The Bet by MiniMorr

Rules of Engagement

"And if you hadn't yelled at her like that she wouldn't have left, you stupid..." The rest of the sentence trailed off as Kagome stared at Inuyasha, fuming with anger. Shoving her black hair back behind her shoulders again, she crossed her arms under her breasts, not breaking eyecontact with her best friend as he tried to find a response to her statement.

"And what the hell should I have done then? Let her yell at me for all she wanted? She was the one who was wrong, not me! Feh!" Glaring at her, he took a step forward, his height added to by the fact that he was standing on a step higher than her on the stairs in the kitchen.

"Well, what can you expect if you call her 'bitch' and whine about her to make you food? Really, Inu, sometimes you're just so... so... childish!" Having spat the last word out, Kagome turned around, still furious. Her usually smiling attitude was now buried under a layer of anger, and she was on her way to explode from rage.

"And who are you to give me advice, you don't even have a boyfriend! Or does Hojo fit that description yet?" Satisfied with hitting the sore spot, Inuyasha watched as Kagome's back stiffened even more, waiting for the volcano to erupt.

"Fuck off, Inu! You know very well that there is nothing going on between Hojo and me! He's not my type, how many times do I have to tell you that?" /Oh yes... Definitely not far away from it now.../

"And still, he's the only one that you've dated in, what? Three years? Isn't that strange? What's wrong with the boys these days?" Teasing her about Hojo always proved interesting, and he wasn't disappointed this time either. He could almost see the steam coming out of her ears, and she took a deep breath.

"I can get any boy � or /man/, for that matter � that I want, and you know it!" He knew it all right; she was pretty, his friend, and boys had always been interested in her, but she'd had a bad history with them � starting with himself, to be correct. This crossed his mind for a second before pride kicked in again, a sly smile on his lips.

"/Keh/! Any man, you say? Well, I know someone you can't have..." Having caught her interest, he watched her puzzled face first, before it hardened into anger and wounded pride. This was going to be so much fun!

"Who?" Her voice was still furious, and his smile widened.

"My dear brother..." The shock on her face was too much, and he doubled over laughing.

"/Sesshoumaru?/ You think I can't have him?" Anger was taking the better of her, but she didn't care. There was no one who could infuriate her as much as Inu, not ever since she had met him.

"Yes, Sesshoumaru. Let's say it like this; you get him into bed before the end of the month, and I give you my car. You lose, and you have to fulfil my every wish for the rest of the year." Satisfied with the conditions, he stared her straight in the eye, waiting for her to back down. She and Sesshoumaru didn't get along at all, from the very first time they had met each other five years ago, they had detested one another. And if he could use her to teach his jerk of a brother a lesson with this, so much better...

"You're on!" She grabbed his hand without blinking, shaking it violently and squeezing just a little more than necessary. He winced, she had a strong grip nowadays.

"You've got ten days, he gets home about this time from work." Grinning, he watched her as she calmed herself down, without doubt already trying to come up with a plan.

"I've got some conditions on my own as well. One, you're not interfering in any way. If you do, then I win. Two, you'll apologise to Kikyo right now, crawling on your knees. Literally. And three; you get me to stay here at least two times over night with Sesshoumaru � alone." Shaking his head, the grin disappeared for a moment before returning full force.

"You can cut the third one; I'm not helping you, in /any/ way. You're on your own with that. I won't interfere though, and I'm going to apologize to Kikyo, but I'm not going to help you with that. Sorry." The last word was taunting, and she huffed angrily.

"I'm going to win this bet, so prepare to lose your little darling..." She knew that he hated it when she called his car that, but it was true. It meant so much to him; he had even named it Tetsusaiga after an ancient blade. Ever since they had got their driver's licence, he had cruised around in it, she with him as often as not.

"You're not. Sesshoumaru is too much for you, pretty face or not. You can still back down, Hojo's probably waiting just around the corner for you..." That did it, he decided. She was furious again, no doubt about to give him a talking-to that would sit very badly with his ears afterwards, as the door suddenly opened and the subject of their discussion entered. /The Ice King has arrived.../

Without acknowledging them with more than a glance, Inuyasha's older half-brother went over to the fridge, working his tie loose as he did. The other two just stared at each other, not knowing if he had heard them or not. After a moment, Inuyasha shrugged, gave Kagome one of his infuriating smiles and left the kitchen. She stared after him for another moment before wiping the scowl off her face and turning to Sesshoumaru.

"Had a rough day?" Her head slightly tilted to the side, she watched as he shot her a glance of pure astonishment before grabbing what he was going to eat from the fridge and walking over to the table.

