Sesshomaru had glared so menacingly at the onlookers peering in on his temper tantrum with Rin in tow that they quickly dispersed.

He had to find a way to contact his mother; there was no way he was going to last in this school without committing genocide, trial be damned. As he was about to walk off across the field, he heard a grossly familiar voice.

'Yo, older brother!'

Turning to face who he thought was Inuyasha, he saw Jaken in human form mimicking the dog-eared nuisance.

'I am not – in the mood' Sesshomaru gritted out to Jaken.

'Sorry milord – I mean, Hakai-sama'

'Don't call me that deplorable name'

'But – we must keep up appearances!'

'Don't you have class to go to or something?' Sesshomaru sneered at the imp in disguise.

'Actually, soon – yes, and I'm loving the attention I'm getting from cute women!'

Sesshomaru merely awarded the demon with a repelled sneer, bending down to hiss in his face;

'Either find a way to make yourself useful by ending this damn trial, or leave me to find my way back to where I belong'

'B-but milord, you can't! They've totally sealed the otherworld entrances and you won't be allowed back until you've completed the trial!'

'Who are 'they' you speak of? My mother? I am more powerful than she'

'Ah-ha, how to say this – ' Jaken scratched his head 'no, you're not. Not until you've completed the trial, that is'

Sesshomaru grabbed Jaken by the throat, a favourite move of his.

'Do you know what I like, imp?' the Demon Prince snarled. 'I really like toad soup. It's delicious when skinned live, and the meat tenderised before death'

Jaken went a shade of green that almost matched his true form.

'Mi-milord, forgive me, I'm only the messenger!'

'And did my mother send you?'

'N-no – I mean yes!'

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes, tightening his hold on the creatures' throat.

'Who sent you?'

'Your mother!'

'If I find out you've lied to me – ' Jaken gulped as Sesshomaru's hand became too tight for comfort.

'I swear, milord!' He squeaked between gasps.

'Swear to the gods that your skin will be saved at the end of this. Can you at least shed some light on the situation, O messenger?' Sesshomaru said snidely.

'W-well, you just need to be a student here, and apparently everything the trial involves has already been arranged'

'If you know more than that and you're not telling me – '

'If I did know, do you think I'd exchange my life for some measly information, Sesshomaru-sama?'

'Hmm' the Princely Demon mulled suspiciously.

'Surely the trial does not involve merely going through the motions of a school human'

'If it helps, milord, if Inuyasha's trial was anything to go by, you'll probably have to fight stuff'

Inuyasha's trial had been completed last year. Sesshomaru began pacing.
'I don't know why he had his trial before mine' he said with inward confusion.

'Yours – took a little longer to set up, maybe?'

The Demon's hazel eyes narrowed, and he turned to face Jaken.

'Am I in some sort of simulation? Is this not earth? Is that you keep meaning by 'arranged' and 'set up'?'

'N-no! It's just – the 'powers that be' can tell the future, and knew what would happen within your trial, is all!'

'You're a spark away from a full blaze of fury, imp, if I find out you know more' Sesshomaru warned.

'I – I think it's time for class, Sesshomaru-sama!'

'Class can go to hell' Sesshomaru huffed, as he nonetheless went toward the science lab where his next class was, leaving Jaken a shaking yet relieved mess.

If he had to play by the gods games, then he would – but afterwards there would be worse than hell to pay, and he'd be more a vision of fury and fear than his Great Grandfather Cerberus himself.

The last thing he was going to do was willingly mingle with humans, but he could write on their little test papers and play human until whatever time this farcical trial was up. It had better be sooner than later, but he didn't want to admit to himself that there was no way he could return to his own Realm no matter how desperately he might want to – for his powers were taken from him.

It had only been four hours, and he was already utterly done with the place.

He didn't even notice Rin sitting in the darkest corner at the back of the science lab when he entered, his senses were focused on the pesky followers behind him and figuratively swatting away their questions with an annoyed hand.

