HI!! This is my first story, so be nice!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Takahashi-san does.

Without further adieu...on with the show!

"Face down in the dirt
she said, 'This doesn't hurt,'
she said, 'I've finally had enough.'"

"HIGURASHI! Get back to work!" a short, squat man with hardly any hair pointed a grubby finger at the young woman who had previously been singing softly to herself. The young girl sighed.

"Yes, Mr. Yakamoto," she said with a roll of her eyes.

Kagome Higurashi stood up to her full height from where she had been leaning against the wall. Her mood, which had started to lift during the time she was singing and off in her own world, had dropped back to its dismal state. She brushed her black bangs out of her eyes and looked around the restaurant. It wasn't a busy night, so she got behind the bar and started wiping it down. The bartender, managers, and head floor staff had all left, leaving only a few waiters and waitresses and the owner, Mr. Yakamoto.

Kagome let her mind wander two years into the past, when she was eighteen years old and still in high school.

Kagome had been ill her freshman and sophomore years, but had managed to pull through passing. Her final two years were relatively normal, with the usual parties, proms, dances, and friends. The only dance she did not go to, however, was the annual senior father/daughter dance. It was a night specifically reserved for soon-to-be graduating girls and their daughters, complete with dinner. Tears filled Kagome's eyes at the memory, but she stubbornly kept them from falling.

Kagome's father had formerly owned a fairly large company called Higurashi Enterprises. After his mysterious death when Kagome was nine years old, he left quite a large inheritance to Kagome, her mother, and her brother Souta, who was only a baby. Mrs. Higurashi split the money between her two children and placed in trust funds, so that neither child would have to worry about money for the rest of their lives.

After the death of Mr. Higurashi, his company was purchased by his business rival and enemy since high school, Naraku Sonkoto. Naraku was an incredibly wealthy and powerful man, and he had major influence on local politicians and law enforcement officials. Mr. Higurashi was in equally powerful and influential man, but the investigation surrounding his death was never completed, and although authorities suspected Naraku's involvement, it was never fully proven.

Now, eleven years later, Naraku was considered the most powerful man throughout Japan. His daughter and only child, Kikyo, was the same age as Kagome and was being groomed to take her father's place at the head of the company. The Sonkotos were constantly trying to make life hell for the Higurashis, but had never actually succeeded. The Higurashis had something the Sonkotos did not, which was the respect of the public. They earned their living respectably by owning a shrine in Tokyo, and donated to many charities and causes. The Sonkotos used trickery and deceit to earn their money, and lived extremely well in their huge mansion in south Tokyo.

As Kagome brushed a stray hair from her uniform, she thought about how much she had changed. She had graduated third in her class in high school, and had been offered scholarships at many colleges, both in Japan and abroad. She had chosen, however, to attend a local community college, to remain close to home and help her mother and grandfather with the duties that running a shrine required. Eventually, she became the woman she was now; a college dropout who worked long hours to support her boyfriend of two years, Kouga Shard.

Kagome and Kouga had met at a graduation party hosted by a mutual friend. They hit it off immediately, and began dating soon after. Kouga was an incredibly handsome man of twenty-three (making him twenty-one when they met), with thick black hair that he always wore in a ponytail, piercing blue eyes, and a brilliant smile that only braces could produce, and could melt any girl's heart.

Kagome smiled at the memory of the night the met, laughing and teasing the drunk teenagers around them. She continued to daydream as she wiped down same area she was standing at, not noticing that she had already cleaned the entire bar and was now standing at the very end.

"Oi! Waitress!" an obnoxious customer shouted from the table ten feet away. Kagome turned around with a sigh, and looked at the man sitting at the table, looking impatient. She immediately noticed that he was very good looking, with long silver hair and brilliant amber eyes, and shoulders that only came from hard labor. Thinking that it was just her luck he had to walk in so close to closing, she plastered a fake smile on her face and walked over to him.

"Yes, sir, how may I help you this evening?" Kagome asked with a sweet and sinister smile still in place.

"About time, woman. I've been waiting nearly ten minutes. You oughta get your ears checked. Get me the chicken linguine with the alfredo sauce on the side, please," he snapped, putting emphasis on those words. "I'm sick of coming here and eating soggy noodles drowning in sauce. Bring me a beer, too, while you're at it."

