The Strawberry Rhapsody by Pseudomonas

The Strawberry Rhapsody.

Glossary:

Okiru - wake up

baka - idiot

Kami - God

chotto matte - wait for a second

daijoubu desu ka - are you alright?

mou - argh!

chikushou - f**k

mochiron - of course

honto - really?

otouto - younger brother

suman - sorry (masculine)

hajimemashite - first time meeting you...

dozo yoroshiku - nice to meet you

onegaishimasu - (added for extra politeness)

iya/iie - no

saa - so

ikuso - let's go!

nani - what

sumimasen - sorry

sake - alcohol/rice wine

betsu ni - nothing in particular

mooichido - again

omedeto gozaimasu - congratulations

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"And every time I see your face

The ocean heaves up to my heart

You make me wanna strain at the oars, and soon

I can see the shore

I want you to know who I really am

I never thought I'd feel this way towards you

And if you ever need someone to come along,

I will follow you, and keep you strong."

- Lyrics from "Life is like a Boat", by Rie Fu. (Bleach's OST)

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"Nnngggg..." Kagome groaned as her mother yanked the curtains away and let the bright strong sunlight flood her bedroom.

"Okiru! It's already 8am!" the elder Higurashi jabbed her hands to her waist and yelled at her lazy daughter.

"Mama! It's Saturday! There's no school today!" Kagome pulled the bedsheet over her head and tried to continue the fantabulous dream that her mother had unkindly disrupted.

"Inuyasha is downstairs," Kagome's mother smirked to herself and left the room, knowing that the mention of Inuyasha's name was the best wake-up call she could ever use on her precious daughter.

Kagome literally jumped out from the bed and rushed to the bathroom without another word. In the midst of trying to juggle the tasks of brushing her teeth and doing her normal toilet routine at the same time, her frazzled brain was asking her the question why Inuyasha was here.

"Yeah, why is he here today?" Kagome stuck the toothbrush in her mouth, pulled up her shorts and flushed the toilet. Inuyasha seldom came to her house and as far as she knew, he was not a morning person. And even though she harboured a deep crush for him, she was sure that the dense boy did not know. They had been friends since childhood and she was sure that Inuyasha saw her nothing more than as 'his buddy', 'personal FOC tutor' and 'Aunt Agony'.

Because today is Valentine's Day? Kagome almost choked on the mouth-rinse while the other part of her frazzled brain told her that today was February the 14th. She instantly spewed out the rest of the strawberry-flavoured mouth-rinse and coughed hard.

"BAKA!" Kagome stared at her own reflection and scrunched her nose. Her eyes were red and watery from the near-death of choking from mouth-rinse, her skin was pasty with a few budding pimples on her forehead ("drats my fringe!") and her hair was messy and dull. Kagome rinsed her face with the cold tap water and tried to pull a comb through her knotted tresses.

"I need to get a tangle-free shampoo..." Kagome mumbled while Reason told her firmly that Inuyasha would never like her. She was not attractive, not a member of the popular girl's group in school, had no interesting hobbies (other than her cat Buyo), and worst of all, she was a studious intelligent girl unfazed by long, hard-to-memorize mathematical formulas and impossible-to-understand scientific equations that tried to explain the workings of the world to humans.

Kagome was too plain, and too smart for her own good. She thanked Kami that Inuyasha was her good friend, although she suspected that part of their friendship was based on free tutoring and that she was a bridge to Kikyou. Kikyou, the all-rounder female that everyone who was made up of XX chromosomes looked up to; while everyone who was made up of XY chromosomes lusted after. Kikyou was the epitome of class, beauty and grace. Kagome wondered how she managed to keep her grades all straight A's even though she was almost involved in every club or society in the school, ranging from botany, astronomy to sewing, baking, and athletics.

She was not even close to Kikyou, other than they were the only cousins in the same school. They seldom talked to each other too, for lack of similar conversational topics other than the times when Inuyasha had asked her for Kikyou's contact number and to arrange them on a date. Kagome had kindly told Inuyasha that Kikyou was rather unattainable (and thereby insinuating that he was simply out of her league since his grades were kaput) even though he was very handsome, very nice and very popular with girls.

But of course Inuyasha being Inuyasha, would never understand since his mind worked on a totally different level from hers and Kikyou's. The only difference being that Kagome was able to understand Inuyasha with no problem, and she was 101% sure that Kikyou would not. In fact, her cousin would probably go into a daze just from trying to understand Inuyasha's incoherent ramblings about hockey and his craze for dogs. And probably scoff at her dearest male friend too.

She pulled her hair up into a high ponytail and tried to make it as neat as possible. Her hair was forever flying in all directions and looked to be in a constant state of being whipped around from a blasted wind. Or bird's nest, she thought wryly to herself.

"Maybe, maybe, he has gotten over his infatuation with Kikyou, ne?" Kagome smiled to herself and inspected her neatly-lined teeth in the mirror. Not as white as Kikyou's, she frowned to herself and stepped into her white cotton dress.

