A/N: Alrighty, peoples. I had said I would update "Singing Off-Key Lullabies" but I don't quite like it anymore. It's turning too serious in the second chapter. If I continued it'd only turn into wry angst. But here's the second chapter. It's long, and... mysterious. Psh. Well, I hope it makes you want to read more. I've made this plot thorough and complex with sub-plots and twists.

So happy reading!

Chapter One

For Higurashi Kagome, college life was not something pretty. Scraping by on grades and minimal homework loads was how she ticked. Social life had dissolved to walks in the park by herself and getting together for a one on one meet-up at the local cafེ. Her love life was nothing better. Within campus walls of Tokyo University, young men of varying ages vied for the archaeologist's affections, but she ignored it.

Everything came after her obsession, her passion: archaeology. All things were at a standstill when it came to learning more historical information. It was all for the sake of education and success. The glory was a bonus.

While some would say, in a philosophically-knowledgeable air, that nothing was the same each day, Kagome blatantly disagreed. Those "some" said the cause was an imperfect and unhappy deity. Again, Higurashi Kagome disagreed. Her belief; the single deity knew what he was doing and allowed ordered chaos.

That ordered chaos had just begun.

-xox-

The day on campus in class was short, much to Higurashi Kagome's relief. This cycle, the schedule, had made her work weary. She trodded down through the Physical Science's main building and shifted her backpack onto the other shoulder. A gasp escaped her mouth when a boy ran past her- or rather tried- but instead rammed his chest into her and grazed shoulder to shoulder. The both went down immediately.

Through her dazed mind, Kagome could hear a masculine grumbling coming from the slumped figure next to her. "Not again... crap... assignment... can't believe..."

She pushed herself onto her hands and let her shoulders slump as she rested her heart. The boy was luckier than her, she noticed, as he had already leaned back on the heels of his shoes taking deep breaths. One of her delicate hands passed over her face and she rubbed at her eyes, barely smearing her eyeshadow and eyeliner.

"Crap."

The one word snapped Kagome out of her mindless musings, and she deliberately slowly twisted her head to face the young man. He was staring at her wide-eyed and slack-jawed, not bothering to blink.

"Pardon me?" she squeaked, confused.

The boy's head of reddish-brown interspersed with dark brown and strawberry blonde hair shook violently as he attempted to wipe away the haze in his mind. A single blink of bright green eyes caught her attention.

"I'm so sorry, Higurashi-sama. I should have been watching where I was going."

"Damn right, you should have!" Came another male's voice from behind her.

Kagome twisted to see her worst fear. Crouched down and picking up a book was Kobayashi Kouga, her stalker of the last seven years of her life; since sixth grade.

"I'm so sorry, so sorry Higurashi-sama. Please forgive me," the boy uttered.

The girl snapped her gaze back to the young man slumped next to her. Instant pity filled her. The way he addressed her gave notice that he thought highly of her. Who would she be to rebuke him?

"There is nothing to forgive," she said softly. She smiled gently when he raised shocked eyes to see her.

"Bu-but... Higurashi-sama! I could have hurt you!" He protested, wringing his hands.

"Don't worry. I-"

"Yeah. Now beat it, rodent. Don't breathe anymore of my woman's air!"

"Kouga!" She admonished. "Don't say such rude things." When she turned to berate him more by wagging a finger at him, she froze in her tracks.

Behind Kouga, on the ground were his two "lackeys" as well as some five other young men gently and meticulously gathering her scattered books and class notes. She blinked twice to clear her mind; this happened every time she fell or dropped her stuff on the campus.

"But I deserve them, Higurashi-sama," the boy whispered slowly standing.

"No, you don't. No one does. What's your name?" Kagome asked as she was helped to stand.

After the boys had finished gathering her belongings, they came to help her stand. One boy timidly handed her the backpack and notebook she always carried. "Thank you." She graced the guy with a smile and his cheeks flamed scarlet.

"My name, Higurashi-sama?" The boy croaked out hoarsely. "It's... Kompuri Seikou. My... my friends call me "Shippou;" I'd be... honoured if you called me that."

"Aww... that's adorable. And I'd love to call you that." She smiled gently, happy for another friend.

Shippou blushed and turned his head away.

Now that she had the opportunity to study him, Kagome noticed the top of his head was just within her direct eyesight. What would such a seemingly young boy be doing on the college campus? "Kompuri-kun, how old are you?"

She vaguely realized that many of the male audience had become more alert. They were obviously hoping he'd be too young to date her.

Kompuri blushed even more brightly at the endearment of his name. He knew as well what the other males in the hallway were thinking. "I'm... uh, I'm seventeen, Higurashi-sama," he stuttered.

