A/N: 2010: Whoa, kay, I've edited this chapter. Some of it is mostly minor. You don't have to re read this, but I think it's less… Cartoonish.

Fortunately, I do not own Inuyasha.

And I can't seem to get the page breakers to stay in the document when I submit it, so breaks will be marked by a set of bold 0's.

0000

Locker Partners

Chapter One

Conflicts

Kagome Higurashi lay on her stomach on her bed, flipping through her tenth grade year book and twirling her hair around her finger. Her feet swayed back and forth as she turned from page to page, singing along with her music. She turned to the page where Yuka, her best friend, sat smiling up at her.

Singing freely, and almost obnoxiously, she looked around the rest of the page and spotted her other best friend, Sango, posing for her picture. They looked so young, and all it took was a year to change.

She thought back on how she met Sango, and she smiled. It was last year, her first year of high school, that she met her new best friend. They ended up sharing lockers. In her high school, locker partners were not chosen by students, despite their abundant protest. Instead, each were assigned a locker along with another random student with whom he or she would share the locker for the full year. Kagome and Sango just so happened to get the same locker, and they immediately became the best of friends. Kagome couldn't wait to meet her new partner for this year.

She turned to the next page.

There he was; the most popular guy throughout her entire school: Inuyasha.

Kagome rolled her eyes at the thought of him. He was Kagome's age and yet within a few months of 10th grade he was known as the hunk of the school. Every girl wanted to date him, and every guy wanted to be his best friend. Pathetic. Kagome and Sango seemed to be the only sane girls in their grade. Even Yuka drooled over him. Kagome and Sango, however, knew the real Inuyasha, and were the least bit impressed.

"He's not that cute," Kagome mumbled to herself, scowling at Inuyasha's picture. "I mean his hair is silver, for goodness sake. Like an old man's. . ." She turned the page and sang along with the next song on her CD.

From downstairs, her mom called to her. Kagome paused her CD, opened her door, and hollered down the stairs, "Yes, Mom?"

"You have a letter!" her mom replied. "It's from your school!"

Kagome skipped down the stairs and tore open the letter which contained her schedule: first period was Trigonometry, second period was World History, third was Gym, fourth was Literature, fifth period was French, and sixth was Physics.

The letter also told which lunch fit into her schedule and what her locker number was.

"Hey, look Mom," Kagome chirped, "I got French, just like I wanted! This year is going to be fantastic!"

0000

"Oh no! Your locker number is 1147?"

Kagome slumped down onto her bed as she spoke with Sango over the phone. She looked back down her list and replied to Sango, "Yeah. Why? Which locker did you get?"

"I got. . . 3284," Sango mumbled over the other line. She sounded really disappointed.

"Geez, we aren't even in the same hall." Kagome frowned. "It's okay though, we can still see each other at class, right? When do you have gym class?"

There was a few seconds of silence, then Sango answered, "Um. . .third. What about you?"

"Oh same here! What else have you got?"

They exchanged schedule information, and it turned out that they had Trigonometry, Gym, and Literature classes together, along with the same lunch.

"Have you talked to Yuka yet?" Kagome asked.

"Yeah," Sango sighed. "She's not your locker partner, and she's not mine either. I think she said that her locker number is. . . 1200 or something like that. It looks like we'll be having new partners this year. I bet Yuka is praying that she gets Inuyasha."

The girls giggled.

"Yeah, I bet she is," agreed Kagome. She sighed before changing the subject. "Wow, only a week left of freedom. I'm excited, but at the same time disappointed. No more staying up or sleeping in late."

Kagome could hear the smile in Sango's voice. "Yeah, but think of it as a privilege. Once we start our careers, we can't stay home when we feel like it or we'll be fired. And besides, we always meet new people at school and have more friends." There was a pause. "I can't wait to go back next week."

There was silence over the phone as Kagome pondered locker partners. What if Yuka actually did get Inuyasha? Would they all suddenly become friends?

"Hey, Sango?" Kagome broke the silence.

"Mm-yes?" Sango hummed.

"Do you think Yuka could actually get Inuyasha as a locker buddy? Would fate be that nice to her?"

Sango laughed. "I dunno. Would that bother you?"

She scoffed in response. "Well, no, I was just wondering if the world would be so kind to her. Though I doubt she would ever get him." She fiddled with the seam on her sweatpants.

Sango snickered. "She'd probably faint at the sight of him. She wouldn't even know what to say to him." Her tone tingled with bitterness. "She thinks he's famous or something. Like the Pope."

