Brainery by Celestial Fox

Prolgue

A/N: Usually I find myself pondering on what to put in the "Author Notes" section.

Brainery

Prologue

She tumbled out of bed in a disheveled mess, the alarm blaring on her nightstand. She slammed her hand down, ending the annoying beeping noises.

"Stupid alarm..." Her eyes widened before she quickly dashed into the bathroom. She came out fifteen minutes later, a towel wrapped around her body and her hair left wet and loose, cascading down her shoulders to stop in the small of her back. Steam came out behind her, the warm bath helping her soothe her cold body from the heavy thunderstorm last night.

"I should've closed that window..." Said window was still open and the wooden floor around the window was soaked. She quickly grabbed the clothes on the drawer, where she put them before she went to sleep. She shrugged on the white tank before adding the off-the-shoulder blue tee and the warm and comfy black flare jeans. Her white underwear and bra were on before she left the bathroom.

She yawned loudly and covered her mouth with the back of her hand before stretching her back, making sure she heard those loud popping noises. It was still very early, and the red lights on her alarm clock told her it was about two-thirty in the morning. She and her mother had to get up early to travel to Paris and they had to get there before four in the afternoon so she could catch the plane flight to America. The drive there alone should take about ten hours from Barcelona, Spain, where she and her mother lived.

She ran the hairbrush through her hair, smoothing it out with her other hand. Pausing in mid-stroke, she closed the window with her hand before placing the used towel on the floor and dragging it on the ground with her foot, resuming her task of brushing her hair with a hairbrush and running her unoccupied hand through it. When that was done, she reached down to slip on the socks before heading down to the kitchen where the smell of breakfast and hot cocoa were calling to her.

Her mother stood near the stove, flipping the eggs and pancakes over occasionally. Her mother was in her mid-forties, having short blonde hair up to her chin and her thin frame that looked oddly funny in the oversized white t-shirt and her pink silk pajama pants. And the whole Clifford the Big Red Dog slippers didn't help out one bit. Her blue eyes, the eyes she inherited, came to look over her shoulder and gave her a big warm smile...

'Even at this ungodly hour, she managed to look unruffled from just getting out of bed.' Her hair was the dead give away, sticking out in odd ways and looking like a rats nest. She probably inherited that from her, too...

"Sit down, breakfast is almost ready." She said in that sweet voice, only mothers were able to use. "You should get a jacket, those black clouds from last night look like they're about to give us some trouble." Her mother said, after glancing out the window.

"I can't. All my clothes except for the ones I'm wearing are already packed in the suitcases." It still unnerved her how her mother was still able to sense her even though her feet made no sound on the floor, it felt as if her effort to mask her presence would always be shot. She could even hear the imaginary bang.

Maybe it came with the territory of being married to her father, a master swordsman, said to have been undefeated when he carried that sword she admired. Even now, from time to time, when she visited her father in Japan, she saw the majestic movements and that graceful arc of his sword, that the only way to know that it happened were to know where his hands and body were before and after the move and the gust of wind that brushed against her face, making her hair flutter softly.

Those were the times that he trained her, made sure that she would be able to carry on the family dojo. Those were the memories that led her to darker memories, the ones where blood was shed.

Her blood was the one that usually coated the tatami floors.

And the others...those were the threats, the verbal threats, of events that have yet come to pass, the ones that she were dreading with every fiber of her being.

"Where are your suitcases, then." Her mother asked, moving the pan from the stove to gently scrap the eggs onto the two dishes before she flipped the pancakes onto the platter in the middle of the table. The question drew her out of her memories, making her blink before she moved to get the glass cups and home made orange juice from the refrigerator.

"They're in the car." She said, filling the cups half way before settling the pitcher of orange juice next to the pancakes. "I figured that it would be more faster if we just ate and left right after. I have everything packed and stuffed in the car." She grinned towards her mother before digging in.

