Separate! by Ko Torii

The Beginning, The End

It's starting out pretty slow, but it'll progress, that I promise you.

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The hollow sound of the gavel’s impact echoed throughout the courtroom and brought all those present to silence. From beside the jury box a rather youthful security guard called out to all those present,
“January 12th 2010, the honorable Judge Perkins presiding. After this last recess this case is again in session.”

A middle-aged man in a fitted gray suit stood from his seat on the right side of the courtroom. Slowly and with purpose this man brought a piece of paper toward the mahogany judge's podium in the center of the room.

“Your honor, the state will now bring forward the testimony of one of the defendant's associates. This particular person, who will remain unnamed, brought themselves in and exposed the…operation now under question. It is due to their confession alone that we are here today, and as they were unable to be brought to court for their own protection we will have my partner, Ms. Adams, read an excerpt….”

There was a general grumble from the defendant’s table before the representative all but shouted,
“Your honor! Mr. Meyer is leading the jury with nothing but fancy words.”

“Sustained. Council, please get on with it.”

“Of course your honor.”

After gesturing to a reserved looking woman beside him to begin, Mr. Meyer sat back down. Once she had moved to address the room from near the witness stand Ms. Adams began,
“The atmosphere is always thick with anticipation. The crowds are nothing more than a writhing mass of flesh, human and demon alike, corrupt people with no worries other than their wallets and their appetites for foul play. There is never any music, and no flashy lighting. There is only the smell of sweat, smoke and adrenaline. All eyes focus on either the giant boxing cage below the stands or the eerie red score bored that hangs above it. There is an undertone of anger and strength that creates an almost tangible rumble beneath the buzz of bets flying through the air. It may have been completely illegal, completely immoral, completely unheard of in proper society, but this place was real and tangible. This place was nowhere and everywhere at once. No one left in the same condition that they came in. For richer or for poorer, no one left if they couldn’t pay up, no one. The House made sure of that. In a pre-selected warehouse or parking lot every other Tuesday, in the middle of nowhere, it didn’t matter who or what you were. All that counted was your money and your muscle. It is, essentially, the end of the road. Regulars call it, Death Row.”

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…..Central High, September 28th, 2009…..

“You know Sess you really don’t have any reason to be so upset, you’re the one that dumped Kagura’s ass. Not the other way around.”

“I have no idea what you’re implying little brother.”

“Keh. You know damn well what I’m talking about! You’ve been acting like a hormonal bitch all month!”

Before Inuyasha could fully get the insult out of his mouth he found himself shoved up against a distinctly uncomfortable, navy blue locker. It was a position he had been getting quite used to in the past few weeks. After all, if Sesshoumaru was ever in a bad mood Inuyasha was the first one to know, but if it was just abuse, Inuyasha knew he could handle it. Him and his brother had been fighting since they had the muscle control to crawl, and it was one of the few things that brought them together. However, the fates had willed him to be grounded this week, a.k.a without a car, and Sesshoumaru did not give rides when annoyed. Inuyasha would stoop to a lot of lows and take a lot of insults, but riding the bus with all the ‘regular people’ was not one he would take laying down.

“Shut your mouth before I smash it off your face little brother. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

With a growl, Sesshoumaru stalked off to his class in the next hall while his brother peeled himself off the locker. He stopped when he heard a soft voice ask him,
“I’m sorry, did you need some help?”

“Who the fu…..” Upon seeing this girl’s face Inuyasha immediately switched gears. He had meant to tell the bitch that no, he did not need her god damn help, but she was kind of hot and Inuyasha prided himself on never missing an opportunity. His girlfriend never had to know. The girl above him was starting to give him an odd look, and he knew that he’d taken too long thinking. Abruptly switching thoughts, he started again.

“Oh, uhh, yeah. I mean no!...But thanks.”

Moving to stand against the locker in a pose meant to entice he was about to start flirting when he was cut off.

“Great. Can you move then? I kinda need my math book, or I’m gonna be late.”

