InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Learning my way... ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

"Hey! Higurashi! Want a bone? Go fetch boy!"

Something hard hit the back of Higurashi Keitaro's head as he came out the doors of the high school, knocking off his baseball cap, revealing his white ears to the jeering crowd of his schoolmates, who all laughed uproariously and imitated dog barking. Struggling to reign in his emotions, Keitaro bent down to pick up the cap and put it back on his head.

Without turning around, he kept walking.

I will not react. I will not let them win. I will not react. I will not let them get to me. I will not react...

Taking a deep breath, he increased his pace, knowing that they would never be able to catch up. He dreaded it every day, having to go through the front doors of his school. He had tried sneaking in a side door, but they had found him. He had even tried leaping to the roof, only to discover that the rooftop doors were all locked.

They never touched him, wary of his claws and fangs, but they knew Keitaro would never attack them unless one of them threw the first punch. The one who started it always ended up in hospital. After three instances like this, the group of popular boys who made Higurashi Keitaro's life miserable had found other ways of tormenting the lonely inu-hanyou.

Keitaro wasn't even sure if he was technically a hanyou, being the son of one, but it didn't really matter. He was still faster, stronger and more powerful than any human. His hair was black, unlike Inuyasha's, but Keitaro was still his father's son and had inherited almost all of Inuyasha's youkai traits. He had inherited his mother's kindness and her generosity. He was also quiet and did not like to draw attention to himself, lest someone notice something else unusual about him other than his puppy-dog ears and his golden eyes.

Keitaro ducked into an alleyway, stuffed his cap in his backpack and leaped up to a fire escape. With a series of leaps and bounds, he was crossing the rooftops of Tokyo at the fastest speed that his hanyou abilities would allow him to go.

At least those bastards will never be able to do this...That is my one comfort. Thought Keitaro as he glimpsed the tip of Goshinboku in the distance, signaling he was rapidly approaching the Higurashi shrine. With a final spinning leap across the main road in front of the shrine, Keitaro landed lightly on the roof of the house. Cautiously checking for visitors to the shrine, he jumped nimbly down from the roof and pushed open the back door of the house.

"Mama, I'm home!" he called, setting down his backpack.

Mama, who was on the phone, smiled and nodded to him, motioning to the plate on the table, piled high with his favourite cookies - the chocolate chip kind from America. Keitaro grinned and grabbed a handful. Pulling his homework out of his bag, he made his way upstairs to his mother's old room, which was now his.

He sat at his desk and opened up his English homework, a subject that he always had problems with. While munching on a cookie, he wondered about how could anyone understand the English alphabet. He always mixed up the letters and spellings. 'b' and 'd' looked the same on a test, as did 'z' and 's'. 'L', 't' and 'I' weren't much better... How could anyone expect him to get it right?

Stopping for a second, he gazed at the necklace that hung on a metal stand on his desk. On it hung the half completed Shikon jewel, sealed by several of Jii-chan's ofuda's. At least there weren't to many youkai in Tokyo to sense it and come looking for it. So far, he had only had to defend it against a raccoon youkai and a crow youkai with three eyes. Not many demons could stand the hustle and bustle of Tokyo... Keitaro still had problems with it and he was used to it, having spent most of his sixteen years of life in the large and crowded metropolis.

After several hours of struggling, Keitaro switched to his math homework. Finishing that, he turned to his science homework. After that, he tackled his history project. Thanking his ability to be able to function with minimal sleep, Keitaro fell into bed at 2 am.

He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Rising with the sun, Keitaro had breakfast and got ready for school. He combed his hair while being careful to avoid catching his ears in the comb's teeth. He filed down his claws slightly and brushed his teeth.

He sat in the God Tree until Mama baachan came out and insisted that he leave, lest he be late. Keitaro always put off going to school until the very last moment, clinging to the hope that the gang of boys would think he was not coming and go inside. It never happened. Resigned to his fate, Keitaro sprinted and lept across the rooftops of Tokyo.

He landed in the alleyway and put on his cap. As he turned the corner, he could already smell Yukio and his gang. Keitaro couldn't have thought up a better name for the other boy. 'Get's what he wants' indeed... Nishimura Yukio was one of the wealthiest boys in school and he seemed to get everything he wanted; the grades, the girls, the toys, everything.

But he will not get me to bow down to him. Ever.

Keitaro strode up the front steps of the school, refusing to sneak in for once.

"Hey Higurashi, marked any trees lately?" called an obnoxious voice. Yukio as usual, around him, his gang laughed and made barking noises.

Keitaro ground his teeth and determinedly ignored Yukio's jibe. Underneath his cap, his ears were flat against his head in sheer irritation. Part of him longed to turn around and fix Nishimura so that he could never ever mark a tree even if he tried. Suppressing that impulse, Keitaro made for his first (and most hated) class: English.

Keitaro sat in the middle of the classroom. Unfortunately, Yukio was in the same class, but Baker-sensei was an understanding and strict teacher. After the first disastrous day of the school year, where he had made Keitaro sit next to Yukio and had returned unexpectedly photocopying an assignment to find that Yukio had stolen Keitaro's hat and was ridiculing Keitaro in front of the entire class.

