As the bell rang, Mister Watanabe hit the stop button on the DVD remote and watched as his students milled out of the classroom. "We'll pick up tomorrow and have a test on Wednesday, so make sure you kept good notes or have a copy of the movie to refresh your memory with." He glanced over as Daniel and Lily started packing up and gestured for them to wait a bit before leaving. "How goes bringing him up to speed?"

"He's not going to make it in time to be watching the movie this week," Lily stated sourly, she and Daniel standing up at their teacher's desk. "I'd say, maybe a couple weeks and he might be caught up, but that's with nothing but study and if he's lucky. He's caught onto pronunciation fast though."

Watanabe nodded while he shifted through some papers on his desk, then headed out, the two students following him into the hall. "Well, if I give you the assignment of getting him caught up by the time we finish Shogun, can you do it?"

Uncertainty flickered in the girl's eyes. "I can probably get him mostly caught up by then, but I don't know about up to where we are."

There was a sigh, but Watanabe nodded. "It'll have to do," he finally said while he locked the classroom door behind them. "Do as much as you can, and if you can help him study after school, do it."

"Hai, Sensei Watanabe."

Pulling Daniel along, Lily sighed and had to resist hitting him over the head with her backpack. "If you'd have paid attention to the book and not my face, you'd have been moving along a lot faster!" she hissed. When he gave that look of a guilty apology, she decided to give him a scratch behind his right ear, being that it was the closest one in reach. And then she heard his stomach growl. "Hungry already?"

"I didn't get to eat today before running out the door," he muttered. "Slept in a bite late."

Well, that partly explained why he had a hard time concentrating. "Come on," she said while grabbing him by the arm and pulling the boy along down the staircase to the main floor. "Let's get you something to eat before people really think you're a dog."

He almost retorted to that comment, but he was a bit too hungry to argue. So, being pulled by his arm to the cafeteria, Daniel did as much as he could to ignore the stares he was getting from other students. Just as before, a number of them started playing with his ears to see if they were real, most of them girls. They tended to get driven off by the nasty glares Lily began dealing out, and Daniel wasn't quite sure why she was being so possessive of him. So they were curious. It was a lot better than how he used to be treated.

He was about to buy something to eat after Lily got a group of burritos, but then was dragged out before he could get his own food. "But, I-"

"My treat," she replied, handing him the trio of burritos. "You can repay me later."

He quickly unwrapped one of the burritos just as his stomach growled again and started munching away. "Thanks," he mumbled through his chewing. He swallowed, then took another large bite. "So, why are you being so nice after I completely forgot about you for the past several years?"

"I seem remember you having better manners than that, even at five," she muttered. When he suddenly swallowed his food with an embarrassed expression, Lily couldn't help but giggle. Yes, Daniel was mostly just as she remembered. She decided to let him get away with talking with his mouth full due to the fact he had to be starving. "As to your lack of attempts to get in touch with me, I probably should blame myself too, since I didn't know if you were even living in the area when we moved back a few years ago." She smiled. "Dad decided to go into business for himself, and we came back once he got an office leased and got things all nice and cozy."

He nodded, now remembering how Lily's influence in his life had been cut off. "That and I some how completely forgot about you," Daniel stated with an embarrassed face. He finished off the first of his burritos, then opened up the second one and started munching again. "I feel like a jerk for that."

He suddenly gave a very puppy-like yip when something struck his rear, and he realized that it had been Lily. She was being rather cozy with him already, after volunteering to help his with class, making him about melt into putty by knowing how to play with his ears, buying him breakfast, and now slapping his butt. Was she coming onto him?

"And I've been worried that you were going to turn out to be like the guy you look like," Lily quipped. She noticed than Daniel had stopped walking, turned around, and saw that he had a very shocked look on his face. "Something wrong?"

"The guy I look like?" he repeated, unsure still if he'd heard that right. "You know someone else with my mutation?"

