Disclaimer: I'm a poor, broke school student. I don't own Inuyasha or its characters… but won't object to someone buying it for me! ^_^

This might be a bit overdone… I should say that I don't own the plot either. :( T'is sad, isn't it? No originality at all. This is based on Meg Cabot's 'Guy Next Door'. But it has been revamped, so the plot will be dissimilar.

Expect OOCness (Out of Character), as this is AU, and I've sort of conformed the characters to the characters of 'Guy Next Door'.

***

Delusional

Allele V

Chapter 1- Blissful Day Turned Bad

***

It had been the most blissful summer day in Tokyo. The sky was clear, and the birds were chirruping merrily away.

In fact, Kagome Higurashi was having a blissful and merry day as well. She had qualified for the school archery team- no sweat- and her crush, Hojo, had almost asked her out. The teachers hadn't given her much homework to do, there were no tests lined up for that week- which was quite miraculous, as she was in her junior year, and most of the teachers and students were in a pre-college frenzy.

Anyhow… it was a beautiful day.

When she arrived home, she dumped her bag into the room and she had been just about to tuck into last night's leftovers, when she suddenly heard a resounding gunshot.

One thing about guns and gunshots, it made you forget entirely about what you were doing.

Kagome didn't even bother closing the cupboards. She dropped the pair of chopsticks she had been holding onto the ground, and then immediately rushed out of the Shrine to see what had gone wrong.

Outside, on the cold cement pavement, an old woman lay there, clutching her leg. Kagome watched on, horrified, she saw a dark red pool of blood spread on the old woman's pale clothes.

Other than that, there was no one in sight.

Giving a gasp, she muttered a quick, "I'll be right back," and then dashed into the house to get an ambulance, before rushing back out again to assist the old woman, armed with a box of tissues.

"Are you all right?" she asked breathlessly, proffering the tissue box towards the old woman.

"Children these days," sniffed the old woman. "Do I look all right to you? Of course I'm not all right. What kind of question is that?"

Kagome quickly ducked her head. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "Um… I… um… I phoned the ambulance, and it is coming right away. The wound looks very nasty, and I think…"

"Look," said the old woman, forcing the words out. "My name is Kaede. I live two blocks away from here, in the big house. Could you possibly feed my pets for me?"

"Feed your pets?" echoed Kagome, aghast. "But…"

The old woman suddenly shoved her handbag in Kagome's hands. "Here's the address, and the key," she said, her breath coming in quick pants. She closed her eyes, wincing from the pain. "You could… phone… my… grandson… he's… also… in…"

Then, the old woman collapsed.

Fortunately, the ambulance came tearing down the streets a few minutes later. Kagome watched shakily as they loaded the old woman up on the carrier, and shut the doors, before hurtling away, red and blue lights flashing and sirens wailing.

And that was how it all began.

***

"An old woman just gave you her handbag?" echoed Eri in an amazed voice. "Just like that?"

"Just like that," said Kagome irritably. "She wants me to look after her pets."

"You should," said Ayumi, a calculated look in her eyes. "I think I know where she lives. The 'house' is massive. It is a MANSION. She's filthy rich. You'd probably get paid loads for feeding her pets."

Kagome chewed her bottom lip. "Well, she said that I could ring her grandson…"

"Her grandson?" echoed Eri. "She has a grandson?"

Kagome rummaged through the handbag, and pulled out a small address book. "She had it book marked here," she said, flipping through the tags which said, 'Daughter,' 'granddaughter' 'son' 'nephew' etc. She flipped to the tag which said 'grandson' and studied the information on the page.

"His name is Sesshomaru," she said. "He lives in the Liberty Apartments… in a penthouse, wow… and… there's more… I think he's about twenty-ish, or late teens…"

"Is there a picture?" asked Ayumi eagerly. "He sounds hot…"

"And rich," chirruped Eri.

Kagome snatched the book out of their reach. "It just mentions his address, his phone number… and it has this blurry sketch thing that I can barely see."

"That sounds pretty impersonal," said Eri. "Are you sure he's her grandson?"

"Positive," said Kagome, showing them the 'Grandson' tag.

Eri shrugged. "Well, you can borrow my cell to call him." She whipped out the said phone and handed it to Kagome.

"Thanks," said Kagome, accepting it. Squinting at the keyboard, she punched in the numbers, and then placed the small phone to her ear, listening while it dialed out.

Eri and Ayumi were beside themselves with excitement. "Is he picking up?" demanded Ayumi.

"Don't mind that! Does he SOUND hot?" whispered Eri.

