She ate lunch with Kagome, Inu-yasha and joy of all joys, Miroku. He kept making suggestive remarks until she grew so fed up that she chucked her padlock at his head. He laughed, but he also shut his mouth after that.
"I'm glad you're gonna stay on!" said Kagome, smiling cutely. There was something about that girl that made Sango wonder if she was for real – a kind of endless optimism and an open way with strangers that made it hard not to like her.
"Yeah, well, gotta try it, right?" Sango answered, grinning back. "I've never gone to a school like this before. Hey, how did you guys get to know each other, by the way? I mean, when you're one year younger, Kagome."
"Inu-yasha introduced me to her," said Miroku.
There was a long pause.
"And…?" prompted Sango, looking at Kagome.
"We met outside school," said Kagome. Suddenly she had shut like a clam, not giving out anything about herself. Sango waited for a while before realizing that they would not give her any more information, then shrugged. She had never been one to pry into other people's business.
…well, not openly, anyway. Spying was an entirely different matter.
"OK. Hey, it's P.E. after lunch, right?"
"Yeah," answered Miroku. "Me and Inu-yasha are both in your P.E. group."
"What?" Sango felt confused. Yet another weird thing in this school. "But I'm a girl!"
"Yeah, I've noticed," said Miroku, grinning widely and letting his eyes sweep over her body. She blushed furiously and he winked, going on,
"We have P.E. together, no one really wanted to split into girls/boys. If you remember when you applied, you had to answer a question of what level of P.E. you were interested in? Well, that's how we are sorted here. You chose the highest level, like me and Inu-yasha, so we're in the same group. Of course, if you ever feel like changing, it's not hard to switch between the different groups."
"Oookay… What's the teacher like?"
At her words Inu-yasha stood up and walked off. Kagome gave Sango an apologetic smile and stood up, too.
"Sensitive area. I'll go calm him down."
She left and Sango stared curiously at Miroku.
"The teacher's his brother," he explained, smiling in the same way as Kagome. "They're not on the best of terms. They like each other deep down but there's just this entire issue of brotherly enmity or something. Kagome knows how to soothe Inu-yasha though."
"Is it sneaky to ask," said Sango hesitantly, "what is going on between the two of them?"
Miroku grinned broadly.
"You're starting to become like me, nosy little bugger. They like each other. As in like-like. Although they usually don't make a big show out of it. I don't know how they met, and I've been wondering a bit about that too. Inu-yasha won't tell me anything – you might have noticed he's not the type of guy to tell anyone his problems or personal affairs. I think it has something to do with them having to work together for something, or something like that. Anyway, it's a part of their life they feel is very private."
"Oh," said Sango. They looked very good together, she thought, and she was a bit jealous of Kagome. But they seemed to carry some kind of secret that was hidden from all but themselves. Was that really nice to live with?
"Oh, they're a sneaky couple alright," said Miroku cheerfully. "Not telling anyone anything about their relationship. I mean, what could be so bad about the way they met? At least we won't have that problem." He winked at her as she gave him a funny look. What was he on about now?
"We'll be able to tell our grandchildren," he continued, with a teasing glint in his eyes. "Ah, it was a romantic meeting! I told her she was beautiful, she chucked something heavy at me, not knowing that in doing so, she gave me a lovely view down her shirt…"
At that moment she threw her unfinished plate of curry rice in his face.
Kagome and Inu-yasha arrived back to find a laughing Miroku picking rice out of his hair and wiping sauce of his face, and Sango sitting as far away from him as possible, growling.
"Honestly, can't I trust you alone for two seconds?" asked Kagome disbelievingly. "I turn around and you're at full war! What did you do, Miroku?" She handed the boy her handkerchief and he took it gratefully, still laughing.
"Oh, Sango just doesn't take kindly to flattering," he said. Sango gave him her famous death glare, sending him into another fit of laughter.
"Come on, P.E. next," said Inu-yasha, pulling Miroku up by the neck of his shirt. "You can follow us, Sango, the girls' changing room is just beside ours. Kagome, I'll see you after school." He walked off and Sango followed, wondering if she should tell him that he was choking Miroku.
…nah.
She got changed with a lot of other girls, none of whom she recognized. She had decided to bring her own shorts instead of the ridiculously short ones that came with the school uniform – she had a feeling Miroku might die of laughter if she wore those. Either that, or she'd kill him herself. One more of his perverted remarks and she'd…
Once out of the changing room she looked for someone she knew. It wasn't hard – she spotted Inu-yasha's white hair immediately. Before she had time to join him however, someone came running up to her.
"Hello Sango!" said Hojo. "How has your first day been? Did you like your Art teacher? I think she is very good – had her for a while last year but then I switched to Drama. She's very unconventional, isn't she? I think that was what the students who hired her liked especially during the interview. Many people find it strange that the students hire the teachers themselves, but it's us who'll be taught by them so it's very logical, really. If there's anything you're wondering about by the way, anything you think is strange, just ask."
The way Hojo talked was amazing – how anyone could get so much said in so little time was beyond Sango. He seemed very nice, but she couldn't imagine spending too much time with him. It felt as if she might just die of suffocation.
"Yeah, the teacher was good…" she said slowly. Hojo beamed.
"I'm glad you like her! I'm sure you're going to enjoy it here at this school. You're in the highest level of P.E., aren't you? We're going this way. There's Sesshoumaru, over there. He's our teacher."
