Chapter 4
I woke up on my couch with a blanket on me. Looking around the room I couldn't see anyone there. I flared my aura to see if anyone was in the apartment only to find Sesshomaru's in my room. 'What was he doing there?' I thought to myself. Although that didn't really last long because as soon as he felt my aura he was in front of me.
"You stayed the night?" I asked him surprised.
"You were scared."
"Thank you Sesshomaru… Can I ask you to do me another favour?" He stared at me waiting for me to continue. Well I guess it wasn't a no. "Please don't tell the others that I am not at my aunt's. I will go back to school on Monday once my stitches have healed enough."
He thought over my request and then responded, "Shippo and Inuyasha will know that you are lying from your scent."
"I won't lie, just not tell the whole truth."
"It will not erase what has happened. Naraku will still need to be dealt with." I could swear that I could see some red in his eyes but it was very faint.
"Fine, but not now. I just want to rest until Monday, catch up on some homework that I've missed and be alone." I was trying to negotiate with him. Delay dealing with my circumstances for as long as possible.
"You are not fit to be alone."
"I will be fine Sesshomaru."
"Hn" was the only response I got.
"Please." I begged. I didn't want to face everyone yet. 'Let me come to terms with it on my own before I have to deal with everyone else.' I added unvoiced.
"Fine. But you will call me if anything happens or you need help." He resigned. I could agree to those conditions… or at least tell him I would.
"Agreed. Thank you Sesshomaru, I don't mean to be such a burden. I really appreciate everything you did for me." I thanked him full heartedly. Although I didn't fully understand his motives, his actions and words were exactly what I needed to hear and I couldn't thank him enough for it.
"You are pack." He stated as if that explained everything. With that he turned around and grabbed his coat and put it on. He nodded to me as a goodbye and closed the door behind him.
What the hell had just happened? Sesshomaru stayed over at my apartment? If I hadn't witnessed it myself I never would have believed it.
The next few days went by much faster than you would think. I had emailed my teachers and managed to get all my homework done and caught up on the material. I had survived off of mostly canned soup and pizza that I ordered because I was too afraid to leave my apartment and didn't have much food here. As the days continued and Monday drew closer I started reconsidering my plan to go back to school. Sure my injuries felt way better, in fact they were nearly non-existent thanks to my miko powers that I now had a much better connection to. However I still didn't want to go to school because that meant walking there and back alone. It also meant I would have to get a better poker face to pull off my made up illness with my friends and I wasn't quite sure I was ready for either.
Monday morning was here all too quickly. I managed to talk myself into getting out of bed. My morning routine felt like I was just going through the motions but not actually there. Sure, getting ready was easy enough, it was walking out the door that was the hard part. No, I needed to do this, I had made my friends wait too long for me. They were worried and if I didn't go today, that would just make things worse and my story less believable. Today was the day, the time was now, and I needed to get my feet out the door.
Okay step one, open the door, check! This wasn't so bad, it was like I was answering the door for pizza! Pizza was good, this was good. Okay now leave the apartment building.
The pit of my stomach was killing me when I stepped out onto the street after successfully making it to the elevator and through the lobby. It was broad daylight and there were people all around me, I could do this. Okay just keep walking and I'll be there before I know it! I thought about listening to my music to distract me, but decided against it because I'd rather be able to hear what was going on around me.
I finally reached campus and was getting near my class when a voice tore me away from my internal celebration and accomplishing this feat.
"Hey there beautiful, where are you heading?" I looked at the man talking to me. He was a tall youkai with his long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. His looks were rugged yet charming like Inuyasha. Two weeks ago I might have entertained the idea of getting to know this guy because he was pretty hot but today I just wanted to be invisible.
"I have class right now." I tried not to sound harsh but not inviting either.
"Mind if walk you there?" He asked with a charming grin. He didn't seem to want to take no for an answer.
"Look I'm sorry, I having a rough day, I'd really like to be left alone." I tried to reason with him.
"No problem beautiful, I'm sure we can talk about it some other time over dinner!" He quickly winked at me and ran off before I could protest. Well not much I could do now besides walk to class. I ended up getting there on time and sat with Inuyasha. He came late like usual so it saved me from having to talk to him yet. As we walked out of class towards the usual lunch spot I thought I felt Naraku dark presence. Inuyasha saw me tense up and looked around to try to see what had caused it. Meanwhile I watched his reaction and when he found nothing I decided that I had been imagining it.
"What was that about?" He asked and I did my best attempt at coming up with a plausible answer on the spot.
"Oh I.. um… I just thought I had forgotten my phone at my aunt's house but its here..." I laughed nervously and pulled my phone out of my pocket shaking it in front of him as evidence. "… in my pocket. False alarm!" I laughed nervously some more. He gave me an unconvinced look but then just snorted.
"Feh, whatever, women are so weird."
"Yup! That's me! Weird woman over here!" Ok I needed to shut up now. He decided to just shake it off and we started talking about what he did last weekend. Once again though, this time it was slightly stronger so I knew it was real, I felt Naraku's presence. No, he can't be here! I couldn't fight him. I didn't want to get hurt again! My internal panic started to escalate until a firm hand of my shoulder startled me out of my spiralling thoughts. I jumped from the startle and looked up immediately to see Sesshomaru there with his eyes glued onto mine. Once he seemed satisfied that I was back in reality he searched the area and found reminiscent traces of Naraku's aura, only to find that he was no longer there. Once I realised this as well I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.
