Just as Sango predicted, the kiss was plastered onto every digital headline there was by the time morning broke. Miroku watched as emails poured into his inbox, his phone ringing nonstop. He heard Sango call his name, holding up a cup of coffee. With a smile, Miroku got up from his seat at the dining table and walked over to the kitchen, quietly taking the cup from her hands. "Thank you, baby." He muttered as he gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Would you stop pouring over your work for a bit?"
"I need to get ahead while the children are still asleep." Miroku said, motioning with his head toward the guest bedroom. "Still think it was a bad idea to put them in the same bed."
Sango shrugged her shoulders. "It's easier than having to get two drunk people into two different beds." Miroku nodded in agreement.
"Can't argue with that." He said, "but, you're taking the blame if they wake up—" Miroku was cut off by the sound of heavy, rushed footsteps. "Well, one of the children is awake." Miroku grumbled, raising his eyebrows as he took a sip of his coffee. Inuyasha appeared around the corner, chest heaving heavily, wild eyes, unbrushed hair, hands shaking as he tried to steady himself by grabbing onto the walls at his sides.
"What the fuck happened last night?" Inuyasha asked, his voice nearly a gasp. Sango's eyes flickered down for the briefest of milliseconds, taking note of the fact that he was wearing absolutely nothing but a pair of black boxer briefs. Inuyasha's nostrils flared as he huffed angrily, "why the hell am I here?!"
"Relax." Miroku said calmly, waving a hand dismissively. "You and Kagome were too fucked up to go home on your own, so Sango and I brought you back to my place." Miroku paused for a second as he glanced down the hallway. "It's a lot easier to get two blacked out drunk people into one bed than it is to get them into two separate beds." Inuyasha groaned, putting his head in his hands.
"Oh my god." He breathed, "I fucking hate you."
"I love you too." Miroku muttered. "Coffee?" He offered, holding out his cup of coffee. "Sango made it."
"Yeah," Inuyasha said, taking his cup, not caring if Miroku had drunk from it or not. "So, why didn't they share a bed and us share one? Where the hell was that option?" Miroku shot Sango with an 'I told you so' glare, causing Sango to shrug her shoulders. "Oh so you're the one that had the idea." Inuyasha sneered, glaring at Sango.
"Not like you guys haven't shared a bed before." Sango said under her breath, causing Inuyasha's ears to flicker and move in her direction.
"Say somethin', Sango?" He challenged, raising an eyebrow. Sango took a deep breath before opening her mouth to speak.
"I said—"
"Enough." Miroku interjected, sighing. "Stop bickering."
"I ain't bickering." Inuyasha bit back, "just pointin' something out."
"Oh yeah? Well I am too." Sango said back to him, and Inuyasha quickly realized that he and Sango would not be getting along very well, at least not for this morning, and he was perfectly content with that.
Just because she was dating his friend, didn't mean that he had to like her.
She seemed like a bitch, anyways.
"How are you feeling?" Miroku asked, trying to cut the tension between Inuyasha and Sango.
"My head hurts," Inuyasha glanced down at his shaky hands, "and I have the hangover shakes."
I'm sure you do, Miroku thought bitterly to himself. "You'll feel better after you have some food." He motioned toward the stove. "Make yourself something," and as Inuyasha turned to do so, he added, "but put on some clothes first, bro."
"I am clothed."
"Pants at least, Inuyasha." Miroku said, "If it was just me here I wouldn't fucking care but... Sango, ya know." Inuyasha turned to look over his shoulder, looking between Sango and Miroku before turning back towards the hallway, going back toward the guest bedroom.
He pushed open the door gently, peeking in first, before he walked in. He carefully stepped over the discarded heels and clothing on the ground, and made his way to the dresser in the corner of the room. He slowly pulled open the drawer, rummaging through the clothing that was in there. There were many times when, after picking Inuyasha up from the detention complex late at night, Miroku would just bring him back to his place. So Inuyasha had a small stash of clothing in the drawer, and a toothbrush in the bathroom...somewhere.