~

The car ride there was long and torturous. Filled with the sounds of the van's engine and the rough movement when the car jumped on a bump or two on the road every now and then. Of course, the pain in her ass from sitting too long didn't help her. And, when she turned on the radio, all she got was the nice irritating music of static...

Suffice to say, the van was the only one that talked.

Before they left, she was able to get a few pictures in. One of her room, another of the view that the balcony gave her from her room, and the last one she took was the one of her mother (still dressed in her pajamas) standing in a goofy pose (having her hand out to give a peace sign to the camera and her tongue sticking out and the other hand using it to give herself some bunny ears) in front of their three-story house. The first level being the garage, where the van was stored. The second one where the living room and the kitchen were stationed, the one that was mostly occupied, by the way. And the third was where hers and her mother's bed and bathrooms were.

When they arrived at a private airport, where she suspected the school she was going to attend owned; it was already two forty-five in the afternoon. Delayed a couple to times to refill the tank and having some bathroom breaks on the shoulder of the highway, and to stop at a restaurant for lunch. Plus, the times they ended up getting lost somewhere in France. It was a good thing they knew French fluently.

The airport was relatively small. It having a small parking lot, filled with sparse cars and a motorcycle. Plus, the building looked no bigger than two regular sized warehouses. It most likely had a small airplane, seeing as she couldn't see it from down the paved road.

They made quick work of setting the luggage on two carts and wheeling them in to have the airport's crew inspect them and label them. She and her mother were escorted into a room where some few people were seated and talked about benefits of their children attending the prestigious school and how much they were going to miss 'em and write to them everyday and blah blah blah...

She tuned out the voices in favor of leaning into her mother's warmth. Resting her head on her shoulder and moving the seat closer to her so her mother could go through her hair with her soft and gentle fingers. She sighed heavily, blinking back tears, and listened intently to what her mother was saying, answering whenever she was prompted to.

"You remembered to mail your sword and whatever you can't bring on the airplane, right?" She asked softly. Automatically switching back to their native language: Spanish. She leaned her cheek onto her daughter's raven-haired head, inherited from her father, still running her fingers through the bottom length of it.

"Yeah, and I cleaned up my room and made sure that I didn't leave anything behind...except for the furniture." She murmured in response. "Oh! And I took the rug you made for me." She grinned up at her mother, giving her a soft kiss on the cheek closest, before settling her head back on her shoulder.

"I made sure to switch your phone plan to include international minutes, okay? You can call me anytime you want." Her mother said. "I also made sure you had a bit more money on your credit card."

"Thanks, mom."

Her mother moved to stand up, knowing that she was going to leave her so soon. Her eyes swelled up with tears that wouldn't fall just yet. She rose with her mother, enveloping her in a great big hug. In all actuality, she didn't want to leave her mother to finish up her last year of high school in America when she could just as easily finish it back in Spain with her friends. Of course, she caved in when her mother brought out the big guns; puppy dog stare, complete with pouting and quivering lip and those liquid blue eyes that looked about ready to tear up.

Well...that and a big hefty sum of money her mother said was an "early birthday present." A six-month early birthday present that her mother used in the argument to screw her over.

The tears slipped when her mother pulled back and waved goodbye from the entrance of the room. Her arm mechanically followed suit. When the door closed behind her she used her sleeve as a makeshift Kleenex and took big shuddering breaths to control the tears threatening to overflow her face. When she got her emotions back in control she went to sit down back in her seat where her black satchel was left on the chair.

A half an hour went by and more people came in to the room.

Later on a small stout man came to the front of the room with a brown briefcase and a stack of laminated (bumper sticker sized) paper.

"If I could have your attention please." He said loudly over the chattering occupants. "As I call out your names, please come up here and get your name plate for your room."

He called out the names one by one and people came up one by one, sometimes shifting around and squeezing through cluster of people and objects to get up to the front of the room became necessary. Once he was done, twenty people were called. Although, there were still some laminated papers in his hands, from the people that have yet to show up, we got through it within ten minutes.

