Well, turns out Rhianna's new CD kicks ass! Woot! Twelve dollars well spent there. Not very many reviews but hey - SHUT UP AND DRIVE!!!! Oh, and I got contact solution in my eye today, big ouchies. And my friend isn't answering my texts, big jerk!! Happy Birthday, fine, don't reply!! SCAG!!

Deds:

Mystical Hanyou - Yes, Houjo is the scapegoat in this story. He's a lying, cheating, son of a bitch, but don't worry, Kagome will dump him eventually!! Wink! She still likes Inu... though she'll like him even more when he finally shows up as his ALTER-EGO, dun dun dun!

taintedinuyasha - Mm, cookies sound good, but I cannot be bribed with food! Reviews are my inspiration, lol. I'm happy you're so attached, gives me a reason to keep writing, other than the one that if I don't finish what I've started I'll go insane... Love for one's writing is entirely normal, and having a few fans doesn't hurt either! Satisfy your need to read my friend, with an extra-long new chapter!!

Kagomelovessesshy5 - I'm glad you like it so much, and I'm also glad about the tissues, cuz I can't remember where my mom leaves them, cuz she keeps moving them!! Arrgggg! Anyway, here ya go, don't forget to write to me about what you think! All opinions welcome!

I can't believe there's only three reviews. They were good, long ones, but... sigh. I feel so underpaid. Wait...

Inuyasha: Grease'd

Chapter Eight

On Saturday morning he woke up early, and headed to work. When he got there, Shippo was waiting with the tow-truck, and, handing Inuyasha the keys, both climbed in.

"Where are we going, Shippo?"

"To the scrap yard. Shiori called this morning to say she'd found about five different bikes we can use for parts. If there's anything we can't find, I'll order it."

"That's great," he remarked, concentrating on the road. Shippo directed him to the scrap yard, where Shiori was awaiting them.

Loading the bikes onto the flatbed, Inuyasha said to her, "These are great, Shiori, thanks."

She just smiled. She thought Inuyasha was very cute, geeky or not. "You're welcome."

Getting back in the truck, Inuyasha pulled out a few thousand yen and held it out to her. She took it, reluctantly.

Waving, he and Shippo left, and she waved after them. He had given her way more than he needed to. Father will appreciate it, she thought, returning to the house.

Shippo got out as soon as they'd returned to the garage to help Inuyasha unload the bikes.

"I've taken the liberty of renting you a station," he told him, and Inuyasha smiled. "Cool. Which one?"

"Very last." Shippo hefted two bikes over his shoulders and walked them down. Inuyasha took the last three and followed him.

The station was equipped with everything he'd need: oil, pneumatic drills for removing and replacing lug nuts, a socket set, and a wrench set, to name a few. There were also some newer parts Shippo had managed to scrape up, most of them unpainted fenders and a relatively new-looking leather seat.

"Thanks, Shippo. This is great!" He sat down on the stool to the side and looked around. "How much?"

"For you? Thirty yen a week. Since you're an employee, you get a discount."

"Awesome." He ran his hand over the drill, then hefted it, making it shrill as pressurised air spun the bit.

Shippo wiped sweat off his face and said, "I'll be back in a minute, there's a last-minute repair one of my guys is unsure about. Here." A thick manual landed on Inuyasha's lap.

"Start reading, and I'll be back."

Inuyasha opened it, and began reading up on how to build a bike, starting with the motor.

Inu G'd

Three hours later, Inuyasha walked home from the garage, pulled off his cover-alls, and hopped into the shower.

Jaken was waiting in the hall when he came out of the bathroom, his long white hair damp and water droplets still beading on his skin.

"Master, a young lady phoned for you."

Inuyasha lifted a fuzzy ear in interest. 'Yeah? She say who she was?" he asked, shaking out his hair.

Jaken nodded, following Inuyasha to his room, and catching the red towel as he flung it away, yanking up a clean pair of boxer shorts. "She said her name was Kanna, and that she needed to see you post haste."

Inuyasha looked at him as if he had grown two heads, his shirt half-way over his head. "What?"