It'd been a while since he'd last had to spend a night at Miroku's place.
Ever since Kagome showed up, he hadn't even really stepped foot inside of the detention complex.
It's almost like...hiring her is working.
He grabbed a pair of red shorts, and pulled them on, glancing over to Kagome to make sure he hadn't woken her up, but she was still out like a light. Her hair was messy, her mouth was slightly open, the oversized shirt (that was probably his, now that he thought about it) raised ever so slightly, enough for him to see the dip in her side, where her waist was. He grabbed his phone from the nightstand.
He contemplated for a few minutes if he should wake her up, but he decided not he turned back toward the door and left, softly closing the door behind him.
"Better?" Inuyasha asked as he walked back to the kitchen.
"Yes, thank you." Miroku said, and after a few moments of watching Inuyasha stand at his fridge and decide what he was going to make, he said, "Have you gone on social media yet, today?"
"...No." Inuyasha muttered, "why?"
"Do you remember anything...eventful from last night?" Miroku pushed, "I'm just asking because I need you to stay off of social media for a little bit, if you don't." He added.
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at him, glancing down at the phone in his hand. He sighed as he shoved it into his pocket. "I...remember threatening to beat the shit out of someone last night." Inuyasha said, causing Miroku to suck in a breath.
"Nothing after that?" Miroku asked, realizing that this might mean that he also doesn't remember the news that Miroku had given him last night.
"...MSG." Inuyasha said, giving Miroku a small smile. "I remember that...that was nice."
Miroku smiled back at him, "I'm glad you remember that."
"I can't remember anything else though, I think I blacked out."
"I'm gonna go check on Kagome." Sango announced suddenly, looking down at her own phone. "It's damn near one in the afternoon, she never sleeps this much." She muttered to herself as she walked past them, toward the guest bedroom.
The truth was, Sango didn't really like how Miroku had allowed Inuyasha to be blatantly disrespectful toward her and not...do something about it. It threw her off completely, and practically ruined her mood. She just needed to walk away for a few minutes, is all.
Her knuckles rapped softly against the door, and she paused for a few seconds to allow Kagome time to respond if she was up. When she didn't get an answer, Sango pushed open the door and sighed as Kagome grumbled, turning her face toward the pillow. "Leave me alone." Kagome muttered, her voice muffled by the pillow she was speaking into.
"Kagome," Sango said as she sat on the edge of the bed, placing a hand gently on her friend's leg. "Get up bubs, it's late." She watched as Kagome tossed and turned for a few seconds, before she slowly propped herself up in bed. Kagome's eyes darted around the room, squinting against the sunlight that streamed in through the linen curtains.
"Where am I? Inuyasha's?"
Sango squinted at Kagome for a second, before sighing. "No, you're at Miroku's place, you blacked out last night." Sango said, causing Kagome to cover her face with her hands embarrassingly. "I know bubs, sorry."
"God that's fucking embarassing." She said, "did I do anything embarrassing that I should know about?"
Sango grimaced at her question, causing Kagome's embarrassing expression to switch into a worried one, her eyebrows furrowed together. "Sango…"
"Don't check social media for now, Miroku has to tell you something."
"Sango…" Kagome's voice grew in volume, she was a little more nervous now. "Did I fuck something up?"
"No." Sango shook her head, "but it is everywhere." Sango gently patted her leg. "C'mon, get up. You need to eat something."
"I'm gonna throw up." Kagome muttered, as she threw her legs over the edge, and tried to sit up.
"Are you actually? Or do you just feel like you're going to?" Sango asked as she rubbed Kagome's back. "I can get you some alka-seltzer, do you want some?"
"Please." Kagome muttered, nodding her head as she stared down at the ground, her hands pressed into her temples. Sango nodded before leaving the bedroom, and as soon as she left Kagome tried to get back up. She rose to her feet, and stuck her hands out slightly to help maintain her balance.
