Deceitful Time
Chapter Twelve: Together

She got in without being noticed and went back to bed until Souta came in to wake her so they could open their gifts. Like she said she would, she explained to her mom how Shiro had no family around and, like she thought, her mother was happy to accept him over for dinner. Just so she could use her new phone, she made sure to call him in the afternoon to verify that he was coming.

Even though he didn't remember his frequent journeys over to her world and all the times he met her grandpa and brother, he fit in fine. His grandpa kept a close eye on him, making sure that he didn't try anything funny with his granddaughter. Souta begged him to pay a video game or two with him and he was still able to charm her mother into thinking that he was a golden boy.

… but that was two days ago, and other than a text or two then a call to tell her he wouldn't be able to go over and tutor her on Tuesday she hadn't heard from him and not once had she seen him.

{xoxoxoxoxo}

"Checking for a new text again, Kagome?" Sachiko teased from across the table. The girls had again gathered together for an outing, "haven't heard from Shiro in a while…?"

"Uh? What? No," was she that transparent?

"Have you had sex with him yet?" Eri inquired after she took a sip of her soda.

"What?! Of course not!" Flustered Kagome cried out as she grasped her cup more, "we aren't even dating…"

"But you went on a date together to the Christmas festival?" Michiko asked.

"And you spent Christmas Eve decorating his place?" Sachiko added.

"And you had him over from Christmas dinner?" Ayumi awed, "how can you say you aren't dating?"

"Tell us you have at least kissed the guy," Eri begged.

"Well… yes," she nodded, "we have."

"It's because Kagome's a virgin," Sachiko explained in a matter-of-fact voice, "that they haven't done it yet. We all held out for a while when we were, because you are waiting for him to do something really romantic, right? In reality they don't, and if they do when you look back on it… it's not that great."

"My first guy just took me to a love hotel," Michiko sighed, "don't let Shiro do that. It's not that great. It's OK for sex-time afterwards, though."

"G-guys, come on, let's stop talking about this."

"We're helping you," Ayumi assured, "listen, you aren't going to want to just jump into having sex. It'll hurt more if you do it like that, let him finger—"

"Ayumi, please!" Kagome cried with pink flushed cheeks.

"She's right," Sachiko sang, "fool around a few times before just going for it."

"That way you know if you have any chemistry with him, too," Eri enlightened, "maybe…"

"Maybe… what?" Kagome couldn't help but ask from the strange evasive look on her friend's face.

"He is older than you," she shrugged, "maybe he's sick of waiting. Older guys usually only want to have sex, so if you make them wait too long they just move on. After all, you haven't done anymore than kiss right?"

"No… it's not like that…" Shiro wouldn't… no, he wouldn't. Right?

{xoxoxoxoxo}

Never before had she been so nervous when she stood in front of his door. She could hear her heart pounding as she lifted her hand to knock, weakly, a few times. This was stupid, she knew Shiro and he wouldn't be with another woman just because she hadn't given herself to him yet… She was sure of that, why was she even considering the possibility? If only she hadn't gone to her friends for advice, really, she regretted it. They gave her a lot of unneeded information, well, it was only unneeded because she had no intention of ever doing anything like that with him but if she were—hypothetically only, of course—what they told her would come in handy…

"Kagome?" He asked after opening the door, "what are you doing here?"

"I haven't seen you in a while," she meekly mumbled as her eyes flickered down to her feet, "just wondering if you are OK, I guess."

"Fine, fine," he assured as his gaze wondered around the hallway before he took her hand and led her into his place so he could close and lock the door. "It's only been a day."

"It's been two!"

It was almost embarrassing, she was sure he could probably hear her heart stop being when his rare smile curled up is lips, "you miss me, Kagome?"

"Shut up, Shiro," she stuttered before she began to remove her shoes, hung her coat and set her purse on the small table in the entryway that was meant for keys and mail.