Without thinking, Inuyasha moved away from the locker he was standing on, shocked. No girl in this school, or any other girl he’d met, had straight up ignored him that way. None. It was, to date, simply not possible. This girl had done the impossible, and brushed him off as nothing more than some random guy in the hall. Moving from shock to indignation in about five seconds, Inuyasha went to reprimand this girl for not knowing her betters, but was startled to find her missing from the vicinity. Turning around Inuyasha saw her not ten feet away talking to one of his own friends; Miroku, smiling and laughing with him like they were childhood chums. How was he to know that this was, in fact, the case?

Thinking she was about to get her rightful punishment in the form of a perverted hand to the ass, Inuyasha almost felt his jaw hit the floor when he saw the girl hug Miroku before she walked further down the hall toward a door. One that, if Inuyasha thought harder about, he would’ve remembered was the same one Sesshoumaru had gone through not five minutes before.

“Hey pervert! What the hell was that?!”

“Why hello to you too Inuyasha, but what is it you’re referring to?”

“That stupid girl you were just with. Do you know her?”

“Kagome? Of course I know her. She’s lived next door to me for as long as I can remember. You’ve even met her a few times.”

“What?!”

Miroku gestured for Inuyasha to walk and talk rather than be late to study hall in the library.

“Why are you so surprised?”

“So she knows who I am and still ignored me! That bitch!”

“Ah yes, Kagome would be one of the few to ignore your charms. She has very particular tastes in men.”

Instantly becoming offended, Inuyasha turned his anger toward his friend. They continued to bicker on their way into the library that earned them both a sound ‘shushing’ from the old librarian that was routinely ignored.

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…..Room 312, Mrs. Bernerd’s Honors Anatomy…..

An entirely too perky woman with bright red hair and thick rimmed glasses stood briskly from her low desk on the far side of the room. Afterward she picked up a stack of innocent looking papers and scanned the students in the seats in front of her.

“I hope you’ve all had an excellent Monday so far class, because it is all about to come crashing down around you!”

Without an audible groan all of the students stopped chatting and turned toward the woman; Mrs. Bernerd. There was only one reason for the usually churlish woman to be so perky, and that was an impossibly difficult pop quiz. A few of them dutifully prepared for the exam, while others simply looked skyward and asked “Why?!” It was at this point that Kagome attempted to skulk into class unnoticed. Mrs. Bernerd was in a rather good mood today, and decided that detention wasn’t necessary this time. No, public humiliation would do very well instead.

“Miss Higurashi, how very nice to see you here. Are you done cavorting with your boyfriend in the halls?”

She knew that this question would lead her student into her trap. It always did. At the word boyfriend, every student had turned to Kagome with the look of a savage beast in their eyes. Everyone knew Kagome hated gossip, and this, this was definitely gossip. She had already turned a rather endearing shade of red at simply the suggestion of having a boyfriend. Could it be that little goody two shoes Kagome had a little bit of sugar no one knew about?

“I don’t know what you mean Mrs. Bernerd, I wasn’t with my boyfriend.”

The students all held their collective breath. That sounded an awful lot like confirmation to them. With their cell phones at the ready, they waited, but the teacher simply raised an eyebrow at her student. She’d walked right into it; it was impossible to stop now.

“And how can you prove that to me Miss Higurashi? It seems unlikely that I can just take you at your word after you tried to sneak into my class.”

Blushing even more so, Kagome began to stutter before she controlled herself. Quietly she replied to the inquiry.

“I…I don’t have a boyfriend Ms. Bernerd.”

“Oh is that so? What a shame. I guess I won’t send you to detention then, but you’ve been warned. Now all of you! Stop being nosy and start writing. This test will take the whole period.”

The students looked disgruntled at being led on and looked over to Kagome to make doubly sure she wasn’t lying. She was high on the hottie list in this school, even if she never acknowledged the fact. If she had a boyfriend the school populous had a right to know. Upon seeing that there was no lie in Kagome’s eyes they all discreetly disarmed the text messages that they’d had at the ready. After deciding that melting into a puddle of embarrassed goo just wasn’t happening, Kagome began her test all the while unaware of the eyes that had just now settled upon her.

At first, Sesshoumaru had remained aloof of his teachers little games. He knew from experience exactly how vindictive she could be. She had tried to ruffle his feathers several times, but each attempt resulted only in failure. Trying to get a non-work related response out of him was like asking a brick wall to sing the ABC’s. It just was not going to happen.

