Author's note: I know it says I'm changing the storyline. Don't get all freaked and think that the whole thing's going to change. Not much of it is going to change, except I'm going to make Kagome a lot more stable than I was going to have her in the beginning. She'll actually know who she wants. You'll see what I mean, I hope. Please review! No flames please.
The next few days went quickly. On Wednesday, nothing much had happened, except Inuyasha had finally decided that it was either him or Naraku. In the end, we moved to the table beside them, since had had a problem with sitting with Naraku. After school, I'd dropped by over at his house, and while Inuyasha went downstairs, I'd exchanged only a few words with Sesshomaru, and that only included my name and his. Friday after school, instead of going to his house, we'd gone to see a movie.
Now it was Saturday, and I was getting dressed. I was supposed to go to Inuyasha's place in two hours. After combing my hair, I went down the stairs.
My dad was in his study again. Usually, he didn't like it when I turned on music and he was working, so I closed the door to the family room and turned up the volume, figuring he couldn't hear it through my door and his. I closed my eyes and danced around the room, laughing at myself. It was a song I knew. I sang along with it, throwing myself around in circles.
Suddenly, there was a hard knocking on the door. I turned down the music and went to get it. Before I got it, however, the door burst open and my father was standing there, face flushed with anger and hair messed. My smile faded.
"Kagome," He tried to say calmly, "I'm trying to work! Do you know how hard it is to work with all that noise?!" He shouted. His collar was unbuttoned and his clothes were wrinkled, obviously because he'd been working so hard. I felt terrible.
I didn't know what to do. My dad almost never shouted at me. The last time he'd shouted at me was in elementary school when I'd gotten lost and he'd been worried. "I'm sorry." I said quickly, biting my lip to stop it from trembling.
"Yeah, I bet you are!" He continued. "Haven't I told you before to not play your music while I'm working?"
"You're always working." I blurted out. I immediately regretted it when he hesitated and his face flushed even more red.
He bit his lip as his fists began to tremble. "For a reason, Kagome. Who else has to pay for all of this?!" He shouted, violently swinging his arm around. "Just. Just, stop." He bit out finally.
By now, my eyes were clouded by tears. "Okay, I'll leave!" I cried out, violently slipping on my shoes.
"Kagome." My dad called wearily, from behind me.
I ignored him and slammed the door behind me. Just in case he came out behind me, I started jogging down the street. Soon, I stopped, because he wasn't following me. Somehow, that hurt.
I was supposed to be at Inuyasha's house in two hours, but he probably wouldn't mind if I came early. With that in mind, I dried my tears and took the bus to his house. I tried to call him on the way, but he didn't answer his cell phone.
I finally reached his house and buzzed myself in. Toushi answered the door, of course, and welcomed me in. "However," He said. "Inuyasha isn't home yet. I'm sure he'll be back soon. IN the meantime, just go upstairs and make yourself at home." He suggested.
I thanked him and went upstairs. As I walked towards Inuyasha's room, which was at the end of the hall, I passed an open room where music, very nice music actually, was drifting out. I looked in as I walked by and blushed to see Sesshomaru sitting towards the door, reading a book with the music on. He noticed me.
When I got into Inuyasha's room and sat down on the bed, there he was again, blocking the doorway with his form. This time, he was wearing a plain, thin white sweater that's rounded neckline was wide, so it slipped down the shoulder of the arm that he let stay beside him. The sight of his collarbone was quite stunning. He used the other arm to hold the doorway frame as he stood there casually. This time, his hair was dry, and it, to my disappointment, actually looked just as good as it had wet.
"Hi." I said, a little timidly. However, I wasn't that shy, because seeing him had sparked my anger. "What do you want?" I snapped quickly. Then I blushed.
He raised an eyebrow, seeming to question this. "You're in my house. Well, as of this week. But anyways, do you think you have any right asking what I want when I'm the one living here and you aren't?" He asked in an almost haughty tone. How arrogant.
"I'm in Inuyasha's room, and that in no way belongs to you." I said stiffly.
He seemed to find my argument amusing. "You're his..", he frowned slightly at the word, "girlfriend, right?" He asked.
"Yes, I am. Why does it matter?" I asked him a little coldly.
"Oh, it doesn't." He assured me coolly, looking to the side of the room. Before looking back at me, his eyes went down, and all I could see were his long, silver lashes. "It's just interesting."
"What is?" I asked, getting a bit offended. What was he getting at?
"Why you're going out with him. That's interesting." He said, doing this thing where his eyes grew kind of smoky through his lashes.
"What's wrong with me?" I asked him, annoyed. Where did he get off making these comments?
The ends of his lips curled up in a half smile. "Not you, sweetheart. Him. My…brother."
