"You are the love of my life."

Sango barked a little laugh as she handed him the twenty four ounces of espresso and steamed milk. Her fingers ghosted the crown of his head, but then she was bounding towards the doors of the library without a word of goodbye.

"Are you Hiriko san's little?"

Damn him. He needed to focus on the words before him, but he could only wonder what that rat bastard could possibly want with Sango. His intentions could be professional, strictly professional, or they could be something entirely other.

And he had no claim over Sango at all. If a nice freshman boy wanted to ask her out then he had no right at all to be frustrated by that. She was his friend. It would seem that he'd forgotten that.

"Yeah, do you need something?"

He shouldn't have felt so victorious by the dismissive tone that coated her words in a lukewarm kind of friendliness.

'The juvenile of his legal representative may-,' did they have to stand so close together? There really wasn't any reason for that boy to be breathing Sango's air.

Yet she made no move to free herself from that cycle of… pestilence. '-file an appeal within two weeks against the ruling of educative measures.'

"Tonight at seven should be fine," Sango was pulling her hair over her shoulders and working it up into a neat ponytail. "And dinner is going to be Korean themed tonight. You can tell me if my friends and I do your country's cuisine any justice!"

Hah. Well, he supposed there was nothing for him to worry about. Any sucker that still wanted Sango after tasting the horrors she managed to cook up was clearly mental.

Then he realized, with a grunt of frustration, that he was still very much infatuated with that aggressive woman and he'd been personally poisoned several times now.

Well, he hoped that Sango-Charming-Fuck choked on whatever she served him. You can tell me if my friends and I do it justice. What a load of shit. She couldn't have been more flirtatious if she was batting her pretty, chocolate eyes at him.

He hoped she poisoned him so bad he had diarrhea for the next six months. Just… a constant outpouring of shit and agony and self loathing-

Made an appt for 7pm

you and Hana Tsukimi are partnered

up for your Physiology report. Don't make

plans.

Oh.

He set to drinking his coffee, blaming his rash behavior on the sleep deprivation and nothing more. Surely he wasn't so possessive and jealous that he'd wished a man ill for doing his job.

Because that would make him a crazy person.

"Kagome, fetch me a tea?" Kikyo dropped her books beside Sesshomaru's, "you look… ashamed of yourself." She noted, pulling out whatever homework she'd planned to finish up in her free period.

"I spent my weekend running around with Kagura and now I have an hour to finish up two readings." He took another drink from his cup, "I am ashamed of myself."

Kikyo wasn't one to pry, but, when she offered him a delicate snort and turned back to her work, he knew he hadn't fooled her.

"So it had nothing to do with your pet freshman and that other guy? They were huddled together mighty close."

He sank deeper into his chair, "if you're going to be chatty, go be chatty elsewhere." His eyes seemed to actively repel the legal-speak that he was supposed to be analyzing. As someone constantly with their hand in the air, he couldn't simply not participate in the class discussion.

Thinking about Sango was not supposed to be an every hour of the day kind of activity. She was only allowed to run rampant through his mind between shower hours and sleep hours and yet the inconsiderate maniac seemed to come to him whenever it suited her.

With a few flicks to his forehead he set back to reading, 'it is in violation of law and ordinance which influences the ruling-.'

"Fine, fine. Be obvious about it. See if I care." He heard something snap.

Obvious?

Why would she come over here, obliterate his concentration, and then just-

He could scream, "you're a harpy."

It was rare that Kikyo laughed, but it would seem that his suffering had truly tickled her. Well wasn't that just peachy?

"What's obvious?"

He fell face first into his reading. It was over.

Kagura sat at his left with a bag of grapes hanging from her fingers. She rarely showed up on campus, but the library? He hadn't even known she knew where it was.

"Sesshomaru's crush."

He was content to melt into the table at this point. It wasn't like he stood a chance in hell at remembering anything anyways.

"Crush?!"

