Summary: During a girl's night, Kagome's friends force her to come to some brutal realizations.

Inspiration: "Jet Lag" by Simple Plan feat. Natasha Bedingfield

Jet Lag

Kagome checked her phone again, sighing when no new notifications showed up on the screen. She knew he was busy, had repeated it to herself multiple times, but every few minutes she'd swear her phone would vibrate and little strings of hope would move her fingers like a marionette, forcing her to pull it out of her pocket.

She checked it again to be sure.

"Kagome, would you get off your phone already? We're all here! Who could you possibly be talking to?"

Shoving the device into her pocket, she tried to hide the sheepish expression on her face. "Sorry."

Yuka swirled her wine around, the dark liquid sloshing against the inside of the curved glass. "We're supposed to be having a girl's night and all you can do is think about that mystery guy of yours."

"I'm not—"

"I wish you would just tell us who he is!" Eri slammed her magazine shut, half-heartedly glaring at her friend. "You've been texting him for months. When do we get to meet him?"

"I told you, he's just a friend, it's not—"

Eri smacked her on the head with her magazine. "You've never been with a guy for this long before. It is something, you're just in denial."

Kagome rolled her eyes, stifling the urge to pull out her hair. "We're just friends. He's the brother of my ex and—"

"Your ex?!" Ayumi screeched. "The two-timer you dated in high school?"

"Yes but—"

Her three friends jumped in front of her, their eyes wide with concern.

"Kagome you cannot go down this road again! You were so miserable in high school—"

"When you showed up at all."

"—you need to find a nice stable guy. This family is bad news!"

Kagome growled and reached behind her, smacking them across the face with a pillow.

"He is not like that! And they're only half-brothers." Both of their voices echoed the sentiment in her mind, and she couldn't stop the gentle smile that broke out onto her face. Her friends gave each other knowing looks, then turned on her again.

"If he's 'not like that', then why have you been checking your phone so much? If he doesn't have the time to text you, then he isn't worth your time."

Deep breath, Kagome.

"He's on a business trip," she argued, "He only just landed this morning and he's got a bunch of meetings and conferences to go to."

Yuka scoffed as she crossed her arms. "No one's that busy. Text him right now! See if he answers."

The other two nodded in agreement and the blood drained from Kagome's face. She'd been waiting for him to text her first, not wanting to seem desperate even though she'd calculated when his plane landed, and his phone would turn back on.

She was still reeling from their meeting almost six months prior. Mama had sent her out for some extra groceries on Christmas, as Souta's girlfriend had gotten into a fight with her parents and been invited over for dinner. Browsing through the dessert section, she'd been ready to unleash her wrath when someone roughly grabbed her arm, but all her scathing words had died on her tongue when she'd turned to find golden eyes staring at her in shock.

Apparently no one had told him about the well.

It had taken a lot of explaining, but he'd eventually accepted that she was still, in fact, human.

And then he'd asked for her number.

She still wasn't sure what his reasoning was, his ability to be vague hadn't dulled over the years—centuries—since she'd seen him last, but it wasn't long before her phone had lit up with an unknown number and his name.

"I don't want to bother him."

She should've known better, she really should've, and yet when Yuka grabbed her phone out of her pocket, Kagome was left floundering and grasping for her device.

"Give it back, Yuka!"

Her friend grinned, typing in her password and pulling up her message app. "No way, Kagome. You clearly need our help to move things forward."

"He's just a friend! There's nothing to move!" Eri and Ayumi pounced on her, holding her down while she watched in horror as Yuka typed something into her phone, the typical swoosh sounding as the message was sent.

She struggled against their hold. "This is not funny, let me go!"

Yuka flashed her a gleeful smile before showing her the screen, the words 'I miss you' glaring back at her in bright blue letters. Kagome gaped at her phone as the other two women giggled, Yuka glancing at the screen again.

"What kind of name is Sesshoumaru anyway?"

The kind that will strike you down if you looked at him funny, let alone sent him an emotional text message.

Kagome smacked Yuka's hand, quickly rescuing her phone before it hit the ground. Not caring what her friends thought, she was about to send another one explaining what had happened when the responding icon lit up at the bottom of the screen. Her fingers froze as it lingered, then disappeared before reappearing again.

Her friends cooed, huddled around her as they waited for his response, but the icon disappeared once again, and Kagome was filled with dread. Her body went cold, her hands trembling as the text went unanswered.

She let out a yelp as she was tackled around the neck by Eri. "Don't worry, Kags! If he doesn't say it back, he's totally not worth your time!"

"You could always send him a topless picture."

"Yuka!" The other three chorused.

She wiggled her eyebrows. "I bet he'd respond then!"

Groaning, Kagome covered her face with her hands, Eri and Ayumi bombarding Yuka with questions about her own experience with sending nude photos and she soon forgot about the unanswered text.

