I'm going to go ahead and put a TRIGGER WARNING ON THIS CHAPTER FOR SIGNS AND ALLUSIONS TO DRUG ABUSE, MENTIONS OF NEGLECT, AND DOMESTIC ABUSE for the FIRST part of the chapter BEFORE the break. Everything AFTER the break is SAFE!

"What are you doing here?"

The words tumbled out of her mouth almost as quickly as she thought them. Her head whipped around from the kitchen to the doorway, big doe eyes trailing over the figure of the silver haired demon. She watched him slip out of his shoes, and nudge them away from the doorway with his foot. It had been so long since she'd seen him. It had been long since she'd seen anyone from the family, really; except for Inuyasha.

"I could ask you the same thing." Sesshomaru responded in their native tongue. A subtle hint of surprise in his voice. He truly hadn't expected her to be here, he didn't expect anyone to be here. He hadn't even expected for his key to work, he figured the locks would have switched out by maintenance or something. It's government housing, Sesshomaru—nothing gets replaced. "I was under the impression you'd moved to Korea." He added, golden eyes narrowed.

"I...I've moved back to Japan now." She responded quickly. Words shooting out of her mouth at what seemed to be a million miles a second. She wrung her hands nervously, the bracelets on her wrists jingling. Sesshomaru huffed at her response, his nose crinkled at the stench of alcohol and cigarettes that filled the air. The slight vinegary scent of his father's drug of choice reminding him of his younger, more unpleasant days. Sesshomaru had been out of this old, rundown, danchi apartment for so long. He'd forgotten what it smelled like...what it felt like.

"Hm." He vocalized, looking over her head and into the kitchen, which unsurprisingly had remained almost exactly how he remembered it—except for a few changes. The old, vinyl countertops were covered in more questionable stains, which had long since penetrated the counter tops. No amount of cleaner would lift them. His eyes moved over to the refrigerator, which Inuyasha had broken one day in middle school and had been permanently left slightly ajar. Sesshomaru had never found a way to fix it, so in those days he had opted to slam a chair up against the handle. So the cold air wouldn't escape. Now it seemed that chair had been taken away, and the fridge had once again been left ajar.

In the sink were dirty dishes from god knows when, stacked ontop of each other. It was quiet, the only sound being the dribbling of water from the faucet onto the plates in the sink, along with light snoring coming from his father's room. "So," he started, breaking the silence between Izayoi and himself, "you've moved back?"

"Yes," Izayoi replied, "I had a work opportunity at the local primary school."

It took everything Sesshomaru had in him not to chuckle, because it was just so damn ironic. Here she was, the woman who bailed on his brother and himself, leaving them essentially to their own devices. Leaving them in the hands of his alcoholic and abusive father. Here the fuck she was, back in Japan.

To work at a primary school, of all places!

"What?" Izayoi questioned, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"It's ironic, isn't it?" Sesshomaru questioned, arms crossed over his chest as he towered over her, glaring at her. "How the woman who abandoned her child comes back to Japan, not to help her child, because he's now a man. But to help and teach other children...who may be in the same situation." He watched as Izayoi's face contorted into one of shame, she hung her head low, unable to look Sesshomaru in the eye.

Of course she couldn't.

He was right.

It was silent again, with Izayoi struggling to find the right words to say when there were none. There are no words for what she had done. There wasn't an apology big enough, sincere enough, deep enough to correct what she had done. She knew that, she'd tried to apologize to him before, even traveled to New York to see him.

What was done was done.

The damage was done.

"Your son has been in an accident, recently." Sesshomaru announced, breaking the eerie silence between them. "I trust you know, already."

"Yes...it was hard not to miss. It was all anyone could talk about for a few days. I assume he's feeling better?" She asked, holding her breath. Not knowing about him, about how he was doing. It broke her. But she knew the last thing her son wanted was for her to talk to him.

"I would assume so, yes." Sesshomaru replied, causing Izayoi to frown at him, eyebrows furrowed.

Assume?

"What do you mean 'assume', Sesshomaru?" There was an obvious note of disapproval in her voice. "Have you not spoken?"

"Not in...over a month." He replied sharply, glancing at her. His trip was supposed to be for a week, but at the end of every week so far he'd found himself extending his stay for another week, and then another. Until suddenly...it had been well over a month. He didn't want to go back and deal with his brother's drama, and his unnecessary actions and attitude. It wasn't his job to pick up Inuyasha's pieces and put them together long enough for him to be okay again. He watched as her eyes saddened, and her shoulders slumped slightly. "He's all but pushed me out."

