AN: Yep, I'm still going at it with a hacksaw!

Oh - and BTW - 'smocks' is the name my dad uses (he's a doctor) when talking about the makeshift top and bottoms that nurses and surgeons usually wear on top of their normal clothes for work (usually to keep off the blood splatters @_@). I don't know if this is the official word because my dad isn't really very formal about his work. Smocks are the plain coloured clothes, green for surgeons, blue for doctors, usually pink/red for nurses (?) I think.

And don't worry people - I'm not doing Romeo and Juliet tragedy in this. I'm just saying that the situation with the two families is like the Shakespeare play... but it won't turn out the same way............... or will it?

Only messing ! - on with the story!

















Rules of Acquisition

Who Are You Really?



















~Inuyasha~





Kagome was mad. I could so tell.

My main worry when I had seen her standing there was that she would see me dressed up like little red riding hood. But that fear dissipated the moment her eyes fixed on my name tag... and she knew my real name.

"Inuyasha Arashi..." she echoed my name. For some reason it sounded like poison in her mouth and she had a rather stupefied expression on her face.

I really should have checked the surname of the patient before I'd come in...

Then, who I assumed was her kid brother looked up at me and grinned. "Hey - you're that guy that's on all the front pages of the newspapers!"

"What?" Me and Kagome didn't tear our eyes away from each other. I wanted to know her real reaction to this... I couldn't take my eyes away... but I hated seeing the hurt she held.

"You know - at the ball." The little brother chided. "You two were dancing together and you both made front page in the press. I'm guessing that's because you're an Arashi, huh?"

He was a Higurashi too... but I guess he was too young to hold similar hate to the rest of his family for mine.

A whole new expression crossed Kagome's face. She looked like she'd been punched in the gut, very hard, and she gaped at me slightly with a look of betrayal. I had known all along... and I think the guilt was plain in my expression as well.

"Mom threw all the papers away for a reason then, I guess." The brother swung his good leg with a bored fashion. "Hello? I came to get my cast removed at some point today."

"Right..." I shook myself out of my stupor, as I saw Kagome do the same. She somehow attained a rather pensive and closed expression... but it showed me enough to let me know she was mad... extremely mad...

Her fists were clenched at her sides and her teeth were grinding together... but I think she was holding it all inside while her brother was still in our presence. I didn't look forward to the moment we would be alone again.

I had to really concentrate on not chopping the kids leg off with the little razor blade I was using to crack open the cast. My mind kept wondering off to Kagome, and every time I glanced up at her, she was watching me like a hawk... probably waiting for me to chop her little brother up deliberately, just because my last name was Arashi.

As if I was that petty.

When I was finally done, the kid stood up experimentally and turned in a circle. "Good as new?" I asked.

"Sort of... it feels funny..." he jumped a little before grinning. "I can walk! It's a miracle!"

"Why don't you go run around the hospital, Souta, and get into the swing of things again?" Kagome suddenly asked. "I'll wait for you here."

"Ok - toodles!" Souta darted off through the door.

Kagome slowly turned back to me... and I could really see for once how livid she really was. I gulped when she fixed me with the stoniest look imaginable.

God... she was so beautiful when she was angry...











~Kagome~





I still couldn't quite find the words to describe how I was feeling just then. But good variations of how I felt ran through my head.

Betrayed... Hurt... Duped... Fooled... Embarrassed... Angry... Weak... Like I wanted to cry... like I wanted to scream and hurt someone. I fixed my glare on Inuyasha and saw him gulp... I was glad... how DARE he think he could fool me and get away with it.

"I bet you think this is really funny, don't you?!" I hissed, my clenched fists trembling. "Let's mess with the little Higurashi's heart and then laugh behind her back!"

"Hey! It wasn't like you told me you were Higurashi to begin with either!" he shot back.

"Did I really need to?! It was obvious enough!" everyone who met me always reckoned I was Higurashi because of my looks... even total strangers who'd only ever seen my father and mother on TV.

"Yeah well - it was kinda obvious that I was Arashi!" Inuyasha tugged on one of the locks that hung forward, the rest had been tied back. "How can you miss this rat's nest?!"

"I'm a bit slow! So sue me!" I yelled. I'd never really taken being betrayed very well I guess. "But you KNEW! You KNEW I was Higurashi and you pulled me along on a string!"

