Disclaimer: See Author Profile.

Rating: R, for language and eventually for adult situations.

Summary: Kagome has just had about the worst week in her life. Throw in a dramatic rescue involving three very good-looking guys… and things just might start improving. [AU][Kag/Inu/Mir/Sess ??]

***

Iron Lotus presents:

Inertia

*

Chapter One:

Plenty of Reasons to Cry

*

"…Excuse me?" Disbelief. Pure disbelief.

"You're fired," the man repeated with an exasperated sigh.

"…Well." She managed to say, her eyes tightening for a moment before she regained her composure. She stood and looked at the faceless man in front of her, her face blank but her eyes brimming. She murmured a polite 'excuse me' and snatched the folder from in front of him, where it lay untouched.

With that, she quietly left his office. She went to her desk in a sort of daze and rummaged through her desk, pulling out anything that was hers and shoving it into her bag before leaving the building and heading for her car. She drove calmly all the way to the hospital, parked, and waited serenely in the elevator until it reached the eighth floor. She reached room 815 and silently closed the door behind her, sitting beside the bed and looking into the figured that lay sleeping under its sheets. A few minutes of perfect and uninterrupted silence went by before she broke into sobs.

She had good enough reasons to cry. It was as though everything that could have gone wrong had done so in the past week. She had moved out of the apartment that she shared with her friend Sango, and moved back into her mother's house until she could find a new place. When she got to her house, she discovered that her mother had a boyfriend. Her mother, her mother, had a boyfriend. The day after that, her boyfriend and she had broken up. And now?

Now, she was out of a job.

In reality, moving out of her apartment had been her own idea. Sango and her boyfriend were finally getting serious, and they wanted to move in together. Kagome had insisted that Sango keep the apartment, since on her own she would never have been able to pay rent. After some convincing, Sango had agreed to stay. Kagome's things were now in boxes strewn about her old bedroom at home.

As for her boyfriend? Well. She and Hojo had just been friends, but after knowing each other for a few years, decided to date. That was at the start of freshman year in college. Now she had graduated and was working. Hojo was sweet, and a really likeable guy, but she had never really loved him. It wasn't fair of her to lead him on any longer, so she had ended it with him. She felt better now, less guilty since she was no longer lying to him, but the absence of having someone by her side was getting to her. She was lonely. She missed having someone to turn to, someone to touch, someone to kiss.

But this was too much. Being unemployed and living with her mother and Miles, her mother's American boyfriend… she felt like she had failed in life.

Failed, failed completely. It had been the perfect job for her, too. It was a job doing exactly what she had wanted to do, for years – or it would have been, given a few years and a promotion here and there. It would have led her to greatness. It would have been the door to the world she had longed to be a part of since she had met her father.

But it had been ripped away from her.

The reasons didn't matter any more. She didn't want to be a part of something so vile, so contemptible, ever in her life. Her boss – former boss – that despicable, piggish exampled of a man, had not even looked at her ideas. He had just wanted… ugh.

She had reason enough to cry. Sobbing, trembling, choking over her tears, she knelt by the hospital bed. The salty droplets of her sorrow squeezed out from between her tightly closed lids. She cried until she was out of tears. She remained there for a long time afterwards, having taken a proper seat, and looking blankly at the small body lying in the hospital bed.

*

It was some time after midnight when she pulled up in the driveway of her house, noticing that her mother's car was not there. She and Miles were probably out. Grabbing her tote-bag from the passenger seat, she climbed out of the car and headed into the house. She tossed her things onto the couch in the living room and grabbed the cordless phone from where it had been left carelessly on the coffee table. After a moment's hesitation, she hit the 'talk' button and dialed.

After six rings, someone picked up. "Hello?" Came a groggy voice on the other end of the phone.

"Dad?" She said in a small voice.

"Kagome? What's wrong? It's almost two in the morning, baby." The man's voice was clearer now. He had woken up fully, it seemed.

She bit her lip and closed her eyes in thought. "Dad," she said finally, her voice no longer quavering. She had decided. It was crazy, it was stupid. It was something she needed to do. "I'm sorry for calling so late, but I have to tell you something…"

"Oh God," he said.

"I want to rent the apartment," she said.

