Previously: "You son-of-a-bitch! How dare you come into my family's house and tell me that I should kill myself! Do you even know how stupid that sounds? 'Kill myself'! God! You don't know what I've been through the last two years. I've handled a lot worse than this! And spying on me? How dare you! How dare you! I can't believe you-"

A very astonished Inuyasha watched as a very stressed Kagome fainted, hitting her head on the God tree. The last thing she remembered was the remorseful look on Inuyasha's face before she saw black.

Disclaimer: If I can't even buy myself a car, who would ever believe that I bought the rights to Inuyasha and characters? Rumiko Takahashi is probably very wealthy by now. I am not. Poor me. Poor. Poor. You got that? Poor. . . Is anyone selling a car?

Rules of Love and War

Chapter 4

Fuzzy. Everything was fuzzy. And Blue. And bright. Too bright. Someone needed to turn off the lights. Or the incredibly reflective, bright blue paint.

Kagome's head pounded as she sat up. Her vision started to clear and she saw a blue bedroom. Blue walls. Blue curtains. Blue bedspread. Jeez, someone shoot the decorator. Wasn't there supposed to be more than one color in a room design? Or at least a different shade?

Kagome stood slowly, bracing herself against the wall, trying to ward off the increasing dizziness. The dizziness cleared, however, and she found herself in front of a closet. She opened it, deciding she could tell a lot about the person keeping her here by what was kept inside.

A heap of leather and metal came crashing down on Kagome's head, knocking her to the ground. Her head pounded for a moment, but she recovered and looked around for what had fallen on her.

Her eyes widened as she realized what she was clutching in her hands. In her left hand was a seemingly familiar, beat-up sword. . . And in her right was a leather thong. Other things scattered around the floor were whips, chaps, lingerie, and the like.

The bedroom door flew open and a very worried looking Inuyasha rushed inside.

Wait. . . Inuyasha? What was Inuyasha doing in this apartment, wearing normal clothes, without Tetsusaiga?

Kagome looked dumbly to her left hand. Realization dawned on her and she looked back and forth between Inuyasha and the sword. Wait . . . This was the Tetsusaiga. And this was Inuyasha's apartment. But . . . um . . . huh?

"I can tell you're confused, so I'll fill you in." Inuyasha waited for a reaction, but, getting none, decided to proceed. "But first, let's go into the living room so that I can check your head in more light."

"More light? Are you kidding? I'm being blinded here! That's just from a 10-watt bulb reflecting off your shiny walls! And you're trying to tell me it's gonna get brighter?" Kagome said in mock horror.

Inuyasha didn't respond.

"So, um, what do you mean you want to check my-" Kagome felt the back of her head, wondering what he was talking about. She winced as her fingers brushed over a clump of hair and dried blood.

"You hit your head on the God tree when you passed out."

That accounted for the headache. "Oh."

"Yeah."

Inuyasha and Kagome paused, recalling the events at the tree. Kagome blushed, "Um, sorry about that."

"It's okay." Inuyasha shrugged noncommittally.

"Hey . . . Inu . . . I have a question."

"What is it?"

Inuyasha seemed to be expected a myriad of questions about the current situation, so she decided to surprise him. "Yours?" Kagome held out her right arm, still clutching the leather thong, an eyebrow raised.

Kagome wasn't sure she'd ever seen anyone turn so red. She didn't think it was particularly healthy, either.

Inuyasha sputtered and made incoherent noises before apparently surrendering to his fate. "Yes."

Both of her eyebrows were up now. "I never pegged you for that kind of guy."

"I wasn't before! There's this- Wait!" Inuyasha blurted out, starting to say something he shouldn't have, then trying to take it back. He searched around aimlessly in his brain for some way to change the subject. "O-of all the things you must want to know, this is what you ask me about?" Inuyasha stammered.

"Well, I was just so surprised to be pummeled by sex accessories." Kagome, in all her fake innocence, made sure to emphasize 'sex accessories', just so she could watch Inuyasha turn red again. "They practically mauled me. It's only natural that I'd have a few questions."

