AN: Sorry took so long. Hope you like the chapter.

CH: 4 Confused

Sango went to wake Kagome for another great day. 'I swear she has to learn to wake up easier. I know if someone were to come in and attack her she would get up in a second, but since somehow she can tell its me she gives me hell to get her up.' Sango sighed and went in the room to find Kagome buried under her blanket.

"Come on Kagome, time to get up." Sango began to shake the sleeping figure. After about ten minutes of yelling and poking, Sango finally got an idea. "Oh hey Sesshoumaru."

"What?!" Kagome bolted up holding the blankets to cover herself only to find no one else but the two of them in the room. She turned to Sango giving her an evil glare. "That was so wrong, Sango."

"Yeah, but it got you up. Now get dressed you have to go to dinner and you have another job to pull today."

"Yay." Kagome said lacking enthusiasm. She got dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a faded pink tank top. She combed out her hair and went down to breakfast.

"Morning." Kagome said cheerfully as she got downstairs. Tsuyosa and her father responded, but Inu Yasha and Sesshoumaru seemed to just make some type of grunting noise.

The meal went nicely, but a little quiet for Kagome's tastes. She was used to eating with Sango and talking throughout the meal with someone. When breakfast was over, Tsuyosa stood to exit. "I hope you have a good time with Sesshoumaru today, Kagome." He said as he left the room. Kagome's father gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and then left.

"So what are we doing today?" Kagome said and turned to Sesshoumaru.

"You'll see." He said and left the room. "I'll come get you when it's time to leave."

"I guess everyone feels friendly this morning." Kagome said under her breath.

"Well that's Sesshoumaru for you. Colder than ice." Inu Yasha responded.

"Hey you wanna do something till I have to go?" Kagome asked. She knew that Sango had things to do mornings.

Inu Yasha was surprised that she had asked him. "Ummm...sure."

"Really?" Kagome was surprised he had actually agreed. "How about a walk in the garden?" Inu Yasha nodded and they both went outside.

"I love the outdoors. How about you?" Kagome said trying to make conversation.

"It's okay I guess. We used to go on camping trip when I was younger." Inu Yasha said as he watched Kagome smell one of the various flowers around.

"You and your brother don't talk much do you?" Kagome liked to talk, but she wasn't used to carrying on entire conversations on her own.

"Sesshoumaru is just cold. He's been like that for a long time." Inu Yasha sighed. He was with a girl that he potentially liked, he did not want to be talking about his brother right now. But then a thought struck him. 'What if Kagome has a crush on Sesshoumaru?'

"He doesn't really seem cold, just said."

"Whatever, he's been a jerk to me most of my life." Inu Yasha sat down on the grass. He was a little surprised when Kagome sat next to him.

"Okay so you don't want to talk about family life. Fine. So what do you do in your free time?" Kagome asked.

'She can tell I don't want to talk about it.' "Usually hanging with Miroku, going to the movies sometimes, riding my bike. I only get free time during vacations like this. During the school year there's too much work and my father insists that we have to train a lot."

"Really? Me too. My dad makes me train all the time. But I think it's kind of fun. Sango's great sparring partner, though I think she's better than me." Kagome lay back on the grass watching the clouds roll by.

"So what do you like to do?" Inu Yasha found that the more he talked to her the more interesting Kagome became.

"Well, I like to go to the movies. Hanging out with friends is always fun. And you know of course being a girl I love to shop." Kagome said with a small laugh. "But mostly I just like curling up with a good book."

"Hey that one looks like a dragon." Kagome said pointing one of the clouds.

Inu Yasha turned his gaze up to the sky. "I don't see anything."

"Sure right there." Kagome pointed. "Look, there's the ears and over there is the tail."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sesshoumaru was up in the library looking out the window. He was surprised when he saw Kagome and Inu Yasha sitting down in the garden. He was suddenly incredibly jealous of his little brother, but it all melted away when he noticed how happy Kagome seemed to be pointing up at the clouds. 'How could anyone retain such a childlike nature in this kind of life?'

Sesshoumaru looked at the clock and decided they should leave if he wanted to get there on time. He took a short cut to the garden through the kitchen. A bunch of servants were running around doing a million different chores.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Sesshoumaru turned to see a small girl run up to him.

