Introduction

Kagome ran her fingers through the top of her braid, making sure no hair came loose from the tight weave. Pulling it across her shoulder, she nervously traced the pale pink ribbon that wove in and out of sight through black coils of hair. It wasn't a modern hairstyle, but one that she was accustomed to and had worn every day at the Onnanoko no Gakkou Preparatory School for Girls. Now that she was sixteen, however, she was no longer a child—she was a young woman, and a graduate (albeit unwillingly) of a prestigious all-girls school. One that she had waited a long time to get out of. One that had cramped her, tortured her with boredom and lady-like manners, where the only thing she learned was how to cook a decent meal.

Well, she was out in the real world. And taking real classes. At a real high school. With real boys.

She tossed the braid back over her shoulder, where it blended in against the dark background of her fitted Muse T-shirt. No more school uniforms, no more unflattering knee-high skirts and poofed blouses and penny loafers. Now, she could wear what she wanted. On the first day at her new school, she chose a tight black shirt with a skeletons-dancing-a-jig-and-drinking-whisky design on the front, slim fitting blue jeans and a pair of two inch heels that raised her to a decent 5 foot 8 height. She wanted to look good, after all. For the boys.

"You ready?" Kikyo asked quietly from her left.

"Yeah, I guess," Kagome replied with a small smile which quickly turned into a nervous grin. "You?"

"Yeah," Kikyo said, turning to face the door that they would step through, the door that lead to their new homeroom classroom and new lives. Only Kagome could tell how nervous her best friend was, behind the cool and impassive face and perfect posture.

As kids, they had done everything together. They dressed the same, had the same hairstyles, did everything as though they were inseparable twin sisters. As they grew older, however, they grew apart—Kagome became more a rebel, a bookworm, a klutz. Kikyo, however, turned into a model student, working on her calligraphy, her archery, her cooking and social skills, her lessons. She left Onnanoko as the top student of the year, got into high school on a scholarship, and was working as a waitress at Oishii Tabe, the most elite restaurant in Tokyo. They stayed friends out of habit, because they knew each better than anyone, and because, well… they were friends.

Incidentally, Kikyo was wearing a conservative sweater-dress, the latest fashion on the runway, and her straight hair fell smoothly down past her waist.She'll have to be careful not to sit on it, Kagome thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted as an old, balding man cracked the door open. He was facing away from them, still talking to the class. When he turned in their direction, Kagome saw that he had a squint behind his glasses and looked nothing like the tall, dark and handsome teacher she had imagined. "Welcome," he said and stood away from the doorway, inviting them to walk into the classroom.

Kagome quickly looked at Kikyo, send her a silent plea to go first. With a small smile to her friend and a quick breath, Kikyo glided into the room. Kagome squared her shoulders and followed, tripping a little as crossed the raised platform separating the hall and class. Blushing, she kept her eyes locked on the back of Kikyo's head, following her movements. When Kikyo stopped, Kagome nearly bumped into her. Slowly, she turned to face the class.

"Everyone, please welcome our two incoming students, Kikyo and Kagome." The girls smiled, looking around at the un-enthusiastically clapping student body. The teacher turned to them. "Please, introduce yourselves."

As Kikyo went through a brief autobiography, Kagome eyed the class. The thirty-something students were clearly divided into groups: jocks, cheerleaders, nerds, misfits. Kagome could not easily think of which group she belonged to; she hoped their seats would be assigned.

All the boys were staring at Kikyo—she was, after all, beautiful, stylish, confident… Kagome felt overshadowed. It was a feeling she was not used to; at the all-girls school, there had been none of this, this…appraising, she decided on the word carefully. Well, she could do some of the appraising herself, she thought.

In the last row, there was a boy with long, white hair who instantly caught her eye. Cool, good-looking, athletic, rich… probably not too smart, though. The kid sitting next to him was also a catch, although he looked gay, with piercings in his ears and a small pony tail sticking out behind his gelled hair. He's an A-student, also rich, probably a pimp on the side, Kagome decided. His eyes kept darting from Kikyo to a girl who sat at the desk closest to the window. She had Kikyo's hair, but it was done into a long ponytail. She wore a colorful shirt, and a green silk skirt that went nearly to the floor. For some reason, though, she doesn't look like the kind of girl who likes to dress up… Kagome thought.

"Thank you, Kikyo," the teacher said. The class applauded lightly, and looked at Kagome. Suddenly, she was at a loss for words.

"Ah, right. So, um… Well, my name is Kagome, and I like archery and taking walks, and, oh!, I like reading… And, um… my elective classes are chemistry and sociology, and I work part-time as a Miko…" She faded off and shrugged her shoulders. Her life was, after all, not that interesting.

"Well, alright then. Everyone, please welcome Kagome." There was scattered applause. Most of the people had already reverted their attention to Kikyo, who stood demurely with her hands clasped in front of her looking at the teacher. The teacher smiled that them, and then at the class. "You may take a seat wherever you would like, and I will give you this homeroom hour off to get to know everyone." Kikyo took a lone seat at the front of the room, leaving Kagome to plow through the people getting up out of their chairs to look for another empty desk. She turned around curiously as the class's chattering gave way to a loud moan of displeasure. The teacher had sat down at his desk, and was grading a large stack of papers.

"Those are our tests," the long-haired girl in the window seat told Kagome with a friendly smile. She stretched out her hand. "I'm Sango."

Kagome smiled. "I'm Kagome."

"I know," Sango grinned. "You just introduced yourself."

"Oh, right…" Kagome muttered awkwardly, shifting her bag from one hand to another. She looked around the room for a desk.

