Disclaimer - I don't own Inuyasha.

A/N: Hey, sorry it's been a while since I last looked at this one. School's started up again (WOW, I wrote this sooo long ago... I'm writing THIS 12/17/07... huh) and so yeah, you get where I'm coming from lol. Anyway, hope you like this chapter, I always do :-). If you've ever seen Terms of Endearment then you'll know what's going on at the Terms of Endearment (don't own) part... if you've never seen it then you can sort of understand it? Idk, w/e lol.

Read & review darlinks.

- Kagome's Room -

Kagome felt something feather-like brush her brow and her eyes fluttered open. To her dismay, no one was there. Not that she'd like to find someone there but she'd rather something concrete than just nothing.

"Huh," Kagome muttered, turning on her side and turning her light on. The horrible image of her father flashed in her mind and Kagome felt a shiver of fear crawl up her spine. "Shiiit." She whined. She just wanted to go back to sleep. But, she couldn't do that when she was afraid some freaking crazy man (her father) was going to randomly start to beat her. She felt the heat of her fear on her skin and she couldn't stand it. She wanted to jump out of her own body and just float away to somewhere cold. She looked over at her clock and saw that it was 4:30 in the morning. She hadn't gotten much sleep and her mind, whenever she was awake, kept drifting to Kouga or Alexis. She was so confused.

- Kouga's Room (same time) -

Kouga had randomly woken up, sweating all over. He remembered flashes of the dream/nightmare he'd been having: Kagome kissing him, Inuyasha kissing Kagome, Inuyasha looking at him with hate in his eyes, Inuyasha looking at him with anger in his eyes, Inuyasha making love to Kagome, Kagome laughing evilly at Kouga's face then suddenly making love to him not Inuyasha, and Inuyasha beating the shit out of him. He could barely stand himself. He couldn't understand what had gone wrong. When and where had he fallen in love with his best friend's girl? It was sickening and against his own rules.

- Alexis' Room (same time) -

Alexis smelled the warm air in her room and found a hint of her brother drifting along the dust particles flying around. She smiled, knowing he'd come home. But, she could sense his aggravation and that aggravated her. What right did he have to be annoyed or upset? He'd just gotten back from what she could only assume to have been a 'holiday.' She growled softly to herself then snuggled her head into her pillow and smiled. Despite how upset she was with him, he was still her brother and she was more than happy he was home.

- Inuyasha's Room (same time) -

Inuyasha was staring at his bedroom ceiling; the only light in his room was his flickering television which he'd left on because it seemed to comfort him when he wasn't feeling very well. He didn't want to admit it but Kouga had him worried. Right before he'd 'run away' Kouga had talked to him. He'd said that he needed to tell him something and he didn't look healthy. Like there was something very wrong with him and Inuyasha was suspicious that his friend was sick with something. Inuyasha could only imagine what Kouga was going to tell him and when Inuyasha was left alone with thoughts like that, his mind ran all over the place.

"Is he in love with Sango?" Inuyasha asked himself aloud, a frown turning down the corners of his lips. He'd gone through what seemed every scenario but none seemed to fit. "Uck, no way. Ummm, is he dying? Nah... what the fuck could it be?" Inuyasha sat up, feeling sick. "Oh shit," He spoke softly, shocked to his very core. "Is Kouga gay?" Inuyasha looked over at his television. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (don't own) was on and it seemed to be a major sign. "Oh Jesus..." Then he remembered what a pervert Kouga was and realized his newest assumption was the farthest thing from the truth. "Not that there'd be anything wrong with him being gay." Inuyasha said to himself nervously as he calmed down. "I would totally support him." He said, reassuring himself. "Yeah," He grinned. "I'm a good friend." Then, he lied his head down on his pillow and fell asleep, Kagome's face the last thing he saw before he drifted off.

- Sango's Room (same time) -

"This is really good." Sango said stupidly to herself as she ate her chocolate ice cream. She was watching Terms of Endearment and she'd never seen it before so she was really excited. She'd heard from Kagome that she would cry and Sango was in a crying mood. The funny thing was she'd already cried and she was about to see one of the most heartbreaking parts.

"Excuse me. It's after ten. Give my daughter the pain shot." Aurora Greenway said, calmly.

"Mrs. Greenway, I was going to." Said a nurse.

"Good. Go ahead." She said, beginning to lose her patience.

"Just a few minutes." The nurse said, as if she had so many other things to do.

"Please. It's after ten. I don't see why she has to have this pain-?"

Then the nurse interrupted, "Ma'am, it's not my patient."

"It's time." She said, practically yelling and then literally yelling. "Do something! All she has to do is hold on until ten. And it's past ten! My daughter's in pain! Give her the shot!"

"Are you going to behave?"