"Hello Rin." He said when the little girl hugged his leg. "Are you enjoying your break?"

"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama." Rin said cheerfully. "Rin is having a lot of fun helping aunty work, but Rin wanted to go greet the pretty lady that came to stay. Rin's aunty said that she would probably be mean to Rin like all the other ladies that came before. But Rin met Sango and she said that the pretty lady was really nice. Can Rin go meet her?"

Sesshoumaru never ceased to be amazed at how the girl was able to talk so much. Rin was the niece of one of the servants and lived with them since her parents had passed away. Everyone was surprised how she had taken to him and he in turn was surprised when he found himself enjoying the small girl's enthusiasm for life.

"Hai Rin, I was going to meet her."

"Yay!" Rin followed Sesshoumaru outside.

Kagome looked up when she heard someone approaching and saw Sesshoumaru with a little girl. "We should be leaving." Sesshoumaru said. Rin looked up at him as if asking permission. When he nodded she ran over Kagome.

"Hi, I'm Rin. Rin thinks you're pretty. What's your name?" Kagome thought the little girl was absolutely adorable.

"Hi Rin. I'm Kagome. Do you live here too?"

"Hai. Rin lives with her aunty that's a servant in the kitchen. Rin thinks Kagome-sama is really nice."

Kagome blushed when she heard the girl add the title to her name. She never got use to people calling her that. "You can just call me Kagome, Rin-chan."

"Will Kagome come play with Rin today?"

"Sure, we can go do something when I get back, but I have to go do something with Sesshoumaru now." Kagome stated.

"Okay. We can go play and pick flowers when you get back." Kagome nodded. "Can Sesshoumaru-sama come play too?" Rin asked turning back to her tall adopted father figure.

"We'll see Rin." Rin smiled and ran back to the kitchen.

"Well, I'll see you later Inu Yasha." Kagome said turning back to the boy sitting next to her.

"Yeah sure." Inu Yasha said making no room to stand.

Kagome got up and left with Sesshoumaru. They walked to the garage and got into his silver porsche. Kagome had blushed when Sesshoumaru had opened the door for her. "So what are we doing today?"

"Have to go make sure some people know there place." Was all he said.

When the car came to a stop, Kagome looked out the window to see a two story house. The people who lived there seemed fairly rich. Not as rich as the Taisho family, but probably as rich as hers. She got out of the car, and got the feeling that she should be on her guard.

Kagome followed Sesshoumaru to the door where a servant let them in. "Well, well, what do we have here?"

Kagome turned to see a guy who looked the same age as Sesshoumaru with long black hair tied back in a braid.

"You've been over stepping your boundaries Hiten."

"I have no clue what you're talking about Sesshoumaru." The boy responded. Another boy came up behind him. "Do you know what he's speaking about little brother?"

Another boy came up behind Hiten. Kagome noted that he was sort of ugly and looked way older than he should have if he was Hiten's younger brother.

"I'm speaking about you selling some merchandise to some grade school kids."

"Look the kids had enough money to pay for it and they wanted it so back off!"

"Quiet Manten." Hiten said never taking his eyes of Sesshoumaru. "The kids tracked us down. They wanted the stuff so we supplied them with it."

"First off you should be harder to track. A bunch of kids shouldn't be able to find you. And that is not how we operate."

Hiten was about to respond when a small kid ran in. Kagome recognized him as being the one that let them in. "There are more people at the door for you."

"I thought I told you, you were to refer to me as Hiten-sama." Hiten kicked the little kid and he fell in front of Kagome. "How could you possibly expect to repay your family's debt to me if you can't even remember a few details?"

Kagome crouched down and helped him up. "Are you okay?" He nodded. "I'm Kagome, who are you?"

"I'm Shippou." He said as he pulled himself off the floor with Kagome's help.

"How dare you do something like that to a little kid?!" Kagome yelled at Hiten.

Hiten was not known for his great self-control and raised his hand to slap Kagome, but it was caught. "I would not do that if I were you." Hiten turned to see it was Sesshoumaru who held his wrist. And with a swing of Sesshoumaru's arm he tossed Hiten to the ground.