"The one behind me is available," Sango told her.

Kagome smiled at her surprised. "Really? Thanks!" She went over and dropped her bag on the desk, pulling out the chair and sitting on back of it with her legs balancing out her weight on the seat. Sango's nice, she thought. She glanced over at Kikyo, but couldn't see her through the throng of people crowding around her desk. She looked back at Sango, who was staring out the window dreamily. "So, what subject was the test?" She asked, grabbing Sango's attention. It would do no good to loose the interest of the only person who had been friendly to her so soon.

"Oh, math, I think."

Kagome laughed. "Youthink?"

Sango smiled. "I was never the most attentive student…." Her eyes flitted over to Kikyo's desk.

"She's been my friend since we started school," Kagome offered.

"Oh, really?" Sango seemed surprised. Kagome started to explain life at the private girl's school and soon they were chatting. Kagome smiled internally. I've made my first friend. Then Sango gave a small groan. "Great, he's coming over."

Kagome gave her a small conspiratorial look. "He who?"

Sango smiled back. "Miroku. The guy with the short ponytail. He's a pervert, and a player. So, don't be charmed by him," she warned.

"Oh, Sango, you break my heart by talking like that," the boy called Miroku said, taking Sango's hand and bringing it to his lips. Kagome blushed and looked away, getting a better look at the rest of her classmates.

There were only two people sitting alone, the rest were organized into groups of two or three. A large hub of activity surrounded Kikyo's desk: girls who fawned over her pretty dress, and boys who tried to get her attention by joking with each other and praising her. Kikyo seemed to love the attention, and did not glance back at Kagome. Well, it's not like we were the best of friends, Kagome thought a little sadly. The white-haired boy she noticed earlier seemed to have caught her interest. Are they flirting? Kagome thought, surprised.Leave it to Kikyo to find a boyfriend the first day of class, she thought with a hint of jealousy.

A loud laugh came from the back of the room, and Kagome twisted in her chair to find the source. Sango noticed he movement, and leaned towards Kagome. "That's Koga," she said with a small smile. "Cute, isn't he?"

Kagome blushed. "Yeah, I guess so," she muttered.

Sango grinned. "He's a great guy, seriously. We've been friends since we were babies! I could introduce you two, if you'd like," she offered.

Kagome started to protest, but then stopped herself. If Kikyo could snag a guy on the first day, so could she! "Yeah, that would be pretty cool," she replied with a bright blush.

Sango clapped her hands. "Yes! I get to play matchmaker!" she said brightly to Miroku, who was grouchily staring at Koga. "Oh, don't be jealous of him! He's a friend! Seriously," she said to Kagome. "We're not even dating, and he still gets possessive."

"I do not," Miroku protested. "I just don't like the guy."

"Yeah, Koga's group and Inuyasha's don't get along too well," Sango confided to Kagome, mock-ignoring the black haired boy at her desk.

"First of all, it's not Inuyasha's group," Miroku exclaimed, stung.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked.

Sango pointed to the white-haired boy flirting with Kikyo. "Him."

"Oh," Kagome said and turned back to the front of the room to examine him. "He seems… cocky," Kagome said, tilting her head to the side. Unfortunately, the room chose that moment to fall silent, and her comment came out disproportionably loud. Inuyasha turned around, and stared back at her. Blushing bright red, Kagome dropped her eyes and sank into the seat of her chair, hoping he would ignore her comment. Unfortunately, he started to make his way over to her. "Shit," she mouthed at Sango, who seemed about to laugh. Her giggles, though suppressed, were contagious and Kagome felt her lips quiver.

Inuyasha stopped in front of her desk and nodded a hello to Sango and Miroku who nodded back, Sango covering her mouth with the palm of her hand to stop herself from laughing. Then he looked down at Kagome, who chose to look at the pencil marks on her desk instead of at him in fear of erupting into giggles.

"You were talking about me?" Inuyasha cut straight to the chase.

Without looking at him, Kagome shook her head from side to side, 'no.'

"Really?"

Kagome chanced a look up at him, but quickly looked back down as she felt laughter bubbling up into her throat. Her shoulders shook as she tried not to let it out and anger the already upset boy any further. Clearly, he was not used to being made fun of.

There was some commotion from behind her.

"She doesn't have to answer you, Inuyasha. Or didn't your mother ever tell you it was rude to pressure a woman?" Koga took up a position behind her chair, placing his hands on either side of her protectively. Kagome glanced back at him, irked that he would think her so weak as to need reinforcement. She was about to tell him so, but blushed further as she realized how close his chest was to her back, and instead shrank a little into her seat.

"Didn't yours ever tell you it was rude to interrupt two peoples' conversation?"

"Oh, I didn't realize that it was two-sided. You just seemed to be talking at her," Koga retorted. They stared at each other, the tensions rising.

"Alright, settle down," the teacher interrupted. "Homeroom is almost over, and I want to hand back these exams. Everyone, take your seats!"

With one more mean look at each other, Inuyasha and Koga paced back to their seats; everyone else followed their example. Sango shot Kagome a quirky smile, and turned to face the front of the room. Kagome smiled too, and straightened up in her seat. Even if they weren't fighting over her, it was nice to have the attention of two cute boys. It will be a fun year, she thought, and took out her notebook.

I hope you liked the beginning of the story! Yes, yes... it will be Kagome and Sesshoumaru, but it would be no fun if they were together from the start!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha... u.u

And, a semi-relevant quote

change,
everything you are
and everything you were
your number has been called
fights, battles have begun
revenge will surely come
your hard times are ahead

-Muse