Author's Note: 6 reviews, that's good for me, thank you to everyone who reviewed. I'd also like to thank USERNAME for pointing out that I kept calling Kagome's brother Saito when his name is Souta. Honestly, I could've sworn his name was Saito. I was 505% sure...lol. I am bad with names unless they are the very main characters. Took me til episode 78 to get Miroku's name right.

This chapter should be slightly better, still winding up the story, been busy so writer's block is still standing, sorry, I hope you enjoy.

Scroll Two

"S-Sesshomaru?" I stammered, as the pale boy's hands pressed against my back. The name hung in the air for an intense moment as he continued to stare coldly. His eyes gave nothing away, and his porcelain skin sculpted his features into a blank face. Some part of me wondered what he was thinking, but I had bigger worries as of now. I sucked in a breath and managed to lean upwards. Sesshomaru released me as soon as I was steady, feet planted solidly against the floor beneath me. For a second the silence continued to suffocate us, and then without a word, he turned and walked away gracefully. I blinked, my mind going completely empty, and finally managed to get myself together.

"Sesshomaru!" I half-shouted after him, taking another step forward. Briefly, he paused and turned his head halfway to face me. I could only see the left side of his face, and his eyes stared straight at the wall next to him. "Um...thank you. For catching me. I can be pretty clumsy sometimes, but not often. Usually I'm pretty good about watching where I step. But I guess today I was a little upset, because my dad has these news for me, only I'm not really supposed to know what they are but see my sister told me and so- oh..." I paused abruptly as I realized I was blabbing. I bit my lip and a light blush of embarrassment fanned across my cheeks. "I mean, thanks. That's...thanks." The words fell out of my mouth clumsily. I was still in a daze, shocked- from the sudden fall, from the news Kikyo had told me. From that cold stare Sesshomaru had given me- his stares always left me sorta shaken up.

Don't get me wrong- I haven't got a crush on Sesshomaru. I've known him forever. Even though he's about a year and a half (almost two) older than me, our parents are good friends, and because they both own large and successful businesses, we played together since we were babies, or something like that. In fact, Sesshomaru and I used to be the best of friends, about nine years ago. We did everything together, and we got along so well. But he'd become detached, distant, and eventually we'd parted ways. I'd tried to connect with him a few times after that happened, but when you grow up you start seeing the differences between a boy and a girl, and it's hard to bring a broken friendship back together. Because we were so close before, and I hardly saw him outside of the hallways at school anymore, I'd been shocked to see him being the one to catch me. Too shocked to put together the fact that 1) He was also missing school, 2) He was dressed formally like Kikyo and I, and 3) Our parents were business partners, we were both at the same hotel, and I was supposed to be told of my arranged marriage today, which meant... 4) Sesshomaru was a Takahashi, and Kikyo said we'd marry one today, which meeeaanttt...

"Kagome, are you alright?" Asked a quiet voice. Kikyo's hand gently touched my shoulder. Her eyebrows were drawn together with worry, and her eyes looked at me softly and almost in a motherly way. I thought again about how different she and I were, shook my head yes, and threw her a bright smile. "I guess I got too mad and didn't watch there I was going..." I frowned now, remembering my mood. "I can't believe dad didn't tell me." I felt my shoulders sag in defeat. "I know we don't have the closest relationship, but...isn't this something I should know...and he told you, didn't he...?" Kikyo gave me a sad, empathetic look - I guess she could tell I was more sad than mad. Her hand slid down to my elbow. Carefully she guided me through the hallways, pressing a few elevator buttons. I was glad to have her there. She knew when I needed her to take charge, just as I was one of the few people who could read her hidden emotions.

We arrived at the hotel's tea room soon enough. It was quite crowded for such a rainy weekday- I couldn't imagine why anyone thought to drink tea at a time like this. I kept my mouth pressed in a straight line as I scanned the room and my chocolate eyes finally settled in my father's gray hair. He wore a black suit and a red tie, and was laughing at something another man with white hair was saying. I began to shake, ready to start yelling about my feelings, but Kikyo shot me a look and stirred me toward the table. There were six seats total, two taken by the fathers. two for me and Kikyo...two for the boys we were soon to marry. My mother took one look at me and his smile nearly disappeared. "Kagome..." If looks could kill, he'd be way dead. He turned to Kikyo. "You told her?" Kikyo replied coolly, "She deserved to know that you were going to rip away her freedom." And I was surprised to hear her voice had an angry edge. I felt comforted knowing she was on my side, and that she shared my thoughts regarding this.

