Thank you for all the great reviews. Now on to the next chapter.
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Kagome was able to recover by the time lunch was over and went on to her last class which was home economics. As she was new the teacher paired her with Uryuu so that she could get a handle on what the class was doing.
"Thank you for helping me, Ishida-san."
He pushes his glasses up his nose when she smiles at him to hide his slight blush, "It's no problem Higurashi-san. Are you settling in alright?"
She nods, "Yes, Ichigo's been a lot of help in showing me around." She puts on an apron as today they were going to be baking cookies. "I think I'll give him my cookies as a way of saying thank you."
Uryuu was confused when he felt angry at hearing her talk about Ichigo so fondly, 'I should be the one she thinks fondly of.' His eyes widen a bit at that thought, he couldn't be jealous could he. He looks Kagome over as she gathers the dry ingredients for the cookies.
"Should we make peanut butter or chocolate chip?" She looks over at him with a smile and he blushes again, turning away slightly to hide it.
"Ah, I think we should make chocolate chip." He looks back at her and sees that she has gone to get the chocolate chips. At that moment he decides that he would get to know her better and maybe he would help her move on, without her friends.
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Ichigo and his class had physical education after lunch and Ichigo was surrounded by his friends, sans Rukia, and being interrogated about Kagome.
"What's the deal Ichigo? Why'd she run off like that?" Mizuiro looked at him, his concern for the new girl obvious. Keigo had still not fully recovered thinking that she must hate him and simple sat there with his waterfall tears pouring out. Chad for his part just sat silently and waited for Ichigo to tell them what had caused the girl's distress.
Ichigo let out a slow breath and ran his fingers through his hair, "Look she just went through a tough time and lost all of her friends. Keigo just reminded her of one and it upset her, alright?"
Mizuiro nodded in acceptance of the explanation and let the matter drop. Keigo for his part caught the part at the end and let his waterworks dry up with a sniffle, "So she doesn't hate me?" Ichigo gave him a nod, though had a bit of a surprised look on his face as his friend did a 180 and was suddenly sparkling, "Then I still have a chance. Hey Ichigo, where's she staying?" That was just the first of many questions that Ichigo just ignored with a sigh. He looks up and sees Chad still giving him a slightly concerned look and Ichigo nods. The two would talk when school let out; after all there were things he could tell Chad about Kagome that the other two weren't allowed to hear.
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When the last bell rang Ichigo asked Rukia to get Kagome and wait for him at the gate, he wouldn't be long. With a nod she leaves to get Kagome as asked while Ichigo goes up to the roof where he was going to talk with Chad and hopefully get his help in keeping Kagome safe from hollows and seiretei if things should get that way.
When he got to the roof Chad was sitting down waiting for him, looking up at Ichigo's arrival he waits silently for Ichigo to start. "Kagome's staying at Urahara's, so she knows about everything. I'm sure you noticed all the hollows and the menos yesterday that showed up." Chad nods, "They were after Kagome, and chances are that Seiretei might send someone to get her also." Chad looks questioningly at Ichigo after hearing this. "She's Urahara's daughter, but that can't be wide spread knowledge. Kagome may not care if everyone knows, or what Seiretei will do but we should still try to keep damage to a minimum."
He nods in acknowledgement. "I'll help. She seems very sad, even though she puts up a cheerful face."
Ichigo can only nod in agreement. "Come on Rukia and Kagome are waiting at the gate."
"We should tell Inoue-san also. She may be able to help Kagome-san."
Ichigo looks up at the tall boy beside him, "Yeah, she might."
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Meanwhile Rukia had gone to get Kagome and had also picked up the quincy. The three were talking about their day when Rukia brought up the History project.
"I don't know what to do. We're supposed to pick a legend, which is a myth? But I can't think of any."
Kagome looks at her thoughtfully before looking up at the sky, "You could do the legend of Inu no Taisho. He was Demon from the feudal era that wielded three very powerful swords, the most notable of which could summon a thousand undead from hell. He died defending his human love that had just born him a son." Uryuu gave Kagome a sidelong glance; he had never heard about that legend and said as much. "That's not surprising, its not well known. I only know about it because we had that sword at our shrine and my grandfather would always tell me the legend behind it." Her eyes moistened slightly at the memory of their battle with Sounga, but smiled slightly at remembering how Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru overcame their differences and acted like brothers to defeat the sword. Uryuu noticed how her expression changed and vowed to find out more about that legend.
"Do you know what you're going to do for your project?" Rukia looked at Kagome, not even having noticed the sad look that had been there a moment before.
Kagome nods, "I was thinking of doing the legend of my family's shrine and the Bone Eater's Well." She forced a smile before relaxing it for a genuine one. "Ichigo!" She raised her hand in a wave at the substitute shinigami and Uryuu felt himself get jealous of the attention he received as she ran over to him, pulling out the cookies she had made in class. "Here." She hands him the bag with her cookies, "We made cookies in class today. I wanted to say thank you for helping me out so much." Uryuu got even more jealous of Ichigo as he saw the orange top blush at receiving the gift.
"Uh, you're welcome." He averts his gaze as her smile was making him blush even more. She then takes his hand and pulls him back to the group at the gate, Chad following and looking slightly amused.
"I'll see you tomorrow Ichigo." He nods goodbye to the rest of the group at the gate and Ichigo finally notices Uryuu.
"Hey Ishida, what are you doing here?" Uryuu gives Ichigo a blank expression as he pushes his glasses up his nose slightly.
"I was just helping Higurashi-san get used to the school." At Ichigo's blank but questioning look he elaborates, "We're in the same class; the teacher had me helping her find her way around."
"Oh, ok. Well see you round Ishida." And with that Ichigo leads Kagome off towards her home, Rukia following after them.
"Hey Kagome, will you help me research that legend you told me about?" Kagome looks back at her and nods with a smile and the three turn a corner cutting them off from Uryuu's view.
Pushing his glasses up his nose again he heads off for the library to see if he could find anything about the legend Kagome was going to help Rukia with and also toe work on his own project.
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Well For those that wanted Ichigo to have competition I've made Uryuu have a crush on her and now the fight between the two is on. But what Uryuu doesn't know and what Ichigo has, or will figure out soon at least, is that both have to compete with Inuyasha. He was her first love and she never had any closure to that relationship. Some of you may be wondering why Rukia was talking about the History project with Uryuu and Kagome even though she isn't in the same class, its because of how Japanese schools work. Each class has a national lesson plan that changes very little between different schools; I'm also making Karakura High have only one History teacher. Teaching the same lesson plan to every class in that grade level means that they all have the same project to do.
Next time we should get to the project presentations.
