Don't Get Close
Lessons Learned
Luckily for Kagome, her mother was pretty cool. Once she assured her that she hadn't been doing anything funny with Sesshomaru, no more questions were raised. Kagome simply told her that Sesshomaru had offered her a ride home and she had invited him in for a drink.
Now, hours later, Kagome was in her room, still pondering Sesshomaru's words. She felt extremely sorry for the demon. Even though he was powerful and rich, he had no friends. Although, she thought suddenly, he doesn't really seem to encourage anybody.
Still, however, she couldn't stop thinking that everbody needed at least somebody to be friends with. At that moment, she silently decided that she would attempt to be friendly towards the cold demon.
With that issue settled, Kagome decided that she should work on her homework from math class. Going to her cd player, she inserted a burnt cd and pressed play. Immediately, I Stand Alone, by Godsmack, started playing. Next, she went and got her work out, then sat down at her small writing desk.
However, as she stared at the pages, nothing made sense. After a half an hour of this, in which time nothing came to her, the phone suddenly rang. Quickly pausing her music, Kagome picked up the phone and answered breathlessly.
"Hello, Higurashi residence." Kagome's formal greeting was met by gruff laughter.
"Kagome, it's Inuyasha. Miroku decided that he was going to get together with some of our friends and he figured he would do it at my house. Sango wanted to know if you want to come over." Kagome thought about it for about two seconds before responding.
"Of course. I'll be there as soon as I can get a ride." After a quick good bye, Inuyasha hung up and Kagome was left to find a ride to her friend's house. She went to ask her mother, only to find that she was gone. When she asked Souta where their mom had gone, he told her she went to pick up a few goroceries. Looking out the window at the darkness, and knowing her mother's love for coffee, Kagome figured that she wouldn't be back for at least another hour.
This left Kagome with few options. So, after a few minutes of thinking, she decided to call Inuyasha and ask him to come and pick her up. Unfortunately, she hadn't called him in a long time and she couldn;t remember his number.
When she went to searcg for the phone book, she noticed that the new one had just come in that morning and was sitting on the counter. Opening it, she quickly flipped to the t's. After a minute, she found the name she was searching for; Taisho. As soon as she saw the name, she wrote down te number beside it and closed the book.
Picking up the phone, she quickly dialed the number. After three rings, somebody picked up.
"Hello. Is Inuyasha there?" After a moment, the person responded, catching Kagome off guard.
"I'm afraid you have the wrong number. My brother does not live here." The cold voice surprised Kagome. She immediately realized her mistake. She must have wrote down the wrong Taisho.
"Sorry to bug you, Sesshomaru. I'll try a different number." As she was about to hang up, a cold command stopped her.
"Wait." Slowly, Kagome put the phone back up to her ear. "This is Kagome, is it not?"
"Yes."
"I would have thought that you would know Inuyasha's number."
"Yeah, well, I haven't called him in a while, so I forgot. A bunch of our friends are at his house and he called to invite me over. My mom went out, so I was calling back to ask for a ride." Kagome didn't know why she was explaining herself, but she did anyways.
"I see. I happen to be going there to speak to my father. I will pick you up on the way." With that, he hung up, leaving Kagome standing there, wondering whether to be happy about the ride or pissed off because of Sesshomaru's rather abrupt way to end conversations. After a moment's contemplation, she settled on being happy for the ride.
Hurrying down the stairs, Kagome paused suddenly. She had no idea how long it would take for Sesshomaru to get to her house. For all she knew, he could live an hour away. However, her questions were answer fifteen minutes later when she saw lights in the driveway.
Quickly going out the door, she was greeted by the sight of the pitch black car parked in the driveway. If it weren't for the lights, she wouldn't have been able to see it. Moving forward quickly, she pulled open the passenger side door and got in.
Looking to her left, she was greeted by the sight of Sesshomaru, staring straight ahead. He gave a nod to acknowledge her presence, before backing out of her driveway, and driving off into the night.
The two occupants of the car remained silent for most of the drive. However, after fifteen minutes, Kagome suddenly spoke.
"I've come to a conclusion about you." Looking out of the corner of her eye, Kagome saw him smirk slightly. Then, she continued.
"I've decided that you are an arrogant, emotionless jackass." At this, his smirk grew more pronounced and he looked as if he was about to speak. Before he could, however, Kagome cut him off.
"However, you do have some redeeming qualities." This time, he didn't even attempt to speak. He merely let her continue.
"You can be nice, and you did save me from Shuran, however much you try to deny it. I believe that I could be your friend. But you have to stop acting so cold. It's really annoying." After this, Kagome was silent again, letting her little speech sink in. However, when he didn't respond for a few minutes, she grew curious.
