"...so as you can see, the addition of cosets is relatively simple. You just add the leading terms..."

Kagome looked at her watch and sighed. She'd stayed as long as she dared, but if she didn't leave now she was going to be late. Her notebook went back into her bag and she stood up as quietly as she could (she had chosen an aisle seat for just this reason), and crept up to the back of the room. Kagome thanked her lucky stars that this particular lecture theatre had an exit at the back, or she would have had to walk right past the lecturer. Boy, would that have been embarrassing.

The mysteries of cosets followed her out into the hall. She didn't linger, and made her way straight to the station. The hallways were deserted since everyone was in class, and she made the train in record time. A fortunate occurrence, for otherwise she would have missed it.

On the hour long trip back to London she pulled an assignment out of her bag and started working on it.

"Question one: find all irreducible quadratics in Z[3] of X." Kagome murmured to herself, pulling a pen and paper onto her lap. "Well, this should pass the time."

She'd found five by the time the train pulled into King's Cross station. Her mother was waiting in the car to pick her up.

"Kagome! You made it." Mrs Higurashi sounded unreasonably relieved, in Kagome's opinion.

"Did you think I was going to miss the train? Thanks, Mum." She opened the front door and jumped in.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time... But at least you're on time today..." Her mother pulled away from the curb. "And... Kagome! What are you wearing?!"

"What?" Kagome glanced at her sensible, warm clothes.

"They are not suitable for this kind of occasion." Mrs Higurashi told her primly. "Fortunately you're the same size as your sister - and I can be sure that Kikyo will have something you can borrow."

"It's not like we're going to meet the Queen! And who schedules a get together in the middle of a school week, anyway? I had to miss two classes for this." Kagome said grumpily.

"Kagome, you have to look your best for the camera. Think of the magazine headlines: England's most eligible bachelor brings future wife home to meet the parents! Taishou's fiancee has beautiful but unattached sister! This could be the perfect chance for you to find your own husband."

"I highly doubt that I'd want to marry any man who'd be reading those kind of magazines." Kagome informed her sourly.

"Say what you will, dear, but I won't allow you to embarrass Kikyo on one of the most important days of her life." her mother said, tone firm and allowing no argument. "We will do something about those clothes."

'You're talking like it's her wedding, not just a lunch date.' Kagome thought. Aloud, she only said, "Yes, Mum."

Mrs Higurashi was as good as her word. When they reached the house, Kagome was relegated to Kikyo's bedroom to be fussed over by her elder sister, who was looking stunning in an elegant dress of red and white. Emerging some 20 minutes later, Kagome was wincing at the clip pulling her hair up painfully at the back of her head, and nervously smoothing a blue silk dress which seemed much too expensive to risk lending it to someone as notoriously clumsy as Kagome. However neither her sister nor her mother, who was quickly slipping on her earrings to finish her own outfit, paid her protests any mind and she was shepherded back into the car, along with her little brother who was looking very uncomfortable in his freshly ironed good clothes.

"Hey, Kagome." He said, clambering into the back seat.

"Hi Souta." She smiled, sitting beside him. "How's your week been?"

"Good, I guess."

"Got that game you wanted?"

"Nah, the pc stores have been sold out. And Mum won't let me get an xbox."

"Wow, it must be a popular game, to still be sold out a week after it was released." Kagome said absentmindedly, trying to loosen her hair clip just a little.

"Yeah!" Souta said enthusiastically. "It's from the Onigumo corporation. It's the third in the series - I have the first two already."

"Oh is it the sequel to Infinity? I remember that game." Kagome caught Kikyo's glare in the rear view mirror and dropped her hands to her lap.

"We won the two player campaign in your last holidays." Souta agreed. "When do you next have time off? We could do the same with this one."

"Third term finishes in two weeks." She told him brightly.

"Are you two talking about video games again?" Mrs Higurashi asked in laughing exasperation. "I swear Kagome, one of these days you're going to bring home one of those computer geeks as a boyfriend."

About to demand an explanation for her mother's apparent dislike of computer literate people, Kagome thought better of it and lapsed into a silence that lasted for the rest of the trip. In the front seat her mother and sister were discussing wedding fashions; Souta was staring out the window.

As they drove into Kensington, she had plenty to look at - there were expensive houses and gardens on all sides. Kagome didn't really know why she was impressed - she should have expected the Taishous to live in the wealthiest part of London.

They pulled over to the side of the road next to a large, ornate town house. "I believe this is it." Mrs Higurashi told them. Kagome heard the uncertainty in her mother's voice and agreed; although the house definitely looked like it belonged to a wealthy family, there was nothing to distinguish it from the houses on either side. Or in fact from any house on the whole street. To her immense relief, there were no media in sight.

Kikyo, however, had seen the front door open and a familiar head poke out. "This is it, Mum."

