A Game of Love

Chapter Two: A Game of Basketball

He hadn't been able to concentrate all day. Thoughts of whether or not she would see the note he left for her kept plaguing his mind. If he were asked, he couldn't even repeat what had been discussed at the meeting he had attended.

Tapping his pen against his desk, Sesshoumaru absentmindedly stared at the clock upon the wall, mentally urging it to move faster. This was the first time since he had taken over his father's company where he had done absolutely nothing for the entire day. He might as well just go home now, but he was stubbornly refusing on changing his routine for the sake of a woman he had never met before.

With determination, he sat in his chair and listened to the hands on the clock slowly ticking away. Time literally crawled for the next two hours and finally, it was time for him to leave. He stood so quickly, his chair toppled backwards but he disregarded it by simply grabbing his jacket and rushing out of his office.

He drove like a maniac on Speed, weaving in and out of traffic until he pulled to an abrupt stop on his driveway. Quickly grabbing his mail, he strode to his door and a smirk threatened to erupt on his face when nothing met his gaze. His letter was missing, which meant she had stopped by and taken it. He even double checked to make sure it hadn't fallen to the ground.

Now, he would just have to wait for her response though he was slightly disappointed that she hadn't responded right away. Secretly, he hoped that there would be a letter waiting for him when he got home tomorrow.

Unfortunately, when tomorrow evening rolled around, there was no letter.

Nor was there a letter waiting for him the next night or the night after that.

And so, for one whole week, Sesshoumaru waited in vain for the response that never came and with each day that came and went, his frustrations grew. The identity of the woman was all he could think about and the soft, honest words upon that page were all he could see. The first genuine affection he had ever felt coming from a woman and it was as though she had dropped off the face of the planet.

He became intolerable to work with; his demands were unreasonable and his temper unmanageable. His employees ran in the opposite direction when they saw him and there were times where he would scare even himself with the ferocity of his tempers whenever he thought of the woman.

Sesshoumaru could no longer sleep at night for even then, her words haunted him. He mentally cursed the woman for getting under his skin, taunting him until he thought he would lose his sanity. He knew things were bad when even his thickheaded half-brother, Inuyasha, noticed his short, more violent than usual, temper and that's when the gateway to Sesshoumaru's personal Hell officially burst open.

Because that's how Sesshoumaru found himself sitting at a table in the local bar that night with Inuyasha and his gang, bored and irritated. He held a bottle of beer with three fingers as he stared straight ahead of him, glaring intensely at the soon-to-be-dead Inuyasha.

After all, it had been his idea for the get-together. The main reason was so he could introduce his girlfriend, Kikyo, to the gang. It was also a good opportunity for Sango and Miroku, two of his friends, to relax and unwind from work together. Since they were dating, that left his best friend, Kagome, as the third wheel - or fifth wheel.

And that's where Sesshoumaru came in. Inuyasha had begged and pleaded for him to make an appearance and keep Kagome company so she wouldn't feel left out.

Many times he had questioned why Inuyasha had to ask him of all people and he had merely said it was to remove that stick that now seemed to be permanently stuck up his ass. Also because Sesshoumaru had promised to make it up to him when he had missed Inuyasha's graduation ceremony all those years ago. It was a fact that Inuyasha had made sure to never forget.

Well, Sesshoumaru had came as reluctantly agreed but he had proceeded to ignore his "date" for the entire evening, choosing, instead, to sulk into his beer bottle while he thought of his mysterious letter writer, Miss G, again.

And his date, Kagome, was getting more ticked by the second. There was no possible way a bottle of alcohol could be more appealing than her - unless Sesshoumaru was gay. But he wasn't, at least, that's what Kagome kept telling herself.

She had asked Inuyasha once before a few years back but all he said was that he had never seen Sesshoumaru date - ever. It was such a shame too, since Sesshoumaru had to be the sexiest man she had ever seen in her life. His personality and attitude, though, was another story - especially right now. Kagome would just have to change that though and she had just the plan to do it.

Slowly, she slid off the stool she had been sitting on and pierced Sesshoumaru with an intense stare, ignoring the way she had to tilt her head up to look at him even while he was seated and she was standing. She saw him glancing at her before proceeding to ignore her again, but she wouldn't relent.

"What?" Sesshoumaru finally snapped between gritted teeth.

"I'm challenging you to a game of basketball," Kagome declared boldly, "right now."

He scoffed in disbelief as he released his hold on the bottle. "Don't you know who I am, wench?"

"Of course I do," Kagome replied sweetly, purposefully exaggerating her tone to irritate him. "That's why it'll be fun to defeat you."

"Preposterous," Sesshoumaru growled, standing to tower over her.

When he had been a teenager, fresh out of high school, he had gone to college in America on a basketball scholarship. His sporting career; however, had been cut short by his father's sudden death. As a result, he had given up his dream to take over and care for his father's beloved company in Japan. He did not regret his decision since he knew it had been his father's wishes, but he did miss the feel of the ball in his hand and the swoosh of the ball falling into the hoop. He missed the thrill of competition and the rush of adrenaline traveling through his veins.

After he had taken over the company, he hadn't allowed himself to play basketball. He knew that once he held a ball between his hands, he'd never want to let go. Now, this girl was threatening to undo all that he had done over the past few years. He wanted to throttle her for issuing the challenge, but sadly his honor prevented him from ever laying a hand on a woman - even a woman as irritating as her.

"Well, let's just play a game to see if I'm really as preposterous as you believe I am," Kagome taunted, her eyes sparkling with mirth.

Gulping down the last of his beer, Sesshoumaru walked over to where the two basketball machines were located in the corner, amongst all the other arcade machines jam packed in there.

He inserted the appropriate amount of coins into both machines and the balls came rolling forward.

"Let's spice things up a bit," Kagome suggested as she reached for a ball. "If I win, you'll agree to have dinner with me tomorrow night. If you win, I'll leave you alone."

Sesshoumaru paused in his hesitancy to pick up a ball to take her offer into consideration. He quickly weighed the pros and cons of her bet, secretly relishing in the feel of the rubber ball against the pads of his fingers. Defeating this little slip of a woman was going to be too easy. He'd finally be able to go home and get away from her if he agreed to the terms. The woman was too arrogant to believe she could win against him. He felt the irresistible pull of a smirk as he sealed the deal with a simple nod of his head.

The whistle went off and the pair sprung into action, shooting the balls into the hoop as quickly as possible. Kagome was fueled by the determination to win and Sesshoumaru by the urge to be rid of the girl's presence. When, not if, he won, he would no longer have to deal with keeping her company. Instead, he could go home and brood some more about the disappearance of Miss G. How much lovelier that is than spending it with this irritating woman intent on thinking she could defeat him in basketball.

The final whistle blew, signaling the end of the game, and both immediately paused mid-movement. After a moment's hesitation, Sesshoumaru sent the last ball sailing into the basket, missing the sensations that this game had brought on already. Still, he had a façade to maintain and he would never allow anyone to see just how much he had enjoyed that brief ninety seconds of pure bliss.

Without looking at the score, he turned to stare at her smugly before leaving. He had only taken a few steps when Kagome's voice stopped him in his tracks.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow night," Kagome said, a wide grin upon her face, "The café around the corner at seven."

Eyes wide in disbelief, Sesshoumaru whirled around to look at the scoreboard. He blinked several times in denial, but the numbers refused to change.

65 to 67

He had lost by a measly two points.

Well, damn it all to hell.