Jaken blinked. He often forgot that the youngest of his Masters was also the simplest. "Right away," he corrected, and Inuyasha understood.

"Okay. Thanks." Zipping up a pair of baggy jeans, he threw his wet hair into a topknot and, tucking his lighter in his back pocket, he watched Jaken leave the room in the mirror, before flopping onto his bed and picking up the phone.

Inu G'd

Kanna listened to Kagura yak away in the background as she added the last detail to Inuyasha's leather jacket: an American flag patch. She concentrated as she held the hot iron over it and counted silently to ten.

"Can you believe that? What an asshole! God, I hate him so much!" Kagura fumed, speaking of her brother, Naraku.

"Uh huh," Kanna replied non-commitally. She hadn't been paying any attention to her friend all afternoon. Kagura had been in a snit when she arrived, Kanna's mother letting her into Kanna's basement room at noon. Now, four hours later, Kanna couldn't recall a single thing she'd been talking about.

Suddenly the phone rang. Kagura looked at Kanna, but she didn't seem to hear it. Shrugging, Kagura reached over and picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Kanna?"

Kagura recognised the voice instantly. "Inuyasha?"

"Kagura? Is that you?"

"Yeah. Hey Kanna, it's Inuyasha on the phone."

Kanna nodded, sitting at her desk, strewn with thread, scissors, material scraps, and her sewing machine. "Tell him to come over here."

Kagura relayed the message: "Kanna says to get over here."

Inuyasha laid back on his bed, turning his head to check the time. Four-thirteen.

"Fine. She got good news for me?"

Kagura looked on as Kanna held up the finished outfit, inspected it for any loose threads, then folded it and laid it on the bed, tossing the jacket on top. Then, she began to clean up.

"You could say that," Kagura replied. "See you soon." Hanging up, Kagura slipped off the bed and helped Kanna tidy her room.

They were straightening the privacy screen Kanna used as a change room when the doorbell rang upstairs.

"I'll get it!" Kagura ran up the stairs two at a time. Kanna smiled, and picked up the outfit, throwing the jacket out of sight for the moment.

Inuyasha came down with a hassled look on his face, Kagura poking him all the way down to make him go faster. At the bottom he batted her hand away and, spying Kanna, smiled. As he came forward, greeting her warmly, she handed him the bundle, and watched as his smile grew into a grin.

"Change over there," she instructed, pointing to the screen. He did as bade, and when he came out, both girls were giggling.

He frowned. "What? Is it on backwards?"

Kagura shook her head. "No, Inuyasha, it's on right. Kanna, you are a fashion genius! It's... well, it's damn hot!"

Kanna smiled. "Thank you, thank you," she said as she waved to a pretend audience.

Kagura took Inuyasha's hand and led him to the closet, which had two enormous mirrors on tracks as doors.

The boy staring back at him was so good-looking, for a moment Inuyasha was tempted to turn around and make sure no one was behind him. The outfit, skin-tight, covered everything but his arms and a small section of his chest. It was a matte black, and creaked when he moved.

Kanna approached him and draped the jacket over his shoulders, watching with delight as he admired himself in her mirror.

"Do you like it?"

In response, he wrapped her up in a bear hug that lifted her clean off the carpet, and kissed her cheek. "I love it, thank you!"

Kagura laughed at his exuberance. Reaching up, she took out his ponytail and looked at him objectively. "Hmm," she hummed, tapping her fingernail against her teeth, then snapped her fingers.

Grabbing up her purse, she dug out a pair of aviator sunglasses her brother had given her for her last birthday and put them on his nose. "There," she said, and turned him toward the mirror once again. "That's it, the Lone Rider look is officially perfected."

Inuyasha made a few faces at himself in the mirror, then changed his pose, and changed it again. He couldn't believe the boy in the mirror was really him. He looked like a man, but most of all, he looked more like his old self again, not the geek he'd been pretending to be.

He'd never been popular, but he'd never been a geek, either. Being one now tended to make him unsociable, but he missed the action. This outfit was guaranteed to attract all the attention he'd been lacking for so long.