"Maybe, he's asking me out today!" Kagome smiled to herself and took one last look at herself in the mirror. She did look good in white, and contemplated on whether she should study medicine in future. She assumed that she would look good in a labcoat with a stethoscope hung over her neck. It was a noble and rewarding job, one that needed good grades to get into, especially into the University of Tokyo. She might be able to do something for her father who passed away from stomach cancer. How about cancer research? The now not-so-frazzled brain asked her.

"Kagome!"

The unmistakable gruff voice was nearing her bedroom. In fact, it was just outside her bedroom.

"Chotto matte! Don't come in!" Kagome shouted and locked the door, lest the brash boy barged in. Kagome quickly checked herself over in the mirror and made sure that her sling-bag contained her favourite lip-balm, also strawberry-flavoured.

"Oi, hurry-" Inuyasha's voice trailed off when Kagome opened the door.

"Daijoubu desu ka?" Kagome tried not to smile at Inuyasha's outright shock at her appearance. His jaw was hanging down and his golden eyes were wide and round.

Inuyasha made some coughing noises and folded his arms, "what took you so long?! You normally take...."

"You normally don't come over to my house. What's the occasion? It's Saturday, and only 8:30am now." She interrupted coolly and noticed that Inuyasha was dressed in a nice black shirt and khaki slacks, which was rather unusual for the heck-care attitude that he normally carried.

"Er... let's get out from your house first," he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and noticed that she smelt particularly sweet today, like a strawberry. He also tried to ignore the sudden wild beats that his heart was making and concentrated on pushing her down the stairs and out into the open air.

"Mou!" Kagome shrugged her shoulders off, although she was squealing inwardly at the physical intimacy that Inuyasha was giving her. Through the ten years that they had known each other, Inuyasha had always treated her like a guy that all she ever got was whacks on the shoulders, jabs in her sides and loud "Oi!"s when she went into a daze staring at his incredibly good-looking sharp features.

Inuyasha removed his hands from her petite frame and jabbed them into his pockets, while standing nervously behind Kagome and looked at the ground. Kagome's heartbeats accelerated at his rare display of shyness. Was he asking her out? Had he finally noticed that she was a pretty good catch? Or that he had discovered that he liked her too, as much as she had liked him? Kagome was congratulating herself that the wait had not been in vain while her smiling deep brown eyes lingered on his lowered head of silver hair.

"Er... I.. er..." Inuyasha stuttered and scratched his right ear.

"Inuyasha, spit it out," Kagome's smile widened as she maintained the tone of her voice, which was normally 'irritated' or 'frustrated' when she was with him. He often drove her mad too, since she did not appreciate hockey one bit at all. The puppies were another thing though.

"Chikushou!" Inuyasha hissed to himself and frowned. This was getting harder than he had thought.

But Kagome did not hurry him. It was only 8:45am and the day was still early.

"Kagome, I.. " Inuyasha finally lifted his head and looked at Kagome pleadingly.

"Hmm?" Kagome by now was smiling as happily as if she had won the scholarship to Tokyo University.

"I know you don't like it, and you are protecting me, but I really love Kikyou! Can you help me this one last time?!" Inuyasha blurted out.

The wide smile was frozen on her face, and she thought she could hear the clinking and clanking noises of pieces of her fragile heart shattering into a million pieces. After five seconds, the smile faded to a fake one, and without opening her eyes for fear that her tears might spill, she nodded her head energetically.

"Mochiron! We are good friends for so long! And today is Valentine's Day! What else were you thinking of? Ah ha ha ha..." Kagome tried to laugh and turn on her feet, preparing to walk to Kikyou's house which was just a few streets away.

"Honto?!" Inuyasha noticed neither her firmly shut eyes nor the unusual high-pitched laughter.

Kagome stared at the crowd standing outside Kikyou's house. All males, of all shapes and sizes, wearing handsomely holding a large bouquet of flowers in their hands and looking forlornly beyond the high steel gates. Inuyasha shrugged his shoulders and mouthed out, "now you see why..."

It was outrageous, really. Are all the men blind? Or was Kikyou such a goddess that all females really paled in comparison to her? Kagome felt justified anger for the rest of the female population in her college. Yes Kikyou was pretty, Kikyou was smart, Kikyou was an all-rounder. But that did not say anything about her character which was less than desirable and not known to many, other than the family members. Simply put, Kikyou loved herself too much, more than anything or anyone else.

Still, if Inuyasha wanted Kikyou, she would do it. All for his sake. He was afterall, her best friend. And best friends did what they could for each other, even if it meant that her heart would irrevocably be broken and smashed to powder like painkillers.

"Inuyasha, come," Kagome wrestled her way through the masculine mob and yelled, "KIKYOU!!!"

A perfectly made-up, nonchalant face popped out from the window on the second-storey. "Kagome?"

