Okay, first two things I need to say are that 1. I don't know how often I can update. It's the end of my senior year and things are pretty hectic right now, but it should be at least once a week.^_^ 2. There are ALWAYS new twists in this story.^_^ Heh, so almost everything you see or know in this story is going to be altered or turned upside down eventually.^_^ Now, onto the original AN.^_^

Wow, for a first chapter this seems a little solemn to me.^_^; Sorry, but that's why I post three.^_^ Yay! Don't worry, the next chapter will go back to being happier and mischiveous.^_~* Hey, does anyone know what the collar thing on Kagome's shirt is called? Come to think of it, I have no idea and it may be helpful to know.^_^

Besides that, the only real difference in format is that I've decided to put a recap part before each chapter.^_^ I like when people do that, and it makes it easier to follow along with a story.^_^

I guess that's about it.^_^ Enjoy! *hugs*

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters in it. If I did I'd be rich, but I'm not... and if I had lots of money I'd probably spend it on anime anyway so pleeaasseee, don't sue me.^_^ lol

Oh, and as always,

_= thoughts *_* = sound/ italicized "_" = speech

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Recap:

Plot summary:

An ordinary girl meets her not-so-ordinary life. What years ago was friendship, becomes business when Mrs. Higurashi decides that Kagome needs a tutor, but will this bring more than just better grades? Her entire world turns upside down as Kagome starts seeing things she only remembers seeing in her youngest dreams, and worst nightmares. What does she see? Well, you'll just have to read silly!

K/I mainly, a little M/S

Romance/ angst/ comedy

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Do the Math

Chapter 1: Meet the Neighbors

"Come on, throw the ball to me Mommy!" A small girl waited with joyous impatience as she bounced about, seemingly floating in the air around her. Ebony hair was thrown frantically around the child's tiny frame, and warm chocolate eyes shone with the innocence that only youth may provide. Her mother smiled, her loving eyes directed towards the youth as she passed a small, green ball towards her little angel.

The sky faded, the earth beneath her feet shifted, and the girl was brought to another time, another reality. This was the plane, not of dreams, but of memories, and one she would not soon leave...

"Mom, look, it's a boy!" The girl's knee-high dress, a light blue no darker than the color of the afternoon sky, twirled about her as her sandaled feet gently flopped against the pavement, leading her closer to her newly found friend. She was now a few years older, two at most, but always willing to make a new friend and set out on a journey, or perhaps a new adventure. Such is the reason for life to a five-year-old.

Her mother arrived and slowly lifted the jump rope her daughter had left behind, only to see her with another. "So it seems..."

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Sunlight filtered through the blinds of a bedroom, pouring from the barely drawn curtains to land gracefully upon the face of a sleeping girl. A forgotten alarm clock sounded at the foot of her bed, waking all in the household but the girl herself. Such was not an irregular occurrence, but instead, was one to annoy her many mornings before, and surely many mornings to come. Why didn't she get a louder alarm clock? She did, but it wasn't the clock's fault that she could never set it correctly. If she had turned the dial fifteen minutes sooner, there would be no problem, but as it was, she was always late.

"Mm... not that again..." The girl seemed no more than fifteen, sixteen at most. As she rose, she tugged mindlessly at her pink pajama shirt, trying to loosen the grip it had acquired around her torso from the night before. Ever since the dreams it had been like that, but then again, she had always had the dreams, so it was nothing new. Rubbing the dried sleep from her eyes with balled hands, she slowly made her way to the bathroom, double taking at her door and stealing an insanely quick glance at the clock.

"Oh no, I'm going to be late again!" In ten minutes flat she had taken a shower, brushed her teeth, and combed her obsidian locks, glancing in the mirror not but a few times as she scrambled to get ready. Running downstairs, she stopped abruptly and tried to present herself as if she hadn't overslept again. She grabbed her lunch from the kitchen, smoothed out her green uniform skirt, and adjusted her shirt slightly, fluffing the white material and positioning the green and white collar more comfortably around her neck before venturing out into the horrors of the front yard, but more importantly, the horrors of her neighbors.

