I have created a Spotify Playlist of the songs used, so you don't have to go hunting for them. The Playlist will be updated as the fic is updated, so there'll be no spoilers about what's coming down the road.

Playlist is in my profile.

Songs used in this chapter:

(1) No Tears Left to Cry — Braxton Burks (originally by Ariana Grande)

Things seemed to go back to normal shortly after that day. Kagome was soon back to work and at the studio for regular jam sessions. Luckily, everything was typical between her and Inuyasha during their writing nights, even their bickering about what food to order in. Kagome was just grateful to feel some semblance of normalcy, and knowing that her friends and co-workers were more than happy to accommodate her helped immensely.

That was until she got a call at work one day towards the end of the summer. She excused herself from the office and made her way outside, checking to see who it was from. She didn't recognize the number but answered in case it was something important, "Hello?"

"Kagome! Glad I finally got a hold of you!"

"Oh, hey Kouga!" she'd totally lost track of her communications with Kouga about the songwriting she was currently working on and keeping him updated. He'd been lost in the cracks during the last month or so. Between her father's death and her mourning, she wasn't even remotely thinking about checking her DM's or talking to anyone outside her family and immediate friends, "How's it going?"

"I thought you'd fallen off the face of the earth! Where've ya been?" he asked in a somewhat frustrated sounding tone, "I was sending you DM's like crazy to ask about updates for the music and when we could schedule some time in the studio for them, but you never answered."

She didn't want to divulge the details at the moment, "I'm sorry about being MIA for the last little bit. Some personal things came up and I wasn't paying attention to my DM's."

"Well, it's not exactly professional to leave me hanging like that. There's deadlines for this, Kagome, and the exec's want updates. It looks bad on me when I have nothing to show for it because you can't be bothered to check your phone," his anger was getting stronger with each word, and Kagome only wanted to ease it as best she could, but to say her patience was getting thin was an understatement.

"Listen, it's my bad, and I promise it won't happen again, okay?" she replied shortly.

"It better not. My reputation means something with these people and I'm the one vouching for you, so try to not make me look bad," he spat back. That didn't sit well with Kagome one bit.

"Well I'm sorry that grieving my father's death is such an inconvenience to you!" it flew out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

There was a long pause before she heard Kouga attempt to reply, "I — Kagome, I'm so sorry. I-I didn't know…"

"Yeah, well…" she tried to calm herself down again, speaking more evenly this time, "It was a few weeks ago, and things were a bit raw for a while."

"I understand. That's… that's totally reasonable, and I'm sorry for assuming worse of you," Kagome could hear the sincere apology in his voice and chose to forgive him, thinking about the stress he was probably receiving from the studio.

"It's alright," she said somewhat flatly, "But I've had some time, and if you want to start scheduling some studio time, I should be good for some sessions starting in September."

"Absolutely," Kouga eagerly responded, sounding appreciative that she was still willing to work on the project together, "I'll have the secretary reach out to start scheduling some things with you."

"Sounds good," there was a pause when Kagome assumed he would maybe ask her something else. When he didn't say anything, or end the call, she asked, "Is there something else? It's just that I've gotta get back to work."

"Ugh… oh no… that's it," his tone told her he definitely had wanted to ask her something else, but she let it go.

"Alright, I'll see you soon for a session then," she ended in reasonably polite tone before hearing Kouga in return.

'That was awkward,' she thought to herself.

She didn't let it get to her much longer before finishing work for the day and meeting up with the others at a club shortly thereafter.

Kagome spotted Sango, Miroku, and Shippo relaxing at a booth in the corner, waiting for their set, and wandered over to the table and greeted them, "Hey, sorry I'm late."

"No worries! You're right on time, actually," Shippo hailed, seeing Inuyasha come up behind her with their tray of beverages.

She spun around to see him with all their drink orders, and politely made room for him to put the tray down while saying, "Oh, hey!"

