A/N: Okay, here is chapter three. Thanks so much for all the reviews, and I have a few comments I would like to address before getting into the chapter, so bear with me, ok?

Drake220: There is a big difference of being told you have to do something, and coming to the conclusion yourself. I hope you'll still read the story if my plot line is not the most off-the-wall thing there is, but this is the way I planned to write it. No, I would never write Kagura or Sango to force Kagome to do anything that stupid. Neither of them would be that way, and I don't feel like making them that retarded. The actions taken, are undertaken by free will.

Eadha Ohn: I haven't seen or heard anything about a movie with a plot like mine, though people have been telling me it's like Laws of Attraction. I admit it! That movie helped me decide on part of my plot line, but the rest came from my mind!

Xol: There will only be a mention of Kikyo--she is not a title character. As for Rin, I have not yet decided if I will give her an appearance in here or not. I'd say probably not, but if the Rin-lovers come up in arms, I think I can swing a part for her.

That's about all, Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any such hotness as Inuyasha. Instead, I own a toaster. It is not much, but I named it Frank.

Breaking the Rules

Chapter 3: To Err is Human

Kagome's POV

There come times in every person's life where they'd love to just crawl under a rock and die. I guess this was the time that it was most intense for me. I was forced to face the truth that I might have single handedly have destroyed a magazine empire in one night of drunken disorderliness. Worst of all, I might have let down my friends.

I was not proud of myself in any way, shape or form on this issue. In fact, it made me sick to my stomach thinking about how badly I had screwed up, and, believe me, I had screwed up pretty bad in the past. My record, when it came to blowing things, is pretty long and diverse, but usually it only hurt myself. Never, in all of my blunders, had I pulled so many other people down with me.

Now I was faced with a decision, one that no one else could make for me. I could sacrifice my dignity and pride in hopes of salvaging what was left of my friends' careers. The answer for me was simple, but the real question was, would Inuyasha help me?

When Kagome opened the door to her kitchen, her hands were shaking again and her head felt light. She had spent the past fifteen minutes standing in the silent, vacant hallway just listening to the little voices in her head. She had discarded her glasses because she no longer felt intelligent.

Kagome had come to the conclusion that, despite what it might cause her reputation or career, she would do whatever it took to save the magazine and the friends she had who called it home.

All she had to do now was convince her husband to go along with it.

Said husband was sitting in one of the chairs at her kitchen table, her obese cat in his lap, stroking Buyo's ears in a slow motion, making the cat purr happily with his eyes closed. It was a rather calming scene that made half of Kagome's fears disappear temporarily.

For a minute, she stood in the doorway watching him. Inuyasha continued, seemingly oblivious to her, as he continued his petting of her cat. "How'd it go?" he asked, without looking up.

Kagome was startled out of her reverie. Suddenly, her fears compounded again, as she pulled up a chair across from him. "Bad," she replied.

Inuyasha looked up, gold eyes settling on midnight blue. "Tell me about it."

Kagome ran her hands through her hair and sighed, before laughing a little ironically. "I guarantee by tomorrow, the entire city of New York will know we're married."

"It could be worse," Inuyasha rationalized. To him, it wasn't all that bad being married to a highly attractive if somewhat high strung writer.

Kagome looked at him, a smile on her lips and a question in her eyes. "You'd better tell me."

"You could have ended up married to a loser instead of a stunning specimen like myself."

Kagome snorted, looking at him in disbelief. It felt good to laugh and she was thankful for his efforts. In fact, she felt herself calming. For some reason, she knew Inuyasha was responsible for that.

"Thanks," she said with a smile.

"For a weak joke?"

"For not being a total loser. There are a lot of people who could have and would have treated our... unique situation much differently."

He shrugged. "I'm not a bad guy," he explained.

"Yeah," Kagome admitted. "I guess not." That was when she decided to make her move. "And since we're on the subject, might I broach you with a deal?"

"Deal?" One eyebrow arched in interest as he surveyed the petite beauty. She leaned across the table, resting her elbows on the counter as midnight eyes gauged his reaction. Her nerves were on end, and her heart was in her throat, but her mind was calm. She knew what she had to do.

