Keep Your Enemies Closer

Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. Anything you recognize is owned by Bisco Hatori! I receive absolutely no money from writing fanfiction.

WARNING: The topic of incest is VERY SLIGHTLY gone over in the chapter below. I'm assuming that what occurs won't bother anyone (it's not explicit at all; this is T rating) but just in case, if you don't want to read the chapter because of this, just shoot me a PM and I can give you a chapter summary.

(The authors note is at the bottom.)

If she were honest with herself, today wasn't the worst day she'd had all week. Sure, she's woken up to a pounding headache and a crying Sota, and yes, she'd failed her Conversational French quiz as well as a quick check in Chemistry, but there have been worse days. Particularly the day six weeks and three days ago, when she climbed out of the Bone Eater's Well for the last time. Compared to that, a study session with the Hitachiin twins was a slice of her mother's crumbling blueberry pie. Plus, she'd spent the better part of the Host Club hours chatting with Honey and Mori while astutely avoiding Shippo and the other insane hosts, so her day wasn't actually terrible... right?

Of course not.

How could she have been so wrong? Kagome wasn't sure. Everything had been fine (and by fine she meant annoying but harmless as usual) at the beginning of the study session...

***** 1 HOUR AND 38 MINUTES AGO *****

"Always have your phone on, in case of emergencies. Call me or Sesshomaru first, depending on the situation, then the police," Shippo lectured. He was using the tone of voice that she often directed to Sota when he was doing something wrong, or the same one that she had frequently used on Shippo not too long ago (or a VERY long time ago, depending on your perspective). It was the babying, you-can't-handle-yourself, I-don't-know-why-I'm-letting-you-do-this, come-home-at-the-first-sign-of-trouble tone that Kagome often dolled out but loathed to receive. Who was Shippo to talk? She was fifteen years old, not five, and the red headed twins were annoying pests, not demons bent on stealing her away forever.

She had enough of those kinds of demons to deal with; worrying about these two wasn't necessary.

"I got it, I got it," she snapped, trying to end Shippo's motherly tirade. Every word that came out of his mouth simply annoyed her more. He wasn't the boss of her, and he should back off and give her some space, especially so soon after the horrible Game Incident that he began. "Let's just get this over with so that we can go home." Home would be nice; a quiet, peaceful environment where she could lay down and try to rid herself of the hammer beating at her brain. "And I'm still mad at you, you know."

However, nothing fazed Shippo. He kept talking as if she hadn't tried to remind him of her anger that caused her to ignore him for the past two nights at the Manor. "Don't let them get closer than a two meter radius, I don't trust them at all," he said. A two meter radius? What was she supposed to do, keep a handy-dandy measuring stick prepared at all times?

A hand on her chin and Shippo's concerned gaze melted some of the ice in her heart. When he looked at her like that, she knew that as pushy and obnoxious as he was being, Shippo was only trying to do what's best for her. She understood, and was grateful, too. But what she needed was a bodyguard and a friend, not a nanny who pried into every moment of her life.

"And remember; the most important thing is that you do not leave this school. No excuses." An annoying rule, but a necessary one. Kagome wouldn't violate it. She swallowed heavily as Shippo released his hold on her face.

"Alright," she promised. "Now get going, we have math to do." Shippo reluctantly stepped toward Haruhi and sighed, eyes slanting to the textbook hidden underneath the flap of his man satchel. If looks could kill, the mathematical pages inside the ridiculous backpack (Shippo insisted on carrying it to school daily) would be shriveled up and rotting in hell by now.

"Okay, I'll see you later Kags. In exactly two hours from now, I'll meet you where you're working in the library."

"Sounds good," She said in a sour tone. No matter what she did, he just kept patronizing her. He didn't need to keep saying everything over and over as if she were in kindergarten; she was going to be studying. In a library.

Before Shippo could leave she blurted out a pointless, "Say hello to Haruhi for me!", just in case the boy ever actually took up her multiple hints that she wanted to befriend him. Kagome was desperate for some semblance of normalcy, and Haruhi seemed to be her best shot; he was not a rich sheltered kid, he didn't proclaim his love to girls and justify it with a club title, and he actually worked in class. Haruhi may be on the scruffier, more unaesthetic side of the student body, but Kagome was convinced that he would be better company than the Host Club. Unfortunately, Haruhi had yet to return the sentiment (but she wasn't ready to give up quite yet!).

