A/N: Sorry for the late update! :) I wrote 2000 words just for this chapter~~ :D

Chapter 3: Magic and Demons?

Kagome stiffened as she watched the former taiyoukai walk towards them. It wasn't that she was afraid of him… in fact, he had even helped them fight against Naraku in the end; but seeing him here put her on edge. Yukito glanced at her with concern in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "You look kind of pale."

"H-hai." She responded nervously.

Sakura glanced up. "Mr. Taisho!" she waved.

Kagome blinked in surprise. 'Mr. Taisho?' she wondered. He must have really changed throughout the years. She shot her brother a questioning look.

"He's the curator of the Museum of the Feudal Age in Tokyo." He explained. "Today, he gave us a presentation on Feudal weapons."

"Ne, he looks a bit like Inuyasha." Souta whispered to her under his breath. Kagome sweat dropped and decided not to tell him that Sesshoumaru could hear him. She tensed as he came and sat across from her.

The silence was so thick; you wouldn't even be able to cut it with a knife. Kagome stared down at her lap; not wanting to look into the golden eyes that were so familiar, yet so different. Finally, he spoke.

"Is there something you needed Kinomoto-san?"

Sakura rubbed the back of her head nervously. "Oh, um, I was wondering if you wanted to eat lunch with us."

The taiyoukai shook his head. "I've already eaten."

He stared intently at her. At last, he spoke; but only so Kagome could hear. "I will see you on Saturday, at my house. Inuyasha will be there. There is something you must know. I will have someone pick you up at noon."

With that, he rose fluidly and quickly walked away.

"Do you two know each other?" Souta asked.

"Somewhat." Kagome sighed.

The rest of the day passed in a blur; with Kagome worrying about meeting Inuyasha again for the first time in 500 years (for him). She was walking home when she heard a familiar voice.

"Higurashi-san!" It was Yukito. Kagome paused and waited for him to catch up before resuming walking.

"You're not with Kinomoto-san?" she asked curiously.

The boy shook his head. "Iie; he has cleanup duty today. So how was your first day of school?"

"It was pretty tiring, because I don't know where all the classrooms are and stuff." Kagome admitted, "Most of my classmates are pretty nice…"

"But…?"

"But," Kagome sighed, "Kinomoto-san seems to hate me."

Yukito blinked in surprise; and then laughed. "He doesn't hate you. Don't worry, Touya's always like that."

"If you say so…" she said dubiously. "Oh right! I've been meaning to ask but, is there an archery club at school?"

"Hai. In fact, I believe their first meeting is tomorrow after school."

Kagome paused as they reached an intersection. "Thank you. My house is that way." She continued on her way; stopping to only wave at Yukito before he disappeared.

Kagome opened the front door and called out. "Tadaimasu!"

The girl quickly ran up the stairs, past her mother in the kitchen, and entered her room; dropping her bag near her bed. Sighing, she opened it up and peeked inside. "Why do we have so much homework?" she groaned. "It's only the first day of school."

Hours later, Kagome let her head fall down onto her desk tiredly. "I'm done." She muttered.

"Dinner's ready!" Kun-loon called.

"Coming!"

Kagome ran downstairs and joined her family at the table.

"So, how was your first day at school?" Her mother asked.

"Great!" Kagome responded enthusiastically. Suddenly, her smile turned mischievous. "But I'm sure Souta had an even better time at school. Being near a beautiful girl can do that to you."

Immediately, Kun-loon perked up at the not-so-subtle hints her daughter was sending her and stared intently at her son. Kagome grinned at him; and he glowered back at her. Said girl grinned happily back.

"So, who's the lucky girl?" Their mother asked; her gaze switching between her son and daughter.

"Mom!" Souta complained.

Kagome answered for him. "Her name is Daidouji Tomoyo. I heard that she's the daughter of a CEO."

"My, my." Kun-loon chuckled. "Good luck."

Souta didn't respond; too embarrassed to say anything. Quickly she stuffed the rest of his dinner in his mouth and left; his face representing a ripe tomato. Kagome and Kun-loon laughed at his abrupt departure while her grandfather muttered about 'young kids these days'.

. . .

The following day, Yukito and Touya met up at their usual spot and started cycling to school together.

"You should act nicer to other people." Yukito murmured.

"Why?"

"You know, Higurashi-san is convinced you hate her."

Touya said nothing; feeling slightly guilty for all the glares and cold looks he gave her.

"I'll go talk to her later."

"Arigatou." Yukito smiled his thanks.

. . .

She was avoiding him. Kagome glanced at Touya from the corner of her eye, and then quickly looked down again. He had been watching her the whole time! Suddenly, the bell rang. Kagome let out the breath she had been holding and quickly escaped the classroom.

'Thank god the archery meeting is today!' she thought.

Kagome hurried down the corridor. "Where is it? I'm going to be late!"

"Excuse me…"

She paused mid-rant. Kagome turned around to see a boy standing behind her. He had short black hair and kind brown eyes.

"Could you be looking for the archery club?" At Kagome's nod, he continued. "I'm Tachibana Keisuke; the president of the Archery club. Please follow me."

