Disclaimer: Nope. Still don't own 'em. Not one bit. Nada. Zip. That also includes any Brand names in this chap.

Again, I bow down to my reviewer's greatness! They fill me with happy thoughts. Weee!

P.S.: I'm curious…why did a lot of you think that Rin was in trouble at the end of the last chap? Um…

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Chapter 16: Virgin Run through the Mall

It was half-passed noon, and Inuyasha had been pacing across the living room floors for more than an hour now, thinking to himself more than he could care for. For one thing: why was he here, getting carpet rash, while the women thought it be polite to lock themselves in Kagome's room for hours and hours while they did kami-knows-what, leaving the boys alone as usual, together, somewhere else. It was disgusting to be in the same room as Sesshoumaru, even more so when he didn't know for how long they'd have to stay that way. All the girls had said to them upon waking was "We're getting ready", and the next thing anyone knew, heightened smells sprouted from their rooms like mad and noisy contraptions began turning on and off from time to time; which brought on the second predicament of that day: the hanyou had been fighting a sneeze like hell.

But since the girls could be trusted, Inuyasha brushed confused speculations aside and centered his thoughts—for once—on the other topic, the primary puzzle.

The barrier had finally come down.

Yeah; the pink bastard has been defeated! But how? By who? All he knew is that Kagome awoke with a cry close to morning, and a familiar ball of pink light—damn that color—seemed to emit from everywhere, not only just her body (from where he had seen, being in her room asleep) but from the air itself—and like demonic witchcraft, poof!—no barrier. Not that the hanyou could really care much on why it happened, why now, taking its kami-forsaken good time to deactivate, but there was nothing else he could do while waiting for the women to finish their "business", so he agonized in wait.

And no. Having the barrier down didn't give the boys the freedom they thought they would have. Why? Because who knew what awaited them out that front door, if "apartments" weren't the only things that rose as high as the clouds, and walls were made out of the awful texture known as cement, the floors like seas of shampooed thread and windows that were made of material both thick and transparent?What unearthly creatures could make vast rivers as dry as earth and as black as smoke, un-living monsters known as cars serving as pack beasts, traveling on them, while horrible things called "airplanes" made humans fly? And how could they risk breathing the outside air, when the stars themselves seemed to hide from the sky at night, and bars of steel and electrical light fixtures illuminated the streets without burning on contact? And that was just what the two feudal males learned from speeches held by the girls in attempts to make them come to grasp the changes five hundred years can make— they could only imagine what else lied behind their boxed home.

So no. It was proper if they waited to escort Kagome and Rin out like any gentleman of any era would do, before going out on their own. And, just for measure, both siblings had re-dressed for battle to take on the day's adventure. Their swords would come along just this once, too.

So now that Inuyasha knew he wasn't afraid of leaving by himself, just wise enough not to, he paced around the house, waiting for those unreadable women to come out of their rooms to give them a piece of their minds about not making breakfast. He'd been promised eggs.

They have to have a damn good reason for making us wait like this, the hanyou growled, taking a look at his brother from the corner of his eye as he passed him by. Something told him that the other youkai could have had something to do with the broken spell, but he didn't receive a reply upon asking, so he let it slip for the time being.

Sesshoumaru had positioned himself facing the hall, where he could have first view of the women, whenever they decided to come out and greet their unwanted, demonic guests. And for the hundredth time now, Inuyasha passed in front of him, eyes still glued to the floor in a miserable wait.

…And left again, the lord secretly sighed.

Now, he is going right…and left, again. Right…left…Right…Left… A stop. Thank Kami he finally—right. He is moving right again. Now left. Right. Left. Right…

The full youkai knew he was going senile. He had already tried counting carpet threads—until Inuyasha began his pace, and he his predatory watch on the hanyou's movements that went from one corner of his eye sight to the other, giving him a good exercise. But whenever he wasn't counting colored sheep fur or tired of seeing red half-breed, he reflected upon his night's decision.

Apparently his theory had proven correct. The jewel understood he was not a foe anymore, that he wasn't a threat to anyone within it's premises and so had taken down the half-month long barrier, leaving them to roam as free as nature intended. Now, the priestess was left with an inactivated, less of a pain-in-the-ass crystal in her chest, as it were once upon a time. But until when it would stay that way, no one could say. And now; waiting seemed more excruciating now than it ever had been in his whole life, so Sesshoumaru found a way to have a little…fun, in his boredom.

"Half breed."

The hanyou snapped out of his thoughts upon the nick name, turning to his older sibling once he got in front of him in mid-pace. He noticed they were starting to speak more as of late; and although it wasn't always of the good kind, it was…well…interesting, to say the least, and soon it would grow. "What?"

The lord looked down at him in the inch or so difference of their height. He brought his eyelids down slowly to close, taking his time for the dramatic effect he always liked using. "Do try and stand still. I cannot hear myself think with your boney feet scraping the floors consistently."

"Whatever," the young man harrumphed. "Like thinking of only yourself isn't tiring enough," he teased back. Beginning his pacing again, he minded the dirty looks his brother must have been giving him under closed pupils. "So; what do you think they're doing in there, anyways?"

One more sniff at the air and Sesshoumaru thought he'd have to choke. "Pampering."

"Oh." Inuyasha was afraid of that.

Minutes later when the gibberish going on inside Kago me's room ceased and all was quiet, a pair of Daiyoukai eyes opened to look from across the hall to see what had taken place, while an extra pair of dog eyes peeked out from the hall's corner. The door creaked silently open, and what happened next, or how it was even humanly possible to have had occurred, baffled the men for time to come.

At first, the world seemed to turn pure, joyously white; next, time slowed to a halt, and there only existed the two most angelical creatures anyone could have ever witnessed alive. All former smells seemed to drown behind wonderful aromas, like blossoms and waterfalls mixed with a hint of alcohol that swarmed into their nostrils to be inhaled deliciously. Then, it was as if the air itself caught inside their lungs, when female beauty as they knew it came flowing down the hallway on thin, radiant legs that glided as if on ice, their eyes widening unconsciously to invite the glamorous beings in from down-up. Later, the men would only compare this feeling as something taken from an Herbal Essences™ commercial, because the only thing left to complete such similarity would be to have the girls saying "Yes, yes," with that certain euphoric tone that males loved in their voices, and them having the initiative to seize them away in arms.

Kagome had stepped out in tight, dark jeans with a nice, white tank top that emphasized her female attributes, Rin following with the warmest, most feminine knee-high pink dress any feudal man had ever seen, her legs as sheen as silk. It only took a second more to notice that they were the aroma, all of them, and that they were too a part of heavenly attraction than the boys had given them credit for.

