Walking in the front door, Bankotsu was immediately assaulted with the stench of burnt garlic and bread as well as the lingering remnants of a smoke cloud.

Dropping everything in his hands, he darted through the house, calling Kagome's name and moving faster when there wasn't an immediate answer. Knocking over a dining chair when the worn soles on his dress shoes didn't grip the floor, he scrambled for his footing, lunging into the kitchen when he found it. What he saw when he once again slid to a stop sent a cringe down to the bottom of his soul. He did find his wife, and physically she looked fine, but that was where an sort of 'fine' ended.

She was sat on the floor amidst pure chaos in the form of shattered glass, flour, broken eggs, and tomato sauce that were all smeared together. On the floor few feet to one side of her was a pan that laid on it side surrounded by half cooked hamburger and was where he assumed the smell of garlic was coming from. To her other side was the oven, that was open, which explained the bread and smoke.

Kagome, not opening her eyes, just kept her head down as she cleared her throat. "I used..." Swallowing hard and licking her lips, she opened her eyes and turned to look at the more shocked than anything Bankotsu, and tried again. "I used to be really good at this."

Forcing himself to clamp down his own emotions, Bankotsu slowly nodded as he moved around the island, ignoring the mess completely as he made his way to the counter, egg shells and glass crunching under is shoes. "I know." Picking up a pot holder, he bent and pulled the cookie sheet out of the oven, doing his best not to wrinkle his nose at the discovery that the overly bitter smell of burnt garlic was actually coming from there.

Kagome watched from her spot on the floor at Bankotsu double checked the knobs to make sure she turned everything off before he tossed the sheet that had the charcoal that was supposed to be from scratch garlic bread onto the island counter. Drawing her bottom lip between her teeth, she then moved her eyes to his presented hand. Scratching her cheek with one hand, she took his with the other, letting him both help her to her feet and then out of her mess. Taking a seat in the stool he pulled out for her her, she propped her chin in her palm and waited for him to say something, because really? She was positive there was a lot to say about what he walked into.

Bankotsu, however, just looked around the floor, saying nothing as he tried to figure out the nest way to go about cleaning it up. She was clearly upset enough, and he didn't see any reason to make it worse by asking what the hell happened. Besides, it wasn't like the answer was going to magically change the fact it did. Instead, he just turned his eyes on her once he had the full picture of the mess. "Are you alright?"

Giving a shallow nod, Kagome sighed. "I'm fine."

He might not actually say the words, but he knew she knew him well enough at this point that all he had to do was lean on the edge of the counter, cross his arms, and cock a brow, and she would he asked without him actually having to.

And he was right.

Averting her eyes for a moment, Kagome sighed again as she looked back at him. "I'm sick of take out and I know how to cook, so I asked Jakotsu if he would pick up what I needed to actually make dinner. Everything was going fine. I made the bread dough, and it rose beautifully. It was seasoned great and it went it in the oven without issue. I started on the sauce, which is the easiest part of the whole thing. Onions and garlic when in, and then the seasoned meat. While it was browning I opened the cans of tomato sauce, poured it in a bowl and added the herbs. All is going fine. I stirred the meat so it didn't burn and went back to the sauce. Then I start to smell burning garlic. I go back to the meat, turn down the burner, but there was more steam and popping than there should have been, so I'm thinking that's the problem. I take the pot off the stove to drain the grease, but turn the wrong fucking direction, and since I couldn't see where I was at, I knocked everything off the fucking counter, and I startle myself so much by the crash that came with it, I dropped the pot.

"Everything now destroyed, I just start cleaning it up, and since I thought the burning smell was the pot, I didn't put any more thought into it, until I realized the smell wasn't going away, but actually getting worse. That's when I remembered the fucking bread. Opened the oven door, and this thick cloud of smoke billows out. So, I turn off the oven and open the doors and window, and then you came in."

Making a mental note to stomp the shit out of his brother for not only making it possible for Kagome to use an oven that hadn't been touched in ten years, but for also leaving her alone while she did it, Bankotsu ran his fingers across his lips as he sighed through his nose. Taking his chin between his thumb and forefinger, he cleared his throat. "Kagome, these appliances are fifteen years old, and haven't been used in almost a decade. That's why we've been having takeout, Pretty Girl. I know you know how to cook. I know how to do it too, but these appliances are a fire hazard. However, as per the agreement with my brothers, until the papers are signed, I'm not allowed to replace them."

Dropping her hand, Kagome sniffled. "But you replaced the refrigerator."

