Rain poured down on the pavement of the city as Serenity, a young woman of 19, made her way sadly down the sidewalk. Her waist length blue hair stuck to her soaked body, and her bangs made it hard to see. The emerald pair of eyes that once danced with life and happiness was now blank and void of any vitality. She drifted aimlessly towards the college dorms, in no hurry to get out of the pouring rain. The rain stung her face, but she barely noticed, barely even cared. And why should she care, when the one man she'd trusted enough to name boyfriend then fiance had cheated on her. It wasn't just the fact that he'd defied her trust; he'd defied her love as well.

It made Serenity want to curl up and cry. She felt like a blind kitten, mewling for her mother's warmth. It was snatched away from her, and the cold slowly seeped into her bones, jolting her to the truth: He didn't love her anymore. "Sesshomaru… Why do you break my heart? Why don't you stop?" she whispered softly. As she finally made it back to her dorm room, the rain started falling harder than ever. It seemed to taunt her. 'You're not the only one that hurts, get over yourself!' it seemed to scold. Serenity knocked on the door labeled 131 Girls' Dorm and a raven haired student opened up. Her eyebrows furrowed over her chocolate brown eyes in confusion. Wasn't she supposed to be with her fiance?

"Serenity, what are you doing here? I thought you were with Sesshomaru." Sesshomaru… The silence in the room was eerie. It floated like a dark cloud, waiting for the first word that would be the first strike of lightning. Serenity felt her knees quiver and slowly stumbled back into the wall, tears streaming down her face. She broke out on sobs, then slid down to the floor. "Oh, Kagome!" she cried through her tears. Kagome immediately knelt down beside her. "Serenity…" She didn't know what to do. "What… happened to you?" Serenity just kept sobbing. She knew she shouldn't burden her friend like this, but the tears continued to waterfall down her cheeks. She suddenly felt a strong pair of arms around her, providing a small sense of warmth. She looked up into warm brown eyes and managed a tiny smile. "Well… Things aren't going well… between us… Sesshomaru and I… we're over." This was not what Kagome had suspected.

"Did he hit you?" Serenity laughed bitterly. Yeah, he'd hit her alright. "He's… decided he wants someone else to bear his children." Kagome gasped. "He didn't!" Serenity nodded. Kagome felt a wave of loss for her friend. If it weren't for her being used to jerky guys like that, she would have banged on his door with a baseball bat, regardless that he was over 10 times stronger than her. "Well then," she said, with an angry tone. "We'll just have to teach him the most important rule of the world that applies even to Demon Lords." She got up and led Serenity to the bathroom. "Let's get you cleaned up, and tomorrow, we're going shopping." Serenity's eyebrows furrowed. "Um, Kagome, which rule are we going to be teaching him?" Kagome grinned evilly. "What goes around comes around." Serenity 'ahhed' her understanding. "Okay, but I don't think it's going to work."

Meanwhile…

Sesshomaru stared blankly out the window at the rain. The entire house was empty, reflecting what he felt inside. 'The look on her face…' he thought. 'The hurt in her eyes…' Sesshomaru told himself he couldn't care less. He was Sesshomaru Taisho. He thought he needed no one. 'I hurt her…' He knew, at that very moment he knew: he thought wrong…

The next morning…

"Wake up, lazy bones!" Serenity sighed underneath the comfortable folds of her covers and burrowed deeper into them. 'Saturday,' she thought. 'Don't have to go anywhere...' She felt her warm dome of comfort lift and growled her unhappiness, turning over on her stomach. "Nhn... Stop it Sesshomaru..." Sesshomaru… Her eyes slowly opened, and she remembered the events of last night. The weight in her chest returned, and she felt her bottom lip tremble. She buried her face in her pillow and started to cry. "Oh, no you don't!" Kagome snatched her up off the bed and made her stand up. "No crying! He's a bastard, and bastards don't deserve girls like us!" Serenity wiped her eyes. "I… loved him…"

Kagome started tapping on her noggin. "He made it apparent he doesn't love you, so forget about him, and start over!" Serenity shook her head. "I don't think I can do it." Kagome's eyes softened. "Where's the Serenity that I know? The one who never let anyone take advantage of her if she could help it? Where's the Serenity that would smack you silly if you got fresh with her, and threw rude comments like rice? Wherever she is, she's still in here." She rested her hand over Serenity's heart and smiled, her eyes alight with kindness.

"And I believe she can do this. She's gonna make it in the world alive, and she's gonna show some backbone!" Serenity had to laugh. Kagome had always had her back in these situations. "Okay, let's go!" Kagome pumped her fist in the air. "That's what I'm talking about!" A few minutes later found them parked in front of Yukiko's house. Serenity wanted to tell Kagome it might not be a good idea, but bit her tongue. Yukiko (she's 18 in this) appeared and hopped down the steps wearing a black form-fitting shirt, light gray short-shorts, and black converse. A boy with jet black hair and fuzzy cat ears, wearing nothing but black followed close behind with his hands jammed in his pockets. He had a scowl on his face, and his icy blue eyes were annoyed. "Hi guys! How are ya?" Serenity couldn't help but smile, despite how much she looked like her father. Yukiko's sweet lively manner made everybody happy. She frowned. This was probably why she had such an aggressive looking fellow for a friend.

