"Takahashi-san?" he heard.

Suddenly InuYasha bolted up, looking at his assistant sitting next to him. Kagome Higurashi looked at him to see if he was okay. "What is it, wench?" he asked, snarling.

Kagome was a sweet girl. She was twenty-one, just out of college, with a mature look and air about her. InuYasha was glad he had such a competent assistant, but he was annoyed quickly and regularly by her.

Especially since his girlfriend did not get along with Kagome in the least.

"You fell asleep again," she told him, calmly in a almost annoyed manner. "The meeting's over. It has been for an hour. I felt it was important to wake you up before your next meeting. I doubt Mana would be as understanding as the American designers."

InuYasha shuddered. Mana from Malice Mizer. He was practically a girl. Boy, did he not want to meet with that gender-confused...person.

Kagome sighed and got up, standing at her full five-eight feet. She reached out a slender arm, and handed him some papers. "I took notes of the meeting. I suggest you lay off screwing Kikyou for one night and catch up on your work."

He didn't know what it was between the two girls. Kikyou Hamasaki and Kagome Higurashi had known each other longer than he knew them--freshmen year of high school, he remembered how close the two were.

Beauty and the Beast, they were called. It was the reason InuYasha first noticed them. Kikyou looked like a model, while Kagome was her brainiac best friend that never wore makeup, and always had fresh zits on her face. She had been a year younger than everyone else, and only five-four with a pudgy look about her.

There was no question as to why InuYasha befriended Kagome at the age of fifteen. He wanted to get close to Kikyou. And not long after, the two had a falling out and he started to date Kikyou. Now, after five years the couple still seemed to be going strong, and neither Kagome or InuYasha tried to repair their broken friendship.

It only figured that it took until Kagome turned eighteen and was off in England for college that she became beautiful. She had grown the four inches, and the baby-fat was lost. her body became lean and slender with curves where they ought to be. Her face cleared up, and she started to wear makeup--not a lot, but enough to make a difference.

Now she was back, and working for the Takahashi family at Supernatural Fashions, the magazine Takahashi-san left under the control of InuYasha and his older brother Sesshomaru.

His sister-in-law Rin was given Engel Publications, and his adoptive brother would be left IN DIE NACHT, a educational magazine series Shippou had enjoyed even before they adopted him.

"Takahashi-san, you're spacing out again," Kagome chided, snapping him out of it. "I have Kikyou for you on Line Two. She's not happy you're taking so long. It'd be best if you explain to her I'm not the one detaining her from speaking to you. She thinks we're having an affair."

InuYasha snorted, and picked up the phone. "Kiki, baby?" he cooed.

Kagome rolled her eyes and walked out of the office, leaving InuYasha to watch her swaying ass in the nice A-line skirt that matched her new mani-pedi. He was shocked he had noticed this, but he chalked it up to being in the fashion industry too long. No other straight man would notice the shades of aquamarine.

"Hey, InuYasha. What was that?" Kikyou greeted, fuming.

"I'm sorry, babe. I haven't been able to sleep much lately. How could I when we're up all night?" he said, smiling.

Life with a model was good. Especially a lingerie model.

"It's all right. I just thought the Higurahi bitch was trying to seduce you. That's all," Kikyou said.

For some reason, Kikyou thought that a lot. He never understood why, but she was always afraid Kagome was stealing him. "Kiki, you know you're the only one for me."

"Supernatural Fashions, InuYasha Takahashi's assistant speaking. How may I help you?" Kagome answered, typing up InuYasha's schedule for the rest of the week.

Today was only Monday. She'd have a whole week more of this.

"Hi, this is Rin. I was wondering when you're going to get your ass out here and go out for lunch with Sesshy and me," her friend said, laughing.

"Rin, you know I can't!" Kagome whispered, staring around her to make sure no one heard her call. She was not supposed to have personal calls on professional hours. That was one of InuYasha's rules.

"Sure you can. You're lunch-break is at noon, right? InuYasha can't fault you for eating with your friends on your hour off. Even he's not that weird."

Kagome sighed. "Rin, I'm still technically an intern. I only have half and hour. And if I'm late for the meeting at twelve-forty-five, he'll have my head. He still hates me, you know," she said, cradling the phone in her neck and typing the schedule. As she did so, she wrote down important notes and memos to hand him later. "Why?"

"I haven't talked to you in weeks. Is it wrong that I want to hang out with my friend? Besides, Sango's in town. Don't you want to meet her fiancé?" she said, hoping that the mention of Sango would entice Kagome into coming.

"I met Miroku last night. They came to my apartment for dinner. He's very nice, but fascinated with touching women's butts," she replied, printing out the schedule and filing a giant manila folder. "And anyways. I have to prep your brother-in-law on his meeting with Mana. Get this--he fell asleep during the meeting with Chanel and Betsy Johnson."

Rin squeaked. "You're kidding!" she screamed, deafening Kagome, her best friend since her days in elementary. As a woman, she couldn't understand how he could have fallen asleep in any meeting. "But they have some of the nicest clothes! Are you wearing that new skirt Coco Chanel gave you?"

Kagome laughed. "Of course! The second InuYasha nodded off, she started to talk to me about it...I think I close the deal just by wearing the skirt. Only thing was, I had to wear my nasty silk shirt with it, and my onyx blazer with matching pumps. You know how I feel about my gold silk shirt. If I didn't feel so hot in my blazer, I'd never take it off. But it's the only shirt that matches it…I think the only shirt on the planet that matches it."

Rin hissed, feeling her friend's pain. That did not look appropriate for work. But, hey, she was working with InuYasha, so it all worked out in the end. "So, how are things between you and the half-sister?"

Kagome sighed heavily and copied InuYasha's schedule into her date book, for Sesshomaru, for the front desk, for InuYasha and Kikyou each, and one for his date book. At the same moment, InuYasha's call with Kikyou ended, and he had entered her office to see what was going on.

