Disclaimer: I see no Inuyasha, hear no Inuyasha, own no Inuyasha...

A/N Howdy, folks! –crickets chirp– Folk..? Anyone left out there? Well, if so, here's a brand spanking new chapter of In the Shadows for you, hot off the press! And guess what? I'm updating it exactly on its two year anniversary of its last update! How cool is that? Pathetic that it's been that long, but still kinda neat...

Anyways, enjoy, whoever's left, and read until your heart's content! Prepare yourself, for it's a looong one!

Kagome groaned as she rose groggily from unconsciousness. Trying to stay under, she raised a hand to cover her eyes, but the movement only woke her up further. Sighing in resignation, she instead rubbed her eyes roughly before cracking them open.

Immediately she was aware of the fact that she was back in her own room. She was laid out on her own bed, still in her damp clothes, but with a few towels wrapped around her body. Looking for an explanation, she turned her head to the side to see Inuyasha sitting on her desk chair beside the bed, gazing at her anxiously.

"Good morning..." she mumbled sleepily.

His expression turned amused. "It's still just afternoon, sleepyhead."

Kagome's brow furrowed. "How long have I been sleeping?"

"Just a couple hours," Inuyasha shrugged. "It's 1:30 now."

"Is Sango okay?"

"I think so. Miroku said taking her to the hospital probably wasn't necessary, but he wanted to make sure she was a hundred percent okay. Apparently there's still some danger of something called secondary drowning sometimes. In any case, they shouldn't be long, I wouldn't think," Inuyasha explained. "As for you, I brought you back up here and tried to dry you off as best I could, but I didn't want to...you know...strip you or anything." His cheeks turned red as he said the last part very quickly.

A matching blush rose on Kagome's cheeks and she coughed to dispel the awkward moment. "Right...well, then... I suppose I've been in these clothes long enough. I can change myself now. Just...wait here." Rising out of bed with a slight wobble that didn't get by Inuyasha's cautious look, she made her way over to her dresser and fished around for some dry clothes. Once she was satisfied with her selection, she went into the bathroom and closed the door. A minute later, she reemerged and dropped the wet bundle into her hamper.

Moving away the damp towels, she sat back down on the bed to face her silver-haired companion. "So have you been waiting with me all this time?"

Inuyasha scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. "Er...yeah. I wanted to make sure you were okay... Also..."

"You wanted to interrogate me when I woke up," Kagome stated, staring directly into his eyes.

"Well...notinterrogate..." Inuyasha said apologetically. "Just...ask...you know – how youknew. About Sango. In these two hours that I've been sitting here, I can't think up any sort of explanation for it. It's just too surreal."

Kagome let out a frustrated breath. If in two hours he couldn't think up any plausible explanation for what had happened, how was she supposed to think up one on the spot? The situation had been too surreal, too unbelievable. She really couldn't excuse this away.

Helplessly, she look at him. "What do you want from me?"

He hesitated as he took in her expression. "I...I want you to tell me what happened. And I don't want you to lie to me."

Kagome bit her lip and looked down to the side. After a moment, she lifted her gaze to meet his again, her eyes pleading. "I won't lie to you, Inuyasha...but I can't tell you the truth. I can't tell you what happened..."

Inuyasha's expression was impossibly frustrated. "You can't give me just that! We were walking down the hall one minute, joking around, and the next you were running off as if hell itself were on your heels. And then you get down to the pool just in the nick of time to save Sango, who no one else even knew was drowning! How could you have possibly known?"

"Ican't explain it," Kagome insisted, clutching the comforter of her bed tightly. "It's just...something you'll have to trust me on. Or rather...just leave alone. Please don't ask me anymore about it."

"But–!"

"Please," Kagome begged.

Inuyasha crossed his arms and glared off to the side, clearly unsatisfied. "Fine. I won't ask you about it anymore...for the time being."

Kagome sighed. Clearly this was the best she was going to get from him.

A few moments of tense silence passed and when it became too uncomfortable to bear, Kagome glanced about the room for a new conversation topic. Her gaze landed on a deck of cards. "Gin?" she asked cheerfully.

Inuyasha gave her a confused look. Tilting his head a bit to the side, he said, "But even if we had it, Kagome, we're not old enough to drink..."

At the completely earnest expression on his face, Kagome couldn't help but burst into a fit of giggles. As his look became even more baffled, she managed to get out, "No, no, silly! The card game Gin, not the alcohol!"

Though irritated, Inuyasha managed to look properly abashed. "Oh...well, then sure. But I don't know how to play..."

Drawing her legs up beneath her on the bed, Kagome grabbed the deck of cards and leaned forward enthusiastically. "Here, I'll teach you..."

For the next hour, Kagome and Inuyasha contented themselves with playing various card games and generally having fun. Inuyasha assured Kagome that the teachers didn't expect them to be in class for the rest of the day due to the pool incident and Kagome joked that at least one good thing came out of it.

Just as Kagome was about to deal a new hand of cards, the door burst open to reveal her younger brother. He looked out of breath and panicked. "Kagome! I just heard what happened! Are you okay?"

In response, Kagome opened her arms and her brother came rushing over to give her a hug. "Right as rain," she replied.

With a small smile in the corner of his mouth, Inuyasha stood up. "I think that's my cue to leave you two alone," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kagome."

Over Souta's shoulder, she smiled at him. "Thanks for everything today, Inuyasha."

He gave her a small wave before exiting the room and closing the door behind him. As soon as he was gone, Souta leaned back and looked his sister directly in the eyes. "Okay, now tell me exactly what happened."

Kagome looked at him thoughtfully. "I hardly know myself..." she started out slowly. "I was just walking down the hall with Inuyasha at lunch and then between one step and the next, I had this sudden vision of Sango drowning. I've never had one like that before, you know? Usually it's just in a dream or something andmonths in advance. With the suddenness of it all, I somehow knew it was going to happen a lot sooner than normal.

"I ran up to Kohaku's room 'cause I didn't know where Sango was and he confirmed my fear: she was down in the pool. So I grabbed some scissors and raced down there. Sure enough, she was on the bottom of the pool with her hair caught in a water filter. I was able to cut her free and then Miroku did AR to revive her in time. I fell asleep, but otherwise I'm fine. So you can stop worrying about me," she added with a teasing note.

Her brother still looked grave though. "But what does this mean?" he wondered. "Do you have the power to prevent the deaths you foresee after all? This death must have been unexpected, or else you would have seen it coming sooner...but all the same you stopped it from happening. Maybe this is a sign, Kagome!"

Kagome shared his excitement for a moment before allowing her shoulders to slump again. "Maybe... I mean, I am happy and enormously relieved I was able to save Sango, but what about the mystery boy? I haven't had a vision about him in a while. So I don't know who he is, or what I'm supposed to do next. How am I ever going to prevent his death if I can't even find him?"

"Well..." Souta hesitated. "Maybe you already have prevented his death. Maybe just by doing some random thing since coming here, you've prevented the whole thing. Maybe he's already saved and that's why you're not having any more visions of him."

Kagome considered this for a moment before shaking her head. "Somehow I don't think that's it. I think there's more to it. No one little thing I've done since coming here would have an impact on the bloody scene I witness in my dreams. There's something more to that boy's story and until I figure out who he is, I don't have a hope of stopping that murder..."

