Chapter 10: Rivals in Love

Love. When does one notice that he or she is in love? When do they realize that the a single individual is THE one? When does the signal in your head go off and tell you, "hey! You're in love with this person!" Someone you're with every day, how do you know when you're in love with them? Well, I'll tell you.

Kagura watched from the door as the sunlight shined on Sesshomaru's sleek silver hair tied back in a high ponytail. Surprisingly, he was one of the few people she knew who could pull off the long hair look. His brows furrowing as he read over the documents in his hands.

"Knock, knock."

Sesshomaru looked up from his papers and gave her a nod of acknowledgement.

Her heels clacked with each step as she approached his desk. "Coffee? They just brewed a new pot so I figured you might want a cup."

"And you thought right," he tossed the papers onto the desk and grabbed the cup. "Thanks."

"So just to remind you, you have a meeting at two thirty pm with the Vice President of Tokyo Bank in conference room."

"Reschedule it."

Kagura raised a brow. "Excuse me?"

"I said, reschedule it." He stood from his chair and made his way to the full body mirror attached to the left wall in the office. He smoothed over his hair, making sure his ponytail was high and neatly secured.

"Hm…" She crossed her arms in front of her chest, "and the reason would be…?"

"None of your business." He replied calmly while smoothing over his suit.

"Meeting someone important?" There was a hint of jealousy, but not enough for him to catch. Well, it's not like he was paying attention to her at the moment anyways for him to notice any jealousy.

"Again, none of your business." This time, he shot Kagura a stern glare through the mirror.

"Well, as your personal assistant, it is my business." She retorted back, raising a high brow, giving him a warning look.

Sesshomaru ignored her and continued to look himself over in the mirror. He fixed his cuffs, repeatedly buttoning and unbuttoning his jacket, and adjusted his tie.

"Well considering that you're adjusting your tie, which you only do when you're trying to impress someone—I might add, it seems like you're meeting someone really important."

His gaze stayed on his reflection, ignoring Kagura to the best of his abilities.

She rolled her eyes at her boss. He could be such a spoiled brat sometimes.

Sesshomaru turned around. "Kagura. I said to reschedule my meeting with the Vice President of Tokyo Bank because I don't want a meeting with the Vice President. I want a meeting with the President of Tokyo Bank. I wanted a meeting scheduled with Tokyo Bank to discuss future financial dealings. And if I'm gonna discuss my company's future with an outsider, it's gonna be with the guy on top, not his left overs. My company is at stake, so I want the best of the best. Got it?"

Kagura pressed her lips and let out a guilty exhale, "yes boss."

He readjusted his tie just once more and headed for the door. "Oh, and Kagura?"

"Yes, boss?"

He stopped in his tracks and looked at her from over his right shoulder. "I actually am meeting someone important." He smirked and walked off. "Don't forget to shut the door on your way out."

Her jaw dropped. "I knew it! Ugh, and you made me feel all guilty! Jerk-boss! It's that girl, isn't it!" She called at him as he strode down the hall.

Hitomi clasped her hands behind her back as she stood on the corner of the block. She looked left and right, hoping to see Bankotsu—the current object of her affection—walking or jogging up the street. Her cheeks reddened as she daydreamed of their hopeful encounter. It's been a few weeks since they've met and she hasn't stopped thinking of him since. But unfortunately, they haven't met since that fateful day. She let out a deep sigh, counting the minutes until—

"…Hitomi…?"

She whipped her head to the left, facing the owner of the voice. Her eyes widened in surprise and lit up in delight.

"Hitomi, right? Unless I got the wrong person then—"

"You're right!" A wide grin plastered on her face.

Bankotsu chuckled, "I thought it was you. Do you remember me? From what I remember, we met a few weeks ago."

"Y-y-yes!" She said shyly. "Bankotsu, right?"

He grinned, "yeah. So what brings you here?"