"Well, you're cute. I don't have classes until this afternoon so why don't I take you down to Shibuya and treat you to the classiest 'feel-good ice cream'?" she offered with a teasing smile.

He smiled back hesitantly and nodded slowly, his multi-coloured hair swishing lazily.

-xox-

"Yeah, I've always loved that place. We should hang out there together sometime, and you'll get treated right." She smiled that same smile he had come to recognize, and shoveled a large spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.

"Now that sounds fun, Higur– I mean... Kagome-chan."

The girl laughed, amused at his sincerity toward her, but she found it confusing. Why on earth did people act like that to her? She had done nothing particularly special. She had never won a beauty pageant, as she definitely was not some goddess of beauty like the fabled Aphrodite or Athena. Nor was she Hathor, Egyptian goddess of all things feminine.

"So tell me, Shippou, what school do you go to?"

"I go to... Musashi..." Shippou took a bite of his ice cream to avoid her clouded gaze.

"Musashi?" She echoed.

Kompuri nodded in confused fashion at the older woman. What strange behaviour she's displaying, he thought. "Is there something wrong with my school?"

"No, no!" She replied hastily. "Do you happen to know a Sasaki Rin-chan?"

The boy's eyes lit up like a fire. "Yeah! She's my best friend, though some of the guys tease me about that. Why do you ask?"

Kagome smiled brightly and looked to the side, out the restaurant's window. "Rin-chan is a grade younger than you, is she not?"

"Actually two." At her confused glance, he hastened to explain. "I took advanced classes last year but during the middle of third term I finished, so they had to move me up a grade."

"I see," Kagome sighed sadly. "And do you happen to know a Shi-chan or Shi-kun? Rin-chan loves talking about Shi-chan..."

On many occasions the young Rin-chan would stop by with her mother to visit her "Kaggie-kun" and told tales of wild adventures she had with her Shi-chan in the Tokyo rurals. It was always good to know that her little Rin-chan had a friend but she had never gotten to meet her... or him.

His abrupt laughter startled her. "I'm Shi-chan, Shi-kun; it's short for Shippou-chan!" He saw dawning realization in her dark eyes.

"Oh, I'm so pathetic! I can't believe I didn't realize sooner..."

"No it's okay. Most people wouldn't have realized. So why do you ask about the relationship between Shi-chan and Rin-chan?"

She fidgeted nervously, stirring her melted ice cream, before calling over a waiter. The man ogled her as she ordered a malt and had Kompuri-kun order a warm cup of tea. "It's hard..." she stated as the waiter walked away.

"Hmm?"

"Rin-chan often comes to visit me saying: "Shi-chan and I did this! Shi-chan's the greatest. I had fun with Shi-chan." I had always imagined Shi-chan as a girl. Sorry, Kompuri-kun," she added off-handedly.

Shippou 'hmm'ed non-committedly once more and sipped his tea silently. He watched as Kagome spooned up her vanilla malt.

"She told me about trips to the lakeside park. She really loves it there," she whispered so Shippou could barely hear over the clatter of the place.

Kompuri sighed wistfully. They had gone every other day after school and met there every weekend but things had changed. He no longer had much time. Time with his best friend. "I remember once, we were out on the lake and she almost fell in..." He trailed off when he saw his female idol. Her face was scrunched up, as if in deep concentration, and her hands were clutching at the table's edge.

Pain shot up through Kagome's spine, piercing her shoulder blades and running like ice to her fingertips. From her suddenly parched throat she moaned and coughed at the same time. With her back arched, she slumped back into the seat and tipped over, falling to the cold tile of the restaurant. A woman screamed and pointed.

Some younger men, who obviously knew his Higurashi-sama and went to Tokyo U, rushed to check her pulse and breathing.

Shippou scrambled, dialing on his cell phone for the ambulance. "Get away, people! Don't touch her; we don't know what's wrong!"

-xox-

It was hard to move.

She was frozen in shock; in surprise.

"Ain, how...? Father would be furious..." she wanted to shout but whispered fiercely instead.

She shook her head to dispel some disappointment. After all, she had been like that once. She had done that with a boy.

"Osaze! Hey, Osaze!" Called a masculine voice.

The young woman of nineteen turned around and came face to face with her father's advisor's son, Aaron. She could clearly see his form, in perfect male condition, flexing under the strain of running toward her under his robes. He was the epitome of male perfection in their grand city and many of the young women her age were trying to get his attention. But his eyes, she blatantly knew, were set on her.

And sadly, it was not possible.

