InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Breaking Point ❯ On The Road Again! ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer: I don't own it, so there. For this chapter, I don't own Eryka Badu's 'I want you', Anthony Hamilton's 'Charlene' and Avril Lavigne's (I know it's not spelled right. You guys get the idea) 'My Happy Ending'.

Chapter Seven: On the Road Again!

Kagome mumbled to herself as she rummaged through her dresser drawers, clothes tossed haphazardly over her shoulder before grabbing a pair of denim shorts and slamming the drawer closed.

"Out of all the Independence Days I've celebrated, this one was by far the worst!" she frowned as she jumped into the shorts and zipped up the fly. "I just can't believe him! Everyone else went to the park, or to the zoo or something. Why did we have to spend ours at the county lock-up?!"

To say that Kagome's 4th of July was a disaster was an understatement. The day started out well enough, with her and Marcus planning on watching the fireworks at a local park with a few of his friends. Sango and Rin planned to spend the day with the rest of Kagome's family at Sango's parents' barbecue, and Kagome was sorely wishing she'd have gone there instead.

The day at the park was great…until one of Marcus' friends made a quick run to the store and came back with four cases of beer.

"Let's see," Kagome mumbled as she stripped off a purple tank top and grabbed a pink one instead. "Sixteen cans of beer in each case, divided by…" she stopped a moment to count on her fingers "Marcus, Adam and Ki. Yeah, sixteen times four divided by three is…twenty two cans of beer per idiot, give or take a few. Why didn't I just stay home?"

By 1:00am July 5th, all three were in jail for various offenses, including assault and battery, public drunkenness, vandalism and disturbing the peace. It was only a miracle that kept Kagome out of jail, the arresting officer deciding just to take her home since she wasn't actually doing anything, but that left her free to come up with 10% of Marcus' bail, a full $460 in all.

"I should have left him in there," Kagome grumbled as she jerked a white long-sleeved blouse off a hanger and shrugged into it. "It would've served him right."

>Honk-Honk!<

She grabbed a silver hair clip and her purse from her dresser top and dashed from the apartment, the July heat causing her to break out into a sweat the instant she stepped out the door. 'This shirt will come in handy,' she reminded herself as she ran down the steps toward Miroku's car. 'Sesshoumaru always keeps it so cold in the practice room.'

"Hey Kagome-girl!" Miroku exclaimed with a smile as she jumped in the front seat. Kagome smiled back and turned in surprise when no one else greeted her.

"You don't know do you?" he asked as he pulled out of the parking lot and turned toward the highway.

"Know what?"

"Sango got a car over the weekend," Miroku told her as he waited for the light to turn green. "She's thrilled about it. Rin's riding with her, so that leaves you and me Toots."

"Ha ha," Kagome replied dryly, then turned to stare out the window. She quickly lost herself to her thoughts and Miroku, a little taken aback by her less than amused response, decided to leave her there for the time being.

"Miroku," Kagome called fifteen minutes into the drive. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," he nodded as he waited for a flock of sheep to cross the road. 'Damn that Sesshoumaru, livin' all the way in the fricking boonies.' "What's on your mind?"

"Well…" Kagome thought better of her question for a second, then decided to go ahead and ask. "How do you know when you're in love?"

"Woah, a philosophical one," Miroku teased when the final sheep passed and he continued their journey. "Love is hard to explain," he responded weakly. "It depends on who you are."

"What about you?" Kagome asked. "How do you know when you're in love?"

"I'm not sure," Miroku admitted. "I've only had one girlfriend, and that one you know about."

"Yeah, I remember."

"Well, with Cheryl I felt out of control, dizzy and kinda weird at times. It took me a long time to realize that it wasn't love. I'm not sure what it was, but it wasn't what I wanted."

'That's what I feel,' Kagome realized while Miroku yelled a greeting to a passing farmer. 'Dizzy, out of control and like my life's turned upside down. If that's not love, then what is?'

"Now I don't feel like that," Miroku resumed. "I'm in love with a great girl, but she doesn't know it yet."

"Wow, that's great," Kagome congratulated. "What's she like?"

"At first, I thought she was shy, but she's not. She's a lot of fun and really sweet. She's headstrong too, with a wicked backhand. You know, the perfect woman."

"But how do you know?" Kagome asked again. "How do you know when it's love and not some puppy-eyed infatuation?" 'or guilt-ridden association…' she asked herself. Miroku glanced at her curiously, his brows furrowed together as he contemplated her seriousness.

"Um…" he thoughtfully scratched behind his ear, then said," Love isn't the kind of thing I define, but if I have to I'll say that it's the way I feel now. When I'm around her, I feel lightheaded but grounded in a good sort of way. She makes me smile, and her smile makes me feel like a king even when my day was spent hugging the crapper. It's…hard to say but love, especially when it's returned, feels like God is smiling on you."

"Oh."

Everything went silent, and Miroku snuck concerned glances at her as she turned to the window again. "Kagome, what's wrong?"

"What did you do for the 4th?" she asked instead. Miroku 'hm!' ed in amusement.

"Sesshoumaru, Mrs. K and I cooked out. We set off some fireworks for the neighborhood kids too."

"What kids?" Kagome asked as they finally pulled into Sesshoumaru's driveway toward the back of the house.

"There's a woman that raises foster kids in the house across the street," Miroku said as he pulled up beside Inuyasha's black BMW, Kouga's F1-50 and a little green Centra that she guessed belonged to Sango. "Don't let Sesshoumaru know I told you this, but the kids love him?"

'Weird,' Kagome thought to herself as Miroku turned off the engine and stepped out the car. He walked to the other side and opened Kagome's door, offering her his hand as she attempted to climb down. "Man, that thing's high Miroku," she said as she glared back at the Expedition. "Where's the Jeep?"

"Pops sold it," Miroku grumbled irritably. "I really liked that one. Oh well."

Kagome gave him an encouraging smile and reached for the doorknob to the practice room. She and Miroku gasped as a blast of heat shot from the room and toward them, their breath stealing away as sweat began to roll down their foreheads. Miroku propped the door open as Kagome stepped inside and glanced around. Sango and Rin sat on one side of the room and shot angry glances at Kouga and Inuyasha, who were on the other side. The room held the metallic tang of sweat in the air, and Miroku stepped inside just as Kagome noticed the gigantic hole in the wall at the back of the room.

"What the - what happened?" Miroku exclaimed as a blue Civic drove past the room toward the back of the house. Inuyasha and Kouga exchanged glances, then fingers pointed as they shot accusations at each other.

"It's his fault! I told him to stop!"

"You've got to be fucking kidding me! This is your fault, dumbass!"

"Dumbass? Kiss my ass you mangy mutt!"

"Damn-it, didn't I tell you about that shit Puppy-san?!"

"This stops NOW!"

Everyone froze and turned toward Sesshoumaru, who glared at Kouga and Inuyasha with the look of the devil in his eyes. He glanced around the room; sweat already trickling down his face in fine rivulets as his eyes locked on the hole.

"What happened-" he held his hand up as the arguing began anew and waited for them to stop. "I wasn't talking to you two idiots. Rin, Sango, what happened?"

"We don't know how it started," Sango admitted as Rin nodded beside her. "We got here after them."

"They were arguing about something when we got here," Rin said next. "We sat and watched them for a while, then they started shoving each other. Next thing we know, Inuyasha goes flying into the wall and well, there you go."

"Just great," Kagome heard Sesshoumaru mumble as he walked past. She pulled up her already sticky hair and watched as he examined the wall. He was silent for a few moments, then he shook his head and sighed.

"It would be just like you two to manage to fall onto the thermostat," he mumbled to himself, then turned and left the room.

"What's the big deal?" Rin asked while Sango made a makeshift fan out of a nearby folder. "What's so bad about the thermostat being broken?"

"It's the thermostat that operates the climate control system," Sango told her as she passed a folder to Miroku. "Those two must have knocked the air conditioner off and turned the heater on. Without the thermostat, we can't turn it off."

"Oh that's just great you two," Rin griped as Sesshoumaru walked back into the room. "How in the world you two managed to do that is beyond me."

"The wall and the thermostat can be repaired, but they won't be by until tomorrow morning. Until then," he reached behind him and shut the door. "We will practice like this."

"Are you kidding?" Inuyasha complained as Sesshoumaru removed his suit jacket and tie before picking up his guitar case. "It's got to be a thousand degrees in here!"

"You should have thought of that before destroying my wall. Does anyone else have any objections?"

Kagome looked around, and shook her head along with the others.

"Good. We'll just have to break twice today instead of once. Now lets get started."

><

Mrs. Kapsai unlocked the kitchen door and stepped inside, taking a moment to set her briefcase down on the nearby table before reaching inside the refrigerator. She fumbled around, shaking her head every once in a while as she passed by various items, including Sesshoumaru's coveted Vanilla Pepsi stash.

'That boy,' she smiled with a shake of her head as she pushed the blue cans aside and grabbed one of her cans of tea. 'His teeth will rot right out of his head if he keeps drinking that stuff.' She sat down at the kitchen table, popped open the tea and reached for her briefcase.

'I wouldn't have to worry about that if he were married, or at least with a girlfriend.' She sighed wearily, a sudden, but not unfamiliar, sense of guilt washed over her. 'Maybe it's my fault,' Mrs. Kapsai thought, then jolted from her thoughts when the front door slammed shut. Arguing began immediately, and she shook her head at Kouga and Inuyasha's venomous insults as they hurled them at each other like rotted fruit.

In the middle of it all, she could hear Sesshoumaru's angry hiss for the both of them to be quiet, which Inuyasha and Kouga ignored.

>Slap-Slap!<

"OW!!"

"What the fu-"

"Finish that sentence and you'll wear your tongue home for a tie," Mrs. Kapsai heard Sesshoumaru growl. Shuffling footsteps made their way toward her and the kitchen and she braced herself for the whirlwind of bad behavior that would begin the moment they arrived. Her mouth dropped open in shock when she finally saw them before her hand firmly plastered itself to her mouth.

Inuyasha and Kouga walked in first, both looking as if they were caught in a heavy rain. Their shirts were either completely missing or, in Inuyasha's case, wrapped around his neck like a misshapen scarf. Dark, sweaty locks were pasted to their foreheads, with Inuyasha's much longer hair clipped back in a-

"Is that a flower?" she wondered aloud as she pointed to the large, garishly bright green clip holding Inuyasha's hair away from his back. He froze and turned to her with a sheepish grin.

"Yeah, it is Mrs. K. How you doin'?"

"I'm fine Inuyasha, though I would like to know what's going on."

"This genius-" he pointed a finger at Kouga, who flipped him off in return. "Broke the thermostat in the practice room-"

"No I didn't!" Kouga countered. "You broke it!"

