FicWad

Disclaimer: No. I do not own the canon characters, or any connection to the feudal era. All of that jazz belongs to Takahashi Rumiko. However, the plot and any other content belong to me alone.

/Chapter One/

The demon's eyes blinked until he was fully awake, and at first he thought he had gone blind until realizing it was just the hard surface of the desk he was seeing. At first he smelled the faint scent of ink and paper, much to his distaste. The ringing and buzzing in his sensitive ears didn't stop until he finally growled and realized that it was that bloody alarm clock sitting on the desk. He stared at the blazing red numerals through one amber eye. All it revealed to him was that he shouldn't have slept at all. Of course, even Sesshoumaru was obligated to sleep every once in a while if necessary.

An "oomph" passed out of him as his hand landed forcefully on the wood. He raised his head to feel a burning sensation on the side of his face. Lo and behold, a book lay open where he was resting. Blinking once, his eyes traveled to the large, neatly stacked bout of papers which he realized were graded essays - hence the red marks that tarnished each page. He scowled as what felt like a growl sneaked up his dry throat.

Why? he seemed to ask himself for the umpteenth time. Why do I do this to myself? Unfortunately, he always knew the answer to this question before it was even asked. It was because he lived in a world where money was a bare necessity of life among humans and youkai alike. It was just a matter of choosing a profession, which had been a rather trying task for Sesshoumaru when he turned of age. Finally after dabbling in law, medicine, and eventually education, he settled down. Oddly enough, he did this all alone without the help of his father. Most youkai of his stature would have stayed with their fathers and become heirs to the clan's fortune...but not Sesshoumaru. No, Taisho Ushida's full-demon son would not have his father's help. Not after what he did to his own bloodline-after he soiled it. Ruined it, Sesshoumaru thought acidly.

Sesshoumaru pushed his chair back, standing on long, stiff legs to make his way into the small kitchenette.

While drinking a glass of ice-water, he absently pondered on something not in relation to any of his prior thoughts. A blurry, yet radiant face clouded his mind, the result of his unconscious thoughts. How unusual. He never thought he knew anyone radiant, or had dreams about them for that matter. The frown that he constantly wore grew increasingly deeper as the tiresome strings of thought circulated. It wasn't as if he never experienced dreams like this. Eccentric dreams were to Sesshoumaru like car wrecks were to one who saw them every morning: perfectly orthodox. He glanced idly at the clock hanging on the grey textured wall. Two hours until he had to leave.

After washing up and pulling on some fresh clothes, he made room in the worn-out briefcase for graded papers and dropped them inside. He glanced at the clock yet again before grabbing his coat and sliding out the door. What greeted him was the fresh yet harsh scent of morning, the start of a new day in the industrial world. Did the stench bother humans in the least? Of course it didn't. Their nonexistent sense of smell would be their downfall, he told himself. To mask these odors he inhaled the scent of his own coat, and then set out into the early dawn. Unfortunately he could not "fly" to work every morning, which would've been the easier route to be honest. It just wouldn't do to stand out like that, in his opinion. Humans could be so narrow-minded when it came to the supernatural. He rolled his eyes, jamming the keys into the ignition of the sleek black Jaguar and speeding out of the driveway of his home.

He sighed when reaching the already crowded parking lot of Kansai University. Sounds agreeable, doesn't it? Sesshoumaru had found it to be so all those years ago. Now he was a tenured professor. He slowly made his way down the sidewalk lined with pine trees, kicking a few pinecones out of his way and then pulling the key out of his coat pocket. The cobalt iron gate rattled as he slithered inside. He peered around for a moment at the courtyard surrounded by the rather large granite buildings, in which each housed a plethora of classrooms. Not remarkably, one of them was his.

Walking through the spacious inanimate place, he finally reached his own smaller building. The familiar classroom loomed at the end of the hall, and Sesshoumaru amusingly found that its solitary black door disturbed a surprising majority of the students due to the fact that the rest of the hallway is lined with traditional white doors in keeping with the quaint marsh-colored walls. It had been the Chemistry lab at a time, when this had been the only building. Rumor was that this wing of the school was haunted. Utter nonsense.

