Life was moving at a million miles a minute and Kagome was finding it hard to keep up.
She didn't feel like she slept—sleep felt like something of the past. When she did sleep she was tossing and turning and trying to find a way to quiet her mind.
During the day she was accosted by paparazzi and people wanting her attention.
Her time was stretched in a million different directions. Meetings. Dates. Photo shoots. Stylist appointments. Working at Cafeium. Sorting through applications for a new hire. Brand deals. Meeting other managers and assistants.
It was all so exhausting.
Three weeks passed by in a whirlwind and by the time she knew it, she was back on Inuyasha's private jet, on the way to another fight.
This time, the fight was in London. Kagome didn't find that out until the day they were scheduled to leave.
"Is life always this exhausting for you?" Kagome asked Inuyasha. They were thousands of feet up in the air in his private jet, traveling at thousands of miles per hour. Hundreds of miles per minute. She brought her knees up to her chest, her cheek resting on them as she looked out the window.
"Why are you asking?" Inuyasha responded quietly so as to not wake the other people on the plane. His eyes flickered up from his phone briefly, staring across the table at Kagome. "You look tired."
"I am, that's why I'm asking," Kagome said, giving Inuyasha a soft smile. "So is it?"
"…yeah."
"There's a lot of meetings when you're famous, I didn't know that," Kagome said jokingly. Inuyasha snorted in response. "What?"
"You think you're famous now?"
"I mean—I'm a public figure now. I get accosted by people wanting a picture or an autograph or something from me. It feels like everyone wants a piece of me."
Inuyasha stayed silent.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be insensitive—"
"You aren't being insensitive. I don't think," Inuyasha started, setting his phone down on the table. "…you know what I feel like now."
"This sucks," Kagome muttered, dragging her hands down her face. "I like it, I'm enjoying the fact that I get to make some extra money with brand deals and such but…this all happened so quickly."
"I blew up overnight," Inuyasha said, eyes darkening. Kagome raised her eyebrows at him. "I threw a punch at the perfect time with the perfect amount of force too early in the bout and…now I own a private jet."
There was a pause for a moment in his speech, his eyebrows furrowed like he was going to say something else but he shook his head instead. Whatever he was going to say was going to stay in his head. He looked up from the table and noticed Kagome staring at him. "What?"
"Nothing," she shrugged.
"It's like…you go through a time portal," Inuyasha explained, "…like you go into it as one version of yourself, and you step out of it another version of yourself. Somehow the same yet different."
"…You're good at describing your feelings," Kagome said gently. Inuyasha rolled her eyes at her, and even though it was dark within the cabin, except for the dark blue lights, she could tell he was rolling his eyes. "Don't roll your eyes at me."
"Who said I was rolling my eyes?"
"I could see it!" Kagome whisper-yelled, causing Inuyasha to laugh a little bit.
"I'm new to this," she said after a little while, "and it's only gonna get worse, isn't it?"
"Not worse," Inuyasha replied, shrugging. "Not better either. You learn to deal. You grow. You adapt. You accept that this is your new normal and you try to make the most of it."
Kagome stared at him for a few seconds, and then laughed to herself, shaking her head slightly.
"What's so funny?"
"I had no idea what I was signing up for," Kagome sighed, "I shouldn't say that. I knew—"
"You didn't know the depth?"
"Magnitude," Kagome said slowly, turning to stare out of the window again. "I didn't know how big this really was. This whole…fame thing. I thought people would get bored of me, of us pretty quickly."
She didn't expect to be this much of a success. She didn't expect their relationship to make the waves it did. She never expected it. She honestly, truly, thought that she was just being hired to be his arm candy for a year and that the public wouldn't take an interest in her. Kagome expected to be able to lead the same life she led before this. Before Inuyasha.
She thought the warnings Sesshomaru gave her were more of a formality.
Looking back, it was a little dumb of her to think so.
