He walked right through that door and not even half a second later, everyone was mesmerized by him. I was merely angry at his presence here. Of course this would happen. There was no such thing as a life of normalcy for me. That was like something of a movie. But it was nice to pretend for a short while.

People murmured quietly, but were mostly transfixed by the way he just was. He didn't even have to try and be so…perfect. He just was.

I knew it was a natural thing. This exact thing had happened to me eons ago when I was the new girl on the first day of high school. That was how we were raised to be. It was called "elegance." Something many people didn't have around here.

I'd picked it here for a reason. It was a small town with humble people that felt comfortable to live in. I was sure I'd make it a long time here. I could rest and age and do things humans did.

Somewhere deep in my mind, though, my true self was reminding me that this wasn't a permanent escape; I couldn't live here forever. I had more important things to attend to.

We locked eyes. He blushed with shyness and nerves; I simply glared.

My history teacher cleared her throat. "Excuse me…how may I help you?" she asked the boy who had completely captured the attention of absolutely everyone in this room. I was very amused by how she'd broken the ice. It was obvious that she had been careful to not stumble over her own words. Was Professor Yuri nervous around him? Old, batty Professor Yuri?

He didn't stop staring at me, but he answered, nodding in my direction quaintly before looking at the our professor. "I'm the new student you were expecting." Slowly, he took out a paper, his schedule, and handed it to her. "Inuyasha Taiko."

Professor Yuri blinked in surprise that this was her new student but nodded in understanding, taking his schedule and checking it over before signing. "Welcome to first period History, Mr. Taiko."

Inuyasha looked back to me again, his eyes showing that we had a connection. Students were starting to notice that he was concentrating on me, and glanced over at me as well. I felt a little like it was the first day of junior year all over again.

"Take a seat wherever you'd like," Professor Yuri told him, and tried regaining the attention of her class, writing things about World War II on the whiteboard.

Of course he came to the back of the classroom with me.

I eyed him carefully while he blushed again, speaking to him quietly as he got settled in his seat. "I didn't expect you of all people to come for me. Did you really have to come so soon?"

"We gave you a year," he snorted, as if that was equivalent to a century. "Now it's high time you came back. We need you, you're the most important of the Clan. Hell, the whole East needs you."

I sighed. "I just wish I could have more time…being normal."

Inuyasha's eyes grew soft, fond of these words, knowing them full well. "I'm sorry. But there's been an incident, and we need you more than ever. I'll tell you about it after class."

"Who else is here?" I questioned curiously, only partly paying attention to Professor Yuri's review lecture on Pearl Harbor. Inuyasha sighed.

"Sango, Miroku, Kikyo, and even Shippo. Stupid Koga decided to go and look for Kagome," Inuyasha sighed. I raised an eyebrow. Kagome?

Nonetheless, I nodded in approval, knowing a few bodyguards would be around, masquerading as police officers. It was a given.

Class seemed to drone on for hours with reviewing until the bell rang and we were free to go to our next torturing class.

I turned to Inuyasha. "Let me see your schedule." I swear, if he had his schedule formed to mimic mine, I would flip him off the roof of the school.

He handed it to me swiftly and I read it over. Only one other class with me, which was last period, P.E.

I smiled at him a little before handing it back to him. "Nice. So…," I lowered my voice down to a whisper, "how are you completely human?"

Inuyasha gave her an impish grin. "Kaede and Kikyo did some sort of priestess ritual. I'll be like this if I wear this stupid thing." He showed her the necklace he had widely around his neck, almost off his shoulders. It was simple and made of thread and topaz jewels the exact shade of his half-demon eyes that were currently replaced by his human sapphire ones.

I praised Kaede and Kikyo in their talent, letting Inuyasha hide his secret once more. I stepped back, turning to leave and giving him a slight wave.

"I guess I'll see you around," I said casually, walking around the herd of people that had gathered to ogle at Inuyasha.

As I walked on to Calculus, I saw a familiar face sauntering towards me. I kept my pace, but let her catch up with me. "Wonderful to see you again, Lady Kikyo."

"And I must say the same, Empress," Kikyo murmured in her steady voice, bowing her head. I did the same, but disapproved.

"Don't call attention to our ways, Kikyo. We must be casual until our group is reunited formally," I reminded her silently, opening the door to my math class. She walked in as well. Figures I would have a class with her.

"Of course, Danoe," Kikyo smiled gracefully, nodding. She took a seat next to me as more students filed into the room. We were silent, no words needing to be spoken. But just before the bell rang, I turned to face Kikyo and decided to ask a little something I'd thought of.

