V-Day, Part Three

"Kagome?" Inuyasha was clearly more shocked than Kikyo, and Kagome offered a small wave and a smile. She refused to act like this wasn't okay. He never wanted her after all, and well, she supposed Sesshomaru didn't either but Inuyasha could shove it.

"Evening." Kagome put on her best friendly smile. "Hope you two enjoy your dinner, it's all been great."

"I think it's a little barbaric being asked to cook our own food." Kikyo commented with a superior shrug. "I just wanted to come cause it's so popular and Inuyasha said he could get us a reservation. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I got him to feed me though."

Yeah, they'd definitely seen Sesshomaru feeding her that strawberry when they walked up.

"Kagome…you sure you wanna have dinner with Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha sounded downright skeptical, like he was watching a KKK member dining with a Black Panther and expecting things to go incredibly wrong. He gave Kikyo a look that seemed to say 'what?' when she elbowed him.

Sesshomaru seemed about to reply but Kagome beat him to it.

"Shut up Inuyasha." The snapped phrase surprised even her, but she was already going, and once her temper broke it was like there was no damn left to keep back the water. "I'm having a great time with Sesshomaru, he's been a perfect gentlemen. It's been interesting conversation, and I've had a much better time than the last time we went out. Remember that, when Kikyo was out of town and all you wanted to do was have burgers and talk about sports and how awesome you are. The meal was wonderful even if it was barbaric, the conversation is refreshing, and the night was great until you two losers walked up to impose yourselves! Take a hint and go away!"

She went too far, she knew it, but she was still angry and she didn't look away as the scowls formed on the faces of the couple next to their table. She was done being the doormat for them. Sesshomaru smoothly shifted the melted pot of chocolate to the back of the table just before Kikyo went to reach for it, his golden eyes offering her a biting smile. He clearly knew what she'd meant to do with it.

"Now, now, none of that 'lady' Kikyo, if you are hungry escort that oaf and attempt not to burn yourself at your table." Sesshomaru commented the sarcasm on the title of her name was clear in his cold baritone. His voice cutting into the stare Inuyasha had been giving Kagome and in a moment the pair of brothers had matched gazes gold for gold.

Inuyasha seemed to want to say something, but couldn't quite form the words. His mouth opening, then closing again, this was beyond his ability to quickly take in.

"Forget them." Kikyo was the one that stopped the tense scene by pulling Inuyasha away. "You have to tell me, why you were going out with Kagome when I was out of town…"

From there Kikyo had pulled him away far enough that she couldn't make out what was being said, they'd gone around a corner, but she could guess that Valentine's Day wasn't going to go well for Inuyasha. She sighed and put her face in her hands, god she had just screwed up, if they had made her life hellish before, now making a deal with the devil wouldn't look too bad…

"I think you're falling for me." Sesshomaru's relaxed and amused attitude was so careless compared to her frayed nerves that she had to laugh at the absurdity of the statement, and the situation.

"Lord help me." She replied, smiling though when she peeked at him, he seemed in a great mood after that exchange. "How can you be so happy about it? Kikyo and her band of misfits is going to torment me at school after that. I can't believe I said all that, you're a bad influence."

"Guilty as charged. Besides, it's good for you, I thought you were brilliant." Sesshomaru replied, holding out a second dipped strawberry. "Here, let's not let them ruin the night."

Kagome reached up to take the skewer from him this time but he pulled it away, offering it again after a moment. She sighed and reached up to eat from what he offered again. It was probably a bad idea to let herself have such a good time with him, but she'd worry about the consequences later, for now she was going to take his advice and just let go. There was nothing wrong with being out with a friend, even if it was for just a little while, it was good to not feel worried about things.

Down Time - Between the Holidays!

Kagome's following week was less terror filled than she expected, there were snow days on Monday and Tuesday because of a blizzard. Rumors didn't get pretty well spread about her date with Sesshomaru and the scene with Inuyasha and Kikyo until Thursday as it generally took a day and then some phone tag that night to really get stories started. She'd managed to mostly evade the group that would torment her; she hoped her paranoia was keeping her one step ahead of them.

