A/N: Oof. I know. I know. I've been oddly obsessed with Koga/Kagome pairings lately. Not sure why. Sorry?
This story will be set in the present world where all kinds of races live, ranging from demons, half breeds, witches, etc.
With that, I'm currently in the process of revamping a lot of my stuff. In that whirlwind of chaos, I also decided to change my username. So, if you noticed that, please don't panic. Still me! :)
Kagome Higurashi sat there, staring at her boyfriend with fire in her eyes. For a brief moment in time, she considered if she was being rational. Or was she the very opposite of such a word and instead teetering on the edge of unstable? Clenching down her jaw, she thought back to the situation at hand.
To begin with, she had not planned to spend such an important day with nothing but negative emotions, but here they were. All she wanted to do was scream, shout, and throttle the man before her. How could he do this? Again?
Had someone told her last year that she would be in this position now but worst off than ever before, she would have laughed. She would have brushed them off. Maybe, just maybe, she would have told them that they didn't have faith in him like she did.
Because after all, Inu Yasha had promised her.
Promised her that this would end.
Now, she knew exactly what his promises were worth. Absolutely nothing.
Instead, here she was, doing something she thought would never occur. Standing in the backyard of her home, she now confronted Inu Yasha about her...Kikyo. Preparing for her verbal assault, she told herself to be calm. After all, they had gone through this type of conversation far more times than she could count.
With that knowledge, she told herself to expect the usual and to brace herself.
This time would be different.
This time, she would not provide another chance.
More importantly, this time she would not fall for his pleading, lies, and then a half-assed attempt at an explanation.
After all, that was usually always his pattern. Yet this time, he provided her with words she had not expected and the silver haired man before her seemed to decide to skip his normal process and jumping straight to the end.
A half-assed explanation.
"You know how it is, Kagame. Don't you? Dogs—we, well, we're not known for that whole 'one person' in our life. That's more a wolf thing."
Kagome blinked once.
Then, she narrowed her eyes in suspicion and shock. For a moment, she tried to swallow down the words that she could have never prepared for. A heavy silence fell between them, and in the back of her mind, she thought she heard herself let out a snort of disbelief. Was this a joke? His race? That was his explanation? His excuse?
Rampant infidelity because he was a...dog?
Yet, staring back at her boyfriend, she noticed he had not said anything else or even attempted to interrupt her. In fact, his stance, posture, and facial expressions that she had grown to learn over the years told her once simple thing.
He believed his own words.
Allowing a second to process such thoughts, the gears in her brain began to turn. Almost instantly she was left questioning herself. Did she even know enough about demons to consider such a possibility? Yet, the voice in her head let his excuse swim around in consideration. Reluctantly, she began to recall the small amount of information she knew regarding his race. Or, more importantly, whom she knew from his race.
Three.
That was how many dog demons she knew in the span of her short human life.
Toga.
Sesshoumaru.
And him—Inu Yasha.
With widened eyes, she realized what all they had in common outside of them being family.
Toga had two wives—one of the human race and a dog demon, much like himself.
Sesshoumaru? With dread, she realized the pattern followed. The eldest son had two as well. In fact, he had recently taken a rather young human wife. On top of that, he had his mate, which Kagome vaguely remembered as an elemental witch.
With dread and realization settling in, she tried to calm her racing heart.
Could it be?
Could a whole race be behind such inexcusable behavior?
Gather the courage to look up to the person she thought she would spend her life with, she allowed him to see the regret flicker through her eyes.
Had he known?
This whole time?
If so, why had he promised to change?
Why had he told her that he would stop such behavior?
Why would he have given her hope when in reality, there was none?
An ember of resentment began to form and for the first time in her life, she began to regret not listening to her friends' and families' advice about dating him.
"He doesn't respect you, Kagome." her brothers' voice rang out in her head as she remembered when she announced the beginning of their relationship.
"Are you sure, honey?" Even her mother had questioned her decision.
"I hope you made the right decision." Her friends had even spoken with uneasiness.
Disregarding all of them, she had convinced herself that it would be alright.
That they would be alright.
Sighing at the memories, she rubbed her eyes in disbelief. They had warned her.
"Kagome, we can still make it wor—"
Snapping her eyes at him, she didn't allow him to finish his sentence.
They could still make it work? Of course he would be oblivious and try to still make light of such a situation. Despite how many times she had told him the importance of being loyal or how this was not negotiable, he still tried to tell her that it wasn't a big deal.
Scoffing, she shook her head and tried to speak, but no words came out.