Kagome pushed her way out from the disappointed crowd and smirked victoriously that she had at least got Inuyasha into Kikyou's house. The rest would be up to him, she thought to herself as she tried to avoid the sweating shoulders of the throng of hormone-driven boys still loitering outside Kikyou's house.

"stupid males..." Kagome clutched her sling-bag defensively to herself and hoped that she would not smell bad from all that rubbing. Not after all the trouble she had went through in the morning, even though it was in vain...

"Hmm."

Kagome's head jerked up while she finally managed to grab a mouthful of fresh air. Standing right in front of her was a man. Yes, obviously much older than her, and he was very tall, very handsome, and with long silver hair and curious golden eyes like Inuyasha. Kagome was so in awe and shock at this stranger that her lips parted as she tipped her head up to get a better look of the stranger. He had a very long sharp nose, nice chiseled cheekbones and small lean mouth too.

"Are you looking for Kikyou too?" Kagome asked warily, when she noticed the bunch of white and pale yellow chrysanthemums in his hands. What a weird choice of flowers to court a girl, she thought to herself and noticed that he had very large hands too, with long slender fingers.

"Iya, I am merely curious to see why there's a bunch of males crowding outside a house. Is there a funeral inside?" the stranger asked innocently, even though there was an evil smile in his eyes.

Kagome knew that he was joking, even though she could not understand how. She just knew it.

"There's no funeral inside, but a very very pretty girl called Kikyou and her No. 1 admirer called Inuyasha," she tried not to smile at his dry humour and at the same time wondered whether he was related to Inuyasha. Her best friend told her nothing about his family, other than he had living parents. But surely silver hair and golden eyes are a rare trait in Japan.

"Sou ka, and I suppose you think that I'm related to this person called Inuyasha?" the stranger looked down through his frameless glasses and grinned at the young pretty lady in front of him.

Kagome blushed a little at her exposed tactic and adjusted her sling-bag on her left shoulder a bit, "Inuyasha has silver hair and golden eyes, just like you. Anyone with any common sense would guess that you two are related."

"You are right, and anyone with any common sense would not stay here anymore with a bunch of hormone-driven males," he replied quickly.

Kagome's eyes widened, was he able to catch her thoughts, too? She was not sure how she should answer him. Was that a teasing remark? A sarcasm directed at her? Or-

"And any man with any chivalry would want to escort you out from this damned place, Kagome?"

Her deep brown irises rounded as the stranger smiled warmly at her, oddly.

"How did you know my name?" Kagome took a step away and narrowed her eyes. Her brain assuring her that nothing would happen since there were two dozens of males just around them, even though they were besotted with a female that was beyond their grasp.

The stranger waved the bunch of chrysanthemums in her face and his smile widened, his sparkling white teeth shining in her eyes.

"Because Inuyasha always go on and on about you. I'm his brother, if the fact hasn't registered in your mind, yet."

"Brother?" Her head cocked to one side. She did not know that Inuyasha had a brother, or any siblings for that matter.

"Aa, half-brother, to be exact. Kagome, today is such a lovely day, and I would be more than pleased to ask you out. Would you mind accompanying an old man like me to his mother's grave?" The stranger resumed his serious, stern face and stared back at her.

Grave? Old man? That would explain the chrysanthemums, Kagome's brain burst to life again at his polite request.

Should she go? She did not exactly know him, and she felt it a little odd to visit a grave with a stranger, what more on Valentine's Day? Still, she had already got out of her house and his brother was rather handsome too...

"Suman, I have not introduced myself yet, huh? Hajimemashite, Sesshoumaru desu. Dozo yoroshiku," Sesshoumaru bowed his head a little.

Kagome returned the bow in courtesy and smiled, "Higurashi Kagome desu, dozo yoroshiku, onegaishimasu."

"Saa, ikuso?" Sesshoumaru turned on his feet and looked over his shoulder charmingly.

Kagome thought she would melt like ice-cream, even though the weather was rather cool. His look was so... flirtatious, she grinned to herself and followed the handsome stranger named Sesshoumaru.

Sesshoumaru knelt in front of his mother's grave, raised his clasped hands to his face and prayed silently. Kagome knelt beside him quietly and did the same too, since it was only polite to offer prayers to the dead. she presumed that the woman was Sesshoumaru's mother, since he mentioned that he and Inuyasha were half-brothers.

After a short while, Sesshoumaru opened his eyes, plucked off the weeds that crowded the stone tablet and arranged the chrysanthemums lovingly on the stone tomb. Kagome watched his actions silently and thought that he did not look anguished nor depressed. Just a little sad.

"Kagome, thank you for your company," Sesshoumaru dusted his hands and got to his two feet.

She hurriedly stood up and felt ridiculously small and childish beside him. He was so much taller than her and obviously rather mature too. "Iie, I am honoured."

He smiled, Kagome was obviously as good as he had thought her to be. For anyone to be Inuyasha's best friend for so long, this lady must be of a different class, and obviously, a few tricks up her sleeve to tackle his brash otouto.