"…people like you," Inuyasha said softly, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his joggers. "They like your story. They like how we're polar opposites. You were, by all accounts, a goody two shoes. Went to Harvard. Got a degree. You're smart. I'm a delinquent. I've been arrested more than a few times, my mere existence is a controversy. An attractive guy with an attractive girl makes people watch—makes them look. It's just how they're wired. We gravitate toward beautiful things…"
Kagome hoped that Inuyasha couldn't see the blush on her cheeks. She hoped he couldn't see the reddened tips of her ears. Could he feel her body heat from where he was sitting?
"At least you know you're attractive," Kagome murmured, running a hand through her hair.
"What's that saying? Say it enough and eventually, it comes true?"
"Something like that," Kagome giggled. Her laugh was…bubbly, easy…pleasant.
Her laugh was pleasant to him, a smile threatened to tug at his lips but he bit it down. Instead, he took a deep breath as he reached for his phone.
"How are…things?" Kagome asked, big eyes blinking at Inuyasha.
"What things?" Inuyasha asked, raising an eyebrow before realization hit him and he was pursing his lips.
Things. That thing.
The thing she knew.
"Fine," Inuyasha ground out, "I'm good. Don't worry about me."
Kagome frowned at his response. Inuyasha stared at her, long and hard, and he debated telling her. Telling her the truth about why he was such a mess the last time they went out. The time they went to the ballet.
He debated it enough to change the subject of his thoughts and eventually, the topic of the conversation. "Have you ever been to London before?"
Kagome knew he was avoiding her question. She knew he was dodging it to avoid having to talk about himself and she couldn't blame him. She also knew that she couldn't force him to confide in her. That right had to be earned and she just hadn't earned it yet, which was fine.
She could deal with that.
"No, never," was her response to his question. "You?"
"Twice, including today."
"Do you like London?" Kagome asked.
"It's alright," Inuyasha responded, although he seemed to be zoning out. His eyes fixated on the table as he answered her.
"What's your favorite place that you've been to, then?"
Kagome picked at the ends of her hair as she waited for a response.
"I dunno…Paris was cool…I didn't like Moscow much, Dubai was crazy."
"Dubai?"
"Yeah, UFC did this Big Brother-style YouTube series in Dubai. It was me and a bunch of other fighters in one house for a few weeks just training together and one of us would leave every week. It was kind of stressful but in a fun way. Before that though, we all went around exploring. I met a guy who had a pet cheetah," Inuyasha smiled at the memory, "I'd go back if I could."
"Why can't you?"
"All of these trips have been for work, Kagome," Inuyasha snorted, "none of these have been 'just because' trips."
There was a pause, and Inuyasha drew in a breath. "I'm also a criminal so…customs doesn't like me very much,"
Kagome's head tilted slightly as she sat back against her seat, her mind connecting two and two together. "Is that why you've never taken a vacation?"
Inuyasha nodded, "It's a little hard to travel when you've been convicted of crimes,"
"….Do you regret it?" Kagome asked candidly. "The crimes. Do you regret what you've done?"
Inuyasha paused for a moment, his eyes scanning over Kagome's face. Drinking in the gentle curvatures of her face. The big doe eyes that stared at him with…concern?
"Why are you concerned?"
"…I worry about you,"
"You don't need to worry about me," Inuyasha responded quickly.
The conversation was dropped for a moment.
"You never answered my question, Inuyasha."
"Kagome, if you're tired you just go to bed." Inuyasha sighed, trying to change the subject of the conversation. He didn't feel like discussing his actions with her. He didn't feel like explaining himself to her.
He hated the fact that she did this; tried to turn conversations into therapy sessions. He hated the fact that she wanted to crack him open and explore all his secrets. All his past. She could get to know him without needing to know all of…that.
Kagome shook her head, "Nah, I'm okay."
"You have bags under your eyes, c'mon. Go." He pointed behind him, back towards the bedroom in the back of the jet. "Go to sleep."
"I'm good," Kagome dug in her heels, glaring at him. "Really."
"Why not?" Inuyasha grumbled, slumping against his seat.
"I know you're going to stay up." Kagome said softly, shrinking into herself, "that's why I'm staying up."
