Chapter One: First Day of Senior Year

Rain rose to the sound of her annoyingly loud alarm clock buzzing, urging her to awaken from her slumber. She sat up in her bed and slowly opened her eyes to the still dark room as her hand slammed down on the clock at her bedside. She yawned and stretched as she distanced herself from the land of dreams to greet the new day. A small smiled tugged at the corners of her drool crusted mouth as she realized today was the last first day of high school she would ever have to endure. She leapt from her bed with a new found energy from her revelation as she made her way towards the bathroom to shower and dress from the day.

She turned on the lamp on her nightstand to light her way in the shadow casted room. Whoever made school so early in the morning should die a thousand deaths. After making her bed quickly, so it wouldn't tempt her to lay back down, she took off towards the bathroom she shared, to her dismay, with her twin brother, Raiden. After showering and drying her hair, she pushed the door leading directly to his room to rouse her lazy ass brother. He was by no means a morning person, seemingly taking after their father. It was no surprise his alarm clock was blaring a local metal station into the pitch black room littered with trash and clothes that acted as booby traps, while her brother lay motionless, his head buried in the covers and pillows. She jumped from the door of the bathroom clear across the room to land forcefully on his bed, jumping up and down.

"Get up, lazy ass! We have school today!" she cried in excitement. A low pitched growl in response signaled he obviously didn't share her joy. "Oh come on. Be happy. This is the last first day of high school for us. Now get up! You're not making me late! Don't forget I have to drive you since you're still grounded from throwing that party with Inumaru and BJ." At this he raised his head from the shelter of his pillows to stare at her with tired golden eyes that signaled his lineage. His long black hair was frayed and messy, sticking out in every direction; some pieces caught on his black dog ears atop his head, some covering his face. He smoothed his hair away from his view as he rubbed his eyes and yawned, his fangs gleaming in the dim light from the bathroom that leaked into his dark red room.

"I hate it when you're happy," he said in his melancholy morning voice that never phased his sister. She gazed down at him, her deep blue eyes seeming to glow; like their mother, she always had light behind her eyes, no matter the dark the surrounded them. She smiled wide, showing her own fangs to her twin. Unlike him, she had regular pointed ears, similar to her uncle. No one could ever figure out how she was born a full blooded demon while her siblings were all hanyou; even her own twin brother.

"Hurry up and take a shower before I get Dad," she said with a wicked gleam in her eye that made Raiden jump from his bed, tossing his covers and his sister to the side, as he raced for the bathroom, shutting and locking it within the second. Rain hugged and made her way out of his room, down the hall, and into her room to finish getting ready. About thirty minutes later she was dressed in simple dark skinny jeans and soft, loose, baby blue v-neck t-shirt, her long black hair falling over her shoulders like a waterfall. She always parted it down the middle: one, because she adorned the crescent moon of the Takahashi clan on her forehead like her uncle, and two because she was born with naturally blue bangs that hung long on either side. She bounced down the stairs and into the kitchen to see her sweet little sister Naiomi eating a bowl of cereal. She had on white shorts and a red and white baseball shirt with white tennis shoes. Her curly white hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail as her bangs, just like their fathers, hung free. Her deep chocolate eyes, a trait of their mother's, sparkled when she saw her big sister.

"Morning Rain," she beamed. Today was Naiomi's first day of high school as a freshman and she couldn't be happier. "Where's Raiden?" she asked. As if called, he rushed into the kitchen, hair still wet, in a messy low ponytail, baggy holly jeans and a black t-shirt with the name of his latest favorite band in red letters. He threw himself onto the stool beside Naiomi and rested his head on the counter before turning so his cheek lay on the cool surface and his eyes on his baby sister.

"You wanna make me a bowl of cereal?" he asked sweetly, sporting his signature puppy-dog face: big sparkling eyes, bottom lip jutted out and quivering. She rolled her eyes while laughing and went to make him some breakfast. Once she sat the bowl down in front of him, he shot upright and began to devour the food in front of him. With a mouth full of frosted flakes and milk dripping down his chin, he asked, "Where's Dad?"