"At least we can safely believe that it's actually in your power to do so," Souta provided hopefully. "I mean, how you saved Sango today proves that, doesn't it? That by doing something, taking an active role, allows you to change what happens to these people. So no matter how grim it may look, you can save this boy somehow."

"The problem, though, is that 'somehow'. I don't know what I'm supposed to do, Souta. With Sango it was easy – I saw her in danger, I found out where and I knew exactly when. But when I have the visions months in advance, there's no way of knowing. And all I can tell about the location is that it's outside somewhere on concrete, and it's nighttime. What am I supposed to get from that?" Kagome asked, frustrated.

Souta frowned in thought. "At night? Can you see the sky?"

Kagome stared at him. "Kind of... Most of the vision is on the boy, but I'll see if I can look more around next time. Why?"

"Well...I was just thinking you could see what phase the moon is in," Souta suggested. "I mean, that way you'll at least know the vague time of month the murder will take place in, even if you don't know the exact month. It's just a thought, you know..."

Kagome started at him a moment longer before launching at him and hugging him tightly. Messing up his hair with her hand, she said, "You're way too smart for a nine year old, you know that?"

"Aw, jeez, Kagooome!" he protested, trying to flatten his hair as she laughed. He looked at her in wonder. "I'm never going to get tired of hearing you laugh," he told her suddenly. "You've really loosened up since meeting Inuyasha."

"I'm not really that different," Kagome protested. "I just...I just don't feel I should brood and be depressed when nothing bad's happening..."

"You got that attitude from him, didn't you?" Souta pressed.

"Hey, what's he got to do with this?" Kagome tried to brush the matter aside. "I decided this for myself, I–what?"

Souta was smirking. "Oh, come on, sis. Ever since you became friends with him, you're like acompletely different person. You're cheerful, you laugh. You have fun, you see the good side of life, instead of all the death you've witnessed. You seem back to your true self, the person you were before Hojo was killed... After these two years, I had almost given up hope of ever seeing that person again. But Inuyasha has brought a bit of her back to life, back to me. Now really, what do youthink of him?"

Kagome was blushing in embarrassment from Souta's description of her. "I...well, I don't know. He's just...an awesome person. It's like...well, I can hardly explain it. But the both of us have been through such terrible things that it's as if we can come to a simple understanding about each other, and then move on to better things. With anyone else, it wouldn't work the same way. A cheerful, optimistic person with no worries could never hope to understand the things I've been through. That immediately puts a barrier between us. But if we've both experienced horrible things, that barrier's brushed away. Then we can start afresh without worrying about the past. Does that make any sense whatsoever...?"

Souta was giving her a sceptical look. "I mostly understand, Kagome...but still... I think you should give the cheerful people more of a chance. Just because they're not miserable, doesn't mean you can't have fun with them too." After the meaning of this phrase sunk in, the two of them burst out laughing. "Well...you know what I mean," Souta finished awkwardly.

"I do," Kagome replied, sobering up.

"And, well...I don't know her very well, but from what I can tell from Kohaku, Sango seems like a really nice person. And she's trying really hard to be friends with you. Now that, you know, you've saved her from dying and everything, don't you think you might try to be friends with her too?" Souta looked at her hopefully.

Kagome sighed. "When did you start sounding like a mother?" Souta gave her a flat look and began to respond, but she cut him off by raising her hand. "No, no, I know, I know. You don't have to worry about it. I've already been planning to make peace with Sango. She really didn't deserve what I put her through and I have saved her from what I was most afraid of happening in the first place."

Souta grinned. "Good then. Then let's go get something to eat. I'm starving. Somebody didn't skip his afternoon classes and so worked up an appetite."

Kagome punched him playfully on the arm. "Yeah, well somebody also didn't save another person's life today. Who's more deserving of food really?"

"Touché," Souta conceded. "Alright, then let's get some chow into your deserving stomach...and mine, 'cause I'm just plain hungry."

Laughing, Kagome stood up and followed her brother out the door.

..:V:..

It was around six o'clock when Miroku returned from the hospital with Sango. Kagome, who was brushing her teeth in the bathroom, heard them exchange a few muted words in the doorway before parting ways. Guzzling down some water to clear her mouth, Kagome exited the secondary room to see her roommate make her way unsteadily over to her bed and sink down upon it.

Knowing it was now or never, Kagome walked towards her. With a slight smile, she asked, "Rough day?"

Sango looked up at her warily, but smiled wearily. "Oh, you know...algebra homework, near drowning, hospital food...and the worst part? I don't have a date for the Christmas dance coming up in a few weeks."

The two girls chuckled for a few moments before silence reigned over their shared room. Both shifted uncomfortably for a minute, looking at other points in the room before each of them tried to speak at once.

"Sango–"

"I just–"

"You first," Kagome said quickly, not sure herself what she had been about to say a moment before.

Sango let out a long sigh and looked down at her swinging feet. "Well...I just wanted to say that prying into your past has never been a priority of mine. I've always just wanted to be your friend, nothing more. I'm not expecting anything of you and I'm certainly not judging you. I just...I just want to be friends."

Kagome silently contemplated her for a moment before responding. "I'm surprised you still want to be my friend after the way I treated you," she said finally. "But I'm grateful that you're giving me a second chance to accept your offer. Even when I was pushing you away the first time, I regretted it with all my heart. I only did it because I thought it wasn't worth the risk..."

True to her word, Sango didn't ask any prying questions. However, Kagome continued of her own accord, sitting down on the bed beside her. "You see...I've seen terrible things in my life. I witnessed my parents being murdered by a burglar when I was six–" Kagome continued over Sango's shocked gasp, "–and then I saw a friend of mine get hit by a car when I was ten. Finally, when I was thirteen, my best friend in the whole world was stabbed to death while protecting me from street thugs."

"Oh my god..." Sango whispered, staring at the girl next to her in disbelief and horror.

Kagome smiled wanly at her. "Forgive me for what I did to you, but I hope now you can at least see why I did it. So many people close to me have been killed before my eyes...it's gotten to feel like they died because they were close to me. I wanted to be your friend, I really did...but I wanted to protect you more. So I thought if I hurt you a little bit in order to keep you away from me, in the end it would be worth both our pain..."

Sango stared at the girl beside her with shining eyes. Without a word, she reached out and hugged Kagome close. "You poor girl...what horrors you've seen. I understand why you did what you did...there's nothing to forgive. And of course my offer of friendship still stands." She leaned her head against the other girl's.

Kagome closed her eyes and returned the sideways hug. "Thank you, Sango. Thank you so much..."

..:V:..

The next day, Kagome was in high spirits. Though people were staring as she walked down the hall, all having heard of the pool incident the day before, she could hardly feel their eyes. All that was on her mind was the fact that she had a new friend, someone she had saved, who she was meeting for lunch. She practically bounded out of Biology to meet Sango by her locker.

The older girl saw her coming and waved her over with a smile. "How was class?" she asked as Kagome began spinning the combination of her lock. Sango fiddled with her newly styled bangs, the result of the underwater shearing she'd received the day before. She wasn't quite used to the new hair cut yet and often tried to brush them back or aside with her fingers.

