Disclaimer: Despite the fact that I have no artistic talent, it's all mine. Yeah. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Chapter 2

NEXT DAY-KAGOME'S POV

Ahh, it's so good to be unpacked. Sango and I should go try to find our classes, but that would mean venturing forth into the common room to get to the door, which means we could run into Miroku, which Sango is vehemently against; hence our current argument.

"Sango, I really need to do this, your guide might be nice, but apparently mine is not so much on the helpfulness meter..."

"Then go by yourself and risk gropage." Sango said petulantly.

"You're going to have to come out sometime Sango." I said, trying to reason with her.

"Better later than sooner." She huffed.

"How about if we arm ourselves until we get to the door? What sane man would dare try to grope us if we have weapons?"

"No."

"Please."

"No"

"PLEASE."

"No."

"PLEEAAASE." Then I whipped out the famous puppy dog eyes, which no one, especially Sango, could resist.

"All right, all right," She said, although she muttered to herself, "Damn puppy dog eyes."

I grabbed the bat and she grabbed Hiraikotsu and we threw open the door, poised to strike... Yusuke. I must say he was quite scared, ran away muttering something about living with crazy people. Psshaw. He says that like it's a bad thing.

Anyway, our schedules are really unusual. Yes, we have our normal hour long classes, like Japanese and Math, but then we had a couple of classes that lasted two hours once a week. They were weird classes too. Stuff like: Youkai Studies, Miko Training, History of Makai, Elementary healing, and you were required to take at least one, preferably more, of the following: Judo, Archery, Kendo. Strange, huh?

I know what you're thinking. 'How on earth are two teachers going teach all these classes?' Well, they do it with the help of the senior students. See each of our morning classes (the two hour long ones are in the morning) has a senior that teaches it, while Kaede and Genkai wander around observing the seniors. Genkai teaches English and Math, while Kaede teaches Japanese and History, and they split the science classes between them.

Our day starts at 10:00am with our two hour long class, then we have lunch, then we have our one hour classes off and on all day long. Dinner is whenever you can fit it in between the hours of 5:00 and 8:00 and the school day is over by 9:00. It looks like we'll have plenty of time to do homework between classes since there's usually about an hour between every other class. This schedule is Monday through Friday, and we have one two hour class on Saturday then the rest of the weekend is ours to do with as we see fit.

Many of the classes we're taking are going to be held in the huge dojo-like room between the cafeteria and the student lounge. The second floor has five class rooms; each one designated a subject like Japanese or history. Then you have the outdoor training court, and the pool and exercise facilities in the basement. Then there are the three dorm buildings for students, one all girl, on all boy, and one coed. Then the Headmistress' quarters and offices were in another small building. The school building was in the front with the training area slightly behind and to the left side, then across from the training area were the headmistress' quarters and directly behind the school were the three dorm rooms in a horizontal line. From above the buildings looked like a hollow square. In the middle of the square was this glorious little park that had benches and trees and flower and a pond and garden. I could see right away that the square was going to be one of my favorite places.

Touring the whole complex took about 45 minutes and we could see that there weren't many students here. Seventy at the most, I would say I can't wait to meet them all, but that would be a lie. I have a feeling that this year I'm going to have a small group of friends. Ah well, best head back to the dorm and get a good night's sleep for classes tomorrow.

Uh oh, looks like Miroku got back while we were gone and Sango let down her guard when she opened the door. Of course I'm going purely by the sound of someone being beaten into a pulp here. I'm too scared to open the door. Who knows what Sango might do to me?

I cautiously opened the door. Hmm, judging from the unconscious Miroku and the loud music I'd say Sango is sulking. I go to our room and plop down on the bed, knowing Sango well enough to leave her alone so she can calm down.

NEXT DAY

'So far so good, well except for the fact that Sango woke me up three hours early so we could avoid Miroku, only to find him already awake and meditating in the common room. Did I mention he was shirtless and clad only in boxers? Oh, and that he has a nice body. I practically had to wipe Sango's drool for her. I'm definitely going to have to do some matchmaking. The fact that he lives with us only makes it that much easier. Muahahachokes. I hate it when that happens. It's so damn hard to be evil these days. Anyway, like I said so far so good, but it's only,' I check my watch, '9:58! FUCK I'm going to be late!'

Since I figured it wouldn't be good to start off the school year as 'the tardy student' I ran down the stairs, out of the dorm building, through the park, into the main building, and then I dived into the dojo. Then I noticed all the people sitting in neat little rows staring at me like I was some sort of freak.

"Eh heh heh, ermm sorry?" I said scratching my head awkwardly in face of their scrutiny.

The teacher smiled, "Don't worry about it. You're only two minutes late." And then she continued in her recitation of her rules.

Lucky for me that Miroku's guide Yukina is teaching elementary healing. She is really nice. But then again, I should have already known that. After all, Miroku came back from his tour without any bruises. She has to be a saint. So far Yukina is just going over general information like the syllabus and rules. Don't you just love rules?

