-Twenty One-

Rin groaned as she trudged her way to the West Building-history . . . with Sesshomaru. Or, Mr. Taisho. Rin giggled into her. How hard was it going to be now that they can't even look at each other without his eyes getting a passionate red.

"What are you giggling about, young lady?" a voice came from behind her.

Rin turned to see Kagome two steps behind her, smiling. Rin blushed. "Oh, nothing."

Kagome rubbed her nose and then wagged her eyebrows at Rin. "So, what's gonna happen in class today?"

Rin sighed. "I have no idea."

"Did you decide to come back?"

Rin shook her head. "Heck no. I could have ditched school for the rest of the semester, but Sesshomaru wouldn't let me."

Kagome shook her finger at her friend. "No, no, no. It's Mr. Taisho while you're in school."

Rin chuckled. "Yeah, but it's going to be weird. I swear if he even looks at me, I'm going to melt."

Kagome frowned in disgust. "I don't know if I want to hear about how incredibly hot my teacher, who just so happens to be my best friend's soulmate, is..."

Rin pushed Kagome playfully. "Oh, stop. I had to hear all the gory details about you and InuYasha. Remember?"

Kagome blushed. "I thought we agreed not to bring that up again."

Rin laughed along with Kagome at her joke. They entered the building arm in arm and practically skipped to the classroom. Before Rin even reached the door, she could feel the vibrant energy that alerted her that Sesshomaru was in the classroom. Rin swallowed hard and allowed Kagome to reach for the door and open it. She swung Rin in first and led her to their desk in the back of the room.

Rin desperately tried to act normal and chit-chat with her best friend, but once they were both settled into their seats, surrounded by gossiping teenagers once again, Rin looked up.

Her eyes found that beautiful head of white hair scribbling on the chalkboard. More notes on the book. She sighed. Maybe he'll give her a break . . . But then Rin thought about how odd it would be for the students to be working hard while she lazied around the class while Mr. Taisho didn't care what she did. She knew she had to fit in with the rest of the students. The faculty knew of the mating-Rin shivered-but that didn't mean the students had to know as well.

So she slowly opened the book and straighten her lined paper and extra pencil to give her something to do before digging into the reading. She sighed again and glanced up. His gaze was down to his desk, where he scribbled something on papers the students must have turned in while he was absent.

While we were absent. She corrected herself.

She began on the page he specified on the board and her eyes widened.

Demon War of 1187

She furrowed her brow but read and took notes anyway. And then she read it, before others, she was sure. Because as soon as she was doing reading about the general of the army, several girls gasped and looked up at Mr. Taisho. Boys, who were preoccupied with staring at the ceiling, scanned the page and looked up at the teacher as well.

A hand shot up and Rin shot daggers at Kagura, the one who perkily called out, "Mr. Taisho, is this true? Are you really the General of 1187?"

Mr. Taisho didn't even glance away from the paper he was graded. "It is."

Several girls whispered in wonderment.

Rin wanted to kill them all for looking at him like a piece of meat. He was old, but several girls were just thrilled by the idea of a war hero, no matter what his age.

Rin listened, clutching her desk so as not to strangle several girls as the each asked questions, which Mr. Taisho answered with a straight, humorless face. Some boys asked about the action on the battlefields, to which Mr. Taisho merely answered yes or no. The interrogation went on and on until one girl asked, "Did you leave a lover behind?"

Mr. Taisho paused a moment. Before he could even open her mouth, Rin shot up and interrupted, "Can I go to the bathroom?"

Mr. Taisho, shocked but covering it relatively well by saying, "You may."

Rin left the room, not even hearing his response. She heard Kagome's voice as the door closed, but she didn't even pause. Rin left the building and stood outside for several moments, breathing deeply so as to release the anger. She shook out her arms and rolled her head, stretching the tense muscles in her neck. She wanted to punch those girls. She wanted to rip their throats out. She wanted to damage those hormonal teenagers until they begged for mercy.

But Rin wasn't even a really violent person. She was just in the classroom. And then she realized that she was jealous-insanely so. She had to cool off, but Rin didn't think she'd be able to return to the classroom. It was getting colder outside, winter was coming-so was Christmas.

Rin sighed. After over a week of playing hooky, Rin was behind on all her classes. She had used homeroom time to gather all the missing assignments she had from all her other classes and stuffed them into her backpack. She had a lot of homework to do, that's for sure.

