I had been dreaming. Dreaming of the little odens floating around and singing "Eat me Kagome-sama" in those off high-key tones. I was willing to comply…if it hadn't been the stupid pair of hands that immediately made a grab at my shoulder and shook like as if there was no tomorrow. Groaning slightly, I rolled over, swatting the hands away with sleepy annoyance and throwing a fist in a random direction, only to waste my energy at my attempt to punch the air.

Heat radiated off from the thing that was hovering over me like some kind of ghost that came to haunt me, I felt the thing breathe against my ear, and I stiffened like a statue. No. I did not want to leave the blissful realm of my dreams. I don't want to wake up to the cold reality…even though my stomach violently protested against my mind. I need food, it was saying.

"Oi," a familiar but not welcomed male voice whispered into my ears, "It's morning… You better wake up so I could eat my breakfast on time…"

"Screw your breakfast," I snapped sleepily at the person, as the singing oden started to disappear from my dream harem, "I just want the oden… Noooo oden… Don't goooo……."

However, when something brushed against my jaw line, the little dancing odens started to disappear one by one from my beautiful oden harem… To yell at the person, I snapped up quickly only to…

-…hit somebody's jaw painfully with top of my head. There was some kind of sickening thud, and I felt something warm slowly dripping down along my face lines. I raised a hand to touch the icky liquid, probably smudging it across my skin, and withdrew my hand to stare at it with my currently poor vision, which only included blurs, blurs, and more blurs. Nooo… Odens… Don't gooooo…………...

Then I saw something red on my hand.

"Oi…" the voice called again, slight concern and hesitation in the voice, and something warm and icky grabbed my wrist as smell of freshly sprayed cologne filled my lungs painfully like some kind of smoke… "I think you are bleeding."

Visions cleared along with my perfect oden harem, and I looked up.

…Only to find Inoukai hovering over me like some sort of stalker.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

And why the heck am I always starting the day with a scream??!!!

--

In the Same Room with a Dog

Chapter 5: Classes Begin – part I

--

I looked down at my "supposedly" uniform on my bed, tapping my chin with a finger thoughtfully. Was this really a uniform? What kind of school wore this kind of clothes in school? Don't get me wrong; it was really okay, but…it was out of place…sort of. I picked up the uniform, pushing it against my figure, studying myself in the mirror with confusion. A thought entered my mind as it began to reel into action.

We were supposed to wear a kimono as a school uniform?

It was red and black. I suppose it was…a set to the school interior… After all, even though the school was a western-styled castle, it did have Japanese traditional interior inside… Not only was it red and black, it was made out of silk. Silk, people. Do you know how expensive they are? Even everybody wore a cheap scratchy kimono at the festivals!!! ...right, so maybe it was only me. But STILL!!!!

Like mentioned, it was red and black. Right. Not only that, it had pretty patterns woven with golden thread. On the back was the woven flower that represented the Tokyo Private High School, which was…lilac, I think. My aunt liked lilacs. On the hem of the skirt was a woven dragon, curling up the side with its tail at the bottom.

They sent a bag for me too. It was just those normal black bags students wore, except that there was a big fat GUCCI mark at the bottom of it. Ah, and not to mention the wooden geta.

I think I now understand what the people meant when they said they can't use something because it was so beautiful or something. Okay, that didn't make sense at all…

"Are you ready yet?" a voice drawled lazily outside of my room; a voice which I instantly bristled against; a voice which I hated ever since Day 1. "It's 7:15. The breakfast should start in 15 minutes, you know…" Steady taps of tips of fingers against the door began.

"For your information, senpai," I spat out with venom, "I didn't even wear the uniform yet."

"I need my fucking coffee, Higurashi," the voice grouchily answered back, really different from the person I met yesterday…not that either of them was any better…

"Sorry, your asshole-ness, I don't need coffee, so it doesn't really matter," I answered back while putting on my white tabi socks, hoping that the 'don't-talk-to-me-you-freak' message would get to his tiny brain. Judging by the heavy silence, I guess he really did have a brain to get the message through his system.

Slipping on the kimono carefully– I didn't want to wrinkle the thing; it'd ruin it – over my simple…undergarment and shorts plus the white eri-sugata, I bound the black koshi-himo tightly around my waist to below my chest. Or attempted to, more like… It was a very clumsy attempt, me being trying to bind it single handedly. After trying and trying for about 3 minutes, I gave up, and was forced to choose the option that was at the bottom of my list.

"Oi…" I called out as I kicked the door with my tabi sock-covered feet, hearing a shift against the door as an answer, "…your asshole-ness… I need help with the obi… All koshi-himo, date-jime, and obi-jime."

Another shift. "Fine."

