A/N: hey, no rocks!

Sorry about the delay of updates, our computer got infected with stupid spyware, so it was busy 24/7…sigh I need a laptop…

Oh yeah, if you help me reach my goal of 65 reviews (70 for I will promise an extra long chapter , 80 reviews will get you a very fluffy chapter, and 110 reviews will get you a lemon (XD yeah right)

The last two seem a bit damn near impossible, but the first one isn't!

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Deja Vu

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Miroku walked into the kitchen, a letter in his hands and a confused look on his face. Sango put down her orange juice and gave the boy an inquiring glance.

"What's that, Miroku?"

"Amazing…" Miroku mumbled, shaking his head and still staring at the letter, "they're giving us two hundred bucks each to…apologize."

"Apologize?"

He sat across her and handed her the letter. "See for yourself."

She took it and examined the piece of paper.

Hello,

We at NaraCo Inc. would just like to apologize profusely about the incident that happened yesterday. As soon as we were informed by the hotel's medical staff of your condition, we immediately updated the security and checked for any other delinquents in our staff. We had no idea that Kouga Wolfe was actually an identity thief and a dangerous criminal, posing as an employee at NaraCo Inc.

Please accept the check enclosed in this envelope as an apology, enlisted to:
Inuyasha Taisho

Kagome Higurashi

Sango Taiji

Miroku Okido

Once again, we hope you have an enjoyable stay in Hawaii, and we assure you thatthis will not happen again.

Thank you,

Kanna,

NaraCo Inc.

"Wow…" Sango muttered, and looked up, "This is a bit extreme, isn't it?"

The boy shrugged. "Not really. I think it's a pretty good excuse to give us money."

"Mmm."

"Mmm?"

"Well," she said, fingering the gold letters that spelled 'NaraCo Inc.' absentmindedly, "doesn't it just sound a bit…suspicious…to you?"

"Suspicious?"

"Eh. Never mind…" she sighed. "How's Inuyasha?"

Miroku took her juice from her, earning himself a half-hearted glare. "Still sulking in his room. Hasn't come out since we returned."

"Oh…" Sango got a bleak look on her face, "You know…that was damn surprising—what happened yesterday, on the boat."

Miroku took a sip of her drink. "Yeah, and I thought I knew him so well, you know? After five years…" he rested his chin on his hand. "What about Kagome?"

"I dunno…she's okay now, but still kind of tired. I didn't tell her about Inuyasha…she thinks Kouga's dead because he drowned when he lost his footing and fell off the boat."

She looked up guiltily through her bangs at him. "I feel bad."

Miroku couldn't help but notice how cute she looked like that, and he brushed her bangs out of her eyes. She gave him an inquisitive look, and he grinned.

"Don't. We're only saving our own skins."

She smiled, reached up and traced a finger down his jaw line, noticing how perfectly sculpted it was. She leaned in, and Miroku's breath caught, thinking she was going to kiss him again. But she just laughed and flicked his nose playfully before snatching her orange juice back from him.

"You're such a sap." He frowned and she laughed again, then got up to rinse her glass.

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'How is she feeling?'

He was dying to know, not that he would actually check. He felt like she somehow knew about the whole beach incident—even if she had been unconscious—and that made him feel…unusually embarrassed. Shaking the sense off, Inuyasha stretched across the beige comforter and stared at the pink jewel for what was the millionth time. Why the hell was it glowing?

For the first time in his life, he desperately wished the old hag were here to explain it to him. He sighed and ran his fingers across the surface, then got up and locked the door securely.

After he made sure that no one could walk in on him, he clutched the jewel to his heart, and closed his eyes.

A radiant flash of white light exploded in the room, dulling the bed, the chair, and all the other objects in it. It cleared, and a newly transformed half-demon Inuyasha stood there.

He groaned, rubbing the sore dog-ears resting on top of his head, and twitched them about. Finally, some air for his poor ears.

Luckily, he never had to turn fully human—a state where he felt incredibly weak—except at new moon, when his demon powers waned fully without his control. Thankfully, the new moon had just passed the day before he had left on this trip. He had retired early like he always did on those nights, complaining to Miroku that he was incredibly tired, and sat in his room alone, clutching Tetsusaiga. The sword always gave him comfort, even though it just seemed like a rusty old katana to anyone else. Nobody else knew that the sword had won him many battles against both strong demons and human, and used to belong to his father.

