Disclaimer: Despite various similarities to KareKano, I invented the plot. But the characters shall always belong to Rumiko Takahashi

Author's Note: I forgot what I was doing - again - letting the updates slide. I apologize. You'll get used to it, if you haven't already.

No Such Thing As Free Lunch

Chapter 3:

Retribution came sooner than expected, and in a form that he never anticipated. The next weekday, after school, he found a note in his locker again, penned by the same hand as the last. But this time, the letter was so thick it barely managed to fit through the grille on the door. No heart stickers adorned this note; instead there was a rather rude depiction of an anime character pulling down one eyelid, sticking out her tongue and flipping him off.

Intrigued, despite himself, he unfolded the message. To the holder of the most insufferable ego I have ever encountered, it began. While I admit our initial meeting was not on the best of terms, I was willing to think the best of you at first. I thought there had simply been a terrible mistake. But then, I learned how you treat your younger brother Inuyasha. I have heard of 'sibling rivalry' before, but honestly, you take this to new extremes! How you could do such a thing to your own brother is beyond me.

Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes and leaned against his closed locker door, wondering what his half-brother had actually told this girl. Obviously, Inuyasha had not apologized properly. Quickly, his eyes scanned over the subsequent pages. … obsessive jealousy… seek to destroy your brother's chances at finding true happiness … see a psychologist…

Honestly, what had the brat said? Flipping the pages over until he reached the end of the packet, he read the last few lines and examined the flourished script with which the girl had signed her name. Kagome Higurashi. The end of the letter was obviously penned with more anger than the beginning. Her penmanship began as a tightly controlled effort and ended with vigorous strokes across the page. It would seem she was the kind of woman that worked herself into a rage, instead of simmering down over time, the more she thought about something.

With a long-suffering sigh, Sesshoumaru stuffed the missive into his bag. He would deal with this later. At the moment, he wasn't certain whether he wanted to strangle her or laugh in her face. Still, the situation was entirely Inuyasha's fault. Best to get to the bottom of things first, before jumping to conclusions about strangers.

As he exited the school gate, he was so lost in thought that he almost missed what was occurring across the street. Kikyou stood there, behind a car, while a man with dark, wavy hair spoke to her, leaning possessively over the hood of the vehicle. The man had an almost eerie glow to his eyes; they seemed to be tinged red by the bright sunlight.

Although their words were too soft for him to hear, Sesshoumaru grasped their intent well enough, when the man moved around the car and grasped Kikyou's arms. She did not pull away. Apparently, Kikyou knew this man… and he was interested in her… They stood very close as they continued their discussion.

His chest clenched at the realization – his fellow class-representative had a private life, and it had nothing to do with him. Although Sesshoumaru understood the 'love-letter' he had received was not from Kikyou, the hopes it had raised still bothered him. Before, his heart had lain dormant, calm and unperturbed, like the smooth surface of a lake. Serene. But a pebble had been dropped into the lake, creating ripples even after the stone sank and disappeared. That ridiculous love-letter had made him hope for something that was not real, and even now, he still found himself thinking about it. Why?

Frustrated with himself, he turned away and started walking toward cram school. He never saw the way Kikyou struggled out of the man's embrace and hurried home, alone.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Ptt. Whirr. Whoosh. Coffee poured into a paper cup sitting conveniently below in the cup holder. Instant coffee from a vending machine was not his favorite, but Sesshoumaru had an early morning every day this week, and any caffeine was appreciated at this point. After preparing Rin's meals and helping her get ready for school, Sesshoumaru had not a moment to spare in the mornings. So, he was reduced to this – getting his daily caffeine intake from a drink machine in the school building.

Reaching inside the machine, he retrieved the steaming, paper cup, only to stare in wonder as it was nimbly snatched away from him one second later. What on earth? Sesshoumaru looked up in confusion.

To one side, a familiar looking girl was drinking his coffee. She had taken the cup out of his hand and started to drink, before Sesshoumaru even realized what was happening. Without coffee to wake him up, it was rather difficult for Sesshoumaru to focus or respond to events in a timely fashion. Instead, he merely stared in awe as the girl downed a piping hot cup of liquid in thirty seconds or less.

