He hated press conferences. He hated interviews. He hated being asked questions. They always made his skin crawl, his soul feel like it was going to crawl its way out of his body, his hands trembled. He didn't like the feel of the lights in his face, the constant sound of the camera shutter irritated his ears, and the flash was a little too bright for his light colored, sensitive eyes.

And yet, reluctantly, the hanyou took a seat at the table on the platform. His hand reached instinctively for the glass of water beside the microphone before he pulled his arm back.

"Are you okay?" A feminine voice broke him out of his thoughts. His head turned in its direction and instantly his eyes met her mahogany colored orbs, a graceful smile on her face. "You look nervous."

"I'm fine," Inuyasha snapped back, low enough so that the microphone wouldn't pick up on his words. "I don't like press conferences."

"I know that." Kagome responded, her hand reached over to his. She placed it delicately on top of his, holding it. Inuyasha again, out of instinct, tried to pull away before Kagome flashed him a glare he knew all too well. "People are watching."

'People are watching' seems to be everyone's favorite phrase around here, ain't it? He thought to himself. He felt a hand land firmly on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

"You ready for this?" Miroku asked, patting his friend on the shoulder. "A few days before your fight against Koga. Your first ever rematch of your professional career. This is big, man."

"Yeah...no shit." Inuyasha muttered back, sitting back in his chair. He felt Kagome swipe a hand gingerly across the side of his neck, moving his hair so it fell behind his shoulder. "Would you stop fucking touching me?" He asked, narrowing his eyes as he shifted in his seat. A clawed hand wandered up to the sleeve of his dress shirt, fiddling with the wrist. There was a hurt look in Kagome's eyes but she complied. Her hand rested on his back momentarily, giving it a small pat before it pulled away. She clasped her hands together on the table, before she felt Inuyasha's eyes burning holes into the side of her neck.

"What?" Kagome whispered, turning to look at him.

"Nothing." Inuyasha muttered in response. "Sorry."

They hadn't spoken much since Vermont, and neither one of them had even mentioned what happened between them. Kagome liked it that way. She didn't need him hijacking her thoughts more than he already was and she certainly didn't want him to. She heard footsteps, and strained her neck to see who it was. She caught sight of a flick of a black ponytail, and icy blue eyes connected with hers.

Kagome had to fight the urge to wave to him. She liked Koga. The few times she had spoken with him, he was respectful and courteous. Sure, he had a bad habit of somehow bringing the conversation to the topic of Inuyasha and beating him, but Koga was nice enough.

"Oh look," Inuyasha grumbled as Koga took a seat at the other table. "The mange-ridden wolf is here."

"Wow your vocabulary expanded from mangy to mange-ridden." Miroku said lowly, sarcasm in his voice. He flinched slightly at the flash of a camera. "Nice to see Kagome's education has rubbed off on you."

"Somethin' like that." Inuyasha responded, giving Miroku a cocky grin. It was quiet for a little bit as Koga and his own management settled into their seats.

The press conference started, and Kagome couldn't keep her eyes off of Inuyasha. The way his eyebrows furrowed when he was asked a question. The way he smiled, and sat back in his chair confidently. The chuckles that rumbled in his chest. He was electric in front of the camera. As if he was born for this life, a life in the spotlight.

You wouldn't even know what skeletons he has in the closet…

There was a flurry of hands that went up, each one trying to be higher than the rest to catch Inuyasha's attention. "You." Inuyasha said, pointing toward someone in the front of the crowd of sports journalists and reporters. "What's your question?"

"Since the start of your career you've astonished even veterans in your field with your seemingly unrelenting will to keep getting bigger, better, stronger. You seem to train and fight like you're running out of time. Is there a reason you've managed to remain so motivated and determined to win? Does it change with every fight?"

Inuyasha smiled a bit at the question, trying to hide it by covering his mouth with his hand. "Um," he started, taking a moment to think. "Yeah—I am a bit of a workaholic. I get up every day and go to the gym and spend most of my time there, which has annoyed Kagome recently but she's quite understanding." He said, glancing in Kagome's direction and giving her a smile. She immediately smiled back, a hand reaching over to squeeze at his own.

