The Apprentice
The Apprentice
Chapter 1
I do not own the rights to any InuYasha Characters. Ana Tazu is MY character. She's all that belongs to me other than the fanfic.
'This is so stupid. I know polynomials. You don't have to explain it to me like I'm twelve years old.'
She sighs. Not only is she stuck here at this stupid school, she's stuck with stupid students who have the mental capacities of pet rocks. The sensei looks at her sharply out of the corner of his eye. The man is old enough to know when the students think they know better. He stops talking and walks up to her desk. She doesn't notice him there.
''Tazu-san. I assume you have been paying attention enough to solve the problem on the board?' He smirks. He loves to pick on the little brats.
She glances for only a moment on the board and starts to watch the rain outside again. "Yes sensei. The answer is (x-3)(x+4)." She smirks right back at the bastard. 'God I hate this man.'
He grimaces, and adjusts his glasses. "Yes, well then. That is correct. Seeing as that didn't seem to be hard enough for you all, I'm assigning another unit of homework to be due tomorrow. I want to see all the work written down. If you only write the answer, there will be no credit."
The bell rings, much to the relief of the students. It's only Wednesday, but any release for prison is a good release. She begins to gather her things when she hears a commotion from the back of the room.
"I can't believe this! I have no idea what the heck any of this is about, and I have to have all this done by tomorrow! This is terrible!"
"Well, maybe if you weren't so sick all the time you wouldn't have this kind of trouble."
"It's too bad really. She'll be stuck here for eternity, never being able to move on. What a shame."
The girls begin to laugh. 'Ah. It's the Higurashi girl.' She always seems to be ill, and misses a ton of class. 'Man, nothing pisses me off more than a pathetic looking woman. Oh dammit.'
She walks over to the desk, where her friends suddenly quiet. HIgurashi looks up nervously, and stares right back at her with a curious look. Man, she was clueless. "You're Higurashi-san, right? Look, it's not that hard. Just find yourself a tutor or something, so I can't hear you complain in every class how badly you're suffering."
Higurashi-san, quite flustered, looks back down at her desk and nervously twiddles her thumbs. "I suppose that's true, but I can't really afford one right now. It's so hard on mom to provide for us, and if she finds out how badly I'm doing, she'll be so disappointed." She sighs. "I guess I don't have much of a choice…
"Hey, what business do you have telling her that anyway! Her problems are none of your business!"
"It's my business when I get dragged down with her. She's going to drag down the whole class with her at this rate. If she can't get her act together, then maybe she should drop out and save us from hearing about her problems."
"Why you!" the girl lunges at her, trips, and falls flat on her face while she gracefully steps out of the way.
"Yuka!" Higurashi steps to her side. "Don't take it out on Tazu-san, she does have a point." She looks at Tazu-san and smiles. "I'm so sorry about that."
"It's fine. Look, if you can't afford a tutor, I guess I'll have to teach you."
Higurashi looks at her with starts in her eyes. "You….you mean you'd really do that for me! Wow! You're the best Tazu-san!"
"Yeah, yeah, great, stop hugging me." Higurashi blushes and laughs. "Sorry, sorry. I was so excited. So when do we start?"
"No time like the present I guess. Your place or mine?"
"Well. I don't live too far, let's just go to my place. My mom can make something for us to eat while you help out."
"Sure, sounds fine. Get your stuff then." Yuka, Eri and Ayumi look at her sternly. "Relax. I'm not going to eat her. Geez."
"Guys, it's fine. She'll be tons of help! She is the smartest girl in the class."
"I wouldn't go that far, Higurashi-san."
"Nonsense! And from now on, you can call me Kagome, okay?"
"Very well. As long as we're on a first name basis, just call me Ana, okay?"
"Will do! I'm starving. Let's go!"
The Higurashi shrine surprised the heck out of her. She had walked by it countless times, but never actually got a good look at it. The grounds were huge, and could easily hold a small festival on it's space. A large tree stood on one end of the property, and it looked to be over a hundred years old. The main house was separate from the shrine, and consisted of two levels. The shrine was connected by a small covered walkway, and a small hut, what she assumed to be a well house, stood on the opposite end from the entrance. Ana had never lived in a home like this. Ever since leaving her home thousands of miles away, she had always lived in apartments in big cities. Sure, her apartments were huge, expensive and very modern, but there was nothing quite like living in a home away from noisy neighbors and traffic lights.
Kagome stood on the front porch, waving to her. "Ana-san! Over here!" She hurried p to join her, kicked off her shoes in the entrance lobby, and followed her inside.
