hey, ffnet. it's me, ya baked good.
here we are! what i've been teasing on my profile for, idk, a couple months? if you follow me on tumblr/ao3, you already knew this was coming, but NOT that this fic would be coming back to ye olde stomping grounds of ffnet! i figure, if there's still an audience here who doesn't wanna go over to ao3, i can cater to y'all too! aaaah, nostalgia. (but for those curious, the music in me will be on ao3 as well!)
updates will be EVERY OTHER thursday. so, i'll see ya again on august 26.
please feel free to send reviews! questions, comments, concerns - i welcome it all!
disclaimer: although a teacher's aide is a real job, i did light research and am taking creative liberties to fit my canon. (also, if you can believe it, i don't own inuyasha or its characters. i do own this story and the plot therein, however.)
The screech of the chain-link fence gate opening draws the attention of some of the children playing on the swing set nearby as a young woman steps onto the playground, and with a soft click, the gate is locked right back in place; it was the first day of a brand new school year, and that meant the prospect of new beginnings. The woman's green skirt swishes as she walks with an air of determination toward the heavy front doors of the esteemed human and demon school.
Kagome Higurashi had been grateful to find a teaching job a month after finishing University and was eager to start her dream job. Since she was young, she'd wanted to be a teacher just like her mother, now retired but taking substitute teaching jobs every now and then. As well as acquiring her mother's patience, Kagome had grown up with a kid brother, Sota, which had equipped her with the mental capacity to handle even the most rambunctious child.
For a lot of reasons, Kagome was grateful to her mother's patience - raising a teenager at the same time as a young child couldn't have been easy, especially when she was doing so by herself, but then she offered no complaint when she was taking Kagome to and from work through college and Sota to and from soccer practices and games. Kagome couldn't speak highly enough of her mother, and was eternally grateful for everything she had done for her and Sota.
Now, on her own and comfortable, she was excited to start her new life.
When the big door swings closed behind her, Kagome takes a deep breath; the main hallway stretched all the way down to the other side of the school, and almost a third of the way down, it branched left to right. The entrance was wider than the rest of the hallway and had two doors on the left side and an open one on the right with a glass window looking into what looked like the main office. Walking with purpose toward that door, she speaks cheerfully.
"Excuse me, I'm-"
"Kagome Higurashi, correct?"
Kagome jumps and turns around at the voice before sighing with relief; Kaede Honda was the co-founder and principal of the school and stood before her, a friendly look in her … well, her eye. Her right eye had been lost in an accident when she was a girl, and the story of the demon doctor who had saved her and treated her without an ounce of prejudice was well-known in not only the teaching world, but the world of human and demon relations. It was because of Kaede that they even offered classes that focused on such at University, which had been what Kagome had majored in.
A brilliant smile tugs on Kagome's lips in recognition and she steps toward the older woman with her hand out to shake. "Yeah, that's me! I'm thrilled to meet you!"
"The feeling is mutual," she smiles back. "I am Kaede Honda. I must be frank with you, I'm not sure I've hired anyone so quickly when I saw you had majored in Human and Demon Relations. Tell me, do you have experience with demon children?"
Kagome rubs behind her neck. "Well…"
The truth of the matter was that, when she was a much younger child - maybe 5 or 6 - she had played with a boy who lived on her street who was part-demon. He didn't come out much, on account of being a demon who lived on a human street, and got bullied a lot. When her brother was born, they needed to move into a bigger house so ended up moving to a different part of town.
It had been a long time since she'd thought about that.
I wonder how he's doing?
"I grew up with one on my street. And I've taken quite a few babysitting jobs where some of the kids were demon children." Despite the leaps and bounds that had been made in the last 50 years, there was still a heavy stigma around demons, and not a lot of humans wanted to interact with them. Kagome had never been raised to hate them or fear them, and it was because of that that she had chosen her major in the first place. She still talked to the parents of the children she'd watched every now and then. "My studies were primarily centered around one-on-one help, and I figured that'd be more centered around demon children."