She had known them for as long as she could remember. The man and woman who lived next door (if you could call it that) had two sons, well, one biologically. The older one, Sesshoumaru, was theirs, but the younger, Inu Yasha, had been adopted well before she had ever met him. The family was nice enough, but most tried to avoid them; they were a little strange after all. Of course, why should this bother her? They treated her as if she were their own; even if Inu Yasha did his best to snub her and Sesshoumaru attempted to ignore everyone, the parents had always been nice to her and welcomed her, cheery smiles and all. She shouldn't really have been surprised though; they had adopted Inu Yasha and put up with his attitude long enough; they had to be good people.

But still, as she walked out the front door, lunch in hand, she couldn't help but look towards their house. She couldn't really see it because there stood a line of trees to block her view, and a raised wall beneath her, but still, she knew the house was there, and she couldn't help but wonder.

"Leaving for school dear?" A lady with short, black hair turned and smiled lovingly at the girl. The woman looked extremely young, much too young to be this girl's mother, but in that respect, looks can be deceiving. She was leaning against a railing at the bottom of the stairs, talking with the neighbor man.

"Kagome, haven't seen you in a while. How's everything going?"

Kagome smiled and bowed politely, "Just fine Mr. Khioto, thank you." The neighbor just smiled, amber eyes twinkling with a sort of merriment that he never seemed to lose. The family next door all had snow-white hair, including Inu Yasha. Mrs. Khioto supplied Sesshoumaru's slightly feminine form, along with his bone structure, and the father supplied the eye color. Even Inu Yasha shared those beautiful amber eyes, though his were lighter than he rest of the family's, and if you didn't know better, you'd think he wasn't adopted. Maybe that's what they were going for. As for what they did in their spare time, Kagome had little clue. She hadn't actually known them that well and she didn't really have anyone to get information from, even if she had wanted it. She ran into Inu Yasha the most often, but he wasn't exactly the most talkative of people, not to her anyway.

The white hair and amber eyes were what bothered people though. It wasn't exactly natural, but Mr. Khioto explained to her once that it was due to a genetic defect one of his ancestors had held. It was not only genetic, but apparently traveled to their significant other as well. As far as Kagome was concerned, the amber eyes and colorless, flowing hair were the most beautiful features she'd ever seen, and actually thought that Sesshoumaru's mother had made a good choice to accept the white hair, as it fit her beautifully. It was, however, kind of odd how Inu Yasha seemed to share the same birth defect. Kagome had never heard of it before, and had thought it quite rare. Oh well, maybe that's why they decided to adopt him. Who knows? As far as the other people, well, most of the students thought that Inu Yasha dyed his hair and wore contacts, that all of his family did actually. They never really saw his parents, so they would never know, and Inu Yasha never told them the truth; he didn't want to be labeled as a freak. Kagome could understand that.

"Hey Inutaisho, where's the ramen?" (Inu Yasha doesn't call him Dad because he knows that he isn't his real father.)

"What?" Mr. Khioto turned to look at his son, "Oh, Inu Yasha, it's in the cupboard where it's always been."

"Hello Inu Yasha." Kagome's mother smiled happily.

"Hello Mrs. Higurashi."

All eyes turned towards the teen as his father elbowed him inconspicuously; "Don't be rude; say hi to Kagome."

"Keh."

"Inu Yasha..."

With a sigh and a roll of the eyes, Inu Yasha decided to cast a bored glance her way. After deciding to oblige his father, he let loose a measly, "Yo."

"Hey there." They stood a second longer before Kagome smiled and, bidding them goodbye, began her trek towards the sidewalk on her way to school. A moment later, Inu Yasha retreated towards his house, but both he and Kagome were stopped and brought back by an irritated voice from behind them.

"Come on, what happened to you guys?" Mr. Khioto said, feeling rather exasperated at the moment; "You used to be inseparable when you were younger; what happened?" The two teens just shrugged.

"We grew up?" As both students went on their way once more, the parents were left to themselves. Sighing, they began speaking again, but this time their subject was not work or family, but two teens who had somehow lost their way.

