• Summary: Kagome is now Inuyasha's mate...So Kouga's up a creek without a paddle!! > ^-^< Wanna know more? Read my fic! With love romance and lotsa lotsa ramen you can't go wrong!! ^-^ --strictly Kouga/OC...some slight Inuyasha bashing but nothing too brutal..


    Heart of a Wolf
    Chapter one:
    "Fitting In"

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    It was in the middle of the school day and she was bored as hell! She flicked a strand of dark brown hair over her shoulders and opened the door to the roof. Her name was Emily. Her mother had just recently remarried a Japanese romance novelist named Kyogoku Shotougawa. Emediately after the wedding, they moved to Japan. This was all fine and dandy until she met her classmates. They were all very nice and polite, but they overcrowded her personal bubble to the max. Apparently Americans are really popular among the Japanese youth. This proved a big problem for Emily because although she was very kind and social on the outside, she really hated to be the center of attention.
    So during passing, she quietly slipped out of sight and headed for the roof. She had always seen students lounging about on the roof in anime's and manga and crap. After opening the door she looked around and smiled "Perfect. Free of people..." she sighed in relief. She walked over to the edge of the building and glanced out onto the horizon. The school had a great view of the city. She sighed softly as she folded her arms behind her head, her forest green eyes closing as she did so. She slid down against the meshwire fence and crossed one leg over the other. She knew she shouldn't be skipping class, but it was just too much for her! "How the hell do these Japanese kids do it!?" She said in a frustrating growl. She was a transfer student from America so the Japanese school system was extremely different from what she was used to. She picked up her cell phone and pressed in her Aunts phone number. As soon as her Aunt had picked up the receiving end she broke out in a plea "AUNT 'TEE'! YOU GOTTA HELP ME!! I'M GONNA GO MAD!!" She cried out. Her Aunt laughed into the other end, "What is it this time Emily? Are you having another chopstick crisis?" her Aunt teased. Emily growled under her breath at the comment but decided to ignore it "First of all, it was the waiter that pissed me off not the chopsticks..." she retorted before begining to groan "..and second, this school is completely wack! Not only do they give you a ton of homework, but the school week lasts six days! Why didn't anyone tell me I had to go to school on Saterday!? And what the hell is with this freaky uniform!?" by this time she realized she was rambling. Her Aunt laughed a bit and sighed happily "Now Emily, I know things are different here, but that's what happens when you switch cultures. I had a hard time with it when I moved here, but eventually you get used to it." Emily nodded to herself and sighed "Yea...you're right Aunt Tee...god it's just so hard fitting in...but if only..." She trailed off a bit. Her Aunt quickly picked up on her uneasyness, "'if only...' what Emily?" she asked. Emily growled and thrust her head back "It's just so frustrating!! GOD!! DON'T JAPANESE PEOPLE KNOW HOW TO SPEAK ENGLISH!?!?" she screamed causing her aunt to faulter (this is an actual conversation that I had with my aunt...I thought it would be good for a laugh...). "Well Emily, my lunch break is over now so I need to be going...and you need to get back to class young lady or I'm going to tell your mother that you've been ditching again!" she piped. Emily shuddered, How does she know that!? Arg does that damn woman know 'everything'!? That's just creepy... she thought to herself before replying "Ok Aunt Tee I'm going...". She shoved her phone into her pocket after hanging up. She got to her feet and began to slowly make her way back over to the door.

    Just as she reached for the latch, she was caught by surprise as the door swung open, hitting her in the face "OHMYGODWHATTHEHELL!!!" she screamed as she was flung back onto her rump. She heard a slight gasp from her attacker which caused her to look up. She couldn't quite make out the face of attacker due to the fact that her eyes couldn't focus because of the pain she was in. She felt a hand on her shoulder as a soft masculan voice began to speak, "I-I'm so sorry! Are you alright miss!?" he said as he helped her to her feet. She whimpered a bit as she massaged her throbbing--now bright red--nose. She nodded her head and turned to him "Yea...I'm fine. Just watch where your going you idiot! You almost killed me you....!" she gasped softly as her vision cleared, the boy had light brown hair, perfect skin, and brown eyes Holy cow! I didn't know god made guys this cute anymore!!! she thought. Her mouth slightly hung open as she began to blush. The boy leaned in and began to examin her face "Are you sure you're alright miss? Your face is turning bright red!" the boy noted. She nodded franticly as she realized that she was blushing. "Y-yea. I guess I kinda walked into that. Sorry if I yelled, I've just been a little stressed out lately." She said calmly after regaining her posture. The boy smiled and extended his hand to her "How rude of me I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Houjo." he said. Emily smiled back and shook his hand "Hey Houjo, my name is.." he cut her off, "Your name is Emily Shotougawa, right? The whole school is talking about you. We don't get many transfer students here. Especialy students from America." he said. Emily stood silent for a moment before replying "oh great...now the whole school is movin' in on me..." she grumbled. Houjo laughed some and grinned "What's the matter miss Shotougawa? Don't you like making friends?" just as he finished his sentence, Emily swung around and sent a vicious glare in his direction "Don't ever call me by that name. My name isn't the same as that bastards...It's 'Scott'. " she snapped. Houjo stumbled back a bit and nodded in fear "O-okay miss..." as soon as he trailed off Emily began to laugh "Just call me Emily, Houjo. "Miss" is just too formal for a girl like me." He nodded nervously and turned to the door "The lunchbell rang a few minutes ago Emily, why don't you come eat lunch with me and my friends?" He asked. Emily knitted her brows together as she nodded "Okay...I guess it's only proper." She said. In truth, Emily didn't feel as if she fit in. Even though the students of the school were all very kind and eager to get to know her, she didn't really fit in...at all

