Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from the Inuyasha universe or any of the popular name brand apps, products, services, etc. The rest is mine.

Chapter 20

"Hi Yashie," she smiled shyly, glancing from him to the ground and then back up again. "I thought that might have been you. It's been a while."

"Yeah," he swallowed. "It has. What, six months?"

"Since we last saw each other?" Kikyo asked, trying to clarify as she stepped forward. A man beside her followed, and Kagome watched him glance between the two. He looked as nervous and confused as she felt. Kikyo reached out and took Inuyasha's hand, and Kagome felt this wave of...of sheer anger wash over her.

At Kikyo for daring to touch him...and at Inuyasha for not immediately pulling away from her.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Kikyo, what are you doing here? We're a long way from LA."

"I'm on a date," she smiled. "Yashie, this is Kyle," she introduced, reaching out for the man behind her. He was an attractive man. Kagome could understand why she would want to go out with him.

From what she could see, he had a very similar build to Inuyasha. They had the same tan and similar facial features - both had strong chins, expressive brows, and proud cheekbones. The similarities seemed to end there, though. Instead of Inuyasha's silver hair, Kyle had brown hair...and instead of Inuyasha's honeyed eyes, he had green ones.

He was very attractive, to say the least...but so was Kikyo.

She looked like she was there for a photo shoot and not the rides. Kagome couldn't help but feel underdressed next to her. She was wearing just a simple pair of shorts and a t-shirt, but Kikyo...Kikyo was wearing a lovely flowing maxi dress that screamed sexy island goddess. Her hair had been curled into beautiful loose waves, and she had golden bangles on her wrists. However, her most noticeable accessory was a long, thin y-shaped necklace that drew your attention down to the very low cut neckline of her dress.

"Kyle was a chance find for us. Stephanie found him working at a coffee shop a month or so ago, and she brought him in to model for us. Kyle, this is Inuyasha. We were together for...three years? It would have been four next month, right?"

"Yeah..." he swallowed. "How is Stephanie?"

"She's well...still a bit of a cat lady, the poor girl. I keep telling her that thirty five is still young and she can still find someone, but I think she's given up hope for a while. You remember her. You know how she swings back and forth."

"I do," he nodded. "This is Kagome," he finally said, pulling away from Kikyo and wrapping an arm possessively around her. "We're together."

"I'm his girlfriend," she corrected firmly. She tried to be polite and offer Kikyo a hand...but when she didn't take it right away to shake it, warning bells immediately started blaring inside her head.

"It's a pleasure," she finally greated, and Kagome was left with the distinct feeling that it was anything but.

"Well, we should let you get back to your date," Inuyasha grinned hollowly. "Kyle, it was nice to meet you, and good luck with working with this one. She can be a real perfectionist."

"Thanks...it's one of the things I like about her. Her passion," he replied, and Kagome swore she saw pain flash across Inuyasha's face briefly before he turned them to walk away.

"Wait...Yashie…" Kikyo called out, stilling him. Kagome could feel his fingers twitch on her arm. When Kikyo saw that he wasn't going to whisk her away and he was going to hear her out for a moment, she continued. "Yashie...can we talk? The two of us? Please? I just think we could both use some closure. Some real closure. So we can be happy with our future partners. I know I could…"

He was silent...too silent for Kagome's taste.

"Text me and we can talk."

The drive home was quiet. No...not home. It wasn't her home. It was his. His apartment.

Not her anything. Not her home. Not her man.

She was just an unimportant footnote in his life.

God...how had she gotten so carried away that she had forgotten that? She knew that, but she forgot it. She wasn't anything. Not compared to what he could have. Not compared to what he did have. To what he...what he still wanted.

He had just made her feel so prized and special and needed and cherished and...God, how could she have let this happen? How did she get so wrapped up in him? How could she have believed that he really wanted to stay with her?

"You've been pretty quiet since the boardwalk," Inuyasha prompted as he closed the door to his apartment, locking it.

"I guess I'm just tired," she shrugged, placing her plushie onto his island and moving to drop their swimwear and towels into his laundry room.

"So am I, but I'm still talking," he sighed, leaning against the island countertop. He picked up the plushie and ran his thumbs over its snout and towards its eyes.

"Well, I guess you're just in a chatty mood today," he heard her reply before saying, "I think I'm going to go and take a shower. I'm feeling kinda gross right now. I'll probably head to bed after."

He winced.

Oh yeah. She was mad at him.

He just wished she would talk to him about it.

"Mind if I join? I'm feeling pretty gross right now too," he asked, knowing she would say no but hoping to get her to engage with him. Her resounding silence had him smiling weakly.

"Kagome?" he called out again, prodding her to say something. Anything.

"I think I'd like to take this one solo. I won't be long, though...unless you'd like to go first?"

