I suck, I know it. I don't even have an excuse. I'm just…so sorry. Here, an update.

Chapter Eleven

The Lost Legend and The Lovers' Spat

o0o

'You know, you could just, kinda pretend to have accidentally fallen asleep. I mean…he would wake up and think the whole thing was an accident!'

Kagome shook her head.

'No…no, that is so inappropriate!'

She bit her lip and looked longingly at the figure lying asleep before her, contemplating waking him up so that he could go back to his appropriate bed…far and safely away from her own.

'But he looks so…sweet.'

She closed her eyes and made up her mind. Carefully she readjusted herself to lie down, cradling her head on the pillow.

Once situated, Kagome assessed her situation. There was nearly a full foot between herself and Inuyasha. Perfectly appropriate. She lay there for some time, in the still and peaceful darkness of the comfortable hotel room. The old legend of the nearby shrine…how could she have forgotten it? Her grandfather once told her stories of the ancient legends, and that of the shrine that held the power of good and evil was one of his favorites.

"But Grandfather, how can one building hold all that is good and evil?"

Her grandfather looked kindly down at a seven year-old Kagome, leaning back against the large old tree that stood in the center of their family's own shrine. "It didn't hold all of good and evil, Kagome. It only held the greatest power of it…concentrated essences."

He lowered his old body to sit next to hers and looked off in the distance as he spoke, as though he were looking back on the occasion like he had actually been there. "Two great beings once roamed Japan. A woman and a beast. The woman was just and kind, a healer and priestess. She was wise, and loved the villagers she protected and helped along her journey. And the beast was a strong and powerful demon. Like the woman, he traveled the lands, but he did so to take power for himself, not to help others. He was selfish and ruthless, killing and destroying without a second thought. One fateful day, the woman and the demon crossed paths. In order to save the village she was living in, she fought the demon. But the demon's power was great. Her wisdom and ingenuity were greater still, and she sacrificed herself to save the people."

Kagome looked up at her grandfather with wide eyes full of sadness and fright. "But how did she do it, Grandfather? And why? Why would she sacrifice herself for a bunch of people she didn't even know?"

He smiled gently down at her. "Because she was good, Kagome. She loved. And her love and devotion and the power of her goodness allowed her to trap both herself and the demon, locking them both in an endless battle. They say that they were encased in a jewel…a jewel that can give power only to those who are truly good, or to those who are full of evil. When in the hands of those who are full of hate and destruction, the power that the beholder will have is unimaginably terrible. But when in the hands of one who is good, one who can purify the evil within the jewel…it is said to be greater than anything the world has ever known."

"But can anyone be that good, Grandfather? Can anyone love and care and be that perfect?"

He chuckled. "You don't have to be perfect, Kagome. No one is. But can anyone have that much love…so much that they would sacrifice themselves for another? That remains to be seen."

Kagome let her memories carry her to her dreams, and they were filled at once with fleeting and blurred images of the bodies of the dead people hanging from a ceiling beam, explosions of stone and tile, the face of an innocent little girl, a sparkling jewel shimmering with light, and strange sparkling strands of silver floating before her eyes.

o0o

Inuyasha tapped his foot agitatedly and checked his watch once more.

'8:30…damn.'

He jabbed a few more times at the elevator button, willing it to move faster. At last he heard the faint and musical 'ping' as the doors opened, and he slid hurriedly into the foyer and toward the glass office doors.

He kept his eyes focused on the floor, and he willed himself not to blush as he strode quickly through the reception area and straight toward the large oak doors of his office. He heard Sango clear her throat pointedly, and just as pointedly he ignored her.

Once inside, he shut his office doors firmly behind him and ran a clawed hand through his ruffled and loose silver hair. He heard the doors open again behind him and mentally cursed again.

'Damn, damn, damn.'

"So…I tried to stop by your place last night to give you an update after my little 'guarding' shift. But, wouldn't you know it, you just didn't seem to be home."

