She'd come to visit him without asking. She didn't call, she didn't text. She just appeared at the entrance of his apartment, just as he was moving from the living room to his kitchen. And so, he froze. Indigo eyes staring as his body froze in its position, black hair falling over his shoulder, his uninjured hand gently pushing against his surgery site. His immediate reaction was anger. Who the fuck was she to come sauntering into his apartment like she lived there? Why would she do that? Had she no respect for personal boundaries. It was quite clear to him that their level of friendship was just beginning after four months of constant belligerence on both sides. He could smell her before the elevator door had opened before her sneaker-clad foot had even stepped over from the elevator onto the marble of his floor. His second reaction was panic as he struggled to figure out what to do with himself. He was shirtless, and had on nothing but a pair of underwear, so he dashed to his closet, and slammed the door shut just as she rounded the corner to where he would've been.

"Shit." He whispered to himself, "shitshitshitshitshit." His cheeks flushed red with embarrassment as his eyes darted around his closet, looking for anything—

Found them!

A tan hand reached for the folded pair of black sweatpants, and he quickly stuffed one leg into them and then another, almost tripping over a shoe as he pulled them up.

"Inuyasha?" He could hear her voice call out, stifled slightly by the heavy wooden door of his closet. "I know you're here!"

Yeah, I bet you do, he thought to himself, finding a hair tie on the floor that he used to pull his hair back into a messy bun at the base of his neck. Sighing, he opened the door and walked out, wincing slightly at the pain in his side. He feared having to deal with recovering from a surgery on one of his human nights, but so far it hadn't been that bad. Aside from the pain being less bearable than before. "What the hell are you doing here?" He asked once he met her at the kitchen. "Weren't you taught to call or text or something before you just show up at someone's house?"

"Well, I would," Kagome responded, crossing her arms. "Except that someone's phone kept going to voicemail every time we call." Inuyasha rolled his eyes in response. "We considered doing a wellness check on you, you know." Her brown eyes stared at his eyes, that despite the loss of amber color still held that brilliant defiance that she found amusing.

"Whoops." Inuyasha responded, shrugging his shoulders. "Guess I forgot to activate my new phone."

Kagome gave him a tightlipped smile, squinting her eyes at him. "Hmm, I'm sure you did."

"Honest." He responded sarcastically, mirroring her by crossing his arms, "I truly just forgot."

"Oh, did you?"

"I did."

"How interesting." Kagome said, as she set her purse down on his kitchen counter. "How are you? I've called and texted multiple times since you got out of the hospital last week. Miroku has as well, so has Sango and Rin. You didn't answer any of us."

"Well, you're staring at me now, why don't you tell me if I look fine."

"You do look fine." Kagome responded; her tone smug. Inuyasha smirked in response.

"I know I am."

There was a fleeting moment of silence as Kagome took a deep breath and balled up her fist. She was mildly annoyed that the hanyou could make light of his friends concern for him. "Ya'know, I'm pretty sure if you guys were actually concerned, one of ya's would've come over much sooner." He shrugged his shoulders once more, slightly amused at the angry look in her eyes. "You cool?"

"As a fucking cucumber." Kagome responded, once again giving him an empty smile. "I'm sorry. I just hadn't realized that you could blow everyone off after having a surgery, and a chest tub, and getting into a bad car crash and just...chill out."

He laughed, turning around. His hand reached up to a cabinet from which he took out a bottle. Kagome's eyes trailed up the muscles in his back, before following his hand to what he set down on the counter. "You can't have that." She said, going around the counter to try to snatch it from him. But he was stronger than her, and his hand was wrapped around the neck of the bottle firmly. "You've barely been out for a week, and I'm almost positive that some Jose Cuervo is not what was prescribed to you."

"Well, it's not for me, wench." He lied, grabbing a clean shot glass from off the counter, "it's for you." He pulled the bottle enough so that Kagome's hand slipped off, and opened it, pouring its contents into the glass. He slid it over to her, his eyes flickering between the glass and her face. "What? It's yours. Drink up."

