When Scott had come home the previous day, he had explained how he went to Derek for his help. She had almost freaked, because she was getting tired of his thoughts on the guy flipping from one set of thoughts to the another. If he kept going from blaming the guy for everything as well as willing to have him thrown in jail, only to go crawling back for help, she was sure she do more than smack him upside the head.

In fact she had been so angry with him, she forgot to share all the wonderful information she had learned from Kouga. She was actually shocked that Scott had reacted at all, noticing right away that someone that he didn't know, obviously a wolf and male, had entered his home.

At least he wasn't panicking anymore about his so called dream. Turned out he was really there. This was a double edged sword for her. She knew full well, that he would never harm another, no matter the situation, but the fact that someone did get hurt, left her to question of the possibility of there having been another there as well.

At least she wouldn't be there tonight to deal with any of this high school drama that became something epic because Scott was now a werewolf. All she needed now was a family of vampires to move to town. She paused for a moment at her locker, wait, according to the books, a family of vegetarian vampires. Oh that would be the straw to break her camels back if such a thing were to happen. She'd be sure to ask what else there was in the world when she next visited Kouga. Better safe to be prepared for whatever could come her way. Past experience showed, what ever could come her way, would.

Grabbing her books, she near slammed her locker closed. Not only was her cousin being an idiot, but now his date with Allison turned into something of a double date with Lydia and Jackson coming along. She had heard an ear full yesterday, and he hadn't stopped going on about it the way to school. When she had said that she was there should he need to talk, that wasn't what she had in mind. Though it was cool to hang out with her cousin and the others, it was just giving her a headache at the moment.

One that she would really like a large painkiller, right about now.

"Everything alright with you Kagome?"

Said girl flinched, and frowned at one of the others that were in her study group. Her only free hand was rubbing at one of her temples, trying with vain to sooth the pounding in her head..

"Whoa, you don't look so hot. You okay?" they had both paused in the hall, and Kagome tried to offer a smile to reassure her friend.

"My cousin is being an idiot and it's causing me a headache. You wouldn't happen to have aspirin on you or something?"

"Yeah, just give me a sec." the other girl shifted her bag to her front for easier access and went through a smaller pocket on the side. Pulling out a small white piece of plastic, she handed it to Kagome, there was two aspirins and Kagome could only give a relieved sigh as she took them.

"Listen, if you're not feeling well, you don't have to come over tonight."

"No, no. I'll be coming, no matter what. So expect me there. And thanks for the painkillers, I owe you one."

The two separated and went to their respective classes, and though Kagome hated taking aspirin for when she had headaches, she managed through the rest of the day with a sort of, cotton ball wrapped around her head, feeling. While it sort of, stunted her in almost every way, it also either took the pain away completely, of made it manageable.

"So, do you forgive me?"

She snapped her head up, not having noticed that she was standing next to her bike and thus, her cousin Scott. Needing to blink a few times, it felt like she was waking up and coming out of a dream.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Just..." she furrowed her brows as her mind came up short with how to finish that sentence.

The two of them stood there for a while, her trying to clear her mind to hopefully help Scott with this thing he had against Derek, and he, trying to figure out what was wrong with his cousin and if everything was alright. It made him worry, she was going out later to a friends to study, but he had noticed how she had seemed out of it the entire day.

"Just, this thing you have against Derek. Not everything you see, is what it really is. Trust me, learning the truth before you accuse someone of something is the best thing to do." her eyes took on an even more glazed and far away look.

It was during those moments, that he knew, she was reliving something, and using whatever she experienced to help him with his own problems. And in an odd way, made her feel something, other, when she tried to help him.

"Remember, no mater what you are, it doesn't change who you are. If Stiles and I can accept you despite everything, you should too."

He frowned and began to say something against her telling him to accept him now being a werewolf, but stopped short when she raised a hand and looked him dead in the eye.

"Listen, you're taking this whole thing for granted. You have to accept the fact, that right now, you are what you are. That doesn't mean you have to stop finding a way to fix things, but until you do, you have to deal with reality. You're first line on the lacrosse team, that's thanks to you being what you are. You broke the ice first when you met Allison, also thanks to what you now are. You're learning things, that a few weeks prior, were simply something you either read or watched and was told it was nothing more than fiction. But hey, guess what, you're living it now." she let out a sigh and shook her head, she looked more tired then the first few days after he had been bitten.

"When you get back, I got some things to share with you that I learned. Now a lot of it, you're not gonna like. But that's the way things are now. Though knowing you, it's like leading a horse to water. I'll give you the information, you do with it what you will."

