Dancing Queen Chapter One : Don't Let Me Down, an inuyasha fanfic

Disclaimer : I don't own Inuyasha. But guess what? In four weeks the dubbed version of episode 80 is on AS. That's the episode where Rin meets Kohaku! Also, I don't own the song... but that's kind of obvious, right?

A/N:

I don't remember when or how I came up with this. All I knew is that I wanted to write a Rin/Kohaku story one minute and the next I was imagining the two swing dancing. Anyway, none of my faithful readers should worry - there will be M/S in this. Somewhat. Also, this will be either a trilogy, a quartet, or quintet. This part will be R/K, the second will be S/K (Souta/Kanna), the third and fourth will be M/S and S/K (Sesshoumaru/Kagura), and the fifth and final will be I/K (don't know whether it will be Kikyou or Kagome...). All chapters will start with a song for their theme and chapter title. Yay! This chapter uses a song sung by Reba McEntire, one of my favorite country artists. I just love this song, and if you ever heard it, you would too. I thought the scenes between Rin and her mother fit the song perfectly.

Anyway, I either have to use "-" or the hr code to separate parts of my story, A/Ns, etc. from now on, according to the rules. Oh well...

Chapter One: Don't Let Me Down

She handed me a heart shaped locket that said
"To thine own self be true"
And I shivered as I watched a roach crawl across
The toe of my high heel shoe
It sounded like somebody else that was talkin'
Askin' "Mama what do I do?"
She said "Just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy,

And they'll be nice to you"

She said, here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down
Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down
Lord, forgive me for what I do
But if you want out well it's up to you
Now don't let me down
Your Mama's gonna move you uptown

-"Fancy," by Reba McEntire

She sat on the cold, hard metal floor, watching the TV absorbedly. Most people would have found the news boring, especially an interview with some school's principal. But she wasn't most people, and this wasn't most schools. She was Tsukino Rin, and the reporters were interviewing Hane Kagura, former dancer - the most famous in Japan, to be specific - and principal of the Odoriko Institution of Performance Arts. It had been two years since Kagura had been promoted to principal, and three years prior she had been accepted as the school's instructor of modern dance.

"The reason Odoriko does not require students to wear uniforms anymore is simple," the woman's strong, confident - if not arrogant - voice came out of the television. "It's a school of arts, and all arts - visual or performance - require creativity. If they are required to wear uniforms, we're draining the creativity out of them." Her voice never faltered as the reporter questioned her methods, her scarlet eyes never shifted from the camera.

The woman had desired to turn the small, unrefined school that had possessed nothing more than class rooms for math and reading, a few lunch tables, and a gym which doubled for a dance hall that she had once attended into a famed and envied school of arts. And she had been successful, as anyone could clearly see.

This woman had been Rin's role model since she'd had first seen the woman dance on stage about ten years earlier during a performance of the American musical, West Side Story. Kagura hadn't been the star - the woman playing the role of "Maria" didn't have quite as much dancing collectively, probably due to a script change - but she had a number of beautiful dance routines. She had already been famous then, but had settled for a lesser role. The only possible explanation Rin could think of was that Kagura didn't enjoy singing - "Maria" had at least three major singing roles, at least one or two of which she sang all alone. She couldn't quite remember it all, though - she had only seen the performance twice since then.

Rin had always dreamed of attending Odoriko, and this year she had finally saved enough to pay half the tuition - her parents had agreed that if she could earn half that they would pay the rest. Unlike most students who attended the school, her parents were neither rich nor would-be celebrities with broken dreams, determined to make their child a star.

Her mother had been a kind, gentle woman who loved nothing more than her family, with long, flowing brown hair and freckles that softly powdered her cheeks and soft amber eyes that could only belong to someone who had cared and nurtured for a child from its birth.

Her father was a hardworking man with constantly dwindling wages that were barely enough to provide for them. He blamed himself for the constant problems they went through, but the truth was that nobody wanted to hire him due to his disability - he had fractured his leg about three years back, and, according to the doctor at least, there was next to no chance of it ever healing. The few people who would hire him didn't pay him nearly what he deserved, claiming his handicap limited his work.

Despite the hard times they often found themselves in, they always worked things out. Most children were ashamed of their parents long before the reached Rin's age, but as you know, Rin wasn't most people. She loved her parents and everything they did for her, and she knew they would always be there.

Rin thought she would never be among those chosen to attend Odoriko, and yet she had taken the chance. She had applied. If nothing else, she would finally settle her curiosity. She'd mailed out her application form three weeks ago, meaning it wouldn't be long until she received either a letter of approval or refusal. There was a little more than two weeks before the first day of school, and they liked you to be settled into your dorms and get used to the layout of the building by moving in a week early.

She sighed, fixing her gaze back on the screen as the commercials ended.

"Of course I think our academic teachers are a talented as our arts teachers!" the woman snapped. "Just because our students turn into actors and dancers more than scientists and mathematicians does not, by any means, signal that our academic courses are week. It's a school of performance arts, for Pete's sake! And if more of our students turned into doctors and accountants you'd accuse us of charging the parents college-level fees for the type of education they could acquire at a public school."

