"There have been some last-minute changes." The voice on the phone says, nervously. This prompts Inuyasha to glance up from the phone in his hand toward Miroku and Sesshomaru who stopped their conversation with Kagome, Sango and Rin. They glanced between each other before glancing back at Inuyasha. He stood in the middle of the large locker-room, a perplexed yet intrigued expression on his face. He cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry," Inuyasha responded, slightly annoyed. "Last-minute changes?"

"Yes." The voice confirmed, there was a pause and then the man spoke again. "To the fight."

"To the fight?" Inuyasha repeated, scrunching up his face at the phone. "What kinda changes are we talkin' about?" There was a notable aggressiveness in Inuyasha's voice. Miroku turned in his spot to face Inuyasha's direction. Nearby, Myoga furrowed his eyebrows at Inuyasha. "Well?" He was growing impatient. The fight wasn't going to happen until another three hours or so. So, what could they have possibly changed in such a short amount of time?

The Venue?

"Your opponent...Inuyasha Takahashi." The voice said slowly, cautiously, as if they were well aware of the half-demon's temperament. Inuyasha growled lowly as she stared down at the phone in his hands. He glanced back up toward Miroku, noticing Kagome peeking shyly over his shoulder, her head tilted as if to ask what's going on. Golden eyes looked back down. Now he was irritated.

"Can you stop toying with me and cut to the fucking chase? What exactly is going on?!" He tried his hardest not to raise his voice, but the emotions got the better of him and he found himself shouting at the man on the phone. Frightened, Sango grabbed onto Kagome's forearm, who barely flinched at his sudden outburst, she was well accustomed to his ways.

"Inuyasha." There was a new tone of voice on the other end of the phone, a sternness that wasn't previously existent. "Your opponent has been switched out, you are no longer fighting Naraku, that fight has been postponed indefinitely."

"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me." Miroku breathed, rubbing the back of his head, his free hand shoved into his pant pocket. Sesshomaru sighed beside him, shaking his head slightly.

"Uh, pardon?" Inuyasha responded, disbelief lacing his voice as he blinked at the phone screen a few times. Had he heard correctly? It was cancelled. He chuckled a little bit, then spoke. "Nononono, sir I think you're mistaken. I'm fighting Naraku today not sometime in the future." He said, smirking slightly. This is a fucking joke, he thought.

"No sir. Executive orders. Your fight is paused indefinitely. New details will be emailed to you and your teams tomorrow morning." The man on the phone said, inuyasha could detect a hint of annoyance in his voice. His ears flickered as he sighed heavily, throwing his head back and closing his eyes. "Takahashi?"

"Yes?" Inuyasha responded, exasperated as he moved from his spot, taking a seat. "Who's my opponent tonight then?" There was a rustling of papers on the other end, and the slight clicking of a tongue as the man fingered through the list of fights and fighters happening during the month, his nail trailing down the master list as he landed on the current fight date, he tapped on the picture next to Inuyasha's name

"Ah, Today...Inuyasha Takahashi versus Naraku Nakamura...subbed by... Izumo." Inuyasha looked at his phone in confusion and waved his hand, as if dismissing the comment.

"Will payment be the same? Is it the same bonus for winning?"

"I suspect so...the fight is still very much high profile. A last-minute change won't affect the views and pay much. People pay good money to see you fight, Inuyasha."

"Okay..." inuyasha responded his voice trailing off. "Thank you, bye." With that he hung up the phone and looked around the locker room. "What the FUCK!" He screamed, jumping up from his chair, he threw his phone across the room, watching as the edge of the otter box case hit the brick wall hard, and ricocheted off of the wall, falling with a thud to the ground. "This is some bullshit!"

"Calm down, Inuyasha." Sesshomaru said calmly to his brother, his usual stoic expression on his face. "I am quite sure that this is purely a publicity move." Sesshomaru added, rolling his shoulders. Miroku nodded from beside him.

