A/N: Hey everyone! I had this story on my mind since last week and couldn't wait to get back to writing. I still have some major work to do on Where I Belong, my Inuyasha canon, but couldn't get off this one first. I hope you like it and reviews are appreciated!

Summary: AU Inu/Kag. They had been best friends since forever, so moving to a new city for college together was a dream come true. But when Kagome was forced to have a serious conversation with Inuyasha, he didn't react the way she expected and that changed their relationship forever. Forgiveness isn't easy and neither is acknowledging what's right in front of you.

CHAPTER 1

"Hey, are you home? I'm dropping by in a few minutes, I have to pick up that sweater I left there. My friend wants it back and if I don't return it today she's gonna punch me, so yeah, I'm coming over."

Kagome pressed send and, after seeing that her voice message had gone through, put her phone back into her pocket. She had just left the café she was in and was headed towards her best friend's penthouse. She knew it was okay to just drop by, but she always tried to let him know beforehand, especially on a Saturday. She knew his girlfriend usually spent the whole weekend at his place and it didn't feel right barging in his apartment unannounced.

Autumn's crisp air was touching her face and she couldn't help but smile. It felt so good to be in New York, especially this time of the year. She loved walking the streets without a care in the world, without worrying about how she was dressed, how she acted, how she walked. She loved the freedom and the restlessness she felt there. And in those moments she quietly thanked God for the opportunity to live there.

It feels so long ago since I lived in Japan. I can't believe it's been six years.

Kagome had lived in Tokyo her whole life. After much effort from her mom's side, including using her late father's money to put her through a prestigious private high school, she graduated top of her class, got a scholarship at NYU and moved to America when she turned 18. She missed her hometown and family like crazy, but it had always been a dream of hers to live abroad and New York had always been her top choice.

And, of course, New York's position on her dream list was due, in part, to her best friend. Inuyasha and Kagome had met in 4th grade and since then they had become inseparable. They attended the same high school and had been through a lot together. His parents' death from a plane crash when they were 15, her grandfather's death when they were 17, breakups, failed tests… They had always been a constant in each other's lives and, back in 10th grade, when he told her he was going to attend college in New York, they decided she would come too.

And so she did.

It hadn't been easy and Inuyasha had tried, in vain, to help her financially. His father had been the founder of a popular trading company and had amassed a huge amount of wealth. Since his heirs had only been Inuyasha and his older half-brother, the hanyou was, pretty much, set for life. He had always and would always live a very comfortable life and he wanted to do everything he could to include Kagome in that deal.

He had insisted on helping with her housing costs, even offering to share his apartment with her. But she refused and told him she didn't want to mix friendship with money. So, with her mom's help, she found a tiny apartment in Manhattan. In the beginning, though, she was forced to accept a loan, to pay for the first six months of rent. Of course she had to share the apartment with someone else, since living in the city was outrageously costly, and, fortunately, she met Sango, who was also attending NYU, on her first day in school.

Inuyasha had been pissed, telling her she could've lived with him and payed rent. She just told him she wouldn't be able to afford his rent and wouldn't accept to pay less than what it was supposed to be anyway. So he relented, knowing how stubborn she was.

Living with Sango was fun and she preferred it that way. Inuyasha had met a girl in the second year of college and they had been together since then. That wasn't enough reason to not be his roommate, but the fact was that Kagome didn't like his girlfriend. Kagome tried her best to be friends with Kikyo, but she failed. The girl was just too different from her. They would never click and, fortunately, Inuyasha was able to separate his love from his friends, even though everyone knew it wasn't the most pleasant thing for him. Kagome felt bad about not bonding with Kikyo.

Feeling her pocket vibrate, Kagome took out her phone and smiled. Inuyasha had just answered her message with a simple word: Alright.

He had never been good with words. But his actions spoke loudly. He was always super protective of Kagome and would do anything he could to be there for her. It amazed her, to see how much he did for her even though he had a needy girlfriend. He had never failed her.

When she found out, right before graduating college, that her boyfriend of two years had been cheating on her, she bawled her eyes out on his fancy shirt at the same time he was supposed to be at a celebratory dinner with Kikyo. He didn't even mentioned it to her. She found out the next day, when she ran into Kikyo and she thanked her for ruining her night.

That was Inuyasha. She could always count on him and she owed him a lot.

As Kagome approached Inuyasha's building, she remembered that night. How devastated she had been, how much it hurt… she hadn't had another serious relationship since her breakup with Kouga and that had been two years ago. She still believed in love, though now she had a really hard time trusting men. Well, men who weren't Inuyasha anyway.