"…Kagome. I thought you were going to tell me you didn't want to have anything to do with me. Don't do that to me, Frappie, you had me so worried." He sighed in relief and there was a long pause. "Which apartment?"

Kagome sat down on the couch, a smile on her face. "The one that you told me about, Dad. The one with the… the balcony and the blue bedroom…?"

Her father clicked his tongue. "I rented that one out a few weeks ago." He said nothing for a moment and she fought the desperate and illogical urge to cry. "If you're looking for a place though, you could move in with me, baby."

"Dad, that's not fair," she started.

"As a roommate, Kagome. A rent-paying roommate." She was silent, mulling over the proposition. "Listen, you think about it, okay? Call me tomorrow and let me know."

"Alright," she said. "And Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Love you."

"Love you too, Frappie. Good night."

***

Kagome and her father rented a truck the next day and moved her boxes to his apartment. Her mother made a bit of a fuss, but let Kagome go, watching as the two drove off in separate cars: Kagome in her own car, and her father in the truck. They moved the boxes up to the large, spacey apartment, and he stood in her doorway, watching as she unpacked. She was given a half of the apartment that had stayed empty and unused since he had bought the apartment.

Her half consisted of a bedroom with a full bathroom (and immense Jacuzzi-tub, much to her delight), and two other, far larger rooms and another smaller bathroom. Kagome had called Sango to ask her to bring her furniture, which she had left at their apartment since it would have been too much of a pain to move it twice, and Sango had brought it. They had invited Sango to stay, but she couldn't – her boyfriend was waiting in the truck. Kagome herself didn't have enough furniture to fill up the three rooms on her own, but she spread her things out between them and did the best she could to fill the space.

"Kagome?" Her father asked from his place at her bedroom door. "We need to decide on some rules." She looked up at him with a look of exasperation, but he started talking again before she could cut in to complain. "Rules between us as roommates," he said, "and rules between us as father and daughter."

She nodded. They agreed on the house rules… most of which were basic rules that all roommates lived by. Respect each other's space, each other's things… distribution of chores, rent prices and the frequency of their delivery. The basics.

"As a parent," he said, holding up two fingers. "I have two rules. One," he ticked one finger off. "I respect that you're an individual person and can make your own choices. You can stay out as long as you like, but I must ask that you let me know if you aren't planning on coming home for the night." Kagome nodded, though a blush crept onto her cheeks when she realized what it was that he was implying.

"And secondly," he said, "Although I have no doubts about your integrity, it's sort of a requirement that I say this. No drugs in the house." Kagome rolled her eyes and he laughed. "Hey, it's not every day I get to act like a parent!"

*

Atsuo smiled to himself, watching as his daughter channel-surfed. She was enjoying the TV – it was, by all normal standards, huge. A mini-theater. With a little chuckle, he turned back to chopping onions. The kitchen had a window that served as a sort of bar, looking into the TV room. It was through this window that he happily watched his daughter.

He regretted being in absent in her life for so long. He and Honoe were not married when she had gotten pregnant, and she had rejected him when he proposed to her. He had loved her genuinely, at the time, and would have married her regardless of the pregnancy. She had pushed him away, however, and requested that he not involve himself with the baby. He had respected her wishes. And he hated himself for it.

He had met Kagome in a café. It was close to the high school that she attended at the time – unbeknownst to him – where they had first bumped into each other. He had been with a friend of his, a business partner, when he heard some girls a booth or two over giggling, and one had caught his attention.

~"I can see it now!" came the excited voice of one of the high school girls. "Higurashi Kagome and Minazeki Hojo-kun, tied in marriage!"

"Mou, Yukaaaa, I swear that there is nothing going on between us! So leave me alone!" ~

The second girl had sounded sort of pissed off, and he saw one of the three of them stand, a deep frown on her face. She got up to leave, and his eyes stayed on her until just as she was walking by his booth, his friend spoke.

~"Is the great Seitaka Atsuo falling for schoolgirls now? That'll be your downfall, you know."

The girl had stopped moving immediately and turned around to look at him. Their names had caught each other's attention. It wasn't until Honoe's name came up that they were sure of their relation to each other.

He had met his daughter in a café. That was where his silly nickname for her came from – Frappie – since they had both been drinking frappuccinos when they met. It was pathetic and ironic at the same time… He had met Honoe in a café as well.