"Yash has pushed me out of his life as well." Izayoi said softly. "He has a knack for that, pushing people that care about him out of his life...that is." She added, sighing.

I am positive that this trait didn't come from nowhere, Izayoi, Sesshomaru thought to himself. He'd forgotten his father, who was still in the apartment, until his snore startled Izayoi out of her thoughts. He glanced in the direction of his room. "Is he why you're here?" Izayoi questioned, glancing between her step-son and the room where his father slept. She motioned in the direction of the room with her head. Her arms crossed over her body, she was hugging herself.

He didn't answer her, his eyes stayed glued to the wood bead curtain that covered the entrance to his room. The door had been broken down when a nasty fight broke out between Inuyasha and his father, years ago. He remembered still, picking up the littered pieces from the hardwood floor when he arrived home from work. The screaming match between himself and Inuyasha when he'd gotten home late that night, and then how it progressively got worse until it was the three of them standing in the living room screaming at each other about different things.

"Sesshomaru?"

"Aren't you leaving soon?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at her when a hand reached out toward him, gripping his forearm with gentle force. She stood close to him, half hiding her petite body behind his arm. "You're still scared of him...Izayoi." He realized, as he glanced between the room and the woman seeming to hide behind his towering figure. "Are you?" he egged on, stepping aside, gently tugging his forearm out of her grasp. She gasped, as if slightly startled by his movement, and looked up at his towering figure.

"Not so much scared of him, no." Her voice was demure as she followed Sesshomaru's gaze toward her ex-husband's room. She wrung her hands as dread washed over her, regretting the decision to come visit her old residence; the family she'd abandoned so long ago. The room where her ex-husband slept at the end of the hallway, was the same room where she had endured so much verbal and physical abuse for years. Simply staring down the hallway made a shiver run down her spine and she quickly turned on her feet. "I-I'm leaving." She started toward the door, knee length hair flowing behind her as she did so. Sesshomaru turned to look at her. He watched as she grabbed her purse from the small side table near the door, along with her keys. She slipped back into her shoes, and then she hesitated.

She was doing it again, running away.

But this time Sesshomaru knew why. He understood why.

"I...please, Sesshomaru." Izayoi said, trying to fight back tears as she looked back at her step-son. "Please, tell Inuyasha not to abandon his mother."

"That's funny." He responded, a hint of disdain in his voice. It was subtle, but she couldn't miss it. "Especially coming from the person who abandoned him first. His mother." He added, hostility obvious in the last word. Mother.

"...right." She responded softly, shaking her head. "Understood." After a few moments of silence she spoke again, bowing her head. "I am truly sorry...for the pain I've caused."

"Don't apologize to me." Sesshomaru spat at her. "Apologize to your son, Izayoi." He added. With watery eyes, Izayoi bowed again slightly, before disappearing out of the door.

And now it was just him, alone, in the apartment. In the living room where he watched Inuyasha take his first steps, which was the same living room where he scolded him years later for drinking at 13. It was the same living room where his father would more often than not be passed out in front of the television, which stopped working properly a year or two before he moved out. There was a small drawing on the wall in the corner, where Inuyasha had drawn a family when he was a little boy. In red crayon. It was still there, he could see it from the corner of his eye. His toes curled against the wooden floor, which hadn't been properly taken care of in quite some time as well. It was covered in crumbs and stains from when liquids were spilled onto it and no one bothered to clean it up.

It made him….

It made him…

Sad. Disappointed, maybe. To see how, after so many years...nothing has changed.

Nothing has changed.

Nothing has changed!

Golden eyes looked up from the floorboards, which creaked under them. They stared down the hallway of the apartment, toward his father's bedroom. Mentally he fought against the desire to turn around and leave. He wanted to..but…

That would be cowardly.

With a huff, Sesshomaru straightened out his shirt, and held his head high, nostrils flaring slightly as he huffed again. His hands balled up in fists on either side of him. Sesshomaru tried to force himself to move. With long strides he walked down the corridor, and then carefully pulled back the curtain of beads that covered his door. Golden eyes peered into the room where his father slept, sprawled out in a starfish position on the bed. His eyes darted over to the nightstand, where he could always count on a few things to be there.

