Enlighten Me by mikichan

Victory Dance

Chapter 1--Enlighten Me

Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.

MC-I'll swear off cheesecake for my whole entire life if I can just have Sesshoumaru.

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A huge Bernese mountain dog lay curled in a fluffy ball on a plush leather beanbag. One droopy lid lifted to watch his owner as she ran back and forth throughout the house frantically like a chicken with her head cut off. Mmm...chicken. The big puppy slid a pink tongue hungrily across his lips.

He was used to his owner's rushed morning rituals and hardly flinched when she screeched after tripping on a hairbrush.

"SHIT!"

With sheer horror Kagome eyed the slit in her knee-length skirt which had widened to a risqué five inch split from its previous two inches, now revealing a generous portion of her creamy right thigh. "Ohhhhh shit, shit, shit, shit... Kami, kami, kami--out of all the days for this to happen." She bit down on her lip, trying to decide what to do next.

This was the only suitable business suit she owned, with the exception of the stuffy granny-esque pieces shoved at the back of her closet. Her mom had given them to her a while back and she felt too guilty to donate them to good will. Not even she had bad enough taste to wear anything with shoulder pads. For a moment she debated on running over to Sango's place to borrow something. "Not enough time.." she thought out loud to herself, nervously tapping a fingertip at the corner of her lips.

"I know..."

Sifting through a sea of various items in a kitchen drawer of mostly junk, she finally found what she was looking for. Duct tape, a quick fix in dire situations such as these. A simple roll of tape had saved her from countless sticky situations more times than she can count on all fingers. Her first year as a freshman in the Concert Choir her mother had been ill and hadn't gotten around to making all the alterations on her choral dress for the groups' first performance. The dress had an extra two feet of fabric at the bottom and was next to impossible to walk in. Her best friend Sango had shared the same problem, although didn't have nearly as good enough of an excuse. She procrastinated till the last minute in finding someone to hem it and by that time it had been too late. It was her genius idea to use tape and for once, Kagome had to give her friend kudos for her quick thinking.

Using her teeth to tear off a strip of tape, she crudely applied it to the slit from the inside of the skirt, sealing it together to form a modest length. Once finished, she examined her work. This will have to do.

With purse in hand and high heel straps flying loose from her ankles, Kagome shuffled over to the lazy fluff ball of white, browns and black. She crouched down low enough so that her fingers could bury themselves in the lush fur.

"I wuv you Bear," she cooed sappily, puffing her full lips out as she affectionately stroked the big pup's soft coat with her free hand, while the other firmly gripped the handle of her briefcase.

"Wish me luck today!"

She pulled her hand away and giggled when Bear stood up and nudged his floppy ears insistently into the palm of her hand, his way of requesting more scratchies. He was her baby and she couldn't resist. He had been the runt of his litter and the owner's were going to put him to sleep. That is, until Kagome Higurashi first laid eyes on him and fell in love. She gave the perk ears a final thorough scratch, at the same time trying to avoid a lashing from the Bernese's thick tail whipping wildly through the air. His fur was so soft thanks to her attentive grooming.

Her momentarily dreamy eyes widened once she caught a glimpse at the silver watch strapped to her wrist, the time displayed on its face quickly bringing her back to reality.

"AYYYAHH! I'm going to be late and it's my first day!"

After bestowing Bear an affectionate nuzzle with her forehead she jumped up rather clumsily, brushing away stray strands of the thick bangs obscuring her vision and struggled to make a rapid departure without loosing one of her shoes in the process. An amazing feat indeed for someone who should have been given the name clumsy as her middle name. With patience and minutes wearing thin, halfway to the door she yanked off the elegant pumps that were falling halfway off her feet and walked via barefoot to "The Egg", aka her car, a white Geo Metro.

What were you thinking when you chose your outfit this morning? You should have gone with a comfortable pair off slacks—but no. Of course...you just couldn't resist being an ass kisser. Don't say I never told you so if you fall in these shoes.

She thought longingly of her sneakers resting on the shoe rack in her closet.

I wonder what Westland Academy and all its great minds would think, if kami forbid, I showed up in sneakers?... Her traitorous thought allowed her to slightly forgot the previous anxiety and nervousness boring a hole her stomach. You would do something like that, she mentally snickered.

SK

FEW DAYS PRIOR...

