A/N: Hallo my lovers. Reviews! And such.

Review Responses

Dragon Pearl1: Damn North America! I demand Inuyasha…waaah…ahem. Hahah. Jakotsu's song- I love him, he's such a bastard. Haha. And Renkotsu, that backstabbing bitch…I like him, but he got jewel shard fever. Like every villain seems to get. But I digress. Also, I wanted to note that most people include Inutaisho as a more cold, distant, level-headed guy. I really didn't see that in him- so instead I made him cheerful and lovable! Aren't I just the stupidest ever. Anyway, thank you mucho-ly for the review. Much love and gratitude.

Pointy-Eared Archer: Dammit! No, I haven't seen the third movie…sobs and much sadness…but I wanted to…has it come out yet? Yayness for Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru- I love the bastards so much. Hee hee. Anyway, yeah, Jakotsu's rightly justifying Inuyasha's pissy attitude- hahaha. Baby Inuyasha- wheeeeeee! So cute! He's hot even when he's tiny. Which sort of makes me a pedophile in a weird kind of cartoon-loving way. I guess. Thank you for the dialogue comment, too- that's what I'm aiming for. I love you so much- especially since now I don't have to spend thousands on a ring and I just have to spend about an hour on a story. You're too kind. Hee hee. P.S.: I hope you get better…being sick sucks. I feel bad. Bleh. I hope you're better soon!

Actrivi: Just…lying there? That's…it's…a SIGN! Yes, yes, a sign! OF SATAN! Hahahhaha. Satan cracks me up, I don't know why. I always have to get up at five 'cause I have to shower and wash up and do my hair and stuff. It all takes about an hour, speaking of which I have to get more hairspray. Time-waster…you evil thing. Haha. Thanks for the compliment. Smile.

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Chapter Ten

Thursday came and my favorite person in the whole wide world, Miroku Conlan, came over my house after school. We were sitting in my room, doing nothing in particular, just sitting there with him smoking a cigarette and being the jerk he was, like we always did when we went over each other's houses.

"So, Inuyasha," he said, shaking the ashes of his cigarette into a Diet Coke can. Now, normally, I hate for my room to smell like anything but the way my room normally smells- but with Miroku, well, I just let things slip. He's always been my best friend- that privilege comes with all-access to smoking in my room and eating in my car.

"So yourself," I said, spraying Lysol in the air. "Yeah?"

"I wanted to know," he continued, blowing smoke freely where I'd just sprayed the Lysol, "what constituted for your absence from the known world last Sunday. Not to pry, I'm just curious. I had tried to call you, because I was with this very lovely girl and we wanted to know-"

"I was out," I interrupted. I started spraying harder, acting as if nothing had happened. He raised an eyebrow.

"H-mm-mm," he hummed, obviously not convinced.

I scowled and started to spray the place that he'd stunk up the most. "What was the hum for faggot?" I asked.

"No, I'm just…considering," he replied.

"Well you should stop 'cause it's pissing me off," I grunted, looking around. His cigarette was out. My room now smelled Lysol-fresh. I smirked, feeling that my job was done.

"It seems my mere existence irritates you, so you know what- I'm going to keep humming. But that's beside the point- what, may I ask, were you doing out?" he inquired as I put the tubular can back on the top of my dresser.

"Just shit. What the hell's with you?" I asked. "Why do you wanna know so much?"

"Well, for a first thing," he said, a tone of intrigue and ooh-ah-mystery gracing his voice, "it sounds secret."

I humored him. "You're…weird. What does 'secret' sound like?"

He smiled absently for a moment, thinking for a word, before he finally said: "Tampons. And this sounds like Tampons."

I rolled my eyes. "This sounds like Tampons. You are the stupidest person I know, Miroku Conlan."

"-And furthermore," he continued, not in the least bit fazed by my little interjection, "if you weren't doing anything secret, you wouldn't be so aggravated over my questioning. Correct? Correct. So, Miyazaki, what were you doing on Sunday?"

"None of your goddamn business," I grunted.

"Oh, come now! Your secret's safe with me!" he offered, smiling cheerily. Suddenly his eyes got focused, and he put on a "hey-I'm-serious" look. "Would it help to know how persistent and determined I can be…at times?"

"Persistent. Determined. None of them strike me as Miroku." And it was true- Miroku aspired to nothing. All he wanted was enlightenment, to be whole in the soul. Damn I'm good at rhyming. Anyway, Miroku, loving modesty as much as he did, aimed for a life that didn't require money- which meant no college education. When his parents heard this, apparently, they laughed- no one would've expected it from Miroku Conlan, straight-A student with a clean record and a good head on those shoulders.

But, unfortunately for me, I knew him better. So much better, that he was, to my dismay, he was sitting on my bed right now, interrogating me fiercely as to why I wasn't within reach last Sunday. Lucky me. Oh good God. "True, true," he said, calmly, "but that would be in reference to my academic future. What I'm interested in is the present- why were you out?" Miroku is attracted to intrigue and mystery like flies are attracted to really shiny lights.

