I'm sorry if you got an email saying that I had updated and it didn't take you to a third chapter. This was due to uploading the chapter by accident before I was finished editing, so I apologize. But here is the real third chapter. So, I hope you guys like it! And thanks to each and every one of you who reviewed! I answer every review and I appreciate all the feedback that I get and I love it, even if it's not compliments. Trust me.

Chapter three

"I had never felt so natural before. I always felt as if there was somethin' to hide, or somethin' to prove. I knew what it was like to be the outcast. I still am. But with Kagome around, it was as if I wasn't the outcast anymore. I was neither half demon nor half human. I was just Inuyasha. I was just me."

Inuyasha

"Sango! You can't be serious!" I cried.

She was currently trying to put me in a mini skirt that showed off quite a bit of my rear if I bent over. She said it was appropriate attire for a club, and I said it was appropriate attire for the streets if I wanted some extra cash. She laughed at that, but was still determined to put me in the skirt.

"Sango, I'm not wearing it." I stamped my foot.

Miroku sighed from his position on my bed. Over the past week at the university, I'd grown pretty close to both Sango and Miroku. Miroku shamelessly flirted with Sango, and though he flirted with all women, Sango was his favorite. I just learned to ignore them. But they got along, when he wasn't being lecherous toward me or her.

"Kagome, you'll never attract men if you never dress to attract them." Miroku chided.

"I don't have to dress like a slut to dress attractive!"

"True." He allowed, laying back on my bed and relaxing.

"Come on, Kagome, just for tonight. Please?" Sango pleaded. "It looks so good on you!"

I looked at my reflection in the mirror. Big, innocent brown eyes stared back at me. My skin was pale and delicate, and I was slender, but with curves in all the right places. I did look good in the skirt, but I was showing far too much skin for my liking. I sighed.

"Just for tonight." I grumbled. "I'm never wearing something so slutty again." I warned her.

Sango smiled. "Thank you, Kagome." Herself, Sango wore a tight black dress that showed off how curvaceous she was.

My top was a light blue color with straps that were so low they were on my upper arms, and they exposed my shoulders. I wore black heels, and Miroku was dressed in a white button down with black jeans. He looked rather handsome, I had to admit, laying there in my bed.

"Well, I guess we're ready to go to the club." I sighed finally. Miroku stood up from my bed and eyed both Sango and me appreciatively as we all headed out of my dorm and to Miroku's black sleek sports car.

Ever since the day I'd said that bit about accepting Inuyasha for who he was, Inuyasha had sort of avoided me. Well, sort of was an understatement. He'd purposely avoided taking the path on the sidewalk to keep from seeing me. And I didn't understand why that was. The one class we had together he sat as far as possible from me, and was out of his seat and out the door before the teacher even finished dismissing us. It was rather annoying.

I hadn't bothered to confront him, but if he kept it up for long, I was planning on it. I was snapped from my thoughts as Sango elbowed me and we all climbed into Miroku's car together.

I listened to Sango and Miroku's usual banter on the way to the club, but was mainly absorbed in my own thoughts about Inuyasha I thought he might actually like me after hearing me say that, but instead, he's been avoiding me like the plague. And I won't lie. It hurts, especially since I'm willing to accept him away that Kikyo didn't. And then I caught myself guilty. I shouldn't think ill of her though . . . she had her life cut short by petty youkai who couldn't accept her relationship with Inuyasha. It was a terrible fate.

"Kagome?" Sango asked softly. I turned my attention to her. "Are you all right? You've been pretty quiet. You look sad."

"I was just thinking about Kikyo and Inuyasha." I admitted. "It's just . . . I feel sorry for them both. She suffered a terrible fate. Her life was taken from her. And she was taken from Inuyasha."

Sango nodded her head slowly in agreement. "It was terrible . . . but . . . let's not worry about those things tonight, ok? We want to have fun tonight." Sango said gently. I knew it wasn't because she wasn't sympathetic towards Kikyo or Inuyasha, but because she didn't want it dragging me down all the time.

I plastered a fake smile to my face for her benefit. "You're right. Silly me, worrying about all that. We'll have a great time!" Sango and Miroku seemed to have bought it, for they left it alone after that. Poor Kikyo . . .

When we reached the club, and I saw how huge the line was, my jaw fell to the floor. "How are we ever going to get in?" I wondered, dazed.

Miroku smiled charmingly. "Leave it to me, Kagome. I can pull a lot of strings." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at Sango, who didn't look impressed.