"Hane Kagura is quite volatile," Rin mother told her, folding the shirt in her hands and placing it in a stack of clothes. "It's plain to see how she got the name 'Wildfire'." The corners of Rin's mouth turned up into a tiny smirk before she turned to watch the rest of the interview.

Their small apartment was rundown, with only two bedrooms, a cramped kitchen, and a bathroom that could barely fit in the shower it held. The floors were unstable in places and might fall through if you stood on them too long, but Rin learned which spots those were and remembered to avoid them. They had one eight inch television set with no cable, but Rin didn't have a problem with it. It just meant fewer distractions to keep her from earning her way into Odoriko.

Her mother glanced at her watch, then up at her daughter, smiling from her place on the depleted loveseat. "If I'm not mistaken, the mail should be arriving about now," she told her daughter cheerfully. Rin gasped, biting down on her lip.

"Oh no!" she gaped. "I nearly forgot!" She bolted out the door and quickly unlocked the box where the mail was put upon arrival. She snatched the cluster of envelopes and dashed back up the rickety stairs and into their apartment, afraid she might jinx it if she were to look through them without her mother at her side.

She sat down on the arm of the loveseat as her mother halted sorting out the laundry. "Well?" the woman questioned, "Go on and look." She gulped, flipping through them.

One for her parents - the electric bill. She put it aside for the moment.

One for "Mr. Tsukino or the current resident" - pre-approved credit cards. She tossed it in the waste basket, knowing the last thing they needed was another debt.

Another bill - this one for the water. She stacked it next to the electric bill.

There was only one left - a letter from the Odoriko Institution of Performance Arts. She bit the inside of her cheek until she could taste blood as she tore through the seal of the wrapper and unfolded the letter. Her eyes darted back and forth across the paper as her mother watched in worry. Her daughter had dreamed of this moment since she knew how, and to see a dream shattered... one of her daughter's, especially... She didn't know if she could handle it.

Rin's breath was caught in her chest as she tried to speak. She shook her head, handing the document to her mother. "I'm in..." she finally wheezed. "I've been accepted..." Her mother trembled, pulling her daughter into a tight embrace.

"Rin..." she wept softly, "I'm so proud of you. You finally have the chance to fulfill your dreams. You have a chance to do something with your life. Please, Rin... don't let me down." The girl nodded silently in acknowledgement, wiping her mother's misty eyes. "You'll try your hardest, and you'll never give up. You promise?"

"I promise, Mom," she vowed.

She stepped up to the massive building which was identified as the Odoriko Institute. She forced down the lump in her throat, suddenly feeling massively inferior. It was much smaller on TV, she realized. A nauseous feeling churned in her stomach as she looked over from the school. Even from the outside, it appeared to be a school for those that were pretty well-to-do.

"Don't let it intimidate you," her mother told her gently. "You deserve to be here just as much as those other students - if not more. You've earned your way here, Rin. You don't have rich parents, and you're not relative to any of teachers. You got here on your own."

"I know," Rin sighed, shuffling her feet and fiddling with the strap of her duffle bag.

"Do you want me to walk you in?" the woman asked. Rin shook her head, taking the other bag from her mother and hoisting it onto her shoulder.

"No, I can manage," she promised. "I have to learn to stand on my own two feet. Besides, it shouldn't be too difficult." She knew it would be much more difficult than she let on, but she had to do things for herself. She wanted to prove to everyone that she could be just as good as anyone with a thousand times her money, maybe even better.

Her mother smiled in approval, nodded to her. "Alright, then we part here," she told her. "Don't forget to write every day, okay? I'll see you at Christmas." Her mother patted her daughter's shoulder and gestured to the enormous building. "Adieu." The girl bit her lip, bidding her mother farewell and entering the building.

'They really should put a map in here somewhere,' Rin thought dryly. 'I had an easier time navigating through the mall when I was nine!' She looked around her, sighing. Everything looked the same. 'This must be the academic wing.'

"You lost?" a voice questioned. She spun around to one of the classroom doors to see a tall, raven-haired man leaning against the doorpost.

"Sort of..." she confessed.

"Is that a yes or a no?" he asked in amusement, shutting the door.

"Yes," she stated flatly. "I need to get to Principal Hane's office."

"In that case you're in luck," he chuckled, "I was headed in that direction." He locked the door and led her down the hall. "I'm Mr. Tsujitani," he explained, glancing over his shoulder at her, "ninth grade language arts teacher." She beamed, bowing slightly.

"Tsukino Rin," she informed him. "Ninth grader."

"Then I guess I'll get to see you in a few of my classes, then," he admitted. He gestured to large room to the right. "That's the library," he told her. "Directly across from it is the dance room, which I'm sure you know is the only class Principal Hane still teaches - she won't allow anyone else the honor. Up ahead is the gymnasium. If you get that class, you're coach will be Mr. Takashi the younger."

"'The younger?'" she questioned. He nodded.