"The endorsement people are only going to be in New York for the next three weeks," she said slowly.

"Yeah," he agreed with a nod, eyes narrowed. He got the feeling he was not going to like whatever she was about to ask.

"If I can convince them to give us this sponsorship, Kagura would never have to worry about anything again. She took such a chance on me, and I've screwed up so many times in my life," she paused, collecting her thoughts before taking the plunge. "I would do anything to get this for her."

"What do you want me to do, exactly?" Inuyasha asked, shooing the cat off his lap and leaning forward to rest on his hands.

"Could we wait and get the annulment? Just until after the sponsors leave."

"I guess," he conceded. "But I sense this is not all you want to ask me."

"No," Kagome agreed, shaking her head. "I was also hoping that you might help me with getting this endorsement."

"Please don't tell me I have to pretend to be a loving husband and that we are the perfect couple... " He stated flatly.

"I wouldn't ask you to pretend anything," Kagome said seriously. "All I ask is that you go to a few interviews with me, answer a couple questions, and not tell anyone that we got married over a bottle of vodka."

Inuyasha was silent for a few moments, his long fingers running over the form of Buyo as he sat comfortably on the tabletop. There was a sort of stare down between the two that Kagome willingly lost in hopes of convincing sincerity.

"I suppose I could do that," he said at last. "Just as long as I don't have to do anything that would come back later to bite me in the ass."

"I swear I'll do everything I can to keep them off of you," Kagome said, biting her bottom lip to keep from bursting into happy and relieved tears. As it was, she was grinning like a maniac. "I don't think I could ever thank you enough for this."

"Don't thank me yet," he said with a smirk. "You haven't heard my conditions."

That made Kagome's blood freeze. She looked at him with narrowed eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "What are those, precisely?"

"We are to appear married, aren't we?" he asked, a hint of cocky amusement in his voice.

"I'm not going to sleep with you," she stated outright. "Not even for my friends."

"Damn, there goes my evil plans," he joked with a snap of his fingers. Kagome was not amused, and glared at him. Inuyasha only looked at her seriously. "I would never force a woman to sleep with me. I thought we established I was a nice guy, not a pervert!" As an afterthought he added, "That would be my psychotic ex-roommate."

"Then what do you want?" Kagome asked warily. He was a nice guy, granted, but she didn't trust him. Not yet.

"Well, to be married, we'll have to play the part. That would involve us sharing a residence, wouldn't it?" He smiled easily, confidently, like a cat who had cornered a mouse.

He cornered a fox, Kagome thought. And a cornered fox shows her teeth. "Okay, we'll play the part. Where do you propose? Would my place work?"

He shook his head. "No, it's too small and too far from the hospital where I work."

Kagome's eyes lit up. "I forgot you were a doctor!" she declared. "ER right?"

"Not so drunk that you forgot that, eh?" he joked.

Kagome blushed prettily. "It's my job to pay attention to detail. And I watch ER on television, so I find medicine fascinating."

"Why aren't you a doctor then?" Inuyasha challenged.

"No patience, no talent, and no money," she stated easily. "I'm a writer now and forever."

"Well, madam writer," he joked. "Do you think you could be packed and ready to come to my place by tomorrow?"

"I think I could manage," she muttered, looking around her kitchen fondly. "You'll need to give me your address."

Inuyasha grabbed a small piece of paper from her counter-- the bottom of her grocery list-- and whipped a pen out from his pocket. When he saw her eyeing him, he grinned easily at her. "I'm a doctor. It's law for us to have a pen at all times." Kagome only shook her head, a little in shock for all that was going on around her. "Here," he declared while handing her the paper.

"What time should I be there?"

"Anytime you want. I'll leave the spare key for you under the mat."

"You do have a spare bedroom, right?"

He looked at her for a moment, as if not understanding the question, then shook his head to clear it. "Yeah, I've got a spare room. But I do have to tell you Kagome," he said with a smirk. "I've already seen all there is to see."