"What do you mean, leading a horse to water?"

"That's an old saying, not sure where from but it goes like so. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't force it to drink. It just means, give a person the means to do something, doesn't mean that they will."

Another silence was shared between them. She once again turned into the caring teacher with less than gentle methods. Her eyes were different, had this look about them, that he didn't know how to name. She had promised to share with him her own secrets, but he had a feeling that wouldn't be for a long while, until he did some growing up as she put it that morning.

"Dinner is chicken, veggies and potatoes tonight. Sound good to you?" a tired smile was all she seemed to be able to muster. She was trying to lighten the mood between them, and he was grateful for that.

"Yeah, sounds pretty good." as they started their way back home, she asked what Derek had told him the day before.

"Well, he told me to go back and use my senses to help me remember what happened. I'm just glad nobody died that night. So I did. Turns out that, I was there, but I tried to help the him, even if it was against..." he trailed off, thinking it best not to mention how he saw Derek there, or how most of the blood was his.

"See! You're still you, even if the wolf in you takes over. You tried to help the man, not kill him. That should say something." she threw him a look. What she said made sense, but he still wasn't happy about the whole thing, but a lot of what she said he would have to think over.

They parted ways, him going to his part time and her heading home to cook them all supper. She had mentioned something about sharing with him some things she had learned, leaving him to wonder what it was that she could have learned. More importantly, how she learned anything. He had a feeling that it wasn't through the internet like Stiles figured things out.

Shaking his head, he would only be at work for half the time he usually worked there, his boss was more than happy to allow him to go home early when he heard about the date. Then he'd get to go home, change and get ready for his date. He was still shocked that his mom allowed Kagome to go out for this study group thing of hers, but still wouldn't let him have the car for tonight.

Kagome did the math in her head how much she could actually make in the short amount of time she had before she would have to leave for the study group. The chicken would need to be seasoned, the veggies were already mixed and she had pulled them out that morning, so all she would have to do is boil them, and the potatoes was nothing more then a powder mix where one added milk and water. And since she was being picked up, she was sure her ride wouldn't mind waiting the little extra bit it would take to finish everything.

As soon as she got home, she chained her bike to the side of the house and ran in to prepare everything. More than happy, that like the veggies, she had pulled everything out so she could get to it right away after school. Pulling two pots, she measured the amount of milk and water according to the mashed potatoes mix box and set that all on one burner, while she threw the mixed veggies in a pot and added water and set that on another.

Pulling out the chicken, opening the pack they came in, she set them in a deep pan. Pouring some vegetable oil over then and then adding some spices, she set everything on high so that the cooking process would start of quickly, and then all she would have to do as put the temperatures on their lowest settings and then her aunt could finish when she got home. It was something she had learned while she had been still jumping through the well and her mom needed some help with the house chores and she also had plans. Worked every time, so long as there was someone there to keep an eye on things.

Looking at the clock, she still had half an hour before her ride would arrive, so she figured in the mean time she could do some homework until then. She would get up every so often from her spot at the table and check on the food, slowly turning the temperatures down. Looking up, she was surprised to see Scott home earlier than she had expected, but shrugged her shoulders.

"How long till your date?"

He spun about, surprise on his face at seeing her still there herself. He walked into the room, sniffing the air. His mouth watered at the smell of cooking meat and the spices. It smelt so much better then all the take out he and his mom had lived on during her late shifts.

"About an hour. Why?"

"My ride should be here in a few minutes, so could you keep an eye on the food while your still here? Most of it's almost done, and if you leave before aunt Mel comes back home, just turn everything off and leave a note."

"You're not eating?" Both turned to the front when they heard a car horn honking.

"No, I'll either end up eating at my friends house, or pick up a something to munch on, on the way back. One day without dinner isn't gonna kill me. I'm tougher than I look. Trust me. But listen, that's my ride, so I gotta get going." she started packing her things back into her bag and moved around the corner, ruffling her cousins hair while she left.

"Have fun on your date!" she waved at him and ran down the short walkway to her friends car, where he heard her cheerfully greeting whoever was in the car. He watched her get into the passenger side before the car pulled away, taking his cousin away with it. After the car was no longer in his sights, he turned around and went into the kitchen to check on the food.

While this sort of thing was not something he was used to, but as Kagome had said, most of it was done. All he had to do was keep an eye on things and keep the food from being burnt. Easy enough. At least it should be. Turning the burners down along with the oven, he figured it was safe for him to take a shower, get changed and come back to check on the food again.

