I have spent much of my life flinching with pain as I tried to pull out the threads that bound the shadows of my past to me.

Chapter Two: Crash Course in Falling

"He's still going..." Kagome thought vaguely, risking a glance at the windows and the setting sun outside. "I wanted a good tutor but will I have a life outside of this place?"

They were finally on the last of her homework and she couldn't imagine how he would finish whatever he had to do and still make it to school the next day without being exhausted. She'd commented on it but he'd just waved it away and pushed her back to the math they'd been working on at the time. He was very strict but probably the most intelligent person she'd ever met, he'd managed to help explain everything she'd had the slightest issue with throughout the entirety of the evening.

Some of the courses they'd assigned her she wasn't really prepared for, they'd spent the longest time on biology where she had very little experience and he'd given her a complete crash course. It absorbed the time, she could barely believe that it was after seven when they'd started this at quarter after four. Parts were boring but he managed to make most of it fairly interesting, he came off as cool but there was a charisma that drew her in enough to make her overlook the majority of the less interesting problems.

He wasn't happy though.

She could tell by the way he'd gotten just slightly shorter with her as time had gone on. Not that he'd ever ceased to be a perfect gentlemen, there were just small signs that he was irritated she could pick up on as time progressed. She was naturally empathetic and if it wasn't for how practiced she was with reading people emotionally then she doubted she would have sensed a difference at all.

They were looking over History, but it was the subject she was least concerned with. She knew that particular subject possibly better than anyone else in the school. After the incident with Naraku, when the past had been lost to her, she'd gotten obsessed with it. She'd spent every free moment she had for half a year searching through every history book of Japan. Hoping, praying, begging fate for a glimpse or shadow of her former friends and companions.

As a result she'd also picked up a lot of history of other countries and the world in general. When she'd failed to find anything in the books she'd gotten on her own country, she'd started to search through other histories and mythologies. Anything that could possibly have a glimmer of her past within.

Yet there was nothing...all she received for her trouble was a single A on a otherwise fail filled report card.

She blushed and her train of thought broke as her stomach rumbled loud enough that even Kyoya had paused.

"Sorry." She apologized immediately. "It's getting a little late...but I'm not worried about History. It's the one thing I'm really good with."

The way he stared she wondered if he was pondering if she was lying or not.

"That's all for now then." He finally commented after glancing at the time. "We'll continue tomorrow."

He was already picking back up his notes and other things, putting everything into order, as if he'd just dismissed her like any other professor. Outside of his youth, he pulled off the image of someone in charge of things, she could picture him as a teacher not just a tutor. "I wonder if that's what he's training for."

"Anything I can do to help?" She asked, smiling in a more friendly manner now that she was free from lessons for a minute. It seemed best to check.

"No." He answered. "Perhaps you should head to get dinner."

She pushed the blush away as her stomach rumbled again. "I suppose so. I'm off for the train then. Thank you for your time Kyoya, I really appreciate all the help."

She headed off, as he still seemed to want to fiddle with things in the room, as if he was preparing for the next day. "Did they reserve a room just for me? Naw, that seems a bit much even for such a place as this."

Counterpoint...

He glanced after the girl, considering her thank you a short moment before returning his eyes to the papers he was shuffling. She was behind in most of the subjects she was taking, math and biology he'd be teaching her almost from scratch.

"What was she doing in her last school to be so far behind? Daydreaming most likely." He was vaguely annoyed with the situation. He'd noticed her start to lose focus a couple of times during the unexpectedly long lesson before he'd had to get her back on track. "I agreed to be a tutor not a life coach...why does father want me to work with her for the school anyway?"

He hadn't yet had the time to look up anything about her, he'd sent comments out to his contacts but had yet to get the chance to check them. His day had been busy trying to finish what he could of his own homework at lunch and during his study period so he wouldn't have to be up as late this evening. Though it wouldn't take him too long to finish what remained of his own obligations it was frustrating that he wouldn't be able to balance the books for the club at least until the end of the week.

"By then Tamaki could have bankrupted us."

"At least she doesn't seem stupid..." He was doing his best to make the absorbtion of his free time not seem as bad as it could be. "When she was paying attention she was doing well. She seemed to want to learn, which is much further than some of the students here."