"Ms. Higurashi, your resume is quite outstanding!"

Kagome beamed graciously at the stout older gentleman seated in the sleek leather armchair across from her.

"And at so young an age," he quietly marveled, more to himself.

"Are you truly only twenty years old?" The dark haired beauty Myouga was interviewing gave a firm nod.

"Hai, Wakumoto-san... I graduated from high school at an early age and jumped right into my studies at the university."

At the close of Kagome's first year in junior high, the Higurashis were not doing well financially. The shrine just wasn't receiving its fair share of visitors as it had in earlier times so her mother was forced to pick up another job to support ojii-chan, her little brother Souta and herself.

Kagome had longed to find a way to help with her family's financial crisis. She felt her mother should be home with ojii-chan and especially for Souta. He was still so young and needed his mother around. For the past 7 years her whole world revolved around nothing but school, working her ass off so she could nail a high paying job that would help to support her family. During that period she had shunned any kind of social life--something unnatural for a girl her age who should have been going to the movies on the weekends, dating, and attending school dances. Instead, she constantly surrounded herself amongst piles of books rather than friends. It had been a difficult time for her. There were moments she got so frustrated and overwhelmed to the point of tears, but knew in the long run it was for the best.

Hidden from the headmaster's view, Kagome's hands fiddled nervously with one of the bottom buttons of her blouse. Deep down she was uttering silent prayers to Kami. She needed this job. So far the interview was going smoothly and Wakumoto-san seemed like a kind man, but this only slightly eased her frigid nerves.

"Very, very admirable Miss Higurashi. I am thoroughly impressed and if you don't mind me saying..." he paused, leaning in with one of his hands to his mouth as if to tell her a secret, "more so than any of the other qualified applicants." He winked. "It would be a pleasure to have you as a member of our staff."

"Will you accept?"

"Hai!" Kagome squeaked out loudly, then blushed deeply at her outburst.

"Thank you, Wakumoto-san," she added more seriously, as she struggled to harness the joy within. Rising to leave, she gave a deep bow.

"Call me Myouga, please. We are after all, colleagues now."

"Very well, but then you must call me Kagome." She flashed him one of her winning smiles, causing the exposed bald patch of skin on his scalp to turn a beet red.

After seeing the newly hired grade twelve English teacher to the door, Myouga sat down at his desk with a sigh. The brand new addition to his staff was the youngest instructor to teach at Westlands Academy since the beginning of its opening hundreds of years ago. Some would question as to why he chose someone so young and fresh out of the university over a professor with twenty years plus teaching experience under their belt.

So why? He didn't know exactly. From the moment Miss Higurashi Kagome entered his office with her sweet disposition, any other applicants he had previously been considering for the position were quickly forgotten. Maybe it was the way she lit up the room when she smiled, or the passion and intensity burning in those sapphire eyes. 'They were such a rare color,' he mused to himself. All he knew was that she could do this job; that she was driven and would carry it out better than anyone else could.

Myouga mentally chuckled. One might think he had himself a little crush if they could read his thoughts. Maybe if he was younger...

He laughed aloud at his mental musings. 'Myouga you old coot. After all these years you still have a weakness for beautiful women.' Yes, she was stunning indeed--any simpleton could see that, but he truly believed Miss Higurashi was more than just a pretty face. He has always had a good judge of character and his instincts had yet to fail him.

A moment later he heard something that sounded like a scream coming from the open window behind him and found himself laughing heartily at the sight a few stories below him.

Kagome waited until she reached her car in the deserted parking lot and away from earshot before letting out a squeal of sheer delight. Now was the perfect time for a victory dance.

"I did it, it's mah birthday...gonna party like it's mah birthday!" She sang, rolling her hips expressively side to side and shook her ebony hair out of its tight bun. "That's the way uh huh, uh huh, I like it! Uh huh, uh huh!"

With one last satisfying hip thrust forward, she skipped the rest of the way into her little Geo, slid into the driver's seat and pulled out her cell phone to call Sango and tell her the good news.

"Welcome to Westlands Academy, Higurashi Kagome." Myouga chuckled and turned back to his work, eyes twinkling.

SK

Kagome claimed a parking space next to a red Ferrari and a silver BMW, both of which made 'The Egg' appear a pitiful sight. Here goes nothing.