Mr. Taisho had to give her a break from history in order to catch up on her school work. After all, it was his fault for making her miss so much school, right?

Rin hadn't seen Sango since before Thanksgiving. Mr. Taisho had dropped Rin off at the front gate early this morning, just after breakfast was served. She ran to her room, picked up some things to change into and look presentable, then booked it to art to grovel Ms. Aiko for missing out on the drawing exhibit. Then she went to English and gathered all the lame worksheets. She saved history for last, knowing if she tried to talk to him, she'd have a hard time not grabbing him and kissing him until the world ended.

Her dreams had been faint ever since he took her to his massive house. No nightmares interrupted her sleep, but that was because she was cuddling with the hottest dog demon in the world.

After an appropriate amount of time, Rin entered the building again and marched back to the room. She had just turned the doorknob when the bell rang, and students began to pour out of the classroom.

Rin stomped past them and to her desk. She stuffed all her supplies into her backpack, ignoring the crushing of all her homework as she did so. She had just zipped up the bag when a presence appeared at her back. She didn't bother turning around.

"So, was the answer yes, or no?'

Sesshomaru's hands were placed on her shoulders and he pulled her back into his chest, wrapping his arms around her possessively. Rin ignored the butterflies in her stomach and kept up her facade of discontent.

His fingers easily flicked away her hair, gaining easy access to the soft spot on her neck, where he placed his lips and buried his nose.

"No, Rin. The answer was no."

Rin turned her head slightly. "Honestly?"

"Yes."

His lips captured hers before she could retort. She tried to swallow the moan, but it purred from her throat before she could protest. His touch soothed her every worry and made all the stress she had been feeling earlier about school fade away. With that thought, Rin pulled back and gazed at her mate.

"Can I skip the assignments that I missed last week?" she asked, gently touching his chest and making small circles on it with her forefinger. She looked up at him through her eyelashes. "Pretty please?"

Sesshomaru gazed at her, a tint of red in his eyes. Rin waited for his response but he never gave any.

"You know, if I fail because you decided to kidnap me and hold me hostage for a week, I'm going to be very, very angry at my mate and perhaps be too depressed to even think about fulling mating with him, therefore not able to give him pups or anything else that would make him hap-"

He devoured her into another kiss and leaned his forehead against hers. "No, you cannot."

Rin began to protest, but his finger pressed against her lips. "But I shall help with all that I can."

Rin huffed and nearly stomped her foot like a child during a tantrum, but she didn't. She held her tongue, but gave him a cool glare. "I'm sure I can handle it. Wouldn't want to be favored over all the other students, right?"

"Rin, you must know it is too late for such a thing?"

Rin smiled. "I know. That's why you're gonna let me not do the homework. And still pass with a B."

Sesshomaru shook his head minutely.

Rin sighed melodramatically. "Well, then I guess I can't kiss you anymore. I can't touch you anymore." Rin stepped out of his arms. "If you'll just hand me the assignments, I'll be on my way to my next class, Mr. Taisho."

She saw him flinch at the name. He took one step toward her. She stepped back. This all seemed roughly familiar . . .

His hand snaked out and pulled her to him before she could move away. His lips crushed her own in a breathtaking kiss. He pressed against her, eliciting yet another moan, this one louder and deeper than before.

Rin tried to break the kiss, but Sesshomaru wouldn't have it. He entered his tongue into her mouth and Rin was helpless once more.

Once the kiss was broken after several moments, Rin heard the sound of the warning bell. She kissed his nose. "You're gonna make me late."

He brushed a piece of hair out of her face. "I do not like to be pushed around, mate."

"I won't tell anyone, Spike."

He squeezed her sides and Rin giggled. "So, I'm off the hook?"

He didn't respond and Rin gave him a peck on the cheek. "I take that as a yes. Now, I gotta go, but I'll see you later."

He reluctantly released her. At the door, Rin blew him a kiss. She left the building feeling giddy. She didn't have to do history, so that was off her back. She just needed to focus on getting all those assignments done by the end of the week and still do the homework they had assigned today.

Rin groaned. I hate high school.

. . . }{ . . .

Author's Note:

Bahahaha. Take about a filler chapter. I know you guys thought they were gonna DO IT but I decided to wait a bit. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Thanks so much for being patient!

Love,

Willow