InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shades of Gray ❯ Loosening Reality ( Chapter 24 )

 

 

~<>~ Shades of Gray ~<>~

 

 

~<>~ Chapter 24 ~<>~ Loosening reality

 

 

Closing her eyes, Kagome was still not one hundred percent sure how she got herself into her current predicament. Everything had been awkward to say the least since her interlude with InuYasha the previous morning, and avoiding Kikyo was one of the highest agenda's on her to-do list. That task had actually gone shockingly well for the young college student; she had successfully avoided Kikyo all day by going to the one place her cousin wound never step foot in: the library. Kagome had slipped away the previous day as soon as Kikyo crashed in bed and spent half of the day in the student center. When it got to be around three o'clock she scampered off to the library for a sure fire tactic to avoid Kikyo. The side effect was absolute boredom that nearly drove her insane, but at least she was successful. She had returned to the dorm only to find Kikyo's note saying that she was spending the night at InuYasha's. Kagome highly doubted the reliability of that assessment, but didn't wish to question it. Had Kikyo really been at InuYasha's, Kagome was sure it would have led to throwing up a little in her mouth. She was still questioning, a day and a half later, if she had truly slept with her cousin's boyfriend. The answer was obvious and her heart's yearning to be back with him made it doubly so. Kagome couldn't deny that she wanted to see him so bad it hurt, and that was what led her to her current disposition.

 

Kagome sullenly trailed behind InuYasha and Kikyo, watching her cousin with narrowed eyes as she ducked in and out of the shops at the Monmouth Mall. It wasn't that she hated her cousin at the current moment, but she held very high disdain for the spoiled little brat. She was spending money that wasn't hers and using her boy toy as a personal shopping cart. What dug under Kagome's skin even worse, however, were the small kisses that Kikyo was constantly planting on InuYasha's lips. It was as if her cousin was well aware of her current struggle to keep from raping the man before her and was flaunting her power over him. Kagome's nails had long ago turned white from where they were imbedded in her palm as she struggled to keep her mouth closed. What was worse was the fact that there was no hope of escape; Kikyo had convinced InuYasha to drive them from his apartment to the mall. So unless Kagome was about to hitchhike back to the dorms there was no way she was getting home.

 

InuYasha was toting Kikyo's bags for her, trying to keep his eyes off of Kagome as much as possible. It had been Kikyo's idea for the three to buddy up, and it wasn't in the form of the predisposed idea that InuYasha carried about the theory of `buddy up'. When the two showed up at the apartment together, he nearly had a coronary. The awkwardness had yet to subside and InuYasha was nearly sure it was rolling off his tense shoulders with every muscle spasm. Every muscle in his body felt as if it had curled up into itself and taken a permanent vacation, leaving only bone ready to snap in its stead.

 

“Oh! I need to get a few new button-down shirts from New York and Company.” Kikyo swiveled in her step and jumped onto the escalator, reaching for InuYasha's free left hand. “Come on you two!”

 

InuYasha yanked back his hand as if her touch was corrosive. The motion was hardly intentional, but a look of hurt instantly flashed through the eyes of his girlfriend. Running the offensive limb through his hair, he tossed her a terse smile and stepped onto the escalator behind her checking up the rear to make sure Kagome was still with them. “Sorry baby I didn't know what you were reaching for,” he muttered to the girl in front of him.

 

This sucked; there was no easy way to describe it beyond the point of suck. It sucked more than a hoe on spring break for that matter. If he had any clue that things would be so awkward, he would have locked his door and bolted himself to his bed. Maybe that would have deterred his girlfriend from dragging him into the said hell day.

 

Kagome caught up to the two, a dark glower frozen across her features. She was tired of trailing her cousin in and out of shops and more so sick and tired of seeing the two together. She could tell that InuYasha was just as displaced as she was, and to some extent, it offered her solace. But she didn't want her cousin to know, she never wanted Kikyo to know. So instead of being her happy self, she chose to act rather Emo for the day and hope that it would run across as PMS without question. “So…what else do you have to get Kikyo?”

 

Kikyo glanced over at Kagome, the smile flattering the minute she caught that dark look on her friend's face. She pouted somewhat and fell back to place a hand on Kagome's shoulder. “Hey Kaggie, are you okay? You look ubber angry!”

 

Kagome snapped her head to glare at her cousin before sighing heavily. Forcing a smile to her lips, she raised her eyebrows in a sarcastic smirk. “Not at all, Kik, I'm fine.” Licking her lips, she glanced across the length of the mall, wishing to simply melt into a puddle to escape the awkwardness that they were drowning in. She was so sure that she would give her right kidney for an intervention; she was hardly ready for the next statement that left her cousin's mouth.

 

Grabbing Kagome's arm, Kikyo slung her arm over her shoulders and pulled her mouth closer to Kagome's ear. “Are you sure you're okay? You really look mad. Is this to weird for you? I mean, feeling like a third wheel or something?”

 

Kagome counted backwards from ten as slow as she could as she slipped from her cousin's grasp. “No, Kikyo,” she muttered as she rotated her shoulder and stormed into the store. “I don't feel like a…” shutting her mouth, Kagome was sure that she would be in some awful trouble if she finished the sentence. This was getting ridiculous and she was becoming vastly irritated.

 

A hand materialized on the small of her back as her ire was reaching a breaking point that seemed to come out of no where. It was a gentle touch meant only to soothe the beast rising up inside of her chest. InuYasha slipped past her, the hand vanishing with his presence, as he walked on without a single glance backwards at the fuming girl. Somehow his touch had the desired effect. Kagome let out a long sigh and shook her head again, feeling the anger seep from her body replaced by an exhaustion that she knew she was not about to lose. “Sorry Kikyo, I just have a lot on my mind.” Pursing her lips, she tilted her head to the right to try to get a glimpse at her savior. He really knew how to calm her down, it was almost awe inspiring. How did he know her body so well?

