A Long Way To Go
Chapter 1: Horaijima Institute
"With the new school year comes lots of controversy. The new human rights laws require even the most thriving demon schools to open their doors to humans." The demoness on the television reported the news load and clear. "Outside schools, protesters have been picketing all week. Wealthy demon families are refusing to allow their children to attend these schools."
Rin silently took a bite of her warm oatmeal. She grabbed the remote and turned the volume up as a lot of little kids ran around the room.
"It would seem the most controversial subject to arise in the desegregation law would be the matter of Horaijima Institute." A large picture of her future school flashed on the screen. "The newly founded boarding school is a merger of the Shikon School for Humans and the popular demon school, InuTaisho Institute. Both were popular live-in schools that strived in the human and demon community. There will be an equal number of students from the two species attending the school. Rumors suggest they may even share rooms.
"We tried to contact the school's headmasters for comments. They sent us this statement saying," The words popped up on the screen of the statement as the demoness read it aloud. "We at Horaijima Institute believe there should not be a separated learning for youkai and humans. We are striving to prepare our students for a future in where they will live in peace. The desegregation law is truly the first step towards a brighter future."
The demoness popped back on the screen right before it was shut off. Rin tossed the remote aside and looked up at the clock on the wall. It was nearly time for her to leave and she was not accustomed to being late. She picked herself off the couch and dodged the herd of children fighting over the toys as she went to the kitchen.
After carefully rinsing off her dishes and placing them with all the other neatly stacked dirty dishes, she made her way to Kaede's study. Kaede was her care taker and owner to the orphanage Rin lived it. Rin's parents died when she was no more then ten, and she has been in Kaede's care ever since.
Rin knocked on the door and waited. "Come in child." Kaede called through the door knowing it was her.
She entered the study and gave the old woman a small smile.
"Are you all packed?" Kaede asked her, standing from her desk.
Rin nodded slightly.
"Good. I wish to leave early. I asked to speak with the headmaster before I leave you there." Kaede had always been protective of Rin. After Rin expressed her intention to leave home schooling and attend a school with other students, Kaede insisted she know every detail of the school.
The young girl shot Kaede a puzzled look.
"Do you think I would let you go so easily?" The old woman thought of her as her daughter.
Rin gave another small smile.
The old woman sighed, "Rin, you will need to learn to speak. Life at the school will be much simpler if you did."
Pushing her lips together, the young girl looked away from Kaede. It wasn't that Rin couldn't talk; it was merely that she never felt a need to. A therapist once suggested that it was perhaps caused by the trauma of losing her parents. Rin found the suggestion preposterous, since some days she had a hard time picturing what they looked like.
Kaede casually organized her things. "Shall we go?"
The school was massive. It had one large building with three smaller buildings circling it. As she understood it, it was originally the demon school and recently they added on to it. There was a frenzy of reporters outside the school gates. Rin also noticed a lot of protesters on both the demon and human side.
Rin sighed as the press and protesting vultures surrounded their vehicle making it hard to get to the school. She heard Kaede let out a big sigh.
"Good thing they decided to put up a gate."
The girl nodded in agreement. As they got closer to the gate a few police officers came into view. They were pushing the crowd out of the away making room for their car. One of the cops, notably demon, tapped on the driver's window. Kaede rolled it down to let him speak.
"Student's name, please." He requested, as he held up a clip board.
"Rin Kichida." She told him.
He began shuffling through his papers, "School year and birth date."
"She is in her second year, and her birthday is May twelfth." Kaede slightly glanced at Rin as almost a way to make sure she had her birthday right.
"Your name and relationship to her?" he highlighted Rin's name on the sheet.
"I am her guardian, Kaede Higurashi ." She smiled.
The tall demon leaned forward and handed her a pass. "That is your visitor pass, it is good until five p.m. This is her unofficial check in, she will need to check in at eight tonight with her resident director. Miss Kichida will be residing in So'unga hall, to get there you will continue forward and head to the right."
"I have a meeting with Headmaster Nishimura." Kaede quickly said.
"Oh," He checked his folder. "I see. In that case, head straight you will park in front of the main building. Once you go inside there will be a counter. One of the lovely ladies on staff will take you to Mister Nishimura."
She slightly bowed her head. "Thank you."
"You are welcome." The demon smiled at her before waving her on.
A young human who's name tag read Ayumi led them through the halls of main building called The Meido. It was massive and everything you would expect a top notch school to be. As they came closer to Nishimura's office, they began to hear muffled shouting.
Ayumi sighed. "Oh dear."
Suddenly the door flashed opened and out stormed the angriest looking boy Rin had ever seen. He had long silver hair and perched on top of his head was a pair of what could only be described as adorable dog ears.
"Look, old man, I don't care what you say!" he pointed to the large demon that followed him out, "I ain't sharing a room with some moron! And ain't wearing no damn uniform! And I ain't pulling my hair back into some stupid, girly pony tail!"
