InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Of Strings and Kevlar ❯ The Dark of Night ( Chapter 14 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

***

The solid oak door swung open slowly, revealing a very anxious-looking Kouga standing rigidly in the entryway, distress darkening his normally bright blue eyes. Kagome's fear spiked tenfold upon seeing he was actually home, and she chewed on her bottom lip, just then realizing she had been hoping to miss him tonight, despite the late hour of her visit.

She wrung her hands together fretfully. “Hi, Kouga,” she said in a small voice, barely recognizable to even herself. “Can I come in?”

His Adam's apple bobbed as he gulped, proof of his own apparent fear, and then he nodded silently and stepped back to allow her to step inside. Steeling her raging nerves, she gave him a slight smile before averting her eyes from his and crossing the threshold, making sure she didn't brush against him as she passed. She looked around his sitting room, the area in which she spent most of her time whenever she visited him, the rest of which generally being spent on his deck or in the rock garden in his back yard. The black leather sofa sat on the opposite wall from the entryway, across from the wall-mounted television and adjacent to a well-worn matching leather easy chair and gas fireplace. She heard the low din of the news on the TV, and noticed the glass of bourbon on his wrought-iron coffee table, condensation forming on the outside of the glass. Deducing he must have been getting ready to retire for the evening, Kagome felt a pang of guilt for waiting until so late to make this visit, but in actuality, she had been sitting in his driveway for the past half hour, doing her best to muster up the courage she needed to make the trek to his front door. It had surprised her, actually, that he hadn't noticed her presence earlier, given how long she had stalled.

Closing the door, he took a few steps until he stood beside her, scratching the back of his head. “You want something to drink?” he offered quietly.

Kagome picked up on the anxiety in his voice, and she fought the urge to cringe. He must have had some idea why she was here, and while that should have been a somewhat comforting thought--since it meant perhaps her speech wouldn't come as such a shock to him--it only put her more on edge. Had she been treating him so badly that he saw this coming? Swallowing hard, she turned her head slightly to look at him, noticing he was avoiding eye contact, and this time she did cringe as the guilt of the pain she was about to cause him washed over her in a turbulent wave. “N-no, I'm fine. But thank you.”

He nodded, his lips a thin line. Still not meeting her eyes, he gestured toward the black leather sofa. “You wanna sit? Or maybe the kitchen….”

“This is fine,” she mumbled, shuddering under the weight of her conscience as she made her way to the sofa. Knowing she had to get a hold of herself, she let out a shuddering breath and took a seat on one side of the couch, watching as Kouga sat on the opposite end, the look of dread on his face nearly breaking her. Yes, he indeed knew why she was here.

He perched himself on the edge of his seat and hunched forward, his elbows resting on his knees. Finally looking in her direction, Kouga smiled grimly. “So….”

“So….” Kagome swallowed again and looked down at her hands as she sought the words she had rehearsed on the hour-long drive to his home; words that were stubbornly eluding her now. “I-I don't know…um, I'm not sure how --”

“Say, you want to go for a drive?” he asked suddenly, his eyes frantically darting toward hers.

She blinked at him and frowned before shaking her head in the negative. `A drive? What is he thinking?' she wondered.

Kouga sighed and looked down at his hands in defeat. “Okay,” he said.

A few seconds of incredibly awkward silence stretched between them before Kagome finally gathered the courage to speak again, intent on getting this out and making it as painless as possible for both of them. “Kouga, I wanted to talk to you….” Her chin quivered as she forced herself to look at him, his head still hanging almost below shoulder level. “I-I think we…um, I think we sh-should…not…not see each other…anymore,” she quietly finished, her voice nothing more than a hoarse whisper by the end.

His eyes squeezed shut, his head hung a little lower in defeat. “Kagome….”

