Four: The Surprise
Waking up alone should have been exactly what she expected. Why did it still hurt? Kagome forced herself to get up and get in the shower. Every part of herself ached and the smell of sex was rank in her childhood bedroom.
Ever since they had come back, she knew how things would end. They would leave again. And this time, they weren't coming back. She had been telling herself since that first glimpse of them in the diner that she wouldn't cry this time. It had been humiliating enough the first time.
The hot water ran over her body and she let it wash off the memory she would have to sustain herself with for the rest of her life. It didn't take long for the tears to start flowing and her chest to heave with sobs. No, it wasn't like before. It couldn't be. It wasn't going to be like before…
Kagome hugged herself tight, arms crossed over her stomach. Letting it all out now was better. In a little bit, she was going to see Sōta, and she couldn't lose it in front of him. Even if all she saw when she looked at him was Inuyasha and everything that could have been if she had asked him to stay ten years ago.
O\o/O
Inuyasha and Kōga sprang to their feet at the same time.
"That fuckin' idiot!" Inuyasha said in joy.
"We got our fuckin' building! Kagome's gonna be so surprised when I show up at her door and give her the good news."
The half-demon glared at his smirking business partner. "There's no fuckin' way I'm letting you go see her alone."
"We ain't kids anymore, remember, dog shit? I'm gonna pursue her and you can do the same, but there are no rules or limits."
"You fucking—"
"Wait, what's happening?" Miroku asked.
Sango looked as confused as her boyfriend.
"Oh." Inuyasha had temporarily forgotten that the other two were humans and couldn't hear his private phone call. "Hojo decided to sell."
Miroku laughed out loud and Sango's jaw dropped.
"We did it!" Miroku hooted. Turning to one of the flight attendants, he said, "Darling, bring out the champagne I was saving for later. We've got two things to celebrate now."
"Two things?" Sango asked.
"Ah, yes. I almost forgot." Going down on one knee before his increasingly pissed off girlfriend, Miroku looked up at her with a face full of oblivious adoration. "My dearest, sweetest, preciousest honeypants, I have loved you from the first time you slapped my face in that club when I mistook you for one of the entertainers and asked how much a night in the paradise of your arms would cost. Will you give me a lifetime in that muscular embrace of yours and do me the honor of becoming my bride?"
Sango blinked at him. "What the fuck, Miroku? That's how you propose? When I specifically told you that I wanted it to be on my mother's ancestral hot air balloon on a day trip along the Danube? And what's this about you all staying in Sunset Falls? Are you going to try and move me into this shithole?"
For the first time, Miroku looked a little less than confident.
"…Well, we've got the building now, and we're going to need to work out the kinks in making it functional and getting appropriate staffing and press releases and—"
She grabbed the ring and put it on her finger. "And you are not going to be involved in that. We are going home and these two idiots will be the boots on the ground while you pitch in remotely. Capische?"
"But honeypants, I—"
"It's either this or I start replying to Kuranosuke's texts. Your choice."
Miroku gulped. "Uh, sorry guys, but you're going to have to take it from here."
"Keh, never needed ya in the first place, ya big idiot."
Kōga slung an arm around Inuyasha's shoulders. "Dog breath and me are good on our own."
Sango was too busy taking pictures of her ring to do more than give them a distracted wave goodbye.
The rundown limo Miroku had managed to snag for them from a place in Shikon Hills was still there when the two demons exited the jet. Two of the attendants struggled with their luggage, Kōga helping out a little and flirting only distractedly. Inuyasha could understand. This was a miracle. He had thought the gods had parted him from Kagome and that maybe he was indeed crazy and obsessed. But no, a sign like this could mean nothing other than they were destined for each other, just as he had always known.
"You okay, man?" the wolf asked.
"Huh? Yeah. Uh, why?"
Inuyasha, normally very spatially aware, bumped his head while getting in the limo. It made him chuckle. Even during his many years of substance abuse, he'd never felt a high quite like this. Everything was coming together perfectly.
"…What exactly do you think is going to happen now?"
"Kagome asked me to stay for a few days, remember? How surprised is she going to be when I tell her I'm staying for good!"
"Uh, buddy," Kōga said hesitantly, putting a hand on his knee. "You hate it here. You like her, and so do I, but this place sucks. We're just setting up the business and moving on. And Kagome… Inuyasha, you've gotta know how she feels about us. We're fun, but that's it."
"It's not like that!" Inuyasha hissed, pushing the hand away. "I don't just like her. It's more."
The wolf sighed and leaned his head back as the car began to move. "Fine. You'll just have to learn on your own. At least try and impress her this time, flea bag."
Inuyasha was already thinking of ways to show Kagome they had another chance. Should he just show up and be blunt, tell her the truth of everything and why it hurt to leave her? Or should he be more subtle about it, the way Kōga was saying, and try and seduce her this time. That would be interesting. Having Kagome come to him instead of the other way around. Flashes of dreams he had had, of Kagome crawling toward him, at once contrite and eager and vulnerable and dominating in a confusing mix that took his breath away, played in his mind.
The limo took them straight to the Hojo mansion per Kōga's direction. It was more rundown than it had been fourteen years ago, but still pretty impressive, especially when compared to the rest of the town. Three-stories, sixteen bedrooms, nineteen bathrooms, and twenty-four fireplaces. For some reason, everyone in town knew at least that about the estate's main house. Add in the balconies and columns and it was just enough to look like a southern plantation, which only made him want to leave all the sooner.
A moving van was out front and that perked him right up again.
The wolf smirked. "Guess Ayumi finally balled up and—"
There was a loud tap on the glass.