Am I still a little drunk? Kagome wondered, as she looked around the room. The dress she wore the night before was laid neatly over the chair in the corner of the room, her heels were carelessly thrown over the the floor in front of the bed, and there was another pair of shoes, tangled up with her own.
Kagome began to panic, the little bit of intoxication she still had, quickly disintegrated as she looked around the room.
A white dress shirt that clearly wasn't hers.
A pair of pants that clearly weren't hers.
Kagome clammered towards the pants, picking them up and rummaging through the pockets until she felt something thin, and leather.
Card holder.
Kagome stopped herself, and dropped the pants. She didn't need proof of his identity, she knew who the pants belonged to.
Mr. Golden Eyes, that's who.
Okay.
So.
One of three things had to have happened.
One: Miroku and Sango put them in the same room last night for simplicity's sake.
Two: Her drunken self snuck into the guest bedroom last night and he didn't kick her out.
Or.
Three: He snuck into the room, and she didn't kick him out.
Either way, someone was getting yelled at.
Sighing, Kagome left the room, scratching at her stomach as she walked down the hall and into the kitchen. "G'morning." She muttered.
"Do you not need the alka-seltzer now?" Sango asked, Kagome shook her head. "Are you sure?"
"Positive." She responded. "I'm more interested in knowing why the fuck I shared a bed with him."
"It was easier to get two drunk people into one bed than it was to get two drunk people into separate beds." Sango said, slightly irritated that she would have to explain the reasoning once again.
"Where did I pass out first?" Inuyasha asked, "on the couch?"
"Yeah." Miroku said.
"Well why the fuck didn't you leave me there?!"
"You'd complain in the morning." Miroku said with a sigh. Inuyasha opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. Miroku was right.
As usual.
Sango secretly murmured to herself about how they definitely should have left him on the couch, especially with the attitude he had.
Who the fuck wakes up ready to start a fight?!
"Kagome, you know you blacked out, right?" Sango asked, and Kagome nodded her head. "What do you remember from last night?"
Kagome let out a breath and sighed, "Um...I was on a table for a bit? I know I danced with Inuyasha for a bit, but for the most part I stuck with you, Sango." Kagome said. "That's really all I remember, towards the end of the night things started getting a little spotty."
"Damn right you were on a table," Inuyasha growled from where he stood, "Only reason I can remember that now is because it's the whole fucking reason why I—" He stopped himself, taking a deep breath before going back to his coffee. "Nevermind." Kagome had to take a few seconds to look at him, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
"It caused what, Inuyasha?" Kagome questioned, glancing momentarily at Sango, giving her a small smile. "What...what did me being on a table have to do with what you were going to say?"
"Nothing." Inuyasha responded, feeling himself getting flustered. It was too damn early to be talking about this shit.
He knew it was already the afternoon, but since he had just woken up only about an hour ago...it was too damn early in his book.
Kagome stared at him for a few moments, before shrugging her shoulders. "Alright." She muttered, "keep your secrets."
"It's not a secret." Inuyasha defended.
"Then say what you were gonna say."
"Alright, alright, shut up." Miroku said, rubbing his temple. "We asked you guys this because something happened last night and I need you both to listen to me, because what I'm about to say is going to disgust you two. Also, honestly, I would rather you hear it from me than go on Instagram or something and see that fucking TMZ has posted about it. Understood?"
"You're making it sound like we did something gross." Kagome muttered, "I'm sort of scared."
"It was gross," Sango interjected, "at least...to me."
"But the publicity is good...real good. Remember when Kylie Jenner finally announced her pregnancy with Stormi? This is on that level."
"Will you two stop dilly-dallying and fucking tell us what we did?" Inuyasha asked, irritated. He drummed his hands on the counter as he waited for them, Miroku specifically, to stop beating around the bush and come out and say what they were hiding from them.
