Guarded Heart

by The Monday Child

Every celebrity needs a bodyguard, and Kagome is as A-list as it gets. Things would be a lot simpler if she weren't also the most powerful miko alive. Her secret abilities require a supernatural guardian, and Inuyasha reluctantly agrees after a sinister organization begins to attack from the shadows.

4. Boombayah

Four: Boombayah

Kagome eased her aching body down into her favorite chair in the dining room. The oden was bubbling away and she stared into its depths, mapping out what she was going to eat in order. It wasn't often that she got to indulge in a full meal, but she figured a week without proper nourishment granted her at least one cheat day. Since the table wasn't set, she grabbed a few bowls and placed them in front of each of the three chairs.

Even though he had just been sat into a rage, Inuyasha still beat Kaede to the table.

"Siddown," Kagome said with a mouth full of food, gesturing at the chair closest to her with her chopsticks. "Got you the big bowl."

He had been ready to yell at her, but the bowl was pretty big and the food was hot, so he figured it could wait. Taking a seat, he packed the bowl with rice and tried to study his charge without making her uncomfortable.

It had been Sango who told him where to take Kagome. Were it not for her telling him where Kaede's house was, he would have taken her to his place. Sango had insisted on no hospitals, not wanting all the press attention. Since he knew Kaede was a healer, he hadn't protested much. But fuck, he had been worried. She had been so pale, so drained, so still. The shadows beneath her eyes had seemed like something more than physical but spiritual as well. To see someone as fully alive as Kagome look like that had hurt him in a way he didn't know he was capable of hurting.

"Not again, hanyō," Kaede said sharply. "Keep your eyes and hands to yourself."

Inuyasha turned as red as his shirt. Thankfully, Kagome was too busy gorging herself on a hardboiled egg to pay attention.

"Keh, you've got no idea what you're talkin' about, old hag."

"This old hag is still a spring chicken compared to you."

Kagome finally stopped eating long enough to take a breath. "Aunt Kaede, when I found Naraku in the house, it wasn't a coincidence. I think he drew me there. It was like he was waiting for me." She had been too hopped up on the pride she had in her power and the altercation with Hojo at the time, but looking back on it, she had definitely been set up.

"That wouldn't surprise me," Kaede said with a sigh. "I never truly believed Naraku to be dead. Not while Kikyo was still in this world, anyway."

"But she was the one who finished him off after I got him with Tessaiga. She wrote the report of his execution and we haven't heard from him since!"

"I think my sister hoped for him to have gone away for good. Perhaps she even weakened him to the point that he was near death. But Naraku's attachment to Kikyo was too strong and he will not leave this world without her going with him."

"Baa-chan knew Naraku?" Kagome asked.

"She never told me…"

"Their relationship wasn't exactly a pleasant one," Kaede said. Producing a bottle of sake seemingly from thin air, she poured herself a serving up to the top of the glass. "She never spoke of it even to me. I wouldn't know anything had I not been there to see it myself."

"Better give me some of that," Inuyasha said, holding out his own glass.

"Me too."

Kaede gave her a look. "Sango would take the only eye I have left. You know how you get when you drink."

Kagome pouted and noisily slurped up some daikon.

"There was a time when Naraku was human," Kaede began, her gaze going distant. "His name then was Onigumo. You wouldn't know anything about his human years, but back then he was quite notorious in our area. He robbed banks, he trafficked drugs, he had his own gang… He was in the news constantly.

"I don't know who did it or how, but Onigumo pissed someone off and his people turned on him. It was terrible. They'd torn out his fingernails, hit him so hard in the mouth that his teeth were broken shards, and then they'd set him on fire. They buried him in the woods and thought that was the end."

Kagome gasped in sympathy while Inuyasha snorted. The bastard deserved worse.

"It's my belief that he was so evil hell itself rejected him. How else can you explain a mere man clawing his way out of a shallow grave and crawling all the way through the forest to come to our house? One of his arms was burned so badly that the skin melted it to his body. He should have died. We all would have been better off if he had.

"It was just after dinner. Kikyo and I were outside bringing in the hanging laundry since it was supposed to rain that evening. When he first appeared, I screamed. He looked like something out of a zombie movie. But Kikyo wasn't scared at all. As a miko, she saw it as one of her duties to look out for the injured, no matter their crimes, and she sent me inside to distract our parents while she led him to our shed. It wasn't hard to connect the dots. There was a countywide manhunt going on for him and the news covered it around the clock.

"For weeks, she took care of him. I thought he was sure to die soon since he was in such poor shape. But he just kept on living. I was curious. So when she sneaked out one night, I followed. She had moved him to the caves. That way, our parents wouldn't accidentally find him and turn him in. Kikyo was…" Kaede's face screwed up in a mixture of disgust and sorrow. "Kikyo was enjoying having him rely on her.

"What the hell does that mean?" Inuyasha asked, words hardly distinguishable as language with all the food that was in his mouth.

"I had never seen my sister like that," Kaede continued, ignoring him. "It was like they were feeding off of each other's attention. True, we were fairly isolated, but I didn't think… Anyway, I could only bring myself to hear part of their conversation before I took off. It wasn't exactly the things he said to her, all romantic things any girl would love to hear, but rather the way he said them. Slimy. Twisted. And Kikyo just brushed it off.

"What made me run back for my mother was this. He said he'd sell his soul to be whole again and take her away. His eyes were on the jewel. Kikyo just smiled. That was it. She didn't rebuke him. And when she came back home that night, she was smiling and singing to herself."

"Did she love him?" Inuyasha broke in, desperate for an answer.

"No," Kaede responded immediately. "It wasn't that. It was something else entirely. I don't know if there's even a word for it. All I know is it wasn't right. He had given her a purpose other than the jewel and she was too glad to accept that."

"What happened next?" Kagome asked.

Kaede sighed heavily. "This is the part I regret. I was young, you understand. I thought I was doing the right thing. Protecting my sister. She was beautiful, but at the time so naïve. So I told. And my mother told my father. And my father… He wasn't happy.

"Before that night, he had never raised his voice to any of us, let alone his hand, but he hit Kikyo. He said she was stupid, that she had put the jewel at risk and thus the whole world. She had been entrusted with it just months before since her powers were so great. The police were called. Their mistake was coming to our house before going to the caves. While they were speaking with our father, Kikyo went to warn that criminal.

"By the time the police arrived, Onigumo was gone. I was suspicious. Kikyo was just a teenage girl. There was no way she could have moved him by herself. And he couldn't have gone anywhere in such a short amount of time. Lucky for us, there was enough evidence that he had been there that the police didn't press charges for crying wolf.

"After that day, things changed. Kikyo was not allowed outside her room. Even her meals were taken there. All she was allowed to do was purify the jewel. And then… You saw how the house was. The fire destroyed everything but Kikyo and I. We made our way outside, and to this day I swear the flames parted for us. For her, more likely. My sister was completely fine, and I was lucky enough to only make it out with the injury to my eye. That always felt too intentional. My punishment for spying.

"The two of us went to live with distant relatives at the shrine where the jewel was birthed. That branch of the family had retained ownership of the main property though their spiritual powers had died out long ago. We were able to have a more normal life. We never spoke about Onigumo—or Naraku, as he was called after that night—but I never forgot."

Her audience took a moment to absorb the information.

"Not even the SCA knows about this," Kagome said. "Baa-chan is a hero. Purifying Naraku took almost her power and her sacrifice earned her the highest honors possible. If this got out…"

"They named a fucking award after her!" Inuyasha said, torn somewhere between confusion and disgust. "She never told me any of this. All those people that Naraku killed, demons and humans, she could have stopped it before it started. I bet she knew Naraku wasn't dead. I bet she protected him just like she did back when they were playing fuckin' house together!"

"Shut up!" Kagome had tears in her eyes. "It's not Baa-chan's fault. You don't know anything!"

"We were fucking engaged! I know shit about her you never will."

The two women went silent at that.

"…It appears as though Nee-sama kept a few more secrets than even I guessed."

Inuyasha crossed his arms. "You can ask her fuckin' revenant. Bet she remembers."

Kagome's ears were ringing. Engaged. Inuyasha had been engaged to her grandma. She had known the seventies were a different time, but what the fuck had Baa-chan been smoking?

"It was obvious the two of you were close," Kaede continued, "but I didn't ever imagine she was serious. I thought it a mere dalliance born out of adrenaline. Back then, none of us knew if you would survive. It would make sense that reason would give way to passion and since you were the nearest thing—"

"It wasn't like that!" Inuyasha said, face bright red.

Kagome had placed her hands over her ears and looked closer to tears than before. "What about Jii-chan? I thought they were childhood sweethearts."

"Ginzo." Kaede said the name in a way Inuyasha recognized. It was the same way he said Kikyo's. "Before the war, he was just a friend. He had been too shy to make his feelings known in a way she could understand. But by the time it was over, he was a man. And Kikyo came back having changed herself. When you met my sister, Inuyasha, she was angry and sad in one unending circle. But the war gave her back to us in a way she had never been before. Happy. At peace. It was easier for her to build a rapport with Ginzo. Soon enough, she returned his obvious affections, and they were married."

"So she did love Jii-chan," Kagome said in relief. At least her entire life wasn't a life.

Inuyasha snorted. "No accountin' for taste."

Kagome kicked him under the table and felt a strong yearning for her powers. The bastard deserved to get shocked into humanity more than ever. She considered sitting him, but that would upset the precious pot of oden.

"No one knows the whole story," Kaede said. "Kikyo claimed she could not remember, but no one truly believed that. So I'm sorry, Kagome, but I don't know how she banished the jewel or how it ended up in you. Believe me, if I could give you my own reiki, I would."

"Don't worry, Aunt Kaede," Kagome said. "I must have something left if I can still sense the jewel. Even though I'm not the strongest anymore, I'm going to train until I'm a valuable agent again." Smiling sunnily, she dug into her rice.

This time, Inuyasha looked at her with admiration rather than worry. The girl had drained herself to the point of a coma and here she was bouncing back with just a bowl of soup and a skull full of idiotic hopes.

The air crackled with electricity.

"Watch yourself, hanyō," Kikyo said in a low voice. "My niece might not be able to purify you, but I can still get the job done. And I don't have her gentle hand."

"This whole fuckin' family is nuts," he muttered, but made sure to keep his eyes on his food for the rest of the meal.

O\o/O

It took another week and a few days for Kagome to look like herself again, but she still wasn't feeling like herself. The situation wasn't helped by Sango's intense visual inspection. Kagome shifted nervously, wondering if this was how the demons she'd "interrogated" felt when she approached them.

Finally, her manager nodded.

"You look good. Not great, but good. The spa saved both our asses."

Kagome patted her face. "My skin feels like a baby's. I don't know what they did to me but I'm pretty sure it's magic."

"I had them give you vitamin shots. Then there were the seaweed wraps, herbal baths, hair treatment that they've only just developed, massages, and the diet you were on alone cost more than my monthly rent." She picked up a lock of her hair. "A little oily. That's okay, better that than dry, and there are no live appearances for a while. I've told everyone your brother's condition worsened and that combined with the stress of the new album caused you to collapse. Everyone's quite sympathetic. They're practically salivating for the album release."

Hearing that made her want to crawl right back into bed. So she changed the subject.

"Hojo's never made me wait before," she said, trying not to make it obvious how much it hurt. The waiting room was as plain and boring as the one at a dentist's office and she was feeling the same kind of dread before going in.

"It's probably just because Inuyasha isn't here yet," Sango said, her tone soft and gentle in such a way that Kagome knew hiding her feelings hadn't worked.

"I told him we should have come together but he never answered my text," Kagome complained. "I know he saw it. He saw all five of them and nothing!"

"That's because you sent them all within ten minutes of each other!"

"I did not!" Kagome said, glaring at the room's new inhabitant.

"Hey, Inuyasha. You're late. Don't do it again," Sango said, her voice icy.

"I ain't late. Hojo said to meet him at noon and it's noon."

"It's three minutes past!"

"Ah, Inuyasha, you've arrived at last."

Hojo had opened the door and was staring at the three of them with that smile Kagome hated so much. It was the one he wore as the boss, the one that wasn't really his, the one that had no real warmth behind it. She could remember when they were teenagers, in the early days of The Four Souls and even before, when they could talk for hours and laugh about nothing. Where had that boy gone?

"Your clocks are fast, I'm tellin' ya," Inuyasha grumbled.

That snapped Kagome out of her depressing reverie. "How would everyone but you have the wrong time, genius? Just admit you're wrong and shut up."

"Why don't you take your phone to a phone store and have them fix it and shut up!"

Sango sighed heavily. "There's nothing new to report on my end of things. You have my incident report from the last time I was dispatched and since then I've been working exclusively as Kagome's manager and not a taijiya."

Hojo nodded. "Yes, thanks for coming anyway, Sango."

Kagome realized that Hojo had not had anyone in his office before them. There had been no noise coming from the room either, no muffled sounds of a phone call. Now finding out that he had made Sango come when her presence wasn't really needed made it abundantly clear to her.

Hojo didn't want to be alone with her.

