Summary: "You probably don't remember but you saved me from some bullies once in middle school and goddamn it every year you just get hotter" AU

Word count: 6,510

First year of school.

Inuyasha is six. His mom got him prepared in the morning, and his schoolbag is red, because red is his favorite color. He left with a smile on his face, but Izayoi stood in front of the school's door for a long time, wringing her hands. She wanted her little boy to be alright. She wanted it so much. But she had long stopped trusting the world they both lived in.

She is there when Inuyasha comes out, of course, waiting for her son. He doesn't jump into her arms like most children around them do. Instead, he silently takes her hand. She squeezes it tight and they start walking. She's almost desperate to take him away from what happened in there. She doesn't need to ask, but she does it anyway. "How was your day? Did you make any friends? Were the other children nice to you? Do you like your teacher?"

Inuyasha doesn't respond, and as much as Izayoi wants to hold her emotions in, it becomes harder and harder. When he finally speaks, it has nothing to do with school, or at the very least, it shouldn't have anything to do with school. No children should have to hear such words.

"What's a half-breed, 'ma?"

He hears Izayoi's sob, and before he knows it, he is engulfed in a hug as she holds him close to her.

"That's a word that people sometimes use for children who were born from a couple made by a human and a demon," she answers in a whisper.

Inuyasha doesn't understand. He doesn't understand why he is smelling her tears, why it makes her so sad, nor why children used the word as if it was something so disgusting. His parents aren't disgusting… Are they?

"Like you and dad?" he asks for a confirmation.

"Like me and your dad," she answers, pulling away and gently caressing his head, her eyes going to his white, triangular ears with affection. "And we loved each other very much," she adds with tears in her voice, "and you're our child, and in no way is there anything wrong with you." She pauses. "Do you understand that, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha nods, but he isn't too sure about it. Izayoi appears to be satisfied by his answer though, and she stands up, taking his hand again. "Come on, let's go home."

Inuyasha doesn't ask any more questions. He doesn't want to make his mother cry any more.

The smell of her tears still accompany him for most of the night before he finally falls asleep.

Second year of school.

Inuyasha is seven. He just had the worst day of school he has ever had so far. He thought he had made himself a friend, but apparently he was wrong. Friends don't keep trying to force their friends to do something they don't want to do, do they? Well, even if they do, he's at least sure that friends don't let other people make fun of you while silently watching.

It's not like Kikyo seemed to care when he told her he wasn't her friend anymore. Friends should care. He knows he cares. He knows it hurts so much to feel so betrayed. He wonders if she feels even just half of what he feels. But he thinks that he deserves better than to be treated like that.

And in the end, he thinks he was right.

Third year of school.

Inuyasha is eight. He's sitting in the hallway, waiting for Izayoi to come out of her meeting with the principal. The door is closed, but since he's a half-demon — a half-breed, a mutt, like the other kids a school like to call him — he can hear everything. He has no choice. He would like it better if he didn't have to, but he has no way to turn off his senses.

"He did that?" Izayoi asks breathily, horror in her voice.

"He did," the principal answers emotionlessly. "Hojo is going to need stitches."

"I'm sure he didn't mean to," Izayoi immediately protests, "something must have happened to—"

"Whatever happened, Mrs. Taisho," the principal interrupts her, "you need to understand that other children do not risk killing their classmates if they lose their temper. We're going to have to send him to the demons' school to—"

"No!" Izayoi almost screams. "No, please, don't," she begs. "You know how demons are with half-demons. You can't—"

"Mrs Taisho," the man sighs, "we can't endanger our students."

"Please," Izayoi repeats. "Please. Inuyasha is a good kid. You never had any problems with him. I promise this won't happen again. I promise. Please."

