Part II - Kagome

Kagome sits up in bed and yawns widely. Long being second nature to do so as soon as she wakes up, Kagome looks for the gleaming mass of hair tossed messily over the arm of her couch. She can see his face from here, features soft and relaxed in the muted light streaming in from behind the curtains. Inuyasha always looks so peaceful and childlike when he's asleep. In her mind's eye, she can still see the resemblance to his chubby kid face, when she would find him asleep beside her bed, having snuck in through the window in the middle of the night. It became such a frequent occurrence that mama had just given up and gotten him his own futon.

Getting up carefully, Kagome pads over towards the couch. His cute puppy ears flick around to greet her but the hanyou remains sound asleep. Having had almost sixteen years of practice waking up near him, she could definitely manage not to alert his youkai senses. Smiling, Kagome bends down and carefully hooks an errant silver lock away from his face. Maybe it was the lack of human ears to keep the hair in place, but he always manages to sleep in such disarray; it was a wonder his hair wasn't more tangled than it is.

After they moved out for college, Inuyasha basically insisted on crashing at her place more often than not. Hell, she has a whole drawer of his clothes, including underwear, and his toothbrush at the sink. When he buys bulk ramen, it's to stock her shelves! It's not a wonder why people ask all the time if they live together. If Kagome didn't know better, she might believe he does it on purpose, to keep the boys away. She isn't an idiot. She knows the reason for her being single basically all her life, is the fact that a six-foot-something inu-hanyou hovers around her and intimidates any of the opposites sex that might show even a smidge of interest.

But Kagome doesn't mind. Honestly, she would trade any of that attention if it means she gets to spend all her time with Inuyasha. For all four years of their undergrad, that was exactly what they did. It was convenient that they had the same close friends, Sango and Miroku, too. But since Inuyasha graduated, and she decided to keep pursing her masters, they'd seen each other considerably less.

Inuyasha shifts around and lets out a short growl at something in his dreams. Then flopping over a different throw pillow, he continues to sleep, mouth gaping open, his fangs on full display. Kagome stifles a giggle on the back of her hand.

The earliest clear memory she had of their friendship was the first time she'd invited him over to her house. He was so excited to discover her 'I Spy' book collection. Kagome could just remember him sprawled on her bedroom floor, silver hair pooling across one of the big books. And when she entered the room with snacks, he looked up and flashed her the biggest grin she'd seen while showing her the hammer hidden against the top ledge of a bookshelf in the photo. It was seeing how his little fangs then, peeking out from under his lip that she realized why he was always so grumpy in school. It was because he didn't want people to see them and draw more negative attention to himself.

Kagome had burst into tears at that point, freaking out poor little Inuyasha. It was a good time. They'd been best friends since. Inuyasha's a foster kid and while his guardian was diligent, they weren't particularly affectionate. Mama Higurashi basically adopted him into the family from the get go. It wasn't till halfway through high school, when the scrawny half-demon suddenly shot up a few feet and filled out into the drool worthy morsel he is now, did Kagome figure out that what she felt for Inuyasha, went far beyond friendship.

She did a fine job of ignoring it until now. 'Seize the day', 'be thankful for what you have' and all that bullshit.

Mind rapidly switching back to yesterday night, Kagome's mood noticeably sours. What even possessed her to blurt that out to him? Sure, Hojo, the new Japanese grad student has been clearly showing interest in her lately, but it isn't really a thing. She's flattered by the attention of course, and truthfully, a little lonely now that Inuyasha's always working, but that was all. But then again, if she didn't say anything and showed up with the boy, Inuyasha would've flipped.

He didn't really react though. Well, if you count that constipated looking face he made a reaction, then maybe. He certainly didn't go all angry, possessive guard dog on her. Which actually was kinda shitty to be honest. A itty, bitty part of her had really hoped that Inuyasha would get jealous, which could maybe mean he was a little bit interested?

Hard nope. His reaction was 'neutral' to say the least. Now that he knows she's dating, would it tip this precarious balance they had? Surely a potential boyfriend would be ok with your best guy friend sleeping over at least three times a week, right? Right?!

Kagome sighs loudly.

"'Gome?" Inuyasha mutters, eyelids slowly peeling open to reveal umber irises. They were always a darker shade when he just wakes up.