In the background, another first-year stared in horror. "Kagome," the other girl whispered, "You don't even like coffee…"

Wiping her mouth with one hand, the stealer-of-his-caffeine crushed the paper cup with a mad glint in her eye. "How does it feel?" she said. "Hmm?"

Her fiery glare could have melted ice, but it had little effect on Sesshoumaru's heart. He was too busy trying to figure out what was happening. Apparently, his half-brother was correct, on the subject of this girl's sanity. And the mere idea that he had just agreed with Inuyasha, about anything, was so unsettling that Sesshoumaru cringed in dismay.

Luckily, he was also very practiced at concealing his emotions. The deranged lunatic and coffee-thief before him did not seem to notice his alarm. Sesshoumaru asked the inevitable question, helpless to do otherwise. "How does what feel?"

She leaned in, and he noticed that her blue eyes seemed to darken when she was angry. At the moment, those eyes were narrowed and focused on him. "How does it feel to have what is rightfully yours taken away from you?"

Tossing the crumpled cup into a nearby waste-bin, she flounced away. The hem of her skirt swayed radically with each of her over-emphasized steps. Sesshoumaru stared in astonishment, mystified by the strange events around him this morning. He still had not consumed any caffeine.

Quickly following after her friend, the second girl bowed and apologized for their behavior. "She just…" stammered the girl, fidgeting with the straps of her backpack. "I'm sorry she did that! Excuse me!"

Fleeing the scene of the crime, the other girl left him alone. He shook his head and bought another cup of coffee.

The kind of person who worked herself into rage, instead of calming down over time… Indeed.

Now, he really wanted to know what Inuyasha had told her. His half-brother was dead already. The boy just didn't know it yet.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

It was lunchtime when he finally cornered his errant sibling.

Inuyasha was clearly avoiding him. The boy was not in the cafeteria, eating with his friends, nor in any of the empty classrooms. And this meant his little brother was truly trying to evade him, because first-year and third-year students did not even have the same lunch period, so Inuyasha should not have worried about meeting Sesshoumaru during the lunch-hour at all. Unless, of course, he knew that he was in trouble, and his elder brother was out to get him… Clearly, he knew.

In the end, Sesshoumaru found his half-brother hiding on the rooftop of the building. It was the only place that he had not looked yet. He had skipped the previous period, ostensibly to visit the nurse, while he searched the campus for his sibling, and Sesshoumaru hated to miss class. But – oh! – how sweet the look of terror that swept across Inuyasha's face, when Sesshoumaru finally tracked him down.

"Agh, what are you? A bloodhound?!" yelled Inuyasha, backing away from his elder brother, as Sesshoumaru stepped from the stairwell onto the roof. "How did you find me? You're supposed to be in class!"

"Which explains why you are skulking around in a deserted part of the building, instead of eating lunch," drawled Sesshoumaru. Excellent. His opponent was already terrified. This increased his chances of an honest confession.

Weighing his options, Sesshoumaru tried to decide how to punish his half-brother. Tying him up and forcing him to miss the rest of the day of school would get them both in trouble, and Inuyasha would probably enjoy skipping school, on some level, so that idea was out of the question. Perhaps public humiliation?

"When I recommended that you apologize to a certain girl, for standing her up," continued Sesshoumaru darkly, "What exactly did you say to her? It is obvious you did not do as I asked."

"Oh! That!" his half-brother laughed uneasily, "I just told her about how you… you know…"

"No," the elder sibling deadpanned. "Perhaps you should be more specific."

Scooting backward until his back hit the chain-link fence that wrapped around the top of the building courtyard, Inuyasha started to pace, restlessly, back and forth along the fence-line. Finally, the boy protested loudly, "Well, I couldn't very well say I hated her guts, could I?"

The gaze Inuyasha sent in his elder brother's direction was puppy-like and pitiful. Sesshoumaru was unmoved. He had never asked for anyone to hurt the girl's feelings; he had simply requested a little bit of honesty on his half-brother's part. If his sibling did not want to date the girl, then best to be forthright about this fact. To do less would be disreputable and misleading.

