Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters from Inuyasha. I just like to write about them! I have a few of my own characters added for fun.

Please read author's profile for a detailed summary of the story. Thanks!

"Forget everything you knew about normal college life. Their rules don't apply at this university. The youkai here are gods. They are big, they are strong and they are very powerful."

Kagome stood on the top steps of her new home, Westwoods Hall. It was the biggest dormitory on campus and the most prestigious. She couldn't believe that her mother had actually saved enough money for her to live here her junior and senior year. Kagome had been excited just to get an academic scholarship at Westwoods State University. The scholarship had only covered her tuition for the next two years. She hadn't cared about moving into an expensive apartment-style dormitory.

Kagome thought she was going to a regular university after she graduated from community college. Her mother had told her to apply for a scholarship for Westwoods State University just to see if she'd be accepted. To Kagome's astonishment, she had. Her mother had surprised her again by showing her the huge sum of cash she'd been saving up for years for this moment. It seemed her mother had it all planned out and it worked perfectly.

However, Kagome looked around, standing here in the midst of a super ritzy college with everyone walking around looking like supermodels and driving very, very nice sports cars and other cars she hadn't known existed, she couldn't help but feel out of place. She wasn't rich, she didn't consider herself hot or good-looking, but just normal enough not to be called ugly. In other words, she was just plain working class Kagome who found herself in a world that she only saw on television. Everything was different when she found herself living on campus instead of dreaming about it.

"Hey! Where do you want this couch?" A guy yelled at her from below. Kagome blushed at being caught daydreaming. For a moment, she wished she hadn't sent her family away. She'd gotten embarrassed when her mother and younger brother tried to stay to help her move in. She was a junior, she didn't need them to help her anymore. She was grown enough to do this on her own, so she'd thought.

Kagome stared down at the young man's sweaty red face and felt sorry for the guys who were helping the students move in. Westwoods dormitory was located on top of a big hill overlooking the campus. There were twenty steps leading up to the entrance. That was a lot of walking and a lot of work. One of the guys holding the couch stumbled as he came up the steps and let it go. The other guys lost their balance from the sudden extra weight and also let go of the couch in fear of falling down the steps. Kagome gasped and stared in horror as her furniture went tumbling down the steps. People screamed and ran out of the way, except one guy who had his back turned.

"Hey watch out!" Kagome found herself screaming. 'Oh my god,' she thought. Her first day on campus and she was about to kill a student!

She covered her eyes with her hands and waited for the disaster to happen. After awhile, when she didn't hear any screams or commotion, she peeped through her fingers to see what happened, then dropped her hands in shock at what she saw. The guy who she thought would be dead in a few seconds had caught the couch with one hand. He was staring up at her with a frown on his face.

"Hey bitch! You trying to kill me?" He yelled up at her.

Kagome's face turned bright red as she quickly ran down the steps. "No, I'm so sorry. The guys who were carrying it dropped it." She stopped and turned to the guys who were helping her and discovered they'd split.

"Cowards," she mumbled.

Turning back to the one holding her couch, she gave him a nervous smile. "I'm really very sorry." She continued to walk down the steps. The closer she got, the more she realized how incredibly good-looking this guy was. She began to get nervous with each step that brought her closer to him.

The first thing she noticed was his hair which was long, thick, and white as snow. It hung down his back from under a red baseball cap he wore on top of his head. The second thing she noticed was his eyes. They were a beautiful shade of gold and glittered in the sunlight. His face was rather boyish, despite the way he was frowning at her. He wore a white tank top that showed off the strong muscular arm that held the couch and blue jeans. He was tall, masculine, and looked capable of anything. Was the guy superhuman or what?