The man has the decency to look guilty. He knows that she's right. He knows what type of name-calling Inuyasha probably has to endure every day, and he knows that most teachers wouldn't move a finger for a half-demon kid. Also, Izayoi is beautiful even in her darkest days, and he knows her story. How she married a powerful demon and was kicked out of her family, how he was murdered right after their baby's birth, how she raised the child alone, without any help. All in all, he guesses Inuyasha could be much worse. He coughs, embarrassed.

"Alright, I'll let him of the hook, just this once. Naturally, should anything similar ever happen again…"

"Naturally," Izayoi sighs. "Do you have any idea whether or not there's a risk that the child's parents would file a complaint?"

Probably not, given how the incident was filmed and he's seen using several racial slurs in all of them. But he's sure Hojo will grow up, he's just a kid after all.

"I don't think you need to worry about that," the principal answers carefully. He's not going to take any risks with that.

Izayoi thanks him profusely, and in the hallway, Inuyasha stands up, getting prepared to leave. He's sure he's going to have a big punishment, at school and at home, but he hopes his mom will understand. She smells a bit weird today, so he hopes she's fine. Still, she's right, he didn't mean to hurt Hojo, or at least not that much. He just snapped. He felt like his head was going to burst, and something inside of him stirred, and suddenly there was blood on his claws. It's not like it was life-threatening, but it will no doubt leave a scar. At least it was just on his arm.

What he feels the most guilty about is that Hojo is not the worst. He's far from being the worst. He just came at the end of a long list of people, and Inuyasha lost it.

When his mom comes out, she doesn't look angry, but it doesn't make him feel better. She grabs his hand, and he squirms a little, because it's shameful to hold your mom's hand, but she doesn't let go, and he's secretly happy about it.

He lets her carry him out. She doesn't say a word, and that gradually worries him more and more. He wishes they could just get it over with, but Izayoi is very silent. When she finally speaks, her voice is eerily calm, and Inuyasha can't say it makes him feel any better.

"The way you're treated is not normal, Inuyasha," she says. "This is not how it should go. You need to know that." She takes a deep breath, and after that her voice is strained. It's obvious that it is costing her a lot to keep talking. "But you can't fight other children, Inuyasha, do you understand? You can't ever fight other children again. Do you understand?"

Inuyasha understands. It's not like he has a choice. He nods. He won't fight anymore.

Sixth year of school.

Inuyasha is eleven, and it's his first year in middle school, which means it's his first year in a school with demons. After primary school, it is considered that demons and humans can coexist, because demons can control themselves. Not that humans can't be harsh or hurtful themselves, but people tend not to recognize that. Demons would mock anyone who'd admit being hurt by humans in any way, and humans are taught to fear demons and to stay away from them.

It takes a day for Inuyasha to understand that things aren't going to get any better. It's the day when he decides that hope is only hurtful and he should just kill it every time it blooms inside him. Part of him had thought that, maybe, things would be different with demons. Humans only see him as a demon, after all, so maybe they would accept him. But demons see him as tainted, as disgusting, as dirtying his blood line. Nothing is going to change.

This first day, he's targeted by a loud wolf-demon named Koga. He doesn't know it yet, but it's not going to stop any time soon. Koga is good at federating people, particularly other wolves demons. He has no problem with fighting, nor with fighting dirty. But Inuyasha doesn't fight, because fighting would make his mama sad. It doesn't cross his mind that rules are probably different since it's not the same school. He has no history here after all, and if he was fighting demons, things would be different.

The year goes on, and Inuyasha doesn't have to kill hope. It just stops appearing in his heart or in his life altogether. He has no reasons to hope, to believe things will get better. When he's not at school, he looks out the window, vaguely waiting for Kagura, Sesshomaru's wife, to call him for dinner. Inuyasha's silent, reserved. He doesn't want to make his mama sad.

What he doesn't talk about, ever, to anyone, is that his mama died the year before.

Seventh year of school.