"I'm home everyone!" Kagome stepped into what Ana assumed was the living room. A large couch sat in the center, occupied by a short old man, a young boy and a very large cat. A woman poked her head out of the ajoining room.
"Oh, good, you're back. How was school today, dear?" She was a middle-aged woman, but showed no signs of it. She had short, black hair with a slight wave, and the same brown eyes as her daughter. She was currently holding a large laundry basket.
"Oh pretty good I guess. Oh, this is my friend Tazu Ana-san. She's helping me study for my classes." She turned to look at Ana. "This is my mother, my grandfather, my brother Souta, and my cat, Buyo."
Ana turned to them and bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you all." Kagome's mother smiled. "No need to be so formal dear. You two make yourselves comfortable upstairs, and I'll bring you something to snack on while you study."
"Great! Thanks mom!!" Kagome gave her a quick hug and dashed upstairs, with Ana following closely behind. Kagome's room was simple, with posters on the walls, a western bed and large desk full of unorganized papers and books, all relating to the classes she was struggling with. Ana couldn't believe anyone could be this disorganized.
"Well, there's half your problem. We're going to clean this disaster up, and then we'll start on the homework." Kagome groaned, but the two of them got to work and began to clean the storm of paper up.
A short time later, Kagome's mother knocked on the door. "Dears, I have some tea and onigiri for you."
"Oh wow, thanks mom!" Kagome says, opening the door. "This looks delicious!"
"My goodness, I don't remember the last time this room was so clean. I hardly recognize it."
"You can't study in clutter, Higurashi-okaa-sama. It's unhealthy to the mind, and causes much unwarranted stress."
"I suppose that's true. Well, I'll leave you girls to your studying." Higurashi-okaa-san csmiles and them closes the door silently after her.
"So, Ana-san, where do we start?"
"What are you having the least bit of trouble with?"
"Japanese Feudal History. For some reason, I really understand all that stuff about how the system used to work, and all the legends about youkai from that period."
"Really? Well, that's one down then. Let's start on English then. I noticed you have problems with the pronunciation."
"Yeah, how did you know though? I thought you were exempt from that class."
"I am, but I usually hear how bad you are from overhearing the teachers."
"Ouch. Am I really that bad?"
"I guess there's only one way to find out. Let's start with a simple sentence. The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain. Now you try."
"Umm…The lain en Spen steys manlee on the plen."
"Uh, no. Oh dear, you really are clueless aren't you?"
"I've never been good at it. How did you get to be so good at it anyway?"
"I lived in England for five years. I speak about four languages actually."
"Really? Which ones?"
"Japanese, English, Coptic and Arabic." Kagome looks at her blankly. Ana sighs. "Arabic is the official language of Egypt, but many of us still speak Coptic. I'm half Egyptian."
"That explains the eyes and the skin color. I always thought you just tanned well." Kagome laughs. "Shows what I know!"
"Well, whatever, lets just continue with this, shall we?" And so, Kagome and Ana studied long into the night, until dinner, at which point Ana isisted she be going, much to the protests of Kagome's mother. She waved goodbye, and went to catch the train back to her apartment.
An hour later, Ana was turning the key to unlock the door to her apartment. Being at the top floor of a ritzy high-rise apartment building, she only had two neighbors, who were rich snobs who usually returned from drunken parties at about three in the morning, if at all. Opening the door, the automatic lights sense her in the room, and turn on, their reflections gleaming off the glass and metals fixtures and furniture. She slings her backpack down next to the black leather couch after stepping off the marble entrance hallway, leaving her shoes behind to walk on the soft white carpet floors. Her apartment was based off very modern western designs, and was a split-level with two bedrooms and a bath and toilet upstairs. Downstairs, her living room and kitchen had high vaulted ceiling that went up two stories to match the rooms upstairs. Under those rooms were the office and a single toilet, made to be accommodating to guests. Ana plops down on the couch, and grabs the remote off the glass topped metal table. Clicking on the flat screen TV hanging off her wall, she checks tomorrow's weather, and then goes to the kitchen to fix herself something to eat.
"Oh joy, another exciting night in an empty apartment." She sighs, and looks out to the skyline beneath her apartment. Shutting off the lights in her living room, the glowing lights of the city reflect off her face, and off the metal fixtures in her apartment. Downtown Tokyo was like a city of stars, shining brightly on an ever-moving lake. She can see the tower from where she is standing now, and remembers how like it is to the tower she saw in Paris. "Thousands live in this city, and here isn't a single person worth my time." She thinks to earlier in the day, to Kagome, and frowns. What the hell was she doing? She doesn't help people. No one has ever shown her any lick of kindness, so why on earth should she show any kindness to anyone else? Shaking her head, she goes to her bag and double checks the homework. She got it all done while over at the Higurashi's place, but she'd better make sure. All those damn teachers hated her for being smart enough to pass their classes. It's not her fault her teachers in England were twice the ones they had here.
