Inuyasha breathed heavily. He'd been running for three hours, full out, and he was starting to get a little winded. He shook his head, and stretched his legs. He would probably run another hour then head home, maybe destroy some more punching bags. David would flip on him most likely.
          His ears perked up, he could have sworn he'd heard a woman screaming. For a moment, he was very still, waiting for the wind to bring the sound again. This time he was sure, a woman was screaming, "Help!"
          Inuyasha leapt up on the building in front of him, trying to determine where the sound had come from. Another scream pierced the air, and he tore off in its direction, leaping across roves and scanning the alleys eagerly. He sniffed the air, catching a familiar scent, but unsure of where it was from. Then he saw them, three men holding a woman between them. Inuyasha felt a wave of anger wash over him. "What kind of man would fight a woman." He snapped leaping down into the alley.
          "Who're you?" one of the men asked warily.
          "Doesn't matter." Inuyasha smirked, cracking his fingers, "I've had a rough week, and I'm gonna kick your asses."
          "Big words!" one said, dropping the girl. She landed on the ground with a grunt, and sunk her teeth into the arm of her remaining captor. "Hey, can you handle the bitch?" he snapped at the man being bitten.
          The man glared at him furiously, and slapped the woman across the face. She grunted in pain and surprise, but kicked the man, effectively dropping him.
          The man facing Inuyasha smirked, "What kinda man wears dog ears anyway?" he jeered, "Aren't those for kids?"
          Inuyasha smirked, "They're real."
          The third man yelled, "Run you idiot! That's a demon!" and took off. Inuyasha was in front of him in a flash, sending him to the world of unconsciousness with a single blow.
          "A demon, eh?" the first man smirked, while the other man still fought with the woman. Inuyasha wasn't sure who was winning at the moment, but at this rate, the woman would exhaust herself. "I've seen tougher."
          Inuyasha laughed, "Feh, come and get it, moron!"
          Kagome kicked her attacker again and again, but already she was starting to feel tired. Her face throbbed painfully, and she knew the inside of her mouth was cut from when the man struck her. Someone had come to help her. She didn't take the time to see if she knew them in the dark and shadowy alley, but rather focused on defending herself against the disgusting excuse for a man, persistently trying to grab her.
          She heard the men fighting her protector grunt, and remain silent as the man pummeled then. Then he raced through the alley, dispatching the man with stunning power. "Hey! You okay?" Kagome coughed, "Yeah, I'm fine."
          Inuyasha walked into a bar of sunlight, dragging two of the thugs behind him. "Hey, is there a dumpster around here?" he smirked.
          After finding one, he calmly deposited the three into the iron box, and let the lid clang shut, "You know, suddenly I like taking out the trash."
          Kagome stared at him in surprise, "It's you!"
          "What's me?" Inuyasha asked warily.
          "From the hospital!" she said, gathering her bags and shoving her newly purchased items back into them.
          Inuyasha stared at her, struck once again by her remarkable resemblance to Kikyo. "Yeah. . ." he muttered.
          "Thank you." Kagome said shyly, realizing that he had just saved her life. "Do. . . you think we should call the police?"
          Inuyasha frowned, "Nah. I don't really feel like dealing with the police right now anyway." He remarked bitterly.
          "Well. . ." Kagome said uncomfortably, "I'm on my way home, you can come have a soda if you'd like."
          "Err. . ." Inuyasha muttered, not sure it was a good idea to go home with a woman, especially one that was a Kikyo look-alike and when he was being investigated for her murder.
          "Please?" Kagome insisted, "I want to repay you!"
          Inuyasha looked at her for a moment. She was definitely nothing like Kikyo. That was for sure. Kikyo never pleaded with anyone in her life. Inuyasha frowned, she looked so much like her, it was alarming. "I don't know. . ."
          Kagome smiled at him, "Oh, come on! Don't you want to protect me? You can beat up some more thugs if they attack me."