It was only when he registered exactly who it was that was being attacked that he turned his attention away from the pop quiz. It was that girl, the one who he kept seeing everywhere. She never seemed to notice him in return, but he always saw her without fail. It was as if the powers that be were telling him to take note of this girl, like she was somehow important. Internally he could only scoff at the idea. As if a puny human girl could be important to him in some way. Only his little sister, whom his parents had adopted at the tender age of seven a few years ago, could boast such attention. Even so, the type of attention was obviously not the same. Something was different about this girl, this Kagome. She carried herself with such inner strength without ever noticing it herself. What was it that made her so confident in the face of her own normality? What was it that kept catching his attention?

Even now, Sesshoumaru could not return his focus to the test in front of him. He knew he would once again get an incomplete grade in the ridiculously easy class, simply because he could not focus on anything other than Kagome. There was no way he could bring his complaints to Ms. Bernerd. She would take some evil enjoyment from his situation, and finally she would have ammunition against him. She would most likely just seat him closer to the girl to see how it all panned out. Some teachers could be evil that way. Seshoumaru turned back to his paper, without really stopping his train of thought. He figured that he might as well at least look like he was attempting the damnable test. Not that it will help at all.

…..Fifteen Minutes later…..

“Mrs. Bernerd, may I be excused to the nurse’s office? I’ve completed the pop quiz.”

Turning her stink eye to Kagome Mrs. Bernerd gave a stiff nod. Humiliating Kagome hadn’t been enough to keep up her good mood. Apparently she’d made this pop quiz too easy, even the idiots were passing, though just barely. This would not do.

Kagome escaped into the hallway with a sigh of relief. She sat down against cool lockers and attempted to will her face to be a more normal shade. Tomato just wasn’t her color. She knew she had to get up and moving though. Mrs. Bernerd would call the nurse’s office in seven minutes to check and make sure she wasn’t skipping. She told everyone that it was just her way of ‘keeping students honest,’ but they all knew she did it because she hated them. No one exactly knew why she did, but it became obvious within minutes of meeting her. If she didn’t hate you, then there was most likely something very wrong with you. Pushing herself up again, Kagome mentally strengthened herself and went toward the nurse’s office. She had miraculously just gotten a ‘headache.’

Looking over to the door, Sesshoumaru sighed in relief when Kagome exited the room. Without her scent to fog his mind with thoughts of other more pleasurable activities he may be able to get a decent grade on the pop quiz. For once he was thankful that the annoyance in his life was rather intelligent. It meant that he still had at least a half an hour to finish. Quickly clearing his mind, Sesshoumaru began to fill in the answers that came to him. Thankfully he’d actually started studying for the class. Unfortunately enough, it was Kagome that had to tutor him. She had the highest overall grade in the class. He was sure that if he had not been so distracted by her, that that would not still be the case. No mortal could best him, especially at something so elementary as anatomy. As a rather successful flirt, Sesshoumaru knew his fair share about anatomy. It crossed his mind that perhaps his brother could best him in that field, but that also came with the intimate knowledge of most STD’s, which was something he’d prefer not to have personal experience with.

Sesshoumaru finished the pop quiz and briefly considered that it was the first ever test he had had the attention span to finish in the anatomy class. He left feeling rather proud yet also disgruntled. His odd affliction had finally let up on him, if even for those brief minutes. He knew he’d been pretty high-strung for the past month or so, but who could blame him? He was hopelessly attracted to someone he didn’t want, and hopelessly addicted to her scent. Ignoring her existence was becoming less and less possible and was beginning to really irk him. Taking his frustrations out on Inuyasha helped to take the edge off of the anxiety, but he knew it wouldn’t last. It was only a couple weeks after the whole debacle began that he had to even break up with his current fling; Kagura. It wasn’t that distressing in a general way, but being made to do something without his full consent was not something that sat well with him. Sesshoumaru loved having control, and the scent of Kagome Higurashi was making that a less and less accessible commodity.
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6-11-09

Ko Torii- reviews are both welcome and desired.