"Kagome, get behind me!" InuYasha moves to shove Kagome behind him. He quickly draws the Tessaiga and points it at Suguru. His ears swirl around and hone in on Suguru. His white hair fluffs up in agitation. If he were an actual dog, his fur would be standing up.

What is Suguru doing here? Kagome shoves InuYasha to the side and steps around him. She points a finger towards Suguru. "Wait a minute, that's Suguru, he's fine," she stresses, but InuYasha just snarls in response.

A curse appears behind Suguru, with its teeth bared. The cursed energy is oppressive. She's not a curse expert or anything, but this feels like it might be a special grade.

A bit overkill in her opinion and not welcome here on the shrine. She lets some of her powers leak through, enough to show that curse she means business if it gets any closer to them.

So help her if that thing attacks InuYasha. She'll exorcise it and then rip Suguru a new one for not listening to her.

"Damn it, Suguru, put that thing away now before I purify it. InuYasha is my friend. He's not an enemy and I'll be so pissed off if you try to fight him or so help me." Kagome stomps her foot, feeling more like she's back to being a teenager and trying to keep InuYasha and Koga from killing each other. "And you know how I feel about curses on these grounds."

Her chest rises rapidly, like she's run several laps around the shrine grounds. It's a good thing she does not contribute to the curse infestation because the negative emotions boiling in her gut are enough to take down a nation. He needs to withdraw his curse like now.

The curse inches forward, but stays a reasonable distance away. It must feel her own powers rising in preparation for an attack. She will not allow that thing to go after InuYasha. Sure, Inu could probably kill it - exorcise it - whatever, but that's not the point. Kagome cannot handle another blood bath on these grounds.

She's barely keeping it together as it is.

"Kagome, I know you aren't thinking straight. He must have done something to you," Suguru replies. A giant worm that looks like a baby with a swollen face wraps itself around his waist. He pulls out what looks like a pair of nun-chucks. "Vermin, I don't know what kind of trick you are playing, but I don't take too kindly to those trying to harm my people."

InuYasha scoffs. "Vermin? Says the worm-fucker." He waves the Tessaiga around.

"He's not playing a trick on me!" Kagome holds out both hands and blocks Suguru's view of InuYasha. "Do you even hear yourself? How would he be able to do that? I'm a priestess. Such magic does not work on me." Her words don't make much of a dent. The curse looks back at Suguru and then creeps forward.

It takes small measured steps as though it is afraid of getting closer while also being afraid of what Suguru may do to it if it does not comply. It should be more concerned about what she will do to it if it does not back the heck back. Her mood is souring faster than spilled milk.

As grateful as she is that Suguru does not want harm to come to her, he is overstepping.

"Look, if I was under his control would I be able to do this?" Kagome turns to the side so Suguru and InuYasha are both within her eyesight.

"Oi! No!" InuYasha exclaims, sheathing his sword. "At least let me go to the grass—"

"—Sit boy."

Thud!

"Fucking hell," InuYasha grumbles from the ground. The curse fades away as quickly as it came.

Kagome pulls her powers back in and lets out a long-suffering breath. The air tastes sweeter without that thing around. Her arms shake ever so slightly. She takes in a couple more breaths and tries to regulate her breathing.

It's fine. No one got hurt. There will be no more battles here.

She's gonna have to go around and tinker with the barrier after this. Clean the grounds. Scrub the house down.

"The hell? Did you just command him?" Suguru doesn't put his weapon away, but he lowers his hands as he walks forward. His dark almond-shaped eyes widen as he takes in the scene before him.

It must look otherworldly to people who aren't used to such things.

"It's subjugation beads," Kagome explains. She bends down and holds out a hand to InuYasha. "Sorry, Inu. He was convinced you put some kind of spell or curse on me. Though I don't know why, since you know it shouldn't work on me. And get rid of that thing."

"Theres a lot I don't know about you, Kagome. The last thing I know is what does or does not affect you. I mean, you fell for Satoru's charms." The last part, Suguru spits out like it is the worst taste in his mouth. "And you are hanging out with this... InuYasha." The worm wrapped around him sucks in the weapons and then fades away.

Kagome swallows down the bile.

"Who the hell is Satoru?" InuYasha takes her hand and then dusts his pants off. "Is that why you haven't been coming around?"

"Don't worry about it." Kagome rolls her eyes. She hasn't seen Satoru since that day he showed up at the shrine and then that random encounter at the grocery store where he pestered her for her number. He hasn't come around since, but he sends her messages every day about everything and nothing at all.

She never should have given him her number. A moment of weakness on her part. He's too attractive for his own good and should be avoided from here on out.

"Really?"

"Really."

Suguru clears his throat. "Is this curse yours, then?" His jaw ticks. She can practically see the steam rising from him.

"Oi! I have had enough of this bastard. First vermin, now curse? How about I shove Tessaiga up your ass?"

Kagome sighs and places a hand on InuYasha's chest. "InuYasha isn't a curse. He's a half-demon." This is so frustrating. The last thing she wanted was for Suguru and InuYasha to meet. As far as she is concerned, there is no reason for Suguru to know more about her than he needs to, but here they are. Now she has to explain things.

Why couldn't Suguru just not show up uninvited? He knew she was going to be busy.

"A half demon?"

"Half human, half demon," she explains. "He is not a curse though, and he doesn't mean anyone harm. Right Inu?" Kagome raises a brow at InuYasha, who just grumbles under his breath about stupid humans.

Suguru still looks not convinced, but he doesn't look as though he is going to attack InuYasha either. "How many demons do you know?"

"Um.. enough? That's not the point here. Why are you here? I thought you were going to exorcise that curse without me." She quickly changes the subject. "Did you not go home and rest first?"