A needle.

A spoon.

A cigarette.

Sesshomaru gulped down a lump that formed in his throat.

"Tōga." He muttered, raising his foot to nudge at his father's shin. "Wake up you lazy sack of shit." There was, once upon a time, a point in time where Sesshomaru would've never thought to speak to his father like this. To speak to him in the same crude and hostile manner he did Inuyasha. That time was long gone. To Sesshomaru, Tōga didn't deserve even an ounce of the respect a father should have.

He hadn't earned it. Not from Sesshomaru, anyway.

Tōga stirred in his sleep, his face contorting into one of disapproval as he swatted away from his face. But he still wasn't awake. He muttered something under his breath, but continued to sleep. Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. "Tōga." He said again, louder this time. His hand reached out toward his father, taking a fistfull of his hair. "Wake up." Sesshomaru commanded, shaking his hand forcefully. If he had to force him awake he would, but he wasn't going to let him sleep the day away.

"Get off of me." Tōga responded, his words slightly. Golden eyes fluttered open, squinting against the warm glow of the lamp that sat on his nightstand. They scanned the room momentarily, failing to recognize Sesshomaru before closing again. It took everything Sesshomaru had in him to not grab his father by the shirt and throw him against the thin wall of his bedroom. Instead his grip tightened around the hair he held in his hand, and he pulled. Not exactly lightly, but with enough force to wake him up.

"Wake up, you fucking drunk!"

Should add a drug addict to that, too, Sesshomaru.

His fathers eyes fluttered open again, anger burning in them as he stared directly into the eyes of his son. His first son. It took Tōga a few minutes to register who he was staring at, before a lazy smile broke across his features. "Well...look who it is." He said, softly. Sesshomaru let go of the hair, knotted strains refusing to loosen the grip they had over his own hand. "My first son." Sesshomaru's eyes quickly darted over to his father, narrowed.

"I'm surprised you remember you have a second." He murmured, wiping off his hand on his shirt, as if touching his father would make him sick. He wouldn't be surprised if it did. "Still a drunk, I see." Sesshomaru added, a low growl building in his throat.

Tōga narrowed his eyes at his son, a clawed hand coming up to scratch lightly at the teal marking on his cheek. "Sesshomaru…" His voice was low and deep, raspy. Sesshomary couldn't tell if it was from years of smoking, or if it was because he had just woken up. "Don't start with me." Tōga warned, a sly grin on his face, an index finger wagging in his direction. "I don't take disrespect from my boys."

"Oh, funny." Sesshomaru laughed, bitterly, cold. Empty. "I thought respect was a two way street."

"Sesshomaru—"

"Don't," Sesshomaru started, his voice threatening to crack. "Don't even think about it." Whatever his father was going to say, he wasn't interested in it. It was silent for a few moments, as his father scratched the back of his head, sighing heavily as he did so. "Your son is an alcoholic. Like you." He blurted out after a few minutes of seething silently in anger.

Tōga's head jerked back, his eyes squeezed shut as if Sesshomaru had physically hurt him. "Like me?" He rolled his eyes at his son. Tōga was not an alcoholic nor was he a drug addict, he was a troubled individual.

At least, that was what he would tell you if you asked him. Sighing once more, he reached over to his night stand and opened up a drawer, taking out a few silver coins. He stretched his arm out to his son, flicking his wrist slightly as he offered him the coins. "Go buy me some cigarettes, will you?"

Sesshomaru blinked, and then blinked again. Hard. So this was it? He hadn't seen his son, either of them for that matter, for over a year and this was the welcome Sesshomaru got? This was the "I've missed you", he got? He'd hoped, fuck, he'd even prayed that when he finally worked up the courage to come back, his father would be...different.

He wasn't sure why he was still hopeful of that after seeing the state the kitchen was in, but he had hoped, damn it. "So this is it?" Sesshomaru whispered, golden eyes glaring down at his father's clawed hand. "This the 'welcome home' I get from you? I get sent to go buy you a pack of fucking cigarettes. You don't even ask me about your son."

"Inuyasha," Tōga begins, taking in a long, deep breath, "is fine."

