Author's Note: I really would greatly appreciate any constructive criticism available, even if it is something extremely minor. For some reason, with this story, I feel that I can really turn it into a rather good story that I might be able to actually flit through and not feel an ounce of shame later on. Also, with this chapter, I had trouble with characters' thoughts. Some of them are in the accepted punctuation that signifies one thinking and some aren't because I could not find a way to convey what I wanted while using the punctuation. Please feel free to tell me anything that I can do to make this story better or if you have any way to help with the thought problem. Enjoy!

Words: 2,746.

...

Kagome swung her feel lazily under her desk. She was supposed to be learning some English vocabulary, but the partly cloudy sky was so much more inviting. Especially after that incident this morning. There were still some people giving her odd looks for it, too. It wasn't entirely her fault that the moment she saw that pervert again she shouted that he was so.

Kagome didn't have class with him, thankfully, but a few of the people that were standing around him, she guessed they were his friends, were in most of her classes. She sighed. She felt a hand on her shoulder, jolting her out of her thoughts. Turning around, she saw Shippou with his arm extended.

"It's all right, Kagome-chan," He spoke softly, 'probably as to not alert the teacher that her star pupil was not paying attention to her lesson,' she thought.

School had only been in session for a few hours now, but she could already tell that her Shippou was at the top of their class. The teachers loved him, always doting on him and having him answer their questions, smiling ever so larger when he could correctly answer even the ones most obscure. Despite how much he has grown in the past half a millennia, Kagome could not overcome being called "Kagome-chan" by her son, whom had always called her "Okaa-san."

"Thanks, Shippou-kun," Kagome smiled at him, scrunching her nose slightly at the suffix, making Shippou laugh. She knew that no matter what he would always be her "Shippou," no suffixes whatsoever, but they needed to use them for human schooling. Otherwise, there would be some rather odd questions posed at them about why a teenage girl would have a son her own age. The bell rang shrilly, causing both to wince.

"Here," He handed her his notes. "Sensei said that there would be a quiz tomorrow on this stuff."

Her eyes lit up. "Thanks, Shippou-kun! You're a life saver."

"No problem," He smirked, picking up his things and walking over to the door. Most of the students had already cleared out by now. "Watch how far you kick your legs when you daydream, Kagome-chan. Those fat limbs hurt, ya know!"

"Why you! Shippou-kun, get back here so I can kick your ass!" Kagome ran after him. The hall was so packed full with students that she had no chance of catching up with the perpetrator. "I'll kill him next time I see him!"

"Excuse me, Kagome-san," A hand taped her shoulder. Kagome spun around to see to whom the hand belonged. It was one of the pervert's friends. He had brown hair and smiling blue eyes. He seemed nice enough, she decided. "You left this at your desk in English."

Kagome bowed. "Thank you..."

"Fuji Shusuke," he filled in for her.

"Thank you, again, Shusuke-san."

Before he could speak further, she disappeared down the hallway.

….

Fuji watched the girl leave, notebook in hand, an abnormal feeling in his chest. He had only had this feeling once before, while playing a match against Ryoma. However, this time the rare feeling of excitement was not due to tennis. It was due to the new girl who called Kaidoh a pervert.

This girl happened to be in some of his classes, too, which would usually be advantageous when it comes to new puzzles. In his experience, new girls were usually talkative, making them extremely easy to figure out. Although, with Kagome, she spoke to their teachers and to Taisho Shippou, only. Both did seem rather close though. And they did have similar last names. Was she adopted? If she wasn't there were two other options and both seemed quite unlikely. She could have either gotten married or changed her name. It was nearly unheard of to have a girl married off at the age of fourteen nowadays. It was more possible that Kagome had changed her name or she was adopted.

She was more of an enigma than anyone else Fuji had come across. And he wanted badly to deduce exactly what made her tick.

….

"Kagome-chan, let's eat under that tree," Shippou pointed to a plush, green tree. "Please?"

"Hai, Shippou-kun," The said girl smiled as they made their way over tot he tree at the front of the school grounds. A good majority of the clouds had cleared and most everyone was enjoying the rays during their lunch hour. She had already forgiven Shippou when he had used her own puppy dog eyes against her an hour before.

'I never could stay mad at him,' she smiled as they both plopped down onto the grass. They sat in silence for several minutes, absorbing the sun's rays. Finally, she stopped eating and leaned back.

"After you left poor defenseless me behind after English, I met a nice-"

"Girl," Shippou finished for her, digging into another component of his bento box. "They're all nice. Which one?"

"No, Shippou-kun," She smiled. 'Sometimes he was exactly like InuYasha, overprotective, and also like Sesshoumaru, in moderation.' "I met a nice boy who gave me my blue notebook back. I didn't even remember taking it out for notes."

