Disclaimer: The characters and the song aren't mine, though I do own the plot line . . . sort of. It is very loosely based upon Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small series. Virtual cookies if you can associate three characters from this story to Tamora Peirce's characters and can explain your reasoning.
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AN:
Well, like my disclaimer stated, this story is inspired by Tamora Peirce's books, especially Protector of the Small. I'll give you virtual cookies if you can relate characters and explain your reasoning. I'll give you a hint, though: many of the characters have multiple inspirations, and you can debate your answers.
I'm super excited because Kenny Chesney got the CMA Album of the Year Award and the much coveted Entertainer of the Year Award! -squeals- Kenny rules!
Anyway, sorry for the wait. I had some serious computer trouble, as my Forever Young and Thirteen readers have already heard. A lot of my files were ruined/screwed up slightly in the transfer, as well. I'm back, though, and as hyper and eager as ever. Unfortunately, though, I don't have a spell-checker:
Wanted: Beta-reader
Reward: Getting to be the first to read my stories and getting a chapter dedication
Requirements: Must be a fairly eloquent writer and keep in contact with me through AIM or e-mail
Yup. My little ad for a beta-reader. I need one now especially, since I don't have Word anymore - just WordPad.
Oh, and if I'm a little... er... uninformed on the Japanese school system, please forgive me. I know how middle schools work and I know that in Japan ninth grade is in middle school. If I do something weird... well, it's a private school and they don't have to follow the same standard as a public school. I mean, this is Kagura's school we're talking about.
Also, remember that, in Japan, English and language arts are not the same thing. In Japan, English is foreign language. Just a reminder for later chapters.
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Reviews:
OnlyCoolEmoBoysKiss: Thank-you. I'm glad you enjoy this story.
Stripe: I hope so. The episode is gonna be so cute! And I'll get to see Ayame a few episodes later, too. That'll be awsome...
moonlit-night98: Thank-you. -bows- Glad to have fans.
Tache: Thanks for voting/reading.
Museless Author: I agree - RinKohaku stories are really lacking. Though, in Aamalie's latest one, I think there might be a but of RinKohaku, or it's at least hinted at. She would be happy if you read it.
ninalee-chan: Well, if he crowds want Kaede to be Rin's age/eleven, then I'll chose somebody else to be the nurse, like maybe Kagome's mom. I just couldn't chose...
PriestessMiko: You seem hyper... Anyways, the tomboy is Souten. Ayame is a teacher - Ms. Shobu. Speaking of which, I can't wait until Ayame's episode! Glad you updated OSFA. ;)
Heart of Friendship: Whoops... uh... yea... Anyways, I'm glad I inspired you to write, but now how about I inspire you to finish/post, hm? I'd like to read it.
deadmuse: I don't do Mary-Sues, and in this story Kikyou isn't dead. Besides, that will be the final installment and will probably take over a year to get to. And I have decided to make it KikyouSuikotsu.
Aamalie: Uh... Koharu is in it... because I needed more characters to be Rin's age. And Rin is fourteen. Don't worry, we all have bad memory. :)
d4rk mew: Wow... you're the first Naraku fangirl to ever review any of my stories... anyway, I'll see if I can get him in either this story or Part 2 as Kagura/Kanna's father.
Yami Akari: Yup. Glad you finally decided to review. You're ending to NMI was so sad, though... But, it was pretty good. Can't wait for your next Inuyasha fanfic.
Kuro Ranmyaku: Uh-huh... and how are you going to stop me from calling you lazy? I've still got the button to summon the monkeys, you know. And the VFT. You don't want me to show you the VFT, do you?
RvenfireI: I used to think I had created it, but I saw a story and a fanart featuring them... now I'll never be able to create an AP that doesn't interfere with canon couples or contain yaoi/yuri/incest. Alas, my life is cruel.
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Chapter Three: Changing
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Everything's changing when I turn around
Start back at this life
I'm out of my control
I'm a mobile
Everything's changing when I turn around
I'm out of my control
I'm a mobile
Stretch myself back into the light
I'm waking up to say I've tried
Instead of waking up to another TV Guide
Its time now, I turn around
Turn and walk on this crazy ground
-"Mobile," by Avril Lavigne
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Rin moaned in exhaustion, collapsing onto her bed and rubbing her feet, which were burning from the intense exercises. She grabbed a cloth she had submerged in cold water and applied pressure to her feet, heaving a sigh.