"Oh shit!" they said in unison, jumping in their seats.
"Tairokumi boys? Is that you?"
Inuyasha opened his door and glared into the sudden brightness of the day.
"Oh. Mrs., uh, Ayumi. Yeah, it's us." Who the fuck else would be pulling up in a limo in a shithole like this town?
She smiled at him, for once making her tired and strained face almost pretty. Splitting from Hojo had done wonders for her already.
"So he did call you. Good. Come on in, we can have tea while you sign."
The two business partners exchanged a glance before following the happily humming pregnant woman into the house. Inside was chaos, not unlike how they had experienced it the first and only time before now they had visited the Hojo estate. Moving men were lifting, packing, and cursing when they dropped the things they were holding.
"Remember, just the modern stuff!" Ayumi called out. "We're not going to want to take all this dusty Hojo family trash with us."
"Greener pastures?" Kōga asked, charming smile already pasted on.
Ayumi looked confused. "Um, no? Where is that?"
Inuyasha smothered a laugh. "Where ya headed?"
"Shikon Hills. My brother manages the mega grocery store and we're going to get a house in his neighborhood. Much nicer than anything here."
"You sure you don't wanna kick Hojo out?" Inuyasha asked, imagining a future in which that bastard wasn't there to get in the way of him being with Kagome. "Make him live in some shitty apartment somewhere while you stay in the mansion on the hill?"
"Oh, Hojo's leaving, too. It's not like he can afford to stay here anymore." The energetic smile was back. "The divorce is going to bankrupt him even if he does manage to find a buyer for this dump."
"We'll take it!" Inuyasha said hurriedly.
"What?" This time, it was Ayumi and Kōga who spoke in unison.
"Better than staying at that hotel or with Miroku's family. And I don't think either place would allow us, anyway."
Ayumi nodded eagerly. "Yes, they all hate you! And the house would be a good investment as well," she continued as though she had not just referred to it as a dump. "It could be a nice second home for whenever you need to check on the sweatshop or whatever it is you plan on doing here."
"But you already have a second home," Kōga said through clenched teeth. "And a third. And a fuckin' island. Do not do this."
"You know, even though Kagome and I aren't close any longer, we do still have some friends in common, and I know she's always wanted her own pool that isn't above ground and made of plastic."
"She was a volunteer lifeguard," Inuyasha recalled aloud. "I can write you a check right now."
Kōga pulled him aside. "Inuyasha, stop being impulsive and think for once," he whispered. "You can't just uproot your life and move here over a girl that doesn't even want you!"
"Yes I can!" he whispered back. "I've got the money for it. And she does want me!"
"You're going to regret doing this."
"I'd regret it if I didn't."
The two of them stared each other down before Kōga huffed and turned his back to him, crossing his arms. Great, he was going to be a huge bitch now.
"I can write you a check right now," Inuyasha offered again.
"Great! And feel free to take any of the furniture that doesn't belong to the kids. I was going to leave most of it anyway."
"Sure." He was going to burn everything except for the bed he'd lost his virginity on.
None other than the person who had made all of this possible came down the double staircase. From fucking Kagome to coming back to Sunset Falls for Kagome, Hojo had facilitated it all. Inuyasha guessed he should thank him or something, but the minute he saw that idiot face, he just wanted to fucking punch him.
"Here," Hojo said brusquely, offering them a stack of papers without looking at his soon to be ex-wife. "The same thing you brought me last week. Let's just be done with it."
Kōga grabbed the stapled papers and flipped through it with attitude, glaring at Inuyasha after every page.
"Ya got a realtor or is there a Hojo family crypt I've gotta break into and solve a series of riddles to get the deed to this Scooby Doo-lookin' piece of shit?"
His archenemy looked like he shared the feeling of wanting to punch him in the face, but then his expression blanked and he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before he opened them again.
"No. We've got a purchase agreement already drawn up, so all we've got to do is sign and fill in the blanks. But since it's you, I'm upping the price."
"Fine," Inuyasha said dismissively. No Hojo, the best house in town, the hotel for their business. It was all coming together.
Kōga snatched the purchase agreement and grumbled something that was incomprehensible even to Inuyasha.
"I suppose you think you're going to have a chance with Kagome now." The way Hojo said it suggested like the mere idea was as ridiculous as Inuyasha's high school self had always feared.
"Worry about your family," Inuyasha said.
"And your alimony," Kōga muttered, handing the papers over to the half-demon for signing.
"Even if you do impress her with your money and your lifestyle, Kagome will never really be yours." Hojo was confident, more like the high school sports star he was than a near-divorced father with a hairline that was beginning to recede. "That bitch is only capable of loving herself."
Inuyasha slammed the completed purchase agreement into Hojo's chest, barely pulling back enough to do no more than make his rival stumble back.
"Get the fuck out of my house. I'll be back tomorrow and if this place isn't fuckin' pristine, you won't be able to find a place from Shikon Hills to Tokyo."
"Absolutely, sure thing!" Ayumi exclaimed, easily cutting in and deescalating the situation. "And the check?"
Inuyasha nearly ran outside, tearing open the back of the limo and scrambling for his laptop bag where he kept a checkbook just in case. He could hardly even sign his own name on the purchase agreement let alone read the damn thing, so he supposed it was a good thing that Kōga had come along. Sooner or later, that bastard wolf would get bored. Or, more likely, Ayame would annoy him into going back to the city. Then both his competitors would be out of the way and Kagome would be his for the taking.
"Please tell me you're not going back in there."