"And you say you're not a pervert?!" Kagome raged, punching him squarely in the shoulder. Inuyasha only laughed and headed toward the door. She noticed the cocky bounce in his step. "You know, you'll probably regret this arrangement before this thing is over."

"What makes you say that?" he asked, turning to look her in the eye when he reached the door. There was humor in his gaze, and an innocence to her ways that made Kagome feel almost sad. For some reason, though she couldn't for the life of her understand why, she didn't want him to think of her as the basket case everyone else did.

"I'm quirky," she said simply, a small frown playing on her face. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Right you are," he smirked again, opening the door behind him and turning to go. Then he stopped and looked back to her with a cocked eyebrow. "Let me ask you something before I go."

"Shoot."

"Would you get to know me while we're married, or is this a simple business arrangement?"

Kagome snorted. "I don't think it's possible to live with someone and not want to know them," she stated honestly.

He liked her answer and his smirk turned into a genuine smile. That was when she did something that surprised him. Kagome, who had seemed to be a little uncomfortable and a little edgy, leaned forward the foot or so that separated them, bringing herself up as high as a woman of five feet could go, and dragged his mouth to hers.

It was a surprising act, true, but it didn't take him long to fall into it. It wasn't an intense kiss, but it still sent heat coursing through both their veins. Kagome tried to keep it simple, a gentle and tentative kiss of gratitude. It didn't take long until the feel of Inuyasha's lip on hers caused those intentions to flee. If there was one thing she could say about her new husband, was that he was one hell of a kisser. If asked, Inuyasha would say that she wasn't so bad herself.

It wasn't a long kiss because the door was open and Kagome had rather nosy neighbors. With reluctance on both ends, she pulled back and ran her tongue over her bottom lip. Inuyasha wished he could kiss her again because of that simple action, but he thought it best to quell the thought. It was enough that he had to have a hard on while attempting to hail a cab home.

"Thanks," she said, her voice a pitch lower than normal and her eyes a little cloudy. "For what you're doing for me."

"Anytime," he commented, and he meant it. That's when he left, or risk something else happening that they would both regret.

Kagome pulled herself out of some rather dirty thoughts and forced herself to calmly walk to her bedroom. She would be spending three weeks in a strange apartment with a man who was practically a stranger himself. For a moment, she snorted and smirked. This was just the kind of scenario she would have dreamed up and killed for in high school. A tall, sexy stranger coming to whisk her away from her boring little life and into some foreign adventure.

"Only in your dreams, Kagome," she told herself firmly. The suitcase she had used for her trip to Atlantic City was still sitting in the corner, waiting to be packed back up in her closet. For once, she was happy about being so lazy.

First things came first, which would be the little matter of moving some of her things. She knew just the person to entrap in her scheme. Grabbing the phone from her bedside table, Kagome dialed the number by heart and waited until her little brother answered the phone.

Shippou answered on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Shippou, it's Kagome."

"Kags, how are you?" the young man squeaked. He was only a high school freshman, one of Souta's two roommates, and one of the sweetest boys Kagome had ever met.

"I could be better, but it's a long story. Listen, is my brother there?"

"Yeah, he's brooding over something or other. Hold on."

There was the sound of muffled voices and scuffing. Finally the phone was shoved into a new hand and Kagome heard Souta let loose a few choice words. "What?"

"You kiss our mother with that mouth?" Kagome frowned.

"If you called to lecture me I'm hanging up," he threatened, annoyed.

"Little brother, I never thought I would be saying this," Kagome stated bluntly. "But I need your help, and it's not watching the cat."

Souta recognized the note in her voice and immediately became serious. "Tell me."

And she did, explaining from the beginning to the end and everything in between. When she finished, Kagome was a few seconds from tears and her brother still had not replied.

"I made a real mess of things, didn't I?" she asked in a small voice.

"It's going to be okay, Kagome," Souta assured her with the blind faith that only a sibling could deliver. "I'll help you in any way you need it. Name it and I'm there."