He was right, she was on the phone. But she must not have been listening to his conversation if she was still on it. He really shouldn't believe everything Kikyou said. Then he saw her put it on speaker, and he ducked around the corner to listen, like a sneak. He craned his neck over and saw her copying his schedule and finding different colors to use.

She was a great help. No one he knew would care that much about scheduling. And she was always showing that much thought and detail into everything she did for the company.

"I don't know anymore. She and I hate each other, I guess," Kagome replied. She looked around the office frantically and groaned. "Where did I put the Louis Vuitton file? I'm so screwed!" She looked around, then turned around in a hairpin turn.

She picked up a whiteboard marker and wrote on her giant memo-board that she had to cancel plans on Sunday. "And, get this, I have to go to the charity event as an employee of Supernatural Fashions. Really! It's the one day I get to be with Hiro this month."

InuYasha felt a pang in his heart, then shrugged it off. It almost seemed jealous, but he couldn't be, he didn't care about Kagome. But when he saw her circle the date on her calendar in read and erase "Date with Hiro & Yuki," he knew he felt happy and a bit triumphant. In its place went "Chairty Ball for Takahashi-san's businesses."

"Chill, Kags," InuYasha heard Rin say, laughing. "You haven't mentioned it. Odds are it's still in the file cabinet. Besides, we need to get you a dress now. I'm thinking a Vera Wang."

Kagome ran over and sighed, picking it up out of the cabinet and putting it on her desk. "Thanks. And no way! She only makes wedding clothes. I already have some brand new gowns in my closet, compliments of Hiro. But thanks for the consideration."

"No problem. Now, back to Kikyou."

InuYasha glared and, Kagome sighed again. "There's not much to say. She still thinks I want to steal InuYasha, and that's the reason why I came back to work here. Just like I wanted her dad. I want everything she has because I know I can't have it."

Rin snorted. "Did you ever tell her that you weren't even born yet when Hamasaki-san wanted to go back to his wife? Cheating bastard."

Kagome, once again sighed. "Does it sound like I got any say? No. Eventually he went and divorced my mom and married Kikyou's, so Kikyou thinks I hold a grudge and I still want my dad. Like I have an Electra complex. Ew! I don't know, or care what happened before there...And shouldn't you be working?"

"Why?" Rin asked. "I'm expecting in five weeks. I'm on doctor's orders not to stress myself out. So, I get to stress my very loveable friend out instead."

"Go stress Sango out. By the way InuYasha's schedule looks, I will be stressed enough for the day. I need some way to relax at night. if I keep running and pigging out on ice-cream, then working on whatever InuYasha needs the next day, I will probably get fat and die at the age of twenty-six of a heart-attack. Maybe sooner...every week gets worse it seems."

"Sweetie, I have a way to bring the stress down," Rin said. "Besides, running burns off the ice-cream. Like you weigh anymore than forty K-Gs."

"Fifty-four kilograms, thank you. You're more than a little off, sweetheart." Kagome got out her folder for Mana's company, and started to take notes of what InuYasha would have to remember for today. "I'm listening for this way to relieve stress, Rin."

"Well, duh. Get a guy, have a good time. Sex makes everything better. It was in a magazine or something. It releases endorphins."

"As does running, and it poses less health risks," she put in, rolling her eyes as she rushed around.

Rin ignored her, as she always did when Kagome made sense. "How about Kouga Sato? He's cute, and he had the biggest thing for you in high school."

InuYasha started to feel mad, and growl, feeling his demonic blood rise. He didn't understand why. He could barely stand the girl, and he had used her in high school. Why should he care who she saw? Just like when he heard about Hiro.

"But that was back in high school. Besides, he just wanted me to get to Kikyou," she said, flipping a page and scanning it. "Why do I have to sit in on these meetings? Mana looks like a girl. and he wears blue lipstick. He creeps me the hell out."

"Oh yes, going back to your half-sister," Rin said, making a choking noise. "How is Miss Whore?"

Kagome groaned. "Don't call Kikyou that. If I can forgive her, you can forgive her."

InuYasha almost gasped when he put two and two together. Kikyou...was Kagome's half-sister? Sure they now looked almost identical, if it weren't for the rounder features on Kagome and Kikyuo's high cheekbones, and sharp features that made the six-two female a model. But really?

"Kagome, how can you forgive her?" Rin asked. "Every time you liked somebody, she would swoop in and take them away. As a friend, I can't let that go. She's the one that started up Beauty and the Beast."

"Yeah, but I had the one up on her every time. She would always write--and claim it was someone else--Beauty and the Best on my locker, just because she couldn't spell. And for the most part, she protected me. She's only my half-sister. I may've had to live with her for two years, but she didn't have to even acknowledge my existence."

"What about the time you liked InuYasha?" Rin asked.

"Schoolgirl crush. When a guy notices you, and not your half-sister, you can't help but like them. Besides, in the end it all worked out. He used me to get to her. A crush doesn't last long when you're broken," she replied, sorting it out like it was a math equation, or a real-life word problem.

InuYasha gasped. She liked him? How could she not know he was using her to get to Kikyou? Like he could ever like a girl like her! She was pudgy and ugly, a great athlete with a great mind, but that didn't make for a beautiful girl.

"I can't believe Hiro didn't come and smash him up for that," Rin laughed. "That boy would have gone to the moon for you."

Kagome shook her head and looked at the clock. Noon. It was time for her lunch-break. She went into a drawer and pulled out a protein shake.

As she shook it up, she shrugged. "I told him it wasn't important. Once he downed three or four drinks, I don't think he thought it did, either."

InuYasha looked at his Rolex and frowned. She should be on break right now. Why didn't she go into Tokyo and take her half hour? Go see Hiro, he thought with spite.

"Are you eating in your office again?" Rin screamed, walking in through a side door with her cell to her ear. She hung up and started to chew Kagome out. "A girl cannot live on protein and ice-cream, Kagome! You take this job too serious! You should make InuYasha do some of the grub-work. Your job-offer didn't not include any of it."

