Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from the Inuyasha universe. The rest is mine.

Chapter 20

Inuyasha finished laying down the tarps to cover his hardwood floors when he heard a car pull up outside his house. There was only one person that could be, and he had to say...he was a little excited to be doing this with her. It would be nice to have a second set of hands for this project, and it was easy enough that he wouldn't have to supervise her. Just move your brush in a 'W'...but he suspected she knew that, given the magazine.

He heard the car door close as he went to the front door, opening it for her as she picked up a large bag.

"Well hey there stranger," he grinned as she made her way to the front door. "Whatcha got there?"

"What...this?" she teased, looking down at the bag and holding it a bit closer to her.

"Yeah," he pried, trying to snatch it from her, and she pulled it out of the way, dangling it just outside of his reach.

"Behave yourself! You don't get that until the first coat of paint is done at the minimum!"

He pouted prettily but led her inside his house nonetheless.

"Lights should be here next week at the latest," he commented, running his fingers through his bangs as he led her into the kitchen where she put the bag and her purse down. "Tile around the same time. I'm excited to get that backsplash up."

"I'm excited to see it up," she agreed, and he snorted.

"You picked it."

"I helped you narrow down your options!"

"You picked it."

"You were waffling between three!"

"Ya still picked it."

Kagome rolled her head back and groaned.

"Ok. Fine. Yes. I picked it. But you agreed to it. And is it really so bad if I picked it? Does that mean I can't be excited to see it up?"

"Nah. Just makes sense is all," he teased, leading her into the office. Or the kids' room. Or playroom. He still wasn't sure. All he knew was that Kagome had picked out a nice, light "seagull grey" because it was neutral, and apparently, most of the rest of the house was going to be light beige.

Boring.

But neutral.

He didn't exactly want bright red walls either so...Beige worked just fine for him.

"I already put the tarps down. Just need ta open the cans and get crackin'," he informed her, pulling his phone out of his pocket and hooking it up to his speakers.

"Ooooh….Mood music? You shouldn't have," she teased, putting her hair up onto her head.

"...Can ya really have a mood for painting a room?"

"...Determination? Why don't you start with 'Eye of the Tiger', and see where that takes us?"

He snorted but didn't disagree, searching for it as he asked her to open one of the cans and pour some into the paint tray. Music was blaring in the room in a matter of seconds, and when he stood, she offered him a roller.

"I believe you are owed the honor of first paint roll in this here house."

"A-are ya making fun of how I talk, Higurashi?"

"...No?"

"Liar," he smirked, pulling his own hair off his neck and into a ponytail.

"Maybe?"

He laughed at that and took the roller she offered him, dipping it into the paint - rolling it at the edge of the tray a few times before looking up at the drywall.

"Ya know Kags...I don't know when I thought I'd be putting paint on the walls...but...I'm glad you're here helping me. Feels right, ya know?" he asked, turning to look at her, and she had a strange look on her face.

He wondered what was going on in that head of hers. Was she...thinking that this could have been their house? That they could have been doing all of this as a couple instead of as "best friends"? Because he sure as hell was thinking the same goddamn thing.

"I'm glad I can be here to support you," she swallowed, and he shot her a shy, thankful smile.

"Alright...eye of the tiger, right? Let's do th—"

"—Wait!" She yelled, taking out her phone. "This is a big moment. We need to mark the occasion."

"With more pictures?" he groaned, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yes. More pictures. And videos. Trust me. You're going to be thanking me that you did this one day."

"I doubt that," he grumbled, and she raised her brow at him.

"Humor me then. Ok," she continued, walking to the side so she could see his face as he raised the roller to the wall. "Now!"

"What...no three, two, one?"

"Yash! We're rolling! Get to painting!"

"Ok, ok," he laughed, smacking the roller onto the wall before lifting. "I give you the first line of paint in 'this here house'!"

"Whooo!" she cheered. "Now go fix it - it looks horrible."

"Hey! I'd like to see you do better!"

"You mean...Actually, paint instead of just smacking the roller down?"

"Yeah - that's what you came here to do, ain't it?"

"Ooooh no. I came here to document. And document I shall!"

"...Ok, but if you don't actually help me paint…"

"Don't get your boxers all twisted up your ass - I'm gonna help you paint. Just after I get a few photos of you painting."