Kagome paused, and then quickly hurried after his fading back. Upon entering the room, she quickly signed her name and joined the circle of students on the ground. They were in a traditional room; with tatami mats on the floor and sliding shouji screens that probably led to the targets. Keisuke, who was standing in front of them, gave them all an assessing look.

"Welcome to the Archery Club." He said. "My name is Tachibana Keisuke and I'm the president of this club. As I'm sure you know I'll expect you all to be punctual to our meetings and work hard on your archery. Our meetings will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays afterschool. Now, the people with experience on archery, please stand by the left wall. The beginners go stand by the right."

Kagome grabbed her backpack, not the yellow one, and moved towards the left wall. 'Does being self-taught count as experience?' she wondered. Kagome glanced around the room and sweat dropped. The only other person beside her was a girl her age. Everyone else was standing by the right wall. Keisuke seemed to notice this too.

"Okay!" he announced. "Most of you are beginners, and that's fine. But you're going to have to work hard and train for the upcoming competition! This concludes our first meeting of the year, and you are free to go. Could the experienced archers please stay behind? We need to assess your skills."

Kagome watched as the other students filed out of the room. As soon, as they were gone, she switched her gaze back to Keisuke.

"So," he asked, "How long have you been doing archery?"

"For a couple years. Does being self-taught count?" Kagome answered.

He stared at her. "Well, we'll see. How about you?" he directed his question at the other girl.

"I've been doing archery for 2 years." She responded.

Keisuke sighed. "We might need Tsukishiro-san to help out our club. But anyways, please choose your bow."

Kagome walked over, selecting a random bow, and immediately placed it back. It was too heavy. Moving quickly, she tried a couple more times. Finally, she found the right bow. Kagome turned around to see that Keisuke and the other girl had been waiting for a while now.

"I'm sorry!" she cried frantically. Keisuke chuckled and waved off her apologies.

"Follow me."

Kagome started after him; the other girl right behind her. It was at that moment that Kagome realized she didn't even know her name. She turned to face the girl.

"What's your name?" she asked,

The girl, who had long, dark brown hair and beautiful gray eyes, stopped and smile at Kagome. "Ichigo Hana. What about you?"

"Higurashi Kagome. It's nice to meet you."

Suddenly, Keisuke popped his head out of the now open shouji screen. "Are you coming or not?" he grumbled. The two grinned at each other and walked out together.

Kagome stepped out onto the floorboards and squinted into the harsh sunlight. They were in what seemed to be a Zen garden with various target lined up side-by-side. Keisuke handed them each 3 arrows.

"Just shoot these at the targets and you're free to go."

Kagome took hr position. Grabbing an arrow with practiced ease, she quicky aimed and released; repeating the process twice more until all her arrows were firmly lodged in the target. Keisuke whistled under his breath in amazement. Both Kagome and Hana had hit the dead centre of the target with all 3 arrows. The two laughed at his expression.

"Then, we're going now!" Kagome called over her shoulder.

As they reached the school entrance, Hana pointed to the right. "My house is that way."

"Alright. See you tomorrow!"

Kagome walked up to her house with a skip in her step. 'I could get used to this.' She thought.

Later, after and uneventful dinner, Kagome was in her room again. She sighed in boredom. Running down the stairs, Kagome opened the front door and called out, "I'm going for a walk!"

"Be careful!" Kun-loon called; but her daughter had already disappeared.

Kagome walked along the road. It was late and there weren't any cars around. There wasn't anyone around for that matter. The girl sighed again. After all she had been through, living a normal life just seemed so boring. Suddenly, she stopped moving. Faintly, Kagome could feel the light traces of the youki of a lesser youkai. 'Someone could get hurt!'

Kagome quickly ran towards the growing presence. That's when she heard the voices. Quietly, she drew in her miko aura and hid behind some bushes so as to not attract any unwanted attention. Slowly, she peeked out and assessed the scene. Demon? Check. Sakura with a winged man and a strange creature? And why was Tomoyo there with a video camera and Syaoran with a sword? Kagome shook her head. This was just getting weirder and weirder.

"Firey!" Sakura yelled; holding what seemed to be a staff.

Kagome gasped as the bust of a woman in flames shot out of the card. Yue narrowed his eyes. He thought he heard something from the bushes. His attention was reverted back to the mistress as he watched the flames bind the monster. Suddenly, the light dulled from its eyes and it fell to the ground with a loud crash. Sakura stared at it for a moment.

"Is it dead? What do I do with it?" she asked; gesturing towards the charred body of the bear youkai.

"That was splendid and usual, Sakura-chan." Tomoyo said happily. "But… what to do with the body…"

Suddenly, they heard a twig snap. Everyone tensed and turned in the direction of the sound. "Who's there?" Syaoran yelled.

Slowly, a foot stepped out. Sakura blinked in surprise. It was Kagome!

"H-hoe? You didn't see anything did you?" Sakura asked nervously. Meanwhile, Kero and Yue stared at her suspiciously. 'She was this close and I didn't notice her?'

"I saw it. I saw everything."

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