And now for something completely different!

This is an AU, and hopefully I will not have to explain much else, as I feel that the first chapter does a pretty good job of establishing what's going on. Plus, I'm lazy.

Wicked Game

Chapter 1

"Let me see that." Kagura Kaze pulled her hand away from the careful ministrations of a girl with bright orange pigtails and a nervously hopeful smile on her face. "Ugh, look at this. You've gotten polish all over my cuticles." She sighed as though there was no solution that could make this better, "Ayame, just…eat your food. Yura, do you have any remover with you?"

"Um…" the girl in question, a very generously proportioned young woman with a short black bob set off by her pale pink eyes, rummaged through her nearby knapsack, which one might note with some interest, contained not one piece of paper. Nor did it contain any books or writing utensils, which was odd, considering that all of the girls were currently at school on their lunch break. However, this group of girls, or at least the five that were clearly the leaders, seemed not to care much for the strictures of academia. Not one of them wore the green and white uniform that covered the campus and made almost every other girl indistinguishable from the next. These girls were not willing to accept such anonymity. "Here it is. I told you not to let Ayame do your nails." The orange-haired girl, one of the many surrounding these five girls as though hoping to be given some scraps, pouted and tugged petulantly at one of her pigtails while munching on her sandwich.

"I know, I know, but usually I have Rin do them, and she's not around today." Kagura furrowed her brow prettily and turned to another of the few girls not wearing a uniform. "Kikyo, do you know where she's at?"

"I'm not her keeper." The pale girl with long, lustrous black hair answered, lifting grey eyes from a book she was reading. Kikyo was, of course, not reading anything that was assigned for her classes. She would not lower herself to menial labor such as that. She was reading purely for enjoyment, something she had tried, and failed, to make Yura understand on several occasions. "Wow, she really did botch the manicure, didn't she?" she offered an amused smile in the direction of Kagura's hands before returning to her book.

"I know where Rin is!" Ayame spoke up helpfully, clearly hoping to repair the damage she had done herself in the eyes of these girls who she so clearly craved the esteem of. "She's volunteering to help show some of the new students around."

"Oh please, is it Shipping Day already?" another of the girls, this one nearly as pale as Kikyo with hair just as rich and black, but bright blue eyes and a face that looked as haughty and perfect as that of a queen rolled her eyes and batted away the slightly younger girl who was busy brushing her hair. "Didn't we get a new batch only a few weeks ago?"

"Tsubaki, it's been three months since the last batch of transfers." This last girl, with her wavy black hair pinned sensibly back and away from her maroon eyes and determined features frowned at her companion. She was the only one of these five girls who was actually eating her lunch without engaging in any other task simultaneously. "And you could try being a bit nicer to them. Some of them aren't that bad. And after all, they're always so smart. If you make friends with one, I'm sure you could start acing classes without your dad's help." She teased.

"Sango, try to tell me that you honestly believe we'll ever use any of the drivel they're trying to force feed us here?" Kagura spoke up again. "Although I agree that the transfers aren't all that bad. I may start dating one if they can find a cute boy in that teaming mass of unwashed peasants in the public schools."

"You're so bad, Kagura." Yura laughed as though a great joke had just been made. "You'd never date one of them, would you? Think of what your mother would say."

"Exactly why she would do it." Kikyo turned a page in her book, not looking up, her voice as offhand as if she had heard barely any of the conversation going on around her.

"Ayame, go find Rin and send her back here." Kagura set down the nail polish remover and put the lid back on it before handing it back to Yura. "I want my nails painted."

"You are such a princess, Kagura." Sango snorted as she finished off her lunch and leaned back on the blanket that was big enough for only the five of them to sit on. The rest of the girls had to suffer the grass except for the ones who had thought enough to bring their own blankets. "Don't you have someone at home who can do it for you?"

"Of course." Kagura rolled her eyes as Ayame stood up to leave, still looking rather petulant. "But if I want it done in the middle of the day, this way is so much easier. Oh, Ayame?"

"Yes?" the girl turned back, a hopeful look in her green eyes.

