A/N: Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? I've just been really busy; that's all I can say really. But anyways, I've slowly been working on my stories. I'll probably only update every once in a while. Reviews will definately remind me to make time for FF though, lol. If not it's in the back of my mind behind all of my AP essays and homework and volleyball. Anyways, this chapter has a little Kagome and Koga, and I'm sorry for that, but it's very important to the plot. Um... check my profile every now and then for status updates on my stories. Sometimes I find time to write and update that section. I guess that's all- so please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha; duh. XD
Rated: Mature For mainly crude language, sexual references, and mature situations.

CHAPTER 10

I glanced at my best friend, who sat across the room, from the corner of my eye. She looked absolutely exhausted. In fact, she had her chin in her palm and her eyes were closed. I knew she was asleep because of how still she was. I was a little worried because she had come in looking awful. Terrible bags under her eyes and her hair was slightly ruffled. To top it all off she wasn't dressed like she usually was. No earrings or necklaces; no arm warmers or chains. No baggy black clothing period. Just… foreign clothes. It was as if she had gotten dressed at a men's clothing store.

I looked down at my paper to finish up my last equation for the slope fields section. All I'd have left to do was make the little hatch marks on the graph and I'd be done with my class work. I wondered if Sango would want help with hers later since she was sleeping.

"Hey, Kagome; do you really get this stuff?" Koga asked, suddenly reminding me that he was sitting beside me.

"Yeah, it's actually really easy," I said as I prepared myself to explain how to create the strange graph.

"Can you show me how?" his hand was on my thigh. I pushed it off, annoyed by how physically amorous he had become all of a sudden. It was as if my slight absence was making him hunger for me. I looked up to see a putdown look on his face and he pouted.

"First you take the derivative," I began smirking at him. I had completely ignored his advance. He sighed, but paid attention, surprising me. I thought he was just lying about wanting help so he'd just get to be around me. I saw the concentration in his amazing blue eyes and on his handsome face and felt a sudden appreciation for him. I liked a guy who cared about his grades. (1)

I heard someone giggle and looked up to see Rin's knowing brown eyes laughing at me. I smiled back at her and continued to help Koga. A little later I looked back over at Sango, annoyed to find InuYasha sitting near her. They were talking quietly, and Sango was blushing crazily. She seemed like a completely different person and suddenly I recognized the clothes she was wearing because the owner was sitting so close. I had seen InuYasha wear the red shirt she had on countless times, but… What was Sango doing wearing his clothes?

I blushed at the suddenly ridiculous ideas that came to me. Usually, I'd laugh things like that off but after witnessing them swap spit the day before, I felt there was a certain legitimacy about my thoughts. I suddenly felt very awkward watching the two interact.

Some of our classmates were whispering rather loudly about it and that was upsetting me. They had no right to say some of the things they were saying. They could think it all they wanted, because I was thinking it too; but for them to talk about her? That was unacceptable and they were lucky she was tired or she would have cussed them all out.

After class Koga parted with me, "Thanks for helping me with that slope field stuff." He quickly stole a kiss from me and headed down the hallway with Ayame who was still giving me glares. It had been a couple of months and she still hated me. I rolled my eyes before spotting InuYasha and Sango hanging around the crowded hallway and made my way over to them.

"Good morning you two," I said with ardor.

Sango nodded her hello to me and InuYasha greeted me with a marvelous smile.

"Good morning Kagome," he looked ridiculously pleased and I had to wonder why. I felt my cheeks blaze at this thought.

"Sango, are you feeling alright? You look a bit sick," I said, touching her cheek gently. Her eyes shut automatically and she took a sharp breath of air. She shied away from my touch with a ridiculous blush going as quickly as it came. I felt a bit hurt by this, wondering if she was mad at me for last night.

"I'm fine," she mumbled before finally looking at me. "Just tired."

I gazed into her deep green eyes to find truth lounging with her obvious tire.

