Disclaimer: I don not own InuYasha.
Chapter 1:
"Hojo, wake up! You're alarm has been going on for a while now!" The usual words, the millionth time in a row since Kami knows when awoke a sleepy eyed teen of seventeen. "Dad! Just ten more minutes.. please!" A brown-eyed, sleepy Hojo begged pressing his pillow over his head to block the light his father lit to awake him. His alarm rang for the third time that hour with interludes of ten minutes. He finally awoke when his sister came in, pouncing him in a tickle fight. "No Rin! Please... hahaha, STOP!" He gave up pleading and attacked the skinny eleven-year-old by tickling her in return. "Hehehe! Stop Hojo, I give up... hahaha!" He arose, yawning and stretching, gawking at the time his alarm clock flashed. "Seven fifty?" He cried out loud as he rushed to wash his face. The water was ice cold, but he didn't care, he was late on his first day as a senior in high school. He shot out of his private bathroom and into his room, as fast as a bullet. His uniform shirts and pants were hung neatly in front of dress shirts and fancy slacks in his closet. He took a uniform shirt and a pair of pants, threw them on his bed and hurried towards his underwear drawer. He pulled out a pair of socks and a clean white undershirt and started clothing himself.
In less than five minutes, he dashed out of his room, straight into the kitchen, calling out, "Dad! I'm leaving!" as he rushed through and headed to the front door. He ran as fast as his feet could handle until he noticed his buddies, walking leisurely in front of him. "Hey, guys! Aren't ya gonna be late to school?" he questioned, closing the distance between him and his three friends. Shinichi, Haru, and Hiroshi shared confused stares and in seconds began laughing. Hojo stared bewildered, "Uh.. guys? What's so funny?" Shinichi, the smart one, decided to enlighten him with an explanation, "Hojo... did you forget this year classes begin at 8:45? It's merely 8:00 A.M.!" His eyes narrowed. It was a ten-minute trip from home to school and vice versa. If he would have remembered, he could've eaten breakfast at home. Anything was better than the breakfast they served at school. His eyebrow twitched and his hand formed a tight fist as if ready to strike. "You mean I awoke from the best of dreams... to.... ugh..." he shouted. His friends stared, bewildered. "Uh... best of dreams? What about?" asked Haru with a hint of suspicion. "Oh... was it a dream about... Kagome?" Hiroshi teased. "Ka...go...me?" Hojo stuttered. His three friends nodded. "No, not really," was his awaited answer. "Then what?" a worried Shinichi asked. "It was only a forest with tons of trees and a starry sky, but the weird thing is... it felt like... home.... and uh..." he searched his mind's dictionary to find a word, when he noticed his friends staring worriedly at him. "Hojo? Are you feeling alright, bro?" Haru asked. "Yeah! Forget about it... it wasn't that good. I guess I exaggerated when I said it was the best of dreams..."
His three friends sighed. "Hey Hojo, look who goes there! It's none other than Higurashi..." Hiroshi teased. "Oh.. um... guys, I'm gonna go say hi... I'll see you later..." He rushed across the street and joined the lonely girl with the yellow backpack. "Hi there, Kagome." She seemed to be deep in thought and was suddenly startled. "Oh... hi Hojo! How's it going?" She responded after recovering quite quickly. "So far, not so good. I woke up too early today, and I needed more sleep... anyhow, you look kind of down. Is everything okay?" She nodded in answer to his question and gave him a smile. "C'mon... I know there's something, but if you are not willing to share... I wont pressure you." She seem to give up and locked eyes with him as she stopped walking. "I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye... the last words I said to him were... 'I hate you' over a stupid cell phone..." Hojo wondered who 'he' was or where 'he' left. "I'm sorry, Kagome." He decided not to hurt her by asking. She sighed and turned away. Hojo felt ill. 'Good, you jerk.. you made her feel worse!' he thought to himself. When he ran his hand through her hair as to comfort her, she started sobbing. "Kagome... if you must cry, I'm here for you," he said, sincerely. "Thank you, Hojo" she whispered locking eyes with him once more. He felt his heart sink. He'd never seen Kagome cry before, he didn't want to see her cry ever again. He hugged her tightly against his chest. "He died last week in a car accident, to think I had been arguing with him for a damn cell phone he refused to buy me..." she sobbed. They stood there in the sidewalk for a few minutes until her tears seized. 'Now I'm really gonna be late... but who cares? Kagome's worth it... she's worth a detention and much, much more.. I just wish she could see how much she means to me...' She backed away from him, wiping the last tears that slipped from her brown eyes. "I'm sorry, Hojo." He shook his head, "Don't be silly, Kagome. You have nothing to be sorry about.." She wiped her face with the right sleeve of her uniform shirt and smiled. Her smile was a silent 'thank you' for his understanding. They walked to school together and parted as they found their first class to be different. He was in class B and she was in class A, after all. When classes ended, he searched high and low for her, but didn't find her.
Please R&R... I've got more. Tell me how I'm doing. How can I improve? And please... no flames. Thanks.