Inuyasha, Yu-Gi-Oh GX 1. Her Father's Announcement

Edited: 13 September 2011

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Inuyasha or YuGiOh GX

AN: There is a difference in the time skip between the two series of Yu-Gi-Oh, so instead of it being only ten years it is going to be twenty and it is an AU from the Inuyasha series

Summary: Seto Kaiba's eldest child, Kagome Akemi Higurashi Kaiba, is being sent to attend Duel Academy to take up her father's title of Duel Monsters Champion, but will she be able to take the title while also looking for a husband to be?

Character Translation:

Asuka Tenjouin= Alexis Rhodes

Fubuki Tenjouin= Atticus Rhodes

Jun Manjoume= Chazz Princeton

Judai Yuki=Jaden Yuki

Daichi Misawa= Bastion Misawa

Sho Marufuji=Syrus Truesdale

Ryo Marufuji=Zane Truesdale

Edo Phoenix= Aster Phoenix

Hayato Maeda= Chumley Huffington

Emi Ayukawa= Fonda Fontaine

Chronos de Medici= Vellian Crowler

Chancellor Sheppard= Chancellor Samejima

Ages:

Fubuki and Ryo= 17

Hayato= 16

Kagome, Asuka, Jun, Judai, Sho = 15

Souta = 12

"Speech"

_'Thoughts'_

* * *

Kagome sighed for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day as she patiently sat in a comfy black leather seat in her father's company office and tried not to fidget with her clothes. Her clothing consisted of dark cobalt blue baby doll top styled dress with a silver and white ribbon tied into a bow at the center edge of her dress' neckline and tiny periwinkle and silver colored butterflies embroidered into the bottom of the skirt that were fluttering around the edges in valley shaped design and a pair of matching peep-toe one inch heels adorned her dainty feet. In front of her was a black mahogany desk and sitting behind it was her father Seto Kaiba, and standing next to him was her Uncle Mokuba. Both she and her younger brother, Souta, have never been all that close to their father and uncle, seeing as the two were constantly gone on either business trips or duel monster tournaments in another city or country. Because their father and uncle were never around it caused their mother to move them out of the Kaiba mansion at an early age and move to the family shrine in Tokyo, which was managed by their maternal grandfather.

Their father had never really ever paid attention to them until five years ago when both Souta and Kagome had started to show an interest in their father's favorite card game and in other activities. It was only then that the two siblings were able to start seeing their father more on a regular basis. Before that the only times that the siblings had talked to or even saw their father was either on television, at holiday dinners, birthdays, or on the telephone. They finally caught and kept their father's and uncle's attention when both children had won their first tournament in duel monsters, and competitions in gymnastics and martial arts. However it was Kagome who had the complete attention of their father after her first win at a duel monsters tournament and Souta who had the attention of their Uncle Mokuba. It was those winnings that caused Seto and Mokuba to visit more often, so the two may see how the kids did in the competitions.

Now five years later Kagome was known as the Ace Princess in the Tokyo region of where she lived. She was also known as Ace Princess because she used the alias of Ace in tournaments and competitions and also almost all of her duels against other players usual ended within ten turns of the game, most of time they ended in one turn if she felt merciless. Originally she had only entered herself as A. Higurashi, short for Akemi Higurashi so that she would not be lying to the officials nor would she draw attention to her family if the media ever searched her family name for an A. Higurashi and have them connecting her to her father because there many other Higurashi's with an A first or middle name. It was because she won so many of her duels under eleven turns that she eventually changed her alias to Ace.

However today as she sat in front of her father she was not Ace Princess nor was she Kagome Higurashi, as she was known as to the rest of the world. Right now she was Kagome Akemi Higurashi-Kaiba, eldest child and only daughter of Seto Kaiba. Still sitting in the seat in front of her father's desk, Kagome waited anxiously for her father and uncle to tell the important news that had pulled her out of her gymnastics practice while she fidgeted with her skirt of her dress.

"Kagome," started Seto as he watched his daughter with a calculating eye. "Your mother and I have decided that now that you are fifteen and can be responsible enough for yourself, you are to attend to the family school Duel Academy..."

Before he was able to finish speaking he was interrupted because Kagome had by then shot up from her seat and spoke to her father in a respectful tone, "Why do I have I have to go to the academy? You know about all of the competitions that I compete in to keep my title as consecutive champion in marital arts and gymnastics. Also from what you have told me I may as well have graduated from the school this year because I have already met all of the graduation requirements."

Letting his daughter finish her rant about not going to the academy, Seto started to explain why he and his wife have decided to send their only daughter to the family boarding school, "Kagome you are going to the school as a student to learn more strategies for your duels. However, you are not only going there to study but also to take the title of being the family's dueling champion."

"But can't I just do that here on the main land instead of at the academy. If I go to the school I will be stuck on an island in the middle of nowhere with possibly absolutely no competition in duels at all," Kagome complained hotly as her temper started to rise.

Before her temper reached an all-time high and snapped her Uncle Mokuba interrupted her saying, "Kagome, you are not only going there to take the family title and study as a student as my brother had said. Your mom and dad have decided that while you are attending the school, you are to look for a husband or soon-to-be husband, a fiancé in other words, to help run the family company with your little brother."

For the first time in a very long while, Kagome was left speechless and slowly slumped into her seat as her mind tried to comprehend what her uncle had just announced to her. When her mind finally caught up to what was just announced to her, Kagome started sputtering and exclaimed, "Wh...what?" Turning towards her father Kagome awaited an answer from him. As soon as he gave her a solemn nod of his head she searched his eyes to see if he was truly serious about this decision, seeing that it was absolutely true she continued earlier exclamation, "Why do I already have to look for husband? I only just fifteen!"

Tired of hearing his daughter yell Seto cut her off and tried to reason with Kagome. "Kagome, it is time for you to look for someone who can help you run and take care of the company. So far almost every boy that you have brought home to meet your mother and the rest of the family has not gain either one of our approval for you to marry them," stated Seto calmly. In his own mind Seto thought, _'Why couldn't she just accept this like her mother had.'_

"Okay that I can understand, but what about Sesshomaru he must have been able to gain your approval because he certainly gained hahaue's. Also what am I supposed to do about my competitions?" complained an unhappy Kagome.

It was at that time that her Uncle Mokuba decided her first question that was directed towards her father. "Well that Sesshomaru guy was the closest to gaining your dad's approval of having a relationship with him. But..." dragged out Mokuba.

"But what?"

"He didn't meet one of the most important standards in your dad's book."

"And what would that be?" prompted a slightly curious Kagome.

Instead of Uncle Mokuba answering her as she had expected it was her father who answered her. "He didn't play or even know what Duel Monsters," said a furiously scowling Seto Kaiba as his thoughts brought up the memory of the discussion he had with his wife Kunloon Higurashi-Kaiba about his daughter's last boyfriend that was brought home to meet the family. '_Can't believe someone actually doesn't know what Duel Monsters is. If they don't even know that how do they expect me to let them date my little girl,'_ ranted Seto in his head.

_'That's it,' _thought Kagome with a deadpanned expression on her face as she fought her hardest to keep from face faulting into the floor. _'I guess it's a good thing Sesshomaru and I decided we saw each other more as siblings and friends than we did as actual romantic interests a week after I brought him over for dinner as a boyfriend.' _As she recomposed herself to ask her next question, she was still in shock that her father's biggest standard for boys to date her was so simple. When she was finally recomposed, Kagome asked, "What are the rest of yours and hahaue's standards?"

"Before we begin these standards are not only from us," stated Seto now that he had finally snapped out of his thoughts. "They are from the whole entire family both maternal and paternal."

"First," started Mokuba as he saw that his niece wanted to be finished with this meeting as soon as possible. "He must be able to live comfortably and be able to stand living in a wealthy environment. And when I say that I don't mean you have to marry anybody who is rich and he cannot be a jerk, a weirdo, or a snob."

"Alright, I can understand that," agreed Kagome as she reached into her hand bag and pulled out a small notepad and a pen to write down what her family's standards for her future husband would be.

"Second," continued Seto as eyed Kagome with a serious look. "Is that he must be very healthy and athletic especially with how much you have trained."

"Third, he has to provide for you through his own career and not the family company or family wealth."

"Fourth, he has to be able to duel. That is the main reason why your mother and I are sending you to Duel Academy, currently most of the best junior duelist attend there right now as you yourself are already known as a junior champion duelist."

"Lastly and most importantly is that..."

"We want your future husband to love you for you and truly care about you," finished the two elder Kaibas together.

"I know we have almost never been home nor have I been a very good father for either you or Souta, but know this. I love the both of you very much and I only want what's the best for my little girl," said Seto softly. As soon as those words had left his mouth, he rose from his seat behind his desk and walked it and over to Kagome to wrap her in a gentle fatherly hug to express his sincere love for his daughter. "You do know that I love you, right Gome-chan?" whispered Seto into Kagome's ear.

Kagome sat in her seat stocked still as her mind slowly processed what had just transpired right in front of her slowly she returned her father's hug, and for the first time in many years since she was a little girl she said a word that Seto had longed to hear pass through his daughter's lips once again. "I know tou-chan, I know," whispered back Kagome as tears expressing her joy started leak out of the corners of her eyes and trail down her face in small rivulets.

As this display of father-daughter affection was going on Mokuba remained completely silent as he watched his older brother and niece make up for past transgressions. _'Well this was unexpected,' _thought Mokuba as he leaned against the wall that was behind him with his arms crossed over his suit covered chest and a smirk crawling onto his face. _'But it's a good unexpected.'_

When father and daughter finally pulled away from each other and out of each other's embrace the two quickly recomposed themselves and were back in their seats sitting still with straight backs. Seeing that the two other Kaibas were back to their normal selves, Mokuba began speaking again, "Now that we are all back to normal. How about we address Kagome-chan's competition problem, ne?"

"Oh yeah… What are we going to do about that? I'm not willing to go to the academy unless I can still compete in them," stated Kagome

"Well you can just not go to the competitions during your time at the academy," suggested Mokuba as he pushed himself off the wall that he had been leaning on.

"What, I can't do that! I have to keep in shape. I'm betting that I won't even be able to keep half of my muscles while I'm there," complained Kagome.

"There is a reason why I had a gym and other training facilities built with the academy," added Seto.

"So that solves one for you, but what about actually attending the competitions?"

"Well I was hoping I would still be allowed to stay at my current school and later go to the school my friends are going to," stated Kagome meekly.

"That I won't allow," said Seto firmly. "However to compensate for taking you away from your current friends and school how about I let you use the helicopter to go to your tournaments, ne?"

"Really?" asked Kagome has immediately perked up and began slightly bouncing in her seat as the last few words passed through her father's lips.

"Kagome, Kaiba's do not bounce around like a hyperactive lunatic with the exceptions of your uncle and brother on a sugar high," Seto chuckled softly as he tried to stop his daughter's bouncing.

Finally remembering where she was, Kagome stopped bouncing in her seat and calmed herself down. "Okay now what am I supposed to tell my friends when they ask me why I am transferring schools?"

"How about the truth?" suggested Mokuba with an arched eyebrow as he once again leaned back against the wall, but this time with his hands laced together behind his head.

"Can't, almost no one knows any of us are related to the 'Great Seto Kaiba' or his little brother." A the two continued with Mokuba shooting off ideas and Kagome putting them down for one reason or another they never noticed that as each idea was shout out that Seto was slowly starting to lose his cool.

"Just tell them that your father called and told you that you have been enrolled into Duel Academy to find someone suitable to your taste in men," Seto said hotly. He was tired of the two younger Kaiba's talking as if he was not there and their crazy ideas to explain to his daughter's friends why she was transferring schools.

"That might actually work," exclaimed Kagome with a happy grin appearing on her face as she snapped her fingers.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Mokuba asked himself.

"Because you're the immature and younger one between the two of us."

"Hey I resent the immature statement, I am not immature!" retorted Mokuba while pouting and crossing his arms together over his chest. At that moment, he looked very much the part of an insulted child.

Ignoring his little brother Seto turned back towards his daughter and began to tell her how and who she will be going to school as. "Now that we have that taken care of, Kagome you will going to school using you current alias of Kagome Higurashi to keep away boys who are after you for the family fortune as that was one our standards in your future husband."

"I was going to do that anyways, I would probably get more suitors being Seto Kaiba's daughter than I would as the Ace Princess," declared Kagome as she started to play with the butterfly embroidery at the hem of her dress.

"Yes that's because you will still be known as the Ace Princess. That may help you find a suitor who actually has some skills in the game instead of those pathetic amateurs."

"So may I take my leave chichiue?" inquired Kagome as she stood up from her seat.

"Yes, you may Kagome, but remember the entrance exam is in a month. Exactly one week before the academy school year starts and you have to take it if you want a good dorm," reminded Seto as he let his daughter return to his wife's home in Tokyo.

"Yes chichiue," answered Kagome solemnly as she remembered that she still had to leave her friends behind to attend her new school. Kagome then proceeded to calmly leave her father's office with her back straight and her dress moving about her like an ocean breeze was gently blowing towards her.

As soon as his niece was gone Mokuba turned toward his brother and asked, "Well shall we go tell the pilots to be ready to take Gome-chan to competitions during the school year?"

Silently getting up from his seat, Seto headed out of his office towards the direction of where the company pilots stayed within the building while calling out to Mokuba, "Let's go."

* * *

Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter of The Duel Champion's Daughter.

Please send criticism on how to make the story better and what I have to change. :D

Tell me if you liked it.


	2. Memories and Departure

Edited: 6 September 2011

_Disclaimer: I do not own either Inuyasha or Yu-Gi-Oh GX_

Summary: Seto Kaiba's eldest child, Kagome Akemi Higurashi Kaiba, is being sent to attend Duel Academy to take up her father's title of Duel Monsters Champion, but will she be able to take the title while also looking for a husband to be?

Warning: There will be a lot of flashbacks in this chapter. You have been warned.

AN: Okay I know that the story does not exactly follow the time line of the original anime, but this is my story so I can change it if I want. Now if you do not like what I have done and have certainly not read my summary of the story, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU STILL READING IT?

Okay now that I have finally gotten that out of my system on with the story. :D

"Speech"

_'Thoughts'_

Ages:

Kagome= 15

Souta= 12

Most of Kagome's Friends= Ages Vary

Kunloon= 38

Grandpa Higurashi= 65

* * *

_One Month Later_

Kagome sighed as she looked around her now somewhat barren bedroom at her maternal family's shrine in Tokyo. Her room now contained only her clothes, furniture, and other replaceable mementos. She had been notified by her father that she didn't need to pack any clothes aside from her training clothes and gear and a few of her formal clothes. Staring at the familiar periwinkle colored walls of her bedroom reminded her of when she and her family had first moved in to the shrine and the disgusting shade of pink that had formally adorned the walls.

_Flashback_

_**Higurashi Shrine, Tokyo, Japan 7 Years Prior**_

"_Okaa-chan," called an eight years old Kagome from her place near the Goshinboku that was on the shrine as she twirled around in her sunset orange summer dress._

"_Yes Kagome?" answered Kunloon, Kagome's and Souta's mother, as she and Souta__, at the time four years old, _ stepped onto the shrine grounds.

"_Why are we at grandpa's shrine?" Kagome asked as she turned to face her mother._

"_Yeah!" Souta piped in from his place next to his mother. "Why we at jiji's?"_

"_Ano... well," started Kunloon nervously as she tried to answer her children. "We'll be staying at grandpa's house until your tou-chan comes home."_

"_But tou-chan always comes back." complained Kagome as she began skipping to her mother._

"_Yeah," agreed Souta._

"_Well... does tou-chan always stay at home with us?"_

"_No," the two siblings replied together._

"_Well that's why we're staying here until he does," stated Kunloon with finality._

"_Okay okaa-chan," the two siblings once again chimed together. With that the family trio headed towards the house on the shrine that the children's grandfather stayed at. Once the group neared the house, the children spotted their grandfather standing just outside the entrance to the house waiting for them. Immediately the two siblings raced over towards their grandfather, all the while crying out, _

_"Jiji!" at the top of their lungs and once close enough the two tackled him to the ground. The three of them tumble to the ground in a fit of giggles and laughter as Kunloon watched on as she also lost to her own laughter at the sight her children and father made._

_Once the group laughing fit was over, Kunloon helped her father and children up from the ground. _"_Alright you young people, say why don't we head inside and search for your rooms, ne?" asked Grandpa Higurashi when he was firmly on his feet with the help of his daughter._

"_Yeah!" the two siblings cried. With that answer the quartet quickly headed inside the house and was led upstairs by Grandpa Higurashi. As the group was led the hallway that would bring them to their bedrooms, Kagome noticed that the walls of the hallway were nearly completely bare except for the occasional picture of their family framed and hanged onto the wall. The pictures that hanged from the wall ranged from family pets to baby pictures of Kagome, Souta, and their mother._

_Once they had arrived at the first chestnut colored door of the hallway, Grandpa Higurashi pushed it opened and announced to the rest of the group. "This first room is little Souta's room." As soon as that sentence had left their grandfather's mouth, Souta was seen charging into the room so that he could explore it himself. With Souta inside the room Kagome decided to peek in to see how her little brother's new room looked like. Inside, the room's walls were painted in a light pear green shade with white floor trimmings and the floor was the same matching color as the door._

"_Wow," Kagome whispered to herself as she gazed about Souta's room. She was amazed at how pretty the room looked even though it was of such a simple style._

"_Well shall we head off to find your room Kagome dear?" asked Kunloon as she called for her daughter. Nodding her head Kagome ran back over to her mother and grandfather. The remaining trio of the group left Souta to explore his new room as they headed over to Kagome's room._

_Arriving at the next chestnut colored door, Kagome immediately knew it was her room and thanked her grandfather for it. With her thanks given, the two adults headed off to Kunloon's old bedroom at the shrine. Once the adults were out of her eye sight, Kagome took a deep breath and prepared herself for what was inside of her room. Stepping inside Kagome immediately noticed the blaring pink that had adorned the walls of her bedroom and her nose wrinkled in disgust at the color. She also noticed that her room was also very similar to her little brother's room with both the floor trimming and the floor boards. However she also noticed a large difference between the two rooms, while in Souta's there had only been two doors one to his closet and the other to the hallway, she had three doors two of which she already knew lead to the same places as Souta's had the third door was a mystery to her. Heading over to it, she slowly opened it and happily surprised to see that she had her own bathroom complete with shower stall, sink, and toilet with ocean blue painted walls. Stepping away from her new bathing area, Kagome took noticed that her window was pushed out and had a long white cushion built-in under it to act as a seat._

_After she had finished taking in the rest of her room, Kagome headed over towards Souta's room to pick him up. When they were finally standing together, the two siblings headed downstairs to tell their mother what they thought about their rooms and about living with their grandfather. Once they were downstairs and had finally spotted their mother they immediately rushed over to her and began rambling about what they wanted to do about their new bedrooms._

_Cutting her children off mid-sentence and kneeling down to their eye level, Kunloon asked, "So what do you guys think about living here?"_

_The reaction was instantaneous, immediately Souta yelled out with a happy grin, "I love it!"_

"_Me too," giggled out Kagome_

_Happy that her children had no problems at their new home, Kunloon let a smile breakout onto her face and said, "Good."_

_End Flashback_

Snapping out of her thoughts, Kagome shook her head to rid her mind of that memory. She then proceeded to check her room, closet, and bathroom, just to make sure she had not forgotten to pack anything important, those being some of her electronics and training clothes and gear and some stuff from her childhood. Once she was certain that she had everything that she needed or deemed important she grabbed her black backpack that was embroidered with white butterflies and slipped in onto her right shoulder while making sure the duel disk that was clipped onto it was secured and then grabbed sky blue trunk with black trimming and headed towards her bedroom door that led to the hallway.

Looking about her room one last time her eyes caught a glance of her bedroom ceiling. Her ceiling was painted as if it was a part of the night sky with twinkling stars and a hovering moon. While staring at her bedroom ceiling, a certain memory of when she and her best friends painted the ceiling flashed through her mind.

_Flashback_

_**Higurashi Shrine, Tokyo, Japan 4 Years Prior Midmorning**_

"_Hey thanks for coming over, guys," called an eleven year old Kagome as she led her group of friends upstairs towards her bedroom. She was currently clad in a pair of faded blue jean overalls and an old nearly worn out t-shirt. Her long blue black hair was also pulled up into a high ponytail to keep it out of her face and eyes._

"_It's no problem," answered the only other girl within the group. The girl had dark brown hair and chocolate colored eyes and she was clad in the same type of clothing as Kagome. "That's what friends are for."_

"_What kind of friends would we be if we didn't help you when you needed our help?" stated and asked the black haired and violet eyed boy who was also in similar clothing, but instead of jean overalls he had on a pair of a faded blue jeans._

"_Yeah!" declared another boy, but with red hair and emerald green eyes who was also wearing the same clothes as the last boy. "Plus I would never give up the chance to paint someone's ceiling."_

"_Thanks Sango-chan, Miroku-kun, and Shippo-kun," thanked Kagome to her three friends._

"_Just out of curiosity," started the black haired boy now known as Miroku as the finally arrived at Kagome' bedroom. "But what exactly are we going to paint onto your ceiling Kagome-chan?"_

"_Well it's kind of embarrassing," Kagome began sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head in her nervousness._

"_Well what is it?" urged Sango, who was anxious to know what her sister like friend has been hiding._

"_It can't be as bad as when we had to paint that giant frog for Mizuhiri-sensei's classroom," prompted Miroku_

"_No I guess not," Kagome said who was slightly shivering as a mental picture of the frog they had to paint onto their science teacher's classroom wall pop into her head. "But please, Miroku don't ever, and I mean EVER mention that thing again. I still have nightmares of it, especially with those moving eyes." _

_Kagome finished off her complaint with a violent shiver emphasizing her point._

"_Sure I promise I will never speak about the creepy frog again," pledged Miroku with a roll of his violet eyes to show what he thought about his friend's reaction towards the 'creepy' frog._

"_Now that that's over and done with, are you going to tell us what we're going to paint now?" asked Shippo excitedly._

"_Oh yeah, we're going to be painting the background for the night sky and the full moon," Kagome told the others._

"_What about the stars?" Sango asked. "You can't have the night sky without the stars."_

"_Well if you look up we already did something for the stars. My mom called in a contractor and we had him install silver and blue Christmas lights to act as stars," said Kagome as she pointed out the tiny light bulbs that were only slightly sticking out of the ceiling, but were also currently covered in painters tape to prevent the bulbs from being covered in paint._

_"Ohh..."_

_"Now does anybody want to get started?" asked Kagome._

_"Yeah!" the group of friends cried out._

_"Then let's get started. Most of buckets of paint that we need are already opened so all we need to do is setup the ladders and get started." With that said all four of them started to work on what they had to do either setting up the ladders or pouring the paint into painting trays. Once each person was done with their respective self-appointed jobs, they all proceeded to climb up their ladders and carefully began to paint the ceiling._

_It was an hour or so later that the group finished painting the background for the ceiling. The group then decided to take a break while they waited for the paint to dry. "Hey guys?" Kagome called out to her friends as she wiped away the paint that had dripped onto her face._

_"Yeah," was her resounding response from all of her friends in her bedroom._

_"You guys want to take a break while the paint dries?"_

_"Sure," was the immediate response from everyone._

_"Hey Kagome," called Miroku as he also tried to clean himself of the drying paint. "Do you think your mom made any snacks for us?"_

_"Probably," Kagome answered thoughtfully. "I did tell her why you guys were coming over for anyways."_

_"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go see if there's anything to eat!" yelled Shippo as he immediate ran for the door._

_"Yeah!" Sango called over, having just finished cleaning herself of any remaining paint. "I'm starving."_

_Once that was said the quartet of friends grouped together at the bedroom door and proceeded to walk downstairs to get a snack. As they walked the group made small talk about things ranging from things happening in school or what their plans for the next weekend were. When they finally got downstairs and to the living room the group saw that on the coffee table was a platter of sandwiches and glasses of apple juice._

_"Kagome-chan," said Sango as she and the rest of the group headed over to the platter of food and drinks._

_"Yeah Sango-chan," replied Kagome as she helped herself to a sandwich._

_"Your mom is the BEST!" all of her friends chimed together. Kagome was stunned into silence for a moment, but then burst into loud peals of laughter at her friends' reaction._

_"Hahaha... thanks guys. I'll be sure to tell her that," thanked Kagome in between her fits of giggles. The other's calmly waited for their laughing friend to come down from her laughing fit, as they began to help themselves to some well yearned food._

_Once she was calm enough to speak without letting loose giggles, Kagome joined her friends in eating the food, her mother had prepared for them, in silence as the rest of the group had done. Growing tired of the silence, Kagome asked her friends, "Does anybody want to watch a movie or a TV show?"_

_"Sure," answered Shippo immediately with a half-eaten sandwich in his hand. "Is there anything you guys want to watch?"_

_"Ooh," called Sango as she finished her sipping her juice. "How about that new horror movie that just came out?"_

_"You mean the one with the girl and demon?" asked Shippo as he drew an air drawing of a demon with his half eaten sandwich._

_"Yeah that one!" exclaimed Sango happily while clapping her hands at the fact that someone knew what she was talking about._

_"I'm willing to see it," piped in Miroku from his seat next to Sango as took a drink from his glass._

_"So we're all in agreement that we're going to see the new horror film then?" asked Kagome to make sure there were no objections._

_A resounding "Yes!" was her answer from her friends. Getting up from her seat, Kagome quickly looked through her family's video cabinet in search of the new horror film DVD that her family had just bought._

_"Hey Kagome-chan?" called Shippo from his place on the floor._

_"Yeah?" answered Kagome with her head inside the video cabinet._

_"How does your family get all of your videos? You guys always get most of them before they're released from the theaters?"_

_Kagome immediately stiffened, not knowing how to answer her friend. She had never told any of her friends who her father was. So she was unable to tell them how her family came into possessing the DVDs prior to the release of the movies by the companies._

_"Umm..." started Kagome, who had just found the movie that they were going to watch, as she tried to think of a way to answer her friend. However she was saved from answering Shippo when Sango interjected in saying, "Oh, leave her alone Shippo-kun and let's just watch the movie."_

_Once that was said everyone piled onto the couch as Kagome popped the DVD into the DVR and flipped the switch on what needed to be turned on or off. The group continued to watch the movie for the next two hour while eating and drinking._

_Every now and then there would be screams of terror resonating from children within the living room of the house. After two hours of screaming in terror and eating, the children all slowly got up from their positions huddle together on the couch._

_"We should go back upstairs soon," stated Kagome tired as she stretched the kinks out of her back._

_"Yeah we should. We still have to paint the moon onto the ceiling," said Miroku as he slowly got up from the couch._

_"Well let's get going," called Shippo from his place next to the staircase._

_Everyone hurriedly ran up to the stairs once they were sure that all of the possible eye sand was out of their eyes. Once they had all reached Kagome's bedroom, they proceeded to do what they had previously done and began to paint the area that Kagome had pointed out to them where the moon would be. The group continued to paint the moon onto the ceiling for the next hour or so. Every once in while one of the kids would throw paint at a random person in the room. Eventually after the moon was finished the room was thrown into an all-out paint war._

_When they were finally finished with their paint, each person was either lying on their back or on their stomach panting for much needed air. Each person's clothing was covered in both blue and silver paint with bits of it randomly spotted in their hair. It was very good thing that Kagome and her mother had already covered Kagome's room's wall with plastic, just in case something like the paint war would happen._

_The sight of the children was truly a hilarious scene to behold. Tiredly the boys and girls went to separate bathrooms to clean up, and that night everyone in their group of friends fell asleep with a content smile upon their face._

_Flashback End_

Slowly a smile formed onto Kagome's face as she came out of her memories. Remembering what today was, Kagome let out a sad sigh and once again took hold of her trunk's handle because it had slipped from her grasp when her mind went flew through her last memory. Kagome slowly left her bedroom in sadness, as she already started to miss the little odd quirks that were in her room like the squeaky floor board and the window that almost never completely closed, and descended down the staircase.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Kagome saw her mother, brother, and grandfather waiting for her. "I'm ready," said Kagome.

"Alright dear," said Kunloon once she had checked her daughter over to make sure Kagome was in fact ready to leave and was not forgetting anything. Once she was done checking Kagome over, Kunloon proceeded to lead her family towards the black colored Sequoia that was waiting at the bottom of the shrine, to take them towards the harbor that held the ship which would take Kagome to her new school.

_At the Harbor_

Once Kagome's family reached the parking lot of the harbor, Kagome was shocked to her core and happily surprised to see all of her friends and past boyfriends turned friend waiting for her. Kagome was in complete shock because she had not told any of her friends that she would be going to a different school from everyone else this year, and even if she had told them, she had not expected any of her friends would have actually come see her off. As soon as she was out of the car, her backpack flew away from her when she was tackled to the ground by a group of crying girls, who each had a different hair color decorating their precious heads. While she was on the ground and listening to her friends that were on top of her cry, some of her guy friends helped her mother and brother take her luggage out of the trunk of the car. As she laid there on the pavement with her friends crying to her and her backpack gathering dust, Kagome wondered how her friends were even able to find out about her leaving. The friends that were on top of her were all crying to her about why she had not told them that she was leaving for another school and things similar to that. Once that train of thought passed through her mind, Kagome remembered how her mother had acted all suspicious and strange during the last week that she had been able to spend her family.

Slowly coming out of her thoughts, Kagome noticed that all of friends had already climbed off of her and the pale hand that was marred with violet stripes, which was attached to the arm of her ex-boyfriend and best guy friend, Sesshomaru that was extended out to her. Taking the offered hand, she pulled herself up from her position on the ground and proceeded to brush off the dirt from her black flare jeans and dark blue corset like turtle-necked shirt, readjust her two inch silver belt, which had her duel monsters deck and cell phone clipped onto it by two separate black carriers, and fix her appearance. Once she was done fixing herself and placing her backpack once again onto her shoulder, Kagome looked up to see her friends and saw all the sadness in her friends' eyes and immediately she dropped her head to avoid the looks that she was sure that they would be giving her. Being unable to look her friends in the face, Kagome slowly bade her family farewell and made to take her luggage to the boarding area of the ship.

Before she was able to even take a step away after she bade her family farewell, a group of voices yelled out to her. "Kagome," was what the group was yelling. Turning back to the group, Kagome reluctantly faced her friends.

"You're not going to leave us without saying goodbye, are ya?" called out a guy from her group of friends who had his black hair pulled into a high ponytail and blue eyes. Immediately Kagome recognized that it was Kouga, she lifted her head somewhat in relief because she knew that if it was Kouga who was speaking then her friends most likely forgave her for not telling them about her leaving.

She answered him by going up to the group and proceeded to give each person a hug goodbye, some others had even smacked her over the head for not telling them all the while exclaiming, " I can't believe you didn't tell us about this!" or something along those lines. Once each person was given a hug, the entire group of friends surrounded Kagome and each person pulled out a small gift from either their bags or their pocket. When everyone, save Kagome had a gift in their hands, they all, one by one passed his or her gift to Kagome and lingered slightly when it was time for the next person to give their gift. Once each gift was given to her, Kagome slowly placed each gift into her nearly forgotten backpack without opening any of them because she knew that she still had to board the ship soon. When she was finished packing all the presents, her bag was nearly bursting at the seams. She then thanked all of her friends for the gifts they had given her. She wouldn't be opening any of them until she was in her dorm at the academy.

With a watery smile and some tears threatening to fall from her eyes, Kagome quickly gave her friends and her family each one last hug and farewell and also promising some of her friends, who were also her rivals that she would be back during competitions. As she once again headed to take her luggage with her to the boarding dock, she was again surprised when her friends, Kouga and Inuyasha, had taken her luggage from her and proceeded to move it over to the loading docks for her.

With one last smile to her friends and family, Kagome boarded her ship to head off to her new school all the while wiping away the oncoming tears from face. Now that she had the support of friends, Kagome felt that she was ready for what was to come this year, and just hoped she would be able to find herself the perfect husband this year.

* * *

AN: Okay people I hope you like the new chapter. This my Chinese New Years present to you guys. So Happy Chinese New Years and Saint Valentine's Day! Also sorry if going to the academy is different from how Jaden/Judai had originally gone there, but I only remember students going to and leaving the school by boat. Sorry! XD About Souta's speech pattern in the flashback, I actually have a four years old cousin whose speech is like that. I think he'll grow out of it in another year.

Pictures of the shirt Kagome is wearing would be posted onto my profile


	3. The Frist Duel and Reminders

Edited:19 July 2013

**The Duel Champion's Daughter**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own either Inuyasha or Yu-Gi-Oh GX

**Summary: **Seto Kaiba's eldest child, Kagome Akemi Higurashi Kaiba, is being sent to attend Duel Academy to take up her father's title of Duel Monsters Champion, but will she be able to take the title while also looking for a husband to be.

AN: Okay before the story begins I really want to thank all my reviewers. I also want to thank Akuma-chibi, one of my favorite authors, for typing up the dueling scene for this story. So thank you and I hope you will continue to help me with the game. Also for those who have asked Ryo Marufuji is Zane Truesdale in the English version. Now on with the story! :)

"Speech"

_'Thoughts'_

* * *

**_At the Harbor with Kagome's family and friends_**

The entire group of people watched sadly as the ship started to depart from the harbor as their beloved Kagome left to another place with it. While the ship was departing each person was either yelling to Kagome, "Remember to come back for the competitions!" shouted some of her friends, and others would shout, "We're going to miss you, Kagome!" or "We love you, Kagome!"

As the ship sailed off further and further away and finally disappeared from their eye sight, the people in the group one by one let the tears that they had been holding back fall down from their eyes.

People slowly left the harbor in groups of four or five, and soon the only people left there were Kagome's family members Sighing sadly, Kunloon turned away from where she was staring out to the sea and faced her remaining family members, all the while wiping away the tears that were on her face. "Well how about we start heading home?" suggested Kunloon once she had finished wiping away the tears.

"Yeah," answered Souta faintly as he too turned away from the sea and looked up towards his mother.

"Do you think aneki is going to be okay to the school?" Souta asked in slight worry.

"I think your aneki will be just," Kunloon reassured her son. "We all know how she can handle any problem that comes her way," continued Kunloon with a smile on her face, but in her mind she was thinking, _'But her husband-to-be problem...'_

"Yeah aneki can handle anything!" cheered Souta happily, thinking about the times that Kagome had handled the neighborhood bullies when they were younger.

"Well let's start heading back to the shrine," cried Grandpa Higurashi as he too cleaned the tears that had come from seeing off his eldest grandchild, from his wrinkled face.

Together the family departed from the harbor and headed over to the car that was still waiting for them at the parking lot. The family then left to go home with one member less than when they had arrived.

**_With Kagome on the ship_**

Kagome sadly waved goodbye to her friends with a smile as the ship departed from the harbor with her on it. As the ship was pulling away from its dock, she heard her friends yell to her to remember to come back during competitions and festivals. She in turn yelled her reply to them all the while smiling. She told them that she would remember to come and that they should expect her the day before the events happened.

Once the harbor that the ship had previously been anchored at was out of her eye sight, Kagome let the smile that had been on her face fade away and her arm to fall back down to her side. Sighing sadly, she turned around and started to walk to the interior of the ship.

As she was making her way to the interior she heard some commotion at the front of the boat. Making her way over to crowd that had begun form. Kagome saw that there were already some duelists dueling each other. Some people in crowd were also talking about the strategies that the duelists were using and others she noticed were surprisingly talking about her.

"Hey did you hear?" a random girl asked another duelist next to her.

"Hear about what?" was the reply.

"Well I heard that the Ace Princess was on board to go to Duel Academy with us," she replied in eagerness.

"Really?" was the other girl's astonished answer. "I love her and I heard she hasn't lost any duel that's come her way."

"I know. Why do you think she's coming to the academy anyways?" the first girl asked thoughtfully

"Probably to learn more strategies or something," suggested the second girl while shrugging her shoulders.

All the while this conversation was taking place; more people began to talk about the Ace Princess once they heard the title. Seeing that as her cue to leave, Kagome quickly left the deck as quietly as possible continued towards the interior of the ship. After having successfully kept the majority of the students from recognizing her, Kagome was able to make her way to the side of the ship's deck. Now she just had to make it to the island without being seen or recognized.

"HEY!"

Did she mention making it to the island _without_ being seen?

She didn't respond, silently hoping that the one yelling would get the idea and leave her be.

"Hey!" The voice wasn't as loud now, but it was closer. "Didn't you hear me? I said hey!" She sighed and came face to face with a pair of fallow brown eyes, taking a step back she took in the appearance of the overly jovial boy. His hair was cut in an odd shape with two parts framing his face; it was a duo shade of brown and if she were to guess the shades, she would assume Ochre and Dark Sepia.

"I heard you, though I'll admit, I was trying not to."

"Huh?" He seemed confused, but she ignored it and turned to walk away when he once more called out to her. "You're a duelist!" He called, "Right?"

She mentally rolled her eyes. She knew that he wasn't asking her, only wording it in that of a question. Only major idiots would ask something like that.

"Duel me!"

Her eyes widened and her left hand found the black velvet pouch that held her deck on her hip.

"Duel... you?" She asked, trying to comprehend the thought of dueling someone like him. Surely he wasn't serious. She turned around curiously and found a huge grin on his face, cards already on his duel disk.

"... You're serious..." she smiled. "Alright then, this should be fun."

"YEAH!"

She watched him run to the other side of the ships dock as she unclipped her duel disk from her backpack, pulled her deck out and placed it on her own personal duel disk, making sure the deck clipped in securely and strapped her duel disk snuggly onto her forearm.

"Right, I'll assume that the duel will be played with 4000 life points to start."

"Yep!"

"Then, let's begin." She turned her duel disk on and caught five cards before drawing a singular one in her other hand. "You don't mind going first, do you?"

"Sure thing," He looked down at his own deck and took one card in his hand. "First I'll place Elemental Hero Bubbleman on the field face up, and with his special ability, I can draw two more cards!"

Kagome looked to the monster with 800/ATK points and 1200/DEF points before turning in time to see two cards shoot out of his dual disk; he took them into his hand, placing one of his drawn cards in an equipped slot under his Bubbleman. The ATK points increased to 1600 and she looked to the boy who pulled another card from his hand.

"I'll equip Bubble Blaster to my Elemental Hero and end my turn with a facedown." He said, placing the card in the facedown position. "Get Your Game On!"

She quirked a brow but smiled despite herself. She looked at her cards and thought over the ability of the monster already on the field across from her. _'Any attack I hit him with, regardless if it's higher, will deal no damage to the monster itself, but it will get rid of that Bubble Blaster card. However, that doesn't mean I can't get a few hits in on his lifepoints.'_ She mentally nodded and pulled a card from her hand. "I will place Rose, Warrior of Revenge on my field in Attack Mode! Rose Warrior! Attack his Bubbleman with your Blades Reign!"

"Wha―!"

Kagome watched the red haired ninja in black as she brought her twin blades down in a vicious strike on the boys Bubbleman Hero. The Bubble Blaster digitally shattered and the ATK points decreased to their original 800 points.

"You got rid of my Bubble Blaster, but your Attack had no effect on my Hero Bubbleman, which means they had no effect on my..." he paused, looking down as his lifepoints dropped 300 points.

"That leaves you with 3700 lifepoints; it's not much, but at least you're quiet now."

"..." He didn't even acknowledge her comment, too curious about her own monster being digitally shattered.

"You are confused I take it?"

He nodded.

"Let me explain, my Warrior of Revenge had ATK points equal to your Bubbleman with the Bubble Blaster. When she destroys a monster, she has an effect that deals 300 points of damage to the lifepoints points of my opponent. However, because she was equal to your monster, she too was destroyed."

"Yeah, but you still got a hit in, that in itself is something to be proud of," he grinned.

"Yes, well let's continue." She placed another card in the face down defensive position and sent another card in her hand to the graveyard before ending her turn.

"My turn!" He caught another card and looked down at it before looking into his hand. "Alright! I'll play my Elemental Hero Burstinatrix and my Elemental Hero Avian both on the field in the face up position!"

"..."

"Then, I'll play Polymerization, fusing both my Hero's and creating my Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!"

The monster's attack made Kagome sigh in mild irritation. The attack points were 2100 points and it wasn't that she was worried about her card, because she wasn't. She had planned to get rid of it soon too... just, not this soon.

"Now; take out her facedown with Sky Dive Scorcher!"

"..." She watched her facedown shatter and looked as the card moved to her graveyard, a small smirk forming on her lips.

"Now don't get an arrogant grin yet; I know that I can't inflict damage to your card being in the defense position face down, but that doesn't stop my Flame Wingman from inflicting damage total to that of your monster's attack to your Life Points!"

Kagome glanced at her lifepoints and watched as it decreased 300 points.

"Huh? That's it? You weren't planning to attack me with a 300 point monster, were you?"

"No, not exactly. Please continue with your attack."

"Yeah, with that out of the way, I'll attack your life points directly with Elemental Hero Bubbleman!"

"..." Her life points fell once more, this time from 3700 to 2900.

"I'll place one card face down and end my turn with that."

She took the three cards her Duel Disk gave her and sent another to her graveyard, a total of four now present. "Be thankful, the card I need is still M.I.A, for now though." She placed a card on the field in the facedown position before placing two monsters on the field in the face up position. "Harpie Lady 1 and Harpie's Pet Dragon! Both gain an increase of 300 attack points being WIND attribute; however, Harpie's Pet Dragon receives an extra 300 bonus for every Harpie Lady on the field. So he is no longer 2000 but 2600, while she is 1600 in Attack points. Don't worry though. I don't really plan on using my Harpie Lady, so I'll move her into the face up defensive position, then I let my dragon attack your Bubbleman! Go Harpie's Pet Dragon!"

"WHOA!" A large gust of wind and a fiery blast tore at the boys surroundings before dying down; his lifepoints's followed soon after. "AWESOME!"

She looked at his life points, "1900..."

"Yeah, I'm still in the game, so I must be doing pretty well!"

"... Yeah," She looked to her face down card and back to the boy. _'He's pretty good, but will his luck last...' _She glanced down at her deck and smiled. "It's your turn! Give it your best!" she smirked.

He grinned, "Yeah!"

He pulled three cards from her deck slot and another goofy grin appeared on his face. "I activate Skyscraper! Since my Elemental Hero Flame Wingman has fewer attack points than your pet does, it gets a 1000 attack increase, this brings my Flame Wingman to an attack total of 3100 points!"

Kagome looked around her as the deck suddenly seemed to turn into a city block with many skyscrapers. She looked up to the monster standing atop the tallest building tip.

"Flame Wingman, Sky Dive Scorcher!"

"... Not so fast," she inerrupted, flipping her card over. "Destruction Jammer!" A large barrier flashed into appearance, stopping the attack and sporadically flashing as the attack continued. The barrier continued to flash after the attack finally ended, before fading in color and completely disappearing. Kagome and the boy looked back up to see Flame Wingman hovering in the middle of the city, no harm to either of their lifepoints, until the monster shattered, taking the tri-brunette by surprise. "You know that card I discarded at the beginning of my turn?"

"Which one?" He asked,

She smiled, "My previous one; this card activates only after I discard any one card. It's one of my favorite trap cards; see...it negates the activation or attack of any Spell Card, Trap Card, or...in your case, any _Effect_ Monster on the field...than it destroys that card!"

"...that's not cool..." He mumbled to himself before he grinned again, "Well, I'll just have to get rid of it with a monster that has no _effect_...I activate Hero Signal!" He flipped his facedown card into the face up position. "Now, I will use my next Elemental Hero, Elemental Hero Clayman! Take out her trap card!"

"Yes... well, you did successfully bring down my trap," she said, watching it shatter before her. "You failed to protect your newest monster, Clayman." She watched him look down at his field that now had only one monster on the field.

"AH!"

"Have you not been paying attention?"

"I've been paying attention! I just... Oh..."

She perked up and watched him move the top card in his hand a little, revealing the second of his remaining three cards.

"..."

"I'll place this in the face down position then end my turn!"

'_That card... must be a trap, but am I sure I want to trigger it? I haven't updated my deck since Max-oji gave me those cards, so I have no spell cards that can get rid of traps right now... Damn!'_ She looked at both her Harpie Lady 1 and her Pet Dragon before sighing. "Harpie's Pet Dragon, take out his... you know what," She took the four cards from her deck slot and sent another to the graveyard before smiling. "Alright, take out his Clayman, Harpie Lady 1!"

"Huh?" He watched the Harpie attack his card and smirked. "Fell right into a trap! I activate Clay Charge!"

Both monsters shattered right before her eyes before the bleeping of her Duel Disk caught her attention. From her previous 2900, her life points fell 800 points, now a low 2100 points. "I see, it's still my turn!" She said, starting to get into the game, grin forming on her lips. "That card I mentioned earlier, the one M.I.A..." She turned the card to face him, its striking silver coloring seemed to stand out to the boy who looked in awe at the card.

"What is it?"

"This is Ancient Fairy Dragon, however, I'm not playing it... yet." She placed the card back in her hand and watched him frown.

"Then why show me?"

"I was showing you, because I thought it polite to show you the card that would end this duel!" She placed three cards in the face down position and turned to her dragon. "Since my Harpie Lady 1 was destroyed, my Pet Dragon lost both bonuses, still, Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack his Life Points directly!"

The dragon rose high into the sky before sending a large blast of wind and fire at the tri-brunette who cried out and winced.

"That will end my turn; but first, answer me this, how many times have I played?"

"You mean... Duel Monsters?"

"... No, how many turns have I had in this Duel?" Kagome corrected with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh! Uh..." He closed his eyes in thought before opening them with a snap of his fingers. "Three! This will be my fourth turn!"

"Right, so you have...five turns...counting this one...to claim your victory."

"... Why only five?"

"Because I'll win before you get to your ninth turn."

"You seem so sure..."

"Are you going to play, or are we going to just stand here all day?"

"Humph, let's play!" He took the four cards from his deck slot and glanced them over. "I'll activate Monster Reborn first, and call on my Elemental Hero Avian then using The Warrior Returning Alive," He showed her the magic card he held in his hand before placing it on the field. "I can call Burstinatrix back to my hand!"

Kagome glared, already knowing where this was going. She glanced into her hand at the remaining cards and noted no useful cards that she could use on as a last minute trap if he were to attack her monster, and she only had...oh...she looked at the three cards on her field, maybe she wasn't out just yet.

"Now, I'll use Fusion Gate and summon my Elemental Hero Flame Wingman! Flame Wingman receives a boost with Skyscraper still on the field, so 3100 attack points, hope you're ready! Flame Wingman, attack her pet dragon!"

"I critiqued you for not paying attention earlier, and this time, I was the one who had not paid attention. Luckily though, I remembered what cards I had laid down seconds before your turn! A Rival Appears!"

Her Harpie's Pet Dragon and his Flame Wingman switched sides and the attack continued uninterrupted. "However, I can't have you losing just yet, so I'll also flip this card over and intercept the attack with my own monster!" She flipped another card over, "With Elegant Egotist, I summon Harpie Lady Sisters!" The two watched as three winged female fiends appeared in-between the attack in-time to stop the attack. The damage loss was hurtful to her lifepoints but she wanted this to drag out. 1950 points decreased from her Life Points, leaving her with 150 lifepoints.

"What...? Why did you do that?"

"Are you through with your turn?"

"... I..." He looked at his hand and placed a card face down with a sigh. "If you plan to throw this duel than I―"

"I don't plan to throw anything, I plan to win! If it's my turn, then I'll continue." She watched him nod, a new light in his eyes with her reassuring words of a proclaimed victory. "In that case, you only have four more turns to win... Now, I'll have to move my summoning to a sooner turn, come forth, Ancient Fairy Dragon!" The dragon hovered above the dock; much larger was it than her pet dragon that it made the pet pale in comparison to its shimmering beauty. He just stared at the dragon in admiration, his eyes sparkling as he looked the blue dragon over, taking in every detail.

"Now, since I used my Sunny Pixie as tribute during my earlier turns, I receive 1000 lifepoints's; I'll have to play this card too now," She placed a card in the face down position and checking over her hand once more, she nodded and sent all of them to her graveyard. "No more cards, your turn."

"Oh, yeah..." He looked away from the dragon and at the field. His monster was back on his side, a face down, and his skyscraper, she had her pet dragon again...and her bigger dragon...along with a facedown too. They were playing on an even field...well...sort of. She now had 1150 lifepoints's and he had 1900 lifepoints's. He took his cards from the deck slot for the fifth time and glanced them over.

"Right, first I'll put Sparkman in the face up position," he flipped his facedown card over and Sparkman appeared in attack mode. "Then, I'll place this in the face down position and end my turn!"

"... It's another trap..." she muttered in annoyance. "In that case, if it's another one that's going to take lifepoints from me, I'll get rid of your field magic card with my Ancient Fairy Dragon!" The dragon attacked the magic card Skyscraper and the field returned to the deck they stood on. The boy who stood across from her moved his arms down from his eyes when the bright light of the dragons attack subsided. "My life points increase by 1000 points when I destroy one of your field magic cards, so that's 2150 now. I'll place one card facedown and now, Harpie's Pet Dragon; attack his facedown card!" The smaller dragon charged forward and a breath of fire and a blast of wind approached the card quickly; the aftershock drawing a surprise cry from the boy while Kagome just braced her feet on the ship.

However, her calm features changed to shock when a barrier appeared in the place of the trap card.

"It was a trap card, just not the kind you were thinking of. This ends your turn!" he said grinning. "That gives me a little more time to ready something for you!"

"But... that was my last move..."

"You didn't put anything in your graveyard..."

"I had nothing to add..."

"Man!" He took his cards and looked them over, looking at his now 2100 attack points on his Flame Wingman before grinning again. "That's fine; I have another polymerization in my hands!"

"Yay..."

He placed it face up on the field and Sparkman and Flame Wingman fused together to form Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman with 2500 Attack points.

"Yes, that's good... Remember you want these turns to count for something."

He ignored her slight taunting and looked at her dragons. "Shining Flare Wingman; attack her Ancient Fairy Dragon!"

"Bad move..." Kagome sighed with a shake of her head and her eyes closed.

"What?"

Her facedown card flipped face up and all of a sudden as six monsters rose up onto the field.

"That is Hysteric Party, a card that special summons _all _of my Harpies in my graveyard. Harpie Lady 1, 2 and 3, as well as Harpie Lady Sisters!...Six Harpie's! I'm sure you remember that Harpie Lady 1 gives a bonus of 300 attack points to all Wind Monsters, including my Pet Dragon. Harpie Lady 2 will negate the effects of any Flip Effect Monsters that she destroys and Harpie Lady 3 makes it so if you declare an attack on her, you can't declare an attack on your next two turns. Now, Harpie Lady Sisters is made up of 1, 2, and 3, so the effects remain the same, however, that isn't the point I wished to point out."

He looked intently at her as she spoke.

"The point was that my Pet Dragon receives a 300 attack bonus for _every_ monster on the field with Harpie in its name. I counted six, how about you." It wasn't a question.

Harpie's Pet Dragon's attack points rose from 2000 to 4100.

"Oh god..."

"Yeah, I tried to drag it out as long as I could, but I won't be sending any monsters of mine to take that hit. We'll see if you survive any longer after this move."

Her lifepoints dropped 400 points to 1750.

"But I'm still 150 points ahead of you, and putting that aside, I haven't lost any since the start."

"The Duel isn't over yet."

"Right." He placed another card down, only in the face up position and ended his turn.

"Three turns left," She looked up to him and smiled, "I suppose it's a little late in the game to ask but, what's your name?"

"Judai! Judai Yuki! You?" He grinned sheepishly.

"Kagome... Kagome Higurashi. I hope that after I win this duel, you'll be available at a later date to duel me again."

"Haha, I'll be available to duel you anytime, anyplace; after _I_ win!"

She smirked, "we'll see."

She looked at her field and sighed. It was too crowded, and though she wanted to see what he would do about her 4100, she didn't like the many monsters that littered the area.

"Alright then..." She took the given cards from her slot and placed them in her hand, looking each one over as she thought up ways to delay her victory. "Well... that would delay the turn alright... He'd have nothing on his side to duel with." She turned it so it faced Judai and his grin fell. "Raigeki!" She placed it face up on her Duel disk, and lightning shot out destroying any and all monsters he had, which was Shining Flare Wingman basically.

"I'll end my turn with one more move!" She placed a magic card on the field, "Dust Tornado, it destroys any one trap or magic card, and I choose Hysteric Party." She watched as all of her Harpie's returned to her grave yard, leaving only her two dragons left on her field.

"Alright, I'll place a card face down and in my turn with that."

"That's it?"

"Yeah," He grinned.

"Okay..." She placed her Ancient Fairy in the defensive position before ending her own turn. "There are only two turns left, counting this."

"I'm ending my turn without any moves."

"..." She glared, _'He has some kind of idea, and I'm positive it has something to do with his face up magic card that I can't see! I'm still going to win though.' _She smirked, "Then I'll end my turn without any moves."

"Haha, you know I have something in mind and you're going to let me go through with it?"

"This is your last turn."

"That's all I needed!" He held the magic card Climax Hour up.

"So that's it..."

"Elemental Hero Electrum! With his special ability, he gets an extra bonus of 300 attack points for every Wind, Water, Fire or Earth attribute monster on the field! So I'll thank your Pet Dragon for the boost later!"

The monster's attack point rose to 3100 and she mentally blanched when he ordered it to attack her Pet Dragon, finally getting rid of the monster he continuously failed to defeat.

"Your lifepoints takes damage equal to our difference in Attack points too, so, your life points are at 650, right?"

"Right..."

"Then, I'll end my turn with a face down card in defense."

"... I told you I would win, didn't I?"

"... Your dragon is too weak!"

"..." She lifted a card from her hand for him to see and Judai scrunched his eyes together in thought.

"Counselor Lily, she is like an evolved for of my cute Injection Fairy Lily. You see, she gives 1000 attack points to any Synchro Monster she's sacrificed for and it just so happens she's been sacrificed for my dragon." She placed the Card in the graveyard and the Ancient Fairy Dragon's attack points increased from 2100 to 3100 points. "Now it ends!"

"But wait..."

"What?"

"I still wouldn't be destroyed..."

"If you are in such a hurry to be destroyed, then fine." She flipped her facedown card over. "Talk about impatient. Curse of Anubis!"

Kagome watched his monster change from attack to defense position. "Your attack was increased, but not your defense. So first, I'll use my trap card," She pulled it from her hand and placed it face up on the field, "Just Dessert, and since you only have one monster on your side of the field, it will only take 500 lifepoints points from you." 1900 dropped to 1400.

She looked to his monster and made a quick run-through of numbers in her head before nodding. "I'll activate Dragon Treasure and increase my Ancient Fairy Dragon's Attack points by 400 points, and as my last increase, I'll add Dragonic Attack and increase my dragons attack points by 500 points. He now has a total of 4000 attack points. Now, Ancient Fairy Dragon; attack his Hero and put an end to this Duel!"

The attack was fast; a bright light engulfed the deck and caused the ship to rock with the aftershock that no doubt everyone would be curiously making their way to them soon. "You lose."

"Amazing...!" He looked down at the two cards next in his deck and sighed. "I can't believe I lost..." Though, his attitude did a quick 180. "That was the most fun I've had since I got on this boat!"

"Hm?" She cleared her Duel Disk and placed her cards back in her black velvet pouch before moving to his side.

"..."

Judai Yuki, she turned to face him; holding her hand out to his, he took it and she smiled. "It was... fun. I hope to duel you again, soon."

"Yeah, definitely!" he grinned. "I won't stop till I beat you!" He laughed, "I have to duel you, but I'll wait a while, until I know I've improved!"

She nodded and pulled her hand free before walking away, leaving him to deal with the large group of duel students still at the bow of the ship. Now she continued to her destination as she was doing before the duel while taking off her duel disk and releasing her deck. She then placed her deck back into its box carrier that was clipped onto her belt and clipped her duel disk back onto her bag securing so it would not get damaged or fall off.

When she finally made it to the interior of the ship, Kagome was exceptionally happy that she had not crashed into another person. Soon she settled herself down into a plush golden brown colored arm chair and tried to relax after having taken off her backpack and placing it on the floor next to her.

Once she was settled comfortably in her chair, Kagome took a look around the room and was amazed with what she was seeing of the interior. All around her, Kagome could see that the room was made up of golden toned decorations. The walls of the room were covered in golden toned wallpaper with designs of various patterns of seashells, and littered about the floor were white throw rugs placed in random areas for comfort. She also noticed that the crystal chandelier that was hanging overhead was also made of gold painted metal beams. Even the chair that she was sitting in and the ones that were around her were made of golden toned materials. All in all the room was beautifully decorated, and Kagome was just absolutely stunned by how well it was designed. In Kagome's mind, _'This is amazing. I haven't seen anything like this since before okaa-san had us move to jiji's.'_

When she was finally out of her shock, Kagome relaxed back into her comfy arm chair and prepared to take a nap for the remainder of the trip to the school. Just as she was about to doze off into dreamland, she was abruptly awaken by a vibration from the pocket of her jeans. Taking out the offending object, Kagome noticed that it was the new cell phone her father and uncle had gotten her as a sorry present for making her come to the academy.

* * *

_Flashback_

_**Two weeks after the meeting with her father**_

_Kagome nervously walked into her father's company office again, all the while as she walked she played with the sides of her designer black jeans. She was currently nervous because her father had called had told her that he needed her to come by the company for some new news, and the last time that she had come her father had told that she had to find a husband. Seeing that her father and uncle were already in the room, Kagome tried to calm her nerves and quickly took a seat in the black leather chair that she frequently sat in whenever she had come to visit._

_Silently, Kagome prepared herself for what may come and waited patiently for her father to finally speak._

_"Kagome," Seto said as got up from his and walked in front of his desk. "Today you are not here because you are in trouble."_

_'Why would I be in trouble?' thought Kagome with a deadpanned expression upon her face, but nodded her head to show to her father that she understood. "Then what am I here for?" asked Kagome._

_"You are here because your father and I have something to give you," stated Mokuba as he walked away from the wall he had been next to, and stood at his brother's side._

_"And what exactly are you and father going to give me?" inquired Kagome curiously as she relaxed slightly into her chair._

_Instead of answering with spoken words Seto just took a small sliver papered wrapped box from his desk and handed it to her. Taking the box, Kagome looked at curiously and carefully examined the box. Once she was done with her examination of the box, Kagome turned to her father and asked, "What is it?"_

_It was her Uncle Mokuba who answered her. "Well why don't you open it?" Mokuba prompted as he gestured towards the box with his hands. And with a nod of her head Kagome began to tear off the wrapping paper and opened the box. She gasped at what had awaited on the inside of the little box._

_Lying inside the little box was a brand new shiny silver video phone. The phone was of the newest and most technologically advanced cell phones available. On the front of the phone was a large video-touch screen for her to talk to the person on the other line while being able to see the person's face and a tiny square above the video screen housed the camera of the phone, both of which were outlined in black. On the back of the phone was a drawing of the three Harpie Lady Sisters surrounding a Harpie Queen protectively and behind them was a Blue Eyes White Dragon all etched in and outlined in black ink._

_Immediately after Kagome was shaken out of her awe stricken state, she was out of her seat and hugging both her uncle and father all the while shouting thank you over and over again. Her uncle and surprisingly her father, both just chuckled at her excitement of receiving her new cellphone._

**_Outside the office_**

_Hearing the loud shouts, the guards on that floor rushed over to their boss's office to check out what was causing the commotion. Once there, each of the guards peeked into the office one by one. After each guard finished peeking into the room, they all turned towards one another and a soft smile slowly formed on each of their faces at seeing one of the rare family moments that occurred with their boss. And with that each guard returned to their station on the office floor all the while still smiling and some even chuckling at the scene the heiress and bosses made._

_End Flashback_

* * *

Snapping out of her memory, Kagome quickly answered her phone. "Moshi moshi?" she answered.

"Kagome," replied a somewhat familiar deep male voice from the receiving line.

"Chichiue," a slightly surprised Kagome quickly replied. "Is there any particular reason why you have called?"

"Hai," Seto replied from the other end of the phone. "I just wanted to remind you of what you are to be looking for while at the school. You do of course remember what you are looking for correct?"

"Hai chichiue," answered Kagome obediently. "I am to be looking for a worthy husband that you approve."

"It's good to know that you do remember why you are being sent to the academy. Now I want to know for a fact that you did indeed remember the list requirements that your future husband must meet."

"So you wish for me to recite the list?" questioned a slightly confused Kagome as she relaxed into her current seat.

"Yes now begin." As soon as those words left her father's mouth and entered her ear through the phone, Kagome was already off listing all the requirements that she knew her fiancé may meet.

Once she was finished, Kagome quickly took a deep breath of much needed air and immediately scanned the room of any witnesses that may have seen her unsightly display. It just would not do for Kaiba, even if it isn't known to others, to be caught rushing through anything. Once she was sure nobody had seen her, Kagome once again relaxed back into her chair and continued her conversation with her father. Half an hour passed by before the conversation started to come to an end. By the time the conversation ended, Kagome was starting to dose off. With a final "love you tou-chan" and a flip of her phone, Kagome put away her phone and made herself comfortable. Once she was sufficiently comfortable, Kagome cuddle into herself and promptly dosed off into a light nap.

**_One Hour Later_**

When Kagome finally woke up from her nap it was to the sound of the ship's speakers turning on. **"We will soon be arriving to Duel Academy. Please be prepared for docking," **announced the ship's captain. After getting up from her comfortable and stretching to get rid of any possible kinks, Kagome headed outside also leaving her bag by her chair. Looking out to the sea, Kagome noted the Island that was just ahead of her and its imposing buildings. "Duel Academy Island..."

* * *

Thanks for reading and remember I like criticism! :)

Please review.


	4. A Tiring Day of Old and New

Edited: 6 September 2011

**The Duel Champion's Daughter**

**Disclaimer:** I do **NOT** own either Inuyasha or Yu-Gi-Oh GX

**Summary: **Seto Kaiba's eldest child, Kagome Akemi Higurashi Kaiba, is being sent to attend Duel Academy to take up her father's title of Duel Monsters Champion, but will she be able to take the title while also looking for a husband to be. Begins in Season 1 of GX and will basically be AU with original Japanese versions explanations in ranking and scoring.