"I just think that this is an industry where if you aren't constantly working, getting better, putting yourself out there...you aren't going to get anywhere anytime soon." Inuyasha paused for a second, running a hand through his hair before continuing. "It doesn't change much with every fight, if anything my need to win and get better gets stronger with every fight. I'm a perfectionist in that way, I won't stop until I'm unmatched in every skill."

"Inuyasha, given the fact that you were recently in a car accident, do you believe it's derailed your training? Have you had to change anything in order to be here today, and most importantly, do you feel well enough?"

Inuyasha leaned forward, and gave the cameras a charismatic smile, shaking his head slightly. "No." He answered simply. "It didn't derail anything. I was back to normal fairly quickly, and I feel more than ready to take on Koga." He added, shrugging. "I'd be more worried about Koga being ready, though."

Kagome glanced in Koga's direction, who seemed like he was one more comment away from jumping onto Inuyasha and fighting him right then and there.

"Inuyasha, you've famously said before that you would never entertain the idea of a rematch. However, you've made an exception for Naraku and Koga. What's so special about them?"

Good question, Inuyasha thought. He sat back in his chair for a moment, pondering what to say. He was absolute shit at coming up with answers on the spot, especially when it was a question that required more thought than usual. "Well," Inuyasha started, shifting in his seat. "My fight against Naraku was going to be purely for charity. I wasn't interested in fighting him just to fight him, seeing as I'd won our first and only bout against each other. But as many of you know we got a bit out of sorts with each other at the end of the charity dinner." He swiped his tongue over his teeth, remembering how Naraku had attempted to choke him out on the floor of the building where the charity dinner was held. "And uh..yeah..now it's a bit personal."

Extremely personal.

He took a deep breath as he moved onto the part about Koga. "The thing about Koga is that he's a great guy to fight against. Good striker, good grappler, he's just an all around good fighter. Our last fight was exciting, and uh, I was feeling generous so I accepted his request for a rematch. Gotta show the wolf who's boss." Inuyasha joked, he smiled as he glanced over at Koga who visibly looked disgusted with his comment. "Apart from that, I know Koga outside of the octagon. He's an alright dude, just trying to make it...I want to help 'em out."

"Are you suggesting fighting me is fucking charity?" Koga growled, taking hold of the microphone in front of him. Inuyasha's ears flattened from the feedback. His piercing blue eyes ripped away from Inuyasha to Kagome. "Hey! Babycakes! Do us all a favor and put your dog on a fuckin' leash!"

The gasp that the crowd let out was damn near shakespearean.

Kagome opened her mouth as if to speak, but Inuyasha leaned forward, grabbing hold of his own microphone. "I'm not the one suggesting it was charity, now am I? You're the one putting those words in my mouth." Inuyasha responded. "I agree to disagree." He shrugged, sitting back in his chair. Miroku glanced between Koga and Inuyasha, before giving Inuyasha a nod.

"That's some bullshit! You think fighting me is charity, don't you?!"

"To be honest," Inuyasha started; his years flickering in Miroku's direction as he sighed. Miroku shook his head, but Inuyasha continued talking. "I only consider people who are contenders for my belt actual opponents. Anyone who isn't, is charity work for me...so in a way, yes. You are charity work. Light work. Humanitarianism. Whatever you want to call it. If there's a word for it, you're it."

His words had provoked a sort of still silence in the audience, as everyone around them seemed to draw in a breath and hold it as Inuyasha leaned over his table to look at Koga. His hand holding the microphone, he said, "Did you hear me? I said you're fucking chairty—"

Inuyasha didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. Koga practically jumped out of his chair, and lunged in Inuyasha's direction. Kagome let out a gasp as Inuyasha stood up, letting Koga grab hold of his shirt and pull him close.

"You're a dead man walking, Takahashi." Koga whispered, breathing heavy. "You understand that?"

"Inuyasha, c'mon." Miroku said slowly, turning as much as he could in his chair to look at them. "Don't do this right now, save it for the ring."

