even if I don't use them they may inspire me.

Much Love!

Redfaeire