Note: One more chapter to go! Just curious, would you guys rather I have another Shot Week after this, where I update with a reject one-shot every day for a week (do you even like that? Am I the only one who likes that?), or would you rather me take a break and then head straight into my BRAND SPANKIN' NEW story, or would you rather I finish all my ongoing stories (meaning Highway to Hell and Forget the Storm, omfg, I keep forgetting about FtS because I hate it like a red-headed step-child. NEVER RUN WITH IDEAS YOU GET WHEN YOU HAVE CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING) first? Or like, pick an order. PLEASE TELL ME 'CAUSE I'VE GOTTA KNOW LIKE FOR REAL. I'm for sure going to continue to update Highway to Hell here and there and work on its sequel no matter what.

Eleven: Piquerism

It started to rain when they reached home, pouring out of the evening sky almost violently. They'd taken the long way back and now it was nearing midnight, but Kagome felt energized, wired, too alive to imagine ever being able to sleep again. Inuyasha jokingly attempted to hoist her over his shoulder and carry her over the threshold, but she slapped his hands away, her face turning pink, going red when the door opened before they reached it and revealed Kikyo, standing there like a stern widowed mother after her daughter's first date.

"We should have set a curfew," she said curtly.

Sheepishly, with hunched shoulders, hoping to hide her ruined shirt beneath the thin sweater, Kagome brushed past her, feeling electrified by the touch. In contrast, Inuyasha actually swaggered in behind her, grinning even at the furniture.

Kikyo's face congealed. "I can tell by the stupid look you have that you touched Kagome."

He smirked and put an arm around her, not noticing or not caring how she stiffened and tried to move away.

"Whatcha gonna do about it?"

All quiet fury, Kikyo slapped him in the face and grabbed Kagome by the hand, tugging her away so hard she thought for a second that her arm would be pulled out of its socket.

"We're leaving. Now."

Inuyasha grabbed Kagome by the other hand and she had a sudden frightening vision of being ripped in two. Would they be satisfied then?

"The fuck you are!"

To the girl's great relief, Kikyo dropped her arm, glaring at her and Inuyasha with her hands on her hips. "Then choose! I'm through with waiting."

Kagome's heart began to pound. The moment she feared most had finally arrived. She was foolish to think she could prolong it, to think she had enough power over these two forces of nature to make them devoted to her and agree to stay together if only to keep her happy. Beginning to tremble, she opened her mouth to speak, not able to summon words for a good few seconds.

"There h-hasn't been enough time…" It was pathetic, but she was still trying to keep her heart from breaking. She wanted both of them, forever.

Inuyasha and Kikyo both glared at her, for the first time seeming genuinely angry with her. There was no resentment there, however, which was the only thing that stopped her from running away and never coming back. Never could she bring herself to leave them, either or both of them. Kagome took a good look at both of them. For the first time tonight she realized Kikyo had faint tear tracks on her face. She'd been waiting up for her and crying. How hard? How long? Her expensive blouse was untucked and her hair had a few strands loose from its elegant bun. On anyone else, it would have just seemed that they were slightly busy, maybe tired, but on Kikyo it was a mess. Inuyasha looked ready to punch someone, maybe take the entire house down using only his fists.

And she was the cause.

"One date should have been enough," Inuyasha said, no gentleness in his voice now. "You've been living with us for months. You know us well enough now."

"But I don't know myself!" Kagome whimpered, fighting back tears. "I don't know what's going on with my feelings. I care so much for both—"

"Either choose or lose both of us." Though Kikyo's voice was calm, almost serene, her eyes blazed like Joan of Arc's going into battle.

"Yeah! Choose."

The dam broke and Kagome began to cry, silent sobs making her shudder. Inuyasha put his arms around her, for once showing her affection in front of Kikyo not in an attempt to make her jealous or angry.

"Don't touch her!" Kikyo shrieked. "You're just trying to influence her decision!"

"Don't tell me what to fucking—"

"Stop fighting!" Kagome screamed. A gentle push on his chest got Inuyasha away from her. "I want one last kiss. One from both of you."

Inuyasha grabbed her face and kissed her with that mindless passion that she knew would consume her and drive her mad if she allowed it to. Kikyo yanked her away from him and the soft, urgent press of her lips was an addictive drug. Oh gods, this just made everything worse. She'd gone so long without being with Kikyo that she had almost forgotten how good it was with her.

"I've been open about falling for both of you," Kagome started. Her voice was hoarse, so she cleared her throat, feeling like a ridiculous reality show star. Kagome's Arrow of Love. She almost laughed before she felt like crying again. Closing her eyes so she didn't have to look at them, she continued, "I care so much about you both that I can't breathe when I get caught up in it. I think I might really actually love you, Inuyasha. And Kikyo, I know I love you and I never ever want to lose you. But damn it!" The words came tumbling out, words she'd known she'd have to say perhaps from the very first time she'd walked through their door and right into him. "Kikyo, I love Inuyasha more than I hate the thought of losing you."

