InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Phony Digits ❯ Throw a Curveball ( Chapter 28 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

AN: Well Mediaminer is showing nothing when I upload docs and when I copy/paste I lose all my formatting. :/ So I guess if you want to read the correctly formatted version go to ao3. Also very sorry if I just flooded your inbox with notifications.

 

Disclaimer: InuYasha is the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I have nothing.

Chapter Twenty-eight: Throw a Curveball

 

The day of the baseball game had finally arrived and after spending another Friday morning in court, Kagome was more than ready for a distraction.

 

InuYasha had cancelled their routine weekly dinner the previous evening last minute, making some rather vague—and flimsy in Kagome's opinion—excuse about being busy. Although she kept it to herself, it left her feeling a bit like she'd been deliberately brushed off. Miroku and Sango—who were also rather enigmatic about the dinner cancellation—had decided to go out on a date, which left her home without any plans for the night. She had decided that she would just spend a relaxing evening having a nice hot soak in the tub, but that endeavor had ended up being thwarted in the most mortifying of ways: By her roommate, not only barging into the bathroom unannounced, but proceeding to strip naked and climb into the tub with her, all the while chattering away, never allowing Kagome a word edgewise, let alone a word of protest.

 

By the time Rin finally exited the tub the water had gone tepid, Kagome's skin had gone pruney, and the idea of a relaxing bubble bath had entirely lost its appeal.

 

After drying off and returning to her bedroom, Kagome texted InuYasha to vent about the whole awkward bathtub experience, (it wasn't just an excuse to talk to him, she'd told herself. No, really, she just needed to get it off her chest). He had responded to her complaints with an entirely uncharacteristic 'LOL' accompanied by a laughing smiley emoticon.

 

She had then asked him, 'Is this really InuYasha?', worrying that someone else may have stolen his phone or picked it up by mistake, but he confirmed his identity with his next 'InuYasha-typical' text which read, 'Who the hell else would it be?'.

 

After several more messages were exchanged Kagome had asked, 'Didn't you say you were busy tonight? You don't seem very busy to me.'

 

A few minutes later he had responded with another vague response, 'It's a family thing.'

 

That had made her more curious than ever, seeing as how one member of his family was right there in her apartment with her, but if he'd wanted her to know, he would have told her, and as much as it annoyed the nosey, investigative part of her brain, she'd decided to leave it at that.

 

Just as she stepped out of the courthouse Kagome looked up the street and, seeing InuYasha and 'The Dinosaur' coming into view, jogged out to the curb. "Perfect timing!" she chirped as she opened the door and climbed inside.

 

"Not really," Inuyasha said wryly, "I've circled the block three times already."

 

"Oh...sorry." Kagome said sheepishly. "Thanks for picking me up here."

 

"It's no problem," he said with a shrug, casually drumming his thumbs on the steering wheel.

 

"This arrangement worked out great actually. See that guy at the top of the steps?" Kagome said, turning to look out the window in the direction of a man in an expensive, albeit disheveled looking suit, pacing back and forth and pointing his finger forcefully at the thin air with which he seemed to be conversing.

 

InuYasha leaned down to look in the direction she was looking. "The one that's talking into a bluetooth headset like it's 2008?"

"Yeah," she said nodding her head, "that one. He's been trying to get me to go out with him for months but I keep turning him down. Maybe if he saw me get into the car with you he'll think I'm already seeing someone and finally leave me alone."

 

"Keh. Glad I could be of service to you," InuYasha grumbled. "Looks like a real tool."

 

"You shouldn't judge people based on looks, InuYasha," Kagome scolded him.

 

"Wha…?" he turned to her, mouth agape. "But you just said…"

 

"I said I wasn't interested in him, I didn't say he was a tool. I don't have anything against him, it's just that he's a lawyer," was her oversimplified explanation. Only a second later, upon realizing she'd put her foot in her mouth, she raised her hands and added, "No offense!"

 

InuYasha narrowed his eyes suspiciously and turned to her asking, "And why would I take offense to that, exactly?"

