AN: Thank you for the reivews! :) I wasn't sure how this story was going to turn out since I've not written much for so long. I was a bit worried it'd start off rather badly and just get worse from there, but hopefully not. I've read through your reviews and will try to keep them in mind as I write. I'm going to give the story a bit of a twist from usual. I'm going to be researching as I go along to make sure my facts are as accurate as I can get them, so if I do make an error, please do tell me :) As for Kazuki... well his role in the story has already been planned out so you'll find out soon :)

Thank you again!

xMxAx

ii

After Rin's encounter with the older students, she found herself wondering what to think of them. The girls were obviously quite affectionate and genuine in their concern for her, but the men made her wonder. Some of the worst pranks that had been played on her had been played by the boys in her class so she was especially wary of men as a result. In the days that followed, Rin found herself understanding what it felt like to have a stalker or several stalkers in this case.

When she finished school, the older students were waiting outside the high school building for her and likewise when she arrived at school in the mornings. She found herself at a loss for what to do when Ayame came running towards her to give her an exuberant hug that had become her usual greeting. Eventually, Rin discovered that it didn't matter how she responded as none of them seemed to take offence to her awkwardness and lack of response. She also discovered that she had very little time during school hours to herself. It wasn't an unwelcome change, but it took some time getting used to it. Other students from the high school had few opportunities to play pranks on her which was a relief for her, but the unpleasant glares still continued and seemed to be more intense than usual.

Although the high school and university classes were held on different parts of the campus, lunch was served in one large dining hall that sat between the two buildings. The library sat close to the dining hall and Rin spent very little time in the dining hall since she preferred to spend time alone with her studies. She was still as determined as ever to do her parents proud and still get her good grades despite now having a small group of people she was still getting used to calling friends. Usually she would visit the dining hall long before the other students and then make her way over to the library where she would study as she ate.

Only a week or so after meeting Rin, the older students began to wonder where their new friend hid during lunch hour. Kagome sat down heavily on a bench in the dining hall one day and looked around the almost empty room in search of Rin. The others slowly joined her and carried on their conversations as they tucked into their meals. Sesshoumaru and a couple of his friends arrived not long after and joined their table with their own food, but there was still no sign of Rin. Growing impatient and slightly worried, Kagome slapped the table loudly with her hands and stood up.

"Something wrong, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked through a mouthful of salad.
Kagome frowned at him. "Rin's not here again!"
"Maybe she brings a packed lunch?" Ayame suggested. "If there's a guy to pick her up from school, there must be someone to cook the meals."
"That's not the point!" Kagome exclaimed, slapping the table again. "The point is that she's not here with us! What if something happens to her while we're not there?"
"She's managed a year so far, has she not?" Sesshoumaru asked quietly, glancing at Kagome as he sipped his drink.

As Kagome prepared to retaliate, the doors swung open and a high school student shouldered her way into the room. The older students stared in surprise as Rin meandered her way across the room towards the food counter with her arms full of books and glasses perched on the end of her nose. Her nose was buried in her book and she moved along the counter gathering the food she wanted with such ease that it was obvious that this was a regular routine for her. Kagome grinned and stepped away from the table towards her.

Rin jumped in surprise and felt a shiver of fear run through her when a hand landed on her shoulder. She almost dreaded turning around to see who was behind her and what they intended to do with her. A wave of relief washed over her when she found Kagome grinning broadly at her. Turning away, she paid for her food and stepped out of line so that she could give her attention to Kagome.

"Where've you been hiding, Rin?" the other girl demanded.
"I-I've not been hiding," Rin replied quietly, eyes widening as Kagome took a few of her books from her and led her to a table nearby. "I've been studying."
Ayame waved the comment away with a dismissive flick of her hand. "You study too much, Rin. Don't you have a social life?"
"I don't have time for one."
"Of course you do! You just have to make time!" Sango protested with a frown.
Rin sighed. "The only thing keeping me in this school are my grades. If they slip just a little, either the other students will find a way to get me kicked out or my parents will take me out."
"Harsh," Inuyasha commented with a frown. "Why don't you come study with us after school? Sesh is pretty good academically and despite his appearances, Miroku is also pretty intelligent. You'd ace your exams with their help."
"I couldn't impose on you like that," Rin protested, blushing at the thought of relying on this group for help with her studies.
"You wouldn't be imposing on anyone," Ayame said with a smile as she thought the idea over. "We studying together a couple of days a week. It's a bit tough since we don't all study the same thing, but we manage."
"Before you ask, we all get above average grades," Miroku said with a grin.
"Give it a try before you make a final decision," Inuyasha advised.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Rin considered her new friends' offer for several days, trying to decide if they meant what they said. She had yet to tell Kazuki and Suzume about her new friends and couldn't help but wonder what they would say when they discovered them. The bell had just rung signalling the end of the day and Rin was making her way towards the building's exit when she decided to accept their offer. If the session proved to be just as useful as they said it would, then it would perhaps rid her of her few lingering doubts about their intentions towards her. She wanted to trust them and with each passing day she felt a little less worried about spending more time with her. All that remained was to banish the few little worries that lurked in the back of her mind.

