Chapter 1:
A fist went flying from the darkness of the shadows and collided with another jaw followed by a quick knee to the guy's stomach. He doubled over clutching his stomach on the filthy, damp floor gasping for air in pain. His gang members were sprawled around them in the dark alleyway. The small breach of moonlight up above illuminated the five other people who were struggling to stand up and a quivering teenage girl.
She had pressed herself against the wall once the gang of thugs had let go when they were interrupted. She hugged herself as she slowly slid to the floor. She was visibly shaken up. Her shirt was shifted so that one shoulder was visible and was ripped up here and there. Her hair was a bit tossed up and itcovered her eyes. She kept her head down and didn't bother looking up at the person who saved her or the people who had harassed her.
Some of the limping men were trying to help their fallen comrades. Each one of them didn't dare to taunt the person in front of them. Although there was only one person facing off this gang of six people, this one person had beaten them up in the matter of seconds.
A hand shot down and grabbed the messy blond hair and yanked it so that his face turned towards them. He winced as tiny pricks of pain shot through him. His eyes opened to find that he was staring at a pair of black baggy pants and some army shoes. The figure in the black trench coat pulled his hair to the side where his eyes met the person with a black muscle tee underneath the coat.
"Don't let me find you doing this to anyone again," the voice was cold and hard. The only thing he could do was nod dumbly. The figure picked him up by the collarand shoved him back against his gang members. There was some stumbling before the sounds of footsteps against concrete quickly retreated to the other end of the alley.
The rescuer walked over to the girl that was against the wall. She was still hugging herself and shaking nervously. Stopping right in front of the girl with brown hair that passed her shoulders, the person crouched down. Taking the quivering girl in their arms, the person started to whisper soothing words.
First it started out with the normal 'everything will be alright', 'you're safe', 'calm down' but now the girl was being comforted by a friendly rub or pat against her back. She had latched onto her rescuer and was sobbing in the black coat. She felt herself being picked up but she still didn't look up at the person who saved her.
Her ragged breaths had clamed a bit but she was still a bit shaky. Her tearstained face was buried into a shoulder but she was still aware that they were heading towards the main streets. A natural sweet fragrant met her nose while she was inhaling deeply trying to calm her breathing further.
The person dressed in black walked for a few more minutes before settling down at a bench in a park. The figure placed the bundle in their arms against the bench seat and settled down beside her.
The wind howled and the trees rustled. The small hairs on their skin stood on end and goosebumps begain to show. The figure in black paying it no mind, settle beside the shaking girl.
Green eyes glared at the person with ebony hair. His red hair swayed with the rhythm of leaves. His long silky hair flowed in the wind like liquid silk. His hand was holding onto the trunk of the tree, steadying himself before he made anymore noise.
"Are you alright Miss?"
"Y-yes, thanks for your help back there. My name is Keiko Yukimura," she sniffled and looked up at her rescuer. Her puffy brown eyes caught sight of the blue grey of her rescuer. "Um... areyou that new student, Higurashi-san?"
"Yeah, my name's Kagome Higurashi. So Yukimura-san, why were you out this late alone and in that alleyway?" Kagome took off her black trench coat and wrapped it around the quivering girl. The night air brushed against Kagome's arms but she didn't seem to pay it any mind.
"No, I can't take this. What about you?" she said shaking her head and trying to push the article of clothing back into the owner's hands.
"Don't worry, I'm use to the cold. Besides, it looks like you need it more than me." Keiko blushed at her statement and tried to fix her shirt to only find that parts of it was ripped and it showed off part of her shoulder and some of her stomach.
"Thanks," Keiko smiled a bit and accepted her trench coat which she draped around herself. She pulled it close to her formso that it the cool night air won't touch her quivering form.
"So... what were you doing out so late Yukimaru-san?"
"Call me Keiko. I was just visiting my boyfriend who I haven't seen at school for a few days, and well, I kind of lost track of time after awhile. So I decided to take a shorter cut back home but I was cornered by those thugs. What about you Higurashi-san? What are you doing out so late?"
"Call me by my first name too. 'Higurashi-san' sounds like what people address my mother. I was bored so I thought I'd comb the city. You really shouldn't walk out here late at night unless you know how to defend yourself. How about I walk you home so that we'd make sure no one will try and jump you again? Where do you live?"
"I live a few blocks north of here. Thanks. I really need to get home soon, or my mom will freak!" They both stood up and walked down the dark deserted street. Odd lamp posts illuminated their path along the road and few cars passedby them.
"So you go to Sarayashiki High as well?" asked Kagome.
