"I'm sorry Kikyo," he mumbled, looking down at his shoes. He looked up slight and his gaze stopped at her hands at her sides. Pale and delicate, with long slender fingers. Despite how she worked with miko energy, her hands were soft and devoid of calluses.

They were totally different from Kagome's hands.

Kagome's hands were pale, yes, and slender, and delicate, looking much like Kikyo's, just as soft too. But Kikyo usually had her hands folded docilely in front of her, and she rarely touched Inuyasha.

But Kagome…Kagome poked and prodded, slapped and made rude hand gestures when angry. Her hands were like birds, curling, turning, constantly in motion. At first it had annoyed Inuyasha because it had always caught his attention. But then he had become entranced with how they moved, sometimes in quick, jerky gestures, sometimes flowing and gentle like a stream.

And then her eyes…his mind wandered off, gone away from his present situation, heading towards the secret section labeled 'Kagome'.

Movement caught his attention and his mind snapped back to the present. Ah. Yes. Kikyo. Break-up. Not the best time to let his mind wander.

Kikyo folded her hands in front of her, the knuckles white. "Why?" she whispered, looking at him with dark eyes.

He ran a hand through his long hair and looked away. As if he could really tell her the real reason. He had seen the look she had given Kagome the first day they had met. That cold, bone-chilling look. "It's…not working," he said, realizing how lame it was even as it slipped out of his mouth.

She gave him a dark, icy look and then sighed, the sound falling out of her small mouth quietly. "It's okay, Inuyasha." She gave a small smile- if it could be called that. He smiled hesitantly back and walked out of her house, missing the way her features suddenly twisted in anger and hatred.

A week passed. Most of it was spent with Rin and Sesshoumaru, following the girls around Tokyo and watching as they squealed over various things. Sesshoumaru just turned away and stayed silent- keeping a watchful eye on his wife of course- , but Miroku was with the squealing girls, encouraging, goading Sango, and Inuyasha was tempted to hit him several times.

The other part was spent at the apartment, mercilessly teasing Kouga and dodging Ayame's flying frying pans (the girl/wolf demon had uncanny aim as he had learned) and just waited around for Kagome to get home from her job just so he could tease her about something or other and watch her blush and stutter, before returning the barb with some retort that had Inuyasha usually gaping and his friends howling in mirth.

At the end of the week though, Sango and Miroku took all of them out to dinner, saying they had some huge news. It was a fairly nice restaurant and all of them were dressed quite nicely. Wine was drunk and food eaten heartily. Conversations were had and more than one insult was thrown- usually between Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru.

At the end of the dinner, while everybody was throwing cash into the center of the table to help pay for the rather large bill, Rin piped up with, "What was your big announcement, Sango?"

Sango looked down at her empty plate, and blushed. She twiddled her fingers and looked away from the inquiring stares. It was after several minutes of this, before Inuyasha drawled, "You gonna say something Sango or are gonna say nothing?"

Her eyes flashed and she bared her teeth dangerously. Needless to say, Inuyasha shut up and backed off.

Miroku placed a hand over Sango and she took a deep breath. She closed her eyes briefly and then announced, "Miroku and I are going to get married."

There were questions- such as "Since when?"- and congratulations all around. Sango's blush came back in full force and Miroku smiled congenially, answering all the questions. Then everybody was laughing.

Rin and Kagome were going on about how they both knew this was going to happen eventually. Inuyasha was clapping Miroku on the shoulder, grinning madly. Sesshoumaru expressed his congrats but other than that…well, he's Sesshoumaru, what do you expect?

And then they were all leaving, smiling and talking. Once outside, they got soaked. It was raining in sheets, the night sky covered with dark cloud, the rain hitting them in needle like drops. Thunder boomed and lightening flashed sporadically. They all started walking towards their cars, but Kagome and Inuyasha lagged behind.

They were in their own world, glancing at each other, a light blush on each of their cheeks. They turned to each other, their eyes bright with the infectious happiness of the engaged couple. Their fine clothes were already stuck to their bodies and their hair was plastered to their faces. Kagome pushed back several heavy strands and smiled up at Inuyasha.

She looked beautiful to Inuyasha. The rather plain yet dressy blue skirt and yellow button up, with a pair of high-heeled sandals. Simple, yet so much like Kagome with their brightness and cheeriness. Her cheeks were flushed with color, pink like freshly bloomed carnations and her mouth- her desirable, inviting mouth- was parted slightly and turned up in a grin. Her cocoa eyes, bright and sparkling drew Inuyasha in.

He reached up a brushed a strand a away from her face, just like she had done seconds earlier. She froze and caught his eyes. His hand had a mind of its own and went down to caress her cheek with the pad of his thumb and he smiled softly. She looked down, pearly teeth gnawing on her lower lip, but a smile still tugging at her lips. Her blush intensified.

Neither noticed that their friends left them there, none of them offering rides because Inuyasha had his car and well, none of them wanted to break the moment that had popped up. And neither noticed how the shadows held a scorned woman- a scorned, dangerous woman who was out for revenge.