Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha… If I did do you really think I'd be wasting my time in college?

A/N:AHHH! I'm alive! This took so much longer than I had anticipated. Things kept coming up and then my professors decided that dumping a bunch of homework on me would be a good idea. Any way, the important thing is that I haven't given up on this story. Just to clarify, Fluffy is not related to InuYasha and he is now one of the good guys, though I will do my best not to change his personality too much. And, for those of you worrying about how Miroku and InuYasha are treating Kagome, that part will be resolved in time. So, without further ado, on to Chapter 3!

Chapter 3

Kagome just stared at the envelope, the red seal barely registering in her mind. Why couldn't they have just waited a couple of days? She took a deep breath and started to open the letter. Inside was a piece of heavy parchment and when she unfolded it she was greeted by very neat and ornate handwriting.

Miss Kagome,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you as a full member of the guard. As you a well aware we are a bit short staffed at the moment so your services will be required immediately. Please report to head quarters on Friday the 25th to receive your assignment and partner. Enclosed please find the address to which you will report and round trip fare.

Sincerely,

Sesshomaru

Below the signature, an address was printed. It's all the way across town, she whined. Kagome looked in the envelope once more and found enough money for a cab to and from the given address. And what was that about a partner? With another heavy sigh, she stuffed the letter into her back pack and went upstairs to start her homework.

Flopping down on her bed, Kagome couldn't help but complain. It wasn't fair, all most kids had to worry about was what paper was due tomorrow or who they were going to the dance with. She, on the other hand, didn't have time for such petty worries. She had bigger things to think about, like keeping certain demons from claiming certain artifacts. Grumbling something about a writing assignment, Kagome got up from her bed, sat down at her desk, and buried herself under the mountain of homework that needed to be done.

-:-

"Done," Kagome exclaimed as she tossed her pencil down onto her chemistry book. "Nothing like balancing a few Red-ox reactions," she said sarcastically as she rose from her seat. As she opened her door she was greeted by the aroma of her mother's cooking. Nice to know that some things never change, she thought to herself as she walked down the stairs.

"Well, Well, look who finally decided to make her presence known." Kagome's grandfather teased as she walked into the kitchen.

"Well, excuse me," she replied, "It's not my fault my teachers decided to try to kill me with homework on my first day."

"Ha ha," her brother said as he shoveled potatoes into his mouth. "I didn't have any homework." Kagome stuck her tongue out at him in response.

"All right, you two," Mrs. Higurashi said as she sat down at the table, "let's just have a quiet dinner for a change."

"OK, Mom," the two siblings yielded simultaneously.

"So, what was that letter about, Kagome?" Mrs. Higurashi asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, nothing really," Kagome replied, "Just information about my first assignment."

"You should be proud to be a Guardian!" her grandfather chimed in. "Why, in my day…" he trailed off, obviously remembering something that happened long ago. He really wasn't much of a priest himself but he took pride in the knowledge that his granddaughter was continuing in the footsteps of her ancestors. Kagome just nodded and turned back to her plate.

-:-

The next morning started out much like the previous one. Kagome woke up cursing her alarm clock and proceeded to take her morning shower. After breakfast Sango arrived and the two girls walked the several blocks to the high school. After arriving, the girls parted ways and headed off to their respective classes. Kagome took a front seat and waited for her math class to begin.

Soon after she had pulled out her text and notebook, Kagome saw Miroku enter the class room, and he wasn't alone. Following behind him were no less than five extremely excited girls. Kagome watched in amazement as the group of girls followed him to his seat and gathered around him, each one pushing the others to get as close as possible. He winked at Kagome when he noticed her staring at the group. Shaking her head, Kagome turned back to the front of the class and opened up her text book to the page that the teacher had left off on yesterday. A few minutes later Mr. Myouga entered the classroom and started his lecture.

-:-

Before Kagome knew it, lunch had come and gone, along with her afternoon classes. She was currently spending her last period study hall in the library, trying to get a head start on her homework for the night. Glancing around her, Kagome could see a few other students doing the same. She turned back to her math homework, which was succeeding in giving her a migraine. Who actually used trigonometry in real life anyway? It wasn't like she would ever see the law of cosines in her adult life, not to mention she had no clue how to work the problems anyway. Sighing, she picked up her pencil and began a new assault on the offending math problems.

A few minutes later, Kagome was interrupted when a shadow fell across her math book. Looking up, she came face to face with none other than Miroku.

"Is this seat taken?" He asked, a friendly smile gracing his face.

"Um…no." Kagome replied a bit hesitantly and watched as he pulled his book bag off of his back and sat down on the opposite side of the table. He then proceeded to pull out a notebook and textbook.

