InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Sleeper ❯ Brothers ( Chapter 1 )

Hope you like my new fic, feel free to check out "Robes of a different color" soon to be updated. Anyway enjoy and please read the author's notes at the end.

Disclaimer: Pretty sure I don't own Inuyasha…but I'll keep you updated just in case.

The Sleeper

Chapter 1: Brothers

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His hair had blown into his eyes again and the fine hairs were tickling his cheeks. He needed a hair cut, and he needed to come in out of the sun. His cheeks had taken on a decidedly pinkish hue and the freckles were pricking up on the bridge of his nose. He didn't move to push the offending hair out of his face, instead he sat statue still and looked out over the vast expanse of garden.

He could see some boys his own age chasing each other in an impromptu game tag while the nurses and orderlies swathed in white stood to the side. Most of the other people were clothed in white as well, but here and there an odd person would be wearing normal street clothes, visitors.

The wind changed and blew the hair back out of his eyes, he could smell the sweet fragrance of sakura blossoms now, but he sat unmoving.

I need you Kagome, why won't you come? The unshed tears didn't even surface this time, but his heart felt heavy as it always did this time of year.

"Souta?! Oh there you are…time to go now."

Souta didn't reply or acknowledge the voice; the hair had fallen back into his eyes.

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Click

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The youth sat idly tapping his silver wristband against the arm of the high back chair. The band was plain and solid silver about the width and thickness of a watch band and all together unremarkable, unremarkable that is save for the fact that there was no apparent way to remove it. No hinges, no clasps, and of a size much too small to be forced up over the hand. No this band was going no where, which was just fine with the youth lazily sitting with bangs just covering his blue eyes. He flicked a small look at the wristband and let a brief smile flit across his features before returning to his previous activity…ignoring everything that came out of his new headmaster's mouth.

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"Higurashi-san did you get all of that?"

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"Mm." The youth looked up sensing that it was now his turn to speak.

"Hai Myouga-sensei." He flashed his most charming smile at the short plump man before him.

"Good, good, such a bright boy." The older man smiled brightly, "Now your older brother has told me a bit about your special circumstances…"

Myouga watched as the boy's smile faltered slightly at the mention of his older brother but he seemed to quickly regained composure plastering the overly bright smile back on to his face this time willing it to reach his eyes.

Kagome doubted in the highest that her elder brother had come even close to telling the headmaster how 'special' her circumstances really were. She wondered idly at what circumstances had been fabricated this time. Last time, she recalled, it had been chronic flatulence, the time before that 'Akita' was a violent sleep walker. A brief quiet chuckle bubbled out when she thought of how similar an-chan was to her late grandfather.

Her older brother, or half brother, was her father's son from a previous marriage, not that it mattered in the least to her. However it did served to highlight the remarkable nature of having such odd character traits be shared by two unrelated people in her life, two unrelated people that had never spent time together.

A genuine smile began to replace the false one when Kagome thought fondly on an-chan and before returning attention back to the headmaster who, she realized, was still nattering on.

"…and luckily we were able to accommodate you with your own room."

Kagome let out a relieved sigh, not that she hated sharing or that she was antisocial, far from it, but things could become a bit complicated, scratch that a bit MORE complicated with a roommate.

She had first hand experience that roommates were nothing but an unwelcome complication, especially if said roommate happened to be handsome and nice and have a penchant for walking around in his underwear…like her last roommate. Luckily that arrangement had only been temporary and 'Akita' soon found 'himself' situated in 'his' own private quarters by some unknown miraculous turn of events.

Kagome's REAL 'special' circumstances were highly confidential, so much so that only four people in the entire world knew. Because of these circumstances Kagome had become Akita and after seven years of posing as a boy because of the real 'special' circumstances it was not nearly as difficult as it once was to play the part; however just because the silver wristband made her appear like a handsome male version of herself did not mean she had the same feelings as a male. Cute roommates were, in her opinion, a very unwelcome complication.

Click

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She was drifting off again. It wasn't as though she was a bad student or a rude person it was just that all these orientations were the same and she had been through so many that she was fairly certain that she could deliver them better then any five headmasters put together. This was her seventh school in as many years, which in her opinion qualified her as a pro.

Though admittedly this was her first year of high school and things might be a bit different.

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"Promise me it will be different this year." The silver haired man looked pointedly at his younger brother and narrowed his golden eyes.