"Kagome, if you wanted to see me," he whispered into her ears as he grabbed her shoulders tenderly, "you could have just called me. I would have come over yesterday."

"I-It's not like that," she stumbled forward slightly, "it's just you are always worrying about where I am and suddenly I don't see you for a few days… that's all."

"Kagome," he began with an even grander grin but a quick series of thuds upon his door caught his attention. "Go into the living room."

"OK…" she sighed but did so slowly so she could still see him head to the door and hear him open it. A shrill shriek made her shiver to a stop, the next thing she knew Shiro was on the ground with an overly excited girl on top of him, her knees on each side of his hips, her hands on either side of his neck.

"Yasha!" The girl cried out as she bent down to hug his neck, "I've missed you!"

"Mi," he choked before prying her arms off and getting to his feet, "hi."

"That's all?" She pouted as she simply rose to her knees and pulled off her wool knit hat to expose two sagging kitty ears, "Yasha, I've missed you…"

"It's been two hours and what are you doing without your pendant on?!" He scoffed back before Kagome caught his eyes.

"It's winter so I can just wear a hat. You know how I hate that stupid thing, Yasha!" She protested as she leered forward to hug his waist, but he avoided it and grabbed Kagome to separate him from the girl.

"Who's this?" Mi mopped as she reluctantly got up, "another random whore?"

"Hey!" Kagome shouted.

"This is Ka-go-me," he slowly implied.

"Wait…" Mi sighed, "tattoo Ka-go-me?"

"Yep."

Her auburn orbs glared at the girl for a moment before huffing out a silent insult, "I'm Mimiko, nice to meet you."

"Shiro," Kagome sassed the second Mi had wondered off into the guest bedroom, "is she a lesbian, too?"

"What? No," he wished while he led her into the living room that had yet to be de-Christmasfied.

"So… is she staying here?" Kagome kept up with tightly folded arms, her weight more on one leg then the other only exacerbated the sour look upon her pretty face.

"Kagome…" he cautiously began as he poured himself a glass of whatever was in the darkened crystal bottle, he allowed himself a much needed drink before taking a breath and looking over at the still scoffing girl, "just because she's a female doesn't mean I'm screwing her."

"I didn't ask that," she spat out quickly as she rearranged her arms from being folded to resting upon her hips, "I asked if she is staying here."

"You wanted to know if I've fucked her, you want to know if I am still fucking her," he countered with a small shake of his glass towards her, "but yes, she's staying her temporarily."

"You are so rude," she scowled with a shake of her head; she turned her back to him and began towards the entryway once more before he caught her attention.

"You won't say you like me, you won't say we are dating, so… why's it matter if some girl is staying with me? If we were dating, if you were my," he had to pause to search for the proper term of the day, "girlfriend, then I'd have OKed it with you beforehand."

"Don't start that! Of course we are dating!" She shouted as she spun around; right away, she shut her eyes and took a deep breath. She hadn't meant that… she hadn't meant to say it. It was just because of the talk she had recently with her friends about him, that's all… they weren't…

"We are?" He grinned as he took a few steps closer to her, "then, Kagome, is it OK if Mi stays here with me until New Years? Then she'll be gone. I promise not to do anything improper, after all," his hand lifted up to gently stroke her cheek and coax her eyes to open once more, "I have been waiting for you for over five hundred years. Why would I ruin that—?" was exactly where he should have ended the statement, it would have been charming, almost romantic, and surely would have made her heart flutter but he had to be cocky, "just because you won't have sex with me? It's not like it's that big of a deal."

"Shiro," she scoffed while knocking his hand away, "idiot, don't say such things."

"Fine," he sighed before taking another sip, "but, seriously, is it OK if Mi stays or not? I really do promise nothing will transpire between us. She's just a kid. I'm not as perverted as you think I am."

"A kid?" She couldn't help but raise a brow to that. Mi wasn't anything like that mature and attractive Akiko, she'd grant him that, but she didn't look any younger than herself. If she had to guess Mi was between sixteen and seventeen, at most eighteen.

