Written by: YFate

...Chapter Five...

She had a lot of unanswered questions.

For starters, why was she lying in a strange room, in a strange bed, with a strange alarm clock blerping at her to wake up?

Kami, she hated mornings.

Burrowing her head under the pillows, Kagome groaned as the alarm started screeching at her, impatient. 'Stupid clock.'

A small fist came crashing down to hit "Snooze" and ended up flipping the clock off of the night-stand and onto the floor, where it continued shrieking at her in a muffled voice.

It wouldn't shut up.

"Ugh."

Combing her bangs off of her forehead, she sat up and yawned. She was rubbing at her eyes to remove the sleep from them when the clock finally went dead.

"Huh?"

THAT woke her up.

Scrambling to the side of the bed, she poked a toe at the little clock that lay face-down on the carpet. A blank screen made her sigh.

She'd have to buy a new one. Again.

That was why the alarm clock was strange. And the bed and the room were strange because she hadn't really gotten used to them yet. She had only moved into her dorm room a week ago...

A thundering knock on her door interrupted her distracted thoughts and made her shoot off the bed with a little "eep" of surprise.

'What the...?'

"SIS! Wake UP!"

"Souta?"

Doing a catch-step jig as she tripped over the alarm clock's cord, Kagome barely made it to the door. Fumbling it open, she blinked in surprise at the bright smiles that greeted her.

"Um..."

"Hiya, sis!" Souta dashed under her arm and into the room. Mama just stood there, smiling sweetly, her warm brown eyes lighting as they lingered over her daughter. "Kagome. We've missed you. Are you settling into your new room?"

"Uh..."

"I brought you some lunch boxes. I know how terrible cafeteria food is, and I thought you would be hungry. I even brought some for your friends..." Mama bustled her way into the room, her eyes wandering over the spare furnishings---two beds, one empty, one mussed, two desks, a dresser and night-stand.

"What happened to your alarm clock, sis?" Souta demanded, picking it up.

"Er..."

"That's okay, honey. We can buy you a new one." Mama soothed, setting various packages down and around one of the desks. She had brought enough supplies to feed an army.

"Um..."

"How come you have this room all to yourself?" Souta pounced on the empty bed.

"I don't..."

"You're lucky. Ayami came by the shrine yesterday looking for you and said she has to share with three other girls." Souta grinned. "Must be in good with the big-wigs, sis. A full scholarship and a room all your own! Gramps says luck has nothing to do with it, the Higurashi name is well-respected and that---"

"Souta." Mama interrupted, her smile sweet, but her timing excellent. Kagome's blue eyes were starting to glaze over with her brother's rambling. "We can't stay long. We only came by to drop this stuff off, and I know you have a class this morning. Chemistry, right?"

Kagome's smile was a little wry. Surviving one of Professor Myouga's dry, convoluting lectures was a test in staying awake, especially in the A.M. If she ever had to take him again, she'd be certain to sign up for an afternoon class.

"I made you some miso soup, dear, and have a nice breakfast box in this bag..." Mama patted one of several fondly. "There are lunches and snacks, and I brought over some more of your clothes. It's getting a little chilly at night, and I was worried you didn't have any sweaters..."

"Thank y---"

"Kagome?" All three turned to stare at the girl who had popped her head in the open door. Long black hair clipped back in waves and an over-wide smile greeted Kagome's astonishment.

"Ayami?"

A second head popped up beside the first, and Kagome blinked again.

"Eri?"

"Kagome!" Twin voices shrieked, and Souta covered his ears at the volume achieved by girlish glee. Mama beamed, and herded her son out of the door as Ayami and Eri rushed in to hug their friend.

"I can't believe we're all going to Tokyo U!" Ayami clasped her hands together, eyes dancing.

"You won't believe who else is here, and on our floor!" Eri's black head bobbed.

"Bye, Sis!" Souta hollered in between their chatter, and Kagome bid a hasty farewell as her mother, smile forgiving, was dragged after Souta.

"Do you have a class this morning?" Ayami asked, her eyes lighting on the stack of books on the second desk. "I'm taking seven of them. Okaa-san wouldn't let me take an eighth---"

'EIGHTH?'

