EDITS: This chapter has been edited by me, so some of you may notice differences from the original version. Everything is still there, but some things have been added or changed. I just wanted to adjust the flow, and I believe this version is better.

Obligatory Disclaimer:

I don't own Inuyasha or any of the related characters.

Chapter 1 : The Proposition

"Small black coffee!"

Kagome called out over the small crowd of people waiting for their orders in the lobby. A small, elderly lady came up with a smile and thanked her sweetly. Handing her a dollar for a tip, she took her coffee and walked over to a over-stuffed chair near one of the large front windows, and made herself at home there. Kagome smiled back to her, put the dollar in the group tip jar, and kept things moving by grinding some more beans for the next espresso in the order line-up.

Ever since she had opened this place up about a year ago, it had been nearly non-stop business for the young entrepreneur. Unfortunately this also meant she had not really had any real time off in even longer. But business was business...and business was good. Besides, there were a few redeeming factors in her job.

First of all, she owned this place! She didn't have to answer to anyone else for the first time in her working life. It was hard work, but it was also amazing!

Second, she loved to see the smiles that her gourmet coffee creations could bring to someone's face, even if their day had been absolute hell before they took that first sip.

A chime rang and Kagome looked towards the door just in time to see the third reason walk inside.

He was very hard to not notice, literally standing head and shoulders above most of her clientele. This man was at least 6' 4", all lean muscle, and had an air of mystique that sent her heart a flutter. Not just hers, of course. Out of the corner of her eye she could make out a group of 3 young women, no older than 19, stop their gossiping long enough to just stare dreamily at him. Kagome cracked a smile at the whole scene playing out, but even she couldn't blame them for staring. She had done her share of staring too.

Out of the stereotypical criteria of 'tall, dark, and handsome', he fit two. Tall, check. Handsome, absolutely. Dark...not so much, in fact, very much to the contrary. His skin was pale and flawless. And he had the longest, most impossible silvery-white hair she had ever seen on someone under the age of 70! Sometimes she caught herself wondering if it felt as much like silk as it looked. He was like moonlight itself. Except for his eyes. His eyes were like flawless tiger's-eye stones, warm and piercing.

She felt her face get warmer, and instinctively knew that she was blushing. She shook it off, snapping herself out of the daydream and back to reality. Grabbing a tall paper cup, she quickly marked his usual order on it and added it to the line-up. He had come in on the first day the coffee shop opened, and every day since. She knew his order by heart. Between herself and the two others on shift they quickly made the rest of the orders in time to have his ready right as he walked up to the counter, credit card at the ready. She turned and smiled brightly to him, latte in hand.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Taisho. Here's your twisted mocha, extra shot."

The smile he gave back to her was soft but bright. "Thank you, Kagome,' he replies before grinning at her. "I suppose I have to remind you, again, that you can call me Sesshomaru. 'Mr. Taisho' sounds so...formal." He said the last word while making a face. He knew it would make her smile, and it did.

Grinning a bit more than a moment ago, Kagome shrugs and replies playfully "I suppose you do." She takes his card, rings up the coffee, and slides the receipt across the counter for him to sign. He signs it, but as he is passing it back he keeps his fingertips on the little slip of paper, holding it to the counter so she couldn't move it just yet.

"Uh...Kagome...?" His voice was only slightly quieter than moments ago, but it was clear he only wanted her to hear him. Puzzled, she simply looked up at him, allowing him to continue.

"If you can, please, I would like to speak with you for a few moments. I know this is an unusual request, but you would be doing me a favor." Those amazing golden eyes had captured hers as he spoke. Caught off-guard, all she could do was just breathe for a moment. She turned to glance back at the other two employees. They, of course, had overheard the whole thing. One was giving her a thumbs-up, the other was shooing her off as if to say "Just GO!"

Kagome rolled her eyes and groaned to herself at her co-worker's enthusiasm. She turned back towards Sesshomaru, certain that she was a few more shades of red now, and nodded, trying to give her best attempt at a calm smile "It seems I can take a break right now, if you'd like. Have a seat and I will come find you in a minute." A slightly relieved smile crossed his lips and he nods back. He takes his coffee and wanders off in search of a place for them to sit.

Kagome was speechless for a good minute. Good thing there was no one else in line at the time or they would have seen the utter confusion on her face as she simply stared after him, blushing like mad. She tried to gather her thoughts as best she could before she asked the other baristas to take over for a while. They, however, needed no further prompting. Before she knew what was happening one was removing the small black serving apron from around her waist while the other quickly fussed with her hair a bit. One of them, which one was unclear, muttered something about how Kagome should have been wearing the blue shirt and damning the bad luck of it all but she supposed white would have to do.