"Yeah, she's just a kid," a clingy, overly excitable kid, but nothing more; surely not a woman and surely not a candidate to bed with.

"I am not a kid! Yasha!" Mi protested as she stormed out of the guest room, "I am a hundred years old! How am I a child still!?"

"You act like one," he grunted, "once you act like a woman I'll treat you like one."

"She's only, what!? Fifteen!" Mi accused with a point to Kagome, "how is she a woman and I'm not?"

"I never said," but he knew to bit his lip before it was too late… or so he thought.

"You never said what?" Kagome demanded.

"Nothing, nothing, anyway, Mi, leave us alone, we need to talk," he proclaimed with a wave of his hand that held his drink towards her.

"Yasha, you are so mean!" Was all she screamed before slamming the door behind her.

"See? A child," he assured before wondering over to sit on a chair.

"You never said what?" Kagome kept with as she walked over to stand in front of him, "you don't think I'm a woman?"

"Kagome…" there was no need to get into such a matter.

"No? So what? You think I'm a kid but you still want to have sex with me? Doesn't that completely counter what you just said about Mi?"

"Only Yasha can call me Mi!" A muffled cry called out.

"Mi!" He shouted back, "watch TV or something!"

"Shiro," Kagome caught his chin and made him look at her, "tell me."

"I don't think you're a kid at all, Kagome," he swore as he took her hand gently into his, "not even a little bit."

"But…? What? I'm not a woman? Because, what? I'm never…?" Had sex? Was that what classified someone as an adult? She'd seen things, gone through so much, that no adult of her time had—wasn't that enough for him to see her as a woman? Wait… why did it matter so much if he did or not? Wouldn't it be best if he didn't? If what he said about Mi was true?

"Kagome, don't get mad," he begged before letting his lips grace the back of her hand, "it's just… you don't act like a woman, that's all."

"What do you mean I don't act like a woman?" She retorted as she recoiled her hand into her other one.

"It's just… woman use words, not violence, you use a great deal of violence," he murmured and could just feel a slap in the face coming.

And if he hadn't said that she just might have done so, "so I'm a kid?!"

"No, you are in-between, in the processed of becoming a woman, that's all. Nothing to be ashamed of, there's no need to grow up too quickly."

"Fine, whatever," she simmered, "why does Mimiko have cat ears?"

A clear diversion, the sizzling expression smeared across her façade spoke more volumes about her frustration that the acidic tone that laced each of her words but he allowed the distraction from the more important topic at hand because… he was scared to further piss her off. "She's a half-demon, they still exist, and actually… there are more of them than true bloods. A great deal more. They are supposed to wear pendants that can hide their supernatural features but Mi finds it bothersome, somehow…"

"You don't get it, Yasha!" Mi proclaimed as she pocked her head out from behind the corner and into the living room, "they are really annoying! Why should I have to hide my pretty features just because humans would freak?"

"Do I really need to explain that to you again? And what part of 'we need to talk' didn't you comprehend?" He growled back, "go away—"

"No, she can stay if she wants," Kagome countered, "come on, Mimiko, I'd love to hear more about that."

"Really…?" Mi dragged out with a bit of a pout but when she saw how serious Kagome was it quickly grew into a grin as she skipped into the room, "I'm a half cat demon. My mom was demon, my dad human—boy, was he surprised when he found out!"

"Mi," he sighed as he raised his semi-cool glass to his forehead, "she doesn't need know that."

"I asked, Shiro," Kagome snarled back, "shut up."

"Why do you call Yasha 'Shiro'?" Mi inquired as she turned her attention to the half cowarding man, "does she not know your real name?"

"She refuses to call me by that," he murmured.

"It is a weird name, isn't it? Old names," she shrugged with a laugh, "they're always the weirdest."