She swallowed, already feeling the pricks of tears in the backs of her eyes. “I-I just…that is, I don't think things are going so well between us, and --”

“And why do you think that is?” he asked abruptly in a surprisingly calm voice, his head still bowed.
A little startled by his tone, she licked her lips. “W-well, I think that…well, I guess I'm not sure.” She sighed a little, knowing she didn't have it in her heart to say that she had never felt for him the way he felt for her.

Kouga grunted, finally straightening in his seat enough to look at her, the emotion in his eyes speaking of the pain in his heart. “I have an idea of what it could be,” he said, the dead calm of his voice sending a tremor down Kagome's spine. “I think it has something to do with a certain half-breed you go to school with.”

Her fear quickly flared into hot anger, and her previously fidgeting fingers curled into fists in her lap as her eyes narrowed. “Inuyasha has nothing to do with this, Kouga.” `I made sure of that,' she added mentally.

“No?” he asked, his voice rising a bit. His own eyes hardened, and he turned to face her more directly, placing a hand on the cushion separating them. “Let me ask you this: did Sango really take you home last night?”

Kagome fought to keep her features from showing her sudden nervousness. “Yes! Why, what are you saying?” she challenged, holding his stare and hoping beyond hope he wouldn't see through her.

Seemingly satisfied for the moment, Kouga nodded, his eyes softening a little. “Nothing. Forget it.” He leaned back a little and took a deep breath before continuing, still looking at her. “Kagome, let's talk about this. I don't know that you've thought this through.”

She fought the urge to scoff at his ignorance. “I have, Kouga. It has been on my mind for a while, but I wanted to be sure before… well, before we talked about it, I guess.”

His eyes grew restless as he shifted his position on the couch again, a little closer to her now. “Please, Babe, can we talk about this? I feel like this is coming out of nowhere!” he begged, his voice sounding much weaker, more submissive now than she had ever heard it before. He looked at the TV, noticing it was still on the news and reached for the remote to shut off the distraction.

As soon as the relative silence washed over her, Kagome shivered. It was too quiet now, even with Kouga's increasingly agitated voice. She took a slow, calming breath and let it out to relax herself, settling her eyes on the forgotten bourbon on the table, nothing left of the ice in the glass now but small, slowly vanishing slivers. It was better than looking at Kouga right now. “Th-this isn't coming out of nowhere. I told you, I've been thinking of it for a while, but --”

“And you didn't think it was necessary to bring to my attention?” he asked, his voice rising a little more. “That you wanted to break up? Come on, Kagome, I'm not an idiot. Admit to me that there is something else driving you to this.”

Knowing he was still referring to Inuyasha, she silently thanked the gods that she had discarded that notion earlier that day or else her resolve may have crumbled right then and there. “There's nothing else to it,” she insisted, her voice barely showing her confidence as she noticed he was staring her down. Shaking off her jitters, she again forced her eyes to stay on his. “This is just about you and me, Kouga, I swear. Come on, you know things haven't been so great with us in a really long time!” Resisting the urge to say they were never great, she swallowed her anxiety and put all her cards on the table. “We can't go on like this, Kouga. I'm sorry.”

The youkai's lower lip trembled for a moment as he stared at her silently, not unlike a scolded child, before he suddenly lunged and made a desperate grab for her hand, his movement too fast for her to dodge. Grasping her small hand in his larger, clawed one, he scooted closer to her on the sofa, his voice rising an unsettling octave. “Kagome, please! I don't want it to end like this. I love you so much!”

“Kagome, please! Don't you realize how much I love you? Please, don't leave me!”

Kagome gasped sharply as Hojo's voice rang in her head, his wide, dark eyes appearing in place of Kouga's lighter, narrower ones as the memory of that fateful night returned with a vengeance to the front of her mind. Shaking her head frantically to clear it, she tried to free her hand from Kouga's grasp. “I-I'm sorry, but you know I don't feel the same way. Please, let go of my hand….”

His grip tightened, refusing to release her as his eyes began to shine with emotion. “I'm sorry, Babe! I'm sorry for whatever it is I did, okay? Just…just please don't leave! I'll make it up to you, I swear it!”

