Disclaimer: How many times do I have to say this to you people? I DO NOT own Inuyasha! Rumiko Takahashi does. I'm just bending the characters to my will and whim and having my own evil fun. They are my playthings for the time being. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Rating: M, R, NC-17, yada yada yada, etc.

Warnings: Rating, language, violence, sexual themes, explicit dancing, drinking, lemons, lime-y content, marshmallow fluffiness, and of course the ooc-ness on many characters.

Pairings: future Sess/Kag, Inu/Kik, mentioned of past Kik/Kag, Mir/San, and possible Shi/Rin.

Reviews: LynGreenTea- Thank you again for the review!

Lilaznbabe- I know, I'm actually really sorry that I had to make Kouga the bad guy in this. I really do love Kouga. Honestly. And as for Kikyou, I think I'm trying to make her nicer in my mind. My fiance doesn't understand how I can hate her so much, so I'm tricking myself.

Scorpion's Lady- I hated to write that scene. But it had to be done to go with the story. As for the moment with Rin and Sess, I couldn't help but have that in there. Just a little wishful thinking on my part with the whole father/daughter thing.

Iluvbryce- Thank you for the review.

Chapter 5

Confrontations

-ding...ding...ding...-

Kouga awoke slowly to the chiming grandfather clock next to him. He tried standing, only to be hit by a wave of dizziness. He rubbed the back of his head, feeling a large lump that was barely hidden by his long hair. He made his way to the couch, and carefully rose, leaning heavily on the arm.

He tried to remember what had happened to him last night. "Fuck..." he mumbled as it all came flooding back to him. Him yelling at Kagome, hitting her, and she fighting back. He plopped down on the couch, certain that he had finally screwed everything up.

He sat there for several minutes, then stood and walked to the bedroom. Looking around, he could see that Kagome had packed a few things. Knowing where she would have gone, he grew angry and growled loudly. He grabbed his keys from the dresser and ran out the door to his car. After starting the car, he broke nearly every speed limit on the way to the hanyou's house.

Kagome opened her eyes slowly, wishing she could keep reality back for a little while longer. She laid in bed for a few moments before sitting up and looking around the very familiar guest room. Sighing heavily, she walked down to the living room and grabbed her bag.

Once back in the room she had been designated, she took a long, hot shower and put on clean clothes. After she once again resembled a normal human being, she walked down to the kitchen. She smiled to see that Inuyasha and Kikyou were already awake and drinking coffee.

"Good morning, Kagome-chan," Kikyou greeted politely. "Did you sleep well?"

Kagome nodded her head. "I don't think it could be called sleeping, though," she replied roughly. "Most sleep is supposed to be enjoyable and wanted. What I had is known as unconsciousness." She poured herself a cup of the strong liquid and looked at Kikyou apologetically. "Forgive me. I'm just not myself right now, I guess."

"Kags, ya don't need to worry about it," Inuyasha piped. "After last night, it's only gonna be expected." He took a drink of his coffee. "Kikyou and I have decided that you're gonna stay with us for a while. I'm takin' ya to your place later and we're gonna get more of your things." He smiled when she nodded her head in agreement. "I'm also gonna talk to Hiten and Manten about keepin' that mangy wolf outta the club."

"That's a good idea. Thank you, Yash."

"You don't have to say thanks. And in case he wants to push himself through, I think we should tell the others that we don't want him there. They don't hafta know why, they should just know that you don't want him in the building."

Kagome nodded her head again.

The doorbell chose that minute to chime, causing Kagome to jump slightly. The couple looked to each other confusedly. "Who in the Hell could that be?" Inuyasha asked out loud. "Everyone knows that we don't want people over till after noon."

Kikyou shrugged her shoulders and walked away to answer the door. She looked through the peephole and winced. "Inuyasha! It's Kouga!" she yelled out.

Inuyasha was at the door in a matter of seconds. "Go back by Kagome and don't let her over here." He opened the door just as Kikyou made it to the kitchen. "What the fuck do you want wolf?"

Kouga just glared at him. "I want to speak with Kagome," he stated simply. "I know she's here. She wouldn't have gone anywhere else, her car's here, and I can smell her. So don't you fucking bother telling she's not here."

Inuyasha stepped out onto the porch and closed the door behind him. "Kagome doesn't want anything to do with you right now. So just leave before I beat your sorry ass."

Kouga stepped forward so that he was right up in Inuyasha's face. "Like you could ever beat me, mutt face."

"After what you did to Kagome, I'll do more than beat your ass. I'll fucking kill you and feed you to the damned birds!" He stepped back to the door. "Get out of here. I know for a fact that Kagome wouldn't like it very much if I killed you before she had a chance." Turning his back on Kouga, he walked back into the house and locked the door behind him.

When he reached the kitchen, he found Kikyou holding a crying Kagome tightly. "Shhh...It's gonna be ok, Kagome," she said softly.