AN: Hey everybody! Shiki here, just wanted to say thanks everyone who reviewed and gave tips for the story, and now to answer some questions. For the ones who asked when everybody will find out about Kagome, well they won't find out for several chapters to come, and if I told you now that would ruin the story, wouldn't it? Also for the earlier readers of this story you may have noticed that the second main character and the person I was pairing Kagome with was deleted, so I'd really appreciate it if you keep that information to yourselves. It's going to be a surprise for the newer readers. Sorry everyone for the long wait. I've been having major writer's block and I'm working my ass off getting ready for when college starts in the fall. I'll be going in for my first year, so I'll be writing even less than I currently do. :P Kagome's age was also changed just so the list of guys available would be more expanded.

Pictures for most stories have already gone back up! Some pictures may not be provided because I could not find one that fits my imagined design.

Reminder: People I revise my stories often, VERY often. So far there have only been slight tweaks in the last three chapters because it didn't fit with this chapter or I was missing things that I needed for this chapter to work. There will be parts in this chapter that may only make sense if you re-read parts of the previous chapters.

"Speech"

_'Thoughts'_

Character Translation:

Asuka Tenjouin= Alexis Rhodes

Fubuki Tenjouin= Atticus Rhodes

Jun Manjoume= Chazz Princeton

Judai Yuki=Jaden Yuki

Daichi Misawa= Bastion Misawa

Sho Marufuji=Syrus Truesdale

Ryo Marufuji=Zane Truesdale

Edo Phoenix= Aster Phoenix

Hayato Maeda= Chumley Huffington

Emi Ayukawa= Fonda Fontaine

Chronos de Medici= Vellian Crowler

Chancellor Sheppard= Chancellor Samejima

* * *

_Last Time on The Duel Champion's Daughter:_

_When Kagome finally woke up from her nap it was to the sound of the ship's speakers turning on. "We will soon be arriving to Duel Academy. Please be prepared for docking," announced the ship's captain. After getting up from her comfortable and stretching to get rid of any possible kinks, Kagome headed outside__ also leaving her bag by her chair__. Looking out to the sea, Kagome noted the Island that was just ahead of her and its imposing buildings. "Duel Academy Island..."_

**This Time on The Duel Champion's Daughter**

Kagome sighed as she waited for the general rush of the other students descending down on to the dock to die down while leaning on the ship's railing with her arms folded on the rail to support her. Looking down the side of the ship, she watched as the waves of the ocean crashed onto the dock with the salty water spraying everywhere and the other students of the academy noisily milling about.

'_I wonder what it's going to be like here,' _Kagome mused to herself silently as she pulled away from the railing as soon as she saw that the rush of students had finally calmed down enough that she would not be trampled over. '_I really hope there won't be any fan-people here,'_ she thought as a mental image of all the rabid fan-boys and fan-girls that she had ever met entered her mind.

Sighing again, Kagome pulled herself out of her leaning position, straightened herself and her clothes, and slung her nearly bursting backpack onto her back. She then began to head to where the stairs that would lead down to the docks would be located. Once there, she descended down them and joined the crowd of mingling students. As she joined the other students, Kagome noticed that they were all being herded down to the path that led from the dock to the main road, which was a mile and a half long trek that would then lead them to either the five different dorms or the main school building.

'_I'm betting most of the second years here don't even know about the honor dorms,' _scoffed Kagome mentally as she spotted some returning students, who were already dressed in their uniforms. Their uniforms showed their ranking by colors of Slifer red, Ra yellow, or Obelisk blue, all either second years or higher, the first year students that came from the academy's middle school section would be joining the first years that entered through the high school entrance exam. _'Third years would probably know about them, but are probably too scared to go to them.'_

Not long after that last thought, Kagome and the rest of the crowd of students were near the end of the main road and were beginning to head into the auditorium of the main school building.

The auditorium that the students were in was a high ceiling and ice blue colored room. The seats of the auditorium were a dark maroon color and the first row of seats was raised about two feet from the floor and the following rows only ascended higher. At the front of the auditorium was a TV screen that stretched across most of the wall. All in all it was a room that Kagome expected her father to have designed.

The students soon began to fill up the auditorium in single file rows. None were allowed to sit or be anywhere in close proximity of the stands. They were all lined up on the floor of the auditorium and forced to face the large screen at the front. Once all students had settled in and were quiet, the doors of the auditorium were sealed shut and the lights in the auditorium began to dim until the room was shrouded in darkness leaving only slivers of light in the auditorium to come from the small gaps between the door and the floor. When the lights were completely off the TV screen began to glow a lightning blue signaling to the students that the screen was turning on. When the glowing cleared, the screen showed the academy's chancellor, a bald man with a brown beard in his mid-forties to early fifties clad in a maroon staff uniform. Once the screen settled into clarity, Chancellor Samejima began his introductory speech for all the students in attendance.

Kagome tuned out Samejima's speech. She already knew what the speech was about. She had heard it one too many times as a young child. Every single time she had visited the academy with her father, she was forced to listen to the speech. The speech never really changed over the years that she had visited. Eventually she had come to know the speech by heart, not by her choice really, and she did not want to listen to the same boring speech again. The chancellor always told the students to be proud that they were able to be accepted into their prestigious academy, explained the ranking system on how to move up to the next dorm, uniforms, and some of the basic rules.

'_Which reminds me,' _thought Kagome to herself. _'I have to tell father to change the ranking system to be for both genders, not only boys. I bet the girls think they're great duelist just because father made it mandatory all girls must be placed into Obelisk blue.' _Kagome's lips formed a sneer of disgust as she thought of all the special treatment the school's female population received. _'It's not right. All students should have to work to get their ranking, no matter if they are boy or girl. If boys can do it, so can girls.' _

The further Kagome's thoughts followed this direction, the more she ignored everything that was happening around her. She was so deep into her thoughts that she did not even notice when Chancellor Samejima's introduction speech was over, the auditorium's lights were back on, and that everyone was having their scores handed out to them. After receiving their scores, which was on a SPP system that the students were allowed to keep, the students were directed to stations that were separated by gender and scores at the back of the auditorium. They were to pick up their uniforms to change into and the rest of their student packs, which also included the SPP, uniforms, and a new duel disk, from the stations. The SPP stood for Student Personal Planner and was very similar to a PDA, but was not quite a PDA. Other sets of their uniform would be sent to their dorms once their sizes have been marked down by the station workers.

Once she had her SPP in her possession, Kagome quickly looked over the piece of the technology, opening it and turning it on. When the SPP finally turned on, the first thing Kagome noticed was that her full name, Kagome Akemi Higurashi-Kaiba, was the first thing to appear, it was typed in neat black Kanji. As soon as her name disappeared from the screen, her name reappeared in smaller print at the top left corner of the screen. Under her name was the basic information about her: age, birthday, grade level, blood type, eye color, hair color, and height. Next to all that information on the right side of the screen was an almost completely current candid photograph of herself, most likely taken from her last school picture.

Pressing enter on the SPP sent her to another page that displayed her two aliases; Ace Higurashi and A. Higurashi that she used to enter competitions so she would not bring attention to herself. She never expected the school to have that information, but she suspected her father and the chancellor had programmed her SPP themselves. Deciding to ignore the fact the SPP had delicate information about her that she hoped would not be exposed for a few years to come for the moment, she pressed the enter button again to see the next page of information. This time the little screen displayed a menu of six icons that was lined against the bottom of the screen.

The first icon on the far left showed a humanoid shaped shadow that stood for Person Information, which was all of the previous information she saw about herself. Next to it on the right was an icon of a miniature Duel Academy that was School Information, which contained the history, rules, and other information about the academy that students needed to know. After that was a clock icon that stood for Class Schedule, which contained clock settings, and class schedule for the student's year, which was the same as every other student in the same year. Scores and Rank followed after, an icon of a number one with the number sign next to it. This whole section was for school use only and told the student where they ranked in the academy, what their test scores were, and which house they ended up in. Following Scores and Ranks was an icon of a letter envelope, Messaging. It held the programs for sending messages to teachers and other students via video message or voice message. Second from the right was Extras whose icon was a question mark, which was for games, help, and other things that did not belong in the other categories on the menu. Finally at the farthest right was Map, the icon being of Duel Academy Island, which was obviously a map of the entire Duel Island with other more detailed maps of the school so students would not get lost.

Scrolling across her SPP's screen with its small mouse, she quickly clicked enter once the mouse hovered above Scores and Rank. Upon clicking enter everything on the screen disappeared and only Scores and Rank were left before the words migrated to the top left corner of the screen. Soon the screen was covered in words and numbers and all of it was aligned to the left. The first score Kagome checked was how well she had placed on the written exam for the academy's entrance exam. Next to the little area that was typed Written Exam Rank was a little number one with the word tie next to it.

She wasn't really surprised by how well she had scored because she had been studying two months prior to the Duel Academy's entrance exam and her father's announcement for her own high school's mock college entrance exam. Her father would have been disappointed if she had gotten anything besides the top score even though she had ended up sharing the rank with another. It also would have been a disappointment if she had not gotten the top score because she was a few years ahead of the other first year students. The written exam had pretty much been the normal entrance exam any other high school, except her previous one, but with some questions about Duel Monsters added in. For her, the exam had felt more like the junior high division's entrance exam that she had taken, which probably proved to her that there was most likely going to be a vast difference between her old school and her new one.

Looking further down the screen, Kagome saw which dorm she would be living at, which was obviously the Obelisk blue girls' dormitory. But unlike the other girls, who had to share a dorm, she was allowed her own room that she did not have to share with anyone else or explain to a pair of roommates why she disappeared for lengthy amounts of time. It was one of the few perks of being Seto Kaiba's daughter, getting her own room without a roommate, not all school rules applied to her, and she didn't always have to report to the dorm counselor unlike everyone else. It was even better that she didn't have wait in other line besides the uniform station one to pick up her uniform because she already had her dorm key tucked into her backpack.

Kagome released a sad sigh while she thought, _'I love being chichiue's daughter, but I don't want special treatment all the time.' _She sighed again, knowing that when her father finally officially announced to the public about her and the rest of her family being his family in another year or two that there would be a lot of special treatment and unwanted attention. Her finding a fiancé this year was mainly so that when her father finally lets public know that he was married and had a family with a daughter, who was near the age for marriage, she wouldn't be bombarded with suitors especially if she already had a husband-to-be.

Pulling herself away from her possibly gloomy thoughts, Kagome fixed her expression to that of the stoic mask that the two elder Kaiba's wore when in the presence of others, who were not friends or family. After she was sure her expression was blank as she could make it, she headed off to the uniform station that all female students were to head to pick up their uniform while closing her SPP and placing it in the same carrier her cellphone resided in.

As she was walking to the station, Kagome noticed that many of the girls who were successful in gaining entrance to Duel Academy were gathering together and talking with each other in groups most likely discussing about their scores and dorms. She so wished that she could join them in talking and becoming friends with each other, but she knew that once they started asking each other about dorms she would be interrogated about why she was the only one who did not have to share a dormitory. Accusations would be made and her parentage may be revealed long before she and her family wanted it to be or were ready. Sighing longingly to herself, Kagome ignored her want and quietly continued on her way to the uniform station all the while hoping no one would notice her. As she made her way to the station, she never noticed the pairs of silver eyes, dark grey eyes, and honey-amber eyes that followed after her.

(You guys have no clue, how tempted I was to end it here.)

Arriving at the uniform station, Kagome noticed that she was the very first one to arrive and to be in line. Not wanting to waste time, she quickly gave the station worker her different sizes and measurements so that she could have an appropriately sized uniform. Once she finished giving the information and the worker had inputted all the needed information, the worker began searching for the right sized uniform and she moved off to the side of the station. She waited patiently for her uniform while observing the rest of the female students make their way to the station and the boys milling about or trying to read their scores. A few of the boys that she observed caught her eye, being that they were quickly able to read their scores unlike most of the others who were struggling to use the SPP.

'_Is it really that hard to use the SPP?'_ wondered Kagome as she started to tap her left foot with her right hip cocked to the side in impatience. _'It isn't all that difficult; after all it's just basic equipment here and all the girls were able to figure out how to use it pretty quickly. How are they going to survive studying and going to school here if they can't even use the SPP?' _Kagome shook her head in disappointment when she noticed that all the new female students were already lined up and ready to pick up their uniforms with their SPPs in hand, while most of the new boys were still struggling on how to use their SPPs. All of the returning first year students had already left the auditorium or were mingling with the new first years.

"Oi Higurashi-san," called the station worker.

"Yes," answered Kagome as she looked away from observing the male students.

"Your uniform is ready, Higurashi-san," replied the station worker as he handed her the uniform. The outfit consisted of the typical Obelisk blue female uniform, a light royal blue min-skirt, a silver-white sleeveless vest that had a popped up white collar with an attached royal blue cape all with lavender trimming, an optional pair of elbow length royal blue fingerless gloves, and a pair of two-inched heeled royal blue boots. The worker also handed her the new duel disk that she was issued.

"Arigato," thanked Kagome as she took her uniform and duel disk from the worker. She then hurried to leave the auditorium to go change into the required uniform and to get to her own dorm before anyone else was able to leave. She wanted to place down her backpack as soon as possible, it felt as though it was getting heavier with every minute that passed by.

It took a whole twenty minutes for her to get to the dorms by foot during that time she had clipped her new duel disk onto her backpack with her old one. She would have asked Chancellor Samejima for one of the little security carts to drive, but she wanted to enjoy her time on the island, not speed through it. She actually missed spending parts of her childhood at the island, which was the only reason why she already knew her dormitory's headmistress, Emi Ayukawa, Chancellor Samejima, the Obelisk blue boy dormitory's headmaster, Chronos de Medici, and some other faculty members. She treated the three school heads as though they were family, and in a sense they were. The three of them as treated her as though she was their niece and in turn she treated them as if they were her aunt and uncles. Secretly she knew that they called her Duel Academy's Princess when she wasn't around. She had once over heard them referring to her by that name when they were talking to each other about her. It had been during her visit when she was seven years old and had been looking for her aunts and uncles to say goodbye until her next visit.

When she was finally in front of the dorms, Kagome pulled on one strap of her backpack and slipped the other off her left shoulder so that it was no longer digging into her back and was in a much more comfortable position. Looking up at the dormitory, she was surprised that the place had not really changed at all since she had last visited when she was eight years old, just a month before her mother had moved her and Souta to their grandfather's home. The dormitory was still the same in its western castle styled mansion design, blue and white paint job, large ceiling-high windows, and the large Victorian double doors made of mahogany wood. _'I really miss living here during the summers,'_ thought Kagome. _'I wonder if any of them know I'm starting school here, besides of Uncle _Samejima_? Better yet, do they even remember me?'_

Soon Kagome took the last few steps towards the doors, not wanting to wait any longer outside the dorms as she knew the other female students would be arriving soon. As she stood in front of the large ornate mahogany doors, she took a deep breath, readying herself to see the familiar halls of Obelisk blue. She placed her free hand onto one of the two doors' handle and opened it. Stepping into the reception hall of the dorms, Kagome's eyes were assaulted with the sight of gold everywhere. Gold of all shades was used for the walls, chairs, curtains, window trimmings, and even the fountain in the center of the hall was gold. It wasn't just the reception hall that was filled with the color gold, but every hall and room outside of the dorm rooms themselves were colored gold. As she took in all the different shades of gold, Kagome was hit with memory flashes of her childhood summers spent here racing through the halls, weaving in and out of dorm rooms. Making her aunts chase after her to catch her before she hurt herself. As these memories were flashing through her mind, a gentle but nostalgic smile crept onto her face showing just how much she wished to be that little girl from so long ago.

Shaking her head to rid herself of soon to be depressing thoughts, Kagome quickly moved herself to the stairs, after closing the front door, and ascended them until she reached the third landing. She knew where her room already was so she didn't bother to search for it. Heading down the second hall on the left once she reached her desired floor, she kept walking until she was at the end of the hall where a beautifully designed door stood out against all the others.

Unlike all the other doors and dorm rooms in the Obelisk blue dormitories, it was the most beautiful one designed, the only one with any actual designs on it actually. It wasn't made of mahogany or cherry wood either, unlike the other doors, instead it was carved out of hickory, one of the world's hardest and most durable wood. The doorknob that was situated to the right side of the door was also very different, while other doorknobs were plain gold colored metal spheres this one was an intricate Victorian doorknob. A Blue Eyes White Dragon was wrapped around the edges of the handle plating and a Harpie Queen on the doorknob itself, looking as if the Harpie Queen was hugging it with an arm or wing crossing the front.

Tucking her uniform under her left arm, Kagome slipped off her backpack and began rummaging through it for her room key. After several minutes of searching and getting stabbed by the presents that were in her bag, she finally succeeded in pulling free her key. She kept her uniform tucked under her arm as she closed her backpack and slid it back onto her shoulder this time her left one. Looking down to her hands, Kagome checked over her room key, a surprisingly simple silver key with the initials of her full name engraved into it on a simple gold necklace, for any damages that may have occurred since the last time she had seen it such as rust or chippings. She hadn't seen the little key in so very long. Today had been the first time she had even touched it since she had settled into her room at her grandpa's home. Once she was satisfied that no damages had come to her key, Kagome slipped it into the key hole of her door and turned it.

After she turned her key a small square panel to the right of her door slid down the wall. Inside of the newly revealed panel were a palmer reader and a retina scanner. Sighing tiredly, Kagome placed her right palm onto the palm reader and waited for it to signal that it was finished. She then bent down a little and held her right eye's eyelids open for the retina scanner to read her eye and also so that she would not mess up the reading by blinking. Once the scanning was finished, Kagome let go of her eye and blinked several times to get rid of any tears and moisturize her eye. She also turned back to her room's door, took back her key, and slipped the key's chain around her neck.

'_I understand why I have to go through this, but,' _sighed Kagome in her mind._ 'I really hate having to do this every single time I want to get in there,' _she thought as she clenched her fist tightly a light scowl twisted itself onto her face.

A minute after both scans were completed, Kagome was finally allowed into her room, which was signaled by her door unlatching from the locks and swinging itself open for her. As she stepped into her very familiar yet also not familiar room her scowl disappeared from her face to only transform into one of awe. As she stood there by the door, she never noticed that her backpack had slipped off her shoulder, down her arm, and to the floor, which lucky did not damage her duel disks, and that the door to her room had clicked softly shut. Nor did she notice that her entire uniform, boots and gloves included had also fallen away from her as she started to walk around her room.

Her room was still her room, but there were a lot of changes to it, changes that she liked. What she had expected to see when she first stepped into her room was her old lavender painted princess themed room with everything that she had considered a "princess" should have inside of it. Such as her princess canopy bed, princess styled wardrobe, princess designed desk, tiara printed wood trimmings along her floor and wall, and everything else like that. Instead there only a few things she was familiar with. Those being the size of the room, the ceiling high windows that took up the place of an entire wall, the lavender color that adorned the walls, and the walk-in closet that was on the opposite side of the room. Everything else there was completely different not a single trace of her old princess room remained outside of the lavender colored walls. Her lavender walls, despite being the same color and shade, were completely different too. Now her walls were not only painted a lavender color, but they now also had the fleur-de-lis symbol lining them in an alternating pattern.

Continuing her walk of her room, Kagome noticed that in the stead of her old princess canopy bed was a new dark cherry wood king-sized four poster aqua blue canopy bed with pull-away curtains that could be tied back. She didn't know why she needed a king-sized bed when a queen, full or even a twin-sized one would have been good enough, but she loved it none the less. The sheets of her new bed were a light sapphire blue while her pillows varied in colors, but were mainly a beautiful pristine silver. And her blankets, she noted as she ran one of her hands over them, were a royal blue color with a white underside and felt as though it was made of silk. Right next to her bed on its left was a small night stand with a reading lamp and digital clock on it; the night stand was made of dark cherry wood to match her bed.

One of other things that were replaced in her room was her old desk that held her dolls and other small toys. In its place was a medium sized office desk also made of dark cherry wood that was similar to the ones she often saw in her father's study and offices. Another replaced piece of furniture in her room was her old toy makeup station, which was a disgusting shade of pink the last time she had seen it. She still didn't know why she had had it painted pink. Its replacement was a beautiful white wood one that had vines, leaves, flowers, and some small birds carved out of it. She walked over to the makeup station after she had finished running her hands over her blankets, oh how she loved silk blankets, and ran her hand against one of the bird carvings. She was delighted with how smooth it felt, and when she took a closer look at the wooden bird she was surprised by how much detail was placed into the little carving. Taking a look at all of the other sculptures in the makeup station, she noticed that they were all made with a lot of painstaking details.

A few minutes later, Kagome finally walked away from the makeup station and she walked towards the windows right foot came into contact with something hard and wooden. Looking down to see what her foot had connected with she saw an extremely plush dark blue bedroom bench that had the length that was the same as her bed's width and also doubled as a couch. The wood that she had accidentally kicked was apparently the bench's feet and unsurprisingly it had also been made of dark cherry wood. Pushing down lightly against the bench, Kagome found that it was extremely soft and wondered if it was stuffed with swan feathers. She wondered if it was swan feathers because those were much softer than other type of feathers and stuffing she had ever felt.

Before long she passed by her windows, one of the few constants in her room as she made her way to her closet. Her windows still looked very much the same. They even still had the seats that were built into the wall, only the cushions were now a gentle ice blue instead of the original rosy red. The difference the windows had was that instead of their old sunny yellow curtains they were now the same beautiful pristine silver that most of her new pillows are. Running her hand against the curtains briefly, she vaguely noted that it was also made of silk. The one thing in the whole bedroom that had not been replaced was her bookshelves that were made of white wood. The shelves were now filled with a large variety of different educational books such as languages, politics, business, and etc. instead of just her fantasy books that were still there.

'_Someone must really want to spoil me or has something to make up to me,'_ wondered Kagome as she strolled around. _'But I can't remember what they could be trying to make up for.' _

Almost immediately after her hand disconnected from the curtains, she noticed that she stood in front of the door that would lead to her closet. Looking at the door, Kagome noted that the wood trimming that she last had around the door frame was now gone and was now just the door frame. Finally perceiving that she indeed did not have trimming on her closet door anymore, she looked further down to see if the other wood trimmings were removed or replaced. The very first thing she became aware of was that her carpeted floor was gone! Her lovely white carpet was now replaced by a mahogany wood floor.

'_Shouldn't I have noticed the change in flooring first?'_ questioned Kagome to herself. _'But I didn't. Then shouldn't I have noticed it when I looked at the bench?'_

Dismissing that thought for the time being, she continued to examine her new wooden floor and the new set of trimming. The new trimming she noted was designed in a very French style. Like her walls the trimming had the fleur-de-lis symbol adorning them, but was extremely small compared to other fleur-de-lis based trimmings she had seen when she went window shopping one day with her mother. The browsing had been done in preparation to find things and styles that she would have liked in her bedroom when she turned sixteen. Finally pulling away from thinking about trimmings, she had started to turn back to her closet door, but then something shiny on the wall next to her closet caught her eye.

Stopping to face the wall that she had as a child used as a bulletin board or a drawing board, she saw that it now had a large sixty-five inch plasma screen adorning it. And right under the screen was a glass television stand that contained the latest games, game systems, and entertainment units. She didn't really care all that much for games, but the movie players and other stuff certainly caught her attention. Pulling herself away from the temptation that was television, she was finally able to turn back and face her closet door, which was the same white color it had been when she was last living there and that the doorknob was still the same as the one of her bedroom door has.

Taking hold of the doorknob, Kagome turned it and pushed the door open. She slowly stepped into her closet, careful to not scare herself if there any extreme changes done to her beloved closet. Her closet was the one place that she loved the most about her room at Duel Academy, especially when she was little. Her closet had been her safe haven. It protected her when her room couldn't during kidnapping and assassination attempts by the few who had found out about her that weren't supposed to. Which was the biggest reason why the general public did not know that her father had married her mother, much less had two children with her. Those attempts had also been the reason she and Souta had been taught Tae Kwon Do as soon as they were able. The glass for all of her bedrooms' windows had even been replaced with a glass that was a mixture of plexiglass and tempered glass for extra protection because of all the kidnapping attempts.

If she recalled right her closet had a lot of things that were not her clothes. Those things being her refrigerator; which was almost constantly stocked with emergency food, her microwave, a cupboard for instant foods and bottled water, a large sleeping bag, her emergency contact computer that was built into the wall, and lots of other things she couldn't remember. Being in her closet again, she really hoped they didn't change it too much.

Looking around her closet, Kagome was happy to note that her haven indeed did not change much. The paint was still the same color, a nice champagne gold. Her emergency supplies were still in the same area they had last been this included her emergency computer. She checked the areas just to make sure. The hide away hole that was built into the closet's walls was even still there and in the same spot. The only difference being that it was bigger. Those three things were the main ones that she had actually cared about.

Looking around the rest of her safe haven, she kind of felt like she was walking through the closet in "Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement." Despite this closet having belong to her since she was four years old, possibly even before she had even been born. The only changes that were made to her closet was how the poles that hung her clothing were placed and arranged, which was now placed in many aisles and ranged in two different heights. Two entire sections of her closet had been sectioned off for either shoes or jewelry and accessories, which was probably one of bigger difference between her current and past closet. Finally her dressing area of her closet had been changed to that of one those high end clothing boutiques with several dressing mirrors and a round seat included. Her black colored square hamper had been hidden in a corner of the dressing room. In that same dressing room was also where she had found her blue and black trimmed trunk had been placed._ 'I'm convinced, someone _is _trying to spoil me or making something up to me,' _thought Kagome as she once again looked over her closet.

Stumbling out of her delicious closet, which she has and will forever love and hopes that her closet back at Kaiba mansion had been redesigned to be the same as the one here, she quickly compared the differences in her newly designed room and her old one. She remembered the basic layout of her old room; her bed had been pushed against the right wall and placed in the center while her toy chest had sat at the foot of it. Her ceiling high windows were on the wall to the right of the bed. Her toy makeup station and desk had been side-by-side against the wall that was to the left of her bed, her bookshelves had taken up the remaining space along the wall that her desk and makeup station were against. Lastly the door to her walk-in closet had been situated at the top right corner of the wall opposite of her bed. The door had been the only thing on that wall, which had been left that way for her to decorate as she saw fit mostly depending on her mood.

Her current bedroom was much the same as her old one as in where things were located such as her bed and closet were still in the same location. The windows and its seats couldn't change where they were at, so they were in the same place too. The only things that were really different were that her bookshelves were no longer only on one side of her desk. They were now settled on either sides of her desk, the three pieces of furniture taking the entire wall left of her bed for themselves. Her makeup station was now pushed up against the wall that her bed was against and was situated in the space between the windows and the bed. Overall she loved her new room so much better than her old one, and she believed she knew just the people she needed to thank for how her room was designed.

Only a very small handful of people knew exactly what she liked, those few people being Aunt Emi, her best girlfriend Sango, her best guy friend Sesshomaru, and surprisingly her father. Despite her father almost never being home, he knew her taste in style and fashion astonishingly well. Seeing that only two of those four people knew she even had her own room, she was determined to give them both a gift that would blow their minds once Christmas came.

Even though she and her family weren't Christian or any kind of western religion, her father didn't give up the chance of using the holiday to send her, Souta, and their mother presents. He even sometimes took advantage of the holiday just to be able to spend some time with them even during his busy schedule. _'Tou-chan and Emi -oba really do know my taste so well,' _thought Kagome fondly of her father and aunt.

Now knowing who she had to thank for her room, Kagome quickly walked over to her bedroom door, where she accidentally dropped her uniform and backpack, and quickly picked up the said backpack and uniform and then promptly made her way to her bed to put down her backpack. Once her backpack was settled down onto her bed, she unclipped her duel disks and placed them onto her bed after she checked them for damages she may have caused while she kept her uniform in her arms. Satisfied that she didn't cause unnecessary damage to her new duel disk or her old one, she held onto her uniform tighter and rushed into the changing room of her closet.

When she was finally inside her closet's dressing quarters, she quickly stripped out of her current clothes starting with her shoes and ending with her shirt, right after she placed her uniform onto the round seat. Once she was standing in only her lacy sapphire blue undergarments, socks, and her key and necklace still hanging around her neck, Kagome tossed her clothes into her black hamper, and placed her sneakers onto one of the shoe racks in the shoe section of her closet. The only article of clothing that did not follow the rest into the hamper had been her belt that was resting on the seat with her uniform.

After she came back from putting away her shoes, she turned to her trunk and opened. When it was finally open she rummaged around it and snatched a pair of black biker shorts from near the bottom of the storage unit. After she slipped on her biker shorts she finally began getting dress in her new school uniform, beginning first with sliding into her new school skirt, then slipping on her new shirt, followed by pulling her fingerless gloves on, and finally slipping into her boots. Once she was completely dressed in her school uniform, Kagome snatched up her belt, which still had her SPP, cellphone, and Duel Monsters deck on it, and secured loosely around her midsection so that it would hang around her hips. Now completely dressed, she was just about to leave her closet when she spotted a small rectangular carrying case. The case was made of grey faux leather and was just big enough to fit her SPP. Taking it into her hands she snapped it into place next to her cellphone carrier and pulled her SPP out and placed it into its new carrier.

Finally finished changing, Kagome headed out of her closet and spotted her clock. Her clock read in blaring red numbers two-thirty. Apparently she had spent a good thirty minutes to explore her room and to change into her uniform. Feeling as though she had spent enough time in her bedroom for the moment, she headed over to her bedroom and grabbed her new duel disk's strap and swung it onto her back to wear like a knapsack. After making sure she still had her key, Kagome headed out of her room to go walk around the island with her door shutting softly behind her, not caring that she had not bothered to unpack her belongings.

'_I can always unpack later, it's not like I don't have clothes here anyways,'_ Kagome reminded herself so that she would not feel guilty just as she made it down to the reception hall. She was right though, her closet was mostly filled with her clothes already, completely new ones that she had never worn or seen before.

Just as she as she reached the reception hall's entryway to head outside for the time being she was stopped by a voice calling out to her and running footsteps.

"Higurashi-san!" a girl's voice called out to her.

The only sign that showed Kagome even heard the girl calling out to her was her stopping and looking over her shoulder to where she was hearing the voice. Finally finding the girl that had called out to her, Kagome noted that the girl had long sand blonde hair that reached the middle of her back in a point, a heart shaped face, and large honey-amber colored eyes. The blonde was also wearing the same uniform as she was with the only difference being that the blonde had forgone the gloves.

Kagome waited patiently for the fellow student to catch, not understanding why she even bothered to wait for the other student. Maybe she was just curious about how the girl knew her name and what she wanted with her. It's not like she was going to actually try to make friends. _'Though it'll get lonely without someone to talk to that's actually here with me,'_ thought Kagome to herself as the girl finally caught up to her.

"Konichiwa Higurashi-san, I'm Asuka Tenjouin," introduced the blonde, now known as Asuka, as she stood in front of Kagome after giving a small bow.

"Konichiwa Tenjouin-san, I'm Kagome Higurashi," answered Kagome as she returned the bow only so that she was not impolite to the new comer. "Is there something you wished ask or need of me?" she asked with arms crossed under her chest and an eyebrow arched in question. _'And how did you even know my name?'_ she added mentally to herself.

"Call me Asuka, Higurashi-san. Most of my friends do," said Asuka, picking up the unasked question she quickly continued. "And I noticed that you were by yourself earlier when the new students were picking up their uniforms, and I heard the worker call your name. I was wondering if I could join you on your walk." Asuka asked with a friendly smile

Kagome's eyes widened in surprise that someone actually noticed her much less wanted her to join her on a walk around the island. "Hmm…," began Kagome as she debated on whether or not to let Asuka join her. On one hand she didn't want to get interrogated by anyone, but on the other she didn't want to be on the island by herself while all of her friends were on the mainland. "Alright, you can join me," answered Kagome with a small smile pulling at her lips and her arms falling from their crossed position under her chest to rest at her sides, her coldness towards others melting slightly away for the time being. "But call me Kagome. I don't really like being called by my surname."

"Awesome, then let's go," cheered a happy Asuka as she and Kagome headed out the doors of the Obelisk blue girls' dormitory. "I didn't really see much of the island except for what we saw coming here and to the auditorium. I miss being here."

Kagome giggled lightly at Asuka's enthusiasm. She most definitely had not expected her to be so excited about walking around the island. Most girls that she was not friends with hated any kind of physical activity. "Well I didn't see much of the island either, but maybe you could show some parts of the school to me. Did you read your SPP's regulation book?"

"Yeah, it was one of the first things I did when I came here. The rules are pretty much the same as it was in middle school," answered Asuka as the two of them headed over to the school's main campus building. "By the way how long have you been playing Duel Monsters? I learned how to play when I was eight."

"I've been playing since I was five the same age my uncle officially introduced the game to me. Before that I only collected cards, but I guess you could say I've known about Duel Monsters before I was even born," supplied Kagome. An image of her Uncle Pegasus smiling and handing a five year old version of herself her very first Duel Monsters card, which had been a Harpie Queen, flashed through the front of her mind. She had received the card during one of her father's business trips to America that she had been allowed to follow him on, along with the rest of her immediate family. An image of Kaiba Corp.'s building also flashed through her mind. "Why did you decide to come to Duel Academy?"

Asuka stopped walking when she registered what Kagome had asked her. Kagome stopped next to her and waited for her answer, but saw the solemn expression that was on Asuka's face. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want," said Kagome hopping to save this new friendship from dying before it actually began. She placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder hoping to comfort her on whatever was bothering her.

"It's okay. It's not like it won't come out eventually. I decided to come here because I wanted to become a professional female duelist," said Asuka leaning a little into the comfort that Kagome provided. For some reason, she felt very safe and comfortable around the raven like she could trust Kagome with anything, and they've known each other for less than ten minutes. "But I also came because my brother comes here too, but last year he… he disappeared!" finished the blonde with a little stutter and seemed as if she would break down.

Kagome wrapped her arms around Asuka in comforting hug, hopping to calm the distraught girl. She was feeling guilty for asking her that question. "I'm sorry Asuka. I didn't mean to hurt you with that question."

"I know you didn't Kagome," said Asuka as she started to calm down and pull away from Kagome's hug. "It's just…I'm still not over it yet. I plan on finding him while I'm here."

"I'll help you find him," said Kagome as she released the other girl.

"Arigato Kagome," thanked Asuka happy that she had someone else to help her look for her missing brother. _'Maybe she's not really as emotionless as I first thought,' _pondered Asuka quietly to herself. An image of Kagome's earlier stoic expression that the raven had when they were in the auditorium came to the front of her mind. "By the way, why did you decide to come here?" she asked once she was sufficiently collected herself.

"I didn't really have choice in coming here," answered Kagome with a light scowl. She would never actually have a full blown scowl on her face like her father does; she hated frowning or being angry. "My father made me come here. I was originally going to attend another high school, but chichiue forced me to change my plans. None of my friends from the mainland are attending the academy."

"Why did your father want you to attend the school, especially when you didn't want to?"

"He wants me to find a fiancé within the next school year, more specifically one that knows how to play Duel Monsters. What better way to find one than sending his only daughter to one of the most prestigious Duel Monsters institutes."

"Your father must be really hard on you, ne?" asked Asuka. "And isn't that a little harsh to make you find a husband at fifteen?"

"He isn't really, but I do wish he was home more often. It's actually normal for girls to start looking for a fiancé at fifteen. At least I'm not being placed into omiai's. I don't think I could handle it if I was forced into those," answered Kagome truthfully.

"But why would he want you to have a fiancé already?"

"I know his reasons, but I can't tell you them. Sorry," Kagome apologized looking a little sad.

"Oh I don't mean to pry. It's just strange, but at least you know his reasons," said Asuka trying to lighten the now slightly melancholy atmosphere.

"Yeah, that's one of the good things," said Kagome with a mood lifting smile as she looked on the bright sides of things, like how her room had been redecorated and her cell phone. The two girls continued talking with one another about a variety of things; mainly topics that they believed were safe, which were mainly girl only topics, in a happier mood. Very soon and without the two girls knowing, they had arrived at Duel Academy's main school building and had stopped in their movements. Just as they noticed that they had arrived at the building, Kagome noticed Judai, who was surprisingly wearing a Slifer red uniform, running into the building and following him was another Slifer red student, a much shorter one with sea foam blue hair and spectacles.

"Hey Asuka," called Kagome as she watched the two boys run.

"Yeah," replied Asuka as she turned to Kagome.

"You want to follow those two?" asked Kagome all the while pointing a slender finger to the two running Slifer red students.

"Why not, it couldn't hurt." With that said the two girls followed after Judai and the much shorter Slifer red student. Almost immediately after the girls entered the building they lost track of Judai and the other Slifer, seeing as both of the boys had been running while they had been walking at a leisurely pace.

"We lost them," said Asuka stating the obvious.

"It doesn't really matter. We can always find them again. But for now how about you show me around the building," offered Kagome as she started to lead the blonde down a randomly picked hallway. As they walked through the building and pass doors and other hallways, Asuka explained to the best of her ability about which rooms were for classes and students, where certain hallways led to, and other things. The tour hadn't really been necessary, but Kagome had to keep up appearances for the time being. When they were nearing the end of Asuka's little impromptu tour, the girls ended up in a hallway that was new to them both. Just as they were about to turn around and leave, both not wanting to get lost just in case the hallway lead to somewhere else Asuka didn't know, the two girls heard laughing and Judai talking.

Hearing Judai had both girls walking down the hallway and quickly searching for him, especially because he was the reason they had even entered the building. Just as they entered a cross section of the hallways, Asuka heard a very familiar conceited voice say, "That guy is better than the two of you. He's the guy who supposedly beat Chronos-kyōju in his entry exam, albeit he did it sloppily."

"That was skill." Kagome heard Judai say right after the other voice, which to her sounded very arrogant and male. It kind of reminded her of the jerks from her middle school.

"I'd like to see this skill for myself now," said the supercilious voice again.

After that they once again heard Judai speak, "Fine by me."

Asuka turned to the entry way that she heard the Judai and the voice speak from and headed into the room with Kagome following close behind her. What Kagome saw upon her entry into the Obelisk's duel arena, were three male Obelisk students in the First year students' uniform with the long blue jacket surrounding Judai and the short Slifer student. Judai and the Obelisk student that was in the stands looked as if they were about to challenge each other to a duel.

"Hey!" Asuka called out to the group of male students as she and Kagome made their way over to them with her arms crossed under her chest. "What are all of you doing?"

"Wow, they're pretty," gasped the sea foam blue haired boy. A light pink blush dusted Kagome's cheeks when she heard what the shorter boy say about her and Asuka.

"Tenjouin-kun," called the student from the stands, Kagome recognized his voice to be the arrogant one that they had heard in the hallway. "You see, these newcomers are far too ignorant of the ways of the world…I was thinking I'd teach them a bit about how intense the academy can be. By the way who is that lovely lady behind you?"

Asuka was about to say something, but Kagome stopped her by placing a gentle hand on Asuka's shoulder, the one closest to her, signaling that she could handle it as she took a step forward. "Konichiwa, I'm Kagome Higurashi," said Kagome as she introduced herself with her arms also crossed under her chest and a delicate finely shaped eyebrow raised. "And you would be?"

The two other Obelisk students stumbled over each, trying to introduce themselves to the raven haired beauty that was before them. "Konichiwa Higurashi-san, I'm —" began the two Obelisks that were on the arena platform at the same time. The two stopped and glared at each other before they started a shouting match against each other. Amusement lit up Kagome's sapphire orbs and Asuka's honey-amber ones as they continued to watch the two males continue their match.

The two boys were so engrossed in their shouting that they didn't notice that the other Obelisk had descended from the stands was now introducing himself to Kagome. "Konichiwa Higurashi-kun. I am Jun Manjoume-san. I suppose you've heard of me from Asuka," said the newly introduced Jun as he glanced over at Asuka.

"No, not in particular," answered Kagome lazily. "Asuka and I only just met today, and call me Kagome. I hate being called my surname" Getting sick of hearing the other two male Obelisk students shout at each other, Kagome yelled with a glare, "Can you two be quiet! All that yelling is really annoying."

"EHH!" yelled the two Obelisks.

"Didn't I just say to shut up," yelled an annoyed Kagome that at the moment did not want to be nice. "I think I'm going to have a headache after this," continued Kagome, mumbling to herself. She brought a hand up to her face to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"It's about time for the welcoming party at the dorms to start," Asuka intervened, not wanting Kagome to get more annoyed. She may have not seen Kagome mad before, but she sure didn't want to. She liked the sweet and caring, but calm and collected Kagome.

The three male Obelisk students realized what Asuka had said was true and they all headed out the exits when Jun called out, "Let's go."

Once the male Obelisks were gone, Asuka turned to face Judai and the other Slifer student. "You guys shouldn't take up dares from Manjoume-kun and his group," warned Asuka. "After all, they're a lousy bunch."

"Really Asuka?" asked Kagome once her annoyance vanished and her arms were once again resting by her sides. "Manjoume-san seemed alright, a little stuck up, but alright. I can't really say the same about his two friends though."

"He did the same to me when I first met him. He probably likes how you look," explained Asuka.

"For you to take the time to tell us that," started Judai in a serious tone. "Could you have fallen in love with at first sight?" he ended with a goofy face while pointing to himself. Behind him the short Slifer student looked like he was in shock while yelling to Judai. "Aniki! That's impossible!"

Both Kagome and Asuka laughed lightly at Judai goofiness. "The welcoming party at the Slifer red dorms will be starting, as well," said Asuka helpfully.

"You're right!" yelled Judai. Turning to his fellow Slifer he continued, "Let's get back to the dorms!" He then ran off.

"W-Wait up, Aniki!" yelled the shorter student as he chased after Judai.

"Oh right! What's your name?" asked Judai as he ran back over to Asuka and Kagome.

"Asuka, Asuka Tenjouin," said Asuka with a smile, after she gasped in surprised that he actually asked.

"I'm Judai Yuki. Nice to meet 'cha!" replied Judai as he started to run again. "See ya around Kagome and Asuka!"

Kagome and Asuka didn't hear what else the two boys said as the two Slifers took off to their dorms. Turning to Asuka, Kagome asked, "Are the welcoming parties really about to start?"

"Yeah," answered Asuka as the two began to make their way out of the building and head back to their dorms. "We've been walking around the building and the island for about an hour now."

"Oh, well we should probably start heading off to dorms too then," said Kagome. "By the way how did you meet Manjoume-san?"

"You're not getting a crush on him now, are you?" questioned Asuka as she gave Kagome a pointed look.

"Oh no, no, no, you can have him for all I care. He seems a bit too conceited for my taste," explained Kagome while waving one of her hands to explain. "But I do want to know how you two met."

"I'll tell you, if you tell me how you know Judai," bargained Asuka just as the two made it outside of the campus building and started to take the dirt path to their dorms.

"Ooh, does Asuka have a crush on Judai," teased Kagome, not really meaning anything by it.

"No, I just find him interesting," defended Asuka as a faint pink blush dusted her cheeks.

"You're serious," deadpanned Kagome once she took notice of Asuka's blush.

"Just tell me how you two met!" shouted Asuka while turning her face to hide her blush.

"Alright, besides I was just teasing you. You don't have to take it personally. But," said Kagome as she tried to get Asuka to turn back to face her. "You have to tell me how you met Manjoume-san."

"Fine," said Asuka in a slightly defeated tone. "Manjoume-kun and I were middle school classmates. He had a huge crush on me throughout the whole of middle school and I think he still does. Probably on the both of us now, basing on how he introduced himself to you."

"You had to go to school with him before coming here?" questioned Kagome.

"Yeah, and he acts really weird when it's just the two of us doing something together," sighed Asuka while shaking her head lightly and questioning the stupidity of some boys.

"I feel for you," said Kagome sympathetically. "I had a few friends like that back in middle school too. But try to go out on a date with him for at max two weeks. That helped me get them to stop crushing on me and just be friends."

"You really dated your friends just to get them to stop crushing on you?"

"Yeah, it was really awkward during those times though."

"Okay I don't think I'm going to do that. It just seems rather…strange. Now tell me how you know Judai."

'Oh I met him while we were coming to the island. He challenged me to duel and he lost," commented Kagome non-committedly and with a shrug.

"That's it? He challenged you to a duel and he lost?"

"Yep, but it was a fun duel. I don't usually play Duel Monsters for fun." The two girls continued chatting about Kagome and Judai's duel and soon they were back at their dormitory and heading up to their rooms.

"I'll see you down at the party right, Kagome?" asked Asuka as she stopped on the second landing, the floor that her dorm room was on.

"Of course, why wouldn't you see me?" asked Kagome curiously with her head tilted to the right giving her the look of a curious cat. She had no clue how many of her friends form the main land would have tackle glomped her for making such a cute sight.

"Well I just wanted to make sure. I want to introduce you to some of my friends," Asuka explained.

"Oh alright, I'll see you later then," said Kagome as she waved goodbye to her new friend. She then quickly headed up the staircase to the third landing to get to her bedroom, never noticing how Asuka's eyes had followed her.

'_Why is her dorm on the third landing?' _Asuka questioned herself mentally as she continued to watch Kagome climb up the stairs. _'All first year dorms are on the first landing.'_ As soon as Kagome disappeared from her sight Asuka headed over to her own dorm, which was down the second hallway on the left of the stairs and the fourth room on the right, to unpack.

Kagome sighed, as she once again pulled out her key and performed the required security checks to get into her room. Once inside, Kagome quickly unstrapped her duel disk from her back and placed it onto her desk. After setting down her duel disk several clothing bags that were settled on her bed and next to her backpack caught her eye. She walked over to them and unzipped one of the bags. Inside the bag were two replicas of the uniform she currently adorned.

'_Apparently Emi-oba does know I'm here,'_ thought Kagome fondly, knowing that the only person that could place anything into her room at the moment besides herself was her Aunt Emi.

Picking up the four clothing bags, Kagome made her way to her closet to hang them up. After hanging them up on in one of the aisles, she made her way to where her trunk was situated. Once she was in front of her trunk she flipped the lid open again and pulled out several long clothing bags. She hastily moved those clothing bags to the dress section of her closet and hung them up. She didn't want them to be more wrinkled than they probably already were, even though she had packed them with painstaking care. When that was taken care of she went back to her trunk and pulled out a bottle of body spray, sweet pea scented, and sprayed herself with it. She might not have worked up a sweat during her walk with Asuka, but it was better safe than sorry.

Once she was done, Kagome left her closet and headed out of her room once again making sure she had her key around her neck. Heading down the stairs, she met Asuka on the second landing and she had two new girls with her. One girl had shoulder-blade length black hair the curved out in spikes and light caramel colored eyes. The other girl had dark grey eyes and brown sugar colored hair that spiked downwards and ended just above her shoulders. "Hey Asuka," Kagome called out to the blonde.

"Oh hey! Kagome I would like to introduce to you my friends. This is Momoe Hamaguchi and that's Junko Makurada," Asuka introduced as she pointed first to the raven haired girl and then to the brunette. "Guys this is Kagome, we went on a walk together, when you guys were still unpacking."

"Konbanwa," said the three newly introduced girls to each other while also giving each other a slight bow. "It's nice to meet you."

After pulling out of their bows, all three girls began studying each other, trying to decide whether or not they would be a strong rival to each other and if they'll be good friends. Soon the three stopped their observations of each other and just smiled at each other and giggled softly to themselves, though Kagome was still a bit closed off to the two new girls.

'_They seem okay,' _thought Kagome as she continued to giggle. Turning to face Asuka, she saw a relieved look and a soft smile on the blonde's face, obviously happy her friends liked each other at least somewhat. _'They seem sort of like Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka back home, yet not really.'_

Together the four girls descended down the stairs and joined the welcoming party that had started to begin. The party was taking place in the reception hall and dining hall, meaning both halls been opened so that it they were no longer separated. Actually the two halls were still separated, but the large double doors that kept the two halls separated were now completely thrown open so that the girls could move freely to the dining hall for food and drinks and to the reception hall to mingle with others.

The party flew by fast for Kagome, the time she spent in it was mostly filled with chatting a little bit with the other girls, eating fancy food that she had not eaten since she was eight, drinking sparkling cider, and catching up with her Aunt Emi, which they had both snuck away for during the middle of the party. The party came to an end at around seven-thirty. It having started at around four by a grand speech from her wonderful Aunt Emi meant that the party had lasted about three and a half hours. When the party had ended all the girls had dispersed in groups or by themselves to head back to their dorm rooms.

Currently Kagome was sitting inside her closet's dressing area and next to her trunk. She was finally unpacking her belongings, first all the clothes that were in here trunk, which were mainly her undergarments, shorts, and training clothes for gymnastics and martial arts. Her father had told her that she didn't really need to pack her clothes except for those, which left a lot of room in her trunk. She learned why she didn't have to pack any real clothes when she had entered her closet earlier. Her closet had already been filled with all the clothes she would ever need for her stay at the academy, ranging from casual and sleep wear to fancy formal wear and business attire.

She then unpacked her bathing materials meaning her body sprays, perfumes, makeup; which she didn't use much, body wash, shampoo, and conditioner; which she also did not use much unless for special occasions or an extreme hair washing. She found that her hair was actually softer to the touch after not using conditioner for a few weeks. She only had it because her mother had insisted that she take the bottle of expensive conditioner with its shampoo sibling. Kagome continued unpacking the last of her belongings, those being her training gear, her laptop, her laminator and supplies, her other electronics, her retractable Bo staff; which she promptly slid into its proper place on her belt, and surprisingly she had also packed her bow and arrows. Unlike the most other duelists, she tended to laminate her Duel Monsters cards and had them marked with a small seal to prevent her cards from being damaged and stolen. Just because she didn't particularly care for the game didn't mean she keep her cards safe.

Looking quizzically at the weapon set that was in her hand, she wonder when she had packed her bow and arrow set. She didn't remember packing it. She rarely even used it when her Bo staff was her preferred weapon of choice. She mainly only used it during priestess training, festivals, and ceremonies. The bow was a traditional kyūdō longbow made of bamboo, leather, and animal sinew. The arrows that had come with the unwanted weapon were all female in gender and were made of aluminum shafts and swan feathers. Luckily for her, the traditional shots for the long range piece of weaponry had been not been included in the quiver. She would have had to look for those if she ever shot them at the school.

Despite being Seto Kaiba's daughter, she was still her mother's child meaning she had to learn to be a priestess just like her mother did and Souta had to learn to be a priest, even though they would not be taking over the family shrine, which would be inherited by one of their many cousins on their maternal side. She didn't like touching or even using her bow unless she really needed to. The times she would need would be for practice before festivals and ceremonies or when her grandfather or mother forced her to practice to keep her skill level, which was admittedly not very good. _'Oh well, maybe jiji packed it in when I wasn't looking,' _wondered Kagome as she moved into her bedroom tucked her weaponry set into a corner next to her nightstand. _'At least I have an extra weapon now if anyone is able to break into my room.' _She never noticed how her bow and arrows had glow an eerie blue as she left to go back into her closet.

Without her really knowing it, she finished unpacking and had everything set at their appropriate places; makeup, perfume, and hair styling equipment at her makeup station, and etc. Kagome grabbed a towel from within her closet, her other bathing necessities, a new set of nightwear, and a pair of slippers and headed out of her closet. Once out of her closet, she noted that it was now nine o' clock and that most of the other girls were probably either in their rooms getting ready for bed or at the bath house bathing like she was about to do. She started on her way to the bath house, which was a ten minute walk from her room, after she checked if she had her key, and was sure that she had everything else needed. She flicked off her room's lights leaving her room to only have moonlight shining through the windows just as she stepped out her room's entryway.

When she arrived at the bath house, she was unsurprised to see that most of the girls from the dormitory were indeed bathing. The bath house was built in resemblance to the Roman coliseum. The large archways were covered in blurred gold windows and much like the reception hall of the girls' dorm, the interior of the bath house was also decorated in varying shades of gold. The inside of the bath house could only be described in a few words, over the top and fancy. The bath house had three water pools, a large one that stretched nearly to the door, a medium pool that settled within the large pool, and a much smaller pool was placed inside of the medium one. Within the smallest pool was a large water fountain that was nearly one entire story tall and took up much of the space within the smallest pool. The fountain gushed out warm water that flowed down into the pools to keep the water nice and warm. The fountain didn't cause an excessive amount of water to be used; it actually took the water from the pool, recycled it, heated it, and then released it back into the three pools via its flowing spout. Off to one side of the bath house about five yards away from the bathing pools was an archway that led to the shower stalls that the girls could use when they didn't want to use the pools to bathe.

Finding herself a slightly secluded portion of the bath house, Kagome quickly pulled off her boots and gloves. She then stripped out of the rest of her clothes leaving her only with her necklace holding key on. She quickly got into the first bathing pool and made her way to the center one. None of the bathing pools were overly deep, but they were just deep enough to cover a five foot and three inch tall teenage girl's chest, the height that she just happened to be. For the girls who weren't that tall, there had been benches installed into the walls of the pools. At times she wondered if her father had specifically designed most of Duel Academy's equipment to fit her because everything just seemed to.

When she finally made it to the center pool she forced herself to walk under the flowing waters of the fountain and just stood there. As she stood there, she closed her eyes to prevent the water from getting into her eyes and meditated, she felt like she really needed it. She hadn't been able to meditate for at least a week now. As she entered her mind, she became more aware of things that were going on around her such as the splashing of the water that hit her flesh, the water ripples movement to the outer pools, and the steady breathing of her fellow pool occupants. She was filled with a nice sense of peace as she meditated, but it soon was broken.

As she had stepped under the rushing waters of the fountain, Kagome never noticed the weird looks she had received for her actions. However she did feel the staring once she a little while after she had entered her meditation and she also heard the girls gossiping about her.

"What's she doing?" asked a random girl

"I don't know," answered another girl, probably the first girl's friend.

"Is she crazy?" questioned another random girl. "Why would anyone want to stand under the fountain?"

"Maybe she's meditating," offered a girl that was beside the last one.

"If she was wouldn't she be doing something too?"

These were some of the things she was able to hear through the running water the other girls say about her. Wishing to scare them a little for gossiping about her, she announced to the whole bath house, "You know I can hear."

She heard a loud collective gasp come from nearly all the girls in the bath house. Snapping her eyes open, Kagome stared down all the girls that she knew were gossiping about her. Moving out from under the warm falling water, she made her way to a group of girls that she knew the person who said she was meditating and the girl that questioned her meditation were in. Once she was beside the group of girls, who were still frozen in their surprise and shock, she turned to with a cold look on her face and said, "You don't have to be doing something physical to meditate."

With that said Kagome headed back over to where she had placed her clothes and bathing supplies. Once there she grabbed her bottle of shampoo, body wash, and a two wash cloths. She then walked back to the pools and slipped herself into the first one. After slipping in she sat down on the underwater bench with her bath bottles desposited at the edge of pool beside her. As she began to wash herself, the bath house was filled with stunned silence. Slowly, the room was filled with noise. The other girls were once again talking, and again it was about her but this time Asuka's name was involved.

"Wow, she's like Asuka but a darker version of her," commented a random girl to her friend.

"Yeah," sighed presumably her friend. "They're both so cool."

"And hot," added in another girl from across the room. "Did you see that the shampoo bottle she's using? That's the expensive one that the top salons use! It's the top brand in all of Asia. I heard it's worth the money you pay for it, and it's good for any hair type."

"Really? How did she get it? And where's the conditioner?" asked another girl who tried to take a closer look at Kagome's shampoo bottle. Soon almost every girl in the bath house was talking about Asuka and Kagome and comparing the two beauties to each other, some even got into debates with each other trying to decide which girl was better. Other girls discussed about how Kagome had been able to acquire such an expensive shampoo, much less a large bottle of it when the small one costs several thousand yen. Some of the guesses had been her being the hidden heir of a large corporation, a secret tournament champion, and her having a rich boyfriend who had bought it for her. The girls had no clue how right their first two guesses were. Nor did they know that Kagome did have several ex-boyfriends who were living in luxury.

Through all the gossip and chatting, Kagome ignored the girls as she finished rinsing off the soap and finished her bath. When she started to climb up from her seat in the pool, the bath house was once again filled with silence. The stillness continued as she gathered her all of her bathing supplies, wrung out her dripping hair, dried herself off, and dressed herself into her lacy black silk panties and night wear. The nightwear that she was dressed in was a knee length ice blue empire waist baby doll styled night gown with two layers, and the bust, decorated with small embroidery of tiny silver flowers. The first layer of the gown was made of a transparent silk that separated down the front starting just under her bust with a small silver bow resting just at the beginning of the separation. The second layer was a soft solid satin of a darker shade of blue.

It was only as she was heading out the arched door way of the bath house that the chattering started to resume. As she left she caught some small sayings come from the girls that were still in the bath house. "Waa…That nightgown was so cute!"

"Do you think we can ask her where she got it?"

"I want one of those!"

'_These girls are idiots. Don't they ever think about anything outside of gossip, clothes, boys, and idols?'_ thought Kagome as she continued on her way back to her bedroom while she shook her head at the stupidity that she felt the female students suffered from and with her belongings clutched to her chest._ 'I can't believe I have to live in the same building as them for a whole year. Thank Kami-sama that I have at least one girl here who takes dueling seriously.'_

As she walked back to the dormitory, Kagome walked in silence while she enjoyed the sounds of the night. It wasn't very often that she got free time at night, much less spend it outside. As she listened to the evening's sound, she heard ocean waves crash against the island, crickets play their lovely symphony, and the surrounding plant life sing a beautiful chorus with the help of the gently blowing wind. Together, they formed a beautiful melody for anyone that would actually listen. Taking a quick look up at the starry night sky, Kagome was in awe of the twinkling lights that could only be the galaxies, stars, and planets and large glowing half-moon. She loved the night sky and everything in it. It was the whole reason why she had had her ceiling back at her family's shrine painted the way it was.

Knowing that she had a possibility of crashing into someone or something if she didn't stop looking at the sky, Kagome reluctantly pulled her gaze away from the twinkling stars and glowing moon. When she looked back down, she found that she had made it back to the girls' dormitory's front doors. She blinked several times in rapid succession in surprise. She hadn't expected to be back at the dorms that fast. Not really caring, she took a hold of one of the doors and entered the dormitory with all intentions of going back to her bedroom, placing her clothes in her hamper, and start tearing her way through her presents.

Just as she stepped in through the doors she bumped into someone resulting in Kagome dropping her belongings and nearly falling over. Going down on her knees, Kagome quickly began picking up everything that she had dropped. As she reached a hand for her shampoo bottle, she was surprised another hand had already taken a hold of it. Her eyes followed the length of the hand's attached arm and she was surprised to see Asuka. Seeing the bathing supplies in Asuka's own arms, she concluded that Asuka had been heading out to the bath house just as she herself had been returning, which resulted in their bumping into each other when the front doors opened.

"Here, sorry about that Kagome," apologized Asuka and she handed Kagome her shampoo bottle. "I didn't think anyone would walk through the door."

"It's alright, I didn't either," replied Kagome as she gratefully accepted her shampoo and stood back up with her other belongings. "You're heading to the bath house?"

"Yeah, I haven't gotten the chance to bathe after unpacking," answered Asuka as she lifted her own bathing supplies a little. "Apparently you did. How was it?"

"You'll like it, but they're gossiping about us in there," warned Kagome as she gathered her belongings together in her arms.

"I think I can handle a little gossip," replied Asuka off handedly with a small wave of her free hand. Taking a quick look over of what Kagome was wearing she asked, "By the way where did you get your nightgown? It's really cute."

"This," asked Kagome as she pointed to her dress. "I actually designed this a year ago, and I think my hahaue gave my chichiue my design folder and he had this manufactured for me. I checked the tag and it read designed by Kagome"

"Really?"

"Yeah, you can check if you want." Kagome turned her back to Asuka and pulled her still damp hair over one of her shoulders, so that Asuka could check the tag without any disruptions. Asuka walked over to Kagome until she was just behind her, and pulled out the little tag. Reading it, Asuka found the little tag did read Designs by Kagome written in beautiful fancy gold Kanji and what she could make out was English.

"I might be a duelist, but fashion design is my passion. I had been planning on studying it along with business after high school," Kagome continued.

"Wow, Kagome. You're such a great designer telling by how you designed your nightgown. Maybe I should ask you to make me something?" teased Asuka as she once again did a once over of Kagome. She really wanted something similar to what the raven had on.

"Maybe," answered Kagome as she turned back around to face Asuka after she felt the tag once again touching her skin. "This is actually my first design to be made reality, if you don't count costumes for plays and other events."

"Ahh so this is your nightgown is currently one of a kind, ne?"

"I believe so," confirmed Kagome. "You should probably start heading to the bath house now. It's getting pretty late," she said as she walked around Asuka and headed for the stairs.

"Oh right. See you later," called out Asuka as she headed out the dormitory doors and to the bath house. The two girls headed their separate ways for the time being.

When Kagome finally returned to her room, after once again going through the annoying security system and turning on the lights, she headed straight for her closet to dump her used clothing, not including her belt and electronics, in her hamper, and put away her bathing supplies on their appropriate shelves. When she left her closet the only thing she had left in her hands was her belt with her electronics and Duel Monsters deck still attached to it. Once she was out, Kagome headed over to her bed and placed her belt onto her night stand. She then headed over to her desk and grabbed the waste basket that was there and carried it to only set it down next to her bed. She then plopped herself down onto her plush bed and blanket. When she was finally comfortable on her bed, she pulled her abandoned black backpack to her and preceded to pullout the gifts that she had received from her friends that morning.

Pulling out the first present, a small rectangular box wrapped in varying shades of pink stripped paper no name tag or card had been with it, Kagome quickly ripped off the gift wrap, but also being careful to not damage whatever was within the paper. When she finally freed her award from its paper prison she was honestly shocked by what was it was. In her hands was a beautifully decorated black wooden picture frame with a picture in it. The picture had her and a small group, five people, of her friends in it, all them, girls, with their arms over each other's shoulders and dressed in different colored leotards, but of the same design, obviously meant they were on the same team. It looked as if it had been taken when she was twelve years old and judging by the date that was printed at the corner of the photograph, it was also the day of her first tournament.

