Dream A Dream
Chapter 2:
Who Needs Classes, Anyway!
Revised: 4/24/05 - No more fangirl Japanese!
An Inuyasha Fanfiction
By:
Azurite - azurite AT fanfiction DOT net


READ THIS! READ THIS! READ THIS! READ THIS! READ THIS! READ THIS! READ THIS!

Maybe I'm alone in this boat, but have any of you read a fic, loved it to bits, but wondered what would have happened if just a little something were different? Okay, maybe not. But in my case, I have. I was reading Clara's School Daze, and wondered—what would happen if the story WASN'T AU (Alternate Universe)?

Of course, the first thought running through my head was How would you pull that off! followed by You'd need Clara's permission, of course, and then But you're already working on an Inuyasha fic, stupid! But now, the idea won't get out of my head, and while I patiently wait for the next chapter of the OFFICIAL School Daze, I offer to you the School Daze—and YES, I have gotten Clara's permission.

I highly recommend that you read "School Daze" before or while reading this. It's not necessary, but it would probably help clarify some things. However, I'm taking a lot of liberties with Clara's idea—such as replacing the names of the schools, but keeping certain facts (again, read the fic to understand) intact. Read that, and this won't seem so strange. Don't flame me on this note here, either, because here I am, explaining the whole thing. P

Major differences between this fic and the Inuyasha series...
Souta is 12-years-old and in his first year of junior high (7th grade in Japan), rather than 9-10 years old and only in 3rd grade (elementary school). This means that he's only three-and-a-half years younger than Kagome in this fic, rather than five or six years younger.
On that note, Kagome is in 9th grade (age 15-16) at the start of the Inuyasha series. Since this is NOT an AU, and we can presume she and Inuyasha have been adventuring for some time now, she's 16 years old and has graduated to high school, or 10th grade (senior high, 1st year). But of course, the real details will be revealed as the story goes along...

Oh, and of course, go check out Clara's website hopefully she'll update SD there first
http/ size=1 width=100% noshade>Author's Notes (The official ones):

(1) I don't own Inuyasha, or the of this fic. I do own, however, the idea to take SD and make it a non-Alternate Universe.
(2) Yes, I asked permission to use Clara's ideas, but once again, I'm changing some things around to make it true that the story is still Inuyasha—and not AU.
(3) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review! ;;
(4) This fic will may alternate from 1st person (Kagome's perspective) to 3rd person (S/He said). A scene change without a change of POV is indicated by ONE horizontal rule. When I switch from one perspective to another, there will be TWO horizontal rules.
(5) Pogo-- no, this doesn't take place after Naraku was defeated and a wish was made on the jewel. I'll be getting more indepth with the whole storyline and how it ties into the "real" IY universe later on... but both Naraku and Kikyouu are integral characters to this, and since they're in the real "School Daze," they'll be in this too.
(6) Most everyone else -- Thanks for not being nasty and accusing me of plagarism. That woulda been pretty foolish of anyone, since I DO have Clara's permission to write this, and I can only hope she's reading this. It may be a while before my plot significantly diverges from Clara's, as we're in the introductory words here... and I love Clara's style so much that it makes it difficult to change her words into something else that essentially means the same thing. But believe me, I am trying. Please keep reading!

"like, this is speech"
'and these are thoughts'
and these words are EMPHASIZED!

The final note: Since this is supposed to be in Japan, I try to convert as much Japanese slang into English as possible. Therefore, the dialogue between "the guys" won't necessarily be grammatically correct, but it will be realistic.


"All that we see or seen
Is but a dream within a dream."
--Edgar Allan Poe


Let me tell you, the biggest mistake I have ever made in my entire life had to be trusting Miroku's driving skills. Months later, I would think clearly in my mind, "Well, duh." Of course Miroku would be a terrible driver-- he was a 16th century monk thrown into a 21st century world... how the hell would he know how to drive? The fact that he even knew how to turn the ignition amazed me-- that is, when I realized everything later on. But that's another story.

We were supposed to be on our way to the ice cream shoppé, not throwing our lives in danger. So much for that idea.

"MIROKU PRIEST, KEEP YOUR DAMN HANDS ON THE WHEEL!" I yelled, gripping the armrests like they were my only lifeline. Even with a seatbelt on, with Miroku's wild driving...

Oh, let me tell you, was I a moron to agree with the others. 'Sure,' they told me, 'it's perfectly safe to drive with Miroku. He's a... good... driver. Sit in front, will you?' And me --intelligent as I am most of the time-- agreed. I know Miroku the best out of all of them, I reasoned, if I go with him, then I won't have to feel uncomfortable with sitting in a car full of people I don't know...

I. Am. Such. An. Idiot.

"REDLIGHTREDLIGHTREDLIGHT-- THAT! WAS! A! RED! LIGHT...!"

