Disclaimer: If in the middle of the night a bunch of lawyers still suffering from jet lag, hired by the genius Rumiko Takahashi herself, knocked on my door, then upon me opening it, (if they weren't scared off by my appearance at three in the morning) said that I was being sued for using the Inuyasha characters in my fanfiction, my reaction would be.......lets just say "surprised" won't cover half of it...

I think I'm starting to see why fanfiction authors absolutely adore their readers and why some beg for reviews at the end of a chapter. The feeling after you read someone's positive input on your own miserable, hardly acceptable for human eyes writing....I can only say that those who met me afterwards were scared away by my hugs of joy.

And once again, thanks to Aylinn-chan for reading this over before I posted =]


Chapter Two

For the first few minutes after Miroku had decided to take his seat next to her, Sango had to endure the jealous glares sent her way by the female populace in the classroom. However, that wasn't the biggest annoyance, since halfway through the class, even the most dogged girls had stopped and turned forward in their seats, at least pretending to take in Kaede's lecture.

Nope, it wasn't the girls in her class that bothered her, it was Miroku. For some unknown reason, he was staring at her.

As far as she was concerned, there was nothing about her that was particularly interesting or special to stare at. Whenever she glanced at him, he would quickly advert his gaze and stare at something else as if it were the most mesmerizing thing in the world. Go figure.

'Compared to all those flirty waves and winks from the other girls, you'd think he would stare at them instead of some tomboy trying to take notes.' Sango wanted to ask him why in the world he was staring at her. Either that or smack that playboy's head and make him stare at someone else for a change.

Maybe she had sprouted horns or something. 'Oh right, and for some reason he's the only person who can see them

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him with his gaze fixed on her face again.

Sango gritted her teeth. She had a fairly good temper, but when her anger was aroused, it often took her a fair amount of self control to keep it down.

And this Miroku hadn't even so much as spoken to Sango and he was already annoying her. How girls were attracted to him was beyond her understanding.

She could still feel his eyes on her when.....

"Class dismissed."

Sango had never been happier to hear those words. She placed her notebook and pencil back inside her backpack and left the classroom as fast as it was humanly possible without actually running off like a crazed person.

She breathed a sigh of relief outside of the classroom. A quick glance back told her that Miroku had been surrounded by admiring girls and was in no position to even think about approaching her. Good.

Proceeding down the hallway in a leisurely walk, Sango headed for the cafeteria for a quick lunch before going to her next class.

After standing in a rather long line, Sango took her tray of food outside and sat down at one of the small tables in front of the cafeteria.

Since she had been distracted during class, she then decided to fix her notes as well as she could while eating. At least she had partially listened to Kaede's lecture.

Upon opening her notes, Sango gave a small gasp of horror. She had written only two bullet points' worth of notes for a two hour long lecture.

Damn it. How could she have let herself become distracted? Sango mentally berated herself for being so stupid.

Then she noticed what was on the page before. It was a sketch of her brother she had done a bit before Kaede had arrived. He had a small smile on his face...he was playing with only a half drawn Kiara. After the two siblings had been sent to a foster home, the small cat had to be given away.

Sango felt the tears well up in her eyes again. She hated her past, but she needed to remember it....or else...she would never be able to concentrate on her goals...nor would she be able to get her brother back if her concentration ever wavered.

But she could never become an artist.

She couldn't remember the last time she'd cried, but right now, she was coming dangerously close to doing so.

Then.

'Oh no.' Sango realized who had just sat down at a table next from hers. It was that Miroku again. He had followed her!

He could have just eaten lunch inside, but no, that dolt was now sitting near her. Tears forgotten, Sango felt for the second time that day, anger well up inside of her. The idiot was still staring at her with that thoughtful look on his face.

Sango tapped her pencil on the table irritably. He kept staring.

*tap tap* *stare stare*

*tap* *stare*

*taptptp* *stare*

She couldn't take it anymore.