On Rin's part, she had of course purposefully picked the seat she was in to remain as far from Hakai as possible. There was no way she was going to be forced in some sort of 'pair' in this class. Kohaku sat next to her and there was no other seat on her other side for anyone to possibly occupy.

'Why don't you go join the fan club? I'm sure you want to' Kohaku teased her.

'Oh ha ha' Rin replied sarcastically and pointed to an image of an old man bending over, holding his back in pain on the page Kohaku had opened to in his human biology book. 'Oh look, they put a picture of you in there!'

Kohaku gave Rin a humourless smile, his lips a thin straight line.

'What other jokes are up your sleeve, Comedian-san?'

'Oh, you'll find out soon' Rin smiled, remembering the note she'd slid in the text book for Rika.

Sesshomaru passed the rest of his first day with as little bumps as he could manage, despite the reprehensible presence of the humans constantly annoying him for information about his personage.

There was no way he would engage them, and his silence only served to increase his newly formed fan club's determination to 'crack' the code on the striking new kid. A bishounen, from Tokyo, was not something the students were blessed with often, and so they were stubborn in their efforts to find as much about Tokyo life as possible, and about Hakai's background (Surely, he was famous, or rich, or an idol in disguise?)

There was nothing more wonderful to hormonal teenagers than a pretty boy with a mysterious air, after all. Rika had already taken a picture of him and used it as a back ground for her phone, and Ayami had cajoled Rika to share the image with her. Soon, nearly every girl in the year had Hakai's picture saved to their phone and the online worship of him began quickly.

There would be no time before his photos were uploaded to websites online, such as onlineidol, localbishie, and every modelling fan club blog in existence.

Completely unaware of his rapidly increasing fame, Sesshomaru just wished to keep his head down, find out the actual steps towards completing the trial, and escaping the mortal body he was locked in.

The next day in social history, the sensei stood (in Rin's eyes at least) very portentously, like a harbinger of doom, at the front of the class room, about to announce the results of the previous days' worksheet.

It seemed an age before he got to Rin's fate and she refused to even side eye the white-haired boy sitting next to her.

'And 100% to Rin and Hakai-san! Well done, you got the highest score, incredibly accurate answers with even added details I myself didn't know, but upon research found to be true! You two must compliment each other wonderfully and I have high hopes for your assignment collaboration.'

Rin could have laughed with maniacal disbelief. She immediately thought of a loop hole, shooting her hand up in the air.

'Sir! Sorry to interrupt, but I actually didn't have any hand in writing the paper, it was all Hakai-san' she smiled sweetly. 'So in that knowledge, he and I would do far better working alone on the assignment'

'Oh, I see' the teacher frowned slightly at Hakai. 'Well, Rin-san unfortunately this is not an assignment that can be done alone. Most of it actually involves the presence of two individual opinions and concluding with a cohesive meeting of the two ways of thinking, but you'll read that in the outline I am about to hand out. So, seeing as Hakai still did so well sitting next to you, I can't allow you to do it alone – either of you'

'Uh, Sensei?' Rika spoke up. 'I'll swap places with Rin'

The teacher sighed and looked at Rika for a long moment and Rin watched him with desperate hope, willing him to bend for once to Rika's fluttering eye lashes.

'Somehow I don't think your intentions of working with Hakai-san include the desire for academic progress' the teacher concluded dryly. 'No'

Rika looked like she'd been slapped, and she couldn't think of words to reply; it was a rare occasion that a male denied her requests. Rin shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose in resigned hopelessness, which meant she couldn't see the look Hakai gave her.

'If anyone else wishes to change partners, the answer will be the same by the way' the teacher continued as he began handing out the assignment outline.

Rin only opened her eyes when the assignment sheet was placed in front of her and the last thing she wanted to do was look at Kohaku.

