38:Lunch with friends

"We conceal it from ourselves in vain: we must always love something. In those matters seemingly removed from love, the feeling is secretly to be found, and man cannot possibly live for a moment without it."

-Blaise Pascal

The drumming rain was normally enough to help Kagome sleep but with everything that had happened lately she was only watching the precipitation as it hit against her window, restlessly tossing and turning when she wasn't looking out her window.

"Damn hollow monster things." She thought in frustration. "It wasn't just my imagination right? He said I was pretty didn't he? Maybe magnificent means something else in their strange world…but that wouldn't make sense either."

She blushed as she remembered the gentle look in his eyes. It wasn't something she remembered seeing before…but it had passed so quickly. The damn people stalking her had stolen the sweet moment away from her.

"Get a hold of yourself Kagome." She sighed, curling up closer to her pillow. "Just cause he complimented you one time doesn't mean he likes you or anything. He was probably just being nice cause it was the holiday and he feels responsible for all of this."

It was a sad thought but it was the most logical in her mind. All she'd ever been was a job after all, someone to which he was assigned. "Maybe I should thank the monsters…here I'd been thinking about telling him that it might not be so bad to be with him. What's wrong with me?"

Kagome sighed, rubbing watery eyes as she looked back out at the rain again. "Am I just destined to love people that can't love me back? I mean, if I care about him and I actually get to be close to him then shouldn't I be thankful?"

"Those words seem so empty." She sniffled a bit. "Great, now I'm going to start crying. I'm such a loser. I need to sleep so that I can juggle my friends and Byakuya tomorrow."

Eventually she did sleep but it was a fitful rest at best.

The next morning she was groggy and moaned at the alarm clock when it went off, fumbling before she managed to hit the button to turn it off. Stretching out and pushing herself up to sitting on the edge of the bed, yawning as she looked around her room. It was one of the last times she'd see it in a while, she sighed to herself, not wanting to start back up the sad train of thought that had kept her awake late into the night and instead went to shower and get cleaned up for the day ahead.

As she moved for the bathroom she heard her mom and Byakuya downstairs. "The two of them talking normally? That has to be weird…"

She bit her lip, tempted to go and eavesdrop but the thought of her friends showing up if she was late was enough for her to push away the desire and get to cleaning up. "He went to bed after me…I wonder how he gets up so early all the time without complaining about it. I bet he's one of those weird morning people."

A small giggle escaped her as she got the shower ready, not wanting to spend too much time in a bath thanks to the fear of her friends showing up. An image of Byakuya smiling and exercising in the morning just didn't fit either but was funny.

It wasn't too long before she'd managed to get herself all prepared and moved back downstairs for a quick juice or something before they headed out to meet the rest of her friends for lunch.

"Geez Kagome, don't you ever not sleep in." Souta commented as she passed through the living room, playing his Guitar Hero. It didn't look like he'd moved at all. Kagome just didn't answer, moving into the kitchen where Byakuya was sitting and sipping at tea and her mom was putting together a roast to simmer until dinner.

"Morning sleepy head." Her mom offered with a bright smile. "I hear you guys are going out with your friends from the high school. Try not to be too late and at least have some toast before you ride into town."

"Sure mom thanks." Kagome smiled back and sat down at the table. Offering Byakuya the same friendly expression. "Good morning, how are you feeling?"

"I am doing well." Byakuya replied with his usual cool back in place. A little disappointing for the crush stricken teenager but she had expected he wouldn't exactly be anything but normal. "When will we be leaving?"

"Soon." Kagome sipped at her juice and took a bite of the toast her mom set out for her. She would definitely miss everyone but she was starting to think that perhaps she didn't belong in a normal life after all.

"Sleep in while you can." Byakuya offered, implying he had no intention of letting her continue once they returned. Kagome swallowed her toast and washed it down with some juice then stuck her tongue out at him.

"Spoil sport." She accused, taking another bite of the quick breakfast and trying to figure out how she was going to explain things to her friends any better than she already had tried. How could he go and say they were engaged when it's just all an act to him! "He was probably just trying to get me into trouble."

She eyed him in annoyance, her emotions as jumpy as most confused teenagers. Finishing and standing up, motioning toward the door as she pulled a coat on. "Okay I guess we should get going."

Byakuya just stood up and moved to go with her.

"Here I was hoping I could enjoy seeing my friends…instead I'm sorta dreading trying to explain everything." Kagome sighed as they moved for the steps of the temple.

ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo

The trip into the city was mostly quiet between the two, Kagome was still confused and worried about what Byakuya thought of her and as he wasn't really speaking she was too embarrassed to bring it up. If she was wrong then that would be too much to live with.

