Chapter 10

I couldn't believe my eyes. When did Inuyasha get so powerful? He was viciously beating his brother. It was a hundred times worse than what the demon did to the rest of us. I squeezed my eyes tight afraid to see anymore red. Had someone's heart stopped beating? Please don't let it have been Inuyasha's.

"It wasn't mine." Had he read my mind?

"I've always been able to read your mind and I love you too." Loved me too? What! I don't love him though.

"Look deep inside your heart Kagome. You can't deny your feelings. Look at me. please Kagome, just open you eyes. Opens your eyes Kagome.. Kagome.. Kagome." Inuyasha chanted.

"KAGOME! KAGOME! KAGOME! Open your eyes, wake up please! Look what you did!" I heard a familiar voice.

"Don't make him mad again, Sango." Pleaded who I was guessing to be Miroku.

"It wasn't his fault, he didn't mean to hurt her!" A high pitched voice defended.

"Yeah Rin, just like how he didn't mean to hurt Miroku?!" Sango yelled. I felt a hand brushing my hair out of my face.

"Come on cutie, you're making me feel bad." I twitched at the cold lips at my ear. I opened my eyes to see it was Bankotsu pushing my hair out of my face.. and who's lap I was currently laying on. I yelped and jumped away bumping into a towering demon. He looked down at me and I shielded myself in fear.

"See you traumatized her!" Sango yelled.

"It was just an accident." Bankotsu sighed. Why was he defending him? Almost breaking my jaw definitely wasn't an accident! Not to mention everything else he'd done.

"Why are you saying it was an accident. He strangled you blue!" All five of them faced me. Rin bent over and patted my head.

"You must have been dreaming Kaggie-chan. All he did was push Miroku. After he started approaching you guys Bankotsu reached out to punch him provoking Sesshomaru to shove him before he could make contact. You were behind him so Bankotsu fell on you causing you to hit your head and pass out." Rin explained. So they never viciously fought? I quickly scanned Miroku to see him rubbing his sore arm but with no blood in sight. So then Inuyasha never.. I guess that made more sense.

"I thought you were dead!" I yelled. Bankotsu obviously assumed that I had dreamed him being the killer because he was smirking.

"She's obviously suffered a severe blow. Take her upstairs to rest." The demon ordered the cocky human. Bankotsu lifted me up before I could object and followed Sesshomaru who was headed for the stairs. The rest of my friends followed. He walked passed the first two rooms and opened the third door in the hall.

"In here." He pointed.

"How generous of you offering your own bed." Rin said in a sarcastic tone. It looked unused so I guessed it was one of many guest rooms.

"Nawh, let's go to Inuyasha's room and start the prank." The man carrying me opened the door across from the guest room. He walked up to the bed and plopped me down. I'd never been to Inuyasha's house, let alone his room when we were friends. His room was about triple the size of mine. Under any other circumstances I'd object being anywhere near Inuyasha's chambers but my head was so sore I laid my head on his pillows instead. Miroku and Sango left in search of some type of pain relieving cream for his arm. Sesshomaru unexpectedly turned to me and I couldn't help but flinch.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I lost my composer for a moment, it's not likely to happen again."

"I'm sorry too." I apologized back because even though I meant what I said to provoke him I didn't want to stay on his bad side.

"I wasn't apologizing." He corrected me. Well, I wasn't sorry either dog! This time I decided to keep my insults inside my head. Bankotsu changed the subject.

"I say we hide his stuff all around the house." He suggested. The boys shot right into work. Miroku came back and helped the other two take every little thing out of his closet, desk, dresser, and bookcase (which I guessed he never touched) and they disappeared to various rooms in the mansion. Sango refused to participate. After a few minutes had passed and she made sure I was fine she claimed to be bored and headed for another room to watch TV I looked over at Rin who seemed content.

"You're not upset with him?" I asked feeling sorry for her mistreatment.

"He was just joking around. When you really like someone you learn to put up with their less glorious sides. Don't tell him I said he had a less glorious side though!" She pleaded. I couldn't help but remember Bankotsu's words of how one-sided their relationship would always be.

"You really like him?" I asked, slightly hoping for a different answer than the one that was already definite.

"I really do." She answered as expected.

"What if he doesn't like you back?"

"Of course I'd be upset but I can't change his heart, Kagome. I'll still spend every second I can with him either way." Sesshomaru having a heart? That's one interesting theory.. But as foolish as her love for the demon sounded I still had to commend her on her commitment.

