A/N: I AM SO HAPPY! Your reviews made me feel so nice and warm inside! Thank you for the feedback! Now I understand why authors like reviews so much.

Disclaimer 1: Again, this is not my original idea. That belongs to my favorite author, Kimiko888!

Disclaimer 2: If I was the most richest person in the world, I would buy the rights for Inuyasha, but since I can't even buy my own shoes, we'll just leave it to Takahashi.

Chapter 2: Fateful encounters

After Sango dropped me off, I went to open my door. I took out my key but I hesitated for one second. Which way was I supposed to turn it? I stood outside, trying to remember a rhyme my mom taught me after I was stuck outside for 4 hours, even with my key with me.

"Righty tighty, left loosey?" I said to myself. Eh, wouldn't hurt to try it. I turned the key. Thankfully the door opened.

I think I might have to write that down.

I stepped in and immediately, I knew something was up. It was quiet.

Too quiet.

I glanced at the clock. It was only three in afternoon. Where was my family? I glanced around. Maybe they went out or something. I smiled at the thought that I had the house to myself. I took another step inside and I heard a snap.

"AHHHHH!"

I was hoisted into the air, my ankle caught in the trap someone had set. I only had one thought in mind as I dangled from the roof and water dripped from my clothes.

Seek and destroy.

I was stuck and with no one in the house. I was probably going to be stuck here for a long while. I crossed my arms, slowly turning around. I bet Souta and Kohaku were trying out one of their traps from that hunting book my grandpa gave them.

Now what was I supposed to do? I tried to untie myself but I couldn't raise my body up.

"Great! Just great!" I yelled, falling back upside doww.

This just wasn't my day. First Miroku and now this? I let my hands fall at my sides. At this rate, I was going to be really late for work. I started to get dizzy as all the blood started rushing into my head. Then I saw something glint in the sunlight.

"Scissors!" I cried when I saw them. Maybe I could swing toward them! I pushed myself a little, until I started to swing. I was getting close.

"Just a little more!" My hand touched the tip of the scissors. Damn. I swung again. This time I was able to grab them.

"Thank god!" I had them in my hand until I realized something.

I couldn't raise myself up.

I groaned. How could I be so stupid? I smacked myself in the head, but that only made me get a headache with all the blood that was rushing into my head. I tried to lift my upper body again. I almost made it that time. I just needed motivatation! I thought about how my coach would yell at us in gym class. Maybe that would help. I could imagine her yelling at me.

It worked. I cut the thread, but I fell flat on my butt.

"Ouch," I rubbed my sore rear and stood up. I glanced at the clock.

3:15!

I dashed up the stairs as fast as I could without tripping. I was so cold from getting wet, that I couldn't feel my feet or my fingers. In fact, I think they were turning blue. I ached for a nice, hot bath but now I didn't have time. Sango was going to pick me up at three twenty. I threw off my wet clothes and went inside my closet. I grabbed my clean uniform and put it on. I checked myself in the mirror.

I looked good enough to leave the house.

Just then, Sango honked outside. I dashed down the stairs and out the door. I smiled as I got into Sango's car. The fuzzy interior was nice on my cold skin.

"Hey Sango," I greeted, buckling my seat belt.

"Hey Kagome! Guess what?" She was practically jumping in her seat.

"What, Sango?" I asked, turing to her. Something was making her happy.

" I have a date with Miroku after work!" She squealed. I laughed and playfully rolled my eyes. Everybody knew that even though they were always at their wit's end, they loved each other secretly. I grinned at the thought. At least she was getting something from her man.

Me? Not so much. I didn't even have a man.

"Ah. Sango, you're lucky. At least you have a love life!" I laughed.

"Kagome, don't say that. I bet if you put your mind to it, you could snag Inuyasha in five seconds flat!" She waved one her hands.

"Sure. And Kikyo is my best friend," I shot back, my own way of saying there's no way in hell that would happen. Mentioning her wasn't like me. I didn't talk about my cousin at all. I hated her. She thought she was all that just cause her daddy's rich. I didn't even have one to begin with. I sighed deeply.

"Kagome, are you okay?" Sango noticed my sudden change of mood. She just knew me too well.

"I was only thinking of my dad. His anniversary is in two weeks time."

She nodded, choosing to keep silent. I was grateful for it.

Talking about my dad wasn't hard anymore. I'm a lot better than I was the first year. That's when Kikyo started to rub everything in. She even went as low that she made fun of me at school, making jokes on how my father was dead. She only stopped because I gave her a fist in her face and threatened that is she didn't stop, she was dead. All those years in karate finally paid off.

We made it to the store, parking in the employee parking in the back. Sango just made it, but I didn't. The small alarm went off at exactly three thirty.

"Oh, not again!"

Suddenly, the lights turned off. Before I knew it. I was bound to a chair and a spotlight hit me.

"Why were you late, Higurashi?" I heard Kurena's voice. I couldn't see her but I knew she was there.

"I've been having a bad day you know, and you're only making it worse, Kurena." I replied to the darkness. Did she have to do this every time I was freaking late? She stepped out into the light. Kurena had red brown hair, not like Ayame's but darker. She had a cool eye color too, gray. She was professional today, wearing a suit, but these bouts of professionalism kind of missed her a lot. Usually, she didn't even wear a uniform. And did she ever get fired? Nope.

"Well. . . Okay!" She squealed and just as sudden that the lights went off, they came back on.

"Kurena, is it necessary we do this every time I'm late?" I said, voicing my thoughts. She started to untie me, and I noticed Miroku was already here.