"He left for a business meeting earlier. Something with Uncle Sess and Roku about merging or something," Naiomi blabbered out. The ecstatic look of joy on Raiden's face was short lived when she quickly explained, "and he took your car keys with him so don't get any crazy ideas." Instantly he slumped down on his bar stool and finished his breakfast at a slow paced to mimic depression. Once done, he placed his bowl in the sink and turned to face his sisters. Naiomi hopped up from her seat with her backpack already on. Rain was in her own little world as she twirled to the heart-shaped silver locked around her neck in between her fingers, occasionally flipping it open to see the picture inside.

"You ready Rain?" he asked loudly in an attempt to drag her from her nostalgia that held her back in more ways than she understood. She jumped at the sound of his voice booming against the silence of the kitchen, snapping her out of her trip down memory lane, thankfully.

"Yeah," she said meekly as she moved towards the door to grab her book-bag and keys. Before exiting the front door, they each kissed a picture of their mother and father that rested on the wall beside the door frame like they did every time the left the house. Rain was the last to leave and stalled slightly to gaze upon her beautiful mother. She disappeared ten years ago without a trace and it hit everyone pretty hard. Her dad took it the worst, seeing as she was his mate, but he was doing much better now that he had his business to focus on. Rain locked the door behind her as she ran to jump into the drivers seat of her blacked-out Audi before taking off towards school.

Inuyasha walked calmly into his office building earlier that morning to find it just as he had left it the day before. It seems like yesterday Kagome was convincing him that he should start a weapons manufacturing company; she always knew best. That was thirty years ago when they were still in high school though. She's been gone for ten long, lonely years now, and if wasn't for his kids, he wouldn't have any reason to keep going. He subconsciously reached up to rub his mating mark at the apex of his neck. She was so wonderful and had given him five beautiful kids before she had vanished. He never believed she was dead; the mating mark always gave him brief clips of unfamiliar streets and faces but everything was so vague, he could never find her. He searched for years and years after her disappearance, but he never even picked up the slightest trace of her scent. After four years, he devoted himself to his children and his business so he could give them the future Kagome always dreamed they'd have.

He stepped onto the elevator without realizing he was moving forward, hand still on his mating mark. His body was on autopilot while he reveled in memories of the past and his sweet Kagome. As the doors to the elevator opened on the top floor of Yasha Incorporated, he walked towards his office, eyes glazed over in thought. His secretary turned him to walk towards the meeting room without even breaking him of his revelations, a goofy smile painted on his face. Once he stepped into the board room, the icy darkness of his older half-brother's voice broke him of his revelries.

"Inuyasha, so good of you to join us," Sesshomaru said sarcastically. Truthfully, Inuyasha was literally one minute late, but Sesshomaru needed something to light Inuyasha's fury to distract him from his own mind. He smiled when an angry glare was shot his way as Inuyasha dropped his hand caressing his neck to his side and set his briefcase on the long wooden table surrounded by chairs.

"Yeah, yeah Fluffy. One minute late. I'm horrible." Inuyasha grumbled as he plopped down in one of the leather seats, eyeing the other occupants of the room. He grinned when he saw Miroku Houshi, his oldest friend, and president of his company, at the far end of the table. He was smacking his oldest son, Kai Houshi, on the back of the head for making inappropriate comments at the young female stenographer appointed to transcribe the meeting. Kai was the head of the nuclear department at Yasha Inc. and one of the most well-renowned biochemists in the world at the young age of 25. His younger brother, Shin Houshi, was at his side, laughing at his brother's expense. Shin was a bright and cunning legal mind as well as the personal lawyer of Yasha Inc. and Sesshomaru's company, Taisho Industries, at the age of 22. Inuyasha surveyed the other occupants of his meeting to find his eldest nephew, Elliot, standing next to his father. You could tell they were related with the silver hair, golden eyes, and cold demeanor radiating off of them. Elliot was 23 and soon to be taking over Taisho Industries.

"Well, let's get started," Sesshomaru stated flatly as his eyes cut to the end of the table where the Houshi men were still bickering. "Monk, control your clan. We have important matters to attend too." Miroku, silenced his sons and turned to give his full attention to learn the reason behind Sesshomaru calling this meeting so unexpectedly. Over the years, Miroku hadn't aged a bit: same black hair pulled into a tiny low ponytail at the nape of his neck, same violet eyes leering over every female within range, but in his age, he had grown a black gotee. Inuyasha guessed this was to distinguish himself as the eldest since Shin was his spitting image.