"Inuyasha is in my first class. You are in my second class. Should I be expecting Sango or Miroku to appear in my third? And then the other in my fourth? And a repeat?"

Kikyo made no attempt to hide the truth. She was an honest woman who didn't even blink at an insult or embarrassing question. She didn't blush with embarrassment or try to lie as she answered me. "The demon slayer, Sango, is to appear in your next class. Then the monk afterwards. It'll go backwards from there in us being in all of your classes."

I said nothing, but turned to face front as the bell rang and tardy students rushed inside before it stopped. I wasn't angry, just a little irked that they would go to such great lengths to stay near me. What exactly was going on?

Our math professor proceeded to taking attendance, accepting Kikyo into the class, and going on with his own twisted review of what we'd learned over the year. I really couldn't hate finals more.

Just before class ended, Kikyo passed over a note, Professor Tsakei not even taking notice. He really did love math too much.

I had never, in all my years of living, seen Kikyo make such a…careless action. Not as in childish, but…unlike her. She wasn't the type to be considered a giddy schoolgirl passing notes to her friends while the teacher wasn't looking.

I gave her an odd look, then the bell rang. Quickly I opened the note and took in the contents. It was in ancient script; few people knew how to read in that old language. I wasn't surprised the priestess knew in the least.

I am not allowed to tell you, but we are in imminent danger. We need you to come back with us.

Imminent danger?

Things were just swirling in my mind. What was this all about? They'd traveled through time itself to come and cut off my vacation time, and didn't bother even telling me why?

I grabbed my things and walked out with Kikyo. The boys didn't bother trying to hide their stares, and the girls were easily jealous. All of us had a charm.

My whispers to Kikyo managed to be heard through the bustle of the school hallways. "Imminent danger?"

Kikyo nodded solemnly. "Yes, Empress. We need you back in the Feudal Era very badly in this time. That is why all of us came. But it's too dangerous for you. You've spent a long time here, and it counts as even more time in the past. You won't have as much as the experience needed. We'd like to stay here with you and help you get back to your normal self."

I didn't care that she had dropped the casual act and formally addressed me, I was worried about what was going on in my own time. "What kind of dangers are there? What am I preparing myself for?"

"I can't say anything more on the subject. My deepest apologies, Danoe. I am very sure the demon slayer will say more," Kikyo whispered to me, then disappeared to her next class. I shook my head. The priestess Kikyo, going off to a high school class. She wasn't even wearing her usual clothing, but the school uniform: a white dress shirt with a navy blue skirt. Kikyo looked so out of place.

I groaned inwardly to my next class, waiting for Sango to pop up at any minute now. Literature definitely was a strength of mine, but it was painfully boring.

"Danoe!" I heard a girl's voice call behind me. Sango.

Turning and smiling, she caught up to me, giving me a tired smile. "How can you come to this place every day?"

I shrugged, entering my classroom. "I think it's entertaining."

"Entertaining?" Sango looked a little tired, not even through half her classes. "I can barely keep my eyes open wide enough."

"You get used to it. I've always wanted to be normal. This is what normal feels like," I smiled. Sango gave me a polite smile.

"I can understand that you might want to live a life opposite the one you have," she agreed.

After attendance was accounted for, another review was started. Only this time, it was study group. Pair up with whoever you wanted to.

As soon as our teacher had said so, all eyes were on me and Sango. She blushed a little, while I kept my cool.

Loudly enough for everyone to get the picture, I asked, "Sango, be my partner?"

She nodded gratefully.

Except we didn't study. I wanted to find out just what was going on.

"Kikyo told me the Feudal Era isn't in tiptop shape?" I pressed, looking at Sango expectantly. She sighed.

"We aren't supposed to discuss the matter, especially not with you, but you need to know. You are, after all…very important." I'd given Sango a look that I hadn't meant to give out. I felt a pang of guilt, but soon got over it.

"I'm sorry," I sighed anyway. I lowered my voice down to a soft murmur. "I just can't get used to being the Empress of the East again so easily. I need to be filled in, though."

"The Mainland is attacking," Sango whispered hurriedly, her eyes darkening. "Incredibly strong demons are coming in and destroying villages, taking over kingdoms. Only in certain territories, though."

I suddenly felt protective of my territory. "The East?"

"Nobody's even come close to it," Sango said. The word "yet" floated in the air like an unwanted fly.

"I hope villages are bonding together for this," I whispered. Sango nodded.

