Author's Note: All right, I don't own Inu-Yasha! Most of the people who appear in this chapter are based on real people, and I tried to portrait them as correctly as I could. They belong to themselves, except for me, LOL.

CHAPTER TWO: THE ARRIVAL

            The car halted at a parking lot. Kagome read the signs. West Peltason and Bison. Her uncle got out, as did the rest of the car's occupants. They helped her unload her luggage, and then she left with her uncle to check in, leaving Inu-Yasha, Sango, Miroku, and Shippou behind to "guard" the car.

            After some struggle, mainly to get Kagome's overlarge suitcase into the second floor of an eight-apartment building, her uncle waved goodbye. "I gotta get back to work. Take care! Sung'll be by and checking on you in about two hours! Have fun!" With that, the car pulled out of the driveway.

           Kagome sighed as she flopped down in a chair. The flight had been exhausting, and she was starting to feel the jet lag. She drifted off to sleep. The last thing she noticed was Inu-Yasha telling Sango not to use the microwave to dry Kirara.

            She woke up to a knock on the door. She stretched. "I'm coming," she called in Enlgish, then got up and unlocked the door. Before her stood a asian man, a little short by american standards, but still a little taller than she was. He had short black hair, and a glasses perked on his nose. "Hello. You are Higurashi Kagome?"

            As the girl nodded, the man bowed, then extended a hand. "My name is Sung Wang. Your uncle asked me to take care of you while you are here." Kagome smiled. "Oh, right." Sung noticed the other occupants of the apartment. "Are these your friends?" His eyes wandered over Inu-Yasha, who was wearing a dark red coat to cover his kimono – he had refused to part with it, even though the customs had insisted – Sango, who was in a more conventional outfit with slacks and a light blouse and Miroku, who was adorned with pants, shirt, and jacket. His eyes finally settled on Shippou. "Hmmm..."

            Kagome laughed nervously and gently shoved Shippou into another room before Sung noticed the fox tail. "I'm sure you are tired. I'll be coming by again tomorrow and give you a tour of the campus, if you'd like."

            Kagome nodded. "That would be very nice, thank you."

            The next day, a Friday, the group walked across the campus. Sung had told them he had a class to take care of, and left them alone. Inu-Yasha was looking around, marvelling at the trees in the center park – what had they called it? Right, "Aldrich Park".

            "Aah! Out of the way! Sorry! Excuse me!" A voice shouted from right in front of them. The hanyou glanced into the direction, just in time to see a young guy bowl over Kagome, who hadn't reacted in time. He growled at the boy.

            "Sorry! I'm in a hurry, you all right?" The words sprouted from his mouth faster than Kagome could understand. Sango helped the boy pick up the other girl. "Kagome-chan, daijobu da?" Kagome nodded.

            The boy arched an eyebrow. "Ah! Gomen nasai...awatete iru wa..." and off he was. The others just stared after him. "Odd," was all Miroku could say to that. Kagome shrugged and kept walking. There was a lot more to see on campus, and she wasn't bothered by the incident.

            Ari walked across California drive on her way to the ARC (Anteater Recreational Center) that evening, her iaito case slung over her shoulder. She silently cursed her car that had broken down a couple of days ago and was still in the garage. "Not used to walking anymore?" She glanced to the side at the new voice that intruded her thoughts. For a second, she thought she caught a flash of red and white out of the corner of her eyes. Naaah. Must be hallucinating.

            "Very funny, Patrick. You really want your ass kicked, don't you?" The aubrun haired girl shot back. The short asian boy that had walked up to her laughed lightly. "If you'd put me six feet under everytime you threatened to do so, it'd take me the entire next year to dig myself out."

            The guy next to Patrick chuckled. He was a taller asian guy, with spiky hair. He was carrying a shotgun bag which contained his iaito. "Better not risk it," he said. "She still hasn't forgiven you the other story you wrote about her."

            "Exactly. Now, if you want to keep your head on, stop doing that!" Ari exclaimed. She glanced backwards. "There's lots of new students this quarter, huh?" Patrick nodded, then pointed back at the other two people that were walking behind them. "Yep. Here's two more. That's Patrick, and Dinh." Ari eyed the two other asian boys carefully. "Hmpf. Somehow, I feel a little outnumbered."

            "That's cause here, you are the minority," they chimed, and they broke out into laughter. Ari arched an eyebrow, then glared at Dinh. "Wait, weren't you the one who challenged me to a duel once?" He nodded. "Yes."

            "We still need to do that," Ari told him with a smile. The two Patricks shared a glance. "Uh-oh." Eric just nodded.

            After changing and moving up to the top floor of the ARC, they surveyed the mass of people standing in front of the training room, waiting for the class before them – Caporeira – to end. They gaped as they saw the number of new students for the first class this quarter. "That's one hell of a lot of people," Ari said.

            As the doors opened and they streamed in against the flow of people coming out, they found their familiar places on the bench. Eric unzipped his shotgun bag, and dug out his iaito from it, while Patrick took the long pole he'd been hauling around off his shoulders and undid the tie, then removed the cloth from the doubled-up iaito and bokken.

            "Line up!" Dave Otagura's voice resounded in the room. The people in the room tried to line up, but with that many people, confusion erupted until the second-and-higher quarter students formed a solid line, with the rest lined up behind them. They bowed, then moved onto the floor for the bowing in.

            After the ceremony, with Dave holding his opening speech, Patrick leaned slightly over to Eric. "Wow. I didn't know there were this many people interested in Iaido." "Yeah, it is quite a lot of people."

            Suddenly, the door opened, and Sung walked in. Dave halted his speech for a moment. "What is it?"

            Sung bowed to the floor, then stepped aside. "We have some guests who would like to attend class today," he told him.

            From her vantage point in front of Patrick, Ari could barely make out a glimpse of red and white as the door opened. Hmm...wonder who this is. She heard Patrick's sharp intake of breath, and leaned to the side to see past him. Her jaw dropped to the floor. Holy Hell...