"Indeed...Inuyasha it is purely a publicity stunt. They want to build up the hype for the fight. It's quite possible that viewing numbers were nowhere near as much as they wanted them to be." Seeing that the half-demon wasn't calming down he added, "it could also be because of the charity fight."

"The fight at the charity event had nothing to do with tonight." Inuyasha grumbled as he walked around in a circle, holding his arms together on top of his head, his silver hair that usually trailed down his waist in two braids behind his ears, now reaching a much shorter length of mid-back.

Kagome took a sip of her drink, and then set it down on the table of snacks, food and drinks. "I beg to differ." She chimed, wedging herself between Miroku and Sesshomaru. Inuyasha glanced over at her, looking at her up and down before turning his eyes back toward the blinding LED light. Kagome placed a hand on the hip of her black, skin tight dress. The deep v cut allowing for her golden body chain to be visible. She pressed one hand into the crook of her neck, dragging her fingers softly against the diamond choker inuyasha had gifted her for the charity event. She loved it so much she decided to just buy it on his card. He never complained when he received his statement, so she could only assume that he was okay with the purchase. "The charity fight could have very well raised more interest in the fight, not lowered it. Everyone wants to see disputes settled in the ring. What I think happened is that Naraku got embarrassed that he got his ass handed to him on a silver platter...so he bitched out." She looked at Inuyasha, a knowing look in her eyes. She watched as inuyasha's attentions turned back toward her, a small smile creeping onto his lips.

"I have no idea what happened that night," Sango said, as she peeked over Sesshomaru's shoulder with Rin. "But I absolutely agree on the fact that Naraku is a bitch."

"I second that." Rin said, calmly, offering a small reassuring smile at Inuyasha. She moved away from behind Sesshomaru, approaching Inuyasha. "Look...they're a nobody. You're fine. Go get your hands wrapped, do a little practice to blow off steam and go kick some motherfucking ass, Inuyasha. Naraku bitched out." Rin said, slapping her hands against his chest. "Go!"

"But I really wanted to knock him the fuck out today." Inuyasha groaned, looking at Rin.

"Inuyasha," Kagome sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "We're telling you he bitched the fuck out! Stop being a whiny little bitch, get yourself together and go kick that man's ass." Her brown eyes met Inuyasha's golden eyes, as she glared at him, refusing to advert her gaze. "Go, dog boy."

"You're the absolute worst person." Inuyasha grumbled at her, squinting his eyes at her slightly. "Every day you surprise with how much of a bitch you can actually be."

"The same fucking goes for you." Kagome spat back, looking at the man up and down.

"Can we save this energy for later or some shit please?" Miroku spoke up, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Inuyasha you need to get yourself ready, Kagome you need to stop provoking his temper."

"Just getting him fired up for the fight." She shrugged, a hint of playfulness in her eyes.

"You're getting him fired up at the wrong person." Rin said, moving back to her spot next to Sesshomaru. Kagome threw up her hands in defense.

"Well, sorry." She said, through gritted teeth as she turned back toward Sango, who glared at Kagome. Kagome rolled her eyes, as she went back to her drink, taking a sip.

"Can't wait to get this bitch out of my hair." Inuyasha uttered, turning on his heel toward Myoga who was beginning to grow impatient, waiting for Inuyasha to go back to focusing on getting ready.

"I heard that!" Kagome called from her spot next to Sango, who quickly pinched Kagome's hip with her fingernails. "Ouch!"

"Good!" Inuyasha threw over his shoulder, "feh! You think I care what you heard me say?!"

"You know what..." Kagome said, gingerly placing down her cup. Sango grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her into a seat as Sesshomaru calmly said 'enough'. "No! I'm tired of his stupid little attitude."

"And he's tired of yours, Kagome." Miroku said, defending Inuyasha. Inuyasha smirked in response, causing Myoga to pull tightly at the bandage he was using to wrap Inuyasha's hands. "Can you two keep your relationship troubles to yourselves for one night? Like actually? I'm tired of having to police you two. It's like every encounter you guys have is gonna end in blows."

