InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Movie House Hanyou ❯ She's in Parties ( Chapter 18 )

Kagome glanced around the main lobby and sighed in glee at the massive crowds that were slowly dissipating. Her shift was over, and thank goodness she had been scheduled for the opening shift on a day like this. She had quickly learned that, due to its location in the heart of Downtown as opposed to somewhere out in the suburbs, the theater always drew crowds for overhyped summer action flicks, much like the latest new release, Bad Boys II. The first day was always the worst for the first set of evening shows, and that was exactly which set had just fully started. She shuddered involuntarily from the thought of having been graced with the pleasure of being scheduled to work the next evening's shift. Saturdays were always the worst for all-day accountage. She was not looking forward to being behind a register tomorrow for two or three straight hours like she had just been from 5pm to 8pm, the lines had been so thick. And they had been constant, never ending.

On her way to the break room Inuyasha passed by and stopped her in the hallway. "Kagome, do you have any plans tonight?"

The question caught her somewhat off-guard. "Uh, no," she answered in a bewildered tone, blinking in surprise.

"Care to attend a party my friend is hosting?"

"You're off as well, I take it?"

Inuyasha glanced off to the side before meeting her eyes again. "Yeah. We both opened today, and thankfully they don't have me scheduled for a double. So, well?"

"Hm?" His faint display of uncertainty had not gone unnoticed, but for the time being she felt it better to dismiss it as nothing more than his paranoia at work. "Yeah, I guess. But will I even know anyone there other than you? I'd feel kinda strange knowing no one else."

He started rattling off a few names, gesturing each one with a name by name finger count, "Zara, Sango, Chelsea, and Miroku. I doubt you know anyone else who'll be there. Oh, and Kouga, the guy hosting it, has a little sister about your age, but he's adamant about not having her around. The guy would probably lock her in her room if he could. So even if you did know her, you won't see her there."

She furrowed her eyebrows in thought. "Why do you want me to go, anyway?"

"My friends are interested in seeing you again," he promptly answered with a raised eyebrow and a "no duh" tone of voice that almost bordered on condescendence. "It's only a little past 8 right now, so I wouldn't be leaving for it for a couple hours, so in the meantime, let me give you a ride home?"

She nodded in the affirmative. They both clocked out in the break room and then left the theater floor level by elevator, going straight to the P2 level of the underground parking ramp. On the way toward her home, she asked him several more questions about the party, but for the most part he simply told her to wait and see. Insisting she was merely curious since she was young and didn't get out much, Kagome received not much more of a reply except that she could expect a highly restrained version of the types of parties that college age young adults typically hold, if she had any idea about those, that is.

"Ever seen Heathers?" he had asked her offhandedly just as he was across the bridge.

"Yeah, I have," she had replied.

"Remember the frat party one of the Heathers took Ronnie to?" He glanced at her as he turned. At her nod, he continued, "Imagine a very toned down, more sane version of that. Oh, and Kouga would kill the first person who dared puke in his house. Anyway, I'll be here to pick you up at 10. I promised Zara a ride, so I'll pick you up on my way to her place. Sound good?" He pulled up to her place of residence and stopped the car.

Kagome nodded, then suddenly remembered as soon as she saw her home. "Shit, I need to ask my mom if I can go. Can you wait right here?" Her eyes pleaded with his.

Instead of a verbal answer, Inuyasha sighed with a roll of his eyes in feigned annoyance and dug out his cell phone. "Just call her right now. My phone's in the 612 area code," he said as he handed it to her.

She cocked her eyebrow and flatly replied, "She's right inside, I'm sure of it."

"Call. I want to be able to talk to her as well."

Kagome sighed and took the phone. She dialed her home number and watched the front of her home as she listened to the phone ring in her ear. "Mom? Hi. Umm, I was wondering if it would be okay with you if one of my friends took me to a party at his friend's house later tonight? Who? Uh, one of my coworkers. Er, my supervisor, the guy I told you about."

Inuyasha's ears would have perked up had they not been currently smooshed down by his Akira cap. "What do you mean the guy you told her about? Gimme that thing!" He reached for the phone and tried to pry it from beside her left ear, but she quickly switched it to her other ear, smirking at him in a teasing manner. He watched her listen to her mother, snorting when she randomly turned her head to stick her tongue out at him. "Don't stick that out unless you plan to use it," he ordered as he caught her chin between his fingers and forced her to look him in the eyes during his teasing statement.

Her eyes widened as a slight blush crept across her cheeks for a fleeting moment, and she grumbled to herself for a moment. "Here, she wants to talk to you," she offered, handing him his phone back, a bit peeved because her mother had actually heard his little comments. Maybe I would -like- to use it, she wished to say.

Taking his phone back and letting her chin free, Inuyasha promptly listened for her mother's voice, half glaring at Kagome. "Yeah?"

"You're Kagome's supervisor and coworker, the 20 year old young man she told me about?" came a woman's kind and soft voice. He almost wished he had human ears, as the distance between the phone and his real, involuntarily flattened ear horribly watered down her words, or at least that he was wearing a bandana rather than his cap for work.

"Yeah, I am," he replied. What the hell did you tell her I was 20 for, Kagome? I'm a hell of a lot older than 28, anyway. "What about it?" Do not snap, do not get defensive, it's just her mother.

"When is this party, where, and when can I expect her home?" He sighed in relief. The woman wasn't going to go all berserk and overprotective and pester him about his intentions. Smiling, Inuyasha politely and almost boyishly answered all her questions, giving her whatever contact info she wanted as well, then let her off the line and had Kagome finally exit his car. He had some time to fill before he would be back for her.

As his car pulled away, he did not notice a slight shift in the blinds of one window of Kagome's home.

Inuyasha drove back to his home and changed into a tight red tunic top with black trim, a pair of black leather pants complete with a belt, sleeveless black and red skull armwarmers, and a black bandana, as well as his obligatory footwear and facial jewelry. He still had a large block of time to pass, so he left the house for a short while and went to Pandora's Cup over on 25th and Hennepin. As expected for a summer Friday evening the place was already somewhat busy. He spent a pleasant but short amount of time downing a smoothie and watching traffic zip by from a stool up on the balcony of the second floor of the house out of which the retro coffee shop had been fleshed, absently listening to the conversations of others. No one he knew personally was there that evening, and as he didn't plan to stay for too long, he didn't bother socializing with anyone.

Upon time to leave, he went back home and got his car ready for the drive out to his female coworkers' homes. Before he pulled out of his driveway, he took a glance into the back seat, then reached for the riding crop. Since it was a party in celebration of not just one person's but four people's birthdays, it only made sense that a striking apparatus be readily available for birthday spankings. He smirked at the thought as he redid his belt to lash it through the crop handle's loop.

---

Shortly after 10pm Kagome stepped outside dressed in grey and black flowered pants and a sleeveless black top with a large oval cut out in the center just above her chest and sat down on the front steps. Within a few moments Inuyasha's almost black Saturn pulled up, and once again, as soon as she took one glance at him, she cursed her parents for not having had her a year earlier. Shrugging off the distracting thought, she smiled and climbed into the front passenger seat of his car, and they drove off.

Inuyasha drove north along various routes for about 20 minutes, the ride mostly silent between the two, till they arrived at a set of townhouses just outside St. Anthony Village, at which point he pulled into a private driveway and shut off the car. The sky had grown gradually darker since they had left her home.

Inuyasha turned in his seat and said, "If you want to stay in the car or come inside, it's your choice. I'm a little early."

"Will she mind me being in her home?"

