Okay...I'm still alive. I haven't gotten too far with the next chapter of 'Those Eyes' Though, but pleace don't kill me.

Review Responses:

amycool : Thanks for the review! I'm glad you like the story! I was looking at your fav list and it looks like we've beem reading a lot of the same stories...weird!

Suaru: Glad you like the chapter! It'll be a while before Those Eyes is updated though. I know it's been a long time...but there's nothing I can do...(Well, there is, but I won't) Thanks for the review! It means a lot to me that you're reading both of my stories!

pwalefriend: I'm so glad you like this story! I'm so happy it's on your fav list (I saw it! It made me feel special) Yes, he probably should dump her, but hey, it might take a while hee hee...And I love Sess and Rin too! I'm glad I was able to put them in this story!

Chapter Fifteen: (Wow, can't believe I actually made it this far!)

So Close

He was looking across the street through the window in the living room. How many times had he done this? Thousands of times, it seemed. 'Ever since father died...ever since I had to raise Inuyasha...' He thought to himself. And it was true. Once their father and Inuyasha's mother had passed on, Sesshoumaru frequently found himself staring out of the large bay window, gazing at strangers as they walked by. It had always been a good stress relief for him. Seeing unhappy people having bad days, dropping their belongings, loosing their wigs in the wind; it made his life seem so much better.

But he had to admit that this was the first time he had looked out of the window in order to keep watch of someone. Sure, he had waited out for Inuyasha when he was late to get home from parties, but...it wasn't like he glued himself to the window then. He would sneek a peek occasionally, hoping to spot his brother making his way down the old sidewalk, hoping to honor his father's last wishes. 'Sesshoumaru, please watch after your brother.' He had said, or something along those lines.

'Father, why did you leave this responsibilty unto me? Doesn't the hanyou have some aunts or uncles or someone?' He thought to himself. To be perfectly honest, his father's wish wasn't fair. Sesshoumaru had been kept from so many things because of the heavy burden of his younger brother, half brother mind you. He had dreams...didn't everyone at some point in time? But he gave them all up, had to.

Because if it was one thing Sesshoumaru would not do, he would not dishonor his father. Sesshoumaru may not come off as the most honorable, trustworthy person, youkai, whatever, but...think about it.

No one said he had to take care of Inuyasha, he was only asked to. And no one forced him to help his younger half brother with his newly found powers. And he certainly was not entitled to taking care of Rin, the young girl he was currently watching over.

The young brunette was currently writing in chalk on the sidewalk. Her hair was still a mess, just like when he had first found her, but he at least had the decency to give her clean clothes. She was wearing one of Inuyasha's old outfits: a red T-shirt and khaki shorts. She looked clean now, not cute.

...But why was he watching this young girl so closely? 'That creep might be around.'Sesshoumaru thought venomously. Who is that creep? Naraku of course. Everytime Sesshoumaru thought of that creep...that bastard...he couldn't help but want to kill him.

Sesshoumaru was thought of as a cold, heartless bastard at times. But if you really knew him, you couldn't deny that he was not so cold, and he was definately not heartless. He was just...pushed too far at times. Even as a youkai, one could only be stretched so much. But right now, he was feeling very relaxed. Watching the innocent girl playing games on the street was quite comforting to him.

But that still didn't change things. What Inuyasha had told him earlier...he couldn't get it off his mind.

'It was that creep Naraku, he kidnapped Kagome.'

It almost sent shivers down his spine, almost.

Why don't page breaks work?

He leaped over the rooftops gracefully. 'Got to get Kagome.' He thought, determined. His clothes flapped in the wind as he continued on his way across the town. 'Twenty blocks this way, ten to the left...' He imagined a map of the town in his head as he gracefully jumped. His feet made a light thud as they connected with the cement tops of the tall buildings. 'This town is pretty big...' He thought to himself, a little off topic at the moment.

'Kagome...' He thought to himself. 'This, this is all my fault. I should have gone faster. I should have tried harder. I let her go, and for what? For her to get kidnapped? Sure, I didn't know someone was chasing her, but I should have. I should have known. I should have saved her. And if she gets hurt because I was being stupi...I could never forgive myself if that happened.' Now, with more determination then before, he sped up more as he came close to the warehouse. 'So close...' He thought to himself proudly.

