A/N: Hey. Hope you like the chapter. I always wondered what reaction her friends would be if they looked inside Kagome's Mary Poppin's-esque bag.
Disclaimer: Don't own anything Inuyasha related except the cards.
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Everything But…
"I love class trips!" Ayumi said enthusiastically.
"Better than class," shrugged Eri.
Yuka rechecked her wallet. "The only good thing about going to the city park to sketch is the bonus of going to lunch at WacDonalds."
None of the three noticed the extremely irritated expression on Kagome Higurashi's face.
I argued for over three hours with a stubborn, rude hanyou because I thought I had a huge test today and the stupid exam is next week! she seethed inwardly. I'm such an idiot!
The ever optimistic Ayumi smiled. "I think this is a wonderful opportunity for us to see Mother Nature outside of the city."
I just left Mother Nature! I wanted to enjoy Father Technology for a little bit! Kagome released a sigh, mentally acknowledging that the mix up was her own fault. Being upset won't change anything and at least now I'm not attacking or getting attacked by demons.
The buzzing classroom was silenced abruptly as the school principal knocked on the classroom door.
"Oh man," grumbled Yuka in an undertone. Ms. Sato looked disgruntled but resigned as she stepped aside to allow Mr. Kobayashi in.
"What's going on?" Kagome asked curiously.
"Spot check," sighed Eri as she and every other member of class grabbed their backpacks and opened them on top of the desks.
"For what?" Kagome pulled her backpack out slower than the rest and noticed with alarm as the principal's eyes narrowed in her direction.
"Drugs, condoms, whatever." Grudgingly sitting down, Yuka rolled her eyes. "This is just an excuse to harass us and infringe on our rights."
Ayumi smiled weakly. "It's not so bad. Almost no one ever gets caught."
"What happens when someone gets caught?"
Everyone within hearing winced and shook their heads. Even the perpetually cheerful Ayumi looked disapproving. "It gets put into your permanent record and all the colleges are alerted that you were a delinquent."
Kagome felt her eyes widen in disbelief. "Oh my god," she whispered as the head faculty member began to search backpacks. "That's horrible! No college would take someone with a transcript like that!"
"Which is why the system works. Who can risk that?" Yuka asked rhetorically.
"No talking!" snapped Kobayashi-san.
Eri glared furiously and shot the principal a rude gesture under her desk.
One by one, briefcases were emptied, examined and left for the student to repack. Kagome watched apprehensively as the principal methodically went up and down aisles of desks. Eventually, he reached her seat, black eyes cold.
"And why do you look nervous, hmm?" he asked softly.
"…No reason," Kagome with an uneasy smile.
"Let's see what's in this bag." Pulling apart the zipper, Kobayashi pulled out a few textbook, a box lunch and a pencil case. He opened the case, peering inside suspiciously and grunting wordlessly when it revealed nothing more sinister than chewed pencils.
Kobayashi seemed to pause. The same sixth sense that allowed him to turn around precisely when notes were being passed was tingling, telling him that there was something off here. Determined, he peered into the bag.
"What the…?" He staredat Kagome, confusion written plainly on his lined face.
"Sir? Is something wrong?" Ms. Sato asked anxiously.
"Ms. Higurashi, would you like to explain this?"Kobayashi-san asked as he held up a crumbled up ball of an extra uniform taken from Kaogme's yellow bag.
"Um…it'sone of thosejust-in-case things," Kagome said with a blinding smile. "Just…in case."
"Mm-hmm."
"Yep. Maybe something could happen during lunchtime and…I'd need another." Or, more likely, a demon spews its guts all over my uniform and I need to change.
"An extra uniform?"
Kagome nodded and breathed out shakily as Kobayashi-san stared at her but dropped the uniform onto the desk, abandoning the line of questioning.
She was not so pleased when the principal pulled out a little plastic baggie with a few stalks of green herbs in it. "Care to explain this?"
Oh, this is the last time I carry stuff around for Kaede! Damn it! "It's yakumosou," Kagome answered. "It's an herbal remedy for stomach cramps, headaches, nausea."
"Is it now?" The principal stared at the green stalks suspiciously. "Why are you carrying around herbal remedies? What happened to aspirin?"
This is what I get for helping out the elderly! An interrogation. That's it, the elderly can just freakin' fend for themselves. "…My family is a traditional family," Kagome said improvising madly as she talked, "and so don't really believe that aspirin is better than the traditional medicines. After all, aspirin has only been around for a hundred years or so while yakumosou tea has been passed down for over ten generations. You can see the logic."
"Not really."
"If it's not broke, don't fix it."
"Ms. Higurashi, I'm asking you why it is in my school?" the principal thundered.
Kagome smiled nervously and patted Eri on the shoulder. "My friends want it to help them with their problem." At Kobayashi-san's blank stare, she elaborated. "Their female problems sir."
As with all men, the mention of a woman's monthly hell caused Kobayashi-san to immediately attempt a change of topic. He pushed the baggie into his pockets and mumbled something about getting a professional herbalist to confirm that the green plant was not of the recreational kind.
"Well, we don't have all day. Let's finish up with this bag," he blustered.
"Let's," Kagome agreed with a fake smile.
Kobayashi tried to stare her down for her impertinent answer but a girl who routinely battles demons and handles an argumentative hanyou daily does not get intimidated by overweight middle aged men.
