InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Of Strings and Kevlar ❯ In the Dark ( Chapter 19 )

A quick note: try to keep in mind in this chapter that Kagome is a bit mud-brained when it comes to Kouga and their relationship. This is mainly due to her never having had a “normal” romantic relationship, so to speak (i.e., has never really had strong romantic feelings for a guy before Inuyasha), and also because of her traumatic experience with Hojo. Specifically, the problem is she still feels like she is attached to Kouga because he is more or less screwing with her brain, using what he knows of her past to manipulate her. Yes, she has some issues, but then again, who doesn't? And she's hiding these feelings from Inuyasha because she knows he'll go off the deep end if he finds out that she and Kouga are still connected in any way.

*********************************

The night was hot and sticky, as it typically was in southern Louisiana early fall, especially after a thunderstorm. It was the third quarter of the football game, and despite field conditions because of the rain earlier, LSU was leading thanks to a power show by the defense, and the crowd was going nuts. But then again, the crowd was always nuts in Tiger Stadium.

It was during this quarter that Tiger Band always took their break to grab some food or visit the restrooms, though most of the band generally remained in the stands so they wouldn't miss any of the game. Kagome usually stayed as well, being an avid football fan herself, and went crazy for her team with everyone else.

This night, however, was very different from most nights. Amid the various band members still in the stands, there was indeed something occurring that had acquired her full attention, and it had absolutely nothing to do with football.

`He's out of his damn mind,' Kagome thought with a scowl from her place in the stands as one of the dance team girls openly flirted with Inuyasha not four rows down. Over the heads of the few people between Kagome and flirtatious pair, she watched as the hussy batted her over-blackened lashes at him and laughed girlishly at whatever it was he was saying, and by the looks of it, he was eating it up. He was facing away from Kagome, but she could tell by the way his ears moved atop his head that he had a big, proud, shit-eating grin on his face. As if it took anything more than a well-placed burp to make one of those dingbats laugh.

Taking a deep breath in an attempt to dampen her jealousy before she made a fool out of herself, Kagome looked down to her feet for a moment and tried to come up with a reason for Inuyasha's actions. Before the game, when she had come out of the bathroom in the Percussion Annex with Sango, she had been mildly surprised to see that he had already gone downstairs to the main level. But then again, they did have a game to get ready for, so she assumed that's what he had been doing.

But when she and Sango had gone downstairs as well, upon seeing her, Inuyasha had turned away before she could even approach him. He had even managed to avoid her after warm-up and before they took the field for pre-game. What the hell was his problem? Was he still mad at her for her outburst earlier? Hadn't they just spent the entirety of a power outage making up with their faces fused together?

At the reminder of that, she felt the blood rush to her face and bit her lip. Good God, what had come over her? One minute they were merely sharing an innocent kiss, and the next, her shirt was off and his mouth was on her… on her….

A feminine laugh floating over the crowd noise brought Kagome out of her reverie, and she looked up toward the source of the sound only to have her jaw clench painfully at the sight before her. The bitch was now touching Inuyasha's shoulder as she laughed, and that asshole was doing nothing to stop her. In fact, he was quite obviously enjoying the contact, evident from the broadened smile on his face as he looked down at the girl and they shared a laugh. With direct eye contact.

Oh, that was it. That. Was IT.

Kagome set her jaw and made her way to the left for the aisle steps, squeezing her way past the few people in her row who were thankfully paying little attention to her. With the game going the way it was, there was too much excitement on the field for her to draw any unnecessary attention to herself, not that that would have stopped her, of course. There were just some things that took priority over maintaining one's dignity, and another chick shamelessly fawning all over her hanyou--and him allowing her to--was one of those things.

Making it to the aisle, Kagome made quick work of the steps, nearly tripping over her own feet in her angry haste, until she reached the row where Inuyasha and the tramp were still flirting with each other. He was looking at field again, even as he smiled and continued talking, and Tramp still had her groping hand on his shoulder and was facing him--and away from Kagome.

Inuyasha was explaining what was happening in the game, and she seemed to be hanging on his every word as he spoke, nodding her head eagerly and brazenly gripping his toned shoulder as he pointed to different areas of the field. Apparently, the concept of four downs was about as comprehensible as molecular physics because she kept asking him for more detail… or, maybe she was just playing dumb to boost his ego. Kagome rolled her eyes. As if that needed any boosting.

She was almost upon them when she saw Inuyasha's ears twitch and his nostrils flare, and suddenly, his smile was gone and his football lecture was over, but he remained facing forward. Kagome narrowed her eyes, realizing that he knew she was there but was intent on ignoring her.

`Hmph. If he thinks I'm going to let him do that, he's in for a rude awakening.'

Kagome pursed her lips and stopped just short of running the bitch over, cocking her hip to one side and crossing her arms. “Excuse me,” she ground out as politely as she could.

Tramp turned around, her blond curls swinging around her head, with a look of surprise on her face. Once she saw Kagome--or once she looked down and saw Kagome, rather, since she was a good three inches taller than her--she gave the cymbalist a once over and her painted lips curled into a snide grin. “Yes?” she drawled patronizingly, but not turning to face her fully. And that fucking hand was still on Inuyasha's shoulder.

`Bitch.' Kagome smiled back coldly and nodded her head toward Inuyasha, who had still not acknowledged her presence. “I need to speak with him. Alone,” she emphasized, doing her best to remain civil for the time being.

Tramp scoffed. “Alone? You do realize you're at a football game, right?” Before Kagome could tell her to go to hell, the dancer suddenly frowned, and then her perfectly sculpted eyebrows rose as she finally removed her hand from Inuyasha's shoulder to turn to face Kagome completely, the snide look gone in favor of a genuine smile. “Oh, wait, I know you! Aren't you dating that cute wolf demon? The older guy, drives a Mustang?”

That got Inuyasha's attention. “No, she's not fucking dating him!” he loudly answered, shocking Tramp into turning to face him again. “And she's right; she does need to speak with me.” His eyes remained fixated on Kagome as he spoke, finally turning to face her and mirroring her angrily crossed arms.

“Oh,” said the Tramp, looking at Kagome again with a rather scolded expression. She took a small step back, smiling hesitantly at Inuyasha. “Well, I guess I'll talk to you later then, Yasha.”

“Don't you call him that!” Kagome snapped without thinking.

A number of people within the surrounding area turned toward her at her jealous outburst. Inuyasha said nothing but gave her a very knowing smirk. Kagome scowled, immediately regretting her loss of composure, and attempted to save some face. “I mean….” She looked from Inuyasha to Tramp again, struggling for the words she wanted. “…Oh, just get the hell out of here,” she finally blurted out, waving her hand dismissingly. The dignity was already gone; no use trying to save it now.

Tramp's mouth opened, but she said nothing as a look of understanding suddenly washed over her face, and she carefully stepped around Kagome to make her exit. She watched Tramp leave and fought the urge to trip her as she passed.

“So,” Inuyasha started, immediately drawing her attention back to him and the situation at hand. His arms were still crossed, but now he was looking pretty pleased with himself as he nodded toward Kagome. “You wanted to say something to me?”

