Michinori College

By: Serhian Tavanah

Chapter One:

Arrival

Kagome Higurashi's stomach churned as she stepped into the waiting lobby of the Fairway airport, feeling nauseous and slightly dizzy with nerves and sickness. Never before had she flown on a plane, and her first experience was nothing to be thrilled about. As soon as it had landed, she had concluded that she would never travel by plane again. Not if her life depended on it. It was bad enough when she discovered her air-sickness five minutes into the flight, but when the plane had hit such heavy turbulence, and Kagome thought it would plummet into the ocean, all she could think about was getting to her destination alive. Just thinking of having to take a possible flight home made her stomach do another series of flips and flops.

Aware of her fast-approaching sickness, Kagome hurried across the lobby towards the dull gray airport chairs set in rows before her. She could have collapsed then and there into one of the hard seats, but first she had to arrange her luggage. In collecting her items, Kagome had had to borrow a baggage cart in order to carry it all, and pulling the thing behind her wasn't an easy task. She hadn't intended to bring so much stuff; but in packing she could always find a reason to bring this or that, leaving her with four 1X2 ft leather bags and four rolling travel cases, almost triple the size of the bags.

Without a moment's hesitation, her anxiety making her move quickly, Kagome unloaded her luggage from the cart then rapidly walked it back to where she had first received it. Her footsteps were brisk and measured as she returned to her designated seat where she sat down with a small thump and immediately began to arrange her luggage around her. She stopped moving only when she had finished creating something similar to a cubicle that shielded her from the airport around her. It somehow made her feel...safer.

After a moment of silently watching the crowds moving in front of her, she being half-hidden from their view by the luggage, Kagome's shoulders jumped as she realized what she shouldbe doing. Reaching into the back pocket of her skinny-jeans, Kagome pulled out an old, worn photograph faded almost to the point that the picture of the man on the paper was almost unrecognizable. Glancing between the picture and the crowds Kagome searched for the uncle she had never met.

'This is impossible' she thought miserably as her eyes skittered across the many-colored faces in front of her, sometimes stopping to stare at the more unusual-looking Americans.

America. "Land of the free, home of the brave"; or so the advertisements said. She had never been until now, and so far she wasn't sure she liked it. It was incredibly strange seeing such a range of different kinds of people with skin colors varying from pasty white to ebony, and hair put up in the most insane styles and dyed in hues of purple, pink, blue, green, and red. It made her dizzy when she stared at one group with the mixture for too long. Not that she hadn't seen similar groups of people back in Japan, but they had never been so diverse and in one area.

Moving her eyes away from the crowds to give them a break, and to keep from becoming sick, Kagome studied the photograph on her lap intently, her long black tresses falling past her shoulders to hide her face.

He was a middle-aged man, maybe older, with a few wrinkles on his face and a frown down-turning his mouth. His hair was a salted black and his eyes were a deep, dark-chocolate brown. He didn't seem like the kind of person who would laugh often, which made the bright, flowery T-shirt he wore seem very out-of-character. Even though she had never met the man, being such a people-person made it easy for Kagome to identify what kind of personality he had in three, simple words: Stiff, Stern, and Strict--the Triple S's that seemed to define the entirety of her father's side of the family. Not that her father had been such, or so her mother said. She didn't remember much about him other than faint memories and the way he always smelled of cigarettes--a past-time that had eventually killed him, when Kagome was eight, of lung cancer, just before her ninth birthday.

Sighing heavily, Kagome looked through her bangs to glance hopelessly at the swarm of people ahead of her, then looked back down at the photo.

"Now Kagome, don't you forget that this is a very old photo of your uncle," said her mother at the bottom steps of Higurashi Shrine, only moments before Kagome had departed for the airport. "He might not look the same. Good luck!"

Kagome's throat constricted and she groaned silently, folding her arms on her lap and bending forward until her forehead rested on her uppermost forearm. Horrible images of herself sitting alone in the unfamiliar building surrounded by unfamiliar for the rest of her life invaded her mind. Her nose tingled as she felt the coming of tears followed by the distinct heating of her face as she became unreasonably embarrassed. Scenarios of being left forever, eating out of the trash and begging for food and money flashed between equally frightening ideas of being kidnapped by some happy-faced criminal. Mostly, though, she thought of being stuck in the airport panhandling.