"Huh?" Rin interjected, blinking as she looked between Inuyasha and Kagome. "Um, it's none of my business...really. But maybe... just maybe you two shouldn't be together?"

"You don't think we know that?" Kagome and Inuyasha replied simultaneously. Rin laughed nervously as she scratched at the side of her head.

No, you guys have NO idea. Rin thought to herself, leaning her head onto Sesshomaru and sighing. Sesshomaru merely glanced down at her, giving her hand a slight squeeze.

It was quiet for a few moments, save for Inuyasha whistling as Myoga wrapped his hands. Kagome, Sango and Rin conversed quietly with Inuyasha's sparring partners. Every once in a while, one of the women would giggle. And every once in a while, Miroku and Inuyasha would glance wearily in the direction of the group conversing, wondering what the two silent men could possibly be saying to make those women laugh, however neither men dared to disturb their conversation, knowing that eventually it would just turn into another session of Kagome and Inuyasha being nasty toward each other. Or at least, Miroku was well aware of that possibility, Inuyasha was just taking note of how many drinks Kagome had had.

"Geez, someones a heavy drinker." He whispered to himself as he leaned against the wall. Then he chuckled to himself, seeing the irony in what he was saying. He decided against doing some practice for this fight. The man he was up against was nowhere near his equal, seeing as Inuyasha hadn't even heard of him. He figured it wasn't worth it to waste his energy doing any practice. He could save that energy for going out after. "Uh can we go out tonight?" Inuyasha asked, an open question to the group. "I mean we don't have to I just felt like tonight would be a quick fight so..." his voice trailed off as he turned his nose up, trying not to seem like he wanted to hang out.

"Seems good." Miroku said, as he turned his head to Sango. "Babe?"

"Yeah." Sango said, nodding her head. "Kagome and I are up for it."

"I'm not." Sesshomaru said, yawning. He stretched his arms. He didn't quite understand how his brother could keep up with this tiring, fast paced life style as well as he could. It could just be that Sesshomaru was growing tired...he was thirty-two years old after all. "Rin may join if she likes." Rin shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Inuyasha?" There was a soft knock at the door, "ready?"

"Yeah." Inuyasha responded, and motioned for Sesshomaru and Rin to leave the locker room. He waved at them as they left the room.

"Kick some ass, little brother."

"Will do." Inuyasha replied, as he put in his mouthguard.

Inuyasha took a deep breathe to calm his nerves, and shook his hands before he walked out of the door behind Myoga. Kagome following behind him as Miroku and Sango hung behind the group. It didn't matter how many times he took that brisk walk to the octagon; he was nervous every time. He couldn't help it; it was instinct at this point. He briefly looked over his shoulder to Kagome, who could hardly contain the giddy excitement she felt. Behind her, he could see Miroku whispering in Sango's ear, and Sango turning her face away from him blushing. Yuck, he thought rolling his eyes, relationships seem super overrated. The roar of the crowd was growing louder and louder, and he found himself flattening his ears against his head, wincing slightly as he heard the chant of his name. He forced down the small smile that threatened to tug at his lips. He gave Kagome a quick hug, chuckling slightly at the whistles and cat calls that emerged from the crowd.

"Good luck!" Kagome called to him, as she was taken to her seat by Miroku.

"I won't need it!" Inuyasha called back, laughing.

And it was true, he wouldn't need it. He saw the frightened expression on his new opponent's face as Inuyasha stretched in his side of the ring. He saw him swallow hard, and glance back toward his trainer. He chuckled, "you scared or something, bro?" There was a hint of playfulness in Inuyasha's voice as he spoke—he even blew a kiss to his opponent. "Aw, don't worry baby I'll be quick, you won't even know what hit you." Inuyasha said, as the referee explained the rules to them. They briefly touched gloves. Almost immediately, Inuyasha started delivering blows aggressively onto Izumo, bullying him into a corner, his back against the cage. Izumo ducked under Inuyasha's arm, fleeing in another direction. "Where ya goin?" Inuyasha teased, turning on his heel. He let his arms go limp, in order to invite Izumo into his space. C'mon, Inuyasha thought, growling lowly under his breath, come here already!