Anyway, turns out that the huge garden I just love is tended to by the elementary healing class and is where we'll be spending most of our time. We've already got an assignment. We have to pick one of the herbs in the garden and identify its medicinal properties. That's not going to be hard at all. Ji-chan was really into traditional remedies and history before he died, so I'm practically a walking encyclopedia of traditional lore. Hmmmm, it's lunchtime in about a minute. I hope Sango and I don't have to sit with the pervert. I can only imagine what Sango would do to me.

LUNCH

OH MY GOD! The food here is actually recognizable and it smells so gooood. Let's just hope that the taste is as good as the smell. Hmm. Where to sit? I pondered; then I noticed an empty table in the far corner. Perfect, now I just have to wait for Sango to show up. As I was sitting down I noticed a quite remarkable looking guy striding angrily toward me. Such pretty silvery hair...too bad he doesn't look at all happy.

"You girl, what are you doing at our table?" he inquired angrily

Hmm he looks familiar, now where have I seen him before...Oh! He looks like Inuyasha and he was the albino girl's guide.

"Well!"

"Ermm...is sitting an acceptable answer?

"NO!"

"How about waiting for someone to take the stick out of your ass!" and then I dumped my apple sauce on his head. And three seconds later I realized what I'd done.

"Nuuuuuu, my poor food," I whined my lip quivering.

"Cease your whimpering!" he demanded

"But...my foood..."

He sighed then said, "Here girl, take mine and stop your whining."

I grinned happily, "APPLESAUCE!" I exclaimed, then I hugged it rather awkwardly...Crap! Sango! I thrust the empty dish of applesauce into his hand. "Try to look like you dumped this on yourself!"

He looked at me like I was crazy; then said firmly, "No."

"PLEAASE" I pleaded, whipping out the puppy dog eyes once more.

"Hah. Don't even try that on me. I invented puppy dog eyes," he said disdainfully.

"Damn! Errr, oh. Hi Sango," I smiled innocently, "How's it going?"

Sango sighed, "Kagome, how many times do I have to tell you not to throw food...OH GOD! I sound like my mom! Look what you've done Kagome!"

"ME! What did I do! You could have just let me have fun like a regular abnormal person but noooo, you have to be all mature."

Sesshoumaru coughed to get our attention then said, "As entertaining as this is, you have to leave now. This is my table."

"I don't see your name on it." I replied. He just pointed to a spot on the bench. There it was 'Sesshoumaru'. "Well damn." I got out my pen, crossed off his name and wrote down my own, then said, "Problem solved. Since this is my table now, I say either sit or leave, but do not order me around."

Then he growled at me. I mean it, he literally growled. I didn't think that human vocal cords could do that. Then some red haired guy showed up and it looked like he was trying to calm Sesshoumaru down, because he was saying something about Sesshoumaru controlling his instincts.

He looks familiar, what's his name...something like Karma or Kunyo, maybe Kurama...yeah I think that's it, Kurama. Just then Botan came up to Kurama and asked him what was going on. He replied that we usurped Sesshoumaru's territory and now Sesshoumaru was upset. Botan looked at Sango and me. She saw Sango looking worried and me eating my applesauce, apparently oblivious. How wrong she was. I looked up, "You know I haven't heard of many humans having instincts that are enraged by invasions of territory, but there's a simple solution to this. Just have him invite me to sit here." Everybody looked amazed and thoughtful, except for Sango, of course. She's used to my insightfulness, shrugs, I don't know why everyone thinks I'm a ditz.

"That could work. Sesshoumaru, invite her." Kurama demanded

"Hmmph, fine. This Sesshoumaru invites you to dine in his presence," he said in a grudging manner, then he mumbled "But only because you won't leave and the school frowns upon the maiming of new students." pouts

"Geez, don't get your panties in a twist." I replied.

"She dares mention this Sesshoumaru's undergarments! For that she must die!" and then he lunged at me.

"EEEP!" I squeaked, and then I dove behind the nearest person, which happened to be Kagura.

Sesshoumaru then crashed into Kagura. Kagura got angry and dumped more food on Sesshoumaru, cursed a lot (Mostly comments about his upbringing and dogs, I didn't really understand it) and stormed away. Sesshoumaru glared at me and then he too stormed away.

Kurama started laughing hysterically. "Okay, okay. I know he's my friend, but that was great! I've never seen anyone get to him the way you just did."

I shrugged, "What can I say? I've got a gift."

Sango groaned, "More like a curse. Who ends up pulling your arse out of the fire? Your friends do. Who's the only friend you've got here? Me. Oh god, just kill me now and put me out of my misery."

"Aww, Sango, I'm not that bad...hey...when did all these people get here?" I said while looking around. I saw an ugly orange haired guy holding Yukina's hand, Botan was practically sitting on Kurama's lap, Shippo and Kanna were sitting together whispering, Kouga and Ayame were making out in the corner, which I found very disturbing by the way, Kikyo was flirting with Inuyasha who was FEHing madly and trying not to blush. Ahhh, the matchmaking opportunities Muahahachokes sigh. I give up. I looked over at my current matchmaking interests, Sango and Miroku, and saw Miroku's hand creeping towards Sango's butt...uh oh WHACK oooo that hurt. I can tell by the broken lunch tray Sango was holding. Inuyasha looked up.