"Nah," Inuyasha said, shaking his head. "If he wants to fight me right now, I'll fight him right now." Inuyasha threw a jab with his right hand into Koga's ribcage, forcing Koga to falter slightly, losing his grip on Inuyasha's shirt. Koga took a step back, rubbing at his side momentarily before throwing a punch, which Inuyasha dodged and reciprocated with his own. They fell to blows, the platform rushed with reporters and cameramen, each trying to get a glimpse of the chaos. Kagome barely had time to react before she was forced to get up from her chair, and drawn out of the crowd by a security member.

"Do something!" Kagome growled at the man, ripping her arm away from him. "Now!"

"We can't. Platform's too crowded, we need backup for this."

"THEN GET THE FUCKING BACKUP!" Kagome yelled as she stared at the chaos on the platform, her eyes wide with horror, the area had practically with people, there was yelling and screaming. People trying to pull other people off of each other. Somewhere under that enormous stampede was Koga, Inuyasha, and Miroku. "I SAID: GET THE FUCKING BACK UP. NOW!"

Her second scream was enough to get the men moving, running toward the stage, their hands reaching for their walkie-talkies. She was still, holding her breath as they rushed forward. Extra security guards bursted through the doors behind her, rushing towards the platform. After a few minutes, Miroku was dragged out of the crowd from the side. He made eye contact with her and Kagome shouted his name. A few seconds later, one of the security guards emerged from the crowd with Inuyasha, who was kicking and thrashing against him, his arms reaching out toward the area where Koga was.

"Let me fucking go!" Inuyasha growled, loudly. "Let go of me!"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted from where she stood, her hands trembling.

She saw Miroku rush down a clearing in the steps and walk hurriedly over to her. He asked her if she was okay but she was too focused on the chaos to really answer him. Her mind wasn't thinking clearly. Her eyes darted from the crowd to Inyasha and back to the crowd. It was beginning to disperse and to be honest, Kagome was suddenly more worried about the female journalists that probably got pushed forward.

She saw a few of them break away from the crowd, but as she looked around herself, the majority of the women seemed to have opted to sit at the back of the room. Kagome breathed a sigh of relief. Good, she thought.

"This all happened so fast." Miroku muttered next to Kagome as he nervously crossed his arms over his chest, watching as the security guard struggled to keep Inuyasha on the ground. There was blood running from his nose, his face squished against the floor. A cut on his cheek, had Koga cut him? Or was this from being dragged out of the crowd?

"Alright, alright! I'm calm! I'm calm!" Inuyasha shouted, spitting out blood. "Let go!"

She was still sort of shocked, the quickness with which the fight broke out was too fast for her to react. Although she was angry with how long the problem took to quell, she was happy for the one security who acted quickly and pulled her away.

Her eyes darted across the platform, to where Koga was being dragged away by a guard, seemingly unconscious. "Holy fuck, did he knock him out?" Kagome asked, and Miroku blinked, looking in the direction Kagome was pointing.

"It looks like he did…" Miroku's voice trailed off, before he motioned for Kagome to go toward the platform. "Come on, let's see if we can get the guards off of Inuyasha." He added, beginning to walk toward where he was. Kagome followed after him, giving one last look to the women around her.

"Dude...can you just get the fuck off of me?" Inuyasha sighed, seemingly giving up on getting the guard off of him.

"Not until I'm sure you're calm, Takahashi." The guard replied, causing Inuyasha to gauff at him.

"I—what?! Calm?! Koga is fucking out like a light! Hell yeah I'm calm!" Inuyasha hollered. "I did what I wanted to do, now get off of me!"

"Get off of him." Miroku ordered, but the security guard didn't budge.

"Hey." Kagome called, her voice low as she glared at the guard. "My boyfriend said he's calm. The other guy is knocked the fuck out." The guard gave her a look, and then looked down at Inuyasha.

"You calm?"

"I've been fucking calm." He said back, bitterly. The guard finally got off, and Inuyasha sat up on his knees, blood dripping onto his white shirt. He tilted his head back and pinched his nostrils together.