Oh, he wanted to be slapped. “You ass!” she hissed, carefully maintaining a safe distance from him. He had the distinct ability to distract her from her thoughts when he was too close to her, and she wasn't about to let this go without a verbal smack-down. “Just what in the hell do you think you were doing, letting her paw all over you? Did you already get tired of me? Are you moving on to the first slut in leotard that comes on to you?”

“Feh!” he countered smartly, his eyes flashing with sudden anger. “It's no better than you! What the hell are you up to with that stinking piece of wolf shit?”

“What?” she shrieked, panic abruptly setting in. `Does he know that I still have to break up with Kouga? How?' “Wh-what are you talking about? I'm not up to anything!”

“Oh, yeah?” His frown deepened as he closed the distance between them. “How about this: `Great sex last night!' What the fuck is that, Kagome?”

“What?!” Her jaw dropped in shock as she took a step back. Where on earth did he hear that? That was what Kouga said when….

*~*~*~*
“Well, that was some great sex. Can't wait to do it again!”
*~*~*~*

Rage boiled her blood. Kouga, that asshole! Infuriated and sufficiently mortified, she directed her ire at Inuyasha. “Where did you hear that?!”

Her question was answered when he reached into the trouser pocket of his marching uniform and pulled out a cell phone. Her cell phone. “That fucktard texted you. And that's what he said. Care to explain?”

All at once, Kagome felt both relieved and enraged; she could explain the text, but what was Inuyasha doing with her phone? “First of all,” she started, leveling him with a heavy glare, “how did you get my cell phone?”

“You dropped it when you left me high and dry in the Annex loft. Remember? Sango was coming upstairs, and you didn't have a shirt on --”

“Yes, I remember!” she cried, frantically waving her hands in front of him. `Say it a little louder. I don't think the players on the bench heard you!' She shook her head and sighed. “It's not what it sounds like. It's something completely idiotic that Kouga started saying to me a long time ago --”

“What does it mean?” he interrupted through gritted teeth, pocketing the phone once again.

“I'll tell you if you shut the hell up for a minute!” she shouted, and then sighed again, her cheeks growing warm because of what she was about to reveal to him. Her fingers played with the bottom hem of her uniform jacket anxiously. “I told you, it's stupid. It was maybe a year ago, and I guess Kouga was getting frustrated because we hadn't… because we hadn't done anything yet,” she emphasized meaningfully, hoping he would catch on. “And it was just something he said to me one night when he was dropping me off.” She looked down at her feet again, now thoroughly embarrassed. Kouga was such a jerk. “We were in his car, kissing, and --”

“Do I really want to hear this shit?” Inuyasha spat suddenly, his ears lying flat against his head.

“Hey, you're the one who asked!” Kagome shot back, meeting his glare once again. “Do you want to know what it means or not?”

“I don't want to hear about his hands being all over you! In fact, leave anything out that involves him touching you in any way.”

“His hands weren't all over me,” she mimicked, rolling her eyes, “but whatever. Anyway, it was getting late, and he asked if he could come up and… well, he asked if… if we could….”

“Yeah, I get it,” he growled, his eyes darkening with possessive rage. “And what did you say?”

“I told him no!” she said incredulously, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. Inuyasha frowned, but nodded, so she went on. “And I guess he was starting to get frustrated with always hearing `no' from me, so he got sarcastic and told me goodnight, and he said, “Well, that was some great sex. Can't wait to do it again!”” she mocked in a rather silly-sounding deep voice, looking away from Inuyasha. She shook her head, suddenly finding that she was fighting tears at the unpleasant memory. “I was so mad at him. I got out of the car and slammed the door in his face, and I wouldn't speak to him for days.” She swallowed and blinked a few times, remembering how mortified and hurt she had been. “Anyway, I eventually answered his call, and he apologized. But then, he still said it sometimes as a joke, but I knew he really meant it on some level. I told him to stop, and he hasn't said it for a long time, but he still thinks it's funny.” She laughed humorlessly, still looking away, and added quietly, “I hate it.”

The ongoing crowd noise suddenly erupted, startling Kagome into remembering that she and Inuyasha weren't alone. She took a quick glance around and much to her relief, nobody seemed to be paying any attention to them. LSU had just scored another touchdown, and if the full band had been in the stands at the time, they would have been breaking into “Fight for LSU,” and Kagome would have been yelling and screaming with the rest of the drumline as they played. But now, she managed little more than a smile as she watched the kicking team come on the field. Lately, this is how it was when she thought of Kouga and how things had been between them. She had come to realize that though he clearly cared for her, his ways of showing it had sometimes been rather cruel. Deep down, it was always something she knew, but maybe she had willfully ignored it. Maybe she really did have issues when it came to men, like Sango was always trying to tell her.

Kagome sighed and looked at Inuyasha, noticing he still looked angry. She somehow knew, however, that she was no longer the person he was angry with. “Look, it's not a big deal, all right?” she finally said. “I mean, you really didn't think I had sex with him last night, did you?”

“Of course, I didn't. I would have smelled it.” He scowled, but uncrossed his arms, looking like he wanted to reach for her but was holding back. “I just wanted to know what it meant, and now that I know, I want to know why the hell he said it. You're not with him anymore, and I don't like him saying shit like that to you. In fact, he shouldn't even be talking to you at all.”

“I -- I know,” she stammered, looking away guiltily. “But, you know, even if you couldn't smell it, I hope that you would trust me. I mean, it's not like I actually want to sleep with him,” she added quickly.

“Feh! I know that!” This time, he did reach for her, taking her hand and pulling her a little closer so she could hear his lowered voice over the noise around them. She chanced a look into his eyes and he intertwined his fingers with hers. “And I do trust you. I know you're with me now, not him, and I know you wouldn't cheat on me.”

Kagome blushed, the guilt quickly building inside her. She pushed it down. “Then why were you so cold to me right before the game? Why were you mad at me?” Her eyes suddenly widened, her voice rising angrily. “And why did you flirt with that fucking tramp?”

Inuyasha held her hand tighter to keep her from pulling it away. “Hey, I wasn't flirting with her! I just didn't stop her from flirting with me,” he defended weakly. “I was pissed at you. I didn't like that fucker texting you, especially what he said, and….” He trailed off and glowered as he looked away, his jealousy palpable. “Sorry.”

“Hmph.” Kagome narrowed her eyes, noticing he was still squeezing her hand. “I can only imagine how you would have reacted if I let some guy flirt with me like that.”

When Inuyasha's response was an angry pout, she huffed again. “And you act like I can stop Kouga from texting me! What am I supposed to do, change my phone number? It's really not that serious, is it?”

“A new number sounds like a pretty good idea,” he grumbled.

Kagome rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Can I have my phone back now?”

He shot her an indecisive look before releasing her hand to dig into his pocket. Pulling out the phone, he held it out to her, pulling back slightly when she reached for it. He smirked.

She growled and swiped it out of his hands. “Ass.”

“Wench.”

Ignoring him, she unlocked her phone and hit the text icon, deciding it was probably time to set a password on it to avoid any more hanyou snooping, whether she had anything to hide or not. She peered at the screen and frowned; the only text from Kouga was the one he sent her earlier about going to dinner after the game tonight. “I don't see another text from him,” she commented, looking curiously up at him.