Eri rolled her eyes at Ayami's continued enthusiasm for all things scholastic, and changed the subject to one of more immediate interest. "Do I smell food? Did Mama bring you one of her box lunches?"

"Over there." Kagome pointed toward the bags. Both girls attacked the pile with delight and an annoying animation that just got on Kagome's edgy nerves.

Kami, she hated mornings.

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"You are so lucky, Kagome." Ayami sighed, walking by the pretty, raven-haired girl's side. "A room all your own, and Professor Myouga, too!"

'What?'

"I tried to sign up for his Chemistry class, but it was already full. Yuki got in, though." Ayami let out a mournful sigh.

"Yuki?" Kagome's blue eyes grew puzzled. She didn't remember seeing her friend in Professor Myouga's class. Of course, she had only attended two lectures, and the class was full...

"You might not have recognized her, Kagome." Ayami said in a conspiratorial whisper that was loud enough to draw the startled attention of other students converging on the science building.

"Huh?" Kagome blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Yuki...she's changed..." Ayami frowned, trying to find a way to be delicate and failing miserably. "She's gotten weird. She started dating some strange boy who rides a motorcycle, and started hanging out with the wrong crowd, and..."

"Kagome."

Both girls looked up into delighted blue eyes.

Kagome stared.

"Hojo?"

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The day was just full of surprises. Way too many.

She finally spotted Yuki, and stopped dead in the doorway, mouth open in shock. That couldn't be her friend Yuki. Not with that spiky, pink-streaked hair and black leather outfit. Yuki even sported fishnet stockings and combat boots, and was popping a helmet on her desk that had the English words "Bad Bitch" on the back of it. A tall guy with a long braid of black hair and smug sneer on his face, dressed in a black trench-coat, grabbed her by the arm and swung her around for a long kiss.

Kagome averted her blue eyes, a blush creeping up her pale cheeks. Kami, Yuki HAD changed. And that guy...that guy seemed way too familiar. Where had she seen him before?

Lightening flashed across her memory, and she froze again, much to the annoyance of the students crowding into the room behind her. Several jostled past, rushing to their seats before the fussy professor showed up.

'It can't be. It just can't.'

Manten and his brother were dead, weren't they? But that guy towering over Yuki could have been Hiten's twin.

What the hell was going on? Was everybody from the past creeping out of the pages of history to come sneaking up on her?

What other surprises lay in store?

She shouldn't have asked.

First of all, she finally spotted Kaede. In the lunchroom---the last place she had expected to see her. Ayami and Eri had pounced on her once she left her Chemistry class, and dragged her off to the crowded cafeteria to discuss Rush Week. Kagome had no idea what that was, and her friends had been eager to explain. Rush Week was when all the Greek houses---fraternity and sorority---invited freshmen and other "nubes" to get to know them, and think about pledging.

"Think about all the fun, Kagome!" Eri exclaimed. "Parties and guys galore!"

"And you can get to know the sisters." Ayami said, a hopeful smile on her face. "It's a special bond, Kagome. One that never, ever ends. I just think it will all be so sweet and wonderful to have so many sisters...love and unity and---"

Kagome exchanged baffled looks with Eri before the lunch-lady behind the counter had grumbled at her for stopping the line.

"Ye want green beans or carrots?"

Kagome flushed, turning back to the counter, and then stared, her mouth falling open. Again.

There was Kaede---or a good facsimile---in a hairnet and grease-stained apron.

"K-Kaede?"

The old woman gave the fresh-faced girl an impatient look. "Ye want beans or carrots?"

"Uh..."

"Carrots, then." Lifting an ice cream scooper in one wrinkled fist, the miko-turned-lunch-lady dumped a sizeable portion on her tray.

Kagome just stood there, blinking in shock.

"Get on with ye. Ye're holding up the line." Kaede deliberately turned to the guys behind them.

"Gee, Kagome. You are really out of it today. You aren't having a relapse, are you?" Eri asked anxiously.

"You should sit down, Kagome." Ayami's brown eyes were concerned. "A woman in your delicate medical condition shouldn't..."

"You're in a delicate condition?"

Kagome nearly jumped as the heated whisper crossed her neck and over her ear. Deeply blue eyes widened as she turned her head and met the amused amethyst orbs of a sexy hentai houshi.

"Miroku..." She breathed recognition.