"Ja, shall we move?" he casually slipped his hands into his pockets and smiled.

Kagome wanted him to stop smiling, it unnerved her. Whatever had happened to her wall of defense that she had used so often against Inuyasha's charming guile-like smiles?

"Huh?" Kagome tried to make her brain work.

Sesshoumaru frowned a little, "today is Valentine's Day. Surely you do not see me as idiotic as my little brother? I would like to give you a treat, if you do not mind going out with an old man like me."

Her eyebrows arched up in surprise. Inuyasha's brother giving her a treat? On Valentine's Day?

"That doesn't mean anything," Kagome reassured herself as she nodded her head and took his arm. It felt oddly right. He was not that tall for her height afterall.

Kagome sat nervously at the ice-cream parlour. Even though it was air-conditioned, she still felt a little hot and uncomfortable. And incredibly fidgety too. What was she doing with a stranger? Okay, he was not so much of a stranger since he was Inuyasha's elder brother, but still, they had barely known each other for 2 hours and now they are sitting together eating ice-cream! Kagome thought that she could almost hear her mother nagging and screaming at her not to take gifts from strangers, not to follow strangers home, not to shake hands with strangers...

"A penny for your thoughts?" Sesshoumaru took two cups of ice-cream and placed one gracefully in front of her.

Kagome was instantly dragged out from her train of thoughts as his smooth low voice. It was so different from Inuyasha's, and held a certain dangerous edge to it.

"Iie, I'm just..." she dipped the metal spoon into the vanilla-flavoured ice-cream and pondered on what she should say. She was never at such a loss with Inuyasha. But then again, it was obvious to her that these two brothers were very different.

"Are you afraid of me?" Sesshoumaru asked, and tried to refrain from laughing out loud. All the physical signs and vibes that Kagome was emitting were clear to him that she was.

He did not want to make her feel uncomfortable, and continued, "I suppose you are as old as Inuyasha since you attend the same school together?"

Kagome nodded her head, all the while not daring to look into his hypnotic eyes.

"Ah sou... ja I presume that you are eighteen this year then?"

She nodded again.

"Are you curious to know how old I am then?"

She nodded, then instantly shook her head as she slipped the metal spoon into her mouth. She tried not to think what a fool she must have made in front of Inuyasha's brother. Then she heard a laugh, a deep throaty laugh. Her curious yet wary eyes flew up to the man sitting opposite her. She could even see the pink-coloured remnants of ice-cream on his equally pink healthy tongue.

"Ara! Don't be so afraid of me! I was not joking when I said that I was an old man, even though I am not old. I just thought that young girls like you would see me as old, that's all!"

Kagome by now was starting to feel a little frustrated. She was already eighteen, and he was teasing her and laughing at an issue that she did not find humorous at all. Dry humour, indeed.

"Then would you kindly stop laughing and tell me how old are you since I do not really quite appreciate your humour?" her voice was cold and monotonous.

Sesshoumaru immediately stopped his laughter and stared straight into her deep brown irises. Kagome was a serious girl, a very serious girl. Did she not know that he was an extremely stern person and that he would only laugh with people that he felt comfortable with? Did she not understand that this was her honour, to see him laughing? No, he presumed not. Kagome did not know him, and neither he her. Even though he too did not understand why her presence soothed him greatly.

"This Sesshoumaru is twenty four this year," he replied solemnly and placed his hands on his laps.

Kagome tried not to reveal any facial expression, although she was inwardly delighted that Sesshoumaru was only twenty-four.

"I suppose arrogant people like to place much emphasis on one's name," she replied nonchalantly as she swirled the ice-cream in her mouth.

His delicate black eyebrows went up in genuine surprise, was she challenging him to verbal sparring? He had never lost.

"Not many people are able to do that."

Kagome thought that Sesshoumaru was as bad as Inuyasha, or possibly worse. Just their first meeting, their first date, and he was challenging her! On Valentine's Day!

"I can understand why Inuyasha does not mention you in front of me."

He replied with equal fast reflexes, "I can also understand why you are his good friend."

"Inuyasha is a very kind-hearted and sincere guy. He does not compliment people much but neither does he mock."

"This I agree. I doubt that he can understand anything more than hockey and puppies. His brain was never much to begin with anyway, considering the boring friends and uninteresting hobbies he keep," Sesshoumaru attacked his ice-cream.

Kagome smiled and gulped down a mouthful of her ice-cream, ignoring the freezing sensation that it made against her throat. "I think Inuyasha is quite popular in school, and his circle of friends are certainly less than boring since he's also the President of our school's hockey club."

Sesshoumaru closed his eyes as he licked the strawberry-flavoured ice-cream off the metal spoon.

"I was once the President of school's council, Mathematics, Science, Kendo and Athletics at the same time in your school."