"Hey there, just in time," he greeted back, handing her a drink. She carefully tasted it, thankful it had no alcohol in it.

"Thanks," she said happily before taking her seat alongside the others, Inuyasha joining next to her. At this point, Kagome had just chalked up Inuyasha's considerate behavior to him just being sympathetic and wanting to help her after everything that had happened. She decided it was just easier to think that than stress about it and let it get in the way of their friendship. And for now, that was all she needed.

Speaking of their friendship, while the two of them were next to each other and Sango was talking to Miroku about something, Kagome decided she'd ask, "Hey, can I ask you a huge favor?"

Inuyasha's ears flickered towards her direction while he was taking his drink, letting her know he was listening.

She continued, "Kouga's gonna start scheduling some sessions to do some production on the songs we've been working on. I was wondering… would you… I mean, feel free to say no, you've already helped me so much with this, I don't know how I'll ever repay you, but… I'd..."

Why was she blabbering like an idiot? 'Get to point, Kagome!'

"I'd really appreciate if you sat in on some of the sessions."

He seemed unfazed by the request, "Keh, like you even had to ask. You think I'm gonna let that wolf mess up all our hard work? Someone's gotta tell 'em when he's got a bad idea. Just tell me when and I'll be there."

Her face when bright with her smile, "Thank you!"

Needless to say, Kouga wasn't exactly thrilled to see Inuyasha showing up with Kagome at their first session… or their second, and just accepted it by the time the third one came around.

When October started to creep up, Kouga had heard all the music they'd written and recorded demos for, and had been working on developing them for her.

While Kagome was always willing to try things out at his direction, she also tried to maintain her own voice. Though Inuyasha was always ready and willing to back her up when Kouga got pushy, which happened frequently. Inuyasha was used to Kouga's demanding nature and knew how much of his shit he could throw back without getting in too much trouble. Kagome was too green to all this to advocate for herself, and she never regretted asking Inuyasha to sit in on the sessions.

This particular session, when Kagome and Inuyasha arrived, Kouga was playing a demo that wasn't one of the ones they'd recorded together.

"Hey, I've got something interesting I wantcha to listen to and get your thoughts on," Kouga started as soon as they closed the door.

"Oh?"

He started the demo from the beginning (1), and Kagome quickly recognized it.

"That's… one of my orchestral pieces from school!" she remarked, "How did you get a recording of it?"

Kouga gave her a sly smirk, "It was on a folder that in the USB drive you gave me with the demos. I hope you don't mind, but I decided to take a listen to some of your stuff from the files, and I thought some of them would really work as song for your album."

"You just went snoopin' into someone's personal folders without permission? Kinda shady, wolf," Inuyasha commented snidely, sliding onto the couch in his usual spot when they had these sessions.

"I mean… it's not like I didn't have permission to use the drive," Kouga quickly tried to defend.

Kagome smoothly defused the situation, "It's fine Kouga. I honestly forgot I still had those folders on there, but there's nothing personal in them."

His shoulders relaxed and he continued, "So! I was listening to this one in particular, and another one, but we can talk about it later. For now, I was hoping you'd be interested in doing a redux of this piece?"

As the song reached its first crescendo, Kagome wondered how it would work as a pop song. Her curiosity got to her as she agreed, "Sure, I guess it can't hurt to try."

In his usual whirlwind fashion, Kouga was ready with lyrics and music sheets, and played a more minimalist version of what he had in mind. He explained it wasn't fully resolved, and was just a working file to see how she responded to it. Kagome read it over, mentally singing the notes, but the lyrics definitely weren't what she would have imagined. She'd been so used to working with Inuyasha's writing style until now that it was almost jarring.

However, she wasn't going to put it down until they tried it out.

"Hm, let's give it a shot," she agreed meekly, taking the music with her into the recording booth, and starting her usual warm ups.