"Don't tell me the great Sesshoumaru has actually fallen for a girl." Hiten chuckled.

"She is under the protection of my family and if you would like to remain there you will know your place."

"You have no right to speak to my brother like that." Manten ran forward trying to strike Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru easily dodged and sent Manten flying back with a punch to the stomach.

"No one picks on my brother." Hiten said softly. He charged at Sesshoumaru, but in a last move effort grabbed Kagome instead. Sesshoumaru paused when he saw this.

'I can't let Kagome get hurt.' He thought, but there wasn't much he could do.

"Now what are you going to do Sesshoumaru?" But before Sesshoumaru could respond, Kagome stomped on Hiten's foot and and flipped him over her shoulder.

"Jerk." Kagome said and grabbed Shippou and walked out. Sesshoumaru could barely hide the smirk that came to his face.

When Kagome was gone, Sesshoumaru crouched next to Hiten and pulled out his gun from his side holster. He pointed it at Hiten. "Don't make me have to come here again, got it?" He replaced his gun in the holster after Hiten nodded and then left.

Sesshoumaru walked up to Kagome who was standing next to the car with Shippou in her arms. "Ummm...Sesshoumaru do you think we could take Shippou with us?"

Sesshoumaru thought about it. He knew those two were treating the kid pretty badly and Sesshoumaru had always had a soft spot for kid although he would never let anyone know about it. "I guess Rin could use a play mate." He said and opened her door for her.

"Does that mean I can come?" Shippou asked Kagome hopefully.

"Yep. Don't worry Shippou those jerks won't lay a hand on you anymore." Shippou hugged Kagome tight and fell asleep during the drive back.

"Thanks Sesshoumaru." Kagome said referring to Shippou. Sesshoumaru didn't respond, but held back a smile. Kagome thought about how fluidly Sesshoumaru had moved and how strong he must be. 'There's no way I could ever fight like that.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Inu Yasha, you've got to stop pacing around." Miroku told his friend.

"How can I calm down and stop pacing when I know she's off with that jerk?" Inu Yasha stated. He kept glancing out the window waiting for them to come back.

"Awww...so you admit that you want Kagome-sama for yourself?"

"Oh, shut up Miroku." Inu Yasha then saw the Porsche pull in and went downstairs. He was almost at the end of the staircase when the door opened.

"Hey Inu Yasha." Kagome said as she walked in with a now awake Shippou behind her.

"Who's the kid?"

"Oh this is Shippou. Those jerks Hiten and Manten were treating him badly so I brought him back here. Ummm...Sesshoumaru said it was alright, is it okay?"

"Yeah I guess so." Inu Yasha said. He gave Sesshoumaru a bad look as he stood behind Kagome.

"Kagome!" Rin came running into the room and hugged her leg. "Kagome, Rin's aunty said that she needs help today so Rin can't play." Rin said with a sad face.

"That's okay Rin, we can play tomorrow." Kagome said.

"Okay!" Rin cheered. "Ooh, who are you? I'm Rin." The small girl said turning to Shippou.

"Umm...I'm Shippou." He said shyly.

"Hey Shippou, why don't you keep Rin company today?" Kagome suggested.

"Okay." He said and then got dragged off by a hyper girl.

Sesshoumaru walked pass everyone and went up the stairs. "Hey Sesshoumaru!" Kagome called and he turned around. "Thanks for an interesting day." Sesshoumaru just nodded and walked away. 'That guy needs to learn to lighten up.'

"Hey Kagome, since you're not busy now, I was wondering if you wanted to go to a movie or something." Inu Yasha said keeping his eyes averted.

'Wow, is he actually wanting to spend time with me?' "Sure. Hey we could go eat lunch too." Inu Yasha nodded and they went to the door. But as soon as Inu Yasha opened the door he met with an unwanted visitor.

"What are you doing here?" Inu Yasha said.

"I came to ask out Kagome." Kagome looked around Inu Yasha to see Kouga standing outside.

"Umm...actually I was going to the movies with Inu Yasha right now." Kagome said.

"Hey Kagome, when did you get back?" Kagome turned to see Sango behind her. "Who's at the door?"