Shippo finally left the library. Kagome let out an exasperated breath and pushed all thoughts of the bothersome Kitsune to the back of her mind. "Thank kami that's over," she muttered to herself. A low chuckle in her left ear sent her jumping a foot into the air in fright.

"Glad to finally escape the clutches of your overprotective brother?" One of the twins - she wasn't sure which - asked smugly. He sidled up to her and slung a long, gangly arm around her waist. A matching boy appeared on her right and copied his brother's movement.

"We can relate to that, you know. I'm definitely a jealous person, and Kaoru has to deal with that all the time. Plus he isn't so easy-going himself when it comes to sharing me." Two lecherous grins were formed on either side of Kagome. "What do you say, why don't you join us in a little... venting session?"

Kagome turned as red as Shippo's hair and spun away from the two of them, her hair flying back and smacking Hikaru in the face on accident (much to Kaoru's hilarity). "Stay away from me, you perverts! We're here to do math!"

"Oh, but Kagome, we'd much rather do YOU," Karou purred. She shrieked in indignation.

"Don't say something like that in public you freaks!"

"Flustered, Kagome? It's only because you want us," Hikaru teased. She couldn't help what she did next; she snarled at him, a growl slipping out between clenched teeth as a lip curled upwards. Hikaru and Kaoru fell into a fit of laughter while she marched over to an empty table, angry and embarrassed. She threw herself into a chair and rested her head against the desk, hoping for some insight that would help her through the next two hours.

The boys eventually strolled over, but instead of sitting down to do their school work, Kaoru stood behind Kagome and twisted her hair into elaborate braids. Hikaru took the job of inspecting her backpack (it was an actual backpack, not a cheap man purse like the one Shippo had) and declaring it wildly out of season. He'd have a new one shipped in for her straight away.

"I don't want a new bag," Kagome said crossly. "This one is fine. Now sit down and start working on our math assignment!"

Kaoru yawned. "Boooooring," he stated. Kagome swore that her vision turned red for half a second.

"Why don't we settle this with a game? If you win we'll do your math with you, and if you lose, well... we'll tell you when you lose," Hikaru said, leaning his head on Kaoru's shoulder. The two of them sent identical grins beaming towards her.

"How is that fair? Is everything a game to you both?" She asked, peeved beyond measure. They glanced at each other before looking back at her.

"Yes!" They exclaimed. Soon matching hats were pulled out and they began to spin around so fast that they resembles miniature cyclones. "Let's play the Which One is Hikaru Game!"

Kagome stared at them, mouth open and eyes wide. She didn't know who was who; they were identical! Sometimes she barely knew who was Hikaru during the Host Club, and he was the one who always put on the stupid SEME act (or was that Kaoru?). It was a fifty fifty shot, and Kagome figured that she should probably guess well. These boys were determined to win the game, and she shuddered to think of what they had in store for her.

"...You are Hikaru," she said, pointing to the boy on the right. For a millisecond she thought she won, but then identical twisted grins slowly unfurled on the faces before her.

"Wrong! You lose!" They sang, jumping up and down in glee. Kagome wailed in frustration.

"Prove it!" She challenged.

"We don't need to; you lost, now you're coming with us!" Hikaru crowed. They yanked Kagome out of her chair and dragged her all the way to the library doors. She dug her heels into the fluffy, expensive carpet and glared at them.

"I'm not leaving," she said firmly.

"You lost, so now you need to come with us," Hikaru repeated. Kagome shook her head.

"I can't, I'm not allowed." Kaoru raised a thin eyebrow.

"Because of Shippo, you mean?" He asked skeptically.

"Yes." More or less, she supposed.

"I guess we're being forced to take extreme measures then," Kaoru said with a sigh. Kagome didn't like the sound of that.

"Wha-" she began to ask. Instead of of finishing her inquiry, a rag was shoved into her face, and the smell of chemicals filled her nose. Instantly the world began to sway and her eyes became heavy.