So there I was in shotgun, desperately clutching the armrests for dear life, as Miroku cut off cars left and right, shooting his way through the traffic at highly illegal speeds. Sango just calmly had her eyes closed, and Kouga looked perfectly relaxed, while I, on the other hand, was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Damn Inuyasha had to take Kikyou and Eiji in his car and not have any pity on the new guy!

"SLOW DOOOOWN!" I yelled, my voice bordering on hoarse.

"Dude, Kagome, relax! I know what I'm doing!"

"LIKE HELL YOU DO! WATCH OUT!"

"Oops..." Miroku grinned sheepishly as he nearly averted a head-on collision with a tow truck. Sango was now shaking her head in resignation now, while I had bit on my lip so hard there was a dent in them.

"Where the HELL did you get your license!" I screamed at him.

My head hurt.


Inuyasha received the end of a VERY pissed off glare when Kagome entered the ice cream shoppé, her pace rigid and stiff. She practically radiated waves of annoyance at the dark-haired boy. In silent response, Inuyasha smirked devilishly, which only caused Kagome's vexed glare to become all the more dangerous. Calmly, Kagome slid next to him in the booth, folding her still-trembling hands in her lap, and closing her eyes. After taking a relaxing, meditative breath, Kagome released all her pent-up tensions.

"IF YOU EVER MAKE ME RIDE IN A CAR THAT MIROKU IS DRIVING AGAIN, I WILL PERSONALLY KICK YOUR ASS FROM HERE TO THE 16TH CENTURY!"

Of course, Kagome had no idea exactly what she was saying-- let alone how plausible it really was.

Inuyasha, the egotistical brat, had the audacity to laugh, not the least bit fazed.

"Hey!" Miroku protested. "I drive perfectly! It's all the other morons in the world that don't know how to drive!"

Kagome shot Miroku a deadpan look, causing the pigtailed boy to back away nervously. Figuring that she'd get her revenge on Miroku later, Kagome returned her deadly gaze to Inuyasha, who continued to laugh. Kagome twitched, realizing that Inuyasha's laugh, in fact, was very pleasant sounding... but that was beside the point!

"Oh, sure, try to get rid of the new gir—guy by sending him on the road with this maniac!" Kagome grumbled, grabbing the menu. She panted a moment, wondering if anyone had noticed her near slip-up.

'I'm actually kind of surprised that no one's noticed anything up till now... I didn't think I was that good of an actress.' Kagome thought to herself.

"I think I left my stomach back at school..." she murmured aloud.

"You get used to it," Sango sighed, shaking her head. Kagome shot her the same flat look Inuyasha and Miroku were lucky enough to receive. Sango shrugged and slid next to Kikyou across from them, and Kouga sat beside Kagome. Miroku was smart enough to sit as far away as possible from the enraged Higurashi 'boy,' instead grabbing a chair and pulling it up to the end of the table.

"Just for subjecting to me to the sheer and utter terror of having to sit in the car YOU drove, you're paying for my food," Kagome told Miroku primly, giving him a look that promised much pain if he didn't comply. Miroku nodded meekly.

Inuyasha grinned at Kagome, who noted both Kikyou and Sango looked at her with surprise written plainly on their faces. Kagome wondered what they were so shocked about, mentally noting that she'd have to ask them about it later.

"You have no money, do you?" Inuyasha asked.

"Not a single yen," Kagome smirked proudly.

Inuyasha chuckled again, then shook his head. Kagome pinned him with a dirty look and opened the menu, wondering why she was going to eat again right after she'd eaten the stinky cafeteria food. But then, she was struck with a brilliant idea.

"You are going to pay for our food, Miroku." she stated, smiling evilly as Miroku nodded quickly. At the moment, Miroku was pretty terrified of his new classmate, judging from the evil glares she'd been shooting at him ever since they arrived.

"Good!" All smiles again, Kagome waved for the waitress to come take her order. Miroku was staring at his classmate with an increasing sense of dread, while the others were grinning ever-so-slightly.

"Hi, Miss, me and my friends would like two of everything on this menu." Kagome did her best to maintain a serious expression on her face.

"TWO!" the waitress and Miroku cried. The other people at Kagome's table laughed hysterically, and Miroku slumped forward, eyes wide.

"Kaaaaagooomeee!" Miroku pleaded, voice pleading and piteous. "Come ON! There's no way I can afford all that! Do you want me to be working here every day of my life!"

"Well, after the hell you put me through, yes. Yes, I would."

Miroku's eyes widened more and he pouted, looking utterly ridiculous. "Come on, it's not like I actually put your life in danger! ...Well, not TOO much danger, that is... but it's not like you actually got hurt!"

Kagome sighed, pressing her lips together, and relented. As much as she hated to admit, he was right.