Closing her eyes and opening them again, Sango calmed herself enough to speak without adding on a few bits of colorful vocabulary to better describe her annoyance. "Is there something you need, Akusou-sama?"

She had caught his surname from the short greeting he had given the class before trying to get a seat. Adding the honorific with a substantial amount of sarcasm suited her mood nicely.

Miroku seemed to have been caught off guard by her overly formal use of his name, but quickly regained his composure. "I was only admiring how captivating you look today Miss...ah.."

Sango ignored his obvious request for her name. "If you don't mind, I would like to finish fixing my notes in peace." The idiot stares at her in class, follows her, stalking even, and then sits next to her. Now he dares to compliment her? The nerve of that...

"Would you like to borrow mine?"

As much as she wanted to take those notes and smash them into that conceited face of his ...Sango looked back down at her nearly empty paper. I suppose I don't have much of a choice..

"Please."

__________________________

It was one of those rare times that Miroku was surprised. Of course it had everything to do with the beautiful young woman in front of him. Usually if he had spent the same amount of time around another person of the female gender, she would have been all over him.

And he still didn't even know this one's name. She brushed her bangs out of her face a bit with a free hand while the other wrote notes in neat, but quick movements with a pencil. He got the feeling she was rushing her writing so that she could get away from him as fast as possible.

Well, that was a first.

"Thank you."

Miroku found himself staring at the slim hand that was currently holding his notebook. His hand brushed against hers for a moment as he took the notebook back. The touch made him want to grab her hand and hold it, as crazy as that sounded. Miroku glanced up at her. The clothes she wore seemed to purposely hide any femininity, but her face told another story.

"My pleasure. " He gave her a charming smile. Once again, she seemed unperturbed by any of his subtle hints at flattery, and looked down at her nearly untouched tray of food. With a sigh, she began to eat.

Again the distinct feeling that she wanted to leave a soon as possible. Miroku sat back down at the table next to hers, and went back to typing on his laptop, glancing at her downbent face once in a while.

Damn this is awkward.

She looked up again, and there seemed to be anger simmering underneath the misleadingly calm expression on her face. "Is there a reason you've been staring at me?"

Well it's only because of your eyes. Even though you try to hide it, I can still see the underlying pain. Why are they so sad? I really would like to know, because I think I can understand. Is it because you have an unspeakable past that haunts you constantly so that you can't truly every care for another person...just like me?

"Have we...have we met somewhere before?"

"Eh?" Sango looked at him confused, then her lips quirked wryly. "I highly doubt it. ...it would seem unlikely that someone of your high social standing"-Miroku grimaced-"would have ever associated with someone like me"

"And what is someone like you?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "That, is none of your business."

Great. She was starting to get angry again. For probably the first time in his life, Miroku wasn't able to have a pleasant conversation with a woman.

A few moments later, Sango stood up and threw away the remains of her lunch in the trashcan next to Miroku's table. Then a wrapper she was holding fell onto the ground.

Sango bent down to pick up the fallen piece of trash...

Miroku happened to be sitting very close to where she was....very, very close.

Everyone has a limit.

Miroku was fast reaching his own.

The wrapper escaped her hand and she reached down again, bending over completely....

She was just asking for this.

Sango then felt a hand on a part of her body that it had no right to be on.

She snapped.

Nothing could have prepared Miroku for the slap that followed. The crack of hand against flesh resounded loudly against their quiet surroundings.

"How dare you!" She shrieked, not caring about the fact that her blood pressure was probably dangerously high. The only thing Sango was feeling at the moment was an incomparable rage at the cringing playboy in front of her. "If you so much as dare to show your egotistical, perverted face in front of me again, I will personally make you regret it!"

And with that, Sango left, her backpack slung over one shoulder, leaving a very shocked Miroku behind.

__________________________

The day had been unbearably long, not to mention uncomfortable, for Kagome. Her first class had consisted of Inuyasha surrounded by flirtatious girls during break, who he had no success in driving away. Well, not until Kagome, who had felt some pity for him, had told all of his admirers to leave him alone, in a rather threatening manner. She had plenty of practice in death glares, what with a younger brother at home.

