A/N: I'm back! I'm really really sorry for the long absence. School had a tight hold on me for the past months and now I'm so glad to say that I'm finally free from its grasp. Because I made you guys wait for so long, I made this chapter longer than usual.

Disclaimer – I don't own InuYasha…

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 12 – Confrontations

An hour had past and Inuyasha was still contemplating whether he would write a message or not. His fingers lay atop the keyboard, frozen in place. Once in a while his fingers would stumble and incoherent words appeared on the screen. After realising what he has done, he would straight away press the 'delete' key, holding it until there was no trace of unintelligible words.

As he started to get a headache from staring at the computer for too long, he stood up from his seat and headed for the kitchen.

He took a cup out of the cupboard and poured some hot water into it. He rummaged through a number of containers in search of a tea bag. After opening his fifth container, he had finally found one and immediately submerged it in his cup of hot water.

He settled in a nearby chair and took a sip from his tea. The warm liquid surely had relieved him in some way. He closed his eyes and took a deep breathe creating a tranquil sense of self. It has been a long time that he was this calm. He savoured every sip, knowing that at the very last drop, he would be back to his worried state.

Finishing up his tea, he placed the empty cup at the sink. He slowly walked back to the computer, once again, dreading.

He took seat in front of the computer and readied himself, taking a deep breath. As he diverted his eyes to the screen, he noticed that he received a message a couple of minutes ago. He quickly went into his inbox and checked who it was from, thinking that he had already received a reply from all the messages he sent a while ago.

Inuyasha couldn't believe what he's seeing, as he found out that his new email was sent by the person, whom he was contemplating on sending a message to. 'Kagome' had sent him a message.

Suddenly realizing a thought, he jumped up in panic. 'Kagome is online right now!' A new dilemma had risen and Inuyasha cringed at the thought of being under pressure.

He calmed himself down and decided to read her message first before making any move. The message read:

Hi,

I'm sorry for not keeping in touch for quite some time. I don't even remember whether I already replied to your last message or not. Well, here's another message anyway.

My job isn't exactly doing much good for me at the moment. There's a lot of work to do. It doesn't really help that there's a conflict between my manager and I at the same time.

I do hope it's not the same case for you. I can handle stress from work but when it comes to problems with relationships with people around me, it takes me quite a while to cope up with it. I often deny what I truly feel and I hide my sorrow away from people's eyes, even from my best friend, Sango.

It's so funny that I could somehow interpret what other people are feeling and yet I hide away my emotions, keeping it to myself. I, myself, now wonder why I'm telling this to you.

Is it because I feel that I can depend on you? Or is it because you're sincere and truthful?

You don't have to answer those questions. However, if you want to tell me your thoughts about it feel free and give me a call.

Sincerely,

Kagome Higurashi

Upon reading the end greeting, Inuyasha froze in shock.

He constantly asked himself if it was really the Kagome Higurashi that he met in the ice cream parlour. In each time, he found himself denying it.

He perused over the message once again, looking closely at each line trying to find some sort of evidence.

'there's a conflict between my manager and I'

Inuyasha remembered the time when Kagome came by the ice cream parlour, telling his boss about her first day on her new job. He remembered hearing about her misunderstanding with her manager.

'my best friend, Sango'

Now, Inuyasha looked back when he and Miroku came across Kagome and her friend at a nightclub. He recalled it clearly the Kagome's friend was named Sango.

'I could somehow interpret what other people are feeling'

Summoning up the first time he met Kagome, that quality of hers brought him to start a conversation with her and hence, a new friendship has begun.

'Is it because I feel that I can depend on you? Or is it because you're sincere and truthful?'

Inuyasha's spirit has dampened. There is no way that he could comply to the questions. The feeling of guilt had overwhelmed him.

Below the message was her mobile phone number. He felt worse as he recognized the number.

He reached out to get his mobile phone from his pocket and quickly browsed through his phonebook.

There it was, the same number that appeared at the message.