Kikyo, eat your heart out.

Kagura…well, no relation. The lord could just cringe from past thoughts of one of Naraku's female accomplices, who'd wonder around him every now and then with apparent liking to his person. The devil.

Both had their long, ravenous dark hair let down, and it swayed as they walked, an invisible wind catching them in a dance. They were goddesses. But what bedazzled the boy's vision most of all were their faces, which had evolved into even higher splendor, their painted eyes seeming to call out to them as sirens with each bat of their thick, eye lashes, seeking to overcome their hearts with their intense, smooth cheekbones, and entrancing them with the hot, humid sheen of their red lips. One more instant and Sesshoumaru would have had the same gawking, open mouth as Inuyasha. Thankfully, Kagome spoke first before any of that happened, ending the dreamy moment the boys had experienced.

"Why are you guys looking at us that way for?"

"What? Do we look bad?" Rin worried, turning around in a circle, checking herself. Kagome shook her head, surprised at such foul words coming from her mouth.

"What? Of course not! We look hot! Not that a couple of rugged men would know anything about," she crossed her arms. Inuyasha, still opened-mouthed, lifted an incredulous finger at them, mumbling incoherent words as he tried to make out what was going on—not that it wasn't unwelcome. It was then that Rin laughed (which came out as more of an attractive giggle to the spectators, for some reason) folding her arms behind her head, a foot arched backward with that certain stance that could drive any hungry man out of his mind—not that there was one in the room.

"We have make-up on, silly!"

If possible, the hanyou's eyes grew even wider, his finger drooping in speechlessness, and Sesshoumaru quirked a brow to try and hide his amazement. Perhaps all the commotion was from being cooped up for too long in a box and going half-mad from it that they were seeing and feeling things never before imagined, but if modern day potions could create such divine princesses, they knew there was so much more to look forward to.

"Oh, come on! We haven't got all day!" Kagome yanked Inuyasha's sleeve and directed him out the front door, heading towards the elevator. "I haven't left this place for weeks, and I'm dying to get some fresh air!" Rin smiled at her lord and urged him to follow suit into the hall, closing their apartment behind him.

When the elevator doors finally opened with a bell at their floor, the girls stepped in. "Come on, Lord Sesshoumaru; don't be afraid. It's just an elevator." the girl said cheerily, as if it could bite.

The youkai eyed the contraption eerily, giving an unexpected answer to her bizarre indication. "Those who fear respect what they fear and I, Sesshoumaru, do not respect this monster." Kagome rolled her eyes as he finally entered.

"Come on: you too, Inuyasha." She looked at the hanoyu's hand, which was holding on to the hilt of his sword, and looked up at his ears, which were folded back, as if their owner were ready to snarl and attack something. "This is going to be one of those days, Rin," she sighed, shaking her head. The doors of the elevator started to close and by pure instinct—and the memory of being alone—the hanyou sprinted to get inside, making the girls jump and causing a small frenzy in the claustrophobic space that ended in a touch of all the floor buttons.

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"Ah! Clean, fresh air at last!" Kagome clapped her hands together in joy, breathing in a big gulp of oxygen on the side walk once in daylight; Inuyasha, beside her, began coughing after doing the same when a gasoline truck passed by.

"You call this air? What is this stuff!" As the smoke that had accumulated during a red light cleared up, the group was greeted by the mid-day sunshine and the wake of a modern city filled with engines, bike wheels, concrete, pavement, smog, animals on leashes, and foreign commerce and peoples, all contributing to the frantic, buzzing movement that lacked a regular village half a century ago. It was a completely dull sight, if you were to ask any human of the twenty-first century. But these humans in particular had a pair of dog demons with them, so you'd know this would be no ordinary day. And all it took to know that was a hideous ten-minute trip in an elevator down forty flights, five rounds with the swinging doors out the apartment building, a run-in with a bell hop, and two cigarette buds dying on the flowerbed soon after. And, of course, the men would never forget the sound of a jet passing through, nor will their captain forget the near-death experience as a swing from the tetsusaiga nearly cut it in half with its blast.

The floor wouldn't forget the two-inch impression of a hanyou face in it, either.

After that the use of swords had been doubly forbidden. If they had a choice in it at all, the girls could have tried to convince the guys to leave them behind, but something about that didn't seem to leave them at ease.

"This stuff," Kagome came to answer, "is going to be your life for now on. Now come on, we haven't got all day to gawk at the scenery. We can do that the rest of forever when we're stuck with you guys."

"What! I'm not gawking!" At Inuyasha's reproach, the demon lord closed his mouth shut, then sensing it had unconsciously gone down on its own. "And what do you mean, 'the rest of forever'!"

"Oh, just come on!" Kagome yanked on his left sleeve and started down the street, not wanting to get into another heated conversation on how she had no clue how to get the jewel to bring them back, and that she'd most probably be having enough over-dose of testosterone under her roof to make do for any normal girl's entire life. "I'm willing to do anything just as long as we do it outside of the house, for once."

Rin awed, still standing in the same spot. "But I liked it at home. We made breakthrough in there," she commented honestly. And before she could start on her speech, the meow of a feline close by drew her attention to more important things, like the fact that thus creature was on a high branch of an enclosed tree nearby, and it seemed stuck. Sesshoumaru was already eyeing the thing from his spot under it as the kitten hissed and clawed out at him, hiding even deeper inside the thick branches. Soon it would be unable to get out, if it continued like that, she measured—and of course, Rin had to save it.

"Oh no! The poor kitty's trapped! We have to save him, lord Sesshoumaru!" she gasped, hands on her mouth in surprise, working out on one of her bachelor's degrees. Indeed she was drawn into the situation at hand, though not nearly as much because of the stray, but because of the multiple growth possibilities it held for the two's fragile relationship.

Said lord kept his watch over the lost pet unmoved by her plea. "It is a cat," he stated, both stating its maturity and as if it were nothing more of importance. So, they have lost their demonic aura as well, he analyzed in thought. Truly he and Inuyasha could be the only demonic-like beings in existence now. Hm…

"Well, we still can't just leave him up there," Rin continued, trying to get him to show his softer side. "What if he can't get down! I bet some one misses him. Is he alright? Can you see if he's alright?" the girl panicked.

Suddenly, Sesshoumaru realized all-too-late, the choice of walking up to inspect this 'new world cat' was not a very good idea. It had made Rin jumpy, and worse than that, he saw himself ending up as his mortal enemy's savior from certain death from a nine-foot drop. "It is a she," he merely corrected, already taking his swift leave to be left unbothered.

