Izayoi was very afraid. She didn't want Inuyasha to go to school with full demons, it wasn't safe. But she understood that they couldn't allow full or half demons to go to the all human schools either. Maybe she should just reconsider having him homeschooled, but he already didn't have any friends and keeping him out of school wouldn't help him with that. There were no easy solutions, and the school prided itself on having reiki users as the protection, that way the students wouldn't be able to just overpower each other.
Inuyasha seemed excited, but he didn't seem to understand the danger he was in, where she'd always known he would be in danger, since the first time she saw Touga and knew she was in love. She knew the dangers of being with a demon, the hatred of something misunderstood. But her love was strong enough for her to make the decision and it would be strong enough to protect Inu from it too. No matter what he was a product of love.
Inuyasha walked into his first day of school holding his mom's hand but still so excited to finally have a chance at making friends. His older half brother, Sesshomaru used to be a student at this school, but had already moved up to the middle school, not that he was likely to watch out for the little half demon anyway. He tended to follow the crowd and looked down on 'half-breeds' as he was apt to call them. Inuyasha was able to find one other hanyou in his class, but the poor little boy was being made fun of unmercifully.
When the teacher finally walked in she introduced herself and her aide, "My name is Miss Hutchins, and this is our aide, Miss Jessica, she's here to help us for at least the first semester." After greeting everyone she started assigning seats to everyone and therefore taking attendance. This is where Inuyasha saw that there happened to be 2 little girls who weren't demons at all but reiki users. Inuyasha was seated near one of them, and the other hanyou, Jinenji, was seated near the other. It seemed Kikyo, who he was seated next to, didn't have much to say but still smiled politely at him, whereas Kagome was very chatty and friendly. They learned a few basics made sure everyone knew the alphabet and could read their numbers up to 20, then they stopped for first break.
At first break the teacher gave them a cookie, and a juice box and told them they could have free play for 20 minutes. She also showed them how to read the clock so they would know what it would look like when it was time to get in their seats. "At 10:20 the little hand is on the 10 and the bigger hand is on the 4. When you see this I expect you to be back in your seats. If anyone needs a restroom break I'll take everyone in groups, and the teacher's aide will be here to help also."
As Inuyasha tried to talk to a few of the other students, he heard one of the boys, a wolf demon with long brown hair and deep blue eyes bullying the other hanyou.
"Look at this ugly mug? Half-breeds really should be left for dead. They don't belong anywhere." He had a smug smile and his two friends were smiling along with him until the other reiki user stood up and walked up to him.
"Hey Doody head! That's not a nice thing to say! He belongs here, he's my friend which is more than I can say for you, stinky wolf! Why don't you go wash your mouth out with soap and save the teacher the trouble of punishing you later!" With this said she grabbed the other hanyou's hand and walked up to Miss Jessica to tell her everything. Jinenji was quietly crying and Kagome eagerly blabbed everything, not leaving out her name calling to Kouga. Miss Jessica did punish Kouga although not with soap, she made him stand in the corner for the rest of free time, unfortunately name calling is also not allowed so Kagome is made to stand in the other corner, for 5 minutes.
Jinenji stopped crying momentarily when Kouga got put in the corner but started again when he saw Miss Justine start to put Kagome in the corner. Kagome asked Miss Jessica if she could have just one minute and proceeded to go give Jinenji a hug.
"Don't cry, I'll be out of timeout in just a couple minutes. He won't be mean to you anymore though." Her smile was beautiful and Inuyasha who had been watching all this from a distance was awestruck that a human stood up for a half-breed. He'd been bullied and heard people say bad things about him his whole life, but he'd never seen a human defend a half demon. Most of them voiced the same thoughts full blooded demons did, about them not fitting in, or not belonging. This girl was different from anyone he'd ever met.
After that Inuyasha found himself keeping near this girl, Kouga's friends stayed away from her for the rest of break time, and Miss Hutchins came in and got the update as to why there was a student in the timeout corner. After getting everyone back in their seats, she made an announcement.
"There will be no bullying or name calling. If you see or hear anything like this, come tell one of us immediately. Do not try to stand up to bullies because you become the bully by doing this," with these words she looked at Kagome. "I want you all to feel like this is your classroom and be friends. If there are problems the teachers will handle it. Come to us immediately. Now let's start our next lesson, it's time for arts and crafts."
The rest of the morning went quickly and soon it was lunch time. All of the students were told to pack a lunch today, and if anyone forgot Miss Hutchins had a couple backup lunches in place. Inuyasha had packed a lunch of cold ramen soup, with apple slices. He sat toward the edge of the table as far from the wolf group as possible. Jinenji ended up sitting near him to also avoid Kouga, and Kagome sat next to her new-found friend. This was the first time she actually got to see Inuyasha, and the second her eyes landed on his ears she let out a squeal and his ears folded down from the high pitched sound. The second his ears folded she clamped her hand over her mouth.
"I'm so sorry, I just think your ears are sooo cute! I realize they are probably very sensitive though, I just didn't think about it right away. My name's Kagome, what's yours?" Her smile was almost infectious, but he held it back with a snort, and responded gruffly "M'name's Inuyasha." Her grin remained unchanged at his gruffness.
"Nice to meet you Inuyasha, this is my friend Jinenji. He's a half demon like you." With these words she grinned to her friend who was blushing the second she said the word friend. He must have been used to people being mean to him too.
"How did you know I'm a half demon?" He had a hard time keeping the surprise out of his voice, and his surprise was met with a somehow widening of her grin.
"I'm a miko in training, and I can feel the difference in your youki. Yours is actually very strong, but it feels different than theirs. It's also a very pretty color. It looks like a very vibrant red. It suits you."
They spent the rest of lunchtime getting to know each other, and Kagome was more than happy to share her grapes and goldfish crackers, as well as offered half of her tuna fish sandwich. Jinenji brought a salad and fresh baked bread, apparently his mom liked to bake, and he grew his own greens in his garden, so he loved to bring salad and his mom always sent him homemade bread. After a couple of minutes the other reiki user Kikyo interjected into the conversation asking Kagome if she would trade her a couple grapes for some of her orange, and Kagome gladly acquiesced with a smile.
After lunch they went outside to the playground for recess and Jinenji offered to push Kagome on the swings, so they started taking turns. After they both had 2 turns she approached Inuyasha who was just sitting in the tree near the fence.
"Inuyasha, come down. You can have a turn on the swings, I'll push you!" He couldn't help but smile, luckily he was high enough in the tree so she couldn't see it. After a moment, "Come on! Come play with us!" He shook his head and leapt down.
"Keh, why do you need me to come play. You guys were doing fine on your own." Her smile faltered for only an instant. Then somehow seemed brighter than ever.
"Inuyasha, you're my friend. I want to play with both of my new friends!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the swing set, and now she is pushing both Jinenji and Inuyasha on the swings, jumping back and forth giving one a push then the other. All three of them spent the rest of recess laughing together, and Inuyasha realized the joy of having a friend.