"Yeah, and I can wiggle my foot up your ass if you don't get your hand off my leg." she snapped, and Miroku chuckled nervously as he did so and led us out of the car.

To my surprise, Miroku cut straight through the line, ignoring the angry shouts of other humans and youkai, and to the front, where two huge, intimidating men guarded the front doors.

One of the men smiled when he saw Miroku. "Ah, Miroku! It's been a while since you came to our club! And I see you're keeping up with the ladies, as well." he gestured to me and Sango, and we exchanged dubious glances. "Well, you can go right on in with these ladies here sir. Have a good night."

"Thank you Satashi." Miroku said gracefully, leading Sango and I by the elbows inside.

"Sir?" Sango mimicked, looking at Miroku for an explanation.

"Sesshomaru owns this club. And since he's Inuyasha's half brother and Inuyasha is my best friend . . ." Miroku trailed off.

I sighed. "Rich people." I muttered to myself. Sango and Miroku looked at me rather innocently, and I rolled my eyes. Then another thought occurred to me. "Wait a minute, half brother? Inuyasha has a half brother?"

"Yes. He's older, and he, unlike Inuyasha, is a full youkai and highly feared around this university. Sesshomaru has looks, power, and money, so he can practically run Shikon no Tama university behind the scenes." Sango explained

"I never imagined Inuyasha with any siblings. Do they . . . get along?" I asked. To my surprise, both Sango and Miroku burst out laughing.

"Not at all. They're bitter enemies. Sesshomaru believes that Inuyasha is lesser than himself since he is half demon, and that human blood is tainted blood. He looks down on his brother and all humans." Miroku replied. "Some even say that Sesshomaru is responsible for the death of Kikyo."

"That's just terrible!" I said angrily. "How could he do such a thing to his own half brother? It's disgusting."

"Well, those are only speculations." Miroku corrected me. "Personally, I think Sesshomaru is far too enamoured with himself to bother meddling in Inuyasha's personal affairs."

I considered this. "So . . . what did Sesshomaru think of Kikyo and Inuyasha together? Or do you know?"

"Like I said, he was far too full of himself. But, when he did voice his opinion, he said that Kikyo suited Inuyasha since he was human and Inuyasha was weak. So basically, it was like a scathing approval." Miroku answered.

"So, Sesshomaru would naturally hate me because I resemble Kikyo and I'm human?" I asked.

"Probably." Sango finally piped in. "But, I don't know too much about Sesshomaru personally. Miroku knows better than me."

Just as I opened my mouth to ask another question, Miroku sighed and cut me off. "Kagome, we're here to have a good time. You should save the questions for later and have a drink and dance with someone. This is your first time at a club, after all."

"Shh!" I covered his mouth with my hand as a few girls walking by overheard and started giggling. I felt myself blush. "I told you not to mention that. I don't want everyone thinking I'm so naive."

"Well, either way, take Miroku's advice. Have a drink and go dance. Come on." Sango took my hand and started dragging me to the bar. The music was thumping and my heart was thumping along with the beat, and the smell of sweat, sex, and perfume was heavy in the air. The club was modern, the lights were colorful and flashing, and the furniture was all blood-red and the lastest in apparently had very good taste.

When we reached the bar, Sango ordered us some drinks and while I waited, I scanned the crowd. I saw many of the college kids we went to school with amongst the crowd, humans and youkai alike. All were dancing, laughing, and talking, enjoying themselves as if they were born to party. And for a moment, I felt terribly insecure and out of place.

I won't be intimidated by this club. I thought, determined. I'm going to have a good time and show all of them that I can look as natural here as they do! In truth, no one was really paying me attention, but I felt paranoid and out of place, and I wanted desperately to not be naive anymore, to experience these things and have a taste of life.

"You look awfully deep in thought." Sango commented, as she handed me my drink. It was pink.

"What is it?" I asked warily.

"Just try it."

I took a sip of it, and I could taste the alcohol. It was tangy and sweet, and the alcohol burned my throat on the way down and tingled on my tongue. I felt warm all over. I shuddered, and took another swallow, bigger this time. Sango watched in amazement as I suddenly threw my head back and chugged it, before I slammed my glass down.

"You know, Kagome, that had a little bit of vodka in it . . . you should drink it slowly." Sango said, her eyebrows up and in her bangs.

"Nope! I feel better already! Can I get another?" I turned around to face the bartender, and his expression mirrored Sango's.