"Sessh! Please save him! You just gotta! You just gotta!" Rin kept on. "Oh…I just hope he isn't scared!" She cupped her hands around her mouth and spoke to the feline. "Don't worry kitty! We're coming! We're going to save you, so don't worry!"

"'We', as in leaving it be and continuing our path, am I correct?"

The girl looked into the golden hues of the apparent cat-hater when he had looked to her in his response. "Awe…But Sessh, you just have to save him! Please? For me? Can't you see that he's in trouble?" The cat meowed again and pawed at air, and somehow the dog thought that it was his duty making hairballs like it go up trees, not bring them down.

"We are wasting time. We must follow—"

"Oh my gosh! It looks like it's starting to rain! What if it can't get down in time! What if it gets wet!"

Then I hope it floods out, the demon growled as he was loosing his patience—until the unexpected came. He looked down at Rin again, and on her perfectly-shaped and colored face, there were the two biggest, most watered eyes he'd ever seen, being battered in an innocent manner, as her lower lip quivered in sorrow, and her hand knitted together in prayer. It took one second of that and the century-old youkai was brought to his knees in guilt.

Damn it.

And before he could change his guilt-ridden mind, one clean cut from his poison whip and half the upper part of the tree slid to the right slowly, until falling on its side. The cat sprung out from its hiding place just as the branches hit the floor, making a scene for the spectators passing by. "May we take our leave now?" he asked bluntly, the green whip already disintegrating.

Rin quickly agreed, caught in awe. "Run!" She darted after where Kagome and Inuyasha had went to avoid trouble, her skirt flaring behind. Sesshoumaru watched it go up and down in her sprint, thinking that if it were any higher, she'd be disclosing her vulnerability to the outside world, and he'd have to kill anyone that had a peak. But luckily, the fools had nothing to see, so he followed far behind in a casual manner. Too bad the next thing he smelled of interest was already being inspected by his younger sibling, having Kagome tapping her foot next to him, cross-armed.

"Inuyasha, people are looking! It's embarrassing!" Rin began giggling when she'd caught up with them.

"Oh come on, Kagome. He's just sniffing at a fire hydrant. That's normal."

"Normal? Normal! Rin, he's two feet taller than when he used to do that and knows how to use the toilet seat now!" She brought her voice low. "Well, given he almost never puts the top down, but still! Inuyasha, stop smelling other dog's pee." The hanyou's ears worked their way left and right, and all around in curiosity, as the man crouched on all fours continued to investigate the wonder. "Inuyasha! If you don't get up right now I'm going to have to 'sit' you."

Thud!

"Oops. Too late," Rin put a finger to her lip.

Kagome sighed in even bigger embarrassment (and little guilt), then began her still unbelievably long trudge to their destination, calling to her back, "Sesshoumaru, drag him over." The dog demon first looked at the beast twice over, and thought he'd rather still be helping that cat.

Ahead of them, Kagome whispered into her friend's ear. "Why did you think it was such a good idea to bring them along in their feudal clothes anyways, Rin? Everywhere we go people can't stop staring, apart from the fact that they are by themselves an embarrassment." It was an awful thing to say, and yet still held true.

"Oh, you'll see," the other smiled.

And upon arriving to their stop half an hour later, and after more questions and bother from the men, Rin exclaimed in a sing-song voice, "Tada!" waving her arms in the air for emphasis. "Welcome to the greatest place on earth, guys!"

The boys, now either more bruised or humiliated then when they first set foot on over-populated human grounds, looked up at the gigantic, adorned, glass, front doors of the immense structure in front of them, thinking it really didn't look as fun as Rin said it was. "Where are we now?" Inuyasha was a little too scared to ask. Kagome's eyes lit up with the brightest, most dazzling light he'd ever seen in them, and he had to take a step back in case it was contagious.

"The mall!" She had finally made it. Kami.

"We couldn't bring you here before since, well, pets weren't allowed," Rin commented, as if she cleared any doubt in their mind as to what this place was. Her finger pointed toward a sign on a door that had a dog's picture crossed out by a red, diagonal line. "In fact, if they find out you two are dogs, they'll probably kick you out!" Kagome's moment was shattered, and she slapped her forehead from the stupidity of the occasion.

"Who's gonna throw us out?" Inuyasha believed.

"The cops." It took a while to sink in.

"Who in heck calls themselves 'cops'?" he blinked.

"Enough!" This time Kagome took Rin by the arm and like thunder after a lightning rod, both women disappeared through the doors. After a while of fighting over who dared go in after them first, Inuyasha was pushed inside. And if the outside of it was glamorous and breathtaking, the inside was doubly as freighting, they quickly took notice.

"Come on, lord Sesshoumaru. Don't be afraid." Rin circled her right arm over his left and continued walking beside the other two. Sesshoumaru took a second to look down at the their proximity and almost said something about the girl's daring move, but saw her too engulfed with the mall's euphoria that he decided to snake his limb back later when she wasn't looking.

All day she had been acting like none of yesterday happened, and he didn't know if to take that as a blessing or not. Nonetheless, he hoped she wouldn't bring up with anyone, not even him, how she'd seen him at his most vulnerable state. It was one of those moments he didn't want to be reminded of.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha's head did 360's as things lit up all around him, gadgets moved about in the air and objects were escorted by humans on the floor. "What's all that?"

Kagome looked around the ceiling to where he was pointing. "Those are the mall's decorations. Every mall has a theme, Inuyasha." Diminutive airplanes and hot air balloons floated near every corner or sign, little paragliding men in between.

"Oh," he nodded. "And what are those?" he pointed next.

"Inuyasha," Kagome hushed, "stop pointing out at things like that, especially at people. It's not nice. And those are baby carriages; you know, like what we talked about at home."

"Oh," he answered. "And those—"

"Wheelchairs, remember?"

"And—"

"Plastic bags to carry the shopping in."

"And—"

"A dress, Inuyasha," she finally grunted. "You know, like the ones you see whenever you go through my closet without permission?" Inuyasha chuckled nervously. "And just who are all these people," she turned to ask Rin, referring to many dressed-up shoppers in strange uniforms holding awkward weapons or dolls in either hand.

"They're the Otakus, Kags. Remember that convention I had told you about some time ago? Well, today's it," Rin smiled. Just then a big, bald, six-foot teen towered over them, looking down from his red-shot pupils and scarred face-marks. He growled, making Kagome jump into Inuyasha's arms.

"They're freaks!"

"They're anime fans," Rin corrected.

"So you thought bringing these two along like this would help them blend in at the mall!"

"What else could we bring them in?" Rin was right. The girls lacked of men clothing, let alone something that was in men's sizes.