"You think this get-up will impress her?" he asked, and Kanna and Kagura both nodded.

"Definitely," Kagura replied, and Kanna jokingly added, "If it doesn't, she's blind. I'm tempted to jump you myself!"

Laughing, they pulled him away from the mirror and he changed into his original clothes. When he came back out, Kanna handed him the folded bundle in a paper bag.

"Thank you," he said again, and she smiled. "Don't mention it. I love a challenge," she grinned, and he laughed. Kagura looked at her watch. Inuyasha asked, "What time is it?"

"Five."

Shit.

"I gotta run," he said, inching toward the stairs. Kanna waved him off, and watched him go, a silly grin all over his handsome face. When he was gone she remarked, "Kagome's a lucky girl."

Kagura laid back on the bed and sighed, "Ain't that the truth."

Both girls looked at each other, then laughed, their mutual attraction for their new friend an oft discussed subject. Neither would even consider trying to catch his eye, but it was fun to dream.

Inu G'd

Rin closed her eyes and let the breeze flow through her hair as she swung gently in the hammock on her back deck, her math homework open in her lap. She adjusted her bikini as she leaned further over, almost finished her assignment. Sesshoumaru's formulas lay next to her on the canvas hammock where they wouldn't blow away.

Her mother, gone out with her friends for the day, and her brothers, away with their girlfriends at the beach, left Rin all alone. She loved the solitude when her family was gone.

The phone rang and, setting her work aside, she unfolded her long legs to go into the house and answer it.

"Hello?"

"Is Rin there, please?"

"Speaking."

"Rin? It's Sesshoumaru."

The smile that bloomed on her face at the sound of his name was beautiful. "Hey."

She could hear the smile in his voice when he asked, "Are you busy?"

Walking out onto the deck again, trailing the curly phone cord behind her, Rin waved to their neighbour next door and replied, "No."

"Good. You want to go out?"

Her smile wouldn't go away, no matter how hard she tried to suppress it, which wasn't hard at all. "Are you asking me on another date?"

He was quick to reply, "Yeah, I am. Are you accepting?"

She twirled her finger in the wire, her teeth flashing in the predatory grin that spread across her face. "Maybe. Where are we going?"

He chuckled. "Guess."

She laughed, "I give up."

He replied, "That sucked!"

She giggled, "I know, but I really have no idea!"

Taking pity on her, he responded, "I'm taking you to the most expensive restaurant in town for dinner. Sound good?"

"Yes," she breathed, "but being alone with you sounds even more delectable."

"Then be sure to wear something delicious," he said, husky, "because you always look good enough to eat."

"Thank you. You're pretty hot yourself."

"I try."

"Do not!"

"Okay, but you, Rin, are the beautiful one." She went silent hearing this, and her heart soared. She knew they were moving fast according to other people's standards (Kagome's namely, since she had pointed it out), but it felt so natural to her, just being with him, that she didn't care what other people thought.

Mother will never approve, she thought sadly, but was determined to prove her family wrong. She was eighteen years old, for Christ's sake! If they couldn't respect the decisions she made by now, then they could kiss her ass!

Opting to say nothing to his compliment for now, she asked, "When?"

"Eight. I'll pick you up."

She looked at her watch. Five. Her mother would be back at six.

"I'll be ready." The fight she knew would happen when her mother found out was inevitable, but she refused to burden him with that knowledge, and, bidding him goodbye, she hung up.

How am I going to convince her? She thought, putting her homework away. Frowning, she went into the house, to shower before her date.

Inu G'd

Kagome wiped the sweat from her lip as she balanced a tray with four meals on it for the blue station wagon near the front of the lot. She smiled as she passed Miroku and Sango, sitting on the roof of Miroku's car on a blanket in the cooling afternoon sun, sharing a fruit platter Sango had brought from home.

Waving to them, she dropped off the food, and, looking for anyone whose order she hadn't yet taken, she spotted Kouga's brown Barracuda pulling into the empty spot two spaces away from Miroku. She rolled her eyes and tried not to cringe.