"Keh, why the fuck do you care?" The black haired boy averted his gaze to study some unseen object beyond the tinted window.

"Truth be told, I don't care, but I will not have you dishonor our family name any more then you already have." The silver hair man placidly stated picking a small piece of lint from the sleeve of his crème suit jacket.

"You bastard!" The last statement came out like a bark as the boy wiped around to face his brother.

The other man tutted "Such a temper brother, you really should learn to control emotions." He smirked as his brother once again rose to the bait. Really it was too easy; it had always been too easy.

"What you mean is be like you, a fucking cold fish, with an icicle jammed up his a…"

"That's enough!" He cut the younger man off raising his voice then composing himself once again, " I had to use my influence to cover up what happened last year and I simply want some insurance on your part that there will not be a repeat."

"Keh, well I only had the two parents, so I doubt there will be, 'cause I couldn't give a rats ass if someone murdered you in your sleep." Of course that wasn't true but why give him the satisfaction. He was tired of everyone treating him like some type of psychopath he wasn't responsible for what happened and besides his little had been all taken care of now.

The silver haired man was staring impassively, seemingly unfazed by his brothers declarations, "that ring will not bind you if you work yourself into a rage, Inuyasha, it only binds you somewhat. You may look human but you are not, and even with the schools youkai binding spells, the possibility still exists for you to…"

"I know ALRIGHT, it won't happen again, is that what you want to hear!?" Inuyasha hissed

"I won't dishonor my father's name, ok." He said more quietly a sadness darkening his violet eyes.

The silver haired man regarded the younger boy with mild surprise, his own eyes warming to a gentle honey color.

"I must be cruel to be kind, Inuyasha, coddling never helped anyone, and I will not lose you, you are my only family."

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes bringing his face within centimeters of his brothers, and then did something highly unexpected he reached up and touched his face.

"Who are you and what have you done with Sesshoumaru?" Inuyasha demanded with all earnestness.

Sesshoumaru punched his brother clean in the jaw, not hard enough to break anything; just enough to clearly state that he was not amused.

"I will not brook a fool, Inuyasha, now I believe I am late for a meeting with your headmaster. You will wait here until I return."

Sesshoumaru let himself out of the limousine that sat idling in front of the school closing the door in his protesting brother's face.

"Asshole," Inuyasha pushed his long dark hair out of his face and gingerly examined his jaw.

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"…though that could change if we get any transfer students or late admissions."

She frowned trying to piece together the last bit with what she had missed; she gave up with a shrug after a couple of seconds and smiled at the man once again.

Myouga oblivious to her momentary look of confusion continued his spiel when a timid knock at the door interrupted him. Myouga looked from the boy sitting before him smiling affably to the source of the interruption. After a moment the head of a very pretty girl popped in through the slightly ajar door.

"Ah what is it Tatoro-san?" The young women took that as an invitation to enter the room completely and walked towards Myouga's desk, but stopped parallel to the high-backed chair in which Kagome was sitting as if the secretary had not previously realized that she had interrupted a meeting.

"Oh I didn't realize that you had a student with you." She smiled warmly if not somewhat shyly at the boy seated in the chair. When Kagome turned a curious eye to the intruder she flashed another winning smile and chuckled inwardly as the girl furtively took an apprizing eye to 'Akita's' figure before blushing.

"Yes, Tatoro-san this is our newest student Higurashi Akita, he comes to us from Sauyan School for boys in Kyoto…was there something that you wanted?" Myouga returned his gaze to the young secretary faintly blushing before him.

"Hai, you have an emergency call from the president of the Alumni association, it seems as though Sesshoumaru-sama has decided to call in some favors."

Kagome had lost interest again and beside felt it was rude to listen to other peoples conversations. She turned her eyes to the surrounding office. It was rather large especially considering the stature of the occupant with old scroll water colors adorning some of the walls. The walls themselves were a soothing blue gray and served as a pretty backdrop to the paintings. One of the walls held a large lacquered bookshelf packed with leather bound editions, the type that were probably just for show. On the wall behind Myouga's desk were several framed diplomas and a photograph of a younger looking Myouga with a dashing regal man roughly in his forties. The man in the picture had handsome features and smiling eyes, he was quite tall, especially standing next to Myouga, with long flowing light colored hair. After a minute of scrutiny Kagome decided it must either be light blond or prematurely white, thought it was hard to tell for certain in the black and white photograph.