"Pretty dull, to be honest. Inuyasha thought doodling all over my notes in Physics would be better than paying attention to the lesson. Then we had to start dissecting a rat in Biology." Kagome wrinkled her nose in distaste.

"Ah, yes. That glorious experience. I went through it last year. Let me tell you, that smell will haunt you long after that project's over. I don't think it'll ever be truly forgotten, to be honest."

"What a happy thought," Kagome responded sarcastically.

Sango straightened up. "Well, on that note, let's go eat, shall we?"

Kagome shut her locker and re-locked it before turning to her. "Lead the way!"

As they were chatting so animatedly to each other, they didn't notice the large crowd of girls outside the cafeteria until they were nearly upon it. "What's going on?" Sango wondered aloud.

"I don't know..." Kagome said, standing on her tiptoes and craning her neck. The crowd proved to be too tall, or her too short, however, and she was still at a loss.

"Come on," Sango said, grabbing her hand. "There's only one way to deal with this." With that, she dove into the crowd and muscled her way to the front, dragging Kagome along behind her.

Just as they reached the front, they heard Miroku's voice booming out. A moment later, they saw him standing in front of a makeshift booth and beaming at the group gathered around him. "That's right! Step right up ladies and receive Miroku's patented and proven Kiss of Life!" He caught sight of the two girls staring at him in shock. "Ah, Sango! Gather round folks for some testimony from a very satisfied customer!"

The girls around them accordingly stepped back and stared expectantly at Sango. The girl seemed to be at a loss of words, however. She could only gape in incredulity at the grinning boy in front of her.

At her silence, Miroku smoothly took over once again. "Ah, just recalling the wondrous kiss has left her speechless. You too can experience this near miracle. The first five customers are on the house! After that, I'm afraid I'll have to charge two dollars per guest. These life saving kisses aren't cheap, you know! Now, if the first lady can step right up–"

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Sango suddenly shrieked. "We never k–! You are...what do you think you're...I...they...!" Fuming and embarrassed past words, Sango suddenly spun around to the eagerly waiting crowd. "I'm sorry girls, but this business just closed." With that, she turned back to Miroku and before the boy could protest, she smacked him over the head. Kagome, along with the rest of the mob, winced at the resounding thwack. Then Sango grabbed Miroku by the arm and dragged him into the cafeteria, Kagome trailing behind with a grin on her face.

"Just...justwhat did you think you were doing?" Sango demanded once they'd sat down, still beet red.

Miroku was still rubbing his head, pouting. "I was trying to make a profit. It was going to be a great way to get some extra spending money. Didn't you see them all lined up? But then you went and ruined it..."

"R-ruined it?" Sango spluttered. "Miroku, you set up a kissing booth! All because of giving me AR yesterday – and just for your information,that wasn't a real kiss." If possible, her face grew even redder.

Miroku was about to object when he was interrupted by stifled giggles. Looking to his left, he found Kagome trying to look at him innocently, but hiding her laughing mouth behind her hands. Turning more fully towards her, he said calmly, "I do believe, my dear, that you find something amusing."

Still hiding her mouth, Kagome shook her head quickly.

"Now, now, I insist you share with the rest of us," Miroku pressed, still completely serious as he took her hands in his own and lowered them. An insuppressible grin graced her features.

"No, no, don't mind me. Just carry on with your argument," Kagome said cheekily.

Miroku leaned in to eye her more closely which caused Kagome to nearly lose her restraint. She was shaking from suppressed laughter when a knee came out of nowhere and ripped their hands apart. A blur of silver and black was all the warning they had before Inuyasha was sitting firmly between the two.

Miroku recovered quickly from his shock and patted the newcomer genially on the back. "Ah, Inuyasha! We don't usually...er, ever...have the honour of seeing you in the caf!"

"Yeah, well someone–" he gave a pointed look to Kagome, "–insisted on eating lunch indoors today."

"And how come you sat over there with them?" Sango protested. "Now I'm all alone on this side."

"Miroku'll keep you company," Inuyasha said, nudging Miroku to move.

Miroku raised an eyebrow at him as Sango started to object. "Hey, wait now! Why do I have to sit next to him? He...he set up a kissing booth!"

Inuyasha furrowed his brow, trying to follow her logic. "So...now he has other girls' cooties?"

Sango slapped her forehead. "No! B–but he insinuated...things! That weren't true! I shouldn't have to sit next to him!"

Inuyasha turned to give Kagome a baffled look. "Are they really older than us?"

Kagome nodded, giggling once more.

Inuyasha shrugged. "Just checking..."

By this time, Miroku had gotten up and made his way around the table. As Sango eyed him warily, he slid in next to her, going so far as to wrap an arm around her waist. Words seemed to fail her as he leaned in to look directly into her eyes. "Don't worry, Sango. If it upsets you that much, I won't kiss any other girls but you in the future." With that, he released her and turned back to his lunch. "I'm starving! Let's eat!"

Sango was left blushing to her roots and in complete shock. Shakily she uttered, "That's...not...what I..." No more words would come to her, however, and she was being completely ignored, so it made little difference.

..:V:..

The lunch incident was soon pushed from the minds of all involved except Sango, but despite Miroku's comment, their relationship remained ambiguous.

The four continued to meet everyday, but Inuyasha managed to convince the rest of the group to move their lunchtime meetings outside so his sensitive hearing didn't have to deal with the noise of the chaotic cafeteria. Soon enough, Kagome and Sango chatted together as if they had been friends forever, and even Inuyasha's hostile demeanor dimmed a bit.

A week passed without incident and the next Friday afternoon found Kagome playing cards with Inuyasha in his room while Souta was visiting friends. They had come straight after class, preparing to lounge around and accomplish approximately nothing over the course of the entire evening. Sango and Miroku had made other plans with separate groups of friends that they had been neglecting lately, and so were woefully absent.

When the phone started ringing, the two of them stared at it blankly for a moment before Inuyasha hesitantly got to his feet. Souta never received any outside calls and there was only one person Inuyasha could think of that could possibly be phoning him. With dread, he inched his hand towards the phone.

"Hello?" he greeted.

"Inuyasha," a flat, male voice sounded through the line, loud enough for Kagome to hear. "Come quickly. It's Rin." With that, there was a click indicating the speaker had hung up.

A baffled but worried expression replaced Inuyasha's features and Kagome couldn't tame down her curiosity. "Who was that? Who's...Rin?"

Inuyasha clenched a fist tight. "That was my older brother, Sesshoumaru. Rin's the little girl he's been trying to adopt for the past couple years."

"Hn," Kagome made a noncommital sound as she watched what seemed to be an inner struggle within Inuyasha.

"He...Sesshoumaru never calls unnecessarily – thank god – so it might actually be important... But what could it be that involves Rin? I try to have as little contact with my brother as possible, but if Rin's really in trouble..."

"Maybe you should go," Kagome suggested, recollecting all the playing cards they had sprawled out. "It sounds like they really need you for something."

Inuyasha sighed, raking a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I guess so... Hey, will you come too?"

Kagome's hands froze and she looked up at him in surprise. "What–me? Go to see your brother with you?"

"Yeah! I really, really hate him... It'd be a lot easier to deal with him if you were there too," Inuyasha explained as if he'd just found the cure for cancer.

"A-are you sure?" Kagome asked hesitantly. "I wouldn't want to intrude on any family emergency..."

