Ok, guys, I'm back! This one's a little different than what you're used to from me, so lemme know if it's a keeper, okay?

Disclaimer: I will say this only once. I own nothing but the idea. Anything other than not belonging to me expressed herin, same. So get off my back! Do I harrass you? No! So get!

Sweet Temptation

Kagome Higurashi pulled into the driveway after work, her car stereo blaring. As she got out, her next door neighbour, Mr. Taisho, and his youngest son Shippo, waved to her and called, "Good afternoon, Kagome!"

Mr. Taisho, dropping his rake and instructing Shippo to continue, came over and asked, "How's it been?"

The previous year, Kagome's parents had been in a fatal car accident, leaving her to look after four younger sisters. Kikyou, Sango, and Ayame were triplets, and sixteen years old. Rin, the baby, was twelve, and Kagome herself had just turned eighteen. She'd been working two jobs for the last year just to keep from losing the house, while the triplets were each working part-time at a nursing home three blocks away to pay for the rest of the expenses.

"Alright," she responded, smiling and averting her eyes. He was so handsome, he made her nervous, but she'd never pass up a chance to speak with him.

Daichi Taisho was a single Father. His wife, Hitomi, had left him five years ago, and Kagome remembered what a hard time he'd had raising five sons on his own. The eldest, Sesshoumaru, was older than her by two years, but secretly she'd always thought him to be quite the handsome boy; even though they never spoke and he sometimes smiled when he saw her. She thought maybe he was just shy, but she didn't really have time to find out, either.

He pointed over his shoulder at the house. "Rin's inside, in case you want her," he informed her, putting a hand in his pocket casually.

"Thanks. If she gets to be a bother, just send her home. I know for a fact that she's got homework to do, so I'll likely be calling her soon if you don't kick her out earlier!"

He laughed, and turned to watch his own twin sons pull their hatchback into the driveway.

Inuyasha and Miroku hopped out, laughing and punching each other all the way up the driveway.

Kagome smiled; they smiled back.

They're so cute, she thought, seeing the blush rise in each boy's cheeks. Since they were fraternal twins, they looked nothing like each other; Inuyasha had the same white hair of his Father and older brother, but Miroku had brown hair, Kouga had black hair, and Shippo, their youngest, had bright red hair. "Well, I better get making supper, or I'll have a passel of very hungry girls on my hands," she said, walking toward her front door.

Daichi looked at his watch. "You're right, I should get on that, too. What do you boys feel like for dinner?"

"See you guys!" Kagome called, and all three waved back as they climbed their front porch to their front door, disappearing inside.

S.T.

Kagome slammed the door. For once, the house was quiet. The girls must all be at work still, she thought, and Rin was next door…she had to take this opportunity to draw herself a bath. After a long day at the Doctor's office, answering phones and scheduling appointments, she was exhausted. She'd decided to take this weekend off; she worked at a strip club on Satuday nights.

It was only one day a week but it paid more than her office job, so she was in no position to pass it off. She didn't much like it, but it was getting easier to ignore the butterflies that would flare up in her gut before she went out on stage to do her routine. It had taken a lot of persuasion, but she'd finally managed to talk her boss into letting her take this weekend to herself. She told him that it had been so long since she'd spent time with all her sisters that he felt bad and let her have what she wanted.

The triplets, too, had taken this weekend off, and all the girls had planned to drive to the beach and stay at the Taisho's cottage, which Mr. Taisho had so generously offered to lend them. He said that maybe he and the boys would pop up for a few hours if they could, too.

Kagome settled into the bath, a good book and a cup of warm coffee at hand. Before she got two pages in though, she fell asleep.

S.T.

Inuyasha and Miroku sat at the kitchen table, doing their homework. While Daichi flipped burgers just outside the back door on the deck, Shippo and Rin could be heard in the other room, playing a new videogame Shippo had gotten the week before.

Suddenly Miroku looked up from what he was writing and said, "Hey, Inuyasha. Do you think Shippo likes Rin?"

Inuyasha didn't look up from his math problems. Damn he hated algebra!

"I dunno, probably," he replied absently, not really hearing the question. Miroku rolled his eyes.

He'd forgotten that his brother was bad at math, and it required all his concentration for him to finish before supper.

He decided to let him finish, and he closed his history book, his homework done. Inuyasha glowered at him for a moment, but went back to diligently working out his equations.

The subject of intelligence had been a longstanding sore spot between them. Miroku seemed to have no problem at all with school, while Inuyasha struggled with every subject, except Gym. He was more than adept to earn good grades there, whereas Miroku had opted to take all academic classes this year, leaving the physical classes to his brother. He didn't much prefer to be all that physical…unless it was with a girl of course!

Shippo came into the kitchen and said, "When's supper? Rin and I are hungry."

"I can't stay for dinner, Shippo," Rin said, coming into the room. She was the same height as Shippo, that was all the two had in common. Shippo, red-haired, green-eyed, and muscle-bound, even at his young age, seemed to have a most unlikely friend in Rin, skinny, brown-eyed and haired, with a sweet and slightly shy disposition. Shippo was as outgoing as they come, so they seemed to attract nicely, they were such opposites.