"I'm sorry Higurashi-san but I'm going to have to cut the orientation short, I'm sure this is all old hat to you anyway. I trust you can find your way to your room without too much difficulty. The caretaker should have moved your belongings up to your room all ready."

The youth let another genuine smile surface and flashed it first at the secretary and then at the headmaster.

Oh Tatoro-san I could kiss you. Kagome inwardly grimaced. Hmm been spending too much time as a boy, defiantly not kiss you…but you defiantly deserve something for saving me from this torture!

Kagome regarded her headmaster seriously for a moment then stood from her chair.

"Hai Myouga-sensei you have been most informative, I hope to bring honor to my house and to this school." Kagome intoned and bowed the low formal 45 degrees to show her new headmaster proper respect then turned and left when Myouga stood and dismissed her.

Once the boy had left the room the secretary and the headmaster exchanged a bemused look.

"So polite..." Myouga mused looking sideways at his secretary.

"Such a handsome boy..." The secretary added nodding thoughtfully.

"You'll never believe who his older brother is." Myouga interjected suddenly.

"Who?" The young secretary quirked an eyebrow, curiosity piqued.

But the discussion was halted when the door to the office was thrown open quite rudely to admit a silver-haired stoic faced man.

The secretary blanched at the sight of such deadly beauty and let out a small involuntary gasp. Myouga without missing a beat stood and dismissed the secretary from the room while ushering in the new visitor.

"Ah Sesshoumaru-sama such an honor, how may this humble Myouga be of service?"

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Kagome wandered through the campus enjoying the sweet aroma of the blooming sakura trees, small pink peddles littered the walkways of the quadrangle.

"Ah another beautiful April in Tokyo, it's so good to be back home." Kagome quietly mused aloud enjoying the foreign sound of her own voice. Since her sixteenth birthday last week a new spell had been added to her cloaking spell making her voice slightly lower, a bit more masculine, though it still sounded like a high tenor rather then a soothing baritone or bass. In the end it didn't matter much 'Akita' didn't really look like the type of boy that would have a low voice. Kagome was rather tall for a girl her age though that meant somewhat short for a guy, the cloaking spell could do nothing for her height or general frame though it quite craftily hid her feminine curves. Where her breast were in her feminine form in this form were nicely developed pecks, where the gentle curve of her hips should be there was nothing. Her body was sleek and nicely muscled some of which was illusory but most of which was real. The look of her arms and legs had a decidedly feminine feel, alone, however combined with the illusory muscles of her stomach and chest, resulted in an altogether handsome body.

The cloaking spell amazingly did little to change the appearance of her face, her eyes were rather large with long dark lashes that curled up at the ends, her eyebrows thin and arched her lips full and pink. About the only difference between this face and her real face were the slightly angular lines of her jaw and the prominence of her cheekbones. She would, or rather Akita would win no manly man competitions with his looks, but she knew quite well that this was the face of a beautiful man.

"Heck I'd date me." Kagome reflected as she stopped to look into a store window just off campus. She caught a look at her own reflection and smoothed her unruly black hair back out of her eyes. Though the cloaking spell could have easily hid the length of her hair if she had wanted it to remain long, she had long ago decided that it would be ridiculous waste of energy. Why have long unruly hair that no one will ever see when you can simply cut it short and be done with it. Perhaps if she ever took her guise off she would be more prone to have her hair long but in reality last week on her birthday was the first time in two years that she had even seen her true self. The only time the wristband was ever removed was to add an aspect or increase its strength of the concealing spell, these were the only times she or others saw her as Kagome. She really had lived almost half her life as a boy, Akita was nearly more real to her then Kagome, at the very least more familiar.

Ever since the attack that had taken the lives of her mother and grandfather and placed her poor younger brother Souta in a permanent catatonic state, Kagome had to remain hidden only Akita could show his face to the world. Kagome herself had been left for dead and had spent two months in a coma. She awoke to find her family fractured; the largest part dead to the word. If not for her older brother, a ten year old Kagome would have curled up and died herself. But her older brother HAD come, had soothed her sleepless nights, and had slowly replaced the void in her heart where the rest of her family had been.