Kagome smiled and laughed along with her friends, Casey had just finished telling a story about the last time she had been in a study group. She could only wonder why none of the study groups she had been in while back in Tokyo were unable to have fun while learning. Most likely due to losing track of the studying over to something else.

Soon enough everyone was piled around in the living room of their elected study host for that night. Either laying on their stomachs, or sitting at the low coffee table. Small finger foods and snacks were already laid out for easy reach while pop, juice, water and hot chocolate were served as drinks. Math, Biology and History books and papers were thrown about, along with pencil cases and whatever tools that were being used.

Kagome had never been more comfortable studying than she had before. During her time traveling stint, she always crammed in the past, which wasn't a lot, or alone at home with nothing more than copied notes to go off of. Here, Everyone was helping each other out, some music was playing quietly in the background, the food and drink offered allowed them to rest and think things over. It was better than doing this in the past, alone at home, or when her friends had suggested a study group, at the library.

"Hey, Kagome." looking up from her History book where she wrote important notes on key cards, she looked over to Miles who was having trouble with math.

"Could you show me that trick you do in math? You showed us it once, but I forgot. And it's so much easier then what they teach us."

Scooting up onto all fours, she crawled her way over to him and pulled his math and note book to see what exactly he was talking about. Reading over it, she finally understood which one he was talking about.

"Does anyone else want another run down on the way I solve problems like question 14 on page 137?" everyone looked up from whatever they were currently working on, looked through their math books and nodded their heads.

So for the next few minutes, she showed and explained how to quickly and easily solve the problems on the Trigonometry question. Not only that, she showed how by simply switching the formula around, one could finish the formula if only certain facts were given.

"If you want, I can copy these sheets tomorrow and give them to you then. Just as long as you; Casey help me with the part of American history, and you Miles help me with Biology." the two out of the other three nodded their heads in agreement.

After that, they took a small break, talking about everything but school, homework or their upcoming tests at the end of the week. Sadly, it turned to a topic that hit closer to home then any of them thought possible. The attack of the old man in one of their school buses.

"I'm still lost as to why anyone would attack that old man. I mean, he is just an old man. What could he have possibly done to deserve such a thing." Ashley spoke up as she munched on some popcorn.

"Well, he could have been a pervert and a parent found out." Mike threw in. A cheese puff was thrown at him in retaliation.

"Right. In such cases, if the parent did find out, they usually beat them, not bleed them. It said somewhere that the sight of blood makes it... plays on their conscious or something." Sam added her own two cents, how she got such information, none of them knew.

"Could we change the topic to something else. It's a little depressing, and with all the studying we have to do this week, our lives are already depressing enough." Kagome wanted to change the topic.

She let out a sigh when it was changed to the latest music and movies. Whatever sports the guys were interested in, fashion for the girls. Kagome perked up whenever she was asked a question pertaining to whichever conversation was she was drawn into.

After their half an hour break, they continued on with with the rest of their studying, which had somehow turned into a little food fight involving popcorn and cheese puffs along with paper balls and erasers.

Despite the way they ended that night, Kagome was amazed at how much they had actually gotten done. Back in Tokyo, if they had spent to learned the same amount, all of those who partook in the actually studying, would have been exhausted afterward. True, she was tired, but not to the extent she had been after every studying session she had back in Tokyo.

She packed her things away and began to help cleaning up the mess she had helped in making. Gathering all the fallen food and gathering it all into an empty bowl. Everyone pitched in in setting the space up as it once was before they had been let loose into the house.

"So who's house are we going to tomorrow?"

"We had set it up yesterday. Tomorrow we go to Casey's, then Mike's and lastly Sam's. Sorry, we forgot to mention all this to you today."

"Oh it's no problem. I was out of it today myself, I could have asked either way. Glad to know now though."

"Since I picked you up, I'll be driving you back." Casey mentioned as the two of them placed the bowls in the kitchen like Kyle had asked them too.

"Is it okay if we make a quick pit stop? I'm still kinda hungry."

Her friend nodded her head, and bid a farewell to everyone as they got into Casey's car while Mike drove Sam and Miles home.

On the drive, Casey took a slight detour to a gas station that also sold some small amounts of food produce, needing to fill her tank up as well. While they drove, Kagome checked her cell for any messages. Going through oldest to newest, she smiled when she saw that Kouga had messaged her, telling her how excited his youngest were at getting to finally meet her. After that she read a message from Souta, asking when she was going to send him some awesome gifts from America, while also telling her not to forget about their live chat on Saturday or how mom sent her love. And thirdly, her aunt sent a message not a few minutes ago about getting her ass back home.