“You didn't do anything wrong, Kouga!” she cried, her own tears threatening to spill from her eyes. “It's me. I'm the one who did something wrong by leading you on for so long! So I should be asking you to forgive me, not the other way around!” She winced at the feel of his claws digging into the back of her hand. She tugged a little harder, growing slightly frightened as his hand closed even more tightly around hers. “Let go, Kouga, please --”

“I know how you feel!” His voice was growing more desperate, more pleading with every passing second. “I know you don't love me, but why? Why haven't I ever been able to win your heart? Please, tell me!”

“But you don't love me! You've never loved me, Kagome!”

The girl whimpered as she was again transported back in time, sitting in a car in her mother's driveway with a boy whose innocence she had shattered with a conversation much like this one. Kagome closed her eyes and shook her head, willing the images away once more. “Kouga, please….” She opened her eyes again to see the wolf staring at her in misery. Nausea swarmed her stomach, and she suddenly felt as if she were in a fight for her own sanity. She pulled harder on her hand, small trails of blood smearing on her skin beneath his unrelenting fingers. “Please, you're hurting me! Let go!”

“I'll be lost without you!” he begged, his grip unforgiving. “Please, Babe, tell me what I need to do. I swear I'll do anything; just give me a chance, please!”

“Let go!” she screamed, the pain from his claws digging into her hand finally pushing her over the edge. He dropped her hand suddenly as if he had only just heard the request, and she clutched it to her chest as tears streamed freely down her cheeks. Between Kouga's heart-wrenching pleas and his refusal to release her hand, she had reached her breaking point. She looked away and toward the fireplace adjacent to her seat, knowing he was watching her with a pained expression as she sobbed uncontrollably. She couldn't do this. She had to get out. It was too much.

“Kagome, I'm sorry. Please, look at me.” His voice was softer now, but no less wounded.

She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head spastically, on the edge of hysterics. `Out. Out. Have to get out.'

His hand rested on her knee, and she jumped at the sudden, unwelcome contact. Turning wild eyes to him, she saw what she had known she would see in his eyes, and her heart cracked. “I'm sorry, Kagome. You're upset… why don't you stay with me tonight?”

Her sympathy wavered slightly with his appalling offer, but before she could protest, he squeezed her knee lovingly, desperately. “I swear, I'm not trying to do anything sexual. I just….” His lip trembled, provoking another sob to shake her whole body. “I just want to be with you, to spend some time with you. I'll sleep on the couch. I would just feel better knowing you were safe, here with me. Please, don't say no, Kagome,” he begged.

Her logic was going haywire as she held her injured hand in her lap and looked into his shining blue eyes. As much as his hand on her knee was revolting her, she somehow felt obligated to console him after hurting him so much. After all, he only wanted her to stay the night. Yes, it was something she had never done before, but if they weren't in the same bed, would it be so bad? He was promising no pressure, and maybe it really would make him feel better….

She blinked. What was she thinking? She had to get out! She stood abruptly, prompting his hand to fall from her knee. “I'm sorry, Kouga, but I have to go,” she croaked, her throat already sore from suppressing her emotion. Stepping quickly around the coffee table, she made for the door.

“Wait!” He jumped to his feet and ran in front of her, skidding to a stop between her and her escape. “Please, Kagome, just tell me we can work this out.”

She eyed him warily, suddenly feeling very cornered. “Move, Kouga,” she gritted out, her chin still quivering from the memories this night had flared up in her mind.

His shoulders slumped in resignation, and he gazed at her for a moment longer before surprisingly stepping aside to let her pass. Not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Kagome quickly pushed past him and flung the door open. She had one foot out, was tasting freedom, when she felt a clawed hand grip her left upper arm.

She impulsively shrieked in surprise and fear, turning back toward her would-be captor with her right hand in an instinctive tight fist, ready to swing, and stopped short at the steel determination suddenly sparking life into his eyes.