"Okay, we'll only take as much as he—" she pointed to Miroku, "—can afford."

Miroku blanched. "I... uh... only have..."

"—Or I'll beat him up," Sango finished for Kagome, grinning maliciously.

"...enough money to buy half the menu..." Miroku finished with a swallow.

The waitress gave everyone all a strange and bemused looks, then shook her head and walked away, not even bothering to write down the phenomenally large order. Those present doubted she could have forgotten it if she wanted to, anyway. As the waitress walked away, Eiji returned to the table, a curious expression on his face. Obviously, he'd heard the ruckus Kagome and Miroku had made while they ordered their food, and now he hoped for an explanation. Unlike everyone else, he already bought and paid for his food; he was holding a tray of fries and a milkshake.

"Hey, guys...?" Kagome almost laughed at Eiji's tone of voice. He sounded so confused... "Why is Priest all pale and stuff?"

"Kagome conned him into buying half the menu," Kouga informed him, and Eiji looked remorsefully down at his tray.

"Why couldn't you have done that earlier, huh Kagome?" he sighed resignedly, then strode over to a table of giggling schoolgirls squished together at a random table.

"Here, I bought these for you." He gave them a charming smile, causing the girls to turn cherry red and giggle more. Eiji moved to sit at the booth with everyone else, scooting beside Sango.

"There's only one problem," Kikyou said in a monotonous voice, holding up her perfectly manicured right index finger. "How are we going to eat all this food?" She raised a neatly-plucked eyebrow at Kagome, whom she regarded with a measure of disdain.

"Ever the voice of reason," Kouga snorted.

Kagome stared at the speckles on the table a moment, finally tossing Kikyou an indifferent look.

"Who cares about how we're going to eat all this? Hell, we can just get whatever's left to-go if we want to. The important part is, Miroku's paying for it." She wasn't sure if she was really coming off as a guy properly, but no one seemed the least bit shocked by Kagome's language or attitude, so everything must have been going well.

"Speaking of which..." Eiji waved his hand in front of Miroku's face, snapped his fingers in front of his eyes, then shook his head. "Eh, he's in shock."

Kouga examined the laminated, three-page menu, and grinned at Kagome.

"Yeah, I think I would be too..."

After a few moments, the waitress came back, a tray on each hand, precariously balancing an assortment of meals on each. Once she was done placing the first two on the table, she immediately rushed back to the counter again-- and she repeated this four times, until everything that Kagome had so zealously ordered was piled all over the table.

Miroku stared at the monstrous amount of edibles in horror, then turned a very vengeful glare in Kagome's direction. In return, she gave him a sugary-sweet smile, which surely unnerved the boy, as he hadn't been expecting something like that from someone he thought was a boy.

"I am so going to kill you."


I laughed easily. "Hey, I'll pay you back, okay? Well, at least partially..."

Miroku slumped glumly into himself, eyes still on the food. "You'd better."

Sango gave me one of those looks she had been giving me frequently, and I started to get nervous again. There was something about her that made me feel uncomfortable, as if she knew or suspected something. I hid behind the food once again, grabbing a fork and shoveling some random piece of food into my mouth. It was surprisingly delicious. After swallowing the tasty morsel, I snuck a glance at my pissed-off friend. He was staring at the food with a now determined expression on his face, then grabbed my fork.

"Hey!" I watched in surprise as he shoved the piece of food that I was just about to eat in his own mouth. "I was just about to eat that!"

He glared at me for a moment, then swallowed. "If I have to pay for this whole mess of food, I'm going to damn well enjoy it."

Sango shook her head, glancing at Inuyasha and Eiji who were both currently attacking the food with very male-like vigor. Kouga was just sitting there, examining each particle of food with sparkling eyes. Kikyou, on the other hand, was eating gracefully.

"You know," Sango said, glancing at me with sparkling eyes, "we're going to have the worst stomachaches later..." I just grinned in response.

As it turns out, we ended up taking pity on Miroku. Therefore, Sango, Eiji, and Kouga helped pay for the eye-popping bill. I promised I'd pay them all back marginally, but surprisingly, they didn't ask Kikyou or Inuyasha to help pay.

I had enough sense not to ask.

I shifted my weight from foot to foot as we walked back to the cars. Needless to say, I had refused to let the others even think about letting me in the same car as Miroku again. Miroku was taking this 'little practical joke' I played on him with stride, but I didn't quite like the looks he was giving me while I lugged the leftovers in their to-go bags back to Inuyasha's car. Miroku's glances weren't, per se, dirty, but they did still have that vengeful glint in them that promised something unpleasant. However, since Miroku was a nice and forgiving guy, and since I had gained a new respect from the others in the group, I replaced Kikyou in Inuyasha's car.

Kikyou did not appreciate this.