"Are you okay?" Kagome asked, and Inuyasha smiled, looking over to her, blood again dripping onto his shirt.

"Oh? Me? Yeah I'm fine." Inuyasha said calmly. "I knocked him out like thirty seconds after we were on the ground." He laughed a little bit, glancing over his shoulder to Koga, who was just starting to wake up. "This fight is gonna be a piece of cake."

"Not if the doctors have anything to say about it." Miroku grumbled. "You have to be checked out now. Better pray to god you don't have a concussion or anything that can delay the fight, Inuyasha." He narrowed his eyes, and then motioned towards the door. "Let's go, before you or Koga get seriously hurt."

When they started to leave, people clapped and hollered.

Inuyasha gave them the middle finger and Kagome (as mortified as can be) dug her elbow into his side to get him to behave.

"Inuyasha Takahashi, both started and finished the brawl that broke out at his UFC main card press conference, for his fight against Koga Wolf."

"If the UFC press conference is anything to go by, Inuyasha has this fight in the bag by a long shot."

"Maybe Koga Wolf isn't Inuyasha's biggest rival, here's why."

Kagome read the headlines as she scrolled through google, shaking her head. Within less than an hour, there had to have been at least twenty articles written about the spectacle. Every time Kagome refreshed the page, she found more of them. She paused on another one, it mentioned herself.

"Security guard says 'Kagome sounded like a frightened little girl', talks of how she yelled at them."

Well of course I yelled at them! They weren't doing their job! Kagome thought, frowning at her phone screen. She looked up, watching as Inuyasha stood over the bathroom sink, spitting blood out onto the porcelain. "That was dumb of you." Kagome said darkly, messing with the rings on her fingers.

"I didn't do anything." Inuyasha muttered, looking at her through the mirror. "I just said the truth."

"Inuyasha, you started a brawl." Kagome responded, sighing. Eyes worriedly looking back at him, her eyebrows furrowed, a frown etched onto her face. "It doesn't matter that you finished it, it was unnecessary. I could've gotten hurt. Miroku could've gotten hurt. There were women journalists there, they could've been hurt. Did you not stop to think about that?" She didn't need him to answer that question, she already knew the answer herself. It was a resounding No—of course he hadn't thought of anyone else. Of course he didn't think about who might get hurt if people rushed forward.

"No, Kagome." Inuyasha said bitterly, sighing as he cleaned off his face. "I didn't think of anyone at the moment—" Kagome cut him off.

"Of course you didn't because you were selfish!" She interjected.

"I was more worried about getting Koga off of me, Kagome." Inuyasha said calmly, beginning to take off his blood stained shirt.

"Is that your blood or Koga's?"

"A bit of both." Inuyasha muttered, leaving the bedroom, Kagome followed after him, heels clicking on the marble of the floor before crossing into the carpet of his bedroom.

"You didn't need to taunt him like that." Kagome muttered, still scolding him. "That little interaction was completely unnecessary! And Miroku's right! You'd better hope he didn't give you a concussion, or something that would delay your fight."

"He didn't." Inuyasha replied, exasperated. "I know he didn't. You don't know this industry as well as I do, taunting people is half the fight." He added, glancing in her direction as he pulled on a fresh shirt. Kagome frowned at him, and Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

"Piece of advice, yeah? Don't talk about shit you have no idea about." He said bitterly, causing Kagome to stare at him wide eyed, before she huffed, grabbed her bag from his bed and walked out of his room, slamming the door behind herself. In the living room, Miroku turned in his spot and watched as Kagome angrily strutted toward her own room, and slammed her door shut.

Miroku sighed.

"Did they fight?" Sango mouthed from where she sat on the opposite couch. She glanced back toward Kagome's room, and then turned her attention back to Miroku. "Should I go talk to her?" Miroku glanced over at Kagome's door, his eyes squinting as he thought.

"Have you not told either of them about what you've been doing?" Sango followed quickly, giving Miroku a knowing look. She tried her best to keep her voice at an octave that Inuyasha wouldn't pick up on. The last thing she wanted was to ruin what Miroku had tried so hard to keep from them, but Inuyasha, mostly.