It was one of his biggest pet peeves: beating around the bush. It made Inuyasha want to commit actual murder and if he had to sit there and wait one more fucking second he was going to—
"You guys had a very public, very handsy, very passionate make out session literally smack dab in the middle of a crowd of people...and they were all recording...because they were singing happy birthday."
"I….WHAT?!" Kagome sputtered, coughing as she choked on her own spit. Inuyasha turned a shade of red that Miroku didn't think was humanly possible.
"You're fucking with me right?" Inuyasha asked, laughing and with an empty smile. "You have to be. Us? That? No." He concluded, shaking his head, waving a hand in the air. "Absolutely fucking not. That didn't happen."
"It is everywhere." Sango said, nodding her head. "Like...everywhere."
"Your names are trending on Twitter." Miroku added. "As of 11 AM, they were the second and third most searched terms." Inuyasha had to stifle a cruel laugh.
I know I was drunk…but I wasn't that drunk!
"Sango...I...there's no way." Kagome said, stil stammering. "I would've remembered that."
"Kagome, I had to undress you when we got here because you could barely function. You were a giggling, hopped up mess." Sango said darkly, staring at Kagome as her eyes were glued to the counter top. "It happened, I watched it happen."
"I wouldn't lie to you guys about this, if you wanna check your phones now, you can." Miroku said, motioning that they were free to check their social media accounts as they pleased. "I just wanted to warn you about it...and make sure you both were aware of it before checking because there's nothing worse than seeing an unexpected headline with your name on it." Miroku added, shooting Inuyasha a glare.
Inuyasha rolled his eyes at him and pulled out his phone. "Which one are you checkin' first?" He asked, looking up from his phone, toward Kagome. "Twitter? Instagram? Google?"
"Twitter."
"I'll do Instagram then." He muttered, opening the app. Almost instantly the corner of his phone screen filled with the little red badges with notifications. The first picture on his timeline was a picture of the kiss they had shared the night prior and Inuyasha couldn't help the chuckle the came out as he liked it, and continued scrolling. "Holy shit, you weren't lying." He breathed, raising his eyebrows. "Listen to this: 'Inuyasha and girlfriend, Kagome, share a kiss at the athlete's 24th birthday bash'." He read aloud.
"Hm, I just saw that. Daily Mail, right?" Kagome asked.
"Yup."
"E! Did a segment." Miroku said, looking nervously between them.
"They're always doing something about us." Kagome muttered, earning a small laugh from Inuyasha. "What? It's true!"
"Does ESPN usually cover your personal lives? Athlete's, I mean." Sango asked, tilting her head in curiosity. Inuyasha furrowed his eyebrows as he thought for a bit and then shrugged his shoulders.
"Sometimes...? Usually only if it's relevant to our career, why?"
"Because they had an article out at like 2 AM. The party was still going on at that point." She explained, Miroku sighed.
"That means someone sold their video or picture to one of these tabloids and it just spread from there." Miroku couldn't be mad though, this was the type of publicity he had hoped would come from having Kagome onboard. Something that was scandalous, but not 'sued by the city, paying damages, getting detained' scandalous. Something easier for Miroku to manage, while simultaneously keeping Inuyasha busy and out of trouble. "That's really not a problem though, I'm not mad about it."
"I would say I am," Kagome chimed, as she leaned over the counter, pouring over the various tweets, pictures and articles that were popping up on the trending page of twitter. "But what happened has already happened. No use in being mad over something I can't change anymore."
"Facts." Inuyasha muttered in response. "My notifications are blowing up though." He said, a little bit irritated. "Can't even open my DMs, I feel like my phone is gonna crash."
Kagome's notifications were also going crazy. In the short moment she'd spent scrolling through Twitter she had to have received at the very least 25 new DMs, 60 new followers and so. Many. Retweets. Most of the tweets she had seen were supportive of her 'relationship' and complimented the cuteness and genuine drunken happiness in their faces in the videos and pictures. But some of them were just...foul. They were few and far between, but the ones that were hurtful really really knew how to hurt. She knew that she was bound to get them eventually, and this certainly wasn't the first time that she had encountered hateful or disrespectful comments.