Tapping my right foot on the floor impatiently, I waited as the door creaked open. Thumps of the footsteps were heard before my nose was all clogged up by the cologne the guy sprayed. I coughed and choked hysterically, ignoring the scowl Inoukai-senpai threw at my direction. Hey, I don't like colognes, okay??!! I had a bad experience with it once… Ooh, was that a shudder up my spine?

"What's up with you and my cologne??" he started, taking the black date-jime, dark yellow koshi-himo, and golden obi-jime from my pinky. Yes, if you guessed it right, I was holding out all of those to him with my pinky to try to avoid as many as contacts as possible. "It's not like you're allergic to it, right?"

I wrinkled my nose, frowning slightly, "Not allergic, senpai, just hate the thing with passion. You know? Bad experience with it in the past? Like spraying the thing into my eyes accidentally? I don't know, maybe, a person wearing the same cologne stalked me 24/7??" I answered sarcastically, "Gee, be understanding, senpai. Isn't that why senpai system was created? You know, like not hitting on the under class men on the 1½th hour you meet them??!!!"

"Wow, the Wise One," he muttered dryly while gesturing me to raise my arms perpendicular to the ground, "Your wisdom just blinds me."

I only huffed as he started to wrap the koshi-himo around my midriffs, "Well, your asshole-ness, your honorably large ego just suffocates me."

Inoukai only pointedly pulled hard on my koshi-himo with a jerk, thus creating a very suffocating friction between me and my wonderful silk koshi-himo, which made me choke on my breath. "You just like playing hard-to-get, don't you, Higurashi?" Then he moved onto the date-jime, wrapping it over my koshi-himo.

"I'm not playing hard-to-get, senpai," I answered with a little difficulty, since the obi was still tight around my midriffs, "I'm just simply playing get-away-from-me-you-freak, just to let you know. I hope that message would go through your hopelessly tiny brain."

"But, Higurashi, my hopelessly tiny brain is translating that message wrong." Hey, I heard the smirk in your voice!!! I tell you!!! I heard it!!! "It's translating the message into 'I-know-you-want-me.' How do you suppose I do about, hmm?" I felt his hands tie a very complicated butterfly knot at the back and finish it with a tap on it after tying the obi-jime around date-jime.

Then he leaned forward, the clogging smell of cologne only coming closer, and just sort of stood there, hovering over me from behind like some sort of rapist. My mind went blank, slipping in and out of past and present, watching the flashes of those memories and staring at the beige wall of my room at the same time…

Otou-san… Streaks of blood on the floor... Otou-san… The bound hands…the duck-taped mouth… Otou-san…!!! A bloodied knife next to a body against the white wall… Otou-san!!! Then a shatter. A muffled scream against the bindings. Rains and rains of crystals. OTOU-SAN!!!!! A bloodied knife held in ones hand. No no no!!!! NO!!!!!!! The same knife stabbing deep into a living object. No!!! No!!!! YAMERO!!!!! Warm liquids splashing against the face… Streaks of blood on the white wall… Blank white wall… Bloodied white wall… Blank white wall… Bloodied…

'YAMERO!!!! DAME!!!!!! DAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

Then I shuddered, breaking out in a cold sweat, as the flashes unwillingly retreated slowly into the dark corners of my mind. Few lingered behind to haunt my visions and fill me with terror. Inoukai didn't seem to notice my dejavu, only standing there and playing with my hair as if it was some kind of silky seaweeds. This time, I had to control myself. Or he'll think me as some damsel in distress, and I hated – and still hate - those damsels in distress. Yeah, get the pattern here?

Controlling myself even though my insides were bursting with the terror with my newest dejavu, I pulled away from Inoukai, who came off easy because of the surprise, and grabbed my school bag and a hair clip before walking out of the room steadily. Maybe if I did walk fast enough, then he wouldn't see the crack of my barrier against the world and my controlled but horrified and vulnerable expression on my face. I hurriedly put on our uniform shoes, the wooden geta, and darted out the door.

I'd only hope for the best.

---

I took a deep breath, running my hand through my tangled up greasy (I cringed as I felt the texture. Ewwww…) hair, and stared at the door again. Room 15W. This was Sango-chan's room. I lifted a hand, curling it into a light fist, before withdrawing again, sighing as my hand immediately went to my head to scratch at it. Okay. Breathing in and out. In and out. Thinking of happy thoughts. Gather up your courage, Kagome-chan. You could do this. I know you could.

Finally, and again, gathering up my courage, I lifted my hand again, curling it into a light fist, again, and bring it to the door to lightly…

"YOU FRIGGIN' PERVERRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

…knock?

And a very loud crash against the door.

"Sango-chan?" I called out, now knocking on the door, not too quiet, but just loud enough to be heard through whatever that was going on inside her door. I was hoping that it wasn't Sango-chan against the door… But then again, the only person who could yell that loud and swing a person full force into the door was Sango-chan.