"Don't dawdle. She should be easy enough to find." Kagura waved her away as though the girl was a servant, and Ayame sighed sadly as she went to find Rin. She only wished she could get one kind word from Kagura. Kagura Kaze was the richest girl in a school full of well to do heirs and heiresses. She had never had any trouble making friends and attracting men, not only because of her financial assets, but also because of her wit, confidence, and beauty. Ayame knew that if Kagura would be more accepting, if she would treat the girl a bit more kindly, then everyone would see that they were really friends, and they would show her more respect. As it was, she was struggling to be accepted. Her parents were rich by most standards, but at Yuufuku Academy, she was not especially wealthy. And she couldn't possibly hope to make more friends without a powerful connection, and Kagura was as powerful as it got.

"Someday." Ayame sighed, but before she could finish her thought, she ran into two boys and almost fell over, but was caught before her body could reach the ground.

"Miss Niji, are you alright?" twinkling purple eyes met hers, and she felt like swooning as she realized she had just been caught in the arms of Yuufuku's most infamous playboy, Miroku Houshi. "You hurried by so fast that I fear I did not see you until it was too late."

"Give it a rest, Miroku." Ayame was released just as Miroku's companion, another well known bad influence on innocent female minds by the name of Hiten Kaminari, spoke up, his red eyes gleaming as his long, dark braid whipped at the turning of his head. "On an errand for Queen B?" he asked Ayame, who nodded shortly. She still was not sure whether the numerous people who used that nickname for Kagura meant it as only a reference to the insect, or whether the b stood for something in particular. One boy had told her that it was short for beautiful, but another source had assured her that it was meant to be short for bitch. Whichever it was, Kagura did not seem to care about the name, or perhaps did not lower herself to learn about such things from the masses. Of course, Miroku and Hiten were hardly common, even by Yuufuku standards. Both of them were extremely well to do, and Hiten was even one of the most well known suitors for Kagura's attentions. However, his aim at becoming her companion hardly dampened his spirit for dating other girls, and he generally explained to those who asked that as long as Kagura was not his girlfriend, there was no sense in keeping his grace and charm hidden away from the rest of the women at Yuufuku. Miroku was known to flirt with Kagura, but he was known to flirt with almost anything that moved, male or female. No one was sure if he actually swung both ways, but there were rumors about the nature of his relationship with Hiten, since they were nearly joined at the hip, but while Miroku would only wiggle his eyebrows suggestively when the topic was brought up, Hiten denied such intimacies vehemently. He claimed that Miroku only flirted with men because he knew it threw them off, and because some girls found that sort of thing very attractive, but Ayame supposed only Miroku could know the whole truth.

"We were just out to admire the new arrivals." Miroku winked at her in a way that left no doubt as to what his meaning might exactly be.

"Yes, Miroku and I like to have first pick when the fresh meat comes in on Shipping Day." Hiten told her. "Where are you off to?"

"I have to find Rin." She answered quickly, not wanting to share the story of her shame with the nail polish. Just then, another boy approached, and Ayame debated whether she should flee or not. Inuyasha Ryouken was not noted for his kindness toward others, and she had already had more than one unpleasant encounter with him, though she remained almost positive he did not know her name. However, it was well known that he was Miroku's friend, and while he did not seem very fond of Hiten, Ayame felt she might be safe if she just hid behind Miroku.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" Inuyasha spoke, his tone gruff and without any of the pleasant suave quality that was in Hiten and Miroku's voices. "I've been eating by myself this whole damn time. Shippo's off doing who knows what, and then I find you with your freaking boyfriend…" he trailed off, clearly annoyed.

"I am not his boyfriend." Hiten hissed in annoyance. "We were out checking on the new arrivals."

"Oh, you guys slumming again?" he laughed as though this was rather amusing.

"No, we are only taking a bit of a tour of the grounds in the hopes of meeting some very well-read young women who have a more worldly view than most of our peers." Miroku corrected.

"Yeah, so slumming." Inuyasha nodded slightly. "Well, have fun, I guess. I'm going to go find Shippo and ream his ass out for making me eat all alone like a damn loser." He waved and wandered away as Hiten shook his head in obvious irritation.

"You know, I wish he wasn't such a dick." The braided boy fumed as he turned back to face his friend. "I don't see what his problem is."