Kagome sighed and handed Rin the Mana file. "Put that away for me? I still have some more stuff I need to do, and then prep InuYasha on the meeting. There's only so much I can do when he falls asleep during--give me back his schedule!" she yelled.

Rin waved it around as she read. "Wow. You're really good--could you be my assistant instead? Look at this...Lunch break with Kikyou, nap-time--quality time with Kikyou on Thursday? What the hell? You're like Ugly Betty!"

Kagome paused. "Who?" she asked. Kagome sat down in a chair and put her face in her hands. "I knew it. You think I'm ugly too! Everyone swore I got prettier, but I'm still the Ugly Beast, aren't I? God!"

Rin sighed and sat on a spare desk--InuYasha's old assistant before she decided she couldn't keep up with him. "Sweetie, this is ridiculous! Why do you still have the same disillusion that you're ugly? If you're any kind of ugly, you were an ugly duckling because now you're a beautiful swan."

"Yeah, right," Kagome said, swatting her legs to push Rin down. "Get off the desk! I could get in so much trouble! Did you realize Sesshomaru gave me this job out of pity? I can't goof off."

InuYasha froze. What was she talking about? He slowly crept along the wall to go back to his office. He then made a grand exit, making sure both girls assumed he was upset with Kikyou and going out.

"Rin, off the desk. Kagome, I have to talk with Sesshomaru. Get me my schedule and his right now, I'll deliver it for you."

Kagome nodded and gave him the schedules as Rin hopped down.

Rin stuckher tongue out at him when he couldn't see and huffed. "What got stuck up that prick's ass?"

Her only reply was an exasperated sigh.

"Yeah, I hired her for you, but it wasn't out of pity," Sesshomaru said, rolling his eyes at his little brother. "If anything, I hired her to be your assistant to pity you."

Now his jaw dropped. "Why would you pity me? If you were going to hire a really important assistant, why couldn't you hire Kikyou? She knows fashion--she's a model! And she's my girlfriend. Do you realize how awkward it is to work with your girlfriend's hot half-sister?"

Sesshomaru quirked his eyebrow and smirked. "You finally admitted Kagome's hot. I think you're making progress."

"What?" InuYasha asked.

"Dude, you're only a half-demon. You wouldn't understand how easy it is to figure out. I've known ever since you brought Kagome home and introduced her as your friend that she was your mate. But you don't get it."

InuYasha scoffed, and turned away, noticing an old picture on his half-brother's desk. He picked it up and smiled softly. "I can't believe you kept this," he said.

"Of course I would. You are my brother after all, and Kagome is like my little sister. She will be someday, and you just have to realize that."

He would never forget the picture. He smiled at the memory.

InuYasha officially met Kagome in an elective during sophomore year--they had been partners in Culinary. He couldn't cook the most basic of foods, or even fry an egg for that matter. Kagome offered to go over his house and teach him how to cook a four-star meal from appetizer to finish.

The finish was not as rewarding as they thought. InuYasha's maid had the day off, and the two were stuck cleaning the dishes. Sesshomaru came in with a camera after hearing the two laughing hysterically.

They had decided to drench each other instead of clean the dishes.

Kagome had soap suds in her hair and over her body. She was even smiling and blowing some in the air when the shot was taken. She had her hands in InuYasha's hair, styling the suds and between them there was a mohawk, and he looked like a puppy that just went for a swim with their master--happy, soaked, and a little annoyed.

They both fell on the floor before Sesshomaru took the picture, and not long after he followed them. InuYasha had dropped the detergent everywhere, causing the bubbles, and then poured them all over Kagome. In retaliation, she took out the hose and started to spray him, making the most slippery floor.

Sesshomaru was unable to make a graceful escape, sliding on pure detergent and knocking into Kagome and InuYasha.

"Hey, can I borrow this?" InuYasha asked, transfixed. He had to check this against some of his other pictures, but he noticed something and he had to see if it was true.

Sesshomaru shrugged. "Sure. Why?"

"I have some pictures I want to compare this to--and I want to patch things up with Kagome."

His brother sighed in relief. "Finally! I was afraid she'd actually hate you forever. I swore her brother was going to slit your throat."

"Souta would never do that. He worships me," he bragged.

"That may be true, but her brother Hiro doesn't think that." Sesshomaru smirked when InuYasha looked confused. "Higurashi-san and Hamasaki-san's first son. He was born a few years before Kikyou. Hiro's a singer."

Suddenly InuYasha realized what happened to Kagome. An amazingly talented brother, a beautiful half-sister, and a brilliant little brother. She was pushed aside and made unimportant. Because no matter how smart she had been, Souta had been ten-times smarter and even became a self-made millionaire.

It must have been hard to be overshadowed and looked down upon. He could only begin to understand what it was like--he was always the better athlete, always the better-looking. Sesshomaru always made him look like an idiot, though, and he was much more talented at everything he did.

As InuYasha was leaving, he stopped and turned around. "Hey, Sessh?" he asked. When his brother was paying attention, he smiled and asked, "Which one's the best athlete?"

Sesshomaru returned to his work, smirking. "Kagome, hands down of course. She went to Oxford to play field hockey and lacrosse for them. They were fighting with some other schools to get her to go. No one ever paid attention to her in school, but the colleges and the college boys would cut off their right leg for her. I even thought she was hot her senior year."

InuYasha was shocked. There were no words.

"I'll see you later," Sesshomaru said, smirking again.

"Takahashi-san, are you ready?" Kagome asked, handing him her notes on Mana and his memos. "These are events coming up this week you should be aware of. I know that you won't be able to attend the Armani fashion show, so I've asked them and they're sending the fall fashions to us as we speak."

InuYasha nodded, and walked into his office, Kagome following as she always did to tell him important news feeds. He sat in his red high-back swivel chair and rested his head on the glass and stainless steel desk.

"Kikyou called and wants to know if...you need lube for later." She shuddered and said "ew," but moved on. "Louis Vuitton invited you to the charity ball three weeks from Tuesday, in Milan. Shippou called and needed a ride home. He wanted to come here after school, so Rin left to bring him here. I already planned for him to be out of your hair."