 

Watching InuYasha trail behind Kikyo was making Kagome near violently ill. He was her salvation and yet he was unobtainable. The heat that still resonated from where he touched her burned with a desire to feel his hands all over her body. Yet to see him so encaged by Kikyo…it was like watching one of those trained tigers in Vegas; such a majestic creature should know no such limitations to their existence. With a gurgle of self loathing in spite of the deep anger that coursed through her veins, Kagome snagged a top off of the nearest rack, paying no attention to the size or color of the garment and stormed around her cousin, making a bee line for the fitting room. “I'm going to try this on,” she shouted as she brushed by the happy couple.

 

Kikyo jumped slightly as Kagome's elbow brushed against hers on her rush for the fitting rooms. Watching her cousin with a set frown, a thousand different thoughts poured through her mind as Kagome disappeared behind the curtain. Was she mad about her confession? Was Kagome looking at Kikyo as abusing her relationship with InuYasha? Kagome just didn't understand, there was no way for her to. Looking back over her shoulder, Kikyo's frown darkened as she caught the glazed over expression that lingered on InuYasha's face. It was as if he was more upset about Kagome's melancholy than Kikyo was. Blinking slowly once, the gaze was gone when Kikyo opened her eyes, but she was sure of what she saw. Sighing loudly, she wrapped her hand around his bicep. “Here, come help me pick out thongs,” she muttered to the boy.

 

InuYasha nodded once, her words never registering in his brain. His focus was completely on the girl who seemed deplorably miserable. Kagome had been quiet ever since they reached the apartment, and InuYasha was nearly sure that his head was about to combust over the anticipation. For the early part of this hellish day, he feared that Kagome was just going to blurt out their previous night interactions. Somewhere deep within he knew Kagome wouldn't sell him out like that but holy hell did the poor girl look miserable. Trailing behind Kikyo he sighed again. Why did he always get sucked into these crummy situations? Life was supposed to be easy, a joy ride or something like that. This was shit that belonged on day-time television.

 

Kikyo rounded the table with the aforementioned undergarments, paying only a sliver of attention to what was before her. Both her friends seemed so distant that it scared her to wonder exactly what she was missing. Had someone died? Was the world about to end and she was blissfully unaware? Kikyo rolled her eyes knowing the truth; she was too caught up in her own drama to take any notice to exactly what was lingering over the heads of the two people closest to her. Feeling her pocket begin to vibrate, she wrinkled her nose and slipped away from InuYasha. Rounding a corner, she didn't need to look at the name plate to know who was calling her. If InuYasha and Kagome were both present with her there would only be one other person text messaging her at this number and it was the one person she didn't want InuYasha to know anything about.

 

InuYasha continued to circle the table, his eyes seeing through the lingerie in front of him. Instead he was seeing Kagome's face, her eyes, the contour of her hips against his, the curves that he wanted to caress and taste as other such illicit depictions passed through his mind and caused his pants to tighten. This was torture plain and simple. He was beginning to think that he would have rather of been trapped in a room with his father and bastard brother rather than here with the two girls before him. Glancing up, he pulled himself from his day dreams to catch sight of Kikyo returning to his side looking rather ashen.

 

Wrapping an arm around her waist, he swallowed down the bile that rose in his throat. He wanted Kagome and this wasn't fair to Kikyo, but he just couldn't tell her; he couldn't end this façade. “What's wrong, babe?”

 

Kikyo's smile was terse at best. Her eyes averted his and her words were strung together harshly. “Hey, I have to go.”

 

“What do you mean, you have to go?”

 

Kikyo's smile faltered as she pulled herself from InuYasha to wrap her arms around her body. He could tell something was definitely wrong and what scared him was that he didn't honestly care. “My mom just text messaged me and wants to go out to lunch with me. Something's wrong but she won't tell me what it is. I'm going to meet up with her in the parking lot. I know it's a lot and I'm sorry baby but can you take Kagome home?”

 

InuYasha studied Kikyo's face for a moment, seeing all that she wasn't saying present in her eyes. She was keeping something from him, something important. There was no way that her mother would demand to have lunch with Kikyo and not him. It might be conceited but InuYasha was like a son to this woman, or at least she claimed it hundreds of times. If something was direly wrong with the family, she would want to tell them together. “Let's get Kagome and we'll walk you out there…”

 

Kikyo's eyes widened a fraction of an inch and she jumped to interject. “No, it's fine. I think it might have to do with Kagome's mom or dad or something and I'm pretty sure that the last person she would want to see is Kagome. I also don't want to make Kagome wait for us, it would be rude.”

 

“But your mother directly avoiding her niece isn't?”

 

Kikyo turned her head, trying to avoid snapping back at her boyfriend. “I know it's awful but its how things are. My aunt isn't fond of Kagome or her mother, you know this.”

 

InuYasha ran a hand through his loose black hair and rolled his eyes. “Sure, Kik, whatever. Do you want me to walk you out?”

 

Kikyo shook her head in the negative. “No baby, just stay here with her. Besides, Kagome seems to be in a foul mood. Maybe you can cheer her up.”

 

InuYasha made a face and took a double look at Kikyo. If only Kikyo knew how he would want to cheer Kagome up, she wouldn't have suggested it. “Are you forgetting that this is me and Kagome you're talking about?” Why did his stomach feel like a lead weight when he spoke such lies? “A month ago you would have worried about us starting world war three in your absence. Are you sure you want to leave us in a public place together?”

 

Kikyo patted InuYasha's clean shaven cheek and smiled. “I trust you; I know you won't get vulgar with kids around.”

 

“Fuck that,” InuYasha joked with a soft smile gleaming across his face. Vulgarity was the least of his concerns about being left alone with Kagome.

