Never Ending Days
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, but I do own Katori and her mysterious friend!
A/N: Ok, thanks to one of my friends, waves to Corisu Li: I have decided to redo this chapter. At first I was going to delete it, but I decided not to. Hope its better! On with the fic!
Ch.1
Enter: The Girl from America!
Mr. Musashi was situated in front of a large classroom that had windows on the left side leading to outside world, and windows on the right leading to the hallways of the school. The entrance to the room was semi-diagonal to the wooden podium, which stood next to Mr. Musashi's oak desk. Mr. Musashi glanced at the podium and read over his notes, and then He adjusted his glasses and turned to the black board.
"Now, the English word for sumomo is plum, and is spelled P-L-U-M." Mr. Musashi's chalk glided over the board spelling out the word. He turned back to the class and observed the students over the rim of his glasses as they copied into their notebooks. His stern eyes traveled from the clock above the door, to the empty seat near the hallway windows, then to his attendance book. He let out disgruntled sigh. He was supposed to receive a new student from the United States, and on the first day the student was late.
At that moment, as if waiting for those exact thoughts, the door to the room slide open and the Principal stepped through, her arm draped over a young girls shoulders.
"Good Morning Mio-san," Mr. Musashi nodded to the principal and adjusted his glasses to get a better look at the girl. "Is this the exchange student?" he asked.
Ms. Mio nodded and gently pushed the girl forward. "Please excuse us. Her plane was delayed last night and she couldn't get here till morning. Her bags are in the office, and she is to come and collect them at the end of the day." Ms. Mio bowed slightly to Mr. Musashi and left the room. Mr. Musashi took the time to study the girl further. Her long dark auburn hair was tied back into a braid. She had a slight build implying she was some sort of athlete, and her skin was tanned. He raised his eyebrow in curiosity, was it her natural color or non-natural? He shook his head slightly and turned to his attendance book.
The class stared in silent hesitation at the girl. A young man, with a patch of hair dyed dark gray, near the center of the room turned to his friend, with a slight Mohawk, in the back corner and made a face. The Mohawk boy covered his mouth in an attempt to stifle his laughter.
Mr. Musashi noted the slight increase in volume and cleared his throat to restore order. He then motioned for the girl to step closer, when she did not he approached her and placed his hand on her shoulder. She must have been in lost in thought because she jumped. Her dark blue eyes shot up and stared at him, startled. He smiled gently and watched her drink in her surroundings, a light blush finding its way to her cheeks. He turned to the class and cleared his throat again.
"Everyone, I would like you to welcome Ma-."
"Katori. I would like to be called Katori, sir."
Mr. Musashi looked down at the girl, surprise evident on his face. She had interrupted him, speaking prefect Japanese no less. Her voice was rich and each word came out perfectly as if she had been born in Japan. Mr. Musashi pushed his spectacles farther up his nose and continued, eyeing Katori cautiously.
"Alright then, we'll call you Katori Sc-."Again he was cut off, only this time she turned to him and smiled.
"Actually, I would like you to call me Katori Torres, all right?" Her smile was so innocent, but there was no warmth radiating from it. Mr. Musashi just nodded, an almost horrified expression playing across his face. The class looked just as equally appalled. This American girl had the gal to come to their country, boss their teacher around, and on top of that act like she already knows everything. She had some nerve. Mr. Musashi snapped out of his trance and pointed towards the empty desk he had been gazing at before.
With an almost disgusted tone he said. "Please take your seat Ms. Torres." Katori frowned at this but shrugged it off and took her seat. The girl seated next to Katori scooted her desk away slightly and leaned over to whisper to her friend.
"Yura…" And when now reply came, she leaned over father, her red pigtails swinging freely from her shoulders. "Yura!"
"What!" Yura replied keeping her eyes focused on Mr. Musashi.
"What's with the new girl?"
Yura rolled her eyes. How was she supposed to respond to that? "How would I know?"
The girl glared at Yura before continuing. "Well, did you know we were going to have an exchange student?"
Yura smiled curtly and turned to her pestering friend. "No! Now shut up. We'll talk more later."