The half-demon cocked his head in question at his friend's words. "Whaddya mean? I gotta give 'em the check." He waved the paper in the air to demonstrate.
"This place is not worth ten—fucking—million!" Kōga hissed. "Think about it. Middle of nowhere. Everything is decaying and badly in need of repair. All you'd be doing is making Hojo rich. Do you want that?"
He thought about it for a second. "I'm still richer," he smirked, shouldering past Kōga and going back into what was to be the home he'd raise his children in with Kagome. The girls would look like her and if he was lucky then so would the boys…
"Who the hell are you calling!?"
Had the words been coming from Hojo, he wouldn't have even blinked, but the fact that a still very pregnant Ayumi was screeching them made him stop in his tracks. Kōga didn't stop in time and bumped into him. Inuyasha didn't even growl at him to back off.
"No one!" Hojo said defensively.
Ayumi grabbed the phone. Her eyes widened as she rapidly scrolled through his call history.
"Fif— Fucking fifty times?" She laughed. "Really, Hojo? And she hasn't picked up once. Haven't you learned by now? She doesn't want you!"
"She's at work!" It sounded as defensive as it was desperate. Hojo was trying to make himself believe what he was saying, and by the sound of it, it wasn't going very well.
"Are you talking about Kagome?" Kōga asked as though that wasn't akin to throwing a live grenade at a landmine.
"Who else?" Ayumi returned, sounding exhausted. "It's always been about Kagome. This baby was conceived with Hojo calling out her name."
"Uh, we should probably let you pack. Thanks for the house!" He really, really, really didn't want to be there for this fight.
"Well maybe if you grew your hair out and started running like you promised you would when we got married we wouldn't be here now!"
As the two demons practically dove into the limo, they could hear what they hoped was the sound of Ayumi smacking her husband and not the other way around.
"Fuck," Kōga said. "And I thought you had it bad."
"Hojo's a fuckin' psycho," Inuyasha muttered while texting his assistant and housekeeper a list of items he wanted sent to his new house as soon as possible. "Chasing after her all these years when he's the one that left her in the first place."
"…You wanna think about what you just said or is that too much to ask?"
Inuyasha scowled at the wolf. "Stop acting like you're better than me. You're here too, ain'tcha?"
"I'm not here to try and win over a girl from high school who's just not that into me. Unlike some people, I know when to quit."
"Then why are you here?" Inuyasha asked, looking up from his phone just long enough to see a strange glow in his friend's eyes. It was gone as quickly as it had appeared.
"I'm here to stop you from bankrupting yourself for some pussy, ya fuckin' moron."
"Look, you don't get it. You're not ever gonna get it," Inuyasha said in frustration. "You're good with people. They like you. And you like them. But I'm not like that. Kagome's the only one who's ever made me happy. When I'm with her, as soon as she talks me out of the anxiety and palm-sweating, I'm at peace. And I never feel that way, Kōga. It was always her and it's always gonna be her."
"Where are we going?" Kōga said suddenly. "Oh shit. Inuyasha, you didn't!"
"I told the driver to take us to Kagome's as soon as we finished the purchase."
"Why the fuck would you do that!?"
He shrugged. "I wanted to see her before she had to work." A smile, not a smirk, drifted onto his face, rarer than an eclipse. "She's gonna be so happy. It's not like last time. This time, I'm not going anywhere."
"She said we could visit and she'd make time. A couple days, Inuyasha. And you're gonna knock on her door and tell her you just bought a house and are putting down roots?"
"Yeah. So?"
Kōga opened his mouth and paused before shutting it again. "Nope. Nuh-uh. I think you need to live through this before anyone can talk any sense to you."
Inuyasha went back to his phone. Fuck, what was he gonna tell his lawyer? She was going to be so pissed, especially with the whole Shippo thing going on. He decided to just leave that one for later.
Though it had only been a few hours since he had left Kagome's side, it felt like he had been parted from her for much longer, the mere idea of yet more years spent away taking almost as much of a toll on him as their actual separation had. He almost expected her house to look different. Maybe his mind had romanticized the memories in keeping with his feelings for Kagome, but he had not remembered the place as looking just this trashy. Had that gang of stray cats always hung out in the garbage-covered alley that was way too close to the weathered heap of wood that was the Higurashi abode?
"You gonna get out anytime soon? Or would you prefer a police escort," Kōga drawled, easily reading his hesitation.
"Keh, I don't give a fuck about hanging out in this part of town." It was where Kagome was, after all. But this was a brand fucking new Rolex, and he couldn't exactly afford the bad press of kicking a mugger's ass—what the media who hated him would surely deem an unprovoked attack on a small-town businessman. And yeah, maybe he had overreacted a time or two to people asking him for directions or an autograph, but still—
"Should we circle the block, sir?" the driver asked through the speaker.
Fed up, Inuyasha kicked the door open, cringing when it opened way too far and was definitely broken. Fuck it, Miroku was the one who had signed the papers for it, he could deal with the damage costs. His heart beat faster and his palms began to sweat the closer he got. Even after all these years, it baffled him how he could have this reaction to her and then when they were alone—or as close as they ever got to it—he found a well of deep calm and joy within him that only sprang up when she was around. That was what allowed him to push through the nerves and kept him coming back.
Leaping up into the tree branches that were long enough to scrape against her window, he tapped on the glass. Nothing. She wasn't in her room, either. Fuck, but he could smell their mixed passions from here. Had she bathed yet? Would she let him do it for her?
He waited a little. Not much. Inuyasha had never been accused of being anything close to patient. He knocked on the glass a little louder, more insistently. Nothing. What the hell was she up to?
