The bell rang for second period and Kagome began walking briskly to her next class. It wasn't far, and when she reached the building she quickly spotted a familiar faded red hoodie standing by the classroom door. With a smile she called out, "Hey! Inuyasha!"

He turned and smirked at her. "Hey, Kagome."

She came to a stop by his side. "Were you waiting for me?"

"I guess," he shrugged.

"How much longer until class starts?"

"A couple minutes."

"Okay, I guess we'll have to chitchat later." She paused for a moment, thinking, before breaking out into another bright smile. "Why don't you come have lunch with me? Sango and Miroku will be there too, and you can bring your friends if you'd like."

"Why?" he asked with a slight frown.

"Well for one thing, we're friends now and I'd like to hang out once in a while outside of class." He didn't say anything in response to that, so she continued. "Besides, I have some questions for you, anyway."

"Okay," he replied with another shrug. "You sure you won't be bothered by Koga and his brothers? They hang out with me a lot."

"Well, I don't know his brothers, but Koga's no problem, so they shouldn't be, either."

"If you say so."

With that, they headed into the building and took their seats. Moments later, the bell rang and Mrs. Kirin stood before the class. "Today we will be assigning textbooks and then we will begin our work. When I call your name, come up to my desk, grab a book, and tell me what number it is so that I can keep track of who has which book." After that, she looked down at her role sheet and began calling names. After a few minutes, she called out, "Inuyasha."

He walked up and grabbed a random, worn down book. "33-7," he told her. At her nod, he returned to his seat.

Kagome leaned over a bit. "You don't have a last name?" she asked his quietly. Everyone else their teacher had called had had last names, so why didn't he?

Inuyasha leaned over as well. "Demons don't always have last names," he told her in undertone. "My dad doesn't, so I don't either."

"But Sesshomaru has a last name," she frowned.

"Yeah, his mother's. He's been living with her since he was little, so he got her last name," Inuyasha explained. Then he added pointlessly, "Once he's an adult he can drop it if he wants."

She was quiet for a moment before posing a new question. "You live with your dad?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Always have. Sesshomaru lived with him when he was really little, from what I understand, but sometime before I was born dad and his mom started fighting and eventually got divorced. She took him away and pretty much disappeared."

"You mean she..."

"Kidnapped him? Yeah. She did."

That took a long moment to sink in. When she finally spoke again, her voice was far quieter than she had intended. "So what happened?"

"Well, before the divorce, they all lived in Kyoto," Inuyasha continued. He was staring at the floor, but it didn't seem like he was actually seeing anything. "When she disappeared, dad suspected that she'd moved to another city. He just found out which one a few years ago. That's why we moved here to Tokyo."

"Because Sesshomaru's here?"

"Yeah."

"And that's how you met?"

"Sort of. Dad saw him first. I met him at school."

"That sounds... awful, actually," she said after a moment's pause, sympathy shining in her eyes.

"Yeah," he mumbled.

Something occurred to Kagome then, a spark of anger appearing her eyes. "Why hasn't your dad called the police on her?" she demanded.

"Hell if I know," Inuyasha grumbled. "I don't understand why he does half of what he does."

A few minutes later, everyone had a book and Mrs. Kirin cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "Now if you'll all open to chapter one..."


The bell rang and, with a hasty goodbye tossed in Inuyasha's direction, Kagome rushed out the door. She only had a few minutes to do what she wanted before she had to be in her next class. She didn't know where to look. But she was determinesd and stubbornness soon paid off. As soon as she saw him, she rushed in, arms outstretched.

Sesshomaru completely froze when he felt something slam into his back, arms wrapping tightly around his middle. What the hell?

Behind him a voice murmured, "I'm so sorry..."

He turned his head to see Kagome. "For what?" he asked cautiously. Normally he would have just pulled away and kept walking (he hated being touched), but something in her scent gave him pause. She's angry... But there was another emotion there as well. What was it? Sadness, perhaps?

"For everything that you had to go through," she whispered. Then, with one last little squeeze that made his heart give a weird thump, she released him and continued on to her next class.

Sesshomaru stared after her, unsure what to make of the situation. Questions plagued his mind. Why had she hugged him like that? What was the "everything" she had been referring to? Perhaps Inuyasha... He didn't care if Inuyasha had told her, if she knew that part of his history. His parents had divorced and he and his mother had moved away. That was all there was to it. And yet, despite his attempts to tell himself that it was unimportant, as he walked to class his mind drifted to the past.

The sound of yelling caught his attention more than anything else. The scent of his mother's anger was a constant in his days, so he had shrugged it off initially, focusing instead on his schoolwork. Now, however, he was aware of the presence of another scent besides hers emanating from the front porch. He stood and pushed his chair in, setting his pencil down on his desk before opening his door and stepping into the hall.

"Get off my goddamn property!" his mother screeched downstairs. "I'll call the police!"

Sesshomaru closed his door softly and he walked down the hall to the stairs, his hands in his light jacket's pockets.

Another voice, oddly familiar and yet at the same time not, answered her, all but snarling in rage. "Where is my son?!"

"Hell if I know!" she retorted dismissively.

"You're a fucking liar!" the other voice snapped.

Stepping into the the small hall at the bottom of the stairs, Sesshomaru began the short walk to the front door. There, his mother stood with just her head poking out the door. It struck him as an odd posture, considering how graceful and dignified she always made herself out to be. "Mother?" he inquired softly. He hated speaking with her, so he usually avoided doing so. However, he wanted to know what was going on here.

"Go away," she hissed furiously, turning her head to glare at him.

"No."

"Dammit boy, if you don't do what I say-"

"I am aware of the consequences. You have made them clear before."

"Fine," she snapped, jerking the door open so that it would have hit him had he not caught it in one hand. "Speak to that wretch if you like."

She stormed away and he watched her go for a moment before opening the door the rest of the way. What he saw absolutely stunned him. He hadn't seen that face since he was little. And that had been so long ago... "Father?" he asked quietly.

His father had never looked so worn down. It was like he hadn't even so much as looked at a bed in ages, not to mention the fact that he seemed to have been forgoing food for some time. His expression was difficult to read. There were so many emotions there. Anger, concern, disbelief, relief, a hint of fear... None of it made any sense. "Sesshomaru... Thank the Kami..."

Sesshomaru frowned in confusion. "What-?"

"I was worried she may have done something- harmed you or-" His father shook his head. "No, never mind. It doesn't matter now. Are you alright?"

"Yes." Now he was doubly confused. Why wouldn't he be alright? It wasn't like he had been-

"Surely you remember."

"Remember what?"

"When you were younger, after the divorce-"

"We moved." That was it. That was all.

"It was more than that." His father searched his eyes. What he saw seemed to tell him something. "You know it was more than that."

Vaguely Sesshomaru remembered being dragged out of bed one night by his mother, being told they were going somewhere, seeing her grab his things and then taking him and his few belongings out to her car. He remembered crying, begging her to let him out, somehow sensing that something was wrong and he'd never be able to return to this place if she took him now. Beyond that, the rest of the day was a blank. It had been so long ago, after all. "It doesn't matter," he muttered. "It's in the past. It's over." Without another word, he closed the door.


A little bit of a back-story for Sesshomaru to add depth to his character and whatnot. Not what I originally intended for this story (or chapter), but hey, I think this turned out pretty darn good. Posted 03-31-15.