"Well, do you have anything to say to me?" After a few moments more, he finally responded.
"I will reserve final judgement on you until after I have observed you for a while longer. As of now, you seem to be quite pushy and perhaps a little violent. Although, I cannot blame you. You have known my brother for far too long." Kagome snorted at this.
"Ha. Me, violent? This coming from the person who shoved his hand through a guy's stomach at lunch today." After that, she started to laugh. When she glanced at her companion, he was smirking once again.
At that moment, Kagome finally noticed, by the view through the windshield, that they had arrived at their destination. The car was currently being piloted up the long driveway, towards the house, or rather, the mansion.
When they reached the house, Sesshomaru quickly shut off the engine and exited the car, closely followed by Kagome. The two, without say another word, made their way to the front door. Kagome paused in her automatic gesture of knocking as Sesshomaru merely opened the door and stepped inside. Shrugging, Kagome followed him.
The main door opened up into a large room, with a giant staircase at the far side, and numerous small doors on the sides. Without even pausing, Sesshomaru started up the stairs, with Kagome trailing behind him. She knew that everybody was most likely in Inuyasha's room, which was on the second floor.
When they reached the second floor, Kagome expected Sesshomaru to climb the next staircase, to the third floor, where his father's study was located. However, as she turned to go to Inuyasha's room, he remained with her.
Curious, she halted and turned to him. "Where are you going?" He looked at her silently for a moment before smirking slightly.
"I sense that some type of confrontation will soon take place. I merely want to be there to witness it." With these cryptic words, he resumed walking, and Kagome followed after him, wondering what the hell he was talking about.
Finally, they reached Inuyasha's room. This time, it was Kagome who walked in without knocking. As soon as she entered, she noticed that there was somebody there who shouldn't be. Hojo.
He was sitting in a chair, watching quietly as Inuyasha and Miroku sparred, bare handed. Sango was on Inuyasha's bed, laughing at their antics, as well as Rin. At first, Kagome couldn't figure out why Hojo was there. The stupid guy annoyed Inuyasha immensely.
Her further ponderings were interrupted however, because at that moment, Hojo looked up and spotted her. He smiled and started to walk towards her. Kagome her a sound behind her and whirled around to see Sesshomaru still standing behind her, unseen by Hojo.
Turning back, she was just in time to greet Hojo. "Hello Kagome. I have something important to tell you." Kagome merely smiled and indicated for him to speak.
"I know that you have a boyfriend now, but I have to say that I think that he's all wrong for you. Apparently he's quite violent. No doubt he's nothing but a dumb brute." Everything went silent at that. They had all notied Sesshomaru. Inuyasha was looking at Hojo with a look of pity in his eyes, no doubt imagining the beating that he was about to recieve.
However, that did not occur. Rather than Sesshomaru exposing his presence to defend himself, Kagome leapt to his defence.
"You're wrong, Hojo. He's actually very smart, and I don't think that he'd appreciate being called stupid." Hojo shrugged.
"Yes, well, I believe that I would be better for you. Let's go out for something to eat. I can convince you that I'm right for you." With that, he grabbed her arm and started to pull her to the door. However, she fought back.
"I'm not going anywhere with you." Yanking back, she wrenched her arm from his grasp and took a step backwards, her anger quite obvious on her face. However, Hojo must have been dumber than he looked.
Reaching out again, he grasped her arm. "Come on. Just one date. I'm sure I can convince you." Unfortunately for Hojo, Sesshomaru chose that moment to become involved. Stepping forward, he stood directly behing him and waited.
As soon as Hojo told Kagome to come with him, he turned around, only to come face to face with Sesshomaru. Or, rather, face to chin, because the demon was significantly taller than the human.
"Release her." The command was spoken in a cold voice, but the anger behind it struck everyone in the room forcefully. Unfortunately for Hojo, he was too dense to heed the warning. Instead, he decided to pool his meagre courage and stand up to Sesshomaru.
"Kagome would be better off with me, not a savage like you. Now, move. We're leaving." He attempted to push Sesshomaru out of the way one handed, while dragging Kagome with the other.
However, as Sesshomaru had told everybody at lunch, he did not tolerate people who crossed him. Reaching out, he grasped the human tightly by the throat. Hojo immediately released Kagome and brought his hand to his own throat in a vain attempt to free himself. Sesshomaru lifted the struggling idiot up to his own eye level.
"I warn you this one time. Do not touch what is mine." With that, he hurled the sobbing guy across the room, into, and through, the large window, and out into the night air. Hojo screamed as he fell, landing in a crumpled heap on the ground.