"Bitch!" Sango said as tears found their way down her soft cheeks…

"Give my daughter the shot!" Aurora fumed. Sango grabbed a pillow and began to sob into it, dropping her chocolate spoon in the process.

"Aw shit." She muttered, barely caring. She took her DVD remote and paused her movie. "Why is this so heartbreaking?" She asked herself with a shake of her head.

- Miroku's Room (same time) -

Miroku looked over at his alarm clock tiredly.

"Why in the world did I set you to 4:30 in the morning?" He asked himself as he turned it off. He loved to sleep; it was one of his favorite things to do. "Oh, now I remember why." He said as he reset his clock for 6:35. He had to get up early and he liked to trick himself into believing he had more hours of sleep. Waking up at 4:30 made him think, "Aww shit, gotta wake up." but then, he'd realize it was only 4:30 and he had two more hours and five minutes left to sleep. He smiled to himself as he fell back into dreamland, not a care in the world.

- Same Day (6:35 in the am) -

Miroku woke with a start, feeling like he'd gotten two seconds of sleep since he'd reset his alarm clock from 4:30 to 6:35. He was pissed. He wasn't supposed to feel as tired as he did and work didn't look too appealing at that moment. It was Saturday, why should he have to go to work? He should be living and out there doing whatever the hell his friends did when he wasn't around.

"I'm just gonna quit." He said, putting an arm behind his head and resting on it. Then, he called in sick.

Miroku on the phone: "Yeah, I'm just not up to it today. Uh huh, I'm real sorry. I know, I know, I'll switch shifts with Mandy. Alright, thanks a lot."

Then, he set his alarm to 12 in the afternoon, grinning happily.

- & - & - & - & - & - & - & -

Kagome looked over at her alarm clock, yawning. It was 8:30 am and she tried smiling, feeling well rested. But, for some reason, she couldn't. She truly wanted to cry and she had no idea why something so absurd was happening to her. Tears filled her tired, dry eyes and she heaved a heavy sigh.

"Maybe I'm depressed." Kagome said softly, laughing at herself as a tear hit her arm. Then, she took her covers and pulled them over her head, snuggly into their warmth. She looked up at the darkness that was her covers and saw light shining through. Random dark feathers were everywhere she looked and she smiled. "You guys are what poke me at night!" She said jokingly and she laughed. "God I'm weird." She said, shutting her eyes and falling back asleep.

Suddenly, someone was knocking on her bedroom door.

"Kagome, it's me!" Sango said from behind the door and Kagome groaned.

"Come in." She said reluctantly and Sango giggled quietly as she tip-toed into Kagome's room.

"Sorry," She said, sitting on the side of her bed. "Kags, every time I come into this room-"

"You think about a bad time." Kagome said, interrupting her so she wouldn't finish her sentence. Sango smiled over at her.

"No, stupid, I think about how freaking big it is!" She said and Kagome sat up, snickering.

- & - & - & - & - & - & - & -

Inuyasha woke up at 8:45 to take his every once in a while run around the block. As he was running he was thinking, too. He decided to head over to Kouga's to see if he'd gotten back yet.

"Hello," Kouga's mother answered the door, smiling. "Come on in Inuyasha." He looked over at her television clock and noticed that it was 9:47. He couldn't believe an hour had already passed; he'd only gone around the block a few times. Either he was horribly out of shape or he'd been jogging instead of running. He felt sweat trickle down his back and vowed, then and there, to run more.

"So," Inuyasha said after a moment of silence. "He back yet Willow-?"

"Yeah, I'm back." Kouga said, coming out from the kitchen, tossing an apple into the air. "Hey." He said, forcing a grin for Inuyasha. Inuyasha frowned and cocked a brow.

"Hey," He said, smiling cautiously. Then he got angry. "Where the fuck you been, man?" He asked, practically running over to Kouga and gripping his shoulders. He shook him to emphasize his anger and Willow let out a yelp.

"What's goin' on?" Alexis asked, coming out from the kitchen. She and Kouga had been playing cards on the kitchen table, just catching up. She, too, was eating an apple.

"Nothing." Inuyasha bit out, taking his hands off Kouga but not without shoving him a little.

"Oh, hi Inuyasha." Alexis said cheerfully. Inuyasha looked at her and nodded his head then he glared at Kouga.

"Where's he been Alexis?" He asked and Alexis shook her head and put her right hand in her jean pocket.

"No clue. He was in the middle of telling me when you came over." She said lightly, walking over to Kouga and Inuyasha. Her mother, Willow, was still a little shocked. Not that anything had happened she just didn't want anything to happen to Kouga; he'd just gotten home from being away.

"Yeah, when you barged in!" Kouga said, getting in Inuyasha's face. Inuyasha shook his head, breathing heavily.

"Dude, your mom let me in!" He said, pointing at Willow who now looked slightly amused.