It didn't mean they didn't hurt any less, though.
"I think...I think that's enough social media for the day." Kagome said, pressing the side button to lock her phone. "I'm just gonna go crazy looking at these tweets."
Inuyasha's head snapped up from his phone. "What?"
"Like, hateful tweets?" Sango asked, Kagome shrugged her shoulders.
"I mean...yeah, but it's not a big deal. I just have to get used to ignoring them." She said with a small smile. "It's sort of what I signed up for, so...just gotta suck it up."
"What did they say?" Inuyasha asked, no longer interested in his phone.
"Just...hateful shit." Kagome muttered.
"I'm gonna give you a piece of advice, and you better fucking listen because I'm not gonna repeat this, understood?" Inuyasha growled, clasping his hands together as he leaned on the counter. Kagome nodded. "Ignore it. I'm telling you. Right now. Learning to ignore that shit early on is the best thing you can do for yourself when you're a public figure. Don't like how someone talked about you? Block them. Don't want to see your name attached to a certain tag? Block that tag. Do what you can to ignore the shit that hurts you. Otherwise that shit will eat you fucking alive."
There was a pause, Miroku nodded his head, listening intently.
"When you're a public figure, social media is one of those...entities, I guess, that make it their sole mission to break you down and pick at every little thing you do. It's even worse when you're attached to Public Enemy Number One. If there's one thing I've heard since being famous and having my every move analyzed by the public and insulted, it's this: there's always going to be people who don't fucking like me, and I'm never going to give a fuck about them." Inuyasha exhaled, as if he'd been holding it the whole time, his chest fell heavily.
"...Well said, Inuyasha." Miroku said, patting his friend on the back, although he was sure that Kagome had to have been feeling a bit tender in the moment and probably didn't appreciate the harshness of his tone. There were times when tough love was needed, sure, but that probably wasn't the time.
Or, at least, not the time for such tough, tough love.
But he had to commend his attempt at giving her advice, even if it was gruff and a little harsh. He wasn't usually one to do that.
"I know that it's just...I don't know. It can't not bother me." Kagome said, pulling on the oversized shirt she was wearing. "Because it's like right there and—"
"Higurashi," Inuyasha said sternly, glaring at her from across the table. "Get the fuck over it. Give yourself 10 minutes to feel bad for yourself and then get over it. You act like these people know you personally or something. Their opinion doesn't fucking matter." He said, rubbing his temples.
"I know that—"
"So get the fuck over it." Inuyasha said, not allowing her to continue her sentence. "Stop making excuses."
Kagome glared at him, "I'm not making excuses."
"Yes, you—" He paused and then rolled his eyes. He didn't feel like arguing with anyone anymore. He just wanted to get the fuck out of the apartment. He could feel Sango's eyes staring him down, like he was some type of criminal (which, technically, he was) and it was beginning to bother him. There was only so much that he could do to keep his attitude at bay. With a sigh, he pushed himself off the counter, bringing a hand down against the stone gently. He turned to Miroku. "Gonna get ready to start heading out." Inuyasha announced, taking the portion of his hair that was still tied up out of the hair tie. He turned, tossing his hair between his hands for a few seconds as he pulled it up into a ponytail.
Kagome couldn't help but stare at the muscles in his arms, and the way his shoulder blades pinched together as he continued to fix his hair. Her mouth began to salivate and she found herself—
Oh my god.
Am I drooling?
NO.
Bitch! Get it together!
Sango glanced between Kagome and Inuyasha, her eyes lingering on his back for a few moments before they drifted back to Kagome. Brown eyes flickered back and forth between them for a few seconds and she shook her head.
It's so easy to get her attention...
Once Inuyasha disappeared from their view, and she heard the guest bedroom door close, Sango started to speak.