"But isn't that why she's our friend?"

"You mean because she's naive and gullible?"

They laughed again. Sango was right. Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all.

0000

The shirtless Inuyasha hauled his new chain saw across his friend's yard and to his old-fashioned beat up wagon. He put the saw in place and started it, his muscles flexing. Just as he was ready to destroy that horrible piece of crap that was supposedly art, he heard his friend's horrified shouts behind him.

"WHAO WHAO WHAO!" his best friend, Miroku, panicked. Inuyasha turned to face him and shut off the saw. Miroku continued, "What are you doing?"

Inuyasha swung the saw over his shoulder and held it by the handle. "I thought I'd get rid of this piece of junk for ya." He gestured to the wagon.

"No, no. This piece of 'junk' is my mother's antique."

"But you were just complaining about it last week! I needed something to cut up, so I thought I'd do you a favor."

"Well this-" he shot his finger at the wagon-"you don't touch."

With his free hand, Inuyasha reached over and poked the wagon.

Miroku rolled his eyes. "You sarcastic bastard."

Inuyasha laughed. "So now I'm a sarcastic bastard? Hey, I'm improving! Yesterday I was a sarcastic jackass." He shoved his fist in the air to congratulate himself half-heartedly, with a mocking grin on his lips.

"You never give up, do you?"

"Yeah…no." He squinted from the sun.

Miroku sighed. "Destroy anything that's not my house or this wagon."

He nodded in approval. "Sweet. So I can trash your car?"

"Inuyasha!"

"Oh come on. You know I'm just messing around." He punched Miroku's arm. "Gosh, man, lighten up."

Miroku changed the subject. "So, could I have a go at it?" He stuck out his hand for the chain saw.

"Hell no! This is my birthday present! You don't get a turn till I've had my time to play."

"Speaking of playing. . ." he winked. "How's your sex life?"

Inuyasha glared at him with pursed lips. "Seriously? That's where your mind goes when I say 'play'?"

"Awe, don't tell me you don't have a thing going-"

"Hey, bud, I'm not like you, remember? I don't go around harassing every girl I see."

Only slightly offended, Miroku continued, "I know, but you have Kikyo, don't you?"

"So, does that mean I harass her?"

Now increasingly offended, he growled, "Alright, give me that chain saw!"

Inuyasha walked backwards as Miroku tried taking the saw. "No, it's mine! All mine, you can't have it!"

"You half breed!"

"HA HA! Try and catch me!" Inuyasha turned and jogged across the yard. After all, he was faster than anyone else on the soccer team, and running fast would just be plain cruel to poor Miroku.

Miroku sprinted after him. "You-know-I-can't-keep up-with you!"

Inuyasha stopped two yards in front of Miroku's willow tree and turned to face him. "I know." He started up the chain saw; Miroku stopped chasing after him. "And that, my good friend, is why I enjoy tormenting you."

Miroku gaped in horror as Inuyasha lifted the saw. "No! Don't you do it! STAY AWAY FROM THAT TREE!"

Too late. Inuyasha lifted the saw and swung it; the tree collapsing in one sweep.

Inuyasha was just downright proud of himself. He shut off the saw and threw it to the ground like a football player after a touchdown. "All right! That was awesome!" He spun around and shook his hips in a happy dance.

Miroku stood there, dumbfounded at his huge, once beautiful willow tree, lying pathetically dead in his lawn.

"Mom's gonna kill me. . ."

0000

Two days before school started, Sango and Kagome decided to go on a last-minute shopping spree.

"Mom's going to drop us off," Kagome informed Sango over the phone, "and then she's gonna pick us up at four." She rummaged through her closet to find an outfit. "Yuka has all her stuff already and she said she wanted to come, but her mom said she had things to do around the house."

"Oh okay. Hey, wanna go to WacDonald's before we shop?" Sango asked.

"Uh, sure. Just let me ask my mom before we leave."

"Okay, well I have to go. Gotta take out the trash and wash dishes really quick."

"Kay." Kagome grabbed the first dress that she saw. "We'll pick you up in a half an hour."

"Alrighty. See ya!"

"Sayonara!"

Click.

Kagome examined her baby-blue sundress. It was perfect. She pulled out her light blue sandals and a white button-over T-shirt.

She was really going to miss her vacation.

0000

"Oh no…"

Kagome slammed her forehead on the table with a groan.

"What?" Sango asked.

"Look behind you. . ." grumbled Kagome.