'You will each receive a copy of the outline' the teacher said 'as most of the activities required for the assignment are extra-curricular'

Could this have gotten worse? Rin had already been thinking. And it just did. She skimmed with sickly dispassion over the outline, and read:

'Students are required to explore the various historical sites of our town and discuss with a partner the significance of each land mark. Opinions of historical and modern symbolism must be discussed – points might include the ruling class vs minorities, patriotism, religious implication, local and national meaning (i.e, what the site means to the people now) and architectural allegory'

Rin could have dressed in a hessian bag, sat a pile of coal and self-flagellated for a week and probably enjoyed herself more than what this required of her.

'The rest of this lesson you will begin with the site nearest us across the road from our sports field, the local shrine. Please, in an orderly manner, rise from your seats and line up outside the classroom.'

Chairs scraped backwards, and Kohaku turned to Rin as a quiet chatter broke out in the room.

'Well this is hilarious' he said to her and Rin almost cried.

This was so absurd she wanted to laugh in his face but she was too pained to even do that, so all she managed was a weak, you-win-Kohaku sort of smile. Her friend smirked and moved past Rin to go towards his assignment buddy Hitoshi.

Rin's eyes traveled toward Rika, who was staring at Kohaku strangely and she actually had to cover her mouth to stop an actual laugh coming through; had Rika read the letter hidden in the text book? Surely she had by now. Rin mentally patted herself on the back and couldn't wait to see what happened.

Sesshomaru was looking at Rin watching the Rika girl, and saw how her face went from a strange pained expression to one of barely restrained mirth. He glanced at Rika, and saw the girl watching Rin's male friend. Sesshomaru's eyes swung back to Rin, who was still smiling, but collecting together her things to go outside. Was she just going to ignore him? Good. At least one of these measly humans knew how to respect his space.

The students filed outside and sensei began guiding them outside towards the field; it was a sunny day, and quite warm, but Rin thought the wind had a chill on it. She absolutely avoided walking anywhere near Hakai, instead she wandered toward the front, alone, while everyone else had a partner.

'Hakai-san, do you want to partner with me?' Rika came up to Sesshomaru, twirling a lock of hair.

'I have a partner' Sesshomaru said with the utmost indifference.

'She seems pretty bent on doing things alone, so I don't want you losing out on marks just because Rin's being mean!'

Sesshomaru looked at Rin ahead of them, her brown pony tail blowing in the wind.

'I am more likely to lose out on marks working with you than if I work alone' Sesshomaru said bluntly. Rika almost choked on her own breath.

A couple students nearby half coughed, half laughed.

'Oi, Rika-san!' her actual partner called out, and she rolled her eyes, falling back from being next to Hakai to re-join her friend.

After about a ten-minute walk they reached the shrine, and the students stood under the shade of trees near a Torii gate.

'Now students, please feel free to explore this area with your partner and begin writing some notes relevant to the assignment! You have 35 minutes left of the lesson'

Each pair wandered off, and Rin cast a desperate glance at Kohaku who only tapped the side of his nose at her, shrugging. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in, trying to let the freshness of the air revive her spirits, but that effort was cut short by a deep voice above her:

'Are you meditating?'

Rin turned to face Hakai, his eyes met hers.

'I-if I am, isn't this the right place to do it?' she stuttered, quickly looking away from his gaze.

The tiniest, absolute tiniest of smiles crooked the side of Sesshomaru's lips.

'I just want to say' Rin said, before every last bit of saliva left her mouth with anxiety, 'if you freak me out again like you did yesterday, I am not doing this'

Sesshomaru's eyes widened slightly. How was a human speaking in no uncertain terms to him, like a child? He had hundreds of years on this chit of a girl.

'I won't touch you again' he finally said, with a tinge of annoyance to his indifferent voice.

'I'll hold you to it' Rin breathed, not knowing in the slightest how her words affected her work partner. He was not used to being 'held' to anything by a dying lump of flesh.

Reining himself in admirably, he wondered if this was the test – to deal with humans on a basic day-to-day level. It certainly was proving hard enough, second day in.

