Summary: Kagome, freed from the burden of the jewel and gathering its shards, is back in the present for good. As a first-year at Seirin, she gets pulled into the basketball club. Huh? How come everyone's after her favor?! If she'd known the trouble it'd cause her in the long run, she would've turned the idea down in the first place!

Pairing: Undecided!

Disclaimer: I do not own either series. Each belongs to their rightful owners.

Chapter One

In the back of her mind, there was a lingering thought of just how strange all this felt. She stood in front of the mirror, brushing out her hair as the last step before she was ready to head to school.

After everything she'd gone through over the course of the last year- her last year in middle school, the mere fact that she was even accepted into a high school was a miracle in her eyes. She hadn't had much time to dedicate to her studies while she was fighting for her life five hundred years in the past, yet, somehow, she'd managed to pull it all together at the end in order to give herself a fighting chance of a decent school career.

It felt so… surreal, almost like she'd wake up any given moment, still caught up in the strife over the jewel.

Kagome set her brush down and sighed, giving herself a once over in the mirror to make sure nothing was amiss with her appearance. The uniform for the high school she'd be attending wasn't all that different in style and appearance from her middle school one- just a swap of colors mostly. A white skirt with a green line and a blue line along the hem, a white shirt with matching lines along the color and hem of the sleeves, as well as a navy blue blazer.

Once she was content with the way she looked, she moved away from the mirror and went to grab her bag.

"I'm leaving!" she called out as she walked through the door. "Be home later!"

Maybe it was no surprise that it was a big adjustment to pick back up an ordinary routine. It hadn't been more than a month or two since the well was fully sealed up, putting a complete halt to her time-traveling escapes. Every day, it was hard to shake the feeling that something was missing, especially since she knew perfectly well what that thing was.

Kagome pursed her lips in a pout as she continued to mull over it in her head. After a second, she sighed, her shoulders slumping some. "I knew it'd be hard to adjust initially after doing it so frequently, but I didn't expect it to be this difficult," she mumbled under her breath. "Who would've thought that fighting demons for the past few months could affect more than your school life…"

She lifted her head, gazing up at the sky as she took in the radiant blue hue. There were only a few clouds that sparingly blocked the sun. In the back of her mind, she found herself wondering if they shared the same clear sky in the past with her.

When she made it to the school campus, she was quick to take note of the barrage of school clubs that'd gathered along the inside of the gate. The upperclassmen were clearly scouting for new club members. It all made for a crowded, noisy mess. While she knew she would have to join a club eventually, Kagome decided to brush off any initial offers.

Frankly, she wasn't sure what sort of club she even wanted to join. She hadn't given it any genuine thought leading up to this moment, and, as she looked over them all, she couldn't help but feel a bit overwhelmed.

Or maybe it was just the crowd of individuals all gathered around her on every side. Her senses had grown stronger with the jewel fusing with her body once more, and this was a bit… much for her in the aftermath of that. She was still adjusting to the impact of it, and situations like this definitely got to be too much after a while.

She made her way through the crowd, ignoring everyone who tried to pull her focus to them. She had made it through most of it when somebody in front of her abruptly stepped back. To avoid running into their back, she stepped to the side. When she did so, the person on the other side of her mirrored her actions just enough to keep some space between them. It went unnoticed by everyone else around them, but not her.

"Sorry about that," she remarked, not thinking much of it. She got a quick look at him, catching sight of his light blue hair and matching eyes. For whatever reason, she could feel a faint pulse of astonishment that ebbed through his aura. She hid the confusion it brought her, instead sending him a friendly smile.

"Oh… Don't worry about it," he responded in a neutral tone.

There were no other words exchanged between them before she'd walked off, finally managing to dislodge herself from the crowd. She could feel the weight of his stare lingering on her, but she didn't stop to wonder much about it.

000

As the blue-eyed girl got further and further away, Kuroko found himself still at a standstill. He couldn't shake the shock he felt when she'd so easily noticed his presence. The others around him continued in with what they were doing around him as if he wasn't there, his lack of a presence impacting the others like it normally did.

He'd moved out of the way before she could end up running into him, but he'd soon realized it'd been pointless all along. Furthermore, she had seemed aware that he was there.

He remained where he was for a few seconds longer before he finally moved again.

Well… This was certainly a first for him.

"I can't believe I left my bag in the gym…" Kagome grumbled under her breath as she made her way down the halls. It'd been almost a week since the school year had started, and she was practically the only one who hadn't yet joined a club. Well, that was only partially true.

The application she'd grabbed from the cooking club was in none other than her bag that'd been left somewhere on the gym's bleachers. She made it into the gym, noting the basketball club was practicing. She paid them no mind initially as she spotted her bag, and she started to make her way over to where it rested.

