Kagome's first day was an absolute bust. She was doomed to being provoked by one of these damn kids and she knew it.

Kouga had even said it was too soon to come back, that she should take online courses until she was better, until she had been given time to cool off from the final battle, until they were all sure she was-

("For fucks sake Kagome! Souta's human, you can't be so rough with him!"

"I- we used to wrestle all of the time, I- I'm sorr-"

"No! Shut up, Inu! Kagome, it's okay, it was an accident! You fixed me up, right? No harm, no foul!")

-in complete control.

Then the Ootori kid started talking shit and she nearly put him through a pillar, barely remembering to watch her strength.

("Kouga, I can't- I can't do this. I don't know why Midoriko would have chosen me."

"You were given this power for a reason. You can. You have to. Even the mutt believes in you, Kags, you've gotta know that."

"I know, that's why he's... he's been harder on me. He should be. I have the lousiest track record for keeping people safe."

A pause.

"No, Kagome. You really, really don't.")

A head of the fluffiest blond hair popped into her line of sight, and Kagome, who had somehow zoned out, nearly fell backwards in her seat.

"Hi! Kagome, right? I'm son of the headmaster. Suoh, Tamaki!" Following the wheat colored locks was the second prettiest set of violet eyes Kagome had ever seen.

What a strange color combination, she thought, before immediately feeling like an idiot. Her best friends were dogs and wolf demons. She herself had an unnatural eye color, no longer the tawny brown of her birthright.

For a human, Kagome silently added after a subtle sniff.

"I know," Kagome answered boredly. Everyone else had begun to work on packing their things in order to head out for lunch. Already more than halfway through the day. Maybe she could do this.

"You did?" Tamaki excited inquired. "How? Did he mention me?"

"Of course he did," Kagome answered, smiling a bit despite herself. "He has a photo of you on his desk, too. As a little boy."

Tamaki genuinely looked surprised at that, and touched.

Oh, her heart spoke a bit sadly. So it's like that, for them. She never understood distant parents; A good amount of her friends had seemed to have them, though, but for the life of her she couldn't possibly understand. But Tamaki's father had seemed to have the same yearning affection that was so openly displayed on Tamaki's expression. She didn't understand why there was even a distance in the first place.

For the last few years she had acted as a mother- had been a mother, he would insist- to Shippo, a ko-kitsune that she had taken under her wing since the beginning of their travels. Shippo wasn't exactly a human child- he had behaved differently in various ways- but Kagome had enjoyed taking care of him, those few years. Before they were separated.

And now we're not.

Five hundred years had to have been so long for her son. Shippo used to be unable to wait even a week to see her.

"-kay?" a concerned voice suddenly keyed into her ears, like a radio program finally cutting through static. Tamaki was much closer than before, his posture a bit leering, but he looked genuinely concerned. When he saw she was responding, Tamaki slowly leaned in to wipe a tear from her cheek.

"Are you okay?" he asked again, softly. She didn't know what to do with his tenderness.

"I'm fine," the lie scraped on its way out of her mouth as it always did.

Tamaki glanced once more around the room before finally sitting down. Kagome looked as well, surprised to see the classroom emptied except for three of them: Kyoya was still there, sat back in his seat across the room and watching her. The leering posture suddenly made sense; Tamaki had been hiding her meltdown while everyone else left, oblivious. That… she didn't know what to do with his kindness, either.

So Kagome sniffed, looked up at Tamaki and cracked her best French accent: "Merci beaucoup." She rolled the 'r' the same way she would say it in Japanese. It was a terrible attempt, but Tamaki lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Parlez-vous?" he asked eagerly.

"Er, non. Um. Je suis… désolée?"

"It's fine!" Tamaki cried earnestly. "It's just so… it's neat!" His ears were pink, and he mumbled again, "I think it's neat. That you tried. No one really speaks French to me here."

Oh, dammit all. Kagome was feeling her defenses fall in the face of his puppy eyes.

"So, um, Takahashi, have you thought about checking out any clubs yet?" The way Tamaki stumbled over her 'last name' made Kagome's eyes narrow. Hackles raised, she shot a glare to Kyoya, who instinctively held his palms out in a peaceful 'surely, not I' gesture. It made her mouth twist further with disapproval.

"I thought we had an agreement," Kagome spoke, her voice carefully controlled.

"I didn't tell him," Kyoya carefully replied, not willing to risk Kagome getting riled up, but also unwilling to throw Tamaki to the metaphorical wolves.

Kagome grinned sharply. Metaphorical, indeed.

"Is... is everything okay?" Tamaki asked timidly, and shame ran hot in Kagome's veins. What the fuck was she doing? These were humans. Normal, harmless humans. So what if one of them was skilled at getting under her skin? What right did that give her to abuse her responsibilities? To act so callously to people she didn't know?

"Ootori and I came to an understanding that my family name would be kept out of his mouth," Kagome admitted. "It was my own oversight to not ask if anyone else knew." Her eyes appraised the Ootori boy, who had now approached to stand just behind Tamaki. Like a second hand, a left hand to an alpha. Interesting.

She wondered if he knew what he was doing. Probably not.

"Oh!" Tamaki gasped, covering his mouth. "Was I that obvious?"

Kagome smiled again, despite herself. She was more than familiar with how curiosity could get one in trouble.

"Yes," she said, not unkindly, "but being good at lying's not all it's cracked up to be. Sometimes you wish you could tell the truth..." Uh oh.

Kagome cleared her throat, shook her head. "Anyways, no. Haven't, um. Haven't thought about any clubs. What did you have in mind?"

Tamaki beamed.


AN:

ovo; idk what im doing but im havin fun lol