AN: Since I don't know the Japanese system for schooling, I'm going to go with a boarding school system in the United States. Sorry for my lack of knowledge in different international schools. This is an OOC story, and a KxIY story. Not yet, though.
Another note is, there will be no yaoi or yuri in this story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I made up the name of the school Souta goes to. If someone else had this idea, I did not intentionally copy your idea, and you have my most sincere apologies. Also, I won't be putting a disclaimer on every chapter. I figure that once is enough.
~*~
I saw my brother trudging to his dorm, head bowed and eyes trained obediently to the floor. His cheeks were stained with dirt and tears, and I could almost feel the waves of unhappiness emanating from his small frame. He was clutching his books to his chest like an educational shield, dragging his feet as if each shoe weighed a thousand pounds. What surprised me the most was that while he was walking down the halls, there was not a single soul with him. In fact, the entire hall was empty. It made me wonder just how many friends Souta had in this school.
"Souta!" I called. My voice was cloaked to sound like a boy, but by the way my brother froze in his tracks, I knew he recognized me. Slowly, disbelievingly, he turned around and looked at me with the most hopeful look I had ever seen him give anyone, let alone me.
"K-Kagome?" he whispered hoarsely. I nodded slowly. The disbelief in his eyes grew. "What on earth are you doing here?"
I gave him a weak impression of my usual grin. "Hey, Souta, mom isn't the only one who's noticed the bruises on your cheeks and how thin you've gotten."
His eyes widened in revelation. I almost snorted. What, the kid thought that we didn't notice him using my make-up to cover the discoloration on his cheeks? Then his brown eyes narrowed into slits. "Mom sent you to protect me?"
"Are you crazy?" I asked, widening my eyes to prove my complete and utter innocence. Some relief shone on his face, but fell immediately when he heard my next words.
"Grandpa did!"
School Daze
Chapter One: Getting Started
by Clara
My grandpa was filled with the most hair-brained ideas, and I was as crazy as him to follow what he said. He had the best intentions though. Whenever Souta came home for break, he was always pale and thin, with sharp bruises on his cheeks. He would flinch away from any sudden movement we made, until he gradually got used to the fact that we wouldn't harm him.
Mom was the first to completely confirm our suspicions about what they were doing to him, when she had walked into his room on accident while he was changing. She told me with tears standing in her blue eyes that so many bruises and scars littered his thin torso, and that she could count his ribs without him even sucking in. She had tried to ask him what was happening in his school, but he refused to answer her, and even got angry when Mom had suggested moving him to a different school. He argued, that even though he was only twelve years old, he was perfectly capable enough to take care of himself.
When my grandpa heard this, he decided that I was going to go there to protect him.
Souta was a boy. He went to an all boy boarding school. That meant I was going to have to be a boy.
I was completely against this at first. There were too many things that could go wrong! For one thing, even though I was not the most buxom woman in the world, I did have enough curves to distinguish me from the male gender. And then there was always that time of the month..
Grandpa wouldn't be dissuaded from the idea. He told me that I could always bind my chest to make me look like I had the upper torso of a guy. When I mentioned my monthly problem, he just blushed and told me that that wasn't a good enough reason to save my brother from certain demise. He had me cornered.
"What about PE?" I had asked him. My mother just had this resigned look on her face. I shot her a dirty look, and she shrugged helplessly. She knew more than I did that when Grandpa had an idea, he would stick with it.
"They have stalls." He glared at me then, and I shut my mouth, falling into the same form of resignation my mom was in. "Kagome, I know this isn't the most pleasant thing you could do, but it's for your little brother! You must protect him.."
Still giving my grandpa a dirty look, I nodded in defeated acceptance.
I screamed so loud I woke up our neighbors when he cut my hair.
So that brings me to now. I'm sitting in the middle of a large room, hands folded neatly in my lap and back straight in perfect posture. The lady who was seated at the desk was so sophisticated that even the way she sat demanded my complete and utter attention. She was the dean of the school, and looked like she had many years of education underneath those wrinkles. The nameplate on her desk read simply as "Lady Kaede."
"Mr. Higurashi Kagome," she said. Her voice was as sophisticated as her form, and I sat up even straighter. My lower back was killing me. "I would like to formally welcome you to St. Bernard's School for Special Boys. To be blunt, this is a very prestigious school, and we do not accept any form of delinquency. I, along with the rest of the members of the school board, expect you to have a neat and immaculate appearance. This also means that your shirt must be tucked in and your hair combed. We do not accept sloppiness."
I paled ever so slightly. This school was strict.
"We also do not accept slackers." Her voice was stern and chilly. "Teachers expect your homework exactly when they ask for it. If you do not have it, then it will not just be counted down on your grade, but also on your conduct." I clenched my hands tighter together, and my eyes widened. This lady was scary. "You will be bunking with the young and honorable Hojou Hajemu."
Suddenly, the frown and stern look disappeared and was replaced by a comforting smile. This sudden transition surprised me a little. "Sorry for the strict formality, but it's mandatory. Anyway, I'm happy you chose St. Bernard's School. I see that your brother is with us?" She didn't allow me to answer, but just kept talking in her now friendly voice. "It's always a pleasure to have brothers in this school.
"To be more random, Mr. Miroku Priest will be giving you a tour around the school grounds. He is in your age level, so you don't have to worry about him talking down to you or feel inadequate because he's younger than you. Miroku is a pleasant and intelligent young man… once you've gotten past his odd eccentrics."
I was still surprised by her sudden switch of personalities that my reply came out as a stutter and I had to bite my tongue to stop the questions on her seemingly multiple personalities from escaping. "W-what do you mean, 'odd eccentrics'?"
The friendly smile became tight around the corners. "You'll see."
That, understandable, was not very comforting.
Lady Kaede pressed the button for the intercom. "Miss Shikyo, will you please send in Mr. Miroku?"
"Right away!" came the instantaneous and slightly anxious reply. Again, I was filled with the sense of utter dread and confusion. With my luck, this guy was probably some time of obnoxious jerk who was full of himself…
My thoughts were cut short when a boy peaked in. He was attractive and looked my age, but what really caught my eye was the small ponytail that hung at the nape of his neck. My own hand reached up to my now cropped hair, and I had that familiar urge to scream. My beautiful hair! My long, luxurious locks of black hair that I…
"Hi!" the boy chirped cheerfully. "My name is Miroku Priest."