Inuyasha walked to Kagome, wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on the top of her head. "Don't cry, Kags," he whispered. "You know I can't stand it when you cry." He rubbed small circles over her back. He pulled back slightly when she managed a shaky breath. "Better for now?"

She nodded her head and sniffled. "Thank you. Both of you," she said between breaths.

Kikyou grabbed her cousin's hands and smiled at her. "I know what to do to make you feel a little better," she voiced happily. "Let's call Sango, and go to the mall before you have to be at the club. While we're gone, Inuyasha and Miroku can stop at the apartment and pick up your things. How does that sound?" She looked up at Inuyasha and smiled to see him nod his head once.

Kagome in turn nodded her head and managed a small smile. "I don't see why not. It's better than moping around here for hours."

"Great! I'll call Sango, Inuyasha, you call Miroku. Kagome, you head up to your room and get yourself dressed." Kikyou grabbed her cell phone and quickly dialed Sango's number, knowing full well that the young woman would still be asleep, and upset by the wake-up call.

Sango yawned tiredly and turned over in bed, oblivious to the body next to hers. Suddenly, her eyes popped open at the sound of the annoying ring tone coming from her cell phone. She reached out blindly, mentally cursed whoever would dare call her before she'd had her shower, and answered her phone groggily.

"You had better have a fucking good reason for calling me so damed early on a Saturday," she ground out.

"Good to hear you, too, Sango-chan," Kikyou piped. "Get up, kick Miroku into the shower with you, and get dressed. Kags and I are coming to pick you up for shopping, and Yash is picking Miroku up to get some of Kagome's things."

Sango yawned again and rubbed her eyes. "Why are they picking up Kagome's things?"

"I'll let Kagome tell you if she wants to. Just make sure that you and that man with you in your bed are ready to go in about half an hour."

"We will be don't...Wait..What? How in the Hell did you know that Miroku was here?"

"I didn't. You just told me!"

Sango groaned then hung up the phone. She turned to Miroku and nudged him several times. "Come on, time to take a shower."

Miroku just mumbled something incoherently, earning himself a slap on the ass. "Mmm...Do that again, baby," he mumbled.

Sango pushed him out of the bed in response. "Get up now or I won't join you in the shower."

He immediately jumped up and tossed her over his shoulder, carrying her to the bathroom. He adjusted the temperature and carefully set her in before climbing in himself. "That was incentive enough for me," he grinned. He grabbed the soap and lathered it over Sango's back.

"Damn you, Miroku! You didn't give me a chance to fight back!"

"You'll just have to be faster, then. Maybe you should wake up earlier." He brought the soap around and slowly began washing her breasts and stomach. His smile widened when a soft moan escaped her lips. His hands inched their way down toward his goal.

She quickly grabbed his hands and stopped him. "We don't have time for this." She snatched the soap from him and washed his body before grabbing the shampoo. She poured out a small amount and set to work washing her own hair.

"Sango! I wanted to do that for you!" He took the shampoo and proceeded to wash his own hair.

"Houshi, if you had done this for me, we'd be in the shower all day!" She stepped under the water and rinsed her hair out. After she was finished, she nearly hurled herself out of the shower and wrapped a large, fluffy towel around her torso. "Hurry up. They'll be here soon."

Miroku finished up and exited the shower. "Why are you in such a hurry? And who was that on the phone?" He wrapped a towel around his waist and followed her into the bedroom.

"That was Kikyou. She's coming over with Kagome and we're going shopping. Yash is coming to pick you up so that the two of you can go get some of Kagome's things from her apartment." She quickly dressed herself in a fuscia tank and black jeans.

Miroku donned his white tee and blue jeans. "Care to tell me why Yash and I have to pick up Kagome-chan's things?"

She opened the door and the two of them walked to the kitchen. "I don't know. Kikyou said that Kags would tell me if she wanted to. You might want to find out from Yash 'cuz I'm sure that he knows what's going on."

-knock, knock, knock-

Sango turned and saw Kikyou in the window. She walked over to the door and opened it. "You are just lucky that you're my best friends. If you were anyone else, I'd skin you alive for waking me up so early."

Kikyou gave out a short laugh. "No, you wouldn't," she retorted. "If you did, you wouldn't work at the club and you'd be separated from your sex slave."

She straightened out her khaki skirt and red tank as she walked in. Inuyasha walked in behind her wearing a black wife beater and black jeans, the look on his face was one of anger and annoyance. Kagome came in last wearing a purple tee and blue bell bottoms.

Sango took one look at her face and saw the bruise that she and Kikyou had unsuccessfully tried to hide. "Oh my God, Kagome!" she exclaimed and walked up to her friend. "What the fuck happened to you?"

Kagome chose to stay behind Kikyou and Inuyasha. "It...it was Kouga," she explained softly. "He...hit me..."