 

Kikyo kissed his lips gently with haste before turning on her heels and waving to him. “Tell Kaggie I'm sorry, I'll catch up to her later.”

 

InuYasha forced a smile to his face while watching Kikyo trot off to some type of meeting that he was positive had nothing to do with her mother. Turning around, he slowly made his way back into the dressing rooms to inform Kagome to her cousin's quick escape. What he pondered while he walked, however, off set him to a degree. If Kikyo really was having an affair, would he be overtly angry? Being that his answer was in the negative side of the spectrum, he began to wonder exactly what kind of relationship he was beginning to condone for himself.

 

Bringing his fingers to rap against the door that he spotted Kagome's black flip flops under, he pushed his face closer to it. “Kagome?”

 

Kagome stood in front of the mirror in a pair of jeans and her bra, staring at the bruise that magically had formed on the swell of her breast from the previous night. The mark was definitely a hickey and it was a miracle that Kikyo hadn't noticed from her low cut top. Running her finger over the mark, the previous nights interactions played before her eyes and touched every nerve in her body. The taste of his lips against hers, the feel of his hands all over her body, the way he moved inside of her…the memories themselves made her damp, the knowledge that she wanted it again made her melt. Then he knocked and spoke her name. Inhaling sharply, she nearly stumbled in her step. How did his man do this to her? How did he gain so much control?

 

Pressing her body to the door, she didn't dare open it. Seeing him right now would be her undoing; she was sure that she would jump on him like a bitch in heat and that would just be awful. “Y..yeah?”

 

InuYasha hesitated when he heard the slight breathy tone to her voice. She sounded displaced, wanton and a whole bunch of other things that he wasn't yet ready to question. Licking his lips once, he tried to ignore the feeling growing in his pants and the urge to kick down the door and take her against a wall. “Hey…you okay?”

 

Kagome snorted once, wanting nothing more than to bang her head against something hard. What kind of question was that? She was so far from okay, she was in Antarctica. “What's going on?” it was a good tactic; avoid the question and unnecessary banter. It worked well in her mind and hopefully it would make him hurry up and go back to his waiting bitch.

 

“Kikyo left; she said that her mother wanted to have lunch with her or something to that caliber. So she asked if I would take you home. I just…you know…wanted to let you know…and umm…to just say…err…I'm sorry, that this has been completely awkward and…” he paused and scratched his head before leaning backwards and closing his eyes. Why was he standing here babbling again? He sounded like a jackass, and for the life of him, he couldn't remember why telling Kagome that Kikyo was gone was so important. Well, besides for the obvious want to slip into the room with her and molest her for the rest of the afternoon. That was beside the point, though.

 

Kagome's mouth went dry the minute he mentioned that Kikyo was gone. Licking her lips to moisten them, she forced herself to collect the right words. “Oh, it's not your fault. I should have known that she would do something like this. It's really, really not your fault. Don't apologize, how could you have known?”

 

InuYasha nodded to no one and turned away from the door. “Right then…so I'm just…” Pausing, he glanced back to the tiny room and then around at the location. There was no one else in the fitting rooms at the moment being and all store clerks seemed to be busy on the floor. It was such a tempting urge to just sweep backwards into that room that he found himself fighting with the temptation in full riot gear.

 

Kagome stood there for a moment with her eyes trained on the door. Did he really just walk away? Closing her eyes, Kagome slowly backed away from the door to rest against the opposite wall. Fisting her hands into her dark tresses, she wondered just how she was going to survive the rest of this year, let alone the rest of her college experience. She wanted him so bad it actually hurt. She had sworn a long time ago to never get this attached to someone and in her mind, she wasn't attached mentally just sexually, but there was that lingering question that still darkened her mind. What had he done to her?

 

A brisk knock at the door jolted her from her brooding. The tone that marked his voice left chills shooting up her spine and turned her fingertips to ice. “Let me in.”

 

Kagome knew an order when she heard one and was also unconsciously trained not to disobey. With not a second thought, she stepped forward and undid the lock on the door to open it for the man that she should have blocked out of her life.

 

InuYasha pushed into the tiny dressing room with determination in his stride and desire clouding his mind. Taking less than a second to lock the door, InuYasha turned, wrapped his hands around Kagome's biceps and slammed her against the adjacent wall. Her grunt from impact was swallowed by his mouth covering hers. Forcing his tongue in past her teeth to swab the inside of her mouth, his hands made quick work of her jeans. Pushing them down past her knees he slid one hand down to her ass and lifted her off the floor to be pressed against the cold concrete wall. Ravaging her mouth, his hands grasped at whatever skin was exposed for his feasting.

 

Kagome nearly had the wind knocked out of her as she collided back against the wall. She was barely ready for his tongue to invade her mouth yet she quickly caught up to the man's frantic tactics. Her hands slipped under his arms and attacked the buttons on his pants to push them from his hips in an effort to free his rock hard cock. The tension was peaking as he kept the jeans around one foot and pushed her legs apart with his free knee. Pulling away from her lips briefly, he stared deep into her chocolate orbs and rocked his hips against hers; pushing the tip of his recently freed cock against her sopping wet entrance. “You want it, bitch?” he growled out in a tone that was reserved for his demon nature.

 

Kagome slammed her head backwards, baring her neck for his pleasure. Grinding her hips against his, she whimpered like needy bitch while attempting to impale herself on his member.

 

InuYasha pulled his hips back just enough to keep her from finding satisfaction in more than the tip of his cock. Pushing the head of his penis in and out of her for a moment, he rushed his shoulders forward and pinned her to the wall, miraculously keeping her from finding that needed salvation from the pain. Roughly he turned her head away from him and began to lavish her ear with his tongue, occasionally biting the cartilage of her ear. “Beg me, Kagome, beg me like the needy bitch I know is in there. Tell me what you want me to do to you.” His words were rasp and filled with the promise of pleasure she wouldn't ever understand.

