Chapter One: Kaede's Class
Just as the clock on her smartwatch changed from "8:59 am" to "9:00am," Kagome's shiny white high-top sneakers squeaked as she stepped through the threshold and onto the tile floor of the large classroom. Kagome mentally counted the heads in the room as she made her way toward a chair near the front of the room. She flattened the back of her white skirt as she sat down next to a tall brunette who looked friendly enough, or so she hoped, as only one other seat remained empty: the one next to the one she just sat in.
The brunette had her long hair in a high ponytail and wore a cropped pink t-shirt, high-waisted black sport shorts, tall white socks, and black sneakers. On the other side of her sat a guy with shoulder-length, well-kempt black hair who wore a dark purple collared shirt and slim black jeans.
Kagome took little notice of them, immediately whipping her backpack around to set it in her lap and reaching into it for a notebook, about ten colored pens, five mechanical pencils, and a brand new white eraser. She was interrupted by another guy entering the room, who grumbled as he made his way towards the seat next to her, which was against the wall. She looked at him, annoyed. He wore a red hoodie with dark wash jeans, and his hair was long and black, like her own. He's kind of cute… She shook the thought from her head and turned back to her note-taking setup, then let out a deep breath.
The professor stood up from her desk in the front corner of the room, where she had sort of blended into the background until this moment, and revealed herself to the class: she was older, probably around 60, and wore her long gray hair in a ponytail down her back. She wore a flowy white blouse with straight-leg red pants and brown sandals. More notable, though, was the eyepatch that covered her right eye.
"Welcome to Japanese art and culture," she spoke, warmly but firmly. "You all can call me Kaede. I don't bother with professional greetings. We're all adults here. Colleagues. Because we're colleagues, I want you all to get to know one another. There are four of you at each table in this room. Those of you closer to the aisle should pull your chairs around to the other side so that you can talk easier, and I want you to spend the next fifteen minutes getting to know one another."
Kaede walked back over to her desk and sat down peacefully without another word. The guy on the end of Kagome's row immediately whipped his chair around to the other side, and the brunette followed suit hesitantly.
"I'll go first!" the guy offered without skipping a beat. "I'm Miroku, I'm a sophomore, a religious studies major, and I enjoy reading, drawing, drinking, and partying, sometimes all at once." He winked at Kagome.
Kagome was too focused on formulating her own response to really notice, but when no one else spoke up, she decided to get it over with.
"I'm Kagome, I'm majoring in computer science and minoring in history, um…I'm a freshman and I'm doing my very absolute best to do well this school year," she declared.
Miroku smiled at her. "You sound very determined. What do you like to do?"
"What?"
"Do you have any hobbies?"
"Uhhh…" her face turned red in embarrassment as she scoured her brain. She hadn't thought of that. "I like watching YouTube…and…reading, I guess?"
"You'll have to come by the public library sometime, then," Miroku replied, making intense eye-contact.
The other two students in the group rolled their eyes.
"Are you flirting with her?" asked the brunette. "It's nine a.m."
"I'm just being friendly!" Miroku replied defensively.
Kagome blushed even harder. "I wasn't trying to flirt with anybody! I thought he was just being friendly…"
"See? No harm done," added Miroku. "Now, I believe it's your turn."
"I'm Sango, I'm a sophomore, a history major with a concentration in ancient combat, and I play softball." She turned to Miroku. "See? It's that easy to give a simple answer."
Miroku spoke to the other two group members. "She's just mad at me for complimenting her this morning."
Sango's eyes narrowed. "I saw you clearly do a mental survey of all the girls in the room before sitting down next to me."
"And guys, too! I don't discriminate," Miroku added.
"…and when I gave you a look, you told me I had nice legs."
"Your legs are very muscular; I could tell that you were an athlete! It just came out wrong…"
"It's still weird." She shook her head. "Anyway, sorry, I think it's your turn to introduce yourself," Sango said to the remaining group member.
"It's whatever, I don't really care. My name's Inuyasha, I'm a freshman or whatever, I'm a food major."
"A food major?" Kagome inquired.
"Yeah, like, culinary or something?"
"I didn't know they even offered that here."
"It's new. Not that I wanna be here anyways. My parents forced me."