Sango looked up to see a young man in his early twenties gaze at her, as if sizing her up. He was very tall and good-looking, and had the same strange hair as Inu-yasha. If it hadn't been for the hair she probably wouldn't have seen that they were brothers though, because they didn't look a lot alike.
She wrenched her eyes away from the man and sidled over to Inu-yasha and Miroku who, she noticed with satisfaction, was looking rather disappointed over how little leg she was showing.
"So that's your brother, huh?" she asked Inu-yasha, who flinched and glared at Miroku.
"Half brother."
"Oh."
"Listen up, everybody." Sesshoumaru spoke quietly, but everyone calmed down at once and became silent. Sango raised an eyebrow.
'Nice control over the class… Anarchism or not, some things will never change, and some people will always be able to silence a class with a look.'
"For four weeks we're going to be working with martial arts," said Sesshoumaru, looking out over the group of students, his eyes resting once again a bit longer on Sango. "We will start this week with kickboxing. Divide into pairs and then gather around here." His eyes strayed to Inu-yasha and he added,
"Inu-yasha, if you would help me with the demonstration?"
Inu-yasha's jaw clenched but he nodded and walked over to his brother. – Sorry, half brother. Miroku sighed softly and turned to Sango.
"Do I have the honour?"
"Wait, I think I…" Sango hesitated and looked around her. She had been meaning to pair up with a girl because all the guys looked rather strong, but…
"What, am I the only girl?"
"Yup," grinned Miroku. "We have had a few girls in this group before, but they all quit. It's up to you to break the trend. Will you partner me?"
Sango looked around herself, intending to ask Hojo, but he had coupled with a long-haired boy and didn't see her. Sighing, she turned back to Miroku.
"Alright. Touch me and you die."
"Honey, it's martial arts. We're supposed to touch each other."
"You don't have to look so happy about it."
"Miroku and the new girl, come here if you don't want to miss the demonstration," said Sesshoumaru pleasantly, although his words seemed to hide some unspoken menace. They hurried to join the others.
Sesshoumaru went through the steps slowly and carefully, explaining them thoroughly. He then sent them off to practise on their own. Inu-yasha practised with Sango and Miroku alternatively – although he hardly seemed to need it, being very good already. Sango took her time, going through the different moves one by one to make sure she understood them. She had never seen any of those moves before.
"Alright, gather here again," said Sesshoumaru, clapping his hands once and effectively making all noise cease at once. When they had all gathered in front of him he turned his gaze on Sango.
"New girl, come up here. I'd like to see what you are capable of."
'What is this, some kind of test?' thought Sango angrily, frowning at her teacher. Surprisingly, Miroku came to her defence.
"Come off it Sesshoumaru, it's her second day in school and you want to test her? Give her some time!"
"Of course, I'm not forcing you," said Sesshoumaru, still speaking to Sango. "I'd merely like to see how fast you learn and how much you know already. But we can take that some other time, if you want."
"If she dares, you mean," muttered a voice somewhere to Sango's right quietly. She flinched and straightened up.
"No, I'll do it now," she said, determined to show them she was not just some weak little girl. She was a Gari, damnit!
She walked up to Sesshoumaru and put her hands together, bowing slightly to show respect. He did the same.
Without warning she struck at his chest, but he dodged her blow easily and retaliated. She parried with both her hands and then brought her foot up to connect with his stomach, pushing him away from her. As soon as she had space to move she kicked with her other foot, aiming for his head and forcing him to duck. He raised an eyebrow, and someone in the group of watching students – she was pretty sure it was Miroku – whistled.
She attacked swiftly again, missed, ducked his kick and punched him in the stomach. He stepped back a pace, but then kicked his foot up towards her face. Without thinking she grabbed hold of his ankle and twisted it, making him spin around in the air before landing on the ground with a loud smack.
There was a looong silence.
"Um, sorry…" said Sango nervously. "…I didn't mean to do that."
"You have trained a lot of martial arts before, haven't you?" asked Sesshoumaru calmly, standing up and feeling his nose carefully.
"Well… yeah…"
"Otherwise you wouldn't have been able to perform that spectacular move. In fact, you wouldn't have been able to dodge my kick at all, and would currently be in possession of a nose in an even worse shape than mine."
"Then why did you do that?!" asked Miroku angrily, staring up at the older man with a strange look in his eyes. "You could have hurt her really bad!"
"I could see you had a lot of experience of martial arts training before," said Sesshoumaru, speaking to Sango and ignoring Miroku completely. "It was visible when you practised. However, these kickboxing moves I dare say were unfamiliar, isn't that right? You learned very fast, and for that you should have credit. But you have to separate the different sports. I don't want to see you doing a move like that again, unless we are training the sport that contains it. Are you with me?"
"Yes," said Sango, still feeling a bit ashamed of herself.
"Now, as I strayed off the kickboxing path as well, this time it was acceptable. Well done, girl."
"Sango," she said, then shut her mouth quickly. Did she say that out loud?
"What?" asked Sesshoumaru, frowning slightly.
"Her name's Sango, not girl," said Inu-yasha, glaring at his brother with his arms folded. Sango stared. Another one who was speaking up for her today.
"Alright." Sesshoumaru shrugged his shoulders elegantly. "We will proceed with the next part of kickboxing. Sango, as you are already up here, perhaps you could assist in the demonstration?" She nodded, still surprised by what Inu-yasha had said.
"By the way," said Sesshoumaru quietly as they faced each other, ready to start demonstrating the next moves, "It was an unusually impressive kick you managed there, too. I dare say even Mr Koga shut his mouth. You'll do well in this level."
And Sesshoumaru smiled.