"It's our turn, I guess. Time for the important things," Inuyasha said. Kagome gaped at his rudeness and Sango looked like she was a second away from punching him. "Kagome is powerless. She had the Shikon in her, like inside her. We don't know how. And she broke it. And she resurrected a version of Kikyo that hates me and everyone else. Naraku's back and we don't know where he is or what his plan is or how powerful he is but at least Kagome can sense the jewel shards so we're gonna track 'em down while she does her singing thing. I said all this in my email, we really didn't need a whole ass meeting for it."

The head of the Spiritual Combat Association blinked at him.

"I read the email, I just needed to confirm it, I guess. So it's true that Kagome has lost all her spiritual powers and is no longer a priestess?"

"I can still sense the jewel," Kagome argued. Holding up the necklace Kaede had fashioned for her, she showed Hojo the shard glowing in the tiny vial. "And I can purify it with a touch. But I just… I can't do anything else." She didn't even know how she did that much, truth be told. It was nothing like before when she had been drawing her strength from the jewel. Now, it kind of just happened.

"Your spiritual powers are gone aside from jewel purification, your close combat skills are non-existent, and it's not like you can have a bow and arrow on you at all times." Hojo sighed and looked almost regretful. "Kagome, I'm afraid I'm going to have to discharge you. Honorably, of course. You've served the SCA well, but you're just a normal girl now."

"No!"

To everyone's surprise, it wasn't Kagome who had spoken.

"Is there a reason for that objection, Inuyasha?"

"Kagome doesn't have to be a priestess to be an agent," he scoffed. "Look at Sango and her people. They're allowed. And she's still got a job to do. She broke the jewel and she's the only one who can find the pieces. So what she can't defend herself, that's what she's got me for."

"You quit weeks ago," Hojo reminded. "Right here in this very office."

"Things have changed. The war from fifty years ago ain't over yet. As far as I'm concerned, no one here is more important than me 'n her."

Hojo glanced between the two of them and his jaw seemed to tighten. "Very well. Kagome, your tour will go as previously planned with SCA-owned planes and buses. We'll add some 'surprise' shows along the way whenever you sense a jewel shard as a cover. Inuyasha, you will continue to protect Kagome with your life, and I mean that very literally."

"You mean you're still gonna go out there and sing and dance like nothing's wrong!?" Inuyasha asked Kagome. "That's crazy!"

"It's our cover! And my job. My whole life isn't about the SCA."

"It should be until the mission is over! Then you can go back to your bullshit."

"Enough, Inuyasha. You have your orders. Weekly reports from you and Sango, same as always. Good luck."

Everyone noticed the name that was omitted from turning in the reports. Kagome stood up, white-faced, and abruptly left the room without another word. Sango bowed but Inuyasha was not normally one for outward shows of respect, and even if he had been would not have displayed any, and followed after his charge.

"Where ya goin'? We need to draw up a plan and start asking around town—"

Inuyasha stopped dead in his tracks the second they were out the door and he realized what was going on.

"Are you crying?" He asked it in hushed tones like it was a terrible secret.

Kagome dried under her eyes before turning around but her lashes were still wet and her cheeks were pink and the tears were still pooling.

"You said it yourself, Inuyasha. I'm powerless. I don't have any control over my music, my tour, my clothes, or anything else. The one thing I used to have was being a priestess, the most powerful miko, but now that's all gone and it was never true in the first place. It was all just some stupid jewel. And now Hojo—" She choked on his name. "He can't even look at me anymore. I'm just a waste of resources. I'm worthless now."

His nostrils flared and for a second she thought he was going to yell at her for being a baby.

"Is his opinion the only one you care about? Kagome, let me tell you a not-so-secret secret: no one here likes Hojo. The title is passed down from father to son, so we have good bosses and bad bosses. Hojo isn't the worst, but he still sucks. And you? Everyone loves you. You've even got fans. So stop paying attention to him and let's go save the world."

Kagome sniffled. "Everyone? Are you trying to tell me you love me?"

"I—That's not what I—You—I meant—"

Sango walked into the waiting room just in time to see Kagome burst into laughter. Raising a brow, she gave Kagome a look like a mother scolding a child who knows exactly what it is she did.

"You broke your half-demon."

"He'll get over it," she said, flipping her hair and walking out of the room.

Inuyasha was still stammering after her when she left. Realizing he was about to be left behind, he hurried after the two women, not quite able to bring himself to curse Kagome out even on the inside.

"Where are we going?" he asked, getting ahead of them enough to hold the door open.

"Sango and I are going to a very delayed open audition for my music video," Kagome said. "You can go and do whatever it is you do. I'll call you if I need you."

"Keh, like hell. Last time I left you alone everything went to shit."

"You let me go to the spa alone!"

"That's what you think."

Sango gestured for the car to come around. "Inuyasha pestered me until I gave him your whereabouts and then he just hung out there the entire time. No treatments, no nothing. Just stood there and made everyone uncomfortable while eating the greasy food he got delivered."

"That's…" Kagome tried to think of an appropriate adjective but all of them were insults. "…nice, I guess. You're very, uh, dedicated?"

"Yeah, sure," Inuyasha said, making it clear he had not been listening. "How long is this thing gonna last?"

The manager shrugged while Kagome got in the car. "Not sure. Maybe we'll find our guy right away, maybe it'll take a couple days. Whenever Kagome and I come to an agreement."

The two of them followed after the star and Inuyasha took a moment to be visibly impressed by the luxury interior. That only lasted a second before he was acting like he owned the place.

"Uh huh, sure. I'm leaving at five. Shut it down then." He leaned back, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes like everything was settled.

"Um, excuse me?" Kagome laughed. "We already have a Sango. Stop trying to boss us around and make up rules."

"Yeah, we already have a— Hey, what the hell, Kagome?"

"If I'm done at five, then so are you," Inuyasha said.

"This isn't a nine-to-five kind of gig," Sango said. "Kagome's a star. A celebrity. She doesn't get a break from that and neither do we."

"She was just at a spa for like a week."

"That was work."

"That's the kinda work most people would give their left leg to have."

"That wasn't the first time Kagome had to cancel her appearances due to illness," Sango said, voice low and grave to emphasize just how serious this was. "When she was with her old agency, before my dad took over, and just starting out with The Four Souls, they deprived her of food, sleep, friends—"

"That's enough," Kagome said. "If you want to leave at five, then leave. But it better be important. Sango will stay with me and we'll have Kohaku bring Kirara just in case."

"It's just the one time," Inuyasha said. "Just tonight. It ain't gonna happen again." Not for another month, anyway, but hell, they might be done by then.

Who the fuck was he kidding.

When the car pulled up to the curb, Inuyasha was glad his senses had already begun to dull. The screaming and clamoring was insane. Most of it was nonsense, just babbling of Kagome's name and how much they loved her and how they'd do anything for her and begging her to look at them. It was enough to make him glance at her, suddenly uncomfortable. Was this a fucking cult? He was further unsettled when he saw Kagome suddenly straighten her spine and arrange her expression in such a way that she almost looked like a stranger, like a twin or a clone. Something close to her but not herself.

"That's Stage Kagome," Sango whispered. "Real Kagome hates this. C'mon, let's go."

Inuyasha went to open the door but the building security beat him to it. Scowling at them, he offered his hand to Kagome, who ignored him and exited the car with a kind of smile that turned his stomach in an almost unpleasant way. A single brow arched, eyelids lowered slightly, one side of her mouth pulling just the smallest bit tighter than the other, lips not revealing teeth. It was sexy, but too contrived, too knowing, too performative, too conscious of its own intended effect. It was too not Kagome. He decided he didn't like it.

Music that pounded against his skull and was irritatingly bouncy played on a loop. He belatedly recognized it as her debut single. Pulling the hood on his jacket up, he followed her and Sango out. This time, he apparently didn't need to use the back door. No one was paying attention to him, anyway. They only had eyes for Kagome.

The moment they walked through the mirrored doors, she slouched and let out a sigh of relief.

"There's a tablecloth where we're sitting, right? I'm taking my shoes off." Hopping on one foot, she started to unzip one thigh high boot. Inuyasha didn't feel inclined to tell her he could see up her skirt.

"Why're you auditioning guys, anyway?" he asked, idly watching as she almost fell over while trying to shuck off the clinging leather. "Just get some famous guy and call it a day."

"No!" Kagome said, finally getting both shoes off. With a sound of relief, she threw herself into an overstuffed chair that more closely resembled a throne and looked at him with thinly veiled impatience. "This is my first album that's just me. I want to do as much as I can my way. And I say I want an unknown face for the video. He has to be young, too, so the lyrics aren't quite as creepy. Also, it's fun this way. For them, at least."

"More people are paying attention to Kagome because they think Kagome will pay attention to them," Sango explained while texting furiously. "They think they have a chance to be in her video, which means they think they have a chance to be in her."

"Sango, that's gross!"

"But accurate."

"We're probably going to end up with some young waiter who's been trying to break into acting," Kagome said. "As long as he's good, I don't care."

He pulled out his phone. "Whatever. You've got six hours and twelve minutes. Find him by then."

"Maybe we will make it before five," Sango said, uncharacteristically optimistic. "It's not like the guy's gonna have any lines or anything. He's just going to have to sit there while you dance around, so it's all about looks."

One of Inuyasha's ears twitched in their direction.

"I guess," Kagome replied. "If he were a nice guy, that wouldn't be terrible, either. And cute. And respectful."

"Are you auditioning a boyfriend?" Sango teased.

"Sango!" Kagome squealed in a high pitched voice. Her cheeks turned pink and it let everyone who was listening know that the idea hadn't exactly never crossed her mind. "That's ridiculous! When would I have time for a boyfriend?"

"Hey, as long as he's not like the last one, I'd be happy to make time in your schedule for a secret date here and there."

Her eyes turned steely for a moment and then she was all magazine cover smiles again. "Not until the end of the tour. Then I can relax a little. Unless the album doesn't do well, in which case we'll just have to work even harder."

Sango patted her knee. "It's going to break records, Kagome. I know it, the label knows it, even your anti-fans know it. In the unbelievable scenario where it doesn't, we'll just hook you up with one of those hot closeted guys and create a dramatic narrative that will boost sales." That had her reaching for her phone again. "Maybe Menōmaru? I'll reach out just in case."

As her friend got lost in managing every possible avenue her career could take yet again, Kagome sighed and suppressed a roll of her eyes. A quick glance in Inuyasha's direction showed he didn't want to talk. Stony-faced and dull-eyed, he was beyond bored and just waiting for everything to be over.

She knew the feeling.

"Do you want anything?" she asked.

It took him a second to realize she was talking to him. "Nah, I'm good."

"You sure? We might be here a while."

He shrugged. "I can always get takeout if it runs through lunch."

They were about thirty minutes away from what she assumed his lunch would be. Yeah, it was definitely going to take longer than that. Kagome waved at one of the staff hovering just out of hearing distance of their table set-up. The young man almost tripped over his own feet running over to them and Inuyasha had to remind himself that this wasn't a regular job and he couldn't just punch the guy to dismiss him.

"Yes, Miss Higurashi?" he said, voice trembling.

"Hi, Kenzo," Kagome said, reading his name tag. "Would it be possible to get my friend here something to eat? We have a long day ahead of us and he needs to keep up his strength."

The kid looked at Inuyasha with a kind of nakedly desperate jealousy that took him aback. It almost had him wanting to explain that they weren't in any sort of relationship other than business and even the title of "friend" was a great exaggeration.

Almost.

"Get me one tonkotsu black ramen with extra pork, a beef ramen, five gyoza with extra sauce, ten pieces of fried chicken well done, no wings, six takoyaki, three extra eggs, a side of rice, and a coke." He turned to Kagome, remembering her at the last moment. "You want anything?"

She blinked at him. "That's enough for all of us and the crowd outside. Are you stocking up for the week?"

"Gotta fuel up just in case."

"You'll hardly be in fighting shape if you're in a food coma, but whatever. We've got security screening everyone before they come in anyway, so you shouldn't have to lift a finger unless it's to bring another day's worth of calories to your face." Kagome turned back to Kenzo. "Sango will have a green tea and scone. I'd like a strawberry milk boba. You can add it on to the label's bill for today. If you want anything, just throw it on there, too. Thanks so much!"

The smile on the boy's face was full of pathetic dreams and Inuyasha physically gagged. After a quick bow, he scampered off to do Kagome's bidding.

"Is it fun for you?"

"What?" Kagome asked, blinking her big eyes at him like she had no idea what he was referring to.

"Leading 'em on."

"What are you even talking about?" Her voice rose the slightest bit in agitation and Sango gave him a warning look before going back to her texting.

Maybe he would've backed off if she'd still been able to purify him, but things had changed. "You flutter your lashes and act all cute and work this girly magic on everyone you come across so you can get your way. You lead guys on and they follow your orders thinking that you actually like them." The more he thought about it, the more steamed he got. She was just like her.

Kagome's eyes narrowed and he knew she wanted nothing more than to zap him. "I. Am. Nice," she hissed. "Maybe a jerk like you can't understand kindness, but that doesn't mean I'm flirting with people just to get what I want like—like—like some kind of—"

"Go on. Finish. You know what you are better than anyone, don'tcha?"

"Save your jealousy for when there are fewer witnesses, Inuyasha," Sango broke in before things could get any worse. "It's not Kagome's fault men think they have a chance with a woman just because she makes eye contact."