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Oh yeah, long day was not a suitable enough phrase to explain that day. Science, history, it was all extremely boring, and then the kicker, the one class that made Kagome feel as if she really could make use of that pencil, though not for writing purposes, math. She hated math. Why was it so complicated? Circles, squares, constraints, laws, theorems, it was all too much. Not to mention that this was the one class she was failing in. Arrg, if only she could stay awake! Did she HAVE to have it after lunch? It's always so tempting to nap after you eat, especially in a boring class. And come on, she had gym after that; she needed her strength. Personally, she thought it to be a cruel and unusual punishment.

"Kagome, Kagome, hey, you in there?"

"Hmm? What?" Cinnamon eyes blinked confusedly, trying to clear the world of daydreams from their owner's head. Kagome had been in history when she had started zoning out, and only now noticed a hand waving before her eyes.

"Kagome, what's with you today? I asked if you wanted to head down to Hot Topic with me. Class was over three minutes ago, and I feel like heading to the mall." Kagome laughed and shook what little was left of the contemplative state she had once had from her mind.

"Sure Sango, just give me a minute to pack my stuff."

Sango Hiraikotsu had been Kagome's best friend since she was six, but don't assume that it was a friends at first sight sort of thing. Actually, they gotten along horribly until one boy started showing up. What a lech. He groped Kagome, even back then, and she smacked him, earning Sango's respect. Actually, the boy was kind of sweet... as long as he kept his hands to himself. After that, everything went beyond perfectly for them, and even though they had but one class together, they were still always there to catch the other when class was over.

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"Hey Inu Yasha, how's it going?" A teenage boy strolled across an overly occupied store, his short black hair shining against the overhead lights. A small ponytail protruded from the back of his head, and bobbed carefully behind him as he walked. As Inu Yasha turned around, the boy raised a covered hand in greeting.

"Keh, it's work; how do you think Miroku?"

"That good huh?" Meet Miroku Kazaana, Inu Yasha's best, and really, only friend since first grade. Girls are drawn to him by his cute bobbing ponytail, brilliant, glistening violet eyes, and boyish charms, but driven away more quickly than they came by his lecherous ways. Because of his perverted acts, he gained the nicknames "monk" and "houshi", but for ironic purposes only.

Though often sporting a bright red hand mark on one cheek, he had been a good boy that day, and came in wearing a purple band shirt, black jeans, and arm nets (you know, kind of like the fishnet stockings only on the arms? Those things are sexy.^-^). In one ear he sported a golden earring, and in the other two, but always wore that quirky grin of his, and of course, his rosary wrapped hand covering, attached to a golden ring on his middle finger. Why did he wear it? Well, he had his reasons, and only he and Inu Yasha knew them.

"Well, cheer up. You're almost off work, there's no school tomorrow, and most importantly, there are two beautiful women coming our way." Groaning, Inu turned to look at the two new customers before going back to what he had previously been doing.

He shook his head. "Keh, I think I'll stay over here."

Miroku shrugged; "Your loss."

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"Hey Kagome, look, there it is! Let's go!" The lights outside began to dim as the girls rushed over to another shop, well, Sango was rushing. They had been shopping for almost three hours now, but while Kagome was tired, Sango was full of energy and had promised that this would be their last store. That, of course, being the only reason Kagome had agreed to go with her at all, not like it was an enthusiastic agreement, but she'd get what she could. As they came closer, Sango grabbed Kagome's wrist and tugged her towards the opening.

Kagome shook her head; "Why do I suddenly have a sinking feeling about this?" After about half a second of walking through the door, her question had been answered with not so much grace, as with a smirk.

"My, what beautiful ladies that have strolled through these doors to light up my otherwise meaningless existence."

"That's why." Sango sighed dramatically before turning her head and glaring daggers at Miroku from over her shoulder; "What do you want Houshi-sama?"

"Why, Sango, I'm insulted. I simply wish to be in the presence of such lovely ladies as yourselves." Miroku put on his best hurt face and Kagome smiled.

