Gema's Personal Disclaimer: I'm putting this in front of every chapter I write, so no one can miss it.
First, the obvious, I don't own anything trademarked or copyrighted.
Second; These are my fics, so y'all will have to deal with my writing quirks. Do not bother telling me about my spelling choices, like Yu-Gi, Joe, Millennial, or whatever else they may be. These are not mistakes, they are intentional. Therefore, I don't want to hear about how they are other wise spelled. If spelling bothers you that much, then leave.
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Now, most of you aren't the problem, but this is for the few that are. This might come across as crabby, and I'm not really like this, but I've been pushed to my limit because of certain reviews.
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Chapter 2: Domino City; Japan 2000AD
The next morning Kagome was walking to school, her head down slightly as she stared blankly forward in thought. Her worries from the prior night had not diminished any with the little sleep she had, rather they seemed to have increased. The approaching math test loamed over her head like a dark cloud and yet her mind kept straying to Inu-Yasha.
She stopped before a crosswalk with other students wearing the uniform from her school as well as those from other schools. Cars hurried passed on the green light, whipping their exhaust at the pedestrians. Casually conversations floated overhead as the various groups of students joked and gossiped on their way to their classes.
"Hey! Kagome!" a voice finally snapped Kagome out of her thoughts. She turned to see her friends Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi walking on the sidewalk towards her. They waved and smiled brightly and Kagome did her best to mimic them.
"It's great to see you coming to school," Eri said.
Yuka nodded in agreement, "I can't believe it. I mean, rheumatism, gout, beri-beri and then you get West Nile and bird flu all at once!"
Kagome cringed and stiffened, her one eye twitching slightly. "Grandpa!"
"You sure you're completely well?" continued Yuka. "You seem really out of it. Eri called you three times before you turned around. And it looks like you've got bags under your eyes."
"Oh...sorry...I..." Kagome stumbled for an excuse.
The light turned yellow, then red and the pedestrian sign flashed on. The girls started forward with the rest of the crowd, all moving in the same direction at the same speed. Kagome tried to focus on their chatter over the noise of the other voices, idling vehicles, and shuffling of footsteps. She made the occasional comment and insisted that she really was well enough to attend school today.
"So, what about the rude, jealous guy of yours?" asked Eri, unable to hold off on asking about Kagome's mysterious boyfriend any more. "Did he do anything nice while you were sick? Like bringing flowers or soup?"
"I bet he did, he seemed nice when we met him at her house," commented Ayumi.
Kagome cringed again, "He'd never do anything so thoughtful, that jerk can be so...!"
She was fortunately cut off from finishing that statement. As if on a cord, all of her friends turned and looked further up the sidewalk at the same time, at the same person. Hojo was waiting patiently at the corner Kagome always had to turn down to reach her school; a small bundle was held carefully in his one arm. His semi-oblivious expression scanned the crowd as if he was looking for someone. He then turned and saw Kagome approach with her friends and smiled brightly.
"Kagome!" he waved.
Kagome heard a round of snickering behind her. "We'll leave you two alone," Eri almost cooed and the three friends strolled off after briefly saying hello to Hojo. He nodded at them, then approached Kagome who shifted her weight on her feet slightly.
"Hello, Hojo," she murmured.
"Hello," he smiled back. "Are you feeling okay? And did you like the chicken noodle soup I sent you?"
"Soup...?" Kagome echoed, having no idea what he was talking about. So, she quickly faked an answer. "Sure, it was really good...from what I could taste, I mean...being sick and all..."
Hojo simpled beamed. "I'm glad you liked it! Can I walk you to class? Just in case you have a relapse or something?"
"T-thanks, of course," Kagome stammered.
She turned with him and they started walking, Hojo doing most of the talking. At the very least, Kagome was lightly touched by his genuine concern for her and her onslaught of strange illnesses. She changed the subject to the approaching math test in an attempt to get some last minute hints out of him. They passed a crowd of students going in the other direction to a different school as Hojo recited a shortcut to a formula. Kagome stopped short, and it wasn't to only let the other students pass. Her spiritual sense instantly noticed a very familiar glow coming from somewhere within the middle of the group. Her eyes went wide and unblinking as she watched it pass, knowing without a doubt that it was a shard from the Shikon Jewel.
"Kagome?" Hojo asked, pausing his explanation. "Are you okay? You suddenly got really pale."