Here she had been trying to give him a chance after chance while thinking his behavior would change. To be rewarded, how? With a justification that this would continue because of who and what he was. Still, the nagging thought of such a statement ate at her. Was it really plausible? To put the reasoning for his infidelity as his race? Wouldn't that mean that all dog demons were unable to stay with one person? Surely that couldn't be true.
A dog demon trait?
Yet, the evidence was pretty damning.
With a million thoughts running through her head, she suddenly came to a conclusion. Even if he was unable to remain faithful, he should have still at least been able to be kind and honest. Hell, at the bare minimum, then he could have been respectful in his choice of whom he fucked. Instead, he made it as personal as it could get, given the situation.
"Okay, so you can't be faithful. Say I understand and get that. Alright, but my cousin, Inu Yasha? My cousin?! Why would you even think that would be okay? Who does that?!"
Somehow she managed to choke out the words in frustration instead of screaming them out like she wanted. She truely wanted to know what had gone through his head when this occurred. Did Kikyo know? Had they both been in on it? Did both individuals decide that family and respect be damned and only what they wanted mattered? Such thoughts didn't sit well with her.
Today had been meant to be a day of celebration. She was supposed to be happy, carefree and loved.
Instead, she wanted to hide from the world and cry her eyes out. Turning to gaze at him ,she waited for a response. Instead, he sat there quietly almost as if allowing her to release her rage and emotions at his expense.
Letting out a ragged sigh, she nodded in the understanding that she would get no justification from him. He would not explain himself. More than likely, he couldn't or simply didn't want to. No, she would have to close this chapter of her life without such a thing. Finally calming down she tried to clear her mind while considering how to best proceed.
Never before had she felt so emotionally drained and defeated. Thinking back now, she debated if such exhaustion was surfacing not just from this event but all the ones he had made her endure over the years. It was no secret that they had played this game one too many times. Although now, it was becoming apparent that this would be the last time.
Before, it had been random individuals that she knew nothing about—a half breed here and a human there.
Had it hurt? Yes.
Had she been angry? Of course.
But he had never made it personal.
Previously, she had forgiven him time and time again. All with the thought of change on her mind.
But her cousin?
Her family?
A woman that resembled her in appearance, hobbies, and even education?
Naïvety and patience may have been words to describe her personality when it came to Inu Yasha...but stupid and worthless? No. She was sick of this.
Enough was enough.
"Seven years, Inu Yasha. In that time, I've forgiven you each and every year that you had this impulse. But my family? No, absolutely not." To her surprise, her tone wasn't filled with hurt or pain. No, it seemed like it belonged to someone else.
Someone brave.
Someone composed.
Someone she wished she could be in actuality and not just in disguise.
"If it's a dog demon thing or not, it doesn't really matter, you know that, right? Sure, I assumed that all demons and humans shared the similarity of committing to someone they love. So you're saying it's just—what? Your culture? Your instinct? Behavior you can't change? Behavior you don't want to change? You never even tried, Inu Yasha!" The last sentence was a bit more accusing than she had expected, but she refused to apologize for her emotions.
"Fine. Okay. Great. Seven years wasted. Thanks." She knew she could have handled it better, but at this point, she let the words leave her mouth unfiltered.
How in the world had they let it get dragged on for so long? How had neither of them come to their senses sooner? Why the hell had they stayed together this long? With hands up in the air in frustration, she huffed. Allowing her fingers to run through her hair, she let out a shaky breath.
Finally, he spoke.
"Kags, I didn't mean to hurt—"
No.
Nope.
No more lies.
She let out a short laugh.
"Didn't mean to hurt me? Don't lie. Let's end this relationship with at least something positive, and let's make that honesty, Inu Yasha. You knew you hurt me each and every time you did this. That's why you hid it. You were ashamed—as you should be. Even if it is your culture, your instinct, your whatever—you were still ashamed. You hid it from me because you didn't want me to know. You knew damn well that it would result in my pain."
With a step back, she turned away from the man that she had loved for far longer than she could remember.
The man that had thrown away her trust without any thoughts to her feelings.
The man that had stomped on her heart and allowed it to be broken time and time again.
The man that hadn't even attempted to be faithful.
Without so much as turning back to him, she whispered words to him that she knew his demon senses would pick up.
"We're done, Inu Yasha. I hope Kikyo knows what she signed up for."
With that, she grabbed her phone and wrote out a lengthy text to her best friend for a change of plans for today.
The nerve of him.
On her birthday, no less.