"Miroku," Sango said quietly, raising her eyebrows as she did so. "He is…"
"I know." Miroku said, holding up a hand, cutting his girlfriend off. He knew what she was going to say. He's abrasive, and cold, mean and snippy. Miroku knew that, already. He knew all of that, already. "I know he is."
"I mean, it is…" Sango let out a low whistle. "I don't understand how you two deal with him so often. I certainly wouldn't be able to do what you guys do." She added, shaking her head.
"It's an art." Miroku joked, laughing a little, "He's got quite the mouth on him, but to be honest, you provoked him first."
"What?" Kagome said, snapping out of her thoughts. "Did something happen?"
Sango waved her hand dismissively, "nothing major. Just a little back and forth." Kagome leaned to the side a little bit, raising an eyebrow as she did so. Her eyes flickered over her best friend. "Kagome," Sango said, rolling her eyes. "It was nothing."
"No, what was it? What did he say?" Kagome asked, her eyebrow twitching.
"He was being pissy about sharing a bed with you, and I said something about it, no big deal."
Kagome was going to say something about it because she, too, wasn't very thrilled with the idea, but she decided against it. By the look on Sango's face, it appeared that Inuyasha had already done more than enough to express his own opinions on the arrangement. Whatever he had said was probably what she was going to say, anyway.
Kagome couldn't sleep. Again. Except this time she couldn't just follow Inuyasha down to the gym and watch him tire himself out until he was tired enough to go to sleep. She couldn't just wrap a blanket around herself and tiptoe down to the living room to watch a movie.
She couldn't let the chirping of crickets and the hooting of owls lull her to sleep, those sounds had been replaced with honking and yelling and loud music and screaming neighbors.
Kagome realized, then, that she had taken the little bit of the peace and quiet she had for the while she was up in Vermont for granted. She frowned to herself as she thought about it. Sighing, she turned over on her bed, her mind wandering back to the events of the day. It'd been a...semi-eventful day. Or at least, the time at Miroku's apartment had been eventful, that was for sure.
She hadn't expected for that to blow up the way it had, and she especially wasn't expecting for that to happen. Part of her wondered if she would ever be able to return to work. She had definitely amassed more popularity now, and had gotten recognized a number of times since 'dating' Inuyasha. Sango was constantly talking about how busy Cafeium was nowadays and she was sure that simply being there would bring such a crowd that their job would be virtually impossible.
"I'm gonna have to leave Cafeium for the rest of the contract…" Kagome muttered to herself, the realization dawning on her. Fuck.
Her life would have been so fucking different if she hadn't ever spilled that latte on Miroku.
That's how she met Miroku, which brought her...here.
To this mess.
She had accidently knocked over a stupid fucking matcha latte on the counter and the liquid rolled over the countertop and seeped into his shirt. He was nice about it, and continued being a regular and eventually got the trust of Kagome and Sango, although they, admittedly, had no idea what he did for work, not really. They always assumed that he was some type of businessman, and after getting much closer to him over the past few months, Kagome could say that they hadn't been too far from the truth. She'd known that he had a 'famous' friend, he always talked about him, they just didn't know that he worked for him.
Inuyasha came into play in such a strange way. Miroku talked about him so often she felt as if she knew him, but when she finally met him...she blanked.
Her mind completely stopped working, everything she'd known about him was erased from her mind, and she was left scrambling to google for answers about him.
Who he was.
What he did.
Where he was from.
Miroku had made some variation of the same offer to herself and Sango for weeks before Kagome finally accepted, mostly to get him to shut up. The way she viewed it, she just had to show up to a few events with his 'friend', look pretty, and leave with her money after the year was up.
It was so simple.
It could have been so simple.
But things got complicated.
She knew too much to just...leave. That much was established. She'd grown some sort of weird attachment to him. She cared for him, but didn't at the same time. She found him attractive, yet repulsive. He was a good person, while simultaneously being the embodiment of hate and spitefulness.
