The classrooms were empty, the halls were silent, and the grounds appeared deserted. Kagome found herself walking through a misty haze on her way to meet her future tutor. After shard hunting for so long her studies began to seriously suffer. It was very difficult to concentrate on the material when your life was constantly threatened, let alone trying to keep the papers in tact. It was thanks to her mother who worked out a sort of miracle to enable her a tutor. One that can both catch her up and work around future absences. Apparently the tutor, head of the school board, and her mother had created a certain arrangement especially for her case. As for how her mother managed to do so is both a great mystery and blessing. This way she can continue her search for the rest of the tama, something she did not even want to think about. She had so much on her plate she hadn't even known where to start. She is failing her classes, about to be 18, and her future looks to be chaotic at best. Then there is the fact of everything being said and done, where will that leave her? She can sense that when the jewel is complete the power connecting it and the well will disappear. What side would she have to choose? The family in the future she was born to or the family in the past created by comradery. Her heart was being torn in two at the thought.
`No I can't afford to think of that now. If I don't hurry I'm going to be late.' Kagome walked down the empty hallways of the school, her footsteps echoing behind her as she went. Her eyes scanned the numbers next to the door until she met the one she was suppose to have her meeting. When she came upon the desired door she hesitated; her hand being outstretched and frozen in place. What if this person couldn't help her? What if she were to fail? She couldn't bare the thought. She wanted to be more and know more. She wanted to look back and say yes I did it, it was hard, but I managed. To be able to feel that bit of success even if she did choose to live in the past where she was already farther ahead in that area. So she forced that bit of insecurity down and held firm. Nodding in confirmation of herself she took the handle in hand and walked through the door with confidence. At the other side of the room was a young woman a couple years older than her by the looks of it sitting at a desk typing at a computer. To her left were a few stacks of paper and a couple books to her right. Her dark blonde hair was tied in a very neat bun, not a single hair out of place and her light brown eyes were darting across the screen with her fingers typing a mile a minute. Her clothes were professional and immaculate. She would have thought that she was a teacher if it were not for her being so young and that she knew she was to be meeting her tutor here at this time. In comparison it did make her feel more wild and undisciplined. Her own hair had grown and was now down to her hip and fell loosely behind her and probably a little tangled from the rush over here. Then there was her uniform. A little wear and tear and buoyo the cat just happened to have slept on it the night before so a few hairs still remained despite her rush in removing it.
"Are you a miss Kagome Higurashi?" Startled Kagome quickly nodded her head and took a step forward, closer to the tutor. The tutors brown eyes met Kagome's blue in a calculating way and Kagome felt as if she were being measured. Coming to some sort of conclusion the tutor gestured to the seat in front of the desk her face completely neutral.
"I'm glad to see you make it here Kagome. My name is Akira Takamaru. Your mother spoke very highly of you. Now I am unaware as to exactly why you need so much time away from your studies, however your mother stressed that it was a matter of most importance and it is not my place to pry into the personal affairs of others. I state this because I want you to know that I will not ask and that I am only here to help you. When I am helping you I want you to be at ease around me and not have to worry about anything other than your studies and even with that I will help you as best I can. The school and I had come up with a system that will help catch you up in the quickest way possible. Once a week we will meet where I will help you with either testing you or working out assignments. The grade given by me will be on file and recognized by the school. The timing of you finishing your work and graduating now will be determined by the amount of work you are willing to put forth, so if you are to finish the work quickly, then you shall be able to graduate quickly. Do you have any questions for me before we get started?" Kagome was shocked to hear someone she has never met so willing to help her. What exactly had her mother said to her? She had to know.
"Why are you helping me so much? On paper I must look like a complete waste of your time." At this Akira gave Kagome a warm smile, the first break in her professional demeanor.
"Truth be told it was your mother who inspired and moved me into wanting to help you so badly. Her love and desire to see you succeed and her absolute faith in you that you can accomplish whatever you put your mind to was truly touching. Seeing you now I can begin to see a little as to why. There is something that I felt about you as you walked through my door. A sort of determination and the look in your eyes is both strong and eager. I will help you stand firm in your studies. We can accomplish this together." Kagome couldn't believe what she was hearing. She felt so very grateful to both Akira for her help and the school for allowing such an unusual request to go through. Though most of all she felt so much love for her mother in that moment. To have arranged this and to have spoken so highly of her made her heart soar. She wanted to rush home just so she could throw her arms around her and kiss her cheek.
"Thank you. You have no idea what this means to me or the burden you have lifted from my shoulders. Thank you so very much." Akira smiled in return at Kagome's very grateful one.