"I ain't jealous!"

Sango snorted. "Uh huh. I'd sooner believe Kagome was actually flirting with that venue worker."

The two of them sat together in silence with burning cheeks until Kenzo came back loaded down like a pack mule with Inuyasha's lunch and the couple things the women had requested. Kenzo dumped Inuyasha's bags on the floor and first gave Kagome her drink, careful to place a napkin underneath and even put the straw in for her. While he was courteous to Sango, it was obvious he considered her just a part of the entourage and didn't even take her items out of the bag. Finally, with no small amount of impotent rage, he arranged the cartons in front of Inuyasha, firmly putting each one on the table almost hard enough for them to burst open.

"Thanks," Sango said, taking over when Kagome suddenly had trouble looking the boy in the eye. "I'll include a tip for you."

Kenzo lingered a moment after his dismissal, staring at Kagome with naked longing on his face. She was very absorbed in making sure she finished her drink as quickly as possible and didn't open her mouth. It was such a marked change from before that Inuyasha started to feel a little bad. But then he noticed that the napkin sticking to the bottom of her cup had an Instagram handle and phone number written on it.

"Bring in the first audition before I lose it, Sango," Inuyasha said, animalistic eyes trained on the venue worker who had just gotten on his second to last nerve.

Sensing the sudden seriousness, Sango motioned for the security guards to unlock the doors and let the first guy in. Kenzo sulked off back to his coworkers and Inuyasha relaxed some.

The music video star hopeful was good-looking in a human way, he guessed. He glanced at Kagome to gauge her reaction but she was already sharing a look with Sango who was smiling in a way that made him want to crunch down on the chicken he was eating until the bone snapped.

"Hi!" he said a little quietly, with a wave too animated to be authentically shy. "I'm Kazuo, and I'm here to win the spot of Kagome-sama's boyfriend."

"In the video," Inuyasha interrupted.

The girls glared at him. Kagome's foot tapped his ankle just a little too violently and he scowled at her. Sango turned back to the guy who had started to fix his hair.

"So, what we're looking for is mostly—"

"'Cause I-I-I'm gonna starve tonight

So wash me brim that fire and set the nightlight..."

"Oh, uh, it's Kagome who's actually going to be doing the singing, but okay yeah you're just going to keep going then."

The three of them were forced to watch what had once seemed like a promising candidate butcher a BTS song. There was no music, the words were almost all wrong, and it was completely off-key. Even worse than that, though, was the dancing. Kazuo's eyes remained shut tight, face screwed up in concentration as only someone completely in the zone could be. His hips swayed, but his arms stayed still at his side and his feet didn't move either. The tempo was off, too, so it took way longer than it should have. All in all, it was the most excruciating experience of secondhand embarrassment Inuyasha had ever been put through.

"Thank you for that," Kagome somehow managed to say at the end. "We have your contact information and if you were chosen, we'll let you know."

Kazuo obviously hadn't been in the city long enough to know what that meant. The boy beamed at the three of them and bowed low before waving again.

"Thanks! I look forward to seeing you again!"

"I'd sooner light this place up with actual fuckin' dynamite," Inuyasha said under his breath.

Kagome choked on her drink. "Inuyasha!" she said like she was scolding him, but she was smiling at him.

She didn't make a lot of sense.

Before he could start acting like one of the idiots outside, the doors opened again and another guy was waved through. One after another after another after another. Tall, short, thin, fat, and fit. Handsome, plain, and ugly. Demon, human, and hanyō. Some were talented. Most weren't. The only thing they had in common was their disgusting smell: how much they wanted the woman sitting next to him.

The wants were different, and that he saw in their eyes. Some wanted to use her for fame, for money, for sex, or some combination of the three. By the time it was over, he didn't know how she was able to keep that same bright smile on her face. Now that he was looking a little closer, maybe it wasn't so bright. And maybe it wasn't for the fans.

"That's my time," Inuyasha said, rising to his feet.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to end now," Kagome said. "We went a lot faster than I thought we would."

Sango nodded. "Most of them just wanted an autograph or something. I'll narrow down the list and we'll have our guy by tomorrow. Unless anyone stood out to you?"

She rolled her eyes. "What do you think?"

"Hey, at least they don't have to sing. Or dance. Or talk."

There was commotion outside the doors and the three of them turned to look as one. Most of the crowd had departed, the acting hopefuls being made to leave after their audition was over, so only a few remained. That made the instigator that much easier to identify.

"No fuckin' way," Inuyasha said.

At the same time, Kagome groaned, "No fucking way."

After a short argument with the guards, the doors were forced open and in burst a gasping, sweating Kōga.

"This I gotta see," Inuyasha said, sitting back down.

It spoke volumes of the wolf's devotion that he only spared him a brief glare before focusing on Kagome with a kind of hyperfixation that made his skin crawl even when it wasn't directed at him.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't make it earlier, Kagome-chan!" Kōga said, grabbing both her hands. "This stupid job took longer than it was supposed to so I rushed it and ran here."

"Thanks, Kōga-kun," Kagome said, her smile dimming just enough to make Inuyasha feel better.

"You got blood on her, jackass."

Sango handed her a napkin and Kagome's eye twitched the slightest bit while she wiped whatever mark's gore off herself.

"Sorry. Didn't have time to wash up," Kōga said. "Anyway, time for me to show you why I should be the star of your video."

"It's going to be like ten seconds of screen time—Oh gods, he brought a boombox. Do they still make those?" Sango turned to Kagome, who did not meet her eyes as she could not look away from the horrific scene.

The music Kōga had chosen had no words, just a bass-heavy beat that belonged in a club. The kind of dancing he did to go along with it made Inuyasha wonder if the wolf had lied on his resumé about his law enforcement experience and instead was the kind of cop who only kept a pair of fuzzy handcuffs on him.

Inch by creepy inch, the wolf humped the air until he was right in front of the table, bulging junk right in Kagome's face. Just when Inuyasha was about to burst out laughing, Kōga took it a step too far and jumped up on the rickety plastic table where he began to gyrate, his erection barely held back by his blood-stained trousers. Filled with a rage he neither understood nor anticipated, Inuyasha put an arm around Kagome and pressed her close to him so she wouldn't have to be subjected to the wolf's harassment any longer. With the other hand, he pushed Kōga off the table where he fell on top of his boombox, smashing it into pieces and putting them all out of their misery.

"Stay the fuck away from Kagome, you bastard!" he barked. "Fuck, I'd sooner have that K-pop wannabe than you."

Nothing. Just silence. No retort from Kōga, back-up from Sango, or scolding from Kagome. The three of them were just staring at him like he'd grown a second head.

Oh shit.

Inuyasha tried to push away from Kagome, but she held on tight, her arms circling around his middle while her eyes grew even larger the longer she looked at him. He tried to shrug away, but as he was now, it was almost easy for her to stay stuck to him like glue. He flinched, waiting for the blow of whys to come: why are your eyes dark, why is your hair black, why are your nails flat? Why are you human?

"Inuyasha," she said, voice colored with something like awe, "you're perfect."

That was different. With the way Kagome was looking up at him, he believed she meant it too. He felt his face flush and his gut twisted with a kind of embarrassing agony of butterflies that made him want to punch himself in the stomach until they died.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Sango asked, looking engaged for the first time in hours.

Kagome nodded and stepped away from him, leaving Inuyasha to heave a sigh of relief. She had been too close for too long and it messed with his head. Stupid human night. This was why he'd wanted to leave, but no, the stupid wolf had to show up and the potential insults had been too great for him to just go.

"Look at him. He's perfect for the video. Young, not hot enough that he'd distract from me, but not not attractive, he's an unknown, but we know him. He's perfect."

"Wait a second," Inuyasha broke in, gears just beginning to turn. "Are you saying that—"

"You want this asshole in the music video!?" Kōga said, somewhere between a whine and a devastated cry.

"How long do you stay like this?" Sango asked, all business again.

"I ain't doing it!"

"How long?" Kagome persisted, tugging one one of his newly dark locks of hair. "What if we're attacked by another legion of demons and only have Kōga to rely on? You should have told me sooner."

He cringed at the idea of being protected by Kōga. He'd rather be eaten alive. "Just until sunrise."

Sango's phone dinged. "Marco will be here in fifteen."

Kagome clapped her hands. "Thank the gods! This ordeal has dragged on long enough. I'm so glad you're having your time of the month, Inuyasha."

"Don't call it that! Wait, are you filming it now?"

"You're filming it now," Sango corrected. "We only need this one scene of you and Kagome and a couple shots of you just sitting there. You don't have to do anything, the glamor squad will take care of wardrobe and hair and all that. Most of the surroundings will be added in post and the rest of the video was shot already. This was just a publicity stunt and we were trying to make it as painless as possible for us."

"I ain't doing it," he repeated stubbornly.

"Why not?" Kagome asked, hands on her hips in such a way that he knew they were about one exchange away from the fucking beads being used.

So he decided to be honest. "I don't want my face out there. Human or otherwise."

Her expression softened. "Inuyasha," she said, grabbing his hand, "what did you think was going to happen now that we're together all the time?"

"Your human face already made it in the tabloids," Sango said. "I have half a mind to link Kagome's mystery man to the star of her music video."

"Sango, you wouldn't!"

She shrugged. "We'd trend for days."

"Not worth it," Inuyasha muttered.

The film and glamor crew arrived before the director. Being the star, Kagome was of course the priority, but Inuyasha was unpleasantly surprised when he was tugged away by fussing men and women with big hair as well. The group splintered, the majority of them taking Kagome behind a screen they'd set up and the rest of them taking him off behind another one.

It bothered him how much it bothered him that he could no longer pick up her scent or hear her heartbeat.

A man with the fluffiest fake eyelashes he had ever seen and a woman wearing what looked like a fitted black sleeping bag assessed him and found him lacking.

"I don't understand her vision," he drawled.

"We don't have to understand it—or like it," she replied. "She's in red. He's in black. Minimal makeup for him. Straighten the hair a bit, maybe."

"Ooooh, a braid?"

"I like it! It will match hers."

Inuyasha gaped at them in horror. Makeup? A braid? And the dude was pulling out different black outfits while eyeing his body in a way that made him wholly uncomfortable.

"Biceps: thirty-eight centimeters. Waist: eighty-one centimeters. Am I close?"

More like dead fucking on. Inuyasha nodded and tried to get as far away as possible, but the bitch was brushing his hair so he could barely move half a step.

"I'm Karo," she purred, massaging her fingers into his scalp. "And that's Kira. We're going to fix you."

"Doing okay, Inuyasha?" Kagome called from across the way.

It rankled him unspeakably that she sounded concerned. Didn't she know he had been looking after himself since before even her grandmother was born?

"No!" he shouted back.

"Good, that's normal," she fired back with something close to nonchalance but he swore the bitch was messing with him. Fuck, had she ever intended to pick someone else for her stupid video or had she just decided to torture him and only him from the moment they met?

"I'm tempted to pluck these," Kira said, standing way too close to him and reeking of perfume. "Your brows need serious saving."

"Do it and lose the hand."

He gave him a pitying look. "I want you to know that I've thrown you a life raft and you chose to drift. Very well. We will comb and gel."

As the cloud of hairspray descended, Inuyasha was glad to be human for the first time in forever. It still made him want to gag, but at least he wasn't going to pass out. Karo put a satin headband on him and then Kira attacked his face. First he was squirted with some kind of serum so suddenly he actually made a sound of alarm, and then practically slapped in the face with cream, which Kira spent far too much time massaging into his skin. Then began the beating with sponge and brush.

Karo snorted. "He's an NC25, wipe and do it over."

"Bitch, please. You can go back to the aughts and work the counter at the mall if you're gonna bring Mac into this. We're using Clé de Peau Beauté for this beauty. And NC25 is too light, he'd look like a ghost once they got the cameras on him."

Inuyasha went from stewing about the girly-sounding make-up (wasn't that feminine enough!?) being forced on his face to going entirely still both inside and out. Oh fuck, cameras. He wasn't a social guy and didn't have any pictures of himself, aside from the ones he hadn't known were being taken of him as he left Kagome's house. Even his phone didn't have any pictures aside from screenshots of coupons he used when getting ramen or pizza delivered. The anxiety swirled inside him until it turned into a hurricane, wrecking his brain so thoroughly and occupying his thoughts with all the worst case scenarios that he didn't even register when bronzer, mascara, lip pencil, and gloss were applied.

"Just a little smudge aaand... Oh dang, honey, if you didn't look so terrified you'd have quite the sexy smolder."

"You want a few of my special pills?" Karo offered, shaking a container of Tic Tacs that most definitely wasn't filled with mints.

He considered it for a moment before shaking his head. No matter the agony, he needed to stay alert and lucid in case Kagome was targeted again. Gods knew—though she had yet to figure it out—that she couldn't defend herself anymore. Even his human self was better than what she could do. Dance away the danger? Annoy it to death? Ask it to go away nicely? Please.

"Done!" Kira finally declared. "I mean, it's nowhere close to my usual standards, but we have a limited amount of time for some mysterious reason, and Kagome's the hottest thing out there right now and we cannot afford to piss her off. The computer guys will take care of any imperfections just like they did with Cardi's stretchmarks in WAP."

That brought his concern about the cameras back up to a hundred. "My face needs stretchmark editing?"