"Now, as a response to the worried parents of their children," three people came into the room at this point, drawing the attention away from the representative of the school and onto them. The tallest being a Youkai with silver hair tied up in a ponytail, and having one dark purple slash across each cheek and his amber eyes sifting through the crowd. A beautiful female ningen was crushed against the youkai's side. His hand resting on her hip the farthest from him and his other hand laying comfortably in between two little puppy ears of the last person.

'How cute!' She thought. He barely reached the youkai's waist, falling short more than a couple inches. His furry silver ears twitched every now and then and he looked so adorable! He was pressed behind the youkai's thigh, more than likely to make the pup feel safe. The representative coughed at this point, "we will partner up students from this part of the country together."

He took a big breath before continuing. "These pairs will be sharing a room together," he received more than a couple raised eyebrows at this, "and the pair will be sharing an "apartment" with at least two other pairs from here."

"Don't worry, more often than not, the children are paired up with the teens." He was quick to assure. He pulled out a handkerchief to dab at the sweat that was formulating on his brow. "And the pairs were based on the age and sex of the individuals." Most of the parents released the intake of air at this.

"Anyways, the letter you got in the mail has the information on your roommate and if you forgot yours or for whatever reason didn't get one, come up to me. I have the list of pairs."

Once he was done, she looked through her satchel to get the slip of paper out. She skimmed over it and stopped at the mention of her roommate's name. "Inuyasha Ito." She said out loud, to herself mostly, but that didn't stop a certain silver haired Youkai from hearing it.

The silver haired youkai looked over at the female ningen, noting her lightly exotic features, with her dark hair and those light blue eyes, she would give any model both Youkai and human a run for their money. He strode over to the seated women that looked no older than seventeen at the most and ushered along his family. The female at his side looked up at him curiously and he answered with a nod of his head in the direction of the teen. She only nodded to show that she understood.

"Excuse me." The smooth baritone voice startled her out of her thoughts. She turned to look at the man er-youkai that addressed her. He was dressed in career attire, with a black suit jacket thrown across his firm and broad shoulders and over dark yellow buttoned down shirt and black slacks to complete the look he alone could probably achieve.

The female ningen that stood comfortably under the youkai's firm arm was beautiful. Her brown tresses tamed in a simple bun with light makeup on her lips and on her eyelashes, the younger teen doubted that she needed it to begin with. Her petite figure was covered in a simple purple crew neck tee and beige dress pants, giving her a youthful look.

And the pup...the pup looked tired with the poorly concealed yawn coming out of his mouth and those droopy eyes that looked about ready to close in a deep sleep. His silver locks were left loose over his shoulders and the dark navy raincoat dwarfed him. His dark blues jeans were smudged with dirt on his knees and the black rain boots were muddy and left imprints wherever he stepped.

"I'm under the impression that you're my son's roommate." She looked back up to the impressive youkai figure.

"If he's Inuyasha Ito, then yes, yes I am." She said to the older demon. Her words easily slipped back to French, with ease. She rose from her chair to shake hands with the adults before bringing herself down to her roommate's eye level. "I'm Kagome Higurashi." She said softly to the wide and curious pup. He looked up at is father, as if asking him what to do before looking over at the female, after his father nodded down at him.

He took a small step forward before grasping the offered hand and giving it a shake. "I'm Inuyasha." He was just too cute!

She straightened up and stood to her full height of five feet two inches. She sighed before looking up to the towering gaze of the silver haired youkai.

"I need to know that you'll be responsible around my son." The female ningen spoke up for the first since entering the room. Her serious voice warning her that this was no joking manner and this was her warning that she would not tolerate anything happening to her precious boy under no uncertain words, or that there would be dire consequences if violated. "And that you are able to set a good example for him."