Ms. Honda nods her head. "Aye, unfortunately that is correct. Society prefers to stifle the cries of demon children because of their prejudice, which leaves many the victims of bullying or abuse. Come, walk with me, Kagome." As they begin walking down the hall, Kagome holds onto the strap of her messenger bag hanging from her shoulder. "I have strived for decades to breach the gap between humans and our demon counterparts. We can only offer so much with such a specific limited roster as we have, but with an addition like yourself I have no doubts that the transition for many will be much easier." The seriousness in her tone melts away, and she looks at Kagome with a look of utmost confidence, which makes her stand a little straighter. It was a nice feeling, to walk on the same moral road as someone like Kaede Honda.
"The official tour will have to wait until later, I'm afraid, for I have to rush to a meeting. If you don't mind being thrown to the wolves, so to speak, right off the bat, I do have a classroom to place you in for the time being. I will walk you there and introduce you to Mr. Takayama, who I must warn you is a bit … aloof and has an absolutely wolfish grin about him. I have no doubts that you will get along."
"Got it. I'm happy to help!"
The two make their way up a flight of stairs, and Kagome is immediately met with the musky smell of a well-used carpet. There was a hint of something sweet underneath it, like they had tried to give it a deep clean, but there was no masking the scent completely. It doesn't bother her, except giving her a feeling of nostalgia, remembering every school carpet having a similar scent. Before she knew it, she was standing in front of a smooth wooden door with a window looking inside, and she watched as Ms. Honda knocked a wrinkled hand on the side of the window before opening the door.
She took in as much of the classroom as she could: the whiteboard ran along the same wall as the door and had stuff written on it already, with a long wooden desk right across from the door where a man was on a clunky-looking laptop. Desks she had expected to be stretched out in rows were pushed together in groups of four, all facing each other so all the chairs could see the white board. There was a spot in the back that had shelves of books, drawing paper, lined paper and one cubby filled with what looked like art supplies- boxes of colored pencils, pens and markers. A gray area rug lay on the floor beneath a couple of plush-looking chairs and, on the opposite side, a small circular table. Opposite this seating and crafting area was a couple of counters, one with a built-in sink, and some cabinets built in above. A hand on her arm pulls her out of her mental tour of the room, and she follows Kaede right up to the desk. The man doesn't notice them.
"Mr. Takayama, I have brought you the aide I told you about."
"Great, thanks, old woman- oh."
As he looks up at her, she takes note of his piercing blue eyes as they gaze between her and Kaede, and his lips part in a slight o as they fall back on her once more. She could see, under pieces of his dark hair that were slipping out from his high ponytail, he had pointed ears, and she could only discern then that he was a demon.
...wolfish grin. Was he a wolf demon?
"Good morning," he croaks out to her as he stands and walks around the desk. When he's standing in front of her, he clasps both of her hands in his, causing her to faintly flush pink. "I'm so pleased to meet you."
"It's … a pleasure to meet you too!"
From behind her, she hears Ms. Honda sigh. "Mr. Takayama, if you could rein in your enthusiasm, please."
Mr. Takayama visibly deflates before letting go of her hands and crossing his arms over his chest. Ms. Honda hums thoughtfully before gesturing toward Kagome.
"Miss Higurashi will be assisting you for the time being," her voice is not unkind, but leaves no room for argument. Kagome stands a little straighter, placing her hands in front of her and lacing her fingers together. Ms. Honda continues, turning to look at her. "There is a young fox demon child named Shippo who is very hyperactive and may require a little extra attention. I hoped, since you have some experience with demon children, that you might be able to help while I find a more permanent place for you."
Kagome nods. "I'm happy to help!"
Mr. Takayama nods his head and reaches over his desk to grab a manila folder, papers sticking out of the tab. "I'll be meeting with his parents next week about his specific needs, but until things get straightened out, I think he might benefit from one-on-one learning. That's where you'll come in." Handing her the folder, she takes it and gazes inside at a stack of about a weeks' worth of assignments. Giving them a confused look, she looks back up at him. His eyes, impossibly blue, look directly at her. "Those are everything we'll be covering before diving into our first unit in a couple weeks. I hope you'll be able to follow them."
He might not have meant it that way, but Kagome couldn't help but feel a little offended by his question, like he was doubting her. Trying to keep her temper in check - but unable to keep the annoyed tick out of her eye - she says carefully, "I'll follow them fine, thanks."
