Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

Overtime

Chapter 9

After work, Kouga, Sango, Miroku, Inuyasha and Kagome all met up for dinner.

After all of Kagome's whining, Inuyasha finally agreed to go back to her place and let her change clothes before the dinner. Sango went home and did the same and Miroku of course already had a clean, fresh suit on when he met up with the others.

They stepped inside through gorgeous glass french doors with golden handles, into a large dining area with teal tiled floors. The lighting was dim and the romantic smell of roses hung lightly in the air. The mood was set for the perfect dinner.

And then Kouga saw Kagome.

The five of them were directed to their table by a waiter in a white and black suit. Miroku pulled Sango's chair out for her with a charming grin, and Kouga did the same for Kagome.

"Take a seat beautiful," he added, pulling out her chair.

"Disgusting…" Inuyasha mumbled looking away and sliding down into his own chair. Tonight he wore an expensive black suit with a white flower coming out of his left jacket pocket. Two top buttons of his white shirt underneath were undone. His long black hair hung loosely over his broad shoulders and his violet eyes stared, laced with jealousy, at the shiny teal floor.

"Uh, thank-you Kouga!" Kagome looked back at Kouga with one of her genuine smiles.

"No problem," She heard Kouga from behind her and then looked to her left to see Inuyasha who seemed if he was purposefully avoiding looking at her.

She glanced back at the table for a second while Kouga took his place on the other side of her. It struck her that although she liked Kouga as a friend, that was as far as her affections went. He was sweet, and somewhat intelligent, but wasn't really Kagome's type.

'I would much rather spend time with Inuyasha,' Kagome thought, nodding to herself. 'Wait…where did that come from? Inuyasha probably put something in my lemon water.' Kagome shot her head over to eye him suspiciously. He looked back at her in confusion.

'What the hell did I do now?' He thought to himself.

'What's wrong with me?' She looked away from Inuyasha after smiling apologetically his way.

He just squinted his eyes.

'How could I not like Kouga? He's everything I've ever dreamed about but…somehow he's missing something.' Kagome brought her hand up to run smooth lines against the rim of her water glass.

'I don't even like Inuyasha…right? Right.' She thought that if she pondered the thought for any longer she might have been convinced otherwise. 'Jeeze, I don't even know…this is so confusing…' Kagome dropped her head and sweatdropped. By now she had the undivided attention of everyone at the table. They looked in confusion at her quick change of emotion and facial expressions. Miroku raised both eyebrows and leaned back slightly, voicing Inuyasha's thoughts almost exactly.

"Are you okay Kagome?" Miroku reached a hand across the table to startle Kagome out of her short reverie. She felt her hand being shook lightly and looked up to come face to face with four of her friends staring worriedly at her.

"Oh!" She said laughing lightly and closing her eyes. "It's nothing, just a little tired form work." Embarrassed, she grabbed the drink menu and held it in front of her face. "Shall we?"

Miroku ,Sango, Inuyasha and Kouga all shrugged and grabbed their menus as well, scanning for their personal preferences.

Shortly after, the waiter came and they all placed their orders.

"I'll have a caesar salad and a medium rare steak. Oh! And a glass of white wine please." Sango asked politely, handing her menu to the man. Kagome ordered next:

"I'll have the baked potatoes and some salmon with lemon on the side, with glass of red please."

The waiter nodded lightly. "And for you monsieur?"

Inuyasha smirked.

"Oh no..." Sango and Miroku winced, they new what was coming. Kouga just rolled his eyes, pretending not to care. Inuyasha couldn't be that much of a threat…right?

Kagome looked on curiously ,then laughed softly as Inuyasha proceeded to list of more than half of the things on the menu, finishing it off with a short "Humph" directed at Kouga, challenging him to do something about it. Of course— Kouga took that opportunity.

"And for you sir?"

Kouga quickly glared at Inuyasha, surprising him.

'What is he planning on doing?'

Kouga then listed off every single thing Inuyasha had ordered off the menu, adding a chicken Cacciatore. Kagome's mouth sat open in shock. "Are you sure you're going to be able to eat all of that?" She tried to change their minds with reason.

"Oh for sure," Kouga reassured her. "I have quite the appetite," he winked.

Miroku sensed the competition and him and Sango chuckled quietly to themselves.

'So that's the way it's going to be…' Inuyasha thought. The waiter looked like he was having a hard time trying to remember everything and was scribbling on his notepad furiously, flipping through page after page. "Y-yes sir."

"Just a second!"

He looked up to see Inuyasha. " I also think I feel like some chicken, and maybe some scallops as well." He looked straight at Kouga, then back to the waiter.

"No problem sir," the waiter said stiffly.

"Before you go, I would also like some shrimp in the butter and garlic sauce." Now Kouga was glaring straight at Inuyasha who was getting cockier by the second.

"Then I'll have some ribs." The waiter looked back at Inuyasha. Kouga slammed his hands down on the table. "I forgot to add Shepard's pie!"

Inuyasha slammed his hands on the table as well and twisted his face into a angry snarl. "Some ribs for me too then."

"Crab!"

"Lobster!"

"Spaghetti!"

"Lasagna!"

"Grr!"

"Grr!"

"Alrighty then!" Miroku put his hands up nervously. "I think Inuyasha here will just have the lobster and this other gentleman the Crab . Thank you sir!" Miroku smiled brightly at the man.

The waiter slowly backed away, then turned around, and ran.

"Ha! You boys are such fools, imagine how large your bills would have been if it wasn't for Miroku!" Sango pointed and laughed at them. "You're lucky he changed your orders."

Kouga and Inuyasha both leaned back in their chairs and said, "I can afford it", in unison. They both realized what they had done and glared at each other in disgust at saying the same thing at the same time. Kagome sat uncomfortably in her chair.

'Not good, Kouga and Inuyasha are fighting already.'

She could feel the rage in the room, she placed a warm hand on Inuyasha's forearm and felt his muscles relax slightly under her fingertips.

"Are you going to be alright?" She whispered gently, leaning sideways slightly so he could hear her. He waited a moment before responding.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he grunted, but didn't move his arm away. 'Why is she being so…' He looked at Kagome who nodded and returned back to the tables topic of conversation. 'So…' He looked harder at her trying to find a suiting word for her behavior. Kagome laughed lightly at something Miroku said.

'…nice…' Came his unusual conclusion.

'Kikyo never wanted to go out for dinner like this…' He mentally slapped himself for comparing the two. Kagome smiled softly and said something to Sango, making her and Kouga laugh while Miroku said, "Hey!" in a defensive tone. "I was just kidding!"

'Nah…' Inuyasha thought to himself about Kikyo, 'They are nothing alike…'

End chapter nine