"What I'd like is for you to tell me why you're upset with me."

He was greeted with more silence for a moment, and he ran his hand down the back of the plushie just to feel the short, stubby, fake fur move against his fingers and palm.

"I'm not upset with you," she whispered from the doorway, her arms crossed protectively around her middle.

He straightened his back and placed the toy back down onto the countertop as his lips pressed into a thin line.

"Kagome...please. Don't lie to me...we've always been honest with each other. That's our thing, remember? Keeping things honest? Please...just talk to me…"

"So I'm a liar now? Just because I'm not in a chatty mood tonight?"

"I didn't say that…"

"It's what you implied, though," she shot back, and he sighed.

"Kagome, your whole demeanor tells me that you're upset with me, and now you're yelling at me for something you know I didn't mean because you won't talk to me about what's really bothering you."

"Nothing is bothering me, Yashie."

"See? There. Right there. You're pissed about Kikyo!"

"I'm sorry, did you want me to be all happy rainbows and sunshine about you meeting up with your ex-girlfriend?" she whispered harshly, leaving the safety of the doorway and coming to stand by the island.

"I wanted you to at least be understanding."

"I don't understand, though...how could you agree to do this after what she did to you?"

"Because I just...I just need to, ok?"

"That doesn't sound like an answer, Yashie."

"Don't call me that," he sighed.

"Why? You let her call you that."

"That's not what you call me. You've never called me that before. Yash, Babe, Pumpkin...those are your names for me."

"So since I got here second, I can never call you that?" she asked, her tone turning bitter.

"That's not what I'm saying."

"Then what are you saying? Because I'm having a really hard time understanding you tonight!" she demanded, her throat tightening as tears pricked behind her eyes.

"I'm saying I want you to stop trying to act like you're her...I want you to be you! I want Yash and Babe and Pumpkin...not Yashie.

I want to cuddle with you on the couch. I want to read and watch TV and roam through farmers markets and cook in the kitchen with you. I want to hear about your day. I want to come home and hear your voice.

I want to dance like we're idiots and sing like no one can hear us. I want us. I want to be Yash and Pumpkin. I don't want to be Yashie anymore."

"Then why do I feel like a replacement?" she whispered, her eyes glossing over with tears so much that it was getting hard to see.

"How could you be a replacement when I don't want her?" he whispered. "I want you. That's what this is about, isn't it? You think you were just someone...someone to hold me over until I could go back to her?"

Her silence was deafening, and he slumped down onto his counter.

"What the hell did I do to you to make you think that?" he whispered brokenly.

"You...you didn't even call me your girlfriend when you introduced me. Of course I think that now, Inuyasha," she explained smally, wiping her tears as they began to fall.

"What?" he gasped. "Of course I did…"

"You didn't," she said more firmly. "I said it. You said we were together. I had to specifically say that I was your girlfriend."

"Kagome...I...I didn't even realize…"

"I know. You were completely transfixed by her," she chuckled hollowly.

"No. I wasn't," he replied firmly. "I was shocked. She lives two hours away. She had no reason to come here. I never thought I'd see her again."

"That's where you're wrong," she smiled weakly, rubbing away more tears as they fell. "She had every reason to come. You're here, Yash. You're worth it. I thought you were. That's why I came here at every chance. That's why I turned my work schedule into a living nightmare every week...so I could spend as much time here with you as I could, because you are worth it...and if I can see that, then so can she. She has to."

"She didn't seem to think that for the three years we were together."

"Now that you're gone, she's realized the errors of her ways," she shrugged, picking up her plushie and holding him to her chest.

"I don't care if she has. I'm not going back to her," he replied vehemently.

"You are, though! This is just the start. This is how it begins. You go see her. You talk, you laugh, you reminisce...and then, the next thing you know, she's asking if you can find a way to just be friends with her. Then, in a few months, everything breaks down with Kyle and then she's pulling you back in. Soon, you're comforting her...then you're fucking her...and then everything just starts back up again."

"That's not going to happen, Kagome," he said firmly.

"You sound pretty sure of that," she whispered, looking down at her plushie's face.

"I am. I don't want her," he repeated. "I don't know how to prove it to you.

I'm sorry I didn't call you my girlfriend when I introduced you. I wasn't thinking clearly. I was just so...shocked. I didn't mean to downplay what we have. I cherish what we have, Kagome. This past summer...I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I adore you so much. You have to know that. You have to know how I feel about you, Kagome…" he whispered, placing an upturned hand onto the countertop in a silent invitation. Kagome stared down at it, biting her lip. She couldn't look him in the eyes. She couldn't handle how they were glossing over with tears.

"I swear to you...I don't want to be with her. All I wanted was a chance to have a real goodbye so that I could move on and leave everything in the past. I need this to move on."