"Oh good. And here I thought ya were just gonna be standing around here looking pretty all day."

"...So you think I look pretty, huh?"

His butt clenched so hard he was worried he was never going to be able to shit properly again. And he was sure that his face read sheer panic too if her laugh was anything to go off of.

"Oh relax Yash," she teased, sliding her phone back into her pocket. "I know you're just joking around. I'm not reading anything into it," she promised, rolling her roller into the paint as she began to help him.

"Ok then...well...good," Inuyasha coughed, starting to roll his roller in the same W pattern beside Kagome. She did look pretty, even though he knew she was wearing old clothes. They were stained and her rather short shorts were frayed around the edges. Her shirt must have gotten bleach on it at some point, judging the discoloration on it. He thought they might have been stuck in the back of her closet since high school, but he decided not to ask.

He himself had chosen to wear a thin, long sleeve, heather blue t-shirt that had seen hell. Wood stain, paint...it had a few holes in it too from catching on pointy corners.

It didn't make sense to look like a model when you were painting a room, and yet…

All he could do as he worked his roller, laughing and talking with Kagome...singing along to the music with her...All he could do was think how perfect she looked. How beautiful she was. How completely and utterly happy he was at that moment.

It was like she was a balm to his bruised soul, and the more time he spent with her, the better his very essence felt.

They were just finishing up the first coat of paint on the last wall when Sweet Caroline began playing on his phone.

"Hey ah...You and Hojo," he began awkwardly, his movements with the roller becoming less fluid as the song took him back to two days prior. "That...that gonna be a thing? How is that gonna work, with you in LA?"

"Oh! It's not. We...we're not…"

"You're...not?"

"Nah," she reaffirmed, shaking her head. "He's sweet and funny and all...but...well...Like you said. LA. Maybe if I weren't going back, being with someone here would be an option..." she swallowed, and he looked back at the wall in front of him.

"Yeah...LA," he agreed, telling his chest that it needed to stop feeling like she had just shot his pet dog in front of him. "So when are you heading back?"

"Mmmm...well...I'm still looking to leave in a month and a half, but I should really ask my boss if I can have an extension on that."

"Really? Ya think they will give it to you?"

Did that sound too hopeful? Too excited? God he hoped he wasn't coming off as too eager...

"I'm covering you and your house. The first article had some really decent hits on it. I think I can make the argument that I've stayed on top of my work remotely while finding a new story to cover. Makes sense to stay with the story...and the story is right here," she reasoned. "I don't know if she will go for it though. I'm going to try for it after I post the article on painting your house though. Might give me more ammunition for arguing to stay. Numbers talk."

He nodded his head, rolling her words around in his head.

So...there was a chance her stay here could be extended.

Maybe...Maybe he should slow down work on the house. Just a little.

He didn't need to move out right this second - as soon as possible - did he?

He still had some privacy at his parents' house. Not a lot. But some.

Yeah, it would be nice if certain people's noses didn't know every damn thing he had done that day - or who he had seen...But...He could live with it for a while longer, right? It wasn't anything he wasn't already used to.

And...there was no time like the present to slow things down…

He smirked a little to himself as he loaded up his paint roller with more paint, not bothering to roll off the excess. Carefully...subtly...he moved a bit closer to Kagome than he had been before and smacked the roller hard against the wall, splattering paint all over her.

She paused.

Looked down at her arms and shirt.

And took her roller, rolling it up his arm.

"Hey!"

"You started it!"

"No I didn't!"

Yes, he did.

"Yes, you did!"

"Well…" he took his roller and rolled it across her arm, causing her to suck in her breath. "There then."

"You!"

"Me?"

"Inuyasha!"

"Uh-huh?" he prodded, a fang sticking out of the corner of his lip as she smacked his chest with the roller. Her blue eyes were absolutely sparkling with amusement, and he fucking loved it.

"Hey now! Don't go wasting my paint!"

"Oh so when I do it, it's wasting your paint. When you do it...it's…It's…"

"At a loss for words there, Kagome?"

"No!" She denied, gasping and going stock still as he reached out to paint her again, this time getting her across her breast. Unintentionally. Mostly.

