A/N: Yay! New story! Let's get to it!
Word to the wise: this story is based quite loosely on a true story. This is basically the way my son's father and I met and how our relationship progressed. The words are different, as are some of the attitudes, but the major stuff is what actually happened. Seriously, I live a soap opera.

And I said, "I've gotta be honest.
I've been waiting for you all my life."
For so long I thought I was asylum-bound,
But just seeing you makes think twice.
And being with you here makes me sane, I fear
I'll go crazy if you leave me side.
You've got wits, you've got looks,
You've got passion, but are you brave enough to leave with me tonight?

- Dashboard Confessional, "As Lovers Go"

Chapter One: The New Boss.

Kagome sighed as she set the plates down on the table. She turned to walk away and felt one of the man's hands groping her backside. Her eye twitched, but she kept walking away. Once she was safely back in the kitchen, the head cook, Kaede, recognized the look on her face. "You really should stand up for yourself," she told her. Kagome shook her head. "Some other time," she replied, taking her apron off and glancing at the clock. It read 5:39. She groaned, rolling her eyes. "Here we go," she told Kaede. "Another long-ass night building up dumbass movies," she told the cook.

Kaede nodded in agreement. "At least they're not going to be as dumb as usual," she interjected as Kagome slipped into the freezer to change from her white button-down and black jeans into her blue jeans and t-shirt. She kept the white sneakers on, and Kaede smiled at the 20 year old when she emerged. "I don't see how you can do that without freezing yourself in a block of ice," she told the girl. Kagome laughed, a light, happy laugh. "It's a gift," she answered.

Her cell phone rang suddenly. She looked at the screen and smiled as she flipped it open. "Hey, baby," a deep voice purred sexily. Kagome grinned. "Hey, Kouga," she replied. "What's up?"

"Was wondering if you felt like staying over tonight," he breathed into the receiver. She smiled as she walked out the front door of the restaurant, bag slung over her shoulder. She waved and mouthed a quick 'Bye' to Kaede before climbing into her car. She turned the key, the car roaring to life, and she drove off to get to her next job.

Kagome turned Kouga down on her way to the theater, telling him that she would be working too late to be fit for what she knew he planned on doing to her. She giggled a little at his disappointed noises, but she had to get off quick; she was running late. It was five after six when she got to the movie theater, and she hurried up the back stairs and unlocked the second-floor back door. She ran into Sango, her best friend and the manager of the theater, who was lacing up one of the first movies. She shot Kagome a death look. "You're late," she said crossing, her arms over her breasts.

Kagome nodded. "I know," she told her. "Sorry."

Sango shook her head. "Look, it's okay," she told her friend. "Sorry for being kind of snappy. I'm just stressed, because we've got a new manager coming in tonight. We want everything to be looking good for him."

Kagome sneered. "What on earth does that have to do with me?" she asked her best friend. "I'm just the projectionist. I put the movies in the projector, I make sure everything is spotless and dust-free, I build up new movies and break old ones down. That's it. I really have no other purpose in this damned movie theater."

Sango groaned, rolling her eyes and placing her hands on her hips. "Kags, you know that isn't true," she told her. "You know more about this stupid place than really anyone else. You know how to close everything downstairs. You know how to work the cash register. You know how to take inventory and deal with the customers. I mean, Kagome, you could run this place if you wanted to."

"But you don't want to, do you?"

The two women turned to see a young man walk through the door. He stared at Kagome with golden eyes. His long, silver hair was tied back in a ponytail, and it shone brightly in the dim light of the projection booth. He grinned at them, a pair of pearly white fangs showing. When Kagome and Sango looked hard enough, they could see a pair of white dog's ears twitching on the top of his head.

"Who the hell are you?" Kagome cried out. "And what the hell are you doing in my projection booth?"

Sango sighed, rolling her eyes. "Kagome, meet Inuyasha Taisho," Sango told her friend. "He's the new manager. Mr. Taisho, this is our projectionist and lead trainer, Kagome Higurashi."

"Hm," he mused quietly, his eyes darting over her. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Higurashi." He stepped inside, looking around. "And it's nice to see you again, Miss Taijiya. I hope you don't mind being asked to step down?"

