Kagome and Sesshomaru were happy together. Kagome was head over heels for him and made sure he knew it. She knew he was uncomfortable with being affectionate in public, so instead she would offer him affection in private. On Valentine's Day, she went to his house – an hour's drive away – and made him dinner and chocolate. They spent the evening in his room, curled up together, watching movies. One thing led to another and Kagome gave him her virginity. She did not regret it.

Afterwards, Sesshomaru held her closely until she had to leave. He pulled her up, still against his chest and dressed her slowly, letting his warm hands brush against her skin. He walked her down to her car and she whispered, "I love you."

Sesshomaru leaned down and kissed her, holding her as if he wished they would never part. She thought nothing of the fact that he did not repeat her words. He was not comfortable with obvious displays of affection.

"Good night Kagome. Call me when you get home." He opened her door for her and she slipped in.

"Good night Sesshomaru."

Kagome watched Sesshomaru in her rearview mirror as she drove away. He waited outside until she was out of sight.

When he went in, Inuyasha was in the foyer, watching him with wide eyes. "You lucky bastard," he muttered, almost reverently. They could both smell Kagome all over Sesshomaru's skin and bed.

Sesshomaru smirked and went to his room. He shut his door and went to his bed, wallowing in the scent of Kagome.

The next day, he began to shop for a present for White Day. Sesshomaru knew there was nothing he could give Kagome that was worth more than what she had given him. He wandered around the mall for hours, not finding anything that pleased him. He would, of course, take her out to dinner and buy her white chocolate. But for her love? For the gift of her virginity? There was no equal.

When he went home, he shopped around on the internet and still found nothing. Sesshomaru tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling, seemingly without emotion. His door opened and the maid walked in. When she saw him, she flushed and began to back out.

"I am so sorry for disturbing you! Please excuse me!"

"Wait."

The maid faced him.

"Close the door and sit down."

She obeyed nervously.

"I… need a woman's advice."

The maid's curiosity was peaked. "Why not go to your step-mother, sir?"

Sesshomaru's eyes flicked toward his bed. "It is not something that I… wish my parents to know."

She nodded in perfect understanding. "The girl gave it up to you didn't she."

Sesshomaru's glance at her was slightly shocked and offended and the woman flushed. "I am so sorry! That was completely inappropriate!"

"What is your name again?" Sesshomaru asked, amused.

"It's uh, Marie, sir."

"Very well. If I wanted to give my girlfriend a gift on White Day for giving me her virginity on Valentine's Day, what would you suggest."

Marie thought. "Well… if she was important to you, you might get her a nice piece of jewelry. With your money, it had better be the real deal though." She blushed again. "Sorry, sir! That was completely inappropriate, again! I am so sorry."

Sesshomaru smirked. "You completely inappropriate comments seem to be completely intuitive as well. Please continue."

"Ahem, well, if you truly like her and it's a committed relationship on both sides, a ring might be nice. You know, like a promise ring? Maybe not with a diamond, but with a semi-precious or precious stone."

"Hmm."

Marie fidgeted, then leaned her elbows onto her knees. "So… was she your first? How was it?"

This time Sesshomaru ignored her comment.

"Haha! So she was. Ooo, I want all the juicy details…"

A month later, Sesshomaru waited in Kagome's living room for her to finish getting ready. He had arrived at her house early in order to help her pick what to wear. His Camaro was parked outside.

"Reservations are at seven," he called up the stairs.

"One second!" Kagome appeared at the top of her stairs, pulling the strap of one of her shoes over her heel. "Okay, I'm ready."

She made her way down the stairs and into his arms quickly. "So, where's my present?" Her eyes twinkled in excitement. He had told her he got her something good, but refused to give any hints.

"In the car. You may open it there."

"Yay! Bye Mama, bye Sota, bye Gramps!"

Sesshomaru escorted her to the car. A white bag, tied with a red ribbon waited on her seat. Kagome grabbed it and sat down. She pulled on her seat belt and they took off.

"Can I open it now?"

"Go ahead."

Kagome pulled off the ribbon and tore out the tissue paper. At the bottom of the bag, a small, wooden box awaited her. She opened it and gasped.

It was a ring. The band was white gold and twisted delicately around a carat princess-cut ruby and two smaller diamonds.

"Are these… are these real."

Sesshomaru looked at her. "Of course."

"It's way too much Sesshomaru! Way, way too much! You can't spend that much on me! All I did was make you dinner and give you some chocolate!"

"You gave me much more than that. And I refuse to take it back. The receipt was shredded long ago. Accept it," he told her simply.

Kagome looked from him to the ring and she smiled. "Thank you." She slipped in onto her ring finger.

A week later, though, Kagome noticed a change in Sesshomaru's demeanor towards her. While he had never been outwardly affectionate, he had always gone out of his way to make her happy and spend time with her. Instead, he refused to hang out on weekends and told her he was busy when she called. He stopped holding her as much, sometimes he even ignored her words of love. But she chalked it up to stress. After all, he was a senior. He would be graduating at the beginning of June and had exams to take.

Even so, she hesitated when April came around and it was time to buy Prom tickets. She couldn't put it off though.

"Sesshomaru?" she asked. They were on the phone.

"Yes?" he asked, emotionless/

"Do you… will you go to Prom with me?"

There was a brief moment of silence. "I'll think about it."

Kagome looked at the long, silky dark blue dress she had spent hours looking for. She had only bought it because it was his favorite color. "Oh. Okay, get back to me soon, okay? I need to know this week."

Sesshomaru had eventually agreed and Kagome bought their tickets. She got her hair done in an up-do and she got a French manicure. Sesshomaru showed up exactly on time in a matching vest and they went out to dinner with Sango and Miroku, Ayame and Ginta, and Inuyasha and his date from Kagome's school, Kagura.

