The Roads That Lead To You

By: Patche

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or story of Inuyasha, nor have I ever claimed to.

Chapter 3: A New Situation

oOo

He groaned, opening his eyes to reveal a bright, blinding light penetrating through his retinas. His head was throbbing in pain. He clenched his eyes shut once more until a familiar voice rang through his eardrums.

"We tried to call the number you gave us for his mother's house, but no one answered."

It was that damn woman… 'Why won't she just leave me alone, already?' He asked himself, opening his eyes again to find he was in a new room. The walls were light beige and the room smelled of latex. A soft beeping to his right caused him to turn his head to find a monitor of some sort with a graph of what he could only assume to be his heart rate. He'd seen places like this many times on the televisions and in the movies, but he'd never actually been to one.

Just then, the door opened and there stood the girl. Kaguma, or whatever her name was.

"Mama! He's awake…" She shouted into the hallway, entering the room. "Hey…" She said softly, sitting on the edge of his bed. "How are you doing?"

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes and scoffed. 'What's with this damn family? Can't they just mind their own business?'

"I'm fine." He said gruffly. Kagome nodded.

"They said it must have been an allergic reaction… the way your body responded, anyway." She said, softly, her eyes avoiding his.

He quirked an eyebrow. 'Why's she all nervous all of the sudden?'

"It wasn't… you know… drug-related… right? I told the doctor it couldn't have been, but I just don't really know you… it was sort of an impulse… I didn't want him stereotyping you, but I guess that actually could have been a bad idea if the drugs were what forced your body to react like that…"

Inuyasha cracked a wry smile at this and turned his head. "No, it wasn't drugs." He murmured.

Kagome's eyes widened. "I'm sorry. I didn't think it would be, but you know. I mean, I just didn't want them to even suggest something like that because…" She trailed off, glancing around the room.

Inuyasha sighed and sat up. "It was probably the wasp."

Kagome cocked in her head in question, urging him to continue.

"I was stung." He said holding the swollen lump on his hand up to her for emphasis. "They day you guys found me, I pissed some wasp off earlier and the bastard stung me."

Kagome nodded, reaching out for his arm. From the elbow up, the entire limb was practically purple.

"Oh, so you must be allergic to them. Well, are you feeling any better?" She asked, brining her eyes up to meet his.

Inuyasha gave her a soft nod. "My head is. My arm's been burning, but I've almost become used to the feeling by now."

Kagome held his arm in her hand, inspecting the affected area. Inuyasha flinched a little at the sudden contact, but relaxed under her touch.

"Ah, and there's our man!" An unfamiliar voice rang from the doorway. The two turned their attention to the man dressed in a long white lab coat standing beside Kagome's mother.

"Dr. Watanabe…" Kagome said softly.

He nodded and crossed the room to Inuyasha's side, taking his arm from Kagome and inspecting it himself.

"Well, like I told them, it looks like an allergic reaction of some kind."

Inuyasha felt a growl rising in his throat at how friendly and touchy this doctor was. It was irritating how he yanked Inuyasha's arm from Kagome.

"I got stung by a wasp." He said through clenched teeth. The doctor nodded, pushing his thick framed glasses further up his nose as he came across the large lump forming on Inuyasha's hand.

"I see…" He said softly. "Well, Inuyasha, for a wasp sting, that was a pretty dramatic reaction." He murmured, pulling away from the boy and sitting down in a stool with wheels not too far from the bedside. "In fact, you still have a fever despite all the medical attention we've given you and it's clear that the area around this sting is still extremely inflamed." He added, gesturing to Inuyasha's arm. "We're going to have to give you some pills, but for the rest of your life, you're going to have to avoid getting stung like that. It could very well be the end of you." He turned to Kagome and her mother. "When you guys brought him in here, he was practically on fire." Turning back to Inuyasha, he added, "If you weren't a half demon, you wouldn't have survived the sting."

Kagome and her mother both gasped. Inuyasha, however, seemed unaffected by the doctor's words.

"So, what can we do to help?" Kagome asked, her voice like a chiming bell in comparison to the doctor.

Inuyasha gulped, silently praying that the doctor would say the best remedy is to just leave Inuyasha alone and let him continue his journey to find his father by himself.

Of course, that would never have been the case.

"Well, he needs LOTS of rest, though I do recommend you still go to school." The doctor playfully nudged Inuyasha. "Can't get out of it that easily, huh, buddy?" He laughed for a while at his own joke then continued on. "Stay away from spicy foods for a while. Only eat softer foods. Rice is a great thing. Get plenty of vitamins in your system. Stay away from lotions. Any kind will really only irritate the skin further at this point. But do not avoid washing your arm all the time. Like… every chance you get because you don't want an infection to seep in through this rather large puncture." He smiled. "Aside from all that, I think you can return to your normal life. Just go to school, don't do anything that's too tiring for your body. Yes, you are a half demon, but you still need to let your body recuperate." The doctor smiled once more, ruffling Inuyasha's hair.

