The One Left Behind

There is something about her

that draws out his deepest emotions,

Naraku paused as they stopped yet again when the blue-eyed shrine girl passed them by. She did not notice them, but one thing was for sure- their golden-eyed friend did,

and he saw their quiet friend drop everything he was doing to follow his gaze on her, his hands clenching in intense restraint from reaching out. She was finally out of sight, and Naraku shifted his gaze back towards Sesshomaru.

The longing in his friend's golden eyes was there, still burning brightly he had to look away.

I know that feeling, Daiyoukai.

Why don't you just go to her? What's keeping you from courting her?

Why are you so scared?

They had asked him, the day after they saw her underneath the sakura tree. He had disappeared that afternoon without any word, and concerned, they called Touga to report his missing son. Surprisingly Touga answered, and assured him and his mate that Sesshomaru was alright- he had gone home early that afternoon, and they said they were currently in Bunkyo.

What they were doing there so abruptly had puzzled Naraku to no end, but Kagura just shrugged her pretty shoulders at him. "Who knows. They're richer than us. They might have some business there, you nosy urchin."

And Naraku did not know if their having met the Shrine Girl was a good or a bad thing. Sesshomaru was not wearing that dead mask anymore, but it was replaced by a tortured, anguished soul, whose eyes were burning with regret and longing.

Kagura had tried to set him up with the shrine girl for countless of times, but he would refuse in panic.

**"I can't go near her," Sesshomaru answered cryptically, from which Naraku raised a vain brow at him.

"What," the hanyou asked in disbelief, "Your 'legs go weak' or something? She's just a girl, for fuck's sake! Just go near her and say HI." He shook his head, "I can't believe the almighty Daiyoukai is acting like a wee little lamb-"

"I can't go near her," Sesshomaru repeated, the anguish in his voice leaking through. Naraku sat quiet, as golden eyes connected with his. "I have to wait... until she is ready,

until she comes to me."**

Naraku wanted to shake some sense into the heir before him.

What a traditional idiot.

If he would just have approached the girl, it would have saved them a lot of teeth-grinding angst. Then Sesshomaru wouldn't look like a pathetic stalker he was efficiently playing right now. He could remember the incident in the gym, when they happened to be in the inner court playing basketball, and the first years had Physical Education in the track field.

Sesshomaru was standing by the pillar, staring quietly at a group in the field. Naraku took off his shirt and threw it to Sesshomaru, trying to divert the audience he had unknowingly collected.

Apparently, his friend was sporting a massive boner underneath his loose shorts.

The girls on their level stood in envy at the flock of first years he was supposedly watching.

To the unknowing eye, the Taisho heir was being turned on by those group of wolf youkai standing by the corner, but Naraku knew better, as he approached Sesshomaru's unmoving form.

The inuyoukai was staring at the innocuous little Shrine Girl.

She was oblivious to his heated gaze, as sweat ran down her temples and she ran away from the group. She hid in a corner to adjust the tight bloomers that were bunching in her ass, unaware of the scorching stare the Daiyoukai held towards her. Sesshomaru was so absorbed with the trail of her fingers on her wet skin,

her breaths coming out in small gasps from the heat of the day,

he did not notice there was a world outside of his erotic Shrine Girl fantasies until Naraku took his neglected shirt off the floor and slapped Sesshomaru's back, trying to knock some dignity back into the very smitten, and very aroused, youkai.

Of course, it sparked another round of unfounded rumors about his friend's "insatiable lust," but Sesshomaru simply did not care, and so he and Kagura didn't either. Naraku had been worried, as Kagura started to get impatient. And when his mate was impatient, he knew that there was no stopping her.

He knew his mate was going to make another move, and she did indeed when they reached the middle of the school year.

There was a party to be held at one of the student's large house, and all the popular people were invited. Kagura leaned over, to tell him of her plan.

The shrine girl won't be invited. That they were sure of, because of one brutal reason-

she was not popular.

"I'll get him drunk into a stupor until his beast will be teetering on edge," Kagura said, holding a bottle of whiskey laced with heavy inebriating poison in it. "We'll tell him we have a challenge for him..."

Naraku raised a questioning brow. "A challenge? " He saw Kagura smile, and Naraku glared at his mate. "Are you out of your mind? You know he'll never agree to that, Kagura."

"That's the point, you idiot," Kagura said as she shook the bottle in her hands, as they made their way up in the room where Sesshomaru was in.

"He'll never agree to it. The plan is simple and blunt. We'll bring with us one of those desperate wolves in front of him, and his beast will be frustrated. He'll reject the girl and our plan, get a heavy scolding from his inner self, and probably give that retard the courage he needs to come up to that harmless little shrine girl and at least say HELLO." Kagura finished her sentence with an audible, frustrated huff.

Naraku paused as they entered the door, and Sesshomaru's golden eyes met them, unaware of the outline they had formulated.

