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Sitting awkwardly and rather impatiently, Inuyasha shifted his weight in the seat and began to thump his fingers against the restaurant table, causing a small rhythmic pattern. Taking a breath, he reached for his glass of water and took a hefty gulp, setting it back down a moment later. Glancing nonchalantly around the restaurant, he realized that his date had not yet come. She wasn't even at the front desk.

Glancing at his wrist watch, he noticed the time.

"Ten minutes late," he murmured to himself, as he looked up again to find the waiter in front of him.

"Would you like to wait longer, sir, or are you ready to begin ordering?"

Inuyasha looked up at the man for a moment and then back down at the menu, hesitated, and finally gave a wave of his hand, "It's fine. I'll wait," he said, as the waiter nodded and excused himself, while Inuyasha merely shook his head in response.

'Where the fuck is she…' Inuyasha thought to himself, as he sighed aloud, his state of annoyance increasing by the minute due to the absence of his date. Normally, he wouldn't wait. Come to think of it…

'Why the hell am I wasting my time?' he asked himself, as he threw down the napkin, which he had been holding in frustration. Sitting up, he pushed his chair in and took one last sip of his drink before walking away from the table, searching for his waiter. Slowly making his way toward the man, he discreetly pulled him aside.

"If a woman comes in asking if I was ever here, tell her no one ever showed up, okay?" Inuyasha said, as he looked the man in the eye, his face serious and grim. Pulling out a fifty dollar bill from his pocket, he slipped it into the man's hand and smirked. The man, who simply nodded, walked away from Inuyasha and went on with business.

"That was brilliant," Inuyasha said, as he walked out of the restaurant, smirking.

As he pulled his car keys out of his pocket and made his way toward his car, he suddenly noticed his date rushing out of her car and walking stoically into the restaurant. A gasp escaped him as his eyes grew big and the cool, collected Inuyasha suddenly made sure to dodge her. Walking into a crowd of people, he made sure that she hadn't seen him. Catching view of her inside the restaurant, he smirked and unlocked his car.

Stepping inside, he turned on the engine and began to back out of the parking lot, making sure to catch view of her face as it was made clear that he hadn't been there. Her porcelain face, Inuyasha noted, held no expression whatsoever. He saw her nod and excuse herself, which let him know that he had to drive out of there as quickly as possible.

"I guess it'll be McDonald's tonight," Inuyasha said aloud, as he turned on the radio and quickly sped off into the night. However, as he was beginning to calm down and relax after his ordeal of some sorts, his cellular phone suddenly began to ring. Glancing down to see who was calling, he cringed.

"Kikyou," he said aloud, as he sighed once more, as he heard the rings become consistent. He didn't know how he was supposed to feel. What bothered him most, however, is that he was confused at all.

'She can leave a voice mail like everyone else,' he said to himself as he pulled into the empty McDonald's drive-thru. Looking at the menu, he eyed his dinner for the night. The regular, which was a Big Mac.

"Yeah, I'd like a Big Mac and that'll be it," he yelled into the box, as he heard his total.

Beep.

A new voice mail had just been received. Glancing down at his cellular phone, he angrily rolled his eyes and grabbed the phone, preparing to listen to the mail, which had surely been given to him by Kikyou.

I decided to have dinner with Naraku instead. I hope you didn't have to wait long -- $50, was it? I'll see you at work.

"Fucking bitch," Inuyasha cursed aloud, as he threw down his phone in anger, looking at the floor to see where it had landed. Driving up to receive his order, he handed the woman a bigger bill than what was expected, "Can I get a large fry with that order, please?"

The woman nodded, rang up his total and took the bill, which was still in his hand as he held out his arm into the cool, crisp air. A grim face, he angrily grabbed the food which the woman had been passing him. Before the worker could say anything, he sped off quickly and disappeared, fries in mouth and hand.

As he stopped at the red light, he sulked and took a hungry bite of the burger. Chewing, he looked back down at the cellular phone, which was still on the ground. Looking around to make sure no other cars were behind or around him, he bent down and grabbed the phone, set it beside him, and sped off as the light turned green. While keeping his eyes on the road, his right hand searched around for the phone.

"Got it," Inuyasha said, almost inaudibly, as a smirk appeared on his face.

Pulling into the driveway and turning his keys, the car suddenly went off while Inuyasha grabbed his bag of fast food. Opening the door while dialing a few numbers, he held the phone up to his ear while chewing.

"God damn it, answer…"

"Inuyasha?"

Slightly growing nervous, Inuyasha remained silent on the phone for a moment, "Kikyou, how was dinner?"

"It was fine; great, actually. He's a brilliant man, Naraku. Perhaps you should try and idolize your career after his," she said, her tone almost seemingly cold.

