Disclaimer: No owns does I.

After Hours

Chapter One: Let's Talk Attitude

The sun sat low in it's sky, leaving just the perfect temperature around. The clouds hung overhead, leaving a nice, warm feeling to all. "Today is going to be a good day," the young schoolgirl thought to herself, sending a smile to the unknowing. Everything was absolutely perfect. The weather. The area. Herself. She was perfect, even if she wasn't. The grass was gently being pushed the by calming winds on either side of the small patches that twinkled in the morning dew. The wind coolly whipped itself on her parch cheeks, and causing a cold feeling upon her lips. Wind blew her hair gently, tossing it in a sideways position as the girl continued to walk along to school. She smiled to herself as she walked up to some steps, stopping at house on the way.

The ningens schoolgirl rapped her fisted hand softly on the door. She repeated this, then threw her arms behind her back, holding each other's arm's hands together. Leaning up on her tiptoes, she peered into the window. Then, as the door opened, she fell back, a little bit startled. When the door was fully opened, a pretty girl, assumingly the same age as the other appeared in the door way, covering her mouth from her small laughter that was emitting. "Sorry Kagome-chan," she said apologizing, and removing her hand to lean in on the door upside down, revealing a warm smile.

The girl whom was called Kagome nodded and smiled back at her friend. "Oh, really is okay! Ready for the first day of school?" The girl asked, seemingly overjoyed with the fact for some reason. The other female stood herself straight in the doorway and nodded at her, fixing her backpack on her shoulders.

"Yes, sure am!" The friend exclaimed, pulling herself form the doorway and then bringing up what would be labeled a nutritious energy bar to her mouth and taking a bite. She stepped forward, smiling and nodding with her eyes closed after finishing the remains of the bar. Girl two popped some gum into her mouth and stepped forward, beginning to walk with said friend.

"So, Kagome-chan, finally going to see to asking that Inuyasha boy on a date, ne?" A mischievous smiled curled the female's lips up as she spoke, what would seem to be more than just a question. Her friend looked at her and began to blush a bit, gently shoving the other girl lightly on the shoulder.

"Oh, shut up Sango-chan! He'd never fall for a girl like me, we're rust friends," she turned her face and hid a blush, "besides, he's interested in that Kikyou girl of his," she added on. The one presuming called Sango sighed, shaking her head lightly.

"Cheer up Kagome-chan! He'll get over her sometime, and all!" Sango said with a form of comfort in her voice, quickly replacing her features with a smile. Kagome smiled back, nodding her head.

"You're probably right. She doesn't really like him much anyhow…I'll just have to wait then," Kagome said to her friend. Soon after, Kagome ran her hand through her hair, looking back down at the ground. "I just don't know how long I'm willing to wait, that is."

"Don't think about it…" Sango murmured softly under her breath. "Lets just get through the first day of school!" She then spoke, in a louder, cheerful tone. "Brother Kohaku-chan is starting High School today! I wonder how it'll turn out for him. I don't know if he'll be up for it."

Kagome nodded, as if to reassure her next words, "I'm sure he'll be just fine, Sango-chan," she said, nodding again. An almost sinister smile broke it's way on Kagome's features, "so, how are things with you and Miroku, hm?" She said, narrowing her eyes in smirk, receiving a sigh in return form her friend.

"We're just fine. Same old, same old, you know. Still a pervert…though it seems I've straightened him out some bits, you know. Now he only hits on me and….gropes my areas, you know. Still over fascinated with the idea of getting in my pants…" She muttered, rolling her eyes. "You'd think he'd learn by now…but I guess it's a game for him. I mean, like, "lets see hold long it takes to piss off Sango, my darling," and "I wonder how far I'll get tonight," sort of stuff," she spoke while shrugging. "He tries…but at least he's still a sweetheart you know. Not like he does anything that is of something that is really bad, if you know what I mean…" she trailed off, glancing forward.

"He must really like you if such a pervert will stay with you and wait at least!" The other girl said, looking at her friend. "Also, you're right…besides that, he's almost to nice to be real," she stated, while taking a turn with her friend, walking up towards the oncoming school. "Anyhow, we're almost there…can't wait to see all our friends again!"