"Kagome Higurashi," I answered curtly. Needless to say, my tone was much more restrained than his.
"Kagome?" he repeated, faintly surprised. I gave him a warning glance, the center of my palms sweating slightly. This would be a bad time for him to figure out that I wasn't a boy…
Thankfully, he let it drop.
Miroku gave me a short and condensed tour of the school, and my worries about him vanished. I still didn't know what his "odd eccentrics" were, and that curious thought kept nagging at the back of my mind, but it really didn't bother me that much. Whatever it was, it couldn't have been that bad. After all, the guy did seem pretty popular, with all the people he introduced me to…
My hard-soled shoes clicked quietly on the tiled floor as I followed Miroku, nodding at the times it seemed appropriate to nod. My bags were starting to feel heavy. The shoes I was wearing were boy shoes, not to mention the rest of my outfit. Grandpa had had the time of his life bringing me to buy clothing. Although he loves me so much, I knew that he had wanted me to be a boy. My mother routinely told me that when Grandpa found out she was pregnant, he had bought several baseballs and gloves, and even two bats. One large one for him, and one pint sized one for me. When he found out I was a girl, he was so disappointed—he pitched the balls and gloves and bats into the fire. Whenever I hear this, it breaks my heart.
My grandfather got used to me being a girl a year after I was born. It took him a while to accept fate, though. In fact, he didn't talk to my mom for a complete month; as if she had the power to decide what gender I was going to be.
Grandpa was—is—crazy.
But even if he did get over me not being a boy, he still oftentimes treated me as one. I found myself continually dragged along to several sport games when I was younger. Grandpa had a soft spot for baseball, though. Several times Mom would come home from work and would find Grandpa and me missing, but there were still many times she would be there to see us off. She would tell me that whenever she was home when we were on our way to one of our numerous "baseball stops", she would be near tears from laughing so hard. Grandpa was a rabid baseball fan, but he hated losing. Since it is nearly impossible to find a team that has an unbroken winning record, he almost always switched teams on a weakly basis.
He always expressed his "loyalty" to the teams by dressing me up completely in anything that has to do with baseball. Including those ridiculously huge hands that had one finger up and the "Number One Fan of [insert team here]" on it. I had about five of those when I was a kid, all for different and, quite often, opposing teams.
Don't get me wrong, though. As much as grandpa spoiled me as a boy, he spoiled me ten times more as a girl. I remember one time with crystalline clarity walking back from a baseball game and seeing a popular doll in the store window. Grandpa didn't notice I wasn't walking by his side and had continued walking and talking about how our new team wasn't really our team anymore. When he noticed I wasn't enthusiastically answering him, he stopped and turned around. There I was, face pressed against the glass as if I could somehow walk through the object blocking me from my desire. Grandpa smiled fondly, walked back to me, took my hand, then led me into the store. A few minutes later, we walked back out, still hand in hand. But this time we both were holding two dolls, me with an ecstatic look on my face, and Grandpa with a slightly resigned expression.
Grandpa and I did everything together.
Then, fatefully, four and a half years after I was born, my little brother Souta entered this world. When he came into the picture, it became Grandpa, Kagome, AND Souta.
Just because of that, I hated him.
That didn't last long. After he stopped drooling and stopped screaming, and started to become more interested in baseball, I grew to love him just as much as I loved Grandpa and baseball. Speaking of which, due to grandpa's obsession with baseball, I also became obsessed. It became almost like a second nature to me. When I grew older and could hold a bat without taking off a person's head, let alone my own, I joined every league I could. T-ball, little league, softball, then good old regular baseball. It was hard for me to play good old regular baseball, though. There was always that awful stereotype that girls had to play softball and not baseball, and essentially the were the same thing. This made me want to scream, since baseball and softball are completely different things. Baseball was my life. It wasn't until the end of this whole ordeal when I grew to hate it, but that's getting ahead of myself.
Anyway, at this period of time, I literally breathed, ate, and slept baseball. I'm exaggerating, but bear with me. But you can imagine my great and utter joy at the surprise of finding out that this school had a baseball team. It might sound silly about being excited about something that is most likely guaranteed to be at a school (since school's usually have baseball), but I couldn't help it.
"Hey," Miroku said, sounding slightly nervous. I adjusted my bags. "I hope you like—"
"—baseball!" I cut in, face radiating excitement.
"...because it's rather important here," he finished, grinning slightly. "I'm taking it you enjoy baseball?"
"I live for it," was my answer.
"GREAT!" Heads turned to look at the pigtailed boy doing a touchdown dance in the middle of the hall. I frowned slightly. Would that be considered as unruly behavior, and would Lady Kaede give him a detention or something? I shrugged a little to myself, figuring that if they thought Miroku was apparently safe enough to allow giving tours around the school, then it wasn't bad he was dancing in the middle of the hall. "Akira left this school two years ago, and we're in desperate need of a GOOD baseball player." He paused for a moment, thinking over his words. "Are you good?"
I gave him a dry look. "I've been playing since I could walk."
"I'm taking that that means your good. GREAT!" He paused again, then looked completely crestfallen. "But Inu's really strict."
"Inu?"
"Yeah, his complete name's Inuyasha. Don't tease him about that, though. He'll flatten you." Miroku gave me a grin. "The guy's scary when he wants to be. And he's like this year round, but he's worse when we're on season. Since we're off-season, you don't have to worry as much. He's more tolerable off-season, and even a pretty cool guy. Hey, I'll introduce you to him at lunch, 'kay? We don't have any classes yet, since it technically is still summer break.."
Miroku lead me into a large room filled with long tables all lined neatly in a row. "Cafeteria," was his curt explanation. There were several people sitting at these tables, either playing cards or talking or frantically finishing their summer work. "That's Eiji over there. He's our catcher. Inuyasha's our pitcher and team captain." His voice still had that excited tone to it. "Hey, Eiji!"
One of the boys who was scribbling anxiously on a piece of paper at the table nearest to us held up his hand. He had an unruly mop of black hair (I wonder if Lady Kaede ever got on his case about that) and a pair of thick glasses, but a rather attractive face. I bit my tongue. This was NOT the place for me to be checking out boys… "I can't talk right out, Miroku. I still got two pages to do!"
My tour guide shook his head. "You're fault, Eij. Come on, he doesn't need to know about our new star player.."
THAT caught his attention.