The third time was not the charm, because he broke the glass.
"Shit," he cursed, looking around to see if anyone had heard. Then he remembered where he was and knew no one would be asking any questions, let alone snitching, so he just smacked the glass once more until the pane shattered almost completely and jumped inside.
No sooner did his feet touch the ground than Kagome appeared in the doorway to her room.
"I-Inuyasha?"
She had never stuttered before. Never appeared as anything less than in control, even if not in control of herself, then of others. It was new. It made him a little more confident. Inuyasha stepped forward, devouring her with his eyes. Fresh from the shower, she smelled so good, like honey and jasmine. The robe she wore was old and raggedy and pink and huge on her. It must have belonged to her mother. He wanted to tug the belt off and take her standing up against the wall.
"I came back," he said unnecessarily.
"Did you punch through my window?"
"Uh, it was an accident. I'll replace it, don't worry about it. But Kagome, I came back. For good."
"…What do you mean?"
Inuyasha completely missed the subtle signs. Clutching the robe tighter to herself, taking a step back, shrinking posture. When she pulled away, he advanced, wanting to be as close to her as possible now that he could.
"Hojo sold me the hotel. We can build another Tairokumi office. And I bought his house, too. That way, I can oversee the project and be with you."
"Hojo never would have sold. Not to you. What did you do?" Her eyes moved to his bloodied hand and quickly looked away, at no point meeting his gaze.
"He's getting divorced," he said, puzzled at all the questions. "They're moving to Shikon Hills. He can't afford to live here anymore, even if he is the mayor."
"You sure you didn't break any of his windows?" she returned.
"What is with you?" he asked. "Is it Hojo? Did you talk to him? Are you really thinking of getting back together with that son of a bitch!?" Every word was said with increasing force, burning anger.
Kagome pushed him and he stumbled back. He hadn't realized how close he had been to her, how he had been crowding her against the wall, and not in the way he wanted to.
"No!" she said. Kagome looked and sounded angry but she smelled scared. "This isn't about Hojo, this is about you."
"What about me?"
"You left!"
"Well, yeah." He was confused. Wasn't that what she wanted? "I asked you to come with me, though."
"But you left. After everything, you just left." Her voice tightened. "Like the last time."
Oh. "I didn't want to, Kagome. And I came back!"
"For money," she spat. Gray eyes glittered like gunmetal, hard and cold and vaguely threatening. "Not for me. I've never been enough for you."
"That's not true! You're everything. All I've ever wanted is you, Kagome."
"If that were true, you would have talked to me at least once in all the years we lived in the same town. We had classes together. We didn't live far from each other. And I made it so easy for you. I was always looking your way and going to things because I thought you'd show. But you never did. You just stayed back and watched."
"What? That's not true. You never even noticed me before." There was no way what she was saying was true. It couldn't be true. If it was, that would mean she had liked him too. All he'd needed to do was go up to her and say something, just like his mother and his friends and that voice in his head always told him.
"I noticed you the day you moved here!" she shot back. "Your mom hired my dad to move your stuff because he was hanging outside the hardware store with a bunch of other jobless losers. I was riding my bike to bring him lunch and I saw you." Kagome stopped suddenly and her eyes were mysteriously wet. "I saw you," she repeated in a choked voice. "I had never seen anyone like you before. You were angry and sad and that made you even angrier. And you were so beautiful."
He didn't know what to say.
"Just leave," she said, collapsing back against the wall. She looked exhausted and he remembered she hadn't really slept much. "You don't know what things were like for me when you left before. You don't know what happened. And I don't want you to. I just want you to go. And don't come back this time."
"No!" he said, finally finding his voice. Inuyasha couldn't help himself and hugged her tight, feeling all her trembling warmth and wanting to kiss the uncertainty away. "Kagome, we missed our chance before. I was an idiot. I never could have imagined that you liked me, too. We'll try again. We owe it to each other."
Kagome went still. "This isn't high school. We're not teenagers. I don't feel anything for you, not like that. Not anymore. Get that through your thick skull and leave me alone."
"But—"
"Don't make me call the police." Her eyes, always fascinating, narrowed with malice. "I can destroy you, Inuyasha. Leave or I'll scream."
"Keh, like they'd even fuckin' come to this garbage heap of a neighborhood or the condemned wreck you live in." He felt sick, lightheaded with a cramping stomach. It was purely emotional but even knowing that didn't make it hurt any less. "I'm sick of you. You know I thought I loved you? For years, Kagome. And I hated myself for it. Hated you, too. So thanks for this. I can let the hate take over now."
Inuyasha left the way he came, punching through her other windowpane purely out of spite.
The limo was still outside and he breathed a sigh of relief. At least he wouldn't have to walk all the way to the next town over in the rapidly approaching night.
"How'd it go?" Kōga asked.
"You know exactly how it went," Inuyasha grumbled, shutting the dented door behind him. "That's why you're still here."
The wolf sighed. "Look, I'm sorry it didn't go the way you thought it would, but what did you expect? Kagome doesn't want to star in your private fairy tale and she's made it clear from the start. You need to stop trying to fit her into your fantasies and see her as she really is. That's when you'll get somewhere with her."
"Not gonna happen," he said, leaning back and closing his eyes while he idly wondered if he could get his pussy of an assistant to buy him coke and smuggle it over. "She hates me. She doesn't want me anywhere near her."
Kōga snorted. "Bullshit. Just play hard to get for a second and she'll be all over you. Kagome's used to being pursued, so if you wanna keep her, you've gotta let her do the chasing."