They piled out of the car, Kagome and Souta sticking close to their mother; Kikyo (forever impressing her sister) managed to run gracefully in high heels up the path to greet her fiance. They greeted each other enthusiastically and remained talking while the rest of her family walked cautiously towards them. As they reached her, Kikyo turned around with a beaming smile.

"Mum, everyone, this is Inuyasha. Inuyasha, this is my mother, my sister Kagome and my brother Souta."

He bowed to them, if not gracefully, then at least politely. "Pleased to meet you." Kagome's first impression was of a young man with long silver hair and startling golden eyes. She could understand her sister's infatuation with him; he was definitely the most handsome man she had ever met. But to her surprise he seemed just as uncomfortable in his suit as her little brother; as if he would rather be wearing something much less formal. This alone was enough to make her revise her first opinion of him.

Mrs Higurashi smiled coquettishly. "Ah, but we've already met, haven't we Inuyasha? I am so looking forward to meeting your parents."

"Of course, ma'am." He said, offering her his arm a little awkwardly. "This way."

They followed him through the entrance into a magnificent, wood paneled hall. There was a staircase with a delicately twisting bannister leading upstairs, but Inuyasha lead them through a smaller side door, down a hallway and out into the garden.

Although she had only been inside for a few minutes, Kagome still blinked at the sudden sunlight. In the middle of immaculately presented flower beds was a long table, set out with plates and cutlery. There was no food in sight, but Kagome had no doubt that an army of servants were waiting somewhere out of sight to bring it to the table. Although the weather was not fine, there was no wind due to tall fences that surrounded the garden, and it was surprisingly warm.

At the head of the table sat a middle aged couple; the man wore his dark suit with careless elegance, his long silver grey hair tied at the back of his neck; the woman was dressed in expensive finery with her black locks piled on top of her head.

Inuyasha lead them forward and presented them one by one to "Mr and Mrs Taishou; my mother and father."

His parents stood to greet them and came forward to shake hands. Kagome reflected that it wasn't so much different from how she had imagined meeting the Queen would be after all.

They were invited to sit down, but directed to seats instead of choosing their own. Inuyasha and Kikyo sat next to each other and opposite his parents; Mrs Higurashi was on Mr Taishou's left and Souta next to her; Kagome was opposite her mother and next to Inuyasha. A little to her surprise there was an empty chair on her right. Mrs Taishou also glanced at the empty seat and directed an inquiring look at her husband, who frowned.

"My apologies. It seems that my eldest son, Sesshomaru, is running late."

"Oh don't worry," Mrs Higurashi exclaimed, "We don't mind at all."

"Well, we shall not wait too long to serve lunch." Mrs Taishou said reprovingly. "You must be hungry."

As if in agreement, Souta's stomach rumbled. Kagome grinned at him from across the table and he gave her a sheepish smile in response. Mrs Taishou summoned a servant to bring them all drinks, wine for everyone except Souta who was offered a choice of coke or sprite.

At the other end of the table, conversation progressed well. Mrs Taishou was full of questions for Kikyo: what were her plans for the future, how had she met Inuyasha, did she travel to France often or had that been her first trip? Opposite Kagome, Mr Taishou engaged her mother in polite conversation concerning his work and her children. At first Inuyasha mainly involved himself in his mother's conversation with Kikyo, but after a while he seemed to realise that he was supposed to be making his own conversation and turned to Kagome, evidently trying to think of something to say. Kagome decided to save him the trouble.

"You have a beautiful house." Ok, maybe she should have given that a bit more thought.

"Yeah." He agreed. "My parents have lived here since I was born."

"You're very lucky." Kagome tried to run through everything she knew about her sister's fiance - what would be a suitable topic of conversation?

"Kikyo told me you're at university." The way he said it made her wonder if he'd ever met another female interested in furthering her education. "What are you studying?"

"Education." She replied, knowing better than to go into specifics. "I'm planning to be a teacher."

"Really? How can you stand all those little brats?" His blunt question surprised her, and she laughed.

"It's not so bad. What do you do, Inuyasha?"

"I'm a field agent for MI5." He said casually, taking a large gulp of wine. "It's not supposed to be common knowledge, but since you're going to be part of the family soon, I don't mind telling you."

"Oh." Kagome said, a little surprised at his frankness. "Why aren't you supposed to tell people?"

"Government policy." Inuyasha drank the rest of his wine and signaled for more. "We're all supposed to have a level of anonymity - in case of kidnap or things like that."

Kagome looked around at the garden, then at her untouched wine in front of her. "I can't imagine you have much of that."

"You'd be surprised. Most people only know I have something to do with government security. There's not much point in targeting someone when you don't know how much they know."

"I guess you have a point."

