When Ayame got home she immediately text messaged Rin to get online. Rin didn't want to upset her uncle, who was already in a foul mood, so she texted back to Ayame, "I'm sorry, but I'm busy right now. I'll talk to you when I get to school."

When Rin got to school the next day she had a brand new black eye. Ayame looked at her rather sadly and asked, "Is that my fault?"

Rin stopped walking and gently touched her eye. She had tried so hard to cover up the bruise, but no matter how hard she tried it was impossible for her to cover it fully. "He wasn't in a good mood last night, and he was even less so when I turned my attention away from him to quiet the phone. Don't worry though, you didn't know."

Ayame pulled out a bottle of foundation and pulled Rin aside into the bathroom. She carefully touched up some of Rin's make-up because she seemed to do better at covering up bruises than Rin ever was. Matter of fact, she always carried around a bottle of Rin's foundation just for such an occasion. "You know I'd take you into my house if my parents let me," she commented. Rin bobbed her head up and down several times. "Thank goodness it's our last year of high school. Then you can move out and go to college."

"What did you want to talk to me about last night?" Rin finally asked her before Ayame washed the makeup off of her fingers.

When Ayame turned around she informed Rin, "You were right about Sesshomaru. Stay away from him." Her voice was low.

"So you must have talked to Kouga yesterday?"

"Yep, and he said that Sesshomaru told him that he was looking for a challenge and you were it."

Rin knew that was what he was up to. There would be no other reason as to why he suddenly was paying any attention to her. Suddenly she worried about Kouga. "You didn't torture him, did you?"

"I didn't hurt him, but I did kiss him."

Rin's eyes grew large upon hearing the news. Ayame's face was turning red from remembering the kiss. "I assume you kissed him, but how did he react?"

"He liked it, and he tried to steal another one." She put the foundation in her bag and then walked out of the bathroom with Rin following behind her.

Rin managed to avoid Sesshomaru for the school day, but on her way to work he followed her again. She preyed that he wouldn't come up to her, but her prays were not answered when he caught up only a couple of minutes later. "Are you trying to avoid me now?" he asked her.

She stopped mid-step and then looked at him cruelly. "I know what you are up to. Your friend Kouga told Ayame what you're up to."

"All of it?" Sesshomaru asked rather surprised that he would give away their secret. He would have thought Kouga would have kept this a secret in case Kagome were to find out.

"I figured the only reason you'd be paying attention to me was to try and get me into bed. But what's worse is that I'm just some kind of challenge to you." She threw her hands up in the air exasperated. "Why don't you just stick with th easy girls and leave the rest of us who don't want to be with you alone!" She walked away from him angry again.

Sesshomaru immediately noticed that she hadn't said the word 'bet', so perhaps Kouga hadn't told Ayame the whole truth. He immediately said to her, "I guess he would have lied to Ayame to make himself look like the good guy." Rin stopped walking but would not turn to face him. He knew exactly at that moment that he had gained her attention. "He didn't want Ayame to know that I had only the best intentions in mind because his intentions towards Kagome are anything but pure."

Rin now turned towards him but did not make any move to sign anything back to him, so he continued, "He knows that I'm interested in you for nothing but a friendship and maybe a long term relationship, and he if he admitted it to Ayame she would have been upset that he didn't her for the same thing. And it would have been even worse if he had carried out his less honorable plan towards Kagome later on."

"Less honorable plan?" Rin asked cocking her head to the side. "What less honorable plan?"

"He loves Ayame; we cannot deny that since he gets upset easily at the mention of another guy hitting on her. But she's too easy because she's practically throwing herself on him. But he hates Inuyasha, and what would be better than to steal your enemy's girl and have your way with her if it poses a challenge?"

She resigned herself to the fact that now she was in a quandary. His theory was very likely true, but he was a notorious liar also. "I still don't trust you, but now I know not to trust Kouga either." She turned around again but took off running. She needed to get to work soon, and he had just held her back some.

That night when her aunt and uncle had gone to bed Rin texted Ayame, "I have heard some rather unsavory things about Kouga. I really think it would be best if you left him alone entirely and started looking at other guys, except for Sesshomaru."

Ayame wasn't too happy about the idea at first, but when Rin told her about what Sesshomaru had said Ayame did quickly agree to Rin's pleading. Strangely enough she did start to notice a couple of the guys in class, and when they noticed her too it seemed that Kouga was growing jealous of these other guys.

Yet Rin's love life did not get better that month. Sesshomaru tried talking to her as she walked to work despite her protests. He sometimes would follow her all the way to work and buy her a flower, which would always turn up in her foot locker or on her desk the following day. How much more would she need to protest before he gave up?