Izumo approached, and Inuyasha quickly took that opportunity to shift his body weight, ducking under the jab that Izumo threw his way. He wrapped his arm around Izumo's neck, hit Izumo in the back of the knee with his own, causing Izumo to fall to his knees. Inuyasha swiftly lowered himself down to his knees as well, tightening his grip around Izumo's neck. He felt him scratch at his neck, and then he felt three forceful taps on his forearm, and then another forceful slaps on the mat of the octagon. Inuyasha felt someone pulling him away from the man, at which point he released Izumo from his grasp, his body falling forward. He stood, and smiled down at his opponent, watching as he withered on the mat of the octagon, coughing, and spitting out blood. "I told you I'd be quick, not merciful." Inuyasha said, chuckling. He was pulled away from Izumo by security guards, and led into the middle of the octagon. His hand raised by the referee as he announced Inuyasha (expectedly) as the winner. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Miroku helped Kagome up the steps to the octagon, and as Kagome made her way through the security guards to be at Inuyasha's side, planting a kiss on his jaw. 'Wow a little forward, there aren't we?" Inuyasha asked, looking down as he grinned at her. He laughed slightly as he looked around the arena, hearing the hollers and whistles from the people around him. It still baffled him that so many people came out to see him fight. He remembered when the only people there were Myoga and Miroku. He answered a few questions, before leaving the octagon, linking his arm with Kagome's. "What was that back there?"

"That was me doing what I'm being paid to do." Kagome responded, through gritted teeth as they met up with the rest of the group. Inuyasha shrugged his shoulders nodding.

"Fair enough." He responded, smiling as he gave Miroku and his brother side hugs. He hugged Myoga and his sparring partners and gave Rin and Sango high fives. "Sorry girls," he said, "I wouldn't want to get you all sweaty." He turned his attentions back to Kagome, as they walked toward the locker room for him to change. There would be no press conference tonight, as his opponent was too banged up to go to one today. He would admit that he was guilty of often beating his opponents so badly the press conferences have to be called off. But it was totally not because he hated speaking in front of people and would do anything within his power to avoid it. "Kagome..." he started, cautiously, gently patting the hand that dangled around the crook of his elbow.

"Yes?" Kagome responded, smiling to herself, slightly out of loop. She giggled as she reached for his ears, and he gently lowered her arm, shaking his head as she frowned at him. "Why?"

"No touching." He said, sighing heavily. "Kagome are you okay? Did you have too much to drink?"

"Me? Too much to drink? Nonsense!" Kagome said, laughing. "What makes you think that?"

"I don't know just a hunch." Inuyasha said nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders. "Hey what about you don't go out with me tonight? Go to the room and get some rest, yeah?"

"You're fucking funny if I'm gonna miss a chance to party with a winner! Whoo! That's what I'm talkin' 'bout baby!" Kagome exclaimed, raising her arms as she walked with Inuyasha to the locker room. Inuyasha laughed nervously as he looked around them, seeing that the rest of the group was far away from them, and engaged in their own conversation, he led Kagome down a darkly lit hall, only stopping when he was sure they were out of range from the group. "Hey, where are we?"

"You need to go home. You're drunk. You aren't going anywhere with me. Got it? I'm not babysitting you." Inuyasha said lowly. He gently pushed Kagome away as she leaned into his face. "Please don't do that."

"Ahaha, who said you were gonna babysit me? I'll blend righttttt in." Kagome said, stumbling back in her heels slightly. Inuyasha quickly pressed a hand into her lower back, stabilizing her. "Oh, whoops, I almost fell." Kagome giggled, pressing a hand into her cheek.

"You're really...really drunk, Kagome." Inuyasha said, a worried look in his eyes. "You should really go home. I'll have you go to the hotel with Sesshomaru and he can make sure you get into our room safely, okay?"

