Mr Brightside

by TheMadKatter13

SUMMARY~Unrequited love is always difficult. Especially when she's in love with your brother. AU. Sesshoumaru/Kagome.

DISCLAIMER~The rights to Inuyasha reside with Takahashi Rumiko and I receive no financial gain from the writing of this story.

AN~Yes, this entire chapter is an "in the past"/flashback chapter. The all italics is on purpose, and though I personally hate having to read long sets of italics, please bear with it because it's how I write flashbacks. And thank you for the reviews (all 2 of them; lol).

02 Gotta Gotta Be Down Because I Want It All

It had been Sesshoumaru's third year in high school, Inuyasha's first, when a miko named Kikyou had transferred into Inuyasha's class. Somehow, the two became fast friends and it wasn't long before they were dating despite Sesshoumaru's misgivings. The young woman showed no apparent interest in anything Inuyasha did or had, except for his money and sex, even though she seemed to get that from a lot of other males at the same time.

Halfway through the school year, Touga was driving Kikyou home, with Inuyasha as company, when a vehicle had ran a red light, hitting Kikyou's side of the car. Thanks to their youkai blood, father and son had remained unhurt but the girl had suffered large amounts of physical damage and had slipped into a coma, despite the healing her miko powers should have provided. For no reason Sesshoumaru could see, the hanyou had blamed himself for the entire incident, and had become even more withdrawn than before Kikyou had come along, and had become considerably more short-tempered.

A week later, there was another transfer student: Kagome, the slightly younger cousin to Kikyou who had moved to take care of their ailing grandmother, Kaede, a task Kikyou had previously undertaken. Inuyasha had been furious at what he considered a look-a-like of his lost love, but despite that, Kagome had stubbornly persevered and gained his friendship. Sesshoumaru, having already experienced Kikyou, had no desire to meet this new girl, and he presumed she was just as much of a gold-digger as her cousin had been, and was filled with annoyance and anger whenever Inuyasha mentioned her. Inuyasha's opinion could obviously not be trusted on the matter as he still believed Kikyou was innocent, despite Sesshoumaru's logic and evidence to the contrary.

The end of the school year was approaching and all the students were burdened with end-of-the-year projects. Sesshoumaru had been working on a project alone, but Inuyasha and Kagome had been doing a partner project, and the Nishi kitchen had been converted to 'home base' for their project, probably at the request of the hanyou's bottomless stomach. He could hear them working, but more frequently arguing, about the project on a daily basis and as such, thoroughly avoided the kitchen until after the girl had left. On this particular evening however, there had been sound from the kitchen for quite some time and his stomach rumbled, letting him know that it had probably been a few days since he'd eaten last, and though he could still feel both of their presences in the vicinity of the kitchen, he knew he shouldn't wait any longer to eat and so began the short trek to the kitchen.

His steps were quick and silent as he approached the brightly lit kitchen. He could hear the irritatingly loud breath of his half-brother, the quite, measured breath of unknown person who he guessed was the girl, the quick skritches of pen on paper, and the occasional clack of laptop keys. Slowly approaching the kitchen, he saw a girl facing away from him with a thick mane of black hair reaching all the way down her back, and his half-brother passed out, both surrounded by piles of paper, books, with the hanyou's laptop facing the girl, and the hanyou himself was resting on several pieces of scattered paper. The girl seemed to be hunched over a book, occasionally writing things on the side or typing something into the laptop. As Sesshoumaru watched her, she would occasionally shuffle the papers on the desk around, looking for a certain piece of paper. One of the pieces of paper she was looking for appeared to be under Inuyasha's face and, leaning across the island, gently lifted his head to slip out the paper before placing his head back down. She didn't immediately sit back down but instead paused in the air before re-extending her hand and letting her fingertips run lightly across the rim of an ear, then his hair, and then down his cheek before drawing them back and sitting down with a deep sigh.