She waved at Carl, the doorman, and went straight to the elevator. Reaching her destination's floor, she noticed the front door open and walked inside her best friend's penthouse. She immediately spotted him in the open-concept kitchen.

"Hey!"

Inuyasha was typing furiously on his phone, but put it down on the counter with a sigh and turned to the fridge, after smiling at Kagome. "Hey yourself. Want a drink?", he asked, taking a large gulp from his water bottle.

Kagome frowned and shook her head. "What happened?"

Inuyasha waved his hand at her in dismissal. "Keh, nothing important. Sesshoumaru is just pissing me off about some deal we are about to close on Monday. Don't worry."

Kagome nodded in understanding and located her friend's sweater on the couch. "Got it. Sucks being a big shot, but hey, it has its perks", she said smiling mischievously and gesturing to the room.

Inuyasha smirked. "It better. I wouldn't work as much as I do if it weren't for the 'perks'".

"Oh please, you don't have to work at all. You just do it because you love it. Admit it. You never wanted to work with your brother on your dad's company, I know, but things change, you changed, and here you are, working 60 hours a week just for the hell of it."

"Keh."

"Yeah yeah. So, where's Kikyo?" Kagome tried to deal with the whole Kikyo matter as nonchalantly as possible. She figured, if they can't act as friends, she could, at least, treat her as one in the presence of Inuyasha, to let him know she was okay with his relationship and that he could talk to her about his girlfriend if he wanted to. It wasn't pleasant, but it was the least she could do, she thought.

"Shopping with some friends, somewhere. I don't know", he said while grabbing his phone again and reading something. He mumbled something that sounded a lot like "Sesshoumaru's a bitch" and then put the phone down again, turning to her. "She's going to spend the night at Kaede's, so I was thinking maybe we could go to a dive bar, get pissed, play some pool… what do you think?"

Kagome smiled. "That sounds like a plan. I've been so stressed this week, I can't wait to get drunk and kick your ass in pool", she said. "Are we going to invite Miroku and Sango?"

"Yeah right. As if you could beat me at pool. That's happened ONCE, Kagome, once. Don't set yourself up for disappointment."

"Sure, Dog Boy. So, is the Power Couple joining us or what?"

"Yeah, text them, see if they have any plans."

Kagome nodded and took her phone out of her pocket to text Sango. "So, why is Kikyo spending the night with her sister again? She's been doing it a lot lately, right?"

"Yeah, her sister hurt her eye or something. She's been having trouble with her sight and Kikyo doesn't like leaving her alone at their place", Inuyasha said while opening a package of ramen.

Kagome nodded. "Poor Kaede… so young and already having serious health troubles. Oh, Sango answered my text!"

Inuyasha snorted. "How sympathetic of you."

Kagome glared at him. "She said they are going to Jersey to have dinner with Miroku's uncle. So that leaves just the two of us. What time shall we go?"

"I don't know, 7ish?"

"Hm, make it 8, I want to get my nails done first."

"Seriously? What, do you think you'll meet someone decent while playing pool in a dive bar?", he said mockingly.

"Are you saying you aren't decent?" Kagome asked with raised eyebrows.

He sighed. "Point made."

Inuyasha picked Kagome up at 8 sharp, insisting they take his driver, so that they could get wasted in peace, knowing they would get home safely. Even though she got her nails done, Kagome wore a simple jeans and t-shirt for the outing, along with a leather jacket and boots.

"Well hello, princess. Where's your gown?", he said when she got inside the car. He loved making fun of her, but even he couldn't deny she was beautiful. It wasn't something he let himself ponder over that often, but whenever they went out he found himself thinking what it would be like if they were actually going out on a date. And that thought never freaked him out at all, but it was something that he just pushed aside and carried on making fun of her.

"I don't know, where's my prince?"

"Ha."

They arrived at their favorite shitty bar and started to down some long awaited beers while chatting and playing pool. A little after midnight, they decided they had had enough fun and headed home. Arriving at Kagome's place, she insisted on him staying over, since Sango was supposed to spend the night with Miroku and there was no one waiting for him at home either, so, as it occasionally happened, Inuyasha borrowed Kagome and Sango's couch for the night.

The next morning, Kagome woke up with a slight headache and went to the kitchen to get some water and Advil. Inuyasha was sitting on the couch eating cereal from a bowl with no milk and looked at her disheveled self.

"Oh God, I forgot you were here." She said when she got to the living room/kitchen and spotted him.