'Any thoughts on this structure?' Sesshomaru asked with less passion than a rock.

Rin walked through the Torii gate with Sesshomaru following her.

They approached the shrine, and Rin was thinking quite deeply.

'Yes. I think this place shouldn't be used to symbolise power, or the ruling class in any way, even if it has been in the past. I think it should purely be a place of peace. I don't like it when religion is used as a tool by the monarchy to enforce certain laws and ways of living'

Sesshomaru felt a spark of anger.

'If these places did not represent the ideology of the ruling class, there would be no societal structure to argue about in the first place.'

He was the first person to know how important these shrines were. He and other beings like him gained their strength and power from the offerings and prayers given in them, and because of that, he could exist as a Royal Demon, ruling the land as it should be ruled from the spirit world. Without politics and power, Japan would not be the land it was today.

Rin inwardly rolled her eyes.

'So you're one of those people' she said under her breath, but Sesshomaru heard her perfectly clearly. Rin thought 'no wonder he is so superior and horrible. He thinks everything is about power and struggle'

'You wouldn't be so damning of my opinion if the power structures that exist now were taken away and then you'd see real chaos'

Rin forgot her shyness and flashed him an annoyed look.

'Oh yes, I'd be so upset if the centuries of poverty, starvation, ill-balanced wealth distribution and war were taken away'

Sesshomaru had to stop himself from scoffing at the girl – if only she knew the real reason for the centuries of bloodshed! He could take her on a first-person review of this history she seemed to know so well if he was in his full form, and able to telepathically control her mind.

He inwardly kicked himself – as if he would use his great powers for such a mere purpose! He had nothing to prove to this flesh lump.

'Great! This is great!'

Rin jumped as their sensei came up behind them.

'Your having an evolved discussion already of two very different view-points! This is perfect for the assignment, keep it up guys'

The teacher went away rubbing his hands enthusiastically.

Despite herself, Rin quickly turned her head away to hide a laugh; this was just too strange to the point of hilarity. A stranger from Tokyo arrives at her school the day before, and by the second day she has already had a form of argument with this stranger? Maybe it was true that sometimes souls just naturally repelled each other. It was difficult that he was so attractive, because it made her less eloquent and comfortable in his presence - she felt a lot more 'aware' with Hakai standing besides her, and all her other class mates at a distance away. Kohaku walked past Rin with Hitoshi, and paused in his conversation to stop beside Rin.

'How's goes it partner?' Kohaku asked her.

'Well – we've figured out that we have different views' Rin tactfully replied.

'Don't be scared to argue with her' Kohaku addressed Sesshomaru 'she may be small, but she's fierce and can be scary. Don't back down, or she'll send you to the verbal shadow realm' Kohaku spoke as though it was a man-to-man, but all he got in return from the tall new guy was a raised eyebrow. Kohaku blushed, damn this new kid was too attractive!

'Kohaku!' Rin moaned at her friend 'You make me sound like a monster! If you raise people's expectations of my wit, they'll be disappointed'

'You and disappointment in the same sentence?' Kohaku sounded incredulous 'never! Good luck guys' he winked at her and went to get back to Hitoshi, who had entered the shrine.

Sesshomaru had been watching Rin, and after thinking for a few moments he said;

'Is he your 'boyfriend'?'

He believed that's what human females called their male mates, at least, in this time period.

To see Rin redden and jump slightly made the Demon slightly confused.

'N-no!' Rin answered, flustered, not knowing where to look 'he's my friend'

Sesshomaru looked to where Kohaku had gone back to Rin at his side, his eyes slightly narrowed. Her reaction to his question seemed disingenuous.

He had no idea that the question was very direct, rude for a relative stranger to ask, and hinted at an interest that was highly unwelcome to Rin. She did not want this person asking anything about her relationships with people, or to know anything personal about her above what was necessary for this assignment.

This was going to be a long semester.