Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters.
Chapter 1: Back to School
His head drooped and gold eyes behind thin glasses locked on his own feet as they slowly dragged on. He did his best to lose himself amongst the crowd with hopes that none of his tormentors would catch a glimpse of his unruly silver hair. Maybe, just maybe, he could escape unscathed to the sanctuary of his next class. The classroom it was the place where he truly excelled. The silver, bound in a sloppy ponytail that fell to his lower back, covered a head that housed a truly dazzling intellect. While his cunning and intelligence were god-sent gifts, they were also his curse. From an early age he indulged himself in the pursuit knowledge, reading the works of Greek philosophers and Shakespearean plays, while others his age were still struggling over Doctor Seuss. Ultimately, his lack of interaction with others during his childhood resulted in underdeveloped social skills; thus, despite being well versed in rhetoric, he was still unable to adequately communicate with mainstream teenagers his age.
A foot jarred him from his little introspection as it swiped across the back of his heel. He brushed it off as accidental contact amongst the myriad of students fumbling with lockers and books. However, the foot returned and swept his legs out from underneath him. He tumbled forward, body crashing to the floor, his numerous books sliding across the tiles. He composed himself for a moment before turning to stare into the icy blue eyes of his tormentor. His photographic memory kicked into high-gear as his brain processed all the cruel things Kouga Ookami had done over the years. Kouga may have not been the first to express repulsion towards him, but when he enrolled into the Saimyoushou Preparatory Academy in the seventh grade he was the first to involve a physical component to his daily abuse. His thoughts quickly shifted onto how Kouga was even able to get into Saimyoushou, a school that only accepted the wealthy; the well-connected; or the intellectually, athletically, or artistically gifted. In fact, Saimyoushou only was rivaled by the newly established Oxford Preparatory Academy on the opposite side of Tokyo Sure Kouga was moderately athletic, but he was as dumb as a rock.
"Nerd, I got some friendly advice," Kouga sneered with sarcasm at the silver-haired boy that still remained sprawled across the ground. "You should apologize when you get in people's way." The fallen-boy mentally berated himself for zoning out again as Kouga proceeded to step on his back and kick his dropped books before walking off laughing with the rest of his posse of self-proclaimed 'cool-kids.'
"!Che bastardo!" he muttered in Italian under his breath. It was another common occurrence for him to mumble his retorts in one of the eight foreign languages that he spoke fluently rather than issuing a reply that would only lead to more harm. He gathered himself along with his books while inwardly scoffing about Kouga's arrogance. Memories of his father's training flashed through his mind. Chuckling to himself he realized once again that Kouga was not nearly as physically gifted as himself. Mastering Muay Tai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Tae Kwon Do, Wing Chun, and various sword styles had left him with plenty of strength, speed, agility, and conditioning that, he deemed, was unmatched at his school; not to mention it left him with a body of sculpted muscle that would leave the Greek gods jealous. The chuckling soon became audible when it occurred to him that he was only person in the student body that knew this juicy tidbit of information. Perhaps it was the baggy sweatshirts and sweatpants that he generally wore or it was his slouch that masked his 6' 3" frame, for whatever reason no one was able to discern the puzzle that was Inuyasha Takahashi. He continued to ponder various thoughts as he headed off to class late once again.
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The sun, continuing its ascent, shined through the windows of classroom 134, gleaming of the recently polished desks that were about to be used for the first time this year. The students of Ms. Kaede's, yes she still was a miss at the ripe age of 63, literature class poured in as the bell rang and began selecting their seats with hopes of being close to their friends. Once everyone was somewhat seated Ms. Kaede began her usual monologue to begin the year.
"I know everyone is used to this since you are juniors this year, so I am going to make this the abbreviated version. I don't care where you sit; all I ask is that pay attention to material covered in class and be respectful of other people, including their opinions and ideas. I expect this class to be rather challenging because we are going to be reading some of the great works of literature and meticulously analyzing them to find the true meaning behind the authors' words," the teacher droned on. "Alright let's get take attendance quickly so we can begin our foray into Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. Akitoki Hojo…"
"Ughhh, what a way to start each day this year, Ms. Kaede and Advanced Literature," moaned a brown-haired girl whose wavy locks formed a curtain around her head as she buried it into her arms.
"Talk about total boredom," commented a girl with high ponytail whose bangs framed her face contrasting with the pink eye-shadow she always wore.
"You don't have to tell me twice, Sango," replied a girl with straight brown hair and a side ponytail.
"Higurashi!" a voice bellowed jarring Kagome from her complaints causing her to whip her head up and stare confounded at her teacher.
"Huh?" was the intelligent reply that came out.
"Well Ms. Higurashi, it seems you are present today; however, I am going to keep your chatter with Ms. Tanaka and Ms. Suzuki to a minimum. Do I make myself clear you three?" Ms. Kaede reprimanded the clique.
"Crystal," the three teenagers replied in unison while their faces flushed from embarrassment.
"Good. Now that we have that situation cleared up let's continue roll…" Ms. Kaede continued reading down the list slightly annoyed from the previous interruption. The three girls just sighed and returned to the daydreams of the school year to come. Ms. Kaede's mind-numbing voice caused the seconds to drag on. "Takahashi," the ancient teacher questioned. "Takahashi?" she repeated her previous statement. "Has anyone seen Mr. Takahashi today?" the disruption of the monotonous pattern snapped everyone out of their reverie. Whispers of loser, nerd, geek, and freak echoed around the classroom.
"Finally the freak show realizes he doesn't belong here. I feel bad for the next school that has to take him in," one brave boy shouted. His little outburst was met with resounding cheers and laughter from the class.
Ms. Kaede's rage was boiling until her self-control finally reached its breaking point and snapped. The students who noticed the Vesuvius brewing in the front of the class room immediately shut up to avoid the inevitable devastation that was about to be unleashed on their still laughing comrades. They could see her face contorting with each passing jeer and response until some swore the heard her patience break before she cleared her throat. Everyone stopped and sunk as far into the seat as possible. Ms. Kaede's anger was legendary at Saimyoushou and was common knowledge that you should never under any circumstances invoke that type of fury.
"Hiten, would you please stand up," Ms. Kaede commanded in a sickly-sweet voice. Hiten Matsumoto, Kouga's best friend and fellow jock, rose from his seat with shaky knees. He could practically taste the venom in his teacher's voice. A nervous grunt was all that was issued from the fear-stricken athlete. 'That insolent piece of trash, how dare he insult my favorite student. I wish they never would have confiscated my paddle. I would have beaten him so bad that he would not have been able to sit down for the rest of the week.' Ms. Kaede fumed to herself as she spewed such profanities that students' mouths hung open in awe as they had never heard phrases that used words in ways that they never thought possible. The imagery was so vivid that several students thought they might have to go to the nurse because they could feel the breakfast coming back up.
Ms. Kaede had never been this defensive about a student that she did not know, but some of the other teachers had showed her some of his work and she was completely entranced. She rarely had seen such work in the published papers by college professors and accredited experts of their respected fields. His brilliant insights were cleverly linked together by well-crafted words that made his papers read like best-sellers. At that moment she instantly dubbed him her favorite student despite the fact that she never talked to him. However, she had seen him wandering lethargically through the hallways and could tell that there was a complex individual that existed beyond the thin façade that he used to protect his true identity. But for the life of her, she could never figure out what he was protecting himself from; instead she mulled over how it only brought out his antisocial image. She finished reprimanding the black-haired boy and was about to resume to her roll call when the turning of the door knob broke the silence.