Her eyes opened when she heard the squeak of the couch springs. Kikyo had collapsed, head in her hands. Her shoulders shook a little, and that was the only way to tell she was crying. Kagome, heart breaking along with her professor's, tried to go to her, but Inuyasha held her back.

"I'm in love with you, Kikyo," she said, voice thick with misery. "But I don't see it growing. I-Inuyasha is… What I feel is confusing, but it gets more powerful every time we're together and there's a whole spectrum of emotions I can't even describe or decipher—." Kagome cut herself off, not thinking blurting out a rambling love poem to her lover turned boyfriend's ex-wife would alleviate the gravity of the situation. "With you, Kikyo, it's real and beautiful and makes me feel warm inside, lights me up from the inside out. You noticed me when no one else did, you saved me. You are my goddess." At this, Kikyo's head shot up, revealing reddened eyes and a face that reflected her internal suffering beautifully, like a martyr in a Renaissance painting. "But if I chose you and left Inuyasha behind, I know with everything in me that he and I would find our way back to each other again, and you'd just end up hurt even more."

She reached out her arms to her professor, her mentor, wanting to feel her against her. Inuyasha interrupted her attempt at a gentle parting with a mocking laugh.

"Time for you to go," he grinned at Kikyo.

Kagome gasped. "No! Kikyo doesn't have to go! Not yet, not so suddenly." She felt herself begin to panic. She didn't know it would come to this. She'd thought they'd have a while of learning how to exist as friends before they'd part.

The blaze was back in Kikyo's eyes. She got to her feet, graceful and once again perfectly composed, the set of her shoulders and her posture strong and sure.

"Thank you, Kagome, but I would rather leave now. I don't relish the thought of seeing you two together." Silently, she ascended the stairs.

"Why did you do that!?" Kagome hissed at Inuyasha, hitting his chest.

Inuyasha chuckled and drew her to him, arranging her so that her head was right where she'd hit him, over his heart.

"I'm too happy to care about what happens to her. I just want that bitch gone, the sooner the better, so you and I can enjoy our life together."

Kagome silently cried into the fabric of his shirt. She was happy too, gloriously happy, and that was part of the reason why she felt so sad. They stayed like that for a few minutes until the faint sound of Kikyo's footsteps were heard on the stairs once again. Kagome turned to look at her, wanting to soak up every bit of her into her memory. Kikyo carried a duffel bag and one roller suitcase. It looked like she'd pre-packed.

Kikyo smiled at her. "I'm flying out to Spain tonight. There are two bags upstairs packed with your things… I booked a window seat on the flight for you."

It felt like a hand had sneaked its way into her ribcage and was squeezing her heart.

Kikyo continued, "I don't want to be reminded of my marriage in my new life. I'm leaving most of my things here."

"I bought you the damn suitcases for our honeymoon. Probably bought you everything in them," Inuyasha grumbled.

The women ignored him. Kagome and Kikyo met halfway in the living room and embraced. Kikyo kissed her on the lips, soft and hungry.

"You are my first love, Kagome," she whispered in her silky voice. "I can't forget you. I won't."

She kissed her again, and for a second, Kagome forgot Inuyasha was there. It was brief but powerful. When she was finished, Kikyo turned to Inuyasha. He held out his hand to her, a giant grin on his face like he'd just won gold in the Olympics.

"No hard feelings?"

The corners of Kikyo's mouth just barely turned up in a tiny Mona Lisa smile. She kept the same expression when she withdrew a glowing blue knife from her trench coat and stabbed him straight through the heart. Immediately, Inuyasha's silver hair faded to black, his eyes darkened, and his claws receded. He sank to the floor, mouth open in a silent groan.

Kagome could not comprehend what was happening at first. Her only thought was that he did not turn human for two more weeks. The knife sticking out of his bleeding chest did not make sense. She was jerked into action by Kikyo, who grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door and into the rain. Her mind remained with Inuyasha on the living room floor. She was in shock. At the same time as she was seeing Kikyo unlock the car door, she was seeing her plunge the knife into Inuyasha's chest over and over. Inuyasha. Inuyasha. Inuyasha. Her feet stopped cooperating with Kikyo's urgent getaway.

"I told you I can't forget you, Kagome!" Kikyo yelled through the heavy downpour. Were those tears on her beloved professor's face, or just raindrops? "I was so sure you'd choose me. But tonight made me fall apart. Who could love that monster?"

"I do!"