"I'll be as responsible as I am around my own mother." She said, locking eyes with the older woman. Her searching gaze left her feeling a bit uncomfortable, but whatever she was searching for, she seemed content with her as her son's temporary guardian. She probably found for whatever she was looking for in her, whatever that was...

"I seem to have forgotten my manners," The silver-haired youkai said with a bit of humor, "My name's Touga, and this is my lovely mate, Izayoi." He said with a hint of pride showing through.

"Kagome Higurashi." She said bowing, letting her Japanese heritage show through her actions.

"Dad, she smells like your swords!" He said in a hushed and awed whisper. All though Kagome heard it all the same. She blushed and looked down at her clasped hands in front of her. Not that many people knew of her forced hobbies. Those who only knew where her family and knowing that these strangers knew one of her secrets...it was quite embarrassing, it just made it worse that she couldn't successfully hide anything from anyone.

Or was it because it unnerved her? Maybe it made the situation worse because know they thought she could possibly and easily harm their hanyou child? Of course, she held no ill will towards demons or anyone with demon blood. She could see the occasional sneer in the general direction of Inuyasha from the corner of her eye. She more than heard cynical conversations about demon-human mating and the general conviction of demons.

She could care less on their heritage, considering that she had mixed background. Her mother was French and her father was Japanese, and it made it more interesting that she was born and raised in Spain. Although, she was full human, she was not saved from the inter-racial marriage arguments. Or the sharp tongue of the communities strong teachings on the matter.

Of course, not everyone thought that way, just most of the elders in her neighborhood.

"I was wondering about that." Touga said in whimsical voice, his tone questioning and demanding an answer from her without meaning to. "Do you wield a katana?"

She gave a small nod in affirmation. "Yeah, I study under the art of a more up-to-date, Bushido." She said; her hand came up to scratch the back of her neck. "Uh...of course, I don't use it to kill. If that's what your wondering."

"No, that's not it." He waved the notion away from him. "I was merely intrigued. It is not common to come across a female who is involved in any form of the sword art. I know it sounds sexist, but I was stating nothing more than a fact."

"Now that everyone is here, we will be shortly departing. Everyone head out through the back door where the plane is awaiting." The representative said in a loud voice. Kagome quickly took her satchel from the seat and started to move along with the Ito's.

"I was forced into the art." She said continuing on with the conversation. She said it softly, the memory of her scars from their very first training were still a reminder of her father's power, those scars made sure what the consequences were if she were to defy him with his wishes. In no sense was he an evil tyrant disguised as her father...he was just unforgiving.

...but the tender way he treated her wounds and the way he was there for her most important dates throughout her life, even though he lived in Japan and she in Europe, belied his forceful actions to get her accustomed to the harsh life of the sole heir to the dojo.

"As my only heir, you are obligated. And in this family, honor is held in top priority." Those were the words he gave her to the reason why she couldn't give up the art of Bushido.

"Oh?" Came to the reply from Izayoi. She was worried, the sad look that passed Kagome's young face, gave her pause.

Kagome looked up at Izayoi, a small grin played on her lips. "It's a family tradition, you could say." They stopped a few feet a ways from the stair leading to the private plane, giving other students room to board the plane. Kagome rummaged through her bag, retrieving the small silver sleek camera from its confines.

"Before we leave, can I take a picture of all of you?" She said, a wonderful smile lighting up her beautiful face. She waved the camera in front of their faces; full-blown grins spreading like wild fire.

They stood in a classic pose, Touga and Izayoi in the back and Inuyasha in front and the middle of them. The lighting was perfect and the background was magnificent; the light blue sky filled with the occasional gray cloud and the monstrous mountain that had small houses sprouting from the sides. The picture was perfect.

Kagome was about to board the plane, giving the family the time to say goodbye, when she heard Inuyasha's childish rebuttals of leaving his parents. 'Uh-oh.' Her mind whispered to her.