Looking pleadingly at Sango, she tilted her head and blushed; "Come on Sango, he's kind of sweet."

"As sweet as salt."

"Well," Kagome scolded, "you never know. Maybe you should just give him a cha...AAYYIIEEEEEE!!!!" About fifteen heads turned to see what the screaming was about, and flinched as an audible, "HENTAI!!!" *SMACK* was heard.

Inu Yasha turned from his post at the familiar sound and scowled slightly. Will he EVER learn? Miroku, once tall, proud, and, unfortunately, lecherous, was now laying at the girls' feet, an extremely large lump on his head where Sango had hit him. If Kagome had not been standing behind the fuming "demon exterminator", a name given to Sango for just such reason, Miroku's hand would still be clutching at her rear, but was now just grabbing for air. Kagome almost felt sorry for him... almost, and sent a pissed glare towards the pervert, well knowing that with those googly eyes (@_@;), he'd never see it.

Sango turned to face her, her smug grin mixed with a slight scowl saying more than anything ever possibly could. "You were saying?"

Kagome sighed and shook her head; "Point taken."

"Excuse me." Both ladies stopped and turned towards the voice. Thinking she had bumped into him, Kagome let out an automatic apology, quickly smothered by a crushing sensation in her wrist.

"Hey, what're you doing?!" A man three heads taller than Kagome stood before them. His blond hair was shaggy, obviously disheveled, and he looked as if he had slept under a bridge the night before. The rotten stench of dirt and soiled food clung to him like a second skin, and he had taken a firm grip on her wrist, now pulling her out of the store.

"I want to talk to you." She glared at him, still struggling to escape his ever-tightening grasp.

"Well, I don't want to talk to you." She huffed indignantly and scowled at the stranger, bringing up a knee to stop him, which he easily evaded.

"Too bad." The man turned as someone tapped on his shoulder.

"Excuse me, but I don't think the lady wants to go with you."

"Yeah, take your hands off of my friend!" The man just smirked. Dragging Kagome in the opposite direction, he approached Sango head-on, practically daring her to say something like that again. When Sango began to come forward, he reached out gripped her shirt, shoving her away, and knocking her easily into a rack of shirts, and against the counter a few feet away. Her shopping bags flew everywhere, adding to the mess and chaos. It seemed as if this was one demon the exterminator could not beat.

All eyes were on the group now, as a few worried employees did their best to avoid the situation. Some attempted to just pick up the shirts before they got in trouble, while others just went to the back room, most pretending like nothing was happening. It can be sick what people will do to avoid trouble sometimes. A few customers left, and everyone else just stood, staring in shock. The two exceptions being Miroku and Inu Yasha. Miroku rushed to Sango's side, but not before Kagome was on her feet again, bolting towards the door. As Inu Yasha watched, she rushed out, followed closely by her pursuer, once again knocking Sango out of his way and into the arms of the monk. Kagome only made it a few steps out when the man caught her, beady eyes dancing mischievously as he touched her where no man was allowed.

A single sound resided in the air at that moment, one that had been heard just moments ago, before this whole fiasco had started. She slapped him. What would anyone do in her position? Of course, there are only two outcomes to that, one being pissing him off and having her hurt, and the other pleasing him and possibly having her hurt. Either way it didn't look good as the latter seemed to come into play.

That smirk, who was this guy to do anything like this to anyone? It was indecent, inhuman. It was scum like that who gave scum a bad name. Now, why Inu Yasha did it, he didn't know. All the man saw was a flash of silver and gold before his wrist was caught in mid-air. He was going to hit her; he was going to hit Kagome. Red specks began to surface within the amber pools and the man's face began to pale visibly. You do NOT hit a woman without a DAMNED good reason, and here, there was none.

Before anyone knew what had happened, the man was sprawled about five feet away, blood seeping through various gashes across his face, his nose, and his split lip. He was going to think twice about harassing someone next time. Realizing what he had done, Inu Yasha immediately blushed before putting on a bored expression, and told another worker to phone security, before heading back inside, every eye in the vicinity watching him with an odd mixture of respect, awe, ...and fear.