"Between you and me though, he's taking me to homecoming next week!" She yelled so loud I'm sure it wasn't just between the two of us but between everyone in the neighborhood.

"He asked you?!" I asked in pure amazement. She was quick to correct me though.

"Not exactly.. I asked him to go and he said it sounded like a good opportunity to humiliate his brother. He said he'd talk to Bankotsu about coming to. Ugh, Kagome if you're still going please take that boy! I don't need him getting in the way." Rin asked of me. I highly doubted Bankotsu would go and he'd just laugh at me if I asked him. Her puppy eyes were just so hard to say no to. I couldn't help but comply with the girls wishes, she was just so hopeless.

"You heard the girl!" Bankotsu said while entering. "So is it a date?" He wasn't the worst guy I could go with.. The worst guy would have to be the one who lived in this bedroom. Bankotsu also tried to protect me downstairs when he thought I was in danger, stepping in front of me to take the blow. Even though in the end it only resulted in me getting hurt it was the thought that counted.

"Why not." I finally agreed hoping I wouldn't regret it but already feeling uneasy about the decision. When Miroku came back the boys carried out Inuyasha's dresser. I couldn't help but feel useless in this prank for Inuyasha. For some reason though I didn't really want to partake in it. I walked over to the desk beside his queen sized bed and sat down in the seat.

"Oh, good." Sesshomaru said noticing me off the bed. He then proceeded to lift the whole bed out of the room. He took some pretty big chunks out of his brothers door frame but I'm sure he wasn't concerned. They were also rich so it wouldn't be a big deal to get it fixed. Rin chased after her boy in concern for the rest of his house. I looked at the picture on his desk of him and Miroku. I awed but then reminded myself who I was awing at and felt sort of nauseous. Curiosity at the given opportunity struck up. I probably shouldn't be looking around his stuff but everyone else was doing it so what would it hurt right? I opened the first drawer of his desk. It contained your typical school materials. He had blank papers, dull pencils, worn out erasers and so on. Who knew the boy did homework? I opened the second drawer and found some random stuff. There was two pairs of unworn socks, body spray, and some yu-gi-oh cards? Oh, I would definitely be using those for blackmail later. At the back of the drawer I found some cologne. I popped the cap off and sprayed it in the air. It smelled just like Inuyasha. I sighed as I breathed the scent in. Revolting. I closed the drawer and made my way to the bottom one. Locked. It wouldn't open! This was crazy, of course now I was crazy curious what was in it. Damn it, Inuyasha.

"Hey, that's the spirit!" Miroku entered. I informed him of the locked drawer situation.

"I know every inch, every last detail of this house. The one place I've never been-"

"Not every inch." I interrupted the smug guy. He asked me if I wanted to bet on it.

"What about his mothers drawers?" I asked him. The boy instantly blushed.

"Well.." He finished his sentiment with a simple shrug.

"Ugh, Miroku you really are perverted." I said in disgust.

"As I was saying. I've seen everything EXCEPT the contents of that drawer. It's been driving me mad for years." He sat down on the desk in front of me and we both stared at it.

"We could try breaking it open." I suggested to him. He informed me that he'd tried before but it was no use it was a really tough metal, unbreakable. Bankotsu made his appearance.

"I've got to head out Kagome. There's something I need to take care of." He told me. I stood up and escorted him to the door despite him being the demons guest, not mine. As we reached the front door he opened it and stepped outside turning one last time to say his farewell. It was that moment when I noticed his bruised eye. I instinctively stepped outside and put my hand on his face, caressing it with no romantic intention intended.

"What's this?" I asked. He hesitated a moment before answering.

"Well, I guess the reason you got knocked out when I fell on you was because that idiot didn't give me a little push like we lead you to believe.. He sort of punched me in the face but we didn't want to say anything." He looked away. I defensively asked him why they lied to me.

"We didn't want you to freak out thinking he would've done anything similar to you. He really wasn't going to hurt you. He's not that indecent, and even if he was, I would've kept you safe. So, no need to worry." Bankotsu was being too sweet. I liked this side to him a lot better than the smug side I was first introduced to. If I was a normal girl my heart would be racing right now. My knee's would be buckling. I would be mentally urging him to kiss me. Why didn't I like him? He was a good looking bad boy with a protective side to him. Any normal girl would like him. I depressingly looked down. Was I that broken? It was then that he surprised me with a kiss. It was only on the cheek but it was still the first kiss I'd had in a while.