Inuyasha brushed her off. "It's fine. Our family life has been public for so long, I don't think there's anything private left about it. Besides, even if Sesshoumaru's the devil himself, Rin's actually a good kid. Hell if I know how the two of them ended up connecting with each other."

Kagome smiled. "Alright, I'll go. But on the way, you have to explain the whole story between the two of them."

Inuyasha grinned in relief. "You have yourself a deal."

The two grabbed their jackets to deal with the chilly autumn weather and headed off the school premises, checking in with the principal before they left. As they waited for the bus, Inuyasha started his story.

He didn't know the whole of the details, because Sesshoumaru refused to tell him, but he knew the important parts. When Sesshoumaru was visiting him one time while he was still in his coma – about two or so years ago – he happened upon this little girl at the hospital. She was brought in for treatment of minor injuries, but she was mainly there because her parents had been brutally attacked, right in front of her eyes of all things. The father had already died at the scene, and the mother was in the emergency room, where she quickly slipped into a coma. The girl was in complete shock and hadn't uttered a word to anyone since the incident, whether it be cop, doctor or psychologist.

"Somehow Sesshoumaru came across her in the waiting room and, God only knows why, began talking to her. Somewhere in the middle, the girl began responding to him and I guess they bonded or something. You have no idea how weird a concept I find that in relation to my brother. So anyways, she became eerily attached to him and I guess they met quite frequently at the hospital while she waited for her mother to come out of the coma.

"I think it went on for about two weeks, after which point her mother passed away. Rin was devastated and would only talk to Sesshoumaru. When he then learned she had no other relations to speak of, he went about trying to adopt her. You can imagine that a single, twenty-four year old man who's nearly always at work and never at home might have some difficulty in adopting a six year old girl in need of a lot of special care. So Sesshoumaru's been battling the system for two years in hopes of finally winning custody of her. She's been suffering in some orphanage during that time, but Sesshoumaru figured he was really close to getting through to them. So I wonder what he could be calling about now..."

By this time, the two of them had boarded the bus and were travelling towards Western Enterprises, where Inuyasha had assured Kagome Sesshoumaru would be.

"Wow. That's quite a story..." Kagome commented. "Sad...but sweet also..."

"Sweet should be the last word used in reference to my brother," Inuyasha snorted. "He's the coldest, most uncaring person in the world."

"But..." Kagome's brow furrowed. "He took care of you all that time you were in the coma, didn't he?"

"Tch, probably just for appearances and so that I would name Mother and Father's killer when I woke up. It must have been quite the disappointment for him when I couldn't remember a thing," Inuyasha spat in disgust.

Kagome stole a look at his angry and slightly hurt expression out of the corner of her eye. "Hmm...I wonder..." she murmured to herself.

Soon enough the bus pulled up into a more business-oriented district and she and Inuyasha hopped off. Inuyasha led the way, walking briskly past various office buildings, Kagome hastening to keep up. He took several twists and turns and by the time they stopped in front of a magnificent structure reaching to the skies, Kagome was completely disoriented. That was of little concern to her, however, as she gazed upon the central headquarters of Western Enterprises, run entirely by Sesshoumaru Reijiro himself.

The building itself was taller than most surrounding it and looked nearly futuristic with its sharp angles and reflective glass windows. Kagome gaped at it for a full minute, wondering how a mere building could look so high-tech, before Inuyasha nudged her to move forwards. Hastily she looked down at herself, worrying her jeans, t-shirt and button-up jacket combination might not be classy enough for such a prestigious establishment.

"Oh, come on, will you?" Inuyasha urged impatiently. "You look fine, alright? Besides, Sesshoumaru's not worth the effort of dressing up anyway. So let's go already."

Kagome nodded mutely and followed him into the building, looking all around her as she went. "So what exactly do they do here?" she asked quietly as they made their way across the lobby. "I read it was some sort of computer company, but..."

"If it's related to computers, they do it here," Inuyasha said offhandedly. "Software, hardware, program design, electronics...you name it. This is a massive corporation that's been going down through my family, growing with each generation as new technology is discovered. My dad was the previous president, but when he was killed, Sesshoumaru took over prematurely. I heard there was a bit of adjusting and rockiness at first, but Sesshoumaru kept things running relatively smoothly and soon enough, he had the entire corporation neatly under his control. The guy's practically a machine."

Kagome whistled in appreciation as Inuyasha nodded to the lobby secretary and led the way over to a couple of ornate elevators. "This guy sounds pretty impressive. So why do you hate him so much again?"

"Because he's an asshole!" Inuyasha retorted, folding his arms and refusing to say more.

Kagome suppressed a giggle at his childish behaviour. "Ah, right. My mistake."

The elevator dinged then, opening its doors to the awaiting pair. They stepped in and Inuyasha pushed the button for the thirty-fifth floor. A flurry of activity seemed to surround the elevator. Countless numbers of people would get on at one floor and then off a few floors up, where another batch would board. The building almost seemed alive with the amount of action going on and Inuyasha and Kagome just attempted to become invisible in the corner of the elevator.

Finally the amount of people coming and going seemed to thin out and the elevator's journey to the thirty-fifth floor sped up. As it reached their intended floor, Inuyasha let out a great breath as one might before they headed to their doom. "Here we go..."

Kagome gave him an encouraging smile before the elevator dinged and its doors opened. Inuyasha stepped out and headed down the hallway to the right, Kagome following. They reached the door at the very end and walked through into an opulent waiting room. There were a half dozen cushy seats lined up against the walls, with small side tables scattered between them. Recreations of classical paintings adorned the walls, though since they had just entered the month of December, the many Christmas decorations that were strung up took away from the sophisticated effect.

A large desk was positioned between two doors that went further into the office, and a lone woman sat behind it, typing furiously away at the computer. Her shoulder length black hair was swept up into a tight french roll and her piercing red eyes were focused on the monitor before her. Despite her cold and professional appearance, she only looked to be in her mid-twenties. A name plate on the desk read Ms. Ishitaru.

Inuyasha let out a small cough and the woman looked up in surprise. The surprise quickly changed to recognition and pleasure, however, and she jumped up from her seat to greet them properly.

"Inuyasha! What a surprise! And who did you bring with you?" the woman asked, looking at Kagome expectantly.

Inuyasha scratched his head in embarrassment. "Ah, this is my friend from school, Kagome. Kagome, this is Ms. Ishitaru."

The woman cuffed him lightly over the head. "Really – Ms. Ishitaru! Thanks for making me feel a hundred years old, Inuyasha!" To Kagome, she said, "You can just call me Kagura."

Kagome smiled. "Okay."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Anyways, Kagura is Sesshoumaru's personal assistant. She takes care of all the secretarial stuff so Sesshoumaru is free to wallow in his own ego."

"Now, now," Kagura admonished. You should be more understanding of your brother. He's less self-absorbed than he lets on."

Inuyasha scoffed. "Right. I'll believe that when I see it."

"What about his adoption of Rin?" Kagura argued. "You can't say that was a selfish act."

Kagome smiled slightly to herself at the obvious admiration Kagura held for her boss.

"Oh, I don't know," Inuyasha replied. "I'm sure he's got something in mind for her; like to be the first of many specially trained super soldiers designed to aid him in his conquest of the world, for example."