Placing it gently next to her on the bed, Kagome then grabbed another brightly wrapped box and unwrapped it. This time the box was wrapped in white snowflake and blue decorated paper. The object that was hidden under all the wrapping paper was another picture frame, a silver one with a photograph in it. The photograph was of another group of her friends and her hanging out during a significant part of her life. This time the group was a mix of boys and girls dressed in fighting kimonos and gis, all in varying colors and designs showing that even though the group were friends they would still be facing each other as opponents. The picture was of her at a martial arts tournament, the very same tournament she had met her first boyfriend, Bankotsu Shichinintai a swordsman participant of the event. They had started out as friends and an attraction had developed between. They decided to give a relationship between them a chance before ending it not even a month later, deciding that they were better off as just friends.

This was how almost the entire time she spent unwrapping her new acquisitions went, staring at the pictures and old memories coming back. Each gift that she had opened had been a beautifully decorated picture frame of either silver or black containing a photograph or had just been a set of five photographs of a treasured time and memory. It was only the very last and largest present that had been different.

Her last acquisition had been larger than all the others, which told Kagome that it was most definitely not a picture frame or another set of photographs. It was the only one to have been wrapped in a shiny ocean blue wrapping paper and then decorated with little drawings. The others had all been wrapped in light colors or were in a box. Kagome carefully unwrapped the large present, taking extra care to not rip the wrapping paper; she actually wanted to keep this one.

Once the wrapping paper came off had been placed to the side away from the waste basket where she had already shoved the other wrapping papers, Kagome glanced down at the box that was now settled in her lap. Using one of her well-manicured nails, she ripped through the tape that kept the box sealed and opened the top. She wasn't overly shocked by what she found inside the box, but she was still surprised by what she found. Inside the box was a large, beautifully made blue leather bound photo album with her name written in English and kanji on the cover in elegant flowing script and small silver butterflies fluttered around her name. Everything that decorated the album was done in shiny silver that was reflective and had a glitter like quality to it.

When she opened the leather bound album, she had been surprised when a letter had fallen out of the cover page. Moving the letter to the side to read a little later, she started flipping through the pages of the album. As she flipped through the pages, Kagome found all the pages to be empty of any actual photographs, and with the turn of every few pages a new letter would fall out of the album. By the time she was finished going through her new album, she had a collection of over fifty letters to read. Gathering her souvenirs and letters together, she headed over to her desk to deposit them. Once there she arranged her picture frames to her liking, ending up with her desk having picture frames decorating the entire back section. After that she grabbed her new photographs and placed them in one of the drawers in her desk, her album following in them but into a different drawer. This left only her letters to rest on her desk untouched.

Sighing tiredly, Kagome looked over to her night stand to check the time on her digital clock, and blaring red numbers it read eleven thirty. Meaning she had spent the last hour since she had left the bath house and returned to her room opening her presents and placing her picture frames. Seeing that it was getting late, she decided to read her letters the next day or sometime during the weekend. The day had been emotionally exhausting with the farewell to her friends and family, the call from her father, seeing her Aunt Emi, and opening of the presents. She ran her fingers through her hair to check if it was still wet. Unsatisfied that her hair was still wet, she headed over to her makeup station, grabbed one of her many hair brushes and her hairdryer, and brushed her hair to rid it of any possible knots while turning on the hairdryer to hurry and finish drying her hair.

Just as she set down her hair brush and hairdryer and turned to switch off the bedroom lights, she heard a knock on the door. _'What would Emi -oba want, especially so close to midnight?' _ Kagome questioned as she made her way to answer the door and who she assumed would be her Aunt Emi after slipping on a pair of outside shoes in case her aunt decided to take her somewhere. Opening the door just enough for her head to peek through she began to ask with her eyes closed, "Emi -sensei, what do you want? It's nearly midnight."

A light giggle was her first response. Snapping open her eyes, Kagome looked to see just who she was talking to because that sure was not her Aunt Emi's laugh. The person that she saw standing right in front of her door was none other than Asuka Tenjouin, who surprisingly was still in her school uniform. _'How did she know which door would lead to my room?' _was the first thought that went through Kagome's mind when she saw Asuka as she blinked confusedly. _'Kind of glad Emi -oba reminded me to call her sensei when we're at the academy.'_

"Hey Kagome," greeted Asuka with a small wave while amusement shone clearly in her honey-amber orbs.

"Hey," returned Kagome with a small yawn following her greeting. "How did you find my room?"

"I saw you head up to the third floor, when first years all dorm on the first floor, and I figured that since you're the only first year on this floor you'll have a special room," explained Asuka as she gestured towards Kagome's beautifully decorated door. "I was wondering if you want to come with me to the duel arena we visited this earlier this afternoon."

"Something's going to happen at the arena isn't there?" asked Kagome with an arched finely shaped eyebrow as she stepped out of her room with the lights now off and closed her door.

"I think so. I want you to come with me," answered Asuka as she grabbed one of Kagome's wrists and pulled the other girl with her to leave the dormitory and head to the duel arena, not giving Kagome the chance to grab a jacket from her closet to cover up.

"Asuka!' cried Kagome as she was literally dragged down the hallway and several flights of stairs by her blonde friend. "Stop pulling!" she called out as she dug her the heels of her shoes, which she had thankfully put on before answering the door, into the dirt path of outside the dormitory, forcing both girls to come to a halt and Asuka to nearly tumble backwards. Kagome didn't want to end up hurting Asuka by pinning her down to the floor or anything, but she was becoming annoyed at being dragged out of the dormitory when it was nearly midnight and she was just about head off to bed too.

"We don't have time to waste," said Asuka anxiously once she had regained her balance and continued to pull on Kagome's wrist.

Getting sick of Asuka pulling on her wrist, which was actually starting to hurt from all the pulling, Kagome pulled back the arm that Asuka was pulling on and twisted Asuka's arm behind the girl's back and held her there with just enough pressure to keep her still and not cause pain. "Asuka, you will calm down. It's not that long of a walk to the arena," placated Kagome as she tried to get Asuka to calm down and stop struggling. When that didn't work, she tried, "I doubt Judai likes a girl who's acting like you currently are, hyperventilating and overly worried."

That seemed to do the trick because as soon as those words registered in Asuka's mind, her movements stilled and her breathing calmed until it was once again at a normal rate. Kagome slowly released Asuka from her hold once she was sure that the blonde was sufficiently calm enough to explain why they were going to the duel arena. Her arms were crossed just under her breast with her right foot tapping against the floor in impatience, clearly showing Asuka that Kagome was waiting for an explanation.

"I have a feeling that Manjoume has challenged Judai to a duel at the arena tonight," quickly began Asuka, wanting to hurry to the duel arena. "And I think that they're about to do something stupid."

"Okay, then why am I coming with you?"

"I didn't really want to go by myself?" offered Asuka hesitantly, really just wanting to see Judai duel.

Sighing in exasperation, Kagome agreed, "I'll go with you." Asuka opened her mouth to thanks Kagome, but she stopped with her jaw dropped. "But we are walking the whole distance there."

"But the duel—" started Asuka.

"Doesn't really matter. If you had actually had let me put on good shoes or change, then maybe we could have ran there like you seem to want to," interrupted Kagome as she gestured to her evening wear and shoes.

"Oh…Oops?"

"Let's go then," Kagome sighed as the two girls quickly walked down the dirt path to the main academy building and the Obelisk duel arena. The two quickly made their way to arena in silence, one annoyed at losing precious sleeping time and the other anxious to see the night's duel.

When they finally arrived at the main building, Kagome could tell that it was soon approaching midnight from the position of the moon. It took another few minutes before both girls were just outside the entrance of the duel arena. Peeking into the entrance, the girls saw that Asuka had indeed been right that Jun had challenged Judai to a duel at the arena. On both sides of the arena, the girls saw that Jun and his two friends from before were on one side and Judai and his friend were on the other. Seeing that both boys had their duel disks not yet activated, the girls concluded that the duel had yet to start. The boys were only talking so far, and not a single one of the boys seemed to have noticed the two girls that were listening in.

"You're going to show me either the dumb luck or the skill that beat Chronos-kyōju!" The girls heard Jun declare to Judai.

"Right! And I've wanted to know just how skilled the elites of Duel Academy are." The girls heard Judai answered back.

They heard Jun chuckle evilly before saying, "Listen up! We'll be using the Ante Rule, putting both our best cards at stake."

"Isn't the Ante Rule forbidden at school?" Kagome asked Asuka turning to face the blonde.

"Yeah, it is. It's against school regulations, and Manjoume knows that," replied Asuka never taking her eyes off the confrontation between Jun and Judai.

"Sure! I'm ready for anything!" They heard Judai reply eagerly. Kagome nearly face planted at hearing Judai say that. _'He didn't read the regulations at all, did he?' _ Kagome thought as a sweat drop formed on the side of her head. _'At least he's got his own type of charm to him.'_

The duel between the Obelisk and the Slifer then started with both Jun and Judai both announcing "Duel!" and their duel disks activating and expanding. The point monitors for both showed 4000 before they both drew five cards. This being Obelisk territory, Jun went first, drawing a single card after the five. "It's my turn first," he looked down at the card he just drew, "I summon Reborn Zombie in defense mode!" The 1600 defense monster was crouched down on one knee on the field before Jun, skin torn and bones showing. "And I'll also place one card face down and end my turn. Obelisk blue against Slifer red…The difference in our intellect has already determined the outcome of this!"

"You can't play a duel in your head! My blazing heart will take you on!" Judai said, "It's my turn. Draw!" He drew his next card and looked over the other five in his hand, one card specifically stood out as it moved ever so slightly in his hand, the soft echoed voice sounding around him.

Kagome nodded silently to herself while thinking, _'__Judai__ s right. You can't always simulate your duels, but Majoume has a point too. You need intelligence to make it to the big leagues.'_

Both Asuka and Kagome quietly made their way into the arena, standing just by the doorway as they watched the start of the duel in silence.

_**~Kuri Kuri~**_

A surprise expression appeared on Kagome's face when she heard the sound. Looking around wildly, she attempted to find the source of the ghostly like noise. Her wild movements caught Asuka notice and drew the blonde's attention away from the duel for the moment. "What's the matter, Kagome?" Asuka asked in concern.

"Did you hear that?" Kagome whispered while still looking around for the sound's source.

"Hear what?"

"That sound, it was like 'kuri kuri,'" explained Kagome.

"No, I didn't hear anything," replied Asuka as she turned her attention back to the duel.

"Maybe I'm just being delusional," wondered Kagome as she brushed the sound as her imagination. Pulling herself away from beginning to wonder about her sanity, she gave her full attention to Jun and Judai's duel. She might not care for playing the game all that much, but it was still good to collect information on future opponents.

"Hey, Winged Kuriboh. With lucky old you by my side, I've got nothing to fear!" Jdaiaden held a card out for Jun to see, "I'll play Polymerization, to fuse together Elemental Hero's Avian and Burstinatrix," A bright light shown before them as Jun watched the two monsters merge. "To summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman in attack mode!" The red and green Elemental beastlike Hero let out a battle cry, "All right, this is my favorite card!"

"I've caught you already, it seems," Jun smiled.

"What?"

Jun stared arrogantly at the curious Judai Yuki, "I've already thoroughly analyzed your entry exam duel. Duels are all about brains!" Jun was getting pumped himself at the slight victory he'd achieved over the newbie student who'd taken out Professor Chronos, though, his victory had yet to actually be assured. "I activate the trap card, Chthonian Polymer." The card rose from the field and glowed a dark purple.

"Smart move," commented Kagome silently to herself.

Seeing her chance to get a closer view of the duel, Asuka made her way over to Judai's side of the arena. Kagome followed behind her once she noticed Asuka had started to head over to the Slifer's side.

"What's Chthonian Polymer?" Kagome saw the small Slifer ask with a worried and curious expression on his face. It was kind of adorable to see. She was going to answer the shorter student's question when Asuka beat her to it.

"It's basic knowledge to a duelist," said Asuka, making her presence known to the shorter duelist with Kagome right behind.

The Slifer student looked startled at Asuka suddenly answering his question from behind him. Kagome watched the sea foam color haired boy turn to face them with wide surprised eyes and say in a questioning tone, "Asuka? Kagome?" The boy blushed a bright red when he finally noticed Kagome's current attire. It was much more revealing, but still more modest, than the school uniform Asuka wore and that she had worn earlier in the day.

"When your opponent summons a Fusion Monster," explained Asuka as the boy listened to her with rapt attention, curious about the abilities of the trap played against his dueling friend in the arena. "You can gain control of that monster by sacrificing one monster on your field."

"Huh? What does that mean?" The glasses wearing boy turned back to the battle taking place before them.

"Just watch," said Kagome for the first time to the boy. "You'll understand soon enough."

Jun smirked, "I sacrifice Reborn Zombie to gain control of your Flame Wingman." His Reborn Zombie glowed brightly before dematerializing and moving to the graveyard. Judai's Wingman did the same, only, instead of heading to the graveyard, it moved to opposite sides of the arena, more specifically, where the Reborn Zombie had once been.

"Flame Wingman..." Judai frowned.

"His monster got taken!" The still unidentified boy cried. Kagome gave a small unnoticeable snort at his naivety. Why would anyone be so shocked by that?

"I knew that a Fusion Monster finished Chronos-kyōju off in you duel with him, so I had that Trap set. I can't believe that you'd step your way right into my Trap, without even knowing that. You're a typical Slifer." She understood Jun's reasoning. Judai had used several Fusion Monsters in his duel against her.

"A fusion-summons's a special summon, so I can still normal summon this turn." Kagome heard Judai mutter and then saw him look at his cards and then back up at Jun who was still smirking at the bi-color haired boy. Watching him, it seemed to her as if Judai finally made a decision, "Alright, I summon Elemental Hero Clay Man in defense mode!" His Clay Man crouched down in a defensive mode, all 2000 defense points. "I end my turn."

"I draw my card!" Kagome heard Jun announce as she watched him place a card face up on his disk, "I summon Chthonian Soldier! Go, Flame Wingman, attack with Sky Dive Scorcher!" Everyone watched as the monster that was once upon a time Judai's, began burning brightly as it was enveloped by flames, before flying straight at his Clay Man, digitally shattering the creature before them. "And now," Jun continued, "Thanks to Flame Wingman's Monster effect, your life points take damage equal to your destroyed monsters attack points."

Kagome just watched as Judai's monster...or, at the moment, Jun's monster, appeared before him and placed his claw in front of him, a glow forming brightly in front of him just before he cried out in simulated holographic pain. "Ah...!"

The Slifer student with Asuka and Kagome held up a hand to block the light as they watched Judai get set on fire through some means of a digitally generated attack.

"You don't have a single monster left to defend you," Jun informed the red jacket student that he was dueling, "Chthonian Soldier, attack! Wind Storm Slash!" The monster attacked and Judai fell forward onto his knees.

The five watching from the sidelines watched Judai's life points drop down to just 2000.

"By putting a stop to your Fusion Monster, you're already out of options, it seems!" Jun said haughtily, "I don't know how you were in your small town, but you're not at the level you need to make it in Duel Academy. Got that yet?" He placed down another card, "I'll end my turn with a facedown card! Now it's your turn!" Judai laughed, though, Jun mistook the shaking of his shoulders, "Shedding tears of regret, are we Number 110?" Though his mistake was quickly brushed aside as Judai outright laughed and looked him straight in the eyes.

"I'm touched!" He grinned cheerfully, full of life and energy as the game took its new turn. Jun stared in shock at the Slifer across from him.

'_He's just as cheerful about dueling as he was about it on the trip here,' _thought Kagome incredulously with a shake of her head, she didn't understand how someone could love playing Duel Monsters like Judai did. But then again she only played the game get attention from her father. _'Maybe I'll learn to like this game someday.' _ She just watched as Judai continued to seem to have fun with his duel.

"What…?" Jun was speechless.

"Duel Academy sure is fun! There's a bunch of guys like you around here, aren't there? This is going to be great!"

Kagome saw Jun's mouth move, but she could not hear what he had said. He had either spoken too softly, or she and the others were just too far away too hear him.

"It's my turn! Draw! I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman!" Judai called, and his next monster appeared in a burst of electricity, "Go, Sparkman! Attack with Static Shock Wave!" Sparkman fired a shot of electricity at Jun's Chthonian Soldier and destroyed the monster, but the sword belonging to the monster pierced through Judai and his life points, dropping him down to 1600, Jun's was now at 3600.

"Because Chthonian Soldier was destroyed its Monster effect activates! Chthonian Soldier has an effect that deals the same damage its player took to the opposing player when it's destroyed." He smirked, "Difference is, you hardly have any to spare!"

Kagome watched as Judai stumbled forward with his body bent a forward as he groaned at the shock of pain that the system ran through his body. From beside her and Asuka, the short red clad student yelled, "Aniki!"

'_Aniki?' _wondered Kagome curiously. _'The two of them don't look a thing alike!'_

"Your aniki is mighty spirited, but pretty careless," commented Asuka, never once taking her eyes off the duel as she addressed the boy. "To just disregard a Monster effect like that…"

"Judai isn't my real brother," he corrected as he turned his attention away from the duel for a moment.

His correction caught Asuka's attention just enough to pull her attention away from the duel that was going on. "Eh?"

"How could you put it…" he stumbled over his words a little trying to find the right term to describe the relationship he had with Judai. "Well, he's more like my 'spiritual brother,'" he explained

'_That explains it. Did they meet at entrance exams, and he just got hero worship for __Judai__?' _ Kagome thought, her curiosity now somewhat satisfied. Turning back to the duel, she saw that they had all missed Judai ending his turn. But seeing the facedown card in front of him, she figured he only placed down either a trap or magic card.

"Play what you like. I'm sure my next attack will finish off your life points!" Jun drew his next card, "And that attack is coming right now! Go, Flame Wingman!"

"Not so fast!" Judai said, throwing his hand out in front of him as his card rose up, "I activate my Trap card, Mirror Gate!"

"What?" Jun stared uneasily ahead.

"Mirror Gate!" The boy, who claimed Judai as his big brother, exclaimed.

Asuka stared ahead while explaining, "It can be activated when two monsters battle one another. It'll switch your opponent's attacking monster with your targeted monster and make them battle."

"I guess he is learning from our duel," muttered Kagome.

"Ah yeah, go Wingman!" The Wingman destroyed the Sparkman before the group.

"Noooo!" Jun cried out angrily and in pain.

"And, just like you told me a while ago, don't forget my Flame Wingman's Monster effect. You take damage equal to that of your destroyed monster."

Everyone could only watch as Jun cry out as his life points dropped to 1500, "Alright!"

"That's my aniki for you," yelled the Slifer boy.

"He's pretty good, huh?" Asuka commented.

"He's not bad, I can tell you," stated Kagome quietly. "But he needs to work on noticing all the cards around him."

"Aniki, you're so cool!" Judai held up a **V** for victory sign with his fingers as his response to the other Slifer's compliment.

"What a cut-up," said Asuka with an amused smile.

Jun wasn't buying it, "Don't get too ahead of yourself there, you freaking Slifer red dropout! I activate the magic card, Chthonian Blast! During the turn in which a monster under my control is destroyed it destroys one monster on the field, dealing damage equal to half that monster's attack!"

Judai groaned at the gust of wind that formed before his monster was sent to the graveyard, his life points dropped to 0550, "Ugh, Flame Wingman."

"Now I activate the trap card, Call of the Haunted! It lets me select one monster card from my graveyard, and special-summon it back to the field in attack mode! Rise! Inferno Warrior!" A monster appeared briefly before Jun destroyed it, "But he won't be staying on the field for long, because I'm going to sacrifice him to summon Mefist the Infernal General! One way or the other, it appears I've clinched my win! And according to the Ante Rule, I'll take your best card!"

"We'll see about that," Judai grinned.

"What?" Jun frowned for a moment before smirking, "A duel is determined with ninety-nine percent intelligence, with luck playing its part a mere one percent. "

Judai glanced down at his cards once again.

_**~Kuri Kuri~**_

"There's that noise again," mumbled Kagome as she began to look around for the source.

"You mean the one you heard earlier?" asked Asuka.

"What noise?" asked the Slifer that was with the two girls. "I don't hear anything," he said as he started to look for the noise Kagome may have heard.

"Yeah, it's that 'kuri kuri' sound again," she answered.

"You sure you didn't just imagine it?" suggested Asuka as she turned her attention back to the duel.

"Maybe it's just the wind," piped in the little Slifer as he too turned back to the duel

"Yeah, probably," Kagome replied as she too turned back to the duel. All the while thinking, _'I don't think I imagined that. It sounded too real for it to be just my imagination, and wind making that sound would be impossible. Could it be a spirit? Oji-san and tou-chan always told us that duel monsters' have spirits. And from my own experiences, the supernatural is real. More than half of my friends are demons. If they can exist then I guess duel spirits can too.' _

When Kagome turned back to the watch the duel, she watched it with only half her attention. She noticed that Judai was still holding and staring down at the same card he had earlier before she had heard the 'kuri kuri' sound. She heard him say, "I'll risk it all on that one percent! My draw will call out a miracle! My turn. Draw!" Then he drew his card and smiled.

Just as Judai was able to take a look at the card he drew, Kagome heard footsteps heading towards the duel arena. She elbowed Asuka lightly, but just hard enough to get her attention. Once she had the blonde's attention, Kagome pointed towards the arena's entrances and then at her feet.

Listening closely, Asuka could hear the sound of footsteps just as Kagome had hinted at, "The security guards are coming!"

The Slifer boy had heard the footsteps at that point as well.

"With the Ante Rule being forbidden by school regulations and using a facility after hours you could get expelled for breaking regulations" Kagome continued on for Asuka.

"What?"

Judai looked uneasily back at Asuka and Kagome, "Huh? There are rules like that?"

"No duh," commented Kagome with a look that clearly stated how stupid she thought all the boys were.

"Didn't you read your SPP's regulations?" asked Asuka as she reached behind her and pulled out her own SPP to show Judai.

On the other side of the duel arena, Jun and one of his two friends, the long blue haired one, blushed lightly when they noticed both Kagome and Asuka had been watching the duel. Jun blushed more than the others did being that it was his duel that they were watching.

The two boys' blushes only deepened in color when they saw how revealing Kagome's nightgown was and how sexy she looked in it. Jun's other friend, the short spiky brown haired one just drooled at the sight of Kagome in her nightgown and that Asuka was there too.

Looking across the arena at the other three Obelisks, Kagome was disgusted at the sight of one them drooling and the other two blushing. "What are you staring at? Never seen a girl in a nightgown before," she glared at the three boys, but her glare worsened when her gaze landed on the one that was drooling. _'Oh great,' _she thought sarcastically. _'There are fan-boys here. Just my luck.'_

Not wanting them to get into trouble with the guards, despite them being the ones to setup the duel, she quickly added. "You guys need to leave."

The two Obelisks that didn't duel were the first one to snap out of their haze. "Manjoume-san," called out the blue haired one. "This is bad!"

Finally snapping out of it, Jun turned away from Judai with his duel disk snapping shut, ending the duel and causing the holographic to fade away, "That's enough for tonight. I'll take care of my win."

"The match isn't over yet!" complained Judai, mad that Jun had automatically declared himself the winner.

"That's plenty. You've shown me how capable you are. Apparently, your entrance exam was just dumb luck," replied Jun over his shoulder as he and his friends headed out one of the arena's exits.

"Quit messing around!" yelled Judai who was getting really annoyed.

"Aniki," cried the sea foam haired boy, his cry caused Judai to turn to face them. "They're gonna find us!"

"Come on, this way!" exclaimed Asuka as she tried to lead the four of them to a safe way out of the arena without getting caught by the guards.

"Hurry! Hurry!"

Judai only turned his back to them with his arms crossed, too stubborn in wanting to finish the duel to want to leave. "No! I won't move from this spot!"

"Aniki!"

"Here let me help," offered Kagome as she pulled herself onto the arena's platform. Once she was next to Judai, she pulled Judai's hair until his ear was just by her mouth and said in slightly threatening voice, "We can either do this the easy way or the hard way to leave, Judai. It's your choice."

"No! I'm not leaving," declared Judai with conviction, stubbornness shined in his chocolate colored orbs.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Sighing remorsefully to herself, Kagome released her hold on Judai's hair. She then walked behind him and promptly used her right leg and round housed Judai in the back of his knees causing the duo brunette to fall unto his back. Bending down, she grabbed the back of Judai's jacket and pulled Judai up a little, just enough for her sling him onto her shoulder. "Hey Asuka, let's go!" Kagome called over to her blonde friend.

Both Asuka and the sea foam haired boy had been disturbed when Kagome had talked into Judai's ear. That had only changed to surprise when they saw her kick Judai and make him fall onto his back. The surprise had grown into shock, upon seeing her sling Judai onto her shoulder and start walking with what seemed like no handicap. They had been stunned by how much strength Kagome had just displayed to them.

"Right, this way," said Asuka once she snapped out of her state of shock and proceeded to lead Kagome out of the arena, all the while pulling the other Slifer through the corridors and exits with her.

As they all walked through the hallways, Kagome winced in pain with every few yards the group walked passed. She may have the strength to carry someone and be a martial artist, but her body structure was never built for fighting or heavy lifting. Because of how her body was built to only be a dancer or a gymnast, she was paying the consequences for carrying Judai over her shoulder like she was doing, which meant she was receiving a lot of pain in her shoulders and will probably get a decent amount of pain in lower back too. "I can't believe I'm doing this," muttered Kagome under her breath as a hiss of pain started make its way out of her. "I'm never carrying someone his size or bigger ever again."

Throughout the entire walk Judai had strangely remained silent, not once complaining about being carried like a potato sack. It may have had to be due to the shock of having his butt handed to him by a girl, a very fragile looking girl if others had any say in it.

Very soon the quartet reached the buildings exit, never once encountering the security guards throughout the building, but there were a few close calls. Once they were outside, Kagome immediately dropped Judai to the floor, her body no longer being able to hold his weight. She then rolled her shoulders back and then started to massage them to reduce the pain she was feeling.

"For crying out loud, you're quite the hassle aren't you?" commented Asuka as she stood above Judai looking down at him in slight concern for him being dropped. Turning to Kagome she asked with some obvious worry, "You, alright Kagome? You're not hurt are you?"

"Yeah, I'll live," answered Kagome as she bent backwards until she heard and felt a satisfying come from her back. "You're too stubborn for your own good, Judai. Do you really want to get expelled before your first day of class?" she asked now straighten from her bent back position and staring at Judai.

"Tch, I don't need your opinion," said Judai as he got up from being dumped on the ground. He rubbed his sides a little, but he resisted the urge to flinch from the pain. The kick from earlier and the drop that he just suffered from were pretty painful. He mentally noted to never get on Kagome's bad side. He didn't want to get his butt handed to him again by her. It would be awfully painful for him if he did.

"Arigato gozaimasu, Asuka, Kagome," thanked the Slifer that Asuka had to drag with her.

"So how did that harsh ordeal from Obelisk blue feel?" Asuka asked, expecting a more defeated response than the one she received.

"Okay, I guess. But I thought I could've gone on a little longer," bragged Judai with his eyes closed and nose pointed towards the air.

"Is that so?" questioned Asuka.

"It seemed like you were losing pretty badly to me," added Kagome.

"If no one had interfered you would have lost your most important card due to the Ante Rule right around now, right?" continued Asuka, saying it right to Judai's face as she stood in front of him.

"Nope, I had that duel won," replied Judai confidently as he lifted his hand revealed the card that he had drawn just moments before he had been forced to stop dueling, which he surprisingly still had a grip on despite what he had just gone through in the last five minutes. The card that he revealed was the Magic card, Resurrection of the Dead.

Kagome saw Asuka's eyes widened in realization at seeing Judai's newly revealed card, she could only smile upon hearing her blonde friend's oh so intelligent answer. "Huh?"

'Lady Luck really was on his side tonight,' thought Kagome, a fond look entered her ocean blue eyes as she watched Judai smirk. Looking over to the boy that had also been with them throughout the night's duel and the afternoon's encounter, she remembered that they had never learned his name. Turning towards him, she addressed the boy, "Hey, what's your name? We never actually heard anyone tell us it."

The sea foam haired boy pointed himself and asked, "Who? Me?"

"That's right," piped in Asuka, now also rounding on the sea foam haired boy. "You were never properly introduced to us."

"Uh… I'm Sho Marufuji," introduced the now, finally identified Sho. "It's a pleasure to meet you both!" he shouted to the two girls as he ran to catch up to Judai, who he had just noticed had already began to walk back to the Slifer red dormitory.

"This is year might not be so bad after all," said Kagome quietly as she watched the two Slifers leave, all the while laughing.

"He's going to be very interesting," mumbled Asuka from beside Kagome, as she too watched Judai and Sho leave.

"We should head back to the dorms too," called out Kagome as she turned away from the two Slifers and headed in the direction of the Obelisk blue girls' dormitory.

"Yeah," Asuka responded, lingering a little longer by the campus building's entrance to watch Judai before turning around and catching up with Kagome to head back to the dorms.

It wasn't for another twenty-five minutes until Kagome was once again situated in her bed with her lights now off, alarm clock set to wake her in the morning, and ready for sleep to come after having bid Asuka a good night and retreating to her bedroom. The night had only become more tiring that she had wanted after she had been dragged by Asuka to watch Judai and Jun's duel. She was now even more tired than before, and just snuggled deeply into her high thread count silk blankets.

'_Even though I'm dead tired, I'm glad that I made at least one friend here,'_ was Kagome's last conscious thought before turning onto her side and drifting off to the land of slumber. The moonlight's glow shined down upon her, illuminating her dark hair and revealing its dark blue hue. Never knowing what would await her the next day or the rest of the year.

* * *

**Thank you Akuma-chibi for writing the dueling scene! I don't know what I would do without you! ^-^**

I expect to get at least ten reviews for this chapter by the second day of when I post this. This was overly long and has reached over 20,000+ words. I hope NO one expects a chapter this long again because it will most likely not be happening.

Please tell me what you think about the room designs! I'm a designer so I'd really like some feedback on the room and closet, I might draw out the layout for Kagome's bedroom and post it on my deviantart sometime in the future. If Kagome seems like she has everything a girl can want, well...that's because she basically does. Seto's trying to make up to her for forcing her to find a fiancé, and for missing out on so much of her life. If you're a boy, I think your first answer would be "what can't a lot presents fix", especially if it's a girl they're trying to make up to. I don't really know if it's true for all boys, but that is certainly what my uncles and dad do to me and my sister being the only girls in our generation; my male relatives other than my brother are almost never home.

I'm sorry if the conversations were awkward. I have really hard time writing those. Reason being I'm socially stunted because I was a victim of bullying during my whole elementary school years and half of my middle school years. Also most of the dialogue from the scenes that were recognized from the anime were taken from the subbed on animeultima.

Some this is actually true in real life. We, Asians, take serious care of our hair, and we have been declared the race with the strongest and lushest hair. And if you want good results with your hair, if you have the oily type like mine, try to wash your hair every other day and try to skip out on the conditioner. Conditioner retains the oil, so the more conditioner you use the oilier your hair will stay. There are also different body structure types, I know what a dancer build and fighters build look like because I have a dancer's build while my siblings both have a fighters. It actually would be painful to lift a person your own weight or heavier if you have a dancer's build, but fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, the girls on my dad's side of the family have unusually strong muscles even for dancers. This is by no means mean that I have large bulking arms of muscle.

I also laminate my own Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. I found that when they get wet there never the same after, this also prevents damage to them that card holders cannot stop.

Yes, I realize I changed the order of how students got their uniforms, got ready for school, and how they get to school. I also know that I changed a lot of the scenery too. The anime doesn't really show much of the interior of the school so…I get to have loads of fun designing the scenes. I actually really love how I designed Kagome's bedroom, and when I meant left or right I meant them as if you were the one lying in the bed. It took me hours to design that room to how I liked, I even stole my sister's favorite symbol for it. For the closet I guess you can imagine the layout to be a combination of Corina from Tokyo Mew Mew's closet and Princess Amelia's closet from Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement, it's a REALLY big closet. I really hope you guys liked how I designed the nightgown, bedroom, and bath house. I didn't both explaining in detail very much about the other places just because you can see them in the anime. Also just so you don't get confused for the landings and floors, it's arranged like this. First is the base floor, where the reception hall and dining hall are, next is first landing/first floor/second story, where all first years dorm except Kagome, then it's the second landing/second floor/third story, lastly the third landing/third floor/fourth story, where all third years and Kagome live. The girls' dormitory is four stories instead of only two or three as portrayed in the anime/manga.


	5. Morning and a Call from an Old Friend

Edited: 16 September 2011

**The Duel Champion's Daughter**

**Disclaimer:** I do **NOT** own either Inuyasha or Yu-Gi-Oh GX

**Summary: **Seto Kaiba's eldest child, Kagome Akemi Higurashi Kaiba, is being sent to attend Duel Academy to take up her father's title of Duel Monsters Champion, but will she be able to take the title while also looking for a husband to be. Begins in Season 1 of GX and will basically be AU with original Japanese versions explanations in ranking and scoring.

Reminder: People I revise my stories often, VERY often.

AN: This goes by subbed not dubbed. I hate dubs. I'm getting way too many ideas for this story. At the moment this fanfiction is my main project and the others will take a seat on the back burner.

**WARNING:**** HAVE FOOD READY!**

"Speech"

_'Thoughts'_

"**English"**

(Translations)

* * *

_Last Time on The Duel Champion's Daughter:_

'_Even though I'm dead tired, I'm glad that I made at least one friend here,' was Kagome's last conscious thought before turning onto her side and drifting off to the land of slumber. The moonlight's glow shined down upon her, illuminating her dark hair and revealing its dark blue hue. Never knowing what would await her the next day or the rest of the year._

**This Time on The Duel Champion's Daughter**

Morning came by much faster than Kagome had hoped. She had been woken up by her alarm sounding off at five o' clock with the song "Bad Girl, Good Girl" by miss A 미스에이. It was the one song the raven haired girl could not ignore in the morning. She just loved it too much to ignore it, even though she barely understood what the lyrics said. In a way the song described her pretty well. She was considered an outsider or a bad girl like in the song by people who didn't know her. But the people who did know her say she's a good girl through and through.

Upon hearing the song, Kagome immediately shot up from her warm cozy bed. Only to end up with the morning sun's light glaring into her cobalt colored eyes. Groaning in misery, she snapped her eyes closed to block out the morning glare and turned to the side to get up. She hated mornings, but she had promised herself that she would keep fit.

Pulling herself up and off her bed, Kagome let her clock to continue playing the song as she made her way to her closet. Upon entering through the white door, she immediately headed for the clothing aisle that she remembered hanging up her workout clothes in. Once there she began raking through the hangers until she found an outfit that she deemed good for the day. She pulled a pair of blue knee length shorts with gold trimmings and a black tank top that read "Stop Staring, My Face is Up There," in white writing off their hangers. She then strolled over to her undergarments section and pulled out a pair of black ankle socks and a black sports bra. After that she began her trek to her dressing chamber. Just as she passed by her shoe racks on her walk to get changed, she plucked a pair of white and blue running sneakers off one of the shelves.

Shortly after she entered her dressing area she quickly stripped out of her nightgown and had it lain down on the dressing room bench. She then dressed in her in sports bra and tank before pulling up her shorts and her socks. Once her socks were on, she slipped her feet into her sneakers and tied them snuggly in a double knot to prevent them from falling off. Now completely dressed, Kagome headed out of her closet.

On her way out, she grabbed a hair tie and pulled her hair into a high ponytail too keep it out of her face. She also grabbed her iPod and two pairs of weights that she had immediately strapped to her ankles and wrists upon exiting her closet. When the weights were secured, Kagome walked over to stand beside her bed and grabbed her extendable Bo staff from her belt. Before she left her room, she quickly made her bed. Knowing exactly what her mother would have said to her if she didn't make her bed, those being along the lines of her being lazy and expecting servants to wait upon her hand and foot. _'And definitely don't want to hear that,' _grumbled Kagome to herself as she pulled her sheets back into place.

When she was finally done, she studied her bed before nodding in satisfaction. Pulling away from her bed, she turned back around to her nightstand and turned her alarm off with her iPod and weapon now tucked into her short's back pocket. She touched her neck lightly checking to be sure her key was still there. She was very paranoid about losing her keys, especially this one. She already had enough times of having her belongings stolen from her by crazed fan-people of both the male and female persuasion. Immediately after she finished insuring her necklace was still on her person, Kagome headed straight for her room's door and exited it to get her morning started.

As she strolled through the hallways and descended down the long set of stairs, Kagome met not a single person. The entire building was silent except for the occasional snore or murmur that escaped from closed doors.

'_Everyone's probably still asleep,' _she mused as she reached the dormitory's entryway. _'I mean who would actually be awake three hours before classes start?'_

Upon entering the entryway, she headed straight for the door. Opening the one of the entrance doors, she stepped out into the morning sunlight only to be greeted by the sounds of birds singing and the morning breeze hitting her face. As soon as she had fully emerged through the dormitory's doors, Kagome started on her run down the dirt path on the left of the dormitory that led away from the main academy campus.

As she jogged down the dirt trail with her arms pumping, she reached behind and grabbed her Bo staff and iPod and turned it on while jamming the ear buds into her ear. Just as her ear buds were settled into her ears, she heard the first song to play, Dancing in the Velvet Moon by Mizuki Nana 水樹 奈々. To her it was one of the best workout songs that she could be listening to. The song was fast beat, the tone was a little on the dark side, and it kept her mind off the pain from when pushed herself during her training. She kept both her staff and music player in her hands as she continued to run, the wires of her earphones swinging. She had to keep the two in her hands. It was just too weird to run while either or even both items bounced in her pocket.

Her morning trek eventually led her to a secluded clearing in the woods that surrounded the island. The clearing was quite large and had not a single piece of plant life aside from the surprisingly neatly trimmed green grass and the trees that surrounded the clearing. During her run there, Kagome had passed by the island's natural hot springs, one of the island's many cliffs, one of the island's beaches, and some monkeys that lived in the forest.

Immediately after she entered the meadow and inspected it, Kagome placed her Bo staff on the ground and pulled her earphones out, wrapping the wires around her iPod before settling it next to her staff. After her warm up of running nearly two miles in the last fifteen minutes, she was ready to begin her training and workout. She had learned early on in her martial arts studies that it was a bad idea to stretch before working out or training. It would only lead to pain. She had learned that the hard way. Doing warm ups was okay, but most definitely not stretches.

She quickly moved to the center of the clearing and began going through the stances of her martial art, one by one. She began in the first form with her feet hip width apart, hands in front her hips in fists, back straight, and body tensed. She then transitioned in to an alternating series of punches and kicks before ending back in her first position. Her punches shot forward with force as her eyes held a glint determination in them, and her legs were raised high above her head for drop kicks. Her quick feet flashed out to the sides for round house kicks as lightning would strike the sky. Her turns were sharp and fast, yet were still soft and graceful in appearance, making them to look as if they were twirls instead of turns. Throughout all this, Kagome glided through her transitions and forms as if she was flowing water. When she was finished she repeated the forms several more times with each repetition faster than the last.

Shortly after she went through the repetition for the last time, the total time for all the repetitions being ten minutes, she went and grabbed her Bo staff. Immediately after she had her staff, after extending it, she fell into a fighting stance. She then began her actual training now that her traditional warm ups were finished. She began throwing out random kicks and punches as if she was fighting an opponent that only she could see. Her face was set into one of pure determination as she continued her match.

The only thought that went through her mind during her fight had been, _'I have to keep up my training. The others all have their trainers and masters available to them. I need to work twice as hard as before to keep up with them, especially if I want to be able to beat Sango and Hitomiko this year. I was barely able to win this year.' _

When she had begun learning martial arts, she had only done it for self-defense. It was only later on when she had met her friends and her two masters had forced her into a tournament that she found her competitive spirit.

At some point in her spar she threw her weapon, as if it was a spear, back to the entrance of meadow and continued her fight with her invisible partner. She knew that she would not always be able to use weapons when fighting, so she had tossed it aside to keep from becoming dependent on it.

If anybody had been watching the raven haired beauty train, they would believe she had been dancing a sequence that only consisted of kicks, punches, and spins.

It was nearly half an hour later when Kagome finally stopped in her one-sided spar. A light sheen of sweat had already begun to coat her skin causing her tank top to stick to her like skin. She walked away from the center of the clearing and headed over to the opposite side of where she had entered.

Once there she stood in a ready position, body straight and with her hands down by her sides and her legs locked together, for a moment. Leaning forward a little, she began running a good two yards before performing a hand spring that was immediately followed by a cart wheel. She then performed a series of front flips, summersaults, rolls, and aerials all the while incorporating spins and other dance maneuvers. She ended the routine with a final aerial wheel and stuck the landing, her feet together and arms raised above her head with hands above her head, with a smile on her face. Her smile quickly dissolved from her face and her eyes went wide as she began tip towards one side eventually falling straight down to the grassy floor, effectively ruining her landing and her routine.

"Damn it," mumbled Kagome as she pushed herself up and off the ground. "I forgot to bend my knees."

A slight bending in the knees was needed for a perfectly stuck landing. The bending was necessary in cushioning the impact that came from the momentum of a series of flips. Without it she could have seriously injured herself such as breaking her legs or ruin a good routine like she had just done. She was very fortunate to not have twisted or broken her legs and ankles. Dusting herself off of the dirt, she headed back to the spot she had begun her routine at. "Well back to the beginning, I guess," she sighed to herself.

She was the main floor gymnast for the girls' team at her studio, and her male counterpart was Jakotsu Shichinintai, the older feminine brother of Bankotsu. She didn't want to get kicked off her team, so she had to work extra hard to keep her spot. It didn't really help that unlike her teammates, she didn't get to see their coach on a daily bases like she used to or really at all. Her lips twisted into a sneer when she thought about a new person taking her place on the team. She had kept her spot on the team for the last four years, and she wasn't willing to give it up anytime soon, especially not to a newbie.

Their team had made it to the Tokyo regional competition and had won it. They had several rival teams in the Tokyo region and all over Japan, but their main rival team was the opposing semi-finalists, also from Tokyo but had competed in competitions in a different region, at last year's nationals that they had unfortunately lost to. Their main rival team and her own were both based inside of her former high school. Meaning that the two teams were also school mates with each other and were easily able to spy on the others routines and training. Her old school was well known for producing several different teams for the same sports and in the end having them face off against each other during competitions. Fortunately for her, the teams' studios were also considered outside school activities and allowed students that had transferred out to continue to participate on their teams. This year she and their entire team were determined to beat them despite the other team's natural advantages.

With those thought in her head, Kagome ran through her floor routine nearly a dozen more times with a minute long rests in between each. She remembered to bend her knees for those repeats, resulting in her not falling over or injuring herself. Her Aunt Emi would have had a field day if she had injured herself before her first official day of school had even started. The routine ended just before the maximum allotted time expired; a total of ninety seconds.

Pulling herself out of her dismount, Kagome let herself have a breather after making her way back to her weapon and iPod. She was now drenched in sweat, so much so that her shirt was soaked too, and was panting heavily, her body needing more oxygen for her pumping blood after her workout. Sitting down at her designated spot, she unwrapped her earphones and plugged them into her ears while hitting play on her music player and keeping the player in her hands. She waited for her breathing to even out and her heart to stop racing as fast as it did while listening to "Irreplaceable" by Beyoncé. It was a song in English and luckily for her, she had learned English growing up. The song was pretty old, but she liked it. It reminded her of one or two boyfriends that had turned out to be really bad choices. She flinched at the memories of how bad her relationships had ended with them. They were admittedly still kind of friends, but she didn't trust as far as her mother could throw them.

She had started to English the very year she had started the same schooling program her father had gone through, just at a much more sedated pace than he had. She had been forced to learn the language along with the rest of studies. It was fortunate that she started learning the language then because the first summer after she had started, she had been flown to America on a business trip with her father. The very same business trip that she had met her Uncle Maximillion and had been formally introduced to the game Duel Monsters and given her first card.

Her uncle had, after that business trip, conversed with her enough that she had lost her accent all together. He had even introduced her to an American friend, the son of a worker of his company, named Edo Phoenix who had taught her how to play Duel Monsters. The two friends still kept in touch even though the other was now a professional international duelist and the other still only a regional semi-international one.

Edo had been one of the very few who could get her to have fun in duels and because of that she had been made his partner in tag-duels. The two of them had even ended up making a deck together for each other specifically built for their tag-duels together. The deck had been updated a lot since they had first built it. They had gotten that idea from Kagome's and Souta's martial arts masters the Meikyū brothers, who both preferred to be called shīfu 师傅 by their two disciples; Chinese being their native tongue. Despite being professional world class tag-duelist the two brothers were also black belt masters of Tae Kwon Do and rivaled only each other in that specific style.

Kagome could unabashedly admit that Edo had been her very first crush. He had been the one who helped her get her father's attention when he had always been off to some other country or another part of Japan on business or for a Duel Monsters tournament. He also knew who her father is, so she had no reason to hide things from him as she had with her other friends. Those two reasons had been the cause her crush before it had faded away. Now she could say that if Sesshomaru wasn't her best guy friend then it most definitely would be Edo. If only she could get him to stop talking about destiny.

While the song played, Kagome grabbed her Bo staff, retracted it, and kept a firm grip of it in her hand opposite to her iPod. As her heart rate slowed down and her breathing evened out, she massaged her chest to reduce the pain that was unfortunately there and had nothing to do with her training. Unlike other female athletes who usually have small breast, she had been blessed, or to her cursed, with an overly well-endowed chest, which was a pain to have as a gymnast and a martial artist. Most female athletes had an A or B cup sizes and some fortunate ones had C cups. But no she didn't have the fortune of having any of those sizes. Despite being an athlete her maternal family's genes had passed down to her, resulting in her having a D borderline E cups. Because of how well-endowed and small their ribcages the women her family were, they had to go to a custom brassiere shop to buy their undergarments. It was a wonder for the many husbands of Higurashi women at how well their miko garbs hid the ladies' physique.

Having large breast was painful because unlike As, Bs, and Cs, they didn't get strapped down tight in leotards, tanks tops, or athletic tape. They still bounced around. She had nearly decked the last girl that had wished that she had larger breast. The girl didn't know how lucky she was for having an average B.

Her heart rate and breathing finally slowed to a decent pace just as the next song had begun to play. The song was "Already Gone" by 4Minute 포미닛, another Korean one that she could barely understand. Pulling herself up from where she had collapse, Kagome prepared to start her run back to the dormitory to get her clothes and to shower. She was now sticky with sweat and she hated the feeling of it. She didn't want to start her first day of school smelling like an old gym sock. Her nose crinkled cutely at that thought and immediately she began running back to her room.

It took a slightly shorter amount of time to get back to the dormitory than it taken her to get to the clearing. Reason being that she was already physically warmed up and her blood was still pumping. When she arrived at the doors, she immediately opened them and darted upstairs to her closet after dumping her Bo staff and iPod on her bed, going through all the security measures of her door.

Once she entered her closet, she grabbed all the necessary bathing supplies; the same ones she used last night, her uniform for the day, a pair of white socks, a matching set of lacy purple undergarments, her gloves, and her boots. While she was in there she grabbed a lily decorated yellow tote bag off one of the shelves and stuffed all the things she would need for shower into it. Upon finishing that ran out of the closet and her room, just barely remembering to close the doors, and headed out to the bath house.

The ten minute walk to bath house was cut down to a three minute run in the raven's rush to get cleaned. As soon as Kagome stepped in to the bath house, she quickly stalked to the shower stalls and claimed one for herself while dropping her tote bag onto a shelf in the stall. She swiftly pulled out all her needed utensils for the morning; her toothbrush, the accompanying toothpaste, body wash, face wash, and shampoo, and spun the water dials until it was the right temperature for her.

The moment the water started to cascade down on her, Kagome hastily began washing herself. When she was done, she wrung out her dripping hair, dried herself off and stuffed her belongings back into her bag after pulling out her needed clothes. She wrapped a towel around herself and stepped out of the shower stall that she had used with her bag and clothes in hand.

She headed towards one of the benches that had been placed in the shower room and dropped her nag off there. After placing the bag down, she hurriedly began getting dress and switched her towel from being wrapped around her body to be piled on top of her head, wrapped around her hair to soak up the excess water. Once she was finished dressing she pulled out her boots and slipped them on before grabbing her bag and heading back to the dormitory in a fast paced jog that was slow enough to not cause sweat to form.

Upon arriving to the dorm she once again went through the security measures to get into her room. After that she went into her closet placed everything in their appropriate area; dirty clothes and towels in the hamper, bathing supplies on their shelf, and her bag back on its own shelf with its siblings. She then walked over to her makeup station and began drying her hair with a hair brush in hand. Her hair and skin were the two things she took extreme care of and time for. She started brushing her hair from the bottom and slowly moved further up as the blow dried her hair. Once her hair was taken care of, Kagome then headed over to her nightstand and grabbed her belt and snapped it into place. She then grabbed her staff and slipped it into its proper place on her belt while also slinging on her black butterfly decorated backpack. Finishing that she deemed herself ready to start her first day of school and made her way out of her room and down the stairs.

On her way down to the dormitory's dining hall, she met up with Asuka, Momoe, and Junko who were also heading down for breakfast. She had rushed in becoming presentable for the school day because she had wanted join the other girls for breakfast and the walk to class. Just because she didn't really want to become friends with everyone didn't mean she wanted to stand out too much, well more than she already did anyways.

"Ohayo minna," greeted Kagome as she joined the trio in the walk to breakfast.

"Ohayo," chorused the three, returning the greeting.

"How'd your night go?" asked Momoe innocently.

Kagome shot Asuka a quick playful glare that went unnoticed by the others before answering the brunette. "It was more…exciting than I hoped," she answered with a slight smile. "What about the three of you, how did you sleep?"

Junko and Momoe both immediately began giggling to each other while Asuka just sighed. Kagome just had a slightly confused look on her face with her head slightly tilted to the side as she waited for them to answer her question.

"We were just talking about that," explained Junko in between giggles as the girls stepped down from the final steps of the stairwell and turned towards the dining hall doors.

"Yeah," supported Momoe. "We were just telling each other about what we dreamed last night."

"And asking Asuka why she came back in so late last night," Junko added.

"Oh did she now?" asked Kagome with her eyes flickering over to Asuka. "She must have gone off to see a boy she fancies then." Next to her, Asuka flushed pink at Kagome's obvious teasing of her.

The other two girls picked up the hint and could only turn sharply to watch Asuka with wide eyes. "No way!" shouted the two girls together in disbelief.

"Is he cute?" asked Momoe.

"What does look like?" questioned Junko, both girls taking turns in interrogating Asuka.

"Is he in Ra or Obelisk?"

'_Revenge is sweet,'_ thought Kagome with a smirk on her face as she watched Asuka blush and get backed into a corner by Momoe and Junko. _'She really shouldn't have dragged me out last night.'_

Asuka could only turn her face away while willing her light blush to go down. "So what did you girls dream about?" the blonde asked, hoping to get the attention off of her by changing the topic. It seemed to have worked because Momoe and Junko backed off in the interrogation and were happily describing in vivid detail about the dream they had last night.

"Oh! Last night was SO dreamy. I dreamt about this really hot guy," spouted off Junko. "He was so cute. He kind of looked like Jun Manjoume, but older and a lot nicer," she finished off with a dreamy sigh.

"You still have a crush on him, don't you?" declared Momoe as the quartet entered the dining hall and headed over to the buffet line to get their morning meal.

"He's just really attractive," defended Junko.

Kagome listened to the conversation with avid attention, adding in when she needed to or when she was asked something. It was conversations like this that gave her inspiration for the creation of some of her favorite designs. Most of the designs had been outfits for dates or had been formal wear for big events like the New Year festival and dances.

The girls finally made it to the front of the buffet line after a short wait, and ordered their choice meals for breakfast. Kagome had ordered a western styled breakfast, which consisted of a freshly cooked ham and cheese omelet, a large stack of mouthwatering pancakes with whipped butter and maple syrup on top, crispy gold brown hash browns, a set of six freshly baked crumpets that were soft to the touch, a helping of cubed cantaloupes and honeydew, and a bowl of cream of corn soup. The drink that she had gotten for her meal was a nice steaming cup of Hong Kong styled English tea with a dispenser of condensed milk for her to add as she liked and a pot of tea for her to refill at her leisure.

When she had taken her breakfast order from the buffet workers and stepped out of away from the still waiting line, Kagome was met with the shocked looks from the all the girls that were in the dining hall. The girls were completely stunned at the sheer amount of food that was piled onto Kagome's tray. They had never seen a girl that could eat that much food and still have a figure that was as beautiful as the raven has. In nearly every girls' mind with exception of Kagome and the dormitory headmistress, Emi Fontaine, they echoed the same question, _'How can she eat all of that and still have a killer figure?'_

Kagome could only face the girls with a genuinely confused expression. She didn't understand why everyone was so surprised to her, she was only eating breakfast. Taking a look at what Asuka, Momoe, and Junko, she saw exactly why everyone was so shocked after she had saw the difference in the size of their meals. Growing up, she had been surrounded by friends and family that ate the same amount or more than her for every meal. The size of her breakfast was perfectly normal to her especially after training in the morning like she had. But to others it seemed more as if she was going to feed another person or two along with herself. There was just that much food on her tray.

Looking up from her tray, Kagome told the hall full of girls with a shrug of her shoulders, "I have a high metabolism."

She then made her way to an available seat at one of the tables with her breakfast in hand. Asuka, Momoe, and Junko could only follow the raven to the table that she now sat at, still too stunned to really do anything else. Luckily for them, there were conveniently three empty seats around Kagome's seat. They quickly sat down in them with Asuka sitting next to Kagome, Junko across from Asuka, and Momoe across from Kagome.

When the three sat down, Kagome watched them from under her eyelashes in amusement as she mixed condensed milk into her tea to give it sweetness that she liked. She was waiting for when the all the girls would actually come out of their shock. It was really quite humorous to her to see everyone but her Aunt Emi, seeing as she has known about Kagome's appetite for a while, to be so shocked that they were pretty much zombies. They were even letting their hot food to become cold.

Lifting her tea cup to her lips after putting down her tea spoon, she asked her three friends with amusement clearly shining in her eyes and an eyebrow raised, "Are you going to continue gawking or are you going to eat?"

The question was heard loud and clear throughout the entire hall, as the only other sounds had been the buffet workers cooking. The reaction was almost instantaneous. All the girls then began sitting down at their tables, if they had their breakfast, and began eating, and the other girls quickly resumed ordering the breakfast. Throughout the small racket of clinking and clanking of utensils and scrambling of the other girls, Kagome could hear the tinkling laughter of her Aunt Emi. A small grin formed on the raven's lips at hearing the laughter, her tea cup hiding it from the view of others. She almost laughed herself if she didn't have a persona to maintain.

After taking a sip of her tea, Kagome began eating her way through her meal. Throughout the entire meal, she idly conversed with the three girls around her, occasionally taking a sip from her tea cup and refilling it. She also felt the stunned and jealous glares she was getting from the other girls around the hall.

"Hey Kagome?" called Asuka as she cut a slice of her breakfast. Her breakfast was a simple western style breakfast like Kagome's was, but it was much less in quantity and with different choices. The blonde's breakfast consisted of a plate of waffles with maple syrup drizzled on top, a helping of cubed cantaloupe and honeydew, two sunny side up eggs, and two slices of toast with butter on the side. Her beverage was a tall glass of natural orange juice.

"Yes," answered Kagome as she took a forkful of her pancakes.

"Well the girls and I were just wondering…" started Asuka only to trail off with a bite of her toast.

"How can you eat that much?" continued Junko who had a spoonful of oatmeal halfway to her mouth. Unlike Asuka and Kagome, she had picked a simple breakfast consisting of a bowl of maple and brown sugar oatmeal, a bowl of fruit, and a glass of milk.

"Yeah! And still have a nice figure," added Momoe with one hand holding her cup of tea and the other on firmly pressed against the table.

"Like I told everyone a little while ago, I have a high metabolism," calmly stated Kagome after she swallowed her bite of pancake and started to cut a piece of her omelet to eat.

"That can't be the only reason for your figure!" exclaimed Junko not wanting to beat around the bush. Her spoon was now resting in her oatmeal and was slowly sinking to the bottom of the bowl.

"A high metabolism can't give you such a killer body," supported Momoe. She didn't believe for one minute that metabolism could make that figure.

"Junko, Momoe," snapped Asuka in a warning tone. She threw a warning glare at both girls, clearly telling them to calm down. Turning to Kagome, the blonde continued civilly, "What we all wanted to ask you was, how do you keep your figure so nice? Even with you a high metabolism, you can't have a well-toned body."

"Your right," replied Kagome as she took a sip from her tea with her eyes closed.

"Huh?" was the intelligent response that came from three interrogating girls.

"My metabolism isn't the only reason why I can eat this much and not gain weight," Kagome expanded as she continued eating.

"How do you do it, then?" demanded Junko. She was very jealous of how Kagome could eat without any care and still looked perfect.

"As Asuka knows, I can carry a person heavier than my own weight and pin a person down easily."

"And what does that have to do with anything?" asked Momoe a little clueless on what the other raven was implying.

Kagome sighed in exasperation. This was not what she wanted to do in morning, especially not after a workout. She had high hopes that the two girls opposite of her and Asuka were smarter than the three boy obsessed friends of her back home. Taking a quick glance over to Asuka, she saw that the blonde seemed to understand her hint.

"It means that she works out," explained the blonde, taking pity a bit on her new friend.

"I take martial arts from my shīfu and I practice gymnastics. Those two activities are the reason for my metabolism and weight. It would be foolish of me to become lazy while I attend school here," elaborated Kagome in a tone that clearly showed everyone that the topic was closed. Kagome knew that the other girls were listening in on their conversation, hoping to learn how she kept fit. She had just given a few clues to people about who she was, and she didn't need or want to reveal more.

The girls quietly resumed eating their breakfast, not wanting annoy Kagome more than they already had. They were very soon astonished at how fast Kagome was at finishing everything that she had ordered. When the girls had taken the last bite of their breakfast, they saw the raven was drinking her tea to wash down her own breakfast and waiting for them to finish.

Kagome stood up from her seat after one last sip from her tea cup. She then pushed in her chair, grabbed her breakfast tray, and headed over to the dining hall's kitchen to drop off her dirty dishes. Asuka followed close behind with Momoe and Junko following a short while after. The small group left the hall dormitory together, and headed off towards the main campus building for class with Kagome leading the way. Apparently, Kagome had unintentionally become the leader of the quartet with Asuka as second-in-command.

The small group spent the time walking to class was spent in idle talking once the tense atmosphere from earlier dispersed. The girls talked about a variety of things, but the topics always strayed back to boys being that Junko and Momoe were the ones who did most of the talking. Kagome could only roll her eyes at the two's crazy boy obsession. They were just like the Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka except Momoe had some common sense and Junko was even more boy crazy than them.

By the time they had arrived at their assigned classroom, they still had ten minutes to spare before class commenced. As soon as the girls stepped into the room they headed over to the left wall, where a mass of students were crowded around and a large poster had been pinned up.

When they got there, Kagome noticed that the poster was a seating chart for the students. She quickly located where her name was listed on the layout of the classroom and then made her way to her assigned seat. She was very suspicious of the seating arrangements. As like all Obelisk ranked students, her seat was obviously in the Obelisk blue section of the classroom, but it was also in the lowest row right before the Ra yellow seats began and in the center stand of seats. The seat insured her that the teacher of each class would be able to see her, even when they weren't trying.

Sitting herself down, Kagome waited for the other students to take their own seats and for class to begin. Looking around the room, she had found that Asuka sat in the row above her, but on the seat stands that were on her right. Momoe and Junko were seated on the stands on her left, but separated in different rows. She also saw that Sho was seated at the bottom row in the same stands as Momoe and Junko. Turning to her left, she noticed that Jun was only three to the left of her. The only person she couldn't seem to find was Judai.

It was ten minutes later when class started, and there was still no sign of Judai. _'He couldn't have gotten expelled or suspended already?'_ Kagome mentally questioned. _'Not with what Asuka and I did for him last night.'_

The subject for the class was alchemy and the professor that was to teach the class had yet to show. When the professor finally arrived in the classroom, she was a little surprised at how he appeared, but she was more shocked about what she felt from him. The teacher that had arrived was Lyman Daitokuji, who was also caring his tiger stripped cat, Pharaoh. He was a Japanese man who wore glasses and had his black tied into a low ponytail that reached just below his hips. His face was set into a perpetual closed eyed smile. He also wore a white long sleeved button up shirt and plain black slacks.

When he had passed by her while descending the stairs, Kagome felt a dark aura surrounding the man, as if the man wasn't really what he appeared. She shuddered at the foreboding feeling she got from the man. Because of the feeling she knew not to trust Professor Daitokuji. If anything, she guessed she could compare Professor Daitokuji's situation to that of Qurriel and Voldemort in Harry Potter.

At the same time that Professor Daitokuji had entered the room Judai came skidding into class through the side door. Kagome could barely contain her mirth and blank face when she saw him apologize numerous times to the professor before he was shooed off to his seat. Taking a glance over at Asuka, it seemed like the blonde was barely holding on to her own composure as well. The other students in the classroom, however, were freely snickering or giggling at Judai's expense.

Instructional time began as soon as Judai took his seat and Professor Daitokuji finished taking attendance. Class began with Professor Daitokuji giving a lecture about what was Alchemy and where it had originated from. Kagome listened to Daitokuji's lecture with rapt attention while taking down notes in a notebook that she had pulled out of her backpack. Alchemy class ended two hours later with Professor Daitokuji passing out a syllabus about his class to the students.

