A/N: Exposition is key. Even if not well done, lol

"I can't believe this is happening!"

The train came to a long slow stop and the doors opened with a crisp sigh.

"Kagome, you need to calm down" Sango said with a laugh. "You look like you're about to explode."

"But you're finally free!" Kagome said excitedly. "And I finally get to have a girl's day out like they do in the movies!"

"How girly is this girl's day out supposed to be?" Sango asked skeptically. "I draw the line at painting toes."

"Fashion montage! You. Owe. Me."

She giggled. "Sounds fun. I'm sorry I'm never around. My dad works late and I have to rush home right after school or student council. Kohaku needs looking after otherwise I'd find him dead in front of his TV."

They stepped onto the train that was headed to the uptown boutiques and grabbed onto the handrail as the doors slid closed and it began to accelerate under their feet.

Kagome nodded. "Must get frustrating," she tried to sympathize.

"It used to," Sango admitted. "But a few years ago, Kohaku had a severe asthma attack that almost killed him. He was in the hospital for days. It really scared me. After losing our mom…I just don't mind taking care of him is all. He's not so bad, for a little brother."

Kagome gave an encouraging smile to Sango's sullen look. "Topic change?"

"Gladly."

"Your choice," Kagome offered. "We don't have any mortal high-school enemies or a huge life problem that can be solved with a shopping spree or at prom so I'm not sure what we're supposed to talk about right now."

"You do watch a lot of movies, don't you?" Sango said with a laugh. She thought for a while. "Okay, got it."

"Yay!" Kagome excitedly chirped.

"Your perfect guy," Sango said. "That's pretty girl-topic popular, right?"

"Blargh," Kagome made a face. "There's no such thing."

"Of course there is!" Sango smiled. "There's six billion people in the world, one of them out there is perfect for you and for me."

"What if he hasn't been born yet?" Kagome asked as the train rumbled on. "Or better yet, if you've met him already and didn't know it."

"Of course I'll know it. I'll know him," Sango pressed. "He'll be tall, handsome, and kind. He'll have a great sense of humor and a killer smile. "

"Cute, nice, and funny," Kagome recapped. "Gee, be more vague. I can see him too clearly in my mind."

Sango laughed. "He'll be loyal. And he'll want a big family and he won't be religious but spiritual. Deep, you know? Most importantly, he's crafty."

"Crafty?"

"Mm-hm," Sango nodded enthusiastically. "Mr. Perfect has to intrigue me. I want him to do things for me that take thought and planning. He has to totally sweep me off my feet on the big reveal."

Kagome scoffed. "I don't know which one of us watches more movies. Stuff like that never happens in real life."

"Never say never, Kagome," Sango warned. "Everyone's perfect is out there."

Kagome made a pffft sound as their train made its first stop of many. "I'll believe it when I see it."

"I've never been so happy to have feet pain," Kagome laughed as she and Sango walked down the sidewalk. They had hit the first couple of boutique windows with nothing but materialistic and lustful stares until finally giving in at a shoe store to try on everything they could touch.

Kagome kept trying to treat Sango but her friend refused and so Kagome went without as well. They kept going from store to store, trying on at least one thing and chatting wildly while doing so.

"I'm having fun too," Sango said as they stepped along. "But we'll need to pit-stop for the next race."

"Agreed, I'm starving!"

Their wandering was taking them to the end of the uptown district, where the shops were starting to thin out and give way to small restaurants and large office buildings of the financial district.

They stopped at each little bistro and café to read the menus posted outside before deciding nothing seemed appealing enough.

"What about this one?" Kagome said, pointing to a medium-sized and secluded eatery.

"'The Western Lands'" Sango read aloud before giving a shrug. "All right. What's on the menu?"

"The curry is the specialty of the day," came a new voice from the entrance. "If you like things spicy."

The girls turned their heads and met eyes with Sesshomaru, standing in the entrance doorway.

He was wearing a tailored white suit with a deep gold shirt and matching tie. On anyone else it would have looked questionable but with his long sliver hair and honey-colored eyes, he looked daring.

Kagome wanted to say 'Wow…'

"Didn't expect to find you here," was what she said instead.

He looked her over.

She was in jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt that had a shorter torso and flashed just a hint of her flat tummy. The shirt said 'Kiss me I'm Japanese.'

'Tempting' Sesshomaru thought.

"I work around here," he said instead. "The question is what are you doing here?"

"Girl time," Kagome said. She and Sango grinned at him. "No boys allowed," they said in unison.