"N-no," she tried to say, but she wasn't sure if the words passed through her lips or not before the dark oblivion came and swept her consciousness away.

***** PRESENT TIME *****

Now she was laying down, eyes shut against the harsh glare of the light above her. She had yet to crack an eyelid; the idea sounded horrendously strenuous, and Kagome couldn't convince herself to take a peek at her surroundings. Her head felt foggy and her mouth was a bit fuzzy. Did she eat cotton balls recently?

"When do you think she'll wake up?" A voice asked directly above her face.

"I dunno. But I can't wait to see her face; no one other than Boss gets as easily riled up as she does."

Kagome struggled to think. Were they talking about her?

"Well, her brother isn't that hard either. Just talking to Kagome makes him angry. I wonder how he'll react when he figures out that we took her out of the school."

She was... kidnapped? Taken away from school?

Her limbs suddenly sprang to life. Her eyes shot open and she stiffened as adrenaline shot through her veins like a direct shot of morphine to the system. Her head was on the lap of one twin and her feet were resting on the other's. They were in a limo, from what she could tell. The windows were tinted so that she could barely see the trees flying by outside.

"No!" She gasped. Kagome rolled off of the boys and hit the floor hard. From the shocked gasps that they let out, she could tell that they weren't expecting that reaction. But Kagome didn't care. What mattered more was where they were headed. She scrambled to the window and rammed her fists against it as if it were the bars to a prison cell.

"Kagome-"

"Where are we going," she demanded, whirling around, back pressed against the car door.

"To our home," one twin answered. "It's okay Kagome, calm down. We aren't actually kidnapping you; we'll drive you home to your house in a few hours-"

"I mean what direction are we going?" Kagome snapped, cutting him off. "Hurry, what direction?!"

There was a pause as the boys stared at her in contemplative silence. "West," one of them answered quietly, leaving the invitation for an explanation left unsaid but implied. Kagome chose to ignore the request, turning back to the window and pressing her clammy forehead to the cool glass in relief.

"Thank Kami," she whispered. She was still in Sesshomaru's domain. A beat passed, then she turned the tables on the boys. "And what was that anyway? Did you two creeps knock me out with chloroform?"

"Yep. Hikaru bought it the other day after we planned our homework session."

"That is so wrong. And illegal. I'm going to file an official report."

"And we'll buy our way out of prison," Hikaru said charmingly, the way one would deliver a joke to a beloved aunt. Kagome rolled her eyes and scanned the incredibly large backseat of the limo for her bag (or more importantly, her cell phone). Nothing was in sight.

"Where's my phone. I need to call Shippo," Kagome asked. They simply smirked at her from their spots on the leather couch.

"Don't be such a baby, Kaggy Kitty. You can hand yourself for a few hours without hiding behind your big brother, right?" Kaoru teased. It may have been a joke, but Kagome felt herself responding to the challenge anyway. His words hit another one of her more recent insecurities; that she was being smothered by Shippo and Sesshomaru, and therefore losing her independence. Although she knew it was the wrong choice, the undeniable urge to prove herself swelled in her breast and took over her vocal cords.

"I don't need Shippo every second of the day, but he's going to be worried about me," she said. An understatement. He was going to be frantic.

"He can survive a few hours without his baby sister," Hikaru scoffed. "It's our turn to play with you now."

"Your funeral," Kagome warned, but the boys just laughed at her. Apparently they didn't understand how serious she was being. They'd find out soon enough.

The limo parked in front of a grand mansion, just as large as Sesshomaru's but decorated with large golden statues and shining granite fountains. The boys dragged her up flights of plush stairs and down two long imposing hallways before they reached their room. It had a ginormous California King bed set up next to a wide balcony that gave a gorgeous view of the wide, sprawling grounds. Kagome gaped as they dragged her inside. The doors shut heavily, making an ominous BOOM that echoed in her ears. Escape was impossible with her two kidnappers directly in front of her, smiling deviously.

