Chapter 2

"Kagome. Kagome wake up." A deep voice brought Kagome out of her slumber. Kagome groaned and tried to roll back over and fall back to sleep. "Wench wake up." The voice said in a harsher voice then the first.

"What time is it?" her response was slowly sitting up rubbing her eyes. She opened her eyes to find the hanyou staring down at her. His golden eyes looked at her with such interest; his long hair that was usually down whenever she saw him was pulled into a low pony tail.

"Its seven thirty, Sesshomaru said that you should get a bit more rest today and if you feel better tomorrow you can help work, they're starting on the school today." He said sitting at the end of the bed.

"So why aren't you helping out?" Kagome asked.

"Because Sesshomaru wants me to watch over you, the old hag had to go to the city and grab some medical supplies." He replied.

"Oh okay." Kagome said looking down.

Awkward silence.

"Damn screw this." Inuyasha said under his breath, scratching the back of his neck. "Ok so I kind a think we had a bad start. You probably think I'm some horn dog or something, and I don't want this to be so damn awkward, so do you want to just start over?" Inuyasha said staring straight at Kagome.

Pause.

Laughter was all that you could hear throughout the hut. Inuyasha just stared at her like she had just gone nuts.

After her laugh attack ended Kagome looked at him with a huge smile on her lips.

"A horn dog eh?" she giggled again. He looked at her and smiled a genuine smile. Kagome's smile turned into a gaze, that smile was the most stunning smile she had ever seen. She wondered if he smiled like that often.

She returned the smile and stuck out her hand.

"Kagome Higurashi, it's nice to meet you."

Inuyasha looked at her hand then back at her face with one eyebrow raised. But then clasped her hand, but he didn't shake. He brought the back of her hand up to his mouth and placed a delicate kiss on it.

"Inuyasha Takahashi, and the pleasure is all mine." He gave a playful wink. "Now my dear I do believe we should get on our way to feed you, how does that sound?" standing beside the bed still holding her hand.

"That sounds splendid." She replied in a fake English accent, and she gladly accepted his hand to help her out of bed.

She was still a bit shaky from the heat stoke but she was glad that nothing was spinning any more. The two made there way to the "mess hall" as it was dubbed. An average sized hut that had two long tables beside each other and in the back a cooking corner, with a small food storage next to a table.

Inuyasha brought a chair out for Kagome and she sat down, smiling in gratitude. Then Inuyasha walked over to the corner with all the cooking supplies, and smirked playfully.

"Well since the cooks seem to be on there break I will be your cook for this morning. And since are menu is very limited, shall I cook you up the surprise of the day?" Inuyasha asked lightheartedly pulling out some pots and pans, afterwards grabbing some food from the storage.

"That sounds just wonderful, chef." She laughed. She sat and watched as he added ingredients and threw them into the pan which was burning under a clay stove. She watched every movement done from cracking a couple eggs against a bowl to his eyebrows which would go inwards in concentration while he flipped the food in the pan. She saw him glance at her and she quickly averted her eyes, blushing at the fact that she had been staring a little too intensely.

"Voila."

Kagome looked up to Inuyasha who was smiling down at her, his eyes kept her own in a trance, her heart missing one to many beats.

"Now I know it's not restaurant worthy but it still tastes good I promise." He said sitting across from her. Kagome finally seemed to control her eyes again and looked down in front of her where a plate with a golden egg omelet with red and green peppers and ham, sat in front of her, with a glass of milk. It looked delicious, she picked up the fork next to the plate and broke a bit of the omelet off she placed it in her mouth and chewed. Inuyasha had his head turned but his stare didn't leave her face, well to be more precise her eyes.

Kagome looked completely shocked. "This is the best omelet I have ever had." She stated, taking another bite.

Inuyasha began to laugh at her. "You've only had one bite, you can't say that."

Kagome looked at him with a frown lying on her face, "I can too. I've had many omelets in my life and this one beats them all." She said almost stuffing the rest of the omelet in her mouth.

"Alright, alright whatever you say." He said in a disbelieving tone.

"I'm serious, this is the best omelet ever." She said pointing at him with her fork with some of the omelet on it.

Inuyasha gave her look then looked down at the fork. He leaned forward and bit the rest of the egg off of it. Then sat back and chewed on it.