His pressed his firm lips closer to the delicate shell of her ear, his whisper a hot temptation against her senses. "I could tutor you in the evolution of reproduction..."

Kagome let out a gasp, a blush creeping across her cheeks.

THWACK!

"Ow!" Miroku touched his own flaming cheek, the small white print of Kagome's open palm spread across the smarting skin.

"Kagome!" Eri and Ayami exclaimed in astonishment.

Kagome flushed harder under her friends' reproachful looks. Ayami, always kind, and Eri, always looking, pushed their lunch trays on the table and surrounded Miroku on both sides, making fools of themselves trying to comfort the hapless hentai.

Kagome fumed. Where did they get off pouncing on Miroku like that? And look at him, he was smiling...and...and...taking Ayami's hand in his, and...she couldn't believe it!...Ayami was giggling when he plied her with that awfully lame line...and Eri! Eri was shameless, eying him over like a slab of meat. Of all the...!

'Why am I acting all jealous? It's not as if...'

But jealousy was not explained easily, and Kagome had buckets of it glaring out of her intensely blue eyes. Tossing her hair over a shoulder, she huffed away, making certain to seat herself some distance from the shameless trio.

Really, she just wanted to kick someone---

"Kagome."

She looked up, and forced a smile on her stiff lips, though her eyes still glared like sparkling sapphires of the deepest hue.

Hojo's own eyes were mild, and he gave her a frank grin of appreciation. He had always appreciated Kagome. He sat down beside her, unaware of the sudden glare a black-haired, amethyst-eyed intern was shooting at him.

"I've been wanting to speak with you." Hojo said with that cheery smile that Kagome had sometimes found irritating. He was just so NICE.

'What am I thinking? I should want a nice boy. Hojo is always so sweet.' Her blue eyes flashed sideways toward her giggling friends. 'HE'S not a pervert!'

"I heard you're on my floor. I've been trying to find out what dorm room you're in, I have a gift for you." Hojo managed to mouth around the large cheeseburger he was busily reducing.

Kagome blushed. "Hojo. You didn't have to---"

"Nonsense! I like giving you gifts, and I thought you could use some scented massage oils and pretty toe-nail polish..."

'Toe-nail polish?'

It wasn't flowers, but it was the thought that counted, right?

"I got you a light silver-blue color. I thought it would look wonderful on your feet. You have such pretty toes..." Hojo's blue eyes were almost dreamy.

Kagome just stared at him, incredulous.

Hojo shook himself slightly. "Anyway, I would like to come by and give it to you. Maybe I could...oh, never mind."

Now, HE was blushing. This was getting way too weird!

"Um..." Kagome was about to pull out a lame excuse, when Eri and Ayami finally de-tangled themselves from Miroku's side and scooted over across from them.

"Kagome! Where did you ever meet such a hot hunk of man-flesh?" Eri's eyes were sparkling with contemplation.

"Hojo! It's just like old times!" Ayami actually clapped her hands. "We're all together!"

Kagome suddenly lost her appetite. Her gaze shot across to where Miroku had been standing, but she didn't see him anymore. Why did she feel so sad suddenly?

'Everything is so confusing!'

Why was she seeing them all around her? Not just her friends from her own era, from high school. She might have expected them. But what was going on with Miroku? And Kouga? And (shiver) Naraku? Sesshoumaru had told her that he had planned it, but why? And how was---

Her troubled thoughts were cut off by Ayami's excited question.

"You're coming, right, Kagome?"

"What?" Kagome focused on her friend.

"To the party, silly." Ayami giggled.

"Party?"

"You weren't even listening, were you?" Eri smirked. "Hojo says there's a party tonight in one of the Greek houses, where some of his frat friends are hosting a kick-off party for Rush Week."

"You'll come, won't you, Kagome?" Hojo gave her a good imitation of puppy-eyes. He only reminded her, though, of another set of puppy-eyes, those bathed in golden amber.

"I already invited your friend Miroku." Eri licked her lips in lusty anticipation. Kagome's eyes narrowed on her friend, the blue fire flaring and deepening their jeweled intensity.

"So are you coming?" Ayami asked.

"You bet I will." Kagome glared.

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"This doesn't taste like tea." Kagome gave the tall glass a doubtful look.

Eri giggled. "Of course not! It's American."