The instant reprimanding, "shhhh!" caused her to scowl at those around her.

"The one he's always calling, 'kitten'?" Kikyo was having a field day, filling in the worksheet that she'd finally pulled from one perfectly organized folder, "there was a nice young man a touch too close to his darling freshman and he was grinding his teeth so loudly I heard him from the entrance."

Kagura ruffled his hair, menacing in her affections, "that's disgusting, Sesshomaru. She's like… eighteen."

"She's nineteen." He groaned from the table, "and she'll be twenty in the fall so it's not a huge deal."

Kikyo clicked her tongue, "lolicon."

"You two are going to stop that. My dad is twenty years older than my mother so you can both burn in hell." It wasn't weird.

Even if a few months ago she'd been a high schooler.

"Why don't you crush on someone your own age?" Kagura giggled, "there are plenty of women your own age around here. You don't have to prey on the younger generation to find someone willing to put up with your insufferable ass."

"I'm not preying on anyone, baa-chan, three years is negligible in the grand scheme of things."

"I bet her kindergarten photos are digital." Kikyo snickered. That sent Kagura into a raucous round of giggling and he realized that he was at a loss so long as he was stuck between the vapid harpies.

"A breeder and a lolicon." Kagura spluttered. She pulled out some useless sheet of paper on some useless theory and settled in to read, "couldn't be me."

oOo

Sesshomaru thanked Sango graciously for feeding his guests, but refused whatever she offered him without a moment's hesitation, "I ate with Rin. She'd been insistent of my ordering her junk food."

She poked his stomach, eyeballing him suspiciously, "you've been eating a lot of fast food, senpai." He felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end, like he was trapping himself in a redback's web.

His guests -smarter than they looked- took that chance to retreat to the living room.

"I can't say no to her…" was his weak reply.

She dropped the bowl onto the counter, "you said I could use your Uber account, yet there was no notification. So how did you order junk food?"

Miroku was behind her, his head bent in silent prayer while the Dummy Duo shook their heads in silent unison.

He laughed nervously, "you look really nice in pink."

"If you don't like my cooking then you could just say so!"

"It's not that I don't like your cooking," he lied. It was so blatant and half hearted that he wouldn't be surprised if she stormed off at that moment, "I just don't like…. food in general?"

He genuinely did feel really bad when she blinked back tears and turned on her heel, "yeah, okay," but it wasn't his fault that she couldn't cook.

"I'd think you'd better eat this and tell her how much you like it." Higurashi said brightly, but he was -once again- reminded of her proficiency in archery. Did she even have a bow and arrow on hand? He didn't know, but he also didn't want to find out.

"Kagome's right." Miroku was working the kinks from his shoulders with the kitchen knife, "you didn't even give her a chance."

His hands were shaking. How dramatic. Still. He grabbed the bowl and shoveled whatever mushy, vile- it was like she'd fisted the salt in both her hands and went pounding it into the dish. Burnt and raw?

There was a revolution going on inside of his mouth, "you guys were right." His voice cracked and he had to clear his throat as he swallowed, "I should have just tried it."

Sango giggled, "you're crying."

And InuYasha broke into a round of unhinged laughter, "the taste made his eyes water!" He wound his arms around his middle, his amusement growing as he thought on it, "man up! We've been eating it for weeks now!"

"I bit my tongue?"

She took the biohazard from his hand and pouted up at him, her feelings were still hurt, but she was being a good sport about it all.

"You're all terrible friends," she said with a watery pout, "see if I ever cook for you lot again."

oOo

After Sesshomaru's mind numbing study session he snuck along the corridor that led to the girl's dorms. He still felt bad for not eating what she'd made him.

He knocked once and then the frantic hissing began, "under the bed! Hide it under the bed! Open the window!" That sounded like Miroku. He wondered what could possibly throw the unbothered being into such a panic.

