His blood ran cold. Instantly, his fingers lost their grip on the shaker bottle in his hands. It tumbled down to the carpet on the floor with a loud thud. He sputtered, glancing down at his shoes that were now covered in protein shake. "Fuck." Inuyasha uttered, clumsily grabbing tissues from the center of the table, and bending down to wipe away as much of the liquid as he could.

"He's asking, not saying it's a requirement," Miroku said cautiously. "Or rather, his management is asking your management before they submit the official request to UFC." Miroku glanced at Inuyasha, who sat across from him, on the other side of his desk. He cleared his throat, organizing the papers on his desk and pushing them aside. Miroku crossed his arms over his chest, raising an eyebrow at Inuyasha. "So are you up for it?"

"I have to ask Myoga," Inuyasha responded, carding through his hair, before realizing that his fingertips were covered in sticky, fruity pebbles flavored liquid. "Ah, shit—" He cursed, wiping his fingers on his running shorts.

"What do you think Myoga will say?" Miroku asked. Inuyasha shrugged in response.

"I...I don't know. I haven't fought at that weight class since my early days."

"What would need to happen?"

"I'd have to lose weight, fifteen pounds. My diet would have to change, some parts of my lifestyle would have to change."

"Like drinking...and coke."

Inuyasha froze in his spot, eyes drifting up from the desk, meeting hardened indigo ones. He made a 'keh' sound, but he avoided looking Miroku in the eyes. Instead, he averted his gaze, pretending he hadn't heard Miroku's comment. "There's a lot that goes into it." He said.

"I'm sure there is," Miroku muttered in response, his tongue poking into the side of his cheek. Inuyasha glared at him, placing his wet shaker bottle on the glass surface of the desk.

Inuyasha scowled at Miroku. "I'm not doing coke." He said, indirectly admitting to still drinking.

But Miroku already knew he was drinking, so he didn't need to readmit that to him.

Miroku wasn't buying it.

He leaned forward, eyes glaring at Inuyasha's face—he couldn't avoid looking at him forever.

Inuyasha briefly glanced in his direction, before becoming annoyed with the staring. He turned his head, ears angrily angled back. "What?"

"Were you high on your birthday last week?" Miroku asked, boldly. His voice was stern and deep as he spoke to him. Inuyasha sputtered, jerking his head back, rapidly blinking.

"What—"

"Were you high—"

"I heard you, Miroku." Inuyasha sneered. "No, I wasn't high." He added, crossing his own arms over his chest. Miroku frowned at him. "I wasn't." Inuyasha confirmed.

"You weren't?" Miroku pressed again, egging Inuyasha, trying to pry some type of admittance out of him. Inuyasha sighed, running a hand through his hair. He was visibly uncomfortable, it was obvious by the fidgeting, the leg that bounced up and down. He shifted his weight in his seat, tongue pushing into the side of his cheek. He was about to crack, Miroku knew it.

Miroku wasn't going to be upset with him, or at least, he wasn't going to be too hard on him. He knew Inuyasha had his reasons for doing things, and although he didn't agree with his coping mechanisms, he knew that the other options just weren't viable for the moment.

"Okay, I smoked some weed."

Weed.

Weed.

Miroku sighed as he sat back in his office chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Weed, Inuyasha?"

"Yes," He said quickly, "I was offered. I wasn't exactly enjoying myself at the moment so I had some." Inuyasha followed his half-truth with another statement: "you can't tell me that the majority of the people at the party weren't high, Miroku."

Yes, but that's not the point, Inuyasha.

You're lying to me again.

Again.

"Just weed? Nothing else? You did nothing else that night? You're sure of it?" Regret was beginning to settle into Miroku, penetrating down to his bones. He felt weak, exhausted like he was thrashing and fighting against a force bigger and stronger than himself.

"Yes."

"Okay." Miroku sighed, running a hand through his jaw-length hair. He let out a breath as he pulled the papers he'd set aside back in front of him, opening the folder he'd placed them in. "So, what are we telling them?"

"What weight class is Naraku in right now? Still Welter?"

Miroku glanced down at the papers in front of him, his finger pointing to the weight class. "Yes."

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "Exact weight?"

"168.7."

"I'm 170." Inuyasha mused, "uh...why does he want to fight at Lightweight? I don't get it."

"They won't give many details, just asking if you'd be alright with moving down to light."

"Oh really?" Inuyasha laughed and then tapped his nail against the glass desk, "counter with Middleweight."