InuYasha smiled at the fact Kagome was so efficient and knew him so well. She was the best.

He started to look at pictures of him and Kikyou arranged on his desk. He was right, and maybe Sesshomaru was too--in all his pictures with Kikyou, he was missing some of the same spark, fire and life he had in the one with Kagome.

"--and PEACH JOHN offered Kikyou a job to model in Fukuoka, so she'll be away next week on business, starting this Saturday. I'm already fixing your schedule for it," she said. "Oh, don't forget UNIQLO is having some representatives for a meeting after the one with Mana. I don't know who they are, or who's coming, so I wasn't able to prepare flashcards with their stats on them. Gomenasai."

She bowed, and InuYasha awed. "How would you like to go to the charity ball with me?" he asked.

To say Kagome looked shocked would discredit her. She looked like she saw a ghost. "Excuse me?" she asked.

InuYasha shrugged. "Everyone's ordered to go, right? And Kikyou won't be there--I need a date as a Takahashi. Plus, it doesn't hurt that you look like Kikyou."

Her face hardened and she nodded. "Very well, though I was planning on taking Hiro or Yuki."

"Who?" he asked, confused. Her brother was Hiro, but who was Yuki?

"My brother and his best friend. You may not have been good friends with me, but I would have thought you'd at least remember the people I loved the most in the world."

He bowed his head, and Kagome started to leave, only to notice the picture. She stopped and froze in her spot. "Where did you get that?" she asked, softly, a trace of a smile on her lips. "I thought Sesshomaru had the only other copy."

"Copy?" InuYasha asked, shocked. "Do you have a copy?"

Kagome cast her eyes down, and eventually nodded. "The original actually. It's hanging up in my front hall still. It's been there ever since Sesshy gave me it. I always meant to take it down."

Now he was curious. "Why? I thought you moved out. You're back at the shrine?" He smirked, and remembered her room. "Is you room still right next to the Goshinboku and the window doesn't lock?"

She blushed and tightened her jaw. "I don't know why that's any business of yours, but no. I did move out, but I moved out of the shrine when I was sixteen. I live with Hiro and Yuki."

"Then why were you always sleeping at the shrine?" InuYasha challenged.

"I wasn't. My mother would make me stay until they came home. Sometimes their gigs would go past midnight, and I'd stay over. My home was always with my brother and my soul-brother since I was young."

"Great, but that didn't answer my question."

"And what's that?" she asked.

"Why should you take it down?"

She huffed and sat in the soft steel seat across from his desk. She crossed her legs and huffed again, turned her head in the other direction and crossed her arms.

InuYasha started to growl. Didn't she realize how that made him feel to see her being so hostile towards him? The fact that her low-cut gold silk halter-top was giving him naughty ideas? How amazing and goddamn sexy she looked right now?

"Kagome, answer me," he said, his voice thick with impatience and frustration.

"Kikyou," she said, shrugging. She felt like a little kid sent to the principal. What the hell was going on? They weren't even friends anymore! "She doesn't like the picture."

"What?" He didn't understand. What right did Kikyou have to tell Kagome what she could or couldn't have in her house? They may be half-sisters, but she had no right!

"Oh, come on. Like you can sit there and say you didn't know this was about Kikyou. It's always about Kikyou. It has always been about Kikyou!" she exploded, pissed he didn't get it. "From the very start, everything was about my sister. If I wasn't your assistant, you'd have severed all ties with me once you got with her."

He snorted. "Yeah, right. And what would you have done if you weren't working here as my assistant? gone to pro sports? Been a scientist?" He stood up and glared at her. "Face it, it was about me. That's why you became friends with Rin and Sesshomaru--to get to me. You knew life without me would be meaningless, that you would be nothing. Don't act like you're better."

She screamed, standing to stare him down. "You egotistical asshole! I would have been a singer, and I'd have been a damn good one. I already write lyrics for my brother on the side, like I have any time anymore. Why don't you read about it some time? Rin's written a hundred interviews on me! She and I have known each other since training diapers!"

He rolled his eyes. "Why would I bother? You say you hate me. Why would I read about a girl that hates my guts? Why would I read about someone that my girlfriend doesn't like?"

"Because I was your friend!" she yelled, starting to cry. Her face was red and blotching, and a tear running down her face was blackened with her mascara. "Do you get it? Because I was your fucking friend, InuYasha! Your friend!"

InuYasha froze and realized the damaged he caused.

The girl he had befriended, the girl he was supposedly in love with and destined to be with, the girl he broke for her sister, was standing there again, now as an adult and broken by him again. How could he be this horrible? How could he hurt someone twice?

Kagome screamed and cried, rocking back and forth. "Didn't you realize that I was your only friend? Everyone used you, and I didn't even need to know you. People used you for money. I had trillions, you had billions! Why would I ever need to use you? I was the only one that didn't!"

Just then, a receptionist buzzed InuYasha saying Mana was there to see him. In that instant, Kagome, shook her head. "You used me, when all I did was fall in love with you. That's why Kikyou's always mad at me. Because I'm in love with you, and she can't stand the fact I spend more time with you."

InuYasha gasped. Did she really just admit all of that?

"But not anymore," she said, shaking her head and crying silently again. "Consider this my two weeks notice. In two weeks, I'm out of your hair and you can break all your ties with me. Tell Kikyou she won't have to deal with me standing in her way anymore. I'm done playing the love struck, geeky best friend. I'm sick of pretending I give a rat's ass about you and Kikyou, when really I could care less about my half-sister."

Before he could respond at all, Kagome rushed out, running in her impossibly high Italian heels out the door…and probably his life.

For the first time, he realized how much he really fucked up.

The meeting with Mana was not easy. InuYasha's only consolation was that Kagome came back after twenty minutes, saying she had a fashion-problem and had to fix her makeup as well.

Mana understood, probably because he wore heavy make-up all the time, and the meeting went without a hitch.