"Oh that does it!" she snapped. Her eyes were wild...and he took that as his cue to put some distance between them as he started backing away from her.

"Kagome…"

"Inuyasha…" she replied, looking positively mischievous.

"Kagome, hold up now…"

"Hold up?" she replied, holding her roller up. "You mean like this?" She lunged forward, painting his shoulder as he did his best to back away from her, but he tripped over some loose tarping, falling to the floor.

He didn't stand a chance.

She was straddling his waist within seconds. Her fingers danced across his cheeks as he wiggled under her, trying to dislodge her. Sure, he knew he could if he had really had enough...but this had been his goal. Distract her so it took longer - and also…

It was fun as hell, and he loved seeing that playful glint in her eye as she laughed, trying to turn him into a Picasso.

"Let me just paint a moon on your forehead...then you'll look like Sesshomaru!"

"Hey now!" he complained squirming a bit harder than before. "Don't make me look like that ass!"

"But I already gave you the stripes," she teased, and he grabbed her hands, pulling them over his head before she could add to her artwork. "One on each cheek! You kind of look like your dad now…" she mused, a giggle spilling from her lips.

"What...not demon enough for ya?" he teased, but her heart was racing. He could hear it. And suddenly...they weren't horsing around anymore.

"You're more than demon enough," she swallowed, almost as if her mouth had suddenly become dry, and his grip on her hands slackened. One escaped his grip and she gently placed it on the side of his face - her thumb coming to tenderly run across his cheekbone. His eyes fluttered shut as he leaned into her touch, enjoying the feel of her soft skin on his face.

"You've always been enough."

His eyes snapped open, his ears ringing with what he had heard. Or thought he had heard, at least. It was so quiet...her words so soft…

Maybe he was just imagining it.

He found himself swallowing this time, before he flipped them over, wanting to break whatever had come over them. It was scary and he couldn't explore it. Not when she had just said…

LA.

She was still going back and was still going to leave him, even if she did get the extension he so desperately wanted her to get.

"Yash!" She laughed, wiggling under him.

"Kags," he smirked, grabbing her free wrist and transferring it to his other hand, to keep one free. He placed it on her side, where her shirt had hiked up ever so slightly. The heat of her skin against his palm...he took a second to enjoy it before he slid his hand up her shirt.

"I-Inuyasha?" she breathed, going stock still as his hand kept moving north and to the side of her ribs.

Her skin was so soft. So smooth. So warm. He wanted to move his hand up even higher on her body. Wanted to slip his fingers under more of her clothes, just as he used to. God he wanted to lean down and kiss her - take her lips with his, and never let them go again…

He wasn't going to do that though.

"W-what are you...Inuyasha!" she squealed, her body tensing before she began squirming. His fingers gently scraped against her side, tickling her just the way he knew drove her crazy and made her desperate to get away from him. His claws carefully ran up her side again and her heels dug into the tarp below her as she tried to throw him off of her.

"Inuyasha!" she shrieked, the empty walls around them echoing with her laughter.

"Yeah?"

"Stop!" she begged, and he did it again, renewing her giggles.

"Nah - having too much fun, I think," he smirked, doing it yet again.

"Please?" she begged, biting her lower lip as he gave her a second to catch her breath. "I'll do whatever you want…"

"Whatever I want, huh?"

Kiss me. Come back to me. Be mine forever. Never leave me again.

"Clean up from lunch?"

"Deal," she agreed, and he bent down to kiss her forehead.

"Deal," he murmured, getting off of her.

Lunch was good. Not that he was surprised. She'd made fried chicken sandwiches with this coleslaw she put on it before giving it to him...and this broccoli slaw and potato salad to go with it...Kept it in an isolated bag with enough ice packs surrounding it, he was almost worried he was going to get frostbite taking them out of the bag. If that weren't enough, she'd also brought over a few plasticware containers stuffed with brownies.

"Work," she waved off dismissively when he asked about them. "Trying to make brownie mixes not taste like they're store-bought."

"So ya brought work with ya...ta...work," he laughed, picking a peanut butter and jelly swirl one, out of the container.

"You could say that," she shrugged, moving to lean back onto her arms. They had spread out a worn blanket he recognized from his days sitting around the Higurashi's fire pit on his floor. It was blue and black and checkered with fringe around the edges, and they were sitting on it to eat, like an indoor picnic.

