Aaaaaaaand it's chapter 3! huzzah!

Ch.3

Logically, he had a point. Certain times at night brought certain kinds of people out from the wood work, and it could prove to be a hassle. At the same time, she saw no real threat; between her and her sister, she was the fighter. It certainly would not be the first time. Furthermore, she could not tear herself away from her haven just now. She had no desire to go back to civilization. She wondered if it would even bode well, as volatile as she felt.

"If you must go, you should. I don't want to yet." The apathy laced in her voice only alluded to him of the lie it was. She did not want to chance running into Inuyasha, that much was obvious. He imagined what kind of storm raged in her heart. Still, he sought to persist.

"I can ensure you that he is busy," He said. It was annoying that he was able to see the problem so easily. She felt strange for once, wishing that he was not so observant. However, it was more than just Inuyasha.

"I don't want to go home. I don't want to see anyone who may ask me questions or make me—" She had to cut herself off, choking on the surge of wrath that made her mouth taste vaguely like iron. She felt like she was in a losing battle with herself; with nothing to do about the situation, and seemingly no right way to handle it. No matter how she felt or what she said, the chances were likely to make things worse. She wanted her sister to be happy and she was thankful that her sister came to talk to her about it herself. A part of her didn't like that she gave the option up to her though. "If you want me to, I will tell him no. . ." Her sister had said. And she knew she was being sincere, but could not allow herself to get between them. If they were happy together, she did not want to deny her sister of that. At the same time, she suspected that eventually they would be together anyway, maybe in secret. She could not bear it if that secret one day surfaced. Either way, her presence amidst any of them would make things tense and uncomfortable; at least this way, it would eventually subside and maybe forgotten. She still felt betrayed by her sister, but at least with this course of events, it was her choice.

Sesshoumaru did nothing. He only had to look at her to see where her broken sentence would have gone. As she hung her head low, her long hair and bangs hid her face, like an angel fallen from grace. He imagined her eyes were closed, her brows furrowed, frozen in agony. It was not that she didn't want to leave, though he knew her better than to say it wasn't applicable. It was that she could not. As long as he had known her and watched her suffer in silence, he still could not stop it. Never mind how badly he wanted to. Eventually when she could leave, he didn't want her to be alone and at the mercy of any who would target her.

If she would allow him. "Would you like me to stay?" He would only watch over her from afar until she was safe anyway, which let the calmness in his voice be true. It did nothing to mask his seriousness.

She considered it for a moment. He should probably go, she reasoned, so that he would not be subjected to her childish emotions. Yet she didn't want him to leave. It took a few strangled moments before she could whisper, "Yes." He wanted to hold her, to comfort her and offer warmth to keep the coldness overtaking her at bay. He resisted, knowing it was not appropriate and unsure how she would take it. So he moved closer until he was right next to her, letting his legs hang over the side of the twenty foot cliff. Both of them momentarily mused at how, even when sitting down, he towered over her.

She regained her composure to look up at him, not expecting him to already return her gaze. Her eyes were wide and glossy, pleading mercy on her vulnerability. "Thank you, Sesshoumaru. You always seem to save the day." He stayed quiet while she pulled up her knees and wrapped her arms around them. She leaned into her baggy sleeves so that only the bridge of her nose and eyes were the only visible features. She then reached for her pack again, and just as she withdrew it, Sesshoumaru swiped it away, causing her to drop her legs over the side again and turn quickly to him. "Please give them back—"She started to say but stopped short. Gracefully, he extracted two cigarettes and stuck them in his mouth. She watched in awe while he acted completely casual. He took out her lighter and lit them, making sure they caught. After all that he handed one to her. She looked down at it, then back to him and took a drag. "When did you start smoking?" she asked, as he inhaled like he did this regularly.

"I can smoke. It doesn't mean I do. As I've said, it's bad for health," said Sesshoumaru, gazing off nonchalantly. She nodded, doing the same.

"I have one question. You do not have to answer if you do not want to." He said, waiting for her response. She merely turned to him, earnestly. He took his time to say it. His delay made her nervous.

"How much do our friends and families know about what happened between you and Inuyasha?" He picked his words carefully to carry out two objectives. One was pure curiosity, perhaps a gage on how much he could find out without causing her discomfort. The other was simply the need to point it out to her, in hopes that it could present a new opportunity or plan of action.

Her heart began to stress. "Whatever he's told them. They usually don't talk about it in front of me." But she remembered the things she heard them say when they were oblivious to her presence. Sesshoumaru took in her expression, suspecting that she had heard something. It piqued his interest.