“I love you, Kagome,” he said, his voice wavering with emotion. “I know you don't love me, but I'll always love you, and I can't give you up. Not yet.”

Unable to come up with any sort of appropriate response, Kagome could only gape at him until he reluctantly released her arm. Before she found herself questioning him, she quickly turned and bolted toward her car. She flung herself into the seat and turned on the ignition, not even taking the time to buckle her seatbelt. She had to get away. Throwing the gear shift into reverse, she hurriedly backed out of his driveway, not willing herself to look at the youkai still standing in the open doorway. And without a second thought, she was gone, Kouga's house in her rear view mirror as she sped out of the cul-de-sac.

***

The wolf youkai relaxed his body and stood in his open front door with his hands in his pockets and watched as the green Camry tore off down his street into the muggy New Orleans night, a pensive scowl setting deep lines into his face. He hadn't really wanted to manipulate Kagome by using his knowledge of what that punk in high school did to her, but he hadn't much of a choice. Pulling his right hand from his pocket, he looked down at his claws, taking notice of Kagome's blood on the tips and the pads of his fingers. Oh, yes; he had heard her pleas to release her hand, and it broke his heart to have to get through to her in such a violent way, but he would never seriously hurt her, and it was all part of the strategy. A less than desirable strategy, but a necessary one nonetheless. He had realized right away what was happening as soon as he saw her on the porch, and he knew that if he wanted to secure any chance of working things out with her, he would need to buy some time, and this had been the only way to do it. At least it was nice to know those acting classes in college didn't go to waste.

Besides, the bitch had another thing coming if she thought he didn't see through her act.

He snorted, toeing the straw welcome mat in front of his door. `This isn't about Inuyasha, she says,' he thought derisively. `My ass.' His hackles rose at the reminder of the hanyou's recent presence in his woman's life. None of this bullshit had started until she started hanging out with that piece of shit, and there weren't enough coincidental possibilities in existence to make Kouga believe the half-breed had nothing to do with Kagome's behavior lately. Regardless, he knew he was in trouble if he didn't find a way to fix this soon.

Sighing, he waited until Kagome's tail lights were out of sight before turning and shutting the door. Padding across the floor toward the coffee table, he picked up his watered down bourbon and proceeded to the kitchen to dump it out. There would be no sleep for him tonight. He had a lot of thinking to do.

***

“Fuck, Sango, take it all….”

Miroku clenched his jaw and gazed up at the brown-haired beauty riding him like a cowgirl on her full-sized bed. Her head was tipped back, the sweat on her neck and breasts glistening in the soft moonlight that poured in through her open bedroom window. Lost in the pleasure, her lips parted, allowing throaty moans and gasps to escape her mouth as she bounced up and down on his lap. Her fingernails dug into the skin on his stomach, leaving angry welts in their wake, but he was far from complaining when such an explosive orgasm was just within reach.

“Damn, girl,” he ground out, the pressure welling deep inside him all over again. She had already expertly brought him to the edge twice without allowing him to finish, and he knew from experience it was going to be spectacular when he finally came. His hands palmed the cheeks of her backside, squeezing them without conscious thought as he met each fall of her hips with another deep thrust of his own. He watched her gorgeous full breasts bounce in front of him and longed to feel their weight in his hands, but he couldn't bring himself to release that wonderful ass. He licked his lips, feeling the pressure beginning to mount as he thrust up a little harder. “I'm gonna blow, baby….”

She groaned in response, her own implosion imminent by the feel of her muscles quaking around his dick as she picked up the pace.

He loved it when she was this lost, so immersed in the blinding hot pleasure that she was incapable of speech. Knowing how much it drove her wild, he started shooting off rapid-fire dirty talk. “Come on, baby girl, ride that cock. Get yourself off on me, get tight, baby. Come all over my dick. I want that pussy nice and wet for me. Come on, ride it, baby, fuck me with that tight little pussy. Fuck me hard, baby! Earn that come, you know you want it!”