Everything was falling into place, but Inuyasha was still unsure whether he's going to accept the fact that the Kagome he met at the personals and the Kagome he met at the ice cream parlour is the same person.

Being stubborn as ever; he wanted another proof.

Holding his mobile phone against his ear, his hand shook. He nervously waited for an answer, somewhat wanting the phone on the other line to ring forever.

And there it was, much to Inuyasha's dismay, the ringing stopped. It was soon followed by a voice.

"Hello. Kagome, here."

Inuyasha, who was walking around, abruptly stopped in his tracks looking dumbstruck. His mouth had gone dry and he couldn't utter a single word.

Kagome continued. "Hello? Inuyasha? Is there anything wrong?"

After consoling himself, he was able to attain his voice back. "Sorry. I couldn't hear you a while ago. Nothing's wrong."

"That's good to hear. So, why did you call?"

Inuyasha cursed silently for not preparing himself before he called. He quickly racked his brain for a decent answer. "Well... Um… I just called to say hi. I haven't seen you for a while now. You don't come by the parlour anymore." Inuyasha applauded himself. "The boss misses her favourite customer."

"I know! Work isn't really doing me much justice. I miss you all guys, too. Don't forget to pass my apologies."

Inuyasha found himself smiling. She missed him. Well, she did say so collectively, but he's one of them anyway.

"I'll come by tomorrow after work and visit. Wait for me, okay?" Kagome continued.

"Sure thing. We'll be looking forward to it."

Kagome said her goodbye and hanged up. Inuyasha was now left in his thoughts once again. Looking back to what he just said, he suddenly grimaced. He's not ready to face Kagome yet. He's guilt-ridden and seeing Kagome would make it worse.

He took a deep breath and tried to coop up his courage. He should take it like a man. Running away is definitely not an option.

--------------------------------------------------

It is yet another day, minutes past noon. Kagome was sitting behind her desk worn out and exhausted.

Finishing yet another set of paperwork, she looked up the clock and rejoiced. She could go for a break and rejuvenate.

She stood up from her chair, picked up her purse and walked out of her office. Walking on the hallway, she found Sesshoumaru's office just ahead. It was just then that she suddenly remembered about the misunderstanding the day before. Amidst of all the rigorous work that she has been doing, she had forgotten all about it. It had finally dawned on to her why Sesshoumaru delves himself to his work and places his full commitment on it.

Kagome stopped in front of the door of Sesshoumaru's office. She had decided to invite Sesshoumaru for lunch. In the process, maybe she could explain and go over the misunderstanding.

She knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Not hearing any, she slowly turned the door knob and pushed the door open in a gentle manner.

There was no Sesshoumaru on sight.

Kagome closed the door feeling dejected. It was usually Sesshoumaru who invites her to lunch. Seeing that he's not in his office during the lunch break would mean one thing. He is trying to avoid her.

"You don't know where he is, do you?" A colleague, who happened to pass by, asked Kagome.

"Obviously, I don't. I wouldn't be standing here and looking for him in his office, if I did." Kagome retorted. "Do you know where he is?"

"Honey, everyone knows where he is" she said matter-of-factly. "Well, except you, I guess."

"Where is he then?"

"Well he's out on a lunch date with some woman." The colleague now found her nails interesting as she was getting tired of the conversation, since it was already old news.

"Who might this woman be?" Kagome now held an interrogating voice.

"I don't know. She walked in the office just before noon, looking for him. Moments later, they were walking out of the building together."

Believing that she wouldn't tell her anything else, Kagome said her thanks and walked out of the building heading to the nearby café.

------------------------------------------------

It wasn't much fun eating lunch alone, but Kagome appreciated the solitude. As soon as she finished gourmet sandwich, she quickly paid for her meal and hurriedly walked back to the office building.

The reason behind her quick strides never really occurred to her. Perhaps it could be because of the towering piles of paperwork that's waiting for her. Or maybe it's the thought of Sesshoumaru having already returned from his lunch date.

