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Physical Exams.

It was all everyone was talking about. Why? She had no freaking clue. It was just a yearly exam; what was so great about that?

Shaking her head at her classmates, Kagome shuffled along with the rest of them, noticing that two very specific people were missing.

"So, how come the Dynamic Duo aren't doing the exam with us? And why do we have to do this anyway? I mean, aren't our records from our normal doctors good enough?" the miko grumbled, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face. She'd missed that piece when doing up her braid today, and she made a reminder to herself to fix it later.

"Dynamic Duo? Oh! You mean Honey-kun and Mori-kun? They went on ahead of us. Something to do with their club," Kotone answered, giving the other senior a lost smile at her blank look.

"That Hosty thing? That is not a club! That's just a bunch of girls fawning over a couple of boys for no reason!"

"Shh!" The normally shy girl slapped a hand over Kagome's mouth, looking around fearfully to see if anyone had heard her. "You have to understand this, Higurashi-kun. A lot of the girls like the Host Club, and if they hear you badmouthing them, they'll make the rest of your time here miserable."

"Mmmph! Hmmph!"

"Eh? What?" the brunette asked, removing her hand.

"I said that your reaction was a little over the top," the former time traveler mumbled, stuffing her hands in her pockets as they continued down another hallway. "You're not part of that group, are you?"

"I... I go occasionally, but I'm not a regular customer," Kotone replied shyly, flushing darkly and tapping her fingers together. "I just... I just want to get to know..."

"Hmm? Get to know who?"

"I... H-Ho-!"

"All right Everyone! When you enter through the doors, a nurse or doctor will escort you to your location to begin your exam! Good luck everyone!" Their Class President announced, waving them in as the doors opened.

It clicked a second later and Kagome stared at the only girl that was willing to talk to her normally. Reaching out, she snagged the other girl's arm, letting the rest of their class pass by as she waited for the hall to empty out.

"You like short, blonde, and cutesy?"

The Yamazaki girl squeaked and hid her red face in her hands. "You must think me like all those other girls..."

Kagome couldn't answer that honestly; she wasn't really sure what to think of the Host Club simply because she didn't have enough information to determine a proper response.

"I can't answer that honestly until I learn a little more about the club," the shrine maiden shrugged, letting the other girl go, "But I can tell you this based on what little I've seen. They may act nice, but their flattery is all a game to them. They don't truly care about the feelings of those girls, otherwise they wouldn't console them with falsities and platitudes that can be passed around like the flu."

Kotone's head drooped and she nodded. "I understand what you mean, but they're not as bad as you think. Sometimes, it's nice to have an unbiased ear to listen to what you're saying and give some sound advice."

"My advice is that most of those girls need a better hobby. And probably some time with a shrink." Screams suddenly came from the room they were outside of and Kagome jerked, sliding into a stance that had been drilled into her head. She was crouched and ready to protect the girl behind her in case anyone attacked.

"Oh! It sounds like they've already started," the brunette murmured, flushing and fidgeting as she stared at the door.

"Started what? A shooting?" the raven-haired girl demanded incredulously.

"No... Physical Exam day is kinda popular with the girls that attend the Host Club."

Kaogme was starting to loathe the phrase 'Host Club'.

"Should I ask why?"

"Well... Maybe we should just get in there and you can tell me what you think youself."

"I don't know if I want to..." the miko deadpanned, sighing when another round of screams filled the air. Seriously, it sounded like someone was murdering people. Still, she did have to go in there.

Bracing herself, she and her classmate walked throught the doors and into the chaos.

Five seconds later, she was scrambling for the door again, shoving doctors and nurses alike aside. She couldn't take the noise!

"Get me out of here!" Kagome snarled, pushing an unusually short blonde doctor out of her way in the process.

"Wait! Kago-chan!" the doctor latched on to her, stopping her in her tracks with a surprisingly strong grip. Looking through the glasses, she realized she recognized those chocolate orbs.

"Haninozuka?! Why the hell are you dressed up like a doctor?!"

"Takashi and I are incognito," the small senior chirped happily, gesturing at Mori as he sent them an affirmative nod.

"You guys look ridiculous," the miko deadpanned.

"Don't ruin their fun, Higurashi-sempai," Kyoya was quite suddenly next to her, pen and paper in hand.

"Where the hell did you come from?!" she hissed, glaring up at the boy, "And I never got a name out of you, by the way." It hit her in the next second and she suddenly blurted out, "Hey! You're the guy I got directions from to the dojo!"

