AN: JUST SO YOU KNOW, I'LL BE GOING ON HOLIDAYS, FROM TOMORROW MORNING TO SEPTEMBER FORTH. SEEING AS I HATE TO INTERRUP BY VACATIONS FOR ANYTHING, I AM LEAVING THE LAP TOP HERE AT HOME, AND I WILL ENJOY MY BEACH TIME.´

1-Because I didn't end the eleventh chapter of Absolution I decided to leave you a small gift. This fic belongs to the absolution universe and its set before the story.

2-I know I said I was going to make the priority epiphany a TWO-SHOT but I lost interest and nothing comes out when I think of a second part. Maybe beach will inspire me. If not when I come back I will be giving it as completed.

3-If you want Absolution continued, for God's sake, there are bold letters in the AN, please leave a review with an answer and help me out.

4-This story, will indeed be a two-shot (And I know the second part already) I just can't write the second part now, because I'm exhausted, and I have to wake up early in the morning tomorrow.

5-I hope you review a lot, and have fun for the rest of the summer! And don't forget if you are reading this you might like to read my other fanfiction too. Especially READ ABSOLUTION AFTER THIS STORY( if you liked it, of course). Absolution is a long fic with this universe, though you don't need to read it before to understand.

Addiction

She watched him, just like she always did. Sango at her side was mentioning something about her and Miroku's date the other day. And still, her best friend's voice was tuned off by her jealous heart. He was crossing campus with his girlfriend; he didn't even spare them a glance. She felt it impossible not to heavily sigh, crossing her arms in the wooden table under her favorite willow and resting her aching head on them. Her eyes slid closed, slowly, as she pleaded the tears away.

They were always this damn happy. He always took her in his arm, an amazed smile stretching his lips as his golden eyes marveled in the amazing figure that Kikyou was. In all truth she was. She was beautiful with her long straight jet black hair, her kept locks barely moving out of place with the wind. Her skin was snow white and her face was chiseled in the purest marble- she also looked just as cold as marble. Her dark brown eyes gave her a mystery Kagome had never seen in any other woman, and even with how casual Kikyou dressed, she always looked beautiful and sensual. How could Kagome blame Inuyasha for loving her? He looked happy at her side, Kikyou didn't look a thing, but she rarely, if ever, did.

One thing though, Kagome was sure of. There was no way Kikyou loved Inuyasha the way he loved her. There was also no way Kikyou loved Inuyasha like she did. In the one year she'd met the young heir of the western lands, their relationship had built and crashed and built and crashed all over again- just like his and Kikyou. And this, because whenever he and Kikyou broke up (more like, whenever Kikyou decided to off their relationship for some days, or even merely dump him) Inuyasha would come to her. And as Inuyasha foolishly followed Kikyou, Kagome foolishly followed him.

So you see, their relationship was existent only when he found himself swamped and drowning on her rejection, on her coldness, on her indifference. She, Higurashi Kagome, was no more than the punching bag, she was his release. With Kikyou, she could see him always holding back, he didn't even cuss, and that for Inuyasha was saying a lot- but truth was, with Kikyou he wasn't himself. And somehow that always made her feel better, because with her he Inuyasha he was rude and impetuous and demanding and downright beastly sometimes, but it was with her that he let loose his darkest side, and she always, always, embraced it.

Most of the times she ignored what she felt when he held Kikyou's hand or kissed her sweetly or how he smiled at the dark haired beauty, one day after fucking her raw. He constantly cheated on Kikyou with her, and that should have make Kagome feel like a cheap whore, maybe she felt it, she didn't care. Maybe don't caring should make her feel empty inside, but when Inuyasha was there he filled her in more ways than one and she never felt empty. Truth was, she enjoyed healing him, fixing him. Because sometimes, when she thought about giving up and stay away, Inuyasha would show the rarest side of him, the boy inside whose infancy had been ruined by two parents killed, a bitter older brother and two raced against the mixed one. She enjoyed make him feel better because she loved him, and one glimpse at that little boy, that surfaced when he watched the sakura blossoms fall down and writhe in the wind, or when he watched a hanyou child playing safely with other youkai and human children, made it all worth it. Inuyasha was worth all her pain and suffering because she loved him so, so deeply.