And he struggled.
God, did he struggle.
It broke her heart to remember the look in his eyes that day in Vermont. She would never forget that look. That hopelessness, the grief, the hurt, the yearning to be held and comforted—something he was too stubborn to ask for. She'd come to know the duality that was Inuyasha.
There was Inuyasha, the star, the athlete, the greatest there ever was. The act.
And, there was Inuyasha. The broken, the battered, the suffocated, stressed, tired young man. The real him.
Kagome wouldn't feel right if she just...left, once the contract was over. Of course she would still be a part of his life and see him, considering that Sango was now dating Miroku but…
It was beginning to feel wrong to take his money.
It felt almost immoral.
Her mind wandered back to the day's events and she realized that she had never gotten an answer to a question she had asked earlier.
"Damn right you were on a table," Inuyasha growled from where he stood, "Only reason I can remember that now is because it's the whole fucking reason why I—" He stopped himself, taking a deep breath before going back to his coffee. "Nevermind." Kagome had to take a few seconds to look at him, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
"It caused what, Inuyasha?" Kagome questioned, glancing momentarily at Sango, giving her a small smile. "What...what did me being on a table have to do with what you were going to say?"
"Nothing." Inuyasha responded, feeling himself getting flustered. It was too damn early to be talking about this shit.
It bothered her. She wanted to know what had happened, and she wasn't going to be able to sleep until she knew the answer. Her hand felt clumsily over the desk next to her bed, grabbing onto the charging cord and pulling her phone closer to herself. She checked the time first, and rubbed her eyes as she stared at it.
3:00 AM
Kagome groaned to herself, deciding it was probably—scratch that—definitely too late to send a text, but if she didn't she was never going to be able to go to sleep.
I haven't known a damn moment of peace for months, Kagome thought bitterly to herself as she glared at her phone screen. As if it was, somehow, the phone's fault that it was so late at night (or early in the morning?). Kagome shook her head as she put her phone back on the desk and tried to go to sleep, but a few minutes later her eyes shot open and she was still wide away.
And she was still wondering.
"God damn it," Kagome hissed to herself, swiping her phone off of the desk. She sat up, crossing her legs as she searched through her text messages for his name. They never really texted, except to talk about Miroku and what he had planned for them. Most of their conversations were something like 'I'll be there in 20 minutes' followed by an 'okay' or 'sounds good!' from her. They never really had conversations over text. Sighing, Kagome began to type out a message.
Hey...are you awake? Sorry, I know it's late.
Kagome bit down on her thumb when she was done, watching as her message floated to the top of the screen, a small 'delivered' appearing at the bottom of the message. A few minutes later, the 'delivered' turned into a 'read' and she held her breath, watching as the three dots showed up at the bottom of the screen.
[Inuyasha T.: R u ok?]
She smiled a little bit at his message, but the smile quickly faded when she realized she had to respond.
Have a question, if you don't mind me asking, that is.
Her message was read almost instantly.
[Inuyasha T: ...ok, lol. What?]
Kagome bit down on her thumb again, feeling the nervous jitters begin to overcome her body.
What did you mean earlier? About the table thing…
Again her message was read instantly, but there was a delay. Three minutes slowly, agonizingly, stretched into six minutes, which stretched into eight minutes. And then he responded.
[Inuyasha T: Can u call? Don't wanna txt.]
Kagome rolled her eyes at the message. Seriously? Call? At this hour?! She had a roommate for heaven's sake, she wasn't going to call him.
No, it's late.
[Inuyasha T: Don't care.]
Sango is sleeping in the room next to me, I'm not going to call.
[Inuyasha T: smh.]
It can wait.
[Inuyasha T: It obvs could not if you texted me at 3 am. lol.]
Kagome paused, and sighed as she dragged a hand down her face. He had an excellent point, and had no choice but to give in.
Okay...fine. I'll call you.
Kagome hesitated for a moment, her finger scratching at the tattoo behind her ear as she contemplated whether she should call him or not.
