• 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`,

Disclaimer: Don‘t own it. AU type fic with usual pairings.

“Inuyasha!”

“Ah!” The surprised hanyou ed, ed, banging the top of his head against the upraised hood of his mother’s car. As a result, the rod which had propped it up slipped, and the hood fell prey to gravity, landing soundly on the top of Inuyasha’s head. Once he had lifted it from the top of his head, the agitated hanyou whirled about to face his mother, rubbing his smarting ear. “Why’d you go and do that for? Don’t you know to not go sneaking up on people?” he demanded. Never mind that he didn’t even hear her coming up behind him, and should have had he been paying proper attention.

“Inuyasha, it is 9:15, and you should be in school right now!” Mariko cried angrily, resting both hands on her hips. Were her son normal, rather than nonhuman, she might have been concerned about his head, but right now she only wondered why he was not at school where he belonged. “What are you doing here at home?!”

“Take a look at your car and ask that again,” he replied, releasing his ear once he was certain the hood had done no lasting damage. Mariko blinked, then glanced at the car that was in the driveway, then at her son who smugly grinned at her with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

“That’s not my car.”

“Sure it is. After a bit of work and all.”

“That’s not my car,” she repeated, shaking her head. Several hours ago when she had gone to bed, her plain broken down car had been a rust-speckled and dying sight for sore eyes. “How did you do this?”

“That doesn’t matter,” he told her, takinf hif his oil-smudged work shirt and removing the keys from his pocket to toss to her. “Give the ignition a tumble, Mom.”

Mariko eyed her unnaturally enthused son, warily sliding into the drivers seat and placing the key in the ignition. Surprisingly, it turned over without the usual protest. “What did you do to my car, Inuyasha!?”

“Ordered a few parts…replaced a few things under the hood…the alternator, battery, few parts from the engine…”

Mariko promptly squealed when she looked to the left of the wheel and saw the brand new radio and cd player installed and a flat panel above it. Curiously, she lifted the panel to reveal a flat screen. It wasn‘t a cd player…it was a DVD player in her car. “Where did all of this come from!?” Her car had transformed overnight, literally, from a piece of junk to an attractive, flawless vehicle.

“I kind of saved away a bit of money and took it to a detail shop while you were sleep.” Of course, he said this as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and grinned at her afterwards. Were Mariko not in such a fit of amazement, she might have realized her fifteen year old son with no license had no business driving on the road at night while she was sleeping. Too out of it, and too awed by her gift, her vision was blurred by a sudden attack of tears.

“Mom?” Inuyasha blinked. He had expected her to be happy, or at least a little pleased with him for taking the effort upon himself, but he hadn’t thought she would cry. Maybe he shouldn’t have done that, he had only assumed she would appreciate an improvement of her existing ride rather than a completely new one. Several weeks of saving his weekly inheritance money had ensured he could finally give back a little to his mother for her generosity and sacrifices to make him happy. She wouldn’t allow him to help with bills, or rent, but it seemed this one thing was the least he could do to show he loved her too. “It was a bad idea, wasn’t it?” he said with a sigh, glancing towards the street. “I just figured you’d want it fixed, you know, so it wouldn’t break down in the street anymore.”

“I love it, Inuyasha. I’m crying because I can’t believe you did this for me,” Mariko sobbed, rushing out of the driver’s side to embrace the hanyou tightly. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do this.”

“It was nothing, Mom,” he answered sincerely. Gently, he hugged her back, and that was the way the two stood for several moments, as curious neighbors and onlookers watched the exchange between mother and son.

***

His expression was serious, and without readable emotion other than a faint hint of boredom. He carried about him an air of superiority that no other teacher possessed, something that caused students to look at him with both admiration and resentment for the less than discreet way he seemed to publicize what he thought of the school’s staff and student body.

After the assembly, he had left without a word to anyone, brushing past Takusan-sensei and any teacher that made effort to greet him.

The rumors about Inuyasha being a rich snot were mild in comparison to what would circulate by the end of the day about Sesshoumaru, the new history teacher.