Bankotsu didn't dispute that. He nodded at the statement as he recrossed his arms. "Yes, but, a refrigerator is a basic necessity that I did have to get permission for. That's the only way to keep food fresh, but an oven and range aren't the only way to obtain food. It's the easiest, but not the only. There's eating out, take away, my grill, a basic fire pit to name a few I was told. Replacing the rest of the kitchen appliances is at the top of the priority list, but Baby, it's still going to be another couple of days."

Unable to stop herself, Kagome scoffed hard. "So, you're telling me your brothers would rather bump us back to the feudal era and cook over an open flame in the backyard over letting you replace two more fucking appliances?" When Bankotsu shrugged at her, she scoffed again, crossing her own arms with a huff. "Your brothers are stupid."

Chuckling in the back of his throat, Bankotsu shrugged again. "You'll get no argument from me." Pushing himself off the counter, he closed the distance between himself and his wife, spinning her stool around and trapping her in her seat between himself and his arms to either side of her. Bending at the waist, he got eye level with her and tilted his head. "Why don't you go upstairs to change, and figure out where you want to go for dinner."

While that was a clear statement, Kagome still shrank back from it. "Go? Like, as in out?"

Nodding, Bankotsu hummed in his throat. "Mmmhmm. You have to come face to face with humanity eventually, Pretty Girl."

Kagome's voice became almost petulant as her nose wrinkled. "Why?" Watching as Bankotsu's expression flattened out, she sighed hard, speaking as she did so. "Fine. I guess it has been an... inexcusable amount of time since I've seen Kouga, and the last time I did I hit him with my cane. He probably thinks I hate him now or something at this point."

It was then Bankotsu's turn to jerk back from the conversation, and he did nothing to hide his shock. "You have your pick of anywhere in the entire city, and you're choosing Kamono?" Though it took her a moment, Kagome did nod and he licked his lips. "Can I ask why?" If that's where she wanted to eat, then fine, but he couldn't figure out why she would ever walk back in that place.

So, Kagome explained it as best she could. "I have to face Kagura in two weeks, and... I... can't, right now. I'm not... who I was and I know I have to stop trying to be, but that doesn't mean she gets to claim she won. I..." Looking to the ceiling, Kagome's lips parted as she searched for the words, hoping they made sense. "I need something she took from me back." Returning her eyes to Bankotsu, her eyes begged him to understand. "I think... maybe that's why I tried cooking tonight. I was good at it, and I really enjoyed doing it and... and I really wanted that back, but I'm not there yet." Tears filled Kagome's eyes as gulped down a small lump that formed in her throat. "I can't face her if she took everything, Bankosu, so I need something back. And, if I can make through an hour at the place it happened, then... then maybe I won't want to throw up all the time. Maybe I can walk into that courtroom and not piss my pants becaused," pointing at herself, "I won. I can hold my head high because I'm not destroyed, because I won. I can look her in eyes, and not be afraid of her, because she didn't defeat me, because I have already won."

Moving a hand to cup Kagome's cheek, Bankotsu brushed away a tear that broke free, and lowered his voice. "Are you sure you're ready to go there?"

Leaning into his palm, Kagome swallowed hard. "Ya know... I've done a lot of things in the last six months I wasn't sure I was ready to do. They turned out pretty okay, and I think this will turn out pretty okay, too."

A slow smirk pulled at the corner of Bankotsu's lips as his eyes crinkled in the corners. "Marrying me was one of those things."

Sniffling, Kagome nodded slightly, her own lips fighting a small smile. "And it's turned out pretty okay so far."

Snorting softly, Bankotsu shook his head as he locked their eyes. "You're a brat."

Kagome just shrugged. "Yeah, but you knew that before hand."

Scoffing out a chuckle, Bankotsu pushed himself to stand. "Go change." Moving out of her way, he waited until she was standing before snagging her by the hips and looking down at her. "Ya know, Pretty Girl; you're putting a lot of pressure on a meal. Especially since had you tried to cook at our old place, you would have succeeded."

Wiping both of her cheeks, Kagome licked her lips and cleared the last of the emotion from her voice. "It's not about the meal, Bank. It's about the win that comes out of it. I know it doesn't make sense, and I can't explain it, but I could really use one of those."

Drumming his fingers against Kagome's skin, Bankotsu glanced at the clock and hummed in thought for a moment before he tsked. "It's Thursday, so Jakotsu will be there. We can always take him up on his offer to join him since he was about ninety percent of the reason you liked that place. It might make this easier for you."

Also looking to the close, Kagome bit into her lip. "Can we make in time?"

Nodding and releasing her, Bankotsu flicked his fingers at her. "If you hurry."

Lighting up, Kagome walked backwards as she spoke. "Give me twenty minutes."