'No, no Kagome that could never happen,' she told herself, 'the staff would definitely kick you out after a few days, and then you'd have to find your own way around--panhandling on the streets!'

Kagome whimpered and squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head as she slowly straightened. The action was meant to clear her head of the swiftly impending fear that tightened her chest, but all it seemed to do was make it worse as new ideas popped into her head including the realization that her English-speaking skills were very, very limited despite having spent almost half her high-school career learning it. Five years of not practicing the language did a lot to ones memory.

Sucking in a deep breath, Kagome pushed the hair back away from her face and opened her eyes and almost fell clean out of her seat, too surprised to speak.

He certainly wasn't tall for a kid who seemed around fifteen or so, hardly over four feet, who had bright blue eyes that seemed to capture every ounce of light emanating from the windows and fluorescent bulbs. Uncharacteristic to that of a teenage boy, Kagome could see that he had absolutely flawless skin; usually a boy his age would have at least one or two pimples. Even Souta got them every now and then. But he had clear, smooth skin with a slight olive tint and slightly pink cheeks. Then came his hair which was an unusual shade of reddish-brown that was pulled back in a ponytail that puffed was puffed into a ball. It was a beautiful color and Kagome couldn't help but feel slightly jealous. Although the small, blue, polka-dotted ribbon that held his hair up almost made her laugh as it was tied in a small bow that was neither too feminine nor masculine in any way. But the peculiarities didn't end there, but continued to the clothes he wore which consisted of a sea-blue T-shirt decorated in light blue leaves and baggy, elbow-length sleeves; a small, tawny vest; dark blue jeans with tears on the knees; and plain white sneakers.

"Hey," he said, raising a hand in greeting; smiling energetically.

'He has dimples,' Kagome thought, raising her hand awkwardly in reply.

"Are you Kagome Higurashi?" he asked, his voice slightly higher than the average teenager's, as though his voice hadn't yet broken; but his Japanese was perfect. Not that pitch of voice had anything to do with language-speaking skills, Kagome was just glad she didn't have to start speaking English.

"Yes," she nodded, "who...who are you?"

"Me? I'm your cousin, Shippo," he said, pointing at himself gleefully.

"My cousin?" Kagome said, surprise causing her jaw to drop and, once she realized what she'd done, snap it back up again; her cheeks reddening in embarrassment.

Shippo appeared not to have noticed, but instead bent and began snatching up her things. "That's right; I'm your uncle Masuyo's son come to pick you up."

'What? Since when did Masuyo have a kid? I never heard about it! Not to mention he doesn't look like the kind of guy who would want children...' Kagome shouted inwardly, rushing to her feet to grab what remained of her luggage; which wasn't much considering Shippo had already managed to take up most of it.

"Masuyo's outside waiting in the car, so we had better hurry; if we're late, he might pop us a good one!" Shippo laughed, hefting his collection of Kagome's baggage before heading in the general direction of the exits. "Well, that, or he'll just leave us; it all depends on his mood, really."

Kagome felt her stomach lurch as a brief spike of panic shot up her spine. "He won't seriously leave us, though, right?" she asked nervously, jogging after her new-found cousin.

"Well, he might; like I said, it all depends on his mood," Shippo replied; he was smiling as he said it, as though he were joking, yet his tone of voice suggested otherwise.

Swallowing a lump of fear, the twenty-two-year-old followed close after Shippo as they headed towards the exits of the Fairway airport, struggling under the weight of two travel cases dragging behind her and the leather bag over her shoulder. Although the objects were heavy, Kagome was sure she was having no trouble in comparison to Shippo who dragged the two remaining travel cases and three leather bags, which were slung over each shoulder and one around his neck. As she watched Shippo plod ahead under the weight Kagome couldn't help but feel guilty for not having gotten to that third back first. It looked terribly annoying hanging around his neck.

"Hey, Shippo," Kagome said suddenly, struggling to keep up with the teenage boy. "Why do you suppose I've never heard of you until now?"

"Hm..." he murmured, looking straight ahead. His smile had disappeared as he thought about the question, but as soon as he came up with an answer it was back again, stronger than ever. "Well, I guess it's probably because I've only been living with Masuyo and Chiaki for a couple of years. I'm adopted, you know."

"Oh, really?" she replied, following him through a pair of doors he opened with his foot. "Wait, hold on, who's Chiaki?"