"Who pushed who into the wall?" Inuyasha snapped back. Kouga smirked. "How was I supposed to know that you were so weak?"

"Weak? Why you little mother-"

"What did I just say?" Sesshoumaru interrupted as he entered the room. He was in a state of undress as well, with a pair of navy blue pants that were obviously a part of a suit and a white tank top that was sweated through. His hair was up, the platinum strands held up rather precariously by what looked to be…

"Is that a naked fairy?" she asked as Miroku walked into the room. He was the only one fully clothed, and looked to be paying the price for it if the enormous sweat stain on the back of his red t-shirt meant anything.

Upon the mentioning of naked anything, Miroku immediately turned his attention to her. "Naked what?"

"Hello to you too Miroku," Mrs. Kapsai responded with a smile. Miroku smiled back and kissed her hand. "Hello Mrs. K. You grace me with your presence."

"Yeah right," she said with a shake of her head as Sesshoumaru glared over his shoulder at him.

"Why Mrs. K. you wound me to the quick. I'm but a lowly college student, trying to make the most of myself in the world."

"I'm proud of you Miroku," she said dryly as she stared at the back of Sesshoumaru's head. Sure enough, her eyes weren't fooling her. There was a clip, something like the one in Inuyasha's head except it was much larger, and baby blue in the shape of a naked butterfly fairy. 'Where did he get that thing?' she wondered before Miroku kneeled before her.

"Oh no," Inuyasha mumbled as Sesshoumaru passed him a bottle of water from the fridge. He passed it on down to Kouga, who grinned in thanks and waited for the show.

"Why are you down there?" Mrs. Kapsai asked, even though she knew the reason. 'Sesshoumaru's going to hurt him one day,' she thought to herself.

"I dream of you Mrs. K," Miroku declared, either ignoring or not hearing Sesshoumaru's warning growl as he passed Inuyasha another bottled water.

"I don't know how I managed to survive without you in my life. I lie awake thinking about your comforting smiles, your warm hugs-"

"She's never hugged you, pervert," Inuyasha interrupted and erupted into loud guffaws when Miroku scowled back at him.

"Anyway," he said as Kouga and Inuyasha hee-hawed from the other side of the table. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Tell me Mrs. K.-"

"Miroku…" Sesshoumaru warned, his eyes narrowed a fraction. "You've only got one strike left."

Miroku ignored this completely, and the last thing he said before Sesshoumaru's closed fist clunked him on the top of the head was,

"Will you bear my child? I'm sure Sesshoumaru can get used to calling me 'Daddy'."

"Pervert," Sesshoumaru mumbled to himself as Inuyasha and Kouga collapsed into the kitchen chairs. Miroku stood up from his prone position on the floor and smiled.

"It seems our love isn't meant to be Mrs. K," he said mournfully as Sango entered the room. "I guess I'll just have to settle for being your friend."

"I guess so," Mrs. Kapsai said with a shake of her head as Sesshoumaru passed him a bottled water. Miroku promptly handed it to Sango, who passed it to Rin as she came in the room.

"Is this a normal thing?" she asked. She glanced at Sesshoumaru, whom she could hear muttering threats and obscenities from within the refrigerator. Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah, they do this once a week. It keeps them regular or something."

"Shut up," Sesshoumaru snarled from deep within the fridge. He handed out another water without looking back, which Sango gladly took and passed it to Rin.

"Sesshoumaru," Mrs. Kapsai said as she tapped him on the shoulder. "Where did you get that clip?"

>Wham!<

"Ow," Sesshoumaru mumbled, rubbing his head with a rueful look on his face as everyone else snickered around him. "What was that Mom?"

"Where did you get the clip from?" she asked again. "And is it a naked fairy?"

"It's-"

"It's mine Mrs. Kapsai," Kagome admitted as she walked into the room. She tied her white blouse around her waist, her hair pulled into a silver version of the same clip. "And it's not necessarily a naked fairy. It's more like the shadow of a naked fairy. I let Sesshoumaru borrow a clip for a while."

"Oh. Ok then," Mrs. Kapsai responded curiously. Kagome leaned up against the counter with Sango and Rin and, like a Double Mint gum commercial, all three girls opened their bottles, set the caps on the counter behind them, tipped their heads back and took long sips of the water, their swallows in sync with each other as if practiced. Mrs. Kapsai glanced away from them and found the others staring at them in interest, including her son.

'Hm….' Mrs. Kapsai mused as Sesshoumaru absently opened his bottle, his eyes just as preoccupied as the others around him. 'Maybe there's hope for him after all.'

"Thanks Sesshoumaru," Sango, Kagome and Rin said in unison. He nodded in acknowledgement and couldn't help but smirk at the envious glances at the others. A cell phone rang out seconds later, and everyone scrambled to check theirs before Sesshoumaru held his up.

"It's mine," he said as he flipped the black Ericson open and held it to his ear. "Taishou speaking." He grimaced for a second, then sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm aware. When do we get to see the pictures?"

"Who is it?" Kagome mouthed to him and frowned when she realized he didn't see her. She crossed the room, stood directly in front of him and tapped his shoulder. He glanced down at her and cocked a midnight brow. "What?" he mouthed.

"Who is it?"

"Myouga. No, I'm not talking to you. Go on." Sesshoumaru placed his free hand on Kagome's shoulder and glanced to the side, missing her rising blush and his mother's knowing smile.

"We've got to what?" he snapped suddenly. He shot Kagome an apologetic look when she jumped, his thumb unconsciously making comforting swirls on the inside of her collarbone.

"Say again Myouga? … Well, why didn't you tell us this last week?" He sighed, his golden eyes connecting briefly with Kagome's before walking past her and sitting at the table on the opposite side of his mother. "No, never mind. Where are you?… Fine, bring them. I'll tell them. The front door's open." He hung up without another word and glanced at the band members around him.

"I seriously hope you don't have anything to do this weekend."

"Why? What's going on?" Inuyasha asked as the rest of the members sat around the circular table.

"We're scheduled for a gig Saturday night at 7."

"That's not so bad," Kagome said as Sesshoumaru removed her clip and shook out his hair. She was thunderstruck instantly, her hands itching to get a hold of the slightly sweaty strands and run her fingers through them. 'Girl get a grip,' she scolded herself. 'You have a boyfriend. He may be a jerk, but he doesn't deserve to be cheated on.'

"No, it's not that bad," Sesshoumaru agreed, successfully derailing her train of thought. "However, it's in Philadelphia."

"Philadelphia?" Inuyasha exclaimed heatedly. "Did Myouga forget his fucking map? Does he know how long it'll take to get to Philadelphia?"

"Most likely an all day drive, if we start in the early afternoon," Sesshoumaru answered, then shot Inuyasha an ugly glare. "And kindly refrain from using such language around my mother, if you please."

"Sorry about that," Inuyasha apologized, then scowled. "Hey, I asked a question!"

Sesshoumaru sighed and resisted the urge to hold his head in his hand. "It seems the city is holding some sort of end of summer festival and we've been asked to perform. We have the best timeslot, so the only problem is clothes and making sure we're available to go."

"I'm in," Sango said. "I've got nothing better to do this weekend."

"I'm in too," Rin said next. "What about you Kagome?"

"Definitely," she nodded. "I'll just have to call Grandpa and tell him I'll help out at the shrine another day."

"Shrine? What shrine?" Miroku asked as the front door opened once again. Kagome and Rin blushed in embarrassment.

"Our grandfather owns a shrine, and we help him out some weekends," Rin answered. Inuyasha smirked. "So, you're both shrine maidens?"

"I'm just the help," Rin replied as she pointed a finger at Kagome. "She's the one that's going to be a priestess."

"I told you, I'm not doing it," Kagome huffed as Myouga walked into the kitchen. "Grandpa's nuts if he thinks I'm sticking to that shrine for the rest of my life."

"Well I'm not doing it. One of us has to."

"Why don't you both do it?" Miroku said with a leering grin. "I've always found holy women to be interesting, especially dressed in all that black."

"Those are nuns pervert!" the entire table yelled at him. Myouga and Mrs. Kapsai winced in sympathy before Sesshoumaru gestured toward him.

"Did you bring them?" he asked. Myouga nodded and handed Sesshoumaru a UPS envelope. "I take it Sesshoumaru told you?" he asked as Sesshoumaru opened the envelope and pulled out five smaller white envelopes.

"Yeah, he told us," Kouga grumbled. "So far, I think I can do it. Have you called Ayame yet?"

"Yup. She's in. I think she's searching for outfits now."

"Then I can definitely do it."

"Then that's it," Sesshoumaru mumbled as he peered inside one of the envelopes. He passed one to Kouga, another to Inuyasha and used one more to smack Miroku upside the head before passing it to Kagome.

"Pay attention," he smirked at Miroku's confusion, then passed him an envelope. "Now what are we supposed to do with these?" Miroku asked as he pulled out four black and white photos.

"You're to pick the one you like the most. That's the one that will go in the Classics program," Myouga answered as Inuyasha shuffled through his photos.

"Hey, I like this one," he said as he slapped down a picture. Sesshoumaru and the others leaned over to see it. Inuyasha's head was tilted downward, his chin seemingly resting on his shirtless chest as he glared straight at the camera.

"You couldn't pick a better picture?" Sesshoumaru huffed. Kouga snickered. "Probably the only decent one in the stack."

"Shut up Wolf Bait," Inuyasha growled irritably. "That's the one I want and that's it. It's not like yours is any better."

"Of course it is," Kouga disagreed confidently as he slapped down his picture. In truth, his wasn't much better, with him grinning full force at the camera.

"Can somebody say cheese?" Inuyasha joked as the others laughed around him. Mrs. Kapsai shook her head. "I think it's a nice picture."

"It's a school picture," Rin replied. "From the third grade at least."

"That's what I was thinking!" Inuyasha laughed. Kouga frowned in insult. "Ha ha, real funny. Why don't you two just strap yourselves together?"

"This one is the one I want," Miroku said as he too plunked a picture on the kitchen table. His was a little better, with his normally loose hair pulled back in a ponytail like the others. He was facing the left side of the picture, but his head tipped toward the camera with his usual charming smile.

"What about you Sesshoumaru?" Rin asked as he quietly looked over his pictures. He glanced at two in his hands a moment, then set the one in his left hand down on the table.

"This one."

'Wow,' Kagome thought as Sango and Rin looked over her shoulder. 'This one isn't bad at all. It has a-'

"It's got a Greek feel to it," Sango said, unknowingly finishing Kagome's earlier thought. Sesshoumaru's picture looked to be a little more thought out than the others, with him sitting facing the right. Instead of facing the camera entirely, he looked off and to the side, his face still visible but his eyes obviously occupied with something off camera. Kagome secretly wondered at what he was staring at to give him such a mythical, longing look but quickly shook the thought free when everyone else turned to her.