Inuyasha is twelve, and he's just coming back from his holidays. It's the first day of school, and he's now resigned to enduring it. He sees Koga on his path, and he grits his teeth. It's getting harder and harder to ignore him, because his blood keeps telling him that he should not just silently accept his treatment, that he should react, that he should fight. Inuyasha doesn't want to do it though. He doesn't seem to take into consideration the fact that demons fight almost every day at school and none of them get expelled, nor the fact that Sesshomaru and Kagura likely wouldn't care if he fought. They probably wouldn't even care if he got killed.

He falls onto the ground when Koga pushes him violently. He doesn't respond to the insult that Koga's yelling, lets the hits fall freely.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?"

It's a girl's voice, and she's shouting. That's a bad idea, she really shouldn't. Inuyasha sniffs the air. Yeah, as he thought, she's human, although her smell is different, more… powerful. She also smells wonderfully good. Koga and his underlings turn around, and for the first time in forever, Inuyasha clenches his fists. For this girl, he may fight if he has to, after all.

"Oh, and who would you be?" Koga asks, a grin obvious in his voice.

"I'm Kagome Higurashi," the girl answers calmly. "What are you doing here?"

Koga doesn't seem to like that, so when she takes a step forward, he puts his hand on her shoulder, trying to push her back.

Inuyasha feels something weird, something that bursts strangely, and Koga, Ginta and Hakkaku all take a step back with a yelp of pain.

"You're a miko!" Koga exclaims, impressed.

"I am," Kagome answers, "and if you don't step away, I will do a lot more than that."

They all step aside, almost respectfully. It's rare to meet mikos, particularly well-trained ones, and she could probably purify them all if she wanted to. It would be murder, but it's always complicated with purification, and they're not going to take the risk. Also, Koga has to admit it, she's fuckin' brave and he loves that in a woman.

When Kagome steps forward, Inuyasha is gone. He jumped on a wall and disappeared into a tree, so fast that she couldn't see him, and the demons certainly aren't going to let her know where he went, even if they can smell him.

"Where— Who was that?" Kagome asks, confused.

"Nobody," Koga answers with a shrug, and it hurts Inuyasha more than it should, but he really is nobody, isn't he? "You're new here?"

Kagome sighs and rolls her eyes. She's not going to answer that. She doesn't talk with bullies.

"Are you here?" she calls. Inuyasha doesn't answer. He certainly isn't going to, with the wolves-demons around. He's grateful, because at least he'll be able to go to school peacefully, but you never know. She's a priestess, after all. She'd probably be more horrified than anyone to see a half-demon. And for some reasons, he doesn't want to see her face filled with horror.

Is that hope? Well, maybe he can let such a ridiculous hope survive. For someone not to look at him with disgust… How pathetic.

"Hey, let me take your schoolbag!" Koga offers.

Kagome Higurashi sighs and starts walking towards the school, ignoring the wolf-demon's offer. It makes Inuyasha grin. That girl looks pretty cool.

Eighth year of school

Inuyasha is thirteen, and he's unbelievably disappointed when he finds out that he's not in Kagome's class. He had really hoped he would be this year. Not that he actually liked the girl, of course not, but he thought she was pretty, and she was really cool. After her first encounter with Koga, she had had a few more in similar circumstances, until he had stopped bullying people altogether. Now, he is doing his best to impress her, but she isn't buying it, which makes Inuyasha weirdly proud.

Weirdly, because he has never even talked to the girl.

The year before, he discovered that indeed, she had just joined the school, and that she had a real good control of her powers. Humans had tried to get behind her, challenging the status quo, but she hadn't liked it, and pretty soon, they had stopped it, deciding to stay in their own groups. She is now with only three friends at all times, and, aside from Koga, Hojo is also trying to get her attention. It annoys Inuyasha to no end, because he still hates the guy. Sure, he hates pretty much everybody, so it doesn't mean much, but he particularly dislikes Hojo.