"It's good," he praised, laying down onto his back.

"Watch the paint!" she yelped, and he rolled his eyes, sitting back up.

"The paint dried a long time ago, Kags…" he could feel it on his skin. He was going to have a hell of a time getting her body paint off of his cheeks later too. He could tell.

"Still…" She insisted, and he sat back up with a sigh.

"Fine then," he replied, placing his brownie onto his plate before reaching down to the hem of his shirt. He absently noticed her eyes widening as he tugged it off, tossing it to the side. Boy...that was an ego boost.

Her cheeks became bright red, and it was worth it for that alone. He internally smirked at his small victory and picked up his brownie again, moaning more than a little sexually when he bit into it, running a hand down his chest in the process. A hand that...if his eyes weren't deceiving him...was being followed with very rapt attention. And if the way she swallowed was any indicator...a very dry throat.

"Oh god Kags...It's so good."

"Would you stop," she blushed, prying her eyes away from the way the muscles in his abdomen contracted when he groaned and threw her napkin at him. He tilted his head back, laughing. Fuck she as so flustered and he loved it! Loved teasing the shit out of her! Loved the ego boost...and the reaffirmation that she was still attracted to him.

"What? I'm paying ya a compliment," he smirked, his eyes twinkling in amusement, and she rolled hers.

"Compliment received," she reassured. He polished off his brownie, wiping his hands on his napkin and resting his arms under his head.

"Not sure the paint is dry yet - I bet we've got some time to kill," he commented, and she sighed, leaning her head back onto her shoulders.

"Yeah. I figured. Guess you don't wanna come back tomorrow and finish up?"

He rolled his eyes at her. Couldn't help it.

"Nah. I'd give it another thirty and we can start again."

"Oh yay," she groaned, running her hands down her face, and a crazy idea struck him.

"I'll be right back, ok?"

"Ok…" she replied, watching as he stood and disappeared down the hall. He returned a moment later with the speakers and plugged them into a power outlet before fiddling with his phone.

"Yash?"

"Gimmie a sec," he replied, opening Spotify on his phone and locating "The Piano Man" by Billy Joel. He hit the play and the radio button, causing the song to blare through the room. "I...Ah…Well," he coughed nervously, shoving his hands into his pockets, suddenly worried she would think he had lost his mind. "I wanted ta ask ya ta dance the other day…but...well...I was with Kikyo 'n' you were with Hojo...Didn't...wanna...Aw hell…"

Kagome giggled, her face breaking out into a wide grin, and he felt himself relax a little.

"Dance with me, Kags?"

"Yeah - I'd love to," she grinned, pushing herself to her feet as Billy began singing.

He took her hands and began moving her around the room, singing along, not caring that they probably sounded like dying cats. It was fun and it felt good, and he liked holding her close to him as they moved like they didn't have a care in the world. It was exhilarating, and...Shit, he was almost worried that when John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" came on she would pull away from him, but if anything, she held him closer.

They stayed like that for three more songs, acting like fools and laughing their heads off before The Temptations' "My Girl" started playing.

"Oh my gosh," Kagome laughed, her head rolling back onto her shoulders. "I think this is the first song we ever danced to."

"That was 'cause Pops told me ta ask ya."

"H-he did?" she stuttered, her steps faltering a little, and he felt his ears lower to his head as his eyes widened.

"Y-you didn't...know?"

She shook her head slowing ever so slightly.

"You guys came over for dinner. Sessh had a sleepover or something...so it was just the six of us. We were about...what...eleven? Maybe twelve at the most. They had the stereo playing as they were making dinner, and they kept pausing every now and then ta dance. Pops noticed that you were looking...a little...sad? Left out? When this song started playing, he told me I should go 'n' ask ya ta dance. Thought ya might like it…"

"I...had no idea…" she whispered, looking away from him. "That was...That's when I stopped having just a little crush on you and started having...Stronger feelings for you."

"It was?"

She nodded, shooting him a sad smile.

"Yeah. I had been liking you for a while...but...when you did that, I don't know...it felt like my feet weren't even touching the ground when we danced. I thought maybe you liked me too—"

"—I did!" he rushed to reassure her. "I liked ya a lot. That's why he didn't have to twist my arm too much ta get me to ask. I...I just needed a little push. I think he saw that."