He shrugged. “I deleted it.”

“You did?” Kagome eyed him suspiciously. “Why?”

“What do you mean, `why?'” he shot back defensively, crossing his arms. “All he said was the stupid sex shit. Oh, and that he wouldn't be taking you to dinner tonight.” His eyes narrowed. “As if that had a shot in hell of happening in the first place. I saw the message he sent you earlier, too. He sure does make a lot of assumptions, doesn't he? He's acting like you two are still together!” Inuyasha shook his head and looked toward the field. “He has some fucking balls, Kagome.”

Her expression softened. She really needed to clear everything up with Kouga, and soon. If Inuyasha caught wind that they weren't officially broken up yet, it could get really bad, really fast. “Inuyasha,” she started, reaching for his hand again and smiling when he let her take it. “I'm only interested in you.”

His eyes met hers again, gold locking with brown, and he gave her a half smile. “Keh,” he muttered, visibly relaxing.

She smiled more brightly, feeling like things were all right between them again. The quarter was almost over, so it would be time to return to their places in the stands soon, but she wanted to hold his hand just a little longer. It still gave her butterflies to hold hands with him, and she wasn't quite ready to let go of that feeling at the moment.

And she only wondered for the briefest of seconds if there was something else in the text message Kouga had sent, the one that Inuyasha had deleted before she'd seen it. Shrugging it off, she fell back into the excitement of the game and was more than happy to put the text fiasco behind her.

She didn't see the scowl on Inuyasha's face as he contemplated the entirety of the deleted message.

***

“Oh, my God, I'm so wasted.”

“Yeah, we need some food. Ooh, I want some fried pickles.”

“Ooh, yeah, that sounds good. And some alligator.”

“And some more Jager Bombs!”

“Well, duh! Bartender, can we get a menu? Oh! And another round of shots, please!”

Miroku raised an eyebrow as he watched his girlfriend and her cousin get adequately plastered. The off-campus bar they were in had a live band tonight--as they did most weekends, especially after football games--and the place was packed, so getting a table was out of the question. It didn't matter, because with the way the girls were throwing them back, he didn't think they would have tolerated sitting for very long anyway. They had already danced through most of the band's second set. `With each other, that is,' he added mentally with a sigh. `God forbid they want to dance with us at all.' At any rate, it was nice to see they were on speaking terms with one another again. He'd have to ask Sango how that happened once she was sober.

Inuyasha had been the one to suggest going to Walk-On's to tie a few on after LSU's win, but he'd surprisingly only had one beer since they'd arrived over two hours ago. Fairly uncharacteristic of the hanyou, but Miroku hadn't thought much of it. Maybe he planned on actually not driving home buzzed like he was accustomed to doing.

Speaking of Inuyasha, he had a pretty mischievous grin on his face, and though the girls were too busy celebrating to notice, Miroku had spotted it as soon as it made its appearance, right around the first round of Jager Bombs. `Which he had suggested,' Miroku suddenly remembered, frowning slightly. As Kagome clinked Sango's shooter, he nodded to the hanyou. “Hey, man. What's up with you?”

Inuyasha lifted his eyes away from Kagome and just smiled some more, taking a sip from the beer bottle he'd been nursing since they arrived. “What do you mean? I'm having a good time.” Somebody behind him took that opportunity to bump into him, making him nearly spill some of his beer. Inuyasha sneered and looked over his shoulder as the cute brunette apologized for the collision, clumsily slurring her words. He frowned, but straightened his face back into a transparent smile when he met Miroku's eyes again. “See? Good times.”

Miroku shook his head, watching out of the corner of his eye as Sango and Kagome looked over the bar menu. “Naw, man. You're acting weird. Why aren't you drinking?”

Holding his beer bottle at eye level, Inuyasha gave him a tolerant look. “What the hell do you think this is? Apple juice?”

The rock band on stage started another song at that point, so Miroku had to settle for Inuyasha's half-assed explanation for now, but he knew something was going on. He may not have known the hanyou for very long, but he'd known him long enough to recognize when he was up to something.

“Miroku!” Sango shouted to be heard over the blaring music. She grabbed his hand, awkwardly pulling him closer. “Are you going to eat anything?”

Forgetting about Inuyasha's antics, he smiled. He couldn't help it, and she should have known better. “Of course, I'll be eating, Babycakes. You denied me my meal before the game, but I plan to gorge myself later tonight to make up for it.”

Her brows furrowed for a moment, her mind obviously far too fogged to grasp his meaning right away, and then her beautiful eyes widened comically, and he couldn't help but laugh when she slapped his arm--hard. “You pervert!” she shrieked, losing her balance and stumbling into Kagome. In turn, Kagome, who had been in the process of grabbing Inuyasha's beer bottle out of his hands to steal a sip, fell into him and dropped the bottle. Inuyasha caught both girls as they fell into him, barely keeping the three of them on their feet as the bottle shattered on the floor, sending the little bit of beer left in it across the wooden planks.

Miroku shook his head, smiling ruefully as he set his own beer on the bar. “I think that's our cue to go home,” he announced loudly, gently pulling a still-recovering Sango away from Kagome and steadying her against him. She giggled drunkenly and slouched in his arms, raising her hands to brace against his chest. He chuckled and looked toward the other two. “I don't think these beautiful ladies are up for anything more than a ride home. Shall I follow you to their apartment?”

Inuyasha, who had also been laughing at the girls' drunkenness, suddenly grew serious. He looked from Miroku to Kagome, and put his hands firmly on her hips to steady her on her feet. “Kagome, why don't you and Sango hit the bathroom before we leave? If you're going to throw up, it's not going to be in my car.”

To Miroku's shock, Kagome merely laughed and nodded, pulling away from him and grabbing a protesting Sango by the shoulders and dragging her off to the ladies' room. `Wow. She must really be drunk to let him say that,' Miroku thought to himself as he watched them stumble away. Reaching into his back pocket, he faced his friend once more, noticing how he, too, was watching the retreating females, but with a very somber expression. He sighed and pulled out his wallet. “Now you gonna tell me what's going on?” he yelled over the music.

Inuyasha's frown deepened as he threw a few twenties on the bar. “Listen, Miroku,” he said, leaning in close to still be heard over the band, but not by anyone else. “You need to take Sango to your dorm tonight. Don't take her to their apartment, all right?”

“Why?” He threw enough money down to cover himself and Sango and put his wallet away. His eyes narrowed slightly at the hanyou's possible motives. “Where are you taking Kagome?”

“My place, where else?” Inuyasha answered with a shrug that was far too indifferent to have any sexual implications behind it. His amber eyes scanned the area near the bathrooms, clearly on the lookout for the girls' return. “And since when do you need a reason to take Sango back to your place anyway? You two are like rabbits.”