"Do you think you and the boys could help me move some things tomorrow?" she asked, attempting to calm herself by massaging her closed eyelids.

"It'll have to be after three, we've all got class until then."

"No problem," Kagome assured him. "I'm not dragging myself out of bed until at least two." There was a small chuckled between them. "Souta?"

"Yeah, Sis?"

"Thanks."

Souta smiled to himself, content with that warm feeling one got when rescuing his troubled older sister. "You're welcome, Kags."

"Come on, come on! Put your backs into it!" Kagome yelled, standing at the top of the stairs, dictating movements made by the three college students at her beck and call.

Shippou, the small redhead who had bright green eyes and a tendency for pranks, nearly fell down the stairs while lugging up a large brown box of Kagome's belongings. The stairs in Inuyasha's apartment building were steep, but that was to be expected in a place where most people relied on the elevator.

Inuyasha's building was huge, clean, and well maintained. It was just what she expected from the younger of the Saishi brothers. A call from Sango the night before had caught her up to speed on the situation at the magazine, and informed the publicist of what was going on with the writer and the doctor.

Kohaku, Sango's younger brother and Souta's other roommate, was a year shy of graduating from college. He shared the same coloring as his sister, except with brown eyes and a gentler personality. He trailed Shippou coming up the stairs, pulling her wheeled suitcase up the steps by the handle.

Souta, disheveled and last, carried Buyo in his carrying case. The cat in question was meowing loudly. His obese nature made it difficult for Souta to get good balance while carrying the case, and he glared daggers at his sister.

Kagome smirked at them teasingly, then walked back to Inuyasha's apartment--15E, third door on the fifth floor. Inuyasha had made an understatement when he said her apartment was small. Compared to his, Kagome's cozy flat was nothing short of a closet. The rooms were large and airy, sparsely furnished but elegantly designed.

He had also neglected to inform her that he owned a dog. When she had first opened the door, the huge Shepard-husky mix had bounded at her from the bedroom and leapt on to her shoulders. The weight caused her to stagger back into the hallway, and she had been startled but not afraid as a long pink tongue assaulted her face. The dog, whose collar declared the dog's name Jewel, was solid white and stared up at Kagome with eyes as gold as her master's.

At first, Kagome was a little afraid that Buyo might be in danger from a large dog, but after a while she saw that the Jewel was easy-going and friendly. Since Buyo happily thought himself a dog, they would get along fine.

"Right in here, boys," Kagome laughed, holding the door open as the three college students grudgingly made their way inside.

"You're a slave driver, Kags," Shippou whined.

The writer cackled evilly as she kissed him on the cheek happily and pantomimed cracking a whip. "Oh Shippou, you make me laugh!"

He grumbled a little under his breath as Kohaku placed the suitcase inside the door and grabbed the box from Shippou's arms. "Weakling," he mocked.

Shippou bristled and huffed out of the apartment to grab the last box from the bottom of the stairs where the doorman was watching it. "Where do you want this box, Kagome?"

"Over in that corner, 'Haku." Once Shippou returned, the three boys were a flurry of action with Kagome telling them where to put things. She discovered the spare bedroom easily enough, all white and pale green with no decoration adoring it at all. She would change all that, but first she would attend to dinner. "You three plan on staying for dinner, right?"

"Dinner?" Shippou asked, pausing mid-decoration. Kohaku did the same, both boys perking like dogs that'd just scented a rabbit. Suddenly, they both pounced near Souta.

"Can we stay, Souta, can we?" Kohaku begged his friend. Both he and Shippou went on bended knee before Souta, pouting their lips and welling their eyes for just the right hint of pathetic sympathy.

"I'm making your favorite," Kagome added from the kitchen. She knew just how to work her little brother better than anyone else.

"You mean..." Souta stuttered, pausing to drool. "Ramen surprise?"

"Ramen surprise," his sister confirmed.

"Hells yeah, we're staying!" The boys cheered. Kagome laughed. Things were unpacked and a dinner was made.

There were some days that Inuyasha just hated being a doctor.