"Honestly, I don't think she'll care. She's a pretty lonely woman," he replied. "The Zara you know isn't the Zara I met several years ago. She's not even the same person she was nine months ago." He sighed sullenly. "She's drastically changed, and when she started changing, I knew it was because of the management. I feel like she's losing herself. They're breaking her in, fracturing her. What's happening to her is one of the reasons why I give a damn about getting rid of Naraku and Kagura." He turned his gaze elsewhere for a moment, then sighed again and got out of the car, his crop swinging from its tethered spot at his waist.

Feeling more than just her usual concern, Kagome fell completely silent and opened the car door, stepping out with her eyes on the ground. Both walked to the side door, which was slightly ajar behind a screen door.

"Zara?" Inuyasha called out hesitantly into the house after creaking the screen door open and sneaking his head through the crack of the main door a bit.

Zara's voice carried up in a distant tone, "I'll be up there in a moment. Almost done cleaning the rat cage."

Kagome bristled for a moment. The thought made her feel uncomfortable. She already knew Zara had pet rats, as the woman had mentioned it once, but still, she wasn't exactly interested in being reminded about it.

"I've got the car right in the driveway, so just come upstairs when you're ready," he called back down to his co-supervisor. Removing himself from his halfway stance inside her house, he turned and looked back at Kagome dryly. "Judging by your reaction, Kagome, I take it you're not fond of rodents?"

"Uh," she began, not sure how he had been able to tell. "Not particularly. Their tails make me squeamish, a bit." She was about to say more when she heard footsteps making their way closer to the doorway. Soon Zara came into view and creaked the door open wider.

"All right, 'Yash, let's--" Zara, dressed in all black, trailed off in surprise when she saw Kagome standing there next to him. "Kagome?"

Before either female could say anything, Inuyasha quickly muttered, "Yes, she's going, Zara. Now let's get going. Fungus awaits us."

Blinking, Kagome wondered if she heard him correctly. "Fungus?!" What the hell?

Smirking, Zara laughed and responded, "Fungus is Inuyasha's car. Part of his license plate says MFL. It stands for Minnesota Fungus Lickers."

Kagome looked quickly between the two and then sighed, shaking her head. "Inuyasha, you are weird. Really, really weird."

With a cocked eyebrow he merely replied, "I thought you already knew that, but I guess you're just dense tonight." Kagome glared at him but said nothing, eliciting another laugh from the remaining Pierce employee. "All right, you two, in the car. Off to Kouga's."

---

After a long trip south along Highway 35W, Inuyasha turned on 63rd and pulled into the back alleyway that led to Kouga's garage and the entrance to his back yard. If they had had any doubt earlier that this was where the party was being held, there was no doubt now. Several party guests stood outside in both the front and the back yards, and as soon as the two main doors to the house were cracked open even a pinch, loud music of the sort that the DJs typically spun at Ground Zero's Bondage A Go-Go or The Saloon's Hard Mondays more than just seeped out. It crept out like smoke from a previously completely sealed entrapment.

Kagome quickly exited the shotgun seat of the car and went for the house door on the side. As Inuyasha was about to slam his car door shut and follow her, his co-supervisor, also out of the vehicle, tugged on his arm and said she needed to "speak" with him, using a tone of voice he rarely heard from her. Watching his younger coworker enter the house, he glanced back at Zara and shrugged his shoulders in agreement.

Inside, Kagome slipped through a thin crowd of twentysomethings, through the kitchen, and as she looked around as best she could in the dim and muted light given off by specialty colored light bulbs in the simple ceiling chandelier she made to pass through the doorway into the next room, her eyes ignoring most of what surrounded her and instead staring straight ahead.

The feeling of a damp fingertip delicately stroking the underside of her chin stopped Kagome in her tracks with wide eyes. Her head turned to the left in an automatic motion, and she took in the sight of a male about Inuyasha's height leaning against the doorframe, an eerie grin showing off a set of glistening teeth and almost frighteningly healthy gums. His hand had only just returned to his side, the other hand holding a plastic cup - of what, she did not know.

Unknowingly sending a much too friendly vibe toward her, he altered his grin to a half-kilter smirk, cocked his eyebrow almost seductively, and responded, "Hello there, young lady. Who could have possibly invited a gorgeous little girl like yourself to my, shall we say, humble abode?"

Kagome couldn't speak. She was still recovering from the partial shock of the way he had dragged his finger along the soft underside of her chin - it had sent a strange chill through her skull. Blinking and looking agape at the flirtatious man in front of her, she swallowed and licked her lips, looking from side to side nervously.

Wait, did he say this was his home? Kagome thought to herself. "Umm, I take it you're… Kouga?" She was secretly worried Inuyasha would--

"My, my, how did you know my name?" he unknowingly interrupted her train of thought, delusionally thinking he had massively flustered her as a result of his cunning tactics.

Off from the direction Kagome had just come came a voice laced with deep annoyance and almost bordering on snarling. "Because she's my guest, you cocky dipshit." Kagome cringed at the unspoken inferences.

Narrowing his eyes and contorting his smirk into a sneer, Kouga iced up a stare that reeked of 'I am extremely put out,' and both he and Kagome turned their heads. Two sets of blue eyes landed upon the figure of Inuyasha that ambled closer to them, the blacklights overhead causing an unearthly, dried-blood sheen to his clothing, his eyes almost glowing, Zara in tow.

Inuyasha stopped in place, then whispered something to Zara, who quirked her eyebrow but nodded. He soundlessly undid the buckle to his belt and freed the riding crop. Setting it upon his right shoulder like a rifle at rest, he produced a fake smile and cooed, "Kouga. I need to speak with you… wolf boy," the harsh intonation an intentional slip on his part. Just as he had hoped, the wolf furry who had just flirted with his guest lost a sliver of his confidence, infinitesimal as it was. Kouga dropped the sneer and looked at Inuyasha blankly.

"Zara, please go take Kagome downstairs, where the others in our little group are likely to be should they already have arrived. Mingle as you two see fit." His glaring eyes bore into Kouga's, but his smile, frightening as it was, fangs and all, remained intact. He lightly tapped the shaft of his crop against his shoulder as a warning signal.

"Gotcha, 'Yash." Zara took the hesitant and unnerved teenager and brought her deeper into the heart of Kouga's house, intent on bringing her to the basement. When his two female companions were absent, Inuyasha dropped the smile and grabbed Kouga's ponytail roughly and yanked down hard as he pulled his so-called friend by the hair into the next room.

Within moments he had Kouga seated, slightly shaken and somewhat against his own will, in a chair with no armrests. Inuyasha took the opportunity and, in the fashion of Alex DeLarge himself, smirkingly and dominantly seated himself on Kouga's lap, his own legs locking Kouga's in between, the crop still resting against his shoulder, and that nasty, fanged grin of his blocking out anything else in Kouga's line of vision.

Oozing with unease, Kouga promptly expressed his opinion of the situation. "Do you seriously have to have your crotch that close to mine?" He struggled to keep from writhing.

Inuyasha continued to grin and replied, "What's the matter? You know full well I'm very picky about my men. Just because I'm bi doesn't mean I'm indiscriminate. I wouldn't fuck you if you paid me. You've known that since I met you. Furries disgust me, and you're not my type. Now," he paused with an air of amusement as he wetted his dry lips, "we have ourselves here a little situation. Kagome."

"What about her?" Kouga tried to remain confident in appearance, but failed nonetheless.

"I will not have you acting in such a manner toward her." The hanyou chuckled deviously. "I don't think you want to be flirting with jailbait in the first place, anyway." He thoroughly enjoyed the strange look that dawned on his friend. He did not understand quite what it was, but it did not seem dangerous.

Taking the crop from his shoulder with his right hand, Inuyasha lightly tapped the little leather flap at the end on the side of Kouga's cheek playfully, taking pleasure when he flinched from the gesture. "Kouga, do understand that I will inflict some very harsh physical damage to you should you not heed my… warnings." The man between his legs, remaining silent, now reeked of discomfort.