"Has he tried out yet? How good is he? Do you think we'll actually be able to WIN this time? Will.." Eiji shot out each question at a rapid fire pace, his pencil snapping in his hands to show his great excitement.
"Woah, woah, woah," Miroku held up a hand. "Slow down there, buddy. Anyway, to answer your first question, no, he hasn't tried out. He won't until we start this season. You know that!"
Eiji sighed and nodded. "Well, I hope he is good enough…"
I shifted from foot to foot; adjusting my rather heavy bags again so they wouldn't cut off the circulation in my hands, then gave Miroku a half-hearted glare. He and Eiji were talking about me as if I wasn't there, and truthfully, I really wanted to set these bags down in my dorm. "Hey, Miroku… as interesting as this conversation is, and as much as I'd like to join your guys' team, these bags aren't feathers, yanno…"
Miroku had the decency to blush. "Right, right. Sorry… I forgot. Who are you bunking with again?" He paused, and looked down at the papers I hadn't known he was holding. "HOJOU?!"
Eiji choked, then laughed. He tried to smother it with a cough, but failed miserably. "Don't mind Miroku, uh… what did you say your name was again?"
"Kagome."
Eiji gave me an odd look, and I gave him the same warning glance I had given Miroku. "Ah, well, Inuyasha has a weird name, too. Anyway, why I'm saying you shouldn't mind Miroku is cuz he and Hojou are long time enemies. Though I'm not really sure if Hojou knows he and Miroku hate each other. The guy's… kinda absent minded."
"Uh, why do they hate each other?"
"Eh, Priest is just a dumbass. You get used to it after awhile…"
Miroku muttered something inappropriate and grabbed one of the chairs, sitting down backwards on it. "Kagome's new here. He's a transfer student from some place, and has got a brother that goes here." He sounded rather bored, and I made a rude gesture with my hand in his general direction. My hand that was hidden by my thousand pound bag, that is. The guy already forgot about taking me to my dorm!
Completely ignoring me, Miroku struck up a conversation with Eiji about baseball and girls. Giving up, I sighed and dropped my bags, closing my eyes and ordering myself to take deep breaths. I can calm down, I WILL calm down…
I gave up and dropped my three bags, then sat down on the largest one.
While Miroku and Eiji chatted as if they hadn't seen each other for years, I looked around. I had to admit, this school was much nicer than my old schools had ever been. I snorted lightly. It was probably more advanced, too.
After a few moments of intense conversing, Miroku suddenly remembered that I existed. He jumped guiltily, starting me from my sleepy reverie and gave me an apologetic smile. "Sorry, sorry." He stumbled out of his chair, scratching the back of his head. "Bye, Eiji."
"Later, Miroku." He smiled brightly at me. "Bye, Kagome."
"Nice meeting you," I said politely around my yawn. I fumbled around for a moment, then stood up, swaying ever so slightly. Miroku gave me a curious glance, and I shrugged. "What can I say? I had to drive for seven hours straight.. I'm a bit tired."
"Damn. That musta sucked. Come on, I'll show you to your room."
"You make it sound like a hotel.."
*
When I woke up to Miroku pounding on my door, it was already almost time for dinner. Hojou wasn't here yet, and I wasn't sure if I was pleased or not.
Rubbing my eyes, I opened the door. "Mnuh?"
Okay, so I wasn't quite coherent yet.
"Come on, man, it's dinner!" Miroku so kindly grabbed me by the wrist and literally drug me towards the cafeteria. I sort of shouted-slash-mumbled my protests, which fell completely on deaf ears.
The cafeteria was jam-packed with people, up to the point where some boys were sitting on the floor. I blinked a couple times, partially because I was half asleep, and partially because I thought I was seeing things. Damn. This place was crowded.
"Hey, Miroku. We're sitting outside, okay?"
I looked around to try and put a face on the voice, but to no avail. There were just too many people around!
"I already knew that, Kouga. I already got some food for me and Kagome." Once again, I was drug away from the cafeteria, this time to a door I hadn't noticed before. Miroku pushed it open, and shoved me out into the real world.
"Nnn! Bright!!" I shielded my eyes with my hand, only to be shoved again, this times towards a group of silhouettes. Guessing they were the ones I was supposed to go to, I plunked by the nearest person, closing my eyes. I was still sleepy.
"Hey guys! This is Kagome, the new kid I was talking about!"
"He doesn't look like much," a scathing voice was what he got as an answer. My eyes snapped open, and most forms of sleepiness fled my body. Okay, so I kind of half-heartedly opened my eyes, and I was still falling asleep just sitting there.
What filled my line of vision made me wish I had gotten those missed seven hours of sleep, and that I looked like a girl and not a boy.
Sitting in front of me was a boy. Not surprising. But there was only one way to describe this boy, and that was gorgeous. Breathtakingly, amazingly gorgeous. Or at least very pretty. He hand long black hair and almost luminescent blue eyes that seemed to be looking into my very soul, and made me extremely self-conscious.
But...
"Hey! Bear with me, I only got two hours of sleep last night."
...He had something I wanted.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not meaning this in the perverted way. Sure, he most likely had a nice body, but what REALLY got me was his hair. Something that I now lacked, and he had so very much of.
..I was going to kill Grandpa.
"Doesn't matter," the boy snapped. I glared balefully at him. As pretty as he was, his personality just stunk. And that's a major turn-off.
"Hey, Inuyasha, don't be too hard on him. The boy's new," a distinctly female voice admonished. My head swung around to look at the girl.
"Uh.."
"Hst, Kagome. Don't worry about Sango, she goes to the school near here. We're allowed to have girls on campus on weekends and whatnot, but not during school days," Miroku grinned, then put an arm around Sango's shoulders. The pretty girl elbowed him in the ribs, and I blinked.
"What school near here?"
Sango gave me a curious look. "You must be REALLY new here." Then she pointed over her shoulder.
Across the street was a school clearly labeled: St. Bernard's School for Special Girls.
I was going to KILL grandpa.
Sighing in resigned acceptance, I looked around the small group thoughtfully. I considered each person. There were two girls in the group, and three other boys besides Miroku and… well, me. I immediately recognized Eiji, and I already gathered that the pretty boy with long black hair was Inuyasha, and the girl who Miroku had his arms around was Sango, but for the others I hadn't the faintest.
Man, I make a really gay boy.
"Kagome," Miroku said, calling his attention to me. He still had his arms around Sango, and Sango still did not look all to pleased with this arrangement, "meet everyone. Everyone, meet Kagome."
