A/N: It's just another high school fic. But I had a lot of fun writing it.

Disclaimer: Haha, if I owned Inuyasha, I wouldn't be so poor.

"words words" - Talking

'words words' - thinking

Chapter One: The Problem

"Tell Inu-oniichan about it," Souta yelled into his sister's ear loudly, "he'll teach them a lesson for sure!"

"Ow, mama, lightly please." Kagome flinched as her mother apologized and continued to apply foundation to her damaged face. "Why do you think I'm putting on such thick makeup, Souta? Inuyasha will go insane if he finds out; he'll never let me go to school ever again!"

"Aw, and I really wanted to see Inu-oniichan beat them up." Souta fell back into the couch with a groan. He crossed his arms, pouting. Kagome couldn't help but think how much he looked like Inuyasha.

"Well, the problem is, I'm not even sure who 'they' are. I just know that they were from my school." Kagome kept looking at her reflection in the small hand mirror. She looked pretty bad before, with the cut below her left ear and the cut on her lip, but makeup fixes everything.

"Tell me what happened again, Kagome, and maybe I can go down to your school and complain." Mrs. Higurashi looked at her daughter's painful expression, and her heart ached.

"Well, like I said last night, I was coming back from after school tutoring, it was dark, and I was alone......"

-----Flashback----

'Jeez, why did Mori sensei insist on my staying after school? So what if I can't keep up with the rest of the class? I passed the entrance exam and that's good enough!' Kagome thought to herself as she walked down the dark and dreary alley. It was late out. It's the middle of spring now, but the sun still goes down pretty early and the wind was chilly at night. Kagome wrapped her sweater around her slim body. 'Great idea on taking this shortcut, I could get murdered and my body won't be found for days.'

Since Kagome wanted to get home as soon as possible, she decided to take a shortcut through a small alleyway. But now seeing how dark and empty the alley was, Kagome instantly regretted making that decision.

'Okay, just walk fast, nothing will happen to you if you'd just walk fast.' Kagome murmured to herself over and over, and did not notice as she bumped into someone.

"Oh, sumimasen, gomenasai!" Kagome raised her head to apologize some more, but her eyes met the gaze of a male who was at least half a foot taller than herself. But the darkness of the alley prevented her from seeing nothing more than his eyes. 'You'd think they could put up some streetlamps here.'

"Higurashi Kagome?" The male voice asked. He sounded young, probably not much older than Kagome. But the tone of his voice was threatening, as though he was waiting for her and expected her to be there.

Kagome was too scared to reply, but the male voice didn't wait for a reply. Instead, he turned to ask someone that apparently was close to him. Although in the darkness, Kagome couldn't see who. "Is this the girl you were looking for?"

Suddenly a flashlight was on Kagome. Her reflexes told her to shut her eyes, but she fought the urge and kept them open, hoping to catch whomever was in front of her.

Then a female voice answered. "Yup, oniisan, that's the bitch who stole Hojo-kun."

'Nani? They know me and Hojo-kun?' Kagome tried to block the light with her hands. "What do you mean, 'stole'? Who the hell are you people?"

But two strong arms came instead of an answer. One arm bound her arms to her body so she couldn't move, and the other arm closed around her mouth. Kagome struggled, but the muscular man behind her didn't move at all. The hand he laid on her arm was beginning to hurt her, nails were digging in, almost drawing blood.

There was no sound at all for the next couple of minutes. The flashlight was still on her face. And without her hands to block the blinding light, Kagome couldn't help but shut her eyes tight. There was a long silence, and then a chill came.

The first voice of the male sounded. "This is your first and last warning, bitch: stay away from my sister's boyfriend."

Kagome hear a swish, and then before she knew it, blood was trickling down the side of her left cheek. 'They're cutting me!' Just barely, Kagome opened her eyes to a crack and saw a shining knife right in front of her face.

Now panicking, Kagome started to struggle more against the body that was holding her. Finally she resolved to animalistic strategy - biting. With all the strength in her jaws, Kagome bit down on the hand that was closed around her mouth.