"Piss. Off," I grunted. He sighed- at least he knows his limits.

A while passed in which there was quiet. Nothing to do. I had started reading an article in the People magazine I'd picked up for my mother on Tuesday about Johnny Depp and his oh-so-interesting acting career. I was stupidly not paying attention, when, seemingly from out of nowhere, a laugh came. A woman's laugh. To airy, dance background music.

Oh no. I jolted up from my seat. He turned on my stereo. Shit! The CD! He was standing there with this insane smirk on his face, like he'd just solved the puzzle of life, while my eyes widened, terrified. "You lesbian, don't touch-" My insult was cut short when…

"Pump it up!" Jennifer Lopez shouted. His eyes glittered, insanity. He turned it up almost all the way.

"Miroku you fucking lesbian seagull, how many times do I have to tell you to quit touching my shit!" I yelled over the music.

"'Cause Ah'm gon' live mah life."

I covered my mouth- shit, I was laughing. Miroku was already in a fit of hysterical laughter, clutching his stomach, now holding onto my desk for support, face completely red. He started dancing to it, while Jennifer Lopez repeated, "do it…do it…do it…do it…pump it up!"

And I was doing perfectly fine holding in my laughter, until J. Lo said, in her over-pronounced ghetto-Latin accent:

"Let's get loud! Let's get loud!"

That did the trick. Suddenly I burst into hysterical, loud laughter, the sound of my own laugh strange because it hadn't been used in so long. My sides started to hurt from laughing- I doubled over and fell to my knees while that fairy was prancing around my room, tearing it up as he went. He was dancing salsa and throwing up all my papers on my desk into the air, shaking all over the place and eventually knocking over my bedside table lamp.

It was getting old, my laughter dying down and his dance coming to an end. Just when I thought I'd stopped laughing, J. Lo groaned, in that exasperated I'm-having-sex voice, "Ay Papi!"

We both started laughing again, and he doubled over too, as I was already rolling on the floor. God, it was insane- we were acting like we were on drugs. How could that be so funny? It was just Jennifer fucking Lopez, for Christ's sake. How was that funny? But I was laughing, for God's sake-

The door burst open. My brother was standing there, scowling. "Have you forgotten that other people live in this house?" he hissed. "Or do I have to beat it into you?"

Miroku got up and started singing along, dancing. "Come now, Sesshoumaru, don't shut yourself from the dance of the Latinos! You've gotta do it/ You've gotta do it your way/ You've gotta prove it/ You've gotta mean what you say!"

Sesshoumaru paused, scowled deeper, and walked out, slamming the door behind him. Everyone lets shit slip when it comes to Good Ol' Miroku.

"O-kay," I said breathlessly, getting up to lower the volume. "O-kay." I sank onto the floor, regaining my composure, putting a palm against my forehead.

Miroku sat beside me. "Would you mind explaining to me why you've chosen such an odd song to play on your radio?" he asked.

I got up and began to clean up, picking up a stack of papers. I was hesitant- but I guess it was the mood I was in, that lightheaded feeling you always get after laughing like that, that made me admit the truth to him. "Look. Just…remember that guy I told you was bothering me and shit?" He nodded. "He uhmm hasn't stopped. And the other day he gave me a CD filled with all his glorified weirdness. And that's where I was Sunday- I was giving him a ride somewhere. And I don't like him- I just had nothing better to do. So don't go thinking shit that's not true," I snapped. "Any more questions, Judge Judy?"

He smirked, stretching his arms over his head. "Well…that answers that."

"Look, don't say anything," I growled, putting the lamp back on my side table, "or I swear I will kick the shit out of you. Understood?"

He nodded. "I don't understand why I would."

I sighed. "And now his parents are asking me to fucking come over on Saturday. Tomorrow. The people that raised that freak. I wouldn't be surprised if they skinned me alive and told me it was the way they said 'I love you.'" Having gotten that off my chest, I stopped cleaning, throwing myself on my bed.

He sat next to me. From out of nowhere, he recommended, oh-so-wisely: "I think you should go."

I paused, staring at him in disbelief. I blinked. "Never. Ever. Say that again. Or anything to that effect." How could he be so stupid? What an idiot…I wouldn't be surprised if the fatherless moron was in cahoots with that freak circus of a family.

"I don't know why," he said. "I just think you should. Perhaps if you agree with him, he'll eventually get off your case. It's how I get my parents to trust me."

"I am agreeing with him," I grumbled. "I agree with every little stupid thing resulting in the ignominy I have to go through. And not because I like him- because I want him off my back. But. It's not working."

He shrugged, and searched his pockets for another cigarette. I could always tell when he needed a cigarette because he started to drum his fingers all over the place and his hands would start to shake. "I don't know why, but I feel that something big will happen because of his kid. Something I can't explain- but a change." After retrieving a menthol cigarette from his denim pockets, he went across from the bed to the dresser, where I kept matches. In case of a blackout. Hey, at least I'm prepared. Anal- but prepared.