Now it was Lily's turn to look confused. "Not an actual person, but..." Realization dawned on her, as odd as it was to believe that conclusion. "Wait, you mean you don't know?" He shook his head. Lily now had the oddest expression of disbelief. How could Daniel not know about that? "Daniel," she continued while now pulling him along through the hall. "Didn't you figure out why those girls wanted to play with your ears?"

"Because they're wondering if they're real or not?"

Yeah, he didn't have a clue as to the real reason. "Besides that," she chimed. When Daniel pulled out his schedule, she realized that it was almost time for brunch to end. That would be their luck. She glanced over to see where his next class was, then grinned and pulled him down the hall. "Perfect, we have Mod Civ together!" came her excited squeal. "And Video! Oh, I have to introduce you to Kyle and Stephanie! They're going to flip out when they meet you!"

"Slow down!" he sputtered out while trying to finish his second burrito. "How are you in Mod Civ, that's a sophomore course!" Okay, so he'd pulled off having been skipped his freshman year because of all the extra attention he got from home schooling that helped him on the placement tests. But why was Lily in that class with him, she was a freshman.

"Same reason I figure you are," she replied. "I got skipped a grade."

Alright, things were getting a bit freaky. Either it was really just coincidence, or the universe was having a massive laugh at his expense. "You got skipped freshman year too?"

She smiled. "Actually, I got skipped fifth grade, so I was a freshman last year." It was then Lily paused and looked at the gaze in his eyes while she finally slowed down. "Wait, how did you get skipped, and why are you in high school? You were going to do home schooling when I moved."

He blushed and settled for opening up his last burrito to finish off breakfast. That didn't work, since Lily now was glaring at him for an answer. He gulped down what he'd been chewing on, then smiled weakly. "Placement tests," he finally answered. "Mom decided to put me back in school, and they gave me a bunch of tests to see where I should go. Turns out all that extra attention I got covered the requirements of what I would have learned as a freshman." Munch, munch. "Mind you, she was worried to death about me going right back to what I left, but, hey, that's why she stuck me in martial arts classes." A pause so he could eat down the rest of his burrito. "That reminds me, my test for black belt is coming up."

There was that squeal again as they stopped outside the classroom. "You're going to be a black belt!" Lily exclaimed. She noticed then that he was gesturing for her to keep it down. Good reason too, a few people were staring at her as they walked by. Alright, they were staring more at Daniel, but she got a few glances from her outburst. "Sorry. Seriously, you're going to be a black belt? How the hell did you do that?"

"Nine years straight of training, and you don't think I'd pull that off?"

That was true, but from what Lily could remember, Daniel was the most nonviolent person she knew. He'd never thrown a single punch in his life when she'd known him as a kid. Had he changed that much since they'd last seen each other? Now that she thought about it, Lily noticed that Daniel's frame was rather sleekly toned, or what she could see of it. Nine years had turned that little puppy boy into this? "Wow," she whispered while her mind now began imagining what he had to look like in action. "In a million years, I'd never have imagined you being a martial artist."

"And dragging it off subject of what reason you have for why those girls were tweaking my ears," he stated, now remembering what they had been talking about. "You said that I look like someone else you know, someone else who had the same condition as me."

Oh, yeah. That's right, she had been about to tell him before she'd peeked at his class schedule. "Uh, I'll tell you about it in Video," she finally replied after thinking for a few moments. "Kyle's the one who has the mangas with him, while I think Steph said she was gonn'a loan me the newest fansubs."

And Daniel was just as lost as he had been when trying to start catching up in Japanese. "Man-what and fan-huh?"

"Japanese comics," Lily explained while they waited outside the classroom door. "Kyle's grandparents on his dad's side are from Japan, so he goes back there every now and then to visit the rest of his family and brings back goodies for the rest of us."

"And what are fan...subs?"

You have got to be kidding me, the girl groaned in her thoughts. Granted, Daniel had been removed from the school system for nine years, but if she had any reliable memories of his parents, they were hardly the type to shelter him, especially that much. "Fansubs are fan produced translations of animes from Japan." She paused. "You do know what anime is, right?"

"I'm not that ignorent," he replied quickly to defend himself. "Stuff like Gundam and Dragonball, right?"