"Uh, sure . . . one sec." he disappeared to go make my drink. When he returned with it, I chugged the second one with as much vigor as the first and sighed in delight as my body filled with pleasant warmth. I felt confident, sure, and strong.

"I think I want to go dance." I said, and was shocked by how self assured I sounded.

"Kagome, you just chugged two of those. Don't you want to let it settle a bit before you just jump out there and start dancing?" Sango asked, bewildered.

"Nope." I repeated. I took Sango's hand just as she finished her first drink, and started dragging her down to the dance floor. We'd lost Miroku somewhere when we'd first left for the bar, but I wasn't concerned with his location at the moment. I was only concerned with dancing my heart out to this seductive beat.

"All right Sango, show me how to dance!" I declared, when we were right smack in the middle of the dancing bodies. She hesitated, before she started showing me some basic steps. The dance was simple enough, simply swivelling your hips to the beat and going with the flow. I picked it up in a matter of minutes, and soon we were both laughing and dancing, and I'd never had so much fun in my entire life.

Miroku appeared after a while, and he gave Sango an old fashioned bow. "May I have the honor of this dance?" he smiled at her, and there was a twinkle in his eyes. I exchanged glances with Sango, seeing the delightful pink blush on her pretty face. "Go on" I mouthed, and watched as Miroku took her hand and whisked her into his arms. Soon they were both dancing and smiling, and the two looked so good together that I couldn't help but be happy for them.

I picked up where I'd left off in my dance, simply enjoying dancing by myself, but soon, a man with long blond hair approached me, and asked me if I wanted to dance. He was handsome, but his eyes lacked warmth, and from the red marks on his face, I gathered he was a youkai.

"I'm Leonard, and you, are far more beautiful than the eyes can withstand. I would love to dance with you." he said smoothly, taking my hand in his and kissing it with lips as smooth as his voice.

"Oh, well, I guess it's ok. Thank you." I added, flushing a little with pleasure at his compliment. "I'm Kagome."
"Your name is lovely, as you are." He pulled me against him using my hand, and began to swivel his hips against mine to the beat. My heart was pounding being this close to a man and dancing this intimately with one. It was a whole new experience.

But after a while into the dance, his hands drifted down from my hips to my bottom, and I felt my eyes widen. I shoved away from him suddenly, crying in outrage, "What do you think you're doing? Keep your hands off me!"

"Oh please, Kagome, you can't expect not to attract that sort of attention, dressed as you are." Leonard said, as if I were a child stupid at learning a lesson.

He grabbed my wrists and pulled me back against him. I struggled, but he was far stronger than me, and far stronger than any human, so it was to no avail. "Trust me, Kagome, I could ravish you in ways like never before." He whispered, a seductive promise in his words. I shuddered in disgust.

"I think she told you to keep your hands off her!" a voice laced with anger shouted, and I was suddenly ripped from Leonard's arms and into another set, these more gentle than his own.

I looked over my shoulder, surprised to see Inuyasha was my savior. He was growling quietly, ears twitching, fangs bared at Leonard, who simply looked amused at Inuyasha's threatening stance.

"Oh please, little dog. Do you really think you can hurt me?" Leonard sneered.

"If you ever lay another hand on her, I won't just hurt you, I'll kill you." Inuyasha snarled, before he dragged me away from the scene.

"Inuyasha, where are you taking me?" I demanded, as we surfaced from the club.

"Far away from here. What the hell were you doing in that club? Are you trying to get raped, dressed like that?" he retorted. He was madder than hell, that was for sure, even though his grip on my wrist was only firm, not rough.

"I don't see how it's any of your business! I didn't ask you to save me!" I snapped.

"But you didn't thank me either! If it wasn't for me, you would be in some dark alleyway, probably being eaten by that demon scum." Inuyasha growled at me, pulling me to a red sports car that I assumed was his.

He had a point, and it pissed me off to no end that I couldn't argue with that. I stuck my lower lip out in an angry pout, and looked away from him sulkily. "Get in the car." Inuyasha commanded.

I crossed my arms over my chest stubbornly. "No. I just got to that club. I'm not about to leave because you went psycho!"

His eye twitched. "Get. In. The. Car. Now."

I turned on my heel and started walking away. "I'm going back." I paused, and then added over my shoulder quietly, "Thanks for saving me, Inuyasha."

All I heard was a growl in response, and then, in a flash, my wrists were seized and I was whirled around, and in his arms, his hands locked around me. I gasped at the feeling of his hard body pressed so tightly to mine, and my heart skipped a beat as I looked up into his eyes. They were sharp, piercing golden, and being this close to him and looking into his eyes, I again had the feeling that he wasn't seeing me, that he was seeing Kikyo.