In return to this brief introduction, Miroku received six deadpan looks.
"All right, all right…" He sighed in mock surrender, then pointed to Inuyasha. "Kagome, this is Inuyasha. I told you about him earlier." Inuyasha raised his eyebrow at Miroku, and Miroku shrugged. "Beside him is his girlfriend, Kikyo.
The raised eyebrow turned into an evil glare. "She is not my girlfriend." For a moment, Kikyo looked crestfallen, but then she straightened herself up and looked determined.
I didn't know whether to feel relieved or not. That they were only friends, that is.
"Well, whatever. We'll get into that whole debate later. Anyway, you've already met Eiji, and this gorgeous and luminous young lady is Miss Sango Yukaitarashi." Sango elbowed him again, and he yelped and released her, rubbing his tender ribs and pouting.
Sango shook her head. "Don't mind Priest. He's just a huge pervert."
So that's what Lady Kaede meant…
"And last but definitely not least, the boy sitting beside the lovely Miss Kikyo is Kouga. Don't expect anything nice to come out of this guy's mouth, he's as dense as they get, and has that permanent foot-in-the-mouth syndrome. But it's all just a mask to make himself look cool. He actually gets better grades than me!
Kouga glared at Miroku, but had the decency not to retaliate.
I nodded at each of them in polite greeting, but my eyes never strayed far from them all girl school across the street. I could be there. I could still have my hair! I shot a discreet look at Inuyasha. Hell, I could still have my hair here! I reached up and fingered a lock of silky hair that hung at the base of my neck, and suppressed a grimace. Oh, yeah. Grandpa was going to die.
Making a strong face of displeasure, I glanced at the tray of food Miroku had gotten for me. My stomach growled at it, and I blushed.
"Bit hungry?" Sango laughed. I nodded meekly, and she pushed me the untouched tray of food and winked.
"T-thanks," I mumbled out, looking highly embarrassed. I did NOT like the look she was giving me… Grabbing the fork, I shifted uncomfortably at the scrutinizing gazes everyone was giving me. My tummy grumbled again and I gave into its protests, digging in. The food was just like any other cafeteria food; too salty, too tangy, too sweet. But I was too hungry to care.
Hey, I hadn't eaten since yesterday.
"So, Kagome," Sango started conversationally. I glanced at her, mouth full of dry mashed potatoes.
"Mmm?"
"What school did you go to before you came here?"
I swallowed, almost choking. How was I supposed to answer? I went to an all girl school before I went to this all boy school. Yeah, that'd really make a lasting impression with them. About here was where my dormant nervousness sprung to life again.
"I-I went to this school that no one's heard of… it was really, um, small…" Everyone's attention turned to me, expecting the name of the school. Great. "It was called… uh… Shikon High."
Thankfully, the only dubious look I got was from Inuyasha. Or maybe that wasn't something to be thankful about. The guy made me nervous, as if he could easily see through my disguise. I gave him my most charming smile, and he frowned. Thank all the holy beings that's up there that he didn't push it, though.
"You're right, I haven't heard of it," Sango said. She was smiling at me, and my nervousness was now accompanied by a slight amount of fear. I really didn't like how Sango was looking at me.
Kikyo shrugged, idly examining her nails. She buffed it, then gave me a dry look through her long eyelashes. "You must miss all your friends." There was something about her tone that I really didn't like. She sounded too bored for my comfort.
"Well, yeah, of course I do. But I only moved here because it was easier for my mom to… uh… send Souta and me to the same school."
"Souta?" Kouga repeated. "Yo, I think I know him. Young kid, ain't he?"
I nodded quickly, hoping the bought my totally bogus story. Inuyasha was still staring at me with a doubtful expression and I gave him my most innocent look. He snorted quietly and took an elegant bite from his soggy looking sandwich. Now that I think about it, Inuyasha is probably the only person in the world who can make eating a school sandwich elegant. It drove me nuts, and it still does.
"Yeah, he always got these nasty looking bruises on his face. Is he a problem child or something?"
I frowned at Kouga, then smiled nervously at Sango when she edged closer to me. Returning my attention to Kouga, I shook my head. "That's the thing. He really isn't a bad kid, but when he comes home, he's always bruised up." I hunched slightly into myself. "I'm scared for him, kinda. There's someone who's really taking out their anger on him, and I know he doesn't eat much when he comes here. He's always got really bad bruises everywhere, and he's always so skinny…" I let out a deep sigh and stopped talking. Then blinked.
Everyone was staring at me as if I had just spoken a prophecy or something.
"Whaaaat?!"
"Man, you really care about your brother, don't you?" Sango asked. She had a slightly dreamy look in her eyes. I edged a little farther away from her, turning more than slightly pink. Miroku was giving me a strange look, too.
"Well," I cleared my throat, trying to sound more boyish. I had the tendency to switch back to my girl voice, and if I wasn't careful, people were going to start noticing things. "Of course I do. I mean, he is my little brother and stuff…"
"Oh, that's so sweet!"
Blushing again, I quickly shoveled more food into my mouth in an excuse not to answer her. Miroku was giving me a look that could only be described as dirty. I had a feeling there was more between Sango and Miroku that he was willing to let on. I was going to have to ask him about that. I briefly wondered if I should tell them I liked boys. While I looked like a boy.
Oh, yeah, that'd really sit well with them.
At the moment, I kind of wanted to scream to the world that I was really a girl, and that I did not belong to an all boy school, and that I was really just here because my grandpa sent me here to protect my baby brother. Then what would I do, rip open my shirt to prove just how womanly I was?
Uh huh.
"Hey, Kagome," Miroku said. He was still giving me this strange look, but it didn't exactly look spiteful. That made me feel a little better. "We always hang out at this ice cream shoppé down the street. Wanna come with us today? We should be leaving in a bit…"
I nodded. "Sure, that sounds great!"
Well, if anything, this should be an interesting experience.
-chapter one
Ahahaha.. I should have the next chapter by sometime around the end of this month. I have finals, so it might take awhile.. u.u;; If not, expect the next chapter early Februrary.
Yes, this will be a Kagome/Inuyasha story. In much later chapters, however.
Things you should know:
Miroku Priest: Obvious play on his last name.
Sango Youkaitarashi: I'm pretty sure "youkai tarashi" is the condensed meaning of "demon killer" in Japanese. If I'm wrong, my sincerest apologies.