"I didn't at first!" he yelled back. "Then Miroku told me - but I didn't want to give you up just because of who your dad is! I didn't tell you I was Arashi because THIS is exactly how I knew you would react!"

"You don't know me!" I stomped up to him and poked him in the chest with a finger. "I barely know you actually!"

"That wasn't what you were saying earlier-"

"I thought you were decent earlier!" I snapped. "But I guess you finally decided to show your true colours!"

"What true colours?!" he growled. "You hear the word Arashi and you blow up like a volcano! Jeez... your dad really brainwashed you didn't he?"

"Leave my father out of this!" he didn't know him, he had no right to speak ill of him. "This is between me and you!"

"Exactly - so why should anything else matter?" he glared heatedly at me. "Just because my dad's a git and your dad is a git and they both hate each other... that doesn't mean that I personally hate you too! I didn't even know you when I met you - how could I hate you and want to trick you?!"

He had an amazingly strong point. But my anger and pride were getting the better of me. I wanted to trust him and believe him... I DID trust and believe him... but the fact that he'd managed to fool me was a thorn in my side. It wasn't a matter of family names anymore.

"My family hates me because of you!" I hissed. "One dance with an Arashi and they all think I've turned traitor on them!"

"You think my family haven't done the same to me?!" Inuyasha growled. "They hate me enough as it is because my mother was human, they hate me even more because I'm a male nurse - a wussy profession - and this is the final straw on the camels back! They want my blood because I was seen talking with a Higurashi."

I struggled for words, but my anger was still there. "You should have told me! I didn't need to find out like this - you could have told me and I would have accepted it!"

"Are you accepting the fact that I'm an Arashi now?" he snapped. "I think not!"

"I am! I'm just angry that you confused me into thinking you were somebody else!"

We glared heatedly at each other f0r several seconds, somehow managing to work so close together that our breath practically mingled. Suddenly the sounds of the hospital working in the background faded and all I could actually focus on was his lips.

It was never supposed to happen this way. My first kiss was supposed to be sweet and tender in a dimly lit setting with candles and nice smells and Barry White music in the background. Here everything smelled of disinfectant, the candles were florescent light tubes that flickered annoying above our heads, and the Barry White music could have been the toddlers bawling their heads off down the hall in the children's' ward. And the kiss wasn't sweet - it was more like TAKE WHAT YOU CAN BEFORE SOMEBODY COMES!

It must have been that animal attraction that you hear so much about. Because it was instantaneous. One moment we were standing inches apart, yelling and arguing like two lions - and then the next there was scarcely an inch to spare between us... and well... I guess we were devouring each other... like lions...

Our control must have snapped at the exact same moment as we all but lunged at each other and our mouths fastened together. My hands went to twine behind his neck while his roamed up and down my back, pressing me closer, if that was at all possible. I had to swallow my moan as his mouth moved against mine, asking no permission when his tongue thrust forward. He was just lucky I responded in kind.

I thought I would just die from the sheer pleasure of being this close to him... being able to run my hands through his silky locks (that were fast coming loose from its tie). It was something entirely new and wonderful, I didn't want it to stop... but on some unconscious level I knew that it was going to have to. But even more importantly... I felt like I had just found my reason to be alive.

It felt so good to have his hands running over my arms, shoulder, back, and lodging in my hair to control the kiss more to his taste. I just let him do it because it felt good no matter what he did. I normally hated it when people invaded my personal space... I'd always get nervous if people got too close... but that didn't seem to matter with Inuyasha. He didn't make me nervous... no... he just made me angry.

The sheet intensity of what was happening was making me dizzy, and I grappled with his shoulders in an effort to feel more of him at once. It was so passionate and fast, but I knew that it had to be because we weren't going to get many chances to act like this...

I don't know what had made me act this way to begin with.

But we both jumped away like guilty little lions when Souta came in and coughed loudly. "Ew..."

My face flamed into heat and I suddenly bowed my head to become rather deeply involved in fiddling with the hem of my jacket. Inuyasha just stood there scratching his head and looking the other way.

Oh yeah... we were naturals at this.

"If it's not too much trouble, Kag, I wanna go home now." Souta pulled a disgusted look, though I knew he was forcing it because he looked like he was going to crack up with mirth at any moment.