Inuyasha gave the girl a skeptical look as she walked down to him. She looked very familiar, although he didn't remember seeing her face on campus, ever, neither was her scent familiar. She wore gray sweats and plain white t-shirt. Her long dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Inuyasha noticed she was the only girl on campus that was actually dressed for move in day. The other girls were too busy trying to dress fashionably and look cute to be bothered by such things, especially when they had guys to help them. Despite the plainness of her clothes and hair, Inuyasha had to admit she was rather cute. Beautiful brown eyes that held an innocence about them, something he hadn't seen since he came to college, stared at him with a mixture of nervousness, amazement and fright. When she stood beside him, her head only came to the top of his shoulders and he had to look down at her. Her scent mixed with the light saltiness of sweat was unlike any he'd ever smelled, vanilla and almonds drifted to his nose making it twitch.

"Are you okay?" She finally asked after gawking up at him for several minutes.

"You need to watch what you're doing. You could have hurt someone."

"It wasn't my fault!" Kagome said. "Does it look like I can carry a couch all by myself?"
She hadn't expected him to answer and was slightly annoyed when he replied, "nah, you're too scrawny."

"Inuyasha!" A voice called from behind them. Both turned to see Kikyo running up the steps. She grabbed a hold of Inuyasha's free arm and wrapped her arms around it possessively. "Kagome! I didn't know you were coming today. When my mom told me, you'd be living on campus I was so thrilled!"

Kagome stared at the fakeness that was Kikyo. Before Kagome's first day on campus, Kikyo had warned her two days ago to pretend they didn't know each other. She had a reputation to protect and didn't want people to know she had a poor relative on campus. They were related, but Kagome had never liked Kikyo's attitude. It wasn't Kikyo's bitchiness that bothered Kagome, it was the way she tried to cover it up by pretending to be nice.

"You two know each other?" Inuyasha asked in surprise. He turned to Kagome, his frown disappeared and was replaced by a smile. "I thought she looked familiar."

"This is my little cousin, Kagome," Kikyo told him. "She transferred here from a community college. The poor thing has never been on huge campus before. She's probably scared to death here, aren't you sweetie?"

Kagome resisted the urge to get angry at Kikyo for talking down to her in front of Inuyasha. Her face turned a light shade of red. "I'm dealing."

"Kagome, this is Inuyasha, my boyfriend."

"Ex boyfriend," Inuyasha corrected. "Remember, we're seeing other people now," he said in a sour tone.

"Oh Inu, you're still angry at me about that? You know you can have me anytime you want. I just refuse to limit myself to one person."

Kagome's mouth nearly dropped open at hearing that.

"I don't fucking share, Kikyo. You know that." Inuyasha stated seriously.

Kagome didn't want to hear anymore from the two so she cleared her throat loudly to get their attention. "Um…what are you going to do with my couch?" She asked when they turned to her.

Inuyasha picked it up and handed it to her. "Here, take your damn couch."

Kagome blinked and backed away. Was he serious?

Kikyo burst out laughing. "Inu, stop messing with her and take the thing inside the dorm."

Inuyasha gave Kagome a lopsided grin and threw the couch over his shoulder. "Where ya staying, Kagome?"

"The fifth floor room 510."

"Really now? Well, what do you know, I live across from you," Inuyasha smiled and began walking up the steps

"How is he doing that?" Kagome asked Kikyo as they followed behind him.

"Doing what?" Kikyo looked at her blankly.

"He's carrying a huge couch on one shoulder as if it's nothing!"

Kikyo laughed. "Oh Kagome, you really are so naïve. He's a youkai. Didn't they have youkai at your little community college?"

"Not many, one or two at the least."

"You've lived such a sheltered life. Maybe your Mom did you a big favor letting you come here. Okay, I'm about to give you a short lesson about living at this university. This is the real thing, Kagome. You are about to enter a whole new world you never thought existed. Forget everything you knew about normal college life. Their rules don't apply here. The youkai here are gods. They are big, they are strong and they are very powerful, but they can also be very dangerous. You'd best not get involved with one because once you do there is no turning back. Why do you think I hold Inuyasha at bay? He's okay for now but..."

Kikyo suddenly stopped and stared at a handsome man passing by. He had long wavy violet hair and seductive eyes that stared at Kikyo intensely. A tiny knowing smiled crept across his face as he continued on his way. Kagome raised her eyebrows as she watched the two stare at each other. There was definitely some chemistry between the two.

