Chapter 4: Later

"Please don't break this heart
It's endured so very much
It survived the fall."

-Tyler Knott Gregson

"Okay, everyone make sure to hold your positions and smile! One, two, three..."

Flashes went off below the tree they were sitting in, both Daichi's mom and Kagome's snapping away on their own cameras. They'd attracted a bit of a parent swarm, Kagome not bothering to pay attention to who belonged to which of her friends.

Apparently, Maya had paid a photographer to do these shots, which was just insane.

She wanted to be off this tree and happily eating lunch at her favorite sushi place, damn it.

"Okay guys, just relax, there's something off with the settings on the camera. It's just going to take me a few minutes to fix it."

"Some photographer," Kagome mumbled under her breath, before letting her legs fall on either side of the branch she was sitting on, resting her back against the tree. For whatever reason, Maya wanted her to be on one of the taller branches in the shot, which had been nearly impossible to accomplish in her get up. If it hadn't been for her brother throwing her cap, gown and shoes up to her after she had climbed, and the boost up she got from people on the branch below hers, she would have had to endure Maya's incessant yelling about how she looked underdressed in the pictures. It was only about 15 feet from the ground, but Kagome was 90% sure she'd have to take everything back off to get out of the damn tree.

The other 10% thought she would die from accidentally falling before then.

And then there was her pose. Maya had instructed Kagome to lay on her stomach on the branch, bending her knees on the branch and crossing her ankles as they hovered over her body. She was then to rest her face on the hand that was furthest away from the camera. The pose was supposed to convey Kagome's ease in school, supposedly. In her humble opinion it made her look like she was posing for the cover of 'how to fall out of a tree and die for dummies.' She was going to have scratches all down her legs from this photo, she already knew it, but somehow she was convinced to just go along and was hoping the whole thing would only take a few minutes.

She was so wrong. Just getting everyone up to their places took 20 minutes.

Kagome looked back down toward the crowd, her eyes falling to Daichi's uncle again.

Yes, again. She wasn't ashamed either, because he was staring dead at her, and she wasn't mad about that. He was hot. He was so hot he could set her on fire. Briefly, she wondered if she was actually on fire, and this was the hell she had to endure for not calling home more during college, because he was that hot.

Okay, so he looked just like a grown up, beefy Inuyasha with a man bun (surprisingly, it was nice). Granted, he had black hair, but everything else was just... so spot on. The way he carried himself, like there was chip on his shoulder the size of the moon, a bit of scorn and disinterest laced in his overall demeanor. But most telling were his goldgoldgold eyes that tracked her every movement.

They sent shivers down her spine, and a small part of her wanted to see what they would do if she was closer to him.

A larger part of Kagome wanted to throw a bucket of cold water over herself, because now was not the time.

After meeting Daichi's parents, Kagome had opted to go ahead to the tree, seeing her brother and mom already heading that way to meet her and Maya. She'd had little time to appraise his family, but now that she could, she was shocked, and a bit curious.

Could Daichi really be related to Inuyasha? Could his uncle actually be Inuyasha?

Probably. Because the man standing next to him was a black haired Shesshomaru, and the petite woman next to him looking shockingly like an adult Rin.

Kagome was a damn mess. She knew that, she could tell, but her world was shaking. She couldn't help it. Kagome had to just accept one of three things were happening to her. Either the reincarnations of the aforementioned individuals had found her in this life, she had clinically gone insane, or she was, in fact, staring down three people from her past.

She really hoped it was the last one, because that was one she could deal with. One more scorching look from the would-be Inuyasha and Kagome was set on that. She wanted it to be him.

Before Kagome knew it, the photographer had fixed his settings, and she had to move a few times before they finally got "the right shot."

The photographer was suddenly directing them to get down from the tree, those closest to the ground going first, which Kagome was grateful for. If she fell, and hopefully she wouldn't, she didn't want to take out five people at the same time. Everyone had finally filed down, and Kagome had successfully made her way to the lowest branch, which was unfortuately still a whopping 7 or 8 feet from the ground.