The conversation ended as Kikyo turned to recall his attention. Kagome glanced across the table at Souta. He was fiddling with his napkin, looking bored. He gave her a wry smile. Fortunately Mrs Taishou decided they had waited long enough, and ordered the servants to bring out lunch. However they had not placed many dishes before a quick, firm step was heard inside the house and the eldest Taishou son entered the garden. Kagome had to turn to see him, but if she had thought that Inuyasha was handsome, he was nothing to the tall man standing before her, offering the slightest of aristocratic bows to his father. Sesshomaru's long silver hair was immaculate (unlike his brother's), and he had the same golden eyes, but his features were more defined than his father's and he possessed an air of cool elegance that Inuyasha lacked. Kagome realised that she was staring and quickly looked away.

"I apologize for my tardiness, Father." His voice was deep and silky, and carried the tone of one used to being obeyed.

"We are just about to eat, Sesshomaru." Mrs Taishou said reprovingly. "Mrs Higurashi, I hope you can forgive my son." Kagome, glancing up, saw a flash of irritation pass over Sesshomaru's brow at her words. She supposed he didn't like being told off by his mother in front of guests. 'Well then, he should have been on time.' She thought to herself.

"It's no trouble, really." Kagome's mother assured her. "Master Taishou, may I present my daughters Kikyo and Kagome, and my son Souta."

"A pleasure." He replied shortly, as his father also spoke to him.

"Sit down, Sesshomaru, so we can eat."

He took the seat at the end of the table, next to Kagome. She offered him a smile.

"Hi."

He looked at her for a moment, and she had the impression that he was evaluating her, categorizing her and filing the information away for future use. "You, I suppose, are the sister?"

"What gives you that impression?" She asked, slightly offended by his bluntness.

"You do not seem like my... brother's type." Kagome did not miss the pause before the word 'brother'.

"How can you tell that?"

He looked down at her for a moment. "I can tell."

Seething, Kagome forced herself to look down at her hands, clasped together in her lap, instead of snapping back with a rude reply. Just because he has no manners, is no reason for me to behave badly as well. She told herself. Who would have thought the brothers would be so different? One is kind hearted but looks out of place, the other looks the part but can't speak a nice word.

"You seem to have given a lot of thought to the subject of Inuyasha's future bride." She said, unwilling to let him have the last word.

"Not at all." Sesshomaru replied blandly, helping himself to a nearby pasta salad. Kagome realised belatedly that the servants had finished placing the lunch dishes on the table, and everyone else had started eating. She selected a freshly cooked scone and began to top it with whipped cream. Her companion continued to speak.

"I have merely noticed that Inuyasha seems to prefer girls who are the opposite of himself."

Kagome paused, trying to decide if this was an insult, and if so, whom he was insulting.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that Inuyasha is sadly lacking in social polish."

"Says the man who was late." Kagome retorted.

"It's polite to be ten minutes late."

"But you were twenty minutes late." She pointed out, having glanced at her watch.

"I'm just doubly polite." Was his imperturbable response.

Shaking her head, Kagome returned to her scone, using it as cover to surreptitiously observe the rest of the all seemed to be engrossed in their own conversations; even Souta was listening to Inuyasha's graphic description of various arrests he had taken part in. Surely they wouldn't notice if she loosened the rein on her tongue and gave the arrogant son-of-a-bitch beside her a set down?

"Are you this condescending to everyone you meet, or do you save it for prospective relations?" She asked in her sweetest voice, at which anyone who knew her would be moving uneasily in trepidation, raising her glass to her lips in a brave attempt at drinking the liquid inside.

He looked a little surprised at her sudden attack, but responded to her anyway. "I try not to give anyone special treatment."

"It must be hard to look down your nose at people so far above you." Kagome choked, just avoiding spilling her wine onto Kikyo's dress. She set the glass on the table, deciding not to try it again. Even to be polite, she didn't think she could stomach forcing herself to drink a whole glass.

"I wouldn't know." Sesshomaru sipped at his wine with apparent enjoyment. Kagome just managed to refrain from glaring balefully at him. "I've never met any."

"Just a moment ago you said my sister was not lacking in social polish." Kagome reminded him.

"Yes." He agreed, his eyes lingering on her untouched wine. "Clearly it does not run in the family."

"From what I have observed, it seems to be sadly lacking in you as well. Perhaps you are more like your brother than you think."

"Do not compare me to him." He told her coldly.

"Why not?" She demanded, pleased to have hit a nerve. "Don't like to be reminded of your failings?"

"Inuyasha is not a failing of mine."

"So even your father isn't exempt from your scorn? You really are an arrogant bastard!" Kagome exclaimed indignantly.

"I assure you, that is untrue." Sesshomaru informed her calmly.

"How so?" She demanded. A salad was placed in front of her and she spooned some onto her plate.

"My parents were married when I was born."