 

Kagome moaned as he continued his assault on all of her senses and systematically rendered her defenseless. “Please,” she whined after a moment, her words broken and jagged like broken glass. “Please Inu…”

 

Lowering his mouth to her neck, he sucked hard enough to leave a mark darker than any bruise. “Please what, bitch?” InuYasha could feel all of his blood rushing about his veins, ignited with a fire of passion and need. The concealment charm on his finger was vibrating with spiritual power, attempting to keep the demon blood that demanded satisfaction at bay. As long as Kagome submitted to him soon, he would have no problem holding back the darkness that threatened to consume him.

 

“Please fuck me,” she moaned while bringing her hands up to either side of his face.

 

Taking a moment to kiss the palm of each hand, his thrust nearly put her through the wall. His cock hit her back wall with a force meant to shatter bone. Removing himself from her seemed to be a chore that left her speechless before he slammed himself back into her again. “Is this what you wanted, Kagome? Is this why you're so fuckin' wet?” forcing her head back to the wall, he couldn't help the dom that rose to the occasion within him. “Tell me, wench, tell me why you were so fuckin' wet. Were you in here playing with yourself? Were you thinking about me and what I did to you last night?” He knew that this was the worst possible thing he could do to her, or for that matter, to himself, but all common thought had been blown out of his mind at the current moment. Fucking her seemed so right; so right that it was impossible to be wrong.

 

Kagome ground her hips against his as much as she could in an attempt to keep up with his frantic movement. Throwing her hands backwards against the wall she had to bite her bottom lip to keep from screaming. “Oh God, InuYasha. Yes, I was thinking about you and how fuckin' wonderful you are at this. I was hoping you'd fuck me again.”

 

InuYasha smirked like a cocky son of a bitch as he continued his bombardment of thrusts. “Wish granted, bitch. Now fuck me back and get me off in your tight hole,” he muttered before latching onto the other side of her neck to give her a matching hickey.

 

Kagome couldn't believe the words flying out of his mouth, let alone her responses. She would never have expected such vulgarity from the man before her when it came to sex. At least, Kagome had never heard a single statement muttered at night to her cousin while he fucked her that matched anything like what was being growled in her ear. Feeling an impending orgasm that was building in her gut, she attempted to slow things down. Pressing one hand to his chest, she brought her mouth to his. “Easy boy, let's enjoy this…” she murmured against his lips before kissing him deeply.

 

His hand wrapped around her wrist and jerked the offending member above her head and pinned it to the wall. Thrusting even harder into the girl with speed that could have broken her easily, he hissed, “Don't talk to me about enjoying this. You're fuckin' about to cum all over my fuckin' cock; I don't want to hear shit about enjoying it. You're enjoying it all the way baby, and I'm going to pound into you until you scream my name.”

 

It didn't take much either from that point to make her reach that crescendo. Keeping with his thrusts, InuYasha brought his right hand down from where he had pinned her wrist with a warning growl for her to keep her hand in place on its own. Grabbing her jawbone between his thumb and index finger, he pushed her head up to bare her neck for his amusement. Sliding his hand down her throat, he squeezed with a formidable amount of pressure and held her steady while his thrusts continued to tear apart her sanity. Sweat was beginning to pour down InuYasha's face, he noticed as he dipped in to her neck to lick the length of her jugular. “Cum for me, baby. God you're so fuckin' tight!” he cooed into her ear as his hips ground out each thrust against hers.

 

At that moment, Kagome could swear she saw white; her entire world exploded in an extraordinary display of lights and a loud drumming rhythm. Thrusting her head forward, she buried her face in his shoulder, latching onto the skin with her teeth and screamed out her orgasm into his muscles. Her nails bit into his skin as she pumped herself up and down against his cock, milking her orgasm for all it was worth. Her entire body quaked against his as she attempted to hold on for dear life. As her muscles involuntarily tightened around his cock, she could hear an array of explicit words slip from his mouth before feeling her entire canal fill with his seed. The warmth was almost too much her orgasm refused to subside in lieu of the new feeling. She bucked against him again and again, feeling as though her body was attempting to turn itself inside out. She couldn't tell when she actually ended her mind blowing orgasm, but found herself hanging loosely on his shoulders, her feet barely touching the floor. Sure that her knees wouldn't be able to support her weight, she attempted to sit down on the chair that was a few feet from them.

 

InuYasha supported Kagome for the first few moments that she was completely limp in his arms. He feared for an actual second that he had literally fucked the girl to death, with the way she simply collapsed against his body the minute he withdrew from her body. Tucking himself away, he guided the girl to a chair and knelt down in front of her. The cocky smile that swam on his face couldn't be phased by anything at the current moment, regardless of their situation. “Hey,” he whispered as he ran his fingers through her hair, “you okay?”

 

Kagome nodded dumbly, her heart hammering in her chest and her vision still blurry at best. Her entire body felt like it was on fire while lying on a sheet of ice. Now she completely understood what Dr. Delgurio meant when she spoke of synesthesia; none of her senses were functioning correctly and she honestly didn't trust herself enough to start talking yet.

 

InuYasha's smirk widened as he leaned forward and kissed her lips gently. “God you're a good fuck, baby girl.”

 

Kagome would have hit him if she was in a more competent state of mind, and the son of a bitch knew it too. Instead she just snorted out a chuckle followed by a hearty moan. Unsure if her clothes were even on correctly, she attempted to process what had just happened. It was as if the minute Kikyo was out of their sight… but by God did it feel awesome! Her entire body radiated with a heat that could only be known as intimate. She was nearly sure that she was glowing. Turning to place a hand on his shoulder, she rose up on her toes and planted a soft kiss on his lips. He seemed completely unprepared for it at first but very quickly InuYasha melted into her kiss and wrapped his arms around her torso. Pulling her to him, he traced her lips with his tongue before flicking the muscle into her mouth for a quick taste and a promise for later.