{xoxoxoxoxo}

"So… what happened three hundred years ago exactly?" Kagome whispered after an hour of Mimiko breaking down her life story and rambling on and on about how hard it was to possess demon blood nowadays. They had to hide it, they were more powerful than humans but they could not allow them to find out. How she hated it and how they were a dying species. How they discovered if a half-breed has a child with a human the demon blood seems to go dormant… how that was the kiss of death for them, because that was what kept happening.

"Oh, I don't know, my mom was from that time period but she never liked to talk about it. It's just one of those things that I guess traumatized all that survived it," Mimiko shrugged as she picked up her fresh mug of hot coco, "Yasha won't tell you, huh? He lost his family in the incident."

"Sesshomaru…?"

Mimiko just shrugged, "he doesn't talk about it so I don't any names."

"It must have been hard, huh…?" All those years, all alone…

"Probably, but that's what makes Yasha so great," a girlish smile warmed Mi up, "he's so strong… he's the strongest in all of Asia, I bet you anything that. He's also so smart… he's the smartest in… probably just Japan," she laughed lightly, "but he's great. He's really loyal, too. If you can wiggle yourself into his good grace then you will always have someone to rely on, that's why he has such a devoted following."

"I can tell," she murmured as she hid a bitter frown. A highly devote following, she could easily tell from the way Mi talked that she was proud to have a membership with so many other woman. So many adored him… what if he discovered after spending more time with her that she wasn't that great? That she wasn't as good as he had fantasized about? That she was rather dull and really just a mortal…? Then he'd just go on to the next girl in his following… she didn't want that, it was just something she had to admit to herself. There was no reason to hide what her heart had already set itself on, that's why she wouldn't contradict what she said early. She'd let Shiro think they were together because… she wanted to be.

Not that that at all meant her heart still didn't yearn to return to the feudal era, to her Inuyasha, to collect the jewel shards that she had created, to help her dear friends kill Naraku but… as long as she had to be in her world then why not be with Shiro…? A terrible shiver crept down her spine when she thought like that, she couldn't really find logic or justification for it… it was best to just tried not to think about it. Maybe she would be better off just being impulsive instead of always thinking so much?

"Why do you call him 'Yasha'?"

"It's just a nick-name, I suppose," she meekly replied.

"Akiko calls him only Inu."

"I bet you're happy she's incapable of being interested in him," Mi asserted, "she's so pretty and really close to Yasha. I think they've known each other since before the incident."

She didn't need to be told that, of course she was, "I suppose…"

"I think they are that close because there is no possibility of physical attraction."

"My ears are burning," Shiro shouted once he opened his door and entered. "I got your stupid—"

"It's not stupid! It's delicious," Mi cried out as she lunged for the bag of goodies that he had bought for her from the convenient store down the street, "thank you, Yasha! I wuv you."

He just rolled his eyes before letting them set in on Kagome, "hey, do you want to stay for dinner?"

"Dinner…?" She murmured before glancing over to the clock, "oh, no! I promised my mom I'd be home to help her cook! I got to go!"

"Do you want me to walk you?" He barely got out before she had her shoes sloppily back on and yanked her coat out of the closet to jet out of the place.

"No! Bye!"

{xoxoxoxoxo}

A sigh of relief left her lips as she sat down on the train; she had just barely caught it. If she had to wait for the next one she'd never make it back in time.

"Hey, there," a rough, almost rusty, voice greeted but she ignored it. It probably wasn't directed towards her anyway and if it was she didn't know the man.

"Hey," he kept up as a coarse hand caught her chin to force her to look up at him.

The air escaped from her lungs when she saw him. He looked just like Kouga but there was no way… right? She would have tried to breath if the sense of his aura didn't hit her right then—demon?

"Do you know who I am?" He questioned with the cockiest smile she had seen since… well, the last time she saw Kouga.

"K…Kouga?"

One of his brows rose up before his hand slipped from her skin, "no, I'm Takeo… how do you know my father's name?"