He leaped from the last rooftop. 'Almost there.'

Quite surprisingly, he froze while being high in the air.

"What the hell is this!" He yelled.

There he was, dangling in a fixed position roughly one hundred feet from the ground. "Perfect!" He spat cynically as he stared down at the cement street under him. "I just couldn't go straight into the warehouse and kick some ass...this just had to happen..." He grumbled about evil authoresses as he tried to figure out just what was holding him up.

"Hair?" He found himself asking soon enough. He could barely see the fine strings, but he could defenately feel them as they began to cut in to his skin. He wiggled around a bit only to find that his body was not going anywhere. "Well," He began sardonically. "Who ever did this was obviously creative, I have to give them some credit." He paused for a moment, a crimson flash crossing his eyes. "But I'm afraid I'll have to destroy this little obstacle." He smirked as he cracked his clawed fingers.

He quickly swung his arm back, then quickly sliced through the hair around him.

And naturally, he began to fall as the hair broke.

Unfortunately for him, he only cut the hairs above him and was now dangeling from his feet. "Damn you..." He grumbled.

"Hahahaha." His ears twitched as he heard the pitched laughter.

"Who's there?" He called loudly, trying desperately to sound nice. (It wasn 't working too well.)

"I don't think it's 'who' you should be worried about, it's what, Inuyasha."

Urgg...page break here...

"Hey."

She jumped from her desk, her papers flying across the floor of the cubicle.

"Sorry Miss Sango, I didn't mean to surprise you." Miroku quickly began as he helped pick up the papers.

"Miroku?" She raised an eyebrow as she swivled around in her chair. "What are you doing here?"

He stood up from picking up the papers and placed his hand innocently behind his head. "Well...I just wasnted to see how you were." He smiled sheepishly. 'Why am I here? I know I want to help Kagome's friend, but couldn't someone else have done this?'

"How I am?" She repeated. "Fine, I guess. Why? Did something happen?" She stopped cleaning and stood up.

He sent her a confused look. 'What does she mean by that?'

"Miroku? What happened?" A worried look spread across her features as she looked at him for an answer.

"You mean you don't know?" He asked dumbly. 'Wait...they probably didn't know that it was Kagome who was kidnapped...she couldn't have heard it on the news yet. Shit!' "Um..." He could feel a cold sweat coming across his forhead. "Uh..." How was he supposed to put it? Would she ask him how he knew? What would he say to that?

"Um...nothing. Nothing happened." He smiled innocently, or at least what he hoped was innocently as he handed her the papers he had picked up. 'God, I hope she believes that...' He thought privately as he looked around the cubicle.

An awkward silence filled the small cubicle as they both stood there staring at each other. 'He's lying, I can tell.' She thought skeptically as she turned to put the papers in order. 'But...if he really doesn't want to tell me...should I push it? That would be kind of mean of me, wouldn't it?' She shook her head. 'I'll leave the kid alone.' She opened a near by file cabinet and threw the papers in, she could file them later. "Whatever, kiddo. You want to grab some coffee or something?"

He smiled in releif, thankful that she changed the direction of the conversation completely."Yea...sure."

This is really getting ridiculous, nothing is working...

"How do you know my name!" He yelled, twisting his body in order to see the person speaking to him. He was surprised at himself for realizing that his name was spoken. Something like that would have easily been forgotten while he was fighting, but not today for some reason.

"How do I know your name?" The voice repeated, obviously feminine. "Because I know you, stupid!" He then heard a faint bout of laughter.

"Who are you?" He asked, trying unsuccessfuly to untangle himself.

"I'm not telling." The voice replied flirtaciously. "Let's just say we're...acquaintences." He heard yet another rippling of laughter as he felt the chords or hair bouncing. Whoever she was, she was moving.

He stiffened, not sure what to do. The hairs had such a tight hold of him...he could just barely move, and he might not ever see this person who was causing his immobility. 'I hope she doesn't randomly attack me.' He thought.

"So Inuyasha," The voice began. " I hear you're trying to save Kagome today." There was a pause, he felt her stop moving for a moment.

"And what of it?" He asked, trying to get some information.

"Oh, nothing." The voice answered. He felt a light tug on the hair and asumed she was adjusting her weight.