She almost laughed, and had the impression that he was laughing at her as well. When she glanced up at him, she saw the slightest hint of a smile before he turned his head away. "How fortunate for you."

He just nodded in reply and she applied herself to finishing her lunch. Not long after, Mrs Taishou invited them inside for a tour of the house. Once again the party was rearranged and split up expertly; Mr Taishou joined Inuyasha and Kikyo while Sesshomaru was placed with Mrs Higurashi. Mrs Taishou beckoned Kagome and Souta to her.

"So sorry I haven't had a chance to speak to you yet!" She exclaimed, shepherding them into the house. "I hope you were sufficiently entertained at lunch," She added in an under voice to Kagome. "Sesshomaru is not always the most talkative company." She looked over at Kagome's mother attempting to talk to a very unresponsive Sesshomaru, who seemed to be replying in monosyllables, and winced.

Kagome was a little confused. "He had plenty to say to me."

Mrs Taishou looked surprised and somewhat skeptical. But she didn't argue and after a quick examination of the entranceway, they went up the staircase into a charmingly decorated sitting room.

"So Kagome, your mother tells me you are at university." Her tone was so similar to Inuyasha's on the same subject that Kagome wondered if all the women in their circle just got married and raised a family.

"Yes." She replied. "I'm training to become a teacher."

"Primary or Secondary?" Mrs Taishou enquired. They entered the ballroom.

"Primary - I like teaching the little kids, they're so much more enthusiastic." Kagome craned her head back to get a good view of the massive chandelier above her.

Mrs Taishou laughed. "Yes, I remember when Inuyasha was that young - he certainly was a handful." She lead them across the room. "And are you still at school, Souta?"

"Yes, Mrs Taishou." He said a little awkwardly.

"Just Izayoi is fine, dear." She told them as they passed into the gallery. "What do you plan to be when you finish?"

"I'm not sure yet." Souta replied, looking at the long row of paintings with some awe. "I might be a paramedic."

"That sounds like a lot of work." Izayoi said, smiling. They had almost reached the end of the gallery. "Oh look, here are Inuyasha and his father."

Kagome looked at the portraits in front of her. At the end of the row hung a painting of Inuyasha, and two to his left was his father's portrait. In between was Sesshomaru. She couldn't help thinking that Sesshomaru looked much more regal than his brother, and wondered why Izayoi, who was cooing over Inuyasha's good looks and charming personality, was so obsessed with her youngest son. Was it just a side effect of his engagement?

Half an hour later, they had seen the whole house and had returned to the entranceway. As they stood there waiting for the others, Sesshomaru came down the staircase with long strides. Izayoi broke off from telling Kagome and Souta about a pet turtle she had once owned and asked where he was going.

"Back to work. I have important business to take care of." He said brusquely, eyes cold as if daring her to argue.

She didn't, but she did look annoyed as he strode past them and out the door, nodding to Kagome as he went.

Izayoi shook her head. "That one... He's always at work."

Behind them they heard the sound of happily chattering voices and the rest of the party descended the staircase. Mrs Higurashi was happily chattering away to a smiling Mr Taishou, and Kikyo was positively glowing, her hand in Inuyasha's. Kagome supposed she was pleased with her prospective in-laws. They did not stay much longer, and after compliments and thanks had been exchanged on both sides, along with an open invitation to visit at any time, the Higurashi family took their leave of the Taishous.

If they had been lucky enough to arrive unnoticed, their luck had not held up; at least two media crews were waiting outside the door, clamouring for a few words from Kikyo, her mother or pretty much anyone. Kikyo gave them a few happy words accompanied by a sunny smile, and they were allowed to slip into the car and drive off.

The car ride home was uneventful for Kagome; Souta was quiet but restless next to her and she could tell he was itching to get home and play one of his video games. She thought he had behaved very well on an outing that must have been incredibly boring for him. Kikyo and her mother kept up a flow of excited chatter all the way home.

Once the car was safely parked in the garage, Mrs Higurashi went to tell her father about their day, Souta disappeared upstairs and Kikyo pulled her sister into her bedroom.

"So, Kagome, what do you think?"

"Of Inuyasha?" She asked, removing her shoes and hair clip and breathing a sigh of relief.

"No, of his father." Kikyo's voice was layered with sarcasm. Kagome supposed it was a stupid question. "Of course Inuyasha!"

She thought back to her conversation with him. "I liked him. He seemed a bit awkward at first, but was really nice underneath."

Her sister smiled in delight. "I knew you would like him. He's so sweet, and so cute when he tries to act all tough."

Kagome laughed. "I'm sure you will be very happy together." She put her borrowed earrings back with the other jewelry. "Can't say I think much of his brother though. I don't think I've ever met someone more arrogant!"

Kikyo smiled. "I know. Inuyasha doesn't like him much either. But we needn't have much to do with him."


Reviews are much appreciated :)