"What makes you think I want to stay in that car with this perverted maniac! I mean, Kagome's the new guy, and I've known you all so much longer than he has... why does he get all the luxuries?"

I ended up running across this argument several times throughout my entire stay at YSG. Privately, I think it was just an excuse for her to hate me.

"Please, Kikyou," Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "that's part of the reason why we're sticking you in Miroku's car. You've been around long enough to be able to handle his crazy driving."

"But I..." Kikyou was silenced by a dark look coming from Inuyasha's direction, and she slouched over slightly. "All right, all right, I'll go in his stinkin' car..."

I shot a curious glance at Inuyasha, then shrugged and walked over to his vehicle. By some odd chance, I ended up getting the front seat before Eiji did.

I realized something this day too. It wasn't quite new knowledge, but I never fully acknowledged how much it applied to me until I opened my big mouth.

My problem was that I talked too much. And when I talked too much, it was guaranteed I would stick my foot in my mouth as far as it could go. I had the opportunity to practice this feature on the way back to school.

"What's the story behind you and Kikyou?" I asked ever-so-innocently as I buckled my seatbelt, not long after we'd gotten on the road. guess the question surprised him, because he accidentally jerked the wheel and nearly swerved off the road. Eiji went sprawling across the back seat, bumping his head on the back of my chair.

"Ow! Inuyasha, do that again and I'll... I'll... do something unpleasant to you!"

"You should have put on your seatbelt then, dumbass. Watch the food," was Inuyasha's growling response. For a few moments, the only noise in the car was Eiji adjusting himself then clicking in his seatbelt. Then he sighed. "Why do you want to know? Are you interested in her?"

WHAT! WHATWHATWHAAAT! Unable to voice my thoughts to him, I snorted instead. "What, her? The girl hates me. And even if she didn't, she's not my type." She's not a boy.

Inuyasha sighed softly, then shrugged. "There wasn't really anything that happened between us. I've known her for forever, and we decided to try the date scene a couple months ago. That didn't exactly work out, so we went back to being just friends. That's all."

He was lying to me. What did I expect, though? Him flat out telling me all his life problems as if I was an old friend when we've only known each other for less than a day?

The silence in the car was far from comfortable the rest of the trip.


When we got back to the school, I immediately decided it was time to seek out my brother and have the chat that I'd put off for too long. After all, my little brother was the reason why I was even going to this school... even if he was avoiding me for some odd reason...

I found him after combing the grounds for nearly half an hour. What I saw shocked me.

"Please, please don't, Takeno, I need that money..."

"Tsk, tsk, Souta... are we speaking back to our elders? You know what that means..."

Souta was surrounded by a group of boys that seemed to be a year or so older than he was. They all looked menacing, and one was holding a belt as if it were a weapon. After a moment of belated horror, I realized that was exactly what they were going to use it for.

The larger boy brought the belt down forcefully against my brother's back, and I opened my mouth in silent empathy when I heard him scream. Tears rose to my eyes when I heard the metal buckle slap powerfully against his back. This hadn't been the first time the boys had hit him in that spot, according to the stain of blood on his shirt.

Shocked to the point where all the blood had drained from my face, I rushed over to the group of kids. The surprise was quickly wearing down to homicidal urges, as I grabbed the kid who had hit my brother with his belt. Lifting him up so that he was eye level with me, I sneered in a way that even made my brother gasp in surprise.

"What the hell do you think you're doing to my brother!" I roared. The younger boy yelped in surprise, then started to tremble badly. Disgusted, horrified, and down right PISSED, I threw the quivering mess down against one of the other boys. They both collapsed to the ground, then scrambled to their feet as quick as they could, running as if hell's hounds were at their heels. Considering I was about to snarl and chew those boys out, it wouldn't have been too far a description for my state back then. The other boys took their cues and stumbled away too, running for their lives and glancing back in shock and terror.

I fell to my knees next to Souta, and gathered him in my arms, the anger slowly draining away from my tense form. Souta trembled against me, body lax. After a few moments of me gently rocking him as Mama would have, he started to cry, first lightly, then powerful sobs that wracked his bruised frame.

When he finally started to calm down, I carefully picked him up. Blood stained my crisp shirt, but the only thing that horrified me about that was that it was my brother's. "Come on, Souta. Let's get you to the nurse."


When I finally got back to the dorms, it was already past eleven-- not good, considering I had classes starting the next day. However, the knowledge that my brother was going to be okay and that he was going to be relocated to a different wing of the school dorms until he healed --that was enough to make forget my fatigue a bit. Even though I was nearly falling over from exhaustion and post-traumatic shock-- or something.

When I finally entered the dorm room, though, the sight that greeted me completely threw me off whack from my already-unbalanced day.

My room was a mess.