With briefcase tightly in hand, she swiftly climbed the stone steps to the entrance of the castle-like building. The shuffling of many pairs of shoes belonging to students could be heard padding across the dark marble floor. Most of them were in groups scattered throughout the hallways and were either gossiping, gathering/storing items into their lockers, or rushing frantically to reach their first period class before the bell sounded.

Kagome felt like a fish out of water. It would have been difficult enough in the spacious infrastructure to locate her classroom without the sea of bodies she found herself drowning in. This would prove to be more difficult. She breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted a map near a stairwell not far from where she loitered.

Trapped in her mental musings, she failed to notice the number of bodies in the general area were decreasing drastically with each second that ticked by. "Let's see...if the red dot shows that I'm here...then that means room 335 is just a flight above to the--"

DING!

"Shit."

She tried to run as if the devil himself were at her heels, while in heels.

{i}Why can't they use landmarks instead of numbers?! She groaned inwardly. Curse your horrible sense of direction.

Successfully she reached the top of the staircase unscathed with all appendages intact. Slowly she began to regain more confidence as she noticed the classroom numbers were becoming ever closer to 335. Her classroom.

She was going to make it. Late...but all she was concerned about at the moment was getting to where she needed to be.

Maybe she thought too soon because one of the heels on her pumps cracked in half, sending her flying to the floor smack down on her bottom. Upon impact, the lock on her briefcase had popped open, sending papers flying like falling leaves all over the dark marble floor. Though the pain in her ass hurt like hell, she was more concerned as to whether or not someone saw her embarrassing display and took some comfort in knowing the bell had rung a few minutes ago. More than likely everyone was in class. Well, she hoped they were.

Resting on her knees, Kagome began to hastily snatching her lesson plan off the floor when the sound of soles on marble made her freeze.

Blue eyes timidly peeked out through a curtain of bangs until they rested upon an expensive pair of mens' shoes at the base of a set of long lean legs clad in charcoal slacks. Further up she was delighted to see them connected to a firm torso clad in a light pink Armani dress shirt that was rolled up against deliciously toned forearms. At the neckline a pale yellow tie hung slightly loose, until finally meeting a pair of sharp honey eyes.

Kagome was fighting an internal battle within her self. One side of her fought desperately to tear her eyes away from the extremely sexy male standing above her like a gift from Kami, while the other part of her wanted to continue fantasizing about what it would be like to rake her fingernails across that ten-pack...maybe even her tongue... Kami body, stop it!

Finally gaining her bearings, she stood up shakily.

"You are the new teacher I presume?" he stated more than asked.

His voice was even more alluring. For Kami's sake... Kagome couldn't help but note how his voice sounded smooth yet sharp at the same time, like a broken piece of glass.

"Hai, today is my first day. Higurashi Kagome," she said with a smile on her lips.

Sesshoumaru could tell she was young. He had almost mistaken her for a student when he had first laid eyes on her form hunched over the scattered pile of papers. What was Myouga thinking hiring her? Obviously he had his mind on 'other qualifications.' Myouga never could say no to anything in a pair of high heels...

"I suggest from now on you make it to your classroom before your students do Miss Higurashi. You as a teacher should know better. I suggest you quit now if this is a reflection of the 'professionalism' we are to expect of you for the rest of the year." His eyes held an expression with an intensity that could possibly burn a hole in her face.

"Hai." She paused, muttering the next word under her breath. "Master..."

Who was this man? The hall patrol? Did they have hall patrol officers at private schools? She was being serious.

"What was that? I can't understand a word through your mumbling."

I don't mumble...

Not wanting to make any enemies on her first day, she swallowed the retorts rising at the back of her throat and smiled. "Nothing. I didn't say anything." That didn't mean she couldn't 'think' them.

I wonder if he just had a bad night and woke up this morning with a proverbial stick up his ass or if he is normally this emotionally constipated... I think I'm going to have to put my bet on the latter.

Kagome copied the same manner of indifference as the male before her, but her eyes narrowed when she noticed his gaze avert from hers down towards her right thigh.

"Just what are you-" Her once milky complexion turned a bright crimson, spreading like fire from her face to her feet. The duct tape she had applied earlier to maintain her modesty had disappeared, leaving a slit a little too high for comfort. Both of her hands shot toward the exposed leg attempting to cover it up as much as possible.

Kami, shoot me.