"We've got to stop meeting like this," Satoru drawls. He frowns at his phone. Kagome sunk his battleship… again. The meeting room is always so stuffy. It reminds him of the smell of an old thrift shop, reeking with the scent of medicine and sickness. Basically, old people. The least they could do is cover up how awful they smell. He should tell them.

"Higur—"

"Gojo." He prods his cheek with his tongue. Hmm, where should he strike next? Maybe somewhere over in the corner? That looks like a place she would pick.

"Gojo Kagome needs to be brought in for inspection. We cannot allow her to continue to walk around without getting a clear grasp of her power level. She is far too dangerous to just let be."

"I think there's a saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over." Satoru smirks. Finally, he sunk one of her ships. "And despite being told to back the fuck off, you all keep pulling me in here expecting my answer to change."

Heh, take that Gome-chan.

Satoru peeks up over the rim of his glasses. "We done here? I got shit to do." Mannn, he looks away from his phone for one second, and she sank his last ship.

Somehow, someway, Gome-chan has to be cheating. He never loses and especially not at battleship.

"She healed that child when not even Ieiri-san could do so. Gojo Kagome must be evaluated or we will be forced to take drastic measures." The elder, with the long white hair that mixes in with his beard, thrusts his arms out. His sleeves swish with the motion. The dramatics are annoying at best, but today it's just pissing him off.

"So, you've chosen death." Satoru slides his phone into his pocket. A light bulb burst overhead. Shards of glass scatter on the floor. Several elders take a step back. They murmur amongst themselves as the glass of shards glitter on the ground.

"N-now, now, let's not do anything rash." An elder speaks up to his left. "We don't need to evaluate her, so long as she doesn't do anything harmful to us." The elder stomps out the small fire on the rug. Grumbles erupt from the Gandalf wanna-be, but a firm shake of the head and even he agrees with the others.

Strange that Gakuganji has nothing to say. The old man just stares at the broken glass on the floor, gripping his cane like it is a lifeline. Now that he thinks about it, Gakuganji hasn't had much to say these days since those curses and curse users attacked the school. Does he know more than he's letting on? Satoru directs his attention back to the others. He'll look into the old man later.

Satoru smiles, big and wide, and with nothing but sharp teeth. "It's always a pleasure to see all of your ugly faces. Call me again, never." Satoru waves as he walks out. He tosses his glasses towards the ground and pulls out his blindfold. With a poof, Shippo stands in the place of his glasses.

"Are they always like that?" Shippo asks, "And ya didn't have to toss me." Shippo stretches his arms over his head as he matches Satoru's pace.

"You have no idea how weird it was, knowing that you were my glasses." Satoru shudders. "When you said you could transform into anything, I didn't think glasses were part of it. Like, can you turn into a milkshake? Ugh, that's so weird to even think about."

"I could," Shippo says slowly, "but why would I want to be drunk in that kind of way?"

"Gross." They make their way down the steps to where Ijichi waits for them by the car. The frail man is grinning at his phone like a maniac, or maybe that's just his happy face. Not that Satoru would know. Ijichi always cries and groans about the unfairness of it all when he drives him around. "Ew, Ijichi didn't know you could make that face."

"You're so mean to me," Ijichi says with a sniffle. "Kagome-san would hate it." Beside him, Shippo snickers.

"Simp," Shippo says while pretending to cough.

So that's how it is. "Whatever, just take us to the next spot. Shippo here has so kindly agreed to take the next two locations."

"No, I didn't."

"Sure, you did."

"Those words never came out of my mouth. I have a business to run." Shippo crosses his legs and leans back in the seat.

"Already rebelling." Should have just asked Yakeru to tag along. At least that fox doesn't sass nearly as much as Shippo.

Shippo turns to the side and looks out the window. "Not listening," he sing songs.

"Umm, am I not dropping Shippo-san off?" Ijichi's eyes flicker between the mirror and the road.

"Yes."

"No."

"What happened to me being 'dad'? This is the thanks I get for not having to raise you."

"I'm convinced you don't think before you speak."

"What? Dad?" Ijichi asks, but his question goes unanswered.

"Fine. I can handle a couple of curses. Sesshomaru is gonna be all broody later when I have to explain how I was strong-armed into taking on your work."

"You work for him?" Satoru yawns. Dealing with the elders tires him out more than working all day.

"I do a little bit of this and a little bit of that."