"So, how has your day been so far?" He asked, trying to make conversation

"All right," Kagome replied, "nothing too interesting happened." Miroku scoffed at her last remark.

"Get used to it. Nothing interesting ever happens around here."

"That can't be true. Something is bound to happen at some point in time."

"Not around here, trust me." Kagome shrugged and turned back to her math homework. Silence fell at the table as both teens became absorbed in their respective tasks. Letting out a heavy sigh, Kagome began to erase the problem she had been trying to work out.

"Is something wrong?" Miroku asked as he noticed her eraser flying over her paper.

"No…well, yes. I don't understand a single problem of today's math homework."

"Oh, is that all?" He replied with a grin as he moved around the table to sit next to Kagome.

"What do you mean, 'is that all?'? It's a rather large problem considering there's going to be a test tomorrow." She said, eyeing him suspiciously.

"What I mean to say is that you are in luck. I happen to be a genius in math."

"You are?" Kagome asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep." Was his reply as he took up her pencil and began to work out the math problem that Kagome had been having so much trouble with earlier. Kagome stared in shock as the pencil flew over the paper.

"How did you do that?" She demanded when he had finished.

"It's actually really easy once you get the hang of it." He said with a grin. "Here, I'll show you." They spent the rest of the period hunched over Kagome's math book, Miroku explaining how to work out the equations and correcting Kagome when she missed something or used a term in the wrong way. When the bell rang the two teens picked up their bags and made their way out of the library.

"Thanks again for all of your help, Miroku." Kagome said as they turned down the hall towards the front entrance of the school.

"Anytime, what are friends for anyway?" Kagome stopped walking when she heard this comment.

"Is something wrong?" Miroku asked when he noticed that she had fallen behind.

"No, nothing's wrong." Kagome replied, shaking her head. She hoped that he didn't catch the edge of shock that her voice contained. Miroku shrugged and began walking again.

When they reached the front doors of the school they waved good bye as Miroku headed off to the parking lot and Kagome towards the sidewalk that ran in front of the school yard. There, Kagome meet up with Sango, who was giving her an appraising look.

"What?" Kagome asked, uncomfortable with the look her friend was giving her.

"You came out with Miroku." Sango said rather icily.

"What about it?" Kagome asked, confused at her friend's tone.

"Why?"

"We were in study hall together. He helped me with my math homework. It only seemed natural that we would walk out together. Is there something wrong with that?"

"Be careful around him." Sango said as she turned down the sidewalk and began the walk home. Kagome shook her head and followed after, her head spinning with more unanswered questions. After a while, Sango broke the silence.

"Do you have any plans for this weekend?" At the mention of the weekend, Kagome was reminded that she was supposed to report to headquarters to get her up coming assignment. Of course, she couldn't let Sango know this. It was too dangerous.

"Well, I guess I'm free on Saturday."

"Cool, did you want to go see a movie or something?"

"Sure, what did you have in mind?"

"Well, I was thinking we could go see The Chronicles of Narnia on Saturday. I haven't seen it yet and I really want to."

"Sounds good to me. Do you know what time?"

"Not yet, I'll check them out and call you on Friday, OK?"

"All right, see you tomorrow." Kagome said as she turned down the street that lead to her house.

"Yep! Bye now." Sango waved and Kagome made her way home.

-:-

The rest of the week seemed to fly by. Things got progressively easier and she started to make more friends in each of her classes. She even invited another girl, Ayame, to sit with her and Sango at lunch and Ayame had accepted. InuYasha continued to ignore her in Chemistry and sat as far away from her as the table would allow. The only time he ever acknowledged her presence was when a lab called for it. Miroku had taken to joining her in the library during their study hall and continued to help her with her math homework when she required it. To her surprise, she was actually beginning to understand the material.

However, today was Friday and Kagome was finding it incredibly hard to concentrate on her essay for English Lit. She was currently staring out the large window in the library and tapping her pencil against her notebook. After school she would go meet her senior officer and receive her orders. She was still a bit fuzzy on the partner bit.

"Are you sure you're all right?"

"Huh?" Kagome jumped at Miroku's question.

"I said, are you sure you're all right?" He asked again.

"Of course, what would be wrong?"

"You tell me." He replied, with a skeptical look on his face.

"What makes you think something is wrong?" She asked, avoiding his penetrating gaze.

"I don't know," he replied sarcastically, "maybe the way that you can't seem to sit still?"

"Oh, I just had a lot of soda at lunch." She lied quickly.

"If you say so." He replied as he turned back to his homework. Kagome did the same and tried her best to concentrate on her essay. What was it supposed to be on again? Oh, right, the religious symbolism in Dracula. The bell couldn't come soon enough.