"What?"

"You're next," Rin grumbled before nudging Kagome in the side. Kagome winced but complied, quickly opening her envelope and flipping through the pictures. She frowned suddenly and flipped again, then one last time before dropping the envelope and throwing up her hands.

"I quit! I like them all!" she groaned, then crossed her arms on the table and plopped her head down. Everyone else groaned around her and Inuyasha scowled.

"Isn't that just like a girl?" he complained, his arms crossing over his naked chest in exasperation. Kagome whimpered in misery as Kouga smacked Inuyasha upside the head. "Yow! What was that for?"

"Leave her alone mutt-face!"

"Damn it Kouga, don't make me hurt -"

"What did I say about that Inuyasha?" Sesshoumaru snarled heatedly. "I won't warn you about your language again." He turned to Kagome with a look of aloft sympathy. "Just pick one," he told her gently as she buried her face further in the crook of her arms. "That way we can get back to practice and prepare for Friday."

"Here," she said as she passed him her envelope without looking up. "I don't want to decide. You do it."

"But…oh very well," he sighed, his position at having been put out in such a way melting into oblivion once he opened her envelope. He was honestly stunned as he flipped from photo to photo, each one even better than the last. 'How in the hell am I supposed to choose?' he wondered to himself. A light bulb went off in the back of his mind as he came to the last picture, and he nodded to himself before placing it on the table with the others.

Everyone else nodded in agreement, with Kagome still sulking as they studied the picture. It reminded them of a professional singer, but no one could remember who. Kagome herself was staring up, her head tilted up as well with her hair pulled off her face and neck. Her eyes reflected the light behind the camera, and, to Sesshoumaru, the picture looked a little more…ethereal than the others.

"This one."

"Definitely," Sango agreed as Kagome peered over her arms to look. Sesshoumaru set about arranging the photos, making sure to stick with Sango's original plan. He placed his picture on the upper right hand side of a spare piece of paper, with Kouga's on the other side. Inuyasha was beneath Kouga's and Miroku's was beneath Sesshoumaru's, with Kagome in the middle overlapping the empty corners of the other pictures.

Sesshoumaru looked over the display critically, then shook his head. "It's missing something."

"Really?" Myouga said as he leaned over the table. "What's missing? They look fine to me."

"Me too," Rin agreed. Sango shook her head. "He's right. They're missing something, but what?"

"The eyes," Kagome mumbled from her position on the table. The others turned to look at her. "Huh?"

Kagome finally sat up, her arms still folded on the tabletop as she pushed a stray hair out of her eyes. 'Thank goodness it's cooler in here,' she mused as she looked at the pictures. "It's the eyes. We all have light eyes, especially Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru, so it gives the pictures an eerie feeling when they're in black and white."

"Hey, she's right," Miroku agreed with a nod. "We do look kind of strange, like the pictures aren't real or something."

"Then what's your suggestion?" Sesshoumaru referred to Sango.

"Um…Oh, I know!" Sango said with a snap of her fingers. "We can have them in color, but the rest in black and white like we agreed!"

"Can you do that?" Mrs. Kapsai asked. Sango nodded. "Yeah, you just need color versions of the pictures. We do have those, right Myouga?"

"We do, I just didn't pick them up."

"Does anyone have any paperclips?" Sango asked as she grabbed the paper the pictures were on. Mrs. Kapsai reached inside her briefcase and handed Sango a plastic case of clips. "Thanks. OK Myouga, this is what you do." She grabbed a pen from her back pocket and began scribbling on the unoccupied sections of paper.

"Take this to that Johnson guy and tell him what to do. It might cost a little extra though."

"I'll foot the bill," Inuyasha said with a wave of his hand. "So don't worry about that."

"Now that that's over with," Myouga said as he gathered up the picture collage and placed it inside the original envelope. "What are you doing about Saturday's gig?"

"For one, we need transportation," Sesshoumaru replied with a huff. The extra breath shot a portion of his bangs into the air, something Kagome found to be extremely adorable before severely chastising herself as Miroku laughed.

"Don't worry about that," he assured them. "I'll handle the transportation. You guys just make sure to have a lot of gas money on you."

"Alright then," Sesshoumaru agreed, though he wondered what it was Miroku had planned. "If that's all, then we can return to our practice."

"Aww, do we have to?" Inuyasha griped as he and the others stood up and filed out the room.

"We have that interlude to practice, remember?"

Inuyasha slapped a casual hand to his forehead in secret loathing. "That damned interlude. I forgot about that. Can't it wait? It's hotter than all hell in there."

"That is your fault," Sesshoumaru called into the kitchen from the living room. "Now come alone. We have work to do."

Mrs. Kapsai listened as they left, taking a moment to nod to Myouga as he left before sipping her forgotten can of tea. 'Children,' she thought with a smile, though the ones she was currently thinking about were far from children.

'I wonder if either of them realize it yet. I may just get grandchildren after all.' She smiled to herself, images of light haired children with blue-gray eyes playing on her mind's imagination.

><

Friday afternoon found Sesshoumaru unprepared as he once again rushed inside. He gave his mother a quick kiss and fled to his room, threw the door to his closet open and grabbed anything his frantic eyes found decent to wear. 'I cannot believe I forgot to pack!' he scolded himself as he threw a pair of jeans and a shirt into the suitcase.

'Of course I forgot,' he realized as Inuyasha walked in his room and sat down in a chair near the door. 'I had the Robinson ca-'

"Um," Inuyasha interrupted with a grin. "Where's the fire brother? You're normally so cool about things."

"I forgot to pack," Sesshoumaru growled irritably. "I'm trying to make up for lost time."

"Well, I don't think you'll need these." Inuyasha reached inside and grabbed a dark gray suit jacket. "Here you go."

"Thank you." Sesshoumaru replaced the jacket, grabbed a small leather bag and quit the room for the bathroom. "Just what do you want anyway?" he asked as he opened the medicine cabinet and tossed various toiletries inside.

"Oh, just to let you know that Kagome and Miroku are picking up our ride as we speak. Miroku said something about going grocery shopping too."

"For what?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "I don't know, but I could hear Kagome in the background. Whatever they have, she's really excited about."

"Yes, I'm sure," Sesshoumaru grumbled under his breath, a sudden streak of jealously having him briefly seeing green. He quickly shook his head clear as he returned to his room and tossed the leather bag inside.

"Just when was this?" he asked before grabbing his suitcase and dragging it down the hallway to the stairs.

"Eh, about an hour ago. He should be here by no-"

>BeepBeep-Beep-Beep. Beep. Beep!<

"What the hell?" Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru stopped in the middle of the threshold, each as flabbergasted as the others sitting on the porch as they watched the largest RV in existence navigate itself into Sesshoumaru's driveway. Miroku stuck his head out the driver's side and waved, a wide grin on his face as he slowed to a stop.

"Where did you get this thing?" Kouga asked as Miroku and Kagome jumped from the cab.

"Pops just got it a week ago. He said we could hold on to it, so long as we don't ruin it like the last one." He shot Kouga and Inuyasha an accusing glare. "You guys remember the last one, right?"

"Hey, that wasn't my fault!" Inuyasha yelped in defense. "Kouga said that the toilet would flush anything!"

"And you believed him?!?" Ayame giggled as everyone else (except Miroku) laughed around her.

"Ahem!!!!!" Everyone quieted at Miroku's less than amused face and quickly sobered. "If I can continue, maybe I can start the tour of this thing. Kagome already knows everything about it, but you guys need the break-down of things."

"This is the cab," Miroku explained as he opened the door to the passenger side seat. "There's a door here that separates the cab from the rest of the RV. There's also this-" He patted the small screen next to the steering wheel. "There's a tiny camera in the back that turns on whenever you try to back up. It's a lot better than trying to look behind you. Below that is the GPS system. Pops gave us the works. Now through here-"

Miroku opened the cab's door and stepped to the side, a wide grin on his face as everyone else clamored in after him. "Is the living quarters. As you guys can see, this part is the living room-" Miroku gestured to a small couch nearest them before pointing to a large wooden cabinet across from it.

"In there is the TV, Playstation, Xbox, hell, anything I could think to drag aboard this baby, plus lots of DVDs."

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Inuyasha exclaimed as he flopped down on the sofa. "What else is there?"

"There's the eating area, which is that way," Miroku pointed toward the back, where a small kitchen and a booth table were set up. "The kitchen is set up so that we won't have to stop to eat. After that there's a few sleeping cots in the wall, but there's only two so someone's going to have to sleep on the floor."

"And after that?" Sango asked as she pointed to a door in the very back.

"Oh yeah. That door is the master bedroom. There's only one bed in there, and that room has the bathroom in it. I don't recommend using the bathroom unless it's an emergency…or if you feel like helping me clean it out when we get back."

"Nah, that's alright," Kouga replied as he flopped down beside Inuyasha. Miroku sighed, but continued. "Now the only things I haven't covered are storage, which isn't a lot, and who drives. There's an attic above us, so that'll hold our clothes and stuff. The instruments can go in a separate compartment outside the booth."

"What about driving?" Sesshoumaru asked as he peered out a nearby window. He watched as Kagome checked her purse. She pulled out a metallic pink cell phone, flipped it open and closed it with a satisfied click before walking toward the cab entrance.

"We need to decide who's driving. The way I figure it, if we each drive for four hours straight, and take a restroom break between drivers, we should reach Philadelphia by 6:00 tomorrow night."

"That leaves us with enough time to shower and change into whatever we're wearing onstage," Kagome said as she climbed in after everyone else. "So what's it going to be? Who drives first?"

"I've got first," Ayame raised her hand. "That way I can sleep tonight."

"Well I'm a night owl, so I'll take one of the night shifts," Kagome offered. Miroku nodded in agreement. "Ok, since Ayame is first, Kouga, why don't you go next?"

"Whatever," he mumbled, he and Inuyasha fully engrossed in finding the power switch to the TV.

"I'll go after him," Sango said.

Miroku nodded. "Kagome, you'll be after Sango and I'll go after you. Rin-"

"I can't drive," Rin interrupted. "I don't have my license."

"Ok. Then Inuyasha-"

"Yeah, I got it," Inuyasha grumbled before whacking the side of the TV.

"Good. Sesshoumaru?"

"Yes, I hear you," Sesshoumaru said as he plunked his briefcase on the booth table. "Is there a telephone plug near here?"

"Nope, sorry," Miroku replied with a shake of his head. "Looks like you're unplugged for a while."