My face grew a little pink, partly because he had called me sweetheart so casually, and because he had insulted Inuyasha. "Why don't you like Inuyasha?" I asked him.
"Why do you like him?" He challenged. Then he was doing that smoky eye thing with his lashes unconsciously and I felt something inside me flip a little. It must have been something I ate.
I frowned. "I love him." I said stubbornly.
It might have been my imagination, but he winced slightly, like something had hurt. Then he gave me a questioning look. "You didn't answer my question."
"Niether did you." I challenged. "Why don't you like him?" I asked honestly curious.
"I don't like him because he's always been a half wit, half brained coward, even as a kid. He runs away from everything he's scared of, and he lies to himself until he actually believes nothing's wrong. I don't like him because I don't think he's good enough for anything he gets, I don't think he deserves it. I don't like him because I should have been the one to have a father. I don't like him because it should have been me." By the time he finished, he was looking down and his voice was raised.
I was frozen by what he'd said, and the honesty he'd said it with. He was frozen because he'd allowed his calm exterior to slip. Not knowing what to say, I did what I felt like doing. And that was standing up and slowly brushing my fingers against the back of his hand. God, and the moment my fingers touched his skin it was like fire, and time suddenly started moving very slowly. He looked up, and I saw everything he'd just said, and the pain he'd said it with, in his honest golden eyes. His hand moved to my arm, and then he was drawing me in…
I heard the sound of Toushi downstairs opening the door. That was all we needed to realize what was happening. Time resumed. Sesshomaru pulled away, ran a hand through his silver hair, and sighed. "God. Sorry, about that." He said, as if it happened every day. I didn't reply, but instead I went to the hallway, to where I could see downstairs. Inuyasha was there, putting his shoes away. He looked up then, as Toushi informed him I was here. He saw me and smiled.
I smiled back, a little relieved to get away from Sesshomaru. I quickly ran down the stairs. Before Inuyasha could ask what I was doing there, I slipped my arms around his neck and gave him an affectionate kiss, which he returned. When I pulled away, I heard the door close behind me, and I knew Sesshomaru had seen. Well, good. Except it didn't feel that good. But being with Inuyasha felt good.
"What are you doing here?" Inuyasha asked as we pulled apart. "I mean, early."
"Agh, my dad and I had this disagreement and I just needed to get out of the house. And see you." I added, kissing his cheek. I pulled away, but kept my arms loosely wrapped around his neck.
"Yeah, I bet." He chuckled and then we spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch in his living room, watching a movie.
That night, as I turned off the lights and climbed under my covers, I turned my head to lie on my pillow and sighed. I'd intensely disliked the Sesshomaru I'd met early this week, but in that one moment where he'd lost control, I'd seen someone I could have liked.
At the same time, I didn't know what he'd meant when he said those things about Inuyasha. The Inuyasha I knew was brave and determined. The Inuyasha he knew sounded like an immature coward. The Sesshomaru Inuyasha knew was a cruel, uncaring monster. How could people be so wrong about each other?
Soon, I closed my eyes and stopped thinking. I fell asleep, and in my dream, Inuyasha was with me. But when he spoke, it was Sesshomaru's voice.
.
Even get woken up by your alarm clock? Well, you probably have. Then you'd know how annoyed I felt when the sound of a ringing phone woke me up from what was questionably the best sleep I'd had in ages.
Who even called this early? I opened my eyes groggily and clumsily picked up the phone, while accidentally sending a quarter of the things on my table flying to the floor. I groaned and asked, "Hello?" into the phone, in a very annoyed manner.
"Hey, Kagome!" I recognized the voice as Kikyou's.
"…Hey…" I replied, closing my eyes and lying back onto my bed.
"Do you have- oh, did I wake you up?" Kikyou asked, sounding confused.
"Yes…" I said, my voice creeping to a whisper as I attempted to fall back asleep.
"Gosh, how late do you sleep until? It's like…one o clock in the afternoon." Kikyou said disapprovingly.
My eyes shot open. "One o clock? Really?" I mean, it wasn't that big of a thing, but I never slept late into the morning.
"Duh." Kikyou answered. "Anyways, me and Sango and Naraku are hitting the mall in an hour. Want to come shopping with us? I called Inuyasha, by the way, but he said some stupid things about Naraku and how shopping wasn't for men like him." She scoffed.
I smiled. That sounded just like him. "Sure, I'll come, but I'm not asking my dad for any money. He yelled at me yesterday." I admitted.
Kikyou was as taken aback as she was, as she had been around long enough to know how even tempered my father was. "Wow. Tell me about it at the mall, okay?" She finally said.
I agreed and hung up, getting ready to go out.
.