They crossed the room and sat on the bed, draping themselves across one another. "Join us, Kagome," Hikaru offered with a sly smirk. As they began to get touchy-feely, Kagome let her eyes wander around the room, so as not to focus on the slightly awkward seen before her. She noticed Hikaru and Kaoru pictures of all ages littered across the room in tiny picture frames, but other family members were conspicuously absent. Kagome felt a frown tug at her mouth.

"Why don't you have any pictures of your parents?" Kagome asked, even though she didn't really care. They were evil, diabolical clones who played with the hearts of innocent girls; she didn't care about their childhood at all. So when Kaoru responded, "They're not around much" and Hikaru added, "We don't know them very well", Kagome most certainly did not feel a cord of remorse being played on her heartstrings. She felt nothing at all.

However, she could not deny the instant rage she felt at their next prank.

Hikaru turned Kaoru's face toward him when he knew that Kagome was looking and pushed their lips together. They kissed for one long moment before turning to Kagome with hooded eyes. A moment passed as they waited for her response. What they expected, Kagome didn't know. And instant agreement that their hosting act was the truth? A long, heartfelt apology? Instead, she let the dam of anger that had been quickly building up all day flood and explode.

"Stop acting!" She hissed. "I know that your incest isn't real, and that's probably the first time you've ever kissed. I don't know what you're trying to prove, but you can't fool me!"

"Look around," Hikaru said calmly. "All we have is each other, and that's all that we will always have. Everything else is just a game, but our love for each other isn't fake."

"We never lie to the girls while hosting by confessing to them. All we do is confess to each other, and that's what they enjoy about our station. The brotherly love. Except in our case, it's more," Kaoru said softly.

"Oh please, you're not fooling me Kaoru," Kagome hissed. "I noticed how you avoided saying how many times you've kissed. Admit it; that was your first kiss! You're just trying to win that stupid game!"

The boys stared at her, silent as a grave. She could see the answer in their eyes. That had been their first kiss. There was no incest, just as she'd thought.

"I knew it. You're as fake as they get," Kagome said softly. Though it was merely a whisper, it sounded like a shout in the soundless room.

"You have no right to say that!" Hikaru suddenly yelled. "All we have is each other, and no one else ever enters our world. No one can win the game we created! No one cares enough to try!"

"Stop it with the worthless games!" Kagome shouted back. "Life is not a game, and you need to start acting like it!"

"It's not that easy when the only people we trust are each other," Kaoru said softly. "Trust me, we learned the hard way that we need to treat life as a game, because that way, there's always a way to win. Even if we have to cheat."

"That's ridiculous," she challenged.

"Don't you dare say that our love for each other is fake, because it's the only thing that's real! You don't have the right to say these things, Kagome! You barely know us!"

"I think I know you both well enough by now!"

"Oh yeah? Prove it!" Hikaru and Kaoru whipped out those matching hats and ran behind Kagome. She turned around and was met with the hard, cold faces of the Hitachiin twin brothers.

"Which one is Hikaru?" They intoned, voices emotionless. The two of them were identical clones, without even an oddly-placed freckle to distinguish them. Now she understood why they incessantly played the game; they wanted someone to guess correctly because they could truly tell the differences between the brothers. They wanted to be understood, and recognized as their own person. But they wanted to make the winner guess correctly to earn a spot in order to earn a spot in their personal world, so to gain their trust, you had to truly understand each as an individual. Why would they do that to themselves? Why go through years of struggle when if they could simply open themselves up and give people a chance, their world could be expanded a hundredfold?

"We're waiting," they snapped to Kagome in unison. She blinked. While there were no physical features to separate one from the other, she now knew that she had to dig deeper. The one one on the left had a fiery, burning anger simmering in his eyes; the one on the right had pools full of sorrow and regret swirling in an endless circle. She knew enough about them and their personalities to finally determine who was who and to be the first winner of the most important game.

"Hikaru is on the left, and Kaoru is on the right," Kagome said. The twins gave her the same wry grin as Kaoru let out a dry chuckle.

"You lose, as expected. I'm Hikaru," he lied. Kagome frowned at him.

"No you're not. You're Kaoru."

"You're just saying that," Hikaru growled. Kagome stared him straight in the eye.