"I—how would you even know?!" Sesshomaru was done suppressing his anger. His own hand flew out in front of him, slapping away his father's. The coins clattered to the ground and his father retracted his hand, eyebrows raised, but unsurprised by his son's actions. Sesshomaru spoke again, his voice filling up the room. "You didn't even ask about him! You don't even know where he is! You don't know how either of us are doing! Your son, Inuyasha? He's started using drugs now! He's an alcoholic! Like you!" Sesshomaru lunged forward, aiming to grab his father by the thin shirt he was wearing but instead Tōga's hands shot out with newfound reflexes. They grabbed at the fabric of Sesshomaru's shirt, his own eyes flashing red with anger. "Unhand me!"

"Silence!" Tōga exclaimed, pushing his son back. He rose from his spot pointing a finger at Sesshomaru. "Don't come into my home, pointing fingers at me and blaming me for the actions that boy has taken!" He took a moment to gather his next words, nostrils flared as he huffed. "I certainly didn't teach him any of that."

"Then where do you suppose he learned that habit, father?" Sesshomaru spit back, pushing himself off the wall. "Hm?" He challenged, stalking toward his father, pushing him back by the shoulders slightly. "I worked so hard to set him down the right path." Sesshomaru hissed at him, pushing Tōga back once more. "But I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the—"

Before he could finish the sentence, Sesshomaru felt the force of his father's fist connecting with his jawbone. It forced his head to jerk to the side, and blood splattered across the screen of the TV on the other side of the room. Sesshomaru slowly turned his head back, one hand reaching up to gingerly touch at the side of his jaw that his father hit. He took a few moments to gather his composure, and exhaled slowly before lunging at his father.

Their bodies collapsed onto the bed, with Tōga wriggling and struggling underneath Sesshomaru. He managed to flip them over, and readied himself to deliver another blow to his son when Sesshomaru pushed him off and got up from the bed. His hands reached out to grab his father by the hair, as Tōga scrambled to his feet.

"You...ungrateful...little," Tōga began through heavy breaths. His hands reached out to wrap around Sesshomaru's throat as he pushed him backward, slamming his son up against the dresser on the other side of the room. "How dare you?!"

Sesshomaru hadn't ever seen a time when using his talent was necessary. He'd managed to go his entire life without ever so much as thinking of using it. But as he stood there, stuck between a pile of broken wood and the wall with his father's hands wrapped around his neck, he contemplated it. His right hand reached up to wrap around his father's wrist and he squeezed gently at first, golden eyes glaring at him in defiance. He increased the pressure, twisting his hand slightly until he felt heat, his father's wrist turning green and hissing with the sound of crackling skin and flesh. Quickly, Tōga let go of Sesshomaru, his attention now on his burning wrist. Sesshomaru took that as an opportunity to deliver a blow to his father's head, punching downward, his father falling onto the floor. "How dare you." Sesshomaru whispered, fighting back the tears that he hadn't realized were welling up in his eyes. Sesshomaru crouched down and lifted his father's head by his hair, examining his face.

"You turned your back on us. You left us to die, we would have died of hunger, or been taken away if I was any less astute." Sesshomaru growled in his father's ear. "Inuyasha learned and has the habits he has because of you, Tōga." He pulled away, watching as his father glared at him. "How. Dare. You?"

"I am not the only one to blame." Tōga retorted, quietly, still glaring at him.

"But you are the only one who refuses to take blame, Tōga."

Tōga grunted softly in response. "I did my best."

I did my best.

Sesshomaru had thought about what his first time coming to visit his father after over a year of not seeing him might be like. He knew it wasn't exactly going to be a warm welcome, or sentimental in any way. But he also wasn't expecting to get punched and fight his father either. "What is best exactly? Because if your best was abandoning your young son to drink and get high then, yeah, you get a fucking nobel prize for best dad in the world if that is what your best is."

Sesshomaru stared down at his father, a scowl etched onto his features, fingers once again tangled into the hair of his father. The only thing running through his mind at the moment was how much he wanted to just ram his face into the hardwood flooring repeatedly until he bled. Until his face became an indistinguishable mash up of broken features and blood. But he held himself back, he wasn't going to do that. Sesshomaru was better than that—than fighting him but he was angry.

He was so. Fucking. Angry.

"So," Tōga's voice practically purred at his son as he pushed himself up, sitting back on his knees. His thumb came up to wipe at the blood that streamed out of his nose, a small smile on his features. "What do you intend to do, son. Will you kill me?"

Sesshomaru growled in response, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. "What?"