The Shikon allowed him to hide his most unusual youkai features, like his ears, fangs, and claws, without transforming him completely. He still had his acute sense of hearing and smell, as well as his silver hair and amber eyes—which he had gotten many awed and curious looks for—but he lost some of his strength.

Although he felt most comfortable in his hanyou state, it was also a condition where he most despised himself.

When he was but a child, before he had found the half of the Shikon no Tama, he hadn't known how to hide those attributes.

He had gotten harassed wherever he had ventured, despised by youkai and human alike. Like it was his fucking fault. Many a time, children and even grown men had beat him with rocks and other hard objects, calling him hurtful names like 'dirty half-breed', and 'filthy mutt'. He hadn't really understood them, yet he found them piercing his young and innocent heart. Those names brought so many tears out of him on cold nights, where he just hugged himself and called for his mama who he knew would never come and find him…for she was dead.

So much for the playground saying, "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me…"

It was an incredibly long time ago, but it still plagued him—deeply.

He snarled, trying to keep his voice low, and dug his claws in the bedspread. What the fuck was up with all these stupid memories? First Kikyou, and now…this! What was next, remembering times with his mother?

'…Shit.'

There was a hesitant knock on the door, and he jumped, startled out of his wits. After a couple of sniffs, and with his enhanced sense of smell, he recognized Kagome's sweet scent, and he scrambled around, trying to find the jewel to revert back into his semi-human form.

"Inuyasha?"

"Just a second!" he called out hurriedly, "I'm…uh…I'm changing!" Well, it wasn't a complete lie….

There was a pause. "Okay."

He tried to hide the big burst of pale light as much as he could by trying to dim it with the light from his window. Transformed once more, he opened the door to find a still-pale Kagome, leaning on the doorframe for support. It was obvious she was still incredibly tired from yesterday's events.

He scowled. "What're you doing up, wench? Go back to bed!"

She sighed and waved him off, stumbling into his room. "I need to talk to you, I—" she yelped as she tripped on one of his random pieces of clothing on the floor. Inuyasha quickly grabbed her waist, and helped her stand, leading her to the bed where she could sit. "Clumsy baka…" he scolded, and she smiled weakly.

He sat across her, crouching on the floor. "So, what'd you want?"

She ran her fingers across his comforter, not meeting his eyes, and frowned at the tears in the soft material. "How'd these get here?"

"Ehh…" he fumbled for a response, "scissors accident."

She gave him an odd look. "Scissors?"

"Keh. I was trimming my nails and they…fell."

"O-okay…"

He snorted. "Listen, wench. Are you going to ask me a question or not?"

"Well, not exactly a question," she hesitated, still not looking him in the eye, "it's more of a…thanks."

"A thanks?"

"Yeah…" she glanced down at him, and smiled faintly. "Thanks for saving me yesterday."

"Well what was I supposed to do, wench? Just stand there and let you drown?"

She shook her head, and looked away from him again. He didn't know why, but it was killing him to see her so cautious and…shy around him. What happened to the bitchy, yelling Kagome he had first encountered? He shuddered, not quite understanding his own feelings. 'Keh. What do I care? I'm probably never going to see her again after this vacation…' he somewhat assured himself.

"No," she spoke up again, "it was much more than that. I mean, Sango said she would go, and you insisted, and you in no way had to, and—"

"Wench," he interrupted, and there was a hint of frostiness in his tone. "I'm not as cold as you think I am."

She looked up at him in irate horror. "I never said that! I was thanking you, you jerk! I mean, I never go around calling you mean names and insulting you whenever I see you! If you won't accept a simple thanks—" she got up angrily—forgetting how exhausted she still was—then stumbled as her head started spinning like mad.

Two strong arms caught her…again. She gazed up at Inuyasha, unintentionally leaning on him, her chin at his chest. His expression had softened, and she felt a light flush creep up her neck. They stood like that for a while, gazes locked on each other.

She almost gasped as those resplendent amber orbs focused on hers. They were so beautiful, like melted pools of gold, and she couldn't pull away. She opened her mouth to tell him to let go, but nothing came out.

He was looking at her so intensely. Why?

He seemed to be studying her, and his gaze flicked to her lips. Her blush darkened. Why was he looking at her like that?

She stepped back nervously, and gave him a tepid smile. "Um…thanks again I think I'll just go…rest some more." She closed the door with a click, leaving him standing there, holding nothing but air.