Sesshoumaru smirked in defiance. "I'm never unplugged. I'll just have to go wireless."

"Ok people!" Kagome announced with a happy clap of her hands. "We need to get this show on the road! The driving order, because it bears repeating, is Ayame, Kouga, Sango, myself, Miroku, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru. It goes without saying that this will be a never ending circle until we come home. Let's get packed up so we can get on the road!"

><

Sesshoumaru growled in annoyance, this road trip less than work conductive as he glared up at the others around him. Inuyasha, Kouga, Rin and Miroku were fully engrossed in a racing game of Inuyasha's, and everyone seemed to have forgotten about him needing enough quiet to work.

'Why am I even trying?' Sesshoumaru wondered as he slid his laptop back. He propped his elbows on the tabletop and moved his hands to the sides of his head, his bangs separating and threading between his fingers. 'I can't think like this. I'm tired, I'm irritable and-'

>Plop!<

Sesshoumaru blinked, then looked past the red cup in front of him to Kagome's smiling face. "Yes?" he growled testily. He thought he saw her frown for a second, then she looked as if to understand.

"Hey, you look down. How about I get you something?"

He watched as she turned away from him, not waiting for him to answer as she pulled a bottle from one of the kitchen cabinets. "Sure," he finally said as she turned back to him. "Why not?"

"I just knew you'd say that." Kagome flashed him a quick smile, laid the bottle on it's side and spun it with a quick flip of her wrists. She picked up the cup and filled it with ice, leaving the bottle spinning in front of Sesshoumaru as she reached inside the mini fridge for a Pepsi. She returned the cup to the table and picked up the bottle, making sure to flip the vanilla syrup around her hand before unscrewing the cap and pouring it into the cup.

She popped open the Pepsi next, making sure that it too became confined to the inside of the red cup before reaching for her purse.

"Here, try this," she said as she plunked down a small blue Ipod. "It should help to drown the others out."

"…Thanks," Sesshoumaru replied as she walked away. She smiled back in answer, leaving Sesshoumaru with his thoughts as she picked up the bottle and threw away the empty can. Sesshoumaru looked over the earphones, small clips that attached to the ears, before putting them on and taking a sip of the soda.

'Not bad,' he finally decided as the sugar danced on his tongue. 'Not bad at all. I wonder where she learned those bar tricks from…'

He decided to leave it for another day and turned on the MP3 player, waiting for something bright and bubblegum-like to start. To his surprise, a keyboard introduced the first song with a harmony that felt like jazz. 'No way would she listen to something sophisticated,' Sesshoumaru judged as the first lines of the song began.

/Woke up this morning found a letter that she wrote. She said she's tired that I'm always on the road. To hard to swallow being alone. She needs someone at night that she can hold /

'Maybe I underestimated her,' he decided, his eyes narrowing slightly when Miroku decided to act on his impulses. He attempted a three-way grope, Rin, Kagome and Sango instantly retreating from his wandering hands to the other side of the living area.

/She must have told me a thousand times before. Silent cries I use to ignore. God knows I love her, didn't mean to hurt her. Baby I'll be sitting here waiting on you to come home again. I won't leave. Promise I'll be here to the very end./

'Why would I care that Miroku's touching her?' he wondered to himself as the three offended girls gathered around each other and began to whisper. He could tell by the way they pointed and giggled that they were plotting something, and felt very sorry for his friend as a smile slowly crossed his lips.

/By your side to protect you and to love you and to be with you for life. Come on home to me Charlene.

/She knows I really love this old music thang. Since I was a child it's been my dream. I can support her treat her and spoil her. You know buy her the finer things/

They pounced without warning, each girl grabbing a nearby pillow and mercilessly pounding Miroku with it. Inuyasha and Kouga scattered like roaches, their intent fully on saving their own hides instead of helping their fellow player. Sesshoumaru's smirk widened as the sounds of Miroku's screams filtered through the headphones, his amusement only growing when he heard him shout his name.

"Oh no you don't!" he heard Kagome say as she smacked him upside the head again. Sango moved to sit on his chest, (after successfully jerking him to the floor) Rin on his legs as Kagome picked up another pillow and used them both to wallop Miroku senseless.

Sesshoumaru couldn't help the laugh that bubbled from him, his head sinking to the table as the shouts and cries for mercy added to his mirth. 'Well,' he said when he finally looked up. Miroku was just getting up, having been released from his tormenters with one final hit from Sango. Miroku rubbed his head, his normally well-groomed hair standing all over his head like a porcupine. He glared a moment at Sesshoumaru, then shrugged and said what Sesshoumaru thought to be 'It was worth it'.

'Yes,' he thought as he turned to the MP3 player. 'it was worth it. Now,' he sighed as he took another swig of soda and returned to his work. 'Let's see if I can get anything done.'

><

'Four o' clock…' Kagome sighed as she glanced from the dashboard clock to the highway. 'I wonder what Marcus is doing?' She sighed heavily to herself, glancing back once to make sure the cab door was closed before turning on the radio. 'It's not like anyone'll hear it,' she thought as she flipped stations. 'Everyone else is sleep.' The decision was made for the women to sleep in the master bedroom, leaving the guys to fight over whatever space was left in the living quarters.

She fiddled around a little longer, then stopped as the last bits of Linkin Park's 'Faint' faded out and the commercials began. 'I…I just don't know what to do anymore,' she thought to herself with a lone sigh. 'I mean, I love Marcus…at least I think I do, but we're so different. When we first started going out, I couldn't imagine feeling the way I do now. Does he even love me?' She smiled as the commercial ended and the DJ announced another song.

"I love this song," Kagome whispered before turning it up and singing along. /Let's talk this over, it's not like we're dead. Was it something I did? Was it something You said? Don't leave me hanging in a city so dead held up so high on such a breakable thread. You were all the things I thought I knew and I thought we could be.

/You were everything, everything that I wanted. We were meant to be, supposed to be, but we lost it.
And all of the memories, so close to me, just fade away. All this time you were pretending.
So much for my happy ending./

'Holy crap,' Kagome sniffed as the song continued without her. 'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Way too close to home.'

/You've got your dumb friends. I know what they say. They tell you I'm difficult but so are they.
But they don't know me. Do they even know you? All the things you hide from me.
All the shit that you do. You were all the things I thought I knew and I thought we could be./

'We could be happy together,' Kagome told herself as she wiped away an unshed tear. 'Couldn't we? I mean, it is possible, despite the fact that we never see each other anymore and that he's not exactly the great guy I thought he was. We can still be happy…'

/It's nice to know that you were there. Thanks for acting like you cared and making me feel like I was the only one. It's nice to know we had it all. Thanks for watching as I fall and letting me know we were done./

><

Miroku yawned and stretched when his watch alarm sounded. He glanced at it and grimaced, realizing that Kagome would be ready to change shifts in ten minutes. He stood up stiffly, his right leg still asleep as he made his way to the cab door.

He opened it quietly, then threw the door open in a panic. Kagome sat behind the steering wheel, her head down and her eyes away from the road as the RV began to veer into oncoming traffic.

"Jesus Kagome, look out!"

Kagome jerked up, her tearstained face frozen in terror as Miroku grabbed the wheel and steered them toward the side of the road. Miroku roughly shoved her to the passenger seat and took over, his eyes narrowed slightly as he pulled over to the side of the highway.

"Come on," he growled as he grabbed her arm and thrust her out the door. "We've got to talk."

<>

Golden eyes opened at the first sharp swerve, and Sesshoumaru sat up to find the door to the driving cab open. He watched as Miroku practically tossed Kagome aside and plunked into the driver's seat, his temper raising for some reason at the careless way his friend handled the smaller woman.

'Why should I care?' Sesshoumaru yawned as the RV parked on the side of the road. 'After all, it's her boyfriend that's going to be pissed if she comes home with bruises.' He sighed to himself, knowing that he wouldn't stand by while Miroku got the pulp beaten out of him. 'Why can't that pervert keep his hands to himself…Hey,' he stopped as the cab door swung open, and Miroku dragged Kagome outside. 'What's going on?'

Sesshoumaru glanced around to make sure no one else was awake, then quietly cracked his window open so he could listen to their whispered conversation.

<>

"Now just what's your problem?" Miroku vented angrily. "You could have killed us you know!"

"I'm sorry Miroku," Kagome sniffed brokenly, her head down and her hands firmly clasped in front of her. "I…I just-"

"You just what?" Miroku scolded. "Forgot that you need to see to drive?! Damn it Kagome, it's a good thing I woke up early!"

"I'm sorry."

Miroku closed his eyes and took a calming breath, his shoulders slumping as he relaxed and Kagome sniffed again. He finally looked at her, all the rage that clouded his eyes earlier gone as he took in her shaking shoulders. "Geez Kagome," he whispered apologetically when she finally let out a broken sob. "I didn't mean to make you cry." He reached out and enfolded her in a friendly hug, his frown deepening when she clung to the back of his shirt and shivered like an injured animal.

"Shhh Kagome-girl, it's ok," he soothed as he ran a comforting hand through her midnight tresses. "I didn't mean it. You scared me, that's all. I didn't mean to yell."

"It's not that," she finally replied as she attempted to calm down. "I just…I just don't know what to do anymore!"

Miroku winced when she broke down, her tears soaking through his gray t-shirt. She still shivered against him, giving him the impression that the pink cotton tank top and shorts she was currently wearing wasn't warm enough for the chilly night air. "How about you tell me about it," he said as he motioned for her to look at him. "Whatever it is, I'm sure you'll feel better if you talk about it."

"I don't think so," Kagome replied with a shake of her head. "I wouldn't want to trouble you."

"I don't think it's a trouble. Something's bothering you, and I'm concerned. I'm your friend Kagome." He pouted playfully, big violet puppy dog eyes focused squarely on her. "Tell me what's wrong Kagome. Pwease?"

"Aww…" she giggled, a watery smile on her face as she relented. "Fine. Just stop that."

Miroku shook his head, the previous innocence and cuteness disappearing for his normal charm. "Now talk."

Kagome sighed, her fists uncurling but surprisingly she remained where she was. Miroku lowered his hands to her lower back, figuring that the least he could do is behave since she was so generously offering him her body heat. "It's my boyfriend," Kagome admitted, glancing up momentarily to make sure Miroku was listening before continuing. "He's…different now. Before I moved in with him, he was sweet, generous, you know. The perfect boyfriend."

"Has that changed?" Miroku wondered, his arms tightening around her when she shivered again.