He and Kagome started seeing each other every week, in addition to frequent phone calls. The two of them were ecstatic at the discovery of each other and grew close quickly. Honoe only found out that they had met when she picked up the phone to make a call and interrupted Atsuo in the middle of a comment on one of Kagome's complaints. She had recognized his voice immediately. And she had not been happy.

"Frappie?" Atsuo called, washing his hands. "Set the table, will you?" He was answered by silence, and turned off the faucet. "Kagome?"

She said nothing, and he headed into the adjacent room where his daughter was seated on the fluffy blue couch. He approached and as he neared, heard quiet sobs erupting from her throat. Instinct taking over, he seated himself by her side and wrapped her arms around her. She curled into his lap and he rocked her back and forth, running a hand through her hair in an attempt to comfort her. 

He shushed her until her tears dried. She huddled against him and they sat in silence for a long time. He didn't ask what was wrong. She would tell him when she felt she could. "Are you still hungry, Fraps?"

Kagome nodded and followed after him to the kitchen, where they sat on the counter and ate from plastic dishes since neither felt like washing. Her eyes were puffy and red at the start of the meal, but by the time they had finished eating, she was in better spirits. If he was one thing, her father was funny. Not that he could possibly be only one thing – he was just such an amazing person in her eyes that there was no way to reduce him to a single quality…

He had made her feel better. He had made her feel as though she had some value, instead of being the incredible loser she thought herself to be after the week she'd had. And he was right – she may have been in a low place, but there was no way she was going to stay in it.

She would get out of this hole – claw her way out, if that's what it would take – and keep living her life. She was worth it, after all. Maybe having some fun tonight would do it – help her get in a good mind-set. She was planning on a new start. Things would start looking up, she was determined.

Once the meal was over, she took a shower, changed into some nice clothes, and grabbed her house keys. "I'm going out!" she called into her father's bedroom, where he was seated on his bed, reading the newspaper. He grunted in response, and she left.

She was going out to celebrate. She was going to have a good time, if it killed her. 'Cheers', she thought. 'Here's to a new start'.

***

Inuyasha looked to his left. Inuyasha looked to his right. He sighed and stood up, the two girls that had been seated on either side of him tumbling to the ground with undignified squeals. They giggled like idiots and climbed back onto the red lounge couch, grabbing the closest guy they could and flirting like harlots, oblivious to their smeared lipstick and the dark, mascara-induced circles under their eyes.

The music thrummed throughout the dimly lit room, the pounding baseline buzzing through the speakers and shaking the polished wooden floor. He made his way through the throngs of people that milled about, dancing, chatting, drinking, making out. He was looking for someone in particular inside the faceless figures that moved around the room. Inuyasha found him dancing with an anonymous girl who looked like she was the target of the night. Inuyasha grabbed his arm and hauled him out of the main room, into one of the back rooms which were mini-lounges that the club owners rented out. Nobody was supposed to go into them without having paid of for them, but it wasn't as though Inuyasha cared.

Inuyasha didn't make the rules; he broke them.

"Inuyasha."

"Shut up, Miroku," Inuyasha barked gruffly. "Look, man, I've been thinking –"

Miroku's hands went up to his head, his fingers grabbing a hold of his skull through his thick, chocolate-brown locks. "Oh my LORD, Inuyasha. I was going in for the kill there, with that girl… Mizuna,"

"Mizuki," Inuyasha corrected absently.

"Right, whatever. I was going in for the kill there, ready to take her home and enjoy my last night of freedom, and you interrupted me because you've been thinking? I'm screwed now, and not in the way I'd like."

"Are you drunk?" Inuyasha asked, looking at his friend with faintly masked concern.

"Slightly," Miroku responded, his usually bright violet eyes clouded and peeking out at from under his thick lashes.

Inuyasha groaned and glanced at his watch. He grimaced. It was almost three in the morning. "Look, man, I'm going to take you home. It's late, and you're drunk. Let's go,"

"Inuyasha!" He cried in exasperation.

"If you're that desperate to get laid, I'll call Yura for you. She's obsessed with you as it is so there's no problem, right?"

"Not Yura," Miroku scoffed. "Give me two minutes. All I need is two minutes. Two minutes?" When Inuyasha nodded, Miroku dashed from the room, calling "Two minutes," over his shoulder.