Kikyo seemed to shiver. She ran a shaky hand through her long hair. "I want the best." She turned to Kagome, finally getting her composure back. "Most humans don't survive their first year, if you know what I mean. I hope you make it."

Was Kikyo trying to scare her? "I'll manage," Kagome said dryly. "Why are you even talking to me? What happened to the speech about us pretending not to know each other?"

"Oh, well that was before I saw you talking to Inuyasha. Let's get something straight. Inuyasha and I have been together since freshman year. It was my decision that we see other people, but Inuyasha is too stubborn to continue to be in a relationship with me while we do it. He thinks we've broken up, but in reality, everyone knows he's still mine regardless of who I date."

Kagome looked at Kikyo in confusion. Why would Kikyo say that to her? Even Kagome knew she was nothing compared to Kikyo when it came to looks. "Am I so much of a threat to you that you have to warn me to stay away from your boyfriend?"

"What? Of course not!" Kikyo snapped back. "Don't make me laugh. I'm just telling you to not get any ideas. Every girl I know falls for him, not that I blame them. He's not only super hot, but rich too, and one of the most popular guys on campus. They simply can't help themselves."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Well you don't have to worry about that. A guy like Inuyasha would never be interested in me," Kagome admitted.

Kikyo smiled. "I like that you're such an honest person, Kagome. You know where you stand in this world and that's a good thing believe me. So many people get hurt by trying to go for things that are way out of their league." A faraway look came into Kikyo's eyes. "You don't know how many times I've had to put them back into their place." She sighed and shook her head before turning back to Kagome. "But you know better, you always were the sensible one in the family."

Kagome gritted her teeth determined to keep her cool. She wasn't going to let Kikyo upset her on her first day.

She wasn't the only one gritting her teeth. Even though he had a baseball cap covering his ears, his sensitive hearing could still pick up on everything. He'd just heard the entire conversation between Kikyo and Kagome and was disgusted by it. What had he ever seen in Kikyo? He'd asked himself that question a hundred times over the summer. Sure, he'd thought she was perfect for him his freshman year. She was gorgeous, exciting, spontaneous, and looked good on his arm. He'd been honored to have her as his girlfriend and everyone thought they made a great couple. He'd thought he was in love with her. However, during his sophomore year, he realized Kikyo couldn't give him what he really wanted from her. She was only good for appearances and shallow crap that he didn't care about anymore. He found out they really had nothing in common besides sex and having a good time. When she told him she wanted to see other people a month before school started, he hadn't been heartbroken at all. In fact, he'd been a little relieved to get rid of her. At least he thought he'd gotten rid of her, by the way she was hanging on to him now and the crap she was telling Kagome, he realized he was going to have to put his foot down. Kikyo didn't own him and if she thought she did, then things were going to get ugly.

The couch was the last thing Kagome had to bring to her dorm room. She was grateful she didn't have to go back outside after such an embarrassing and dangerous incident.

Inuyasha stood in the middle of the big room and looked around. "Where do you want this?"

"Just sit it in the middle of the floor," Kagome told him with a smile.

He plopped the couch down and glanced around again. "Not bad. I see you got roommates," he said after seeing the two doors on each side of the living room.

"You share your apartment?" Kikyo asked as if that was the worst thing someone could do.

Kagome nodded. "I thought it would be fun to have a roommate since I didn't live on campus at the community college."

"Ugh, most people have their own private apartments here. I couldn't imagine sharing my apartment with another female. Besides, this is the smaller cheaper style. I guess your mom couldn't afford to give you a better place."

Inuyasha frowned at Kikyo and crossed his arms. The way she was treating her own cousin was disgusting to him.

"I'm just glad to be here," Kagome said ignoring Kikyo. "If someone told me I'd be going to Westwoods University and living in their most prestigious dormitory after community college, I would have never believed them." She turned around in the room and swung out her arms in wonder. "Look at me now. I can't believe it!" She said excitedly.

Inuyasha smiled.

Kikyo only shook her head. "I can't believe it either."

