A/N: Somewhat of a shorter chapter for me... Erm, I suppose that's all. Sorry for the delay.

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or anything else mentioned in this story; duh. XD
Rated: Mature For crude language, sexual references, and mature situations.

CHAPTER 28

I sat, inhaling the scent of InuYasha's shampoo on her hair. She was quiet, and I wondered if she really wanted to talk, or if she just hadn't wanted to be left alone—that I could understand.

I pursed my lips, slightly, and looked down at my feet. The criss-crossing of my shoelaces suddenly became very enthralling despite the act that the laces were no longer their original white color. They were graying, darkening into a shade further than white than was expected. What this the doing of the silver eyelets running the length of the top of the shoe?

"You're the girl who had the run in with Naraku," she said, her voice seeming colder than I remembered. I flinched at the mention of his name, suddenly feeling cold and my skin began to tingle; my ribs ached.

Should this unreasonable fear ever subside?

She stood and her damp black hair, as dark as the darkest night in the deepest depths of the ocean, swished thickly behind her. She made her way over to where InuYasha was sitting, too close for my comfort. It was pretty late. Would anyone hear a scuffle?

"Yes," I bit out, answering her.

"Sorry, we don't have to talk about that if you don't want. He assaulted me as well, long before your incident. I never said anything; I was too afraid to say anything. You and your mom have guts."

"She's not my mom," I mumbled standing up. "I'd better leave."

"Ok," she frowned, seemingly at some sort of realization.

"You know, InuYasha was telling me a lot about you… I was kind of jealous, but hey, that's InuYasha."

I moved over to the door, uncomfortable with her completely. She was undoubtedly strange.

"Tell him I had to leave… to fix up things with my girlfriend… ok?"

She nodded with a frown and a deep furrow of her eyebrows.

"Alright. Maybe I'll talk to you later," I said stepping out into the evening.

"Wait."

I turned to look at her and saw how sad her eyes were. What did she want from me?

"I… I felt that I should tell you that I really like InuYasha," she blushed gently, but smiled before looking away. I shrugged, getting ready to leave, finding that information a bit useless to me.

"He still likes you a lot, you must know that."

"And?"

"Don't break up with your girlfriend."

"What? Why not?"

Why was she, all of a sudden, knowing about my life and wanting to intervene in it? She was about to speak, but I interrupted, figuring it out on my own.

"Look, whether or not I fucking break up with my girlfriend has nothing to do with you or InuYasha. Just because I break up with her doesn't mean I'm going to come chasing after dick, ok? You can have him; I'm not interested in him and don't think for a second that you know me, because you don't."

I stormed off, annoyed. Do I really seem that shallow?

I drove around a bit to cool off, finding the return of my anger as a bad sign. Surely I wouldn't blow up at Asuka… right?

Moments later, I was in front of her home. I'd make this quick. I wouldn't draw it out.

After ringing the doorbell I stood there waiting for a little while. The door was opened, but not by Asuka. It was Kocho, nearly identical, but different. I could tell.

"What the fuck did you do or say to my sister," she spat almost immediately.

Whoa? She needed to calm down.

"Can I see Asuka?" I asked, deciding on ignoring her. Her dark eyes narrowed and she stood her ground… well, as well as a girl of 5'5" could stand against me who was at least four inches taller.

"Look, I'm not here to pick a fight," I said after a moment, relaxing my shoulders. "I just want to see your sister, and hopefully sort things out."

"She came home crying," the twin said, looking devastated. "The moment I saw her, I could tell something was terribly wrong."

Tears quickly gathered in her eyes and I was bewildered. I never knew she cared so much for her twin sister… I was always under the impression that Asuka was merely being over dramatic about her adoration of Kocho… but this girl—this girl, she really cared about her twin.

"Look, if she didn't tell you, then she doesn't want you to know… But I need to talk to her, ok?"

She gazed at me skeptically, but I saw trust in her eyes, and I wondered where that had come from.

"Ok… but only because of how good you've been to her up until now."