"You're no Jimin, sweetie."

"And that's putting it kindly."

"You guys are dicks."

"Speaking of dicks," Kira said, "it's time for you to shimmy out of your clothes and into these." He held up a flawlessly pressed, creased, and wrinkle-free very expensive black suit with a black silk shirt.

Inuyasha took the clothes, fighting the urge to wipe his hands on his jeans before touching them, and waited for his company to depart. And waited. And waited.

"Well?" Karo said. "Hurry up. There's a deadline and Marco doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"I know that!" Inuyasha said. He was the entire reason for the fucking deadline, after all. "Will you two fuck off already so I can put on this stupid goddamn costume?"

They blinked at him.

"So touchy."

"So feisty."

"So horny."

"What?"

"I meant me."

"You have five minutes," Karo said. "One of Marco's assistants will come get you and tell you what to do. Here's a pro-tip, ma petit ingénue: don't make eye contact with Kagome, don't touch her, don't talk to her, don't stand near her, don't ad-lib, don't overact, don't look at the camera, don't blink too much, don't slouch, don't fidget, and just relax."

If she had offered them again, he might have taken one of the pills. But then he was alone with the clothes and the mirrors and various junk. Half of him wanted to look in the mirror and see the massacre they had made of him and the other half wanted to stay within six inches of Kagome until sunrise. He decided to do neither. Seeing how awful he looked would only make things worse. Sneaking over to Kagome's side of things would only piss her off and he had no idea if the beads worked on moonless nights and no desire to find out.

Inuyasha was the kind of guy who didn't spend much on clothes and thought about them even less. His underwear came in a ten-pack and he wore them until they were falling apart. His t-shirts also came in value packs and were usually plain white with the occasional red. Other than that, he had two pairs of jeans (the second was for when the first was in the wash), a leather jacket, a sweatshirt, some mismatched socks, a pair of shoes, and his fire rat, which wasn't exactly everyday wear in this era. But even he knew that he had to take extra care with the suit with the name on the label he couldn't pronounce and assumed was Italian or French or something else foreign and fancy.

There was a knock on the folding screen's metal structuring before he had finished completely. Inuyasha sighed wearily and shrugged into the blazer. His long hair was stiff with product and he dragged the braid over his shoulder, idly wondering if it would snag the silk shirt. The clothes were a little too fitted and if he breathed wrong the buttons would strain, but he guessed that was the look they were going for when he walked out and everyone looked at him with the kind of eyes people normally reserved for Kagome.

"Woah," Sango said, looking up from her phone for a full five seconds. "I guess the clothes do make the man."

"Where's Kagome?" he asked, already grumpy and ready to go.

"Girls take longer, you know that. She was right, though." Sango's gaze changed from admiring to assessing and the hair stood up on the back of his neck. "Perfect. You're in the tabloids, now you're in the video, and you're her bodyguard... Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That I didn't fucking sign up for this shit?"

She laughed. "We'll revisit this after the shoot. I'll let Kagome do her thing and then we'll see how you feel."

"What the fuck are you even talking about?"

"What I always talk about. Work."

Some guy in a headset who was as attached to a tablet as Sango was to her phone came up to him. "You're playing The Lap?"

"The what?"

"That's the role. The Lap. Like the song. Daddy's Lap."

He felt queasy all over again. "Is Kagome almost done?"

The assistant looked at him with a mixture of offense and pity. "Don't call her by her name. Don't refer to her at all. The talent always hate that."

"It's not like that! I know her."

"Look, I know you're a big fan, but you don't really know her. You just memorized her Wikipedia page and stalk her socials that she doesn't even manage herself. She's not going to be your girlfriend, one of her people picked you at random because you had the right look to be marketable enough and your background check came out clean. After tonight, you'll never see her again."

Did this asshole really think he was just like Kōga?

"I don't give a fuck about Kagome like that, you idiot," he fired back. "If it were up to me, I'd be as far away as I could get from here. And why is everyone acting like she's the greatest thing on the planet, huh? She's annoying, she's loud, she's stupidly stubborn, she smells weird, and she's no beauty, either!"

"You think I smell weird!?"

"How is that the only thing she had an issue with?" Kira stage whispered.

Inuyasha froze. Oh fuck, she was right behind him.

"I said what I said!" he shouted back as he turned around, deciding to double down only to stop in his tracks when he got a good look at her.

In that moment, Kagome was definitely no beauty. Someone had tarted her up and she was nearly unrecognizable. Her hair was pulled back in a high braid that went from the crown of her head all the way down her back to brush against the base of her spine. Her makeup consisted of a boldly winged red eyeshadow, gold liner, and matching red lip that reminded him of war paint from ages past, contrasting with the pale pearl of the rest of her skin that shimmered like it had been dusted with gold. But the clothes. Oh sainted fuck, the clothes.

Her breasts were hardly concealed, a length of nearly sheer crimson cloth wrapped around her waist once and then crossed over her chest, held in place by a gold collar around her neck. And he had seen her in tiny skirts before, but this was ridiculous. One wrong move and she'd be exposed for everyone to see. And her heels were so high with laces that wrapped around her legs in a way that looked almost painful, so knowing her clumsy ass a wardrobe malfunction was a question of when, not if.

"Where's the rest of it?" he asked.

"Rest of what?" she said with attitude, obviously ready to fight.

"Your clothes, you moron!"

"You're right!" Sango said. Rushing over to where Kagome had been curtained, she grabbed a box wrapped in pink tissue paper and carefully removed the contents before placing it on Kagome's head. "The tiara. It's essential."

Kagome smiled at her in thanks and immediately three people rushed over to "fix" Kagome's hair with the new accessory, leaving it looking exactly the same.

"I knew you were a jerk, Inuyasha, but I didn't think you were such a stupid jerk," Kagome said in a low voice, advancing on him. Pushing his shoulder, she backed him up to the set. "S-I-T down. Shut up. If you open your mouth again, I swear I will osuwari you into a hole so deep you will never crawl your way out."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "You bitch. This collar is not Association-approved and not in the contract!"

"You didn't sign a contract!"

"You'll have to reschedule your petplay for after the shoot," the assistant said. "Marco's waiting."

Kagome gave him one last glare before stomping off and greeting some artsy type of loser who was wearing sunglasses even though it was nighttime and they were indoors. When she kissed the air beside his cheeks, he nearly followed after her, but the increasingly annoyed assistant put a hand between his shoulders and directed him to the set.

"Toldya I know 'er," he grumbled moodily, keeping his head turned so he could continue to watch Kagome pretending to laugh at the pretentious douchebag's jokes.

"Yeah, we all knew it had to be rigged," the guy said.

The set was simple. There was an artificial red rose wall backdrop with two equidistant electric candelabra sconces, one situated on either side of a high backed throne-like chair. Other than that there was just a long, narrow dining table that was as black and shining as the surface of a piano. He made the mistake of looking at it too closely and caught a glimpse of himself reflected in its depths.

Holy fuck, he looked like a goddamn idiot. The second anyone in the SCA saw this, he'd never be taken seriously again. And what about all the criminals he'd put away? Did they have access to television in jail? Were they fans of Kagome's? He made a mental note to look up everyone he had ever arrested and check when they were getting out (if ever). If they recognized him and thought he was some kind of pansy now, the first thing they'd try and do was kill him.

With a huff, Inuyasha sat down in the chair so hard it scooted back a couple inches. His glare was fixed on Kagome's turned back and he crossed his arms.

"That death stare isn't going to make her turn around," Sango said, coming over to him. "Not when she's ignoring you on purpose."

"I don't care," he said, knowing even as the words formed in his head that he would convince absolutely no one.

She patted his shoulder. "Sure. And don't worry too much about the outfit. She's got like five different kinds of tape keeping her together."

"Was that her idea or yours?" he asked. "She doesn't dress like that when she's just being herself. And she doesn't look comfortable."

The both of them eyed her body language, how she seemed slightly more withdrawn, her eyes darting around nervously.

"Before, she had the other girls to rely on," Sango said. "Even if ninety percent of the focus was on her, she never felt like it was when she had her friends up there with her. But it's different now. It's just her. The fans always wanted more of her, and now that we're giving them more, I'm wondering what will be left."

The statement chilled him. The way it sounded to him, he needed to defeat Naraku all over again and the music industry before she'd be safe.

"She can rely on me," he said. "I'm proving it by doing this shit, ain't I?"

Sango smiled. "You're a good fit for the team. And don't worry. After we've established Kagome as a solo artist, things won't be so crazy. She might even get one of her own songs on the next album."

He gaped at that. "She doesn't even get to sing what she wants?"

"Or wear what she wants, eat what she wants, date who she wants, go where she wants..." Sango listed off. "The label and agency have a lot of rules."

Under those circumstances, he could kind of understand how she was such a bitch all the time. "...So all I've gotta do is sit here, right?"

She nodded. "Pretty much. Don't cross your legs and don't pout or make it obvious you're zoning out and we'll be golden. You'll only be filmed from your right side and showing up for like five seconds so don't overthink it." Her phone buzzed and her attention immediately shifted. "Gotta go. Have fun."

When he looked up again, Kagome's attention was entirely on him and she looked even angrier than before. What the fuck had he done now? Sango came over to tell her something and Kagome seemed to be giving her the cold shoulder as well. With a roll of her eyes, the manager leaned over and said something to the director who immediately clapped his hands and gained the attention of the whole crew.

"Okay, everyone! First of all, thank you for coming out on such short notice. I was also not informed of the filming beforehand, but when I heard Kagome was in need, I couldn't do anything but oblige her." He smiled at her. "The good news is the majority of the work has been done. Glamour and wardrobe, you are our stars of the evening. Kagome looks fantastic, very true to our vision, thank you so much. All we need are a few shots of Kagome on the table and we are done for the night. We have until sunrise, but I know how talented and professional everyone here is, and I don't think it will take that long. Now let's do this!"

A few people started shouting industry jargon and Kagome acted like she knew exactly what they were talking about, going to a marked spot on the set directly across from him at the other end of the table. Cameras were wheeled into place and he felt himself tense up as he tried not to look at them but could feel them looking at him.

Then the music started, Kagome climbed onto the table, and the world shrank until it was just her crawling towards him.

Inuyasha had never seen her like this. In the short time he had known her, Kagome had been loud and confident to the point of arrogance and displayed a serious need for some anger management courses, but she had never once been like this. He didn't even have the proper words for what this was, for how it made him feel.

It was a whole different Kagome yet again. Not the one he had dubbed Real Kagome, not the Celebrity Kagome she was for her fans. This was like an entirely separate Kagome that had been created in that instant. She moved gracefully atop the table, but there was something lethal to her movements as well, like a panther. Even with all her flesh revealed and displayed in order to entice, he could hardly look away from her face. Maybe it was the makeup or the lighting or being human, but the gray of Kagome's eyes looked closer to silver and there was a command to them that he found arresting in a way he absolutely could not resist.

The closer Kagome got to him, the more absorbed in their world he became. Soon he no longer even heard the music, just the quickened beat of his heart. Everything in him was straining to meet her and he gripped the wooden arms of the chair as hard as he could, his hands sliding off from how sweaty his palms were. Finally, Kagome was mere centimeters away from him, and he could feel her breath on his face and realized he had risen the slightest bit and was now hovering above the seat of the chair.

He and Kagome remained separated only by the dim knowledge that they shouldn't be this close, the magnetic pull between them winning every second. Then Kagome's tongue darted between her parted lips to moisten the lower one and Inuyasha lost what little presence of mind he had. All at once, he sprang to his feet, breaking the one consistent rule: stay in the chair.

A bell rang and Kagome straightened, kneeling on the table and taking her lips out of his reach. The air rang with her recorded voice.

Feels so good to be bad

On Daddy's lap

"Perfect, Kagome," Marco said. "I think we got what we need for this part. I love it, by the way. The song is a sub's dream, but it's clear by the terrified look on his face who the dominant one here is. It contradicts the lyrics in a delightfully subversive way and tells a different story, reminiscent of Becky G's Mayores."

Kagome beamed. "Thanks, Marco! Did you hear that? You can go home now, Inuyasha."

He blinked at her. "...That's it?"

She nodded like she didn't know what had just happened between them. "I told you it wouldn't be a big deal. You can go do your thing. Wouldn't want my smell to offend you any more than absolutely necessary."

"Fuck, are you still going on about that?"

"That was like ten minutes ago!"

"Exactly! The past is in the past."

Kagome made a sound of rage that was half a smothered scream and half a garbled curse. "Just go already!"

"Fine! I know when I'm not wanted."

"Obviously not or you would never have been here in the first place."

That one stung. He chalked it up to being human and in an unusually stressful situation. Inuyasha was suddenly uncomfortably aware of the cameras again and stormed off the set and back into his makeshift dressing room. He shrugged out of the blazer and threw it at the mirror. When did they put fucking lipstick on him!? Pure spite motivated him to tug the shirt off in such a way that the buttons came right off with it. He twisted the clothing in his hands and felt how damp it was. Fear and anxiety and a little something else had made him sweat like crazy.