"I'm sorry about what happened last night too. I'd never seen my mom like that before," I continued, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"It's alright I suppose," she sighed, not seeming to care much about what happened earlier that morning. "I guess she was just really worried about you. I was totally pissed that she was trying to fucking tell me not to hang out with you. What a shitty thing to do."

"She made me quit my job too," I said hesitantly, fearing her reaction slightly.

"I know," she bit out, looking furious all of a sudden. She tore her eyes away from me just as I realized her anger couldn't possibly be directed at me or my mom.

"Kagura told you," I stated my guess.

"Yes, she did." She didn't look pleased at all. I wondered if Kagura had been hard on her for all of it. That was very unlikely, but it could've happened.

"Ah, well it looks like the bell should be ringing sometime soon," InuYasha glanced at his watch. "I'll leave you two lovely ladies to your devices."

I saw him wink at Sango, who blushed in response before reaching out to strike his arm.

"Fuck you," she bit out at him as he smiled and started off, lightly shaking his head. She watched him for a little while before starting off towards her class. I followed because my class was on the same hall.

"Kagome, you won't believe the fucking shit I went through this morning," she said, startling me. I struggled to keep up with her in the crowded hallway, thinking of what to say. "My psychiatrist is gonna have a fucking ball with me if I don't fall asleep during the session."

I cringed at that, wondering how Kagura had gotten her to consent to psychiatric consultancy. The older woman had a way of convincing Sango to do things.

"And I'm so fucking angry at Kagura," she continued as she stopped at my class. Looking back at me she heaved a heavy sigh and pursed her lips. "I'll see you after class I guess."

I waved goodbye to her as I opened the door. I felt bad for Sango because she had had a rough day. If I had been in her shoes, I would've skipped school already and gone home to sleep. But she was angry at Kagura and I knew when Sango was angry at someone she usually stayed away from them for a few days; just until she wasn't angry anymore. It was a very mature thing of her to do in my opinion because if she forced herself to be around them, there would surely be an altercation.

Environmental Science went by pretty quickly. We had a test that day and I crammed the first twenty minutes of class or so. Mr. Taishou always let us- it was kind of his nice favor for us because his tests were usually terribly hard. I went through the multiple choice portion of the test realizing I knew only about 80 percent of the material. After finishing that, I did the written part of the test, feeling a bit better about knowing how to answer the questions. One part had simple questions about LD50 and I knew that stuff by heart.

At the end of class, Mr. Taishou stopped me. I was certainly surprised by that.

"Kagome," he said, making sure he had my attention before continuing. "You seemed a little tired today and I wanted to know how you felt you performed on my test."

I usually had one of the highest test grades in his class. A lot of the people who scored relatively terrible were always upset that the curve of the actual scores wasn't much larger because other people had been getting good scores.

"I think I did alright," I mumbled, blushing underneath the intense stare of his amber eyes.

"Alright; just checking," he smiled at me and allowed me to leave.

I was absolutely petrified. I had just had a sarcasm-free conversation with Mr. Sesshoumaru Taishou. What was the world coming to? And if I could get any worse, Sango was standing there watching me blush like a fool. She rolled her eyes and laughed lightly at me.

"Haven't gotten over how hot he is yet?" she snickered.

"What are you doing here?" I countered after regaining my composure.

"I said see you after class, didn't I?" she looked annoyed.

I nodded and she sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry about last night. I didn't mean to get you in trouble."

I blushed and was utterly surprised Sango was apologizing; especially since it wasn't really her fault.

"I mean, I didn't fucking know that I'd sleep so long and I guess I'm also sorry about cussing your mom out a little."

"You guess?" my eyes were hard. I knew my mom had provoked her, but that still never gave her the right.

"Yes, I guess because right now I'm not really sure if I'm sorry or not, for real," she glared at me and I sighed.

"You're too confusing."

"Well, I've just been confused myself these past few days…"

I remembered how strange she was yesterday after InuYasha had kissed her.

"Did you stay with InuYasha this morning?" I blurted, causing her to blush.