Of course, the majority of his days were spent loving his job. He loved helping people, loved knowing that he had the power to save the lives of others. He knew he couldn't save everyone, that sometimes patients just died and it reflected none of his skill as a doctor, but there were other times that he just knew that a life would have been lost had it not been for him.

As a child, he had possessed what his father loved to call a sick obsession with death. Natural disasters, wars, mass murders, genocide, everything from Hitler to Manson and back again. Both his older brother and his father had been repulsed by his fascination, thinking him some kind of morbid creature. His mother had never felt that way.

She was the reason Inuyasha had his fixation on death. And it wasn't death itself that he was so intrigued by, it was his mission to try and find a way to defeat it. Inuyasha had made a promise to himself that he would study death in every way, shape, and form so that when he met it, he could fight and win.

He had been a child then, and looked at the world differently than any adult. The reason he wanted to fight death was for his mother. Since he was older enough to truly understand what it meant, Inuyasha was aware that his mother was dying. At the time he didn't know how or why, he just knew that she was so he wanted to do anything he could to save her.

In the end, death won. That was when Inuyasha decided to be a doctor, and he had never regretted it. He helped others cheat death every day, and it made a little of the pain in his heart go away.

Today had been one of the bad days. The full moons always brought out the most people, and it was no acceptation on this moon. He had treated everything from strep throat to athlete's foot and back again. Inuyasha was tired, he was cranky, and he totally forgot the fact that there was a woman waiting in his apartment.

He found it strange that his door was unlocked. He found it odd that Jewel didn't come streaking to greet him when he walked it. Most of all, he narrowed his eyes when he heard the sound of laughing coming from his kitchen.

"I'm telling you, Lassie had Spidey sense. How else could she know Timmy was always trapped in a well?" a man's voice spoke over the others.

"That doesn't make her a superhero," a second voice laughed. "That would be like saying Mister Ed could fight crime by yelling 'Wilbur!'"

"What I want to know," a third male voice commented, and it sounded as if his mouth was full at the time. "Why do all of these reclusive male superheroes have young boy sidekicks? I mean, what really goes on in the Bat cave when no one is around?"

"I feel sorry for Speedy," a female voice answered that. Inuyasha stopped in his tracks, two second from pouncing in the kitchen with a poker from the fireplace in his hand. That sounded like Kagome.

"Speedy?"

"Yeah, the little sidekick to the Green Arrow? I mean, couldn't they come up with a better name? And what about Robin! Isn't it bad enough that his parents were carnie folk, and killed by a madman? Why did they have to name him Dick? Couldn't they just call him Richard?"

Yes, that was Kagome. No doubt was in his mind. Her words brought about another round of laughter from the three men and Inuyasha tossed his poker on to the couch before opening the door and stepping inside.

Kagome was seating on the counter of the island in the middle of his kitchen, a bowl in her lap and chopsticks a few inches from her lips. Seated at the small table in front of her were three young men, all stuffing their faces full of noodles and choking with laughter. She spotted him first.

Kagome was startled to see him at first. She had not heard him come in. The look on his face, however, was so bewildered and hesitant that it was priceless. Hopping off the counter and putting down her food, she ran over to him and smiled. "Welcome home, my husband."

Inuyasha blinked at her, but found her smile to be infectious. For some reason, she seemed so much happier today than she had when he spoke with her the day before. Maybe it was the three boys now looking at him. Maybe it was the ramen. Whatever it was, Inuyasha admitted to himself that happy Kagome was a lot prettier than desperate Kagome.

"Hi," was his oh-so-intelligent reply. Kagome grabbed him, pulling him inside the kitchen.

"You must meet the trio," she declared as she tugged him along behind her.

"Ok," he said, not really seeing another option. They stopped short in front of the table where Kagome promptly grinned and began introductions.

"Boys, this is Inuyasha," Kagome said in a dignified voice. The three boys waved up at him, noodles hanging from their mouths. She rolled her eyes before turning back to her confused and adorable spouse. "Inuyasha, this is Shippou Kitsune," she paused to point to the small redhead. "Kohaku Rae." She paused long enough to add, "Sango's younger brother," before moving on to the last--and most important--introduction. "And this is Souta, my little brother."