"What?" Miroku asked, bewildered, "you want to move up a weight class?!"

"Fuck it, why not," Inuyasha said, shrugging. "One fight at middleweight won't hurt, and it's not like I'm challenging anyone's belt or gunning for it. The champ can keep his weight division belt, I got mine."

"Inuyasha," Miroku started, dragging his hand down his face. "This fight has already been delayed by so many things, and Naraku's team being hard to work with is one of them, you are not moving up a weight class just to be petty."

Something about Miroku's telling Inuyasha not to do something, made him want to do it more, so he hesitated, mouth hanging open as if he was contemplating what to say. "Counter with the heavier weight class." He said, getting up from his seat. "And if they don't accept it, our fight is off. For good."

"I worked my ass off to get you Madison Square Garden! We had to fight the New York government to let you fight there! You are not pulling out of this match!"

Inuyasha grumbled at him, picking up the bottle from the desk. "Tell them I'll move down to Lightweight if he pledges his paycheck to the charity as I did." He muttered, causing Miroku to blink.

"I-I thought you'd only said that to appease the charity board."

"No." Inuyasha said, "I meant it."

"Are you sure you want to give them your entire earnings? It'll be a pretty hefty paycheck…" Millions, actually. Tens of millions. If Miroku had to estimate, Inuyasha would be making about 65 million dollars that night. Give or take a few.

"...Yes." Inuyasha said although he hesitated momentarily before adding, "I said I would do that, and that's exactly what I'm sticking to."

"You should keep some of it at least, Inuyasha." Miroku pushed. When Inuyasha had first said that, it was when the fight was set to happen soon, and in Vegas, like many of his other fights. But things changed, they essentially had to start from scratch due to how delayed everything had become, and now that the fight was set to take place at Madison Square Garden, things were much different.

The size of Inuyasha's pay was one of those things that were now different.

"At least...ten million," Miroku suggested, throwing out a random number.

"I'll think about it," Inuyasha muttered, turning to leave Miroku's office.

"Oh! Inuyasha!" Miroku called after him. Inuyasha turned back around on his hair, long hair whipping behind him. "Before you leave…"

"What?"

Miroku turned in his swivel chair and got up. He took a few steps toward the large closet he had in the corner of the room, opening it to reveal stacks of papers, boxes filled with old documents. His hand picked out an envelope. "This is for you and Kagome." He said, walking back to his desk. He held the envelope out to Inuyasha.

Inuyasha reached for it, but Miroku pulled it away from him at the last second. "Do not open it in a public place. You are to open this in private."

"What is it?" Inuyasha asked, slightly annoyed by the secrecy.

"An invitation to a major event," Miroku said, with enough vagueness for Inuyasha to not have a complete idea, and—what he thought—were enough hints to nudge Inuyasha in the right direction.

Inuyasha grumbled, taking the envelope in his hands, his fingers running over the gold foil of his name, dragging across the curvature of the letters before his eyes noticed that Kagome's name was under his.

Inuyasha Takahashi

Kagome Higurashi

He flipped the envelope—or rather, invitation, over, to see that it was sealed with golden wax, letters embossed in the seal, one letter overlaid on top of the other.

L.V.

Golden eyes flicked from the sealed invitation to Miroku who was already beginning to slowly settle back in his seat. He squinted, slapping the white and gold envelope on the back of his hand, tongue in cheek.

"...I know what this is." Inuyasha muttered, "I'm not dumb, and I'm not going."

"It's huge, you have to go."

"I don't have to go. Fuck, even Beyoncé doesn't show up half the time." Inuyasha spat back, tossing the invitation down on the table. It slid across the smooth surface, stopping just before it tipped over the edge. "Tell Virgil that I'm—we're going to respectfully decline."

"Inuyasha—"

"Miroku," Inuyasha started, running a hand down his face. "I'm not going to an event when the biggest fight of my career doesn't even have a fucking date set in stone yet. My fight is more important than some stupid fashion...thing. Do your job, please."

And just like that Inuyasha was gone, a shadowy figure in front of the frosted glass of his office door. He stood there for a few seconds, before walking off. Miroku let out a deep breath, leaning back into his chair.

He'd lied to him.

Not only had he lied to him.

He tried to excuse his drug usage.

"You can't tell me that the majority of the people at that party weren't high."

Inuyasha wasn't exactly wrong. He was right. It was a huge party, full of celebrities, no less.

There was no way there wasn't some type of drug usage. It wasn't impossible for Inuyasha to be telling the truth, about only smoking marijuana.