The hanyou shook his head.

It was a harmless plan, compared to the past attempts they made to prod the idiot to the girl. Naraku closed the door behind him, as Kagura sat before their friend and watched him drink the first shot she poured from the bottle-

and Sesshomaru's eyes immediately glazed over, the inebriating spell instantly hitting his usual heavyweight self.

Naraku leaned on the couch, trying to relax.

Surely, nothing could go wrong.

They had not prepared for the consequences of their harmless little plan. When Naraku opened the doors to bring in one of those wolf-youkai females, he was not ready for what met his eyes.

Sesshomaru's shrine girl was there.

To top it all off, she was straddling him in a very compromising position. The fact that they were together, in such an intimate situation had completely drowned out the fact that their friend was covered in her puke. The hanyou looked beside him, as he watched his mate's lips twitch upwards, the beginnings of a smile of victory cracking through her shocked face.

But it all changed when the wolf-youkai beside them just had to open her mouth and ruin the somehow precious moment.

"Oh my gosh. I have GOT to Instagram this!"

A camera flash filled the dim room, and that was all it took for Sesshomaru's eyes to flood into blood red. He instantly bared his fangs as his muscled coiled tightly in a reflexive warning, his arms protectively winding around the sleeping girl.

"Delete that picture, now!" Naraku instantly spun around, holding the wolf-youkai by the shoulders, slamming the terrified freshman harshly on the wall.

Naraku's eyes himself was teetering on the verge of red in intense anger.

The girl started to cry, as her hands fumbled pathetically on her phone. Kagura stepped in front of her mate, in between the angered Daiyoukai, bracing herself from the inevitable attack that was to come. She bared her fangs and let out a protective warning of her own.

But the rage in his aura suddenly died down, when the sleeping Shrine Girl, who was still in Sesshomaru's arms- braced her palms across his chest.

That simple action acted like a douse of cold water for the raging Inuyoukai.

His eyes melted back to gold. The Shrine Girl nuzzled her cheek across his puke-covered chest and whispered calmly in her somnolence, "Sesshomaru-sama."

"What are you dallying for?" Naraku shook the girl who was still madly pressing the buttons on her phone. His fangs were starting to grow, and he grabbed her phone and smashed it into the wall. The device broke into pieces as it fell to the floor, the blood on Naraku's hands staining the wall, dripping down the carpet in great amounts.

"Leave," he warned, as the stubborn wolf dared to glare at him, the powerful, centuries-old hanyou that stood before her. Another hand shot out from behind him and grabbed the girl, yanking her roughly away from his escalating rage. It was Kagura.

"He said leave," she said through clenched teeth, equally holding back in restraint. She threw her out of the room and slammed the door shut.

Kagura rushed to her mate and took his bloodied hand, tending to it in comfort when they heard a soft sniffling from behind them. They turned around, and the adrenaline that had built up for the past moments suddenly dissolved into thin air.

It was heartbreaking. The Daiyoukai was lurched on his stomach, bent down and in tears as he held the sleeping shrine girl in his arms. He was sobbing as he buried his face in her hair, shaking his head, and his hands gripped her so tight it was bound to leave bruise marks on her skin. "Kagome," he whispered, taking her hand and running it tenderly across the outline of his face. It was then that Naraku realized.

That inaudible word Sesshomaru whispered, the moment he woke up from the hospital-

it was her name.

The way you hold her,

the way you say her name... your abnormal devotion to this girl,

I have long wondered about this, but now I can definitely say for sure.

Something else is going on.

They stood quietly on the corner, and Kagura's hand held his. She looked at him, a silent acknowledgment of his thoughts.

There's something about her

that you haven't been telling us,

And it is getting frustrating, Dayoukai,

for you to be keeping us in the dark.

She left.

The day after the party happened, the Shrine Girl slipped away from his sights. He almost had her in his grasp, and fuck he would have dragged her to their desperate friend, but he received a call from Kagura when he was scouring for her in the gym.

Sesshomaru was attacking the wolf-youkai that spread the picture of them on the internet.

When he arrived at the classroom, the walls were torn apart-

The chairs and tables flipped, and there was blood splatter all over. There were several youkai teachers scattered unconscious in the room. His mate was injured- there was a significant laceration on her arm, and she pointed to the other corner, where the blood had pooled the greatest. The wolf-girl lay in the hands of Sesshomaru's beast, her throat was ripped open, and a big gash to her ribs bubbled out bloody air from her exposed lung.

The gruesome sight did not daze the mad Inu, as he lifted his claws to deliver a fatal blow to the helpless student. Naraku pummeled against Sesshomaru, knocking him away from the girl. Sesshomaru struck his claws, dragging an angry scratch mark across Naraku's left cheek.

The hanyou hissed, as he bared his own fangs and dug his claws painfully into the youkai's shoulders, pinning him with all his strength to the wall. "Get a hold of yourself!" Naraku screamed, and the beast Sesshomaru snapped his jaws at him, letting out a mad growl. "Sesshomaru," Naraku insisted, "We have to find her!"