"I won't have you going back in there to be assaulted by that bastard." His voice wasn't as sharp as before, but it was still rough as usual. "Get in the car, woman."

"My name is Kagome. Ka-go-me." I sounded out for him irritably. "Not woman. If you can't even address me by my name, why in the world do you expect me to listen to you? And I'm not a slave you can just order around."

"There isn't room for discussion. Getinthecar." His voice was commanding, and his arms tightened around me, further pressing me into his body and causing a deep blush to bloom on my face. I was so undoubtedly attracted to him, and my body responded to being so closely pressed against him. I tried to think past the feelings so I could form clear words.

"Let go of me." I ordered, forcing myself to glare at him despite my blush.

"Stop arguin' and listen!"

"Why do you even care?" I suddenly screamed in his face. "All you see when you look at me is Kikyo! You've avoided me for days on end because I look like her, and all you see right now is her! You can't protect her, because I'm not her! And you can't protect me because I'm not yours to protect!"
I saw, for the second time, that flicker of pain in his golden eyes. "No, you're not her." He agreed quietly, and I felt a rush of guilt for my harsh words. They were true, but, I didn't have to be so mean about it. After all, he had loved Kikyo, and seeing me and wanting to protect me only made sense.

Slowly, his arms melted from around me and he released me, but didn't release my eyes. "Inuyasha, I . . ." I started, and I rested my fingertips on his arm. He turned away from me, and shrugged my hand off.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you." I said softly.

"Feh. It takes a lot more than words to hurt me." He scoffed, but there wasn't really any bite to his tone. I smiled a little.

"So . . . why were you at the club anyway?" I asked.

Suddenly, his face grew very red, and he wouldn't look at me. "Miroku mentioned he was going with Sango."

And that I was going. I finished in my mind. I sighed. "So you came to spy?"

"Hah! As if I'd spy on you! I wasn't even thinkin' about you at all!" He snapped defensively.

I arched an eyebrow. "I didn't even mention me. You just told on yourself."

"Er . . ." His ears flattened to his head, and his blush deepened as he glared at his shoes. I giggled quietly, before I sighed again.

"Inuyasha," I said gently, "I know about Kikyo, and how you felt about her. And I respect your feelings. It was a terrible thing, that you lost her, and I can never tell you how sorry I am. But . . . I'm not Kikyo, and you don't need to protect me. It's sweet, but I don't need protection, and you say that you know that I'm not her, but you're stuck on watching over me. You don't need to. I want you around to be around me, not for her."

"It's not for her . . ." He muttered, but I knew the truth. I sighed and shook my head.

"Look, I'm going to go back in the club now. Do you want to come?" I offered, and a part of me sort of hoped that he would.

He bared his fangs. "You're not goin' back into that club, and I sure as hell am not."

I glared. "What did we just discuss, Inuyasha? I don't know who you think you are, but you can't rule me!"

"I don't care. Do you honestly think you can fight me off if I try to drag you to my car?"

"I'd like to see you try!"

Not expecting him to take it seriously, Inuyasha seized me around the waist and hoisted me up, caveman style, over his shoulder. I screamed and kicked and beat on his back with my fists, but to no avail. I heard a car door opening, and suddenly I was thrown into the car and onto the leather seat. The door was shut, and before I had time to recover, he was sitting behind the wheel and he locked all the doors.

"Let me out right now!" I ordered, whirling around to face him, my fists clenched furiously.

"No. I'm taking you back to my place, and you're going to stay there for the night. That demon bastard might decide to come to your dorm tonight, so it's too risky to leave you there." Inuyasha growled.

"Ugh, you're such a pig head!" I whined in frustration as he started the car. "Ok, so he grabbed my ass, and probably would have assaulted me, but it's not like he was going to come to my dorm and get me! He doesn't know where my dorm even is!"

"He can follow your scent. Your scent is overpowering. You'd be easy to track." Inuyasha muttered as he began driving.

"Do you mean I stink?"

He didn't answer that. "Geez, you're annoyin'! And you're a lot more trouble than you're worth!"

Why you . . . "Then why do you keep following me!"

I had him there. "I'm not!" He snapped.

"Right, and I'm the Queen of England." I said sarcastically. "You know, you have a lot of arrogance for such a creepy stalker."

Abruptly, he let out a little laugh. It would have been cute under any other circumstances. "And you have a big mouth for such a little woman."