Realizing that there's still half an hour left before the lunch break finishes, Kagome slowed down her pace. Being such a gentleman, there's no way that Sesshoumaru would cut the lunch date short, especially if the woman came to see him and most probably asked him out to lunch. Or maybe it was Sesshoumaru who asked her out to lunch. Kagome no longer wanted to go further.

Much to her dismay, her mind wouldn't go by her decision. It desperately wanted to press on to the issue. There's no need to contemplate as to why Kagome's mind was acting like so.

The pungent smell of jealously lingered about, but Kagome won't give in.

'Could you just stop it? I'm not jealous!' she exclaimed.

"Kagome, who exactly are you talking to?" A deep voice had interrupted Kagome's musings.

Kagome stopped in her tracks and stood wide eyed. She found herself at the doors of her office building. She obviously was preoccupied in her own thoughts that she had no sense of where she was going.

Much worse, she found herself in front of a sceptical looking Sesshoumaru and a snotty faced woman. Kagome mentally kicked herself and quickly averted to a confident composure. With a smile, she greeted them both. Sesshoumaru, in turn, introduced Kagome to Kagura.

Instead on returning the greeting, Kagura raised an eyebrow and asked, "Were you talking to yourself?"

Kagome could sense her condescending tone. She quickly shot her a furtive glance. "Why do you ask? Does it concern you in any way?"

"No, it doesn't concern me. I'm just worried about Sesshoumaru having to deal with people like you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kagome now held a murderous glint in her eyes and a demanding voice.

Sesshoumaru cleared his throat, causing both women to face him. "I hate to interrupt your conversation, but I need to get back to work." He said his goodbye to Kagura and turned to Kagome, "If you have finished having lunch, I suggest that you get back to work too. You know as much as I do that that workload would continue to pile up."

Kagome didn't have to think twice about entering the building. She said her goodbye to Kagura with a tone filled with distaste and quickly followed Sesshoumaru.

"Sesshoumaru." Kagome called out. She quickened her pace to catch up to Sesshoumaru.

Sesshoumaru, however, didn't take notice and continued on walking. He only stopped once he reached the elevator doors, then pressing the button with the arrow pointing upwards.

Kagome finally caught up with him. She recollected her thoughts and took a deep breath. She looked up at him but his eyes never met hers. Sesshoumaru intently kept his gaze at the flashing numbers just above the elevator doors.

"It's obvious that you don't want to talk to me, so I'll just keep it short." Kagome started. "You don't have to reply, but all I ask of you is to listen to what I've got to say."

Ding! The elevator doors slid open slowly and both Kagome and Sesshoumaru gave way for the occupants to come out.

Sesshoumaru entered the empty elevator and Kagome followed suit. Once the doors slid close, Kagome continued. "You didn't give me a chance to explain myself yesterday. I'm crushed that you never verified your accusations and that you simply presumed that it was all true. I never made such pact with your brother. I'm not a part of any alternative scheme. You know what's funny? I saw you, well pretty much your picture, for the very first time through Inuyasha's internet dating scheme. The personals ad published by your brother was recommended by my friend. Deciding to take a chance and hoping that you'll end up as a decent guy, I sent a reply. Days after that, I couldn't believe my luck that I ended up working under you. Right now, I'm not so sure if I'm lucky or not. I have no idea what fate is playing at, that I just had to meet Inuyasha as well and it turned out that it was him who I was sending messages to. The really stupid thing was that I thought I was testing you. I was checking that if the messages I received and the way I see you at work, match."

"Did it match?" asked Sesshoumaru, which brought Kagome's train of thought to a halt.

Kagome looked up at Sesshoumaru quizzically, asking herself whether Sesshoumaru actually believed her explanation.

The elevator reached the seventh floor and the doors slid open. Sesshoumaru motioned to exit the elevator and Kagome hastened to follow suit, keeping up with his strides.