There will be Sango/Miroku pairings in later chapters.
Another note is, there will be no yaoi or yuri in this story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I made up the name of the school Souta goes to. If someone else had this idea, I did not intentionally copy your idea, and you have my most sincere apologies. Also, I won't be putting a disclaimer on every chapter. I figure that once is enough.
~*~
I saw my brother trudging to his dorm, head bowed and eyes trained obediently to the floor. His cheeks were stained with dirt and tears, and I could almost feel the waves of unhappiness emanating from his small frame. He was clutching his books to his chest like an educational shield, dragging his feet as if each shoe weighed a thousand pounds. What surprised me the most was that while he was walking down the halls, there was not a single soul with him. In fact, the entire hall was empty. It made me wonder just how many friends Souta had in this school.
"Souta!" I called. My voice was cloaked to sound like a boy, but by the way my brother froze in his tracks, I knew he recognized me. Slowly, disbelievingly, he turned around and looked at me with the most hopeful look I had ever seen him give anyone, let alone me.
"K-Kagome?" he whispered hoarsely. I nodded slowly. The disbelief in his eyes grew. "What on earth are you doing here?"
I gave him a weak impression of my usual grin. "Hey, Souta, mom isn't the only one who's noticed the bruises on your cheeks and how thin you've gotten."
His eyes widened in revelation. I almost snorted. What, the kid thought that we didn't notice him using my make-up to cover the discoloration on his cheeks? Then his brown eyes narrowed into slits. "Mom sent you to protect me?"
"Are you crazy?" I asked, widening my eyes to prove my complete and utter innocence. Some relief shone on his face, but fell immediately when he heard my next words.
"Grandpa did!"
Chapter One: Getting Started
by Clara
My grandpa was filled with the most hair-brained ideas, and I was as crazy as him to follow what he said. He had the best intentions though. Whenever Souta came home for break, he was always pale and thin, with sharp bruises on his cheeks. He would flinch away from any sudden movement we made, until he gradually got used to the fact that we wouldn't harm him.
Mom was the first to completely confirm our suspicions about what they were doing to him, when she had walked into his room on accident while he was changing. She told me with tears standing in her blue eyes that so many bruises and scars littered his thin torso, and that she could count his ribs without him even sucking in. She had tried to ask him what was happening in his school, but he refused to answer her, and even got angry when Mom had suggested moving him to a different school. He argued, that even though he was only twelve years old, he was perfectly capable enough to take care of himself.
When my grandpa heard this, he decided that I was going to go there to protect him.
Souta was a boy. He went to an all boy boarding school. That meant I was going to have to be a boy.
I was completely against this at first. There were too many things that could go wrong! For one thing, even though I was not the most buxom woman in the world, I did have enough curves to distinguish me from the male gender. And then there was always that time of the month..
Grandpa wouldn't be dissuaded from the idea. He told me that I could always bind my chest to make me look like I had the upper torso of a guy. When I mentioned my monthly problem, he just blushed and told me that that wasn't a good enough reason to save my brother from certain demise. He had me cornered.
"What about PE?" I had asked him. My mother just had this resigned look on her face. I shot her a dirty look, and she shrugged helplessly. She knew more than I did that when Grandpa had an idea, he would stick with it.
"They have stalls." He glared at me then, and I shut my mouth, falling into the same form of resignation my mom was in. "Kagome, I know this isn't the most pleasant thing you could do, but it's for your little brother! You must protect him.."
Still giving my grandpa a dirty look, I nodded in defeated acceptance.
I screamed so loud I woke up our neighbors when he cut my hair.
So that brings me to now. I'm sitting in the middle of a large room, hands folded neatly in my lap and back straight in perfect posture. The lady who was seated at the desk was so sophisticated that even the way she sat demanded my complete and utter attention. She was the dean of the school, and looked like she had many years of education underneath those wrinkles. The nameplate on her desk read simply as "Lady Kaede."
"Mr. Higurashi Kagome," she said. Her voice was as sophisticated as her form, and I sat up even straighter. My lower back was killing me. "I would like to formally welcome you to St. Bernard's School for Special Boys. To be blunt, this is a very prestigious school, and we do not accept any form of delinquency. I, along with the rest of the members of the school board, expect you to have a neat and immaculate appearance. This also means that your shirt must be tucked in and your hair combed. We do not accept sloppiness."
I paled ever so slightly. This school was strict.
"We also do not accept slackers." Her voice was stern and chilly. "Teachers expect your homework exactly when they ask for it. If you do not have it, then it will not just be counted down on your grade, but also on your conduct." I clenched my hands tighter together, and my eyes widened. This lady was scary. "You will be bunking with the young and honorable Hojou Hajemu."
Suddenly, the frown and stern look disappeared and was replaced by a comforting smile. This sudden transition surprised me a little. "Sorry for the strict formality, but it's mandatory. Anyway, I'm happy you chose St. Bernard's School. I see that your brother is with us?" She didn't allow me to answer, but just kept talking in her now friendly voice. "It's always a pleasure to have brothers in this school.
"To be more random, Mr. Miroku Priest will be giving you a tour around the school grounds. He is in your age level, so you don't have to worry about him talking down to you or feel inadequate because he's younger than you. Miroku is a pleasant and intelligent young man… once you've gotten past his odd eccentrics."
I was still surprised by her sudden switch of personalities that my reply came out as a stutter and I had to bite my tongue to stop the questions on her seemingly multiple personalities from escaping. "W-what do you mean, 'odd eccentrics'?"
The friendly smile became tight around the corners. "You'll see."
That, understandable, was not very comforting.
Lady Kaede pressed the button for the intercom. "Miss Shikyo, will you please send in Mr. Miroku?"
"Right away!" came the instantaneous and slightly anxious reply. Again, I was filled with the sense of utter dread and confusion. With my luck, this guy was probably some time of obnoxious jerk who was full of himself…
My thoughts were cut short when a boy peaked in. He was attractive and looked my age, but what really caught my eye was the small ponytail that hung at the nape of his neck. My own hand reached up to my now cropped hair, and I had that familiar urge to scream. My beautiful hair! My long, luxurious locks of black hair that I…
"Hi!" the boy chirped cheerfully. "My name is Miroku Priest."
"Kagome Higurashi," I answered curtly. Needless to say, my tone was much more restrained than his.