Looking around, she hoped one of the other waitresses weren't busy, but she could see that they all were; even the newest girl, Tsubaki, was busier than a bee in a bottle.

Drawing herself up to her full height, she waited to see if Kouga would get out before she approached his window.

When he didn't get out, she went over to him, Sango giving her a sympathetic look as she passed.

"Poor Kagome," she remarked, and Miroku replied around a strawberry, "Hmm?"

"Kouga just showed up."

Miroku turned to watch Kagome skate up to the brown muscle car. "I'll keep an eye on him," he said, and Sango nodded. She loved Kagome like a sister, and she wished her heart wouldn't twist whenever Miroku jumped to protect her. They're just friends, she told herself. Nothing more.

Kouga smiled devilishly when she leaned over, her breasts swelling in her shirt for his view.

"Kouga."

He blinked, then looked at her face. "What?"

That's right, my face is up here, asshole, she thought. "Do you want your regular?"

He smiled. "What I really want is you."

She stood up straight, eliminating the view he'd been enjoying. "The regular it is." She skated away, and he leaned back in the driver's seat, his arm hanging out the window.

For as long as he'd known Kagome he'd wanted her. At first he'd hated her, or thought he had, and he'd gone out of his way to make her miserable.

Then, three years ago, he'd cornered her in a back hallway, and forced her to kiss him. The fear in her eyes had excited him, but when he grabbed her hair and pulled her to him, to his surprise, she didn't struggle. In fact, she closed her eyes, and puckered her lips, waiting for him to kiss her. He'd leaned into her, and his lips had claimed hers, hungrily devouring them. He never saw her knee coming but he'd sure as hell felt it, and she had doggedly fended him off ever since.

She had thought that little ploy would discourage him, but it only made him hound her more; finally, she'd started to date Houjo, and he'd backed off. Houjo was a friend of his, so he'd had no choice but to lay off her publicly. When she was away from him, though, he was free to do as he pleased, and did. Or tried to.

His persistence was more of a habit now, but he still found her to be the most sexually attractive girl he'd ever known. He wanted her, bad enough to rape her, even. He could only be rejected for so long. The only thing that stopped him from actually doing it was Houjo.

He and Houjo weren't close, by any means, but Houjo was human; Kouga refused to fight a human for a woman, because it wasn't sporting. Houjo would never stand up to his superior strength, and there was no honour in fighting a weaker opponent. So, he waited, and persisted, hoping to wear her down to the point of accepting him, even if only to shut him up.

He watched her skate away with a hunger that gnawed away at his carnal side. He was sure he didn't love Kagome; he didn't love anyone. That Ayame girl thought he loved her, but she was just a distraction. He had no more feelings for her than he did anyone else. Kagome appealed to his animalistic side, the side that thought about sex and how to get it twenty-four-seven.

Kagome shuddered when she left him. As guys went, he was good-looking enough, but his attitude toward women was a major turn-off. She often wondered what she'd done to deserve his attentions.

Giving her mother his order, the two exchanged a look before she left again, to talk to Miroku and Sango while she waited for Kouga's order to come up.

She was going back past Kouga's car when a smile broke out on her face and she waved to someone behind him. He frowned.

Inuyasha waved back, his other hand in his pocket. When he reached her, he said, "Hey, Kagome," and she giggled.

Kouga saw red. He was dignified enough to refuse to fight a human over her, but no way in hell was a half-breed going to nose his way in! Over my dead body, he thought, pulling back his lip in a growl that revealed his sharp incisor.

"I had hoped you'd come today. Miroku! Look who's here!" Kagome went with him to Miroku's car, were she saw him settled and then went to fetch Kouga's food.

When she came to him with it, and set the tray on the window, he said, "Kagome."

She stopped and turned, but didn't look at him. She was busily writing on her notepad, ignoring him. "What?"

He waited in silence until she did look at him. She frowned, and heaved a big breath at the look on his face before skating away.

Asshole! You don't own me, she thought, wishing she could flip him off, but couldn't. If she were anywhere else but here...

Inuyasha watched Kagome skate around, then pulled out a cigarette.

