Deceitful Time
Chapter 2: Drunk

"Inuyasha," she muttered to herself as she leaned over the well, she had another two finals or else she'd jump right through it and return to him, to them. They were so close, so very, very, close to completing the jewel, to killing Naraku, to ending it all.

Then what?

A smile lifted her lightly tinted lips; then everyone would be happy. Inuyasha, Miroku, and Sango would all have their revenge. Miroku would be able to live happily with his betrothed Sango, she'll get Kohaku back—Kagome could just feel it—and Inuyasha could finally find the peace he so desperately deserved.

She felt a little bad about stopping all of them like she constantly did only to go home and take exams, it seemed so mundane when she saw their world. The warring states era they lived in, each day people fought for their lives, each day Miroku's wind tunnel got bigger, Sango's sorrow grew deeper, and Inuyasha's impatience… well, need she say anything about that, really? And here she was essentially wasting time taking on exams…

A sigh escaped her pouted lips as she pushed off the well and exited the small hut to go off to her friend Eri's house. A few of her friends were gathered there to study for their History final they all had tomorrow, ugh. She defiantly needed help there. She always got the written facts about Feudal Era mixed up with the things she saw there.

{xoxoxoxoxox}

"No, no, no, no, no!" Kagome protested as a friend dragged her forward by each hand and another, Eri, pushed her along from behind in the crowded Tokyo night streets. "Guys! We need to study! I don't want to go!"

"You are never feeling well so why waste the time studying? We know this club that doesn't check IDs, we can get in," Ayumi laughed, she was the only one not pushing or pulling Kagome but instead walked backwards in front of her with her hands behind her back. "You'll have fun."

"I met my boyfriend there last month," Sachiko winked with a tug on her left wrist, "he's a college student and goes to Tokyo U. Awesome, right?"

"No, guys, I really need to study," Kagome kept up. Studying, securing her future; that was how she justified what she did, that was enough to allow her to swallow her guilt and return home but going out clubbing on a school night? No. That wasn't fair. She just couldn't.

That didn't stop her friends from dragging her into the club, who, conveniently enough, her friend Michiko's boyfriend happen to be the bouncer for, for the night so they didn't need to wait in the line nor did he care that Kagome declared that she didn't want to go at all. He just gave her a smirk, kissed Michiko and wished them a good time.

"Guys!" Kagome shouted again but they had lost Eri to a flirtatious guy by that point and only the other three remained with her, after some constant coercion they got her onto the dance floor. It only took a song of watching her friends laugh, dance, and enjoy themselves… like normal high school students did, like normal people did! Like she should be. She was only a girl; after all, didn't she deserve some fun? Didn't she deserve to act her age in her own era every once and a while? Let's face reality, no amount of studying will get her a B on the history final so why not just let it all go and join in on the jiggling and giggling of her friends?

So that's what she did, even if it might be wrong, it'd just have to be her little secret.

{xoxoxoxoxox}

"Shiro!" Blondy boasted with the biggest laugh as she kissed his cheek and her coffee haired friend did the other, "I can't believe you got us in, you are the best!"

"Yeah," he muttered, clubs… loud, awful lightening, and just generally annoying but he often went to them. Why not? It was easy to find someone to entertain himself for a while there always had the best alcohol. Best yet, he got into the VIP area each time. There he could just be the spectator that he was subjected to be throughout eternity. He watched the perverts, flirts, drunks, dancers, and all around idiots move about. Coffee and Blondy got up to dance for him and the other two very highbrow men that got into the same section.

Those two weren't coming home with him again that night, probably. He had his fill of them and if he let them come home with him more than three times then they always got clinging and thought somehow they were special. They weren't. None were.

"Yeah, Kagome!" One of the many, many, shouts proclaimed. Just barely did his superior hearing catch it but it did get him to move his gaze around the dance floor once more to see three girls swaying away at the far right section, one had flowing ebony waves as she rose her arms above her head and swung her hips about just like the rest, he almost looked away just as she spun around to face one of her friends and laugh joyfully as she grabbed her friend's arms once the song stopped.