When class ended for the time being, the students were all given a twenty minute break before the next lesson was to start. During that time many of the students had decided to chat with each other.

Kagome had been about to go over to Asuka to talk with her when a song began to play.

_**Lolli lolli Oh Lollipop  
Lolli lolli oh lolli lolli  
**_

_**Nah, that's not how we do it **_

_**Lolli lolli lollipop Oh neon naui lollipop **_Lolli Lolli Lollipop Oh 넌 나의 Lollipop ( Lolli-Lolli-Lollipop! Oh, you're my lollipop)_**  
Lolli lolli lollipop oh lolli pop pop**_Lolli Lolli Lollipop Oh Lolli-Pop-Pop (Lolli-Lolli-Lollipop! Oh, lolli pop pop)_**  
Lolli lolli lollipop Boy neon naui lollipop **_Lolli Lolli Lollipop Boy 넌 나의 Lollipop (Lolli-Lolli-Lollipop! Oh, you're my lollipop)_**  
Lolli lolli lollipop oh lolli pop pop **_Lolli Lolli Lollipop Oh Lolli-Pop-Pop (Lolli-Lolli-Lollipop! Oh, lolli pop pop)

Every person still in the classroom immediately started searching for the source of the song and soon snapped over to Kagome. The song that was playing was LOLLIPOP by Big Bang 빅뱅 and 2NE1 투애니원.

_**Makdae satang boda deo dalgomhan nae**_막대사탕보다 더 달콤한 (Sweeter than a candy bar)_**  
maeumeun teojildeuthan dynamite **_내 마음은 터질듯한 Dynamite (My heart is like a dynamite that's about to explode)_**  
nan ggalggeumhan namja T.O.P**_난 깔끔한 남자 T.O.P. (I'm a neat guy T.O.P.)_**  
nae sarang Bling Bling like L E D**_내사랑 Bling Bling lik (My love is bling bling like L.E.D.)

Kagome flushed lightly in embarrassment as she slowly took out her phone and answered it. She already knew who the person on the other line was without even having to look at the caller id. She had, after all, setup that specific ring tone for him.

"Moshi moshi," answered Kagome with happy grin on her face as snapped her phone open. As she answered her call she rose from her seat and headed outside. She only finished her greeting once she was outside of the classroom doors and in the hallway where there were fewer students, **"Edo."**

"**Hey Kagome," **greeted Edo in English. **"How are you handling high school?"**

"**It's my first day, what did you expect?" **replied Kagome as she leaned against the glass windows in the hallway.

"**I wouldn't know. I didn't go to high school, remember?"**

"**Not all of us can get a Ph. D. before we're thirteen, much less two of them," **teased Kagome.

"**Don't be jealous Gome. You'll catch up in no time."**

"**So what's up? You never call me. Normally you only video chat with me unless you want me join you in something."**

"**Hehehehe,"** Kagome heard Edo laugh awkwardly over the phone. **"About that…"**

"**So you do want me to join you in a tournament."**

"**I was hoping you could fly over to Kyoto to tag-duel with me."**

"**I'm not even sure if I could get away with that. You know how my father is. You know you're still one of the only people who can get me to have fun with this game?"**

"**Yeah, I know. The tournament is the same weekend as your gymnastics competition in Tokyo. It's on Saturday, and your competition is on Friday," **tried Edo, hoping to get Kagome to compete with him.

"**Maybe then, I'll see if I can fly over early in the morning, but why Kyoto?" **

"**Kyoto's hosting the closest tournament to Tokyo, and I miss seeing you in person. I know your dad doesn't like you leaving Japan to come visit me, so I decided to come see you."**

"**Aww," **cooed Kagome, her heart melting a little at Edo's sweetness. This was why he had LOLLIPOP set as his ring tone. He was as sweet as a lollipop when he wanted to.

"**Don't go fan-girl on me now, you hear me?"** Edo warned.

"**Ew! Gross! How can you even think that?" **demanded Kagome with a wrinkle on her nose.

"**You were going 'Aww' on me," **deadpanned Edo with complete sincerity.

"**Whatever. You have to go to my competition then if you want me to be your partner in Kyoto?" **she bargained. She knew that her gray haired friend loved sports, but he didn't particularly care for girl sports like gymnastics. **"And my interview with the press after the tournament,"** she added in as an after though. Her interview had been scheduled to be on that Saturday morning, but she now had to call them to meet her in Kyoto and have it after the tournament. If she had to give another interview, she was going to pull Edo in there with her.

There was silence on the other end of the connection as Edo debated on whether or not to go see the competition. On one hand he would have to watch a sport he could care less about and be able to see Kagome do something she loved while also gaining a partner in the Kyoto tournament, or not go see the competition, miss seeing Kagome, and lose a chance to enter another tag-duel with one of his best friends. It didn't seem that hard of a choice. **"…Fine, but I'm staying overnight at your house."**

"**Hahaha," **laughed Kagome as she pushed herself off the wall. She knew how much her friend, who was more of a brother than just a friend, hated to stay in hotels all the time.** "That's alright. Mother's missed seeing you though." **She heard Edo groan loudly over the phone. Sure he loved her and her family as if they were his own, but her mother could be quite overwhelming when showing her love to a person she hasn't seen in a long while. **"It's your own fault for not coming over to visit more often. It's been a year since you were last in Japan."**

"**I know, don't remind me. I just know I'm going to regret it.**

"**I'm very sure you will. Your Japanese is still good right?"**

"Of course it is," responded Edo, switching to Japanese to prove her wrong. He felt insulted that she insinuated that he would forget the language that she had helped teach him. "Why would I go to Japan if I couldn't speak the language? You would hit me over the head if I forgot."

"Very true. I have to go now. Class is going to start up again," said Kagome as she started to head back to the classroom. "You know, you're lucky you called during break."

"Ahh, that's not luck it's destiny. Destiny has determined that I would be able to speak with you today."

"I'm going to get that out of you someday, Edo," growled Kagome. She hated it when he said things happened because of destiny.

"Hahaha…Ja nai Gome. I'll see you in a month," Edo said, bidding his farewell.

"Yeah, ja nai Edo. See you then," Kagome replied before she hung up and snapped her phone shut. She then headed back into the classroom to wait for class to start. Throughout her whole conversation, she never noticed the one person that was listening in…and understood English that was just a few yards down from her.

_In the Classroom during Kagome's Phone Call_

All the students that still remained inside of the classroom remained silent as they watched Kagome smile and leave the classroom while answering her phone. They burst into immediate gossip with each other the moment the lecture room's door closed shut behind the rave. Many of the students were astonished to have seen the grin that had bloomed across the raven beauty's face, most especially the girls.

The girls, after only having known the raven a day longer than the others were extremely surprised at Kagome's grin. In the time that they have seen and known her, they have only seen her give out small smiles and covered up giggles. The raven haired girl seemed unusually closed off and only seemed to open up to their Headmistress Emi and to a lesser extent Asuka Tenjouin, their current Obelisk queen and probably now princess. They thought princess because they saw how Asuka had followed Kagome instead of the other way around. But they wouldn't consider Kagome to be the new queen until the two girls dueled… or at least until they saw Kagome duel, which may very well be a month later during the monthly dorm exam.

The female students had immediately surrounded themselves around Asuka, the moment that Kagome had disappeared through the doors, and started to hound her for answers to Kagome's sudden smile. All of them started asking at the same time different questions revolving around the raven. "Asuka-sama!" some of the girls cried out.

"What's got Higurashi-san so happy?"

"Do you know who called her?"

"We're allowed to have our cellphones here?"

Slowly, Asuka began to get aggravated by being swarmed by the girls of her dorm. She got even more annoyed when the questions came raining down on her and they didn't seem to stop. Having enough of it she stood from her seat and slammed her hands down onto her desk while shouting, "Urusai!"

Asuka glared down at all the girls that were surrounding her, just daring them to ask another question or even make another sound. "Why do you even expect ME to know everything about Kagome? We've barely known each other for a day! Don't any of you have respect for a person's privacy?"

Some of the girls around her ducked their heads down in shame and the others all had the decency to look ashamed. One brave girl was able to voice her reason for why they came to her. "Asuka-sama, we're asking you because you're the closest to Higurashi-san at the moment."

"So? That doesn't give you the right to gossip about her. It's her life! You have no right to butt in," snapped Asuka as she defended Kagome's privacy. The girls then slowly backed away from Asuka before they went off to gossip about the possibilities of who called Kagome.

'_Really these girls have no sense of respect, but they have one thing right. Who could have called her to make her smile like that?' _wondered Asuka as she watched the other girls leave.

On the other side of the classroom, the boys were wondering what was going on. They only saw that the girls were all crowding around who they knew was Asuka Tenjouin, the current Obelisk queen, and then Asuka shouting a few minutes later. Some of the boys discussed what may have been the cause of the Obelisk queen's irritation.

"Aniki," Sho called out to Judai.

"What's up, Sho?" asked Judai as he lifted his head from his desk. He had been hoping take a short nap before class would begin again.

"Why do think Asuka got mad like that?"

"Don't know. I wasn't really paying attention."

"Ahh Ichiban-kun," said a decidedly masculine voice. Turning over his shoulder, Judai saw Daichi Misawa standing over him.

"Hey Niban!" greeted Judai

"Oh, hey Misawa," said Sho. "Do you have any clue why Asuka got angry like that?"

"Ahh that. You remember when that song started going off a few minutes ago?"

"Yeah, what of it?" asked Judai.

"What language was it from anyways?" added in Sho.

"I believe that it was a Korean pop song."

"But what does that have to do with Kagome?" Judai asked curiously.

"Oh, the song came from Higurashi-san's cellphone. Apparently we're allowed to have them with us on campus. Anyways Tenjouin-san became annoyed because the girls in our class all bombarded her with questions about Higurashi-san," explained Daichi with a few waves of his hands.

"But what made them swarm Asuka that way?"

"Apparently it's because Higurashi-san smiled. I don't know what's so special about that, but they had wished to know what had made her be so happy," Daichi elaborated.

"Wait! Kagome smiled?" exclaimed Judai with a surprised look

"Yes, Higurashi-san did in fact. But I don't quite understand what's exactly so special about that."

"We met Kagome yesterday, and we've only seen her show some kind of emotion other than irritation when Asuka is around."

"Oh," said Daichi questionably.

"Come to think of it, I met her on the ship ride here. She didn't show anything more than a smirk," said Judai in a thinking pose.

"I wonder why she's like that," Daichi whispered to himself as his eyes narrowed and he turned to look at the door that Kagome had exited through. _'She had that same emotionless expression at the introduction assembly as well, but she looked mournful as well when she left."_ The Ra yellow student was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts.

"Don't know, but we'll find out sooner or later," said Judai when he thought Daichi was asking him a question.

When the doors to the classroom opened everybody became silent as they watched Kagome re-enter the class. Nearly everyone noticed the difference in the raven from before she received the phone and after. The air around her seemed less cold and there was even a smile on her face.

Kagome looked around at everybody when she entered the room. She felt everybody staring at her and didn't really understand why. She only went outside to answer her phone. Surprisingly, she didn't seem to notice that she was still smiling from her chat with Edo. She seemed to not notice a lot of things lately.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kagome saw one of the girls near Asuka make her way over to her. The girl was the same one that had doubted her meditation from the night prior. She was one of the bigger gossip mongers around the campus from what she was able to see last night at the welcoming party and at the bath house. When the girl was nearly standing in front of her, she just stared down at her with cold eyes as the girl asked, "Higurashi-san, we were kind of wondering, but who called to make you so happy?"

"That's really none of your business, now is it?" answered Kagome as her smile finally slipped from her face, only to be replaced by a half scowl. She then turned to address the rest of the students with scowl still in place and a glare now set, she called out to them with an icy tone. "And what are you all staring at? My private life is none of your business."

She watched the gossipers take several steps back and turn away from her before she started to make her way back to her seat. Her scowl and glare were now gone and her expressionless mask once again in place.

"Wow, I've never seen Kagome so mad before," mumbled Sho from his seat next to Judai.

"Yeah, she must be really mad. I can feel the ice in that glare." Judai gave a theatrical shiver to emphasize his point.

"Hmm, I suppose you're right, Ichiban-kun. Higurashi-san's glare is quite vicious," commented Daichi as he continued to watch Kagome, who was once again sitting in her assigned seat.

"She'd make a good Manjoume," mumbled Jun to himself, as he already began to imagine him marrying Kagome like he had done before about Asuka. He ignored his fellow Obelisk that he had previously been conversing with and drifted further into his daydream.

Kagome felt her eyebrow twitch when she heard what Jun had said. She sure as hell didn't want to marry a guy like him. He was too full of himself for her to like, but then again she had dated Bankotsu and he was pretty confident of himself. Bankotsu wasn't arrogant but he was pretty close to it; he at least knew when to back down. Maybe that's why they had drifted apart after only a month of dating.

Schooling her face back into her cold mask, Kagome proceeded to ignore the gossip that was flowing through the classroom and the stares that she was receiving from both genders. Catching snippets of the gossip that was circulating, she was able to conclude they were trying to find out who she had talked to. Apparently, it was all because she smiled when she answered her phone. She almost lost her carefully created composure when she had the urge to slam her on to her desk because of her one little slip.

She quickly reeled back in the urge and laced her hands together tightly on her desk. With that done, Kagome took several deep breaths with her eyes closed to control her flaring temper and to try to tune out everyone else for the time being. While doing her breathing exercise she also curled her toes and uncurled them for four counts each to help calm down more. She continued doing this until it was just a few minutes before class would start up again.

When she was sufficiently calm, she snapped her eyes back open, and waited for their new professor to enter the room. She was pleasantly pleased to see that her Uncle Chronos would be her next teacher. She couldn't wait to see his reaction to seeing her in his class. With that last thought a small devious smirk spread across Kagome's face as she waited for Professor Chronos to begin taking attendance for his class.

* * *

The helpful tip about stretching was kindly provided by my little sister. I learned the hard way that you shouldn't stretch before working out, ended up sore and in pain for three days. A warm up is okay, but not stretching you'll only end up in pain if you do. The rant about breast size, yeah that was all me and true. I really did almost deck the last girl with that wish. Another hair tip, brushing your hair starting from the bottom and slowly moving up while brushing lessens the amount of split ends you get and the chances of getting split ends. I'll probably end up putting up hair care tips with every chapter that I mention how Kagome takes care of her hair. I don't mind all that much on sharing Asian hair secrets, but know that I won't share them all with you. Just so you people know I have three beauticians as aunts, and I get a lot tips from them.

Don't think running two miles in fifteen minutes is impossible. It's not unrealistic. My little sister was able to do that when she was ten, and I expect Kagome should be able to do that and more at fifteen, even more so because I have a friend who can run the mile in under four minutes. I couldn't resist putting a reference to Harry Potter in this. I've been watching Harry Potter clips for the last week and it's been getting to me. TT^TT

I was listening to "Just Be Friends" by Luka Megurine Chorus version while I wrote this entire chapter. Link to a good one: www. youtube watch? v=67gQ1v2iRZA I never, ever want to listen to an actual choir singing it. It'll only ruin the one I listen to. I actually hated how part of the end came out. It didn't really come out as I had hoped. Send reviews! And did I make you hungry during the breakfast scene? XD

╔══════════════════ **ೋ****ღ****ღ****ೋ****  
If you miss someone that's in heaven, put this as your status!  
╚══════════════════ ****ೋ****ღ****ღ****ೋ**


	6. Relatives and End of the Day

Edited: 27 March 2012

**The Duel Champion's Daughter**

**Disclaimer:** I do **NOT** own either Inuyasha or Yu-Gi-Oh GX

**Summary: **Seto Kaiba's eldest child, Kagome Akemi Higurashi Kaiba, is being sent to attend Duel Academy to take up her father's title of Duel Monsters Champion, but will she be able to take the title while also looking for a husband to be. Begins in Season 1 of GX and will basically be AU with original Japanese versions explanations in ranking and scoring.

Reminder: People I revise my stories often, VERY often. Some minor tweaks have been made in the two last chapters, such as tournament and competition day have been moved back by one day, Kagome now wakes up at five instead of six, and the high school entrance exam Kagome had been studying for has been changed to a mock college entrance exam.

AN: Please keep the conversation between Aster and Kagome in mind. I'm not going to tell why it's important because it's S.E.C.R.E.T.! I have some of the major scenes for this story already planned and playing in my head. All I have to do now is get this story rolling! Also I'm changing the names to their Japanese counterparts. I'm actually getting quite sick of the English names.

I kind of forgot to do this in my last chapter, but…**THANK YOU x0SilverFeathersx0, Punkish Furball, and ****Light Is Upon You!** I love criticism.

"Speech"

_'Thoughts'_

"**English"**

(Translation)

* * *

_Last Time on The Duel Champion's Daughter:_

_When she was sufficiently calm, she snapped her eyes back open, and waited for their new professor to enter the room. She was pleasantly pleased to see her Uncle Chronos would be her next teacher. She couldn't wait to see his reaction to seeing her in his class. With that last thought a small devious smirk spread across Kagome's face as she waited for Professor Chronos to begin taking attendance for his class. _

**This Time on The Duel Champion's Daughter**

It was a little while after Professor Chronos had entered the classroom that he began taking down attendance. Attendance had to be taken at the beginning of every class because there was always a twenty minute break in between courses.

Student class schedules followed similar principles to that of the traditional Asian schools and universities. The courses that the students took varied from day to day, but the classes from Monday to Thursday followed the same schedule while Friday had its own schedule that changed depending on the situation. The classes during the first four days of the school week would alternate with each other. Monday and Wednesday afternoon classes would be the same and Tuesday and Thursday classes would be the same.

The morning classes from Monday to Thursday had two classes that were each two hours long. After lunch hour on those days the students would then be separated into normal general education classes. There were only two classes after lunch and they were each an hour long, making the school day end around three-thirty. General education classes were history, mathematics, composition, and physical education. Science was not counted as a general education course because Alchemy was considered the students' science class. On Fridays students only have two classes. Both classes were each three hours long and were reserved only for elective courses, such as graphic design, art, music, public speech, and etc. When the school had all-school tests like the monthly promotion exams, Friday classes were to be canceled to make room for the exams to proceed.

During attendance, Professor Chronos's facials rapidly shifted through expressions. Depending on whose name he would call and the student's rank, his face would morph to that of calm, disgust, or glee.

As Professor Chronos was taking roll, Kagome watched on in amusement, her smirk still gracing her pretty face. She found it funny that her Uncle Vellian's face was able to change as fast as it did from a calm face, to a sneer, and finally to a gleeful smile. She just couldn't wait to see his expression when he saw her. With that last thought, she placed her elbows on her desk and raised her hands to rest her chin upon her laced fingers. She then patiently waited for her uncle to reach her name on the attendance sheet.

It was a short while later that Professor Chronos de Medici finally came down to the raven's name. "Signora Kagome Higurashi," called out Professor Chronos as he began looking around the mass of students for the one he just called. When his gaze landed on Kagome, Vellian froze in his search and his eyes went wide and he started backing away in disbelief.

Kagome could immediately tell that her Uncle Chronos had found her. It was a very funny sight. His mouth was opening and closing like a stranded suffocating fish, and he had backed up until he was touching the teacher's desk.

Kagome unlaced her hands and gave her uncle a small wave and a small amused grin. She lifted one finger from her waving hand presented it in front of her lips to tell him keep quiet about the situation. If she knew her uncle as well as she thought she did, she would only have to wait for his typical dramatic explosion despite being told to keep quiet.

"P-P-Principessa!" yelled Chronos as he darted to the front of the center stands. His hands slammed down onto the desk when he reached them, startling the three Slifer red students that were sitting in closest to where he had hit the desk. _'What is Principessa Kagome doing at Duel Academy, no ne? Last I remember she avoided playing Duel Monsters as much she possibly could, unless it was for a tournament. Why would she come here, of all places for school? Wasn't she going to study fashion design?'_

Nearly every single student turned to stare at Kagome to see what was going on. Most of them quickly turned back away from the scene when they remembered Kagome's icy glare from before. The braver students continued to watch on to see if they could learn more about the reclusive Higurashi. They now had another clue to add to their small but growing list about the raven haired girl, and they hoped to add more.

"Yes, Chronos-kyōju," answered Kagome, a mischievous glint twinkling in her eyes and her grin was once again a smirk. She would have shaken her head and laughed in amusement if others weren't there. _'Vellian-oji never was very good at the art of subtlety.'_

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming here, Princi—" started Professor Chronos faltering when he caught the look Kagome was giving him. She then pointed with her eyes to remind him of the other students that were still there. "Uh… Signorina Kagome, no ne?" he continued switching to another title that he reserved only for her. She was the only one that Chronos de Medici would address as signorina, meaning young miss or young lady while he called other females signora meaning miss.

"I don't know what you're talking about kyōju," replied Kagome as she looked away from her uncle.

"Talk to me after class, Signorina Kagome," ordered Professor Chronos when he finally understood what Kagome was trying to do. _'I will find out why our little principessa is attending our academy!'_

"Yes, kyōju," Kagome responded as she leaned into her seat. She knew that talking to her uncle was inevitable, but did he have to bring so much attention to her during class?

"Ahh…Yes, moving on then," said Professor Chronos as he went back to his desk to continue taking attendance.

'_Why did Chronos-kyōju call Kagome signorina? He never calls us anything else than signora or signore,' _thought Jun as he leaned forward in his seat. He had a scowl on his face and his tightly fisted until his knuckles were white. _'Why is he giving her more respect than me, a Majoume? She may be pretty, but I bet she's not even that good at dueling. She never even participated in the entrance exam duel!"_

'_Huh, doesn't principessa mean princess in Italian? Why would _Chronos_-sensei ever call Higurashi-san a princess for?' _analyzed Daichi as he was one of the brave few to watch the interaction between Kagome and Professor Chronos. _'It was as if he knows her from somewhere. Higurashi-san's retort wasn't as cold towards him as she was to us either. It seemed almost as if she was playing a game with him.'_

'_Principessa? Princess?' _wondered Asuka as curiosity started to shine in her eyes and a small frown marred her face._ 'Could the rumor about the Ace Princess attending the academy be true? Is Kagome her?'_

Professor Crolwer continued on with his class as if his chat with Kagome never happened. At the end of his roll call, his face transformed to an expression of absolute fury. The last name he had called on his attendance sheet was none other than Judai Yuki, the Slifer red student that had beaten him at the entrance exam duels. The long blonde haired man looked as if he wanted to strangle the red jacket wearing boy.

Instructional time flew by quickly. Chronos introduced to the students what his class would be teaching them just as Professor Daitokuji had. He told them about some of the different strategies and tactics a duelist can use to win a duel and some theory about the different types of cards. He asked basic questions for the class to answer, mostly picking the Slifer students first and then picking an Obelisk or Ra student to answer the question when the Slifers failed to do so. At the end of class, the Italian assigned everyone to write a minimum of two pages single-spaced essay about the theories and strategies of dueling before dismissing everyone for their lunch hour. The essay would help him to determine where everyone stood in learning the methods to win duels.

When class was finally dismissed many of the students began to file out of the lecture hall. Some of the students lingered behind or lagged in their walking hoping to catch a part of the conversation that Kagome would be having with the professor.

After a few minutes of lingering they finally left, having figured out that they won't be hearing any part of the student-teacher conversation. Instead, they learned that they were only wasting the precious time of their lunch hour.

Once the last student departed, Kagome rose from her seat with her backpack strapped to her back and made her way to the front of the classroom where her uncle stood by his desk. "So…you wanted to talk to me Chronos-oji?" she asked innocently while blinking up towards him.

"Don't act all innocent, principessa. You know very well why I want to talk to you," stated Chronos not once believing her innocent act all. He had been exposed to some of her bouts of innocence enough times that he had developed a small immunity to hit. _'Not that it will help all that much, she has grown and her acting skills must have improved over the years. She's come into being such a lovely signorina,'_ Chronos thought fondly.

"Does it, by any chance, have to do with my being here?" Kagome asked, still pretending to be clueless, but letting a part of her normal personality shine through.

"Yes, now start talking. I'm sure you wish to buy and finish your lunch before your afternoon lessons begin, na no ne?"

'_So Samejima-oji really didn't tell him. That's just like him. Oji-san always did like to keep things from others sometimes,' _Kagomethought mentally as she explained to her other uncle. "Chichiue has declared that I am to find a fiancé by the end of the school year."

"Eh? Mama mia! How are you even going to possibly do that? You're only fifteen going on sixteen soon!" exclaimed Chronos once his mind processed what Kagome had said. _'Which reminds me; I must to order the little signorina's present soon. It just won't do if I, a descendent of the proud Medici family, forget her birthday. Now, what shall I get her this year?'_ the blonde thought as he quickly became distracted by gift ideas.

"Oi, oji-san!" called Kagome as she waved a hand in front of Chronos's face. "Oji-san, are you still in there?" When she didn't get a response from the Italian she just sighed to herself and crossed her arms over her chest. A pout formed on her face from being ignored as she waited for her Uncle Chronos to snap back to reality. _'He's thinking again!'_

During the time that the blonde Italian man spent thinking, Kagome heard him mumble out "No, that won't do," "Already has that," "…Got it last year," and "Yes, that would be perfect" all the while nodding and shaking his head with the respective sayings.

'_What could he possibly thinking about? It must be important if he completely forgot I'm here. Then again it's Uncle Chronos,' _she thought, completely forgetting that her birthday, September 24, was just around the corner. Whenever she saw her Italian uncle when she was younger, he was frequently talking to himself. He was usually grumbling about the horror of the Central Academy having to house low grade students.

"Oh, Mi dispiace molto (I am very sorry), principessa!" apologized Chronos in Italian when he finally came back to reality and noticed the pout on Kagome's face.

"E 'bene, lo zio (It's okay, uncle)," accepted Kagome in Italian. She only knew a few words, but it seemed to make Chronos happy that she even knew a tiny bit of his mother tongue. Seeing that the blonde's face was no longer in the panic expression it had been working itself to, she guessed it was a good thing she spoke in his own language.

"How about I make it up to you, dearest principessa? I could help you look for a prospective husband. I mean what kind of boy would be better than one housed in the Obelisk blue dorms, headed by your dear lo zio no ne?" asked Chronos.

"That would be really helpful, but chichiue sort of has standards…" Kagome trailed off while looking away from Chronos. She didn't doubt her uncle could find a bunch of guys for her to look through, but she didn't exactly trust her uncle's people choices. The people he usually picked for things were a bit too prissy for her liking. They could barely stand the pain the duel simulators induced.

"Ahh then tell your uncle what it is that he must find in the boy his dear niece is going to marry," prompted Chronos.

"Um…" started Kagome a little taken aback that he really did want to help her find a husband. Truthfully, she had thought the Italian man would be opposed to her finding a boyfriend, much less a fiancé. She then launched into a detailed list of her parents' standards on what they hoped and wanted to see in her future husband. She even added two standards of her own in there. She refused to marry a guy that was based solely off her parents' requirements even though they were parallel to her own. "He has to have some immunity to the pain simulators of the duel disks and arenas. Lastly, dueling can't be the sole make up of his life."

"I'm sure there are plenty of young gentlemen who can meet your parents' and your own standards. But that last one may be a tricky one. After all we are at a school that teaches students to become dueling professionals," Chronos said while tapping his chin. "Well now, principessa. I believe you should head off to lunch now. You have about forty minutes left before classes start again. That should be enough time to satisfy your large appetite that I am sure has grown over the years."

Kagome had the decency to blush at the mentioning of her appetite. It was really quite true though, her appetite had only grown as she had aged. She only hoped that her hunger would start to decline once she retired from gymnastics team and martial arts competitions when she was eighteen. She had to retire from the gymnastics team because no one was permitted to stay on once they were nineteen. She would have actually retired from the team this year if she hadn't had to come to Duel Academy. The only reason she even had to retire from martial arts tournaments was because she was to start working at the family's corporation.

"Eh…Yes, Chronos-kyōju," said Kagome a small smile on her face as she tried to will away her blush.

Before she could take more than a step to head outside, Chronos called out to her, "And Kagome, it is only kyōju when I am acting as your professor."

"Alright!" she yelled back to him with a large smile breaking out on her face as she ran outside. "I'll see you next lesson, Chronos-oji!"

"Ciao, principessa!" Kagome heard Chronos bid from behind. Upon her entrance into the school's corridors, she schooled her face into one that was less happy-go-lucky, but still had a smile that was firmly in place. She was most definitely not a happy-go-lucky person and she refused to let herself look like an idiot. When she looked around the corridor she was stunned that not a single other person had been there. Apparently, her outburst from earlier had made them not try to eavesdrop on her conversations.

Once she was done calming herself down, she made her way to over to the academy's cafeteria to buy her lunch. Finding the cafeteria was much easier than she had expected, especially since she had never been there before. The very moment she had stepped into the lunch room Kagome saw most of the students had already ordered the lunches and were already eating. Looking around the room, she caught neither hide nor hair of the three, maybe four if she counted Judai, friends that she had made at the school. She just shrugged at the lack of appearance, assuming that they were at the school shop instead, and made her way to the Obelisk sectioned buffet line.

Much like her old middle and high school, the cafeteria was a circular room that was separated into three sections. But unlike where her old school had their cafeteria divided by the species, human, demon, and half-demon, Duel Academy's was divided by rank, Obelisk, Ra, and Slifer. The Obelisk section of the cafeteria was located the closest to the windows and exits. The Ra section was placed on the opposite wall of the Obelisk section. Lastly, Slifer was shunted off to the very back of the cafeteria, making them the farthest from the exits and second closest to the windows. The higher grade meals obviously went to the higher ranked students and the lower grade meals went to the lower ranked students.

The only reason her old school even had three specific sections for its student was because it was built only for students who were demon, half-demon, holy person, and demon slayer. It was impossible for students to enroll at that academy unless they were of holy lineage, demonic lineage, a slayer family, or apprenticed to a slayer family. It was impossible for students to lie about being within any of those specified heritages or being an apprentice. All students' lives and backgrounds were verified and families were interviewed before they were allowed admittance.

Just as Kagome took her first few steps in the direction to the Obelisk buffet line, she was suddenly crushed against a soft body and then dragged to the cafeteria's back room. She didn't even have time recognize who was pulling her away. By the time she had finally realized that she was being taken away from her much desired meal she was already more than half-way across the cafeteria. She immediately began to struggle against the person that was holding her.

As Kagome was forcibly pulled away from the main cafeteria, the students that were in there could only watch as the raven haired beauty was dragged away by one of the various lunch ladies. Some of them laughed at the girl's predicament, finding it amusing that she was struggling to get loose. Throughout all this, not a single person rose from their seat to go help the poor girl out. Only one boy out of nearly five dozen students found it strange that the new first year was being carted off by a cafeteria worker on the first day of class.

'_Why would a cafeteria worker, much less one that has only seen the girl today, being taking off with the first year? What could have possibly caused her to taken away like that?' _The boy's light grey eyes narrowed in thought as he continued to eat his lunch with his laughing classmates and watch the struggling girl. _'Especially like that!'_

Before she knew it Kagome was plopped down on a metal counter top in the cafeteria's kitchen. She was about to punch her kidnapper in their solar plexus, the area that surely make the person pass out after one punch, until she saw just who it was that had 'kidnapped' her. Without a second thought, Kagome threw herself at the woman and began squealing in happiness as if she was a three old child again. "Aoi-oba!"

Her abductor could only release a feminine laugh as she caught the exuberant teenager in a hug. The snatcher, now known as Aoi, was a woman who was only slightly taller than Kagome with shoulder length wavy hair. Aoi had the traditional features a Higurashi woman had; pale cream colored skin, sharp Asian eyes; usually brown, a heart shaped face, high cheek bones, midnight blue or black colored hair, large breast, and a slender figure. If anybody had taken time to look at both females' body and facial structures, they could have easily learned that the two were obviously related to one another.

Aoi was an actual relative of hers that she was related to through her maternal family. Her aunt's full name was Aoi Higurashi, and she was her mother's younger cousin, by nearly a decade. She was also the care taker of the school's one and only golden hen, and the chef for the golden eggwich. Alongside of being a chef and chicken care taker, the elder Higurashi also worked as the chairman of Duel Academy's Ethics Board.

She was made the care taker of the golden hen, and as a result the rest of the hens, was because she was the only Higurashi who worked on the island. The golden hen could only be taken care of by a Higurashi family member because only a Higurashi knew how to correctly care for them and get them to lay golden eggs. If someone outside of the family had tried to raise the golden hen, it most likely would have died or would never lay a golden egg.

Aside from being the care takers of their family shrine, the Higurashi family was expert chicken breeders. They were famous for breeding and raising golden chickens and were the only known chefs of the golden eggwich, the most basic of their golden egg recipes. The very same golden hen that lived at the island was bred and hatched at the Higurashi family's shrine. The golden hen had only come to be raised at the school because a Higurashi relative had become employed there.

Every Higurashi relative was given their own golden hen as a gift when they move a certain distance away from the shrine. The distance that they are required to move before they receive their own chicken has to be enough so that they are unable to visit the family shrine on a bi-weekly basis. The only reason Kagome had not received her own chicken was because she was not an adult like her other relatives and her living at the academy was only temporary unlike Aoi.

"Konichiwa Kagome-chan," greeted Aoi through her laughter as she gently patted her niece on her head. "How have you been?"

"I've been better," mumbled Kagome against her aunt's shoulder, where she currently had her face snuggled against. "What about you? How's academy life treating you? I haven't seen you since Golden Week," she asked as she pulled slightly away from the elder Higurashi woman.

"Missed you too Akemi. Life's been alright, made a few new recipes, which I hope you could bring back to the shrine for me," replied Aoi, giving Kagome a look of pleading. The younger Higurashi only nodded lightly to tell the elder that she would bring home the recipes when she went to visit. "Everybody still thinks Ki-chan can only lay one golden egg," the older woman added as an afterthought. Ki-chan was short for Kimu; the name of Aoi's golden hen.

"Really?" asked Kagome with surprised eyes as she completely released her Aunt Aoi. "Are they really that stupid to think our chickens can only lay one egg a day? We would never be able to keep the shrine running that way," she said in utter disbelief.

"Yep, Ki-chan had some chicks now too. Sadly, all of them were born as a normal chick, all yellow now white. Ki-chan will never have a golden chick without a golden rooster with her," Aoi sighed dramatically. She truly wanted to Kimu to have her very own golden chick, but she wouldn't get one until she took Kimu back to the shrine for a year. None of the family's golden roosters were allowed to leave shrine grounds, so if any new golden chickens were to be bred the golden hens must be taken to the shrine.

"Poor Ki-chan," Kagome sympathized as she patted Aoi comfortingly on the back. Every Higurashi that received a golden hen all had one of two wishes for the hen. The wish was either they learned to make new golden egg recipes or for the hen to be able to have a golden chick of its own. The second wish has so far been impossible, unless the hen was brought back to the family shrine to breed with a golden rooster. The first wish was much more likely as seen by Aoi and other family members.

Kagome's sympathy for her aunt was cut short by a loud rumbling sound. Looking down, Kagome could only rub her head sheepishly and laugh in embarrassment. She had been so caught up with Aoi that she forgot that she still had to eat lunch.

"Oh, right! You haven't eaten lunch yet, have you?" giggled Aoi as she began to stroll around the kitchen.

"You dragged me off before I could even get my lunch," Kagome deadpanned while giving the older woman the evil eye.

"Ah, don't worry my little niece I have something made for you. I knew you were coming today, why else would I steal you away?" Aoi informed as she grabbed a covered bowl off from one of the various counter tops and a pair of chopsticks form a utensils drawer. "Here," she said, handing the dish and utensils to Kagome. "I just finished it before lunch started."

Kagome carefully pried off the container's lid and looked questionably at the food item inside. Looking back up at her aunt, she asked, "What is it?"

"It's one of the recipes I want you to take home for me. Tell me what you think," the older woman urged.

With that said, Kagome carefully started eating her unexpected meal. As she ate, she hummed with appreciation with each morsel that slid down her throat. While she ate, her Aunt Aoi told her the basic outline of the recipe for what she was eating. The two chatted amicably with each other throughout Kagome's meal; mostly about their family and what has been happening back home. Kagome even told Aoi about her current finding a fiancé problem and how she had sworn off dating demons and half demons. Every demon and half demon that she had dated had in the end came to see her as a sibling. It was just plain creepy to think that they made out with their sibling.

When she was finished eating, Kagome gave her aunt her compliments and suggested that the elder Higurashi should make the dish at their family's new year's gathering.

"Really?" asked Aoi with starry eyes.

"Yeah, I'm certain jiji will love it," Kagome assured as she closed the food container with the chopsticks tucked inside.

"Let me take that," said Aoi as she plucked the dirty dishes from Kagome's hands and began to shoo the younger girl out of the kitchen. "You should probably start heading off to classes now. You only have ten minutes left until lunch ends."

"I better get going then, huh? I'll see you later then, Aoi-oba!" called Kagome as she exited through the kitchen doors.

"Be sure to visit when you can! Ki-chan would love to see another Higurashi!" said Aoi as she waved off Kagome. She kept watching until Kagome entered the hallways that would the girl to her next set of classes. "She's going to have the time of her life here. This place is just as exciting as our old school," she mumbled to herself with a shake of her head.

_With Kagome_

"Well that was an unexpected," Kagome said aloud to herself as her hands laced together behind her back and started on her way to her afternoon classes.

"What was unexpected?" asked a distinctively male voice from behind, startling her.

Whirling around on her feet, Kagome turned to confront the person that had spoken to her. "Huh? Who are you?" she asked when she spotted the boy. The boy was a Ra yellow student, dressed in the standard Ra uniform with a green shirt underneath his jacket. He had grayish black hair that slicked back and intelligent dark grey eyes.

"Ah, gomen Higurashi-san. I'm Daichi Misawa," answered the newly introduced Daichi. "We're in the same year as each other."

"Oh, it's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance then Misawa-san," greeted Kagome as she extended a hand for a shake. The only reason she had decided to shake hands instead of bow was because she knew most boys outside of her old school didn't bow to each other in greeting. "Please call me Kagome."

"The pleasure is all mine Kagome," said Daichi as he shook her hand. _'What did she do to make her hands this calloused? It is most definitely not what I had expected of a girl.'_

"Shall we start making our way to our afternoon lessons? I'm sure they'll begin shortly," he prompted as he started on his way to class. _'She completely avoided the question as well. It would be best to not bring it up again.'_

"Hn," was Kagome's response she too continued on her way to class. The two walked together in silence for a short while before Kagome said, "Hey Misawa-san?"

"Yes, Kagome?" Daichi replied.

"You're the one who tied with me on the entrance examinations, aren't you?" the dark haired girl asked.

Daichi was a little taken aback by the girl's bluntness. He didn't really understand what she had asked either. He had only tied with one person at the entrance exam, and he didn't believe it was the slender beauty that was beside him. _'She can't possibly be the person I share first place with. She_ _looks as if she cares more about her looks than she does about her grades and dueling,' _thought Daichi in disbelief.

"You mean, you also obtained the top score on the examinations?" he asked, not showing his surprise when Kagome nodded in answer to his question. _'Apparently not all girls here are air-headed and boy obsessed.'_

'_What's wrong with him? It's not that strange to have a girl also get the top score,' _Kagome thought as they continued to walk. The pair lapsed back into silence after Kagome gave her answer to Daichi as they continued on their way to classes.

Surprisingly or unsurprisingly, Daichi had the exact same afternoon classes as Kagome did. Evidently because the two students both had the highest test scores at this year's entrance exam, they would be placed in the same general education classes.

The two lessons that Kagome had to live through for that day were Japanese composition and mathematics. Instructional time for both lessons were the same as it had been in her earlier lessons with both the professors introducing them to the class and passing out a syllabus for their respective courses. Classes ended swiftly upon the ringing of the school's bells to signal the end of the school day.

Students speedily collected their belongings before milling out of their classrooms and searching for their friends. Kagome quickly packed up her own belongings and joined the rest of the student body in the hallways to leave.

Once she was in the halls and heading to the exits, Kagome encountered Asuka, who looked as if she was running from the devil. Looking behind the down the corridor that faired haired girl came from, the dark haired girl's eyes expanded in terror.

You may ask just what could have caused a girl who formerly went through elementary school to high school with demons, demon slayers, and holy beings to be frozen in absolute terror. Many of the students at her previous schools had been terrified of these creatures. Even the most robust of the demon population feared them.

The answer to Kagome's and every student at her former school's fear was very simple, fanpeople or in this case fanboys. Dozens of them littered the hallway and all of them seemed to be looking for Asuka and judging by the yells, her too.

"Asuka-sama! Kagome-sama!" the large group shouted together. "Where are you?"

"Please let me be your boyfriend!" one lone boy shouted.

"Hey buddy! I'm going to be their boyfriend first!" another boy yelled at him.

"No! I am!" shouted all the boys together before they broke out into a fist fight.

Quickly turning tail, Kagome darted after Asuka and joined her in running back and hiding away in their dormitory for the time being. _'Fanboys are creepy! Why couldn't Manjoume's friends be the only fanboys on this island?' _ Kagome whined in her mind as she and Asuka continued to run back to the dormitory, the only safe place from boys. _'This is only going to get worse after this month's interview.'_

"Hey Asuka?" asked Kagome, breathing slightly harder than normal, once they were back in their dormitory.

"Yeah, Kagome," panted Asuka as she tried to get as much oxygen into her lungs as she possibly could. She may be one of the academy's top duelists, but she was in no way an athlete.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me that there were fanboys here?" demanded Kagome.

"I assumed you would have known there would be fanboys, especially after yesterday with Manjoume-kun," answered Asuka as she straightened up. "Didn't you have them at your last school?"

"Yeah, outside of the school that is. We didn't tolerate the existence of fanpeopleism within the student body," answered Kagome. Because her old school's having demons as students, many found the institution to house unusually beautiful and handsome pupils, which in the end caused a large majority if not all students to have their own fan club. Some students, Sango and Miroku, avoided their fan clubs at nearly any cost. There were some others, Shippo, Kouga, and Jakotsu, who enjoyed being harassed and surrounded by their fan clubs. Lastly, there were the students, her, Sesshomaru, Naraku, and Byakuya being some, who endured their fan clubs but tried to avoid them as much as possible. She only ran this time because like some other times, she did _**not**_ want to deal with brawling hormonal males or end up being mobbed by them.

"We only ever had to deal with fanpeople when we went to tournaments and competitions. Otherwise we secreted ourselves away at the school facilities or our homes. We always got driven to and from school by faculty because of them," she continued. Nobody at her old school wished another student the gruesome fate of being mobbed by fanpeople, not even the bitterest of enemies. The mobbing was just that horrible, and usually ended with people being kidnapped for a period or loss of clothing and hair.

"Your old school must have taken everyone's lives seriously, huh? It seems so different from what we have here."

"You have no idea," Kagome said with sincerity, thinking of how her old school was riddled with demons, spirits, holy people, and slayers. "You want to go study or something? We have Chronos- kyōju's essay due next lesson."

"Yeah, we should start working on that. Procrastination will only make us end up like Momoe and Junko," agreed Asuka as she led the way to the dormitory's library.

"Let me guess. They wait until the last minute to finish their assignments, don't they?" asked Kagome, a light shine of amusement glinted in her eyes as she followed after Asuka. The Obelisk girls' dormitory's library was the one place she didn't know where it was located. She hadn't been allowed anywhere near the library as child. Whenever she had wanted to read a new book from the main library, her aunts and uncles would grab a book from the library for her and then shoo her back to her room. _'I never did understand why they didn't let me into the library. Was it because some of the students boarded year-round?'_

"Yeah," answered Asuka as she pushed the ornate wooden doors of the library open.

When she stepped through the doors that Asuka had held open for her, Kagome felt her breath be taken away. The library was considerably large, large enough to rival her family's history archives but not extensive enough to rival her old school's library. The room was, unlike the rest of the building's interior, decorated in warm browns and light blues, and had several tapestries pinned up on the walls. The furniture of the room was even decorated in warm browns and lined with pristine white. The layout of the room was very much like any other public library. The difference being that there was an extremely comfortable looking lounge area situated at the center front of the library.

Together, the two opposite hair colored girls claimed a table near the front of the library for themselves and pulled out their laptops. The two of them chatted amicably in hushed tones as they worked diligently on their essay for Professor Chronos. Half an hour into their work to the two stop chatting and fell into a companionable silence. Kagome finished her essay an hour after they had both started. Her essay ended just a few lines short of six full pages.

Rising from her seat, Kagome told Asuka, "I'm going to head out now. Good luck with the rest of the assignment."

"Eh? You finished already?" asked a startled Asuka as she looked up from her computer screen, her fingers still typing away at the keyboard.

"Yeah," replied Kagome as she gathered her belongings together. "I'll you see at dinner then?"

"Sure, see you then," waved off Asuka as she went back to work on her essay. _'How did she finish so fast? I only just got to the beginning of my fourth page!"_

When she had all computer packed into her bag, Kagome shrugged on her backpack's strap and left the library. After she left the library, she headed straight for her room. She wanted to go out for a swim before the other girls came back from the campus, but first she needed her swimsuit.

She hastily went through her security procedures with impatience, not like anyone could see that she was, and entered her room. Once in her room, Kagome deposited her bag on top of her desk and ambulated over to her closet's clothing racks. If her parents really had the clothes in her design folder created, she seriously hoped they got one of her swimsuit designs made too.

Browsing through the many aisles and racks of clothing for a few minutes, Kagome soon came across the section that was specifically for her water gear. Raking through the section, she found that her parents did in fact have her swimsuits made. She pulled out one of the many bathing suits that hung in her closet and made her way to her changing area.

Once she was in the designated changing area of the closet, Kagome quickly changed into her swimsuit and dumped her clothes into her hamper. The only two things she left on her person were her key-necklace and her belt with her deck and electronics still on it. When she was done changing, she turned towards the mirror to see how she looked with her new bathing suit.

What she saw was her body being hugged snuggly by the royal blue one piece that she picked, showing off just how well-toned she was. She also saw white stripes crossing diagonally over her chest and golden stars of varying sizes dotting along the sides of the strips. The suit was of the standard swim team design, but what made the suit different was the cut on both sides of the suit. The two cuts started two inches above her hips, just barely covering the two scars on her left hip, opening up into diamonds shaped holes that bared her sides and ended at the middle of her ribcage.

Looking at the suit itself, Kagome could tell by the light shining down on her that the material used for the suit was a shiny waterproof fabric that shimmered and reflected light. The fabric would no doubt make it easier for people to spot her when she went swimming at night.

After she was done looking herself over, Kagome left her changing area and headed back to the main area of her closet. While she was in there, she grabbed a pair of black shorts that she immediately slipped into, a pair of beach sandals, and a beach bag. She then stuffed the bag with towels, her bathing supplies, an extra change of clothes, and another pair of shoes. When that was done, she left her closet and slid on her sandals.

Peeking her head out of her room's door, Kagome checked the hallway for anybody that may be passing by, which wasn't likely because her room was at the end of the hall. Seeing that no one was in the hallway, she stepped out of her room with her bag in hand and left for the beach. She quietly glided through the halls, down the stairwell, and onto the dirt path to the school's beach.

As she made her way to her destination, Kagome looked cool and collected as if there was nothing she needed to worry about. However, on the inside she felt as jittery as a hyper puppy that wanted to play. _'I really hope there aren't any guys hanging around the dorms,'_ she thought nervously. Her eyes darted left and right across the foot worn path in agitation, searching for any person that may be around. _'Don't know what I'd do if I came across the fanboys.' _A violent tremble jolted through her body at the thought of having a fanboy come across her while she was dressed as she currently was.

She may be used to public attention after all the tournaments and competitions she's competed in, but she was still fearful of fan clubs. She remembered being chased around town before by several of her fan clubs after an afternoon Duel Monsters tournament. The chase had lasted a good hour until her school's faculty members were able to track her down and safely bring her into their custody. It took another hour before they were able to return her home safely, making sure that the paparazzi and fan clubs had lost her trail. It was a good thing that her old school stomped out the fanpeoplism in their students. Otherwise she would have never made it home that day or ever.

It wasn't long before she made it to the beach. The closest beach to the Obelisk girls' dormitory was the one right behind the locked gates of the bath house and next to the small dock for motor boats. Settling her bag down by her feet, Kagome quickly slipped off her shoes and pulled off her shorts. She then unclasped her belt from around her waist and stuffed it along with her shorts into her bag.

After testing the temperature of the salty water, Kagome quickly took a deep breath and dove into the ocean's cool depths. Diving immediately into the water would help getting used to the water's cool temperature faster than just wading in it would. As she swam underneath the sea's crashing waves, she kept her eyes peeled open watching the small fish scatter as she came closer to them. She continued swimming underwater until her lungs forced her to break the ocean surface to replenish her air supply.

Once her head was above the swelling ocean, Kagome panted for much needed air while still keeping afloat by moving her arms and legs around in circles. While she continued taking short breathes, she pulled her drenched hair back so that it was behind her shoulders and was floating around her rather than plastered against her face.

When she finally caught her breath, she dove back under water and began swimming towards the direction of where the island's lighthouse was. She continued swimming underwater in a languid manner, watching the marine vegetation sway to and fro and the aquatic creatures scurry about. She didn't often get to go the beach, mainly being that she and her friends rather not be mobbed when they went, so it was quite the experience to see the island's marine life. She usually ended up going swimming in a private pool at one of her friends' house or the school pool.

Unlike her female relatives, Kagome didn't cook or train her miko abilities to relieve her frustrations. Sure she may be a competitor in martial arts tournaments, but she wasn't violent... at least not to most people. No, what she did instead was either hide in her room and sketch out new clothing designs or she went swimming somewhere, usually her school pool or one of her friends' houses.

Swimming gave her the tranquility that she didn't always find in meditation, and it also got rid of the extra frustration that designing sometimes gave her. The activity was easy and she didn't really have to think to do it, which gave her the time to sort out the causes of her annoyance. It was just bonus that swimming also helped build up her stamina and lose any excess fat she may gain from sweets and junk food. To her it was the perfect activity to do after her first day at a new school, especially after getting the news she received from Edo.

Eventually she swam all the way the island's lighthouse, nearly crashing her cranium against the concrete that the building was situated on. After kicking away from the man-made rock, Kagome leaned back against the ocean currents and let herself float around, kicking her feet every now and again to stay afloat. She used the time she spent floating the bay to think about her first school day, and her fiancé problem.

'_How am I going to find a fiancé by the end of the school year? I hardly know anyone my age here as it is,'_ Kagome mused as she looked towards the sky while lazily kicking her feet. _'At least I'll have some help finding a guy I'll like," _she thought while closing her eyes. _'With any luck the guy I marry won't end up as obsessed about this game as much as chichiues is.'_

Some words would occasionally escape her lips as her thoughts continued down the depressing path. A small frown formed on her lips the more she thought about her problem for the year. "Will I even find someone?" she softly asked aloud to herself in sadness as she continued to drift around. Her past relationships had never lasted very long. The longest on being with her last boyfriend, Sesshomaru, and that only lasted for three months.

With that final sad thought, Kagome dived backwards into the water and flipped herself around and prepared to head back over to the beach she had left her belongings at. She had probably spent more time than she should have in the ocean and she could only hope her things were still where she had left them. She then quickly began swimming free-style back to the Obelisk girls' beach.

While she had floated about, Kagome had been too entrenched by her own thoughts to notice the lone male that stood by the lighthouse watching her as she swam away. The lone male had shoulder length greenish hued navy blue hair that sectioned into layers and light grey, mercury like eyes. He was also dressed in the Obelisk blue third year boys' uniform, a long white jacket lined in royal blue over his own black turtle neck shirt, royal blue trousers, and black dress shoes. The name of this mysterious male was Ryo Marufuji, Kaiser and number one duelist of Duel Academy.

When Ryo had arrived at the lighthouse dock, he had not expected to see the same pretty black haired girl from earlier. He especially had not expected to find her swimming in the ocean clad in an attractive, but slightly revealing bathing suit. As she had swum around the bay, Ryo had continued to watch the girl and listen to the few words that would pass through her rosy lips. He found it somewhat amusing that she had not once noticed him in the ten minutes that he had been just standing there silently listening in on her.

While he gazed down at her floating form, he wondered about the dejected air that seemed to surround the first year. '_What could she be thinking about to make her become so melancholy?' _Ryo questioned himself, remembering how the girl looked earlier in the day.

He received the answer to his unasked question in the form of a whisper from the girl. _'So, she's looking for someone? Is she going to be looking for one of the missing students or is it in the romantic sense?' _he asked himself. Just as he was about to make himself known to the swimming girl and ask her who she was looking for the raven haired girl dove backwards back into the water and swam away.

'_I'll question her when I next see her. Perhaps she could assist us in finding Fubuki and the other missing students,' _he thought as he crossed his arms and watched the girl disappear in the distance, a slight frown creasing his lips. _'For now, I'll just have to ponder who it is she's looking for.'_

When Kagome finally arrived back at the Obelisk girls' beach the day was just approaching its end at sunset. Pulling herself out of the water, she was surprised to find that her belongings were still where she had left them. She then proceeded go over to her belongings and pull out a large sunset red beach towel and her sandals from earlier.

When she finished wrapping the towel around her body and slipping on her shoes, Kagome grabbed her beach bag and began the short trek to the bath house. She may be somewhat more relaxed now, but she wanted to be clean of sea salt and sand. The stuff became itchy when dried. That fact alone made her move faster to her destination to become hygienic again. Even though it would mean no bathing and gossip time with the girls she had become friends with, she'd rather be clean now rather than getting cleaned later.

Once she passed through the doors of the bath house, she immediately headed over to the shower stalls like she had in the morning and disappeared into the hall. Kagome didn't reappear from the shower for a good while, and when she did finally come out she was cleansed of any sea debris that had collected on her. She also had her bag in hand and was now clad in a new dress with shorts underneath and her feet were graced with the other pair of shoes that she had packed. Her hair was also now wrapped up in a towel and piled on top of her head. Her necklace and key were still dangling from around her neck and her belt was once again clasped around her waist.

The outfit that she was now dressed in was a sunset yellow spaghetti strapped dress that stopped just a few inches above her knees. The bodice of the dress clung snuggly to her top, but not as though it was a second layer of skin and had prints of white camellias dotting the fabric around her bust. The dress's skirt, unlike its top, was nice and flowing. It flared out at her hips with prominent white embroidery of swirls, dots, and waves near its hem that drew attention to her long legs.

The shoes that she had packed earlier and now adorned her feet were not beach sandals like her shoes from before were. The pair on her feet was white stylish strappy, but still simple open toed two inch heels with a small flower covering the metal clasp on the back ankle strap. The straps on the heels crisscrossed elegantly over her feet from one side to the other leaving her pedicured toes out on display.

As she walked out of the shower stalls and the bath house with her beach bag in hand, Kagome's heels clicked soundlessly against the ground as she danced her way to her room to drop off her belongings and her wet clothing into her hamper. By the time she had finished suffering through her room's security and everything that needed to be done, her hair was dry and cascaded down her back in natural waves and it was just a few minutes before dinner was to be served in the dining hall. Remembering that she had promised Asuka that she would have dinner her and the others, Kagome hurriedly made her way downstairs to the dining hall.

When she arrived in the dining hall, Kagome was once again greeted by the stunned silence of the other girls. Looking around at them, she saw that many had their jaws dropped and all were still wearing their school uniforms.

'_They don't realize that we can wear what we want after classes, do they? That was the whole point of being able to pack luggage,' _thought Kagome with slight annoyance as she ignored some of the looks she was getting from the other girls and strolled over to the buffet line.

After receiving her evening meal, Kagome turned around to find the table that Asuka and the others were settled at. The meal she ordered consisted of a large bowl of hot curry udon noodles with duck, eggs, and a vegetables in it, a plate of assorted Japanese tempura; ranging from vegetables to prawns, a small bowl of miso soup, and plate of salad with orange sauce drizzled on top. Her only beverage was cup of green tea and a steaming pot to refill it at her convenience. What she saw and heard when she faced the sea of other girls almost made her twitch in aggravation.

'_The silence thing was funny at first, but now it's getting pretty annoying,'_ the raven thought as she felt her right brow begin twitch ever so slightly while she scanned the hall for Asuka and the others. _'Maybe they'll get over it by the end of the week. I can only hope for that,' _she mused to herself when she finally spotted her friends seated at a table nestled in the center of the hall and made her way over to them.

As soon as she arrived at the table with her friends, Kagome was warmly greeted by Asuka, Momoe, and Junko. The three being among the rare handful of girls that was not still shocked about the size of her appetite they had saw in the morning. "Hey Kagome," the three girls chorused while looking up from their own respective meals.

"Hey," she greeted back as she took her seat next to Asuka. Upon her seating, the raven heard the girls from around the hall start moving and speaking again. She would have banged her head against the table in irritation if it was not for the fact that she would have looked ridiculous and that she would have slammed face first into her food. Instead she settled for allowing an aggravated sigh to pass through her lips. "Do you think they'll get over this stunned silence anytime soon?" Kagome asked Asuka after muttering a soft "Itadakimasu" to begin eating her meal.

"Eventually," Asuka answered while bring a chopstick full of rice to her mouth. "But you have to admit, no girl on the island has an appetite as large as yours."

"Yeah," agreed Junko as she sipped at her own cup of tea. "By the way, why aren't you wearing the school uniform?" she asked curiously.

"The outfit is cute and everything, but why are you wearing it?" piped in Momoe. "Won't you get in trouble?"

Kagome blinked slowly as she processed what Junko and Momoe had asked her while taking a bite of her shrimp tempura. "You really don't know," she finally said after swallowing.

"Don't know what?" asked Asuka as she continued to eat. "I'm pretty sure we're only supposed to be wearing our uniform."

Kagome had to cover her mouth to keep her food in as she started giggling. It was funny that one of the more sensible girls at the academy didn't seem to know of the school regulations correctly.

"You alright there, Kagome?" asked Momoe in concern, mistaking the other raven's laughter as her choking. "You want some water?" The other raven haired girl could only wave her hand in denial as she tried to stifle her laughter.

"What's so funny?" said Asuka with concern and confusion, guessing right that Kagome was laughing instead of choking. "You could really get in trouble for not being in uniform."

"It _**is**_ funny," gasped out Kagome. "Asuka, you're one of the more sensible girls I know here, and you're saying I have to wear the uniform?"

"How is that funny?" queried Junko as she continued to eat, not really caring all that much about why Kagome wasn't wearing the uniform. After all Ran Kochou didn't exactly wear the uniform as she should.

"We don't have to wear the uniform anymore once class is over. The school regulations only specify that we have to wear it during the school day," explained Kagome as she went back to eating her dinner.

"We can do that?" exclaimed Momoe as she shot up from her seat, nearly toppling over her chair and gaining the attention of the other girls in the hall. Blushing furiously, Momoe muttered an apology for disturbing the others and sat back in her seat.

"Of course," Kagome replied now that she had her humor under control and was continuing her dinner. "We don't always have to be wearing our uniforms. Why do you think we had to pack luggage?"

The other three girls looked towards one another before answering in unison, "Underclothes, nightwear, and our Duel Monsters things."

"…Wow," was Kagome's only comment to that. "If you want you can still call your parents to send some of your clothes to you," she said trying to be helpful. Some of the girls that had been listening looked as if they were about to break down until they heard her say that.

"You know what?" asked Asuka as she and the others started to eat again, having ceased when Momoe and bolted up from her chair.

"Hm?" answered Kagome through a mouthful of udon noodles.

"You're going to make these next three years very interesting," continued Asuka after a sip of her water. _'Just like I'm sure Judai will,'_ she thought quietly to herself.

Kagome only shrugged that off as she continued eating with everyone else while mentally thinking, _'I hope you'll enjoy the time I have with you, Asuka. If I had my way, you might not even see me for a long while after this year.'_

Light chatter filled the air as dinner carried on with the girls every now and then telling each other a little bit about themselves. Sooner than most would have wanted, dinner came to a close as many of the ladies began trickling out of the hall and to their dorm rooms to get ready for baths and later bed. Kagome turned down the request of her friends to join them at the bath house, having already bathed herself, and headed up to her room to read her letters and go to sleep.

The night persisted hospitably for nearly everyone as it came to a close. Kagome never noticed just how much she had opened up to her three new friends in the course of one day.

'_I hope everyone gets over being stunned. The attention isn't as much fun as they think,' _was the last drowsy thought to play through the raven's mind as she tucked herself into bed, once again dressed in her nightgown from the night before.

* * *

If you think I'm not changing things around in this story then you have another thing coming. I LOATHE stories that only adds in a character and leaves everything else pretty much the same. There will be differences in YugiOh! GX. You'll just have to wait for those chapters to come. Dueling is not an overall important part of this story, so please do NOT ask when she's going to duel again. It's very irritating and Kagome's only on her first official day of school so Hush! This story will not be like another Yugi's life or Jaden/Judai's life where it is centered all on Duel Monsters. Kagome does have a big life outside of the card game. I'm generally going to have most of the heeled shoes in this story to be two inches. My own high heel minimum is two inches, three inches start hurting after a while and one inch heels are just really low.

For people who think Kagome's birthday in the spring and summer, I can only say one thing to you. You're all idiots! Both the Anime and Manga began with her wearing a long sleeved uniform, which means winter or fall is when her birthday is. Logical deductions say it's obvious her birthday can't be in the winter, spring, or summer. Not winter because the first movie took place then, and all the movies were included in Kaogme's one year feudal adventure. The only option left is that her birthday is in the fall, meaning in September, October, or November. It most definitely can't be November because snow already starts coming in, nor can it be October because the leaves have already started changing colors and are falling. The beginning of the series did not show leaves that have all changed colors or have even begun changing colors. Leaving only September as the only available option for when Kagome's birthday is.

Can anyone guess who was in the cafeteria? Or when and where Ryo/Zane had seen Kagome? I have cookies for the ones who get it right! They're freshly baked too!