 

Kagome suddenly froze, eyes widening in panic at her accidental admission to snooping on his ex-girlfriend before she began to backtrack. "I mean...I didn't mean you, what I meant was no offense to lawyers...I don't have anything against them personally, it's just...you know...what with my job and everything...dating a lawyer just wouldn't be a very wise career decision...it would be a conflict of interest if I had to testify against a person they were representing." She paused her rambling and let out a nervous giggle, hoping that would be enough to cover her tracks.

 

Everything she'd said was true, after all...well, everything except that part about not meaning offense to him specifically…

 

A few seconds of awkward—at least in Kagome's opinion—silence passed before she gave into the need to elaborate. "Maybe if they were something other than criminal lawyers. Some type that didn't interfere with my job, like a real estate lawyer, or civil litigation, or corporate lawyer-" she cut herself off with a conspicuous little choking sound. Of all things why did she have to say corporate? She needed to change the subject, and fast. Say something, Kagome. Anything! "Medical malpractice!" she called out in a high pitch that even made herself cringe.

 

InuYasha turned to look at her with a severely furrowed brow, as if assessing the current state of her sanity, possibly concerned she might be having some sort of neurological event. She was sure she was about to get the third degree when instead he turned away and simply said, "Whatever," with a shrug, seeming to buy her explanation as he turned away from her to look over his shoulder and eased off the brakes, steering the car back out onto the street.

 

Kagome relaxed, nearly letting out a sigh of relief as she reached up and turned the rear view mirror away from InuYasha's line of vision. "Okay. Don't peek," she said before turning around and crawling over the console and into the backseat.

 

"Huh?" InuYasha glanced back at her with a confused frown. "What are you doing?"

 

"Changing," she answered as she reached forward between the seats and pulled a pair of jeans and green thermal top from the tote bag she'd been carrying, placing the neatly folded clothing on the console. "You didn't expect me to go to a baseball game wearing this, did you?" She motioned down to her attire, which consisted of a ruffled button down blouse, black pencil skirt and heels.

 

He took another glance over his shoulder, then turned back forward. "Go ahead, I won't look, but I need my mirror to drive," he said as he adjusted it back to its proper position. "And I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure this glass is see-through." He rapped his knuckles against the window.

 

"I'll duck down. Don't worry, I've done this plenty of times before."

 

InuYasha shrugged and glanced down to his right to the clothing she had pulled out of her bag. "I hope you brought a jacket. You're gonna freeze your ass off in this," he said, lifting the shirt in his hand.

 

"It's thermal!" she defended.

"Yeah, and it's 45 degrees outside. That thermal isn't going to do you a damn bit of good if you don't have anything on over it."

 

"Well all I have is this sweater," she said, tugging at the gray cardigan she was wearing over her blouse, "and it's too dressy to wear with this outfit. It will look stupid."

 

"I probably have something in the trunk you can borrow."

 

Kagome proceeded to change her clothes, peeking up at InuYasha nearly constantly and finding herself frustratingly annoyed at the fact that she never once caught him trying to peek back at her—not even when she'd tossed her discarded clothing into the front passenger's seat with a flourish. He hadn't so much as flinched.

 

"So," Kagome crawled back into the front seat and buckled her seatbelt, "are you picking up Miroku and Sango too?"

 

"They're meeting us there," he answered. "They're attached at the hip now, in case you haven't noticed."

 

Kagome gave an amused snort. "Yeah, I've noticed...and she said she just needed to 'get him out of her system'."

 

"Boy, he must be really wedged in there," InuYasha said and they both chuckled.

 

"I wonder how their date went last night? I didn't get to talk to her this morning since I didn't go into the office."

 

"Well, seeing as how he didn't come home last night, I'd say it went pretty damn good," InuYasha said before joking adding, "either that or he's lying dead in a gutter somewhere."

 

Kagome gasped. "InuYasha!" she said scoldingly, turning to him and slapping his shoulder with the back of her hand, "That's not funny! What if something bad really did happen to him?"