"Higurashi-sama, if you'll just step out here in the hall with me, we can get his prescription filled here. Did you know it's just as cheap as the drug store only with the convenience of…."

His voice faded away as the two of them left the hospital room.

Somehow… he'd managed to wind up in their car heading back to their house to be treated by them until he was well enough to go back home. The fact that his mother didn't answer the house phone had Houko concerned and so she came up with the decision (all on her own and definitely not with any convincing words from her daughter) to not only let him continue to sleep under their roof, but to attend Kagome's high school while he was getting well.

Inuyasha sighed bitterly, and pressed his forehead against the glass of the passenger window. 'How does this kind of crap happen to me?!'

"Alright, Inuyasha…" Houko began as the car rolled up to the house. "Just, go on inside and get yourself all settled into the guest bedroom. We'll go ahead and get you transferred in the morning." She said, excitedly as Inuyasha pushed the passenger door open angrily.

Kagome followed behind him quietly as they made it up to their house and slipped off to her room.

"Hey nee-chan!" Kagome was greeted on her way into the house.

She groaned and just continued walking listlessly to her bedroom.

Inuyasha watched as she walked off to her room, feeling a little guilty knowing he had kept the two of them up all night. It had to be nearly midnight by the time they made it back.

"Inu no-niichan!"

He snapped out of his thoughts to find her younger brother, staring up at him.

"What did you call me?" Inuyasha asked incredulously.

"You know. You're like my brother now since Mama said you'll be living with us!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I'm not living with you. I'm just staying here until I get over this wasp sting."

Souta nodded, smiling up at Inuyasha, still.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" Inuyasha growled, furrowing his eyebrows.

Souta shrugged. "I just have a feeling that wasp sting is going to take you a LOOOONG time to get over…" He said, skipping away from the half demon.

Inuyasha scoffed and walked off to the guest bedroom, muttering about what a strange family he'd been forced to live with.

Houko had connections with the higher ups in the school, so getting Inuyasha in was done within a matter of minutes over the phone. He still didn't understand just how the school accepted him when he had no records to offer up. However, he decided it was better to just keep his mouth shut and figure out how he was going to get out of this house and find his father. It had already been three days…

Wasn't anyone at least worried about him?

He stood in front of the mirror, adjusting his tie. His last school didn't require the male students to wear ties with their uniform and he found it to be a rather uncomfortable adjustment.

"Hey, are you ready?"

He turned his attention from the reflection in the mirror to the girl standing in the hallway. Kagome looked at him, her eyebrows raised as she awaited an answer to his question. He couldn't help but glance her over once. Her uniform was much more revealing than those at his last school. Her blue plaid skirt hardly came down to her mid thighs and the button up she wore over her chest was practically fitted to her body.

And just as it had been the past few nights he'd seen her, her dark ebony hair was tied back in a ponytail.

"Y…yeah…" He murmured, giving his tie one last tug. Kagome sighed, fastening the ascot around her neck as she stepped over to him.

"Here…" She offered, taking the tie from his hands and undoing the knot he'd put in it.

Inuyasha stood as still as he could, trying his best to ignore the fact that her hands kept grazing against his neck while she worked to fix his tie.

She smiled and patted the tie down on his chest, stepping away from him. "That should do it." She said cheerfully. Inuyasha sighed, letting his body relax and only then did he realize he'd been holding his breath the entire time Kagome was so close to him.

He'd never actually had someone stand so close to him or even touch him as often as she did. His own mother kept her distance most of the time.

"You don't mind walking with me, do you?" Kagome asked. "I mean, we're going to the same place. I figured I could at least show you the way. But if you don't want to you could ride my bike or just walk a few feet behind me…"

Inuyasha shook his head. "It's fine." He murmured.

Kagome sighed and smiled at him weakly.

"It looks like we have the same home room!" Kagome said cheerfully as they left the administration office and headed through the school halls. "That's exciting. At least you won't be completely alone."

Inuyasha stared at the piece of paper in front of him. 'Like I'd prefer to be surrounded by people…?' He thought dryly as Kagome continued to ramble on about the school.

They stopped at the locker area and Kagome smiled sheepishly at Inuyasha.

"Why are we stopping?" He asked, looking around as Kagome slipped her shoes off and placed them in a locker.

"We have to change shoes." She said, concentrating on her feet as she spoke. Inuyasha scoffed.

"What are you talking about?"

Kagome pulled out a pair of slippers from her locker. "You didn't do this at your old school?" She asked.

"No."

Kagome looked around nervously, then slipped her slippers on and ran to Inuyasha's side, helping him to find his locker. "We have to change out of our regular shoes and into the slippers my mom bought with your uniform." She said softly, pulling them out of his book bag. "There's your locker." She gestured to the corner locker at the end of the row.

Inuyasha gaped at her for a minute in disbelief, then followed suit, taking his black shoes off and slipping the slippers on over his socks.

She sighed, walking off into the hallway, turning around to check that Inuyasha was following her. "Our homeroom is pretty easy to find." She murmured, stopping at a doorway just a few feet away from the locker area.