“Hey, are you going to tell me what the fuck is going on or not?” Miroku demanded, growing uncharacteristically irritated with the secrecy. “Why can't they spend the night in their own apartment? Is there something I need to know?” Miroku may not have always had the most honorable of intentions when it came to women, but he loved Sango and would protect her with his life, and something about Inuyasha's behavior was telling him something was wrong. “Are they in danger or something? You'd better tell me, or I swear --”

“Just relax, all right? There is no danger, exactly….” Inuyasha trailed off, sighing heavily and taking one last look toward the restrooms. “Okay, look. That mangy wolf is coming to the apartment tomorrow to take Kagome to brunch, and I don't want her there to meet him. That shithead can't be trusted. I know he hurt her before.”

Miroku relaxed considerably, but frowned. He remembered the scratches on Kagome's hands when she came home from New Orleans the previous Sunday night, and he, too, wanted her to stay away from the wolf. “So what does that have to do with Sango?”

Inuyasha shrugged casually. “I just figure it saves her from having to explain to him where Kagome is. If he gets pissed, I don't want Sango near him, either.”

`Damn right,' Miroku thought, clenching his fists. Still, something with Inuyasha's plan seemed off. “So Kouga's coming to the apartment tomorrow, and Kagome is going to let you hide her at your place? Somehow, I find that hard to believe.”

The red creeping up on Inuyasha's cheeks belied his nonchalance. “Yeah, well, she doesn't exactly know he's coming,” he mumbled, stepping out of the way of a group of people stumbling up to the bar.

Despite his lowered voice, Miroku heard him clearly, and followed him the few steps he had taken. “Then the question is, how do you know he's coming?”

When he didn't answer right away, instead opting for stuffing his clawed hands into his pockets and looking away irritably, Miroku just shook his head, having an idea of where this was going. “Why do I get the feeling you're playing with fire?”

“Feh! That wolf is the one playing with fire, thinking he can just show up for no fucking reason and take Kagome out.” His angry eyes met Miroku's briefly before looking away again, and he sighed in resignation. “She dropped her phone earlier, and I picked it up. She had a new text message from him, and I might have read it and deleted it before giving it back to her.”

Miroku frowned, but could say nothing on the invasion of privacy given the circumstances. “Did he say anything besides the brunch thing?” he asked.

He frowned as he took his phone out of his pocket. “I forwarded the message to my phone before deleting it off of hers.” Pressing a few buttons, he then handed the phone to Miroku. “Fucker,” he added angrily.

Nodding in agreement, Miroku looked at the screen.

From: Wench

He looked at the hanyou, one eyebrow raised. “Wench?”

Inuyasha's ears flattened to his head and he growled a warning. “Watch it, prick.”

Chuckling, Miroku went back to the message.

From: Wench
Fwd: Sorry babe, I won't be able to take you out tonight after all. Got swamped at work. Let's do brunch tomorrow -- I'll pick you up around 10. Great sex last night! :) I love you!

“Ooh.” Miroku grimaced and handed the phone back to Inuyasha. “You know that sex line isn't really about sex, right?”

“She told me.” Inuyasha put the phone back in his pocket and scowled. “I asked her about it, but I just left out the part about picking her up. She won't be there anyway, so there's no reason for her to know about it.”

“Wait. She knows you looked at her messages?” Miroku asked incredulously.

“Yeah.”

“Wow. Still have your balls?”

Inuyasha made a show of patting his crotch to check. “Surprisingly, yes.”

“Then consider yourself lucky,” Miroku advised with a chuckle, but suddenly nodded as a realization struck him. “Oh, that's why you got her drunk. She wouldn't let you take her to your place to stay tonight if she was sober.”

Inuyasha looked like he was about to confirm his thoughts when another group of drunks barreled their way between and around the two of them. The hanyou growled as he was all but knocked to the side, and shot them a murderous glare before crossing his arms over his chest. “Dammit, what's taking them so long? I want to get the hell out of here.”

“You sure you're not just eager to get Kagome to your place so you can take advantage of her?” Miroku teased, knowing it would irritate his friend.

“F-feh!” he retorted, apparently deciding he'd had enough of Miroku's company and strode forward through the crowded bar toward the restrooms. Miroku could only hope he had enough sense to not barge into the ladies' room and bellow for Kagome.

Still, based off of Inuyasha's stammered response, Miroku was confident he had no ill intentions toward the inebriated cellist. In the little time in which he'd gotten to know the hanyou, he had discovered the while brash and easily angered, Inuyasha was a man of honor. Though it was clear to anybody with eyes that he and Kagome were hot for each other, he knew she was a virgin, and Miroku was confident that he would no sooner take advantage of her while she was drunk than he would jump in front of a speeding bus. The verbal confirmation he had just given Miroku was just a bonus. Plus, it was just damn entertaining to get a rise out of him.

Yet the grounds for Inuyasha's plan was disturbing, Miroku admitted to himself as he, too, began to weave his way through the crowd to retrieve his girlfriend. Why was Kouga trying to take Kagome out to brunch? Was Sango right? Was the wolf really that dazed and confused to think that he and Kagome were still together?

`But if that's the case, that's even more of a reason for Kagome to stay away from him,' he thought as he spotted Sango stumbling out of the restroom. `That's one thing I am certain of.' Pushing the thoughts out of his head for the time being, he smiled as he grabbed the hands of his beloved, catching her by surprise since she was watching the floor as she walked. “There you are, Beautiful. Ready to go? Where's Kags?”

Sango's eyes were glassy, and she didn't seem to understand the question. “What? Wh-who? Go… go where?” she slurred, even as she fell against him giggling. “Did you see Kagome? I think she…she's still in the….”

Miroku raised an eyebrow. It was definitely time to go home. “She's still in the bathroom?”

Sango slowly pulled back, holding onto his shirt with both hands, and gave him a confused look. “No, she….” She blinked and shook her head. “Wait, who?”

He sighed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. If she lost track of Kagome, then she was beyond wasted. Scanning the room with careful eyes, Miroku was just about to consider locking Sango in his car while he searched for her cousin when he spotted the missing half of their group among the mass of people on the dance floor. And he stopped for just a minute because he wasn't sure he believed what he was seeing.

Inuyasha and Kagome on the dance floor, engaging in what could only be classified as fully clothed, vertical sex. Her back was against his chest, her eyes closed and her lips parted as he planted his hands on her hips and ran his mouth down the side of her neck, all while grinding into each other to the beat of the music still playing.

Miroku just grinned and chuckled to himself as he led Sango toward the door. Inuyasha's willpower was certainly going to be tested tonight. If he was nothing else, he was a glutton for punishment.

“Did…. Hey, did you find K'gome?”

“Yeah,” Miroku replied, pulling Sango a little tighter against him so they could both fit through the door leading outside. “She's fine. Now let's get you to bed.”

Apparently satisfied with his assessment of Kagome's welfare, Sango started giggling again as she turned abruptly and wrapped her arms around his waist, forcing him to stop in the middle of the parking lot since her legs had stopped moving. “You just want to get me naked, don't you? You…” she hiccupped and giggled some more, her eyes twinkling with mischief, “…you're such a hentai.” She marked her would-be insult with a sudden kiss, her movements surprisingly languid and deliberate considering her current state.

