"Alright Kagome. We've waited all day!" Yuka declared.

Kagome looked up from the fries she was eating and blinked at her friends rapt faces with confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't act like you don't know." Eri said. "You haven't said anything about your boyfriend since you got back."

"My…my boyfriend?"

"You know." Ayumi supplied. "The violent one."

"Oh." Kagome laughed sheepishly, lifting a hand and waving it dismissively, shaking her head. "There's nothing to tell really. He was sick for a few days. He just got better yesterday."

"Wow. You got him sick too." Ayumi said. "You're not still contagious are you?"

Kagome sighed in exasperation as Eri and Yuka cringed back in fear. "He just got a little cold. But he's so stubborn and thick headed that he won't admit it. He didn't even thank me for taking care of him."

"You mean you nursed him back to health? How romantic." Ayumi said dreamily.

"Well I don't expect him to admit it." Eri said. "A rough and tough guy like that wouldn't want to be caught being weak."

Kagome sighed. "That's it exactly."

"What a jerk." Yuka accused. "Didn't you even say anything about it, Kagome?"

Kagome toyed with the straw of her drink. "Well I tried but he just got really irritated and started yelling. So I just kinda dropped the subject." Kagome glanced down at her watch and sighed, standing up. She'd promised Inuyasha she'd be back after the test. She wouldn't be surprised if he was waiting at the house for her already.

'He's so impatient.' She mused.

"Kagome! Where are you going!?" Eri called.

Kagome glanced back, hand on the door. "Oh. Sorry. I've really gotta get home. Bye guys! See you later." Pushing the door opening and walked out onto the sidewalks and turned towards the house.

Yuka frowned inside the restaurant. "You know where she's really going. To meet that violent guy." Looking to Eri and Ayumi.

"I don't trust him." Eri said. "All that talk about him yelling and screaming. I bet he hits her too."

"You don't really think Kagome would stay with him if he was that bad." Ayumi offered.

"Fear is a very powerful tool of manipulation." Yuka replied. "Rough guys like that are really dangerous. Kagome's safety is in jeopardy with him."

"Her safety?" Eri said.

"Of course! I've seen things like this on T.V. He'll keep using her and using her until he's tired. Then he'll just get rid of her or worse."

"Or worse…" Ayumi said worriedly.

"I told you." Leather looked over at Lace, perched next to him in the tree across from the restaurant. "She wouldn't lie to her friends."

"Hmm." Lace said thoughtfully. "Well I admit I don't favor a guy tagging around after her but I wasn't going to do anything about it." He smiled warmly. "But if he's upsetting her then we'd best do something about it."

Leather cracked his knuckles loudly and growled. "How about we do 'or worse' to him."

"Don't go overboard Leather." Lace said calmingly. "I've been a teacher for only a day but I've already learned enough to know that young girls exaggerate a bit. We won't do anything…too extreme." Laughter slipping into his voice.

Leather glanced over at him. "What do you have in mind?"

"Something entertaining. Let's get back."

The pair jumped from the tree, forms fading as they fell, morphing into a pair of butterflies, one white, one gray, lovely things hovering a moment then disappearing.

Inuyasha sat, laid out impatiently next to the well, one hand poised on his knee, drumming claws against his thigh. The sun had lowered considerably in the sky and Kagome still wasn't back. He shifted; releasing a sound of annoyance then sat up and shook his head.

"Damn it! She's late again!" He gripped the rim of the well and tugged his head over it to glare down at the bottom of it. "Kagome! Get back here!"

His words were followed by and explosion near by him. Pale gold light erupted just shy of the well and Inuyasha jumped back in surprise, spinning to face the figure that begun to emerge from the forest. Fading sunlight glittered of Sesshomaru's long, pale silver hair setting it a fire. His light wipe glowed steadily, illuminating his face.

Inuyasha growled. "Sesshomaru."

'Of all the times.' Inuyasha thought glancing at the well and suddenly praying the Kagome didn't come through.

"Inuyasha. Stop caterwauling after your wench." Sesshomaru said coolly, gold eyes regarding Inuyasha with light disinterest though they held and almost assessing look to them. Sesshomaru was up to something.

"You bastard. What the hell do you want!?"

"Prepare your self…" he flicked the whip. "Inuyasha."

Before launching at his half brother.