Screams echoed down the walls of a dark and dank dungeon. Following the scream led to a chamber that had a door made of solid steel. Inside of the room, tools meant for torture lined the walls, and in the midst of all the weapons stood Sesshoumaru.

He reached for a rusted knife and walked in front of a haggard looking demon chained to the wall. The demon in question had many lacerations and bruises littering his body. His arm was bent in a way that didn't look natural and one of his eyes had been gouged out. To further his pain, his hands and his legs as well as his neck were chained tightly, cutting of most of his circulation. He had spent many nights in this dungeon, and his body was proof to that.

Noticing that the demon had fallen asleep, Sesshoumaru decided to wake him up. He brought he knife forward, lightly dragging the tip against his face. It had been this demon, among others, who had planned the kidnapping of his imouto and her classmates. Anyone who even thought of laying a hand on his dear sister would pay the consequences. He was no exception. Without warning, he brought he knife back and stabbed it through the demons stomach. The demon let forth an agonizing scream upon his awakening. He pleaded with Sesshoumaru.

"Please! I can't take anymore! I didn't know she was your sister! I didn't—" Sesshoumaru grabbed his chin, his nails piercing through his cheeks.

"There are no excuses. Anyone who lays a hand on Kagome pays the consequences." With that said, he tightened his hold on the demons chin until he thought it would rupture under all of the pressure; and it did. The demon let forth one last gurgle, his life extinguished.

Sesshoumaru lifted his hand in front of his face and stared at it in disgust; it would take a while to get the smell out.

"And here I thought you were going to spend some more quality time with him." Sesshoumaru turned towards the voice and was not surprised the find Shippou leaning against the door frame.

Sesshoumaru snorted and grabbed a towel sitting off to the side and wiped his hand off. "I do not intend to spend more time than needed with useless trash." Once satisfied that his hand was clean enough until he could actually wash it, Sesshoumaru turned towards Shippou.

"What is it that you want?"

Shippou looked at Sesshoumaru with an eyebrow raised—a trait he had gotten from the makai lord—and shrugged his shoulders. "Just thought I'd check up on you; you have been in here for over a day after all."

Sesshoumaru ignored him as he walked over to a table on the far wall.

Shippou's eye twitched. "It's not fair! You know who got stuck with all the paper work while you were down here? Me! You can't seriously expect—"

"Look at this." Sesshoumaru shoved a paper in Shippou's face. It had various scribbles on it and was addressed by a random man at the bottom. Shippou's face creased in confusion.

"So it's a letter. What's so important about it?" He lowered it from his face as he looked back at Sesshoumaru. He was clearly still agitated at being ignored moments ago.

Sesshoumaru sighed, starting to lose patience. "Look at the insignia stamped on the back. Does it look familiar to you?"

Shippou, noticing the urgency in Sesshoumaru's tone, turned the paper over to find out what was so important about it. At first he didn't notice it, but after a closer inspection he found what had Sesshoumaru so worried. It was an insignia; a marking. That of a spider.

Shippou's eyes widened a fraction. "You don't think…"

"It is exactly what I think." Sesshoumaru walked back over to the recently forgotten body hanging on the wall. "I found it on him while searching him. If you read it, it states that whoever wrote it wanted them to kidnap a group of students. He was also willing to pay them a huge reward in return."

He turned back to Shippou with a grim look on his face. "As much as I do not want to believe it, the proof is on the back of that paper."

Shippou stared Sesshoumaru in the eyes for a few moments, a silent agreement passing between the two. He nodded his head while he folded the paper and put it in his pocket. "I'll look right into it."

A mischievous smile appeared on his face. "On another matter, I couldn't help but notice how Hakudoushi looked at Okaa-san yesterday. He seemed to have quite an interest in her."

Sesshoumaru's shoulders stiffened.

"Also, one of Hakudoushi's advisors called to ask me if I knew where he had run off to. Apparently he left for the human world just a few hours ago." At this Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed, and without a word to Shippou, he turned on his heel and walked out of the door with hurried steps.

Shippou sighed to himself as he watched his surrogate father leave the dungeon. Sometimes he wished that Sesshoumaru could just confess his true feelings to Kagome instead of hiding them behind the façade of a brother. Keeping your true feelings hidden for so long can eventually get to you, Sesshoumaru.

Kagome laughed at the stories that the three boys were telling her as they walked out of the school building. The scenarios they got into were simply too hilarious!

"And then Shin ran right into the classroom! With only his boxers on! The looks on everyone's faces were priceless!" Jiro choked out between laughs as he draped an arm over Kagome's shoulder. Shin tried to come to his defense with a blush on his face.