"You're staying up because you're worried about me? I don't need you to worry about shit. I'm good, Kagome. Really ." Inuyasha was getting slightly annoyed with Kagome and he found himself more than glad that he'd decided against telling Kagome the truth about his bender. If she was like this with alcohol, he could only imagine what she was like with drugs.
"I don't need you to watch over me," Inuyasha continued, standing up from his seat, "I need you to do your job. Your job is to keep me off the streets, make me look good, and spend all my fuckin' money. Why the fuck is it so hard for everyone to just shut the fuck up and know their fucking places." His voice was low, but the venom in his words cut into Kagome just as much as yelling at her would have.
He was gone before Kagome could say anything, slamming the door to the bedroom shut with enough force to make her recoil, and wake Miroku who was sleeping in his chair across from them.
Miroku twisted his face into a look of mutual confusion and disappointment. "The hell was that sound?" He grumbled, yawning to pop the pressure in his ears.
"Inuyasha slammed the bedroom door."
Miroku groaned at Kagome's response and she glared at him, seething. "I didn't do shit to him!"
"No, yeah, I'm sure," Miroku muttered, "what did he get mad about?"
"I'm not entirely sure…" Kagome's voice trailed off.
"Did he go into the bedroom?" Miroku asked. He was sitting up right now, stretching his arms up over his head. Miroku patted himself down, searching for his phone. When he found it he looked through his text messages, there weren't any new ones from Sango. "Has Sango messaged you?"
"Yes, he's in the bedroom," Kagome said, "No, Sango hasn't messaged me."
"Ignore him, Kagome. He's had a tough week," Miroku said, settling back down. "It's late, you don't want to be jet-lagged, just go to bed."
Kagome had spent the majority of the flight trying to sleep, tossing and turning in bed for what felt like hours until she felt Inuyasha turn over in his sleep and drape an arm over her waist.
When that happened she was simply too tense to try and move anymore, afraid that any sudden movements would wake him up—and the last thing she needed was a grumpy Inuyasha upon arrival.
"The hell is going on?" Kagome hissed, looking at Miroku. Miroku looked over to Inuyasha who was looking out of the jet window, biting down on his lip. She squinted against the strobing red and blue lights that greeted them once they landed in London.
"...Passport check," Inuyasha muttered as he sat down in a nearby seat. Myoga was still asleep across from him and Inuyasha reached over to shake him by the shoulder. "Get up and get your passport," Inuyasha ordered in Japanese. As Myoga grumbled and threw the blanket off of his body, Inuyasha pointed at Miroku and Kagome. "You guys too, c'mon."
"No need to stress yourself out, Inuyasha," Miroku said as he walked to his bag. He fished out his passport, waving it in the air. "See?"
Inuyasha turned to look at Kagome. She sighed, disappearing into the bedroom they'd shared, and taking her passport out of her tote bag. She stuck her head out through the doorway, "do you want me to get yours too?"
"Please," Inuyasha said, "it's in my bag…somewhere."
Kagome nodded and disappeared back into the room once more. She found his bag and opened it to reveal clothing and toiletries.
Shirts.
Pants.
Skincare products.
Deodorant.
Toothbrush.
Hairbrush.
But there was no passport.
Kagome heard voices outside of the bedroom. She glanced toward the main cabin, finding two police officers with bulletproof vests, and two immigration officers.
"Good morning," she heard one of them say. The accent was pleasant, "We hope the lights didn't give you a fright. We're here to do a routine passport check and immigration process. Nothing to worry about. Before we get started, is there anyone else on the plane?"
"My girlfriend," Inuyasha responded, "she's in the room, getting our passports."
"Ah, right then," The immigration officer responded, "we can wait for her to get back."
Kagome took a deep breath as she rummaged through all of Inuyasha's belongings. Minutes passed by before she thought to open the pocket inside the bag. When she opened it, she found his passport and a skinny pill bottle.
It was filled halfway with pills.
What the hell is this?