After a few more seconds of fussing with her (and mumbling to each other) they stepped back to appraise their work. Seemingly satisfied, Kagome was handed an over-sized mug of her favorite tea and ushered out from behind the counter and towards the seating area, stage-whispering a less than helpful "Smile! Just relax! Good luck!" at her from behind. Kagome groaned quietly again to herself, shook her head, and just started moving forward. "Yeah...thanks a lot, guys..."

It didn't take long to find where Sesshomaru had decided to sit. He had chosen a lovely corner seat. With the larger plush seats and plants she had decorated the area with, this corner in particular offered more privacy than most for a discrete conversation. The light streaming in from the large windows behind him had cast him in almost a halo effect of sunlight. He looked angelic.

Kagome felt her heart stop for a moment and her breath catch in her throat. Gods, did he even know how he looked to her right now? What could a man like this possibly have to ask her? What kind of favor could she even possibly do for him? There was only one way to find out. She cleared her throat lightly and sat down as gracefully as she could, setting her mug down on the table between them, and waited.

All around them there was the normal cacophony of murmuring voices and idle chit-chat of a busy coffee shop, but that only made the silence between them feel like an eternity. It was so nerve racking that she wondered if maybe she had hallucinated the whole thing, and that she was sitting there awkwardly for no reason at all. Just as she thought about standing up and going back to work, he turned his head and looked at her softly.

The look he held in his eyes caught her off-guard. It held a kind of awkwardness around the edges. Was he...nervous? Kagome had never seen him as anything but completely confident. The way he held himself, the way he walked, spoke, and behaved. Nothing like the look on this man sitting in front of her.

She must have begun to look concerned, because after another moment he seemingly brought himself back from whatever thought he had a moment ago, cleared his throat a bit, and dropped his gaze to the paper coffee cup in his hands. He was turning it carefully back and forth with his fingers, almost fidgeting with it, before he glanced back up at her and finally spoke.

"Thank you for talking with me, Kagome. I know this is probably pretty odd, given that we don't usually sit and talk like this, but I really don't know what else to do."

There was only a beat or two of silence this time before he continued.

"You see, I have a...problem, of sorts...and I am hoping that you might be able to help me solve it."

She could only nod as she saw that small flicker of hope he had mentioned in his gaze, which had shifted to being ever so slightly pensive. She prayed it was actually something she could help him with. She didn't speak, just nodded, letting him continue.

"You see, my family is gathering together for my half-brother's wedding this weekend. I am more than happy to attend, he's my brother and I'm happy for him. So, the wedding isn't the problem. But before I tell you the actual problem, and ask my favor, I have to explain something about my family." He pauses for a moment to make sure she was keeping up with him so far, and once she nods in acknowledgment he continues.

"I was the first born son. And because it is my younger brother getting married, my family has expressed concern that I am not in a relationship, myself." He smirks ruefully to himself "As 'modern' as my parents try to be, some of their notions are still rather old-fashioned... and this is one of them." As Sesshomaru leaned back a bit and took a sip of his coffee, Kagome couldn't help but think it was strange how he used the word 'modern'. As if he were implying that his parents were from a different era, rather than just a different generation.

That ended up being a fleeting thought, however, as other thoughts began aligning things in her mind based on the conversation thus far. Her heart began to ache a bit as the scenarios wove through her thoughts and one of them kept repeating itself...he was going to ask if she had any available friends he could meet. Of course that was it...what else could it be? Deciding she must resign herself to the inevitable, she began going over a mental list of friends she had.

Sango had been with Miroku for a year by this point, so not her. Rin was becoming quite the beautiful young lady, but she was still a teenager, so she was too young for him. Kagura was gorgeous, but was an absolute diva about it, so she's a flat-out no. It was at this point in her thought process that he continued to speak, bringing her focus back to him.

"Look...I know you have only ever known me as one of your regular customers here, and this is the most we've really ever talked before in one go...even though I'm doing all the talking right now..." A bit of a rosie hue filled in across his high cheekbones, Kagome couldn't believe what she was seeing. She took a long, slow sip of her tea to keep herself calm and focused.

"All the same, you were the first person who came to mind whenever I thought about this issue." As she was setting the mug back on the table, he took her hand away from it, holding it in both of his and looked into her eyes for several heartbeats before returning his gaze to the table. She realized, in shock, that he was nervous! What on Earth...?! Even if her brain could actually process this bit of information in that moment, she couldn't have imagined, not even in her wildest dreams, what he was about to say next.

"Kagome, it would be an honor...and you would be doing me a huge favor...if you would agree to go with me to my brother's wedding...as my date."