"Inuyasha is actually a very nice young man." Miroku informed him patiently. "I wish my friends could all learn to get along better, but I guess I can never have all of what I desire in this life. Not to say that I am not blessed to be given the company of such beautiful women on a daily basis…"

"You better hurry, Kagura will be mad if you make her wait." Hiten ushered Ayame off, and she went reluctantly. She wished that having Miroku flirt with her made her feel a bit better about her situation, but he would truly flirt with just about anyone who was convenient, and so it failed to flatter her.

Hurrying along on her errand, Ayame lowered her head as she passed Naraku Jigabachi and his considerable crowd of lackeys. Some people compared Ayame and the other girls that followed Kagura's group around to this gang, but she felt that while they were willing to do many things for those five girls, the people that followed Naraku around were rather scary and would likely do much more horrible things than any of Ayame's group could even dream of doing. Also, Naraku was feared by most every student of Yuufuku, or at least avoided. She could count the number of people who would tell Naraku exactly what they thought of him on both hands, and she felt great admiration for every one of those people, even Inuyasha, who seemed to be that honest not because he was brave, but because he relished the chance to pick a fight with anyone, and Naraku was one of his favorite opponents, even though Ayame was almost positive that he always ended up being placed against a member of Naraku's gang rather than the terrifying heir himself. Naraku was another of Kagura's suitors, and while he had more money than the rest of them, he was also Kagura's least favorite, something that Ayame had learned while listening to the endless conversations between Kagura and her friends. Apparently, he was also Kagura's second cousin, which was part of her aversion to him. The other part of her problem with him seemed based on the fact that her mother loved him. Kagura hated her mother, it was well known, but Ayame was not clear on the whole reason behind this, although it supposedly had something to do with why her twin brother had been disinherited, officially making Kagura the richest girl in school. Ayame thought it was silly to begrudge her mother her subsequent postion of wealth and authority, above the high position she had already enjoyed. However, she had heard that before her brother had been disinherited, the two had been extremely close, and as far as she saw, they barely spoke anymore, so she laid it all down to an odd sort of family feud.

"Rin!" she called out as she finally spotted the other girl, who turned and waved at her with her customary cheerful grin. Ayame was sometimes jealous of the way that Kagura and her friends treated Rin better than a lot of the other girls, including Ayame herself, but it was hard to be angry with Rin. Her soft grey eyes and open personality were utterly disarming, and very few people disliked her. Even Inuyasha seemed confused by her cheer, so much so that Ayame had never seen her suffer at the lashings of his short temper.

"Hello, Ayame!" she greeted the other girl politely, and then gestured to the two people she was ushering around, who were clearly new transfer students, a tan boy with his black hair pulled back in a ponytail that was about as long as Hiten's braid and brilliant blue eyes, and a girl with slightly wavy black hair and blue-grey eyes. Yuufuku only received two sorts of students. The majority were rich children who started in the correct kindergarten, were then placed in the subsequent grade school, and finally reached Yuufuku Academy when they were ready for middle school. They could continue in this privileged educational existence all the way through high school, and then they would be assured a spot in any university they chose. The other sort of students were the transfers, almost exclusively teenagers who were too poor to afford tuition, but transferred in after managing high enough scores on their exams that they were able to attend due to financial aid. These were typically the most studious and least popular students. Not only did they spend a large amount of time studying while their wealthy peers slacked off, they also often worked after school jobs, and even though they did receive income, it was infinitesimal next to the allowances afforded to most of Yuufuku Academy's students, and therefore, even if they were able to find time in their schedules to socialize with their richer peers, they usually could not afford to do any of the things that said peers were used to doing for fun. "This is Kagome Higurashi, and Kouga Ookami. Kouga, Kagome, this is my friend Ayame Niji."

"Kagura wants your help." Ayame jabbed a thumb over her shoulder. "How about you bring them over? They can eat their lunches if they have anything."

"Are you guys ready to eat?" Rin turned a cheerful grin to the two transfers, who looked at each other as though unsure of how to answer.

"Sure." The boy, Kouga, answered after a moment. "Did you bring something, Kagome?"

"Yeah, I'm good." She patted her yellow backpack before smiling at Ayame. "It's nice to meet you, by the way. I hope we can be good friends."