When the bell finally rang, Kagome gathered her books as fast as possible and all but ran out of the library, Miroku watching her all the way with a puzzled expression on his face. She made her way out of the school as fast as she could and proceeded to the road in front of the school. She had already told Sango that she had somewhere to be and would not be walking home with her. Kagome chewed on her bottom lip as she waited to hail a cab. When one finally arrived she gave the driver the address and began to stare out the window. The driver made his way through down town and to the other side of the city. As Kagome watched, the commercial buildings gave way to housing developments with the frequency of houses diminishing as the ride continued. It seemed hours later when the driver turned down a secluded drive. Kagome turned her attention to the front of the car as the house came into view.

The large paved driveway lead up to a white mansion. At the front there were several stairs leading up to a large porch which spanned the entire front of the building. Four large columns supported an overhang which served as shelter for the porch. As the cab pulled up to the front doors, Kagome began to dig out the money that she had received with the letter. She paid the ridiculously large fare and walked up to the house. Before she had a chance to knock, the door opened and she was greeted by a middle aged woman.

"Welcome, you have been expected." The woman said as she stepped back to allow Kagome entrance into the house.

"Er…thank you." Kagome replied, a bit baffled at the woman's sudden appearance. Then again, everyone in the house could probably have sensed her arrival.

"This way," the woman said as she walked down a hall to the left. The woman led Kagome to end of the hall and showed her into a room which looked much like her aunt's study. "They will be right with you." Kagome nodded as the woman bowed and walked out of the room. She wondered idly who "they" were. She walked further into the room, taking in the décor. There was a large mahogany desk in front of the far wall with two large, upholstered chairs in front. To her right was a set of large double glass doors that lead onto a large patio. A fair sized pond surrounded by large oak trees could be seen beyond the patio. The walls of the room were lined with enormous book cases. Most of the volumes contained in the book cases seemed to be really old, possibly first editions. She had never seen so many books outside of a library before.

Kagome turned as she heard the door open behind her. She watched as a tall man with unbelievably long, white hair entered the room. He carried himself very purposely and gave off a regal vibe. Although he was dressed simply, black trousers with a deep blue sweater, the effect was nothing less than striking.

Behind was a guy around Kagome's age, his long black hair pulled back into a ponytail high on his head. He was dressed in the style of a normal high school teen, baggy jeans and a t-shirt.

"Welcome, Kagome. Please have a seat." The older man said as he motioned to one of the upholstered chairs.

"Thank you." Kagome replied as she took a seat. The white haired man sat behind the desk while the one with the black hair sat in the other chair to Kagome's left.

"My name is Sesshomaru and I will be the one overseeing your duties. As you know, the Order of Malevolence has been increasing in its activity during the past couple of weeks. Therefore, every Guardian is needed. You, along with your partner and other Guardians, will maintain a constant watch for any suspicious activity within your given area. If you notice anything out of the ordinary, you will report to me before investigating further. Do you understand?" Kagome nodded. He sure knew how to get to the point. "Good. In turn, you will be notified of any activity that comes to my attention. You will also be ready to take action when ever you are called upon. Your current patrolling area will be within a five mile radius of the high school you currently attend. Are you clear on everything?"

"Everything except one sir." Kagome replied

"And what may that be?"

"Who is to be my partner?"

"Kouga," Sesshomaru replied, motioning to the boy at Kagome's left. Kagome gave him startled glance before looking back to Sesshomaru. "He has already been working in this area for a few years and will be able to answer any questions you may have about your duties. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some pressing matters to deal with. Good day to you both." He concluded as he rose from his seat. The boy named Kouga did the same and Kagome followed suit. Once outside the office, Sesshomaru turned to the older woman from before.

"Yuki, please call a cab to take these two home and show them out."

"Of course sir," the woman bowed and motioned for Kagome and Kouga to follow her. The entered the front room and were told to take a seat on the couch that sat in the middle of the room.

"I will be back when your transportation has arrived." Yuki said as she disappeared through another door. Kagome didn't know what to do or say. Luckily for her, Kouga took the intiative and started a conversation.

"So, you're new to the guard huh?"

"Yes, I am." Kagome said and gave him a small smile.

"Well, don't worry. I'll take good care of you." He winked as he said this last bit and put his arm around her. Just what I need, thought Kagome, This is going to be one long ride home.

And there's Chapter 3. Who would have thought Miroku to be a genius in math?

Any way, I don't think I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. If anyone thinks it could use a revision feel free to tell me so and give me any suggestions you may have. As always, please review if you took the time to read it and thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. Hopefully the next chapter won't be so long in coming.