"Stop acting like you know so much about her! You know as much as I do, asshole."
"That's what you think."
Inuyasha summoned the energy to open one eye and glare at him. "The fuck do you mean?"
His expression blanked and shifted into that familiar cocky confidence. "Unlike you, I know women, dog shit."
"Ugh, fuck off. Don't talk to me until tomorrow."
O\o/O
A week went by, and while a lot of things happened, Inuyasha stayed the same inside. His requested belongings were moved into the Hojo mansion and it was professionally cleaned before he and Kōga moved themselves in as well. Daily Zoom meetings with Miroku and their team for the Tairokumi launch in Sunset Falls took up all their daylight hours and most of the rest, too. It turned out his assistant was capable enough to manage to get him some decent coke, but he hardly touched it. There was no point. Where the fuck would he party and who with?
"Got another one of these," Kōga announced, tossing an envelope on the breakfast table where Inuyasha had been trying to enjoy an Irish coffee and entire ham.
He groaned at the misspelled words threatening violence that covered the outside as well as the interior.
"What the fuck is wrong with these people? You'd think they'd be grateful for jobs and opportunity, but they're acting like we're gonna gut the town and sell it."
"As soon as we've got a more concrete plan developed, we've gotta have a press conference. And something for the locals, like a free carnival or some shit," Kōga said. The wolf wrinkled his nose as he eyed Inuyasha's breakfast. "What the fuck kind of depression meal is this?"
"You can't have any!"
"I don't wanna swap spit with you! Holy shit, at least use a fork." Kōga walked to the fridge and flung open the door. "There's no food in the house. Didn't you tell the maid to go shopping?"
"What fucking maid? No one wants to work here. I had to get the cleaning done from this place in Shikon Hills, and they made it clear it wasn't gonna be a regular thing."
The wolf sighed and raised his eyes to the ceiling. "Gods, take me now," he muttered. "Okay, dog breath. You n' me are going shopping."
"The mall shut down," he said through a mouthful of ham. Pink slivered bits of room-temperature meat sprayed on the table with every word.
"Not for clothes, dumbass," Kōga said, tossing him a napkin. "Though you could use some decent ones. Your balls are almost hanging outta the hole in those boxers. We're gonna head over to the grocery store and prevent whatever the fuck it is you're doing now from happening again."
Some of his ham fell on his shirt and he bowed his head, vacuuming the half-chewed chunk into his mouth.
"How the hell can't you see how disgusting you are right now?"
"'Least I'm not an ugly wolf," he muttered.
"Even your comebacks are shitty." He shook his head. "This is serious. Go take a shower and get dressed. Now." Kōga smacked the ham out of his grasp. "I'm not above wrestling you down and hosing you off."
"I'll go but I ain't gettin' dressed up," Inuyasha announced as he unglued himself from his chair.
"It's Sunset Falls, anything more than clothes they bought at the same place they buy their milk is fancy."
The half-demon grunted in agreement and dashed back to his room. Even after how things had gone with Kagome, he had still claimed the master bedroom for himself. The bed where he'd lost his virginity was still there, now with a new mattress. He looked around the room and saw how it was all his, filled with the things that were his. Why was it that he could make his mark on everything but her?
Figuring it was just a quick jaunt over to the market, he sprayed the places on his body where the worst smells were coming from and changed into an old shirt that wasn't stained too badly and some joggers with fraying hems. Maybe Kōga was right about the clothes. But there wasn't a point to looking good if it didn't get him what he wanted.
Inuyasha nearly backed out of the outing, but figured he had Miss Havishamed his way through life for long enough. After this trip, his pity party time would reset, and he should be good to lock himself away and work and play video games for a while without anyone bugging him too much. Grabbing some sunglasses and flip flops, he made his way back downstairs.
"Took ya long enough," Kōga said. "And you still smell like shit. Fine. It's not like we can alienate the locals any more than we already have."
"Does Sunset Falls have Uber yet? I don't wanna walk," he whined. Walking meant seeing more people, and worse, being seen by them.
"I bought a car, moron. Where the fuck have ya been?"
"Hell."
Shaking his head at the half-demon's dramatics, Kōga grabbed his keys and walked outside. Inuyasha followed him into the daylight, squinting at the bright sun. How was it that he felt slightly hungover when he had been drinking constantly? Maybe he should up the alcohol content and start drinking it straight, no matter what Kōga said.
"Here's the plan," Kōga said as he started the car. "Two carts. We go faster that way. Fifteen minutes and we grab whatever we want before meeting at the front."
Inuyasha grunted in the affirmative. All the carts were jumbled together at the front and not in the cart corrals. The one he picked had a sticky handle and a broken wheel. A quick glance told him they were all like that, so he continued further into the store, eventually tuning out the annoying squeak of the cart.
Blessedly, the store was not as crowded as it could have been. The same dimly lit and unorganized aisles he remembered from his teen years had hardly changed. His mind blank and completely disconnected from his body's actions, he swiped in dozens of packets of ramen straight from the shelf in one swoop as he continued to walk. From there, he wandered over to the alcohol aisle and got some more staples. Had it been fifteen minutes yet? Who fucking cared anyway.
It was unfortunate that the music that scored their reunion was a fuzzily indistinct boy band song from over twenty years ago, but that was just how things went in Sunset Falls.
Kagome was standing at the register and she had already noticed him.