Never one to turn down a kiss from his lady, Miroku made sure he had a firm grip on her before he allowed himself a moment of indulgence. Sango's lips were the gifts of the gods, and he would be a damned fool to turn them away, no matter the reason. Even when she was drunk, she could still get him hard, especially when she made those sweet little noises against his mouth….

A car horn blared as a set of headlights nearly blinded him even with his eyes shut, but Miroku simply extended his arm and gave them the finger, unwilling to allow anyone to ruin his moment with the lovely Sango.

Offering him one last nibble on his lip, she retreated and gave him a heated look. “So. Weren't we going somewhere?” she asked slowly, as if she were trying to remember the words she wanted to say.

Miroku grinned, dropping one of his hands to her perfect, tight little rear, squeezing gently. He hadn't planned on sex tonight, especially considering their tryst right before the game, but if she felt up for it…. “I'm ready if you are, my Love.” His hand dropped just a little lower, just enough so he could slip a finger under the bottom hem of her shorts and stroke the crease of where her butt cheek met her thigh. “You are the sexiest woman on this planet,” he breathed, leaning in to kiss her again.

The car horn blasted again. “Hey, get the fuck out of the way!”

Sango shot a hard glare in the direction of the shout, all evidence of arousal suddenly gone. As she opened her mouth to send what would surely be a drunken slew of insults back at the source of her ire, Miroku sighed and quickly scooped her up into his arms to carry her away, taking her by so much surprise that all she managed to expel was a yelp. “Come on, my beautiful Sango,” he cooed, the gravel crunching under his feet as he moved in the general direction of his car. The car that had been waiting on them finally sped past and shouted at them some more. He ignored it. “It's time for my meal, and I do believe you'll be ready to feed it to me by the time we make it to my room.”

Instead of the blush that may have followed if she had been of sound mind, she merely laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck, having already forgotten about their interruption. “I'm ready now, Miroku,” she said into his ear, probably much louder than she had intended to. “Let's just… let's just do it in the car. I want you now.”

He groaned as his body reacted to Sango's words. Nothing sounded better than giving in to her wishes, but he knew that if she were sober, she would be appalled by the idea of getting eaten out in the backseat of his Civic in the middle of a crowded parking lot, nighttime or not. Damn his conscience to hell and back. “As much as I'd love to, I think it would be best to wait until we get back to the dorm.”

She pouted a little as she rested her head against her shoulder, only responding with a soft, “Mmm.”

It wasn't until Miroku finally made it to his car before he set her carefully on her feet. She leaned against the car and yawned as he fished his keys out of his pocket. “Well, maybe I can just blow you on the way there,” she mumbled.

He almost dropped his keys at her words, but his excitement was short-lived when he remembered how badly that had gone the last time they had tried that. “I'm not sure that's such a good idea, either, Babycakes.” He cringed, remembering how he had stopped short when his attention had drifted too far away from the road due to her exquisite skills, and the unpleasantness that had resulted of their bodies lurching forward. The skin wasn't broken, but he had been sore for hours.

“Mmm,” she moaned again, sounding more asleep than anything.

Miroku finally got the door unlocked, and after depositing his girlfriend into the passenger seat, he hurried across to the driver's side. It looked like his initial assessment had been correct; he wasn't going to be getting any tonight. But Sango was looking worse and worse by the minute, and if she was going to be sick, he at least wanted her in the semi-privacy of a communal bathroom while she did it.

Twenty long minutes later, Miroku had parked next to Kirby Smith Hall and was getting out of the car. Thankfully, he had been able to get one of the closer parking spaces so they wouldn't have to walk as far to get to his dorm, Lejeune Hall. Opening Sango's door, he offered a hand to help her out, and she took it, lifting her legs out of the car one at a time and awkwardly pulling herself to her feet. She held her free hand to her head and scrunched her eyes shut in misery. The effects of a night of hard drinking were already catching up to her, and she appeared to be feeling it.

He made a move to pick her up again, but she shook her head. “I can walk,” she murmured, barely coherently, but still threw her arm over his shoulders and slumped against him.

“Just go slow, okay?” Miroku advised, grabbing the hand that was on his shoulder and wrapping his other arm around her waist. “We still have to make it over to Lejeune Hall.”

She groaned miserably at that, and appeared to be getting ready to say something else when another voice interrupted them. It was loud, and it was angry.

“Just what do you think you are doing, young man?!”

Both of their heads shot up, and Sango gasped loudly, stumbling them both to a stop. Miroku's eyes widened in fear as the man quickly approached them, and he trembled under the livid scrutiny in those familiar brown eyes. “Mr. Higurashi! I -- she's… no, it's not what it looks like!”

***

“Inuyasha, please….”

The hanyou groaned as Kagome pressed her body against his as they stumbled through his apartment door. They had just gotten there, and she had all but attacked him as soon as they got out of the car and proceeded to kiss and rub against him all the way to his door. The woman would be the death of him, he knew it.

Picking her up by the waist, he coaxed her into wrapped her long legs around his hips as he kicked the door shut behind them, casting them in darkness. “Please what?” he teased, running his tongue down the column of her throat.

She mewled and gripped his shoulders with her small hands, squeezing his hips with her thighs and pressing her pelvis to his. “I'm… I'm so hot, Yasha. My body feels so hot… down there. Can you feel it?”

“Fuck,” he growled, breathing shakily as her arousal swirled around him. He could most definitely feel how hot she was “down there,” and between that and her dizzying scent, he was quickly starting to feel drugged. Dropping his mouth to her collarbone, he nipped her gently and closed his eyes. “D-don't do that, wench.”

“I can't help it,” she whined, torturing him with more pressure against his already throbbing erection. “It makes it feel better. It… it makes it feel good.”

Inuyasha's control was plummeting. He gritted his teeth and shook with the effort it took to keep himself in check, stepping backward to allow some room to put her back on her feet. She was drunk. It wouldn't be right to take her now. She would regret it later. She would --

Something on the floor behind his feet surprised him, and in a rare show of clumsiness, he tripped and fell backward, landing on the couch with Kagome on top of him.

Oh, this was not good.

After her giggling from the fall died away, Kagome smiled in a way that was far too mischievous to pull off while being as drunk as she was. Could she see him when it was this dark in his apartment? He supposed it didn't matter, not when her legs were still straddling his hips as he lay there, and her nimble little fingers were working their way under his shirt to toy with his abdominal muscles. “Inuyasha….”

He hissed as her nails lightly scratched his skin before she pushed his shirt up to his shoulders to give his pectorals the same treatment. “Inuyasha,” she sang again, smiling wickedly and pressing her sex down on him again. Kami-sama. Was she trying to make him lose it?

Inuyasha closed his eyes and tilted his head back, trying to get his nose away from her maddening scent. `She's drunk, you asshole. And a virgin. You can't do this. She'll hate you in the morning, you know it, and you'll have blown your chance with her.' A little calmed from his pep talk, Inuyasha opened his eyes again to tell her to stop.

Holy shit, she took her shirt off.

That same light green bra from before the game was covering her breasts, but he could still see the rosy hues of her pert nipples through the fabric. His hips rose against his will, seeking more of that delicious heat emanating from her center. `Dammit, no!' “W-wench,” he pleaded, even as gripped her hips just a little tighter.

