Title: It Started With A Kiss
By: Queen Beryl
@---^---

Chapter Ten: Engagement Rings and Secrets

I sat up in bed, trying to remember the night before. It was pretty blurry, actually. There was a lot of talking about where our relationship was going, eating, being tossed in the pool, and other such nonsense. I smiled and stretched, hoping that Friday would be a better day.
After rushing around and hurriedly getting ready for school I was almost out the door before I remembered.
Today there was a staff-appreciation day. No school.
I sighed and dropped my school bag next to the doorway. Well, that was ironic. I decided some lounging around the house was in order. So that's what I did. I plopped down on the couch and watched television for the most part of the morning until Souta walked in, closely followed by Grandpa.
"... too much sleep isn't good, I tell you! Young children don't listen to their elders anymore." Grandpa was ranting. Souta made a pleading face and mouthed, "help me!"
"Good morning, Grandpa!" I exclaimed loudly. I didn't want Souta to suffer. Grandpa was very easily distracted, so I was lucky.
"Ah, Kagome! Now, there's a very intelligent girl! Early to bed, early to rise! I'm proud of you, my dear." Grandpa hugged me.
"What do you want for breakfast?" I asked, turning off the television and tossing the remote onto the soft overstuffed couch.
"Nothing for me. I'm all packed and ready to go." Grandpa raised his hand in protest.
"Packed? You're leaving so soon?" I was genuinely surprised, but this would have been the natural reaction whether I knew he was going or not.
"I have a scheduled tour in Europe and the plane leaves at eleven... which is in an hour and a half. I'd better be on my way as soon as I bid your mother farewell." Grandpa explained with a smile of remorse for leaving.
"Farewell, then." Mom came out of nowhere, fully dressed and smiling. "I'm so glad you had time to visit us. Would you like me to call a transportation service?"
"I've already called. Thank you for allowing me to stay in your home." Grandpa hugged Mom and went down the hallway to retrieve his bags. He gave both Souta and I a hug, kiss, and a bill of money. I always liked it when Grandpa came to stay.
We waved to him as he traveled down the road and planned on waiting until he couldn't see us anymore but the phone rang. I ran in to get it.
"Hello?"
"Is Kagome there?"
"Speaking." I replied.
"Kagome! It's Rin! How are you?"
"Well, I'm good. You?" I wondered if she had an ulterior motive for calling me this time.
"Actually, I'm completely ecstatic. I want you to come over because I have some amazing news to discuss with you... as well as a favor. Oh, there's so much we need to catch up on! Won't you come over to Inuyasha's at about a quarter to eleven?" She sounded desperately happy.
"Um, sure. Of course. See you soon."
"Bye!" Click. I wondered what she wanted now.

& * &

"Please come in, Miss Higurashi." Jaken greeted me at the door again.
"Come on, Jaken, first name basis! Kagome."
"Miss Kagome a-"
"Just Kagome. No Miss or anything." I entered as he shut the door behind me.
"Kagome. Rin is in the drawing room."
I smiled and stared at him blankly for a moment.
"Down the hall and to the left." Jaken clarified and walked off.
"Thank you, Jaken!" I followed his very vague directions and found, to my dismay, there was more than one door on the left. Gee, that figured. I had to try the first three (a bathroom, office, and powder room) before I finally got the drawing room.
The room was huge. It was stocked with amazing things like a pool table in the center of the room, a card table in the far right corner, a few silk-looking couches scattered randomly, and Rin standing next to the full-length window, looking out.
Her long black hair was tied up in a soft ponytail and she was wearing a very cute pink designer dress. She looked stunning. I rapped on the side table lightly to let her know I was there. She turned around quickly and smiled at me. Beaming, really.
"I'm glad you could come. I need a companion right now, and I don't want any of my normal friends. One would rip my hair out and the other wouldn't seem too enthusiastic enough for me. Come on, let's talk on the balcony." She pushed open the windows, which were actually doors, and stepped out. I carefully glided across the room and joined her.
"What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" I inquired, placing my hands on the balcony and taking in the very large, very gorgeous backyard. Rin copied me, placing her elegant, pale hands on the balcony. She sighed and smiled. I could tell it was really good news.
"Just something completely amazing happened to me last night, and I wanted you to be one of the first to know. Of course you can't be the very first, because I had to know, right?" Rin laughed, covering her mouth with her left hand. That's when I noticed it.
"Where'd you get that huge rock?" I demanded, taking her hand away from her and scrutinizing it. The diamond in the middle was absolutely huge. The surrounding gemstones, sapphire, ruby, garnet, aquamarine, topaz, peridot, emerald, and celestite were about the three-fourths the normal size of a normal diamond found on a less-expensive ring. The band, I knew, had to be platinum.
"Well, that's the news I wanted to tell you. Sesshoumaru finally asked me to marry him, and I've accepted. I'm going to be married to Sesshy!!" Rin wrapped her arms around me and wouldn't let go. She was very excited, and I was excited for her. It was about time, really. Sesshoumaru could hardly take his eyes off her... in more than a best friend kind of way.
"That's amazing! How did it happen?" I demanded the moment she let me go. We sat down on the outdoor loveseat and she took a deep breath.
"We were sitting in his office; he was finishing up some reports for his company, and we started talking about what we were going to do in the future. He asked me if I was going to get married to anyone soon. I told him I probably wouldn't ever marry..."