“Miroku!” she cried shamelessly, her hands flying up to grip his shoulders as her body fell forward. “I… you… oh, God, I'm….”

He grinned arrogantly, then took advantage of the new proximity to capture a bouncing nipple in his mouth and sucked hard. `This'll do it, and just in time,' he thought, feeling the contractions beginning in his groin as she tightened up like a vice around him.

“Aaahhh!” she screamed, her eyes squeezed shut as she pounded herself up and down on his dick in fantastic release. The tingling deep inside him intensified by a thousand, lighting fireworks behind his eyelids as his balls shot off their contents in short, quick blasts. He shouted inarticulately as his orgasm finally took him, barely noticing the broken versions of his name echoing off the walls of the small bedroom as Sango cried out her own climax.

Thoroughly spent, he let his head drop onto the down pillow like a rock, panting and grinning like a damn fool. It never failed. As much ass as he had gotten in high school and during his first semester of college, no one compared to his Sango. The things she did to him, the way she commanded the pleasure from his body was like no other. She was his drug, and he'd been addicted for what would be three years this Christmas. His grin widened as his heartbeat began to slow.

`I'm going to marry this woman someday.'

“Miroku,” she breathed, her body still trembling from her orgasm as she dropped her head and kissed him soundly. He met her kiss head-on, pouring all of his love for her into it as his hands lovingly squeezed the firm globes of flesh still residing within their grasp.

She pulled away lethargically, lifting gingerly off of him and rolling toward his left onto her side. “Stop grabbing my ass, you pervert,” she mumbled, half-heartedly slapping his chest. Her sleepy tone belied her anger, and he couldn't help but chuckle at how she had effectively worn herself out.

“I can't help it, Love,” he cooed, brushing her bangs from her closing eyes as he lifted his other arm to rest under his head. “It's just so perfect in every way. Can you honestly blame me for wanting to touch perfection?”

Her lips pursed as she rolled away from him and curled into a ball on her left side, already on the verge of a deep sleep. “Hentai.”

Looking longingly at the curves now facing him that she had just so feebly told him to keep away from, Miroku eventually shook his head and snickered at his girlfriend's fiery attitude as he pulled his condom off, deftly knotting it and tossing it into the wastebasket near her bed. In truth, that attitude of hers had a lot to do with why he had so adamantly pursued her during their freshman marching season, as well as why he was so in love with her now. He knew that he would never be able to get away with too much with her, but surprisingly, he preferred it that way. Sango was a class-A firecracker in more ways than one, and she could easily keep him in line… hopefully for the rest of their lives, if he had any say in the matter.

Sighing happily with the contentment that only comes from great sex with one you love, Miroku began to roll over to spoon his girl when a loud buzzing noise suddenly sounded from her nightstand. Frowning as he turned back around, he saw that it was Sango's cell phone signaling an incoming call. Noticing it was almost midnight, he rolled over to face Sango again, intent on letting it ring, though he found himself curious as to who would be calling her so late, other than himself or Kagome.

`Shit, Kagome!' Sango had said during dinner earlier that Kagome was breaking up with Kouga tonight! Miroku bolted upright on the bed and snatched the phone off the nightstand, squinting in the dark at the bright display and confirming that it was indeed Kagome calling.

“Hey, Sango….” He turned toward her, noticing she was already fast asleep, snoring softly. He frowned, not wanting to wake her, but knowing she would want to hear from her cousin, especially under these circumstances.

`Bah. I'll let her sleep,' he decided, unlocking the phone and bringing it to his ear. “Hello? Kagome?” he said softly, trying not to wake his girlfriend.

“M-Miroku?”

“Kagome?& #8221; he said a little louder, immediately concerned by the choked-up tone of her voice. It sounded as if she had been crying. A lot. “Are you all right?”