While she was getting prepared, Kouga turned to face Inuyasha, "By the way, you're gonna have to rerecord some of your guitar work from the last time we were in. I sent some of the stuff to the exec's, and they want to hear alternate versions without the acoustic guitar sound."

"It's not really up to you, now is it. It's Kagome's work, she ultimately decides what she wants. She has enough chops with producing to know what she's talkin' about, so it's her call."

"Listen to me, you half-breed bastard," Kouga barked back, snapping Inuyasha's attention immediately, "I'm working my ass off to get Kagome signed by them, and if you wanna help her accomplish that, then you better do as I say! They wanna hear alternates, so we're gonna give them alternates. Got it?"

Nostrils flaring, Inuyasha was ready to punch Kouga in the face, but he held it in, knowing it probably wouldn't be the best career plan to punch your direct boss, even if it was over a slur.

"Keh, whatever…" he replied, leaning back into the couch as if unfazed.

"Hey, you guys okay in there?" Kagome voice popped in over the speakers, her face concerned as she watched the tense conversation they were having but with no audio.

Kouga spun back to face her, his appearance resuming its casual demeanor, before clicking in, "Yeah, we're all good in here. You ready for a take?"

She nodded, getting herself settled.

Within a few moments, Kouga was counting her in.

Each time, Kagome would get caught up during the bridge, and the recording went on pause. She commented apologetically, "I'm sorry. I'm having a hard time with these lyrics."

"It's alright, maybe just give it another try, but if they keep giving you a hard time, we put a pin in it and move on with the session we had planned for today," his answer was easy and accommodating.

"Thanks," she replied with a slight smile, readying herself another take.

However, before the music came in, she must've heard Inuyasha saying something in the background. It was muffled, since he wasn't next to microphone, but when she saw Kouga click off the mic and turn to Inuyasha, angrily standing from his seat in an intimidating way. She immediately shifted the headphones off her ears, hearing the muffled sounds of Kouga verbally berating Inuyasha, though it was difficult to make out exactly what he was saying through the glass.

When she saw Inuyasha stand to match Kouga's stance, Kagome dropped the headphones back on the stand and ran towards the booth door, Kouga's voice becoming clear when she pulled it open and he cursed, "Fuckin' half-breed…"

The pair of men looked like they were practically ready to rip each other's throats out. Fangs bared, claws out, Kagome just saw red before her voice came out before she even realized it.

"Kouga!" her voice cut through the air of the room like a sharp sword through bamboo. It temporarily paused any kind of strike, but she continued, her tone, unwavering as she approached the two men, pushing them apart by their arms.

Kouga finally looked her way as she stood in front of Inuyasha, her intense stare leveling him a little, "You're gonna apologize to him! Now!"

"K-Kagome…" Kouga stammered out.

Kagome wasn't sure what came over her. She'd never spoken to Kouga this way. She couldn't even push back when she had an issue with his direction. She knew things were tense between Inuyasha and Kouga, but she always figured it was more a friendly rivalry than anything serious. But when she walked in and heard Kouga call Inuyasha 'half-breed'…

It set something off in her. She knew how loaded that word was.

"Apologize, or I walk out of this studio right now," she pushed.

The room was thick with tension. Kouga looked to be genuinely surprised by how Kagome stood up to him. And while internally, he wasn't actually sorry for what he said, he wouldn't risk pissing Kagome off. Not when he'd already invested so much work into this project. Begrudgingly, he mumbled, "M'sorry. It won't happen again."

Kagome's shoulders released their tightness with his stubborn apology, a sigh escaping a little as she turned to give a pointed look towards Inuyasha, "And as for you, what did you say to him to piss him off?"

Inuyasha was taken aback by that, "Huh? I didn't say shit!"

"Don't lie! I heard your muffled voice over the mic. Now stop antagonizing Kouga!" she said blatantly.

"Keh!" he replied turning his face away from hers in defiance, "All I said was he should just ask us next time to write lyrics to your music."

