31 chapters in total for this story and I'm aiming for daily updates! ^.^ Thanks for your support, it'll help me through my practical final!

Kagome sat in the classroom, feeling somehow cheated. Professor Saiga had shown up, striding in like he owned the place. The instant his eyes met hers she'd felt something. In all her first meetings with men and taiyoukai alike she'd never felt anything like it, it was like her heart started beating for the first time in her life.

Then he'd run away. Literally. The guy looked at her, his eyes widened minutely and his perfectly shaped eyebrows rose as he looked like he was going to say something and he high-tailed it out of there.

"Well that was… unexpected." Miroku commented, his surprise hidden with his carefully blasé attitude. "I think that's the first time I've seen Professor Saiga retreat. And for such a ridiculous reason too."

"W-what do you mean?" Kagome asked, her heart still pounding.

Miroku looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Come now my miko, did you not feel it?"

"Feel what?"

"The bond of true love, the echo of eternity…" He trailed off at her blank expression. "Kagome-chan that's dense even for you."

"Hey!" She protested, glaring.

"Hey!" A girl echoed, standing in front of their desks.

The only two youkai girls in the class glared down at her. It wasn't the first encounter they'd had, Kagura Kaze and Kanna Mirā had been snide to Kagome since they all joined the graduate program. It was ironic to Kagome and Miroku since Kagome's PhD was in Interspecies Relations and Diplomacy that she couldn't seem to get along with the youkai girls.

"Good Morning Kaze-san, Mirā-san." Kagome greeted cordially. "I hope your summer was nice."

"Yes it was." Kanna murmured.

Kagome smiled at her, she seemed to follow Kagura out of habit more than anything and while she was never actively friendly she'd never been openly malicious either.

"What the hell did you do to Sesshoumaru-sama?" Kagura accused.

Kagome blinked at her. "Uh… who?"

"Professor Saiga." Miroku clarified. "His given name is Sessoumaru and he was lord over the western lands for many centuries before establishing Chishiki University."

"Huh. Cheerful name… You're kinda like a walking encyclopedia you know that right?" Kagome smiled at her friend who in turn gave her a noogie.

"I have to be to balance out your airheadedness."

"As charming as this banter is." Kagura drawled. "You still have not answered my question."

"Higurashi!" Shippo called, looking up from his cell phone's display and catching their attention. "President Taijiya wants to speak with you."

"You're in for it now." Kagura smiled coldly.

Kagome kept a tight lid on her emotions as she gathered up her bag and left. It was a long walk to the president's office across campus and she thumbed through her pamphlet, looking to see if there was some rule or policy that she'd accidentally broken. She stopped at the third page and stared down at it incredulously.

Hygiene Policy:

All students will bathe or shower before class.

All students will refrain from wearing perfume and cologne.

Eating in class is strictly forbidden.

Coming to class within two days of drinking excessive alcohol is forbidden.

All students will brush their teeth before class if food has been consumed since their morning bathing rituals.

And the list went on.

Kagome thought about her shower before class, suddenly unsure if it had been long enough, and the maple nut muffin she'd had before class started. She was certain that had to be it, she'd eaten breakfast on the run and not brushed her teeth afterwards.

A surge of embarrassed anger quickened her steps into the administrative building and she'd gotten so worked up that she threw open the door to the president's office without knocking.

The president was an attractive woman in her early thirties whom Kagome had met a few times at events but it was her guest that made her pause in the door. Stunned golden eyes met hers for a moment before Professor Saiga simply vanished.

Kagome blinked. "Uh… What just happened?"

President Taijiya crossed the room to the open window and smirked when she looked outside. "He jumped out the window."

"But we're on the third flo-" Kagome broke off. "Oh yeah, taiyoukai. I wish he'd stop doing that though."

"Doing what?"

"Running away." She looked out the window and spotted a long-haired figure across the main lawn. "It's super unprofessional."

"As unprofessional as barging into a room without knocking?"

Kagome winced. "My apologies President Taijiya-"

"Sango please."

"… Sango. I was just really annoyed with his policies and let my anger override my manners." Kagome bowed deeply.

"It's all right. Please take a seat." Sango sat back at her desk and Kagome took the seat that Sesshoumaru had vacated. "I had him as a professor once you know, I was equally annoyed with his rules. But that's not the reason he had to leave the classroom… and my office."

"Thank kami! I really didn't want to apologize for having muffin-breath!" Kagome exclaimed.

Sango chuckled at her response and pressed a few keys on her computer, activating the printer. "I'm afraid that you brought up some very powerful instincts in Professor Saiga."

Kagome blinked in surprise. "Because of my reiki?"

Sango paused as she reached for the papers in her printer tray, then gave a Gaelic shrug.

Kagome's heart plummeted. If her sacred powers had caused that kind of reaction then she was sure he hated her. Sango seemed to catch on to her mood because she smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry. I think you surprised him more than anything, he'll be fine in a few hours. But unfortunately we can't have you in the same classroom due to… liability issues. You'll still be his student, we'll just need to set you up with a skype account and put a computer with a webcam in the classroom. We've done this before with distance-learning and it's worked out fine, Professor Saiga's TA is familiar with the procedure." She handed Kagome the print-out. "Best of all you don't have to worry about his hygiene policies and you can watch his lectures from home."

Kagome was amazed that she'd put together a solution so quickly and thanked Sango. But when she left the office she still felt somehow slighted and disappointed. Despite all the strangeness, she felt like she needed to see Sesshoumaru again.