Kagome is super pretty on the first day of school, and Inuyasha wonders how she manages to smell so fuckin' good. He's sure other demons, namely Koga, noticed it too, and it strikes a possessive chord in him. Whatever. It's not like he's going to go talk to the girl, even though now his fears of her finding him disgusting appear not to be founded.

His behavior has changed since that day. He doesn't let people bother him anymore, choosing instead to use his strength if necessary — necessary being to defend himself. Sure, it terrifies most people, because they then realize how strong and fast he is, but Inuyasha can live with them fearing him. Better than the contrary.

He looks at Kagome from afar. It's too bad, but really, what can he do?

Eleventh year of school

Inuyasha is sixteen, and he just got hit by puberty. Hard. His demon blood allowed him not to go through most of the awkward process teenage boys go through, or rather, he went through them much faster. It only took a summer for him to come back, completely transformed. He took almost twenty centimeters in two months, developed his muscles, his voice got two octaves lower, and his face definitely lost any remaining roundness.

He feels pretty confident as he walks in the school. He can hear people's whispers, particularly girls' (with the notable exception of the excited squeal that comes from Jakotsu). He nods at Miroku, his best, and only, friend, and the two of them check their classes. They're together but — and that's what makes Inuyasha's heart miss a beat — Kagome is also in his class. For the first time.

Things have changed since middle school. Kagome's friends went to a different high school, leaving the girl alone. She didn't stay this way for very long, and before you knew it, she was part of a trio, made by her, a black-haired girl named Sango, and a redhead called Ayame. Now it was mostly her and Sango, though, because Ayame spent most of her time with Koga. She had immediately taken a interest in him, and what she wanted, Ayame always got. Not that Koga seemed to mind.

Kagome didn't seem phased by the change. Koga and her appeared to still be friends, which makes Inuyasha's skin crawl, to be honest, but he also somehow gets it. They're not children anymore, and they all changed. Kagome included. He watched her do so. Not in a creepy way — he didn't actively look for her, didn't follow her, didn't try to find out her schedule like that weird Naraku does with Kikyo — but he simply observed it when she was around. And boy, does he like that change. Especially with the short skirts the school has the girls wearing. The person who chose them had to be a pervert, but it was appreciated.

Inuyasha doesn't just think Kagome's cute, or pretty. He thinks she's beautiful, and the teenage boy part of his brain would probably define her as hot. He's somehow able to tell that she doesn't completely fit society's ideal. She's too small, not curvy enough maybe, but Inuyasha can't shake the thought from his mind: she looks perfect to him. He's not the only one to see it, so she still has quite a few admirers, but she's not the school beauty queen either.

Inuyasha rapidly checks the list, and has to hold back a groan when he sees that not only Koga is in the class too, but so is Hojo. And while Koga is faithful to his girl and has clearly moved on, Hojo has not.

"Nice class," Miroku whistles happily. "It's a shame the holy Trinity isn't reunited this year, naturally, but…"

"You're fuckin' disgusting," Inuyasha hisses.

Miroku calls 'holy Trinity' Kagome, Ayame and Sango. He also calls 'the Plastics' Kikyo, Yura and Abi. Funny how Inuyasha's first friend changed, but even he noticed that Kikyo looks like she's actually having fun now. Good for her, probably.

"Ah, this year will be good!" Miroku predicts.

They have absolutely no idea.

The boys find themselves sitting behind Kagome and Sango. Inuyasha would swear that he has nothing to do with it, and it's probably true. Miroku was the one who maneuvered to get there. He immediately starts talking to them, and he's his charming self, as always. Girls generally like Miroku quite a lot, until he tries to touch their ass.

If he lays a finger on Kagome, Inuyasha will rip his eyes out. He doesn't care that the dude's his best friend.

Kagome, him and Sango all joke together while he remains silent. He's used to it. He doesn't talk much. He doesn't notice how Kagome eyes him every once in a while. When the teacher finally walks into the class, he sighs, and taps Miroku's shoulder to get him to focus, giving a vague nod to the girls.