Inuyasha scoffed and was about to leave, when the door was roughly pushed open and a girl's body went tumbling into the room. She made pained sounds as her body struck the ground, and a tall man with shaggy blonde hair and a set of very wide shoulders stalked into the room. The blonde man did not see Inuyasha and stalked toward his prey, crumpled up on the ground in a tangle of limbs and raven black locks.

"You stupid bitch," he ground out. "Nobody says no to me – and nobody humiliates me in front of my friends."

He was about to descend over her, when Inuyasha snapped out of his initial frozen state of shock and landed one square on the blond guy's jaw. Violence was not tolerated in the club, but hey, Inuyasha didn't make the rules. Before the blonde man could recuperate enough to launch a counterattack, Inuyasha knocked him another good one. His opponent crashed into the wall and fell to the ground, knocked out.

Inuyasha looked down at the girl that was now sitting on the ground, and felt overwhelmed. He scooped her into his arms, somewhat impulsively, and looked around the room, at a loss for what to do. He saw a small black purse lying on the ground not too far from her assailant's body and grabbed it as well, flinging it over onto the presumably unconscious girl's stomach in an awkward maneuver.

When he left, Inuyasha found Miroku standing glumly by the door. "Thanks to you, I lost my chance, you prick." Inuyasha snorted at this, and Miroku looked up at him. He saw the girl in his friend's arms, her long dark tresses dangling over Inuyasha's shoulder, and arm. "Who's the chick?"

"Don't know. Have a look in her purse, would you? I'll drop her off once I get you home."

"Ooooh no you don't, you sly dog you," Miroku said, waving a finger in front Inuyasha's face, but grabbing the girl's purse anyway. "She will be staying at your apartment tonight, as will I. If I can't get laid tonight, I might as well do the next manly thing and play video games and drink beer all night." He slapped Inuyasha on the back and the two headed out to the car. "Besides. Do you want to explain to her parents why she's knocked out and driving around with two guys they don't know?"

Inuyasha barked a laugh and shook his head. "You sit with her in the back. We can leave her in Rin's old room. And then, Miroku, we can kick out the Heinekens, and I will kick your ass in Soul Caliber."

Miroku laughed with an air of superiority and mumbled, "you wish" under his breath before climbing into the car with the dark haired young lady. In the few brief instants when Inuyasha's door was open and the car lights were on automatically, Miroku was able to see the girl clearly. She had long black eyelashes that curled onto the soft, pale skin of her cheek. She was bare of makeup, he noticed, except for some clear lip gloss which had been smeared a little in the process of moving her. Her cheeks were a little pink – she might have been drinking before. Her neck was long and connected with slim shoulders and feminine arms with dainty hands at their ends. And those *breasts* –

"Miroku – touch her, and die," said Inuyasha, closing his car door and rendering all around them dark once more. Miroku looked down and the youthful beauty in his arms and saw that her skin glowed slightly, reflecting the pale lights seeping into the car from the lampposts in the parking lot.

***

The front door to the two-story apartment closed, and Sesshoumaru set his bags down, rubbing the back of his neck tiredly. He grabbed his suitcases once more and trudged up the stairs with them, tossing them onto his bed along with his jacket. He heard sounds coming from the other room. He glanced at the clock. It was almost seven. What was Inuyasha doing up this early?

He left his room and wandered into the room next door, to see something that didn't really surprise him in the least. Inuyasha and Miroku were sleeping, Miroku slumped over the couch, Inuyasha all over the floor. They were surrounded with empty beer bottles, and the TV was on. They had been playing video games of some sort. Sesshoumaru snorted. It figured that the Detestably Dumb Duo would have been wasting their time in such ridiculously childish endeavors.

With a swift kick to his brother's prone form, he growled, "You, fool, get up."

Inuyasha awoke to a loss of air and a sharp pain in his side. Sesshoumaru was home, or so it seemed. "Hi to you too," he mumbled and moved into a sitting position. A hand went immediately to his head. He felt the beginning signs of a well-deserved headache. Well-deserved because he'd been stupid enough to try to out-drink Miroku. "Shiiiiiiit," he hissed, pressing his fingers to his temples. "I feel like my head's gonna bust," he grumbled, and then his eyes widened. "Oh fuck!"