"Cheer up cutie." He said before turning. I felt so shy my eyes refused to leave the ground. In fact, I didn't look up until my ears heard him guffaw with the yelling of a familiar boy following.

"What the hell are you idiots doing at my house, and kissing at that! You've got some nerve. Get the hell out, both of you!" Inuyasha started raising a fit. I looked at him humiliated overtaken by guilt with no idea why.

"Calm down, princess." Bankotsu ordered him as he brushed passed the raging half youkai. He was right, Inuyasha had no right to say anything.

"Mind your own business!" I yelled at him.

"It is my business, you're on my property!" He yelled back. Bankotsu turned back to me from behind Inuyasha smirking.

"If you'd like Kagome you can come over to my place and continue?" He offered with a wink. Not only was this humiliating but Inuyasha was radiating fume.

"Why would you want to kiss her anyway?!" He questioned. Who knows, maybe for the same reason Inuyasha wanted to kiss me when we were younger! I glared at the forgetful hypocrite.

"What ever, I've really got to get going now. I'll see you at homecoming Kagome." He said and when he saw Inuyasha going red with anger I saw the biggest smile emerge on his face. He quickly turned for his car before Inuyasha could continue with him. Unfortunately for me that meant he'd continue with me. He opened his mouth ready to explode when his eyes got drawn to my forehead and he halted himself. Did I have something on my head? When I reached to touch my forehead I winced at the pain. A bump had definitely emerged.

"What happened?" He asked. There was still some anger left in his eyes but there was something about the tone in his voice. It made me almost certain the anger wasn't intended towards me.

"Oh well Bankotsu-"

"Bankotsu did this?" I saw a side to Inuyasha then, that I'd never witnessed before. He brushed my bangs off my face to examine the bump. There was something cold in his demeanor, similar to Sesshomaru in a sense. He didn't seem like himself, he felt distant from me.

"It was just an accident." I explained what happened and I saw him ease up a little.

"Sesshomaru's such an idiot." He sighed. Miroku and Sango came downstairs and greeted him. I quickly saw Miroku's friendly greeting reform into a guilty nervousness. Sango aware of what was up said a quick good bye and I saw them run for Miroku's car.

"What's up with them?" Asked Inuyasha. I decided it'd be best to let Inuyasha figure out his room situation on his own to avoid him taking it out on me. He stepped inside but didn't close the door. I took this as an invitation to enter.

"I didn't know you babysat?" I brought up.

"Oh really.." He said. It was obvious his head was in the clouds.

"Yeah, then again I didn't know you had a brother until about a week ago." I brought up.

"His name's Shippo." He smiled. "It's Koga's cousin. He's honestly too annoying but- I guess sometimes he's decent." I realized then that this was the first time Inuyasha and I had spoken since I ran out of his car. Right after he'd offered for us to start over. He sat down on his couch and put his feet up on the table. He took notice of the dent in the wall where Miroku was pushed into.

"I guess you weren't lying." He grimaced. "My brother needs to get a grip of himself. He could have really hurt you all." He shook his head in anger. I sat down next to him trusting he wouldn't respond in the same way Bankotsu did when I sat beside him. I took in the creases of his face and the uneasy demeanor he was giving off.

"What, why are you starring at me like that?" He asked. I smiled and nervously gulped down the lump in my throat. Secretly hoping it wasn't too late. I reached out my hand to him. Please don't let me regret this I silently begged him. I was about to retreat the very last second, but he caught me. He looked at me with those vibrant yellow eyes of his and I was frozen, no breath coming in and no breath going out. Is this how I should've acted when Bankotsu kissed me maybe? I shook it off, this was too gross. It was freaking Inuyasha after all, not a cute guy or anything. I proceeded with the action I was first intending with my hand extended.

"I'm Kagome Higurashi." I introduced myself. He lifted an eyebrow at me.

"I know that, stupid." I rolled my eyes at his idiocy as he proceeded to look at me like I was the idiot. He began to poke my hand.

"Put your hand down, what are you doing?" He asked.

"You're the one that wanted to start over, baka!" I yelled. It took him about 3 seconds before it clicked. He smiled and for the first time today it reached his eyes.

"Call me Inuyasha." He took my hand and shook it. Rin ran in and plopped on the couch smirking with Sesshomaru not too far behind. Oh yeah, since Miroku's left I guessed one of the brothers were driving us home.

"Hey Kagome, wasn't Inuyasha's bed really comfy?" Sesshomaru smirked when he noticed his half brothers face drop. Why did he have to taunt me like this!

