Don't Get Close
A Friend
As Kagome hurried to her next class, an hour later, she was still reliving her embarrassment at being kissed by, basically, a complete stranger. Although she did feel grateful for not having to deal with Hojo anymore, she still thought it was rather presumptuous of Sesshomaru to claim he was her boyfriend, regardless of the fact that he wasn't.
Kagome knew without a doubt that within the hour, everybody would have heard about the incident. Halfway through class, one girl, who was known as a notorious rumour spreader, had been excused to go to the bathroom and hadn't returned for at least half an hour. Kagome knew that she had been out telling everybody who would listen about how Kagome was making out with a guy who had only been at the school for less than one hour. She dreaded having to step into the cafeteria at lunch, knowing that everybody would be looking at her.
With those thoughts in her mind, Kagome entered her second period class, math. She felt relieved for a moment, knowing that since it was a tenth grade class, Sesshomaru couldn't be in it. Her relief, however, was very short lived.
As soon as she entered the room, her eyes were drawn to a mane of bright silver hair, located near the front of the class. Since Inuyasha wasn't in this class, Kagome knew that it could only be one person. She sighed in resignation when he turned to the door, confirming her fears.
Avoiding his gaze, Kagome quickly hurried to a seat, conveniently located beside Sango. Her suspicions about the rumour spreading girl were confirmed when Sango gave her a knowing grin. This prompted Kagome to once again bury her head in her hands.
After a moment, Kagome looked up at Sesshomaru. Silently, she wondered why a twelfth grade student would be in a tenth grade math class. The only conclusion she could come to was that Sesshomaru was a stupid guy who failed math. She grinned at this. However, her amusement didn't last long.
Standing up at the front of the class, Mrs. Jones, the teacher, beckoned for Sesshomaru to stand beside her. A few students chuckled lightly to see the very tall demon standing beside the very short human, but the immediately shut up when she spoke.
"I don't know if anybody knows who this is, but his name is Sesshomaru. He will be the peer tutor for this math class due to his impressive scoring on his previous math exams. Hopefully he'll be able to help some of the less intelligent of you." Once again, several students chuckled, while the less intelligent students made angry faces at the teacher.
After the noises died down, Mrs. Jones indicated for Sesshomaru to take a seat, then she went on with the day's lesson. Kagome was mortified when she noticed that the only empty seat was right beside her. She tensed, dreading the conversation that she thought was inevitable.
However, she was mistaken. Sesshomaru placed himself in the chair, and leaned back. He stared straight ahead and remained silent. He seemed quite content to remain that way for the class. Kagome let out a relieved breath, then settled in for the remainder of the class.
As soon as the class was over, Kagome and Sango hurried to their lockers, and then went to find their friends in the cafeteria. As soon as they entered, Kagome felt the eyes on her, but she decided to ignore them. She quickly spotted her friends and the two made their way over to them. They were greeted by a very pissed of hanyou.
"What the hell, Kagome! You kissed my fucking brother!" Kagome sighed at the angry greeting. Reaching out, she grabbed Inuyasha's dog-like ear and twisted sharply. With a yelp of pain, Inuyasha wrenched himself out of her grip. Although he still seemed angry, he decided to remain silent.
"Listen up, dumbass, I didn't kiss him. He kissed me. He was just trying to get Hojo to shut up." Suddenly Kagome realized that the previously loud and bustling cafeteria had gone silent.
Turning around, Kagome glared at everybody."What the hell is everybody looking at?" Everybody suddenly returned to there conversation, slightly shaken up by Kagome's obvious anger and intense glare.
Letting out an angry breath, Kagome plopped down on a chair and sat staring out of a window. All she could think was how could that day get any worse. Her friends, noticing her immensely bad mood, decided to eat their lunch in silence and leave her alone.
After about five minutes, the cafeteria once again went silent. Kagome looked to the entrance and saw the reason. Sesshomaru had just entered the room.
When he entered, everybody watched as he swept the room with his gaze, before it fell on an empty table. Then, staring straight ahead, he started to make his way over to it. However, his progress was halted when two large figures stood up in front of him. He stopped and looked at them with an expressionless gaze.
Kagome looked at the two and sighed loudly. They two were brothers; Hiten and Manten. They called themselves the Thunder Brothers and they happened to hang around with Shuran. She knew, without a doubt, that they were going to exact some type of revenge on Sesshomaru for injuring their friend.
"You made a big mistake today, buddy. No one touches one of our friends and gets away unscathed." Hiten, said all this with a loud voice, but he might as well have been talking to a wall for all the reaction that it got. Sesshomaru continued to look at the two as if they were nothing but shit on the bottom of his shoe.
A sharp bark of laughter suddenly split the silence. Kagome turned to look at Inuyasha in surprise. The laughter had come from him. When he saw the question in her eyes, he snorted, then explained.
"As much as I hate my brother, I have to say that those two won't even last a minute against him. They are being stupid. My brother has no conscience. He will do whatever he wants to them." Inuyasha's confident prediction was proved true only seconds later when Kagome's attention was drawn back to the developing conflict by a sudden yelp of pain.