Sango nearly ran to close the distance between herself and her friend. She instantly wrapped her arms around Kagome in a tight hug. "I'm sorry, girl." She felt Kagome's arms settle loosely around her. "That's why Yash and Miroku are going to the apartment."

Kagome nodded her head. "I'll be staying with Yash and Kikyou for a while." She sniffled once before releasing her friend. "Well, come on. Those stores aren't going to stay open forever. Let's get going."

The three women went outside to Sango's car, leaving the men inside the house. "Are we taking your car or mine?" Miroku asked. "I know Kouga will recognize yours, and I'm fairly certain that he doesn't know what I drive. Or do we want him to know that we're there?"

"Oh, if he's there, I want him to know that it's us," Inuyasha growled out. "I told that damned ookami(1) that I wouldn't touch him before Kagome had her chance. But if he tries anything stupid, then I won't stop myself from killing him."

They walked out of the house and then jumped into Inuyasha's jeep. "Let's just make this as quick as physically possible," Miroku sighed. "As much as I believe in your strength and your abilities, I don't trust Kouga as far as I can throw him. I'm sure he knows that someone will be there to get Kagome's things, and that makes this all that much worse."

"Feh. I'll pound him into the ground if he tries to do anything."

The two of them drove through town to Kagome's apartment in silence. After Inuyasha parked by the curb, he looked around quickly for Kouga's truck. "Good, he's not here," he said as he jumped out. "Just means he won't give us any problems while we're getting the stuff."

Miroku looked around as well. "I think it's a good thing that you know what his truck looks like," he mused as they walked to the door.

"Yeah. But you can't really call it a truck. It just looks like a fuckin' box on wheels." He searched through his keys until he came to a circular, silver colored one. "Let's just do this fast and get back to my place." He slipped the key into the hole and opened the door.

"Mind if I ask why you have a key to Kagome's apartment?"

"She gave it to me a while back, just after she opened the club. When it first opened, she'd be dead tired and I'd drive her back home. Instead of giving me her chain, she had a duplicate key made for whenever she needed me or Kikyou to take her in."

The two walked down the hall and went through a door to their left. Inuyasha began pulling clothes out of the dresser and placed them in a large suitcase. Miroku walked to the closet and pulled out a few different outfits that were on hangers.

After Inuyasha had a better part of Kagome's dresser empty, he started to pack up her make-up and what jewelry she had. After placing them in a plastic bag, he put it in the suitcase.

"Houshi," he called out, "you got most of her stuff?"

Miroku nodded his head and placed the last article of clothing in the suitcase and zipped it up. "You do realize that Kouga isn't going to be the happiest person when he notices that Kags' things are gone," he pointed out. "Chances are, he'll drive to your place and bang down there door to take her back."

"Just another reason for me to kill him."

They walked out of the house, locked the door and placed the suitcases in the back of the jeep. Inuyasha started up the vehicle and left for his house.

Miroku let out a short laugh. "You know, that was rather easy. Why did you need me again?"

Inu just shook his head very slowly. "Yeah, it was fuckin' easy. It shouldn't have been, and that's what's got me worried. Let's just hope that things are going good with the girls."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Sango, Kikyou, and Kagome walked happily through the large mall. Having stopped at several stores, their arms were weighed down by several large and quite heavy bags of clothes and various accessories. The walked out to the car to drop off the bags that they had, then went to the food court to have something to eat.

When they sat down and started to eat, Sango decided to find out about what happened to Kagome.

"Kags," she started hesitantly, "what exactly happened last night between you and Kouga? I saw some of what had happened at 'Paradise', but I don't understand why he would do such a thing to you if he claims to love you so much."

Kagome closed her eyes and sighed. "Well, you should know what happened," she replied softly. "And I do want you to know that he will be banned from the 'Paradise'." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "At the club, he once again decided to prove to anyone and everyone that I'm 'his woman.' I told him that I was tired of it and that it needed to stop. He got rough and caused this." She showed them the deep purple bruise on her wrist. "I just reacted and hit him with a small bolt of energy, and that pissed him off. At home, he told me that I wasn't to do that ever again. He said that I'm not supposed to use my powers against him. He...he started to get really violent, and caused these." She lifted the sleeve of her shirt to reveal a horribly bruised arm and pointed to her face. "I've also got a couple of bruises on my shoulders, but they're not as bad as the others."

Sango closed her eyes in anger while Kikyou wrapped her arms around her best friend and cousin. "I hope you at least fought back," Sango bit out. "If I get my hands on him I'll..."

"You'll do what, Taijya?" growled an all too familiar voice. The girls turned their heads quickly and saw Kouga glaring at them, mainly Sango. "Please, tell me what you're going to do. I'd love to know." He shook his head at her silence and turned to Kagome, guilt written all over her face. "Hey, Kags. How...how are you feeling?"