Souta got to his feet and held out his hand. Inuyasha shook it with a nod, understanding the importance of Kagome's brother accepting this introduction. He was surprised by how much the two Higurashis looked alike. Although Souta had brown eyes instead of Kagome's blue, they had the same thick black hair and fair skin. There was evidence in their facial features as well that made it clear that they could be nothing short of siblings.

"Nice to meet you," Souta commented politely. "It's really great of you, what you're doing for my sister and all." Inuyasha looked to Kagome for conformation.

"They know," she said with a nod. "I needed them for cheap labor when I brought my stuff over."

That was met by a shout of, "Slave driver!" from the three boys.

"We should get going back home, Sis," Souta said, turning back to Kagome. "Shippou and I have work tonight."

"Sure, I'll call you tomorrow."

"Thanks for dinner, Kags," Shippou smiled, hugging her loosely around the shoulders. "We'll see you on Saturday, right?"

"Wouldn't miss it!" she laughed, waving them off as the three boys exited. With a happy sigh, she began cleaning up the mess they left behind. Inuyasha, who had watched the exchange, just watched her now.

"What's Saturday?" he asked.

"Professional wrestling on pay-per-view," Kagome laughed. "We always buy Smack down, or whatever big match is playing and stay up late eating junk food. It's a kind of ritual."

"You seem very close to them," he observed, watching her take the dishes to the sink and begin filling it with hot, soapy water.

"I was always a tomboy growing up," she explained. "Everything from action movies to kung fu to professional wrestling. All I have is a little brother, and though we fought like cats and dogs when we were little, I always made the effort to stay close to him."

Inuyasha listened as he sniffed around the kitchen, stomach growing at the delicious scents assaulting his nose. When Kagome saw him lifting the lids off of pots on the stove, she laughed and handed him an empty bowl.

"I cooked dinner, as a thank you to the guys for helping me. There's still some left on the stove, the back burner."

Inuyasha's mouth watered as he grabbed the bowl and some chopsticks. "What did you make?"

"I call it Ramen Surprise," she explained. "Basically just ramen with a bunch of meat and vegetables thrown in. Souta loves it."

"Did... you just say... ramen?" Inuyasha said, openly staring at her.

Kagome looked at him as a startling thought dawned on her. "Do you not like ramen? I didn't even think to ask you... I just have this thing for the noodle family. College was heaven for me since you live off the stuff but if you don't like it, I could make you something else if you like."

She was stunned into silence when Inuyasha walked up and firmly kissed her on the mouth. It was quick and hard, and sent Kagome's blood roaring in her ears when he pulled back. Never had she been a fool enough to get weak in the knees by a simple kiss, but now she felt that if she wasn't in soapy water up to the elbow, she would have fallen to the floor. As it was, she swayed a little.

Inuyasha smiled easily at her before turning back to the stove. "You know," he commented. "You're going to make some guy very lucky one day, but as of right now, that guy is me." When he located the pot with the food, he happily poured what was left of her concoction into his bowl with a few breathy sounds of delight. "My kingdom for ramen," he said, watching the golden noodles pile high in his dish. "You are officially the best wife I have ever had."

She snorted. "How many of those have you had?"

Inuyasha pretended that he had to think long on that. "Just you."

"Then thanks," she commented, grabbing the empty pot from his hands and dumping it in the water to wash.

Inuyasha situated himself on the island as she had down early, to watch and talk while he ate. "You do realize I have a dish washer?"

"I know," Kagome said cheerily. "I used to have to wash dishes every night at my house growing up. It was my job. Now, even though I have a dishwasher too, when I don't feel all that lazy, I enjoy a little washing of the dish."

"Heh, you'd never catch me doing that," he scoffed, stuffing his face on noodles.

"Well, you're a guy," Kagome retorted. "Can't expect you to understand."