Brushing away her tears she stepped away from the door and allowed me to enter.

"Kocho, who is it?" a voice I didn't recognize asked.

"Sango," Kocho replied and a woman appeared near the entryway to the kitchen.

"Oh, wow," she said, smiling. "So you're the one Asuka's been spending all her time with? I'm Ayumi, Asuka's mom."

She was just as lovely as her daughters, but I knew that the girls looked more like their dad as soon as I laid eyes on their mother. I'd never seen their dad; I just knew simply because they had very little resemblance to their mother, therefore their gentle facial features were left to their father. Their pale, flawless skin and adorable size was their mother's though.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you," I said, offering a hand.

"Oh, nonsense, Asuka's always telling me so much about you," she swatted away my hand gently and pulled me into a hug. "We're practically family now."

I suddenly felt bad. Did Asuka really talk about me that much? I didn't know what to say to her.

"You can go on up—she's in her room," she smiled and I blushed gently. This woman seemed to be overflowing with happiness and kindness. I felt as if I were offending her existence just by being there.

I slowly made my way up to Asuka's room, trying to collect my thoughts. Before, I had been so sure that I needed to break up with her… now… now I wasn't.

I knocked on the door, and she didn't answer… Did she know it was me? Or was she just ignoring everyone?

I knocked again, harder. Annoyed, I tried the door and found it was locked.

"Asuka, open the door," I requested gently. Pressing my ear to the cold thin wood of the door, I heard her moving around, just a bit, within her room. However, there was no move to open the door, I was sure.

"Open the fucking door!" I knocked harder. I could sense my anger just beneath the surface. I wasn't in the mood for this. I sighed, heavily, and shifted on my feet. Maybe I should just leave her alone for a while? It would do us both some good and I could really get a chance to think about this.

"I just want to say sorry!" I lied, resting my forehead against the door. "I'm so sorry for hurting you."

I stood there for a while before heaving a heavy sigh.

It was then that the door opened. She had tears in her eyes and on her face. Her eyes were not only shedding tears, but they were red, hinting that she had been at it for a long while. She had been crying for a long while… and I was to blame. It hurt…

"I'm sorry," I breathed, gathering her in my arms. "I'm so sorry."

"It's ok… it's my fault anyways," she mumbled into my shoulder.

"No, it's not."

I held her, waiting for her to stop crying. I could hardly handle her crying, it was far too sad looking—the way that her eyes got all big and wet, or how her face looked so absolutely pathetic and how her cheeks flushed and her nose reddened... Before long, we were lying on her bed relaxing with one another. It was routine; we'd done this many times before. We were holding hands and as I gazed up at the ceiling, I tried to find the courage to just tell her and get it over with.

"I think we should break up."

I sat up quickly, gazing at her. She was breaking up with me?

"Asuka… I… we… why?" I stammered, relieved, yet slightly hurt.

"I realize, I'm only fooling myself in this relationship and I'm only hurting myself."

I really had no objections… I was just… surprised.

"Are you sure?"

"Isn't that what you were going to do here, tonight?" she seemed bitter.

"Well, yeah, but I was having second thoughts and I thought that maybe we could talk about it… I guess that was stupid of me." I couldn't help the frown that was tugging at my lips or the strange numbness in my chest. Things were done, they were as I wanted them to be, yet I was dissatisfied.

I heaved a sigh and let go of her hand, its iciness lost to my own forever.

"I'll see you around," I mumbled before standing and leaving her room. She made no move to object; like that tiny part in my heart wanted her to.

Trudging downstairs Kocho and Ayumi both were watching me very closely. Their mother was about to speak but I beat her to it, in hopes of saving us both some trouble.

"She broke up with me. I probably won't be around here anymore, but it was nice meeting you," I gave a nod and a quick, fake smile.

And with that I was out of the door before anyone could question me. I went home and sat in my car for a while, thinking.