Blinking a few times, I picked my way around a pile of clothing, and looked around to find the source of the catastrophe. All I found was posters of many different types of bands littering my once immaculate walls, clothes strewn everywhere (including MY bed), and a sleeping boy lying in the middle of his bed with a pair of headphones over his ears. I looked at him tiredly.

Oh, this was good.

Sitting carefully on my bed after tossing his clothes from it, I picked up the folder that Miroku had been carrying around when he was giving me the short tour. The very first thing on the small pile of papers was my classes. I sighed, and shuffled through a couple ads and various other papers I wouldn't need, then looked back at my classes. Most of my classes were advanced, since my old school had been just as demanding as this one. My only problem area was math. As it was, I would be taking Algebra 2, instead of Trigonometry or Calculus.

I sighed and placed my papers to the side, resting my face on the palm of my hand and looking out the window. I wasn't entirely afraid for my classes, anyway. I mean, how would this get me into a good university, anyway?

'Young Miss Kagome Higurashi spent most of her life attending an all-girls' school until she reached senior high, at which point she transferred to Yumegaru Shiritsu Gakkou in order to protect her baby brother. As high-ranking as this school may be, it is in fact, an all-boys' school.'

Yeah, that'd really get me into a good university.

I closed my eyes and started to doze off, while I ignored the now sleeping slob who I had presumed was Hojo.

School wasn't the only problem that had presented itself in these past hours. Now I had to worry even more about my brother. I had always known that someone had been beating him, but I didn't know to what extent. And it made me wonder exactly why they were beating him. What happened? And...

Suddenly, I shot up to a sitting position, wide awake. I reached over and grabbed my folder, then thumbed through the papers frantically until I found my classes.

I had P.E.!

Groaning, I lay back down and grabbed my pillow, pulling it over my face in hopes of smothering myself.

'I am so very, very screwed, I am so very, very screwed...' Or so my mantra went, as I fell into a deeper, yet highly troubled sleep.


When I woke up the next morning, it was to my insane roommate throwing God-knows-what at my sleeping form. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, then glared dangerously at the brunette boy sitting on his own bed.

"G'morning! I'm Hojo Hajemu. You must be Kagome," Hojo said, then grinned brightly. I groaned my affirmative answer. How on earth could anybody be so awake at this time of the day? "Sorry, but I didn't want you to sleep through your first classes. It gives a bad impression."

I stared at him blankly for a moment, then swung myself out of bed, frantically. "Oh, no! Classes!" I grabbed my bag and quickly drug it to the bathroom, already starting to unbutton my shirt with one hand. "I still need to take a shower!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Relax, Kagome." He waved his hands at my mad dash towards the bathroom. I didn't turn to him, since my shirt was already halfway unbuttoned, and my... well, womanly attributes were halfway exposed. They were bound, of course, but they were pretty damn obvious. "We start classes at eight, and it's only seven. You have an hour to get ready."

I threw a dry look at Hojo, carefully keeping my front away from his view. My ears were bright red. "Well, THANKS!" I stormed into the bathroom anyway, shutting the door and locking it behind me. Might as well get ready now, anyway... I sighed and pulled off my shirt the rest of the way, reaching over to the faucet to turn it on as hot as it could go. A nice, long, hot shower might chase away all my stresses. I hoped.

"You're welcome!" he shouted back through the door, sounding pleased. I blinked several times. Was this guy for real?

After I finished my relaxing shower and drying myself off completely, I pulled on the black uniform the school had provided me. It was a size too large for me, since boys my age generally weren't as small as me, but that was actually perfect. Baggy clothes meant I could hide my figure better.

I walked out of the bathroom, towel drying my still damp hair, then stopped in mid step. There was Miroku, sitting on my bed and glaring daggers at Hojo. Hojo obliviously got ready for classes, completely unaware of the evil glances Miroku kept shooting at him.

"Hey, Kagome!" Miroku called, holding up my folder when he finally noticed I was there. His spiteful look was replaced by a more friendly one. "I came here to show you to your classes, just in case. Headmaster Kaede threatened me with a detention when I told her I forgot to show you which class was which and just showed you around the campus..." I blinked incomprehensibly for a few moments, draping my towel around my shoulders. Miroku grinned at me, then dropped the folder on his lap and pulled out my classes, then pulled out his classes from out of no where. "Hey, we have Algebra and Advanced art together... I think you have P.E. with Inuyasha and Eiji. Cool. Anyway, are you going to the festival tomorrow?"

"What festival?" was my oh-so-intelligent answer.

"Hey, did you even look at these ads?" Miroku opened my folder again, then pulled out a neon green paper. He handed it over to me.

"'Welcoming Festival'?" I read. "April 2nd... collaborated festival between the two Yumegaru Schools..." I stopped reading for a moment, then glanced at Miroku. "Hey, we do all this stuff with the all-girls' school... why don't they just come together and become one co-ed school?"