 

"Then he wouldn't have been able to call me an hour ago to tell me they'd meet us there."

 

"Oh…" Kagome turned back to face forward, "well still, you shouldn't make jokes like that."

 

"Why?" InuYasha asked. "Are you superstitious or something?"

 

"No, I just don't think you should joke about people dying. Wouldn't you be sad if it actually happened after you made a joke about it?"

 

"I'd be sad if my best friend died regardless of whether I'd made a joke about it or not," he reasoned.

 

"Well yeah...but…still that doesn't...I mean, it's..." Kagome slapped her hands to her lap in frustration. "Oh, nevermind! No matter what I say you'll always find a way to argue with me."

 

"Ya know, for someone whose job relies entirely on death you sure are squeamish about it."

 

"I didn't choose my career because I love death, InuYasha, I chose it because I hate it. In a perfect world my job wouldn't even exist."

 

"And you'd prefer that?" he asked sincerely.

 

"Of course! But I chose my job because we don't live in a perfect world, and I think people deserve justice...their families deserve justice...and evil people should have to answer for what they've done. I can't stand the thought that there are people out there living their lives happily when they've taken someone else's life away...when they've taken someone's loved one away..."

 

InuYasha was quiet for a few moments, as if contemplating his response before saying, "So basically, you're like, Wonder Woman or something," he said with a smirk.

 

Kagome sighed and flatly stated, "Gee, thanks for taking me seriously…"

 

"I was being serious!" he defended.

 

"Flattery will get you nowhere, InuYasha."

 

He gave a lazy shrug. "Ain't trying to get anywhere…except the ballpark," he added the last part in a grumbling tone, wringing his fists around the steering wheel impatiently.

 

"So...Miroku didn't come home last night you say?" Kagome asked. "Do you think they uh...you know…?"

 

"Played Dominoes?" InuYasha supplied with a teasing smirk.

 

Kagome rolled her eyes. "No, you know what I mean! Do you think they...uh…"

 

"Had sesame noodles?"

 

Kagome punched his arm. "You're so immature."

 

"I'm immature?" he said laughing. "You're the one who can't even say the word 'sex'."

 

Kagome huffed and crossed her arms across her chest, turning away from him to look out the side window. "Forget it."

 

By this time they had arrived at the gates of the parking lot, which was about a half a mile deep in cars. "Is the traffic always this bad on game days?" she asked, changing the subject.

 

"Pretty much," he answered. "Sometimes worse."

 

When they finally made it into the lot and parked the car, InuYasha went straight for the trunk and pulled out a red hoodie, holding it up to his nose and sniffing it before extending it toward her. "Here. You can wear this."

 

"But it's ugly…" she said with a frown as she took it from his hand. "Don't you have anything cuter?"

 

"Cuter?" he repeated. "It's the trunk of my car, Kagome, not Neiman Marcus."

 

"Fine," she said, her bottom lip protruding in an exaggerated pout as she pulled the ridiculously oversized hoodie over her head and began rolling up the sleeves to her wrists.

 

The two of them walked to the gates and when they arrived scanned the crowd until they spotted the other half of their party.

 

"Cute outfit," Sango immediately teased Kagome the moment she was within earshot.  

 

InuYasha extended his middle finger to her in response, and Sango enthusiastically mirrored the gesture.

 

"It's his." Kagome nodded toward InuYasha. "I forgot to bring a jacket."

 

"Well I think you look fine," InuYasha said.

 

"I agree," Miroku chimed in. "I think you look very cute, Kagome. Like a girl who has a very considerate boyfriend." He was barely able to get the sentence out before the wind was knocked from his lungs by InuYasha's elbow making swift contact with his ribs.

 

"Let's go," InuYasha said in his most unamused tone before turning and heading for the entrance.

 

"So, who are we cheering for?" Kagome asked innocently as she trotted alongside him, struggling to keep pace with him.

 

InuYasha's head whipped around, with a look of incredulity and betrayal on his face. "I oughta call security right now and have your ass dragged out of here!"

 

"What? It's an innocent question!" she defended.