“He’s gorgeous,” Yuka hissed at her. “Why didn’t you tell us his brother was a hunk?”

“I didn’t know,” Kagome protested. “He didn’t speak much of his brother, and when he did, it wasn’t good. They didn’t get along as children, I guess.”

“We have him second period, I can’t wait to see what he’s like!” Ayumi gushed. “I hope he isn’t a pompous, egotistical jerk like his little brother!”

When second period came, the inseparable girl club (who always secured identical schedules every quarter of every school year) entered their Japanese History class. Eager students, who were anxious to see what the new teacher was like, had already filed in the class and occupied most of the seats. Kagome, Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi were forced to separate in order to find desks, although Kagome was able to convince a boy to allow her to have the adjacent seat near Yuka..

A while later, the tardy bell rang, signaling the beginning of class. Their silver-haired sensei, who wore a concealing spell to hide the more obvious signs and evidence of his inuyoukai heritage, appeared to be no older than them. To the human eye, the golden eyed, silver-haired man who stood in front of them, could be mistaken as a human of perhaps twenty, when in reality he was growing close to five hundred years old. The black miko who had cast the concealing spell, had opted to leave his eye and hair color untouched, claiming it would be a shame to alter such beauty, and that no human would find it suspicious. Only his inuyoukai markings, crescent moon, and pointed ears really needed altering. The appearance of his nails and fangs were dulled, as Sesshoumaru refused to have them temporarily sealed, claiming that while they weren’t necessary for his defense, he would not trouble himself for the sake of mere humans, and cared not if they questioned his appearance.

He was dressed in an expensive business suit of the latest fashion, purchased with money allotted for him to use during his stay in Tokyo. The lawyer had told him there was no difficulty in the task itself, and that it was only the annoyance of young human children that he would have to endure.

Sesshoumaru wanted to gut most of them already, and he’d hardly been in the school for more than an hour. The noise was a cacophony of thuds, slams, footfalls, murmurs, shouts, and yells associated with a busy school day, especially during the break between periods. He could stomach the smells, despite the sensitivity of his nose that insisted on pointing out that Student #1 had run to school after missing the bus and stank of sweat, Student #2 hadn’t bathed that morning, or the night prior, Student #3 wore too much perfume, Student #4 was currently menstruating, and so on. He would have opened a window if he thought it would make it any better, but he was certain the Tokyo air would not alleviate some of the stench of human considering it would only let in the odor of more human.

“Once you enter this room there will be no conversing, signaling, or note passing until the bell releases you to your next class. I am here to instruct, not coddle or listen to excuses. Homework will be issued on alternating days and tests given weekly. If you do not like that, then I suggest you visit the guidance counselor and request permission to drop this class.”

Shocked silence filled the classroom. His first class of the day had been a disaster…for all of sixty seconds, that is. The students had thought they could ignore him, and began to quickly gossip, shout across the room, pass notes and do other such things that human children did when unsupervised in a classroom…or testing their new substitute teacher, whom none of them obviously took seriously.

Screeeeeeeeech.

The action came to a halt, and all students had looked to see Sesshoumaru’s right hand hovering before the board, claws pressed firmly against it, applying just enough pressure to create the annoyance that gained their attention. The few complaints that some of the bolder students gave him, were answered with another dragging of claws on the chalkboard. Sesshoumaru himself had merely stared at them, ignoring the noise as he would a small, defenseless fly.

That first class had been his learning experience, and he hit his second period with the speech before they even had the chance to step a single toe out of line. “Is that understood?”

“Yes, Sensei,” a few voices grumbled out, although the girls were quickly regaining their chipper spirits.

One long clawed index finger pointed at the student at the first desk of the end row. “I wish to hear everyone’s name, beginning with you.”

The student blinked at first when Sesshoumaru pointed at him, wondering why he was being singled out until he heard the request. “Asami Jin.”

“Chisaii Tsumi,” the girl behind him said.

And so on down that row, and the next until. “Higurashi Kagome.”

