-1Foreigner in the Sengoku Jidai
By: Patriot1776
Authors Introduction: For sometime, I've had floating around in my head the idea of adding my own original characters in an InuYasha fanfic. One from the modern era, and the other a native of Sengoku Jidai period. Well, I've now been inspired to try writing one for my modern era character after watching eps. 127. And, this is a self-insertion fic.
Chapter I: The Exchange Student
Kagome walked into the classroom at her school feeling cheerful. She had come home yesterday evening from the Sengoku Jidai from summer vacation and was anxious to take a break from youkai, the deal with Naraku, and shard hunting. She was the first person in the classroom today, the first day of the new school year. No sooner had she sat down however, when she noticed a newcomer enter the classroom. The newcomer was a brown-haired boy about her age, but what really made him stand out to her is that she could tell he was a foreigner, a light-skinned American boy to be precise. He stood about the same height as InuYasha, but his hair was extremely short. In fact, he was sporting a military-style buzz cut. On his squared up face were a pair of glasses.
'An American exchange student? First time this school's had an exchange student since I've been here.' Kagome thought as the boy looked over at her and approached her desk.
"Excuse me, is this Takahashi-sensei's homeroom?" he asked in fluent Japanese, but it had a strange accent to it, surprising Kagome.
'He knows our language! He must be pretty smart!' Kagome thought, then answered. "Yes, this is it. You've found it. What is your name? I'm glad to see you know our language, but your accent confuses me."
"My name is Woods, Noah. I'm from America, more specifically the Southeast region. My accent of your language stems from how we speak English in my region of the country. What's your name?" the boy, Noah, replied.
"Higurashi, Kagome." Noah's eyes lit up at those words.
"Higurashi? Wow, looks like I've hit the jackpot on the first day here." He said, with a smile.
"Pardon me, but what do you mean?" Kagome now asked, confused.
"You wouldn't happen to live at Higurashi Shrine would you?" Noah now asked. Kagome's opened in shock.
"H-how do you know that?" she asked, flabbergasted.
"Your family's shrine is where I've been assigned for boarding." he replied. "But don't worry, I'm good with manners and everything. I'll take care of myself." Kagome's heart was now about to pound out of her chest.
'Why didn't my mom tell me of this? This is going to cause all sorts of huge problems!' Kagome thought, filled with fear now.
"Is something wrong Higurashi-san? You seem preoccupied." Noah now asked, noticing her change in facial expression. Kagome quickly regained her composure.
"Oh, it's just my mom didn't tell me this morning we'd have somebody moving in." Kagome said.
"She's probably just now getting the news herself. I only arrived here yesterday." Just then, the rest of the class started to file in. "I'll talk to you later Higurashi-san. Maybe you can show me around the school later." Noah said as he found his way to a seat at the front of the classroom.
"O-okay, s-sure." Kagome replied. Ayumi, Eri, and Yuka now ran over to Kagome's desk.
'Oh great. I know what this is going to be about.' Kagome thought.
"Kagome, who's the new guy? And what were you two talking about?" Yuka asked.
"He's an American foreign exchange student. His name's Woods, Noah."
"No wonder he looks strange. What were you two talking about?" Yuka chirped in. Kagome took a deep breath.
"Now don't you three get any smart ideas, but the shrine's where he's been assigned as his boarding home." Kagome said after a pause. Her three friends then gasped real big.
"Kagome, are you serious!" Yuka said in an excited voice.
"He just told me so himself. I was shocked too. My mom's probably getting the big news too."
"I don't know if this is such a good idea, Kagome. As ill as you often are, he'll probably start coming down with the same things you're always coming down with." Eri commented.
"I sure hope not. He doesn't need to flunk his year of study abroad." Kagome said, following along with them.
"Are you going to show him around later?" Ayumi now asked.
"Yes, he asked me to. Maybe at lunch." It was then that the teacher entered and asked everybody to sit down. Everybody did, and quieted down.
"Class we have a foreign exchange student joining us for this year. Woods-san, would you please introduce yourself?" the teacher said, formally addressing Noah. Noah got up from his chair and stood at the front of the classroom, and bowed.
"Good morning, my name is Woods, Noah. I'm from the state of North Carolina, United States, and I'll be here studying with you all this year. Forgive my accent, it's native to the part of the United States I'm from. I've come here this year to get an experience in your school systems, methods of teaching, and also mainly to study your history, culture and traditions." he said, then returned to his seat.
"Arigatou, Woods-san." the teacher said, the class proceeded normally.
