Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha. This pleasure belongs entirely to Rumiko Takahashi.

Foreign

Chapter 1

Kagome was nothing if not a girl of the ton. At least, that was what her father always told her. She was a society girl through and through and needed to learn to hold her tongue instead of letting wag like the tail of an excited puppy. No matter her odd, almond-shaped eyes or what people said about them; there was never a reason to insult the favored daughter of her father's business partner.

Fortunately this was not a lesson the young girl often forgot. However, on the rare occasion when her purported "dearest companion" told Kagome that there were rumors that she had been born out of wedlock to a common street woman... Well, every lesson she had ever learned flew from her mind at that moment. The girl was lucky Kagome hadn't hit her. Kagome was lucky there has been no one else there to witness her outburst.

Though the incident had been weeks ago, it was still on the tip of everyone's tongue in the Herondale household. Her father was quick to scold her for even the smallest of infractions, and her stepmother, Caroline, was continually lecturing her now, anxious to prevent another. The woman was under the impression that Kagome's bad behavior would impact her own reputation as a mother, despite the fact that she had been the young girl's parental figure for scarcely more than a year. It was a fear made more potent due to the fact that she was several months pregnant and lived in constant, hormone-induced fear that her child would turn out to be a rebellious young man who would ruin the family. Or worse yet, a girl. Her husband already had one child who could not inherit. The family could not afford to risk having another. It would never do to pass the business on to someone who had only marriage to bind him to the family...

And so the lovely eighteen-year-old girl came to pass yet another beautiful afternoon in her stepmother's personal sitting room, listening to the woman expound upon the virtues of a humble demeanor. As she had heard all of it at least twice already that week, Kagome felt free to let her mind wander wherever it pleased. She began to wonder, not for the first time, about her mother who her father said had died in childbirth. Would that woman have been so affronted by her behavior as her stepmother? Would Kagome have had to endure such long, boring lectures? Or would there have been only a soft and kind reproof before she trusted her daughter to behave herself? Then her eyes started to wander about the room as well. Why were there no photographs of her mother? Surely such beauty as her father spoke of ought to have been captured? Did Kagome get her features, her hair or eyes or lips? It was frustrating not to know, and even more frustrating when her father would say nothing more detailed than that the woman had been quite lovely.

The bored teen began to contemplate her long hair. Ink black and full of waves, it was nothing that the women of the tondeclared one must have in order to be lovely. But coupled with her porcelain skin and large, almond-shaped, dark brown eyes... Well, Kagome was a sight to behold. It had taken her a long time to realize this though, as the sneaking jealous comments from the girls her age led her to believe she would never attract a husband without the straight locks and light eyes they possessed. And the color of her hair and tilt of her eyes only made it worse, they would aver time and again. But after she had been the object of at least her fair share of attention, she realized those remarks were only the products of jealousy.

Suddenly Kagome became aware of the fact that the room was silent. A glance toward her stepmother's expectant face told her that the woman was waiting for a response of some kind. When none came, the auburn-haired soon-to-be mother sighed deeply. Expecting another rebuke, Kagome braced herself mentally, but the words that came surprised her. "I'm sorry about all of this lecturing, Kagome dear, but you must know how important it is for your father that we all keep our respectable reputations. His business could suffer if we do not all keep vigilant... Well, I suppose there are other things a pretty little thing like yourself wants to do on a day like this. Go have a good afternoon, my dear," Caroline said softly.

After blinking in shock for a moment, Kagome smiled gratefully and gathered her skirts around her to hurry off. "Thank you so much, I promise I won't let you or Father down again," the raven-haired beauty said in a thankful tone as she stepped from the room.

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Now that her afternoon was free, it seemed as if the whole world had just opened up to her. So many things she could do, so many friends she could call on, all she needed was to decide, and after freshening up a bit she determined that she would go to Eri Bellamy's house, as she knew the girl had planned on having a few of their mutual friends over that afternoon. And to think, she had just been despairing over not being able to join in the fun.

After the short carriage ride, Kagome sent her driver home, declaring firmly that Eri and one of her fine older brothers would give her a ride home when she needed it, and then gently rapped on the door. The youngest of Eri's brothers answered her knock and beckoned her in with a smile. Hojo was nineteen, and at only year older than Kagome and her friends, he was considered quite a catch by most of the girls in their circle. His height, his dark hair, and his kindness that shone out through his eyes made him more than enjoyable to pass a dance with, and his family's standing and wealth made him the target of many a mother's plans for their daughters.

"Good afternoon, Miss Herondale. Eri mentioned she was hoping you would turn up here," Hojo said as he bowed formally to Kagome.

Smiling demurely, Kagome replied, "Oh, you know you can call me Kagome. We've known each other for years, after all. You can speak comfortably around me."

Hojo rubbed the back of his head as a blush spread across his cheeks. "Ah, of course, Kagome. I just didn't want to offend your feminine sensibilities by being too familiar with you. I could never forgive myself if I were to offend you in any way."

It was at this moment that someone poked her head out of the front drawing room. "Kagome!" the light-haired girl called. "How long has my brother been hiding you away from us?"

"Eri," Kagome replied laughingly, "I just got here. Hojo was kind enough to let me in."

"Well, don't stand out there whispering with him all afternoon! Come join us. We were just about to discuss going out."

Giggling at her friend's words about whispering with Hojo, she said goodbye to the young man and followed Eri into the room. As soon as Kagome stepped inside, she was greeted by the pleasant chattering of her friends, which ceased immediately once they noticed her presence.