Sesshoumaru’s eyes focused on Kagome longer than they had on any of the other students. The raven-haired schoolgirl felt as if she would wither under his stare, and squirmed uncomfortably within her seat until his gaze passed onward to the other students in the class.

A white miko in this school? he thought, not so much disturbed as he was amused that white mikos even existed anymore. He doubted that she was str strong, as he could hardly smell the scent of purifying magic upon her, as if it was clouded by something else…something peculiar and different that even his nose was unable to identify. He would keep an eye on that particular student. He didn’t like her, nor did he like the scent of magic that she gave off, and the tingle in the back of his nose that he felt each time he inhaled for another breath.

After the last student announced his name, Sesshoumaru turned to the rest of the class. “Open your textbooks to page seven then read quietly to the end of the lesson. Once you finish, remain silent until given further instruction.” He then sat at his desk, and turned towards the window to watch the busy streets of Tokyo.

A few students read, while others attempted to pass notes, wondering what their classmates thought of this new and unusual teacher. The moment the paper passed hands, Sesshoumaru spoke up again without even bothering to turn around. “Izumi Yuka will remain after school for detention this evening. It would be prudent for those students without a wish to join her to cease writing anything that does not pertain to this class.”

“That’s not fair!” Yuka cried. “It was only a note!”

“Two days detention.”

Yuka opened her mouth to protest, but the light touch of Kagome’s hand against her arm caused her to silence. Three days detention certainly wasn’t worth it.

The rest of the morning was conducted in the same fashion.

***

“Inuyasha, I really appreciate what you did for me, but there was no need for you to skip class this morning to finish it,” Mariko told her son.

“Ahh, it was nothing to it, Mom. Besides, I only missed a couple of classes.” The car parked outside of the high school, though before Inuyasha could climb out of the passenger seat, Mariko leaned over to give him another hug. Her son blushed, awkwardly returning it and swiftly exiting the car.

He was nearing the school entrance when the smell hit him. A familiar scent, one similarhis his own…the smell of a blood relative. Sesshoumaru? In my school? What could his older brother possibly want in here of all places? He intended to find out, and ran inside quickly, following the trail that lead him towards his very own third hour class…

The bell rang as he reached the door, and the cool sound of his brother’s voice greeted him.

“Answer questions one through thirty-five of the chapter review for your homework. Nothing short of near death is excuse for not bringing the completed assignment tomorrow morning. Dismissed.”

Inuyasha was practically run over by the students piling out of the classroom.

“Inuyasha!” Kagome cried the moment she saw him standing alongside the door. “Where were you this morning? Were you still at home?”

“Yeah, I just got here about five minutes ago.” He leaned towards the open doorway and peaked in at his brother’s figure sitting silently at the desk in the corner. “Mind telling me what the hell he is doing here?”

“I don’t know! Takusan-sensei called an assembly to introduce him to us this morning. He’s the new history teacher, and he’ll be here for the rest of the year.”

“Shit. Is it too late in the quarter for reschedules yet?”

“Today is the last day to change.”

“Good. I have half a mind to skip right now…”

“Inuyasha! Don’t you dare skip that class, you already missed half of the morning,” Kagome chided. Quickly, before he could argue, she placed a kiss on his cheek and darted off. “See you at lunch! Just try to think of him as only a teacher!”

Only a teacher. Yeah right, he thought bitterly, pushing his way past a few other students attempting to walk through the doorway. Sesshoumaru didn’t so much as look away from the window that currently occupied his attention, although there was no doubt in his mind that his older brother knew of his presence the moment he neared the class room.

The hanyou took a seat near the rear of the classroom, and eventually class was brought to order by the sound of the tardy bell. This time, there was no need to silence the students, gossip having circulated already about the strict attitude of their substitute, and his willingness to give detention at the drop of a hat.

Without rising from his seat, Sesshoumaru glanced distractedly at his students. Disinterestedly, he spoke to the student nearest him, indicating whom he referred to by allowing his eyes to rest on the boy for a few seconds while he gave his demand. “State your names, beginning with you.”

“Takashi Suekichi.”