"Oh look, Kagome; a mime!" At Rin's change of topic, the three looked to her side at Sesshoumaru, who was currently exchanging looks with a white-faced man in black and white gear, with matching hat and gloves. The performer waved at the youkai cheerily then goofed around to make him smile. But seeing nothing worked, he made a sad face as if crying, and brought his hands to his heart. "Oh, you made him sad, Lord Sesshoumaru," Rin sighed.

The mime nodded heartfelt, then came up with a brighter idea, showing so by a hand gesture. Curling up into a ball, he began panicking silently, his hands making to break open an invisible box that imprisoned him imaginatively. Gasping for air desperately, the mime quickened his moves. Kagome applauded at his effort, laughing along with Rin. Inuyasha just scratched his hair; by then Sesshoumaru just narrowed his eyes.

Still scheming to make the lord break his stoic attitude, the mime stood up and pouted, hands on his hips, as if angry for not being appraised. His object of attention then closed the distance between the two, and the mime smiled exaggeratingly, happy to receive some sort of attention.

"You mock this Sesshoumaru?" The performer made to laugh, grabbing a hold of his belly.

"Um, Rin, maybe we should go," Kagome suggested, already stepping away from them.

"No, wait—things just got interesting," Inuyasha smiled entertained, watching green emanate from his brother's claws. The performer made a curious face and went to take a closer look at it.

"Sesshoumaru—no! Bad, bad dog!" Kagome's comment earned her a look from all three men, and she forced her and Inuyasha out to make Rin follow, who would then make the youkai come with.

And after a minimum scar burn on the mime's sleeve and glove, they did.

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Seventy-three and a half questions later, and a not-so-quick pass through the food court with hotdogs, chilidogs, pizza, and just what was Chinese food made of inquiries, they came to one of the mall's ends, and up to the end of Kagome's rope. She tried her best to hide her frustration, but the seething between her teeth just couldn't be disguised.

"Inuyasha, I know you're curious and all about everything, but please, please, please stop asking so many questions! It's getting annoying!"

"But—"

"Enough!" She stomped her foot down. "I. Want. To go. Shopping!"

"Sir!" The group looked over at a man in blue uniform jogging over to where they were, and it gave Sesshoumaru the break he needed to finally take his arm back from Rin. Kagome started to worry that they'd been caught with something, and out of the hundreds of things that they could be caught with the main being walking around with a grown man wearing what looked to be like pink eye shadow, the other having a desperate need for plucked over-grown eyebrows.

The man with the badge stopped in front of Inuyasha, catching his breath after the jog, his belly bouncing a little more than it was supposed to. "You can't walk barefoot in the mall, even if it is part of your costume. You must wear shoes." Kagome withstood herself from slapping her forehead again. Out of all the things…

"I'm sorry, officer," she broke in, "but he's not from around here and as you can see—"

"Wearing something for the convention doesn't excuse anyone from having to wear shoes. Now please find some to put on, or I'll have to ask you to leave."

"Just who is this guy?" Inuyasha whispered into Rin's ear.

"He's the cop I was telling you about."

The hanyou harrumphed. "Seems scrawny to me. I can take him on, no problem."

"Excuse me, sir?" The officer overheard the conversation, butting in between the two a little too close for comfort. "Do you have a problem with law enforcement, sir?"

Kagome's hands flew to cover Inuyasha's mouth before he could say anything else as stupid, and laughed nervously at the officer. "You must excuse him, he's… He's got samurai-up-atitus; he thinks he can…uh…he thinks he's a samurai from hundreds of years ago." She closed the space between them and added dramatically, "Sad, really. You see; this really isn't a costume," she reasoned, ending in a whisper. "It's his loony wardrobe."

The uniformed man blinked and looked at Inuyasha painfully. "Oh…I see…Well then, I hope he gets better and miss, please make sure he finds some footwear." He turned and winked at the hanyou. "Even samurai need sandals from time to time," he told him as if it would help out the recovery. Leaving the gang, Inuyasha muffled something like, "Get your dirty hands off my mouth," but no one could be truly sure.

"Alright. So now we have to get you shoes, Inuyasha, like it or not. And Rin; you and—hey. Where'd Sesshoumaru go?" This just keeps getting better and better,
Kagome sighed. But before anything else could be said, Rin had volunteered to go and find him by herself, not like she'd object. She didn't want to even deal with him right now, and knew Rin could handle it just fine.

"Alright, Inuyasha. Let's get you some shoes," she repeated, and with a grunt and a snort from the man who'd never worn soles in his entire dog-life, she headed towards the nearest shoe store.

…And before she knew it, she had lost him aswell.

Grumbling, the young woman stood in the middle of the bustling crowd in one of the halls, turning around in circles on the same spot, trying to catch even a glimpse of red or silver. After searching for him inside what she thought to be suspicious stores and hangouts for an…intellectual…like Inuyasha, and only achieving to find a mayor headache, she was about to go so far as call him from security when she saw him nosing around a mannequin from the outer side of a window of the last place she'd thought she'd find him at—although it could have been the first place she could have looked for him. After all, it's where Sango always found her man whenever he got "lost" in the mall.

And then…then he went inside. Damn it, she half-whined, half-growled, her foot stomp earning unwanted attention to herself. Taking a shaky intake of breath, she valiantly followed as if nothing was wrong, trying to mind the very awkward situation she was going to forcefully haul herself into.

As she made her way to his side she received curious and rude glances from customers and workers. She didn't blame them. "Inuyasha—what are you doing?" Her voice tried to be as nonjudgmental as possible, although it clearly showed signs of uneasiness. The hanyou in question didn't look away from the article of interest. Instead, he further indulged the mystery, and held his chin on his fisted hand in fascination.

"Are you sure this isn't armor? 'Cause to me, it sorta looks like it. I believe you hide things from me," he stated, looking to her in a distrusting, unfriendly manner. With a sudden acknowledgement that she had a finger tick and an increase at the shade of peachy red on her cheeks, Kagome tried to hold back a cry.

On one side, she couldn't chide him for being so blunt, but on the other she'd wished he'd asked her that sometime, and somewhere else before. In fact—he had done so, but apparently she hadn't been clear enough about her answer. The last of many times he'd asked that same question came to her instantly.

"Inuyasha!" The recall started just like any other memory… "Sit!"

Kagome had planted her hands on her hips furiously upon entering her room, just as Inuyasha began eating carpet. He answered back when he was able to lift his head and fist up at her.

"Argh! Why do you keep doing that!"

"Because I've told you to stop snooping around in my drawers enough times already!"