As Kagura and Inuyasha continued to argue, Kagome felt a sudden shiver run down her spine. She turned around to look at the doorway they had come in through, but there was no one there.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked behind her. "Is something wrong?"

Kagome gave the empty doorway one last quizzical look before turning back with a smile. "No, nothing."

Kagura gave her a warm smile. "So is school going well, you two?"

Kagome nodded, but Inuyasha shrugged. "Could be better – I could actually understand what the teachers are talking about."

Kagura gave the boy such a sympathetic look that Kagome was moved to add, "You're not having that much trouble, Inuyasha. You're much cleverer than you give yourself credit for." She turned to Kagura. "He explained a physics concept to me the other day."

"That's because you suck at math, wench," Inuyasha retorted with a slight smirk.

"I do not!" Kagome protested. "I just have to work at it a little more. It doesn't come to me naturally like some people!"

Inuyasha drew himself up and gave her a smug smile.

Kagura laughed and reached out a hand to lightly tousle Inuyasha's hair. "I'm glad to see you're recovering so well, Inuyasha," she said, smiling at him like a fond older sister.

"Yeah, yeah," Inuyasha muttered irritably as he waved away her hand, though a red tinge was left behind on his cheeks.

Kagome looked on at the touching scene with a smile until she felt a presence behind her.

"Excuse me," a smooth male voice spoke up.

Embarrassed, Kagome jumped to the side, allowing the newcomer to come further into the office. There actually turned out to be two men behind her, both immaculately dressed in black suits and looking quite severe. Until they saw Inuyasha, that was. Breaking out into a grin, the first man stepped forward and said, "Inuyasha!" as he swept up the boy's hand in a handshake. The other man similarly came forward to clap the boy on the shoulder. "Good man! How're you holding up?"

Inuyasha was having a hard time suppressing the grin on his lips. "I'm good, I'm good. Kagome, I'd like you to meet Mr. Hirozaki, the treasurer, and Mr. Yukimori, who works in the software development branch."

Kagome stepped forward with a smile and exchanged a formal greeting with each of the two men.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kagome," Mr. Hirozaki said, "but I'm afraid we can't stay and chat. I just stopped by to pick up a few reports from Ms. Ishitaru."

Opposite from the men's reactions upon entering the room, all of the warmth seemed to have gone out of Kagura. Once in the presence of her colleagues, Kagura turned brisk and professional, giving the men her full attention. "Ah, yes, I was just finishing them up. I'll add a final note and then save them to your USP key. Inuyasha, this will likely take a few minutes. Why don't you and Kagome head in to see Sesshoumaru? I suspect he's waiting for you."

"Sure. Thanks, Kagura. See you later, Mr. Hirozaki, Mr. Yukimori," Inuyasha nodded to them and then made his way to the door to the right of Kagura's desk, Kagome keeping to his side. In an undertone, he said to her, "She keeps up the business persona around the other employees so they'll take her more seriously. Or so she says." He shrugged and pushed open the door that led the way into a grand office.

Despite the size of the room they entered next, no attempt had been made to give it a homey feel. It was cold and professional without a thing out of place. A few filing cabinets lined the walls, along with a few portraits of past presidents of the company. Two comfortable looking chairs were arranged artfully in front of a large ornate desk, which was bare except for a laptop and single picture frame facing the opposite way.

Behind the desk sat the most imposing man Kagome had ever seen, along with the most innocent looking girl Kagome had ever seen. The man had the same long silver hair as Inuyasha though his was fine and straight whereas Inuyasha's was thicker and messier. His gold eyes also matched Inuyasha's, though they were ice cold instead of fiery. His stern, no-nonsense expression was offset by the openly cheerful one of the girl standing next to him. She had bright brown eyes and chestnut coloured hair that went midway down her back.

Being simultaneously struck by the older man's intense stare and the younger girl's happy smile was an experience Kagome didn't quite know what to do with. In the end, she just smiled nervously and waited for someone else to break the tension.

"Hi, Uncle Inu!" Rin greeted him happily, breaking the awkward silence.

"Hey, Rin," the teenage boy responded, glancing at her briefly before locking eyes with the man beside her again.

"So, Inuyasha, you have come," the older, silver-haired man said in a voice devoid of emotion.

"Yeah, because you called," Inuyasha retorted, clearly irritated. "So what's wrong with Rin? She looks fine to me."

"That's because you haven't lost your eyesight along with the rest of your brain function. There's nothing wrong with Rin," the man responded calmly.

Inuyasha grit his teeth and glared at him. "Kagome, meet my insufferable older brother, Sesshoumaru. And obviously the little girl is Rin." As the two girls exchanged smiles and small waves, Inuyasha continued pressing his brother. "So if there's nothing wrong with her, why the hell am I here?"

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow. "Why, for the pleasure of your company, of course."

Inuyasha eyed his brother's emotionless expression warily. "...Really?"

Sesshoumaru let out a delicate snort. "Don't be absurd. Your company is about as dry as a 1974 Chardonnay."

"You see?" Inuyasha demanded Kagome. "You see how he is?"

"I have a task for you, younger brother." Sesshoumaru tented his fingers and scrutinized Inuyasha closely.

"I'm not your dog, to do with as you please!" Inuyasha spat.

"The ears on your head and the fact that you rushed straight over after my vague phone call beg to differ," Sesshoumaru replied dryly.

Inuyasha clapped his hands over his furry ears and glared at his brother. "Well, you're a dog too!" he retorted weakly.

At this, Sesshoumaru seemed to deem Inuyasha no longer worthy of his attention and turned to Kagome instead. "Kagome, was it? Did he bring you along so as to have a witness to his humiliation and utter lack of wit? Or are you just here for aesthetics?"

Kagome didn't quite know how to respond to this. "I..."

"She's here so that if you called me here for something useless, we could ditch and go do something worth our while," Inuyasha cut in. Turning his back on his brother, he said, "C'mon, Kagome. Let's get out of here."

"Wonderful. While you're 'ditching', please be so kind as to take Rin along with you," the older brother said before focusing his attention back to his laptop.

Despite himself, Inuyasha found himself turning back around. "Say what now?"

"Though your eyesight remains useful, apparently that's not the case with your hearing. I said to take Rin with you," Sesshoumaru repeated flatly.

"But...how?" Inuyasha was clearly baffled.

Sesshoumaru sighed and nodded to Rin, who had been looking at him eagerly. Given the go-ahead, she grinned broadly. "The adoption papers went through, Uncle Inu!"

Inuyasha was dumbfounded. "R...really? Your...ours now?"

"If she were passed out to the highest bidder, yes, that would be how we would word it," Sesshoumaru said. "I'm not sure if you refer to Kagome here with the same terminology, but within this family, I'd like you to at least make an attempt at being politically correct."

"Tch, it's not much of a family anymore," Inuyasha said bitterly.

"Well, now that the adoption's come through, I'll be free to disown you. Then Rin and I should be quite content," Sesshoumaru replied smoothly.

"Hey!" Inuyasha protested. "You can't do that!"

The older brother brought one hand up to rub his temple. "Really, brother, your streak of gullibility never ceases to amaze me. Now take Rin and go bond."