That face… from earlier… that Kagome. She sparked nothing, though, so… he only stared for a while longer as another song picked up and they all went back to their fluid motions before Coffee chick turned his face to her and her friend, "what's got your attention other than us, Shiro?" she pouted in a way he was very sure could seduce even the best of men but he was unfazed.

Was he even really a man after five hundred years? Wasn't he just a… shadow?

"Kagome," Eri shrieked giddily as she wrapped her arms around her friend's neck, "guess what?"

"What?" She laughed back before her hazel eyes wondered to the guy Eri had honed in from the start of the night, he was fairly good looking but nothing breath taking.

"That guy that did whatever," Eri raised a brow and scoffed some, "lame pick up he was trying to do to you at McyDs before—granted, he's hot—is here! He's in the VIP section over there with those two girls from earlier."

"What?" Kagome awed as she leaned forward out of the bumping bodies to see him, staring shamelessly from at the swaying sex subjects before him, "eh, perv."

"Yeah," Eri nodded as she handed Kagome a glass, "try this."

"No, Eri, I can't drink… I'm too young."

"She's so cute!" Michiko squealed as she took a drink from her now off-duty bouncer boyfriend and handed another to Sachiko and Ayumi. "She's so innocent and sweet!"

"I bet she's never had sex," Ayumi teased as she tugged on her friend's sleeve and pulled her closer. How she envied Kagome, she was so pretty and naturally so, that was always the hardest type of beauty to achieve. She didn't even know they were going clubbing that night, she dressed conservatively in a non-revealing crystal blue V-neck, boyfriend fit silk-cashmere top and nutmeg colored jeans, she didn't even have to wear make-up to stand out like the other's couldn't. "Have you ever kissed someone, Kagome?"

"Stop it, guys," she pouted as she reluctantly took the drink from Eri.

"Oh! My! God!" Eri gawked as she covered her mouth.

"You haven't!" Sachiko jumped a bit, "whoa! Kagome! That's our goal for the night, get Kagome's first kiss!"

"No, guys!" Kagome shook her head, "come on, sure I have…" sort of.

"Fine, you drink that," Eri pointed to her cup, "and we'll back off."

With a deep breath Kagome weighed her options and let the little devil make the choice for her.

{xoxoxoxoxox}

"That asshole! I don't even know what he wanted, he was so weird!" Kagome almost stuttered as she swayed from one foot to the other.

"You should go over there and give him a piece of your mind, Kagome," Sachiko edged on with a small smirk as she finished off her first cup, she could handle herself but Kagome clearly couldn't. A drunken Kagome was very, very funny Kagome, her friends discovered quickly.

"You so should," Michiko nodded as she pushed her towards the VIP section, "tell him just cause he's drop dead sexy doesn't mean he can't be so jerk-off-ish."

"Exactly!" Kagome raised a hand in the air to show her support for her supposed idea as she marched forward.

"You guys," Eri drew out as she leaned back into her guy for the night's arms more, "that's kind of mean."

"Oh well, what could ever happen to perfect Kagome?" Ayumi shrugged, "Hojo drawls all over her and she doesn't even give a damn."

"If something happened to Kagome… like she got a boyfriend," Sachiko smiled ever so innocently, "Hojo would be free for… a better," she choice her word carefully, "woman and not a girl."

"Though, honestly, Hojo would love a virgin," Michiko added as she sat down on the lap of her boyfriend.

"Hey, you!" Kagome shouted as she got to the red velvet rope that separated the elites from the common club folk, a bouncer stopped her before she could jump it.

"Who's that?" Coffee questioned as she let her revealed legs stretch out on the couch and leaned her head onto his shoulder.

"Isn't that the little high schooler who was proclaiming her love for you earlier today, Shiro?" Blondy inquired absently as she mimicked her friend's actions. "Tell her to go away."

"You are weird!" Kagome declared as she pointed her finger at 'Shiro' before letting her hand sway away, "you dragged me out of McDonalds for no reason today without even giving me a reason!"

"Did I?" He asked with a shrug, the little girl defiantly had one too many, "you are Kagome, right?"

"Yes! I! am Kagome," she nodded once swiftly, "what did you want today?"

"Whoa, there, Kagome," Blondy bickered with a snarl, "you're going to tip over."

