Disclaimer: Inuyasha, Inuyasha, wherefore art thou, Inuyasha? He hides from me and laughs at me… because he knows I do not own Inuyasha…

A/N: Well, now this story is officially rated PG-13. I decided there wouldn't be any rape or lemon scenes and it's not that much violence so I decided it wouldn't be fit for a rating of 'R'. Anyway, I was trying to get to 30 reviews last chapter, but… ::sighs:: I guess not. Oh well. I love this story too much to quit!

Summary: Kagome Higurashi lives in an impoverished sector of the human-demon segregated country of Northern Japan. When she gets the chance to escape to peaceful and bountiful Southern Japan, she must seize the opportunity to help out her family. But she never counted on meeting Inuyasha Taisho.

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Into the Darkness

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Chapter IV: First Day of School – Part 1

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"Hey, Sango," Inuyasha drawled, "didn't you say there would be a new student sometime soon?"

"I did, Inuyasha," Sango said coolly. But her outer countenance betrayed none of the slight worry she felt inside. She had delivered the papers to Kaede's shop two weeks ago, and Kagome had yet to make an appearance.

At the moment, she, Inuyasha and Miroku were standing by their lockers, which happened to be conveniently located right next to each other. Well, rather, Inuyasha had threatened if they didn't have their lockers next to each other, he would raise a ruckus the rest of the entire school year. The principal countered the threat with his own threat of expulsion, but placed the lockers next to each other, just to be safe.

As the two were talking, Miroku noticed a pretty girl walking toward them, her head bowed and her books tucked against her chest. Her raven hair was neatly combed and pinned back into a low ponytail. Her school uniform was spotlessly clean.

The right side of Miroku's mouth lifted in a smirk and he marched resolutely toward her until he was positioned not twelve inches in front of her. She raised her head to look up at him.

"Um… excuse me, but you're in my way," she said meekly.

Her eyes widened in surprise when he lowered himself to one knee and clasped her hand, causing her books to tumble to the ground. The boy paid no heed.

Miroku clutched his hand to his heart dramatically. "When I saw you come down this hallway, I thought for sure an angel had fallen from heaven! You light up your surroundings with a holy glow and my heart stopped in my chest." He gave a convincing gulp before continuing, "The moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were the one… and so… I ask –no– plead you…"

Throughout his speech, Kagome's cheeks darkened slowly, until she resembled a tomato. She leaned forward a bit as his voice became steadily softer.

"Will you bear my child?"

Kagome stood dumbfounded, not sure what to do. Was this usual in the Southern? If she rejected him, would they think her strange and become suspicious? What if they sent her back to Northern Japan? she thought frightened.

But her rambling thoughts came to a halt as the young man before her suddenly slumped to the ground, seemingly unconscious. She looked up to see an angry Sango with her hand clenched in a fist, a vein twitching in her forehead.

"You pervert!" She shouted at him lividly, "can't you even give the new ones a break? For god's sake, she's only been here for less than a month!"

Miroku lifted his head weakly, "But Sango, my dear, the new ones are always the best to ask!"

He was silenced as Sango ground her fist into his head, forcing him to kiss the school floor once again. "Keep on talking like that and you'll become a permanent resident to the hospital!" Calmly, she cracked her knuckles and looked to Kagome, her anger spent. "Hello… Kagome wasn't it? Welcome to Shikon!" She beamed.

Kagome couldn't help but smile back at her. "Thank you. You're Miss Sango, aren't you?"

Sango waved her off, "There's no reason to be so formal! We're going to be friends, I can tell, so you can just drop the 'Miss'."

"Okay, then," Kagome said.

"Anyway," Sango said animatedly, "I should introduce you to my friends, I guess. The pervert on the ground here," she emphasized the 'here' with a light jab to his spine with her foot. He responded with an 'oof!', "is Miroku. I'm Sango, as you know, and my quiet, brooding friend over there is Inuyasha." She gestured at him with her thumb.