And so on. Many students gave their names, none hesitating although many turned constantly in their seats to send curious glances towards Inuyasha, wondering how he took to being in the classroom of his own brother. When the roll call came to the silver-haired hanyou in the back room, silence filled the room, interrupting the chain of speech.

“Why have you not given your name?” Sesshoumaru asked, keeping his features void of expression and neutral.

“You already know my name!” Inuyasha growled back at him.

“Detention.”

“WHAT!? You can’t give me a detention for that!”

“Two days.”

“Sesshoumaru, you bast--”

“Three days detention, and that is Hogosha-sensei to you.”

A girl that was unable to help herself, tittered in the front row, earning a growl from Inuyasha, and contemptuous stare from houmhoumaru. Before she was graced with the same punishment, any remaining amusement was quickly choked on and swallowed. Certainly not wanting to fill his entire week with detentions, Inuyasha slouched into his chair and simply muttered out a resentful “Hogosha Inuyasha,” which allowed the chain of name-giving to continue.

By the time the end of class came, Inuyasha was ready to storm out of the school itself. Before he could reach the door, the cool voice of his brother informed him that his detention would be carried out at the end of each school day for a period of two hours. Failure to appear would result in a failed grade for the next test.

It took a great deal of will power to not reply with some smart-assed retort and risk a fourth day. After all, it was only Monday and he already faced detention for half of the week.

Great. How am I going to explain this to Mom?

***

“I can’t believe it.”

“More stuck up than him.”

“Got a stick up his ass, I swear.”

The lunchroom was in a buzz. First and second year students made plans with friends to see the guidance counselor for a change in schedule. Last year students who had delayed and put off history groaned and moaned that they were unable to alter their schedule…that is..if they wished to graduate that year.

The counselor’s office was full, unfortunately, students were being sent away in droves, each of them given the same response as the last:

“I’m afraid I cannot change your schedule simply because you dislike the sensei, or because he carries a much stricter discipline than you are used to.”

Sad students were sent away, forced to withstand the haughty, self-important torture that was their new sensei.

Meanwhile, Kagome struggled to calm down an almost raging Inuyasha, who had stormed outside of the school for fresh air to eat his lunch. “I’m sure he came here for some reason, Inuyasha. It can’t be that bad can it?” she asked him, hesitantly touching his shoulder. The hanyou growled lowly under his breath, hardly having the appetite to even eat his lunch, although Kagome’s soothing voice and words slowly caused his anger to die down.

“I don’t know, and I don’t care either why he’s here. If he hates me so much he has no business coming to this school.”

This brought up another question for the school girl, who had wondered how anyone would kick their own little brother out of the house, only days after the death of their father. “Why do you two hate each other so much anyway?”

Inuyasha almost spilled the entire story to her right there. His mouth opened, then snapped shut quickly, a deep red blush that was spurned from anger, rather than embarrassment covered his cheeks. “It’s none of your business!” he exploded. Several people stopped to look their way, and Kagome felt her own face going red.

“Well I was only trying to help! Maybe if both of you stopped being such fatheads you could get along!” she yelled back before storming off toward the school entrance.

***

Sesshoumaru found no entertainment in his observation of the human race. They scurried like rats down the halls, rushing back and forth from class to class, leaving an assortment of smells, odors, and sometimes nearly unbearable scents that made him long for the wide open spaces and fresh air of the mountains.

At least the classroom was vacant now. Two more classes remained in the day, and he would be able to go to the dwelling that the lawyer obtained by instruction of his father’s will. He had absolutely no desire to remain amongst these humans, even if the ‘home’ that he was to live at for the next six months was substandard in comparison to the huge sprawling manor that would be his if he managed to accomplish this task set by his dead father.

A knock at the door caused Sesshoumaru to glance away from the window. The slightly opaque glass of the door revealed the distorted image of a dark-haired woman. Sesshoumaru assumed she was either another teacher, or a parent that had been summoned during the lunch hour by a complaining child.

“Enter.”

