Truth Be Told

Inuvember Day 13- Modern AU. Warning, I don't dislike Kouga or anything, I just had to make him kind of a prick for the purposes of this story.

Sentence Prompt- "The diamond in your engagement ring is fake."

Kagome looked at her watch again for probably the 10th time in the last 30 minutes. She was pretty sure her fiancé had said to meet him at 8pm but it's become his pattern of arriving late and it was starting to piss her off. The bar was still fairly empty, just a few patrons scattered around the room, and one other guy in a ballcap two stools down from her on her left nursing the same beer he'd had since she'd arrived. Kagome props her chin up and takes another sip of her cocktail, Kouga better have a damn good reason this time cause she didn't know if she would put up with another lame excuse!

"Excuse me lady," comes a deep voice to her side. Once she turns to face the man, he ducks his head a bit, "I couldn't help but notice but, your ring…"

She looks down at her finger, splaying it out against the counter, "what about it?"

"I hate to tell you this, but the diamond in your engagement ring is fake."

"No way!" Kagome's voice is indignant, that how dare this stranger make such a ludicrous claim. "How can you tell just by looking at from a distance? My fiancé gave me this, h-he said it's a 1 carat flawless solitaire."

He had planned to go with the nice route for this conversation but emboldened by this feisty and frankly uppity female's attitude, well fine, no more niceties.

"Look lady, I was just trying to be a nice guy, I mean you've been sitting there checking your watch I lost track of how many times, by I'm gonna assume the man who gave you that ring whose obviously really, really late, and I'm giving you a friendly piece of advice that he also gave you a fake diamond, yet I'm the one you're getting pissy with?! Well never mind then, keep thinking it's real, stay with the obvious loser and see where it gets you." He turns his body away in a huff and goes back to sipping his drink.

Kagome blinks, wow this guy just gave her an earful! And while part of her screamed how dare he, the majority opinion and smarter half of her brain overruled. Damn it if he wasn't just spot on! Gathering up her pride, she shifts to the chair right next to him and taps his shoulder.

"That was very rude of me. Please let me apologize and get you another drink or something."

"Don't worry bout it," he mumbles.

"W-well could I ask you how you know it's a fake?"

He pulls his ballcap off and tosses it onto the counter, scratching his head as he turns to face her. But just as he was about to open his mouth to speak, the woman gasps and stares wide-eyed at him. "What's your problem?"

"Are those real?" she points at his ears, "they look so fluffy!"

Oh kami, now she was amused with his ears, could this chick focus? "Yes," he grits his teeth, "they are real. Now to answer your question, I'm a jeweler by trade and I can tell just by the haziness of the stone it's more likely a cubic zirconia or maybe a poorer quality synthetic diamond."

"Synthetic?"

"Man-made, not real, understand?"

"That bastard…" she mutters, "I can't believe he would give me a fake ring."

The man shrugs his shoulders, "Probably never thought you'd figure it out."

"By the way, my name is Kagome," sticking out her hand, "what's your name?"

"Inuyasha."

"Well thank you for the information, I really appreciate it."

For another 10 minutes or so the pair chat about random things, mostly as she tries to kill time until her fiancé arrives. Kagome was rather enjoying the conversation too, and the fact that this stranger was no eyesore sure helped. He had pulled his cap back on, but every time she looked into his honey hued eyes, she swore she would get lost in them. Then in the middle of a sentence Inuyasha suddenly stopped talking, turned away like he was ignoring her and when she opened her mouth to say something, a voice she knew all too well sounded in her ear.

"Sorry babe," Kouga kisses her cheek and takes a seat on the stool to her right. "Work held me up."

"Did it now?" She wanted to roll her eyes but managed to keep a neutral smile on her face and in her tone.

"Yeah Ginta screwed up one of the orders that's being shipped out first thing in the morning, so I had to make sure it was taken care of."

Inuyasha tried his best to ignore the conversation, but his skin crawled the longer this fiancé talked because he knew that the guy was lying through his fangs. The damn wolf yokai didn't deserve Kagome, that was for certain, but who was he but a stranger, it was none of his business. Until she made it his business.

"By the way," her voice was laced with irritation, "this ring you gave me," she turns the band on her finger, playing with it a moment before taking it off and holding it up, "the diamond is real right, a genuine stone?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Oh, I happened to take it to a jeweler for cleaning and was informed it wasn't."

Suddenly, Inuyasha was even more amused with this feisty brunette at the way she was handling herself.

"That's bullshit!" Kouga slammed his fist onto the counter, "that jeweler was probably trying to rip you off or something."

"I'm sorry," her voice growing ever more vicious, "they had absolutely no reason to lie to me, never tried to sell me anything, they thought I knew and was apologetic when I said I didn't."

"We-well, then the guy who sold it to me lied then!"

"Look Kouga, I've just about had it with you anyways." Kagome places the ring on the counter in front of him. "The truth about the ring and you being late tonight was just the final straw."

"Baby," he grabs her hand, "you can't break up with me! I love you, you're the only one I…"

Now Inuyasha has had enough. "Bullshit, dude why don't you tell the girl the real reason you were late?"

"Who the fuck are you?" Kouga drops Kagome's hand and stands to face off against the stranger. "This is between me and my woman, so stay out of it hanyo!"

But Kagome has also had enough, she gets off her seat and stands between the men with her arms crossed. "You stay the fuck away from him Kouga," narrowing her eyes, "so spill it, what's the fucking truth?"

"I told you I was working late!"

"Inuyasha," she turns her head slightly to ask the question, "how do you know he's lying?"

"I smell a female on him, and the scent of sex."

Kouga reacts, "You son-of-a…"

Inuyasha swiftly pushes Kagome out of the way, dodges the wolfs straight punch, lands an uppercut to the man's stomach, then a downward strike to his head sending him to the ground. His eyes are starting to turn red and purple stripes appear on his cheeks. He cracks his claws ready to pummel the wolf and give him an even stronger sense of justice when Kagome grabs his arm to stop and pull him back. He looks at her speechless for a second as if he didn't recognize her before complying, slowly retreating back to normal.

"Just get out of here Kouga," Kagome stands above the man coughing and working to stand up. "and if you haven't figured it out the engagement is off."

"Tch!" the wolf spits out a bit of blood and jumps to his feet, "you really think I'm gonna back down from a hanyo?"

Inuyasha pulls the cap from his head and tosses it onto the counter, "I ain't no ordinary hanyo, you disgusting flea-bag." Standing tall and gathering Kagome to his side in case Kouga still wants to fight. "I am Inuyasha, son of the Taiyokai who oversees this side of Japan."

"Ugh," Kouga rolls his eyes, "I see, so this bitch is trying to upgrade from me, I get it…"

How dare this indignant wolf say such filth, Inuyasha was no saint but he was raised to treat women with some respect! The hanyo takes a step forward but to the surprise of everyone, Kagome is the one who cold-cocks her ex in the jaw, screaming, "If I ever see your face again, I'll let Inuyasha tear you to pieces!"

With the wolf tucking tail and leaving, Kagome let's out the deep breath she had held since the whole incident began, her body shaking from all the adrenaline surging in her blood. "Thank you for standing up for me," she leans on the counter still working to calm her nerves, "you didn't have to Inuyasha and I feel like I should make it up to you somehow."

"It's not necessary," he takes a seat again, "putting that mutt in his place felt good."

She chuckles, "I mean it," she reaches out and places her hand over his, "how 'bout dinner tomorrow night, on me."

"Y-you mean like a date?"

"Sure," she winks, "you could call it that…"