He did it again, she thought to herself as she reluctantly took the shot and slammed the glass down on the counter. "Want another?" he asked, to which she shook her head no, he shrugged in response. She remembered their most recent trip to Vegas, the morning after his fight...when they'd gotten into that big argument. She remembered the distinct sound of a bottle popping open, and it was barely even noon. She'd confronted him about it then, but he'd turned her down as quickly as she'd asked the question. "Have you eaten?" Kagome tried to break the awkward silence that followed his question.

"Yeah." he paused, observing her face, watching as her expression changed from puzzled to polite, "why?"

"No reason. It was one of the questions that Miroku wanted me to ask you."

"Are you here for Miroku or are you here because you decided to come here on your own accord?" Inuyasha inquired, crossing his arms as he turned to face her, his hip pressed against the edge of the counter. Kagome stared up at him as she rattled her brain for an answer. It was a little bit of both if she was being frank. On one hand she wanted to come see him because she, like everyone else, was worried about his health and how he was recovering. On the other hand, Miroku's constant worry but refusal to action was becoming an annoyance. So, she set out to check up on him on her own.

"I guess one could say it was both." Kagome said, he raised an eyebrow in response. "I was obviously worried for you, but Miroku kept bitching. So, I came to check." She sighed as she looked around the apartment and shrugged her shoulders. "Looks like you've been doing just fine."

"Because I have been." He responded coolly, narrowing his eyes. "What's your deal?"

"Nothing." Kagome said, shaking her head slightly, "I'm...fine."

"Are you sure?" Inuyasha asked lowly, "you look a bit...odd." He watched as Kagome turned her head away from him, pretending to be intrigued by the marble patterning on his kitchen counters. "Kagome..." his voice trailed off.

"Inuyasha, can I ask you something, seriously?" Her hand moved from the counter to grasp his, taking his aback slightly. His jerk reaction was to pull his hand away, bringing it back to his side. "Let's go sit down." She suggested, motioning toward the couch in the living room. He could pick up on the serious note in her voice, the change in the air around her. It was somber. I wonder what this is about.

Nonetheless, he followed her into the living room and sat down on the couch next to her, turning slightly so he could face her. "Kagome?"

"Inuyasha," her voice was shaky, as she rubbed her hands on her thighs, and played with the edge of her skirt. "I've been...thinking about this for a while." Inuyasha crumpled his eyebrows in response, tilting his head slightly as he struggled to see where she was going with this. He couldn't think of anything he could've done in the past week to upset her, seeing as he hadn't had much strength even for himself. "Remember the last time we went to Vegas, when we had that big argument?"

"Sure." Inuyasha responded, almost immediately. How could he forget that argument? That one was particularly nasty and had created a miniature version that took place in his apartment just a few days after. "What about it?" Please don't tell me she's going to bring up that argument again...

"Remember afterwards...I asked you about something?" Inuyasha nodded his head slowly.

"I'm not trying to pry into your life, I know you don't like it when I do." Kagome said lowly, looking up from her hands to him, tucking a stand of hair behind her ear. "I just...have to ask you again." She was glad he was in his human form. He seemed to be nicer...gentler when he was. If she were to attempt to ask him this question when he was in his demon form, she was sure an argument would have ensued. He was a lot more passive in his human form, something she took for granted as often as she could.

He knew what she was asking. She didn't have to say it out loud for him to know what she was hinting at. He didn't need her to spell it out for him.

"No." Inuyasha lied, once more. "Absolutely not. I don't have a problem."

"You don't have to lie to me—"

"I'm not lying!" He said angrily, causing Kagome to jump back slightly. He took a deep breath to stabilize himself, before speaking again. "Kagome, I don't know where you're getting this dumbass idea...but no," he laughed a little, looking away from her, "I don't have a problem."

"Are you certain?" Kagome asked, "Look at me in my eyes and tell me you're certain, Inuyasha."

"Yes." He replied, widening his eyes a little bit as he looked at Kagome. "I'm certain. I'm not lying to you. Can you stop prying into my life now?"

"What caused your car crash?" Kagome asked quickly, crossing her arms. "Were you drinking?"

"What?" Inuyasha asked, in disbelief at her question. "No! God no, I wasn't drinking."

"Don't you dare lie to me Inuyasha." Kagome said seriously, watching his face closely as he looked away from her again, shaking his head a little bit, dragging a thumb across his bottom lip. "You can't even look at me."