 

Kagome pulled away from the boy quickly, her eyes widening slightly. “InuYasha…we—“

 

“—should probably get out of the dressing room,” he finished for her.

 

With a nod Kagome began checking over herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were red, her eyes glassy and a shit eating grin resided on her lips that just wouldn't vanish. Looking behind her, she watched InuYasha stroll out of the dressing room as if what had just happened was a routine adventure and she had to shake her head. “That boy is going to be the death of me,” she muttered while slipping into her sandals. Grabbing her purse she exited the room and blushed crimson as the sales girl lifted a bushy eyebrow in her direction. Were they that loud?

 

Averting her eyes to the floor Kagome rushed from the store, stopping only once to grab InuYasha's arm and drag him along for the ride. Kagome was nearly sure that she could never shop in that store again, but it had been well worth it.

 

*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*XX*X*X*X*X*X*X**XX*

 

 

The drive home was slightly painful as neither party volunteered to be the brave soul to start up conversation. InuYasha stared at the road in silence, his amethyst eyes darting over every so often to attempt to read the vixen to his right. Kagome seemed nearly as displaced as he felt; had his impulsive action pushed that line further than they had the previous night? Sure it was a bit risqué, but Kagome hadn't seemed to mind at the time. The fact that she even let him into the room with her had shocked him to hell and back, but to the fact that she took to his demands was nearly heart stopping. He had always taken Kagome for a much more dominant character, but after today he was beginning to highly reconsider that evaluation. If anything, this day had taught him that judging anyone was a bad idea for him; he had lost nearly four years that he could have been having sex with Kagome in dressing rooms because of it.

 

Glancing back at Kagome again, he decided to gain the balls to make a move. Sliding his right hand over to cup her left, he nearly lost his nerve as she jumped at his touch. “Hey,” he said as steadily as he could, “are you okay? You seem distracted.”

 

Kagome fought the urge to slap the man stupid while holding back a load of remarks about their current disposition that sat on the tip of her tongue like silver bullets. Exhaling to release some of the tension that welled in her shoulders, she threaded her fingers through his and closed her eyes. The feel of his skin against hers was nice, soothing; it was something she could get comfortable with. “Have you ever felt like something is a dream?”

 

The smirk that slipped across his face made the urge to smack him increase tenfold in the young girl's mind. “Yeah, a few times actually.” Shutting his mouth to let his answer seep in, he decided to go for it. What was the worst that could happen? “Mostly when I'm with you, to be honest. It's been hitting me a lot lately.”

 

Kagome swallowed thickly, unbelieving to the fact that he just admitted something like that to her. InuYasha always seemed like a rough and rugged guy; why now was he starting to come across as anything more? More was bad…more made her want more…more made him dangerous. “We…I…that is…”

 

InuYasha squeezed her hand, the smile falling from his lips. “I know, we have to start figuring this out.”

 

“Do you love her,” she asked brazenly.

 

InuYasha shook his head in the negative. “No, I don't. I did, I think, maybe once upon a time. I think I was more in love, though, with the thought of being in love.”

 

Kagome closed her eyes and rested her head back against the giant head rest. “I think she still is in love…with being in love, that is.”

 

“Do you think it would kill her if I told her it was over?”

 

Kagome's heart skipped a beat. How did she land herself in these situations? She wanted to say no, and cheer him on for dumping the bitch, but at the same time, she heard and knew Kikyo's confession in her heart. Their parents would come to understand, they would have to. It wasn't their lives to dictate. “I…know that she still has feelings for you, and I know that she still wants it to work. Kikyo, though, I don't think is willing to work for it. I think she wants it to fall into her lap. I can't tell you either way, and honestly it's not fair to ask me to. I can't…”

 

InuYasha squeezed her hand to cut her off. “I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…” With a sigh, he pulled into the parking spots in front of his house and turned to look at Kagome. “I'm sorry, I just really, really, like you and this is killing me. I can't be with you because of my family and even if I said fuck em', which I have no problem saying, I can't be with you because of your family.”

 

Kagome inhaled sharply and looked away from the black haired Adonis. “It would be for the best then, if we just stop doing this.”

 

InuYasha grimaced and made motion to grab her chin. Feeling her pull away further, he hesitated. “Kagome…I don't want…”

 

“Do you think I do? I don't, I really don't but I don't know what else to do? Kikyo is a friend, and she's also blood, and for me to just steal away the man she's dating…”

 

“—and cheating on.”

 

Kagome's words flew out of her mind like a paper airplane on an updraft. Staring stupidly at the boy for a long moment, she tried to wrap her mind around the fact that he knew. “You…you know?”

 

InuYasha rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat. “I don't doubt it; I mean, hell, she's never around, she hasn't picked up on me and you and she stays out on nights that she ain't with me. I wouldn't put it past her and judging by your comment, I'm guessing she is.”

 

“I don't know….for sure, that is…but something is going on.” White lies couldn't hurt, right? It was a half truth, maybe a little bit more, but if he knew… “Why are you still with her?” Maybe distracting him to talk more would stop all of the pain that was shooting through her veins. Could she walk away? Could she really just bundle up these emotions and throw them away this simply?

 

“We've been over this.”

 

Kagome nodded, understanding that he wanted nothing more to do with the conversation. He didn't want to drag this out, and she couldn't blame him. Glancing around the parking lot, her smile fell from her face. “Kikyo's car is gone.”

 

InuYasha blinked and glanced around as well. “Oh, I guess her and her mom got done early,” there was no question to the tone of sarcasm that colored his voice.

 

Kagome's lips fell to a thin line. Why was the one person she was trying to protect the one pushing them together? “I guess they did.”