I simply turned away, deciding to ignore him for now. It didn't look like I was going to get my way, so I was going to give him the silent treatment. "I still don't get why you even care so much." I muttered, mainly to myself. It was true, that I looked like Kikyo and that would be his main reason to want to protect me, but at the same time, it still didn't explain why he was sobent on doing it. I mean, he had to be able to differentiate between us somewhere.

"If you've got somethin' to say then just say it." He snapped at me, obviously overhearing my comment.

"I have nothing to say." I said haughtily. And after that, the rest of the ride was in silence.

We drove for maybe twenty minutes before Inuyasha pulled into a large paved driveway, which led up to a giant black gate. The gate was already open, so we pulled in, and I saw, at the end of the driveway, a large white mansion. I wasn't surprised, to be honest. I'd heard from various people that Inuyasha was rich, and though this mansion wasn't what I'd pictured in my mind exactly, it was pretty close. The design was Victorian, but I knew that the inside would probably be modern enough.

After he parked the car and unlocked the doors, I sat there for a moment, considering my options. I could go ahead and go inside and leave myself completely vulnerable to him, where God knows what he could do to me, or I could try to run for it when I got out. I knew, already, how fast Inuyasha was, and despite the fact he was only half youkai, he was strong, very strong, and I couldn't fight him off too easily. It would be a miracle if I could manage to escape.

But where would you go? A little voice in my mind asked. You can't walk from here to your home.

It doesn't matter. I thought stubbornly. Anywhere is better than here.

Inuyasha was watching me from outside, waiting for me to get out, and he looked impatient. "What are ya waitin' for?" he demanded.

Here goes. I thought. I opened my car door calmly enough and climbed out. I took a deep breath, and didn't even bother to look at Inuyasha as I took off running down the driveway.

I only vaguely heard his yells after me, but I didn't slow down for a second. I wasn't going to be confined to his whims. I quickened my pace, and felt my heart skip a beat when I heard his footsteps from behind me. There was a flash of red and silver, and then he landed in front of me, and I ran right into his hard chest.

I didn't even pause. My knee came rushing up, and I slammed it into his groin. He doubled over in pain, and I shoved him out of the way and kept running. "You little bitch!" He managed to choke out, but I ignored him and kept on.

I however, was not expecting there to be a rock in my way to slow down my departure. I hadn't thought that far ahead, so when my foot caught on a rock and I started heading down, I knew it was all over. I hit the asphalt hard, and gasped at the impact as I scrapped my legs.

I sat there for a moment, enduring the painful sting, and a moment later, black converse appeared in my vision and I looked up into the very supremely pissed off face of Inuyasha. "You . . . are sodead." he stated. Then he noticed the line of blood running up my calf, and his expression changed completely. He kneeled down and took my leg gently in his clawed hands, inspecting the wound. It was a thin cut, all the way from the bottom of my calf to the top, but it was bleeding and it stung. I knew it would take a while to heal, but it wasn't a horrible wound.

"You're hurt." he said softly, and I felt my heart begin to pound when he cradled my leg in his lap and lifted it to his mouth, and licked the cut from the bottom to the top, as if he was trying to clean the injury. I shivered at the feeling, because it both stung and felt pleasant at the same time, and I didn't want to pull away.

His eyes lifted to mine from underneath long, black lashes, and my breath caught. I had never noticed before how beautiful he really was. And the way he was looking at me was so indescribably sexy that I had to remind my hazed mind not to get caught up by looks.

"I-Inuyasha," I stammered, "I'm fine. J-just, stop that." I was referring to his claws, which were lightly stroking up and down my leg, as if comforting me. Tingles were racing all along my skin, paths of fire following the trails of his fingertips, and I'd never felt anything so good in my life.

"Why?" he murmured, and his voice was low, slightly rougher than usual. I saw the desire in his eyes, but also the concern. "Is it hurting you?"

"Not . . . not exactly." I wouldn't dare admit that I enjoyed it, but I wasn't going to just let him have his way with me either.

"I need to get you inside so I can take care of you." His arms slid underneath my legs and he lifted me in his arms before I could protest, and began carrying me to his house. "And by the way," he added, "You're still gonna be dead for kickin' me in the balls." he said it so calmly, but I could hear the threatening tone.

There! Another long chapter to keep the readers satisfied. So, what do you think so far? Do you think there's enough chemistry between the two? Is Inuyasha being a jerk? Let me know in a review! :P