"It appears Spider Marx Technologies, the company we've been competing with for the last couple of years, is up to something again. It's jumped for spots from seventh to third, directly behind our two companies. They even managed to pass Howling Corporations somehow. I stated digging to better understand their success only to discover their CEO is none other than Naraku Onigumo." A collective round of gasped escaped the lips of everyone except Sesshomaru and his son Elliot. Inuyasha leapt from his seat.

"How did we not know that bastard was here sooner? He's been gone since…" Inuyasha's fiery golden orbs drifted from his brother to land on the table before him. He inhaled deeply before continuing his statement in a much lower and softer tone. "He's been gone since about ten years ago." It was almost a whisper.

"I know, Inuyasha. Apparently, he started the company from overseas and came back to oversee it in person about a month ago. We're still digging up anything else we can." He changed the subject to avoid any unnecessary talk about Kagome to spare his brother from further soreness on the subject and discussed stats, new projects, and future business plans. All these things were pretty mundane, regular topics of discussion when the met once a month. A knock on the door caused him to stop mid sentence as his person assistant scurried in with her head bowed, handed him a piece of folded paper, and ran out of the meeting room as fast her high-heeled shoes would carry her. Sesshomaru stared after her with a quizzical gaze as he unfolded the piece of paper and read the contents. His eyes tinted red for a brief second as he tossed the paper to Inuyasha.

"It seems he's at it again," Sesshomaru said calmly, though his voice was tripping with malice. Inuyasha crumpled the piece of paper with a snarl as he shot to his feet.

"He's not getting away with this!" Inuyasha growled through clinched teeth.

"What did it say, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked calmly.

"Apparently, that bastard has enrolled his kids in the same school as ours and that note said Kagura was just given a job as their teacher. You know this is all to get to our kids!" Inuyasha howled as flashed from their previous encounters with Naraku flashed before his red eyes. He would tare Naraku and any of his children limb from limb if they tried to mess with his family.

"Calm down, Inuyasha. We send our kids to the best school in town, so it's understandable he would send his there as well. We just need to have a family dinner tonight and discuss this with them. I'd say Sango would love to cook, but she's eight months pregnant and blinded by rage ninety percent of the time, so who's house?" Miroku's light banter calmed Inuyasha immensely.

"I forgot you were about to be a dad… again. What is this Roku? Number nine?" Inuyasha joked. "You should probably stop soon. I'm not giving you any more raises. You're way to overpaid as it is." Miroku smiled at his old friend.

"Well, we've tried but then something comes along and boom. Baby. What am I supposed to do? Deny my wife-" the sounds of gagging cut him off as his two sons started to wave their hands in front of their faces and shake their heads.

"No. No. No. No talk about anything baby making between you two. Not today Dad, come on!" They whined in unison. This caused a chuckle from the whole table. Sesshomaru cleared his throat.

"We can have the dinner at my house. I think I'm the only one with a big enough table at this point. I'll call Kouga as well." He turned to his son and eyed him for a minute, as if speaking telepathically to him. Sesshomaru nodded and turned back to the table. "We have business to attend to so I shall see you tonight." With that everyone got up, shook hands, and left for their respectable offices.

As Inuyasha sat down behind his huge mahogany desk in his giant office, he stared at the picture of Kagome positioned on the corner of his desk. Beside it, a picture of their family a couple weeks before she disappeared. He sat staring and thinking until the buzzing of the intercom on his desk brought him back to reality so he could get to work for the day. Every now and then, his thoughts drifted back to her.

'Kagome…'

Rain pulled into a parking space between a silver BMW and a red Hummer she was all too familiar with. She leaped out of the car, backpack in hand, and sped to the group of people behind the red Hummer.

"Rain!" her cousin and best friend screeched as she assaulted the said girl in a warm and powerful hug.

"Good Morning, Samara dear! Last first day of school EVER!" Rain exclaimed in a high pitched voice. Samara was beautiful in every way possible. She had long black hair that was all one length and straightened perfectly. Her golden eyes were slightly lighter than her brothers or cousins, with little specs of honey brown accenting the irises. She never wore make-up, and much like Rain, had a body to die for. Being the only daughter to her Uncle Sesshomaru, no man dare approach her for fear of not only Sesshomaru but her brothers, Elliot, the oldest, and Inumaru, her twin.

