Disclaimer: I do hereby disclaim all rights and responsibilities for the characters in this gentle adventure... especially for the one who's fitting right in. A nod of recognition is bent towards Rumiko Takahashi for her creative prowess where InuYasha is concerned. All due respect is also offered to Yoshihiro Togashi, whose fervid imagination is responsible for YuYu Hakusho.

An Affinity for School

- 4 -
Pulled Strings

On Monday, Kagome barely made it through the door to 2-C before her friends cornered her. "Did you hear?" exclaimed Eri.

"The cutest boy transferred into 3-A!" gushed Yuka.

"He's very polite," Ayumi interjected.

"And cute!" Eri added.

"And smart," Yuka enthused.

"And cute!" Eri repeated.

"Plus, he's got long hair," whispered Yuka.

Eri swooned. "So. Cute."

Kagome gave her friend a sidelong glance. "So you keep saying."

"Well, he is," Ayumi asserted in more reasonable tones. "Although I don't understand why the principal didn't make him cut his hair."

"Cutting it would be a crime!" protested Yuka.

"I heard he's super smart," Eri explained.

"He's not stuck up about it, though," Ayumi smiled. "He's going to tutor!"

"I am so signing up for his study group!" squealed Eri.

"Me too!" agreed Yuka.

"Hey!" Eri bounced up and down and suggested, "Let's go by his classroom at lunchtime and see if we can catch his eye! You, too, Kagome!"

"Oh, I don't know..." she demurred.

Ayumi gave her friend a long look. "Didn't your two-timing, rebel boyfriend have long hair, Kagome?"

"Inuyasha's hair is long... and silver," she mumbled.

"Well this guy's hair is red!" Eri giggled.

Kagome looked from one friend to the other with wide eyes. "Red?"

Up on the roof, Kurama faced his partner. "What are you doing at this school?" Hiei snapped.

"Does it matter?"

The youkai's eyes narrowed. "It might."

The redhead gazed up at the sky and confessed, "I'm hardly sure myself."

"Not good enough," Hiei growled.

Kurama met his gaze and firmly announced, "I'm looking into certain matters, and that will be easier from here. Koenma pulled a few strings, so he knows I'm here."

"And our case?"

"This won't interfere with work."

"See that it doesn't," Hiei grumbled before flickering from sight.

- 5 -
Common Interests

Kagome used to watch for a flash of red. She daydreamed about looking up in the middle of class and seeing Inuyasha sitting on the window ledge. He'd act as if nothing had happened, but his expressive golden eyes would let her know that he was glad to be back... and that everything would be all right. This week, she walked through the halls, hoping to catch a glimpse of red hair. Shuuichi Minamino suddenly transfers into my school... it can't be a coincidence.

On Friday, she joined Ayumi for their after-school club meeting. In first year, Kagome had tried archery, but going through the motions of battle felt empty; so she'd packed her bow away. Since Eri and Yuka joined drama club together, Ayumi applied considerable peer pressure and recruited her into the gardening club. I'm so glad she did. Working the soil was something she'd first learned from Kaede, and Kagome found the pastime soothing. Staying close to simple things, she felt closer to the past she missed so desperately.

A shadow fell across fresh-turned earth where she was sowing seeds, and she looked up into friendly green eyes. "Hello again," he greeted as he knelt across from her.

Kagome sat back on her heels and asked the question that had been weighing on her all week. "Why are you here, Minamino-kun?"

"I'm good with plants," he replied lightly.

"That's not what I meant."

He tilted his head and asked, "Would you rather I wasn't here?"

"N-no."

"Then... I'll stay."

For the first time in a long time, Kagome felt like smiling, but she wasn't sure the impulse made it all the way to her lips. However, the redhead's eyes softened, and he nodded, acknowledging the things that lay unspoken between them.

- 6 -
Cram Sessions

"Is this a study group or a fan club?" Kagome whispered to Ayumi when they reached the library conference room. From the looks of things, every girl in school was experiencing an academic setback. After just two weeks, everyone knew Shuuichi Minamino's name. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea," she groaned.

Ayumi dragged her into the room. "Satoshi-sensei told you to get tutoring, so you need to be here... unlike her... and her...."

"Some of these girls don't even take geometry," Kagome muttered as Eri and Yuka waved them towards seats at a table in the far corner.

Shuuichi's eyes lit up as if he'd been waiting for her, and his welcoming smile gave her the sense that they were already friends... and that they shared a secret. He may be the first person I can actually talk to about the feudal era! The prospect sent her heart soaring.

Just as the cram session was ending, he paused by her seat and asked, "Can you stay afterward?"

Kagome blinked, but Yuka exclaimed, "Yes! She'll stay!"

"Definitely!" agreed Eri.

"Minamino-sempai seems interested in you," opined Ayumi.

"Go for it, Kagome-chan!" Eri cheered. "What a catch!"

Once the room emptied, Shuuichi pulled a chair around and sat across from her. Silence stretched between them, but finally, he asked, "Why are you trying so hard, Higurashi-san?"

"Erm... I'm terrible at math?" she joked weakly.

"That's not what I meant."

"Because it is hard," Kagome confessed. "I miss my friends."

Shuuichi's brows lifted. "You have many friends."

"These friends are somewhere I can't reach," she explained, giving him an opening, wanting him to take it.

"The name you called me," he prompted instead.

"Shippo," she whispered.

"Why did you mistake me for Shippo?"

"Because you're like him," she replied simply. "You're a kitsune."

End Note: These three drabbles were written for the Live Journal community fanfic(underscore)bakeoff and their Secret Ingredient for February 2010—Catch. The drabbles are 300, 294, and 300 words respectively. Posted on February 16, 2010.