"Takashi the elder teaches math for ninth grade." She nodded in acknowledgement. "And this room," he told her gleefully, stopping at the door, "is the drama room. If you take this class, your instructor will be my fiancé, Kuwashima Sango." He opened the door, beginning to step inside. "If you continue down this hall, you'll come to a stairway. Once you reach the top, take a sharp right. The second door on the left is Principal Hane's office - it shouldn't be difficult to find."

"Thank-you," she sighed in relief, dashing off down the marble hallway.

"Another lost student?" the woman at the front of the room guessed, setting down the papers she'd been working on. He nodded.

"But of course," he admitted to his fiancé.

"Don't you get a lot of secret admirers that way, Miroku-kun?" she questioned teasingly.

"And... that's a bad thing?" he joked.

"Miroku..."

The long marble hallway was nearly empty, the only sounds being her heavy breathing and the echoing of her footsteps. She was going to meet the woman that had been her idol since before she even knew the meaning of the word, which gave her fair reason to be nervous.

'I have to act calm,' she scolded herself. 'If she thinks I can't compose myself long enough to talk to her, she'll probably doubt my performance skills.' Still, she couldn't help thinking that she'd seen Mr. Tsujitani somewhere before. And the name of the drama instructor! Sango wasn't a popular name - it was actually the first time she'd heard the word "coral" used as a name - and yet it sounded so familiar... She shook it off, reaching the top of the staircase and trying to remember which way she was supposed to go.

"Once you reach the top, take a sharp right," he had told her, "The second door on the left is Principal Hane's office."

She turned to the right and stopped at the second room. The door was bulky and constructed from glass, with two broad windows on either side. Hane Kagura could be seen in the room scratching something down onto a pad of paper, though Rin couldn't make out what is was from the distance and angle at which she was standing. 'Wildfire... she's even more radiant in person than she is on screen!' Rin held her breath unknowingly, pushing the door open slightly and poking her head in.

"Well, don't just stand there," the woman sighed impatiently, "come on and take a seat." Rin obeyed silently. "You're a first year, am I right?"

"Yes," Rin responded, ambling in sitting in the cold, metallic chair and dropping her bags into the floor. The woman nodded, setting the paper aside, which Rin could now make out as a choreography sketch.

"I make it my duty to see each first-year when they arrive so that I can explain to them the rules and make sure they understand how serious a commitment this will be for them," Wildfire explained to her. "We don't tolerate dress code violations. Don't be under the misconception that just because we allow you to chose your clothes that we don't care how you clothe yourself. You will dress modestly and in a fashion appropriate for all school activities. Your shoulders must be covered, your skirts and shorts should reach past your fingertips when sitting down, no midriff should be visible, and you clothing shall not convey prejudice or criminal themes. Clear?"

"Of course," Rin admitted.

"No work should be turned in late unless you are sick with a note from the nurse, explaining that you were sick and confined to either your room or the nurse's office. Being tardy is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. If you get into a fight on any kind you will be temporarily dismissed to your home. If there is a second offense, you will be returned to your home with your parents for the remainder of the year. If such behavior continues, you will be permanently expelled from Odoriko."

"I assure you, I would never-" Rin began.

"They all say that," the woman reminded her coolly. "Words don't mean a thing unless you back them up with conduct."

"Forgive me," Rin apologized.

"As far as your rooms go, you are not to leave your corridors past nine P.M. unless you must see a teacher, and then only in emergency. If you are caught outside your room past ten P.M., you will be sentenced to sweeping classrooms for a week," she continued. "Speaking of which, I'll be needing your name so I can give you your room number and key."

"Tsukino," she affirmed, fidgeting with her charm bracelet, "Tsukino Rin." The woman nodded, extracting a key and a slip of paper from a drawer.

"Tsukino Rin, you're room will be on the second floor - room 235. You're roommate will be Hane Kanna, who is also in the ninth grade." Rin held her bracelet still, meeting the woman's deep crimson orbs.

"Hane?" she questioned.

"No relation," she explained, picking up the pencil and sketchpad she had been working with earlier. "To get to your room you'll continue down this hallway until you reach the end. The girls' corridors are to the right. Odd numbered rooms will be on the left side of the hall. You're dismissed, Miss Tsukino."

Rin nodded, taking the key and slip of paper from the woman whom she had idolized for so long grabbing her bags before heading out the door.

'You'll see, Hane-sama,' she silently vowed to both herself and Kagura, 'I'll be the greatest dancer to appear at Odoriko since you came along.'

A/N:

Yeah, yeah, I just had to add in Miroku and Sango. Anyway, their last names are the same as their seiyuu, Kagura's last name means "feather," and Rin's is the same as Sailor Moon's. I don't know how I came up with Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha's (Takashi the younger and Takashi the elder)... Oh, and the name "Odoriko" translates into "dancer"... I think...

I would have made this chapter longer, but I decided it would be better to stop there and start working on my other story. I was originally going to wait until I finished Thirteen, but I guess I just wanted to get started while my muse was burning. I have a Souta/Kanna one-shot set in the same setting as this, but it serves as a vague spoiler. Vague being the keyword. I think just about all the couplings except Souta/Kanna will be canon couplings, though. Yay for canon-ness! This is my first multi-chapter non-MS-centered fic, so don't be surprised if they play a large role.