AN: So many detentions these days - I'm dodging them left and right! Who would have thought you'd get into trouble for calling a teacher a hypocritical sadist? You learn new things every day...

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Rules of Acquisition

True identity. True feelings.

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~Inuyasha~

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There was something pleasant about waking up with someone else close beside you. I wasn't exactly what you'd call the sentimental and romantic type of guy, but after being shoved around repeatedly by people who just didn't care...it was nice to just be this close to someone who did.

She was still asleep... and it was only now that I realised how much like an angel she was. If not in appearance than in her nature. I really hadn't been sure what kind of greeting I would get when I went there. She'd just broken up with me rather heatedly... and I was sure she would still be mad at me. But even though I turned up out of no where she let me in... gave me her bed and didn't demand explanations.

I had to have been the luckiest guy on the planet... if you just ignored all that not-so-lucky stuff that had been happening recently. I didn't deserve her... but then again, maybe just being the pathetic looser I am made the powers that be take pity on little old me. I'd been a fool to nearly let her slip away... if she'd been anyone else she would have just locked her window and let me rot.

I was such a fool...

I tightened my hold around her and brought her closer against me, feeling her sigh softly against my collar bone as she shifted to get comfortable in the new position. Light was beginning to filter through the window behind me, the rain on the glass making each drop shine like a diamond. She would wake up soon... making me wonder if she would demand questions when she did. I didn't want to answer questions just yet... I just wanted to hold her in my arms. Right then, in that bed, the problems in the universe beyond that bedroom didn't matter. They didn't exist, and I didn't have to worry about them. Yet.

But who needed a family like mine when I had Kagome? She accepted me no matter what. And yeah, my father isn't exactly the best specimen for sentient kindness, seeing as he would happily kick me out the front door for the sake of an argument about a dead woman. But what about the rest of my family? Note the lack of people who stood up and thwapped Dad on the head and told him to stop being so stupid and irrational? No one in that household stood up to him, no one argued with him when he knocked me about... the most they did was just stick me in bed and hope for the best. No plaster or bandage to go with that slither of consideration.

They were heartless pigs, every single one of them. I felt no attachment towards any of them. I was just waiting to get a big enough salary from the hospital so I could move out of that hell hole and start climbing the career ladder. It might help on application forms if I could say I was the son of the Prime Minister though...

"...Mm... peanut butter... n' Jellyfish..." Kagome muttered against my chest as she began to come out of her deep state of unconsciousness.

I absently stared at the wall behind her as one hand played with a lock of her hair, smoothing it between my fingers. My other hand was acting almost on a will of it's own - doing a 'Miroku' as some might call it. Nothing too bad like the monk, but it roamed idly from resting against her hip, to sliding across her back softly before smoothing down the length of her arm. She was a short sleeved pyjama top with matching shorts, seeing as it was late summer and all. My hand slowed against the soft skin of her exposed arms, taking in the unbelievably smooth. She must have used some kind of cream or something, because I could have sworn none of my skin was that tender.

Then my fingers swept against a raised welt on her inner arm and I felt her twitch in pain in her sleep. That got my attention, and I looked down with a frown to see what the problem was.

Oh yeah... that healing scab along her forearm, I'd forgotten about it. I'd seen it the other night at the opera hall, and she'd lied about how she'd gotten it. I don't know why she lied, but she had. She was always really obvious when she lied. If she talked normally her eyes were bright and she often smiled, even if she talked about injuries or other kinds of experiences that most people wouldn't smile about. But when she told lies her eyes dulled somehow and she didn't smile, like she was trying hard to school her expression from revealing too much.

She'd acted too casual about it.

Looking at it now... I couldn't help but feel a slightly nagging feeling of familiarity with the wound. It was very much like a wound I had seen recently... like a wound that had been on my face.

A cold rush of surprise shot through me as my brain made the association. But there was no doubt about it. A clean straight cut like that couldn't have been made by frayed wire in a library. It had to have been made with a knife of a claw - but considering it was a slightly curved line - like she'd been slashed, I'd say she'd either been attacked by a knife wielding maniac or a demon with claws. But why wouldn't she tell me the truth?

I stared at the injury on her arm, trying to figure out why she would keep the truth from me? I mean... it wasn't me who made the cut, I would have known about it. So that ruled me out of suspects. But who else could have done it? She didn't know any other demons did she? She didn't get into a fight with her father did she?

No, wait, that was just my kinda thing.

It hadn't been me accidentally... had it?

I frowned in concentration as I tried to think back. No... I'd never cut her... the only thing that came close to cutting someone on the arm accidentally had been that time I'd fought with that mystery Higurashi spy. I hadn't really been aware of it at the time. I'd cut her without realising, and only when I took my gloves off, I realised in the fight one of my claws had cut through the material, the tip stained dark brown with scentless blood.