"Well it is pretty damn good if you don't mind me saying so."

"Urgh, men! Always fishing for a compliment." she grunted out but still holding a smile.

Kagome finished her omelet off, mumbling about dog germs whenever she took the fork out of her mouth. Inuyasha only found this amusing.

"Hey Kagome?" he asked, as she was drinking her milk.

"Mmmm?" she responded back, trying to drink at the same time.

"How come you decided to come here? It's just that to me it doesn't seem like you're the type of girl too be in a situation like this." Inuyasha asked propping his one elbow on to the table and laying his head on his hand.

"Really I don't seem like the type of girl, hey? What type of girl do you think I am?" Kagome asked suspiciously, giving him a bit of a glare.

"Well no… that's not what I… it's just…I can explain…I" Inuyasha stammered back. He was looking a little nervous.

Kagome gave out a laugh. "I was kidding you know." The relief on Inuyasha's face was priceless. "No I know what your thinking what is a pretty girl doing out here, right?" Inuyasha gave a slow nod.

"Not many people can see past themselves and that's kind of why I did it. People always seem to think that because you have a pretty face you don't have to worry about anything but yourself. And I was sick of it. So I took action and took a step to trying to help others, to step out of the box of comfort and help people who are less fortunate then we are." Kagome took a deep breath; no one had asked her why she was doing this. Kagome felt egged on to tell Inuyasha he seemed so intrigued when she was talking not taking his eyes off of her.

"So yeah, that's why I came. What about you, why did you come?" Kagome asked.

"Well after hearing you, I don't think you'll want to hear why I came." He gave a short laugh that sounded more like a snort. Kagome just stared at him, waiting. "Urgh fine, fine, I was dragged here by my brother; he said I needed to get out of the house."

Kagome looked at him, and then made a face that clearly said I'm holding in this laugh to be nice.

"And it wasn't any better when my father and mother encouraged it. I swear there are claw marks running down the hard wood floor, from my bed to the door." inuyasha said and when he finally looked at Kagome's face he could see the bundle of laugher that wanted to get out.

"Kagome please breathe your going a little red in the face." That was it Kagome started laughing, tears and all.

Inuyasha swore that he was having the hardest time keeping his eyes off hers, her beauty, her personality, even the small dimple on her left cheek made him just admire.

Kagome looked at him; he was just staring at her. Not one emotion, deep in thought almost.

"What is it? Is there something on my face?" she asked automatically touching her cheek.

"Uh what? Oh sorry. No, its nothing, and your face is perfect." Kagome face blushed automatically but before she parted her lips, Inuyasha's expression changed quickly. "Uh what I mean is, let me grab that for you." He stood up quickly grabbing Kagome's empty plate and glass, walking over to the sink and rinsing it off.

Kagome looked towards the back of Inuyasha, she was astonished by him, by every stupid little thing he did. There had always been guys complimenting her, showering her with un-necessary gifts, she'd always been grateful, accepting them; but denying their intentions. But the second this boy even smiled at her, she couldn't help but think that she was jumping off a cliff, just waiting for herself to hit reality again.

"Kagome do you want to check out the school?" Inuyasha asked leaning on the table staring straight at her.

Nope she was still in the air.

"Yeah I'd like that." She smiled and stood up. The two walked outside the hut, Inuyasha opening the door for her. The second she stepped out the door she bumped into something hard. Falling backwards, luckily Inuyasha caught her in time.

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't see you there." Kagome said looking up. "Oh."

"Why hello there Kagome, how are we this morning?" It was Naraku.

"I'm doing good, thank you." Kagome said shivering, as if a cold chill went right through her, from his intense stare. She was really glad that Inuyasha was holding on to her, her comfort right that moment lead with him.

Inuyasha glared at him, he was staring at Kagome with a look like she was a piece of meat. And he didn't like the thought of this creep ogling up her. A small growl so low that only demons could hear emitted from his chest. The second he started Kagome instantly leaned more into his arms. A small smirk played on his lips, her reaction was so automatic, that it pleased him.

Naraku took his eyes off his eye candy, to look up at the one who interrupted his conversation. A low hiss was heard, but ended just as quickly.

He looked back at Kagome. "I'll be off now, we will talk another time." Naraku turned sharply and walked away. She did nothing but the tiniest nod.