Treading inside, he flipped on the lights before sitting down at the guiltily muddled desk. It needs to be cleaned. Pity that I'm too busy. The sad truth was that he wasn't necessarily busy, just...preoccupied. I have better things to be doing, he reasoned. He quickly swung his coat over the back of the wooden chair, pulling the book curriculum out from the drawer and starting to thumb through it in order to absorb at least some material for the upcoming lecture. "Joy," his chiseled lips moved with the inaudible words. He rested his chin on his fist, sitting still while absorbing the rare silence the room offered.

He was normally the only one here this early in the morning, at least in this building. Then again, there were only a select few professors brave enough to teach in the building. He supposed he was one of them, and rolled his eyes at the realization. The other few educators were a human and a tiger youkai who could be heard by anyone standing within a mile's radius. The bloke's voice was enough to send Sesshoumaru's head into a fit of spasms. More than once the Inuyoukai had walked into the other youkai's room and told him to desist. The command had worked thus far, because there was no sound heard from that classroom anymore.

It was actually some time before anyone entered his domain. Before long he could sense the being making their way down the hall, approaching the door. He found with subtle surprise that it was one of his students. A human female. It was one thing for them all to arrive on time and never late, but this early? It was odd. All that time he thought they were all against entering unaccompanied by someone else. Perhaps that was mere speculation now, he thought.

Looking up through half-lidded eyes, he watched the human girl move toward the door; grinning timidly before coming inside and closing it behind her.

"Good morning, Mr. Ushida," the simple face greeted him. Hn... He waited a few moments for some sort of explanation as to why she was so early, but apparently after five minutes of staring it wasn't coming. He caught a glimpse of the clock while she took the liberty of settling down in an empty desk in the right hand corner. He raised a refined eyebrow, leaning back in his chair as she finally glanced up at her professor with large gray eyes.

"Um... I was wondering if maybe you had graded my essay yet. I came here early 'cause...um..." she looked down at her petite hands, instantaneously flushing for reasons unknown to Sesshoumaru. "I wanted to make sure I didn't fail the essay. I was fretting over it all night, you know? After all, you said that you might hand them back today..." He didn't make any movement for a few moments, making the girl sit there expectantly. Then he looked down, thumbing his hand through his loose hair.

"I see," he murmured, returning to the book. "You should do more productive things with your time," he paused. "Such as checking your sources." She slumped down in her chair, her face growing crimson as she fidgeted with her hunter-green backpack. The Inuyoukai almost smirked at the expression on her face. After a few moments she began to shred paper, a pastime he had noticed various people take up when they grew nervous. He inconspicuously rolled his tawny eyes as he rose from the desk, closing the thick book with a clap, which caused her to jump. Picking up a piece of chalk, he began to scrawl the main points of this dreaded lecture. The majority of the staff had been pestering him about acquiring a dry-erase board, but honestly he couldn't stand the stench of the markers and cleaners. Not that he ever told them this, of course.

He didn't even turn around when half of the class arrived during the remaining time. The buzzing they always formulated before the course started was troublesome, that was precisely why the youkai had set them all straight the first day with his...inhuman abilities. To the ones similar in race, this did not seem convincing. Then again, very little ever did...some were youkai, after all. But even they were smart enough to keep quiet when they met his feral glare from across the room. Apparently something about it seemed to discomfort them. All except for one, who reminded him horribly of someone he had the desperately wanted to throw into a raging river. However with this class, he was constantly reminded of the unrequited person. Unfortunately, family isn't by choice. Eventually he inclined his head slightly, so that the people could feel intimidating eyes on them. Within moments they quieted, ceasing their talking and settling for harsh whispers until the rest of the class arrived.

He hastily scanned the classroom, searching for any absences. Other than the usual idiots who skipped, everyone seemed to be present.

"I know how impatient all of you are to receive your rather...colorful grades from last semester," he took a few steps toward the desk, picking up the stack of essays and thumbing through them slowly. He knew very well how tantalizing it was for them, but they would just have to wait. Their discomfort amused him. "There shouldn't be any complaining, unless you would like to explain why you made the mistakes in the first place. Until that time, I won't hear it." They all turned to one another, as if to question their professor. Quickly, once they saw his face, they all turned stone still. "They will be posted outside the door by tomorrow evening."