"You don't need to worry. They're all temporary allies. At least until you're back from your "worldly travels" and can take care of this."

I nodded. I would take care of this.

"Is that all I need to know?"

Sango nodded. I smirked.

"How are you and Miroku?"

I'd never seen anyone actually turn as red as a tomato. It was amusing to the eye.

"We're o-okay, I guess," she said shakily, mortified that I would ask such a question. I knew that they were to be wed once Naraku was defeated, but even after his demise, they still hadn't made any plans. Both of them were much too shy.

"I hope I'm invited," I blurted out. Sango's face created a new depth of red.

"Of course, only a stupid person would forget to invite the Empress of the East," she said, totally embarrassed.

"It was so much easier being Princess of the Seas," I sighed, which made Sango sweat drop.

"You'd rather be cursed to be pinned down underwater and invisible forever?" she asked. I shrugged nonchalantly, which made Sango question my sanity. But she didn't know how it'd had been like. I'd never spoke of that experience until Inuyasha managed to break the curse, being the cause of it in the first place.

Sango changed the subject. "Have you…kept it safe?"

I nodded quickly, suddenly feeling the weight of the necklace on my neck. "Another reason to stay here. I can protect it better."

"You've done an incredible job," she whispered.

"Only because I have all of you to help me with it as well," I smiled. She blushed. It was true, though. Without the help of Inuyasha, his friends, Kikyo, and even Sesshomaru, I couldn't have nearly as great of protection for the possession as one could hope. They gave me strength.

The bell marked the end of class.

"That noise," Sango growled. "It's annoying."

"That I can agree with," I sighed, shaking my head and moving on to my next class with the well-known monk, Miroku. Mostly known for his…lecherous ways.

"Ah, Danoe, so nice to see you," Miroku's smooth talking voice greeted me from the entrance of my Chemistry room. I gave him a polite smile.

"Hello, Miroku."

I'm not going to lie when I say that out of Inuyasha, Kikyo, and Sango combined, Miroku got way more than his share of attention from the crowd. It was like he was a movie star. He certainly did look the part. I just couldn't believe such a pervert could be so wildly popular. He fit into the perfect stereotype of a conceited jock.

Walking in with him and letting him introduce himself to Professor Minaru, I sat in my seat, knowing full well that Miroku would accompany me and by my official lab partner.

And of course…review day.

Miroku didn't have much to say on the matter of what was happening, so I decided to ask when he was going to properly ask for Sango's hand. After a minute of choking on words and blushing like he'd just watched porn, he stuttered that he didn't know. I huffed. These two. What a pair of a weenies.

Inuyasha had rubbed off on me too much, and I ended up sounding almost exactly like him in personality.

"Listen, monk. Sango's in love with you, no doubt. You're in love with Sango. You want to marry each other and have all those kids and that whole shebang. But you can't do that if you don't just prance up and tell her the magic words," I quipped. They needed to grow up. "Oh, and a word of much needed advice. Stop being the world's biggest womanizer. Understood?"

"Y-Yes, Danoe," Miroku gulped. "I really did need that advice…"

I popped a vein in my forehead when I looked down. "Where's that hand going, monk?"

Miroku laughed nervously and snatched it back, giving it a slap. "Can't help myself," he sang.

"I hope you've been briefing with Miroku, Danoe-chan," Professor Minaru said, looking at me carefully. I nodded.

"I have, sir."

"What is this class called again?" Miroku asked. I blinked.

"Chemistry."

There. That was all the briefing he needed.

"Well, Koga found Kagome," Inuyasha snapped at lunch. "Not like we need her or anything. Damn wolf just wanted to get his hands all over her." We knew that by now, Kagome just irritated Inuyasha. I felt sorry for him. Kikyo and him could never work out; there was no love there anymore, anyway. Just friendship. And what had happened between him and Kagome? Wow.

"We might need her later on," Sango nodded, taking a bite of the cafeteria food. I could almost laugh. All of them sitting around the table in school uniform, eating cafeteria lunch in the modern time. This was truly something else.

"These stupid kids already have a nickname for us, too," Inuyasha continued, shutting his eyes. "The Elite."

I stifled laughter.

Inuyasha's sapphire eyes bore straight into my amethyst ones. There was no doubt that way back when, Inuyasha had feelings for me, and I for him. But this was a new chapter. We couldn't think about that now.

"We need to get you into training," he said softly, and everyone agreed. They felt like even though I hadn't even been gone for that long, I needed some refreshment in my mind.

"After school. The Elite goes out for some fun."