There was too much product in his hair to undo it and he briefly considered shaving it all off with the trimmer he saw in one of the many equipment bags but decided against it. The mess they had made of his face, however, he couldn't live with a second longer, so he grabbed a wipe and rubbed his skin until it was pink and raw. It felt like half his eyelashes came off, too, but those would be back by morning—not that he cared about people finding him attractive.

Once he was back in his own clothes and free of makeup, he headed back out. Kagome was crawling to nowhere on the table and a camera was following her from behind, aimed directly at her ass and parted thighs.

"Lucky bastard."

Inuyasha jumped in surprise. "Kōga? How'd you get back in?"

"I never left!" The wolf was staring at Kagome with a lust so acute it looked as painful to experience as it was to observe. "What did her breath smell like when you were that close?"

"...Don't say that shit to me, wolf," he said, so exhausted by the day that he didn't even have the energy to come up with an insult.

"Oh yeah. Human nose. So the moonless night is when you turn?"

"If you tell anyone, I'll kill you. And it won't be quick." In fact, he was thinking of killing him even if he didn't breathe a word.

"Do you think Kagome-chan has time to give me her autograph?"

For the first time, Inuyasha realized the wolf was holding a bundle of cloth in his arms like it was the most precious cargo he'd ever handled. He shouldn't. He really shouldn't and he knew that even as he reached out and tugged the thing away from the very distracted agent.

"Is this—Holy fuck, you're sicker than I thought!"

"Give it back!"

Kōga lunged and wrestled it back from him. Inuyasha didn't fight it. The thing had felt disturbingly stiff under his palms.

"A dakimakura? Really?" He shook his head. "Gross."

"You're just jealous 'cause it's a limited edition and I bought two-hundred of the five-hundred that were released!"

Holding the pillowcase up in something close to triumph, Kōga displayed a stained 2D version of Kagome in a very revealing schoolgirl outfit. Her cartoon doppelganger was blushing and slightly teary-eyed. Waves spread around her head in a dark chaos, blouse straining at her full breasts, swollen lips. It was all too easy to imagine that she was ready and begging for it. At least she was completely dressed, even if it had crossed the border into weirdo fetish territory.

"She's already signed it. Fourteen times."

Kōga nodded. "I just need one more. I want a total a fifteen. That's how old Kagome-chan was when I first fell in love with her."

Inuyasha reached for his gun.

"Kōga!" Sango said, her slayer sense for danger tingling. "You're still here. How's the fan club going?"

"We're getting new members every minute! Our people are organized and we all take time out of our day to go online and fight the anti-fans. Things have been much better ever since that bitch Akiko stepped down."

"Akiko was the former president of the fan club," Sango explained. "Kōga was very vocal about her supposed incompetence—some called it bullying—and it eventually became too much. Plus she had just graduated middle school and needed to concentrate on her studies."

"Did Kagome tell you to ask about me?"

The smile she plastered on her face was as big as it was false. "Kagome is always concerned with her fans."

The bell that signaled the end of whatever they were filming rang again and Inuyasha looked up to see Kagome fixing a glare on him again like he had done something wrong.

"Kagome, you're doing so amazing, but we really need just a couple more run-throughs of you on the table and then one where you're doing the splits on the edge, offering your womanhood as a meal to the viewer."

"No. I'm done," she said, words clipped. Sliding down to the ground, she ignored the director and the rest of the crew trying to pester her and marched her way over until she was so close he could feel her heat. Or was that just how hot she made him feel?

"What are you talking about?" she asked Sango.

The manager seemed taken aback by the thinly veiled suspicion in Kagome's tone. "Just work stuff."

Kagome rounded on Inuyasha. "Why didn't you leave? I thought you wanted to go."

He shrugged. "Made it this far, figured I should see it through."

"Sign my pillowcase, Kagome-chan!"

She grabbed the offered marker and signed without even looking. "I'm done. Let's go, Sango."

"You might be done, but I'm not. The video doesn't end with the filming," she replied. "And now I've got to smooth things over with the crew because you decided to act like a diva."

"Oh, so now I'm a diva because I don't want Marco filming up my skirt for his own personal use? You know that's not going in the video."

Sango sighed. "I'm not defending it or him, Kagome. All I'm asking is for you to be a little more diplomatic so I don't have to work twice as hard."

She left, and Kagome looked visibly guilty. Her lower lip trembled and Inuyasha was beginning to see the resemblance to her 2D character. It unsettled him enough that he put himself between her and the wolf just in case his crazy ratcheted up a notch.

"I'll walk you back so you can get changed without any problems, okay?" he said.

"You sure you wouldn't rather be going after Sango?"

Inuyasha quirked a brow in confusion. "Sango's not my job. You are."

For a second she looked like she was going to sit him, but then she deflated. "You're right. Fine. But don't peek!"

"Who would!" Even as he said it, he glared back at Kōga to make sure he'd stay put. Unusually enough, the wolf seemed to know the hard limits of stalking Kagome and waved at her turned back before staring adoringly at his dakikamura.

With as long as it took her to get ready he assumed it would take forever for her to finish, but in less than five minutes she was barefaced and in a change of clothes different from the ones she had started the day with.

Noticing his stare, she smiled and tugged on her oversized t-shirt that fell almost to the knees of her yoga pants.

"I always bring something comfortable for after a long day."

Inuyasha hadn't seen her without makeup since she was close to death at Kaede's house. Now he could say she was one of those girls who looked good even without being done up. Better than good. His mind flashed back to how she'd looked crawling toward him on the table and his gut clenched so suddenly he almost stopped in his tracks.

"Are you coming?" Kagome called to Sango, considerably more relaxed and friendly.

What had changed?

Sango stopped arguing with Marco for just long enough to shake her head. The two of them were standing over a laptop and the screen was frozen on a shot of Kagome laying down, the camera positioned so the view came from between her breasts to view her lower body.

"I'll have the driver send another car for her," Kagome said as they walked outside. "Where do you live? I'll drop you off."

Uh oh. "How about the car drops you off first and then me? That way I can make sure you get home safe."

"The shrine's wards still hold even if I'm not strong anymore. I'm more concerned about you. This is your time of the month, after all."

"Don't call it that."

They got in the limo and this time Kagome sat right next to him even though there was ample space to choose from.

"I can't get over it," she said, her voice hushed.

Her side was pressed up against his and if he turned then they would be so close that they'd—

"W-what are you doing?" he asked when she got even closer.

"Does it hurt?"

It was starting to. "I ain't Kōga, alright? So whatever you're thinkin' is gonna happen—"

"Inuyasha!" she said in reproach. "Were you having dirty thoughts just now?"

He flushed. "It's your fault for practically wearing nothing and looking at me like you were going to kiss me and then almost getting in my lap just now!"

"It's your fault for having a dirty mind." She scooted about a foot away from him. "I was asking if it hurt when you changed from normal to human."

Something about her referring to him being a hanyō as "normal" made him want to close the distance between them again.

"Nah," he finally said. "It doesn't happen all at once, either. The whole day it gets worse and worse and then when night comes, whatever's left of my power is snuffed out until sunlight."

"At least you know when it's coming and it's not for long," she said. "Now where do you live? Let the driver know." Kagome pressed a button and the screen between them and the front seat lowered.

Oh shit. "Uh, you could just drop me off here and I can walk."

She gave him an odd look. "You protect me every day, the least I can do is look out for you for part of tonight. What's your address?"

He mumbled something.

"What's that, sir?" the driver asked.

"I said Kabukicho."

Kagome gaped at him. "You live there?"

He nodded. "It's like five minutes from Higashi-Shinjuku Station. Really, you can drop me off here and I can still make the train."

"There's no way I'm letting you go there by yourself at night looking the way you do."

"I've done it before! I've been living there since before you were born."

"Exactly! Now I'm around to stop you from being stupid. Now give the driver your exact address."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and did as told. Turning to her with a pout, he said, "You don't have to do this. Do ya know how much of an ass it'd make me if you got mugged when dropping me off?"

She slid over until they were close again. "Inuyasha, are you worried for me?"

The way those gray eyes peered into his own resurrected the butterflies in his stomach. When she fluttered her eyelashes, he realized she knew exactly what she was doing to him.

"Keh, hardly. It's not like there's another Kōga out there, right?"

She laughed. He was so used to pissing her off that he almost doubted he'd heard right.

"You really thought I was going to kiss you earlier?"

Ah fuck. Now things were awkward and his pulse had gone from moderato to allegrissimo. "I'm n-not used to that stuff!" he sputtered. "So I got caught up in it. You forget about it and I will too."

"Well I'm used to it and I got caught up, too. If Marco hadn't cut, then we probably would have done something to justify your dirty mind."

If Inuyasha had been anyone else, he would have taken the hint and given in to his own matching desires and kissed her the way they both obviously wanted to be kissed. But his palms were sweating and he was so nervous he was afraid he'd vomit if he opened his mouth. If he had been his regular half-demon self, he'd be even more hardheaded and probably make some sort of comment about her having an even dirtier mind. But he was human and he was tired and he was struck dumb in a couple different ways by how she looked in the moonlight.

After a couple seconds of an almost unbearable silence, the car stopped before his building. He immediately scrabbled for the door handle to get out. Kagome put a hand on his and he tensed up, swallowing against his suddenly very dry tongue. He couldn't bring himself to look at her.

"Thank you for being in my video," she said, sounding uncharacteristically shy. "I know it took a lot. I think you'll have a lot of fangirls after this because of how handsome you looked."

"O-o-okay," he somehow managed. "G'night."

And then he took off at a speed that matched himself even at his demonic peak.

Kagome sighed and curled up on the seat. What the hell had she just done? Was she so lonely and broken up over Hojo that she had thrown herself at Inuyasha of all people? And he had rejected her. Worse than rejected her, he had been so disgusted he couldn't even look at her.

The car took off again and Kagome wondered what Sango and her grandmother had that she didn't.

O\o/O

Since Kagome was taking a short break from promotions before the tour and was just going back and forth between the gym and the shrine, Inuyasha wasn't needed. In fact, he had been told in so many words to stay away for a while.

"The music video awards show is on the twenty-fifth," Sango had said over the phone, sounding apologetic. "We'll need you then, but not before."

"Kagome doesn't want me around, right?"

The pause was slight, but enough to tell him everything he needed to know. "She just doesn't want to bother you. After all, the tour is soon and you deserve as much time to yourself until then."

Inuyasha hung up without saying anything. What surprised him was how much it annoyed him that she didn't want him around. Who said he wanted to be around her, anyway? Why did she have to go to the extent of telling her manager to keep him away like he was some kind of Kōga?

Now that he had the time to look for clues on the jewel shards, he didn't have the drive.

The night of the awards show, he walked into a bar on his block and was ushered straight to the back. While he wasn't a regular, the staff immediately recognized him. Women danced on tables and sat on the laps of patrons while the men drank and spent money just to lose more at gambling. Fees were added onto every bill: for the girls, for the service, for the glasses, for the chairs, for the goddamn oxygen. As usual, he ignored the chaos around him on the way to his destination, the unmarked black door that blended in with the wall so perfectly that no one could find it unless they knew it was there.

The change between the rooms was night and day. From a dark and smoky, seedy, crowded place he entered a brightly painted yellow room with a child's crayon drawings hung on the walls. There were a variety of toys littered across the ground and he had to be careful to watch his step. All in all, it looked like a daycare.

"Inuyasha. To what do I owe the displeasure?"

The half-demon bopped the kitsune on the head before the kid could play one of his tricks.

"Tell me everything you know about the jewel shards."

Shippo scowled up at him from where he had fallen sprawled on the floor and rubbed the bump on his head. "The what shards?"

"Don't play stupid. I didn't hit you that hard. The Shikon. Spill."

"What does the SCA want with a jewel they destroyed fifty years ago?"

Inuyasha crouched down and glared, eye to eye with the little shit. "Obviously it wasn't destroyed and I've got some unfinished business. No one's talking and my shard detector is otherwise engaged. So I'm coming to you for an update."

"Shard detector? Where'd you get one of those?"

Damn it. Where the fuck had his brain gone? Stupid bitch messing with his goddamn head with her mind games… "Internet."

"You trade me your information and I'll trade you mine. Where's your shard detector?"

Inuyasha knew it was time to bring out the big guns. "Here," he said, pulling out the biggest lollipop that had fit in his jacket pocket.

Shippo's green eyes glinted with greed. He grabbed it and immediately popped it in his mouth. Inuyasha marveled at how such a small kid could do that without unhinging his jaw.

"Whaddya wanna know?"

"Who's got a shard and how many. Names and locations."

"'S far as I know, just a few, but I ain't got specifics. Some crows to the south got their talons on one. An old lady. This crazy man overseas I'm glad is far away. But most of the reports are about this creepy priestess who smells of death and dirt and goes around purifying any demon she comes across, even the ones that don't want the shards. She's got the most."

Inuyasha grabbed him by the tail. "Her name. What's her name!?"

Shippo blasted him in the face with fox fire and leaped back. "Hands off the tail, mutt! I don't know their names. All the information I collect is to make sure I never cross paths with any Shikon freaks. Shouldn't be too hard to track her down. How many undead priestesses can there be?"

"Just tell me, did they say she was beautiful?"

He eyed him strangely. "…You're a strange man. My guy said she was like a possessed doll. Pretty, but empty of everything but hate. Don't stick your dick in crazy, Inuyasha. Especially not haunted crazy."