"I hope you brought enough to share," Miroku chided, a grin on his face. Inuyasha smiled back, and offered he and Sango the box. Sango took one, as did Miroku. Sango needed the release of tension the shot of nicotine would give her. She tended to wind up tighter than a spring when her boyfriend and her best friend were in the same vicinity.

Miroku lit hers and his own, but Inuyasha lit his himself.

When Kagome came back for her ten-minute break, he offered her one, and she gladly took it, and he lit it for her. She could feel Kouga's eyes on her, but she didn't care. She was with her friends, and if he didn't like it, he could fuck off.

Kouga watched her, his food half-finished in his lap. He'd recognised the dog-boy from the first day of school, when he'd slammed his face into the lockers. He was itching to do it again, when Kagome sat closer to him than Kouga liked.

Getting out, he strode over to them and growled, "Get away from her, mutt-face."

Inuyasha was an easy-going guy, but insults directed at his mixed blood got his back up, and he said calmly, "Piss off, wolf. I have as much right to be here as you do."

"Yeah, Kouga," Miroku interceded. "Have a hairy canary, why don't you?"

Kagome blew out smoke through her nose and leaned back onto the hood. "Kouga, go back to your car. You're only embarrassing yourself."

Kouga's blood began to burn. Couldn't she see how badly he wanted her?

Inuyasha dropped his cigarette butt, mashing it with his shoe. "Better do as she says, wolf."

Kouga looked at Kagome, then back at Inuyasha, before he smiled. "You want this bitch, don't you? I can smell it all over you. You're as horny for her as a tomcat in heat. Don't think for one second that you've got a chance, dog, 'cause when she finally dumps Houjo, she's mine!"

Inuyasha just stood his ground and stared at him, his eyes hard. Kagome watched nervously, ready to jump in should Kouga take the fight to a violent level. Her cheeks were aflame at what he'd said.

Sango almost wished they would fight; she'd cheer Inuyasha till the bitter end.

Miroku slid off the car, and separated them with his own body. "Cool it, Kouga, before you bite off more than you can chew. Come on." Subtly Miroku began to herd Kouga away, before he finally spit on the ground at Inuyasha's feet in contempt and swaggered away to his car. Getting in, he slammed the door, started the engine, and screeched out of his spot, leaving black streaks on the pavement and turning up his radio so loud all demons near him held their hands over their ears; even Inuyasha flinched at the sound.

When he was gone, Kagome huffed out more smoke. "Sorry about that," she said to Inuyasha, who shook his head. "You don't have to apologise."

She laughed, "That's all I seem to do when you're around, isn't it?" She stopped smiling then and dropped her head into her hands, and began to cry.

Inuyasha put a hand on her shoulder, wanting so badly to tell her that it was okay, that he'd wanted to fight him for her, that he wouldn't have if she didn't want him to, and that he'd always be there for her.

Sango slid down off the hood, followed by Miroku, and knelt next to her. "Kagome, shh, don't get so upset. He's all talk, don't worry about him."

"She's right, Kags," Miroku added, rubbing her other shoulder. "Inuyasha and I wouldn't have let anything bad happen, right Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha nodded, "That's right. We'd have all looked out for you, Kagome." He didn't yet feel like he was close enough to her to call her Kags like the rest of her friends.

Kagome sniffed loudly, then wiped her eyes, determined to stop the tears. "I'm sorry, you guys. He just really stresses me out."

Inuyasha and Miroku sat back on the hood as Sango led Kagome to the bathroom to freshen up. Miroku shook his head. "Poor Kags."

Inuyasha looked at him askance. "How long has he been harassing her like that?"

Miroku snorted in contempt. "Since forever. That asshole only wants her cherry, that's it. But he won't fight Houjo for her because he's human; it isn't sporting," he crossed his arms and lifted his brows in Inuyasha's direction at this last.

Inuyasha lifted his lip in disdain. "What, he can't have her, so he makes her life miserable?'