It had given them some peace and quiet, but also suggested the wrong idea about Kagome and Inuyasha's relationship, which was the last thing she wanted. It was already hard enough for her to talk to Inuyasha as it was, and the guilt that welled up inside of her only increased when Inuyasha made a point of ignoring her attempts at conversation.

For the fifth time, Kagome tried to talk to him. "Inuyasha..."

He kept staring ahead with a blank expression on his face. Kagome did a very good impression of an "Inuyasha scowl". "Dog-boy look at me when I'm talking to you!!"

That got his attention.

"What the hell?! Don't call me that!" Inuyasha snapped glaring at her. Well at least he wasn't ignoring her anymore.

"Would it hurt you that much to show some manners?"

"No, but it did when you left." He said shortly.

That shut her up.

Inuyasha stared at her hard. Then sigh irritably, "Don't give me that guilty look."

Kagome turned her head forward, facing the courtyard full of people. Glancing at Inuyasha out of the corner of her eye, Kagome knew they had to talk. Granted it was something she certainly didn't want to do....but.. the hurt Inuyasha tried so hard to hide every time he looked at her was slowly gnawing away at her conscience, making it difficult for her to concentrate on anything else.

Trying to ignore her own selfish reasons for not broaching the subject of their break up right now, Kagome looked around at the campus full of people surrounding the two of them.

"Inuyasha...can you meet up with me later after classes?"

He grunted.

Ok then..I'll take that as a yes... "I need to talk to Sango first, so can we meet in front of the entrance after your last class in the afternoon?"

Another grunt.

"...Ok then.. its a d-" Kagome stopped, looking almost frightened for a moment then cleared her throat finishing rather lamely.... "I mean uh... I'll see you then. I-I'm going to go now... break is almost over.."

She stumbled through her words before hurrying off towards the building, her hair fanning out behind her as she went.

__________________________

Inuyasha watched her leave, wishing that she would slow down. Not run away so fast.

It reminded him too much of...that time. Two years...

he thought it would have been easy to forget by now.

Damn it.

It's a d-

It's a date.

It's adate.

date

It would be too much to pretend nothing had changed. That their relationship hadn't changed. Inuyasha grimaced. She couldn't even say it.

Its a date.

"It's a...da--"

He licked his bottom lip, sighed once, and leaned his head back, looking up at the sky with a humorless smile. So maybe she wasn't the only one who couldn't.

===========Flashback===========

Inuyasha had never been more nervous in his entire life. It didn't help that Kagome looked so nice...the candlelight gave her face an almost ethereal look...

He swallowed. This whole confession was going to be a lot harder than he thought. He was only half listening to Kagome's talking, and had barely eaten any of the food, even though the restaurant was one of the best in town.

He was too nervous too eat.

That really said a lot about just how nervous he was. Inuyasha even admitted to himself that his appetite in a normal situation was....considerably larger than that of most people.

Heh.

But that thought only made him remember just why he was so nervous in the first place. He wasn't quite normal. Well not quite him necessarily. It was more of the fact what his family did for a living. What he certainly wasn't going to do for a living.

But, he wanted Kagome to know. He wanted her to know everything about him.

Because she was special.

"Inuyasha?"

"Eh?"

"You've been really quiet you know." Kagome's expression showed concern. "Are you feeling ok?"

He signed. Now or never. "Kagome..."

She knew something was up.

"Kagome. I want you to know that I care about you. A lot." He was embarrassed, and it showed by the telltale blush on his face, but Inuyasha was almost beyond caring now. This was important, damn it.

The fact that Kagome was also blushing with a soft smile on her face...

That helped too.

"And, I care too much about you Kagome, to keep something hidden from you." Here he took a deep breath.

She looked at him, curious.

"Well...all those times I had to leave unexplained....or if I couldn't come to school...it was because of Sesshumaru's shipments coming in. I would usually have to assist in the management of the unloading of imports. And get rid of people who saw the imports and weren't suppose to."