They had caught a bus to the tram and now were walking from the station to the restaurant where the others had agreed to meet them. Thank god Eri and Hojo had already had other plans…Kagome really didn't want to see him, having to take Byakuya with Ayumi there was already bad enough. She liked her friend but she'd always been too interested in every detail for her own good.

"Now, just behave yourself." Kagome demanded as they headed along the last block, her own embarrassment over personal feelings for Byakuya forgotten in face of the fear of her mom hearing anything bad in return.

Byakuya only offered a slightly raised brow at her orders, keeping his thoughts to himself as he had been doing all day. Not nodding or doing anything else to even acknowledge he'd heard her bizarre command. She had picked up the eyebrow movement in his face though and nodded to herself, taking a breath as if to steady herself before opening the door and moving inside. Acting as if she was expecting to be attacked with a barrage of questions she wasn't ready to answer yet.

However, as the girls weren't waiting for them she went ahead and put them in for a table and walked over to the waiting area to sit down. Byakuya though continued to stand by the window, looking out on the street and leaving Kagome to stare at him wistfully. He still had the kensaiken and scarf on, which just gave him extra details that set him aside from any other man on the street in a suit. She hadn't managed to convince him to leave his sword which was just going to be one more thing to try to explain when the others arrived.

"Still, he's so elegant." Kagome thought with a small smile. "Everything about him does scream nobility, he's so dignified. Just one more reason he wouldn't want someone like me…"

She jumped when Ayumi hugged her from the side and Yuki waved from where she was speaking with the person at the front. They apparently were in the ladies room when she and Byakuya had first come in and he was still looking outside at the passerby.

"Hey you, we interrupting you two?" Ayumi whispered the question leadingly. "You know, the restaurant still has some mistletoe up. Look. You should go take advantage of that."

The girl motioned Kagome's gaze above Byakuya, he was standing unknowingly below the holly like plant as he waited. Her face flushed and she shook her head at Ayumi immediately. The idea of kissing him was too much for her after what she'd just been thinking about him.

"Are you picking on Kagome again?" Yuki asked, hands on her hips as she came back over. Though her voice was loud enough that it brought the attention of the soul reaper back to the rest of them. "Be nice Ayumi, come on guys. Our table is ready."

Kagome used that as an a good chance to escape Ayumi's suggestion and went with the rest of them to a booth, sliding inside and looking toward her lap as Byakuya sat next to her. It seemed like a real date for the first time, despite the things that they'd done together in soul society this wasn't forced on them, they'd both chose to come. Even if her friends there.

She eyed the menu and nodded some, ordering a lemonade and some chicken lo-mein when it came to her. Not paying much mind to the orders of the rest she offered the waiter a smile and leaned back some, resisting the urge to sigh when Ayumi opened her mouth.

"So, where did you two meet?" She of course wasn't going to let that go.

"Um, I was walking home from school and he'd been hit by a car." Kagome explained, it was as close as she could honestly say. "At the time he wasn't conscious so I made sure he got to help."

"Wow." Yuki was now getting into the story. "You look pretty good for having been hit by a car in the last few months. What happened?"

Byakuya was silent for a moment, but he offered a reply, keeping up with Kagome's story as she wanted. "Someone that didn't like me hit me and ran off, though he's been punished sense."

"So some guy drove by and attacked you with his car and left you for dead?" Ayumi blinked, the girl wide eyed at the idea. "Why did he do that?"

"We work for opposing companies and he thought he would get a promotion if he managed to get rid of me without getting caught. The correct authorities have been involved however and he's been taken off the street." Byakuya said, it wasn't a complete lie after all…it was more like creative truth telling. "If Kagome had been there to help then I might have died. I had internal bleeding…but that's not really something that should be discussed over dinner."

"Yeah." Yuki agreed with a small nod. "Geez Kagome, you just have all sorts of odd things that happen. But I guess you had the hospital on speed dial."

Kagome smiled lightly at the joke, considering how much her friends had considered her sick when she was running around the feudal era it was funny.

"So you saved him and then what? You both fell madly in love with one another?" Ayumi of course had to get the story back on track for the side she was interested in.

Kagome didn't get a chance to reply before Byakuya spoke up again. "Actually I had to find out who it was that brought me to the hospital. Kagome is such a kind person she hadn't stayed after she got me to safety in hopes of any sort of reward. I had to search her out so I was able to thank her."

"Aw, how cute." Yuki commented, picking up her drink when it arrived to sip at it through the straw.

"And -then- you fell madly in love?" Ayumi peeped in.