The photographer and Souta had been boosting people up, but in the hustle and bustle of the college grads finding their way back to their parents and seeing the pictures for themselves, Kagome was unfortunately left to figure out how to get down on her own. She'd already removed her shoes, but now she took the opportunity to throw the rather pricey pumps down to the grass, her cap and gown quickly joining them there.

Kagome was too busy trying to figure out just how the hell she was going to do this that she almost fell off of the branch when a voice called up to her.

"Just jump, Kagome. I've got you."

Looking down, Kagome was met with the golden-eyed man haunting her thoughts standing under branch. Okay, she thought, either he caught her and was Inuyasha, or she died.

That seemed like fair odds.

"I'm trusting you not to let me die, you know. I'll haunt you if I do."

A nod was all she needed before she launched herself off the branch, and after a brief moment of 'oh shit' Kagome was trapped in strong arms, staring up at golden eyes. Somewhere she heard her brother call her name, and swore she saw her mother snapping some photos, but none of that was important.

God, he'd all but swallowed her whole with those eyes. How was she supposed to think, to breathe, when looking up at him? She couldn't. She couldn't do anything but hope to anyone who was listening to her silent pleas that he was her Inuyasha.

"My hero," she said, a little breathless, a little high on adrenaline, a little hopeful he would grant her a smirk.

And that he did, sending her insides into knots. In her head, she moaned, wishing for time alone, wishing for conversations full of words and conversations... conversations that weren't any words at all.

She should be ashamed of herself, but all she could be was hopeful.

Reluctantly, he set her down, arms still wrapped around her, under appearances of steadying her, but she could have sworn he breathed in her scent.

"Later?" He asked her, quietly, under his breath, out of ear shot of anyone.

"Later." She answered, before squeezing his arm, and heading towards her family, a backwards glance all she could spare.

Yes. Later.

"A car?"

"A car!"

Daichi and Kagome were on the balcony, drinking. In Kagome's case, heavily. Each of their days had just vanished into lunch and dinner with their families, Kagome's taking a bit of an awkward turn. For Daichi, he'd had to deal with is grandfather sending disapproving glares down to his uncle the entire day, who in turn just kept pretending he didn't see it.

Congrats, grads.

"So, I just need to say this again, just to clarify, because this is unthinkable. Your mother shows up to your graduation dinner with a boyfriend who turns out to be a fiancé, who just gifts you a car like it's no big deal? And no one knew about him?"

"NO! That's what is so strange, because Souta is usually on top of mom's coming and goings, you know? Apparently, she met him while visiting me once, and has been using that as a cover to come see him. But that's not even all of it!" Kagome reached down for one of the stupid cheap bottles of wine she'd picked up on her way over in her car. "Apparently, he ran over my cat a few months ago and they didn't know how to tell me, so that's where the 'Buyo ran away, and I can't find him anywhere' line came from. HE RAN OVER MY CAT, DAICHI!" Daichi groaned, slapping his hand down on his forehead as he reclined on the patio sofa opposite of Kagome. "BUT WAIT," Kagome began a bit angrily, "there's more!"

"How could there possibly be more?"

"They're getting married this month in a civil ceremony." Daichi sat up at that, shock on his face.

"What."

"I know."

"So, what, you move home for the summer to a new dad? That's got to go down as one of the most messed up graduation presents in the history of graduation presents."

"No, apparently she and Souta are supposed to move here. With him."

Daichi could do little else than stare at her. Kagome just filled her glass up and took a huge sip.

"So," Daichi began, "who oversees the shrine, then?"

Kagome sighed, and ran a hand through her hair sloppily.

"My dad had an estranged sister who's apparently been in contact with mom since gramps passed away. I've only met her a few times, but she's nice. She's agreed to taking over the shrine, but she wants me to stay on as a point of reference. Mom called her while we were at dinner so we could talk about it. It's been decided that I would only need to be there for big events and would otherwise just operate over the phone." Daichi looked confused, reaching for his own bottle of wine and refilling his glass, his expression urging Kagome to continue. "I'm the only one who ever listened to gramps about anything, Daichi. I spent most of high school curating the shrine with him, being involved in all the major events. I'm the only one in the family qualified to run the place. Cutting me out would be a mistake."

"And you don't want to run it?"