"Yeah, that's great," Inuyasha said sarcastically, as he rolled his eyes, opening the door to his wallet burning apartment, "I had a great dinner as well. I apologize, though. I should've told you earlier that I had a prior appointment – date, rather, with someone."

"Oh, I wasn't aware. Who is this person?"

Inuyasha remained silent for a moment, cursing himself for his stupidity. Almost naturally saying her name, he responded, "Kagome."

Kagome awoke at the crack of dawn to the most foreign sound in the morning – her phone. Rarely did she get called, especially at the hour that it was. Trying to resist the sound, she attempted to dive her head into the pillows to soften the sound, yet the sound persisted and finally won. Sitting up and slightly annoyed, Kagome confusingly reached for her phone and at last answered.

"Hello?" she said, her voice groggy.

"So that's what you sound like in the morning. I wonder what you look like,"

As she suddenly became aware of who was on the phone, she felt a headache coming on. Sighing, she pulled the blankets off of her and reached for her wrist watch.

"You'll never know," she spat, as she whined and got up from bed, "Inuyasha, what do you want? Is this some type of emergency or what?"

"Emergency, if you will," he replied, stirring her curiosity.

"What's going on?" she replied, as she felt more awake for a moment, blinking repeatedly to get use to how bright it was suddenly becoming.

Hesitating, Inuyasha remained silent for a moment, almost hanging up the phone. What was he thinking? Asking Kagome for help?

'Maybe this is mission impossible,' he said to himself, as he heard her say his name.

"Ah, never mind. It's nothing," he merely said, as he began to say his goodbyes, yet was cut off due to her loud speaking.

"Inuyasha, look at the time! You woke me up at the crack of dawn to play games with me? If there's an emergency would you just come on out and tell me what the hell is going on!" she suddenly yelled, as her tone became increasingly louder with each word she spoke.

"Why does everything have to be a fight with you?"

"And why does everything have to be like some sort of game with you?" Kagome snapped, as she felt herself increasingly angry by the minute, but decided to calm down. Sighing, she softened her tone, "I'm sorry. It's just I was having a nice sleep and then you woke me up and… I'm just cranky. Sorry."

"Don't let it happen again," was his response, as she tried to remain calm, yet realized he was trying to joke around with her once she heard him laugh, genuinely laugh. She hadn't heard that sound in awhile. Not with her, at least – never with her.

She laughed in response, muttering the word 'idiot' as a strange way of showing affection, "Seriously, Kagome. I had reservations with someone last night but I got stood up. Now, if anyone asks, I went out with you," he said, his tone serious.

Kagome stood still for a moment, thinking. He had ruined a moment of peace between them.

"And why, exactly, am I the one who went out with you?" Kagome asked, "I think I remember you inviting me, but a moment later telling me you already had plans, like the charmer you are," she said, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Oh, c'mon, Kagome!" he said, as he sighed aloud, "I didn't mean to do that, I swear. I was just…"

"Stupid?" Kagome suggested, as she lifted an eyebrow.

"Sure. Anyway, I kind of told someone I was with you last night," he said, almost cringing at the thought of how it would all blow up in his face.

"I guess I can help you out. Just this once, though. And if anyone asks you how the date went and what we did, we went out to eat and it was horrible," Kagome said, "After all, we don't get along."

"Of course not. Never have, never will." he responded, a cool smile on his face.

"Yeah…" was Kagome's dead response, as she slightly frowned, but was glad to know that the conversation was merely over the phone. She wouldn't want him to see her frown over something he had said or done to her.

"But what if the date went fine, not horrible?"

Kagome remained silent for a moment, shocked at what he was suggesting. Suddenly, she became a bit flushed and smiled coyly, "Then it would've gone fine."

"Would you be interested in going on a second date?" he asked, as he lightly bit down on his bottom lip, afraid of his answer. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, he wasn't exactly sure, but he was asking Kagome Higurashi, of all the women in the building, out on a date. All he received, however, was silence.

"…I'd… that'd be… sure?"

A smile of relief appeared on Inuyasha's face, while Kagome's smile was bright; she was flattered.

"Great," was all he said, as the awkwardness suddenly began to reign. Brushing it off, Inuyasha began to speak of work and nonsense to his co-worker, as she in return listened to his seemingly incoherent chatter.

One hour later…

"Oh, I have to get ready," Kagome said, as she smiled, listening to him blabber on, "Yes. Inuyasha, no! I'll be late -- yes, I'll see you at work. Okay, bye,"

Hanging up the phone and sighing, Kagome lightly threw herself onto the bed as she turned her head to look at the hour. It was 6:45 which meant she had enough time to get herself ready for work. As she closed her eyes and began to think about the conversation she had just had and with whom, her eyes suddenly opened wide.

"What was I thinking?"

And I thought, be still my heart
This could be a brand new start, with you.