"What were you doing on my bed?!" He angrily questioned.

"What?! I don't even know you.." I brushed off. Thank goodness we were starting over because he now had nothing on me. When he noticed what we did to his room though, just my luck, we were probably going to be on bad terms again.

"Bankotsu lifted her up there after Sesshomaru hurt her." My friend explained. Inuyasha was as far away from amused as it got. He ran for the stairs.

"My bed!" His yells echoed through the house. Jeez, this guy. Rin raced after him snickering with her camera phone in hand ready to film his reaction.

"It's not like I wet the bed, what's your problem!" I yelled as I chased behind Rin. I hadn't seen Sesshomaru running but he was about two steps behind me when I'd stopped.

"Where's all my stuff?!" He angrily yelled at his brother.

"We may have gone through it all and hid it around." Rin burst out laughing. I saw a small hint of a smile sneak up on Sesshomaru's face. Something in the expression of the boy being pranked changed with her words. He went from raging annoyance to a panicked fidget. He studied me trying to figure something out.

"Don't look at me, I just met you." I put my hands up in mock innocence. He shook his head.

"WHERE'S MY DESK IDIOTS?!" That was it then. It's whatever was in his desk that had him all strung up. I really wished they had gotten it open now more than ever. When Inuyasha found his desk what ever was in it would be taken out and surely hidden and we'd never know what the precious object was that had Inuyasha so crazy and possessed.

"Well, we were going to respect your privacy and leave all the contents inside but now that I see how upset you are I may just break it open." Sesshomaru sped away with his brother right on his tail in sheer panic. Rin and I exchanged confused glances before dashing after them. We found ourselves out in their surprisingly bare backyard in comparison to the inside of their lavishly furnished home. Asides from a hammock tied to some tree's in the back there were only a few shrubs here and there. Well there was the tree's, shrubs, and Inuyasha's desk upside down in the middle of the yard. His brother didn't hesitate and clawed right at it. He pulled out all the drawers with the exception of the last one. When just pulling wouldn't do, he prepared himself to claw it open.

"Fine, go ahead and try but I'll have you know that my desk is 100%-" Sesshomaru managed to get the last drawer out before the boy even had the chance to finish his sentence. Maybe he really was holding back in the earlier confrontation because judging by his strength he seemed capable of doing much worse than the damage he inflicted. He dug his hand into the mysterious bin and scoped around. When the demon finished prying around he surprisingly threw the thing at his brother who dodged at the last second.

"Empty." He announced heading back inside. The owner of the desk looked immensely relieved. Rin on the other hand looked extremely disappointed but probably didn't feel as disappointed as me. She announced it was about time for her to be heading home and went inside after the demon. When it was finally just the two of us again I turned to the questionable boy.

"You got pretty worked up there over nothing." I said. Inuyasha laid down on his bare lawn and stretched out his arms. The boy seemed overly smug so there was obviously something we'd missed. I walked over to the desk and took a closer look.

"Why so interested in my stuff all of a sudden? Seems like you've developed a little obsessive crush, Kagome." He said pulling at the grass. What a ridiculous thing to say. Of course I was interested, but only because of how worked up he had gotten.

"I don't know what the heck you're talk about Mister I just met you." Maybe the whole starting over thing wasn't such a bad idea. Since we're reacquainting ourselves I might as well take advantage of it. I reached my hand into each empty compartment and felt around.

"Hence the obsessive part." The boy exclaimed as he watched the clouds. The sudden memory struck me of when we used to gaze at the sky together. We'd watch the clouds, the stars, the moon.

"Isn't it cool how no matter where we are in the world we've got this strange connection." He started going off. Huh? What was this kid getting at.

"Wait, I didn't mean us just me and you. I mean everyone, like how we all look up and see the same moon for example. It's pretty cool." How deep of him I thought. I liked this side to him, the calm side that wasn't always so angry or tense. Just as I reached my hand into the bottom drawer and felt around I'd nearly given up hope.. Until my hand made contact with a thin smooth material. perhaps a cloth or sheet being held up by tape. I was about to put my head down to look up and see the object when I felt myself being pinned down.

"What are you doing stupid?!" The half youkai yelled as he sat on top of me pinning both my arms back. I knew it wasn't that hard but when my head hit the ground it started to ache like before. His face softened up as he eased his weight off me.