"I'm going to go see what's up," Inuyasha said cautiously. "Is that okay?"
"Yes, go ahead," one of the police officers said, Inuyasha nodded and got up, walking back toward the room.
"What's taking you so long," Inuyasha hissed, whispering. "They're starting to get suspicious—" he stopped talking when he noticed what was in her hands.
One hand held up their passports, and the other…
The other held up the orange pill bottle, filled halfway with small rectangular pills.
"What the fuck is this?" Kagome whisper-yelled.
Inuyasha's eyes darkened at the sight. He snatched his passport from her hand, and when he tried to snatch the pill bottle from her she moved her arm, glaring at him.
"Put. It. Back," Inuyasha said lowly. His ears flickered atop his head. "Kagome, if you know what's good for you…you will put them back."
Kagome shook her head at him.
"Is everything all right back there?" A police officer called from the main cabin.
"Everything's fine!" Kagome called, "we'll be out in just a second!"
Inuyasha dragged his free hand down his face, cursing under his breath, "put them back…please."
"I'm putting them back," Kagome started, as she lowered the pill bottle back into his bag, "because we need to get through immigration."
When Kagome put the pills back in his bag and closed it, Inuyasha felt as if a weight had been temporarily lifted from his shoulders. Temporarily, because he knew this wasn't the end of it. He knew that as soon as they got off the plane he was going to have to talk to her.
He knew that he was going to have to explain himself—because those weren't prescribed to him. It was obvious that they weren't.
He gave the immigration officer a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes as he showed him his passport with all his information. Inuyasha felt cold as he brushed past the immigration officer to sit in one of the seats on the jet, acting as if he was distracted by staring at the dark sky outside. As if he was fine.
Inuyasha was not fine.
He tried to avoid looking at Kagome, but he couldn't. It was like trying to stop watching a train wreck, or a car wreck. You couldn't, not even if you tried. His leg bounced anxiously as the immigration officers flipped through their passports.
Inuyasha watched as his was set aside, and slid across the table into the far right corner.
Kagome glanced in his direction when she saw his passport get separated from everyone else's. Still, she was quick to look away once she realized that Inuyasha was already staring in her direction.
"You are all here for the UFC fight, correct? Taking place Monday?"
"That's correct," Miroku said, nodding.
"Right, well, you guys are all good," one of the immigration officers said, pointing at Miroku, then Kagome, and then Myoga. The other officer handed them back their passports.
"You," The officer's finger moved, pointing at Inuyasha. "Inuyasha Takahashi, is it?"
Inuyasha gulped, he felt his heart beat hard against his chest. He wished he could take one of those pills that were in his bag at the moment, but he couldn't, not until he was done with all this shit.
"Yeah?"
"Would you mind coming with us for a bit? We just need to look through some things. Shouldn't take long, bring your things as well."
"Yeah, I figured that's what you wanted," Inuyasha joked. The officers laughed a little bit at what he said.
Miroku glanced nervously in Inuyasha's direction as he got up and moved to grab his bag. Myoga rubbed his head, letting out a breath.
"Sorry, what does he need to get off the plane for?" Kagome asked, half curious and half concerned. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes, this is just routine procedure when we have high-profile individuals come into the country. Especially those with a criminal record, we just want to make sure he has no warrants and hasn't violated probation if he's on it. Safety and all that," The immigration officer paused when Inuyasha came back with his bag slung over his shoulder, and wearing a hoodie. "All good? Let's go. The rest of you need to stay here while he finishes his immigration procedures. After that, you're free to go."
Kagome checked the time, it was almost 6 am. She looked outside and saw that the sun was beginning to rise. She made eye contact with Inuyasha as he passed by her, and she noticed that he looked nervous.
"This is going to take a while," Miroku breathed as Inuyasha left with the officers. "This is why Sesshomaru and I used to fight so hard with UFC, and why so many of his fights are in Las Vegas."
"This is his second time in London right?" Kagome asked, "did it take a while last time, too?"
Miroku and Myoga gave Kagome a confused look, Kagome glanced between them. "What?"
