• 1-Overcoming Adversity
• 2-Chapter 2
• 3-Chapter 3
• 4-Chapter 4
• 5-Chapter 5
• 6-Chapter 6
• 7-Chapter 7
• 8-Chapter 8
• 9-Chapter 9
• 10-Chapter 10
• 11-Chapter 11
• 12-Chapter 12
• 13-Lucky 13: Interlude, Family Honor
• 14-Interlude II - Secrets
• 15-Chapter 15
• 16-Chapter 16
• 17-Chapter 17
• 18-Chapter 18
• 19-Chapter 19
• 20-Chapter 20
• 21-update soon
• 22-Chapte`,

A/N: Isn’t it funny how you spell check and proofread, then after you post it, a ton of spelling errors and mistakes pop out at you that you somehow missed? I promise to be more careful in the future (You can count on me forgetting that in two chapters) Not sure if I said already or not but, the periphery of the talismans was in a dome shape, to prevent flyers from attempting to hover above and onto the shrine grounds. Kagome could have tried to climb the trees, but Inuyasha wouldn’t have allowed her risking breaking her neck. Sorry for the delay, I would have wrote a longer chapter, but it would take me a while to get out what I have planned, so I have made this shorter interlude for you Sess fans, your regularly scheduled longer chapters will return now that I am catching up on my backlog of work. The next chapter should be twice as long, although I can’t give a time date…

[Two months later]

Sesshoumaru had waited quite patiently for signs of the demon that killed the young school teacher, but neither sight, scent, nor hair of the youkai revealed itself to the demon lord. Despite the odd turn of events, he would not be put at ease simply because the demon chose to lie low. Even if it had been killed by another, there was always a miniscule chance that the youkai had not acted of its own free will, but under the order of another demon that wanted the teacher dead.

Sesshoumaru had his suspicions. Out of the entire student population, and teaching staff, only a select few carried or emitted the scent of a demon or hanyou. One was his own younger half brother, another was a hanyou bearing a peculiar scent much like a medley of demons, rather than any particular one, though the closest he could compare it to would be spider youkai.

Such filth shouldn’t be allowed to live, but he was required to harm no one during his term as a school teacher.

He wanted to slaughter the demon behind it, if not for principal, simply for the fact that a murder so close to the human population might have raised a red flag and put the demon nation as a hole at risk.

“Dismissed,” Sesshoumaru spoke absently a breath’s time ahead of the ringing bell. His students rose, exiting quickly, eager to enjoy their lunches and to leave the presence of their sensei.

A sound at the door alerted Sesshoumaru that he was not yet alone. He glanced over to find a female student lingering in the open door frame, clutching her history book against her chest, a heavy pack strapped to her back.

“I hope I’m not bothering you, Hogosha-sensei,” she began nervously, almost withering beneath the weight of his cool stare. “I was wondering…if…if you…”

Sesshoumaru glowered at the stuttering child. “State your business.”

“If you tutor or give help,” she bit out, gazing at him with such hopeful eyes that it would have been cruel to give a negative response.

Sesshoumaru gave one anyway. “I do not.”

The girl’s face fell instantly, her doe-like brown eyes dulling. “Oh…okay then. Have a nice lunch period, Hogosha-sensei.” The girl turned to leave, and was almost out the door before the cool voice of Sesshoumaru addressed her again.

“B average.”

“Huh?” She turned, adjusting her glasses sloppily with one hand.

“Your grades are above passing level. Why do you request tutoring?”

Yuki’s jaw would have hung open if she didn’t struggle to exercise control over her expression. “My grade average needs to be a few points higher to get into the finishing school I want to go to,” she explained hesitantly. “It would help a lot if you could tell me in advance what to study for in tests…”

“Your most recent test average was a C.” Sesshoumaru glanced at his desk at the lesson plan. “Lesson five and six of Chapter Eight. Odd lessons of Chapter Nine.” The girl’s eyes blinked at him in confusion behind the double thick lenses of her glasses. “I will not repeat myself,” he stated calmly when it appeared she would ask him to.

“Yes, sir, thank you for your help,” she said hastily, obviously in a hurry to get somewhere where she could write down the numbers she thought he had told her.

“If the text is confusing I will remain after school for an hour after the final bell each Tuesday and Wednesday.”

Tuesday and Wednesday? That sounded suspiciously like Tokashi-sensei’s own tutoring schedule. Yuki asked no questions, however, and quickly beat it before his generosity was rescinded.

Left alone to his empty classroom, Sesshoumaru gathered the remaining papers that once belonged to a thick stack of extra credit worksheets. He had underestimated how desperate a human teenager could be when it came to their failing grades. He would have never offered such a ridiculous thing as ‘extra credit’ were it not already printed out and stored with several other materials the previous teacher left behind. Her lesson plan had proved to be invaluable, and he had deterred very little from it unless necessary. The only time his own teaching differed from the written text of the worksheets, books, and plan was if he remembered something differently.

And Sesshoumaru never forgot. The days of five hundred years ago remained fresh in his mind, whether he desired to remember everything perfectly or not. Lately, he had taken to considering the past events. Things in both the past an his present were beginning to force the demon lord to question himself.

Why had he shown even an ounce of unnecessary kindness to that human girl. It wasn’t his concern if she aced aed a spectacular grade or not. He didn’t need to offer her help, and certainly didn’t need to hold open classroom after his required work ended each Tuesday and Wednesday.

