Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of Rumiko Takahashi's work. Only the story.

Chapter 4

"I think it's cute, I don't know what you hate about it!" Eri shouted as Kagome emerged from the fitting room, mumbling 'I hate it'. Eri had forced her friend to try on a dress that was shown in the window at one of the local mall shops. A dress that was a dark raspberry color, slim fitting with long sleeves and a scoop neck, the dress reaching down to just above her knees.

"I dunno'..." Kagome said, twirling in the mirror.

"Is it because of the price?"

"Maybe..." The girl had a light blush on her cheeks, and she sighed. "Fine fine. I'll get it."

"3000 yen isn't the worst thing in the world, and you have a job, so you'll make up for a little dip into your income." Her friend smiled, grabbing her scarf off her neck, throwing it over Kagome. "See?! Look how cute that is!"

Kagome turned back to the mirror, and looked for a second, taking in how she thought she actually looked really pretty. It wasn't that often that Kagome was able to put time into her looks, and lately, with how much money she'd been losing because of her old apartment, making dinner for two, trying to pay for loans at the same time, it wasn't really possible to think about herself.

Takumi would have loved to see her like this...

But he would also like to see his other girlfriend.

Kagome looked down, shaking away her menacing thoughts. She needed to stop thinking about him. "Stop thinking about him." Eri warned, as if she had read his mind.

"You're crazy. I don't know how you do that." Kagome responded, looking back at her friend before walking behind the curtain, returning into her fitting room so she could replace the velvet dress with her grey sweater and dark jeans.

"We've known each other for many years, Kagome, I've come to understand you in that time." Eri answered, standing to grab her purse.

Kagome laced up her boots and retreated back outside the room, dress in hand ready to pay for. "I don't know what I'll wear this for. I don't really do much." The girl laughed, setting it on the counter.

"Well what about that boy you get coffee with in the morning?" Eri teased. "Don't act like I don't know about that."

"I-Inuyasha?!" Kagome flushed red. "Definitely not." She said. "The guys always picking on me, and he's always angry."

"Well, whatever." Eri smirked. "I just wanna' meet him soon."

"Trust me." Kagome handed the employee her debit card before looking at Eri. "You don't."

xxx

"Inuyasha, come on!" Kagome gave an angry growl before snagging her sandwich from his hands. "You always take bites of my food when I use the restroom!" She scolded. "You're like a dog."

"Hey!" Inuyasha crossed his arms. "I'm a guy. Guys eat a lot!" He said. "Unlike you, you barely eat anything, I was surprised you even bought a sandwich."

Kagome mimicked his position and it only made him more irritated, causing her to laugh a little bit. "If you want me to buy you a sandwich, just ask."

"I don't take handouts." He bit back, obviously he didn't like people doing things for him. Must have been a superiority thing.

Kagome got up anyways. "Well I'll get another one... for myself!" She wandered off across the college's large cafeteria, spotting the refridgerator where the sandwiches were kept. As she picked one up, she scoffed at how stubborn he could be. In the two weeks that she'd been finding time to get to know the boy, he had never let her get him anything.

Paying the small amount of money for sandwich was easy, and she began to wander back to the table. But something caused her to stop walking. He was looking at something. Someone. And boy was she gorgeous.

A young girl, around their age sat at a table with a few people, eating and laughing. Her long black hair long surpassed Kagome's reaching to just above the girl's rear. Kagome's was only went to her mid back. The girl obviously didn't visit the hair salon much. She wore a red blouse with small embellishments on it with a pair of light jeans, and she had a porceloin skin tone. She was very beautiful.

Looking back towards Inuyasha, he still looked at her, as if he was longing for something. It only took Kagome a second to notice why. And when she did, she knew what was wrong.

The girl had an arm around her shoulders that belonged to a man that had black hair, waving as it reached well past his shoulders. The couple looked at each other with loving eyes, and he gave her a kiss on the forehead. Who was this girl?

"Here." Kagome said, knocking Inuyasha out of his trance as she handed him the sandwich with a small smile. "They didn't have the type I wanted, so I don't really need this." She lied, sitting back down across from him, looking to where his eyes still lingered. "Who's that?" She asked innocently, looking back to see he had slightly sad eyes.

He lifted his eyes, and hid that emotion when she saw him looking. "Keh, it's nothin' important." Waving her off, Inuyasha dug into the sandwich. "Thanks."

"No problem!" She cheered happily, excited he'd let her give the food to him.

He ate across from her silently, looking up every once in awhile to catch glimpses of the girl. Something told Kagome that she had seen this girl before. She just couldn't place where.

Once they'd exited the cafeteria, he began to walk her to her art class, avoiding that subject for the rest of their conversation. "Are you doing anything after classes today?" She asked, catching his attention.

"Uh, I dunno', probably, not. Why?" He was baffled.

"I was gonna' go to the local library to get a couple things, and I wanted to know if you'd wanna' come with." She said as they took steps through the courtyard ot make it to the next building. Luckily he had a class close to hers so he didn't have to walk far afterwards to make it to class on time.

"Er... Why?"

"Because we're friends?" Kagome cocked an eyebrow.

"Hey, I never agreed to that!" Inuyasha shouted, causing Kagome to giggle.

"Hey, I bought you coffee and a sandwich, and we always eat together. I'd assume that much interaction has gotta' be friendship."

He scoffed. "You're dumb."

"I'm not dumb!" She fought, crossing her arms, looking down. "I just don't have many friends, since I recently moved here. Excuse me for not knowing how to make friends."