Kagome hesitated, but nodded sadly. "Now, all he has time for is work and his friends. Sometimes I call him at work and the girl at the front desk says he's not there. He's constantly late with the monthly expenses and…and…"

"And?" Miroku repeated, and wish he hadn't when tears glistened in her eyes once again. "Don't worry Kagome. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"I just don't know what to do," she whispered hopelessly. "I mean, I want to stay with him. He's had a rough time but at the same time I don't like what's going on. I don't think I love him anymore. I don't think he ever loved me in the first place."

"Oh wow." Miroku's frown deepened, his hand gently pushing her head to his shoulder before leaning his head against hers in sympathy. "I'm so sorry."

"If you don't stop apologizing," her muffled voice scolded from his chest. "Gah, it's not your fault you know."

"What are you going to do?" he asked while Kagome situated herself so she could breathe. She shrugged. "I don't know. I know Rin and Sango would be thrilled if I came back home, but then Marcus will be stuck without a roommate."

"That's true, but you deserve to be happy," Miroku countered sternly. "Sometimes you have to think about yourself."

"I know but…(sigh) You're right. What am I goanna do?"

"I tell you what. How about you sleep on it?" He pulled away from her, a genuine smile on his face as she peered up at him. "I'll drive for the rest of the night-"

"Even though it's your turn to drive now," Kagome smirked as she pointed to her watch. Miroku blushed and sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Yeah well. Anyway, you go ahead and get some sleep. I'm sure one of the bunk beds is still available."

"Yeah, you're right," Kagome relented while Miroku led them both back to the RV. She spun on her heels suddenly and hugged him, her arms flung haphazardly around his neck and shoulders as she jumped in his arms.

"Eheh," Miroku stammered, his right hand just itching to touch something more…interesting. "What's this for?"

"For listening." She quickly planted a chaste kiss on his cheek. "Thanks Miroku."

"Yeah," he said to himself as she skipped back to the RV. "Don't mention it."

<>

If Sesshoumaru thought he was jealous before, the friendly kiss she gave Miroku had him literally seeing red. He shut the window and closed his eyes when he heard them come back inside, quickly feigning sleep as Kagome walked past him. He could feel her eyes on him when she stopped beside him. He resisted the urge to fidget under her gaze and relaxed fully when she walked away.

Sesshoumaru stiffened again when she returned, his brow furrowing slightly at the sound of rustling plastic. He slyly cracked an eye open and watched as she cleaned up the table, throwing his red cup and paper plate from earlier away. She grabbed his laptop next, giving Sesshoumaru a full view of her cleavage as she leaned over to study it. He blushed slightly, his mouth suddenly dry as she pressed a few keys and closed his computer. She slid it back underneath the window on his right side, placed something warm over him and walked away.

'Hmm…' Miroku said to himself as he watched the little scene. 'I wonder…' He grinned to himself, a sort of mischief sparkling in his eyes before turning to the driver's seat and closing the cab door behind him.

><

"Are we there yet Sesshoumaru?" Inuyasha demanded as he plunked down into the passenger seat the next afternoon. Sesshoumaru ignored him, his mind still on Kagome's little confession from earlier that morning.

"Sesshoumaru? Hey Icicle Man, I'm talkin-"

"Touch me and die," Sesshoumaru growled absently, his hand tightly wrapped around Inuyasha's wrist as it hung inches from his head. Inuyasha 'eep'ed in surprise, then snorted and jerked his hand away.

"I only asked a question," he muttered as he stomped back to the living quarters of the RV. Sesshoumaru shook his head and glanced at the GPS.

"Another couple of minutes," he shouted to the rest. A flurry of action took place seconds later, with Ayame and Kouga struggling to get the attic door open and everyone else preparing for the concert ahead. Sesshoumaru looked in the rear view mirror at the other passengers, his eyebrows knitting together as Kagome suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"Yes?"

"Um…" She chewed on the inside of her bottom lip, something he was sure she did all the time but he was just now noticing. "What time is it?"

"Don't you have a watch?"

"Well yeah but Inuyasha decided that since it was pink, it had to die a quick death along the interway."

"That's interstate," he corrected with a smirk. "Or highway. Whichever."

"Right," Kagome drawled with a slight blush. "I'll remember that."

"6:45."

"What?"

Sesshoumaru resisted the urge to shake his head, finding her to be more comical than annoying like he once thought. "You asked for the time. It's 6:45."

"Oh yeah. Right. Thanks Sesshoumaru."

He watched as she walked away, barely dodging Ayame as she and Kouga stumbled down the attic ladder. She grinned at their apology and Sesshoumaru realized something strange about her. Her mannerisms reminded him of something, but he couldn't remember what. For some reason, Sesshoumaru had a feeling that she wasn't born in this country.

'That's not possible,' he told himself as Ayame grabbed her and Sango and dragged them down the hall to the bedroom, making sure to kick Rin along in front of her. 'She sounds like she's from here, so what makes me think that's she's from somewhere else? Feh!' He shook his head, his silver hair spinning around him, to clear it. 'It's nothing. Just lack of slee-'

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!!!! THERE'S NO WAY I'M WEARING THAT!!!!"

Sesshoumaru looked back just as Kagome stomped toward them, a bright red blush on her cheeks and her blue-gray eyes blazing angrily. Ayame happily walked behind her, a pair of strappy black heels in her hands.

"Sesshoumaru can't save you," Ayame sang out as Kagome stopped beside him. Ayame stood in the doorway, a happy smirk on her face as they waited for his attention. He ignored them as the stage pavilion rose up ahead of him, and expertly parking into one of the available parking spaces before turning off the engine.

Sesshoumaru inwardly sighed, wondering to himself why they bothered to involve him in a clothing dispute before turning to them. "What is it no…wow," he breathed out when he finally paid attention to them. "Not bad."

Kagome stood beside him, her cherry red cheeks flaming at his exclamation as she glared at Ayame. She stood there in a blue miniskirt, one hand tugging the helm closer to her knees as the other covered her chest.

Ayame huffed and jerked her arms away, leaving the miniskirt to fix itself and revealing a white fitted tank top with a red cross on the front. "See," Ayame teased as Kagome struggled to get free. "Sesshoumaru likes it."

"He's a guy, of course he'd like it!" Kagome shot back as she jerked her arms away and crossed them over her chest. "I want more clothes Sesshoumaru!" she whined pitifully, her bottom lip poking out like a small child's. "Please tell her that I can't wear this onstage!"

"Why not?" he asked. "I don't see the problem"

"I don't want everyone in the front staring at my underwear!"

"Then keep your legs closed," Inuyasha remarked as he peeped in from the back. "Hey, you look great though. Do we all get shirts like that?"

"No, just Kagome. You guys get either white or red ones."

"Aw crap." Inuyasha snapped his fingers. "I wanted one too."

"Here," Kagome said as she grasped the edge of the tank top and prepared to yank it over her head. "You can have this one!"

"Hey wait a minute!" Sango cried as she and Rin held up her hands. "Are you forgetting something?"

"Yeah!" Rin piped in. "Don't take that thing off around them!" She gestured to the guys around them, who were eagerly awaiting a show. "Besides, you're not wearing a b-r-a, remember?"

"So?" Kagome countered with an angry snort. "I don't think it matters. They're going to know either way."

"I say Kagome," Miroku chimed in with his usual grace and timing. "If you do decide to show us your charms, I'd be more than happy to-"

"Do not make things worse," Sesshoumaru interrupted with a sharp glare. All the arguing, plus the Kagome's fingers jerking at her shirt, had worn right through his normally calm façade. He grasped Kagome's arm and quickly jerked her forward, causing her to lose her balance and stumble forward. He kneeled slightly, waiting until her slight weight settled on his shoulder before grasping her leg and standing up again.

"Eep! Sesshoumaru!" she squeaked, her face pressed into his back as he gestured for his clothes and her shoes. "Put me down! Everyone's going to see my underwear!"

"You should have thought of that before causing this ruckus," he reprimanded as he opened the door and stepped out of the RV. Sesshoumaru glanced around them, ignoring the strange looks the fellow tourists and festival goers were giving him before spying a nearby table. He handed Kagome his shirt, which she gladly positioned over her posterior as he made their way to the table.

He leaned over and sat her on the tabletop, waiting until she pushed him away to grab his shirt. "you're such a jerk," he heard her mumble as he pulled his shirt off. He tossed it to Miroku, who decided to follow them before grabbing the red tank top and pulling it over his head.

"You're being a brat," he scolded as he pulled his hair out of the shirt. "It's just a tank top and skirt. What's so wrong with that?"

"You mean, other than the face that everyone will know if a really cold breeze goes by me?" she quipped snidely. Sesshoumaru shook his head, pulled a comb out of his back jeans pocket and quickly combed his hair.

"Again, you're being a brat. We're on in a few minutes, so you're just going to have to stick it out, OK?"

Kagome sighed and nodded, then grabbed her shoes and put them on. She jumped down from the tabletop and instantly wished she hadn't as she toppled over. She eeped and shut her eyes, expecting to meet the harsh ground when warm arms surrounded her. She looked up and found Sesshoumaru staring down at her, his normally stoic face and cold eyes warm and almost…affectionate.

"Hehe, sorry Sesshoumaru," she mumbled as she stood up. "I'm still not used to these things."

"Think nothing of it," he responded as the RV pulled into a parking space closer to them. 'Now why didn't I see that?' he asked himself as the RV stopped and Inuyasha jumped out. "Come on Fluffy!" he shouted as he opened the outer storage. "We've got shit to do."

"Yes yes, I remember," Sesshoumaru shot back as he and Kouga pulled out the band's instruments. Kagome and the other girls stood by and watched, and even with everyone around her, Kagome couldn't help but feel a little lost now that a certain someone was so far away.

><

Kagome smiled down at the audience, her earlier woes about her outfit forgotten as they performed. Their part of the concert went better than any of them could have dreamed, with the audience going wild the moment they stepped onstage. They were one song away from the last and Kagome was riding off the adrenaline rush she was getting from the crowd.

Kouga winked at Ayame, who stood offstage watching the performance. She waved back and blew him a quick kiss, which sent an instant boost to his ego. 'Hey, she'll love this,' he thought as he plucked a string on his guitar extra hard. The wire broke with a deafening snap and before he could warn anyone it flew away from him and toward-

"SHIT!"

Everything stopped as Kagome whipped around, her eyes widening as Sesshoumaru dropped to one knee, his hands covering his face as blood seeped from between his fingers. The crowd muttered behind her as she kneeled beside him. She tried to pull his hands away from his face and gasped when he growled at her like a wounded dog. "Please Sesshoumaru," she whispered as the other band members surrounded them. "I can help, but you've got to let me look."