Realisation slowly crept up on me like a shadow being cast over my mellow mood. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled as a loosened my hold on the girl in my arms. I slowly looked down at her peaceful face, and then back at the cut on her arm.

I'd done it to her. I'd cut her, attacked her and nearly beat her senseless. Deliberately. God, I could have killed her...

It made such perfect sense now. All the missing, annoying pieces of the puzzle that had alluded me before now all slotted together in the correct pattern. The mystery girl who always hung around with Sango at night... I could never find her companion during the day, even though she'd been right under my nose the whole time. Who else could it have been other than Kagome?

The girl in the night had been only slightly skilled... she'd fumbled like an amateur, but she'd compensated for her lack of experience through strange, slightly creepy powers I'd assumed belonged to a witch. No... not a witch... a miko...

It made sense. Her family was descended of mikos since ancient times, though none of the other Higurashi's had displayed such powers since Midoriko...

It was hard to take in and my head was beginning to spin as I slowly started to untangle myself from her arms. She only tightened her hold, and in slight panic I hurriedly tried to extract myself, my sudden movements rousing her from her sleep.

"... What...?" Kagome inhaled deeply as she began to sit up as my warmth left her side. She rubbed a hand over her face and tried to focus bleary eyes on me. "Mornin'..."

Footsteps sounded outside in the hall, they were too fast for me to hide before the door crashed open, revealing a rather out of breath looking Sango, clutching an injured arm. She had her fevered gaze locked on Kagome in an instant. "Kagome - we have a... serious..." she trailed off as he gaze found me, backing off the bed, away from Kagome. "...problem..."

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~Kagome~

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I was completely confused when I woke up. Some luxurious warmth had just left and a draughty cold suddenly filled its place. I shivered and began to sit up, wondering what the heck that warmth had been anyway. Then I remembered... it was Inuyasha. But why was he getting up so quickly? Didn't demon's get headrushes too? Those things were a pain...

"...What...?" I muttered thickly as I half attempted to stretch out the kinks in my arms before lamely trying to rub the sleep the sleepy muzz from my face. I smiled in greeting at Inuyasha, too unfocused to really notice the panicked look he was giving me. "Mornin'..."

Ah... here was my headrush! I really shouldn't have sat up so soon.

Suddenly the door burst open without any warning and bounced against the wall behind it. I was still too muggy to really be surprised, or register the fact that anyone walking into my room right then would immediately draw the bad conclusion.

"Kagome - we have a... serious..." She trailed off and I glanced across at her to see her staring openly at Inuyasha. "... problem..."

It hit me right then that this could turn quite nasty. I darted cautious looks between Sango and Inuyasha, watching them stare at each other, waiting for one or the other to speak.

"I was just..." Inuyasha gestured to the bed, at a loss for adjectives.

"I know... Miroku said you were... out..." She said quietly, staring at him with a strangely vacant expression. After a moment she seemed to jerk out of her surprise as she turned to me and cleared her throat. "Um... talk to me later... I'll be in the kitchen..."

She darted Inuyasha one last look before walking out again, her hands too full with holding her damaged arm to close the door again. I stared after her a moment before sliding off the bed to shut the door slowly before turning back to Inuyasha, about to speak, but the words I was about to say disappeared from my mind as I realised he was rather hurriedly getting dressed.

"You're going?" I asked tentatively.

"I shouldn't have come here." He answered curtly, jerking his shirt down over his head.

Ouch... that was a little harsh. "Aren't you at least gonna tell me what's wrong?"

He didn't answer and his expression remained fixed in an angry frown. He tugged his hair out from where it was trapped down his shirt and went to find his boots. I just watched him move, at a loss for what to do. Had he been drunk last night or something? Didn't he plan on coming here? Was that why he was so hasty to leave now? Maybe the argument we'd had the day before was still fresh in his mind... maybe he wanted to have been dumped.

"Did you run away from home or something?" I asked, remembering Sango's previous hint.

"It doesn't matter." He snapped.

"It does to me!" I started forward, standing over where he sat on the bed tying his laces. "Did you just come here to sleep with me or did you come to make up with me?"

His hands stilled over the knots he was tying. Staring at his face I could see his expression turn even stormier. "Neither. It was a mistake, I shouldn't have come here."

"So..." I struggled for words as he finished putting his shoes on. I had to delay him some more, I just didn't understand what he wanted from me. "So... you don't want to make up... with me...?"

He shrugged and headed towards the window, the epitome of apathy. My heart squeezed in my chest as he jerked the window open and swung out through the opening to the roof terrace below.

