Chapter One

"I think we should just be friends."

"What? Bu-but why?"

"I've met someone else."

Kagome sat curled up on the couch in her pajamas with a box of tissue nearby. Her hair was disheveled, her eyes red-rimmed and her nose raw from so many tissues. Kagome had spent the last two days here beating herself up with the memories of her and her now ex-boyfriend.

'I don't understand. How could this have happened? Why would he cheat on me! I loved him so much…and with my step-sister no less! Why Inuyasha? Why?' And Kagome began to weep with renewed force.

Sesshomaru sat impatiently sprawled in his chair, running a long slender finger around the rim of his glass of wine and occasionally checking his watch. His fiancée had few traits or habits that he found irksome; in fact the only one was her tendency to be late. He disliked being kept waiting.

'Kagura' Sesshomaru thought, turning over their relationship in his mind. They'd been together so long that he sometimes wondered why they still were. He cared for her yes but the inevitable care one has for someone who had played such a large role in one's life for such a long period of time. He felt no passion for her and though he admitted that she had her share of beauty, he did not feel any real attraction to her and the only affection they exchanged was an occasional chaste kiss hello or goodbye, which took the form of social requirement more than anything.

He knew why they were together. Good family. Both wealthy with strong pulls in numerous corporations. Their relationship was almost political in nature. It was going to be a marriage of convenience that served to benefit both families financially and politically, though neither family had had any part in bringing this relationship about. Sesshomaru and Kagura were simply two who, lacking passion or flirtations with the notion of "love", looked upon marriage as just another expectation to be fulfilled in life. An expectation that should be fulfilled with the maximum benefits as possible. Sesshomaru wondered if it wasn't time to get married and end their three year engagement. He would bring it up over lunch.

He glanced at his watch. She had arranged this meeting and was twenty minutes late. She had better hurry; he had class in an hour and his grades were very important to him. Not only was he a senior this year but he was learning to take over his father's company Taisho Corp, the largest distributor of computers in Asia. And he took the responsibility he felt to learn the business very seriously. Kagura's father was president of Hover Inc, a company which worked side by side with his fathers.

Finally Sesshomaru spotted Kagura making her way across the restaurant. The faintest touch of a frown marred Sesshomaru's normally stoic and entirely unreadable face. Something was just a little off about Kagura. Usually Kagura looked entirely unruffled and unaffected by anything life had to offer; whether people, events or even weather. The very strongest wind did little to affect her or her appearance. Yet her normally perfectly coiffed hair was mussed and her pouty perfectly done lips showed the faintest traces of smudging and the wrinkles that usually never dared to make an appearance, had invaded Kagura's expensive blouse and skirt. Wrinkles which she was coolly attempting to smooth as she made her way over to Sesshomaru. He rose as she approached and pulled out her seat.

"Thank you"

Sesshomaru sat down again and looked at Kagura, his face once again blank. Kagura motioned to the waiter, requested a drink, and then turned her attention to Sesshomaru who had continued to observe her without speaking.

"I can't stay long," Sesshomaru said, and then continued in the same tone. "Are you well?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Your appearance."

Kagura smiled thinly.

"I am fine. But there is something I wish to discuss with you."

"And I with you, but please continue."

"I've been thinking over us and it seems the only reason we are together is because it is convenient. I don't think you love me and I believe I feel the same. I don't know if I could ever love anyone which is why I didn't think anything of our relationship. But I have been thinking it over and I don't think I could be known as the wife of a CEO, doomed to the life of a housewife; I don't think I could handle that. I think we should part."

"You're having an affair."

Kagura smiled humorlessly. "Regardless, I think we should go our own ways."

Kagura gave another thin-lipped smile, sliding off her engagement ring. She then placed it on her unused plate.

"Goodbye Sesshomaru."

For a moment Sesshomaru just sat there struggling to fight the sudden rage that had swelled within him. Then he stood so abruptly that his chair toppled over. He threw a bill on the table, shoved the ring in his pocket, and stalked across the restaurant. He reached to door of the restaurant just in time to see Kagura disengage herself from a kiss with a man in a black suit with long wavy hair. They got into a car and drove away.

Sesshomaru felt his breathe catch in his throat and felt the rage increase. He pulled out the ring and looked at it lying within his palm. He felt his heart harden and squeezed the ring so tightly that blood began to leak from his fist. He hurried toward his car; he needed to get away before he gave in to the almost irresistible desire to vent his anger on anyone or anything handy.

'Untrustworthy, lying wench. Women, they're all the same.'

He got into his car and, with much smoke and squealing tires, he streaked away.