"What the hell is your problem Kikyo?" Inuyasha asked finally losing his patience with her.

She gave him an innocent look. "What?"

Kagome stared at Inuyasha in shock. She'd assumed since he was Kikyo's boyfriend that he didn't care that Kikyo was constantly trying to put her down. After all, anyone who dated Kikyo had to be like just like her, didn't they?

"Why are you being so mean to your cousin? She seems like a nice girl so what's your problem with her?"

Kagome couldn't resist telling him. "I don't have money, Inuyasha. Yes, I am poor. My mother actually works for a living. She's the assistant manager of a small restaurant and while we're not in poverty, we're not rich either. I like to say we live comfortably, but saying that only means you're poor in Kikyo's world. Oh the horror of it all," Kagome fell on the couch with a dramatic sigh, "that I should come here and cause her such embarrassment, such shame. I don't know if she'll ever forgive me. We must keep this a secret from everyone unless we want to destroy her good name at this upstanding college."

Inuyasha walked around the couch and stared down at her highly amused. He laughed softly and stretched out a hand to help her up. She smiled shyly and took it watching his fingers curl around hers as he pulled her up. Kagome looked up at him when she stood on her feet and for a second, she was sure she felt something pass between them, an intense fleeting emotion that she couldn't identify, as they stared into each other eyes.

Inuyasha felt it too, but was too busy getting lost in those soft lovely brown eyes to analyze it. Maybe later, when he was alone, he'd think about the strange feeling. The longer he stared at her, the more attractive she seem to become. "You are nothing like her, are you?" He asked softly.

"I will never be like Kikyo," Kagome said.

"That's right Kagome. You will never be like me," Kikyo said coming around the couch and pulling Inuyasha's hand away from Kagome's.

Kagome blushed, she hadn't realized he was still holding her hand.

Kikyo looked up at Inuyasha in complete confusion. Was that attraction she saw in his eyes? Kagome was the most ordinary girl in the world. There was nothing special about her physically. She was standing here in sweats! Nobody wore sweats at this college. She was boring and naïve and the biggest nerd Kikyo had ever met, even her mother had agreed with her.

"Do you need any more help?" Inuyasha asked not taking his eyes off Kagome, despite Kikyo trying to get between them.

Kagome shook her head. "No, the couch was the last thing I had to bring in."

"Well, if you need any help around campus," Inuyasha reached into his pocket pulling out a small notepad and pen. He wrote down his number and gave it to her. "Don't be afraid to call me. I know where everything's at. You can always knock on my door too."

Kagome couldn't believe it. She took the paper and thanked him. Inuyasha took off his cap and wiped his brow. Kagome gasped out loud when she saw two triangular cat ears twitching slightly on top of his head. She covered her mouth as she stared in amazement.

Inuyasha looked at her suspiciously and began to back away as she stepped closer. "Don't even think about it!" He warned. What was it about his ears that cause every girl he met to want to touch them?

Kagome blushed and forced her hands behind her back. "I'm sorry, they are just so cute."

Inuyasha frowned in distaste, his lips turning into a thin line across his face as if he'd bitten something bad. "Feh," he spat out, not liking the word "cute" at all.

Kagome giggled.

"Well I hate to break up this sweet little moment, but you still have work to do Inuyasha," Kikyo reminded him. "He's part of the team that's helps people move in."

"Oh," Kagome said wishing he didn't have to leave.

Inuyasha wanted to smile at her disappointment. It was easy to see her emotions. She didn't hide them like Kikyo.

"I'll see you around, Kagome," He told her as he turned to leave.

Kagome watched him leave the room followed by Kikyo and sighed. Wow…She stared into space for a few seconds before shaking her head. "What am I doing?" She asked herself. "There's no way I can have a guy like that. Don't be stupid Kagome. Just because some hunky guy was nice to you don't mean you have a chance with him." She scolded herself. "Right, now let's get to unpacking." She began to pull open one of her suitcases. "Hmm, I wonder if my roommates are coming today?" She had no idea who would be staying with her.