"So I wasn't enough," she choked out. "After everything we've shared, I still wasn't enough."

"What?"

"The whole reason we did this was to find a way to move on. If you still need to see her…" she trailed off, shaking her head.

"You are enough. You're more than enough...Kagome...I didn't realize I had hurt you so much. I never wanted that..." he croaked as tears began to slip down his cheeks.

She looked back down at his hand and back up at his face. He looked as broken as she was feeling. Completely helpless and desperate. He looked like his whole world was crumbling around him.

He looked like he was terrified he was going to lose her.

She didn't want to lose him either.

She raised her hand and gently placed it into his, and his fingers immediately responded and wrapped around hers. She closed her eyes as more tears fell.

"Kagome, you are enough. You're more than enough. Why do you think I asked you if you would see me again over your break? Because saying goodbye to you is going to damn near destroy me and I don't want to fucking do it. But that's what the deal was when we started this thing. Just the summer, then you leave and we part ways. That's what we agreed to, and I'll do it...but you are enough. To me...you're everything.

I need to do this, though. For me, and for whoever comes next. I need to be able to say goodbye and close the book. I need a real goodbye - not an angry phone call or text. A real end to our relationship."

She finally opened her eyes and wiped away the tears that had fallen as he spoke.

"If this is what you need, then I'll support you. Do what you have to do," she whispered, and he pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her as he nestled his face in the side of her neck. She felt his wet cheeks rub against her skin.

He was asking her to let him hold her and comfort her and be with her. He was asking her to let this go and move on.

She didn't know if she really could. She didn't care how many times he said he wasn't going to go back to Kikyo...Hojo had proven to her that if something better came along, a man would drop you in a second to be with that someone better.

But she really wanted to pretend with him for a while longer.

She wanted to pretend that she really could be enough.

She let him pull her closer to him, crushing her into his chest and pulling her chin up for a wet, hot kiss. She could taste his tears as his lips moved against hers, and she was sure he could taste the salt of hers too. He could feel her raw, unbridaled pain as he pulled her even closer. Her desperation to be validated as she tugged his shirt off and threw it somewhere in the kitchen. Her need to be loved as she worked open his belt while he kissed her neck, his wet cheeks brushing against her sensitive flesh.

She led him into his bedroom and let him hold her. He whispered how much she meant to him...how much he needed her.

She let him strip her naked and kiss every inch of her body. He was worshipping her like she longed to be.

She wanted this. She wanted to feel like he would stay with her - like he wasn't going to leave her for another woman. She let him convince her to make love with him, and when it was over, she held him tight and whispered how much she adored him...and he did the same to her...and for that one night, she let herself dream that it could always be this way.

That he was hers, and he always would be.

Kikyo sat up straighter as Kyle returned from the bar with their drinks and placed hers on the table in front of her.

He slid into the booth on the bench across from her and raised his glass beer bottle.

"To a successful evening," he toasted. Kikyo grinned, raising her appletini and tapping it against the side of his bottle.

"To a successful evening," she purred back in agreement before taking a sip from her drink and wrinkling her nose in disgust.

This place was repugnant...but it also looked like the most decent bar in the area, and she was in a celebratory mood. She should have simply brought Kyle back to her room, but…

She watched his attention shift away from her to a group of men behind her. and she smirked.

"Go. Enjoy yourself. There's no need to stick around here. You played your part wonderfully today as it is."

"Nah. I'll stay with you," he replied, taking a swig from his drink. "There's a chance they could come here, and I'm not risking this. I want that closing spot in New York."

"If that's what you want," she shrugged, taking another sip and wrinkling her nose again.

"Why did you order that if you don't like it?"

"I like a good appletini. This is a monstrosity," she laughed airily. "Besides...I was feeling nostalgic, I suppose. That's how we met - in a grubby little bar in Florida over an appletini."

Kyle's eyes softened and he reached out a hand to take hers, gently rubbing his thumb across her knuckles.

"You'll get him back. His girlfriend now is nothing compared to you. What was she even wearing?"

"Oh my God, I know!" she laughed. "She has no idea how to dress herself. She has a decent enough foundation...she just hasn't seemed to figure out what to do with it."

"You know, in a way...she reminded me of a very unpolished version of you. I think that means he's still hung up on you."

"You think so?"

"Without question," he nodded, taking another sip from his drink. "Now, you just have to make your move."

A/N:

I'm sad (and happy) to say that I've finished writing this story. It's just up to Saucy to finish editing it. We're looking at a total of 24 including the epilogue. I'm not going to say when the next chapter is going to go up because…well…Yeah. That hasn't been going according to plan lately. Just pop in on my tumblr (lemonlushff) and you'll know more updates when they happen!

And yes – still horribly behind on ARs, but I LOVE and appreciate all of them!