He had found the best private care for Souta and moved him to the beautiful private institute that promised to do everything in their power to bring back any vestige of the sweet young boy. He has used his connections in the government to spear head an investigation into the attack on the Higurashi family. In the end it was concluded that a ten year old Kagome was the primary target and that the others had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It wasn't until the second failed attempt on Kagome's life though, that everyone realized that these people would not be stopped until Kagome was dead. So it was left to her older brother to accomplish what those crazy religious fanatics could not. He killed Kagome, though the story of course was that she had died in the hospital after the second attack, in truth, however, it was his resourcefulness and cunning that had killed Kagome and birthed Akita.

Kagome died quietly in her sleep four months after her mother and grandfather had been buried, her ashes were scattered beneath the God tree at her the family's shrine. The service was attended by the media, neighbors and school friends, Souta and a nurse from the institute, the eldest Higurashi brother, and a somewhat shy and somber Akita. It wasn't everyday, after all, that you awoke to find that you had died in your sleep and that the funeral you had to attend was your own.

After that the attacks stopped; everyone breathed a little easier but not much. The trade off was, of course, that Kagome could not go out as herself she had to pose as a boy, move when her brother moved, and mostly live without her family. Souta was still in the institution and her older brother was very important and consequently a very busy man, so contact with her only remaining family was minimal.

Now that she was in Tokyo she could finally see her beloved older brother more often, visit Souta at the institute, and best of all see Sango.

Kagome let out a tiny very unmasculine squeal of excitement. She stopped mid-stride when she realized that she could now see Sango all the time. This realization put her in the mood to celebrate, and having always been the type of person to share in the wealth, she decided to win herself some new friends and surprise one important old one.

"Flowers perfect!!" She clapped her hands together at the fortuitous find and began mulling over the ample selection on display. She had selected tulips, irises, and half a dozen white roses when she first noticed a boy staring at her.

She wasn't really use to having boys stare at her, girls yes, boys no, and she wondered if she might have something shocking hanging from her nose. Almost unconsciously she checked her face for any offending objects, having found nothing she did the only thing she could do. She looked the boy straight in the eye and flashed her most charming smile. Not that she was trying to charm the boy but she was in a good mood and being friendly never hurt.

She heard the boy chuckle softly to himself before returning her smile with one of his own. His was not nearly as disarming as 'Akita's' but none the less quite good, reaching even his eyes which glowed with a soft violet warmth.

"I'm Houshi Miroku; I don't think I've seen you around here before." He said extending a hand in the western fashion his smile never wavering.

"A pleasure Miroku-san, I'm Higurashi Akita." Kagome took his hand in a firm grasp and shook then released, gesturing to the campus across the road she continued, "I'm just starting my first year at Santaiyoa School for boys."

"Oh so you must be the new kid, what a small world." Miroku said while rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Kagome quirked her eyebrow, not that she disagreed just that she wasn't quite sure how it applied in this situation. With a new freshman class and the school year not officially starting until Monday, she was confident that she was not the only 'new kid' at this school.

Miroku seeing his new friend's confusion quickly added, "Your room is right next to mine, in fact before I came out here I had knocked to introduce myself, but you were not in, so I decided to pick up some flowers for a lady friend of mine, and who should I meet but the elusive new boy."

Akita had to admit that the odds of such a meeting seemed extraordinarily long.

"Great minds think alike, I guess." Akita smiled." But I'm sure I'm not the only new student, the school year hasn't even started yet."

"Yes, lots of new freshmen, but you're the only new student in the second year class."

This was all news to Kagome, she was a freshman, she had just taken the entrance exam and placement tests for high school admission.

"Ah I see you were not paying attention to Myouga-sensei, he does tend to drone on. Everyone in the second year class is talking about it, you placed so high on your tests that they had to place you with us…of course I heard it's never happened before, this is a very competitive school after all and we all had to have high scores to even be admitted."

Miroku explained while Kagome nodded a nauseous feeling knotting her stomach. Kagome did not like surprises, and finding that you had been skipped a grade was probably one of those things that seemed good at first but turned out to be a disaster. Kagome groaned at the possibility at disappointing her older brother with reports of bad grades.

"Yeah maybe Myouga-sensei said something like that, he is rather boring though." Kagome grumbled.

The tall violet eyed boy laughed a short hearty agreement before clapping a hand amiably on Akita's shoulder steering her back towards the flower vendor.

"So you seem to enjoy flowers." Miroku said eyeing the growing assortment in his companion's arms.

"Oh I do," Kagome nodded sagely a small mischievous smirk stealing across her face "especially when they are lighting up the face of a lovely lady who has received them out of the blue."