She wondered if Kikyo loved him truly, if Kikyou knew that part of him. She wondered if Kikyou heart wrenched when she thought of his wretched childhood, and if she cried when she saw him haunted by old memories. Sometimes she wished Kikyou would die and let her fix Inuyasha completely, because her frequent rejections always messed the work Kagome had done on him. Most of the times, because Inuyasha loved the dark haired beauty, she wished Kikyou could love him as much as she did.

She was jealous, yes.

But it had been a year since she'd come to live in Tokyo. Eight months since they'd been… friends with benefits. And she'd learned that when Inuyasha called and subtly invited her over or asked her to meet him, or merely even pulled her by the elbow, slammed her to a wall and ravaged her, there was no way she could ever say no. Nor did she want to. She'd honestly learned with all her heart that he could never love her back, but by now she only wanted to make him happy. If for that she had to be his whore, then so be it. If for that she'd to leave…well, she couldn't make herself move just yet, but she was sure that if he asked her (or ordered her to) she'd do it in a heartbeat if he merely said that that was what it took to make him happy.

She loved him so much it ached inside her, every second of every minute, of every hour, of every fucking day, she ached for him- wholly, completely. He was the only one who had ever made her feel like this, and he'd made pretty darn clear that it would remain like this. She'd ventured in two or three dates before he made clear to her rebellious personality just how fucking serious he was about possession. She was prohibited to even touch another guy, other from Miroku who was his best friend and one of her dearest friend. She of course ignored this rule. Sometimes he got really angry, whether to her or the guy.

Kikyou seemed oblivious to this and Kagome wondered if it didn't bother that Inuyasha proclaimed to the whole campus that she was not allowed to have anyone else.

And in a sick twisted kind of way, his jealousy and possessiveness embodied in a white hot rage always made her feel better. Even if she felt like a whore, and even if he announced to the whole campus that she was his bitch and no one else's.

She still loved him, and in those times she sometime felt like saying it to him, detail him in just how much she did. When she did he grew quiet and somber. He hated when she said it, except on the new moon, when he was less volatile and more vulnerable. He liked spending those nights with her, she knew he did. Though he had never said such a thing before.

Problem, at least to her, was: this would one day end. She was convinced that one day he and Kikyou would straighten their relationship up. But where did that left her? she couldn't pass long without him, and somehow he couldn't either, because he'd only spent three or four days away maximum from her in the whole time they'd been fooling around.

Sighing heavily again at her darkened thoughts when she should be concerned with tests and exams, she opened her glassy eyes to meet Sango's delicate light cinnamon eyes. Ever the beauty, Sango now frowned from before her. Kagome raised her head from her crossed arms and wiped the prelude of tears from her long full lashes and eyes. Taking a deep breath, she forced a smile as she pretended to look at Sango, while, really trying to pinpoint the couple she'd been watching before she'd entered in herself and explore the blackness of her.

"I'm sorry Sango. Did you say something?"

"Yes I did. Let's see, first I told you how Miroku's going to be the Spiritual Adviser of The House of The West. Then I told you how he was a sweetheart and took me to Miyarabi in Ikebukuro, Oh!, I remembered to ask you about your design class as well…huh…Then I was telling you how Daisuke, that stupid fuck, was bitching about me in the Taijyia HQ and… Oi! Kagome! Are you spacing out again?"

Her grey eyes didn't even darkened in awareness, as they glazed over again, her front teeth consistently gnawing at her bottom lip, as her teeth gritted her chin quaked and her nostrils flared. All the signs that showed, that Kagome was in clear distress. Sango turned around to see what she didn't even need to see. She knew it would be Inuyasha. It was always Inuyasha- though she never acted this anguished near him, with Sango she knew better, and with her was where she could take the scraps of darkness inside her and washed the ugly, sickly tar away.

