GiGi - Ohhhhhhh! I wonder who that ghostly figure was? Let's find out, shall we?

DISCLAIMER - I OWN INUYASHA AND THE MEDIATOR!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Rumiko Takahashi and Meg Cabot enter room with daggers) O.O Meep! Or…. Errr… Not? --;

Just as I hugged my mom, I caught a glimpse of a person near the seat of the bay window Suikotsu had so carefully made for me.

There was someone on my pillow. And that person was not someone that anybody in the house knew…. I bet you nobody could even see him. No one could see him except for me. There's a very good explanation for that too…. Why I was the only one who could see him? Because…. That person was already dead….

Chapter 3

Can't Hold Me Down

"Kagome, dear! Dinner time!" Mom called out at that very second.

I rubbed my eyes, hoping that would help adjust them. Maybe it was the sunlight streaming through the windows? I hope so…. I spun around to face the bedroom door, trying to forget what I had just saw.

"Kagome!" Mom groaned in frustration.

It was a miracle how jet lag could turn people so touchy.… My thoughts went back to that illusion I had seen and I whirled around, half expecting to see it again, half expecting to see nothing. It was the latter. I just saw an empty room with the curtains blowing wildly as the wind blew in. Funny…. I don't remember opening them in the first place….

I looked at the window one last time before making my way downstairs to my 'big happy' family. I can never been too safe, right?

"Look who decided to show up after all." smirked Dopey as his hand made its way towards the sushi plate. Typical.

"I think it's custom to use your eating utensils to take food Koga." Suikotsu warned his eldest teenage son.

Dopey just shrugged of the warning and stuffed his face with a pile of food that was stacked up on his plate.

I could only watch in disgust as Doc and Happy joined in this uncivilized way of consumption. To my dismay, in a matter of seconds, the plate was empty, and each stepbrother of mine had at least five pieces on their plates and probably more than ten in their stuffed mouths. At least, Mom and Suikotsu got a few pieces before everything disappeared.

Doc and Happy swallowed and gave Mom and me apologic grins. "S-sorry…" Happy looked at us nervously, "D-do you want mine?" he held up his plate with the sushi rolls smeared in a lot of wasabi.

I could only imagine how much water I would need to gulp down after eating them. I turned him down and after excusing myself from the table, I headed to the kitchen. There I found a package of instant ramen and some hot water. Suikotsu came rushing into the kitchen as I started to add in the instant soup packet with the water.

"I'm so sorry Kagome. I have warned them about their eating habits before." Suikotsu started his guilt dripping speech. "Oh I'll make you more. Oh I'm sorry Kag-…"

I cut him off. The poor guy looked really sad that I didn't get any sushi. "It's ok Suikotsu. Really. I wasn't in the mood for raw fish anyways. This ramen will do fine."

Suikotsu continued to stare me down, with what I'm guessing, his puppy eyes. "If-if-if you are okay with it. Really, I can whip up more sushi now…. It's no trouble!"

I sighed. "Don't worry about it. Ramen's good!" I indicated to the steaming bowl of noodles on the counter. "Maybe I'll get some sushi tomorrow."

"I guess so…. Sorry again Kagome."

I just smile at him as I started to eat the ramen. Mmmm…. Chicken flavoured! I had to let my mind relax…. Especially after the scare I had upstairs. That's it Kagome…. Don't think about it anymore…. It was nothing! See! Nothing-…. Ow… soup burned my mouth….

After dinner, I decided to catch up on some TV, instead of unpacking. I mean who wants to take out all this stuff that took you forever to put in? I sure don't.

"So Kagome. Are you nervous about starting school tomorrow?" Suikotsu asked from the kitchen. Since I didn't get any sushi, Suikotsu made Dopey, Doc and Happy clean up the dishes. Thank you, karma! "Nah… not really," I answered, my eyes glued onto the TV screen. Jeopardy…. I'll take lame for 400…. Days Of Our Lives…. Noooo, not in the mood to stare stiffly at crying characters…. American Idol…. We're in Japan for god's sake! Why is Simon Cowell on my TV? Life Cycle of The Earthworm…. I just ate! Hello! Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica…. I dunno….. Is it chicken? Or tuna? Access Hollywood…. I wonder who Britney's dating now…. Everyone Loves Raymond…. I don't…. JNC…. Japanese News channel…. Whoopee. The second I shifted in my spot on the sofa, the remote was snatched out of my hands by none other than Dopey himself.

"Yo….. Soccer's on!" he slurred his words as he plopped onto the couch next to Kagome. "Hey, France vs. England!" Koga continued to cheer on for the two teams and the rest of the male occupants of the household came stampeding in too.

"3 to 2? Close game!" Suikotsu rooted.

Shippo started to jump up and down on the couch, trying hard to whistle.