"Hey Sango. This is Kouga. I was just about to go to the movies with Inu Yasha when he stopped by." None of the guys would have been able to tell, but Sango knew her cue and though she probably wouldn't enjoy it she was Kagome's friend.

"Hey Kouga, I'm Sango and friend of Kagome's. It's so nice to meet you." Sango began to distract Kouga while Inu Yasha and Kagome walked pass them and to Inu Yasha's car. Unfortunately Kouga had a bit of a one track mind when it came to Kagome.

Kouga went over to Kagome and held her hand. "Surely you'd rather go with me than dog breath."

"Umm...actually." Kagome looked at Sango for help.

Sango sighed. 'Kagome is so going to owe me for this.' "I haven't been out of the house the entire day. I would love to go to the movies with you Kouga."

Kagome gave Sango a thankful look. Kouga seemed to think for a bit. 'If I go to the movies with Sango than I can keep an eye on Kagome and Inu Yasha.' "Okay Sango, I'll take you."

Upon Inu Yasha's insistence they went to the movies in separate cars. "Oh man am I going to owe Sango." Kagome said. Inu Yasha just nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay so what should we see?" Kagome asked as they stood outside.

"You pick." Inu Yasha said. But then winced when he saw Kagome point to some romance flick. He bought their tickets and went inside.

"Hey Kouga let's see this movie." Sango pointed to some action movie.

"But Kagome's going to that one."

"Who wants to see a romance movie?" Sango said. Kouga agreed after he decided that he could just catch up to Kagome and Inu Yasha after the movie finished. Unfortunately for him Sango had chosen a movie that ended after Kagome's choice so that Kagome would have a chance to get away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kagome and Inu Yasha walked back into the house tired. It was already night. Kagome went up to her room to find Sango already there. "Hey, how was your day?" Kagome asked prepared for the worse.

"Not as bad as you would think." Sango answered. "Kouga's not actually that bad of a guy once you get to know him. How was your date with Inu Yasha?"

"It wasn't a date. Was it? Anyways, it was fun. The movie was good even though he said it was horrible. Typical guy. Then we went to lunch. Hung out at the mall most of the day ate dinner and came back."

"I got back after lunch, but it was fun. I actually had fin talking with Kouga. I learned all about how he has this girl name Ayame chasing after him just like he was acting with you. But I pretty much explained to him how girls don't go for that. So I guess Inu Yasha is your choice for the night huh?"

"I guess so. I mean doing the job with Sesshoumaru was interesting, but hanging out with Inu Yasha on a casual level was really nice. So yeah, I guess he is."

"Cool I guess this adds a little spice to your life huh. You don't need anything tomorrow right. I kind of have plans."

"Oh really like what?" Kagome asked curiously.

"Umm...I'm going bike riding with Kouga." Sango said under her breath and ran out the door before she had to explain.

"What?!" Kagome yelled after Sango retreated. Then she just smiled. 'Well it's about time.' Kagome lay down on her bed and went to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'I can't believe she went out with Inu Yasha. Why do I really care? I can't possibly really be falling for this girl. Can I?' Sesshoumaru couldn't get to sleep. 'Why did she have to be so friendly, and caring, and...I can't believe I'm thinking this.'

'Do I really want her? I know she's not acting or else she wouldn't act nice when no one is around and she wouldn't be friends with her servant. I've never met a girl like her before.' Sesshoumaru had Kagome on the brain and he was getting extremely frustrated, because he didn't want to give away the fact that he liked her, but he wasn't about to let Inu Yasha have her by default. 'Maybe I could just be nice to her and stay the same way around everyone else.' It was the closest he had come to an answer so far. One thing for sure was that he wasn't going to get much sleep tonight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry it took so long, but it's a long chapter so I hope that makes up for it. And as always I love getting reviews so please review. Onegai.

Review Responses:

Me...: yes Kikyou will make an appearance as will Naraku

Free: oohh a cookie. Oohh a Sesshy plushie. *hugs plushie*

Lil-strange-person: Yay marshmallows

Wandering Soul: I agree Sess is hot and...polite (sometimes), but always hot

Thanks to everyone else that reviewed. Hugs and candies to all of you. ^_^

~*Shichan