Chapter one The R-13s

Hesitantly, his eyes caught onto hers. Searching, wondering… captivated. He was sprawled on the limb of the cherry blossom tree in the front of the schoolyard, watching the other students go by below him. No one noticed him, and there was no one in particular that he noticed.

Except her.

She had an almost magnetic pull to him, he practically couldn't look away. Why?

She seemed to have sensed him up there, watching, lounging idly over them. She had walked passed him, but then stopped, and looked back up at him. She didn't say anything, just gave him an amused look, smiled, and turned back to continue walking with her friend.

He stared after her for the longest time…


"Kagome, I cannot believe- you did not just-!!"

"Huh? What?" Kagome turned back to look at her friend Sango, who was gawking at her with the most peculiar look on her face.

"Do you know who that was?"

She shook her head, but she couldn't help from smiling for some reason.

Sango rolled her eyes, "That was Inuyasha Ishikawa!"

Kagome grinned at her best friend, "Which means…?" she prompted.

"The student that just got expelled from Kurogin High-! How have you never heard of him?" Kagome's other friends Yuka, Eri and Ayumi had caught up with them.

"Expelled?" Kagome asked blankly.

"Didn't you hear about the fight last week at Kurogin?" Ayumi asked, "Inuyasha fought 4 of these guys from Akizawa – single-handedly – and in the end he and 2 of his friends got expelled. All three of them have been transferred to our school, I think..."

At that, Eri chimed in about the rumors she'd heard, "Inuyasha was famous over at Kurogin… he was notorious for all the fights he was in… He's never lost any of them. Even that one time over at Senkai-" all the other girls seemed to nod in agreement over that thought. "What was it, 7 guys?"

"With bats."

"It was 7 guys with bats?!"

"It was 7 guys with bats," Yuka confirmed.

"Noooo."

"Yeah."

"Scary."

"I know."

"Maybe not all of them had bats?"


Plunking down in her seat in class, Kagome settled into her chair, gazing out the window. She could hear her friends talking, having still not moved off of the previous subject. All of a sudden, she had a thought.

"If they are such mad delinquents, then why did our school let them in?" she asked curiously. "I mean, Ryukuo High's got a great GPA average…"

"Well, the three didn't get kicked out before this was because Inuyasha was their ace on K-High's track team; their principal hated to see him go, really… I think it's one of the main reasons he got let into this school."

True as if to confirm their theory, their teacher Mrs. Kaede who'd been grading papers at her desk looked up and said. "He's in our class, you know. The new boy. Won't be with us today, I suppose. I had hoped to be able to introduce him to you all. Coach Totousai's down there with him on the track right now."

"Set to make the R-13s, I heard?" Sango asked, looking over at their teacher.

"Yeah, I've heard that too, kid. Heard he was good…"

The R-13s was their school's prestigious all-boys relay team, composed of about 10 guys – 4 1st stringers, 4 2nd stringers, and 2 backups. They won State every year, and had held the record for the past 13, hence their name.

Kagome turned away from the conversation again to look out the window, not minding their chatter, but not in the mood to join them either. Outside, she had a clear view of the track, and she could see a group of guys trooping out onto the grass, coach Totousai in the lead. One guy lagged behind them, keeping their pace without difficulty at an easy lope, but seemingly in no hurry to join up with the rest of the group.

She watched him.


Inuyasha eventually caught up, almost unwillingly, to the group. Sticking his hands into the pockets of his silver and black shorts, he looked out at the track.

"… today we're trying out for the spots in 1st string, so I'll be putting you all in pairs to race…"

Inuyasha snorted, feeling irritated.

"… just a brief work-out so that we can see what you're capable of. No need to strain yourself, we'll be observing you all as practices progress…"

A brief whistle was blown and he looked up to see people wandering away to assemble at the starting line. Totousai had stayed behind with his clipboard, marking things down. He looked up when Inuyasha moved uncertainly towards the rest of the group, and gave a small unconcerned wave of his pen as he continued to scribble.

"Go on, son. You'll do fine," the coach said without looking up, "You set the bar high by being first. No need to feel nervous."

Inuyasha looked alarmed for a moment. First? Aw, shit. He jogged over to the cluster of guys by the starting line. Tugging at the corner of his black t-shirt and feeling almost nervous, he bent to take his place at the marker.


Kagome heard the crack of the starting gun, and jerked her head up from her math notes to look back outside. Inuyasha was racing another guy in a lap around the track; 400 meters, long enough for endurance, but short enough for speed. Inuyasha seemed to be taking it quite easily, completely unconcerned about whatever grade he got for his times, and easily keeping pace with the other guy. Rounding a bend, he looked around him as if genially observing the scenery as it went by. Completely abandoning her homework, Kagome turned her full attention onto the track, watching him. He looked up and caught her gaze.
She was looking at him. Why? Inuyasha felt a sudden overpowering urge to show off, to show that he was better than the dimwit he was racing…
She saw him suddenly speed up, and go from a comfortable trot to a graceful sprint. Pulling ahead of his unfortunate partner, who was already panting heavily, he vaulted nimbly forward taking the last corner towards the finishing line and widening the gap between them.

Sango hadn't been lying. He was fast.

He looked over at her as he crossed the finishing line and smirked.


Feeling elated, Inuyasha jogged slowly to a stop and looked back for his partner. He was just coming up on the third corner, and was still going at it. The hanyou felt kinda guilty for making him look so bad, but the other half of him just felt so smug that he didn't really care.

"49 seconds." Coach Totousai's voice announced behind him, sounding positively shocked. Inuyasha looked up. What? But he'd wasted at least 10 seconds at the beginning, looning about and slacking off- That can't be possible.

"Inuyasha Ishikawa. 1st string." Totousai grunted, still sounding halfway between appalled and pleased.

The bell rang. Inuyasha looked back at the window where she had sat, but she'd disappeared.


Wandering the street after school, Inuyasha made his way through a dingy alleyway that was a short cut to his apartment. It was dark already, as the coach had decided to put them all through a harsh set of 'warm up' 5000 meters that were – apparently – supposed to get them in shape for the season, before allowing them to go home. Feeling slightly sore, but not completely worn out, he looked up at the musty grey sky, threatening rain any second.

The first drop of rain fell, and he felt a flash of someone's presence behind him. He rolled his eyes. He had known it was coming. He should be feeling dread, apprehension, but all he could feel was a vague annoyance. They'd come ready this time too, with – he counted mentally – about 20 men. The annoyance increased. He was starving; he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.

Geez.

Chalky lightning scraped across the sky, a liquid flare of white. "Did you think we wouldn't find you?" a cold voice murmured silkily, "Where's the Shikon no Tama you stole from us, Inuyasha?" The twenty or so men surrounding Inuyasha closed the circle…

A single bolt of thunder sparked through the sky, blood fusing with rain.


Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter!! Please review! -kneels on floor and begs unshamedly- XD.

PARODY!!

True as if to confirm their theory, their teacher Mrs. Kaede who'd been grading papers at her desk looked up and said. "He's in our class, you know. The new boy. Won't be with us today, I suppose. I had hoped to be able to introduce him to you all. Coach Totousai's down there with him on the track right now."

"Set to make the R-13s, I heard?" Sango asked, looking over at their teacher.

"Hell, no! Ew! Have you seen that kid run, girl? Man, it's like watchin' the sumo version of Baywatch-"

XDDDD.