"No." Kagome said it point blank, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "No, I don't want to run the shrine. I don't want to spend my whole life living in the same place. I love it. I love being there, I love being surrounded by familiarity, but I couldn't spend the rest of my life there. My aunt's kind of letting me decide on my own how I want to do this." A groan punctuated the end of her sentence, frustrated that she was forced to deal with all of this at once.

"So, what are you going to do, Kags?"

There was silence then, the sound of the road below them distant white noise as Kagome contemplated her decision.

"I think I stay on as a point of reference, just so I can stay involved? It just feels weird, all of this wrapped up so neatly, so quickly." Kagome wasn't too sure herself what she was going to do.

"Okay," Daichi began, "but where are you going to live?" Kagome bolted upright at this, forgetting that she hadn't mentioned that crucial detail yet.

"Oh, you're going to love this. Apparently, this guys has loads of cash to throw around and has offered to set me up anywhere I want with an apartment and, in his words, 'all the trimmings.'" People who had money were one thing, people who used that money to try to sway others to their thinking were another. Kagome was rightfully turned off by the prospect of this man, who bought her car without batting an eyelash, suddenly supplying her whole lifestyle.

It was a nice car, though. Kagome tried to pretend she was upset when she'd gotten it, but it was brand new and had all the luxury features, beige leather seats screaming 'sit in me, love me' from the window of the white sedan.

"Isn't that a little much?" Both Kagome and Daichi whipped their heads to the patio door, surprised to see another person there.

"Key still works, kid." Inuyasha waved his hand at them as evidence that he had, in fact, used keys to get into the apartment. Kagome looked at his other hand, which was holding some bags from the corner liquor store, able to recognize a few of the bottles.

She wasn't a drunk, she'd just gone shopping with Daichi once to restock the apartment's drink cart. Or so she continued to tell herself.

"House rule number 7," Kagome began, "all beverages that enter the front door are fair game to any current occupants."

"House rule number 10," Daichi cut in, "whoever incites house rule number 7 is designated drink mixer for the night. Also, you don't live here." Kagome's head whipped back towards Daichi.

"Shut up. When did you last clean this place yourself?" Daichi looked like he was going to retort, but closed his mouth quickly instead, opting on an eye roll in her direction. "Uh, yeah, I thought so."

"There are house rules?"

"On the fridge," Daichi and Kagome spoke together, having gotten used to explaining it to people who would join them for drinks from time to time. Inuyasha turned around then, making his way to the kitchen.

Kagome reached for her wine bottle to refill her glass but was met with emptiness. She stood up, slowly so as not embarrass herself, and gathered her empty bottle and wine glass. Looking over, she saw Daichi swallow the last few sips of his own before standing and motioning her inside.

The swoosh of the patio door behind her indicated what she had already assumed, their private balcony time was capped for a little while, neither of them having anticipated Inuyasha being here.

"House rule number four," his voice rang out from the kitchen, "if you throw up after a night of drinking, you're the DD next time." His head whipped towards them as he finished it, Kagome already in the kitchen unloading his shopping and pulling some stuff out of the fridge. "You two clearly lead exciting lives. When did you write these?"

"Moscow mules okay with everyone? Great." Kagome didn't even wait for a response, just going ahead and starting the process of mixing the drinks.

"Is this punishment, Kagome? You know I hate ginger beer." Daichi was pulling out some take out menus then, deciding they needed some actual snacks for the evening.

"Oh, well, more for me." Kagome shrugged and then looked at Inuyasha, glad to have the alcohol haze to temper her emotions in that moment. She hadn't had time to deal with the realization that he was really Inuyasha, too caught up in the much pressing matter of what the fuck did my mom do. "We wrote those right after we had other people hang out with us for the first time. They brought my favorite wine and wouldn't share." Kagome rolled her eyes at that. "My favorite wine, could you imagine? And then this friend of a friend apparently threw up in one of the reusable shopping bags and just left it! Jerks. Anyway, are you okay with a moscow mules?"

"WHAT?" The exclamation was punctuated by Daichi slamming some take out menus on the counter. "You never take into account what I want to drink! You even added house rules amendment number one, when house rule number 10 is in effect, drinks will be dealer's choice!"