Kagome smiles to him.

Kagome. Smiles. To. Him.

Inuyasha thinks that she has adorable teeth, and then he wonders what the fuck is wrong with him, because who cares about people's teeth? But her smile is lovely anyway, with how her lips curl, how her eyes seem to shine, how she lightly tilts her head to the side…

And then, she turns back towards the board, and the magic stops.

Inuyasha doesn't deal well with people being kind to him. That may come from his old rule of 'no hope', or maybe he just isn't used to it, but still, he doesn't know how to react. That makes him want to punch himself more than once when him and Kagome talk. He's just incapable of not letting things escalate, incapable of letting her be nice without getting defensive. He's not sure why her and Sango keep talking to them. They must really like Miroku.

So when he hears Kagome call his name in the hallway, he doesn't really understand, but he stops to wait for her anyway. She's slightly out of breath but even like that, she looks fucking gorgeous.

"Hey," she says with a bright smile that always drives him crazy.

"Hey," he answers grumpily. Her smile does not falter.

"I was wondering if you were free on Saturday," she explains as a faint blush appears on her cheeks. "I was thinking that you, Sango, Miroku and I could maybe go to see a movie? And hang out?"

She doesn't seem as confident as usual, and it has Inuyasha frowning slightly. He feels like he is missing something important here, but he has no idea what that could be.

"Yeah, sure," he says with a shrug.

He can see her relief the second he says that, and he's pretty fucking bad at reading people's emotions. Huh. What was she so stressed about?

"Awesome. It's a double date then!"

Yeah, it was what he just said, wh-… Wait, what?

Kagome takes a step towards him, gets on her tiptoes, and kisses his cheek lightly.

"I'll see you later, Inuyasha!"

What the fuck. What the actual fuck.

"That movie was awesome!" Kagome chimed when the group got out. Miroku agreed with her whole-heartedly, and Sango and Inuyasha exchanged a quick side glance that had the two of them grinning. They weren't going to rain on their friends' parade but the movie really wasn't that good. It was even rather bad.

Inuyasha had carefully watched the group's interactions since the beginning of what Kagome had called a 'double date', and he hadn't been able to come to a conclusion yet. Who were the couples?

Yes, he knows it, he's bad at that stuff, but he still has no idea. The girls exchanged jokes with Miroku, as they always did, and he vaguely participated too, but that didn't tell him much.

"So, do you guys want to go grab a drink or something?" Kagome offered.

"No, I'm fine," Sango answered, shaking her head. "I think I'll head home. Miroku, do you want to come with me?"

"It would be my pleasure, dear Sango," he responded all too happily, making her roll her eyes in a fake sign of annoyance, betrayed by her amused smile.

Wait. Inuyasha was sure he had seen Miroku wink at Sango. What did all of this mean, for Christ's sake? Were… were he and Kagome the 'couple'? Or did Sango just not want it to be too awkward for a first date with Miroku? But then, she apparently had no problems asking him to walk her home.

None of this made sense.

"You guys live pretty close, right?" Sango asks, not so innocently. "It's fine if we leave you two together, right?"

"It's fine," Kagome answers, her voice slightly strained while she shoots her best friend a deathly look. "I think we do live quite close. We went to the same middle school."

He had no idea she knew that.

"I mean, if Inuyasha's fine with it," she adds, sounding worried.

"Keh. Of course not. Let's just get moving."

He gives a nod at Sango and Miroku, and that's his goodbye. He hears Kagome making longer ones, and he makes sure not to walk too fast so she can catch up.

They walk silently for quite a while. It's very unusual, very unlike Kagome, but she just fidgets next to him. He doesn't mind the silence. He finds it quite comfortable. He enjoys her presence, her smell, the simple thought that she's there with him. It's already quite wonderful, by his standards.

He ends up grabbing her hand with a growl, which has her looking at him in surprise.