Baker-sensei had made sure to keep at least one empty desk between Higurashi and Nishimura and kept an eagle's watch on Yukio. While all the other teachers thought Yukio was Kami-sama's gift to their classroom, Baker-sensei was not fooled at all. Keitaro was thankful that Yukio could not bother him in the class where he needed to concentrate the most.

They were halfway through a lesson on English poetry when there was a knock on the door. Principal Yasukawa was standing there, she motioned Baker-sensei into the hallway for a moment. The class looked at each other in puzzlement.

Several minutes later, Baker-sensei came back into the class, behind him was a girl with long wavy black hair and round dark blue eyes. Keitaro guessed her height to be around 5 foot 6. She was slim and extremely pretty. Keitaro's nose told him that she was also extremely nervous. Keitaro risked a sideways glance at Nishimura. Yukio was staring at the new girl with a smug expression.

"Class," said Baker-sensei in English, "We have a new student; Mariko Fujita, Mariko... you can sit..." Baker-sensei looked around the classroom and frowned. The only empty desk was between Higurashi and Nishimura.

"You can sit between Higurashi and Nishimura,"

Mariko smiled weakly and edged her way down the aisle, sliding into the empty desk. Keitaro inhaled as she passed him, carefully memorizing her scent, a mix of vanilla, perspiration and something else that he couldn't really identify, but liked anyways. Yukio leaned over to introduce himself and smiled the heartbreaking smile that he used on girls. Keitaro sighed and watched out of the corner of his eye while taking notes.

Mariko glanced over at him, her eyes darting up to his hat curiously, before flashing him a shy smile and Keitaro smiled back, feeling his stomach flutter slightly. Yukio noticed this immediately and shot him a glare over Mariko's head that could have melted lead, but his charming expression reappeared immediately when Mariko turned back to her notes.

The remainder of the class, Keitaro had to endure listening to Yukio impressing upon Mariko, who seemed to listen attentively to both Yukio and Baker-sensei at the same time. A breeze swept in the classroom windows and Mariko's scent, along with everyone else's where replaced by the smells of exhaust fumes and the general city-smell that Keitaro had always associated with Tokyo. Keitaro frowned and wrinkled his nose, once again wishing that they could live somewhere without so much pollution

"Higurashi"

"What?" Keitaro snapped out of his thoughts and discovered that Baker-sensei was staring straight at him along with the rest of the class. Behind him and beside him, he could hear laughter. The people laughing probably thought he couldn't hear it.

"Firstly Higurashi, we are in English class, instead of saying 'what' you say 'pardon?' secondly, I was asking you whether you had read any of the poems, as I assigned for homework,"

Feeling his face turn bright red, Keitaro nodded.

"Good, then you can tell me who was the poet describing in 'The Butterfly'" Keitaro swallowed nervously. He hadn't been able to understand that poem. Poems were a waste of time in Keitaro's opinion. Why did poets have to dance around what they were writing about? Why couldn't they just get to the point? Keitaro felt his mouth open and close but no sound came out.

"I didn't understand it," said Keitaro, bowing his head. The giggles increased and Baker-sensei silenced them with a sharp glance.

"Very well Keitaro... Mariko, you were told to read the poem before you arrived yes?"

Mariko nodded and shot Keitaro an apologetic look before answering in perfectly accented English, "The poem was about the poet's young daughter Vanessa."

"Very good Mariko, for those of you who do not know, the name 'Vanessa' means butterfly in Greek," noted Baker-sensei. There was a scratching of pens and pencils as four students jotted down this extra tidbit of information. Keitaro could recognize the sounds of their pen strokes.

When the bell rang for next class, Science, he watched with irritation as Yukio walked with Mariko in the direction of the math wing.

Keitaro didn't see Mariko until the end of the school day when he caught sight of her and Yukio standing outside the front doors with Yukio's gang. Several other girls were gathered around and asking Mariko questions, from the sound of it. Yukio's arm was trying to snake its way around Mariko's shoulders. Keitaro suppressed a growl with effort.

Standing in the shadows near the entrance to the school, Keitaro listened in on the questioning. He discovered that Mariko had moved to Tokyo from Seattle, but had lived in Tokyo when she was young. Her mother was American while her father was Japanese and she had a younger brother. Her favourite band was Lillix and she loved the Harry Potter books, which Keitaro had never read. Now he wondered if he should borrow a copy from the library.

After checking his watch and discovering that he should have been home ten minutes ago, he tried to walk past the large group without anyone noticing. He made it halfway down the stairs before Yukio noticed his retreating baseball cap.

"Hey Higurashi! I've got another bone for you!" Keitaro ducked the flying T-bone and kept descending the steps. The girls were silent as Yukio's gang took up their barking chant. "Oh, So you don't like bones dog, Perhaps your off to go digging?" called Yukio maliciously.

SMACK.

"OWWW!!!"