"Jealous, Daichi?" Kagome came around then to poke him in the chest. "He didn't incite house rule number 10 on me, and he also is responsible for the very nice vodka that just graced this apartment. For that outburst, all drinks I make for you tonight will be extra mixer and less booze." Kagome stuck her tongue out childishly at Daichi, who in turn picked his takeout menus back up grumpily. "I win the 'Who's Day Was Worst' contest in this room. Be nice to me."

"Mules are fine, Kagome. Here," Inuyasha moved around Daichi to stand next to Kagome, rolling up the sleeves of his button-down shirt, "I'll help."

Kagome hoped it wasn't obvious that she had watched him roll up his sleeves. It was that patented wrist turn, forearm flex, quick unbutton and then a few inches of skin later, Kagome was wondering how such an act could be attractive and why every novel that spoke about said move had to be right.

Promptly, she turned around and took the shot a of vodka she'd poured to make a mule.

"You okay there, champ?" Daichi had peeked over his menus, having heard the tell-tale slam of the shot glass on the counter.

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take, Daichi, I've got to stay in the game." Utter bullshit, but it was better than saying 'no, I'm not and I'd rather be drunk, thank you.' Kagome had opened the cabinet above her head to grab the copper mule mugs, standing on her tip toes to reach them, but was stopped by Inuyasha who easily plucked them without moving any extra, his eyebrow closest to her raised in silent question.

The question was clearly 'what the fuck.' Maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was 'are you okay,' or perhaps a 'should you take any more shots tonight.' It could have easily been a 'wanna get out of here,' but Kagome couldn't tell because she was tipsy and didn't have the time to make conversation with his eyebrows.

"Yeah, Kags, that's great and all but it doesn't really apply here." Kagome, needing to stay busy, turned around to grab some club soda out of the fridge to make Daichi a vodka soda with lime. Kagome was nothing if not nice, even when her best friend was a jerk to her. She leaned the small distance over to him, and then winked.

"Doesn't it, though?" Daichi seemed to ponder that for a second and then looked back down at the menu.

"If you were an alcoholic, yes. Stop being hyper, and just tell me what you want to snack on."

A loud noise suddenly cut through the apartment, and subsequently all the tension. Kagome's phone was buzzing rapidly on the bar, the tell-tale ringtone associated with her mother. Groaning, she set the club soda on the counter, debating if she should answer it or not.

She decided not. Instead she went and leaned over it, willing it to stop buzzing and to not start again. And to her relief, it did, for only a moment, before lighting back up again, this time displaying her little brother's name. Worried something was wrong, she immediately picked up the phone, settling into a bar stool.

"Souta? Everything okay?"

"Kagome, honey, it's mom. Everything's fine, I just needed to talk to you." No respect for sibling bonds, honestly.

"Mom, if this is about Kyo, I'd rather not." Kagome dropped her forehead into her free hand, closing her eyes against the rising anger in her head.

"Sweetie, no, it's about Buyo. Kyo feels really bad and says he knows someone who breeds dogs-"

"Mom, please don't. I don't need a new puppy to make up for my cat." She wanted her cat back, but that was neither here nor there, just like Buyo.

God, she could not keep up with her emotions tonight. This really was a new low.

"He's just trying to do the right thing, Kagome. Maybe you should let him do that for you." And let him win? Fat chance.

"No. I'm really good. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Actually sweetheart, about that." Kagome wanted to hit her head against the counter, knowing already what was coming. "I know you were super excited about the tours you set up, but Kyo just surprised me with a two week trip to Fiji for all four of us! Isn't that exciting? Why don't you come back to his place and we can pack together?" Okay, so maybe she wasn't expecting that.

"I don't think that's a good idea...who's going to be looking after the shrine all of that time?"

"Your Aunt Hana should be there now, and she's agreed to stay through the two weeks. It's fine, sweetheart, really." Inuyasha handing her a newly completed drink caused her to look up at him, finding sympathy in his expression.

"Just tell her no," he softly spoke to her, "if you really don't want to go. You can do that." Kagome nodded, agreeing. She didn't want to go, she didn't want to pretend like this was just okay. He and Daichi moved out of the room and onto the balcony, deciding on snacks for her and starting to order from Daichi's cell phone. They were sweet to give her space.