"Kagome?" he repeated, faintly surprised. I gave him a warning glance, the center of my palms sweating slightly. This would be a bad time for him to figure out that I wasn't a boy…
Thankfully, he let it drop.
Miroku gave me a short and condensed tour of the school, and my worries about him vanished. I still didn't know what his "odd eccentrics" were, and that curious thought kept nagging at the back of my mind, but it really didn't bother me that much. Whatever it was, it couldn't have been that bad. After all, the guy did seem pretty popular, with all the people he introduced me to…
My hard-soled shoes clicked quietly on the tiled floor as I followed Miroku, nodding at the times it seemed appropriate to nod. My bags were starting to feel heavy. The shoes I was wearing were boy shoes, not to mention the rest of my outfit. Grandpa had had the time of his life bringing me to buy clothing. Although he loves me so much, I knew that he had wanted me to be a boy. My mother routinely told me that when Grandpa found out she was pregnant, he had bought several baseballs and gloves, and even two bats. One large one for him, and one pint sized one for me. When he found out I was a girl, he was so disappointed—he pitched the balls and gloves and bats into the fire. Whenever I hear this, it breaks my heart.
My grandfather got used to me being a girl a year after I was born. It took him a while to accept fate, though. In fact, he didn't talk to my mom for a complete month; as if she had the power to decide what gender I was going to be.
Grandpa was—is—crazy.
But even if he did get over me not being a boy, he still oftentimes treated me as one. I found myself continually dragged along to several sport games when I was younger. Grandpa had a soft spot for baseball, though. Several times Mom would come home from work and would find Grandpa and me missing, but there were still many times she would be there to see us off. She would tell me that whenever she was home when we were on our way to one of our numerous "baseball stops", she would be near tears from laughing so hard. Grandpa was a rabid baseball fan, but he hated losing. Since it is nearly impossible to find a team that has an unbroken winning record, he almost always switched teams on a weakly basis.
He always expressed his "loyalty" to the teams by dressing me up completely in anything that has to do with baseball. Including those ridiculously huge hands that had one finger up and the "Number One Fan of [insert team here]" on it. I had about five of those when I was a kid, all for different and, quite often, opposing teams.
Don't get me wrong, though. As much as grandpa spoiled me as a boy, he spoiled me ten times more as a girl. I remember one time with crystalline clarity walking back from a baseball game and seeing a popular doll in the store window. Grandpa didn't notice I wasn't walking by his side and had continued walking and talking about how our new team wasn't really our team anymore. When he noticed I wasn't enthusiastically answering him, he stopped and turned around. There I was, face pressed against the glass as if I could somehow walk through the object blocking me from my desire. Grandpa smiled fondly, walked back to me, took my hand, then led me into the store. A few minutes later, we walked back out, still hand in hand. But this time we both were holding two dolls, me with an ecstatic look on my face, and Grandpa with a slightly resigned expression.
Grandpa and I did everything together.
Then, fatefully, four and a half years after I was born, my little brother Souta entered this world. When he came into the picture, it became Grandpa, Kagome, AND Souta.
Just because of that, I hated him.
That didn't last long. After he stopped drooling and stopped screaming, and started to become more interested in baseball, I grew to love him just as much as I loved Grandpa and baseball. Speaking of which, due to grandpa's obsession with baseball, I also became obsessed. It became almost like a second nature to me. When I grew older and could hold a bat without taking off a person's head, let alone my own, I joined every league I could. T-ball, little league, softball, then good old regular baseball. It was hard for me to play good old regular baseball, though. There was always that awful stereotype that girls had to play softball and not baseball, and essentially the were the same thing. This made me want to scream, since baseball and softball are completely different things. Baseball was my life. It wasn't until the end of this whole ordeal when I grew to hate it, but that's getting ahead of myself.
Anyway, at this period of time, I literally breathed, ate, and slept baseball. I'm exaggerating, but bear with me. But you can imagine my great and utter joy at the surprise of finding out that this school had a baseball team. It might sound silly about being excited about something that is most likely guaranteed to be at a school (since school's usually have baseball), but I couldn't help it.
"Hey," Miroku said, sounding slightly nervous. I adjusted my bags. "I hope you like—"
"—baseball!" I cut in, face radiating excitement.
"...because it's rather important here," he finished, grinning slightly. "I'm taking it you enjoy baseball?"
"I live for it," was my answer.
"GREAT!" Heads turned to look at the pigtailed boy doing a touchdown dance in the middle of the hall. I frowned slightly. Would that be considered as unruly behavior, and would Lady Kaede give him a detention or something? I shrugged a little to myself, figuring that if they thought Miroku was apparently safe enough to allow giving tours around the school, then it wasn't bad he was dancing in the middle of the hall. "Akira left this school two years ago, and we're in desperate need of a GOOD baseball player." He paused for a moment, thinking over his words. "Are you good?"
I gave him a dry look. "I've been playing since I could walk."
"I'm taking that that means your good. GREAT!" He paused again, then looked completely crestfallen. "But Inu's really strict."
"Inu?"
"Yeah, his complete name's Inuyasha. Don't tease him about that, though. He'll flatten you." Miroku gave me a grin. "The guy's scary when he wants to be. And he's like this year round, but he's worse when we're on season. Since we're off-season, you don't have to worry as much. He's more tolerable off-season, and even a pretty cool guy. Hey, I'll introduce you to him at lunch, 'kay? We don't have any classes yet, since it technically is still summer break.."
Miroku lead me into a large room filled with long tables all lined neatly in a row. "Cafeteria," was his curt explanation. There were several people sitting at these tables, either playing cards or talking or frantically finishing their summer work. "That's Eiji over there. He's our catcher. Inuyasha's our pitcher and team captain." His voice still had that excited tone to it. "Hey, Eiji!"
One of the boys who was scribbling anxiously on a piece of paper at the table nearest to us held up his hand. He had an unruly mop of black hair (I wonder if Lady Kaede ever got on his case about that) and a pair of thick glasses, but a rather attractive face. I bit my tongue. This was NOT the place for me to be checking out boys… "I can't talk right out, Miroku. I still got two pages to do!"
My tour guide shook his head. "You're fault, Eij. Come on, he doesn't need to know about our new star player.."
THAT caught his attention.
"Has he tried out yet? How good is he? Do you think we'll actually be able to WIN this time? Will.." Eiji shot out each question at a rapid fire pace, his pencil snapping in his hands to show his great excitement.