Miroku clasped his hands together, staring down at the paperwork that sat virtually untouched in front of him. He shook his head free of his thoughts, and picked up his pen, tapping it restlessly against the glass as he tried his best to focus on what was in front of him.

Thump.

"You got too confident, do it again."

Thud.

"Again."

Bang.

"Again, Inuyasha. Stay focused."

Wham.

"Again—"

"Fuck!" Inuyasha bellowed, getting up from the mat, pushing Renkotsu off of him. "I keep fucking up the takedown."

"No," Myoga started cautiously, eyeing his trainee, watching as he folded his hands atop his head, walking in circles, cheeks puffed as he blew out air. "You're not paying attention to your opponent. Renkotsu was clearly gearing up to take you down. What you need is to pay attention."

"Pay attention to what?" Inuyasha asked, standing next to Myoga with his arms folded, pointing to the area of the mat where he'd just been flipped onto his back. Thrown down onto the soft-ish surface, the wind knocked out of him repeatedly. "I just don't see how I can't see it coming." He sighed, squinting as he stared into the dark mat. "...don't get it." He added after a few minutes of staring at it, replaying every submission in his mind.

"It's your shoulders and your knees," Myoga said, glancing over to Inuyasha who clearly looked puzzled as to why he wasn't succeeding in the day's training. "You're forgetting they're there and can be used as weapons."

Inuyasha sighed, scratching at the side of his head. "Use my shoulders and knees more?"

"And feet."

Inuyasha grumbled to himself, staring across the octagon where Renkotsu was. One hand gripping the wire of the fence while the other grabbed onto his knee. He was doubled over, chest heaving up and down as he tried to gasp for air. "Renkotsu." He called, causing Renkotu's eyes to tear away from the ground, head whipping in Inuyasha's direction. "Again."

Renkotsu groaned. "I need a break."

"I don't do breaks," Inuyasha muttered in response, taking a few steps forward. Renkotsu still breathed heavily. Inuyasha reluctantly sighed, shooing Renkotsu away. "Go. Come back when you're breathing like a normal person and not a fish out of fucking water." With a nod, Renkotsu disappeared from the octagon, making his way through the other athletes, back toward the locker room in the back of the gym.

"You should take one too, Inuyasha," Myoga said, raising an eyebrow at him. Inuyasha gave him a confused look. "It's been hours, sit down at least."

"I sit when Renkotsu puts me on my ass, I'm fine."

"Inuyasha—"

"I said I'm fine," Inuyasha said darkly, wiping away the sweat on his brow as he turned his attention back toward the fence on the other side of the octagon.

"Go home," Myoga said, furrowing his eyebrows in anger. "You are defiant, lack focus, and lack the ability to be trained today. Go. Home." He ordered, "and as for the weight class change— the answer is no."

"Excuse me?"

"The answer is no." Myoga repeated, "tell Miroku that our answer is no. You fight at welter or you don't fight at all."

"Myoga!" Inuyasha's voice bellowed, causing the other athletes in the kickboxing gym to pause. Men and women turned to look at the star, who stood akimbo in the middle of the octagon. Golden eyes burned with a level of fury that Myoga hadn't ever seen in him before—and that was saying something, seeing as Inuyasha was quite possibly the most hot-headed person he knew.

Myoga realized that he might have made a mistake telling Inuyasha that when he was already struggling in the day's practice. "The answer is final Inuyasha."

"Why?!" He growled, beginning to take off his gloves.

"Because it would require you to drop about fifteen pounds. That's muscle, fat, you'll need to relearn some things...it's too much."

"Well, I don't think it is." Inuyasha sputtered, Myoga shook his head.

"Of course, you don't."

"What was that?" Inuyasha asked, taking a few steps forward. Myoga looked up at him.

"I said of course you don't think it's too much; you never know when to stop, Inuyasha. Take a fucking break."

Inuyasha sniffed, rubbing his nose the knuckle of his finger. "I do know when to stop." He countered, narrowing his eyes at his coach. "But if you want me to go home—fine. I'll go home." He said through grit teeth, throwing down his gloves as he did so. Myoga looked down at the black grappling gloves left on the floor and he sighed, bending down to pick them up.

Inuyasha pushed open the door to the octagon and looked up to see that the other athletes at the gym had stopped what they were doing, staring wide-eyed and bewildered at him. "Get back to your fucking workouts!" Inuyasha shouted at them, startling the others into action. They knew better than to get in his way when he was upset, both physically and figuratively.