Kagome barely heard him. She was so surprised to randomly sense a shard in the present, especially after finding the last shard, that she could do little more than watch it pass by. She subconsciously moved after it a step, but by then Hojo had reached out and touched her shoulder to get her attention. She blinked and snapped out of her surprised.
"Kagome?" repeated Hojo. "You look like you're going to faint."
"I don't feel so good..." she murmured, giving in.
"I'll take you to the hospital wing," Hojo volunteered.
"No, no need," insisted Kagome, inching backward slightly, towards the way the other group of students were going. "I...um...need to go the the pharmacy to fill out a prescription." She mentally slapped herself for telling such a lame and obvious lie. She knew Hojo would have to instantly see through it. For a brief moment she realized how hard her grandpa had to have it to always come up with excuses on the spot. She looked up at Hojo, waiting for him to call her out.
"I'll go with you," Hojo replied, causing Kagome to nearly face-fault at his obliviousness.
"No! I mean...I don't want you to be late for class," said Kagome. "I mean, what with that mock exam coming up. I'll make it fine, then I'll head home."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!"
"Okay, but if you need any help, call someone right away," cautioned Hojo. "I don't want you to get any worse." He gave her a compassionate look and waved, turning towards their school. He kept facing back, watching her, just to make sure she was okay.
"Thank you, bye!" Kagome said. She waved as well, then hurried off as fast as she could without running to follow after the students that she just saw before they turned a corner and she lost track of them entirely.
"Wow," thought Hojo, falling more in love with her. "She's as sick as a dog and yet she still pushes herself to be here for tests and worries about our grades too."
As soon as Kagome was out of his sight she broke into a run, frantically searching for any traces of the Shikon shard. Students from various schools were all trying to race to class before the final bell rang. The streets were more chaotic then Kagome had ever seen them. She duck around businessmen and junior high students, her head sweeping from side to side as she scanned for the faintest glow.
"How can there be another shard?!" she thought, baffled.
She saw it through the corner of a brick wall first, traveling at an angle to her. Her eyes looked on that glow and she raced around the corner only to nearly collide with a group of guys in navy uniforms similar to her school's black ones. Those students joined the stream of similarly uniformed students all heading in the same direction towards their school, making it even harder on her as she tried to pinpoint exactly who had the jewel shard.
"Where could he have gone?" wondered Kagome.
She continued to lock in on the glow and maneuvered her way through the mass of people. As she nearly got shouldered by a towering senior, a narrow pathway appeared before her in the crowds as people clustered closer to their friends to hear their specific conversation. She caught a direct glimpse of the shard's glow, clearly moving forward with a very short boy who had his back to her. She mustered her courage and hurried over to catch him.
The sound of someone clearing their throat in her ear caught her attention and Kagome suddenly became aware of her surroundings. Her cheeks flushed scarlet with embarrassment. She had followed the crowd right up to the gates of their school. Hers was the only white and green uniform amid navy and pink ones. She knew she didn't belong here and couldn't just walk into the school to continue her search. Without looking at the gate monitor who was giving her a hard look, she slowly inched backward and pressed her back against the outside wall.
Kagome glanced side to side, trying to figure out another plan. She tried her best to look nonchalant and walked away from the main entrance, approach a street that ran along the school's left side. It looked like it was only lined with bushes and small trees, although she was at the wrong angle to tell for sure if there was no wall there.
"Hey, Kagome!" a loud voice called.
"EEK!" Kagome couldn't help but exclaim as Inu-Yasha almost literally landed right in front of her. But the instant of alarm was over and almost immediately replaced by anger. "Inu-Yasha!"
"So this dump is where you've been hiding? Quit playing games! We got to get going; we have more important things to do like dealing with Naraku!" Inu-Yasha said, completely unaware of the freaked-out looks they were getting from the tardy students.
"Inu-Yasha..." Kagome growled a warning, her hands clenching and unclenching.
"Why are you so steamed?" Inu-Yasha shot back.
He finished slurping down noddles and broth from an almost empty bowl in his left hand. Kagome noticed this so she didn't reply immediately. She also noticed the card attached to the side of the bowl. Although it was only half open, she could still read "...t well soon, Hojo." on the inside flap.
"Where did you get that?" asked Kagome, tersely.
"This junk? On your counter," answered Inu-Yasha, discarding the bowl. "Some instant noodles, it had all this vegetable crap in it." He flicked a piece of celery out of his teeth with a claw in disdain.
