Shine On Me
Summary: Kagome has just arrived at Nishiura academy after apparently their Baseball Teams first victory, and it's all she's heard about since walking through the doors of her new school. Not only that, but their female coach has apparently scouted her after being caught on the baseball pitch after the teams already gone. What will ensue when the team discovers she's got a favorable Knuckleball?
Anime/Manga: InuYasha/Big Windup!
Pairing: Kagome/Tajima
Genre: Humor/Slice of Life/School Life/Sports/Romance
Rated: For Mature Content
-x-x-x-
"I don't feel bad about this,"
"..."
Blue cobalt eyes looked into golden orbs that held a confused expression, as opposed to her own indifferent look, just staring.
"You really think you can just break up with me?"
She smiled, "I don't think I can, I just did." Turning, she watched as a car pulled up to the curb of the school where a crowd of students stared on in surprise. "I know about you seeing Kikyou behind my back, and frankly, I'm not impressed." She turned to see her twin leaning against the school wall, "But don't worry Inuyasha, she's not going to be moving with me. So you'll still have at least one of us, just not both."
"...Kagome...?"
Kagome raised a brow at her recently made ex.
"What do you mean Kikyou isn't moving with you?"
"Disappointed?"
"Of course not! I'm just curious...why you, and not her?"
"Because, Inuyasha, if you must know," She rolled her eyes, 'Not that it's any of your damn business.' She continued, "Our parents have recently gotten divorced, and I am moving with our father, while she has chosen to stay with our mother. Souta didn't want to choose, so mom and dad decided that he would stay with her for three months, then dad for three months, and keep switching until they say otherwise. Seeing as how he's in the car with dad," She pointed behind her, "I'll assume we have first dibs on my baby brother,"
He frowned, "Why did you come to school then; to humiliate me in front of our classmates?"
"Don't be so conceited, I came here to get my school transcripts, a-k-a, my grades and other records? Sorry to kill your mood, I know how much you love when everything revolves around you." She shouldered the bag with her records and her books before turning around and climbing into her fathers' car.
A knock on the window caused her to glance over and see one of her friends smiling, "Give me a call once you get settled in, kay!"
Kagome smiled and nodded, "I'll call you the second we finish unpacking, bye Sango!"
The girl stepped back and waved goodbye as Kagome's ride pulled away.
-x-x-x-
The arrival at the new house wasn't anything special, since she had seen the house prior to their move date. Her father had taken her with him when looking for a new place to live, saying that it would be her just as much as his. "I'll show Souta to the room he'll be staying in while here." Kagome said, taking her kid brothers hand in hers. He was till looking in surprise at the large, two story home. It was a traditional styled home with a slide screen door that locked, but knowing them, they wouldn't lock it. Entering, they walked in to the Genkan; a little Japanese History for those who don't know, a Genkan is a small area, at the same level as the outside, where arriving people remove their shoes. As they take off their shoes, people step up onto a raised floor. They point the tips of their shoes to the outside. The rest of the residence is at the raised level of this floor. Adjacent to the lower floor is a shelf or cabinet called a getabako (geta box) in which people may place their shoes. Slippers for wear in the home are also stored there.
Kagome removed her shoes and placed them out of the way, turning them to face the door. Souta did the same thing, but neither grabbed a pair of the house slippers, since both were wearing socks. "This way Souta,"
"What school am I going to?"
"Well, I talked to dad about it, and you will actually be enrolled in Ichikawa Private Academy, it has a Soccer Team and Soccer Club, but more importantly, the Principal has talked with dad about your three month living arrangement, and has agreed to work with your other principal at Kaisei Academy."
"Kaisei doesn't have a soccer team." Souta frowned sadly.
"Yeah, I know. It didn't have any sports when I attended, I believe, just this year, they decided to add track." She rolled her eyes, "Them and that stupid motto,"
"The pen is mightier than the sword!"
Kagome turned at the second voice that had joined in with her little brothers, only to see her father smiling with two boxes in hand.
"I hated that school. Great if you want to be a Prime Minister, a Haiku Master, a Commander for an aircraft carrier or something else along those lines, but if you were anything like me, then it was lame and boring." He sighed, "But what can you do, it's been around since 1870,"
"I thought it was founded in 1872," Kagome said curiously.
Souta shook his head, "1871, you were both a year off."
"Haha, right, sorry...I'll put these in the rooms they will go in, and we can start setting up tomorrow. Kagome, after you show Souta to his room, take him on a tour of the neighborhood, and walk him to his school and back. He starts Monday, so we will only have Sunday to unpack; I want to get this done as quickly as humanly possible!" He pumped his fist in the air, almost dropping both boxes in hand. "Heh, I'm gonna set these down."