& * & Flashback & * &

"What do you mean you're never going to get married?" Sesshoumaru demanded, looking up from his last report. The reports had to be distributed tomorrow in the morning so his underlings wouldn't lose the company's money. Not only was he a theatre actor, but the vice president of Inu Yukai Industries; Sesshoumaru's father was the president.
"Well, I still haven't been asked by the right person." Rin leaned back in the other desk chair. She spun around childishly, getting dizzy.
"Obviously, since you've turned all thirty of them down." Sesshoumaru acknowledged, scribbling something down on the stack of crisp paper.
"It wasn't thirty, Sesshy. I've only had five proposals." Rin stopped spinning and sat there, trying to gain her equilibrium back. "None of them where the one I wanted."
"Who, may I ask, is the one you wanted?" Sesshoumaru asked. Rin didn't notice how Sesshoumaru's motions slowed and how he was listening very intently to her next choice of words.
"Well, if someone like... you, for example, were to ask me, I'd accept." Rin stood up, no longer seeing double, and stretched. "But there is nobody else in the world like you, Sesshy."
"So, if I asked you to marry me, you'd say yes?" Sesshoumaru turned slowly and looked up at her. He could see the utter innocence in her face and he almost smiled.
"Sesshy, don't play with me." Rin half-scowled down at him. He stood up, practically towering over her petite frame.
"Who says I'm playing?"
"Sesshoumaru," Rin started, getting serious, "you're my best friend. I've always loved you... that's the way things go. I'm sure that you love me in your own little way, too."
"You're right, I do love you." Sesshoumaru realized she was getting flustered; he could tell because she was babbling.
"Of course! We're best friends; we've always been there for each other. I mean, remember that time we all got drunk?" Rin raised her hand and lightly touched the crescent moon mark on Sesshoumaru's face. Her touch felt cool on Sesshoumaru's soft skin. "I told you to get me home safe, and even though you were plastered you made sure I was okay."
"I remember, unfortunately." Sesshoumaru nodded patiently. It was coming, he could feel it.
"And that other time when we went rock climbing? All of us were going, but you didn't want to. I convinced you to go anyway, and you ended up rescuing me when my clasp broke. I mean, I seem to be receiving so much, and I'm not giving anything. I feel bad about that."
"Don't. What are best friends for?" Sesshoumaru smiled slightly. He turned and reaching into his desk drawer, pulled out a velvet blue box. Rin had to take a double take. Sesshoumaru opened the box and showed her the beautiful ring; she looked at the ring in complete awe.
"I-it's absolutely gorgeous! Who's the lucky woman?" Rin asked. Sesshoumaru glanced at her to see if she was serious; she was. He grabbed her hand and slowly knelt on one knee.
"You."
"...and of course, I accepted. Now, you see before you the happiest girl in the world." Rin finished her retelling with a sigh of happiness.
"That's so romantic!" I exclaimed, hugging my friend again. This was expected, as I heard from Inuyasha, but a lot sooner than I would have assumed.
"I never thought he'd marry me! Of course, I've always wanted to marry him... ever since we were in middle school. That was when I first met him, you know. He was the most popular upperclassman, and I was the shy little newbie. I never thought we were in the same world, then we just started talking; we were inseparable from then on."
"That's like a fairy tale come true! That's so awesome!" I hugged her again.
"Thank you, thank you." Rin beamed, standing up. "Let's go back inside, I think lunch is ready."
"What're we having?" I inquired, realizing the story made me hungry.
"My favorite: turkey sandwiches!"
As it turns out, Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha went to the office early that morning with their father, so Rin and I got more time to get to know each other better.
"So, Rin, why exactly did you call me over yesterday?" I asked. I hadn't thought to ask until I got home last night, so the question was killing me.
"Oh, that..." Rin smiled, taking a very big bite, dropping a glob of mustard and a strip of turkey on her plate. She chewed slowly, making me think that she was avoiding the question.
"Well?" I asked when she was about to take another bit. She smiled and set the delicious sandwich down.
"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about Inuyasha. I wanted to try to help you two get back together. You two were just so cute... and then when you told me about him all over that Kikyo girl, I felt like you tow just needed to talk it out properly." Rin explained, stuffing more sandwich into her mouth.
"Well, I'm glad I had someone to listen to me and my problems." I smiled.
"Just a question, Kagome," Rin began after a moment of silence. I nodded for her to continue. "Why did Inuyasha cheat on you?"
I sat there for a moment, thinking. He'd never actually said why. In face, we hadn't even really mentioned Kikyo's name at all.
"Well, I don't know. We sorta skipped over that part." I admitted finally. I vowed to ask him when I got a moment.