"Kouga's your father?" She awed, "what's your mom's name?"

"Ayame… why?"

Yes, she kept her cheer to herself, but at least then she knew that Kouga would get over his false infatuation with her and move on to the deserving Ayame. "Oh, that's nice," she smiled ever so brightly, "it's nice to meet you, Takeo, how can I help you?"

The confusion that had etched itself into his face only crept deeper, "you are that damn dog's current pet, right?"

Some things never change, she sighed before shaking her head, "you sound like Kouga…"

"Stop saying stupid shit, woman," he demanded before slamming his hand against the seat by her shoulder, "tell that bastard that if he doesn't want anything to happen to you," his hand grasped a lock of her hair, "he'll just give up this year, got it? No one wants to take fucking orders from a dipshit that allows himself to be so taken in by a human girl."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kagome scoffed back before smacking his hand away. Why did she have to suddenly be just a 'girl'? What an ass.

"Hey, shut up," he barked between clinched teeth, "you are supposed to be scared, I'm a demon, bitch."

"Whatever, I've seen worse," she scoffed with folded arms, "tell Shiro yourself."

"Shi…?" He chuckled before wrapping a hand around her neck when the train came to its first stop, "don't get cute with me, there ain't no rule against killing off a human. Remind Shiro of that, got it?" To make sure his point was driven home he gave her a quick yet firm squeeze before getting off.

{xoxoxoxoxo}

"What the hell's wrong with you!?" Shiro shouted as he grabbed her arms and pulled Kagome closer to him, "why didn't you call me the second that bastard showed up?!"

"I left my purse here! Settle down," Kagome ordered before she pushed him away and pointed to the entryway. "My cell's in there."

"You have a landline at home!"

"I don't know your number by heart," she shrugged, "it's not that big of a deal, he didn't hurt me."

"He will," he assured before pressing a hand over his mouth and, once more, began his pacing about the room, mumbling something to himself every now and then.

"Shiro, I'm fine—"

"Kagome," he sighed as he removed his hand and stopped to look at her, "I'm sorry. I… didn't think about this when I met you. I'm a hypocrite, I seal up the well to keep you from danger but just associating with me does that now…" what if he failed to protect her again? What if he had another image of her death forever tattooed to his mind? No, that could never happen.

"Shiro…" she walked up to him and placed her hands on his upper arms, "what was he talking about? The whole 'let him win' this year stuff?"

"Nothing for you to worry about," he promised as he cupped her face in his hands, "I'll keep you safe. I'll just let him win. I wasn't planning to even challenge him this year so it won't be a problem."

"How can it not be something I should worry about if—?"

He pulled her into an embrace before she could finish her sentence, and just like that she forgot what she was going to say.

"Just don't worry. I'll make sure this doesn't happen again. I'll have to teach that damn runt a lesson." No one threatens Kagome and gets away with it, what was that idiot thinking? Did he honestly think that he was scared of some wolf? He almost chuckled at the thought.

"What are you going to do…?" She murmured into his chest as he squeezed her tighter.

"Nothing for you—"

"Please, don't do anything drastic," she sped before pushing away, but he only allowed her enough space so she could look up to him with her pleading hazel pearls, "please don't. He's Kouga's son…"

"Kouga's…?" His brows furrowed.

The bright sunshine hit them hard, he could see Kagome was at his side but they weren't talking. Everyone was sick of the heat. A breeze made his hair fly about his face and eyes snap shut, when he finally brushed it all out of his view there a wolf demon stood with hands around Kagome's—a stunned yet stupid look upon her face.

"You knew him, right," he wirily replied as arms slid off of her body.

"Uh-huh," she nodded; weakly she wrapped her arms around herself, "what happened to him…?"