Sango turned around. A few tables behind her and to her right sat Inuyasha with all his friends. Sango huffed and mimicked Kagome.

"Why couldn't he have come here at a different time?" Kagome moaned. She looked up at her friend with sorrowful eyes.

Sango stared back at her friend. "We'll just eat our food and pretend he doesn't exist."

"Deal."

Kagome lifted her spoon and took a bite of her chocolate ice cream. She scooped up another bite and leaned into eat it when temptation took over. She glanced up at Inuyasha and let her spoon fall back into her bowl. Why couldn't she have kept to herself?

"Sango, I fought curiosity," Kagome grumbled, "and curiosity won. Look at him, practically eating Kikyo."

Sango peeked over her shoulder.

Inuyasha had his arm around Kikyo's shoulders, kissing every inch of her from her lips to her collar bone.

Sango rolled her eyes back to Kagome. "That's sick. Though I guess they're a perfect couple; they're both sluts."

"Uh oh… Sango," Kagome whimpered. Her eyes were still fixed on Inuyasha's gang.

"What?" Sango whipped her head in Inuyasha's direction. Soon she'd have whiplash.

Miroku was nudging one of his friends, Zen, and pointing to Sango and Kagome. Zen turned around and looked at the two girls with his reddish-brown eyes. Then Miroku said something to him, and the two boys stood up and walked toward Kagome and Sango.

"Hey ladies," Miroku smirked.

"What were you gawking at?" Zen snapped.

"Gawking?" Kagome growled. "We weren't gawking at anyone. We were just wondering if Inuyasha ever has a full stomach, since he's always gnawing on Kikyo."

One of Zen's eyes narrowed under the pressure of a scrunched eyebrow as he gave a quizzical stare to Kagome, and mouthed, "Wha?" Kagome shrugged and ate another scoop of ice cream.

Miroku leaned on his elbows on the table in front of Sango. "So, babe, how are you doing?"

Sango grabbed her soda in her left hand and stood up in front of Miroku, forcing him to stand with her. With gritted teeth, she rubbed up against him, pulled his jeans out, and poured her soda down his pants. Miroku's eyes widened as a shiver crept up his spine.

"Actually," Sango replied, smashing her empty can against his chest and smiling pleasantly, "my day just got a little bit brighter." She walked around him and threw her can over her shoulder, the tin hitting him in the back of his head and bouncing to the floor.

Miroku stood there, bewildered and frozen to the spot.

A sudden rush of adrenaline kicked in, and Kagome felt the need to join in the torment. So, she stood, scooped the ice cream in her hand, and shoved it in Zen's face. She wiped her hands clean on his shirt and followed Sango out of the restaurant.

Inuyasha and the rest of his friends stared wide-eyed at the scene before them. Inuyasha's jaw dropped and the corners turned into a grin. Wiggling his way out of the booth, he trudged over to Miroku, who was still glued to the floor, and slammed his hand against Miroku's back, laughing.

"Hey buddy," Inuyasha teased, looking down at Miroku's pants, "I thought I told you that the bathroom was just down the hall?" He broke into hysterics.

Miroku punched his arm, overflowing with annoyance. "Shut up!"

The waitress who had served Kagome and Sango was just on her way with the bill when she spotted the two food-covered guys. She giggled and covered her mouth, trying to contain herself.

Zen wiped the ice cream from his face and then shook off the chocolate.

The waitress giggled again. "Uh, sir… heh… you need to pay for the food your, um, friends, wasted on your face..."

Zen snapped his gaze in her direction. "Got a problem?"

"Actually, sir," she snickered again, "I believe it's you who has the problem, because… ha... you need to pay their bill."

Inuyasha stepped up to her. "Hey, it's okay, I'll pay for it." He turned to grab his wallet out of his pocket when he saw Miroku's face. "Hey Miroku… yo, buddy?" Mouth agape, Miroku simply blinked. "Say something! Move… hello? Wake up!"

Miroku just stood where he was, soda leaking down his pants and to his shoes. The goose bumps rising from his flesh confirmed his cold appearance. "Um… I think I have to pee…" He bolted out of the crowd and practically dove into the men's restroom.

That really set off the young waitress. She tried as hard as she could not to laugh, but the tears were forming in her eyes. "I'm sorry," she croaked, bursting into laughter. "I hope I don't get fired."

Inuyasha didn't laugh; he didn't want to provoke her. "Uh, here," he shoved three hundred yen into her hands. "That's for my table too. Keep the change. Kikyo! We're outta here."

