Rising Sun

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

A/N: High school fics usually bore me, but I must admit I was pretty impressed with my first attempt, and it really works the plot. This story is not my original idea, I found an abandoned fic from three years ago that had a similar plotline. I felt disappointed the author never finished it, so I decided to write my own version. Hope you all enjoy!

Chapter One

All of Rin's classmates gathered around her desk. Some were boys, who were only trying to hit on her and hook up for the night, some were just acquaintances that wanted to congratulate her for the acceptance letter into the top university in the country. Rin was a very smart girl, and she knew it. Instead of dwelling on her looks, which were already very pretty anyway, Rin concentrated on studying.

Her best friends, Kagome and Sango, each had an arm wrapped around her, beaming proudly. Rin was slightly embarrassed at all the attention she was getting, preferring to maybe slink off to the library to find a good book to read, but the other girls would not allow that.

"You're popular, Rin," Kagome had explained to her while they were walking home from school yesterday. "Everybody wants to get to know you, and they can't do that if your nose is in a book."

"But I like reading," she replied quietly, clutching her books to her chest.

Kagome laughed. "That's okay. I like reading, too, but c'mon. You have to love how everyone's been treating you lately. It's not that surprising really, that you were accepted at Sengoku University, you are the smartest person in the school."

"Not really, Kagome…"

Her friend scoffed. "Sesshomaru doesn't count."

"That's so mean to say!" Honestly, even Kagome, who was usually very sweet, was picking on the poor guy. "He's going to Sengoku, too, but nobody's bothered to congratulate him! Sesshomaru's managed to beat me at anything academic. He's always my competition; the least I should do is thank him for making me do better."

"Rin, you've never even talked to him. In fact, I haven't seen anyone talking to him, aside from his little brother. Sesshomaru's a loner, so just leave him alone."

They finally reached the stone stairway that led up to the shrine where Kagome lived.

"Well, then," Rin waved goodbye. "I guess I'll just have to be the first. See you tomorrow!"

She was determine to hunt down Sesshomaru and thank him, but Kagome and Sango weren't about to let her go anywhere without a large party of people. It was kind of nice, having your classmates interested in you, but they constantly wanted her attention, so the few times Rin could spy the silver haired man passing in the hallways she could not even get close to him.

Nobody liked Sesshomaru Taisho, mainly because he was so ugly. And yes, Rin was being extremely generous using that adjective.

There was no ignoring the horrible acne that plagued the poor guy's complexion, as if the oil glands in his skin produced twice as much substance as everyone else's, and left a shiny residue on his nose and forehead. The obviously unwashed silver hair he let dangle in his face probably didn't help his case either. Sesshomaru had the worst vision, even though his amber eyes were possibly his best feature, but was constantly pushing his thick black rimmed glass back up his nose. You could tell he had dropped them several times, because the lenses were all scratched and kept popping out. His clothes literally must've come from the charity center. He wore a thin white dress shirt with a large black overcoat that made him look like a bat. His jeans came about three inches above his ankles.

Needless to say, Sesshomaru was unsightly. Not only that, but he was tall, and obviously had not grown accustomed to his long limbs. He crashed into everything. More than once, as he would walk down the hall, he randomly tripped over absolutely nothing, and his book, papers, and pens would go flying everywhere. No one ever stopped to help him pick them up.

Rin liked to watch him. Not because she was making fun of him, Rin was way too nice to do that, but she admired how smart he was. Sesshomaru excelled at all the high level classes that their school had to offer. His classmates might sneer behind his back, but the teachers adored him. They showered him with praise, which he took with good grace. You couldn't tell if he liked the attention he received, Sesshomaru never talked about his feelings. In fact, if he could avoid talking altogether, he would. The cracked, slightly squeaky voice that came out of his tall frame was like listening to nails on a chalkboard.

So while Rin was smart and beautiful, Sesshomaru was smart and… well, not beautiful. A lot of people picked on him, often to his face, but he never showed that it bothered him. But it had to, Rin knew, he was only human.

"Alright class, take your seats," said the sensei. "We're going to start presenting what we have so far on our End of Term projects. Would anyone like to volunteer to go first?"

Rin's hand was of course the first to shoot into the air. Everyone knew the importance of these projects, all the seniors at the end of term had to have a presentation ready for evaluation by the board of teachers, and it was a large portion of their final grade. The goal was to create a successful business plan they could use after high school. The year was more than halfway finished, and their sensei wanted to ensure they were keeping pace and not letting the deadline take them by surprise.

Unlike a vast majority of the senior class, Rin was already finished.

"Um… yes, how about you, Sesshomaru?" The sensei gave an encouraging smile as she motioned for him to come up in front the class.

Rin put her hand down, a little disappointed at not having been picked to go first. Sesshomaru, who sat in the very back, picked up his stuff and stood. As he walked by he accidentally slammed the toe of his shoe against her desk. "Sorry," he murmured, and continued walking.

As if he hadn't been embarrassed enough for being a klutz, Kagura Oshiro, one of the snobbiest girls in the class, stuck out one of her six inch heels and tripped him. She giggled in delight as Sesshomaru landed face first on the floor. Everyone except Rin laughed, and Kagura's twin brother Naraku gave her a high five.

The sensei slammed the end of a ruler on Kagura's desk. "Just for that little prank, Miss Oshiro, you will be spending this afternoon and tomorrow with me in detention."

Kagura shrugged, and grinned broadly at the man on the floor. "You okay, Sesshy-kun?"