"Why not?" he whined, crossing his arms belligerently. Miroku frowned at him.

"Shippo, if Rin doesn't want to stay, don't force her. Besides, Kagome likely wants her home to do her homework, no?"

Rin smiled. "That's exactly right, Miroku. I better be going. See me off, Shippo?"

Shippo grunted arrogantly, but nodded his consent. Miroku sighed. That boy was getting more and more like Inuyasha every day!

A rumbling was heard as Sesshoumaru pulled into the driveway, his red Mustang purring before he shut it off and pulled his jacket from the backseat.

Rin said, "Hi, Sesshoumaru!" on her way out and he nodded, replying, "Afternoon, Rin," as he came in.

When she was gone, Shippo plunked himself down at the table and glowered at everyone in the same manner Inuyasha glowered at his homework.

Sesshoumaru, taking off his sneakers, threw his jacket in the hall closet and came into the kitchen to join his brothers.

"Where's Dad?" he asked, and Miroku replied, "He's outside, cooking burgers. He'll be done in a minute."

"Good, I'm starving. Hey, Shrimp!"

Shippo looked up, still angry that Rin had left so early. "What?"

"You forgetting something? Set out the damn plates!"

Grumbling, Shippo got up and did as he was told. Inuyasha, still not done, moved his homework to the desk in his bedroom and came back in a better mood, his homework forgotten for now.

"Hey Miroku! Did you see what Kagome was wearing last Saturday night when she left?"

Miroku, unable to recall, said, "No, why? Was it skankalicious?"

Sesshoumaru looked over his shoulder at this. What was it they were saying about the gorgeous girl next door? Obviously they didn't know what she did with her Saturday nights!

"No. She was wearing a trench coat. How does a girl as hot as her end up buying a trench coat and actually wearing it in public?"

Sesshoumaru began to chuckle, and suddenly the door banged open, admitting the last brother, sixteen-year-old Kouga.

"Goddamnit!" he muttered, kicking off his high tops and coming to sit as his place at the table, a frown marring his handsome face.

"What's the matter with you?" Shippo asked, but Inuyasha interrupted, "Who cares? I wanna know what's so funny over there, Sesshoumaru!"

Glaring, Kouga folded his arms and ignored his brother. "Asshole," he mumbled.

Ignoring this comment, but flipping his brother the finger, Inuyasha crept over to Sesshoumaru and threatened, "Out with it, Brother, or I'll have to do something to you I really don't want to do."

Sesshoumaru sighed. Why were his brothers such a pain in the ass?

"Fine, I'll tell you. She was wearing that coat because she had a costume on underneath it."

"A costume?" they all chorused, confused.

"For what? What are we talking about?" Kouga asked.

"Kagome," Shippo whispered, and Kouga said, "Ohh, I see."

Growing up next to the Higurashi's, the Taisho's used to play with the girls next door all the time, but when they started going to high school, things began to slow down a bit. The Higurashi girls, every single one of them a beauty in her own right, often brought their girl friends home with them, and when Kagome was away on Saturday nights, they would have parties, and their Father would look in on the girls every so often to make sure nothing too shocking was occurring.

Shippo looked out the window. Kikyou and Sango were coming down the sidewalk now, all decked out in their work clothes, scrubs they wore to the nursing home. "Hey, there's Kikyou and Sango," Shippo remarked, and Inuyasha and Miroku flew to the window. The boys had loved Kikyou and Sango since as far back as they could remember, but only Inuyasha had had any success so far; Kikyou had a rep at school for being…well…loose. She wasn't picky about who gave her attention, that was for sure. Sango, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. She was heavily into sports and had recently begun to practice throwing a large boomerang around in their backyard. It was harder to speak with her than it was to get an appointment at the doctor's office where Kagome worked during the week.

Still, the boys were certain all they needed was a little time alone with them.

Sesshoumaru cleared his throat. "Do you want to know what she does or not?"

All his brothers looked at him now, paying rapt attention to his words, though Miroku's left eye kept straying toward the window, inevitably drawing his right eye with it.

"She's a stripper!"

Four jaws dropped open, and their Father came through the door, his hands full of steaming patties on a plate and said, "Who's a stripper?"

"Kagome is!" Kouga said.

Daichi frowned. "Who told you that?"

Sesshoumaru took this opportunity to turn bright red; none of his brothers could resist the urge to snicker at him at his expense.

"A friend told me," Sesshoumaru lied. If his Father knew he'd gone to the strip joint last week…he'd kick him out, for sure. Their Father was pretty laid back, but he was fond of Kagome, and he didn't want to hear that his son had seen more of her than he should have, especially if she was working when it happened. It was against his morals, and he preferred his sons not to indulge in such vulgar entertainment. He didn't think any less of Kagome for doing it; he knew how badly her family needed the money.

"Well, let's talk about something else. Miroku, get the burger stuff out, and Kouga, get some glasses. I see Shippo neglected to get them when he got the plates."

Shippo looked away from his Father's penetrating gaze.

Soon, all six settled around the table to eat their dinner.

S.T.

Well, love it or hate it? It's my first crack at an alternate universe, so if it sucks, I have a bunch of other ideas in mind. Review, my pretties, and I'll feed you some more goodness! Hahahahaha!