Miroku's face was nearly split in half by this statement.

"Ah, a man after my own heart! And are these flowers for any one lady in particular?" He asked his own mischievous look glinting in his eye.

Of course by this time Kagome had selected nearly three dozen flowers and answered with a wink. "Not any ONE lady, two specifically and a couple extra just to introduce myself; it's hard making new friends you know."

Miroku suddenly looked very serious, which would have frightened Kagome had his eyes not continued to twinkle merrily, he spoke in a low sober tone. "Do you think it might be possible that we were separated at birth?"

Kagome eyed him as if sincerely considering the possibility. Miroku was about five inches taller with broad muscular shoulders, in fact fairly muscular all over but not overly so. His dark hair was pulled back in a low messy horse tail. He had large violet eyes and a generous mouth; all in all he was quite good looking; enough so that Kagome was very thankful that he was not her roommate. After Kagome finished her initial assessment she turned and faced Miroku, with her own solemn look.

"Yes it certainly seems as if that is the case. How unfortunate for you that I was blessed with all the looks and brains while you merely got the height."

At this both boys burst out laughing receiving some odd looks from passer-bys. When they noticed the looks they were getting, their laughter was renewed once again until they were doubled over clutching their sides, eyes filling with tears.

"Hey lets get out of here before they throw us out." Kagome said while trying to reign in her giggles.

They made their way to the checkout counter to pay for the flowers.

"Do you deliver?" Kagome enquired of the old women behind the counter.

"Where to?" The woman asked bluntly but with a friendly smile on her face.

"The faculty building across the street." Kagome indicated with a nod of her head in the general direction of the school.

"Sure. I just need the name and office number."

Miroku gave an appreciable smile, "flowers for a teacher, you sly dog" he nudged Kagome's arm with his elbow.

"No, no, the headmaster's secretary - she saved me from a day of boring speeches stuck in a dark office."

"That devil woman, sure she's pretty but you can hardly tell with all the scowling."

"You must be confused, I'm speaking of Tatoro-san, the shy one, and I think she was actually blushing at me."

"What?!!! Tatoro-san blushing? You'll have to teach me your secret."

Kagome jotted down the necessary information and a small note she was sure would make Tatoro-san feel special, signed it Higurashi Akita then handed it to the checkout women along with a dozen beautiful irises to be sent. She paid for the rest of the flowers and waited for Miroku to finish his transaction.

"So how about you, who's the lucky lady?" Kagome asked when Miroku joined her; he held six pale pink tulips in a loose bouquet.

Miroku sighed and looked over to his friend, "Just the most beautiful girl in the world, she's smart, she's funny, and she's feisty." He looked a bit love sick.

"Ah so is she your girl friend?" Kagome enquired, with a little pang of jealousy over this girl. She wished cute boys were sighing over her buying her flowers. But then she pushed the stray thought away and smiled at her friend while awaiting his reply.

Miroku chucked nervously while scratching the back of his neck, "Well not exactly, but I think I'm wearing her down. Tulips are her favorite"

"She sounds like my friend." Kagome eyed here own tulips meaningfully, "Tulips are her favorite too."

"Hmmm." Miroku regarded his new friend with interest, as if just realizing something very important. A boy this good looking probably has more women then he can handle, very good looking women no doubt. Miroku smiled genially at Kagome.

Kagome, unaware of Miroku's sudden realization, continued speaking.

"Oh you'll have to meet her; can't say she's very feisty though, she's probably the gentlest girl you'll ever meet."

Kagome smiled, and it was true too, Sango was the most gentle hearted girl she'd every met she literally wouldn't hurt a fly or spider as the case might be. She distinctly remembered Sango bursting out in to tears when a five year old Souta had 'accidentally' stepped on a spider on the steps of the shrine. Sango had actually insisted on holding a funeral for it. That was one of last memories Kagome had of spending time with Sango as herself without her disguise when her family was still whole, and her life had been normal. Of course she had seen Sango more recently as Akita, the last time was actually four years ago, but that's a long time to go without seeing your best friend, and even if the disguise was only skin deep things were never the same with it on. Kagome was sure that some things just never changed, like dear sweet Sango; one of the only people besides her own brother who new her real identity.

"I'd love to."

"Great! I'm going to call her up tonight right after I get settled in."

