Around 6 AM, Inuyasha found himself dragging his tired, wet, banged up, scratched and bruised mass of muscles and limbs up the wooden steps of the weapon artisan's shop where he was lodging. The door slowly creaked open, and Inuyasha's eyes zeroed in on the blob that was hidden under comforters of the top bunk in their sleeping quarters. The covers shifted to reveal a shirtless man with short black hair loose from its ponytail and sleepy eyes. He squinted,

"Inuyasha? Are you just now getting in?" The voice was heavy with sleep as the man cast his violet eyes to the suns rays peeking through the sheer curtains of the window.

Silence as the half-demon heavily padded across the room, dragging himself over to the chest in the corner of the room that held his clothes.

Inuyasha hadn't come away from the night unscathed. It turns out, the demons had found the duo after all and began pelting them with rocks, spears, and their own unique attacks. Inuyasha managed to launch himself and Totosai off of the cliff, but he had gotten the worst of their onslaught and landed in a nearby river. After that, the mob had clamored on top of him and managed to rough him up quite a bit.

He was sporting bruises, claw marks, and burn marks.

Yet somehow, Totosai had managed to get away in the midst of the commotion with barely a scratch. Inuyasha figured maybe he had made a decent enough diversion for the old man, but wondered if it had been worth it.

Apparently, while they could've killed Inuyasha, they just wanted to use him to send a message to old man. But Inuyasha had encountered tougher demons before, so it ended up as more of an annoyance than anything.

The other occupant in the room snickered.

"Your little training date with Totosai must've gone reaaaal well. You look pretty as portrait; trying to make the ladies envious?" the voice said, laced in that snarky, joking attitude the half-demon had come to expect from his jackass of a best friend.

"Oh yeah, I had a fuckin', blast," Inuyasha deadpanned in reply.

"Aw…sweetheart. Rough day? To be honest, I'm jealous that you had so much fun without me," his bunkmate said cheekily. Inuyasha shot him a snide smirk.

"Now, now, Miroku. If you didn't want to share me, you know you should've put a ring on it a long time ago," he said, holding up his middle finger to get his point across. The other man, laughed and threw a pillow at Inuyasha's head.

"Seriously, I'm in a pretty shitty mood. Totosai is working my last nerve."

"Honestly, I don't know why you put up with him…" Miroku said, propping his head up in his hand. Inuyasha sighed,

"Because I'm damn saint, apparently," the half-demon said, still sifting though his wardrobe and tossing about random articles of clothing.

"And he's supposed to be training you? If he's as good a fighter as you say, why doesn't he just defend himself every time the demon rebels come after him instead of making you do it?"

A beat.

Inuyasha had never though of that.

He didn't answer, just growled lowly to himself. 'Cause the geezer is a sadist, he thought, angrily.

"Where's Royakan?" He asked instead, changing the subject. Royakan was an enormous bundle of sharp teeth and fur that was a wolf-demon with huge blue eyes. He was actually kind for such a scary looking creature, but was also a force to be reckoned with in a fight. The boys were staying in the attic of his artisan's shop. He was an apprentice and primarily dealt in forging weapons and armor for soldiers.

"He's downstairs already gearing up for the day's customers. So, you know, we should probably keep it low-key up here for a while. My seminars aren't until later this afternoon so…" Miroku let the sentence hang, clearly indicating that he hadn't really planned on getting up anytime soon himself. By that same token, he figured that Inuyasha would finally crash and allow himself to get some well-deserved, overdue sleep.

Silence.

During this exchange, Inuyasha had made work of shedding his long johns (yes, the night's excursion had taken place in his pajamas), in place of putting on some slacks, button up shirt, and a jacket. He did this unabashedly in front of his comrade. Nights of skinny dipping with some of the frat boys from the tavern when they had been drunk off their asses before had left nothing to the imagination anymore.

Miroku narrowed his eyes.

"Inuyasha, what are you doing? You're going right back out there? You haven't gotten any sleep for weeks." He watched incredulously as the half demon began working on his tie in the mirror, ignoring the dark circles under his eyes.

"Well…some new pamphlets should be hitting the stands today. If I can get a grasp on the society's current frame of mind, it'll be good reference fodder in my essay for my application."

"You won't be able to write your essay if your brain is shot…which, while I know is normal for you, is still not a good thing, my brother."

"Look, I just don't have time to sleep. After going into town, I've gotta get back here to work on my piece, then study. Getting into Kings College is crucial, but that ain't gonna happen if the essay is shit."

"Alright well, I'm at least coming with you to make sure you don't get yourself murdered mistaking a Narakonian for a rebel in your sleep-induced haze."

"Hah-hah…you're a riot."

"I'm actually serious," Miroku said, throwing back the covers and climbing out of bed himself. He was clad in his boxers. Inuyasha shrugged.

"Fine, I'll wait for you in the back alley," he said, trying to blink away his exhaustion and focus his eyes so he didn't trip down the stairs. To be honest, he felt like the wires in his brain weren't connected and that his consciousness was in limbo, but he'd functioned off of worse before.

It wasn't that he didn't have better endurance than humans. He actually typically didn't get tired that easily. But he had been staying with Royakan for about a month now and in that time had been working diligently on his rigorous application to King's College. That meant being kept abreast on everything that was happening with the war and every political move, while simultaneously maintaining his late-night training regimens with Totosai, which happened every other night.

Needless to say, that kind of schedule took a toll on even him.

Miroku was also staying with Royakan, but he was just visiting for a couple of months and taking classes to earn credit and give him the knowledge he'd need to become an Aide De Camp in the war. Miroku was a soldier (who, interestingly enough, also practiced Buddhism); their friend and host Royakan, for his part, was part of an underground spy ring that gathered information on the Narakonians to forward to rebel soldiers in the war.
It was because Royokan frequently had Narakonians as customers that the boys often had to use the back entrance while they were lodging in the attic of Royakan's shop to reduce the chance of them being discovered.

Inuyasha hadn't made efforts to sign up and enlist like his friends yet…but he wanted too.

He wanted to make a difference in this revolution.

It was weird time, one where the colonists had to share the streets with their enemies, even as they went about their daily lives. Everyone was always on edge, but Inuyasha could tell that everything was boiling to a tipping point…and it was all going to explode very soon.

He wanted on the front lines when it happened.


A/N: Okay, so while Hamilton/Lauren's relationship wasn't prominent in the play, I wanted to at least reference their chemistry somehow; it's only right. So Miroku and Inu have a somewhat flirty bromance going on in this story (Inu is too dense to pick up cues that it's more than just a game to Miroku, poor guy). But at the same time, I also want to acknowledge Miroku and Sango's relationship from the show. So yes, taking ALL of this into account it will get VERY angsty later (no spoilers)!

I will admit it was VERY fun to write these two while working on this story! I had a blast with their banter!

And yes, the 'Put a ring on it' reference was intentional!

In case you can't tell, in this chapter we have:

Inuyasha-Alexander Hamilton
Totosai- Myles Cooper
Miroku- John Laurens
Royakan- Herculese Mulligan
Naraku- King George III