InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Triple Life ❯ Chapter 1--Summer Camp ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. All of the characters, settings, themes, episodes, worlds, names, demons, artifacts, creation, references, and basic gist of the anime—and—manga show all rightfully belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I only own the original characters that I have written along with the plot itself. All rights reserved.

 

Summary: Just when she didn't know how much more her messed up her life could get, Kagome suddenly found herself in the world of espionage, double lives, and spies after she was sent to a `summer camp'. Now she has to live as `Kagome the Miko', `Kagome the Undergraduate', and `Agent Higurashi'.

 

Notes: Other than changing the age when she arrived in Sengoku-Jidai to 17 instead of 15 and the ratings are up because of Inuyasha vulgar-ish mouth, I sincerely hope that the story starts well. Don't we all? Reviews are very encouraging, especially on the first chapter!!

 

 

 

Chapter One—Summer Camp

 

 

 

 

 

It was the day. The day that vacationers went on vacation, tourists came to tour, and most importantly, students didn't had to study. Yes, it was the day school officially ended.

 

Now, usually, said students would be partying hard instead of studying and cramming homework, sleeping contentedly instead of having nightmares of tests swallowing them whole, and for once in a long while, think about absolutely nothing and cave into the feeling of mind-numbing laziness.

 

But that's not how Kagome found herself. In its place, she was in another time period, dealing with more stress while she fought with an especially aggravated hanyou while trying to keep herself together before she went to another mental breakdown. If only said hanyou was kind enough to take a second look at her worn state then maybe he would be sympathetic for once in his life and let her take a break.

 

Twitch.

 

Alas, if only the gods remotely liked her…

 

“Fuckin' hell Kagome! Your `school' thing finally ended and we can finally put all of our time into hunting the shards without you studying for those damn tests and the first thing you tell me you want a BREAK?! What the hell's wrong with you wench?”

 

An irritated tick suddenly appeared on the miko's eyebrow.

 

“Wrong? WRONG?! I'll tell you what's wrong Inuyasha! I had to pull everything I had for those finals while pulling everything together here for the `shard hunt'. Do you have any idea how hard it is to take the History exam that was taught wrong in so many different levels?! Not to mention those all-nighters I had to pull off and caffeine pills I had to take just to stay awake through the day. By Kami, I didn't even expect to get one of the highest grades out of the whole class, much less pass them!! So being tired and irritated and so beyond frustrated might be those things that go under `what is wrong with the wench today'!”

 

Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and Kirara focused their attention on Inuyasha now that Kagome had her usual reasons for going back their time. After seeing, oh, several hundred of the same fight, people do get tired and know what to expect.

 

And expectedly, Inuyasha came up with his retort.

 

“Well guess what bitch? I. DON'T. CARE. Getting those jewel shards are much more important than having your relaxing time anyways!” an arrogant snort came from the hanyou, visibly ignoring the fuming girl in front of him.

 

The groups' eyes rested on Kagome.

 

“Inuyasha,” she began almost pleadingly, massaging her abused skull with thinning patience, “if I don't even rest up, I am gonna die of some form of mental illness and not from a demon attack! Please, I just need a week—”

 

“Ever the more reason for you to stay here! A week is too long, bitch, and by that time, Naraku would have the next half of the jewel completed!”

 

Okay, now that stung. Badly.

 

“I told you that wasn't my fault! It was Kikyo—”

 

“Leave Kikyo out of this!”

 

Kagome seriously began to think of multiple ways of hiding his dead body. “Inu—”

 

Her words were suddenly lost when a soul-stealer appeared at the edge of the forest and the hanyou was gone in a flash without so much as a backward glance, effectively ending their argument. She was at a loss for words, partly for the painstaking irony of the situation, but figured bitterly, that nothing ever changed.

 

Already, she began to feel the familiar pang of hurt and jealousy whenever Inuyasha pulled this off.

 

Damn him.

 

Seeing Kagome speechless, Miroku decided to end his visions of whacking his friend on the head badly with his staff and console his other friend. “Don't worry Kagome-sama. A solid smack on the head would be sufficient to remind Inuyasha of his manners. Arguing with a lady such as you is quite rude enough.”

 

Despite of herself, Kagome found herself grinning at the monk.

 

“Yeah! And chewing on the idiot's ear would help too!” Shippo flashed a glimmer of his fang before jumping off to hug his adopted mother. Even he didn't have to smell the fatigue and hurt on Kagome's scent in order to realize that she was, and couldn't help but growl at Inuyasha's callousness.