"It's an answering machine," said Kagome stoically, while she tried her best not to burst out laughing at her friends' disappointed expressions. "I'll leave a message… now… shh…"

Ayumi and Eri hushed, while Kagome cleared her throat and began to talk after the beep.

"Hi, I'm Kagome Higurashi, and your grandmother… well, she kind of got shot in front of my footpath, and she wants me to feed her pets. I was thinking that, well, you should sort of supervise, because I am kind of like, a… random stranger kind of person." She scowled at her friends, who were making disapproving expressions.

'You sound like a nerd!' mouthed Ayumi.

'Shut up!' Kagome mouthed back. "Um, could you contact me as soon as possible? Thanks!" she clicked the hang up button.

"Well," said Eri with a giggle. "You stuffed that one up."

Kagome gave Eri a poisonous glare. "Oh, shut up you," she said vindictively. She turned to the amused Ayumi with an equally poisonous air. "You too!"

***

This recent discovery that Sesshomaru had picked up from the streets was dreadfully déclassé. Oh, she had been pretty enough if you liked those sort of looks. A smallish waist, a smallish butt, smallish breasts, smallish frame, smallish face…

She had been wild one in bed- very loud though. Perhaps too loud.

But tomorrow, he had that lingerie model booked in. What was her name again? Cacique or something like that…

Well, whatever her name was had great assets, although it was rumored that her massive breasts were silicon implants, which was a pity. Silicon, he had discovered, lacked the delightful bounce which genuine breasts had.

He peered down at his sleeping lover. Her smallish breasts were very real, but not very bouncy…

Suddenly, a phone rang loudly, its shrill ring piercing through the quiet, dim air.

He winced, not wanting to get up. The sleeping girl had woken up, and was blinking groggily in the gloom. "What's that?" she murmured in a drowsy voice. "I can hear a phone…"

Einstein, he thought sarcastically. "So can I," he said in a calm voice.

"Aren't you going to pick it up?" she asked, snuggling close to him.

"Nah, I'll let it ring out," he said. "The answering machine will pick it up."

The answering machine did indeed pick it up, and it instantly activated. There was a slight crackle in the air, and then a tentative female voice spoke.

"Hi, I'm Kagome Higurashi, and your grandmother," brief pause, "well, she kind of got shot in front of my footpath, and she wants me to feed her pets." There was another pause. "I was thinking that, well, you should sort of supervise, because I am kind of like, a," pause, "random stranger kind of person." This was followed by a very long pause. "Um, could you contact me as soon as possible? Thanks!"

"Your grandmother got shot?" said the girl in a breathy voice. "How awful!"

"Awful," said Sesshomaru, feeling a bitter taste in his tongue. He quickly got out of the bed.

"Where are you going?" she asked in the same soft, breathy tone.

"Get dressed," he said abruptly. "I want you out in ten minutes."

"But… but… you…" said the girl, losing her airy fairy tone. "You bastard!"

He shrugged into his silk robe. "Whatever," he said in a bored tone.

In the end, she obeyed.

Women, he thought disgusted as he slammed the door behind her. He sunk to the ground, and thought hard. What could he do about this stupid Kagome girl? There was no way HE, Sesshomaru, was going to pet sit with some stupid commoner. If he didn't, he would offend his grandmother. His grandmother held a position of power in the family, and he wasn't stupid enough to offend her by not doing as she said.

But… he thought after a while… there was always his half brother… Inuyasha…

***

"Inuyasha," said Miroko, "What's wrong, man?"

Inuyasha slammed the phone down disgustedly, a sulky expression on his face. "My brother," he said, with a look of great distaste, "or rather, my half brother. He wants me to cover for him, while he goes canoodling with some French lingerie model. I am to pet sit with some odd girl who my half grandmother stumbled across."

"You could have said no," said Miroku. He had just come out of the shower, and only had track pants on. Swiping a towel off the cluttered sofa, he started to towel off his dripping hair, while looking at his roommate curiously.

"I owe him a favor," said Inuyasha bitterly.

"You… him…" Miroku was surprised. "Well, this is new… WHY?"

"I borrowed a some money off him to buy my Ferrari," Inuyasha said dejectedly. "He said that I could help him out, and I wouldn't have to pay him back, or he would compound my interest monthly."

"Define 'some money," said Miroku, scrunching up the semi wet towel into a ball and aimed it at the unwashed clothesbasket. He missed, but did not bother to pick it up.

"Fine, a few ten thousand," said Inuyasha unhappily. "It is blackmail!"

"Yeah," said Miroku. "You could have still said no."

"I'm broke," said Inuyasha sharply. "There's no way I could pay him back."

Miroku sighed as he ambled to the fridge and got himself a drink. "You didn't even need the car in the first place. You could send it back."