"Kouga?" He murmured before—like she expected—he headed to his favorite spot to pour a glass of whatever was the drink of the day, "he died. I think it was in a pack war… it was a few hundred years ago. Ayame and him had a litter of children, only Takeo's left, he was the runt of the pack, too. I got to say I'm surprised that he lived through everything, but he's a vicious prick so that probably helped…"

"Shiro," she sighed before walking up to him and snatching the glass away as he lifted it to his lip. Right away a frown formed on his lips, "what are you letting him win?"

"Kagome," he scoffed and snatched the glass back right away, "let it go."

"No!" echoed exactly with another's.

Mi jumped into the living room to run up to Shiro and wrap her arms around his chest, "Yasha! You can't! You can't give up to Takeo! I hate Takeo! Please! Please! Please—!"

"Shut up, Mi!" He ordered as he pried her away from him, "I'm done, OK?"

"But—!" She had to bit her own lips when she saw the way that his gaze moved to Kagome every other second.

"But…? What are you two talking about?"

"Nothing," they replied together.

"Fine," Kagome jeered, "I'm leaving then."

"Alright," it stopped her right before she was fully out of the living room. Alright? Alright? Why wasn't he going to stop her? "But, you have to let me take you home."

"Whatever," she regained her snippety tone.

She made it a point to give him the silent treatment the entire way back and he didn't argue with it, which only made her steaming feeling from inside her grow. He walked her all the way to the door before stopping her with a gentle grasp of his hand.

"What?" Kagome almost growled as she turned to look at him.

"You mean a lot to me," he swore as he took a step forward and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, "there are just something I can't tell you. I would if I could."

"Whatever…" she mumbled as she retracted his hand, "see you later."

"Wait, one more thing," he pulled out a keychain and held it out to her, she wirily looked between and him until he explained, "it's a key to my place, so you can come over whenever you need to. If anything happens, just go to mine and lock yourself in."

"What would happen?" She murmured as she took the chain from him, "Shiro?"

"Just in case," he shrugged.

"Jerk," she scoffed, she could tell again that he was holding back on something.

"Call me if anything happens again," he ordered before she went into her home and closed the door rather harshly in his face.

{xoxoxoxoxo}

"Kagome," her mother began after knocking on her daughter's door and getting the 'OK' to enter.

"Yes, mom?" She asked as she sat up from her bruiting position on her bed.

"I suppose it's none of my business but," her mom paused as she walked all the way in and closed the door, "are you and Shiro… together by chance?"

"Wha—What?" She chocked before giving off the worst weak laugh of her life, "no, of course not, mom."

"Oh," she nodded with her usual warm smile that she had taught her daughter, "I see. I suppose I was just thinking… that if you were, it would be fine, but if you aren't then I'll just leave. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes."

"Mom!" Kagome shouted before she was fully out the door, "um, it would… be?"

"Yes, sweetheart, I think… it would actually make me very happy, as selfish as it might be. I like Inuyasha," that caused a pang of guilt to course through Kagome's heart, "I do, he's a nice boy. But… if you were with Shiro," her warm smile faded into a meek one, "then I would never have the option of loosing you."

If she was with Inuyasha… they both knew what would happen after the search for the shikon jewel ended. They both knew what Kagome would do; she'd listen to her heart as her mother had taught her and stay in the feudal era with the man she loved. If she was with Shiro, her mother might lose her someday to marriage but that didn't mean she couldn't go visit her daughter—and, possibly, future grandchildren—it would just mean she didn't see her daughter each day. She could live with the latter but the former would break her heart.

And Kagome knew that, too, so she swallowed before smiling, "I'm with Shiro, mom."

"Good, just… be careful," she requested humbly, "I know how boys are nowadays."

"M-mom," Kagome laughed lightly, what an awkward conversation that she just had to stop, "don't worry. You taught me better, I promise."

"Good, good," her mother's rare complete smile—the one that had ceased to show after the well had been opened—shined through for once. "Don't forget, we're going to your aunt's this New Years like always. Will you be coming with us or returning to the feudal era…?"

"I'll be coming with," she assured, "don't worry," and just for her mother sake's she added, "I love you."