 

InuYasha shifted his weight in his seat, knowing that he should simply drive her home, bid her ado and drive away and never look back. But he couldn't, he wouldn't, he refused utterly. “So…I guess we should wait here for her?”

 

Kagome shrugged, “fair enough,” she muttered.

 

Tapping his fingers on the wheel for a moment, he fought down the urge to start stupid conversations. What was there to talk about? The weather, the fuckin' sunshine; rainbows and puppy dogs, while he was at it, sounded marvelous. With a heavy sigh, he rolled his eyes and began fingering the CD's that hung in his visor.

 

Kagome watched the boy work diligently and twisted her neck to stare out the window. She wanted to grab him by his hand, drag him inside and have her way with the gorgeous male all night long. But it was too risky; if Kikyo did ever resurface back at his place, she could walk in on it. `Bad Kagome,' she thought, `we need to stop. Just end it. I should get out of the car and call Jak to come get me.' Caught up in her own drama, she didn't even realize the CD had started until the opening cords of the Dropkick Murphy song was blaring through the car.

 

Snapping her head to the left, she blinked once and then broke out in a smile to his choice in music. He was staring straight ahead, obviously unaware of her attraction to the music. If there was a band she would drop the world for, it was Dropkick. Licking her lips, she jumped into the opening versus before InuYasha even realized she was paying any attention. “Murphy, Murphy, Darling Dear. I long for you now night and day. Your pain was my pleasure, your sorrow my joy. I feel now I've lost you to health and good cheer.”

 

Though her singing left much to be desired, the effect didn't. As the lyrics left her lips, InuYasha's head snapped around so fast, he nearly earned himself a case of whiplash. InuYasha watched her with a broad smile plastered on his face; anytime he played anything Dropkick around Kikyo, she would whine about horrible music that just didn't make any sense. Hearing the wonderful lyrics leave Kagome's mouth was like whispers of angels; which was an odd combination, considering the nature of the song.

 

Shaking his head, he caught up to Kagome in the song, ignoring the fact that they were sitting in a stationary car singing loudly along to the CD player. “Darcy, Darcy, Darling dear. You left me dying, crying here. In whiskey, gin and pints of beer, I feel for you my darling dear.” Their voices rang out about the blaring music while smiles that completely contradicted the melancholy mood broke out like a rash across their faces.

 

It was amazing to see just how one song managed to change the complete mood of the day. As the song drew to a close, and both parties were grinning like fools, the depression was all but a memory. The laughter that erupted at the end left little to question and smiles to be shared. It was amazing how music could just soothe their worries.

 

“You really like Dropkick Murphy?” he asked her in a nearly disbelieving tone.

 

Kagome smirked and shook her head. “No, I just know the song to fuck with you. Of course I love Dropkick. I've been trying to get tickets to see them in Boston for Saint Patrick's Day now for about a month.”

 

“St. Patty's day is fuckin nuts up in Boston. Have you ever been up there for it?”

 

Kagome shook her head and laughed. “Somehow, I can't see you rocking out the clovers and Pog ma thion shirts.”

 

“Then you don't know me very well,” he said with a laugh. Shaking his head once, he ran his hand down his face. “What other bands do you like?”

 

Kagome shrugged and gave him the most honest answer she could generate. “Anything, really; I listen to just about everything. I have an infatuation for Divinity Destroyed, but not many people know about them. They're a local band that my friends adore. I haven't been to a concert in forever though. Kikyo never took kindly to their music so it kind of became a closet fetish. I can't play them in the dorm and I really have no where else to hear it.”

 

InuYasha chuckled and tilted his chin to her chair. “I know what you mean. I hide half of my CD's under my seat because Kikyo wouldn't be able to handle the bands I listen to.”

 

Kagome's smile only grew wider. “Like what? I know Kikyo's a priss when it comes to music. If it isn't Timberlake or Spears or one of those spiffy bands, she will have nothing to do with it. I remember when she rocked to the Spice Girls. There's no forgiveness after that.” She couldn't deny how much this conversation intrigued her. She knew that InuYasha had a much darker seed in him, but now there was a lot being unraveled. The kind of music he really listened to would give her a much stronger understanding of his character. Maybe she wasn't the only one hiding under a masked persona.

 

InuYasha laughed loudly before resting back against his seat. “Spice Girls? Oh God, I swear I will never let her hear the end of it if she ever mocks my music again.” Letting his head roll to his right shoulder to look at Kagome, he sighed loudly. “Do you want me to drive you home?”

 

Kagome chuckled once, still caught on his retaliation against her cousin. Kikyo was going to be pissed. With a smirk that was caused by reflex and not a single thought in her mind, she shot him back with her famous response that she had once upon a time bestowed upon a certain silver haired hanyou who oddly had escaped all of her thoughts. With a flippant smirk and a casual roll of the head that was entirely too seductive, she cooed, “No, you might eat me on the way.”

 

It was a shame, in retrospect, that she was wearing the wrong outfit to dish out such an exclamation; if she had been dressed in black leather with enough makeup to make Jakotsu proud, than it would have been acceptable. Readying herself for a verbal whiplash of perverted responses from the boy next to her, she let out a low sigh. At least he already knew she was part freak, what was the harm?

 

Kagome was to busy cringing to notice the long hesitation in the boy's movements. All thoughts that were being entertained in InuYasha's head flew out the window as he lowered his eyebrows and tilted his head one degree to the right. He knew that line, but from where? Very slowly he turned his head to stare at the girl next to him, and it was as if everything in the world suddenly made a bit more sense. The bruises, the different personalities, and the submissiveness in response to a strong dominance…she was… InuYasha's mouth very slowly dropped open. `There's no way that she's the girl from the club! It's impossible, it's illogical…it's absurd! Kagome wouldn't take shit like that from anyone, let alone some arrogant bastard!' Was there a chance that she was Titania? If so…if that was at all possible… then…she was about three hundred more times unobtainable than he first thought. Be that as it may, the knowledge slowly began to seep into his brain and everything slowly began to make sense. Oberon was the one hurting her, he was the one she was petrified of…he was the one who's face InuYasha was going to crush under his knuckles.