"Because I'm trying not to fucking yell at you, bitch!" Inuyasha yelled, finally facing her. "I said I wasn't drinking. I don't have a problem." He got up from his spot at the couch and pointed toward the elevator. "If you only came over to question me and make me angry then leave." Inuyasha added through gritted teeth, eyes attempting to glare holes into Kagome's. Kagome looked up to him from her spot and rose to her feet.

"I'm only asking because I care about you, Inuyasha!" She admitted sharply, "I actually give a fuck about you!"

"If you actually gave a fuck about me you wouldn't question me about something I already settled with you." He responded dryly, running his hand through his air as he exhaled deeply.

"Wha—You aren't even making any sense!"

"Kagome, drop the subject." Inuyasha warned, narrowing his eyes at her. "I find it kind of offensive you would even think I have a problem based off of one time."

"So, you lied to me back then?" Kagome asked, crossing her arms as she blinked at him, disbelief in her eyes. "Knew it." She scoffed, throwing her hands up.

"I—"

Kagome held up a hand, and then slowly balled it up into a fist, shaking it slightly. "Okay. Fine." She said, pulling at the edge of her skirt. "You're right. I'll drop it." She finished, sighing as she let her body drop onto the couch.

"Thank you." Inuyasha responded, still angry as he sat back down as well, scooting away from her. "Where did you even get that stupid idea into your head?" He questioned, pretending to seem interested in his cast.

"Because normal people without a drinking problem don't have wine at 11 in the morning."

"I just told you I didn't do that." Inuyasha muttered in response, "what's so hard to understand?"

"You—" she paused, clenching her jaw as she looked away from him. It's not worth the argument right now, Kagome, she thought to herself as she shook her head. He was good at deflecting and making himself seem like the victim. She felt guilty for asking him about it, even though she knew there was nothing to be guilty about. But...

"Well, now that I know you're okay, I'm going home." Kagome said as she got up from her spot, Inuyasha blinked hard in response. His eyes trailed after her as she walked back to the kitchen, getting her purse.

"W-wait!" He called, getting up and following her. "That's it?"

"Yup." She responded ironically, "I'm trying to help you and you just...push me away." She felt his hand wrap around her wrist as she tried to leave, her head turned back in his direction with a knowing look. "Inuyasha, if you don't unhand me right n—"

"Shut up." He demanded, loosening his grip around her tiny wrist. "Who says I'm pushin' ya away?" He questioned; an eyebrow arched. Kagome rolled her eyes, causing him to repeat the question. "Am I pushin' ya away? Hm? Is me not wanting to answer an offensive question the same as pushing you away now?" There was a small pause as he let go of her wrist, her body turned to face him. He placed his hand on the counter now, tapping his finger in annoyance. "Answer me."

"You've basically disappeared off the face of the earth to everyone who cares about you." She looked up to the ceiling as she felt her eyes threaten to well up with tears. "Rin's been worried sick about you, Miroku won't shut up about how you won't answer him, and he knows you like your space, so he didn't come to check up on you. Sango asks about you...you can't just disappear for a week like this especially in your condition and just expect the people in your life to not...care!"

"Keh, you guys forget I'm a half demon." Was his response, rolling his eyes. "You guys are just being dramatic."

"It's been four months, Inuyasha." Kagome said softly, her eyes looking over his features. "I've spent almost every single day with you these past four months. We argued for most of it, sure...but do you really expect me to just...not care about you?"

He was quiet.

"Do you?"

"No, you don't." Inuyasha responded, "I—"

"I felt like I was going to have a fucking panic attack when Rin called me, Inuyasha! I ran into the god damn hospital when we got there, I pushed people out of the fucking way. I stayed with Miroku for the majority of the first night you were there, we took turns watching to make sure you wouldn't fucking die on us." Kagome responded, taking a step toward him, "I was scared."

"You didn't have anything to be scared about." He stammered, taking a step back. "No one fucking told you to do that—"

"But I chose to." She retorted, almost as a scream. "Why can't you accept that you have people that fucking care about you."