 

“Go ahead Kagome-chan, we'll take care of Inuyasha for you,” Sango added, her fingers drumming interestedly on her ever-present Hiraikotsu. “You deserve your break and if you come back looking as you are, well, I'll force you down to your time myself!”

 

A full-blown smile appeared on Kagome's tired face. “Thanks guys,” but try as she might, she couldn't keep her eyes from flickering over to the direction Inuyasha disappeared off to.

 

Miroku noticed this as well and said, “At least the argument ended without you having to subdue him several times and him going off to sulk at his failed attempt to keep you here, Kagome-sama.”

 

“Right,” with a short nod, she placed Shippo down and walked towards the well, “see you in a week!” was all she stated before finally jumping to her time.

 

A scowl formed on the kitsune's face and muttered, “Stupid Inuyasha.”

 

“Yes, stupid indeed,” Miroku concurred while Sango merely glared darkly at the sight of soul-stealers gathering in the forest.

 

 

 

Kagome sighed contentedly, Ahh…this IS bliss.

 

Her body began responding to the alluring call of the bubble bath she created for herself. The gentle waves soothed most of her internal and external pain (hovering over a desk does puts the back in an uncompromising position and not to mention her over-sat bottom) and it would have been complete if it wasn't for the incident earlier.

 

Ergh.

 

Why couldn't the world be fair for once? For once, she would just like to come home without either feeling guilty for making Inuyasha craters around the future shrine or sobbing her poor heart out because the supposed `love of her life' smashed it to a bloody pulp without realizing it.

 

But nooo. Someone up there didn't appreciate her trying to save the world from Naraku's greedy hands and instead decided to poke fun at her.

 

Realizing that her body went frigid with emotion and her nails began to dig unto her palm, Kagome quickly calmed herself down. Get a grip Kagome! she thought to herself angrily, this is YOUR time to relax not sulk and whine.

 

Although, she DID have legitimate reasons for sulking and whining…

 

“That's it! No more thoughts about the Feudal Era, Kagome,” she stubbornly set, before groaning in realization that she just talked to herself in third-person.

 

Still, no thoughts at all will be nice.

 

…

 

Sigh.

 

…

 

This feels good, actually.

 

…

 

…

 

I wonder what they'll do to Inuyasha…?

 

“Gaah!” Kagome yelled, annoyed at her lack of self-control, “Hmph. At least I did that for a…minute,” she added sulkily when her eyes flickered over to the waterproof, metallic clock that hung over the shower.

 

Pfft.

 

Oh, fingers are pruning, the girl noted bemusedly before dunking in the now colder bath one last time and taking out the plug to drain out the water. Trying to keep things in her head as simple as possible, she took out the dry towel and began to wipe herself dry.

 

Finally done, she headed out for her room to put on those remarkably soft ginger-man decorated pajamas she had gotten a few months back but haven't tried on for fear of being tempted to pack it with her to the Feudal Era where it would most definitely meet on a shredded, muddy, and lost demise.

 

Okay, nice and clean? Check.

 

Currently wearing favorite `jammies? Check.

 

Warm, bed covers? Check.

 

Body under the covers? Check.

 

Mind shutting down? Che—

 

“KAGOME~! Oden's ready!”

 

—on second thought, shut down of bodily functions can wait.

 

“COMING!!”

 

 

 

“You know you shouldn't have done that.”

 

“Feh.”

 

“And that Kagome-sama really was tired.”

 

“Feh.”

 

“She just needed some time to rest.”

 

“Feh.”

 

“After that, she'll have at least two months to help locate the Jewel shards.”

 

“Feh.”

 

“…You deserved what you got, by the way.”

 

A twinge from the several bumps created by the Hiraikotsu, the staff, and slightly over-chewed ears caused him to glare darkly over his shoulder. “Fuck off, monk,” he growled annoyingly before huffing loudly and retreated to the tree.

 

Sigh. “Very well.”

 

 

 

Three sets of eyes looked at her just like how normal people would while watching a pack of hungry lions devour a mere four-hundred-pound prey at a single sitting: morbid fascination dashed with tingling fear.

 

“Uh…Kagome, dear, there's no need to hurry. You've got all the time of night to eat if you want,” Mrs. Higurashi's reassurance fell on deaf ears, however.

 

“That's great, Mama, you go do that,” Kagome replied uninterestedly, while picking the beef with her chopsticks.

 

“Not to mention you look scary, onee-san.”

 

“Good for you, Souta.” Sluuurp.

 

“Are you sure you're being fed over there, granddaughter?”