Kagome beamed again at her luck. I meet a nice new friend; I'm going to see Sango tonight, what a great freaking day!

"Well come on I'll show you the way to the dorm, if you're lucky maybe I'll introduce you to my Sango, if I can convince her to come over, that is."

Kagome snorted; maybe we really were separated at birth, what are the odds?

"What's so funny? I'll have you know I actually enjoy a challenge." Miroku pouted, agitation creeping into his voice when he perceived the slight.

"Oh nothing, it's just that, it really is a small world isn't it?"

It was Miroku's turn to look confused.

Kagome continued, "The friend I was telling you about, that loves tulips, her name's Sango too. Isn't that funny?!"

Miroku got a queer look in his eye and seemed to sober.

"That really is quiet a coincidence," he muttered.

Kagome didn't notice her new friend's suddenly pensive demeanor as they marched back towards the dorms.

By the time they had reached the entrance to the second year's dorm Kagome had given away all of her roses, meet ten girls from a local girls school all of which giggled and blushed furiously at 'Akita's' gift, and two old ladies that seemed equally as taken with the 'lad'.

Now despite how Kagome's actions might be taken otherwise, she was not interested in girls, quite the contrary, but she had long ago learned that the best way to dodge allegations about her own sexual preferences at an all boys school was to be seen in the company of blushing girls as much as possible.

It was a tricky thing really, Kagome didn't want to lead any of the girls on but like wise did not want to be the target of larger boys that had it in for the pretty boy type. That was simply the reality of going to an all boys school; Kagome suspected that even had the school been coed the situation would be the same. The strong preyed upon those they perceived as weak. Kagome was far from weak and had at her disposal a number of formidable skills, but flashing a smile at a girl or two was the easiest of all methods, not full proof but certainly an easy added insurance.

"A so we're here this is my room and that's yours right next door."

Miroku continued to walk until he was standing directly in front of Kagome's door.

"Oh come on in, I'm sure it's a mess though, I haven't been up to unpack yet…" Kagome trailed off as he opened the door and took in the sight that unfolded before them.

"Wow if this is what you consider a mess; remind me not to have you over to my room."

The room was neat as a new pin, not only was there no mess there were also no boxes, no bags, and everything had been neatly put away, the bed made, pictures hung, computer set up. It would have taken Kagome two straight days, easily, to accomplish what had apparently taken someone else merely an hour.

"Oh I should get these in water so that they're nice and fresh for Sango." After a little searching Kagome found a small plastic bucket and filled it with water from the sink in the adjoining bathroom.

"Hey Miroku-san were does this other door lead?" Kagome pointed to a second door on the opposite wall of the bathroom.

"Hehe, well that leads into my room, the bathrooms are semi private, they're shared between two rooms…oh and you can just call me Miroku."

"Oh." Akita said with a bit of a frown while placing the tulips in the bucket of water.

Miroku had wandered over to the framed photographs hanging on the wall nearest the desk, and began inspecting them with interest.

"Is this your family?" He gestured to an old photograph of four people standing in front of a shrine.

"Yeah…" Kagome joined her friend to admire the familiar picture pointing to the individual people as she explained. "…That's my mom," she said gesturing to a pretty women in her mid thirties, "and that's my grand father, the little guy is my younger brother Souta," Kagome's finger trembled a little as she pointed to the last figure " and that's my sister Kagome."

"Kagome huh?" Miroku leaned a bit closer to inspect the photograph. "She must be about ten, right? A younger sister, she looks at lot like you or a younger you at least."

"Twins, the photograph was taken six years ago." Kagome said quietly, beginning to become uncomfortable with the direction of this conversation. She didn't really like talking about her past, and especially not about herself. It was impossible to who was asking innocently and who had a hidden agenda. Kagome did not like risking the possibility of saying the wrong thing to the wrong people.

Miroku of course was oblivious, again inspection various pictures.

"Oh, does she have a boy friend?" Miroku flashed a dazzling smile and winked at his male companion before turning once again to the pictures.

Kagome blushed and then was hit with a momentary pang of grief, wishing that her life could be as easy as that, but the pain and the redness were gone as quickly as they appeared leaving in their wake a cold dead hollowness.

"No, she's dead." Kagome stated flatly.

Miroku stiffened turning to regard Kagome with a look of mild horror.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't…"

Kagome raised her hand in a gesture to stop, and flashed a gentle smile.