The muscular man behind withdrew on cue, and Kagome turned, getting ready to run. But she couldn't, because someone had made a grab on her raven hair. Kagome squealed in pain, one hand automatically went to her scalp, hoping that she won't become bald.

"Stay, bitch, we're not done with you." The female voice commanded this time.

Kagome was pulled back by force and her face was turned to face the flashlight once again. And as suddenly as before, she was cut again. This time, it was just above her lips.

After hearing Kagome's groans of pain, the person finally let go of her hair and threw her down on the ground.

"Remember what I said, bitch. We're watching you." The male voice came again. The next sound was several steps going away, further and further. Finally, Kagome was sure that it was safe to move. Without another second of hesitation, she grabbed her briefcase and ran home as fast as her shaking legs can carry her.

-----End flashback-----

"So they knew exactly who you were?" Mrs. Higurashi asked as she handed her daughter her second cup of herbal tea.

Kagome nodded and blew on her tea.

"They said something about you stealing that girl's boyfriend, Hojo-kun." Kagome's mother handed her son his bentoo and was rushing him out the door at the same time. "So maybe it's Hojo-kun's girlfriend and her brother."

Kagome shook her head this time. "But Hojo-kun doesn't have a girl friend. I'm sure of that. And I didn't 'steal' him! I was never with him in the first place!"

"Well, then this is very odd. Do you have any clue as who it could be?"

Kagome paused. 'Yea, who else but that rich, spoiled brat who thinks she owns every guy in the whole damn school!' That's what went through her head, but her reply to her mother was: "No mama, not a clue." Kagome looked at the red marks on her arm and grimaced. She slipped on a long sleeve sweater so she could hide the marks from her companions from the past.

Kagome's mother sighed. "Well, you have to go back today. I'll call your school and tell them what happened last night, maybe they could do something about it."

'Yea, like that's gonna happen.' Kagome rolled her eyes when her mother wasn't looking. 'She and her brother practically run the damn school. Even the principal is scared of them!'

"Un, mama, I gotta go." Kagome announced as she picked up her 40-pound yellow supply bag. "Thanks for helping me conceal the cuts."

Kagome's mother smiled slightly. "Well, I'm your mother. If I don't do it, who will?"

Kagome gave her mother a nod and ran for the well after checking her face one last time in the mirror.

The 16-year-old girl threw down her supply bag and jumped in right afterwards. The same familiar light surrounded her and disappeared shortly.

"Inuya......" Kagome didn't even have to finish as she saw the Inu hanyou's head right above the opening of the time well. She waved and shot a cheery "Ohyoo!" at the handsome hanyou.

The hanyou growled instead of waving back. "What took you so long!?!"

Kagome gave him a deadpan look and shook her head. 'Maybe I should show him my cuts just to get him to worry.' The thought was gone as suddenly as it came. Having Inuyasha know that someone hurt her would be bad, very bad. So Kagome put on her "smile-as-though-nothing-happened" look and started climbing up the ladder they finally installed into the well.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes as he helped lift her bag out of the well. "Had a nice time studying?" He asked sarcastically.

Kagome hugged him, which brought a surprised look on his face. After not seeing him for 5 whole days, and especially after the ordeal from last night, nothing the rude hanyou says will upset her. She just misses his warmth too much.

Now that they've collected more than half of the Shikon no Tama, things are getting kind of slow. Naraku hasn't showed up for the past three months, and no news of other shards were to be heard. Kagome decided a few weeks ago that she'd put more time into studying for her high school entrance exam.

After two weeks of day after day cramming, Kagome was able to get into a fairly good school, along with Hojo and all her friends. High school has started for nearly a month now. Even though she was accepted easily, Kagome was still behind in a lot of topics, thus the after school tutoring from Mori sensei the day before.

After much argument with Inuyasha, and some hard persuasion from Kagome's mother, Kagome was able to attend school all 5 days in a week, and bring her weekend homework to the Sengoku Jidai and spend Saturday and Sunday there. Sometimes Inuyasha would visit her during the weekdays, but since he always distracted her when he's there, his visits were getting rarer.

