5

After Sesshoumaru finished his announcement he immediately went in search of Kagome in order to talk things out.  He could not get over the fact that she was actually here in Tokyo, at the school that he taught at of all places.  How many times did he wish to see her again; how many nights did he dream of her soft lips on his only to wake up and discover that she was not there. 

For what seemed like ages he had thought of her, nothing and no one could take his mind off of her long black hair and pale white skin.  No one could get him out of the funk that she had unknowably put him in.  And now she was here...and he was an idiot.

He was incredibly disappointed when she was nowhere to be found and all he could think about was the fact that he left her with less than comforting words about their situation.  Sesshoumaru was usually known for his tact, but tonight he displayed none of that hard-learned characteristic.

In the shock of the moment the words that left his mouth were not his first choice that he had planned to say to her when he saw her again.  What he wanted to say in indeed quite the opposite.  He wanted to whisk her away to some far away place and show her no small amount of passion until they could both no longer move.  However, that would not be happening any time soon.

Sesshoumaru was close to rubbing his temples when he was still unable to locate Kagome when he heard his brother yell over the remaining crowd.

"Hey Sesshoumaru over here!" Inuyasha called and waved to his brother.

Sesshoumaru sighed nearly inaudibly and walked towards his brother and his small band of miscreants and immediately started his line of questioning.

"Did you know about this?" Sesshoumaru asked none-to-gently as he lifted Inuyasha up by the neck of his shirt.

"Of course not, I would have told you," Inuyasha defended himself trying to not act surprised by Sesshoumaru's quick move.

"Where did she go?" he questioned further before dropping Inuyasha back onto his feet.

"She left with the rest of the girls soon after you started your speech Sesshoumaru," Miroku spoke up.  "We were planning on going and crashing Sango's sleepover-"

"You will do no such thing," Sesshoumaru said quickly.  There was no way he was going to allow these hormonal boys to be around a bunch of girls, a group which included Kagome, who were probably clad in only their pajamas.  It would only end badly.

"I told you he wouldn't go for it," Kouga admonished.

"You can't tell us what to do," Inuyasha whined.  "It's the weekend; you don't have any jurisdiction over us."

"On the contrary little brother; I happen to be your ride.  Where I go, you go," Sesshoumaru pointed out.

"Well then we'll just find another ride!" Inuyasha shot back.

"Suit yourself," Sesshoumaru shrugged.  "I'll have father leave the light on for you for when you finally make it home."

Sesshoumaru walked off leaving behind a stunned and slightly perturbed Inuyasha, Kouga, and Miroku to stare after him.

"Nice goin' dog breath, now we don't have a way home...or to the girls sleepover!" Kouga yelled at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha growled low before Miroku's voice of reason dissipated the tension.  "Why don't we ask Naraku for a ride?  He just got a car-"

"Have you seen that piece of shit that he calls a car?" Inuyasha asked.  "That thing is like a cardboard box on wheels."

Miroku frowned at Inuyasha then.  "I don't see you coming up with any ideas."

Kouga stepped in and took Miroku's side.  "At least it's a way to get to the girls since your brother left us stranded.  If you don't like it then walk."

Inuyasha crossed his arms; his dad had said that he would get his car when he saw his first progress report for his classes, but that was still three weeks away.

"Fine, let's go find him," Inuyasha relented.

They searched the dying crowd for Naraku and found him leaning against the wall talking to one of the cheerleaders.  The boys shook their heads and went to break up his little love-fest.

"Hey Naraku," Kouga spoke up, "have your test results come back from the doctor yet?  Are you clean?"

Naraku raised his brow at the group and nearly snarled at Kouga as he watched the girl he was talking to walk away.  "Well, seeing as how I no longer have any distractions, thank you Kouga, where do you need a ride to?"

The guys all smiled evilly and walked towards Naraku's car.  It did not take them long to reach their destinations and soon they were parked outside of Sango's house trying to decide which window was hers.

"Just call Sango and tell her and the girls to get down here," Inuyasha whined to Miroku.

"I'm not going to call her I already got my ass kicked by her this week.  It wasn't pleasant," Miroku said with a shudder.

"I'll do it!  You bunch of pansies," Kouga sneered at them. 

He stood on top of the car and threw a couple of pebbles at one of the windows in hopes of it being the right one.  He cleared his throat before he shouted.