Miroku shrugged. "They've been talking about it, but most of the students have argued against it, surprisingly. I guess old habits die hard." He was glaring at something behind me, and I blinked and turned around, almost running into Hojo.

"Ack..."

Hojo plucked the paper out of my hand and looked over it quickly. "Oh, that's good. I was wondering when they would have this year's festival. Maybe I'll finally work up enough courage to ask Sango-san to join me, this year..."

The temperature of the room dropped several degrees from Miroku's icy glare.

Oh. That's why Miroku hated Hojo so much... I smirked lightly to myself. How cute.

Still giving Hojo a look that could freeze fire, Miroku reached over and grabbed me by the wrist. With his other hand, he snatched the paper from the other boy's hand, then started to drag me out of the room --towards what I had a feeling was my first class.

"Of all the nerve," Miroku started what promised to be a long rant. "How dare he even think about asking Sango to the school festival! I ought to... to..." He stopped, obviously trying to think of something horrendously bad to do to Hojo. But since he stopped walking while he was dragging me by the wrist, I rammed into his back rather forcefully.

The dummy didn't even notice, he was so engrossed with thinking up evil things to do to Hojo. Worse, he didn't let go of my arm. And in his anger, his grip was getting tighter and tighter...

"Hey, Miroku...?"

"...I'm going to hurt him, that's what I'm going to do!" At this proud proclamation, he continued stomping towards his destination, still gripping my wrist hard enough to most likely leave a bruise. I grit my teeth together. "What makes him think that Sango would want to go out with the likes of him!"

"...Miroku..."

"She's way too good for him! I swear, the guy is such a moron! ...Hell, she's way too good for me..."

"MIROKU PRIEST, STOP WALKING THIS INSTANT!" I exclaimed loudly.

Shocked from sudden exclamation and surprised from his own ranting, he finally did stop, giving me a perplexed look. Taking a deep breath, I favored him with a dirty look.

"As much as I'd love to hear your angry rant about your love-life with Sango, Miroku..." I carefully pried my wrist from his death-grip. "...I don't have my books."

"Oh. Oops!"

Muttering something about stupid love-sick school boys, I turned the tables, grabbing my guide by his wrist and stomping back to my dorm.

By the time I finally got to my first class, I had no more time to spare. Slumping into one of the desks farthest from the board, I opened my Japanese history book and positioned it in front of my face so I could hide behind it. Why? I'm not entirely sure. I just liked the thought of having this odd type of protection around me.

Granted, this protection didn't last very long, especially when a certain boy with long black hair knocked it over.

"My mistake," Inuyasha said with feigned innocence. "Sorry, didn't see that there!" He took the seat next to me, and I shot him a dirty glare over the large book, which rested on the bridge of my nose. He just grinned in response. "Lemme see your class list."

Still not taking the book from my nose, I opened the folder with all my school junk in it, then handed him the small slip of paper that had all my classes on it. He looked it over. "Hey. We have P.E., Physics, Psych, and this class together..."

I glanced at him again, then grabbed my book and hid my face from him completely. Great. We had P.E. together. I sighed deeply and prayed that my book would swallow me whole. That means that... that...

Well, if anything happened, then he would be the first to know just how much I was not a boy.

I could feel him giving my neck an odd look (since that was the closest thing to my face he could see), but I was saved from having to comment by the sharp ring of the late bell. I dropped my book just in time to see an old midget walk in. This guy was SHORT. I'm not exaggerating in the slightest. He was shorter than Souta, and looked as if he barely made it past two feet tall. The minute man walked over to a desk that was taller than him, walked behind it, then pushed a stool (that was once again taller than him), in the front of the room. With one agile leap, he jumped on top of the stool and gave everyone a dry look.

"My name is Professor Myouga. If anyone makes one comment about my height, bad OR good, it's an automatic detention." About twenty mouths shut at this. "I will be your teacher in Japanese History. This is not an easy course, and it does indeed go by very quickly." He leapt off the stool gracefully, then bounced over to his desk and hopped on the chair. Standing on a stack of books that were conveniently placed on the cushion, he reached over and grabbed a stack of papers.

The he did the most amusing thing I'd have seen in awhile.

Passing out the papers was tedious as it is when you're normal height, but when you just reach the two-feet-tall line, it's nearly impossible. Granted, you don't have to worry about dodging desks, chairs, and people when you're midget-sized, since you can just go under them, but there's always the problem of getting the paper on the desk. I suppose since Professor Myouga had apparently been teaching for so long, he had devised a full proof way to solve this little problem.

His way was to jump high enough, then toss the paper on the desk.