"Long Island, to be exact." Miroku raised a sexy brow at her, his amethyst eyes glinting. He touched his beer to Kagome's, and took a hearty swig.

Ayami sipped at her iced tea and made a face at the rampant alcohol. Seeing Eri's head shake, a look of hurt flashed across the innocent girl's brown eyes. Firming her hand on the glass, she tipped it up and sucked it dry.

"Ooh." Ayami blinked, her eyes turning misty.

"You okay?" Kagome asked with some concern.

Ayami giggled.

"Yep." Eri laughed, emptying hers. She eyed Miroku, who had eyes only for Kagome.

"Try some more." Laughing amethyst urged her. "It's good."

Kagome took another sip, this one more daring. Her eyes widened as warm honey flowed over her tongue and down into her belly. "Ooh..."

"See?" Miroku's voice deepened to a low, husky pitch. "You can trust me..."

'Yeah, right.' Kagome glared at the hand that was creeping closer.

"What the hell are you doing?"

She jerked at that gruff voice. 'Inuyasha...'

Golden eyes glared as Miroku's hand was snatched back. Inuyasha stood, arms crossed over a broad chest outlined by the snug fit of a tight black T-shirt over jeans. His silver-white hair gleamed in the yellowy light of bare light bulbs. Frat boys weren't much on interior decor.

"Gods, Miroku, you're a groping pervert."

Eri's smile brightened, much to Kagome's annoyance. Ayami just giggled again.

Miroku plastered an innocent look on his face. "Me?"

Inuyasha snorted, and Kagome's heart clenched. Even when he acting the jerk, she couldn't help but love him.

She just missed those cute puppy ears...

"Kagome! I'm glad you could make it." Hojo was suddenly there, his hand sliding across her back to squeeze her in a gentle hug. Warm lips met her cheek in a light kiss, and Kagome flushed at his nearness.

"Who the hell are you?" Inuyasha actually growled.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome protested, deja vu overwhelming her heightened senses.

"WHAT?" He roared back.

"SIT, boy!" She shouted.

They all looked at her as if she had lost her mind.

Kagome's face flamed. "Er..." She sidled away from Hojo's relaxed embrace and hid behind her glass of Long Island iced tea, gulping down the contents in an effort at studied nonchalance.

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She didn't feel so embarrassed anymore. In fact, she felt great.

She tried that word out on the edge of her tongue, which felt thick and heavy. "Guh...rate." Giggling, she pictured a tiger and sugared breakfast cereal giving her a cheesy thumbs-up sign of alcoholic confidence.

An arm was slipped around her waist, and she shivered at the heat of it. "Hi." What a sexy voice. He really, really, really had a sexy voice. Husky and low and...

"Kagome..."

She quivered again, a strange feeling of warmth slowly circling around her. She let out a soft sigh, relaxing against his hard chest as he pulled her into his arms. She smiled into the smooth feel of his shirt, her breaths fanning across the opened vee of his collar.

A strong hand came up to cradle her head, fingers tangling through the silken length of her midnight hair in a caressing movement. "I have longed for this..." The heated voice was whispering across her bewildered senses and she leaned into it, her arms finding their way around his waist as she hugged him closer.

The hand moved over the nape of her neck, fingers trailing across the curve of her cheek, and she trembled slightly as he nudged her chin up with his thumb. Her eyes widened, trying to seek identity in the darkened face above hers. She shivered as a finger traced along the soft bow of her lips, and her small pink tongue darted out to lick the dryness from them. She tasted the salty edge of his finger, and she squeaked, startled at the contact. Her cheeks flamed, and she would have pushed away, but his arms tightened, imprisoning her in strength and heat, and she was drawn inevitably closer.

'Oh, my...'

Strong fingers splayed across her cheek, and she sensed his mouth descending as her lips were raised to meet his.

She should stop this...she really should...

Firm lips met her own in a searing kiss that left her senses reeling. Warmth moved across her mouth, and she whimpered softly, thoughts scattering as powerful arms lifted her against the steely hardness of his chest. She bowed to the pure wave of desire that washed over her, the honeyed alcohol that had drawn aside her inhibitions flaring into a molten pool of encompassing passion and need.