Shippo gave her a somewhat surprised look before continuing on his way, "Chiaki is Masuyo's wife, my adopted mother."

Kagome was dumbstruck, but somehow she managed to continue following her cousin.

Since her plan to come to America unfolded, Kagome had discovered three new relatives she had never heard of let alone met and all of it had come about because of a whim. If she hadn't decided to pick up her brother from high school on that fateful day, and if she hadn't seen the scholarship applications in the office, and if she had decided not to apply just to see what would happen, she never would have come to this strange place. In some ways she wished that exactly that had happened, but there was no way to undo what she had done, and now she was in America because she had applied and been accepted for a full-scholarship to an American college on an insane whim. Even then, though, she might not have come, but the pressure from her family had been immense; though all Souta wanted was for her to bring him some souvenirs and her Grandpa for her to study up on American history. Her mother had been the only one to actually want her to go just for her education. Plus, a full scholarship was hard to come by, and it was so complete that all she had to pay for was the plane ticket and any necessities such as food and hygiene products that she would need. A very good deal for anybody.

But the main thing was that she was now in America, following a teenage boy who claimed to be her cousin, who would take her to her father's brother, where she would meet her new aunt, who would then take her to her new college and show her around the campus. At least that was what she had been told; soon she would find out whether all of it would happen or not.

Kagome suddenly stumbled and would have fallen had she not been pulling two travel cases behind her as a thought struck her. 'Wait a minute, how good can a stay in America be if my own uncle would leave his adopted son and his new niece alone in an airport just because he was in the mood for it? Who the hell did you send me to stay with, mom?'

"Hey Kagome, don't fall behind!" Shippo called, looking back at her with one of his already-familiar smiles.

Kagome grinned back, if weakly, and trotted to catch up, avoiding the people around her with a new-found courage.

'Don't you worry about me, Shippo,' she thought, walking side-by-side with the teen, 'I won't fall behind; not in a million years!'

"Oh me! You must be Kagome!" the woman cried cheerily, hopping energetically down the front porch steps, arms outstretched.

"Yes, I'm Kagome," she said, stiff as a board while the strange woman gave her a crushing hug.

After finding Masuyo sitting in the driver's seat of a black Mercedes, Kagome's anxiety had immediately heightened when she realized that Masuyo was exactly what his photo suggested: the Triple S's of the Higurashi Family. But that wasn't all; he was reserved as well, and had a constant tension around him, as though at any moment he might snap. It scared her, in a way, but nothing could have been worse that day than sitting in a car with her new uncle for two hours straight.

"Um...who are you?" Kagome asked nervously, somewhat ashamed that she had to ask.

"Oh me! I'm you're aunt Chiaki, dear!" she cried excitedly, literally bouncing up and down in her joy.

"Oh, uh, hello," Kagome stammered, her ears turning red when the woman suddenly stepped back and kissed her on the cheek. She had heard of the kissing-greetings that existed in America when close friends or relatives met, but she had no idea she would ever experience it first-hand. Now that she had, though, she wasn't so sure she liked it; a hug every now and then, she could handle. But a kiss? Not quite.

"Chiaki, take Kagome inside; Shippo and I will get her things," Masuyo said sourly from the trunk of the Mercedes, his voice steady as he pronounced each word and consonant carefully.

"Yes, dear, of course!" Chiaki exclaimed, seemingly unaffected by her husband's...irritation.

"See you inside, Kagome!" Shippo called, pulling out her belongings from the trunk.

As Kagome walked after Chiaki, she couldn't help wondering whether she had brought too much stuff after all; she had filled the entire trunk with her things.

"Oh, don't you worry about that, Kagome!" Chiaki said suddenly, making Kagome realize she had spoken her thoughts, "Whatever you don't need at college you can just leave here with us! It's no problem at all; anything we can do to help you we'll do it, you can count on that. You just have to concentrate on your school work and classes!"

"Thanks," the young woman said quietly, a small smile lifting her mouth.

Although Kagome knew Chiaki had to be at least forty or fifty, the woman gave nothing away about her true age, acting like a weathered twenty-year-old wearing a blue Japanese kimonodecorated in white lilies and light brown sandals over pure white socks. Her hair gave away the only hints at her age, as it was slightly salted with white, however most of the discoloration was hidden by unnatural streaks of red and the way its entire length had been pulled into a complicated bun held in place by sky-blue chopsticks. Her eyes were also a bright blue, emphasized by the colors of her clothing, and her skin was unnaturally pale, although not unhealthily so, and showed only shadows of wrinkles around her mouth and eyes. It wasn't every day that Kagome saw a woman Chiaki's age in a kimono, and the sight was somewhat strange, however the clothing seemed to suit the older woman perfectly.

