Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all related characters do not belong to me and are the property of the genius Rumiko Takahashi.
AN: Setting is in modern times and will be in 2 parts with a his & her viewpoints
Notes on Growing Up
Part 1
They had known each other ever since she was three and he was six. Her family; her mother and brand new baby brother, had moved there after her father had died to help her grandfather take care of the shrine. His mother and her mother had immediately become fast friends as they both had in common young children and a missing husband. His father and stepmother and little half bother lived elsewhere and only came down in the summer to spend time with him. He was relatively happy with his life as it was, never having been especially close to his father after he had left his mother and he absolutely did not like his stepmother and only barely tolerated his half brother. But this new complication this little girl next door was quite a disruption to his everyday existence. It seemed that she was always coming over to his house to visit with her mother and he considered her nothing but an annoying tag-a-long.
Being three years younger than him he couldn't understand why Kagome insisted on following him everywhere or why the mothers thought it was cute! Wherever he might hide in the house she had the uncanny knack of finding him. And heavens forbid he should close a door on her and she should start crying! Then his mother would scold him for being rude to his guest. He finally solved the problem by climbing trees. She couldn't follow him up and would usually end up sitting underneath his tree playing and eventually just fall asleep.
A few years older would see him right back to square one however. By seven she had turned into quite the excellent tree climber and would now just follow him right up any tree in either of their yards. Perhaps it was her determination not to be left behind by him that gradually replaced annoyance with curiosity. Instead of playing with dolls or dress up like other girls her age she was always out and about actively exploring or training with her bow or bokken. She really did seem to enjoy new challenges and even got him to teach her some moves occasionally. And of course as his shadow she was a quick learner.
By the time she was ten and he was thirteen they had something else in common; actively annoying little brothers, and curiosity turned into an appreciative camaraderie. Now he was no longer trying to ditch her but instead it was a more common sight to see them reading in the library together, practicing, or perusing the shrine grounds together. He was just getting comfortable with the idea that it might actually be nice having her around when to his complete embarrassment she started to proclaim him as her very best friend to anyone who would listen. He had always been her Sessho for so long growing up together the way they did one would think he'd be calm about it, but it was still something new for him to acknowledge that he might be becoming attached to her. Perhaps a little space might be in order.
Alas his pride would be his folly. When he was fifteen his father, wanting to be a bigger part in the life of his growing up elder son, had moved into town permanently. This meant Inuyasha, his younger half brother, would now be here all the time as well. In fact he had been enrolled into the same school and was even in the same class as Kagome, being the same age. For Sesshomaru his younger half brother was absolutely intolerable now. The brat was just to loud, to brash, and to aggravating. Unfortunately he seemed to get along just fine with Kagome who after the last two years of "space" was unable to understand why Sesshomaru had taken great pains to distance himself from her. A little hurt, she was more than happy to be friends with Inuyasha who had always seemed to like her.
He quickly became a cornerstone in her little group of school friends. He certainly did a better job of fitting in than the coolly reserved Sesshomaru who had always kept the others at a fearfully respectful distance. The older boy never really liked being around the childish exuberance of Kagome's other friends with whom Inuyasha completely fit in. She was the only one who had ever seemed to understand him and now his half brother was taking his place as her best friend. Was he just now beginning to realize the value of what had been in front of him?
But his frustration at the foolishness that had separated them and the inability to fully rectify it only served to keep the distance that had formed between them present. And by the time he was seventeen he could only watch as Inuyasha's interest in Kagome became apparent to all and was even being helped along by her girlfriends. It was extremely frustrating to watch the whelp grow closer to Kagome. Sesshomaru had already made an attempt at salvaging their friendship and she had accepted but now that he did recognized his own attachment to her she never seemed to look at him as anything more than a friend. What could he tell her now? With Inuyasha's claim on her already he couldn't jeopardize their friendship should she not return his feelings.
Sometimes he wished he did live under the same roof as his half brother so he could beat the tar out of him. Never was this thought more prominent however then on the night of the last school dance of his eighteenth and last high school year. He didn't bother with any of the other silly giggling girls at school and was again sitting home from a dance, opting to prepare for his final exams instead when he heard a car pull up outside. Watching Inuyasha come to Kagome's house to pick her up, and then watching her come out looking so beautiful very nearly broke his guard. His desire for her obviously could not be diminished and to see her in the arms of another, especially his hated half brother, could only be described of as torture. It took a moment for him to catch himself, rip his eyes off of them, straighten up, and walk away.
He would not see her again for seven years.