A/N: Oh yes, I have updated. Also, I figured out some semblance of a plot line for this ficcy! laughs whether or not I stick to it will remain to be seen. Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter, keep 'em coming! Please.

Bread Crumbs
Chapter 2

Her dreams took her back 5 years, to a time when her father was alive. Then it rocketed her to when he died, slow and painful from the cancer. After her father was gone, her mother threw herself into the store, working day and night, becoming a shell of herself. Kagome knew that her mother never recovered from her father's death and eventually died of a broken heart. All night long she was tortured by her fathers smiling face and her mother's pale and lifeless one.

Morning didn't come soon enough. Kagome tossed all night, trying to shake the memories off. When the hand on the clock finally came to rest on six o'clock, Kagome flung back the covers and bounded out of bed. She wandered over to the window and opened the curtains as she did every morning. The sun was barely peeking over the distant horizon, the sky still dark.

It took her a short while to shower, get dressed and eat breakfast. By 6:30, she was downstairs, setting up the store for the day and unlocking the doors. At 7:30 her first customer had already came and went.

Kagome's family had never lived in the big city, but rather a small town setting, where everyone knew everyone. Kagome had always enjoyed life here and never wanted anything more. Her younger brother however, took off as soon as he graduated high school. He got a job as a reporter and was now doing fairly well, travelling around the world for the next big story. He sent her pretty postcards whenever he had the chance.

The bells above the door jingled as a new customer entered. Kagome looked up from the magazine she was reading, to see who entered.

It was the man from the night before.

He wore the same clothes as last night, the large jeans and baggy sweater. The morning light shone down and made his silver hair glisten. By the dark coloured bags under his eyes, Kagome guessed that he didn't get much sleep either.

"Did you go to the food bank?" she asked when he came up to the counter.

"They were closed." he said dully.

Kagome then wondered if he had eaten at all last night. A horrible feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. Had he gone hungry all night because she refused to give him food? What if he was starving, on the brink of death and she could have helped him? Absently she played with a lock of her hair, a sign that she was worried or nervous. "Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't know." In truth, she had thought that the food bank would be open all night.

He looked around the front counter, picking up a few chocolate bars; examining them and putting them back down. "The food bank is only open until 9." He told her and began to wander around the store, seemingly looking for something to eat.

Kagome's eyes narrowed, watching him carefully. She didn't put it past him to grab some food and run out the door. He wandered from the candy, to the fruit, to the dairy. Then he noticed her watching him.

"I'm not going to steal anything. You said last night that you could arrange something, so I'm just deciding on what I want."

Kagome nodded to him. "Can you pay?" she asked.

He walked back up to the counter with a loaf of bread and a container of ramen. "No." he stated simply when he put the foodstuffs down in front of her. He gave her a strange look. "I thought the whole point of you arranging something was that I got the food for free."

"I never said that! Come on, you have to have like a dollar or something!" She had planned to give him a massive discount, not just let him waltz out of here with free food. What if he blurted to all his other little hungry friends and then she had a mass of people expecting free food! Then her paying customers would hear about it and feel ripped off because she mad them pay. The colour drained from her face. No, she couldn't let him have the food for free. If she did, trouble would ensue and she'd go out of business.

He threw up his arms in anger. "If I had money do you think I'd expect the food for free!"

Kagome glared. "Calm down. You'd be surprised at some people." This guy clearly had a temper.

"Well, I'm not some people." He yelled back. "All I want is a bloody meal for once! Not some hassle."

"You could be grateful that I even considered giving you anything with that attitude!"

"I can go somewhere else."

"No. That won't be necessary. You don't get to eat a lot do you?" she asked innocently enough.

"Is that any of your business?" he snapped back. "I don't think so."

"Ok. Fine. I won't tell you what I was thinking. It's clearly not my business whether or not you eat everyday." She smiled a bit, baiting him. "Although… I think I know a way that you would be able to obtain food on a regular business."

He was intrigued. She saw it in his golden eyes. "How?" he demanded.

"Work for me."

No sooner were the words out of her mouth and Kagome regretted them. This guy clearly wasn't the easiest person on earth to get along with and she barely knew him. What was she doing offering him a job? He didn't fit in here! Kagome lost herself in exaggerations on the situation, until he spoke, in a nicer tone than before.

"You'd pay me?" he asked softly.

Not quiet wanting to go back on what she said previously, she nodded. "I'd pay you for helping me around the store and make sure you ate three times a day. No matter what the magazines say, being that skinny is not healthy." She gestured to the big clothes he wore in a sad attempt to disguise the fact that you could probably see his ribs.

He stared at her dumbly. "You're sure? You're not just getting my hopes up, only to crush them later?"

She shook her head. "No." She thought that she saw the slightest beginning of a smile on his lips. "Of course, you'd have to follow my every instruction and if you tell anyone that this food" she pointed to the bread and ramen between them "was unpaid for, the deal's off. I don't want masses of people thinking I give away food for free."

He was momentarily speechless. "Thanks…." He said as Kagome put the food in a paper bag and handed it to him. Why had she changed her mind so quickly?

"This is the only meal that you will get for free." She said gravely. "I want you back here at noon, ready to work."

He thanked her again. They stared at each other for a while, until another customer came in. The bells broke the spell. "My name's Inuyasha, by the way." He said to her before walking swiftly out the store, paper bag of food in hand.

Kagome sighed. "What have I gotten myself into?" she muttered to herself, silently praying that this situation would work out for the best before turning to help the new customer.