"Yeah. Morning." She smiles at his sleepy face, inwardly psyching herself back up to what can be considered a normal 'Kagome'.

"Mornin'." He yawns widely, the tip of his tongue curling up. "You make coffee yet?"

Kagome rolls her eyes at him, but couldn't help the corner of her mouth from twitching up. "Nope. But I'm about to, master."

"Damn right."

–-–-–-–-–

Sango has have tried to convince her multiple times that Inuyasha feels more than friendship with her. And well, tonight, Kagome can maybe believe that a little.

She would've preferred if it didn't make her heart feel like a beaten-up teddy bear though.

Arriving early at the gallery with Hojo, Kagome couldn't do anything but look around anxiously for Inuyasha. Thankfully, Hojo is rather oblivious and can sustain a conversation on her carefully punctuated 'Mm-hmm's'. Then she spotted him in a corner, lurking behind one of Sango's bigger sculptures. He's wearing the charcoal grey t-shirt and dark jeans she picked out for him last Christmas. He didn't believe in formal clothes and those were the nicest things she could get him to wear. Right now though, Inuyasha looks downright miserable. Sure, he probably thinks he's hiding it super well, but she hasn't been his best friend since ever for nothing. His puppy ears are pulled so low, they practically blend into his hair. He hasn't looked this dejected since they were in elementary school.

Kagome rushes forward abruptly, dragging her date along by their entwined arms.

"Hey! Inuyasha! Over here!"

His golden eyes snaps up, takes in the two of them and curses.

"Kagome." He grunts when they get closer, dipping his head stiffly in greeting.

"Hi! Have you been here long?" She gushes, her nerves making her ramble per usual. "Oh this is Inuyasha, my best friend, and this is Hojo, the exchange grad student Professor Kaede's taking on for this term."

If it was even possible, his ears droop further. Oh fuck, this was all a huge mistake on her part.

"Hello, it's very nice to meet you." Hojo says in only slightly accented English, extending his hand out to shake Inuyasha's.

The hanyou mutters something that sounded like a hi. His eyes meet hers, and proceeds to makes his mouth stretch upwards in that cringey way again.

Kagome winces, wanting to say 'fuck it all', jump on Inuyasha and hug the shit out of him, to make that horrible look in his eyes go away.

But alas, they were in public.

"Uh, Inuyasha, are you liking Sango's collection."

"Yeah." He shuffles away from her and waves the half-full cup of beverage in his hand awkwardly "I–uh-I'm going for more, uh, crackers."

Before she could reply he turns and weaves through the crowd with inhuman speed–cursed youkai abilities!–and Kagome loses track of him. Then the host starts speaking, introducing Sango. By the time Sango finishes her introductory speech for her newest collection in the gallery, Kagome has lost all hope in finding Inuyasha.

She would bet half her stipend that he already bailed.

"Ummm… Hojo, I just remembered I forgot to feed my cat!" Kagome turns to her date, bowing repeatedly at a speed to give herself whiplash. "I gotta go!"

"W-wait! Higurashi! What about the rest of the show?"

"I'm so sorry! But Buyo's really fragile you know? I can't let him starve." She is already halfway down the hall, still bowing. Really, she should get some sort of award for executing this flawlessly in heels. "I'll see you on Monday, yeah?"

"Um, well, ok." He waves back at her in mild confusion. "Don't forget to take those blue-green algae supplements I got for you. Good for your brain!"

"Yup, yup! I sure will!"

Escaping out into the cool night air, Kagome whips out the pair of flats tucked in her bag. She isn't used to wearing heels, so thank goodness she thought to bring them.

Now with plus-ten agility, Kagome starts sprinting across campus back to her apartment, in a rush to kickstart what will likely be one of the best nights of her life. First though, she has to change. Then she's gotta hunt down a certain inu-hanyou and make him cough up a confession.

Kagome can feel herself grinning foolishly now.

And then she's got some chicken wings to eat.

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A/N: Welp, I couldn't help myself. I love these two idiots. Written for Inuvember Day 21 'Free Pairing', which in my mind = OTP InuKag.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. However this plot, the exact sequence of words and any original characters described therein, I reserve all rights to.