~Kagome~

I steal a glance in his direction once again, letting a small smile escape. I see him, surrounded by the usual harem, laughing, and talking with his friends animatedly, with wild gestures. I see his brother, Kami, he's breathtaking, standing stoically, but his face had a slight smirk on it. That group is the epitome of ecstasy.

I let out a small laugh. A soft laugh of exasperation. 'What are you thinking, Kagome?' I think to myself. 'He doesn't even know you exist. And besides, even if he did, you don't stand a chance against them.' I close my eyes, sighing internally. Then I stuffed my books back into my bag, and walked out the door past Them, taking care to keep her stride normal and not too fast.

I strode out gracefully, that is until one girl from His harem stuck her foot out tho trip me.

I sigh in mid fall, and rearrange my stance so I can continue walking. I don't miss a beat.

When I didn't fall, the skimpily clad girl who tripped me, stomped her foot. I turned, and gave her a pitying look, smirking slightly at the appalled expression on her face.

i don't know why the Sesshoumaru harem has it out for me, and every time they pull stunts like this, I learned how to win each time, and then I simply walk away, leaving them fuming.

~Sesshoumaru~

Her ebony locks sway gently as she walked down the corridor, bag casually slung over her shoulder.

I watch her walk away, ignoring all those annoying girls clamoring to get a hold of my arm, so they can cling to me all evening.

I smell a jumble of scents rolling off her, and number of them confuse me.

I smell faint arousal, and... defeat? It's overpowered by the putrefying stench of pain and fear, but the most prominent smell is of blood.

I don't understand why she smells so strongly of blood, but it isn't the only thing that draws me to her. She intrigues me.

~Third person~

The same Kagome that Sesshoumaru was so intrigued by, was currently lying on her living room floor drifting between consciousness and unconsciousness.

A tall man was towering over her, from his features you could tell that he used to be good looking.

He now had a beer belly, and his features had faded with age, but he still had a prominent, straight nose, and dark eyes, that in Kagome's memory used to be soulful and warm. They weren't anymore, however. Now they were flashing with cold rage and satisfaction, as he saw his step daughter splayed across the hard, wooden floor.

"Why can't you be more like your sister?" he demanded, as he kicked her hard in the stomach.

He gasped as all the air in her lungs left her, but her mind was somewhere else.

Sesshoumaru. She only thought of Sesshoumaru.

~Kagome~

Over the years, ever since my mother's death, I've been living like this.

Every day, the same thing. The ever present taunts, the threats, the frustration... more importantly, the beatings.

I've learned to simply put my mind elsewhere when he hit my; I've become wise to his ways.

When he tries to starve me to death, I learned to store food and water in my room, along with an electric kettle. For the cup noodles. Eventually, I managed to save up, and bought a mini fridge, and hid it in my closet. I've even carved a hole in the back of the wood, and attached the plug to the socket behind it.

When he comes home drunk, and tries to stab me to death with kitchen knives, I lock myself in my room.

When he removed the lock, I tied one end of one of my old bras to the handle, and then the other end to a cluster nails I hammered into the wall just above the door. I just been upgraded to strong rope.

I've learned not to get into trouble outside school, [yes, that had been VERY painful; more so than usual] to be home on time, and to steer clear of him when he was drunk.

No friends, no boyfriends, no acquaintances. Nobody. It's only the threat of the child rights council that he even let me go to school. He doesn't want them investigating. He adores his little punching bag.

Finally, after what seemed like another eternity, dad left to get himself another bottle of Vodka. He never has beer, no. It's too mild.

Seeing him leave the room, I picked myself off the floor, and slowly dragged my numb, traitorous body to my own room. When I reached there, I tied the door shut, and plopped myself onto my makeshift bed, and sunk into not-so-peaceful oblivion, haunted by bloodied daggers, and dark shadows.

~Sesshoumaru~

I inserted the key to my apartment into the lock, and opened the door. I shrugged my blazer off, and got myself a bowl of cornflakes, and sat down at the table in my kitchen, all the while lost in thought.

'Something has to be wrong... why else would she smell like blood?'

I decided that I would investigate.