"Right!" a slightly lower female voice said behind her. Rain turned to see the one and only Phoenix the wolf demoness. She was the heiress to Howling Corp. and the only child of Kouga and Ayame Ookami. Her curly hair hung in ringlets down her back with the occasional curl spilling over her shoulder. The bottom of her hair was black, while the top was bright red like her mothers. Her eyes were a bright electric blue like her fathers and a single fang was visible through the smirk she was wearing. Rain jumped on her, hugging her other best friend tightly as she laughed and chatted. The girls rambling always sounded like high pitched none-sense to the boys behind them.

Raiden sat on the back of Phoenix's red hummer with his cousin, Inumaru, eating sunflower seeds and acting too cool to care about school like they always did. Inumaru had long silver hair and golden eyes like his father and brother though his eyes were shaped more like his mother's. He had two silver dog ears on top of his head, much like his Uncle Inuyasha, that would twitch when he heard his name. A muscular male in a dark blue t-shirt that matched his gorgeous blue eyes hopped up to join them on the truck. He flung his long black braid over his shoulder as he stuck his hand out to receive some sunflower seeds and, upon reception, he fell into the same mechanisms of movement and looking too cool as his two friends beside him. Bankotsu's younger brother, Suikotsu, leaned against the truck, not saying a word, just gazing across the parking lot at the different students who arrived.

Naiomi bounced over to her best friend, Kimi Houshi, when she saw her car pull up. Kimi had long brown hair that fell straight like her mothers, and deep violet eyes like her father. The two girls chatted and giggled in excitement to begin their first day of high school. After about ten minutes of socializing, the bell rang, signaling the students to make their way to their first classes. Everyone took off in their respectable directions to begin the first day of school, unbeknownst to the them the three set of eyes watching them all.

Rain sat down in her usual seat in the back of the class as student poured into the classroom with disappointed looks on their faces. It was forth period already and lunch would be directly in the middle of this class, thank god. Rain hated math with a passion and was not looking forward to it like she was the rest of her classes. She noticed the teacher eyeing her intensely. She looked back at the tall, skinny, pale women with beady red eyes gleaming with intimidation. Her black hair was pulled into a tight bun on the top of her head and her arms were crossed over her chest in an aggravated way. Rain just shrugged to herself and went back to staring at her desk, trying to shake the woman's burning gaze. A familiar voice soothed her as she looked up to see Samara, Raiden, and Phoenix walking into class giggling. She noticed the woman's glare shift from her to them. Raiden felt it instantly as he turned around to return a glare, never being one to respect his elders or teachers; he was too much like his father. He took his seat by his sister, to the dismay of Phoenix who had to sit behind her, and continued his glare towards the woman. A low growl roared quietly from his chest in warning as the teacher snapped her gaze elsewhere until the tardy bell rang. The woman stood and walked to the whiteboard with a marker in hand and wrote out Mrs. Onigumo in cursive on the board. She turned to face the class with a fake smile that didn't touch her unpleasant eyes as she spoke.

"Hello class! My name in Mrs. Onigumo and I'll be you're math teacher this year. I'll begin with role call." She picked up a tablet from her podium and cheerfully called everyone's name in alphabetical order. When she got to Phoenix's name, her voice became low and pronounced the name almost through clenched teeth. Phee gave her a perplexed expression in response but called 'here.' Oddly enough, Mrs. Onigumo continued calling role like she had previously only to stop right before calling Raiden's name. Her voice dropped very low and was almost scratchy as she pronounced 'Taisho,' making the name drip with malice as if it pained her say it. He growled in response and she continued to call Rain's name along with Samara's before returning to her normal voice as she finished role call. The friends looked at each other with bewildered expressions and the unanimous understanding this woman was going to be trouble.

The bell for lunch rang after what seemed like an eternity and the students raced towards the door and away from Mrs. Onigumo, who was trying to make them stay from some bullshit reason. They ignored her and ran, making sure not to leave anything behind so they didn't have to return for any reason. Instead of heading to the cafeteria with everyone else, they ran to the office where Inumaru was already waiting patiently in one of the uncomfortable folding chairs across from the main desk. Samara eyed her brother before asking what he was doing there.