Inuyasha turned Kagome in his arms. "Are you ok?"

Kagome shook off her last shiver and nodded. "Yeah I'm fine. Common let's get going." She said and began walking.

Inuyasha paused for a second and looked towards the direction Naraku exited.

'I'll talk to Sesshomaru about that.' He thought, and then ran after Kagome.

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'Stop staring, stop staring, just look away, common concentrate.'

"Miroku what are you doing back there! These things are heavy lets move!" Shippou yelled holding on to one end of the four long planks of wood.

"Uh…Er. Yes. Let us move these." Miroku said grabbing hold of another end, his eyes averting away from the object of his affection.

"Miroku what's a matter with you? You've been distracted all morning." Shippou asked walking over to the saws.

The group had started building the school, starting with the outer form, so far two of the four walls were outlined and up. Having demons really sped things up, as well as an uptight contractor who was on a tight schedule.

"It's nothing, my fox friend." Miroku said as convincingly as he could.

"Wow I don't even have to be demon to know your lying." Shippou took a pause to place the wood planks down near the saw.

"I'm not lying a man never lies." Miroku started taking a plank of wood and a saw and started cutting it in half, for the walls.

Shippou rolled his eyes and grabbed another plank grabbing a second hand saw and began on cutting that one in half. Shippou then side glanced at Miroku smirked and brought his eyes back to his work. "Sango looks nice in those shorts doesn't she?"

A loud screech pierced Shippou's eardrums, followed by a pop. Shippou quickly looked over, and took in the sight. A second later he burst out laughing. Their standing was a saw dust out line of Miroku's face. And to make Shippou's hysterics even worse he let one loud cough out, blowing out a cloud of sawdust. Miroku shook his head where most of the dust fell off, wiping the rest off with his shirt. He then grabbed a bottle of water, gurgled a mouth full and spat out the dust that was left in his mouth.

"Yes very funny Shippou, please don't choke on your own spit now." Miroku said, returning to his work.

"What are you talking about it was the funniest thing I've seen in my life!" Shippou laughing went down to almost nothing. "But you know you should go talk to her if you like her."

"Is it that noticeable that I find her attractive?" Miroku asked in defeat.

"Uh duh. You haven't been able to keep your eyes off her since you saw her first thing this morning, and don't you share a hut with her? God you must have stared at her while she slept." Shippou laughed jokingly.

"Well uh about that." Miroku looked nervous. "I kind of woke up a bit early just to watch her sleep before waking her up."

"You didn't! Miroku that is creepier then anything I've ever heard of." Shippou stared at him dumbfounded.

"It wasn't like that! But yes she wasn't too happy with me when I awakened her either." Miroku said holding a hand to his face.

(-)(-)(-) Early That Morning (-)(-)(-)

A light snore awoke Miroku; he had always been a light sleeper. He reached under his pillow and grabbed his watch it was 4:45 am; Sesshomaru would be coming around to wake everyone up in 15 mins. So he rolled over and planned to sleep the last 15, but then a light snore stopped him. He sat up and looked to his left, where the source of the snoring came from. A small smile played on Miroku's face. He stood up walking over to the cot next to his, he leaned over and his smile only grew.

Sango was fast asleep, lying flat on her back, mouth ajar, both hands above her head.

Now Miroku being, well Miroku, couldn't help but notice how beautiful this girl slept. He brought his hand up and lightly grazed the side of Sango's cheek with the back of his fingers. He has always been interested in women, and finds everyone unique, but for some reason when he first led eyes on her he couldn't help but be completely intrigued.

Trapped in his own thoughts was cut short by the women under his hand rolling to her side. Which he hadn't noticed that she was sleeping over the covers…in shorts, now Miroku was a man of course and most men could not pass up a chance like this. So the hand that was once on her cheek slowly made its way to a certain curve.

Now if Miroku was smart he would have left it as a touch and nothing more, but Miroku didn't seem to have this quality at 4:55 am.

Squeeze

Sango sat up faster then lightening, bug eyed, and no sign of sleep on her face.

"Umm…Good morning Sango."

Not even the most charming smile could stop the hurricane.

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"No wonder Sango wasn't in a happy mood at breakfast; she was glaring daggers at you that if looks could kill you'd be the world's unluckiest dart bored." Shippou said.