As she turned and rushed from the kitchen, Bankotsu called after her. "You only have fifteen." At the 'shit' followed by 'okay', Bankotsu scratched his forehead as he returned his attention to the mess all over the kitchen floor that still needed cleaned up.

Not being quite as nonchelount as he was the first time, he was a little more careful walking through the spilled sauce as he went to the cupboard that held the coffee. Making a noise in the back of his throat as he pulled the container from its place, there was a harder debate with himself than there should have been over using it to dry out the mess to make it easier to clean up. If there was no coffee in the morning Kagome would kill him, but at the moment, without going to the servant's quarters, he didn't have what was necessary. Resigning himself to dealing with the fallout as it came up, he shook the coffee can out across the floor and tossing the container in the trash when it was empty.

Leaving it to do what was intended and dry out the liquid, Bankotsu pulled his phone out with one hand and used the other to hop up and sit on the counter. Dialing Jakotsu's number, he grabbed a towel to clean off the bottom of his shoes with, and set the phone to his ear as he did just that. When there was the normal greeting in his ear, followed by a crack, Bankotsu paused in cleaning his shoe and blinked at the wall. "The fuck was that?"

There was a hard sigh before Jakotsu's much more voice sounded in his ear. "That, is the biggest mistake I have ever made coming back to bite me in the ass."

Hearing a very familiar voice, Bankotsu chuckled. "Let me guess, Princess. Your prince came back and wasn't overly impressed with finding out you're a whore."

"I am no such thing, and I did nothing wrong." There was a raising of both Jakotsu's voice and his temper as there was another loud noise in the background. "You cannot cheat on someone who broke up with you."

Bankotsu, however, did have something of a fondness for Jakotsu's ex, and shrugged as he went back to cleaning his shoes. "He left because you wouldn't commit, dumbass. You broke that shit off way before he did."

"Either way, I cannot fathom how someone can be so exceptionally pissed off over what happened after the relationship ended."

"My wife is blind in one eye because of shit that happened after a break up."

"Yes, but, the difference is, Kagura didn't do what she did because you're married. She did what she did because your money is out of her reach due to marriage and she's a penniless hag."

Rolling his head on his shoulders in something of agreement, Bankotsu decided to let that statement lay where it was and focused on the issue with his brother. "So, when did Hojo get back into town?"

"A few hours ago, I suppose; I don't fucking know. All I know is he showed up here, more pissed off than he has any right to be, throwing one hell of temper tantrum."

Not even trying not to hide his amusement at the memories of seeing this particular man having a hissy fit, Bankotsu grinned as he tossed the towel to the side, leaned back against the cupboard, and crossed his now free arm across his chest. "Do you need rescued, Princess?"

"This isn't funny, Bankotsu. It's going to take forever to clean up his mess, and so you cannot get pissed about it later, he thought the handful of shirts of yours in the spare room belonged to someone else."

Nose wrinkling, Bankotsu grunted. Well, he did like the guy. "You let that son of a bitch shred my clothes?"

"I didn't LET his ass do anything, you get that shit straight right now."

"Well, you sure as shit didn't stop him if he fucking succeeded."

"Was there something you needed? I'm a little busy right now, Darling." Bankotsu opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by Jakotsu yelling. "It's my fucking brother, now shut the hell up."

Becoming slightly concerned, Bankotsu shifted on the counter and cleared his throat. "Do I need to call the police?"

"No, I can handle him just fine. Now, what was it you needed, Bank?"

"I didn't need anything. I was calling to ask if you were going to Kamono tonight?"

"Why the hell wouldn't I? If I didn't change my life when I was with the man, why the fuck would I do so now?"

Bankotsu just lifted a shoulder. "How the hell would I know? I didn't even know he was back, remember?"

"I always go there on Thursdays, and I don't intend to stop just because Hojo is in a titsy over imaginary infidelity. Why do you ask?"

"I was just curious."

"Bullshit, Bankotsu. You have never cared before, so I don't believe that for a moment. Is there something wrong?"

Hesitating answering that for a moment, Bankotsu cut his eyes to the ceiling, knowing Kagome was right above his head, and frowned. Even knowing for a fact she couldn't hear him, he still lowered his voice. "I don't know."

Jakotsu's voice also changed, but there was a harder edge to his than there was to Bankotsu's? "What do you mean, you don't know?"

Looking at his nails, Bankotsu recrossed his arms as he sighed through his nose. "Kagome wants to go, but I don't how she's going to react once she's actually there."

No one could surprise someone quite like Bankotsu, and the shock to the statement came out in Jakotsu's voice. "I'm sorry, you said what now?"

"I really don't think I need to repeat that."