"Oh, I get that. My mom is making me do computer science. I don't know a thing about it, but she says it'll make me successful, so I'm gonna do it anyway."
"Oh, wow," Sango replied. "The only reason I'm here is because of my softball scholarship. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to afford it."
"We can't really afford it either," Kagome continued, "but I have a bunch of loans and I have a job, so…"
"Where do you work?" Sango asked.
"I'm babysitting a kid who lives nearby every day after school. My first day is tomorrow, though. And I'll be working at a coffee shop near campus on the weekends."
"Ooh," Miroku butted in, "maybe I'll stop by. I have to pick up some books."
"You haven't gotten all of your books yet?" Kagome asked.
"We're supposed to get books?" Inuyasha inquired. The other three looked at him wide-eyed.
"Okay," Kaede's voice boomed from the front of the room, where she stood in the center. "I hope you all like each other because these groups are going to be crucial for this class. I will be assigning multiple group projects throughout the semester. It's important to consider multiple opinions on this subject matter. Now, we're jumping right into taking notes."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes. Kagome tried to choose which mechanical pencil to use for this class. She decided on red.
"To start the semester off, I'll teach you all about something interesting: the Shikon no Tama."
—
When Kaede ended the class, Kagome shoved her notebooks and pens back into her backpack frantically. After zipping it up, she noticed Inuyasha was already halfway out the door and quickly sped to catch up to him.
"Hey, Inuyasha," she said, startling him, "do you need help finding your books? I wanted to go check out the coffee shop anyway before I start my job, and it's right next door, I could help you look for them."
"I don't need any help," Inuyasha retorted, picking up his pace. Kagome jogged to catch up as they exited the building.
"Okay, well, if you change your mind I'll be there tomorrow morning!" Kagome stopped walking, as she was headed back to her dorm room while Inuyasha continued briskly in the opposite direction. She caught her breath and rolled up the sleeves of her green sweater.
"He doesn't seem very friendly," noted Sango, appearing behind Kagome.
"I'm sure he'll come around."
"Are you headed back to your room? Which building are you in?"
"Um…I think it's called Nigimitama?"
"Oh, I live in the building next to that one. Let's walk together." Sango smiled and began in that direction, and Kagome gleefully followed.
"Where's Miroku? I didn't see him come out."
"I think he stayed behind to talk to Kaede."
—
"I love your outfit," Miroku commented. He sat facing Kaede's desk atop the table at which the group had been sitting and rested his feet on one of the chairs, eating a peanut butter sandwich with one hand and using the other to gesture as he spoke.
"Thank you, Miroku," Kaede replied, her attention focused primarily on organizing various papers. "Now, why do ye feel the need to grace my clean tables with your filthy underside? Class is over, you should be going."
"I just wanted to chat with my godmother! Sheesh." He took a bite of his sandwich.
"Is this about that girl you were sitting next to?"
"No, no, she means nothing to me," he leaned forward, "I wanted to know more about that Inuyasha guy who's in my group."
"I don't know much. He isn't from around here, but I think I taught his older brother a few years ago. Sesshomaru, I think. He was a cocky one. Came from a rich family."
"Interesting. What about the girl with the black hair?"
Kaede scanned the piles scattered across her desk. "Higurashi…her family must own that shrine just a few blocks away."
Miroku gulped down the final bite of his sandwich, hopped off of the table, and swung his tattered backpack onto his shoulder.
Kaede raised an eyebrow at him. "You aren't going to ask about the other girl?"
He looked up at her. "I'd prefer to get to know her myself. Hey, could you buy me some alcohol for this weekend?"
"Doesn't Mushin have enough of that crap back at your house?"
"That drunkard has cabinets full, but he doesn't exactly have the best taste in liquor. Not like you do."
"You're an adult, you can figure out how to get some yourself. Now shoo, I have work to do."
((Heyyy, I never write ff anymore, but I'm trying to get back into the whole "writing for fun" thing because I think it would be good for me, and I recently started rewatching Inuyasha (I still love it after ten years). I'm gonna try to make the chapters short so I can publish them more frequently, but if I don't update for a while, feel free to yell at me, and if you have any feedback/ideas or ANYTHING to say please please please leave a review. Hope you're enjoying the story so far :)