    As she walked with Houjo down the hall, she noticed that all the other students were staring at her strangely. She skittered up to Houjo and bowed her head as she walked "Hey Houjo, is it just me or is everyone starring at us..?" she said quietly. Houjo laughed and shrugged "Yea. I just learned to ignore it after awhile. This may sound weird but the first week after I enrolled here, I was followed around by a mob of girls and boys...strange huh? Don't worry though, you get used to it!" he said happily. This caused Emily to frown, well that explains it...great...no wonder they're staring at me...the most popular guy in school is acting as if we're old friends.... Emily thought. Back at her old school, the most popular guy was dating the stereotypical head-cheerleader. Back home, the most popular guy and girl were rude, obnoctious, spoiled brats. But this was diffent. She wasn't in America and here, everyone was so nice. This was bad... I don't know how to act around popular kids... she thought franticly. Houjo opened the door to the classroom and lead her in. He hurried her over to the corner cubicle where four female students were sitting. He waved happily and scooted her in front of him. He smiled and began the introduction "Emily, this is Yuka Honda, Eri Mioujin, Ayumi Tsukikage, and Kagome Higurashi"(ladies and gents, please bare with me for in the middle of the introduction, I realized that I had no idea what Kagome's friends last names were...so I got creative. Gomen Na... U.U! ) The four girls bowed politely as Houjo introduced them "Guys, this is Emily Shotou..er, Scott". Emily sat down at the table with the others and fiddled with her bento box(AN: 'bento box' is Japanese for lunch box. end note.) it was obvious that she was nervous. She took the lid off of the box and grimaced at the lunch inside. Every piece of food was burnt to a crisp. It was obvious that her mother was not a very good cook... She looked up at the giggling group of girls with a questioned face. "So Eri, what's his name?" Ayumi asked. Eri blushed and pointed to a boy on the other side of the room. All the girls gasped in sequence and laughed "Mako!? He's the one!?". The conversation continued before the eyes began falling to her "So Emily, is there anyone you like?" Yuka asked. Emily looked down at her unedible lunch and shook her head "No. I used to have a crush on the nicest guy...but.." the girls leaned in as they listened intently, "...but he had someone else. Either way, it's not like I could ever hook up with him since I'm here and he's back in America..." Kagome smiled and patted her on the shoulder, "I know the feeling. It takes a lot of courage to come into another culture and fit in. You should be proud that you've made so many friends in such a short amount of time!" she said. Emily looked up at her and hiked an eyebrow, "I have?" she asked. Kagome nodded and pointed to a rather large group of students that were crowding around the classroom door and out in the hallway, "See those kids? They haven't stopped starring at you since you sat down!" Kagome said. Emily faultered a bit before laughing nervously "heh..y-yea...right." she said as she stared back at her on-lookers, looks like the student mofia if you ask me... she thought bitterly...