Grunting, the principal pulled out six containers of instant Ramen, ten energy bars, five bags of potato chips, eight candy bars and seven bottles of enhanced vitamin water.
Kobayashi stared at the food pile on Kagome's desk, counting out loud as each new item was taken from the depths of her yellow bag.
"Miss Higurashi," he said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "far be it for me to comment on a young girl with a large appetite but don't you think this is a bit excessive?"
Kagome felt her mouth abandon its smile. "No," she said bluntly. "My delicate health causes me to need sugar and-"
"So you need ten candy bars?"
"Yes and the potato chips. And the energy bars are because...I…like having a lot of energy. The water-"
"All seven bottles of it. What are you doing with all that?"
"Staying hydrated," Kagome replied quickly. "It gets very hot here in Tokyo and my mother likes it when I have plenty of water."
"Mmm-hmm…So all this is for the trip today?"
"Yes."
"When this class goes on the hike?"
"Yes."
"So why do you have this much instant Ramen?"
Because Inuyasha treats every meal like it's his last and insists on having Ramen at least once a day.
"And so many flavors," Kobayashi continued. "You know, in my day we didn't take instant food on hikes. Young people these days."
Kagome chuckled weakly.
"You know, besides for the extra uniform and the herbs, this much food just makes me more suspicious. Simply put, girls simply do not eat this amount of food."
Everyone in the classroom heard the implied 'but boys do.'
Kagome swallowed. There was absolutely no way to salvage the situation. He thinks I'm meeting a bunch of boys! He thinks I'm an immoral, drug taking slut with bad eating habits. He'll put this in my transcripts and I'm not going to get into college, she thought as a panic attack began in her stomach. I'm going to end up working menial labor and spend the rest of my life living with my mother and grandfather! I think I'm going to be sick…
"Ms. Higurashi? Anything to say?"
"Kobayashi-san!" Eri called out suddenly.
"What?"
"We have something to tell you," Yuka said. Ayumi nodded and helped the other two girls herd the principal away from their friend. It would have been funny to see someone else getting pushed around by the three meddlers but a bad feeling was developing in Kagome's stomach.
"Sir, this is Kagome!" Yuka stage whispered.
Do they think they're talking softly? Kagome wondered in annoyance. "I can hear you!" she said loudly.
"I know who this is." The principal was not happy and it reflected in his voice.
Eri sighed. "She's not well, remember?"
"She has a history of illnesses," Ayumi confided.
"What? I know Higurashi's sick a lot!"
"Not sick here," Eri said as she placed a hand on her stomach. She tapped a temple with her index finger. "Here."
"Eri!" Kagome shouted in horror. "What are you saying?"
Yuka shot Kagome a sad look. "It's not her fault. She's just so full of medications that… it messes with her mind. She just doesn't realize what she's putting into her briefcase."
"I had no idea." Kobayashi-san looked horrified. How could I have picked on a mentally disabled girl? A sick mentally disabled girl! Oh, I hope the board of directors doesn't hear about this! he mentally prayed.
Kagome could do nothing as her principal walked out of the classroom with Ms. Sato, simply opening and closing her mouth without being able to get a single word out.
"Well that was easy," Eri proclaimed confidently.
"I'm going to kill you!" Kagome shouted on the top of her lungs. "Our principal thinks I'm crazy!"
"Yeah but at least now he forgot all about thinking you're a slut," Yuka said.
"Because now he thinks I'm overdosing on legal meds and have lost my mind!"
Ayumi smiled cheerfully. "He doesn't think you've lost your mind. It's more like he thinks you're food obsessed and…really, really out of it."
Kagome stared at her friends. "Oh joy," she said finally, sitting down heavily in her seat. "He's going to write on my transcript: 'She was really, really out of it.'"
"But seriously Kagome, what were you thinking?" Eri asked in disgust. "The stuff you have is just so weird. I mean, Ramen? Six bowls of Ramen?"
Yuka peered into Kagome's briefcase. "How do you even fit that much stuff into one little bag?"
"You packed everything but the kitchen sink!" a boy called out to the laughter of his classmates.
"No kitchen sink," Kagome said, still preoccupied with visions of colleges with white walled rooms. "Just a water heater."
Silence descended on the classroom.
"A…water heater?" Yuka asked slowly.
"How else was I supposed to cook all that Ramen?" Kagome replied. "Left side pocket on the inside."
Yuka grabbed the bag and pulled out the portable water heater. Kagome's three friends exchanged glances and sighed.
"I was just joking before," Eri whispered. "You can't really get mentally imbalanced from meds, can you?"
"I am not mentally imbalanced!" Kagome yelled.
"We all still have to get out of here!" Ms. Sato called from the front of the class as she reentered the room. "Get your stuff and come on!"
Everyone hurried to gather their things and run out of the classroom. As Kagome was filing past the teacher, Ms. Sato cleared her throat. "Perhaps you'd like to go home and rest for a bit?" she suggested gently. "Go to the doctor and...make sure everything is okay?"
Kagome stared at her teacher silently and slowly shook her head. "I hate days like today."
"I know."
That earned Ms. Sato an amused and resigned look. "The scary thing is that no, you really don't. You have absolutely no idea." She shouldered her yellow briefcase. "Screw it," she mumbled as she walked down the hall. "I never liked school anyways."
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A/N: Poor Kagome. I've been trying to get this idea out and I know it's not specifically before anyone else joined the group but it just struck me as something pre-everyone else.
Hope you enjoyed it! review please!