"Yes, though I'm sure that's not entirely his intention," Miroku replied. "He thinks if he wears her down she'll eventually give in to him and dump Houjo for him. I highly doubt he's thought past the day he takes her cherry. He's not a big thinker, you know? He'll get tired of her and drop her, just like he does to everyone else. But he's got it in his head that he wants her, and he won't rest till he's had her."

Inuyasha frowned. What a fucking asshole, he was thinking, his arms and ankles crossed as they waited for the girls to return.

"Kagome needs to dump Houjo sure enough," Miroku remarked, looking Inuyasha in the eye, "but she also needs someone better than both Houjo and Kouga."

Inuyasha stared back at him, hearing the underlying meaning of his words. He was encouraging Inuyasha to be that someone.

"She'll get him," he promised, and, satisfied, both boys waited in silence until Sango returned without Kagome.

"She's okay now," Sango reported, sitting between them, "but she's not happy."

"I don't imagine she is, after that little display," Miroku commented. Inuyasha stared at his hands, at a loss as to what to say, besides, I'd like to kill that fucking wolf, and so on.

He looked at the big clock over the sign of the Drive-In. It read six forty-five. The Drive-In closed at seven, because today was a holiday. Ordinarily it was open till eleven on Saturdays.

"Well, Sango," Miroku said, yawning, "shall we go?" He put his arm around her shoulders. She nodded, and they bid Inuyasha good night before they drove away.

Inuyasha got up to go home when seven rolled around and there had been no sign of Kagome. The lot was empty and the lights were shutting down.

He rounded the corner and saw Kouga's car parked there, out of view of anyone at the restaurant.

What the hell? He thought.

Inu G'd

Kagome peeled off her skates on the back step, just outside the kitchen door, her grampa putting things away for the night behind her. The stretch of woods that ran behind the restaurant on the west side of her house loomed dark and forbidding, when normally she would never have even looked at it. Tonight, though, it gave her an uneasy feeling, that same feeling she'd gotten when Kouga had arrived earlier, only three times as worse.

Shaking her head, she thought, Get a grip, girl and walked past it on her way to the house, her socks making little noise in the grass as she padded through it.

She heard a rustling behind her, and stopped, listening. The wind shifted the leaves, but other than that silence reigned. Looking behind her, she searched the darkness for any sign of movement, but saw none.

Turning, she continued on, when out of nowhere a mass collided with her body and slammed her into the ground so hard the air was forced from her lungs in a great breath. Trying to get her fists up, she realised they were pinned beneath her and a pair of red eyes stared her right in the face, the smell of warm, fetid breath wafting over her as whatever held her down heaved its own breath. She opened her mouth to scream, but a hand covered it before she could utter a sound, and stayed over her mouth even though she bit it several times, tasting blood.

Kouga finally had her down, right where he wanted her. He was male, and could only control himself for so long. After he'd left, he'd worked himself into such a lather that his demon had finally taken control and, when the right moment had come, he'd stalked and hunted her down in an effort to appease his raging hormones.

Kagome wriggled desperately, fear giving her strength she didn't know she had. She writhed and bucked, lifting both of them clear off the grass, but was shocked enough to stop when she felt a hand reach between her body and the one holding her down, and the long, drawn-out riiiiiiiiip that followed as he attempted to pull her clothes off.

No, no, no, she kept thinking, this can't be happening, no!

The sun had cast an orange glow on the treetops, and she watched them in a sort of detached wonder; what was going on above her seemed to have floated away, and the sounds were echoing down a long tunnel. She closed her eyes, suddenly tired, before unconsciousness overtook her.

Inu G'd

Inuyasha turned right around and headed back the way he had come. Kouga had left a while ago. Why was his car still here?

He had a bad feeling, and half-way across the lot the smell of pure fear hit his nose like a ton of bricks. The scent was laced with Kagome's, and he broke into a run.

I'm coming, Kagome, hold on!

Inu G'd

Holy crap, is Inu going to make it on time??? Will he save her from the sexually-ravenous Kouga??? Will he live to see another day??? Find out, in the next chapter!!! Muahaha, nice little cliffy there. Don't worry, lots of reviews make my fingers fly, and another chapter is yours. Sigh. Writing is so satisfying!