They slipped in the backseat and they were on their way. "Good morning Yukiko. Who's your friend?" Yukiko beamed. "This is my mate Shayde. Say hi to Serenity, Shayde." Shayde's annoyed look, along with his attitude, disappeared almost instantly and he nodded respectfully. "O-Ohayou, Serenity-san. I didn't know you knew Yukiko-chan." Serenity's eyes widened. Shayde? He was in her humanities class! "M-mate…?" She hadn't realized Yukiko could have grown that fast. She was still seeing her as a young spirited little puffball that thought boys were yucky. She watched Yukiko and Shayde hold hands in the back. He was so much bigger than her. Her phone suddenly rang, and she checked the caller ID. 'Sesshomaru?' She shot Kagome a look. "Don't answer it." She growled, keeping her angry gaze on the road. Serenity nodded and slipped it back into her pocket. "Now then," Kagome smiled at Shayde through the mirror.

"You realize this is a girl mission right?" Shayde returned to his sober state. "Uh, sure whatever." Kagome shrugged. "Your funeral, we girls go to the deepest darkest depths of the skirt store." Shayde snorted. "So I've heard." Yukiko giggled. It was so much fun going out with friends. Serenity's phone rang again. This time it was Inuyasha. "Serenity," Serenity felt her fingers freeze with the coldness in his voice. "Hey Inuyasha, is something wrong?"

"You mean besides the fact you didn't tell me he was cheating on you?!" Yukiko gasped and Serenity dropped the phone. "He what?!" she yelled. Her expression turned serious. "I'm going to kill him," she stated as if it were normal. "No," Kagome said stiffly. "I'm going to kill him." Everyone heard Inuyasha yell, "I'M GOING TO TEAR HIS BALLS OFF!" Serenity felt the beginnings of a headache. She lowered her head and her bangs covered her eyes, hiding any emotion she might have had. "No one's going to hurt him. No one's going to say anything to him." Inuyasha obviously didn't understand. "Why are you defending him?" he yelled from the floor.

Serenity picked up the phone and hung up. Then, after some thought, she turned it off. "I've got a headache; can we get some ice-cream?" Kagome nodded and made a left turn. Yukiko crossed her arms and muttered profanities under her breath. Shayde rubbed her arms, murmuring comforting words. Kagome pulled up in the drive-thru. "Welcome to D-leap, may I take your order?" Kagome smiled. "Hey Sango, what flavor Ice-cream have you got?" Serenity hadn't known Sango worked here. "Hi Sango!" Sango laughed. "Is Yukiko here too?" Yukiko giggled. "In a manner of speaking!" They heard a slap and rolled their eyes. Shayde, not understanding what was going on, asked what that was. "Nothing," Sango growled. "So you guys wanted Ice-cream?" Serenity studied the large menu.

A whole twenty-eight flavors. Yukiko grumbled that she didn't want any. Shayde grinned. "What if I gave it to you from my mouth?" Yukiko blushed. "Forget it! Um, I want a double dipped cone… Chocolate mint, and Swiss chocolate almond." When she saw Shayde wrinkle his nose, she grinned. "I forgot. When you mix green and brown, what do you get?" Shayde smirked. "Muddled." Serenity burst out laughing. "That was a terrible thing to say." Kagome shrugged. "He could have said worse. I'll have a regular chocolate cone, Serenity wants Sherbet and Shayde?" He shrugged. "Vanilla." The car went quiet. "Okay," Sango scribbled the orders down and sent them to the next window where they grabbed their cones and continued to the mall. "Vanilla, huh? How very… tame," Kagome commented. Shayde took a disinterested lick, his cool gaze casually wandering. "It's a calm flavor. I like it." Yukiko bit into hers, crunching on the crushed nuts. Serenity licked hers calmly, absorbing the cool tang that was left on her tongue. Kagome parked their car in the lot and killed the ignition. "Alrightie, you may remove your seatbelts. The doors are no longer locked, thank you for riding Higurashi Airlines." Yukiko giggled and slid out of the car with Shayde close behind.

They stepped through the automatic slide doors and were instantly engulfed in the crowd. "So," Serenity had to ask. "Why are we shopping today?" Kagome rolled her eyes. "I told you, we're teaching you-know-who the basic rule of the world." Yukiko raised an eyebrow. "Treat others how you wish to be treated?" Kagome chuckled. "No, the other one." Shayde saw a few of his college buddies and waved. Yukiko saw this and told him to go say hi. "You don't mind?" he asked. Yukiko shooed him away. "Leave the dangerous stuff to us." Kagome dragged Serenity by one arm, while Yukiko dragged her by the other. Serenity drew in a sharp breath as they came in front of the barber shop. "Oh no you don't!" Kagome giggled. "Don't be silly, you'll look good with a haircut." Yukiko nodded in agreement. "I don't want to cut my hair!" Serenity managed weakly. She wasn't reluctant to cut her hair because of Sesshomaru, it was just… well, she'd never even cut her hair before! They dragged her along anyway.

by the time serenity left the barber chair her waist length hair had been reduced to shoulder length and she was furious! she glared at kagome and Yukiko with fire in her eyes. " I'm going to freaking murder the both of you. It feels like i've lost half my weight!" Yukiko grinned evilly. "Probably because that was half your weight" . just as serenity was about to make a snappy comeback inuyasha came storming up to her. " why the hell did you not tell me he was cheating on you!?" she demanded. serenity back away a little. be may be younger that her but still seeing him that angry scared her. "I just found out yesterday when i came home to him kissing some other girl on the couch." she said. kagome jumped in "do you think it might have been a relative?" serenity turned to her. "I don't think you tongue kiss your relatives kagome." with that she walked away. kagome ran after her "wait where are you going?" she shouted after her. "I'll take the bus home. I've got a headache maybe we can do this another day.

when kagome returned from he mall she found serenity in her room holding a picture frame. it was the picture of her and sesshomaru when they went on vacation together on sento island. when kagome saw her friend crying she sat down on the bad beside her. " I know how you feel" she said.