"I couldn't help myself I was in a trance." Miroku stated.

"Have you even said sorry yet?" Shippou asked.

"She hasn't let me. I tried to but I was un-conscious by the first two hits." Miroku explained.

"Maybe you should try now, because it's been a couple of hours. She should have calmed down by now." Shippou affirmed.

"You are right, I should. Shippou can you take over for me, just for a bit?" Miroku asked standing up, brushing off his knees.

"Sure can do, go get um' tiger!" Shippou yelled out to Miroku's departing figure. "Man for a human he sure can be love blind." Shippou heard a soft snort behind him, he looked over and saw Kirara turn her head swiftly and walked promptly away. "Guess that makes two of us."

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Sango had been working hard ever since they got to the construction site, trying to keep her wind off killing a certain boy. Everyone around seem to have caught the hint of her want to be alone. It was also good because she could also think without interruption.

'Who does he think is?! Waking me up like that! At of all things to do! I thought he was a descent, well mannered…attractive, great smile, amazing hair guy. Man was I wrong…well on the first two at least.' The problem was as much as she tried to stay mad at him she couldn't; she was attracted to him. Ever since this morning she couldn't get her mind off of him, weather it was planning on how to kill him to how nice he was the day before.

"Stupid, stupid." Sango mumbled to her self.

She picked up hammer and put it so the head was in her pocket; she then picked up a nail and a wooden wedge for the top corner of the outlined wall.

"…Now how am I going to do this." She said holding the wood up in the corner with one hand and the nail with the other hand.

"Needs some help?"

Before Sango had time to turn around and see who it was, a warm body was pressed against her back. Her cheeks automatically blushed at the contact. She then felt a hand travel from her hip to her pocket with the hammer, and with one gentle tug it was out.

"Now hold it still."

"Miroku I can do this by myself you know." Sango tried as hard as she could to sound forceful. Let's just say that she was happy he was behind her cause she was blushing like mad.

"What's wrong with a little help."

His hand curled over her own hand that was holding the nail, making poor Sango turn even redder. He then raised his arm to the nail and started tapping in to the mood, which made him press his body a bit closer. Once the nail was fully in Miroku put the hammer back in her front pocket, but left his hand on her hip.

"I'm sorry for this morning, please don't be mad." Miroku whispered in her ear.

Sango's breath hitched, she then turned around in his arms.

"J-Just don't do that again, or else I won't think twice on killing you." She stuttered.

"Deal." He said.

"Uh Ahem." A voice behind them interrupted the deep tension between them. Kagura stood there with two bottles of water. Sango quickly pushed Miroku away, blushing like mad.

"Its not what it looks like!" Sango said as fast as she could.

"Whatever, it's not my business. These bottles are for you, Sesshomaru says we can't have anyone else fainting and since us demons can withstand the heat that means you two need to drink up." She threw one bottle to Sango and the other to Miroku.

"Thanks Kagura." Miroku thanked.

"Yeah whatever, but you should get back to your station boy cause Sesshomaru isn't one for slackers." Kagura stated before walking away.

"Yeah ok, I will." Miroku started walking away but gave a fleeting glance towards Sango.

Sango watched him walk away, until he was gone. She then looked left then right.

"Safe."

Victory dance! A couple jumps spins and giggles and it was out of her system. She then returned to work with a small smile on her lips.

The rest of the day went by quickly. After Sango and Miroku's little insistent Inuyasha and Kagome walked on to the site. Kagome left Inuyasha to keep Sango company. Sango worked, and Kagome helped as best she could without over exerting herself. Inuyasha wondered over to Miroku where he was made fun of for the morning incident. Where Inuyasha joined in on the construction, by lunch three walls where up. Once everyone took break for lunch and got back to work the group found that the fourth wall was going to be difficult. The ground seemed to be too uneven to support the wall. But by dinner they where able to get it up and stable. Everyone, including the demons who had to lift more heavy tools then usual, was exhausted and had a quick supper and went straight to there huts to get ready.

"Man I cannot wait to just close my eyes and sleep." Sango said jumping into her cot.

"If that last wall didn't cause a problem, today would have gone by a lot faster." Miroku agreed looking over towards Sango who just blushed and rolled over so her back was facing his cot.