Were they doing something they shouldn't be? He'd hate to taste the hypocrisy of lecturing them about the illegality and danger of drugs considering how he'd spent the weekend.

"What's hiding the container gonna do? He's going to smell it! Just take the blame!" InuYasha hissed, "he'd let you get away with murder." He assumed that they were talking to Sango now, seeing how she was the only one of them that he frequently spent his time with.

Speaking of which, he'd note that he hadn't spent much time with her as a person. The last time they'd been together without pretenses or pressing obligations was the night they'd watched that silly movie.

"No way!" Sango sounded mighty frantic.

That knowledge, however, forced him to acknowledge the fact that there was a chance that she simply didn't want to hang out with him. He wasn't very much fun when he was in his natural habitat and he couldn't expect her to find interest in lounging about like a house cat.

What a bummer. He opened the door, hoping to find out what they'd been up to.

The four of them sat in a circle, a puddle of bubblegum pink nail polish between them.

"I have never met four people more strange." He dropped the snacks he bought her at her side, "just clear it up with an alcohol rag."

"Let us paint your nails!" Higurashi chimed in.

It would seem that her toes were still wet because she was scooting with her feet in the air.

InuYasha waved a ruby colored nail at him, "yeah! You've seen this stupid shit, now you've got to join us."

No. He could not imagine willing spending time with the rat pack- especially not at InuYasha's demand. There were things that simply weren't done.

"Surely your masculinity is not so fragile, my friend." Miroku was disarmingly pleasant. Which irritated him to no end.

Sesshomaru held his brilliantly manicured hand to the light, frowning when he realized that his weekend activities had led to chipping off the polish. It wasn't like he had time to go and get another.

"I don't paint my nails garish colors." He murmured, "I only came to offer up some snacks as an apology for my dramatics regarding Sango's cooking. Now that I've done that, I will be going." It took great control not to feel giddy when she dropped her hand in his, using him to hoist herself up

She waddled past him, dragging out a cardboard box of Daiso brand nail colors. He could already hear his manicurist cursing him to hell for allowing people to 'terrorize his cuticles', but how could anyone expect him to not choose a color when she was so proud of her selection?

He wasn't a monster.

She held it out a little more insistently when he didn't move immediately, "come on! Miroku was just telling us about the gala that's coming up in a few months." He fished around in the container and plucked the tamest pink from her collection. Content with his cooperation she put the box away and dragged him to their strange little circle.

"Alright," Sango grabbed his hand and began working off the old polish, "Miroku, you may continue." The feeling of her hands on his made him feel… agreeable, and so he didn't argue when Miroku took the other hand and began working off the polish.

"Bachelors and bachelorettes from affluent families all get together in this… rich kid singles mixer. This is my first year getting invited, actually." Miroku was gentle as he worked, "mother is hoping that I can find a nice young woman to sweep off of her feet." Which seemed wholly unlikely to all who knew the walking flirtation.

"It's a waste of time." Sesshomaru assured them, not liking the polite attention that came his way, "it's just an excuse for our parents to trade us off like playing cards in the hopes of building upon their fortunes."

The girls exchanged glances that flashed by too quickly for him to attempt to understand them, "but you have a choice?" Higurashi asked slowly, "you don't have to marry an heiress do you?"

He couldn't imagine why she'd care so much, "it's different for every family, but the richer you are the farther your reach. Some families are willing to go to any lengths to achieve their goals."

Those twinkly, girlish blue eyes never wavered, but he would offer nothing she did not expressly ask for.

Which caused her to swat at him, "what about your family!" Sometimes Sesshomaru could be impish and today was one of those days when he felt like driving people a little crazy.

Kagura and Kikyo had gotten their fair share of mischief, after all, why shouldn't he?

"If you're asking about our father's net worth, I can assure you it's readily accessible on the internet."

Her jaw was a hard line as she bit out, "that's not at all what I'm asking and you know it. Is being impossible a family trait?"