Kagome, who had immediately wiped the smile off her face when he began speaking, didn't bother being polite as she snatched the menu away from the silver-haired man and marched away, intending on taking as long as possible to bring his food.

Two hours, three beers, and one hushed argument later, the man who introduced himself as Inuyasha Taishi left the restaurant, leaving a very peeved Kagome to pick up his check and clock out. She walked up to the table and had to recount the money; he had left a $20 tip! Shocked but rather pleased, Kagome left some for the busser and turned in her numbers for the night.

Finally free from work, Kagome walked out of the restaurant and into the night. It was warm and breezy, so Kagome hadn't bothered bringing a jacket. She walked briskly towards the apartment she shared with Kouga, which was only a few blocks away. With a smile on her face, she let her mind wander to her boyfriend.

She had fallen in love with him a year ago, when he had surprised her with a trip to the beach. They had a great time laughing and splashing each other, and when the sun set, they walked hand in hand down the beach, letting the tide splash at their ankles. It was there Kouga had confessed that he had fallen in love with her, and kissed her more passionately than he had in their year together. Since then, however, things had started going downhill for Kouga. He had lost all of his money gambling, and had to work hard at a construction site for little pay, for he had a debt to settle with one of the owners of the company. Kouga would come home exhausted every day, and barely had the energy to eat and shower. Kagome dropped out of school so that she could support him, and could be home to rub his sore muscles and make sure he had plenty to eat.

Reaching the apartment building, Kagome unlocked the door and walked in to find the living room in complete shambles. Bottles, glasses, plates, and various wrappers and papers littered the floor, coffee table, and entertainment center, and stains were splattered on the walls and photos of Kagome's and Kouga's families that hung there. Walking into the kitchen, she found a similar mess, except there was half-cooked food in addition to the trash. As she moved into the bedroom, she was thankful that it was the same way she had left it earlier that afternoon, which was messy but manageable. She walked into the bathroom and found it in the same state as the bedroom, with the exception of a large crack down the middle of the mirror. As Kagome prepared for bed, she realized with a jolt that Kouga wasn't there. Too pissed off to care, she climbed into bed and fell into a dreamless sleep.

"Wake up, bitch."

Kagome groaned in her sleep and rolled over, trying to get away from the source of the noise.

"Don't you ignore me!" the voice said again, and Kagome felt a sharp pain in her head as she was yanked up by her hair. She turned around and stared into the eyes of her boyfriend.

"Morning, K-Kouga," Kagome said with a yawn.

"Why didn't you pick this mess up?" he asked with a menacing look in his eyes. Kagome could smell the alcohol on his breath and knew immediately that he was drunk and had passed out somewhere the night before.

"I was too tired when I got home. I was going to do it when I got up, which, I may add," she looked at the alarm clock, which told her that it was four in the morning, before continuing, "wasn't supposed to be for at least another three hours." She glared at her boyfriend, and he released her hair, causing her to drop unexpectedly on the bed. She stood up and faced Kouga, which was apparently the wrong thing to do, because he reached back and smacked her across the face with the back of his hand.

The blow hurt, albeit more since it was unexpected, and Kagome fell to the floor holding her cheek. Kouga stepped on her right hand, which was stretched away from her body. He walked out of the room and Kagome could hear the door slam and the sound of his Toyota truck start up and drive away. She pushed herself up and walked to the bathroom. Looking in a section of the mirror without a crack, Kagome could see the faint outline of a bruise on her cheekbone, and was sure that it would be purple by the end of the day. She set to cleaning the bathroom and bedroom first, and then changed out of her pajamas. She walked back into the now clean bathroom and put on her makeup, and searched for her hairbrush. When she didn't find it, she settled for putting her long black hair in a messy bun and took the mirror off the wall. She grabbed her car keys and set out for the nearest Target (it's my favorite store, so shut up), driving quickly in her blue Honda. She pulled into the parking lot, took the keys out of the ignition, and marched into the store with every intention to buy a new mirror and a pair of work shoes, and then hurry home to finish cleaning before Kouga returned to the apartment.