"I didn't say I don't understand," he commented. "I just said I'd never do it. I'm not a dishwasher. I'm a dog walker."

"Dog walker?" Kagome asked, looking over her shoulder at him.

"When I was a kid," Inuyasha explained. "My dad would never give me money for movies or anything he thought was frivolous, so I'd walked the dogs of people in my building for money. Of course now I have all I need, so I do it for free."

"You walk other people's dogs?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "I'm a dog person. I'm good with all kinds of animals, but dogs are my favorite." Blinking, he looked back up at her. "On that thought, where is my dog?"

"Jewel? Last I saw she was curled up in my new room with Buyo."

"You brought the cat here?" Inuyasha asked dubiously.

"I couldn't leave him at home," she responded. "And they don't allow pets in Souta's building. Plus, he gets along well with Jewel."

"Everyone gets along with Jewel," Inuyasha complained.

"Then there's no problem for my kitty," she said with finality and a nod. As if summoned by their words, both Buyo and Jewel ran into the kitchen at that very moment.

Jewel took a moment to sniff out Inuyasha, seated on the island, before barking crazily and jumping on his legs. Inuyasha held out a fist and closed it while she was watching. "Finish." Jewel stopped barking and sat quietly at his feet. Her master hopped up from his seat and scratched her ears. "Good girl."

"That was clever," Kagome complimented, putting the last of the dishes in the draining rack and letting the water drain from the sink. "I wish Buyo could be trained."

"Cats are too stubborn," he teased. "Dogs are smarter, aren't they Jewel?" The dog barked in reply.

Kagome only shook her head. "We have a lot to go over while I'm living here," she commented, grabbing Buyo in her arms as she walked. Inuyasha, Jewel at his heels, followed.

"Such as?"

"No mocking my cat, for one," she responded. "Another thing, I mostly work at home. I only have to go to the office once or twice a week, so I'm going to have to set up a little work area somewhere for myself. Good lighting and comfortable seat is required."

"She's so demanding," Inuyasha commented to his dog.

"And finally," Kagome said, as if he hadn't interrupted at all. "I set up my stereo in the guest room. I'll keep it on low, but I have to have it playing all night. If that's a problem, tell me now."

"Why do you need a stereo running all night?" he asked quizzically. The walls separating his room from hers were pretty thin, but he doubted she'd be playing Metallica in the dead of night.

"I get nightmares," she commented flatly. It was clearly not something she wanted to get into. "I just need to play it."

Inuyasha held up his hands in defeat. "Just know that I am annoying," he commented. "I work graveyard shifts at the hospital at least twice a week because... well, no one else will. When I am home, I will bug the hell out of you."

"Of that I have no doubt," she responded with a smile.

"You'll have to warn me when you have people over," he said seriously. "I don't want to walk home, dead to the world, and have to entertain."

"I don't entertain many people," she assured him. "It's mostly just the three boys when they aren't working or at school, or Sango and Kagura, when they aren't working or out doing other things."

"Like Miroku?" Inuyasha commented.

"Or gambling," she said with a wry smile. "Kagura likes to 'play the ponies'."

"Then let her play," Inuyasha said with a shrug.

"I think that's everything," Kagome nodded, looking to him with a smile. Inuyasha smiled back. The plan was in effect and so far things were going fairly well. But both of them were subconsciously waiting for the first anvil to fall.

Sesshomaru walked toward his office. Her rubbed the back of his neck, happily delighted when it cracked and offered him a little relief from its stiffness. Four hours of a board meeting that left them no better off than they were in the first place, which left him feeling more than a little sore. Mostly he was just hungry.

Jaken, his personal assistant, sat at his little wood desk sorting messages and answering phones. Normally, such a person was a secretary, but Sesshomaru refused to call the small man as such. It would just give rise to more rumors about his sexuality that he didn't need.