InuYasha couldn't help but stare at Kagome, and wondered if maybe she dressed up so sexily today just to seduce him. How long had she been in love with him? He never even realized that he may even be in love with her, too.

The hitch came when the representatives from UNIQLO walked in for their meeting.

Kagome ignored InuYasha when he silently pleaded for Kagome to talk to him. She turned and gasped, pointing at the reps at the door. "You? Why you?" she asked.

"Don't look at me," her brother Hiro said, snidely. "If I knew you were here, I would have gotten out of it."

"Yeah, that or found it as an excuse to get smashed in the closest bar before you came," she muttered, smiling and hugging Yuki Yamaguchi as he walked in. "Yuki, how have you been? It feels like forever. And you forgot to write me."

"Hey, Sweet--come here, I'm stapling your shirt together," he said, eyeing the low-cut top like an overprotective brother. "Don't get me wrong, it's really awesome and it's super-flattering on you…But no way is my baby sister going off and looking like a slut. Kay? Only Kikyou can do that, and she doesn't look good pulling it off. She looks too much like you. You can't pull off the slutty-look at all."

"Kay," she replied, smiling as she stuck her tongue out and backed away, inadvertently giving InuYasha an amazing view and started to get him aroused. She smiled and bowed to the other reps in the room, and brought them into the office, only to be shocked at the sight of Kouga. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm the Head of Public Relations, Marketing and Sales...um...some other titles, but I can't remember," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"He's in charge of everything practically," Hiro said, sitting in the seat Kagome had not long ago sat in before confessing to InuYasha. "And Liez is now the face of UNIQLO. Like Gabriel Aubry is the face of Calvin Klein."

Kagome shuddered. "How is it you remember random facts like that, but you can't remember what day I graduate? And show up to said graduation. Either of them, Mr. Of Course We'll Come To Your College Graduation Because It'll Be Right Around The Corner From Where The Band Will Be All Day Checking Sound For Our Concert. Fag."

"We were in America for your graduation. May 23. And we got lost on our way to Oxford. Ended up on Abbey Lane and took a few pictures like the Beetles. Oh, Calvin Klein sent some new outfits for you to wear when you come touring," he said, handing her a giant bag that seemed to come from nowhere. "We were at the headquarters last month."

It was massive. Probably bigger than Kagome was, and InuYasha watched in fascination as she lifted it like a bag of feathers. He had watched Hiro strain with it. She's definitely the most athletic, he decided.

"Great, because that's all I need--more clothes," she muttered, taking the bag and smiling at Yuki. "If all of Liez is fronting, why is it just you two?"

Yuki laughed. "What do you mean? You're here too. We have three of six. When are you leaving here to come back to singing?" Yuki asked, hugging the girl as he tried to sneak in the stapler.

She screamed, and dodged it. "Dude, this is a Rei Kawakubo original! If nothing else, respect the designer. He didn't have to make it for me--leave my shirt alone before you ruin it!" she squealed, laughing as she and Yuki goofed off.

It sent something at InuYasha. That was how they used to be, back when they were friends. But not anymore. Now he was losing her, when she was finally right there. How could he have not noticed?

"I think I'm coming back in two weeks. I told you, working was something important to me--I don't want to be just another diva."

Hiro rolled his eyes and looked at InuYasha. "Hey, you're the dude that hurt Kagome to get the chance to sleep with Kik! Motherfuckin' ass-suckin' bastard!" he said, glaring.

Kagome rolled her eyes and turned to Yuki. "Does that mean I'm stuck with him again?" she asked in a scared, small voice.

"Only if you can sing like you used to," Yuki shot back. "Miss I'm The Ten-Year-Old Prodigy That Can Sing And Get Higher Than Advanced On All My Tests. Show me right now that those vocal chords aren't shit now."

"Fine," she said, starting to sing "Run the Show" by Kat DeLuna and "Malinki" in Russian by Diskoteka Avariya and Zhanna Friske. "Now try that on for size," she challenged, smiling. "I'll sing in Japanese next."

InuYasha had to admit, he was impressed. Kagome was definitely talented. He didn't know Hiro very well, but he'd have to have the voice of kami-sama to be better than her.

The meeting was less productive for the business, and more productive for friendship. It also brought InuYasha that much more aware he was going to lose Kagome.

As she led them out of the office, she sighed and took out her planner. "So, next you have…nap-time. I'll call you in two hours…What are you doing?" she asked, watching him shut and lock the office door, pulling down the shades and smiling predatorily at her.

"Why are you leaving?" he asked, walking towards her.

"Um...because I'm now a member of Liez again, and I want to get out of your and Kikyou's lives?" she said, stepping back and bumping up against the desk. "I'm sick of being in the middle of you tow and always getting hurt."

"Okay, I get it. You love me. But how does that get you hurt?" he asked, crossing his arms and continuing his walk towards her.

"You're kidding right?" she asked incredulously. "You yell at me and get pissed off if I so much as step on line. If I even mention how much I despise her--my own half-sister--you blow up in my face. But you can totally talk shit about your half-brother, who happens to be one of my best friends. And any guy from high school, including Hojo--who I went out with, and Akira Murasaki--who I was really serious with when we dated."

"You dated them? How? They're unbearable and gay!" he said, shocked.

"Because they were nice, and didn't treat me like a rag doll--play with me and throw it away," she said, glaring at him. "They actually loved me. They never led me on to believe our relationships were anything they weren't. Talk about juxtaposition for contrast," she muttered.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"Long story short, I loved them, and they loved me. What's so wrong about that? At least someone did," she snapped. "At least someone didn't treat me like I was disposable, and didn't even consider my feelings! At least someone cared enough to be with me!"

Then she started to scream and break down. InuYasha was afraid for her, but he wouldn't say anything. He'd have to let her vent through it all.

"That was all I needed! My dad didn't love me, my stepmother hated me! The only people that did abandoned me whenever I needed them--Yuki went on tour with Liez while I had to go to school, my brother was always drunk whenever we saw each other, Souta--he never came out of his room. Now he's in Nantan-shi with his girlfriend! On the other coast of Japan! My grandfather died, and my mother was always dating around.