Inuyasha fumed silently for a moment before daring to respond. "The adoption just went through and you're already shoving her off on me? Why aren't you bonding with her?"

"What did you think I was doing for the past two years while you were lying like a useless lump in a hospital bed?" Sesshoumaru said sardonically. "The adoption came through unexpectedly and I haven't been able to rearrange my schedule accordingly. Now since I have an entire enterprise to run and you are out of school for the day, the ridiculous notion that Rin's new uncle might want to take care of her for a night and get to know her a little better occurred to me. Thankfully, I've now come to my senses and I'll just let her draw patterns in the carpet for the rest of the night instead. You're excused, Inuyasha. Enjoy your pathetic evening."

Kagome watched a guilty expression overcome Inuyasha's features as he looked over to Rin, whose eyes were downcast. "I...I'm sorry, Rin," he said slowly. "I shouldn't have been so insensitive. Would...would you like to hang out with Uncle Inuyasha and Kagome tonight?"

Rin looked up hopefully and, seeing Inuyasha smiling awkwardly at her, she nodded enthusiastically. "I sure would! Can we go to the park? And a movie? And–"

"Yes, yes, we'll do all of that," Inuyasha cut in.

"Splendid," Sesshoumaru said. "Then it's a date."

Inuyasha blanched. "A d-d-date? Now wait a minute..."

"Oh, just take Rin and go with your girlfriend out of my sight. I have work to do and you're taking up too much of the precious time I have to do it in." Turning to Rin, he adopted a gentler tone. "Behave yourself, Rin. I'll see you at home tonight."

"Okay, Uncle Sesshoumaru. I'll be a good girl," the little girl promised with a smile.

"C'mon, Rin," Inuyasha said wearily, turning once more towards the exit. "Let's get out of here."

As soon as they'd left the room, leaving a Sesshoumaru who was now ignoring their existence in favour of his laptop, Inuyasha slumped against the closed door, clutching his head. "I hate that guy," he moaned.

Kagura chuckled from her desk. The two other men from earlier were gone and she was once again the only employee in the waiting room. "Oh, Inuyasha. One day you two will get along."

"Ha!" Inuyasha barked. "That'll be the day. I really don't know what you see in him, Kagura. He's gotta be the worst human being on the face of the Earth."

"He's definitely not the worst scum this Earth has to offer," Kagura objected sternly. "As well you know, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha looked at her for a moment before sighing. "Yeah, I know..."

"You...you still haven't remembered anything...from that night?" Kagura asked hesitantly.

Inuyasha raked a hand through his hair. "No...not really. Sometimes when I think about it really hard, I think I can hear someone yelling...but I can't tell who it is or what they're saying...and then my head starts to hurt like a–" he glanced at Rin out of the corner of his eye, "–like nothing else."

Kagura looked at him sympathetically. "Well, don't push yourself. I'm sure it'll come to you with time. And then we'll catch the ba–" she too eyed Rin, "–the bad man."

"Yeah, yeah," Inuyasha said, brushing her off. "It's just so frustrating! I was there! I should know what happened! And yet every day that I can't remember is another day that guy roams free!"

Kagome slipped her hand into his and gave him a reassuring smile. "It's not your fault, Inuyasha, as I've already told you."

"That's right," Kagura agreed emphatically. "And don't you dare ever doubt that, Inuyasha. And as for 'that guy', he can't roam forever. We'll get him eventually, whether you end up remembering or not."

Inuyasha squeezed Kagome's hand and gave the secretary a weak smile. "Thanks, Kagura. I'll keep that in mind. For now, though, we have a little girl to entertain," he said, looking down at Rin.

"We're going to the park!" Rin informed the older woman.

"Really?" Kagura said. "You must be excited."

"I am! And then Uncle Inu's taking me to a movie!"

"Wow! That's awfully nice of Uncle Inu. Be sure to be a good girl for him," the secretary said, smiling kindly.

"I will! I already promised Uncle Sesshoumaru I would," Rin responded proudly.

"Well then, have a good time and I'll see you later. Inuyasha, it was good to see you again. Take care of yourself. Kagome, it was nice to meet you," Kagura said.

"You too, Kagura," Kagome answered politely.

"See you later," Inuyasha said with a small wave as they headed out the door.

As they stepped into the elevator down the hall, Kagome turned to Rin. "How come you refer to Sesshoumaru as 'uncle', Rin? Didn't he adopt you as his daughter?"

Rin looked up at her anxiously. "It's not that I don't love him!" she protested, then continued in a small voice, "But Sesshoumaru isn't my real daddy..."

Kagome smiled. "I understand. But just like you, I don't think Sesshoumaru wants to replace your real father either. He's probably just happy taking care of you."

Inuyasha stared at her accusingly. "How can you say such fluffy things about that monster?"

Kagome pursed her lips and wondered how to deal with the two conflicting opinions of Sesshoumaru at once. "Well...he did treat you unfairly, Inuyasha...but from what I can tell, he seems to care for Rin very much. To battle the adoption system for two years, it couldn't have been a passing fancy to take her in."

"I suppose," Inuyasha grumbled, crossing his arms. Once the elevator dinged and released them on the ground floor, he said, "C'mon, I'll lead you guys to a park I know."

They exited the futuristic building and followed the silver-haired boy down the street, trying to keep up with his fast pace. By the time they reached the park, the sky was beginning to darken. The days were shortening lately and evening came sooner now. Kagome gestured to the empty playground. "Go ahead and play, Rin. We have about half an hour before it gets really dark. After that, we'll go somewhere for dinner, okay?"

"Okay!" the girl chirped before running over and scampering up the jungle gym.

"You're good at that," Inuyasha said quietly.

"At what?"

"Handling little kids. I don't really know where to start."

"Ido have a younger brother, remember?" Kagome reminded him. "Though sometimes it feels like he takes more care of me than the other way around."

"You're lucky," Inuyasha said abruptly. "You've got a brother that actually likes you."

Kagome led the way over to a bench and sat down. "Sesshoumaru doesn't treat you wonderfully, but I'm not so sure he hates you. How could he, when you're the only blood relative he has left?"

"He's found a way," Inuyasha assured her. "He never liked me, not even before my coma. He was always picking on me, just because he was older, smarter and all around perfect, while I was the stupid, younger half-breed half-brother."

"Half?" Kagome said in surprise. "He's not your full brother then?"

Inuyasha snorted. "No. What, couldn't you recognize his oh so perfect breeding? He's a full demon, unmarred by 'filthy human blood'."

"Oh, that is just ridiculous!" Kagome fumed. "There are plenty of people out in the world with mixed blood nowadays. I mean, sure, they're not applauded for it, but they exist! And the number's growing every day. One day there'll no longer be a line between demons and humans, I'll bet. The only people who still care now are those with massive superiority complexes who think their blood is some sort of trophy. Don't tell me your brother actually told you you're inferior to him because of your blood?"

"Yeah. When I was four. If there's one memory I remember clearly when I was that young, it's that," Inuyasha said, fiddling with his hands. "It was my birthday and I'd had a big party with a bunch of my classmates from school. My Mom and Dad were there and it was one of the best days I'd ever had. I hadn't seen Sesshoumaru all day. After everyone had left later in the afternoon, I came across my brother when he came out of his room for a snack. He didn't say anything to me and so I asked him if he wasn't going to wish me a happy birthday. He said what I told you, that he was a full demon of the purest lineage and he shouldn't even have to acknowledge a filthy little half-blood like me, much less wish me a happy birthday."