"Shut up, hooker woman," Kagome demanded as she countered herself and gained her balance once more to proudly place her hands upon her hips.

"What did you just say!?" Coffee girl shouted, "how dare you! Shiro!"

A smirk surfaced as he brushed the woman off to walk over to the boundary ropes, to get a better look at the fiery girl that tried her utmost to stare him down all the way, "do you know…?" dare he say? Dare he ask? Yes, "a man named Inuyasha?"

Maybe it was the right Kagome, finally, but maybe they hadn't met yet. Maybe… how was it again that he knew a Kagome from five hundred years in the future? The world was a flipped up, strange place, and he knew that best. Some magic was probably behind it or maybe… like all the other maybes in his life, he just didn't care. Maybe Kagome didn't mean an ebony waved, hazel eyed beauty. Maybe he had made that up at some point.

"Inu…?" that near deadly stare faded and slowly was over taken by furrowed brows and an ever so slightly ajared mouth, "Inu… Yasha? Inuyasha? Why do you know him…? Who are you?"

"You do know Inuyasha?" He stood up straight and raised a brow. That wasn't a common name, not like Kagome, how many people were named that? Especially nowadays?"Really?"

"How do you know about Inuyasha?" Kagome repeated with a bit more confusion.

"Come with me," he requested as he jumped over, easily, the red rope and grabbed one of her arms, gently.

"Shiro!" Blondy whined.

"Shut it, women," he demanded without even looking back.

That… Kagome couldn't believe how much that sounded just like Inuyasha. Was this Shiro guy his reincarnation like she had thought for a fleeting moment? Did he somehow have memories from his past life? That would make sense; that she could maybe understand… too bad she had too much to drink to think straight.

"Who are you?" Kagome protested as she jerked her arm free and stepped away from him as soon as the brisk city air blew some of her hair once they stepped outside. "Why do you know Inuyasha? Why do you look like him? Why do you talk like him? Why…?"

"Settle down, don't cry," he snickered.

"I'm not!" She proclaimed weakly, "how do you know Inuyasha?"

"How do you! I asked first!"

"Actually, I did," he kept up only to fluster her into stomping her flat heeled boot upon the ground, "well?"

"He's not going to like it when I tell him some weirdo named Shiro is picking on me about him!" She warned as she poked him in the chest, "he'll get mad and he'll, he'll, come and find you!"

"What is he your boyfriend or something?"

Just like that she straightened up and her cheeks reddened, "n-no, no!"

"Hm," he nodded with a wiry gaze, this girl clearly wasn't going to fess up anytime soon. Now was that because her story would sound as insane as his or the simple fact that she was drunk? "So that doesn't answer anything. Let's just make this clear, are we both talking about a half demon?"

"Ah!" Kagome gawked, "what? How do you know that!?"

"Huh," he shrugged, "that makes things interesting for once."

{xoxoxoxoxox}

A sober Kagome would never ever have gone home with a stranger like she did that night, nope, she was fairly certain about that at least but… who really knows? Either way she did and was she ever impressed by the fantastic façade. It was enough to make her forget why she even agreed to go there.

"Wow…"

"I get that a lot, usually after I get the girl into bed," he teased but she most likely didn't hear since she just kept walking round with her mouth half opened, "will you tell me now how you know Inuyasha? I'll tell you how I do afterwards."

"Uh," Kagome dragged out as she spun around to look at him, a bit wobbly, too, "I go back and forth between Feudal Era Japan and now via this well thingy that's on my family's property. Inuyasha is a half demon that I freed from a tree back there, he's super strong," she assured as she took a step forward and tried to illustrate that with her hands, "and really short tempered but a good guy. He protects me. We are looking for the shikon no tama to kill Naraku, this evil," she wrinkled her nose, "demon and save Sango's brother Kohaku and Miroku."

Sango… Miroku… those names always sparked something in the very, very, very back of his mind but he never remembered what.

"What?" She questioned once she noticed the stricken look on his face, "you don't believe me, do you? This is why I don't tell people and everyone thinks I'm so sickly and stuff! And somehow innocent, why is that a bad thing!? So I'm not a whorish woman like other people! Why do I get made fun of because of that!? Is that a good quality!?"