"And then there's Kikyou. Kikyou! She was always the better daughter. If my father had the choice, he'd go back in time and terminate me, just to always be with Kikyou. She did this and she did that. Isn't she amazing? Fuck that! I'm tired of always being compared to her and always falling short. And she knows it!

"And then I was stuck with you," she said, almost cutting InuYasha in half. Because the way she sad you was like she was trying to kill him with her words alone. "At first, I thought it was a good thing. You were nice, and you seemed to care. And then I found out you were a Takahashi...and I made the mistake of feeling bad for you.

"I had trillions of dollars--from my singing, my dancing, my lyrics, even my stock accounts--and from Hiro, and even more if you count in what my parents grossed. Through merchandising, guest appearances, my investments, I was a trillionaire of my own accord. But even with all my money, I had a job, and I did chores, and was made and told and did everything for myself. And here I see you with less money, completely helpless, and positive he was better off than I was--did you even know anything about me?" she asked.

"I knew you were always with Kikyou, and that if I ever wanted to be with her, I'd have to go through you," he said, ashamed of himself. He had never known Kagome was rich, or famous, or grounded, or had family that abandoned her. "And I knew once I started to hang out with you that--"

"Save it. I don't want to hear the bullshit today," she said, shaking her head. "The more I hung out with you, the more I thought maybe you were different. That maybe you weren't like all those guys that wanted to use me to get to my sister. And after I was positive you were, I started to like you--and it was so deep it scared everyone, even me. I shouldn't have liked you so much, and Hiro was so scared he even said he'd come back.

She laughed bitterly. "And then Kikyou found out I liked you. Every boy I had ever liked, she had suddenly liked and took. And I yelled at her for it. I screamed, and ranted, and yelled that it wasn't fair that she kept taking everything from me. I yelled why she couldn't find someone on her own, and why she had to hurt me.

"You two had just gone on your first date. My mom was away on vacation with a boyfriend, and I was stuck at my dad's for the weekend. No one trusted me to live alone. You walked her up to the door, and I saw you guys out of the corner of my eye. I knew--right then, everything I thought fell apart. I knew no matter what I did, I looked like, who I was, how much money I had, I'd never measure up to my slutty older sister. The bastard daughter she was."

InuYasha looked at her, pleading with her eyes, but she wouldn't even look at him. She couldn't. "Kagome, I'm so sorry," he whispered, truly meaning it.

"Fuck you, InuYasha. You don't mean it, you won't mean it, and it just hurts more that you say it. So you know what, I'll be out of your hair, okay? There, I'm gone."

It took until that second for him to realize Kagome had made her way to the door, unlocked it, and left. He fell to his seat and looked at the pictures on his desk, which had a new addition.

"So, Fuck-Up, was it worth it?" he asked himself, miserable and knowing the answer already.

Kagome did not show up the next day, instead there was a temp. Nor did Kagome show up for the rest of the week. He was getting aggravated, and he needed to talk to her--to fix things.

InuYasha had already finished the first step--he broke up with Kikyou and she had moved out of the house. Apparently the photo shoot with PEACH JOHN was also for her to see her second boyfriend, some photographer.

He made arrangements with Sesshomaru, and took lessons from Rin on how to treat Kagome right--because no way was he fucking up again. He'd show her he loved her, and that he wanted to make things right--for her to be his.

He came home from work on Friday, and sat down in front of the TV. The first thing he realized on the news was Kagome's face as she was being interviewed. He spat out a beer and turned up the volume, happy he could hear her voice and see her if nothing else.

"So, Kagome, you've been writing hit songs since you were how old?" reporter, RURI, asked during her show.

"Since my baby brother Souta was born," she said. "I was around six."

"And what would you say were you early inspirations?" she asked.

"Well, my baby brother was really important, and at the time my parents were getting a divorce, so that played a huge part. And when I found out my dad was leaving for another lady with a daughter--my half-sister--that certainly influenced me a lot," she said.

"Now, you've been known for your young angst songs," RURI continued, looking at her notes. "But from ten to thirteen, your songs were more poetic, more colorful and lively...what I mean to say, is they were more happy, more like J-Pop of Kumi Koda and Namie Amuro. You also fronted your brother Hiro's band, Liez. Why the sudden change?"

She smiled a hundred-watt smile. "Well, my friend, his band-mate Yuki, wanted me to get out of my funk and forced me to sign a contract. I ended up loving it, and I drew in a lot of positive influences for my songs."

Suddenly, there was a picture of Kagome in her early teens, dancing onstage in barely any clothes. She was smiling in the picture, and when the camera went back to her head was bent in shame.

"This was you in your dance performance as a back-up dancer for Kumi Koda. You did back-up dancing since you were eight, and stopped the year after this. Any particular reason?"

Kagome lifted her head, a blush on her cheeks. "My dad saw it. When I was little, I could avoid him by living with my mom, and he didn't much mind. But then people started to mistake me with his daughter Kikyou, and he couldn't have her good name besmirched because I was a slut."

RURI looked at her oddly, then went on. "Now, by the time you were fifteen, you weighed 60 kilograms, which was much higher than your original 36 kilograms. I'm looking at you now, and you can't be more than 40. What's going on with the weight-thing?" she asked.

The girl that InuYasha was in love with laughed. "Well, first of all, I grew up. I'm actually 54, but my frame hides it now. I gained a few of those kilograms from growing up. And my dad forced me when I was twelve to move in with him and my stepfamily for two years. The only thing I could do was eat, and I wasn't allowed to dance half as much. I lost weight when I moved in with Hiro and Yuki. I took up dancing again, and I played a lot of Western sports. Even field hockey."

"Now, you went to school in Oxford, which is in England. You had scholarships to play the Western sport lacrosse, and the English sport field hockey. How did that feel?"

"I enjoyed it. You know, I was athletic since a very young age, and to play for a brilliant college team was amazing."