Jumping to his feet, he stepped closer to the other body. "Well, If you don't want me in there that bad, then there's gotta be something your hiding from me in there, right! You can't hide anything from me! I 'm going to find out what it is your hiding, and you can't stop me, you hear!"

Kagome drew herself so near to him, that her expression-less façade was enough to scare, and perhaps rival that of his older sibling's. And her lips—they moved so slow, that he could read what she was going to say before he could even hear it—and that's saying much, seeing he was a dog.

"Sit." Plain and simple, the master always reminded the subject who was boss.

Falling again, this time creating a twin mold to accompany the first, Inuyasha's ear twitched as Kagome explained less violently this time around, "Sesshoumaru got the hint after Rin told him to stop going through her stuff, why don't you?"

The hanyou grumbled muffled curses, planting one palm after another hard on the floor, lifting his upper body enough to be able to look at the futuristic priestess in the eyes. Learning constantly (but never learning from) that screaming back at Kagome would be suicide, he matched her almost-calm voice for an excuse. "Hey; at least I do it when you're awake—but what you don't see is him going through her stuff when you're both asleep—ack!" Kagome watched Inuyasha go down for the third time since, but on this occasion, he clutched onto his pained forehead, a demon lord appearing at the room's entrance from the corner of her eye.

Kagome came to terms that ludicrous like this was just something to expect, and was less and less surprised the more it was done. By now, the girl could swear it was getting boring and, more importantly, irritating from the obvious immaturity.

"Sesshoumaru—as much as I appreciate your help," she commented sarcastically, "may I please ask you to stop. Smashing. My. Antiques!" The demon in question didn't bother to look to her, merely walked away with a second, costly figurine in his claws, which was just seconds to becoming another dart to practice on the hanyou's face to silence his tongue.

Afterward, Rin had poked her head out from her room, inquiring as to why her lord looked so upset, as if she could tell the difference.

"What still makes you think this is battle armor, Inuyasha?" Kagome slid the words as fluently as she could out of her mouth.

"Well," he started, as if he was catching on to some marvelous finding for once, "you and Rin wear it all the time, and have loads of them in your drawers. I mean, for mikos I guess you have to stash away hundreds of these for your battles, right?"

Not that he wouldn't have had come to the conclusion on his own of how many times she wore her belongings, Kagome had to ask anyways. "…How do you know we wear them all the time, Inuyasha?" His name was said with a graver tone of voice.

"Because I can smell it on you, duh," he shrugged, crossing his arms in front of his chest, as if it were obvious enough, especially knowing what genes he held.

Ew, Kagome immediately thought for the umpteenth time when reminded that her scent was being scrutinized twenty-four-seven. Its so pervert-y… Suddenly the tick in her finger seemed to be spreading to the others on her hand, and she broke loose.

"For the last time, I am not a miko! And neither is Rin," the poor girl responded, adding in an undertone, "of all people…" Stopping and scratching her head to find some sort of support, she continued, "and no, that's not battle armor. Not. Even. Close. So stop asking, 'cause I already told you what they were!" The couple hadn't noticed they were attracting a bigger crowd each growing minute.

"But...but Rin was wearing a purple one that day when we were doing a handstand and you guard it as if gold," he blinked, almost innocently.

Shifting her weight from her left foot to the other, feeling a familiar throb acting away in her eyebrow, Kagome spoke between clenched teeth, "and you never stopped going in my drawer, did you!" If the brothers had seen so much of this in their house before, and still didn't get it, then any embarrassing feeling the girls had felt before was nothing compared to the one they would feel upon clearing this mess up.

"Inuyasha; your in the woman's department—or, more importantly, what you'd call the 'undergarment' section of this female store. This isn't, or will ever be, armor. This is a…er," the words had formed clear up in her head, but somehow they fought to get out. "It's something women use for, um, support; nothing like armor, although it still serves like one, in a way," her eyes looked to the ceiling, just having connected the similarity between the two subjects. "Right now you're looking at Victory's Secret's™ plunge and push-up bras."

At mid-sentence Inuyasha's pupils had shrunk to an unhealthy size, and his claw had finally loosened its death grip on the B cup he had been holding and sniffing at for the past minute, using it as evidence for his accusation. The knowledge that he had inspected Kagome's personal—yet flattering—intimate pieces for days back at home, and that he had made a scene at the store from it made him both gulp and burn red with embarrassment, his nose twitching involuntarily, as if for another whiff. They did smell nice, after all…

"But…but...are you sure?" he still asked, this time more out of confusion and not wanting it to be true. As old as he was, he wasn't one to be holding such things. They were icky.

"Give me that," Kagome snatched the bra away, positioning it in front of her for a demonstration. "Learn this right—for it will be our first and last instruction." Being used to teach him about futuristic things, the girl was less uneasy as she drew the piece closer to her middle body for a more hands-on, literal F.Y.I. moment.

"This," she said firmly, "is placed like so." With a curt nod that showed his discomfort with the awkward, revealing lesson, Kagome got to the point.

"And this," she prepared, "is what it basically does." Her hands jerked upward, insinuating the object's use, and Inuyasha made a gesture similar to an "o" with his lips, done in slow motion.

"So," he said, mouth not changing position. "I've just humiliated ourselves to the point where we won't be coming back in here again, right?"

Crowd still watching with growing infatuation to the unrolling of events, Kagome felt Rin really did have the right dog after all.

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Once the sneakers were bought a little while after, Kagome thought it would be nice if they took a seat to rest for a while near a fountain. "Wow," she exhaled. "This has been a long day, and still I haven't bought something for me. Ironic," she laughed. Inuyasha, beside her, played with his new soles.

"Are you sure they're supposed to be comfortable? 'Cause they're not," he whined.

"They'll just take some getting used to, Inuyasha. You can take them off when we get home, so try not to complain anymore until then, okay?" She lay back on the bench, thinking to take a quick shut eye.

"Whatever," he huffed, feeling sorry for himself more than she was. It hurt having no one on your side. "So now what?"

"Don't know. Can't you sniff out Rin or your brother so we can meet up with them?"

"Sesshoumaru's my half brother," he corrected grudgingly.

"Right," she moaned, already knowing that but not wanting to get into the details. "Just…find them, please?"

Making a face, the hanyou set out to sniff for their traces, when unknowingly to Kagome it meant standing on the bench and flaring his nostrils in the air. Luckily, she didn't notice that or the few looks they caught. But it didn't take long for Inuyasha to growl when he smelled something that he didn't like. Jumping off the bench, he made a fist. "Let's go."

"What?" Kagome was still half-dozed.