Her friend stared angrily then abruptly straitened up in her seat, shaking her head to find her pigtails a more comfortable position.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mr. Musashi took one last look at his class. They were all engrossed in a pop-quiz on nouns and their English translations. He had decided to take this time to retrieve Ms. Torres' school records. When he arrived at the teachers lounge, he found no one in the filing room, which was as expected, because classes were in session. He found the filing cabinet marked 'Grade records' and opened the drawer that read 'N through S'. He skimmed through them, and then not finding what he was looking for went through them again. Confusion clouded face as he shut the N-S drawer and opened the T-Z. He looked over the files twice, then three times. He let out a frustrated growl and slammed the file drawer shut, nearly knocking the cabinet over if not for the wall behind it. The history file on Katori wasn't in there. It wasn't under her real last name or the one she seemingly pulled out of midair! 'There had to be some sort of mistake.' He reasoned, trying to calm himself down. 'Just a filing error.' He scratched his balding forehead and started out of the teacher's office. "I'll go talk to Ms. Mio immediately!" he said this rather loudly, scaring another teacher entering the lounge.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ms. Mio was working at her desk, reviewing bills for the school and trying to balance the budget. There was so much to do. The track coach needed new batons, and the Go club needed Go boards. She had to figure out a way to keep everyone happy and still dodge bankruptcy. She sighed heavily, resting her arms on her desk and laying her head down. Becoming a principal was harder then she thought. Suddenly the telephone on her desk beeped, jarring her from the many worries. She reached up lazily with one hand and pressed the 'speak' button.
Her secretary's voice came on. "Mr. Musashi to see you ma'am."
Ms. Mio straitened up in her chair and neatly fixed her hair. "Alright, send him in."
"Okay, you may enter."
Ms. Mio groaned lightly. "Rin."
"Oh, yes ma'am?"
"Please remember to hang up."
Rin giggled an apology and hung up. Ms. Mio sighed; her secretary was young and slightly air-headed. She had just graduated from high school, when her parents died in a car crash. Ms. Mio felt sorry for the child and took her in. Giving her a job and a place to stay. Rin was a great secretary; even if she didn't always got things done on time. The important thing was she got them done efficiently. The door to the office swung open, and Ms. Mio looked up as Musashi entered the room, looking quite flustered.
"Musashi -san, what seems to be the problem?" She asked.
"The exchange student's record files are missing." He replied in a frustrated tone.
"I'm sure you're mistaken, perhaps Rin has not yet filed them. One moment please." She pressed the page button and Rin's voice came on speakerphone.
"Yes, Ma'am?"
"Rin, did you file the exchange records yet?"
"Exchange records? Oh, for the foreign exchange student? No Ma'am I haven't."
"Well, may Musashi -san and I see them?"
"Truthfully, the reason I couldn't file them is that they haven't arrived."
Mr. Musashi and Ms. Mio just stared at the machine in disbelief.
Rin cleared her throat, indicating she was a bit uncomfortable. "I haven't received them through the mail nor through E-mail, ma'am. I'm terribly sorry, but perhaps they're just late. I'll look into it."
"Thank you Rin. That'll be all." There was a click signaling that Rin had remembered to hang up. Silence filled the office and both adults stared at the machine as if it were the source of their problems. Ms. Mio sighed and leaned back in her office chair, and Mr. Musashi began to pace back and forth, obviously in deep thought.
Principal Mio was the first to break the silence. "Perhaps you're right Musashi -san. Its possible they are missing."
Mr. Musashi scratched his head and stopped his pacing. He couldn't think of anything to say, but he didn't have to, Ms. Mio supplied herself with a response.
"Well maybe they'll turn up in a week or so. I guess there's no reason to get worked up. Things like this happen all the time." She leaned forward in her chair and rested her elbows on the desk, lacing her fingers together and placed her head on them. Mr. Musashi adjusted his glasses and turned to leave.
"My class is taking a Quiz, and are expecting me to return. Inform me when the records arrive."
"Very well then. Good day Musashi -san." Ms. Mio watched Musashi -san leave, then her eyes glided over to the luggage sitting in the corner. " Still it is strange."
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mr. Musashi nodded and left saying good-bye to Rin on the way out. He still thought it unusual that the records where MIA, but maybe Mio-san was right. Misplaced or late files occur on a regular basis, no matter how important. He paused outside his classroom door. The students voices could be heard coming from the other side, school was almost out so they were becoming restless. Mr. Musashi tossed his worries aside, regained his composure and slid the door open.
A/N: Ok that's the end of the remade chapter. I'm so glad I got that done. It's seven pages long defiantly longer than the original first chapter. Come back next time for chapter two! Our mysterious Katori meets her host family! Which consists of…one person? That's all for now, see ya!