Sango clapped her hands. "Nope. Being assistant manager versus general manager will work wonders on my stress level. Plus, me and Kags here can spend mucho more quality time-o… together-o." She looked at Kagome and nodded. The other girl laughed loudly. Inuyasha chuckled with them. "Here, why doesn't everybody just… get to work?" he asked, heading toward the door. Sango started to follow him. "We'll all talk later on."

Kagome nodded. "Sure thing!"

Once the door was closed and she was alone, Kagome grabbed her Zune out of her bag and started up the tunes. She jammed to Coldplay, Taking Back Sunday, and Superbus while she built up "Meet the Robinsons."

Finally, when she was finished, she made her way down the inside stairs, careful not to trip. She hated taking the ones inside; they were too steep for her taste, but she couldn't go out the back. It was nearly midnight; who knows who would be waiting for her in that dark alley? She shivered thinking about it.

When she got down to the ground floor, she found the place deserted. All the popcorn had been swept up off the floor, the carpet had been vacuumed. The popcorn popper was sparkly clean in its corner, and the counters of the concession stand had been wiped spotless. Kagome spied a light shining from underneath the closed office door. She smiled and went up to it, not bothering to knock. She closed her hand on the doorknob, turned it, and the door opened. She saw Inuyasha sitting at the computer, typing away. He glanced up when she opened the door, and he gestured with one hand for her to come in. She did, and she shut the door behind her.

"To think," he said without turning to face her. "I used to run the inventory projects for over 10,000 electronics stores nationwide. And now... I'm a movie theater manager."

Kagome sat in a small swivel chair and shoved against the wall with her feet. The chair stopped rolling right beside Inuyasha. He looked away from his computer screen long enough to smirk at her. She smirked back.

"So why are you working here now?" she asked him.

He looked back at the computer, starting his typing again. "Because I have rent to pay, groceries to buy, a wife to suck the life out of me…" He grinned at her playfully. Kagome's heart dropped a little when she looked down at his left hand and saw that he did indeed wear a silver band on his ring finger. She couldn't say exactly why she felt this way; she shouldn't care if he had a wife at home. After all, she had a boyfriend - excuse me, fiance. She looked at her own engagment ring right then, really more of a glance. She still couldn't really believe that Kouga had proposed. He didn't seem like the marriage type, really. But she said yes, not sure of what she was getting herself into.

Inuyasha held his hand up right then, giving her a couple of spirit fingers to show off the ring. "Yea," he muttered, staring at it for a moment. "I can't believe it either."

Kagome tilted her head. "Is that a happy 'I can't believe it,' or a not-so-happy 'I can't believe it'?"

Inuyasha chuckled at her. She laughed a little with him. "I'll let you in on a little secret," he told her in a low voice. She leaned into him, listening carefully and grinning goofily. "I've been married to this woman for nearly ten years," he whispered, his eyes locked with hers. "And I have never been more miserable." He sat back in his chair, straightened himself, and started typing again.

Suddenly, Kagome's cell phone started to ring, and she jumped. She pulled it from her pocket and smiled at Inuyasha. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she told him. He smiled back, nodding, before she flipped the phone open and started for the front door. "Hey, Kouga-san…"

When she was gone, Inuyasha shook his head and tried to focus on his work. He only had two more reports to finish before he could go home. Home to where SHE was…

Speaking of the devil… the office phone began to ring right then. He sighed, recognizing the number as his own, and picked up. "Hey," he answered in a low, disgruntled tone. She didn't notice as she began blathering on about things he had no intention of listening to. He just grunted yes's and no's, and he basically ignored everything else in the conversation. By the end of it, he was saying "Love you, too. Bye," at the same time his last report was printing, finished, from the printer.

Inuyasha rubbed his face with his hands and prepared to go home, to sleep in the bed beside her, virtually alone. He just couldn't believe he had been dumb enough to return to Tokyo...

A/N: there you go, folks. I'm moving things along a bit faster than they moved in real life. There'll be some action in the next chappy; yea, that's how fast I'm moving. See ya next time for:

Chapter Two: The Proposal.