People stared at her when she entered and the teacher asked her why she took so long. She muttered an apology and just sat down when the bell rang.

Break time.

She slowly gathered her stuff and walked out of the door while the teacher glared at her for taking so long.

The hall was empty and she slowly made her way downstairs. She walked into the cafeteria and over to her friend. She could feel them coming closer. She reached her friend, pulled her up from where she was sitting and just looked at her for a moment ignoring her questions.

A tear made his way down her cheek and she stepped forward and hugged her friend.

She could sense that her friend was worried about her.

She pulled back and whispered in her ear.

"I am leaving. Don't ask me where I am going for I cannot tell you. I am sorry. Don't worry about me Gilluin, I will be in safe hands. I will remember you always. Please think of me sometime."

Aria pulled back and unclasped her beaded bracelet. They were getting a lot of stares. She was crying. Her friend was crying too and she was opening her mouth to question her but stopped when Aria handed over the bracelet.

"I want you to have this as a token of my friendship and to know I am sorry Gilluin. Don't blame yourself. You are a great friend. I will love you always."

They were at the gates. She could hear the gasps and speculations from outside.

"I have to go. Don't forget me. You will never know how truly sorry I am. Live your life and don't take shit from anybody my friend."

She stared into Gilluins eyes again for a moment and saw that even if she didn't understand any of this, she did understand that she was leaving. It was tearing her up inside.

She hugged her for the last time. "I'm sorry Gil."

Aria turned around and slowly walked towards the door.

A crowd was gathered outside.

She knew that her friend was following her.

Everybody was staring at the gates and they were gossiping amongst themselves.

She worked her way through the crowd and stood still when she could see them clearly.

Both were dressed in their usual robes, weapons at their sides, emotionless masks firmly in place but eyes darting around. Their in this time weird clothing did nothing to mask their beauty though and she could hear all the girls swooning over him. A group of bossy girls from her class had walked over to them and they were batting their lashes and trying to talk to them.

They were completely ignored but even from where she was standing she could see the narrowing of their eyes. She almost laughed at that.

As soon as she came into view their gazes locked onto her and they smirked. The cat got the birdie and it has nowhere to go. She shuddered.

She could see her soul around them. It was pulsing. Calling to her. Calling for her to take it back. It was crying for her to take it back. It hurt.

It was so strange seeing them here. So unreal. She half expected a man dressed up as Jaken to jump out from behind a tree and tell her it was all a joke.

To bad no such thing happened.

They looked at each other for a moment.

Everybody was outside now. They were looking between her and the two gorgeous lords. People couldn't understand how she knew them. Some people were whispering about her. Exchanging certain 'facts'. Most were still drooling over the two lords though.

Hiei and Sesshoumaru heard the whispers loud and clear. They narrowed their eyes. How dare they speak about what was theirs in that way. They also heard the whispers about their beauty and how most females wouldn't mind being in their beds. They were discussed. Like they would lower themselves to rutting with the likes of them. The stench alone would be unbearable.

Sesshoumaru held out his hand and said.

"Aria."

It became quiet and everybody just stared.

Aria looked at them for a moment and they could see the sadness in her eyes.

Hiei also held out his hand and said.

"Aria. Come, you belong with us now."

She sighed, looked down and slowly walked over.

When she was almost within their reach she looked up to them for a moment. Then she turned towards the door and searched for Gilluin. Their eyes met and Gilluin smiled a sad smile. Aria smiled back and bowed deep to her in goodbye. Gilluin looked confused for a moment but bowed back.

Aria turned slowly, looked from their hands to their eyes and slowly took both hands. They pulled her to their bodies, put their hands around her waist and shoulders and surrounded themselves in her comforting scent.

She sighed and savored the embrace for a moment.

Aria then turned in their embrace and looked to the people gathered for a moment. She could see the jealousy and envy in their gazes. They were all stunned though. She smiled in pure amusement. She turned again and said.

"Let's go."

The two lords smiled for a moment and Sesshoumaru gathered her in his arms.

"My bike..."

"You will not need it anymore."

She sighed. She was tired. She snuggled into Sesshoumaru's arms and laid her head on his chest. She closed her eyes and savored his embrace.

She could feel Sesshoumaru turning towards the gates. Something was being said but she couldn't hear what it was. Sesshoumaru growled deep in his chest and turned with a quick movement. Aria opened her eyes and turned her head to look. Her eyes widened in shock.

Hiei was standing at the edge of the crowd and he was holding Lieke, a girl from her class and a number one bitch/slut, up in the air with his hand around her neck. Effectively cutting off her air supply.

"Human filth."

Hiei snarled.

"You will not speak about her in such a way. She is ours and far better than the likes of you. Also, we would never lower our self to rutting with a common whore such as yourself."

Lieke's 'friends' made sounds of shock. No one ever talked to her that way. Lieke's face was becoming blue and her eyes were wide with fear for the youkai in front of her. She had never seen anything like him and his companion and wanted them for herself. But now she wanted nothing more than to crawl up in a hole from the way his flaming red eyes were glaring at her.

A boy, Lieke's current boyfriend was knocked away with a flick of Hiei's arm when he tried to get Hiei to release his girl. Hiei didn't even look at the boy.

"So, whore, any last words?"

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Again a cliffy. Ah well.... You can take comfort in the fact that I will post the rest of this story soon so you don't have to use those pitchforks and rotten tomato's.

Thank you for reading. I hope you liked it. I would love to know what you think about the story so please review. I have a one-shot posted as well that is a bit of a precursor to this story. It's called storm. Very cute one-shot. Thanks again for reading.

Ja ne!

Grz xxx Aria-Chan