"Not that you would know anything about it." His answer was designed to make her angry, but she swallowed the anger and followed him to the table, watching as he seated himself with the food in front of him.

"Ahh, you had a very rough day, then." Her statement brought another surprised glance from him, and she forced herself to hold the golden gaze for a moment longer than what was necessary. His eyes were like ice sometimes and from the very first beginning, they had intimidated her.

"I had a day at work, nothing more. What do you want? You're usually not this polite." Getting straight to the point, as usual, she could understand why he rose so quickly in the business. Their father owned a large food company, which Sesshoumaru had began working in at the same time he went to college. Inuyasha would be following the same way within a year, as soon as he was finished with his education. This wasn't what crossed her mind though as she leaned over to him, smiling slightly. He blinked, momentarily out of balance, and her smile deepened.

"What? Can't I ask how your day at work was?" Innocently giving him another smile, she watched his eyebrows draw together and he reached for the newspaper, ignoring her.

She turned around then, walking as if she was offended and would be leaving, but watching him from the corner of her eye. He was absorbed in the paper, the news more important than her, apparently. She was very seldom childish, but a pout found itself on her lips as she watched him read for a moment before she made up her mind. She wouldn't give up before the whole bloody thing had started.

Walking back to him, she shoved his hair away from his shoulders, startling him as she slowly began rubbing them, kneading the taut muscles there with her palms and knuckles. He stiffened at first, tensing even more as her fingers moved over the collar of his shirt.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you..." Her voice had the opposite effect as he turned his head to look at her, but she grabbed his hair and forced it back again, kneading the muscles at the back of his neck. She knew very well what she was doing, and before he had a chance to react, she had him in her hands, slowly relaxing to her touch. Smiling to herself, she caught a flash of Inuyasha's reflection in the window, staring very strangely at her. She winked at him before leaning in, letting her own black hair mingled with the older man's silvery white � a most unusal colour inherited from his mother.

"Does it feel good?" Her voice was low, almost a whisper, and he sighed.

"It does." He sounded like the words had been dragged from the back of his throat, but at least he admitted it. Standing so close to him suddenly made her very selfconscious and aware about him in a way she had never been before. Shrugging, she snapped herself out of those thoughts, continuing working his back with her hands.

It was a very nice back, actually, and she fingered him down his spine, bringing a hiss as she got to an especially sore spot. His eyes were closed now, and she felt him relax even more. She brushed away a stray strand of hair again, momentarily touching his cheek in the process. That had him alert again, but she pretended that nothing had happened, and continued with what she was doing. /Now what? Kiss him? No, not yet.../

A sigh escaped him, and he rolled his head slightly backwards, giving her a momentarily view over his face. His eyes were still closed, and she grinned. /This is going to be so easy.../

Turning his head slightly forward again, she let her fingers slip up to the back of his neck, working the muscles there again slowly. He groaned, a sound so unlike him that she gaped. /Either he has a really sore back, or I just got him wrong from the beginning.../ He had never been one to give away his feelings in any way, beyond the mere irritation he could display once in a while as she did her best to get his temper to snap. It had always been like that, for as long as she had known him. She would do her best to taunt him, and he would do his best to ignore her � or give her a retort that in turn had her fuming. /And what's this then? The ultimate humiliation, I guess.../ She grinned again, leaning slightly forward and sniffed his hair, bringing a start from him.

"What are you doing?" His voice was curt, and she winced. /So much for an easy go.../

"Just rubbing your back, if you didn't notice?" Keeping her voice light and the smile off her face as he turned his head, she watched as he frowned slightly but not responding. Instead, he shrugged out off her hands, sweeping the cloak of indifference around him again. Momentarily out of balance, she scowled at his back. /Now what?/ She stood there for another moment, the feeling of being so studiously ignored making her a little embarrassed, and she drew a deep breath.

"You smell good, you know that?" His head shot up at her words and he turned around, the golden eyes impaling her again. She just grinned before turning on her heel and left the kitchen, the man behind her dumbfounded. /Wow! That was... odd!/

Inuyasha met her in the hallway outside the kitchen, and she gave him an triumphant smile. He scowled, but neither of them said anything as they continued outside again. There would be no talking about the bet as long as his brother was near, a silent agreement between them.

"I must get back home, mom probably thinks you've kidnapped me or something." She smiled again, and he just snorted. That was his way, but she knew him better than that. Hugging him for a moment and ignoring the 'Keh!' he so easily threw at her, she rushed to her car out on the street, still feeling Sesshoumaru's scent in her hair and on her hands. /God, I need a bath! I reek of him!/

Driving home, she switched between the radio stations, singing along with the songs. School with one class tomorrow, and then she would visit Inu again, planning her next move.