The girl had the audacity to blink innocently, as if she didn't know what she was doing to him, before leaning forward and giving him a spectacular view of her cleavage. “But Inuyasha, I need you so bad,” she whispered, leaving light little licks on his jaw line.

`No shit,' he thought, thrusting up for another sample of that damning heat. The moisture seeping from her body had soaked through both her shorts and the front of his, and it was driving him mad not to bury himself inside her. “B-but you're d-drunk,” he attempted to reason, closing his eyes again even as he pushed her hips down to meet him again.

Kagome moaned, the sound low and sultry and doing atrocious things to his willpower. “But Yasha, can't you feel me? Can't you feel how ready I am for you?”

He growled, his fingers tightening on her hips. “Yes.”

“Can't you smell me?”

“Yes….”

“Don't you want me?”

“God, yes,” he said through gritted teeth.

Her fingers were working the button of his khaki shorts. “Then take me,” she whispered, her warm breath ghosting over his lips as he heard his zipper being lowered. “Take me, and make me yours.”

“Shit,” he cursed, his conscience warring with his body. She had opened his shorts, and now her fingers were snaking their way under the waistband of his boxers. He swallowed, trying to control his breathing. “You're making it so hard to say no.”

One delicate fingertip brushed against the tip of his erection, and he lurched as a spasm shot through his body, distantly registering Kagome's wicked chuckle. “I'm making something hard, that's for sure.”

Inuyasha was still quivering from her initial contact when she wrapped her hand completely around the base of him, pulling him out of his boxers into the comparatively cool air of his apartment. Her grip sent shockwaves through him once more, and it was all he could do to keep from blowing his load in her hand. “K-K-Kagome,” he begged, stroking her smooth legs resting alongside his hips.

To his shock, she started stroking him, her small hand squeezing gently as it pulled before moving down for another go. Inuyasha saw stars. “If I suck your dick, will you fuck me then? Please?”

`What?!' He was panting by now, raising his hips with every down stroke of her hand. “I thought… oh, shit, Kagome. I-I thought you wanted to wait…?”

“Now why would you think that?” she asked coyly, shifting down his legs so when she leaned over, her head was aligned with his erection.

His eyes widened as he watched her lick her lips hungrily, her hand still working him. Was she serious? “But you're not… not thinking clearly….”

“Why don't you let me be the judge of that?” Her tongue darted out, looking like she was going to lick his head. He held his breath, waiting for that wonderful tongue to make contact, but she pulled back slightly at the last minute, renewing her efforts on the hand job. “Don't you want to feel me, Yasha? Don't you want to feel my tight pussy around your cock?”

He couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth! If alcohol made her this brazen, he would see to it that she never drank with anybody else ever again. Still, at the moment, he couldn't deny that she was driving him crazy. “Girl, when the time comes, trust me, I'm gonna pound the shit out of you, but --” He was cut off when her movements quickened, making the telltale tingle start in his balls. He was getting close, and way before he wanted to. “B-b-but I don't think y-you're really… really ready….”

“You're thinking for me again, Yasha,” she scolded, licking her lips again and opening her mouth.

His fingers clawed at his couch, ripping the cheap fabric. `Just hang on a little longer,' he coached himself, wanting more than anything to feel the wet heat of her mouth on him. “You'll… you'll let me touch it, right?” he suddenly asked, hoping she would allow him to reciprocate. He hated how submissive he sounded, but it was hard to be in control when a woman had your dick in her hand.

“As much as you want, Baby,” she promised. “But first, I want to swallow you.” Her dark eyes flashed in pure desire before lowering to look at her target, and she parted those sweet, full lips and began her descent….

And it was too much.

“Fuck, Kagome!” he cried, his orgasm taking hold of him and forcing his head back as his balls tightened and released their load. He grunted as his body quaked, and even in the midst of his peak, he felt the shame blanketing him like a shroud. So close! He was so close to feeling her go down on him, but he wasn't able to hold out. The anticipation had been too much, and he had blown like a pimple-marked kid in her face. It couldn't get much worse than that.

Just as his orgasm was beginning to wane, a familiar, condescending male voice reached his conscious mind. “So this is how you've been wasting your life the past three months. Inuyasha, you continue to disappoint me.”

“What?!” he cried, opening his eyes and looking for the owner of that voice. He was shocked to find the room flooded with mid-morning light, and his eyes shut again in protest to the sensory overload. What the hell? And where was Kagome all of a sudden?

`Oh… damn it.'

A dream. Fantastic.

Well, at least this meant his early finish hadn't been witnessed. Cracking his eyes open, he was still panting when he realized that despite everything having been dreamed, he was, in fact, on the couch. His alert mind slowly awoke, and he could vaguely remember carrying a sleeping Kagome on his back into the apartment the night before. He recalled kneeling beside the bed before gently rolling her onto it, careful as to not wake her. He'd taken her shoes off and pulled the rumpled sheets at the foot of the bed over her sleeping body, thankful that he'd changed the bedding just a few days earlier.

`Feh. That wench is making me soft,' he thought to himself, even at he smiled at the memory of how beautiful she looked while she was sleeping. He would have crawled in beside her, but he had figured that lying in the same bed with her might cause problems come morning, and they had had enough problems already. The last thing he needed was for her to wake up and get the wrong idea when she saw him lying beside her. Second base in the Annex loft was one thing, but sharing a bed without asking her was quite another. So, after leaving her to sleep, he had retired to the couch, where he had apparently proceeded to have some very erotic dreams about her. His dad's guest appearance at the end was the rancid icing on the cake, and his cold words, just as they had always managed to do when he was alive, had put Inuyasha in a foul state of mind.

`The past three months… I guess it has been three months since he died.' Inuyasha snorted and shook his head. No use dwelling on that now; he had things to take care of today, and he was honestly a little thankful for the distraction, as unpleasant as it could end up being. Of course, it could also end up being pretty satisfying, but that depended on a number of factors….

A slight chill swept over him suddenly, and he scowled and looked down, noticing he was still holding his dick and there was spunk all over his bare torso because he had taken his shirt off last night to sleep. Awesome.

Inuyasha grouched as he swung his bare feet off the couch, sitting up and swiping his shirt off the floor. He was using the shirt to clean himself up when he heard his bed creak under a moving weight accompanied by a feminine yawn.

In a flash, he was on his feet, straightening his shorts and boxers. His ears twitched as they caught her feet settling on the carpet, and he panicked as the button on his fly gave him trouble. `Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit --'

“Inuyasha?” she called sleepily from his bedroom, obviously still getting her bearings.

“Yeah!” he called back, finally defeating the button and fastening it into place. He sighed in relief and turned around just as Kagome emerged from the short hallway leading to his room, and smiled at her with about as much dignity as one could muster after having just spewed all over himself. Her clothes and hair were disheveled, and her eyes were red and barely open, but somehow, she looked more beautiful than he had ever remembered her. Perhaps it was the intimacy of knowing she had just awoken, but whatever it was, it was stirring things inside him that were far more romantic than the lust of his dreams. “Did you sleep okay?”