"No." Miroku whispered, shaking his head. "I'm telling him on his birthday."

"Sunday?!" Sango questioned, "But he's not going back to New York til Monday, isn't that when the surprise party is? Tell him then, at this point!"

"Sango, baby, will you please be quiet?" Miroku pleaded, his blood running cold with the daggers she shot his way. A manicured hand balled up in fist, a heeled foot tapping against the carpet.

"Fine." Sango said. "But if you don't tell him this news by Monday I'm telling him myself."

"You legally can't." Miroku muttered, "I wasn't even supposed to tell you. So the less people that know right now, the better."

"Is his brother or Rin coming on Monday?" Sango asked quietly, glancing at Inuyasha's door, expecting him to come out at any minute.

Miroku glanced up from the email he was typing out on his phone, and shrugged. "No idea, I know he and Rin aren't doing too well right now. I'm pretty sure he hasn't spoken to his brother since the hospital so...I really don't know."

Mentally, Kagome cursed at herself for not trying on the dress sooner. She stood in front of the mirror, her fingers hopelessly reaching for the zipper in the back of the dress. It had popped open, and the second it happened she felt a breeze going up her back.

It caused her to groan internally. She wanted to call Sango, but figured Sango would be busy with Miroku, as she often was these days. And unfortunately Inuyasha had had a falling out with Rin, and so she wasn't available to call upon either.

Which left her with one option: go across the suite, knock on the double doors of his bedroom and hope to god he wouldn't be weird about this.

Sighing, Kagome gathered up her strength and started out of her bedroom, confidently knocking on the door to Inuyasha's once she reached his room.

"What do you want?"

"Can you open your door for a sec, I need help?"

"If you aren't bleeding, don't bother me." She heard him call back and Kagome made a mental note to kick him in the balls when she got the chance.

"C'mon! Please?" She pleaded.

On the other side of the door, Inuyasha's ears twitched at the tone of her voice. He groaned and pulled himself out of bed, reluctantly shuffling over to it and swinging it open. He looked down to Kagome, whose arm was crossed over her shoulders, reaching toward her back. "What?"

"Can you help me with this zipper?"

"No." Inuyasha said plainly, scowling at her. "No way."

"Please?" Kagome pleaded again.

"Go nag Sango, this is something she can help you with." Inuyasha said, rolling his eyes. Kagome gave him a dirty look.

"I tried. She didn't answer. She never really answers when she's with Miroku." Kagome said, sighing. "Look, this is my dress for fight night. If I can't fix the zipper tonight, then I have to run out and buy a new one."

Inuyasha gave her dirty look.

"Stop making this complicated and help me with the fucking zipper." Kagome shot back, before turning around.

"How the hell did this happen?" Inuyasha asked, staring at a zipper that should have been closed, but was clearly not. "Did it get caught on something?" He asked, hands reaching for her back, careful not to touch her too much as he inspected the zipper. "I have no idea what to do."

"See if you can pull it down and it closes that way." Kagome suggested. She felt a slight pull in the fabric, and bit her lip nervously as she looked over her shoulder. "Did that work?"

"No."

"Damn." Kagome cursed, and then sighed heavily. "Guess I have to go shopping tomorrow."

"Shopping on a Friday in Vegas? Are you insane?" Inuyasha asked, bewildered. "You won't be able to find anything."

"Then what the fuck do I do!?" Kagome whisper-yelled at him, trying not to cry. "The zipper isn't working and the fight is like a day away and I don't have a back up outfit."

"Why didn't you pack a back up outfit, Kagome?!"

"Because I forgot!" Kagome blabbered, sniffling. "I forgot to pack the stupid back up outfit and now–" she felt Inuyasha's hand rest on her shoulder.

"Relax." He said, "there's something that can be done to fix this."

"What?"

"The black card concierge." Inuyasha suggested. "Every black card holder has a concierge that they can use twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't matter how outrageous or small the request is, they'll get it done."

"That's a bit abusive." Kagome responded, "I don't want to inconvenience—"

"That is quite literally their job. To do stupid things for stupid rich people." Inuyasha muttered. "I've never used it so…my person probably gets paid to sit around and do nothing." He added offhandedly, beginning to pull out his phone.