Inuyasha could hear the smirk in her voice and he groaned inwardly. "I was out."

Sango actually let out a short laugh at this. "Yeah…I noticed."

He turned finally and looked at her over his shoulder, giving her the best 'Mind Your Own Damn Business' glare he could muster, but she just grinned more widely at him and hopped nimbly to sit on his desk. He rolled his eyes and turned his back to her once more.

"I also happened to notice that you came in late this morning."

He made a small noise of irritation, but otherwise did his best to ignore her, pulling out random blueprints from an upcoming project that he currently cared very little about. He held them up in front of his face and tried to look busy, hoping Sango would get the hint and leave.

She didn't, of course.

"I also notice," she hopped down from his desk and slid up in front of him, tugging playfully at his shirt collar, "that you're wearing the same exact clothes you wore yesterday."

Inuyasha growled loudly and moved away from her, tossing the prints onto his desk as he headed toward his office doors again.

Sango followed him out to her desk, where she found him reaching into the jar on her desk to grab a stick of candy. She could hear him muttering under his breath about "nosey assistants" and needing cigarettes. "Not even any damn coffee in this stupid place."

"So is it just coincidence that both you and Kagome were late this morning?"

He avoided eye contact but the blush creeping slowly up his face was unavoidable.

"So did you two get any sleep?"

"ARRGH! We fell asleep, ok? Nothing happened!" He slammed the lid back onto the candy jar, and clenched his fists. "We were researching, I fell asleep, she must have fallen asleep…NOTHING HAPPENED!"

Kagome, always with perfect timing, chose to step into the office just as he shouted these last two words at the top of his lungs. She immediately turned red and, biting her lip, cleared her throat softly to announce her presence. She was staring at the carpet beneath her feet, but she could feel Inuyasha shift his gaze over to her seconds before he strode quickly into his office and slammed the doors behind him.

Sango looked over at the uncomfortable girl and shrugged. "I think I might have embarrassed him…just a bit."

o0o

Once inside his office, Inuyasha slumped into his chair, set his elbows on his desk and cradled his head in his hands.

'Damn that Sango…nothing happened!'

He thought back on his surprising wake-up that morning.

Inuyasha breathed in deeply, savoring that feeling one has just upon awakening…that moment where you're still mostly asleep, but you're actually conscious of being still mostly asleep. He could detect a pleasantly soft scent of freshness…like flowers, or rain, or, well…something fresh. He breathed it in once again, before blearily opening his eyes.

Sunlight filtered in through the half-closed blinds and he could see it shimmering lightly on the long, shiny black hair before him. He smiled slightly, and reached a lazy hand out to run his fingers gently through the strands. 'Pretty,' he through dreamily.

He shut his eyes again and let his hand rest on the pillow, his fingers wound in the silky tendrils.

And then reality shot through his brain like a bolt lightening, a triple shot of pure caffeine, and an electric shock all combined into one eye-opening element. His eyes immediately shot open, and he was up and standing next to the bed in a half-second's time.

"SHIT."

His eyes opened impossibly wider, and he clapped his hands over his mouth, listening to the loud oath reverberate in the air and staring at the figure on the bed. 'Please don't wake up, please don't wake up.'

Kagome rolled over and cuddled the pillow Inuyasha had just abandoned closer to her, but remained asleep.

Inuyasha moved his hands from his mouth to pull at the forelocks of his hair, all the while mentally cursing. 'Shit, shit, shit!'

He looked frantically around the room before bolting for the door. He had just made it through, and was about to shut it behind him, when he noticed he wasn't wearing any shoes.

He growled lowly, and snuck back into the room, eyes scanning the hotel carpeting. 'Shoes, shoes, shoes…where are my shoes?'

'There!' He saw one toe peeking out from beneath some of the bedcovers that were draping down to the floor. He hurried over, snagged them neatly in one hand, and bolted for the exit.

Inuyasha groaned into his hands. He was already late to work and he knew he had an extra set of clothing in his office, so he went straight there, hoping Sango would be too tired from her earlier guard shift to notice. Of course, he was wrong.