She was stopped mid-step when she sensed something heading straight for her. Without even looking up, she lifted her arm to block the basketball from hitting her on the head before any of the boys on the court could give a warning cry to her. She caught it and lifted her gaze to the group scattered as silence swept over the area. She waited for a few seconds to see if any of them would raise their hands for the ball, but when none of them did, she was struck with a better idea.

While the net was all the way across the gym, Kagome wasn't daunted by it. After all, due to all the time and practice that'd gotten put into her archery skill, the net wasn't all that far for her. At least it wasn't moving.

She didn't hesitate as she threw the ball. It sailed through the air before swishing through the net and falling to bounce on the wood flooring. She was met with more silence, but she didn't let it faze her. She turned away from the group as she once more resumed on her way to grab her bag.

She was stopped when she reached the bleachers, another girl immediately catching her attention.

"Wait, how'd you just do that!?" she asked.

Kagome lifted her gaze from her bag and to the girl. Her hair was short and brown, the color similar to that of her eyes. Kagome blinked owlishly as she glanced back at the net. "Is…- Is it supposed to be difficult?" she asked in a slightly stilted tone.

"A shot like that, yeah!" she responded. She seemed for excited than anything. "What's your name?" she asked. "You're a first-year, aren't you?"

Kagome nodded. "Higurashi Kagome," she said, offering answers to both of her questions. "What about it?"

"Have you joined a club by chance?" she asked.

Kagome noted how she was looking her over. She ignored it as she shook her head, opening her bag to pull the halfway-finished application from it. "No," she responded. Kagome didn't miss the excitement that flashed through her aura at first, only for it to be dashed some when she read the club on the form. "I was going to finish this one for the cooking club and turn it in, though," she explained.

"Cooking, huh?" she asked, glancing at it and then at her. Kagome arched a brow and nodded, slowly pulling it back towards her.

"Yes," she responded. "... Why?"

"Well, why join that when you can join the basketball club?" she asked. While the response struck Kagome with confusion, she didn't let it show on her face.

"If I wanted to do that, then I'd just join the girl's team," Kagome responded. "Also, it's too intense for my liking," she added. The other girl shook her head.

"No, not as a player," she quickly said. "Coaching them, with me."

Kagome held her silence for a few seconds before she finally said something. "... I don't even know who you are," she said. That caused the other girl to scramble some.

"I'm Riko," she responded. "C'mon, please…-" she pleaded, clasping her hands together in front of her. "This is too good of an opportunity to pass up!"

For a moment, a fleeting wonder of who that comment applied to flittered through her head, though she didn't make the remark outloud. Instead, she sighed. "I don't know the first thing about basketball," she stated. "I wouldn't be much help…-"

"I doubt that," Riko intervened. "Just watching that shot, I know you're something special!"

"I'm not so sure," Kagome tried again, glancing at the paper she held. "I just wanted something lowkey and easy to keep up with this year," she stated. She was still in the process of adjusting to everything, and she didn't want to end up too invested in something that'd take up a lot of time and effort.

Her grip loosened on the paper, and she watched wide-eyed as it got knocked away from her with a faint breeze. She reached to catch it, but she hadn't reached it in time. Her fingers grazed the back of it before it floated to the ground, where it landed in a puddle of something clear on the floor. Kagome stood there for a few seconds, watching as the lettering grew blurry, silently weighing the options of whether she wanted to touch it or not.

What were the odds that it was sweat on the ground? Frankly, she didn't really like her chances…

"I don't have time to go back and get another application," Kagome commented, mostly to herself in her state of despair. Even if she did, she wouldn't get it turned in before the deadline. As it was, she had to plead for the one she had due to the lateness of it all.

When she turned around, she was met with an application held out for her. Riko was smiling as she offered it.

"As it is, we're still accepting new members!" she hummed. "Well, not really, but I'm making the executive decision!"

No other clubs were accepting new members, that much she knew. Kagome looked from the paper and to Riko before she sighed and reached for the clipboard and took the pen in her hand.

"Fine," she murmured. "I'll join, but just until sign-ups for other clubs open again," she said. When she'd finished the application, Riko took it and grinned.

"Welcome aboard!" she exclaimed. "Gald to have you!"

Auroua-chan: Gonna end this here.

The pairing is undecided, and suggestions are more than welcome. I have a few in mind already, but nothing is set in stone.

Kagome's decided to do this as a temporary thing, but we all know that it's going to be more permanent than she thinks. She's in for a rather crazy road, but it's nothing she can't handle.

Anyway, that's it for now! Thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoyed. Hopefully I caught all the errors before posting, but if not sorry.

Please remember to Review, Favorite, and Follow, thank you!

Bye for now~