Sesshoumaru watched with slight amusement as his brother stumbled to his feet and tripped over a stray Heineken bottle. He recovered his balance and then kicked Miroku in the side much the same way that Sesshoumaru had done to him, and hissed out something along the lines of "Wake up, shithead!" How vulgar.

Miroku snapped awake and followed a hasty Inuyasha in barreling past Sesshoumaru and down the hall. Sesshoumaru followed with mild interest which increased tenfold when they slung open the door to Rin's old bedroom. The both of them sighed and looked relieved.

"Stay there for a sec, Miroku. I'm gonna take a shower. Fuckin' smell like beer."

Miroku entered the room and Sesshoumaru approached the doorway. He looked inside to see Miroku seated by the bed, which held the frail-looking body of a girl. She was wearing a small black skirt and discreet pumps, along with a tasteful blue halter top. A girl that they had picked up at a party? She looked considerably more well-dressed than the other whores that Inuyasha and Miroku were prone to sleeping with.

"What happened to her?" Sesshoumaru asked, his voice just a notch quieter.

Miroku looked up at him, a little startled. "Pretty, isn't she?" he asked and looked back down at her. He reached his hand out and tenderly touched her face with the pads of his fingers before wiping the slightly smeared lip gloss from her chin and upper lip.

"You didn't answer my question," Sesshoumaru said, frowning.

A small, sly smile spread over Miroku's face and he held Sesshoumaru's gaze for a moment. "You haven't answered mine." He turned back to the girl.

'Ah yes. That question'. Sesshoumaru's frown deepened a little bit. He watched as Miroku seemed to come to his senses and stood up. The dark haired man stood and stretched, thumbing his left earlobe and playing with the two golden loops that pierced it, looking at the woman before him while deep in thought. He reached up and rubbed the single piercing in his right ear as well before moving to the girl's feet and removing her shoes.

This was a sensible idea on the idiot's part, Sesshoumaru observed. The woman's feet would undoubtedly hurt, after spending the night sleeping in pumps. He watched as Miroku grabbed the quilt from at the foot of the bed and placed it over her. He watched as Miroku went to the woman's purse, located her cell phone, and watched as he thumbed through the text messages that she had been sent. Three were from the same phone number that had registered twice under "missed calls".

Sesshoumaru watched as Miroku took care to write down the girl's cell number on a piece of scratch paper and listened as Miroku explained that it was so he could call her later to see that she was alright. He watched as Miroku flipped through the girl's wallet looking for an ID or a home address. He watched, and wondered how many times the man had done this before.

Inuyasha walked in a few minutes later and Miroku was about to leave to commandeer the shower when there was a gasping intake of breath and the girl shot into a sitting position, conscious at last.

She looked gorgeous. Her skin was white, white, and a stark contrast to her black tresses. Inuyasha looked at her, as her impossibly large blue eyes darted around the room. Her plump, pink lips parted as though she was about to speak, her eyes watery and a hand on one of her arms, her hair falling around her messily and a little in front of her face as well. "Where am I?" She blinked a few times, and her big blue eyes focused on Inuyasha. "Aren't you… from last night…?"

He felt suddenly uncomfortable under her gaze, and shifted a little nervously. "Yeah… I took care of that guy for you. Are you alright?"

She nodded and a smile lit on her face. "I'm alright. Thank you," she said, her eyes never straying from Inuyasha's. The intensity of her gaze made Inuyasha just a little more uncomfortable, but he managed a genuine, fangy grin and inclined his head.

"Miss? If I might interrupt, what is your name?"

She blinked, startled, and looked over at Miroku. Her head cocked to the side just a little bit, and she responded softly. "Higurashi Kagome."

Miroku nodded. "Pleased to meet you, Kagome-san, I'm Kugeki Miroku. This is my friend Youtoru Inuyasha, and that's his older half-brother Youtoru Sesshoumaru." He gestured to each and then handed her the cell phone he had taken from her purse. "You might want to call home. We'll give you a ride back."