He barely heard him. Kikyo was alive. She was still out there. And she was his Kikyo. Even if she hated him, even if she was confused, even if it was just a shadow of her and not all of her, that didn't matter. The gods had taken pity on him and sent her back to him. Now all he had to do was fight for her. He had to collect the shards and restore the jewel so she could be at peace. And then maybe she'd choose to stay with him and he could have the life he had always wanted.

"Thanks," he said abruptly. "I'll send you some coloring books later." He walked to the door, wondering if he could get out of the awards show early. There had to be other guards there and Kagome didn't want him there anyway, right?

"Does your shard detector have anything to do with your sugar mama?"

Inuyasha stopped so suddenly he nearly fell over. "My what?"

"Y'know," Shippo said, voice full of mischief. "The limo that dropped you off at your place a little over a week ago. On your human night."

He grabbed the little prick by the collar and shook. "You breathe a word and I will kill, stuff, and mount you."

The fox was confident enough that he merely smirked. "My guys followed the car to some shrine and imagine their shock when they saw no one but Kagome Higurashi herself get out."

Inuyasha dropped the kit without warning. "Fuck, this is why I told her not to drop me off. Stay away from Kagome, Shippo. I'm not kidding. I would destroy you."

Something in his eyes must have tipped him off to how serious he was because his face changed. "Geez, fine. Does your girlfriend know you're panting after undead coochie?"

"She's not my girlfriend! And I'm not—Fuck it, you're disgusting. I'm leaving."

"Have her sign my coloring books! And if she comes by your place again, bring her in. I'll give you free drinks and she can sign my dakimakura too."

He couldn't stop thinking about what Shippo had told him. Kikyo was out there. And she was alone. His heart ached for her. They had been partners before they had been lovers. Why hadn't she come to him? Didn't she know he would always drop everything to help her?

But then there was Kagome. Kagome was nearly powerless. And he had promised to protect her. And Kagome still had a life to lose.

By the time he arrived at the shrine, he had decided to stay with Kagome only as long as it took her to either get her powers back or collect the shards, whichever came first. But then Sango opened the door and he squinted past the stinging mist of perfume and hairspray and various products and he saw Kagome for the first time in days and forgot about everything else.

She was beautiful.

Her hair was done in soft waves like an old Hollywood starlet's. Her dress was shimmering gold, off the shoulders, and puffed at the sleeves, but fitted everywhere, hugging her breasts and nipping at the waist before flowing down her figure in a graceful drape. Her makeup was plain but for the thin, razor-sharp black wings of her liner and a striking red lip. Kagome wasn't even looking at him this time and the world had shrunk again until it was just her, and he found himself walking towards her as though pulled by a string.

When she finally noticed him and met his eyes, he felt it so strongly it was like a physical blow.

"You're late," she said. "And you look homeless."

"Well y-you look…" He couldn't think of anything. Was this what being starstruck was like?

"Kagome's one of the presenters tonight, so there's going to be a lot more potential for things to go wrong than usual," Sango said. "Last year this guy disguised himself as press and tried to get close to her. We'll need you to be on the lookout for things like that."

Sango looked nice, too. Instead of one of her usual business suits, she was in a professional-looking dress like one would see upper management wear at a top company. Her hair was up in a bun instead of a ponytail and her eyeshadow was toned down from its normal bright pop to something more subtle.

"What if Inuyasha was my date?" Kagome suggested almost innocently.

The both of them looked sharply at her. "You didn't RSVP with a plus one," Sango said. "And there's no time to get him ready. Look at him!"

"I don't wanna end up on gossip sites again!"

Kagome glared at them. "Fine then. You two can spend the whole night together while I work. Like usual."

Inuyasha's brow furrowed in confusion. What the fuck was that about?

"It's not like that, Kagome," Sango said.

Kagome grabbed her matching clutch from one of the stylists and popped her phone in it, snapping it shut almost violently. Without even looking down, she slipped her feet into the shoes yet another stylist offered. The heels were designed to look like birdcages and he thought of the game that shared her name.

"How're you planning to get down all those stairs?"

She froze. "…I always got done up at a salon before I lost my—before the incident."

"C'mere," Inuyasha said, offering his hand.

She looked at it like he was offering her a dead fish. "What?"

"Come. Here."

Suspicious, she put her hand in his. With a tug, she was in his arms and he was carrying her bridal style out the door and down to the waiting car.

"Inuyasha!" she screamed as she laughed. "I didn't say goodbye to Mama and Sōta yet!"

"Keh, you'll see 'em later."

Even when they arrived at the limo, he didn't put her down right away. It had only been ten days but felt like so much longer. Did she know he had passed by the shrine every night just to make sure she was okay? And he had stayed outside until her bedroom light had turned off.

"You ruined my hair," she said as he set her on her feet.

"It was ruined before I touched you," he muttered.

Kagome smacked him with her clutch and he opened the car door for her. When she bent over, he saw the glint of the jewel shard necklace pinned to the lining of her dress in the safety between her breasts. Inuyasha told himself he had been looking for just that and not looking there just to look.

"It's going to be a little over three hours," Kagome said. "I'm not performing this year or up for any awards, so it won't be as stressful as it normally is."

"You've won before?"

Sango entered the car and slid in next to Inuyasha. "She won best visual every year until they made a rule that you couldn't win consecutive years in a row. And then there was viewer's choice, which is just a popularity contest, and best dance moves, best solo, best fashion... Were there more, Kagome?"

She shrugged. "The Four Souls won best video of the year for Senpai Save Me when we debuted."

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that one. And I think Yuka was nominated for best rapper once."

"So as a group you just won once?" Inuyasha asked. The animosity between her former bandmates and herself was making more sense all the time.

"At this awards show, yeah," Kagome said, looking a little uncomfortable. "But we won loads of stuff together."

"You always gave the acceptance speech for it, though," Sango pointed out.

"Your dad and the label told us to do it that way!"

"They're going to be there tonight."

Sango's announcement made them go completely silent.

"But I thought Eri retired," Kagome said. "And Yuka is concentrating on foreign markets for her solo album while Ayumi wants to cross over into acting. Why would they come here now? With everything that's going on?"

"Publicity," Sango said. "Eri might be retired and settling down, but her rich fiance requires she see and be seen. Yuka will still have to promote herself in her home country since that's where most of her fanbase is. And Ayumi will go anywhere that gives her the slightest bit of attention."

She crossed her arms and he tried not to notice how it made her breasts look. "This is going to be so embarrassing. They're going to want us to pose together. Is the lawsuit public yet?"

"Not yet. I was wondering why they hadn't released anything, but the fact that they're all gathering tonight makes me think they're going to do it while we're there."

"Great. This is just what I need now."

"You really think now's the time people are gonna start paying attention to them over you?" Inuyasha said.

One side of her mouth quirked up in a smile. "Normally, I'd want to defend them, but thank you for that, Inuyasha."

"What're they even suing you for anyway?" he asked. "The legalese was convoluted and seemed like one long rant about betraying friendship."

"That's the gist of it, yeah," Sango answered. "They're alleging that Kagome had verbally agreed to record another album with The Four Souls."

"Which is true," Kagome said.

"And it all fell apart when the other three started making demands."

"Ayumi wanted to sing lead, Yuka wanted to write her own verses, Eri wanted make her own schedule—how would that even work?" Kagome sighed. "It crashed and burned before we even started getting writers together and working on a concept. And then the label came to me and gave me the option of going solo, and with how bad things were going with the other girls and how often we were fighting, I thought it would at least save our friendship if we no longer worked together."

"But that had the opposite effect," Sango continued. "Even back in school, the three of them were a unit that just happened to revolve around Kagome. They used to live for living in her shadow. But there were one too many Destiny's Child comparisons and it got old. They're suing over a broken verbal contract for the money they put into the new album—which I have yet to see evidence of—as well as the estimated amount they would have made off the album that never was."

"That's fucking bullshit."

"They also want Kagome to stop using The Four Souls name and logo to market herself, which she hasn't done. When she makes an appearance, we only use her name. The media will sometimes bring up her past with The Four Souls, but we don't."

"And they want me to stop performing any of our old songs. Songs that I recorded almost a hundred percent of!"

"It won't go anywhere, Kagome," Sango said. "A judge will throw it out. And if not, I'll make it clear to them they have a chance to drop the suit or they will be countersued and all the scandals I kept out of the press for them will go public all at once."

The car slowed and the roar of a crowd made Inuyasha's ears twitch.

"Showtime," Kagome said, sounding grim but putting her celebrity face on.

"And the finishing touch." Sango grabbed a garment bag he hadn't noticed before and attached a shimmering gossamer cape to the back of Kagome's dress. "You look super. The moment you step on the red carpet, all anyone will see is you. And don't be surprised when they ask you questions about your early album release."

"Wait, what?"

Sango smirked. "I had them send the album out early this morning just in case that hive mind of hoes would try anything today. You topped the charts already. It's projected that you might even have the fastest-selling album in Japanese history. That's not even counting the international numbers."

Kagome's smile was real. "Oh gods! This blows everything else away. Thank you so much!"

Leaning over, she hugged both Sango and Inuyasha, jumping up and down as much as she could in her seated position in her excitement. He was about to push her away and remind her he hadn't done anything, but she was so soft and warm and he realized that he was hugging her back.

"You better get going," Sango said. "I can hear them calling your name."

Her gray eyes were misty with tears and she sniffled. "You're the best. We're going out and getting drinks after this. We have to celebrate!"

Sango laughed. "I'll celebrate, but no drinks. You know how you get when you're drunk."

"I'd know if I could remember." She knocked on the window and let the guy outside know she was ready to be helped out. "See you guys later."

The door opened and a security guard in a suit extended a hand, helping her to her feet. Inuyasha stewed silently and wondered why he hadn't been asked to do that. She was his responsibility, not this random motherfucker's.

"Here. You'll need this," Sango said, handing him a lanyard with a badge. "You're officially private security. The badge color means the press will crop you out of any photos you happen to be in the background of, so don't concern yourself with dodging cameras. Be aware of any suspicious persons and let me know. We can't be too careful."

The car drove around to a side entrance. There were no crowds here, no carpets, no glittering beautiful people. Just a dumpster and a caterer outside on a smoking break.

"We'll go in through this door. This way we can scope things out without getting caught up in the crowd."

"Glamorous."

The building was a grand theater that was an attempt at old school European architecture. It was nice enough, but he wasn't here to observe the décor. Following his nose, he made his way to the entrance and mingled with various assistants, press, security, and staff.

There she was.

Kagome was smiling and Inuyasha relaxed a little when he realized that she was happy and not entirely performing. There were other celebrities that he vaguely recognized from television before switching the channel or the internet before he skipped the ad, but he, like the press, only gave them the bare minimum of attention. Kagome wasn't just a star. She was the sun that outshone them all.

"Kagome, your album just came out this morning and it's already all anyone can talk about. Were you expecting this overwhelmingly positive reaction for your first solo venture?"

She smiled and leaned closer to the offered microphone. "My team is so great and consistently wonderful and we've all been working so hard. If I had expected anything less, it would feel like I hadn't believed in them, and I'll always believe in them."

Another interviewer approached her. "You're embarking on a world tour soon and share some dates with the Band of Seven, the hottest boy band in the world right now. Rumor has it you and frontman Bankotsu have a secret duet you're planning on only performing live."

"My, you have very good sources!" Kagome laughed.

"We told them to ask that," Sango muttered. "The Band of Seven's team insisted."

"Yes, Bankotsu and I spent many hours working together on a special song we'll only perform on this tour as a special gift to our fans who come and see us," Kagome gushed. "It's called Heauxly Virgin and we can't wait to debut it. We think it's some of our best work."

"Many of your fans thought the man seen leaving your home several weeks ago was Bankotsu, but it was confirmed that he had been at a signing in Shibuya at that time. Who is your mystery man?"

"Oh shit," Sango cursed. "We definitely didn't tell them to ask that." She grabbed her phone and started texting madly. "That cunt is getting fired for sure."

Kagome fluttered her lashes and somehow actually managed to manufacture a blush. "No one you've heard of."

With a swoop of her cape, she moved on.

"I don't know if Kagome did something good or something bad," Inuyasha remarked. "All this shit is confusing."

"What Kagome did was add fuel to the fire," Sango complained. "I've been telling everyone you were a visiting nurse for Sōta this whole time. But of course no one believed it because you'd never been there before or since and you weren't in scrubs. And now she basically confirmed that you two are an item."

"B-b-but we ain't though!"

"Unless..." The look on her face was calculating and sent chills down his spine. "We play up the bodyguard angle. That's romantic. Like that Whitney Houston movie. And that way we might even sell more—"

"Don't rope me into your weird shit," Inuyasha said. "If Kagome wants people to think she has a mystery booty call, whatever, you said mild scandals can only help. Everyone will forget about it in a couple weeks so let's not go writing a whole fake life around it."

"You sure it would be fake?"

"Kagome likes Hojo," he snapped. "For some fuckin' reason."

Sango's eyes softened. "It's not that. It's just that Hojo's the only guy who ever asked her out that wasn't a fan or some label executive or other celebrity. And it's not like she'd ever date those types."

"No one else ever asked her out?"