Maybe it was normal for a thirty two year old man to be single, but when you were handsome as sin and as rich as Bill Gates, and didn't have a new woman every night, you had to be gay. There was no if, ands, or buts. To everyone in his office and everyone who knew the smallest bit of his life, Sesshomaru Saishi was gay and there was not one thing he could do to change it. Except get a girlfriend. That would involve dating, which he had no time for. Oh, and there was still that little fact that he was madly in love with a woman who hated him.

"Jaken," Sesshomaru commented in a flat voice as he paused at his assistant's desk. "Do I have any new messages?"

"Publishing needs to order a new copier," the small man read off. "The photographers are threatening to strike if they don't get a raise. Oh, and you had a personal call regarding the situation with your brother--"

"Save it," Sesshomaru cut him off, bringing a hand to massage his temple. "I'll deal with all that tomorrow. Right now, I am going to dinner and nothing in hell can stop me." With that, he turned and headed toward the frost glass doors leading into his small office.

"Um, Sesshomaru sir, there's--" the door closed behind him before Jaken could finish. "Someone waiting in your office." The small male secretary sighed. "Oh well, maybe some good will come of this."

Sesshomaru liked the quiet of his private office--very neat, very quiet, and very elegant, just like he was. With a small sigh that one gave after the end to a long day, he crossed the carpeted room to get his coat from where it hung on the rack next to his desk. As he walked, he saw his large black leather chair swivel. That was when Sesshomaru noticed who sat behind his desk.

"You never returned my call," Kagura commented, happily leaning back in his chair. Her ruby eyes lighted on his figure with a smugness he always found annoying when he was tired.

"I had a meeting," he responded sourly. Not only had he felt a thrill of undiluted happiness at seeing her in his office, in his chair, with a smile, he also had to fight down the urge to smile back at her, and that he just could not stand. "How did you get in here?" he asked with narrowed gold eyes.

"Jaken let me in once I kept bothering him," she responded easily, still lounging in his chair. "I swear you should give that man a raise for all he puts up with. I still think you'll give him a stroke with the workload."

"The personal assistant to an editor has a large workload," Sesshomaru commented while grabbing his coat off the rack.

"Just call the man a secretary," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "You always make things so difficult."

"As I recall, that was what you liked most about me," he responded casually.

Kagura winced a little. "No fair, throwing past confidences at me now," she snapped.

"As much as I'd adore to continue this conversation," Sesshomaru intoned. "What do you want?"

"Right to the heart of the matter," Kagura smirked. "Well, in case Inuyasha failed to tell you, he and Kagome have worked out some little plan in which they are going to remain married for the duration of a business interaction."

"You allow this?"

"If you knew anything about Kagome," Kagura chuckled a little. "You'd know that no one allows her to do anything. She does what the fuck she wants whenever she fucking wants to."

"The same goes for my little brother," Sesshomaru agreed. "Perhaps they might kill each other off so we no longer have to deal with their stupidity."

"One can only hope," she responded with a smile, ruby eyes meeting gold for a brief moment of shared humor. That's when she remembered who she was looking at and why, and Kagura turned her eyes away. "We should arrange something, in order to keep them from doing anything else stupid that might put our businesses in danger."

"Come to dinner with me," Sesshomaru said. Kagura blinked, looking up at him in a confused manner.

"What?"

"I'm on my way to grab some dinner," he explained. "Come with me and we can talk while I eat."

"We'll both eat," she nodded, pushing herself out of his chair and adjusting her jacket. "I haven't had any dinner and I could eat a horse." As she walked past him to the door, she didn't see the small smile that Sesshomaru allowed himself while he back was turned. It was like old times. They would argue, they would eat something, argue again and end up in bed later.

He frowned suddenly, watching her leave. It wasn't old times anymore, though, and he had to constant remind himself that she was no longer fair game. And from his thoughts in the short time since he had been in contact with her again, he predicted that to be a very difficult thing indeed.

A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews I've been getting for this story! You guys make it all worth while, and I really love reading your comments. And though I do adore the messages where everyone yells at me to update and tells me how much they love my writing, I also love the ones where people ask me questions or tell me their opinion. Remember my beloved readers, I'm writing this story for you and your opinions matter! Please remember to review, hehe!