Hello, my loves! It's been a while since I've uploaded any new chapters to my other ongoing fics, and it's been even longer since I've uploaded a new fic altogether. Things have been hectic lately, and I'm still working out the rest of the storyline to How Far We Come and I just haven't had time to get anything done on it.

I wrote this fic about 2 years ago, so it was already done. I stumbled upon it in a folder on my computer, so I decided to do some quick editing and upload it! I mentioned it in a random chapter of a different fic and how it's the first AU fic I've ever written, so I'm hoping it turned out well!

I know that a lot of people don't like when POV's switch around in one story, but I hope that I've written this in a way that doesn't make it annoying or tedious.

Also one thing to keep in mind with this fic: Kagome doesn't live at the shrine, so Goshinboku is located elsewhere. Alright, I'm done!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or its characters. All rights to Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 1: Stolen Glances, Strong Connection

The Boy:

Darkness.

It's all around me. It's consuming my soul, trapping my mind, and stealing my breath away.

I'm alone outside, clad in red clothing I've never seen in person, searching the night sky for the moon. It's not there. Nothing is there. I look around me. No one is there.

"Mother!" I cry. My voice is small and tiny like a child's. At that moment, I realize that I am a child. I'm lost and it's dark and I'm alone. My hair is black, and I can barely see anything at all.

A large, dark figure appears and looms over me in silence, and just as I open my mouth to scream, it bares its long teeth and begins to devour me, overtaking my body too quickly for me to fight back.

"Mother!" I scream again. "Where are you?" It's pointless. No one is there. The dark creature's teeth close in on me and I open my mouth one last time to scream-

Beep, beep, beep!

I woke up with a start and slammed my fist on that stupid alarm clock. I half-opened my eyes and groaned.

The dream felt alarmingly real; just like always.

Ever since I was a kid, it's been a recurring nightmare. Like clockwork, it happens every month at the same time: the night of the new moon.

It's always been the same.

I groaned again and rolled out of bed. It was six in the morning and I had to be at work in thirty minutes. My hair was still wet from my shower last night, which annoyed me to no end, so I had to quickly ring it out with a towel.

I'd been awake for not even one minute and I was already in a bad mood.

As I got dressed, I went over all of the crap I needed to do that day.

Go to work, pick up my transcripts from the high school, then come home to work on college applications.

I finished high school a semester early, so I don't have to be in school until the actual ceremony in June. It's the middle of January now, and I've got a steady job working with a local organization that builds houses. I plan on working with them until September when I start university. My first choice school has already shown some interest in me, so all that's left is to finish the application and apply to two or three other safety schools. I wasn't too worried though.

Once I was ready, I headed out to start the day.

The Girl:

As I pulled into the school's parking lot, I sighed.

Today was the first day of the last semester of high school. For me, it was my first day at this school altogether. My family had moved to this town a few days into my Christmas break; my eighteenth "birthday present" had been a huge move right before Christmas.

Luckily it was just for one semester and then I was off to university. Well, technically I wasn't going off anywhere. The university I was going to was fairly close to our new house, which is partially why we'd moved. Our house was about thirty minutes away, but I'd chosen to attend the high school in the town where my future university was located. It would make it easier to get used to the area.

So now here I am.

The high school itself is beautiful, and I can't help but admire the columns and tall windows as I walk in. When we'd come for orientation, I had immediately loved the structure of everything. It was small, but inviting. The school was incredibly bright on the inside. Windows covered the walls so the outside world was visible.

I took a deep breath as I walked through the door and headed for my first class.

By lunchtime, I decided that this school wasn't too bad. I mean, it was school so obviously it wasn't a joy to be there, but I knew it could be a lot worse.

My teachers were nice enough, and the library was huge which I was really happy about.

There were three girls that had been really friendly to me in the classes we had together, so they invited me to sit with them at lunch. Their names were Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi.

"So, Kagome," Eri began. "How do you like Takahashi High School so far?" I smiled as I unwrapped my sandwich.

"It's good," I replied. "I have good teachers so that makes things easier." Yuka groaned.

"Speak for yourself!" she complained. "I have Mr. Naraku for science. He's the worst."

I laughed. "I haven't met him yet," I said. "Here's hoping I don't ever have to." Eri and Ayumi laughed.

"He's not that bad," Ayumi replied. "Mr. Naraku collects and grades homework from each night, and Yuka literally never does her homework. She gets points taken off every day in his class." Yuka frowned.

"You know the worst part?" she said to me. "He was my science teacher last year, too. Now he teaches our year's science class. I swear he's stalking me just to give me a bad grade. And he's creepy." I laughed and shook my head.

"Do you not like science class?" I asked. Yuka made a face. "It sucks," she replied. I giggled again.

"I can help you with it if you have trouble with any of the work," I offered. Yuka looked at me gratefully.

"I might take you up on that offer soon," she replied. "Eri and Ayumi are useless when it comes to science class."

"Hey!" Eri and Ayumi complained. "That's not true!" I laughed again at the complaints and protests.

Lunch was great, and I was happy to have made some friends. All in all, this school wasn't too shabby.

The Boy:

When I had gotten off work, I made my way straight to the school. One of our construction projects had finished earlier than we thought, so school was just about to end when I walked through the door.

