Away from Home by WhiteAngel

Leaving

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha.

Chapter 1- Leaving home

A young teenage girl looks around her room. It was a mess. Clothes were strewn everywhere, on the floor, on her chair, on her bed. Her suitcase lay open on the ground, half-filled with her belongings.

"KAGOME! What did you put in your bag?! It's so heavy!"

Kagome took a deep breath and sighed. Today is the last day she spends at home. Tomorrow, she'll be shipped off to boarding school in the Western urban area of Japan.

"Hang on Souta. I'm coming," she yelled as she temporarily abandoned her room.

After helping her brother move her bags to the front door, Kagome went back to her room to finish packing her clothes. She couldn't believe how everything happened so fast.

**flashback**

Kagome walked down the quiet hall towards the office. She had no idea what was wrong, she didn't do anything! The office had called her down in the middle of a test. Whatever it was, it must be important.

After entering the office, she notified the secretary at the front desk of her arrival and took a seat in one of the chairs next to the door.

Why did they call her down? Was she in trouble?

Impossible. She was the top student of the freshman year, why would they suddenly call her down to the office?

"Higurashi Kagome?" asked the secretary, "Principal Hiyashi-kocho is waiting for you,"

"Arigatou gozaimasu," replied Kagome as she went in to see the principal.

"Ah, Miss Higurashi, please take a seat," said the principal without looking up. He seemed to be a bit absorbed in her work.

Kagome bowed, then sat down and waited. After a few minutes, he looked up.

"I suppose you're wondering why I called you down. I have just received a call from Shikon High in Western Japan, asking for our top 5 freshman studenst," he waited a moment for the information to sink in before continuing, "as you probably already know, Shikon High is the newest boarding school in Japan. They're recruiting the top students of all the schools in the whole country."

Kagome nodded dumbly as she anticipated the news her principal would bring.

"Obviously, you are our top student," he stated, "so therefore, we are sending you to Tokyo. You won't have to worry about the financial aspect of the whole situation, it's already been taken care of. All you need to do is take these forms and get them signed by your parents."

He paused.

"Have your bags packed by Tuesday."

**end flashback**

To describe the poor girl as shocked, would have been an understatement. She was basically trying to pick her jaw up from the ground. Shikon High is the newest, most expensive high school in all of Japan. The Shikon-no-Tama Corporation, the most successful corporation in Japan, created and funded the school. Masataka InuTaisho, who is currently the most wealthy and successful businessman in Japan, owns both the company and the school.

'Why a wealthy business man would start up a boarding school is beyond me,' thought Kagome. She really didn't have much of a choice in this matter. When her mother heard of the news, she immediately signed the papers and even delivered them to school herself.

'Masataka InuTaisho must want to own the best school in all of Japan, why else would he recruit the top students from every school?'

Until now, Kagome didn't have much time to assess the situation. At first, shock had paralyzed her thinking, allowing everyone to make her decisions for her. Now, she was plain angry. She felt violated. No one even asked how she felt.

Her mother was so excited, so proud that her only daughter was picked to go to Shikon High. Ji-chan was basically the same as Kagome's mother. He ran around the neighbourhood, chanting and yelling, claiming that his praying has finally paid off.

The only person who didn't seem to want Kagome to leave was Souta. The poor boy didn't want his sister to leave. She was his best friend, someone he could confide in. Now, she was being shipped off to Tokyo to go to some snobby private school.

Kagome sighed again. This sucked. She didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay here with her friends and family and live a normal life in a normal school.

'Why oh why did I try so hard this year, all I wanted to do was to make my family proud. Now, I'm being shipped halfway across Japan to go to some boarding school,'

She looked around her room. She was going to miss this place. The smell of sakura blossoms drifting through her open window, the sounds of her little brother racing up and down the stairs... She won't be back here until spring.

Souta walked into her room.

"Wow sis, you finish packing, or you'll have to go to Tokyo with no clothes!" the boy teased, trying to cheer his sister up.

"Oh, you little brat, come back here!" yelled Kagome as her younger brother darted out the door.

She chased her little brother down the stairs and into the kitchen. After running around the island for a little while, Kagome's mom came in.

(A/N: You know, those islands in the kitchen? Where it's like a circle? Yeah, those.)

"Kagome, have you finished packing yet?"