"Well thank you,Cassandra," I muttered. I looked at him, frowning. "That shit'll kill you. You fucking suicidal bitch."

He shrugged, lit another cigarette and blew the match out, casting it onto my hardwood floors. "What's so hot about living if you're persecuted by your best friend for having odd premonitions?"

I rolled my eyes, flicking them past a poster of a pot leaf he'd bought me last Christmas. "You think you're so fucking clever. You really do."

"You know me better than I think," he said with a grin.

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I picked up the phone. Hesitating to dial, I thought it over- going over that creep's house wasn't the funnest of decisions. It wasn't the smartest, either- how many times do you hear about kids going over other kid's houses and getting raped or killed or made into slaves? (Don't be a smart ass- I'm just making a fucking point.) But Miroku had these weird feelings, weird "predictions" about things that, most of the time, resulted in me sulking and him saying "I told you so." Besides- I didn't hate Jakotsu. I just disliked him with a passion. But his family- I wasn't sure I could deal with that.

I rolled my eyes at myself. "Like a woman," I reprimanded myself, starting to dial that despised number on the black phone on the glass tabletop in my living room.

The phone rang a couple of times before someone picked up. "Hello," said a Latin-accented woman's voice.

I swallowed. His mom, maybe? "Uhmm. Hi. Could I talk to…Jakotsu."

"One moment Sir," she said, in a lackadaisical voice. Someone wasn't in a good mood- then again, how could you be in a good mood when you lived with Jakotsu Himekawa?

I could hear trampling across the house- must be Jakotsu. Or did he have brothers and sisters? Great. More nuisances, more mini-Jakotsus to piss me off. Another line picked up. "Helloooo?"

I paused. Shit. Now I was the one calling him. What a nightmare… "Hi."

"Yashie!" he exclaimed, surprised and happy. "O-M-G, Yashie! Yay!" Calming down a bit, and lowering his voice to a more calm, "I-want-your-bod" tone, he said, "Sooo, why're you calling me?"

"I- uh. I wanted to talk to you about that uhmm dinner thing," I said, fake-coughing a little bit.

I could just see that maniac grin on his face, biting down on his stupid lip for the thrill of it all. Jesus Christ. "Yeah-yeah? What about it?"

"I was…I'm gonna come, okay!" I finally exclaimed, trying to hurry this conversation up as quickly as possible. Jesus Christ- if the hate didn't kill me first, this constant roundabout, circling thing I did around him would.

"Yay! Seriously?" he squealed, far too excited to be real.

I rolled my eyes, which, by now, hurt from all the rolling. "No. I'm just pulling your leg. What the hell do you think! Yes, seriously!"

"Really?" Jakotsu's voice fell to that of a dreamy teenage girl's swooning over her first date. Except, he was a teenage boy swooning over dinner with me. "Oh, Yasha- you're so nice to me. Think of all the fun stuff we can do! We can play cards or something. Yasha I-"

"Yeah yeah," I said. "Can it, save it. When should I…er…come."

"I guess we can go after school," he said, barely interested in the basic things he needed to tell me. "Yasha, you can sleep over! That'd be fun, huh? Oh boy. I should plan it all out now-"

"Whatever," I exhaled. "Just tell me the time, dress, etc., etc."

"Oh, that stuff's not interesting," he whined. "Why would you want to know that stuff? We can talk about much more in-teresting things-"

"Do you want me to come or not?" I asked.

He shut up, quickly. Good. "I do! Hold on. Okay." He clicked his tongue. "You have a pen?"

"Yes," I lied.

"Okay. You can come over after school, and you can stay 'til whenever. Because Soledad doesn't care what I do," he said. "You know, my parents are actually dropping a meeting to meet you- 'cause, Yashie, you're so hot-"

I scowled. "Don't push your luck. Alright, I'll be there. Bye."

"Bye-bye, Yasha!" he said. I hung up the phone, wondering why the hell I let Miroku talk me into doing this shit in the first place. I'd love to pin everything on him, on anyone but me, but I can't. Because it was all me- stupid, pushover me.

As I lay in my bed that night, trying to go to sleep, I kept picturing his family. I kept depicting this toad-like woman with bright blue hair and those wide, freakishgray eyes, a father with pink hair and glasses like magnifiers, looking like a mad scientist, mouth open wide and ready to attack. And along with this, I was thinking about all these miniature Jakotsus, all two feet high, jumping on me and ranting about how they wanted to sleep with me in their circus-tent house. And, of course, Jakotsu- smiling and standing like a porcelain doll, blabbing insanities to himself and watching me like a hawk. I finally got to sleep, but when I did, I had a dream Kagome's mom murdered me and got married to my brother.

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A/N: I included Miroku in there because he's really hot. And he's my second-favorite character in the Inuyasha series, aside from Jakotsu. So! That's all. Oh, the Jennifer Lopez song I used was Let's Get Loud. Yayness.

I love you all and vodka is a killer.