I was somewhat proud of Asuka… in that one act of breaking up with me, she showed me the most courage I had ever seen from her in our time together. She was ready to break away from me… we didn't need one another any longer. She could fend or herself, and maybe she'd attempt to talk to her sister about her feelings. Perhaps just talk and not force them onto her, like I had done with Kagome. And with that, I'm sure that her sister (who seems very open to things) might give her a chance. I could only hope for the best—and I knew that was the best. I realized there was absolutely nothing wrong with love. Absolutely nothing.

The sound of my car door slamming shut brought me out of my thoughts, or only served to allow me to surface for a quick moment. With the cool night air dancing across my skin and dipping into my burning eyes, I made my way back to the house.

Kohaku was playing video games with Souta in the living room. I supposed he'd be staying the night.

"Can I join?" I asked, plopping down on the free couch.

I was handed a control and I played some sort of multiplayer, fighting video game with them. Once I understood the controls, I began beating them and they started to complain.

"Player two has been eliminated!" the TV proclaimed.

"Fuck," Kohaku groaned.

"Man, you're garbage," Souta laughed.

In no mood for middle school students' trash talk, I decided to turn in for the night.

I went to bed feeling slightly empty and isolated. Asuka was done with me, InuYasha was having apparently great sex with a hot girl, and Kagome would undoubtedly run back to Koga after he put on his charm. And I…? I was alone, just like I was after Miroku died. Some things never change, huh?

The next morning I took a shower really early, around five or so. I got dressed and completed my portfolio all the while having to suffer through looking at pictures of InuYasha and Asuka. I then idly played on the computer and did silly things to said photographs including editing in light sabers and making the subjects "fire their lazars" (yes, even Kilala). (1) I saved my portfolio (minus my idle play) onto a flash drive and saved the files onto my profile and personal page at my soon to be university. I then took the flash drive and sealed it in an envelope—I planned on mailing it as well, as they instructed.

After passing by the post office I found myself driving around pointlessly, again. What was I going to do with my life?

Minutes later, I decided to visit someone I hadn't visited in a while. I bought some flowers at the grocery store and began my short drive to my destination downtown. The sun was now high enough to cause some damage, and it was hot. It was so fucking hot.

I turned into the long, twisting, gravel drive wondering if people came to this place often… I know I didn't, and I was sorry for that. He was located somewhere near the end of the drive and I would take my time finding his resting place. I got out of my car and navigated between the headstones, gray and glistening in the light of the sun. Surely I wouldn't have forgotten where he lay?

I turned to my right, hoping that I had gotten to the right place; I think I would lose all respect for myself if I had forgotten. A brief smile split onto my lips and I sank to my knees right before his headstone. I began to read it but as soon as my eyes passed over his name they blurred with tears. It took me a few minutes to be calm enough to read the rest that followed the dates—one I cherished, and one I hated:

A loving husband and son; a fantastic friend.

Of course he wasn't married. Though, people often teased us for acting like a married couple, and apart from our spats, we did act as if we were married. We were attached to one another, always, holding hands, hugging… something. And if that wasn't enough, we never made a decision without one another. That was, amongst love and the other things, what we shared.

One day, he teasingly said to his mother that if he died, he wanted that same sentence there on his tombstone. Who were we to deny his wishes?

A hot dry breeze rushed through and I fought to keep the images of his bloody, dead face from my mind—his cold, dead eyes, and pained, shocked expression and slight smile. Tears met my eyes again and I was seized with sobs that made it difficult to breathe. As I slumped against his tombstone in painful weakness I realized I didn't care if anyone saw. I hugged the hard, hot rock; it was nothing like Miroku's soft, warm body.

Soon after finding my strength again, I left. I wanted to visit my parents, but I knew I wasn't strong enough to do so on my own. I'd come in a couple of days and bring Kohaku, and maybe Kagura. I wouldn't have to do it alone. I promised myself that.

1- I'm guilty of editing light sabers and "shoop da whoop lazars" into photos. lol, it's fun though! (and speaking of editing, I updated my deviantART and since I never pass up an opportunity to whore my dA, you can find the link in my profile. ;D yay)

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Enigmatic Ethereality