"Yes, that is correct. My name is Ootori Kyoya, and I was actually wondering how that turned out, by the way."

Kagome shrugged. "I did the tests, as stupid as they were, but in the end I decided that it just wasn't for me."

"Why is that?"

"I like my fists better as a weapon." The former time traveler smiled in a way that immediately set the youngest Ootori boy on edge and he took a careful step away from her. That, and she'd broken the co-captain's wrist. Mori had informed her that he couldn't let her join because of that. Cue the tears. Yeah right. "Oh, don't worry, Ootori-san. I'm not allowed to fight at school. Mama made me promise, and the Chairman has my hands tied by rules; unless I want to get kicked out and forever shame my family's name."

"That's... a comforting thought, believe it or not," Kyoya mumbled, flipping a couple of pages in his notebook and making a notation.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Ootori-san."

"Have you really been thrown out of eight different schools, Higurashi-sempai?" Kyoya asked, his glasses flashing in the light and his pen poised to jot anything down.

"Well, yeah, but I bet they don't tell the reason why other than I was fighting," Kagome replied, rasing a brow in a move that screamed 'I Dare You to Ask'.

"Why?" Honey beat the second-year to the punch, genuinely curious about his classmate.

"Honey-sempai? Mori-sempai? Why are you guys dressed up like doctors?" a small short haired brunette interrupted, confusion painted in his large eyes. It took Kagome a second, but she recognized the kid from the Host Club; only to realize an instant later that the kid was a girl.

'What. The. Hell.'

"It makes the mission feel more like espionage when we get to dress up, Haruhi," the black-haired Ootori boy answered, smirking in a way that sent the younger girl back a step.

"Ne, I wonder why they made such a big deal out of me wearing the boys' uniform but they don't make a peep for you?" Kagome murmured loud enough for the group of boys in the Host Club to hear. Every one of them froze while Haruhi stared at her with dawning comprehension.

"So, you can tell? That I'm not a guy?" the brunette asked quietly, discreetly glancing around to make sure there weren't any girls around.

The miko snorted and rolled her eyes. "I'd have to be really stupid to not know."

"Wow, Kago-chan! It took a few hours for all of us to figure that out," Honey piped up, elicting a nod from the other two boys. "How did you know Haru-chan is a girl?"

Kagome opened her mouth to make a snarky remark about the general intelligence of her new school, but then stopped, really looked at Haruhi for a moment, then closed her mouth to stare at the smaller girl.

The scholarship student, unused to such an intense stare, fidgeted and flushed under those penetrating blue eyes. Then, the former time traveler gave her a small smirk.

"It's not hard, you see," the senior girl answered quietly, reaching out and smoothing down a stray strand of the brunette's hair in an almost sisterly fashion. "She has this look to her eyes. Very maidenly and innocent." Kagome frowned then, letting her hand drop, and stepped away from her entranced audience. "It reminds me of... someone I knew."

"Higurashi-sempai? Are you well?" Kyoya asked before he could stop himself, watching the affable expression on the pretty girl's face morph into something bitter and almost twisted. It was wiped away in a heartbeat, replaced by a blank complience.

"Yes. Why wouldn't I be. I guess I'm just annoyed with all the screaming," Kagome quipped, sending a dark glare to the girls crowding around those ginger-haired twins as they started undressing. In broad daylight!

'No shame, those two. They remind me of kitsune.' With a nod at the little group, she turned and lost herself in the crowd of students before any of them could stop her.

"... I get the feeling she wasn't being completely honest," Haruhi announced, furrowing her brows for a moment before shrugging it off and heading off when her name was called on. She had a physical to do.

Kyoya scanned the room again, a pensive look flashing across his face before he shook off the odd feeling weighing him down. It was no concern of his if the senior girl wanted to play 'Hide Her Secrets'. He would find out the truth eventually anyway. And the answer to why she was kicked out of so many schools. She'd played him there by redirecting the conversation. 'What a clever trick.'

Mori met the concerned gaze of his cousin and they shared a nod. After this was over, they would try to find their fellow classmate to see if she was okay.

Too bad Kagome left the school before they could get to her.

She would never let it slip that she thought Haruhi was like how the miko could have been if she hadn't gone through the trauma of the Feudal Era and the Shikon no Tama.

Kagome would never allow herself to become that vulnerable again.

No. She would never tell a soul.

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