A/N: This...whatever this is... takes place somewhere between chapters 8 and 9 in the story.

"I can't believe they expect me to wear this…thing!" Kagome seethed, shaking the bunched material in her hand. Her friends had dropped off a package while she and Inuyasha had gone through the well, and in her upset after the discussion with Kikyo, she hadn't given the package much thought at first. Then Mama had pointed out that it was for a talent competition they girls were wanting to take part in, and in their words "if Kagome felt up to it" they wanted her to be there with them. It was supposed to be a song and dance routine, and all the girls had the same dress, but…

Kagome's didn't fit. Or rather, it didn't fit like it was supposed to.

In the years of traveling to collect shards and dodge youkai attacks, Kagome's baby fat had slimmed away into muscle. Parts of her had developed as well, but the dress only made that fact more obvious. She had tried the dress on and regretted it instantly. It was too tight in the hips and would ride up with each step she took, when it was supposed to have sat against her skin smoothly. The sleeves were much the same problem as for tightness, but it was nothing compared to the neckline. The dress cut into a deep V that Mama surmised was meant to make more flat-chested women appear larger, only it made Kagome's bust look indecent.

At least the sleeves doubled as bat wings that she used to cover herself when Inuyasha walked into the kitchen with his human and youkai sides. It meant that she had to cross her arms higher than normal so the draping fabric would cover her skin long enough for her to escape to the bathroom to take it off.

"It's a lovely dress, Kagome," Mama tried to console her daughter. "The girls haven't seen you in a while, so I'm sure they just made assumptions based on the last time you all went shopping together."

Kagome tossed the dress on the table. They had left a note with the dress, talking about wanting to practice the routine over the holiday break. "I'm gonna go to my room," she frowned, rising from the table and going upstairs, leaving Mama and the three Inuyashas in the kitchen. A few minutes later, both the hanyou and the human followed her, one intending to console her, the other to ask what her problem was.

Mama frowned, reaching for the dress and smoothing it out. She had a feeling that the dress wouldn't fit as soon as Kagome took it out of the bag. The girls had her best intentions at heart, but it was apparent that they weren't as close as they used to be anymore. Kagome had mentioned it in passing a year before, and now she was being reminded of it. Youkai Inuyasha looked at her questioningly, having missed the significance of the dress. "Kagome's friends," she said, lifting the dress up, "they want Kagome to join them in a performance in a few months, but I don't think she's going to."

"Is it because of-"

"No, of course not dear. Kagome's just grown up faster than her friends have, and she doesn't have the same interests anymore. It's common as you get older to drift apart from school friends. She might feel guilty she can't connect with them like she used to, but I know for certain that she doesn't regret traveling with you. You've been a bright spot in her life I don't think she'd ever have if she hadn't fallen down the well."

Youkai Inuyasha had smelled how Kagome's scent had dipped into sadness when she emerged from the bathroom with the dress in hand. He didn't like it. She wasn't supposed to be upset, even if it was directed towards friendships weakening. He was there, so she shouldn't have a reason to be upset. He frowned. Maybe the human had a point. Maybe just being in the same room wasn't enough all the time to keep her from being sad. His gaze snapped upwards when Mama began to fold the dress. "What are you doing?" he asked.

Mama shrugged. "I guess I'll have to see about dropping this off at a thrift store. There's no way to have the dress altered without it being obvious, and Eri said the store didn't have any other sizes available. Why do you ask, dear?"

Kagome was still irritated, and now it was more directed at the hanyou sitting on her bed. Human Inuyasha had followed her and gave her a gentle hug, but the hanyou was itching for a fight it seemed. "It's not your problem, so butt out, Inuyasha!"

"You're damn right it's my problem if I gotta smell how upset it's made you!"

"Inuyasha I swear to god if you don't stop-"

"Do you think this is making her feel any better?"

Inuyasha growled at his human side, but it didn't deter him. In fact, he sat down in Kagome's desk chair, reaching for her wrist and tugging her to sit in his lap. Kagome let out a small squeak but didn't fight against it. 'At least one side of Inuyasha is trying to be nice to me and not peck.' She resigned herself to sitting there for the long haul, because with each growl from the hanyou, the human would tighten his embrace somehow.

"Get your hands offa her."

"Stop growling like you have no sense."

"Fuck you."

"I'd rather it be with-"

The sound of the bedroom door being slammed open stopped Human Inuyasha from saying something Kagome wasn't sure she was prepared to hear. It was just as well – Youkai Inuyasha's entrance was enough to make everyone forget what they were arguing about.

"Inu…yasha?" Kagome's eyes had to be playing tricks on her. There was no way she was seeing what she was seeing.

"The fuck….is…is that Kagome's dress?!" Inuyasha couldn't believe his youkai side had done something so stupid as this.

It was the dress, and Kagome now knew that it was the designer of the dress to blame for its indecency than her body changing. Youkai Inuyasha wasn't overly muscular like a body builder, but the neckline still sat lower than it should have on him. The sleeves didn't fall as far as they did on her, but he was taller. The length of the dress however…it was barely concealing his masculinity.

"Where are your underwear!" Human Inuyasha asked, horrified.

"Had to take 'em off," Youkai Inuyasha grinned, throwing his arms outward to let the sleeves expand and struck a pose. "Your mate is here, Ka-Go-Me."

Kagome couldn't look away from the disaster that stood before her. Youkai Inuyasha looked far too proud of himself in that dress, and she couldn't be sure if it was because he had her attention, or that she kept looking down at his hips. The dress fit him just as tight in the hips as it did her, but that wasn't why her eyes kept dropping. It was the bulge that strained against the fabric that he made a point to put on display for her at any opportunity. She wasn't trying to look! The dress' hemline stopped just beneath it, and it wouldn't take much to get a one-eyed surprise if he wasn't wearing his boxers.

When he turned on the spot with his arms still outstretched, she knew immediately that he was going commando. That dress was so tight there would have been an outline where his boxers stopped.

"How the fuck are you wearing that?" Human Inuyasha was never going to be able to erase this image.

"Carefully."

"Do us a favor and don't bend over," Inuyasha groaned. "Kagome doesn't need to see that."

"Mama said I fit the description of the dress' name rather well," Youkai Inuyasha grinned, turning back to Kagome and striking another pose. "Tell me, Mate. Do I enchant you?"

There was silence as the three waited for her response. Would she sit the youkai for putting the dress on? For calling her 'Mate'? Inuyasha braced himself for the ultimate sit, ready to get off the bed and just lay on the floor in wait. Hearing light snickers turn into a loud and hard laugh was the last thing he was expecting. Kagome was doubled over in the human's lap, holding her sides as she laughed to the point of tears.

A small part of Inuyasha knew that he couldn't berate the youkai for whatever possessed him to put on the dress, but he did question his sanity. He had managed to make her laugh, and all traces of any sadness that had lingered were long gone. 'Guess I'm gonna have to remember this the next time Kagome gets sad,' he thought. 'but there's no way in hell I'm wearing her clothes!'