"I got into a huge argument with Kagura when I got back home so I ditched. I was gonna go to your place, but decided against it after what had happened with your mom and shit, so I ended up at 'Yash's place," she relayed. I was glad I was the first one that came to her mind despite the fact that it couldn't work out. It made me happy to know that.

"Was she really that mad about what happened?" I asked as Sango absent mindedly rubbed at her eyebrow. I bet she missed her jewelry.

"We were arguing about something else that I'd rather not talk about," she got a dark look in her eyes and I decided to leave it be. Whenever she got that look, it meant nothing good at all. I decided to change the subject.

"Do you want to hang out sometime this week?"

She looked at me a bit bewildered before shifting on her feet. Her tired forest green eyes gazed at me for the longest moment and I felt a blush growing on my cheeks. Why was she looking at me like that?

"I've got work and fucking therapy all week, and then I'm going to attempt doing my homework," she sighed heavily.

"Why don't you just skip work and get some rest? Why did you even come to school?"

"I want my own money. I don't want to be asking the fucking home wrecker for money all the time. And I came to school so I could skip taking some of my final exams at the end of the year. If I have less than four absences and an A average in the class, then I'm exempt from the tests," she explain. I nodded, understanding her logic. She brushed her bangs out of her eyes before sighing.

"I've gotta get to work," she frowned, obviously discontented by that fact.

"Yeah, ok. I'll talk to you later, Sango," I smiled at her and she smiled back. I watched her head down the hallway and frowned at her choice of words for Kagura. "Home wrecker"? What was that all about?

After school I went over to Koga's house for lack of anything better to do. He wasn't too happy with it, but decided that it was better then than later that I meet his family. I was surprised to find he had lots of brothers and sisters. About seven siblings all in all, so to speak. I couldn't count them all because they wouldn't stay still. He was the oldest of the bunch and held some sort of responsibility about him.

"Here's my family," Koga said gesturing at the kids that were running around and/or screaming. "Family, this is Kagome. My girlfriend."

The living room suddenly went quiet as all the kids halted what they were doing to stop and stare at me with scrutinizing eyes.

"I like Ayame better," one kid with a few missing teeth said before one of his brothers punched him quite hard in the arm.

"What?" the kid snapped irritated that he had gotten punched. He looked to be about eight.

"Shut the fuck up; that's rude," the other kid snapped back. He didn't look any older- possibly the indignant boy's twin. I was absolutely astonished by this.

"Koga," I started hesitantly as the kids continued to stare at me, "he just-"

"I know," he cut me off in annoyance. "Can we please get to my room? We'll never escape here if they start asking you questions."

Just as he said that, a mass of children suddenly flung themselves at me as voices erupted from them. I felt my eyes widen as fear struck me. Koga quickly pulled me up the stairs and to his room at an almost running pace. He slammed the door and shut it, muttering to himself.

"Now do you see why I never want us to chill at my house?" he huffed.

"Yes," I said, suddenly laughing at what had just happened.

"Are you laughing?" Koga asking with surprise.

"Yes," I continued, finding myself filled with hysterics. The whole time I was thinking the place was a mess or something. It was a little messy, but that was to be expected with a troop of children running about; and Koga's room was surprisingly clean. It was as if he were expecting company. Suddenly I felt ill, wondering if Koga had been planning to have me visit his room earlier.

"Is your room always this clean?" I asked as I tried to calm myself and took a seat in his computer chair. Perhaps he'd explain himself.

"Yeah, I'm a bit of a neat freak when it comes to my room," he muttered with a blush. I could tell by his avoidance of looking at me and bashful hesitation that he was being truthful. I was suddenly relieved. I rested my arm on the top of the table, accidentally hitting the mouse with my elbow. The computer screen lit up and I was surprised at what was revealed to me. His desktop picture was…

"Oh my god," he groaned, covering his face with his hands. He suddenly stood and rushed over and shut the monitor off. Koga looked absolutely embarrassed.