"Look, if you know what I'm ding, stop getting in my way and just let me help her." He ground out, frustrated. "I have no idea what's happening to her, and I have to save her." He admitted lightly as he tried again to break the hair by stretching it.

"Dammit!" He spat as the cords refused to break.

He then heard more laughter, deeper than before, but the same person. "You don't know?" He could feel the hair vibrating from her laughter. "Of course you don't know. You're not involved in this. You should stop sticking your noise in other people's business. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have had to get up this morning." She tugged at the hair, applying pressure around his neck. "It's a Sunday morning you know." She spat out. He could feel her prescence near him now. "You have school tomorrow."

Inuyasha tried to turn his head to face her but he could only see a blurry profile from where he was. " If Kagome's involved, it's ALL of my business. Just because I don't know for sure what's going on doesn't mean I can't guess. And I couldn't really care less about when you had to wake up." He angrily flewed his flaws and angrily fought with the hairs wrapped around him. "Iron Reaver soul stealer!" He yelled angrily as he swung his arm, surprised at his own aggression. A small bright flash blossomed from his hand and the hairs encircling his arms disintegrated.

The strings around his body loosened, and he felt his body begin to fall.

He made a quick grab at the hairs loosening around his neck and pulled himself. And then he heard the laughing from behind him.

"Not very graceful, are we?" Inuyasha ignored the comment as he looked for an escape, but he was very high up and he didn't have anything to push off of or jump from. "Would you just give up? This is pitiful." The woman commented as she stood staring at him and his fumbling around.

"What would you suggest I do? Give up and fall?" He snapped angrily. Seeing her face for the first time as he turned his head.

Her thin red lips contorted into a smile, her dark eyes dancing in delight. "If that's what you really want to do. But I was suggesting something more like...I don't know...asking me for help?" Her shoulders shook with compressed laughter as she balanced on one foot, the other gracefully bent in the air.

Inuyasha scoffed loudly. "How stupid do you think I am?"

"Well according to your report card, pretty stupid." She walked forward on a single thread, perfectly balanced. "And there's the fact you haven't thought of one particularly obvious strategy." She bit her lip as she reached into the belt hanging loosely around her tight leather dress. "Here's my baby!" She said happily as she pulled a pair of scissors from the belt. They sparkled in the sunlight as she held them above her head.

She twirled them in a quick circle before she dove down at him, cutting the hairs that were holding him, letting him drop as she balanced on strong band of hair.

He yelled in surprise as he saw his hair float in front of his face and he tried desperately to grab even the thinnist string, anything to slow the fall.

Guess what? Page Break!

"Where's the damn jewel!" The man yelled loudly as he punched the wall beside her head.

"I told you, I don't have it!" She spat angrily. She had let people walk all over her, but it wasn't going ot happen again, not now anyway. If she gave into his threats Miroku would be in danger. There was no way he could stand even the smallest chance against these strong men.

"I know that already, bitch! You tell me where you put it before I got you!" He brought his hand dangerously close to the small sheath to his side.

"I don't know!" She answered angrily.

"You gave it to someone didn't you?" The man questioned loudly as he slapped his leg, cursing to himself.

"Who did you give it to?" The feminine man yelled as he stepped forward. "We WILL find that jewel either way. But the easier you make it for us, the easier we make this for you." He bribed.

"Calm down Jak, " The leader placed his large hand on the man's chest, ignoring the now rapid heartbeat of the other man. "We have to be careful. Too many people already got involved. There was that cop, that kid, and to top it all off, Dogman. Knowing who has the jewel won't make this any easier."

The man whined. "But everyone thinks Dogman's bad now, I saw it on the news!"

"But that won't stop him from trying to stop us. He is our main obstacle right now. We find the jewel after he's dead."

Kagome looked at the conversing two. 'People are mad at Dogman?' Obviously she had missed something while being kidnapped. Had he done something wrong? Something must have gone horribly wrong. Wasn't Dogman trying to save her? Yes, so...what, what did they think he did?

The men had stopped arguing for a moment. "Look, girl, we will find out sooner or later. But for now, we're giving you a break." They sent her a blank stare before leaving through a pair of steal doors.

And she was alone once again. But she was thankful they hadn't put cloth over her mouth again. She found that quite uncomfortable. But what was she supposed to do now? She looked around the room, nothing but darkness met her.