Indeed, Sango's eyes caught Inuyasha leading Kikyou to her car and hold her door, taking her delicate pale hand and sitting her perfectly inside the automobile, with every care in the world. His smile never faltered to her, and then he bent down and kissed her sweetly on the mouth. Then they shared a few words only for him to keep on smiling. It was a very pleasant smile. But Sango also knew better. He was like her brother; they'd known each other since they were but babies. That smile, wasn't happy Inuyasha. That was a repressed Inuyasha, begging for acceptance. When the car wheeled away, from campus, behind his eyes a flicker of mischief and somehow darkness lured behind his eyes and suddenly his face hardened and he punched both his fists into his pockets.

His eyes met Kagome and she choked. She knew that look, and when Sango saw it too, and recognized it for what it was, she helped him gather her things. Inuyasha's eyes were in all their golden splendor, a pit of darkness that drew her in. This was his cry for help. He was demanding her love yet again, and how could she ever deny it to him? If she couldn't say it, then she wanted to act upon it, she wanted to show him. Swallowing loudly and she stopped Sango's hand she sadly shook her head. Sango tried to plead.

"Kagome please, please don't go." Sango's hand turned around and bound hers. "You'll hurt yourself."

A meek shrug was her answer

"It'll make him feel better"

She was already putting her last book inside her backpack when a hand stopped her. Her breath hitched suddenly, all strength flying from her body, under Sango's worried glaze. She stumbled and wavered lightly. Her hands immediately reached for the nearest support. And that was a manly hard body on her side. When she saw that neither the hand that had stopped her (that belonged to the body supporting her) neither the muscles were as corded or as hard as a youkai's (or her hanyou's) she stiffened further.

In fact, the person holding her to his chest was completely human. Bankotsu.

She had to admit, he was incredibly handsome, with his dark blue eyes and long onyx braid, a tattooed purple cross on his forehead. And he was intriguing and mysterious, also. But this would eventually turn out to be a problem. Seeing…

Inuyasha was approaching

Bankotsu was Kouga's friend

And… he'd never hid from anyone that even though he didn't care for her romantically, he thought Kagome was the hottest piece of ass in all the land.

It was merely a fetish, nothing more. And honestly, with how she felt sometimes, her self-esteem ripped from her so brutally once every other night, it really was flattering.

Problem was, Inuyasha knew it. And Bankotsu liked to push it.

Before she knew it, his hands had laced on her lower back and he pecked her cheek. Then offered her a smile. She gulped and tried to look over his tall, broad shoulder. Inuyasha had been far away, but Gods knew he was fast and since she'd almost fallen, and Bankotsu had caught her, she had not seen him. She needed to get out of his embrace, because this could prove to be trouble.

" Yo! Osu!"

His genuine smile made her flush and swallow again. Frantically, she looked for Sango and watched her observing and biting her lip.

"Huh…Hi there Bank. I was just going home…"

"Do you need help there?" he tried to take the strap of her backpack but she shook her hand nervously with a shaky laugh and tried to step away from his embrace. He conceded the shirking but then his arm fell on her shoulder and he turned them away, walking to the parking lot, on the other side. What was worse was that he'd opened his back to Inuyasha. "Well then, can you give me a ride?" her chest and her awareness tingled with a fantastic sixth sense and she turned panicked eyes on her best friend to her side, who was still facing the opposite direction of Kagome and Bankotsu's path.

Kagome knew it. When Sango flinched, that was when she felt Inuyasha right behind Bankotsu.

A hand shot to the back of her back shirt and he pulled her harshly to him, squeezing her form to his side. She tried to speak and he pricked her skin with dangerous claws by squeezing her again. She could practically see the heat waves of his rage. The hatred burned brightly in his golden, beautiful irises.

"We'll talk. Later." His growl made her shrink against his body, as his arm wrapped tightly, tighter then the comfortable around her form. Breathing heavily she saw him narrow his eyes into the human, who seemed a little disgusted by the inu-hanyou's actions.

"You don't touch her, ever. I thought that I straightened this up last time I talked to you, Bankotsu." His words were calm and measured and Kagome took a deep breath before intervening. She looked aside but spoke up, loud and clear, before Bankotsu lashed out at the young prince that now held her uncomfortably harshly to his chest.

"It's fine Inuyasha. I was just almost falling and Bankotsu caught me."