Kagome nodded slowly, her eyes drifting over his naked upper half, and Inuyasha fought the urge to look down to make sure she wasn't spotting anything he had missed. She blinked suddenly and blushed, as if she had just realized she was ogling him, and she looked up again, looking much more awake. “Uh, yeah. I slept well, thanks. I actually just woke up because I thought I heard you yelling my name. Is everything all right?”

It was his turn to blush. “Everything's fine,” he answered quickly, scratching behind one of his ears nervously. Eager to turn the conversation away from that, he nodded toward her. “How do you feel? You were pretty trashed last night.”

She frowned, hooking her thumbs in her shorts pockets and looking away. “Yeah… sorry about that. I don't even remember leaving the bar last night.” She met his eyes again. “What time did we get here?”

“Around two.” He yawned and trudged toward the kitchen, smiling to himself as her scent filled his nostrils when he passed her. He idly wondered how long it would linger in his apartment after she was gone. “Want some coffee?”

“That sounds good.” Kagome smiled and followed him into the small kitchen, leaning against the doorway as she watched him level out a scoop of ground chicory coffee. “Have you ever been to Coffee Call?” she asked suddenly.

“Coffee Call?”

“There's one on College Drive. It's a little café with the best beignets in Baton Rouge. Maybe I'll take you there,” she offered with a shy smile.

Inuyasha couldn't help the big smile that surfaced on his lips. “Sure. We can go today if you want….” He trailed off, grimacing to himself as another thought occurred to him. “But you're probably hungry now, aren't you? Why don't I go pick us up some breakfast?”

She took another step into the kitchen, playing with the magnets on his refrigerator door. “If you let me use your shower, we can go to breakfast together. Do you want to go to Louie's? They're probably packed today, but if you don't mind the wait --”

“Actually, I was going to make you breakfast,” he interrupted, not meeting her eyes.

“Really?” she asked, a surprised lilt in her voice. “That sounds really nice. As long as you don't mind, that is.”

“Doubt my cooking, Wench?” he teased, enjoying her blush. He chuckled and turned on the coffee maker, turning toward her again. “This will be ready in a few minutes. I'm gonna jump in the shower first and be out of your way.” `That way I can wash my load off myself, as well as make sure the bathroom is halfway decent before you go in there.' “I'll just run to the store and grab some food while you're showering. Sound good?”

“Sounds good.” Kagome smiled and raised her hands above her head to stretch, her movements looking far too seductive to be innocent. Tease. “Do you have a shirt I can borrow after my shower? I think I spilled beer on mine,” she said with a scrunch of her nose.

He laughed. “You can blame Sango for that. You two were nuts last night. I thought I was going to have to drag you off the dance floor at one point.”

“Oh, God,” she said, holding a hand to her pink cheeks. “Were we dancing together? I remember a band, and I liked their music.”

“Yeah, you and she were dancing together,” he emphasized, leaning against the sink. “You wouldn't dance with me until after she and Miroku left. Got to be honest, I was a little jealous.” `But only until I got to feel your ass pressing back into me.'

“Jealous?” She giggled. “Jealous of my cousin. My female cousin. I think that's a new record!”

“Whatever,” he grumped good-naturedly, approaching her and kissing her forehead. Damn, she smelled good, even with the stale beer on her shirt. "I'm going to hit the shower. Stay out of trouble, Ka-Go-Me.”

“No problem. I'll just avoid all of the boxes you have stacked up in there, like it's an obstacle course. What are the chances of you unpacking all of your junk by the end of the semester?”

“Hey, I've been busy!” he shouted as he stepped over one of the very boxes that were blocking the bathroom door. “Between school, Tiger Band, practicing, and keeping your fine ass in line, I barely have time to sleep!”

“Ass,” she muttered under her breath, probably thinking he couldn't hear her. He laughed again and shut the door.

***

“Ass,” Kagome said, knowing he could hear her, but smiled as she heard the bathroom door shut. She was beginning to realize that teasing him was just as much fun as he probably thought teasing her was. Well, if nothing else, it could serve as payback when he got to be too much of a smart-ass.

Noticing the coffee was done brewing, she began a quest to find coffee cups. She hadn't been exaggerating; Inuyasha still had a lot of boxes stacked up around his apartment, but it appeared as though he had at least unpacked his kitchen things, and it was a fairly small kitchen. Sure enough, it wasn't long before she had a plain black mug and another one displaying the Tokyo College of Music emblem. `That's right; that's where he transferred from. Weird… why transfer from one of the top fine arts universities in Japan to a U.S. state school?' She made a note to ask him about it later as she set the cups on the counter. Now if she could just find some cream and sugar, she'd be set.

The cream was easy, but the sugar was giving her some problems. Not seeing it in any of the cupboards or on the counter, she finally looked to the one small box on top of the fridge. Maybe there were a few things left to unpack in the kitchen after all.

Standing on her tiptoes, Kagome was able to grasp the edges of the box just enough to support its weight as she lifted it down. Her hopes fell when she realized how light it was, but perhaps he at least had some artificial sweetener or something in there. Hell, she'd settle for a packet of Splenda.

But as she set the box on the counter and opened the flaps, she quickly realized that she was looking in the wrong place. Inside the box were a simple baseball cap and a pair of very old, very beat-up drumsticks. Kagome frowned and picked up one of the sticks; it had clearly seen a lot of practice hours. In fact, she'd be willing to guess that this was Inuyasha's first pair. She had to smile at that as she pictured him as a young child, beating the hell out of a snare drum with a big smile on his face. `I bet he was such a cute boy.'

The other item in the box caught her interest as well, and she set the stick back inside as she picked up the cap. It looked like it was from his childhood as well, judging by the small size and faded colors, though it didn't look like it had been worn much. Curious, she looked at the front of the cap: Tokyo Kitasuna Little League. `Little league? Did he play baseball as a child, too?' Strange, she had never heard him mention it before. It obviously wasn't a big part of his life, she figured.

Kagome started to place the cap back when she noticed a single photo in the bottom of the box that she hadn't noticed before. She reached for the picture but froze in mid-air as a feeling of heavy foreboding washed over her. She suddenly felt as if she weren't supposed to be seeing these things, and felt a little guilty for snooping. Well, it wasn't as if she had meant to… it just happened when she was looking for sugar.

“But I'm not looking for sugar now, am I?” she chastised herself quietly. If Inuyasha wanted to show her his things, he would, and she should be kind enough to respect his privacy.

`Hmph. Like he respected mine by looking at my text messages?' she thought with a frown. Still, this was different; these were things from his past, and something was telling her there was something very significant about a kid's baseball cap and an old pair of drumsticks being in the same box with a single photograph. And that ominous feeling was getting worse, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

But in the end, curiosity got the better of her. Taking a deep breath, she used her fingernail to lift the corner of the photo off the bottom of the box and carefully picked it up. Aside from it appearing to be as old as the other contents, she didn't want to get the oil from her fingers on the print.