I ran to the window after him. "Is that it? Is that all you came for?!" I yelled, trying to keep from sounding hysterical.

He was all but running away, dropping down from the roof below and out of sight without an answer. Tears welled up in my eyes and a lump formed angrily in my throat, threatening to choke me. "Fine!" I screamed after him, sure he could still hear me. "Be that way! I don't want you either you big jerk! Go screw yourself!"

I slammed the window shut so hard the glass shuddered and threatened to shatter. I didn't care. I just stomped to my bed and grabbed my pillow, angry enough to try and vent the steam before it consumed me. Taking the pillow in one hand I hurled it around and threw it with all my might against the wall beside the window. It hit with a flop and flopped onto my desk, knocking over a few pen holders and an empty cola can.

It didn't help. Perhaps it would have been more satisfying to throw something that shattered on impact. Like that glass on the bed stand!

I picked it up in the heat of the moment, half blind with tears and angry rage. I pulled my hand back and was about to launch the glass at the wall, when the anger suddenly dissipated... I didn't have the gall to do something that bawdy.

God... I was too chicken to throw a stupid glass...

I set it back down in the bed stand and stood trembling with silent tears running down my cheeks. How could he play with me like this...? Maybe he really didn't care after all...? Maybe all I was, was a pretty face with a stupid last name... some toy to mess around with until he was bored. Then it was fun to drop me without a backward glance.

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~Inuyasha~

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I had to get out of there. And fast. The longer I stayed and looked at her the more aware I became of that increasing pain in my chest. In a relationship... as good as best friends... and unwittingly we were out to destroy each other. She was my enemy...

My breath was coming a little short as I all but bolted out of the Higurashi estate, taking a covered route so I wouldn't be seen by anyone else. I kept telling myself that the reason why I was dizzy was because of the charms and ofuda spells caking the place...

But I knew from experience that ofuda charms didn't make the heart ache like this.

I didn't stop running until I found myself by the docks. It was quite a good distance from Kagome's home... but I still felt the need to run away. From what? Was it normal to be this confused? I wanted to run some more... but there was no more places to run to other than back the way I had come. That wasn't an option.

The ships clanged and blared their horns in the distance in the harbour, and beneath the wall and rail I leaned on, the beach stretched on for quite some distance. It was going to be a fine day, even after last night's rain, so soon this place would be flocking with people out to catch a bit of summer sun.

But right then it was as good as deserted. That was ok, I guess... I didn't want to be around any crowds right then. I just folded onto the floor and gripped the steel poles of the rail while I dangled my legs over the edge. My heart was still thundering, even though it shouldn't have been. Maybe I had a heart condition like Mom? Maybe if I wasn't careful I'd die of something lame too...

It was strange how even in the most stressful moments, you still had time to wonder about the trivial things. Like how long that bill board advertising toilet paper had been up there...?

With a half sigh, half groan I let my forehead rest against the cold metal of the rails, closing my eyes in an effort to block out the world with at least one of my senses. Just to help I covered my ears with my hands and breathed through my mouth to rid myself of the tangy smell of sea salt.

Kagome... innocent, sweet, naïve Kagome was a spy... like Miroku, like Sango... like me in a way. I couldn't really be angry at her... I had no right to be angry. But I was.

How dare she do this? Risk her life and her innocence?! Exploit herself so her father could profit...

Ok, that made her sound like a prostitute or something... that wasn't how I saw her though. It just made me sad, if truth be told. The one normal person in my life was twice as strange as me.

Of course, there was always that excruciating guilt that I'd hurt her - deliberately. Twice I'd met her when she was masking her face and scent... twice I hadn't felt any inhibitions about beating her. Both times she'd escaped serious injury... but what about the next time? What if we'd met a third time and I hadn't known she was who she was... what if I'd hurt her more than just scraping her arm.

"Shit..." I whispered with feeling.

Well there wouldn't be any more risk from then on. I didn't want to help my father anymore... and I didn't want to help the Higurashi's either. Nor the Supei's. I'd had it up to my ears with politics and scandal and press and rumours. I wanted out and I was going to GET out of this.

I wouldn't be going home again. Not ever.

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~Kagome~

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Sango was in the kitchen, bandaging her arm carefully using her right hand and her teeth to guide the clean material. She looked up when I came in, at once I recognised her dubious expression.

"Thought you weren't ever going to get up." She commented as I sat down with a dull air, like the lump of useless mass that I was. She finished tying off the bandage and began putting away the first aid kit.

"What happened to your arm?" I asked automatically.

"I had a run in with Miroku..." she said quietly.

I stared at her, my eyes still felt strange after having cried for so long and hard. "He hurt you?" I guessed.

"No - I beat him into the ground." She said with a hint of cocky pride. "I did this number by falling down the stairs."