Kagome let out a slightly frustrated sigh, "Listen, I know you two don't always see eye to eye on things, but we've got a lot of work left to do on this. Could you both just cool it until we're done? Then you can go back to biting each other's heads off."

Kouga gave a nod, "You're right, Kagome."

Inuyasha waited a moment. He knew Kouga, and he knew the wolf wasn't being genuine. He could smell it all over him. He was lying through his teeth. But Kagome's pleading expression that she was throwing him, that did him in, "Keh, fine… But I'm not gonna hold my tongue if I think something's a bad idea."

"Deal," Kouga agreed, offering a hand for Inuyasha to shake. The two men begrudgingly shook hands and Kagome felt a wave of relief wash over her.

After their session, Inuyasha and Kagome decided to get some dinner together. However, the restaurant looked pretty packed with people when Kagome peered through the window, "Maybe we should get some food to go and we can eat back at your place?"

Inuyasha nodded nonchalantly, "Sure."

They placed their order and stood outside of the restaurant while they waited, the weather still somewhat warm, even in mid-October.

Kagome stared down at her feet, while Inuyasha casually leaned against the wall beside the door. There'd been a silence between them for the most part since the argument earlier. Kagome was worried that Inuyasha didn't hadn't liked her talking down to him in front of Kouga like that.

'Maybe his ego's bruised,' she wondered, 'Serves him right for picking fights with Kouga when we're trying to work.'

In the back of her mind, though, she knew that no matter what Inuyasha had said to poke at Kouga, it didn't warrant Kouga calling him a 'half-breed'.

The thought still made her blood boil, and she felt sick knowing that people still used terms like that for someone like Inuyasha. It hurt her to know he probably faced that kind of behavior more often that she realized.

"Inuyash—' she started tentatively, but was quickly cut-off by Inuyasha at that same moment.

"Kagome…"

"Ugh, you first," she said politely.

"I ugh…. I just wanted to say… thanks."

"Huh?" she muttered, "For what?"

"For what you did… back at the studio," he answered timidly, "No one's ever stood up for me like that before."

Kagome totally forgot everything she'd been about to say, "Really? No one?"

He weakly shrugged his shoulder, "Maybe once or twice… my mother or Miroku would said something. But for the most part, people just kinda ignore that shit… pretend like it never happened. It used to really bother me as a kid, enough that I was getting in fights a lot over it."

Kagome's heart ached at hearing that. She stayed silent for a moment, letting him continue, "I guess, after a certain point, I stopped caring when people would say it. I knew they were takin' 'bout me, but I was done with fighting over it. So, I started ignoring it… like everyone else did."

She came up beside him, slowly reaching for his arm, trying to quietly show her support, "I'm so sorry… that you've had to deal with this all by yourself."

There was a beat of stillness before Inuyasha gently raised his left hand, placing it over her hand that rested against him. Kagome could feel his fingers softly smooth over the back of her hand, silently conveying how thankful he was.

"Guess I don't have to deal with it alone anymore," he joked, turning to look at her with a knowing smirk, his gaze burning into her like it had so many times before, "I'll just have you step in for me from now on. Did a better job of putting the wolf in his place than I ever could."

Kagome's cheeks went red, pushing Inuyasha's arm teasingly, "Oh stop!"

They shared a nice laugh before Kagome joined him, leaning against the wall beside him and saying, "Seriously though… any decent person would do what I did. No one should be comfortable with that kind of language."

Kagome bravely took the moment, resting her head on his shoulder, to let him know she would always be there to support him, as he had for her. And Inuyasha, in kind, rested against her hair. Silence between them soon resumed, but it was no longer uncomfortable, and Kagome felt a greater sense of understanding between them now.

Their number for their order was called shortly after, pulling them from the somber moment.

As they took their bags, Inuyasha asked, "Oh, what were you going to say?"

"Hm?" Kagome asked, not knowing what he was referring to.

