Disclaimer; Awe come on! Everyone knows who made Inu-yasha by now. Fine, Inu-yasha is not mine.

A Ride Called Kagome

Chapter 9

Sesshoumaru groaned as he shuffled to the side of his bed to sit up and scratch the back of his head. He leaned his weight on his one arm and then slowly got up on to his feet. He looked in the mirror wondering what his brother would think of him now when he suddenly discovered his brother no longer looked the same any more.

Rin had done it! The girl he had been dating and slept with for three months had finally done it. She had convinced him that platinum blonde hair looked good on him, and he was surprised to discover that she was right all long.

He dragged himself to his door and opened it as he once again engaged in his morning ritual of scratching his balls and yawning before his eyes fell on his dear younger brother.

Sess had expected to find the young man spread across the sofa bed snoring away as he enjoyed a dream of making love to a beautiful woman. Instead, before him he though he had woken up inside of Inu-yasha's dream itself. He had to rub the fog from his eyes just to believe what he was seeing.

There before him he watched Inu-yasha cradle his head on his arm with his other hanging over the hip of the young girl he had been talking about for weeks. The funny thing about it was that she didn't seem to concerned about how close they were in the bed together, either. Her head was tucked under his chin with her hand spread over the center of his breast where his heart pulsed softly as he slept.

If it had not been for the fact he had seen her sports bra a moment later as he looked over the scene he would have thought they had finally admitted to each other that they had the hots for the other. The scene spoke the same message they had been giving off all along. No confessions made, but the comfort was there and the trust as well.

Sesshoumaru smirked as he walked into the kitchen and proceeded to make the morning coffee to start the day. Thank God it was only Saturday; it meant that they could close up shop early and get the weekend started.

He pressed the button and when to the closet where the dry was and pulled out one of his white shirts and pulled it on. The slight clicking of the dryer door made the female on the sofa bed stir, and she slowly sat up just as Sesshoumaru had pulled his shirt over his abs.

She rubbed her eyes as Inu-yasha groaned a little and turned on his back. Kagome looked through squinted eyes as Sesshoumaru came into focus. His narrow eyes widened a little as he said a low, "Good Morning!"

Kagome stretched and smiled, "Good Morning."

She blinked her eyes a few times as the image before her became clearer. "You must be Inu-yasha's brother?" she said.

He held a single finger to his lips before pointing to the young man groaning under the covers trying not to wake up. Kagome jumped and covered her mouth with one hand. Sesshoumaru smiled and gestured her to follow him into the kitchen.

She looked back at Inu-yasha for only a moment as he turned to his other side presenting his bare back to her. Kagome smiled and pulled the blanket over his shoulder to keep him warm as she tip toed into the kitchen.

"Coffee?" the older brother offered.

"No thanks, but if you have any tea that would be great."

He pointed to a cubby and she proceeded to help herself to the box of Lipton tea.

As she put the pot on the back burner Sesshoumaru began to sip his coffee black. It was then that Kagome turned back to him and noticed that his left arm was missing. It seemed to stop just before it peaked through the end of the short sleeve.

Kagome touched the small scar on her back as she continued to stare. He finally turned back to her, and caught her stare only a moment before he looked at him and smiled before turning away.

He looked down at his arm. "Motorcycle accident," she said simply with no shame in his voice. "It's okay to look. It's how I met my girlfriend."

Kagome looked back at him and smiled before going to grab a mug. She finally looked at him again. "Did it hurt?"

Sesshoumaru smirked. "It's hard to remember. It all happened so fast. The burns kinda killed all the nerves I think before they really had a chance to react to anything. Doctors say it's normal not to feel anything when you have three degree burns."

Kagome gripped her cup with both hands. "I'm so sorry."

He grinned before taking a sip. "Don't be, you're not responsible for it."

Kagome smiled at him sadly as she thought, 'If only I felt the same way.'

The look on the young girl's face didn't escape Sesshoumaru's eyes. Kagome reached for the steaming pot before it could whistle and poured the hot water into her cup with the tea bag bobbing at the surface.

He laughed softly. "It's okay you know."

Kagome looked at him as she stirred her tea with a spoon. "What do you mean?"

Sesshoumaru smiled. "You saw the helmet didn't you? In the lower cubby by the sink?"