Kagome got up off the floor slowly, trying not to irritate her 'head injury'. She navigated her way through the 'accessories' and headed toward what she hoped was the living room. When she noticed that Inuyasha wasn't following, she turned around and poked her head back into the bedroom. "What are you waiting for? A personal invitation?" Kagome again headed out of the room, quickly yelling back, "If you don't hurry up, I'm gonna go through all your stuff! . . . Hmmmm. . . I wonder if you have any other toys." She snickered as Inuyasha ran out of the room and into the living room, pulling Kagome with him.

"Is that a yes?" Kagome asked innocently.

Inuyasha blushed and motioned for Kagome to sit down. After Kagome had settled, he positioned himself behind her and began checking her head. A moment or two passed in silence before either of them spoke.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked solemnly.

"Yeah?"

"Why didn't you start yelling at me again? After you woke up, I mean?"

"Because I knew that you weren't the same Inuyasha from earlier." She swatted his hand away from her head. "That's enough."

"But-" Kagome knew what he was going to ask.

"We were together for four years. If I couldn't tell whether there was more than one of you or whether you were just having a killer mood swing. . . Well. . . What kind of friend would I be?"

Naraku never made house calls. He'd been tracking down Miroku all over town, though, and was running out of patience.

It was ironic, really, that one of Naraku's best employees had been, in a past life, one of Naraku's greatest enemies. Miroku had been cursed in one life, and blessed in the next.

Yes, blessed. With a six figure salary, three cars, a loft apartment, and women falling at his feet. And Naraku would bless him more. He'd give the damn monk his mansion and right arm if only he'd hand over Kagome's resume- and ultimately her address and phone number.

Naraku knocked confidently on Miroku's apartment door. When no one answered, he just as confidently kicked the door in. If Miroku wasn't in his apartment at this time of night, it meant that he was out with some ditzy blond in who knew which restaurant or nightclub.

There was no way to get in touch with Miroku (he never carried his cell on dates), so Naraku would just have to search the apartment. Naraku smirked.

Naraku stalked into the small apartment, scanning the room for anything that looked even remotely like a briefcase. Finding none, he went to the next room.

This room was obviously a work area. Naraku started by going through Miroku's trash. He found several shredded papers (hopefully not the resume), candy wrappers, and several used condoms. Apparently, Miroku agreed with the 'all work and no play' saying.

Then he moved on to the desk. Naraku searched through the scattered papers, imagining what he would do to his faithful employee if he didn't find what he was looking for. Thankfully for Miroku, Naraku soon found the resume, and decided to leave the apartment intact.

In the empty elevator, Naraku read the resume, completely engrossed in it. No wonder Kagome had trouble getting the job. This had to be one of the worst resumes Naraku had ever seen. He decided that when he found her, he would show her the proper way to write a resume- among other things.

Naraku growled low in his throat in anticipation of what he would be teaching Kagome.

Giggling could be heard coming from the inside of Inuyasha's apartment. A girl who appeared to be in her mid-twenties tentatively poked her head through the doorway. "Have I been replaced?"

All laughter immediately stopped and Kagome fell off the couch in surprise..

"And is that my bra?" the girl asked, eyebrow raised.

"This is . . .hers?" Kagome asked warily, holding the lacy black bra that clearly wasn't made to cover anything. "But what about . . . Kikyo?"

"Ah, now come the questions. I was wondering when we would get around to this." Inuyasha got up and walked over to the girl. "This is Setura. . . my girlfriend and roommate." He kissed her lightly on the cheek, as if to prove his statement to be true.

"Nice to meet you," Setura greeted cheerily.

"Nice to meet you, too," replied a very confused Kagome.

Inuyasha continued. "You've figured out that I'm not the same Inuyasha from Sengoku Jidai. In fact, I live in this time. You may not believe it, but I'm over five hundred years old."

Kagome's jaw hit the floor. She knew that this Inuyasha and the Inuyasha from earlier that day weren't the same person, but she hadn't realized he was that old.

"Setura's about five hundred years old as well."