"You don't have to." Kagome said shyly. "I'll just go out with Sango tomorrow morning or something and find something to wear. I have to go get my nails done anyway.."

"Kagome, shut up." Inuyasha ordered, sending her a glare. They waited in silence as his phone rang, before someone answered on the other end. "Hi! This is Inuyasha Takahashi."

The person on the other line sputtered, pages rustled and Kagome couldn't hide the giggle that came out of her even though she was upset.

"Y-yes, sir. Good evening." The voice sounded British, female. Kagome thanked god that his concierge was a woman. "What can I help you with?"

"Oh, yeah well…my girlfriend kinda had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction and needs a replacement dress for an event on Saturday, do you think you can help with that?"

"Of course! Is there any preference to color? Designer? Style? Do you know her measurements or general dress size?" Inuyasha glanced in Kagome's direction, giving her an expectant look. She stammered, trying to find her words. When Inuyasha determined that she was taking too long, he answered for her.

"Not too picky on the designer, nor the style. Just as long as it's classy. Color doesn't matter." He glanced over to Kagome again. She mouthed three numbers to him which he repeated to the woman on the phone.

"Alright, and what kind of event is this for?"

"Sports event. A mixed martial arts fight."

"Got it!"

"If you could…can you bring that to my hotel in Las Vegas? Preferably by midday tomorrow? It's The Shikon, in Vegas." Inuyasha asked.

"Of course, sir! I will update you as soon as I have the dress. Should I get her a pair of shoes as well?"

"Yes!" Kagome interjected, "yes! Please! Size 7 and a half!" Inuyasha glared at her as he hung up the phone.

"I…"

"You don't have to thank me." Inuyasha interjected quickly. "Really, you don't. I definitely enjoyed having to do that, no problem at al—"

"Oh fuck you." Kagome sneered, "I asked you to help fix the dress, not get me a whole new outfit. I was going to get one tomorrow anyways."

"Well you wouldn't have found anything tomorrow anyways. Too crowded, places get too packed, and I don't have time to be dragged around a mall while you go into every single store in existence just to settle on Chanel."

"...De La Renta."

"Same shit." Inuyasha muttered. "What you get tomorrow is what you get, so you better fix this dress in case you don't like or suck it up and deal with it, buttercup. Deal?"

"It'll be here by midday tomorrow you said, right? So if I don't like it, I'll go get a new one with Sango."

"No you aren't." Inuyasha responded sternly, as if reprimanding her for even thinking of such a thing. "Like hell you are."

"Why not?"

"This place is fucking teeming with papparazzi, are you joking me?" Inuyasha almost had to bite down the bitter laugh that wanted to come out. "You can't just...go out and do things like you could a few months ago, people know you now, you know? Your face is damn near on every gossip magazine on earth. Life is different for you now, learn to adjust." He told her, leaning in the doorway, his arms now crossed over his chest. One of his fingers fiddled with the drawstring of his hoodie.

"I don't get why that means I can't go get a dress, Inuyasha."

"Because I'm not going to be there." He said calmly. Kagome raised an eyebrow. "Chill out...what I mean is, if you get rushed, I'm not going to be there to help you."

Help me?

"So it's more of a safety reason, why can't we go?"

Inuyasha mocked her question before pushing himself off of the doorway. "Yes, it's for safety reasons, Kagome." He snapped at her as he walked past her. "You've never been rushed alone before, that feeling is...scary." Inuyasha shivered as he walked toward the small kitchenette. Kagome followed after him, coming to stand on the other side of the counter.

"What makes you so sure I can't handle that?"

"You're like 5'2"...please."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kagome pushed, giving Inuyasha a dirty look.

"It means you'll—on average—be smaller than the people rushing at you."

"But I'll be with Sango."

"Just because your friend is damn near an amazon warrior, doesn't mean you are. Pipe down pipsqueak." Inuyasha said plainly as he began to make himself coffee at the coffeemaker. Kagome sputtered in response. "Cat got your tongue?" He mused.