"Woah, woah, woah," Miroku held up a hand. "Slow down there, buddy. Anyway, to answer your first question, no, he hasn't tried out. He won't until we start this season. You know that!"
Eiji sighed and nodded. "Well, I hope he is good enough…"
I shifted from foot to foot; adjusting my rather heavy bags again so they wouldn't cut off the circulation in my hands, then gave Miroku a half-hearted glare. He and Eiji were talking about me as if I wasn't there, and truthfully, I really wanted to set these bags down in my dorm. "Hey, Miroku… as interesting as this conversation is, and as much as I'd like to join your guys' team, these bags aren't feathers, yanno…"
Miroku had the decency to blush. "Right, right. Sorry… I forgot. Who are you bunking with again?" He paused, and looked down at the papers I hadn't known he was holding. "HOJOU?!"
Eiji choked, then laughed. He tried to smother it with a cough, but failed miserably. "Don't mind Miroku, uh… what did you say your name was again?"
"Kagome."
Eiji gave me an odd look, and I gave him the same warning glance I had given Miroku. "Ah, well, Inuyasha has a weird name, too. Anyway, why I'm saying you shouldn't mind Miroku is cuz he and Hojou are long time enemies. Though I'm not really sure if Hojou knows he and Miroku hate each other. The guy's… kinda absent minded."
"Uh, why do they hate each other?"
"Eh, Priest is just a dumbass. You get used to it after awhile…"
Miroku muttered something inappropriate and grabbed one of the chairs, sitting down backwards on it. "Kagome's new here. He's a transfer student from some place, and has got a brother that goes here." He sounded rather bored, and I made a rude gesture with my hand in his general direction. My hand that was hidden by my thousand pound bag, that is. The guy already forgot about taking me to my dorm!
Completely ignoring me, Miroku struck up a conversation with Eiji about baseball and girls. Giving up, I sighed and dropped my bags, closing my eyes and ordering myself to take deep breaths. I can calm down, I WILL calm down…
I gave up and dropped my three bags, then sat down on the largest one.
While Miroku and Eiji chatted as if they hadn't seen each other for years, I looked around. I had to admit, this school was much nicer than my old schools had ever been. I snorted lightly. It was probably more advanced, too.
After a few moments of intense conversing, Miroku suddenly remembered that I existed. He jumped guiltily, starting me from my sleepy reverie and gave me an apologetic smile. "Sorry, sorry." He stumbled out of his chair, scratching the back of his head. "Bye, Eiji."
"Later, Miroku." He smiled brightly at me. "Bye, Kagome."
"Nice meeting you," I said politely around my yawn. I fumbled around for a moment, then stood up, swaying ever so slightly. Miroku gave me a curious glance, and I shrugged. "What can I say? I had to drive for seven hours straight.. I'm a bit tired."
"Damn. That musta sucked. Come on, I'll show you to your room."
"You make it sound like a hotel.."
*
When I woke up to Miroku pounding on my door, it was already almost time for dinner. Hojou wasn't here yet, and I wasn't sure if I was pleased or not.
Rubbing my eyes, I opened the door. "Mnuh?"
Okay, so I wasn't quite coherent yet.
"Come on, man, it's dinner!" Miroku so kindly grabbed me by the wrist and literally drug me towards the cafeteria. I sort of shouted-slash-mumbled my protests, which fell completely on deaf ears.
The cafeteria was jam-packed with people, up to the point where some boys were sitting on the floor. I blinked a couple times, partially because I was half asleep, and partially because I thought I was seeing things. Damn. This place was crowded.
"Hey, Miroku. We're sitting outside, okay?"
I looked around to try and put a face on the voice, but to no avail. There were just too many people around!
"I already knew that, Kouga. I already got some food for me and Kagome." Once again, I was drug away from the cafeteria, this time to a door I hadn't noticed before. Miroku pushed it open, and shoved me out into the real world.
"Nnn! Bright!!" I shielded my eyes with my hand, only to be shoved again, this times towards a group of silhouettes. Guessing they were the ones I was supposed to go to, I plunked by the nearest person, closing my eyes. I was still sleepy.
"Hey guys! This is Kagome, the new kid I was talking about!"
"He doesn't look like much," a scathing voice was what he got as an answer. My eyes snapped open, and most forms of sleepiness fled my body. Okay, so I kind of half-heartedly opened my eyes, and I was still falling asleep just sitting there.
What filled my line of vision made me wish I had gotten those missed seven hours of sleep, and that I looked like a girl and not a boy.
Sitting in front of me was a boy. Not surprising. But there was only one way to describe this boy, and that was gorgeous. Breathtakingly, amazingly gorgeous. Or at least very pretty. He hand long black hair and almost luminescent blue eyes that seemed to be looking into my very soul, and made me extremely self-conscious.
But...
"Hey! Bear with me, I only got two hours of sleep last night."
...He had something I wanted.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not meaning this in the perverted way. Sure, he most likely had a nice body, but what REALLY got me was his hair. Something that I now lacked, and he had so very much of.
..I was going to kill Grandpa.
"Doesn't matter," the boy snapped. I glared balefully at him. As pretty as he was, his personality just stunk. And that's a major turn-off.
"Hey, Inuyasha, don't be too hard on him. The boy's new," a distinctly female voice admonished. My head swung around to look at the girl.
"Uh.."
"Hst, Kagome. Don't worry about Sango, she goes to the school near here. We're allowed to have girls on campus on weekends and whatnot, but not during school days," Miroku grinned, then put an arm around Sango's shoulders. The pretty girl elbowed him in the ribs, and I blinked.
"What school near here?"
Sango gave me a curious look. "You must be REALLY new here." Then she pointed over her shoulder.
Across the street was a school clearly labeled: St. Bernard's School for Special Girls.
I was going to KILL grandpa.
Sighing in resigned acceptance, I looked around the small group thoughtfully. I considered each person. There were two girls in the group, and three other boys besides Miroku and… well, me. I immediately recognized Eiji, and I already gathered that the pretty boy with long black hair was Inuyasha, and the girl who Miroku had his arms around was Sango, but for the others I hadn't the faintest.
Man, I make a really gay boy.
"Kagome," Miroku said, calling his attention to me. He still had his arms around Sango, and Sango still did not look all to pleased with this arrangement, "meet everyone. Everyone, meet Kagome."
