Star Crossed and Everything

Chapter Seven

Shippo glared at Mori across from the table. The fox demon had dragged the high school student and Kagome to the restaurant to talk (interrogate). For his part, the younger male had not backed down and stared stonily back at him.

Kagome sighed in an exasperated manner before she once again attempted to intervene. (The ride to the restaurant had been just as tense and awkward). But before she could make another attempt at conversation her phone rang and a picture of Souta popped up on the screen.

"Be nice," Kagome warned Shippo before excusing herself to take the call outside.

Shippo waited until she was out the door before smiling dangerously at Mori. With a malicious glee in his eyes, he watched the boy's hand twitch. He had him now.

"I don't like you," Shippo bluntly stated as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. The boy reminded him too much of Sesshomaru for his liking. And there was no way he was going to let Kagome go through another heartbreak.

Mori did not know how to respond to that, thankfully he did not have to either. Souten appeared and placed a few cups of tea on the table before slapping the red head on the back of his head.

"Leave him alone," she scolded as she took a seat. She glared at the fox demon before smiling warmly at Mori. "It's good to see you again, Morinozuka."

Shippo pouted but dropped the antagonizing act and sent the thunder demon a betrayed look. "You knew about this and you didn't tell me!"

She rolled her eyes at his obnoxious antics. "Don't be so childish. Besides you were in the States."

"Fluffy-sama is such a slave driver," he grumbled. He hated being out of the loop, especially about Kagome's life. He had only been gone a couple of weeks, but he did not like this new development in the miko's life.

"He'll kill you if he hears you call him that," Kagome commented as she reappeared. She looked towards Mori, steadily avoiding his gaze, and nervously asked, "Can you walk me home?"

Mori nodded his head and rose from his seat. He was curious about her behavior, believing that everything would be fine between them.

"Aww, but I just got back. Can't you spend time with whatshisname later," Shippo whined, earning a sharp elbow to the gut from Souten.

She winked at Kagome and said, "Go ahead, we can catch up later."

Waving goodbye, she grabbed Mori's hand and led him out the restaurant. They took a detour through a nearby park. She waited until they were a good distance away from the restaurant before speaking. (She didn't trust that Shippo would not be listening in on their conversation.)

"We should probably talk about, us," she quietly said, looking anywhere but the taller boy. He pulled her towards a nearby bench and patiently waited for her to continue. Taking a deep breath, she met his eye and spoke, "So things have been crazy lately. And we really need to talk about what happened."

Mori nodded his head in complete agreement. Her trust was important to him, and he hated to think that he had ruined her faith in him.

"So, you're in a host club. Why didn't you tell me," she asked wrapping her arms around herself. She was starting with the issue that had been bothering her the most. It wasn't so much that he was a part of one, but that he hadn't told her.

Mori sighed heavily before quietly responding, "It never came up."

Kagome's eyes flashed in annoyance and before she could help herself, she snapped at him. "You should have made it come up."

He hung his head in shame and mumbled an apology, causing Kagome to feel a little guilty at her sharp reply. But any guilt quickly dissipated at his next words.

"I didn't mean to keep it from you. But you didn't tell me you were from Lobelia," he shot back.

Kagome laughed humorlessly, annoyed. She didn't see what the big deal was. "I thought you knew. You did see me shoot at a Lobelia event at the cultural fair. And why does it matter so much?"

"Why does it matter that I'm in a host club," he stubbornly replied.

"Because you're seeing other girls. Do you, do you have feelings for any of them," Kagome asked, hating how self-conscious and insecure she sounded. Only InuYasha had ever made her doubt herself before.

Mori blinked and without thinking he grabbed her hand. He took it as a good sign when she didn't pull back, and threaded their fingers together. He had never meant to make her think that he was interested in anyone else. "I only like you. I only joined the host club for my friends."

Kagome flushed, pleased with his answer.

"I'm sorry for not telling you."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too." She quietly murmured, leaning her head against his shoulder.

Mori took a deep breath as he stood outside the musical room. He hadn't been back since the incident at the amusement park, and he still wasn't sure what he would say to his friends. He had missed them, but couldn't forgive their treatment of Kagome.

But he was partly to blame for the incident. He had been the one skipping club hours without telling him the true purpose of his absences.

"It'll be okay, Takashi," Hone spoke from his spot on his cousin's shoulder.

Nodding his head, Mori entered the club room. The other hosts were milling about the room as usual, no crazy theme for the day. The twins were in their own little world in one corner, while Kyoya was jotting something down in his notebook, and Tamaki was bothering Haruhi.

Kyoya was the first to notice the cousins. "Ah, Mori-senpai. It's good to see you again."

Hikaru and Kaoru immediately perked up and quickly approached the two third years. "Mori-senpai, you're back."

"Did you and your lovely lady make up," Tamaki asked, looking up at Mori with bright eyes.

The twins frowned t that, but Mori ignored them and spoke, "We did."

"Ugh, but she goes to Lobelia," Hiakru spoke, crossing his arms. "What if she's only trying to trick you?"

Kaour nodded his head and continued, "I wouldn't put it past those crazy Zuka girls."

"Hey," Haruhi spoke, glaring at the twins. "Kagome isn't like that. She's really nice and I'm glad you guys made up, Mori-senpai."

"She really is, and she bakes the best deserts," Honey chirped.

"Tch, if she's so nice, why didn't Mori-senpai tell us about her," Hikaru and Kaoru pointed out.

"Probably because you guys are all crazy," Haruhi muttered, crossing her arms.