The knob turned, and the door as pushed inward to reveal a slim, young female human that seemed no older than his own human appearance carrying a tray of food. She gave him an uncertain smile, although he could sense a hint of her genuine friendliness beneath it. Almost waist length hair was tugged into a pony tail, and her eyes were practically obscured by long and wild bangs that thickly covered her forehead. She had such a look of childlike innocence about her that he almost assumed she was a student that simply chose to arrive early for her next class. “Good afternoon, Hogosha-san. It’s a pleasure to meet you, my name is Rin. Tokashi Rin.”

When he only stared at her, with piercing hazel eyes of an unnatural color, she rethought the carefully rehearsed lines she had repeated in her head ever since she heard the bold complaints of students that had already attended History that morning. “One of my students noticed that you were without a lunch and remained in your classroom alone during the lunch period…I was wondering if maybe you’d like to share mine,” Rin offered kindly. “My aunt always brings me lunch every day, and she overcooks because she believes I need to gain weight. I couldn’t possibly eat all of this alone today and--”

“I need nothing.”

He had spoke so suddenly, low and without warning, that Rin might have missed that he even acknowledged her presence if she’d been even a little less attentive. “Are you positive?” she asked curiously. “I have more than enough, and I don’t mind sharing.” Never mind that maybe she was being a little too forward, despite the genuine attempt at showing kindness to an obviously irritable teacher. She thought that extending the olive branch and making friends would have taken the edge off of whatever baod iod it was that caused him to send one of her best students to her next class practically in tears.

“I‘ve given my answer,” the inuyoukai replied without looking away.

“Alright then…do you mind if I eat my lunch here then? You look as if you could use some company.” A bold-faced lie if she had ever told one. He looked like he wanted to bite her head off and shove her lunch plate down her throat.

“I have no concern with what you do, as long as you do not bother me.”

Gee. What a friendly guy. “And what exactly bothers you?”

Sesshoumaru turned away from her to gaze out the window, finally removing his fair golden eyes out of Rin’s line of sight. “Too many questions,” he replied. “Sit, if you’re going to eat.”

Assuming that was the closest to a friendly response she would gain from the stoic figure at the desk, Rin seated herself and placed the lunch tray in front of her. “I teach the advanced English class across the hall, when my students came in, they told me that the new teacher was still in his room,” she offered without prompting. “I know what it’s like to be alone on your first school day.” When Sesshoumaru gave no reply to her, Rin continued, chattering away between bites and swallows of her lunch. If he wouldn’t speak, she planned to do plenty for both of them to make up for it. “I began teaching Advanced English here a year ago, I’m still fairly new at it myself. I replaced one of the retiring instructors who was too old to continue--”

“What gives you the impression that I am new to teaching?” Sesshoumaru cut in. Rin nearly choked on her rice, eyes blinking up from the tray to the male in near the window. He had this peculiar habit of speaking out just when she had expected his silence.

“Well, your age,” Rin pointed out hesitantly. “You can’t be any older than me…and I’m twenty-three.”

“How old do I appear?”

“Well, you appear nineteen, but I had you figured for about twenty-two because I know you can’t be that young.”

Sesshoumaru’s brows rose at her response. Did he truly look that young to the human eye? Perhaps the old hag pla placed his concealing spells should have matured his body’s appearance as well, considering the fact that his identification currently read that his age was twenty-nine years old. Another decade or two and it would raise suspicion.

“How old are you then?” Rin asked, placing her chopsticks on the tray and propping her chin against her hands, watching the fair silver-haired sensei. When there was no immediate answer, she feared she had offended him with her inquiry, especially after his professed dislike of being questioned.

“Twenty-nine.”

Rin stared across the classroom, more specifically, at his young and handsome features, flowing silver locks, and youthful appearance that exceeded her own. “You’re an entire decade older than you appear?”

“The males of my family age gracefully.”

***

Inuyasha’s feet felt like lead as he walked the long school corridor towards the direction of Japanese History 1, where his detention was to be served. He saw several other students approaching that same doorway, and shook his head. Damn. What the hell did Sesshoumaru do? It would have been easier if he just assigned detention to the entire grade.

