Shopping

As soon as the word 'shopping' left Kagome's mouth, Inuyasha's face fell. He groaned loudly and rolled his eyes. From his reaction, Ilyo deduced that shopping was not going to be enjoyable. Since Kagome had suggested it however, he figured it must be important.

Turning to Inuyasha, he patted him on the shoulder. "Come on, Inuyasha; it can't be all that bad." Inuyasha looked at him with a depressed look in his eyes.

"You'll see," was all he said.

Smiling at her friend's reaction, Kagome motioned for the three brothers to follow her. Sesshomaru immediately rose to his feet and made his way over to her. Grumbling to himself, Inuyasha followed in his brother's footsteps. Ilyo looked around the yard one last time, then he too followed suit.

Kagome gestured for the three demons to remain outside, as she entered her house. She returned a minute later, holding a small, plastic card. Ilyo looked at it quizzically."What is that, Kagome?"

"It's called a credit card. When we pay for our purchases, all we have to do is show the sales clerk this," she held up the card, "and we can pay at a later date." Ilyo nodded his understanding.

"You guys ready?" Kagome inquired a moment later. Once they all nodded, she turned and led them off down the street. As they walked, Kagome thought out loud about what kind of clothing each brother would need.

"Now for you Inuyasha, I think nearly anything will do, but we'll have to get you a hat, to cover his ears. For you Sesshomaru, something more formal, like a suit or something. I can totally picture you as a businessman. If only we could cover those markings on your face; not many business men have face tattoos." She sighed and the shrugged. "Oh well, nothing we can do about it I guess." Pausing for a second, Kagome turned and looked at Ilyo's clothes. She observed him appraisingly for a moment before nodding. "Hmmm, you're clothing seems pretty normal. If only we could hide your ears. Would you wear a hat?"

Ilyo looked amused at that. "No, Kagome, but don't worry. I like to think that I'm intimidating enough to stop people from asking questions." Kagome had to agree with that; he was intimidating as hell.

By the time Kagome was finished giving out her fashion advice, the foursome had arrived outside of a small clothing store. "Here we are," Kagome announced cheerily. Sesshomaru eyed the building with a bit of suspicion, but when Kagome entered without hesitation, all three brothers followed without question. The interior of the store however, gave all three of them a pause. There were articles of clothing everywhere, covering every available surface. There were more clothes than any of them had ever seen in one place.

While the brothers were looking around in amazement, Kagome quickly approached the cashier and gestured back towards the three. "I'm looking for some new outfits for two of my friends, the one in red and the one in white." The cashier glanced at the two brothers and motioned for them to come closer.

"What exactly are you looking for?" the lady inquired.

Kagome fielded the question. "Well, I was hoping for something fun and casual for my friend in the red and something more formal and business-like for my friend in the white." The woman looked at Inuyasha and Sesshomaru for confirmation, drawing nods from both of them.

"All right, please follow me." Turning, she led the two demons into a back room. Kagome waited impatiently to see what the two would look like in modern clothing. She didn't have to wait long.

Mere moments after leaving, Inuyasha returned from the back. He was now clothed in baggy blue jeans and a black t-shirt with a red dragon on it. He looks good, Kagome thought.

When Sesshomaru came into view a second later, Kagome was struck speechless. Standing tall in a jet black suit, with a white shirt underneath, and a blue tie, he looked stunning. It took her a minute to realize he didn't have that feathery thing he always carried around with him. I guess it comes off, she thought. Kagome quit staring long enough to hear the cashier ask the brother if they were satisfied.

"Perfect," Kagome said loudly, "I think we're all set." Going to the cash register, Kagome pulled out her credit card and was about pay, before she remembered one more thing. "Umm, excuse me, but do you also carry hats?"

"What kind of hat were you looking for?" the cashier inquired.

Kagome thought for a minute before replying. "Well, just a simple baseball cap would do. It's for my friend here." She gestured to Inuyasha. "It's for his ears; a birth defect. He gets uncomfortable when people ask about them."

The cashier nodded sympathetically. "Just one minute." She disappeared into the back room once again and returned momentarily, holding a blue baseball cap with flame decals on the sides.

Kagome grinned happily and quickly paid for her purchases. The cashier had placed Inuyasha's and Sesshomaru's old clothing into two bags, so Kagome grabbed them, nodded politely to the lady and headed for the door. The three brothers fell into line behind her as she led them back out onto the street.

Once they were outside, she turned to face Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, a nervous expression on her. "Well, what do you think of your new clothes?"

Inuyasha just shrugged indifferently, but Sesshomaru had something to say. "They fit me quite well. I like them," he announced, surprising Kagome and prompting a happy smile to appear on her face.

"All right then. Come on guys, let's get going." All three demons nodded and the group started off down the street.

Just as they were approaching a small restaurant, four people came around a corner a short way down the road. "Kagome!" one of them yelled. She looked up at the sound of her name being called and quickly recognized her friends; Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi. With them was...

"Kagome!"