And there was a startled pause, then noises of scrambling around with couple thuds and slams of the door, before the door just smashed open with Sango-chan slightly disheveled but smiling brightly. Something about that smile makes shivers go up my spine…

"Hey, Kagome-chan!!! Ohayou!!!" she brightly chirped, the cheerfulness of her almost capable of blinding the world, "What brings you here such early??!! You know, the sun is bright, the birds are singing… It's a beautiful day!!!" she dramatically opened her arms, gesturing to the small window down the hall. A thick silence fell over between us.

"Sango-chan," I started dryly, "You are sooooo fake."

Sango-chan looked almost nervous, and she wasn't doing any good job at hiding even a trace of it from her face, "What are you talking about, Kagome-chan?" she smiled even more brighter, as if hoping that her fake cheerfulness would distract me from…something she didn't want me to find out…

"I wasn't talking about anything, Sango-chan," I innocently said, hoping that my widened eyes would make her even more nervous; making Sango-chan go very paranoid was worth my teary eyes which was caused by not blinking, "Now what are you talking about? Are you, perhaps, hiding something from me? Me, Higurashi Kagome, who's your nice friend?"

"Err…. Um…" she backed up slightly, a light layer of sweat now evident on her face; I was able to tell that she was trying really hard to not have me catch a glance behind her, "Kagome-chan… I need to get ready for breakfast now…."

"Oh, really?" I batted my eyelashes at her, keeping on my innocent act even though I was hysterically laughing mentally at Sango-chan's horrified expression, (man, how I wish I had a camera right now…) "You have your uniform on, your hair is down and tied at the bottom neatly, your face is clean, and your breath smells like toothpaste. Are you sure you're not done??"

"Ahh…" poor Sango-chan looked cornered, and I just had to wonder about her face color change again… It was almost orange this time… "Eto… I CAN'T LET YOU COME INTO THE DORM!!!" she then blurted out hastily before slamming the door in my face.

Shocked, I stood there for a moment, before latching myself on the door and slam on it as if there was no tomorrow, "Sango-chan!!!! SANGO-CHAN!!! You open the door right now, or I'll bust it open!!!!!"

"Bite me!!!!"

"I would bite you really hard if you open the door, Sango-chan!!" I twisted the door knob furiously, only to find out that the door was too heavily pressed back by Sango-chan's weight (If Sango-chan hears that, she'll probably tear my hairs out of my scalp…) to push the door open.

"No!! I can't show my violent side at my friends!!! I refuse to!!!" Okay, so maybe I understand that she doesn't want to scare me away, but it's not like there's Peter Pan making out with her on the other side of this door…

"Aren't I a great kisser, Sango? Come with me to the Neverland!!" says Peter.

"But Peter, there is my friend outside the door screaming her bloody head off!" insert a dramatic gasp, "Oh my golly gosh, Peter, I think you may have to hide!"

Okay, now my own imagination really scares me…

"It's not like I'd hate you if I find a guy bloody against the other side of this door, you know!!!" I yelled, the statement about a bloody guy against the door popping out of nowhere, as I slammed the door couple times more.

A silence. "…how did you know?"

Err… Was Peter Pan actually on the other side of this door making out with Sango-chan? "Err… Know what?"

"…that I have a guy bleeding against this door," Sango-chan answered nervously, a slow creak of a turning lock heard before… "EEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GET YOUR HAND OFF MY ….!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Ah, Sango," a cheerful smooth male voice said behind the door, "That uniform looks very lovely on you."

Couple more slams against the wall, and Sango-chan stormed out of the dorm, huffing heavily as she swung her school bag on violently, (The force of the swing was enough to knock out a bulky man for days in the "Patients with Intense Care" section.) and slammed the door shut with such a force capable of blowing me off my feet.

"Come on," Sango-chan huffed, flipping her fallen strands of hair off her shoulder, "We are going to get our breakfast."

"But you said we needed our roommates to eat-…"

"SCREW THEM!!!! WHO NEEDS A FRIGGIN' ROOMMATE TO EAT A FRIGGIN' BREAKFAST???!!!!!!!"

"But I thought you said…" was the last thing that came out of my mouth that morning, due to Sango-chan's scary glare directed at me.

---

It turned out that we were able to get our breakfast without our roommates if you stick with a very grouchy and roommate-less Sango-chan. She only had to throw one staff member into the wall, and threaten the other staff member, and then shake the aforementioned staff member by his collar madly while yelling some incoherent colorful stuff into his ear before the cafeteria ladies got the clue and scrambled around to get us some food to eat, trying to stay out of Sango-chan's way.