Kagome put a hand to her mouth. "That's awful... I'm sorry...when I met him back there, he didn't seem the type to make airs like that...especially since he's adopted Rin. He's rather...unpredictable, isn't he?"

"That's a cute word for it," Inuyasha said sarcastically. "Try 'he's an asshole I'll never understand'."

Kagome nodded in silence, watching as Rin abandoned the jungle gym in favour of the swings. "What were your parents like, Inuyasha? I'll betthey were great people."

"They were!" Inuyasha said earnestly, and suddenly Kagome got the impression of a child bragging. "My mom was the nicest woman you could ever meet. She helped out at all these charities, see, and volunteered for all these causes, never expecting anything in return. And she was the prettiest lady I'd ever seen. None of the other kids' moms came close.

"And my dad! Dad was so awesome – he just exuded this powerful aura about him, all the time. It was like he was challenging the whole world and at the same time warning it not to mess with him. Everyone respected him and he deserved it, 'cause he was super smart. But he was also really nice to me, see. He always had time to go out into the backyard and throw around a baseball. He was the greatest dad ever."

As Inuyasha spoke, he seemed to light up, eagerly boasting about his parents to Kagome, trying to impress her as much as possible. Kagome watched the transformation in his face, voice and attitude with fascination, never having seen this side of Inuyasha before. She smiled softly. "It sounds like they loved you very much, Inuyasha. You were lucky to have them."

"For as long as I did, right? That's what you wanted to say, wasn't it?" Inuyasha said, snapping back to his usual self and shrewdly guessing what she was thinking. Kagome blinked and then nodded slowly. Inuyasha sighed and leaned back on the bench. "Sounds like we both had great parents. How come they had to be taken away so soon?"

"That I don't have an answer to," Kagome said sadly, gazing distantly into the setting sun. "But we're not the only victims of that fate," she added quietly as Rin came back towards them, looking tired but happy.

"Had enough, Rin?" Inuyasha asked once she had reached them. "Ready to go?"

Rin nodded enthusiastically. "I'm starving!"

"Well then, let's be off!" Kagome said, standing up. "Sounds like it's fast food time to me."

..:V:..

After having wandered around downtime for a time, the three had settled on a restaurant and headed inside. "Hi, welcome to Wacdonald's," the cashier greeted them dutifully.

Rin tugged on Inuyasha's sleeve. When he ducked down, she gave the cashier a shy look and then whispered in his ear, "I want the kid's meal!"

Kagome had already started to order. "I'll have the number one combo with root beer, and..." she looked at the two behind her expectantly.

"Two kid's meals," Inuyasha answered promptly.

Both Kagome and the cashier raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that'll fill you up, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked at the same time as the server said, "Kid's meals are generally reserved for the kids, sir..."

Inuyasha turned red in embarrassment. "F-fine. Just give me what she's having then," he said, indicating Kagome.

"That'll be $11.50 then."

Once they had paid with Inuyasha's credit card, funded by Sesshoumaru, and received their food, they made their way to an empty table by the window.

Rin ignored her food at first in favour of opening her new toy, which turned out to be a race car. Kagome caught Inuyasha watching forlornly as she played with it, and gave him a puzzled look.

"Rin, weren't you hungry?" she said gently, addressing the little girl.

"Oh yeah!" Rin exclaimed as if she's forgotten.

"We'd better eat up if we want to catch an earlier showing movie," Kagome said, starting in on her fries.

Inuyasha remained silent throughout their meal, wolfing down his food and gazing sullenly out the window. This left Kagome to chat with Rin, asking questions ranging from her favourite things to her life at school.

When they had finally finished, they threw out their garbage and headed out in the city once more. Inuyasha first led them to where he remembered a movie theatre being before his coma. In the five years following, however, it turned out to have been shut down, which left Inuyasha angry and frustrated.

Kagome quickly asked a passerby for directions to the nearest movie cinema, which happened to be only a few blocks down, and they made their way there.

Luckily, there was a kid's film playing shortly and so they entered the line for the fast lane, where they could use their own touch screen to buy their tickets and pay once again with Inuyasha's credit card.

When it was their turn, they selected the movie they wanted and looked at their ticket options:

Child (12 and under) – $6.40

Youth (13-17) – $8.40

Adult (18-64) – $9.40

Golden Age (65 and up) – $6.40

"Tch," Inuyasha scoffed, pressing one child ticket and two youth. "I used to be able to get a child ticket..." he muttered under his breath so the other two couldn't hear.

The movie turned out to be rather cute, and full of light humour. Kagome and Inuyasha were kept entertained, even though the intended audience was clearly much younger than themselves. As a member of that intended audience, Rin absolutely loved it and had her eyes glued to the screen the entire time. The only exceptions were when she would tug on her new uncle's sleeve beside her and demand if he "just saw that?" At these times, Inuyasha would nod wearily and direct her attention back to the film.

When they exited the auditorium, Rin announced that she had to go to the bathroom. Kagome offered to accompany her if Inuyasha would wait for them in the main lobby.

Inuyasha was leaning against a wall, trying to ignore the general populace around him, when one voice rang above the rest.

"Oh no, my lip gloss!" A small tube rolled towards Inuyasha and bumped against his feet. A girl came rushing after it, her sleek black bob of a haircut and low-cut top being her most prominent features. She bent down low to pick up her lost cosmetic and gave Inuyasha an ample view as she straightened back up. Inuyasha tried to avert his eyes as much as possible, though now she was smiling broadly at him.

"Sorry about that; my lip gloss got away from me." She held up the culprit.

"S'okay," Inuyasha grunted, preparing to go back to ignoring her existence.

"Hey, I love your hair. Is that your natural colour?"

"Yeah," Inuyasha responded, not knowing whether to be proud or irritated.

"Awesome," she said in awe, reaching out to rub a few strands between her fingers. "It's so soft and silky. You must take really good care of it."

Inuyasha reached out and freed his hair from her grasp, definitely irritated now. "I do."

The girl ignored his tone as her eyes travelled upwards. "Hey, cool ears!"

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "My friend thinks they're 'cute'," he muttered.

"Cute?" the girl said in surprise before giving him a coy smile. "No way – I think they're sexy."

Inuyasha's other eyebrow shot up and they proceeded to race each other to his hairline. "S-s-sexy?" he demanded in shock.

"Yeah, to match the rest of you," the girl continued shamelessly.

Inuyasha spluttered for a moment, bright red and having no idea what to say.

The girl laughed lightly and held out her hand. "I'm Yura. Nice to meet cha!"

Extremely uncomfortable but not knowing what else to do, Inuyasha hesitantly held out his hand. Yura promptly grabbed it and flipped it over, a pen appearing in her other hand in a flash. "Here, I'll give you my number."

At this, Inuyasha yanked his hand back and glared daggers at her. "What's wrong with you? Get away from me!"

"What's going on here?"

Kagome and Rin had returned, the former looking back and forth between Inuyasha and Yura in confusion.

Inuyasha pointed an accusing finger at Yura. "This...this harlot is forcing herself on me!"