	7. Childhood Friend, Partners, Opening Up?

Edited:27 March 2012

**The Duel Champion's Daughter**

**Disclaimer:** I do **NOT** own either Inuyasha or Yu-Gi-Oh GX

**Summary: **Seto Kaiba's eldest child, Kagome Akemi Higurashi Kaiba, is being sent to attend Duel Academy to take up her father's title of Duel Monsters Champion, but will she be able to take the title while also looking for a husband to be. Begins in Season 1 of GX and will basically be AU with original Japanese versions explanations in ranking and scoring.

Reminder: People I revise my stories often, VERY often. I took away Kagome's archery championship in chapter 1 and giving it to someone else. I just reviewed that chapter and noticed that it didn't add up with the new info I gave out these last two months.

AN: Please send reviews when you finish reading. Feedback is very much wanted. Updates for this story will start slowing down again once college starts for me, which is in about a week. Reviewers you were very close, but you all only got it half right! Here's a hint, it's all in the color of the eyes. Cookies will be awarded next chapter. Please note that all vulgar or abusive reviewers will be blocked, reported, and deleted. The same will be done to reviews that have nothing to do with the story that the review is in. My normal readers please ignore the following rant and enjoy the story. :)

Note to Abusive Reviewers: Okay first thing first, I accept the apology that was sent by the first messenger, but I'm still going on this rant. The second person was just plain rude and vulgar in his/her message. Your apology will be deleted just so I don't see people trying to harass you later when they see you review a different story. I don't tolerate bullying of any sort. Now for the second messenger, I don't know who the hell you are, but obviously you don't actually have an actual account. If you had an account and actually read the guidelines of posting a story then you would know that it _**IS AGAINST THE RULES**_ to write one of those as a story. I am completely allowed to give them a warning to take it down before I report them. That's not a threat! It's a warning! They did end up getting reported in the end anyways; at least I give them a warning unlike what most others will do. Do you want those people to get banned? If they had the common sense to at least read the guidelines, which you have to agree to the guidelines before you can even post something as a story, then they wouldn't have the threat of getting their accounts closed. The more abuse reports filed against your stories, the more likely you get banned. The moderators eventually check the reports and the corresponding stories as well, so don't even think about reporting my stories. Mine at least have a real story in them. Have you **NOT** read my profile? I specifically stated in there that I **LOATHE** "stories" like that. It is a member of this site's responsibility to report "stories" like that. If you have to look for a story there is such a thing called the _**FORUMS **_or even better yet the_**SEARCH ENGINE**_**. **I've dealt with worse people than you in real life, and by the way your review has been deleted so bye-bye. Learn to get an account and read the site regulations before you send a hate message. If you even have one, or are you just too afraid of me reporting your behind and getting you banned from your account to actually use it to message me? There isn't any work hard on typing a "story" asking to find a story based on what you remember. They're just wasting space in the complete section of the fanfiction archives, and forcing others to have to comb through several dozen of them to find a _**REAL**_ story. Did you also know that not all rated M stories are smut? Some of the best fanfictions are in that rating and they have nothing to do with smut.

**THANK YOU Fear Fades Hope Lives 4ever! You're the best older sister an Anime/Manga obsessed girl can ask for! XD**_ She's not really my sister, but it's what I call girls who are on the same level a best friend would be at._

"Speech"

_'Thoughts'_

* * *

_Last Time on The Duel Champion's Daughter:_

_The night persisted hospitably for nearly everyone as it came to a close. Kagome never noticed just how much she had opened up to her three new friends in the course of one day._

'_I hope everyone gets over being stunned. The attention isn't as much fun as they think,' was the last drowsy thought to play through the raven's mind as she tucked herself into bed, once again dressed in her nightgown from the night before._

**This Time on The Duel Champion's Daughter**

By the end of the school week on Friday, Kagome had fallen into a daily routine of what her first day had consisted of with the exception of swimming. Meaning she woke up early every day to go training, shower, have breakfast with the girls, attend classes, do assignments with Asuka, go off on her own for a while, have dinner and sometimes bath time with the girls, and then heading off on her own again before going to bed. By that time she had also finally been able to read the letters that she had gotten from her friends and individually replied to each person's message via email and video chat.

Most of the girls back at the dorms had by then also become accustomed to seeing Kagome consume the amount of food that she did and wear different outfits every evening. Some others were still getting used to the idea of a girl being able to eat the amount she did, but they would eventually get used to it.

Also by that time, she had come to be known by most of the school's population as the academy's ice princess. Not because her Duel Monsters deck contained, if any actually, ice monsters. After all no one on the island aside from Judai and herself had seen what her deck was composed of and Judai only knew what he had seen her play in their duel. Apparently, she was the school's ice princess was because of her frigid personality many had seen on the first day of class.  
_  
'Why does gossip have to fly faster than a youkai can run?' _thought Kagome as she hastily made her way to one of her two elective classes for the day. It was Friday morning, meaning that she had to attend the two elective classes she had selected, Art Design and Business. She would finally be able to compare her last two courses to the ones taught at her old school, Issei Institute.

After her first two days of class, Kagome had perused the syllabi that she had been given. Overall she was not impressed with her afternoon class courses, but she rather liked her morning lessons. When she had finished reading the syllabi for her general education classes, she had been rather disheartened. She had hoped the curriculum would have been more intense than what she had read through. Instead the courses had a softer curriculum than what she had learned two years prior when she had really been a first year student in high school.

Before reading the syllabi, she had not minded the fact that she was basically restarting her entire high school career. Now, she could only hope that her Uncle Sheppard would be kind and allow her to transfer to the third year classes where she actually belonged. If not, then she would be bringing her sketch book with her to all of her afternoon classes. It would be better to be productive in those lessons by drawing new fashion designs than letting her brain rot from being taught course work she already knew by teachers that were barely half as competent as her former ones. For now, she'll be studying from her own textbooks and the ones provided to her by her father to keep up with her old classmates.

Kagome, prior to her entrance to Duel Academy, was a third year student at Issei Institute. She had been the youngest in her year and only had been in that grade because of the accelerated education program she had been taught with preceding her move to Tokyo from Domino City. Most of the friends she had in her school year had picked up the habit of calling her by childish endearments like chibi-chan, eiji, and chinomigo. Their absolute favorite nicknames for her were koneko-chan and kotori-chan. All of which meant little one, baby, and the last two meaning kitten and baby bird, and she hated it.

Upon her entry at Issei's elementary section, the teachers had almost immediately spotted the difference in her education level and that of the other children, a mix of hanyou, humans, and youkai. It was within two weeks of her arrival that she had been forced to take a placement test to advance to a more suitably ranked class in the elementary division.

Many of the faculty had been against her progression to a higher class because the grade level that she had been in was the year that students were separated in their physical education by their heritage and began training their abilities. The classes were separated so youkai and hanyou could learn how to control and use their demonic powers; holy humans became trained to use their own energy to protect, heal, purify, and fight; and slayer children were taught how to fight and slay rogue youkai and help the holy humans, youkai, and hanyou when needed. The first year of training was absolutely compulsory for the human children because they have not been taught how to tap into their hidden wells of energy and have only been taught a few basics to prepare them for their schooling. While the demonic children had already been taught how to use their energy to at the very least conceal their demonic appendages when outside of their homes and school.

She had eventually been allowed to advance two grade levels higher, but she had been required to continue her physical education course with the students of her original year. She had to learn the basic learning like all the other students, but because her advancing she would continue to have two years less training than the normal graduating students. Souta had been lucky to not have had to gone through that nuisance, having been too young to participate in the program. He had just entered the institution normally like many of the other students without skipping grades.

As she walked down the halls to her class, Kagome watched as most of the students avoided crossing paths with her. Only some of the smarter and braver students didn't circumvent her, knowing well that she would not actually harm them. Her new reputation was bothersome in that she would have a harder time getting to know people, but it was also useful in categorizing boys who met her family standards. Fearing a person's reputation would most definitely not be helpful for anyone, and even more so for her future fiancé and herself.

When she finally stepped into her class, Kagome immediately headed straight to the front of the classroom and took a seat in the first row at the center. She had learned in her general education classes that all courses outside of the dueling classes and alchemy that there was no assigned seating. As soon as she was settled, she began pulling out her sketch book and drawing supplies from her book bag. Her first class of the day was Art Design, so even if she ignored the class's teacher later on she wouldn't get into too much trouble for drawing clothing designs.

It was a few minutes later after she had begun sketching her latest creation that Kagome had received another shock in her week of surprises. Feeling a tap on her shoulder from behind and male voice asking her name, Kagome ceased in her drawing and turned to face who had been trying to get her attention and had been brave enough to actually come up to her. Looking up at the person, she got one of the more pleasant surprises in the week. It was a pleasing enough surprise that she was almost unable to contain herself from jumping up and squealing in delight as she hugged the person. Instead, she settled for just staying in her seat and staring at the person with wide blue eyes.

"Hayato?" she questioned, not absolutely certain that the person was who she thought he was.

"So it is you. I was beginning to think I was just seeing things," said the now identified boy as he took a seat next to her. Standing behind her was none other than Hayato Maeda, an old childhood friend of hers. The two of them had met each other when Hayato's family had visited her family's shrine to drop off a shipment for an upcoming celebration.

The Maeda family actually provided her family and most of the families that attended Issei Institute with the required alcohol for rituals, festivals, and celebrations. Hayato's family mainly provided the Issei families with their sake was because Maeda alcohol was the most tolerable and liked by youkai kind, allowing youkai and hanyou to safely participate in celebrations without hurting their sense of smell. Their two families worked especially well together mainly because both had ties to the culinary world.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, a small grin spreading across her lips as she turned back around.

"More like, what are you doing here?" Hayato countered as he took out his own art supplies. "Aren't you supposed to be studying your last year at Issei?

"So? Can't I just want a fresh start," Kagome responded, being playful as she chatted with him while batting her eyes innocently.

"Yeah sure, I'd believe that if it was anyone else. Everyone back home knows you don't like playing this game. You only collect the cards," he retorted with a roll of his eyes, flipping open his own sketch book.

"You're no fun, Yato-kun," pouted Kagome with a slight huff.

"Oi, don't call me that!" demanded the large male. "Especially not here. I'm already a laughing stock; I don't need it to get worse."

The rave haired girl could only blink as she watched her closest friend at Duel Academy bury his face in his arms. "How are you a laughing stock?" she finally asked. It didn't make sense to her. Hayato was usually a fun person to hang out with whenever he and his family visited.

Leaning closer to him, Kagome heard the older boy grumble out a few words, but she couldn't quite make out what he had said. "What did you say, Yato-kun?"

Lifting himself up from his arms, Hayato repeated himself, "I said because I'm a repeat student, I failed my first year. Happy now?"

"That's not something to laugh about," stated Kagome as she gave Hayato a hug to comfort him. "You'll still be a great card designer. After all, you draw and paint better than I do. Card designing's still your dream, right?"

The hug seemed to have worked because Hayato returned it and thanked, "Yeah, arigato Kagome-chan." The two friends continued to talk with one another, catching up on missed times while drawing in their sketch books.

Many of the students that were in the room when Kagome had entered had become quiet when they had saw Hayato go up to the ice princess, but now they were just stunned. Seeing Kagome hug the repeat student and be friendly towards him was most certainly not what they had expected. They had actually expected the Higurashi to glare at the Slifer and tell him to stay away from her. Tearing their eyes from the scene of the two opposing ranked students talk to each other companionably, the other students began taking their own seats. They did not want to anger the ice princess like the students in her class had done on the first day. The academy students would later hear rumors about the resident ice princess being friendly and possibly dating the school's only repeat student.

It was a several minutes later that class started and both Kagome and Hayato had ceased in their sketching and coloring to pay attention to what their professor was saying as he introduced his Art Designing course. "As many of you may not know, I am the art professor of Duel Academy. You all may call me Kabayama-sensei," said Professor Kabayama as he introduced himself to his class. "In this class, you will not be learning about duel monsters. Here, you will be learning to create with your own imagination and creativity. The only thing you will have to worry about is learning to create beauty."

Professor Kabayama continued on in introducing his class to his students and telling them what they were to expect and what he expected of them. He also handed out a list of what materials that they will be expected to use and will have to order for his class. He eventually had everyone drawing a picture sample to show him what they were capable of. They had until the end of today's class session to finish the drawing that they were to show him and it could be of anything as long as it was school appropriate.

Class flew by faster than many had expected, as almost everyone had been absorbed in their drawing, and before they knew it was time to show Professor Kabayama their drawing. Having started their own drawing before the others did, Kagome and Hayato were able to add extra details and a background into their work and begin working on a new piece before class was over.

The drawing that Kagome had handed in for Professor Kabayama's inspection was of an older teen girl wearing a new dress design she had thought up through the inspiration of Momoe and Junko talking about their dream date and wedding. The girl in the drawing was standing in a green meadow of a forest under one of the many trees, and telling by the blooming blossoms it was most likely early spring. She was looking up towards the where the sun would be located while leaning against the bark of a tree. Her hair was drawn to look as if it was in a half do with the top held up in an elegant bun and the rest set into soft curls.

The dress the girl was wearing was a strapless flowing floor length one that has a train pooling around the girl's feet and was colored in a light blue that was nearly white. The bodice of the dress clung to the girl's upper body before flaring out into its flowing skirt upon reaching her hips. The design of the dress was very intricate and had what some would have called painstaking details. There were small drawings that showed that the dress would have embroidery stitched into both the skirt and bodice. The bodice looked as if some jewels would also be added to it as well to emphasize the girl's waist and bust. Over the top of the dress, girl also wore a thin jacket that appeared to be made of delicate white lace.

When she had gotten up from her seat to show Professor Kabayama, Hayato caught a glimpse of her illustration and commented, "You've gotten a lot better; Kagome-chan. Issei's really honed your talent, huh?"

Kagome blushed at the praise and thanked her friend. "Arigato Hayato-kun. You've gotten a lot better too," she said while peering down at his sketch.

"Nah, I don't think so. It looks the same as my old drawings," dismissed Hayato, shrugging off the compliment. "I mean, just look at it," he said while showing her his own sketch.

Hayato's drawing was something that she was very much used to seeing, but she was astounded by the difference of the pictures from when they were children and the picture that she was currently seeing. The drawing, like most his others, was of a landscape, and seeing the tori gates, Kagome guessed that this time it was of a shrine. Of which shrine Hayato drew and painted, she didn't know. There was nothing in the portrait that gave away which shrine that he had drawn, no sign declaring the shrine's name or even a small peek of the shrine itself. The landscape portrait was only of the shrine steps, tori gates and the surrounding terrain.

The trees in the picture were a deep green that faded to light greens, yellows, and browns, indicating that the scene was taking place sometime in early or mid-autumn. The tori gates were colored a deep red, and shined as if it was really reflecting sunlight. The decorations on the tori gates and the leaves of the scenery's trees all looked as if they were being blown by wind, as if they were truly real. All in all, the picture was far more beautiful than what Hayato had drawn before. There was much more life in the colors and the effects

"How can you say it looks the same? It looks even more realistic and beautiful than your previous ones!" exclaimed Kagome in a soft tone. She couldn't understand why Hayato was down playing his art skills. He had most of the time won the art festivals that he had entered from when they were younger. It was also during one of those festivals and contests that he had met his crush.

"Thanks Kagome-chan," Hayato chuckled nervously as he thanked her. "Come on let's go show Kabayama-sensei our work," he said changing the subject while packing away his supplies. Kagome followed his example and gathered up her own supplies and placed them away into their container in her backpack.

After they finished packing away their things, the two friends headed over to their professor and showed him their drawings. Professor Kabayama silently examined their artwork before giving out his praises and compliments to the duo. He also gave them some criticism that would help improve their skills while he handed back their sketch books.

When Kagome had retrieved her book back from her new art teacher, she quickly stuffed the sketch book back into her bag. Finishing that, she immediately said her good bye to Hayato while shifting her bag from her hands to her shoulders. "See you later, Hayato-kun," she said as she departed from her friend and the classroom and headed off to have lunch with girlfriends in the cafeteria.

"Later," replied Hayato as he too left to join his own friends, but at the school's card shop.

Upon entering the school's cafeteria, Kagome could feel the stares coming from the student population that had already been in the lunch room. The students had made it a daily occurrence to stare at her when she came to eat lunch because of her Aunt Aoi's kidnapping of her on the first day. They were probably just waiting to see if another chef would come abduct her.

She sighed in slight irritation having started become accustomed to the stares. Who wouldn't after being stalked and being in the spotlight for a good portion of their lives? She ignored the gazes that were glaring into her person and made her way to the lunch buffet for Obelisk students and ordered her lunch.

Not a single person questioned her about the amount of food she had bought. Meaning that there was no gawking or stunned silences like there were back in the girls' dorm. Most students assumed that she was sharing her meal with her friends with others as she never stayed to eat her lunch inside the confining walls of the cafeteria.

After receiving her lunch order, Kagome said her goodbye to her Aunt Aoi and headed for the cafeteria's exit to go join her friends outside in the courtyard. Lunch with Asuka, Junko, Momoe, and some other girls proceeded without much incident, but she had almost dropped her food when Junko had asked her if she was dating Hayato. Her jaw had dropped in disbelief and her arms became slacked as the question processed through her mind.

Junko and Momoe had taken her silence as confirmation, and had then immediately begun prattling about how Slifer boys were no good and that they were the lowest of the low. Their rambling was what caused Kagome to come out of her stupor and promptly began laughing lightly at the two girls' antics. She quickly dismissed their notions of her dating and told them that she would not date anyone that missed or came short to her family's standard. She could only hope that the two would help dispel any other dating rumors about her. She gave the two girls a lecture about not the Slifers not being trash or low grade students that and that everyone had their own talents.

Before she knew it, lunch was over and she was sitting in her last class of the week, Business. She had received several flabbergasted looks from most of the students in the class. She wasn't all that surprised by the gawking, after all the business class was only available to third years and here she was a first year at Duel Academy in the course. She was happy taking the course. It was the only third year course that she was being allowed to take.

Again class began, like the others had, with the professor introducing herself and giving a speech about their class. The professor for this class hand introduced herself as Midori Hibiki. Professor Midori was an extremely strict, but kind teacher, and if Kagome had to compare her to anyone she would probably say she resembled a combination of her mother and her Aunt Midoriko. Midori also happened to be one of a rather large handful of the island's staff members that Kagome had never met before. Meaning that Midori had only been hired sometime during when he mother had stopped her yearly stay at the island and didn't know about her family heritage.

It was half way through their first lesson that someone had been courageous enough to speak up. "Midori-sensei?" asked a random student in a Ra yellow uniform.

"Yes, Kaidoh-san," Midori answered looking over to the student.

"Why is there a first year student in the class? Isn't business reserved only for third years?" he asked once he was standing.

"Ahh yes about that, Kagome-san please come to front please," ordered Professor Midori.

Rising from her own seat, Kagome calmly did as she was told and strolled down to the front of the classroom.

"Kagome-san I would like you to introduce yourself to everyone," Midori instructed once Kagome was standing beside her.

"Konichiwa minna. I am Kagome Higurahsi, Obelisk blue student," Kagome chorused softly, just loud enough for the class to hear without her having to repeat herself. "Hajimemashite."

The class broke out into whispers as soon as Kagome had finished her introduction. Talk about her having the same surname as the Ace Princess and the possibility that she was related to the Princess spread through the students. They only became quiet again when Professor Midori slammed a book against her desk to gain their attention.

"Class Kagome-san is my only first year student. Prior to Kagome-san's enrollment at Duel Academy she had already been studying the subject at her last school," explained Midori. "She has in all technicalities entered the academy as a transfer student, and has already finished her first semester of high school."

'_More than that,' _Kagome mentally corrected, not willing to interrupt her professor or to tell the others about her real education level just yet. They will in the end learn her actual grade level by the beginning of next month. _'I'm supposed to be in my last semester of high school.'_

"Midori-kyōju, I have a question for Kagome-san," stated another student this time dress an Obelisk blue female, after she had her hand called upon.

"Are you alright with that Kagome-san?" Midori asked turning to the fellow raven. Kagome gave her nod, signaling that she was fine. "Alright, you may ask Kagome-san questions as long as she allows them. If any of you ask any that makes her uncomfortable then the questions will stop and class will resume." After a short pause and a chorus of "Yes Midori-sensei or Midori-kyōju" from the class, Midori allowed the first question to asked.

"Kagome-san," started the same female Obelisk student. "I'm sure many of us are also wondering this, but why did you decide to transfer to our Academy?"

"My father had decided that actually. I had no say in my coming here. I was perfectly content with continuing my studies at my previous high school," answered Kagome with a cool indifference. She didn't mind being bombarded with questions and answering them, but she wasn't about to give them all the information that they seek.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" asked a daring student, a male Slifer red. Most of their male classmates cheered him on for being brave enough to ask her while the female portion glowered at the boy.

Kagome let a soft smile appear on her face as she replied to the question, "At the moment, no, I don't have a boyfriend. My last one was several months ago. Next question please."

She had almost burst out laughing as she saw from the corner of her eye some of the boys try to make their selves look smarter and attractive while she turned to answer another question. She also saw some girls give her the evil eye as she glanced around to find the current interrogator.

"Do you mind explaining to us why one of our school chefs kidnapped you during the first lunch?" was the next question, asked by a glasses wearing Ra yellow student. "That's been plaguing my mind for quite some time." Many of their fellow classmates nodded or shouted in agreement to his statement.

"Just wait a minute, one our chefs kidnapped a student during lunch, yet no one reported it," interrupted Professor Midori, her expression furious as she sent all her students but Kagome a harsh glare.

"It's fine, Midori- kyōju. The chef did nothing to harm me. I was actually wondering when someone would ask that," Kagome said, placing a hand on the taller woman's shoulder in an attempt to placate her. "The chef that many of had witnessed kidnapping me was actually my aunt Aoi. She was just a bit excited to see me again to wait to talk later in the day," she explained in a soothing tone. She could feel the angry tension leave Professor Midori's body as her fury lessened.

As she continued answering question after question about herself, Kagome slowly became bored and started feeling as if she was having another interview with the press. Some of the questions were probably going to be asked during the interview as well. It was a while later that the amount of questions began to lessen. She scanned through the sea of seated students one more time, searching for another person's raised hand, signaling that they had a question that she was to answer. Her dark blue eyes finally settled upon a cold looking blue haired Obelisk student with his right arm raised seated next to an empty seat his left, her seat. "What's your question?" she asked, her voice not betraying her current boredom.

She had to admit the older Obelisk student was handsome, very handsome for a human. His looks were very much on par with some of the boys back at Issei. Light grey mercury like eyes; opposite of Sesshomaru's liquid gold ones and Inuyasha's amber colored ones, pale but healthy colored skin, ocean blue-green colored hair, sharp facial structures, and his apparent coldness. If she hadn't studied at Issei Institute or had the boys she had for classmates she would have been blushing like a silly fangirl. She would be a disgrace in the eyes of her former classmates if she did ever act like a squealing fangirl.

When class had commenced, Ryo like the other students had been quite perplexed at the presence of a first year student in the class. He was even more so than the others because the seat he had taken was right next to hers.

'_Why is she here? Shouldn't she be in one of the other classes with Sho and Asuka?' _he asked himself as he discretely watched the younger student from his peripheral vision. He took note of her physical features as he looked her over, blue hued black hair, soft facials, and blue double lidded slant Asian eyes. As he continued to study the girl, he soon recognized the first year to be the same girl he had watched swimming back on the first day of classes. _'I hadn't expected to make her acquaintance anytime soon, especially not in one of my classes.'_

His and the rest of the students' confusion was soon cleared when Professor Midori had the first year go to the front of the class and introduce herself. The professor quickly explained why Kagome was in their third year class, but the explanation had also brought forth a good bit of his curiosity. He was quite surprised that Professor Midori had allowed a question and answer session to happen in class, but he thought better of it. The session allowed him and the others to learn about the girl and it was strange for the girl to be willing to restart her already launched high school career.

Question after question raced through his mind as he watched the younger student go through what could only be called an interrogation by his year mates. He of course had his own questions to inquire the first year about. However, he didn't want to stop his classmates' chance of learning what they wanted. He was curious about the transfer student as well.

When what appeared to be the last student to have asked her question, Ryo rose his right arm to show the raven that he too had a question or questions for her to answer. It wasn't long before he received her acknowledgement.

"My name's Ryo Marufuji," he said, being polite enough to introduce himself before he would ask his question. He found his classmates disrespectful for having not done the same and had only asked their questions. Not even the boy who asked if she had a boyfriend had given his name. "What was your father's reason for sending you here? And which school was it that you transferred from?" he continued, not showing any of his displeasure that he felt for his classmates at the moment. The answered he received from the girl was certainly not what he had expected, nor was it a complete answer.

If she could have, Kagome would have been beaming and clapping excitedly in glee as she listened to Ryo's questions. Instead, her lips settled for a soft pleased smile. There was actually someone smart enough to ask the right questions and he even had the courtesy to introduce himself! On her list of boys, which was extremely short at the moment practically non-existent, she mentally marked down the older student's name.

Deciding to not be rude and keep the only considerate classmate of hers waiting, she quickly answered him, "You'll learn about that by the beginning of next month." Her smile dimmed into secretive one as she answered the blue haired Obelisk and giving everyone present a hint about her interview in less than three weeks' time.

Talking once again broke out amongst the students after Kagome had answered, but not really, the questions. "How can she talk to the Kaiser like that?" asked one Ra yellow student.

"I know! Doesn't she know who he is?" replied a female Obelisk blue student.

"Well, she _is _just a first year," a male Obelisk blue student tried to justify.

"But everyone knows who Kaiser is!" shouted a Slifer red student.

These were only some sayings from a few of the more dense students, most likely extreme fans of Ryo. The talk amongst the more clever students went a little more along the lines of this.

"What does she mean by we'll learn by the beginning of next month?" a male Obelisk blue student questioned himself quietly, not expecting an answer.

"I don't know, is there anything significant coming up this month?" responded the Obelisk blue student's neighbor, a male Ra yellow.

"There is that tag duel tournament in Kyoto on the last Saturday of this month," supplied a female Obelisk blue student helpfully. "That's all I can think of."

Amidst all the chattering, Professor Midori stepped back to the front of the class and interrupted before there could be a full blown argument. "Alright class, that's the end of the questions. Kagome-san, you may return to your seat now, and class will resume as soon as you are seated."

As Kagome walked back to her seat, she continued to feel the stares, and in some cases glares, on her person. _'This year just may be more fun than I had hoped,' _she thought with a small smirk on her face. The smirk didn't disappear when she re-took her seat, but it did fade throughout the lesson period as she slowly became unnerved by the intense stare of the boy that sat next to her. She took her notes for the class diligently as her thoughts wandered, but still kept a loose focus on the lesson.

'_Why is he still staring? It feels like when I first met Sesshomaru-kun,' _Kagome thought. A flash of her best guy friend and ex-boyfriend flashed to the fore front of her mind causing her to almost sigh. _'I wonder how the others are doing back at Issei. The new semester started last week too, and both the cultural festival and sports day are coming soon,' _she continued thinking sadly. _'This year was going to be my last time participating with them. I'm supposed to be a spectator next year!'_

Next to her, Ryo continued watching the girl as he too paid attention and wrote down his own notes. It wasn't long before he noticed the depressing air that was lightly surrounding his neighbor. _'What could be making her so dejected? It's possible that she could be thinking about her former school. After all she transferred here after she had already taken her first semester of school.'_

Class was over long before anyone had expected it to. By the time the students were allowed to leave the school building, Professor Midori had told the class that everyone would be getting assigned seats and partner. Their seats would be the ones that they had sat in today, and that their partner would be the person that was your tablemate. Their seats and partners would be as they were for the rest of the school year and there would be no way to change them unless they had a valid reason.

'_Great, I'm stuck with a guy who has a staring problem for the rest of the year,'_ Kagome thought sarcastically as she packed up to head back to the dorms. _'At least he's cute and from what I've seen somewhat smart. I don't need a partner who can't do his own work.'_

Their professor had also handed out their syllabus to them and had assigned them their first assignment of the year. Their assignment was to get to know their partner and write a two page description on them while making it somewhat difficult for each other to learn about the other. This was apparently for them to learn how it was to work with business partners when it was time for them to head into the industry. _'Not like I didn't already have to deal with that back home at Issei. Yura was a pain in the rear to work with at times,' _she thought.

Yura, full name Yura Kaminoke, was one of her teammates and the only youkai on her gymnastics team and specialized on doing routines on the uneven bars. She also happened to be one of her two regular collaborators during any events that required the design and beauty department at Issei. Events that required that particular department were fashion shows, plays, musicals, and basically anything that needed make-up, costumes, and hair styling. The girl was older than her and happened to be in the same year as she was, meaning Yura was a graduating third year. She was also one of several student department heads of the design and beauty department, the head hair stylist.

At Issei Institute, upon acceptance and entry into the senior high division of the school, students were separated into different departments based on their career paths. Being separated into the departments did nothing to their general education classes; however, students now had class choices based on what they wanted to do, very much like after school clubs in normal high schools. Students were allowed to be in more than one department, but were not allowed to be student head for more than one. The school had various departments, which had several subdivisions, and the main student heads from each of the departments altogether made up the high school division's student council.

Kagome, herself, was a former student department head of the design and beauty department, the head fashion designer and main student head, and she had also been a part of the school's business department as a normal student. Before she transferred out of Issei, she had recommended another designer as her replacement and Jakotsu as the new main student head to the faculty head of her department. As of now she still wasn't sure if they had accepted her proxy or if they had kept the spot empty until the end of the school year. The only thing she knew for a fact was that a different student head had been appointed to the student council; she just didn't know who it was or if another student council member took up her position. She was only fortunate enough to still be able to compete on her gymnastics team, seeing as sports with studios were considered outside activities though they were still a part their school's program. This little factor allowed Issei to have two teams for a single sport; only two teams because of the inner rivalry.

While she was leaving the classroom, she heard many of the few female students in the business class whisper harshly to each other. "I can't believe that little brat gets to be partners with Kaiser," hissed one girl.

"I know, right? I would be a much better partner than her!" boasted another.

"She only even got into our class because she's a transfer," a third huffed.

Her hands clenched into tight fists around her backpack's shoulder straps at what she heard. It seemed as if their jealousy was overshadowing their fear and respect of her. She didn't care much for their fear but she hated being slandered as if she wasn't there.

"I can hear you," she snapped at the gossiping girls coldly. Earning a startled squawk from the ones she was talking to. Whipping around to face them a glare firmly in place, she continued, "If you have something to say then say it to my face."

"Eh hehehe…sumimasen, Higurashi-san," the girls nervously apologized, now scared of the younger when they felt her glare upon them. They then sped off as soon as they finished apologizing to the raven haired girl. "The rumors were true!" "She really is an ice princess!" two girls of the group exclaimed as they scurried away.

"Dunderheads, the lot of them; they'll never make it in this world," she muttered under her breath as she watched the other girls run off. "If you have to ridicule someone, at least make sure their not within hearing distance."

Just as she was about to continue on her way back to the dorms, she heard the distinctive voice of her partner and tablemate call out to her. "Higurashi-san!"

"Yes, Marufuji-san is there something I can help you with?" she asked while turning to face her partner. Her right hand tightly gripping one of the straps of her back pack.

"Do you mind starting on the project?" asked Ryo as he walked up to the younger student with his own backpack shouldered on. "It would be prudent to not procrastinate on this assignment."

"I don't mind. Do you want to start on it now?" she asked. The pair started walking together to leave the school building. She didn't have to run like on the first day of school; her ice princess reputation kept most of her fan boys from chasing her around campus.

During their stroll out, the partners discussed how they were to do their assignment in soft tones. Soft tones because neither student liked raising their voices and saw no need for others to know what they were conversing about. The soft tone of the two's conversation also made many of the students believe that they were being intimate or that the Ice Princess was trying to seduce the Kaiser. How the other students had come to either conclusion, both Kagome and Ryo would never know.

The only thing that either knew for a fact was that their own fanclubs would hear about their partnering and would be likely attacking said partner.

The two business class partners had eventually decided to immediately start working on the assignment would be the best course of action. The pair headed over to the Obelisk blue boys' dormitory as fast as they possibly could without running to work in the dorm's library. They wanted to finish the project as quickly as they possibly could so that they would not have to interrupt each other during the weekend or for the following week.

Upon arriving at the Obelisk blue boys' dorm, the two students were unsurprised that they were met with blissful silence. The dormitory was basically barren of nearly all students at that time. Not many returned to the dorms right after classes have ended.

The two then entered into the dormitory's library and took their seats at a table close to the entrance. The library in the boys' dorm from what Kagome could see looked very much like the one back at the girls' dorm. There weren't really any differences; the size of the room, the color scheme, and the design layout looked all about the same.

Within minutes of taking their seats at a table, the two partners were already trying to weasel out information about each other. They were supposed to make the process as difficult for the other as possible but still be cooperative. This ended up with Kagome and Ryo trying to bargain information about their lives to gain enough information about the other. As the two worked together, they jotted down any information that they were able to wrestle out into a notebook to later compile into their mini biographies.

It wasn't very long into their work, about a half hour later that Kagome understood why they were working at the boys' dorm instead of the girls'. All around the library, she could see some of the boys that she knew were in her fanclub watching her and Ryo. Some of the boys were being a little discreet about it, and the others were just blatantly staring at her. It was frankly a little disturbing.

'_It was a good thing we decided to work here instead,' _thought Kagome as she continued to extract information out of the Kaiser and he her. _'At least here we can work in relative peace, but telling by the girls from earlier we may have become deaf from Ryo's fanclub. Unlike fanboys that quietly stalk you and give you gifts and sometimes shout praises, fangirls scream and squeal while trying to kill their competition.' _The reminder of fangirls trying to kill their rivals had Kagome unconsciously gripping her left hip, where a starburst shaped scar with a smaller stabbing scar in the middle rested.

Ryo noticed the action, but did not comment on it. Instead he jotted down the information for later investigation or for when they weren't working on an assignment that required them to be unforthcoming with each other. He may not receive an answer if he asked later though, as the girl was already quite aloof with others somewhat like him.

The two continued negotiating information for a long while and eventually they became a bit too serious in their dealing with each other. Every now and then, Ryo would throw in a personal question and try to figure out if Kagome had a connection with a missing student. In turn, Kagome would counter his questions by asking several personal questions of her own, questions that she knew fangirls typically asked, and then firing out a misleading and supposedly random one.

'_Getting information about this guy is like trying to get a secret out of Naraku and Sesshomaru,' _thought Kagome a smile threatening to break out onto her lips. She very much enjoyed that her partner presented to her and she very much loved challenges._ 'I haven't had this much fun and frustration since that last runway project with Yura, Kagura, and Jakotsu before summer break! Those three are nearly impossible to get to work together."_

'_She's proving to be a decent partner. The other's would have been loquacious and ruined the purpose of this assignment,'_ thought Ryo, scrawling another note down onto his notebook when he noticed the beginning of a smile on his partner's face. _'I wonder how she'll fair for the rest of the school year.'_

Throughout the time the two had been trying to get the other to spill out more, they completely forgot about the other boys that were still in the library with them. "Wow, they look pretty into it," commented one of the more controlled fanboys that was hiding behind a set of bookshelves.

"No kidding," responded another. "We have no chance at Kagome-sama if the Kaiser takes an interest in her."

"Then we just have to try our best to get her to notice me…I mean us," a third boy said, retracting the me when he saw all the glares his fellow fanboys were giving him.

"YEAH! US!" shouted the other fanboys in the immediate area.

"Shush! This is a library. If you have to yell then go outside," hissed one of the librarians of the Obelisk blue boys' library. "We don't need to deal with hooligans like you. I don't care if you're an Obelisk student. You don't shout in the library," she continued cutting off the boy that was opening his mouth to retort. "Now, either get out or be quiet."

The boys took heed of the librarian's threat and shut their mouths. They quietly returned to watching the Ice Princess talk with the Kaiser, all the while silently plotting on how to woo their frigid "love."

By the time Kagome and Ryo were finally finished with their interrogation of each other, the sun was just beginning its descent behind the island's volcano showing that dusk was soon to arrive. The two learned a lot and yet also not much about each other, but just enough for them to finish their assignments without any issues…or at least that's what both thought.

Seeing how late it was, Kagome began gathering her pencil and notebook back into her bag. She wanted to get to the dormitory before dinner so that wouldn't be asked questions by the girls in her year. It was really annoying when they go into that stunned silence or even start hounding her about things. Luckily none of them have actually hounded on her yet, but she hated it when they gossiped about her.

Shouldering on her backpack after rising from her seat, she turned to Ryo and told, "I'm going to start heading back now. See you next lesson, Marufuji-san."

"Wait a few minutes, Higurashi-san, and I'll walk you back to your dorm," offered Ryo as he rose from his own seat and grabbing his bag. His belongings had already been placed back into the school bag before she had even spoken. He wanted to learn more about the mysterious girl. She was very much different from Asuka, and it would be better to talk to her about the missing students when no one else could hear them.

"You don't have to, and it's Kagome. Only my relatives from the last generation are called Higurashi-san," she replied as she started to make her way out of the boys' dorm. She made it as far as the entry hall before being stopped by a hand on her left shoulder.

Lifting both of her hands, Kagome grasped the offending appendage and twisted it and the connecting arm behind its owner. She would have flipped the person instead, if she had been completely sure the offender was not a student. As it was, she didn't know and had settled for a painful twist. Not seeing who it was that she was holding, she hissed out, "What do you think you are doing touching me?"

"I told you to wait, Kagome," said the assailant through clenched teeth. Telling by the voice it was obviously a boy and he was a good bit of pain too.

"Marufuji-san!" she exclaimed while releasing her partner's arm. "Gomen nasai! I probably should have told you that I've had a black belt since I turned thirteen and that I have an issue with stalkers."

"Yes, that would have been a nice warning. At least I have more information on you now," answered Ryo as he rolled his aching right arm. The girl was strong and he wasn't afraid to admit that. He felt sorry for any boys that would try accosting her. They're going to be a world of pain if they ever did. "You can call me by my given name," he added as an afterthought. It only seemed fair that if he called her by her given then she was allowed to do the same with him.

"You alright, Ryo?" she asked in concern. She hadn't meant to hurt him…alright she actually did, but in her defense it was because she had believed him to be a stalker. She already had a few restraining orders filed back home; she didn't want to file another.

"I will be fine," he waved off as he straighten himself and gave his arm one more roll. "Now come, I'll walk you back to the dorm."

"I just twisted your arm, and you want to walk me back to my dorm? Shouldn't you be worrying more about yourself first?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. _'Man this guy's persistent. He's more like Sesshomaru than I thought. But if I had done that to aniki, I'd probably be getting a beating or at the very least being restrained against the floor,' _Kagome thought to herself.

"I will be fine by morning," Ryo insisted as he began to lead Kagome out the entry hall and down the dirt path to the girls' dorm.

She sighed to herself before jogging slightly to catch up to Ryo, who was apparently now her escort. She would have offered to carry his backpack for him because she felt bad for causing him pain, but it was already gone from his person. It was most likely already back in his room seeing as the library in the boys' dorm was further from the front than the girls' was.

The walk back to her dorm passed by in silence until they were fair distance away from the boys' dorm. It was then that Ryo asked what he had been wanting to ask since he had saw her in the water when he was at the light house. "Kagome."

"What is it?" she asked curiously. After all, her current self-imposed escort didn't seem to ask questions for no reason.

"Who is the missing student that you are looking for?" he enquired as he continued walking.

His question stopped Kagome in her tracks as she tried to think of what he was talking about. She wasn't looking for any particular missing student; she was actually supposed to help the investigation on it later. The only missing student she wanted to find more than the others was Asuka's brother so she wouldn't leave the dorm so much at night. "I don't have any particular student that I need to find," she answered, catching up to the older student and demanding. "How do you even know I'm looking for someone in the first place?"

"I visit the lighthouse on an almost daily basis," he answered her before a light blush sprinkled across his cheeks. "I happened to come across you on the first day in your bathing suit." Throughout that little confession, Ryo never once looked back at Kagome.

Next to him, Kagome's own face was burning a bright red. If anyone had seen her, they would have probably have questioned whether or not she was related to a tomato.

'_This is so embarrassing,' _she thought to herself as her blush started to lighten in color. She wasn't embarrassed that a boy had seen her in a swimsuit, oh no that would just be completely idiotic of her. All of her guy friends had seen her in a swimsuit before anyways. _'I can't believe he was watching me the whole time I was floating near the lighthouse and I never noticed him! The girls and__ my shīfu are going to kill me if they ever learn about that!' _she wailed to herself just imagining the scolding she would get from her instructors, friends, and cousins. If the verbal abuse didn't kill her then the training from her relatives and her instructors surely would.

The journey to the girls' dorm continued on as an awkward silence blanketed the two. Upon arriving to the entry way of the dormitory, Kagome promptly thanked Ryo for escorting her back and bid him goodnight before hastily making her way through the doors.

Once she was safely through the doors, Ryo turned on his heel and started heading back to his own dorm. It wouldn't be long until dinner was prepared. _'She seems to be opening up more,'_ he thought, thinking back to when he had first come across the raven and her demand that had led to his small confession. _'She'll be who she really is the longer she's here. That, I'm sure," _he thought with conviction.

After she had entered the dormitory, Kagome had immediately dashed up the stairs and to her room. When she finished by passing all the necessary yet annoying security, she entered her room all the while slipping off her book bag and then dropping it off at her desk as she passed by it. She then threw herself onto her bed and burying her face into one of her many fluffy pillows, that is after she had taken off her boots. She hated getting her sheets and other fabrics dirty.

"Why do I keep getting close to the people here?" she asked herself as she flipped onto her back and hugged the pillow to her chest. "I don't even like playing Duel Monsters all that much!" she complained.

'_Is it really that much of bad thing to be close to others here. I don't really mind having friends in the dueling world,' _she finally asked herself mentally after a few minutes of thinking.

"Edo can't stay my only friend in this game. I'll eventually have to make others and they're just like every other person," she said aloud, trying to convince herself that she shouldn't close herself off to being friends with other duelists. So what if she disliked playing the game! She was already friends with a few of those game obsessed duelists.

She continued to mope around her room for a while before dinner was ready for the students in the dining hall. By the time that had rolled around, Kagome had convinced herself that she wouldn't be as cold as she wouldn't be as cold to her friends as she was to the other people. She wanted her friendships to last, very much like how hers and Edo's had lasted and her other friendships are still very much whole with the exception of one or two.

That night dinner had a lighter air to it than before the rest of the week had. Everyone felt the shift in atmosphere, but no questioned it, thinking that it just because the weekend had finally come. The rest of the night went as usual, but during conversations that involved her she had been more open to questions.

When she had left to go about her own business after bathing with the girls, she wandered around in the woods for a while feeling the call of something dark, practically black, that wanted to devour her. She didn't know what it was, but she had felt it coming from several directions. One was to the now abandoned honor dorms, another to the center of one of the forests, and a few more that she couldn't pinpoint. As she continued to feel the lure of darkness, Kagome could only think to herself, _'How can Aoi-oba live through this? She's older and with more training! She would be feeling more than I do.'_

Upon her return to her room, not even twenty minutes after she had begun to feel the pulls, she had without delay called her mentor back at Issei Institute learn about the dark energies she had felt. She fell asleep that night worrying about her family and the lives of the others on the island.

* * *

Yes! I finally named Kagome's old school. Issei is one version of the word generation or lifetime. I thought the name was appropriate because only people with a certain heritage are admitted into the school. I also pulled some of the professors from the manga. I didn't want to create more OCs for teachers when there are already teachers I can just pull in. The only OCs will be the family members of students from Issei. Send Criticism! I thrive on the stuff! Duel Academy's lessons started on Monday, September 3 and the welcoming party was on Sunday, September 2. This chapter took place on Friday, September 7. I have a school profile about Issei Institute in the making. It's quite a headache, but I have a lot of it created. The student council has been picked and the headmaster/headmistress has been too. If you don't get it now, it'll be explained a few chapters later or you can message me. I hate most of everything after they had left the Obelisk blue boys' dorm. XP

I now have a list of some of the characters' birthdays and I just found out Ryo/Zane's birthday is just one day before mine. I'm not posting up the years though. I don't think some of them were right.

Hayato= April 30

Daichi= May 1

Sho= May 30

Judai= June 11

Professor Daitokuji= July 7

Jun= August 8

Fubuki= August 15

Asuka= September 15

Ryo= November 15


	8. First Saturday

**The Duel Champion's Daughter**

**Disclaimer:** I do **NOT** own either Inuyasha or Yu-Gi-Oh GX

**Summary: **Seto Kaiba's eldest child, Kagome Akemi Higurashi Kaiba, is being sent to attend Duel Academy to take up her father's title of Duel Monsters Champion, but will she be able to take the title while also looking for a husband to be. Begins in Season 1 of GX and will basically be AU with original Japanese versions explanations in ranking and scoring.

Reminder: People I revise my stories often, VERY often. And Kagome's height has been shortened to five foot and three inches. Harpie Lady, Cyber Harpie Lady, and Kaleidoscope Light-Separating have been deleted from the deck and an extra Elegant Egotist and two more Harpie Lady Sisters have been added.

AN 1: The person who called me a hypocrite, you might want to check out that post about reviews on Flawless-Addiction again. I know you have an account on there. The only reason chapter 4 even had a note saying "I expect at least ten reviews" is because how long that whole thing is. Feedback is different from wanting praises. I want to know what needs to be changed or fixed, such as a part of the story doesn't match another part of it or that I made a mistake somewhere in my writing like missing words and letters. If it's awkward in a certain part tell me where in a review so I can go check it out and possibly fix it or explain why it's like that. That's what I mean by "send reviews. Feedback is very much wanted." It's only hypocritical of me if I want reviews just for review and popularity sakes. What I want is being able to improve my writing from what's wrong with the story other than the timeline. If you were for some reason talking about chapters 1-2 for SA then you should know a person's thought process changes over time, and those two were posted up nearly three years ago.

AN 2: Okay this first time I've had this problem. Please do _**NOT**_ ask for a specific pairing in my stories. All pairings for any of my original stories and one of my adopted ones are already decided. My not so secret pairings are listed on my profile under the fanfiction part of it. No, you guys will not be able to change my mind about any of the pairings.

"Speech"

_'Thoughts'_

* * *

_Last Time on The Duel Champion's Daughter:_

_When she had left to go about her own business after bathing with the girls, she wandered around in the woods for a while feeling the call of something dark, practically black, that wanted to devour her. She didn't know what it was, but she had felt it coming from several directions. One was to the now forsaken honor dorms, another to the center of one of the forests, and a few more that she couldn't pinpoint. As she continued to feel the lure of darkness, Kagome could only think to herself, 'How can Aoi-oba live through this? She's older and with more training! She would be feeling more than I do.'_

_Upon her return to her room, not even twenty minutes after she had begun to feel the pulls, she had without delay called her mentor back at Issei Institute learn about the dark energies she had felt. She fell asleep that night worrying about her family and the lives of the others on the island._

**This Time on The Duel Champion's Daughter**

When morning finally arrived, Kagome was startled to consciousness with her left hand flying to clutch at the front of her silk purple nightgown as she tried to calm her hyperventilation. The last words her mentor, Professor Tsukiyomi an instructor from Issei Institute, had spoken echoed through her mind, _'Things will be very dark for Duel Academy over the next few years.'_ As her ragged breathing slowly returned to normal, she unconsciously released her hand from its tight grip on the silk cloth on top of her chest and placed it at her side on the bed.

'_Kami-sama,' _thought Kagome with relief, running her left hand through her unruly morning hair. _'Why didn't I feel those dark aura pools as a kid? Was it because I wasn't trained as much as I am now? But even the most untrained kids back home could sense them!' _she thought sadly._ 'That means that they weren't here before as a kid! And that also means that someone caused all those pools to be here or opened some gates that may already be here,' _she thought with sudden realization.

After she got over her little break down, she gave a small yawn and brought right hand up to her face and began lightly rubbing the corresponding eye. While rubbing her right eye, Kagome groggily turned to her left to peer at her digital alarm clock to see what the time was. Upon seeing exactly what time it was, she very nearly tumbled out of her bed as she quickly scrambled to get dressed and ready for school before she was tardy. The time read on the clock in bright red glaring numbers was seven-thirty A.M.

As soon as she was out of her bed, Kagome immediately shot towards her closet and headed for her own small private restroom all the while grabbing her uniform for the day and her other essentials. Her bathroom was situated at the end of her closet and right next to the changing quarters. The only reason why Kagome even had a bathroom in her room was because it was safer for her as a child to have one in her room, especially inside the closet where she went to hide during kidnapping and assassination attempts, than to wander down the halls to use the dormitory's restrooms where she could be attacked at any given moment by infiltrators. The little bathroom contained only the basic essentials as any bathroom did with the exception of a shower stall or a bath tub and its floor and walls covered in onyx and white tiles and peach colored paint. During the times that she had been stuck in her under lock down for days and needed to cleanse herself, she would use they sink to take sponge or towel baths and wash her hair.

When she finished her morning business and changing in the bathroom, Kagome through her night clothing on to her changing quarters' ottoman and rushed into the main part of her room. Upon reaching her main room, she swiftly padded over to her makeup station and grabbed a hair brush to fix her hair for the day. After that she marched over to her desk and grabbed her belt and snapped into place around her hips before grabbing her backpack and swinging it on to her back. While she dashed around her room to make sure she had everything that she would need for a normal school, Kagome had gotten so caught up in her panic that she never noticed that just under the numbers telling time on her clock read the day of the week, Saturday.

"Stupid alarm clock!" muttered Kagome angrily under her breath as she left her room and descended down the staircases. "Why didn't it wake me up like it was supposed to? I'm going to be late because of that piece of junk!"

Upon reaching the bottom steps, she was surprised to see the lack of hustle and bustle in the entry way of the dormitory as there was every morning right before lessons began. Her confusion grew as she looked around the area and spotted only a small handful of girls who were in uniform.

'_Why isn't anyone else here? Usually the whole dorm is scrambling to get to the main campus for class. And where are these girls' bags?' _wondered Kagome as she continued to make her way to the doors to leave only to be intercepted by one of the few girls awake.

"Hey Higurashi-san!" called out a dark storm cloud purple haired girl with thunder grey eyes. "Where are you heading off to at this time with your book bag no less?"

"To class," Kagome answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and to her it was. "Now if you'll excuse me Arashiko-san, I'm going to be late," she continued as she side stepped the girl who was now standing in front of her and headed for the door.

The next words out of Arashiko's mouth halted her from moving onwards. "Why are you heading to class? It's Saturday; we don't any have classes today."

Stopping in her tracks, Kagome pulled out her SPP and checked the day and time. The little screen confirmed Arashiko's words that it was indeed Saturday and that there were no classes today or for the following day. "I feel like such an idiot," she mumbled as she turned around and began making her way back to her room. "Arigato Arashiko-san," she called out to the purple haired girl when she passed her on the way to the staircase.

'_Kami-sama, I'm too used to Issei's routine. How could I forget that Duel Academy follows the same school week as the schools in the states? Five days a week instead if six days like any other Japanese school,' _thought Kagome as she hiked up the stairs. _'At least I have some more free time to finish my other work,'_ her thoughts continued, her mind conjuring up a mental image of a mountain pile of papers and assignments that she had sitting on top of her desk. The pile of papers was a series of assignments that she had received from Issei after her first call to Professor Tsukiyomi about the lack of challenge in her current course work back on Wednesday night. The pile also included paperwork that she would have been assigned to do back when she still had her school positions.

'_Why the hell is the institute still sending me paperwork for my old positions anyways?'_ she thought while taking the last few steps to her floor. _'I don't even retain those positions anymore especially after my transfer here.'_

After re-entering her bedroom, Kagome immediately went to her closet to change into a new outfit that was comfortable and easily maneuverable. When she came back out she was wearing an emerald green tank top with the character for love printed in silver ink at the bottom right corner, a pair of black knee length yoga capris with the characters for Issei Institute stitched into the bottom hem, and a pair of silver beach sandals. She then turned on her stereo, docked her iPod, and grabbed the remote control for the stereo before heading over to her desk to start making a headway into her workload. On her way over to her desk, she hit the play button on the remote and soon the room was drowned in music, the song Seven 七 by Cherry Boom 櫻桃幫.

If anybody had passed by her door and heard the music playing, they would have written it off as Kagome only liking the beat of the song and didn't understand a word of it. It may be true that she did like the beat; however, they are completely wrong about her not understanding a word of the song. She may not look like it, but Kagome understood every single word in the foreign song that was playing because she was a multilingual speaker and so was Souta. The two of them were multilingual because they already knew English and Japanese and because of their Tae Kwon Do shīfu the siblings also were taught Mandarin, the main Chinese dialect, and were fluent in it by the time Kagome was ten years old. She also became literate in Chinese by the time of her graduation from the junior high school division, and she expects that Souta would be the same by the time of his graduation as well. If she hadn't already been fluent in English, she would have had to take the language class like many of the other students who did not know the Germanic language. Thankfully, Issei had other language classes available for students who already satisfied the nation's language requirement, and it was because of these classes, which are also available in the high school division, that Kagome was able to begin learning her fourth language, Korean, and understand some of the songs on her iPod.

As the music flooded the room around her, Kagome began working on her homework assignments that were due next week and her assignments from Issei. It took less than an hour to finish the academy's workload before she moved on to the work from the institute, which took a good three hours to finish. During the time used for the Issei homework, she also watched the recorded lectures and lessons that had been emailed to her by Professor Tsukiyomi. There were recorded lessons because Issei had security cameras installed in all the classrooms, halls, and buildings. By the time lunch rolled around, she was only just beginning to read through the paperwork that she had received from Issei that she was to fill out and mail back to the institute.

Pulling herself up out of her seat, Kagome stretched her back to get rid of the kinks from the stress of her work that had formed over the course of the four hours that she worked. Hearing several satisfying pops come from her back and neck, she dropped her arms from above her head and lightly massaged her eyes with her hands to ease the soreness from constant reading. When the soreness faded, Kagome stepped away from her desk and began making her way to out to go downstairs for lunch.

She reached the dining hall in less than five minutes with her skipping every other step during her descent in her hurry to get a good meal into her stomach. Just as she stepped into the dining hall to acquire her noon meal her attention was caught by a call of her name.

"Kagome-sama!" she heard someone call from further inside the hall. Turning in the direction of the voice, Kagome saw that it was her friend Momoe and their other friends sitting at a table with all them waving cheerfully to her. She returned their greetings with a small wave in her friend's direction as she headed over to the buffet line. The meal she procured was of a plate of meat and potato filled korokke, half a dozen sticks of yakitori, a plate of tonkatsu, a plate of seven onigiri containing salmon, tuna, or tempura, finally a plate of two strawberry, banana, and whipped cream filled crepes for dessert, and a pot and cup of green tea as a beverage.

After she had received it from the chefs, Kagome made her way over to the table that her friends were sitting at to join them for lunch. When she reached her destination, she was greeted by Asuka. "Hey Kagome, haven't seen you all day," greeted Asuka before she slurping up a bite of her beef and chicken ramen.

"Yeah, where have you been?" asked Junko nosily, eager eyes shining and her hands holding a bottle of melon soda. "We've been up since ten and we didn't see a single hair of you around anywhere."

"What've you been up to?" added in Momoe as she took a bite of her Caesar salad.

"Obviously not down here," replied Kagome as she took a seat. "Do you really want to know what I've been doing?" she asked pointedly to Momoe.

"Of course," Junko said with a small dramatic wave of her hand. "Now let me guess. Were you sleeping?"

"Or working out?" guessed Momoe.

"Or were you working on your homework like any sensible student would be?" questioned Asuka.

"No, no, and bingo," calmly answered Kagome with her right forefinger pointing towards each of her three friends' face in a gun shape and her eyes closed before snapping open when her finger landed on Asuka. "Asuka got it spot on. I've been doing my work all morning, and I'll probably still be working on them until dinner or later," she groaned despairingly to herself as she poured a cup of green tea.

"How is it taking you that long to finish the homework?" commented Junko as all four girls began or continued with their meals. "It's all review of the basics this last week."

"Why don't you just save the work for tomorrow, and come hang out with us for the rest of the day?" asked Momoe with shining eyes. The lighter haired raven wanted to spend more time with her new friend and she was sure that Asuka and Junko wanted the same thing.

"I wish I could, but I want to finish this stuff as soon as possible. Plus I have to get ready for some other stuff this month," said a slightly stressed Kagome with a sincere smile. "If I could finish my work early, I might come join you guys in whatever you're going to be doing."

She really did want to hang out with the girls, but her work came first and her competition was only three weeks away. Luckily, the amount of work that her former colleagues sent her was nothing compared to what she used to have to do. The stack she was going to look through is more like a walk through the park compared to other times, but it was just as stressful as any other time. When she studied at Issei during her high school years, she was very lucky to have any spare time for herself even despite all the time she had to put in for her positions in school groups and her family.

'_How the hell did I have any free time back at Issei, anyways?'_ she wondered. _'If anyone else had to attend to and participate in how many things I had to, I don't think they would be living as I am now.'_

"In that case, we're going to go hit the onsen sometime in the afternoon" Asuka offered. "That is if you have time and still want to join us?"

"I'll see what I can do," smiled Kagome, a happy spark in her eyes. The four girls then continued eating their lunch and chatted with each other throughout the duration of their meal. When their meal was finished and the dirty dishes, the group then headed over to the chefs and Kagome asked for a bento box of assorted tempura onigiri and prawn tempura sushi. After she received her bento box, an extremely large one at that, the quartet left the hall and then Kagome separated from the group to head back to her room after she bid her goodbye.

Once she entered her bedroom, she ambled directly over to her desk and set down her bento box before she sat down again at her plush comfortable beige chair. Picking up the first sheet of paperwork, Kagome began looking over the newest data and proposal for the fashion department back at Issei about the new materials to be used by the other students. As she read through the pages, she grabbed a highlighter and a pen from a drawer and began making notes and marks with both items. Finishing with the first proposal, she moved on to the next set and repeated the same process for the ones remaining in the stack of papers while grabbing an onigiri or sushi every now and then and eating it.

By the time she had finished marking and signing all of the proposals on her desk, the sun was just beginning its descent towards the horizon and the bento box had several rolls of sushi and an onigiri left.

Kagome moaned in delight as she compiled and straightened the finished stack of paperwork together. She then sealed it and her homework assignments from Issei into separate large yellow envelopes that she pulled out from one of her desk drawers and would be mailing them back to the correct professors and departments.

Spinning herself and her chair to face her clock, she saw that it was now a quarter after four meaning that she had spent a little more than three hours doing paperwork. When she stood up her chair, she grabbed her cellphone from her belt, spun her chair back around, and headed over to her closet. Now that she was finished with all of her work, she had a good amount of free time that she was determined to spend with her friends. She wanted to get to know her friends more and become closer to them like she had promised herself the night before. While she strode towards her desired area, she dialed a quick call to Asuka.

For a few short moments, all she heard was the dial tone beeping before she heard Asuka answering, "Moshi moshi, Asuka Tenjouin speaking."

"Ne, are you guys still heading to the onsen?" she asked

"Yeah, you called just in time. We were just about to head over there," Asuka said.

On the other line, Kagome heard both Momoe and Junko asking Asuka from a distance "Asuka-sama! Have you seen my skirt?" "Do you know where my towels are?"

She then heard Asuka reply back to them, "Junko, didn't you put them in your closet? Which skirt are you talking about, Momoe?"

"The white one with lots of zippers! I can't find it anywhere!"

"Check the top drawer of your dresser. It should be in there."

"You still want to come with us?" continued Asuka after answering the other two girls.

"Give me a few minutes, and I'll meet you down stairs," she answered just as she entered the closet; the door softly squeaking as she opened it.

"Alright, we'll see you in bit then. Ja ne."

"Ja ne," bid Kagome right before ending the call.

The moment that she stepped into the wardrobe, Kagome made a beeline straight for where her purses and other bags were shelved and stored. Grabbing a large light periwinkle beach bag printed with white and black spotted butterflies with amethyst purple straps, she hurried over to bathing supplies and towels. She snatched up the needed items for her time at the onsen; her fluffy violet towels, all of her bathing supplies, and stuffed them into her bag. On her way out, she also grabbed a change of clothes that she stashed in the bag and slipped several hair ties onto her wrist.

The moment she stepped out, her stereo system was blasting the song I'm a Loner 외톨이야by C. 씨엔블루. She listened to the lyrics of the song as she sauntered over to her desk to get the remote to turn it off.

_**charari dareun saram saenggyeotdago **_차라리 다른 사람 생겼다고(If you had just told me honestly)  
_**naega sirheumyeon sirtago **_내가 싫으면 싫다고 (That you've got someone else.)

_**charari soljikhage malhaejwotdamyeon **_차라리 솔직하게 말해줬다면(That you hate me.)  
_**nan neoreul jukdorok miwohajin anhasseul tende **_난 너를 죽도록 미워하진 않았을텐데 (Then I wouldn't have hated you to death.)  
_**check it one two three **_check it one two three (Check it one two three.)  
_**ne mareul doesaegyeo bwado **_네 말을 되새겨봐도 (Remembering your words)  
_**irijeori dulleodaeneun geojitmariya **_이리 저리 둘러대는 거짓말이야 (They are all silly lies.)

The lyrics of the song brought a scowl to her face and reminded of Inuyasha, her and her cousin's, Kikyo, ex-boyfriend, and the reminder of the boy also brought forth unpleasant thoughts of his mother. She quite literally couldn't stand the half demon though she reluctantly still considered him a school acquaintance. She was one hundred percent positive that her family couldn't stand him either especially after what he had done to her and Kikyo. There was a ban list in most, if not all of the Higurashi family's establishments with the boy's name and picture on it.

The idiot had taken advantage of her and Kikyo and had cheated on them with each other during the few weeks that they dated the mutt. After the two of them had broken it off with the half demon, he threw insults and constantly tried to degrade them every time they crossed paths despite the numerous sentences to Headmaster Hakushin Seijin's office for discipline.