"Kagome!" Shippo's voice rang through the surrounding woods as the overly- excited Kitsune jumped down with a tree branch nearby. Everyone knew that Kagome would come back every 5 days unless there's an accident, and so they usually always waited for her by the well on the morning of the sixth day.

"Shippo-chan, have you been good?" Kagome greeted the kitsune as they hugged each other.

Shippo nodded expectedly, while Inuyasha snorted next to the girl and rolled his eyes. Kagome ignored Inuyasha and handed Shippo a lollipop.

"Where are Sango-chan and Miroku?" Kagome asked as she dug out a bag of potato chips from her bag, which Inuyasha took with some delight and started chomping on enthusiastically.

"They're helping a nearby village with some youkai extermination." Shippo managed to say while still sucking on his lollipop. He jumped onto Kagome's shoulder and the three started to head toward Kaede's hut.

"Why didn't you go help them, Inuyasha?"

Slightly shifting the weight of the bag on his right shoulder, Inuyasha scoffed in his usual arrogant manner. "Keh, the job is too insignificant for someone like me."

"He just wanted to be here when you came back." Shippo cut in absentmindedly, which got him a punch on the head.

Even though Inuyasha's attitude was rude and arrogant as usual, Kagome didn't mind at all. Instead, she just smiled and nodded along.

"Oi, wench, why do you look so pale?" Inuyasha suddenly stopped walking as he noticed the layers of powder on Kagome's face. Only problem was that he didn't know it was powder.

Shippo began to look at Kagome more carefully as well. Their intense stares were making Kagome stutter.

"Don't be silly, Inuyasha, it's just some powder." Kagome scoffed as if she didn't care. After all, Inuyasha wouldn't know what powder is, and he wouldn't ask.

"That's not enough though." Inuyasha's reply was certainly a shocker. Kagome turned to look at him in surprise. The hanyou went on. "You need a lot more if you want to look like a noble woman. Also dye your teeth black, and get rid of your eyebrows and paint news ones higher up on your forehead."

Kagome sputtered. "What?!" The girl from the future almost burst out laughing. 'That's right, my history books said that that's how ancient Japanese noble women decorated themselves. Jeez, Inuyasha thought I was trying to act noble?'

"No, Inuyasha, I'm not trying to be like those noble women. And trust me, I have no intention of dying my teeth black." If was either Kagome's imagination, or a trick of the sunlight, but she could've swore that Inuyasha looked very relieved at that statement. "I just got a little tan, and I don't like looking dark." Kagome congratulated herself on coming up with such a perfect lie on such a short notice. 'I'm getting good at this lying thing. Is that good or bad?'

'What's a tan?' Inuyasha thought to himself. 'Better not ask. She'll think I'm stupid or something.' And so he shrugged it off, and the three continued to walk back to the village.

"Kagome-chan!" Kagome looked around in anticipation as she heard Sango calling her name from afar. "Up here!"

All three lifted their heads and saw Miroku sitting behind Sango on a floating Kirara. She waved and Kirara came back down to earth gracefully.

Miroku and Sango jumped off right away and greeted Kagome with enthusiasm. Kirara transformed back to kitty form and came to join the gang as well.

"Long time no see, Kagome-chan!" Sango said happily as she hugged Kagome. Something glinted in the sun, and Kagome noticed it was a shiny new bracelet on Sango's wrist. But before she can ask where Sango got it from, Miroku cut in.

"Welcome back, Kagome-sama. Did you learn a lot of new things from your school?" Miroku patted Kagome politely on the shoulder with his kazaana hand. Kagome was waiting for his groping, but it never came.

"Umm. yea, some advanced algebra and history, the usual." Kagome managed to stutter out. 'And lying.'

"C'mon, stop standing around." Inuyasha was becoming annoyed. 'Do we have to do this every time she comes back? Why can't she just stay for good? Okay, baka, you did not just think that.'

Kagome grabbed Sango's arm, with Shippo standing on her shoulder, the girls walked ahead of the boys.