-
At the Higurashi Shrine, things were a little hectic at the moment. Kagome's mom, Ayaka, had gotten the phone call informing her of the exchange student's arrival after Kagome had left, and the suddeness of the implications of it had hit her like a ton of bricks. Both her and Jii-chan were hard at work getting the guest room ready for the new long term guest that would be arriving later that day with Kagome.
"I wish the school system had informed us they were going to do this a lot sooner." Jii-chan griped as he and Kagome's mother were arranging the furniture in the room.
"I know chichi-ue, but the school system said this student's arrival was so sudden that they didn't have time. They said they were rushing to find him housing to suit the studies he'd be doing, and our shrine was the first good thing to come up. I'm more worried about how we're going to keep Kagome's travels to the Sengoku Jidai under wraps." Ayaka said. Jii-chan stopped for a moment, and sighed really big.
"Well, there's no way to avoid it then Ayaka-san. We have to tell him then, and get him to swear to stay silent about it." Jii-chan said finally. Ayaka was stunned for a moment, then shook her head.
"Yes chichi-ue, you're right. There's no real way for us to keep Kagome's travels under wraps from him. When we'll wait for him to get his stuff setup in the guest room, then have Kagome go and get InuYasha and tell him after he sees InuYasha. InuYasha will probably be able to convince him to keep quiet about it." she said. Jii-chan nodded.
"Agreed." It was then that they heard a knock on the door downstairs. Ayaka went downstairs and answered it, and was greeted by a delivery man.
"Is this the Higurashi Shrine and residence?" he asked.
"Yes, it is." Ayaka answered. The delivery man then bowed.
"Ma'am, the school system sent me. I have the belongings of a Woods, Noah, a foreign exchange student who's been assigned housing here." he said.
"Oh! Please bring them in then, I'll show you where to put them." Ayaka replied. The delivery man bowed again and proceeded to go and retrieve Noah's things from his delivery truck, parked at the base of the shrine steps.
-
"Well, what do you think so far?" Kagome asked. She had just finished showing Noah around, and it was now lunchtime.
"I'm finding myself wanting to move here and continue the rest of my schooling here already. Back home, the demeanor of my classmates and their attitudes I don't really like that much. Too unruly. Higurashi-san, I have to say I like your country's school system more all ready, compared to America's." Noah said as they were eating lunch. Kagome now asked a question.
"Woods-san, how did you wind up drawing my house as your dwelling while you're here?" Noah put down his chopsticks, and swallowed the bite of food he was on before answering.
"Remember in homeroom when I said one of the main reasons I came here was to study Japanese history and culture? That's why. I'd read about the Shinto shrines that dot your country and had asked if I could live at one with a regular house on the grounds as a way to get a good firsthand knowledge of that. Your family's shrine was the first thing to come up. How many of your family live there too? You have any siblings?" he asked.
"My grandpa, mother and younger brother live there too. The shrine is run by grandpa, and me, mama, and Souta, my younger brother help him out. Originally only grandpa lived there, but the rest of us moved in with him two years ago."
"What about chichi?"
"Chichi is dead. He died in a bad automobile accident. That's why we had to move."
"I'm very sorry." Noah then said solemnly. They were now joined by a newcomer as Hojo approached the table and sat down.
"Higurashi-san, you made it today. I'm glad. Who's this?" Hojo asked.
"Hojo-kun, meet Woods, Noah. Woods-san is from America. He's the school's foreign exchange student this year." Kagome said. Noah stood up and bowed to Hojo, who, genuinely surprised, got up and did the same. Both boys sat back down.
"A pleasure to meet you Hojo-san. How long have you two been friends?" Noah asked.
"Not too long. We're not very close. Kagome-san, I've got some new cooking recipes for you to try. Here." Hojo said as he put a slip of paper in Kagome's hand.
"Uhh, thanks Hojo-kun. I'll put them to good use."
"I'll talk to you later Kagome-san, I have to get to my next class." Hojo said as he got up and walked off.
"Bye Hojo." Kagome called back.
"Hmm, he's a curious character. How long's he been trying to woo you?" Noah asked curiously, rubbing his chin.
"He's always like that, but I'm not really interested." Kagome replied. Just then the lunch bell rang.
"Higurashi-san, thanks for showing me around the school. I'll meet you outside the front entrance after school so you can show me the path to the shrine." Noah said as gathered his plate and backpack up.
"Please, call me Kagome. We might as well start getting used to each other now." Kagome said.
"Okay, Kagome-san. See you after school." Noah said as he walked off to his next class. Kagome meanwhile, was lost in thought as she made her way to her next class.
'How are we going to deal with this? Can we really keep my time-traveling escapades a secret from him? Oh how I wish the school permitted cell phones so I could call mama and we could have a conference on this.' she thought.