“Miroku, I….” She burst into tears on the other end of the line.

“Kagome, what's wrong?” he asked urgently, swinging his legs off the bed and sitting up straight. “What happened?”

“I… Kouga… h-he….” Another sob sliced through the line, raising Miroku's ire at what Kouga possibly could have done to have upset her so much. “I tried to break up with him tonight.”

A dark eyebrow rose at her choice of words. “Tried? You tried to break up with him?” He frowned but kept his voice steady so as not to upset her more.

She sniffled. “I-I don't know what happened! I told him I thought we should break up, and he…h-he started getting all upset….”

“Upset?” Miroku's neck muscles tensed as suspicion rose concerning Kouga's motives. “What do you mean upset?”

She broke down into tears again, and it was then Miroku realized where she must be. “Kagome, are you driving right now?”

“Yeah, I'm on my way home,” she croaked between whimpers.

“Kagome, pull over! You shouldn't be driving when you're so upset like this!” he urged, his hand tightening into a fist on his knee. “You could get into an accident! Please, pull over and talk to me, okay? You need to settle down.”

“I'm okay,” she insisted. “But… will you still talk to me?”

“Of course.” He frowned, more than a little concerned for his good friend's safety. “Are you using your Bluetooth, at least?”

“Yeah.”

“All right,” he sighed, relaxing a little. At least she wasn't crying, driving, and holding a phone to her ear. “Now just relax a little and tell me what happened.”

“Okay.” She sniffled a little more before continuing. “I told him I wanted us to stop seeing each other, and he started freaking out.”

Miroku gritted his teeth. `Just like Hojo did. Kouga, you sick bastard,' he thought to himself, already onto the wolf's scheme. Taking a deep breath, he kept his voice even and calm. “Like what? How did he freak out?”

“Well, first he asked if I wanted to go for a drive, but I said no. I don't know what was up with that.”

Miroku did. Kagome had broken up with Hojo in his car, and that douchebag knew it. “Then what happened?”

“Well, he blamed Inuyasha at first, but then he started… he started getting all jittery a-and begging me not to leave him…” she said, her voice growing more agitated as she went on.

“Shh, calm down, Kagome. It's okay,” he soothed, wondering in the back of his mind if he still remembered how to get to Kouga's house. “Did you hold your ground?”

“I-I tried, but….” She took a shaky breath. “He asked me to stay with him for the night.”

“What?!” Miroku couldn't help but exclaim. Immediately realizing his transgression, he closed his eyes in a last-ditch effort to calm himself. “Sorry. He asked you to stay the night? Why?” he asked in a much calmer voice, his fingernails biting into his palms as he clenched his fist.

“H-he said he just wanted me to be in the house with him, to make sure I was safe… he promised to sleep on the couch. B-but I said no and got up to leave, and that's when….”

Miroku waited patiently for her to continue, holding his breath.

“That's when he told me he… th-that he wasn't letting me go.”

Miroku nearly cracked a tooth. He wasn't letting her go? As if it were his decision! “What did you say?” he calmly asked.

“…Nothing. I just left,” she eventually replied.

Relaxing slightly, he nodded. “That was probably for the best, Kagome. You might have egged him on if you fought him at that point.” He sighed, glancing at the clock again. “Where are you? Are you almost home?”

“I'm about a half hour out,” she said, sounding much less tense now.

“Okay,” he said, rubbing his eyes. “You want to talk to Sango?”

“No, that's all right. I'll talk to her when I get there. Are you two at our apartment?”

“Yeah.” He looked back at his girlfriend, noticing she was still asleep. That woman could sleep through a hurricane. Turning forward again, he squinted his eyes, searching the dark floor for his boxers. “You want to keep talking until you get here? We don't have to talk about that anymore; whatever you want.”

“I'm fine. I'll see you in a little bit.” She paused. “…Thank you, Miroku.”

He smiled genuinely. “Of course, Kagome. You know I love you.”