Almost every head turned Inuyasha’s way when he entered the classroom, obviously, no one expected the new asshole of a teacher to put his own brother in detention. At least they knew he didn’t play favorites.

“Sit. The rules of the classroom apply here as well, and all of you will remain in seated for the next two hours in complete silence.”

Those that thought their new sensei had a sick sense of humor, and couldn’t possibly be serious about sitting completely motionless and silent for two straight hours, were sadly mistaken and proven wrong. The first student that made a verbal sound that Sesshoumaru didn’t consider a cough or sneeze, received an additional hour.

Two hours later when the punishment was over, at least, for all but one student. “Hogosha-sensei, please, may I have a restroom break before serving the rest of my time?” the poor student pleaded.

While it would have been rather amusing to watch the student squirm for another hour, Sesshoumaru also wanted a moment to converse privately with his younger brother. “You will return in five minutes or less, or rec fai failing marks on your homework for the next week. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sensei!” The student pushed to the front of the line of other teens leaving the classroom and ran out into the hallway.

“Inuyasha, I require a moment to speak to you.”

“Good, cause I got to speak to you too.” Both brothers stared at each other with such open hostility that the remaining students bolted to get out of the classroom. Inuyasha glanced at the door, saw no stragglers lingering out in the hall or in the room itself with him, then turned towards Sesshoumaru and immediately barked out, “What the hell are you doing here, and since when did you have a degree to teach!?”

“Ever since our dear father had the correct paperwork drawn up.”

“Nice try, Fluffy, but he’s dead and there’s no way in hell I’m gonna believe the old man’s ghost told you to be a teacher.”

“Correct, he is dead, but it appears that father knew months ago that he was cursed, and fully expected his death. The strength of his body and will prolonged his life, but only long enough to put the last of his affairs in order and write this.” Sesshoumaru removed several sheets of parchment from his briefcase, and tossed them in front of Inuyasha who quickly read over them.

“How come I never saw this before?!”

“It was delivered to me three days after your departure.”

“Departure?” Inuyasha growled lowly, clenching his fist so tightly he crumpled the will. “You kicked me out.”

“Correct. Now th am am your teacher you have no choice but to conform to the rules I set, or face punishment and discipline from the school.”

“What?! You can’t make me do anything I don’t want to. Just because you’re a teacher doesn’t mean you’re high and mighty.” The teen stared at his brother, his claws practically tingling with desire to be embedded in Sesshoumaru’s face.

“You will give me Tessaiga.”

“The hell I will! The old man gave that sword to me.”

A faint half smile lifted the corner of Sesshoumaru’s mouth, and Inuyasha knew a smile on his brother’s face was not a good thing. “The sword will be given to me, or you will face the consequences of each and every one of your friends suffering for the remaindertermterm. Six months is a long time to watch your classmates and close friends cla classes and receive discipline.”

“You can’t do that.” Inuyasha racked his brain, searching mentally for a way out of this situation, at least, some course of action that would get Sesshoumaru out of his school or prove the inuyoukai wrong. “You can’t even hold the damned sword. Why do you want it?”

“It matters not why I want it. Once I acquire it, I will discover a way to wield it. I will wait no longer than a week for you to make up your mind.”

Thudenudent that was released for break returned, only to be thrown out of the way as Inuyasha stormed past and out of the classroom, enraged and in a mood to kill.

A/N: Don’t worry, Sess doesn’t have eyes for Kagome, nor will he get any heh. I’ve got everything planned out already, but the only way to find out what happens next is to keep reading. You’ll see what happens soon :o And I’ll answer this before someone asks, because I know I would ask too, if I wasn’t me and didn’t already know.

While Sess wants to be out of the school, and hates being around the kids, he so willingly gave them detention and remained around them longer to put fear into them. He knew that if they hated him, and didn’t want to be around him, there was less change of them misbehaving and acting fools in his class. To him, it was a worthy sacrifice of a few days of detention, for the rest of the term to be quiet and peaceful. He was merelytingting the standard so they knew who was boss, since he can’t slaughter them without losing his inheritance.