Chapter 2
"Your dad is scary by the way," David muttered into her ear.
Kagome laughed, tossing her head back, before whispering back, "You didn't soil yourself, right? I'd hate to be cleaning your tux instead of dancing at prom."
"I only just managed not to," David sighed with a sigh, smirking, as he held the limo door open for Kagome.
"I'll make sure to bring you diapers in the future." Kagome fought to keep a straight face as she slid into the back of the car next to Sango, who already had a wine chute full of sparkling cider in her hand.
David turned back to the house once more, locking eyes with Angelo Higurashi, who was scowling out at him, before the curtains shifted and blocked the older man from view. A shudder went down David's spine as he climbed into the backseat, snuggling up to Kagome, who was filling her wine chute with cider and didn't seem to notice.
"A toast!" Souta called out, raising his glass. "To making memories. We're going to be graduating soon, and the school is going to fall apart without us!"
"You're so modest Souta," Kagome claimed dryly.
Sango scoffed "Modesty is for ugly people," she said, sipping from her apple cider with a smirk. "I'm going to be the belle of the ball."
"That you are," Inuyasha said quietly, smiling.
Back at the house, Angelo and Ariana Higurashi sat at their kitchen table in a contemplative silence.
"You know this has to be done Angelo. You've known that since they were born," Ariana sighed, gesturing vaguely at the pictures on the walls. "You said that you wanted to wait, have a life with them, well you have. They'll have an accident, along with all of their degenerate friends, and we can grieve and move on. Have normal, human children together."
Angelo gave a noncommittal grunt, his head in his hands, honey brown eyes like his son's squeezed shut tightly, as though in pain. "Do what needs to be done," he ground out between his teeth.
Ariana reached across the table and laid her hand on his shoulder. "Your brother will be proud."
Angelo flinched away from her offered comfort. "I just wish that I'd never met Alice. I never should have agreed to see if our children would be normal. And then Kagome… on the day they were born… And now it's too late…" He sighed, sadly, clutching his hair between his fingers and pulling until Ariana was afraid that he'd pull the strands right out of his scalp. "I just wish they'd never been born!" he wailed.
Ariana swore she saw tears in his eyes, but when he lifted his head, they were dry as bone, but agonized. Angelo jumped out of his seat, grabbed his coat off of the chair and stormed out of the room. "I'm going to the bar," he ground out between his teeth before Ariana could say anything to stop him. The front door slammed, and then she was alone in a house that was purchased on a façade. She groaned, pulling out her cell phone and dialing the familiar number of her brother in law.
"Naraku," she said once he answered. "It's time. Yeah. No, he's not happy about it, what kind of question is that? Yes he agreed. Reluctantly, but he agreed. Yes. Tonight?" Ariana sighed silently. Angelo wasn't going to like that it'd happened so soon. Oh well, she thought. He'll get over it. "Tonight," she said firmly before hanging up and going to the freezer for a snack.
The prom is in full gear by the time Kagome and her friends arrive. The prom is being held at one of the very nice hotels in the area, and while their high school decided against having a themed prom, the décor is beautiful. Purple and glittering gold is everywhere, from the tablecloths to the streamers to the cups and plates.
Unbeknown to all of the partying kids, down in the kitchen, right below the main room, Ariana's plan was being carried out. A deceptively young looking ifrit was fumbling with a gas line behind a stove. When his shaking fingers finally finished the task, he scurried out of the hotel entirely and made a call to Ariana. "It's done," was heard on the other line before it went dead, and the woman smiled. Before the scurrying man could get into his car and drive off, however, a tall olive skinned man grabbed his wrist in one hand and twisted, hard, while the other hand wrapped around and covered the man's mouth just as he screamed. Amber eyes narrowed in distaste as the mystery man dragged his now whimpering victim into the shadows of the parking lot and towards an unassuming black van.
The back doors of the van opened when the two men were close, and the amber eyed one pushed the whimpering one into the back of the van, hard enough to make him stumble and fall into it.
"Jesus Sesshou," a male voice said with a slight British accent from the back of the van as he inspected the whimpering man's wrist. Icy blue eyes lifted to look at Aiden with an eyebrow raised. "Did you have to shatter it?"
"Merde, Miroku" Sesshoumaru muttered, running a scarred hand through his long black hair. "Let's just find out what he did in there, oui? Then you can lecture me."
"Deal," the blue eyed man said, turning to the whimpering man, now curled into a ball on the floor of the van. "Oy!" Miroku shook the man's shoulder to get his attention, and then yanked him into a seated position and slammed his back into the wall of the van; his head hit the wall so hard that the man saw stars and yelped. "What did you do in there sorcerer?" the last word was sneered so vilely that it could have been a swear word. The man shook his head and sucked in his lips in response. Miroku punched him in the nose and asked the question again. The small man started to whimper again, clenching the fingers on his good hand.