"Kay," Kagome stepped out of her fathers' way and continued walking with Souta up-stairs. "Pretty cool though, your birthday was last week, so technically you are supposed to be in fourth grade, but you have to finish the third grade curriculum, however, since you are enrolling into a new school, your age places you in fourth grade, you'll only need to finish the third grade in Kaisei, however, that could cause you problems too, so when you aren't in school or club activities, you and I will hit the books and make sure you aren't confused on the Third Grade syllabus, okay?"
"Mm, yeah!"
"Good, now...this is your room,"
Souta opened the door and smiled widely, "Cool! I HAVE A BALCONY!" Souta rushed out of the glass screen door which was opened. Her father had come by earlier to give it a once over with a broom, he had apparently decided to leave the windows opened to air the house out to.
"Hm...?"
"Uh, HI!"
"..." Kagome frowned, moving through the opening to the balcony, she saw a boy across from her, sitting with a clipboard that was holding what looked like his homework and an electric pencil in hand. "Oh, sorry to interrupt,"
"...it's no problem." He clipped the pencil to the clipboard and stood up, bowing respectfully, "The name is Izumi, Kōsuke."
Kagome bowed, "Higurashi, Kagome; and this is my little brother, Souta."
"Kōsuke, come here for a moment please!"
"That's my mom, it was nice to meet you, I'm sure I'll be dropping by later with something homemade, so...I'll see you later," He slid open his own door and entered, bowing goodbye once more, then closing the door and going to see what it was his mother wanted.
"...Hm...he looked to be around my age..."
"So he's in your grade? Do you think he goes to your school?"
"Maybe," She smiled, "but there are a lot of schools in this area, so it's possible he goes to one of them, or maybe even commutes, there are a few private academy's that aren't too far from here."
"...he seems nice."
Kagome looked at her little brother and smiled, "Let's take that tour, okay?"
"Alright!"
-x-x-x-
Night time quickly came around, and Kagome was walking inside her house when she heard a crash from the kitchen. She kicked her shoes off and ran to the kitchen where she saw her father glaring at a collection of stainless steel pots that were scattered across the kitchen floor. "What happened?"
"Heh, I was trying to get the kitchen set up, but the pots toppled over. Oh, how was the tour? Did Souta like the school?"
"Yeah, we took our bikes so that he could get an idea of what time to leave to get to school on time. If we leave at the same time, he'll get there with plenty of time, I'll be an hour early, but I can get some extra studying in, so that's fine."
Her father nodded, "By the way, where is your brother?"
"Out front, locking up the bikes; hm?" She looked at a glass dish that held what looked like a cake covered with green icing, white icing was settled around the top edge and bottom edge. "What's with the cake?"
"Ah! Mrs. Izumi came over with her two boys! Good kids, one's your age...uh, his name..."
"Kōsuke,"
"Yeah, Kōsuke...ah! Hey, how did you know that?" He pouted; it was rare that he ever knew something before his daughter, so, despite not being surprised that she knew the youngest boy's name, it still struck a cord in him that bugged him.
"His room is across from Souta's, we met him earlier."
"Ah,"
"DAD!"
"Hm...?" He glanced up from where he was picking up the pots, "What's up?"
"Ichikawa is awesome!" Souta called breathlessly.
"Oh yeah?"
Kagome smiled, "The principal had been on her way out when we arrived. She didn't recognize us, so I mentioned he would be starting Monday, that she's had met you, and she of course smiled and gave Souta and myself a tour of his school. We got to see his classes, since she pulled up his schedule for him, and I also got to learn it, so if I ever need to get him out of class, I will have no problem finding him."
"It stinks though, I have math first thing in the morning."
Kagome smiled, "At least you know what your classes are,"
"Kagome, isn't your school one of the few where you stay in the same class for your academic courses, and just change classes for your recreational lessons?"
"Yeah, but I don't know the order of my academic courses yet, so I'll be walking blindly, like the first day of school, only, the rest of the school will have a head over me."
"...?"
Kagome caught the confused look on her brothers' face. "It means that they won't get lost in the halls like I will, they'll be more prepared for the teachers coming and going, and will already know when to get ready for a recreational class and when to stay seated for the next academic class."
"But you'll figure that out on the first day, right?"
"Yeah, I'll get it down Monday, and everyday after will be simple recurrence." She looked at her brother and grinned, "But that doesn't matter right now, you...bath...you too dad!"
"EH!" Her father sighed, "Who's the adult here?"
Kagome raised a brow at the mess on the floor and the pink apron with yellow ducklings along the bottom of the apron. "Right, never mind...come on Souta, let's go take a bath. I'll finish cleaning up the kitchen when I get out."
"Don't worry about it, go."
