"InuYasha! Sit, boy!" Kagome yelled. A groan that sounded like, fucking bitch, followed after the command, which must have pissed the beauty off even more because she shouted "sit boy!" two more times.

Satoru rubbed his cloth-covered eyes, not believing the scene in front of him. Was this dog-eared demon like her shikigami or was this a technique that could work on anyone? He rubbed at his eyes again, but the sight of this InuYasha face planted onto the ground was still there. Admittedly, it was a funny sight. InuYasha rubbed him the wrong way, but… he should get Megumi out of there.

"How did you do that?" Megumi asked. His voice was full of amazement. A twinge of annoyance hit Satoru. Kagome yelled out one command and the boy was impressed? He showed Megumi what a domain expansion was and all he got was a grunt. Unbelievable.

This was not good. He needed to remove Megumi from this situation. They could try to brainwash him or worse, try to fatten poor Megumi up to feed him to the demons. He was not fooled by the cute routine that Shippo was putting on, nor was he the type to fall to the whims of a beautiful woman.

He'd just use the excuse of leaving to pick up Tsumiki to get Megumi far, far away from them, and then he'd return and deal with this strange family. He shuddered. How many children and men had they lured back to this shrine under the guise of being helpful only to sacrifice them to the demons they were housing?

"The rosemary around his neck. Only Kagome can use the command. Miroku says it's how they show their love," Shippo said, startling Satoru from his thoughts.

Kagome was in a relationship with that? His muscles tightened as he flexed his hands, relieving some of the stress that built up over the span of a minute. Why did the thought of her being in a relationship make him feel as though his throat were closing up? He pulled at his jacket, allowing some air to flow through. He was hot. Far too hot for winter. Maybe she put something in the hot chocolate? He was also being stupid for allowing an insignificant emotion such as jealousy to attach itself to him over a woman he just met.

It wasn't as though he could get rid of the demons and somehow convince her to join team good guys. Satoru watched the way Kagome lit up when she addressed Shippo. No, she was too intertwined with them to see reason, and it wasn't good for him to dwell on any negative emotion too much.

Megumi raised his hand and asked with that damn monotone voice, "Kagome-san, could you make one for Gojo?"

"Gumi! You traitor!" Satoru spit out, his face was aghast at the utter audacity of Megumi. And here he was, the good sorcerer that he was, took the poor boy and his sister in. He should just leave Megumi to become demon food with that attitude.

"I don't know if they actually work on humans," Kagome said, winking at Megumi. "But I'm sure we could find something to keep Satoru in line."

What was that supposed to mean?

"Oh, and how would you keep me in line, Ka-go-me?" He stepped closer to her. She was so small compared to him. Her face turned bright red, the blush went down her neck and disappeared underneath her shirt. He was utterly shameless to be ruminating on how far down he could get the blush to go.

InuYasha snarled as he leaped to his feet. "How dare you," InuYasha sputtered, "think that you can just come up in here and talk to Kagome like that? Kagome out of the way, I'm gonna take care of this guy right now." InuYasha rolled up one red sleeve, winding up his arm like he wanted to take Satoru in a windmill fight. "Let's go outside ugly."

What? Who the hell was he calling ugly? Satoru scoffed. He could see the spittle from where he was standing. As far as he was concerned, no one as uncouth as this InuYasha had any room to be calling someone out.

Kagome placed one hand on Satoru's chest and then addressed InuYasha. "Stop it! seriously how old are you? I can't believe you think that I'm just gonna let you fight on Christmas. Absolutely not. Satoru is a guest. OK! He's a guest and you do not get to come up in here and try to wave the tessaiga around and think that I'm just gonna stand for it. You have lost your mind."

InuYasha's ears drooped with every word out of Kagome's mouth. Shippo snickered from behind Satoru.

The hell was going on? Satoru blinked, slightly wondering if the number of times he's blinked from the craziness unfolding before him was cause for concern. He looked back at Megumi and then back at Kagame. He just did not- could not- understand what exactly was going on. She was stopping her demon from fighting him?

But why?

Why would she stop him from attacking? Was that not her plan to fatten him and Megumi up, and sacrifice them to these demons? He just did not understand what her game was.

No, he needed to be more alert. He could not afford for his emotions to get the better of him. He knew better than that. For goodness's sake, he's the strongest. The world was counting on him to keep it together. He couldn't allow jealousy or lust to rule him.

Stick with the original plan and claim that he was leaving to go pick up Tsumiki. He'd insist that Megumi have to go with him. Megumi would put up a fight, but that was okay. It would be more believable if he did. He had to get them out of there before anything else happened and before Kagome used her sweet words on him, and he lost all of his reasoning… again.

"Inu-baka is just being stupid as usual. He's just jealous because Kagame likes Satoru and Satoru likes Kagome," Shippo whispered, though Satoru could hear him loud and clear. Clearly, InuYasha could hear him just as clear.

His stomach fluttered. Either Shippo was a master actor or Kagome was sparing them because she realized what a catch he was. He liked to think it was the latter.

"Oi! What the fuck you say? You little runt. Bet you won't say that to my face Shippo," InuYasha growled out, stomping his feet and shaking his fist towards Shippo. Kagome sighed, removing her palm from him.

Shit. How did she get past his infinity again?

"Owww! What was that for?" InuYasha rubbed his ear, glaring at Kagome.

"You know," Satoru spoke up, "I think Megumi and I should be on our way to pick up Tsumiki. Is there anything you want us to bring back? You know for dinner, since we are imposing, of course?" He flashed a wide smile, hoping that Megumi would just go with it and that Kagome wouldn't pick up on his desire to tactfully retreat.

"I'm not leaving," Megumi said. "Go by yourself. Shippo and I are gonna write a letter to Santa."

On second thought, perhaps he should just teleport them away from the situation.

"Yeah! I'm gonna ask Santa for a dad," Shippo exclaimed.

"Just a dad? Shouldn't you want a mom too?"

"I got Kagome, silly."

A hush fell over the kitchen. Satoru sat his mug down on the table, noting how Megumi's eyes would dart at him and then away. A foreign feeling overcame him. Did… did Megumi see him as a father figure?

"InuYasha, when did you get here?" Kagome's grandpa asked. "Move out of the way, boy. I need to give this to Gojo-san." The old man walked towards him with a small wooden box in his hands.

It couldn't be. Satoru froze at the distinct cursed energy coming from the box.

"I want this cursed object gone from here. Take it. I know you sorcerers are always looking for these things."

"How did you?" Satoru took the box and opened it up to reveal ten neatly wrapped fingers. They had this many in their possession? He stared at the wrappings on the fingers. It seemed fresh like someone was able to bind the powers… Satoru snapped the box close and looked up at Kagome. "Did you fix the seals on these?"

"Mhm, the evilness from it was giving me a headache. I have to go through some of Gramps' possessions every now and then. There's always some ancient artifact that he shouldn't have, but does."

"You have more possessions like this?"

"Yeah, did you want to see?"

It could be a trap.

They could just be a really, really weird family.

"Show me the way." He glowered at the death look InuYasha sent him while Kagome wasn't looking. They wouldn't try anything until he came back with Tsumiki, he reasoned, so Megumi should be okay hanging out with the fox demon for a little while longer.

Satoru followed Kagome outside of the house, still clutching the wooden box. He hoped his suspicions were wrong and maybe he could convince Kagome to become his personal assistant. For the greater good of humanity… of course.


A/N: I tried dictating parts of this chapter and editing for it was...Phew! I hope everyone is safe and doing okay. Thanks so much for your support! Take care of yourselves and see you guys Saturday.