"Inuyasha, you are making a fool of yourself." The older demon crossed his arms. "Beside ain't ain't a word." The demon pause and sighed catching his mistake, "Is not. Ain't is not a word."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I don't care what is a word and what ain't. I'll talk however I damn want!"
"Inuyasha! We will discuss this later." He growled, before looking towards the three women. "Forgive us for this little episode." He bowed towards them.
The half demon huffed, threw his fisted hands into his red hoodie's pockets, and stomped away grumbling to himself.
"Headmaster Nishimura, this is Miss Kichida and Miss Higurashi, here for their appointment." Ayumi introduced them.
He gave them a smile, "Right on time. If you will." He extended a hand towards his office.
"Why thank you." Kaede made her way into his office, Rin trailing close behind.
"Please forgive my son; he has a bit of a temper." They watched as he took a seat. "I am InuTaisho Nishimura. Miss Rin, I would like to be the first to welcome you to Horaijima Institute."
Her nerves got the best of her, she gave him a small smile before looking at the ground.
He shifted in his seat when she did not respond properly.
"Rin does not speak, Headmaster." Kaede informed him. "It is the reason I insisted on meeting you today."
"Oh," He was taken aback for a second. "I see."
"She has not spoken since her parents died." Kaede spoke as if Rin was not there. "Doctors have suggested that trauma has impaired her speech. Knowing perfectly well how school works, I fear for how teachers will treat her. I do not want them being cruel towards her for her condition."
The demon nodded in agreement as he opened a folder on his desk. "I believe most of the teachers she has will understand her situation, and I can assure you Miss Kaede, that I will personally talk to them." He paused a second, "I will warn you though Miss Rin, your history teacher is sort of an… ass." He bluntly said. "You will have to ignore him if he say's anything to you, and come to me if he is too harsh."
Rin nodded showing she understood. She watched as he grabbed a sticky note and placed in with in the folder before entirely writing on it. He looked over a couple papers in his folder scribbling on them from time to time.
"Headmaster." Kaede called out to him.
"Please Miss, call me InuTaisho." He smiled at her.
She nodded, "Very well. Mr. InuTaisho. I was wondering if you granted my request that she roomed with my great niece?"
"Oh yes. Your requested was made early enough that we were able to secure her a room with Miss," He looked back to the paper work, "Kagome Higurashi."
Kaede sighed, relieved.
"However, Kagome had also requested to room with another young lady name Sango Tanaka. Since some of our rooms require three roommates, I took the liberty to room them together. I hope that is alright."
"That is quite fine." Kaede nodded her approval.
InuTaisho paused before asking, "Is there anything else you would like to discuss?"
Kaede shook her head. "I believe that is all. Thank you very much Mr. InuTaisho." She stood up and bowed her head.
Rin stared up at the huge letters that read So'unga. Kaede and Rin grabbed her bags from the trunk of her car. It was beginning to sink in that this will be her home for the time being. She felt a mixture of anticipation and apprehension. InuTaisho had told them her room number before they departed, making the next steps a bit easier. They made their way to the second floor, in an effort to find room 113.
Nervously, Rin shuffled down the hall. 110. 111. 112. And finally, 113. The door was wide open as they approached it. There was a wave of laughter was they made their way inside.
"Kaede!" A raven hair girl jumped up and attacked the old woman with a hug. "It's been to long!" she squealed.
"Yes it has child." the old woman smiled. "Kagome, I would like to introduce you to Rin."
Kagome smiled at Rin. "Kaede has told me so much about you. It's great to finally meet you."
Rin nodded and bowed her head.
"Oh! Kaede, Rin, this is Sango." Kagome smiled as she introduced the young girl casually sitting at a desk. "Sango, this is my great aunt Kaede and our roommate Rin."
"Hello." The girl smiled at them.
Once again Rin bowed.
"Where is your mother Kagome?" Kaede asked her.
Kagome smiled. "Since it's my second year of high school and Sota's first of middle, she felt it'd be better she was with him."
"Oh, too bad. I was hoping to see her."
Their conversation took off from there, while Rin took her time looking about the room. It had three beds, three dressers, and finally three desks to fully accommodate the three girls. Two of the beds were bunked together and one was left by itself.
"You can choose which ever bed you'd like, Rin." Kagome smiled at her.
Rin slightly blushed as she picked the bed alone in the corner. Part of her wished she could have her own room.
Sango stood up, "Kags, the pep rally will be starting soon."
"Is it almost three already?" Kagome nearly yelled in disbelief.
Rin burrowed her eye brows together and looked from the girls to Kaede. She was sure she didn't read a thing about a pep rally in any of the school papers she received.
"Pep rally?" Kaede asked.
"Yes, parents are not required to attend." Kagome smiled, "It was a last minute thing that the Headmasters through together to get the students excited for the school year." She waved her hand like it was nothing.
"Well," Kaede looked at Rin. "Dear, I don't think my heart can handle a rally. Will you be fine if I left now?"
Hesitating, Rin nodded.
Kagome waltzed up to Rin and placed her arms around the girls' shoulders, causing her to tense up. "Don't worry Kaede. I'll take good care of her!" she giggled.
