Several Readers have expressed confusion over the time gaps. I'm not very explicit because I trust in your ability to pick up clues, but I suppose I can give a truncated calendar.

Chapter 1-4 take place from mid to late April.

Chapter 5 occurs in May.

Chapter 6 takes place in late November. Kagome is wrapping gifts, but she has to mail them out early if she wants them to arrive in time for the holidays. (You learn this sort of thing when you family is 1500 miles away and you have family stationed overseas).

Chapter 7 is Christmas Day in Japan. I hope every one caught that given Sesshoumaru ruminated over that fact several times in the chapter.

Chapter 8 is Valentines Day. Well, a little earlier for Kagome. At the very least it is February.

Chapter 9 is March approaching White day. They've been not arguing for about a month.

Chapter 10 is April again. In Japan, School Years start in the spring given that they generally go to school year round, spring's a good a time as any. It also means the previous year ends around the same time. I'm not certain if the university carries the same scheduling, but no one else seems to complain about it so I'm leaving it.

This Chapter is set in September. Zombie movies generally hit before October to best capitalize on the Halloween-esque topic. Not that Kagome or Sesshoumaru would really enjoy a zombie movie at all.

I do not own: 1) Inuyasha, the characters or world therefrom. Those belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 2) the original idea that spawn this specific plot. That was borrowed from Shellbabe's Lost Mate found on FFN.

Of Zombies and Manners

Kagome waited patiently for the customer ahead of her to conclude his transaction with the teller. She'd been standing in line with three impatient youkai teenagers for the last half hour waiting for her turn to purchase tickets to see a movie that neither interested her nor had a chance of entertaining her.

Kagome liked going to an occasional movie. It was usually a half way decent method of killing a couple hours in any given evening. Some were quite engaging while others...were obviously geared toward non-thinking teenagers who loved an overabundance of slapstick comedy as opposed to wit, over the top special effects to actual plot, and a decided predilection towards unnecessary gore. She wasn't particularly squeamish about blood; being a future doctor sort of left her without that luxury. Same could be said of finding any one part of the body taboo to be seen. She already knew the Latin names for all of it, watching specific pieces get left behind or flung left and right could never be even mildly enthralling.

And she hated having to share her movie with an overly excited crowd of people – in the rare event that she found one worth spending money to see. Kagome didn't care if the whole world saw the movie before she did. She much preferred an almost empty theater to having to fight to find a seat and then glaring at the various bad-mannered jerks who insisted on talking during the movie she paid to see. If that required she wait a few weeks for the fervor over the show to die down as everybody else in the world got to see it, that was fine with her.

However, she'd made a promise.

At the advent of the summer recess, it came to Kagome's attention that a number of her classmates were planning to accumulate their required community service hours through various programs designed to collect many in a short intensive span of several days. One of her fellows had signed on to build houses with Habitat for Humanity over the course of a few weeks. Another intended to spend the same amount of time in New Orleans helping to clean up the still recovering city from the hurricane a few years back. And three fellow doctors-in-the-making were participating in a Doctor's Without Borders exchange to Peru.

When Kagome had signed on with her new University, she'd understood that Community Service was part of the curriculum requirements. She'd had no problem with that beyond getting settled into her studies and her new country. This was the time to look into what she could do around her rather packed schedule...or so she'd thought.

The moment she'd brought it to the attention of her advisers and sought information about programs she could participate in, she'd encountered a lot of static. They were all adamant she couldn't leave the country, which let out all of the more efficient methods of acquiring the hours she needed. Then came the arguments for and against her need for service hours at all. How much community service should she be required to do, if any? One adviser insisted that Kagome simply couldn't have the time necessary to study two paths of medical study and spend time volunteering at all. Another thought that since her intention was to ultimately benefit two facets of society (youkai and human) that Kagome should do twice the amount usually required. The third thought Kagome should limit her efforts to acting as a tutor to her less apt classmates, hoping that doing so would help her keep up with her studies while solidly reviewing everything she'd studied before that point regularly. The fourth suggested the Big Brothers, Big Sisters organization and Kagome had liked the idea.

The four of them argued back and forth for weeks until Kagome preempted their decision by contacting the local chapter to find her a sib.

