Chapter 2

A/N: Keep in mind that each chapter may not pick up EXACTLY after the previous; it may start a few days after. Like Kagome is in the well-house panicked one chapter, then the next picks up after a few days that happened. And… I really don't know if this will be a Harem. I guess that's up to your imagination as the story unfolds. Needless to say, there will be fluff and romantic tidbits and all that kind of jazz between Kagome and her pursuers, and I most definitely hope you all like THAT(: And I guess you'll have to wait and see if the relationships go on at the same time, because I'm not telling you!


A sigh escaped Kagome's lips.

Her mother stood there at the front door, ushering a wrapped bento box into her daughter's arms. "I'm so very sorry, Kagome. Yet I'm sure you'll make great friends at your new school. Just stay optimistic, honey, and you'll be fine. You're a good person, and you'll attract good people." Kagome smiled at her mother's attempt to encourage her, silently thanking the gods for such a caring mom.

"Thanks, mom. Bye."

After her mom closed the front door, Kagome immediately began walking towards the shrine steps, but paused upon seeing the well-house to her right in her peripheral vision. A look of contemplation fixed on her features as she turned her head to fully see the old building.

She decided to try again.

The same feeling of hope arose in her chest, the same one that did the past times she decided to do this since last week, as she slid open the old, shoji door, her eyes settling on the well positioned in the middle of the room. A second sigh escaped her lips as she walked down to the aged well, and she peered down into it for a few seconds before swinging both her legs over the rim and jumped.

The feeling of hope expired – it dimmed and dulled within her hurting heart. It hadn't worked. Again. She had walked into the well-house with a hope that maybe, just maybe, it would work. But she was wrong. Kagome grunted as she stood up, realizing the impact of her fall had left a bruise on her leg, before she started climbing up the ladder.

Once she made it out of the well, she brushed off the dust on her new school skirt and began walking out the well-house towards the shrine steps, the third sigh of the morning escaping her lips as she assessed her situation again. She missed her friends. She still worried that she wouldn't get to see them again. It's been a week since the well decided not to work for her, and during that entire week she had tried jumping in many times with the hope that the well would let her through the passage of time. And many times had it failed. Kagome, tiring of thinking of it's failures, decided to continue her trip to school and think of what else was in store for her, for that wasn't the only new turn of events that occurred in that week.

It just so happened that she had dropped out of the high school that she had been attending, and now she was to go to a new one. She was absent far too much and her high school had finally dropped her. Amazing, she thought to herself. It takes a whole two years of absences for them to actually come to the decision of dropping me out. And during a time like this, no less. A frown settled itself on her face.

While the gods graced her with the blessings of a home, a family, and a caring mother, she still had her mishaps and moments of torment – the whole situation of the well not working and getting dropped out being part of them. "Oh well," Kagome said aloud. "At least I have the will to remain optimistic. I'll work for that diploma and have a future. I can do it." She has persevered for so long through so much in her life, and she wasn't about to let this situation of hers drive away her will to succeed. Although the frown remained on her face, her eyes reflected a fierce fighting spirit. Yes.

She would make it through this.


Being a new student was frustrating. All her life, she never had to worry about moving from place to place and school to school because of the responsibilities her family had with the family shrine. But, being Kagome, she was here under very strange circumstances: she missed school because she constantly needed go back in time to fight demons and piece together a tiny yet powerful jewel.

She had already found the consequences of those actions to be a bit vexing. Kagome, being new to the class and having missed much of school, found herself struggling to keep up with her new classmates.

Not only that, but she felt so out of place, so alienated. She spent all of break to herself and hoped that a nice person would try and strike up small talk with her. But all the hope she gathered for that dispersed once break was over. Now it was lunch, and she realized that no one would make the move. That was the only reason she had stayed in her class for that break. But after ten minutes of lunch ticked by, she gave in to her urge to get up and eat outside. Her friends at her old school would never stay in class during break or lunch, and she was very used to walking around school or finding a grassy area outside to eat her food. So she did just that. She was soon outside at the side of the school.

Regret soon resulted from that decision.

"Hey pretty face. How you doing, baby?" The boy said, wrapping his arms around her waist. Kagome removed the offending appendage with an agitated expression. Another boy chuckled at her actions and made his way closer to her. "She doesn't seem to like you, Takeshi. Maybe me, baby?" Kagome inwardly cursed. These boys were obviously trouble-makers. She could tell by, not only their actions, but the way they left their black uniforms unbuttoned revealing colored shirts that were against the school code.