    After the students flooded out the doors, Emily was left to walk home. She sighed to herself as she flung her bag over her shoulder. Her first day at a Japanese school and she already skipped a class...this wasn't good. She came to a stop at the last crosswalk to her house. The street she was on came to a stop at a large hill. As she looked upward she saw a long trail of stairs that lead up the hill. At the top she could barely make out the outline of a traditional Japanese style building. That looks like one of those shrine-thingies Kyogoku told me about... She thought silently to herself Mom wouldn't mind if I went to check it out...after all, I bet she'll just wanna spend time with that idiot of a man...too bad stupidity isn't painfull... she grinned at this last thought. She didn't know why she hated him so much, he just acted like an idiot all the time...a real maniac. She never treated him like an idiot, only because she knew how much he made her mother happy. As she shrugged it off she realized that in her moment of thought, her feet had already began making their way down the street and up the stairs to the temple. By the time she got half way up the stairs she was already out of breath D-Damn it! Don't Japanese people use elevators!? She thought as she fanned herself off. Although she was strong muscled due to her dance classes, Emily was big-boned and a little overweight, but nothing too severe. In fact -for someone her size- she looked really good and had a nice shape! However, she hated stairs... Just as she reached the top, she was close to having a heart attack. She looked up and observed the area. It looked exactly like the pictures that you see in oriental magazines and mangas and stuff. It was amazing! She made her way up to the temple arch and looked around. To her left was a huge tree with origami sutra's attached to a rope which hung from the center of the base. To her right was a small fleet of stairs which lead up to a small condo-like house. And in front of her was small shop, and finally, the temple itself behind it. She walked slowly to the shop and looked around. It was just a little cart--nothing fancy, but it was full of sutra's, arrows, charms, incense, and quite a few other things she couldn't identify. Just as she was about to leave, a glimering light caught her eye. She turned to a small rack that held infinate amounts of keychains. She grazed her hand over the charms untill it stopped at a little round jewel. She picked it up and stared at it for a moment wow...what a pretty stone... she thought. "Do you see something to your fancy, young lady?" an elderly voice spoke. She gasped lightly in suprise and looked up to see a funny-looking old man wearing the traditional temple clothes. She smiled at him and held up the jeweled keychain "Yes. How much is this?" she asked. The old man's eyes widened slightly as he grinned "That, my dear, is the Shikon no Tama. It's a legendary jewel that has been treasured throughout our family for generations..." the old man said. Emily smiled slightly and nodded, yuh-huh. that's all fine and dandy...but that still doesn't tell me how much it is... she thought as the old man continued "...it's power is infinate!" Emily sighed as she took out her wallet "that's very interesting sir." she interupted "but can you tell me how much it is?" she asked politely. The old man held up his index finger as if stating a testimony, "The Shikon no Tama is a priceless jewel! It's not just..." he continued. Emily sighed in defeat and set the keychain back where she got it, this is hopeless...this old geezers not gonna tell me anything... she thought. Just as she turned to leave a small voice called out "it's 1500yen miss.". She turned back to see a small boy holding up the keychain. He smiled and handed her the keychain, "Sorry about my Grandpa. He goes off like that sometimes.". Emily smiled back at him and nodded "I see. So it was 1500yen, right?" she said as she handed him the money. The boy nodded as he slipped the money into the cash machine. He then turned to her and bowed, "Thank you. Please come again." he said. She bowed in reply and then made her way back over to the long fleet of stairs. She sighed and prepaired herself for the long journey down, but just as she began her way down, she saw a flash of red and white zip past the corner of her eye.

    Emily looked to her right and noticed that in the cover of the trees was a small shed-like hut. She narrowed her eyes and saw that the front door was open. Against her better judgement, she slinked her way over to the shed. She looked around to make sure that no one could see her before she walked through the doors. The inside was dark and it smelled funky, but she continued on. She stopped in her tracks as her eyes fell upon an old beaten-in well. She didn't know why, but she felt herself being pulled towards the well...almost as if she'd seen it before. She walked up to the well and placed her hand on the rotted wood. She closed her eyes and bowed her head. In a flash of light, she saw visions of horned snakes and black mist. She saw humans being slaughtered and fires engulfing towns. Beads of sweat began to drip from her forhead as she felt her body convulsing, What...what are these images!? Where am I!? She thought as she tried to bring her body back into reality. Just as she opened her eyes, she felt a strong pull tugging at her body. Just as the force ripped her away from the well her eyes opened. She looked around and shook her head, W-what was that..that vision..? she thought as she backed away from the well. She turned to flee from the scene, but before she could blink, she ran face first into a soft red wall...or rather, a soft red chest. She gasped loudly and backed away. She looked up to find herself staring into the face of a teenaged boy with white hair. "I-I'M SO SORRY!! I KNOW I SHOULDN'T OF GONE SNOOPING AROUND!! I'LL LEAVE RIGHT NOW!!" she barked in fear. She bowed deeply over and over again as she tried to find a logical explanation for her being there, untill the boy spoke, "Who the hell are you? And what the hell are you talking about?" he asked in an annoyed tone of voice. Emily looked up and stared at the boy, Oh crap! What am I supposed to say!? But...now that I think about it...he doesn't look like he's one of the temples caretakers. He doesn't look like he's from around here at all...and...are those cat ears!? she thought as she searched for an answer. "M-my name is Emily. I'm new around here so I got lost." she said calmly as she tried not to stare at the funny looking ears on his head. "Pht..I don't care who you are..get out of my way!" he growled and pushed her aside. Emily stumbled back a bit before glaring at the weird-looking boy who pushed her "EXCUSE ME!? What the hell is your problem fuzzy!?" she yelled. He stopped in his tracks and shot a rude face back at her, "'fuzzy'? Were you dropped on your head as a child or are you just lame by nature...?" he retorted. Emily growled at him before swinging her book bag up to smack him square in the face. "YEA! "FUZZY"!! AND WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLIN LAME!? YOU COSPLAY REJECT!!" She shouted at him as he stumbled backward. He gripped his nose in pain before lashing an angry hand to grab her wrist, "WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!?!?" he shouted back at her. Emily tried to pull back but he just held on even tighter. Instead -while he shouted and cursed- she thrust her entire weight against him. Just as she predicted, he went stumbling back against the side of the well. However, he didn't let go...She growled deeply and pushed against him again -this time hoping to send him into the well- which she did...there was only one problem...she went in with him...

    A/N:OKIE-DOKIE!! That's it for the first chapter! So if you liked this first one, keep reading cuz I actually INTEND to finish the story for once!! *sweatdrop*.....anyway, please leave a review! Ja Ne!