In return to this brief introduction, Miroku received six deadpan looks.
"All right, all right…" He sighed in mock surrender, then pointed to Inuyasha. "Kagome, this is Inuyasha. I told you about him earlier." Inuyasha raised his eyebrow at Miroku, and Miroku shrugged. "Beside him is his girlfriend, Kikyo.
The raised eyebrow turned into an evil glare. "She is not my girlfriend." For a moment, Kikyo looked crestfallen, but then she straightened herself up and looked determined.
I didn't know whether to feel relieved or not. That they were only friends, that is.
"Well, whatever. We'll get into that whole debate later. Anyway, you've already met Eiji, and this gorgeous and luminous young lady is Miss Sango Yukaitarashi." Sango elbowed him again, and he yelped and released her, rubbing his tender ribs and pouting.
Sango shook her head. "Don't mind Priest. He's just a huge pervert."
So that's what Lady Kaede meant…
"And last but definitely not least, the boy sitting beside the lovely Miss Kikyo is Kouga. Don't expect anything nice to come out of this guy's mouth, he's as dense as they get, and has that permanent foot-in-the-mouth syndrome. But it's all just a mask to make himself look cool. He actually gets better grades than me!
Kouga glared at Miroku, but had the decency not to retaliate.
I nodded at each of them in polite greeting, but my eyes never strayed far from them all girl school across the street. I could be there. I could still have my hair! I shot a discreet look at Inuyasha. Hell, I could still have my hair here! I reached up and fingered a lock of silky hair that hung at the base of my neck, and suppressed a grimace. Oh, yeah. Grandpa was going to die.
Making a strong face of displeasure, I glanced at the tray of food Miroku had gotten for me. My stomach growled at it, and I blushed.
"Bit hungry?" Sango laughed. I nodded meekly, and she pushed me the untouched tray of food and winked.
"T-thanks," I mumbled out, looking highly embarrassed. I did NOT like the look she was giving me… Grabbing the fork, I shifted uncomfortably at the scrutinizing gazes everyone was giving me. My tummy grumbled again and I gave into its protests, digging in. The food was just like any other cafeteria food; too salty, too tangy, too sweet. But I was too hungry to care.
Hey, I hadn't eaten since yesterday.
"So, Kagome," Sango started conversationally. I glanced at her, mouth full of dry mashed potatoes.
"Mmm?"
"What school did you go to before you came here?"
I swallowed, almost choking. How was I supposed to answer? I went to an all girl school before I went to this all boy school. Yeah, that'd really make a lasting impression with them. About here was where my dormant nervousness sprung to life again.
"I-I went to this school that no one's heard of… it was really, um, small…" Everyone's attention turned to me, expecting the name of the school. Great. "It was called… uh… Shikon High."
Thankfully, the only dubious look I got was from Inuyasha. Or maybe that wasn't something to be thankful about. The guy made me nervous, as if he could easily see through my disguise. I gave him my most charming smile, and he frowned. Thank all the holy beings that's up there that he didn't push it, though.
"You're right, I haven't heard of it," Sango said. She was smiling at me, and my nervousness was now accompanied by a slight amount of fear. I really didn't like how Sango was looking at me.
Kikyo shrugged, idly examining her nails. She buffed it, then gave me a dry look through her long eyelashes. "You must miss all your friends." There was something about her tone that I really didn't like. She sounded too bored for my comfort.
"Well, yeah, of course I do. But I only moved here because it was easier for my mom to… uh… send Souta and me to the same school."
"Souta?" Kouga repeated. "Yo, I think I know him. Young kid, ain't he?"
I nodded quickly, hoping the bought my totally bogus story. Inuyasha was still staring at me with a doubtful expression and I gave him my most innocent look. He snorted quietly and took an elegant bite from his soggy looking sandwich. Now that I think about it, Inuyasha is probably the only person in the world who can make eating a school sandwich elegant. It drove me nuts, and it still does.
"Yeah, he always got these nasty looking bruises on his face. Is he a problem child or something?"
I frowned at Kouga, then smiled nervously at Sango when she edged closer to me. Returning my attention to Kouga, I shook my head. "That's the thing. He really isn't a bad kid, but when he comes home, he's always bruised up." I hunched slightly into myself. "I'm scared for him, kinda. There's someone who's really taking out their anger on him, and I know he doesn't eat much when he comes here. He's always got really bad bruises everywhere, and he's always so skinny…" I let out a deep sigh and stopped talking. Then blinked.
Everyone was staring at me as if I had just spoken a prophecy or something.
"Whaaaat?!"
"Man, you really care about your brother, don't you?" Sango asked. She had a slightly dreamy look in her eyes. I edged a little farther away from her, turning more than slightly pink. Miroku was giving me a strange look, too.
"Well," I cleared my throat, trying to sound more boyish. I had the tendency to switch back to my girl voice, and if I wasn't careful, people were going to start noticing things. "Of course I do. I mean, he is my little brother and stuff…"
"Oh, that's so sweet!"
Blushing again, I quickly shoveled more food into my mouth in an excuse not to answer her. Miroku was giving me a look that could only be described as dirty. I had a feeling there was more between Sango and Miroku that he was willing to let on. I was going to have to ask him about that. I briefly wondered if I should tell them I liked boys. While I looked like a boy.
Oh, yeah, that'd really sit well with them.
At the moment, I kind of wanted to scream to the world that I was really a girl, and that I did not belong to an all boy school, and that I was really just here because my grandpa sent me here to protect my baby brother. Then what would I do, rip open my shirt to prove just how womanly I was?
Uh huh.
"Hey, Kagome," Miroku said. He was still giving me this strange look, but it didn't exactly look spiteful. That made me feel a little better. "We always hang out at this ice cream shoppé down the street. Wanna come with us today? We should be leaving in a bit…"
I nodded. "Sure, that sounds great!"
Well, if anything, this should be an interesting experience.
-chapter one
Ahahaha.. I should have the next chapter by sometime around the end of this month. I have finals, so it might take awhile.. u.u;; If not, expect the next chapter early Februrary.
Yes, this will be a Kagome/Inuyasha story. In much later chapters, however.
Things you should know:
Miroku Priest: Obvious play on his last name.
Sango Youkaitarashi: I'm pretty sure "youkai tarashi" is the condensed meaning of "demon killer" in Japanese. If I'm wrong, my sincerest apologies.
There will be Sango/Miroku pairings in later chapters.