"Tell us what you did in there sorcier," Sesshoumaru demanded in a quiet way that was more menacing than if he'd shouted. He stepped forward and grabbed the man's forearm just above his broken wrist. Sesshou pressed his fingers lightly onto where he assumed the break was, and Miroku only just managed to cover the man's mouth before he screamed out in pain. When he stopped screaming, Miroku slowly removed his hand from the man's mouth. "You ready to talk now?" Sesshoumaru asked, dropping his arm.
The man nodded, cradling his broken wrist and crying.
"I have to pee!" Kagome yelled out to Sango and David before heading towards the bathroom. Sango followed, linking arms with her and giggling.
"Tonight is so fun!" Sango exclaimed, twirling into the bathroom as soon as Kagome opened the door. "Gome, I think David really likes you."
Kagome smiled, heading into the stall to do her business. "Maybe, but nowhere near how much Inuyasha likes youSango."She called out. David was a nice guy, definitely, but Kagome didn't see him as anything more than a friend. Hopefully that doesn't cause me any problems in the future.
The girls chatted merrily on the way back to the dance floor, their arms linked together. Before they got there, however, Kagome caught a glimpse of the best looking boy, no, man she'd seen in a very long time; if ever. He is definitely not here for the prom. At least six and a half feet tall with long jet black hair and the most striking amber eyes she'd ever seen, he walked by her and Sango with hardly a glance, although he did pause and do a double take before he continued on.My god I hope he was looking back at me.
"Gome?" Isabella nudged her questioningly.
"I'll be right back San," Kagome mumbled, turning away from her friend and following the amber eyed man while Sango looked on quizzically before heading back to her date.
"Excuse me!" Kagome called, running a bit on her toes to try to catch up to the man. He paused again, glancing back at her as she sashayed to his side with a cheeky smile. "Who are you?" She asked.
Sesshoumaru was shocked by her blunt question. With the way she'd strutted to his side and the flirty smile on her face, he'd almost expected her to play coy the way he'd seen women do in the past.
"I'm nobody," he said gruffly, starting to walk again, half hoping she'd follow, half hoping she wouldn't.
She followed.
"Oh, I doubt that," she responded, her heels clicking on the floor as they walked.
"Merde," Sesshoumaru sighed, choosing to ignore her.
"Now I know you're not from around here," she declared, as if she'd just solved the mystery of the year.
"Oui? And how do you know that?" Sesshoumaru asked aloofly.
"You just cussed at me in French," Kagome said as though it were obvious. It kind of was.
Sesshoumaru stopped walking and turned to her, "Look femme,"
"Kagome. My name is Kagome."
"Ok, Kagome, whatever. You're too young for me ok, belle fille?" Sesshoumaru paused; astounded that he'd just called her beautiful while expecting her to walk away, but the words had just slipped out without his permission. And mon Dieu is it the truth…
Kagome looked highly affronted when she snapped, "I'm turning nineteen in a month!"
Sesshoumaru almost sighed in relief when she didn't comment on his unintentional endearment. He had to fight back a laugh, however, at how offended she was. He just raised an eyebrow at her and continued walking. They were almost to the stairwell, and he really needed her to let him close off the kitchen before any kids went down there to smoke.
Suddenly moving much faster than she should be able to in those ridiculously high shoes, Kagome planted herself in front of Sesshoumaru, scowling with her arms crossed.
"Why are you being such an asshole?" She demanded.
"Merde! I'm trying to save your life!" Sesshoumaru all but snarled at her, grabbing her upper arms and shaking her slightly.
"What are you talking about?" Kagome asked in a small voice.
Sesshoumaru took a step back, letting her go and breathing heavily through his nose before speaking again quietly, "I don't have time to explain everything, but someone cut the gas line in the kitchen causing a leak. Kids go down there to smoke because the vents in the kitchen are the loudest and they work the best at keeping the smell contained. I have to keep people from going in there or else…"
"Or else we're all going to die…" Kagome finished for him urgently. She glances behind him towards the ballroom where her brother and friends are.
"Go," Sesshoumaru insists with a tilt of his head. "Get your friends and get the hell out of here."
Needing no more prompting, Kagome kneels down, pulls off her shoes, and takes off running back towards her friends. Releasing a sigh half of disappointment, half in relief, Sesshoumaru hurries on, hoping against all hope that he'll make it down to the kitchen in time.
As he pounds down the stairs, running now, he can hear rambunctious laughter coming from further down the stairwell. A door opens, then closes, and then the laughter quiets down, traveling further and further away.
Sesshoumaru yells out a string of French curses, picking up his pace. He rounds the next landing, and before he can do anything more than get his hand on the door handle, he's blown back off of his feet and into the wall of the stairwell, hard enough to knock him out. The last thing he sees before he blacks out entirely is the orange and red flames burning through the doorway where there used to be a door.