She felt incredibly hot as warmth rose to her neck and head. Inuyasha seldom angered her, but it seemed that this was Sesshoumaru's hobby. She pushed the half-finished cup of ice-cream to the center of the table and got to her feet.

"I regret that I must leave now. The noise pollution here is ridiculously high and I thank you for the ice-cream treat," she allowed her gaze to linger around the empty ice-cream parlor since it was one that was out of the main streets and thereby not very popular with youngsters.

He feigned mock surprise at her sarcasm, knowing fully well that it was directed at him. He shook his head, smiled and got to his feet too.

"And will you allow me the honour to send you home? Tokyo isn't exactly safe these days and I believe my Kendo skills would suffice to protect you should any disturbing situation arises."

She bit on her lower lip hard, "iie. Daijoubu desu!"

"Don't be shy little girl, this Sesshoumaru can walk you home. Unless you are still afraid of me?" he fixed her with a intent curious look.

Kagome could not believe her ears. She put her up best smile despite the angry storm raging inside her head. Experience, that's what I lack, she told herself as Sesshoumaru opened the doors of the ice-cream parlor. I will not lose to him next time, she told herself again and walked as fast as she could to her house, determined to keep a distance between herself and him.

When they arrived at the steps that led up to the shrine, Sesshoumaru covered his eyes with his hand against the glaring sunlight and looked up. "You stay in a shrine?"

His incredulous mocking tone was getting to her and Kagome gritted her teeth.

"Ee, if you don't mind, I can go up myself."

He nodded his head, not wanting to climb the long flight of stairs.

"I will stay here and watch, just in case you trip."

Kagome thought that her eyes would pop from anger as she sprinted up the stairs, not caring how she looked before Sesshoumaru. This was possibly the worst Valentine's Day that she ever had.

Sesshoumaru stared at her wriggly butt and long lean legs as Kagome flew up the stairs. She could not even bring herself to say goodbye to him! He thought that his pride felt a little wounded at her coldness, but also thought that this was the most interesting Valentine's Day that he ever had.

"What are you doing here?" Kagome was trying to tell herself that Sesshoumaru could not be a stalker. He was too handsome and sarcastic to be one. If only Inuyasha was with her. They always walked home together, but now his time was fully dedicated to chasing Kikyou and Kagome was no longer but someone he could come to when Kikyou did not answer his calls or decline his dates. Inuyasha did not even joke with Kagome nor attend his hockey practices anymore.

"I'm waiting for you," his reply was simple.

"For?" Kagome ignored him and tried to insert her other hand through the other strap of her backpack. But before she knew it, or could retort, her bag was being jerked away from her body.

"You carry such a big, heavy, yellow backpack?" Sesshoumaru slung the bag over his right shoulder effortlessly as it was just a sack of rice. The yellow was horribly bright and disgusting.

"What's wrong with it?" Kagome waited for a while, but he did not seem to want to return her bag.

Sesshoumaru ignored her question and walked on, "don't you want to go home? Or do you want to stand there like an idiot? Is my backview equally handsome too?"

Her nostrils flared. Whatever the heck was he doing with her backpack! She could not help but to feel embarrassed as onlookers stared curiously at them. She could only imagine how ridiculous they must look, a handsome tall man with a short schoolgirl, carrying her bright yellow dirty bag while his long silver hair swished from side to side.

"Kagome," he called out, even though he did not turn his back.

"Huh?" she tried to keep her eyes on his straight back and cursed the onlookers in her mind.

"You shouldn't carry such heavy bags. You might end up like the Hunchback of Notre Dame."

Kagome folded her arms crossly, Sesshoumaru was lecturing her as if she was his daughter. He was only six years older than her! Jerk, she rolled her eyes.

"From now on, I will carry your bag," he commanded.

"Nani?!" Kagome stopped in her tracks. She was no baby.

But as usual, he ignored her and continued on purposefully to her shrine-house.

She let out a defeated sigh. She could not figure out what Sesshoumaru wanted from her. Maybe he finds me cute, adorable since I'm a little girl to him? She thought wearily to herself and dragged her feet after him.

"And what are you doing here, again?" Kagome pointed a finger at Sesshoumaru, who was casually leaning on one of his legs.

"It's dinner time," Sesshoumaru's golden eyes seem to sparkle under the light of the lamp-post.

"Ah huh? My mother cooked," Kagome folded her arms lazily and tried not to smile.

"I'm giving you a treat."

"Whatever for?"

He paused for a while, he was running out of reasons to see her.

"You like to eat sushi, right?"

One of her eyebrows went up in surprise, "how did you know?"

"I asked Inuyasha," he replied honestly.

Kagome's heart dipped a little at the mention of his name. She had not seen Inuyasha for several months, only occasionally catching a glimpse of him following after Kikyou like a lovesick puppy. Did Inuyasha not even question Sesshoumaru when he asked about her? Still, it was not too bad, to go out with Sesshoumaru. His sarcasms were getting more tolerable, she thought to herself.