"Got it. You don't do any kind of work."

"How'd you and Kagome even happen? It can't be your looks. She's been around demons for so long."

"My amazing personality won her over."

"That can't be it. Everyone complains about your awful personality. Even in the demon community."

"I, too, am curious."

"But she liked InuYasha and his personality is shit."

"InuYasha… is alive?"

Shippo furrows his brows. "Duh, he's on his way back to Japan. Wait, did you two think he was dead?" Shippo barks out a laugh.

"That's great to hear." He pulls out his phone and sends Nanami a battleship request. Whisking Kagome away after Halloween passes is at the top of his to-do list. What he wouldn't give to go back to those days where it was just them in their own world, trying to keep her away from jujutsu society. Now there are demons, curses, sorcerers, and exes that he has to worry about.

"Why are you here?" Nanami asks, sliding the glass of juice to Satoru. Satoru slumps forward on the table. "Go home."

"I can't go home yet. You don't understand. Kagome's ex is on his way back to town." He looks at the glass of juice, willing it to give him a sign, but of course, those things only happen in movies.

"I thought she came from another world." Nanami rolls up his sleeves and takes a sip of his drink.

"Yeah, she did. I told you she landed in my lap like she was sent here for me." Satoru groans. "But so did some of her demon friends, and now her ex is on his way back because his brother let it slip."

"I fail to see why you cannot go home and leave me alone."

"Because, if I go home now, I might say something I don't mean."

"It's not her fault that her ex is coming back. Jealousy doesn't suit you." Nanami sets his glass down and reaches for a pack of cigarettes. He lights up his cigarette. "You act as though you are the first man to ever deal with an ex-boyfriend."

Satoru frowns. He can still hear Naraku's words about how she'd leave him at the first sight of InuYasha. It's so fucking stupid. He isn't about to share with Nanami or anyone that isn't Kagome, that this is his first relationship. No wonder there are so many curses that pop around White day. These feelings freaking suck.

"Go home. I'm tired of babysitting you," Nanami says.

"I'm not a baby, Nanami. I have a baby on the way. You must be getting senile in your old age."

"I hope that child takes after its mother."

"Hey!"

"I'm sure Kagome-san misses you." Nanami blows a puff of smoke. "Leave. Some of us like to relax after work and not deal with our coworkers."

Satoru drowns his juice. "Great pep talk. You really know how to uplift a guy." He pushes back in the chair and stands. "Fine. Fine. I'm leaving." Satoru salutes Nanami as he teleports away.

The first thing that greets him is the sound of barking. The second thing that greets him is the smell. He looks at all the shoes lined up in the genkan. Okay, so the kids are here and some other people. Probably Sesshomaru and Yakeru.

"Hey! You're home," Kagome greets, rounding the corner. His heart does this pitter patter thing at the sight of her all dressed up in a green flowing dress that accentuates her growing bump. Her lips are glossy and everything about her is so damn radiant, he doesn't understand why he didn't just come home right away.

"Yeah, I stopped by Nanami's for a bit," he replies, switching out his blindfold for his glasses. "Kids here?" A gray dog? No, is that a wolf? Whatever it is, comes bounding towards him only to get stopped by his infinity. The wolf blinks its big green eyes up at him, pawing at his infinity.

He's no expert on wolfs, but last he checked, they didn't have green eyes. Must be a dog then. Satoru rolls his eyes. A demon dog. Sesshomaru must have given it to Kagome just to spite him.

"Ichiro, come here." Kagome picks up the pup. "He's not heavy."

"I didn't say anything."

She shouldn't be lifting that thing. Pretty sure it's past the weight limit.

"But you were thinking it." She nuzzles the gray pup. "Koga-kun and Ayame are hanging out back with everyone. Megumi was pretty excited to see a wolf. I think Buyo Jr. is a little jealous, though." Kagome sets the pup down and walks over to him. "Do you need to lie down? I can kick everyone out." He shakes his head and bends down to rest his head on her shoulder.

"Nah, I don't mind you having guests over. Just wasn't expecting a wolf."

"Oh, Ichiro is Koga's and Ayame's son. He's just in his wolf form until he gets older. Like all those fox kits when we went to the hotel." Kagome runs her hands through his hair. It feels nice. Especially when she lets her powers wash over him.

"Yo! Kagome!" A demon with dark hair comes bounding around the corner with the same energy as Ichiro. That must be Koga.