"Yeah, I think we're in the same P.E. class. You're really good at archery. I don't think the teacher can even shoot that well!" Keiko replied with a soft smile.
"Well I was taught before. I thought you seemed familiar but I just couldn't place it. So how come your boyfriend didn't walk you home? Not very responsible to let a girl walk off at night."
"Well he wasn't home. I'm guessing he's at one of his friend's houses tonight. Come to think of it, I don't think he has met you. He wasn't at school for the whole week since you started."
"Oh? Who's your boyfriend?" asked Kagome, as she cocked her head to the side.
"Maybe you heard of his reputation before, he's Yusuke Urameshi. Don't worry, he's a lot nicer that what his rep says." Kagome couldn't help but chucked at that comment.
"A lot of people are just big softies on the inside. Yeah... I think I've heard of him from a few people at school. Isn't he on the punk side? One of the peoplewho likes to skip school?"
"I guess you can say that... he definitely doesn't like school. But I think you're getting quite a reputation for yourself. I heard from a few of my friends that you had beaten up eight of the school bullies single handed within a minute. They say you're going to beat Yusuke one day." Kagome looked over and grinned sheepishly at her new friend beside her.
"I didn't know that I had a reputation already," she admitted, "I've been here for only three days. No one really even bothers talking to me. Maybe that's the reason people seem to steer away from me."
"Don't worry Kagome-chan, I'll be your friend at Sarayashiki. Maybe you'd like to eat lunch with me tomorrow. I'll introduce you to my boyfriend... if he's there."
"Sure, I'd like that."
"So Kagome-chan, why did you move to Sarayashiki High? Did you just move into the neighbourhood?" she asked curiously.
"Um... no not really... I live at Sunset Shrine. My old high school burnt down so I decided to change to a whole new district."
"A shrine? That must be an interesting place! So what about your old friends? I don't remember anyone else exchanging to Sarayashiki..."
"Well they passed the entrance exam to a prestigious school. I think it was call Meiou High. I felt like I wanted to start new so I picked a different school from them. But they still seem to like trying to set me up with other guys."
"Meiou High you say? Hmm... I know someone that goes to that school. Actually I know him through Yusuke."
"Don't tell me, another punk?"
"Actually no. He's not even close to a punk, though he's quite popular at the school."
"Oh great what I need is my three friends trying to set me up with a date with him too." Kagome's comment got a few giggles from the girl walking beside her.
"I don't think you have to worry about that. I'm pretty sure your friends are going to want this one all to themselves. Either that, or they would get chased off by his fan club before even getting close to him or they actually join his fan club." Kagome halted and had a look of disbelief on her face as she stared at the girl walking. Keiko seemingly realizing Kagome had stopped turned around.
"The last thing you said..."
"Oh did I offend you or your friends? I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it that way," Keiko looked totally horrified about what she had said.
"No... no, no... that's not it. It's the fact that you seemed to nail their personalities right on. It's completely like them to join this guy's fan club." Kagome caught up to the laughing Keiko.
"Well, you know he is quite the looker and he's single. I can try to set you two up..." This comment caused Kagome to groan which in turn caused Keiko to giggle.
"Please not you too... I've had enough of this... besides I'm not exactly dressed like a girl who wants to get a guy." Kagome did have a point there. Her black baggy jeans concealed her legs leaving it to other's imaginations and her tee covered everything. Her ebony hair was left flowing in the wind. A white bandaged wrapped around her left arm and hand similar to a certain hybrid she knew.
"I'm sure a different wardrobe will cause you to be the hottest girl around," Keiko looked over to her friend and couldn't help but laugh at the horrified look she had on her face, "Okay... okay... I won't try and set you up. Besides I think he's kind of horrified at the aspect of another girl. He sees enough of them, I start to think he may be traumatized."
"And you wanted me to change my wardrobe? Are you trying to traumatize me too? Wow that shows what a great friend you are!" Kagome laughed, "You know, I'm starting to feel sorry for him. He probably can't step out of the house without being scared by his fan club." She shook her head sadly.
"Um... Kagome... why is your arm bandaged? Is it hurt?" Keiko pointed to her left arm.
"Oh it's nothing. It's actually a tattoo. But you know today's society, if people see any body art, they would start to judge you differently." Keiko nodded in agreement.
"Well this is my home. Thanks for walking me home and taking care of those thugs at the alleyway. I'll look for you in P.E. and then we can eat lunch together." Kagome smiled and watched her friend walk through the door before heading home herself.
Curious green eyes watched her form walking down the street before setting out to follow her to her designation.