She heard him mumble something ugly, but he allowed her to move his hands. Kagome gasped, her hands instantly going to touch the angry cut on the left side of his forehead. The injury itself was a quarter of an inch long and in his hairline just above his left eye. Blood trickled down his face and into his eye, clouding his normally perfect vision. "Oh wow," she muttered before reaching for the nearest piece of cloth (which happened to be the helm of her shirt) and ripped off a piece to make a makeshift bandaid.

"Here Sesshoumaru, hold this," she said as she balled the piece of cloth in her fingers and pressed it to his head. He followed her instructions, his eyes never leaving hers as she ripped off a piece of his shirt to press over the wound. "Hey, are you feeling dizzy?" she asked and frowned when he didn't respond. Kagome scooted closer to him, her arm snaking underneath his right arm to his back as she noticed the glazed look in his eyes. "Sesshoumaru, are you ok?"

"Yes," he finally responded. "I'm fine." He attempted to clear his head, the blood not affecting him as much as her scent was. Whatever perfume she had on was intoxicating, and he couldn't help but feel a little vulnerable as the scent of jasmine calmed him.

"I've got it miss," a medic said as he helped Sesshoumaru stand. He pulled Sesshoumaru after him, with Sesshoumaru still holding his eye before turning around and grasping Kagome's upper arm. "Keep going," he ordered.

"What? But Sesshoumaru, you and Kouga won't be-"

"Keep going," he repeated. "Do the interlude we practiced until we get back."

Kagome huffed at his stubbornness, but nodded anyway. "Fine. We'll keep going until you get back."

He released her and shot a glare at Kouga as they walked backstage. He listened as everything was silent before the Miroku began to play and Kagome's quick breaths sounded over the speakers.

/(in)(out)(in)(out)…I-I-I-I-I-I-I-want…you-you-you -you-you-you-you said I-I-I-I-I-I-I-want…you-you-you-you-you-you-you/

"What happened?" the medic asked as Ayame ran toward them. Sesshoumaru shrugged in answer.

"Oh wow, are you ok?" she asked. Kouga stood by and tangled with the broken string, finally managing to get it loose as the medic saw to Sesshoumaru's forehead.

"Could you get me another string?" Kouga asked Ayame before grimacing at the blood on his guitar. "They're in the small part of my suitcase."

"OK."

They watched as she ran off, bright red hair disappearing in the crowd as the medic nudged Sesshoumaru to sit down on the rear bumper of the ambulance. "Whatever did this," he mumbled as he rinsed the cut off with some antiseptic. "made a clean cut. It's not deep though, so it shouldn't scar."

"That's a relief," he heard Kouga mutter sarcastically before his mind wandered. For some reason, Kagome's startled face appeared in his mind's eye, her concern shining in her starlight orbs before everything went red.

/Love is on the way…All I've got to say is it won't let go…/

'She couldn't have been worried about me,' he told himself. 'That was just…well…what else could it have been?'

/You can pray till early May. Fast for thirty days, still it won't let go. Oh no…/

'But I haven't been the nicest to her,' Sesshoumaru reasoned with a mental shake of his head. 'So she couldn't have been concerned. But if she wasn't, then why did she look so scared?'

/Got a good book and got all in it. Tried a little yoga for a minute. Still it won't let go. Oh…/

'"You're little girlfriend looked worried," the medic said at a stab at conversation. "I bet she'll be happy to see you when you get back."

"She's not my girlfriend," Sesshoumaru replied vaguely, his mind still trapped deep within his thoughts. The medic shrugged. "Could have fooled me."

/Tried to turn the sauna up to hotter. Drunk a whole jar of holy water. Still it won't let go. Oh….Oh I-I-I-I-I-I-I-want…you-you-you-you-you-you-you-/

'She already has a boyfriend,' a bitter part of his mind sneered in distaste. 'And from the sound of it, things aren't going so great.' He sighed as Ayame bounced back, a little red box in her hands.

"Here you go Kouga," she smiled. Kouga thanked her and immediately set to work on replacing the string. Sesshoumaru watched attentively, his mind slowly putting two and two together.

"What happened?" Ayame asked again. Kouga shrugged. "I guess I plucked the string too hard. Serves me right for showing off."

'That fool nearly sliced open my eye,' Sesshoumaru thought angrily, his fist balling at his side. 'The stupid-'

"Kouga?"

"Hey, Sesshoumaru," Kouga greeted as he finally turned to him. "I forgot you were over there. How's your head?"

"Fine. Tell me," his eyes narrowed fractionally, a promise threat glistening in his eyes. "When did you your string snap?"

"Um…" Kouga thought about it for a few seconds, then grinned. "Right before you got hurt. Man, what a coincidenc-"

>POW!<

"Ignorant jackass!" Sesshoumaru bellowed as he stood over Kouga's prone body. "You and your showing off could have blinded me!"

"Damn it Sesshoumaru," Ayame cried out as she stooped to help Kouga stand. "You didn't have to hit him."

Sesshoumaru quirked a brow, a small smile forming on his lips as Kouga held his bleeding nose. "I don't know about that. It's certainly made me feel better."

><

'They've been gone for so long,' Kagome thought as sang the next verse. 'I'm starting to get worrie-' She stopped at the guitar intro and glanced over her shoulder as Sesshoumaru and Kouga walked back onstage. The crowd cheered uproariously, some even shouting Sesshoumaru's name as he and Kouga returned to their places.

'Whew,' Kagome breathed in relief. 'He's ok but what happened to Kouga's nose?' She snickered to herself at the cotton ball lodged in his nose, somehow knowing the answer without even asking.

Kagome turned back to the audience, her relief reflecting in her sudden grin. She raised her arms above her head, her head turned down and to the right as she moved to the guitar duet. Her hips swayed in time with the music, the crowd and everything else around her fading away as the music carried her to parts unknown.

'I've died and gone to paradise,' Miroku bemused as he and the rest onstage watched her. Her normal hesitation looked as if to have left her, her movements seductive and enticing as her left hand ran through her hair, down the length of her torso to rest at her hip.

/I know I said I loved you…/ she breathed into the microphone, her eyes half-closed as she brought right hand to it. /But I don't…/ "You guys want to know why?" she shouted to the crowd, whatever euphoria she was currently in infecting the audience below her. Kagome grinned when they responded.

/'Cause I'm a hazard to myself. Don't let me get me./ Her smile widened when the crowd roared as she continued the song that was interrupted by Sesshoumaru's outburst. Her energy continued through the rest of the performance, with her practically bouncing offstage to the RV to change.

"That sure was some performance," Miroku called to her as he, Inuyasha, Kouga and Sesshoumaru changed in the front area.

"Just what's that supposed to mean?" Rin shot back from the master bedroom.

"I've paid a lot of money to see worse dances than that!" he chuckled. Inuyasha and Kouga laughed too, remembering a time not too long ago when Miroku blew $200 on one girl at a strip club back home.

"Shut up Miroku!" Sango's voice scolded from the room.

"You know that dance was because of me right?" Kouga bragged as he jerked up a pair of faded Levis. "She was so happy to see me and wanted to show me."

"Whatever!" the girls chorused from the room. The others laughed around him, but Sesshoumaru found himself deep in thought. The events of the day swiftly replayed in his mind until a plan formed and the sky began to darken.

><

'I hate crowds,' Kagome bemoaned as she and the other group members walked through the festival. She could hear the band onstage, a group called Purple Filth, growling their hearts out. She looked at the stands around her, her hands fluttering to her ponytail before sighing.

'I wonder where Sesshoumaru went,' she thought while the others chattered around her. 'He had the right idea. This place is making me nervous, and I don't like the weird looks I'm getting from some of these guys.' Kagome glared back at one guy, some jerk standing with a bunch of his friends at the beer stand. He grinned when he caught her looking at him, stuck his tongue out and wagged it at her in the most grotesque gesture she'd ever seen.

'Americans…'

Kagome smoothed her hands down the front of her shorts, her head down for a split second before something grabbed her by the back of her green tank top and jerked her into a nearby alley. Kagome opened her mouth to shriek, but a hand quickly covered it as an lightly tanned arm snaked around her waist.

She immediately went on the defensive, her elbow ramming into the person's stomach before crouching down and slipping out of the guy's grasp. Kagome stood up and away swiftly, her pupils dilated and her eyes frightened as she moved her purse behind her.

"How dare you you-" She stopped when he laughed, her mind going blank a moment before she recognized the laugh, and the black tank top and white pants he had on.

"Sesshoumaru you jerk!" she hissed as she wrapped her purse strap around her right hand and swatted him with it. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

"You should have seen your face," he wheezed as he continued to laugh at her. "You were scared out of your mind!"

"Oooooo!" Kagome growled angrily and stomped her foot like a child. "And here I thought you were finally being civil! You'd be scared too if some guy licked his tongue out at you!" She paused, her anger subsiding as Sesshoumaru's grew. "What does that mean by the way?"

"What guy?" he asked instead of answering her. Kagome looked up and, judging by the weird gleam in his eyes, decided to leave it for another time.

"Why'd you grab me like that?" she demanded. "What's your problem anyway? The others will be looking for us soon."

"Let them look," Sesshoumaru replied as he peered out of the alley. He looked around for the other band members and, realizing that they were long gone, turned back to Kagome. "You can come with me or I can take you back to them. It's your choice."

'Wow, is he serious?' Kagome wondered as he stood there waiting. "Um…why do you want me to come with you? You obviously want to be alone."

Sesshoumaru said nothing, merely stood there and waited for her answer. 'Kagome, are you nuts?' her subconscious screamed at her. 'You've got a boyfrien-'

'Don't start that again,' another part of her interrupted. 'Look here girl. Here's a cute guy…ok, so he's nuts, but he's cute-asking you to walk with him through this festival. You can learn everything you've ever wanted to know about him! You can stare at him without others wondering what's going on! It's like walking into Tiffany's and them telling you that you can get anything in the store for free!!!'

"Kagome…" Sesshoumaru turned away from her and toward the festival, his eyes set toward the Ferris wheel as his left hand extended toward her.

'Take it,' the little devil on her shoulder whispered.

'No, don't take it.'

'You know you want to…'

'What about Marcus…'

'What about Marcus?' Kagome growled to herself as her tiny fingers grasped his long, slender ones. 'I deserve to have some fun for once. Besides-' He turned back when her fingers touched his, his golden eyes glowing in the sparse light.

'If I had a single doubt, it just went out the window.'

"I take this as a yes?" he said more than asked.

Kagome nodded.

"Good. Let's go." She allowed Sesshoumaru to pull her out of the alleyway in the opposite direction of their band mates, their fingers still interlocked as they explored the festival. Kagome stayed a little behind him as they walked, watching as every little thing seemed to spark his interest like a kid in a candy store.