"Sure, whatever." Ayame had no interest in befriending these nobodies, even though the boy was rather attractive. However, dating a transfer would undoubtedly only lower her popularity, so it wasn't even worth thinking about. "Have you told them who's who?" she asked Rin, who shook her head slightly before Ayame decided that she might as well impress these new kids with her knowledge of the inner workings of Yuufuku. "Let's talk while we walk back, then. See that guy over there?" she pointed to the first notable figure that she saw, a beautiful young man with shimmering silver hair that he kept back in a long ponytail. "That's Sesshoumaru Ryouken, probably one of the most desirable bachelors here at Yuufuku, but a total heartbreaker. He's the lonesome type, and he doesn't really have any friends, though he does have Jaken Kaeru, that little chubby guy there, to follow him around and just make him look prettier by comparison." She sighed as though extremely touched by the idea of his stoic nature, but Rin waved to the young man.

"Hello, Sesshoumaru!" she called out cheerily, and he seemed so surprised that he actually gave her a small wave of acknowledgement as he went on his way. Ayame pouted for a few seconds at Rin's ability to make friends with absolutely anyone she pleased before spotting someone else she felt the need to point out.

"Right there is Sesshoumaru's younger brother, Inuyasha. They don't get along at all, probably because Inuyasha is mean to almost everyone he meets. That guy with him is one of his very few friends, Shippo Maboroshi, and he's a pretty nice guy, with a pretty big fan girl following." She pointed a bit to one side. "See? Those girls are regular Shippo followers. He's a lot nicer to them than Sesshoumaru is to the girls that follow him around, though. But it's still dangerous to follow him, since Inuyasha will eventually get on your case." At that moment, Inuyasha, who had been eating an apple, threw the finished core at one of the girls, who squealed and leapt out of the way. "See? Now, moving on…" Ayame scanned the crowd assembled out in the courtyard for lunch and indicated her next subject with a quick jab of her thumb. "Don't stare, but that one right under the tree there, the one who isn't wearing a uniform at all, that's Naraku Jigabachi. He's trouble, and you do not want to attract his attention if you can help it. That's his gang sitting all around him. None of them are nice at all, as you might expect."

"Now, I'm sure they'd be nice if they weren't being bossed around like that…" Rin attempted as they all moved past, Ayame becoming nervous at the way Kouga was staring at Naraku as though trying to detect the source of all these bad rumors in his appearance.

"Don't stare!" Ayame slapped his arm lightly as they continued on. "Now…who else. Oh, there's Miroku Houshi and Hiten Kaminari, very good friends, very bad boyfriends. They hit on pretty much every girl, so I'm sure you'll meet at least one of them personally, Kagome." Ayame assured the slightly shell-shocked looking girl. "Miroku's another of Inuyasha's friends, but Hiten and Inuyasha do not get along at all, so they can't all really hang out at the same time." Ayame explained further. "Oh, and do you see those three boys over there on the steps near the fountain? Those are the guys that Hiten usually hangs out with. The one with the braid is Bankotsu Shidousha, and then that one that looks like he might be a girl, that's Jakotsu Kaze, and the other one is Suikotsu Futari. They're all pretty cool, but Jakotsu hates most girls, so I just stay away from him."

"And this is where we're going to eat!" Rin interjected, pointing to the blanket of girls surrounded by several other girls who were talking amongst themselves, but all clearly waiting for any indication of attention from the girls without uniforms on. "The girls on the blanket are called the Five, and a lot of people are scared of them, but they're all really nice. I'll introduce you!" Ayame was torn between sitting down and staying beside Rin to hopefully receive some of the kindness the girls always handed out to her. In the end, she took a seat as near to the blanket as she could manage and watched the proceedings.

"Rin, you've brought the newbies with you." Kagura smiled at the girl and picked up the nail polish Ayame had attempted to apply earlier. "Think you can do my nails? You're much better at it than Ayame."

"Sure, Kagura, but first I was hoping these two could eat with us. They don't really know anyone yet, and they're both very nice." She explained. "Should I introduce you?"

"Go right ahead, Rin." Kagura waved as if it could matter less to her.