"Osaze, the King has been wondering where you were all day. He wanted to discuss something important with you," Aaron's baritone voice cooly stated.

"Not now, Aaron. Tell my father that it can wait. I have something to do."

One of his eyebrows quirked and he gave a mysterious smirk as he looked down on her. "Yes, I would deem spying on a younger sibling important as well, were my duties as royal family guardian not more important."

She flushed darkly and turned away, opting to continue her "spying" on her eleven year old sister. She had turned back just in time to see Ain had stood up on the raft in the middle of the lake and had begun to lose her balance. Her frail arms were waving frantically around as she tried to stand upright again, with her young male friend gaping while trying to hold onto her silky robes. She flinched when the boy managed to pull her sister back onto the wooden planks, and the eleven year old plopped loudly back down.

"Yes... spying. But not doing anything to protect that dear little sister of yours." Aaron's grin was dark and malicious, as if he had been hoping she would fall. "I hope to see you inside soon, Osaze," he trilled as he sauntered back into the palace's back garden gates.

She shivered and clutched at her forearms in an attempt to block the sudden chill she felt. Before she walked back through the gates herself, she looked back. Her little sister, Ain, sat on the wooden raft in the lake huddled into the arms of one of her father's general's sons.

If only they could have normal lives.

-xox-

When she came to she knew right away she was back in her home. And somehow she knew she had been taken to a hospital. The question was- how?

"Ano... hello, Higurashi-sama," came a meek voice.

She jumped, startled out of her wits, and peeked over the couch's backing to see Kompuri Seikou standing with one of her mugs in hand, a steaming and tasty smelling liquid obviously in it. Kagome unconsciously licked her lips at the alluring scent. Boy, did that guy know how to make a cup of liquid!

"Hi... what happened to me?" Her brows furrowed in confusion, and he saw it, instantly feeling pity for the girl who couldn't remember the last hour and thirty minutes of her unconscious life.

"You... You fainted at the restaurant, Higurashi-sama. I took you to the hospital, but they found nothing wrong, so they drove us back here. I got your keys and brought you in. You've been here for about forty minutes..." He looked away. He couldn't look at her face.

Higurashi Kagome was his female idol, however odd that sounded. He couldn't bear to look at her after experiencing the sudden sight of her passing out cold in a restaurant in midday. Shippou sighed as he walked closer, still avoiding looking at her, with the cup clenched in his hands.

"Oh, I see. Thank you very much, Kompuri-kun," she nodded her head when he offered her the steaming mug. She stared into the dark fluid as she thought.

Her mind was in a whirl, in a panic and flurry of emotions. What she had seen had made her blood run cold and chilled her bones, though she knew her thoughts were running along the lines of teen-angst corny. Why did she have to be so confused? Why was she the one seeing these unusual things?

The boy's light cough broke through her mind and her glazed eyes focused on his figure. She had seen him, though younger, in her vision. He was there, this "Shippou," playing with her young cousin who was apparently her sister. 'A previous life?' Kagome scoffed at the thought. 'There's no such thing as reincarnation.'

"Higurashi-sama, do you want me to stay? I could help you figure out what happened..." Kompuri Seikou looked worried, as if it was his fault and she smiled in reassurance. Instantly, visibly, his posture eased.

"No," she sighed. "I think I've put you under enough strain; and you barely know me, so that's not quite fair." Kagome giggled to lessen the tension.

"I'm okay with it, Higurashi-sama! You were mumbling about lakeside, so I thought... well, that it might be important to talk..." Shippou shuffled his feet and moved over to one of the sofas across from his Higurashi-sama, while she took a sip of the tea he had concocted.

The fleeting feeling of worry was coursing through him. While he barely knew Kagome on a personal level, he did know of all of her accomplishments since she had been in primary school level two. And he knew her cousin; her cousin was his best friend! He had something to gloat about! But gloating was not the most important thing at the moment. The older woman had seen something that kept her in an unconscious state, something to do with Shi-chan and Rin-chan's past adventures, and he was determined to find out.

"Ung," Kagome moaned lightly as she sunk into the sofa cushions. Hesitation bit at the insides of her skull. "I saw you and Rin-chan, only younger, on a wooden raft on lakeside... somewhere out in a desert-esque area. I was there, hiding behind a tree. That's it." She couldn't divulge any more information to this boy. Although he seemed nice enough, and certainly trustworthy enough- not to mention being best friends with her young cousin- she didn't want him knowing things that were obviously not his right to know about.

He was, after all, only a side character in what she had seen.

You know you wanna review and stuff. Momiji, my bunny muse will feed you pocky and hachimitsu stuffles.