She giggled, a pleasant sound to his ears. “You're such a flirt.”

Miroku chuckled, bringing a hand instinctively to his chest. “Kagome, you misunderstand me!” he said defensively.

“Yeah, yeah,” she replied, still laughing. “'Bye, Miroku.”

He smiled, thankful that he could help the girl he thought of as a sister, even if it was just temporarily. “Later, Kagome.” Ending the call, he set the phone back on the nightstand, scowling in the dark. This was not good. He'd always got the impression that the affection in that relationship was one-sided, but he had no idea how obsessive Kouga could be. Miroku had never seen such a neurotic side to him, and he had to wonder if perhaps the wolf had everyone fooled. Just how far would he go to keep Kagome within his grasp?

And then there was Inuyasha. Miroku shuddered. He didn't even want to think what would happen when he caught wind of what happened. Inuyasha was already developing serious feelings for Kagome, whether he would admit to them or not, and that kiss he laid on her the night before had only complicated matters if Sango's claims had any validity to them.

He sighed, finally spotting his discarded boxers on the floor. Snatching them up, he stood and cracked his neck before pulling them on. `Might as well make some coffee or something,' he thought. `Sango is going to want to talk Kagome's ear off when she gets here. Maybe I should tell her now and try to convince her to tread gently when Kagome gets home.' Deciding that would probably be best for all involved, he turned and kneeled on the bed, gently shaking her bare shoulder. “Sango? Wake up, Love.”

She grunted, rolling onto her stomach in sleepy protest. “Not again, Miroku,” she grumbled, her voice muffled by the pillow. “I'm too tired. Just go rub one out in the bathroom or something.”

Blushing in spite of himself, Miroku shook her a little more insistently. “It's not that,” he said. “It's Kagome. She's on her way home from Kouga's.”

That got through to her. Turning her head toward him, she frowned. “Kagome?” she asked, the drowsiness quickly fading from her voice.

“Yes.” He patted her butt a couple of times and rose to his feet again, looking for his jeans. “She'll be here in a little while, but maybe you and I should talk first.”

***

Inuyasha looked at the clock. Almost one-thirty in the morning.

He growled as he flattened out another cardboard box and threw it in the pile by the door. Having been worried about Kagome all night, he had given up on doing homework hours ago and had started unpacking what was left of the boxes from his move, which was still almost all of them. Okay, so he hadn't unpacked the majority of his stuff yet. After all, he had had much more important things on his mind in the past month, most of them having to do with a certain raven-haired cellist who had far too much mouth on her.

A small smile came to his face--his first of the night. The woman had almost immediately stolen his heart, and while he had vehemently denied it at first, there was nothing that could convince him otherwise now. Kagome was always on his mind; she had been since he first saw her, standing there in the hallway of the Music Building with her hands on her hips, telling him off with everything she had in her for “staring” into her practice room. He chuckled. `What a wench.

`…But she's my wench now.'

And then his frown returned full-force. That fucking wolf had a lot of nerve calling her a bitch the night before. Sure, Inuyasha had done it back when they first met, several times, but that was different. That was banter; this was… wrong. Kouga's little remark was insulting, degrading, and smacked of ownership, and that was something Inuyasha would not put up with again, not toward Kagome.

`Let that asshole try some shit like that again,' he thought to himself, ripping the tape off another box and flinging it to the side as he entertained fantasies of a particularly violent nature featuring the wolf and himself.

Sighing, he glanced back at the clock. One-forty. Why hadn't she called yet? Was she still at his house?

Foregoing the box full of blu rays, Inuyasha grunted his frustration and cast about for his phone, finally spotting it next to his keys by the door. He picked it up and hit the speed dial he had set for her earlier that morning, then listened as the phone rang. And rang. And rang, until her voicemail picked up. He growled and ended the call. Where was she?