"And Princess Mononoke, and Trigun, and, more importantly in regards to your case, InuYasha."

"Demon Dog?"

Lily raised a brow. Daniel actually did know what the name translated to. "Yeah...how did you know what InuYasha means?"

"Sensei Ookami calls me that," Daniel answered while he noticed a tall man with short cut brown hair walking over to open the class door. "He told me what it means, though, he did say it technically means 'Female Demon Dog'."

This sounded very odd. "Your martial arts teacher's family name is 'Wolf'?" Lily questioned as they walked into the class and the first bell rang to signal the end of brunch. "What's his first name?"

"Kouga, he's from Japan."

Other than the immediate recognition, Lily ran that through her head to translate. "Ookami Kouga... 'Graceful Wolf'?"

Considering he'd never been told just what Senesi Ookami's name meant, Daniel had to assume that Lily knew what she was talking about. "I guess... That actually would be a really good description of him too, especially since the school he runs is Wolf's Den."

"Could you take the fake ears off in class?"

Daniel turned back to the teacher. Someone, for once, had assumed his ears weren't real. "Um, if I could, I'd probably be a much happier person, but..." No use explaining really, so Daniel twitched his ears to show that they were not some head piece, but real and connected to his head. That got an interesting reaction from the teacher. "I've got a rare mutation condition, these things are real."

"Ah," the man replied after a few moments of shock. "So sorry about that then...you the new student?"

A nod. "Just started today," Daniel said while he felt an itch build up behind his left ear. He'd get it later, after talking with his Mod Civ teacher. "I'm Daniel Stevens, mister..." He paused, looked at his schedule, then blushed at not having bothered to read the teacher's name. "Kuhlman."

With a nod, Kuhlman glanced at the roll sheet on his desk, then scribbled Daniel's name in. "Just grab a desk, I'll get you a book later and see if we can catch you up." he shook his head, still in a bit of shock. "Real dog ears..."

"I get that a lot," the boy muttered while he and Lily sat down at a pair of desks. He sighed, though was pleasantly surprised that his day had actually gone so well thus far. People actually found his looks to be interesting rather than something to rip him apart over, though he did get the feeling it wouldn't be like that with everyone. No doubt, there was someone just like those jerks who would beat him up back when he was a kid.

Oh yeah, that itch. He reached up to scratch it, but Lily moved quicker and caught it for him. Well, that solved that problem. "Thanks," he said. Daniel sighed as he sat back, then noticed that Lily hadn't stopped scratching his ear. "Uh, you can stop now," he intoned.

"Spoil sport," came her pouty response. She pulled her hand away, then reached into her backpack for her Mod Civ book. When she looked up to see the rest of the students start filling into the classroom, Lily excitedly waved her hands to who Daniel assumed were some of her friends. "Katie, Rachael, over here!" she called. No sooner had the pair of girls taken their seats next to them than one of them started playing with his ears. That got him wishing people would stop finding his ears so fascinating in this way, and Lily once more resumed the use of the glare of death. He didn't understand why she was being so protective of him; after all, those were his ears that were being toyed with, not hers.

And once more, he was forced to attempt trying to catch up on everything he'd missed in the past two months. He wondered why he'd been dropped into things two months after the semester had started, being that now, he had a horde to attempt making up. More to the point, why had his mom waited until the year was half over? Knowing her, she'd been paranoid about the idea of him going back to public school.

Maybe it was just him, thinking that the universe was having a good laugh at his expense. That would be a bright spot on the nightmare that had been his life; being the butt of some cosmic joke. It was probably better not to dwell on it.


As they headed down the halls toward the video room, Daniel noticed the growing stares at his ears, and how much Lily was hissing at any other girls who tried to get a hold of those ears. While he did appreciate how much she kept roving hands off his head, he couldn't help but notice that she was being a little too over-protective of him. "Keep that up," he muttered, "and people are liable to think you're my girlfriend or something."

"And you find something wrong with that thought?" came an angry growl after she'd just warded off another of the students from Daniel's ears. He winced, almost hurt from that withering glare she gave him at that moment. "It's not like you're liable to stick up for yourself against those hussies."