"Who all called?"

"I met an old friend of mine who had moved here to America along with his family. My brother had called begging for awesome American gifts and to remind me to keep with our schedule of live chats. And lastly, my aunt just called to remind me to get back home before curfew."

"Ah, that's pretty cool. Does, does your mom know about what's going on here in town?"

"Oh god no! If she did, she may just force me back to Tokyo. Despite the current, happenings, in town, I really like it here."

"Speaking of which, how is it you're related to Scott. I know you call him cousin and what not, but that's just by name, right?"

"Well, my mom was actually born here in America and grew up with my aunt. When she was about ten, my grandparents died in a car accident. Now they had written, that should anything happen to them, that my aunt's parents would be the ones to take her in, as all other family members were either in Japan or China. So she was adopted into my aunt's family."

"Okay, that clears that up. But how did she end up in Japan?"

"While in high school, she took part in this international pen-pal project and met my father through that. They kept in touch even after it ended and as soon as my mom started college, she moved to Tokyo so she could be with him. Two years later, they married, and I was born. In between my first birthday and till my father died, we would visit during summer vacation."

"Awww, that is so romantic and cute!" they both chuckled as the turned and saw the gas station.

"Yeah, the best part though, is that my parents kept all the letters since the first one they sent each other in high school." Kagome laughed when they pulled up, she asked if she wanted anything while she was in there.

Climbing out, she didn't notice a certain person standing off to the other side of the pumps, how said person had watched her every move since she had gotten out of the car. A few minutes later, she came out, having paid for her food and whatever amount of gas for her friend. As she made her way to the car, she caught Derek's eye, and walked up to him.

"You're Derek Hale, correct?" she looked up at him, watching as all he did was nod his head to answer her question, eying her suspiciously.

"I just wanted to... apologize for everything Scott has put you through, and to thank you for all the help you've given him, despite all that."

"You know. And you don't care." the first was a statement, one he wasn't happy acknowledging. The second was also a statement, but held a sort of questioning wonder to it, like he couldn't believe it was true.

"Look, it wasn't because I was being nosy..." at the look he was giving her, she could help but bite down on her lip and smile sheepishly. "Okay, maybe I was. But he's my cousin, and, I worry. And I keep telling Scott, a little something I live by; What you are, doesn't change who you are. He's just having a harder time accepting that." she glanced off to the side and spotted the broken window and her brows furrowed.

Looking back at him, she took in the lack of injury, and looking back at the car, noticed that it had been smashed in while he was not occupying the vehicle.

"Are you alright?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Your car window." they both looked towards what she was talking about. Then she remembered Kouga and what he did, and started digging around in her book bag for her wallet, remembering she put his card in it. While doing so she spoke up.

"Listen. I have a friend who can fix that for you." finding her wallet, not knowing why she didn't just put it in her jeans pocket to begin with, she opened it and handed him the card after she scribbled something on the back in Japanese. "He'll fix that up quickly, efficiently, and~,give him this card and tell him I sent you, it'll be on the house."

He merely raised a brow, to which she copied.

"I know it's somewhat out of the way, but I vouch for him. Besides, think of this as a thank you for all that you've done and will do for Scott. As well as an apology, for all he's put you through, and most likely will put you through." with that, she smiled at him and made her way to Casey's car, wishing him a good night along the way.

She could feel his gaze on her back the entire way, as well as the questioning one of her friend. After they were far enough for her liking, Kagome finally snapped.

"What?" if it was one thing, she hated being observed like that, like she was under a microscope when someone wanted answers from her.

"Who was that?" she didn't miss that stupid sly smirk her friend was wearing.

"Derek Hale. Why"

"How do you two know each other?" Kagome frowned when her friend asked another question instead of answer her own.

"Through Scott. Why?" her lips pursed when her friends grin grew before shrugging her shoulders.

"Oh just curious. I mean no one at school caught your eye, but then this awesome specimen of male shows up and you almost forget little old me."

Kagome snorted at that. Everyone at school didn't understand that the world wasn't all pretty and nice, and then she got occupied with helping her cousin try and come to terms with this werewolf thing, and Derek, just also happened to be a part of that

She internally groaned when her friend kept giving her that stupid look. She most likely would be getting an ear full tomorrow at school from the others, and then Scott would end up hearing it with how things spread in the high school hallways. Oh this was going to go down hill and burn once it all crashed.

Perfect.