"I mean…look," Miroku carded through his hair. "The last time we came to London, he was taken in by immigration and denied entry to the country after like 4 hours of deliberation and searching through his passport."
Okay, so he didn't outright lie to me. He was in London.
"Oh," Kagome responded, "What about Dubai and Moscow? And Paris?"
"Those were successful entries. Stressful as fuck but, he got in."
"Moscow and Dubai were surprising," Myoga interjected, "We'd thought they would be stricter about that, but England has actually been the most stringent out of all of them, to be honest."
"He was denied last time because he'd served a sentence of 2 years in Japan, and it hadn't been 10 years since then. Mandatory denial for that," Miroku added, "He'd also been prisoned for about five months before coming to London,"
"For what?" Kagome asked.
"Pretty sure it was a DUI that time."
The first hour of waiting passed relatively quickly, Kagome nervously checked her phone for messages from Sango. She took the opportunity to google the questions that were racing through her mind.
Why would someone be denied entry to a country?
What happens when you're denied entry to the UK?
Reddit UK entry denial.
Inuyasha Takahashi, UK denial.
She sighed when every article and list she wrote had criminal records as the main reason for denial, followed by being suspected of overstaying visas, and deportation orders, among a slew of other things.
The second hour of waiting went slower than the first. Minutes bled into each other at the same speed as drying paint: slow, almost painfully slow. Kagome felt like she was going crazy trying to determine what was happening.
Is he being questioned?
Are they going to deny him?
What happens when he gets denied?
What if they found the pills?
She shook the thoughts of out her head. The best that she could do at the moment was sit on her hands and fucking wait. It was all she could do, really. Kagome was going to do her head in if she kept trying to somehow telepathically control the situation.
Miroku kept glancing at his watch as if he could somehow speed up the time.
Myoga occupied himself by reading a book that he'd brought with him.
It was three hours before Inuyasha got back on the jet.
"How'd it go?" Kagome asked as soon as he entered the jet, sitting up in her seat. "Are you in?"
Inuyasha sighed heavily and set down his stuff, before showing them his passport. On the page was a clean, blue stamp of approval. Miroku rushed forward to hug Inuyasha, practically jumping up and down. Inuyasha tried to smile, he tried to act like he was excited for his approval as Miroku was—he just couldn't. He patted Miroku on the back when he pulled away, giving him a tight-lipped smile.
The immigration officer that accompanied Inuyasha back on the aircraft smiled at them. "You're all free to go. Welcome to London. Enjoy your stay," he turned and walked back down the steps.
Kagome could feel Inuyasha's eyes on her, glaring at her as if he was trying to bore holes into her skin. As if he wanted to set her fire. As Miroku and Myoga gathered their things from the plane and started down the steps toward the cars that were waiting for them, Inuyasha blocked Kagome's path. He kept her from moving toward the exit. "I will kick you in the balls, Inuyasha, let me go."
"We need to talk," Inuyasha started, glaring down at Kagome, "Look I know what it looks like—"
"But it's not what it looks like, right?" Kagome interrupted him, placing a hand firmly on his chest, "Let me off this plane."
"We aren't going anywhere until you agree to talk with me,"
"I'm not discussing shit with you, Inuyasha—"
"We're friends now, right?" It was his turn to interrupt her. He set his jaw, his hand pressing into the wall to his side, arm blocking her exit. "Right?"
"Yeah but—"
"…So let me explain myself, Kagome."
"There is nothing to explain, Inuyasha. You have a bottle of prescription pills that clearly aren't yours and—"
"And what?"
There was a pause as Kagome stared up at him, searching his face for any modicum of sincerity but all she was met with were stone-cold eyes and a clenched jaw. "…I don't think there's a way for you to explain what I found to me, Inuyasha. You don't need to break it down like I'm five. I know you have issues. I know you have your own things to deal with and that's fine, everyone does. Everyone has a crutch but…what you're doing is dangerous. Alcohol. Prescription pills. What's next, Inuyasha?"