Well… She could handle demons, she could handle misfit little boys.

"Yusuke! Where are you going?"

The boys before her looked up and away in the direction of the female voice. "Damn," the one named Takeshi said, once again wrapping his arm around Kagome's waist, this time a little bit too possessively, "It's Yusuke." Kagome, already frustrated to no end with Takeshi's actions, took the opportunity to grab his arm, twist it so that his back faced her, and kicked him hard in the tailbone. The other unnamed boy cursed at her as his buddy grunted in pain. "Bitch!"

Kagome's face only revealed her emotions. She was very, very upset. "I'm not your baby. Get that straight."

Right at that moment, another boy and a young girl made an appearance, the boy laughing openly. "Oh shit, that was funny to see." Kagome turned her attention to him, still aware of her other harasser. "Hey! I know you! You're the new girl from my class."

Kagome, in response, gave him a small smile. "Yeah, hi. I'm Kagome Higurashi."

"Hey! Don't ignore us!" In an instant, Kagome turned a heavy glare in the direction of the harasser. "Leave," she said. "I'm not interested in you." The boys returned the glare, and Takeshi took the privilege of spitting on the ground with a sneer. "Let's go," Takeshi began. "We got better things to do." With having said that, they stalked off out of sight.

The boy named Yusuke whistled once the boys were out of hearing distance. "You sure are tough, aren't you? Well, I was going to help, but… You seemed to take care of it yourself. I'm Yusuke Urameshi, by the way, and she," Yusuke pointed to the girl behind him, "She's Keiko Yukimura." Keiko stepped up from behind Yusuke, a kind smile gracing her features. Kagome returned it with a smile of her own. "You're new, so I'm guessing you're alone most of the time," Keiko stated. "Yusuke and I can show you around!" Inwardly, Kagome cheered.

Getting harassed wasn't exactly the way she imagined she would find friends, but she didn't complain. Enjoying the company was the least she could do.

All three of them got along well really fast. Keiko and Yusuke would occasionally argue about random things but, besides that, Kagome found that being with them was really pleasurable. They were in the middle of talking when Keiko seemed to have spotted something far from them. The sun was shining too brightly, so she put her hands over her eyes to block the glaring light out and squinted to get a better view of what she was looking at.

Yusuke and Kagome turned their attention to the direction Keiko was looking, and, upon seeing what they were looking at, Yusuke grinned. Kagome caught sight of a man walking towards them as Keiko's expression brightened upon recognition of the approaching figure.

"Kurama!"

Kurama? Kagome thought. Now there was a familiar name. Kurama came closer and Kagome took the chance to take in his appearance. He was wearing the school uniform for boys: a black button-up jacket with matching slacks and black dress shoes. She assessed his handsome features, immediately taking notice of his dark red hair and bright green eyes. They contrasted so well, although they were an unusual color. It was very unnatural, almost as unnatural as Inuyasha's white hair and golden orbs. She did, however, deem it attractive along with his features.

Kurama was greeting both Keiko and Yusuke when Kagome finally recalled where she heard his name before, voicing out her realization without thinking. "Oh, that Kurama! Also known as Shuichi Minamono, right?" When all eyes turned to her because of her outburst, Kagome blushed and gave a shy smile. Keiko, realizing she hadn't introduced the two, was taken aback. "You know him?"

Kurama finally registered Kagome's presence, not fully aware the girl was there until she spoke. She was wearing Seika High's uniform, and it suited her well. The black blazer hugged her feminine curves, her bright brown irises and black pupils matching the black and brown plaid pattern of her skirt. He saw that she had a very clear, creamy complexion, and that the shape of her face was well-defined by her manicured, full, and shaped eyebrows.

The beautiful girl was rubbing the back of her neck with her hand, her shy smile still on her face, eyes looking into his. "Well, I overheard a few girls talking about him during break and I also remember seeing him at a school festival before my freshman year at Kun-Loon High. My friends were actually kind of fussing over you, too. You're supposed to be really smart, aren't you? And a fighter, as well. I've heard quite a lot about you." In attempt to be polite, she stretched out her hand in preparation for a hand-shake. Kurama smiled and shook it, "Your name is?"

"Kagome," she replied. "My name's Kagome Higurashi. Call me Kagome. I used to go to Kun-Loon High."

"And call me Kurama. I prefer it that way."