Sesshomaru stood there, a clawed hand wrapped around the throat of each brother. With little effort, he lifted both off of the ground to his eye level. Then, he spoke.
"Never cross me again. Next time, I will not be so lenient." With that, he casually tossed both brothers backwards. He made as if to continue to his chosen table, but he was interrupted by the angry yell of Hiten, who had got back to his feet and once again attempted to assault Sesshomaru.
This time, Sesshomaru merely gripped the stubborn demon with his left hand and then raised his right hand into the air. Hiten braced for the strike that he thought was about to fall, but his eyes widened when he saw what was really happening.
Sesshomaru's hand had begun to glow a sickly green colour. Sizzling was heard as drops of acid fell from his fingers and onto the floor.
"I told you that I would not tolerate a second attack." With that said, Sesshomaru plunged his glowing claws into Hiten's unprotected stomach. Many people screamed in horror and a few people threw up. The smell of burning flesh was quite apparent.
After a few seconds, Sesshomaru withdrew his hands from Hiten, who had been rendered unconscious from the pain. Luckily for him, the acid had melted his flesh, which had flowed down and sealed his wound.
Dropping the comatose demon, Sesshomaru proceeded to turn to the rest of the cafeteria. After staring around at them for moments in silence, he suddenly spoke.
"Take that as a warning. Next time, death will be the outcome." With that said, Sesshomaru finally made it to his table. Once there, he sat down, pulled an mp3 player from his pocket, and put on his headphones, effectively blocking out the mutterings of the other students.
Meanwhile, Kagome had watched this display of power with mixed feelings. Although the smell of burning flesh had been disgusting, she felt that it was good for new students to stand up to the assholes who thought that they were rulers of the school.
Unfortunately, Kagome figured that Sesshomaru would soon be getting an angry speech from the principal. It was strictly forbidden for demons to use their powers on school grounds. More than once, various humans and weak demons had been hospitalized from a multitude of unnatural injuries.
Minutes later, Kagome saw something that surprised her immensely. The principal, Mr. James, who happened to be a wolf demon, hurried into the cafeteria. He had obviously heard that a disturbance had occurred, and he had come to deal out punishment. Kagome felt a little sorry for Sesshomaru because Mr. James was known by all the students to be a real hardass. No breaks for anyone was his number one rule.
"What happened here?" The loud question was answered instantly by a multitude of people.
"The new guy messed up Hiten." This seemed to be the main message that got through to the principal. Turning in a circle, he appeared to search for the "new guy". When his eyes fell on Sesshomaru, they widened.
"Well, since no fatal damage was caused, I don't think there will be any problem." With this said, the suddenly uncomfortable looking demon whirled around and quickly exited the room, leaving hundreds of students gaping at his retreating figure with shock.
Kagome was the first one to speak. "What the hell just happened?" A loud snort beside her drew her attention. Once again, it had originated from Inuyasha.
"Were you expecting my dickhead of a brother to get in any trouble? He never will." This statement was greeted by questioning looks from everyone around Inuyasha. After a poke in the ribs from Miroku, he elaborated on his statement.
"Didn't you retards notice the markings on his face. They mark him as the next Demon Lord of this entire country. A soon as our dad either kicks the bucket or surrenders his command, Sesshomaru inherits the job. No self respecting demon wants to do anything to anger a future lord." This was greeted by silence. This time, Miroku spoke first.
"Why do they all treat you like shit, then?" A bark of laughter greeted this question.
"I'm not an official heir to the 'throne'. I'm half human. Plus, I was born second. I not important." After this was said, Inuyasha muttered something angrily under his breath, then got up and quickly left the cafeteria.
At that moment, the bell rang, signalling that it was time for everybody to get to third period. In Kagome's case, that was gym. Luckily, Sango was also in that class with her. Kouga and Inuyasha were in it too, but they mostly skipped it.
As they were heading to the women's locker room to get changed, Kagome suddenly decided that she'd had enough schooling for the day. Indicating that Sango should follow her, Kagome turned left, instead of right, and headed outside.
Once outside, Kagome explained herself to her best friend. "I just don't feel like putting up with everybody's crap anymore today. I'm just going to go home. If any teachers ask, tell them that I was sick." After Sango nodded and went back inside, Kagome turned and made her way off through the parking lot.
She had intended to ask Inuyasha for a ride home, but as soon as she entered the parking lot, she immediately knew that the hanyou and his car had already left. Sighing loudly, she resigned herself to walking home and started off.
As soon as she left school grounds, the day got even worse. Without even a bit of a warning, the skies opened up and the rain started pouring down. Raising her fist dramatically to the sky, Kagome shook it angrily and gritted her teeth, cursing her shitty luck.
Once again however, in a sea of bad luck, a tiny little bit of good luck suddenly showed it face. The roar of an engine suddenly came up beside Kagome, then stopped. When she turned to it, expecting to see the shiny silver of Inuyasha's Mercedes, she was greeted by a pitch balck paint job on a very different car. From the shape of the car, she guessed that it was a Corvette, but the dark tint on the windows kept her from identifying the driver.