"Hey wench, Kurama here has just been regaling us with the story of what you did to my idiot brother. I give you an A for effort and a C for originality. Mediocre over all, but with a little practice you could have potential."

I grinned wickedly. "Why thanks for the advice Inuyasha, and for volunteering to be my test subject. I truly appreciate the help."

"WHAT! I never agreed to be a test subject. Your brain's broken."

I shrugged "I know what I heard, but I know how it must pain you to admit to such a generous and caring gesture, so we'll pretend you never said it."

"But, but..."

The whole table laughed, and then the bell rang, cutting off any further protest from Inuyasha.

I must admit I wasn't too enthusiastic about my next class. Math the horror of all high school students, well at least the ones with any sense at all. I can't believe that some people actually enjoy this class. I can't believe that Sango's one of them. If she wasn't family I might have to consider her a traitor and make her walk the plank. Well, assuming I, ya know, had a plank. Anyway, back to Algebra 2. Ugh. Just shoot me now. I don't know how I'm going to make it through the year. This is the first day so it hasn't been too bad. As to who's in my class, well Sango's actually good at math, like I mentioned earlier, so she's in Trig. Kagura's older than us so she's in Trig too, and Shippo and Kanna are younger so they're in Algebra 1. According to Miroku's big mouth Inuyasha's worse than I am at math, and is still in Geometry. Kouga and Miroku are both in class with me though.

I overheard Kouga calling Ayame 'his woman'. Personally, I would feel sorry for her, but I'm stuck rooming with Mr. 'Grope you if you come within five feet of me'. Speaking of Miroku, guess who I got stuck sitting by? That's right and by the time class was over my butt was practically numb and Miroku had some pretty impressive bumps and bruises, mainly from the big ol' math textbook I kept hitting him with, but Boton, who was sitting on his other side, got some pretty good hits in too. She was too nice to use the textbook though. Oh well, she'll learn, since by some ungodly intervention we have these seats for the rest of the term.

English and Japanese, my next two classes were relatively uneventful. By now Kaede and Genkai had learned of Miroku's 'tendencies' and seated him in the middle of a group of guys. Shippo, Kagura, and Kanna weren't in our classes here either, age difference again. Like I said, pretty uneventful, just going over the rules and stuff. Well Genkai did seat me next to Inuyasha, but he was still sulking about lunch. Baby.

My next class is AP biology, and none of the other new people are in it. At least from what I've heard. So basically here I am, hoping to find someone I've at least seen before in this class.

Uh oh, a very familiar head of silver hair is headed this way. I bit my lip and looked for a place to hide, 'let's see...potted plant, no...desk, no...spiky haired guy, could work.' Then I casually walked behind the guy while Sesshoumaru stalked nearer.

"All right, where is she! I can smell her stink."

Without thinking I popped my head out from behind the guy, and said indignantly, "I do not smell bad!" Then my eyes went wide as I realized what I'd done, I clapped my hand over my mouth and retracted my head back behind spiky guy. 'Stupid Kagome stupid!' I thought. Then Sesshoumaru shoved the spiky haired boy aside.

"Eh heh heh...Hi Sesshoumaru." I said nervously.

"Sesshoumaru. You how dare you touch me?" spiky haired boy growled.

"It was your own fault Hiei. You shouldn't have been hiding her from me."

"Me! Hide a ningen! She was standing behind me is all."

"Actually I was hiding from Sesshoumaru..." I started to say, but then I noticed both guys glaring at me. "EEP!" I squeaked; then I noticed Kurama across the room and shouted, "Kurama! Save me!"

Kurama looked exasperated, "Geez, that Sango girl wasn't kidding."

"Errm, no. The good news is I'm usually not this bad, but you have to save me. They're going to maim me and completely disregard school policy."

"Guys..."

"This Sesshoumaru is leaving."

"Hn."

Both guys glared at me and then stalked off to opposite ends of the room. I decided it would be safest to sit in the middle.

Kaede walked in, "Sorry I'm late...why is it so quiet in here?"

"No reason," I replied. "I think they're a little uncomfortable around me."

"All right..." Kaede said skeptically.

Ughh and more of the ever present rule reciting began...my eyelids started to droop and then, all of a sudden the bell rang. Hmm. Better not get in the habit of doing that. This class is too small for me to be able to get away with it.

A lot of people are in advanced history. Ji-chan's the reason I'm in it. Sango comes from a long line of Taija-yas, so she gets lots of history lessons. Miroku's from a long line of, can you believe it? Monks. I'm not really sure how everyone else made it into advanced, but the number of people here is truly amazing. We have to use the dojo as the class room. What really amazes me is Inuyasha's in this class. Ah well. Last class of the day and I'm exhausted. I'm hitting the sack as soon as Sango and I finish homework.

Owari