Sesshoumaru noticed the slight change in her expression. He knew that Kagome was in love with Inuyasha. It was so obvious that only an idiot would not notice it, and he suspected that Kagome did not know he knew. Still, Inuyasha was only his half-brother. And even though he doted on Inuyasha, that boy had ignored Kagome and went after her cousin. So technically speaking, he was not snatching her away from Inuyasha, since they were only friends and nothing more.

"Alright, since it's your treat. You are rich, anyway," Kagome grinned and turned up on the stairs, inwardly cursing herself for living in a shrine-house. But then again, air was much fresher up there.

Sesshoumaru felt his heart did a little dance around itself when he caught Kagome's grin. It was the first time, that Kagome smiled genuinely at him. Perhaps it would not be too far away in the future before he replaces Inuyasha's position in her heart.

"You sure like to wait for me at the stairs here huh?" Kagome wrapped a scarf around her neck as she blew on her hands in an attempt to warm them up.

"You look nice in that scarf, this goes to show that I have good taste," he smirked.

She rolled her eyes and tried very, very hard not to smile.

He caught the sparkle in her eyes, and draped his arm over her shoulders.

"Hey-"

"You are cold, isn't it? So weak," Sesshoumaru ignored her protests and dragged her to her favourite sushi restaurant.

Kagome snorted, even though she was giddy with joy. Sesshoumaru the Great One was behaving as if they were lovers!

"You are graduating soon," Sesshoumaru said.

"Hn," she shivered a little.

He pulled her closer to him, and tightened the grip over her shoulders. "So I suppose you will follow me?"

"Huh?" Kagome blushed. What was that supposed to mean?

"Study medicine?" Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at the oncoming gust of chilly wind. How long had he been courting her? Three seasons?

"Hmm... shiranai," Kagome answered honestly. She was still undecided to what she would study in the university. But the proposition of being able to study the same course with him was very appealing.

He opened the doors for her, and Kagome was glad that the restaurant was heated and warm. There were many people inside the cosy home-ran restaurant, all trying to avoid the cold autumn and chatting happily over cups of sake.

Sesshoumaru ordered loads, and Kagome could care less about maintaining her image in front of him. She gobbled down as much as she could until she was full. Sushi was the only temptation that she could not resist.

"You sure are a big eater despite your size..." he gave her a mildly shocked look.

Kagome burped, and giggled. "Ah sumimasen!"

His eyebrow arched up, but he was not turned off. "You are drunk."

She giggled more, her head indeed felt very light and... swirly. "Huh? Maybe..."

Sesshoumaru took the cup of sake away from her hands against her protests, "Kagome, you shouldn't drink anymore."

"Exams are over!" Kagome cheered to herself. She was very happy. Because Sesshoumaru was with her.

He smiled a little to himself, and asked for the bill. "Kagome, we should go home."

She felt herself being helped to her feet by someone very strong, and turned her face to that someone. "Home? Go home?"

He hoped that she would not make a scene in the restaurant, and quickly dragged her out, even though she was pulling back. "More sake! Sake!" Another burp.

"Kagome," he thought she never looked more endearing in this silly tipsy state, with her cheeks all flushed red and her soft pink lips parted slightly.

"We are going home now, your mother will not be happy."

"Home? I want to stay with you!" Kagome giggled and vaguely felt her entire body being lifted up.

"Are you... carrying me Sesshoumaru-sama?" Kagome rested her head on his firm muscled shoulder, she felt extremely tired.

"Hn," he love her sweet strawberry-like scent. He wondered whether her lips would taste like strawberries too.

"Bring me to your home," Kagome said quietly.

Sesshoumaru stopped in his tracks.

"I want to sleep with you," Kagome pouted and closed her eyes.

His lips parted at her ambiguous request.

"You are so warm... I won't feel cold..." she mumbled.

He let out a sigh, and smiled to himself.

Kagome scowled. She was having a headache, a terrible headache. But the bed felt incredibly comfortable. And big. And warm.

She opened her eyes, with much difficulty and realised that she was in a different room. The ceiling was not pink, it was blue. Her alarms bell rang, and she quickly looked over her body. She was still dressed, in her sweater and jeans, although her coat and scarf were gone. She peered to her side and found that she was not sleeping alone.

Sesshoumaru was right beside her, deep asleep while his left arm was draped over her covered belly.

She tried not to scream, and to re-trace the events that had happened last night. After what seemed like a long while, she recalled saying something disgustingly slutty to Sesshoumaru.

"Kami!" Kagome buried her face into her palms and wished that she could find a hole to bury herself. Was he angry? Was he offended? Would they not see each other again?

"Kagome?" He rubbed his sleepy eyes, removed his left arm and stretched his body.

"Eh?" she thought she squeaked.

Sesshoumaru knew that she might not have any recollections of last night, but decided that it was too late to explain.

"Suman... you said that you wanted to sleep with me, so I brought you home. But I didn't do anything to you..." he yawned.

