Inuyasha had a plan. A plan Sango crafted. The rescue was only two days from now. Even so, he was impatient. Sango and Miroku were coming with him. He was a prideful being, but she could be in danger, and he was not risking it. He was worrying about her, when Sango came with an expression on her face that meant he was going to be pretty mad pretty soon.

"What?" he said, already annoyed

Sango cursed herself for being so obvious. "Kikyo is looking for you"

"What?" he said, but this time it was an honest question. He was confused.

"We didn't let her in, of course, but she is at the gate," said Sango

Inuyasha laughed, and with a gesture of his hand dismissed the whole thing. "Tell her to fuck off," he said and went to practice with Myoga.

She stood in her place for a bit. This was most unusual. In the past, Inuyasha was love-crazy as Miroku said, and used to go around the city searching for her scent. But now, with her at the door and wanting to talk to him, he gave her no importance.

"Don't get me wrong, I love for her to die alone and unloved after what she did to him," said Sango to a bored Miroku a few hours later. "I just find it odd".

"There is nothing odd about it. If he found his mate, then all other women may as well be made of plastic for all he cares," answered Miroku without looking up from his game.

She was annoyed. "I guess that's the advantage of dating a yokai, fidelity. I'll have to try it out with a guard sometime."

Intending to leave him with the weight of his conscience, she stepped out of the room. As she walked through the corridor, he reached her and pushed her back to him.

"Please, tell me you didn't mean that," he said, and she clearly thought that the crazy jealous yokai gene was in his DNA too.

At her silence, he said, "Are you really so tired of me that you want to indulge your passions with the first guy you see?"

She reacted with anger "Don't talk to me like that," she said and took his hand off her.

He looked angrier still "Are you going to answer my questions or am I making you late for something?"

She could not believe what she was hearing. Every day she had to watch him flirt with ANYONE and she meant it when she said anyone who was female, but she said a joke ONCE and he went fully yokai on her. It wasn't even true. She said it to hurt him. 'but this is ridiculous. We had sex once and after that not even a kiss and he thinks he owns me?. What about all the girls he asks out?'

"We are not in a relationship. This doesn't concern you," she said, walking away, but he yanked her arm back so she was fully in front of him.

"We have something unspoken, I have you, understand?" his voice was quiet, and that was scarier than shouting, but she was fed up and he was always unfaithful but wanted her to be the idiot who took everything and didn't complain.

"We have nothing and I want something, something real because I… I am in love… with... someone…" his emotional reaction was a physical thing. He stepped back, his face contorted, and let go of her arm.

She felt silly and guilty and wanted to say -and the someone is you, stupid-, but she controlled herself. She wanted to come back and hug him, but her mind was made up. He needed to be taught a lesson. But where on earth was she going to find a pretend boyfriend so soon?

.

Kagome got to work tired. For a few nights, she had woken up to a screaming Kohaku. The child was having nightmares about killing his entire family. She was completely sure that they were only dreams, but he was really scared so they seemed real to him. He trashed in his dreams in agony and pain, and she would hug him and make some tea. Within the hour, he would be sleeping again. It was something she enjoyed, caring for the people in her charge. Still, it troubling that such a small child would have to carry such weight. Children should sleep peacefully because they had committed no crimes. She didn't know what to do, and she needed her sleep because she wasn't coming up with ideas to help him.