In With the New

I do not own Inuyasha… THERE I SAID IT!

A/N: So, I hope you all R+R and enjoy it. I didn't want to give too much away in the summary. This is my 3rd Inuyasha Fanfic, but the first of an Alternate Universe, but I've read many other Inu fics, so I know how this all goes down. Lol…Your reviews are much appreciated. You readers are what make writing this worth it. I will do my best to entertain you! Bare with me, you know how opening chapters are; gotta establish everything! Hehe.
Thank you, Michi

Chapter 1: Meeting and Greeting

That bastard. He made her leave him by getting her kicked out…and she blamed him for not defending her. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Why did everything have to go so terribly wrong? She misunderstood and refused to hear him out. He turned and locked himself in his room. He didn't feel like socializing with ANY of his roommates.

About 2 weeks Later, Kikyo's room was finally sold.

Kagome packed up the last of her belongings. She was excited about renting her own room. She was a freshman in college and it was her first time living on her own. Her mother didn't try to hold her back. She knew her daughter well, and trusted she would do better than just fine on her own. She helped Kagome with the last of her possessions. She had gone to see her potential room around two weeks ago. A nice elderly woman, Kaede, was the manager of the home. She had showed her the room. It wasn't too large, but it was plenty of space for her. She had room to put in her desk, and it came with a dresser and a twin-sized bed. It made her feel better about not having to move so many things to her new place. She wanted to get situated as soon as possible in order to be settled in by the time the fall semester started. It was a plus that the place was down the street from her work and college. There was even a pool in the backyard! It was absolutely perfect and she just had to take it. She hadn't met any of the other students who lived in the other rooms, but she knew she would get to know them soon, as friendly as she is. Kagome hugged her grandfather, brother, and mother goodbye and told them that she would visit as often as she could and they could call her anytime. The movers would be at her new place already with her boxes and desk. She had to leave to meet them in time.

Sango pulled up into the driveway and was anxious to meet her new roommate. She heard from Kaede that she would finally not have to be the only female student in the house. It was great news, since living with five guys just wasn't pleasant half the time. She hated it when they left the seat up, didn't throw out the trash, didn't clean the bathrooms, refill the toilet paper, or after they took a shower the floor would be soaking wet. Kaede was lucky she was the manager; she got her own bathroom and didn't have to share anything except the kitchen.

Sango made her way down the hall and saw the door to the new room open at the end of the hall. She tapped on the door and the new girl spun around. "Oh, Kikyo, I'm sorry, I thought you were moved out fully already." Sango replied.

"Kikyo? Who is she? My name is Higurashi Kagome. I'm just moving in, didn't Kaede tell you?"

Sango paused for a minute. This girl resembled Kikyo, but was nothing like her. She wasn't as pale and her eyes were slightly bigger and brighter. Not to mention her voice sounded much different. "I feel so embarrassed, looks like I messed up my first impression." She thought to herself. She finally responded to Kagome, "It's really nice to meet you. I'm sorry I mistook you for someone else. Kikyo was the girl who had this room before you did. It's good to have another girl tenant here." Kagome shrugged off Sango's mistaking her for someone else, "It's nice to meet you, too. Are you a student at the college down the street also?" "Yes," she replied, "it's my sophomore year." "Oh, that's great! I'm a freshman. Maybe you can show me around before I start. That way I won't get lost." Kagome suggested. "Sure," Sango said, "how about I help you unpack?"

"Thank you so much!"

Sango noticed Kagome didn't have very many things to unload. "That's the last of it." Kagome said with a sigh of relief. It was about 100 degrees outside and air conditioning felt good when coming out of such heat. She wiped the beads of sweat that rested on her forehead with the back of her hand. "I'll get us some lemonade from the fridge." Sango stated and left the room. Kagome looked over her boxes and realized one was missing. She remembered she left it in her trunk and went out to get it. "I'll be right back." She told Sango as she passed the kitchen.

"It's heavier than I thought." Kagome said to herself as she tried to lift the box labeled "everything else." She carried it to the porch and nearly tripped over the step when she felt someone take the box out of her hands. "Be careful. We wouldn't want a pretty girl like you hurting yourself now would we?" She heard a male voice say. "Thank you." she meekly replied. "Don't be shy," he said, "I'm Miroku by the way."

"I'm Kagome."

He was a tall young man with black hair that was tied back into a small pony tail. He proceeded to carry the box to her room. "I hope that wasn't too heavy for you." She stated. "Not at all." He replied, taking a kind hold of her hand. Sango stood in the doorway with the lemonade. "I see you've met Miroku already," she stated, "hey, would you mind doing your own dishes please? There weren't ANY clean glasses." "Ah, Sango! What a lovely sight as always." He stated with a big grin. He opened his arms for a hug. She glared at him. "I best be on my way," he said, "It was nice to meet you Lady Kagome." Sango handed Kagome the lemonade and stated, "when you know him as long as I have, you learn that he doesn't just want an innocent hug." "Can I see your room?" Kagome asked Sango. "Sure," she answered, "right this way."