I found myself hiding against my book again, this time to cover the giggles I knew I wouldn't be able to hold back. Inuyasha had a violent fake coughing attack, while the other students just flat out laughed. Professor Myouga ignored the laughter, however, which led me to once again believe he had been teaching here for a long time. He seemed to respond to the students chuckling at him as an everyday occurrence.

I thought this over a couple times, then just shook my head.

Professor Myouga once again returned to his stool, then waited patiently until we stopped laughing. After the class settled down, he favored each and every one of us with deadpan looks. "What I just handed out to you is a syllabus of what we're covering throughout the entire school year. Lose that, and, well... good luck passing the course. I will not give out additional copies. Also on the syllabus is how I grade, what materials you need for this class, and the dates for every test I will be giving. The reason why I have included all the tests and dates is so that you kids won't use the excuse of me not telling you about the test to try and skip it. If you will open your packet to page eight..."

About there is where I tuned him out.


My next class ended up being P.E., so I walked with Inuyasha to the gym. That was perfectly fine, however, since I knew that if I had attempted walking there on my own, I would have gotten lost faster than it would take me to get there. As we walked there, I dragged each foot against the ground, in hopes of prolonging the journey from class to class.

It didn't take Inuyasha long to notice my slow pace.

"Hey, what gives, Kagome?" He frowned, an accusatory tone filtering into his voice. "I thought you liked sports. I mean, you did say you've been playing baseball since you could walk..."

Ah. Miroku had been buttering Inuyasha up to get me on the team. I frowned back at him, running my fingers through my hair on instinct. "It's not that... it's just that I... well..." I frowned at the gym doors in front of me. Oh well, might as well get it over with. Getting a set look on my face, I walked determinedly through the door, shifting the small bundle of clothes in my arms. At least they offered sweats in this program. I had decidedly feminine legs for obvious reasons, and although I doubt that would have given away my horrid secret, I'd have rather gone without the crude teasing I knew I would be subjected to if I wore shorts.

Showering, on the other hand...

The gym was a relatively large room, at least large enough to fit two full sized basketball courts, complete with several basketball hoops. Surprisingly, on the wall farthest to us was a long, neat row of targets. Inuyasha and I walked up to a group of the students who were already dressed, then blinked at them.

"Hey, Riiko, what's all these targets for?"

A short boy with a shock of red hair blinked up at Inuyasha in surprise. "Uh.. uh.. Upperclassman I-Inuyasha, th-they're for ar-archery..." The poor kid sounded absolutely horrified, and I glanced back at Inuyasha. He was wearing a faintly annoyed expression on his face. "S-sorry, Upperclassman Inuyasha!" The kid bowed repeatedly, then hurried off to another group of kids. I could swear I heard him say "He talked to meee!" Inuyasha shrugged helplessly at my slightly bemused look.

"Well, it is an all-boys' school..."

For a moment, I didn't completely comprehend what he meant. Until I actually thought about it. My eyes widened, and I nodded slowly. "Oh." That was all I could think of to say.

I mean, I had nothing against the gender preference of the boys that went here, since a good friend of mine was bisexual, but it did kind of... surprise me. Not Riiko's purported sexual preference, but how Inuyasha was taking it. He seemed only slightly annoyed at the fact that Riiko had a crush on him. There were no disgusted looks, no sneers, no fury... just the same annoyance he got on his face when Kikyou tried to get "too close" to him. My opinion of him rose higher. Actually, it sky-rocketed. There was just something about an open-minded guy that I adored.

I decided to open my big mouth, anyway. "Um, are you...?"

"No." He offered me a dry look. "I just don't care what swings other people's boats, but I prefer girls, myself." He blinked at me. "And you...?" There was an odd expression on his face-- a quirking of his lips and an eyebrow raised at a particular angle. It caught me just a bit off-guard, but I answered anyway.

"Straight." I wasn't about to go into a detailed answer like he had. After all, I did --er, do-- like boys, and at the moment, I was a "boy." I grinned crookedly at him. "That's cool, though."

He didn't have enough time to reply back, as a female teacher had walked into the room. She glanced at all the students carefully, then reached Inuyasha and myself and sighed loudly. The teacher pointed over her shoulder at what I presumed were the dressing rooms.

I looked down at my body. Oops. I was still wearing my school uniform.

When Inuyasha and I got to the locker room, I headed straight for one of the dressing stalls. Although I knew Inuyasha was giving me an odd look because of this, I didn't care. As long as he didn't ask any awkward questions. I sighed and clicked the lock in place. I made it a point to change quickly before I left the privacy of the stall.

"Hey Inuyasha, are..." I choked on the rest of the sentence. There were some things about guys that I really liked. One: personalities. Two: smiles. But one of the main things I liked about guys were their backs. Backs were nice. Especially toned, just-muscular-enough backs like the one I was drooling over. Inuyasha had his front facing away from me and was currently pulling off his shirt, revealing his tantalizing back with lovely obviousness. I wouldn't mind running my fingers down that back, any day...

