Prompt: "Whoever loses this match has to do the dishes"

"'kay, last round guys!" Koga shouted, and Kagome let out a long, relieved sigh. That was probably a very dramatic reaction, but she wanted out of this situation, out of this place, and in fact, she never wanted to enter a bowling alley ever again. She never even wanted to have to look at a bowling alley.

She had thought that her experience with archery would be of help, somehow, but she had learned quickly that she had been sorely mistaken. Her experience with most sports in high school should have been a warning, but she'd just had to ignore it and agree on this night out, right? Ugh. She wanted to punch herself in the face.

It didn't help that the night hadn't exactly gone as she wanted. She had been really, really happy when Miroku had offered her and Sango to tag along with him and Inuyasha. Sango had been less than enthused, but had agreed to support her friend, who she knew cared a lot about the half-demon.

She had agreed mostly because she suspected the guy wasn't over his ex and she wanted to be there to break some of his bones in case he hurt Kagome.

When they had gotten there, it had turned out Koga, Ginta and Hakkaku were there as well, which would have been fine, since they were hilarious, if Koga hadn't spent the night flirting with Kagome, ruining her chances to get closer to Inuyasha. The half-demon, who probably wasn't quite over his ex but still definitely liked Kagome, had and spent most of his time growling from the side, not returning any of the glances the girl was throwing him.

So Sango had decided to drink. She was not here for this mess.

Despite being pretty intensely wasted, she somehow managed to get strike after strike, much to Kagome's discontent. She was the only one who hadn't gotten anything to drink and she had hit maybe three pins since they had started playing.

She had, however, managed to fend off Koga's attempt at 'showing her', and that had to count for something.

If Inuyasha tried, it would be a whole other story, but he hadn't.

"Let's rise the stakes a little," Koga added with a wolfish grin, and Kagome froze. "Whoever loses this match has to do the dishes of whoever wins for the next week."

Kagome let out a plaintive shriek. She was clearly the weakest here. Alcohol didn't seem to impact the demons' ability to score. Miroku would have been her only hope, but even he was better than her.

"Wait," she protested, "what if there's a tie?"

"Let's do it by flatmates," Koga added with a shrug, clearly unperturbed. "You're with Sango, I'm with Ginta and Hakkaku, the dog's with the monk."

Inuyasha growled, but didn't object.

"But there's three of you! That's not fair!"

"'kay, so… Just Hakkaku then, if that's fine with you, man?"

Hakkaku beamed at Koga's proposition, but Ginta frowned. Koga either didn't notice it or didn't care before he turned back towards Kagome, beaming.

"Good with you, Kags?"

She would have said no, but Miroku and Sango were yelling about how they were going to crush him behind her, and she didn't want to spoil the fun.

"Two days," she negotiated.

"Four."

She sighed. Fine. She gave up. She would do Koga's dishes for four days — because yeah, there was no way Sango would do it. She would just glare at her, and be ready to come over with a baseball bat if some kneecaps needed to be burst, but she'd let her deal with it.

"Four it is."

Without any hesitation, Koga walked to grab a ball, threw it perfectly, and, of course, scored a strike. He turned back to grin widely at Kagome, who looked like she was about to mount the scaffold. Ginta threw a ball and scored a strike as well, but he still wasn't looking happy about Koga picking Hakkaku.

So when came Hakkaku's turn, he tackled him. Koga swore loudly, but the ball had fallen in the gutter, and he watched it disappear.

When Hakkaku shot again, Koga was holding Ginta firmly. They could do with a spare, he decided. Kagome would be lucky if she took down one pin, and Miroku rarely got them all.

They were good. It was going to be fine.

Sango got up and easily scored a strike. When Miroku offered to give her a kiss as a reward, she said that if he tried, she would crush his skull open with a ball.

Kagome grabbed a ball. This would be fine, she told herself. She'd do Koga's dishes for four days, and it would be a pain in the ass, but she knew Koga could take no for an answer. It would just be… annoying.

"Hey, let me show ya."

Kagome immediately stopped and looked over her shoulder, vaguely wondering if she was hearing things, but no, that had happened. Inuyasha had gotten out of his seat and was walking towards her, and damn, what a sight he was. Hands in his pockets, broad shoulders nicely defined by the red shirt he was wearing, hair flowing behind him. Hmm, nice… Koga watched the scene in disbelief. Wait, why wasn't she sending him away as well?

"You don't get to throw for her, man," he shouted, and Inuyasha ignored him.

"You don't mind?" he asked her instead, and Kagome wordlessly shook her head.

Kagome genuinely had trouble breathing when Inuyasha got behind her. He didn't speak, and she swore she heard him swallow with some difficulty. He rested a hand on her hip, barely touching her, and yet the contact was enough to send a wave of heat throughout her entire body. His other hand ran down her arm, and the feeling of his claws against her skin made her shiver. Finally, he put his large hand on top of hers.

"You got this," he whispered in her ear. He guided her movement precisely, and Kagome focused on the muscles that were moving, on the way he was tilting her wrist, and not on his warm breath on her neck, nor on his hard chest pressed against her back. "Just relax, 'kay?"

His warmth left her as he stepped back, and she managed to keep herself from protesting.

Okay. She was doing this. Not letting herself time to think, she ran, threw and…

Wait.

No.

She refused to believe it. She had fallen and hit her head on the floor and now she was hallucinating. There was no way that had happened.

And then, Sango screamed and clapped, and it registered.

It was a strike.

She slowly turned around in utter disbelief, and even Koga was clapping, though he didn't look that happy, and Inuyasha had the proudest grin on his face.

"I did it?" she half-exclaimed, half-asked.

"I knew you could," he said, surprisingly softly. "Well done."

She smiled, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear, and it was like there was only the two of them in the world, until Koga sighed loudly, breaking the moment. So was anyone going to tell him that Kagome and the other guy were into each other or was he supposed to find out by watching them be two clueless idiots?

After that, Miroku scored another miraculous strike, but that didn't make Koga feel better. Instead, he watched as Inuyasha walked and picked a ball. Right before throwing it, he gave Koga a toothy grin, and the wolf-demon glared at him in response. No. No way. He wouldn't dare. He relaxed briefly when Inuyasha threw what appeared to be a perfect ball, and swore loudly when, at the last second, somefuckinghow, it curved to get into the gutter.

The half-demon didn't even pretend for the next one. He basically let it fall, and, of course, didn't make any points out of that one.

"Whoops. Looks like I'm the one who'll be on dishes duty…"

"I'll join you," Miroku slurred.

"Please don't," Sango replied on the same tone, seemingly forgetting that she was currently half-laying on top of him.

Inuyasha shot a vaguely worried look at Koga, but the wolf-demon simply shrugged. He hadn't missed the bright smile Kagome had tried, and failed, to hide when Inuyasha had lost, so clearly on purpose. What a fucking asshole.

"Well played, man."

He wasn't gonna lie, he liked the girl. But he'd get over it.

"Sooo, do I get to decide how I use my four days?" Kagome asked, probably a little too happily.

"No way. I decide."

"What? But that's not fair."

"Haven't you heard? The world's unfair."

She pouted at his response, and Inuyasha decided she was fucking adorable when she did that. Plus, truth be told, if the world had put her in his life, maybe it wasn't as unfair as he'd always believed.

Hey! First chapter of a story that will have six. Nothing much, just some College AU fluff that I hope you'll enjoy! I should be posting a new chapter every two days, starting tomorrow, so the last one will fall on the White Day, for the Inuyasha event. Don't hesitate to leave a review, and I hope we'll have fun during the next week and a half!

Dya.