"Riiiiin!" Ayame's voice called from the doors where she stood waving excitedly. "We're having a study session tonight. Will you join us?"
Rin hesitated as she was engulfed in one of Ayame's bear hugs and then nodded slowly when she was released. "I'll join you, but I need to tell Kazuki first."

The group followed her to the gates and watched as she disappeared down towards the car where a now familiar man stood, waiting patiently for her arrival. As they watched the pair interact from a distance, Inuyasha frowned when Kazuki glanced in their direction. Leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets, Inuyasha studied him carefully for a moment.

"Does that Kazuki guy look familiar to any of you?" he asked, wracking his brain for a clue as to where he might know the man from.
"Yeah. I don't know where I'd know him from though," Kouga answered after a slight pause.

The conversation didn't continue as Rin returned with a vague smile on her usually serious face. She stopped beside Kagome and seemed to hesitate before speaking.

"Kazuki says that it's fine if I study with you as long as he knows where to pick me up from and what time," she said quietly with an uncertain look on her face.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "We don't usually time how long it takes so just tell him one of us will drop you off at home when we're done. It won't be late."

They watched as Rin relayed this message to her companion and after a while, Kazuki gave her a long look and cast a glance at her new friends before nodding and getting into the car. It was obvious that he wasn't pleased with the idea, but it was equally obvious that he didn't want to risk upsetting Rin in any way. Kagome slipped an arm through Rin's when the younger girl returned and smiled reassuringly.

"We'll look after you, Rin. We're studying at Sango's tonight so it's not that far away from here," Kagome said with a smile as she led the way down the pavement.

As it turned out, Sango's house was also Miroku's house and it was then that Rin realised how serious a relationship the pair had behind their arguing and fighting. The house was spotlessly clean and Rin felt almost guilty for walking over the polished wooden flooring in her school shoes despite Sango's reassurances that it was alright. She hesitated in the doorway of the living room as she watched the group make themselves comfortable as drinks and snacks were passed around while books were being opened and conversations took on a completely different tone to what they normally did.

"Sit next to me, Rin," Ayame said with a smile as she patted the sofa beside her.

Rin eyed the spot on the sofa beside Ayame as she slowly made her way across the room. Moments later she found herself wedged between Ayame and Sango who were animatedly discussing their work with technical terms that went straight over her head. The sound of the door opening caused the group to fall silent before conversation picked up again. Sesshoumaru and the two friends she had seen him with at lunch time a few days back had arrived and were also making themselves comfortable on the other side of the room. The rest of the group had always been eager to talk to her about anything and everything, but she had never once talked to Sesshoumaru about anything. He didn't even greet her verbally, only a nod of acknowledgement. She briefly wondered if maybe he was a mute before Ayame's dramatic gasp broke through her thoughts.

"I can't believe you chose History, Rin!" Ayame exclaimed, her face a picture of disgust. "I don't know how you could enjoy it. Trying to remember all those dates!"
"History's a very interesting subject," Rin protested quietly. "I'm just not very good at it."
"Well we have a problem there," Inuyasha interrupted from his seat beside Kagome on the opposite sofa. "None of us ever took History."
"Bankotsu did!" Kouga said excitedly, looking over his shoulder at Sesshoumaru's dark haired friend who was engrossed in a thick book.
"What?" he asked, looking a bit confused as he lowered the book.
"You took History, didn't you?" Kouga demanded, looking slightly irritated at having been ignored.

"Yeah, why?"
"Reckon you could give Rin a hand with her work?"
Bankotsu looked over at Rin who was flipping through a book on the other side of the room and sighed to himself. "Sure."
"Rin!" Kouga called, surprising her slightly as she looked up quickly from her book. "Bankotsu will help you! Go sit with him. He can answer all your questions."

Looking across the room to the man Kouga was pointing at, Rin couldn't help but swallow nervously. He looked very serious and slightly intimidating as she slowly gathered up her books. He must've sensed her nervousness as he shifted slightly on the bench at the dining table on which he sat and gave her a vague smile. Rin sat down hesitantly, returning his smile weakly as she tried to calm her racing nerves. As she opened her books to the page she was working from, she realised that she was also sitting beside Sesshoumaru and fought the urge to blush. Inexperienced though she was when it came to matters involving men, Rin had to admit that she was probably sitting between to of the most good looking men she had ever laid eyes on.