"Kagome—"
"I'm riding with Miroku and Myoga to the hotel. I'll meet you there, and maybe I'll feel up to hearing you out after I've had some time to myself."
Inuyasha sighed as she ducked under his arm and started down the steps, off the jet. He turned and watched as she put her stuff in the trunk, and then got into the car with Miroku and Myoga.
He got a message from Miroku a few seconds later.
[Miroku: Idk what happened between you two, but you need to stop being an ass.]
When Inuyasha finally arrived at their hotel room, he was already sedated. His body felt heavy, as it does when he's tired. His mind slowed down, thoughts registering minutes after he'd already thought of them. This felt good. Great even.
His eyes momentarily fixated on the large floor-to-ceiling windows of the living room he'd walked into, staring as rain pelted down against the glass, his ears flickered at the sound of thunder that preceded the strike of lightning that broke across the clouds.
"Kagome?" He called, dropping his bag at the entrance. "You here?"
He took a few steps forward and noticed an orange bag in the corner near one of the sofas, followed by another white and black one, then a blue one.
Did she go shopping?
"Did you take yourself on a shopping trip?" Inuyasha called out, his words echoing in the hotel room. "Listen, I know you're mad at me—"
"Where the fuck have you been, Inuyasha?" Kagome sneered from behind him. She watched the muscles in his back tense up, his shoulders shooting up slightly as he turned to look at her. Kagome immediately noticed the hooded eyes and the tired look on his face. "What the fuck?"
Is he drunk or on something? He didn't even notice I was behind him!
Inuyasha took in her appearance, matching sweatpants and hoodie set. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and in her hand was a cup of tea.
"What type of tea is that?" Inuyasha asked, ignoring the obvious look of rage on Kagome's face. She moved her hand away as he tried to reach for it.
"Are you high right now?" Kagome snarled at him, glaring up at him.
Inuyasha shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged. He gave her a smile, shaking his head. "No, not at all." He said softly, "How are you?"
Kagome squinted at him, "I don't trust that you aren't on something right now, are you drinking?"
"No," Inuyasha muttered in response, and then his eyebrows furrowed, "do you wanna talk?"
"There's nothing to talk about, I told you," Kagome snorted, she moved to brush past him but Inuyasha grabbed her wrist, not letting her move. "Let go."
"You're my friend, right? I can trust you?"
"I haven't gone to the media yet with your alcoholism," Kagome shrugged, "yeah, you can trust me."
Yet.
She hasn't gone…yet.
"Yo, wait—yet?"
Kagome sputtered as she realized what she said, and she opened her mouth to respond—correct herself, rather but it was already met with a bitter laugh.
"Oh you bitch," Inuyasha hissed. He was angry, Kagome knew that he was angry, and hurt.
In Inuyasha's brain, however, his emotions were basically nonexistent. The words that were coming out of his mouth were laced with hostility and interwoven with hate but his mind was virtually blank. Kagome was screaming words at him just as he was screaming at her but he didn't realize that he was.
She threw her tea on his shirt and stormed out, his nose was assaulted by the smell of it. What would normally give off a slight citrus smell was overwhelming. It was enough to shock him back into a state of semi-soberness.
"What the fuck, Kagome?!"
"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU INUYASHA?!"
"NOTHING IS WRONG WITH ME, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! FUCKING PSYCHO!"
"OH OKAY, SO I'M JUST SUPPOSED TO TURN A BLIND EYE TO THE AMOUNT OF XANAX YOU SMUGGLED INTO LONDON? THAT'S ALL FINE AND DANDY RIGHT? NOTHING TO SEE HERE!" Kagome shouted at him, her voice cracking. She was making her way around the living room.
"LOWER YOUR FUCKING VOICE, WHORE!"
"INUYASHA FUCKING TAKAHASHI!"
She yelled his name so loudly he had to reach up and cover his ears, he glared at her across the living room. He saw her reach for a decorative pillow and ducked as she threw it at him.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Inuyasha hollered, he watched Kagome reach into one of the bags and he lunged forward, moving her hand away from the bag. "Stop it," he whispered, "stop struggling—stop it, Kagome. Look at me, FUCKING LOOK AT ME!"