"You heard me."

"Why would I kill you?"

"Awh," Tōga tsked, running a hand through his own silver hair, "you know you want to."

"I'm not risking my license over vermin like you."

"This vermin," Tōga spat, "gave you and your brother life, Sesshomaru." His words were starting to slur, a sign to Sesshomaru that he hadn't been sober at all throughout their entire altercation. It wasn't a surprise to him, he'd known before then. And Tōga had a history of being...belligerent.

"I'm leaving." Sesshomaru murmured, moving toward the doorway. He felt Tōga wrap a hand tightly around his ankle, prompting him to glare down at his father who stared up at him with a bloody nose and a swollen cheek. "What?"

"Why didn't the kid come with you?" Tōga asked, "he too busy to come visit his old man?"

With a swift movement, Sesshomaru pulled his ankle out of his father's grasp. "I wouldn't know." He muttered, not giving Tōga anymore information. He started back toward the door, ignoring his father's shouts about him being useless and a disgrace to his name. No matter what Sesshomaru did, he would never be as bad as his father.

The standards for Takahashi men were so laughably low because of him.

Sesshomaru started down the hallway in great haste, wanting to leave the apartment before memories flooded back and overwhelmed him with more emotions that he wasn't equipped to handle at the moment. He paused momentarily at the kitchen, staring at the broken refrigerator, with it's broken door.

He resolved right there that he wasn't going to allow his kid brother to go down the same path of their father, no matter how much he hated having to pick up his messes. Sesshomaru refused to have him throw it all away.

He refused.

As long as he could breathe, he refused to let his brother become their father.

So he took out his phone and stared at the innumerable amount of ignored calls from Rin, from Miroku. His fathers shouting reminded him that he needs to get out of the apartment but it also reminded him that he couldn't abandon his brother in the same fashion his mother had.

When things got too difficult he couldn't just throw in the towel and say he was through. Moving toward the door, he grabbed his car keys from the small table and slipped back into his sneakers, slamming the door on his way out. His thumb hovered over Miroku's name, a mixture of nervousness and shame threatening to wash over him.

He called.

"Hello?" A groggy voice answered on the other end.

"Sango...hello."

There was an audible gasp. "Sesshomaru!" The voice was more alert now and he could hear rustling on the other side of the phone and patting as if she was attempting to wake up Miroku. It took a few seconds before Miroku finally came to the phone.

"Miroku."

"S-Sesshomaru, holy fuck. Where have you been?"

"Japan. Osaka."

"Yes, yes—I know. But...you didn't answer. Ever."

"I'm coming," he took a moment to consider his next word. Home? Back? "Back."

"Oh." There was a short pause on the other end as Miroku gnawed at his bottom lip, now fully awake. "You're coming back?" Miroku just wanted to make sure that's what he heard. He was almost positive it was but…

"Yes." Sesshomaru replied, now starting down the corridor towards the exit of the building. He sniffed, and could almost feel the blood starting to pool in the area under his nose. His hand flew up to swipe at it. "I'm coming back."

"How do you do this?" Kagome questioned, her voice low as she watched Inuyasha wrap his hands. She was trying to be quiet, as to not awake the others in the house. He'd done it so swiftly and effortlessly, but the look on his face made it seem like it hurt. "Like—how do you wrap your hands?" It'd become a sort of nightly routine. He was borderline insomniatic, and she couldn't sleep with all the rattling and yelling; so she opted to just watch him take out his frustrations and stress on a punching bag until she was too tired for it to bother her.

It seemed as though he didn't mind.

"It's easy." He replied, eyes drifting from his hand momentarily to look at her.

"It looks like it hurts." Kagome retorted, scrunching up her face. Her eyes followed the gauze as he wrapped it around his hands. Over, under, over, under. Between his fingers.

"It...does. It has to be tight, so it hurts in that...there's a lot of pressure on my hands."

"Hm." Kagome vocalized, pulling her legs up under her, hugging them to her chest. "For someone who says they don't particularly like their career, you sure are dedicated to it." She chimed, raising an eyebrow playfully at him.

"It's a good stress reliever." Inuyasha replied curtly. It was also, at the moment, the only outlet he had for his...personal frustrations. He couldn't drink because Myoga was around and keeping an annoyingly close eye on him. Bankotsu was being tightlipped and quiet, shooting him daggers whenever he dared even try to mention their little arrangement. Renkotsu was simply uninterested in everything.