"Oh hey there Sesshomaru! I didn't see you there! You startled me!" My voice shacked a little. I was trying to play off my fear as being caused by Sesshomaru startling me. Understanding immediately he drew his hand away from my shoulder and walked to our table with a "Hn".
"Kagome my dearest we've missed you!" Miroku called out from the table.
"Kagome!" Sango yelled as she launched herself at me. I caught her flying hug and held her tightly. I really had missed her.
"Oh it's so good to see you guys!" I said happily.
"Kagome you need to come out with us tonight! We were going to go out and see this new movie that Inuyasha won't shut up about." Shippo pleaded.
"On a Monday night?" I asked surprised.
"Yah it will be tons of fun! We won't stay out too late anyways, it's just a movie!"
"Well ok I guess" I responded. We managed to go the whole lunch without anyone asking about my imaginary illness. They were all just excited to see me again. Sango walked me home because it was almost on the way for her and she wanted to gossip about a date she went on with Miroku last weekend. Apparently Kikyo wasn't the best listener and she had been deprived of girl time. I was just thankful that I didn't have to walk home alone. We had agreed that I would walk over to her house and meet up with the boys from there for the movies.
I was putting some makeup on and saw a text from Sango telling me to hurry up and get over there. Once I put on my coat I made my way out the apartment and stopped dead in my tracks when I got outside the building. It was dark and cold outside like the night of the attack had been. There was also no one in sight. I turned back around and ran straight back in and hurriedly pressed the button to call the elevator. Once on my floor I ran to my apartment and slammed the door behind me and swiftly locking it.
I couldn't do it. I couldn't walk out there. I was too scared. My memories started to overwhelm me and I heard my sobs echoing in my apartment. I curled up into a ball and pulled out my phone.
'Sorry Sango, I just have way more homework to catch up on then I thought, I'm not going to be able to make it out tonight, have fun without me' I added a smiley face at the end to make my lies sound more believable as I continued sobbing loudly. I slowly crawled my way over to my bed and pulled my blankets off the bed and proceeded to curl up into a ball again without getting onto the bed. I sat there crying for who know how long until I eventually fell asleep.
When my alarm clock woke me up I washed my face of the dry tears and continued getting ready. School in the daylight I could manage. Even after my episode last night I knew I could make it to school. The streets would be bright from daylight, filled with other students and warm from the sun. I put a little extra effort into my makeup to hide the left over puffiness of my face. It was darker makeup than I usually wore so I changed my outfit into the red shirt I was considering wearing on my first day of school to balance it out. I was exposing myself more despite how insecure I felt. I know it sounds counterproductive but I found when I wore more makeup people saw me less and more the mask I put on. So as weird as it sounds it was what I wanted today. I put on a black coat overtop and headed off to school.
My classes went by quickly enough even though today wasn't my classes with Inuyasha. When I got out I started walking towards the lunch spot only to be joined on my path by the brown haired man from yesterday. He had a huge grin plastered on his face as he took in the way I was dressed and how it displayed my body.
"I knew I was right to call you my woman from the second I saw you. Damn you are looking fine!" He let out a loud howl. Oh goodness.
"Since when am I your woman? I never agreed to this!" I huffed as we got closer to the usual lunch table.
"Since the moment I laid eyes on you beautiful! You just have to be mine! I won't stop trying until you agree!" A growl was heard as he said that. I spun and saw Sesshomaru behind me and the others at the table with him. I doubt the others noticed but I saw that same sprinkle of red in his usually pure golden orbs.
"Back off Kagome wolf breath! She would never be interested in someone like you" Inuyasha barked out. Kikyo sat with a look of indifference on her face, while Shippo and Miroku shared a similar expression of shock and confusion. Meanwhile Sango was still staring at Sesshomaru with her eyebrows raised, now wondering if anyone else had noticed the minor outburst from the usually silent Sesshomaru. Since when did he care about what the others did?
"How do you know her? You already have Kikyo you can't have her too mutt face!" the brown haired boy exclaimed.
"Hey! You can't just dibs me I have a say in the matter!" I protested angrily.
"Kouga it would be wise to ease off of Kagome, she doesn't respond well to you're kind of flirting." Miroku advised.
"What! You know him? THIS is the Kouga you guys have been talking about?" I yelled.
"The one and only." He winked back at me. Oh brother. This meant I was going to be seeing a lot more of him. "So how about that dinner we agreed to? Tonight? I'll pick you up at 7." He continued.
"I never agreed to that! You ran off before I could say no!" I protested.
A booming deep voice interrupted our fight before Kouga could retort. "She is not yours nor will she ever be. If you continue to bother her I will intervene myself." Sesshomaru said with a strong tone saying he was true to his words. Everyone now stared at Sesshomaru in silence. That was unexpected. Inuyasha was the first to speak up.
"What's it to you icicle prince? Why do you care what Kagome does?" Inuyasha voiced what the others were thinking minus the nickname.
"That is none of your concern." He responded indifferently and got up and left the table. The rest of us were left sitting wondering what had happened.