"How about we start our first meeting today over breakfast where I can explain the system in more detail and maybe finish up at your place?"
"That sounds great, I didn't have any time to grab any before I left." Akira nodded and sat up gathering her books and papers before placing them within a teal backpack. Then reaching into a drawer she pulled out what looked to be a bagged lunch. The confusion must have shown on her face for Akira elaborated.
"I just need to see my sister before we leave. She always forgets to eat breakfast as well. That or maybe she now counts on me to give it to her. Either way I need to give this to her." Kagome smiled at that. Akira sounded like a nice sister to have. Maybe she should be nicer to her brother? The two began to make their way out of the school building and onto the grounds. They continued walking until they came upon the archery range. Seeing the place peaked Kagome's interest. She always wanted to learn to be a better shot rather than being forced into a position where she simply aimed and hoped for the best. At the very least she knows she can shoot normal arrows since it takes a threat of her life to use a sacred arrow and that's only at demons. Man she really had a lot to work on. Her focus came back when a girl about her age in an archers uniform began to run towards them her long light blonde hair in a high ponytail swaying behind her and her hazel green eyes shining with mirth.
"Hey sis you have great timing. I was just finishing up practice and I am starving. Hi I'm Naomi by the way." Naomi smiled brightly and held her hand out towards Kagome. Kagome took her hand and smiled back at the energetic girl.
"It's nice to meet you Naomi, I'm Kagome." Naomi's smile grew if that was possible.
"Wow Akira told me about her meeting with your mom. I've never seen Akira talk about someone as much as she did your mom. Your mom must be something else. I'm totally jealous by the way." Kagome tilted her head to the side in a questioning sort of way.
"Thank you, but I'm sure your mother would do the same." Naomi nodded.
"I believe she would if she could. Just to throw it out there since I know Akira doesn't like to mention it, but our parents died when we were very young. I was too young to really remember them though Akira has some vague memories. I figure it will help you to know a little about us since your going to be seeing a lot of Akira here. It's just the two us. Though if you ever want you can come hang out with me and maybe you'd like to learn some archery?" Kagome was surprised to hear about their parents. In the feudal Era it was very common to hear of orphaned children, but to hear it in the present day just felt so strange. She could see that it did make Akira feel a little uncomfortable since she brought her hand up to scratch the back of her neck.
"I'm sorry to hear about your parents. If it helps I don't really remember my dad very much. He died shortly after my brother was born. I can tell that it makes my mom sad thinking about him so I never ask. As for archery I would love to learn more. I've been learning on my own, though I would love pointers." Naomi continued to smile at Kagome.
"That's great we can hang out and plan some time for me to teach you too. We can be fellow archers. My sister is pretty good at archery though her interest falls more into swordplay and she is really good. So anyway if you ever want to talk about anything, practice archery, or whatever just let me know. You have a friend in me so don't forget about me ok." Kagome smiled back at Naomi for what felt like the millionth time. It was just so hard not to. She was so energetic and outgoing saying whatever came to mind. She liked her and was already planning on when she could find time for her.
"I will call you sometime for sure though I'm not sure when exactly that will be. I don't have a lot of free time." Naomi shrugged unconcerned.
"I understand, anyway I better go change and meet up with a couple friends of mine. It was nice meeting you. Oh and sis I'll catch with you later ok?" Akira waved Naomi off with a small smile.
"Alright I'll talk to you later." Kagome watched Naomi run off and her and Akira began to walk towards a place serving breakfast that would allow them to sit and talk in relative peace.
"Your sister is really nice. Though I was wondering what is the age difference between the two of you were? That is if you don't mind. You don't have to answer that. I was just curious if Naomi and I were the same age or not."
"I don't mind. We are four years apart. She is 18 and I am 22. By the way it's alright to be curious and I don't mind answering questions. It's as my sister said, we will be spending a lot of time together so feel free to ask." Kagome felt a lot better hearing that and judging by the calm demeanor in which she said it she believed she meant it.
"So is tutoring your full time job or do you go to school?" Akira looked over at Kagome as they waited at a stop light.
"I do tutoring and T.A. work at the school full time, but I'm also going to school as well. I'm just about done with my bachelor's degree in science. I was able to go to school on a full scholarship and working at the school helps support my sister and I. Once I'm finished with school that second bit will be so much easier." Kagome could only stare at the back of Akira's head as she began to cross the street. She must be either really smart or very dedicated to have advanced so far, no it must be both. The accomplishment really stirred something in Kagome. It made her want to strive to be better. Realizing that Akira had nearly finished crossing the street Kagome had ran to catch up with her.