"Actually, I'm four hundred and ninety-nine," Setura interjected.

Inuyasha coughed lightly. "Anyway," he continued. "I've known her since she was a baby. I practically raised her."

"If you knew Setura when she was a baby, then she'll be born soon. Right?"

The two roommates shared wary glances before Inuyasha answered. "Pretty soon, yeah."

"When?"

Setura answered this time. "We can't really go into that. It might mess up the future. If you ask us questions about other things, though, we'll answer the best we can."

"Okay . . ." Kagome thought for a moment, not sure what to ask. "What happened to Sango?" Kagome knew what happened to all of her other comrades, but Sango was a mystery.

"She became a nanny. Then she got married and had kids." Kagome was surprised to hear Setura answer her question. Setura noticed and added sheepishly, "She was my nanny."

"Oh." That seemed to fit in Kagome's mind. "Who did she marry? Did they love each other?"

Inuyasha answered this time. "She married a farmer." He paused. "I think she chose comfort over love. They were. . . comfortable with one another."

"Did they have any kids?"

"Yes and no. They took in the village orphans."

That sounded like Sango. Ever since her family had been taken from her (her brother, too), she couldn't stand to see anyone alone. "What about you, Inuyasha? What did you do? I can't believe you'd roam around searching for jewel shards for five hundred years. So what did you do?"

"I . . .uh . . .became a bouncer. . . for . . .uh . . .my. . . " Fake sneeze. "-er's night club."

Kagome was instantly suspicious. "Whose nightclub?"

"My. . . bro . . . ther's?"

"SESSHOUMARU!" Kagome's eyes widened, incredulous.

Inuyasha hung his head in shame. "Yes."

Kagome burst out laughing.

"Oh, yeah!" Inuyasha shot back. "Well, Setura owns a shop in the red light district!"

"Don't bring me into this." Setura said coolly.

Kagome's eyes sparkled. "Really? That's so cool! Can I see it!"

Setura smiled lazily. "Sure. I just came home for a quickie and change before we went to the club." Alight seemed to go on in Setura's head. "Why don't you come to the club with us? My shop's on the way, so you can see it then. And I know you'll love the club! It's the hottest place in the city!"

"Um. . .Isn't it a little . . . early to be going to a night club," Kagome asked.

Setura blinked in confusion. "Too early? What are you talking about? What time do you think it is?"

"It can't be much later than four or five. Shouldn't we wait for it to get dark before we go?"

Setura walked over to a window and pulled back the curtains to reveal pitch black. "It's eleven-thirty."

"WHAT!" Kagome's eyes bugged out. "How can it be that late!" An idea popped into Kagome's head. "If it's really so late, why aren't I tired."

Inuyasha sweatdropped. "Kagome, you've been passed out all day. You wouldn't be tired if you've been asleep all day."

Kagome blushed. "Oh." She laughed nervously. "I knew that. . . Really. . . Uh huh. . . . Just testing you guys. . . What, you don't believe me?"

Inuyasha and Setura had identical looks of skepticism glued to their faces.

Kagome's face suddenly turned pitiful. "You mean you really don't believe me?" Kagome's lip quivered ominously.

A resounding "No" came from both Inuyasha and Setura. Inuyasha cut Kagome off before she could continue her act. "It really is late. Do you need to call anyone? Your mother? Your grandfather? Your employer?"

Kagome jumped up, but quickly sat back down when her head began to spin.

"Here." Setura handed Kagome a cordless phone.

Thanks." Kagome dialed the number and quickly explained the situation to her mother. When she hung up, she gave Inuyasha and Setura the 'okay' about going to the club. "I don't have anything to wear, though."

"That's okay. I'll get you something to wear. Come into the bedroom with me. We'll find an outfit."

"We're not going to wear anything from your guest closet, are we?"

Setura blushed. "You know about that?" She threw a glare over her shoulder at Inuyasha.

"I just happened to come across it," Kagome explained vaguely.

Inuyasha stared as the two women linked arms and chatted amiably as they walked into the bedroom, as if they had been friends all their lives.