"Well then." His rage intensified and his eyes darkened considerably, a rim of red making them look eerie. Kagome swallowed and chastised herself for not thinking it before saying it. Inuyasha hated that she had never accepted any gifts. She had declined credit cards to a new car and he hated it. Therefore he had stated that he'd offer her protection. At the time, she remembered, the idea had struck her as ironically weird, seeing as any of the harm that came to her, came from him. But she hadn't dared to say anything. He'd only told her, that he was also the only one allowed to protect her, aside from Miroku. "You should have fallen."

His whole sentence resumed their relationship. Taking the fall for him. Falling to her knees in the mud for him. Submit to him. Wait for him. Accept only him. The fan of possibilities in what a metaphorical meaning for that statement was concerned was immense, and almost hilarious. If the situation wasn't so grievous.

Bankotsu snort made her escape her trance and the youth before them both shook his head in disgust.

"You act so all and mighty. Prance around with Kikyou in the day, Fuck Kagome in the night… What? Do you think you can play people, because you are a lord? Honestly Taisho, I thought you had more brains than the ordinary human man."Inuyasha shook with rage and when Kagome tried to loosen his hold on her he forced her body on his with such strength all air escaped her lungs. "Gods know you don't deserve it Kagome. And I know that if you were able you would rather not have him. But he is making you look ridiculous when you deserve nothing more but to be treated by a queen. Anyone would make you happier than he does… "

She frowned immediately, hurt by his words, hurt by the truth in them, hurt by the quiet rage in Inuyasha's body. Hurt by Sango's shake of head and look of pity upon her. Then the older woman came to Bankotsu and raised a hand to his shoulder, as calmly as she could.

"Bankotsu, don't make a scene. C'mon, let's go away."

He looked at her, then at Inuyasha. Part of the hanyou's rage temporarily slipped out of Higurashi's hold when Bankotsu's eyes turn to hers, and they held pity, and adoration.

"I have no words to tell you how sorry I am, Kagome. The Gods were cruel to you. You know that to him you are only his whore…"

Kagome bit her lip and looked aside, meekly nodding, just to make him go away. Please, please go away. She spent her days trying to empty her mind of truths; she wanted to be empty, not to think in the disgusting, scary viscous truths that Bankotsu had spat in her face. Sango ushered him away after throwing her one last suffering, concerned gaze. Kagome tried to get out of his hold and found herself unable to. Just as she was unable to look at him in the eye. Or keep her tear away anymore. She straightened and wiped her tear away, gulping away old pain and lumps. As she looked up at him, seeing his ire enhanced eye color made her shake with fear and his body reacted to hers and pulled her further into him.

She could feel herself get carried away by his manipulative hands.

To her surprise she was quickly at the passenger door of his car. She could clearly see he was completely seething, that if she said anything, things wouldn't swing the right way, and she'd be in trouble. So she kept quiet and still. He was sill panting like and enraged bull. And worse was, even as he put his hands on the wheels of his sports car, his anger seemed only to thicken and engorge inside his chest. She was afraid in any road they crossed until shibuya came to visage. The colossal height of the sky scrapers that Daikanyama Heights were, made her squirm. She had classes, why was she in Shibuya-ku? Why was she about to enter the fantastic apartment of her lover? Why was he so upset? It wasn't her fault to have fallen. His statement to that was just plainly stupid... She was with him, right? Why was he so angry at her? She wasn't guilty of Bankotsu's words either, though she recognized their truthfulness. And she swallowed the pain with her chest, accommodating her in her rotten heart- a muscle he'd destroyed.

As he made her enter the elevator roughly, with a push in her lower back, ignoring all other tenants, his hands were shaky. His forehead dripped with seat as his bangs, his eyes were still eerily rimmed and darker. She could see him trying to take deeper breaths, and softly, unawarely counting.

"Penthouse" was the ragged whisper she offered the concerned looking parrot youkai in charge of the taking tenants to what floor they wanted to go. He went to ask if something was wrong with the terrified little girl. But the dog next to her growled heartily and the servant gulped and jumped back, punching the button to the last floor.

"Penthouse!"

Some translations:

Hi - Yo~

'Ssup! - Osu!

Review a lot, I'll be working on Part 2

-Chino