"What?" he shook his head, "what are you talking about?"

"What are you talking about?" Kagome countered ever so supposedly cleverly as she placed her hands once more on her hips, "how do you know my," she cleared her throat, "Inuyasha?"

"I'm Inuyasha," he stated in a matter-of-fat tone. Why not just come clean? What did it even matter?

"I knew it!" Kagome jumped up and down as she pointed at him with glee, "you're his reincarnation, aren't you!? That's cool! I'm Kikyou's reincarnation and we're from the same time period!"

"What?" He scoffed; did he say anything about reincarnations? He sure did hope it was the alcohol that made her sound so stupid or else he was a fool to spend five hundred years looking for her… why was he looking for her?

"Kikyou is a priestess!"

"Kik…Kikyou," he breathlessly whispered as he looked away, turning his back to her to stare out his windows—the reason he bought the place. Kikyou that name rang a bell, too, but he no longer remembered why. It gave him a knot in his chest, at least it used to.

"Hello?" Kagome pushed his shoulder slightly as she walked up beside him, "you listening to me?"

"I am Inuyasha," he repeated slower, softer, before his less hazel and more golden gaze moved to her once more, "not his reincarnation, him."

"No you aren't!" Kagome laughed, "Inuyasha is a half demon with long silver hair and blinding golden eyes and fangs and dog ears!" That was why she knew it couldn't be him, that's why she grabbed his ears to prove they were human ones but… they weren't. Her eyes widened right away as she backed away.

Pointed, they were just slightly pointed but she knew what that meant. He was a full… "you… you are a…"

"I used the shikon no tama to become a full demon," he explained as he walked over to his magnificent bar stand and poured himself a glass of his favorite, oldest, brandy with two ice cubes, he lifted his glass to her to see if she wanted anything but she had yet to blink so he doubted it.

"In…Inuyasha….?"

"Yeah, it's been five hundred years, huh?"

"Inuyasha…" she repeated once more as she covered her mouth with both hands and muffled something else, he guessed it was his name again. How long had it been since he heard it? Heard it like that, too? With such feeling behind it?

"Kagome—"

"Does that mean we won!?" She exclaimed after she swiftly withdrew her hands, "that Sango and Miroku live happily ever after? That we get the full shikon no tama back? That Naraku dies?"

Without a reply he walked back over to her but never looked at her, his eyes always stuck to his favorite view, his glass swishing in his hand before he took a much needed sip. Was this really happening? Yes, it had to be, when was the last time he had a dream?

"I can't recall. It was so long ago."

"How can you not remember!?" This wasn't happening, this person couldn't be Inuyasha after all, "why do people call you Shiro if you are Inuyasha!?"

"I don't know, some woman started calling me that at some point and it caught on."

"Some woman!?" She kicked his shin but apparently caused him no discomfort, just enough to make him glance to her, "what were you doing with those trampy looking women before anyway!?"

"What? You said we weren't together, so was I meant to wait five hundred years for you?"

That stopped her dead in her tracks, her stiffness subsided, her shoulders sagged as her hands slowly drifted to her side. That's right… they weren't together… that must mean they never would be… how could she ask him to wait five hundred years? If he used the shikon no tama to become a demon then she had to be out of his life… she wouldn't ever have wanted to be around him if he did that. She didn't even really think he wanted to be a full demon anymore.

"Right… we aren't," she murmured to herself as her glance slowly moved to the floor, "what do you want then… Inuyasha?"

"I don't know," he muttered as he walked over to his bedroom.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Kagome cried out but in three minutes he never came out nor replied so, cautiously, she walked over to the edge of the door and looked into the bedroom, "why is your shirt off!?"

"Why does it bother you so much?" He countered as he waved her in, she didn't budge from her stiffened, starry eyed, self.

"Tell me why I did this," he requested while he moved over to her, one hand of his went up to the tattoo upon his shoulder, "tell me why… I don't remember why."

It felt like forever that she stared into his familiar yet so different eyes before she looked to the spot in question, her eyes couldn't go any wider so he couldn't tell how she reacted to seeing it.

In perfect scroll there her name was written, Kagome.