He thrust himself out of his chair and to the small closet in the corner of the room. He pulled a spare shirt from one of the hangers inside and slammed the door shut again. He had just finished buttoning the new shirt when there was a timid knock on the door.

Kagome poked her head in. He immediately crossed the room, sat down in his chair, grabbed the blueprints he had dropped on his desk earlier and made himself look busy to hide his embarrassment.

"Mr. Silver?"

"Inuyasha." He didn't look up from the prints, but Kagome could see his ears twitch in her direction.

"Right…Inuyasha." She cleared her throat nervously. "Um, can I come in?"

"Suit yourself."

She made her way to one of the chairs in front of his desk and swallowed hard once before plopping the large book in her hands decidedly on his desk.

Inuyasha jumped at the noise and dropped the prints.

"Good," Kagome gave him the most professional look she could muster and stared him straight in the eye. "Now that I have your attention, I think we need to discuss some things."

Inuyasha rubbed a hand tiredly over his eyes. 'Why do I feel so drained? It certainly wasn't from lack of sleep…' He let that thought die out as he felt yet another blush heat his cheeks.

"I think we both need to be mature and professional about this. We were working and researching, and we just both fell asleep. It was an accident, end of story."

"I know that! You don't have to get all defensive about it!"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not getting all 'defensive' about it! You're the one who's acting all flustered and upset this morning!"

"Feh! What makes you say that?"

"Because you're yelling at me, you're avoiding looking me in the eyes, Sango said you've been all keyed up about it this morning, and you missed a button in your shirt and you haven't even noticed it!" By the time she was done she was on her feet and yelling with a finger pointed an inch from his face. She cleared her throat, calmed herself, and sat back down again.

He grinned smugly at her. "Now who's all keyed up?"

She glared at him before looking pointedly down at his shirt buttons.

He followed her gaze and swore once before fixing them.

She rolled her eyes and opened the book she had set upon the desk. "What I came in to show you was this." She pointed to a paragraph halfway down a worn and dog-eared page. "Here," she turned the book around so that it was facing him and slid it toward him with a half-smile. "You, um…you fell asleep with your hand on this page. I read it, and…well, I think you found it."

Inuyasha looked down at the page before him. He honestly had no idea what he had read the night before. All he could think about at the time was, 'Shit, I'm in a hotel room with her…in the same bed…did she just move closer to me? She has her hand on the bed between us…she doesn't expect me to hold it does she? Shit, damn, shit! Maybe she's just being friendly. I'm not supposed to get involved with this girl! She'd probably turn out to be a nuisance anyway…I think she's looking at me again!' And, so on and so forth. Every now and again he had remembered to turn a page, but there hadn't been much reading going on.

He began to read the paragraph before a sudden thought gripped him. 'Wait a second…'

He raised his eyes to look at the woman across from him. She shifted uncomfortably. "What?"

He narrowed his gaze in speculation. "Did you say…that I fell asleep with my hand here?"

She looked everywhere but at the golden eyes across from her. "Um…yes?"

He smirked. "So you knew I was asleep, but you didn't bother to wake me?"

Kagome closed her eyes in either terror or humiliation. Or both. Either way, she didn't answer.

His smirk grew. "So…instead of waking me you just…what? Read the page and curled up next to me?"

By this time Kagome was beet red and ready to melt into a puddle on the floor. "I wouldn't say that."

He gave an all-out obnoxious smile. "Oh…I would."

She glared at him now. "I felt bad about keeping you up so late! So I just…slept on the far side. It's a big bed!" she yelled defensively. "I just…argh, I didn't think it'd be that big a deal!"

Inuyasha leaned back in his leather chair and propped his feet arrogantly on the desk. "You like me."

She started at this. "What?"

He shrugged and folded his arms behind his head. "Don't feel bad…most women just can't seem to resist my charm."