"Your friends. Forgetting I'm not that popular, heh?" Sango said, looking forward the whole time she spoke these words.

"Well…yeah, but at least you have a boyfriend who likes you a real lot!" She returned, not noticing the stairs due to looking towards her friend. She tripped herself up, falling flat on her face on the cement. The girl began to whine as she pulled herself up. "Damn…steps….I'll kill them or something….." she muttered, wiping her scratched-up hands on her jeans and then fixing her bangs.

"You okay?" Her friend asked, showing a little bit of concern. Obviously she wasn't hurt much at all.

"Yeah…just fine," she said dully, then turned to her friend smiling, "thanks for asking though," she added on.

"Yeah, glad to hear it. Well, anyways, even if I do have a boyfriend, you know damn well that you could to! You're just to attached to your crush on that Inuyasha guy," her friend stated plainly while opening up the door to the school. As they walked along the corridor to there lockers, they kept the same from year to year in this school, she smiled as she caught sight of Miroku.

"Yeah, but I don't like them, that's the problem," her friend began, but Sango had already began to walk forward. "Uh, bye Sango-chan…" Her friend muttered in a low, annoyed tone.

"Hey, Miroku!" Sango said, grabbing onto her boyfriend's waist from behind. "Haven't seen you in like…"

"Two days?" The boy asked, more like stating a fact. "Nice to see you to thought, Sango!" He said, as the girlfriend whipped herself around to meet him face-to-face. They smiled at each other and shared a small kiss.

"Yeah, two days seems about correct," Sango said cheerily, smiling once again. She then began to depart, heading back to her locker, "see you in home room!" She added on.

"Same to you," he replied, continuing on his walk. Neither really wanted the short meeting, but the bell was to ring soon and detention was the consequence for tardiness.

"Sorry bout that, Kagome-chan, you understand," Sango said, returning to her friend's side at their lockers.

"Right, yeah, it's okay," her friend returned, smiling somewhat. After the two had stopped at their lockers, just to make sure nothing was stolen over the summer and to put their backpacks away, the walked into homeroom.

At the head of the class room was sitting in the first seat, Inuyasha. As Kagome and Sango passed by, a flush of crimson passed through Kagome's cheeks. She made sure to not look directly at the boy and continued forward to a desk. Kagome picked a seat in mid row, Sango sitting behind her directly across from Miroku. The three friends smiled at each other for a short time as the bell rang and their homeroom teacher walked into class.

"Good morning class," the teacher said, smiling. Everyone liked, him, he was a kind man in maybe his mid thirties. He was always cheerful, and never raising his voice. He was from some part of the United States of America, but came to Japan to teach.

"Morning Mr. Maxwell," the class replied back to the teacher. Once everyone was settled in and down, he walked to the front of the class.

"I presume we don't have to vote on our elect for classroom representative right? Kikyou, you'll be holding that position, right? Unless someone wants to challenge you?" A girl in the front row nodded, presumable Kikyou.

"Aye, sir. I'd be glad to fill the spot again, she replied, smiling ever so slightly. The girl never seemed to show a great deal of emotion to anything in the world. Kagome sank herself into her seat, suddenly she wasn't perfect, even if she wasn't.

Kikyou was always representing something in the school…She was so perfect, and such a beautiful creature. You could hate her our of jealously, but nothing else. She was completely a neutral being when it came to stereotypes, you couldn't label her as anything, just….perfect. Her activities included of purely helping others and the school, she did no after school activities based around selfishness, such as some petty form of entertainment, sports or cheerleading. She was a teacher's pet, but never really tried to be. It was utterly impossible to hate her for who she was…instead, everyone who hated her hated her because of what they weren't. When it came to who someone wished they were, it would usually be Kikyou or Kagome. Both had boys swarming around them, both were smart…the only difference was, Kikyou was smarter, nicer, and prettier. One could argue though who was prettier, when Kagome tried, she could be a great rival in the beauty apartment, but no one could beat Kikyou's natural beauty. Kagome hated her for that…

Kagome sighed, being one of those who despised Kikyou. A really dumb idea popped into her head as she raised her hand. "I'd like to run for classroom reprehensive, if that's alright with you…" she said shyly after she was called on. The whole class turned towards Kagome except for Kikyou who just looked forward, folding her hands on her desk and speaking to the teacher.