Sesshomaru did not reply, only picked himself up, not even bothering to brush the dirt off his clothes. He completely ignored Kagura and began setting up his presentation.

He's so brave… Rin thought, resting her cheek against one hand. If only people could see him the way I do…

She was very interested in Sesshomaru's business plan. The way he talked was grammatically correct, and he seemed to know exactly what he was doing. Rin pulled a piece of paper out of her binder and began eagerly taking notes. There was so much she could learn from him!

A small square piece of paper landed on the corner of Rin's desk. She froze. Sango waved at her from across the room.

The sensei was completely engrossed in Sesshomaru's presentation, so Rin swiftly pulled the note into her lap and unfolded it.

In Sango's neat handwriting:

I've never seen you so excited about a guy before, Rin. I think you're in love. XD

Even in the dimly lit room, if anyone had cared to look, they would've seen Rin's face blush a deep red. She quickly scribbled a response:

I am NOT. It's just really cool what he's accomplished on this project. I might even use some of his ideas, with his permission, of course.

She handed the note to the girl sitting beside her and gestured to Sango.

A couple minutes later:

Wow, this is worse than I thought. Don't play dumb with me. I know that look on your face, girl. You. Are. Hung. Up. Why don't you ask him out?

Rin's blush turned several shades darker.

I DON'T LIKE HIM! Just drop it, okay?

Sango read what she wrote and shook her head.

Alright then, be that way. I actually think you two would be kind of cute. The nerdest couple or something. Maybe you can get him to wash his hair, it sure stinks!

Rin crumbled the note just as Sesshomaru was wrapping up his project.

The sensei started clapping, though faltered slightly when she realized nobody else was. Rin quickly stood and applauded.

"That was excellent, Sesshomaru!" she said, beaming at her classmate. "You're so amazing; my project isn't half as good as yours! Maybe you could give me some pointers."

Everyone stared at her as if she'd sprouted an extra head.

Sesshomaru shrugged. "…I guess."

That was twice he had talked to her today! Rin gave him her best smile and sat down.

Sadly, he did not even look at her as he walked backed to his seat. This time he did not fall on his face.

"Alright, Class," said the sensei. "That's it for today. Sesshomaru's is the perfect example of the type of presentations you should be turning in at the end of the year. Remember, you have exams as well, so study!"

The bell rang, and everyone scrambled to pick up their stuff. This was the last period of the day, so they were impatient to get home.

Sango appeared beside Rin's desk. "Are you going to walk home with me and Kagome?" She glanced to the back of the room, where a certain silver haired man was taking his time packing.

"Actually… you guys go ahead. I want to talk to someone."

Her friend nodded wisely. "See you tomorrow," and then left.

Rin could hardly hold in her excitement as she ran after Sesshomaru, who was already heading out behind Sango. The rushing mob of students separated them, so he could not hear her calling after him. She pushed and shoved people out of her way, mumbling apologies, but instead of being upset everyone tried to talk to her.

Sesshomaru was already off campus and heading down the sidewalk when she finally caught up to him.

"Wait! Wait! Please!"

He sighed, and came to a slow halt. "What do you want from me?"

Rin, finally face-to-face with him, placed her hands on her knees, panting. "I… just wanted… to talk."

He raised an eyebrow behind his glasses, but waited patiently for her to catch her breath.

"Okay," Rin stood up straight and smiled. "Um, hi."

He did not return the greeting, only stared at her with a blank look.

"Uh… great presentation, by the way. Exactly what I would expect from a fellow student of Sengoku. Congratulations on getting accepted, I was too! Are you excited, cuz I sure am! What are you planning on majoring - ?"

"Your talk annoys me."

She blinked at him, mouth agape. "Excuse me?"

"I said you annoy me. Just say what you want and leave me alone."

Ouch, he was cold. Rin supposed she could not blame him. He was picked on ever since freshman year and he had no friends.

Rin snapped her mouth closed and forced another grin. "Would you like to study for the Final Exams with me? You always get perfect scores so I was wondering if you would help me out…?"

Sesshomaru sighed again. "I don't want your pity."

"This has nothing to do with pi-"

"You can come by my house tomorrow after classes and study with me. I'm sure Izayoi would enjoy another female to talk to."

Without warning, Rin ran forward and embraced him. He stiffened in her arms, as if her touch might kill him or something.

Surprisingly, Sesshomaru was very hard and muscular beneath that white shirt. Wow, I didn't know he worked out, she thought.

He quickly pulled away. "Goodbye, Rin," and left her standing in the middle of the sidewalk, immensely proud of herself.

It was pretty much an ordinary day in Tokyo. The weather was nice, the traffic wasn't that bad. Sesshomaru easily made his way a couple blocks over to the local middle school.

His brother Inuyasha was waiting for him. Like Sesshomaru, he had silver hair and golden eyes, though he gave off an air that suggested he was somewhat better taken care of.

Inuyasha followed his elder sibling home without exchanging much conversation. He could not understand him, why Sesshomaru chose to have no friends, why he pretended that he was ugly and dressed weird. Perhaps he was tired of all the girls who went loony over his amazing good looks, and only wanted him because he was very rich. And the fact he had refrained from telling the high school he was a dog demon, which was something Sesshomaru had always been proud of.

Inuyasha shrugged and turned his thoughts to that senior Kagome girl that he liked.

A/N: Thanks for reading! This fic shan't be too long. Review if you'd like. (^_^)