"Come on; we have to go. Sesshoumaru's causing trouble," he said, clenching his fangs. That brought Kagome wide-awake.

"Oh no," she worried, quickly standing up. "Where are they?" she looked around.

Inuyasha pointed to their left. "Over there, but we have to get there quickly; we won't get there in time if we just run."

"What? How far are they? And what's going on," she continued to ask, now frightened.

"Just…here," Inuyasha told her, crutching down close to the floor, his hands behind his back. "I'll carry you—we'll get there faster."

"What? You, carry…me?" She thought it would be an unpleasant ride, if he indeed could carry them both as fast as he said he could.

"What are you waiting for, wench? Just get on!" Knowing Rin and hundreds of other shoppers could be in danger, she had to suck it all in and find her courage deep within, climbing onto his back awkwardly at first, then finding a comfortable position she could trust herself with.

…Until he grabbed her bottom and slid his hands down to her thighs. Then she just shrieked.

"Hang on tight," he warned, taking the first big jumps he had done ever since before the curse. It felt both liberating and exciting, and he roared delighted over the gasps of bystanders; but after the first few leaps, he began coming unbalanced, almost falling over with Kagome in which he tripped and leaned to the side.

"What do you think you're doing!" she yelled at him, making to get off. Being on Piggy-back wasn't something she was accustomed to doing, and his hands grabbing onto her legs was certainly out of the question, even if it was meant for security purposes.

"It ain't me, so stop you're yapping and let me do this already!" Bending over to untie his shoes, he threw them to the side against the girl's complaints about their price, and then hugged her underside again to start over. He smirked when Kagome shrieked again at the touch. "Those things were holding me down," he explained, and without further waning, he made his true leap.

"Help me!" Kagome cried as the two flew across halls and over people's baffled heads. She didn't dare open her eyes, and the ride seemed to take forever as she prayed she'd come out of it alive. Her hair went wild and tangled with his mane, and she buried her face into the crook of his neck to feel safer than she knew she really was. Inuyasha wouldn't be one to let her fall or bring her harm; but she just couldn't stand the feeling of having nothing under her feet, and air pushed against her front. Every time the two came down for another boost, she inwardly grunted at the slight pain, being silent after realizing that screaming was only annoying the beast.

When the hanyou finally made a stop, Kagome more than gladly got off his back, not having to ask just where he was going to, since the immense crowd huddling into a circle seemed to be just the place she feared to arrive to. Making her way through the bustle after Inuyasha, who wailed like a maniac to let him pass, "if they knew what was good for them", the girl's breath held back in an inhale, knowing she'd have to cover up for this craziness with some sort of a miracle.

In one, quick scan of the situation, she happened to make out that Rin shied behind the tall, proud shoulders of a very familiar (and stressful) lord, who stood not too many feet away from a youth clad in cheap, plastic plates, resembling that of old armor. He currently held his make-shift weapon, a sword of some sort, pointed toward Sesshoumaru, moving it in narrow circler actions, as he stared at him with what seemed like a pathetic-looking menacing glare. "That's right; hide behind your ugly boyfriend; it's not like he scares me," the boy laughed, his friends joining in with puns and crude, female insinuations. Rin clutched onto her lord's silk tighter, her eyes confused and unwilling to fight back at the offender.

Sesshoumaru felt more than saw her draw even further back into him, and without a second thought, he looked back at the ill-mannered man who, according to his band, was named Snake. "As your last warning; if you are anything of the man you call yourself to be, you'll walk away quietly."

"...And you," a man behind Snake spoke up with a foreign accent, looking over the youkai's outfit, saying, "should pay more for that crap." The comment made the crowd 'ooh', as if daring the insult to be backed up by another, cheering on in their own way the tiny battle. "I bought mine on EBay™. Where'd you buy yours, or is it that your mommy made it, mamma's boy?" The whispers and lively gossip began to ascend, and the hanyou buried his face in his claw from the stupidity of the men these days.

"Yeah, momma's boy," his friends repeated, and Kagome mirrored the hanyou. Rin, for the first time since, stepped op next to the youkai, foot firmly on the ground, fist in the air.

"Look, you bunch of uncivilized bafoons," she began, making a few heads turn at her sudden increase in valor, and making Sesshoumaru lift up a brow in curiousness. "You jerks bumped into us first, remember? Until now you're the ones causing a commotion, so read my lips and back off! You don't know who you're dealing with!"

"Like hell I do," the kid said, taking down his sword. "But really, do you think I'd pass up on an opportunity as this, when I've happened to stumble across such a cute morsel?" The remark made her gag. "Come on, babe; you know you want me," he smirked smugly, his companions snickering in chorus. The girl retreated a few steps back, hugging herself as if she were naked right then and there, and red crossed her cheeks furiously.

There were no words for what that made the youkai feel; looking around him, no one made even the slightest indication of butting in to protect Rin—not even when there were so many other men around. It was like humanity had traded in their pride and manhood for a good show; these things did occur in his time, but according to the women's stories, barbarians had long been gone. So who were these pricks?

And then there was this fowl excuse for a man that directed himself towards Rin in such a manner, right in front of him, another challenging male, that had he been alive half a century ago, in his territory, he would have been left with no means to satisfy a woman--or anything that moved—ever again. The men's laughter made his stomach churn, and made him even more protective over his Rin because, it seemed, that everyone else was uneducated enough to let all this happen, and let her be treated that way. Or any female at all, for that manner. Even he in his worst hadn't gone after them; it was cowardly to confront those who were so defenseless.

"Someone in there, freak, or are you just trying to remember who you're superior is?" the man scoffed, tapping on his skull as he stared at the stoic demon, who more than likely scared him with only his look.

"I wouldn't blame Sesshoumaru if he really does kill him," Inuyasha told Kagome behind a hand, receiving a shocked expression in return. "What! Like I wouldn't?" he told her blankly, as if killing were a second nature to the two which, technically, it was, in a way.

Sesshoumaru looked at the couple form the corner of his eye, hearing them out but not really caring for what they had to say; he would do things his way, anyone like it or not.

Unsheathing his sword in the boldest manner for all to hear as metal brushed with case, the Daiyoukai looked to his companion's offender in a deadly glare that could have frightened even Rin; except, said girl saw him as her knight in shining armor, coming forth to protect her honor; so she stood her ground in awe, forgetting that this warrior was truly a demon, in all sense of the word.

Snake in front of them stepped back a little, but showed no hint of backing off. "Well; I have a nice and fancy sword too, ya know." Branding his own plastic stick, the kid waved it around in a fancy manner, showing off his techniques and skills at sword play, the ladies ooh-ing and awe-ing after each grunting noise he made for emphasis. Upon finishing his antics, the sword was let down, and a hand gesture invited the demon to do his own show. "Come on; show me whatcha got."

