It was early Summer when they met, the call of the cicadas echoing through the small town. The blazing sun shone down on the nearly empty streets. Shop doors stood ajar, fans blowing at maximum power in a poor attempt to cool shop owners and customers.

She was seventeen, and working at a cafe run by an elderly woman, Kaede. Kaede was her Godmother, a family friend. She was a hostess at the cafe, greeting the customers and taking their orders, cleaning up their tables after they left. Her sister worked with her at the cafe, as well. She was also Kaede's Goddaughter.

"Kagome, dear, could you fetch a case of sodas from the back?" Kaede asked as she rang up the latest customer before they exited the shop and ventured back into the blistering heat.

"Of course," she replied with a sweet smile and passed through a doorway and into the back storage room.

He was eighteen, and worked in his Uncle's garage at the end of the town. It was just a Summer job. His parents sent him away, due to his "unacceptable behavior" at home. He was a gang member. It was that simple.

Anyways, he was on his lunch break, and in search of somewhere to eat that he could afford with his meager paycheck. He spotted the cafe as he strolled down the street, hands stuffed in his jean pockets, his red tee spotted with engine grease. His midnight black hair was covered with a black ball cap, the visor shading his violet eyes. As he entered the cafe, a brown-eyed brunette greeted him warmly.

"Welcome!" she exclaimed and led him to the counter. He slid onto a leather stool and she left him for a moment with a menu to contemplate his order. He looked around the cafe, taking in the interior. It was a small, cozy hole in the wall sort of place. It looked like the older woman at the register was the owner. The waitress answered to her. As the brunette waitress returned to him to take his drink order, a crash resounded throughout the cafe, along with a string of very colorful words. The old woman chuckled and the brunette sighed. He raised an eyebrow and turned toward the source of the sound, a door leading to a back room. Slowly the door opened with a creak, and the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen smiled sheepishly at the old woman and the brunette.

"I might have dropped something in the back and I might need help from my favorite sister," she mumbled. The brunette waitress laughed.

"Kagome, I'm your only sister. I'll go get the mop. Just get this young man's drink order, will you?" she said and walked past her sister/co-worker, still chuckling at the raven-haired girl's antics.

The girl, Kagome, approached him with a smile and a notepad.

"What can I get you?" she asked politely, pen poised and at the ready.

"I'll just have a coke," he replied, eyes traveling over her form. She was small, barely five foot one. Her raven black locks were pulled back with a white headband, her chocolate brown eyes gazing at him through long, full lashes. She wore a red tank top underneath a black vest and a simple pair of denim jeans. She wore red converse on her feet and had an apron tied around her waist.

"I'll be right back with that, then," she said, pulling him out of his admiration. As she turned to walk away, he couldn't help but notice that she had all the right curves in all the right places.

It was just at the end of Summer, before the Fall semester rolled around at the University, that they admitted to themselves that there may have been more to their relationship than they originally realized. They were still in that small, empty town. It was still sweltering outside. She still worked at the cafe and he still worked at the garage. But he had not partaken in any "unacceptable behavior" since he'd met her. He'd been too busy annoying her. They'd originally hit it off. Then, when they'd actually had a decent conversation, they really clashed. She was stubborn, independent, and brilliant. He was aloof, also stubborn, and street wise. That first conversation was an interesting one to the observing eye, which is what Sango and Kaede were, witnesses to the first fight between Kagome and InuYasha. But after that, he went to that cafe every day, if only to catch a glimpse of Kagome and a tidbit of conversation. He purposely annoyed her and she purposely let it get to her. It became a pattern, a give and take relationship, a yin and yang friendship. But, things changed when she informed him that she would be gone in two weeks, to attend classes with her sister in the apartment they were going to rent in the college town twelve hours away from him.

She was leaving him.

"So, when are you leaving again?" InuYasha asked, chin resting in the palm of his hand as he watched Kagome wipe up the counter. His violet eyes watched her every move. She turned to him with an annoyed expression.

"I've told you a million times, Yash. Sango and I are leaving next weekend," she replied. He frowned.

"Why do you have to leave next weekend?" he asked. She sighed.

"Classes start a week after that, and we wanted to be settled in before the semester started," was her answer. She returned to her duties as a hostess/waitress for a moment before she hesitated and turned towards him. All of a sudden she was shy, nervous and blushing. What was with the sudden change?
"Hey, Kagome, are you okay?" he asked, suddenly concerned for her health.

When did he get so concerned?

"Yash," she mumbled. "Will you miss me?" she asked. He barely heard her before he too began blushing like a tomato.

"Uh, well, ya' see," he spluttered. His gaze darted everywhere, focusing on anything but her.

"Right, yeah, that was a stupid question," she muttered and turned her back to him. He was suddenly puzzled.

"Why was that a stupid question?" he asked. He was full of questions today, wasn't he?

"You don't really care. It's stupid to assume. Making an ass out of you and me, and all that. We've only known each other a couple months and we're just some friends hanging out. It's not like we're together or anything." She said that last part so quietly that he almost didn't hear it. But, he managed to. He also managed to fall off his stool and knock his head against the counter before he hit the ground. He swore he could see stars before everything went dark.

"InuYasha!"

"Hnnnh..."

"Yash!"

"Hun..."

"If you don't open your eyes I'm dumping this pitcher of ice water in your face."

"I'm awake, I'm awake!"

InuYasha's eyes snapped open and he gazed up into Kagome's concerned chocolate gaze.

"Hey there," he murmured and she sighed in relief.

"You hit your head when you fell. I was worried you wouldn't wake up. Why did you fall in the first place?" she asked him. He blushed profusely.

"Uh, well, you said something surprising and stuff," he muttered. She quirked an eyebrow.

"What did I say?" she asked.

"How we weren't together," he mumbled. She immediately sat back on her heels, her blush matching his own.

"Oh," was her timid response. Slowly, he propped himself up on his elbows and she met his gaze.

"Do you, maybe, want to be together?" she asked quietly. He smiled slightly.

"Don't see the harm in, ya' know, trying it out before you leave. You did say two weeks, right?" he asked. She smiled herself, her eyes shining.

"Yeah, two weeks. That's plenty of time for dinner and a movie, don't you think?" was her response. He smirked.

"Plenty of time for that... and other things," he whispered as he leaned in, ever so slowly. Her blush deepened. She looked like a cherry now. He thought it was cute.

"Lots of other things," she repeated and leaned in herself.

The bell above the door sounded and a customer stood in the doorway.

"Uh, hi," they said and Kagome jumped to her feet, greeting the customer. InuYasha swore under his breath but grinned as he slid back onto his usual stool.

He watched his girlfriend tend to her customer. As she walked away with a drink order, she flashed InuYasha a secret smile and he gave her a wink.

The next two weeks were going to be interesting.

Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye and she was moving. He helped her pack, their breaks during the hours of taping boxes and wrapping dishes in newspaper consisting mainly of kissing and going out for coffee. They were happy together. But when the day for the Higurashi siblings' departure arrived, there was some heartache. They promised to each other that they wouldn't stop calling, emailing, writing. They would whatever it would take to stay together.

As the Fall semester at University passed the girls by, it became very difficult to maintain any sort of stability between Kagome and InuYasha. Letters and emails became less frequent, visits less often. As the Spring semester came and went, the young lovers were lucky to hear from each other once or twice a month. And as the Summer months began, contact between the two became near to impossible.

So, as Kagome's second year at University rolled around, her relationship with the boy from that small Summer town became nonexistent. And so, it ended.