"No gloves?" he asks. "The hell's wrong with you? Don't you know that you humans can't handle low temperatures?"

Kagome blinks at him. She is always amazed by how Inuyasha can care while pretending he does not. She gives him a sheepish smile.

"I forgot them at home," she admits. Her dad would have said that she would forget her head if it wasn't on her shoulders, had her dad still been around.

Inuyasha rolls his eyes and shakes his head, but doesn't let go of her hand. His is warm and it feels good against her skin. It's probably a demon thing, but when Kagome realizes he's not letting go, her breath catches in her throat. This feels… This feels great. It sends warmth throughout her entire body and her heart starts rushing.

Inuyasha doesn't say anything. He doesn't know what possessed him. He knows that at first, he did the gesture because his mom would always worry about him getting cold, but her hands were always colder than his. He's not letting go of Kagome's hand, though. He doesn't want to. He doesn't want to let her go, ever.

But they do arrive at her house. She led the way, because he doesn't know where she lives. He reluctantly lets go of her hand when they stop, and he sees her hesitating, licking her lips. She looks at him.

Her eyes are blue and kind, and Inuyasha wants nothing more than to drown in them. They both hesitates here for a while. Inuyasha doesn't move. He should probably be doing something. He feels that Miroku would definitely want him to do something, but Inuyasha can't move. Kagome doesn't either. Finally, she says "I guess I'll see you on Monday?"

"Sure," he answers.

"Well… Goodnight then, Inuyasha," she says.

In a matter of seconds, she's in her house, and Inuyasha is still standing there, feeling like a moron.

He missed an opportunity here, didn't he?

The first thing Miroku asks him on Monday is if he managed to 'get in there'. Inuyasha tells him to shut the fuck up, and Miroku wisely concludes that no, Inuyasha did not manage to 'get in there'. Too bad for him.

It makes for a rather awkward moment when they meet up with Sango and Kagome and he kisses Sango gently. She starts blushing, and it's probably the first time Inuyasha has ever seen him blush. He looks at Kagome, and she's grinning. She looks pretty happy for her friend, and Inuyasha decides that he's happy for Miroku too. He also promises himself that should Miroku hurt her, he'll be the one to murder him, because Sango's pretty cool.

He did miss an opportunity last night.

Fuck.

Things actually don't change that much once Miroku and Sango start dating. They still hang out, the four of them, and it's just nice. Inuyasha enjoys it a lot, actually. Particularly because now, he gets to talk to Kagome more, and that girl is just amazing.

It does not mean that she's only amazing, she's not all shiny, but Inuyasha doesn't mind her not-so-perfect sides. He can reassure her when she's insecure, he can help her calm down when she gets riled up.

Okay, he doesn't. When she gets riled up, he loses it just as quickly. He may even be the one who gets her riled up, because if he thinks about it, he can't say he ever saw her yelling at other people.

Until that day, at least. He arrived almost running after hearing her yell. He arrives to find her staring at Hojo. She looks furious.

"No," she hisses, lowering her voice, probably so not everyone who gathered around them can hear her, "I don't want to go out on a date with you, Hojo. I'm not interested."

Hojo seems hurt, and does not bother to get his voice down. "I understand that, Higurashi. I wish you hadn't yelled it for everyone to hear."

Kagome pales. Inuyasha can hear people's whispers too, because his hearing isn't selective. People say exactly what he would have expected them to say. "I mean he's right", "Why is she making this about herself?", "Ugh, such a drama queen", as Hojo walks away with his head held up high.

Kagome probably did not expect this reaction. Inuyasha sees her pale, and start shaking as other people disperse. She hangs her head low. Inuyasha walks towards her. Is she crying? He hopes not. He would hate to see her cry.

"Hey," he says, reaching out to touch her shoulder.

Kagome's head snaps back up, and when he looks at her, Inuyasha discovers that she's not sad, and she's certainly not crying. She's fuming.