"No okaasan, I'll go finish right now," replied Kagome sullenly, her brother had already locked himself in his room.

Kagome walked back upstairs to her room and stared at the mess on the floor.

"Oh Kami-sama, this is hopeless,"

With that, she grabbed a random bunch of clothes and shoved them into her suitcase, hoping she didn't forget anything.

Little did she know, her life was about to change drastically.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Sesshoumaru sighed. He could not believe his father built the school. He actually had to go to stupid school along with the rest of Japan's top-student population.

It wasn't the fact that he had to attend the school with smart students that bothered him. No, they couldn't intimidate him. It was the fact that his stupid half-brother Inuyasha was also enrolled. Being the sons of the owner of the school gave them automatic admission.

The whole point of the school was to place Inuyasha into a 'better school environment'. By creating what would be the top boarding school in all of Japan, Inutaisho also thought it would boost the company's reputation, as well as provide future employees. It was quite ingenious really, anyone who attended Shikon High would be automatically hired into Shikon-no-tama Corp. Since the school will be promoting 'well-rounded' and 'fully educated' students, the company will do very well in the future.

Sesshoumaru looked around his room. Everything was just the way he liked it, neat, tidy, spotless and perfect. His luggage was piled neatly next to the door, ready to be delivered to the school. The only thing left for him to do was go to sleep.

He pulled back the covers of his oh-so-perfect bed and slipped in. Closing his eyes, he tried to let sleep take him. Unfortunately for him, Inuyasha had other plans. He wasn't finished packing, and was making extremely loud noises across the hall.

"OTOU-SAN, HAVE YOU SEEN MY BINDERS?" yelled Inuyasha. The ignorant boy was standing right outside Sesshoumaru's bedroom. Seriously, how thick-headed can the runt get?

"OKAA-SAN, I CAN'T FIND MY ROSARY!"

Sesshoumaru sighed again. He could not believe he was related to that boy. Inuyasha was rash, ignorant, and stubborn, while he was calculated, patient, and wise. The boisterous child was like an uncontrollable fire compared to Sesshoumaru's ice-cold persona.

After a couple of thumps, silence suddenly engulfed the house.

'Finally,' thought the tired young man.

(bang)(bang)(bang) "SESSHOUMARU! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY UNIFORM??"... Nevermind.

"I didn't do anything with your uniform Inuyasha," said Sesshoumaru.

"WHAT!? I PUT IT IN THE WASH WITH YOUR UNIFORM!" exclaimed Inuyasha, barging in through the door.

"Inuyasha, get out of my room,"

"WHERE'S MY UNIFORM?"

"I don't know where you put your trash, little brother,"

Sesshoumaru was actually quite pleased with the way this conversation was going. If it was one thing he enjoyed, it was harassing his younger half-brother.

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?"

"Exactly what I said,"

"THEN WHERE'S MY UNIFORM? I PUT IT IN THE WASH WITH YOUR CLOTHES!"

Sesshoumaru sighed. No, he changed his mind. This was going nowhere.

"Inuyasha, have you tried looking in laundry room?"

Inuyasha opened his mouth in a sore attempt to make a witty reply, but no words came out. No, he hadn't checked the laundry room.

Sesshoumaru smirked as Inuyasha stormed out of his room, slamming the door in the process.

He tried to sleep again, but alas, he was interrupted once more when his door was slowly opened once more. A small head peeped from behind the door.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, Rin can't sleep," said the sleepy little girl as she rubbed her eyes. She was wearing pink pajamas with white flowers. Her hair was tied into a cute half-ponytail on the side of her head and she was holding a large white teddy bear.

Rin is the youngest of the family. Technically, she wasn't part of the 'family'. The Masataka family had found her on their doorstep 7 years ago. She was just a baby back then. They had taken her in, not wanting to put her in an orphanage. She's turned out to be quite a bright child.

"Come, Rin," commanded Sesshoumaru softly. She had grown quite attached to him over the past few years. Why? He had no idea.

"Inuyasha-oniichan is so noisy," Rin stated as she climbed into bed with Sesshoumaru.

"Just ignore the whelp,"

"Okay Sesshoumaru-sama," yawned the little girl as she slowly closed her eyes.

Sesshoumaru sighed one last time before closing his eyes. One last attempt to fall asleep.

"OTOUSAN, HAVE YOU SEEN MY UNIFORM?"

It was going to be a long night.