Inuyasha saw she looked a little distraught at his comments, and sighed. "Okay okay. If I say we're friends will you stop being pouty? I hate being around sad people." He was a little pink in the face.

She looked up at him and grinned, nodding. "So, library?"

"Yeah, fine." He groaned. "But I'm not promising I'm gonna' like it. Now shoo, class is about to start." He gave her a nudge on the arm since they had reached her class a second later. He didn't want her to be late, and he certainly didn't wanna' be late either.

"Okay, Mr. Pushy!" She giggled, but stopped short when she saw Inuyasha's eyes dart past her.

"Hello, Inuyasha." The feminine voice behind Kagome said quietly. Kagome turned around. It was that girl from earlier!

"H-Hey, Kikyo." The boy stuttered, causing Kagome to look at him with a puzzled look. She'd never seen him get nervous around someone like this.

"I hope all is treating you well." Kikyo said before she looked at Kagome. "It's nice to meet you. My name is Kikyo." She gave a small bow, and Kagome did the same.

"K-Kagome." She replied, giving a quick bow, before Kikyo looked back to Inuyasha.

"I must be heading to my class, but it was nice to see you." The woman smiled, waving to Inuyasha as she walked away.

"N-Nice to see you too." Inuyasha didn't wave or anything as she left, only watched her leave.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome peered up at him, noticing she was probably invisible at the moment. That's how intent his stare was.

"You should be getting to class. Forget that." Inuyasha waved her off.

"You sure?"

"Positive." He answered, giving a small smile. "I gotta' head to mine as well. I'll see you later!" He called, retreating from her side in another direction towards his other class. Kagome sighed and walked in. No matter how close of friends they may ever become, Kagome felt she wouldn't understand him.

"Alright, class!" The teacher stormed in with a grin, setting out the supplies. "I want to see you paint a landscape!"

Kagome sighed and jumped right in, sitting at her stool, pulling a large piece of watercolor paper from her bag, placing it flat on the desk. At least he wasn't starting out with his ten year lecture about how to properly hold a paintbrush. Diving right in, she splashed her brush into the water cup, rubbing it into a dark red, starting in on the fall landscape she wanted to create.

xxx

"This is... er... something." Inuyasha scratched his head, unsure of what to make of the painting.

"It's horrible, I know." Kagome groaned. "My teacher asked if he could take a picture of it to use in a 'how not to paint' tutorial for his students."

"That's rough." Inuyasha held back a chuckle due to the death glare Kagome gave him. "I mean, It's not a great picture if you want me to be honest."

She rubbed her temples before grabbing the painting from him, only to crumple it and throw it in the trash. "As long as my bookwork helps me pass the class, I don't care. I just have to master the whole painting thing." Kagome said with a disappointed look.

"H-Hey! You'll get better. Hopefully." He tried to make her feel better, but she soon shook it off anyways, leading them into the library. "What do you need to get, anyways?"

Kagome grinned ear to ear when she spotted the countless shelves and pages. She'd always been a bookworm, and had always treated a library like a candy store. "Come on!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him through the maze of bookshelves, and he looked down, stunned.

Why does she... treat me like this? Like a normal person...

She let go once she found what she'd been looking for. "I found it." She whispered, picking a book up off the shelf. He peered over her shoulder, reading the name of the hefty history book.

"Are you really that into history?" He asked, raising an eyebrow, grabbing the book from her hands to take a peek inside. She smiled at him, giving a nod.

"I really am." She responded. "I've been recently studying about Princess Kaguya, she's actually been one of my favorite people to read about." Realizing she was babbling, she flushed. "I-It's stupid. I get too carried away." She leaned on the bookshelf, and Inuyasha didn't look fazed.

"It's not stupid." He responded. "Tell me about her." Inuyasha wasn't one to be a real listener, but something about this girl made him want to listen to her speak.

Her face lit up, and she flipped through pages, showing pictures and pictures to him, rapidly explaining things. "Kaguya's name means the Goddess of Eternal Night. The demon gained celestial powers, and called herself a celestial being. She lived among the mortals, and wanted ot find a suitor, however she was unable to find the perfect one. At one point her family from the moon came to retreive her, and her mortal family was unable to protect her. She bid her friends and fellow villager farewell, wearing a feathered robe that is supposed to help her be at peace and forget her problems. And then she left for her return to the moon." She kept speaking, pointing to more pictures, Inuyasha nodding along the way, trying to keep up with her. "Part of me wonders if she ever wanted to return to the moon even though that is what she was destined to do." She looked at the book again, closing it gently as she spoke. "Sometimes you may have fate trying to get you to do something, but all of it depends on your wants and how you want to live your life. For example, if you were in love with someone, and the world wanted you to have nothing to do with each other, wouldn't you just say 'screw the world' and be with them anyways?"

He nodded slightly, a small smile spreading on his face. "Yeah, probably." The boy said. "The world wants you to take the safe route."

Kagome nodded. "The safe route sucks."

"It does." It wasn't until that moment that he noticed that she had really pretty eyes. Big doe eyes that had a chocolate brown in them. It was warm.

But it was like Kikyo's.

Kikyo...

Why does she always have to come up in my head?

Kagome tossed and turned again that night. For some reason, she had started to feel a weird connection to Inuyasha. A connection that just showed that he understood what she would say. It was nice to have this connection with someone, and as she looked at the stars outside her window, she wondered if he was looking at those same stars.

And as Inuyasha found sleep to be useless, he did the same.

xxx

AN: Hey guys, a little bit of progression, but don't worry. Not rushing any relationships ;) have a good days you guys! Review and Favorite