Rather than genuinely facing his problems, Inuyasha had somehow foisted the problem off on his elder brother, yet again. "What did you say?" Sesshoumaru hissed.

Inuyasha yelped and then blushed hotly, refusing to meet his elder brother's gaze. "Uhm… I said that… Well, I didn't want to tell her that I had been avoiding her. Girls have fragile self-esteem, you know? And you are always destroying my life, anyway, so it seemed reasonable, not too far off the mark… So I told her you were… um… jealous?"

Sesshoumaru blinked. This did not compute. "Jealous of you?" he mouthed, uncomprehendingly.

"Yes! Exactly!" chirped his half-brother nervously, rubbing his hands together. "Always trying to steal my girlfriends, and such. No big deal, right?"

Closing his eyes, he tried to understand his half-brother's mind for a full five seconds, before giving it up as a lost cause. It was the most ridiculous excuse that he had ever heard. Could the girl, Higurashi, not see through such an obvious deception? Girls practically threw themselves at Sesshoumaru; he didn't need to 'steal' their affections. Besides, one who wanted to date his brother would hardly be worthy, in any case.

"Since you are incapable of telling the truth," sighed Sesshoumaru, pivoting on his heel and walking toward the stairwell, "Then I will do so, on your behalf."

Instantly, Inuyasha began to panic. A frantic flurry of footsteps followed, and suddenly his little brother was standing by his side, with a pleading expression. The older sibling stared stonily back at him.

It was almost comical, the way his half-brother squirmed under his gaze. Inuyasha always acted over-emotional and headstrong, but this time, it took three attempts before he managed to spit out the words. "Don't do that!" he begged, sounding far less repentant than he thought, "Um… Please?"

Sesshoumaru raised one brow, skeptically. The brat was in no position to be making demands, and he knew it.

A bell chimed for the beginning of the last lunch-hour, signaling that Inuyasha would be late to his afternoon classes. Realizing that he was out of time, the younger brother took a deep breath.

"Kagome's best friend Sango is dating Miroku who is my only friend at this stupid school, so far," he explained in a rush, "And if I am mean to her, then Sango said she would rip off my… I mean, it would make things incredibly awkward between us."

Expression serene, Sesshoumaru implied his disinterest in all of his half-brother's affairs. Just because the boy was incapable of befriending decent people was no reason for such subterfuge. Besides, the tables had been turned. He had a full hour of free time now, during lunch, in which to wait for an apology. The act of burdening elder brothers with hormonal, coffee-stealing, crazed high-school girls should be outlawed.

"Crap," Inuyasha acknowledged in a surly tone, "You have no mercy. I forgot. I just thought that if anyone knew what it felt like to have no friends, it would be you. Nevermind."

Stomping his way down the stairs, Inuyasha left his brother behind on the roof.

Frozen into stillness, Sesshoumaru stared after his half-brother in a daze. Morbidly, the words circled through his mind once more. I thought, the words whispered into his ear, as if Inuyasha was still standing right beside him, If anyone knew what it felt like to have no friends, it would be you.

Had his little brother really just pronounced some of the most heart-rending words that he had ever heard… as an accidental after-thought? Yes. Yes, it seemed he had. The boy had spoken lightly, without rancor, like it was one of their normal, brotherly insults. Somehow, Inuyasha did not actually know how nasty this comment would sound.

But now, the words would not leave him alone.

Technically, Sesshoumaru realized, his half-brother was correct. He didn't have any friends. Not really. Not any good ones. The people in kendo club looked up to him, and they spoke often. Plus, he conversed with students in his class. Maybe he was allowed to count friendly acquaintances as 'friends'? Or was that bending the rules?