Sota simply started a scientific explanation for the game. "Did you know the original sport soccer originated from-…."

I couldn't take it anymore…. I like sports as much as every regular teenage girl, but this was too much! I made my way out of the living room and upstairs to my room

When I entered my room, I saw nothing. But to be safe, I decided to change in my personal bathroom. Yes, that's right. No sharing bathrooms for this girl!

After slipping into my cute monkey pajama's, I felt more relaxed. The light breeze, the faint glow from the hallway, my mom's old records playing quietly, it all made me feel very drowsy.

I was getting sleepy…. Sleepy…. Very very sleepy….

Rays of sunlight spilled in, walking me up. Morning already? I groaned and tried to turn on my side to sleep…. I tried to cover my face with a pillow…. I even tried counting sheep…. Yes in the morning…. But it was no use. No more sleep for this girl. I checked the alarm clock. 6:30…. Not too bad…. So I was a little early…. Big deal right? As I was taking my shower, my flowery scented soap made me drowsy, almost causing me to fall asleep in the shower. I so needed a nap after school!

After an hour or so, I finally made my way downstairs for breakfast. I checked my reflection in the mirror. Perfect. I was wearing the required school uniform consisting of long sleeve with a red tie and green collar, a short green skirt, knee length socks and a pair of black buckle shoes. Not strictly my best choice for a school uniform, but I guess it'll do.

Wonderful odors emitted from the kitchen made my stomach growl. Breakfast at the Aikwana family was obviously a big deal. Actually, it seemed like every meal was a big deal here. There were heaping plates of blueberry pancakes, muffins, scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, fresh fruit and orange juice. This sure beats the cold spaghetti back home…. Suprisingly, by the time I got a plate from the cupboards, my stepbrothers had all started eating again. This time I as prepared. I dove under them and grabbed some chow before it all disappeared. I managed to get a strawberry muffin and a banana on my plate before everything, like the previous night, disappeared.

At around 7:45, Suikotsu offered to give Koga and moi to the building of doom and evil, or as they call it nowadays…. school. And apparently in this family, it is still appropriate to call shotgun. Guess who lost?

"Okay Koga. Remember to help your stepsister get used to school! I'll come to pick you guys up at 3:00. Bye kids! Have a nice day at school!" Suikotsu drove off after dropping us off at the front entrance.

Koga stared at the spot where his father's SUV van had been. It wasn't until I had entered the school building and slammed the door, till Koga woke up from his trance. "Where am I?" he asked in a sleepy voice, "Did I walk to school in my sleep? Cool…. Man."

"I don't need Dopey to find my way around. Pshhhhhhh…. Like that guy even knows his own way around." I muttered under my breath as I trotted to the office to sign in.

As I wrote my name down from an appointment to see the head honcho, they made me sit in the waiting room. Also in the room with me was a teenage boy who was dragged into the office by a nun. A nun…. Go figure. "Miroku! If I catch you looking down another girl's shirt, I-I-I'll expel you!" she sputtered with disgust.

Spotting me sitting by my lonesome self, he sat down with a goofy smile. "New kid?" he asked. I nodded as I pulled my shirt up…. Just in case. "Name's Miroku." "Kagome."

"Ignore the old bat. I do not peep at girl's shirts." He shrugged. "Sister Urasue is just jealous she doesn't have a good looking guy like me around her all the time."

I chuckled just as the headmistress came out of her office. "Miroku…. Miroku…. Miroku… what can ye do with you. It's only the first day, so ye will be let off easy. Just try to resist ye temptations. Ye may leave."

The boy gave a sheepish grin and nodded. "I'll try. Really."

"Kagome Higurashi. Ye may enter now."

"So ye are the new student, are ye not?" the headmistress asked me as she peered through the student files.

"Yes…." I answered, as I looked my new 'leader of authority'. Lady Kaede looked to be at least 70 years old, yet she seemed very alive. She was wearing an olden day type of costume, consisting of a Japanese miko outfit and an unusually an eye patch over her right eye.

"Well, here is ye schedule," Lady Kaede gave me a handful of papers. "And your agenda and the school code of conduct. Oh and some forms ye must fill out. Ye must follow our rules. And ye must face them well, or face trouble."

"Ehr…. Sure. I'll do that." I muttered as I looked over the papers. I thanked Lady Kaede and left the office.

Great…. First period of the day…. Math…. Room 211.

"Okay class. Welcome to Grade 10 Academic Mathematics." Mr. Yoshi greeted the class. He introduced himself and then asked each person to do the same thing while he left the room for an errand. "You can start." He indicated to a blonde sitting at the back of the room.