Sesshoumaru watched her work for a little bit longer before she sat up with a groan and extended her arms into the air, arching her back. He watched in surprise as the girl toppled off the backless stool when she over-extended her stretch, squeaking in surprise, but as soon as she hit the ground, she began to laugh and Inuyasha shot up, awake and alert. Inuyasha stared in confusion at the girl on the ground before crossing in his arms across his chest, a smile crossing his face more gentle than any Sesshoumaru had seen before, even when he was with Kikyou.

"Oi, you silly girl. Get off the floor," Inuyasha prodded with a bare toe. The girl's laugh slowly turned into giggles as she rolled onto her stomach and froze as her eyes fell on his feet, and then she was looking up and he was looking down into a set of impossibly blue eyes.

"Hi," she waved shyly from the floor, a light blush spreading across her cheeks as she wiggled her fingers. Inuyasha finally seemed to notice his presence and sped around the island to Kagome's side, who he quickly hauled up and behind him. Those blue eyes continued to stare at him curiously from over the red-clad shoulder. Inuyasha's instincts were laughable since he still had never beat Sesshoumaru in a fight, but he could still understand the protectiveness caused by their inu nature.

"What do you want, Sesshoumaru?" the boy challenged. Sesshoumaru lifted an eye brow.

"This is my home as well, Inuyasha," Sesshoumaru intoned monotonously. A giggle sounded from behind his half-brother who frowned and elbowed the girl who just giggled harder.

"I'm Kagome," the girl introduced, peeking around the hanyou's other side. "It's nice to finally meet you, Sesshoumaru-san," she greeted with a small bow. Sesshoumaru merely stared her down as Inuyasha promptly rushed the girl out of the kitchen. Their interaction, though short, excited his curiousity. Either she was a really good actor, or she was indeed different than Kikyou. She certainly smelled cleaner.

~X~

As the school year came to a close, Kagome continued to be at the Nishi residence every day without fail, working on their project. After the first interaction, Sesshoumaru no longer went out of his way to avoid her, and actually grew to like her more than most others around him. As time passed, when Kagome had finished her day's work on the partner project, Sesshoumaru began to offer to drive her home, sneaking in more and more offers of dinner the more time they spent together. For the first several times, she would blush prettily and politely reject him spending any money on her, showing him how different she was from Kikyou, who not only accepted any offer Inuyasha made, but forced him to take her out. Finally, he offered to treat her to a very simple, cheap sushi restaurant, and she only seemed to accept on the condition that she could pay him back. He smiled and accepted, but he would never take her money from her. She just didn't need to know that. And though she probably didn't see it that way, as she was still head-over-heels in love with his oblivious brother, it was the best first date he had ever had.

As time passed, under the pretense of friendship, he got her to accompany him to movies, museums, youaki festivals, anything and everything he thought she would be interested, and after she learned he wouldn't take no for an answer if she really was interested, she would accept with a blush and a smile, thanking him profusely at every turn during the outing. It was the start of a slow and intricate courting dance, obvious to everyone except her and Inuyasha, all the while his love for her growing and growing whilst hers stayed fixated on his brother, who in turn was torn between his feelings for Kagome, the much alive but constant reminder of his first love, and his first love herself, the still-comatose Kikyou.

Almost as if the gods wanted to make things more complicated, in Inuyasha and Kagome's third year, Kikyou awoke, creating more knots in the tangled chains of their relationships, and creating more despair for Kagome, her love for the hanyou obvious to everyone except the hanyou. And so Sesshoumaru's soul continued to cry out in pain for every second of every day, helpless against the tangle and unable to part from the one who, unbeknownst to all, he and his beast had already chosen for their Mate.

TBC

Arrr...therrre be chapter 2. A little bit of a background for the whole situation. Please keep an eye out for the new chapter and again, while I love seeing those Faves and Watches, I love seeing reviews as well. Makes me smile inside and I love constructive criticism to help me learn and grow in my writing style. Thank you again and enjoy for next chapter will include a real/current interaction. ^.~

Update next week.