It was hard not to cringe as I walked into the office. Memories of the time I spent here flooded my mind, and it took my best efforts to not walk right back out the door.

It wasn't like I'd been picked on or anything. In fact, it was the opposite. No one ever spoke to me. I don't know if it was my weird hair color or what my older half-brother calls my "repellant personality," but I didn't have too many friends. There was an acquaintance here and there, like maybe a fellow outcast in the back row with a mutual hatred for pretty much everyone, but there was never anyone I'd wanted to keep in touch with.

Anyway, as soon as I walked in, I was nauseated. I'd spent three and a half miserable years in this place. I hated coming back.

The door to the office squeaked as I pushed it open and I winced at the noise. I just wanted to get in and get out.

I noticed that they'd hired a new receptionist. She was on the phone, so she motioned for me to have a seat to wait. I smiled, but stifled a groan. This place sucks.

I turned around to the small area with chairs and felt an instant jolt at what I saw.

It was a girl.

There was something familiar about her jet black hair. She hadn't looked up from the papers she was looking at, but I could see that she had striking blue-gray eyes. She was beautiful.

And so familiar.

I shook my head to myself and tried to peel my eyes off of her. I knew, just knew, I had never met that girl, but something inside me begged to differ.

She suddenly looked up at me and our eyes locked. Barely a second later, she broke the eye contact and looked back down at the papers settled in her lap.

I was immediately unsettled.

But…it wasn't really a bad feeling.

Before I could try and look away from her, I saw the receptionist wave me over out of the corner of my eye.

"What can I help you with?" she asked kindly.

"Could I get a copy of my transcripts please?" I asked. "It's for my college applications." The receptionist nodded.

"Absolutely," she replied. She opened a drawer in her desk and rummaged around for a moment. "Aha," she said when she'd found what she was looking for.

"This is a transcript request form," she explained as she handed me the paper and a pen. "You just need to fill it out and then I can go ahead and give them to you. It shouldn't take long, so you can fill it out here if you have an extra ten minutes." I nodded and took the paper from her.

"Thank you," I said. The receptionist smiled. "You're welcome," she replied. "Feel free to have a seat while you fill them out."

This new receptionist was actually really nice. The lady from last semester was old and mean. I was a little disappointed that I'd been stuck with the old woman from last semester and the years past.

I took the form and found a seat to fill it out. I couldn't help it; I glanced up at the girl again. She was focused on the papers on her lap again, so she didn't see me.

I shook my head to myself and began filling out the transcript form. The sooner I finished it, the sooner I could get out of here.

The Girl:

Twenty minutes before school was over, I was called into the office. I couldn't help the hope that filled me. Maybe something had happened and I could just go straight to college now.

When I reached the desk, the receptionist smiled at me. "What's your name, honey?" she asked in a friendly voice. "Kagome Higurashi," I replied. The receptionist nodded as she rifled through some papers.

"Your credits from your last high school were sent here a little late, so your schedule will be changed a bit," she explained. "Two of the classes you're in now are ones that you already have credits for. Since those are no longer required for you to take here, you can choose two electives to take in lieu of those classes." She picked up a catalogue of the courses this school offered and handed them to me.

"The guidance counselor will call you into his office in a few minutes," she said. "You can have a seat and start looking through the course catalogue while you wait." I smiled and nodded. "Thank you," I replied.

The seats in the office were covered in scratchy-looking red and green chairs. Daring to sit in what looked like a cactus, I sat down in a green one and started to flip through the pages of the catalogue.

A squeak at the door startled me. My head snapped up and I saw a boy with long white hair pulled back in a low ponytail walk into the office. I immediately felt like I knew him, but I figured that I'd remember a guy with such unique hair. With one last glance, I turned my gaze back down to the catalogue and flipped through the classes.

The receptionist was on the phone so the boy sat down. His eyes met mine for a moment before he looked away. There was something unsettling about him, but I figured I was being silly about it and continued to look through the course catalogue.

A few minutes later, I heard him walk up to the desk and begin to speak.

His deep voice was like honey. It thick and rich, and it shook me from inside out. I had to stifle a chill from running through me. Instead of nearly swooning over the voice of a guy I didn't even know, I turned back to the catalogue in my lap.

Just as I had picked out my two new electives (archery and cooking), I looked up to see that the boy had sat down in one of the ugly red chairs across the room from me. He was filling out what I guessed was the transcript form I'd heard him ask about.

Not even a second after I looked at him, he glanced up and locked eyes with me.

His eyes were a rich amber color and I could have sworn I'd seen eyes like that in a dream once.

After a moment, I looked away and focused on the catalogue. Even though I wasn't looking at him, I could feel his gaze still settled on me.

I couldn't help but feel a powerful sense that I knew him.

I shook my head to myself as I circled the two courses.

"Kagome?" a male voice called my name from behind the desk. I looked up and saw who I assumed was the guidance counselor. I smiled and stood up.

As I walked back to meet the counselor, I snuck one more peek at the boy. His eyes were already on me, and I couldn't help that sense of familiarity again.

I wondered if it was worth finding out about.

To be continued…

Please let me know what you think so far!

Much love. :)