Kagome also noticed that Chiaki's ears were not pointed, but rounded like hers.

Following her aunt into the home of the American Higurashis, the first thing she noticed was the difference between the house's outside and its inside. Outside, where others around them could see it, the house looked completely natural, fitting in perfectly with its surrounding suburban houses with a trim, grass-filled yard, willow tree on the far right corner, and a small flowerbed near the house. Inside, however, it was very, very different.

Stepping into the house, Kagome felt as though she had stepped into the past of her Japanese heritage; or at least a museum. Either way, she couldn't help but feel incredibly at home as the entire inside of the house gave off an ancient, feudal era vibe.

Tatami mats covered certain places in the stead of wooden floors that stretched elsewhere, and sliding paper doors replaced those on hinges and made of fake wood. Textiles, calligraphy murals, netsuke, and inrolined the walls, and vases filled with brightly colored flower arrangements were placed atop small, ornate desks below each window, the bodies of each ceramic fragility decorated in delicate paintings. A porcelain doll collection spread across a small desk opposite Kagome displayed the small figurines wonderfully, their small, petite faces smiling at her in the most welcoming way. Through a doorway on Kagome's right she could even see what looked like a katana assortment.

Everything Kagome saw in the house resembled anything from ancient, current, or traditional Japanese culture, and it was arranged in simple patterns. Nothing was in the slightest bit cluttered and it seemed like everything had a place. Even Chiaki fit into the arrangement, in her light blue kimono.

"What do you think, Kagome?" Chiaki asked, her chest swelling with pride at the wonder she saw on her niece's face.

"It...It's amazing," she gasped, reading the calligraphy murals with minimal difficulty, "Where did you get all this?"

"Oh, just places like eBay, mostly, and other online stores. The majority of it your uncle brought here straight from Japan; though some of it came here by illegal trading and the black market. But don't tell anyone!" Chiaki exclaimed, placing a playful finger to her lips, eyes twinkling.

Kagome couldn't help but smile at the woman's energy and automatically found herself feeling comfortable; it helped that she was in a house full of her culture.

She'd bet her last dollar that this would be heaven for Gramps; he'd probably have a story for every item in due time and if he couldn't find one no doubt he'd make one up.

"Come this way, Kagome, and don't forget to take off your shoes! You can put on those slippers on if you like," Chiaki said, smiling at the house around her.

Obeying with practice, Kagome slid her feet into the soft, blue slippers before following Chiaki further into the residence, looking about her in wonder. The place seemed much bigger than she had originally thought, but then that might have been due to the lack of clutter.

"Now Kagome, I know you have to live in the dorms at the college your freshman year, but you should know that on certain holidays the dorms are closed and nobody but those with special permission are allowed to stay. On those days, I want you to come back to live here until you absolutely have to go back." The woman said, leading Kagome down a small hallway decorated with dragons painted on very old, yellowing scrolls. "Oh, and we'll be checking up on you every now and then, and not only because your mother asked us to!" Kagome only nodded as she followed Chiaki only to nearly bump into the woman as she halted in front of a door at the end of the passage. "Okay, this room is a little rough around the edges because we were in a bit of a rush putting it together for you, so it might be a bit of a mess. I'm just warning you."

Chiaki slid the door open, and Kagome didn't bother to hold back the gasp that slipped past her lips as she walked through the doorway ahead of the woman.

It was almost an exact replica of her room back in Japan at the Higurashi Shrine. Albeit it was decorated differently in the style of the house, but overall it was almost completely the same. The furniture was the biggest difference, but with the addition of a high-speed computer the changes didn't bother Kagome in the slightest. The only computer she had had was an ancient 1995 Microsoft(R) imported from America when she was eighteen. It was slow and the white of the monitor had long-since faded to yellow, but it had worked while she needed it. Compared to her room back home, Kagome would dare say she liked this one better.

"So, what do you think?" Chiaki inquired unnecessarily, skipping into the room behind Kagome.