Kagome's eye twitched slightly, just once. "Go home, Inu-Yasha! I'll come back later!"
"Just cause you're having a bad day, don't take it out on me!" Inu-Yasha retorted.
"For your information, I'm on the trail of a jewel shard and you're distracting me!" Kagome argued right back. They were both getting progressively louder, so fortunately for them all of the students had already entered the building and the final bell had rung. Classes were just starting and the once busy sidewalks were now relatively empty.
Inu-Yasha's expression changed almost immediately the moment Kagome mentioned the shard. It went from irritated to confusion, surprise and even eagerness within that second. He stood up straight and started looking all around. "A jewel shard? Where?! How?!"
"I think one of the kids in this school has it," answered Kagome, letting out a frustrated breath. She stepped around Inu-Yasha and the corner of the school's wall and continued to follow the shrub line with Inu-Yasha rattling off one-word questions in her ear.
It didn't take long for him to stop his question rant. "That's it! I'm going after it!" exclaimed Inu-Yasha as he jumped up and put a hand on the hilt of Tetsusaiga. He crouched back, ready to easily leap over the wall.
"No you don't!" exclaimed Kagome as she grabbed onto his arm to restrain him. She leaned back slightly, trying to keep him from springing forward.
"I thought you wanted the shard found!" Inu-Yasha snapped back.
"I do, but you can't just charge into things with sword waving like you do in your era!" Kagome argued. "Things in this era requires tact, communication, and a woman's touch!" She again tugged at his cuff.
"Stop your blabbering already!" Inu-Yasha snapped, his little patience completely spent. He pulled away from her and leapt up, into the air and over the bushes.
"SIT!" Kagome barked.
FLASH! WHAM! Inu-Yasha hit the dirt from ten feet off of the ground. He crashed right through the middle of a shrub, a branch causing him to spit leaves. He instantly started swearing under his breath as he pushed against the ground, waiting for the spell to lift.
"Kagome!" growled Inu-Yasha as he raked the grass with his claws.
"You brought it on yourself," she retorted, crossing her arms.
"I did?! You're the one who's not making any sense here!" Inu-Yasha argued as he flailed on the ground.
"I'm missing my mock math exam, you made me loose the trail of the shard, and you're making a scene! You should have just listened and gone home!"
"Like I care about your stupid tests!"
"You are such a jerk!"
"Wait until I can stand again…!"
"SIT!"
FLASH! WHAM!
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Yu-Gi sat by the window in class, occasionally glancing outside when the lecture became too monotonous to focus on any more. That's how he spotted a girl from another school and a guy in a weird robe arguing just outside of the school grounds. Although they were two far away to hear, Yu-Gi found their animated argument to be amusing nonetheless. The way they waved their arms and spazzed was definitely the perfect distraction from the lesson. However, once the girl turned around he knew it would be impossible to pull his violet eyes away.
The girl was the same one from the dream he had had to other night. Even though he didn't see her face at that time, he knew there was no mistaking the long, dark hair or the spiritual aura that Yami was sensing. It took him a moment, but the presence of the sheath also confirmed to them that the guy with her was also in their dream, although Yu-Gi did briefly wonder about the massive sword that the dream had shown.
Yami was watching as intently if not more so at the couple outside. /I...sense something about those two...And after that dream?/
/What do you mean, pharaoh?/ wondered Yu-Gi.
/I don't know, but it seems almost…..familiar,/ answered the pharaoh. Yami paused and thought some more. /Very familiar… I just wish I could remember…/
Before Yu-Gi mentally reply, he felt something nudge him in the side. He instantly pulled his gaze away from the window and prepared to apologize to the teacher for daydreaming during class. However, his teacher was still at the front of the room. He looked over and noticed his friend Bakura, facing forward but with his eyes looking to the side; trying to appear like he was paying attention in class but really he was trying to catch Yu-Gi's attention. They made eye contact.
Bakura shifted nervously and Yu-Gi noticed that he seemed paler than usual. He pointed down under his desk, angling slightly so Yu-Gi could see. In his left hand was the Millennial Ring, the strap broken and cut short so that it could never fit around his neck and control him again. Yu-Gi's eyes went as wide as his friend's when he saw that the central point on the Millennial Ring was active, pointing to the left and out the window at the couple he had noticed a minute ago.
/What are they?/ wondered Yu-Gi as he turned his head in time to see the guy fall to the sidewalk and the girl storm away.