Kagome blushed and nodded, taking her phone. "Thank you, Kugeki-san." Her eyes were now on him, locked on his violet eyes with the intensity that they had had when she had thanked Inuyasha. Those amazing, powerful blue orbs shifted to Sesshoumaru and she regarded him silently for a moment. Her eyes went back to Inuyasha and she smiled again. "I'll make you all breakfast," she chirped cheerfully and stood, folding the quilt and placing it at the foot of the bed as she spoke. "I owe it to you all after you took care of me last night."

The three men blinked a little and she wove a path through them and out the door of the bedroom. A small blush crept onto her face and she asked where the kitchen was. Inuyasha pointed the way and she thanked him before heading down the stairs to cook them all breakfast.

"What happened to her?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"She was getting knocked around by some guy at the club last night. The way I understood things, he must've asked her to dance and she turned him down. He was about to rape her. Really, if I hadn't been there…" Inuyasha trailed off with a growl.

Miroku let out a low whistle and Sesshoumaru snorted, excusing himself to take a shower and unpack his luggage. Miroku headed towards Inuyasha's room and commandeered the bathroom, readying himself for a well-deserved hot shower. He turned the shower on and let the water run a bit so that it could heat up. A small sigh escaped his lips as he thought about the delectable beauty that was cooking him up a meal at that precise moment.

He smiled ruefully. In another day, another life, perhaps. There was no way he would be able to approach her now. The day prior would have been a different story – but the moment that the sun rose in the east to signal the start of the new day, his options had been cut. He was now a man chained. Women's bodies were no longer his to explore at leisure. He had lost his freedom.

Inuyasha stood alone in the hall, awkwardly, before heading down the stairs to keep the girl company. She was really very pretty, he thought. The short length of the skirt and the lot cut of her shirt helped a bit, but on her own she was very pretty. He walked into the kitchen and stood silently in the door, watching her as she moved about, enjoying the view as she bent over to open and search through cabinets, and smiling as he heard her begin to hum a nonsensical ditty while she worked.

"Who was that guy?" he asked suddenly, startling her into almost dropping a pan onto the ground. She looked over at him with a look that said 'don't scare me like that', and went back to what she was doing. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and repeated in a quieter tone, "Who was that guy?"

She set the pan down on the stove and made her way to the refrigerator. "He was my boss."

"Was?"

She chopped up some onions and tomatoes and green peppers and cracked some eggs into the mix before pouring it into the pan. "I got fired because I wouldn't sleep with him," she replied as though it wasn't important. "Would you mind watching the eggs for me? I have to call my father."

***

When Kagome got home, she went immediately to her room and locked the door behind her. Her father had been upset, understandably, but he had been so grateful for her safety that he promised not to kill her. He was at work when she called, and he hadn't been able to stay long on the phone with her. She ate the eggs with Inuyasha and Miroku. Sesshoumaru never went down for breakfast and Miroku explained that this was most likely due to his just returning from a long trip and needing to catch up on missed sleep. Inuyasha had driven her home – Miroku had come along because he needed a ride to his apartment – and she had thanked them again.

Now she sat there, alone, locked in her room. Her mind drifted to her failed attempt at having a good time the night before. She just had to choose the club that her former boss went to, didn't she? It was all just such a mess…

She had been evicted from her last apartment, come home to find her mother dating a foreigner, broken up with her boyfriend, moved in with her father, almost been raped by the boss that fired her for not sleeping with him, and was short on a car since she had left it at the club.

She had plenty of reasons to cry.

In Chapter Two:

      When he had kissed her, this was the last thing that he expected… Shock registered on her face when she saw them hand in hand…   "Surely you don't mean my Rin, father. That would be an utter disgrace!"    It was the last thing that they expected, but it made perfect sense.   Inuyasha pushed him and smiled with satisfaction when the smell of blood hit his nose…

*

AN Howdy!! This is it, folks! Chapter one, the first installment of "Inertia". Yeehaw. Say it with me, 'yeeeeeehaw!!'. That's good. One more time? 'YEEEEHAW'.

Anyway. Some info you all might like to know!!! THIS is in fact a love shape. It could end up either I/K, M/K, or S/K (in alphabetical order)… or a combination of any two. Hah! THAT would be interesting.

It's an AU, as I'm sure you noticed from the summary or from just reading the story itself. ALSO, I need help thinking of a better summary. If you've any ideas, lemme know.

And… yeah. REVIEW!!!!