The cafeteria was something that wasn't under the influence of Hogwarts or traditional Japanese theme, unlike the others. It was just like any other normal cafeteria from the American schools I saw in the books, except that the tables were made of shiny and smooth woods, unlike my other high school, where we had to sit in our classroom desks to eat our lunch…

Yum, our breakfast was Western style!! Complete with scrambled eggs, bacons, toast, and orange juice!! I felt a little guilty for getting lunch without my roommate when other people had to though…not that I'd want to be seen with Inoukai all the time. Okay, okay, overactive imagination!! My own imagination scares the heck out of me… To be seen with Inoukai all the time… I shudder at the thought.

Sango-chan was surely in a bad mood, shoveling her food into her mouth like that… She would get a stomachache later on if she keeps on doing it though…

"What was that fiasco with your roommate?" I asked, chewing on my bacon.

Sango-chan immediately choked on her food - all of the scrambled eggs, bacons, toast, and orange juice - some of the chewed up scrambled eggs dropping out her mouth as she started to cough painfully as if some of the orange juice went up her nose. Cringing and frowning disgustedly, I took 10 sheets of napkins to wipe off the half chewed and saliva covered food off the table. It took quite a while before Sango-chan's brain registered that there was something called water to feel better and reached out to chug the cup down. Eww… I could see some of the food particles floating in the water…

"I had orange juice up my nose because of you!!!" she coughed, reaching for another cup of water that was mine, "And do you realize how gross it was for me to chug down water with the food particles from my mouth floating in it?"

I tried really hard to smile innocently, hoping that it would somehow calm Sango-chan down, "Umm… Oops?"

Apparently, it did not work, judging by the way Sango-chan's face turned unusual shade of bright pink, "Oops? Oops??!!! You almost killed a person and you're just Oops???!!!"

"All I did was asking you about-…"

"Don't ever ask about Shinaka Miroku!!" she narrowed her eyes, "Understand?"

"But why-…"

Her glare was enough to shut up a whole herd of Inoukai, I swear.

---

The school was so humongous, it was not even funny. Wait, why was it supposed to be funny if the school is humongous? Hmm…

When did I turn left? Where are my classes, dang it!!!! Why didn't I follow Sango-chan? Why wasn't I smart enough to register for a campus tour? Why wasn't I spotting any staff members? Where the heck was I anyway?? And why can't I feel my brain?! Okay, I think my brain is still present. It's floating around… Wheeee

I wondered as I made a turn around the corner of the corridor. Oh my spleen My spleen!!!! I can't feel my spleen!!!!According to the map…I glanced at the map, I was supposed to be in the North Wing…where most of the seniors were at. Seniors meant staff members. But why aren't there any staff members? I needed to get to my class in 12 minutes, dang it!!!

I huffed and opened a random door. Huzzah, it was a door with brick wall blocking the entrance. I slammed the door shut, cursing my aunt's incredibly detailed design of the school. She was majored in both architect design and education…until my grandfather and grandmother, who had rejected our family ever since kaa-san married otou-san, gave their hidden money to my two aunts and an uncle when they died. Kaede-ba-chan, Miwa-ba-chan, and Gen-ji-chan wanted to split the money in half even if that meant that she'd be disobeying their parents' last will, but kaa-san objected, saying that she wasn't worthy of the money. Ever since then ba-chan tried to help us as much as she can. Me and Souta attending her school must've been a huge opportunity for her.

Kikyou-nee-chan… Hmm… She was my mother's older sister's daughter. My mother's family was consisted of Miwa (she was married after all) Mai, Kikyou-nee-chan's mother and my aunt, who was the oldest, older than my mother by 4 years, my mother, Higurashi – used to be Sugimoto – Mina, the second of the family, Higurashi Gen, my uncle who was younger than my mother by 5 years, and Higurashi Kaede, my aunt, who was younger than Gen-ji-chan by 5 years. Man, to think that my grandparents actually reproduced 4 kids in 14 years… I guess it isn't that strange, since they married young, but still…!!!

I stopped and looked at my school map again, only to find out that I was holding the map upside down. Aw, for the love of Rapunzel!!!! I was in the Southwestern Wing!!!

It was going to take a very long time before I reached my class…

---

Author's Notes:

I'm sorry, everybody!! It took such a long time to update!! bows apologetically If it wasn't for Rikku-chan who threatened me, I couldn't have finished this chapter!! I promise I'll try to finish up next chapter a lot quicker!! bows again I'm really sorry because this chapter is very short!! I'll make it up next time!! Sorry!!!

Japanese Translation:

Oden: some type of fishcake, I believe. I don't really know how to describe it…

Kimono: Japanese traditional clothes

Geta: wooden sandals

Date-jime, koshi-himo, obi-jime: part of kimono

Tabi: socks worn for geta

Eri-sugata: inner white clothes worn before kimono.

Senpai: upperclassmen

Otou-san: father

Eto: umm…

Kaa-san: mother

Ba-chan: aunt

Ji-chan: uncle