But, how did Inuyasha just show up and become a part of things seamlessly? Kagome vaguely remembered Daichi mentioning he was really close with his uncle before, but she didn't think it was like this. It would take some getting used to, but clearly it wouldn't be all that weird.

Well, minus Kagome and Inuyasha's dynamic because she was literally all over the place the minute he walked in the door, and she knew Daichi could tell she was off.

Shaking herself back into the present, Kagome resolutely answered her mother.

"Mom, I don't think so. You guys go ahead. I'll be fine." Something in her voice must have made her mother realize she was serious, because the conversation quickly turned to what Kagome would do while they were gone. After a few minutes debating about her staying at Kyo's, Kagome finally put her foot down.

"I'll just stay at the shrine with Aunt Hana, mom, it's really not a big deal. I'll head there tomorrow."

"Okay, sweetie, but if you change your mind, Kyo's put one of his credit cards and a house key in your suitcase, and I'm sending you his cellphone number. He says use it for anything you need, baby. I love you, Kagome."

"I love you too, mom. Have fun, okay? I'll see you tomorrow before you leave."

Kagome dropped her head down on the counter when the call ended, willing herself to get back to the bubbly state she'd been in moments ago. Remembering she had a new drink, she lifted her head to take a sip and immediately moaned.

"Of course he makes perfect drinks," Kagomed murmured.

"Well, he's had lots of practice." Kagome nearly jumped out of her skin, not realizing Inuyasha was back in the room with her. She looked at him accusingly.

"When did you come back in?" Inuyasha shrugged, leaning against the counter on the opposite side of the kitchen.

"A minute ago, maybe? Kira called him." Ah, so that was why he'd moved inside.

Kira and Daichi had been talking on the phone more, for a reason Kagome had not foreseen. Kira had landed a spot as an intern at the same company as Daichi, just under a different department, which Daichi was using as an excuse to avoid telling her how he felt. Instead, they spent a lot of time talking on the phone, usually catching up or making plans for what they would do once they met up in Beijing. It was sickening and disgusting and went on for hours if they didn't get into a fight about something childish. And when any of the aforementioned things weren't taking place, Daichi was acting like an absolute fool, pacing around, trying to make more conversation out of thin air.

"Don't blame you for leaving then," Kagome murmured as she laid her head down on the counter, enjoying the cool of it against her face. What a fucking day.

"Kagome?" She looked up at the call of her name, surprised to see Inuyasha looking at her with understanding. "This probably isn't the best time to bring it up..." He trailed off, giving her a chance to decide where the conversation went. She put her head back down on the counter, speaking into her arms when she answered him. She heard the soft patter of his feet moving towards her as she formed her decision.

"It's the worst actually, so if we could just, you know, not for a while, that'd be really great." When had she started hiding pain under gruffness like he used to, she wondered? She felt his hand come down on her head gently, consolingly, before combing through her hair soothingly.

"Whenever you're ready, I'm here. There's just two things we actually need to discuss while we have the chance." Despite his appearance not having any claws, Kagome felt them gently running along her scalp, causing little shivers to run down her spine, soothing yet exciting. What a problem, she mused, to both be enticed into sleep and jolted awake at the same time. She felt him shift closer to her, moving to sit at the stool next to hers, intimately enclosing her in his space.

She'd be lying if she said it wasn't comforting.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't attracted to him, without regard to his identity.

He was driving her insane. She just wanted to be able to be in the same room as him without wanting to run and hide and also jump into his arms.

"Kagome," she peeked one eye out of her arms at him, noticing his voice had dropped to a hushed level, realizing this was probably important. "Daichi doesn't really know anything about this, which is a conversation for another time. I know it might be hard to do, but I need you to only call me Yash for now." Kagome propped her head up on one hand, elbow resting against the counter, eyes level with his. Ignoring the stab of pain that Inuyasha hadn't told Daichi about her in favor of ignoring the larger problem altogether, Kagome steered right into another conversation.

She was also choosing to ignore that she hadn't told Daichi about Inuyasha either. The two were more alike than they were dissimilar, to her astonishment.

"You don't go by Inuyasha anymore?" She knew it was a dumb question, but she was desperate to make it through this conversation without crying and it was the safest question that she could think of.