"Well, we dated a bit." Kagome answered, trying to will the blood away from her cheeks. "Will you all excuse me, I need to use the restroom."

They nodded and Byakuya shifted gracefully out of the booth and helped Kagome out, the girl moving off to the bathroom and trying not to dash. Sighing as she got inside and moving over to wash her face with cooler water. "Man, I need to calm down…why is it Byakuya's so damn good at being smooth anyway? You'd think it'd be against his noble blood or something, guy gets to be gifted at everything."

Out at the table Ayumi was explaining the use of mistletoe after Byakuya told her he'd never heard of it before. She'd been digging to see if he was looking for a reason to have Kagome kiss him but she was happy to be able to explain it for him instead.

Byakuya was just playing along more or less, not talking nearly as much once Kagome returned and the food was delivered to the table. Instead enjoying the spicy noodles and mixed vegetables he'd ordered while letting the rest of the girls chatter. Somewhat amused by Kagome's outright embarrassment and the way her friends could make her so flustered by their comments so easily.

"You two really do make a nice couple." Yuki observed during one of the breaks in conversation after they'd discussed their latest marks in classes. "You are real cute together the way you watch each other when the other isn't looking. You can tell you care about one another."

"Yuki…you are suppose to be the nice one." Kagome grumbled mentally as her friend ratted her out for staring at Byakuya earlier when he wasn't watching.

"I suppose so." she offered the sheepish reply to her friend. "But we should probably be going soon, mom didn't want us back to late and it was pretty busy on the transit over this time of year."

"Aw. That's too bad." Yuki answered. "If we hadn't planned to go shopping we'd go with you. We don't ever get to see you now that you moved."

"We wouldn't want to interrupt them making out on the train anyway." Ayumi laughed, picking up the bill. "I'll get this one."

"Thanks Ayumi, Yuki." Kagome smiled at her friends despite the way they often made her nervous with questions. "I miss you too. We'll see each other over the next holiday. I think mom wants to come back for spring break."

"Oh awesome, we can all go to the beach." Yuki said with a smile, picking up her coat and getting up from the table with the rest. "Guess we'll see you later then."

"Bye guys." Kagome offered a wave, more glad to be away from any possible future questions than sad to be without her friends. She'd see them again she was sure.

"That wasn't so horrible." Byakuya observed after they were a short distance from the restaurant. "The food was well made."

Kagome smiled a bit at that, glad he had a good time despite her anxiousness at the lunch. "I'm happy that you liked it. Sorry about my friends being so direct, Ayumi's always sort of been like that."

"I think it bothered you more than it did me." Byakuya answered with a tiny shrug. "Have you thought about what you are going to do? Are you going to stay here or…"

He was interrupted when Kagome laughed outright. "I told you that already. Did you think I'd change my mind? Come on, I wanna spend the time I can at the shrine before we have to return to soul society."

Byakuya had to smile a little at her at the comments, not having really expected her to change her mind but a little more bolstered by the fact that she seemed to believe he was capable of protecting her after the issues of the evening before. Apparently she hadn't thought about the attack at all from her attitude throughout the day and it was a bit baffling but he had to admit she was a stronger woman than he first realized.

After they got onto the train he noted the hanging plant that she'd stood under, remembering the words of Ayumi at the restaurant.

"Well, mistletoe is a celebratory decoration during the holidays but people that stand underneath it are doing it cause they want to be kissed by the person they are with. That's why I figured you were under it near the door there. It's like a way to celebrate bringing in the new year."

He was left watching her, she even looked up and smiled at the plant hanging there…she had to know it was there.

End Chapter

Hehe, Kagome's friends are evil, well at least one of them. I felt like being coy I suppose…I'm an oddball. On a nifty note I made a AMV to Kagome and Byakuya! There is a link to my you tube account in my profile (which is where the vid is) if you are interested.

-Aura

P.S. BATMAN!

To my reviewers:

Ayjah - I liked the way she used her spell to 'save' herself. I'm glad I finally got to write it…I'd been planning on it sense she first started having issues.

Nasuki - well I sorta suck at action so I like to get through it before it turns me off from updating.

Chelsea34 - Yeah I know. It's an issue I've had from back in junior high. I think my brain just refuses to separate them.

Blekmedeljin - I already mentioned I suck at writing action. I agree the battle should have been longer but I am not good at writing that sorta thing. I do think Byakuya would win against Uliquorra…and his name meaning 'bat man' just makes me think that ichigo should currently be wiping the floor with him. Lol. I can't take the char seriously anymore, every time I see him I think 'Bat Man!'