Kagome blushed hard. And thought that his yawn was not very compatible with his cold, arrogant, stand-offish image.

"Erm, maybe not."

Her eyes rounded.

"I stole a kiss from you last night," he said sheepishly.

Kagome turned her angry face to her left, "nani?! Mou! How could you-"

But she was silenced when he closed his lips over hers. And that was how she lost her first, and second kiss to him.

"You taste like strawberry. Is it the lip-balm that you use?" Sesshoumaru placed another kiss on her shut eyes.

But she could not answer, for fear that her beating heart would jump out from her mouth.

"Your hair is really messy you know, unlike mine," he continued on.

Kagome frowned, he was such a jerk even after they kissed.

"But I like it, you smell so nice, even without a bath," he pressed his forehead against hers and closed his eyes.

She smiled; he smelled nice too.

"I can't believe it, you actually have a dog?" Kagome looked at the terrier that was eating out from his hand.

Sesshoumaru ruffled its head and asked, "what's wrong about that?"

"Ah, betsu ni," Kagome sank onto the cushion and wondered what other secrets had he kept from her.

He plopped himself down beside her, and rested his head on her shoulder, "I'm sleepy."

She played with his long silver hair, marveling at the smoothness and strength of it. "Lazy fellow."

He buried his face into her neck, and she stiffened, which was followed by giggling when he started to sniff like a dog.

"What are you doing?"

He kissed her neck, and she thought that her lower torso went temporarily limp.

"I love strawberries, you know..." Sesshoumaru whispered to her ear as his tongue traced over the shell of it.

Kagome swallowed, "ah huh..."

His thumb caressed her cheeks, and he allowed his gaze to travel down from her eyes to her pink lips.

"You smell and taste like one. Yet, you are so different from the rest of the woman..."

Before she could protest that she was neither a little girl nor a strawberry, his lips descended on hers and she thought it was rather alright to be a strawberry if he would always kiss her.

"Kagome!"

"Inuyasha?"

"Erm... how have you been?" the silver-haired boy jabbed his hands into his pockets again.

"I'm fine... what about you?" Kagome could smile freely at Inuyasha again.

"I was wondering... are you free tonight?"

She eyed him suspiciously, "Inuyasha, what happened? Did Kikyou turn you down again?"

His golden eyes widened, before he dropped his head and stared at the ground. "Iya... I mean, she rejected me. Then for a while, I was rather lost... and.. I missed you."

"Eh?" she squeaked.

Inuyasha held both her hands tightly in his, and looked into her confused eyes.

"I missed you, Kagome. I really do. I think the one I need is you, not Kikyou."

Kagome did not know what to say as they stood outside the school's gate. It was the last day of school and soon they would part and go on to their respective faculties in universities. Was Inuyasha confessing his feelings to her now? And if so, how should she respond? What about Sesshoumaru?

"Kagome, gomen yo... I didn't know that you liked me, until Kikyou told me."

She stared at his blushing face, and felt very cold. Inuyasha was holding her hands, it felt very wrong, too.

"Inuyasha... I..." Kagome did not know how to explain. And before she knew it, Inuyasha pulled her to his chest and hugged her tightly.

"Don't leave me Kagome, I need you," Inuyasha whispered to her hair, and never knew that she smelled so nice.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a flick of silver hair turning around the corner.

Kagome looked down at the flight of stairs; he was not there.

She went to the ice-cream parlor that they frequented so very often; but there was none who had silver hair.

She made a point to pass by her favourite sushi restaurant everyday; but she caught none of his backview.

Her yellow backpack laid forgotten in one corner of her wardrobe; since she no longer had anyone to carry it for her.

"Kagome, do you like me?" Inuyasha asked softly as he held Kagome gently in his arms.

She bit on her lower lip. How was she going to tell him that she did not love him, but his brother? She wanted to turn him away, she wanted Sesshoumaru to hug her. But so many months had passed, and he did not look her up nor gave her a call. Was their love so fragile, so fleeting? Or perhaps what transpired between them was not love.

Inuyasha closed his eyes, she was being silent again. Kagome was no longer the old Kagome that he had known. Her eyes no longer shine as before when they met. Her smile was getting sadder as the days flew by. Her words were getting fewer and fewer that he ended up doing the talking most of the time. But, things could not go on like that. A year had passed, and he wondered why Kagome was with him if she did not love him. Or was there another reason behind her facade?

"Kagome, please tell me the truth. I love you a lot, but I won't force you. I don't want to see you like that," he tightened his hug, and thought that he might cry.

Her eyelids drooped. Inuyasha truly loved her with all his heart, she could feel it. Should she not give him a chance?

Afterall Sesshoumaru had not even bothered to ask for an explanation, and just left, like that. She was angry with him, she was upset with him, and she was disappointed with him. But most of all, she missed him. Kagome thought that if she allowed herself enough time, perhaps she would forget about him, and come to accept Inuyasha. He was her best friend, and she did not want to break his heart. She would always have a soft spot for him, no matter what happened. But things did not work out the way she wanted to, and now she felt stuck in between two brothers. Or perhaps, just between friendship and love.