Inuyasha was freaking out internally but somehow possessed enough presence of mind to start putting his things on the conveyor belt with shaking hands. She looked so good even in that neon employee's vest. Why hadn't he seen or smelled her when he first walked in? Maybe he had ignored it since she had filled his senses ever since he came back. Was she looking at him? Fuck, he wished he had the balls to glance at her and find out. The gods must hate his guts as much as she did because fuckingmotherfuckershitdamn the card machine was broken. How the fuck was he going to get through this without speaking or looking at her now?
"Sixty-four bags of ramen, five bottles of whiskey, two of vodka, and one of rum."
"Havin' a party," he muttered.
"A pity party?"
That got him to look her in the eye for a glare only to feel an unexpected lurch of longing in his gut. She wasn't wearing much makeup, just the basics, and wasn't trying to invoke desire with her ponytail and t-shirt, but he wanted her so badly all the same. He wanted to have her, hold her, love her, honor her.
All he said was, "How many fucking jobs do you have, anyway?"
"Just enough to pay the bills," she said cheerfully, pressing some buttons on her register. "Your total is two-eighteen and forty-five cents."
Inuyasha handed her his card. "Look, Kagome, I'm not sure what I did wrong, but I didn't mean to do it, okay? I didn't just move here for money. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't—"
"You're holding up the line, sir," she said, handing him his card and receipt. "Have a nice day!"
The store had been deserted when he walked in. Looking behind him to tell the customer to fuck off, Inuyasha did a double take when he saw it was none other than the fucking wolf, because of course it was.
"It's just Kōga," he said. "And we're together."
She smirked. "I don't doubt that."
Kōga pushed to the front and nudged Inuyasha aside. "Kagome," he said in his silky, seductive girlfriend voice. "You look beautiful. So radiant that even the fluorescent lights can't diminish you in the slightest." He took her hands and kissed them.
She giggled and it was like a stab to the heart. "Aw, you're so sweet, like always. Just what I need to brighten up my day."
Inuyasha fought his way back front and center in front of her. "Look, can we talk? Do you have a break coming up or maybe we can go back to my place and finally just have the conversation we should have had in high school?"
"Can you ring these up for me?" Kōga handed her a bouquet from the flower department. "And then put them with your stuff. I intended to give it to you right when I saw them."
"Red roses!" Kagome cooed, grabbing the bouquet. "How lovely. Thank you so much."
"Kagome likes oriental lilies, idiot," Inuyasha said. "Roses are basic as hell."
"Tastes change," she said in a short, clipped tone. Turning the fullness of her pearly white shining smile on the wolf, Kagome continued, "Besides, anything you give me is more than welcome, Kōga."
The wolf was giving her a goofy smile and Inuyasha was reminded of what he had been like in high school. Just another reject. Just like him. Fuck, was that what he looked like when he looked at her? A fucking idiot?
"Kagome, please, I need to—"
"What you need to do is take your shit to the car and wait for me to finish," Kōga interrupted. "Hurry up, I've got some things to say and we're gonna need privacy."
Kagome laughed and leaned forward, attention fixed solely on the wolf. Inuyasha stared between the two of them, mouth dropped open in shock and hurt. The two had a current running between them, some sort of connection that he didn't understand. Had it always been there?
"Know what? I don't care. You can both get fucked." Inuyasha grabbed the keys from Kōga's belt clip and figured out a way to angrily push a shopping cart loaded with depression goodies as least ridiculously as possible. He cursed under his breath as he tossed the bags in the back. He didn't even give it a second thought when he took the bottle of rum up front with him and popped it open, taking a quick slug as he started the car and drove off.
O\o/O
As soon as Inuyasha turned around, Kagome scowled. "You didn't have to do that," she said.
"What were you planning on doing, arguing with him all day?" At the look on her face, Kōga barked out a laugh that was just shy of bitter. "You were. The two of you are really something else."
"Cash or card?" was all she said in return.
He used the excuse of handing her his card to hold her hand. Kagome tugged, but he was strong. With a cry of frustration, she gave up and glared at him, lower lip trembling.
"What happened?" he asked. "Inuyasha's been a useless wreck all week and here you are moping around. What did you do to each other?"
Finally wrestling her hand away from him, she swiped the card and threw it back at him with the receipt.
"Just go. Get out. Don't talk to me anymore, don't come to my house, and stop watching me when you think I don't notice."
His eyes darkened. "I don't know why this took me so long to realize, but you only act like you like me in front of Inuyasha. When he's gone, you treat me like shit."
Kagome slammed her nametag down on the counter. "Fuck this. If you two are going to be staying here, I'm quitting. That way, we never have to run into each other."
"You're being ridiculous!"
"No, you are." Her eyes glittered in that cruelly hypnotizing way they had even back in high school when she had been just a girl but too mature, too knowing, for her age. "I'm only nice to you when he's around? What about you? Why do you only act like you're into me when Inuyasha's here for you to compete with?"
Kōga sputtered out some nonsense non-words.
She laughed. "That's what I thought. We're both using each other, moron. Get with the program." Shoving her vest into the arms of some pimply teen bagboy who looked at her with that same adoration Kōga had once felt himself, Kagome left.
After a second of the both of them staring unblinkingly at the emptiness she had left behind, the bagboy cleared his throat.
"Are you Sōta's dad?" he asked, voice cracking and shifting into an embarrassingly higher pitch.
"What?" he asked. Kōga was so unsettled by what Kagome had just said that although he heard the words, he did not comprehend anything other than the fact that he was being addressed by some human loser that reminded him far too much of the boy he had been and thought he'd left behind in this shitty town.