A shrug as he hefted his helmet back over his shoulder. "I just don't see what the big deal is," Daniel replied while they went up the stairs. "The way I see it, it's better that they find something likable about my condition, as opposed to throwing a rope around my neck and dragging me around."

Lily only snorted as her response to that point. "You're enjoying the attention too much. One would think you have something on your mind from how much you seem to enjoy those girls toying with your ears."

"And what's that supposed to-" Daniel stopped in mid-sentence as he caught onto what Lily was insinuating. "Hey! I'm not like that, and you know it!" He paused again, not reaching up to scratch his left ear. "I'm not that much like a dog."

She didn't turn to respond, but he could swear that Lily was laughing at his remark. That reminded him, she'd promised to explain what she'd been talking about earlier. "By the way," he continued as they neared the video room. "Mind explaining now that whole 'guy who looks like you' comment back at brunch?"

"It's better if I showed you," Lily replied while she opened classroom door and led him in.

It wasn't as packed as he'd imagined. About eighteen or so students, give or take, leaving plenty of room to find a spot. Along the back wall were a row of about a dozen dual level VCRs for editing, each one with a small TV atop it. There was another room, adjoined by a side door, which Daniel assumed was a video studio of sorts. All in all, very nice indeed.

"Oi, Yuuri-chan!"

"Wah, Kyle-kun!" Lily grabbed Daniel by the arm, yet again, and dragged him across the room while ignoring the stares she got for being so hyper, and that Daniel got for his hair and ears. With Daniel now planted in a desk, Lily took her own next to her pair of friends. "Daniel, this is Kyle and Stephanie. Guys, this is Daniel, the guy I told you about last year."

He looked them over. Kyle appeared to be taller than him, with blackish-brown hair that was at least as long as down to his neck joint from the ponytail that was tied back, and brown eyes that looked like fresh tilled earth. He looked to be of Aisan descent, but he definitely had European lineage as well, considering how much wider his eyes were, and the lighter tone of his skin.

The girl sitting next to him, Stephanie, had bark brown hair that was tied back in a bun, and green eyes that looked like the sea. She had a small necklace on, as well as a silver ring on her right hand. Now that Daniel noticed that point, he saw that Kyle had a matching ring on his own hand. Signs pointed toward these two being a couple.

Taking hold of one of Daniel's sidelocks, Kyle looked at it in amazement before glancing to the doggish ears atop his head. "You weren't kidding," he finally commented after feeling those ears. "He's the genuine article."

Genuine article of what was what Daniel wanted to know, and had been about to ask when Stephanie started tweaking his ears. Oddly, Lily didn't flip out on her for it, though it was probably because Stephanie was already taken, and she obviously was curious. "He's so friggin' cute!" the older girl commented before glancing to Lily. "Can I borrow him?"

"If you weren't my friend," Lily growled while shaking a fist. It was then she sighed. "I've had to keep people off of him because of those ears. Which reminds me. Kyle, you have your mangas, because I didn't bring mine, and Danny doesn't have a clue what the big fuse over how he looks is about."

Looking at Daniel in disbelief, Kyle scratched the back of his own head. "You're kidding me," he remarked before then reaching into his backpack and pulling out a couple of paperback books that had yellow covers. "I'd think he'd have found out before now."

"Found out about what?"

The older boy held out one of the mangas to Daniel, who slowly took it and looked at the front of the cover, now staring in shock; that was him! Or at least, a character drawn to greatly resemble him. But, that didn't make sense, who would use his appearance as a basis for a comic character? And why was he wearing those weird pinkish robes? "How...who...the hell..."

"That would be what I was thinking when I heard about you," Kyle replied, though now he was smiling. He glanced to Lily and gave a shrug that acted like an apology for doubting what she had said before. "He's the real deal, thought I seriously doubt that he's half-youkai."

A giggle from Lily. What was a youkai, and what was so funny about it? "He is adopted," she stated while she ran a hand through his hair. "So, you never know, he just might be a hanyou."