& * &

Soon after lunch Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru came back from the office. I went up with Inuyasha to his room to play video games and leave the two engaged ones alone. I plopped down on the couch at the end of Inuyasha's bed. Inuyasha sat beside me and draped his arm around me. I decided this would be the perfect moment to talk with him about his cheating. The video games could wait.
"Inuyasha," I started, turning to face him. He stopped nuzzling my neck and focused on me.
"Kagome." He smiled at me. I rolled my eyes.
"This is serious." I explained. "Inuyasha, I want to know why you cheated on me with Kikyo." I did everything I could to prevent from spitting the name out like rotten lettuce.
Inuyasha seemed to freeze up for a moment. He shifted uncomfortably and didn't even look at me. He stared off to the side, out the sliding glass doors that led onto his balcony.
"Inuyasha, I have to know." I probed.
"I can't tell you." The voice was so low I almost didn't catch it.
"Why not?" I demanded angrily.
"I... I just can't. I'm so sorry, Kagome. I want to, but I just can't. Please don't ask me to do this." Inuyasha stood up and paced the room.
"What do you mean you can't tell me? I deserve to know!" I protested, standing up. I wasn't going to easily forgive him this time.
"You do deserve to know, but I can't tell you. I want you to understand that. There are... complications." Inuyasha turned his nervous eyes towards me. He looked really upset about the whole thing.
"You know, in the letter you gave me, you didn't actually say you were sorry for cheating on me. You just said you were sorry and that I made you want to change. Were you really sorry for cheating on me or just sorry you got caught?" I questioned accusingly.
He didn't say anything. He just faced away from me, staring out the window toward the brightly-lit backyard. I could see the sycamore tree rustling slightly in the breeze. It looked almost like it was waving at us. I tore my thoughts away from the tree and tried to focus. This was important; I had to know.
"Well?" I jabbed my hands on my hips.
Inuyasha shrugged, which was the only movement I caught from him. I could feel my eyes start to water. The next thing I knew, tears were streaming down my face, and I let a sob escape my lips.
"If you don't tell me, I think we're through." I stated bravely. I saw him twitch at my words, but he didn't turn around and let me run into his arms, telling me it would be okay. He didn't say he was sorry for the actual action and that he never wanted to break up again. He just kept his back to me. I raised my hands to my mouth to hide some of the sadness. I wasn't sure exactly who or what I was hiding it from, but I did anyway.
"I don't want us to break up." He whispered, a mysterious ache in his voice.
"I don't want to either, Inuyasha, but this is something I need to know."
"Let's stay together, and I'll work out the issue I have. Maybe when that's over with I'll be able to tell you everything. Until then, please don't ask me to tell you anything."
"You promise you'll tell me eventually?" I sniffed, wiping tears from my eyes.
"I never back down on my promises. Never."
Little did I know that Inuyasha's promises were what started the chaos in the first place.

Whew! I'm not banned or sick! This is great! I hope you all liked this chapter. It was pretty fluffy for Sesshy and Rin... then it got sorta angsty for Kagome and Inuyasha toward the end. I'm sorry. O.o; Anyway, for all you Kouga fans out there... the next chapter will have him in it... causing havoc and mishap. ^_^
Thank you so much to my reviewers and criticizers! You guys rock and help me improve my writing abilities! If you have any questions similar to ones asked... I've posted answers in the reviews part under my name, of course.
[Oh! And I hope that emeralddarkness likes this chapter better. It explained some of your questions, I believe.]
HAPPY READING!