Strangely enough, though there were several party guests in the exact same room, not a single one of them paid any heed to the pair of men sitting on the chair together, passing it off as normal. Even stranger was that Kouga noticed this. Inuyasha did not seem to care, feeling quite comfortable in the compromising position.

The hanyou continued, "If you so much as touch her in a manner I deem inappropriate, I will fucking stick your offending hand in a blender and hit 'puree,' just like those bandits planned to do to poor Chunk the fatso." He watched with enjoyment as Kouga continued to attempt hiding just how shook up he really was beneath his veneer of calm and cool collectedness. "If that is not enough to steer you away, I will offer to make true all of those empty threats that the Dread Pirate Roberts made toward Prince Humperdinck." He chuckled as Kouga squirmed. Kouga knew Inuyasha could do such if he so wanted, and probably would.

Taking a deep breath to calm his shaken nerves, Kouga closed his eyes for a moment before he attempted to speak for the first time since before the hanyou seated on his lap had started making threats, threats that would definitely be carried out in a heartbeat.

"Understood. Besides, it was just a harmless flirt, Inuyasha. But what is she to you?" His eyes hardened once he had gotten past his verbal acceptance of the terms put forth.

"Honestly?" Inuyasha drawled out with rising intonation before quelling his amusement for good, his face hardening into a stone veneer of solemnity. "She is my little girl." His voice softened despite the loud music the DJ was playing having the capability to drown out his words. With seething menace, he muttered out in a whisper at Kouga's ear, his warm breath unnerving the human furry once again, "When the cops can no longer breath down my work shirt, she will be my woman. In the meantime, no one, and I mean no one, shall lay a single finger upon or even glance at her in a manner I see unfit. Anyone who does will have coleslaw for eyes or shall receive one fucking hell of an ass-kicking doled out by myself. Is that clear?" he finished off with a snarl before facing his friend again and smiling with feigned cheerfulness.

Kouga stared at his friend in a stunned manner before nodding dumbly, feeling numb all over.

"Good," Inuyasha cooed patronizingly. "It's good to know you actually have brains on occasion." The crop against his shoulder once again, Inuyasha cocked his head and leaned forward again like he meant to whisper more threats, but instead, all Kouga sensed was the feeling of a pair of wet lips against his cheek and a soft smacking sound. Pulling away, the hanyou grinned genuinely and patted him on the shoulder. "Oh, and I know it's a couple days late, but, happy 26th birthday, Kouga."

Inuyasha finally got up off of Kouga's lap and made his way farther into the house, leaving a still dumbstruck Kouga sitting where he had been forcefully planted a few minutes earlier. As soon as the hanyou was out of earshot, he sucked in a breath and reassured himself that it was actually a blessing that this little occurrence had happened. Muttering and cursing to himself, he said aloud, "So that's the girl he's going to Jakotsu over."

---

An hour had passed before Kagome knew it. After being dragged to the basement to chat with Sango and Chelsea for a considerably lengthy chat, the girl had excused herself and gone back upstairs to 'mingle,' as Inuyasha had instructed as thus. Despite the charm she typically possessed when helping customers she had never met, she found herself more than just a wallflower. Somehow she felt her shyness, not often seen, take over. Something inside, though anxiety or social phobia or what, she wasn't quite sure, kept her from striking up conversation with any of the people she hadn't already met.

Finally deciding to rejoin in her chat with the two women, she returned to the basement only to find they had up and left for another part of the house. Instead of seeking them out further, Kagome just glanced around the basement room that seemed to serve as a den complete with couch, TV, and even a waterbed, and eventually began to merely watch others interact with each other. Music from the speakers implanted upstairs in various rooms leaked downstairs lightly.

Some while into her recent return to the basement room, she caught hints of an… interesting conversation going on between two men somewhere behind her, and at the mention of some very interesting and intriguing content she began to listen intently in an eavesdropping manner.

"I can't believe his nerve last night! He's become my favorite submissive, and then he had to go do that. Oh, and he refused to pay for the gag he bit into pieces, too."

"Really, what did you expect? You've been pressing his limits for quite some time, from what you've been blabbering to me all these weeks. I'm surprised he hasn't already up and forsaken his little deal with you."

"Still, he ruined it, so he ought to replace it for me."

"I doubt it would have been ruined had you not decided to mock his heritage by trying to use a gag with a dog bone for the mouth piece. Use your common sense, for once."

"You just don't like me domming him. You're jealous, aren't you?"

The other speaker became annoyed. "That has nothing to do with it. I just feel you're using his plight for your own pleasure. He's going to you because of that girl, remember?"

"But I haven't broken any of his golden rules. I've made sure. He's so touchy!"

"The point is that he's hurting, he came to you for help, and from what it looks like to me, you're just taking advantage of the situation."

"I am not!" the male cried out in a sulking manner. "But I warned him right away that if he was looking for therapy, he ought to see a real therapist. And then he said, 'this is the only therapy I need'."

The other sighed in exasperation. "Jakotsu, for the last time. You just don't get it. From what you've told me, you keep finding other ways to press his limits - I'm surprised he didn't castrate you for some of the things you've added without his consent. If you keep doing such things, finding new ways to read between the lines, there's no doubt he'll stop going to you to get his mind off her. He'll probably find some other way to control himself."

Kagome felt a twinge on her heart for a moment, feeling something tugging deep inside. She wasn't sure what it was, but it made her feel sad. Whoever could be putting himself through, through whatever, just for a girl--

"Bankotsu, I know I went too far when I…" the speaker named Jakotsu trailed off in what sounded like an attempt to find the right wording, "when I said those things about him intentionally going after underage girls, but it wasn't far off from what he already had on his list. I mean, come on, he wanted me to call him a cradle robber, for Christ's sakes!"

Kagome stiffened. She wasn't sure she wanted to continue listening.

"There's a difference, you moron!" Bankotsu immediately snapped before softening his tone as he began again. "Look, I know the guy needs to get laid, but personally, I think you're probably just making things worse for him."

"How so? I'm doing everything he outlined and then some. It's what he wants… to get his mind off her. How am I making things worse?"

Bankotsu almost sounded like he had just growled. "You just are. When a guy chooses something like a girl's name for his safeword, you do not fuck around. This is some serious psychological mindfucking, you know?"

"Well, I must admit, 'Kagome' is a much more interesting safeword than 'poodle,' but I fail to see the point--"

She felt her insides squeezing and her throat tightening….

It couldn't be.

"--in your argument," Jakotsu finished.

"Jakotsu, for the last fucking time. You do not fuck around when a guy like Inuyasha takes such a guilt trip over getting involved with a minor again that he asks you to beat the living shit out of him once a week while he's strapped to a rack and to call him names that most people would threaten to strangle you for, especially when he picks her goddamn name for his safeword. And judging by what you've told me, you really bloody up his back. I would be bedridden for weeks, on my stomach no less, if I suffered the ferocity of such skin breakage you claim you inflict upon him. I'm sure he finds the scent of his blood mixing with sweat to be absolutely revolting, yet he's still going through with this. If he's taken such offense to you suggesting that, even if he ever does fuck her, she'll end up leaving him just like most of the others who found out what he is, then I can definitely assume that he picked her name for a very… good… fucking… reason," Bankotsu finished off in a warning tone that bordered on malice.

Kagome trembled, her throat quivering and her entire face growing numb and yet tingly. She wanted to crumple into a heap on the carpet, curl up, and sleep forever.

"But--"

"No buts. This conversation is over. I'm still not pleased with your laidback attitude in all of this. While I can overlook that because you've been wanting to play with him, beat him into submission, for years… as a professional dom, you need to have more concern for your clients, whether or not they line your pocket."