"So...What I'm hearing is, I should have sent your dad a fruit basket," she teased, brightening a little.

"Not sure I'd go that far," he grumbled, looking off to the side, and she laughed. It made the nervous ache he felt in his chest ease. "I did like dancing with ya Kags."

"Then why was it always like pulling teeth getting you to take me to dances?" she smirked, and he rolled his eyes.

"'Cause I liked dancing just the two of us more than dealing with everyone making comments on it. Middle school boys are dumb."

"You mean middle schoolers are dumb," she corrected, and he conceded she had a point there.

"Hormones. It's a weird time in everyone's life, I think."

"Mmm...You can say that again," she agreed.

"Do ya think I'm a better dancer now though?" he pressed, and she raised her brow.

"More willing maybe. Not sure about better."

"Yeah? Watch this then," he smirked, rearranging her grip on him to place a hand on his bare shoulder while he took her waist and grabbed her other hand. He moved her into a basic box step, and she couldn't deny that he was a bit better.

"Just getting started Sweetheart," he teased, spinning her out from him before tugging her back into his arms.

"Yash!" she giggled, her head tilting back as she squealed when he bent her over. "When did you learn how to do this?" she breathed, her eyes meeting his. She looked so beautiful. Her hair had come undone from her bun and hung in a ponytail around her shoulders. Her eyes were bright and full of laughter. They were positively sparkling.

He wanted to kiss her.

"While ago," he replied, righting her as the next song started playing. Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love". He faltered a little and was unsurprised when she looked away from him.

It was their song.

"Hey," he began, swallowing hard. "Remember how I found my grandfather's guitar when I was...what...thirteen?"

"Decided you wanted to learn how to play it," she nodded, her voice thick. Heavy.

"Yeah. God that was a choice. Had to constantly trim my nails so I wouldn't slice the strings...I sounded like shit at first…"

"Well, you shouldn't have expected to be able to play Stairway to Heaven the second you picked it up."

"Cocky, rookie mistake," he grinned, trying to lighten the mood a little. "Can't say I didn't try."

"Can't say you didn't sound like a cat wanted to sharpen their claws on the strings."

"Hey!" he laughed, relaxing a little when he saw the corners of her mouth turn up just a little. "I tried! Got pretty good at it, too…"

"You did," she conceded as they began to sway in place again. Her hand wrapped around the back of his neck, and he savored the feeling. The sensation of her skin on his skin. Her hand subconsciously pulling her closer as they spoke. Their words becoming softer.

"This was the first song I really sat down to learn."

"You were so proud," she recalled, her face soft. Wistful as memories of the past flooded her mind.

"Rushed over to your house as soon as I felt confident enough I could do it. Biked the whole way with a guitar on my back."

"Our parents thought you were nuts…"

"I just had to show you, right then and there what I could do."

"Took me out under the tree."

"Same one I still love climbing."

"Same one," she smiled, not realizing that they had stopped swaying even. "You started playing it."

"And when I was done, you had this look in your eye…"

"Because I thought you had learned it for me."

"Didn't I?"

"Inuyasha…" she breathed, her eyes swimming with a thousand emotions.

"That look did me in," he confessed to her, bringing a hand up to her cheek. So warm. So soft. He was drowning in her. In the memory of what they were. Of what they should be. He should find his way to shore. Try and save himself before he was a goner again...But...He couldn't. He wanted to stay right where he was.

He wanted to drown in them.

"I was lost to you…" he confessed, his words barely audible. "And then I leaned in and whispered—"

"—I can't help falling for ya, Kags. Right before you kissed me."

"For the first time," he murmured, running his thumb across her cheekbone, his head tilting down towards hers, his eyes locked on her lips. "Kagome—"

"—I-Inu...Inuyasha?"

He felt his blood run cold as he slowly turned around, his heart pounding in his ears.

"K-Kikyo?"

She stood in the entrance to the kitchen, a shell-shocked look on her face...and honestly? He felt the same way.

Fuck!