Humph. He knows how to play with a sword, I'll give him that much, thought the hanyou, scarcely amused.

"Inuyasha! Do something!" Kagome rattled him side to side. "Rin! Rin!" she tried next, only to see the youkai's right hand lift dramatically above his head, the sword's blade shining from the sharp edge. Kagome yelped.

Snake's face suddenly flustered, not understanding the gimmick until it was too late. By then, all he could do was whimper as the blade came down upon his skull with one, rapid swing,Sesshoumaru's mane fluttering behind him from the speed. Kagome hid behind her hands, terrified at having to see blood spatter from the impact. Things like that were only supposed to be in movies!

"Ack!"

The crowd gasped in horror of the scene, the attacked man still standing, jaw dropped open, as still as a stone. Gruesome silence filled the air, and for once the mall felt dead. No one dared make a move, let alone speak. The mighty lord took the time to circle the blade to his side twice in a nonchalant manner, and then slid the weapon into its sheath. Rin, never moving from her spot behind him, made a peek hole through the fingers that had masked her face from such an act. What amazed her was that the guy had yet to fall. Whoa…I'm glad he's on our side, she gulped. The crowd was still in awe, speechless. Inuyasha rolled his eyes at the silence.

"Oh, come on! It's not like he killed him or anything," he stated, walking passed his brother, not heeding Kagome's plea to stay away. Snake's buddies began shying back from him as Inuyasha approached the victim and blew into his face, the man falling back like a loose sheet of paper, fainting from the shock of having a sword just slice him in half like that. The crowd watched as his head hit the ground in unconsciousness, his feet rebounding back, rather comically.

"See?" Inuyasha began, turning towards Kagome. "It was just Tenseiga."

Mouth agape, the girl's mind processed the entirety of the situation; but the sound of half a dozen police whistles filled her ears, making her realize just what kind of problem they were going to be charged of. She warned to her companions. "Inuyasha, Rin, we have to get out of here!" As the cops shuffled between the bystanders to get passed and into the action, Kagome sprinted off in the opposite direction, the people in her way opening a spot for her to run through. Rin gasped, just catching on.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" she shot his way, and before she knew it, her handsome man had picked her up in his arms, carrying her away and over the people with a tall jump. Inuyasha, now alone, blinked in confusion at his fleeing group until the cops arrived.

"Hey, you over there! Are you responsible for all this!" cried a uniformed officer, pointing to him.

"Wait! It's that shoeless guy—and he's still not wearing any shoes!" cried a more familiar voice. Inuyasha, feeling drawn into a corner, quickly got on all fours and headed after Kagome, only stopping when he had caught up to her so she could climb onto his back. Soon the two were off and side by side with his brother and Rin.

"What the hell was that all about!" Kagome accused, looking to Rin. Sesshoumaru and her own ride kept traveling at a steady pace as they sprung across the mall's floors, always looking in front, each scream or wow of the shoppers first heard loud and then faint when they were left far behind.

"Um…well, this guy began hitting on me," Rin said innocently, arms gripping her holder's neck. "And after I told him to stop, he just kept going and…well, Sessh stepped in. Then things got worse when everyone thought that Lord Sesshoumaru was just in costume."

"Well, at least we know that they were able to 'blend in'," Kagome said sarcastically.

"Sorry," the other frowned.

"Whatever. There's nothing we can do about it now," she sighed. Looking over her shoulder as they left behind stores and people she came to know very well, the frown on the younger woman's face mirrored on her own. "Looks like we're gonna have to say good-bye to this place forever now." Rin silently agreed half-heartedly, her head positioned so she too could see their beloved hang out for the last time.

"Hey, Kagome." At Inuyasha's voice, the girls faced forward. "We're do we head to now?"

Yes—where would they go? Thinking shortly, Kagome came up with the best possible solution to some of their problems.

---------------------------------------------

Not too long after, Miroku came out of his bedroom's bath with just his pants on, drying off his wet hair with a white towel. "I'm sorry, guys; I hadn't expected Kagome and Rin to have come, let alone bring company," he smiled joyfully at the two strange males standing in his room. Throwing the towel onto the bed to perfume his naked arms and neck, he took his deodorant next and applied it while addressing the brothers.

"Of course, you don't need to be quiet, fellows. We're all men, here; there's always something we can find in common to talk about." Rummaging through his drawer, he found a navy shirt to put on.

"We didn't come here for chit chat," Inuyasha bluntly pointed out. "Kagome said we needed to find a change of clothing, and so here we are. Nothing more." He was upset that the girls were mumbling things just in the next room with Sango, knowing all-too-well that it was about him and Sesshoumaru, though not able to decipher their conversation.

Poking his head out of the shirt's opening Miroku chuckled nervously, a little apprehensive at the attitude. The girl's sure know how to pick 'em, he thought, believing the guys to be something more than just friends of theirs.

"Alright then," he cleared his throat. "Tell me what it is you want." The monk in training didn't question why they needed to borrow his belongings; he and his girlfriend trusted their neighbors too much not offer their assistance when they could. Besides; if the girls had wanted them to know the reasons, they would have told them already. It would just take time.

"What we want?" Inuyasha had crossed his arms in front of his chest, impatient at having to be alone with this stranger and his own brother. Of course, he could recognize him and Sango's scent, but their faces still seemed blurry to him. He reasoned that that could mean that he had known them as a mutt, but still had trouble actually remembering them as a person "I dunno," he shrugged, "anything; just as long as its clothes. What's the big deal?"

Miroku almost gasped, wondering just where such a comment could come from. "'What's the big deal'?" he echoed, walking over to one side of the room and opening the doors to his closet. "This, my friends," he smirked, "is a big deal."

The siblings were met with numerous colors, sizes and qualities of manly accessories and material; shirts, jeans, pants, formal and sporty wear hung in what seemed to be like hundreds of racks and hangers, almost a dozen shoes displayed neatly on the floor in rows. The girl's weren't kidding when they'd said that people (not exempting males) bathed more now than they did back then, and so had to have something new and clean after each wash.

"So? What do you think? Pick out anything you want," the host continued, waving a hand in the air as if bowing to a king. "And please be careful about making a mess," he scratched the back of his head, chuckling. "Sango just cleaned in here." The hanyou nodded, taken aback from the liberty of trying on something new and less red. He searched the pieces one by one.

"So, the ladies had yet to tell me your names." The monk had been taking a shower when his guests had arrived, and Sango had only informed him two friends of Kagome and Rin needed to spend the night in town and hadn't come with luggage.