Kagome looked over the girl's shoulder to see a young man with long silver hair. He seemed indifferent to their conversation and his brilliant tawny eyes were dulled in boredom. But her eyes were riveted on his twitching canine ears and lay atop his head. The word 'DEMON' blared through her mind like a siren. Her eyes were wide, and she felt a bit faint. Yes, she was out of the ghettos of Northern Japan, but her fear of demons had yet to be dispelled.

Since coming to the Southern, she had met only two demons and they were the raccoon boy and his mother. For the past three weeks, Kaede had been testing her rigorously on school material, not letting her out of the house until she had learned all she needed. It turned out, the education Kagome had received back in the Northern had been quite weak compared to the education in the schools of Southern Japan. Kagome wasn't surprised. Back at home, the schools had been atrociously crowded, with heartless teachers who whipped their students constantly and schoolbooks that were out of date and falling apart by the seams. But with the careful tutoring of Kaede, she felt fairly confident about her academic skills.

But as of the moment, she was frozen in fear. The old memories of the past were coming back to haunt her.

Flashback

Kagome cried out in pain as the thick wooden ruler came down on her bare back. "Please, Mistress," she begged tearfully to her demon teacher, giving into another scream as she was whipped again, "I promise to bring my books next week! I promise! My mother is ill. She can't work right now and we don't have enough money to buy them!" She screamed a third time.

"Excuses!" The mistress raged, "You think you're so special? All of your classmates are just as poor! And yet they bring their textbooks everyday! If you do not come with your books and proper uniform tomorrow, you will receive twice the lashings! Do you understand?"

Kagome kept her head bowed as she pulled her shirt gingerly down her aching back. "Yes," she mumbled.

"I said do you understand?" The teacher demanded angrily.

"Yes, Mistress," Kagome said in a clearer voice.

The demon mistress seemed satisfied with her for the moment and turned to the line of unfortunate students whom had also forgotten their books and/or uniforms. Kagome winced and shut her eyes at the sound of wood meeting flesh and the bloodcurdling scream that echoed through the halls.

End Flashback

Flashback

"Would you like something to drink?" The bear demon sneered, holding out a jug of lemonade.

"Yes, please," Kagome replied timidly, her eyes lowered. In order to help with her family's financial crisis, she had taken the job of servant girl to one of the demon families that lived in Goshinboku.

"Alright then," he poured the drink onto the dirt floor. He forced her to lap it up. His demon buddies sniggered as she set her tongue on the muddy ground. When she tried to rise, her master struck her against the back of the head and forced her to drink all of it. She had no choice but to obey.

End Flashback

"Hey, hey, Kagome!" Sango waved her hand in front of the motionless girl. "Are you all right?"

Kagome blinked, "Yeah, I'm fine." She scolded herself silently for being afraid. This was Southern Japan! Humans were just as equal as demons in this country. She looked at Inuyasha to see his eyes had changed to ones that showed slight concern as her fear had permeated the air.

As their gazes locked, a very slight pink tinged his cheeks and he averted his eyes, "Keh."

Kagome cocked her head at him curiously.

"What class do you have first period?" Sango asked.

Kagome fumbled with her books she had picked up from the ground and pulled out her schedule. "Um… History… with Mr. Nobunaga."

"Oh, well, I don't have him first, but I think Inuyasha does, don't you?" She asked him.

He gave a grunt, which Sango took as an affirmative. She peeked at Kagome's schedule, "But you have English with Miss Koharu second period! I'm in that class too!"

The warning bell rang.

"Well, we better get to class now. I'll see you later, okay?"

Kagome smiled and Sango dashed off with Miroku in tow. When she turned back to Inuyasha, she saw he had already started walking to their classroom. She caught up to him and walked alongside him, clutching her books nervously. She followed him, assuming he knew where he was going.

After several minutes, he spoke.