To her, the words were as binding as when said in a vow of marriage and she broke away from Kikyo, unafraid of whatever terrible retribution she could inflict on her, and ran back into the house, back to Inuyasha. He was still on the floor, blood burbling out of his mouth and gushing front his chest wound, pooling into the wood and soaking into the Persian rug. A cry escaped her mouth when she saw his eyes were closed, and she fumbled for her phone, not remembering she had forgotten it in Inuyasha's car. Was his chest moving, or were her hopeful eyes playing tricks on her? Patting his pockets with shaking hands, she found his phone and slipped it out. Before she could dial for help, Kikyo knocked it out of her grasp. It skittered across the floor and slid under the couch.

"We have to go!" Kikyo said roughly, pulling her to her feet in an astonishing display of strength. There was a manic look in her eyes. "We can't miss our flight."

Kagome screamed wordlessly, in fear and defiance, falling to her knees and holding onto Inuyasha. At first she thought she was imagining things, but his eyes shot open, strikingly dark in his pale, pallid face. A sick rage filled those eyes and he pushed her off of him with great restraint. To her shock and horror, he began to pull the knife out of his chest, blood mixed with saliva dribbling out of his mouth from between clenched teeth. Blue energy crackled around his hand and before long he was freed. His normal coloring rushed back and before her very eyes the wound began to heal. Closing his eyes in relief, his peace was short-lived.

"Kagome, you have to run," Kikyo whispered. "Take my car and get out of here."

The girl looked up at her. Her beautiful face was made strange with horror. Kagome felt a strange pulsing against her own energy and caught on to what the much stronger priestess was trying to tell her.

Inuyasha's demonic blood had pushed away his humanity.

Scrambling away, she hid behind Kikyo, not knowing how to handle the situation but not wanting to run like the books instructed people to do. Being the only person with spiritual power in her family for several generations, she had not been trained, as Kikyo was, but she had read about what happened to half-demons from powerful demonic bloodlines. They were said to go insane if severely wounded, slaughtering and torturing friend and foe with delight. It took a great demon or extremely powerful priest or priestess to subdue one. It was part of the reason why society had actively persecuted and then refused to accept half-demons for so long.

When he opened his eyes, they were red. He moved so fast she almost didn't see him, but he plowed right into Kikyo. He struck and his claws left four red, ragged, bloody lines from her cheekbone to the top of her breast. Kikyo's teeth were exposed in a disgusted and pained snarl, her hands around his neck. Her palms were glowing blue, her purifying power making even Kagome shudder. His skin quickly began to smoke, but still he continued to fight. It suddenly came to Kagome that if he really wanted to kill her, he easily could, but even in his maddened state, he was holding back.

"Stop!" Kagome called, panic rising in her throat. "Kikyo, that's enough!"

It was like she didn't hear her. Kikyo was finishing the job she'd started when she'd plunged the knife into his chest. Even when he began to lose strength, even when he passed out, she continued to purify him.

"I'll go with you!" Kagome screamed, tears running down her face. "Just stop! I'll do anything if you just stop."

It took her a few seconds, but Kikyo finally controlled herself, staring down at Inuyasha with distaste, her breath coming in heavy gasps.

"It's been a while since I used my powers," she said, her voice small. "I gave it all up when I married him. I never wanted to hurt him…" Her eyes seemed pained for a second as they stared at him before they hardened. "We should go. He's still transformed." Taking off her cardigan, she bunched it against her biggest wound, drying the blood before attempting to heal herself.

In a daze, Kagome followed her out the door. How casually Kikyo loaded her luggage into the trunk and held the passenger door open for her had her wondering if this was all some sort of crazy nightmare. A roar from the house chilled her down to her bones, even more than the rain, and she leapt in the car, slamming the door. Kikyo did the same. Her last glimpse of Inuyasha was in the side mirror, little more than a silver blur running after the car and doing a frighteningly good job of keeping up.

"Slow down, Kikyo," she begged, noticing their steadily increasing speed. The roads were slightly flooded and the rain came down so hard it was difficult to see. Suddenly, her fear switched from demonic Inuyasha to terrified Kikyo.

"No!" Kikyo was hysterical, like another person, eyes wild. "I would rather die than give you back to him! I'd rather die on the road than have that beast hunt me down and finish me off."

"But we're—"

Kagome forgot what she was going to say when the sensation of hydroplaning knocked everything out of her head. She didn't even scream as they rolled over the first time. The second time, she gasped, her head hitting the window and breaking it. The third time, she felt tears track down her face and that was all.

It wasn't strange to her that she was seeing the totaled car from outside of it even though she knew she should be inside it. Nothing struck her as odd. Inuyasha was there and he was normal again, his hair soaking wet from the rain, shirt grotesquely torn and bloodied. His claws cut her seatbelt and his hands cradled her face. There was blood leaking from a head wound she couldn't see, covered by her hair, staining her neck and the collar of her shirt and Inuyasha's hands a color red that made her wish she could look away. Kikyo stumbled out of her side, a small cut on her forehead. When she saw Kagome, she held her hands to her mouth and wept.