That had been Sesshoumaru's suggested move. She'd complained about the stagnant situation to him a few times. When he'd managed to glean just how much Kagome really liked (and secretly needed) the connection to someone younger, he'd seemingly felt confident enough to give her encouragement toward doing what she wanted to do.

Put simply, Kagome missed her younger brother. She missed putting up with his silly friends from time to time. This particular program would enable her to experience some of what she missed being separated from Souta.

Sure she got along well with her roommate and his boyfriend, but it wasn't a relationship where she felt she contributed much that was needed. When Brett-san invited her home for a holiday, she was a guest, not a member of the family. Kagome needed someone to look after, oh not to babysit and certainly not full time. But somebody she could teach something to that had nothing to do with medicine and everything to do with life.

So, Kagome found herself assigned three ookami teenagers to mentor. Apparently the local Big Brother, Big Sister section had learned the Ookami did better mentoring in small groups than one on one. Though Kagome was certain Kouga would have been fine by himself, even if she wouldn't wish it on anyone who wasn't well versed on Ookami behaviors and a raging feminist. He was a brat for all that he was the eldest of the three. The elders of his tribe had informally asked her to do what she could to curb his arrogance and penchant for social faux pas in mixed company.

Kagome had primly informed them she wasn't a miracle worker. There was no help to be had from her when the punk in question couldn't hear past the end of his own words declaring her "his woman" at first acquaintance. In that moment she had wished she were more willing to deliver violence on a body younger than her own. She didn't need another male to claim her without her say so. Being Canadian, the brat was also more tactile in his enthusiastic verbal claims that she found comfortable. Hand shaking she could tolerate. She even occasionally enjoyed hugging with friends who didn't attempt to take ownership of her life. Any contact with him made her want to invest in force field technologies just to keep him away. Kagome had never met a person younger than her who she was so driven to avoid.

If it weren't for the other two, Ginta and Hakkaku, she'd have told the agency to find her new sibs. But she just couldn't do that to them.

The local ookami tribe had suffered significant losses of their adult males throughout the last century. They had originally been based in the United States until after the second world war and the continued use of the draft for further conflicts in Korea and then Vietnam. Somehow, the Ookami always got picked making the elders question whether the draw weren't slightly rigged against them. Ultimately, the pack had immigrated to Canada to save what few breeding males were left to them.

The result of all these wars and losses, left the pack with too few adults to nurture and raise too many young, which sort of left anyone beyond the age where they couldn't clothe and bathe and basically tend themselves in a vast wasteland of mild neglect. Oh they were loved and valued, but when there's only so much time in a day and only so much adult attention to go around, teenagers ran second fiddle to toddlers all the way around.

It was a sad state of things as far as Kagome could judge it. And incredibly unfair. So Kagome would never drop all three just because Kouga was a precocious jerk. She could put up with at least that much for Ginta and Hakkaku. Along those lines, Kagome had promised to take them to a movie if they managed to behave properly over the summer. It wasn't a bribe so much as a show of appreciation as far as she was concerned, given that the three in general were all well-behaved when it came to pack interactions. It was more like earning an allowance for doing the chores required to be done anyway.

She'd expected the trio to pick something at least halfway decent. Summer was a time of multiple movie releases, so Kagome had believed it reasonable to hope they'd chose something that had been out a few weeks. Her hopes had not been met.

The movie they'd chosen was a new release, out just the night before and expected to do marvelously well in the box office its first weekend out of the gate. The theater was already buzzing with a fairly large crowd apparently excited to see it. Kouga had been so excited and worried the show would sell out that he'd insisted they arrive an hour and twenty minutes beforehand. Still they'd been forced to wait in line outside the ticket booth for half an hour.

Just as the person in front of her finished his transaction her pocket started to sing merrily that Taishou-san was calling.

Kagome knew it was rude to talk on the phone when dealing with sales staff in any kind of environment, but she could never not answer that phone. It would be cruel, besides, it would only take her a few moments to make her purchase and then she'd be free to converse with him while her sibs played in the arcade. So she accepted the call. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to hand you off for a moment," she told him before the inu could get a word in and promptly gave her phone over to the trio suddenly paying exceptionally close attention to her. With a growling "be polite" she turned back to the cashier to conduct their transaction.