"Good morning to you too, Sleeping Beauty." Inuyasha tried his best to not look at her outfit. He really did. It wasn't enough that he was only in his boxers and had a slight morning wood. She had to show up in a sexy short white teddy with lacy neckline, that accentuated her full breasts and showed a significant amount of leg. And that sexy bed hair. Oh God. Down, boy, please.

"Said the 26 year-old man eating Fruit Loops", she said while opening the cabinet to get the medicine.

"They're YOUR Fruit Loops, 26 year-old woman."

"Not mine, Sango's. Those things make me want to throw up."

"Drama queen", Inuyasha mumbled.

"What did you say?"

"Uh, just 'gorgeous queen'."

"Uh huh. So, any plans for today?", she asked, while downing her Advil with a glass of water.

"Not really. Kikyo just texted me saying she didn't get much sleep last night and told me she would call me later… so no, nothing planned."

"Want to hit the gym?" Kagome said.

"Seriously? You? The gym? On a Sunday?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah! I'm thinking about quitting my job and setting up a new Instagram account with fitness tips and stuff. You know, be a fitness influencer and all that."

They looked at each other and started laughing. "No, seriously though, I haven't been there in ages and could really use the motivation."

Inuyasha sighed. "Alright, if you want to, we can go. I'll go home, get changed and meet you there in half an hour?"

"Sounds good."

After working out, Kagome and Inuyasha went to the gym's bar to get a smoothie, even though Inuyasha declared he wouldn't get such a thing and was only there to keep her company, even though he caved and got a smoothie for himself, before ordering a second one.

"Fruit Loops and smoothies… wow, what a man."

He glared at her. "Shut up."

Kagome laughed and looked at the door's direction. She froze and became pale. "Inuyasha!", she said through her teeth. "Look who it is!"

Inuyasha turned around and spotted a familiar looking man going towards the cashier. He turned back to her and shrugged. "Yeah, it's Hojo. I've seen him around a few times."

"You never told me that!"

"Why would I? It's just Hojo."

Kagome gaped at him. "You know I had a crush on him in college, dimwit!" Just then she saw Hojo looking at her direction and smiling. She smiled back and he walked towards them.

"Kagome! It's so good to see you! Hey Inuyasha." Hojo said, hugging her.

Inuyasha turned around and nodded. "Yo."

Kagome glared at Inuyasha. "I haven't seen you since graduation. And I've never seen you around here, although I'm not usually around anyway…"

Hojo laughed. "I know, I asked Inuyasha about you once and he told me you rarely came here. I almost asked him for your phone number, but I thought maybe you guys were dating, so I didn't want to-"

"You what?!" Kagome shouted. "Er, sorry. But why would you think that? Inuyasha is still dating Kikyo", she said with a nervous laugh.

"Oh, I didn't know that. It's just that you two were always together, I used to think you'd end up together, but hey, good to know you're still with Kikyo, man." Hojo said, clapping the hanyou's back.

Inuyasha just stared at him.

Kagome cleared her throat. "So, what have you been doing, Hojo?"

"Oh, you know, working a lot. Nothing exciting."

Inuyasha snorted. Kagome glared and turned to Hojo again. "Yeah? You're still working at that law firm?"

"Yeah, the same one since graduation. How about you? I have to say, you look amazing, as always."

Kagome blushed. Inuyasha was beginning to feel ill. "Well, just working too, I found a job at a high school near my apartment, it's good, I like it."

Hojo beamed. "I'm sure you're a great teacher, you were always so passionate.

"Kagome, let's go, I got some work to do."

Kagome turned to Inuyasha. "You do? You said you didn't have plans for today?"

"Well yeah, but I forgot I have some papers to work on. So we should go. Now."

"That's a shame. I really wanted to catch up, Kagome. Maybe we can get together later this week?"

"You know what? Inuyasha, you can go ahead, I know you have a lot to do and I don't have any plans, so I'll just stick around for a while, talk to Hojo… I can get a taxi to go home later." Kagome looked at Hojo and shrugged. He gave her a large smile.

"That would be great!"

Inuyasha huffed. "Fine, suit yourself. I'll see you later then", he said and then did something he never did. He leaned over the table and kissed her cheek. "I'll call you later." They weren't affectionate with each other, not only because he had a girlfriend, but just because it wasn't their style. So Kagome was caught off guard and confused.

Kagome blushed and smiled. Inuyasha nodded at Hojo with a hard gaze and left.

Hojo took his seat and immediately started talking to Kagome, who smiled at him, giving her full attention.

Inuyasha stared at them from the door with a frown. He didn't even realise his claws had slightly lengthened and his golden eyes flicked red, before storming out of the building.