My father recovered quickly. "Mister Takahashi, these are my beautiful daughters, Kikyo and Kagome Higurashi. They are the ones who are to wed the heirs to the Takahashi company." Mr. Takahashi looked us over once, then nodded, offering a small smile. "They're more beautiful than I bargained for. It's a pleasure to meet you, ladies." I was angry, but I managed to smile almost genuinely at Mr. Takahashi when I shook his hand. Even though I hated the idea of marrying, I liked him at once. Kikyo didn't say a word, but I did. "The pleasure is mine, Mr. Takahashi." He beamed and my father cleared his throat. "Here they come," He said, almost proudly, looking at a spot over our shoulders. He didn't need to say who. I felt the rage build up inside me again and I slammed my fists against the table, standing up abruptly.

"I have something to say," I said loudly, though not shouting. I didn't want to cause a commotion, but I wanted to be heard. Mr. Takahashi and my father snapped their eyes towards me, startled. "I know I'm not a normal girl- I've an heiress to the powerful Higurashi Corporation. I'll never go to public school or to a dance or to a real prom, or eat at a fast food joint with friends, or have to work part time to get money to buy things. I understand and accept this- I know I was blessed to be born into this family, and I understand that sometimes I have to make sacrifices. I'm willing to give up my whole future just to be the heiress to this corporation. I am willing to give up dreams of being a musician, because I know it is my to inherit the company. However I absolutely refuse to give up marrying for love. I know that marriage is what creates these mergers, I know it's what helps our businesses and economy grow. I know. But for me, marriage has been the only thing I get to keep. I can't be normal, can't follow my dreams, so can't I at least have a normal marriage? Can't I at least have this ONE thing that everyone should have?! Mother always told me to marry for love, and I've always wanted to. Never have I even considered having that right, the freedom to marry whom I choose, taken away from me! And I know it'll cost our business a contract, but I am sorry- I absolutely REFUSE TO MARRY SOMEONE I DON'T LOVE!" I didn't mean to scream, but in the passion of my speech increased, so did the volume of my voice.

Angry tears had formed in my ears and were spilling down my cheeks. All the anger and sorrow I'd felt had finally been too much- I broke, crying as I yelled. Talking about marriage reminded me of my mother, who had told me stories of love and told me to never accept marriage without love. She was completely gone now, and I missed her like hell. It felt as if the only real thing left of her - to follow the advice she gave me and marry for true love - was being snatched from me, by two men who cared only about their companies. My throat hurt from screaming, and as my sobs grew louder too, I buried my face in my hands and turned around to flee the room. Everyone was staring, and I couldn't handle it- not today, the day of my mother's death, my birthday. Not ever. I turned to run away, nearly knocking over a chair, when I ran smack into someone for the second time that day.

I sobbed harder- like I needed this on top of everything!- but my crying stopped completely when I saw who it was. Correction; I had no idea who this was. I'd never met him before. He looked somewhat familiar, with long white hair and golden eyes, but I could swear I had never seen this boy before. I felt something in my chest contract, and my heart skipped a beat as tears slowly fell of my chin. All I could do was stare for at least a minute. The stranger was staring back, eyes slightly wide. Finally I broke eye contact long enough to realize Sesshomaru was standing next to him, looking as emotionless as ever.

Footsteps. I felt a hand on my back and saw another hand gesturing towards the golden-eyed boy.

"Kagome, this is my son, Inuyasha. Inuyasha, this is Kagome Higurashi, one of the girls who your brother is to marry."

A/N: Okay hope you enjoyed, see ya later gaters!

Yeah no I was kidding, here's more. It's a long chapter ;) Inu and Kagome won't get along at first because I am trying to follow their relationship in the anime. Don't worry, he'll warm up to her much faster in this fanfiction than the anime/manga though.

Startled, I turned to look at Mr. Takahashi, who smiled a bit forcefully at me as he gestured between Inuyasha and I. I turned back to look at Inuyasha, who was defiantly looking away from his father, arms crossed. Something about his stance - so rebellious and forced - made me smile. Then I realized what I'd just heard, and I snapped my gaze to Sesshomaru. He was already staring at me, eyes bottomless and rid of any emotion. As I stared back I saw a flcker of something in his dark orbs - regret. I didn't know at what, and it was gone too fast for me to realize wether I'd really seen regret on his face or not. Finally I felt my father grab my arm and tug me to my seat. He leaned down and whispered, "We'll talk about this at home, Kagome," but he had a guilty tone to his voice that made my heart melt just a bit. Maybe he did care for me after all. I glanced down at my nap and Kikyo tapped me with her foot.