"Hey! It wasn't fair that you guys stole my clothes while I was changing! And running after me with mice when you know I'm afraid of them!" He pouted after he cried out.

Kagome tried to stifle her laughter with her hand, but it was obvious to the three males that she was laughing her head off. Akira smiled as he continued.

"Aww Shin, don't be like that. You know we love you." As if to emphasize his point, he draped his arms around Shin and made kissing noises with his lips.

"Ewww, get off! Get off!" Shin struggled to get away from Akira's tight hold on him. Kagome just continued to laugh.

"Come on! You know—"

"Ah, Kagome-chan, there you are." Kagome turned towards the voice and was surprised to find none other than Hakudoushi waiting for her outside of the school gates.

"Hakudoushi? What are you—"

Before she could even finish her sentence, she felt arms grab her as she was brought into an embrace, lips quickly descending upon hers. Time seemed to go on forever as her brain came to a halt. There was no sound, only that of the birds and the cars.

"What the hell?!"

Kagome recognized the voice as Jiro's. "Who the hell are you?!"

Hakudoushi raised his lips from Kagome's and smiled mischievously down at her. He then wrapped his arms around her waist as he brought her into his chest.

"Why, I'm her boyfriend, obviously." He continued to hold Kagome against him, enjoying the feel of her body against his.

Kagome snapped out of her daze when she heard her cell phone ringing. Slipping out of Hakudoushi's hold and sending him an I'll-get-you-later look, she opened her cell phone and brought it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Kagome." It was Sesshoumaru. "How are you doing?"

"Fine." She looked back between Akira, Jiro, Shin and Hakudoushi. The three boys were staring him down.

There was a silence on the other end of the phone.

"Nothing… has happened?"

"Well…" Before she could answer an argument had ignited between the boys.

Shin got up into Hakudoushi's face as he grabbed him by the shirt. "You expect us to believe she's your girlfriend with that display? Huh?"

Hakudoushi simply looked the boy over and glared at him coolly, looking for the entire world like he wasn't being held up by the collar of his shirt. "And you expect she would go for someone like you?"

Uh-oh.

"Who was that?" Kagome was reminded that she was on the phone with Sesshoumaru, and of his incredible hearing.

"Uh, well, you see, we ran into Hakudoushi—"

"Hakudoushi…" Kagome wondered why he sounded so mad. "What did he do?"

"Well he was waiting for me outside of the school and before I could ask why he was there..." She paused for a moment. "…he kissed me."

Silence was heard over the phone. And then, static. Kagome blinked. Did he… hang up on me?

Kagome was brought of her musing though when she noticed that the three delinquents were about ready to murder Hakudoushi, (though she knew that they couldn't really murder him). She put her cell phone back into her pocket and stood in between he boys.

"Guys just calm down." She pleaded with them with her eyes as well as her words. After she was satisfied they wouldn't jump Hakudoushi, she turned heated eyes on him. "And what was the meaning of that Hakudoushi? You know I'm not your girlfriend; you can't just come up and kiss me."

Hakudoushi merely smirked at her. "Ah, but Kagome…" He leaned in closer. "…you don't have to be my girlfriend for me to kiss you." Just as he was about to lean in for another kiss, a hand descended upon his shoulder, effectively stopping his movements.

"I suggest you stop right there."

Sesshoumaru stood behind Hakushoushi, his eyes boring into the back of his head. Hakudoushi put on a fake, business-like smile, knowing he had been caught.

"Why Sesshoumaru, how nice to see you." Sesshoumaru simply continued to glare at him. Hakudoushi cleared his throat and smiled in Kagome's direction.

"Well Kagome, as much as I enjoyed our talk, I'm afraid I have to leave." He gave a slight sigh at Sesshoumaru's constant glare, silently telling him to scat. "I'll see you later." And with one last smile he was off, Sesshoumaru's glare still on him as he disappeared around the corner.

"Sesshoumaru?" Sesshoumaru snapped out of his inner rant and turned toward Kagome. He was disgruntled to find that she had managed to attract more males to herself. "What are you doing here?"

He looked at her, silently at a loss as to what to tell her. Then he was reminded of the letter. "I have urgent news to tell you." He looked at the boys standing protectively behind her. "Alone."

She nodded her head, recognizing what he meant. She turned towards the boys behind her. "Well guys I'll see you tomorrow." With one last wave, she turned around and walked with Sesshoumaru to his car that was parked just outside the gate. As she was getting into the passenger side of his convertible, she noticed his cell phone lying on the seat, looking for all purposes like it had been smashed.

"Um… what happened to your phone?"

"It… broke."

Haha, Sesshoumaru just doesn't know his own strength. Did I surprise you? Hope I did. Now review.