Sango's room was painted pink and she had a huge boomerang hanging on her wall. "Interesting decoration you have here," Kagome complimented, "do they let you paint your room?" "Yes, but it comes out of the deposit. I don't mind though. I just don't want to stare at plain white walls." She answered. "I see," Kagome replied as she glanced around the room, "who is this?" Sango smiled dearly at the framed photo, "that is my brother, Kohaku. I miss him. I hardly get to visit him. He's the only family I have." Kagome felt saddened, "I have a younger brother, too. His name's Souta." "How nice, so we have something in common." Sango said with a smile. There was a knock on Sango's door. Both girls turned around. In the doorway stood a tall, scruffy looking guy with pointy ears and long, black hair tied into a high pony tail. "Say-" he began and then he noticed Kagome, "well, who have we got here?" He looked Kagome over with his blue eyes. "I'm Koga." He introduced himself. Kagome shook his hand and gave her name. "Sango, have you seen mutt-face?" He asked. Sango sighed. She didn't like having to answer him when he referred to her friend that way. She knew the two had their differences with each other. She replied, "Inuyasha is at work. Is there something I can help you with?" "I need the speakers from my computer that he borrowed. I have to listen to this historical thing online and I can't hear it without 'em." Koga stated. "I can help you," Kagome chimed in, "you can borrow my speakers." She went to her room and got them out of the box labeled "Computer stuff" and returned with them quickly. Koga was happy to see Kagome so eager to help him. He thought he was falling in love with her already.

"Well, you've met almost everyone." Sango said as she leaned her head out the door to look down the hall. "Did you see a black Toyota outside?" She asked Kagome. "No, why?" She asked. "Okay, the guy across the hall from you, his name is Naraku. He's not very friendly…he got Kikyo, the last girl that lived in your room, kicked out of the house. Just stay out of his way and I think you should be fine." Sango warned. Kagome grew worried. "Don't look so down, Kagome," she said, "I want you to feel at home here. Besides, Kaede didn't kick her out. The owner of the house, Sesshomaru, only did it because Naraku pays the most rent here because he has the biggest room." Kagome nodded to say she understood. "I met the owner of the house before I moved in and he didn't seem all that friendly either." She said to Sango. "Oh, no one really sees him much. I wouldn't worry about him," Sango replied, "He just has a cold exterior. More of a business man really. He's just serious I guess. No one knows him better than Inuyasha though."

"Why is that?"

"Sesshomaru is Inuyasha's older, half brother."

"Who is this Inuyasha? Koga mentioned him earlier."

Sango smiled at Kagome's curiosity, "well, he's rough around the edges, but he's only aggressive around Koga, Naraku, and Sesshomaru. He's been a bit of a loner lately, so I don't know when you'll be able to meet him."

"Thank you very much, Sango, for helping me unpack." Kagome obliged. "It's no problem at all. Come over to my room if you need anything or just want to hang out," Sango said, "I have to go to work now. It was very nice to get to know you, Kagome." "Same here. Bye." She waved. She had a few minutes to dress for work. She decided she would ride her bike, since work was so close.

Kagome is a hostess at a four star restaurant. She dresses in a uniform; black pants and any white or black shirt as long as it didn't show any midriff skin. She preferred to wear a button down, collar shirt, that way she couldn't make a mistake in what she wore to work. Her clothes fit her figure perfectly. Her job is to greet the guests and seat them at their tables. A lot of the people are upper class, so they are rude to her and are picky with where they were placed. It was ridiculous, she thought. These people are just going to eat, why does it matter where they sit? She sighed. She took reservations at the front desk when she wasn't greeting people. The front desk was right by the host stand. Eri was the other hostess on duty and was one of Kagome's closest friends. "We have to have a room-warming get together for you and invite Yuka and Ayumi to your new place." Eri happily suggested. "Sounds great." Kagome agreed. Hojo, another fellow host, came up to Kagome. He was relieving her of her shift now. Kagome grabbed her purse and was about to clock out. Eri nudged Hojo. He cleared his throat and went up to Kagome, "are you free Saturday night?" "Yes, actually." She answered with a smile. "Would you like to go to the movies?" Before Kagome could reply the manager approached them, "Miss Higurashi, did Hojo tell you, you're free to go home?" "Yes, Sir." She said and nodded. "Okay, then have a goodnight." The manager said and went on his way. Hojo stood staring at Kagome, waiting in anticipation that she would say yes. "She would really like to go to the movies." Eri answered for Kagome. Kagome's eyes widened. She could see Hojo brighten up and before she could say another word, a few customers came in and Hojo told her, "see you Saturday," then went to help them.

Kagome waltzed onto the porch of her new home just before seven in the evening. She was tired and wished she had driven her car. Riding her bike turned out to be more of an effort after a long, hard day at work. Sure, it seemed like an easy job, but arranging tables for large parties, running around the restaurant picking up menus, cleaning the bathrooms, and making sure the flow of the restaurant was going well and dealing with rude people can take a toll on someone. She just wanted to get inside and go to sleep. Unpacking all morning had also burned her out. She shut the door behind her and locked it, then realized that someone was asleep at the dining table. She sighed with relief that she hadn't awakened the person by opening and closing the front door. She noticed that this young man was someone she hadn't met yet. He had long, silver hair. Were those dog ears? She thought to herself. Curiously, she wanted to get a closer look. His head was turned to the side as he rested on his arms that were crossed over the table top. Kagome felt silly, but she really wanted to touch his pointy ears. She put a hand on each ear and lightly petted them with her fingers. "Now that that's out of my system." She thought to herself. Lucky for her, he was currently in a deep sleep. "Kagome, what are you doing?" She heard Kaede ask from behind her.

A/N: Lol, I just had to let Kagome and Inuyasha meet in the same manner!...well, sort of. I think I will leave this chapter at this. It's long enough. Please Review! Ok, I will update soon!