'He's so…out of character,' Kagome thought with a smile as Sesshoumaru picked up a black chain wallet with a red dragon on the front. 'But it's nice to see him like this. I wonder what he'll do next.'

She didn't have long to wait.

Kagome turned back to him when he started to sniff, his nose twitching eagerly as he turned away from the wallet vendor and toward a funnel cake stand. "Kagome," he called as he gently tugged on her wrist.

"Yeah?"

"Want a funnel cake?"

"A what?" she asked before being dragged toward the vendor. Sesshoumaru turned back to her in amusement, then in genuine puzzlement when she remained clueless.

"Don't you know what a funnel cake is?" he asked as they waited in line. Kagome shook her head. "What is it?"

"It's-" He frowned suddenly, his face totally serious as he looked off to the side. Kagome couldn't help but smile as he concentrated, his search for an answer for her adorable in her eyes.

"Sesshoumaru-"

"It's sort of like a doughnut." His eyebrow raised teasingly. "You have had a doughnut, haven't you?"

"Yes," Kagome hissed in embarrassment. He nodded. "It's like that, except…different. You'll see."

"Hey mack," the vendor growled as their turn came up. "What'd'll you have?"

"A funnel cake, a large bag of cotton candy, a purple candy apple and-hold on a second." He leaned down to Kagome, his ear appearing right by her mouth as his hair shifted in front of his face. "What do you want to drink?"

"I can get my own Sesshoumaru," Kagome argued as she reached inside her purse for her wallet. Sesshoumaru jerked it from her, tied it to his belt on his other side and repeated himself.

"No way! Give me my purse Sesshoumaru!"

"You're with me, so I'm paying. Now what do you want to drink?"

Kagome glared at him, thinking he was playing a game until she fully looked at him. Sesshoumaru stared back at her in all seriousness, that same eyebrow raised irritably as he waited. "Oh. Um…Ok," she muttered. "I guess I'll have a cherry Coke."

He repeated her choice and ordered (surprise surprise) a vanilla Pepsi for himself. Their order was filled quickly, and Kagome found herself following Sesshoumaru once again as he led her to a nearby table.

She sat opposite him, her drink in her hand as he set everything out. "That's a funnel cake," Sesshoumaru gestured to what looked like a bunch of tangled fried dough with powdered sugar on top. "Trust me," he coaxed when she gave it a doubtful look. "It won't hurt you."

"That's what you say," Kagome mumbled, but decided to try it anyway. She had to admit, it wasn't bad. In fact, this entire walk with him wasn't at all what she thought it would be.

Kagome picked at her funnel cake as she looked around, a wistful smile on her face as she stared at all the lights. 'This is perfect,' she thought with a sigh. 'No worries, no hassles, and no strife. Just me and…well,' she smiled at Sesshoumaru as he woofed down his funnel cake, reached back to toss the empty plate in the trash can, and was opening the cotton candy bag when she started laughing.

'Him.'

"What?" he asked, thoroughly curious as to what was so funny. Kagome shook her head, then pulled a napkin from the table dispenser and handed it to him. "You have a sweet tooth Sesshoumaru," she giggled as he wiped the corners of his mouth. He looked down at the napkin, then up at her.

"What?"

"You do! You have a sweet tooth! It's so cute!"

"I see." He tied the cotton candy bag closed, the twist tie lost to the sands of time as he sat it down and leaned over the table toward her. "So…you're saying I'm cute?"

"What?! No way!" Kagome stammered, a light pink flush rising on her cheeks. "I didn't say that!"

"Um-hm," Sesshoumaru lightly snorted. "If that's not what you said, then why are you blushing?"

'Oh God,' Kagome gasped as she desperately searched for something to take his mind away from her. 'I am blushing!' "Um…Who's the candy apple for?" she quickly changed the subject. Sesshoumaru glanced from her to it, turning the subject of interest upside down and twirling it on the table with his index finger.

"Believe it or not, Miroku."

Kagome laughed, thinking it a joke as he stared back at her. "You're kidding?"

"No. The purple ones are his favorites so…"

"So you bought him one," Kagome concluded, her voice soft to his ears. She couldn't help but see him in a new light now, and smiled back when he looked at her. "That's so…sweet."

"Kindly don't repeat that in front of anyone," Sesshoumaru replied as he stood up. "I don't want that reputation floating around."

"Ok," Kagome nodded as he threw her plate away, dusted off his hands and reached for hers again. "I won't tell anyone."

He acted as if he hadn't heard her, continuing on through the fair as Kagome ambled along behind him. 'I just don't understand,' Kagome shook her head as they arrived at the games. 'A couple of months ago, he hated the sight of me. Now he's holding my hand and spending time with me. He could have gone with Miroku. And there's just something about a guy that's willing to walk around a festival filled with people with a lavender candy apple in his hand.'

Kagome looked up and stopped, unknowingly jerking Sesshoumaru backward as she stared at one of the games in awe. "Oh look," she muttered to herself, her fingers slipping from Sesshoumaru's hand as she walked toward the stand. There as one of the prizes sat a white dog plushie, it no bigger than her purse with a droopy look to its eyes and large floppy ears. "Isn't it adorable? I've got to have it!"

"That ugly thing?" Sesshoumaru commented as Kagome reached for her purse, which was still attached to his belt. His eyes widened when she jerked him to her, her head lowered toward his crouch as Kagome dug around for her wallet.

"Oh, here it is!" she exclaimed happily before turning to the vendor. "How much is that dog plushie?"

"You mean the stuffed dog down there?" the vendor grunted. Kagome nodded. "Yes, how much is he?"

"You can't buy him missy. You have to win him."

"Oh crap," Kagome muttered, her excitement dampening down a little. "What do I have to do?"

"It's simple. You take a ball like this," he picked up one of the baseballs in a rack in front of her. "And throw it at the ducks that'll come from the other side of the wall," he gestured to the blue wall behind him. "Hit five ducks and you win. It's five bucks to play."

"Oh double crap," Kagome muttered sadly. Sesshoumaru watched as she looked at the money in her hand, the wall behind the vendor and the little stuffed dog before lowering her head.

"Thanks, but no thanks," she sighed as she returned her money to her purse. "I'm no good at these things."

"Oh well missy," the vendor shrugged as she turned to walk away. "Better luck next time, eh?"

"Yeah," he heard her mumble before returning her hand to his. Sesshoumaru couldn't help the weird twist in his chest as he stared down at her, the pang merely twisting more when she cast the dog one last glance.

"Wait a moment."

Kagome stopped mid step, her gaze curious as he tugged her back to the vendor. "Let's you and I discuss something," Sesshoumaru began as he leaned over the counter. The vendor leaned over as well, and Kagome watched as they whispered something.

"You know what boy?" the vendor finally laughed as he slapped one knee with his hand. "You're a clever somethin'! I like you! I'll do it!"

"Good." Sesshoumaru pulled her beside him, glancing at her a second as the vendor set up the balls in front of him.

"Don't stand too close to the counter," he warned and waited for Kagome to nod before grabbing the first ball. Sesshoumaru walked a few paces away as the vendor started the duck targets, a large crowd gathering around them as he studied the ducks' pattern.

Kagome watched him, his face set and serious as his eyes quickly darted from duck to duck. 'What did he say to that guy?' she wondered to herself while Sesshoumaru stood still. She could hear the whispers from the crowd, some calling him an idiot for falling for another carnie hustle while a few girls called him a romantic for trying so hard. 'Whatever,' Kagome giggled. 'I'm almost positive Sesshoumaru would freak if anyone said that to him.'

Kagome looked at him again, watching as Sesshoumaru's arm stretched behind him, his right leg raised in a perfect pitcher's pose before stepping forward and firing the softball. Kagome gasped when it zipped by her, her head whipped around to follow the ball in a whirl of black hair. The vendor jumped back with a curse, then cursed again when a crack sounded and one of his wonderful yellow ducks was rendered headless.

"Kagome, if you please," Sesshoumaru called to her before gesturing to the balls. Kagome nodded and tossed him another one, and again she watched as he decapitated another duck.

"Holy shit dude," one man whispered behind her. "This guy's good. I wonder if he's in the major leagues."

"It would serve that guy right," another man muttered angrily. "That jerk suckered me out of $100 last year!"

Kagome quickly tossed Sesshoumaru another ball, and again he destroyed another target. "Wow," she whispered in admiration as he hit the last duck, this time leaving a splintered hole in the middle of the duck's stomach. "That was amazing."

"Glad you think so," Sesshoumaru commented as he approached her. The vendor glared angrily at them, his hand fisting by his side while Sesshoumaru waited patiently. "Well?"

"You-you didn't do it right!" the vendor stammered. "You destroyed my ducks! You owe me some money boy!"

Sesshoumaru grabbed the vendor by the collar and dragged the much bigger man over the counter quick as lightening, his eyes narrowed angrily as he pinned the man to the countertop. "I don't know what the law is here, but from where I'm from what you just did is called a swindle," he growled heatedly. "Now all you said was hit the targets. That was our deal. I complied, so you owe me. Now we can settle this like gentlemen or we can involve the crowd in our discussion."

"Hey!" one girl chirped behind Kagome. "Isn't that Sesshoumaru? That guitar player that got hurt at the concert earlier?"

"Yeah! Hey, that's Sesshoumaru you guys!"

"Sesshoumaru's getting swindled!"

"Oh crap," Kagome mumbled under her breath. She turned back to Sesshoumaru to find him smiling, this one sending chills down her spine as he looked down at the vendor. The crowd became angry the longer the vendor remained stubborn, some threatening bodily harm to the man before he relented.

"Fine, you win! Get the stupid dogs, I don't care!"

The crowd cheered as Sesshoumaru let go and helped the vendor stand, even taking a second to straighten the man's apron and shirt before walking toward the stuffed animals. "Which one Kagome?"

"Um, that one," she replied, pointing toward the white one at the very top. Sesshoumaru reached up and pulled it down, using his 6' 11" frame to free the dog from the wall. The crowd dispersed, their thirst for entertainment fulfilled as Sesshoumaru handed Kagome the dog.

Kagome hugged it to her, her mind reeling at how much trouble one little plushie could cause as Sesshoumaru reached up again. "What are you doing?" she asked as he jerked down another dog, this one a black version of hers. Sesshoumaru passed that one to her too, then grabbed her hand and continued along their way.

"I only wanted one Sesshoumaru," Kagome said with a smile. "But thanks."

"Who said that one was yours?" he smirked as he parted their way through the crowd.

"Then who's is it then?" Kagome asked, a smirk on her face as well when he stopped. It widened when he turned to her, his hand twitching slightly around hers before answering.

"I thought Mom would like one," he answered before walking on.

"Yeah right," Kagome mumbled, then smiled as she noticed something. "Hey Sesshoumaru?"

