Disclaimer: *sigh* I thought we went through this already. I don't own Inuyasha.

Reincarnated Souls

One year later...

"Kagome, are you okay?"

Kagome's head snapped up, confusion filling her eyes. "Oh, I'm fine, Miyoko, thanks."

Miyoko shrugged and went back to chatting with some other friends.

A whole year had passed since Kagome had discovered she couldn't get through the well, and today was the exact anniversary. After a month of wondering and worrying, she had removed the shard around her neck and kept it in a bottle on her dresser, unable to have that constant reminder of her adventures with her all the time. On her 16th birthday, she had gone to the well house with the shard hoping she would get through, since the very first day ever spent in the Sengoku Jidai was on her previous birthday. But, nothing happened. Every once in a while, Kagome would see the shard glowing in its bottle, almost as if some other shards were near. But Kagome could never sense any, so she just brushed it off.

"Kagome, Hojo's coming over!" Another of her friends, Yakima, whispered.

Sure enough, when Kagome looked up, she saw Hojo jogging over to her and her posse.

"Hey, Kag." He said, and kissed her on her forehead. Reaching down, he intertwined his fingers with hers.

"Hey," she whispered back, staring down at their joined hands.

A couple of months after putting the shard away, she had started seeing Hojo. He always called her "Kag", a nickname he had made for her. She never said it, but Kagome hated being called that.

Peering down at her, Hojo asked gently, "Are you feeling okay today?"

Trying to smile, Kagome nodded. "Just wondering if anything special will happen today."

Hojo was confused by the statement, but nodded and smiled anyway.

The group started to head towards their school, walking leisurely since there was plenty of time.

Yakima snapped her fingers. "I know something that'll happen today."

Miyoko looked at her skeptically. "What, you're going on another diet?"

"No," Yakima glared back at her. "Remember the high school that burned down last week?"

"The one near the lake?"

Yakima nodded impatiently. "Yeah. Anyway, some students from that school are transferring over to our school!"

Hojo looked around Kagome at them. "But that school is in a different district than ours."

"Well, I guess the students are being spread throughout all the different schools in the city."

Kagome's other friend Yuka, who had been silent the whole time, perked up. "There might be some hot guys transferring over! C'mon, we have to get to school now!" she grabbed Miyoko's and Yakima's hands and started to sprint towards the school.

"Slow down, Yuka! We're not on the track team like you are, you know!"

Chuckling, Hojo looked down at Kagome. "Hot guys, huh? I better keep an eye on you!"

Kagome gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I don't think you have to worry about that." She said, and smiled her first real smile of the day.

***************

Tapping her pencil impatiently against the surface of her desk, Kagome sighed. 'What's taking Sensei so long?' she wondered.

Looking around at the teacher-less classroom, Kagome saw several students talking, while others looked bored. Their teacher had been called to the registrar's office to help with some paperwork, but he had been gone for at least ten minutes, causing his class to become both rowdy and bored.

Kagome sighed again and studied a mark on her desk she had never noticed before, suddenly finding it fascinating.

"A-hem!"

Hearing her sensei's voice, Kagome, along with the rest of the class, immediately snapped to attention.

Mr. Kurokawa stepped behind his podium. "I'm sorry for the long wait, students. I was called down to the registrar's office because we have a new student who needed help with class assignments."

Yuka's eyes shone. "A new student?"

"Yes." Mr. Kurokawa nodded, and motioned to the door. "Class, this is our new student, Sakura Sakoshita."

A girl around Kagome's height stepped into the class, a slight blush covering her cheeks. She was wearing the regular girl's uniform, but had her dark brown hair up in a high ponytail instead of wearing it down like most of the girls in the class were. She smiled shyly, and her hazel eyes sparkled with friendliness, the pinkish eye shadow making her look older than 16 years.

Several "Hello, Sakura!" and "Welcome!" were ringing throughout the classroom, but Kagome could do nothing but stare. Her hands started shaking, and she covered her mouth with one of them. 'Sango?!' she thought wildly.

A/N: Okay, I know some of you were hoping and thinking Inuyasha would be the first one to meet Kagome, but you just have to wait and see! Review, please!