She nodded. "Never. Kagome's a few years younger than me and we went to different schools, but I knew her back when she was a student before the fame. A lot of guys liked her, but she was kind of oblivious to how they felt. And since she didn't return their attention, they didn't go any further. She didn't even notice Hojo before he started love bombing her," she said. "Honestly, I don't think she really likes him. He was just there and somehow made her believe he was the only one."

"That's stupid."

"Agreed, but it looks like Kagome likes stupid, so you definitely have a chance."

He glared at her and opened his mouth to say something back but then Kagome's heartbeat, which he was always extra attuned to, accelerated. His eyes sought her out and saw her further down the carpet where she appeared to be in a stand-off with another woman. There were no weapons and they were both smiling and talking, but he knew what killing intent felt like. Just to be sure, he visually scanned the offender for any hidden objects.

She was taller than Kagome with tanned skin and a short haircut that looked like it had been lobbed off by a drunk toddler but probably cost more than his rent. She wore a men's tailored shirt as a dress with a suit jacket on her shoulders and thigh high boots.

"Yuka. You're back from France."

"Paris," she emphasized. "Oh, Kagome. It's so good to see you. One of my assistants told me you released your solo album today. How nice."

Kagome looked wary and suspicious, waiting for the attack to come. "Yes, I'm very excited." There were cameras around so she obviously couldn't say what she really wanted to.

Two other women approached and Kagome looked torn between yelling and running, all while trying to keep a nice smile on her face.

"Hey, girls," Kagome greeted. "You look...good."

They didn't. One was dressed in what looked like a garbage bag that had been paintballed by a bunch of eighth-grade boys. Her hair was styled with enough hairspray that it stood straight up in what he guessed was supposed to look like a crown but just made him think of Lisa Simpson. It was the kind of runway fashion that people made fun of and only the very rich and detached thought they could pull off. Judging by the huge rock on her finger, she was the former.

The other one had probably been a very pretty girl once. Once. Then she'd had her nose slimmed, eyelids cut, cheekbones filled, lips plumped, jaw shaved, and breasts enhanced. One or two of them would have been okay, or maybe if the surgeries had been performed more subtly, but the overwhelming amount of work that had been done on her just screamed self-hatred. Now her face was stiff and her balloon lips could barely move.

"Eri and Ayumi and I came together," Yuka said. "We have news, too." Turning to the assembled cameras and interviewers, the three of them smiled and held hands, a united front. "We three souls are forming another girl group and will be holding a competition for our new lead vocalist! Open auditions information for our reality show will be posted on our website tonight."

It was obvious that they expected that to cause a flurry of activity, and it did, but none of it in their direction. Kagome was immediately swarmed.

"Kagome, did you know they were reforming The Four Souls without you?"

"Kagome, will you have any input on who will be selected?"

"Kagome, as the next member will be chosen using a reality show format, is there any chance of you being a guest judge or making an appearance?"

Kagome grabbed a random microphone and gave everyone a look that quieted the crowd.

"I'm so proud of my friends and former group members for continuing to follow their dreams. The Four Souls was such a big part of my life, and while I've since had my own dreams come true with my solo album, I will always be rooting for them."

She gave the mic back and posed for a single picture with the stunned-turned-fuming trio before walking further down the carpet and greeting some other famous person.

"Yuka, can there even be a Four Souls group without Kagome?"

"Eri, do you have a date for yours and Chokyukai's wedding?"

"Ayumi, is it true that you're starring in Dental School 9: Drill Harder?"

"This is a fucking nightmare," Sango groaned. "A reality show for Kagome's replacement and a lawsuit?"

"It sounds trashy," Inuyasha said. "There's no way they're gonna win, and a gimmick like a reality show is just gonna make them look ridiculous."

"Exactly!" Sango said. "The Four Souls was supposed to die when Kagome left. Then they'd always be good and she'd have a perfect career past. Now those idiots are turning the group into a fucking joke! It's embarrassing and that taint will touch Kagome no matter what."

"Why don't you just sue them back and say they can't perform as The Four Souls? Didn't Kikyo make up the name anyway?"

"There's no way the label sanctioned this," Sango said. "Not unless it's completely rigged. But they won't get away with using the name, not even if I have to blackmail every fucker in this building."

There was no time for the conversation to continue when everyone started moving towards the theater auditorium. It was time for the show to begin. He and Sango were in a special standing room only roped-off section just off the stage reserved for the celebrity staff.

"No one here smells weird," Inuyasha said when some guy started to sing onstage, already bored. "Just regular drugs and human emotions."

Sango was glaring down at her phone as she texted like every push of her thumbs was her shoving them into the eyeballs of her enemies. Inuyasha kept his ears trained on everything around them but his eyes on Kagome who was hanging back near them instead of going directly backstage.

"Did you know about this?" she murmured to Sango.

"No, and it's not going to happen. Go to your dressing room and let the crew touch you up, I'll take care of this."

"I don't want to be alone right now," Kagome said. "I'd rather have a hair out of place and an eyelash on my cheek than chance having one of them corner me again."

"Fine. Inuyasha, you look Kagome over."

"I don't know shit about girly stuff!"

"You don't have to. Just make sure nothing's wrong."

He and Kagome blinked at one another. There was one tendril of hair that had waved its way outside her structured coif. His eyes followed its path down her shoulder and chest. Gently, he brushed the silky black length away so it was flowing down her back with the rest of her hair on that side. When his claws touched her skin, he thought he felt her shiver.

"How's my lipstick?" she asked.

It flashed through his mind how it would look when almost all of it was kissed off.

"It's still on," he said.

She gave him a weird look. Fuck, why did he ever bother opening his mouth?

"You're up, Higurashi-san," one of the stage crew said.

"Thank you," she said, giving him a brief smile. Turning back to Inuyasha and a still furiously texting Sango, she said, "I'll see you guys again after I'm done presenting and we can head to the bar, okay? Let's have champagne!"

She made her way up the stage stairs and Inuyasha glared at the tech crew guys who were staring at her like if there were no witnesses they'd have reached out and grabbed her.

Kagome walked on to the stage and was met with thunderous applause even by the others in her industry. She smiled and waved and bowed her head. They were reacting to her like she had won an Oscar and wasn't just presenting some shitty music video award.

Her co-presenter entered from the other side of the stage and waved as well but was not met with the same swell of attention. When she realized they weren't delayed and were just never coming, her smile froze and became bitter.

"Yura," Sango said with a derisive snort. "Hasn't had a charting hit in ten years but she's always in the spotlight for being a crazy bitch. Whose dick did she suck to be a presenter?"

Where Kagome was beautiful and elegant yet still sensual, Yura had abandoned all subtlety and went straight for sexy. Her black dress was short and bared her breasts almost entirely. The contrast between the two of them did not flatter her. Kagome smiled and hugged her and the two of them exchanged a brief greeting before going over to the podium.

"Good evening!" Kagome said. "As last year's winner of Best Visual—"

"—and the first winner of Best Visual," Yura continued.

"—we are delighted to have been given the opportunity to present the award for the first time ever."

"Kagome-chan's first solo album was released today and the music video for Daddy's Lap is premiering at exactly midnight tonight."

"And Yura-san is a legend whose haircare line, Oni-bi Gushi, is launching this summer."

"Whoever the winner is tonight, all you nominees are gorgeous and I can't wait to meet you," Yura said salaciously, licking her lips. "We should all make our own all visual girl group, huh? How hot would that be?"

Kagome laughed and grabbed for the sealed envelope. Yura intercepted her by putting a hand on hers and, to the surprise of everyone, kissed Kagome on the lips.

Kagome's eyes widened and she pulled away immediately. The crowd was torn between murmuring in disapproval, applause, hoots, and confusion. Inuyasha gaped at the stage. Was this something he was supposed to have sniffed out?

"T-the nominees are..." Kagome began, introducing the idols as though nothing had happened.

"I have to kill so many people," Sango said. "So. Many. Fucking. People."

"That wasn't supposed to happen, was it?"

"Hell no. Oh gods, I wanted the publicity, I wanted some scandal, but I didn't want this. Not some aging plastic bimbo trying to ride Kagome's coattails and end up dragging her down into obscurity. Parents will boycott the album now. Religious groups will be all over us. Oh fuck."

"How the fuck wasn't all that an issue with the daddy kink shit?"

"I don't make the rules! This is a fucked up world."

The winner was some girl who looked to be still in her teens and accepted the award from Kagome while wisely staying away from Yura. Her applause were scattered and muted as everyone was still occupied by what had happened a few moments earlier. Yura's smile was wide and pleased with herself and she moved to hug Kagome again, but she walked past her without even giving her a look. When she arrived at the stairs, she tried to take them two at a time in her urgency, and she locked eyes with Inuyasha, who knocked down the rope he was behind and went to her before she fell or something.

"Now your lipstick's messed up," he said, pushing down the feelings of resentment that he hadn't been the one to do it.

Kagome frowned at him. "Don't be a jerk. Can we get out of here?"

"You can't leave early!" Sango hissed. "We need to do damage control."

"I'm leaving. You can do what you want."

The two of them stared each other down, but Kagome's will was stronger. Sango sighed heavily and dropped her phone in her purse.

"Fine."

"First I'm going to my dressing room and scrubbing my mouth clean," Kagome said. "Inuyasha, come with me. You'll need to carry my swag bags."

"Your what?"

"Kagome's getting several hundreds of thousands of yen of free stuff just for showing up," Sango said like it was entirely normal.

"It's like Christmas for Mama," she said. "And sometimes there's even something for Sōta too." She gave him a look. "If you're nice, I'll let you pick something."

"I don't think I want anything this place can give me."

Kagome grabbed his wrist and led him down a hall. Somehow, her grip slid down until they were holding hands, and he just let it happen. There were people around and they were giving them—him—odd looks. But for once in his life, that didn't matter.

"Here we are!" she said, arriving at a door with a pink star on it that had a sticker with her name. "Just a quick stop and then we're—"

"Kagome, no!"

Inuyasha yanked her back as she turned the doorknob, twisting around so his back was to the door. Something in the air had changed and that meant danger. A lifetime of being on the receiving end of it had made him act without thinking. A sound so loud it deafened him for a moment ripped apart the air and then a blast of heat burned his back, a rush of hot air propelling them forward until they had been blasted almost all the way down the hall again.

It took him a while to hear anything other than ringing, and even then his mind was working slow. Kagome was underneath him and worriedly patting at his face, saying things he couldn't hear, but he could feel the urgency of her words in the vibrations between them. He stared at her dazedly.

"—nuyasha! Inuyasha! Can you hear me? Are you okay? Oh gods, you're bleeding so much. Tell me you're okay!"

"I'm fine," he said. "Are you fine?"

Tears filled her eyes and cascaded down her cheeks. Kagome sobbed once and threw her arms around his neck.

"Thank the gods," she said. "I'm alright. You protected me, Inuyasha."

Security came rushing down the hall and soon they were surrounded.

"Oh fuck," one of them said. "It looks like a bomb went off."

"That's because one did," another one observed from the smoking remnants of Kagome's dressing room. "There's an IED that was hooked up to the door. It was designed to go off as soon as someone opened it."

Someone wanted to kill Kagome. Inuyasha already knew that, but being confronted with it again made him feel sick and panicky.

"The medics are on the way, Miss Higurashi," a member of the security team said. "They're going to escort you to the hospital. Are you able to stand?"

"Don't touch him," she said in a low voice, glaring at the intruder. "Inuyasha's hurt. I'll take care of him until they get here."

"He's a hanyō, they're resilient. The ambulance is here for you. Come on, I'll help you up."

Kagome slapped his hand away in disgust. "I'm fine. Inuyasha made sure there's not a scratch on me. Bring me medical workers who aren't racist and get out of my face."

Kagome struggled until she was sitting up. She continued to hold Inuyasha in her arms which had begun to tremble.

"Don't baby me," Inuyasha said crossly, shrugging her off. "I heal fast. If I had been wearing my fire rat then this wouldn't have hurt at all."

Her eyes filled with tears again and he wondered what he had done wrong. Then she threw herself at him and she was in his arms again.

"I was so scared," she sobbed. "For a second, you wouldn't open your eyes, and you were bleeding from your head and your ears and your jacket was smoking and I thought you were dead. You were dead and it was all my fault!"

"Stop crying about it," he said, feeling uncomfortable that she was so emotional over him. "You should be more concerned over all your swag that was in there. How many hundreds of thousands was that stuff anyway?"

She sniffled and her mouth turned down at the corners, lips trembling in a way that made him want to take her in his arms just to hold her. "You're worth more than that, idiot. So much more."

If anyone had asked him to assess his monetary value before, he would have answered at less than half that. But she seemed to believe it and for some reason that made him believe it too.

"Holy shit!" Sango said, shoving a security guard out of the way when he tried to hold her back. "Everyone heard the blast. What the hell happened?" Before they could answer, she turned around and yelled at the crowd, "No pictures!"

Inuyasha and Kagome stilled. As one, they looked up past the security and realized that most of the gathered crowd were those with press badges. And they had cameras. Some were flashing, others were filming. Greedy voyeurs who wanted nothing but to suck the life out of her. Inuyasha shrugged off his jacket and, after making sure it was no longer on fire, dropped it over her head. Struggling to his feet, he brought her up with him and made his way toward the emergency exit.