""I'm Uka Lai and I'm like the captain of the cheerleading squad. I was also voted Most Beautiful last year. And I have been crowned Miss Osaki and I have been the most popular girl every year at school." The girl smirked a 'Look at me, I'm too popular to imagine' at the rest of the class and crossed her perfectly shaven legs as she sat down. She sent an 100-volt smile at a few of the jocks sitting around her and tossed her golden blonde dyed hair. She started gossiping to her possé who later introduced themselves as Edi and Umi. All of them were artificial blondes too.

Right after introducing myself, the dark haired girl sitting behind me took her turn. Though she, like every other person in the room was wearing their school uniforms, her book bag was what caught my eye. It was a black tote bag with doodles made with white out along the straps and various buttons of quotes and bands, stuck all over it. As she introduced herself to be Sango, Uka and her girlfriends started to snicker and point. Sango turned around and gave them all a cold glare before sitting back down into her seat.

"I'm like sooooo glad we have school uniforms now! Or else that loner would be like wearing her like goth-y clothes. Like how gay is that?" snipped Uka as she curled a strand of blonde hair around her finger.

I looked around to spot the 'goth-y girl', when I realized it must be the Sango girl. Looking at Uka and her blonde gal pals made me want to rip their blonde hair out, chunk by chunk.

"I wouldn't talk if I were you! At least if she-" I nodded to Sango, "-has a unique style. And what do you have? You look a Barbie clone, six inches of pure plastic. And I'm surprised your face hasn't cracked with all that makeup on. Try not to crack up any more mirrors. You can't afford seven more years of bad luck."

I smirked as I watched Uka's perfectly made up eyes widen and her perfectly glossy mouth gawk at me, revealing perfectly white teeth. After a few moments of silence, she finally came up with a comeback. "What did you say to be, freak? I wasn't talking to you! Why are you sticking up for her?" Uka cringed on the last word, crunching up her nose in disgust.

"I am aware of that. That is why I'm only going to break one finger instead of all of them." I threatened.

The girl stared at me, too stunned to say anything. I guess it's safe to say Uka has never been insulted before. Tough. The second I sat back down, the teacher returned to the classroom.

"So is everyone done?" Mr. Yoshi asked. The rest of class apparently as stunned as Uka just nodded. "Okay, let's start then. Please turn your textbooks to page 12. We will be learning about algebra."

From the back of the classroom, Uka shot poor ol' me a death glare that I gladly sent back at her.

Uka grabbed a nail filer from her Louis Vutton purse and started to aimlessly file her nails. "That girl is going down. She is going to pay…."

GiGi - And that's a wrap! Not the best cliffie in the world…. But it will do. Hope this chapter is long enough, it's twice as long as the usual ones. Happy June 24, everyone!

Kagome - What's so special about June 24?

GiGi - Last day of school! Which means I am officially a Grade 10er! Well…. I will be one next year….

Inuyasha - =S June 24? What's this June thing?

Kagome - (sigh) I need to buy you a calendar….

Inuyasha - =D Okay! ¬.¬ Wait…. Is it edible?

Kagome - -.-;

Inuyasha - C'mon Kagome! Is it? Is it?

GiGi - Anywho! I realize that my other chapters are short and I apologize! So hope you enjoyed this longer one! Also, major thanks to all my reviewers! You're the best!

mimi - Thank you for reading!

cHiBiBaBysTaR - Hmmmmm…. Is Sesshy even gonna be in this fic? I have no clue….. but keep reading anyways!

PURPLE-DRAGON-IRIS - I promised cookies? I did? Sorry… blame the short term memory! XP Well here's a cookie anyways! (hands out cookies) And everybody's happy!!!!! Mmmmmmm….. shortbread cookie!

seida02 - I'm glad you like this fic! Cuz I do too! XP

- Thanks anonymous reviewer!

kagoe princess - Well the wait is over! XD Chapter 4 is in progress too! Thanks for reviewing!

Rhapsody's Song - Yes, story's based on The Mediator series. I've seen Escaflowne…. Well the show…. But not the fanfics…. If that's what you mean. I tried to look for the story you had suggested and I could find it…. But it's ok! Life goes on! Thanks for reviewing!

FairyWings817 - Wow! I got cookies! (happily munches on rainbow chocolate chip) Yes The Mediator series is one of my favourite series so I decided to copy it…. Sorta…. Oh and I read your stuff already and it's really good!

Seida02 - My first reviewer! (well for this story….) and yes I am taking the idea of The Mediator series by Jenny Carroll/Meg Cabbot. Has the fifth one came out yet? I had no idea…. Must go to Chapters then! And thank you for reading!

GiGi - Cookies for all! (rips open Loblaws bag)

Inuyasha - O.O Is it raining cookies in here?

GiGi - =) Yup! Enjoy!!!!!!!

PS. Chose this title for this chapter cuz it's like the Christina Aguliera song Can't Hold Us Down, bes like Uka won't stand in the way ok Kagome's will to defend fellow classmates! Go Kagome!