"Not even if you begged me," he replied. Just as he was checking his watch, a black town car pulled up the curb and stopped. "But if you're looking for a quick lunch, you could do worse than here. I dine here every Saturday afternoon between conference calls," Sesshomaru explained. "I find it's the only decent udon soup in the neighborhood."

"Mm-hm," Kagome said with an air of suspicion. "How convenient."

"Well I can't go too far," he continued, straightening his tie. "I'm starting to actually believe the office will fall apart without me."

"Uh-huh," continued Kagome's tone. "Likely story."

"What's wrong with you, copper?"

Sango looked surprised. Did Sesshomaru just crack a joke? One that didn't infer he was tired of someone or something.

"So you just happened to be coming out of the same place Sango and I were thinking of eating in," Kagome said, giving him a soft poke in the shoulder. "And at the exact same time we show up, here you are in your fancy work outfit."

"What are you implying?"

"You wanted to see me," She joked. "Better yet, you wanted me to see you. Like this. So you're stalking me, aren't you?"

"Come now, Kagome," Sesshomaru reasoned. "You should know the difference between your fantasies and reality."

Sango was the one to giggle and it broke both of their concentration as they turned to her. Kagome may have slightly blushed but it was Sesshomaru who was the one to quickly clear his throat and straighten his tie.

"I must be getting back," he said and checked his watch again to emphasize his time crunch. "Where are you going from here?"

"We're just window shopping," Kagome said, linking arms with Sango. "So we'll hit this district and then head downtown."

"Then I'll walk back to the office," he motioned to the waiting vehicle. "You may take my car."

"With this traffic? The train will be faster."

"Yes but if you take the car, the driver will get you both home safely. It won't be daylight forever."

"By the time your driver gets through the downtown traffic, it'll be time to go home anyway."

"Then Sango can take the car."

Sesshomaru and Kagome met each other's iron stare.

"Oh! No thank you, Sess-" Sango tried.

"I insist."

"But I-"

"I can tell by your silence that you've accepted my generous offer. That pleases me."

Kagome was hiding her amused smile as well as she could. "All right. Well if Sango's going to go, I'll have to go with her."

Sesshomaru noted she was getting better at keeping her eyes locked with him. That really pleased him.

"Far too late, Kagome. The car's only for Sango."

"I'll just squeeze in."

"Room only for one."

"Too small, eh?"

"Nothing I own is too small," Sesshomaru said, biting back his own smirk. "Nothing."

"If you want," Sango compromised, eager to be getting back to girl time, or at least eat. "We can call you and use the car after we're through with downtown. That way we have enough time to shop and get a safe ride home."

Sesshomaru was the one to look away but it didn't mean he had lost. He turned his stare to Sango, who hid her small flinch at his expression very well, and he gave a slight nod of his head.

"As you wish, Sango." he went into his inner jacket pocket and produced a small business card and pen. He scribbled a number on the back and handed it to her. "Call whenever you're ready. I'll have them waiting on it."

"This is very nice of you, Sesshomaru." she said as she took the card with a small devilish glint in her eye. "In fact this is the first nice thing you've done for me. I'm glad Kagome was here to witness it."

Sessshomaru recognized that teasing glint. It had 'Copyright by Miroku' all over it.

"Nonsense, Sango" Sesshomaru said as he opened the car door. "I was the one to introduce Miroku to you. Seeing as how that blush is about to take over your face, wouldn't you agree that this is the second nice thing I've done for you?"

Kagome was kind enough to wait until Sesshomaru's car had driven off and turned the corner before she let the first giggle escape.

"He's mean," Sango said, waiting for her blush to subside.

"He's clever," Kagome rebutted.

"Wicked," Sango returned. Her smile was lopsided as she watched Kagome's love-struck reaction. "Malicious, scary, and definitely a little sadist."

"Sharp, intelligent, reserved yet witty" Kagome said wistfully with a blush of her own. "Almost perfect."

"I thought you said there was no such thing," Sango teased.

"Never say never, Sango."

The girls giggled their way downtown.

"So how'd you actually meet Miroku anyway?" Kagome asked as Sango twirled in the mirror.

Sango made a face at the sweater she was modeling and began to pull at the cuff of the sleeve. "I didn't meet him until the start of sophomore year," she said, deciding green wasn't her color. "No one was running for student council treasurer so we were making signs looking for candidates. One day Sesshomaru just came in, dragging Miroku by the collar, and shoved him into a seat. He said 'Use him or he dies' and just walked away. Miroku was in the advance class so when I asked him, he signed right up."

"Miroku used to be in the advance class?" Kagome asked, raising her eyebrows. "What happened?"

Sango shed her green sweater and picked up a purple one. "I don't really know. By the next quarter his grades started slipping. By the start of junior year he was in a regular class again. He was bummed we didn't get into the same one but that's typical Miroku for you."