 

"The Mets, Kagome. If the Mets are playing, then you're always cheering for the Mets!"

 

"Unless they're playing the Yankees!" Sango called out from behind them.

 

"No! Don't listen to her. She's the devil, and you'll go to hell if you listen to her," InuYasha said as he continued to lead them, grabbing Kagome by the baggy sleeve of her hoodie and pulling her along as he muscled his way through the crowd.

 

"Hey! Slow down!" Sango called out from behind them. "I want to get a drink before we go to our seats."

 

InuYasha turned back, letting out an annoyed huff. "We can go to our seats, then one of us can come back and get drinks. There's no reason for all four of us to stand in that god-awful line."

 

"So you're volunteering then?" Miroku cut in.

 

"Keh. Why can't you do it?"

 

"You volunteered yourself by suggesting it. You can stop at concessions and the girls and I will meet you at our seats."

 

InuYasha rolled his eyes. "Fine," he conceded bitterly, "What's everybody want?"

 

"Beer," Sango spoke up first.

 

"Same for me," Miroku said, pulling some cash out of his wallet and handing it to InuYasha.

 

"Kagome?"

 

"Water's fine for me, thanks."

 

With a nod he turned and made his way toward the drink stand just outside the entrance to their section and Miroku looped his arms with Kagome and Sango's and led them on to their designated seats.

 

The game was just getting underway, having arrived just late enough to miss the singing of the national anthem and the ceremonial first pitch.

 

The minutes seemed to go by rather slowly as Kagome watched and tried to understand the game which she knew nothing about. She'd have InuYasha explain it to her...if he were here…

 

She turned and looked up over her shoulder at the stadium steps. No sign of him. It had been at least fifteen minutes. Maybe more, or at least it felt like more.

 

"How long does it take to get drinks anyway?" she asked Sango, who responded with frown and a shrug, seeming unconcerned with InuYasha's absence.

 

Kagome turned back to the game, and after five more minutes had elapsed she finally lost the battle with patience.

 

What's taking him so long…? She drummed her fingers against the armrest impatiently as she again looked over her shoulder up the steps of the stadium. Still no sign of him. She decided to go see what was the hold up.

 

"Watch my purse," she said, plopping her purse under Sango's seat, "I'm going to go see if he needs a hand." Sango—who along with Miroku appeared to be enjoying the game—acknowledged her with a nod and she shuffled her way past them.

 

Kagome climbed the concrete steps and made her way into the opening that led into the interior of the stadium. When she rounded the corner her eyes immediately caught sight of InuYasha—easily visible in the crowd composed almost entirely of humans—standing just off to the side of the concession line, holding their drinks and talking to a woman Kagome had never seen before.

 

She was too far away to hear their conversation, but judging from her body language the woman was obviously flirting with him...or at least it seemed obvious to Kagome's eyes. The woman looked a little older than her, probably closer to InuYasha's age, and she was tall...and attractive...and she was writing something down on a piece to paper...and she was handing the paper to InuYasha...and he was accepting it and stowing it in his breast pocket. Kagome then broke out of her sudden haze of dismay long enough to notice something else. The woman had long, floppy rabbit ears that reached down just below her shoulders. She hadn't noticed them at first because they blended in with her waist-length, coppery blond hair almost perfectly. She must be a hanyou too, just like InuYasha.

 

Did he know this woman prior to today, or did they just meet? Could he be interested in her?

 

So what if he is? Kagome pouted to herself. She had made it clear from the beginning that she just wanted the two of them to be friends, nothing more. She had no claim on him. He wasn't her boyfriend or anything...and this woman obviously had more in common with him than she did…

 

How could she even begin to compete with a connection like that?

 

But what would become of their friendship if InuYasha started dating someone? She really didn't want to think about it, as she was sure all thoughts would lead to the same conclusion.

 

There wouldn't be a friendship left to speak of.

 

She took in a deep breath and turned away, heading back outside to her seat before InuYasha caught sight, or wind of her.