"Whatever," Kouga pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. Inuyasha's facial expressions suddenly softened and he gripped Kouga on the shoulder once more but that time in a friendly way.

"Man, you had us so worried!" He said quietly and Kouga looked up at him, completely upset with himself. "Why didn't you call?" He asked and Kouga just shrugged.

"I was always too drunk to call." He said with a shrug, hoping that would suffice. Inuyasha smirked sadly, patting him on the back.

"Alright. Well," He sighed. "I'm gonna go-"

"No!" Willow said quickly. "Stay, call over your other friends. We'll have a little party." She grinned and Alexis smiled nodding her head.

"Sounds good." She said. Inuyasha looked over at Kouga.

"What do you think?" He asked him and Kouga shrugged, trying to look as if he were really excited but hiding his excitement from his mother. It was quite complicated. Inuyasha grinned.

"We can go out for dinner if you want. I'll call everyone after we get some food and after I finish my run."

"You mean jog." Kouga teased and Inuyasha smirked.

"Whatever. I'll back in, like, two hours." He said, leaving the house feeling a little lighter.

- Three hours later -

Inuyasha and Willow were finally done with getting everything ready and it was 2 o'clock. He looked over at Willow. They were both admiring their hard word.

"It's amazing." Willow mused, tears in her eyes. Their little table party was, to put it simply, the best fucking table she'd ever seen.

"I know!" Inuyasha said, stepping back a little to truly examine their 'art.' "Well," Inuyasha began, sighing proudly, "I do believe I should go call the guests now." Willow nodded her head.

"Kay, hurry. They'll want to see this before it gets ruined and everyone eats on it." She scrunched her nose in mock disgust and Inuyasha shuddered dramatically.

"You're right, be right back." He left the room and pulled out his cell phone, chuckling to himself.

- & - & - & - & - & - & - & -

"Okay, sure, we'll be there soon."

"Who was that?" Sango asked, taking a last bite of her very small garden salad. Kagome hadn't even eaten so it was a good thing that Inuyasha and Kouga's mother were having a 'Welcome Home' party for him.

"Oh, um that was Inuyasha." Kagome smiled. They were sitting outside of a restaurant in the city, a half an hour from Kouga's house but the traffic was light. "There's a party going on over at Kouga's." She felt herself sliding away from the present and drifting into her own thoughts.

"So he's back?" Sango said, sounding happy and excited. Kagome forced a smile and nodded her head.

"Seems that." Sango looked at her friend with curious eyes.

"Okay," She said, folding her hands in her lap and looking directly at Kagome. "What's wrong?" Kagome sighed and shook her head.

"I just don't agree with rewarding such behavior." She chuckled, noting the fact she sounded so ridiculous.

"Awww, Kags," Sango grabbed over the table and took Kagome's hand in hers. "Give the guy a break. He probably didn't even come up with the idea to have a party. I'm willing to bet he just agreed to have one to please everyone else." She said wisely. "And maybe he did suggest a party, so what? It'll be a chance to catch up with everyone and just talk. It'll be fun." Kagome snorted.

"Promise?" She asked, opening her purse and pulling out some money to pay for Sango's salad and Sango laughed out loud.

"Um, sure kid, as long as you let me pay for my own food." Kagome shook her head and laughed.

"Damn, why's that so like, automatic for me?" She asked and Sango rolled her eyes.

"No idea," she said, slapping down the money for her food and getting up. "Come on, let's go." Kagome reluctantly got up and walked with Sango towards her car.

- & - & - & - & - & - & - & -

Miroku yawned and looked over at his clock. He slowly sat and put his face in his hands.

"How is it already 2:30?" He asked himself. He lazily grabbed for his phone and wondered why his alarm clock hadn't gone off. "Whatever." He yawned, falling back onto his pillow and pushing his head into the comfy-ness of it. "Huh, 1 missed call." He went to his voicemail and checked his messages.

"Hey man, it's uh, 2:15 and I just wanted to let you know we're having a little party down here at Kouga's so give me a call and let me know when you're coming or IF you're coming," He chuckled, nervous for some reason. "Uh, or you could just come. See ya later." Miroku looked at his phone and shook his head.

"Fucking nutcase." He smirked. Then, he got out of bed and hopped in the shower. He was out within minutes and dressed in even less. He wore an old, faded navy t-shirt which had tan writing on it but it was too faded to read what it said. Probably something perverted like, 'I'm not a doctor but I'll take a look anyway.' He threw on an old pair of skinny jeans as well. Which, to top it off, were ripped in random places from too much use. Then, he put on some mismatched socks because he couldn't find a single pair. He ran downstairs, got his car keys, and slipped on his sneakers. "It's freakin' party time." He growled, running out the door like a maniac.

A/N: Hey, I'll be posting a new one very soon, please don't worry. Hehe :smiles: I LOVE YOU!!!