"Did it go well?" her roommate questioned softly, letting her bleached-blond locks tumble over her shoulders as she removed the band from her hair. She snapped the band around her pale wrist and dropped into the chair in front of her desk where the laptop sat.
"I wish," Rin groaned, falling back onto her pillow and laying the cloth across her eyes. "Kohaku's nice," she explained - 'and he's definitely no eye-sore,' she added silently - "but the training is killing my poor feet! I swear, I won't have feet left to dance with by the time I graduate!" She thought she saw the girl's lips twitch upward into a small smile, but she wasn't sure because the rag across her face limited her vision.
"You don't plan to quit, do you?" she asked, smoothing out her lips into a thin line once more as the soft peck of a keyboard assured her that the girl had commenced with her writing. She wondered what kind of home she would have had to come from to end up being so - composed? No, that wasn't the word - empty.
"Never," she protested firmly, straightening up and dabbing her feet with the cloth. "I vowed to myself that I shall dance, and dance I shall!" she exclaimed melodramatically.
Kanna smiled calmly, returning to whatever she had been typing on her computer. Rin watched her as her fingers flowed steadily and smoothly, like water. If Kanna was water, then it stood to reason that Rin was fire. They were complete opposites, and yet they had been living together for almost a week.
Rin smiled contently, taking the mechanical pencil from her nightstand and sliding her notepad from beneath her pillow. Seeing how it was Sunday evening - just an hour before dinner time - it would be a good time to write a letter home.
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She glanced from her schedule to the brass numbers on the classroom door. It was the math room, her first class. She had always hated math. Something bitter in the back of her mind taunted her, telling her that her teacher - Takashi the elder, Mr. Tsujitani has called him - would be cruel, strict, and give an inconceivable amount of homework. She shook it away, hoping that it was just her "cynical side", as Kohaku had called it. He was really beginning to grow on her, but he was a bit standoffish. With a gentle push, she might even be able to call him her friend soon.
Realizing the she was daydreaming in front of the math room, she gritted her teeth and trudged into the class, taking her seat in the back. She wouldn't be noticed there, right?
"Pass these out," she was commanded as a stack of papers landed on her desk. "One to each student." So much for her plan to be invisible... She plastered a smile on her face and nodded.
"I'd be glad to," she informed him with fake cheerfulness that sounded strangely real, at least to him. He smiled in amusement.
"Teacher's pet," she heard someone grumble. She wanted to turn at stick out her tongue, but she didn't know who had said it. 'Besides,' she reminded herself, 'I don't want to get in trouble on my first day here.'
As she place a syllabus on each student's desk, she realized something about her teacher: his hair was white - whiter than Kanna's. He didn't look more than thirty or so, either.
"If you're standing there gawking at Mr. Takashi's hair, you won't get an answer," someone behind her assured her. She jumped in shock, dropping a few of the papers. "I'm Souta," he told her cheerfully, picking up a few of her dropped papers. "Remember me - Kohaku's roommate?"
"Yea... Kohaku's roommate." She fumbled with the papers, feeling foolish once more. He handed her back the dropped papers and dropped his things into the seat beside her.
"By the way, I never caught your name," he pointed out, sliding into the chair. She placed the extra papers on her teacher's table, sitting down.
"Rin," she replied, following suit. "My name is Rin." He nodded, smiling.
"My sister, Kagome, is a senior here," he explained. "I know everything on our four academic teachers - well, three of them. I can't tell you much on Ms. Shobu." He lowered his voice, leaning in her direction. "Takashi is super strict. Don't back-talk or whine, and never come to class late. Other than that, just make passing grades and you won't have any problems with him." Rin nodded, hanging on his every word. She wanted to know what her teachers would be like as much as the next student, after all.