Kagome stared at him, not quite comprehending his words. "What do you mean...?"

"Our family runs an illegal black market syndicate." Inuyasha said bluntly.

Her mouth opened slightly, eyes widening in disbelief...then her face showed anger...betrayal...

"You're joking...."

He looked at her...his eyes pleading with hers....please...please understand "The reason I'm going to study abroad is.... because Sesshumaru doesn't want me to be influenced by the family job."

"Inuyasha..." Kagome was still trying to digest the information.

He winced.

"You lied to me."

There was a pain in his chest that the hardest of blows couldn't have compared with...

Kagome hated him.

"How could you...a syndicate....the black market...Inuyasha..." Her eyes blurred from unshed tears.

The pain in his chest increased.

Kagome...."Damn it. I wasn't planning on going into the syndicate after coming back from studying...I wanted to leave the whole thing behind...sever binds with my family....I wanted to change...after I met you."

"How do I know that isn't some other lie you made." Her voice was so unlike the Kagome he knew.

"Kagome, its not- I swear- its not-"

"Inuyasha...I..I need to go." She stood up clumsily, grabbing her purse.

"Kagome-" He half stood up reaching out to her-

She turned around and ran.

Ran away.

From him.

=========End Flashback========

Kagome waited for Sango in front of the still closed door to her friend's last class, fiddling restlessly with the hem of her skirt.

"Kagome?"

She looked up and smiled at Sango, "Hey, sorry for running off in the morning."

"Oh, That's ok..."

Was it just her or did Sango voice seem oddly strained?

"You ok?"

"...Mmm..."

"Sango?"

"Eh?" Her friend snapped back into attention, blinking at the younger girl.

"Sango! Stop thinking about the case! Really, you can't change whets happened already-"

"No. That's not it..." Sango's voice was stiff and she gripped the textbook in her hand a little harder than necessary.

"It's not..?" Kagome eyed the young woman in front of her skeptically.

Sango's expression darkened. "I wish it was."

Being her best friend, Kagome knew better than to pry. Sango wasn't the type of person to tell you something just because you asked.

If you got down on your knees and begged...

she might consider.

Kagome didn't feel like groveling at the moment. Her curiosity would have to wait.

Well, now would be a good time to tell what was on her mind. At least it would distract Sango from whatever it was that was bothering her....

Kagome sighed.

"Something on your mind?" What are best friends for besides reading your thoughts?

"You could say that."

"I'm guessing it has to do with you running of in the morning?"

"Yeah..."

Kagome gave another sigh, scrunched up her face in concentration as if to rally all her thoughts together, and relaxed her expression again, before speaking. "Inuyasha came back."

Sango raised an eyebrow. "When did this happen?"

"Two days ago."

"Two?" Both eyebrows were raised.

"Yeah...but...uh...in the light of current events...I declined from mentioning it." The class she just had was English...but you knew that right?

Sango's eyebrows were now in danger of disappearing off the face of her....face...

So much for intellectual phrasing of words.

"Well it was right when we found out the verdict, so I figured the news could wait till later. Anyways now you know that he's back... Speaking of the devil, I have to go meet up with him in front of the school." Kagome gave her watch a quick glance before looking up again with a wry smile.

Sango's eyebrows that had just come back from the trip up her forehead were in danger of leaving once again as she commented, "I thought you broke up with him after you found out about... his family."

"I did. We aren't back together or anything." Kagome said stiffly.

"Ah. Ok."

Was that skepticism she heard in Sango's voice?

Well she was just going to have to fix that..

Time for all out indignant ranting. "Sango! you know perfectly well on what terms we broke up. It was not fun for me to find out my boyfriend of nearly three years was keeping such a huge secret from me. I swear when I found out about it, I went through hell! Twice! Maybe even three times! How we are ever going to go back to our original relationship is beyond my comprehen-"

Sango smiled good naturedly. "Any thoughts I've ever had about you two getting back together have abandoned my mind. Feel inclined to maybe not chop my head off now?"