"Er... ok..." I said dazedly, absently touching my lips to get the feeling back in them. I suddenly remembered something as I looked back at Inuyasha. "Don't think I'm not still mad at you - cause I am!"

"Yeah, sure you are Kagome." Souta smirked as I grabbed his hands and led him off down the corridor.

"Shut up." I hissed, flushing red again.

I think this was going to be the first in a long series of blushes.













~Inuyasha~





I was confused.

We'd kissed and she hadn't pulled away at all... she'd even moaned - I heard her! My ears were NOT playing tricks on me! So we'd kissed, she'd moaned, we'd jumped away and then she had the gall to say she was still mad at me?

What did she want from me?!

At first I was sorely tempted to go chase after her and try and persuade her to like me again with another kiss. And if that didn't work - third time's a charm. But then I realised that I hadn't finished my shift yet - though my hour break was coming up soon so I'd probably go see her then.

How would I know where she was? Well... let's just say I know more about her than she gives me credit for...

I wouldn't say that I was worried about going to see her... but I was distracted for the rest of the day, nearly screwing up a few dozen routine things and almost getting myself fired because my mind wasn't down on earth. Dad would be so proud of me.

But when my break finally came I dumped my uniform in my locker and all but bolted out of there in a mad dash to get to the library and back so I wouldn't be late for my second shift. Fortunately the district library wasn't far from the district hospital, and I was there in a matter of minutes. Though the library was a big place and it took me a while to actually find her.

When I did find her she was sat on the floor lost in the rows of book stacks. A person could probably sit back there all day and not meet anyone. I think that's what Kagome had in mind... and she did not look pleased when she saw me. "What did you do - follow me to work?!"

"Nah, I already knew you did book-keeping here." I shrugged and glanced down at the book she had been reading. "I came to ask why you're still mad at me."

"Ok then. Ask away."

"Why are you still mad at me?" I frowned. "I mean... it's not like I publicly humiliated you or anything-"

She interrupted me with a loud cough and pointed to the newspaper that was lying on the floor beside her. He peered down at it and cocked my head. The front page picture was of me and her... looking into each others eyes each with an expression I didn't like to name. It was too cheesy. But in a way it made me feel warm inside. She'd looked at me like I was all she saw... that was a nice feeling...

"'HigArashi'!" Kagome read the head line to me before tossing the paper at me. "Of course you didn't publicly humiliate me at all!"

"You're embarrassed by this?" I dropped it down to the ground again. She glanced at it briefly before blushing slightly and looking away.

"Not... not because of the picture... it's just that everyone thinks I'm some kind of slut..."

"Well everyone thinks I'm a slut too." I tried to even the deal.

She gave me a dry look. "But that's not necessarily a bad thing for a guy to say about himself. Higurashi and Arashi don't mix - everyone knows we hate each other - It's scandal to both our families but it's the kind of thing the media drool about."

I sighed, before getting an idea. I decided the bait her. "Well... if it's dynamite in our hands maybe we should just forget it. Let's never see each other again - and if we do we should fight and call each other names and stuff. The press will drop the story after a while thinking that we were just dancing for the pictures."

Kagome paled slightly, I could almost see the cogs turning in her head. "But... I don't want..." she lapsed into silence.

"Don't want what?" I pressed, crouching down beside her.

"To just end it..." she frowned to herself, like she was saying something she shouldn't. "It's so soon... why should we be forced to call it off just because of what people think."

I suddenly smiled. "That's what I've been trying to say, you stubborn girl."

"I guess..." she sighed. Obviously put out about everything, but at least she didn't seem so mad at me anymore.

I reached a hand out and squeezed her shoulder compassionately, earning a smile from her. That smile did funny things to my heart that I didn't like to think about. I told myself that that I was just being compassionate (not a word I use in my vocabulary a lot), that I was just trying to make her feel better... but I guess I was only finding an excuse to touch her, even as innocently as that, and bring out a sweet smile.

You give some you get some...

Wait... am I starting to sound like Miroku?

The moment was interrupted, of course, when a kid came bounding down the rows and started to climb the book stacks behind me. I rolled my eyes as I dropped my hand from her shoulder, but Kagome scowled with concern. "Hey, you shouldn't climb those things - it's not a climbing frame."

Either he didn't hear her or was ignoring her. But ultimately it began to sway dangerously and began to tip. Kagome was on her feet in an eye blink. "Hey - watch out!"