"You saw nothing," he snarled before I started laughing again. He was blushing madly and I thought it was awful cute of him. "Damn, could you at least not tease me for it?" he mumbled before kissing me gently on the lips.

His desktop image was a picture of the two of us. I thought it was insanely cute of him to have that there. It was absolutely flattering. I was suddenly very impressed with the boy who had been annoying me the past week. He wasn't just trying to get in my pants… I think he was really in love with me. I reached up to brush at the bit of hair he had left out of his hair tie. His insanely blue eyes bore into mine and he chanced a shy smile.

"I love you, Kagome," he finally said. My heart was pounding as his voice reverberated through my whole being. I could finally say I was absolutely happy with Koga.

"I love you too, Koga," I whispered my reply as he softly claimed my lips once more.

That night, we shared more than just kisses.

Of course I didn't sleep with Koga. That'd be crazy, and certainly not something I'd do; but we did get a little further past first base than usual. It was strange- his hands were rough but soothing all the same. And I didn't let him touch my anywhere too special. He was very cool and collected about it, guiding me with his maturity and experience. I think he was trying to tease me a little as well. I could go as far as to say that his teasing was slightly successful. When our actions dwindled down in ardor, we cuddled on his bed. I was surprised Koga would be so slow and gentle with me. I had guessed when I first met him that he'd be the kind of guy to try to pressure me into sex. He didn't; he hadn't mentioned it at all even. It was as if he was fine with just being with me and that made me happy.

"Koga; you have a lot of siblings," I said, once I had settled into a comfortable position with him. His bed was insanely soft; it looked as if his family was loaded.

"Yeah, I have eight brothers and sisters. My mom had three sets of twins; crazy, huh?" he said, his deep voice running through my body.

"I guess… Is she home?" I asked, worried about what his family would think of me after knowing I had been in his room for about an hour now.

"Yeah, but she doesn't really care that much about girls being in my room," he mumbled, obviously getting tired.

"Your dad?"

"He walked out on us after the last set of twins. He didn't really want kids; I don't blame him. Kids are pretty awful, but now the bastard's stuck with paying child support," Koga said with a menacing chuckle. "Serves him right."

"So you're the man of the house, huh?" I smiled, feeling something akin to pride.

"Yes," he smiled at me and he chuckled. "I'm very responsible now. I'm hardly the fuck up I used to be."

"Well, I'm glad about that," I smiled as I gently caressed his jaw. His blue eyes continued to stare at me intensely and I blushed. Why was he looking at me like that? He had given me that look a lot lately.

"Hey; what was wrong with super bitc- I mean your friend?" he corrected himself and I pinched him. He jumped a little and muttered to himself before rubbing his cheek.

"My friend had a rough morning," I bit out to him and he sighed.

"I can't believe Mr. Banryu lets her sleep in class like that. Every time I sleep in class I get something put on me or woken up in the worst possible ways," he muttered again. I remembered leaving to go to the bathroom only to return and find a shoe resting on top of Koga's head as he slept in class one day. Everyone was snickering because things like that were absolutely funny at times. Koga was right in saying what he did because he was only speaking the truth.

"That's because she doesn't sleep all the time in class," and he smirked again before sitting up.

"Ah, well whatever. Good to know she's alright. I don't want you getting all depressed again because she disappeared or whatever," he jumped off the bed as I moved to punch him. A blush was plastered on my cheeks.

"I was just worried," I defended as he chuckled handsomely.

"Look, if you're into chicks and stuff, it's alright with me," he winked and my face felt hotter than ever. What was he saying?! How dare he say that as if it were true… as if he knew! I wasn't into chicks! Or at least… not exactly.

I glared at him and he laughed.

"I think I'll take you home now," he exited the room, expecting me to follow and I did.

1- Yeah, caring about school is a TOTAL turn on. haha ;D Well... at least I think so... heh heh... I'm such a loser. D

Anyways, thanks for reading! Don't forget to review and tell me what you think!
-Enigmatic Ethereality