After a few hours of watching mindless television, she walks upstairs to bathe. Slipping off her uniform, she looks at her reflection in the mirror. She was often told she was beautiful back in England, but here, they find her strange. She had dark, almond brown skin, and long, jet black hain that reached down past her waist, almost to her knees. She wasn't particularly tall, and proportionally, she was almost dictionary perfect. She had somewhat large breasts for a woman her height, which only bothered her during her personal martial arts training. She had just enough muscle definition that it didn't overshoot her feminine curves, and gave her a very powerful front. The most striking of her features, and her personal favorite, were her emerald green eyes, that almost seem to glow in the light. A little girl at the park once called her a cat demon, because of that single striking feature. She sat down in the tub after washing off, and was absorbed in her own thoughts. Her phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. She looked at the ID, but didn't recognize the number. She cautiously answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hello dear! How have you been!" It was her grandfather. He must be in America by now.
"Grandfather! How is America? Meet enough of those Yankee freaks Talia warned you about?"
"Ah ha ha ha ha! Yes, yes, but I must say, they have some very interesting sites here. I'm in a place called Cahokia Mounds at the moment. I have enough time on my break, so I thought I'd give you a call."
"I appreciate it. I'm sure nothing compares to the artifacts back home."
"True, true. Although I really did enjoy Scotland. Lovely place, and the scotch is just fantastic. The people are kind, although it was fun trying to get past both of our accents."
"I'm sure. Well, I won't keep you. You probably need to get back to work."
"Ah, you're right. I'm sorry for keeping you all alone there. I'll be home in about a month, so keep up the good work, and I'll see you as soon as I can."
"Sure thing grandpa. Love you."
"Love you too, toodles!" The phone cuts off with a loud click. She did enjoy getting calls from him. He was the only family she had, and it wasn't too hard to keep up with his insanity.
Stepping out of the tub, she towels off, and grabs her robe. Walking to her room, she changes into an oversize t-shirt, and sets her alarm. Her bedroom is simple and spacious. She has a queen-size western bed, with a large dresser at the very far wall next to the door. On top of the dresser sits a 32-inch flat screen TV, as well as a hairbrush and other small trinkets. She has a large bookcase on the opposite side from her bed, full of books on history, language, and even a few on Alchemy and Religion.
She lies down on her bed, and looks at the clock. It's 22:00 hours and she isn't even tired. 'Great,' she thinks, 'I need something else to do with my time.' She sighs, and drifts off to sleep.
The next morning, she dresses quickly, grabs a granola bar for breakfast and heads down to the train station to get her ride to school early. She always makes a point to get to the station by 6am, to make sure she gets to class early enough to where she doesn't get in trouble. She gets there at 7:30am, which is later than she normally arrives. There are already a few people in the room, mostly kids whose parents drop them off before they go to work.
She sits down and waits for the bell to ring. It isn't until lunchtime that she notices that Kagome isn't there. She frowns. 'Stupid girl. She better have a damn good reason for not showing up after all the help I just gave her. She's here for a week, and then she's gone again? This is such bullshit.'
At the end of the day, instead of heading straight home, she heads straight to Higurashi shrine. The grounds are quiet, and she walks up to the house, determined to give Kagome a piece of her mind. She hears Kagome's mother and grandfather talking about her, and the words 'well', 'InuYasha' and Kagome's name pop up frequently. After they go inside, she sneaks around to the back, to the small well house, and enters quietly, shutting the door silently behind her.
"Creepy." The dank well house smelled like something dead and something dusty all at the same time. She was drawn to the old well for some reason, and was surprised there was a ladder going down into it. Climbing down, she looked at the dirt. Weird. She though she saw something glowing underneath the dirt. She leaned in closer, and suddenly, she was falling in a deep crimson haze, with bright starlight surrounding her. She closed her eyes out of surprise and fear, and when she opened them again, she was sitting on the dirt floor again, where she started. She looked up, and the ladder was no longer there. She looked straight up, and saw blue skies, and vines reaching down to brush against her. Frustrated with confusion and curiosity, she scaled the walls of the well, using the vines as ropes. Reaching the top, she catches her breath, only to have it stolen from her. She is no longer in the well house. Surrounded by trees and bushes, she realizes she is in a deep forest, and she can see, far off into the distance, fields of what may be rice.
She sits down on the edge of the well, in shock and disbelief. "Where the hell am I?"