Damn. Sango knew her too well.

With a few grumbles, Kagome consented "Fine then. Be the suspicious person that you are. I, on the other hand, am going to leave." She punctuated her words with an air of superiority that made Sango's smile widen.

"Oh of course you wouldn't want to be late." She gave Kagome an altogether very un-Sango-like wink.

"You know that's not what...."Kagome paused then continued with a huff. "Well at least Inuyasha isn't...isn't" -she scanned the hallway as if to find a witty way to end the sentence there-"Miroku!" She ended triumphantly.

Sango's expression darkened considerably at that. "Oh I quite agree." The venom that poured forth from that sentence made Kagome start. When Sango was angry...things got scary....things also got thrown. or demolished. The extent of damage was usually directly proportional to how much rage she was in.

Kagome sighed.

Yeah she'd had a physics class that morning too.

__________________________

He had already been waiting for fifteen minutes or so at the front entrance, arms crossed, with an annoyed expression on his face (due to excessive giggles and whispers about him from college girls passing by periodically), before seeing Kagome run into view.

Inuyasha allowed himself a brief smile of relief, before scowling. "Damn it, is being late some kinda habit for you?"

"Ahh, sorry, sorry Inuyasha! I was talking to Sango and forgot about the time."

The smile on her face had him forgiving her soon enough. That happened very often, he mused as they walked out of the campus and then down the street.

Kagome had insisted they walk. And ten minutes later...."Why am I here again?"

"I work here, don't make fun of it." Kagome said in a mock hurt voice. The two of them were currently sitting at a small booth inside a cafe.

"Whatever."

They sat in a rather uncomfortable silence. Inuyasha tried not to make it too obvious that he was watching her stir her drink with her straw... then take a sip from it...all the while her eyes downcast..

There was an almost tangible sense of tension in the air around them. He wondered if Kagome was still angry with him, still hurting from his confession. It pained him to remember that day when he'd finally mustered the courage to tell her...and then only to feel her cold rejection after.

Two years was a long time. Perhaps not long enough.

But Inuyasha didn't blame her. He had almost expected her to leave him after he told. He had originally wanted to keep it from her, but after so many unexplainable disappearances, Kagome had started to become suspicious. And he hated lying to her about where he'd been. The last thing he had wanted was for her to think he was two-timing her.

So he had confessed everything about Sesshumaru's syndicate. And his involvement in it.

A pain in his chest was re-invoked every time he thought about it.

He shouldn't have kept it from her so long.

Kagome.

She would probably never forgive him.

He looked up abruptly and it seemed simultaneously she had done so as well. They locked eyes for the briefest moment, then both blurted out-

"I'm sorry." At the same time.

It broke the tension quite nicely. Kagome gave a short breathless laugh, a rush of relief enveloping her voice.

Inuyasha looked at her curiously. "Why are you sorry?"

She quieted and sighed before speaking hesitantly, "I...I'm-I don't know. Well, I do know. It's because of, you know. Before. I mean. sigh After you...told me everything, the next day, at the airport, I..." Kagome looked up at him and swallowed once before continuing softly. "I shouldn't have been so blunt about breaking up. It must have been hard for you to confess....and I didn't even stop to consider your position..."

Inuyasha stared at her hard for a moment. "You shouldn't be sorry. Kagome, you had every right to say what you did before I left, you know."

"So. What about you?"

"You should know." He grimaced. "I shouldn't have kept anything from you. At least I should have told you about...you know. My family. Even if there was the chance that you would break it off with me. I still shouldn't have lied all those times, and, I know it's pretty much pointless, but I wish I could take it all back. I know I can't, but I do want you to know that I regret it."

"Inuyasha, we can't ever go back to where we were." Kagome said softly.

"I know."

"Can we still be friends?"

What a cliche question. Inuyasha felt a clench on his heart.