"Everyone has a Ferrari these days!" Inuyasha said hotly.

Miroku, having just gulped down a mouthful of beer, promptly spat it back out. "Everyone? What am I, a…"

"You're lecher," said his friend dispassionately. "You don't count."

"Well, thanks," said the annoyed Miroku. "Glad to know you have such a high opinion of me."

"Everyone who counts has a Ferrari. Besides, Kikyou loves it. She reckons it is the coolest car in the world. She said 'yes' to me asking her out on a date. She loves me!"

"No. Dude, she loves your car," corrected Miroku. "What a user."

Inuyasha turned on his friend furiously. "Don't you dare say that about Kikyou. She's decent. She's a nice, wonderful girl with a good repute, and a good academic records, and she's a whiz of an athlete as well…"

There was a loud smacking sound as Miroku clamped his hands over his ears. "La la la, I'm not hearing any of this," he said.

"What do you have against her?" Inuyasha demanded, infuriated. "What has she ever done to you?"

His friend shuddered. "It is the way she looks at you, with those cold, empty eyes. She's creepy, like a witch or something."

"She's pretty," said Inuyasha sharply.

"Pretty freaky, yeah…" Miroku scrunched up his beer bottle. "Look, all you have to do is pet sit. How hard can that be? Feed a couple of cats, feed a couple of dogs, feed a couple of birds, and then you'll be out of there. It sounds cinch- and you get free money as well, in the form of the Ferrari."

"I have to STAY over there. BOARD! I'm gonna be living with three dogs, five cats, four birds, ten goldfish and a ferret." He made a face of great disgust. "They'll be pooping and scratching and howling everywhere, and I'll have to take them around for walkies and change the kitty litter… the list goes on."

Miroku grinned mercilessly, running his hands through his semi wet hair, trying to achieve a tousled look. "It doesn't sound that bad."

"Yeah? You do it then!" Inuyasha thwapped him on the head. "Feel so cocky now?"

"Dream on, dog boy," said Miroku, with a smirk. "Be a man. Take the challenge. Who knows, the girl might even be cute!"

Inuyasha snorted. "I've got Kikyou," he said pointedly, "I'm not interested in any other girl right now."

"Kikyou's a bitch," said Miroku wisely. "When you regain your smarts, you'll be able to tell that. She and you don't go far. You weren't made for each other, dude."

"Bullshit," his friend scoffed.

Miroku looked like he was about to say something, but then, he wisely shut his mouth and offered no more words of wisdom. After all, Inuyasha's love life was Inuyasha's love life. It wasn't as if it was going to sway his world any time soon…

***

"Kagome?" said a soft voice, accompanied by a polite knock on the door. It was her mother. "There's a call for you."

Kagome looked up- gratefully- from her maths homework and accepted the phone. "Hello? This is Kagome speaking."

"Um… I'm, uh, Sesshomaru," said a male voice. "My grandmother got shot, didn't she?"

A knot formed in Kagome's stomach. "Yeah," she said, biting her lip. "You need to…"

"Look after the pets, and I presume, move in," said the exasperated voice.

From his voice, Kagome judged that he was probably about her age, or just a bit older. He couldn't possibly be anywhere over twenty-five, which was kind of a good thing and a bad thing mixed in one.

Is he hot? Kagome wondered idly, later, after she had hung up. Would he… I…

But such thoughts were ridiculous. He was probably some pampered rich boy, who went to private schools, and all those elite social events that all the rich and famous went to, the black suit formal dress kind of events. The sort of thing that Kagome knew she would never attend in her lifetime.

Suddenly, a vision stepped into her mind. She could see herself in an elegant off shoulder blue gown, and dancing with an unknown Mr Stranger who was dressed in a black tux, and smelled faintly woodsy. There were lights, champagne, caviar, roses…

"You're going delusional," she told herself aloud, shaking her head furiously. She had never even TASTED caviar and champagne before, and there was no way she and this Sesshomaru person would become anything more than mere acquaintances, and even then, not the 'say-hi-in-streets' kind of acquaintance. It would be the 'I-know-you-but-I-don't-want-to-know-you' kind of acquaintance.

Sighing, Kagome returned to the world of tangents, cosines and cotangents. At least it was something she was familiar with, not the unknown…

***

*squees* This is my first venture into the Inuyasha fandom. Do you like it? Hate it? *coughreviewcough* I lurked for a while back, and I couldn't resist writing something!! ^_^

Think of this as somewhat translated from Jap to English, which is basically my excuse for not knowing any Jap words...

Pairings: I'm not sure! It should be Inu/Kag, though…