He eyed his laptop and then his homework, taking a few minutes to read about his student couldn't hurt at all. He had to remain on good terms if he wanted to take the most advantage of whatever it was her family did to get her all of this attention.

Curiosity got the better of him and he opened it up and turned on the power before flipping one of the books open. He might as well finish up before he left as he was already there so late into the evening.

He'd finished some of his assigned reading before moving back to the portable computer and typing a few things before noting having a few new email's. Most he wasn't concerned with but the information he'd gotten back on the girl was there.

As he scanned he started to frown slowly. There was no money in the background on her. As it was it seemed her family was barely managing to afford the shrine where she supposedly lived. Her family wasn't rich, they were steps from being incredibly poor from what his contacts had returned for him. She'd been sick half the last year of school.

"Well that explains the lack of knowledge." He thought with a frown now firmly in place. "But why on earth would father want me to spend my time on someone without a return? Is he not aware of how much they're actually worth?"

"No. If I could get this information in a single day then he would have it already. There's something beneath the surface." He concluded as he finished the view of the information and returned a email that he wanted them to figure out how she was paying for her time at the school. That should give him a better idea of what was happening.

He closed the computer and glanced at the clock. Almost eight.

"Better head out and finish at home." He decided, the sun was almost completely vanished beyond the horizon, the sky a wounded purple as the moon took over it's place.

"I hate this place! It's too damn big!" The voice was new, but he was already familiar with it.

Kagome had gotten lost trying to find the way out, with the light different everything wasn't familiar and she had a hell of a time figuring out where to go in the maze of hallways. She wasn't sure how long she'd been searching but it was getting creepier as time passed and the sun was falling further. She'd have to pack a flashlight with the rest of her books in the backpack tomorrow.

She'd finally lost her temper, not realizing she wasn't more than a turn away from where she'd started, screaming at the walls in frustration of being stuck.

"No need to scream." Kyoya coming calmly around a corner nearly ended her misery with a heart attack. She had to have jumped a full foot from the ground when he talked and appeared so suddenly. "If you needed help finding your way you could have asked."

She leaned on a wall nearby after the near death experience and breathed deeply. "Yeah I suppose. I didn't want to bother you anymore. You'd already helped me so much today. It seemed like wasting your time...and I thought I'd be okay."

"Come on. I'll have my driver drop you off." He gestured vaguely and headed opposite the way she was about to go, forcing her to speed up to fall into step.

"You don't have to do that. I can take the train." She answered instantly, feeling like a idiot and embarrassed he'd heard her lose her temper.

"The last train leaves in two minutes. You'd never make it in time." He pointed out, still leading the way through the now mostly dark halls without missing a beat.

"Oh." She commented, going quiet otherwise as she fell a little behind his step so she could follow. "I...aaaah"

Her statement was paused as she didn't realize they had been approaching steps and the sensation of free falling broke her off instantly. Then she heard a crashing sound and felt arms wrapping around her. It was scary but she wasn't hurt. She'd only fallen a couple steps before he'd caught her.

He steadied her before asking. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." She nodded, gaining her footing and kicking herself mentally for the mistake. "I couldn't see the steps...are you?"

"I'm fine." He replied in the short way she was starting to realize meant he was annoyed. "I'm not sure about my computer."

"Oh your laptop was in the bag!" She realized it as he commented. "I'm so sorry. How much was it?"

"More than you can afford." He returned, lifting back up his bag. The sounds of shifting metal against metal a sign pieces had at least broken off.

She went quiet after that, it was a sharp slap back to reality, he was only doing this because he'd been assigned too by the school. He probably was getting more and more pissed at her as time went on. She held back the sigh and went more carefully down the steps when he started moving again, following him still. She felt like dirt that he would have to also drive her home after she'd wasted his entire evening.

"I have to be more careful..." She thought, finally releasing that sigh. "Um...thanks. For catching me..."

"I couldn't just let you fall." He returned with a shrug, like it was just the way things were.

"Well, you could have." She smiled some when they reached the courtyard, it had more lighting even at night and she could actually see. "A lot of people would have, especially after I used up their whole evening. So thanks."

"Cars already waiting." He nodded toward the limo.

