Don't Get Close
Questions Arise
Kagome was shaken awake a few hours later. Groaning, she rubbed her eyes and rolled off of the bed. She shot an angry look at the person who had woke her up. It was Sango. She just chuckled at Kagome's discomfort.
"What time is it?" Sango shrugged again. At that moment, a sudden voice alerted Kagome to the fact that the two girls were not alone in the room.
"It is 8:00 am." Kagome whirled around, immediately recognizing the cold voice. She spotted Sesshomaru standing in the doorway. Then, he spoke again.
"Inuyasha and Miroku are downstairs, eating." The way he said the word eating made Kagome laugh. He made it sound as though they were being pigs. Without further words, he turned and left. Kagome and Sango followed after him, heading downstairs.
As soon as they entered the kitchen, Kagome understood why Sesshomaru had sounded disgusted when he told them that Inuyasha and Miroku were eating. The two had piled up heaps of food in front of themselves and were attempting to cram as much of it in their mouths as possible.
Shaking her head, Kagome watched as Miroku finally choked and raised his hands in surrender. Inuyasha smirked and started to taunt his fallen opponent. Sesshomaru chose that moment to intervene.
"I believe that everybody should return to their own homes soon, unless they wish to attend school without changing clothing." Kagome paused and looked down at herself. She was wearing tight black jeans and a black t-shirt. Although they weren't dirty, she had slept in them.
However, as she was about to ask for a ride home, Inuyasha suddenly piped up. "Screw school. I say we skip and do something else." His suggestion was greeted by an approving look from Miroku. Kagome and Sango, on the other hand, were more reluctant.
After thinking about it for a minute, Kagome decided to do it. "Well, what are we going to do?" Inuyasha looked to be deep in thought for a minute before responding.
"Uh, we could go hang out at the mall for the day. There's this new X-box game I want." Kagome nodded her head in agreement, amused by Inuyasha's obssession with video games.
After agreeing with this, Kagome left the room and went to a bathroom. She splashed water in her face to wake her up properly and then combed out the tangles in her hair. After finishing up in the bathroom, she returned to the kitchen.
Miroku and Sesshomaru were the only two still in the room. Inuyasha had gone to find his car keys and Sango had gone to wash up as well.
Sitting down at the table, Kagome waited silently for everybody to get back. After a few minutes, they all returned. As she got up, Kagome noticed that Sesshomaru was still there.
"Aren't you going to school?" He shook his head.
"I have decided to buy a few items. Since you are all going to the mall, I will accompany you." Kagome nodded in understanding. Then, she realized that everybody else had already leftto go to their cars so she turned and quickly followed them. Sesshomaru calmly trailed behind her.
When they got to the yard, there was some confusion as to who would be riding with who. It was quickly decided that Sango and Miroku would ride with Inuyasha. However, as soon as Inuyasha offered to drive Kagome as well, she quickly declined.
"No thanks. I remember how you drive. I think I'm safer with Sesshomaru." At this, Inuyasha snorted.
"I drive much better than that asshole." Kagome merely shrugged. With that settled, she turned and opened the passenger side door of Sesshomaru's car as he got in the driver's seat. He waited until Inuyasha had torn out of the driveway before following.
As they drove along in silence, following the silver gleam of Inuyasha's car, Sesshomaru suddenly spoke.
"I've come to a conclusion about you." Kagome looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to expand on his statement. After a moment, he did.
"You are nosy and you keep trying to talk to me without encouragement. However, you have attempted to befriend me, which no one else has ever done. You try to be nice to me. You physically injure my half breed brother. You are not unattractive or stupid. In my opinion your good traits outnumber your bad traits." Kagome, shocked at his bluntness, said nothing, and after a moment, he finished up his little speech.
"All things considered, I have decided to take you up on your offer. I will be your friend." After this, he fell silent again, and let Kagome think about what he had said. Just as she was about to respond to this, he spoke again.
"I have to warn you. There are some times when you may see a side of me that will scare you. I try to stay in control, but everybody has a breaking point." Kagome nodded, understanding the warning. She had seen demons lose control before and it was terrifying. Taking in to consideration Sesshomaru's greater than average power, it would probably scare the shit out of her of he ever lost it. Suddenly, she realized that he was talking again and she cut him off.
"Well, now that you have agreed to be friends with me, I have one condition for you. You have to stop being so cold. I cantell that you've been emotionless to long to start being friendly with everybody, but at least make an effort with me." Sesshomaru appeared to consider her condition for a few moments before nodding. This brought a smile to Kagome's face.
Suddenly, the car stopped. Kagome looked around in confusion until she realized that they had reached their destination. She opened the door and got out, greeted by the sight of her three friends climbing out of Inuyasha's car.
Her and Sesshomaru walked over to them and when they were all out of the car, the five of them walked into the mall. As soon as they were inside, Inuyasha took off towards his favourite game store. Sighing, Miroku followed after him, dragging Sango along with him. Sesshomaru and Kagome trailed behind him.
After about two hours of looking at games, Inuyasha finally decided to quit and get something to eat. Unfortunately, as soon as everybody was finished, he dragged them off to all of the other game stores to look through them. This took another four hours. By this time, it was nearly 3:00 pm.
They all decided to go back to their houses, Inuyasha loaded down with bags of video games. Once again, Kagome rode with Sesshomaru. Silence lasted throughout the entire drive. When the car pulled into Kagome's driveway, she quickly said goodbye and exited the car. However, as she went to walk away, she heard the sond of a window being lowered.
Looking back, Kagome was greeted by the sight of Sesshomaru reaching to give her something through the open window. Reaching out, she took the item and looked down at it. Her breath caught in her throat.