Kagome nodded, radiating with a brilliant smile that captured Kurama's interest. "Well, I was going to go to Kun-loon High, but I preferred it over here. It's equal academic-wise, and I have some friends here from my middle school." The two engaged in a conversation, while Yusuke and Keiko stood there, just watching Kurama and Kagome get along. After a few moments, they, too, immersed themselves in a conversation. Fifteen more minutes passed by quickly as the group conversed, and they all began walking towards their classes once the bell had rung.


School had come and gone and Kagome relished in the fact that it was a good day spent. Although it started off a bit rocky, she had managed to make it pass the first day with a few pleasurable moments. There wasn't much homework assigned, just reading a few chapters of her physics textbook. She also had met new friends. It went so well that they all even arranged a place where they would meet up for break and lunch. Sure, she missed Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi, but she could get used to going to Seika High. It wasn't all that bad. She just had to avoid people like Takeshi and his friends. They were complete creepers.

Laughter reached her ears as she found herself entering a park. In order to reach her bus stop that would take her to the shrine, she needed to pass by this area. Indeed, she found it relaxing. When she was a child before Souta was even born, she would come here often with her mother and father to play. Walking through this park made her feel reminiscent.

Once she caught sight of a bench beside the playground, Kagome decided to pause and rest. Sitting down peaceably, she also decided to do the assignment for physics and took out a newly checked out book from her school bag. Despite the loud chatter and laughter of the children, Kagome found reading in such an open, peaceful place to be relaxing and enjoyable.

It was so relaxing and enjoyable that she didn't realize how much time had passed by. She had even been so engrossed within her reading that she read one chapter more, not realizing that all the children had been gathered by their parents and had left the park long ago. The only way she knew she had been there for too long was when the light began to fade and she couldn't really see the words typed into her textbook.

Kagome stood up and stretched, taking in the setting sun and the orange and red of the sky before smiling. She felt good.

That didn't last.

It hit her like a ton of bricks. A demonic aura swooshed about her, making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. The good feeling she felt moments before was replaced with a defensive wariness as she took in her surroundings. Everything seemed pure and untouched by evil, but she couldn't mistake what she was feeling.

Suddenly, a hot breath of air rushed down her neck, catching Kagome off-guard. She jumped and turned around, her eyes narrowed and lips pursed, expecting to see her opponent, and she did. She took several big steps back until she was a safe distance away. There was a man sitting on the bench clothed in a casual shirt and jeans, yet the whites of his eyes were the color of blood. His unnaturally wide smirk set Kagome on edge, but she didn't let that show.

"Who are you?" She demanded. A chuckle was her response.

"Oh, Kagome-sama."

It was a quick move.

The man had rushed to her at a speed Kagome wasn't prepared to face and sent her flying backwards. She and a nearby tree collided, and Kagome, eyes closed tightly, groaned upon the impact. But her glare returned once she opened her eyes and stood up once more. However, the man was nowhere to be seen. "I can't stay long."

Kagome immediately turned around. "Stop sneaking up behind me, coward," Kagome sneered.

"I just wanted to see for myself. I wanted to see the infamous beauty of the guardian of the Shikon no Tama. And, I must say, it is quite a sight to see."

Upon hearing the name of the jewel, she touched a certain area on her neck. The jewel hung around it, hidden beneath the fabric of her blouse that was covered by her blazer. "What do you want with the Shikon?" Damnit, she cursed. I knew this jewel would still bring trouble.

"You hide the power well. I won't underestimate your abilities Kagome."

Just as before, the man rushed to her with demonic speed, but this time Kagome was prepared. She braced herself, arms crossed in front of her, once she saw him shift his weight, readying himself in a position to jump forward. It was a brief glimpse, but she managed to catch it. This time, she wasn't pushed too far back, her feet only skidding backwards across the cement.

"I'm looking forward to seeing you again."

She looked up over her crossed arms to see no one and felt the air being relieved of the demonic aura. He was gone.

But, unseen and unknown to the young miko, two presences lingered in the dark. One stood on a sturdy branch of a tree and the other leaned against it's trunk, his green eyes glinting. "Hiei, I think we must tell Koenma."

"Yes."


A/N: I felt like that chapter was a bit boring. I'm sorry if it was. My deepest apologies if it was, really! But, again, please review and let me know your thoughts on the whole entire thing. Updates will be sporadic.

Oh, and if you have any confusion with what's going on in the chapter… Let me know. I feel like I wasn't clear in some parts, but maybe that's just me being self-conscious.

Love,
EndlessDevotionx.