"I can't believe you've already gone so far in your schooling. That's really impressive. You must be really smart." Akira shrugged it off.
"Not as smart as you might think. It was mostly a lot of really hard work. Ever since I was young I had needed to take care of myself and my sister. I had realized to be able to do that I needed a good paying job so I worked hard and got us out of the orphanage as quick as I could. It was hard in the beginning, but we managed." Kagome could only nod in acknowledgment at what Akira told her. Akira had been working so hard for so long.
"OK here looks good." Kagome looked up to see a nice little sit down restaurant with a few people sitting down and enjoying their breakfast. Some were reading the morning paper and others enjoying idle conversation. The two of them were quickly seated and after going over their menus placed their order. It was after the waiter walked away did Akira dig into her teal backpack to bring out a rather impressive black binder.
"OK first off this thing here is all the work necessary to graduate. It is arranged by subject and contains the assignments and homework. I have an identical one that corresponds to yours only mine will contain the tests and evaluations of your work. So when we get together what we will be starting with is a little review before having you take whichever test you would need to take." Kagome took hold of the binder and flipped it open. One of the first subjects staring at her just happened to be math and she groaned. She saw how there were all the different subjects and each one contains quite the bit of material.
"Do these assignments work with my current school books?" Akira nodded.
"Yes so you don't need to worry about that. Was there anything else you'd like to ask?" Kagome shook her head.
"I think I got it thanks." The waiter then came by and dropped off their order and the two ate very happily. Kagome especially dug into her food with gusto.
"Wow the food was fantastic I will have to come by more often." Akira nodded her head.
"Yeah I came by the place on accident once and now I love it. Shall we head over to your place to begin your work." Kagome smiled and took the lead, guiding Akira towards her home. As they walked Kagome would glance at Akira. She seemed curious and kept an eye on her surroundings noting the different land marks. Soon the came upon the stairs leading to the grounds of her home.
"I must admit that these stairs alone are rather impressive. I was telling my sister I wanted a chance to work out a bit more. I didn't think the universe would answer in such a way." Kagome chuckled and the two began to ascend the stairs. When they reached the top Kagome was surprised to see Akira not even winded. Though she noticed that Akira's eyes went directly to the goshinboku tree and began to walk over to it. Kagome followed her simply observing her. Akira walked a full circle around the tree before stepping forward and placing her hand on the bark.
"This tree is ancient. It's strange it feels almost as if it could transcend time." Akira chuckled at that. "That sounds really strange, but that's how it makes me feel. As if the tree has seen the world new and is still here to tell of its time here. I like it. It makes me feel safe and at peace." Kagome stood by Akira side.
"I know what you mean. The tree has always been sacred and the shrine was actually built around it, to protect and be near it. I have always loved this tree." They spent a few more minutes simply being near the goshinboku. Kagome suggested that she give Akira a tour of the grounds. Everything went pretty normal that was until they began to approach the well house. She debated showing it to her. Part of her was a little afraid that Inuyasha would jump out at the most inopportune moment and spill her time traveling secret. Still she did make it clear to him that she needed at least a few days to get things settled on her end. When Kagome opened the doors Akira peered into the dim room and stared at the bone eaters well. Kagome followed Akira to the well who once stood in front of it placed her hand on the lip, but just as her fingers grazed the old wood her hand sprung back as if burned.
"That well has a weird feel to it. I can't explain it." Kagome watched Akira stare at the well in confusion.
"There is a story around this well that if you were to throw in the bones of dead demons that they would vanish without a trace. That is why it's called the bone eaters well."
"That would be interesting to see."
"Alright last place is the house." The two made their way towards the house and took off their shoes before walking inside.
"Momma? Gramps? Souta? I'm home and I have a guest over." It was Souta who popped his head out of the living room. In the last couple of years he has really grown. Thankfully she is still taller than he is, for now anyway. As she is turning 18 he is turning 14 and going to graduate middle school.
"Hey Kagome, Mom told me to tell you that her and Gramps went out to do some errands, but would be back soon."
"Oh okay by the way this is Akira Takimaru. She is going to be helping me with my studies." Souta gave Akira an appraising look.
"We might have to set up a room for you because this might take a while." Kagome glared at her younger brother who kept laughing at his own joke.
"Ha ha anyway Akira and I will be in my room if you need anything."
"It was nice meeting you Souta." Akira barely got the words out before she was pulled along by Kagome.
"Sorry about my brother, he can be a pain." Akira smiled at that.
"All siblings can be, but they come through in the end. Anyway shall we get started?