          "Feh. . ." Inuyasha snorted, "Fine, I'll come with you, if only to make sure you don't get yourself killed along the way." He agreed, finding himself actually eager to go to her home.
         

* * * * * * * *

 

          Sango dropped her keys on the table, and made a beeline for the fridge. "I'm hungry." She remarked, digging some left over pizza out. She grinned, cheerfully stuffing the cold pizza in her mouth. "Mmmm. . . pizza!" She took the saran wrap covered plate over to the table and proceeded to stuff herself with it.
          The door swung open and thudded against the wall loudly. "Oh no! There goes another one!" Kagome yelped, and her cry was followed by a loud THONK as some unknown item escaped her bag and hit the floor.
          "I got it." A male voice said, and Sango's eyes widened. Kagome was bringing a guy home?
          "I'm not supposed to be here today. . ." Sango realized, and laughed around her mouthful of pizza.
          Kagome froze in the doorway of the kitchen, "Sango? What are you doing here?"
          Sango raised her eyebrow, "I live here. How about you? Where have you been?"
          Kagome swallowed and blushed, "I kinda flunked that test, so I thought I'd sooth my wounded pride with some shopping." Kagome eyed the pizza in Sango's hand irritably, "Ew. . . Sango! Can't you heat that stuff up first! Cold pizza! That's so gross!"
          Sango grinned, revealing a mouth full of chewed up pizza, "Nope. Hungry now."
          "Uh. . . Kagome, where should I put these at?" The man's voice said again. "Do you want it in the kitchen?"
          Kagome's face flamed red when Sango grinned at her with a cocky, 'I know everything' smirk.
          "N- No. That's okay. Just let it in the hall." Kagome called. "Sango. . ." she warned.
          Inuyasha dropped Kagome's bags in the hall. Halfway across town, he'd grown tired of seeing her drop something every few steps and had taken them from her, preferring instead to carry them himself. "Hey, what now?" He called, following Kagome's voice to her kitchen.
          "Ah. . ." Kagome stuttered as Inuyasha walked into the room. "Inuyasha, meet my sister, Sango."
          Inuyasha stared at the burgundy-eyed woman in front of him. "Nice to meet you." He said. He knew this woman. Where had he seen her before. He racked his brain, trying to remember, but came up empty handed.
          Sango blinked at him, "Kimadora? What are you doing here?" Kagome stared at the two of them, "You know each other?"
          "Yeah. . ." Sango said, watching him warily. "I know him."
          Inuyasha squinted and scratched his head, "I know you, but from where?"
          "Um. . ." Kagome said, "Sango's a police officer, maybe that's how you know her."
          Suddenly it came to Inuyasha, he knew exactly who she was. "You're the officer from Kikyo's apartment."
          Sango nodded, "Yup. So. . . what are you doing with my little sister?"
          "Err. . ." Inuyasha grunted, not really sure how to explain it. Somehow he suspected telling a police officer that he'd thrown three thugs into a dumpster instead of calling the police didn't seem like a good idea.
          "I took a shortcut, and ran into some creeps. Inuyasha saved the day!" Kagome said, snatching a piece of pizza and sticking it in the microwave. For several seconds, she watched the pizza until the cheese started to bubble. She popped the door open and folded the pizza in two, blowing on her fingers. She bit into it, wincing as the tomato sauce came in contact with her sore mouth.
          "What happened to your face? Did he hit you?" Sango said pointedly.
          Kagome choked on her pizza, and globs of it flew out of her mouth, splattering on the floor. "No! He saved my hide!"
          "Clean that up, you pig!" Sango said rolling her eyes.
          Inuyasha glared at her. She was being very hostile with him for some reason. He hadn't done anything to her. In fact, he had saved her little sister's life! Then it clicked, she was obviously one of the officers investigating Kikyo's death. "Duh!" Inuyasha thought, "She was at the crime scene, she stares at you like some sort of criminal when you walk in. . ."
