As much as Inuyumi hated to admit it, she was not the most popular girl in the school.

The terrible truth was that, while she had a boyfriend, and devilishly good looks, she was a widely hated person.

She started fights, ended up getting people expelled, that sort of thing. The dislike for Inuyumi Taisho spread around Gakuen Yokai like the plague. Girls fought her, boys fought her, and she fought back every time. Unfortunately for her, she had a great many weaknesses, and people seemed to get a kick out of picking at them. A literal kick.

Yes, while it was true that nearly the whole school hated Inuyumi with burning passion, no one seemed to hate her quite a much as her own half-sister.

So why was it that Sesshoko was going to Inuyumi for help?

"I-Inu-kun!" Sesshoko shrieked as she made her way down the hall and into the room of her half-sister. She smashed down the door with little to no effort nor care, as Inuyumi herself was the owner of the apartment.

"Hey, watch it!" Inuyumi hollered, irritated by her sister's intrusion. "Just what the hell do you want, Shoko?!"

Sesshoko felt her face glow red at the childish nickname, but shrugged it off, as there were more pressing matters at hand. "Inu-kun! Please help me!" She uncharacteristically wined, her voice laced with anxiety.

Inuyumi, however, cocked her head to the side and giggled strangely. "So, has the mighty Lady Sesshoko finally stepped down from her little pedestal? And just what kind of help does her highness seek?"

Sesshoko clubbed Inuyumi upside the head, the placed both heads on her stomach.

Inuyumi looked at her suspiciously, then set a hand down on Sesshoko's stomach. It felt different, and as she continued to pet her sister's somewhat swollen belly, her face contorted into a wicked smile. "So, who's the father?"

Sesshoko whimpered. Oh, it was hilarious to see the usually emotionless Sesshoko act this way! "I don't know! But you have to help me! Father will kill me if I don't kill it first!"

But Inuyumi simply smiled wickedly. "Kill it? Oh, that's hardly moral, Shoko. You'd make a good mother, methinks, and I for one would enjoy watching the pregnancy hormones spill out of you like cheap soysauce."

A look of horror decorated Sesshoko's face for a moment, then quickly contorted into a look of hatred. A low growl emitted from the girl's throat and her voice took on an almost deadly tone. "I am not becoming a seventeen-year-old mother!" She hissed.

"Sheesh, Shoko. You're just always so dull. A mere waste of space, really. I was just thinking that perhaps if you had something to take care of, your existence wouldn't be so pointless."

"Arrgh! Fine, if you don't help, I'll get Izayoi to help me!" Sesshoko bellowed as she left the room in a flurry of skirts and white hair.

"Hey! Leave my mother out of this!" Inuyumi yelled in protest as she ran off after her sister.

Izayoi shared a penthouse with the girls' father, Inu Taisho, just a few buildings away. Sesshoko thankfully didn't have to borrow Inuyumi's mud brown truck to get there, so at least that was a plus.

Oh, Sesshoko hated this. She no longer hated Izayoi with the burning passion she held when she was a little girl, but she never enjoyed visiting Izayoi.

The raven-haired woman was a preschool teacher, sweet and simple and far to caring. Sesshoko's own mother was a lawyer, strong and coarse and willing to do anything to get her way. When Sesshoko was two, her father realized that his wife was having an affair with a foreign man, and before he confront her, she ran off to get married with the man in America. A year later her father met Izayoi, and together they created the rotten little monster that was Inuyumi.

Still, despite her own feelings toward Izayoi, Sesshoko was pregnant, and hormones possessed her like demons. She was scared out of her mind, and Izayoi was one of few women in her life who could keep a secret.

So Sesshoko stood in front of the penthouse door, and rang the doorbell, praying to all the Gods she knew that her father wouldn't answer the door. Thankfully, a butler did instead.

"Oh! Sesshoko-sama. What are doing here?" A tall man with black hair asked.

"Er, um, c-can I see Izayoi?"

panic

Panic

Panic!

Panic!

Panic!

Panic!

"Of course milady. Do come in."

Sesshoko eventually found Izayoi's room and, for the second time today, barged in unannounced.

"Excuse me, who - Oh my Goodness! S-Sesshoko?! What on Earth are you doing here?" The woman asked, a little surprised. She new that Sesshoko wasn't fond of her, and often avoided contact at all costs. Izayoi just then realized, however, the state the poor girl was in. "Oh my stars! What happened to you?"

Sesshoko, always the proud type, stiffened up, and tried hard to hide the unusual anxiety that had consumed her. "I, erm, I'm-"

"It's alright dear, you can tell me anything."

Sesshoko hated that damn sweetness.

"I'm pregnant."

The room was silent for a moment.

Then two,

then three...

Then Izayoi ran up to Sesshoko and swallowed the tall girl in a forgiving hug. "Oh, I'm so sorry," Izayoi wined. "Do you know who the father is? How far along are you?"

Seshhoko decided it would be best to respond. "Um. Six weeks. The father... I don't know." Izayoi was nuzzling her head into her stepdaughter's neck when Sesshoko continued. "A-And I need your help getting rid of it."

It was then that Izayoi backed away. She gave the white-haired girl a strange look, then placed her hands on her belly. "Sesshoko, dear... don't kill this baby."

Suddenly, Sesshoko fell back into character. Why was she listening to Izayoi anyway? Her decision was to get rid of the parasite before it threw her life completely off course. She never had plans of having children anyway. Sesshoko would not be a good mother. "Why?! Huh?! It's no baby; it's a parasite! The only reason it even exists is because I got wasted on too much sake and then I-"

"What's all the commotion?!" A new, masculine voice rang over the shrieking of the shrew.

"Inu Taisho..."

"Father..."

Sesshoko's father walked up to her, his face serious. "Then you what? You got wasted on too much sake, and then what happened?"

Sesshoko looked down at her feet, clad in six-inch red pumps. "Father, I don't even know who he is..."

Inu Taisho, however, grabbed his daughter's chin, tilting her head up, and then smiled at her. "Shoko, there's no way in hell I'm letting you kill this baby, or give it up. It's yours for a reason, and it's gonna stay yours, you understand?" Inu Taisho was smiling, but serious.

Sesshoko nodded her head slowly, and walked away.

So that was it.

She was gonna be a mom, at seventeen.

"That was a bit harsh, love." Izayoi said to Inu Taisho, as they watched the stars from their penthouse balcony.

"I had to. Sesshoko's got a shell, a harder shell even then her mother. If she keeps this baby, and takes care of it, it just might crack her shell." Inu Taisho purred back lovingly at his wife.

"What makes you so sure it'll work?"

"Because it worked on you."