"Uh...um…nothing much. Ju-just shopping…I guess." She tried playing off as coolly as possible.

"Oh, that's cool. Well," he checked the time on his cell, "I'm gonna go. I'll see you around, yeah?"

"W-wait!" She grabbed his arm, stopping him from leaving.

"Um…yes?"

"Uh…"

"…"

"…"

"Hitomi?"

"…Y-yes?"

"You're still holding my arm…" Bankotsu awkwardly answered back.

"Ah!" She immediately let go, "I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry!"

Bankotsu chuckled lightly, "it's okay. But…what did you want?"

"Um…" she looked down at her twirling fingers, "do you want to get l-l-lunch?"

"Oh."

She looked up at him with saddened eyes. "Oh?"

"Well, I'm supposed to meet someone right about now."

"Oh." She cast her eyes away.

Bankotsu mentally sighed. She looked as if she was about to cry. Why was he so weak to crying? Why? "Um, you know. Just give me a minute to call my friend and let her know I can't make it and we'll grab something to eat. Alright?"

Hitomi's face immediately lit up and a wide grin set on her face as she nodded in excitement. "Okay!"

"Do we have to be here?"

"Stop whining Inuyasha. We're gonna have lunch with Kikyo and that's final." Kagome said as they travelled through the hospital halls.

"You know, I don't mind having lunch, but why with her? What if I just wanted lunch—us two only." He groaned and crossed his arms.

"Aw, that's sweet. But aside from that, why do you hate her so much?"

"I don't hate her. She's cool sometimes, but most of the time she's snarky and a smartass."

"That's because you're a dumbass." A stoic voice retorted.

"Hi Sesshomaru." Kagome greeted with a smile.

Sesshomaru nodded in acknowledgement.

Inuyasha growled, "asshole."

"Retard."

"Bastard!"

"Good for nothing."

"You know wha—"

"Enough, Inuyasha! Both of you! We're about five steps from Kikyo's room, so no more fighting!"

"Yes." The two brothers muttered unwillingly in unison.

"Good afternoon!" Kagome called as she peeked her head into Kikyo's bedroom.

Kikyo looked up from her notebook and immediately placed it under her bed, welcoming the three into her room with a soft smile. "Good afternoon."

"We've come to pick you up for lunch." Kagome grinned and gave her a peace sign.

"Actually," Sesshomaru interrupted, "I was planning on taking her to lunch myself."

Inuyasha's arms were still crossed—left over right. His left hand clenched his right sleeve, his brows twitched into a furrow, and his lips pressed tightly together. But this jealously and anger only lasted a mere few seconds. It took him a few seconds, but Inuyasha quickly snapped out of his sudden trance of jealousy. He did a quick headshake and his hand unclenched. 'The heck is going on…' Luckily for him, no one noticed his behavior.

"Well, I was supposed to have lunch with Bankotsu, but he called just now and said he had to cancel." Kikyo informed them.

"So…who do you wanna have lunch with?" Kagome asked.

"Why don't we all just have lunch together?" Kikyo suggested.

Kagome's face instantly lit up, "we can double!" She squealed in excitement and clasped her hands together.

Sesshomaru nodded, "that's fine…I guess."

"Sure." Inuyasha said blandly. Not like his opinion would matter, the girl always win in decision making.

"Well, I'll go get ready and then we'll leave." Kikyo smiled and shooed her friends into the hall.

Kagome and Kikyo walked the streets of Tokyo, laughing and talking as Sesshomaru and Inuyasha trailed silently behind them.

"Yeah, so I went to the pool with some friends from work the other day and I was wearing a bikini. And at the pool, there were water slides, so of course, I wanted to go on the slides. But let me remind you, I had on a bikini."

"Oh, no. Don't tell me…" Kikyo's jaw dropped slightly in anticipation.

Kagome pressed her lips together, inhaled a deep breath, gave slow nod, and exhaled. "Yup. I went down the slide, my top-knot untied, and bam! I flashed everyone. It was so embarrassing!"