"I feel sort of dizzy." I said not even attempting to stand up on my own until I regained my focus. I wonder what it was that made the boy became so suddenly rough and protective over the object again.

"You don't look so good." He told me. I was about to nag him for the insult then decided he must not have meant it critically. I felt myself being lifted up for the second time that day as the boy pulled me on his back. I heard him mutter 'baka' under his breath but I didn't respond. He made his way to the front yard. When Inuyasha didn't carry me straight out to his car I guessed that his brother took it out to drive Rin. How ridiculous of them to never drive us both home at the same time. Inuyasha must have figured that Sesshomaru took his car because he headed for the gate on foot. He wasn't planning on carrying me the whole way home was he? He apparently was, because he locked the gate behind him and kept moving. I would say I hated every second of this but then I'd be lying. Everything around me was looking a bit fuzzy. I was so tired I let go of my pride and even rested my head on his shoulder. I felt his body tense up a bit under me but he didn't protest.

"What are you hiding?" I whispered into his back. I closed my eyes to rest my heavy eyelids waiting for his response. After the second minute I figured he wasn't planning on sharing.

"Suite yourself then." I muttered. The guilt of him carrying me began to surface. I was probably too heavy for him and he didn't want to say anything. Was his back hurting right now? I tried to slip out of his grasp with struggle.

"What are you doing?" He asked. I began to hit him in the back waiting for him to let go but he refused.

"Let me go idiot!" I yelled. The boy sighed and finally put me down. After straightening out my clothing and attempting to walk forward there seemed to be no troubles. My eyes must have been playing tricks on me because I felt fine. At a crosswalk as I waited to cross the road I noticed him still with me.

"What do you want?" The boy didn't answer with words just a simple gesture of his hands indicating I was loopy.

"So? It's not your problem." I told him. When he crossed the road with me I decided to let him, it was his own time he was wasting.

"Oh yeah!" He suddenly blurted.

"Kagome," he stopped me. "I believe this is yours." When Inuyasha reached into his pocket to reveal my cell phone I stopped dead in my tracks. WHAT?!

"Where'd you find this?"

"Shippo showed it to me and Koga and asked us to find the owner. He described the girl it belonged to but I smelt your scent on it right away." He explained.

"Is that his name? I'm guessing he was that red head from the park, right?" He nodded in response.

"So, Koga was that smart babysitter he was referring to.." I thought out loud. Inuyasha's face took form in a baffled expression.

"I babysit him too from time to time." He shared. My stance went unaltered.

"So, Koga was that smart babysitter-" I began to repeat myself but the half demon cut me off.

"He was obviously referring to me!" The boy defended.

"Sure, sure of course he was." I said in a serious tone before sticking my tongue out at him. Inuyasha gave up and turned to leave.

"Thank you." The words escaped my lips before I had the chance to convince myself out of it. He faced me again and flashed a large grin my way. I tried to check for any missed messages but after all the passed time, it had inevitably died. Slipping the device away into my pocket I headed for the door. As I was about to close it, my mother made her appearance.

"Oh hello Kagome! Who's that with you? Oh Inuyasha, what're you doing here?" She asked with concern.

"Kagome wasn't feeling well so I walked her home" He informed her. Mother mode activated.

"You're not? What happened?! Are you sick? I was going to take your grandfather to his appointment but I'll just have to cancel it. I can't leave you alone."

"It's fine. Souta's home. Plus, I'm feeling better now anyway." I tried to assure her.

"I already dropped your brother off at his friends house so he wouldn't be alone. Are you sure you're alright, I don't want to leave you alone.." She trailed off thinking the situation over. Then suddenly, as if an invisible light bulb had lit, her face brightened up as she target-locked Inuyasha.

"Hey, you're not busy are you? Would you mind staying with her? We shouldn't be any longer than an hour." She begged him. Their was something very suspicious about the way my mother was acting. An hour, huh? The second Inuyasha agreed she had my gramps by the collar and sped out the door. If she's just one minute late I will not be amused.

Oh goodness, it's has been quite awhile! I've had the majority of this chapter done since forever it's just that I came across a patch of writing that conflicted with everything & I would've had to scrap most of it and I was just completely & utterly unmotivated & unwilling to touch anything for the longest time! Bleehh! But I've finally worked everything through so yaaaay! :D I'm almost done the next chapter but due to this being my exam month it probably won't be up until those are over D: Sorry! Hope everyone had a lovely holidays though! Ouuu, and P.S. The next one is going to be great so anticipate it tons & bear with me!