 

She hadn't even thought about going on a date with anyone since she met InuYasha, and that was probably the reason she hadn't thought about him dating anyone else either. He could though, and that thought disturbed her more than it ought to. In fact, that thought shouldn't disturb her at all, given the circumstances. She was supposed to be his friend. She should be happy for him. She should be encouraging him...isn't that what friends do? But the very thought of him with another woman caused her chest to constrict in a most unpleasant way. Perhaps it was finally time for her to face the facts and stop lying to herself about her feelings. The facts being that she never felt like InuYasha was just a friend, and her feelings being that she'd been absolutely head-over-heels for him since the first time she ever laid eyes on him.

 

And now she found herself facing a strange dilemma: Not wanting to be his rebound, while at the same time definitely not wanting him to rebound with anyone else.

 

She stifled a groan as she made her way back down the stadium steps, mopily dragging her feet as she returned to her seat. She was completely absorbed in her own thoughts of self-pity and oblivious to the game, her two friends, or the forty-five thousand other occupants of the stadium.

 

Moments later she was drawn from her thoughts by a bottle of water being thrust under her nose.

 

"Here ya go."

 

She looked up to find InuYasha golden eyes looking back at her. "Oh...thanks," she said as she petulantly snatched the drink from his hands and grumbled, "Took you long enough."

 

"Well, sor-ry your majesty. I didn't know I was on a schedule," he said as he plopped down in the seat next to her, cracking open his own bottle of water and taking a sip. "So what'd I miss?"

 

Kagome slouched down into her seat and shrugged. "Baseball stuff."

 

He turned and narrowed his eyes at her. "Jeez...what's with the attitude all the sudden?"

 

"What's with your attitude?" she shot back.

 

InuYasha brows lifted as he gave her a confused look and raised his free hand in a sign of surrender. "I honestly don't even know what I did to piss you off this time, Kagome."

 

"You're just being very rude!"

 

"Very rude?" he repeated. "Rude how?"

 

"Rude spending twenty minutes flirting by the concession stand when I'm sitting out here dying of thirst!" she clenched her fists in her lap and spouted out before snapping her mouth shut with an audible click of her teeth.

 

InuYasha stared at her a moment, a look of disbelief momentarily crossing his face before the corners of his mouth turned up in a self-satisfied smile. "Oh...so you were spying on me were you?"

 

"I was not spying! I just went to see what was taking you so long!"

 

"Riiight. You weren't spying...just like you aren't jealous, right?"

 

Her mouth fell open, sputtering briefly before giving a little indignant huff. "I am not jealous!"

 

InuYasha just turned back to the game without another word, a smug and goofy smile plastered across his face.

 

"I'm not!" she continued to defend herself.

 

"Sure, Kagome. Whatever you say."

 

Sensing his obvious insincerity, she opened her mouth to argue further, but decided against it, seeing as how she was lying, and she wasn't a particularly good liar.

 

"So…" she said meekly, "did you know that person or…?"

 

"We went to the same high school," he answered without turning back toward her.

 

"Oh." She nodded, and despite not really wanting to know the answer asked, "So...are you gonna call her or…"

 

"I'll probably leave that up to my dad," he said casually.

 

Kagome turned to him, head cocked to the side and brow crinkled in confusion. "Your dad?"

 

"Yeah." He pulled the paper the woman had given him from his pocket and held it in front of Kagome's face. It was her business card. She was a real estate broker. "She wanted me to give my dad her card. He's a pretty powerful connection to have in the real estate business world," he said before slipping the card back into his pocket.

 

"Oh…" she said flatly.

 

"So, you still jealous?"

 

"No."

 

"So you admit you were jealous, then?"

 

"No!" she adamantly denied.

 

Despite turning back toward the field and feigning interest in the game, she could still feel his persistent, smug gaze boring into the side of her face, but if he thought that she was one to crack under pressure, he had another thing coming.

 

"So…" InuYasha finally spoke up. "Do you get jealous of all your friends, Kagome? Or is it just me?"

 

"Shut up," she said as she sank down in her chair and crossed her arms in a huff. "I already told you, I wasn't jealous, I was just thirsty!"