"Earlier, you were about to say something to me before I interrupted?"

She shook her head, "It's nothing."

"Kagome…" he growled in a slightly warning tone.

"Fiiine." she caved, knowing he'd hoard her food until she answered, "I was going to apologize."

"What the hell for?" he questioned while they started walking down the street side by side.

She sighed, "Well… when I thought about it for a minute, I realized that I probably could've waited 'til we weren't around Kouga to talk to you about what happened. I thought maybe I'd hurt your ego by calling you out in front of him like that. And even so, nothing you could've said to him would've justified what he said."

Inuyasha didn't reply for a moment, unsure how to process her apology. So, he said, "You don't gotta apologize for that."

Kagome smiled, relieved that he understood, "That being said, I don't apologize for what I said. You really do need to stop antagonizing him."

"Ugh, but he's just too much of a dumbass not to!" he joked back, causing Kagome to let out a small laugh, making the entire situation worth it for Inuyasha.

They ate pretty briskly so they could get into some of the weeds of the songwriting work they wanted to get finished off.

About an hour into the writing session, Inuyasha was lightly strumming on his guitar while Kagome laid back along his couch, trying to come up with something musically that worked. But she started hitting a wall.

"Can we put on a movie or something?" she asked out of blue, looking over towards Inuyasha, "I need a break."

Pausing his strumming, Inuyasha looked up at the time, "You sure? It's already getting a bit late."

"I can stay a bit later than usual tonight," she replied easily, "Tomorrow's the holiday, remember?"

Inuyasha had actually forgotten that there was a work holiday the next day, meaning Kagome was willing to stay later than usual to get some of the additional songwriting done.

"Right. Then sure," he conceded, grabbing the remote and lightly throwing it onto her chest, causing her to gasp.

"Geez, warn a girl," she chided back. His smirk was too handsome for her to be seriously mad at. She sat up and started flipping through his Netflix account, asking if he had a preference. When he gave no opinion, she took that as she could pick what she liked, so she did.

After starting her movie of choice, Kagome looked over and saw Inuyasha laying back across the chaise part of his L-shaped couch, his back propped up and legs extended out. She was pretty wiped from the day and wanted to lie down to watch the movie, so she figured Inuyasha's side would just have to provide support for her pillow now.

She tossed one of his pillows into his side, causing him to give her a confused look, "You really wanna start a pillow fight with me, Kagome?"

"Not really. I just lookin' for a comfy spot, and you're in kinda in the crossfire," she replied playfully, moving along the couch to lay her head back into the pillow, her body extended across the rest of the couch, and her head perched against Inuyasha's side and thigh.

"Oh, by all means, don't let me get your way of your comfort," he teased back sarcastically, earning a funny upside down look from her.

The movie was one Inuyasha hadn't seen before, but he didn't care for it all that much. Soon, he heard the soft and even breathing next to him, indicating that Kagome had fallen asleep. She was curled up on her side like a cat, and Inuyasha found it difficult to restrain himself from taking a claw and slightly brushing some hair away from her cheek.

The image reminded him of when she'd fallen asleep on top of him at her apartment. While she didn't look as disheveled now as she did then, she looked just as angelic. It still baffled him sometimes that things between him and Kagome had felt so easy. How is it that in just a few months, she'd absolutely gotten him to lower all his defenses and become the biggest sucker for seeing her smile and laugh, or see her like this. She was completely vulnerable with him. She trusted him.

And he knew he completely trusted her…

Was he still awful at telling her that? Fuck yes, but every day they spent together, he would open up just that bit more each time. And he hoped that she saw that.

He pulled the throw blanket that rested on the back of his couch to fall over Kagome's body, knowing she'd likely wake up to the cold as the night went on. He settled back into the plush cushion of the couch, thinking to himself, 'Guess we're done writing for today.'