He had no idea she was coming - hadn't heard her drive up to his house or the car door shut because of the music. Hadn't smelled her because he was so wrapped up in Kagome and the smell of paint…

Now, he was looking at the woman he was dating holding an insulated bag in one hand, and a plastic container holding chocolate covered strawberries in the other, in a state of befuddled shock.

"What…" Kikyo whispered, and he felt Kagome pull away from him, removing herself from his arms. He couldn't even look at her right now. His mind was still whirling, trying to process what the hell was going on.

Kikyo turned around, going back down his hallway, and he glanced at Kagome. She had her arms wrapped around her middle, and her face was blank for a moment before she gathered her strength and whispered one thing to him.

"Go."

He took off down the hall after Kikyo, who hadn't even bothered closing his front door. She was already halfway to her car, and he all but sprinted to catch her wrist, keeping her from leaving.

"Kikyo—"

"—Where is your shirt, Inuyasha?"

That was the first thing she had to say to him?

Where was his fucking shirt?

"On the floor. It was covered in paint and I didn't want to get it all over the blanket we were eating on."

"Of course you did. Of course you were," she laughed bitterly. "You really needed to take your shirt off to sit on a blanket?"

"I was laying on it."

"Naturally."

"Kikyo, please…"

"Please what?" she snapped.

"Give me a second! It ain't what it looks like!"

"No? So I didn't come to your house to surprise you with a romantic lunch...offer to help you paint your house...only to find you shirtless and almost kissing your ex-fiance?"

"I...I wasn't gonna kiss her, Kikyo. We're friends…"

"Bullshit, Inuyasha!"

"Kikyo…"

"No! It is!"

"No it ain't!" he insisted. "Kikyo...We've known each other since we were eight. She's my best friend...We're close, but I weren't gonna kiss her!"

"Yeah - so close that you haven't spoken to her in seven years? I mean really Inuyasha...You expect me to believe this bullshit? She just shows up out of the blue one day and you expect me to believe that you are best of friends?"

"We have a history—"

"—A history where you were almost married!"

"Yeah! Exactly! Almost! Look - we're close, but we don't work that way, ok? If we did...then we'd be together, but we don't. You think I'm that crazy that I'd want something like that from her again when I know it ain't gonna work? How much pain do ya think I can handle? Kikyo…I'm with you now...or I wanna be...What you saw in there was us just goofing around. We had time to kill - we're waiting for the paint ta dry, so we were just...having a bit of fun."

She was silent for a moment, biting her cherry-red lip and looking off to the side, crossing her arms under her breasts as she tried to decide what she wanted to believe.

"Why is she even here," she finally whispered, her eyes flitting back to his, and he could see the gloss over them. The pooling of unspilled tears.

"She's covering this for her magazine. I...I'm just a story for her, right now," he explained, but the words felt hollow as they left his mouth. Tasteless on his tongue. "She's just here to get some photos and talk about my process."

"Sure she is," she chuckled bitterly, a tear slipping down her cheek.

"I swear it," he insisted. "You're right. We haven't spoken in seven years...but...we wanted to try and make amends since she was kinda...tossed back into ma life. This...is where those amends led…"

"And soon she's going to end up in your bed with her legs around your waist," she mused, looking away from him.

"I couldn't. I wouldn't…" he insisted, and he felt sick to his stomach as she chewed on her lower lip.

"Is she why...we haven't been...intimate," she whispered, mustering the courage to look him in the eye as she asked.

"No," he breathed. "I meant it - I wanted us to have more before we went there. Kikyo, you're such an amazing woman...I want to give you the best of everything...including me…"

Kikyo worried her bottom lip between her teeth, scanning his face before carefully asking him, "When is Kagome crawling back to California?"

He tried not to wince, or yell or give her any reaction as he replied, "Month and a half."

Kikyo let out a slow, shuddering breath, placing her hands on his cheeks.

"Tell me the truth, Inuyasha. I need you to look me in the eye and be honest with me."

"O-ok…" he replied nervously.

"Do you want to be with me, or Kagome?"

He swallowed, but his gaze didn't falter.

"We have a future. Kagome isn't in the picture anymore."

Kikyo eyed him carefully, and he wished he knew what was going on inside of his head.

"Then I want us to be exclusive. If you think we have a future together, put a title on us."

He felt like he had been sucker-punched, but he couldn't tell her no.