Damn. If his plight was so obvious that even his half-brother had noticed, then he must appear desperately dreary.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

As a result of their conversation on the roof of the school, Sesshoumaru did not say anything to the girl about his brother. This was not out of respect for Inuyasha, or pity, per se. As the eldest son of the family, Sesshoumaru knew that he had a responsibility to uphold their family name and clarify any dishonest confusion that his little brother had caused. But… by the end of the day, when the last bell rang, he had decided it was time for Inuyasha to start learning responsibility too. There was no way that he could take care of all of the younger boy's problems.

The fact that he recalled how pitiful Inuyasha had seemed, this had nothing to do with his decision, of course. And the issue was definitely, absolutely, not even remotely correlated to the fact that Sesshoumaru was in a similar situation to his brother. This was purely a tactical decision – not an emotional one – he was implicitly teaching Inuyasha the importance of honesty and bravery in adverse circumstances.

Satisfied with this determination (however untrue it might be), he finished his homework in the library, since there were no extra-curricular activities that day, and then headed off to his night classes. With university entrance exams coming up, all of the older students were beginning to feel pressured, but ironically, Sesshoumaru felt too distracted tonight to worry. Cram school was easier than dealing with human relationships, in some ways.

Perhaps he could simply view his problematic lack of friends as a homework assignment. He would talk to some of the kinder, more laid-back people that he knew in his club, and he would simply… begin to like them more. If he liked other people and they liked him in return, then it meant they were friends. Right?

Rubbing his forehead, he glared at his desk. Of all the stupid things in the world to obsess over, why this? It wasn't that important. Certainly, it was not urgent enough to chew up the rest of his day, by pondering what his half-brother had said, over and over again.

Yet he could not stop. And it was driving him crazy! Really, Inuyasha should apologize for…

With a mental sigh, he realized that this problem clearly went deeper than he had first suspected. A few days ago, he had been overflowingly happy at the idea that Kikyou liked him, only to feel horribly disappointed when she was not the girl at the tennis courts. And once he began thinking about his fellow class-representative as a potential love-interest, he felt dissatisfied and irritable upon seeing her around another man, even from a distance. Instead of ignoring an innocent mistake, like a normal human being, he had started to obsess over it. Now, he was doing the same thing, over a remarkably similar issue.

When the evening class ended, he stepped onto the darkened street and trudged home, dispirited. Moping about something that he could not change, and then brooding over the fact that he was moping in the first place – honestly, this behavior was ridiculous. He knew it. But he could not fix it.

Thus, by the time he reached home, his mood was dark and sullen. And perhaps, if Rin, or even his father Touga, could have been the first person that Sesshoumaru saw, then his dismal mood would have evaporated like steam. Unfortunately, however, the first person he encountered was his stepmother. His newest stepmother. A member of a category of persons that he loathed on principle.

Yura was leaning backward on a counter in the kitchen, riffling through small paper bills, when he entered the room. Dropping his bag on the floor, he watched as she flinched slightly, noticing him for the first time. The momentary look of surprise on her face immediately transformed into a loathsome smirk, when she recognized him, and a feeling of apprehension slid down the back of his neck, even before she opened her mouth.

Sure enough, he did not like what she had to say, or the sugary sweet tone with which she conveyed it. "I notice, son, that you seem to carry around a lot of cash, in your wallet," smiled the short-haired, abhorrent creature in front of him. "Is it wise for a young man to wander around with so much money?"

His mind went blank with anger. This woman had been going through his wallet? Just because he had not brought it to school, that did not give her permission to search through his possessions!

The disappointment and restlessness that he had felt, after Inuyasha's careless comment, abruptly solidified into hatred. The hatred must have begun to drip from his gaze, visibly, since her attitude changed, yet again. "I was only trying to say," Yura backpedaled, "That it would be unwise to waste your Father's money."

"Then, perhaps you should put it down," he hissed, striding forward predatorily. "For every second it is contact with your skin, it looses value."

"Now, Sesshoumaru…" the woman said, her tone pretentious.

As the distance between them shrank, he interrupted her icily. "Yes. Right now."

Yura's eyes grew wide, then narrowed with anger, and she threw down the bills she held. And as she stalked out of the kitchen, even Sesshoumaru fully understood that this marked the beginning of a war.