Kagome whispered into Sango's ears. "Did something happen to Miroku while I wasn't here?"

Kagome noticed the faint blush from Sango. The youkai exterminator answered after clearing her throat, "no, why do you ask, Kagome-chan?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing, it's silly." Kagome shook her head. "It's just that I was surprised when he didn't try to grope me after not seeing me for 5 days. It's not like him. I mean, it's not that I wanted him to." Kagome added the last part for clarity's sake. "Oh, Sango-chan, where did you get that pretty bracelet from?"

Kagome noticed that Sango's cheeks got redder. "Oh, it's an interesting story, Kagome-chan. I'll tell you another time."

Kagome was going to press deeper. But the gang was already at Kaede's front door. The old miko, however, was out inspecting the farm lands. So the group invited themselves in. Once inside, Kagome took out a plastic bag from her yellow supply bag and dumped some shiny objects from within.

"Look at what I got for you guys." Kagome said with a very happy expression. The threat and horror from the night before simply disappeared from her mind now that she's with her old friends again. "I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier."

"What are these things?" Inuyasha picked up one of them and sniffed it. "It doesn't smell very safe to eat."

Kagome grabbed it from his clawed hands and rolled her eyes at him. "They are not for eating, Inuyasha. They are watches; they're used to tell time, like an hourglass."

"What's an hourglass?" Miroku repeated the word with some difficulty. Kagome slapped herself on the forehead after remembering that the hourglass was a Western invention.

"Well, how do you guys tell time without proper instruments?"

"We have the sun, the moon cycles." Sango answered while examining a red watch with great interest. "And youkai have internal instincts that tell them when to hunt, when to sleep, mate, and do other stuff."

Kagome shook her head vigorously. "That won't do at all." She took up a black watch and pointed at the glass protective frame. "See these three stick thingies? The long, red one tells what second it is. The long, black one tells what minute it is. And the short, black one tells you what hour it is."

"Kagome-sama, what's."

(A/N: The entire next section is Kagome explaining the modern calendar and the functions and ways to tell time using a watch. We all know how to do that, so skip it if you don't feel like reading it.)

"I was just going to explain that." Kagome held up the free hand and stopped Miroku before he even finished the question. "Scientific studies in my time calculated exactly how many days there are in a year, and that's 365 and 1/4. In the usual years in our calendar, there's just 365 days. But once every four years, we add a day, and it's called a leap year, with 366 days. The extra day is added to February, a month.

"There are 12 months in a year. February is the second month. Each month has a number of different days. Usually there are either 30 or 31 days. But February only has 28, 29 in leap years.

"Then the months are divided up into weeks. Every week has 7 days. So normally, every month would have 4 weeks and some extra days. I go to school from the first to the fifth day of each week. And on the sixth and seventh I come here.

"We all know what a day is. It's a combination of day and night. But in our calendar, there are 24 hours in a day. And on a clock or a watch, the jump from one numeral to the next by the short, black stick represents the passing of exactly one hour. See how there are 12 numerals? When the hour hand goes around the circle twice, it means that a day has fully passed.

"But hours are also divided into minutes. There are 60 minutes in an hour. Minutes are represented by the long, black stick. See how the distance from one numeral to the next is divided into 5 sections? Well, the jump from one of these little sections to the next by the minute hand means that a minute has passed. 5 times 12 equals to 60.

"Minutes are also divided into seconds. There are 60 seconds in one minute. And every time the long, red stick passes from one small section to the other, a second goes by. The second hand moves the fastest. The minute hand moves every time the second hand goes a full cycle around the circle. And the hour hand moves once the minute hand goes around in a complete cycle."

(A/N: Okay, done explaining.)

Everyone looked at Kagome with wide open eyes. No one said a thing for a long while.

Kagome blinked. "What? Why are you all looking at me like that?"

Miroku was the first one to speak up. Although he had to clear his throat several times since it seemed like he had lost his voice. "Well, Kagome- sama, your time has a very complicated and quite fascinating system to tell time. And very precise, might I dare add."