 

“Of course not, gramps, why else would soda taste that way?—Oh, hot!”

 

“Uh…”

 

“I think we should just let her eat,” Souta whispered to his elders while watching his sister warily as she attacked the meal.

 

“Mmhm,” they agreed before jumping slightly when Kagome asked for seconds.

 

Kagome looked bewildered with the look they gave her. “What? Do I have rice on my face or something?”

 

“Did you even hear what we were talking about sis?”

 

Blink. “You were talking?”

 

The youngest Higurashi gave out a defeated sigh, before passing over the rice and the rest of the food. “Help yourself.”

 

Shrugging off the strange occurrence, Kagome proceeded to serve herself, too ensnared by the delicious food to hear the loud knocking from the door.

 

“I'll go get that,” Mrs. Higurashi excused herself to answer the person.

 

“Mrs. Higurashi-san?” a deep voice asked, bringing the attention of the other Higurashis' except for one. “I'm Yokoto Hiroshi, a recruiter from Camp Auk Ran and I would like to discuss your daughter's participation in the summer program.”

 

 

“Camp Auk Ran is basically a summer program created for honing our future generation's skills in the work force. Specially known for its high-quality teaching staff, the camp is widely known to develop kids' skills both mentally and physically.

 

“Recruiters, such as I, travel across Japan to, well, recruit suitable campers into the program and in all honesty, although I don't mean to brag, each newbie had graduated with outstanding marks from their schools and managed to be accepted to respectable colleges after completing the program,” Hiroshi added smoothly, the friendly smile never leaving his face. “I know you two have questions about Camp Auk Ran so I suppose we should just start off from there.”

 

With a polite smile, Mrs. Higurashi began since Kagome was still slightly confused with the situation, “Pardon my frankness, Mr. Yokoto-san, but as great as this camp sounds, how come we've never heard of it before? Surely a program that `boasts' its excellence would be at least publicly known.” Her tone earned her a slight smirk from her daughter.

 

Having traveled across ancient Japan, the experienced had instilled some sense of wariness when it comes to strangers into Kagome. Although she was never, and never would be, a cynic to everyone she didn't know, it still helped to be on guard when a `recruiter' comes in and wants to invite a future senior who barely made the minimum amount of days to pass the next grade.

 

“Well I wouldn't be surprised, Mrs. Higurashi-san. For as long as I've known it, Camp Auk Ran had been a private academy and while we host quite an opportunity, the managers also like to have…the cream of the crop, shall we say?, in the program.”

 

“And what does it actually teaches? I know you said that the program develops campers' abilities, but it would be nice to have the specifics, if it's not too much trouble that is.”

 

“Of course not, Mrs. Higurashi-san! The camp offers most subjects hosted in regular high schools; all forms of mathematics and sciences, literature, history, foreign languages, even gym. But the academy also teaches politics, business, and many more to the advanced campers. Usually, we use the first couple of days of analysis of the student's abilities and we base their lesson on that test. It's quite a complicated process but the computers and our staff have yet to make a mistake.”

 

“But why me?” Hiroshi's attention turned from the mother to the daughter with a twitch forming on the corner of his mouth.

 

Mrs. Higurashi looked at her daughter with a small, reassuring smile before turning back to look at the guest. The look was meant to silently comfort her on the fact that while she believes in her daughter and her capabilities, she too shared the same views about her being in this camp.

 

“While the staff are all aware of your attendance at school—” —blush— “we are also notified of the fact that you have managed to pull yourself together and made a strong comeback in the way of your finals, Ms. Kagome-san. Surely, a student who has been hit by all kinds of horrifying ailments and still manages to hold one of the highest GPA in her school is an incredible student indeed; a student who has earned her worthy in this academy,” Hiroshi added with a wink.

 

Oh. Well that was certainly…flustering.

 

“Ah,” Kagome uttered brilliantly, looking down at her bathrobe.

 

Mrs. Higurashi, having seen the effect of the strangers' words on her daughter, flashed him a happy and, in a sense, grateful smile. Whoever manages to make her precious darling fluster with pride had an automatic 10 brownie points in her book. “So what does Kagome have to bring?”

 

 

 

After an hour of discussing more about what was expected in the camp and the immense paper work filing out—stating that should anything happen to Kagome, they had a respectable amount of legality on how to treat her—Hiroshi excused himself to use their phone; his cell having died on him, he said.

 

Well out of earshot, Mrs. Higurashi turned to Kagome with utmost seriousness and asked, “So out with it.”