"Fuck this," he grunted, feeling his melted skin knit back together and gritting his teeth against the pain. "This is one event they aren't allowed to isolate and examine you during. I'm taking you home."

"But you're hurt!" she protested even as he ushered her out. "We need to get you to a doctor."

"A little heat is nothin'. I've just gotta sleep this off."

"If you weren't nearly Freddy Kruegered just now, I'd use the beads on you until the ambulance got here," Kagome grumbled.

The limo was right where they had left it and Sango was sprinting behind them, outpacing them even in heels.

"We've gotta go," she said. "Cops are there. I said you're too shocked to give a statement, but they wanted to interview Inuyasha even though he's injured."

"They can just review the security footage. We're done." Kagome opened the door to the limo and dragged Inuyasha in after her, continuing to hold his hand even when the car was moving.

"Who would do something like that?" Sango asked. "I mean, the demons I get because you've purified so many of them, but this shit is a whole other level of insane." Taking a bottle of water out of her purse, she gave it to Inuyasa. "Drink. You'll feel better."

"Your door smelled like those girls," Inuyasha said, immediately guzzling down the whole thing.

"What girls?" Kagome asked. She looked completely confused. The thought hadn't even entered her mind.

"You don't mean…" Sango said. "The other souls?"

Inuyasha nodded.

"No," Kagome said instantly, shaking her head. "No, that's not right. We're not exactly on the best of terms right now, but they'd never do that to me. They'd never hurt me!"

"They're not your high school clique anymore, Kagome!" Sango's voice broke. "Ayumi and Yuka and Eri are suing you and replacing you. It wouldn't surprise me if they tried to erase you completely, too."

Her lower lip trembled and Inuyasha drew her closer to his side, tucking his arm around her. Grateful for the contact, Kagome stayed snug against him. If the circumstances weren't so extreme, he'd probably be accused of having dirty thoughts again.

"I don't get it," she said in a small, quavering voice. "I've only ever wanted them to be happy. When I left, it was only because I knew they were tired of being overlooked. I thought that we'd still be friends if we weren't being compared to each other anymore."

"That's because you're a good person," Inuyasha said. "But they aren't. Not anymore."

"They hurt you," Kagome said, rubbing away some of the blood that had run down his cheek. Her eyes turned steely. "I can't forgive that."

"So," Sango said, interrupting what had become a rather lengthy period of eye contact between the two. "Not only do we have to worry about Naraku coming back, but your grandma's revenant is walking around as well, there are an untold number of demons after you for personal reasons as well as the jewel, and we have your crazy ex-friends too. This just got a whole lot more complicated."

"You wouldn't have been able to defend yourself from that even if you did have your powers," Inuyasha said. He didn't even want to think about what would have happened if he hadn't been there.

"That's right," Sango said. "That means the shrine's wards aren't enough. Inuyasha, you're going to have to stay at Kagome's until the tour."

"What!?" the two of them said in unison.

"Yeah," Sango said. "No way around this one because I just texted Hojo and he agrees with me. He even offered extra security, and I'm sure you know who volunteered his services."

"I'll stay," he agreed quickly. Better that than the wolf getting close to her.

"You can have my parents' old room," Kagome offered. "Mama moved into the master bedroom after Jii-chan passed so it's clean and no one's used it in ages."

That was entirely preferable to staying in the room where Kikyo had once slept beside her husband. The old bitterness he felt when he thought of the life she'd chosen over him didn't sting quite as much as it had before. Without even realizing it, his thinking had begun to shift. Instead of it being Kikyo's shrine, it was Kagome's home. Instead of Kikyo being his, she was Kagome's.

When they arrived at the shrine, Kagome gave Sango a look. "Can you take care of my family? I'm going to tend to Inuyasha's wounds."

"I don't need a nurse, wench," Inuyasha groaned.

"You just absorbed the impact of a bomb. Shut up and stop trying to be so macho."

He snorted. "Here, I'll prove I don't need any help."

Ducking into a quick crouch, he grabbed her behind the knees and shoulders and took off at a run, bounding up the shrine steps. His goal was the tree outside her bedroom window and he leaped up into its boughs, landing so lightly the branch hardly swayed.

"Your window better not be locked," he said.

Kagome glared at him. "It's not. And you've proved nothing. There's sweat on your brow. You've overtaxed yourself doing something as simple for you as walking across the street would be for me."

Inuyasha grumbled curses under his breath and forced her window open, hopping in. Kagome immediately pushed away from him and walked over to her closet where she pulled out a pink plastic first aid kit.

"Get on the bed," she commanded.

"I said I'm fine!"

Kagome's lips twisted in a frown and then she tossed the first aid kit on her bed, turning her back to him. Flipping her hair to one side, she first removed her sheer cape, revealing her almost completely bare back. Then she reached behind and unzipped her dress. It fell into a puddle at her feet and his mouth dropped open only to close again in disappointment.

She was wearing a slip.

Kagome turned back around, her sleeveless nude slip clinging to her skin in a way that made him take a step back due to how much he wanted to take a step forward.

"I said get on the bed."

"Don't tell me what to do, bitch."

"Sit."

She said the word softly, but he still fell with considerable force facedown across her bed. Just as she intended. Before the power of the beads wore off, she crawled beside him on the bed and lifted the burned remnants of his t-shirt.

Kagome hissed through her teeth. "This is bad," she said. "You really should see a doctor."

"It'll be gone by morning," he insisted, words nearly inaudible from his face being pressed into the mattress.

"I can at least make you feel a little better until then."

He heard the bottle squirt before he felt anything, but then her small hands were carefully rubbing the ointment into his healing skin and he felt considerable relief. So much so that he began to doze.

"I can see your skin healing before my eyes," Kagome murmured in amazement. "Hey, are you sleeping? How can you sleep after what we just went through?"

"'m tired."

"I can show you to your room."

"I like it here." He hugged her pillow closer. "Smells like you."

"You think my room smells weird?"

"Smells nice."

Her hands stopped. "What the hell was in that water?"

"A shit ton of Vicodin," Sango said from her position leaning against her doorframe.

"Why did you bring opiate water to an awards show?"

She shrugged. "I'm always ready in case I have to throw hands. You haven't seen the things I've had to do to paparazzi and publicists and D-listers and agents and other managers."

Inuyasha snored and Kagome looked at him with renewed concern as though he had cried out in pain.

"I've never seen you like this," Sango said softly.

"Well, I've never been bombed before."

"You were never so concerned over Hojo. Whenever we went out together, you kind of ignored him."

"I did not!" Kagome said, offended.

"Look, I get it," Sango said. "He's not the most fascinating guy. Not like you-know-who." She eyed Inuyasha meaningfully. "All I'm saying is maybe you don't have to get over Hojo because there's nothing to get over."

She thought about it. "Inuyasha was really brave tonight, wasn't he?"

"When he rescued you like one of those heroes in the romance novels you think I don't know you read? Yeah, I guess he was."

"Are you staying over too?" Kagome asked.

"Might as well. I texted Kohaku and let him know I'm fine, and I'm pretty tired."

"You can take my mom's old room."

"What about him?"

"Inuyasha can stay here."

Sango eyed the two of them for a bit before deciding she was too tired to argue and closed the door.

With a yawn, Kagome lowered her head to the mattress. Inuyasha was facing her and she took the chance to examine him. For the first time, he wasn't stomping around and yelling and pouting and generally being an angry jerk. When he was like this, she became more certain that Kikyo had returned his obvious feelings at some point. How could she not? Obviously they hadn't been meant for one another since Jii-chan was the love of her life, but she was a woman and wouldn't have been immune to him. Thus the engagement—if it had existed.

And he had been so handsome in her music video. Sango had shown her the final version and she was ashamed of how many times she had watched the slowed down crawl of herself towards him. The way he looked at her had given her goosebumps in the moment and urged her forward, but when she thought about it her chest ached right in the spot where her powers used to be drawn from.

Inuyasha's nose wiggled and he burrowed deeper into her mattress. Kagome found herself smiling and leaning forward until her lips were brushing against his.

"Thank you," she whispered.

When she slept, she dreamed she was soaring through the trees on something warm and solid that never let her go.

O\o/O

Inuyasha awoke with a fuzzy brain. Normally, he was instantly alert, but something had his guard down enough that it was unusual. Even though he realized it, he was so relaxed he didn't care. When was the last time he had slept like this, so warm and safe? In his mother's arms in his father's palace?

He rolled closer to the source of the warmth and was pleased to feel how soft it was. Better than the pillow. He put his arms around it and brought it close, nestling it perfectly against him. A little too perfectly. Parts of him were more awake than others.

A moan. "Inuyasha? Are you up?"

That voice made him shoot clear across the room, falling right out of the bed.

"What the fuck are you doing here!?"

Kagome rubbed her eye sleepily and frowned at him, looking lovely even with her smeared makeup. "This is my house, idiot."

His eyes darted around the room. Pink everything, stuffed animals, everything smelled like her. And she had been spooned up against him in nothing but a little slip that had ridden up. No wonder his dick was hard.

"Did I sleep here?"

"What do you think?" Kagome yawned and grabbed her pillow. "It's early. Come back to bed. You should rest."

"Uh, I need to, uh, bathroom," he muttered.

"Second door on the right."

With how worked up he had been since he'd met her, Inuyasha was able to do what he needed to do in record time. Washing his hands, he tried to wash away the feelings of guilt and shame as well, but that wasn't as easy. Gods, he really was no better than the wolf and all the rest when it came right down to it.

He forced himself not to go back to her room and instead went down to the kitchen where he smelled coffee.

"Wanna cup?" Sango offered.

Inuyasha shook his head and grabbed a muffin. "I was thinkin'… Do you think Naraku might have somehow gotten to those girls who used to be friends with Kagome? That was his whole thing back in the day. Turning people against each other."

She considered it for about a second. "Nah. It might not even be them. I don't doubt your nose, but they're nosy people. They probably went in there to see if Kagome had gotten better stuff—of course she did—and maybe take some things, but a bomb? That doesn't seem like something they'd come up with."

"If not Naraku or them, then who would try and blow her up at some dinky awards show?"

Sango sighed and sat down, taking a long sip of black coffee. "Kagome receives hundreds of fan letters every day. Even more are sent digitally. Some people send gifts, food, even money. About a quarter of them are death threats."

He dropped the muffin. "Seriously? Why? She hasn't even done anything!"

"We don't take them seriously. Most of them are from teenage girls who think she's secretly dating their favorite male celebrity. But sometimes… Some of them scare me."

"Does Kagome know?"

"I try to keep the worst of it from her, but I can't exactly stop her from Googling herself."

"How is she so famous if all these people hate her?"

Sango laughed. "Have you read the comments on any video of hers or article posted about her? Even when they hate her, they love her. It's obsession. And right now, it works for us."

Inuyasha pulled out his phone and started searching his charge. Already there were articles posted about what had happened last night. What was even more surprising was how many people focused on Kagome being kissed by Yura over someone trying to murder her.

BankotsusBaby2007: You know that slut KaHOme did this on purpose!1!1! she planned it for the ATTENCION. She isnt even pretty shes just a slut!1!

FifthSoul: I was looking forward to Kagome's album so much but then she did something like this and spit in the face of all her fans who made her career how could you Kagome we supported you and defended you when everyone said you didn't care about us just about the fame but then you go and let this hag touch you for publicity and its not fair to us I thought you were pure and different but your just like the rest of them

Senpaisavedme123: omg why is no one talking about how the real Kagome died in that tour bus accident they had five years ago and this thing is a reptilian replacement created in a lab in Russia sent to gather intel about our country and use it against us in the coming war on our freedoms it's all in the four souls third album star shower summer love! this monster attacked yura and tried to steal her life force! that's how it feeds wake up sheeple!

"What the fuck," he whispered to himself, his thumbs beginning to type before he could stop himself.

"Yeah, I know."

Back in her room, Kagome was scrolling through her own phone. Inuyasha had run away from her like she was a bomb herself. It made her stomach hurt just thinking about it. She had never shared her bed with a man before and to have it end like this the first time was just so embarrassing, even if she was the only one who knew about it.

Even though she had intended to take out her phone to distract herself, she only made herself feel worse.

Was it her fault she was in two of the top news stories today? How could she not check that out? Usually, she made a point of never reading anything about herself, not wanting to waste the energy getting upset over things she couldn't change—that was Sango's job. But somehow she found herself clicking on the comments section even though she knew she shouldn't.

It didn't take long for the tears to start.

Kagome had a lot of things to cry about. The comments might have been mean, but they were just an excuse for her to let it all out. Now she could cry about her lost powers, which she had built her identity around and lost as well, her lost love Hojo, her lost friends she'd thought would always be in her life. And then there was all this crap to deal with now too.

A new comment loaded.

BadInu1343: u stupid shits are lucky ur hiding behind ur fuckn anon accounts else id punch u to death KAGOME DID NOTHING WRONG LEAVE KAGOME ALONE

"What the fuck," Kagome whispered to herself.

NOTE: AHHHHH THIS IS SO LONG! THANK YOU TO HEARTRUSH FOR BETAING AND BEING SO DANG COOL! And a massive thank you to midiatamente for the beautiful artwork! I love this piece, the commission was perfect, money well spent!