"Mr. Ushida, what percent is this of our final /grade/?" someone bravely asked, causing others staring at him in utter awe. Sesshoumaru stared at the speaker, a rather unpleasant downward smirk twisting his lips. It was the hanyou boy.

"A fair amount," he replied shortly. Even though it was none of his concern, he felt it was his duty to educate these people so that they would not turn out like everyone else in this world. Perhaps he had found the reason that he didn't absolutely detest this job: he could actually knock enough sense into these beings before they all dove off the deep end. Well...at least some of them.

"I was disappointed at the lack of intelligence shown in your essays," he stated bluntly. "I would've thought that some of you would've at least written the papers yourselves. All of the plagiarists in this room didn't receive any credit for their papers and will be notified," he paused to scout out which ones were balking. He could sense the fear radiating from the ones who had been foolish. A rather evil smirk formed on his mouth. "If any of you had half a half-functional mind, you'd know that I don't get paid to smother you with information until you can't breathe. I'm here to guide you, as it may," he said sourly, glaring at a select few blank faces. His eyes narrowed contemptibly.

"Although I must point out that it is none of my concern if you fail," he continued, sliding one strong, elegant hand lithely along the hard oak wooden surface of the podium, which he never used. "I cannot have you spend this entire semester repeating your old mistakes. It's tiresome. Understood?" Everyone seemed to nod, several muttering a faint "yes" or polite "yes, sir." He captured a glimpse of a glaringly familiar ivory-headed boy rolling his eyes, rather exaggeratedly in fact...in a manner which caused the taiyoukai's eyes to darken. He hissed through his fanged teeth, stepping over to the chalkboard to begin the...lecture. He inwardly groaned. He was quite sure that he hated these things just as much as these children did. Now that he had said his share for some time, Sesshoumaru willed his hand up to the chalkboard.

"Alright, then."


It was early afternoon before Sesshoumaru could take leave. The blinding sun reflecting off the windows caused him to growl as he made his way down the baking sidewalk. As a youkai he didn't perspire like humans, but he still felt the heat through the back of his white collared shirt. His sleeves were pulled up to his elbows, showing off his muscular arms. His wardrobe in essence consisted of long-sleeved dress shirts and khaki, navy or black slacks, and one pair of jeans that he had owned a very long time ago. He hadn't worn them in years, too many to be exact. With his irregular lifespan, he couldn't discern some memories, while others remained in his mind like a tri-color movie.

When he reached the main building which was situated smack-dab in the middle of the campus, the demon opened the tinted glass door and blinked once to readjust his vision. The small room was decidedly crowded, with more students present than was normal. A few stopped talking to look at him, then resumed their petty conversations when he sent glares their way. Why they were so fascinated with him, he had no idea. He was only there to turn in his grade-book so the semester grades could be logged in by one of the secretaries. To be honest, he hated coming here. For such a simple task, the process could be unbearably slow and complicated. Well, complicated for the secretaries at least. For him, it would be merely a very tedious process. Then again, conversing with anyone was a frustrating process for Sesshoumaru, even though he would never admit to such a weakness.

He swiftly made his way over to one of the newly open desks. The clerk was one he didn't necessarily recognize, but then again he had never paid attention to each one's attributes. This one displayed slightly angular features, and tufts of thick mahogany hair wisped the sides of her face while the rest of it was tucked behind her ears. She looked up at him with rather cold eyes, her round, full mouth set in an unfortunate grim line. He set the book on the table for her to confiscate. He glanced at the nameplate sitting on the counter. Sango Tao.

"Thank you, Professor Ushida," she said in a practiced voice. "You may come to pick it up in the morning or later this afternoon if you'd like."

"I'll come in tomorrow," he said stiffly. She nodded, her eyebrows contracting as she picked up the phone. She kept her eyes on him as he shuffled between several people, but not before seeing someone who made her want to hide behind her desk. She watched as the person greeted Sesshoumaru.