 

Startled to have been figured out so soon, Kagome stuttered out a response, “I-I have n-”

 

“Honey, you're the worst liar ever.”

 

“-I just don't know about the whole thing.” There she said it. Now on with the disappointment.

 

Okay, sure the guy was all nice and all—complimenting her of her hard work unlike a certain hanyou that shall remain unnamed—and that a bit of her hesitancy may have come from the fact that the week of this `Camp Auk Ran' was during her vacation week but the bottom line was, something felt off. Not so terribly that she would've just flatly refused, albeit politely, but enough to keep her on her toes; more so than already.

 

“Whatever do you mean, Kagome?”

 

After relating her earlier reasons, Kagome added, “Besides, it's just a simple training thing. I could always go to those special classes when I graduate and by that time, the shard hunt will probably over; perfect for college, yes?”

 

Okay, it was a lie, but at least it was white. For now anyways.

 

Smiling softly at her daughter, Mrs. Higurashi placed a hand on her shoulder and replied, “Kagome, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Whatever you learn in the camp, however odd you think it might be, will be something that can't be taught elsewhere. Plus…*sigh*, I really do hate to say this Kagome, but as for college…”

 

“…Yes?” A hesitant tone wriggling through her voice.

 

“Well, college is quite expensive and while I want the only the best education for you, the only way you'll be able to go is if you get a scholarship. And Mr. Yokoto-san did say that many of the alumni campers were eagerly accepted into private colleges, so this is something I believe you should take, sweetie.”

 

“I guess,” a small frown marring her face.

 

Man, if getting a scholarship was the only way to get a ride to college, she would have to work her butt off more than she already does. Not having post-high school education was something she just wouldn't accept. “But it still doesn't shake off the weird vibe.”

 

“Maybe it's just from staying over in the Feudal Era too much; you did say it was a strange time period at one point and maybe the paranoia just came over? Just give it a chance, Kagome-chan, and perhaps it's all in your head.”

 

“I guess,” she repeated.

 

“Oh, and you are getting enough to eat over there, right? Good. By the way, Mr. Yokoto-san is taking awhile. Will you go check if jii-chan hadn't tortured him already?”

 

Giggling at the image it opened, Kagome went to the hallway where he found Hiroshi-san staring at the pictures of her family as he held it. “You have a very loving family, Ms. Kagome-san,” he stated as he brushed the frame where everyone—including her diseased father—was all happy and in smiles a final time before setting it down.

 

Hm. Strange. He didn't even look up.

 

Brushing it off, Kagome grinned and joked, “Everyone has their quirks though. And you can drop off the `Miss' part; I don't think I'm that old.”

 

“I suppose, Kagome-san,” he chuckled comfortably, before heading back to the living room. “Well Mrs. Higurashi-san, I believe that everything here is taken care off. I'll personally take the papers to the camp and a car will pick her up here on Monday at 7 AM. Yes, it is a tad early, but we are trying to avoid rush hour and on any good day, it's about an hour ride long to the camp center. Oh and do remember to just bring some spare clothes and basic necessities—the rest will be provided—”

 

“-by the camp. I'll remember!”

 

“Good. I'll see you in a couple of days then. Good-bye Mrs. Higurashi-san, Kagome-san,” he bowed.

 

“Thank you for this opportunity, Mr. Yokoto-san,” Mrs. Higurashi replied politely as they led him towards the door.

 

The recruiter merely smiled back at them and gave a short wave before heading out down the shrine stairs a minute later. Closing the door behind her, Kagome turned to her mother with a small pout as the fact hit her again.

 

“So much for vacation.”

 

“No pain, no gain, dearest,” was all her mother said before saying `goodnight'.

 

Ergh. Too late now.

 

Sigh. Hope Inuyasha doesn't flip too soon.

 

 

 

Rriiingg.

 

Flip. “Yes, milady?”

 

The once smiling and friendly face of Hiroshi had turned into a neutral mask—the perfect poker face—once he stepped out of the shrine. Everything had changed; where he was once open and inviting, he was now cold and simply indifferent; he even looked dangerous in a sense.

 

“Has she agreed?” the caller stated.

 

“Of course.”

 

“Are the—”

 

“Installed and on green, milady.”

 

“Good. Oh, and Hiroshi? Don't interrupt me again.”

 

“My apologies, my Lady,” his face nor his short, clipped steps unchanging even after the caller hung up and he closed his phone.

 

Since really, it came side-by-side with the job.

 

 

Notes: If everything goes according to plan…more fun stuff should come out right around…next chapter. Reviews please!!