"Yes?"

"They kinda look like us, don't they?"

Sesshoumaru turned back and, even if it was inwardly, he had to agree that the little stuffed animals reminded him of them. The little white dog had yellow eyes, and the black dog's eyes were blue like Kagome's. Sesshoumaru sniffed in insult and turned around.

"I don't think so."

'Yeah right,' Kagome thought as the RV came into view. 'Even if you don't think so, I do. Thanks for a great time Sesshoumaru.'

><

The drive back home wasn't nearly as exhilarating, with only one fight between Inuyasha and Kouga along the way. Sesshoumaru stepped out of the RV and onto his front lawn, deeply inhaling the fresh country air as the others unloaded the RV.

The only thing he would miss would be Kagome's new attitude toward him. Since their impromptu disappearance Saturday night, everyone had taken to teasing them about what happened. To his surprise, Kagome remained tight-lipped, sharing with him a sly wink before leaving their questions unanswered. He thought that she might have laughed when he passed Miroku his candy apple, but all he received was a warm smile in response.

'Not that that's a bad thing,' Sesshoumaru thought as a cell phone rang among them. Everyone reached for theirs, each flipping or pressing buttons before Kagome giggled. "It's mine," she said as she dragged her suitcase from the RV. She leaned against the side of the RV, one arm wrapped comfortably around her middle as she nodded and talked to whoever it was on the other end.

'I bet it's her boyfriend,' Sesshoumaru guessed with an angry sigh. 'Geez Sesshoumaru, you just had to be nice to her didn't you? Why couldn't you have left well enough alone? I bet she's laughing about you right now, telling her boyfriend about how she suckered you into-'

He turned at her gasp and watched as the bright pink phone slipped from her hands. It fell in slow motion, the metallic paint glittering in the sunlight before the phone shattered on the pavement below. Kagome looked up, her eyes locking with his as a lone tear fell down her cheek.

"Kagome, what's wrong?" Sango asked as she and Rin rushed to her side. Kagome could hear them, but she felt as if she were inside a tunnel, listening as they shouted to her from the outside. Her knees buckled and she felt strong hands steady her before she could follow her phone to the ground. She looked up, not into brown eyes but gold, the concern shining in them nearly as startling as the news on the phone.

"Kagome, speak to us," Rin pleaded as Sesshoumaru held Kagome steady. "What's wrong?"

"Its Grandpa," Kagome whispered as the other band members surrounded her. "He's in the hospital. He had a heart attack earlier this morning."

----

SF: Oh no! Poor Grandpa! Oh sh-(Kagome runs up and strangles her)

Kagome: I could just kill you! How could you do something like that? What's going to happen to Grandpa?!

Inu-chan: Yeah SF. That was pretty low.

SF: (choking) If you let me go, I can explain. (takes a deep breath when Kagome lets go) OK, you know good and well that I'm not going to let anything happen to Grandpa!

Kagome: Whew.

SF: However, I do have to set up the plot for the next chapter. Where's the script?

Shippou: I got it! Here you go SF!

SF: Thanks Short Man. Ok, here's the breakdown

Grandpa's in the hospital, and Sesshoumaru learns something more about his current interest…

Kagome comes to accept things the way they are…and begins to come to her senses…

Final preparations for the Classics begin…

And just what does Marcus do at night…

Next time on The Breaking Point: Chapter Eight (jeez, I thought we were on ten already) Who is She to You?

(Oh yeah. Kagome's stage outfit was from Rave Master!)

Fanfiction

inudemoness247, otakuannie, Mystic Hanyou, Tsuki Yume, Hanoi, hehe, Sesshy's koi, Element-Queen, PeachesDani, Nymph Demon, TeNshI nO Hi, Trom Kehra, Flame Dancer077, NoLabel, Arteme, Blooded-Blade, CometsChaos, fluffy li , AngelMiko69, sesshoumaru, myinuyasha04, raisins, nishasha, Leira,Frooky, Row, HellzAznGrl, Queen of the Storms, watery-fairy-glitz: Thanks so much for reviewing! Another chapter's on the way!

hissori tenshi: I can't wait for her to dump him too, but Kagome has a weird sense of loyalty. I'm working on that though!

kitt90: Now see, you're getting ahead of the story. You have to wait until things happen. If you're really worried, then I guess I can answer one question. No, I'm not going to let Marcus molest our favorite miko in any way. Now everything else is free game.

acrimsonnight: So sorry. I've already picked out the songs for the Classics. I do plan on a duet of a sort later on in the story, but now right at this moment.

Madam Sorceress: Sadly, I can't take credit for the ice cream scene. That was Miroku's idea. I owed him a favor.

evilfire4321: Nope, there are no demons in this story, even though Kagome's still a shrine maiden. I know, that sucks. Sesshou's still pissed about that.

artemis347: You know, I actually hadn't thought about her telling Rin and Sango. She will fess up later on in the fic though.

Izumi Kimamoto: Well what can I say? I'm flattered. I'm pretty sure I haven't converted you, but I'm trying my best! Hey, what does your name mean?

acrimsonnight: I'm not sure how, but I'm not risking being kicked off to find out. I've already had a site violation for this year. I try to get one at least once a year. I don't feel right if I don't.

Indygodusk: Man, that's a lot of questions. Of course I'm more than willing to answer every single one of them. All of your questions about Sesshoumaru and his family, including the interlude in the first chapter and what's going on with his mom and dad, will be answered very soon. The shoe will drop with Kagome's boyfriend too. I'm waiting on a few more things to be established, like the way he's always asking her for money, before I put the bow on this puppy. Kagura's coming back, and I'm pretty sure you won't see her coming!

Fire Phoenix: You're going to have to be patient. No restraining orders yet, but I'm pretty sure we'll get there. Marcus is a jerk, but you just don't know how big a jerk yet. Time is of the essence and the like.

sorata-chan: Yup, you and the rest of the readers. No one likes Marcus. I wonder why?

Tokia: Now now, you know me. I'm a sucker for a happy ending. There are going to be a few twists and turns (plus Sesshoumaru is going to make himself look like an ass [doesn't he do that in every fic]) but we'll still get the 'Happily Ever After' cake at the end!

MusiqMistress: It's not as obvious as I thought it was. You're not the first one to be surprised at the whole Marcus-Naraku thing. I couldn't think of anything else to name him.

migele: Don't worry, they'll hook up. I do have plans for Inu-chan too, so just be patient! Trust me, it's not who you think it is!

KouseiJL: Um, you know what's useful? One of those kitchen chopper knives, you know. The ones that have the square blade. I love those things, they come in all sizes and they'll chop anything! Oh, forgive me. I'm on a knife kick. I need new ones. Both my friend and I had boyfriends like that. His thing was PMS too. Fricking jerk. I stopped that though. I reminded him of the 60% chance of a woman getting off if she kills a guy during a certain time of the month. He freaked needless to say. Oh well. I'm working on the two of them getting together. That's why there's some S/K fluff in this chapter. You do know that Marcus and Naraku are the same people right? I may have forgotten to tell you. I forget useful stuff like that. That's why I need new knives. Yeah, I've done the elbowing before! I grew up with two guys as best friends. Trust me, the elbowing was a daily occurrence. Thanks for the silver stars. Believe it or not, I like silver better than gold!

Cryxxy-chan: Yup, they sure are! You're the first person to get it!

Ritani: Now what makes you think Sesshou's going to beat Marcus up? I suppose I could see if it fits, but I don't think he'll do it. However, that's not going to stop him from getting the girl.

jerry: Um, no. I'm going to do my best to prevent that. Everything else is free game though.

BelleDayNight: Yeah! (hugs Kouga) You get to beat on Inu-chan for the remainder of the fic! Isn't that something you've wanted to do? Kouga: yeah but- SF: No buts! (giggles) Belle's better at the K/K stories than I am. I think my brain fritzes on them. Now now, we love you both Kouga, it's just that- Sesshou: The guardian just loves me more. Kouga: What? Say it ain't so SF! SF: (sigh) Unfortunately (grabs Sesshou's tail and hugs it) I just love the grump! Sesshou: I'm not a grump. SF: Yeah, whatever.

DemonWicca: Kagome is a gentle soul, and there are things in Marcus' past that she's sensitive to. Sooner or later it'll come down to hurting him...or allowing him to hurt her. She'll have to make a decision, and she'll have to make the right one. Don't worry. Sesshou's going to be there to help her out!

undecidedly certain: In a way, it's the same situation and in a way it's not. See, he couldn't have stopped the thing with his mother if he wanted to. He was too little to realize what was going on. With Kagome, he actually has a chance to do something...depending on if he wants to do it or not. You know how Sesshou can be. He's already pissed as all hell about the fact that he has to wear concealer on his face and wrists for the fic.

black-cat-on-the-wall: O.O OoooKayyyyyy...Um. Anyway. Trust me, Marcus is going to get his. Just leave everything to me! Everyone wants Sesshou to beat on him! I wonder why? Poor Marcus. Even Naraku has fans.

DarkPyroPlanet: More fluff at your service. I'm not entirely sure if Adam's Song will fit with this fic. I think it would do better in A Role Reversal. However, there will be some Janet Jackson (that's my girl), more Pink, some Seether, a little bit of Limp Bizkit and a lot of Evanescence! Lots and lots of songs, and all of them just happen to be my faves! Kagome will wrote a few songs, and she and Sesshou will write one of their own. It's going to be MAJOR fluff. Um, Naraku is playing Marcus, so he looks like him, but dressed in Modern Era clothes. Again, it took me a while to update. I didn't mean to. I'll honestly try to do better.

Father Malvado: I would, but I buried that game underneath the rose bush...along with FFX1 & 2. I was on a role that day. I totally agree with you about Marcus! He really should be ashamed of himself. Using that timeless guilt trip on her! Don't worry though. Unlike in everything else, nice guys finish first!

tessa3: Hey, I told you it was a great video! Can you imagine Kagome doing something like that?! Way too funny! Hey, don't hit me about Marcus! I told you that Naraku plots his script, so don't go bruising on me! I have friends that act like Kouga and Inuyasha. I wonder most of the time if they hate each other, but they're too much alike to not get along. Unfortunately (plus Sesshou keeps asking me) there are no yummy demons in this fic. I thought about it, but it didn't make much sense. So now here we are, and they're they go! Oh, sorry about that. Force of habit. Hi Kyo!

Youkai no Yume: I'm telling you. Talk about jail bait! Any guy that touches her instantly gets thrown in jail. Poor guy. He'd deserve it though. Pervert! Oh, anyway, thanks for the good stuff you guys! The Blessed Curse update was beautiful! Hey, did you guys know that you're my artist of the week?