Tamaki's eyes widened and looked up towards Mori, glistening with unshed tears. "Are you ashamed of us?"

Kyoya also spoke, "I am curious as well as to why you never mentioned her to us."

"Kagome is my girlfriend," Mori spoke, his voice stern as he got his point across to his friends. He sent a pointed look towards the twins, he would hear no more of their negative comments about her. "I'm sorry I did not tell you about her, but she is very important to me."

"How did you two meet," Kyoya asked, ready to jot down the information.

For the rest of the club hours, Mori answered questions about his relationship. He owed them that much at least. Tamaki and Haruhi reacted positively towards Kagome. Kyoya was neutral, and was probably more concerned about if his relationship would concern club profits. He was a little concerned about the twins, and hoped with time they would accept his relationship.

Kagome sat in the mostly empty auditorium and watched as Benio and Chizuru finished a scene onstage next to Hinako. Her own practice had ended early that day, giving her time to check out the Zuka Club's rehearsal. It was also the perfect chance for her to talk to her friends about her relationship with Mori. She knew they didn't care for males too much, and especially not the Host Club. But she hoped they could at least be civil.

"Kagome, what a lovely surprise," Benio spoke, as she and Chizuru joined her and Hinako in the audience.

"Isn't it," Kagome laughed nervously. She had no clue how she wanted to tell her friends that she was seeing a boy. A boy from Ouran.

"What's wrong, Kagome-chan," Chizuru asked, picking up on her nervous energy. She slipped into the seat next to the priestess, grabbing her arm.

Taking a deep breath, she decided to just tell them. "Morinozuka and I are dating. Please respect that."

Hinako's eyes widened in disbelief. She shot a quick look at Chizuru before settling back on Kagome and asked, "That Host Club boy, you're dating him?"

Benio's eyes narrowed at the thought of the Ouran Host Club. She absolutely loathed how they treated girls. "That group is nothing but trouble."

"He's practically a two-timer," Chizuru growled, tightening her grip on Kagome's arm.

"He's not like that," Kagome quickly defended Mori. She pulled her arm free and stood up. Looking down at the three girls, she firmly spoke, "He's told me everything about the club. I trust him."

Chizuru and Hinako wanted to protest more, but Benio could see that Kagome would not budge on the matter. Silencing the others, she let out a deep sigh before speaking, "If that is what you wish, Kagome."

Kagome's shoulders sagged in relief. This was going a lot better than she had anticipated. She had expected Benio to protest more. She smiled brightly at her friends. "Thank you, for understanding."

"Are you sure it was okay for you to miss club hours to come hiking with me," Kagome asked for the fifth time since they had started their trek through the shrine's massive grounds. They were both missing out on their respective club hours to go hiking on her family's property.

Mori smiled down at his girlfriend and nodded his head as he grunted yes. It had been his idea after all. Her big winter recital was drawing closer, and soon she would be too busy with practice while he would soon be preparing to enter university. And he had wanted to spend as much time with her as possible, hoping to make up for lost time.

Kagome smiled back and Mori felt the tip of his ears burn. She beckoned him forward and said, "We're almost there."

She stumbled over an upturned root, and nearly faceplanted. Mori was quick though and for the fourth time during their hike, caught her arm before she could fall.

"Th-thanks," Kagome stuttered, cheeks red in embarrassment. He nodded his head and smiled at her. He found it cute, how clumsy she could be even though he knew she could be just as graceful.

"We're finally here." Kagome smiled, as they reached a rather spectacular view of the grounds. Mori followed Kagome's lead as she took a seat over edge to admire the view. He hadn't realized how high they had hiked. He could see the shrine from their position. He was even surprised that he could easily spot the Goshinboku.

"My dad's the one who first showed me this spot," Kagome quietly spoke. He grabbed her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. They sat in silence for a while, just enjoying the down time and being in each other's presence.

Mori surprised himself when he finally spoke, breaking the silence and asking the question that he had been truly curious about for a while now. "How did you end up at Lobelia?"

While her family was comfortable, they weren't quite in the same bracket as the other girls from Lobelia. Not to mention that she just seemed so…well normal when compared to her classmates.

"Hmm." Kagome looked up from the view to the boy besides her. While she couldn't exactly tell him about her past at least not yet, she tried to tell him everything that she could, even if it meant reopening some old wounds. "I, I lost some really close friends when I started high school. I didn't deal with their loss well, and ended up getting kicked out of my high school for too many absences."

He hadn't been expecting that. His chest hurt, hearing the sadness in her voice. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"I spent a lot of time helping out at the shrine while I tried to figure out what I was going to do. And it was at one of our performances that I met Chizuru and Benio." She ignored the way Mori frowned when she bought up the Zuka Club girls. However crazy they might be, they were still her friends. "They practically got me enrolled at Lobelia through sheer force of will."

Mori hummed and idly played with the palm of her hand, tracing the lines. While he wasn't sure if he would ever like the Zuka Club girls, he would respect their friendship.

Kagome snuggled deeper into his side and asked, "Now, why don't you like them?"

Grunting, he answered her question. He told her about the day that the trio attempted to drive a wedge between the Host Club and Haruhi on the day they had met.

Though he seemed serious enough telling the story, Kagome couldn't help but start to snicker towards the end. Both groups were just so outrageous.

"You lucked out, not having to wear a dress," she giggled. She remembered that day fondly and though she hadn't given much thought to his odd costume, she found the story behind it hilarious. "Though I bet you still would have looked great in one."

Mori felt his ears burn, but he smiled down at the giggling girl next to him.

TBC