"Don't move her!" she sobbed. "You could hurt her worse."

"The car smells like it's gonna catch on fire soon and the rain's not gonna be able to put it out," Inuyasha said in a faint, quavering voice. He hooked an arm beneath her knees and cradled her like a child to his chest. Kagome wished she could feel it. Why couldn't she feel it?

Sinking to the ground, he held her tenderly. It occurred to her she'd never seen a man cry before. Seeing Inuyasha shed tears made the situation even more startling.

"She's not breathing!" Kikyo moaned, sounding like she was being tortured. "Oh, gods. I should be dead! I should be the one—" Her words devolved into quick, heaving gasps and sobs and she abruptly brought her hands down hard on Kagome's heart, pressing her lips to her cold ones.

Kagome felt a jerk and then nothing at all.

When she woke up again, everything felt fuzzy and all she saw was blurred around the edges. Her neck screamed in pain as she turned her head, but she needed to see if what she'd observed in her periphery was true.

"Inuyasha," she croaked.

"I'm here." His hand slipped into hers. "I've been here, Kagome."

"Me too." Kikyo's hand found her other one. "You've been out for three days. How are you feeling?"

Inuyasha growled at her. "Let her go or you'll be leaving here in a body bag instead of a fucking Uber. Did you forget Kagome's decision?"

Kikyo smiled and her grip tightened almost to the point of pain. "That was before the bonding."

"The what?" Inuyasha and Kagome said as one.

Releasing Kagome's hand, she leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. "I bonded us. We are one. I gave you my soul, my life. It's what called you back from the netherworld. Bonding is what spiritualists do, sort of like demonic mating, but without the immortality, obviously."

Inuyasha shot to his feet. "You can't fucking do this! Not after everything!"

Kagome turned her face away from her former professor. Not even awake five minutes and already she wished she had stayed unconscious.

"How could you?" she said in a hoarse whisper. "When I was like that—you just came and took what you wanted. Gods, Kikyo, that's stealing! That's like rape!"

Kikyo leaned over her, face severe and yet pleading. "You. Would. Have. Died. And Inuyasha wasn't making any moves to save you. I did what I had to do, and I would have committed any sin to keep you alive."

"Undo it!" she demanded.

Kikyo looked hurt and withdrew back to her chair.

"Kikyo," she began, her voice more gentle, "I will always love you. If it were up to me, I'd have you both, but you made me choose and I chose Inuyasha. Please, is there a way to undo it?"

Reluctantly, she nodded. "Since it was one-sided, it can be undone. I only breathed three years of my life into you. It was all I could manage with my depleted power and no preparation. The bond will expire after three years, but until then you cannot be bonded or mated to another." Moving quickly, she knelt at Kagome's bedside. "But please, reconsider being with me. We're already bonded. I saved you from the streets and I saved you from dying." Tears crept into her voice and Kagome couldn't bear to look at her anymore. "Please!"

It was well past the time to be firm. "I love Inuyasha, Kikyo. I will choose him every time."

The only sign Kikyo heard her was her lips going white and eyes widening a fraction of an inch. Finally, she rose to her feet and cleared her throat.

"Very well. I'll go." Her eyes flashed with pain and resolution. "But I refuse to let this be the last time I see you. I will be back in three years, and until then you can think about the two of us."

She left the room, almost running.

Inuyasha sat on the bed next to her. When he noticed she was crying, he just quietly dried her tears, fingers carefully worshipping her face.

"Are you all right?" he murmured. "I'm not sitting on any tubes or anything?"

"You're fine," she sniffled.

He slid closer to her and kissed her brow. "Kagome, fuck, I'm so happy you're here with me still."

She hummed in contentment and grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers with his. "Me too." Now that the tense moments were over, she was feeling very sleepy. Kagome fought the urge, though, not wanting to sink back into slumber lest she not wake up for another few days, or maybe ever again. Inuyasha seemed like he was feeling the same way. He kissed her brow again and this time Kagome felt a twinge of pain, which is when she figured out he was kissing one of her wounds. The realization made her release a few more tears.

"Are you staying with me for the three years?" he asked, suddenly sounding like a little boy.

Kagome smiled. "For three years and every year after that."

He kissed her lips this time, his own trembling. "And at the end of that, we can get married."

The answer came so easily it would have surprised her had she not been already drifting to sleep. "Yes."

He kissed her cheek.

"And the kids?"

"Yes."

He kissed her other cheek and she could feel his smile.

"And the pets?"

Yes, she answered him in her dream.

Note: Sorry it's so short and all over the place. I wrote it in a couple hours while cooking/eating dinner 'cause this bitch needed to get done. Also, I am such a dick about replying to reviews and once again, I'd like to apologize. I read them, I love them, I go about my day thinking of a reply, I forget I didn't actually reply, and then by the time I remember, too many days have passed and it would be weird.