The auditorium was filled with students. Off the bat Rin noticed that the demons sat close to the front while the humans sat closer to the back. Even in a desegregated school the students segregated themselves.
"Oh look Sango." Kagome grabbed her friends arm, "It looks like your favorite person wants you to sit with him."
Rin looked in the directed Kagome pointed. There a young man stood waving his arms motioning them to join him. She looked back to the girls, Kagome was laughing while Sango looked irritated.
"They actually let him in?" She exclaimed. "Ugh! Let's sit over there." She started the opposite way from the boy.
Kagome giggled and leaned towards Rin, "That's Miroku. One of our friends."
Sango rolled her eyes taking a seat, "Speak for yourself! Like I would ever call that Lech my friend."
"Did you guys not see me?" A voice called behind them.
"We saw and we ignored." Sango glared at him.
He chuckled, before looking Rin over, "And who is your young friend?"
Kagome jumped at the chance to introduce them, "This is Rin, Rin this is my friend Miroku."
"Hello Miss Rin," He extended his hand. As soon as she went to shake it, he grabbed hers with both his hands and said, "Miss Rin, will you do me the honor of bearing my children?"
Rin jumped back, blushing.
"You pervert!" Sango stepped in-between the two.
"Honestly Miroku! Way to give her a bad first impression!" Kagome rolled her eyes. "Ignore him Rin."
Rin nodded and shyly took a seat as Sango yelled at the boy while he merely smiled. Rin blinked slowly as she realized her first year in a public school was going to be interesting.
The room suddenly began clapping as Headmaster Nishimura walked onto the stage. Trailing beside him was a tall woman with long stunning black hair. From what Rin could tell she was human. Her newly found friends quickly took their seats.
InuTaisho and the woman both had a microphone in their hands. They both looked at each other. Before InuTaisho raised the mic to his mouth.
"Good afternoon Students, Parents and Staff." His deep voice rang loud over the speakers. "For those of you who do not know, I am InuTaisho Nishimura, Headmaster here. And this notable woman beside me is none other Midoriko Shikon, the Headmistress." he motioned towards her as the crowd clapped.
"Good evening." Her voice opposed his with a more soprano sound. "I can speak for both Mister Nishimura and myself when I say welcome to Horaijima Institute. When he approached me with the idea to merge our two schools, I will admit I was reluctant. I did not believe the world was ready for a school like this."
Rin watched as some demons shook their head and made sounds of disgust at the human talking.
"However, he told me if we were to continue with that idea, then the world would never be ready." She smiled towards the demon, "We owe this wondrous school all to Mr. Nishimura here."
Applause once again filled the room, mostly from the humans.
"Thank you Ms. Shikon. Though I do believe you have earned some credit as well." The demon stepped forward. "I would like to share a story with you." He told the audience. "Legend tells of an Island named Horaijima. Now Horai Island was unique. It was inhabited by humans and demons. They lived in peace and harmony. The world tried to attack them and pull them down. The story does ends tragically, when island was destroyed. The utopia vanished.
"We decided to name the school after the island in the myth, because we truly believe that the world will become like the island one day, a utopia. And it is your responsibility as the future generation to make sure that peace between the human's and the demon's is not destroyed."
The crowd remained silent though Rin felt it would have been appropriate to clap.
"The future begins with you." InuTaisho continued. "You can choose to extend your prejudice beliefs into the years to come. Or, you can accept the change the world has decided to make. It is your call. But I will say this; as long as you are a student here, you will respect one another. There will be not any segregation in this school. Nor will I tolerate any."
Rin glanced over to her new friends. Miroku look like he could doze off at any moment. Kagome choose to bite at her nails and Sango stared blankly in front of her. Silently, Rin hoped the school year would go as smoothly as InuTaisho hoped. But something told her it would never be that simple.
As InuTaisho continued to speak, the door closest to her opened and closed. It briefly lit the area around her. She glanced over, and instantly felt her face heat up. In her view stood a demon. For a demon, there was something nearly angelic about him. From his long silver hair that elegantly fell down the length of his back to the blue and magenta markings that graced his skin. Even he black suit he wore fit him perfectly.
Blushing, she looked away from him and tried to focus on her Headmaster. But for the rest of InuTaisho's speech the demon stood there. The way he lured her in, she couldn't help but stare.
The demon glanced her way. The moment their eyes locked Rin's warm body was wrapped in a blanket of ice. His cold, golden eyes stared into hers for what felt like hours. Rin slightly whimpered as she realized she couldn't look away. However, he broke the contact, placing his eyes forward while Rin's eyes fell to the ground.
He honestly had to be the most beautiful thing Rin had ever seen.
-A Note From Roz-
Bahahaha. School is in session, Roz-style!
I hope you guy's enjoyed it. ^^ Special thank's to my beautiful beta. Stigma, I love ya chicka. And thanks to my friends who I discussed this story with, you all were encouraging.
If you liked it please review. ^^
Now to quote that smexy Vulcan, 'Live Long and Prosper.'
Roz