"Oh no I do." He replied, nodding his head, "I just don't think you actually do." He added, shrugging his shoulders. "You're here for a year, for one million dollars, I don't mean jack shit to you beyond that."

"That's not fucking true—"

"Yes. Yes, it is. If you're just gonna argue with me again you can go ahead and take your ass out that fuck—"

SLAP.

His head whipped to the side, and almost immediately he felt his cheek begin to pulsate and grow warm. His hand grazed against his cheek for a moment, and then he turned back to look at her, wide eyed. He pulled his hand away and stared at it for a moment, before bringing it back to his cheek. He could practically feel the handprint on his skin. "Did you just fucking slap me?" He asked, his voice breathy. Kagome turned away from him. "Did you really just fucking hit me? Again? N-no, Kagome you don't get to just not answer me right now. I'm fucking speaking to you."

"I don't understand how it's so hard for you to accept the fact that I care about you as a friend and I worry about your health and your wellbeing." Kagome said quietly. "I'm sorry for hitting you, you just...get so under my skin."

"That doesn't give you the right to, though." He said darkly, sighing as he rubbed his cheek, "Just go home."

"Inuyasha..."

"Go...home." He said, pointing to the elevator. "Go. I don't want to see you right now. Go home." It only took a moment for her to leave, but in that brief moment he could feel himself rotate through all his emotions about what had just happened. "Son of a bitch." he breathed, walking to his bathroom. He walked over the mirror and turned his head to inspect his cheek. It was red, and raw, the tips of her fingers beginning to form a print on his cheek. He groaned and shuffled out of the bathroom and toward his room.

Part of him knew that Kagome had a point. He'd pushed everyone away when he got out of the hospital and had been, up to this point, hiding out in his apartment just taking time to himself to heal and to avoid the public. But the other part of him, the majority of him, thought that he didn't have to answer to anyone...at any time. He had no real obligation to. If he wanted to just disappear for a bit, he could, and no one had the right to question him. He did not owe anyone an explanation. And no one owed an explanation to him. He would be back to normal in about a week, thanks to his superhuman genetics and then he could talk to everyone. He just wanted a week to...

To what exactly? Not feel like a burden to everyone? To not be bombarded with lectures from Miroku and Myoga, deal with Rin asking about what happened between him and Sesshomaru?

He turned onto his side and brushed the hair that fell into his eyes away. He watched as his phone screen glowed with twitter and Instagram notifications. The truth was that he had turned on and activated his new phone (which Miroku had gotten for him the first day back home). He had just put it on airplane mode so the calls and texts would be ignored. He was not ever really taught how to deal with his...feelings. He usually just withdrew from everyone else when he felt like this, when he felt vulnerable, and scared and... sad. This was the first time that withdrawing from everyone had created an issue, which only made him want to withdraw even more. He knew that isolating himself was not going to help him, but it felt a lot better than facing everything and everyone head on and pretending like he is okay, when he is not.

He hadn't been okay for a very long time.

He hadn't given a damn about himself for a very long time.

So, to have Kagome barge into his apartment (uninvited, he might add), and tell him she cared, had taken the half-demon aback. Especially seeing as they spent most of their time arguing with each other, and the time they didn't they were making public appearances and doing interviews and overall just boosting his image. He bit the inside of his cheek as he thought about her words.

"I'm only asking because I care about you...I actually give a fuck about you!"

It wasn't necessarily hard for Inuyasha to believe. But he'd spent so much time convincing himself that no one could possibly care about him beyond surface level, that hearing someone say it to him was strange. It made his skin crawl, and he cringed internally as if he'd eaten something sour. His throat would swell up at the sound of her voice saying it and his immediate response was to just...ignore.

Ignore.

Ignore.

Ignore.

Pretend he hadn't heard a thing, pretend what she said wasn't what she said, counteract her with hostility and hope she'd go away so he could forget she ever said a thing. Because up until now, the people that said they cared had all left him to his own devices. His parents bailed, Sesshomaru had turned his back on him long before he fired him. The only person he knew that cared was Miroku. So who the fuck was she to tell him she cared after only knowing him for a few months? He scoffed at the thought of it, folding his arms over his eyes. "She's just gonna leave like every other person has so far." He whispered to himself.

"They all scatter like roaches eventually."