 

"Mmhmm...sure...so then how come you haven't even taken a drink of your water yet?"

 

Kagome's head snapped down to the bottle that rested between her thighs—the tamper-proof seal still intact—and her mouth opened to speak, but for once she found herself at a loss for words.

 

InuYasha just chuckled as he leaned toward her, nudging her shoulder with his own. "It's okay, I would have been jealous too."

 

She turned slightly and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "You would?" she asked as she uncapped her water and took a sip before placing it in the cupholder on the back of the seat in front of her.

 

"I'd be bustin' heads."

 

Kagome shook her head and rolled her eyes. "You're such a brute," she said, smiling slightly as she drew her knees up to her chest and pulled her borrowed hoodie over her legs.

 

"Are you cold?"

 

"A little," she answered as she flipped the hood up over her head.

 

"You know what would help warm you up?" he asked with a grin.

 

Her mouth dropped open as she let out an offended squeak. "You better not be thinking something dirty!" she said as she delivered a swift jab to his ribs with her index finger.

 

"What?" he said, chuckling. "Of course not! I was just gonna do this." He reached out and grabbed the drawstrings under her chin, cinching up the hood so tight that the only thing visible was her nose.

 

Kagome just sat there glaring at him, which probably didn't have the desired effect, seeing as how he wasn't able to actually see her eyes.

 

"There," he said, clearly stifling a laugh. "Isn't that better?"

 

"Are you two even watching the game?" Sango called out over InuYasha's shoulder, drawing the attention of the two in question.

 

"He's being mean to me!" Kagome spoke, her voice muffled by the hood as her fingers fumbled to untie the tight knot InuYasha had yanked into the cord. She could hear the sound of Sango laughing at her struggle, then she felt InuYasha's much larger hands wrap around her wrists and pull her hands away from the knot before hooking a sharp claw into the cord and severing it, the hood instantly giving way and freeing her face.

 

Kagome immediately took in a dramatic gasp of air as if she'd been suffocating.

 

"Cut the act. You could breathe. Your nose was out the whole time," InuYasha said.

 

Kagome just crossed her arms and let out an annoyed huff as she turned back to the game. "So, who's winning anyway?"

 

"I thought you were gonna know more about baseball than Babe Ruth," he said in a high pitched nasally voice that she assumed was supposed to mimic her own.

 

"Well I'm sorry that preparing my testimony that will put a murderer behind bars interfered with my baseball studies. And you never answered my question."

 

"Well, Philadelphia is ahead right now, but it's still the first inning and the Mets haven't even had a turn to bat yet."

 

"Good," Kagome said smartly. "I hope the Phillies win the whole game!"

 

"You take that back right now!"

 

"No." She giggled. "In fact, I hope they win the Superbowl!"

 

"The Superbowl is football, stupid," InuYasha said, the corners of his mouth twitching with restrained amusement.

 

"Well how am I supposed to know that?"

 

"How is it possible that you didn't know that?"

 

Kagome turned back to the game with her bottom lip turned down in a slight pout. "I don't know anything about sports, okay? Sorry I'm not some cool, macho sports fan!"

 

InuYasha chuckled. "I'll explain it to you as we go along, okay? Who knows? You might turn out to be the coolest, macho-est sports fan of us all."

 

Kagome covered her mouth as she let out a partially stifled yawn before saying, "You really think so?"

 

"No," he answered honestly.

 

Again she threw an elbow into his arm. "Jerk!"

 

As the game continued on, InuYasha went into great detail describing all the players actions and rules of the game. The late night she'd spent goofing off, then doing some additional last minute preparations for her testimony, began to catch up to her and no matter how she fought it, she felt her eyelids grow heavier and heavier with each passing moment. The rules of baseball proving to be perfect lullaby to lure her into unconsciousness.