Izayoi Kōshaku was the only daughter of an upper class business family who had wanted in on the Taisho fortune and Inuyasha's mother. She had been contracted to Touga as a consort and surrogate mother a little while after his wife had learned that she was unable to bear any more children after the birth of Sesshomaru. Her only duties during the time of her contract were to help the Taisho family have two more children, nurse the children after their birth, and never expose or pose a threat to anyone who was a part of Issei or from a sister school. Upon signing the agreement with the Taisho family, Izayoi had been informed of the supernatural and why Issei Institute and all of its sister schools only accepted students who were biologically connected with each other. Once she had completed her side of the bargain, Izayoi's family would rise in public standing while the children would all legally belong to Touga and Kimi Taisho. Izayoi would then be moved back to her own familial home and be allowed parental visitations.

However, the contract was breached when Izayoi ran away from the Taisho home and took Inuyasha with her when she left. The last she heard the Kōshaku(公爵) family was still considered a mockery and that they may be filing for bankruptcy within the next year. Touga and Kimi Taisho had spent much of their time making sure that Izayoi and her family would pay for the betrayal while trying to find Inuyasha. They were able to do this politically through Touga, a major political leader and business investor, socially through Kimi, a socialite and CEO and owner of Hisakata (久方) Inc., and financially through the both of them as a couple. Inuyasha was finally reunited with the Taisho family when he was eleven years old, not long after Izayoi's death, and met his paternal family for the first time after his kidnapping.

Now, Kagome didn't very much care for nor did she harbor any ill will towards Izayoi Kōshaku. After all, the woman was dead before she actually met Inuyasha; so there couldn't be any true feelings of resentment. But she did despise how the idiotic woman had ran away from her duties as a consort while taking the jerk, Inuyasha, with her after he had been born. The woman's running away had nearly caused the exposure of the supernatural to the normal humans, which was another breach in her contract. This was because she had taken Inuyasha away from his rightful home and prevented him from learning the concealment spell like all demonic children had to do before they entered education at Issei.

Izayoi's taking of Inuyasha as babe had left him as a threat to Issei and every single one of its sister schools. It boggled nearly all students and alumni at how they have not yet been exposed to the outsiders about how different they were from the normal humans. His kidnapping as a baby also caused him to arrive to the school with a foul mouth and poor etiquette that would most likely never be able to be taught out of him. Because of how crude his behavior and speech were, Issei faculty had forced him to wear the etiquette collar two years earlier than normal. The last she had seen Inuyasha, he was still wearing the etiquette collar to coach him in proper behavior and eliminate in appropriate speech, and it was nearing the six year mark of when they had placed it on him.

She had sank so far into her thoughts, Kagome never noticed that the music continued onto another song and that her feet had stopped moving. She tried to stop her train of thoughts, but she only continued falling deeper. She knew that the longer she thought like that the more cruel and resentful her thinking could become and how it would poison her thoughts and her ability to work. She was finally snapped out of her reflections when she felt her cellphone vibrating to tell her she had a message.

Looking at the message, she discovered that Asuka and texted her asking if she was still coming. Quickly texting back an affirmative, she immediately finished what she was originally doing before she was pulled into her judgments and beliefs of others. The moment she clicked the power button on the remote, Kagome grabbed her belt and snapped it closed above her hips and headed out the door. Just before closing the high security entrance and skipping down the stairs, she fingered the key that rested on her collarbone to reassure herself that it was still in its proper place.

Taking the last steps down the flight of stairs, Kagome met Asuka and the others just as she entered into the lobby or entrance hall of the dormitory.

"Hey. You ready to go?" questioned Asuka, who was a wearing some causal clothes that were different from the pink and lavender pajamas set she had worn during lunch and most of the morning. The clothes that she was clad in were a dark Han purple braided strap tied halter top with white outlines of pansies printed on top of the breast area, a pair of ruby red capris with metal button details at the bottom, and a pair of black beach sandals. Settled on her right shoulder was a light violet bordering on lavender purse that was stripped with black zebra prints and about the same size as Kagome's beach bag.

"Yeah, sumimasen for keeping you guys waiting," Kagome apologized as she walked up next to Junko. Junko was dressed in a bright yellow form fitting T-shirt with the cartoon prints of several small ducklings on it, a pair of mid-thigh length faded blue jean shorts, and a pair of military green lace up sneakers on her feet. Resting on her shoulder was a plain straw beach bag with circular white hoop straps.

"Well, what are we waiting for now? Let's go!" Momoe hollered in excitement as she began to lead the quartet out of the dormitory and on to the path towards the onsen. She was dressed in an army green jean mini-skirt, an off the shoulder boat neck baby pink blouse, and a pair of black sneakers. The many joke buttons pinned to her navy blue knapsack jingled rhythmically as she walked. "We're wasting time standing here."

"Momoe," snapped Asuka. "The onsen isn't going anywhere. If we missed out on today, then we could go tomorrow."

"Gomen, Asuka-sama," whimpered a slightly ashamed Momoe.

"It's fine, Asuka. Don't worry about," Kagome waved off. "We all want to get there as soon as possible, ne?"

"I guess," uttered Asuka.

"And if we go now like we are supposed to be doing, we'll be back just before dinner is served," Momoe supported as she twisted the door handle and held the door open for the others to pass through. Idle conversation drifted through the group softly as they walked to the main road that would lead to the onsen until Junko brought up a small issue.

"You know when you said you'll down in a few, we thought that you meant in like three or five minutes," Junko complained to Kagome just as the four girls stepped on to the travel worn dirt path.

"Yeah, what took you so long to come down anyways?" Momoe inserted just as she fixed bag's straps that were slipping off her shoulder.

The three girls turn towards Kagome giving her their full attention, they awaited their friend's answer.

Giving off a soft sigh, Kagome gave in to telling them. "It's nothing really, but I kind of got distracted by my thoughts," she said, scratching the back of her head sheepishly.

"It couldn't have been about nothing," Asuka stated in concern.

"Come on, Kagome-sama! We're friends aren't we?"

"You can tell us what's wrong!" said Junko and then Momoe as the two ganged up to pry information out of their newest mutual friend.

"I'm serious! It was nothing," Kagome whined unhappily and her arms crossed over her bust.

"You're lying," Asuka accused. "To have kept you distracted that long; it has to have been something."

"Come on, tell us!" chorused Junko and Momoe together, hoping that their raven haired friend would open up and actually talk to them about herself.

"You guys are going to continue pestering me about this until I tell, huh?" Kagome probed with her eyes looking over to the other girls. She watched the girls and searched their faces seeking for any facial expression to may signal to her that they weren't serious about learning what she had been thinking of. Instead of finding any traces of giving up, she saw the trio nodding their heads eagerly like happy puppies wagging their tail.

"Yep," first responded Asuka.

"We're not going give up on this," Momoe followed up.

"We'll keep pestering until you tell us," Junko persisted.

"It's hopeless trying to keep this to myself, huh?" asked Kagome, stopping mid-step in the middle of the road.

"Yep!" the three other girls chorused together cheekily with mischievous grins gracing their faces after they had stopped several steps ahead of Kagome and turning around to face her.

"Fine, fine I'll tell," Kagome relented, throwing her arms up into the air while beginning to walk again. Asuka, Junko, and Momoe waited for Kagome to catch up to them before starting on their journey again.

They gave her a moment to tell them what they had been pestering her about, but when three minutes passed by without Kagome speaking at all Junko spoke up. "Well?"

"Alright," Kagome groaned. "I was thinking about one of my ex-boyfriends. He was a complete Jackson."

"What do you mean that he was a complete Jackson?" asked Momoe in confusion. She never heard of a person being called a Jackson, but she's heard of boys being named Jackson.

"Sorry, I forgot people outside of my old school don't use the same kind of insults we do. A Jackson is basically a jerk wad," Kagome explained.

"Why didn't you just call him an asshole or a jackass?" Junko pressed.

"My former school mates, faculty members, and I aren't particularly fond of crude terms. We tend to have replacement words for terms such as fudge for the alternative of shagging or the act of having sex."

"Oh," gasped Momoe. "Well I guess that helps when speaking and acting like a lady," she continued looking up towards the reddening blue sky with the forefinger of her left hand tapping lightly against her cheek.

"But we're ladies already," interjected Junko using her right hand to flip her hair over her shoulder and tilting her nose upwards snootily.

"But we're not ladies unless we can play the part of one," argued Momoe with a slight glare directed at Junko.

"Kagome, how did you end up thinking about your ex?" redirected Asuka, breaking Momoe and Junko from their argument before it could escalate into a cat fight. She's been friends with the two girls by her side since elementary school, and knew just how easily they could get along and horrible their fights with each other could be.

"A verse from one of the last songs played on my stereo reminded me of him," Kagome answered honestly with a hint of anger lacing her voice. "Inuyasha was possibly the worst boyfriend I've ever had."

"Inuyasha? What kind of name is that?" demanded Junko patronizingly.

"It's his name." In her mind, all Kagome could was, _'Oops, shouldn't have said that.'_

"Well what did Inuyasha do to make him a jackass?" enquired Asuka, backtracking when she remembered that Kagome wasn't fond of those types of terms, "Sorry, I mean Jackson."

"Inu-baka thought he could date both my cousin and I at the same time without us ever learning of his deception."

"Wait! You and your cousin had the same boyfriend?" Momoe asked with wide eyes. "What did you two do to when you found out about each other?"

"Unfortunately yes, we did have the same boyfriend. We had a fight and blamed each other for the idiot's deception. That is until we overheard him bragging to some of our classmates about how he was playing the Higurashi twins."

"How are you and your cousin known as twins?" Asuka asked thoughtfully. She knew that family members looked similar, but she's never seen relatives who liked twins unless they were twins.

"Better yet, what did you do when you two found out about his little game?" interrupted Junko anxiously.

"First, my cousin and I look almost exactly alike except she's taller by a few inches and we have different hair and eyes. Second, we concocted a plan to oust him to our family and embarrass him in front of the whole school."

"Well? What did you guys do to him?" egged Momoe wanting to hear the juicy details about the cousins' revenge.

"Well last year, our school invited all alumni and students to a winter solstice gala that was to be held a week after we learned about Inu-baka's ruse. We ended up having an overly large family reunion for all students who attended the dance, so his embarrassment was cranked up to the max," Kagome smirked vindictively and pausing for a dramatic effect.

"And?" Asuka prodded on.

"Throughout the time we've dated the idiot, Inuyasha had grown a little too egotistical. He never noticed how I and nee-chan were distancing ourselves from him, which gave us ample opportunity to set up our scheme even though we both had our own responsibilities and other things to take care of for the gala," Kagome explained before diving into detail about what she and her cousin Kikyo had done to get back at Inuyasha. "For us to expose how much of a Jackson Inuyasha was and what his real nature is, we had planned for nee-chan to make him believe that he was going to get a special present. Nee-chan was to seduce him into following her behind the curtains of the stage in the ball room of our school while I was to already be in place backstage with all of our equipment."

"It was near the peak of the solstice celebration when nee-chan had led Inuyasha to where we needed him to be. The moment he stepped behind the curtain I chloroformed him and tied the chloroform soaked cloth around his mouth to ensure that he would stay unconscious. Once we were positive wouldn't be able to wake up for a while, we got started on the rest of our little scheme. We stripped him of all his clothing except for his boxers and covered his body with writing and decorated his face with the makeup that had I placed on the stage a few days ago. When we finished decorating him with makeup, nee-chan used a pink spray dye on Inuyasha's hair while I grabbed some glue and stickers she had packed and strung them throughout the areas that she had sprayed," Kagome giggled to herself as she spoke of the experience. A mental image of the pictures she had taken of Inuyasha that night surfaced in her memory and caused her to snicker harder than she already was. When she and Kikyo were done with his makeover, he had looked like a troll doll gone wrong. He had a prostitute's heavily makeup caked face: black and neon green eye shadow, bright electric purple lipstick, and neon pink mascara; long hot pink and silver hair spiking everywhere, and glowing clips and stickers attached all over his body and hair.

"After we were finished with his transformation, we tied him up with rope and hung him from one of railings. Concluding our vengeance, we removed the cloth from his face and lifted the stage curtains for everyone who was attending gala to see his humiliation. We also explained what had brought about his shame, and almost everyone agreed with what we had done to him. It only added to everyone's humor when the idiot had woken up screaming and ranting in the middle of our explanation."

As Kagome told about the plotted act of revenge, her group never noticed that they had reached the onsen by the end of her story. When she ended her short narrative, the three girls who were listening all chorused a whispered whoa as they were enthralled with how vindictive the Higurashi cousins were. Asuka, Junko, and Momoe had listened to Kagome's tale with rapt attention, and the three of them only learned about their arrival at their desired destination when Kagome had told them so.

Looking around to see where they had stopped and spotting the silver dome, Kagome spoke with a smile, "Hey, we're here."

"Really? Then let's go in!" shouted Junko as she hurried up the steps and through the automatic glass and metal framed sliding doors.

Momoe chased after Junko while yelling at her, "Hey! Wait for me!"

Asuka and Kagome could only watch as their two friends ran ahead of them before turning towards each other both with amusement clearly written on her face. It was only when they saw Momoe disappear through the doors that the two of them began hiking up the steps to follow them.

The moment that they stepped through the automatic sliding doors, Kagome and Asuka found Momoe and Junko standing in the onsen's lobby astounded. Kagome couldn't blame them for being amazed with scenery; the place was wonderfully and artistically decorated.

The lobby was furnished with mocha dyed leather sofas and love seats pushed up against the walls around the room and several dark walnut Italian coffee tables and console tables placed between or in front of the seats and sofas. On the other side of the room was the dark walnut registration desk that took up most of the right wall with a room and shelves stocked with fluffy yellow onsen towels standing in the background. The walls of the lobby were coated in green tea colored paint, patterned with ivy leaves and vines outlined in light champagne gold, and divided in half by a white color trimming. Landscape portraits of holy grounds, flowers, young animals, or duel monsters hung on the walls in golden frames, and gold plated directory signs with antique finishing lined the hallways. A directory plaque hanging in the first hallway directed visitors to the locker rooms; down the left hall was the girls' and down the right hall was the boys'.

Seeing a worker standing behind the registration desk, Kagome walked away from her small group and went to talk with the boy. When she stepped up to the counter, she was met with an older male student dressed in a white collared pale yellow polo shirt and dark blue jeans who was several inches taller than herself with a light tan complexion and maple oak red colored hair. On his shirt was pinned a name tag, which stated Daisuke Ogawa 大輔小川 as the student worker's name.

"Konichiwa, I'm Daisuke Ogawa. How can I be of service to you?" Daisuke asked with a wink to Kagome.

Looking up into his firework green colored eyes, Kagome smiled slightly at Daisuke as she introduced herself to him in return. "Konichiwa, Kagome Higurashi." Her smile widened a little as Daisuke's eyes shined brightly causing his whole appearance to remind her slightly of her friends, Shippo and a male version of Ayame.

"Ogawa-san, could the others and I have some towels for the onsen?" she continued on as she rested her arms on the countertop, not really giving any thought that the boy may be flirting with her.

"Sure, Higurashi-san, but call me Daisuke or Dai," Daisuke said with a flirtatious grin spread across his lips. "Oh, and you might want to call your friend's over. This place cool and everything, but people might not be able to come in if they're going to stand in front of the entrance." To prove his point, he directed a hand over to the few people waiting to come inside, but Asuka, Momoe, and Junko were still standing still and blocking the entrance.

Seeing where he was pointing at and the cause of the problem, Kagome flushed embarrassingly at her friends' actions and muttered a quick, "Arigato Daisuke-san."

"Don't worry about it," Daisuke waved off as he headed over to one shelves in the back room.

After speaking with the flirting worker, she strutted over to her friend's and she called out to them, "Come on you guys. You're blocking traffic."

When it appeared as if only Asuka heard her, she grabbed Junko and Momoe's wrist just as she reached them and dragged them off to the counter with Asuka following not far behind, but before she took a-way the two still stunned girls she gave an apologetic bow to the growing crowd outside. Just as she was approaching the counter again with Junko and Momoe being pulled along with her, she saw Junko and -Momoe finally snap out of their stunned state and exclaim, "Hey! What are you doing?"

"Taking you away so you won't embarrass yourselves further," said Kagome as she released Junko and Momoe when they began to struggle. "All three of you were standing in doorway gaping at the room, and keeping others from coming in."

"Ehh!" the two girls screeched in surprise. Their cry was loud and high pitched enough to cause Kagome to flinch in pain and cover her ears while Asuka, having gone to used Momoe and Junko' antics, only slightly wince. Turning to face the entry way, the two of them shouted, "Gomen nasai!"

"What about you?" Kagome asked elbowing Asuka lightly.

"Uh, gomen nasai for the trouble we've caused," bowed Asuka with a light blush dusted across her cheeks.

Shaking her head softly, she told them, "Now come on, I've already asked Daisuke-san to get some towels for us." She then led her friend's back over to Daisuke, who had returned with the towels that she had asked for.

"Hey Higurashi-san," greeted Daisuke with grin on his face and completely ignoring Asuka, Junko, and Momoe. "I have the towels you asked for." He presented her with four fluffy yellow onsen towels with the academy's crest, DA, embroidered in gold, red, and blue in one corner.

"Arigato, Daisuke-san," she thanked, taking the towels into her arms and holding them against her chest.

"So," Daisuke began while propping his arms up onto the registration desk's counter. "Do you want to hangout sometimes? You know when you have some free time?"

"I don't mind," she said, tucking a stray hair behind her right ear. "If you want, we can hang out sometime next week after class, say Wednesday night?"

"It's a date then," smiled Daisuke charmingly. "I'll see you then."

Kagome smiled back him one more time before turning around to her friends and handing them their towel. Once the towels were in their hands, she began leading them to locker room by following the directions given on the golden plaques.

While Kagome and Daisuke were conversing with each other, the other three girls watched the interactions with some amusement and curiosity.

Junko and Momoe were stunned with curiosity. It was foreign to them to see Kagome unknowingly flirt with a guy and then somehow get a date with him. It was awkward for them, seeing as Kagome was detached and distant with many of students at the academy aside from the ones who she considered friends.

"Wow, I didn't think she would willingly go on a date with someone she just met," whispered Momoe to Junko.

"I know," Junko whispered back. "I thought she would have waited to get to know the guy before going on a date with him."

Asuka only found amusement out of the interaction she was witnessing as revealed by her smile. She already knew why Kagome had agreed to the date; the raven still had to find a fiancé for herself before the school year ended. There was one problem she had with Kagome's date though, and it was that she wasn't sure if her friend knows that she had agreed to go on one.

When the girls entered the locker room, they found the place be neatly organized and practically spotless as they walked around the room. The chamber was lined with rows of medium Caribbean blue single tier full length lockers and red Cedar wood benches stationed in between locker rows. The walls were coated in periwinkle blue paint with the lockers pushed against all of them except the one that the locker room door swung to. The side without lockers had a bin ready for used towel disposal, cubicle shelves stocked with more yellow towels in case girls needed another, and a first aid kit, fire extinguisher, and fire alarm were firmly mounted on for emergencies. Near the end of the room on the opposite side of where the entry door was placed, the locker room separated into one hallway with a door at the end and a shower quarters with stalls for changing and bathing. Mounted on the wall to the left of entering was a on the opposite wall.

The floor of the room was laid with base peach colored titles and a colored mosaic of the duel monster Red Archery Girl, a green haired and blue tailed mermaid settled within a large sea shell with a bow and arrow set. Unlike on the card where she was battle ready, the mermaid in the mosaic looked at peace with a gentle smile on her lips and soft eyes, her hands rested on her lap and at her side as she sat at the edge of her seashell bed and flicked her tail..

After checking out the area, Kagome headed back over to the showers with her stuff and claimed one of the stalls for her own use. Upon entering the stall, she placed her towels on the door frame and pulled bathing supplies out of her bag before hanging on to the hook on the door. She then proceeded to strip her clothes off and cleanse herself of the day's dirt and grime. Not long after she began lathering her shampoo into her hair, she heard one of the others enter into the stall next to her and begin the same process that she was doing. Soon enough another followed and then the last of her group entered the stalls and began the cleansing process. The full length mirror that stretched from the beginning of the first stall and ended with the last stall and mounted on the wall to the left of the entrance quickly fogged up with steam as more hot water was used by three additional people.

The last of the running water in the room finally turned off around five to ten minutes later with each girl stepping out of the stalls at a different time from the other. However, all four teenagers stepped out with their bodies dried, but wrapped in the onsen provided towels that were held together in between their breast and their hair semi wet. Their clothes and other towels were draped over one arm and their bags were clutched in the available arm's hand. All four of them had also changed their sneakers and sandals for a pair of young ivy green slippers to cushion their feet.

The four of them each then waltzed over to an unused locker and stuffed their clothing and bags into them. While they picked their lockers, they unconsciously picked lockers that stood side by side to each other and were in the same aisle. Making sure that their lockers would keep their possessions safe one last time, the girls turned away from the metal safe boxes and together walked towards the springs for their dip of relaxation.

As they were walking to the springs for a dip, Kagome slowly braided her semi wet hair into a tight braid before twisting it into a bun so that her hair would not get soaked again. She secured both the braid and bun with several hair ties that she had slipped on to her wrist as she had gotten ready for the onsen.

Throughout the whole time that the girls had been walking and getting ready for the soothing soak in the warm waters of the onsen, they jested with one another about many of the school's daily ordeals that had happened in the first week. The other three also apologized to Kagome for pushing her into speaking about an ex-suitor, who only smiled and waved off the admissions.

Upon reaching the end of the hall in the locker room, Junko pushed open the dark brown Tacoma wood door. When the door fully swung open the girls were exposed to a type of onsen that they could only ever imagine in their dreams.

The onsen room was like a sanctuary housed within a dome with the spring being the size of a lake. All around the shores of the onsen were boulders, stones, and thriving flora. A set of artificially created cliffs, heights varied at different areas, divided the onsen into two sections, a boys' side and a girls' side, with a waterfall at the center, the peak if the cliffs. The waterfall cascaded down both sides of the cliff and crashed into the hot water causing mist to spray and a faint rainbow to appear. Lying within the both pools of water a fair distance from the fall were smooth boulders for visitors to sit, relax, or to lean against on.

Kagome snickered softly to herself as she stepped around her friends, who were once again stunned by their surroundings.

'_If they're this stunned by the academy's facilities, I wonder how they'll react at seeing Issei's?'_ Kagome wondered, slipping off her slippers and edging over to spring's shore. As soon as she was as close enough to the shoreline without falling in, she dipped her right foot into the shallow end of the water testing the temperature for her body. Swirling her foot around for a few moments, she deemed the water to be at an agreeable heat.

After making sure her towel was clamped securely down and would not loosen, Kagome began placing her weight on her already wet foot and slipped her other foot into the warmth as well. With her other foot submerged underwater, she began walking further out in the spring searching for just the right boulder to lounge on. Soon enough her whole body, save for her neck and head, was fully submerged in the onsen's heated water as she neared the center of the girls' side of the heated lake. The longer she stayed in the soothing warmth the more she felt the tension in her body that she gained over the course of the week begin to melt away.

When the other girls finally came out of their stunned state and decided to join her in the water, Kagome had already swam to the deeper end of the spring and found a boulder with a seat jutted out underwater to relax on. Just as she was getting comfortable on the stone, she saw, from the corner of her eye, Asuka wading over to her spot and Junko and Momoe splashing water at each other in the slightly shallower end of the onsen.

"This feels so good," muttered Asuka as she settled herself against a boulder close to Kagome's.

"I'll say," Kagome called out. Her eyes fluttered shut as she relaxed her body completely against the smooth surface of the boulder.

A comfortable silence reigned between Kagome and Asuka; the only sounds echoing around the dome were the splashing and rippling of water, the giggling of Junko and Momoe, and the crashing of the waterfall. It wasn't for several long minutes of soaking later that the two began a conversation with each other.

"Hey Kagome," Asuka began, pulling herself up on her boulder.

"Yeah," Kagome answered with her blue eyes still concealed behind her milky lids.

"Can I ask you a question?" Asuka requested once she was sitting on top of her chosen boulder, a somewhat flat but smooth one that was partly engulfed by the water. She twisted her legs around so that she was now lazing on her stomach with her elbows propped and her head resting on her palms. This position allowed her entire body, but her shoulders on up, to continue relaxing without her having a sore bum.

"You just did," Kagome replied, mirth lacing her voice and her eyes beginning to open. "But go ahead. Ask another," she smiled over at Asuka while she resettled herself so that she was reclining into the back of her spherical boulder.

"Do you celebrate birthdays? You never seem to tell us about any birthday parties or celebrations that you've had with your family. And when's your birthday, anyways? You already know mine is coming up next week."

"Huh, that's a good one. No one's ever really asked about them before. But yeah, my family and I do celebrate birthdays and other stuff, but it's not all that different from yours and the others." Kagome tilted her backwards and began tapping her chine with the forefinger of her right hand as she tried to answer the second question. "As for when my birthday is, I honestly don't know."

"Nice joke," Asuka laughed at Kagome's last answer. "Not knowing your own birthday."

"Why are you laughing? I'm being serious," Kagome said as her hand dropped back into the water and puzzlement shined across her face.

"Come on, Kagome. Stop joking. Who would actually forget their own birthday?" Asuka continued to laugh still believing that Kagome trying to get one over her.

"I'm being completely serious here!" Kagome cried, unhappy that her friend thought she was joking. Her confused expression slowly reformed into that of a hurt and angry one, and her hands clenched themselves into tight fists. "My friends back home called me a planner without a page. I remember everyone's birthday, but my own."

Asuka's laughter slowly trickled to a halt when she saw the expression on Kagome's face. "Gomen nasai. You're really serious about this, aren't you?" she asked sympathy filled her body for having laughed at her friend.

"Uh huh, I only know when my birthday is when my uncles and aunts send me things and my chichiue calls," Kagome responded sadly while looking downwards, and flicking her finger around to cause ripples as her hands had unclenched themselves after the apology. "And it's alright, you didn't know. But because I never remember when my birthday is, my family always has an excuse to throw surprise parties," she finished off, a smile shining through her depressed state.

"I guess that's the upside if things, but I still feel bad," Asuka said with a hint of guilt in her voice.

"Don't be, most new comers never believe me when I tell them I don't know my birthday," Kagome said a smile, obviously fake to the ones who know her growing up, as she tried to ebb away her self-blame. "Plus, how many people can actually say they don't know their birthday other than the ones with amnesia?" she added laughingly.

Asuka giggled lightly as Kagome cheered her up, "Shouldn't this be the other way? I did hurt your feelings."

"Don't worry about it. Remember I've suffered worse from Inu-baka. A little joke like this is nothing."

After Kagome and Asuka finished their conversation, the two of them lapsed back into silence though this time it was more awkward than relaxing.

Over time, Kagome grew uncomfortable just sitting waterlogged on her stone bench. She copied Asuka's position, but instead she had her arms lying on top of the boulder's surface and her left cheek resting on her hands. Shortly after the switch, she began to drift off into drowsiness caused by the comforting onsen water surging up her body. On the boulder closest to her, Asuka was already napping away with soft snores emitting from her.

During the time of the raven and blonde's conversation, Junko and Momoe had listened in from a fair distance away. Both water playing girls were very interested in learning when Kagome's birthday was, and had waded closer to the pair to listen in. They were woefully disappointed when they learned that the raven didn't know when her birthday was, but continued watching the pair even when the conversation had died. The conversation they witness did surprise them with the amount of emotion that Kagome displayed; it was much different from what they were used to seeing from the academy's ice princess.

The onyx and brunette waited for the resting to girls to fully fall into slumber before grinning deviously to each other and creeping ever closer to their targets.

On the boulders still napping, Kagome and Asuka showed no signs of awakening anytime soon, and continued to doze on never perceiving the imminent.

Both Kagome and Asuka sputtered awake with water dripping down their face and to the sound of Junko and Momoe's combined laughter. Wiping the water from their faces as best they could, both girls looked to see the perpetrators, Junko and Momoe, swimming away laughter still pouring from their throats.

With their faces still dripping with water, Kagome and Asuka dove after their friends with faux anger even though their lips were twitching into insuppressible smiles. They soon caught up with their assailants and retaliated by splattering water back at them.

The retaliation rapidly transitioned to a water war involving the other patrons of the girls' side of the onsen when Junko and Momoe sought retribution and by standers were caught in the crossfire. Most of the remaining time at the onsen was spent with laughter, yells, and the sound of splashing water as every girl joined in or was dragged into the war. When the water war had settled done into mere water ripples, every female visitor's hair was dripping with water even if she had tied it up to keep it from getting soaked.

On the other side of the cliffs, the boys could only imagine what was happening over on the girls' side. Many of them were blushing dark tomato red because of what they were thinking.

Resting on the shores of the spring was Kagome, winded from the amount of fighting she had participated in with the other girls. A soft reminiscent smile lighted her face as she remembered all the water wars that she had participated in with her friends at Issei. She remembered all those days spent at the institute's lake where Suijin-sama's shrine was located, playing, fighting, and planning as the sun shone down on her and everyone there.

'_I miss Issei games,' _Kagome thought nostalgically. _'I wonder how an outsider would act if they participated in one?'_

Unlike what she had just part taken in, Issei water wars were complete chaos especially during the times when the water and ice elementals joined in and gave whichever team they were on the home field advantage. Those were quiet literally wars of water where thorough strategic planning had to be done for either sides to win.

It was another ten minutes of resting on shores before Kagome and her group left the onsen room and went to get changed.

Stepping into the locker room, the girls were greeted with a flurry of movement from other girls who were in the quarters prior to their entrance. Each girl walked up to their own lockers while evading the others that were passing by. Pulling their bags and other towels from their lockers, they headed over to the stalls and waited for one to be vacated. As she was waiting in line, Kagome unraveled her hair from its braid and bun.

Finally entering a stall, Kagome quickly unwrapped her onsen towel from her body and toweled herself off with her own violet towels and dried her long hair as best she could. She quickly pulled on her royal blue and white polka dotted satin bra with black lace trimming and matching colored and trimmed panties, and then shimmied on a pair of solid black spandex knee length leggings as she toed on her silver sandals. After she zipped up an emerald green V-neck thigh length half inch strap sundress with drawings of white and black flora decorated folding fans, a combination of both fully and varied partially opened, printed across the skirt, she tied the waist straps of the dress into a delicate wavy bow with the tails flowing down to the hem of the dress's skirt. Following that, she snapped her belt with her electronics in its place around her hips. Lastly, she brushed her hair out and allowed her long tresses to flow down her back to finish drying.

Before she exited the stall that she had been occupying, she stuffed her towels and other items back into her bag and draped the onsen's towels on her arm. Upon arriving back into the main quarters of the locker room, she deposited the towels in the bin that was against the wall with no lockers. Finishing that, she began scanning the crowded room for any of her friends who may also be done changing.

Not spotting anybody from her group, she weaved her way through the throng of teenage girls and headed out to the lobby to wait. She would rather be alone waiting in a fairly unoccupied opened area where everyone could be staring at her than be stuck in an overcrowded room with no air to breathe or space to move.

As she sat alone on one of the armchairs in the lobby, Kagome observed many of the other visitors leave the onsen out of boredom and a little bit out of her need to find a fiancé.

Being too busy scanning the crowd for her friends and suitable potential suitors, she never noticed Daisuke walk over to her until he spoke.

"Hey Higurashi-san," said Daisuke from behind Kagome's seat. "What are you up too?"

"Huh? Oh hey Daisuke-san," greeted Kagome, twisting her body around, after being startled from her observation. "I'm just waiting for my friends to come out."

"Ahh…" he sounded in understanding. "By the way, is there anything you want to do when we go hangout together?"

"We can discuss that after class on Wednesday," she smiled up at him. She was just about to continue speaking to him, but was interrupted by someone wearing a white skirt, the same one that she vaguely remember hearing Asuka talk about over the phone, appearing in front of her.

Looking up at the person, Kagome was met with Momoe staring at her and mentally shuddered when she saw the overly bright orange tank top printed with a smiling black outlined orange that her friend wore.

"Hey! Where have you been?" Momoe asked with a slight tilt of her head. "We've been looking all over for you."

"You guys probably just didn't look in the right place then." Her answer came out even, but slightly mocking to the right ear even with the friendly smile on her face.

"Oh, well come on the others are waiting for us in the hallway." Momoe stepped to the side and waited for the other raven to stand before taking her to the others.

Sighing lightly, almost inaudible, Kagome took Daisuke's offered hand and rose from her seat while giving a shake of her head. Just as she was about to say goodbye to Daisuke, Momoe grew impatient and grabbed her wrist and began dragging her away while telling her, "Tell your lover boy to see you later! The others are waiting."

As she was being pulled around, Kagome waved farewell to Daisuke, but her mind wondering, _'Lover boy? What's that about? And couldn't we all have just met in the lobby or something? We're going to have to leave through there anyways.'_

It wasn't long for all four girls to reunite their group and be on their way out of the onsen and back to the dormitory. When they had reunited, Kagome quickly noticed that Junko now wore black mid-calf capris with metal detailing like Asuka's capris had, a white T-shirt with printing of a random cartoon in color, and a denim jacket. Asuka on the other hand was garbed in a baby blue T-shirt with the words 'You got no dirt on me!' stenciled across the chest and a pair of forest green skinny jeans.

By the time the girls had finally arrived back to the dormitory, the sun had set behind the horizon for decent amount of time and dinner was just beginning to be served in the dining hall.

Smelling the mouthwatering scent of the night's delicacies, many of the girls that had also just arrived back, including Asuka, Junko, and Momoe, carrying bags or other items quickly dashed up stairs to their dorm rooms to deposit their belongings. With almost all of the other girls gone, Kagome calmly climbed stairs with the remaining more lax girls.

Easily by passing her room's security, she hurried into her closet and deposited her dirty laundry before leaving again. She hung her bag back up as she passed by the shelf that it belonged on and placed the hair ties that she had on to one of the counters available in her closet. Once everything that she had carried with her for the day was in its proper place, she headed out and downstairs to the dining hall to have her evening meal.

When she made it to the dining hall, Kagome did not join Asuka at her table like many in the chamber believed she would. Instead, the aloof raven surprised many of the girls by passing the current Obelisk queen's table and taking a seat at a far different table. If it wasn't surprising enough for the other teenagers that the raven and skipped over having dinner with one of the most popular girls at the academy, it was that she was sitting at the girls' headmistress's table.

Arriving at her Aunt Emi's table, Kagome did not seem to notice that with her simple actions she had caused her fellow students to once again stare at her in amazement as she greeted her aunt and took her seat.

The shock around the room soon dispersed among most of the students when the swinging doors of the kitchen burst open. Through the doors out poured the kitchen and hall servants carrying trays of the evening meal's dishes. Each dish was the same from student to student so that everyone would learn to vary their tastes; the only exceptions were students who were either vegetarian, vegan, or had a health condition. Monday had been the only exception to this as the students were still getting used to the school and would have been homesick.

Meal time had a more casual air than it did during the weekdays shown by not only the less tense atmosphere but also the change of the usual seven course meal to a simple two course, the main dish and dessert. This night's delicacy was Portobello mushroom and cheese ravioli swimming in thick creamy garlic Alfredo sauce and the dessert a simple but delicious red velvet cake frosted in cream cheese based frosting and drizzled in a zigzag pattern with pink tinted chocolate syrup.

Dinner progressed smoothly from the time the dishes were placed in front each individual and there on out. Many of the students spoke with each other as any other night while Kagome chatted away with the faculty members. Female academy faculties were to join the female Obelisk students for meals, and happily for her some of the faculty members that were at her and Aunt Emi's table had been her sort of babysitters from her visits to the island as a little girl.

Cheerful and wistful conversations filled the room and before many knew it, supper come to an end and it was time to either bathe or retreat to their quarters to converse with others.

Being one of the few to do neither, Kagome bid her pseudo family goodnight and made her way outside to continue her exploration from the night before.

Making sure to not think about the dark aura pools, she wandered back into the woods and began heading in the direction of the honor dorms. When she arrived at the forest edge that stood just before the metal gates of the honor dorms, she found Asuka walking down the dirt trodden path towards the abandoned housing.

Seeing her blonde haired friend come even closer, she quickly hid behind a tree and waited to see what would happen. As she did this her mind wondered, _'What's she doing here?'_

While she watched the blonde's approach the gates of the abandoned dorms, she was slightly surprise to see a single red rose held daintily in the girl's right hand. When she saw Asuka kneel to the ground and place the flower afore the one of the brick pillars stationed on either sides of the gateway, Kagome thought, _'This is probably where her brother was last seen, huh? Maybe the energy here was the cause of his disappearance.'_

Catching sight of Asuka's melancholy appearance before the girl turned around and left only confirmed the raven's suspicions.

'_I wonder if there's anything belonging to her that I can scavenge back for her. I know how much she misses,'_ Kagome thought as she set off on her trek back to her own dormitory. Her body trembled and her eyes shone with a good amount of fear when her own powers reminded her of the energy that was still lurking within those deserted walls.

Glancing back at the derelict student housing, her eyes fell on the single red rose lying on the ground. Her eyes harden in resolution as she promised herself to go back to that dormitory and find what she could of Asuka's brother to help her depressed friend. Now if only she could learn what was causing those somber auras to have come about?

Shortly thereafter, she arrived back to the opened grassy land surrounding her dormitory. Taking a look at the moon, she decided that she had just enough time for one last stroll around the housing before marching up to her room for a good round of drama programs. Turning towards the opposite direction of the dormitory doors, Kagome began roaming with her hands clasped behind her back as she listened to the soft sounds of the night. It was nearly three quarters of an hour later that the richly dressed, in many of the female students' opinion, entered through the doors of the dormitory and returned to her bedroom.

During her evening stroll, she had stumbled upon a platoon of security guards stationed around the girls' dormitory. She had found it strange that there were security guards stationed around the building, seeing as the island's defense wasn't all that tight in the first place. That is until she noticed just where the guards were stationed at and what logo was emblazed on their navy blue hats and matching uniforms.

After talking to the guards, she found out that her father had sent them in order to prevent any possible kidnapping attempts or attacks on her like when she had visited when she was a little girl. The Kaiba Corporation logo on the guards' uniforms was very telling of just how protective her father was of her, but she couldn't really blame him for it. He was just looking out for her like any other real parent would for their children. Unless they were part of the school's disciplinary committee who were dressed in a traditional forest green, the same green Issei uniforms are, attire like Kagome's Aunt Aoi was, then the standard school guards all adorn the Duel Academy crest on their black garbs.

Kagome had continued her nighttime wandering around the dormitory after saying her goodbye to her guards, some of whom may have possibly followed her until she returned though they were only supposed to be working when she was actually asleep. Before she had left the stationed guards, she had tried to convince them to no avail to not call her Kaiba-sama like they did with the rest of her immediate family. She didn't like the title as it reminded her of her father's adopted father, and she really didn't like the man especially after hearing the stories of how he had treated her father.

Upon arriving back in her room, she walked up to her media wall and turned on her television set and the DVD player. With both items on, she rummaged through the show collection that he father had placed in her room until she found the particular program she was looking for. Opening the box, she popped the disc housed within the box inside the DVD player.

Not wanting to wait for the disc to finish loading, Kagome went to change out of her clothing even though she had worn the dress and leggings for a brief time period. By the time the DVD had finally finished loading and had the main menu on the screen, she was clad in a cozy chocolate teddy bear printed coffee colored pajama shirt and matching bottoms and lying on her bed with the remotes for the television and the player settled next to her.

Clicking play, she waited for one of her favorite shows, an Anime series known as Case Closed or Detective Conan, to commence. It was one of her favorites because it was one of the few that she, Edo, and her brother all liked to watch; it was just a bonus that it was an Anime series, an obsession that she and Souta had. Both she and Edo love watching mystery, detective, criminal, or science related programs, but it was even better when they were all combined into one. Edo and she loved trying to figure out the actual culprit of the crimes committed in the shows, and whenever the other was wrong the loser would have buy a treat for the other.

It was a few episodes of Case Closed later with Kagome failing miserably at guessing the correct perpetrator of each crime that the teen turned off her electronics. Settling the remotes on her nightstand, she hit a button by her bed to turn off her room's lights.

Once all the lights had flickered off, she slid under her blanket and cuddled into her comfort of her pillow and bed. Even as her eyes drooped in drowsiness and sleepy smile spread on her lips, she eagerly awaited the arrival of Sunday, her customary rest day and the only day that she ever freely slept in.

It wasn't even ten minutes later that Kagome had finally slipped off to dream land, dreaming about happy tines that she spent with her friends and family.

* * *

Like I've said before the timeline is basically irrelevant in all cases to what happens in this story. If something is real in our present time then I may very well add it to the story. My early new year present this year, Happy Chinese New Year! (January 23rd this year!)

On a side note, everyone who remembers that hair tip I gave them about conditioner, right? If you live a dry and overly hot place like Riverside, California or Las Vegas, Nevada, don't use it! In this case instead use a small amount of conditioner and apply it to the lower ends of your hair. Once the lower end is completely soaked bring it to the top of your head and rub it light against the rest of your hair. Let the conditioner set and soak for about three to five minutes. By doing it this way you're using just enough conditioner to keep your hair moisturized and not creating an overdose of oil for your scalp.

Arashiko is the name I chose for this possibly one time OC. If you haven't been able to guess with the description of her hair and eyes, her name means storm child. Food items and their descriptions can be found by using Google or Wikipedia.


	9. A Disturbed Sunday Morning

**The Duel Champion's Daughter**

**Disclaimer:** I do **NOT** own either Inuyasha or Yu-Gi-Oh GX

**Summary: **Seto Kaiba's eldest child, Kagome Akemi Higurashi Kaiba, is being sent to attend Duel Academy to take up her father's title of Duel Monsters Champion, but will she be able to take the title while also looking for a husband to be. Begins in Season 1 of GX and will basically be AU with original Japanese versions explanations in ranking and scoring.

Reminder: People I revise my stories often, VERY often.

AN 1: Everyone who participated in guessing who was in the hallway during Kagome and Edo's conversation, you'll get to see if you're right or wrong in this chapter. If you guys haven't notice I do have a deviantart and a facebook page that I use tell you how far along I am with chapters or when I am going to be posting them up.

AN 2: I appreciate the reviews and comments from everyone, but DON'T request pairings. All pairing requests will go unheard as they have already been decided and set in stone before I had even started writing this story. I do NOT take pairing requests. If you don't like the pairings I decide in the end then please leave and find a story that will suit your tastes. Do NOT try to force pairings down my throat. There are several pairings that aren't a secret and they are AsukaJudai, HitomiSouta, and SangoMiroku. So no, Kagome will not be paired with Judai and she will not go after. She's not going to be the type of person to steal her friend's love interest unless it's by accident. There are plenty of other pairings in this story, but none that will be given until it is time for them to show. You can continue guessing the end pairing, but Do NOT request!

"Speech"

_'Thoughts'_

"**English"**

* * *

_Last Time on The Duel Champion's Daughter:_

_It was a few episodes of Case Closed later with Kagome failing miserably at guessing the correct perpetrator of each crime that the teen turned off her electronics. Settling the remotes on her nightstand, she hit a button by her bed to turn off her room's lights._

_Once all the lights had flickered off, she slid under her blanket and cuddled into her comfort of her pillow and bed. Even as her eyes drooped in drowsiness and sleepy smile spread on her lips, she eagerly awaited the arrival of Sunday, her customary rest day and the only day that she ever freely slept in._

_It wasn't even ten minutes later that Kagome had finally slipped off to dream land, dreaming about happy tines that she spent with her friends and family._

**This Time on The Duel Champion's Daughter**

Sunday came bright and early, and like any other Sunday in her educational career, Kagome spent most of the morning sound asleep just as any other child would do when given the opportunity. Sunday was the only day of the week that she could make up hours of sleep lost during the school week. If it had been any other Sunday and our pale skinned beauty had a choice, she would have continued sleeping until close to noon before she had to awaken to begin studying ahead of her peers for her courses.

Sadly for Kagome, someone had a different idea of what the raven could be doing. That same person was also loudly knocking on the hickory wood door to awaken our sleeping raven with several well placed raps.

Groggily rising from her bed, Kagome slowly approached her bedroom door all the while grumbling obscenities about people waking her at this god forsaken hour. Rubbing her eyes as she opened the heavy security door, she answered with none of her usual poise or manners but rather irritability, "What do you want?"

Her very appearance showed her visitor just how horrible of an idea is was to have awoken her. Her normally gentle dark blue eyes shone with her ill-temper and ire, and her dark bangs shadowed her eyes causing the blue orbs to shine as if a bear was peering out of its cave while she glowered up at the person. A person gifted with or trained in aura sight would have seen just how cross the pretty girl was, judging by the ominous air surrounding her.

If no one had yet to notice, Kagome was not a morning person. She actually just didn't like being woken up really, no matter when or how late in morning it is.

_Prior to Visiting Kagome_

On Sunday morning, many students, if they were awake and about, could find Ryo Marufuji, the school's Kaiser, dressed in his daily uniform while carrying his laptop and making his way over to the girls' dormitory. If it hadn't been for his acquaintance with Asuka Tenjouin and her brother, Fubuki Tenjouin, people would be questioning his actions. Thankfully the sheep had just brushed off his journey as him needing to speak with Asuka despite that not being the case… at least not the right person anyways.

Ryo was indeed heading over to the girls' living quarters to speak to a person and that person was the academy's resident ice princess and his business class partner, Kagome Higurashi. He needed to speak with her because unlike her, he had not been able to weasel out enough information to type up the profile assignment that was due the coming Friday. When he had walked Kagome back to her dormitory last Friday he had believed that he had acquired enough information to complete his assignment. However, when he had begun to organize his notes and type his biography, he had found that most of the information he had retrieved was redundant with some exceptions. None of which was enough to help write a full two page paper.

Though they had spent only a minimal amount of time together, he had found that his enigmatic partner was a brutal business woman, taking any advantage she could and being shrewd whenever possible, giving another reason for her school title. The few things that he had learned about Kagome had been trivial things such as her age, favorite colors (blue and silver), food, music, and etcetera along with her contact information (though he wouldn't be including that in his essay), appearance, the answers she gave during the lesson, and the painful freebie of her martial arts ability. He had also learned from her after much bargaining on his side how her education had been like though he had been unable to retrieve what school she had attended and where she was from while she had learned a good deal about his family and life before the academy. Aside from these facts about her, he had discovered a couple others prior to the appointment of the assignment. Those being the dark haired girl's fluency in English, her familial relationship with the cafeteria chef Aoi, and her love of swimming telling by how many times he had seen her floating in the water at different times of the day.

Shaking his head lightly to dispel his slight frustration at how a classmate, a female two years his junior at that, was able to evade his prodding. His lips spread into a taunting smirk as Ryo thought of the challenge that Kagome Higurashi was proving to be, and he had eagerly awaited the arrival of anyone who may be able to push him to or even pass his limits. There had been little to no competition or tasks to overcome in the two years that he had risen to the top of Duel Academy, something that he had relished in as a child. Now that his class partner was proving to be just what he had been waiting for, he welcomed her puzzle like person into his life.

Shortly arriving at the dormitory's front doors, Ryo rather than knock on the doors pressed the building's available doorbell that was to the right of the door and blended in with the walls surrounding it. The bell rang a charming and delightful, but unknown tune of chiming bells to notify the building's residents of his arrival.

It wasn't but a few moments after the bell finished singing its song that the wooden door swung open to only reveal one of the residents, and judging by her age and uniform she was one of the Obelisk students.

"Ohayo gozaimasu Kaiser-sama," greeted the electric red haired girl a little too perkily once her pale baby green eyes landed on the stoic third year's form. The moment her eyes were fixated on Ryo's figure, the girl's green eyes figuratively transformed into large pulsing pink hearts and smaller imaginary hearts ranging from white and pink bubbled up and floated around her red head. "Is there _anything _I can do for you?" she asked placing special emphasis on the word anything.

'_Great,'_ thought Ryo sarcastically while looking at the girl with distaste that did not show on his face. _'A fangirl and based off her initial reaction to me a first year one at that. At least she'll know where Higur—Kagome's room is.'_

"Ohayo," he replied out of the sake of just being polite. "Could you direct me towards Kagome's dorm room?"

The red head's flirty smile quickly fell from her face and into a slight frown at the mention of her fellow year mate. "Sumimasen Kasier-sama. Unfortunately, I don't know where Higurashi-sama's room is. Most of us here don't actually," she said with dejection.

"Hn," hummed Ryo, slight annoyance lacing his tone.

"But Asuka-sama might know where she stays!" the first year quickly interjected fearing that her Kaiser-sama would dismiss her as useless and an idiot. "I can get her for you, if you want," she continued, desperate to keep Ryo's attention on herself for as long as possible.

Ryo only nodded in acceptance of the girl's offer as he was invited inside by the green eyed girl, who introduced herself to him as Yasu Nishimura ヤス西村. Once he was inside the dormitory, he was left standing by his lonesome at the center of the entrance hall as Yasu dashed off to locate Asuka and bring her to him.

During the time that he was alone, he observed the surroundings of his current position and looking for any alterations that may have been made since his last visit to the girls' dormitory for a date that he had not wanted. In the process of his observations, he found that the few people awake were in turn observing him from the stair railings of the levels above and that not much of the place had changed. Nodding in acknowledgment to the girls above, he turned away from them and continued waiting for Yasu to return in silence.

It was several minutes later that Yasu trotted down the staircase from the immediate flight above and finally returned to the entrance hall with a fully awake Asuka in tow.

Dressed in her school uniform as Yasu was, Asuka greeted her friend as she walked up to him, "Ohayo Ryo."

"Ohayo," Ryo answered, returning the greeting once he turned to face the blonde. Both Ryo and Asuka silently dismissed Yasu as they continued their conversation with each other, not wanting anyone to learn of any sensitive information.

"What are you doing here?" the blonde asked as she led Ryo up the flight of stairs to her room so that they could have some privacy. "We usually meet up at the lighthouse."

"I was told that you know the location of Kagome's room, and I need to see her for our project."

"What class could you even have with Kagome? First years don't have any classes that coincide with the third years."

"Business," he answered briskly.

Asuka could blink owlishly at the answer he gave. _'How the heck did Kagome get into a third year's class?' _she thought as she redirected her destination and led Ryo up another flight of stairs rather than stopping on the first flight as she had intended. "Okay… Well Kagome's room is a bit different from the rest of ours, but it's pretty hard to miss."

Ryo nodded is his head in understanding even though Asuka would not hear his answer as he continued to follow her up several more flights of stairs until they reached the highest landing.

His blonde friend led him down the hall the second left and continued walking. When she finally did stop, he found that they were at the very end of the hall and standing in front of a very ornately designed door. Just as he was about to knock on the door, Asuka interrupted him with a warning.

"Just to be fair so you didn't come here for nothing, you should probably know Kagome might not be here at the moment. She's usually up and out of the dorms before the rest of us are even up…" she trailed off, looking over at Ryo from where she was standing next to him.

He again nodded in acknowledgement of her words, but continued with what he had been in the process of doing. He rapped his right hand sharply against the surface of the carved door causing the knocks to resound through the hall. His knuckles grazed across and pressed into the smooth ridges of door's carving leaving soft indentions on his skin from knocking.

When several minutes passed and Kagome still had not answered the door, Asuka figured that the raven was outside working out like she had been told she did. She was soon proven wrong when the door swung in, surprising the duo, to reveal a very grumpy and dark Kagome still clad in her pajamas.

"What do you want?" the sleepy raven ground out through clenched teeth. Her voice sounded more like a rough growl dripping with annoyance than her normal sweet polite one.

"Um…O-ohayo Kagome," stuttered out Asuka, startled that her friend had actually been in the room. "What are you doing here?"

"It's my room, why shouldn't I be here?" she snapped, her irritation growing from having been awakened. "Whatever you want, just spit it out so I can go back to sleep," she growled.

'_Why are you still asleep? It's already past ten!' _Asuka exclaimed to herself mentally. Before she could tell her what she needed, she was interrupted by the original reason for going up to Kagome's room.

"I need to know more about you for our profile project," Ryo stated as he stepped in front of Asuka, reminding Kagome that she not just one visitor but two.

"Yes, yes, yes whatever," Kagome waved off as she rubbed her left eye with the corresponding hand. Covering a yawn with her free hand, she turned her head back into to her room to check the time. She growled in frustration to herself when she saw the blinking red numbers._ 'Oh great, I'll never get back sleep now,'_ she mentally grumbled.

"Just come in, already," she sighed as she ran a hand through her unruly hair while stepping to the side and opening her door wider for both students to enter.

The two older students quietly strolled into the younger girl's room and were quietly surprised at the difference between her room and theirs. Ryo was respectful enough to keep his thoughts to himself;

Asuka on the other hand was much more vocal. "Wow… I knew your room's special, Kagome, but I didn't think it'd be so much nicer than ours. You don't even have to share it with anyone."

"Whatever," she yawned again, letting her door slam close as she walked away from it and across her room to her closet. "You don't have to stand you know?" she continued, gesturing to the sofa by the foot of her bed before disappearing through closet's door.

"Oh... where are you going?" asked Asuka, once she and Ryo had taken a seat on the aforementioned sofa.

"Where do ya think? I'm not going to talk to anyone in my pjs!" Kagome yelled from within her closet. "Just make yourselves comfortable and don't break anything!"

"If you say so," Asuka mumbled to herself.

As the conversation flowed between the two first years, Ryo listened with interest as he mentally jotted down notes about how Kagome interacts with others. As he listened in on the conversation, he looked around Kagome's room and he was quiet surprised by what he saw. When the conversation died, he and Asuka were left to observe Kagome's room in silence while seated on her couch.

Kagome's room as compared to any other students' room was at the very least twice as large, and the technology available in the room was much more extensive and new. The room looked more as if it was furnished for a person who had been living there before and would be for long term.

Becoming tired of just sitting down, Ryo rose from his seat and ambled over to the white wood library stand, his footsteps echoing softly across the wooden floors and Asuka following closely behind. When he stood before the shelves, he began searching for a book that would catch his interest.

While Ryo read through the titles of the different books available, Asuka took a few steps further to stand before Kagome's knickknack and picture riddled office desk. Stepping closer to the desk, she studied a few of the pictures and knickknacks that were closest to her on the desk. Glancing over the photographs, the blonde unsurprisingly found younger versions of her aloof raven haired friend usually surrounded by a group of other similarly age, sometimes older or younger, people. Upon closer inspection, she was surprised to find Kagome was smiling brightly with large grins or just plain laughing in practically every photo she looked at.

'_She looks so happy in these pictures. I've never seen her smile or laugh like that with us,' _thought Asuka with one of the picture frames held in her hands. '_I wonder what made her be so cold to others.'_

Lying securely within the frame was a picture of a ten year old Kagome hugging a squirming little boy with similar features. The Kagome in the frame was dressed in what Asuka presumed to be her elementary uniform. The uniform consisted of a puffy short sleeved white blouse, a black vest buttoned up over the blouse, a pleated forest green skirt, and finishing off the outfit was a large fluffy skirt matching bow tie around the blouse's collar.

The boy, who was clad in a white polo shirt with a forest green collar and stripes at the end of the sleeves and a pair of black trousers, was no doubt Kagome's younger brother or at the very least a close relative. He had the same black blue hair and dark blue eyes as his older relative, but whereas Kagome's skin was pale his was lightly tanned showing how much time he spent outdoors. He may have been struggling against the older raven's hold, but he had a laughing smile plastered across his young face.

Gently setting down the frame, one of the rare pure glass ones, Asuka moved further away from Ryo and to the other side of the desk to only pick up another glass photo frame.

At the same time, Ryo's eyes landed on a set of richly colored, mostly jewel toned, leather bound binders with gold decorations inscribed on the spines. His hands grazed across the binders until it rested on the spine of the binder to the farthest right of the set, a golden brown one. Sliding it off the shelf and flipping it over to its cover, he discovered that the binder was more like a book and had the same gold on the spine decorating the covers.

On the front cover of the brown binder knitted together in large flowing gold script were the words Duel Monsters and right underneath were the English initials K. A. H. K. written in Edwardian Script ITC font. Bordering the cover's edges were thin lines of swirling gold that thickened and thinned in the appropriate places. Lying within the several circles formed by the golden swirls were small individual drawings of the seven millennium items.

Flipping open the front cover, Ryo was greeted with the sight of a champagne gold cover page with flora designs patterned in a slightly darker gold and words printed in white gold but outlined in an even darker gold. Reading the words inked onto the page, he found Kagome's first name printed near the top and what were apparently the initials of the rest of her name centered right underneath. His eyes scanned over the rest of the paper to only find the year that the book had been started, which had been nearly half a decade ago, and the year it was completed, a mere year and a half later. Scrolling further down, he learned of the collection sets that were contained in this particular book/binder, and they were Dark Magicians, Allure Queen, Spirit Envoys, Gravekeepers, Pikeru and Curran, Ice Barriers, and Other Humanoid Spellcasters.

Just as he was about to turn the page to see what exactly was hidden within the book and Asuka was about to examine the photo, when a voice shouted loudly from behind freezing him in his actions and causing to Asuka to jump and nearly drop the glass frame she was holding.

"What the hell are you doing with Kagome-chan's stuff?" a feminine voice demanded. "Where's Kagome-chan? What have you done with her?"

Quickly turning around to where the voice came from, the teal and blonde haired duo came face to face with the magenta shadowed angry chocolate brown eyes of a slightly tanned but still pale skinned girl about their age. The girl had her dark brown hair tied up in a ponytail and from what Asuka and Ryo could see she was clad in a skin tight black long sleeved top that faded into shimmering magenta on the lower body and striped the sleeves.

As the girl questioned them again, the two visitors could only blink in surprise at the digital screen that the girl was projected on.

"Well," the girl said with her hands placed on her hips and eyes furious. The rapid tapping of her foot could be heard echoing through the speakers that were setup around the room loud and clear. "Answer me!" she demanded, cocking her hip to the side and crossing her arms under her chest. Her eyes blazed with righteous fury over the invasion of her friend's privacy and her supposed disappearance.

Ryo continued to stare on in silence while Asuka could only open and close her mouth as she tried to find a way to answer the intimidating girl.

"What's with all the yelling? Isn't it bad enough already that you've already woken me at this unholy hour?" Kagome cried as she exited her closet and pulled her hair into a ponytail with her eyes closed. Her body was now clad in a long sleeved solid violet purple leotard and a pair of blue jean shorts; adorning her feet were a pair of matching violet purple sneakers and white ankle socks. When she didn't receive a response from either one of her guests, her eyes snapped open to see both Ryo and Asuka stiffly holding an item within their hands as they stared at her media wall. Cocking her head to the side, she was just starting to ask them what was wrong when she finally recognized what exactly were held in the two's grasps.

Her worry over the two soon ebbed away and a gleam of anger sparked within the blue pools of her eyes. Knowing her immediate family's secret could soon be exposed, Kagome's simmering anger swiftly came to a boil. The book in Ryo's hands was one of her first Duel Monsters card collector books, and every single one of those same books had captions underneath the cards. Each caption stated when and how she had come into possession of the above card and who it was that had given her the card what the person was to her. It didn't help that the frame Asuka held contained a particular photograph that would either expose her or make her seem like a crazed fan.

"What do you think you're doing with my belongings, Ryo-san, Asuka-san?" she asked with a deadly calm that she had learned from her father and best guy friend. Her ire shined clearly in the dark depths of her sapphire orbs and a slight frown indicated her displeasure at her friend and partner's snooping. Her miko energy began to pour out of her and if another holy person or a youkai had been around, they would have seen her energy begin to crack dangerously.

If it had been any other case that did not involve her family and required planning, Kagome would have had a faux serene smile plastered across her face. Like most other children of the Higurashi when an issue angers them but does not endanger their family, a serene mask will be used as they plotted their revenge. Kagome and Kikyo were drowning in this same false serenity when they conspired to oust Inuyasha of his two-timing ways. If anyone saw a Higurashi show this side of him/her, they knew to run for the proverbial hills as the person the smile was for would be wishing they had never crossed the sunset child. It was much more frightening to see a furious person smiling than it is seeing him/her scowling, glaring, or yelling.

"Don't you think you should put that back?" she suggested as she took several steps closer to where and Ryo and Asuka stood. With each step she took, her eyes darened in color and harden into frosty glaciers.

Neither Ryo nor Asuka was able to answer Kagome as they both gulped in slight panic and hastily placed the items back to their origin. When they turned back to face Kagome, both older students' bodies unconsciously relaxed upon seeing that the raven no longer looked like a cat about to pounce. Though invisible to them both, Kagome's energy continued to surround and whip about in irritation as they had yet to notice her eyes were still ice cold.

"Um, I see that you're busy Kagome-chan," the brunette on the screen said, breaking the beginning of an awkward silence as she took pity on the two with her friend. It was one thing to wake the raven up early on a Sunday, but it was double the trouble when you did that and made her angry.

"Eh," Kagome sounded, snapping out of her rage induced mindset and stopping in her tracks at the very familiar voice. She blinked idly for moment as she tried to collect herself before pivoting on her feet to face her media wall, her hair whipping behind her. "Sango-chan?" she questioned curiously once she saw her best girlfriend's image being projected on the digital screen.

"Hey," the now identified Sango replied while her eyes closed into crescents and her body relaxed from its provoked stance.

"What are you doing on my tv?" Kagome asked, her face set in a puzzled expression as her mind continued to catch up with her. She even temporarily forgot about the two visitors in her room. "Better yet, how are you even on there?" she added as she brought a finger to tap thoughtfully against her chin.

"Who do you think got me here? There aren't many people who are more tech savvy than you, but there's only one who's willing to do this," Sango hinted, a teasing smile blossoming across her face. As she watched her dear friend figure out which of their classmates would help her do this, Sango couldn't help but glance over at Kagome's visitors.

She had to bite the inside of her cheek to stifle the rising need to burst out laughing at the expression that the two made. She didn't want to draw attention to them especially after just saving them from Kagome's wrath. Her friend's temper and wrath was quite legendary in the institution just all the other Higurashi children, the sweet ones that is. Her younger friend could be quite vicious and vindictive when she wanted to; just look at what she and her cousin had done to Inuyasha! It didn't help that Kagome's other best friend was Sesshomaru Taisho, student council president of Issei's high school division, student director of the business department, and one of the school's most ruthless and coldest student.