"Well, let's just say that the messages highlighted the personality underneath your sombre façade" replied Kagome. "At first I thought it was all for show to get the responders interested even more, but as I got to know you in person, I thought otherwise. You're a bit rough at the edges, but you're a nice guy."

Seeing that they are nearly approaching Sesshoumaru's office, their conversation was nearing its end. Kagome didn't wait for Sesshoumaru to respond and said, "It's obvious that everything that has happened affected our friendship. Whatever it is that you decide to do, I want to thank you for everything. Thank you for taking a chance on me when you hired me as the assistant manager and most of all thank you for being a friend."

As they reached Sesshoumaru's office, Kagome quickly added, "If you decided to talk to Inuyasha about this, I think it's important for you to know that I believe Inuyasha had no idea that it is in fact me who he is sending messages to until recently."

Kagome walked off, heading to her own office, while Sesshoumaru entered his own.

Sesshoumaru sat in his chair in silence and slowly closed his eyes. He's neither tired nor sleepy. He's guilt-ridden. He had done the same mistake when Kagome was newly working under him. His stubborn attitude brought him to wrongly accuse Kagome again.

He, most definitely, didn't need his boss urging him to fix things, for he has decided to take the initiative on making things right. Having Kagome in his life was by far the biggest break he ever had. The pressure and stress that haunted him for the past years started to diminish. With Kagome, he would finally fully fulfil his promise to his late father.

Just before his father died, he made Sesshoumaru promise that he would take care of Inuyasha and treat him like a brother would treat his fellow brother, which is of love and respect. Sesshoumaru had fulfilled the first part of the promise, by taking Inuyasha under his wing and providing for both of them. The second part was very hard to accomplish, for Sesshoumaru still bears the anger of having his father falling in love with another woman.

It is possible that Kagome would help him to let go of the grudge and get rid of all the negativities in his life as well. He has to make it up to her. He was able to do it the first time; he might be able to do it again.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Kagome left work with a somewhat uplifted spirit. She was glad that she finally attempted to make things right between her and Sesshoumaru. It is true that she is worried about what Sesshoumaru's decision might turn out to be, but she decided to put it aside for a while. There's another thing that she has to face and deal with today.

Kagome still questions fate as to why she has to be the one that ends up to be caught up between two brothers. It's not that she wants out of it. Heck, many women would kill to be in her place. It is all the drama that came along with it that she dreads.

It's funny how she thought she was in control of the situation when in fact, the more she delved into it, the more she got all tangled up with problems. That doesn't really complement well with the fact that she's a self-acclaimed manager. It is obvious that managing matters of the heart is surely not included in her area of expertise.

Just as she promised, she headed on the way to her favourite ice cream parlour. She mentally readied herself, heaving large intakes of breaths. Things would be very different between her and Inuyasha from now on.

Kagome pondered as to how her friendship with Inuyasha will be affected. It would surely be awkward once she approaches him about the issue, but would it stay that way forever?

She would definitely hate for that to happen. The question is for what reason? Is just the mere thought of not wanting to lose a friend or is it the thought that the person Kagome was starting to fall for turned out to be him?

"Kagome! My Darling!" a voice exclaimed, interrupting Kagome's thoughts.

Kagome now had that present sense of time and found herself nearing the ice cream parlour. She watched Kouga with a wide grin on his face, waving merrily at her.

A faint hue of rosiness appeared on Kagome's cheeks, feeling embarrassed. Passer-bys were now looking at her in interest as she meekly smiled and waved back. That has always been Kouga's greeting ever since he knew her and yet Kagome still finds it embarrassing on her part until now.

As Kagome reached the entrance, Kouga placed his arm over Kagome's shoulders and led her inside.

"Thank you for the wholesome welcome, Kouga. I appreciate the embarrassment." Kagome started sarcastically.

Kouga laughed and replied, "You've got to give me some slack. I haven't seen you for a long time. I missed you so much and I'm literally very happy to see you!"