"Kagome!" he shouted in his fake, very un-like, Sesshoumaru voice.  "I've come for you Kagome!  Bring your friends!"

Naraku pulled Kouga down and back into the car and punched him in the arm.

"You idiot, are you trying to get us caught by Sango's parents?" Naraku chided.  "I'm sure they'd just love to see four boys outside of their house calling out to their daughter and her friends.  Moron."

The girls looked out the window when the boys started throwing the pebbles and Sango had to be calmed by Kagome who assured her that her parents were asleep and would not catch the boys here.

Kikyo and Ayame were peeking through the curtains and giggling as they saw the car full of their guy friends.  Ayame looked back to Kagome and frowned; Sesshoumaru was nowhere to be found, even after those hurtful words he had spoken to her.  He did not deserve Kagome's forgiveness.

Kagome just had Sango calmed down enough so that she was coherent again when Kagura walked by them fully dressed and slipping some sandals on her feet.  Sango immediately tensed again and reached out to grab a hold of Kagura's elbow.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sango questioned her.

Kagura looked at Sango and gave her a small sympathetic smile.

"As much as I love you guys, you're very boring.  I'm going to go with the guys and see what they're doing tonight," Kagura informed them.

The girls all gaped at Kagura as she continued on her path towards the window.  Them boring?  How could she even think that; she was the one who wanted to have a sleep over in the first place!

Kagura opened the window and began to climb down the drainpipe to reach the ground.  The girls looked on from the open window as Kagura made her way over to the boys.  Sango shook her head at their friend's audacity and went to close the window; she had had enough excitement for one night and there was no way she was going anywhere near Miroku until he learned how to control that wandering hand of his.

Before Sango closed the curtains she looked over towards Miroku who, once he saw her, had yet to take his eyes off of her.  He waved at Sango and then blew her a kiss and she tried hard not to smile at him.  With little reluctance Sango waved back and then closed her curtains, shutting her room off from them.

Kagura sauntered up to them with a smirk on her face.  She noticed that most of the guys were looking at her expectantly so she rolled her eyes and broke the silence.

"Yo.  What are you men doing tonight?" Kagura asked them.

"I don't see how that's any of your business," Inuyasha bit out.  He had never really been fond of Kagura; she was only ever looking out for one person; and that was herself.

"I distinctly remember asking the men what they were doing tonight Inuyasha.  You are not included in that list," Kagura retorted.

Inuyasha took a threatening step towards Kagura before Naraku interrupted.

"I think you would all be wise to leave now," he said as he opened the passenger door and motioned for Kagura to get in.

Kagura smiled triumphantly and sauntered over to the passenger side to get in.

"You can't be serious?!" Kouga exclaimed.  "What are we supposed to do now?  How are we getting home?"

Naraku looked as if he were genuinely thinking about their dilemma but then shrugged.  "Ah Kouga, you should have thought of that before you interrupted me earlier," he said just before he drove away laughing with an arm around Kagura's shoulders.

Kouga watched in disappointment as their only ride left them stranded in the suburbs.  He huffed and then turned around only to be met with Inuyasha and Miroku's evil eyes.

"What?"

***

Sesshoumaru heaved a great sigh as he sank further into the bathtub.  He was at a complete loss as to how to approach Kagome after all of this had transpired, and as loathe as he was to admit it; he almost wanted to say screw the rules and take Kagome anyway.

However, he knew in doing so he would be throwing her to the sharks, so to speak.  The media was always hovering around he and his family like vultures, just waiting for the perfect moment to catch them in deplorable acts; and Kagome would not be immune to their frenzy.

How did his life get so complicated within one night?  And all because of one woman whom he hadn't bothered to ask anything about when he met her.

What was he to do come Monday when he had to see her again?  How was he supposed to act around her?  What would she look like in the little school uniform that all the girls had to wear?  He'd only ever seen her in an oversized Jujitsu uniform; which still did not look half bad on her.

Gods this was not helping.

He mentally berated himself for wandering off in his thoughts and proceeded in his cleansing ritual.  He did not want to admit it, but he hoped that Kagome would be able to come up with a way to approach this so that he would not have to.  Besides, he did not have time to ponder such things, he had classes to teach and now he had a Jujitsu team to instruct; he was swamped.  Relationships, whether they be romantic or not, were just not on the top of his "to do" list.