"But I think I understand what you mean. So years are the largest scale, and it gets divided down smaller and smaller until it reaches seconds." Sango added while stroking Kirara's tail fur. Kagome nodded, happy that her explanation was good enough for her to understand. But she hasn't predicted what would come next.

Inuyasha picked up another watch and studied it intently. No one made a sound as he gazed his deep amber eyes on the face and hands of the modern equipment. It didn't take long for the hanyou to find his voice.

"So right now, it's 9 hours, 25 minutes, and 10 seconds?" He asked before correcting himself. "No wait, 11 seconds. No wait, 12. No wait...... dammit, does this thing ever stop!!!"

Kagome made a grab for the watch before Inuyasha had a chance to destroy it. "Seconds go by really quickly; time is passing by as we speak." Kagome took a peek at the watch and found that Inuyasha was absolutely correct. 'Wow, he learns fast.'

"But Kagome, how do you know how many days are in a year, and how to divide the days into months and such?" Shippo ignored the exchange between Inuyasha and Kagome. His curiosity was definitely intrigued. And from the look on Miroku and Sango's faces, so were they.

"Oh, the months are depended, but no solely, on the moon cycles. The Chinese calendar is really strict on the moon cycles, but we don't use that one. And we know there are 364 and ¼ days in a year by studying how long it would take for the earth to revolve around the sun."

Everyone froze at this statement. They all cried out in unison: "What?!"

"Oh, I forgot, you guys are still using the geocentric theory." Kagome mumbled, mainly to herself. But this only brought more questions. 'Kami- sama, this is going to take a long while.'

And so, for the rest of the morning, and much of the afternoon, Kagome explained to her friends how the earth was a sphere, how it revolves around the sun while spinning on its own axis, and many other theories on the solar system. And for the entire day, the rest of the gang sat still in place with shocked expressions, listening to Kagome telling all the knowledge about earth science and astronomy that she knows. (A/N: aren't you all happy that I didn't type everything out. I swear that this is going somewhere.)

"Humans did what?!" Everyone yelled simultaneously. They weren't sitting so still anymore after hearing Kagome say that Americans have successfully landed on the moon.

Kagome nodded, half amused at their surprised expressions, half feared that her friends wouldn't believe her.

But they trusted her. They all trusted her. No matter how impossible everything seemed to be, they knew that Kagome wouldn't lie to them about something so serious. After a long discussion over their new found knowledge, they came up with one solution......

"Tell us more!" With the exception of Inuyasha, Kirara, and Kaede (she returned to make them lunch), everyone else wanted to know more about Kagome's time. Kaede said that it wasn't right to know more about what she's suppose to understand. Kirara simply wasn't interested. And Inuyasha, well, he wanted to know more, probably more than everyone else, but there was no way in the world he'd reveal it.

"Really? You guys really want to learn more about my time?" Kagome seemed both overly joyous and surprised. But Miroku, Sango, and Shippo's furious nods of the head convinced her that they were for real. "This is great! I still have my books from elementary school and junior high. I can bring them over here and you guys can read through them if you'd like."

"Even me, Kagome?" Shippo asked with his best puppy eyes.

Kagome patted his head smiling. "Do you even know how to read, Shippo- chan?"

"No, but I can learn!"

Kagome gave Shippo a big hug for looking so cute and so enthusiastic about education. 'I wish Souta was more like Shippo.'

And so it was decided. That same night Kagome went back and dug out all her old text books from the first grade in elementary to the third grade in junior high. Of course, if order to carry everything, she had to bring her personal luggage man: Inuyasha. The hanyou complained, of course, but at least he gave in before Kagome had to sit him.

And for the whole weekend, Kagome stayed in the Sengoku Jidai, explaining all the subjects she had to take and how the school system worked. She also helped Shippo learn to read some basic hiragana and kanji characters. At the same time, since no news of new shards was to be heard, everyone relaxed into books and new knowledge. There was the occasionally gropes from Miroku, whining from Shippo, and of course, complains from Inuyasha. But aside from those, the weekend went exceptionally well.