"Wow," Kagome said as she handed Sango a blue skirt. "I guess the curriculum was too tough."

"Maybe," Sango pressed the skirt over her hips to see how it would look before trying it on. "I've been tutoring him at my house twice a week since last year to make sure he can keep up."

"Well that's nice." Kagome said.

Fifteen seconds later, she connected the dots.

Kagome smirked. "Wait, Sango you don't find that strange?"

"What?" Sango turned to show Kagome her outfit, who gave her a thumbs up. "Tutoring him?"

"No," Kagome passed Sango a pair of black jeans. "Miroku was in the advanced class all of freshman year, flunks out right after joining student council, and now he needs you to tutor him twice a week just to stay afloat."

Sango shrugged. "Some students can't handle school work and extra school duties at the same time. It doesn't make Miroku strange, it just makes him normal. He's actually very smart."

Kagome giggled. "He's also very crafty."

"This one's cute," Sango pulled a pink t-shirt from the rack. "You try it on."

"But that's a t-shirt," Kagome easily dismissed as her hand slid from hanger to hanger. "I'll just grab the long sleeved version."

"It'll be summer before you know it," Sango said, holding it out to her. "I think it'll look good on you."

Kagome slightly turned away from Sango and smiled nervously. "I don't like v-necks."

"Ok well just for fun," Sango tried. "You've only done shoes and hats. I've been the only one trying clothes on."

Kagome's smile faded as she kept moving from hanger to hanger. "I don't mind."

"I do," Sango laughed. "We're supposed to take turns and tell each other how good we look and how boys we don't notice and couldn't possibly care about will fall over themselves with lust."

Kagome giggled. "Then you try it on."

Sango grabbed her friend by the shoulders and began pushing her to the dressing room. "Nope, your turn."

"But I-"

Sango pushed Kagome into the fitting room. "No buts. I'll find you some bottoms to match." And with that as the final word, Sango pulled the dressing curtain closed, leaving Kagome with nothing but a shirt and a mirror.

They hadn't faded.

Kagome watched her reflection as she traced fingers over the scars and burn marks that trailed up and down her arms. They didn't hurt and had paled greatly since their infliction but they were still so…

No.

Kagome wouldn't call them ugly. After three therapists and a prescription happy psychiatrist, Kagome was fine with accepting them as a part of her.

But still…

The forearms were the worst. The biggest scars were from burns that started a few inches below her wrist and went all the way around. They were as big as a medium cuff bracelet and had healed badly. The skin looked like someone had stretched it too hard and too far and little ripples of marred flesh had taken place where there was no more skin left to make ends meet.

All around it and tracking up her arms were small faded cigarette burns.

As she touched each one tenderly, Kagome couldn't remember the last time she wore a t-shirt without a long sleeved one underneath.

She was thankful that the school uniforms called for long sleeves and even more thankful that her legs were fine enough so that she could enjoy skirts.

Kagome frowned.

If Kikyo was here…

If Kikyo was here then she'd have the opposite problem. Kagome had suffered torture to her arms but for Kikyo it was tiny cuts starting right above the knee and stopping at the ankle. Had those healed and faded, she would have looked like some tiny creature had tried to claw her skin to ribbons.

Skirts and short dresses would never be hers.

'And you were such a girly girl,' Kagome thought fondly. 'If it were you with the fashion crisis, Id've called you a baby and helped you through it like you would have for me…Kikyo…"

She touched her reflection lightly, reaching for a face that was just like hers.

The dead girl in the mirror.

There had been a time where Kagome couldn't look in the mirror without seeing Kikyo's pained face looking back. Years had passed before Kagome would glance and actually see her own reflection looking back.

Now, sometimes it made her feel lonely. Like she'd lost that ability to see her twin whenever she wanted, even with that expression of fear and pain…

"I miss you," Kagome sighed.

"I'm right here," Sango replied from the other side of the curtain. She tossed over a skirt. "Hurry up, I can't wait to see."

Kagome pulled her hand away from the mirror and let out a huge breath before tucking Kikyo away lovingly in her memory.

But without the push she needed, she ended up slipping Sango's t-shirt over the long-sleeve she was currently wearing. It didn't fit well with the extra clothing but it made her feel better.

Maybe her personal Mr. Perfect, if he was walking around out there like Sango said, would be able to look past the flaws.

With a bit of dramatic flair and some silly fashion poses, Sango laughed and enjoyed herself without really paying attention to the fact that Kagome hadn't bared her arms at all and that the smile she wore wasn't as genuine as before.