Realizing she'd already finished the drink he'd made her, she blindly reached for the bottle of vodka and the shot glass she'd used for measuring on the other side of the bar. Only, she couldn't reach it and he'd easily grabbed both of items she desired, moving his hand from her hair only temporarily to do so. A part of her was satisfied that he didn't stop her from drinking, instead he'd settled for pouring the shots for her with his free hand. The hand that had previously occupied her hair had moved down to rub soothing circles on her knees and lower thighs, as she took her first drink. Soothing, distracting, dizzying circles. Kagome shut her eyes against it, willing her body to shut down the bad decision factory for the day. But alcohol was the fuel of that workshop, and she couldn't stop her body from acting like it was. She also couldn't stop drinking, because then she would start feeling. And what she would be feeling was confused and distracted, unsure if she wanted to bust out crying or go out to flirt with strangers. Basically, she was shit at handling her issues, and today was just inundated with things to process that might best be processed after a night of bad decisions.

But she couldn't have a night of bad, drunken decisions with Inuyasha.

"Yashiro," was his simple response after he'd given her time to drink. "No one knows me by Inuyasha anymore, and it'd be a giveaway that something's up." His hand moving from her lap to gently cup her face towards him, forcing her to open her chocolate orbs once more to make eye contact. "Kagome," he whispered, running his hand down her face and arm, her eyes fluttering shut from the contact, "I know this has been a lot today. Daichi filled me in about your mom." He paused clearly choosing his next words carefully. "I can't pretend to know you, I can't pretend to be this person who can sweep in and make it all better, but I'm here. I'm not who you used to know, but I'm here, and I still care."

Kagome felt the tears stinging at the corner of her eyes, pain twisting in her stomach. Of course, he was right, he could be Inuyasha all day long, she could be Kagome forever, but it didn't change the fact that everything was different now, including them. And that hurt. It hurt more than she thought it would or should. For so long she had mourned the loss of his friendship, of all her friends in the feudal era, heart aching because she never got the chance to really experience that first love. As soon as they were ready to acknowledge it, fate tore them apart. Now, she was having to mourn for something else, the loss of what could have been, the loss of what she'd hoped for the moment she saw him, childishly and blindly.

Reality, Kagome decided, fucking sucked. A staggering sigh made it's way out of her before she could stop it, a tear falling freely down her cheek.

In a flash, Kagome's stool had been tightly pulled against Inuyasha's and her head cradled safely against his chest. One of his arms had wrapped around her lower back to press her against him, the other resumed calming brushes through her hair.

"I'm sorry," was all he managed after that, realizing his words had been what had pushed her over the edge.

"It isn't your fault we had to grow up, Yash," she whispered against his chest, letting her eyes close against the tears, clutching onto his shirt like it was a lifeline.

They stayed like that for a few moments, until Kagome was able to stop the flow of tears, taking in a steadying breath against his collarbone, grateful Daichi was wrapped up in his superficial conversation with Kira so they had this time.

"You said you had two things to talk about?" Kagome pushed back against his chest then, gaining some space between them. He smirked, the arm that was around her back loosening to rest on the counter, the one that had been running through her hair coming to carefully wipe away some of her tears.

"Yeah, actually," he began, a hint of mischief in his eyes. "Just how long have you been living in my apartment?" Kagome took the bait, took the branch he was offering her, jumped right off the sinking ship onto the life raft.

"Your apartment? Daichi said it was his! If I had known, I'd have kicked him out of the master months ago, the little twerp." Inuyasha laughed in earnest, glad to be able to direct her attention away from her horrible day.

A knock on the door clearly signifying the arrival of their food effectively shifted the conversation, further forcing Kagome to redirect herself and her emotions.

She needed another drink.

A/N: This was previously posted as two separate parts, 'Chapter 4: Later' and 'Chapter 5:Everything and Nothing,' but I realized my word counts between all of my chapters were sporadic and it bothered me. The content is still the same, though it has been edited as of 3/4/2018 for grammatical errors and clarity where needed.

Formatting issues resolved 3/21/2018, slight edit to Kagome jumping out of the tree to make it more realistic. If there are any concerns, I can share the original with you over PM.