'Oh well.' She thought to herself. She looked around again, slowly feeling the weariness she had gained. She had completely forgotten how tired she was, she had only been gone a day, but she was so incredibly tired. So...feeling comfort in her solitude, she fell asleep.

Suspense...you feeling it or not?

His eyes remained wide in shock as he laid on the ground. He was alive; he survived the fall. 'I...I thought I would die...' He thoguth to himself as he slowly bent himself up. "What...happened?" All he could remember was the fall. Nothing else came to mind.

"About that strategy you weren't thinking of..." He looked up at the sound of the voice, and then the memories came crashing back to him.

"You!" He pointed an accusing claw at her as he flexed his hands and stood up to face her.

"...You didn't remember your own strength. You could fall with out dying, so why not fall." She finished her statement and prepared her scissors for an attack.

He charged at her angrily, fistes extended, but she quickly jumped above him, laughing. "I will not be defeated so easily."

I'm going to hurt someone if I have to do this for the rest of my writing career...

Well...it turned out they were going for a walk rather than coffee. Or at least that's what he had assumed. They had been walking for a while now, and he hadn't gotten his coffee. But that was okay. The comfortable silence between them was quite refreshing, even though it didn't provide him with any caffeine.

Unfortunately, he had this uncontrolable urge to do something perverted. The only thing that was really stopping him from doing so was the fact that Sango was not only older than him, but there was also the fact she was his friend's boss. He didn't want Kagome to get fired...right after she came home from being kidnapped, that was. And thinking of that, he couldn't help feeling like he wouldn't see Kagome for such a long time. 'Were we really that close? I miss her an awful lot for someone I haven't known for long.' He thought to himself as he kept up with Sango's pace.

Well, it didn't really matter. Good friend or not, he hoped she would be saved soon. "I wonder if Dogman will be the one to save her." He said at loud.

"What?" Sango tilted her head to the side and looked at him curiously. (Boy, did Miroku think that was cute!)

"Nothing!" He answered too quickly.

'Why's the kid being so weird...?' She thoguht to herself as she shrugged her shoulders and kept walking. 'Who needs to be saved by that bastard, anyway? Don't tell me Miroku believes in all that crap.' She rolled her eyes and began to walk faster.

"Why are you waking so fast?" He found himself asking as he tried to catch up.

"Hmm?" Sango mummbled.

"Miss Sango?" He placed his hand on her shoulder.

She jumped out of her skin as she turned to face him. "What?" She asked, as if she just noticed him.

"Why are you walking so fast? Is something wrong?" He looked genuinly worried, she thought it was cute.

"It's nothing, sorry. I just do that sometimes." She smiled and started walking again.

He followed her again. "So where are we giong anyway?" 'We're getting really close to that factory...'

"Just a short cut. There's a nice cafe close to here." She smiled, about to say something when a loud shriek interupted her.

"GOD DAMMIT!"

Page Break...

She looked down at her hair that had just been cut. "I will not forgive you for this. I've been pretty nice so far, but not anymore." The woman glared at him as she fingered the burnt edges of her now short hair. "No one touches my hair." She glared at him, preparing for an attack.

She stood in a offensive position, but she didn't move. And that, that was frustrating Inuyasha. So he charged at her before she started.

"Perfect" She said in a low voice, waiting for him.

He leapt in the air, aiming for her left shoulder with his claws.

Her lips twisted into a smile as the claws dug in. Her eyes twinkled as she brought the scissors in her right hand up and slashed the side of his face.

His expression changed from anger to surprise, and then it contorted into anger again. He groaned. "I'm tired of messing with you." He said angrily as he pushed her to the ground. He then bounded off towards a roof, taking one last look down at her.

He smiled and waved as he neared the roof, but then with a quick motioin of her hand in his direction a thick cord of hair raced towards him.

He couldn't dodge it fast enough and it wrapped around his leg. WIth the force of his jump and the strength of the hair he heard the sickening crack of his own bones and landed on his face. He was now on a rooftop with a broken leg. He wasn't looing very impressive.