The two left; her father leaving the apron he'd been using on the counter. Waiting for the two to disappear up the stairs, she started cleaning up the kitchen. Checking the fridge, she couldn't help but frown. 'Nothing...I should run to the store and grab something to make for dinner, then breakfast tomorrow. I'll worry about lunch and so on tomorrow, when I can make a grocery list.' Running up stairs, she tapped on the door.
"Yeah?" Her father cried from the other side of the slide screen door.
"I'm going to the supermarket down the street, anything in particular that you want for dinner?"
"SUKIYAKI!"
Kagome smiled.
"You heard him, Sukiyaki! Take my card; just make sure to put it back in the Bamboo Leaf Bowl on the counter."
"Alright, and for breakfast?"
"...doesn't seem like Souta has any requests, get something you want!"
"Right, I'll go out tomorrow with a list and get some things for the week, alright!"
"Right!"
Turning, she ran down the steps and grabbed her fathers' card from his wallet before walking to the Genkan and pulling her shoes on. She left the house, grabbing her bike along the way. 'I think...boiled rice, miso soup, some grilled fish and an omelet roll will be good for breakfast tomorrow.' She nodded to herself, "Yeah, that will work! Maybe they'll have some Wagyu Beef that I can use for the Sukiyaki too!"
-x-x-x-
"Now let's see if I've got everything! I have the Wagyu, Kohada, Mirin, Sake, Soy Sauce, Sugar, Firm Tofu, Nappa cabbage, some fresh Shiitake Mushrooms, Scallion, Dashi, Enoki Mushrooms...I have two bunches of Chrysanthemum leaves, a pack a yam noodles, Eggs, Salt, Oil, seaweed, green onion, Kamaboku, Daikon, Miso Paste, white rice, pepper, Strawberries, grapes, Yuzu, Milk Coffee, Oolong Cha, Ryoku-Cha, Mitsuya Cider and some Meiji Fruit Drops for my favorite little brother!"
"Ah...Higurashi-San, isn't it a little late to still be out?"
Kagome lifted her head and stared up at a boy with dark brown hair, light scattered freckles on his cheeks, and violet blue eyes. He was dressed in a button up black shirt that was a little bit baggy on him, but not unattractively so, and blue jeans. He wore white tinny shoes and a dark blue baseball cap with UN on the front, but it was turned so that the bill of the hat faced the back. "Oh, Izumi-San," She smiled, "Heard from dad that you, your mother and older brother came by while I was out with Souta."
"Touring the neighborhood, right?"
"Yeah, I was showing Souta to his new school."
"Oh yeah?"
"Mmm," She nodded, looking down at her calculator, she sighed, "Good, I didn't go over. Maybe I can snag a book for Souta while I'm here."
"Book's are over there," Izumi pointed behind her. "Mind if I join you?"
"I have no problem with it, but only if it's okay with you."
"I asked, didn't I?" He asked rationally.
"...yeah, I guess so." She smiled, "Thanks!"
"No problem, so what type of book are you looking for?"
"Hmm, something that's educational, he hates math, so probably a math book with some third and fourth grade mathematical equations, possibly some fifth grade problems too."
Izumi said nothing as he looked along the shelves in the educational section. "How's this one? It's 'Mathematics' grades one to six, basically an Elementary Math Book."
"That would work!" She grinned, looking at the price, she smiled brightly. "PERFECT!"
"...need help carrying your groceries back?"
"Um..." She looked at the stuff in her basket and sighed, "Yeah, I'll probably have to have dad drive me tomorrow too. This is just for tonight and tomorrow, I have to go shopping for the week too...moving sucks."
"Well, I can help out tomorrow. I have early morning training though, so what time are you planning on going?"
"I was going to go after I finished unpacking, probably around four or five."
"I'll be out by five, I can meet you here tomorrow at five-thirty."
"That works, thanks, Izumi-San!"
"No, it's fine. Beside's, you don't know anyone here yet, right?"
"Yeah, except for you and the principal at Ichikawa Academy, I haven't really had the time to go around making friends."
"Well, then let me be the first to welcome you to your new home,"
"Thanks," Kagome smiled as she watched the women before her bag the groceries.
"19,497 yen,"
Kagome slid the card and pocketed it, "Thank you." She bowed politely to the woman.
"Oh, thank you! Please come again!" The woman blushed at the girls show of respect, watching Kagome and Izumi walk out of the store with the four bags.
Kagome placed both of her bags in the front basket of her bike before taking one of the bags Izumi was holding, "I'll carry this one," She said, grabbing the left handle of her bike and pushing on. Izumi copied her motion and grabbed the right handle of the bike before pushing it along with his new neighbor. Neither spoke, both just let the silence of the night keep them company as they made their way to their respective homes.
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Me: A new story, hope you guys enjoyed! Please tell me what you think, nai~