"But I don't want to go home." She pouted, stomping one of her heels. "I wanna go party." She whined, Inuyasha grumbled under his breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I wanna go party with you." She pleaded, batting her eyelashes at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha knew that he couldn't resist when a woman batted her eyelashes at him. He always had a weak heart when it came to the women in his life. He sighed and rolled his eyes, turning her on her heel and walking with her back to the main hallway. "Okay fine...you can come."

"Yay!" Kagome celebrated, smiling as she shimmied her shoulders. Inuyasha chuckled, shaking his head at her reaction. "You're kinda cute when you laugh, ya know that?" Kagome added, smiling over her shoulder at the tall half demon. He scoffed at her, making a disbelieved expression.

"Yeah sure." He replied. "You're just drunk."

"Maybe." Kagome responded, "maybe it's Maybelline."

"Oh, my fucking god." Inuyasha breathed, as they approached the locker room. He opened the door and let Kagome walk in before him.

"Oh, hi guys!" Kagome said, smiling as she waved at everyone in the room. Sesshomaru and Myoga having left to the hotel—opting not to go out. Inuyasha walked in after her, raising an eyebrow as Miroku glared at him.

"Wha...how'd you guys get here before us?"

"Because we didn't take a thirty-minute detour." Sango responded dryly, raising an eyebrow at the half demon.

"First of all, it's nothing like that." Inuyasha started, waving his hands in front of his face. He noticed that the faces in the room quickly seemed unconvinced with his defense. "Second, I was trying to talk her out of going out with us tonight. In case you all haven't noticed, she's had quite a lot to drink." He turned toward Sango, glancing behind her. "What'd she have?"

"I don't know? Half a bottle of hennessy?"

"Miroku, uh whenever you find the time can you please please please inform all the venues, I go to...to not supply full bottles of henny? Really don't like ending my nights babysitting someone." Inuyasha said, as he made his way to the bathroom, duffle bag in tow.

"Funny, I could say the same thing about a certain person we both know." Miroku responded quickly, making Inuyasha stop in his tracks and squint his eyes at Miroku, half of him was shocked Miroku would throw such a low blow in public, the other half of him knowing fully well what was going to be coming his way once they were back in New York. Neith half of him enjoying being put on the spot so suddenly. He felt Kagome push him in the direction of the bathroom to no avail. "I'm going..." He said lowly, shouldering off her hands as he went into the bathroom.

"Who, Miroku?" Rin asked, tilting her head.

"Oh no one." Miroku replied, his line of sight still directed toward the bathroom. He heard the shower turn on, and watched as Kagome made her way toward Sango, starting a conversation with her. "Just an old friend of ours." He added, snapping out of his trance as he adjusted his suit jacket. Rin narrowed her eyes at Miroku, but nodded in understanding nonetheless, not wanting to push the issue.

Inuyasha emerged from the bathroom fully dressed, drying his hair with a towel. He combed through it with his fingers, and then flipped his hair forward, gathering it up in his hands before putting it all in a bun. He walked back to the bathroom, picking out the shorter tuffs of hair that he knew would just fall out of the bun on their own. He fingered through his bangs before coming back out of the bathroom one last time. He ditched the suit jacket, opting to go for a more casual look, his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and the top few buttons of his dress shirt were left undone.

"inuyasha don't you have a girlfriend?" Renkotsu, his sparring partner questioned. Inuyasha glanced in his direction.

"Pfft no- I MEAN yeah, yeah. Kagome, duh." He said, scratching behind his head.

"So why are you going out looking like a full course meal?" He asked, causing Miroku and Sango to snicker.

"Because I can? And also, because it doesn't matter what I wear, I look damn good in it." Inuyasha responded.

"Quite." Miroku added, "alright well let's go."

"Whoo!" Inuyasha celebrated, causing Kagome and Sango to startle out of their conversation. "Let's go baby!"