"It's nice to see you again, Professor Ushida." The youkai turned around unwillingly. The speaker was Miroku, an apprentice to one of the Religion professors. He had made a name for himself when he won a debate over one of the more accomplished seniors. He was only a sophomore, barely even a man. But the odd thing, Sesshoumaru noticed, was that he exhibited a strong spiritual aura that should've belonged to a priest. It wouldn't be all that unusual, the demon reasoned. There were still priestesses and shrine maidens walking around. That fact was one that the demon noted with caution. Even he, the most powerful youkai in the region, was wary of the powerful mikos still around. They weren't the same as they were in the medieval ages, but their power was still as formidable as ever.

"Are you going to be at the medical seminar on Friday?" Miroku's question brought the taiyoukai out of his thoughts.

"Possibly," he answered vaguely. Truth be told, he hadn't planned on going at all. He began to make his way towards the door when Miroku unintentionally blocked his path. He could feel himself growing agitated.

"Oh, excuse me..." the human mumbled. "Hey, Sango!" He set off towards the clerk's desk, a bright smile lighting his face. The woman greeted him with a friendly hello and he leaned against the counter so he could start a conversation. He grabbed her hand and pressed it to his lips in a suave manner, causing the girl to blush profusely and shoo him away. Several of the people in the office giggled or smiled to themselves while Sesshoumaru simply left, closing the door behind him and basking in the silence.

Shaking his head, he made his way out the door to his car. The relationships of humans were best left alone, he thought acidly. For the life of him he couldn't fathom why some of them acted so ridiculously around one another. Simply watching them was sickening. Which was why he left the opposite sex alone most of the time. He had seen some of his better acquaintances make fools out of themselves just because they were trying to impress a certain woman or demoness. It was sad really, how some of them turned into total mush-brains without a second thought. Sesshoumaru promised himself that he would never revert to such. Never.

It was nearing three o'clock by the time the taiyoukai drove into a parking spot in front of the only coffee shop he could stand. The others around the city either smelled positively rancid or their coffee tasted horrid. Not that Sesshoumaru drank coffee a lot, most of the time he just bought an iced beverage or water. He simply liked how quiet it always was inside, even with his sensitive hearing. The only thing that occasionally bothered him was the bell ringing, or one of the employees calling out someone's order. However, with time, he had grown used to that as well.

He sat down in his usual spot, in the far corner under one of the dimmer lamps. He plucked one of his numerous notebooks from his black satchel and idly read the notes he had taken earlier on in the morning from one of the curriculum's textbooks. Anthropology could be such a drab subject; he really wished that there were more interesting people involved.

Eventually his golden eyes traveled from the notebook to the window, and he watched the people move in and out of traffic. He couldn't believe the amount of humans overtaking youkai. Even on the streets, the difference was frightening. When he had been younger, there were schools specifically for youkai and half-youkai. There still were many, but they were much less pronounced and private. It was tragic, really. He looked down at his long, clawed fingers, feeling the usually dormant poison coursing through the veins of his arm. He hadn't used his powers for years now, not since he had to kill a youkai who simply get on his every last nerve. Back then he really hadn't worried about other youkai's deaths; if they were bothersome, the world was better off without them. But then youkai's numbers dwindled and he couldn't stand to kill any more of his race...even if it meant being shrouded in impudence.

His hand flexed as an ironic grin spread across his face. Not many youkai looked like him these days. He was probably one of the last Inuyoukai aside from his father's clan. But he was different from them. Wasn't he? His father wasn't the only one who had mated with a human. With much resentment, he had come to realize that there were others like his half-brother. In this age, hanyous couldn't be discarded and avoided as they once were. Now they were accepted into society without a second thought. Such hospitality made bile rise in his throat.

It's starting to get crowded. People usually getting off work came into this shop to unwind before going home. He supposed that he was doing the same. Sesshoumaru frowned as a petite black-haired young woman bumped into his arm. Her crimson lips muttered an apology and he briefly met her equally ruby eyes before slipping out the door. With a slight grin, he got into his car and sped off down the road in the direction of home.


.-.-.-.


Author's Nonsense: I appreciate honesty, so any suggestions (critical or not) are deeply appreciated. I'm trying to improve, and I can't do that without your help =P. I don't mind nitpickyness, so have at it. Just be sensible. Until next time!