"And by the age of fourteen, you have several large investments, and you had stock in some very influential companies. You were, by all rights, a self-made trillionaire. Did it phase you when your little brother Souta became a self-made millionaire?"

She shifted in her seat, and InuYasha was glued to the creamy bit of thigh she revealed. Damn it, if he had any brains a week ago that'd be his--and he wouldn't be fanaticizing about it like all the other horny guys in Japan, he'd be...

"No, not really. I mean, I always knew he'd be famous, because it seemed like everyone else in my family was, but it didn't strike me until everyone pushed me out and forgot about me in lieu of Souta. I wanted him to be happy though, and in the end that won over my jealousy."

"It sounds like you were constantly being ignored by your family. Is this what helped to drive you back into singing?" RURI asked.

Kagome shook her head. "No. I had been interested in working a real job when I came out of college, and a family friend, Sesshomaru Takahashi, was nice enough to give me one as his brother's assistant. My boss happened to be my half-sister's boyfriend."

A picture of InuYasha at a charity event with Kikyou showed up, and he growled. The girl was digging him in there, but damn if it didn't mean he was still in her head. Even if he wasn't in her life.

He had to admit, it was a nice picture. He had just caught sight of Kagome smiling with Rin and their friend Sango. He smiled at the sight of her, and the camera snapped. The headline, he remembered, had to do with something about being in love with Kikyou. It had been lucky Kagome was over past Kikyou's shoulder.

"Your half-sister is Kikyou Hamasaki, the garuve model, and her boyfriend was InuYasha Takahashi. He's been noted as the hottest man in Japan several years straight and is editor-in-chief of Supernatural Fashions with his half-brother Sesshomaru. You happened to major in Journalism and Fashion Design. Why did you quit working for him? You were certainly well-qualified."

She laughed. "An assistant doesn't write any pieces, or design any amazing fashions. No one designed any fashion in the magazine, really. My job was to manage his schedule and help him with simple tasks like meetings. Kikyou didn't like the fact I spent so much time with him, and after awhile some emotions from high school started to affect my work. I quit just before having a meeting with--surprisingly--Yuki and Hiro."

InuYasha leaned forward just as RURI did. She smelt a good story in there, and damn was he sure she'd get to just what he wanted to hear.

"What kind of emotions were they? In high school, it was noted you and InuYasha were friends as sophomores, and halfway through junior year had a falling out. You were also in the same grade as Kikyou, a year older than you, and had a falling out with her too."

Kagome sighed. "I developed feelings for InuYasha. While I was in college, I finally realized I loved him. He had been using me to get to Kikyou, and when Kikyou found out I liked him, she went for him. It's always been that way between Kikyou, and I got sick of it. I quit because I felt myself falling in love again and I couldn't handle being crushed a second time."

RURI seemed content, and moved back on to her music. "Now, your first single since coming back to singing is about heartbreak and angst and shame about a love and bitterness towards the man. Anything about you and InuYasha? Care to fill us in?"

Kagome nodded. "The song seems new, because it wasn't I ever sold, but I wrote this during my junior year. It seemed too personal, so I couldn't sell it. It was something I had to sing myself. It is about InuYasha, because I was heartbroken when I realized he used me.

"The song, 'Holding Out For a Hero' wasn't so much angsty as it was emotional to me when I wrote it. Most of the people in my life were away, like Liez was on tour in America without me. I needed someone to be there, and someone to save me."

"And now that you mention Liez, you quit singing with them the same time you stopped dancing. Why is that?" RURI asked.

"My father once again. He hadn't been around half my life, but decided he could stop me from ruining his family." She rolled her eyes and smiled. "He was another reason I wrote the song, because I moved out, and he wouldn't leave me alone, except when I needed him."

RURI nodded, then smiled at the camera. "All right. That's all the time we have with Miss Higurashi. And now to the Top 40 International Countdown, where Liez and Kagome came in second singing 'Holding Out For a Hero,' and Kagome came in first singing 'Let Go' without them. 'Let Go' was Kagome's second single since her return to singing."

InuYasha watched the music videos, and fell in love with Kagome again. Suddenly, he got an idea and looked up Souta Higurashi's number. Once he got the information from Souta, he grabbed his car keys and ran out the door to pay a visit to a special someone he knew.

Kagome sighed and opened the door, wearing only her summer dress that went just inches past her ass. It was a bright red halter, and had a deep vee-cut down the middle.

"Kagome, I--" InuYasha started, only to stop at the sight of her. Damn, she was fucking gorgeous.

"InuYasha?" she asked, shocked. "What are you doing here? Kikyou's leaving for Fukuoka tonight. Shouldn't you be with her?" Suddenly she remembered her manners and opened the door wide. "Do you want to come in?"

He nodded and walked inside, closing the door behind him and pinning her to the wall, kissing her senseless. When he was begging for breath, he let her go and panted, watching her face. He kissed her again with as much force and his hands trailed to her breasts, making her moan. Soon they broke apart again and InuYasha reluctantly removed his hands.

Kagome had no clue how to react. That was something she wished he'd do since she was a child, but now he was serious with her sister, and Kikyou got mad at her when he was near her.

"What was that for?" she asked, confused.

"For all the years I fucked up," he replied, kissing her again just as hard and passionately. "I should have been with you, but I was an idiot, and thought with my dick in high school, and missed what was right in front of me until I lost it. But I need to make things right now."

When he dove in for another mind-blowing kiss, Kagome stopped him. "What about Kikyou?" Kagome said. "I may hate my sister, but she's still my blood, no matter what. I won't hurt her because you still think with your dick."

"It can't hurt her, Kags," he said, using his nickname for her. "How can it when I broke up with her the night you left?" he asked, settling for her neck since he was refused her mouth. "How could it when she never even loved me?"

Kagome gasped at the pleasure, but refused to fold. "And you expect me to just go to bed with you because you tell me pretty things? That's pretty low. To use someone's love like--"

She was silenced by InuYasha's mouth crashing on hers again. "Just shut up and like this, wench," he muttered, using his favorite word and one of Kagome's favorite pet names from him.