It was a small, silver crescent moon dangling from a beautiful silver chain. She looked at Sesshomaru questioningly, and he merely stared back at her. Then, he spoke.
"Always keep it on. Through it, I will know if you are ever in danger. Friends must protect their friends." With that, he pulled out of the driveway and sped off. Kagome stared down the road for a moment, then smiled. Without any hesitation, she put on the necklace and went into her house.
The rest of the night day passed quickly. After eating supper, Kagome watched television for a couple of hours, then crawled into her bed and fell asleep.
The next morning, Kagome was awakened by the sound of her alarm clock going off. Groaning in annoyance, she reached out and turned it off. Reluctantly, she dragged herself from her comfortable bed and went through her usual morning activities.
After showering, she quickly got dressed in a dark blue skirt and a black t-shirt and went to the kitchen for some breakfast. After eating some toast, she quickly said goodbye to her mother and her brother, then left the house to go to school.
As she walked along, Kagome pondered the difference in her life between today and two days ago, when she had walked to school, bored of her life. She smirked slightly, pleased that at least now, she had somebody new to liven up her monotonous existence.
As she thought about everything, Kagome unconsciously fingered the crescent moon dangling from her neck. It felt warm to the touch. However, before she could investigate it further, a shout forced her to turn her attention to her surroundings.
Turning, she saw Kouga hurrying down the sidewalk towards her. She smiled when she saw her friend, even though she silently dreaded the wolf's inevitable questions of whether or not she would be his girlfriend yet.
This time, however, before Kouga even made it all the way to her, he suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. Then, he looked at Kagome and his smile faded. Slowly moving closer, he eyed her as if she was about to sprout a second head. Mystified by her friend's behavior, Kagome quickly asked what was wrong.
"What's wrong, Kouga?" He didn't respond. Instead, he continued looking at her strangely. As he looked, his gaze zeroed in on her necklace. Reaching out, the wolf attempted to touch the crescent moon.
However, as soon as his fingers closed around it, there was a flash of red light and he was thrown backwards. Kagome's immediately rushed to his side, worry and confusion evident on her face.
Kouga slowly pulled himself to his feet. Looking around, he glared threateningly at the people who were staring at him. They all quickly resumed their previous activities. With that accomplished, Kouga turned to Kagome, just in time to catch her question.
"What happened?" Kouga said nothing for a minute; he just stared at the necklace. Then, suddenly, he spoke.
"The demonic aura coming off of that thing is enormous. Where did you get it?" Kagome answered immediately.
"Why does it matter?" She was confused as to why the necklace would react so violently to being touched. It had been fine when she had touched it.
"When a demon extends his protection over a person, he generally gives them an item that will call to him if said person is in danger. But this thing is going beyond that. It is actually using it's owner's demonic aura to protect. For such a small trinket to possess such a powerful aura, it must come from an extremely powerful demon. Where did you get it from?" This time, Kagome answered.
"Inuyasha's brother, Sesshomaru." At this, Kouga's expression became confused.
"You mean Sesshomaru, as in the next Lord? Since when does he come to our school?" Kagome shot him a questioning look before responding.
"Since Monday. I would have thought that you would have heard about everything by now." Kouga shrugged.
"I went home before school even started on Monday, and I skipped yesterday. But what happened with Sesshomaru." Kagome immediately realized that it wouldn't be a good idea to tell Kouga about Sesshomaru kissing her. Knowing the wolf, he would attempt to attack Sesshomaru, and Kagome really didn't want to see Kouga get his ass kicked.
"Well, before first period, I got into a little bit of an argument with Shuran and when he got a little violet..." Kouga cut her off there.
"Did he hurt you? I kick his ugly ass for that." But Kagome shook her head and spoke again.
"There's no need for that. Sesshomaru happened to see this happening and intervened before anything happened. He threw Shuran headfirst into some lockers. Then, at lunch, Shuran's friends, the Thunder Brothers, tried to get some revenge. He warned them off but the attacked him. He ended up stabbing his claws through Hiten's stomach. It was kind of gross, but they deserved all they got." Kouga nodded in agreement. Then, he asked another question.
"Why did he give you this?" Kagome thought for a second before answering.
"Well, I offered to be his friend. He was reluctant, but eventually he agreed. He gave me that and said that through it, he would know if I was in danger. Why does it matter anyway?" Kouga shook his head.
"It will do more than just tell him if you are in danger. Look at it. A crescent moon. Any item would have sufficed. A rock, a pencil, anything. However, he choseto give you a crescent moon. It is his symbol. When you are wearing this, if any demon touches you without your permission, he is legally allowed to be killed on the spot by the giver of the item. This necklace officially makes you untouchable by any demon who is afraid of Sesshomaru. Judging by some stories I've heard about him, he's no weakling like Inuyasha."
Kagome was surprised by this, but it made sense. When a friendless demon finally gets a friend, he would naturally place the strongest protection possible on said friend. Kagome's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when Koua started talking again.
"Be careful, Kagome. I can feel his power through the necklace. It is the most power I've ever felt in one place, and something tells me that what I'm sensing now is nothing compared to what it could be. Being exposed to so much demonic energy for a long time might have some effects on you. Be careful." With that, Kouga turned and went back, leaving Kagome to ponder these new developments.
As she resumed her walk to school, Kagome thought about what Kouga had told her. Eventually, she reached the conclusion that it was a good thing. Basically, she was now under the best protection possible. Nobody could ever hurt her without pissing off a powerful demon. The only worry she had was about Kouga's parting words.
Would being exposed to a high amount of demonic energy have any adverse effect on her? At that moment, however, she looked up saw that she had arrived at school. With a shrug, she decided to ask Sesshomaru about the demonic aura thing next time she saw him.
Little did she know that her questions would be answered a lot sooner and more violently than she could have imagined.
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