Can we still be friends.

Can we?

He still remembered what Kagome was to him. He still remembered all those times they had shared. He hated himself for being so nostalgic. But....

Can we still be friends?

"Yes." The word felt like a boulder weighing him down.

Kagome smiled. "I'm glad."

When he left, she was walking towards the back of the cafe to get ready for the afternoon shift.

At least this time she wasn't running away from him.

__________________________

After several rings, Inuyasha got up grudgingly to answer the phone.

"Hello?" A female voice spoke.

"Wrong number." Inuyasha snapped into the phone, not caring who it was. The caller had woken him up. Therefore he would ignore them. After slamming the receiver down, he promptly fell back onto his bed and pulled the covers up.

*ring*

Damn.

*ring*

There was no way he would pick-

*ring*

No way in-

*ring*

He gave up. "What the hell do you want?!"

"Good morning to you too."

We're just friends. "Damn it, Kagome you better have a good reason for waking me up-"

"At noon? On a Saturday?"

Just friends.."Goodbye."

"NO! wait!"

maybe..."What?!"

"Can you come to lunch with me and a few of my friends? We're meeting up in half an hour at the campus cafeteria."

Just maybe..."Why the hell would I want to -"

"Inuyasha! Do you mind speaking one sentence without a swear word in it?"

"Hell yes."

"Inuyasha. It is my responsibility to introduce you around campus. That will be impossible unless you come out of your room!"

"..."

He heard a sigh. "There's ramen. I'm paying."

Just maybe...it won't be so bad after all.."Ok, see you there."

Half an hour was it? Good. He still could get fifteen more minutes of shut eye before leaving.

Inuyasha grinned. Now that there was the prospect of ramen for lunch..... he was a bit surprised that Kagome still remembered his preference for it.

With a content sort of sigh, Inuyasha pulled the covers over his head and went to sleep, or tried to anyways.

His doorbell rang.

Why was everyone out to get him today?

Muttering incoherently to himself, Inuyasha got up and opened his door.

"Hey."

Inuyasha scowled. "Go away Miroku."

"Now that's not nice, Inuyasha." Miroku brushed past him and entered the messy apartment. "You ought to clean up a bit you know."

"Stop acting like my mom."

"At least you have one."

Inuyasha stared. What do you say to something like that? His scowl returned full force. "If you're looking for sympathy don't come running to me."

"I'm not trying to." Miroku said tersely, while seeming to wish he hadn't said anything. Well it's not my fault, Inuyasha thought, annoyed, He was the one who brought it up. "Want to go get lunch?" Miroku spoke abruptly.

"Can't" Inuyasha said, voice stiff.

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Because..."

"None of your business."

"Of course it is." Miroku had a look of complete seriousness on his face."If you're going out with pretty girls without telling me-"

Inuyasha couldn't say no, exactly. So he told. "Kagome invited me out to lunch. WITH some of her friends, " He glared at Miroku as if to dare him to comment.

"I want to come, too."

Inuyasha snorted. "Don't bother. You'll make me look bad. "

"Ah, well it figures you don't want to spoil your image in front of Kagome..."

Miroku ignored Inuyasha's indignant sputtering.

"But I really don't see the point, since as soon as you step into the cafeteria, lovely young women will be bombarding you from all sides." Miroku looked at Inuyasha pointedly.

Inuyasha glared. But Miroku already knew he had won, and it showed through the annoyingly serene smile on his face.

"Keep the bitches away from me and you can come."

"Ok then" Miroku smiled cheerfully. "Let's go."

"...get this over with..."

Well, the main reason it took so long for me to update was because of my putting off writing the two dates for Inuyasha and Kagome. (one past, one present) now that I've written them...the original reason for putting them off has escaped me -_-;; so all i can say is I'm so sorry for taking so long and hope that someone remembers this little fanfiction enough to read it.

And since you've most likely done so (or else you probably wouldn't be reading this), thank you very, very much.

As always, feedback is very very much appreciated ^_^