But she did it out of the kindness of her heart. Every week, Rin was there to help the students. She did it not for extra money, or because she was told…it was done because she genuinely wanted to see the students succeed and to help those who were struggling at their work.

Sesshoumaru scoffed and looked out the window, irritated that he had let such a silly notion even trouble him. He still did, and would always feel that humans were inferior beings hardly worthy of licking his boots. They required the demon population’s coercion and careful manipulation, or they might have destroyed themselves and died out centuries ago. In fact, they were lucky demons such as he even allowed them to prosper, rather than destroying the lot of them when the opportunity was there.

With the remaining worksheets in hand, the great demon left his classroom and traveled down the school corridor towards the direction of the teacher’s lounge. He had always avoided the teacher’s lounge, choosing to stay clear of it due to the medley of scents that assaulted his nose whenever he even neared it. The strong and lasting smell of cigarettes and coffee were a permanent odor in the walls. The underlying stench of inexpensive and sometimes downright cheap perfume and cologne tickled his senve dve demon nose.

Only a few minutes. That’s all it would take. Face set in a neutral and impassive expression, never betraying the disgust he felt for these sheep that called themselves teachers, the inuyoukai opened the door of the teacher’s lounge and moved inside.

“Is he really a gang leader? I heard the boy got into so many fights and so much trouble Hogosha kicked him out.”

“Who knows. He’s still trouble. Been hanging around that Sakashita boy. You know, the one with the earrings.”

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes. Even one with inferior intellect could identify the topic of their conversation was his young half brother Inuyasha. While he cared little about their insinuations and remarks about his brother, he was bothered that the two had thought to include him in their gossiping.

“A damned shame a troublemaker like that came from such a good fy. y. He should have been sent to military school. Why do you think he’s the only kid allowed to wear a cap in school? Takusan-kun won’t tell anyone.”

“And his hair is several inches past what school policy allows. I guess that particular family is above the rules.”

And that. Now the name of his good family and their honor was at question? While his brother might be prone to giving the occasional problem, he certainly was no troublemaker, nor were the rest of the statements even remotely truthful.

Because of genetics, Sesshoumaru’s hair grew back at an amazing speed, just as any other part of his body could also grow back regenerate over time, depending upon the severity of the injury, wound. A flesh wound would heal over the course of minutes, a deep cut of gash was the matter of hours. Internal damage and broken bones would slowly mend and heal over the course of a day. And, as his body had proven about four and a half centuries ago after he marched in to fight one of his enemies a little less prepared than he would ever admit out loud, amputation would take no more than five years…if he didn’t become impatient before then and rip the arm off of another dog demon to replace his own lost limb.

If he could wait five years for a new arm, he could wait one year for his hair to be restored to its natural flowing length. However, he chose not to. He was not used to having hair at a length anywhere above his waist, and he would change nothing of his appearance save what was required for discretion and secrecy to maintain his human traits and good looks.

He would not cut it, but he had also been unaware such a policy even existed in the school. Now of course, it made sense to him and explained why short hair seemed to be the standard. The only long haired male students he recalled seeing were his own brother and the strange Naraku.

The two teachers had yet to notice that their little discussion had been infiltrated by one half of the subject of their conversation. They may not have even noticed had he not walked further within the lounge, shining silver locks reflecting the sunlight streaming through the window, features cold and set in stone. “Whether or not the Hogosha family is above the rules is not the matter of importance in this discussion. What I wish to know is who spread these rumors you claim to one another to be true,” he asked smoothly, keeping his ‘demon face’ hidden.

The two teachers nearly fell over themselves, one forgetting to let out the lungful of smoke from her cigarette and choking as she tried to exhale. The other teacher did the most intelligent thing that he could do at that moment when caught red-handed doing something he had no business doing. He blubbered and stuttered out an apology.

“I did not yet ask for apologies. I desire to know who spread the falsehoods against the name of my family.”

Finally, the female managed to clear her lungs and throat of smoke, although she still coughed as she managed to utter out, “We never claimed they were true Hogosha-san, we were just speaking of what we heard the other students say.” Her eyes cut ever so slightly towards her partner, secretly hinting that he should agree with her.

Before the man could recover and catch on to that hint, Sesshoumaru cut in. “I would suggest you not lie to me again. You will tell me the source of these rumors now before I become angry.”

There was a slight audible threat in his tone, one that brought a shiver to the spine of each human before him. They had no idea why this young teacher even intimidated them so, but it was like an aura, a chill that seemed to command their obedience, and warn them that he was a figure to fear and respect.

Sesshoumaru sniffed discreetly, inhaling the scents of fearful and nervous sweat beginning to prickle his nose. He was aware of his own demon aura slowly seeping from him, invisible and intangible yet glaringly obvious in its fully released state. It was like an audible warning alarm that shouted to the teachers, “Behave! Kneel! Obey or die!“ Both wisely trusted their instincts, and blurted out everything they knew concerning the rumors of Inuyasha’s gang activity.

By the time Sesshoumaru left the teacher’s lounge after grilling them and copying his worksheets, both instructors needed new cigarettes and were very much close to requiring clean underwear. With his departure, the creepy feeling that someone intended to cause them great bodily harm also left.

As he returned to his classroom, the silver-haired lord convinced himself his concern was for his family’s honor, and nothing more.

A/N: So behind that I don’t know what was from other chapters and what was from the recent one to respond to I’ll get caught up again eventually.