Tender is the Night Chapter 4

Again, see zee disclaimee in chappie 1.

"Ow!" Sango snapped at the paramedic stitching up her forehead. "That hurts you know!" Grumbling, she sat back down and let him finish up. "It's not that bad, I don't think I need to go the hospital…"

"Well, it could have been a lot worse" Kagome said to her, "How did you get it anyway? It's probably gonna leave a scar. Don't tell me you actually tried fighting one of them, did you see what happened to the art building. The wall collapsed completely!"

"I didn't actually directly fight one. After we got separated in the crowd I went looking for you. I was running by the art building because it was too crowded to go the other way, when everybody started screaming and scattering in different directions, and then I heard this giant explosion and I fell down. I guess I fell on top of some bricks or I got hit by some rubble cause when I woke up I had this cut. "

"Huh, I'd kind of pictured you in some fight-to-the-death with 5 vampires at once."

"Please, I didn't even see any, except in the sky, YOU'RE the one who actually fought one. By the way, you should probably avoid the quad, there's a bunch of news vans there and since Erika is talking to them, they'll probably want to interview you or something."

"Sure, do you have a phone? I need to call my mom."

"Yeah, here you go."

Meanwhile, Erika and Akane were being interviewed by some reporters who had managed to make better time than the police.

"Well, we're just glad it's all over and all our friends are okay…" Akane said smiling into the camera when Erika squealed, "Well I wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for Kagome…KAGOME! Come on! You can be on TV! Anyway, there was this vampire right on top of me and then she hit him with something and she saved me and she is such a hero and…" when the reporter cut her off.

"Heh heh…(sweatdrop) well why don't we go see what the principal has to say on the subject…" and he fled with Erika and Akane tailing him.

Kagome dodged cameras and headed to a more secluded corner to call her mom with Sango's cellphone.

"Hi, Mom? It's me…uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh…yeah I'm fine! Don't worry, everyone's okay except for Sango, she got a cut on her head and she's getting stitches now…"

"OWWWWWWW!"

"Yeah, she's fine. I'll get right home."

Kagome snapped the phone shut and then trotted across the quad to give it back to Akane when Erika accosted her.

"Thank you SO much Kagome, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been there…and this is gonna sound crazy but I think I recognized that vampire! Wasn't it that Sesshoumaru guy on TV? The one Akane likes?"

"Yes, I think so" and Kagome turned to head towards the parking lot to get picked up by her mom when Erika stopped her.

"Um…I don't know, but maybe you should stay away from the school. I probably should too. I mean, well, I'm not sure but I think that Sesshoumaru is pretty important…he was on TV and everything, and you managed to fight him off, what if he wants revenge or something?'

"Oh, my mom won't let me go back for awhile anyway, besides it's not like I was just gonna stand there and lose you. But I'll still be here for the assembly next week…the school needs to figure out which students were taken and to reschedule classes…but come over later with Sango and Akane, we need to celebrate!"

Meanwhile, in one of the skyscrapers owned by Shikonco dominating Tokyo, several men and women were assembled in a conference room.

"What do you mean you want to stage a second attack! The first ended just this morning!" a woman with red eyes and a bun said to her associates, "This is completely unorthodox and I cannot permit—"

"Yes, but the enrollment numbers at the school given to us were false. It seems that there are a great deal more students there than previously anticipated, meaning more 'cuts' should have been made." a man with long dark curly hair sitting next to her said calmly, "We can't let something like that pass, or they'll forget their place."

Without saying anything more, all heads turned to look at the head of the table, where the head of the company and diplomatic affairs sat. Sesshoumaru looked each in the eye and said simply, "I don't see why not. They're just food. That's all."

Everyone left the room except for him, and he glanced through a book acquired at the school. It was a yearbook. He flipped through school photos and unconsciously touched a burn mark on his throat, which had already almost completely healed and paused on one page, staring at a familiar face.

"Kagome Higurashi"

Done! Looks like Kagome's screwed, and please review!