"Oh fuck—Kagome!" Shippo called, looking toward the espresso machine. Kagome got on her tip-toes, peeking over the machine, eyes drifting momentarily over the—now relatively—short line of people before flickering over to Shippo. She scrunched her nose up at him and nodded her head.

"What?"

"Your boy toy is about to walk in," Shippo said, looking out the window and across the street.

"He-he...no? He's supposed to be at practice!" Kagome sputtered, looking out the window to the right of her, wide-eyed.

"Well shit, bro, I don't know anyone else who has hair that white and ears like that. If that's not him then I don't know who he is."

"I told him I wasn't going to work here for the time being…" Kagome cursed under her breath, biting her lip nervously. Shippo looked over to her and sighed.

"That sounds like it's between you, him, and the Lord."

Sango's head snapped up from what she was doing at the register, as she slid an empty coffee cup in Kagome's direction. "What?"

"I was going to tell you…" Kagome's voice trailed off as she frantically finished up a drink and announced the order, placing it on the counter next to her for the customer to grab. "It just...I don't have the heart to tear myself away from this place cold turkey, and it wouldn't be for long, just til the end of the year."

"End of the year? It's August!" Sango said, although she was trying her hardest to keep her voice down to a minimum so that the patrons wouldn't hear her. She turned her attention back to the next person in line, greeting them warmly. Sango's eyes flickered momentarily to the door as Inuyasha stepped in, pulling his hair up into a loose bun. He made eye contact with her and nodded his head in greeting.

Shippo stood by the door, emerald eyes looking Inuyasha over, slightly offended that he hadn't really been acknowledged by him. Kagome let out a small squeal, pulling her hat down, ducking behind the coffee machine, but she allowed herself to peek over the edge, taking notice of the way the customers seemed to stop what they were doing to look at him. Whispering and murmuring broke out, she could see some of them pointing from him to herself, and she mentally buried her head in sand.

"Inuyasha." Sango greeted him, but Kagome could hear the distaste in her voice. It was subtle, but it was there. "Usual?" She asked, plucking a large coffee cup off of the stack of cups beside her. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, eyes narrowing in Kagome's direction. Kagome grit her teeth as she looked up at Sango, shaking her head. "Kagome is here today, did you know?"

Inuyasha looked away from his phone, nose wrinkling up a little bit. "I thought I sniffed her out." He muttered, shoving his phone into his pocket. Strong hands planted down onto the counter, he leaned forward, turning his head slightly in Kagome's direction. His shoulders raised a little bit to help support his body weight.

Golden eyes met nervous brown ones. Inuyasha raised an eyebrow to Kagome, who looked up at him with a stunned look on her face. "Hi." He said simply, amused.

"...Hey." Kagome responded, standing up from where she'd crouched down. "I didn't think you'd come today."

"I didn't think you worked anymore." He responded, raising his eyebrows at her. "At least, that's what you told me a week ago," Inuyasha added, smirking at her.

"Did she?" Sango butted into their conversation, setting the cup down next to Kagome's hands with a loud, hollow, thud. "I had no idea." She sounded peeved, forcing her words through a fake smile. Inuyasha glanced between Kagome and Sango, and cleared his throat, beginning to pull out his wallet.

"No, no!" Kagome said, reaching over the counter, her hand grabbing onto his forearm. "My treat."

"Let me pay the damn latte," Inuyasha said, pulling his arm away from her. Kagome attempted to grab at his wallet, but he was quick to raise his arm in the air, laughing a little as Kagome struggled to reach for it.

"God," Shippo said, as he straightened up the seating area, "get a room, you two!"

"No!" Kagome exclaimed, ignoring Shippo's comment and the people who had begun to take out their phones to take pictures and record the interaction. "Please!"

"Let me pay for the stupid latte, Kagome!" Inuyasha said back to her, biting back a laugh. "C'mon!"

"No!" Kagome exclaimed, looking over to Sango. "Decline his card!"

Sango looked bored as she looked between them, "Let her give you the drink for free, Inuyasha. She's your girlfriend." She muttered, shaking her head. Inuyasha lowered his arm, narrowing his eyes at Sango.

"What's with you?" He asked.

"Nothing," Sango replied, giving him a smile. Inuyasha's lip curled upwards for a few seconds as he looked away from her.

"Okay." He said, stepping aside to let another customer order. He watched as Kagome focused on making his drink, the way she bit down on her lip, her finger tapping on the metal cup she was holding. Eyes never once leave the machine. "Did you decide that you just...couldn't stop working?"