She was the first one out the door, usually the first one to class, spending as little time as possible in the halls where she was most likely to get hit by something of Inuyasha and Kikyo's little gang. It also left her unable to see much of Sesshomaru…so she didn't know what to think about him. She thought they'd both had a good time. After dinner he'd taken her home, he'd even given her a rose and a chocolate with the comment that 'traditions are important'. He'd kissed her hand and it was all quite romantic and even if the evening hadn't been completely perfect it was very nice and definitely memorable. Though now that it was later in the week she wasn't sure what to say when people asked her if she was dating him regularly.

She usually said no, and that they were just friends, it was the safest thing to say. She'd said it for years about Inuyasha…but she'd pined over him for that time as well. Now she was worried she might start pining over Sesshomaru, though thus far she was more worried that the night out they had he would suffer for as much as she was expecting to.

After the first week the rumors got worse and she still hadn't seen Sesshomaru. Going into second week, men began hitting on her and offering her gifts, it was only thanks to Ayume that she managed to find out that Kikyo had started the rumor that Kagome was easy for rich boys.

During the week she was still hoping to find Sesshomaru as she'd heard that people were starting to talk about him as well…it was a large mess. Friday they were suppose to meet for the first time for him to tutor her but he didn't show up. She found out from another member of the student council that he'd left early because he had a trip tomorrow with the school he had to attend. He'd mentioned that might happen when they discussed it but that wasn't much comfort.

Two weeks and she hadn't spotted him at all in her efforts to avoid trouble with other bullies. If he was gone over the weekend she'd be going into week three with nothing either. It hadn't been enough time yet for the rumors to die down, and she hoped he hadn't canceled because he'd been told something horrible about her.

It seemed a strange fear, and one that wasn't justified. It was just a trip out, a single fun night; Sesshomaru had told her honestly that it was just a way to enjoy a single dinner. They weren't supposed to start real lessons until the next week; even today wasn't actually set in stone. He'd mentioned that trip back during the dinner but she'd forgotten, so it wasn't as though he was ditching her on purpose. Perhaps he thought she was avoiding him since she wasn't in her usual places between classes.

For all her paranoia she was preparing her backpack to go catch the train when the the first blow came to the back of her head. Her face was covered a moment later and then more hits reigned down.

"Slut, whore, worthless commoner, go to another school, we don't want you here." The insults and curses continued but she wasn't listening too much, instead focused on protecting her head as much as she could with her hands. The voices were muffled but familiar though she couldn't see the faces. They beat her to the point that she was still there when the janitor found her later. She spent the night in the hospital, and then was out of school on Monday and Tuesday. She was mostly fine then, there were still obvious bruises and her lip was still busted but she was lucky to have no broken bones and only a sprained left wrist.

When she got back the middle of the next week she got in late, she paused to go to the bathroom as she was already late to class and when she was drying off her hands was the door opened and Kikyo and Yura exchanged a glance at seeing her inside.

"Stay away from my boyfriend, it was cute for a while…but really, going out with him when I'm not in town. Who knows what might happen?" Kikyo commented with a sinister grin. As Yura stood in front of the door Kikyo walked up to Kagome, her eyes were dark and amused.

"Only two this time, there were at least four last time." Kagome replied with a bravado she didn't feel. "You were supposed to threaten me before you beat me up, you have it backwards."

Kagome's cheek stung as Kikyo slapped her, the sound echoing in the tiled bathroom. "Don't get smart with me you cunt! You leave Inuyasha alone! Obviously his brother doesn't give a shit about you either you little slut. You don't have money so you are just looking to be a gold digger. Did you really think either of them would ever want you?"

Kagome reacted without thinking about it…she ducked down and pressed herself up, her good hand finding the stomach of Kikyo as she used her full weight into it, knocking the girl off balance. Neither she or Yura had expected that to be certain, Yura was staring without reacting. As Kikyo doubled over Kagome grabbed her shoulders and kneed her in the face hard enough that she figured the sickening crack had to be the girl's nose breaking. She could feel something sticky and warm come down onto her leg as she pushed Kikyo, who had started to scream away and Yura finally had moved toward Kagome.

"Cheap, I'll kill you this time." Yura promised, she pulled a knife from a pocket and flipped it open.

"What the heck is going on here?" The voice of one of the teachers interrupted the fight before Yura had the chance to gut her. The woman came in after Yura left her post by the door, she hadn't locked it. "All of you to the principle's office now!"