"How dare they?" she snaps. "I've been— I've been trying to get him to understand for so long, but he just keeps asking! I didn't know what to do!"

Inuyasha kinda just wants to go murder Hojo, right now. The dude's lucky that he cares more about Kagome than about killing him.

For now.

"You could have told me," he says, his voice a low rumble. Kagome looks guilty, and Inuyasha curses himself. That was not what he wanted. "N— I mean you should tell me if that ever happens again. I'm sure you can handle yourself," pretty fucking sure yeah "but you don't have to. And I would want to help you, too."

Kagome doesn't answer. She just stares at him in what he's pretty sure is disbelief. Does all this sound so little like him?

Probably, actually. And he's not going to say it again.

"Want to come to my place?" he asks. Kagura and Sesshomaru won't be there. They're never there, and he's pretty sure they're doing their best to avoid him. Or they're trying to spice up their wedding by doing unusual stuff. But Kagura doesn't seem like the type who'd need 'spicing things up' and— wow, he needs to stop. He does not need any mental images.

But everything gets a thousand times more embarrassing in a house with two dog-demons who can smell virtually anything that happens in there.

Kagome nods. Everything to get out of school, everything not to be alone. Everything to spend some more time with Inuyasha.

They walk to his house in silence, and this time, they both feel very comfortable with it. Inuyasha's not too sure why he's doing this, but it felt like the right thing to do. And although his defenses are screaming at him that right now, he's clearly hoping, that he can't do that, that he shouldn't do that, that he's only going to get hurt, he ignores them.

He opens the door and lets her walk in first. She seems hesitant as she discovers the white, almost painfully impersonal space. She opens her mouth, and he can guess she's going to try to make a compliment.

"It's… Erm… Stylish."

"Yeah, my brother's wife pays a lot of attention to that."

Kagome nods, and doesn't ask the question that's burning on her lips. She knew that Inuyasha was living with his brother, and she would like to know why, to know more about him. Anything to get closer from him.

That guy is a mystery to her. He has always been. Even now, even though he invited her in his house, even after he had walked her home, she just couldn't tell how he felt. She didn't know when he was pushing her back and when he was letting her in.

But literally letting her inside his house had to be good… Right?

Well, if it wasn't, he was sending terribly mixed signals and it was all his fault.

He offers her a drink and she accepts.

Somehow, they start talking. They mention middle school, and Kagome admits, with the loveliest blush ever, that she had noticed him then. Her eyes are on him, and he reads the silent interrogation there. If he answers it, he feels like there won't be any stopping it.

He opens his mouth anyway. He's tired of not letting himself hope.

"You actually stopped Koga and his friends from beating me up, once."

Kagome's eyes widen as she searches through her memory, but nothing comes up.

"I immediately ran away," Inuyasha admits.

"I remember that!" Kagome lights up. "It was my first day of school, and after that, the demons were either terrified by me or wanted to prove that they didn't fear me."

Inuyasha had no idea this had happened. Damn, every time he finds out something else about this girl, it has to do with how fucking brave she is.

"And you didn't?" he asks.

"No," Kagome answers with a chuckle. "I just didn't want to hurt them. It's one thing to defend a kid from bullies, it's another to knowingly hurt someone to prove you're stronger." She looks back at him, and now there's some curiosity in your eyes. "So… I kinda saved you, then, didn't I?"

You have no fucking idea.

Inuyasha simply nods.

"You're not too disappointed in me, then?" She says the words lightly, with a light laugh, but Inuyasha can feel the crack in her voice, the void in her confidence. He has noticed before that Kagome isn't assure of herself as she appears to be, although he can't figure why for the life of him, and it kills him that she could think herself not worthy.

"Why the fuck would you think anyone would be disappointed in you?" he growls.

Kagome's eyes widen. It's very Inuyasha-like to be nice while being a dick, but this hits her more than she had expected it to.

"Want a refill?" he asks, pointing at her now empty glass.