A strangled, squeaky gasp escaped Kagome's throat. She brought her hands up to her chest and held them together, hoping to keep a grip on her emotions that were currently in turmoil. Tears threatened to break out. Her chest barely kept from heaving. It was difficult to breathe.

Turning around, Kagome tried to say something to the two bickering men, one barely past her height and the other towering over him. The shorter male turned toward her and saw the apparent upset.

"Are you okay, miss?" he asked. Kagome immediately placed him as Bankotsu, recognizing the voice. Sadly, she also recognized him from elsewhere. His quarreling tone from earlier sounded so different from his normal speaking voice. "Oh, hey, wait, I know you." He smiled. "You helped me and the boys film part of our show last weekend. I never caught your name or even gave you mine before you left."

Not thinking straight, she tried to smile, shaking a bit, and promptly answered, "Kagome, Inuyasha's safeword. I think I need to leave."

And then she turned and ran upstairs, leaving both men in partial shock before the shorter one, Bankotsu, began yelling at the taller one for a brand new heated reason.

"Shit."

"You dumbass. Look what you've done!"

"How was I to know he might actually bring her here?"

"You yourself said you shouldn't be talking about this shit in the first place. This is your fault! That's it, we're leaving. I refuse to be caught in the aftermath once Inuyasha finds out what you've done!" Bankotsu glared at his boyfriend before smacking him harshly in the forearm and stomach.

---

Bored with the party thus far, Inuyasha room-hopped over time. He came across a familiar man with strangely cut blonde hair, or what appeared to be blonde hair in the lack of proper lighting, who was on his way to the kitchen.

"Hey, who the fuck invited you to this party, Eric?" Inuyasha asked crossly as he clamped a clawed hand onto the man's shoulder, effectively stopping him in place.

Turning, Eric promptly answered, "What's it to you? I come and go as I please."

Inuyasha sneered. "You sold me bad acid more than four years ago. That's why." He made sure to show off his fangs. "I want my money back. I just haven't been able to find you since then."

Shrugging despite the painful grip on his shoulder, Eric smiled and arched an eyebrow. "Oh, really…. Funny, that. I've been out of state for the last three."

"Point being?"

Eric's grin grew to a smirk. "Oh, just that it's no wonder you couldn't find me. That, and I don't deal to cocksuckers."

Inuyasha's other hand clenched into a fist and landed swiftly into the side of the blonde man's face. With the hanyou keeping him in place, it was surprising Eric's head stayed on. The other party goers nearby ignored the small fight going on between the two.

"Now, for the last time," Inuyasha continued when his left hand was at his side once again, staring at Eric as the man gingerly felt the side of his jaw and the sore spot his fist had left. "I want my $200 back. As for cocksucker, you're a hypocrite if you call me something like that." He growled.

Eric chanced it and spoke. "I don't have any money on me."

"Then you will write me a check for it, and then also repay me some other way for the trouble of waiting so fucking long for this." Inuyasha snorted and licked his lips.

"And if my check bounces?"

Inuyasha smiled and dug his claws into Eric's shoulder deeper, ripping through his shirt and making the man wince. "If that happens, then I would suggest leaving the country, because I will find you if you don't. No one fucks around with me and gets away with it, especially for such petty things."

Eric nodded. "What other repayment did you have in mind?" He felt uncomfortable asking.

One dark eyebrow disappeared into the frock of dull silver hair that overshadowed Inuyasha's forehead. "I can't tell you. I can only show you." He smirked, laughing. "Come with me."

---

Kagome ran past small clumps of figures into the empty kitchen, then pulled out a chair from the small table and sat down. She buried her face in her hands, then eventually slumped completely forward and hid her face within her curled up arms. She wasn't sure how long she stayed like that. It could have been half an hour; it could have been three minutes. Not even the changes in the music being spun by the DJ went noticed. What she did know was that she had zoned completely out from reality until a light tap upon her head broke her free from her self-absorbed stupor.

Lifting her head, Kagome tried to harden her face as she looked upward to see who had jolted her. She blinked. A tall man with a shaved head and a friendly smile sat down across the table from her, a medium height woman with black hair standing behind him.

"How you doing there?" he offered in a congenial manner. "You not enjoying the party?"

Kagome tried to smile, her voice trembling as she honestly answered, "I just overheard something that disturbed me, that's all. I think I need something to drink. I just… don't know a thing about alcohol, and stuff that tastes like alcohol isn't to my taste." She eyed the jumble of partially used but closed-topped bottles of mixers and liqueurs and generic types of alcohol that sat atop the stovetop next to the refrigerator, a couple stacks of plastic cups available as well.

The man looked off to his side to see where she was looking, then turned back to say, "Let me guess… sweet, fruity, fru-fru girly stuff, right?" Kagome nodded, her face going blank. "Hey, I can help you with that. By the way, what's your name? I'm Renkotsu, and this is my fiancé Jessica. I can drink anyone here under the table, so you're definitely asking the right person." Standing up before she could answer, he allowed Jessica to sit in his place as he walked over to the fridge and opened it up, looking at whatever selection of fruit juice and pop Kouga may have stuck in there.

"I'm Kagome," she finally said in a soft voice.

Jessica smiled from across the table. "Every once in a while, you just need to get a little bit drunk. He'll fix something up for you."

"A ha!" Renkotsu called out from the fridge, his free hand reaching in and grabbing a strange looking clear and red tray type contraption and turning around to show it off. He displayed it proudly, as both females had turned at his exclamation. "Jello shots!" He brought them over to the table. "I wonder who brought them."

Jessica responded, "Oh, Ginta told me he was bringing vodka jello shots in little test tube thingies. That must be those. Kouga must have asked him to stick 'em in the fridge. How many you got there, twelve? I want one. Kagome, you wanna try a jello shot? You won't taste the vodka that much."

Not sure why, Kagome put out her hand in a 'give me' gesture and replied, "Sure. Now, just how do you drink these?"

Renkotsu laughed and handed one to both her and Jessica. "Let me show you."

Over the course of the next fifteen minutes, Kagome, Jessica, and Renkotsu managed to finish off all of the jello shots, then also downed some Drunken Germans as well. Being a big fan of Root Beer, Kagome downed both of hers quickly, barely tasting the Jagermeister that her new friend had mixed in as an entire seventh of the concoction.

Then they chased down quick shots of whiskey with some Coke. Renkotsu had been especially proud of Kagome for not spitting out the hard liquor at her first burning taste of it; he liked a girl who could hold her alcohol.

Strangely, Kagome began feeling a slight buzz and, in wanting it to increase, asked for more beverages. Within moments, Renkotsu had mixed her up Gin Red Bull after Gin Red Bull, dabbling a squirt or two of Peach Schnapps in there for a more fru-fru taste.

"I think you're plenty liquored up, Kag, so no more alcoholic stuff for you. Just juice and pop, or maybe Red Bull. You understand?" he said when he finally managed to pull a bottle of Mike's Hard Lemonade from her before she could open it, despite her verbally slurred and physically weak protests. Of course, as drunk as she was, it wasn't too difficult for him to do so. "Come on, go on and enjoy the buzz. I'm sure you'd rather not have to empty your stomach on the kitchen floor, so go dance and mingle and talk to people. You're a pretty fun person, so don't let us have all the fun in hanging out with you."

He set the bottle on the table and grabbed her hands, leading her away from the kitchen.

"Oh, all riiiiiight, I'll gooooo," she slurred out with a giggle, her motor sense a bit out of balance and her vision only just beginning to blur if she moved her head too quickly.

Gripping the frame of the door as she passed through, Kagome smiled dumbly and inched her way into the remainder of the house. She giggled again as she meandered slowly into the next couple rooms, then stopped when she got to the living room with the front door, her smile slowly melting away and her face becoming distraught.