"I will call the police and turn you in," Kagome confessed with a bitter laugh. If he hadn't grabbed hold of her hand, Kagome would've thrown a heel at his head. "You think I'm joking? Fucking try me, Takahashi."
"Kagome—"
"I can deal with your fucking alcohol dependency, that's not unheard of. It's normalized even, I can fuckin' deal with that. You know what I can't deal with? Drugs. Especially those not prescribed to you, and I don't give a fuck what your reasoning is—this is wrong, Inuyasha. Where did you even get them?"
"That's not important."
Kagome had to bite down a laugh that threatened to spill out of her. "Really? Okay, so I guess that means it's someone I know."
"You're jumping to conclusions right now, shut the fuck up!" Inuyasha whisper yelled, still holding her hand away from her bag. Kagome's nostrils flared as she took deep, rapid breaths, "Calm down, please?"
Kagome tried to rip her hand out of his grasp but she couldn't budge.
"Please."
It took ten minutes for Kagome to calm down enough to steady her breathing, and another five before Inuyasha trusted her enough to let go. Kagome placed her hands on her waist and took a deep breath as she walked away, turning her body away from him.
"Are you good now?" Inuyasha asked after a few minutes of tense silence. Every fiber of his being was telling him to leave and not come back. He was willing to pay thousands of pounds just to put whole floors' worth of distance between them if it meant he could have some peace of mind.
Kagome didn't answer him, instead, she picked up the pillow from the floor—which was now drenched in earl grey tea—and threw it back onto the couch. "Fuck you, Takahashi."
"...We need to talk, Kagome," Inuyasha said. His tone was serious, his eyes darkened as he looked at her. Kagome stared at him with a blank expression. "What just happened is not fucking okay, what the fuck is wrong with you?"
"The hell is wrong with you, Inuyasha? You wanna act innocent?"
"I am," Inuyasha growled at her, "I'm making an effort to communicate with you—you aren't having it."
"Because this is something you should've told me of when we had that conversation in Vermont. You know, the one we had about your fucking addiction—I mean, addictions."
Inuyasha gave her a bewildered look, "...WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"
"YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THE FUCK I'M TALKING ABOUT, INUYASHA!" Kagome yelled back at him, giving him the same look he gave her. She was so angry, so infuriated that she felt as if her nails were going to break through her skin. She felt lightheaded—as if she was standing on air.
"...So what, I'm supposed to share everything about myself with you, now? You want a fucking update on everything?"
"I told you all the important shit about myself," Kagome countered, "the least you could do is reciprocate."
"Oh you're such a fuckin' liar," Inuyasha sneered, "that's bullshit."
It was quiet for a little bit, neither of them dared to move or talk. Both of them froze in their spots, trying to determine what to say next.
"When did this start?" Kagome asked, clearing her throat. It burned and felt scratchy, her voice came out hoarse and raw and strained.
"...Recently."
"How fucking recent?"
"Right before we came here."
Kagome nodded slowly, "dump those pills down the toilet, Inuyasha."
Inuyasha recoiled at her words, biting down a laugh. "Absolutely not."
"Do it, or I call the police. I will turn you in."
Inuyasha folded his arms over his chest, wrinkling up his nose at the sticky feeling of tea on his shirt. "Do it, then." He challenged.
If she really wanted to turn him in, if she really was threatening to do what she said, Kagome would've done it. Kagome would've run to the room and grabbed her phone, she would've dialed 999 and given them all the information she knew. She would've turned him in and used his card to book the next flight back to New York and never talk to him again.
But Kagome couldn't do that, Inuyasha knew she couldn't do that, so he wasn't surprised to see her frozen in her spot, unable to act. He raised an eyebrow at her, a silent dare.
Do it, bitch.
Minutes passed by, Kagome didn't move.
"That's what I thought," Inuyasha muttered.
You care too much.