The growling stopped, and he saw, much to his relief, his eyes teetering back from red to gold.

"She's gone, she ran off somewhere. Instead of this pointless rage, we have to find her." Naraku refused to be distracted by the slew of students, rushing to retrieve the unfortunate victims out of the room. "Sesshomaru. Are you with me?"

The inu blinked as he completely regained his consciousness. "Kagome," he finally said, "Where is she?"

***Fourth Year***

The next thing they knew, the Shrine Girl was already the heir's girlfriend. How in the seven hells did that happen was far out of his understanding, especially after that mistake of a scandal. He could see the hatred in the Shrine Girl's eyes whenever their friend touched her, and they can only watch in frustration as their friend was slowly destroying himself into a miserable wreck.

Kagura had suggested he move on. Love another girl, but even she herself knew her advice was pointless. He had already chosen, and there was no changing his mind.

If only you would tell us, Daiyoukai. Stop keeping it all to yourself.

Who is she?

But he did not know his question will have been answered only a few days later, when he and Kagura took an unplanned train ride home.

They saw them. Soaking wet, lost in their own thoughts, the couple sat quietly on the other edge of the train, not speaking to each other, awkward in their interactions.

The Shrine Girl had her eyes glued to the floor, sitting on his lap. Sesshomaru had his forehead rested on her back, his silent tears streaking down his cheeks, soaking the oblivious girl's shirt. His hands around her waist were tight, the look of torture on both people drawing secret glances around them. But it was not that which nailed Naraku's attention.

It was that mark on the girl's neck, so subtle it would have gone unnoticed.

But he saw it, and in that instant, everything clicked into place.

They followed them as he walked his girl home. After they kissed she left him under the rain without even saying goodbye, and as Sesshomaru turned to walk away, the sound of a fist connecting to his jaw erupted.

The sudden hit left the daiyoukai reeling.

"That one is for insulting my mate," Naraku said, catching his breath. Kagura stepped forward. She had been quiet the whole time since the train ride. She pulled on Naraku's sleeve, a silent plea to stop his assault on their clueless friend. The downpour was still heavy, but it did not hinder Naraku's anger.

Blood oozed from the side of the Inuyoukai's mouth and he tried to wipe it away, but before he could do anything, Naraku picked his pathetic form up by the collar and drove him into the nearby brick wall. "And this one is for insulting me."

"Naraku!" Kagura cried out, but he had already sucker-punched him in the face.

Sesshomaru's nose bled, but the torrential rain was washing it away- and Naraku shook the man who was avoiding his eyes. "What is wrong with you?!" Naraku screamed at the empty doll before him.

"Sesshomaru, we're not your guardians...

we're your fucking FRIENDS!"

"Naraku, please," Kagura sobbed as she tried to pull her mate away from him, but he held fast, determined to get through him. Naraku raised his fist again and rammed it into the wall, the stone crumbling into wet pieces beside the Daiyoukai's feet.

"You've been leaving us in the fucking dark for all these years, and it's fucking frustrating! You fucking idiot!" he clenched his teeth in despair, realizing where their friend's anguish had been coming from.

The blemish on the Shrine Girl's neck. To the ordinary person it would look like a harmless birthmark, but to a committed man like him, he knew what it was.

It was the remnants of a mating mark, painfully extracted from the girl, how she had survived such extraction and live was beyond his comprehension. He couldn't imagine the immense torture she had to go through alone-

and it sat there, cursed to fade away in time, cruelly erasing any evidence of a promise of eternity that was once made.

"Why are you not telling us anything? We're here by your side, Sesshomaru. We always have been." Naraku's grip on the inu loosened, and Kagura moved forward and embraced their friend, her shoulders shaking from her own frustrated cry.

"Are you trying to punish yourself? Is that why you're trying to burden this all on your shoulders?

Enough... You've already suffered so much,

we're here to share that burden if you just let us!"

The rage had finally died down, and what was left were three friends, standing under the heavy downpour, leaning on each other for support.

"She tried to tell me," Sesshomaru finally spoke, "Over and over again, she tried to tell me. But I didn't believe her..." Sesshomaru's eyes drowned with regret, and his voice shook.

"And now I have to live with the torment of her not knowing my name, with the possibility that she will never remember all that we shared,

I feel as if I'm losing her again...

I don't know what to do anymore."

They gave each other long moments of silence, to gather all that has been said.

"Tell us what happened," Kagura pulled away, "Start from the beginning... we'll find a way, I'm sure we will." She wiped away the tears forming again in the corners of her eyes, which was pointless anyway as the rain looked like it had no plans of stopping anytime soon. As their private ride pulled up by the corner, they dragged their exhausted friend with them, and he let out a drained breath.

He started recounting all that had happened.