Hanging up a light, girly fur coat in the closet by the front door was a short and thin but well figured girl with slick black hair in an angled bob cut, dressed in a flapper dress that looked like it had been reconstructed by someone who had been to Mari's Rock too many times. Standing right by her was Inuyasha, smiling at her and ready to close the closet door.

"Kouga!" he called out across the room over the din of the throbbing electro-industrial beat of the current music playing. "Yura's here! Fresh from work at The Skyway Lounge!"

The girl turned to face Inuyasha and squealed joyously. "Inuyasha! Do I get to do your hair again? C'mon, please?"

Kagome's eyes narrowed.

She watched as Inuyasha playfully tapped his chin and lower lip with a clawed finger while not looking at the girl known as Yura for a long moment before he answered, "But of course," returning his gaze to the ecstatic girl's face. "Kouga, I'm stealing your girlfriend for a little bit," he called out to where Kouga himself was sulking in an armchair in the far corner, his elbow on the armrest and his fist under his chin. Inuyasha laughed, showing off those strangely pointed teeth of his as he ended his loud chuckling with a wide grin. He and Yura walked together across the room toward a doorway.

Kagome's eyes turned to slits.

She then had to stop fooling around with her eyes because it only made her vision blurry and made her head spin. She felt strange fluctuations and waves pulsing through her brain. "Damn, it's probably just a headache about to set in," she told herself. Turning around, she went back into the room she had just exited.

Stopping directly in front of the DJ's equipment stand, behind which a male of Inuyasha's height was turned around and busy flipping through a massive CD collection, Kagome took long, strange glances at the electronic equipment before her. She was studying it as the DJ person turned back around and said hello. She looked up at him and struck up a conversation with him.

Renkotsu was right, she thought. The liquor did take away her inhibitions, making it easy for her to talk to the complete stranger with whom she was now conversing. She giggled offhandedly, for no real reason.

"So, you're fresh from Japan?" DJ [spacebar] smiled. "I got just the perfect track for you." He quickly flicked some switches on the boarding front and to his right, then did a short programming bit. As soon as the current song ended, on came a piece of J-Pop music that Kagome instantly recognized. "Do you like Gackt?"

Kagome nodded dumbly with unfounded amusement. While the song was nothing like most of what had been on his earlier play lists, he got no complaints from the other people attending the party.

Stepping back and swaying to the music of "Fragrance," Kagome closed her eyes and danced drunkenly, unaware of how many people began to stare at her. When the song ended, the DJ put on a more electronic track. She danced to it as well, heedless of her little crowd of admirers.

"Do you like this, Kagome?" DJ [spacebar] asked hopefully.

"Uh huhhhhhhh, I dooooo," she slurred out, her eyes still closed.

"This is some solo work of mine. Glad you like it."

How could they think that this could last?
When great empires have faltered in the past?
We fight for control, fight to win
Domination fails to freedom in the end

Kagome swirled and danced in place for a great deal, until the song filtered out, after which, she stepped backward even more until she reached the wall and leaned against it to steady her balance. The dancing had made her dizzy.

The DJ continued to name out whatever musician was up next on his roster, gradually introducing her, song by song, to the many genres that she had probably never heard before… synthpop, electro-industrial, dark wave, ebm, and dark alternative. He was happy to have a new listener to influence.

--This is Einstürzende Neubauten--
--This is The Cranes--
--This is Advent Sleep--
--This is The Bolshoi--
--This is Covenant--
--This is Bauhaus--
--This is Wumpscut--
--This is Legendary Pink Dots--
--This is Ministry--
--This is Switchblade Symphony--

"And this is And One," he called out with a smile, while Kagome attempted to keep her balance once again. Dancing was taking a lot out of her, and yet she still kept herself busy. She was still smiling and giggling every so often, just a bit dehydrated a bit.

Get out of my way 'cause you know that I am totally wasted
Get out, get out 'cause I'm everything you ever hated

Kagome tripped over her own feet and landed hard on her knees with a giggle and an oomph, barely feeling the pain.

Get out of my way 'cause you know that I am totally wasted
Get out, get out 'cause I'm everything for you
Get out of my way 'cause you know that I am totally wasted
'Cause I'm everything you ever hated
I'm totally wasted

Falling to her hands, she sloppily attempted to right herself, failing miserably and fully landing on the wooden floor, moaning in annoyance at her lack of motor skills. "Damnit."

"I think someone's had too much to drink, hmm?" a disembodied voice sounded through her throbbing head, and she felt someone grasp onto her arms firmly before pulling her up.

"Hmm? Oof-da," Kagome drunkenly mumbled with slitted eyes as she allowed the person to fully right her, though she may as well have been dead weight, a limp and dead body, for all the cooperation she gave him.

"Feet on the ground, girl, feet on the ground," a tall and thin man in punkish clothes with a spiky, glued up mohawk of bleached hair said to her as he held her up in front of him with firm grips on her upper forearms. "You okay?" He tried to tap her feet into self-planting place and to straighten her legs with his own feet.

"Umm, I think soooo." She managed to lift her head and to smile at him weakly. It was difficult to keep her eyes open, and she wanted to collapse and sleep away the pounding and throbbing that rumbled and curled in strange patterns throughout her body. Her head especially hurt. "Hi, I'm Kaaaaaagome. Who're you?" She grinned stupidly.

"Hakkaku. I think you need to rest," Hakkaku said in response. "Come on, I'll take you downstairs."

"Okay," Kagome answered in complete agreement.

On their way to the doorway that led to the basement, Miroku turned the corner and took one glance at the scene before exclaiming, "Shit, Kagome, where have you been?" When she failed to answer, her head somewhat slumped forward, he looked at Hakkaku in concern. "What happened to her?"

Hakkaku shrugged his shoulders. "She's piss-poor drunk. I came across this girl dancing in the room where DJ [spacebar] has his stuff set up, and in the middle of this one song she just collapsed. I have no idea just how much alcohol she's had, but I doubt she should drive home."

Miroku grumblingly smacked his forehead in agitation. "Damnit, Inuyasha told me to keep an eye on her, but I've been so busy talking to people that I haven't seen her for at least an hour."

Again, the spiky-haired guy shrugged his shoulders. "I had only just walked into the room from the kitchen after being outside for a while, and I saw her dancing and then she tripped over her own feet and fell to the floor." He sighed and then dryly explained, "I was just going to take her downstairs, but if you'd rather, then be my guest."

Kagome lolled her head a bit and then looked up at Miroku. "Hmmmm?" she groaned and blinked her eyes rapidly. "Oh, hiiiiii, Miroku. Your face is bouncing everywhere. Would you stay in place, please? Thanks." She finished off her strange request with a grin and a giggle that came from nowhere other than her own amusement.

Exasperated, Miroku rolled his eyes, tipped his head back in false prayer, and nodded at Hakkaku, already moving to take her heavy and barely self-supporting form from his friend's arm.

Kagome moaned and giggled again. "What are you doiiiing?"

"Don't worry, Kagome, you're in good hands with Miroku here," Hakkaku told the somewhat delirious girl who would now be just a burden for Miroku. "I gotta skeedaddle, but perhaps I'll see you later on?" He patted her shoulder and then took off, leaving Miroku holding up a drunken and half-conscious Kagome by himself.

"Come on, Kagome," he sternly ordered.

"Mmmm, Kagome does not get naked. Kagome has not had enough to drink yet."

Groaning and closing his eyes in embarrassment, Miroku tugged firmly at her and ignored her statement, continuing to half direct, half drag her downstairs. When they reached the basement, he brought her up to the currently empty waterbed that sat in the corner of the main room of the basement.

"Stay," he told her as he gently pushed her onto the bed, helping her get her feet up there as well.