Oh no, Kagome thought, it's Hojo. She hadn't seen him in nearly a year, after point blank refusing to date him. She had told him that she had a boyfriend and he had looked so broken up by her words. By nature, Kagome was a soft-hearted person, so she had told him maybe if she ever broke up with her boyfriend, she'd give him a shot. Although she had let him down kind of easy, she had made it perfectly clear she was happy with her current relationship and had no plans to end it anytime soon. Unfortunately, that had been while she was still kind of seeing Inuyasha, and she had since told her friends that they were no longer an item. She had no doubt that Hojo had already been told about her lack of a current boyfriend.

After yelling her name, Hojo ran towards her with his arms open. Ilyo noticed this and he also noticed how uncomfortable Kagome had become. Quickly coming to a decision, he interposed his body between Kagome and the oncoming male. Unable to halt his mad rush, Hojo was brought to an abrupt stop as a huge, clawed hand closed around his throat and lifted him off of his feet.

Kagome looked at Ilyo in surprise. She noticed that he wasn't choking Hojo, just holding him, so she waited quietly until Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi reached them. They looked on in surprise at the giant of a man who had stepped in front of Kagome and was now holding Hojo about a foot and a half off of the ground.

"Put him down!" Eri yelled at Ilyo. He looked at Kagome for confirmation and she nodded. Ilyo shrugged and dropped the human, but he remained standing protectively in front of Kagome, as Inuyasha and Sesshomaru looked on in confusion.

Hojo got to his feet, nervously rubbing his injured neck. He said nothing and left the talking to Kagome's female friends. As the three girls came forward, Inuyasha quickly turned and went back to hide in an alley. They had met him before, and he really didn't want to answer any questions about what had gone wrong between him and Kagome.

"Who is this guy Kagome? All Hojo wanted was a hug. We told him that you broke up with your boyfriend." Ayumi had said this all very fast and it took Kagome a second to process it all. When she did, she was struck by an idea and acted on it.

"This is my new boyfriend, Ilyo." Silence greeted this announcement. The three girls turned appraising eyes towards Ilyo. Hojo turned white and backed up another step.

Ilyo, meanwhile, had been about to turn and look at Kagome, but then he had caught onto her ploy and grinned. Throwing out a long arm, he drew Kagome closer to his side and smiled down at her friends.

Yuka was the first to speak up."He looks like your old boyfriend, Inuyasha." Kagome was about to say something but Ilyo beat her to the punch.

"Inuyasha is my little brother." Kagome's friends looked horrified at that. Kagome quickly remembered telling her friends about how violent Inuyasha's brother was. She of course, had been talking about Sesshomaru. She quickly explained.

"This is Inuyasha's eldest brother. The one I told you about is Sesshomaru." As Ilyo released her, she turned and pointed."This is Sesshomaru." The girls looked at him, and each raised their eyes. He cut quite a striking figure in his black suit. Nodding in acknowledgement of their stares, he continued to look around with an expression of boredom on his face. The girls turned their attention back to Kagome and Ilyo.

"Where did you meet each other?" Eri questioned.

Ilyo was not used to being interrogated in such a manner but he stayed calm and quietly answered. They were just concerned with Kagome's well being, after all. "We met at Inuyasha's eighteenth birthday. The two of them stopped seeing each other soon after and we started going out. Things progressed from there." Kagome's friends seemed to except the explanation.

Then Yuka spoke up. "Exactly how old are you? Kagome's only eighteen you know."

Kagome looked at her friend furiously for asking such a personal question, but Ilyo merely smiled. "I am twenty-two. Not too old, I think." Yuka nodded. It was an acceptable age.

Finally, Ayumi had to have her say. "And what are your plans for the future?" When Ilyo looked at her in confusion, she attempted to clarify the question. "I mean, what do you plan to do for a job to support yourself and Kagome?" Ilyo was still unsure, but he attempted to answer the question anyways.

"Well, I'm actually quite wealthy. I have no need to work. I'm pretty sure we can live comfortably," he answered confidently. Kagome's friends all seemed extremely happy to find out that Ilyo was rich. The silently smiled up at him and he held their gazes until they grew uncomfortable and had to look away.

Suddenly, a sobbing sound caught everyone's attention. Ilyo looked down to see the male on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. At first, Ilyo was taken aback. He hadn't squeezed his throat that hard. The real source of the human's tears was revealed a moment later.

Getting to his feet, Hojo threw himself upon Kagome and continued to sob as he started talking. "Kagome, I waited for you to break up with your old boyfriend. When I heard that you finally had, I was overjoyed. But once again, you have broken my heart." Hojo wouldn't let go of her, even though she was struggling to free herself from his grasp.

Seeing the human wrapped around Kagome, Ilyo started feeling hatred course through him. He felt very protective of her for some reason.

Reaching down, he grabbed the human by the back of the neck and ripped him off of Kagome. Growling deep in his throat, he lifted the quivering coward to his eye level. "She is mine!" he growled into the human's terrified face. Then, turning, he effortlessly hurled the sobbing boy through the large glass window of the nearby restaurant.