She didn't say what everyone else would say. She didn't ask the usual "are you alright" question. She softly told me, voice confident and strong, "Everything will be alright." I smiled. That was what I loved about my sister. She knew exactly what to say, even though she hardly ever really spoke. A waiter came by to serve us tea and set a fresh tray of croissants and sandwiches down on our table. Nobody ate, except for InuYasha, who started stuffing his face. I stared incredulously.

"What?" He snapped through a mouthful of food. I frowned. "How can you possibly be eating at a time like this?!" He downed his tea in only one swallow. "Hey, can't do anything about this, and we'd just be wasting food." I glared. "That's pretty insensitive of you-" He glared, "Don't call me insensitive you-" But we were interrupted by father's voice. "Alright, so let's begin this...discussion." He cleared his throat. We both sat back down and glared. "The original deal was created between Takahashi and I upon the birth of Sesshomaru Takahashi, the eldest one present here today. Our companies are the most powerful in Japan and the world, and as thus we have been searching for a much stronger way of merging our companies. After we found out that my..." Father faltered. "...My wife...was pregnant with twins a month after InuYasha's biological mother also became pregnant, we decided upon this marriage as a way to bring our companies together. The youngest age that one may marry in Japan legally, even with parent's consent, is eighteen. Thus we decided to have you all meet when you were all seventeen, which is today, as it is Kagome and Kikyo's birthday. We thought it would be best to give you a year to get to know each other."

"Yeah, how very thoughtful of you," InuYasha grumbled, stuffing another croissant in his mouth. I suppressed a smile at his comment, and I even saw the corner of Kikyo's lips lift slightly in amusement. My father outright laughed, coughed, then continued. "So, we have gathered here today-" I slunk further into my seat. "Save the wedding speech for the wedding," I whispered. Kikyo did smile, and Inuyasha snickered. My father loudly cleared his throat. "-To acquaint you with one another. Inuyasha will be attending school with all of you as of today. We did our best to change all of your schedules so that you share classes, but seeing as Sesshomaru is a year older than Kagome, it didn't fully work out." He handed us all a piece of paper; new schedules. Looking at Kikyo's schedule I realized that I now had 4 classes with InuYasha, 2 with him, Kikyo and myself, 1 with Sesshomaru alone, and 1 with all three. Well, this would be awkward.

"So, this meeting was brief, as we just wanted to acquaint all of you and explain. Sesshomaru is engaged to Kagome as of now, and Inuyasha with Kikyo. After we all finish our tea and snacks, you may return to school." Kikyo nodded. I lifted my eyes to look at the two brothers, and saw InuYasha watching Kikyo, eyes slitted suspiciously. I sighed as he continued to observe and inspect her, no doubt trying to find out what sort of person she was. He wouldn't get anything from her. She met his eyes squarely, not showing any emotion at first...and then surprised me by smiling. Sure, it was the smallest of smiles, but to get her to smile at all was a huge feat. My brows came together and I saw Inuyasha glance down immediately, stuffing in more food. I sighed again. This would be a long day. I tried to catch Sesshomaru's eye but he was reading a book. I reached into the hand bag that had come with my new dress and put in my ear plugs, blasting my music to 85%. High enough to like low enough that father wouldn't complain. I looked up from my music and saw InuYasha watching me, somehow confused. He was holding a sleek device - an MP3? - in his hand, and I looked at him questioningly. He opened his mouth to ask me something when Kikyo and father stood. "It's time to leave for school," She said monotonously, and father nodded, herding us out. Once we were all in the same limo together InuYasha turned to me and held out his schedule.

"Looks like we've got first period together, huh?" He examined our papers. I nodded, not sure what else to say, and watched the rain drops slide down the limo's window as the car sped off towards school, towards my new and changed life.

A/N: I have 3 things to say.

1) Do not come at me with pitchforks and torches. Inuyasha is engaged to Kikyo, but this is not an InuxKikyo story. I added the mismatched couples for a plot twist, it will later come into play.

2) Unless you want a love triangle ;)

3) I wasn't sure whether to introduce Rin into the story, for Sesshy. Do you agree or do you want him to just love Kagome?

So tell me in the review! Rin or no Rin, love triangle or no, anddd sorry still have writer's block. Next chappie up sometime this weekend. If I get up to 30 reviews, I'll update tonight :O And that's asking a lot. I'm not asking for reviews, just saying if I get 30 I'll actually update tonight. If not probably Sunday ^_^