The pair were startlingly different in appearance and she had no doubt that the differences between them didn't simply end with their appearance. Sesshoumaru sat to her left, leaning casually against the wall with one leg propped up on the bench. His amber eyes were partially hidden behind his silver bangs as he scanned the page of the book he held in one hand while the other made notes in the notebook on the table. Bankotsu, on the other hand, had turned around on his seat to provide Rin with enough space to sit beside him. He had dark hair that hung over his shoulder in a long braid and his red eyes seemed to glow as he watched her flip through the pages in her text book. Rin caught her breath when he leaned towards her to look at what she was struggling with. Bankotsu didn't seem to notice and made himself comfortable beside her as he pulled his notebook towards him.

"What're you struggling with here?" Bankotsu asked quietly, scanning the page of Rin textbook before fixing her with his piercing red gaze.
"I-I'm not too sure," Rin admitted, blushing slightly as she looked down at her hands. "I've understood everything else so far, but I don't really know why I'm having trouble with this section."

"Probably your mindset," Sesshoumaru murmured without looking up from his book and causing Rin to jump in surprise.

The usually silent male looked up when she jumped and looked her over with expressionless amber eyes that made her feel slightly uncomfortable. Hearing him speak was something she had definitely not been expecting and Rin suddenly wondered how she was supposed to react. Unlike Inuyasha's loud clear voice, Sesshoumaru was much quieter and much deeper and it sent shivers down Rin's spine.

"M-my mindset?" Rin asked, hastily pushing aside her surprise as she turned slightly to look at him. "What do you mean?"

Instead of giving her a direct response, Sesshoumaru carefully marked the page he had been reading and put the book aside. He resisted the urge to smirk in amusement when Rin leaned away slightly when he reached for the notebook she was holding tightly in her hands. When he slid it out of her grasp, he flipped through it quickly and smirked at what he saw. Opening the book to the last page she had been writing on, Sesshoumaru pointed at the tiny, neat characters that were written across the page.

"This is the topic you're currently studying, am I right?" he asked, glancing at her and seeing her nod. He turned the pages backward to some notes she had taken only a week before and pushed the book towards her. "It seems to me that you understood what you were studying then a lot better and were able to take more notes, but perhaps you became frustrated that you could not understand this topic as easily. Perhaps that frustration in preventing you from understanding it fully?"
"Makes sense to me," Bankotsu agreed and picked up his pencil and began circling various sentences and dates in the textbook in front of Rin. "You don't need to know all of the information. Just the key parts. A lot of it is irrelevant."
"Irrelevant?"

Bankotsu nodded. "When it comes to writing your exam, keep to the point and don't drift off and talk about things that don't have anything to do with your question. If you try to remember everything from the textbook you stand a pretty good chance of drifting off course."

"How do I know what I need to answer a question?" Rin asked with a frown.
"Practice," the dark haired male said with a smile.

While Rin was listening to her new mentor with rapt attention, Kagome was watching over the back of the sofa with a grin on her face. The others followed her line of sight and couldn't help but smile at the sight. For the first time, Rin seemed to have forgotten her shyness and was starting to interact without any reservations. She was obviously eager to learn more from Bankotsu and Kagome couldn't help but giggle as she watched her new friend.

"If I had known that all I needed to do to get her to come out of her shell was to sit her down with Bankotsu, I'd have done that at the very beginning," Kagome said with a grin as she snuggled into Inuyasha's side.
"Well maybe we can convince him to tutor her," Inuyasha suggested, draping his arm over his girlfriend's shoulders.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Kazuki was pacing the living room and glancing at the clock every so often, his anxiety rising a little with each passing minute. On the other side of the room, Suzume sat in one of the armchairs and watched the younger man pace. She couldn't help but smile as she was reminded of a father waiting for his daughter to come home after a night out.

"Kazuki, sit down," Suzume said with a smile.
The red haired man paused and glared at her. "Rin hasn't come back and it's nearly 9 o'clock! How can you not be worried?"
"She's eighteen years old. She's not stupid."

"We don't even know where she is! I don't trust that group either," he muttered, returning to his pacing as he spoke.
"How can you not trust them? You've never met them."
Kazuki stopped and looked Suzume in the eye with a seriousness rarely seen in the usually jovial man. "I recognise them and I'm not eager to see Rin befriend people like that."

Suzume seemed to understand and nodded with an equally serious look. "I understand your feelings, but you shouldn't assume Rin will make that same mistake. As I said, she's not stupid. Keep an eye on her but let her make her own decisions."