Every ounce of appreciation she had felt since meeting Chiaki, who had lifted the anxiety from Kagome's mind unknowingly, was portrayed as she threw her arms around her aunt.

"I think Kagome likes the room," Shippo said, walking in with a pile of Kagome's things in his arms.

"Um, thank you," she stammered to the two of them, releasing Chiaki and sitting on her new bed in slight embarrassment, her cheeks turning the same shade of pink as her bedspread.

"Oh no dear, thank you for coming! I can't tell you how boring it can get here in a house full of men!" Chiaki chuckled, thumping her hand playfully on Masuyo's back as he strode into the room, dragging behind him the remainder of Kagome's belongings.

The man merely grunted in response as he set his load on the carpet then walked back out.

'His aura's so cold he could freeze Hawaii!' Kagome thought bitterly, whatever happiness she had felt leaving with him.

Noticing the look on Kagome's face, Chiaki laughed sadly and patted the young adult's hair, "Oh me, don't mind him, Kagome, he's just shy!"

Kagome nodded in artificial acknowledgement and smiled thinly at Chiaki, 'Shy? More like an anti-social ass!'

"Well then, we'll just leave you to settle down and unpack, shall we?" Chiaki suggested, turning to leave, "If you finish early, feel free to wander and explore, I'm sure you'll just love our garden, it's absolutely oriental! Now then, Shippo, let's let Kagome alone for a while; we eat at six, so we'll see you then, alright Kagome?"

Kagome grinned fully in response, and waiting until the two had left before letting herself fall back onto the bed, feeling unusually tired. Sitting up before she let herself fall unconscious, she looked around herself despondently, a feeling of homesickness washing over her. Her eyes pricked and Kagome slapped a hand over her face to keep from crying. Despite looking nearly identical to her room at home in Japan, the place was empty; nothing truly familiar surrounded her.

"Well then, let's make it familiar then!" Kagome cheered quietly, her spirits heightened by the atmosphere Chiaki had left in her wake.

Rolling up the sleeves of her thin, cream-colored turtleneck, Kagome set about removing everything from her suitcases and laying them out on the floor.

Not for the first time that day, or the last, Kagome thought 'I really thing I brought too much stuff.'

Kagome sighed tiredly as she finished packing up the last of the items she would take to Michinori College. Even though she'd much rather just remain here, in this room so similar to her own, she knew she couldn't. The first year of college, just like Chiaki had pointed out, had to be spent at the college dorms whether she liked it or not.

Zipping up the front of one of her travel cases, Kagome got to her feet only to flop backwards on the bed behind her, exhaustion getting the better of her worn out legs.

It had taken Kagome the rest of the evening to unpack and reorganize her things the way she anted, and she hadn't even been close to finishing when dinner had come around. She had hoped that maybe it would only take a few hours to unpack, and after she could explore Chiaki's "positively oriental" garden. But the exploring would have to wait beyond tomorrow, as tomorrow she would be going to the college.

Now, well past midnight, Kagome was dog-tired beyond reason and only wanted to sleep.

Groaning in protestation, she got back to her feet, her bones creaking like an old woman's as she snatched some pajamas from a small dresser before entering into a small bathroom connected to her room. She showered quickly, dressed into the soft fabrics, brushed her teeth, combed her hair, and removed her little makeup. Finished, she exited the historic bathroom and leapt back onto the bed, turning off the lamp before scrambling into the blankets.

Shuffling deep into the warm covers, Kagome stared at the floor where pale, striped shadows from the blinds in her window stood prominently on the floor. The moon cast a bluish pallor over the room, giving it a sensation of loneliness.

The depression and homesickness hit hard on her that instant, and every wretched thought she'd managed to keep at bay until now flooded into her mind at the sudden moment of weakness.

She worried about college on a completely different continent surrounded by completely different people who spoke a completely different language. She thought about what it would be like when Chiaki, Masuyo, and Shippo--who all spoke perfect English, she had noticed--were gone and she was alone in the dorms. She reflected on the reality that she had no friends in America, nobody to count on away from her relatives. Nobody to talk to. Once she was on campus, Kagome would be alone; and being alone was what frightened her the most.

Her stomach turned cold at the thought of being on her own around people she couldn't understand and didn't know. Of being alone. She wanted her friends, she wanted Japan, but she couldn't have them.

Pulling the pink blankets over her head, Kagome slowly fell asleep; her tears absorbed by the pillows that pressed against her face.