Chapter 13

When Kagome returned to the table, Inuyasha could tell something was different. He didn't try to press her on it though. He could tell she was becoming miserable, and he hated that it was his fault.

He just couldn't figure out why she despised him so much. What did he do?

Okay, so he knew what he did; he ignored her all those years, and on top of that, he was a total heart-breaking jackass for most of his life. Maybe she wasn't so strange to be so wary of him.

She was silent as she ate her meal, which bugged the hell out of him. He wondered what was going through that pretty little head of hers.

"Kagome?" he asked hesitantly.

Kagome tensed, keeping her eyes trained on the plate in front of her. "What?"

He was disheartened by her reaction to him. He paused for so long that Kagome looked at him. "Never mind," he mumbled.

He noticed when her brows furrowed in confusion. The rest of their dinner was a stretch of silence, and he paid swiftly when the bill arrived.

He opened the door of his car for her, and drove her home. When he pulled into her driveway, she went to open the door, but stopped.

"Inuyasha…"

"Yeah?" he asked, slightly defeated but a bitterness underlying his tone.

"Sorry if I sort of ruined this for you. But…just, don't call me, okay?" She sounded exhausted.

"Keh," he replied, glaring out the windshield. He saw her nod slightly out of the corner of his eye, and she reached for the handle. "Kagome," he groaned before she could get out. She turned her big doe-eyes on him. "It's my fault. Don't worry about it. I won't bother you anymore."

She didn't say anything to that, just got out and walked slowly to her house. He thought like he should have kissed her, one last time. Just to remember what it felt like. She probably would've gotten mad, but he didn't care about that part.

--

On Monday, Kagome slumped tiredly into her seat in her first class of the day. Sango watched her quizzically, which Kagome ignored. Several people, who had rarely acknowledged Kagome before that ridiculous lunch scene last week, greeted her as they walked past.

When Inuyasha came in, he didn't look at her and sat on the farthest row, close to the window, and behind some random pretty girl. Kagome, for some bizarre reason she could not explain, felt a little guilty and saddened that he was ignoring her.

The day, as all Mondays, passed slowly, dragging. Kagome walked home with Sango, who had gotten some but few details about the infamous date out of Kagome by then.

"Really, Sango," Kagome was saying for the umpteenth time, "it wasn't that great. I didn't want to be there, and we barely talked, so it was really just awkward."

"So…nothing happened?" Sango asked tentatively.

"Nothing," Kagome repeated. She had an ingenious way to turn the spotlight to Sango. "So, Sango, when are you going out with Miroku?"

"W-What?" Sango squeaked, turning a nameless shade of red.

"Oh, come on, how many times has he asked you out now? You know you want to, just go for it! I went out with Inuyasha, didn't I? The least you could do is provide me with something interesting to talk about."

"Well…," Sango said nervously. "I guess it wouldn't hurt…But he's such a pervert! I don't want to spend a night beating up some guy for groping me! That no way to live!"

Kagome laughed at Sango's exclamation and serious expression; it was very true that Sango would be able to beat someone up if provoked.

--

Later that evening, Kagome was laying on her bed and staring at her ceiling.

And then, before she really thought anything through, she was walking out her front door and up the street.

She rang the doorbell of the gorgeous white house she'd arrived at and waited, starting to think that maybe this wasn't the best of ideas.

When the door swung open, Kagome was surprised it was actually Inuyasha who answered. He froze and stared at her.

"Hi," she said weakly.

"Um…hi," he replied.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Uh…" He glanced back into the house. She wondered if he was eating dinner. "Yeah, sure."

He stepped out of the house and closed the door behind him. She sat down on the cement steps of the front porch, and Inuyasha sat down uncertainly too, a foot away from her.

"So, I know that Friday was just…well, horrible, if I'm being honest, and I know some of that was my fault, but it was your fault too, but I was feeling really bad about how we ended things, you know? I shouldn't have been so childish, you just wanted to have dinner, but…" Kagome was rambling, but she couldn't stop herself from plowing on. "Don't you think it was a bad way to settle things? I do. And then I was feeling just so guilty during school today, I have no idea why, but I was just now laying in my room and thinking that maybe…maybe we should try being friends?"

Inuyasha stayed silent. He seemed to be waiting.

"I'm done now," Kagome told him.

"…Friends," he repeated, staring at the patch of sidewalk in front of him.

"Yes," Kagome said, pressing her lips together. "Friends."

"That's—I—I'd like that," he said, and Kagome let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding.

"Really? You're sure?"

"Yeah," he said. He sensed what she was thinking when he saw her expression. "I won't try anything, I promise. I do know how to behave."

"Do you?" Kagome asked, her voice raising a few octaves. "Because if you can't, this won't work."

"Come on, Kagome," he said, his tone lightening. "Don't you trust me?"

"No, not really, no," she replied bluntly.

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh."

"Yeah…," she said awkwardly. "But, really, can you blame me?"

He tilted his head and half-smiled. "No, I guess not."

"Exactly. So, um…shall we shake on it?"

"Sure." He reached for her outstretched hand, but she pulled back.

"Do you promise you won't try to make this friendship into something more?"

"Yes," said Inuyasha, a slightly exasperated tone to his answer.

"And you will not embarrass me like you did last week?"

She could tell he was smirking, even in the near-darkness.

"I can't promise that," he told her.

She seethed for a short moment. "Fine."

And they shook hands, Inuyasha's hand feeling oddly comforting to her.

Bad head, she thought. Bad. No more ridiculous thoughts like that.

--

A/N: You want excuses? Check out Chapter 21 of My Captain, My Love, because I'm not rewriting them. All I'm saying is I was lazy and uninspired (in other words, I had writer's block). But I'm trying to do better. Why else would I have finished this chapter? Even if it is really short. Better than nothing, I'd say. You want more to read, then look at my other stories!

If you do look at my other stories, I will say right now that the only ones likely to be updated very much is this one (Flipped), My Captain, My Love, and Life or Love. So…have fun with that! That last one is brand new, I'd like if someone told me their opinion of it!

Review, but I don't blame you if you are annoyed I waited like two and a half months to update. But I've seen worse! Thanks for baring with me, and for reading my long rambles if anyone is in fact still reading. Ttfn!