She hesitated before nodding. "He hides it there. I used to do the same thing before Rin pulled it out."

Kagome narrowed her brow. "Why does he hide it?"

Sesshoumaru sipped his coffee. "To run from a past life, hide the pain, it's any man's guess really." He paused a moment before looking out at his brother's sleeping form. "He hides it because he blames himself for what happened to my arm. He thinks that if he had gotten to me sooner he could have spared my arm. Inu-yasha said he let one of the riders that night get to him, and it made him loose concentration on the race."

Kagome looked at the sleeping form beside them across them in the living side of the room. "Who got to him?"

Sesshoumaru finished off his coffee. "Same guy who knocked me off my bike in order to win the race."

Kagome's eyes widened in shock, before she looked down at her tea and putting it down on the counter. "I had always known Kouga had done something to the Moon Dog…I just didn't know he affected the other one too. Does he really blame himself?"

"For what happened to my arm? No, not anymore. No he blames himself for loosing all thought of who he was. The pain of a drag racers pride. He thought it wouldn't get to him, and it did. It gets to all of us. He's afraid to face it…he's afraid to face the man that made him feel that way. He blames himself for being a coward, for being scared. He's not sure of himself anymore. Doesn't know if he can fight for what he believes in anymore, for what he wants. Inu-yasha blames himself for being a coward…when he's actually the bravest person I know."

Kagome smiled at the last comment. "What makes you say that?"

Sesshoumaru grinned as Inu-yasha began to stir and sit up in bed. "He forgot all about the race, the need to win, and himself, to save his brother's life."

Kagome looked at Sesshoumaru as he smiled at her and they faced each other. Inu-yasha was arching his back forward to stretch out his spine with his hands on his hips as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes before opening the fridge to get at the carton of OJ on the top shelf. Without a second thought he began to drink from the carton.

"Wake-up, Sleepy-Head! We still got a woman in the house!"

Inu-yasha choked on the juice that was in his mouth as it began to dribble down his chin and chest. He swallowed as he wiped his chin with the back of his free hand. His eyes falling on a giggling Kagome as the blood ran to his face, affectively waking him up.

Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes as he reached up to the cubby by his head and tossed him a glass. "Take a picture, she'll stay there longer."

Inu-yasha turned to his brother and growled, "Shut up!" before placing the glass down and double taking his brother. "What the hell did you do to your hair?"

Sesshoumaru strode with a calm grace to the sink putting his mug at the bottom of it. "It's called bleaching."

Inu-yasha stared at him like his brother had gone mad. "You look like a freakin'girl."

The word instantly brought a finger within inches of his nose. "I'm not the one who played night owl and took a customer's bike out for a joy ride last night. Where'd you two go anyway?"

Inu-yasha waited until his brothers back was turned to him, "None of your business."

"Hey, I pay the bills on any damages done to any bike that comes into this shop, I make that my business."

"Nothing happened," Kagome butted in. "It was just a short joy ride around town."

Sesshoumaru looked at the girl and then at his brother. "You trained her well. Two against one, but you loose points. I'm the one with the missing arm here."

There was silence as Sesshoumaru entered the bathroom. The sound of the water running in the shower finally gave Kagome and Inu-yasha the chance to look at each other and chuckle as softly as possible without Sesshoumaru hearing them.

Three days…it had been echoing in Sango's head for, well, since that morning. No phone calls, no letter or note, no simple "hello", nothing. She regretted it…She knew she would and now she was. She had slept with a man, had her one night stand, the best sex she had ever had, and now she was expecting miracles. Like a guy would ever fall in love with her after one night.

"Yeah right…" she growled.

"Huh?" her brother said looking up from his homework as he did it on the bar counter. Sango looked up from cleaning the beer class before putting it away. She shook her head. "Nothing, Kohaku, I was just thinking out loud. Sorry."

The boy shrugged his shoulders and went back to racking his brain for how to do the formula he had learned at summer school again.

Sango sighed heavily as she ran her hands over her face and then through her hair to secure it in a tighter ponytail. Short wisps of hair escaped her though and fell over her eyes and forehead.

Maybe it was just hormones…maybe she was just really horney…or maybe she just really wanted a miracle to happen and for Kouga to walk through the door, say they were through. Then, half a second later for Miroku to walk through and ask her if they could start over and get a drink sometime.