A tongue lightly touched across the line of her mouth, and she moaned, her lips parting under that gentle caress. Her soul burned with arising passion, and her body softened against his. Arms tightened and lips slanted, heat exchanged and fire was blazoned across her spiralling awareness as tongues danced and teased in racing desire.

'Falling...'

She was swept away on the wings of unknown passion, her ardor rising as their mouths melted together again and again, her gasping breaths robbed from her as he swallowed them in wet heat. Her heart beat wildly in her chest and she felt the loose reins of control slipping from her weak grasp as he bent her to him, their bodies fusing into one as he pressed her tightly along his hard length.

'Lost...'

She could be lost in this whirling storm of flaming need forever, and somehow, she did not mind...

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She had a lot of unanswered questions.

For starters, why was she lying in a strange room, in a strange bed, with a strange sound waking her up?

Kami, she hated mornings.

She tried to bury her head under the pillow, her fingers curling up to the edge and tugging. But it wouldn't move, something heavy was trapping it flat, and she moaned softly as her temples pounded. Blinking blearily, she tried to focus her vision, but everything seemed to be edged in fuzzy blurs and wispy imaginings. Shadows crossed the room, but the yellow lines of sunlight creasing the edges of the shades told her that the morning was well advanced.

Comforting heat enclosed her on both sides, and her drowsy thoughts turned to covering her self with that blanket of warmth and snuggling back into sleep. Her hand crept out, seeking the covers, and she touched something long and silky...

'Silky?'

Her fingers trailed along the length of silk and felt heated skin and firm muscles underneath. 'What?' Her mind was muddled, her thoughts slow. She traced the hard planes of a flat stomach, defined abdomen and the edged top of an unbuttoned pair of denim jeans.

'WHAT?'

She would have shot out of the bed with a shriek of panic, except a firm arm was draped over her waist, pinning her to the mattress. Her stomach knotted, and she flinched from the fingers that were splayed casually over the arch of her hip and almost brushing her navel. Suddenly very much wide awake, she twisted her neck, eyes seeking the other man who was taking up the left side of the bed.

Tousled bangs fell over the arch of black brows and long black lashes nestled against ruddy cheeks, a dreamy smile tugging at the edge of his mouth.

'Miroku?'

Kagome's gaze darted to the other side, instantly recognizing the other man beside her in the bed. 'Inuyasha?'

In the shadowed room, the silver-white gleam of his hair was slightly tinted with misty shades of pearl and grey. In sleep, the firm line of his mouth was softened, the effect giving an impression of boyish innocense.

Innocense...

'Oh, god! What HAPPENED last night?!'

She stared down at herself, suddenly shaken. She wore her white lacy bra, and silky boxers that felt strangely sensuous on her skin. They were too big for her, and gapped around her thinner waist to sink in a smile across her hips. Her toes curled as Inuyasha grunted in his sleep and rolled closer to her, one of his legs coming over to tangle with her own.

She was really in trouble now!

She couldn't move without waking either of them, and she shuddered to think what their waking might mean...

There was another strange noise from the foot of the bed, and she craned her head up, trying to catch a view of what moved in the darkened shadows below her. Gentle fingers stroked her foot, and she jerked slightly, making the other men around her stir. Her foot froze in reaction, and her eyes widened into blue shock as a wet mouth kissed her toes.

"Kagome..."

'HOJO?'

She did scream then. LOUDLY.

The room was utter chaos, as the men wrapped around her suddenly woke up. Loud shouts and startled roars made Kagome curl over, her head pounding as she snatched her feet away from Hojo's grasp.

Inuyasha and Miroku stood on either side of the bed, both half-naked, one in unbuttoned denims and the other in silky boxers that read "Home of the Big Mack" in white letters across the front. All was bedlam, as Hojo slithered to the edge of the room, ducking his brown head down into his hands as the room spun around him.

The door slammed open on the chaos, and Kagome raised her head and winced back away from the sudden flooding of brilliant daylight that entered the room. One part of her mind stupidly mused that the black silk boxers she wore matched Miroku's, but hers were imprinted all over with the scarlet outlines of kissing heart-shaped lips. The other part of her mind froze in the chilling fire of icy blue eyes that stared at all of them with shock and growing fury.

Her eyes widened, and her breath left her in a whispered gasp of recognition.

"Kouga?"