"But…" she tiredly trailed off from her lounging position on top of the comforter. She squinted in the dim light. Unlike upstairs, the light here was an eerie maroonish red, like those red lights used in photo labs from when she took photography class that one time.

"Stay. Inuyasha will already have my head for letting you get so drunk." Miroku crossed his arms sternly. Kagome extended a heavy arm toward him, fingers curling and uncurling. He took her hand briefly and squeezed it before letting go. "I'll be in the next room."

Kagome nodded lazily and slumped completely onto her back, her head toward the foot on the bed and feet pointing toward the pillows. The water mattress beneath her dipped soothingly under her weight. She soon closed her eyes and allowed the dull throbbing in her head to nearly knock her unconscious. Miroku checked on her periodically.

---

"Yura, will you ever get tired of playing with my hair?" Inuyasha jokingly asked as he sat still on the carpeted floor and let his friend's Ukrainian girlfriend, a professional stripper, run a fine tooth comb through his dampened locks once again. A myriad of hair care utensils and supplies lay scattered on both her sides, within reach. "This is the third time you've decided to comb it since we got in here, not including the combing needed after trimming my split ends." He arched an eyebrow inquisitively, though she obviously could not see it.

"Come on, you know I love playing with anyone's hair, and yours has an added bonus," Yura replied, setting down the comb and letting her eager hands sneak up on his ears, affectionately tweaking them and giving them a rubdown. "If only Kouga had wolfie ears like these, my sex life would be complete." She giggled.

Grunting in slight annoyance at the mention of Kouga's strange fetish, Inuyasha relaxed again and began to brux from the pleasant sensations of someone's fingers feeling up his fuzzy appendages. He rolled his eyes back into his head and closed his eyelids, feeling so serene it disturbed him.

---

Stumbling down the stairs came a tall figure. He regained his balance once he reached the bottom of the stairwell. After grumpily surveying the room and finding it nearly devoid of people, he walked over toward the waterbed.

After sitting down next to the girl deep in drunken slumber, Hiten snickered and said aloud, more to himself than to anyone who might have been within earshot, "Hmm, fresh meat." He opened a small bottle of cognac and emptied what was left into his mouth, quickly swallowing and then tossing the empty glass bottle onto the floor, where it clunked with a thud. He leaned down over the girl, tapped her gently on the shoulder, then prodded her a bit more firmly when she did not respond. Eyeing the oval cut-out of her shirt, he smirked.

Being practically unconscious, Kagome never realized just what he was doing, only felt something heavy holding her down and the swoosh and fluctuation of the waterbed as weight shifted upon it.

---

Zara smacked Kouga's forearm, the one holding up his chin. "Yo, Kouga, you've been really out of it tonight. This party's for us, remember? Quit sulking."

Kouga narrowed his eyes. "Go away."

She sighed. "Whatever. You seen Renkotsu or Bankotsu?"

He shook his head, his chin staying in place upon his upright fist, and muttered, "Bankotsu and Jakotsu left quite some while ago, before Yura ever arrived. Renkotsu… who knows. Check the kitchen? He's probably raiding my entire liquor supply as we know it. The guy CAN, after all, drink Everclear like water."

"Great," Zara replied dryly, the single adjective saturated with sarcasm and her eyes half-lidded in annoyance. "Where are the birthday boys when you need 'em, eh?"

---

In the other room in the basement, Sango and Chelsea scooted closer to each other on the floor, their backs against a wall, and began kissing again once they had their arms wrapped around another. After a moment, Chelsea pulled away and glanced at Miroku, who sat across the room from them on a couch, watching.

"Dude, can you think of absolutely nothing better to do than watch two girls kiss, Miroku?" Chelsea teased him.

"He's just jealous cuz he's single, and a single guy at that, Chels. That's all," Sango jokingly retorted before their male friend could say anything. Miroku sighed and waved it off. "Say, Miroku, how is she?" She motioned with her head toward the doorway leading into the other room in the basement, indicating Kagome and her drunken state.

"Last I checked, passed out on Kouga's waterbed."

"Is there anyone in there to watch her at all?" Chelsea asked incredulously with a humorless laugh.

"I don't think anyone is in there. But I was getting ready to go check on her again. Come with me, if you want," he replied with absolute nobility.

The three got up and made their way toward the doorway.

What they saw, to say the least, was not what they had ever planned to come across. Due to poor vision in such dark lighting, all they could distinguish was the moving form of someone straddled atop Kagome's body, making use of his hands along her bare upper forearms.

While the other two were still in shock, Sango tensed up, overflowing with rage as she balled up her fists and two nanometers away from snorting flames from her nostrils. "Chelsea, spot me. Miroku, go get Inuyasha and get his ass down here. I doubt I can completely overpower whoever the hell that is, but I ought to be able to hold him off until 'Yash gets down here. I'm sure he'll want the privilege of handing this guy's ass back to him."

Miroku answered in the affirmative in a robotic, stunned fashion and then raced upstairs, the entire time cursing to himself for things having gotten worse at a time when he thought they simply couldn't. Sango ran and launched herself at the figure huddled over their friend and started pounding with her fists, then yanked harshly on the long braid of hair that trailed down his back. Chelsea stood in place and carefully watched the fight that now broke out between her girlfriend and the mystery guy who must have been trying to take advantage of their passed out friend.

Sango, despite being a short and thin girl, was plenty strong enough to land some powerful and well placed punches into the man's sides, and after yanking on his braid again, causing him to yell out and swear in Russian, was able to pull him away from Kagome's prone body. Growing feral, she snarled as she became entangled in a full blown fist fight with who was now recognizable as Hiten. The two glared at one another in the dark lighting as they butchered fancy footwork circling each other. Sango went with a jab to the underside of his jaw, hoping to knock him off balance and make him dizzy, but he moved his head to the side and out of the way quickly, then gave her a low blow into her side just above her hip, causing her to stumble while cursing.

"Kusoyarou!" Sango yelled at him while wincing from the smart in her side.

"Sabaka yibuchiya!" Hiten muttered right back at her, going for another punch to her lower ribcage. She blocked it easily with her fist and kneed him in the groin, laughing when he doubled over and landing a twisting side kick to his upper thigh.

However, she was panting heavily already from the exertion, her bangs damp against her forehead, and as soon as her drunk Russian opponent regained his ability to stand upright, he stomped down hard on one of her feet and quickly punched her in the shoulder as she howled in pain.

"Saitei!"

I don't know how much longer I can last against him, she thought with exasperation as she tried to remain standing, her stability flaking away as he made another well aimed punch. She barely escaped the force of it by stepping back with her other foot, feeling just a fraction of the jarring pain it could have caused. She wanted to fall upon the floor and rest, but until Miroku came back with Inuyasha, she was the only one who could hold off Hiten.

---

Searching frantically from room to room for his best friend, Miroku came across Kouga, sitting exactly where he had been sitting when he had left the very same room and run into Hakkaku carrying Kagome toward the basement stairs, in practically the same position, no less.

"Kouga," Miroku asked him, slightly out of breath, "have you seen Inuyasha?"

Grunting and sending a fiery stare off toward the shut doorway to another room, he pointed with his free hand and explained that he had last seen Inuyasha traipsing off with Yura into the indicated room so she could play with his hair, expressing his clear annoyance at the situation.

"Why? What's so important that you've obviously scrambled your way around looking for him? You're out of breath." He returned his gaze to Miroku.

"I, I can't explain right now, but I will later when I get a chance!" Miroku testily replied, instantly dashing for the closed door and rapping upon it hard with his fist several times, leaving Kouga to stare after him with a blank, inquisitive expression. "Inuyasha! I need to talk to you! Open the door!" he called out while jiggling the door handle.