"What and what?" Daniel quipped before it got anymore confusing. "What's a...yo..."

"Youkai." Kyle was first to answer, and Lily let him continue, since he knew more about the subject in question than she did. "It translates into spirit or ghost, though some people translate it as 'demon'. A hanyou is a half-breed, born from a union between a mortal and a youkai." He pointed to the character on the cover of the manga. "That's InuYasha, he's a hanyou, who's father was a great dog youkai lord."

He started flipping through the manga, noticing very quickly just what the character who was his fictional clone was like in terms of attitude and personality. "Does that generally include going on a rampage and being a maniac?" he asked as he looked up from the book.

Kyle shrugged. "He's something of an arrogant berk at first, but-"

The second bell rang then, and the teacher, from her desk, gave the call for things to calm down. "Alright, listen up!" she exclaimed as soon as everyone was quiet. "I want your project outlines done by the end of class today. Remember, commercial projects are due this Friday, so no goofing off!" She quickly began taking roll, then noticed that there was someone extra in the room. "You with the ears," she called. "You the new guy?"

"Yeah," Daniel replied, then quickly decided to head the usual reactions off now. "And before anyone asks, yes, the ears are real."

Okay, judging from the amount of squealing girls, maybe letting them know that he had real dogs ears wasn't the best idea. Oh good, there was Lily with her glare of death at anyone who had the audacity to beg for tweaking rights. Really, were his ears that huge a thing to teenage girls?

Missus Gallagher raised a brow, but didn't continue on the subject. "You're a couple months behind, kid. I hope you can find a group who-"

"He's with us!" came the simultaneous three-way cry from Kyle, Stephanie, and Lily. Maybe getting drafted by these three wasn't such a great idea, considering how odd they already seemed to be.

Again, Missus Gallagher raised a brow in response. "You have my sympathies," she quipped to Daniel as she finished marking the attendance sheet. "As for you three, I better not be getting any last minute concepts after you've blown all the rest of your time on making copies of your anime."

"Hey, that was club related, and I was cleared by Mister Watanabe for that!" Kyle replied, though his tone of voice indicated that the remarks were more playful bantering than serious warnings. "And yes, we've got a project plan." He smiled as the teacher gave him a warning look, then turned back to his group. "So, do we have anything other than the back-up of a 'InuYasha on Adult Swim' promo?"

The girls shook their heads. Not even ten minutes in the class, and already Daniel feared for his grades, rightfully so as well. "Na-dah, though, you didn't exactly help me focus on the project either last night."

I don't wann'a know, Daniel mused as he glanced at Stephanie. He looked to Lily, who sighed dejectedly. This is not good. They better not expect me to have any ideas.

And then the universe realized that it was slacking off at the job of making Daniel's life interesting, and poked the idea into Kyle's head that was needed to get things rolling along again. "I can't do the voice for Inu if we do the promo idea, and there's not much else we really have. We could always do the 'possessed fast food wars' idea..."

"InuYasha promo sounds good to me," the girls said at the same time. It was now that they all looked at Daniel expectedly.

Blink. "Uh, I don't like the way you guys are looking at me."

Kyle smiled, then glanced over to Missus Gallagher. "Hey, is it okay if we use the studio room for a bit? We need to let the newbie do a little audition for something."

"I better not catch you guys pulling his pants off or something like that! There's to be no kiddie porn in my class!"

Okay, if he hadn't been before, now he was worried. "Should I..."

"In here, pup," Lily said as she pulled him into the next room. Kyle waggled his eyebrows at Stephanie, who simply sighed, brought her backpack and the mangas, and followed the rest of the group into the studio. "Alright, Monk. Give him the audition."

There was a big grin on Kyle's face as he searched through the manga and opened it to a spot. "Here, read this, and try to imagine that you're InuYasha." Again, he chuckled. "Shouldn't be too hard for him."

His eyes scanned over the pages, trying to find a good line, and then, he gagged. "You want me to act like him!" Daniel exclaimed in shock. "No way!"