"I..did you just call me a pipsqueak?!"

"Sure fuckin' did." Inuyasha replied. Kagome looked wearily in his direction.

It was weird.

How they were acting. She realized it then.

She was watching him make coffee still, she opted to sit down at one of the stools, watching him pour it into one of the mugs provided by the hotel.

They'd barely addressed what happened in Vermont, partly because they'd both been so busy since returning to their normal lives, but also because they were avoiding it.

Both of them were avoiding it.

Which was rare.

Avoidance was to be expected from Inuyasha. It was sort of how he operated. If something happened that he wasn't sure how to deal with, he would avoid it. But there was a lot more that happened between them besides just her finding out his secret. They'd had sex, and shared other secrets and things had calmed down slightly between them.

"Isn't it weird?" Kagome muttered, her head resting in her hands, watching as he took a sip of the coffee. Inuyasha raised his eyebrows at her, setting down the mug on the counter.

"What is?"

"How.." she was going to say how they hadn't addressed what happened in Vermont, or at least, hadn't really done so. According to her standards, that is. But instead Kagome shook her head. "It's..nothing."

"No, Kagome, what is it?" Inuyasha pressed, pulling up the sleeves of his hoodie.

"We've barely addressed what happened in Vermont." She said, and instantly Inuyasha's eyes darkened. He groaned and threw his head back, staring up at the high ceiling.

"We have." He said dryly, shaking his head. Kagome shook her head.

"Inuyasha, we talked about it once..and that's it."

"You told me shit about yourself to make me feel better about it! Remember? Which, by the way, was completely unnecessary!" He responded, pointing a finger at her. Kagome glared at him.

"Yes, and nothing really happened after that, besides the fact that we fucked each other!" Kagome said back, still glaring at him. "That's not exactly talking about it!"

"Then what is?!"

"I don't know! How about we sit down and actually go over what the fuck it was that I saw that morning!" Kagome yelled back, her chest rising slowly, and then falling quickly as she huffed. "Can we talk about the broken bottles and the vomit in the sink and empty ones too?! Can we talk about how fucking drunk you were when you walked in?!"

"NO!" Inuyasha yelled back, shaking his head. A few seconds later he realized how loud he'd yelled at her, how his throat felt scratchy and how Kagome recoiled, as if he'd reached out and slapped her. "I'm sorry...just...can we pretend like that didn't happen?" Inuyasha asked, clearing his throat.

Please?

Kagome stared at him, partly in disbelief and partly in indignance. She slapped her hand down on the counter softly, as if to say she wanted out of the conversation. "Alright." She sighed, hopping off of the stool at the counter. "Goodnight, Inuyasha."

"Bye." Inuyasha said after her, watching as she disappeared to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. It was his turn to recoil, blinking rapidly at her action. "Bitch." He whispered under his breath.

"I don't understand why I can't tell Kagome." Sango muttered. "Not about the party, but about the other thing." She looked over to Miroku, who glanced up from the bathroom sink, his toothbrush still in his mouth. Sango wrapped the fluffy, white robe closer around herself and shrugged as she walked away.

"Because, then Kagome could let it slip." Miroku called after her, looking over his shoulder, eyes downcasted as he waited for a response from her.

"...She's not going to tell him shit." Sango said. "I'll make sure of it."

"Sango," Miroku murmured as he marched out of the bathroom. "If anyone is going to tell Inuyasha that his fight against Naraku is at Madison Square Garden, it should be me. Alright? I don't want him to hear it from you or Kagome or anyone other than me. Especially because it took forever to get the state of New York to allow MMA events to be held at their venues. His will be the first one held in New York." Sango wrinkled her nose in defiance.

"It's not much to ask of you." Miroku added, causing Sango to groan.

"Do you think he'll be excited?" Sango asked, and Miroku shrugged.

"It's hard to tell with him. Madison Square Garden is one of those holy grail venues, everyone wants to have something happen there. Athletes, musicians…" Miroku started walking back toward the bathroom. "One thing's for sure, Inuyasha is going to make a fatass paycheck from this fight."