"All right." She smiled and ushered Kouga and Kagome forward. "This is Kouga Ookami, and this is Kagome Higurashi. Kagome, Kouga, these ladies are Kagura Kaze," Rin pointed to each girl as she named them. "Yura Ito, Sango Taijiya, Kikyo Kagami, and Tsubaki Kuroi. Now then, let's eat!" Rin let out a light laugh and sat down right on the blanket that the five girls were on, next to Kagura so she could do her nails. Ayame sighed as not one of the girls opposed this arrangement, and did not even say anything when Kagome and Kouga helped themselves to spots along the edge of the blanket.

"So, Kouga, Kagome, we were just discussing transfers before you guys came over." Kagura spoke as she waited patiently for Rin to eat her lunch so she could proceed to the nail painting. "I assume you're both poor kids?"

"Yes, yes we are." Kouga answered in a voice that made it very clear he was not enjoying the casual tone in which Kagura spoke of his financial situation.

"Well, the thing around here is that most transfers either fade into the background because they don't really make any friends, or they transfer back out because they can't handle it, the isolation and all the work." Kagura explained to them in a perfectly frank manner. "So we were just wondering if you'd be able to handle it."

"I'd never transfer back out of here." Kagome spoke up then. "My mother was so thrilled when I got in…it'd break her heart if I left."

"I'll be fine." Kouga added his opinion. "I seriously doubt I'll let the opinions of a bunch of spoiled rich kids hurt my feelings so badly that I have to transfer back out."

"Well, that's no attitude to have if you even hope to make some friends here." Yura laughed haughtily. "You transfer kids always think you're so great just because you had to test in. But smarts really don't matter in the real world, and the sooner you see that, the better."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kouga asked, annoyed that they were all belittling his achievement.

"The fact of the matter is this," Tsubaki spoke up in Yura's defense. "Sure, you're smart. Maybe you're a genius, but if your dad works for my dad, chances are you'll be beneath me your whole life. Money goes so much further than intelligence, and it always has."

"I think that you can say that confidently, because if you were ever faced with working beneath someone like me who started so low, you'd just not get a job and live your whole life off your daddy's bank account." Kouga snapped.

"Ooh, I like this one, Kikyo. He's got attitude." Kagura laughed as though she relished this occurrence. "Hey, what was your name again?"

"Kouga." He told her, not sure if he liked her honesty or was annoyed with her confidence.

"Well, Kouga. Do you have a girlfriend?" Kagura batted her lashes at him, and he choked in laughter just as Yura made a noise like a cat being stepped on.

"Stop, Kagura, it's not funny when you joke about those things." She told the red-eyed girl. "You'll break his poor little heart. No pun intended, of course."

"Of course not." Kouga grumbled.

"Would you guys just learn to be nice?" Sango spoke up suddenly. "Yura, Tsubaki, you go on and on about how much better you are because of your money, but I know for a fact that you are capable of being friendly and polite, so there's no excuse not to. And Kagura…I don't even know what to say to you. I can never tell when you're serious and when you're just messing around."

"Hey, I don't discriminate!" Kagura blinked innocently. "Look how cute he is. I'd date him."

"Shut up." Tsubaki snorted. "You could have any boy in this school."

"Except Sesshoumaru." Kagura sighed wistfully. "He'll come around, though. No one can resist my charm."

"Or your cleavage." Kikyo offered a comment without even looking up from her book, and Kagura shot her a petulant frown, unable to hit her as her nails were still wet.

"Kikyo, you are just jealous." Kagura told her primly after recovering from the insult. "Like you could get Sesshoumaru."

"I think he's gay." Yura opined. "That's really the only explanation."

"You just think that because he wouldn't let you blow him in the bathrooms." Kagura teased the other girl, who tossed a wadded up napkin in her direction. "What?"

"I am not a slut." She pouted angrily.

"Yura, come on." Kagura gave in. "You know I was teasing."

"Yeah, well." Yura huffed slightly. "Lucky for you I'm so forgiving."

"So," Rin turned to Kagome and Kouga when she'd finished Kagura's nails. "How's your first day so far?"

Kagome and Kouga looked at each other, and neither could come up with words to describe how they felt. All they knew for sure was that no matter how long they stayed at Yuufuku Academy, their term spent there would not soon be forgotten.

The End (Of Part 1, That Is)