"Inuyasha, gomen ne," Kagome trembled. She missed Sesshoumaru so much. Sometimes, she even dreamt of him kissing her.

He gritted his teeth and whispered, "just let me hold you one last time. Mooichido."

Inuyasha caught the sight of his love, who was his best friend again. "Oi Kagome!"

She turned around, and he saw her genuine smile. One that he had not seen in ages. "Inuyasha!"

"Let's go get ice-cream today, summer is damn fricking hot! Im sweating like a dog," he grumbled as he pulled her to ice-cream parlor.

Her eyes widened; it was the one that her first date with Sesshoumaru had taken place at. A moment of hurt flew past her eyes, but Inuyasha did not catch it.

"Why are we here?" she asked quietly.

"Huh? Ah, my brother told me that the ice-cream here is nice! You didn't know I have a brother? Heh!" Inuyasha grinned and looked over the colourful menus that hung at the top of the counter.

Brother... Kagome stood outside of the entrance; she could not muster up enough courage to step into it. Two years. And the memories of them together were still as fresh, as if everything had only happened yesterday.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha opened the door and saw her watery eyes. He frowned, Kagome still would not tell him what happened.

"Nandemonai," she forced herself to smile, and tried to push him away from her mind.

"By the way, my brother is getting married."

Kagome thought that reunions could not be worse as she tried on the bride's maid's gown. She looked at herself in the mirror, and thought that she looked positively scrawny and haggard. Had the years did so much to her? Or was it herself?

"Kagome, hayaku! You need to come out and let me see!" Inuyasha yelled outside the changing room, ignoring the irritated glances that the others were throwing at him.

She pulled apart the curtain and stepped out. Inuyasha gasped. He had never seen her more beautiful before, yet there was an inexplicable sadness in her eyes that made her looked exquisitely ravishing.

"I wish you are marrying me!" he tried to joke and draped his arm over her bared creamy shoulders.

"Inuyasha!"

She froze. She would never be able to forget that voice.

"Who is the bride's maid?" Sesshoumaru growled in frustration. He had not expected his little brother to settle that issue for him since his bride already had someone in mind.

Inuyasha tried to turn Kagome around while Sesshoumaru ran his fingers through his silver bangs, "remember Kagome? The one I kept telling you about?"

He froze. Had she changed so much that he could not even recognize her backview?

When she turned around and smiled ever so politely to him, he could not take his eyes off her. She had become so thin, and her face so sharp that he wondered whether he was the cause of all that. But it could not be, since Inuyasha was with her and he knew that Kagome loved Inuyasha too.

Sesshoumaru cleared his throat and tried to regain his shocked composure, "it seems to me that you two are the ones getting married. When is the big day coming for you then?"

"Keh! I wish to! But she's still in love-"

"Inuyasha," Kagome pulled on his tuxedo and hoped that he would stop.

Sesshoumaru's eyes widened. Inuyasha's eyes narrowed.

"Inuyasha, I'm not feeling very well. Please bring me home," Kagome did not understand why she had accepted Inuyasha's request for her to become his bride's maid. Whatever was going through her mind when she said 'yes'? Was it her longing to see him again? Or was her curiousity at his wife? Was she as different as her? Did she smell like a strawberry too?

Inuyasha locked his jaw, and nodded his head. He was not that dense yet, and glared at his brother before he escorted his best friend out from the store.

Kagome's eyes widened when she sighted someone very familiar, leaning on one leg at the bottom of the stairs. Her grip over the purse tightened, and her fingernails dug painfully into her palm.

"What are you doing here?" she asked calmly when Sesshoumaru looked up from the ground. But he remained silent.

She swallowed the lump that rose in her throat, "I am going to buy some milk."

"Strawberry-flavoured?" he asked quietly.

She nodded her head stiffly, and turned to walk past him when one of his arms reached out to stop her.

"You'll be getting married. Omedeto gozaimasu," Kagome tried to pull away, but Sesshoumaru held on tightly.

"Please let me go, you are a married man. This is not right," she told him solemnly.

But he pulled her to his chest, and hugged her as tight as he could, even though she did not protest. How long had she not laid in his arms?

"I'm not getting married to her anymore."

"What?!"

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked softly.

"Why didn't you ask me?" she retorted back.

Sesshoumaru dipped his nose into her hair, and smiled. These questions were not important anymore. What was important was that she was in his arms again.

"Kagome, let's get married."

And she cried.

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A/N: I was listening to this song over and over, and somehow this story just came to my mind. As I write more and more, I realize that this is really rather plotless and probably the same idea has been used by many writers over and over again. So cliche, isn't it? ;p

The title is also probably not very relevant but still, I hope that you guys wouldn't mind! It's my first shot at an one-shot! =)