Kagome jerked awake to the sound of her phone going off, fumbling in the dark to silence the offensive noise. She eventually found it under her bed, stuffed in one of her shoes. Clearly she'd had more to drink than she thought. Closing her eyes to the bright light of the screen, her thumb managed to find the small green button.

"This better be important," she snapped, having to clear her throat halfway through. Silence greeted her on the other end and she was two seconds away from throwing her phone at the wall before a low voice rumbled in her ear.

"I apologize for the late hour."

Blue eyes shot open as she gripped her phone with both hands. "S-Sesshoumaru?"

"I…forgot about the time difference. I should have checked before—"

"No no! It's fine! It's not like I've got anything planned for tomorrow anyway." Propping her phone between her shoulder and her ear, she reached for the glass of water on her nightstand, downing half of it before crossing her legs under her. "How's your trip been so far?"

"Tedious. But that is to be expected." A stagnant pause stretched between them and Kagome physically winced. She knew this was coming. She should've just explained that her friends were the ones who'd sent the text in the first place. He was probably calling to tell her to lose his number.

"Look, Sesshoumaru," she said, not wanting to prolong an awkward situation. "About earlier…"

"I must apologize again. I was pulled into a meeting before I was able to respond to your message. It appears that those in charge here are more incompetent than I initially presumed."

Kagome couldn't help the smile that pulled at her lips. "That's two apologies in one night Sesshoumaru, are you sure you haven't been drinking?"

A soft chuckle sounded in her ear and suddenly her chest felt tight. She would miss that sound, when he inevitably told her never to contact him again.

"You seem to have that effect on people, miko."

She opened her mouth to ask what he meant, then bit her lip to stop herself. She had to stop this. She didn't want any more memories between them to reminisce about—any more reasons to miss him for real.

She cleared her throat and tried again. "I'm sorry if my text from earlier—well—I wasn't the one who sent it. We were talking about you, and they misunderstood the situation and thought I was too scared to…confess, so they thought they were doing me a favour."

Silence greeted her again and she pulled her knees into her chest, hiding her face as she stifled a groan. She'd had such a great thing going with him; he'd even been the one to suggest exchanging numbers in the first place. When had she started looking forward to talking with him every day? Checking her phone for notifications under his name?

Her friends were so nosy and always seemed to come to the wrong conclusion. They assumed the worst with Inuyasha without understanding the complexity of his relationship with Kikyou—though she was still trying to figure that out herself, even after the well had been closed for five years. And now they'd gone and done the same thing with Sesshoumaru.

Why couldn't they let her figure things out for herself?

"So, your friends sent the message."

Kagome nodded, then remembered he couldn't actually see her. "Yes."

"And yet you did not amend the statement in the hours following."

"I-I…" Her head shot up, her eyes widening as his words sank in. "No… No, I didn't." Why hadn't she? Sure, she'd been distracted by Yuka's sudden outburst, but that didn't account for the remaining time she'd spent with her friends. Or how long she'd been home afterwards.

"Was it untrue?"

Kagome bit her lip, her hand tightening around her phone, the answer already clear in her mind. She could lie. She could pretend that nothing had changed and that it was just her friends overstepping. But she refused to be dishonest when he'd always been truthful with her.

"No."

"Then it is irrelevant who sent it."

"You're not…mad?"

"Do I have a reason to be?"

"Well, not when you put it that way."

"Indeed."

He was mocking her. "Wipe that smirk off your face, you pompous ass."

"You are imagining things, miko."

A laugh finally escaped her lips, and she ran a hand through her hair, her fingers getting caught in the dark tangles. "I'm not imagining anything. You enjoy being right too much to not be smirking right now."

"Perhaps."

She laughed again, the sound getting cut off by a jaw-cracking yawn.

"You should rest."

"Perhaps," she said, mocking his previous response. "But I have nothing else to do today, so I can sleep in. Tell me about your trip so far."

"Another time. Text me when you wake, and I will update you on my progress."

"Alright," she sighed, stifling another yawn. "Are you still coming back on Friday?"

"Unless the powers that be insist on wasting my time more than necessary."

"You could always threaten them if they do."

"You have expressed on previous occasions that that is frowned upon."

"Oh, I'm sure you could come up with a legitimate reason to get away with it. Again…"

"If it will get me home on time, I will consider it."

She wasn't sure if he was joking or not—it was Sesshoumaru after all—but the image of him threatening CEOs with Bakusaiga or even his true form made her smile.

"Give 'em hell."

A soft chuckle sounded on the other end. "Go to sleep, miko."

She hummed in agreement, laying down on her side, the tension in her muscles slowly receding.

"And miko?"

"Yes, youkai?"

"Your company has also been missed."

She shot back up into a sitting position, staring at her phone as the connection ended and the screen went dark. A blush crept up her neck, turning her cheeks bright crimson.

Maybe her friends had actually done her a favour.