"Kagome-chan!" A girl's voice called out from behind them. Inuyasha turned to find a girl walking toward them, smiling and waving. Her black hair was curled to perfection, cascading down her shoulders and her deep black eyes were hidden behind fake eye-lashes and more eye shadow than any girl should wear. Her uniform had also been slightly altered. The skirt was at least an inch shorter than any other girls' skirts and her ascot was missing, as well as the top two buttons of her shirt.

Kagome blinked, looking up at Inuyasha for a moment, then back to the girl just as she stopped to stand beside Kagome.

"Hitomi… chan…" Kagome said slowly. "What… Why are you so dressed up?"

She smiled coyly and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Well, Sango-chan said there was a transfer student arriving today. I just wanted to make sure he noticed me, that's all."

"You mean, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, gesturing to the boy beside her.

Hitomi looked up at the boy beside Kagome, inspecting him carefully before sneering.

"You mean that is the new transfer student?!"

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at her comment, flattening his ears slightly.

Kagome scoffed. "He's not a that… his name is Inuyasha. He's staying with me for a while so my mom enrolled him in our school."

Hitomi chortled and walked into the classroom, disregarding Kagome and Inuyasha as she passed.

Kagome sighed, leaning up to reach Inuyasha's ear as she whispered into it, "Don't let her bother you. Most of the people here are really nice. I promise."

Inuyasha watched as she lowered herself from her tip toes and stepped into the classroom. He felt a sigh erupting from his throat, but suppressed it, following after her into the classroom.

He stopped as every pair of eyes turned to lock on his figure as he stepped through the doorway. They were all just… staring at him. Had they never seen a half demon before? Or were they just as curious about the new transfer student as that Hitomi girl was?

"Inuyasha!" He jerked his head in the direction of Kagome's voice and found her sitting beside an empty desk, waving him over to it. "Come sit over here."

He lowered his eyes and pushed through the classroom, ignoring everyone's silent stares as he passed before making his way to the empty seat beside Kagome.

"Inuyasha…" She started as he set his backpack down. "These are my friends." She gestured to a boy with shoulder-length dark brown hair. He seemed a little on the scrawny end of the spectrum, but had soft, boyish features and deep blue eyes. His hair was pulled back into a low ponytail at the nape of his neck and Inuyasha noticed the tiny golden hoop that hung from the boy's right earlobe.

"This is Tsujitani Miroku!" Kagome said sweetly. "Miroku-sama… this is Inuyasha. He's going to be staying with me and my family for a while until he recovers from a wasp sting."

Miroku nodded. "You're a lucky guy. I'd kill to be staying with Kagome-sama and Higurashi-sama…" He trailed off, his eyes glinting.

A girl sitting beside them quite forcefully smacked the back of the boy's head, scoffing at his words.

Kagome smiled nervously. "And this is Kuwashima Sango. She's my best friend. She and Miroku have been dating for almost a year now."

"Thanks to Kagome-chan, really." The girl said smiling. "I don't think I would have given the perve half a chance if she didn't talk me into it." Sango said, a hint of bitterness seeping through her words. Inuyasha looked her over. Her complexion was half a shade darker than Kagome's and her eyes were deep brown, the same color as her hair which was pulled back into a low ponytail. She wasn't thin and frail as Kagome. She was athletically built and still curvaceous and womanly in her appearance.

"Nonsense, Sango dearest. I think you were in love with me long before Kagome-sama ever intervened." Miroku said, smirking at the girl beside him.

Sango scoffed and shook her head. "As if! I just knew that whenever I felt something grabbing my ass, I could blame your hand as the culprit!"

Miroku laughed nervously.

Kagome sighed, turning to Inuyasha. "They make a nice couple in my opinion…" She said softly. Inuyasha let out a chortle before crossing his arms over his chest and turning to the front of the classroom.

"Kagome-chan…" He heard Sango whisper to the girl beside him. His ear twitched and turned in their direction, catching bits and pieces of what she had to say. "Is it really such a good idea to have him staying with you? Didn't you find him wandering the streets?" She asked. "He doesn't seem so friendly, either…"

Kagome sighed. "Sango-chan, it's fine."

"You know, Kagome-sama… you don't ALWAYS have to help people." Miroku whispered now. "You do enough good as it is."

Kagome chuckled.

"There's no such thing as enough good."

AN – I don't know how I feel about this chapter. It took me so long because I've been revising it over and over and over again and I still don't necessarily like the flow. I feel like Inuyasha isn't even present at all in this haha. Anyway, next update shouldn't be too long from now. Just remember, guys, this isn't going to be a super long story. I mean, it might be. I'm adding things as I go now even though I had the original story all planned out already.

Oh and did anyone notice this is the first story I've ever written where Kagome and Sango are friends from the start?

And, another thing, I have a friend from youtube who's writing an awesome Inuyasha fanfic that everyone should check out. It sounds super good! It's called Monster and you can find it in my favorite stories tab.

Please leave a review. It's what keeps me going.