"I promise I'll be good to him and never overstep my bounds, sir," the kid said, standing up a little straighter. "I plan on asking Kagome to homecoming, and one night of passion will surely blossom into—"
"She's pushing thirty, kid, keep it in your pants." Grabbing his bags, he left the store. "Did that motherfucker fucking ditch me!?"
O\o/O
Inuyasha turned the music up louder until it hurt. He hadn't done this since the summer his dad died and left them with less than nothing. It had hurt so much, but he hadn't known how much worse it could get. Back then, he'd still had his mom, and the new town where no one knew who he was and the possibility of friends and the girl that made him feel like a future was something to run forward to.
There had been about fifteen calls from Miroku in addition to the dozens of texts and emails. They were supposed to have gone to yet another pointless fucking Zoom meeting. He never said anything, anyway, so why did he have to be there?
He cracked an egg on the edge of the biggest bowl he could find. Fuck, separating the yolk from the whites was hard when you were drunk. And had claws. And hadn't done this particular thing in about a decade.
When he was little, his entire world was made up of his mother, his father (mostly just on the weekends), and the penthouse apartment their father kept him in. Some of his earliest memories were of his mother crying. It wasn't until his father died that he understood why. When his heart stopped, her tears stopped too. The sorrow had cut her too deep for her to cry anymore, and what was worse was the freedom the death of her love had brought.
During the times that she was particularly low, his mother made meringue cookies. She tried to make them fun and they were all different colors and shapes and flavors, but to him, they'd all tasted the same: bitter. And they had them a lot. Inuyasha associated them with depression, loneliness, heartache, and all things sad. After his mom passed, he had never made them again. The mere sight of them made him sick and he could taste them, smell them, hear the sound of her muffled crying all at once in an instant.
But that was then and this was now. He was no longer a little boy crying in sympathy and helpless fear at the sight, smell, sound of his mother's tears. He was a grown ass man who was a billionaire and a genius and sought after by the world's most attractive women and so he didn't need some bitchy, arrogant bitch who had never escaped her hometown and also he was so fucking drunk he had just tried to crack the salt shaker into the bowl instead of an egg.
"Thanks a lot for ditching me!" Kōga said.
Inuyasha blinked at him. His tone sounded angry but he was smiling.
"Ya welcome."
"No, really." Kōga dumped his bags on the counter. "It was close to the end of Kagome's shift, so I stayed and we talked the whole time. Then she offered me a ride. I got as far with her in her car as Hojo did that time we spied on them when he was dropping her off after a date."
He had told himself he didn't care, that he refused to care about her anymore. But the rage Kōga's smirking words inspired in him was overwhelming and instantaneous.
"You did that with Kagome?" he said, throwing down the whisk and then watching it clatter to the floor and then wondering why he had been holding it before remembering the meringues which just pissed him off more. "You didn't even ask me if it was okay!" he roared.
"I told you," Kōga said, voice low and eyes serious. "We ain't kids anymore. Kagome is back in my life and I'm not passing up this chance. I'm going to take it, and I'm going to take her."
"Y-Y-you fucking—" Inuyasha was so mad he couldn't even think of one of his usual easy insults to throw at the wolf. His hands had clenched into fists and he knew his claws had punctured his skin only by the smell of his blood. He was still too drunk to feel much of any external pain.
"Don't know why you care anyway, half-breed. She hates you right now, and she's far from the only one. You should just go and get lost like she said and get out of our way."
Something in Inuyasha snapped. The anger and hurt, both old and new, had swirled into one big internal hurricane that was tearing across the landscape of his soul. The first punch was a surprise for Kōga, as evidence by the dumb look of shock on his face. Inuyasha had hit him hard enough to knock him down to the ground. The two of them stared at each other, both in disbelief. The impact had sobered him up a little and Kōga seemed more in his right mind as well.
Unfortunately for him, Inuyasha didn't have to be crazy drunk to want to kick his ass.
It was so easy for him to just close his eyes and hit him again and again and again. Mostly to the face, that face that had charmed Kagome. Stupid bastard. Stupid fucking bastard with his hair conditioning treatments and teeth whitening and tanning booths and chest waxes…
Keeping a foot on Kōga's neck, Inuyasha pinned him face down on the kitchen floor. The bowl of egg whites was the most appropriate thing within reach for his purposes, and he grabbed it. Kōga was stiff and had stopped struggling. Inuyasha wondered if he knew. Could he smell it? Had he felt it? Well, he would soon enough.
The wolf wore a leather belt that Inuyasha easily unbuckled, wrapping it around his wrists in front of him and keeping him subdued. Kōga groaned groggily and tried to get to his knees.
"Stay down, bitch," Inuyasha growled. His fingers found the fly of Kōga's pants and unbuttoned and unzipped. Confronted with his business partner's firm, naked ass, he could no longer remember why he hadn't been doing this ever since their first time.
"What the fuck are you tryna do, you asshole!?" Kōga said, voice suspiciously ragged and edged with a whine.
Inuyasha was quick in disrobing. "Shut up!" he ordered, positioning himself on his knees behind the wolf. "Don't act like you don't want it."
His cock was fully hard, pumping with blood and rage. He sandwiched it between the smooth, tanned globes of Kōga's ass, squeezing the cheeks together around him. Kōga made a strangled noise and he felt himself twitch in response. Inuyasha continued to hump against Kōga's ass, grinding into it and massaging the cheeks. He reached around and ran his hand along Kōga's own erection, hot and hard and beginning to weep at his touch.
Kōga's back was arched beautifully, the shirt he had been wearing bunched up around his shoulders. The muscular planes of his back were exposed and Inuyasha trailed his claws down their expanse. Pulling away from him, the half-demon grabbed the bowl of egg whites, eyes fixated on Kōga's starburst. Had the fucker bleached? What the fuck kinda gay shit was that?