 

OOOOOOOOOO

 

If it had been anybody else InuYasha would have been put off by her lack of interest in the game. Not to mention the fact the she actually fell asleep right in the middle of the best part of his riveting explanation, but he couldn't seem to find anything to be irritated about today. Not after the little show Kagome had put on earlier. Yeah, he had been pretty sure Kagome's feelings for him were a little more than friendly. Hell, she'd practically told him as much when they'd had lunch together, but to actually see it, to see her all red-faced, angry and sputtering denials...he was practically vibrating with elation. And all this, combined with her glaringly obvious slip in the car that proved that she'd been snooping on him? Not to mention the fucking strip tease she put on in the back seat. What the hell was that, anyway? He could only assume, it was some kind of test that he was proud to say he'd passed.

 

He was feeling confident. Today was a good day.

 

Next to nothing could tarnish this glorious day.

 

And now she was passed out on his shoulder, snuggling up to him for warmth, and yeah, sure, she wasn't conscious of what she was doing, but that was just a minor detail...

 

And the Mets just won. Yeah, things were definitely looking up.

 

"Hey," InuYasha said, getting no response from the sleeping girl. "Oi," he tried again, lightly bouncing her head upon his shoulder.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Oi." Kagome heard InuYasha's voice penetrate the fog of her drowsy, sleep-addled mind. Vaguely she registered movement and conversation all around her, then a slight nudge, then a more forceful shake. "Kagome." All the muscles in her stiff neck protested as she lifted her head from her rather firm and shaky pillow. "Time to wake up."

 

"Hmm…?" Kagome rubbed her eyes to clear her vision and looked around to find the surrounding crowds shuffling from their rows and toward the exits. "Sorry, what did I miss?" she asked sleepily.

 

"Everything. The game's over," InuYasha said flatly.

 

She again rubbed her eyes in an attempt to wake up, and she could hear them all giggling at her. "S'over?"

 

"Yep," he said, standing along with Miroku and Sango and extending his hand to Kagome, helping her to her feet. "I must be pretty damn boring if I can put you to sleep even with all this noise."

 

Kagome covered her mouth and let out an audible yawn. "I'm sorry. Between work, adjusting to the new apartment, and Rin's totally erratic sleep schedule, I guess I've just been a little sleep deprived this week."

 

"You know you gotta say something, right?" InuYasha said to her as they made they moved slowly with the crowd up the stadium steps.

 

"Say something?" Kagome questioned.

 

"To Rin," he elaborated. "She ain't gonna know she's bein' irritating if you don't tell her."

 

"It's fine. I can get used to it," Kagome said shaking her head.

 

"So you want her keeping you up all night and…" he paused, looking toward Miroku to make sure he wasn't listening, then lowering his voice and saying, "getting in the tub with you?"

 

"Well no, but…"

 

"Then you gotta set some ground rules. Rin's not good at picking up on hints and she'd feel really bad if she knew that she was making you uncomfortable. Wouldn't you feel bad if it were the other way around?"

 

Kagome nodded. "Yeah, I guess I would."

 

"See, I'm not so lucky. My roommate," he nodded forward toward Miroku who walked just a few feet ahead of them, then spoke a little louder, "he doesn't give a shit about making me uncomfortable. In fact, he loves it."

 

Miroku turned back with a grin on his face. "It's true," he stated cheerfully, as if it were something to be proud of. His eyes then lowered to Kagome and InuYasha's hands, which were still clasped from where he'd helped her from her seat. His grin grew exponentially wider as he looked back up at InuYasha.

 

"Oh!" Kagome said in surprise as she realized what he was looking at, paused and dropped InuYasha's hand. "Sorry...I..."

 

"Keh," InuYasha scoffed as he reached down and took her hand back in his. "What are you sorry for?"

 

Kagome opened her mouth to explain, but then realized there was nothing to explain. What did she have to be sorry for? "Umm…"  She looked down to their joined hands, giving a little smile as she tightened her hand around his.

 

"C'mon, let's go," InuYasha said and the two of them continued on toward the exit hand in hand. "Oh, and by the way," his voice dropped to a whisper, "they totally did."

 

"Did what?" Kagome asked, furrowing her brows.

 

"Played dominoes," he said with a smirk.