A/N: Um...it makes perfect sense that Inuyasha has the power to use the contractions that Kagome lacks in his journal and around his brother. Because um...he does, and um...okay, it just has to be that way, so don't whine about continuity errors! He's also too rude to use honorifics for Sess, and too er...attracted to Kagome to use any for her. Feel free to guess on what That Problem is, by the way. Whoever guesses right gets a special mention in the next chapter- but I think it might be harder than I anticipated.

From the journal of Chimamire no Inuyasha

Sesshoumaru, you bastard.

If there's one thing I hate (and believe me, there's more than one), it's pressure. And that bastard older brother of mine has really put it on me now.

Last night I was literally dumped out of my coffin, which really annoyed me. I mean, mortals just don't understand how comfortable a coffin can be, what with the silk lining, and the soft pillow, and...augh, they're just so damn comfy!

So going straight from bliss like that to a stone cold floor was a disgustingly rude awakening.

"What the hell is your problem, Sesshoumaru?" I screamed, stamping my foot on the floor.

He completely ignored me, and instead threw some massive shit at me about how 'ridiculous it was that I had not yet known the death of a mortal', and went on on that thread for at least half a fucking hour.

"Yeah, yeah, you've told me all this before." I said, bored. "Is there any point in telling me again?"

"You are a coward, brother."

I bristled, but clenched my teeth and willed myself not to rise to the challenge. I had to remember at all costs that I was the one who still had some remains of a soul left, something which Sesshoumaru lacked.

I had done a good deal of reading back at the old castle, simply from boredom, and in my readings I had discovered an old tome of vampire lore. This in itself was not very astonishing. There were an obscene amount of 'definitive works' on the subject, taken as gospel truth by many, that were complete garbage.

On the other hand, in every aspect I knew, this one was correct. It was the first volume I had seen that both acknowledged that the making of an ugly vampire was one of the greatest taboos of our kind, and that we could choose to start or stop aging whenever we wished, based on our diet.

I was understandably worried when I read that every time a vampire takes life, the mortal drags a piece of their killer's soul to the grave.

This is why I never kill. Not out of some warped sense of duty to humans, but for my own selfish reasons. I am sure that my older brother has lost his soul already- and I know that I never want to be a bastard like him.

It can get lonely, though. Not just melancholy lonely, but really soul-searingly painful. It's hard to imagine a worse death than being stuck with Sesshoumaru in a tower for the rest of my existence.

So I devoted myself to the disturbingly cliché quest for a bride. Not some idiotic lady with a heaving bosom who can say things at disturbingly high pitches, either, but someone I could seriously relate to. An equal, almost.

And while I was randomly casting my mind around one night, I found her.

Higurashi Kagome.

Perfect in every way- clever, pretty, young, disliking her present existence, and enough like me for me to know things would work out excellently between us.

She was inconveniently placed in Kyoto, but I found a way to get there. Annoyingly enough, the bastard tagged along, but nothing's perfect. Least of all being undead.

It's funny, I don't actually recall being alive. I was so young when I was taken that the memory has completely passed out of my mind. It took me a good deal of time to realize I could stop aging whenever I wanted- as a result, I'm only about fifty years older than I look, which is roughly fifteen.

And, according to my bastard of a brother, none the wiser for it.

It was while I was distracted that Sesshoumaru gave his new threat. I actually had to do a double-take and ask him to repeat what he said.

"I said," Eyebrow madly twitching in the greatest display of emotion he knew how to give- "that if you do not kill a mortal, female or otherwise, by the end of this week, I will lock you up in the old crypt."

If it was possible, then I certainly turned several shades paler than usual.

"What!" I gaped at him. A horrible threat indeed- it not only guaranteed that I would starve, it also meant that I would be separated from my potential wife and age several decades through a combination of starvation and misery.

He slapped me across the face. "Repeating oneself is undignified. You should know that, Inuyasha."

I was irked enough to make a face at his back as he left the room. Immature, but highly satisfying.

So, if I understand it, I have a week (or less) to properly woo Kagome, or I'll never see her again.

Oh, and I have to bring her over to our side.

I have no idea why I feel so guilty all of a sudden. I was going to make my bride a vampire too, wasn't I? But now that I've met her...it just feels wrong somehow.

Maybe she'd be better off without me.

I can't think that! She was miserable before I came, I know that. It stands to reason she'll be miserable after I leave.

But...there's That Problem. I never worried about it much before. A lot of our kind regard it as a blessing, actually. But now I'm starting to wonder if I'll think it's such a small issue when Kagome is one of us. It would affect her a lot more than it would me, after all. And I hear it's very important to females.

Come to think of it, I'm not so sure it wouldn't bother me after a while either. After all, it's a rather expected product of marriage, isn't it?

Well, I won't have to worry at all about That Problem if she doesn't love me. For now it would probably be best if I just concentrated on winning her.

I know she's already attracted to me. I can tell by her scent, as well as the fact that she was talking more to me than anyone else in the room, male or female.

Of course, there's also a few other mannerisms that suggest it, among them the way she kept glancing my way and blushing while she was scribbing in a book that looked suspiciously like a diary. No one else noticed it but what kind of man would I be if I didn't notice the every movement of my intended?

Not that I'm sitting outside her window, watching her get undressed every night. Of course not.

Um...so maybe I am.

That sounded a lot better in my head than it looks on paper. I'm not some kind of pervert! There's nothing wrong with spying on your lover-to-be!

That also sounded better in my head than it looks on paper. A whole lot better. I must be stooping to the level of that Miroku-san person I was hearing so much about in the ballroom. Only, as I hear it, he spies on everyone, whereas I am simply watching Kagome undress, which is a world of difference.

I can stop anytime I want! Except that I don't want.

She has this fascinating way of getting undressed, too. First she

Damn, the bastard is calling me again. Apparently there's some sort of opera we've been invited to by that Kajishi-sama fellow. Kagome had better be there.