"No, you don't, but it hasn't been that long, and she hasn't been back since it happened. Hell, Bankotsu, she's barely gone out in public at all since it happened. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Once again, Bankotsu couldn't do anything but shrug. "She does."

"But you don't."

"Not at all. I think it's a horrible idea. But, she has her reasons, and I swear to the Kami, Jakotsu, they'll break your fucking heart."

There was a short pause before Jakotsu spoke again. "The entirety of the situation revolving around My Little Precious breaks my heart, Bank. I never in a million years would have wanted this to be the reason you finally accepted my dinner invitation, and I hate that it is. But, if it's what Precious wants. I'll be there at 6:30 as always, but what do you think will work best for her? Meeting outside or at the table?"

"Outside. Kouga works tonight, so we can use him to get her through the door, but I might need some help when it comes to actually getting her that far. No matter what she says now, it'll be a completely different story when she's physically there. She needs this to happen, but you know how she can be."

"Probably better than you do, Little Brother. I'll see you in an hour."

For the most part, that hour went about as could be expected in Bankotsu's opinion.

It hadn't been long after he got off the phone with Jakotsu Kagome came back downstairs, and dressed to impress at that, wearing the same dress she wore the night the met. He might be bias, but he loved that dress on her. It showed off her long legs and hugged in the all the places. She wasn't wearing the same boots she wore that night, and instead wore a pair without a heel. Since she came home from the hospital she had figured out a way to style her hair so as to cover what she deemed to be the worst of the scar on her face and hide most of the eye patch, and though he told her every time she did it to stop it, she only ever met him halfway and stopped completely covering her face while in the house. It was all she was comfortable with as of yet, and Bankotsu had learned when pick his battles with her.

It was the car ride that was the most telling. Kagome actually started out rather excited, but with every mile that Bankotsu put under the tires, from the corner of his eye, he watched her become more and more tense, her voice changing octave and pitch every few words as she talked nearly nonstop. It couldn't even really be considered a conversation since Bankotsu didn't have enough time to respond before she moved on to the next topic. It was one of her more adorable personality quarks in his opinion. When she was nervous, she talked, a lot, and the more her nerves took hold of her, the faster she did so. It was one of the few things in an given situation she could control, and her mouth took that control and ran with it.

By the time Bankotsu rolled to a stop at the curb, Kagome's stomach was so knotted up, she honestly thought she was going to vomit. With horror on her face, she shifted in her seat to look at Bankotsu, shaking her head hard. "I can't do this. Take me home."

A slow smirk pulled at the corner of Bankotsu's lips as he put the car in park and grabbed the door handle. "Get out of the car, Kagome."

"But I..." Before she could finish the statement, Bankotsu was out of the car, and her door was being opened. Whipping back around, she gasped slightly at the face it was Jakotsu that opened it, and she tried with him to change her mind. "I don't want to do this anymore."

Jakotsu, in only the way he could, smiled as he held out a hand to help her out of the car. "One step at a time, Precious."

Kagome gulped. "I'm scared."

Jakotsu nodded. "I know, and that's okay, but the best way to move past that fear, is to face it.

Kagome licked her lips. "But..."

Jakotsu cut her off. "She's not here, My Darling."

Narrowing her uncovered eye, Kagome snapped at him. "I know that."

Jakotsu took it in stride. "Consciously, but that's not that good enough, is it? Consciously, you know exactly where she is, but it's not your conscious, rational mind that's keeping you in the car. It's irrational fear."

Now, Kagome was kind of pissed off. "It's not irrational."

Jakotsu, however, disagreed, and explained why as he crouched. "But it is, because you know it won't happen again. My Darling, if you really think about it, you're not afraid of what will happen, you're afraid of something that already did. And it was awful, and many ways, it's still awful, but it's also unchangable. We don't get to go back, Kagome. All we get to do is go forward, one step at a time, dropping pieces along the way. Maybe we get pieces back, and maybe we don't, but that's... the beauty of life. We get to decide what each piece is worth. This place? It's one of your pieces, and if you don't want it back that's fine, but I don't think you would have come here if you didn't."

Swallowing hard, Kagome sniffled. "I'm hungry and dumped dinner all over the floor."

Jakotsu cocked a brow. "There are literally thousands of restaurants in this city, Kagome. Either do better than that or get out of the car, go inside, and get you piece back."

It was a staring contest that seemed to last a lifetime for those watching, waiting for Kagome to make her decision. It was when the onlookers thought she was going to back down she placed her hand in Jakotsu's and shifted her weight in preparation to stand. Her voice was flat but her eyes were thankful.

"You're mean."

Jakotsu just grinned as he pulled Kagome to her feet and handed her off to her husband. "I know, but I'm starving."