But Kagome was who he worried about the most. The woman could sniff out bullshit from a mile away and she made that known. The sheer thought of her finding anything out sent a shiver down his spine the same way cold water did. He figured that she wouldn't outwardly tell anyone, at least not for a while, if she ever did find out but…. He'd rather be safe than sorry.

And being safe meant running off to the bathroom whenever his hands got clammy and his body started to shake and he broke out into a cold sweat. On two occasions he'd gotten so dizzy that he threw up. On another he got a spontaneous nose bleed, and it had barely been a week into their month-long trip. It was frustrating.

But as long as I can breathe...I'm fine.

"Can I try?" Kagome's voice broke his train of thought, and he blinked as he turned his head in her direction, brown eyes peering up at him in a rather innocent way. "Please?" She added, a small smile gracing her features.

He gnawed at his bottom lip, a single fang popping out over it. "I don't know if I have extra somewhere." Inuyasha muttered, gold eyes scanning the gym area. He felt as if he'd stashed some blue hand wrap somewhere in the area, for emergency purposes but he couldn't find it now. Sighing he looked around some more, ducking under machinery and weights until he found it, tucked behind a pile of weights. "Found it." He murmured to himself, waving it in the air as he walked over to her. Inuyasha sat himself down on the ground in front of her, staring at her. "I'll go easy on you."

"I want to try it myself though," she announced, plucking the blue wrap out of his hands. Inuyasha grumbled as he took it back.

"You'll do it wrong."

"It's not like I'm going to actually do anything." Kagome countered, taking it back. "I just want to see if I can do it."

"It's harder than it looks."

"Is it really?" Her voice practically purred at him and he squinted at her, frowning. She always does this to me…

"Alright, fine." Inuyasha sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Go ahead, do it."

Kagome unraveled the dark material and the confident grin she had on her face quickly faded as she stared at it, her head tilted as she tried to figure out what the small loop at the end was for. "Um.."

"Do you want my help?" Inuyasha teased, chuckling to himself. Kagome shot him a look that said 'don't you dare'. He raised his hands in defense. "Alright, alright...I'll yet ya figure it out."

Slowly, Kagome wrapped, then rewrapped her hands. Constantly stumped with how exactly it was done. She watched him do it, so she figured that watching was enough to figure it out herself but that was proving to be not exactly true. However, the woman was determined to not give in and ask for help. No matter how much she'd rather he wrap her hand for her.

"Do you give up?" Inuyasha questioned after a few silent moments of Kagome trying to figure it out.

"Yeah." She sighed, tossing the blue wrap aside. "Can't figure it out."

Inuyasha reached beside her, grabbing the wrap in his hands. "Gimme your hand." He said. Kagome reluctantly obliged. He turned her hand over, so her palm was facing down and motioned to the small loop at the end. "This goes over your thumb. Helps keep the wrap in place."

"Oh." Kagome whispered, observing silently. She let him turn her hand over again, brown eyes looking up momentarily at his face before darting back down to her hand. "What's that for?" She pointed with her free hand to the area between her fingers.

"That?" He pointed momentarily to the same spot, "that's for um...it helps add extra protection to your knuckles. Makes sure your fingers don't overlap too." Inuyasha whispered back, smiling to himself as he continued.

"Ouch."

"Sorry." He muttered, pausing to pat the back of her hand lightly before he secured the wrap. "Done." Inuyasha took a few moments to look at her hand as she flexed it, making a fist. "You look good in it, actually." He joked, though, he was also telling the truth. She looked...cute. In that wearing-an-oversized-sweater type of way.

"Do I?" Kagome wiggled her eyebrows. "Can I replace Renkotsu, now?"

"Alright, now you're pushing it." Inuyasha replied, rolling his eyes.

"D'awh." She pouted playfully, lightly punching at his shoulder with her wrapped hand. "C'mon, spar me. One-on-one. Let's go, you and me!"

"Absolutely not."

"It'll be fun."

"I would destroy you, Kagome."

"You wouldn't go easy on me?"

Inuyasha stood up, rolling his shoulders as he walked away.

"Is this your way of saying yes to a spar?"

"No," he laughed, "this is my way of getting back on track."

"You're no fun." Kagome pouted again, pulling on the velcro of the hand wrap, beginning to take it off.