Yura stared back at him in shock. "Why...why you! Can't you handle a little flirting, you inconsiderate ass? I can't believe I wasted my time on you! I'm out of here!"

With that, she spun around and stomped off in a rage.

Kagome blinked, feeling as if she'd missed something to explain the situation. "Inuyasha..."

"Let's get out of here. We've got to take Rin back to Sesshoumaru's place," was all Inuyasha said.

"Okay..." she said slowly, confused.

They caught a bus nearby to take them to Sesshoumaru's home. Rin's energy seemed to give out finally, and she started to doze off, her head resting on Kagome's shoulder. When they arrived at their stop, Inuyasha hauled the sleepy girl onto his back and they walked the rest of the way to Sesshoumaru's house.

The house was everything Sesshoumaru was – poised, elegant and perfect. To Kagome's surprise, it was not a gigantic mansion like his wealth predicted, but a much smaller version, as if more suited to be a home rather than bragging rights. Kagome supposed this was due to Rin, and the thought that the seemingly cold man would care for her in such a way made her smile.

Nevertheless, despite its smaller stature, the house was definitely located in the pricier end of town and it did not hesitate in displaying its grandiose architecture and flawless gardens.

"Wow...quite the house," she whistled in appreciation.

"Yeah..." Inuyasha muttered, leading the way up to the door. He opened it without knocking and then called out for his brother once they were inside.

Sesshoumaru came gliding out of a room at the end of the hall, regarding them critically. He took Rin from Inuyasha's back without a word and turned towards the staircase. Pausing on the first step, he looked back at them. "It's late. You two will stay here tonight."

"You can't just decide that!" Inuyasha protested.

"Er...Sesshoumaru, sir, the school keeps track of where we are every night," Kagome said, trying to explain more politely.

"I've already informed your school," Sesshoumaru replied, giving her a piercing stare. "Unless the two of you would prefer hard dorm beds, of course."

Inuyasha glared at him for a moment before crossing his arms and grumbling, "We'll stay."

"Then you know where your room is, and I'll reluctantly trust you to show your friend to the guest room." Without another word, he climbed the stairs and disappeared out of sight.

Kagome and Inuyasha looked at each other for a moment before Inuyasha sighed and led the way to an adjacent room. "C'mon...it's only 9:30. Let's watch TV or something."

But as they sat down on the incredibly comfortable couch facing a massive flat screen TV, Inuyasha only stared blankly ahead, not even turning it on. Kagome fidgeted for a moment, not knowing what he was thinking. She was informed soon enough when all his thoughts concerning the incident at the movie theatre seemed to spill out at once.

"Can you believe that girl? She was practically jumping on me, flashing me and everything!"

"It wasn't that bad," Kagome said, somewhat amused. "She was just flirting with you. Maybe she was a little too forward than necessary, and perhaps her cleavage was more evident than most, but she was just trying to get your attention."

This didn't seem to calm Inuyasha, but rather agitated him further. "Why? Why? Why's she thinkin' about that kind of stuff?"

"Inuyasha...?" Kagome asked, not understanding what he was getting at.

"We're not old enough for that kind of stuff!" he continued, becoming more and more distressed. He stood up from the couch and gestured wildly. "She wanted to date and kiss and who knows what else!"

Kagome knew she was definitely missing something now. "How are you not old enough to date? You're seventeen years old, Inuyasha!"

"I'm not!" he shouted. "I'm twelve!"

A shocked silence followed this declaration. Kagome watched as a broken expression stole over Inuyasha's features. "I'm twelve, Kagome..."

Kagome got to her feet slowly. "Inuyasha..." The boy met her gaze briefly before spinning around and making a beeline for the door. Her voice stopped him. "Inuyasha! Please...talk to me."

When he looked back at her, there was no end to the depth of sadness in his eyes. "It's so different now..."

"What is?" she asked softly.

"Everything!" he suddenly flared up. "Everything's so different! Five years were taken away from me, Kagome! I don't recognize anything anymore! The city's all changed around! My brother's so much older than I remember him – and now he has a child! None of my old friends are around! I–I don't even recognize myself anymore... My face looks different...my hair's so much longer... I don't even recognize my own voice..."

Kagome looked at the crestfallen boy in front of her and felt her heart go out to him. Suddenly things she hadn't noticed before were brought into sharp relief. Inuyasha, who had always seemed so strong in the face of her own pain; Inuyasha, who had always faced his own hardships with gruffness and defiance; Inuyasha, who her younger brother looked up to with admiration; Inuyasha, who had comforted her when she cried; Inuyasha...who with one night's sleep, had lost his parents and five years of his life.

"I kept trying to remind myself I'm different now and I have to live with it... I haven't cut my hair so that I always have to face it. I try to keep up in school. I try to talk to Miroku as if I were his age, and had in-depth opinions like him. I keep trying to be older than I feel...but it's so hard, Kagome... it's so hard. My body's all different and nothing's familiar...and my parents are both gone."

He was always so abrasive and rude about everything in general that Kagome had never considered such a thing was hurting him deep inside. She took it to be his nature and his defence against past pain; she had never imagined it was shielding him from such current wounds. She realized now that he must struggle every day with these thoughts, these disconcerting circumstances. What could she possibly say to make him feel better?

She started to remember now every instance since their meeting where she felt as if she were talking more to a kid than someone his age. She had taken it for adorable immaturity, but now she was starting to realize the truth. Every time he complained about not understanding a concept in class, every time he sulked at not getting his way, every time he blushed if a girl got too close, every time he had become overenthusiastic over something small, every time that sad look had come into his eyes when he talked of something from his childhood... These were times Inuyasha was slipping back into his twelve year old mind set, a time he couldn't regain, but the only time he had felt safe and secure.

The thought of his daily torture and insecurity nearly broke her heart. Tears stung her eyes and for the first time in her life, she completely forgot about her own pain to blindly empathize with another's. Without a word, she stepped towards him, reaching out with her hands. She cradled his face, looking so lost and broken, in her hands, and then stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.

It wasn't a passionate kiss, but rather one of friendship, of comfort. It was for reassurance; reassurance that she was there, that she cared, and that he wasn't alone. Her lips pressed softly on his for a long moment before pulling away, leaving her tears on his cheek. Still silent, she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in its crook. Feeling his heartache ease, Inuyasha didn't give a thought to being embarrassed, but instead hugged her back fiercely.

A choked sob escaped his throat, but it was the only sign of grief he would allow himself. He clung to Kagome tighter, willing his weakness to pass in the face of her offered strength.

Nothing had changed between them, but he was comforted. Comforted to know that she now understood his constant pain and that she would stay by him to help him through it. He may have lost his entire world of the past, but she was here now to help him build his future.

A/N Wow...like holy jeez. How about that, huh? 20 pages long and a kiss at the end! Did anyone expect that, 'cause I sure didn't! There was no kiss planned, but Kagome stood up and by god, she was determined to do it.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that it's a fair compensation for the hiatus – an insanely long chapter AND a kiss. AND a whole new slew of characters.

C'mon, what'd you think of Sesshoumaru? Did you love him? 'Cause I sure did writing him. Anyways, I've gotta get this posted and head off to class so if there's anyone left reading this, tell me what you thought and I'll try to update again as soon as I can! Ciao for now!