Sesshoumaru closed his eyes and rested in the tub.  Monday would be interesting indeed.

****

Kagome sat on Sango's bed and watched as the other girls painted their toenails.  After Kagura had left it was the only thing that helped Sango stop from going on a rampage after Kagura.  Kagome did not realize it, but she had sighed at least five times within the last ten minutes and the girls were very aware of where her thoughts were, or rather who they were with.

"Just let him go Kagome, he's not worth it," Sango finally spoke up.

"Huh?" came Kagome's intelligent response.

Sango sighed herself and elaborated.  "Kagome, you shouldn't be dwelling over Sesshoumaru; the guy's got a stick up his ass.  Anyone who talks to you that way doesn't deserve your time."

"Yeah Kagome," Kikyo chimed in, "Sesshoumaru isn't known to be a nice person; you're better off not having a relationship with him, it would only hurt you."

Kagome smiled lightly at her new friends' attempts to cheer her up, but on the inside she was a mess of emotions.  Although they had only spent three weeks together, she had fallen for Sesshoumaru hard.  Seeing him again brought forth all of those lost emotions she had felt when she with him; but they all came crashing down around her when he had said that their relationship was a mistake.

Still, even after that event, Kagome could not bring herself to dislike him.  He had been so kind and gentle with her; how could she just forget that?

"Thanks for trying to cheer me up guys," Kagome told them.  "I'm going to sit out on your balcony for a while Sango, I need some air."

"Do you need some company?" Sango asked.

Kagome shook her head and went to sit on one of the cushions that were placed on the balcony.  She looked up the sky and took in the stars and the moon, which looked so much like the one that adorned Sesshoumaru's forehead.

Kagome shook her head at her train of thought.  She could not just get over Sesshoumaru like he was some meager little crush; she truly felt for him.  How was she to act when she was around him now?  He had made his feelings perfectly clear earlier, but she could not simply brush him off; it was not that simple.

Things were so screwed up.

Perhaps if they could just talk in private then they could straighten things out.  Sesshoumaru may have felt pressured into saying the things he did tonight because there were so many people around.  Perhaps he was trying to save face?

Who was she kidding?  Even if Sesshoumaru publicly humiliated her she would still want him.  She was hopelessly devoted to him, or more precisely, the memory of him.

Kagome leaned over and placed her head in her hands as she let the first of her tears fall.  She felt like a fool knowing that she would obediently wait for the day he decided she was good enough.  She hated feeling this way; she was never one to allow someone so much power over her, but now she had become the person she feared most of becoming: a lovesick fool with blinders on.

She knew in her head that she should move on and forget him; that there were plenty of "fish in the sea" so to speak, but she just could not seem to get her heart to agree.  Why did things have to be so complicated?

Kagome was dreading Monday, or more accurately, dreading the moment she would step into the dojo and come face to face with Sesshoumaru.  She hoped that he had a plan as to how there were supposed to act around one another, because she sure didn't.

With a great sigh Kagome got up and returned to her friends; she would not ruin this sleepover for them by acting so down.  For now, she would put on her happy face and take one for the team.

****

It was nearly two in the morning when Inuyasha finally made it back to his home.  He, Kouga, and Miroku spent an hour deciding what to do next until they finally came to the decision to just go home.  No doubt Naraku and Kagura were getting acquainted with the backseat of Naraku's car.  With nothing else to do and with no ride, they boys went their separate ways.

Inuyasha dragged himself up the stairs to his room, but stopped when he saw Sesshoumaru leaning with his arms crossed against his bedroom door.  With a scowl he pressed forward until he was standing directly in front of him.

"What do you want?" Inuyasha asked bitterly.

"Did you see her?" Sesshoumaru questioned him.

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at Sesshoumaru who remained unflinching.  "Even if I did I wouldn't tell you.  Thanks to you I spent most of tonight walking.  Now move I'm going to bed."

Sesshoumaru took Inuyasha's answer for what it was: he did not see Kagome and therefore had no information on how she was.  He allowed Inuyasha to pass into his room before he turned at went back to his own.

He had tried several times to fall asleep, but every time he closed his eyes he saw Kagome's hurt-stricken face from earlier.

Well, only time would tell how this was going to play out.  Until then he could only hope that it was not an ugly affair.