Kagome sat in her usual table. Kouga took her order and left, promising her a scrumptious treat.

After being told by Kouga that Kagome came to visit, the owner quickly finished serving the waiting customers and directly headed towards Kagome.

Kagome spotted her old friend approaching so she stood up and greeted her with a hug.

"Hi sweetie. How are you?" the owner asked.

Both ladies sat down and started to have the usual conversation of what's been going with each other's lives.

As Kouga came back with Kagome's order, the owner told him that they'll soon be closing. "Go help Inuyasha finish up."

"Yes boss." Kouga said dryly, leaving the two ladies alone again.

Hearing Inuyasha's name, Kagome decided to ask how he's doing.

The owner leaned in and changed the tone of her voice into a concerned one. "He's been acting weird since this morning. I always find him staring into space, his thoughts preoccupied. Of course I asked what's wrong, but he kept saying that it's nothing."

"I see…" Kagome uttered softly.

"How about you try to shake him off? You've got a skill in reading people's emotion. I'll urge him to drive you home."

Kagome's eye grew wide in surprise. Talk about fate, once again in action. Not wanting her old friend to know that that's exactly what she wants to happen, she decided to play it safe. "Are you sure that that's a good idea? What if he really doesn't want to tell anyone?"

"Then he'll blow himself up. You've got to at least try." The owner looked at Kagome with pleading eyes. "Please, Kagome."

Kagome tried so hard hiding her feeling of relief that things would go as she planned. She replied like as if she was doing a really big favour for a friend. "Okay. I'll try my best."

"Great! I'll go tell him now."

Kagome watched the retreating figure of her old friend with a knowing smile on her face. 'This is it.' she ranted to herself. 'There's no backing out now.'

-------------------------------------------------------

"WHAT?!" Kouga bellowed. "Why does he have to drive Kagome home? Why can't I do it?"

"You ride a motorcycle, while Inuyasha drive a car. I'm not comfortable with the thought of Kagome riding in a motorcycle. I've made up my mind and I want Inuyasha to do it." The owner argued.

Listening to the arguing going on, Inuyasha grew white in trepidation. He's still not ready to face Kagome. No matter how much he prepared himself, he's still nervous as hell.

Gathering his belongings, the owner came up to him. "You can leave now. Kagome's waiting."

"Okay. Bye, ma'm" Inuyasha said, sounding kind of timid.

Inuyasha met Kagome out front, fiercely trying to calm himself down. Kagome greeted him with a sweet smile and started a casual conversation on the way to his car. She would have to undergo a smooth transition towards the most important topic.

"Judging from the shouting a heard while ago, Kouga didn't like this idea at all did he?" Kagome asked.

"Obviously not. He kept demanding that he should be the one taking you home."

"Did you get forced to do this?"

"No. I don't mind driving you home. Besides this way, I'll know that you'll get home safely." Inuyasha took notice of what he just said and suddenly took it back. "I mean, boss will know that you arrived home safely."

Kagome's face lit up upon hearing that Inuyasha is actually concerned about her. "Thank you for doing this."

With the car now on the road, the silence started to take over. Kagome watched Inuyasha's firm grip on the steering wheel, feeling the tension in the air returning. He firmly directed his gaze forward on the road, looking so serious.

It's now or never.

"Inuyasha." Kagome started, calling for his attention. "You've got my message haven't you?"

----------------------------------------------------

A/N: I finally got to this point! What do you thing of this chapter? I would really appreciate it if you review! For the past months I've been losing my drive on writing this story, writing fiction for any matter….so reviews would surely motivate me to continue.

PLS. REVIEW! Comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated! I'm sorry for the grammatical and spelling mistakes.

Thank you so much to Chocolate-Covered-Coffee-Beans, Amaya Mishugosha, mangadreams, and InuGoddess715 for reviewing the last chapter! Love you all!

Thank you so much for reading my story!

Take care people!

elena-maria