Inuyasha didn't let anyone see, of course, but he was always listening in on Kagome's lessons to Shippo. And since Sango had a habit of reading aloud, Inuyasha was learning the same time she was. And the hanyou always sat behind Miroku, so he was able to look over the monk's shoulder. While everyone focused on one subject at once, he focused on three. In the end, Inuyasha knew more than all three of them combined.

The same thing went on day after day, even after Kagome had to return to her time for another week of school. Every once in a while, Shippo would look at the Power Ranger wrist watch Kagome got for him and count down how many hours, minutes, and seconds it'll take for Kagome to return to them. Even though nobody saw him, Inuyasha was doing the same thing (but not with a Power Ranger watch, he got a cool blue one).

*****It's Friday Night Again*****

Kagome groaned while walking home in the dark of the night. 'Why did Mori sensei make me stay after school again? If I get jumped again I'll kill Mori sensei first.' She touched the wound that was healing on her cheek, still covered by a thick layer of powder. 'I'm taking the wider road this time. Is it cold out here or is it just me?'

There were only a few people out. Many streetlamps were destroyed by vandalism over the last few days, and the city has yet to fix them. Kagome shivered, thinking that maybe the wide road wasn't very safe either. And she was absolutely right.

Kagome heard no sound of footsteps. But a hand clasped over her mouth and dragged her into an even darker alleyway. She tried to scream, but it came out in mumbles. Finally the hand threw her onto the ground, a flashlight was on her, and a glint of light also warned her that there was a knife right below her chin. Kagome didn't dare to move.

"Good, bitch, you scream and I'll slit your throat." The same male voice from a week ago warned her. Though his face was hidden in the darkness, Kagome knew exactly who he was and why he was there.

The female voice came next, sounding as nasal as ever. "Don't bother with her anymore, oniisan, just cut her."

"What do you want with me? I've been avoiding Hojo-kun for as much as possible. It's not my fault that he wants to talk to me." Kagome gulped. She's faced worse situations. But she didn't like the threat of getting her throat cut open while she's unarmed, and that Inuyasha isn't around.

"That's because you seduced him, bitch!" The girl spat at Kagome. "We need to give her a bigger warning this time, oniisan, cut off her finger or something."

Kagome was just about to stand up in protest, but the male voice warned her. "Move and you die." A signal was given, and the man who had his hand over Kagome's mouth now grabbed her left arm and rolled up her sleeve. Kagome shivered at his touch, but still didn't dare to scream.

With the inside of her arm facing upward, the knife began floating above her arm. It came down just below her wrist, near the very visible vein on her slender arm. With no warning, the knife came down and cut deep into her flesh. Kagome gritted her teeth in pain, but still didn't make a sound.

"Good girl." The male voice was mocking her. "Now, you realize that if I just aimed a little to the side, I would've slit your wrist, and we could just leave you here to let your blood run dry."

The man behind her let go of her arm. Kagome grabbed it with her right hand. She sobbed silently as beads of tears rolled down her cheeks.

"This is your last warning, bitch. Go near my imooto's boyfriend anymore, and the next time, I won't miss." The flashlight went off. Footsteps were going away. The male voice left a final message to Kagome. "And don't even try to hide from us. We'll find you no matter where you are."

After making sure that they were gone, Kagome ran back to the shrine. Her grandfather was away in a relative's home; and her mother and brother were out to attend a friend's wedding, no one was home. Kagome ran straight for her room, still holding her bleeding arm. She made no attempt to fix it as she cried into her pillow. The tears and sweat washed away the powder on her face, and her original two wounds were revealed as well.

Clutching the bleeding arm, Kagome cried herself to sleep. The crimson liquid drenched her new sheets. For a while there, Kagome was at peace. She didn't dream. After a week of tiresome school and the ordeal earlier, she finally found some time to rest. That is, until a voice woke her up.

It was more of a bark than a voice. A shout, maybe, a scream, a howl; it was anything but a simple voice.

"KAGOME, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!"

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