Kagome stared at him as she gripped Kikyou's arm, her breath coming in quick and shallow pants. "Wha...what do you want, Kouga?" she whispered.

"I just want to talk to you. I want to apologize for what happened last night. You know that I didn't mean to hurt you."

Kikyou narrowed her eyes at him and stood in front of Kagome, protecting her. "You can leave now," she ground out. "Leave her alone and get away from us before we do something about it."

He eyed Kikyou angrily. "And just what can you three do to me? Tell me, Kikyou, what can two plain humans and a miko who can't control her powers, do to me?"

Sango walked over and stood next to Kikyou. "I suggest you leave Kagome alone, Kouga. We're not plain humans, and you should know that by now. But, then again, you wouldn't. You have your head shoved so far up your ass that you don't know much of anything."

Kikyou smiled sweetly and threw a small bolt of energy at Kouga's feet. She started laughing when he jumped back. "You see, Kouga, I am also a miko. And a well-fucking-trained one at that. And Sango here is a professional youkai exterminator who gets rid of pieces of shit like you for a living. Now, leave before we change our minds about letting you go unharmed."

Kouga just glared at them as he tried to calm down. "Don't think that me leaving means anything. I just don't think Kagome would like me very much if I hurt her two friends."

"I don't like you as it is, Kouga!" Kagome yelled out. She stood and walked between her two bodyguards. She kept moving closer until she was right in his face, her aura a blazing red. "You will leave me alone from now on. You will not come into MY club ever again. And believe me, I will make sure that Hiten and Manten know to keep your sorry ass from getting in." She paused for a moment to take a deep breath. "I will be leaving the apartment today. Inuyasha and Miroku are there right now gathering my things for me, if they haven't already left. I assure you that most, if not all, of my things will be out of there.

"And if you so much as cross paths with me and look at me in a way that I don't like, I will not hesitate to fry your ass and feed it to the goddamned rats. And I will tell Inuyasha that I have no problem with him having the pleasure of killing you with his bare hands! Do you understand that, Kouga? We are through!" She turned her back on him, grabbed Sango's and Kikyou's hands and walked away without looking back.

Kouga stood there stunned for a moment. No, Kagome. We are not through. I'll just have to try even harder to get you to listen to me. He smiled evilly at the thoughts that started to run through his mind.

Kikyou and Sango tried desperately to hold back their laughter, but failed miserably after only a short time. "Did you see the look on his face?" Sango laughed. "Oh, how I wish that I had my digicam so that I could have taken a picture of that and sent it out on-line."

Kikyou nodded her head and wrapped her arm around Kagome's shoulders. "Way to go, Kags," she said softly. "That's a good way to stand up for yourself. Now, if he knows what's good for him, he'll back off."

Kagome shook her head slowly and leaned against Kikyou for support. "No, he won't, and we both know that," she returned. "He'll just try just as hard, if not harder to get me back."

The girls walked out to the car and drove back to Kikyou's. "You know that Yash and I will always be there for you, Kags. I also know that Sango-chan and Miroku-kun will be there as well. You have all of us on your side whenever you need us. And it's a plus that we're all almost always at the club together as well."

Sango nodded her head in agreement. "And I'm sure that Rin will help her out if you want her to."

Kagome shook her head at the thought of bringing Rin into this part of her life. "I don't want to get Rin involved in this. She doesn't need to worry about me as well."

"Yeah, but Kags. She's Sesshoumaru-sama's daughter. I'm sure that he'd protect you after giving Rin the job."

Kagome gave a loud, short, and dry laugh. "Yash would love that. 'Oh, please, Sesshoumaru-sama. Protect me from my psycho ex-boyfriend because I gave your daughter her job and now I think that you owe me for that.' I don't think so, Sango."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt. Ask Rin to help keep an eye out for Kouga, tell her why, she'll tell Sesshoumaru, and he'll want to keep his daughter's place of employment safe, as well as the owner of said place, and it'll all be good."

Kikyou glanced at her while driving. "And you came up with all of that just now? Girl, you really are strange."

Sango shrugged her shoulders. "So what if I just came up with it? It's a good plan. At least, I think it is. And you should go for it Kags. What can it hurt?"

Kagome sighed heavily. "I'll think about it. But I'm not making any promises."

Sango nodded her head once. The rest of the drive was silent as the girls became lost in their own thoughts.

End Chapter

A/N: (1) ookami-wolf duh

Okies, I'm really sorry that this one took so long to get out. They've raised my hours back up at work, so I'm not getting done at 12 or 2 like I had been when I pushed out those first several chapters. I hope that you all can bear with me as I try to do this in rushed style. It may take a bit longer as most of these later chapters are a bit longer than the first ones. I hope you all enjoy this installment and I will start working on the next one as soon as I can. Arigato, minna-san!