"That will be all he's giving you," She heard him mumble and chuckled. It had been five hundred years since he had seen her before last night and Kagome understood his protectiveness of her to an extent. 'He'll get used to me being back eventually,' She took another bite of her rice ball.

"And he invited me over to his house tonight, so we can get to know each other," She smirked. Shippou's jaw dropped. She could now see why he would always tease her and play pranks. It was just too much fun.

"WHAT?" Conversations around them stopped at his shout. People stared. "You're insane if you think I'm going to let you do something like that! Who is her? I'll kill him!"

"Calm down, Shippou-kun," Kagome held her hands up. "I was joking. All he did was give me my notebook back."

She held it up for proof. He inspected it slowly, his anger leaving him.

"Kagome-chan," He looked straight into her eyes. She had never seen him so serious. "No one's good enough for my mother unless I say so and whoever he is, he isn't."

"Aw, Shippou-kun," She hugged him. "But you don't even know him."

"And you do?" Shippou questioned. She was stumped. Their food laid forgotten.

'Why am I defending him?' She couldn't figure it out. He was just a boy whom she had known for a few hours now, but she didn't know his name. 'Why would he matter to me?'

"I think it's because I have a good feeling about him," She said, fumbling with the Shikon no Tama. "I don't think he's trouble."

"Yeah, well, be careful, Kagome," Shippou warned and finished off his bento. "You gonna finish that?"

He pointed to her own barely touched box. She laughed at his mouthful of food and handed it to him. "Dig in, Shippou-kun."

He didn't need telling twice.

….

She didn't see Shippou for the rest of the day. She was heading towards the tennis courts, having seen them earlier that day during a class. As she rounded a corner, she stopped dead in her tracks.

"For such a small school, their tennis must be top-of-the-line to have courts like these," Kagome muttered, gazing at the courts. There were sixteen in total, fenced in in sets of four. Practice had already commenced before she had arrived, it seemed. People were already using most of the courts, others running laps, and even more others were training with weights on the side. At least, the males were. She wondered aloud, "are there any female tennis players here?"

"There are some."

She jumped. Turning around, Kagome got a view of her surpriser. It was an older woman with long, gray hair tied back in a ponytail. True enough, there were a small group of girls, maybe six or seven, standing in a far corner where the woman was pointing. Only a few were actually practicing though. Half of them seemed content to stand leisurely.

Kagome bowed to the woman. "Hello, you must be the coach, Ryuzaki-sensei. I am Higurashi-Taisho Kagome and I wish to join your tennis team."

"So you were the one Irakawa-san mentioned," the woman mused under her breath. Kagome was sure that she wasn't supposed to hear that. Ryuzaki smirked at Kagome, her arms comfortably crossed across her blue windbreaker. "Very well. You may go warm up and practice with the other girls for today."

"Hai, sensei. Arigato."

With that, Kagome ran to where the other girls were. Some of them looked up as she neared. They didn't say anything to her.

"Um, I just joined the team and Ryuzaki-sensei told me to warm up over here," She informed the curious ones.

"Warm up, then," a girl with short, brown hair and chestnut eyes spoke. "Ryuzaki-sensei said so."

"Okay."

Kagome began stretching. A girl with long, black hair held back in two braids approached her. 'She seems nice enough. She was the only one practicing when I came over here,' Kagome thought and smiled at the girl as she came closer.

"Ano, hello," she spoke quietly, a small blush tinted her cheeks. 'She actually looks cute. Aw, she reminds me of Shippou-kun's level of cuteness!' Kagome turned her thoughts away from playing dress up with the small girl and back on what she was telling her. "I am Ryuzaki Sakuno."

"Higurashi-Taisho Kagome," she introduced herself, making the girl smile slightly. "It's nice to meet you, Sakuno-chan. Is there something I can do for you?"

"Ano, I was wondering...if you would...like to...ano...practice with me?" The girl was staring at the ground, her entire face red as she finished her question.

Kagome's eyes softened. 'She must get turned down a lot, poor girl.'

"I would love to, Sakuno-chan," Kagome's smile widened and she gently ruffled Sakuno's bangs. The young girl stared at her.

"R-really?" Sakuno seemed genuinely surprised. "You want to?"

"Hai," Kagome started running in place.

"Okay! I'm going to go to the bathroom now. When I'm back can we start?" Sakuno's hands were clasped in front of her, keeping her tennis racket in her arms. At Kagome's nod, she ran off.

'With Sakuno here, I didn't notice that these girls were staring at me,' Kagome twisted her head, uncomfortable.

"Sakuno's crazy."

"Yeah, I don't know what she thinks she's doing. It's not like she's going to get better."