 

Glancing back to Kagome in sheer astonishment, he attempted to stitch together his loosened reality. Was it possible that Kagome was an underground Goth freak who played subordinate to an egotistical maniac? `There's no way in hell!' he thought soundly as he chewed at his bottom lip. As much as that would have been his wet dream come true, there was just no possible way that Titania and Kagome was one in the same. Regardless that they looked the same or had the same devastating effect on him, it was simply out of the question. `Maybe this is delusional to think otherwise, but hell, she can't be that girl!' Swallowing what felt like nails, InuYasha tried his best to shove the mental synopsis from his brain. He couldn't think about that right now, there was no way his frail mentality could take it. His head was hurting from just thinking about it. `Kagome has only dated the most respectable of people! Kouga Wantabe and Bankotsu Koizumi are the least likely candidates to be anything near Goth, let alone one of the heads of the underground!' It was ridiculous to think so. Granted, he had never met Bankotsu face to face, but what he knew of the man was too similar to his brother to think otherwise.

 

The car very slowly began to rock back and forth, completely disrupting InuYasha of his train wreck of thoughts. Hearing Kagome shout in surprise, InuYasha spun around to glare out the side mirrors of his SUV. With a string of curses that sounded more of shock than anger, InuYasha opened his door and jumped out of the Hummer. “What the fuck?”

 

Miroku stood with the gas tank open on the driver's side of the door, his hands busy pretending to pull closed his pants. “Oh, sorry Buddy, didn't know you were actually in there.”

 

InuYasha glared from his friend to his gas tank. “You didn't just…”

 

Miroku grinned devilishly and moved back to the car slowly, running his hands along the sides of the custom paint job in an almost seductive manner. “Well you're not around anymore,” he called out in a rather terse, emotionally jagged voice, “and she was just begging for a good bang!” Slowly humping him hips against the corner of the car, it was obvious that Miroku was having far too much fun with InuYasha. The shit eating grin on his face that was only outweighed by the heavy sarcasm the dripped from his tongue.

 

“Dude! Stop humping my car,” InuYasha hollered as he shoved Miroku back a few feet in jest.

“I can't help it,” Miroku joked as he regained his balance and stepped towards InuYasha, “You just stopped calling, and you're never home any more and….I have needs to, you know! And if you're not going to meet them, I'll go somewhere else!” Pouting like a jealous lover, he crossed his arms and tapped his foot.

 

“Like my gas tank?”

 

“Hey, if it got a hole and a nice ass…and let me tell you,” Miroku gestured to the back end of the car with a wide grin, “That's one helluva nice ass!”

 

InuYasha blinked a few times before slowly crossing his arms over his chest and looking back at the apartment. “Did you lock yourself out again or have you just been waiting to make my life hell?”

 

Miroku's dramatics were shut off like a faucet as he wiped all joking mannerisms from his face. “Nah, your bitchy brother is in there and threatened disembowelment if I disturbed him again. He told me to take my Shenanigans outside.”

 

InuYasha cracked a smirk and shook his head slowly. “Somehow I doubt my brother used the word Shenanigans for anything.”

 

Miroku feigned a look of insult. “He did, I swear it! Just before he cracked out some really funky electric green…” It was at that moment that Miroku's eyes caught sight of Kagome and his mouth flapped silently for a moment before choosing another word carefully, “…dildo…” Closing his mouth, he considered what he had just said and nearly fell over in a fit of chuckles.

 

InuYasha's smile widened as Kagome's eyes doubled in size over the conversation. He was shocked, in earnest, that he wasn't pissed that Miroku was about to announce to the public world that his brother had enough power to generate an electric whip that could cut through steel from his fingertips. The fact that Kagome actually thought his brother was waving around a giant green dong just made the day all that much better.

 

Turning to look back at Kagome, InuYasha knew that he had to have `that' conversation with her, but not in front of Miroku. He had to know if what he thought had any merit, but he wasn't about to put her on the spot. It would be a conversation for another day. What he really wanted to do was take her back to her dorm, fuck the hell out of her; go up to the city and make sure that Titania chick was okay. While he was at it, he wanted to make sure she wasn't Kagome. The thought of Kagome being the slut that the other girl presented herself as just made his stomach churn. Catching her eye, he gave her a look that he hoped came across as `we need to talk'. After seeing her affirmation to his glower, he turned and patted Miroku's shoulder. “You know I love you, I'm sorry I haven't been around. I promise I will be.”

 

“You better be,” Miroku muttered before looking around InuYasha at Kagome and then back at InuYasha. “So…did I interrupt anything, like denouncing Kikyo as your girlfriend or any other mating rituals that I should have a video camera for?”

 

InuYasha shoved Miroku's shoulder and shot him a look that made the boy shut his mouth. Pointing a finger at Miroku, he turned and walked back to Kagome. “I got to go talk to my brother about something, but as soon as I'm done I'll drive you home.”

 

Shouting from behind them, Miroku chimed in, “Is that what you kids are calling it now? I thought it was riding…but hell…I guess you could drive a girl into the ground…”

 

Kagome put a hand to her mouth as InuYasha glared back at Miroku. “Dude, seriously?”

 

Miroku shrugged and muttered a half hearted apology.

 

Sliding his hand across Kagome's side, he brushed past her and walked up into the apartment. Entering the apartment, he glanced in the living room and kitchen for signs of his half brother. Hearing the shower going in the bathroom, his smirk fell. He needed to find out if Sesshoumaru was still in contact with Kagejiro, it would be his only way to find the missing relative for Rin. Walking to the dining room table, he eyed his brother's Blackberry for a moment. No doubt his phone contacts were inside of it, but to go into his brother's personal things would be like asking someone to shove a two by four up his ass.