She turned back, her hand slipping into her bag once more to retrieve a pen and a piece of paper. Touga looked up from his kneeling position, where he was trying to hopelessly make Inuyasha see reason. Inuyasha looked up to, his eyes were brimming with tears and a wet path raced down his cheeks. He hurriedly wiped them away, not wanting to look bad in front of Kagome-neesan.

She smiled warmly at them. "I was wondering if I could have your phone number. I wanted to tell you of Inuyasha's wonderful sword fighting skills." She said, hoping Touga and Izayoi latched onto her plan.

Izayoi was quick to play. "Inuyasha doesn't have any sword fighting skills." She said in a confused voice a small gleam in her eyes. Touga was still left in the dark. The poor man still didn't quite know how the female mind worked.

"I was hoping he'd let me teach him, but if he isn't coming..." Kagome trailed off. Inuyasha's ears perked up at this, looking up at her. "Really?" He asked hopefully. Touga finally caught on when the look of realization came to him.

"Well...considering that you won't be coming with Kagome, Inuyasha, I think it won't be needed anymore. But we did appreciate the-" He didn't get to finish as Inuyasha tugged on Kagome's pant leg, urging her along to the plane. "Come on! Your slow, 'Gome." He said in childish glee.

"Why don't you go save us some seats, Inuyasha?" She said to the younger boy. He nodded before bounding up the stairs, accidentally pushing into people along the way.

"I say," Izayoi said after seeing Inuyasha disappearing inside the private plane, "that was quite clever of you, Ms. Higurashi." She said with a small giggle.

"It couldn't have been done without your help, Mrs. Ito." Giving her a gracious bow. "I admire your skills." She said with a laugh.

"Oh, it was an honor scheming with you." She said laughing along side Kagome.

"Well, if you're done with your antics, ladies..." Touga said. He pulled the slip of paper from her grasp taking the pen along with it. He quickly scribbled down information.

"There's our home phone and my office phone, along with my email. If there's any problems...please call." He said with a fleeting pained look in the general direction of the plane. Kagome understood his silent message.

She nodded before reaching in her bag once more to pull out another post-it. She took back the pen and scribbled down on it, while talking, "This is my cell phone number, I'll have it on me at all times and I have international minutes, so you don't have to worry about that." She held the paper out to Izayoi. "You can call me anytime, and I'll make sure to call Touga-san's phone when we step off the plane."

She was about to turn around and head towards the stairs, but Touga called her back. "Yes?" She looked on curiously as Mr. Ito pulled out his wallet taking out a couple bills from it and handing it out to her. She gave him a curious stare, her hand not moving to take the offered money.

"It's for all your troubles." He said when she still looked at him curiously. He saw his mate nod her head away.

She was quick to protest. "No thank you, I have my own money, I really don't..." she didn't miss the hardening of his resolve and was quick to take the money from his hands, "...I'll keep it for Inuyasha. He might want something over there."

"Or you could use it on yourself when the emergency arises." Touga said in a fatherly tone. Kagome gave him a small smile and nodded in understanding, before walking off to the stairs.

"I'll call when we get there, okay!" She yelled from the top of the stairs. She walked in when she saw them nod. Relatives or friends of the students stood there, waiting for the departure. She pulled out her own wallet from her bag, and resumed to slip the bills in one by one, counting them silently.

Her eyes were wide by the time she was done counting.

'What the hell am I going to do with two thousand dollars?!' She mentally shrieked.

~

A/N: For those entire wonderful reviewers's of my other fanfic 'Import Racing', (posted on ff.net) this is just a story to stall for my lack of inability to accomplish anything with my first creation. I will update it once I'm done (revising and editing) with it and I'm satisfied with the product.

This new story posted here, Brainery, is complete on my computer and has been complete for a while so you can count on it being updated every two weeks.

Trust me, I have a busy lifestyle.

Please, please review, or I'll reconsider updating. Yes, that was a threat!

-Celestial Fox