It was early into the next morning when Kagome finally roused from her slumber, having been more tired than even she realized. Rolling onto her back, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes,and realized that she wasn't in her apartment. She sat up quickly, looking around at the apartment that was now filled with the early morning sunlight.

Kagome turned back, and saw Inuyasha still on the couch, fast asleep. It looked like he hadn't even moved an inch since she'd made him her personal cushion the night before. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment when she realized she had fallen asleep on when they should have been working.

'Way to go, Kagome,' she chastised herself, 'You feel asleep on him; literally and figuratively.'

She slowly moved the blanket off of her, letting her legs fall off the side of the couch as she watched Inuyasha sleep, deciding what she should do.

'Do I wake him up?' she wondered. But seeing his soft and contently sleeping face, Kagome couldn't bring herself to disturb him, 'I'll make some coffee, and I'll decide what to do from there.'

With quiet footsteps, the carpeted flooring helping to muffle her movements, Kagome slid her way around Inuyasha's kitchen, having remembered where all the usual coffee related items were, since they'd been in dire need for coffee on during some of their previous late-night sessions. She quietly hummed to herself as she poured the boiling water over the grounds.

A combination of the rolling water, Kagome's distant humming, and the fresh smell of coffee started to penetrate Inuyasha's unconscious state, and in a few moments, he managed to peel his eyes open and give his back a stretch. He hadn't slept as deeply as that in a while, even though the position he had been in should have been extremely uncomfortable. He peeked over his shoulder, following the scent and sounds from his kitchen, and saw Kagome fluttering around, opening the cupboard with the glassware to find his mugs and pulling two out with ease, her back facing him. She moved so naturally around his apartment, and it wasn't at all hard for Inuyasha to enjoy seeing her to so at home in his space.

'I could get used to this,' he thought to himself. Adjusting himself, Inuyasha rested his arm over the back of the couch, his hand holding his chin up as he let his appreciative stare linger a little longer.

After she poured the coffee, along with their usual add-ons, Kagome slowed her movements and said sweetly, but knowingly, "I can feel it when you stare…"

Inuyasha's ears flickered and his eyes went wide at that, both realizing he'd been caught staring and at her admission, "Uh.. sorry, I didn't mean to…"

She turned back to address him fully, a warm smile on her face and both mugs in her hands as she moved around the kitchen island and back towards the couch, handing him his drink while she stood behind the couch looking down at him. He took the drink with a 'thanks', before she continued, "Don't worry. It's not a bad thing."

Inuyasha's body relaxed at that as she leaned over the back of the couch, taking a sip of her coffee before asking him, "So... since I kinda ruined our session last night by falling asleep, when should we meet to catch-up?"

Inuyasha lightly shrugged his shoulders before answering as casually as he could, "I mean, I've got no plans today…", his eyes avoiding her gaze as he moved to take his sip of coffee, trying not to come off as too eager to spend more time with her.

Kagome's eyes stared down into her mug, a smile crawling onto her face as she said, "Me neither," raising her mug back to her lips to cover her own eagerness. She saw Inuyasha's ear flicker again out of the corner of her eye, and by this point, she knew that was definitely his tell.

They spent their entire day off writing, eating, and talking together, eventually making their way onto the rooftop to watch as the sun set over the city.

Sorry for the 3-month delay everyone. That one took so long to write, just because it is a bit of a transition chapter to get to other places in the story. I always was so unsure what to do in this section I think I wrote 3 versions of this before I settled on this final draft. Next few chapters are much more plot heavy, as well as other kinds of heavy… (like the hot and steamy variety).

Also, I want to give a HUGE thank you to Ruddcatha for being my beta-reader for this chapter! She's such an angel and oh my god, she caught so many things I would have otherwise missed, and it makes me wonder if I should go back and re-edit all my previous chapters. How did I do this for so long with no one spot-checking me?

I'm hoping to have the next chapter up sooner than later, so be sure to subscribe for updates!

Until Next Time…