 

His eyes lingered on the object for a moment before making a dash for the technology. Picking it up, he made quick work of getting to his brother's phone list. “Like he'll have `Jiro's number. He hates the bastard, and not to mention, he's nearly impossible…” pausing from his muttering, his jaw nearly dropped as he was able to locate Kagejiro almost immediately. There was a cell phone number as well as what looked to be a foreign extension. `He must be living overseas now,' InuYasha thought as he copied down the number. That didn't shock him really; Jiro had traveled the world for nearly three hundred years. After being disowned by the family, his brother's stories of his travels always enthralled the hanyou. To bad he never really got the good stuff, he was always too young for `those' stories. He knew his brother was in nearly every World War, was involved in a lot of revolutions and had lived in almost country for at least two years. Beyond that, Kagejiro was a mystery.

 

“Should I ask why you are looking to contact that worthless dog?”

 

Spinning around, InuYasha's mouth flapped as he stared at his brother. “I…well…that is…”

 

Snatching the Blackberry from his brother's hands, Sesshoumaru spun on his feet and walked into the kitchen. Knowing his brother was very slowly following him, he took a moment to pour himself a cup of coffee. “He is unreachable, I'll have you know. And even if he was, why would he want to talk to an insignificant half-breed?”

 

InuYasha ticked his head to the right, fighting down the urge to throttle his brother. “Maybe because his head isn't shoved up his ass, or for that matter, maybe the bastard blood runs thinner in his veins than in yours.” Smirking at his brother, he nonverbally dared him to come back with a worthy retort.

 

“I would rather be a bastard than a murderer and a traitor.”

 

“He's not a murderer!” Balling his hands into fists, InuYasha closed his eyes and defended a man he hardly knew. “You weren't there, you don't know what happened!”

 

“And you do? You, the one who hasn't spent more than a few hours with father since being able to understand anything beyond gibberish, understands the truth of what happened nearly three centuries ago? You don't know anything of the war, of the battle or of our brother's betrayal!” Slamming his hand into the counter, Sesshoumaru spun on InuYasha, his eyes nearly gold in the morning light. “You don't understand anything! He murdered…”

 

“He didn't! He tried to save them!”

 

“By leading a team of mercenaries into the castle behind father's back? Our father would have been victorious in battle; he didn't need the help of a whelp!”

 

InuYasha was fighting every urge in his body to punch his brother in the face for daring to call Kagejiro a murderer. The death of the third Taisho child was not his brother's fault, which was to say, not entirely his fault. “If `Jiro didn't intervene and get mom out of that castle, who knows if you would be here today? What if Dad failed and they all died?”

 

“What if he didn't? Then we would have an older brother.”

 

“We do!”

“He's dead to me!”

 

Rolling on the balls of his feet, InuYasha turned and slammed his fist into the wall, leaving a gaping hole in the plaster. He wanted to strike his brother, by God he wanted to lay punch after punch to his brother's stone set jaw. He knew better though, Sesshoumaru could school him in a matter of seconds. “You don't know anything!” he shouted at Sesshoumaru.

 

“And you, half breed, are shaping up to be twin to our disassociated relative. You can hardly control your temper, just like that filth. You two belong together and out of the family; you muddy the righteous blood of our ancestors! You're not worthy enough to be a Taisho!” Sesshoumaru might have seem collected as his words slipped from his mouth like a knife through butter, but his fists were clenched and the back molars in his mouth were being ground against each other. He had no respect for his disowned brother and to hear his only other sibling speaking up for the betrayer lit the metaphorical fuse attached to dynamite.

 

InuYasha flipped his brother off and stormed from the kitchen. “Jackass, get the fuck out of my house!” He screamed back as the screen door slammed shut behind him. If there was one argument that would never fail to remind him just how much he hated Sesshoumaru, this was it. Sesshoumaru had never given Kagejiro a single minute in life to try to explain what really happened. Sesshoumaru didn't know the truth, or how much Kagejiro loathed himself to the day three hundred years later for that one night. Sesshoumaru didn't understand, and he never would.

 

Walking to his car, he opened the side door and waved Kagome over. “Get in, we're leaving.”

 

Kagome blinked once and then again. Worry glazed over her eyes as she put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey…are you okay?”

 

Shaking her hand off, he bit back, “No, just get in.”

Kagome removed her hand slowly, eyeing him suspiciously before climbing into the SUV without another word. She wasn't going to argue with him at the current moment, she could just about see the smoke smoldering off the top of his head. Something had changed his mood drastically and she knew better then to push an angry Taisho.

 

Walking around the SUV, InuYasha waved half heartedly at Miroku. “I'd avoid going back in there until that bastard vacates the premises. Go hang out with Sango, or whoever you have been lately. I'll call you later.”

 

Miroku watched with a terse frown as InuYasha climbed into his car and sped out of the parking lot without another word. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he slowly made his way across the street to the house he had come from originally. He had hoped to spend more time with his suddenly absent friend, but that seemed to be a wish that would never come true.

 

*X*X*X*X*X*X*XX*X*X*X*X*X*XX*X*X*X*X*X*X*

 

-I am SO sorry that it's taken so long to get this chapter up. I really thought that I'd have more time when I got back from Colorado but as the summer is almost over, I've come to find this to be the exact opposite. Life is running me into the ground right now, and I can't promise when the next chapter will be up only because I'm not to sure where I'll be staying in about a month. Once I get settled into a new place, where ever that may be, I'll hopefully be able to fire out more chapter, but there's no promise. I do not plan on giving up this story though, not for the life of me! It's just going to be a slow updating process for the next few months.