"The stupid math teacher said I was being disrespectful and sent me to the office for getting up to sharpen my pencil after telling him I couldn't use the mechanical one I brought. I'm going to be suspended probably, but not before I get out of that bitch's class," he growled in aggravation. Inumaru wasn't the best student in the world but he had never even been in the office because a teacher before, only fighting with other students. Samara shook her head.

"No, you won't be suspended. There's something up with that teacher and we'll get to the bottom of it." While they were talking, Rain stepped up to the secretary with a smile.

"Hi, Ms. Samme, how are you today?" The older woman smiled at her warmly and nodded her head.

"I'm wonderful Rain-san. How are you? Counting down your final days?" Rain giggled.

"You know me all too well." She smiled once more at the woman before getting to the point. "Can you do us a favor and help switch our schedules. It seems my family and I have done something to offend Mrs. Onigumo, and judging by my poor cousin's predicament, staying in her class won't do anything but hurt us." Rain explained their situation and the reason behind their need for a class change. Ms. Samme nodded and switched them to another class of more advanced students as well as switched Inumaru to a different second period teacher after tearing up his disciplinary form. They thanked her and headed to lunch, relieved to be away from that vile woman.

They walked into the cafeteria towards the lunch line, surveying the room for anyone they knew. They spotted Naiomi and Kimi sitting with Suikotsu and three people they didn't know; two girls and a boy. One girl was deathly pale with charcoal eyes staring at nothing as she ate her food in silence while the others talked lively; she seemed to be older than the others. The other boy and girl looked to be twins, both with long dark hair and sparkling red eyes. The boy's hair was curly and half pulled back while the remainder spilled over his shoulders and down his back. The girl's hair was straight and longer than her brothers. They both seemed charismatic and friendly as they talked and laughed with Naiomi, Kimi, and Suikotsu. Rain narrowed her eyes at these three strangers, trying to read them. Her attention was averted to the food in front of her, however, when the lunch lady huffed and asked her what she wanted for the second time.

After getting their food, the group made their way towards the empty table behind Naiomi's. Rain waved to he sister as she set her tray down and turned to sit herself. She heard her name mentioned and realized Naiomi was making introductions. She turned to wave and be polite to the new faces: the older girl with white hair's name was Kanna Onigumo and the twins were Anni and Muso Onigumo. Rain and Samara narrowed their eyes once again at them, trying to read them.

"By that look, you must have met our mother," Muso beamed in a very sweet tone. They all nodded their head. "Sorry about that. She's got some vendetta against the Taishos. Something having to do with all of our parents a long time ago. I'm no so petty to hold a grudge against someone I don't know. We just moved here and we're really happy to meet you." He explained politely. They nodded and returned his smile. He seemed friendly enough. Anni spoke next.

"Yeah, we know our mom's a bitch. Just be thankful she's just a teacher," she laughed. "It's been such a long time since we've lived in Japan, it's good to be back! Anni continued to make small talk across the table with the Taishos, Ookami, and Houshi kids. Inumaru's gaze drifted to land on Kanna, who had yet to speak. Anni noticed right away. "Oh, don't mind her. Our older sister is way too shy for her own good." Kanna gave him a weak smile and continued to eat her food silently, occasionally stealing glances toward Inumaru, whose gaze never wavered.

The day continued on in a predictable fashion. Kanna, being a senior as well, had a couple classes with the gang, and to Inumaru's satisfaction, finally got her give him a meek 'hello' after blatently staring at her every chance he got. The final bell rang and the teens poured out of the school, heading for the parking lot to drive home. The gang bid each other farewell and went their separate ways for the time being. As their cars pulled out of the parking lot, they were unaware of the beady red eyes watching them through the blinds of their classroom. Kagaru pulled her cell phone out of her purse and hit the speed dial button. On the third ring a cold voice that always sent chills down her spine answered gruffly.

"They switched out of my class," she said quietly, immediately having to pull the phone away from her ear to minimize the damage to her eardrum from the yelling on the other end. "I'm sorry, but the kids made friends with them." She waited for a reply. "Yes. Yes. I know." She cringed when the voice told her what to expect for her failure when she got home before the line went dead. Kagura shook with fear and single tear descended her cheek. "Shit," she cursed to herself as she whipped the tear away and gathered her things to head to her car. Tonight, like every other night of her miserable life, was going to suck.