Wait. Koga? He's heard that name before.

"So, you're the six-eyed bastard I've been hearing about. OW! Babe, what was that for?" Koga rubs the back of his head.

"That's Koga and Ayame. Ignore him. He tries to rile everyone up for no reason." Kagome whispers.

"He is called the six-eyed - ow. Stop hitting me, woman." Koga says but shrinks under Ayame's glare.

On second thought, kicking them out sounds like a great idea. And maybe air out the home too.

"They were just leaving," Kagome says with a tight smile. "Sesshomaru left when they got here so that he could handle some business at the office."

"Yes, thank you for having us over," Ayame says, bending down to pick up her son. "It was so much fun to catch up again. And it was nice meeting you, Gojo."

"I don't get to interrogate the guy?" Koga asks, scratching his head. He glares at Satoru.

If he knocks this demon out, would Kagome get upset? His eyes slide over to Ayame and Ichiro. This Koga is so lucky that he's a nice guy. Any other man would have beaten him to a pulp, regardless.

"Bye guys. Have a safe way home." Kagome practically pushes Koga out the door. Ayame waves by to them and their glamor shimmers back on as the door closes. "Sorry about that. I thought he would have mellowed out over the years, but I guess not."

"You didn't have to get rid of them." Secretly, he's glad that they are gone. Koga was about to get knocked out in front of his wife and kid. His nerves have been shot since Shippo dumped that news on him earlier.

"Koga was being disrespectful. And you just got home. Do you want the kids to go back to their dorms? Shoko gave Tsumiki the all clear, so she's in the back too."

"Nah, they can stay. What's for dinner? Nanami only served me juice." He walks towards the kitchen. Yuji and Nobara are arguing outside. Tsumiki chimes in now and then. This he can deal with. "Oh, hey Buyo," he says, scratching the nekomata behind the ears. Buyo purrs, nudging him to scratch under his chin. "Were you jealous of that pup?" Buyo Jr. shakes his head and jumps down from the counter.

Guess so, Satoru muses as Buyo Jr. brushes up against Kagome's leg on the way out.

"What do you want to eat? You never responded to my texts." She crosses her arms, leaning against the entryway. "So, I just whipped up some pork for the kiddos. Ichiro ate a lot… a lot more than I was expecting."

"C'mon, let's go out somewhere. The kids can fend for themselves." He grabs her hand. His emotions keep going back and forth like a yoyo. One minute he's fine, the next he wants to hide her away somewhere, and then he's back to being okay. Guess that makes him human like everyone else.

"Karaoke?"

"Gome-chan, I'm about to sing your panties off." He kisses her temple. "Don't wait up for us," he yells. Surely the kids heard that. If not, then he'll just send them a text after they get to their destination.

"There should be a spot not too far from us," she says, reaching for her purse. "Within walking distance, unless you want to catch a train."

"We can walk. I'll just carry you if you get tired." He bends down and helps her with her shoes.

"I can put my shoes on," she grumbles. Her cheeks flush pink and it's adorable at the little things that gets her so flustered. The doorbell rings. "I'm not expecting anyone." Kagome throws her hands up in front of her.

He's regretting giving out his address.

"Stay there," he says, rising. He opens the door to a man with flowers in his hands. "Wrong—" Wait. Tendrils of demonic energy surround the unassuming man. The glamor fades away, and he's greeted by a man with dog ears and white hair.

Satoru slams the door shut.

"Oi! What the fuck?" the demon yells.

"Was that InuYasha?" Kagome asks, brushing past him to open the door. Satoru grimaces as the demon's ears perk up at seeing Kagome. She embraces InuYasha for a second too long, in his opinion.

Guess that's the famous InuYasha. He should have known that on his way back meant InuYasha was showing up today. Damn foxes.

"I'll order something for us," he says, snatching the flowers from InuYasha's hands. Kagome looks back and forth between him and InuYasha, and he hates it.

"We can still go out, Toru." She comes to stand by his side. InuYasha's hands flex at his side.

"No, it's fine. Any friend of yours is a friend of mine," he quips.

This is fine, he tells himself. Just fine.

A/N: Uhhh, I don't know where the time went. I hope everyone is doing well! Love you guys. We are going back to weekly updates :) Oh yeah, this story is on AO3. It's easier to reply to your comments there (if you want).