Kikyo threw her head back in laughter, "I can't believe that actually happened!"

"Seriously, right! Well, moral of the story, always double check your bikini top before going down a water slide."

"That's so sad, but so funny. Sorry, ha-ha!"

Kagome chuckled and looked back at the brothers behind them. "Oh, they're always so emo-ish."

"Emo-ish?"

"You know, quiet, brooding, 'I hate the world'."

Kikyo looked back at them as well, with a small grin. "You're right," she said with a chuckle.

"So exactly where are we eating?" Sesshomaru questioned with his usual monotone voice.

"Italian?" Kagome suggested.

"Ramen?" Kikyo suggested.

"I vote ramen!" Inuyasha shouted eagerly.

"No need to shout, little brother. Idiot."

"What did you just say, asshole!"

"Okay, okay." Kagome stepped between the two with her hands up in defense. "Let's just eat ramen, okay?" She said with a nervous smile.

"Oh! I know a good ramen place. It's mine and Bankotsu's favorite ramen place, I've been craving it for the longest time."

Sesshomaru nodded, "Alright Kikyo, lead the way."

"So this is your favorite ramen place?" Hitomi browsed around the restaurant, admiring the family type atmosphere.

"Yup, this is the only place I go to for ramen."

"Really? You won't go anywhere else?"

Bankotsu shook his head.

Hitomi chuckled, "interesting."

"Hm…" Bankotsu raised a brow and kept his eyes on her.

Hitomi blushed deeply, "w-what is it?"

"You're not stuttering as much as before."

"O-oh." She put her hands on her face.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean it in a bad way. I didn't mean to offend you or anything. It's just that—"

"It…it's okay." She gave him an embarrassed smile. "It just takes me a little while to get used to someone and not stutter."

"Ohhh. Okay." Bankotsu grinned. "It's no problem. Just an observation. I didn't mean to be rude or anything."

She chuckled, "it's perfectly fine." Hitomi looked up, past the handsomely tanned man sitting across the booth from her. She couldn't help but notice the tall, pretty, fair skinned woman staring at them with her lips slightly ajar. Was that Higurashi Kagome? Why was she staring at them? Wait, but the woman behind her also looked like Higurashi Kagome. And is that Tessaiga Inuyasha? It had to be, he was the only one, other than his brother, that had silver hair. And his brother was there too! But still, why was that woman staring at them? Hitomi leaned in towards Bankotsu and whispered, "don't look now, but I'm pretty sure Higurashi Kagome, Tessaiga Inuyasha, and Tessaiga Sesshomaru are here right now!" She gave a soft squeal.

"Oh, okay." Bankotsu was about to turn his head.

"Oh!"

He stopped his head turned and stared at Hitomi with an eyebrow raise. "Oh…what?"

"And this girl that looks exactly like Higurashi Kagome is staring at us. Do you think she's secretly her twin sister or something?" Hitomi squealed some more with excitement. It wasn't everyday that she was able to see celebrities, not to mention—the hottest stars in Tokyo! "And get this, she's been staring at us the whole time. Weird, right? Do you think that maybe we're sitting in their booth or something?"

"Uh, did you say there's a girl that looks like Higurashi Kagome here?" Bankotsu said with a slight hesitation.

"Yup!"

"Bankotsu?" Kikyo called out softly from behind him.

"Oh boy…" He muttered to himself and turned around. "Hey Kikyo." He gave her a nervous grin.

Her brows furrowed and lips frowned. "I thought you were busy? Working?"

It's when you feel threatened, when there's a possibility that someone might steal them away from you.

...There's always a rival in love.

Thanks for being patient everyone! I actually had this written months ago, but my laptop hard drive crashed and the chapter was erased...so I had to rewrite it. And...this is the best I could do. :'(

And thank you everyone for the new adds & favorites & reviews!

Love,

sportiegrl