She wasn't terribly worried that the ookami would offend her mate, Taishou-san was sufficiently aware of what the conversation was likely to hold once he ascertained who he was talking to. And it'd be fairly impossible for him not to clue into Kouga's identity given the demand to know who was calling "his woman". It was sort of funny how Ginta immediately tried to convince Kouga to tone down his behavior. Kagome was occupied with buying their tickets, not deaf after all.

The two younger wolves were always trying to tone their leader down. They looked up to him as best they could, but when it came to Kagome they worried she would disappear on them. They called her nei-san out of respect for her culture and affection for her title and the organization that had sent her to them. They were also well aware of what Kagome's goals were in life and that she really didn't like Kouga or his behavior. In this one facet, Kagome thought the younger two would do better with girls than their senior. They actually listened.

In fact, Ginta had summarily decided he wanted to become a hanyou doctor too, so he could learn from her and help achieve her dream. She imagined that any male who would support a mere surrogate sister that much couldn't help but form a solid healthy relationship with any female he so chose. Being a doctor certainly wouldn't hurt him in the romance department either, if he actually stuck with it long enough to become one. He was only fourteen after all.

Hakkaku's dreams were a little more immediate and short term. He wanted to visit Japan and learn the language so he could introduce himself to her family. He loved to hear about her mother especially after Kagome had allowed him to talk to her once. Her mother's English wasn't perfect, but it was enough to convince the ookami that she was the very best woman on the planet. In a way, Kagome found it funny that he saw her that way. It would almost freak her out if she wasn't completely certain that he saw her mother as simply a mother and given that all three youkai hadn't had the devoted motherly care that she'd had, the doctor-to-be couldn't blame him. Most of her friends in middle and high school had declared their admiration of Mama Higurashi more than once. It was just strange to find her mother's magnificence could be conveyed through something as flimsy as a phone connection.

It was hard to argue that a youkai who could become so enamored of a surrogate mother through one phone conversation and still made sure to ask if it was alright if he worked toward one day meeting her could ever have trouble in love. He was considerate and respectful. And Kagome was certain he actually would visit her family one day. He could work toward that goal and achieve it in a great deal less time than would be required for Ginta to become a doctor, so the fact that Hakkaku was a full year younger did not actually make it less likely he'd actually do it.

Determined to ignore the swiftly degenerating phone conversation being conducted beside her, Kagome quietly informed the teller which movie time they would prefer before sliding the proper amount of tender across the counter. She really wasn't looking forward to this movie. Zombie movies had never held any fascination for her given their medical implausibility even before she began to study it. And she had never enjoyed anything that so overused gore for mere shock value.

That wasn't to say she hadn't seen more than her fair share of them. Her brother Souta had hit thirteen and watched nothing but. The difference between then and now though, was that her little brother watched his gore on the family TV and Kagome could ignore it by doing her homework in another room. Or, if no one else was home (Souta hadn't the fortitude to watch one without someone at least in the room with him), she could read something to block it out while the video played. In a theater that was likely to be as packed as this one, she hadn't a valid avenue for distraction and she'd have to turn her phone off.

By the time the teller counted out her change, Kouga's half of her phone conversation had devolved to mere growls, which may have meant something to wolves and possibly dogs, but didn't to her. Either way, he was obviously being rude by the look on Ginta's pale face and the cringe decorating Hakkaku's. "Kouga!" she growled fiercely as she held out her hand for her phone and carefully guided them away from the ticket line to make room for more customers. "I told you to be polite! You know I don't have to see this movie with you! I could just sit out here!"

"But nei-san!" all three wolves protested even as Kouga reluctantly handed the electronic device back to its owner.

"I promised I'd take you to see a movie of your choice, I never promised to watch it with you!" It had been sort of implied, but the promise was contingent on their good behavior. Being rude on a phone that wasn't even theirs certainly classified as bad behavior.

"But you've already bought the tickets!" Kouga protested with arrogant triumph.

