A/N: Hi guys! I'm back after a long hiatus. Times have changed since the last time I posted a story!

My inspiration for this story came from Wolf Blossom's 'I Dare You'. While the stories are completely different, I felt she deserved credit for my inspiration. So, thank you again Wolf Blossom!

Anyhow, I don't own any of the characters. And I hope that you enjoy the story! I've got 10,000 words to post in the next couple of days so I hope this is going to be a long story because we aren't even halfway there!

1

It had been a long day that was for sure. 'Who knew teaching English to a classroom full of pre-teens could drain one's energy so much?' Kagome thought as she walked out to her car, ready to be as far away from the school as she could. Between the kid's fighting and their inability to understand the material at times, it made for long days, but she loved every moment of it. The kids, though, weren't the reason she was so antsy to get away from the school, it was what was waiting for her at home. At twenty-three years old, she was at the beginning of her career at the Shikon Institute of Higher Learning and was hoping for a permanent position in the English department in the upcoming year. She was at the prime of her life, ripe for great nights out with friends and partying till the break of dawn, sleeping with men she never wanted to see again for the hell of it. But she'd already done the latter…

"Mummy!" A tiny voice shrilled as it ran toward her frame climbing out of the car. The tiny body attached to the sound collided with her body going full speed, causing her to catch her breath a bit quicker.

"Hi baby." She cooed softly in the little girl's ear as she picked her up with one arm and held onto her with an iron grip, carrying her and her bag into the house as she closed her battered car door with her foot.

"Mummy, guess what I did today?" She asked her mother as she leaned back to look at her face. Kagome slowly set her school bag at the side of the door as she raised her eyebrows at her daughter questioningly. "I coloured you a picture!" She smiled toothily, wriggling to get out of her mother's arms. Obligingly, Kagome set her on the ground and off she ran upstairs to get the picture.

"Tough work, eh?" Her mother asked as she came to the kitchen door drying her hands on a dishtowel. A smile broke across Kagome's face as she took in her mother.

"Yeah, but you'd know that wouldn't you?" Laughing, she wrapped her arms around her in a tight squeeze. "Thanks for watching her today, Mum. You staying for dinner?"

Pulling back and taking in her daughter's frame Kitori shook her head. "Not tonight, I have to get back to the Shrine to take care of Jii-san and Souta. Ileana was good today though. " There was a thump from upstairs and the quickening of footsteps as she found the colouring page she was looking for and began to come down the stairs.

"See Mummy!" She said, holding it up to her mother. "I told you I coloured you one." The picture was just a standard colouring page of Rapunzel looking at the stars she had painted on her wall, longing to see them. Across the image in an attempt to colour it in were smatterings of yellow and purple. A smile crossed Kagome's face as she took it in her hands.

"This is really good! You really got the colours right in it." She said running her fingers over the crayon marks.

"Really?" Ileana asked wide-eyed.

"Really Now why don't you go colour me some more while I talk to Nana?" With a quick, enthusiastic nod of her head she bolted back up the stairs to her bedroom.

Kagome took the picture into the kitchen and hung it under a free magnet on the fridge. "She's growing up Mum." She said with a sad hearted smile, running her fingers over the image again.

"That she is." Turning, she looked to her Mum again for the millionth time in her life and smiled. She was so thankful to have her in her life. She stood at the door with her coat in her hand, ready to get home to her elderly grandfather and teenage brother.

"Tell the family I say hi, and thank you again for watching her." I gave her another squeeze.

"I will. Kagome, he called again." She whispered in my ear. My stomach sank to the floor.

Ileana had gone to bed, and the only light in the living room was the flickering of whatever mindless program was on television. Kagome's head lulled back against the top of the couch in the modest townhouse they resided in. It wasn't much, but it was enough for the two of them and it was cheap to boot. But the size of her house wasn't what was on her mind as she stared at the ceiling.

"He called again." Her mother's words echoed around her head. She knew who he was, but she had no intention of dredging up the memory that had haunted her for the last five years. Tonight was not the night for her to be moping in self-pity.

A child's cry pierced the darkness and a smile crossed her face as she headed up the stairs. On the floor, her four-year old daughter's tiny frame was wrapped in her green blankets; her straight, long silver hair sprawled around her. Tears streamed down her face as she fought against some unseen monster in her sleep.

Silently, Kagome held her daughter tightly to her in her arms and cooed to her softly, singing her a song about princesses and knights as she rocked her in her arms. Looking down at Ileana bathed in the glow of her nightlight caused a lump to form in her throat, her daughter was the most gorgeous thing in her life. With her silver hair that framed her face and hung to her waist and her brilliant green eyes, she was going to be a heartthrob in her teenage years. That, she wasn't looking forward to.

With a gentle kiss on the forehead, Kagome gently laid her back in bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. "Sleep tight Lea."

Unconsciously, she thought how much she looked like her dad.

Heading downstairs to turn off the television so she could head to bed a news story caught her eye. A man with long silver hair to his waist and brilliant yellow eyes looked directly at the camera as he made a press release. He held his head high and wore his suit handsomely on his muscular body as he talked to the reporters without missing a beat, never even looking down at his cue cards.

At the bottom of the screen the name Inuyasha Takahashi was in bold letters.

After tossing and turning the whole night, Kagome was exhausted as she wrote her classes notes on Hamlet across the board the following morning. The image of the man who appeared on television the previous night was still ingrained into her mind this morning after he haunted her dreams.

Releasing a deep sigh she turned around to look at her empty classroom before class started. Except it wasn't empty. A gasp escaped her throat as she dropped her whiteboard marker on the ground, her heart pounding. In the back of the classroom, covered by shadow sat a silver-haired demon whose yellow eyes were trained on her. A chuckle escaped his lips as he took her in. Subconsciously she wrapped her arms around her waist, trying to cover her body. Although she was wearing a white button-up shirt and a pencil skirt, she felt as if he could see through her.

"You haven't changed a bit, Ms. Higurashi." His eyes ran her over as he slowly rose from his seat. "Why don't you shut that door and lock the door? Your class is going to be running a little bit late this morning." He instructed.

Steel resolve washed across her at his words. "I'm afraid that's not going to be possible Mr. Takahashi, I have a very important lesson for my children this morning and it's going to take me the whole hour to get through it on time."

"Then I guess their going to have to miss out, because I need to have a discussion with their teacher." He towered over her now, looking down at her with his piercing eyes, but she refused to be swayed.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that, sir. I do apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you." She spoke deliberately formal, trying to distance herself as much as possible mentally from the man in front of her.

He laughed again, "I was afraid you might do something like this." In a flash he was next to her and in the next moment she was cradled in his arms.

"Put me down!" She ordered flustered, struggling in his grasp.

"I'm afraid I can't do that Ms. Higurashi, now please hold still." Refusing to do so, she continued to struggle as he carried her out of her classroom door and down the corridor. Thankfully the students and staff were in the cafeteria eating breakfast. This small miracle allowed her to be unseen as this insistent man carried her out of the school and into his BMW.

"You can't do this! I have a class to teach!" She pushed against the car door as soon as he shut it, but it had child-lock on it, allowing only him to let her out. She felt like a caged animal as he folded his six-foot frame into the sports car and fixed a steeled, amused gaze at her. Her pulse thumped wildly through her veins.

"Ms. Higurashi, I'm afraid I can't do that. Now just relax, we're going to go for a little bit of a drive." Shifting the car into a gear, she caught a faint glimpse of a smile tug on the side of his mouth as she fastened her seatbelt. Terror shot through her at what that smile meant.

Stay tuned for another chapter!