"I'll put a title on us...If you want this to be the moment that happens," he agreed.

She pulled away from him, her face slack and expressionless as his words rolled around in her mind. He could tell she was really thinking it over. Was this the story she wanted for them? Was this what she wanted to tell people? Her friends? Family? Their kids?

That he agreed to their relationship after fighting about another woman.

"No," she sighed, looking away from him, deflated. "It's not."

He felt like he could breathe again, but he wasn't out of the woods yet.

"Inuyasha...I want this...I want us so much...but I'm worried you don't feel the same way…"

"I do!"

"Then show me...Can you give me something? Anything to show me you're serious?"

Hell...he didn't know…

"Let's go away. Just the two of us," he blurted out, and her eyebrows rose in surprise.

"W-what?"

"Let's do a weekend getaway. Or a midweek getaway, I don't care. Just the two of us...let's...go somewhere for a few days. Share a hotel room. Do that couples massage thingy...Dinner...Um...Antiquing?"

Fuck. Women liked antiquing, right? God, it sounded like hell, but her eyes were brightening a bit.

"Farmer's market?"

"If they have it," he nodded. They lived with farms. The hell she want to go to a farmers market for?

He watched the idea roll around in her head.

"Ok then," she agreed. "You plan it and tell me when to pack my bag. A-and no help from her this time," she begged, tilting her head towards the house. "Please…"

"I can do that," he nodded, trying to ignore the internal panic he suddenly felt. He didn't know how to plan something like this! What the hell was he going to do?!

"Ok," she nodded, coming in to kiss his cheek before telling him that she was going to leave. Didn't think she could stick around right then.

He didn't exactly blame her.

When her car was out of view, he ran his hands over his face, groaning.

"Fuuuuuuuck…" what the hell was he going to do? He felt like his whole fucking life was unraveling before his eyes and he was scrambling to catch the frayed ends before he was well and truly screwed.

He sighed and made his way back into his house, wandering into his kitchen to find the woman he had abandoned to smooth things over with the woman he was dating. She was sitting on the floor with her head resting on crossed arms, propped up against her knee caps. Her back was pressed to his island, and he could smell the distinct scent of salt in the air.

He slowly approached her, and he knew that she could hear his footfalls against the hardwood as he neared her. He wasn't trying to be quiet, and he saw her body jerk when he was nearly in front of her.

He paused, chewing the inside of his lip before he sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, tugging her to him.

What was that saying again?

Out of the fire, into the frying pan?

Was this what they meant?

"Kagome," he murmured, encouraging her to look at him with her watery blue eyes.

"I...Inuyasha," she croaked, "I don't think I can be your friend…"

His heart felt like led.

"W-what?"

"Anyone you try to date will know our history, Yash. They won't like that you're friends with your ex-fiance...And you're never going to be happy. I just know it...And that's what I want more than anything for you. I think I should stop writing these articles about you. I don't want to fuck up your life more than I already have...We should just...cut ties again now."

He wished she weren't serious...but his nose told him that she was anything but joking around with him.

He inhaled deeply before exhaling, "...You're probably right…"

She pinched her eyes shut and made to move away from him, but he wouldn't let her.

"...But I don't think I give a damn, Kagome."

A/N:

This is up there with my favorite chapters for this fic. I particularly LIVED for the part where they relived their first kiss.

I'm doing better - I'm maybe at like, an 85 - 90 right now, which I will take...But I'm still going to be sticking with just this one story for a while until I'm just GRABBED to go back to the others. Which WILL happen. But I needed to kill that posting schedule I was living for and live to write instead again. And no one can deny that I LIVE to write this fic.

Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed last time! I am HORRIBLE at DMing people thanks now, but I 100% have read all of them, have loved and appreciated all of them, and so...A massive thank you to the reviewers from last chapter!

Gicu2, Ember Reverie, crazyponygirl, Guest, Yasha19, cristine44, questions, Lin McClain, Celestial-Aphrodite, MrJsHaHaHarley, LayLay lives, Sportshick234, LucyDEU, and Momo Neko Hitsugaya

I appreciate you all!

And don't worry. That break up is happening SOON. But if you can't wait, you can read it somewhere else now! Details are on my tumblr!

Until next time!

-LL