He blinked. Was he just about to kiss her? He shook his head and ran a hand through his silver locks, not understanding what was going on with him. Every time they tried to talk to each other, these sorts of things kept on happening…

He couldn't help but feel dirty when he thought of the idea of them actually kissing. It wasn't that he would mind, he just felt like he was betraying Kikyou…

"Kikyou," he whispered, touching her cheek, "I will always love only you…"

Damn Kagome. It was all her fault. He growled, knowing full and well she had no idea what she was doing to him.

He needed a drink.

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Kagome felt like screaming and pounding her fists against the wall, but she just sighed. Long and deep.

It had happened again! When she was leaning on him…

'He looked like he was about to kiss me…'

And she turned away. Why, was she afraid? Was she afraid that something would actually happen between them?

"N-no!" she said aloud, trying to deny the feelings that were coursing through her. It…it didn't mean anything. He wasn't going to kiss her. It was just her imagination. Yeah, just her imagination.

"Ugh…" she rubbed her aching head. Too much thinking. It was draining out more of her already little energy.

She needed a nap.

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"It's fortunate."

"Excuse me?"

He turned in his swivel chair toward Kanna. "It's fortunate that the wolf bastard got killed."

She raised an inquiring eyebrow. "If I may ask, sir. How so?"

Naraku just smirked quietly, turning back around to gaze out the enormous window located in his office. His secretary was sorting through various letters from hoaxed, angry companies, as well as pleas of mercy for companies that owed debt to him—the latter of the two were more common. Now, however, she was staring at the back of the man's head questioningly.

"Well, it never actually occurred to me that subject one would wear the jewel on his neck. The plan was to kill subjects one, three, and four, and then to extract information from subject two on the whereabouts of the jewel, was it not?"

She nodded, still a bit unsure to where this was going. "Yes, sir, it was."

"Well, while that useless Kouga fucked up the whole mission, he actually did us a favor. Now we know that we need to capture both of them. If we had killed subject one, we would have lost one half of the artifact. You understand?"

The white-haired lady let out a quiet, "I understand," and returned filing through the large pile of postage.

"Oh, Kanna…" Naraku said softly, turning the woman's attention back to him once more, "If I learn that anyone else has found about this whole arrangement, your head will be on the stake…" he folded his hands under his chin, "as well as your family."

There was silence, and his assistant bowed in understanding, though her face had paled to an even whiter hue. She didn't doubt him for a second.

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"Two hundred…in US dollars!" Inuyasha whistled, "that's like, about twenty-two thousand yen!"

Miroku grinned broadly. "I know, isn't it awesome?"

The silver-hair boy scowled slightly, "Well, it's still not enough. Four hundred bucks is plenty far away from a good apartment room."

"Yeah, but it's a start." His friend shrugged, then suddenly got serious. He grabbed Inuyasha's arm, to which the boy gave him a surprised look. "Hey, 'Yasha," he whispered under his breath, "about yesterday…"

Inuyasha growled and jerked his arm away. "What about yesterday?" he growled menacingly.

"Ehh, nothing, nothing!" The boy quickly covered up, waving his hands in front of him defensively.

Inuyasha glared at him suspiciously for a while, then looked at the TV blaring in the background, "What do you want?" he asked grudgingly.

Miroku looked down, still unsure if he was going to rip his head off or not, but continued uncertainly, "How…how come you never told me?"

There was silence only filled by the infomercial on the television, displaying a set of knives that supposedly "sliced, shredded, and chopped three times better than your original blade!"

"Nobody ever…accepted me like that."

Miroku looked up to meet Inuyasha's golden stare. "That's not true, 'Yasha," he said quietly, "I…I would have."

Inuyasha looked away, feeling a bit shameful. "Yeah, right." He muttered, "How could you when even Kikyou hadn't all the way."

"What?" Miroku's eyes widened, "she didn't? But—"

"Forget it, Miroku." Inuyasha muttered harshly, "I'm not telling you anymore."

He got up and trudged out of the living room, and Miroku called after him.

"You can't keep all these secrets inside you forever, Inuyasha!"

"Watch me." The boy he was talking to grumbled

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A/N: Yeah, Short chapter. I'm having a major case of writing block XP that and I'm going to be quite busy with all the back-to-school crap soon. So thanks for your patience

Oh, and don't forget!

65 reviews (70 for FF . net ): chapter

90 reviews : fluffy and long chapter

110 reviews: lemon and fluff and long chapter

(XD yeah right)