"You genius."

"Just call me Professor Sango." She sighed and sat down at the table opposite me. She went quite suddenly and just stared at me like she usually did when she either wanted money off me or wanted something more scandalous... like gossip. "So... what was with the Arashi in your room this morning?"

I'd expected the question, and I'd been preparing myself for answering. But it still felt like a punch in the gut. "We weren't doing anything... we just slept..."

"So that's why he was shirtless?" Sango gave me an amused look.

"He got caught in the rain!" I said defensively.

"Relax, Kagome. I don't believe for a minute that you even made it past first base. Seeing as you still had you pyjamas on and everything." She clasped a glass of orange juice she'd been drinking from and took a sip. "I doubt you'd bother getting primly dressed after doing anything dodgy... unless you really are a prude."

"Thanks." Sango was not helping. "You said you had a serious problem."

"Mm!" Sango set down her glass with a thump. "I know where the Shikon jewel is!"

That got my dim attention for the first time that morning. "For real?"

"Yeah. It's being held by a jewellery dealer on the other side of Tokyo." Sango rattled off. "Unfortunately that place is even harder to get into than the Supei's place - so we have to wait a while.

"Wait? What for?" I leaned forward in case I misheard anything.

"The beads going to be transported from the dealers place, where Kikyo and Naraku dropped it off for safe keeping, to the Supei's estate. While it's being transported it'll be vulnerable to abduction."

She made it sound like aliens were involved somewhere. "How do you know this?"

"Miroku told me." She said simply. "So on Tuesday the 23rd of June, the Shikon no Tama is going to be transported in an armoured vehicle down the main motorway through Tokyo and then down the main street in Giiza. As it passes through Giiza the speed limit drops and then it'll be moving at it's slowest - that's when we'll strike."

"We?" I echoed. "You want me to help I suppose...?"

"Of course!" she grinned at me. "Come on - tackling an armoured van at thirty miles an hour is a doddle."

I tried hard not to choke on my own spittle. "What?!"

"It's ok - I'll make the diversion - you do that voodoo invisibility thing and we're away!" Sango smiled. "Miroku's having a bash at it as well - but he's taking the 'safe' method of stealing it."

"Safe?" I asked.

"Well instead of intercepting the vehicle he plans to use all sorts of gizmos probably..." Sango gave a dull roll of her eyes. "You know boys and their toys."

"Boys and their toys..." that reminded me of other things.

Sango stared at me. "What are you, a parrot today?"

"Sorry..." I sighed and rubbed my eyes that were becoming suspiciously moist again. "It's just..."

Sango's smile faded from her face as she realised what I was trying to stop from happening. "Kagome?" she stood up and moved around the table to lean over me. "Are you ok? What's wrong? What happened?"

Her questions only seemed to make my chest squeeze even more painfully. "It's..." should I tell her...?

"Go on..." she rubbed my back comfortingly.

It tipped the balance and I began to break down into small floods of tears. "It's Inuyasha... h-he left me... j-just a game to him!"

I felt Sango's arms close tightly around me and I accepted her embrace greedily, trying to gain some comfort. It didn't work as well as I hoped. She wasn't Inuyasha... she didn't have his strong shoulders, firm chest... or his unique smell of pine and washing powder. But I was going to have to settle for less than him now.

"I heard from Miroku..." Sango said hesitantly. "Inuyasha left last night... he didn't go back. Miroku called a few minutes earlier asking if I'd seen him... he still hasn't gone back home yet."

"What did you tell him?" I hiccuped.

"I told him he was with you." She answered firmly. "I didn't need to lie..."

"That's ok..."

Sango pulled away to look at me seriously. "It was you who took the film wasn't it?"

I gulped and averted my gaze. I'd almost forgotten about that - though I was sure it was be a fresh thorn in Sango's side for a while.

"Right?" Sango pressed.

"Yeah..." I sniffed.

She sighed heavily and enveloped her arms carefully around me again. "It's ok... I understand."

"Really?"

"No... but I will one day." She said tightly, giving me a light squeeze. "Don't worry about it, it wasn't that important."

I had a feeling she was still fibbing. That film had meant a lot to her and her bank account. I felt a little bad... but I was certain I'd done the right thing then. But right then, I half wished I'd printed those pictures myself and got them plastered on mugs and shirts and posters all over Tokyo.

A slight needy need for revenge... maybe it would pass. I hoped it would pass, soon at least. Because when I passed I knew I would feel better, I wouldn't hurt anymore.

But until then...

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AN: Ok, Inuyasha's run away from home and Kagome will probably want to run away from home when her dad finds out about the wasted film ^_^;; A sappy chapter is coming up next time (I think)