Lord almighty, I squeaked.

Turning bright red at my chain of thoughts, I quickly ducked back into the stall I had dressed in.

'Okay, girl, you've got to get a grip on yourself. You're a boy right now, remember? Keep your damn cool!' I rubbed my cheeks until they returned to their natural color, then I walked back out, with a slightly embarrassed look on my face. Luckily, Inuyasha hadn't seen me, and apparently hadn't heard my unfinished sentence or squeak. "U-uh, hey, are you done?"

The black haired boy turned around, then grinned down at me and nodded. Unexpectedly, my heart skipped a beat.

Oh, my. What I had here was a situation.


P.E. was fun. That's the only way I'll ever be willing to describe it. I had always been an athletic girl, so of course, my favorite period was P.E. It was probably going to be even more fun since I was now pretending to be a boy. Less limitations, more pushing and shoving --and fun! Not only that, but now the boys wouldn't treat me as if I were made of glass.

We did archery that day. I had never done archery before, let alone hold a bow and arrow... or at least, that's what I thought back then.

"Beginners, please raise your hands," Miss Okiku ordered. I, along with half the class, raised my hand. Inuyasha's hands remained firmly on his bow that the teacher had passed to each student earlier. I figured he'd had some experience with archery before.

"Right, there's quite a bit of you this time. Please, move to the left, away from the ones who have already been introduced to the bow and arrow. Archery is not a simple sport, as you will soon grow to realize," Miss Okiku explained.

"It requires lithe strength, a sharp eye, and sheer flexibility. You must be able to see the target from many feet away, while at the same time shoot it as fast as you can, in case it may be a moving target." Miss Okiku walked over to me and handed me two arrows.

"Granted, These arrows are not sharp enough to puncture the skin, but please do not shoot them at each other, or expect a Saturday detention. Kagome, will you please attempt to shoot the target?"

'...Attempt to?' I swallowed hard.

I glanced at the teacher for a long moment, slightly confused. She smiled and nodded encouragingly, and I shrugged. Miss Okiku quickly showed me how to hold and position the arrow, then watched me expectantly.

I pulled my arrow back and let it fly.

TWOCK!

Several people in the crowd murmured in surprise. The arrow had hit smack-dab in the center of the bulls-eye on my target. The teacher gasped, and I got nervous. They wouldn't think I was lying to them, would they? I gave Miss Okiku a weak smile.

"Beginner's luck?"

"It must be, but I have to say, I've never seen a beginner with so much luck before. Please, shoot the other arrow."

I glanced back at the target, pulled back the arrow, then once again let it fly.

SCCRIIIK! TWOCK!

This time, there were startled gasps of surprise. Nervously, I glanced at the teacher. She actually looked pale. I started to sweat slightly at the back of my neck and the palms of my hands. My eyes found their way back to my target.

The arrow I had just let fly had split my first arrow in half, right down the center.

"The arrows s-shouldn't be able to do that..." Miss Okiku stuttered. "Please, K-Kagome, shoot again. This time, aim for the circle outside of the bulls-eye, at the top." She handed me another arrow.

'Ready... Aim...'

TWOCK!

The arrow embedded itself directly above the other arrows, right where Miss Okiku wanted.

I was standing at least fifteen meters away from my target. Not to mention it was the very first time I had ever even held a bow and arrow in my life... right? I was just as shocked as she was, staring at my own hands as if they were alien to me. I knew there was such a thing as innate talent, but...

Doubtful they would believe that I'd never held a bow before, though...

I didn't get to explain that little fact to Miss Okiku that day, though. As soon as my third arrow had hit its mark, a droning lady's voice spoke over the intercom.

"Kagome Higurashi, will you please come to the infirmary immediately? You are excused from the rest of your classes for the day. Once again, urgent, Kagome Higurashi to the infirmary..."

Dropping the bow, I grinned sheepishly at the teacher, then shrugged at Inuyasha's doubly-shocked glance.

"Sorry, Miss Okiku, but I really haven't ever held a bow an arrow before. I don't know why this came to me so easily. Maybe it's just a talent?" I shrugged, then shot an easy grin at the still surprised Inuyasha.

"Later, Inu." With that, I jogged back to the dressing rooms.

Them calling me like so to the infirmary only meant one thing. There was something wrong with Souta.

That thought alone made me terrified.


Notes: yeah, I had to revise a lot of this (and chapter 1). The changes weren't all that mind-bending-- some spelling errors, some old "school daze" references left in, and a few sengoku jidai references added. D Hopefully you noticed them compared to the old version, or you're just enjoying yourself now.

See you next chapter! Azurite