She felt a sudden chill of fear crawl up her spine at just thought of Sesshomaru, quickly killing her amusement. There were very few people that the cold upperclassman opened up to and Kagome had just happened to be one of them. Only a complete moron like Inuyasha would have opposed Sesshomaru when he was angry. He had been terrifying during Kagome's rescue operation back in February though that may have been because the person behind the kidnapping was one of his fangirls, the president of it no less. Then again the whole school had been a frenzy to save one of their own.

Kagome blinked owlishly at the digital image of her friend for a brief moment before her eyes glazed over as she sunk into her thoughts. Being the heiress of a gaming company, her father had made sure she was well versed with all things computer related. Her computer skills had only evolved when she had entered junior high; the time in which all Issei students were taught about computer hacking, tracking, and all that good stuff though not many were adept at using the skills taught. The best students, the top five percent that were graduating from the junior high division, were placed in a program for a year to work together to insure the digital security of the institution's data base, which included practically anything and everything.

'_Now who were the only people with better computer skills than me to be able to hack into my gear?'_ Kagome thought with a thoughtful frown and a small crease formed between her brows. Various names swirled around her mind before a mental list appeared with several names already disappearing, shortening the list.

'_The person most definitely can't be under the junior high division. None of the students learn anything about digital tracking until second year and they don't learn how to hack into a system for at least another month. So that leaves everybody in the security program from the last three years and the entering third years.'_ Mentally, Kagome's list vastly shortened from the many names to only sixty, but as more factors came to mind more and more names disappeared from her list.

'_That's still a good amount of people,'_ she mentally sighed as she reviewed her list, having eliminated all her peers that fell short. _'At least it's better than going through all sixty names. Thank Kami-sama for the last tournament.'_

Students in the security program had an annual competition to determine who the best of their groups was. Alumni weren't allowed to participate, but the incoming programmers were. The competition lasted for a month, and each competitor had to build a safety system while trying to track and hack into another person's system. The tournament was a free-for-all battle royal, and no one was allowed to help one another to gang up on a common foe. To notify a person that they had lost, the hacker would insert a small virus that the loser had to eradicate as punishment for slacking off. Whenever a person lost, their name and IP address would automatically be marked off. She and the others were just lucky that no one was allowed to use a system destruct virus in their game.

At the last competition, she had come in eighth place and had to deal with a nasty little bug that took nearly three days to remove. The seven that currently out ranked her, starting from the best, were Sesshomaru Taisho; youkai, Naraku Akuryō; hanyou, Renkotsu Shichinintai; monk and assassin, Shippo Tejina; youkai, Hiten Kaminari; youkai, Muso Saishi; priest, and Kanna Akuryō; youkai.

'_Now which of them is actually willing to help Sango with something like this? Not many of them are friendly with her,' _continued Kagome's musing not noticing that she mumbling aloud.

Behind Kagome and in front of Sango, both Asuka and Ryo just watched on in a slight daze. They didn't know what the hell was going on. One moment they were being yelled out by the random digital girl, next Kagome looked as if she was about to kill them, and now they were being completely ignored or had been seemingly forgotten.

Asuka, currently wide-eyed and shaking, didn't know what to do at the moment. On one hand she felt pinching herself to see if she was actually awake, but on the other hand she didn't want to draw Kagome's attention to her from the yelp of pain that would be sure to come. _'So she's one of Kagome's friends, huh? She can't be that bad of a person; she just distracted Kagome for us and was only trying to keep her safe,'_ she thought to herself as she and Ryo waited for Kagome and this Sango would finish talking. _'It was really bad idea to go snooping around, but why would she get so mad over a picture and a book?' _Her blonde brows furrowed at this small fact before she brushed it away and waited for Kagome's conversation to end in anxious silence.

Ryo didn't mind being ignored, but being forgotten actually hurt his male pride. It really didn't help that he was being ignored because it was another girl that his partner was talking to. _'Maybe this is as good as any to get more information on for that paper,'_ he admitted. Giving himself an almost unnoticeable nod, he fixed his attention on his secretive partner to learn anything he could.

As both watched the conversation, which was currently on pause with both dark hair girls lost in their own thoughts. Time trickle along slowly as neither girls spoke to each, but both Ryo and Asuka caught faint mumbles come from Kagome. They were pretty sure that the younger girl hadn't noticed it, but they were close enough to make out what she was saying.

"Most definitely can't be aniki or Toran-san." "She hates him." "He wouldn't help unless he got something out of it."

These few murmured sentences left both students in nearly complete confusion as they had no inkling of who the raven was trying find. The only thing they knew about the person was that he or she was better at technology than Kagome, leading to the belief that the person was a talented hacker.

It was several moments later that Kagome suddenly snapped her fingers and her head jerked up, startling all three persons with her. "Shippo," she declared with triumph at having finally deduced her hacker. "It was Shippo-kun that helped you, the only prankster in our program."

A pleased grin spread across her lips as Sango gave a nod of confirmation and responded with a wide grin of her own. Her eyes went wide for a moment before narrowing in suspicion at her friend when her own words finally processed through. "Why would he help you?" she asked, her narrowed eyes shifting to an accusing glare and her grin slipping away to a flat line though the corners were still turned upwards.

"'Cause we're friends," Sango answered swiftly with a casual shrug of her shoulders, looking completely cool. Inwardly the brunette was sweating bullets as she silently pleaded to the gods above, _'Oh crap! She was supposed to be asleep when I called! Kami-sama, please don't let her catch on to the prank Shippo was helping me with. I can't afford to having her angry with me.' _After that prayer, she began swearing up a storm in the privacy of her mind about the losing a good prank and the possibility of whatever Kagome would think of as revenge. Just because curse words and other such things had been trained to not pass through her lips, didn't mean she couldn't use them in her own thoughts. She quite vividly remembers the winter solstice gala from two years ago.

Kagome searched her friend over any signs of deception with her sapphire eyes. When she finally deemed her friend to be truthful her eyes, face, and entire body relaxed into how she normally was with her friends back home. "So, what's up?" she asked while her right hand took hold of the elbow on her other arm, keeping both arms in front of her. She had no trouble believing her friend and letting said friend to see her vulnerable. After all, Sango's always had her back.

"Just calling to check up on you," the older girl answered and then adding on, "By the way, Midoriko-sama and Hoshiyomi-sensei told me to pass this along. I have another one from Hitomiko-sempai and Hari-san."

"We had an international meeting already?" Kagome questioned, blinking in surprise before answering. "What's the message?"

"Yeah, it was just last night. A digital one though, the actual one won't be for a few months," confirmed Sango as she unfolded a sheet of paper that she had pulled from somewhere. "Midoriko-sama and Hoshiyomi-sensei both said to get training from your aunt while you're studying at your new school."

A dejected okay came slipped from Kagome as she was reminded that she wasn't at Issei anymore. "What about the others?"

"Sempai said, actually this is for all the girls here. Don't slack off! We don't want to beat just because you weren't able to get the proper training like the rest of us," Sango read from the paper she had taken out. Looking up from the paper, she gave her friend a glare and adding, "You better not! I want to win the tournament fairly."

"Oi! Who says you're going to beat me!" Kagome exclaimed with mock indignation, a playful smile blossoming. "If anyone needs to train, then it's you and Hitomiko-san."

"Hmph…just you wait Kagome-chan, you're going to get it when I see you," the brunette grumbled. "And Hari-san says that she can't wait to see you again and she wants to know why you're not here."

"Okay…why didn't she just call? She has my number," Kagome asked herself, not expecting an answer.

"Long-distance calls are expensive, Kagome-chan. Not everyone gets to win prize money, you know?"

"Huh? Oh…okay."

"And Kagome-chan…"

"Yes?"

"Get your aunt to check you over. You didn't go to your last physical and we don't need something to be wrong with you physically," Sango ordered with concern for her sister like friend, but mentally adding on, _'Or psychologically.'_

"Kay," Kagome replied with a sigh before telling Sango goodbye and to call her next time instead.

"See you at the end of month and don't be late!" reminded Sango as she bid farewell. She then turned her attention back to the pair that stood behind her friend seemingly forgotten and warned them, "Next time you need to see Kagome-chan on a Sunday wait until lunch. It'll probably be better for your health."

With that said and her good deed done for the day, Sango ended the transmission causing the television screen blinked out.

Once the screen hand completely returned to its blank black state, Kagome had stared at it blankly until she finally remembered who else she had previously been speaking with. One she had, she immediately whirled back around to face her two visitors, her long hair sweeping against the back of her legs. A content smile was spread across her lips as she called out to the duo before her, now much more pleasant than she had been before.

"Gomen ne for my rude behavior," Kagome apologized as she began to walk over to her bed to fix it. "But next time you want to look through my things, just ask and wait for the okay," she sighed after a small pause in which she pulled her sheets and put her pillows back into place.

"Gomen," chorused Ryo and Asuka together with apologetic bow though the bow went unseen by the person it was directed to, too busy tidying up her bed. Both older students felt slightly ashamed and a bit embarrassed to say the least for snooping when they could have waited and ask.

"Alright Ryo-san, ask away," Kagome announced with a flourish of her hand as she moved pass Asuka and grabbed her laptop, now finished with her chore. She might already be done with her own assignment, but it didn't hurt to improve it. She then plopped herself down on her couch and turned on her computer. Looking around the area between herself and her media wall while she waited for the laptop to load, she thought, _'Maybe I should get a coffee table and another couch or something in here? This isn't really all that great for having guests.'_

"Hn," Ryo was the only sound he made in recognition of she said. He followed her example and sat himself beside the raven and took out his own computer to type down any and all information he had and would gain.

The awkward silence that had threatened to engulf the trio earlier had once begun to settle in causing Asuka to shift nervously. Finally steeling herself, she headed over to where both her dark haired friends sat and asked, "Ne Kagome, who's the little boy in one of the pictures with you?"

Kagome blinked at the abrupt question though she had been expecting them and answered it with one of her own, "Which one? I have a lot of pictures."

"You and he were both dressed in green uniforms, and it was just the two of you. The photo is in one of the glass frames," the blonde quickly supplied.

"Oh, that's Souta. He's my—" she would have continued on, but had remembered that Ryo was there and what there assignment had been.

"He's your what?" the blonde prodded, wondering why her friend had suddenly clammed up.

Kagome shook her head in a negative and explained, "I can't tell you while he's here." At this she jerked a thumb towards Ryo. "Our assignment is that we have to bargain our way to get the information we need or want."

"Alright, so you won't answer anything I ask while he's here?" Receiving a negative, Asuka sighed to herself in defeat and said, "Alright. Then I'll see the both you later." She waved goodbye to the two and headed for the door without worry. She was only willing to leave the two alone as she knew that Ryo was gentleman enough to not try anything with her younger friend.

Kagome watched her friend leave through her wooden doors before she turned towards Ryo, giving him full her attention. "So?" she drawled after several minutes of just hearing the fingers racing across a keyboard.

Ryo heard her and only nodded in recognition as he continued to finish typing up the notes of what had occurred a few minutes ago. When he was finally finished, he looked up from his screen and directing his attention towards the raven.

"How did you like the freebies?" the raven asked as she pulled her legs up and scooting to the one end of the couch, laptop still on her lap. She had decided to go a little easier on the older boy this time. She didn't like having people fail, which was one of her reasons for being a part of the tutor program at Issei. Plus she really just wanted to get on with the rest of her day. Doing homework was not what she had listed on her things to do on Sundays. That's what her Saturdays were for.

"They were interesting to say the least," Ryo commented. "Is this how all your Sundays are like?" he asked lightly

"No, usually everyone knows not to bother me," Kagome answered. "If you hadn't noticed already, I'm not really a morning person.

"Hn," he hummed, not bothering to type down what she had said in favor of observing the girl. This tidbit had been one of the first things he had written down.

Several moments passed on in silence until Kagome, feeling unnerved from the staring, snapped, "Do you want to finish the assignment or are you going to continue to just stare at me?" She finished her outburst with a glare directed at her partner as she waited for his reaction.

Mentally she was ranting to herself, cursing his staring. Subconsciously though, she had to admit that his staring didn't creep her out and that she kind of…liked it.

'_What's his problem? His staring is seriously starting to remind me of freaking Hojo and Muso!'_

Both boys were practically her stalkers, one actually was a stalker, and whenever she would see them she'd catch them watching her. They both really freaked her out. It didn't help that Muso was one of her classmates at Issei and on her rival gymnastics, so she had never really been able to avoid him. At least he kept his distance and if he didn't his older fraternal twin brother, Naraku, could keep him in line. Hojo, on the other, was the president of her fanclub, and well…she had put a restraining order against him after a while. The guy was nice and everything, but he had found her home and had tried to crawl into her bedroom to get into her bed. Thank Kami-sama that she had been staying at her father's home that weekend and that her cousin Satoshi, who had temporarily moved into the shrine, was the one to find Hojo. At that last reminder, Kagome visibly shuddered.

"Sumimasen, I hadn't realized I was doing it," Ryo apologized as he continued to study her. He hadn't been very surprised by her sudden question after watching her for several minutes. Though when he saw a tremor befall the raven's body his curiosity had been stirred, wanting to know what had caused the shaking. "I do want to finish this assignment as soon as possible though."

"Then let's get started," the raven announced, ignoring the obvious lie. "What's your first question?"

"Who's Sango-san to you?" he asked, turning his body to face hers.

"And what information are you willing to trade for the answer?" Kagome retorted with a raised eyebrow. While she spoke, she opened a document labeled R. Marufuji. When it finally appeared on the screen, she placed her hands on her keyboard with her fingers at the ready.

"Information on what Asuka is to me," was the quick response from Ryo. _'Why would she even want to know about such a thing?'_ he asked himself, completely bewildered on why he had blurted that out.

"Fair enough," she shrugged, not really caring. "Sango-chan's been my best friend since elementary school and my team mate and captain."

Ryo nodded at the new data, his finger clicking against the keys of his laptop, as he supplied his own response. He did not bother trying to ask another question yet, remembering the rules they had set up. "Asuka is one of the few I consider friends on this island. We met through her older brother during middle school."

The next hour flew by in much the same way with the two partners easily exchanging information as their fingers flew across their keyboards. As the hour passed by, Ryo noticed how much easier it had been to extract information from his underclassman this time. She still avoided any directed questions about her family aside from how many members were there. He was growing frustrated again. Not because of the challenge that he had expected, but at how forthcoming his partner was being.

When the first hour came to a close, he had had enough. With a disappointed frown set on his lips and a wrinkle between his brows, he abruptly set his laptop on the couch and rose from his seat. Once he was standing, he stalked over to Kagome's side of the couch and stared down at her.

While Ryo had left the couch, Kagome continued to type away at her keyboard. She continued typing even as his figure towered over her, his warmth brushing against her side, and she became surrounded by his shadow. She ignored his presence for a little longer as she hurried to finish typing the last of her thoughts. Once the last letter appeared on her screen, she turned her attention to her obviously displeased classmate and immediately felt the irritated aura that flowed off of him.

Lifting her head, she peered up at her partner asked the glaring question, "Is something wrong?"

She was just about to turn her attention back to her screen after several moments of only silence greeting her when Ryo finally spoke.

"Why aren't you being serious today?" he asked in a low tone. His ire leaving only trace amounts in his voice. _'Where's the business woman I talked to on Friday?'_

"Hmm, I am being serious," Kagome mumbled out, a bit bewildered that the older boy was seemingly mad that she was going easier on him. _'Maybe it's a pride thing? Souta's always hated it when I went easy on him during spars,' _she mentally noted.

"You're not," Ryo stated bluntly. "The assignment was to make it difficult for your partner to retrieve data about you, but you've been making it exceedingly easy for to get what I need. You are supposed to be a challenge."

"And pray tell, what are you going to do about it?" she questioned with a raised eyebrow, daring him to do whatever he planned.

"I would rather fail the assignment than to continue the way we have been going this last hour," he calmly retorted, his eyes narrowing at the girl sitting before him. He knew that she didn't like failure. She had told him so on Friday that it was the reason she had signed up to be a tutor for underclassmen and classmates. He was counting on her dislike to help get the challenge he wanted form her.

Kagome went bug-eyed at the upperclassman's declaration and just sat there with her jaw threatening to drop. _'Most definitely not like aniki. Sesshomaru would have just taken advantage of this and then beat me up in a spar after we finished the assignment.' _She mentally flinched at the last thought, remembering the one only time she had ever done that with him. Sesshomaru had taken great insult to her holding back that one time during their project. He had promptly given her a beat down at one of the underground battle arenas after they had turned in their work. She had ended up in the school's hospital for a few days after that as her own energy and the other healers patched her up. After that she had learned to never underestimate her partners and opponents; it just ended up being a pain for her in one shape or another.

Once she saw that he was completely serious with what he had just said, she sighed in exasperation to herself. _'Stupid males and their stupid pride,' _she mentally grumbled unhappily._ 'There goes my morning and possibly my afternoon.'_

"Fine," she mumbled. "If you want this to be hard then that's what you'll get."

Ryo nodded as his disappointed look melted away to an expression of satisfaction returned to his side of couch where his laptop remained.

As soon as he was seated, Kagome fired off the first question, returning to how she was on Friday, her face set in a cold mask. If he wanted her be serious about this then she'll show him just how in over his head he was. She'd employ each every strategy, tactic, and skill she had learned and honed in the last two and a half years

Another hour passed between the two as they worked together and lunch time was soon to come.

Ryo was finding getting information out the raven was even more difficult than it had been the first time, and he had to wonder if she had been holding back the entire time. It was a very good thing that he had already retrieved all the facts that he would need for the last page of his paper during the previous hour. Now, he just wanted the challenge the he had been denied earlier and he was finding that he almost regretted his decision. Almost.

He had learned a great many things from her which he was fairly sure was unintentional. The girl was very skilled at what she did, but she would occasionally let slip small facts allowing him to learn more about her as a person instead of what she was willing to surrender to him. Aside from everything he had learned, he had a fun time trying to keep up the younger student. It wasn't every day that he would get beaten down so severely even if it just one assignment.

Kagome sighed to herself as she saved her document file one last time and turned off her computer. She couldn't believe that it was now just barely lunch time. Ryo had finally figured that he had enough data on her, so they were now finished for the day.

Setting aside her laptop, Kagome stood from her seat and turned to her immediate right. Once she was where she wanted to be, she stretched her arms above her head until she heard a satisfying pop. Hearing the pop, she slowly lowered her upper body backwards to form a bridge with her body. When her hands and feet became stable against the floor she kicked off to flip back onto her feet, a blissful sigh escaping her from lips.

Opening her eyes (she didn't know when she had closed), Kagome found Ryo watching her. She stared back at until she saw him shake his head and heard him mumble "Should have known" causing her to tilt her head to side in confusion.

Shrugging away her confusion, she closed her eyes and waited to hear the closing click of the older boy's computer. When she finally heard the awaited click, she snapped her blue orbs and to ask a question. But before she could even open her mouth, Ryo had already beaten her to it.

"May I ask you a question, Kagome?" the teal haired boy asked as he stood from his seat with his computer held in one arm.

"You just did," she giggled softly. "But why not, you've been asking them all morning. What's the harm with one or two more?"

"Why do you seem so upset with being at the academy? As a duelist shouldn't you be at gratified that you are able to this school?" his inquiry sliding out of with a smooth ease. He had been curious about her melancholy look since he had first seen her, and her answer to his questions from two nights before did nothing to satisfy his curiosity. Most of the girls here were usually preppy and love obsessed creatures, but none the less happy. The only other girl on the island that came anywhere close to the raven's sadness was Asuka, and he knew the reason behind that.

He waited patiently for his classmate to answer his questions, but he was surprised to see her drop her head and bring her hair over one shoulder and started playing with it. He didn't know if his inquiry had hit a sore spot or not, but was starting to feel a sense of dread. He had absolutely no clue on how to deal with emotional females. Asuka knew that through first-hand experience from when he had told her about her brother's disappearance.

Kagome continued playing with her ponytail with her bangs shadowing her eyes as she tried to figure out how to reply. Yes, she had been upset with the inquiry, but she wasn't rude enough to not answer. If she hadn't been upset, she probably would have snorted at him asking. She didn't get why he wanted to know, and she was beginning to wonder why he had even ask them and the ones from the other day. In her mind, she didn't see how they were connected to each other in anyway.

After several long moments, she lifted her head and finally opened her mouth to tentatively ask, "This is completely off the record, right? Midori-kyōju, won't find this anywhere in your paper?"

Receiving a positive confirmation and a promise, she continued on with a small sigh while she twirled the ends of her hair in one hand. Taking a breath, Kagome tried to find the confidence in her to answer. Giving her hair a little tug, she began to answer, "I'm not completely upset with being here, but I guess I'm so unhappy is because I didn't have a choice in coming here. I didn't want to attend the academy…"

Sighing softly, she released her grip upon her hair and let her hands drop to her sides as she grumbled, "Even though I am a duelist, I don't particularly enjoy the game with the exception with a few people."

Ryo's eyebrows rose in surprise at the end of her answer. He didn't see how the girl could not like the game. Why be a duelist when you don't enjoy what you were playing? Evidently, he hadn't kept his last thoughts to himself as he saw the watched the younger duelist's open her pink lips to answer

Kagome probably would have involuntarily answered the newest question. If her mind hadn't processed the query fast enough then she would have told the older duelist about her father. As that wasn't the case her thoughts had quickly caught up to her and her opened mouth had snapped closed with a decidedly sharp click. After a brief moment, she turned away from her partner and said in a decidedly brisk manner, "That's really none of your business, Ryo."

He would have pressed the topic to understand why she didn't like the game that practically everyone on the island loved, but it seemed that he would have to drop the subject...for the moment at least. His partner had her arms wrapped around her midriff and her face turned away, displaying to the world her obvious discomfort with the current topic. There was no point to continue pushing when the one with the answers clammed up and shut him out.

The pair soon fell into an awkward silence as neither really knew what to do next. It was apparent that one didn't want to continue talking about the current matter and other hadn't a clue to proceed.

After several long moments Kagome seemed to have recomposed herself, but continued to rub her arms, and said with an exasperated sigh as she turned back towards Ryo, "Gomen ne for snapping at you. But could you please not ask me those questions again?" She peered up through her dark curled lashes at the older duelist's bewildered but still stoic face as she made her request.

Despite Ryo's stoicism, she was able to clearly read his expressions. After years of being friends with Sesshomaru, an actual ice prince with the most stoic face of all, it was not all that hard or different to read another stoic person's reactions or emotions. When she saw his questioning look she quickly explained hoping that he would finally let the matter drop, "It's just not something I usually talk about with others. And we're not exactly friends."

She had only told Asuka the reason why she practically hates the game they play because the two of them had somehow clicked. It probably helped their fast friendship that the slightly older girl acted very much like her best friend, Sango, but a lot less violent in nature. Plus, it was only fair because the blonde had spilled her own reason for being at the school other to be a professional duelist.

Ryo, on the other hand, was pretty much a stranger even though he probably knew more about her than Asuka, who was actually her friend, does. She truly only knew him as a class assigned partner and nothing more. It wasn't that she didn't want to be friends with the teal haired male, but he just wasn't…yet. But until she had a real friendship with the guy, he won't be getting much out of her.

"It's alright and gomen for my own behavior," he said in reply. He felt oddly disappointed at her explanation not because she wouldn't tell, but because she didn't consider him a friend. _'I guess it makes sense. We're nothing more than class partners so far,'_he mentally grumbled.

"Arigato," Kagome said as she smiled at him in gratitude. A minute passed between the duo before she spoke again. The silence this time was less awkward than the last but was still filled with quite a bit of tension.

"Hey Ryo, do you want to have lunch with Asuka and me?" she asked timidly, not knowing if he would accept her invitation after what had happened in the last several minutes. She wanted to start building a friendship with the older student, if he allowed it, as soon as possible. She liked making friends, but some of the students on the island weren't too bright and a tad too obsessive unlike Asuka and Hayato.

The teal haired senior was confused to say the least. One minute he and Kagome were talking about her unhappiness and the reason for her dislike of Duel Monsters and the next she's asking him to have lunch with her and Asuka. The girl just baffled him and he was sure it showed on his face right now as well. Although he was baffled by the younger duelist, his bafflement didn't stop him from accepting her offer.

On the outside Kagome calmly waited to hear the answer to her question, to be accepted or rejected, but on the inside she was a bundle of nerves and she had not a clue as to why. When she heard his acceptance, she felt the nervousness melt away and be replaced by a bubbly feeling of…content?

"Great," she said as she quickly beamed at him to show her…happiness? "You can leave your laptop here and pick it up after lunch," she continued as she started heading to leave for the dining hall.

Ryo made a sound of agreement from his throat before he followed after the dark haired girl, the both of them leaving their laptops lying on the dark royal blue cushions of the couch. Together, they left Kagome's vast and highly secured bedroom and headed downstairs to lunch and hopefully the beginning of a new friendship.

* * *

Hey People! This chapter was a huge pain in the butt to write, but I've given you more information about Issei Institute. As the story goes on I'll be giving out more data so you can figure out if you like my school or not. Please tell me if you do though! This is my dream school for kids, well mostly anyways. I'm going to try and move the story along a little faster because I really want to get to certain time periods and scenes. But I think the build toward that spots are much needed, but are very annoying at the moment. This story is most likely to going to be hell of a lot longer than I had first anticipated it would be. In addition a few of the previous chapter have been slightly tweaked to flow better with what I have planned.

I have a new poll on my profile! It's on the story ideas that are listed on my profile, so please vote. I want to get feel for which story you guys like more. Happy Easter Everyone! :D

Please continue to join the fight against legislations that censor the internet! The newest threat to us internet users is the new bill CISPA. It is a combination of SOPA and PIPA, and it basically lets the government to gather information on you through the internet solely on the suspicion of you being a threat. If this bill passes, the government need only give companies your name and they'll be able to pull any and all data on you. Please continue to fight these bills! In the memory of MegaVideo and MegaUpload!


	10. Beginning of Excitement

**The Duel Champion's Daughter**

**Disclaimer:** I do **NOT** own either Inuyasha or Yu-Gi-Oh GX

**Summary: **Seto Kaiba's eldest child, Kagome Akemi Higurashi Kaiba, is being sent to attend Duel Academy to take up her father's title of Duel Monsters Champion, but will she be able to take the title while also looking for a husband to be. Begins in Season 1 of GX and will basically be AU with original Japanese versions explanations in ranking and scoring.

Reminder: People I revise my stories often, VERY often.

**AN: **I will be adding sneak previews of my stories on both my facebook page and tumblr. The previews will involve ideas for future parts of the story, pictures of clothing that the characters will most likely be wearing, and videos of songs that will be a part of the story. They will also tell you when and what event that the preview is for. The first sneak peek for _The Duel Champion's Daughter_ has been added to my tumblr and facebook. Check them out! A preview of _Utau's Best Friend_ was also added onto my tumblr a year or two ago showcasing what Kagome's chara nari will most likely be like. Also please keep in mind about the things you learned in the last chapter! Some of them will be brought back up in the later chapters. ^-^

"Speech"

_'Thoughts'_

"**English"**

* * *

_Last Time on The Duel Champion's Daughter:_

_On the outside Kagome calmly waited to hear the answer to her question, to be accepted or rejected, but on the inside she was a bundle of nerves and she had not a clue as to why. When she heard his acceptance, she felt the nervousness melt away and be replaced by a bubbly feeling of…content? _

"_Great," she said as she quickly beamed at him to show her…happiness? "You can leave your laptop here and pick it up after lunch," she continued as she started heading to leave for the dining hall._

_Ryo made a sound of agreement from his throat before he followed after the dark haired girl, the both of them leaving their laptops lying on the dark royal blue cushions of the couch. Together, they left Kagome's vast and highly secured bedroom and headed downstairs to lunch and hopefully the beginning of a new friendship. _

**This Time on The Duel Champion's Daughter**

By the time Kagome and her group had finally left the dining hall, and the raven had returned to her room to retrieve a few things an hour and a half had passed by.

Throughout the duration of the meal Ryo, Asuka, and she had chatted together talking about little things as they ate their lunches. They had even talked about the different Duel Monster cards, surprising the senior and her fellow freshman when she revealed that she was a card collector. She also told the blond that the person she had asked about had been her younger brother, Souta; a fact that Ryo had finally been able to weasel out of her a little while after asking about Sango. After that revelation, the trio had talked about their own families. While the other two talked about their immediate family members and some extended ones, Kagome only spoke about her brother and her vast amount of cousins who were within five years older or younger of her own fifteen.

The three finally parted ways for the day when Kagome strolled back down to give the senior his laptop while carrying a knapsack on her back with Asuka heading over to her other friends and both Kagome and Ryo leaving the dormitory. When they had parted from the hall a tentative friendship had begun to bud between Ryo and the raven while Kagome and Asuka's had only become a bit more solidified.

The knapsack was about large sized and a chocolate brown color. On top of its opening flap embroidered in thread and all outlined in black were a beige boomerang with leather brown straps on the ends, Sango's Hirakotsu, a silver bo staff; Kagome's, a gold shakujo; Miroku's, a spinning emerald top, and several different swords: Tessaiga, Tenseiga, Sounga, and Bakusaiga; Sesshomaru's and his family's. Each of the weapons that were stitched on her bag belonged to a friend of hers, and together they represented her hunting team.

Back at Issei, students were sorted into hunting teams during the first of their mandatory dormitory years based on their combat and other skills. Usually teams were consisted of students of the same year, but there were some exceptions, her own team being one, that allowed older students to join the newer teams. In her case Miroku and Inuyasha had been placed on a team with Sango, Shippo and her. Sesshomaru had only been added to their team a few weeks after their formation, only telling them that administration had wanted to keep Inuyasha on a tight leash and that they had not exactly trusted Miroku with two younger females. The monk's perverted tendencies were well-known throughout the institution as were his father's, his grandfather's, and other male ancestors' and relatives'.

Ryo and Kagome continued to walk down the dirt path together for a few minutes before coming to a fork in the road. At that point, the two departed from each other's company with the senior taking one road towards the Obelisk boys' dorm and the raven taking the other. The path Kagome followed headed towards forest and would then eventually lead to the abandoned honor dorms.

It wasn't a very long walk before Kagome arrived at her intended destination. As she appeared before the broken metal gates of the honor dormitory, she shrugged off her bag and pulled out a pair of thin but durable skin tight black gloves. Quickly slipping them on, she shouldered her bag again and made her way through the gates to approach the abandoned student housing.

As she came closer and closer to the place of her desire she began shiver as an ominous aura billowed out of the building. Being a trained miko meant that she was sensitive to dark energies, but since the founding of Issei Institute over five hundred years ago most holy people have become accustomed to the feel of demonic and dark energies. Her form trembled almost violently when she crossed the threshold of the building as the energy she was feeling was almost pitch black. The energy she was feeling now was much darker than what she grew up with and was most likely only familiar to the students and alumni from Millennia Academy, Issei's sister school in Egypt that was named after the Millennium items nearly a millennium ago.

She knew that the Millennia students were possibly the only people who were familiar enough with this type of energy to not feel most of its negative effects. No student from the other sister schools were able to withstand such darkness. After all Millennia students live on the land that birthed the original Duel Monsters, and were taught about its history and how to channel and control the energy produced.

She remembered the stories that her Godfather Yugi Muto, Uncle Maximillion Pegasus, Uncle Mokuba, and her own father had told her. Even after being told of all those stories from their past experiences with shadow magic and Duel Monsters, she never really believed that Duel Monsters were spirits. It seemed that she had inherited her father's disbelief in Duel Monster spirits from when he was a teenager. She probably should have known better than to not believe, especially with everything she dealt with on a daily basis at Issei; spirits, youkai, hanyou, holy people, and etcetera.

As she walked further into the deserted student housing, Kagome carefully pushed aside the unhinged dark wooden doors of the dormitory as she made her way into the building. When she pulled her hands away from the door she had just touched, her nose scrunched up in disgust at the amount of dust and grime that now coated her gloved hand, which told her just how long the dormitory had gone uncared for.

Wiping her hand against the doorframe in hopes of ridding her glove of as much grime as possible, she continued her way further into the run-down building all the while avoiding the cobwebs that had gathered in the building's abandonment. She took great caution with every step she took as she carefully navigated over broken floorboards and through the hallway that would eventually lead the dormitory's atrium. While she walked down the hallway, Kagome couldn't help but inspect what little that had been left in that particular area just as her body gave an involuntary shudder from the aura that crashed over her. Wrapping herself in a protective layer of her own purifying miko powers, she concluded that there wasn't much; the walls and floor were practically bare of everything except for the dust and peeling wallpaper.

When she finally entered the dormitory's atrium, what Kagome saw was not what she had expected. Upon stepping into the room, she was not shocked to see that every inch of the place was also covered in grime and dust. What she was shocked by was seeing all the other changes that had been made to the room. She may not have been to the honors dormitory much as a little girl during her summer visits to the academy, but she vividly remembered how the building was before her last departure.

The once blue painted walls were now covered in sand colored wallpaper of hieroglyphics depicting the Millennium items that was peeling itself from the walls. The chandelier that used to sparkle brightly with a homely glow hung from the ceiling with many of its crystals missing and covered in webs. The formerly high glossed wood that made up the staircases, railings, and floor were now dull and rotting with some parts having been eaten away by insects. Lastly, all of the furniture that had decorated the room was covered in thick white sheets of fabric in order to protect them from the moths over the years.

Kagome let a reminiscent sigh fall from her lips as an image of how the honors dormitory had looked in its glory days forced its way to the forefront of her mind. It really was quite sad how the dormitory had fallen to this level of disrepair. Closing her eyes and sighing once more, she shook her head in sadness before making her way through the atrium and upstairs to the second floor, side-stepping any of the broken or rotting floorboards.

Upon reaching the upper floor, she briskly walked to the halls that contained the dorm rooms for the male students as she took a flashlight from her backpack. Entering the first hallway, she quickly threw open the first door that she came across, beginning her hunt, one door at a time. Once she was inside of bedroom she immediately flicked on her light and began searching through the available desk, nightstand, dresser, and library.

With each drawer she pulled out, Kagome's eyebrows would scrunch together and a frown would cross her face whenever she would finish digging through the drawer's items. When she'd finish looking through each drawer she would slide it shut before moving on to the next one. After rummaging through the contents of the first room, she decided that it was not the one she required before heading off to the next room and closing the door behind her.

She repeated this process with each of the male student rooms that she came across until she reached one near the middle of the next hallway.

"There has to be something here that'll tell me about him," Kagome mumbled to herself her black gloved fingers carefully raked through the contents of another drawer. Her teeth gritted together in frustration as she once again came up empty handed. Slamming the top drawer of the desk she was looking through shut, she roughly yanked out the middle drawer and once again began her search, a soft frustrated growl emitting from her throat.

The growl continued thrumming through her throat until the supple feeling of leather met the tips of her searching fingers. A curious expression soon appeared on Kagome's face as one of her hands wrapped around the object and carefully extracted it from its place.

'_If this belongs to who I hope it does, then maybe I can get out of here before Aoi-oba comes searching,'_ Kagome grumbled, her eyes shifted about the room as if just thinking about said aunt would make her appear out of the shadows.

When she sensed nothing of her aunt, Kagome let her eyes drop back down to the item in her hands. Giving it another once over, she brought up one gloved hand to the opening of the object, and with a swift flick of her thumb and forefinger it unlocked with a soft metal click meeting her ears. A small smile crossed her lips when the item easily opened, leaving her to freely peruse its contents. Her smile soon spread into a grin as she flipped it open.

"Gotcha," Kagome grinned to herself in triumph as she read the few words that were written on the item she had procured. _'Arigato Kami-sama!'_

* * *

It was now Wednesday morning, which marked the third day of her second week at Duel Academy and her ignoring her general education classes. It was also marked the second day since her Uncle Chronos had given her his list of potential candidates as he had promised he would. And like she had promised herself the week before, Kagome now carried her sketch book in her backpack with her other school materials for the Academy and her laptop for Issei assignments.

The day started out normally for the raven blue haired girl well enough, attending her morning lessons with Professor Daitokuji and her Uncle Chronos. The first sign of any change in her daily school routine surprisingly came during her dueling techniques class with Uncle Chronos. It appeared when the long blonde haired Italian was seemingly picking random students to answer questions about the different Duel Monster cards. She said seemingly random because during his last class, her dearest uncle had called upon her no less than three times to respond to the enquiries that he had made to the class.

"Signora Asuka, please tell us the different types of cards consisted in Duel Monsters?" Professor Chronos asked once he had set his sights on the fellow blonde.

Kagome watched as Asuka stood from her seat and confidently answer Professor Chronos without once breaking stride, "Among Duel Monsters cards, there are Monster cards, Fusion Monster cards, Ritual Monster cards, Effect Monster cards, and Trap and Spell cards. Next, Trap cards can be split into Normal Traps, Counter Traps, and Permanent Traps, and Spell cards into Normal Spell, Permanent Spell, Equip Spell, Instant Spell, Ritual Spell, and Field Spell."

'_She didn't say anything about Synchro Monsters,' _Kagome noted to herself mentally as she watched her Italian uncle fawn over Asuka. _'But that's to be expected. Very few people have them, and Peagsus-oji was the one who gave me and Souta's our Synchro cards. He did say that he wanted us to be the ones to give the world their debut,' _she thought, remembering back to this year's White Day and the conversation she had had with her Uncle Maximillion upon receiving her gift. Even though she has had her Synchro Monster cards for a while now, she has yet to let them debut at an official Duel Monsters tournament.

"Bellissimo! A superb job! It was a task far too simple for Obelisk blue's Signora Asuka, was it not?" complimented Professor Chronos as he also boasted about his dormitory's rank.

"It's just the basics," Asuka replied modestly as she retook her seat.

"Now then," said Professor Chronos as he started to scan the classroom for the next student to call on. His black eyes trailed over the Ra yellow students then slid over to the Slifer red section before landing on his victim. "Signore Marufuji!" he demanded in a sharp tone.

Kagome watched in veiled amusement as Sho, the sea foam blue haired boy that she had met last Monday, shoot straight up from his seat and utter out, "Y-Yes,sir!"

'_Hmm…Sho has the same surname as Ryo. Could they be related?' _she thought before remembering. _'He did tell me that he had a little brother attending the academy, but the two of them look nothing alike!' _she mentally added as she turned her focus back on to the confrontation between Sho and Chronos.

"Please explain to us what Field Spells do," she heard her uncle order the younger boy.

"Um…Fi-Field…Spells are…well…err…umm…" was all that Sho was able to stammer out.

Before Sho could continue in trying to answer Professor Chronos, a boy in Obelisk blue who sat in the row behind Kagome yelled out to the glasses wearing boy, "Even a kindergartener knows something like that!"

The declaration resulted in the most of the class bursting into giggles and chuckles at Sho's misfortune. Kagome could only feel sorry for Sho before snapping around to the boy that had yelled and fixing him with a cold glare and letting a small bit of her aura flare out. Despite the fact that the student she was glaring at had no training or ability to actually see her aura, she knew that he could feel the cold fury that she directing towards him. She smirked in triumph and stopped flaring her aura when she had proven herself right upon seeing the boy's body begin to tremble in slight fear.

Turning away from the annoying Obelisk that had embarrassed one of the boys she may very soon call a friend; Kagome was just about to try to calm the younger student down a little when Judai beat her to it.

"Don't worry. Just calm down, Sho," comforted Judai as he tried to help his friend over the class's laughter.

"Very well, then. You may take a seat," excused Chronos once he deemed that the young Slifer red student had suffered through enough humiliation, only to add on to it with his next comment. "To think that you were unable to answer the very basics among basics! Well done, Slifer red. You've shocked me," he exclaimed while shaking his head in mock sorrow. His actions caused a majority of the class to burst into laughter, Sho to sink into his seat, and Kagome to glare at him.

Kagome hated bullying especially after being teased with the game "Kagome, Kagome" during throughout her entire first year of schooling at Issei Institute. Her hatred of bullying was what had led her to help Inuyasha when he had transferred into the institution during middle school in the first place.

Just as she was about to rebuke her uncle, she was once again beaten to the punch by Judai.

"But sensei, knowledge and actual combat are two unrelated matters, aren't they?" the duo colored Slifer red student asked. His comment effectively silenced the laughing class. "I mean, I'm one of the Slifer red, as well, but I beat you in a duel, sensei!" Judai ended in a laugh while forming a victory sign with his right hand. The class was once again in hysterics and this time Kagome joined them as well.

Through laughing eyes, Kagome saw her Uncle Chronos bite into his white handkerchief and stretched it while screaming though his teeth, "Mamma mia!"

This was probably the very first time that Chronos had ever been talked back to and humiliated in front of his students. It was very strange, but after his humiliation of Sho, very delightful to see.

When lunch finally came and went, the raven haired girl had not joined her friends for their noon meal. Instead, she had left them in order to join her Aunt Aoi so that the two Higurashi's could eat and spend some quality time together. The two of them ate a lunch that consisted of Asian seafood cuisine. The meal was compromised of stir fried Oratosquilla oratori, kabayaki unagi with white rice, steam oyster served soy sauce, several futomaki sushi rolls, and a few onigiri stuffed with either salmon or a mixture of surimi.

After eating the two Higurashi had eaten their fill, they had headed off to the academy's chicken coops so that Kagome may visit Kimu, Aoi's golden hen. Kagome was very glad to be able to visit the chicken so soon. She had not seen the hen since the last time Aoi had visited home, and that had been nearly a year ago at their annual family reunion, which was set during the week of Issei's graduation and promotions in late February.

Upon entering the chicken pen, Kagome experienced firsthand just how thrilled Kimu had been to see another Higurashi. The golden hen quite literally tackled the younger raven female's legs with her wings as soon as Kagome had been completely within the fenced walls. The hen's wings flapped wildly against the young girl's legs with much enthusiasm. It took a little while before the hen calmed down enough so that Kagome's legs were no longer being wrapped up in feathers.

Kneeling down to the floor while thanking kami-sama that she always wore shorts under her skirts or dresses, Kagome patted Kimu on top of her golden crown to show her that she missed the chicken as much as she missed her. She would have picked up the hen and hugged her if it wasn't for the fact that Kimu wasn't very fond of being carried around unless it was by Aoi or their Grandaunt Midoriko, the family's matriarch. While she patted the fowl, she exclaimed happily with an unrestrained grin, "I missed you too, Ki-chan."

Standing quietly by the entrance of the school's chicken coops, Aoi watched her young niece play with Kimu as she leaned against the metal fence. She waited for Kagome to relax and let her body fall at ease before speaking.

"So what's this I hear about a date tonight, ne Akemi?" Aoi asked when she saw the younger Higurashi's body show some signs of her finally relaxing into a more carefree posture; her back slouching just the slightest bit and her shoulders lowering to a centimeter or two. Amusement danced in the elder's brown orbs and a smirk quirked the corners of her lips as she watched the teenager's body give a jerk in surprise and then stiffen at her question.

"I also received a call from oba-sama this morning, telling me to continue the training that you'll be missing out on," she added nonchalantly, acting as if being called by the head of their family was an everyday occurrence, which it wasn't.

Kagome's head had immediately snapped up and towards Aoi's direction as soon as the older woman had finished speaking. Aoi internally winced, certain that the younger miko had given herself whiplash from how fast she snapped her head.

Stiffly rising to her feet, Kagome kept her gaze locked on to her aunt as she turned the rest of her body to completely face the older woman.

"Where did you hear that, Aoi-oba?" she asked in a soft, but curious tone of voice, referring to the Wednesday. Externally Kagome tried to show her aunt that her questions had not affected her in any way, but catch her attention. However, her aunt knew better and she knew Aoi had caught the subtle signals her body gave off. On the inside, the younger and shorter raven was a bit shaken up that her matriarch had called Aoi to train her. She didn't mind the fact that she was going to be able to further her miko training, but she honestly did not want to ask her aunt for any kind of help.

She had put off asking her aunt for the training she had been ordered to ask for, and she probably would have continued to do so if their matriarch hadn't called. It wasn't that she didn't want to become a better miko, nor because she was worried that Aoi wouldn't want to teach her. No, she knew her aunt would be quite happy and willing to continue her training from where she had left off. She wouldn't have even minded that this had happened if the person who was to instruct her had been an alumnus on her side of Issei Institute.

There was a reason why Issei Institute was able to have multiple teams enter a single competition at a time, and behind that reason a fierce rivalry brewed between Issei alumni and current students. The institute was divided into two factions, the West side and the East side, for alethic and academic events. Each time a tournament, contest, or anything competitive was won or placed by a member or a team from either faction, the respective side would gain points from the achievement. With these two rivaling teams, the students within the school competed against each other viciously to determine which one was supreme. In a way Issei's inter-school rivalry was much like J. K. Rowling's House Cup in her Harry Potter books.

It was because of this rivalry that Kagome was so frighten of asking her aunt for assistance. For the older Higurashi had been a member of the East side during her time at Issei, while she had been assigned to the West side. It didn't help matters that her Aunt Aoi had also once been on the gymnastics team for her respective side. In fact this only made her all the more worried because her own gymnastics competition would be held at the end of this month, and Aoi's old team was one of the competitors.

No matter how much Issei had pounded honor and fair play into her students' heads some still played dirty. Not that Aoi was one of those, but she just couldn't help but worry.

"Oh, probably from all the gossip that has been spreading from student to student," Aoi answered while giving her niece a cool stare. "Now, don't worry about the training. You'll still have a fully functioning body by time you leave for the tournament. Why don't you tell me about this boy you'll be seeing tonight?" she suggested with a warmer smile, knowing why the younger Higurashi had not come to her sooner and attempted to but Kagome's wariness at ease. Aoi remembered how some of her own year mates played dirty, by handicapping some of the opposing teams' players or members.

Her attempt seemed to have succeeded because Kagome sent her a smile of appreciation before launching into a description of her night's date.

"His name's Daisuke Ogawa, and he works at the academy's onsen," Kagome supplied to her aunt. "He's a good bit taller than me with red hair and green eyes, and he seemed a bit flirtatious. But that's about all I really know of the guy."

"Ogawa-san, hmm?" Aoi mumbled as pulled out her Kaiba Corp. issued PDA for campus security and student discipline. She scrolled through the electronic device until she reached the file that she wanted. "Well from what I see he seems a bit like your friend Miroku, but a lot less hands on. You might like him."

Kagome grimaced at the reminder of Miroku. The violet eyed monk might be a great friend, but he was one of the biggest perverts she knew and didn't seem to know how to keep his hands to himself.

"As long as he doesn't have a 'cursed' hand then we'll get along just fine," she grumbled. "Is there anything else you can tell me about him?" she asked her aunt with curious eyes.

Aoi only shook her head before denying her niece the information she sought. "Nope, you'll have to learn the rest on your date tonight, my sweet and innocent, little niece," the brown eyed Higurashi teased, a spark glittering in her brown orbs.

"But it's not a date!" Kagome whined at her aunt with a pout on her lips.

"Oh? Then what would you call it?" her aunt taunted with imploring eyes.

"A meeting with an acquaintance," the blue eyed girl declared before mumbling with her gaze falling to the dirt floor. "…who just might have a romantic inclination for me."

"So in other words a date," Aoi stated more than asked with a quirked eyebrow.

Kagome didn't answer her aunt, and only continued to pout her lips at the older woman in return.

A short silence filled the air between the two females with the only sounds being the flapping and clucking of Kimu and the other chickens. The silence was almost stifling until it was broken by the sound of light laughter bursting from the older Higurashi which was soon joined by the younger.

Still giggling, Aoi pushed herself off her perch against the gate and called out to the younger female, "You should probably start heading off, Akemi. Lunch is almost over, so classes should be starting soon."

"Hai, oba-san," Kagome answered back as she gave Kimu one last pat to her golden feathered head. Standing back up, the shorter raven dusted off the dirt that had gathered onto her clothes and exited the chicken coop with her Aunt Aoi.

Once the two were out of the metal fences and Aoi had locked the gate to prevent any of the chickens from escaping, Kagome waved goodbye to her aunt and bid quick "see you later" and began her trek back to the academy classrooms.

As Kagome walked off to her afternoon classes, Aoi returned the farewell with a shout, "Ja ne Akemi!"

It was shortly after while she was making her way to where she needed to be that a thought struck Aoi, causing her to pause in her trek. "Darn it!" she cursed to herself, clenching her hands into fists at her own frustration. "I forgot to tell her that she didn't need to go to noon classes anymore."

Shaking her head disbelief and then shrugging, knowing that it couldn't be helped, Aoi resumed on her walk while mumbling, "Oh well, I'll see her again in a few minutes anyways."

It didn't take Kagome very long to reach her classroom, and by the time she had taken her seat the school bells had just rung to signal the end of the day's lunch period. Taking her sketch pad and a few pencils out from her backpack, she sat in her seat quietly with her head propped up on her left hand as she observed her fellow classmates trickle in through the door.

As her classmates filed into the room, Kagome mentally reviewed the list of boys that her Uncle Chronos had given her, making a note every now and again if she noticed one of the boys listed enter her class. Looking over it now, she had to sigh at the number of boys on the list and at her uncle's taste in boys that he believed to be suitable for her. Almost every single one of the boys listed was from the Obelisk blue section of the school with a few Ra yellow students every now and then.

Over the last few days, she had met a small portion of the Obelisk blue boys on her uncle's list that were in her supposed grade level because of group assignments from her other teachers. A few of the boys seemed alright and would probably be pretty good friends if she got to know them a bit more. They were all nice fellows and were polite enough to not have her want to send them to an instructor for maners. She just hoped that if she ever dated and broke up with one of them that they could still be friends afterwards.

The others…well to put it in simple terms if she had to pick between marrying one of them or becoming an old maid, she'd probably pick being an old maid. Simply to say these boys' attitudes were atrocious.

How could her uncle have thought that any these boys would have been fit to be her boyfriend, much her less her future husband?

'_They thought they were all high and mighty just because they were placed into the Obelisk dorms,'_ Kagome thought, a scowl creeping onto her face as she waited for her current professor to arrive and take attendance. _'Some of them had even turned out to be sexist pigs!'_

Without her noticing, Kagome's free hand had, on its own accord, gingerly picked up one of her wooden pencils and had begun trailing the graphite tip across the blank white page that she had flipped her sketch pad to. When her professor had entered the room, a good five minutes after the bell had already rung; Kagome finally noticed what her hand was doing and turned her attention towards her sketch book.

Looking down at what she had apparently doodled; Kagome was shocked to see what her thinking had caused her hand to draw. Her face flushed a light pink as she further examined what exactly she had drawn. Her flush only darkened into a full-on blush as she realized what her doodle was and what the characters were doing.

On the formerly blank piece paper was now the light gray outlines of chibi boys, Obelisk boys judging from the clothes they wore, in a mini comic strip. The chibi boys all looked stuck and seemed self-important; to her they kind of looked like strutting peacocks without anything to back up their walks. A few of the boys also looked as if they were bragging about something or other. Altogether, though, the chibi boys were heading off in the same direction. And in the next part of the doodle, the boys were one by one being pelted with balloons filled by what, she didn't know.

It seemed like she had almost been finished with the mini strip because when she had finally stopped and looked down at her paper, she was just beginning to shade in the little cartoon people.

She was so absorbed in being embarrassed by what she had drawn that Kagome didn't even notice that the professor had called her name. In fact she was so distracted that it took her neighbor shaking and calling her to snap her out of her absentmindedness.

"Higurashi-sama," the Ra yellow she sat next to, a toffee short haired boy with hazel eyes, whispered as he shook her shoulder softly. "Higurashi-sama?"

Mortified at almost being caught, Kagome quickly slammed her sketch pad shut and turned to her tablemate and sweetly, almost disgustingly so, asked, "Is something wrong, Itsuka-san?"

"Nandemonai, demo," the now identified Itsuka replied in another whisper while motioning to their professor. "Kigure-sensei has been calling your name, Higurashi-sama."

"Higurashi-kun," Kigure-sensei called out to the raven haired girl at that exact moment as if to prove Itsuka's point.

"Oh, gomen nasai Kigure-sensei," Kagome apologized almost immediately. "Was there something you wanted?" she asked, her sickly sweet tone now replaced by a mask of cool politeness.

"Yes, Higurashi-kun," Kigure-sensei replied as he clasped his hands behind his Ra yellow uniform clad form. "I wish to know why you are attendance of my class today. I was not aware that you would be attending today."

Kagome blinked rapidly as confusion began settle across her mind. Was she not supposed to be here?

"I mean no disrespect sensei, but I had been assigned to this class before the term had even begun. If there had been a change in my schedule, should I not have been informed of it?" she fired back, her bewilderment coloring her tone. Whispers broke out around the classroom once she had finished, and she had to roll eyes at some of the comments she heard.

"How can she talk to sensei that way? Doesn't she have any manners?" whispered a venomous fangirl. Kagome was certain the girl was one because of how many times this week she had caught the fellow Obelisk blue glaring at her during lessons.

"I bet she's just acting like that to keep all of the guys' attention to herself," hissed a fellow fangirl, jealousy practically dripping from her voice.

'_Like I actually want guys drooling over me,'_ Kagome thought in aggravated retaliation though the fangirl would never hear her.

"Kyaa, Higurashi-sama is so cool!" squealed another girl sitting a bit further down from the fangirls. This reaction and several similar ones caused a sweat drop to form at the back of the young blue eyed teen's head.

Allowing her eyes a quick scan of the classroom, Kagome noted that half of her classmates, boys and girls, were speaking to each other. Inaudibly sighing to herself, she made a mental of the ones speaking, chalking them up to being some type of fanperson. The other half of her classmates, she noticed, seemed intelligent enough to keep silent probably still remembering her display of anger from the week before.

'_They won't be talking, at least,'_ she thought with a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips before she refocused her attention to her current teacher. _'Not until I'm out of hearing range.' _

"Ahh I see. You have yet to be told. However, due to some special circumstances Samejima-kocho has excused you from your general education classes and has placed you under the tutelage of you aunt, Higurashi-zacho for the day and whenever need be," Kigure-sensei explained. "I believe you were to be expected in the gymnasium, Higurashi-kun," he added lightly as an afterthought.

Kagome only blinked again at the answer she received before she slowly hot up from her seat. "Domo arigato sensei," she said.

Then as she was turning to leave she whispered to her neighbor, "Arigato Itsuka-san."

And giving the buzz cut haired a pat on the shoulder, she left her seat and headed for the exit. Out of the corner of her eye, she swore she saw Itsuka touch that same shoulder and swoon as she left.

Rolling her eyes, Kagome exited through the classroom's doors and headed off to the academy's gymnasium without another look back.

Across the classroom a pair of dark grey eyes watched the young raven's form calculatingly as she left. _'Just what kind of circumstances could be special enough to excuse you from class, Higurashi-san,' _Daichi Misawa, the owner of the said grey orbs, thought as his eyes drifted from the door and back to their professor. _'Mysteries just seem to surround you more and more, and I intend to solve this confounding equation'_

When the doors drifted shut after Kagome's departure, the class immediately burst into a whirlwind of chatter.

"Why the hell does she get to be excused from class? What makes her so damn special?" one girl with ginger blonde hair and dull brown eyes demanded not so quietly.

"I heard from Misato-sempai that Higurashi-san didn't want to attend the academy," stated a green haired and blue eyed Ra yellow, one of the few who did not care too much about Kagome but was still curious about her, to his black haired Ra yellow friend.

"Hai, I heard the same thing from Hisoka-sempai," chimed in a pretty blue haired and amber eyed Obelisk blue girl. "She's supposedly here only because her otou-san is forcing her to be."

"Sou ka?" asked a brown haired and green eyed Slifer red as he joined in the conversation.

"Hai," the Obelisk girl confirmed.

"There's also a rumor going around that something big is going to happen at the end of the month and that Higurashi-san is involved," Daichi contributed as he entered the conversation, taking mental notes of what he just heard. "Is there anything that your sempai's said that can confirm that, Tsunagi-san?"

Soon enough discussion about Kagome erupted all over the class, some like the current group and others were swooning  
over or cursing the girl. None seemed to realize that class was still in session, nor that Professor Kigure, who had tried to regain his students' attention subtly, had yet to dismiss them nor had he excused them from the lesson.

When five minutes passed and it seemed his students only became further immersed in their chatter, Professor Kigure was the least to say quite annoyed by their gossiping antics. Seeing that he would not be gaining his class's attention without a reason he grabbed a large and heavy mathematics textbook, which was reserved for his third year students, from his desk. Raising the text high above his head and holding it over his desk, he let the book slip through his fingers and slam loudly down onto the surface of his metal desk. The result was a resounding booming crash that caused the students to cease in their discussions with one another, and turn to face their instructor.

"That is enough," Professor Kigure barked harshly as he glared down his disruptive students. "You are here at the academy to learn, not to gossip about your classmates. And I was not hired to listen to your jabbering about inane things that do not concern you."

He paused for moment, letting his students sink in the information before he continued, voice still strict if only slightly less harsh. "However, I know you all may be curious about Higurashi-san, so I will kindly allow a few questions to be asked. I give fair warning that some inquires may go unanswered."

Everyone remained in silence as Professor Kigure finished speaking, still shocked by what had just occurred. The students were each stunned by the actions and words of their instructor and most were ashamed of their disrespect towards him.

Out of all the lesson time that they have had with the middle-aged man, they have never known him to be anything but kind and patient towards them. It really was a slap from reality when they saw their usually calm, collected, and, in their opinion, too serious professor rebuke and scold them. What made it worse was how furious Professor Kigure seemed to be at them.

The room was quiet for several painfully long minutes as Professor Kigure awaited the first question to be asked. Another silent filled moment passed before the arm of one brave student slowly and shakily rose into the air, and the others watched with baited breaths as they listened to the boy speak.

"Hai, Nogi-kun," Professor Kigure said, calling on the courageous soul.

Knowing that everyone's attention was now focused on him, the Ra yellow student took a deep breath to calm his fraying nerves, rose from his seat, and asked, "Can you tell us who Higurashi-zacho is?"

Several students nodded their heads and a few others made noncommittal sounds of agreement with the question as Kagome's and the person's similar surnames had caught their attention.

"Ahh, yes Higurashi-zacho. I do hope that none of you will ever have to meet her on bad terms," Professor Kigure began as he paced across the front of the classroom. "Higurashi-zacho is the chairman of the school's ethics board, and if you cross her or the ethics board, you as good as expelled before you can say duel," he said the last with a meaningful look directed at his more boisterous students.

Gaining confidence with the answering of the first inquiry among many, more students began raising their hands to be called on.

Nodding to himself in satisfaction, the middle-aged instructor called on the next student and answered the provided question. This process continued on until Professor Kigure called on a particular student, "Your question Misawa-kun."

Confidently rising from his seat, Daichi said, "I was wondering if you could perhaps tell us what Higurashi-san would be doing with Higurashi-zacho?"

"I was wondering when someone would be asking me that," the teacher said as he leaned his body back and laced his hands together behind him. "Yes, I could tell you all what Higurashi-kun is doing today; however, I believe it would be better if you all learn for yourself."

Daichi and the rest of his classmates blinked or stared at their professor in bewilderment over the man's unhelpful answer. The grey eyed Ra yellow could feel the corners of his lips twitch ever so slightly into a frown as he sat back in his chair. That answer was definitely not what he had expected, and their professor seemed to find some joy in withholding the information.

'_At least I know I can find out what Higurashi-san is doing on my own,'_ Daichi thought as his eyebrows furrowed together in thought.

"Now, if you are all quite finished I would like to begin our day's lesson," Professor Kigure declared after Daichi had seated himself. "But before I begin, Misawa-kun," he called.

"Hai, sensei."

"Since you and Higurashi-kun have the same classes, I would like you to bring her the assignments that she will be missing today and tomorrow."

"Hai, sensei," Daichi replied, complying to the orders readily. _'Now I can learn what I need,'_ he thought as he began to make plans to see Kagome while taking notes on the lecture he was listening to.

On the other side of the Duel Academy's campus Kagome entered the gymnasium in search of her Aunt Aoi, completely unaware of the chaos that she had left in her wake. It didn't take the blue eyed raven very long before she found the elder Higurashi woman.

When Kagome had found her aunt the brown eyed Higurashi was standing in the gymnastics room before a mixed class of Obelisk blue girls dressed in the academy's standard girls' pink jumpsuit. Staying close to the entrance of the room, she watched her aunt speak to the group of girls with her hands clasped behind her back and her body as ridged as a military lieutenant.

Not long after her arrival, Aoi spotted Kagome and beckoned for the younger miko to come join her on the floor. Doing as her aunt had requested, Kagome quietly made her way over. Apparently her appearance startled many of the girls, if their sharp gasps were anything to go by.

"You called for me, oba-san?" Kagome asked coolly with a tilt of her head as she strolled over with her arms swaying softly at her side.

"Hai," Aoi answered with a look at the younger Higurashi before quickly turning back to face the class and speaking. "Minna, I would like to introduce you all to my niece, Kagome" she said, reverting to use Kagome's given name instead of her middle name. For Higurashi children, only family, friends who are like family, and their betrothed are allowed to refer to them by their middle name. As she introduced the younger miko, she waved her hand closest to Kagome in a way that looked like she was presenting an item rather than a person.

Soft whispers erupted as the girls present began gossiping amongst each other.

'_Great,' _Kagome thought to herself sarcastically, an imaginary sweat drop forming at the back of her head as she stood next her aunt. _'Just another reason for many of my classmates to be afraid of me.'_

"Quiet," Aoi ordered in a tone that demanded obedience. When the class quieted, she began to speak again. "As I stated earlier because of several instances in the past few years, our school's owner, Kaiba-sama, has made it the academy's duty to teach all female students to properly defend herself."