Dunking two fingers inside the viscous mix, he swirled them around. Inuyasha circled Kōga's asshole with a knuckle, feeling the soft crinkled edge for himself. His mouth watered. If he wasn't so fucking mad and horny, he'd want to do the same thing he was doing with his fingers with his mouth. Lick him up and down, feel the little hole clench down on his tongue. It had been years, but he still remembered the taste as clearly as he did that of the meringue cookies.
Easing his index finger inside, he pumped slowly. Kōga pushed back against him, gripping his finger as he whined for more. So he gave him more, adding a second finger, and then, just because he was still mad, a third. Inuyasha fingered him aggressively, and just when the noises the prone wolf was making changed in pitch, he withdrew.
Kōga looked up from the tile and turned his head, darkened blue gaze clashing with Inuyasha's. The half-demon maintained the eye contact while he touched himself, scooping more egg whites onto his cock as he stroked it. Kōga shuddered and opened his mouth as if to say something. That was the last thing Inuyasha wanted.
Without warning, he lined up with Kōga's vulnerable hole and slammed inside the slickened entrance.
"Fuck!" they cursed in unison.
Kōga was whimpering in pain and something else, claws scrabbling at the tile to get away. At the same time, he was pressing his ass back against Inuyasha's thick cock, rocking his hips and fucking himself. Inuyasha's claws were embedded in Kōga's hips and he was trying not to slam forward again even though it was all he wanted to do. He was so hot and tight around him and knew just how and when to move. Seeing his cock buried inside such a prime peach that bounced at every twitch had the muscles in his lower stomach tightening and he surged forward and back out.
Quickly, they found a rhythm, moving in sync like only best friends could. Every time he pulled away, Kōga's ass gripped him back in, unwilling to give him up. It felt so good. Too good. Why did he have to make such hot little whining sounds? He sounded just like a bitch but he felt almost better. The hold the wolf had on him grew tighter and tighter with each thrust and soon he was panting, hands grabbing Kōga's offensively plump ass and enjoying the indents his fingers made in his skin.
"Just—like—that," Kōga said with a clenched jaw. "You're fucking doing it, you're hitting the right spot every—fucking—time!"
Unreasonably angry that his friend had opened his mouth for words instead of more of those sexy little purrs, Inuyasha grabbed the wolf's ponytail and yanked him back, the yelp his bitch made at the action almost undoing him. Inuyasha drove his cock up into him and Kōga immediately melted back against him.
"Shut your fucking mouth," he growled into Kōga's ear before nipping its pointed tip.
"No fuckin' way," Kōga replied. "Your dick is in my ass and you're not gonna pretend it's anyone else. This ass is making you come, dog boy. This ass and this mouth."
At that, Kōga turned his head and pressed his lips against Inuyasha's. The half-demon fully expected to be turned off, to go soft and stop the whole thing they were doing, but instead it had him that much closer than before. Kōga's kiss was bold, no longer teasing, no longer hiding something. Their tongues met, danced, and parted and he pulled away only to find himself going back in for more, sucking and nibbling on the wolf's full lower lip.
One of his hands had a mind of its own and trailed down Kōga's body, claws teasing at one of his nipples before finding its destination at his straining cock. First, he didn't do anything more than gently rub it, barely touching him, feeling the different textures of his member. Then he went down to his sac, gently feeling each ball and playing with them in a way that made Kōga's hips stutter. Moving upward again, he traced the most prominent vein before gripping him tight and jacking him off, rubbing the pad of his thumb on the tip on every upward stroke.
"Gonna fill your ass with cum," Inuyasha grunted. "Fill you up and fuck you again and again and again. You fucked up, Kōga. You're my bitch now." His hand tightened on Kōga's cock and the wolf choked.
"Y-yes!" he said tremulously. "More!"
Inuyasha picked up speed and strength. He had never fucked like this before. Most of his partners were human women, and he was always mindful of their inherent delicate natures. Their version of rough was different from his. The sounds of their demonic flesh smacking together sounded violent and he knew they'd probably both be bruised for a few minutes before they healed, but it felt so fucking good. This was a kind of freedom he had never before experienced. Without him noticing, the grunts he was emitting became more canine, and Kōga's whines did as well.
The wolf lost it before he did and shot cum all over his chest with a cry of his name. Inuyasha slammed him back down on the tile. Kōga barely had the presence of mind to shakily raise himself up on his forearms. Inuyasha hardly noticed and continued to fuck him into the hard ground, holding his hips up in the air almost entirely on his own. He knew his own end was fast approaching, but when Kōga brought his knees closer together and spread his ass for him, Inuyasha lost it. His orgasm was so strong that for a second he thought he lost his vision, but in reality he had just closed his eyes without even realizing.
He collapsed on top of his bottom, the combination of egg whites and cum seeping onto the floor beneath them and making it sticky.
"That was better than meringues," Inuyasha mused.
"Are you drunk?"
"Would I be fucking you if I wasn't?"
"What the fuck!"
"Yeah, pretty much."
Note: In case you were wondering, Inuyasha's song for his relationship with Kagome at this point is Line Without a Hook by Ricky Montgomery. (Kōga's song for Inuyasha is the Frasier theme song.) Also this whole chapter just got away from me and I think there's going to be some kind of plot now? Like wtf? I'll try and fight it off in favor of more porn but we'll have to wait and see. A thousand thanks to heartrush for being a super cool and fantastically smart beta reader/editor.