She nods wordlessly. If she opens her mouth right now, she might cry. Inuyasha stands up and go to his fridge, but right before he opens it, he feels arms around him and Kagome presses herself against her back. He pauses. His brain is either working way too fast or has completely stopped, he can't tell. Whatever is going on, he can't process it.

"Thank you," she whispers.

He has no idea what she could want to thank him for, but he clumsily pats her hands that join on his chest.

She lets go of him after a few seconds, and she sniffs discreetly. Ugh, she got emotional. She hates that, with a very special hate for crying.

Inuyasha turns around slowly, and she does her best to avoid his eyes, but he softly tilts her chin. His claws touch her skin without hurting her, and she finds out that she absolutely doesn't mind that contact. Because it's him, because they're part of him, and because she's fine with all of him.

She finally looks at him, in his eyes, and once again, her heart is beating so fast that it's almost painful. She still can't tell what he's feeling, but she's melting under his look.

And then, he moves closer.

Is she imagining it?

She gets on her tiptoes, eager not to let this opportunity pass, eager to discover what his lips will feel like against hers.

They kiss. Finally.

For a second, the entire world stays still.

Then, Kagome hesitantly takes a step towards him to fill the space between their bodies, and Inuyasha's hand leaves her chin to touch her cheek. He opens his eyes and finds that hers are closed, and he doesn't know why, but it's then that it hits him that she trusts him. She's not afraid of his claws, of him, of his fangs. This is confirmed when he feels her lips part against his, and her tongue meets his bottom lip, almost shyly.

He doesn't really know what he's doing there, so he decides to mimic her gestures and opens his mouth too, more than happy to get to taste her more. He feels her moan slightly, and he starts getting more confident. He wraps his other arm around his waist, and her eyes shot open in surprise when he presses her more against him. For a second, they part, and he wonders if he's gone too far, before she smiles, and suddenly she's kissing him again. Her hands are in his hair and she brings him as close from her as she can.

He almost loses his balance, but manages to catch himself on the fridge, which vaguely gets him to remember that, yeah, he's in the kitchen, and Sesshomaru is going to be perfectly able to smell everything. Not with a lot of details, but the smell of Kagome's arousal isn't going to go unnoticed.

God, he hates his brother.

He's about to pull back when Kagome's hips move against him, and that destroys all form of coherent thought in his head. All he can think about now is her, how wonderful she feels against him, her smell, her skin, and that he wants more.

It's just then that she moves her head back to give their surroundings an embarrassed look.

"W-we shouldn't be doing this in your kitchen."

At least one of them has a brain. And of course, she's completely right. Inuyasha nods, although his hand does not leave her waist.

"I should get going anyway," she adds. "But, erm, I'm sorry for asking, it's just, I…"

"Yeah?" When Kagome starts rambling, he found out that the best thing is to just interrupt her.

"Are we… Like… Together?"

Inuyasha's ears droop.

"Don't you want us to be?"

"What? No! I mean, yes, I do want us to be together! I just want to make sure that we're, you know, on the same page!"

"Then we are," he answers grumpily, because he wouldn't be himself if he made it simple. But Kagome is starting to know him pretty well, and she isn't fooled by that.

When she kisses him goodbye at the door, Inuyasha realizes that not only were his hopes not disappointed, but it gave him something so much more important.

As he watches her walk away, he knows. He just does.

From now on, everything is going to be okay.

Twelfth year of school

Inuyasha is seventeen. It's the first time in forever that the idea of going back to school doesn't seem terrible. He has changed a lot, he has changed so much since he first walked into one. His life crumbled around him, and then was rebuilt. Many things have happened, but if there's one thing he actually learned, it has nothing to do with what's actually learnt during his classes. Maybe it's the point of school, though. It's not just for academics, it's also for the people who will be there with you. Yes, Inuyasha can say that he learned at least one thing during his years at school.

Sometimes, it's good to meet your hero.