Inside the room, Yura removed her hands from Inuyasha's ears and quickly put away her combs, trimming scissors, and hair care products, and Inuyasha quirked his head toward the door. He grabbed for his bandana from where it lay on the floor like a tossed away rag and quickly fixed it back into position and tied it off around his head. As he stood up, Yura ran over to the door and, unlocking it, let Miroku in.

"What is it, Miroku?" His golden eyes scanned over his best friend and duly noted his currently shaken state.

"Inuyasha, come downstairs to the basement, right now. It's, it's Kagome!" Miroku managed to sputter out, fearing the hanyou's wrath for allowing something to happen to her.

The hanyou in question stiffened and growled for a moment, glaring at his little 'messenger.' "You were supposed to keep an eye on her, you moron! What's wrong with her?!" His lips parted, showing off his fangs. I thought I could trust you with her. Please don't prove me wrong, he thought to himself with worry.

Miroku stammered for a bit, then finally blurted out, "Kagomegotreallydrunkandpassedoutand… someoneneedsacastrationfortheveryreasonyouthreatenedmeabout!" rushing all of his words together and barely able to take a breather in the middle.

It took him a moment to react clearly, but after recovering from the initial shock, Inuyasha finally clenched his fists and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths through his nostrils. "Who's my target?" he asked in a tone that stank of fury, his voice barely quivering with emotional instability.

"I don't know, except it's a guy. Sango's fighting him off, but--"

"But she won't be able to fully handle him. She has popkins for stamina," the hanyou finished for him. Opening his eyes, he glanced at Yura. "Yura, does Kouga still have 'you know what' lying around somewhere? And can I borrow his cat? I don't think my crop'll cut it."

From her post at the door, Yura smirked and nodded, knowing exactly what two items he was referring to. "They're both in that cabinet other there against the wall. You two rush down there, and I'll bring Kouga downstairs later so he can kick out whoever's ass you kick."

"Oh, and Miroku? On the way down there, you need to explain your incompetence to me, or after I kick this guy's ass, if you can't finish," Inuyasha growled out in a warning tone. "I am very pissed at you about this."

---

Chelsea continued watching the fist fight from several feet away. So far she hadn't felt the two-way pounding to be severe enough that she would need to rescue Sango or attempt to pry the two apart, but it had only been a couple minutes, four at most, and she wasn't sure how much longer Sango could last. Sango was strong, but she could clearly see that Hiten was wearing her out.

"Saitei! Saitei!" Sango cried out again in a hoarse and scraped-sounding voice as she launched an upward jab right into the bony nub of Hiten's chin and then twist-punched him in the lower chest twice in a row. Unfortunately, she overexerted herself and, completely winded, collapsed upon the floor in an exhausted heap with a strangled, whimpering whine escaping her throat, broken up by pants and painful gasps. Her entire frame ached from the brutal force of Hiten's punches, and if Hiten were to go back to the waterbed and start… touching Kagome again, however he had been touching her before-- She grimaced and curled up on her side, unable to stand up.

Refusing to let Hiten have the best of Sango, Chelsea ran toward him just as one of his boots landed in the middle of Sango's half-protected stomach, making her yelp and moan in pain. She caught him from the back and yanked powerfully on his long braid as he yelled out, then kneed him in the back.

"What the fuck is going on here?!" rumbled a voice so pissed off and scathing that both Chelsea and the man whose hair she was pulling at both stopped in place for just a moment before the man took advantage of his new attacker being caught off-guard and whirled around to punch at her in the gut, sending her painfully to the floor in an instant.

Hiten stood in place and glared at his interrupter.

Inuyasha and Miroku stood at the bottom of the staircase. Miroku stood silently behind Inuyasha, slightly shaken at what he had just seen, while Inuyasha began growling with rage as he stepped forward. He could tell who stood before him; his eyesight was excellent in the dark, and even if he had been blind, there was no way he could have mistaken Hiten for anyone else. And he could tell by scent that Hiten was drunk… on cognac.

"Hiten," was all the infuriated hanyou could say, and even then the sound of the offender's name was partially distorted to anyone who might have heard Inuyasha's warning. Behind the barely winded and currently challenging Hiten Inuyasha could see Kagome's still form on the waterbed, her clothing partially rumpled and the lower hem of her shirt lifted up above her navel to halfway below her bust, and his two female friends' fallen forms.

Driven by restrained desire
I want what I need
Shaking as her sex takes hold
I've lost all control

Drowning in a sea of rage
I taste the embrace
Helpless as it steals my soul
I've lost all control

We exist in a world where the fear of illusion is real
And we cling to the past to deny and confuse the ideal
Once inside, we conceive and believe in a god we can't feel

Destined by a fate so cruel
And drugged to delight
I'm laughing as the lies unfold
I've lost all control

Temptation
It never lets me down
Temptation
One foot in the ground
Temptation
You satisfy my soul
Temptation
I've lost all control

Hiten scowled and began to shout out obscenities in his native tongue, laughing as he readied his fighting stance and giving each of his downed opponents additional kicking blows just to piss off Inuyasha.

It worked.

The girls' slight writhing as they tried to right themselves in the dark made Inuyasha's upper lip twitch. He held out his hand off to his side and gestured for Miroku to hand him the braided leather cat o' nine tails that Yura said he could borrow from Kouga.

"Come at me, if you dare," he challenged in a soft, cruel whisper of a voice as Miroku placed the BDSM-sex-toy-turned-battery-weapon into his clawed hand, his stony glare frozen upon the man who had dared touch Kagome, especially in her currently out state.

Hiten smirked and punched one fist into his other palm, then beckoned the hanyou forward with a 'come here' gesture of his non-fisted hand.

Baring his fangs, Inuyasha swiftly jumped forward and knocked Hiten off his feet and to the side by landing the knotted tails of the cat into his neck, snarling with ferocity as the man fell backwards after losing his balance.

"Miroku, help the girls!" Inuyasha cried out as he landed on top of Hiten and punched him in the jaw and the upper temple before jumping up and landing quickly to the side of his downed opponent. "Kutabare!" He whipped Hiten over and over again with harsh overhand strokes that would have made Jakotsu jealous, reveling each time the drunken Russian writhed on the floor in physical agony.

Miroku managed to help the girls up quickly while Inuyasha was busy giving Hiten the beating of his life. Sango quickly grasped him in a hug and held on tightly, her head resting upon his shoulder as he rocked her back and forth.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she softly told him, enjoying the comfort and the physical support.

Chelsea slowly ambled over to the edge of the waterbed and sat down next to Kagome. The girl was still passed out, and she extended a hand to the girl's shoulder to try and wake her up. She probably would not have any idea anything had ever happened to her, Chelsea thought with a saddened laugh - it wasn't funny, just wrongly amusing.

After a more jarring shoulder shake, Kagome groaned and lifted a hand to her face, rubbing her eyes groggily. It took her much effort to open her eyes. The sounds of something painfully connecting with someone's body after whistling through the air at almost physically impossible speeds and the outcries of someone yelping immediately intrigued her. She quickly opened her eyes and sat up, though her head pounded and ached, her vision was still slightly blurry and the low, red lighting left her practically blind at first.

"What's going on?" she asked, slowly recognizing Chelsea as her eyes adjusted to the poor lighting conditions.

"Umm, you got drunk, passed out, were brought downstairs, and some Russian guy - Hiten, I think - got touchy-feely with you, so we found Inuyasha and had him kick the guy's ass… which he is still currently in the process of doing," Chelsea explained as quickly as she could.

With wide eyes, Kagome turned and looked nearly behind her to her right to catch sight of Inuyasha from the back as he mercilessly beat a still form upon the ground with something that moved so fast she couldn't identify it. She quickly remembered the overheard conversation that had 'inspired' her to get drunk in the first place. "Inuyashaaaaa!"