Everybody looked at Sesshomaru's emotionless face for a second in shock. Seeming to sense their worry, he spoke.
"The boy will live. He merely snapped a few bones. Next time, he will know better." With that, the demon turned and left the room, leaving everybody to look at each other in silence.
Inuyasha was the first to speak up. "That stupid bastard had to go and break MY window." Sango looked at him like he was stupid before speaking.
"Jesus, Inuyasha. I think you should stop bitching about your window and get that poor guy to a hospital." Inuyasha looked as if he was about argue, but looking at the murderous look in her eyes, he decided against it. With a shrug, he leapt out of the window, and took off with Hojo thrown heavily over his shoulder.
As soon as he was gone, Sango turned to Kagome. "What was that about? I thought that he was only pretending to be your boyfriend." Kagome, still shocked, shrugged slightly.
"I guess he really commits to a role. But I'm glad. Maybe now that dumb ass will get it through his thick skull that I don't like him." Sango just looked at Kagome in amazement when she said this.
The uncomfortable silence was broken by a loud noise. Looking around, Kagome and Sango burst out laughing at the sight of Miroku, hanging out of the window. Apparently, he had leaning against the broken window frame and it had collapsed under his weight, nearly causing him to fall to the ground, two stories down.
After Sango, Rin, and Kagome hoisted the stupid guy back into the room, they realized that the tension had been broken. They all settled down on the bed , and a separate chair in Miroku's case, and started to watch some movie that was on television.
Thirty minutes into the movie, Inuyasha leapt back through the window. He started to talk and was immediately pelted with pillows and told that if he didn't shut up, he would be quickly and severely injured. He took the threat seriously and silently plopped himself into a chair and settled into to watch the movie.
When Kagome finally came to her senses, the movie had been over for four hours and some other crap was on. She looked around at her sleeping friends for a moment, before commencing a search for a clock. Unfortunately, Inuyasha seemed to be afraid of the things because there wasn't a single one in the room.
Sighing heavily, Kagome dragged herself off of the bed and out of the room. Tiredly, she started searching around the second floor for a clock of some kind, checking every room as she went. All of the doors were open anyways.
However, at the end of the hallway, one door was shut. After trying the doorknob, Kagome deduced that it wasn't locked. After a moment's hesitation, she quietly opened the door and entered the room.
In the darkness, she was unable to see what the room contained. However, she was soon made aware of what was there.
"Why would you be coming into my room in the middle of the night?" Although the voice was cold, it still made Kagome blush from the obvious hidden meaning in the seemingly obvious question.
"Why are you still here? I thought you had your own house." The question was blurted out by Kagome in an attempt to break the silence that had been growing. She could almost see Sesshomaru smirking slightly, even though she still couldn't see a thing.
"I decided to stay the night. Why are you still here?" He didn't let on that he already knew that she had fallen asleep watching some movie.
"I fell asleep." The simple answer seemed to satisfy the demon becuse he didn't say anything else for a few minutes. In the darkness, Kagome squinted her eyes, attempting to see anything, but she couldn't. Sesshomaru seemed to sense her efforts and spoke suddenly.
"It is useless to try to see. Only I can see in this room. It is a spell, quite useful at keeping prying eyes out of my business. Even in the middle of the day, it is pitch black in here." Kagome nodded, figuring the demon would be able to see her gesture.
"Uh, you wouldn't happen to know what time it is, would you?" When nothing was said for a few moments, Kagome turned to leave, but his cold voice stopped her.
"It is two in the morning." Kagome gasped at this, immediately worried that her mother would be pissed at her for being out so late without calling or anything. Sesshomaru sensed her worry and smirked again.
"Do not fear, Kagome. I took the liberty of calling your house and informing your mother that you would be staying the night at Inuyasha's house. She said that it was fine with her." At this, Kagome let out a sigh of relief, causing the demon to smirk once more.
"Thanks, Sess. Well, I guess I see you in the morning." She suddenly stopped, eyes widening, realizing that she had called him something other that his full name. She started to apologize, but was silenced by a low chuckle.
"It is fine, Kagome. Since you have decided to be my friend, it is only fair that you should have a nickname for me. Sess is fine." Kagome sighed in relief and bid Sesshomaru goodnight before returning to Inuyasha's room to sleep.
In his room, Sesshomaru's impassive face appeared deep in thought. He was silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke.
"If you wish to be my friend, I will be yours in return. I hope you realize what you are in for. The friendship of a Taiyoukai is not taken lightly. Things will change in your life, human. Will you be prepared?"
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