The boy yelled out as the stack began to fall - fall directly onto us as well. I reacted without thinking of the consequences, catching the boy in one hand by the scruff of his shirt as he fell, and catching the tend foot tall stack as it was about to do a good domino impression with the other stack beside us. The stack stopped short at a forty five degree angle, but all the books still fell out onto my head, not making me a particularly happy bunny.

I raised the kid to eye level and gave him evils. "You better run." I warned him and the moment I released him he went scampering off. To climb other book shelves I didn't really care.

It was then that I noticed that Kagome was staring at me with a look akin to horror on her face. I wondered what she was looking at until I realised that I was holding up two tones of bookcase metal and wood and lots of books on the shelves on the other side of the rack. Oops...

"Ooh... my arm..." I quickly faked, pretending to strain under the weight. "Better call the fire brigade!"

"You big faker!" she said in a high voice, "I thought you were a klutz!"

A stray book flopped off the shelf above me and dropped onto my head. "I am." I told her earnestly.

Kagome shook her head and pointed. "God... how strong are you...?"

"Um..." I slowly pushed the shelf back up to its normal upright position. "I'm not sure... tried to measure it once but I broke the machine..."

Kagome was looking a little faint, so I decided to start putting the books back without her help.

"Kagome?" a voice called from close by. "What was that noise?"

"Nothing!" Kagome called back quickly just as another girl who worked at the library came around the corner. She saw me, saw the mass destruction... my dishevelled appearance (and Kagome's) and blanched. Before we could say anything to her she ran off.

I wonder what was going through her head...

Kagome appeared by my side and began helping me stack the books away, her attention focused pointedly away from me. Just when I thought I'd upset her again and she was going to ignore me, she spoke.

"You're not what you seem... are you?" she said softly as she put the books back and redoing the ones I put back so they were in alphabetical order. "You're not clumsy at all..."

"And you're not as thick as I pegged you to be." I said, nodding at the way she somehow managed to work much faster than me at putting the books in order. Plus the book she'd been reading had been about physics of the brain... hm...

"I'd like to get to know you better..." Kagome said, not looking at me, but I could clearly see she was blushing all over again. "Then maybe you'll stop giving me surprises like this."

I couldn't express how happy I was to hear her say that. But I told myself to keep it cool...

"Sure. We can meet up any time you like." I offered.

"But we can't really do it in public... what if people see us?" she fretted, giving me a small frown.

"Then... you wear your wig and I'll wear my Clark Kent glasses." I smirked.

She smiled at that. "We'll think of something."

I smiled because she'd smiled, before I noticed the time and I groaned. "Man... I gotta get back to work."

I heard what sounded suspiciously like a snort and I gave her a suspicious look. "What?"

"It's just... I never really imagined you could be a male nurse..." she grinned. "I'm not saying it's a bad thing! It's just... an Arashi helping people is beyond my understanding."

"Yeah well... sometimes you have to at least try and repair some of the damage your family manages to inflict." I sighed and touched her cheek. "I'll see you around."

I got up and left quickly, feeling a lot happier than before. It wasn't often I got that kind of feeling after talking to someone. But Kagome wasn't just anybody...











~Kagome~





I thought my heart would fly out of my chest when he kept nonchalantly touching me shoulder... my cheek. Did he know what he made me feel?

He'd made me realise that being Higurashi and Arashi made no difference to him and it shouldn't have made a difference to me either. We just had to keep quiet about it and we'd be fine.

I'd never felt this way around anyone before... he was worth the trouble... and I was pretty sure that maybe what I was feeling was love. Since I'd first spoken to him I must have thought about him at least once every sixty seconds. It didn't feel like a silly crush - I'd had those - and this was definitely more powerful.

I felt safe saying I was in love. In my head at least. Maybe I wouldn't admit that out loud to anybody for a while. There was no one I could tell anyway, not Sango, not my family, not my other friends. The only person I could really tell would be Inuyasha himself... but I wasn't about to say anything until I got to know him better, or until I knew how he felt about me for sure.

I sighed happily... just before realising he'd left me in the middle of a battle zone, about to have to clear it up all by myself. Oh well... that didn't matter now...

I was in love.











AN: Yep - and there's still another chapter coming - so I won't be giving up on this one anymore.