"Then, of course, there's Ms. Higurashi, who teacher history." He smirked. "She's my cousin, so Kagome didn't have to tell my anything about her. She's nice enough, but never blurt out in her class. If she thinks you're not paying attention, she'll thump her meter-stick against the blackboard." She winced at the thought of wood snapping on the board. She had to make sure to pay attention in that class.
"And I can't forget Tsujitani-san," he continued. "He's the cool teacher - of course, I'm a writer... so... if you don't like writing-"
"I can do writing," she murmured. "It's just not really my forte."
"Anyway, it's nearly impossible to get on his bad side. If you do, though, I can guarantee it will be a living nightmare. This girl I know - Koharu, I think was her name - had an uncle who used to go out with - well, more like stalk, actually - Ms. Kuwashima, who I'm sure you've heard is his fiancé, but Mr. Tsujitani hated him with a passion. I doubt we would have to worry about that, though." Souta laughed lightly, Rin joining in simply so she would feel weird.
Rin smirked. "I actually heard from Mr. Tsujitani himself - that he and Ms. Kuwashima are engaged, I mean. I was hopelessly lost, so he pointed out the office."
"You've met Tsujitani and Kuwashima?" Souta confirmed. She nodded. "Anyway, Ms. Shobu is the science teacher. She's nice enough, but don't be misled - if you push her too far, she'll explode. Or..." He shuddered. "She'll call in Mr. Kaito, who's one of out two gym teachers. You don't want him mad - he's a black belt. He won't hurt students, but... well... he will give you a scare."
Souta snapped forward, hearing Mr. Takashi's serene, deep voice fill the room. Class was starting, and Rin was apparently engulfed in what he was saying. She was going to be one heck of a teacher's pet in this class.
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She sighed contently, strolling down the spotless hallway. If she hadn't known better, she might have thought Principal Hane was a neat-freak, but she already knew that it was for the school image and not for Principal Hane's sanity - or vanity, even. Odoriko was the most expensive and famed performance art institution in all of Japan, and the staff couldn't downplay the value of the parents' money with filth and clutter. She halted at an open door, entering and taking a seat on a long, wooden bench that was the same beautiful mahogany of the teacher's hair.
"Good morning, Rin," the woman greeted her, sorting through a stack of what appeared to be scripts. "You're a little early, you know. Most people take the entire five minutes - sometimes six or seven."
"I know," she admitted, booting her teal-colored backpack with her tennis-shoes. "I didn't have anything to get for any of my classes, so I came her ahead." The woman nodded, setting the scripts aside.
"So, how have things go with Kohaku?" she inquired, sitting next to her and separating booklets for Romeo and Juliet from West Side Story.
"It was okay, I guess," she admitted nonchalantly. "I never thought dancing would be so painful and tiresome, though. Hane Kagura and Kohaku all make it look so easy."
"Kohaku is a marvel, isn't he?" She chuckled lightly. "Kagura has been training with him since she first came here to instruct dance, before she was principal. He's her star pupil, she says, and he's destined for great things." Rin's eyes trailed to a script her teacher had dropped - West Side Story.
"That was the first musical I ever saw Hane Kagura in," Rin admitted. "It was quite a while ago - before she was a teacher. She was in her mid-twenties, I think." She picked it up, handing it to her instructor.
"That was actually my first musical," the woman sighed absently. "I was 'Maria', ninth grade year. Mr. Tsujitani got the part of Tony - like I said, I literally ran into him when I first met him, at the audition." Rin's gasped, clasping a hand over her mouth. This woman couldn't have been the woman who played Maria the day she saw Wildfire for the first time... could it? She's have to see if she could find the program, which she always kept in her keepsake box.
"Hello, Rin," a voice rang softly. The voice was amazingly beautiful and melodic - there was only one person she knew that had such a voice. She turned to see Kanna, a tiny smile grazing the girl's lips. "How have you been?" She took a seat on the other side of Rin as Ms. Kuwashima stacked the sets of scripts on a stool in front of the room.
"Okay, I suppose," she admitted, tugging at the brunette locks that framed her face. "I met Mr. Takashi." Kanna nodded, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly (which Rin had learned was her way of smiling).