"Well if you all are so tired, why don't you shut up and go to sleep." Inuyasha said already half asleep in his cot, which was located in front of Miroku's and next to Kagome's.

Kagome was sitting straight up on the edge of her bed, staring at the floor.

"Kagome are you ok? Aren't you going to lie down?" Sango asked glancing towards her best friend.

Kagome looked up towards Sango and quickly smiled. "Uh what? Oh yeah I'm fine." She then lied down straight on her back, and placed the blanket over her shoulders. Kagome stared straight up at the ceiling.

"Good night, guys." Sango yawned out before passing out.

"Sweet dreams." Miroku said, more towards Sango then the others.

"Yeah, night." Kagome said quietly.

Inuyasha turned his head over to her where, he could tell something wasn't right. He watched her roll over to her side, and pulled the blankets closer in. He waited till he could hear even breathing both closing his concerned eyes shut for his own rest.

2:06am

Small shuffling sounds, followed by the soft creek of the screen door didn't go unnoticed by a certain hanyou. His eyes opened just long enough to watch a black shadow creep outside. As soon as the door clicked closed Inuyasha was up and out of his bed, he quickly grabbed a light zip up sweater and threw it on, not bothering to zip it up. He made his way to the door. His sensitive nose already picked up the scent of the person, but his curiosity wasn't answered.

He walked following the scent, until he hit the middle of the village center.

And there she was sitting on a log in front of the fire pit, staring straight up towards the sky. He then walked over towards her, smiling softly.

"You know it's not safe for a girl to be out in the dark by herself." Inuyasha said taking a seat next to her.

Kagome was started not hearing him came near her, she looked at him and he just stared up as well.

"Sorry did I wake you up, I tried to be as quiet as I could." She asked feeling bad for potentially waking him up.

"No, lets just say that no matter how quiet you try to be ill hear you." He said pointing to his ears, but not taking his eyes off the sky.

"Yeah I guess." There was a comforter silence. "I've never seen the stars so bright; living in the city really has it down falls."

"Yeah it's nice, but there not that great." Inuyasha said.

"What's more beautiful then bright stars?" Kagome asked staring at his face.

Inuyasha finally turned his eyes away from the stars and looked straight towards Kagome. Gave a small smile and turned his eyes back.

"Just trust me on it." Without even looking at her he knew she was blushing. "So how come you're not sleeping like everyone else?"

"Oh." Kagome turned her head down, and tucked her knees into her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs.

Inuyasha watched her curl up and felt a throb of pain, he wanted so bad to hold her and tell her that it would be alright that he'd take her pain away from her, so she didn't have to hold it. Without noticing Inuyasha began growling deep within his chest, his demon side wanted so bad to take away her pain. His head slowly started pounding. Why wasn't he protecting her, why did he have the need to make her his, why wasn't she his. Inuyasha held the sides of his head. His blood was pumping faster; his body was losing control fast. His demon would soon take over.

"Inuyasha, Inuyasha. Are you ok?"

Inuyasha's golden eyes with a red tint stared into her own eyes. She was holding on to his hands that were pressed against his templates. She was standing in front of him leaning in, just inches away.

"Inuyasha?" she asked skeptical that his eyes were tinted red.

Taking Kagome by surprise he grabbed both sides of her face with his hands and pulled her those few inches closer so that their lips touched. The surprise wore off quickly, her eyes closed shut, pleasure over swept her. It felt like a fire had just ignited in her stomach, but as fast as it started it ended to as soon.

Both faces pulled back, Kagome instantly noted that his eyes didn't hold any more red in them. He looked scared, worried, and afraid. Her eyes quickly saw this and made a move. She grabbed his one arm wrapping it around her waist, while she sat side ways in his lap. The only expression left on his face was confusion.

"Kagome I'm sor-" Inuyasha was silenced, by a single finger.

"I get home sick, only at night but I get home sick. I get it really bad; I can't even go to sleepovers, unless it's at Sango's. I usually just cry until it passes. But for some reason the second you came and just sat next to me I forgot about it. When I'm around you I feel at home. I don't know what it is about you bout it helps me. Please just for tonight hold me." Kagome said closing her eyes and leaning in to his chest.

"I will." Inuyasha replied putting his chin on the top of her head as she fell fast asleep.

TBC

Gopher-guts