"It's ok, you didn't know, it happened a long time ago, there was an accident…" Kagome trailed off considering whether it was a good idea to say so much and then finally decided to continue "…my mother and grandfather were killed and Souta was injured and institutionalized a few months before that." Kagome smiled weakly.

Miroku swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat. "I almost hate to ask, father?"

"He died when I was five, right before Souta was born."

Miroku turned to scan the pictures for any faces that might be family, there were several pictures of Akita with school friends, a picture of a very small Kagome holding a baby Souta, one of an enormously fat cat, but no seemingly parental figures save for those indicated as dead.

"So you're all alone then?" Miroku hoped that he wasn't stepping way over the line by asking such personal questions. He just couldn't understand how such a carefree person could have had such a horrible childhood, not to mention how he could afford to go to such an exclusive school without some sort of benefactor.

Kagome frowned at the implication and began to deny it when the phone rang interrupted her train of thought.

"Who the heck could that be? I've only been here two hours." Kagome walked towards the phone that sat directly in the middle of the room beneath a large picture window. Miroku just shrugged, but eyed the phone curiously."

"Mushi mushi."

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" AN-CHAN!"

Miroku watched as the boy's face split in the largest smile humanly possible, and he smiled as well when he realized that his friend wasn't alone after all. He had an older brother that he apparently cared a great deal for.

Miroku wondered briefly if he should slip back to his own room so that Akita could speak more freely but Akita caught his gaze and indicated that he should sit, so Miroku sat on the corner of the bed and took in his surroundings, while his friend spoke animatedly to his brother on the phone.

"Oh so you had someone come and unpack for me? That was so thoughtful of you!"

…

"A present?" Kagome frowned and looked around the room. Miroku looked at him questioningly and Kagome shook her head and shrugged.

…

"No I didn't see anything…where…on the bed…hold on."

Kagome moved to the bed and gave it the once over, she was about to turn away when she spotted a small white envelope on the pillow. Kagome tore it open and let a set of keys slide out into her hand.

"Keys?"

…

"WHAT!!! You are the absolute best brother ever!"

…

Miroku's watched as Akita's face paled somewhat and his animated demeanor subsided, the words that next left his mouth seemed to be coming from an entirely different boy.

"Of course brother, forgive my immature behavior. I will understand completely if you wish me to return the present until I can earn it."

Miroku blinked, then blinked again, then tried to clean some unseen substance out of his ears. Just what type of brother would give a gift and demand it be returned for simply getting excited.

…

Kagome's voice was cool and collected, and was beginning to freak Miroku out just a little bit.

"That's most generous of you; I will not disappoint you again."

Kagome smiled warmth unconsciously creeping back into her voice.

…

"I look forward to your visit…I'll see you then."

…

"Thank you, Naraku-an-chan, no one could ask for a better brother."

Kagome smiled fondly as she eased the phone onto the hook, fingering the set of keys that she had been gifted.

She grabbed Miroku by the wrist and pulled him towards the door.

"Come on; let's go have some fun with my new toy!"

All Miroku's reservations about his friend's older brother flew out the door when he saw the absolute adoration shining in the younger boys eyes. He threw his had back and laughed as the smaller youth drug him through the dorm out into the warm vernal air.

.

.

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A/N So anyway this is the first chapter, and I hope you liked it. I tried to keep it as easy to follow as possible…with consistent and intuitive masculine and feminine pronouns in reference to Kagome/Akita.

An-chan= elder brother

Akita= 'bright boy'

No Kagome disguised as a guy or attending a boarding school is not an original idea…but you'll soon realize that those a secondary factors in the plot of this story, and I hope to prove that the main plot is original and entertaining.

If you're like me and you get impatient waiting for authors to update your favorite stories I recommend (and I will continue to recommend one or two different stories at then end of each of my chapters) the following: (fanfic.net)

"Bottle Genius" - this fic is complete and infinitely entertaining

"Synthetic Emotion"- this is a work in progress that I discovered the other day, it's extremely well written and its premise is completely original to Inu fan fics as far as I know

So if you are the author Kudos' from me to you, if not read these and enjoy.

Read/Review: Let me know what you think, ideas for how it could be improved, points of confusion, fics that you would like me to recommend (I'm always in search of good fics to read), complaint's about what a talentless hack I am, etc etc. Chapter 2 is already posted on fanfic.net if you just can't wait.