"What's wrong with Inu?" Kyle asked while looking at the manga.

"What's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong; he looks just like me, and is a arrogant, self-absorbed, spoiled jerk!"

The three stared at Daniel in surprise. That kind of response had been unexpected, though at least the fact that InuYasha looked just like him didn't create any bias on the subject. "I wouldn't go that far," Stephanie muttered while she gave a weak smile. "But that does generally describe him for the first few volumes."

"Barring that little opinion on Doggy Boy," Kyle stated as he looked at Daniel in amazement. "Holy crap, you weren't kidding, Lil. He sounds just like Yamaguchi Kappei!"

Blink, blink. Who did what where now and for how many cookies? "Yah-mah-what?"

"InuYasha's voice actor in Japan," Stephanie explained, but she too noticed just how dead perfect he'd sounded in that little outburst. He'd even had the tone of voice flawlessly. "He actually sounds like Richard too...except not a jerk twenty-four seven when covering the British accent."

Kyle shook his head after a moment. "A bit, but he sounds more like Chris than Richard."

Okay, now he had no idea at all who there were talking about. "Chris and Richard?" he said, his eyes blinking in confusion. "People you know, or more voice actors?"

The older boy smiled as he took back his manga. "A bit of both, actually," he replied while glancing to Lily. "We haven't met Richard Cox, but Chris was at Nan Desu Kan last year."

"Last con he went to before he went up to Canada and got hired by Ocean," Stephanie mumbled. "Lucky bastard, has that voice war with Scott and gets to work with him and the Dobsons..."

A smile as Kyle patted his girlfriend on the shoulder. "He said he'd try and keep coming even as just a regular attendee," he said to console her. "And he did send me an e-mail saying he'd try to be at SakuraCon this year, but he's not sure if he'll make it."

"That's right. Who did they decide on for InuYasha's voice in English?" Lily asked as she finally got herself back into the conversation. "I figured that Richard would have been a shoe in because he dubbed Ranma, but there was word Chris might get the slot."

"Chris was heading out to Japan for the next several months, that's why he's not sure he'll make it to SakurakCon," Kyle replied quickly. "Apparently he got an offer from Nintendo on some big project, so he'd probably out of the run."

She snapped her fingers in dismay. "Bugger, I was hoping he'd be English Inu," she muttered. "He's better at not sounding like a jerk all the time."

"It's been how long since Richard did Ranma?" Kyle said to remind her. "He's probably gotten better since then, though Chris would probably do a good job. We did nickname him 'Mini-McNeil' for a reason."

"I thought that was Scott who called him that."

Ears twitching while he found himself not knowing at all what they were talking about, Daniel settled for sighing and leaning against the wall. What had Lily gotten him into, anyway? Her friends seemed to be nuts about a bunch of Japanese cartoons and comics, particularly this one that had someone who looked like him, but acted nothing at all like him. Who wrote this comic anyway? If he got the chance, he was going to have a few words for them about that.

He finally realized that the three had stopped talking about anime conventions and which voice actors they preferred doing what roles. He looked up to see that their attention was now trained solely on him. "Uh, why are you guys looking at me like that again?"

A wicked smile appeared on Kyle's face. "Yuuri-chan," he intoned as he shifted his gaze to Lily. "How long do you think it would take to make a good Inu costume for him, kimono and all?"

He didn't like the gleam that was in her eyes. What were they planning for him now? "A few weeks, maybe a month," she replied calmly. "I'd need him over a lot for fitting it to him though, and we'd need to get a Testusaiga built, preferably a boffer so con security doesn't flip out."

Daniel gulped as he listened to whatever they were plotting. He wasn't completely sure what it was, but he got the feeling it entailed dressing him up like this InuYasha character, something he wasn't too keen on at the moment. "Can the sacrifice be informed what he's being offered to?" the boy squeaked out while his ears drooped down.

A hand found itself on his shoulder. "Trust me," Kyle stated while he looked back at the girls, who seemed to be sharing evil ideas just by eye contact. "You're gonn'a love this."

"I was afraid you'd say that..."