"I'm Inuyasha," the hanyou turned to shake his hand, as instructed by Kagome for a positive first-impression. Knowing his brother would be more reluctant to doing the same, he answered for him with a head tilt. "And this is Sesshoumaru. We're from out of town." Surely Kagome would be proud of his acting. He went back to his search.

"Sesshoumaru, eh? Well, nice to meet you, too," the monk stretched out his hand kindly, only to take it back after noticing this second man was less responsive than the first. So he tried for small talk. "So, where exactly do you come from?"

"Someplace far," Inuyasha automatically shot back.

"How far?"

"Far enough," the lord's voice rang, startling the young monk. Something told him that he should change subject, especially when the taller male stared into his eyes the way he did. It was somewhat freighting.

And this is supposed to be Rin's boyfriend? Never would have guessed she had a thing for…uh, bad boys. "You two look alike," he continued, a bit hesitant. "Are you related? One could say you even look like broth—"

"Half brothers," the siblings cut in at the same time.

"O…kay…" Miroku quieted down, hoping Inuyasha would find something he liked sooner than later. After a while, he'd found some pants he was interested in.

"Ah, excellent choice!" Miroku exclaimed, taking the item. "These hold many fond memories for me, and I doubt they won't give you a taste of their luck," he winked, elbowing the hanyou sheepishly on the shoulder.

"…Huh?"

"Ah! I think I might have just the thing for you, too, my good man!" Miroku told Sesshoumaru, going though his closet, finding another pair of jeans. "Here. You can borrow these as well," he handed each piece to the respective brother, although the youkai was more reluctant to grab his.

"Now; go ahead and try them on," he smiled, urging them to be less stiff. Inuyasha looked at his pair one more time, until he set it aside to unfasten his obi and get to his hitoe, then kosode, and later to his hakama, seeing it would be easier to dress himself that way. Sesshoumaru, eyeing him, still a little apprehensive at having to put on anything else that wasn't of his family, later unfastened the tie around his waist, his boa and armor along with his and Inuyasha's swords left behind at the girl's apartment. They had been forced to leave those behind on their trip back.

-------------------------------------

"So they're not really your boyfriends?" Sango asked downheartedly in the living room, hoping that, for once, Rin had found a man and that Kagome had decided on one. Her cat, Kilala, sat in her lap, nuzzling to her master's stroke.

Rin sighed along with her. "No, sadly."

Kagome raised a brow at her phrase. "Anyways, thanks again for letting us come in on you guys like this, Sango."

"No problem," she noted.

"They're just friends of ours, coming for a visit, and only came with the clothes on their backs," Kagome tried to lie in the most believable, cheery voice. She even used her fakest smile she reserved for more important occasions.

"Of course, Kagome; you needn't say another thing about it. Any friend of yours and Rin are friends of ours too.

"Yes—well, we had gone to the mall to get stuff for them but…let's just say it didn't go well," she sweated, thinking that going back to another mall without their feudal belongings on would go better around the second time, although by how things looked, they might as well try online shopping…

"And are you sure they're alright? I mean, what was so terrible that they had to leave their hometown in such a hurry?"

"Issues," Rin jumped in. Kagome mentally gave her points for the comment.

"Don't ask why, though; they've gone through some tough times and barely even say a thing to us two," the older girl lied. "Not to mention they don't have any family to go to, so we're practically all they have left. We couldn't just say no to them coming over. We thought it would do them good to stay a while; you know—take their minds off of things. You understand, right?"

Sango, arm obscuring her now sobbing face, nodded. "Of course. That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard, Kagome. And no offense—this coming from you—that you'd actually let someone stay in your home when you're such a neat-freak." At this she received a complaint, but she kept on. "You're a kind friend, Kagome."

Biting her lower lip, the girl shrugged. "Yeah, well, you know me, eh heh heh," she scratched her head. "I'm all down when it comes to helping the needy, eh heh heh…"

"By the way," Rin spoke up, "we're sorry about not contacting you both before and coming here like this without warning. We've been…away all this time, helping them with their…uh…situation." True; that morning their answering machine had miraculously begun to work again, and they had dozens of messages waiting, most from their neighbors, a few from work and home, and the rest from Kagome's suitors. Those were hardest to explain to Inuyasha, who'd started acting jealous.

"That's alright," Sango dried a tear from her eye with her finger, smiling. "We were just worried that we hadn't heard of you for over two weeks; we thought something could've happened to you two! Thank kami you're alright. Even so, Kilala began acting…strangely whenever walking pass your front door, Kagome." The cat purred.

Said woman just kept chuckling nervously, forgetting about the animal's instincts. Good thing they hadn't been able to open their door to find out something they weren't ready to explain.

Unexpectedly, the couple's bedroom door snapped open, revealing a very frantic boyfriend. "Kagome! Rin!" he cried in a high pitch, looking around for them with shocked and confused eyes. Kagome immediately stood up, afraid of the worst. If the guys had ruined their only escape goat, she'd…

"Kagome, Rin! You guys failed to tell me something about these two," his voice changed to his usual tone. Behind him, the boys stepped out the door in their regular styles.

"What's wrong, Miroku?" Rin addressed him.

"You...they…they're…uh" he was ironically out of breath from that short sprint.

"Oh, um…did I forget to tell you that they're of a different race?" Kagome tried to clear up any awaiting accusations.

"They're going commando, that's what!"

"…Comando?" Sango and Rin repeated, a shade of red crossing the actor's cheeks. The boys, unknowingly, just waited for someone to explain.

"Oh, that…eh heh heh," Kagome blushed, forgetting to mention that small part. She was embarrassed that Miroku had to find out that their guys were nude under their clothing the wrong way. She figured he either didn't like other men dressing up in his things without something to cover up underneath, or that he'd seen…other parts of them that he wasn't accustomed to.

"Well, um, I can explain…"

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Note: according to wikipedia, kosode is Inuyasha's shirt, hitoe his jacket, obi his belt, and hakama his pants.

Nice, long chap after an update-slacking. Thanks to Sakurascent for her original 'bra' idea, although I believe I think I stretched it too much, among other things… (If anyone would be so kind to critic the chapter's length and/or content, please be my guest. Like perhaps it should have been divided into two chaps instead of one? And did it get too out of character, or too whacky? Too much nonsense? Anything?)

And a shout out to Murdoca, for her reminders to update (sweat drop) and to all who continue to read the fic. I'm dying to move on in the story. And as a preview for the next update, let's just say new characters shall make an appearance…

: D Hugs and luvs from Sugarsweet. Review?