A look of apology appears on his face and he puts his hands up in surrender. "I apologize if I upset you…"
She takes a breath, shaking her head, before she closes the folder and presses it to her chest. "No, it's fine. And outside of school hours, you can call me Kagome."
"Okay," he says cheerfully, as if nothing had happened, "I'm Koga."
She smiles at him.
Ms. Honda's voice interrupts their exchange, and Kagome feels her cheeks flush; she had forgotten that she was there!
"Since introductions are taken care of, I'm going to head to my office to prepare for the meeting. Will you be joining me, Mr. Takayama?"
After saying a goodbye to Kagome that involved taking her hands in his again, he steps around her and opens the door for the three of them to walk out of the classroom. As the other two walk in the direction of the staircase to head downstairs, Kagome breathes a sigh before looking behind her at the opposite side of the hallway; there are more doors and another wing breaking off the main hallway, and she puffs out a breath. The school was a lot bigger inside that it seemed, and she was interested to be able to explore it.
Pushing up the sleeve of her cardigan to check her watch, she discovers she has 20 minutes until the first bell rings. "Well, time to get a head start on these lessons…"
The combination of his drunkenness, empty stomach, and noise and smell of the closed auditorium had robbed him of his stability and he wobbled toward the microphone. He opens his mouth in a gasp for breath, his skin pale and covered in a thin sheen of sweat, and only barely registers the music that had started behind him.
When it came time for him to sing, what fell from his lips wasn't the first line of one of his hit tracks. With a pinched, pained expression on his face as his hand white-knuckle squeezed the microphone, he whispers a single word before collapsing.
"Help…"
"Yo! Time to get your ass off my couch, half-breed!"
With a groan, dark lashes flutter open to reveal stark gold glaring out at the sunshine coming in through the big window. He notices with great delay that his phone's alarm is blaring on the end table above his head, and his body jolts up, displacing the jacket he had worn the night before that he'd used as a blanket. He was supposed to be at his new job in 15 minutes, he noted with slight panic, and even if he left now he would still be late.
Dragging a hand down his face - and watching his sharp claws so he wouldn't leave cuts over his face, again - he does his best to ignore the pounding in his head as he spins himself off the plush couch and reaches for his phone to turn off the alarm. The night before had been about as fun as a car wreck, and he'd had to spend the night at his old roommate's house because his apartment was too far to travel with the damage he'd sustained. It wasn't his fault - people like him were mugged and left for dead practically all the time, and he'd been grateful that Bankotsu had happened to run into him lying on the ground.
Such was the life of a half demon.
The attack was nowhere near as bad as he'd dealt with in the past, and the gash in his side from the knife had already faded away - a small victory, considering.
"Yeah, well, it ain't that comfortable anyway," he grumbles, rubbing at his lower back for emphasis as Bankotsu stands in front of his front door. They didn't dislike each other by any means, just had a long and storied history, complete with constant bickering.
Bankotsu rolls his eyes. "Yeah, well next time don't get stabbed. If you bled all over my already crummy couch, I'm making you buy me a new one."
Meeting his former-roommate's gaze, he sees a grin, and with a smirk he waves a clawed hand in front of him to wave him off. "Fuck off."
They share mutual chuckles and grins before Bankotsu grabs his car keys, which jingle in his fingers.
"You gonna be able to drive back? And, don't you have somewhere to be?"
"Yeah." To both questions. Shrugging and slipping his jacket over one shoulder, he started walking toward the door, grabbing his own keys that were hanging beside where Bankotsu's were. "Damn, there's no way I can make it home in time to-"
"Make yourself look a quarter-way decent?"
All he responds with is a little growl and a slash of his claws that Bankotsu dodges easily. He was never going to make contact, anyway.
"Try not to get stabbed, will ya?" He calls out as he walks to his sports car, which shines under the morning sun. "And let's go out or something soon. Catch up."
Covering his face with his hand to block out the sun's reflection, the other man walks to his truck and opens the driver's door. As he gets himself into the seat and starts the engine, he closes his door and leans out the open window and flashes a sarcastic 'thumbs up'. "Yeah, yeah. Text me or whatever."
"Right. See ya, Inuyasha."
Flashing a fanged grin in response, Inuyasha tucks himself comfortably into his seat and starts to back up out of the driveway, turning onto the main road and toward the big, fancy school just outside of town.