"I was worried about how you left. I had to make sure you were okay," Suguru says, lowering his voice. His words are like honey dripped in poison. As much as she wants to believe him, something keeps her back. Like he's trying too hard to win her over.

She frowns, more perturbed by why she doesn't trust Suguru. He hasn't done anything to her. He's even showed her how curses work and how to properly exorcise them, so no one else has to suffer the same fate as her family.

"Can I just get the baby shit and be on my way?" InuYasha cuts in. "You know Hana is trying to nest and shit." He crosses his arms.

"Don't make me S-I-T you again." After all this time, Inu is still as rude as ever, though he has a point. There is no real need to have him sticking around if she isn't in danger. "I got everything in the kitchen." Kagome heads towards the house, stopping to reach for Suguru's hand on the way.

Suguru allows her to tug him towards the house. Kagome peeks a glance at their intertwined hands. He's been pretty clear about what he hopes blossoms between them, but she can't bring herself to make that leap.

The problem must be her. Her mind is a mess ever since... that day. She blinks, dispelling the image.

Better to focus on the situation at hand.

"So, you were getting the baby supplies for him?" Suguru glances over his shoulder. Kagome can feel the animosity brewing between him and InuYasha.

"Yep!" she chirps, overtly sweet to drown out the tension between those two. "InuYasha's wife is due any day now, so he's a bit anxious to get back to her." She leads them into the house and towards the kitchen, where all the gifts sit on the table.

"And you couldn't get your own stuff?" The accusation hangs in the air, just waiting for its target.

InuYasha bares his teeth and flips Suguru off. "Listen here, ya wanna be tough guy. The only reason why I'm not beating your ass is because of Kagome."

Kagome pinches her nose and counts to three. Nope. She's still annoyed with them. "Can we just not for like five minutes? Suguru, I know you don't like curses, obviously, but InuYasha is not in the same category as those things. He's just like us. He's half human," she stresses.

"Sorry," Suguru amends, leaning on the table and somewhat blocking InuYasha from her view. "I'm still worked up. It's not every day you come across a demon."

"Where's Hobo? I liked him better."

Kagome's mouth drops. "You can't say that! That's so rude," she hisses.

Suguru's mouth goes taunt. "Hobo? Are you talking about Hojo?"

"Yeah, that dude was way better than you. At least he had some sense about him."

"Okay, I think it's time for you to go on home now, Inu. I'll be around later this week, promise." She steps to the side, ignoring the way Suguru's expression darkens. She'll address him after InuYasha goes home. "Do you need any help carrying some of that?"

InuYasha gives her a 'be real' expression. He scoffs and lifts the bags. "You been spending too much time with these humans."

Kagome holds her tongue. InuYasha's wife is human. Funny how he forgets that whenever he wants to get on her case about not visiting the past as often as she used to. It's not that she doesn't miss everyone, but her family got hurt because she was off helping villagers instead of helping her family here.

Inu doesn't get it. The past is his time. His home. This is her home. It's not so easy to pick up and go. There is no one else to run the shrine. No one else to keep things going.

"Goodbye, Inu." She walks around the table and pushes him out the door. "Hurry up and go," she whispers. "I'll keep Suguru distracted. He doesn't know about the well."

"Seriously? Fine. Whatever. But I don't like the guy. He smells funny."

Kagome rolls her eyes. Everyone in this time smells funny to InuYasha. He's just being paranoid, as usual. Everyone is an enemy until proven otherwise. It's a wonder he managed to settle down with how little he trusts people outside their group. She gives him a nod and then closes the door.

"Sorry about InuYasha. He's pretty protective of me."

"He knew your ex? Doesn't seem like the kind of man you would bring around a non-sorcerer."

Kagome falters. What's with the interrogation? She should be getting on his case for showing up unannounced when she told him not to do that. "A hat takes care of Inu's ears, and his hair doesn't stand out that much." She swallows back the 'Satoru has white hair too' and continues on as if she wasn't thinking about bringing up his not best friend.

"It seemed like you were going to go off with him and forget about our plans," he says with a sigh, hurt tugging at the corners of his lips.

Plans? They had that curse to exorcise, but didn't he say he would... oh fuck!

"Suguru, I—"

He waves her off. "You've been through a lot. I get it. You know I lost my parents to curses as well." He rises and stands closer to her. So close, he could reach out and touch her. "I haven't had lunch if that's what you meant. The curse will be more active tonight, so we should still exorcise it later, tonight as planned."

Kagome sighs. Busted. She was totally gonna go back to the past with InuYasha and hang out with the others for a bit. Staying in the shrine is stuffy. Everywhere she turns, there are memories she can't shake. "If you haven't eaten yet, then we could go grab something to eat now."

"A date then?" He smiles, as though he knows he has her in his trap. "That's how you can make it up to me."

"You don't give up, do you?"

"I know what I want." He runs his knuckles down her cheek and then toys with a locket of hair. His eyes soften.

She opens her mouth right as her phone buzzes over and over in her pocket. She flashes Suguru a regretful smile and pulls away to check her messages.

Satoru: Let's meet up tomorrow night. Scratch that. I'll pick you up. Wear something comfortable.

There's an attachment of a blindfold? The heck is that supposed to mean?

Her brows furrow. Suguru comes up behind her and curves his body around hers with his hands flat on the wall. She's trapped. Kagome turns around right as he leans his head down.

His lips seal over hers and the phone clatters on the ground.

A/N: I think Suguru would have given InuYasha a run for his money if he pulled out several of his curses since he has like 6K of them? Thank you all for reading! Working on another How To Tame Short and then I'll start drafting the next chapter for the main story. Take care of yourselves!