The photo was a little faded--ten or fifteen years old if she had to guess--but she could clearly make out long, silver hair pulled back in a high tail with a black ribbon. It was a man -- no, a youkai. An inu youkai by the looks of it, and he was sitting on a couch, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees and laughing at something happening off-camera. Kagome smiled at the happy look on his face, wondering if this was Inuyasha's father. He looked more like Sesshomaru than Inuyasha in his eyes and facial markings, but the shape of his face and jaw was definitely something passed onto the younger of the two. There was a mischievous look about him, as well, which screamed of the younger inu brother.

As Kagome continued to inspect the photograph, she couldn't help but wonder about the bad feeling she'd gotten before she picked it up. She didn't notice it anymore, but it had been intense, like nothing she'd ever felt before. Was there something about the picture? Or more specifically, the picture's subject? Kagome frowned as she remembered their brief conversation on Inuyasha's Benz when they were driving back from New Orleans the week before….

*~*~*~*
“It was a gift from my old man….”
*~*~*~*

She pursed her lips, remembering how his foul expression and tone of voice had clearly conveyed that he would not be elaborating on that simple explanation. Did he have a strained relationship with his father? It was obviously a sore subject. Kagome couldn't help but wonder if Inuyasha would ever tell her about it.

The pop of the shower faucet turning off dragged her from her musings, and Kagome blushed at the realization that against her better judgment, she had indeed infringed on Inuyasha's privacy. Panicking, she carefully placed the items back in the box as she had found them and pushed it back to the top of the fridge. She had just settled onto the heels of her feet again when her eyes darted to the collection of spice jars gathered on top of the small microwave next to the fridge. And there was the sugar canister, sitting among them, plain as day.

After smacking herself in the forehead for her stupidity, Kagome quickly found a clean spoon and scooped a spoonful of the sweet stuff into her mug and poured her coffee. She was stirring it to perfection when she heard the bathroom door open, and her face heated more intensely at the mental image of Inuyasha clad only in a towel. `Careful, girl,' she scolded herself, rinsing the spoon off in the sink. `You know that if you get turned on, he'll smell it!' That thought just made her temperature rise even higher, and she finally huffed and stepped back into the living room, pushing the distracting thoughts out of her head.

***

A bath towel wrapped firmly around his waist, Inuyasha left the steamy bathroom and entered his bedroom, kicking his book bag out of the way so he could open his closet. He was happy to be clean. Not only was the smell of his release gone now, but he had also been able to scrub himself senseless after his shoulder being groped by Lindsay at the game the night before. A large part of him had been revolted when the dancer put her hand on him, as if he were going to be sick from her touch alone, and it had taken quite a deal of acting to behave otherwise. His instincts had urged him to snarl and push her hand away like it was toxic, which was completely bizarre. Sure, he felt a little guilty for engaging with her when he had known Kagome was watching, despite his reasons for doing it in the first place, but feeling physically ill just from letting another female touch him? That was a little much. He had never reacted that way to other women when he was with any of his other girlfriends. Shaking his head, he decided he'd have to put some thought into that later and try to figure out if there was a reason behind this sudden change.

Opening his closet, Inuyasha started to drop his towel, but after a moment of consideration, he shut his bedroom door first. If Kagome came back there for some reason while he was undressed, he ventured she would be much more embarrassed than he would, and her discomfort would only result in longer celibacy for him. Not exactly ideal.

Once dressed in clean clothes, he emerged from his bedroom to find Kagome sitting on the couch, holding a steaming cup between her hands. “Find everything okay?” he asked, turning to get a mug for himself.

“Y-yes, thank you. You make good coffee.”

Inuyasha briefly raised an eyebrow at her stammer, but dismissed it. “Don't sound so surprised,” he scoffed, pulling the cream from the fridge. “I'm not some helpless male in the kitchen, you know.”

“I hope not. You promised me breakfast, and I'm hungry,” she teased from the other room.

Chuckling, Inuyasha finished doctoring his brew and joined her on the couch before taking an experimental sip. Damn, he did make good coffee. “Did you freak out when you woke up this morning? Aside from the fact that that I was the one to wake you,” he added embarrassingly.

She looked into her coffee cup and tapped her right foot. Inuyasha was beginning to think it was her nervous habit. “Actually, I knew where I was when I woke up.”

“Really?”

Kagome nodded and smiled. “Your pillow smells like you,” she admitted softly.

Good. Imprinting on your scent already.

Inuyasha coughed into his fist to mask the possessive pride that rose within him at her words. That instinctive feeling was back again, as it often was when he was alone with Kagome, though it usually only arose when he was kissing her. Why now? “Well, I'm glad you slept,” he finally said. “You were so drunk, I was wondering if you were going to get sick.”

“Don't worry. I didn't throw up in your bed.” She laughed a little.

He laughed, too, but whatever he was going to say in response died on his tongue when he caught sight of Kagome's eyes as she smiled at him. Dark and rich, like her coffee with just the tiniest drops of cream in it. It was one of the first things he had noticed about her that day that he looked into her practice room just over a month ago. Well, after her legs, of course.

She smirked. “And just what are you looking at?”

“Your eyes are beautiful,” Inuyasha replied without thinking, a silly grin curving his lips.

Kagome's face exploded with color, her bashful smile lighting up the room. “Inuyasha….”

Suddenly realizing what he had said, he looked down at his coffee and reddened furiously. It was last week in New Orleans all over again, but at least then he had been on the verge of kissing her for the first time! “Uh, I'd better get to the store,” he decided loudly, rising to his feet.

She stood, too, setting her mug on the coffee table. She still had a cute blush across her cheeks. “Okay. I guess I'll take that shower while you're gone.”

He nodded, bending over to put his athletic shoes on. “There should be some towels in the closet there,” he said, pointing toward the bathroom as he stood up straight. “And feel free to take any of my shirts,” he added with a secret smirk.

“Thanks. You won't be gone too long, will you?”

“Shouldn't be.” Pocketing his wallet and cell, he picked up his keys and was looking for his sunglasses when a small hand rested on his forearm. Turning, he smiled as she stepped into his arms. As it always did, Kagome's proximity elicited a feeling of contentment in him, and he closed his eyes as she leaned up to kiss him tenderly.

At the touch of her lips, Inuyasha's mind blanked itself of anything but the feel and taste of her. He nearly forgot where he was going by the time she pulled away, pulling a groan from his lips and tugging on his libido once again. She smiled. “Thanks for taking care of me last night, Inuyasha.”

`Always, Kagome.' “It was no problem. I'll be back soon,” he promised, giving her a final wink as he opened the door, the humid heat blasting him in the face. He shut the door behind him and exhaled heavily. Great. Hard again. She really was going to be the death of him. He shook his head and looked at his watch: nine forty-eight.

Cursing, he was suddenly all business as he descended the steps two at a time and jogged around the little lawn in front of the apartment building toward his car. He didn't have a lot of time, and he really did plan on making Kagome some breakfast. He would have to hurry.

Once he was settled in the driver's seat, he put on his sunglasses and pulled away. He came to the end of the complex lot and looked to the right, where the grocery store was, and turned on his blinker as he waited for the stoplight to turn. A minute later, his light was green, and he turned left, toward the apartment Kagome and Sango shared.

It was time to set some shit straight.