Pausing for a moment, her supervisor paused and glanced over his shoulder to look at her. The expression upon his face was pained and yet full of anger, and it melted away for a mere moment when he realized she had awakened. He smiled for a mere moment in relief before letting his facial expression return to that of a bloodthirsty savage and turning back toward the still form in front of him. He tossed his beating apparatus to the side, then dug something out of his pocket.

As Inuyasha jammed the questionable item into the form's back for a mere fracture of a second, bluish white lightning-like electrical sparks formed as a frightening sounding electrical crackle sounded in accompaniment with the contact. The form began to spasm uncontrollably with painful outcries. As Kagome cried out again in protest, Inuyasha repeated the gesture and then stopped.

Standing up, he tossed aside the stun gun after putting it on lock and walked toward the waterbed. "Kagome," he managed to crackle out in a pained voice. "You're awake."

"Inuyasha, what have you done?" Kagome quietly asked and brought her fisted hands up to her chest. She still felt very drunk, but her vision was beginning to clear up, and her words no longer sounded as slurred as before. I never thought he could be so violent.

"He, he touched you, Kagome, while you were passed out!" he explained while pointing at the groaning form far back on the floor, anger filtering through even though he wasn't trying to direct any toward her. "What in the fuck did you get so drunk for, that you were passed out for so long, huh?! You told me you hate the taste of alcohol. I figured you would stick to pop or juice. I don't even wanna know what you drank!" he snapped at her, then calmed himself down at her cringing reaction and glanced off to the side with a strange expression and a sigh. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell," he muttered. "I was just protecting you from, from that trash."

"Sango, you're not too hurt, are you?" Miroku asked, leaving the others alone. Sango lifted her head from upon his shoulder and looked him in the eyes before closing her own and gently kissing him on the lips in a friendly gesture. "Sango?" He blinked in surprise. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "I'm just very grateful for the comfort and for getting him down here so quickly, that's all." She smiled at him… until she felt his hands move to below her waist and firmly grip her buttocks… at which point she wore an expression of shock and surprise.

Smiling in an endearing fashion, Miroku asked, "Well then, since your lovely breasts already have been named, may I have the honor of bestowing names upon these lovely cheeks of yours?"

Chelsea, Inuyasha, and Kagome all watched intently as Sango grimaced in annoyance and stepped back slightly to land her open palm against Miroku's right cheek, the connection causing a very loud smacking sound.

Narrowing her eyes, Sango promptly replied, "Not on your life. And you wonder why I don't date men. Get your hands off my ass right now."

"Yeah, Miroku, get your hands off my girlfriend's ass," Chelsea echoed with a laugh, trying to remain lighthearted. "Only I get to grab her ass like that." The man in Sango's arms promptly removed his hands from her rear, then shifted uneasily from out of her arms with a sheepish grin.

"No harm meant, Sango, none at all, I swear," he offered, his hands up in front of him in self defense as he backed away, laughing nervously and wincing from the sting upon his cheek. "And thank you for restraining yourself and not knocking the living crap out of me," he added gingerly, fearing more physical abuse from Sango.

Inuyasha turned his attention back to Kagome, who had stopped bristling up and cringing and slowly began to calm down. "Chelsea, off the bed," he ordered, and he switched places with her soon enough.

"Yo, guys, where's the guest who needs to be removed?" called out Kouga in a disgruntled manner as he came to the bottom step and turned on the lights, making everyone blink and cry out with hisses from the temporary blinding.

"Right over here, Kouga," Miroku answered him promptly, pointing at the barely stirring form of Hiten that everyone could now see since the normal lighting was back on. Kouga nodded in acknowledgement, then took notice of the full situation at hand. He made to speak but went quiet before saying anything and became a spectator, anxiously waiting for people to explain what had led up to the current events. Yura had only told him someone needed to be removed from the premises "for being a general asshat."

As soon as Inuyasha was seated upon his knees in front of Kagome, who had turned to face away from Hiten, he placed his hands on his knees, looked over her, and then wordlessly reached out a clawed hand to pull her mussed shirt back down over her belly - something she had not taken to doing yet. After that motion, he set his eyebrows in a furrow and kneed his way closer to where she was now kneeling, their knees touching.

"Kagome, are you going to tell me why you got so goddamn drunk tonight?" he asked, trying to keep his voice from sounding judging. It partially worked, but only partially.

Kagome glanced around at everyone in the room, feeling accused. Her face fell. I can't tell him the real reason why, not with everyone else here, she bemoaned to herself silently. "Umm, well," she managed to begin nervously, gulping.

"Well?" he asked again, crossing his arms across his chest.

Kagome inwardly cringed as she felt everyone's eyes watching her, waiting for her response with bated breath, ready to laugh at her poor excuse. Her eyes flitting from side to side and feeling frantic for a way to get out of answering him honestly, she did the first thing that popped into her head.

She rushed forward at him and gripped his shoulders firmly and tried to kiss him-- and missed.

"The fuck are you trying to do, Kagome?!" he yelled out angrily after pulling his head back quickly with his superhuman reflexes, a quizzical expression on his face and a low growl creeping from his throat after her failed attempt at kissing him in front of everyone. It was probably the most stupid thing she could have done, he thought to himself in annoyance.

Without answering, Kagome moved her hands up along his neck in the hopes of gripping the sides of his head so she could pull his face toward her, so he couldn't pull away. As her fingers quickly slid up along the stretches of smooth skin hidden by those locks of hair that always framed his face even when he tied his hair back, she noticed something odd.

On a normal person, ears would be in the exact spot where her fingers were touching.

But it was nothing but smooth skin.

Kagome's arms began to tremble with the realization. She nearly choked on her words. The look on her face, one full of shock, no doubt matched what she saw registering on Inuyasha's face, his jaw dropping open and his eyes wide and almost trembling themselves. As soon as her hands had reached the sides of his face, he had stopped trying to grab at her wrists to tear them away. They stayed firmly in place, those clawed fingers coiled about her lower forearms.

Inuyasha gulped in fear. He knew why she was in shock. And he was afraid. Licking his lips, he closed his mouth and tried to close his eyes. But he couldn't look away from her, even for a moment. His golden eyes stayed locked on her blue ones.

Everyone else stood in place and stared. They all knew Inuyasha was a hanyou. But Kagome did not.

"Kagome…" Inuyasha tried to say, then trailed off. His throat felt dry, and his stomach felt queasy.

"Inuyasha, where are your ears?" she asked, still looking like she had discovered a deep, dark secret that would lead to disaster. She had no idea how much dread Inuyasha was feeling, only how much she was dreading his answer. "Inuyasha," her voice trembled for a moment, "you don't have ears on the side of your head." Her heart jumped into her throat.

Sighing, as there was no avoiding it now, Inuyasha closed his eyes for a moment and, dreading the worst, answered with the utmost honesty, "They're on the top of my head, Kagome. My ears… are on top of my head."

---

A/N: Movie House Hanyou has been nominated for Best AU, Best Continuing Fiction, and Best Drama for the Inuyasha FanGuild! Lyrics are from "Fall-Out" by DJ [spacebar] (yes, he is a personal friend of mine; he exists!), "Wasted" by And One, and "Temptation" by The Tea Party.

If you haven't already, please go read the MHH companion piece Half-Blood Wendy Here to Stay. It's available on all sites I post at.

Sublimetrickster has two more pieces of MHH fanart up on Deviant Art:

http : // www . deviantart . com / deviation / 9590270 /

http : // www . deviantart . com / deviation / 9680878 /

Also, go check out the website for the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices:

http : // www . mtn . org / quack /

Japanese vocab:

Kusoyarou - cultural equivalent of "motherfucker" (loosely translated)

Saitei - Fuck you (polite)

Kutabare - Fuck you (vulgar)