After staring for a minute, Kagome assumed that the car was waiting for her, so she stepped up and opened the passenger side door. She was greeted by the sight of Sesshomaru's unsmiling face. After another minute, he beckoned, impatiently, for her to get in.
Without another moment's hesitation, Kagome sat down in the seat and closed the door. As Sesshomaru restarted the engine, Kagome muttered her thanks.
"Uh, thanks for giving me a ride. I would have had to walk home in the rain." When the only response that this got was a curt nod, Kagome began to get annoyed, but she didn't say anything. After another minute, she tried again.
"Well, math class is pretty easy, isn't it?" When there wasn't even so much as a nod this time, Kagome finally let all the frustrations of the day bubble to the surface.
"What the hell is your problem! If you didn't have anything to say, why did you pick me up? You are the most messed up person I know. I don't if you treat all of your friends like this, but if you do, I really wonder why they hang around with you." After this liitle explosion, Kagome expected to be thrown from the moving vehicle. However, a different response was triggered.
"I do not have friends. People either fear me or hate me. There are no others. Do not lecture me on treating people correctly. I saw you walking in the rain and decided to offer you a ride and then you yell at me. If you treat all of your friends like that, I wonder why they hang around with you." This speech was delivered in an expressionless tone, but Kagome still felt bad from hearing it. She felt a bit guilty for flying off the handle at a guy who was just attempting to be nice.
After this, an uncomfortable silence filled the car. After suffering through it for a few minutes, Kagome suddenly spotted a cd that was popping out of the cd player. Without any hesitation, she reached out and pushed it into the player, hoping for something to break the silence.
Immediately, the car was filled with the sound of Sic, by Slipknot. Kagome jumped in shock at the loudness. Out of the corner of her eye, she swore that she saw Sesshomaru smirk slightly. Grinning goodnaturedly, she shrugged.
"I was expecting something classical. You don't seem the type to listen to Slipknot." He shrugged so slightly that it was barely visible.
"Everybody likes different things, I guess. At least it's not the Backstreet Boys, or something gay like that." Sesshomaru gave another curt nod after this observation. After that, Kagome leaned back and listened to the music.
After five minutes, Kagome realized that the car stopped. Looking at Sesshomaru, she noticed that he was looking at her as if waiting for her to do something.
"What?" When he pointed out the windshield, she looked out and noticed that he was parked in her driveway. She looked back at him in surprise.
"How did you know where I live?"
"I can smell your scent coming strongly from the place. I assume that it is the correct location?" When she nodded, he smirked slightly. Taking the hint, she quickly opened the door and went to get out. Then, she remembered her manners.
"Uh, do you want to something to drink or something?" She figured the least she could do was offer the guy something for his troubles. After a moment of apparent pondering, he gave his answer by opening his own door and exiting his car.
Getting out her keys, Kagome led him to the door and unlocked it before stepping inside and indicating that he should follow her. As she went to enter the kitchen, she called back to him.
"Just go to your left, into the living room. I'll be there in a minute." After this, she got a pepsi out of the fridge and followed him into the living room.
As soon as she entered, she noticed that he was looking at a picture of her family. "That's my brother, Souta. He's only twelve. He's at school right now. And that's my mom. She's at work but she'll be back soon." Sesshomaru nodded.
"Only three people live here." This observation was met with silence. Then, Kagome spoke.
"Yes. My father died when I was seven and my mom doesn't really have time to date." He nodded again, then turned and accepted the can she had been holding out to him.
"Uh, you can take off your jacket if you want. It's pretty warm in here." Sesshomaru responded to this quickly.
"I'd prefer to leave it on."
"Why?" When he didn't respond for a while, Kagome suddenly felt foolish for badgering him, but as she was about to apologize, he suddenly moved. Reaching up, he grasped the cuff of his leather jacket and pulled it up to the elbow. This exposed his forearm, and the wide purple stripes that circled it, all the way up.
"Many people find my marking strange. I prefer to cover the larger ones up. It makes it easier for me. I avoid many questions." Kagome nodded in understanding. Suddenly, unbidden, her hand stretched out and she started to gently trace the stripe. Only after he tensed did she realize what she was doing. Them she blushed.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just wondering if the were like tatoos or something else?"
"They are birthmarks. They designate me as the next lord." Once again, Kagome nodded. Then, attempting to change the subject from her companion's body, she drew back on the speech he had made in the car.
"What did you mean when you said that you don't have any friends?" This was greeted by silence. For a second, Kagome thought that she had crossed a personal line, but right at that moment, he started speaking.
"I meant exactly what I said. I have no friends. People do not wish to be near me. Either they fear my power, or they hate me because I will rule them one day. It is very simple." Kagome immediately pitied the demon standing in front of her.
However, before she could say anything, he suddenly nodded his head slightly. "I thank you for the drink. I will see you tomorrow." With that said, he turned and left the house. After a second, Kagome heard an engine roar to life, then speed away. Almost immediately, the door was reopened and Kagome's mother entered the room.
"What are you doing home from school, and who was that guy that just left here in that black car?" Kagome was silent for a minute before answering.
"He's a friend."
In this story, there are four classes a day, plus lunch. Remember to review.
Thank You!