A drink? Yeah right, she owned the best drink business in Tampa, Florida. No, maybe dancing, or another walk on the beach, and then they could try and lie to each other that they didn't want to have sex again, and that it was a mistake…and then five minutes be in the sack again.

Jeez now she knew she was lusting for him. This wasn't love or anything, but one thing was clear and that was that it was all beyond reason and logic. How the hell could one man do this to her after one night?

Suddenly the bell on the door rang, and the frustrated Sango growled, "Happy Hours don't start for another hour, come back later." She didn't even turn to look as she put another class away.

The sound of a bar stool being dragged across the floor finally made her turn around, but before she could tell the customer the same message again, her mouth went dry.

"Hi," he said with a small smile as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. Miroku arrived with his hair tied back and his shirt covered in grease. His face and hands clean, and his beautiful blue eyes looking right at her with all the fear in the world reflecting in them.

Sango struggled a raspy, "Hi," back and then they were silent as they both looked at each other.

She then turned to her brother. "Kohaku, could you got to the apartment and finish your homework? I need a moment alone with Miroku here."

Without saying a word, the boy picked up his things and left through the back door.

Miroku smiled as he folded his hands on the counter. "Nice kid!" he commented.

"Yeah that's my little brother for you," she said softly.

She turned back to him and then slowly began to feel the awkwardness between them grow even more as the silence became defining.

"Can I offer you anything?" she asked.

"Naw, I need to drive back soon. I just stopped by to, umm, to talk about…you know?"

Sango tried to act like she didn't know what he was talking about. "Oh that…yeah…that…"

Here it comes, she told herself as her hands wrung the cloth in her hands.

"Sango…I don't want…I don't know…Let me ask you something?" he said, and she nodded vigorously.

"Do you regret anything that happened between us that night? I mean, cause if you do, I understand. I would never try to get in between you and Kouga, and I just wasn't thinking. I don't know what I was thinking. It all kind of happened so fast."

Sango looked at him put her finger over his lips. "You're babbling!"

"Sorry," he responded quickly, "Habit of mine…Look, Sango…I don't want to be an ass hole…I know I'm not…what I'm trying to say is…" Miroku let out a heavy sigh as he took her hand. "Can we please, start over?"

Sango looked at him knowing that this was the point he was trying to get to the whole time.

Miroku looked at her hand. "I think you're really great, amazing even…but I don't want all that to go to hell because of a one night stand. I know you're still with Kouga and all, so let me ask you this. Can we at least be friends?"

Sango looked at him and then down at her hand that he had incased in his own two large ones. Gods, how she wanted those hands to be touching places other than her hands at that moment, but she snapped out of her teenage fantasy and back into the responsible adult she had to be.

"Okay, friends…but you don't get any benefits. Maybe a secret or two to keep, but…no more sex…deal?"

Miroku held up his hands in complete surrender. "Oh there's no argument here."

Sango then turned back to her work and looked back at him. She smirked a little. "I was that bad, huh?"

Miroku looked at her a little caught off guard. "The sex?"

"Yeah…I mean I know I've been outta practice for at least two to three months, but"

Miroku stopped her. "Don't do that…we both just really wanted it, right? I mean…it was just like we were two crazy teenagers again for one night right?"

Sango was quiet for a moment. "Do you have any regrets?"

Miroku watched her eyes. "Only that it went to fast and that Kouga could kill us both if he finds out."

Sango smiled for a moment. "Yeah same here!"

Miroku smiled back and waited until her eyes left the beer glass she was playing with to look back at him.

"Sango…can I tell you something, as a friend?"

Sango glanced at his lips for only a moment and then back into his eyes. "What?"

Miroku swallowed hard and took her hand. "If you're so unhappy with Kouga…why haven't you left him yet?"

Sango held her breath for a moment as she thought. "I guess it's because of tradition, you know? The reining champ of the motorcycling drag racers dates me…it's nothing glorious, but it brings in the customers after every race."

Miroku's smile didn't appear for awhile before he sat down. Sango smiled back and then looked at the clock on the wall by the door. "Well, I don't open for awhile, but you're welcome to have a soda on the house?"

Miroku's smile turned brighter and he pounded his fist on the counter top. "Hit me!"

Okay not a long chapter, but it covers a lot of ground for a little while.

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SDR