An evil little giggle passed his lips, "yes. Father is worse." InuYasha was blowing on his nails, pretending to find no interest in their conversation, "and because of his love of messing with people, I can assure you that there is no line he would not cross to get his way."

"Then how come you aren't married yet?" InuYasha muttered, looking far less secure in his status as an unmarried man as time went on, "too unpleasant?"

"Father has attempted to promise me off to one of the daughters of a lawmaker in Hokkaido." Sango's fingers twitched along his hand, but she said nothing as he continued, "however, I am under my grandmother's protection. She's made her will regarding my life very clear so -even when she dies- father will be powerless." If there was one person who he obeyed, no matter the distance, it was Grammy. A mama's boy through and through.

"Your grandma on your mom's side or our grandma?" InuYasha pushed, searching for an out that he would not find in Grammy.

If there was anyone more anti-America than Sesshomaru, it was his Grammy. Mother never wanted to tell him outright, fearful that his 'xenophobia' would worsen, but he was suspicious that his great grandfather had been a victim of the second bomb.

Which definitely did make him hate America -and all who lived there- just a little bit more.

"Does it matter? We share a father, but my grandmother will have nothing to do with you." Which wasn't him being possessive -well, it was, but it also wasn't, "she's not a fan of many people and I don't doubt that your existence upsets her enough without being faced with your presence."

Sango heaved a heavy kind of huff, the kind that made her cheeks all round and puffy, "you're incredibly rude some days."

He rolled his eyes, "I'm only telling the truth. She hates America and anything associated with it. She threatened to throw herself off the balcony if father showed up to InuYasha's birth, because, 'there's no point in me living in a world where you acknowledge that broad's bastard baby'."

Kagome cleared her throat, "so your grandmother isn't going to help him."

"Not if he were on fire and she was holding a hose."

He wondered if people thought him to be born malicious. Did they imagine a whimpering, pink bundle of silver hair and bad intentions, not knowing that he'd been as blind as a newborn pup? Or did they think he grew into it? He could imagine that people fantasized about how he burned ants beneath a magnifying glass when, instead, he'd spent his days in his mother's lap, listening to the legend of the kingdomless warlord.

Being faced with other people's perceptions of him could sometimes be entertaining and this was one of those times.

"So what's he supposed to do?" Higurashi insisted. She seemed mighty worked up over something that had nothing to do with her. He realized, a bit later, that she may be worried about her own family. If Touga would stop at nothing then surely he'd hurt InuYasha's friends as well.

He'd need to enlist grammy's protective powers for Sango sooner than later.

"His best bet is compliance. People have disappeared for less."

InuYasha would be paired with someone lovely enough and so he wasn't particularly worried. Sesshomaru's reasons for refusing to marry Haruhi were far more personal.

It started with Sara. He'd become taken with the idea of her and the forever they could build. Maybe she wasn't the one he'd been born to find, but she could be comfortable. So he'd pushed past his limits and set his mind to making a life for them. It would be difficult at first. They wouldn't see one another very often, but that had been fine.

Well, it had been fine for him.

Then he found his own destiny. He didn't need love and he didn't need women, his friendships were enough. To marry someone so soon after Sara's betrayal would have taken away from his own growth and self discovery.

And finally, Sango. That bit of infatuation hit him like a train. Dear God. How could he ever love someone whose eyes didn't light with the force of the cosmos when she prepared herself to say something nasty. And how could he content himself with a woman who couldn't knock the air out of him when she laughed? What was the point if she wasn't earnest and vibrant and ambitious?

So, even if Haruhi would have been a fine match, she wasn't his match, because -in the end- it wasn't Haruhi that he'd followed across a dozen lifetimes.

"What if compliance isn't an option?" Sango asked. She was blowing on the pale pink polish, looking to be quite proud of her prowess.

He considered that, "then he should prepare himself for a world of hurt."

oOo

A.N./ it's about time to start some shit :)