"No I'm not, Hikaru. I can tell you apart now; I understand you well enough." She watched as their expressions froze in shock. Someone had beaten their very first game; someone had taken the walls they'd built up around themselves and managed to carve out a nice Kagome-shaped-hole so that an invader could enter their world. It was no longer just the two of them. Now there was a third person. And she hated them. The truth hit them like a truck-load of bricks.

Then all hell broke loose.

Kagome heard the glass of the balcony windows to her back explode in a symphony of shatters. She felt tiny bits of fragment scratch the backs of her arms and legs as Hikaru and Kaoru's eyes swelled in fright. She turned to face him, and there he was; The Lord of the West, standing in the destroyed bedroom of two teenage boys, looking like a War God. His eyes burned blood red and a growl marred his flawless face. A heinous snarl was ripped from his throat and directed towards the boys. Hikaru let out a whimper and the sound provoked Sesshomaru into action. He lunged for the nearest boy, claws outstretched. Kaoru screamed in terror as Sesshomaru flew towards him.

"No!" Hikaru yelled, and threw himself in front of the younger twin. Sesshomaru's class barely grazed him, but it left four thin cuts on his arm that quickly began to bleed.

"No, Hikaru!" Kaoru cried. He instantly covered his body with his own, trying to protect him from the angry demon that was returning for another attack.

Kagome finally shook herself out of her shocked stupor. They really did love each other, Kagome realized. Not in the incest-y way that they played during Host Club hours, but in a real, brotherly form that Kagome could only hope to feel about Sota. This was beyond familial relationships; it was also true friendship, a type of camaraderie that was seldom to be found. They hadn't been faking, Kagome admitted to herself as she watched Kaoru hover over Hikaru with his eyes squeezed shut. They didn't pretend to love the girls, only each other, and none of that was a lie. The incest act was merely one of many games, a fact that they didn't try to hide. They were right, and they were also the next winners of the Prove Your Worth Game. That is, if they survived the next few seconds.

Kagome acted instantly. She ran between the twins and Sesshomaru, throwing her arms wide open. "Stop!" She yelled. "Stop, they weren't hurting me!" Apparently she'd placed her bets in the right deck, for Sesshomaru halted his charge right before he was about to collide with her. He towered above Kagome, looking down at her with anger and blood lust pouring off him like Naraku's miasma.

"Please don't hurt them," she begged in a whisper. Sesshomaru stared at her for a moment. Then, faster than a blink of an eye, he had her in his arms and was jumping out of the broken window, using his demon powers to whisk them airborne across the ground below and to the direction of his mansion, where he knew she would be safe.

"Kagome!" Came a panicked cry from behind her. She tried to turn around and shout that they shouldn't worry, she was fine, but her reassuring words were snatched by the greedy windy long before they ever reached the ears of the boys whose world had just shattered like the window below their feet.

Authors Note: Wow I'm feeling slightly nervous posting this because the site has everything I wrote underlined in red. But I know I couldn't have possibly misspelled every word (I hope). Let me know if you see anything though. And sorry for the slightly later update; I got hooked on a fanfiction called Hack It! and that may or may not be the reason why I posted two days later than originally planned...

On another note, THANK YOU ALL REVIWERS! We're almost to a hundred! Last chapter was a great turnout, and I had so much fun reading each and every review, especially Cherry-Blossom-Love's! Also, thank you TenshiHalo for leaving your opinion. Your perspective is noted and appreciated. I had a ton of fun writing this chapter, and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did writing it. Drop a review to let me know what you think; they're like warm peanut butter cookies and I eat/read them instantly!

And about the sidestory with Haruhi. I know that some of you enjoyed her perspective, but that others did not and just wanted to focus on Kagome. I'm not going to stop Haruhi's POVs because they're going to be short and inconsequential to the plot, and while I love Kagome, I can't bring myself to give up on Haruhi either. But I will add SIDESTORY to chapter titles in her POV and you can skip right over them if you don't want to read her mini-story. Nothing that effects the other chapters will be revealed in a sidestory, so you can skip it if you don't like Haruhi. Thanks!

Read and Review please! It causes my day to be filled with sunshine and butterflies!