          Sango watched him, he was very uncomfortable right now. Once again, her instincts told her that the man before her was not a killer. He was a good person, she could tell. She'd always had good instincts with people. After all, Sango thought, he did rescue Kagome. She stared down at her plate of cold pizza and grinned, "Pizza?" she said and held the plate out to him.
          He was visibly relieved that she wasn't going to try to arrest him or anything. "Uh. . . sure." He said, snatching a piece off the plate. With a smirk he chomped off a big mouthful.
          Kagome stared at him, "Ew! Not you too!" she squealed. "I'm leaving! You evil cold pizza people can chow alone!" she said laughing as she darted into the pantry.
          Laughing to herself, Kagome took down three cans of Coke, and grinned evilly. She picked one can and shook it up for a good bit of time, laughing. "Sango's in for a surprise."
          She cheerfully carried the sodas out and glared at them as they stuffed cold pizza into their mouths. Sango was deliberately chewing with her mouth open to show Kagome her chewed up pizza. Kagome stifled a gleeful laugh and handed the sodas out. She confidently popped hers open and took a drink of it.
          Sango swallowed her pizza and popped the can open slowly. It came open neatly. She was surprised, Kagome usually tried something like shaking it up. She shrugged and downed half the soda in one gulp.
          Kagome stared at her in surprise, and then realized what had happened. "No! Don't open that Inuyasha!" she yelped, but it was too late. A stream of soda struck Inuyasha in the face, soaking his hair and clothes in brown soda. "Oh. . . oh no!"
          Inuyasha stared at her for a moment, not sure whether to be angry or not. No one had ever done something like that to him. Half of him wanted to laugh, and the other half wanted to hurl the can through the wall. Kagome stared at him with a mix of horror and amusement on her face. Sango stared at him with a similar mix of surprise and absolute glee. Suddenly Sango started laughing, "Kagome!"
          Kagome swallowed, "Oh, Inuyasha! I'm so sorry! I meant to give that to Sango!"
          This didn't seem to help the situation, and Sango just laughed all the harder, leaning back in her chair. Suddenly it slipped forwards, and Sango landed on her back on the floor, still laughing. "Sango! Shut up!" Kagome screeched in frustration.
          Inuyasha snorted, "Heh. . ." and couldn't help but laugh. Here he was absolutely covered with soda. Kagome wasn't laughing at all. She didn't find it funny in any way. That soda was meant for Sango. How did Inuyasha get it? Inuyasha laughed for several minutes, "Hey. . . d'you think I could get a shower?" he asked, flicking his soda-brown ears.
          "Uh. . . sure. . ." Kagome said nervously, "The uh. . . bathroom's back here." She said, and lead him down the hallway.
          Kagome wandered out the hall into the kitchen. Sango stared at her from her chair. "Nice trick, there sis."
          Kagome glared at her, "You know very well that soda was meant for you."
          Sango smirked, "Oh well, think about it this way, you've got him stark naked in your house on the first date."
          Kagome's face turned beet-red, "Sango!" she hissed, "We are not on a date!"
          Her sister laughed, "He is cute, though."
          Kagome glared at her, "Sango!"
          Sango laughed, "Okay, okay. I get it, no more jokes about your naked boyfriend."
          "He's not my boyfriend! We're not even dating! I don't even hardly know him!" Kagome snarled in embarrassment and frustration.
          "He's still naked. . ." Sango teased.
          "Oh, that's why I came out. Do you still have any of Darien's clothes left here?" she questioned, "I'd hate for him to have to go home in those sticky clothes."
          Sango nodded, "Oh, but that will take away from that bonfire we were planning!"
          Kagome laughed, "Please? I'll find something else for you to burn!" She pleaded. After Sango's less than friendly break-up with her ex-boyfriend, Kagome and she had jokingly said they were going to have a bonfire in the summer and burn all his stuff still left in their aparment.
          Sango sighed as though she were making a great sacrifice, "Okay, then, the things I do for you, Kagome. . ."
          "Sure, keep telling yourself that." Kagome remarked and made her way to her sister's room to find clothes for Inuyasha.