Kagome blinked, looking at him momentarily. "Not really." She responded, "I just...feel like I have to ease myself out of it. I can't just drop it altogether."

"You seemed pretty set on cutting yourself off from this place the last time we talked."

Kagome shot Inuyasha a pointed look, "I was not."

"You seemed like it." He grumbled at her, hands catching the cup that she slid in his direction. Kagome looked over the espresso machine. "Surprised it's not as busy, you can barely get your foot in the door on most days. At least, that's what Miroku tells me." Inuyasha didn't really come into Cafeium often, he usually had Miroku pick up his order for him. But the days that he had contemplated coming in, he was so put off by the absolute gross amount of people that he backpedaled and walked in the opposite direction.

The Starbucks three blocks away was less crowded and that was saying something.

"Yeah, but it's getting closer to closing time," Kagome replied with a shrug. She glanced in Shippo's direction, who was currently trying to seem preoccupied with cleaning off tables, fixing chairs. "Are you leaving?" She asked, taking note of the fact that Inuyasha was still standing in the coffee shop, Inuyasha shrugged.

"Do you want me to?"

"I never said that." She put out two more orders. The customers took them, nodding politely to Inuyasha. He waved back and watched them leave.

"Shippo," Sango's voice rang out, Shippo's head snapped up from the table he was cleaning off. "Switch?" She asked, motioning between her place and where he was.

Shippo rolled his eyes but did as he was told, shuffling over to walk behind the counter. Sango moved past him, going to finish what Shippo had already started.

Shippo glanced in Kagome and Inuyasha's direction as the last of the customers picked up their drinks and headed out the door. "So, when am I getting introduced?"

Kagome looked back at Shippo, "Oh...right you, haven't met Inuyasha, yet." She said. Of course, she knew Shippo was a little tech-savvy genius who probably already knew everything there was to know about Inuyasha based on his digital footprint. But Inuyasha didn't need to know that Shippo had already looked him up. "Shippo, this is Inuyasha. Inuyasha this is—"

"Shippo." Inuyasha cut in, finishing her sentence for her. "You're her employee." Shippo nodded.

"I've heard so much about you." He said, with a small smile, a hand raking through his bangs.

"Good things, I hope," Inuyasha said. Shippo chuckled.

"...Depends on what you define as good." Shippo shot back, causing Kagome to shoot him a death stare.

"College student, right?" Inuyasha asked, sipping on his damn good latte, holy fuck. What did she put in this shit? Love?

Shippo nodded.

"Columbia University. Computer Science major." Shippo said.

"Nice. Career plans?"

Shippo smiled, maybe Inuyasha wasn't as bad as he thought he was.

Feeling as though she was now planted smack dab in the middle of their conversation, Kagome took a few steps back, and walked off, leaving the area behind the counter and joining Sango as she picked up empty coffee cups and cleaned up the coffee shop. "Look at them," she said after a few minutes of silently helping Sango clean up the end-of-day mess. "They're getting along."

Sango glanced in their direction, pausing momentarily to hear Shippo begin to tell Inuyasha about his internship search. "Surprisingly." She muttered, "Shippo seemed like he wasn't going to like him when he first looked him up."

Kagome smiled, "I know. I'm glad he does though." Sango looked back over her shoulder, raising an eyebrow at her friend. Kagome blinked once she noticed it, eyes flickering around her surroundings. "What?"

"Why is it important for Shippo to like him?"

"I never said it was important," Kagome replied, giving Sango a confused face, "It's just nice for him to get along with the people in my life. He's going to be around for a few more months, and I feel like we're finally at a good place...I just don't want more stress." She added, poking a finger into Sango's side.

"Which by the way," Kagome said, beginning to speak again. "Don't think I don't hear the way you speak to him, Sango." She added darkly, again poking her fingernail into Sango's side.

Sango gulped, swallowing a lump in her throat. Dark brown eyes drifted over to Shippo and Inuyasha, still engrossed in conversation. "In what way? I don't speak to him in any particular way." Kagome rolled her eyes at her. "I don't!"

"You do. He hasn't done shit to you, personally, Sango." Kagome countered, glaring at her friend. "You talk to him like he's ...offended you or something, and he hasn't, has he?" The statement came out as more of a question, brown eyes watching Sango's face, watching her lip twitch upward just slightly. "Has he?"

"No—"

"Then cut it out." Kagome said. "You don't need to talk to him like that."