Fuck it.
She couldn't sleep anyways. She pressed his name, and then clicked the call button, holding her phone up to her ear. It rang for maybe 20 seconds, before he answered. His voice was groggy as he answered, a slight rasp to it, as if he had literally just woken up.
"Yeah?" He said.
Kagome couldn't hide the gasp that she let out at his voice, her cheeks growing red, she felt embarrassed for waking him up at such a time. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, did my message wake you up?" She asked.
"...yeah." Inuyasha responded, rubbing his eyes as he sat up in bed. "But, I had to be up in an hour anyways so...not too bad."
"Shit, I...I'm sorry, Inuyasha. I didn't mean to wake you up. You fell back asleep pretty early."
"I was half-asleep messaging you, and I'm a light sleeper." He grumbled lowly, sighing as he got out of bed. If he stayed in bed while on the phone he was bound to doze off, so he got up and started to pace around his bedroom slowly. Feet dragging against the cold, hardwood floor. "What's your question, again?"
Kagome pouted as if he could see her. She felt bad, truly, she did! She didn't think he was that light of a sleeper. She knew he was a restless sleeper, from the two separate times when she had willingly slept in the same bed as him. He constantly shifted and settled into new positions, waking her up every time he did so. "I just...you said something earlier that left me kind of wondering."
"Okay…" Inuyasha's voice dragged as he inspected the ends of his hair. "What was it?"
"The table thing." She said, "I just...I know it's a dumb thing to wonder about...but...it's been bothering me."
Inuyasha sighed heavily on the other end, his eyes struggling to stay open. He desperately wanted to go back to sleep but he couldn't just hang up on her. "It...Kagome, it really was nothing."
"Yeah but when people say that something is nothing then I get all panicky and weird and need to know what that nothing is...if that makes sense?"
It made perfect sense, because he was the same way sometimes. "I...okay," he started, scratching at the side of his head. "I was talking to some guy around the same time you decided it was a smart idea to get on a table, and he said something about taking you home with him. I don't really remember the details much." Of course you remember the details.
"Oh…" Kagome said on the other end, her fingers tugging at her earlobe as she spoke, "so you...got...jealous?"
"Not jealous." Inuyasha said bitterly. "He gave me the fucking creeps and just...didn't seem like he had good intentions, so I threatened to kick him out of the party." Inuyasha lied. "It's not that big of a deal, Kagome."
"Why didn't you just say that earlier?"
"Because I didn't feel like it." Inuyasha responded, a bit of a hostile note to his voice. Kagome recoiled, her face scrunched up. "Is that all?"
"Yeah…" Kagome said wearily.
"Okay." Inuyasha said with a sigh, "good. Good…," he paused. "Erm...morning? Night?"
"Night...I guess." Kagome finished for him. "It's...late early morning." She added, looking out of her window.
"Night, then." He said, and right before he was about to hang up, Kagome spoke again.
"Wait." She said, Inuyasha raised an eyebrow, and looked at his phone screen momentarily.
"Hm?"
"I...I think I have to leave Cafeium for the rest of the contact…" Kagome announced, hesitantly. Inuyasha's eyes went wide for a few moments. "It's just...I've gained a lot of attention now and it's already busy as is and I feel like me being there, physically, is just going to bring way more people and they can already barely handle the new influx of customers and—" Kagome realized that she was rambling, and squeaked, bringing her palm up to her forehead. "Sorry, sorry. I don't mean to ramble."
"...You knew this was coming." Inuyasha responded, shrugging his shoulders. "We talked about this."
"I know. I just didn't think it would be so soon,"
"You never do." Inuyasha muttered in response, "you're never ready for it, it just happens. Besides," he added, "you were barely there from the beginning of the contract, it's' not like anything is going to change drastically."
Kagome stayed silent, rolling his words around in her mind.
"You're thinking too much." He said in Japanese. "Go to sleep."