"And I may choose not to use mine if I want to. I'm not as enamored of seeing this movie as you are," she countered shortly and snorted at the look he gave her. Apparently he couldn't believe anybody wouldn't want to see walking decay, cannibalism, and violence. But then, when would he bother to think about what anybody else wanted. Kagome had the sneaking suspicion that Kouga had bullied the other two males into seeing this film instead of something else. There were several other movies currently in theaters she'd thought were more their speed, but neither had spoken up against the decision when the time had come. "You were rude to my caller for no reason even after I told you to be polite. You continued to be so despite the fact both Ginta and Hakkaku tried to talk you out of it. You should listen to them you know," Kagome's tone was clipped. There was more than one reason she had termed him a brat. "They at least have manners. And now because of you all three of you will be seeing this movie without me. I'll wait out here. You have forty five minute before your show starts now go play."

Kouga looked befuddled and his compatriots looked like somebody had kicked their puppy, but Kagome remained resolute. Maybe she'd change her mind just before the show, but for now she wasn't going to watch the stupid movie. "Taishou-san," she pressed the phone to her ear and tried to find a quieter spot in the busy lobby. "I'm sorry about that. I was right up to the teller when you called."

"Hn," his deep voice responded in acknowledgment. "This Sesshoumaru is not sure that punishing all three is necessarily the best course of action."

Kagome sighed, "I know, I hate to do that to poor Ginta and Hakkaku, but the brat needs to learn to both listen and exercise the manners I know he was taught. And nothing else seems to work. I'll try to make it up to them later."

"If you have already bought the ticket would it not be foolish to waste it for something so small. The Ookami was rude, but this Sesshoumaru attempted to inform him that it was both disrespectful and demeaning for him to claim you without first consulting your wishes." Kagome wanted to smirk at that. It was funny the way he was trying to impart that specific piece of wisdom. "I have certainly learned that lesson mate there is no reason for you to find it so humorous. Is it not best for experienced elders to teach those younger than themselves?"

"Is that when he resorted to growling in public?" Kagome chose not to comment. It was still amusing as hell given how he had chosen to go about mating her.

"Actually no," he answered. "I could hear your younger sibs trying to convince the brat to modify his behavior and suggested he listen to them as obviously they cared more about you than he did, or at least knew better how to show it."

"Oh dear," she sighed. It was actually all true. She never questioned how much Ginta and Hakkaku cared about her or her good opinion because they went to great pains to show it in every way possible. Kagome did her best to reciprocate but it was hard to work around the road blocks Kouga set up. He was possessive and jealous but luckily not insecure, though he could use a little flattening to fix that in her frustrated opinion. "No wonder he behaved so badly. Kouga is absolutely convinced that nobody could treat me better all the while treating me no better than property. I'm sorry you had to put up with him."

"Do not be," he responded genially. "It is good practice."

"Practice for what?" she wondered aloud.

"Why, for parenthood," his tone was mildly lascivious, but she couldn't scold him for it. Dealing with a brat was good practice for dealing with other, future unruly children one came into contact with. And given inu penchant for breeding and her own far distant desire for family of her own, it was hardly an argument worth having. "But also for dealing with unreasonable business associates." Which was a more immediate use he was liable to find for his newly acquired experience, that is, if Taishou senior ever found cause to install him in such a position as Sesshoumaru had been given leave to continue his studies again.

Ginta and Hakkaku came slinking back in her direction looking thoroughly scolded for something they weren't in trouble for. "Nei-san?" they called timidly and Taishou-san patiently informed her that he would wait.

"What is it?" she responded gently.

"We won these for you," Ginta announced holding out one of the arcade plush prizes.

"We wanted to apologize for Kouga being rude to your friend," Hakkaku added as he held out a bracelet of colorful beads. "We're sorry if he was offended."

Kagome reverently reached out to take their little gifts each one was already a treasure she cherished despite the fact that the plushie was cheaply made and the beads were only colorful plastic. "It's alright, I'm not mad at you and my friend wasn't offended in anyway. To tell you the truth, he knew what to expect of Kouga," she winked at them.

"So you'll see the movie with us?" Hakkaku perked up.

Kagome wrinkled her nose in indecision. "I would, but Kouga's got to learn that what he did was wrong and that his actions have consequences." Hakkaku deflated.