Growling, he turned the phone over in his hand and leaned against the wall, his eyes out of focus. Would she still be with him this late? What time did she go there, anyway? Or did she decide not to go and was afraid to tell Inuyasha? He blanched. Maybe… maybe she decided to stay with him. What if she was with him now, in his house, maybe watching TV, or maybe….

He shook his head. No way. There was no lie in her eyes, her voice, or her scent when she said she wanted to be with Inuyasha; she had definitely intended on breaking up with Wolf Shit tonight. But what if something went wrong? What if she got into a car accident?

Or what if that fucker did something to hurt her?

He didn't even try to repress his snarl. If Kagome was hurt, that would be bad enough, but if that dickhead had anything to do with it…

`He will die.'

Hitting her number again on his phone, Inuyasha made a quick decision: if she didn't answer this time, he was heading over to her apartment, and if she wasn't there, then he was going to do a little detective work. It couldn't be that hard to find out where the little shit lived.

“Hello?”

Inuyasha started, not having expected Sango to answer Kagome's phone. “Uh, Sango? Is Kagome there?”

“Inuyasha?” she replied, her tone hesitant. After a brief pause, she spoke again. “Uh, yeah, Kagome's here, but she's asleep.”

Inuyasha blew the air out of his lungs, relieved that she was home. “Is she all right?” he asked hurriedly, not at all embarrassed at the anxiety in his voice given the situation.

When she didn't answer right away, his left ear twitched, a sure indication of his growing agitation. “Sango. Is she all right?” he asked more firmly.

She seemed to hesitate again before finally answering, “She's fine, Inuyasha. She was just tired from the drive to New Orleans and back. She went to bed when she got home.”

He frowned. Granted, he had only known Sango for about a month, but he could tell by her voice that she was holding something back. “Sango,” he growled leadingly.

“I'm telling you, everything is fine,” she insisted, sounding more frustrated than he would have guessed she would be with him. “Look, I'm sure you can talk to her tomorrow, all right? In case you haven't noticed, it's late, and I have an early lesson tomorrow.”

He narrowed his eyes, the claws of his hand on the wall peeling up ribbons of white paint. Something was definitely up. “So why are you up so late? Why did you answer Kagome's phone?” he asked, daring her to lie to him.

“Because this is this second time you've called and her phone is loud as hell, all right?” she shot back impressively. “Kagome left her phone on the dining room table, and my room is closer to it, so it woke me up and not her. Now if the inquisition is over, why don't you chill the fuck out and go to bed, Yash! I know you have class tomorrow morning, too!”

He blinked. “Uh, okay,” he conceded reluctantly. “Just as long as Kagome's okay.”

She sighed heavily. “She's fine. Now if you don't mind….”

“Right. `Night, Sango,” he muttered before hanging up. He stared at the phone in his hand, wondering what had crawled up Sango's ass for her to go off like that. Surely she wasn't that upset from being woken up. Then again…. He shuddered. That woman could be downright scary sometimes.

Rubbing his hand down his face, he dropped his cell near his keys again and shut off the light before heading toward his bedroom, once again leaving his unpacking for another day. He supposed he could just talk to Kagome the next day about what had happened. His instincts were telling him that something was amiss, but for now, he was satisfied to know that at least she had made it home safely.

Making it to his bed, he turned on the bedside lamp and pulled his shirt over his head, throwing it into the overflowing clothes hamper near the closet. He plopped onto his back on the bed and folded his hands under his head, staring at the ceiling. Yup, something was definitely not right; he could feel it in his gut. Sango had really done nothing to calm his anxiety, either, but he knew she wouldn't lie to him about Kagome being home, so at least that part was true. Plus, if she was hurt in any way, he was sure Sango would have told him, so no worries there, either. So what was bothering him? Why couldn't he shake this feeling that something wasn't right with her?

He sighed, reaching to turn off the lamp switch and taking note of the time. Two o'clock. Flicking the switch, he blinked in the sudden darkness and resumed staring at the ceiling. It looked as though he was in for another sleepless night.