Convivial

By: The Hatter Theory

Richter Scale Day

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Inu Yasha.

She, Eri and Souten were all in the living room painting their toenails different colors when her mother walked in, arms folded as she stared them down.

"Kagome," Her mother said, and that was all. It was spoken in a tone of voice that she hadn't heard since her teenage years, a mixture of disappointment and genuine concern, something that immediately struck home.

"What is it mom?" She asked, getting up and hopping on one foot, the other being the only to have any paint on it.

"I think you need to go to the front door. Now."

Her mother had been on her side for the last three days, pampering both Souten and herself, letting them practically camp in the living room and watch romantic comedies and tragic love stories while throwing pillows at the screen. She'd even tolerated their one -very blurry- attempt at getting blindingly drunk and crying together, not that she could really remember any of it. But her mother had tolerated it. Her little brother had found it hilarious, and her grandfather had been notably absent after. Her mom had been fine with it though, fine with everything.

But Kagome could feel the faint pulse of youki, and she recognized it instantly as Sesshoumaru's. She also recognized that her mother was not going to tolerate her hiding at home anymore. Nodding, she put her foot down and limped to the front door, hoping that he had come to apologize, or at the very least that he'd calmed down.

But when she got to the front door and saw her alpha standing there looking- Almost ragged, was the only way she could think to describe it, any thought of demanding an apology abruptly fled.

"Are you alright?" She demanded, taking in the faint shadows beneath his eyes and his rumpled, wrinkled shirt. He never had a hair out of place, and he certainly didn't get shadows beneath his eyes.

"Am I alright?" He repeated, voice sarcastic. "One of my upset pack members flees our home without a note or even a courtesy call, and disappears into the city with an equally upset friend. She does not attend school for three days, which is highly unusual regarding her obsession with it, and does not think to call or inform me that she has been staying with her family. For three days," He repeated.

"I didn't flee, I needed space," She retorted hotly. "After what you said-"

"You twisted what I said," He interrupted in a harsh voice. "And heard only what you wanted. What Shippou and Souten do is their choice. Neither of us can have any bearing on it."

"He invited three hundred people for you," She snapped, concern fleeing as abruptly as her anger was returning. "He said she didn't belong in a pack-"

"He was upset and hurt," Sesshoumaru bit out. "He spoke in haste and anger."

"Then why isn't he here?" She snapped.

"Because his mother is angry and disappointed in him. Because he's unsure if the woman he loves wants to even see him again, much less mate him."

She opened her mouth for a cutting remark, but there was nothing.

"I'm ready to go back," Souten said from behind her. Kagome turned and saw the contrite expression on Souten's face and stepped to the side, letting Sesshoumaru look at her. Eri was right behind her, strangely subdued.

"I'm going to head home," Eri said, her purse on her shoulder. Both women filed past them and walked down the stairs to their cars quickly, as if desperate to leave. It was anticlimatic at best, utter desertion at worst.

And it left her and Sesshoumaru on either side of the doorway, their words hanging between them.

She tried to hold on to her childish, petulant anger, but the more she looked at him, the more tired he seemed.

"I was unaware he felt he had to invite so many on behalf of my name and duties. It has been taken care of," He finally said.

And she felt lower than a slug.

"I'm sorry," She sighed, trying not to fidget and failing. "Come on in," She said, walking inside and gesturing for him to follow. He did, closing the door behind him. She showed him into the living room, acutely aware of the difference between her mother's home and his upscale apartment. But he didn't seem bothered by it in the least.

He did appear to be examining the carnage of the last three days, stacks of dvds and nail polish and magazines everywhere, half eaten bags of different candies on the coffee table.

"You surprise me," He admitted as she began to clean up the mess.

"How's that?"

"I had not thought you the type to indulge in-" He didn't finish, perhaps unable to find a proper term for what it was she and her friends had been doing for three days.

"Just because I'm serious about my studies doesn't mean I'm not a woman," She muttered sullenly, angry that he saw her that way. Wondering if she'd stepped into that vague, rather unpleasant zone where she was no more than some genderless, amorphous being, she shied away from an unpleasant twinge of actual hurt the comment spurred.

"I never said that. Sometimes I wondered if you were ashamed to admit to it," He added quietly.

"That I'm a woman?" She asked, staring at him dumbly.

"That you have the same habits and desires as other women," He said softly.

"I never stopped being a woman just because I put some things on hold," She muttered, face heating as he stared at her, expression considering, curious. "I'm like anyone else. I just have different priorities."

His expression shifted, and though it was a subtle change, it was no less complete. His eyes seemed shuttered suddenly, as if he had stopped looking for something.

"I suppose so," He agreed.

She fled to the kitchen under the guise of throwing everything away, his comment stinging even though it had been agreement.