"Great...way to make me feel more out of place." She eyed the expensive car like some sort of odd beast but got in after he opened the door then gave her a slightly cold look. She didn't really want to make him wait after that. "Wonder if I'll ever fit in here."

She gave her address to the driver and looked out the window, eyeing the expensive homes around the school somberly. She couldn't tell her mom she didn't like it though, not when her mom just wanted her to succeed so badly. She'd go in and say her day was hard but it was great and that she'd made some friends.

"Tamaki is getting to me." Kyoya thought as he watched the defeated expression on Kagome's face. "He'll never forgive me if he hears I let her walk home being so sad. As it is she lives pretty far so I might as well try to keep her entertained."

"You did well, considering that you didn't seem to have much experience in your last school." He commented. "The lessons shouldn't take as long once we've gotten you caught up on some things. The staff mentioned you were sick a lot, it's nice to see you are feeling better."

"I wish I were." She thought idly, turning back and offering a smile anyway. She had no reason to take out her personal problems on the guy helping her catch up. "Seems I've built up a resistance."

"Not too common." He replied. "Generally people of poor stamina stay that way. You are a lucky young woman."

"If you only knew." She kept up the conversation despite herself. "I know. I'm still a little amazed at it all. Being at a new school and such. It's all so different there than public school."

"You'll manage. Haruhi is a honor student but not from a rich family like most of us and is very popular." He commented, remembering how awkward she'd been but how completely different Kagome was in comparison. Exceptionally more feminine would be one of the first qualities that came to mind.

"Yeah, but she wanted to be there." Kagome answered, glancing at the limo. "This is out of place for me. I'm only at the school cause mom wants me there. I don't want to disappoint her."

"You'll do fine." Kyoya answered. "You have a brilliant tutor."

She laughed finally at that. "Modest too."

"No time for that." He gave a more genuine smile when he finally got her to laugh, noting they were reaching her home a lot earlier than he'd expected. His driver definitely earned his pay. "I wouldn't worry so much about it. I'll see you tomorrow after school?"

"Yes." She nodded at that, getting out of the car before he could move to offer to hold the door himself. "Goodnight Kyoya."

Then it was closed and they were driving off again. He glanced back at the long set of steps she was running up to get the house at the top where the shrine must be. "Now I just need to get out of father what it is that he wants out of all of this."

He couldn't help but remember the slight smell of cherry blossom's that had clung to her when he had stopped her from falling down the stairwell. She'd been nothing but kind to him even if he'd been a bit irritated the whole time they'd been working together.

He pushed that aside, not giving it much more thought. He needed to approach his father and discover just what they were getting out of him spending his time with her teaching her.

Not long later...

"If you succeed in helping her become an honor student then I'll be forced to consider you instead of your brothers when it comes to the company." His father might as well have grown another head and started singing opera. For as trained as he was in keeping a straight face, Kyoya couldn't help but gape at his father for a long moment.

"You aren't a philanthropist as far as I know." He managed finally after the shock of the statement finally settled and he was able to return to a reasonable conversation. "Why then do you want to help a girl with no foreseeable future?"

"It isn't your place to ask Kyoya." His father answered, though he could guess it involved some sort of outside source. "You have been acting up a lot recently and I tend to let a lot slide as you are still a teenager and prone to mistakes...don't press your luck. Do you intend to go against the offer I've made you."

"No father." He bit his tongue to keep from saying anything else. It was more than he could have hoped for. He was quite prepared to accept that sort of agreement if that was what his father wanted. His curiosity could be pushed aside for the greater good for the time being, if he could usurp his brothers without them being even vaguely aware of the agreement he had it would make it all the easier for him.

"Good, then you are dismissed Kyoya." The man gestured him away lightly and he bowed before leaving the office and moving toward his own room. It was late, he'd managed to finish most of the work he needed but still had to write part of a paper before he slept. Tomorrow would be a little rough but he would manage, he had to help this bizarre poor shrine girl so he could help himself.

End Chapter

Wow, I'm simply amazed at the amount of attention this fiction has gotten. I'm not even sure how to respond other than to say thanks to all my reviewers and favorite-ers?

-Nera

P.S. There is a clue in the first chapter as to who is backing Kagome's schooling. Though it won't be a mystery longer than another chapter or two.