Hi! I hope you enjoy this new chapter of The Clawed Promise, and as promised this one is longer.

Chapter 2: Koga

"Kagome-san, Kagome-san…Kagome Higurashi, wake up!" Snapped the sharp voice of my hated math teacher. Ugh, Why did he have to be to annoying? I was just resting my head on my desk for a few minutes…My desk…which meant I was still in school! I bolted upright, dazed and confused, what had I been dreaming about? I remember blood… and… oh! Those eyes, those strange yellow eyes, I took a deep breath. That was just a dream, right now I should be paying attention to reality, especially my Sensei, and judging by the large vein that was practically pulsing in his forehead, he wasn't happy.

"I'm sorry sensei! I really didn't mean to fall asleep. I mean…I wasn't asleep; I was just closing my eyes so I could think better. Haha, you know with how hard math is, I surprised that you teach math at all, seeing how everyone hates it so much…"

Smothered laughter from all my classmates, geeze Kagome, could you put your foot even further in your mouth?

"Kagome Higurashi, since you like mouthing off so much, how about you stay after school and we will have a nice long chat about it then?" Said Sensei, the vein now looked ready to jump right out of his forehead.

"Yes, Sensei,"

I sighed, life can be so unfair. Why didn't life, or fate or destiny have any sense of fairness about it? Maybe I was just supposed to go through life without any fairness at all.

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Kagome was walking home after a long harsh scolding from sensei, and then a report due about Ōkubo Toshimichi in three days. Grrrr. Oh, well and at least he hadn't told mom, that would have been a disaster.

Kagome loved walking home, because of the way her house was built way high up on a large hill, with a long stairway leading up to the shrine, and one side of the hill was were the city began and on the other side was an old forest. Small, but dark and shady, at least forty acres or so; when Kagome was young she would spend hours in there, and in its heart lay a beautiful old Japanese style home. It was in that house that she had met…

Suddenly a fast paced wind was all around her, tangling her clothes and hair and getting dust everywhere.

"Hey, Kagome," said one of her oldest friends, Koga. He was the one who made the wind. "You don't look well; did 'public school' tire you out? Let me carry your bag for you."

"Thanks, but no thanks and Koga, and public school tires everyone out. It's not just me, and aren't you supposed to be miles away on 'secret demon business'." Kagome said.

"My 'secret demon business' didn't take as long as I thought. Ginta said he saw you walking home and I thought I would stop by, and you know, the food they had there was terrible."

By now the two friends (and neighbors) were half-way up the stairs, Kagome was in her uniform and Koga in his 'human clothes' which consisted of a white button down and a pair of jeans, his long brown ponytail swishing around his face. Usually all Koga wore were animals skins, but whenever he had to travel among humans he would tone it down some, though what he did to his clothes still wouldn't change the fact that he was a demon, his pointed ears and the his tail were proof of that.

Ordinary human knew about the existents of demon, but the demons kept to themselves and most people would live their entire life without seeing one, but Kagome had known more about demons and the supernatural than all of her friends before she could walk, being a priestess-in-training had its advantages, it also helped that Koga's private home was in the woods right next to where she lived. Kagome knew that Koga was old, very, very old. Not that he ever told her how old he was, but he once said that when he came here the first time there had been no shrine, and her shrine was over four hundred years old.

Kogame signed, it looked like her friend was trying to wiggle his way into dinner again, might as well give up now, because Koga was very stubborn.

"Koga, would you like to come to dinner? My mom is making curry." Kagome said, they were at the entrance to the shrine now, its old sturdy pillars marking the entrance to her home.

Koga bowed, "I'm flattered by your invitation, and you know I always love to eat your mother's cooking,"

"Okay, just remember; don't tease Gramps. I don't care what he says about demons, just ignore him, and you should have a tougher hide." As Kagome talked she walked through the pillars, she smiled she loved the feeling of going through the barrier, it gave her a warm tingling feeling, and the barrier had been surrounding the shrine since it had been built.

"Ow! Damn it, Kagome ow!" Oops, she forgot about Koga. He was standing right outside the shrine entrance, rubbing furiously at his arms and face as through something had stung him. She had forgotten the invisible barrier blocked out demons, and the demons that touched it got quite a shock. She quickly knelt down on the hard stones and traced the kanji for stranger, one, and open with her finger. This would allow Koga to spend one day inside the barrier with no ill effects and then after the day was up, he would be quickly be let outside the barrier before its effect on demons started working.

"You could have done that sooner you know!?" said Koga, still rubbing at his arms, as he walked through the barrier.

"Well, you were the one who walked into it!" snapped Kagome, irritable that she had made a mistake. But before it could become a quarrel, Souta came running over.

"Koga you're back! Are you staying for dinner?" He said, looking adoring at Koga.

"Yeah, he is. Tell mom, okay?" said Kagome, trying to distract Souta from his hero-worship.

"Okay!" Souta said, his face lighting up, and then started running back to the house.

"Are you sure you want to stay, you're going to have to deal with Souta for the next two hours, and Gramps"

"Like you said Kagome, I have a tougher hide than that." Her wolf-demon friend said, smirking at her.

"I didn't say that! I said you should have a tougher hide, not that you did!" said Kagome, but she couldn't help smiling. "Come on, you can help peel potatoes."

Yes, Koga and Kagome are going to be a little OC, but think about it. Koga is way older now and it makes sense that he would act differently.

I would love a review.