"I'd love a little friendly competition," she said almost to kindly. She definitely secretly wanted to outdo Kagome, yet again. Even though no one could tell, she was secretly jealous that Kagome could almost match her, and with every opportunity she had, she'd try to steal that girl's glory away, always seemingly being nice at it, even when she did come out victorious. The façade of Kikyou's innocence was easy to pass by, because she made it so real, playing others was a fun hobby for her. Though she liked helping others a lot, she liked outdoing Kagome even more. The girl almost lived for it.

"That's great then! Speeches due by Friday in that case," Mr. Maxwell said, smiling at Kagome, then to Kikyou. Kikyou smiled back while Kagome just looked on nervously. "On another note, I'll be handing out schedules now," he said, walking to the front of the desk and grabbing the papers that were on his desk. He casually began passing them back. After they were all passed back, the students were granted five minutes to exchange words of who was in who's classes.

"I can't believe you're going to run against Kikyou," Sango said to her friend while glancing at the said girl, then back to Kagome.

"Yeah, well…nothing bad can come out of it," Kagome replied.

"A humiliating defeat?" Miroku questioned.

"Whatever," Kagome muttered, glancing at her two friends. "So, what do you all have first period?" She asked, switching the subject to something of a lighter note.

"Biology," Miroku replied.

"Algebra," Sango said softly.

"Cool, looks as if I'm with you first period, Miroku," Kagome said cheerfully. "And second…?"

"Literature," Sango and Miroku said in unison.

"Oh, I'll be in Art then," Kagome said, not so cheerily, but not sad at all. Being parted was a part of friendship. "Next?"

"French," Miroku muttered.

"English," Sango stated in her lone tone again.

"Spanish…remind me again why we all chose different languages to learn?" Kagome asked.

"I do believe it was so we could teach each other terms and phrases, along with simple words," Miroku said nodding. "Yep, that was it, anyways…I've got Algebra after that."

"History," Sango and Kagome said one after another.

"Cool, see you there then, Kagome-chan," Sango said, smiling to her friend. "Next is lunch then free period…My last class is…Home Economics."

"Art here," Miroku said.

"Seems as if none of us are together there…I've got Literature," Kagome said.

They talked about whatever and such, then after about a minute or less, their time was up as the bell for first period rung.

Kagome and Miroku walked out with Sango, who departed left from them. "Good luck," Sango said, waving as she disappeared down the hall. Kagome and Miroku walked into their first period class, Biology. Kagome and Miroku took a seat next to each other and looked forward, waiting for class to start.

Miroku leaned over to Kagome, and gestured towards the door, whispering to her, "look who's here…" He said, smirking at his friend. Surely enough, it was Inuyasha.

"Oh great, start off the day each morning with Inuyasha here…" She thought as she began to blush, hiding her face from Miroku. Inuyasha glanced around after taking a seat, both Kagome and his eyes locked for a moment, but Kagome quickly turned away, as Inuyasha casually looked forward again.

Inuyasha was what some might consider a jock. No, he was a jock. He wasn't very bright, nor was he dumb. He was the average guy, except he excelled in athletics like no other person the school has ever seen. He was surely to get a scholarship, seeing how he was head of the soccer team, football team and basketball team. He could play almost every sport, except baseball. For some reason he just couldn't hit a ball coming at him with a bat, and whenever he pitched, he usually hit the batter, so that was no good either. Almost ever boyfriend-less girl, and a lot of girls with boyfriends wanted him, and some guys even, just to have the say of being able to say they were his girlfriend, and to the dreamers, boyfriend, and some of them sluts wanted the pleasure of admitting they got the ever so delight of sleeping with him. Truth be told, he was never with a girl yet, due to the fact that he was deeply in love…more of a huge crush, on Kikyou and didn't want ruin any of his future plans with her.

To Kagome's unknowing, he did have a thing for her too, though they were just minor friends, he could admit to himself that she was somewhat to his liking, but he just couldn't erase that other girl out of his mind, so he never made a move for someone he thought of as a less. There was more to this boy than met the eye…much more. In time, though not now, you'll learn of an extra life that he lives…