Disclaimer: Need I say it? We've heard it a million times already…

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He always remembered his humiliation when his mother was asked to come to his new school's principal office. He stood waiting on a bench outside, swinging his small legs back and forth… back and forth.

He kept his head bent down, his hair covering his face so no one could see his expression. The boy felt a complete mixture of terror and disgrace. Had anyone else been able to see his face, they would have thought his embarrassment was the cause of beating up other children. But that wasn't it. That wasn't it at all.

Not that he liked beating up other children or that he thought the bullies deserved it. They had been mean, but not THAT mean. Not mean enough to send one boy to the hospital in an emergency ambulance. Not mean enough to break five of one child's bones, and at least two of all the other's.

But still, it wasn't that he was ashamed of. It was his lack of control. He never seemed to be able to keep his demon self in check. If he got in the slightest bit of trouble, or the slightest bit angry, his demon half would break out. And he didn't like that. It never left any nice presents, only messes to fix up.

He sighed dramatically. 'Mother won't be happy,' he thought to himself. 'She never is. She looks at me as if I'm some kind of demon, which I am I suppose. But it still hurts so much. It's like her eyes are asking me, "are you really my son?" and she feels so ashamed.'

"Shuichi?" a soft voice asked, with a light touch on his shoulder. He jumped up in his seat, finding it was only his mother. 'I'll never get used to people being able to sneak up on me like that.'

"Mrs. Minamino?" the secretary called from the desk. "Mr. Toro will see you now."

His mother sighed and got to her feet. She smiled kindly at Kurama as she helped him up from the chair. "Come on, Love," she told the boy. "It will be okay. You'll see." But Kurama knew that it wouldn't. He was marked. Branded even. This experience would stick with him throughout the rest of his school life and he would forever be cast out from the school's "pack," so to speak. He sighed again, but got up to join his mother in the principal's office.

The principal's office was small, with paper's neatly piled on his desk and everything arranged to perfection. Mr. Toro himself was a large man, with a brown business suit on and dark, slicked black hair. He looked incredibly stern and when he saw Kurama, frowned. Kurama tried to hide behind his mother.

"Please," the man said in a deep voice. "Sit down, both of you." They both took a seat on the two large, green easy chairs in front of his desk. He look sternly at Kurama for a moment, then continued. "I hear Shuichi has been fighting, and on his first day of school, no less."

"Please, Sir," his mother put in. "I'm sure it was an accident."

The Mr. Toro scoffed. "Ma'am," he said, turning toward her. "That was no accident. One student was nearly killed. All of them had to be taken to the hospital."

Kurama's mother looked over at her son, shocked that he could do such a thing. All Kurama wanted to do was sink deeper into his chair.

"I take it your son is in Martial Arts? You might want to take him out. It appears he is excessively violent, which can only lead to problems in this school."

"Why no," Mrs. Minamino told the principle, startled. "Shuichi has never been in Martial Arts, or any other form of fighting I didn't even know he could fight."

"What?" the principal asked, this time it was he surprised. "That's not possible. Your son beat up five upperclassmen single handedly."

"Shuichi?" his mother asked, looking over at Kurama, startled. "How were you able to defeat these children?"

"Dunno," he said in his best childlike manor, shrugging ruefully. "Animal instinct?" he tried to joke, although it was more true then either of the adults could guess.

They both starred at him seriously. His mother gave him the look he hated so much. The small smile that he tried to make quickly flew from his face and once again he did his best to blend in with the green chair.

"Please," he mother said, turning to the principal and raising her voice pleadingly. "Shuichi's father died just a few months ago, and going to a new school and all…" her voice trailed off.

Mr. Toro sighed dramatically. "Very well," he told the two of them. "If Shuichi agrees to avoid any more fights and promises to behave, I don't see the harm of letting it go just this once." Then he bent down and looked hard into Kurama's face, as if looking for sometime. Kurama tried to hide his face behind his red hair. "But, Shuichi. I'm warning you right now, I'll have no tolerance for violence while you're in this school. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Sir," Kurama murmured.

"Then you may go to your class." Then turning to Mrs. Minamino, said, "thanking for coming down here today, and I apologize for taking time out of your busy schedule."

"Oh, that's okay," she said, smiling politely. "And I'm sorry for all the trouble Shuichi has caused. I'm sure he is too, aren't you Shuichi?" she asked nudging him a little in the back as the stood up.

"Very sorry," he said quietly as he walked out the door.

His mother followed him out, closing the door behind them. She sighed as she did so. Then she looked down at little Kurama looking up at her. She studied him for a moment, then shook her head slightly, "really, Shuichi. I don't think I'll ever understand how your minds works."

Kurama looked up at her worriedly. Then she smiled down at him. "But I love you that way." He gave her a slight smile and she told him with a pat on the head, "run along to class now and have fun."

He trotted off down the long blue tiled hall, stopped and looked back to make sure she was still okay, then trotted on.

'That turned out okay,' he thought as he walked down the hall to his new classroom. 'I expected much worse. I'll still have a horrible reputation, but at least mother isn't as upset as I expected.'

When he at last reached the door to his new classroom, he stopped for a moment outside to study it. It was simple, just a bluish color with white trimming. On the outside the room number was painted, but aside from a pink paper down the hall from some school event or another.

He took a deep breath, then knocked twice on the door. 'It's the moment of truth,' he thought as he listened to the sound of footsteps approach the doorway.

The door opened and in the doorway stood his new teacher.

She was young as far as teachers go, with a pair of silver glasses and light brown hair piled up in a messy bun on the top of her head.

She looked down at little Kurama for a minute, then smiled at him. "Ah, you must be Shuichi. My name is Mrs. Kade. Please come in."

"Class," Mrs. Kade announced to the rest of the class as Kurama took a tentative step forward. "This is your new classmate, Shuichi Minamino."

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Hello everyone!

Dream fox here again (naturally; I AM the author after all. Who were you expecting? Hiei?) to tell you what's happening!

So far I haven't gotten a single review for my story, but it's only been online for a couple of hours, so I'm not too disappointed. I just hope I get at least ONE before I put this one up.

Of course, I'm used to getting a fair amount of reviews for my Inu-yasha, so I guess I'll just have to get used to rejection (ah, the burden of being unpopular… *sigh*).

I'm really excited about this new story, so there will probably be a new chapter up within a day or two, so stay tuned!

Don't forget to read my Inu-yasha story! There should be a chapter up today, but by the latest, tomorrow!

I have to end it here because my eyes are getting to blurry from sleepiness, it's becoming hard to see!

Love and Kisses fans and sleep tight!

Dream Fox