She skipped up along the cord of hairs to his side and stood above him, laughing at his agonized expression. "Heh..." She laughed menacingly as she spun the scissors around her finger. "Well...even though I have the perfect opportunity...I'm not going to kill you. Someone already has first dibs." She laughed and grabbed the scissors, stopping them from spinning. "But, that scratch on your face will probably scar, and that leg won't heal over night. I hope I left a lasting memory. Have fun at school. And you better not try to save the girl today, not in your condition." She jumped onto a stable string of hair and quickly made her exit.

"Not this again..."

Blah blah blah page break

They stood there frozen. Had they just seen Dogman defeated by some crazy hair girl? "Sango, did you see that?" Miroku asked, his eyes never leaving the rooftop. They didn't know what had happened last, what the woman had said because the edge of the roof obscured their vision.

"Yes." She answered dryly. She had to admit she was surprised. Not by seeing Dogman, that had happened quite a few times, but by seeing him be beaten. She remaind calm, controling her laughter and turned to look at Miroku. "What's wrong?" She frowned.

"Do...do you think we should help him?" He asked innocently.

"No." She answered quickly.

He turned to face her quickly, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, he can help himself." She offered, grabbing his arm and dragging him down the street. "It's not our job to save heros." She explained.

Um...Sango's strange...hard to believe there will eventually be SxM Fluff or something...well, not in this chapter, but in the future...

She looked around the dark office. "What does Naraku want from me?" She asked. No one was in the room but her at the moment. She sat on the small leather chair, her legs crossed and her lips pursed.

He had ordered her over here an hour ago, and he wasn't even here? It made no sense, but as she learned with Naraku, most of what he did didn't make sense. What did he want, really?

She didn't understand him at all. She would have never helped him or gotten involved with him if he hadn't promised her Inuyasha. That's all she was after anyway. She wasn't that difficult.

But Naraku...she wasn't sure he knew what it was he wanted. First all she had to do was distract Inuyasha so that Kagome would be alone and unprotected, but everything had gotten much more complicated. What was it about that girl that Naraku wanted her so much? Was he some pedaphile? Or...was there something else? Something she wouldn't understand?

She shook her head. She didn't care about Kagome. Naraku could rape her for all she cared. She just wanted her man...who was also obssessed with Kagome.

She hadn't realized that until recently, but it was pretty obvious. She knew he was always thinking of her, Kagome. His mind was never on Kikyo, and that hurt. All she wanted was some attention...

Her eyes stung at that thought. As simple as it seemed, all she wanted was attention. And because of that want, she was in this mess. She was frustrated with herself.

"Naraku, you are a horrible person. You said this would all be simple for me. I can't erase her from his mind. I just can't." She looked down. "Where are you, anyway?" She asked darkly.

The dark room didn't answer her, so she stood up and walked over to his desk. She scanned the wooden top and looked for a note or something explaining his abscence.

And then she found it.

A security camera. There he was...and there Kagome was as well. But Kagome was asleep.

"What is he doing?" She asked as she saw him reach out to the girl's face. The small embrace seemed so vile, even the sleeping Kagome flinched.

Naraku's lips curved into a smile and he caressed her cheek, smiling. She saw his lips move, saying something.

He seemed to kneel there for a while, speaking to the sleeping girl.

"What's he saying?" She asked herself, "I wish these cameras recorded sound." She mumbled as she stood up, preparing to leave the room, tired of watching the interaction.

'I kind of want to help Kagome.' She thought to herself as she found herself leaving the office and searching for the mismatched couple.

Her feet seemed to know where they were going and she quickly found herself in front of a large door, Naraku's voice coming from the room on the other side.

She stood at the door for a moment. Fist balled and on the door, ready to knock. 'Should I?'

"You're so beautiful when you're asleep. You look just like my wife did."

Her eyes widened. 'I...I don't like Kagome, but this sounds...wrong. I don't know! But I can't let Kagome just get raped...can I?'

She knocked against the door and opened it quickly.

She heard someone shuffle quickly, and an angry Naraku was facing her. "What the hell are you doing here?" He looked at her with wide eyes, both surprised and angry.

She shivered in his prescence. "You called. I have school tomorrow, I need to get home soon."

He rolled his eyes at her and motioned her to get out.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and made her way into the hall, thankful he was now following her and Kagome was alone again.

But she wondered if she had missed something while she ran down to that room...did something happen?

End of chapter...please review. And, Kikyo's not always bad...

Thanks for the reviews from last chapter! Please review for this chapter too! Hope you liked this one!