As Kagome pushed her cart towards the aisle of bathroom accessories, she caught a glimpse of silver rounding a corner. She assumed it was just a trick of the light and kept going. She was off in her own world, however, and didn't notice the man in front of her, pushing a cart containing beer, ground beef, ribs, ketchup, and a package of underwear. They collided, and Kagome quickly grabbed onto her cart to keep from falling, however, the young man wasn't so lucky.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, are you….you!" Kagome had been about to help up the man on the ground, but froze as she recognized who it was she was actually helping.

"I'm fine, get off, I don't need help," Inuyasha said with a smirk, noticing that she was still bent over, which gave him a decent view of her cleavage. He stood up and wiped the smile off his face at the look in her eyes.

"Like I wanted to help you, anyway," she replied, standing straight and rolling her eyes. She turned with her cart and started to walk away.

"Wait, wench!"

"What, asshole?"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"You already said you were fine, so there was no need for me to ask," Kagome said with fire in her eyes. If looks could kill, Inuyasha would be long gone.

"What's with the mirror?" Inuyasha asked, finally noticing Kagome's death glare and quickly changing the subject.

"I need a new one, now if you'll excuse me, I have some shopping to do." Kagome turned on her heel and marched away, leaving a dumbfounded Inuyasha standing there. He grabbed his cart and took off after. He noticed a faint bruise on her cheek and intended to ask her about it. Something about that woman made him care about her wellbeing, though he couldn't quite figure out what it was.

"Hey! Woman!" Inuyasha yelled, finally spotting Kagome in the shoe aisle, taking a pair of size eight black shoes off of the shelf. She turned and looked at him disdainfully.

"I have a name, you know," she said quietly before resuming her shopping.

"You never told me your name, you just walked away in a huff when I told you mine," Inuyasha said impatiently.

"Kagome. Kagome Higurashi. Now will you please leave me alone?" Kagome said. She was growing weary and could feel tears prickling in the corners of her eyes. She just needed a new pair of work shoes…

"What happened to your face?" Inuyasha asked with concern in his eyes.

"It's nothing. And why do you care?" she asked, growing angry at him for intruding, and at herself for not covering the bruise up better.

"Fine. Forgive me for asking," Inuyasha said with a huff, and turned and walked away without another word.

Inuyasha stalked away with his groceries, thinking about anything else he might need. Food, beer, Windex, underwear…yup, he had it all. His mind wandered to the young woman he left fuming in the bathroom aisle. There was something about her he just couldn't explain; something that made him want to turn around and make sure that whoever it was that hurt her would never hurt her again. She really was a beautiful girl, though she didn't seem to know it. She had no ring on her finger, so she wasn't engaged or married, and she seemed to be sure enough of herself to let everyone know that she was with someone. Could that be who made that bruise? Or somebody else?

Inuyasha shook his head, trying to clear his mind, and went to check out.

Kagome placed her items on the self-checkout counter and followed the instructions on the screen. She pulled out the cash needed from her purse, and upon looking up, she realized to her dismay that Inuyasha was at the next counter over.

'Stupid Inuyasha,' she thought grumpily to herself. They had met the night before, and even then they hadn't had much of a conversation. It was more of an argument, because apparently Inuyasha's food hadn't been cooked the way he wanted to, and he said nothing when Kagome furiously asked him why he didn't just cook it himself. He had grumbled something about doing just that, then changed the subject and asked her name. They went through some small talk, and Kagome once again got yelled at by her boss and walked away.

Apart from being very good looking, Inuyasha also seemed to be single. He had no ring on his finger, and he had eaten dinner alone, without ordering for another person or waiting for someone to show up. He also had basic groceries in his cart, which showed that he wasn't shopping for anyone other than himself. But that didn't matter. Kagome was with Kouga, who apart from having a temper was a great boyfriend whom she loved.

Kagome collected her bags and walked out to her car. She noticed Inuyasha carelessly throwing his bags into the passenger seat of his black F-150 and driving away. She put her own backs in the backseat of her dark blue Honda and drove off towards home.

When she returned, she found that Kouga, thankfully, hadn't returned. She deposited her bags in the clean bedroom and started scrubbing the kitchen. Four hours and another trip to the store later to buy more cleaning supplies, Kagome collapsed on the freshly vacuumed couch and sighed. The apartment, despite being relatively small, had taken forever to clean and Kagome planned on giving Kouga a piece of her mind as soon as he got home from wherever he was. Forgetting her plan of waiting up for him, Kagome closed her eyes and surrendered to sleep.