"It more fun like this! I get to be like one of those scary detectives on TV!" her chipper voice reached an octave higher. That was one the reasons I almost didn't believe she was an adult. She acted so much like a kid, I would forget that she's four years older than me, but I guess that's what I liked about her. Granted she wasn't always like this, she could be serious too. Maybe that's why she dressed up today.

When I was finally released from the clutches of the "Scary Detective" I stood up and punched in my card. Sango was already gone and the only one in here was Miroku, as Kurena had already left. I turned to him.

"So Miroku, still jealous about losing the position?" I taunted him. He just waved his hand.

He smiled mischievously. "Naw, it was just an excuse to pull a good prank on you."

"Well, I guess we're even then."

He nodded and then left to go check out the carts. Ha, suits it right.

On my way out, I bumped into Ayame. Ayame worked as a shelf stocker. She wore the apron part of the uniform, but never the shirt and pants. She complained about it being to "blah", to put it in her own words. Under it, she wore a lime green shirt over a neon orange one, with a bright almost-blind-sighting-yellow sash that tied around her waist. She had bright red shorts that matched her hair and her feet were adorned with a pair of written-over Hot pink converse. She even had her trade mark rainbow colored socks that were knee high.

I smiled. Typical working day clothes for the fashionista.

I could NEVER pull it off, but somehow she made all the colors blend and they looked really nice on her. Today she didn't have her hair in pigtails, but instead had her hair down. She even had choppy bangs and did I mention the purple highlight in her hair? Yeah, she had one of those too.

"Hey Kagome! Were you late today again?" She smiled knowingly, tilting her head at me.

"Yeah, yeah." I scowled a bit. "I had to go through Kurena's "Scary detective on TV" Act. I mean, where does she watch these things?" I threw my hands in the air in frustration. She nodded, understanding my pain.

"So any luck with that Inuyasha guy?" She asked, turning to face me as we walked. My face fell a little at the mention.

"No. Inuyasha still doesn't know I exist," I sighed. We started walking out of the lounge and into the store. Ayame patted my arm.

"Don't worry, you'll get there. It took Kouga three years to realize I was the one for him!" She brightened up at the mention of her fiancée, Kouga. If he was still in high school, he'd probably be one those all star jocks.

"Yeah. The problem is that someone else likes him too," We made it to my register.

"And it's a friend?"

I shook my head. "On the contrary, it's one of my worst enemies!" I said, making a face. She nodded and then laughed.

"Oh high school drama, how I miss it!" She stretched a little and she turned to leave, but not before glancing back at me.

"Hang in there, Kagome! I know you'll get him soon!" She smiled and left. Maybe she was right. I turned on the register light and got to work. Kurena had already taught us all how to work the register.

Grab, Scan, put in bag.

Grab, Scan, put in bag.

Grab, Scan, put in bag.

That was routine enough. It wasn't till I noticed someone familiar did anything change. It was my very conservative history teacher. Never wore anything that wasn't a turtleneck, even in the hot months. And her skirts always reached to her ankles. Truthfully, her nickname among the students was, ""

Imagine my surprise when I see what she was buying. Lingerie. Black lacy lingerie. I almost gagged at the sight.

"Why, hello Kagome! How are you?" She beamed, as if there was nothing out of the ordinary for a student to see a teacher's underwear.

I just put on a plastic smile. No need to show her my real facial expresion. Man, I didn't know she was like that! I quickly scanned her item and let her walk out.

Thankfully, no one was in my lane so I had the liberty to bang my head on the wall. What the hell? How did she even wear that if she was so conservative? I tried to burn the mental image she just gave me. Burn! My head started to hurt but I couldn't stop. Where did she even get it? Did we even sell it?

"Banging your head there won't help solve any of your problems, you know."

I didn't have to look up to see whose voice that was.

Inuyasha.

"Oh, umm, I'm sorry," I quickly mumbled as I scanned his soda and chips. He smiled and swear I almost died right there.

"Don't aplogize to me, apologize to yourself. That must really hurt," He didn't stop smiling. I could feel the blush creeping into my cheeks. First time I ever cursed for having pale skin. All I could do was nod.

"Well, see you." And with that he left.

I had to catch myself. What was that? He was never like this at school, so why the sudden change in disposition? Come to think of it, I noticed what everyone was buying and how it was so contrary to what they looked like. It was like I was looking into something more of what they were as opposed to what the world judged them for.

That made sense.

I'd never seen Inuyasha smile before either. That was weird but . . . nice. He had a beautiful smile and he seemed to glow when he did. I wonder if he knew who I was? Maybe. Hopefully this wasn't a dream and he did talk to me. Maybe this job wasn't so bad after all. I could find out all about him by what he bought! I could totally figure him out now! And maybe I could get some dirt off of other people too.

I looked at the time and noticed my shift was about to end. I turned off the register light and made my way over to Sango. She was already done ready to leave, so we just punched out and walked to her car.

"You seem happy." Sango commented, giving me a knowing grin. I had been smiling non-stop.

"Yeah." I couldn't help but sigh dreamily.

"So what happened?" She asked, putting the car into drive.

I sighed happily again and looked at the starry night.

"I guess I had one of those fateful encounters."

A/N: Finally! Man, I'm so tired I'm not sure if I'll be up at all tomorrow. Its like 3:20 AM! Why am I up so late? Because my mom had to make some tamales for Christmas eve and she just had to start at 8:00! Gosh, sometimes being latino is hard work! Besides, I wanted to write this so badly, because you guys gave me such nice reviews! I love them so keep them up and I'll reward you with chapters that will knock your socks off! Goodnight y'all!

-Daichilover

8/17/11

Daichi: Here's the edit for this chapter! I hadn't done them in a long time, so I fixed this one nicely. Tell me what you think!