At this statement Kagome decency to blush and look sheepish; she knew her father had only changed the academy's curriculum because of how many times she had him taking others to court because of her getting kidnapped, assaulted, or harassed. Huffing softly, she couldn't help but think that it wasn't her fault. _'What person can actually stay wake after being chloroformed?' _

She had been lucky during all those kidnapping attempts. If her reiki had not found the chloroform harmful, she probably would have been raped or sold to some vile male across the ocean as a sex slave. Shuddering slightly at the though, she to thank the kami-sama that it had considered the chloroform to be a poison, thus slowly purifying the anesthetic from her system, and allowing her to be able to incapacitate her abductors and escape.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Kagome tuned back into her aunt's speech just as she was wrapping it up.

"I am sure a fair amount of you are wondering why I have called Kagome here today, yes?" Aoi asked. Receiving various nods form the crowd, she continued on. "Since we will be beginning your defense training today, Kagome will be helping me with a demonstration. Keep in mind that she will be here for any demonstration and assisting with your instructions."

Seeing some incredulous looks coming from the crowd of girls, Aoi raised a hand to halt the assault of questions and continued on. "Before any of you question Kagome's ability to assist in your lessons, I would like to inform everyone that she has won various martial arts tournaments since she was a little girl."

Several gasps rose form the crowd and Aoi nodded to herself in satisfaction, but knew how some of the girls needed a physical demonstration before they would listen to anything her niece would say. "Do we have anyone here who thinks they know how to fight?" she asked. When no one answered, she singled out one girl she knew that was known to bully her underclassmen.

Once she called out to the student, a tall, five foot and seven inches, and moderately proportionate girl with short dark magenta red hair in a pixie cut and pink eyes stepped out from the crowd. "What do you want?" the girl demanded, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly and cocking her hips to the left.

"Satani-san," she said while gesturing for the third year to step forward and then motioning for Kagome to do the same. "I would like for you to spar Kagome, here."

"Ehh? Oba-san," Kagome cried out in surprise. "You're not serious, are you?"

"Fine, whatever," Misa Satani, third year Obelisk blue, scoffed rudely while giving Kagome a look over. Uncrossing her arms, she flicked her hair over her shoulder arrogantly. "Let's get this over with already. With how bony the ama is I'll this finished in less than a minute."

"Hai, you'll both be aiming to disable each other," Aoi replied, unfazed by the disrespect that was shown to her. Her niece on the other hand was a completely different story. "Are alright with this, Kagome?"

Kagome felt a growl vibrate deep in her throat and a scowl twist onto her face, marring her delicate features. How dare this stupid girl disrespect her, much less her aunt? There was no way she was going to take that lying down. Her hands that had been limp by her side fisted together in her anger at the arrogant third year. "Hai, oba-san," she muttered, her eyes focused on Misa as the two of them moved to an open area of the gymnasium.

Once the two reached the designated battle arena, they turned to face each and slid into a fighting stance, both waiting for Aoi to begin the match. Misa's stance to a trained eye, which two sets just happened to be present, would have been considered sloppy and ill prepared. Kagome's on the other hand would have been said to almost be the picture of perfection for her style, if not for her body type making the stance seem a bit awkward on her and her clothes restricting the form.

Before the spar could begin, a girl with long straw blonde hair stepped out from the crowd of Obelisk students, momentarily postponing the match. The girl turned out to be none other Asuka, who had been watching Kagome ever since she had entered the gymnasium room. Stepping out crowd, Asuka called over to Aoi in concern, "Higurashi-sensei."

"Hai Tenjouin-san?"

"Shouldn't we allow Kagome to change out of her uniform? It seems only fair," Asuka said, pointing out that the raven haired teen had as of yet to change out of her Obelisk blue jacket and skirt.

"I see your point. Kagome, what do you feel?" Aoi called to the younger girl, giving her the choice to change. She didn't feel to concern with her niece's handicap. She's seen her fight in worse, such as a floor length evening gown.

Looking down at herself, Kagome didn't see any reason to change. The spar was only going to be incapacitate the opponent not harm them. ""I'll be fine," she called back, brushing off Asuka and re-training her eyes on her foe. "Don't worry about me." _'Yeah, you should all be more worried about the stupid chit across from me,' _a small voice at the back of her mind snarked.

"If that was all then we'll begin," Aoi commented as she stood between the two girls, her eyes shifting from one to the other. Receiving a firm nod from the blonde, she raised her right arm and brought it down in the free space, beginning the spar and backing away. "Hajime!"

As spar went underway, a pair of honey-amber eyes watched the proceeding fight with interest as had the rest of the class. Asuka watched as Misa made the first move, taking a lunge at her underclassmen that Kagome easily side-stepped. She watched as Kagome allow Misa to take the offense and only continued to dodge the attempts to hit her.

Behind Asuka several of the upper years loudly cheered Misa Satani on, having never really liked the raven haired teen. The first years, on the other hand, whispered to each other in concern for Kagome's well-being. Misa was well-known around campus as a tough girl who gave very thorough beatings to her victims. Despite their worries and cheers, the girls, all grade levels, never let their attention waiver from the fight before, their eyes never straying for long.

"Hold still so I can hit you, you little ama," Misa growled as she attempted another punch at the raven.

Kagome calmly leaned back from the punch, a semi-bored expression on her face as she spoke, "And why would I do that?

"Because you an ama!" the older girl screamed through harsh pants, having quickly exhausted her stamina from all the quick punches and kicks that she tried to land on her underclassmen.

Sighing, the blue eyed girl quickly ducked under Misa's outstretched arm, grabbing said arm as she got behind her. Within seconds she had both of the older girl's arms behind said girl's back before pushing her down on her knees.

"Did you really think you going to get off scotch free? You disrespected my oba-san and insulted my person in less than a minute within each other," Kagome hissed into Misa's right ear as she held the girl's arms captive. "Think of this as warning of the next I catch you disrespecting my family or bully a student," she continued, adding just enough pressure to her captive's arms to cause pain and preventing Misa of even trying to escape. "You better listen to me, Satani-san. Don't think I don't know what you do to the others here."

The magenta haired girl twisted her head as much as possible to face the raven, defiance shining across her face, but in the depths of the her pink orbs fear shined through. "And if I don't?" the girl whispered boldly.

"Because the next time I won't be so lenient," the raven retorted, applying more pressure to get her point across and making her captive to inaudibly hiss in pain.

Kagome was delighted to see the shaky nod come for Misa, but she didn't quite enjoy the look of fear that formed the upper year's pink eyes. She didn't like inducing fear into people, but she hated bullies even more than what she had just done. If she had to create fear to stop others from getting bullied then she would gladly do it.

Almost immediately after Misa nodded, Kagome released the older the girl and offered her a hand. When a moment passed and Misa had only continued to soothe her sore wrists, she worried that the older girl would only slap away her hand, her offer of a truce and possible friendship. That was until the pink eyed placed her own hand in hers and pulled herself up.

"You know what Higurashi," Misa started as she stood on her own two feet. "You're alright, but you're still an ama."

"Arigato, you not that bad at yourself," Kagome smiled, a bit happy that the girl's new fear didn't teeter her. However, if one were to look closely they would see the minute twitching of an eyebrow, the only indication of her irritation at the insult. "And call me Kagome."

A round of applause exploded within the room, littered with grumbles and groans of dissatisfaction and sighs of relief, causing the demonstration pair to jump in surprise. The pair had practically forgotten that they had an audience, one being shrouded by frustration and the other boredom.

"Huh?" responded to the pair of girls, both snapping towards the sound of the commotion.

"Well done," Aoi complemented, clapping along with her students. "And nicely so, might I add."

Kagome let a small smile appear on her face, elated to have met her auntie's expectations. Misa let a pleased smirk cross her lips, but looked a bit embarrassed doing it, having just been easily taken down by someone smaller and younger than herself.

"You may go back to your friends now, Satani-san," Aoi said, dismissing the third year and striding over to stand just a few feet away from Kagome. Making an about face to stare down her students, she began to speak again. "Can anyone tell me Kagome and Satani-san fighting style differed from one another?" she prompted the other Obelisk blue girls, once she saw Misa enter her circle of friends.

Raising one hand, a girl with dark chocolate brown hair and matching eyes timidly offered, "Higurashi-san kept her movements to bare minimum and dodged." The girl stopped for a moment, an audible gulp echoed from her throat, "While Satani-senpai continuously threw punches and kicks?"

"That's right, Misaki-san. And can someone else tell me how their differences can contribute to determining the conclusion of a fight?" Aoi continued. She had an eyebrow quirked, daring anyone of the girls to answer. When no one came forward, she closed her eyes briefly and sighed in disbelief before calling on Kagome to answer. "Please tell them, Kagome."

Complying to her aunt's command, Kagome dutifully launched into a full explanation of how evasion helps a fighter while continuous attacks can wear a person out. She went on to explain that the more a person evaded the more irrational the opponent would be if they were hot headed as demonstrated by Misa Satani. By the end of her mini-lecture, many of the girls showed a better comprehension of material discussed and their respect for Kagome grew even the disgruntled upperclassmen showed some although bit grudging.

"Arigato, Kagome," Aoi thanked with an added nod towards her niece once the explanation had been completed. "Through the recent demonstration and lecture, I hope you understand just how important evasion and speed are in a bout especially against an adversary that is physically larger and stronger than yourself. It is because you are female, the weaker sex, and thus substantially lack the power and stamina that a male will have. However, as a female we have two advantages, speed and flexibility, just as our more masculine counterpart does. During this first semester we will be focusing on increasing all of your speed and flexibility."

As she spoke Aoi saw many of the teenagers nod and some let a considering expression cross appear as they thought about the advantages of her class. She rolled her eyes and Kagome closed her own blue orbs in exasperation when they heard perverse giggles begin to permeate the air. Those giggles were without a doubt coming from the few perverted girls in class, who were probably imagining the possibilities that being flexible would provide them when they were intimate with another person.

Clapping her hands together loudly once, Aoi regained her class's attention, "Many of you are probably wondering, just how are we going to increase your flexibility? Stretching can, after all, only do so much. And that is why I have called in my niece."

"Kagome, here, has also been learning gymnastics as long as she has been a martial artist," she continued, redirecting her students' attentions to the younger Higurashi. "Why don't you show them one of the floor routines you've learned over the years?" Aoi suggested.

"Which level do you want them to see, oba-san?" Kagome asked over her shoulder as she walked a fair distance away from the class of teenage girls and her Aunt Aoi. When she finally stopped she stood at one end of gymnasium; and if she were to run to other end, the line formed would be parallel to the class that stood off to the side.

"Level six will do just fine," Aoi answered as she crossed her arms over her chest and turned her back to her students.

In gymnastics there were many levels that a gymnast could be on, but each and every one would begin on the same level one with no exceptions. Much like a person playing a video game, a gymnast's career depends on how well they can advance, learn, and promote. The higher level a gymnast is the more difficult the routines and training are, and also the higher of a chance that he or she is able to get on a team, be it resident studio or otherwise. Unlike a video game, a gymnast has no option of using cheats and has to depend on their own power and hard work for a level up. The promoting to a higher level depended on the gymnast's experience and performance of their current level's routine. If the gymnast does exceptionally well, then he or she is promoted. However, if the routine was executed poorly to the extreme or if the gymnast misbehaves in an unbefitting manner than he or she risk the chance of being demoted one or several levels.

Nodding her consent, Kagome prepared herself for the routine and quickly unbuttoned the front of her Obelisk blue jacket. Shrugging off the jacket, she freed her upper body of its restrictive material and exposed the fitting white tank top with a swirling gold sequin design spreading across the front. Moments later she had peeled off her white socks and academy issued blue boots and had dropped her jacket to the floor just to the side of her shoes. When she began unzipping the side of her blue uniform skirt, she heard a large portion of the girls gasp and gossip to each other.

"Has she no shame?" shrieked one of the louder gossipers.

"She's finally showing the slut that she is," snipped one of the third years that had been in Kagome's business class.

"Why is she stripping in front of us? Shouldn't she just go change in the locker room?" asked another.

"That's such a nice top," sighed a final girl. "Do you think she'd mind telling me where she got it?" she asked her friend.

Rolling her eyes in exasperation (she was getting really sick of the gossip), she finished unzipping her skirt and pushed it over her hips and down past her legs. Once her skirt pooled around her small, pale, and dainty feet, a pair of black spandex shorts were revealed to have been hidden under the blue material. As soon as her shorts were uncovered a round of oh's sounded around the room.

After she deposited her skirt into the pile of her other clothes and boots, Kagome began to stretch a bit to prepare for the routine. She laced her fingers together and pulled her arms above her head feeling the satisfying pop emit from her shoulders. She continued on with a few other stretches with the same delicious result of satisfying pops and cracks from other areas of her body. Finishing up one last stretch, Kagome slowly rolled her body back up from where she had bent over to stretch out her legs.

Quickly shaking out the feeling of a good stretch, she quickly took up her starting position. She stood on her left leg, slightly bent at the knee, with her torso arched forward and her face tilted slightly towards the ceiling. Her right leg was position a bit behind the rest of her body and her right foot was pointed with top of her toes touching the floor. Her arms were settled, almost stiffly so, at her sides with her hands opened and fingers together.

She stood in that position for a while and as if a signal only heard by her was sounded, the raven haired teenager shot off like a rocket with her high ponytailed hair whipping behind her. Her feet pounded lightly but firmly into the ground for several yards before she launched herself into the beginning of the level six routine that she had learned many years ago.

As soon as her feet hit just the right distance, the raven's body twisted itself into a forward handspring. Upon landing she followed up with several more forward handsprings mixed in with some Somi-and-a- Half twists, and finished the first set with a kart wheel step out. Turning around, she sprinted before leaping into the air with a front split and landing in the center of performance area.

Once in the center she proceeded to dance incorporating leaps, twists, and spins wherever need be, and adding in the occasional roundoffs, bridges and walkovers, and rolls. She continued dancing about until she reached the place that she started and ended the dance with a handstand and a front roll out.

About facing again, she ran a few steps before heading into a set of back to back aerials and extending her body into layouts during the flips. She ended that set with a front pike salto (somersault). Once on the other side of the room again, she didn't turn as she had the other times but instead bent backwards into a bridge and exited with a walkover. She continued moving back to the center stage with a series of back salto (somersault) and back handsprings. Landing in the center of the area with a back Somi-and-a- Half twist, she quickly pulled herself into a back salto. As she finished the somersault, she landed on the balls of her feet with a loud thud and balanced herself enough to rise from her bent position, allowing her to stick the landing and end the routine.

There was silence for but only a moment before slow clapping came forth. Turning to face her audience, Kagome gave a quick bow to her audience with a flourish of her right arm that brought it to her chest and her left arm tucked behind and then returned to her aunt's side.

When the raven haired gymnast had started her routine many of the students had not been overly interested, but had been made curious after her victory over Misa Satani. As the routine had progressed a number of the class had become rather enthralled by the powerful flips, twists, and turns and her graceful dance. Some held their breaths as they watched, believing that the teenager would have to make a mistake at one point. They were all sorely disappointed as each flip and twist were executed, and in their eyes, flawlessly. Others just gasped or sighed in adoration as they were entranced further by the fast paced flips and twists following the dance.

By the time it ended with the forceful impact of the raven's somersault, the class could not tear their eyes from the gymnast and could only applaud the performance a few moments later.

"Wonderfully executed," Aoi praised once Kagome stood by her. "Beautiful as always, but something seemed off this time around," she continued in whisper, so that only the other Higurashi could hear her.

Kagome winced slightly at the comment. "So you noticed it too, huh?" She received a sharp nod from the elder Higurashi before Aoi spoke to her class.

"I hope everyone enjoyed the performance Kagome just gave us," the elder Higurashi said after the clapping had settled down. "The routine you just saw is a level six routine, just one level higher than the lowest required entry level for the gymnastics team. However, because of how competitive the school Kagome and I had attended is the actual entry level is much higher than what she just showed you."

There many awes meeting Aoi's statement as almost all of the girls have never really known much about the sport and had not believed that it would have been so difficult. The closest that the girls have ever gotten to seeing the sport had been on the television during the summer Olympics a couple of years ago. What they had just witnessed was to them impressive and if that was just barely able team entry level for normal places they couldn't wait to see what else the younger Higurashi could do.

With the exhibition over, Aoi began lecturing the class on how the many moves in gymnastics can help in a fight, especially in evading the enemy. After the lecture the brown eyed Higurashi began instructing the girls on how to properly stretch for gymnastics and Kagome demonstrate each stretch. Class continued on in this manner until it just ten minutes before the bell, in which Aoi dismissed the girls to go change. As the girls headed to the locker room, many of them sent Kagome curiosity filled glances as they passed her by.

When the last girl disappeared through the metal blue doors of the locker room, Kagome turned sharply to her aunt. "Why didn't you tell me I was excused from my other classes today? I could have avoided having my IQ drop a few points if you did!"

"Gomen ne, Akemi," Aoi apologized, a sheepish expression appearing over her normally stoic face, which she only used in the presence of non-relatives. "It kind of slipped my mind. Plus, you should be happy I can get you out classes. I've been getting some complaints this week from your afternoon sensei-tachi that you're always drawing or not paying attention."

This time it was Kagome's turn to look apologetic and mumbled a soft apology, "Sumimasen, oba-san. But you know the education here is nothing compared to Issei's, and it's not like I'm learning anything new. I shouldn't even be in the grade that they put me in," she finished with a huff and her arms crossed over her chest.

"Yes, I know they're below our education, but please don't aggravate them," Aoi sighed with her eyes closed as she ran tired hand through her short onyx black locks.

"Hai, oba-san," Kagome promised. The two continued speaking with each in soft voices about a much lighter topic until the next class arrived.

The next class session went on much like the previous lesson with the exception of the fighting demonstration. It appeared that some of the girls in the last session had told of what had happened in the spar that Kagome had had with Misa Satani.

Classes ended sooner than Kagome would have liked and before she knew it she was once again dressed in her Obelisk blue uniform and meeting up with Daisuke Ogawa for her date.

* * *

Kagome released a sigh of disappoint from her lips as she resurfaced from the ocean, her hair plastered to her body by the salty water. She was swimming again, late at night, because of how the date had turned out.

It was safe to say that she would never go on a date with Daisuke again. Oh, it wasn't because the red head had been stupid. He wouldn't have been placed in Ra yellow if he had been. It hadn't even really been his personality, well not completely anyways; she was friends with Miroku after all. The monk was a smooth talking conman and much worse of a pervert than the third year Ra yellow could ever hope to be.

Leaning back in the water so that she would be floating on her back, she thought back to how the date has gone. Her hair floated out and spread into a halo around her as soon as the back of her touched the water. The water drops that clung to her skin glistened as the moonlight shined down on her and the rest of the earth.

After she had met up with Daisuke, the third year boy had proceeded to introduce her to all of his friends that had been nearby. She hadn't really minded that part. She liked meeting new people, but it kind of seemed like the red head had only wanted bragging rights. This sort of annoyed her; she never really liked boastful men, but this wasn't what had her swimming away her problems.

When they had finally separated from his friends, Daisuke had taken her to the academy's card shop for their date. That was a bad choice. So there weren't many places he could have taken her to, but really? Did he have to take her to the card shop of all places? A nice walk around the island while they talked would have sufficed. He didn't actually have to spend money on her! Did he really think taking her shopping for Duel Monster cards or flaunting his money would really impress her? She wasn't a gold digging prostitute! Her family had money and she earned her own thank you very much!

The choice in scenery for their date wasn't the worst part. Oh no, it how bad their compatibility with each other had been. Daisuke had been nice enough as a person and possibly a good friend if given time. However, when he had tried to get to know her as a would-be boyfriend well they just didn't seem to mesh well together. Their conversations had been mundane and well… boring.

Sighing to herself and still not feeling completely better about the horrid date, Kagome took a deep breath before diving backwards into the ocean.

At least it hadn't been the worst date she had ever been on she reassured herself as she swam beneath the ocean waves. That honor was still held by one of her stalkers, Akitoki Hojo, for the most boring date ever. How someone was able to make a date to an amusement park boring was beyond her.

She continued swimming for a while her mind clearing and disappointment fading the longer she swam. She only resurfaced every now and again for much needed air. When she felt as if her emotions were once again under her control, she swam back to the beach that she had departed from.

Breaking the water's surface, Kagome filled her lungs with air and saw that she was just a few yards from where she needed to be to get out of the ocean. Looking around the area, Kagome immediately dove back under into the safety of the water. Her eyes were widened into saucers as she swam even deeper into the ocean's dark embrace.

She watched in wide-eyed horror as two motor boats race over where she had previously been and listened to the sounds of the running engines overhead. If she hadn't dived back under, she probably would have been made minced meat by either one of the motors.

'_What on earth is going on up there?'_ Kagome thought as she moved her arms and legs about to keep afloat. Once both vessels had sailed passed her location and had stopped a safe distance away from her, she propelled herself towards the beach that was behind the girls' dormitory's bath house and next to the boat dock.

When she finally returned to land, she was prepared to be angry at the pair that had almost run her over with the motor boats. However, as soon as she saw who the pair was and what they were in the middle of her rage shifted to mere annoyance and some amusement.

There in the middle of the enclosure of the beach standing or sitting in the two boats were Judai and Sho in one and Asuka, Junko, and Momoe in other. The blonde Obelisk blue and brunette Slifer red both stood at the bow of their respective craft and were just beginning a duel with each other, if their active duel disks were anything to go by.

Leaning back against the cement wall of the dock as she had not gotten out of the water yet, Kagome observed the duel with an amused air about her. She watched as the non-dueling companions shouted at each other while their respective friend duked it out with their cards, but being as far as she was she couldn't make out what was being said.

She didn't know why Asuka was dueling Judai nor why Momoe and Junko were yelling at the boys, but judging by the fact that they were boys and they were near the girls' dormitory she had to guess that one of them or both were suspected of peeping in the bath house. She probably would have join the other two first years at yelling at the Slifer reds or even had beaten them to a pulp if it wasn't for Judai being practically oblivious to such things outside of Duel Monsters.

It didn't take too long for the duel to end, and Kagome had to admit at least in the confines of her own mind that it wasn't a bad duel. It wasn't the most impressive duel, but seeing as how Asuka was considered one of the best at Duel Academy had just lost to Judai, a Slifer red and thus considered one of the lowest, it was an impressive feat. She had to mentally applauded Judai for his accomplishment.

Silently lifting herself out of the water, she twisted her soggy hair and watched at the excess water poured out. She didn't bother looking up to see what the group was doing next, she was too far away to even hear what was going on.

Grabbing her belongings, she headed to the bath house for a much needed cleansing. Giving one last look over her shoulder, Kagome felt a smirk spread across her lips as she saw Asuka watching the Slifer boys as they settled down into their boat and start up the engine.

'_Today wasn't so bad after all,'_ Kagome thought as she quickly departed from the beach before anyone could notice her. _'Especially if it ends like this.'_

* * *

AN: Sorry if this chapter seemed a bit rushed in the writing. ^^;; I really want to get some parts of this whole thing over with so I can get to the parts that I really do want to write. It doesn't really help that I was lacking inspiration while I was writing this. If Kagome and Daisuke's date is weird or doesn't seem all that great, in my defense I have never been on a date before in my life so no actual details for it. But be happy that I will try to go into details for the boys that do matter. Also there is a poll on my profile for other possible stories that I will write later on. The summaries for each are in the fanfiction section of my profile.


	11. Dorm Exchange Examination

**The Duel Champion's Daughter**

**Disclaimer:** I do **NOT** own either Inuyasha or Yu-Gi-Oh GX

**Summary: **Seto Kaiba's eldest child, Kagome Akemi Higurashi Kaiba, is being sent to attend Duel Academy to take up her father's title of Duel Monsters Champion, but will she be able to take the title while also looking for a husband to be. Begins in Season 1 of GX and will basically be AU with original Japanese versions explanations in ranking and scoring.

Reminder: People I revise my stories often, VERY often.

AN: I'm glad so many of you guys like the story and how the duels are written. Unfortunately, I can't take any credit for the duel scenes written. Everyone can thank my wonderful friend, Akuma-Chibi for being so helpful in writing them. I'm sure she's annoyed with me for how many times I've asked her to re-edit the scene for me. And since so many of you have been asking when Kagome will be dueling again, I'm delighted to inform you all that the chapter has finally come! Please enjoy and remember to thank Akuma-Chibi for all these wonderful duels.

Side Note: Please only send reviews that pertain to the story. I get you want to tell me something especially if you're a guest member, but please leave that in a review that actually has something to do with the story it's in. Guest reviews that do not relate to the story will be deleted. If you need to request something or ask questions please use my Facebook page or my Tumblr, and I'll answer them there. Also, please stop asking who Kagome will be paired up with. I am getting sick of reading reviews that ask that.

"Speech"

_'Thoughts' _

"**English"**

* * *

_Last Time on The Duel Champion's Daughter:_

_Grabbing her belongings, she headed to the bath house for a much needed cleansing. Giving one last look over her shoulder, Kagome felt a smirk spread across her lips as she saw Asuka watching the Slifer boys as they settled down into their boat and start up the engine. _

'_Today wasn't so bad after all,' Kagome thought as she quickly departed from the beach before anyone could notice her. 'Especially if it ends like this.'_

**This Time on The Duel Champion's Daughter**

The days flew by, quickly turning into weeks with Kagome occupying many of her days and nights with training, studying, friends, or dates, many of which were disappointing to say the least. Before she knew it, it was the night just before Duel Academy's first monthly dorm exchange exam.

Tucking a stray lock of raven blue hair behind her right ear, Kagome softly bit down on her lower lip as she tried to study for the next morning's test. Looking up from her desk, where she had been reading over her Duel Strategies notes, she saw Asuka sitting nearby on her couch and studying her own material.

Normally the two of them would have been working in the dormitory's library, but that location had recently been taken over by the other resident girls. Unfortunately for them, that also meant that the library was no longer a quiet studying area. With all the other girls there the place had been quickly filled with loud and excessive chatter, driving the two first years to the safety and peaceful silence of Kagome's bedroom to study for the last week and a half.

Kagome didn't mind all that much that the blonde had made herself at home in her room. Ever since that Wednesday night duel and Asuka's birthday, the blonde had been coming to her room more often than not.

Kagome smiled fondly as she remembered how Asuka had reacted to her present the night she had given it to the now sixteen-year old girl.

_Flashback_

_It had been three days since the Wednesday night duel with Judai, meaning it was Saturday, September fifteenth, and Asuka's birthday. _

_Currently, Kagome was waiting nervously for her guest to arrive at her door. She had invited Asuka over after their evening meal. She was a bit jittery as she held her present for the blonde Obelisk in her hands. Her fingers unconsciously played with the satin bow that was tied on top. _

_Her mind conjured different cases and scenarios of how the gift giving would turn out; some were good and some were bad. The bad ones only put her a bit more on edge. She didn't know how the blonde would react, and she was worried that the older girl wouldn't like it. She never really had bad reactions from her friends over the gifts she had given, but if the blonde became upset… Well she didn't know what she would do._

_So lost in her thoughts, she nearly dropped her present when she was startled by the sudden rapping on her door. Jumping up from her seat, Kagome softly placed the brightly wrapped item on her desk before hastily making her way to the door._

_Taking a deep breath to calm whatever nerves she had left, Kagome quietly opened the entrance to her room just a crack, and carefully peered around the heavily secured door. Even though she was certain the person was Asuka, she had learned at a young age to never open the door completely without verifying who it was. She had learned that the hard way when she was a little girl._

_Finishing her perusal, she allowed the opening to slowly widen and reveal the guest that had come by. There in the entry way to the young raven's room stood the straw blonde Obelisk, Asuka, with her fist still raised as if to rap on the wooden surface once more._

_"Thanks for coming over, Asuka," said Kagome as she invited the blonde._

_Asuka just nodded her golden head in response as she walked into the room and looked around, still astounded by the things she saw as she entered. _

"_So what did you call me up for?" the blonde asked once she was several yards within the enclosed area, and had turned around to face her host, who had just shut the door. _

_Kagome didn't immediately answer the older girl. Instead she just strolled past the other Obelisk to her desk and grabbed the item that had been resting on it._

"_I know today's your birthday and everything, Asuka, and I'm sure you don't expect anything from me," she began as she faced the birthday girl, her gift,__ shielded by sunset gold wrapping paper and topped with a white curly satin bow, rested in her hands.__ "But I couldn't help myself. Happy Birthday, Asuka," she finished, offering the present to her friend with a shy smile on her face._

_Asuka honestly didn't know why the raven haired girl had invited her over, so it had really came as a shock when the younger girl had presented her with the sunset wrapped gift._

_At a lost, the blonde quietly accepted the brightly wrapped rectangle with a softly murmured 'thank you.' She had not expected Kagome to give her anything for her birthday as they have only known each for a couple of weeks, and had been stunned when her eyes caught sight of the shiny covering._

_The neatly wrapped package lied innocently unopened in the now sixteen-year-old's grasp as she and the raven stood cross from each other in a stifling silence. The blonde stood not knowing how to respond or what to do, and the raven waiting for the blonde's reaction._

_Feeling a bit too uncomfortable, Asuka broke the silence first. "So can I open it?" she asked while gesturing to rectangular shaped item by lifting it just a tad._

"_Huh?" was Kagome's immediate response before she snapped to attention. Seeing what the blonde was motioning towards, she swiftly replied with a hint of eagerness coloring her voice, "Yeah, of course."_

_Without another moment of hesitation, Asuka tugged the white satin bow from the gift and then stuck it to the shoulder of her powder blue birthday dress before tearing off the present's wrapping almost anxiously. The teenager's hazel eyes widen to an exorbitant size as recognition began to cloud them once the wrapping paper was gone. _

_When the item was free from its paper barrier and out in the blonde's hands, it was revealed that the present was a leather bound journal. The leather of the journal was a dusty brown in color, but looked as if it would have been a dark toffee when it was first bought. On the cover were the faint signs of writing, but were so faded that it was illegible. The book was fastened together by an inch thick strap that started in the back and clipped the book shut in the front._

"_Is this what I think it is?" the birthday girl asked in a choked whisper, tears springing forth at the corners of her hazel eyes as they receded to their normal size. Hope rose within the blonde's chest and the true question she had wanted ask was, 'Is this really Fubuki-nii-san's journal?'_

"_Hai," Kagome confirmed with a solemn nod, but avoided looking at the other girl because of her nervousness, and because of this she never saw her friend move. The next thing the raven knew was that she was being engulfed in the other girl's embrace as her body became as stiff as a board._

_Once her body relaxed, she awkwardly patted the birthday girl's back as best she could with her arms pinned to her side. As the moments moved on she heard the sounds of soft sniffles and the dampening of the front of her ruby red satin nightgown, the telling signs of her friend's tears._

_When the blonde's tears had settled down Kagome looked down at the older girl and asked with a sheepish expression appearing on her face, "So does this mean you'll forgive me if I told you that I had to read a little bit of it to confirm the owner?"_

"_Hai," Asuka replied a slight hiccup in her voice and nodded her head as she released her hold on the younger girl. _

"_I guess you like it?" Kagome asked with a pleased smile finally blooming across her lips and a sparkle shining in her ocean blue orbs._

"_How can I not, when you gave me something that will always connect me to my onii-san?" the blonde continued with a smile of her, wiping away the tears and their trails with the hand not holding the journal while clutching said gift to her chest with her other hand._

_The small smile on Kagome's face morphed into a large happy grin, but was only to be wiped clean off when Asuka punched her in the arm. "Oi, what was that for?" she exclaimed indignantly all the while rubbing her injury with the hand of her other arm in mock pain. The punch might not have hurt, but darn it why did she have to punch her? She just gave her the journal that belonged to her missing brother, which she had risked getting by going into a restricted zone._

"_For being too good of a friend," Asuka explained as she retracted her fist. "You just gave me the best birthday present, and I can't even return the favor," she continued and crossed her arms over her chest in mock agitation. The grin on the blonde's face easily gave away that she was more delighted than she was annoyed though she tried in vain to keep a pout on her lips._

_Bright bell like laughter pealed from Kagome in response, and soon Asuka's own giggles joined hers._

_End Flashback_

A soft snicker tore itself from Kagome's throat as she remembered what else had occurred that night. It had been a special night that had been made even more wonderful with the two of them becoming close enough to tease each other almost mercilessly.

Hearing the laughter, Asuka looked up from her notes and the textbook that she was studying from. A smile tugged at the corners of the blonde's pink lips when she realized the sounds were coming from her dark haired friend. Blinking her eyes a few times in curiosity, she asked, "What's so funny?"

Kagome just shook her head with a secret smile and answered, "It's nothing."

"If you say so," Asuka replied skeptically, dropping the subject. Turning slightly, she noticed how late it was and began to shuffle her books and notes together. The digital clock on Kagome's nightstand read in bright glaring red that it was just twenty minutes to eleven. "I think I'm going to head to bed now," she announced as she gather study materials into her arms. "After all we have that exam tomorrow morning."

Taking notice of time, Kagome agreed with the blonde, and tidied her own books into a pile. "Yeah, we should probably turn in early then."

Once Asuka had all of her belongings, Kagome escorted the blonde out. When she was finally alone, the raven sighed to herself before taking an about face, and headed to her closet door. "Guess I should start packing," she grumbled to herself as she entered the interior of her closet, remembering that she was leaving for the weekend.

As she walked further in, she grabbed a moderate sized silver white trimmed black duffel bag when she passed by the bags section of her closet. Like many of her other belongings, her duffel bag was decorated in some way.

On one side of the black duffel embroidered in white thread and elegant curly script were her first name and the initials of her middle name and surnames, both paternal and maternal. All around her name were the silver threaded needlework of a series of intertwining vines of amaryllis, magnolias, and peonies. On the other side of the black carrier was the name of her father's company, Kaiba Corp. printed in bold font and silver ink.

The bag was brand new, and it took Kagome a little while before she deciphered the message that was hidden in the images of the flowers. The meaning and message left by the stitched flowers left a smile on the raven's face. The meaning of each flower was respectively pride, dignity, and secret, and the message left was that she was her father's secret dignified pride.

The smile continued its occupation of her lips for the rest night as Kagome headed further into her closet, and began grabbing any clothing and items that she deemed to be a necessity, and packed them neatly into her duffle bag.

When she was finished she changed into a new night gown, a silvery white satin one with lace trimmings at the neckline and hem, and brought the now full luggage case out of the closet. After setting it down by her desk, the raven haired teen turned off her room lights, and slipped off to dream land.

_Dorm Exchange Exam_

A soft relieved sigh escaped pass soft pink lips as Professor Daitokuji called the conclusion to the written portion of the monthly dorm exchange exam. Kagome stretched her arms above her head as she leaned back into her chair.

Just as she was about to get up a looming shadow fell over her form. Looking up, the raven haired teen saw that it one of her classmates and rank sharer. "Konichiwa Misawa-kun," Kagome greeted though it came out muted as one her hands rose to stifle a yawn.

"Konichiwa Kagome," Daichi answered in kind with a friendly smile on his face and his arms relaxed by his side. "What did you think of the exam?" he asked.

The girl returned the smile with one of her own as Daichi stepped aside for her to stand. Over the course of the last two weeks, Kagome and Daichi have become well-acquainted with one another, enough to consider each other friends. Their friendship had first started on the day that the Ra yellow student had brought her the assignments she had missed from being excused from class.

With a shrug of her shoulders and a bored expression on her face as they waited for chaotic rush of the student majority to pass, Kagome answered a bit nonchalantly knowing that it would annoy her friend, "Not bad, about the same as the entrance exam. Yourself?"

Daichi chuckled softly to himself seeing that his Obelisk blue friend was feeling playful though that didn't stop his annoyance at her apparent apathy towards the exam. It irked him quite a bit to know that the girl he was partnered with for most class assignments and one of his rivals had found the test to be so easy while he found it moderately difficult.

The two of them have studied a great many hours preparing for the test together, but only for the written portion. And during the times, the dark haired girl usually ended up studying for some other subject that wasn't taught at the academy rather than what they were supposed to. It really got under his skin to know that he and she had tied in ranking despite the Obelisk's significantly less serious approach to exams.

Making sure to keep all signs of his annoyance from showing in either his voice or face, the charcoal haired Ra replied as he and Kagome began walking up the steps to where Judai and Sho were seated, "It was alright. Nothing I had not studied."

Kagome nodded curtly in response, her hands linking together behind her back. "So what do you plan to do now?" she asked, tilting her head slightly to look at the taller first year student. "We have two hours until the practical exam."

"I may visit the card shop later. I do believe that's where everyone else is headed. There is supposed to be a shipment of rare cards coming in," the Ra yellow stated, glancing over to his classmate. "You could join me if you'd like," he offered, a little hope rising in his chest for a reason unknown to him. The feeling that had risen was quickly pushed back down when the subject of his inquiry replied.

"Gomen ne," Kagome politely declined, softly shaking her head and causing her bound tresses to rustle with the movement. "I actually have to do something right now."

"How about after the exam?" he persisted.

Kagome shook her head again in a negative, an apologetic smile on her face as she once again struck him down, "I already have plans."

Sighing inaudibly, Daichi suggested with a pensive smile, "Maybe some other time then."

"That'd be nice," she replied just as the pair stopped on the steps of level where Judai and Sho sat. "We should probably wake them," she commented, seeing that the two Siler red students were still snoozing. "They'll probably sleep through lunch if we don't."

Just as she took the first step towards the duo, the Ra yellow beside her called out to her causing her to pause in her movements.

"Why don't I take care of them," Daichi offered graciously.

"Are you sure?" she asked uncertainly, her eyes flickering back forth between the pair of Slifer red boys and the Ra yellow beside her.

"Hai, you did say you were going to be busy," the Ra reminded.

Kagome hesitated for a moment before turning away from the dozing pairing and stepped back onto the steps. "Arigato, Misawa-kun," she thanked and gave the grey eyed teen a peck and then glided up the last of the steps and out of the classroom.

A light blush heated Daichi's face as the male watched the raven disappear in a slight daze. When Kagome was completely out of his sight, he turned back towards the Slifer reds and prepared to wake the slumbering pair up.

* * *

_Flashback_

_Daichi looked around the entrance of the Obelisk blue girls' dormitory, trying to see if he could spot his elusive raven haired classmate anywhere._

_It was currently Thursday afternoon, and class had ended not too long ago. The charcoal haired Ra would have delivered the assignments the day before after class; however, going by the circulating rumors, his Obelisk blue project partner would have and had been occupied until late in the afternoon._

_But it had apparently been good thing that he had not been able to complete his assigned task. He had discovered during class that Kagome was once again excused from the day's afternoon lessons, and thus he was again tasked to give his fellow first year her assignments. Unfortunately for him, he had not been able to catch the blue eyed girl after the lessons had ended, which had led to his current predicament of being at the girls' dormitory and finding said classmate._

_Taking another look around and not spotting the familiar long dark hair, Daichi let his head drop and an inaudible sigh fall. He didn't understand why the professors didn't just have one of the other Obelisk blue girls give the blue eyed enigma her work. They would have most definitely been able to see her long before he could._

_Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, the dark grey eyed male brought his head back and marched up the steps of the girls' dormitory. Once at the top, he took a deep breath with his left hand clutching to one of the straps of his back as his free hand rose to ring the discretely hidden doorbell. _

_As soon as the doorbell's button met his index finger its melody immediately began to play, announcing his arrival to all who currently resided within the dormitory's confines._

_Several long tensioned filled minutes passed by for Daichi as he waited for someone to answer the door. Just as he was about to give up and come back on another day, he watched in surprise as the left side of the __large ornate mahogany doors slowly begun to open._

_Soon after one of the Obelisk blue girls poked her head out and stared imploringly at the Ra yellow student with her violet orbs. "Can I help you?" the dark red haired girl asked coolly._

"_Hai," Daichi answered swiftly but politely, coming out of the stupor that he unknowingly put himself in. Facing his senpai, the girl looked to be at least a year older than himself, he asked, "Sumimasen for troubling you senpai, but could you tell me if Kagome is present?"_

"_You mean Higurashi-san, ne?" the second year Obelisk questioned rhetorically, one of her neatly plucked eyebrows lifted as she did. "Hai, she's in the library with Asuka-sama. Do you want me to get her?" she finished, crossing her arms over her chest in the process._

"_If it's not too much trouble," Daichi said graciously with an incline of his in respect for his senpai._

_Shaking her head slightly and with a sigh, the red haired second consented to the request and invited the Ra yellow student into the dormitory's atrium. Before she left to get Kagome, the upperclassman introduced herself as Saki Himaya. She also told the dark grey eyed first year to stay put and that she would return shortly._

_Taking a quick scan of the area visible to his eyes, Daichi was surprised by how different the girls' dormitory was from his. Aside from the obvious color scheme, the dormitory was much more extravagant than he had expected. 'The boys' dormitory is most likely just as elaborate, and both must have cost more than I had believed,' the first year male thought as he mind began doing calculations to the cost of building just the girls' housing._

_True to her word, Saki returned to the atrium with Kagome in tow within minutes of her departure. The girls' arrival snapped Daichi from his thoughts just as he was about to deduce the final mind boggling sum used for the dormitory's construction. _

"_Arigato Himaya-senpai," the Ra yellow student thanked with a slight bow to the upperclassman when he saw the girls._

_Saki nodded her head in acknowledgment of his thanks and bowed her head, just the slightest bit, to Kagome in farewell before taking her leave._

_Kagome watched her fellow Obelisk blue student walk away from her guest and her. Her blue eyes unconsciously followed the older student's form until Saki disappeared around a corridor. Once she no longer heard Saki's soft echoing footsteps, she turned all of her attention towards the boy before._

_The said male observed how his classmate behaved towards the older student, silently storing away everything he saw into a mental that he would process later. If he was to ever figure out the enigma that was Kagome Higurashi, then he had to scrutinize any and all of her actions and responses. _

_When the Higurashi had first arrived he had noted the items that she had on her, and noticed the belt that the blue eyed girl always seemed to have around her waist. He also took a notice of her backpack; it was constantly changing from day to day. However, he has noticed that each bag had some kind of embroidery, always of something generally considered feminine._

_He was only snapped out of his scrutinizing of the blue eyed, raven haired girl when she finally spoke to him._

"_You asked for me?" Kagome asked coolly, her blue orbs calmly observing the male student._

"_Hai," Daichi responded before shrugging off his school bag and pulling a stack of paper out. "I have the assignments that you missed in class. I thought you would like to have them before the next session," he ended while extending the packet to his fellow year mate._

_Accepting the offered papers, Kagome quickly shuffled them together and rested them on top of her laptop. "Arigato, Misawa-san," she thanked with a bow of her dark haired head to her classmate. "Sumimasen for all trouble I've caused you."_

_Once Kagome had taken the assignments from his grasp, the slick haired Ra yellow was prepared for a rude dismissal of his person. He was pleasantly surprised when the resident ice princess had not done so and had instead showed him gratitude. 'It shouldn't be surprising. She has only ever shown curtness to people who aggravate her,' his mind swiftly whispered to him, reminding him of the times that he had observed her actions with other students._

_When her head had returned to its proper angle, the Obelisk blue girl was almost startled to see that the Ra yellow made no move to leave. Tilting her head to the side in curiosity, the action causing her ponytail bound tresses to spill back over her shoulder, and blinking her inquisitive eyes, she asked the male student, "Is there something else you wanted, Misawa-san?"_

"_H-hai," Daichi answered with a slight stutter and a light, unnoticeable blush across his nose as he forced an amicable smile to his tanned face. Mentally he berated himself though for even momentarily losing his cool especially over a girl. Even if said girl was Kagome Higurashi and in a pose that made her look so… His mind trailed off as he tried to select a specific word to describe how the girl looked at the moment. From just the pose, she already seemed like the opposite of her usual cool and icy persona, but right now she looked almost… 'Cute and sweetly innocent,' his mind once again supplied prompting him to unconsciously nod in agreement._

_When he realized just what words had processed through, the light blush he had flushed even darker and spread over to his cheeks. The blush became a dark enough shade for Kagome to notice and for concern to well in her young heart._

"_Daijobu desu ka, Misawa-san? Are you feeling alright?" Kagome asked her worry for her classmate showed in her usually guarded eyes. "You look kind of flushed."_

"_Daijobu, I'm fine," Daichi answered while shaking his head to clear away his previous thoughts._

"_If you say so," Kagome softly spoke to herself as she almost reluctantly let the subject drop. Keeping her arms to her chest with her belongings cradled in them, her normal cool demeanor returned as she asked, "So what did you want, Misawa-san?"_

"_Ahh that's right. I have been meaning to speak with you," the dark grey eyed male started. "I hope you don't mind."_

"_I don't mind, but why don't we head back to the library," the blue eyed student offered as she began leading Daichi back to the room she had left not too long ago. "I don't know about you, but you shouldn't strain your body too much especially if you're coming down with something," she warned, glancing over her shoulder once to see if the male was following._

_Daichi heard the Obelisk's warning and shifted the weight of his backpack a bit as he followed after the girl. His calculative grey eyes watched as she glanced back at him and caught the subtle nod that the Obelisk gave to herself, obviously satisfied about something he had done or was doing._

_Not too long after they had started walking down a corridor, the pair arrived at their destination. Kagome was the first to enter the library, seemingly searching for something or someone, with Daichi only a few steps behind her. _

"_Huh. I guess Asuka decided to go study somewhere else today." Daichi heard Kagome comment aloud to herself as she placed her belongings down on a nearby table. He watched her settle onto one of the provided chairs and gesture for him to do the same._

_Taking the hint, he took the seat across from her and set his bag beside the table._

"_So what did you want to talk to me about?" she asked once he was seated, and thus beginning a discussion of Duel Academy's entrance exam; which was then followed up by a conversation of Duel Monsters that caused Kagome's face to wrinkle together in distaste, which Daichi noted with surprise. Throughout their chatting, Daichi and Kagome continued to subtlety prod each on the other's history. By the time two had to separate from the other, the two were speaking to each about different topics as if they were old acquaintances._

_End Flashback_

* * *

Kagome sighed as she quietly closed the classroom's door behind her. _'What was up with Misawa-kun today?' _she thought curiously with her head slightly ducked down. _'He was being awfully insistent about going to the card shop with him.' _

Pushing the strange behavior of her friend and classmate from her thoughts, she lifted her head and schooled her face into a calm mask just as she had been doing since her arrival. Her eyes turned to steel when she caught sight of several students lingering in the hallway all of whom were obviously not in need of new Duel Monster cards.

Quickly stepping away from the classroom, she turned away from the other students and headed towards the nearest exit all the while ignoring the inquisitive stares that bore into her being. Every step she took led her further from the examination and the further she went, the more people she found passing her in a sprint towards the resident card shop.

Soon enough Kagome crossed the threshold of the academy's academic building and into the mostly tamed nature that surrounded the school campus. There were no other students in vicinity as many if not all of them were headed to the card shop.

Leaning against one of the many statues that littered the lawn of the academic building, Kagome allowed herself to rest a bit and a soft groan to escape before she would make her way back to the dormitory. At the moment she still needed to pick up duffle bag and duel disk, and place them in the helicopter that had should have come with the arrival of the new cards, not to mention that she also needed to change into her leotard and other gym clothes.

Just as the young teen was beginning to relax the song "Run the World (Girls)" by Beyoncé began playing. Groaning again, the blue eyed girl retrieved her cellphone from its carrying and answered.

"Moshi moshi, Sango-chan," Kagome greeted, recognizing the song she had chosen for the fearless older girl.

"Moshi moshi, Kagome-chan," Sango returned.

"What's up?" Kagome asked, resting her full weight against the statue and crossing her free arm under her chest.

"Just reminding you about today's competition. Remember it is district, the first one of the semester so we can't be late," Sango answered seriously.

"Hai, I remember. I was just going to get my things to my ride right now," the raven haired teen replied as she pushed herself off the statue and continued on her trek back to the dormitory. "Don't worry about it. The competition is going to be at the Mori hall, ne?"

"Hai," Sango confirmed. "Just make sure to get there early, alright?"

"Kay," Kagome said with a soft smile before moving the conversation to a less sport related topic. She continued walking to the girls' dormitory all the while chatting happily with her best girlfriend and her feet clicking behind her soundlessly.

* * *

Clapping in celebration with the other students, Kagome felt the grin she had been fighting back begin to creep onto her lips as Chancellor Samejima officially promoted Judai to Ra yellow. She was no longer able to hold back her grin as Judai yelled his excitement and joy.

When the cheering subsided, Chancellor Samejima spoke through the speakers again, "Sumimasen minna, but we still have other students to test."

Judai, his friends, and the other Slifer red examinees had the grace to look sheepish and apologized to the chancellor with a bow towards the instructors' box before hastily retreating out of the stadium and up to the stands.

The balding principal watched with amusement as the new Ra yellow was met with claps to the back and congratulations as soon as the young duelist had made it into the stands. He waited for the students to re-take their seats before continuing, "Now, could the next twelve examinees come down to the stadium?"

Whispers broke out as twelve students rose from their seats and made their way down the steps. All twelve students were first year girls from the Obelisk blue dormitory with Kagome included within their number. All eyes were trained on the group of girls as they descended the stairs. The whispers became less discreet and louder once everyone caught sight of the outfit that the resident ice princess was wearing, mainly from the male students of the academy.

The only recognizable piece of the blue eyed girl's ensemble was the Obelisk blue's sleeveless white and blue trimmed vest jacket. Unlike other times, the princess's vest was opened and displayed a skin tight long sleeved leotard that faded into a shimmering sapphire blue and shiny rows of silver streaked down the sides of both sleeves in two lines. The kanji for west, which was printed in the same silver, was barely visible from beneath the uniform jacket and the white shorts that had replaced the blue school skirt.

"Wow," gasped a random Ra yellow as his eyes stayed focused on raven haired duelist. "She definitely beats Ran Koucho and Seika Kohinata."

"What's up with the outfit?" a random Ra yellow whispered. "I don't mind the sight, but I thought we're all supposed to where our uniform."

"That jacket sure hid a lot," a boy a bit further down the stands commented. "But she's always had some pretty nice legs."

"Yeah, who'd ever thought Higurashi would have a body like that," another male whistled while eyeing said girl in appreciation.

"Not that I don't appreciate the view, but why did she change her outfit now? She's been just fine with the normal uniform," one Obelisk blue boy was intelligent enough to note.

"What happened to the order?"

"The exam should have continued on with the rest of the Slifer reds before moving on to Ra yellow and then to Obelisk blue."

"Why is Obelisk blue going next?"

"Did the instructors get it mixed up?"

"Maybe it's another special treatment? Higurashi _is_ in this group."

At the front and center of the gossiping crowd, two Obelisk blues stood unperturbed by the rowdy students surrounding them and the change in the traditional lineup.

Asuka rolled her eyes at the perverseness that many of the male students exhibited towards her blue-eyed friend. It wasn't like they didn't ogle the dark haired girl every time they saw her. "We finally get to see her duel, ne Ryo?" the blonde commented to the quiet third year bedside her while leaning forward to rest her arms on the railing before her.

"So it seems," the stoic Kaiser replied with his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes never leaving the raven haired duelist that was down below.

Both Obelisk blue students were very much interested in seeing how their mutual friend would play the game they loved. Asuka knew that Kagome had a dislike of their favorite game, but was nonetheless curious about how the other girl would go about the duel. Ryo, on the other hand, had seen hints of the younger Obelisk blue's displeasure when others would try to duel her. His curiosity of the younger student only peaked higher because of her aversion to his favorite game.

In all actuality it was not just Ryo and Asuka, but almost every student at the academy was curious about the long haired Higurashi, and it was not just about her dueling style. Over the course of the month since the school term had begun, no one has been fortunate enough to catch sight of the Higurashi dueling. In fact, the raven even went out of her way to avoid ever having to duel someone.

At another end of the stands, Daichi watched through intense narrowed grey eyes as the next round of examinees marched down the steps with their duel disks by their sides. _'Let's see if your dueling skills are as good as your exam scores declare them to be, Kagome,'_ he thought as he waited for the duels to start despite being curious about the changes happening around him.

The girls, except for Kagome, looked around in confusion as they made it down to the stadium, and began to clip their duel disks to their preferred arm. As they were all first years they did not know the traditional order of how or when each student was supposed to be tested. They also did not see the importance of Kagome's clothing, having become accustomed to the enigmatic girl's various outfits.

Kagome sneered at some of the comments from the male population, and the other remarks made her roll her eyes in exasperation. Wiping her face of any negative emotion, she calmly tuned out the rest of the roaring comments about her clothing choice and the examination arrangement. Quickly clipping her duel disk in place and snapping her deck into its designated holder, the raven haired duelist made her way to her predetermined dueling field and waited to meet her opponent and for her exam to start.

"I see that you've all noticed the change in our traditional lineup," Samejima coughed through the speakers just as the gossiping began to escalate in volume. "I shall not bore you with a long explanation. Just know that I believed it time for a change in our beloved academy." He paused for a moment to let the message sink in. "Now, please let us proceed in the rest of the exam. All participating examinees are to be at their designated field, and begin their exam within the next five minutes."

As soon as the bearded principal finished speaking and turned off the microphone, the rest of the examining duelists quickly scrambled over to their fields to properly meet their opponent.

More than half of the observing students were focused on Kagome's field, and ignored the other duels that had already begun. The students' curiosity overcame their need to support whatever friends that may be down in the stadium as well.

Kagome watched dispassionately as a pink haired and green eyed girl stepped into her dueling field. Inwardly, she wanted to gag at the girl's hair color, but refrained herself. She despised the girly color with a passion, and couldn't understand why anyone would want that color for their hair; but it was not like she knew the girl nor had any say in the other's life.

"Konichiwa, I'm Chika Haruno," the fellow Obelisk blue introduced with a carefree smile.

"Kagome Higurashi," Kagome offered.

"I hope we have a good duel," the newly introduced Chika perkily gushed as she turned on her duel disk.

"Likewise," the raven haired duelist muttered quietly while doing the same. "Let's Duel!"

"Yes, let's duel!" Chika agreed cheerfully,

Chika started off with a smile, but her eyes narrowed as she took in her cards in her hand. _'I don't have anything but a couple spells, a trap, and one monster... I need to bluff!'_ Sighing, Chika looked Kagome dead in the eyes and smirked, "I place two cards in the face down position, and one monster in a defensive position. I'll end my turn with that."

Kagome grabbed five cards and pulled out another. Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she thought over the cards she now held and a time sufficient strategy that would get her out of here as fast as possible.

Just as she was about to begin her turn, a song began to play from one of the cases on her belt.

_**Frère Jacques,**_

_**On est fous **_(It is crazy)

_**Insomniaques, **_(Insomniacs)

_**Ça ne tient plus debout **_(It is no longer standing)

_**La Terre craque **_(Earth cracks)

_**En dessous **_(Below)

_**La Terre craque **_(Earth cracks)

_**Et tout l'monde s'en fout **_(And all the world cares)

From up in the stands nearly everyone had turned their attention away from other duels that had been going on, and focused onto Kagome and Chika's duel as soon as Kagome's cellphone had begun to ring.

"It's probably Higurashi-san's phone," commented a first year Ra yellow, who remembered the cellphone incident on the first day of classes.

"It's a different song from last time," an Obelisk blue boy noted also remembering the incident. "Anyone recognize it?"

"Can't say," a red haired girl said, curiosity showing through her body movements. "We're too far away too really make out the words, but sounds really pretty."

"Is she seriously going to answer that?" asked a green haired girl loudly, disgust coloring her tone. "No real duelist would leave their phone on during a duel."

'_Prove to us that you're a serious duelist, Kagome,' _Asuka mentally pleaded to her friend. _'Let the call go.'_

'_So are you going to answer it, Higurashi-kun?' _Jun mentally sneered, disappointed in what he was seeing from one of his crushes. Everyone received their answer a few moments later just as the next verse of lyrics ended.

_**Oui,**_ (Yes)

_**C'est bien notre vie **_(This is our life)

_**Le pire des cauchemars **_(Worst nightmare)

_**Comment fermer les yeux ? **_(How to close your eyes?)

_**Quand c'est bien nous les monstres **_(When it is us monsters)

_**Qui sortent du placard **_(Coming out of the closet)

_**Comment fermer les yeux ? **_(How to close your eyes?)

_**Quand c'est bien notre tombe **_(When it is our grave)

_**Que l'on creuse dans le noir **_(That is hollow in the dark)

_**Comment fermer les yeux ? **_(How to close your eyes?)

Sighing to herself, Kagome offered Chika an apologetic smile as she collected her cards together, and placed them in the hand of the arm that her duel disk was strapped to. Now with a hand free, she reached into her phone case, and fished out her ringing cell and flipped it open, answering it and ending the song, Frère Jacques by Zazie. Just as she brought the communication gadget to her ear to give a greeting, the blue eyed girl had to swiftly move it away as she was assaulted by the ravings of her other gymnastics team captain.

"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE ALREADY YOU LITTLE BRAT!"

All the duelists in the stadium watched in surprise as the ice princess moved the phone away from her just before someone began to yell through the mobile. They all winced at the shrillness of the person's yelling, whoever it was on the end was clearly upset with the young duelist.

Kagome cringed as she waited for her captain to calm down. Even at an arm's length away Jakotsu's yelling could be heard loud and clear, and it probably rang throughout the stadium. When she was sure Jakotsu had calmed down enough to speak normally, she brought the phone back to her ear, and began to speak.

"Gomen ne Jak-kun, but I'm currently in the middle of an exam," she explained quietly. "I'm trying my best to get there as soon as possible," she added in hopes of placating the more dramatic of her two captains.

Her attempt seemed fruitless as she had to once again held the cell an arm's length away. "YOUR BEST ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE THE FIRST TO REGISTER, AND WE CAN'T DO THAT WITHOUT YOU HERE! NOW GET YOUR BUTT IN GEAR, AND MOVE IT TO MORI HALL!"

She winced again as she brought the phone close. "Hai Jak-kun, I'll be there within the next hour. Just give me a few minutes to wrap up the test."

Jakotsu seemed to take this news well because he was no longer yelling through the phone. "You have half an hour to get here before the other teams arrive. If you don't get here by then we'll have Kinomoto take your spot," the captain threatened.

Kagome grimaced at the time restraint, but nonetheless agreed. The trip from the island to Domino City took nearly an hour by helicopter, and to get to the Mori hall in the allotted time would be pushing the helicopter to its maximum speed.

"Gomen nasai, Haruno-san, but it seems that I'm running late. I hope we can have a proper duel some other time," Kagome said as she tucked away her phone, and re-took her cards. Her normally friendly dark sapphire eyes lightened in color, and became glaciers as they took on a more serious expression as she looked over the cards she had in her hand once more.

Chika frowned at Kagome's _arrogance_, or at least that's what it came off as. _'There is no way you can win this in such a short amount of time, Higurashi-san.'_

"I'm afraid that I'm going to have to make this quick, Haruno-san... With that said... I'll start by summoning Summoner Monk," she placed the card face up on the duel disk, and watched it move to a defensive position on its own terms. The digitalized version of a robed monk in a crouching position appeared on the field before her and her opponent. "Next, I'll play Harpies' Hunting Ground."

"I will discard one of my cards to summon my Harpie Queen," she returned one of the cards in her hand to the duel disk and watched another come out. Taking it in her hand, she placed it on the field in the face up position. The beautiful Harpie appeared on the field in her digitalized form, and Kagome's eyes glanced to the left momentarily to get a look at the clock. _'Time is not on my side today...'_ She turned her attention back to the duel in front of her. "I'm also going to place Elegant Egotist on the field and use it to summon my Harpie Lady Sisters. And because of Harpies' Hunting Grounds I can to destroy one spell or trap card with every Harpie Lady that I summon," Kagome watched as two of the face down cards were destroyed, digitally dematerializing before her and Chika.

Chika cried out, "No way... My Trap cards!"

Kagome pulled another card from her hand, glancing between the remaining two cards which were face down, and hidden from her eyes.

"..."She looked at the cards her opponent had placed down before giving a cold and hard look of determination. "I will put Triangle Ecstasy down in the face up position. This card turns my Harpie Lady Sisters' attack from a measly 1950, to 2700, and with Harpies' Hunting Ground still in effect, it gives a field bonus to any winged-beast type monster. A bonus of 200 attack and defense points, bringing Harpie Lady Sisters attack to 2900, until the end of my turn."

Chika's eyes widened; she looked at her life points and then back to Kagome, _'This can't end so quickly!'_

"I will play Harpie's Fury, placing it in the face up position, with a direct attack to your life points! Harpie Queen, attack with Harpie's Fury!"

Chika watched as her 4000 life points dropped as Harpie Queen attacked her. The Queen's original 1900 boosted by 200 points because of the Harpies Hunting Ground, knocked her life points down to 1900.

"Because Harpie's Fury affects all Harpie Lady cards, I'll be ending my turn and the game with another attack to your life points! Don't forget, Harpie Queen wasn't the only one to receive those attack bonuses. Harpie Lady Sisters' attack is now 2900; Harpie Lady Sister's... attack with Harpie's Fury." Kagome watched her Harpie's attack, and smiled in satisfaction as she wiped out Chika, leaving the girl with 0 life points, and a shocked and in awe expression on the girl's face. She quickly turned off her duel disk as her cards were ejected back into her hands and once more checked the time.

With the duel and the exam finished, Kagome quickly slipped her duel deck back in its casing on her belt, and slung the duel disk onto her back after unclipping it from her arm. Once both actions were completed, she turned towards her opponent, who was just barely standing back up, having fallen to the floor from the last attack.

"Arigato for the duel, Haruno-san, but I have to go now," Kagome thanked. She didn't even let Chika get a word in as she had already dashed off the dueling field in a swift run.

* * *

AN: And now we have some Daichi and Kagome moments. I would have written a chapter explicitly for the two getting to know each other more, but I want to get to the good stuff, and… I was just lazy xD I didn't want to keep writing about the same month. And for the others out there worrying about Jun Manjoume, he'll get his turn with Kagome several chapters later. :) You guys have absolutely no idea how hard it was to get into character to write Daichi. The flashback scene didn't end how I would like it because of the character conflict, so I may go back to edit it…someday.

Question: Does anyone even really read my profile/facebook page/tumblr? Please answer honestly.

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