Sesshomaru did not participate in the conversation during the meal.

At the dance, he sat at the table and guarded the girls' bags and shoes.

"Come on, Sesshomaru, please? Just one dance," Kagome pleaded.

"No."

"Please?"

"I said no, Kagome," he snapped.

Kagome turned away to hide her tears and went to find her friends, leaving Sesshomaru to watch her retreating form.

Instead she danced with Inuyasha, Sango, Ginta and Miroku, since she didn't know Ayame and Kagura that well. Kagura and Ayame seemed jealous of their dates' attention being stolen until they saw that Kagome had been abandoned by her boyfriend.

At the end of the night, Sesshomaru silently drove Kagome back to her house, having not danced with her once. Kagome would glance at him from time to time, only to return her gaze back to the buildings flashing by. When they arrived at the shrine, Sesshomaru grabbed her arm to prevent her from exiting the car.

"I'm leaving."

Kagome stared at him in confusion. "What?"

"After I graduate, I'm going to London for college. I don't know when – or if – I'm coming back."

"Wh-When did you find out?"

"March."

Kagome began to cry. "Oh."

"I think it's time we end this… relationship. I will be on a separate continent. It will not work."

"I – we can make it work."

Sesshomaru glanced at her. "I don't want it to work. You're young and pretty. You'll get over it and find someone else. This little fiasco will never last though. I'm a full-blooded demon of a noble bloodline. You are an untrained miko, from a long line of shrine guardians. I should have ended this sooner."

Kagome was overcome with sorrow and anger. "So, it was just a game? It was just a "fiasco?" Did you just give this to me as a… a consolation prize? A payment for giving you my virginity?" She took off her ring.

"It wasn't like that."

"Then what was it like? You said it was a promise ring, but obviously the promise either never existed or is being broken. So what was it like?"

Sesshomaru remained silent.

Kagome studied him, but did not see what she was looking for. "I... I see. I... I guess... I shouldn't trouble you any longer then." She dropped the ring into an empty compartment in his console.

"You can keep the ring," Sesshomaru told her, staring straight ahead.

"I don't want it." Kagome opened her door and exited the car. She hesitated as she stood. "Sesshomaru... did you ever love me?"

He was silent. Kagome shut the door, her tears flowing freely as she made the long climb up the shrine steps alone. Her dark dress was stained with tears black from mascara.

Sesshomaru watched until she was out of sight. His heart, broken and bleeding pulsed at him, protesting his masochism. "Yes, Kagome," he whispered. And he drove off.

The next afternoon found Kagome crying in Sango's arms as the other girl rubbed her back and patted her stiff-with-hairspray hair.

"I really loved him Sango," Kagome sobbed brokenly.

"I know, sweetie, I know."

Sesshomaru was receiving a completely different conversation. He sat at his computer desk and tried to ignore Marie as she sat on his bed and berated him.

"You are a complete and utter moron. An imbecile. The scum of the earth, the gum on the bottom of the proverbial shoe, an utter disgrace of a yokai."

Sesshomaru growled. "You are out of line."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Mr. Gum. Go ahead. Fire me. You know I'm right, but just go ahead. Fire. Me. You went through all that damned trouble to get the girl that damn ring, and then you break up with her when you know perfectly well that she's bonkers for your and you're pretty damn fond of her too. So go ahead. Prove you're a douche bag and shoot the messenger."

At that point Sesshomaru's door burst open and Inuyasha stomped in. Marie took that as her cue to pass the "bitching baton" to Inuyasha and leave the room.

"Why the Hell would you do that to Kagome?! She's so fucking in love with you and you're just going to dump her? What the Hell kind of asshole are you?"

Sesshomaru stood and punched his brother. Inuyasha noticed too late that his full-blooded brother's eyes were red instead of their normal gold. "You have no idea of my reasoning, hanyo, so don't presume that you do."

Sesshomaru threw his brother out of his room and locked his door. His misery didn't need any company.

He left in July to move to London. He did not call Kagome.

Over the next year, Kagome pretended to be happy and tried to get over Sesshomaru. He was her first everything. Her first love, her first lover, her first boyfriend and, finally, her first heartbreak. Kagome couldn't help but feel that she was missing out on something by not being with him.

But her senior year was still fun. At State, her band got third with Inuyasha and Miroku's band still claiming first. She went on the Senior Picnic and went to Grad Night with Sango, Ayame and Ginta. Ginta and Ayame had broken up and Ayame had her eyes set on his cousin. Ginta tried to help, but Koga only had eyes for Kagome, no matter how many times she told him she was not interested.

She hung out with Shippo, Sango, Miroku and Inuyasha as much as possible and ended up going to Prom with Inuyasha. Occasionally, when they were alone, Kagome would ask Inuyasha, "Any word?"

He always answered "No."

Kagome got offered several scholarships for both music and academics and was even offered money to study abroad, but she opted to stay in the states and study music thereafter graduation. While in college, she began to compose, both for ensemble and solos for the French Horn. She performed in her city's Philharmonic and did gigs for a little bit of side money. Kagome's dream remained to be a Pro Horn player.

But as she tutored younger players, Kagome discovered that she had a passion for teaching. She loved the way she could literally watch her students grow in skill. So Kagome worked on her teaching degree.

During her years of undergraduate study, Kagome performed in concerts and benefits. Her name began to spread as a prodigy of the Horn and she was requested to play. Her dream became reality – she got paid for playing the instrument she loved. But Kagome fell in love with teaching, so instead making her living out of playing, when she graduated, she became the band teacher at her old middle school.

She fell in love with teaching the same way she had fallen in love with Sesshomaru. Hopelessly and irrevocably.