The sound of a door closing and someone laughing woke Kagome from her nap. She looked at the clock, 2:30. She had to be at work in an hour and a half.

'Kouga should be home by now..' she thought bitterly to herself. She walked to the kitchen and put a frozen pizza in the oven, not bothering to make something for her boyfriend. She sat down at the kitchen table and hadn't even been sitting there for a minute when she heard a loud moan and an unfamiliar voice scream Kouga's name. She jumped out her chair as though she had been burned and bolted down the hallway.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!!" Kagome shouted as loud as she could, throwing open the door and sending Kouga and a voluptuous redhead flying, hastily covering themselves with the bed sheets.

"Oh, it's you," Kouga said, sounding annoyed that his girlfriend had interrupted his fun.

"Yeah, it's me!" Kagome said angrily. She glared at the redhead, who in her haste had fallen on the floor beside the bed. She shrank under the sheet she was holding to cover herself up, and was shocked when Kagome just sighed and walked towards the bathroom to take a shower.

Kagome turned on the water and stepped into the shower, closing the frosted glass door behind her. The hot shower felt good against her skin, and the steam that was quickly filling the room relaxed her somewhat. She squirted a dollop of shampoo into her hair and ran her fingers through the dark tresses, sighing in contentment. She finished her shower and stepped out, grabbing a fluffy green towel from the rack. She opened the door to find that Kouga and the redhead had continued where they had left off, not even caring that she had just walked in on them for a second time. Kagome sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time that day, grabbed her work clothes, and changed in the spare bathroom.

It was only 3:30 when Kagome arrived at work, but she was so aggravated that she couldn't bear to stay in that apartment any longer. This hadn't been the first time Kouga cheated on her, and she knew it certainly wouldn't be the last. Kagome wanted to wait until she was married to have sex, a view Kouga obviously did not share. It had been the subject of many arguments in their two years together, and in the end Kouga always lost. They had done almost everything except have sex, which satisfied Kouga for a while. Eventually, though, he found girls that would have sex with him and wouldn't ask for commitment, which is exactly what he wanted. Kagome had tried breaking up with him before, but he had always threatened to kill himself if she did. He explained that he was out of his mind in love with her, and those other girls meant nothing to him, saying that he only used them because Kagome wouldn't sleep with him. It made sense for a while, but after the fourth time she walked in on Kouga sleeping with the same girl, she realized it was more than just a one night stand. She was in love, though, and having Kouga in her life gave her security, and she didn't want to lose that. So she stayed with him, and allowed him to have the other girl, the redhead, whom she thought he had once called Ayame.

Kagome clocked in and went to find out what station she was in, when she heard a familiar voice call out from the kitchen.

"I just got here, and already you're not listening to me!! I told you, small, even pieces, and use a knife, not that hideous chopping thing. If you're gonna do it, do it right!" a male voice yelled at one of the new cooks, who looked terrified and picked up a knife to chop up a large onion. Kagome thought she saw a flash of silver hair, but figured she was mistaken until Mr. Yakamoto stood in front of her. He was as wide as he was tall, and prevented her from going any further.

"Hello, sir," Kagome said, wondering what this could be about.

"We've got a new head chef, Higurashi, so try to contain yourself when you're screaming at him," Mr. Yakamoto said. Kagome had a habit of yelling at the cooks when something was wrong with her order, and the thought put a smirk on her face.

"Who is he? I'd like to meet him," Kagome said. Mr. Yakamoto turned to the kitchen.

"Taishi! Out here, now!" he yelled, and Kagome's heart skipped a beat or two. Did he just say Taishi? Her fears confirmed, Inuyasha came walking out of the kitchen, dressed in a chef's attire and brushing his silver bangs out of his eyes.

"What!? That's him?" Kagome said shrilly.

"Well, you did tell me that if I was going to complain about the food, I might as well make it myself," Inuyasha said with a grin. "Looks like we'll be working together."

"I didn't mean for you to take me literally, stupid?" Kagome yelled and angrily stomped off.

This was NOT going to be a fun night.