"And you haven't talked to anyone about it." She actually was not sure if he meant it as a question or not. Either way, she shook her head. How could she? It was not like she didn't try. It did not take too long for her to accept that it was wasted effort.

"Would you mind me asking, then?" he lifted an eyebrow when she glanced quickly. She never knew if she was the blushing type, but she felt the fluster and wondered. She didn't know how to feel about it. Her eyes fell to the ground before she turned away again. "If you want to. . ." He continued to stare at her, granting his full attention. She had to take a deep breath.

"I found them making out in front of the house, at three in the morning. According to my sister. . ." Her came the first hard part, ". . .He told her that he had broken up with me to be with her. He didn't tell me anything of the sort." Her thoughts began to drift back to that night. Her eyes, unfocused. "She saw me when she walked through the door. I talked to her and she had no idea we were still together. So then I confronted him the next day. And he lied to my face." She had to stop herself momentarily when she noticed her voice beginning to take on more of a bite. She didn't want to look at Sesshoumaru so that he could see the tears forming. Her heart squeezed cautiously. She took a deep breath and continued once more. "You know Inuyasha as well as I do. Needless to say. . . he wasn't all that remorseful. I kicked him out of the apartment that night."

Sesshoumaru considered this, analyzing every bit of it. He knew that her restraint of expression didn't mean she wasn't creative, meaning that she knew how to get things done. "I know Inuyasha is. . ." 'Stupid.' He wanted to say. "Stubborn. How did you get him to leave so quickly?" He imagined that he would have thrown a fit, and he felt sympathy for her. On top of a broken heart, dealing with his brother was equivalent to treating a stab wound by driving the knife in further. He was pleased to see her smirk from the side; some semblance of a smile.

"I informed my manager, changed my locks and left all of his stuff in front of the building. Then I conveniently was not home when he got his surprise." She laughed quietly. "He didn't tell me, so I didn't tell him. He was really cruel." She decided that Sesshoumaru didn't need to know everything he said to her. She certainly did not want to relive in on thephysicalplain. No, her jurisdiction was that it was better to keep to herself; nevermind how badly she wanted to. If she had the power to channel her emotions into the environment, the earth would crack, the skies would storm, blood would fall from the charred clouds, all the while airing aloud the internal cries of agony. Yet a part of her felt that was too much for a break up. She regretted how much Inuyasha meant to her.

She took a moment to reflect on the personality types of her and her sister, compared to Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru. It provided some ease—she never understood why. For each pair it was the same: the older siblings and the younger siblings were very different. Her sister was the sweet happy-go-lucky kind of girl, the one who was loud and fun and always well liked. Her extrovertism did not deter from her heart, though her whims could be flighty. She often didn't carry so much weight into things, despite how expressive she could be. Though she was the head cheerleader, she never overtly tried to hurt anyone. She was the exact opposite from her sister.

Inuyasha was similar, in that he was often loud and obnoxious. He, on the other hand, was brutish, blunt, and simple. He had the attitude of the average high school boy; always something to prove, always prideful and yet silly. How vastly different Sesshoumaru was from him. Sesshoumaru was quiet, respectful, daunting, responsible and often described as detached; sometimes cold. He was furtive in his actions. He knew what he wanted, and his intelligence and awareness only matched his sharp and serious appearance. She always thought that Inuyasha harbored a desire to be like him, but just wasn't. As siblings, they never seemed as close and her and her sister. They did, however, share stubbornness, but even that was different when nit-picking the details.

What snapped her out of these thoughts was when the tears that built up in her eyes finally fell. She had lost time, even though only ten seconds had passed. It made her face sting when the breeze hit, so she had to wipe them away. 'So much for hiding it' she thought sarcastically.

Sesshoumaru had still considered her last response. "Well played," he commended, hoping it would do some good. It did make her smile a bit. Then he watched her wipe away her tears and it darkened his mood. He decided then to have a conversation with his brother, already knowing he would need restraint. Sesshoumaru always rued the day she told him of her feelings for Inuyasha, even to this day. He watched her warm light falter when Inuyasha would date other girls. He remembered with mixed feelings holding her when it would be too much for her, as she silently wept. He hated that there was nothing he could do.

In unison, they inhaled more nicotine and flicked the ash away. She sniffed, sighed and shifted. "Is it pathetic to still be upset like this, even when this happened almost a month ago?" She glanced at him, again surprised that he was already looking at her. After a moment, he answered "No," though her question spoke volumes to him. The moments following were masked as silence.

"What movies are currently in theatres?" He asked