Keitaro whipped around and gasped right along with everyone else. Mariko brought her hand back and delivered another vicious slap across Yukio's face.

"OWWW!!! BITCH!! What the HELL did you do that for?" cried Yukio, his pink cheeks rapidly getting redder. Keitaro wasn't sure whether it was more from embarrassment or anger, as Yukio reeked of both.

"Shut your trap bastard, what's he ever done to you?" demanded Mariko angrily, "You've been a complete wise-ass all day, and your always putting him down...What has he ever done to you? Tell me that."

There was a ringing silence on the steps. No one quite knew what to say. Yukio was the most popular boy in school, handsome, smart and rich and Keitaro was a shrine boy with weird ears and eyes. It seemed almost obvious to them why Yukio did what he did.

Keitaro stared at Mariko with a new kind of respect. No one he knew had the guts to take on Nishimura Yukio. Keitaro knew that he could easily kill Yukio, but he didn't like starting fights and he didn't want to kill anybody, but sometimes that wish was severely tested.

To his credit, Yukio recovered quickly.

"Higurashi's a freak of nature, I don't think he's even human... He shouldn't even be in this school!"

Mariko glanced down the steps at Keitaro, sizing him up. Keitaro tried to smile at her, but it came out more like a grimace.

"He doesn't look weird to me," she declared.

"Tell him to take his hat off, then you'll see why he doesn't belong," shot back Yukio confidently. Keitaro felt his heart stop. He knew that everyone knew about his ears and had seen them on at least one occasion. Everyone except Mariko. He had hoped that maybe... maybe he could talk to her first... maybe she could discover that he was normal... before she ended up finding about his ears.

Mariko turned to him and raised an eyebrow. Keitaro swallowed and beads of sweat trickled down his neck.

"Take your hat off... Surely it can't be that bad," she said, watching him with interest.

Yukio grinned wickedly, "Yah Higurashi, take your hat off and show her...surely it can't be that bad..." He mimicked Mariko's voice. Mariko glared at him and turned back to Keitaro.

"Come on...take it off...prove to him its not that bad," She said insistently.

"Yeah Higurashi! Take it off!" called Aki, a boy in Yukio's gang of friends. The rest of them join in with catcalls and taunts about his courage. Keitaro swallowed and choked. He couldn't get out of this now...

Mariko watched the wiry boy look up at her with an expression of utter despair. His golden eyes pleaded with her, asked her, begged her, to give him a way out and she wondered what he wanted to keep hidden so badly.

"Please Higurashi," she said softly, "take it off."

Keitaro felt himself slump, resigned to his fate. Mariko felt her heart twist at the sad expression on his face. Slowly, he reached up and pulled off the baseball cap. His gold eyes met Mariko's and refused to let them go. Even as her jaw dropped open and her eyes widened at the sight of his white, furry, twitching ears.

See what you've done? He thought, staring up at Mariko.

There was silence for several minutes as everyone waited with baited breathe to see how the New Girl would react to Higurashi's dog-ears. Without saying anything, Mariko descended the steps until she was on the step above the one Keitaro stood on. Despite being on step higher than he, he still was a good five inches taller than she was.

Her face had lost its stunned quality and now she was scrutinizing him carefully.

"Can I touch them?" she asked quietly.

Keitaro felt his eyes widen. Touch his ears? No one had ever asked to do that... and the only one who had touched them besides himself was Mama-baachan, and she only occasionally scratched them.

"Um... Okay..." He said bowing his head slightly so she could reach them easier. Mariko reached up and stroked his left ear, then his right. Keitaro's eyes fluttered closed. Ohh...feels gooood...

Mariko let her hands fall to her side and she smiled slightly.

"See? Not that bad..." She looked at him appraisingly, "I think they're kinda cute,"

Keitaro flushed a deep, dark red and his ears lowered.

"I...um...I...." He stammered then he caught sight of his watch. He was supposed to have been home twenty minutes ago.

"I... gotta go... See you..." With that, Keitaro jammed his hat back on and was gone. Mariko blinked with surprise and spotted Keitaro running down the block. He turned a corner and disappeared. Slowly, she turned round and walked back up the steps.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with him..." she proclaimed triumphantly to Yukio. Yukio scowled, but said nothing, which was more surprising than Keitaro allowing Mariko to touch his ears. Yukio always had something to say.

"I think you should apologize to him," continued Mariko, examining her nails.

No way in hell am I going to apologize to that freak Thought Yukio darkly.

Again, Yukio said nothing. His gang of friends was starting to look nervous, while the girls were watching the spectacle with wonder.

Mariko raised an eyebrow.

"What's with you Nishimura? Cat got your tongue?"

"No," spat Yukio.

"Good, cause if one did, I'd feel awfully sorry for the poor cat, having to swallow a tongue as filthy as yours," replied Mariko conversationally. There was a snort of laughter somewhere in the assembled group.

Mariko turned and headed down the steps, smiling.

"See you guys! It was so nice meeting you all!" she called cheerfully over her shoulder.

With that, she was gone.