"Yeah, she still can't even hold her racket correctly. So much for being the coach's granddaughter, Ryuzaki-sensei must be ashamed."

Kagome's eyebrow twitched. 'Who did those girls think they were? Sakuno-chan is such a nice girl, too.'

"There's no need to be so mean to Sakuno-chan. She doesn't deserve to be treated that way by you all," Kagome spoke offhandedly. The front worked. The three gossiping girls stared at her. All three had short hair, cut around chin length, and looked so similar to one another that Kagome doubted she coud tell one from the other. They were standing to the side of the small group, 'preferring to leave their rackets on the ground than put them to good use,' Kagome inwardly huffed.

"What's it matter to you, new girl?" The one in the middle put their hands on their hips.

"Yeah, you're new. You have no right in how we seasoned members talk about underclassmen."

The third agreed.

"I may be new here and I may not have a say according to you three," Kagome laid them with a piercing glare, perfected to Sesshoumaru's level or intimidation through months of practice. "But I will not tolerate someone trash talking my new friend."

"Oh, yeah? What're you going to do about it, newbie?" The middle one sneered.

"I saw some street courts not too far from here," Kagome took out her racket. "How about a tennis match tonight at, say, seven o'clock? Bring your friends, too."

"You're on, new girl." The middle one scoffed.

The other two chorused their agreement.

"Kagome-senpai! Are you ready?"

The said girl looked in the direction Sakuno called from. The young girl was running toward her.

"Hai, Sakuno-chan!" Kagome exclaimed back. Before running to the girl, she turned back to the three. "Be prepared." She turned back to Sakuno, who was much closer by now. "Let's practice over there, Sakuno-chan! I like being in the sun more than over here in the shade."

"Hai!"

Kagome smiled as they made their way over. 'That girl was too cute!'

"Want to practice hitting the ball to each other from against the wall?" asked Kagome, who was twirling her racket around a finger.

"Okay," Sakuno got into position. Kagome frowned. 'Poor Sakuno-chan. No wonder she gets made fun of by those jerks. Her starting position is wrong..'

"Ne, Sakuno-chan," began Kagome, effectively gaining the girl's attention once more. "Why don't you try moving your hips more to the left so that they are parallel to the wall?"

Sakuno did as asked.

"Now, doesn't your right foot feel weird in that position?" Sakuno nodded and the miko continued. "Try placing your foot how mine is. Does that feel better?"

"Hai!" Sakuno smiled up at her, making the older girl smile broadly in return. "Thanks, Kagome-senpai."

"Call me Kagome," The younger of the two nodded, blushing slightly. "Now, let's fix your grip, Sakuno-chan. See how mine is with my knuckles on the bottom corner? Why don't you see how it feels to you. Is it okay? No? Then try this, Sakuno-chan..."

….

Ryuzaki Sumire smiled as she watched her new player help her granddaughter with her tennis. She felt a pang in her heart as she thought that it should be her helping her grandchild with the sport she loved and not a newcomer. With all the extra practices to help out the regulars, Sumire hadn't had time to teach Sakuno the proper technique of things in tennis, like grip. She glanced at the courts in front of her and immediately wished she hadn't. Momoshiro and Kaidoh had apparently gotten into a fight. No one appeared to be stopping it.

'What a day for Tezuka-kun to be gone,' Sumire sighed. 'This is just great..'

Deciding that if the two regulars did not get it out of their system now, then the tension would just increase, Sumire ignored the courts for now, focusing instead on Sakuno and the new girl. Irakawa-san had mentioned that this girl would be joining her tennis team and that she was undoubtedly a good player the day before. 'Knowing Irakawa-san, she was probably forced into it,' The coach sighed again. 'That man was obsessed with Seishun's tennis team.'

The two girls had started volleying a tennis ball back and forth. 'Sakuno's form had improved with the tips the other girl had given her,' Sumire noticed. 'The Higurashi-Taisho girl had impeccable form, also.' She watched the two for a few minutes longer before she heard some commotion coming from the C courts where Momoshiro and Kaidoh were located. Sumire sighed. 'Would this ever end?'

"Momoshiro! Kaidoh! Fifty laps each!" She yelled, irritated that their fight had taken this long. Both had a few bruises on their exposed bodies, she noted as they ran out of the C courts muttering a string of curses. "That's another lap for every curse word you two muttered! You should know better ones than that!"

Sumire smirked at their groans, watching the two run a full lap around the four C courts before returning her gaze to the two girls practicing against the wall. She recalled what she overheard of the older girl's challenge to three of her female players. 'The only street courts around here were by the park..'

"Seven o'clock, huh?" She looked up at the sky for a second. "This should be interesting.."