Zen wiped his face again. "I'll fetch Miroku." He headed off to the bathroom.

Kikyo and the gang caught up to Inuyasha and they headed out, Inuyasha's arm around Kikyo's waist.

"Thanks!" the waitress chirped and waved to them. "Bye!"

0000

"Hey Yuka, over here!"

Kagome jumped up and down, snatching her friend's attention over the sea of students.

Yuka snapped her head around, looking for Kagome. She spotted her and waved back. "Hi!" She skipped across the courtyard to her friend.

"Ohayou! How was your summer?" Kagome asked, hugging her friend.

"It was good, even against the fact that we didn't see each other throughout the entire vacation."

They broke from the embrace. "I visited you!" Kagome protested.

"Yea, when I was sick!" Yuka teased. "It's okay. So, where's Sango?"

"Oh, she had some-" Kagome froze when she saw Inuyasha walking across the courtyard with Miroku and Zen. She dove behind Yuka. "Look! It's Inuyasha! Hide me!"

Yuka's heart thudded. "Oh wow, he's coming right this way!"

"Yuka! You have to hide me from him! Especially from Zen!" She clutched to the back of Yuka's shirt, trying to hide herself.

"Why?" Yuka was completely confused. "Are you afraid he won't notice you?"

"Augh. You know that is not the issue. Ah, they're getting closer!"

Inuyasha and his possy walked right passed them, not even acknowledging their existence. Kagome automatically relaxed.

"Phew," she sighed, standing up straight. "Thanks, Yuka."

"Uh, I didn't do anything… what was that-"

"Okay, well, I guess I'd better go to my locker before class starts!" Kagome interrupted hurriedly. There was no way she would tell Yuka what happened at WacDonald's. Yuka would probably strangle her, even though they didn't do anything to Inuyasha directly. "Don't forget to tell me who your locker partner is! Bye!" She bolted through the crowd, heading towards the locker hallways. She begged the Gods to keep Inuyasha away from her.

But of course, her prayers were stepped on like a bug.

There he was, sauntering toward her along the hall, scanning for his locker. Kagome tried her hardest to ignore him, but as she looked along the wall for locker 1147, she couldn't help but keep an eye on him.

He had stopped; obviously he found his locker and started to open it. Kagome tried to go right passed him, but she'd found her locker.

Inuyasha was opening it.

All of the muscles in Kagome's body turned to ice. She tried to escape, but she couldn't even function on a basic level. How could she deal with this? No, Kagome thought. No WAY! I am NOT going to share my locker with this… this… pig! But, knowing there was nothing she could do, she sighed in defeat and flopped her back against the locker next to hers.

Inuyasha halted in mid-combination rotation and glanced up at Kagome. Instead of some sort of greeting common amongst normal humans, he growled and yanked open his locker. He shuffled around inside, shoving books violently into the compartment. He took a step back, and Kagome reached to put her books inside. Inuyasha rudely smashed the locker door shut before she could get to it. Her jaw dropped.

Inuyasha turned to Kagome and slammed his palm to the locker threateningly, barely missing her face. "I don't want you to go thinkin' you and I are going to be friends, you got that?" he hissed. With his other hand, he pointed his index finger in her face, centimeters from her nose. "Just because we're locker partners doesn't mean that our past is suddenly erased. Don't get to the conclusion that all of a sudden locker partner means friend…" He dropped his pointing finger and added more lowly, "…or anything more."

"That's fine with me," Kagome snapped back bravely, pressing her back as far against the locker as she could, "because I don't really like you very much."

"The feeling's mutual. No relationship will form between us, then. It's sealed, it's done, end of conversation." He pushed back from Kagome and shuffled through the crowd.

"Unfortunately, we already have a relationship!" Kagome shouted after him. "Shouldn't we try to get along, despite your obnoxious attitude?"

Without looking back, Inuyasha flicked his hand at her over his shoulder as if to dismiss her and said dryly, "Nope."

Kagome groaned and thumped her head on the locker and slid to the floor. She had quite the year ahead of her.

0000

A/N: If you're curious on why they hate each other so much, well, you'll find out later. I'm hoping that this one will be better then Save Me. I'm hoping it goes along much smoother. I've thought it out more so than I have Save Me, which helps a lot. Now I'm gonna be I'll be on a roll! Thanks for reading, well, please review!

PS since I'm now five years older (as are my avid readers), I'm going to be making this story a lot less friendly, and a lot more adult. You've been warned.