Ginta frowned thoughtfully but acknowledged that Kagome had the right of it. "It's all right. It's just that Hakkaku gets scared sometimes and to be honest we both tend to have nightmares after these kinds of movies."

Kagome blinked, "Then why didn't you ask to see a different movie? There's still time, we could probably exchange the tickets for you to see a different show."

"But Kouga - " Hakkaku began and Kagome cut him off.

"Then he's not doing his job right," she growled. "He's supposed to look out for you not run roughshod over you. If he knows you're scared or get nightmares then he should have let you pick something else. And I never said you all had to see the same movie."

"Then you could exchange your ticket and watch something you wanted to," Hakkaku suggested.

Kagome shook her head, "No, I'm responsible for you guys. If your movies don't start at the same time and don't end at the same time I still have to be out here throughout."

"What if it's just Kouga who's in a different movie?" Ginta asked. "He's older, he could be fine on his own. And we wouldn't have to tell him you were seeing a movie with us."

"Truth is there wasn't anything we wanted see so much as we wanted to see a movie with you," Hakkaku admitted shyly.

"Hmm," Kagome pondered the idea. "I would have to know exactly when his show got out so I could be out here to wait for him otherwise he would figure it out."

"I think one of the movies I wanted to see started just before his did, if you don't mind missing the very beginning of the movie," Ginta suggested.

"We'd fill you in." Hakkaku added eagerly.

"It's been out a few weeks so it shouldn't be too hard for you to find us in the dark," Ginta continued, warming up to their planned intrigue. Normally the duo wouldn't dream of pulling one over on their older pack mate, but Kagome was worth it.

"All right then, lets get back in line," she agreed with a small sigh of relief. Kagome really hadn't liked punishing Ginta and Hakkaku for Kouga's bad behavior, but nothing else seemed to be working. Now, she was punishing him, making him think she was punishing the other two but not; all without him being the wiser.

"Wow, mate, you're teaching them bad things," Taishou-san chuckled through the phone.

"Shush you," Kagome muttered back at him.

"Peace mate," he rumbled further. "I think your influence is only positive. A little duplicity is hardly likely to lead them down a life of crime and it certainly harms far less in this case than honesty would. Besides, I'm rather impressed by their plan. Wolves seldom go against an alpha's choice and bidding, but as you said a proper alpha would not have bullied them into such a situation either. It makes me wish..." he trailed off there.

"You wish you were here so you could teach him better," she finished for him.

"Maybe, but I should probably learn better myself before I attempt to teach anyone else," he muttered.

"Inuyasha again?"

"This one's father actually. The hanyou has found attachment to a human female of – hn – lesser birth than our alpha would prefer. It came to blows this morning in father's office. When this Sesshoumaru attempted to neutralize things both turned on me. Inuyasha with the assumption that I was siding with father and father because I had deigned to interfere at all."

"Are you well?" Kagome well knew that youkai family disputes tended to get physical.

"I am fine, mate. A little sore perhaps but hardly worth mentioning," he was pleased that she had asked in any case, she could tell. "It is just frustrating."

She could only imagine. In a normal inuyoukai pack Sesshoumaru should only have been turned on by one of the two males if either at all. But the Taishou pack, she was fast learning, did not view Sesshoumaru in the way that they should. He was heir and yet remained separate from most of the pack coming and goings. It was rare that he was present for even something like the announcement of intent to court from another male. Kagome could only assume that it was Inuyasha's doing. For all that the brothers weren't close, they tried to keep each other included the way Hiroyuki should have insured things were from the start.

"Well, there's no way I know of to make peace with your alpha, but your brother should be easy. Take him aside in private and inform him that a male such as you who has no idea who or what his mate is could certainly have no problems with a female of any background or species so long as she was true to him and your pack," she ignored the glances from her two youngest sibs standing next to her. "I don't think he'll continue giving you hell once he's thought about it. He's too prone to trying to include you in things to hate you unreasonably."

"This Sesshoumaru will do as you suggest at the first opportunity. It is far too uncomfortable for things to continue as they are." She could hear him shift with a grunt of some of that pain he refused to admit he felt. "Enjoy your movie and intrigue mate. May your brat not find out the trick you play on him."

Kagome chuckled, "May it be so!"