"Hey," he said gruffly, "Why are you so nervous?" He didn't look at her.

Kagome flushed. He had noticed? "I'm not."

Inuyasha glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Yes, you are. I can smell it."

She reddened, "It's none of your business."

Inuyasha snorted but said nothing.

He stopped walking when they came to the classroom. He turned to look at her one last time before going into the room, leaving Kagome confused. When she entered, she noticed that not many students were present. She assumed the students were taking their time to get here.

Kagome stepped up to the teacher's desk to talk to him when she was met with an odd sight. The young-looking teacher, Mr. Nobunaga, was sitting in his chair, hunched over reading something, but on his head was a small white monkey, tugging at his hair and playing with the collar of his shirt.

He looked up, "Ah, you must be our new student, Kagome Higurashi!" He said.

Kagome nodded her head, her eyes still fixed on the monkey.

Nobunaga frowned at her, "Is there something the matter?"

"Mr. Nobunaga… there's a monkey on your head."

Nobunaga looked up and started when he saw the monkey peeking down at him. He looked back at Kagome and smiled, "Why, yes! Yes, there is."

Kagome decided not to comment.

The teacher tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Why don't you sit over there, next to Mr. Taisho." He pointed to the empty seat in the back of the room next to Inuyasha.

"Okay."

She sat down next to the demon, though he gave no sign that he had noticed her.

Looks like the start of a beautiful friendship, she thought dryly.

Little did she know how right she was.

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A/N: 1700 words. Not too bad! I'm sorry for those of you who are reading No Longer Alone. I've hit a writer's block on that story again. I feel so frustrated whenever I look at it! So I don't know when I'll be starting that again. But I know I'll keep on doing this one. I can't wait until I start writing the fluff ^_^ For the next maybe 10 chapters, this will be like a high school fic, only a little darker. Review please!

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Review Responses

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hypergurl20022: Heehee, thanks! Sorry it's not that long… U_U I'm not good at making long chapters and I figure since I update so fast, it doesn't matter right? Thanks for the review! AnimeBrat: ::grins:: Inuyasha has got to be the hottest, cutest, bestest guy ever!!! I love him so much! Which is why I right fanfiction for him. Yay! They finally met! After four chapters ^_^; The fluff will be soon to come! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with Sesshoumaru. He might be a teacher, and he might be a freedom fighter. I'm not too sure yet. But thanks for reviewing! Shero: Thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Is this update fast enough for you? ^^ Corisu Li: Thank you! ::grins:: They've met finally! There probably won't be any major fluff anytime soon, but don't fret! There might possibly be a little next chapter. And I know there will be fluff for sure in chapter VII. So stick around! Also, I've already used Houjou remember? He was the HLA leader that died. So don't worry about him! And Kouga's dead too… (sheesh I kill a lot of people don't I?) So there's no one to interfere… 'Course you have to watch out for Naraku ^_^ That was a little preview just for you! SailorMercy: Thankies! Here's the next update! Did you enjoy it? Review and let me know! DemonKitty: Thank you! Yeah, they are human, but I believe that I said in chapter I that humans and demons live peacefully in Southern Japan. Thanks for reviewing! You're one of my most loyal reviewers!! Dawnrider31: Thank you so much! Wow, what a compliment --^_^-- I checked out one of your stories Hands of Clay and I really liked it! You're not a bad writer yourself! Thank you lots for your review!! What'd you think of this chapter? Akai Kiniro: Thank you! And also, thanks for the offer, but I'm not going to have a lemon in this story. I just feel uncomfortable writing them. I read some, but I don't write them. Thanks for offering anyway though! I'm glad you enjoy this so much! I'm happy that you're such a dedicated reader to my fics!! XD Blade Redwind: Hey, thanks! Kagome's going to be a little OOC for the first several chapters because she's new and feels timid, but she'll be back to the feisty woman we all know and love soon enough! Thank you for reviewing!