"Kagome! Oh, how lovely! We were so hoping you would join us," came Ayumi's sweet voice.

Yuka chimed in after that, "Yes, we had just begun discussing coming to call on you. Now you have made all our plans come to naught!" The light-hearted teasing made Kagome's smile grow wider, and she laughed along with her friends.

"Well, now that you don't have to come fetch me, what should we do with our afternoon?" she asked.

Eri's voice chimed in from behind her, "I think we should go to the park. Isabelle Clemens said she was going to be accompanied there by William Grey, you know, but I believe she was bluffing. Let's find out, shall we?"

This turned out to be a well-received plan. Though admittedly one of the most beautiful girls of the ton, she was also notorious for the falsehoods she spread, whether they were meant for puffing up her own reputation or tearing down someone else's. Not only that, but William Grey was, by common consensus, the most attractive young man anyone had ever laid eyes upon. At least, the most attractive available young man, for what use did anyone have with a man once he was engaged to another girl? And of course, everyone knew that William Grey didn't care one bit for Isabelle. His displeasure showed on his face every time Isabelle spoke to him, probably because of her obvious attempts to make herself look good by making up scandalous rumors about her supposed friends. With all of these things taken into account, this would be a very exciting trip to the park, for all the girls wanted to see whether the two were actually together or if Isabelle had been a liar yet again.

So with the decision made the girls gathered themselves up and went to fetch Eri's driver to take them to the park. Once they stepped out into the hall, they were greeted with the sight of Hojo talking to one of the older brothers, Dominic, at the end of the hall. The sight of brown-haired Hojo smiling at them set Yuka and Ayumi to sighing dreamily. Until recently the same reaction would have been elicited for Dominic, but he had quite recently become engaged to a certain Kitty Willows and was thus removed from the girls' dreams of matrimony. Kagome thought Hojo and Dominic were handsome, to be sure, but she just did not understand why the girls got so dreamy over Eri's brothers. Of course, she would be more than happy to be courted by any of the available Bellamy boys, but that did not mean she needed to fawn over them in the meantime. She couldn't help but think that girls were so odd in that way.

The brothers seemed to finish their conversation just as the girls neared them, and with a gentlemanly bow accompanied with a rakish grin and a murmur of "Good afternoon, ladies," Dominic left down the other end of the hall and out the front door. Hojo, now bereft of his companion, turned his attention to his sister and her friends. "Where are you four running off to, might I ask?" the brown-haired boy questioned happily.

"Oh, just to the park. That silly Miss Clemens has been spouting nonsense again, and we want to prove her false," Eri said dismissively as she continued past him.

Hojo's smile turned down a bit. "The park? Just you girls? Certainly not, you could get accosted!" he exclaimed. "I shall accompany you. It would not do for four lovely young ladies as yourselves to be so vulnerable." His protectiveness brought out different responses in the collection of girls. Eri just rolled her eyes and pulled a face at him behind his back before continuing on to fetch her driver. Yuka and Ayumi, predictably, giggled sweetly at his unnecessary concern, and Kagome smiled at him kindly.

"Oh, we wouldn't want to put you out, Mr. Bellamy. I am certain we will be fine, you shan't need to waste your whole afternoon doing nothing more exciting than trailing us about. I would feel terrible if I knew I had kept you from your business," murmured Kagome.

"Nonsense! Since Father is out of town at the moment, I have no business to speak of. It would be my pleasure to be your guardian for the afternoon, Miss Herondale. Your safety is of the utmost importance to me." His voice was soft and earnest, making a blush rise to her cheeks and her eyes turn away shyly. It felt like he was speaking only to her, as if the other two weren't even there.

"I told you that you can call me Kagome, if you would like to, Mr. Bellamy. As I said, we have no each other so long, there is no need for such formality." Fortunately her voice came out steadily, showing no sign of the quiver she felt in her stomach.

"Well, then you shall have to call me Hojo, if I am to call you by your Christian name."

She smiled at his bargain, the blush still on her cheeks. "I have no objections to that, Hojo," she responded.

At that moment Eri returned. "Let's set out, shall we? Henry is waiting for us with the carriage," she declared, smoothing imaginary wrinkles out of her dress as she spoke.

"Eri, Hojo has said he will accompany us to the park," Yuka informed her friend.

"Yes, I heard that," she replied, sounding a good deal less enthused than Yuka. "I'm questioning whether we ought not cancel our trip entirely now."

"Oh Eri, I'm certain we'll be fine. After all, now that such a strong young man is coming with us, we'll certainly be quite safe!" Ayumi bubbled happily, oblivious to her friend's desire not to be accompanied by her brother.

"Yes, what could possibly go wrong now that we have him with us?" Eri pouted rhetorically.

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So as a fore note, I will be using the names of Kagome's modern day friends but altering their appearances to suit my own purposes. They will all have fair skin and western features in this story because I am making them English, not Japanese. However, I probably won't be describing their looks much beyond that, as they're really just accessory characters and probably won't have much of a role as this picks up. I am also obviously changing some of the relationships (mainly, Hojo will be Eri's brother). I just wanted to let everyone know.

Now that I have that covered, I will say that most of the chapters will probably be longer than this. I just didn't want to get in the middle of a scene and realize that this chapter was stupidly long and have to cut something off in the middle. As an aside, most (if not all) of the last names I've used so far have been from various books. Bonus points if anyone can guess which ones. I bet no one can guess them all!