Kagome's jaw dropped and she leaped to her feet. "You arrogant, self-absorbed bastard! My feelings for you have nothing to do with what happened last night!" She stopped and clapped a hand over her mouth.

Inuyasha immediately jumped on that statement. "Feelings for me? Really? And what would those be?" He gave her another cocky grin.

Somewhere deep inside, he knew he was going too far. If he were honest with himself, he would admit that he was truly excited to hear that there might be some potential connection between the two of them. But he was also too afraid, too embarrassed, and definitely too caught up in taking the upper hand in the current situation to realize any of this. He had found a way for her to be embarrassed rather than himself, and he was running with it.

"I…I didn't mean that! I was just…I was tired from dealing with all your whining that evening and didn't want to wake you up to hear more of it!"

He closed his eyes and leaned further back in his chair. "Sure. You keep telling yourself that if it helps get you through the day. Just don't be too hard on yourself. I usually have to fight women off with a…AARGH!" He finally tilted back too far. His chair tipped back causing Inuyasha, the chair, and whatever Inuyasha tried to grab onto before he fell, crashing to the ground.

She stomped around the desk and glared down at him. Inuyasha was fumbling to come to a standing position again but froze upon looking at her. She threw the book down on him, and he was startled to see tears in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped herself, shut it again, and promptly turned on her heel and left the office.

He let his head thump back against the floor. 'I went too far.'

He sighed. "Damn."

o0o

Kagome watched the tiny cars and the even smaller people as they milled about below her. Another strong wind whipped around her and she tucked her hair behind her ears again. A pointless act, really, because only seconds later it was billowing around her again.

She could still feel her face burning, despite the cold wind that chapped her cheeks. 'Let it go, Kagome. He was probably just as embarrassed as you.'

She sat down on the hard cement roof of the skyscraper that held Inuyasha Silver's headquarters. 'Surely that's why he lashed out like that. I've never known him to be flat-out mean like that before.'

She shook her head sadly and stared out at the horizon. 'It was still no excuse. He made me feel so…small.'

She wiped angrily at her eyes. 'I hate crying!'

She yelled out over the city, hoping to relieve some of her pent-up anger. "Inuyasha, YOU JERK!"

"I know."

She jumped, and whirled around where she sat. Long silver hair whipped about his face, and he held the book in his left hand. His golden eyes looked apologetic, but Kagome was in no mood to be forgiving. She turned her back to him, and wrapped her arms the legs she had bent up toward her chest. Thankfully, she was in a pant suit today, because she was sure she'd be freezing if she were up here in a skirt.

Inuyasha sighed and moved to sit beside her. He leaned back with his legs stretched before him, propping his body on his hands. "I'm sorry, Kagome."

She didn't reply, and he crossed his legs and leaned forward, trying to get her to look at him. "I acted like an arrogant bastard. I made you miserable so that I wouldn't have to feel so embarrassed. And…I'm sorry."

Kagome took a deep breath and slowly let it out before finally looking at him. "I thought…I thought I was your friend. And you made me feel…you made me feel worthless, I guess. You belittled me. Like…like I was just some stupid girl with a crush."

He closed his eyes and sighed again before looking back at her. "I know. And…we were friends… are friends." He looked at her in question.

She took the peace offering and gave him a small smile. "Are friends."

He grinned in return. "I, uh…I read the legend. You really think it pertains to that site?"

She nodded, and turned slightly to face him, legs crossed before her. "Yeah, you see…my grandfather used to tell me this story…."

o0o

Sango turned around, shutting the roof door quietly behind her before making her way back down the maintenance steps to Kouga who was still waiting at the bottom. She grinned. "I think they patched things up."

He grinned back. "Good. It's one thing having Inuyasha storming around and yelling. It's another thing entirely to hear Kagome shrieking too." He shuddered and Sango laughed.

"Come on. We still have work to do. Not all of us can sit on the roof and chat all day."

o0o

There. Full of fuzzy relationship goodness, and actual plot. Yay for plot.

Leave me something to let me know if you're actually still reading this!