But right now, it did not sound like the pet name it used to be. She pushed at him but he wouldn't budge, only moved his mouth to her ear. "InuYasha, you can't…make me do…anything," she told him, gasping again and writhing against the wall. "If I don't…don't want to be with…with you, I don'…have to. How did you…did you even figure out…where I live?"

"Souta," he said, licking the shell of her ear, loving the way she gasped. "He was more than happy to tell me. and I'm not making you do anything. Talking is ruining the mood, and I prefer to have our first time be more memorable."

"Our...first time?" she questioned, arching into him. Why did this feel so good? Was she some kind of whore? Was she supposed to enjoy her first time like this, or was she like Kikyou, whoring herself off? She had the feeling it was neither, and it scared her even more.

He groaned, and dove back to her throat. "Of course. I didn't realize until the day you quit that you've always been the one for me--you're my mate. Even Sessh told me. And I plan to make sure everyone knows, and that I never forget. You're my bitch, and you always will be."

Kagome shuddered and moaned again, liking the feelings running through her. InuYasha smirked into her skin and trailed his hands up to find the bow holding her dress up. He tugged at it until her bra was the only thing between him and her breasts.

Bitch. InuYasha used to always call her that, and though she used to punish him for it, she loved being called a bitch. She felt it was because he thought of her as a potential mate.

And now she knew she was his mate. The person a youkai was destined to be with for all their lives.

When he went to kiss her again, he was met with her own mouth, and he smirked into the kiss. When he broke away, he saw her love for him pooling in her eyes, and he smiled. Now this was what he wanted.

"So, the way I see this going down, I ask you to marry me, you say yes, we go upstairs and have mind-blowing, amazing sex, I mark you as mine forever and…spend Sunday out shopping and getting anything that makes you feel happy."

Kagome laughed and hugged him. "InuYasha, I love you," she said, started to cry out of happiness. "I love you so much. I would love to be your wife and mate. But the thing is--"

"Don't say that, bitch. Come on, just you and me forever," he said, pleading.

She laughed. "InuYasha, I'm saying yes to marrying you, and the mind-blowing, amazing sex, and the mating...but tomorrow is your charity ball. we have to attend that," she pointed out, making him smiled.

"Well if that's all," he said, picking her up as she laughed.

Yuki and Hiro made gagging noises from where they watched at the base of the stairs, making Kagome blush and hide her face in InuYasha's chest. She found the ties and quickly put her dress back together. She couldn't believe they saw her half-naked. She'd kill InuYasha later.

Yuki laughed and tease her for awhile before he congratulated the couple before rushing off to go on a date with his long-time girlfriend, a singer named Aya Matsuura.

"Dude, she's so young," Hiro said, shaking his head. "Why not someone with a bit more umph?"

"Um, dude," Kagome countered. "You two are only twenty-five. Aya's twenty-one. I don't think it's that bad an age-difference. Hikaru was twenty when she married Ishiwata-san, and he was fifteen years older than her. It happens now."

"Yeah, but I don't like it. You're only twenty-one." He turned to InuYasha. "And I swear dude, if you break her heart a second time, I'll fucking kill you. I'll rape you and make sure everyone knows you take it like a pussy, and then kill you."

Kagome stuck out her tongue and made a grossed-out face. "I didn't need to know my brother rolled that way."

"I don't," he assured her. "But I don't care how your boyfriend rolls, either. I wonder how everyone will react to seeing you with some dude's dick as I shove it up your ass--or better yet, I'll get some twelve-meter dildo with spikes and shove it all the way in until it comes out your mouth."

Kagome froze, and Yuki came to stand next to her, frozen. Then InuYasha watched as the two, in perfect sync, twitched their noses and frowned. They looked at each other and nodded. "So, we've decided," Kagome started.

"And came to the conclusion," Yuki added.

"You need mental help. And to stop watching porn," they finished in unison. They paused for a second and added "poorly made, disgusting, killer-sex porn."

Hiro sighed, shook his head, and left. Yuki kissed Kagome's cheek and pounded his fist against InuYasha's, then threatened his life and reproductive piece if he was just screwing with Kagome's head.

Before Yuki left, though, he went into a drawer and got the picture Kagome took down the other day. He placed it back in its spot right in the middle of the front hall, and left.

Kagome led InuYasha up to her room, shaking her head. "It's official. I'm moving out," she said as InuYasha picked her up, bridal-style.

"Oh? And do you assume it'll be into my apartment? That's really presumptuous, Kags."

She shrugged. "I've been looking into a new place for a month. I've been thinking about it for years, but with everyone gone and me in England, I didn't see a point in buying an apartment."

InuYasha found her room and pushed the door open. "Don't you think it's kind of dumb you don't want to move in with me? We're going to get married. Kagome, my bitch, we're going to be sharing everything. Why waste money on another apartment when you could be living with me?"

"Trust me, you'd be more likely to move in with me," she said, landing on the bed with an ungraceful bounce when InuYasha dropped her.

He crawled up on top of her and started to peel off her dress for a second time, revealing creamy skin and sexy red lingerie again. A nice little thong to match her strapless bra. Damn, he was so fucking lucky she still loved him.

"Why's that?"

"Because do you really want to fuck me in the same bed you've been screwing with my half-sister? And I certainly don't want to be living in the same place she lived with you--who knows what kind of kinky things you did in the house--oh, wait. I do. Kikyou told me almost everything. I'm not going over to your place. Ever."

She started to peel his clothes off, and gasped as he started to lick her neck. What was his fascination with her neck?

InuYasha thought, then smirked, coming up to kiss her again and taking off her bra. He'd leave the thong on. That was too sexy to take off quite yet. "So, when will we go out to look for an amazing apartment or house that will make all of Japan even more jealous of us than they already are?"

She laughed, and he felt he'd never get tired of it.

A/N: Because sometimes you have to let go, and hope for the best. And sometimes you have to accept that letting go was the best. No matter how hard it is.