"Mr. Takashi hangs out with my older sister a lot," she mused.
"You're sister?" Rin questioned. "Who's your sister?"
"Never mind," Kanna blurted quickly. "It doesn't matter. I don't want to talk about my family," she added, almost in a whisper.
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Rin took her seat in the language room, looking over her schedule. Her next period was lunch, meaning she'd get a break fro, loading up on handouts and gossip about her teachers. Thank God for that.
"Hiya!" an overly chipper voice announced. "I'm Koharu." Rin looked up at the girl, raising an eyebrow. The girl was about as hyper as Rin was at the age of seven...
"I'm Tsukino Rin," she mumbled, lightly sketching the form of her math teacher onto a sheet of paper out of boredom. The girl plopped into the seat next to her. Somehow, the name "Koharu" seemed familiar... Something she'd been told, perhaps? She shook it away.
"I love language class," she sighed dreamily, leaning onto her hand and dreamily gazing to the front of the room wher Mr. Tsujitani could be seen typing at a computer. It was painfully obvious this girl had a crush on her teacher...
"Good grief, Takeda, leave the poor girl alone," an aggravated alto voice growled. Rin looked up to see a tall, rather masculine-looking girl with her ebony hair twisted back into a French-braid. "Why don't you just find some other teacher to swoon over - like one that's not taken?"
The giddy girl - Koharu, as she called herself - bit her lip in furry, whirring around. "It's a free country," she pointed out, "I can swoon over whomever I please!" The masculine girl rolled her eyes, collapsing into the chair behind Rin.
"Yamaguchi Souten," she announced, leaning forward. "What's your name?" Rin looked around for a moment to make sure the girl was speaking to her, then grinned.
"Rin, Tsukino Rin," she proclaimed. Souten pursed her lips, twirling her bang which hung loosely around her face in her fingers.
"I've heard that name before..." She rubbed the back of her neck, thinking. "Oh! You're the girl Kohaku is helping to dance! My friend, Shippou, hangs out with Kohaku, Souta - the whole gang." She glared at the girl Koharu. "Unfortunately, they're too nice to tell Miss Thing over there to get lost." The girl stuck her tongue out at Souten before turning her gaze back at the teacher.
"I guess she's a real teacher's pet, hm?" Rin questioned, pointing to Koharu. Souten sniggered under her breath.
"Not with Kanna around," the girl explained; "Koharu doesn't stand a chance at that position, running against 'the majestic stylings of Little Miss Hane,' as Shiori says." Rin nodded. If Kanna was a writer - which would explain her computer frenzy - then - according to Souta - Kanna would be a favorite.
Koharu scrunched her nose, turning back to Souten. "I could beat her, if I really tried, but-"
"You're too distracted by him," Souten finished mockingly. She snorted, leaning forward and whispering to Rin, "She honestly thinks he flirts with her." She laughed dryly. "He's engaged and she's a student. Honestly, I don't claim Mr. Kaito is flirting every time he smiles at me and says I'm doing better at karate than most of the boys!"
Rin began, "Infatuation does weird things to you-"
"I wouldn't know," Souten interrupted sharply.
"-but this is definitely not healthy. I bet we could find her someone her own age." Souten raised an eyebrow.
"She won't give up until he's dead, if then," she pointed out, "and I should hope no boy would be that stupid."
"She can't be that bad, can she?" Rin begged. Souten smirked, shaking her head.
"You must be one of those people that look for good in everyone," she chuckled. "Or you're a horrible judge of character. Just wait - it gets better. Too bad she's not in you drama class, because the way she acts there is anime worthy - four star comedy."
"Class is starting!" Koharu gasped excitedly, elbowing Rin. Souten rolled her eyes, as if to say, 'Here we go again...'
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AN:
I wanted to make it longer, but I guess I wanted to save lunch for chapter four, where she'll meet Shiori, Shippou, Satsuski (maybe...), and Kaede, if the readers want her to be Rin's age, or even eleven. It's up to you to vote, and I don't mean for president because Bush is already back! And to think, I already made a bunch of "Save the Environment - Plant a Bush Back in Texas" signs... - kidding! I didn't care who won. :)