"...Okay." Sango said, letting out a deep sigh. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize to me," Kagome said, pointing with her thumb over her shoulder. "Do it to him."

Sango tried her best to hide the grimace that came onto her features. Kagome raised her eyebrows at her, daring her to protest. Instead, Sango shoved the large trash bag into Kagome's hands, grumbling about going to start the dough for the pastries they would need for the next day.

"Yeah, go do that," Kagome grumbled back at her, glaring at her friend as she walked off. It was unusual for Kagome to disagree with Sango, but that didn't mean it didn't happen. As both friends and business partners, disagreements of all kinds were going to be present.

However, this was the first time Kagome had ever had to reprimand Sango about her behavior toward someone she was in a…

God, what did she even call this—him?

Situationship? No, that felt too...official. Situationships weren't official in the slightest, but it gave her relationship with Inuyasha a sense of concreteness that simply wasn't there.

Relationship was a definite no.

Arrangement.

That felt better.

"...Yeah Kagome and Sango used to give me off a lot so that I could go to hackathons." Shippo's voice brought Kagome back onto earth, reminding her that there were still things that had to be done before they could go.

"Shippo," Kagome said, catching both his and Inuyasha's attention. "Can you go help Sango in the back, please?" she asked, motioning with her head toward the kitchen area behind stainless steel doors. Shippo groaned, as he hated working in the back, but obliged, leaving herself and Inuyasha alone in the front of the cafe.

"Smart kid," Inuyasha said after a few moments of silence, watching as Kagome swept the floor, putting chairs on top of tables.

"Little brat, too." Kagome murmured, "but he's a good employee so we keep him around."

"He's like 20, he's not a brat."

"Meet him once and he's already got you wrapped around his finger. What did he do? Use his Kitsune magic on you?"

"Oh, so that's the type of demon he is," Inuyasha replied, shaking his head. He slapped his forehead lightly with his palm, which proved to be a mistake, as he felt the pain come rushing toward his forehead. He grumbled to himself, rubbing his palm in circles. "I was trying to figure it out, but didn't want to ask."

"He's a fox demon, yes," Kagome replied curtly. "Took me a bit to figure that out too."

"I thought he was a cat."

Kagome laughed a little bit, looking in his direction. "What made you think that?"

"I don't know, the tiny slits he had for pupils?" He countered, shrugging his shoulders. He looked down at his empty coffee cup and then walked over to the big trash bag Kagome had set down in a corner by the door, throwing it in. "How long until you guys are out of here?" Inuyasha asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Kagome shrugged her shoulders.

"Depends."

"Depends?"

"Yeah," she said, "depends on a lot of things. Till still needs balancing... why?"

"Because Miroku wants us to go out to dinner again."

"Damn it!" Kagome cursed, her shoulders slumping. She looked as if her soul had left her body, and suddenly Inuyasha noticed just how tired she seemed. "Tonight?"

He nodded shyly.

"Let me just ask Sango—"

"We don't have to—"

They both paused, Kagome tightened her grip on the broomstick she was leaning onto. "You were saying?" She asked.

"We don't have to go tonight if you're tired."

"No it's fine, I can ask Sango if she and Shippo are okay with closing out for the day...just...gimme a second. Why didn't you say this earlier?!"

Inuyasha shrugged, looking away from her. "I forgot."

"Yeah like the first time, right?" She deadpanned, causing Inuyasha to grimace, giving her a small smile. "I knew it."

"I genuinely forgot that time, though." He said, "I was still...uncomfortable about this whole thing."

Was?

"You were?" Kagome asked, emphasizing the word 'were'. She tried to fight off the little, amused grin that broke out on her face. "So you're comfortable...now?"

"What I mean is...I…" He was sputtering. Kagome leaned forward a little bit, waiting for him to keep speaking. "Nevermind. Go fucking ask Sango whatever you were going to ask her." Inuyasha said, and Kagome shrugged, the smile still on her face.

"Sure." She replied, turning on her heel, dragging the broom behind her as she walked away from him. "Be back in a few minutes."

What was that? She wondered. For just a few seconds, it felt as though Inuyasha had let some of his guard down, letting her see him. He sputtered, got flustered, and seemed almost nervous. As if he was going to admit something he hadn't even admitted to himself yet. She wasn't going to push him on the subject, she knew how much he hated being pushed on things that he didn't want to talk about.

And if it was a slip—which, she was sure it was—, she could simply forget that little blip in their conversation had even happened.

Yes.

I'll just forget I heard that.