Oh, my God, you guys! I'm sooo sorry I haven't updated for so long! I've been terrible! I got my new laptop, and I keep telling myself I have to sit down and finish this thing, and then I get busy, or forget my idea, or gotta work...sigh, just too much shit going on, plus I'm trying to upload an account at for myself, under the name SessysGirlfriend, lol, what a knee slapper! But it all takes time, and this is all I've got so far, so please, again, forgive me if I take a while, I promise to get my ass on the ball, or I'm not a good writer!!!

Deds:

anime-lover-forever2007 - Wow, good thing I answer these, I almost forgot to add you to the story! I'll get on that now.

Kitsune's Lover - Well, Sass still stinks, but at least Rach is more involved with my work now. I've been drawing my characters from this story, and she's been colouring them, and I'm gonna post them, so check em out man! lol, her neighbours were fighting the other day...walls shaking...lights swinging...yelling...screaming...it was fun. I've been banned from colouring. As it turns out, I am colour-scheme retarded. Go figure.

Sweet Temptation

Naraku stared at the open door, still opening slowly on silent hinges. How had his plan gone so wrong? He threw his suit jacket over his shoulder, and inspiration hit him.

That bitch already knew. She'd known all along.

Clenching his fists, he walked over to Hakudoushi and kicked his gut, eliciting an "Oof!" from him as he rolled into the wall.

"Get up!" he barked, making to kick him again when he didn't move fast enough. "Let's go. We have work to do."

Taking the back way that led directly outside, Naraku told Hakudoushi to take Kagura home. He would be there shortly, after he'd seen to some unfinished business.

S.T.

Inuyasha laid on the horn. Ten blocks from the strip club, they'd run into a traffic jam, the five o'clock rush hour. It was well past seven-thirty now, but still the cars remained locked, idling and hot in the hazy evening, lightening forking down every so often, and only a few fat drops of rain so far had done anything to cool the warm air that rose above the cars stuck on the four-lane street.

In the backseat, Kouga elbowed Sango, and, sighing listlessly, she tried to make room to accommodate him. His legs were long, and he'd kept them bent for the last twenty minutes. She couldn't blame him for being uncomfortable. She herself felt soaked from sweat, and both her sisters tried vainly to fan themselves with their hands, but all they succeeded in doing was making their wrists sore.

The air conditioning had worked fine up until the jump; something had happened in the engine, and now all they got was hot air, so Inuyasha had turned the whole thing off, and rolled down all the windows, hoping to catch a breeze, but so far had felt none, only the sprinkle of warm rain on his forearm as it hung lazily out his window.

Suddenly, a buzzing was heard from the backseat, and Sango reached into her purse, and pulled out her cell phone.

Flipping it open, she answered, "Yo speak."

The voice on the other end was her friend Yuka, wanting to know why she hadn't called her back, and she ranted on and on as Sango tried to explain why she couldn't talk right now in case Kagome tried to phone her, but after listening to her for ten minutes and unable to get a word in, she'd simply hung up.

Ayame looked at her, and breathed, "Thank you."

Kouga smiled; he, too, was ready to throw Sango's phone out the window, had they not needed it.

A moment later, her phone rang again. Everyone in the car groaned, but Inuyasha toed the gas and moved ahead two metres before putting the Hatchback in park again.

Flipping open the phone, Sango said, "Yuka, if this is you, I'll-" but was silent after that. She frowned, then asked, "Who is this?"

After another pause, she said, "Why not?" Only hearing her end, Kikyou looked at Inuyasha. Who was she talking to?

"Okay. Thanks a lot. Bye." Flipping her phone shut, Sango said, "Some guy who knows Kags at the club says that we shouldn't go home, and that Kags and Sesshoumaru just left."

"Why not?" Inuyasha demanded. "Are you telling me we went through all this for nothing?"

"Basically, yes," she replied, "but he sounded really worried. I think we should-"

Sango's phone rang again, cutting her off.

"Hello?"

"Sango? It's Daichi. Where are you?"

"Stuck in traffic. Why?"

Daichi sighed in relief. His phone call from Sesshoumaru had had Amaya on her cell quicker than he could spit, informing the Feds who were now on their way.

"Stay there," he warned her. "Sesshoumaru's bringing Kagome home, then we're going up to the cottage. Meet us there. Call if anything at all goes wrong. Your sister got the Jewel and now Naraku has threatened to kill us all. We have to hide, until the Feds can get this situation under control."

"Okay, we'll meet you there. We can't move yet anyway."

"Well? Who was it this time?" Kouga asked.

"Your Father. Inuyasha, get off at the next side-street. We're going to your cottage."

S.T.

Kagura folded her arms and sat down hard in the back of the leather-upholstered limo. She was angry, and, even though she hadn't wanted to see Kagome's dance, she hadn't wanted to be separated from Sesshoumaru, either. She breathed out through her nose sharply, and sighed quickly.

If it wasn't one thing with her Father, it was another. She hated to be dismissed like that, and in front of Sesshoumaru, too, though she doubted that he'd cared. He'd been silent the whole ride, not even asking where they were going. She'd tried to keep the mood light, and it had been difficult to get him to look at her when he had decided that he was going to look away.

She'd fallen asleep in the limo while she waited, and when Hakudoushi opened and closed the driver side door, she felt the car rock and her eyes flickered open. Pressing the partition button down, she gasped when she saw his face in the rear-view mirror.

Looking up at her and wiping his face on his jacket sleeve, he said nothing about his broken nose and just pulled away, heading for home.

Holding her hand over her mouth in shock, Kagura wondered if Sesshoumaru had done that, then she wondered if her Father had done it - and if he had, her respect for him jumped a mile high. She made a mental note never to piss him off in the future if that was the consequence. Of course, if it were Sesshoumaru, maybe he was better off with Kagome; he could break her nose instead.

Silence fell between driver and passenger, and after a moment Hakudoushi rolled up the partition.

Kagura sighed again and looked out the window, seeds of doubt about her desire for Sesshoumaru sprouting in her mind. She had been unsuccessful in winning his love the clean way; apparently she didn't compare in sweetness and personality to Kikyou's sister in his eyes, and when quiet sweetness hadn't worked, she'd tried blackmail, and when that too, failed, she began to review her options. Did she really want to force someone to love her?

Her Father had guaranteed her that he would come around, given the right persuasion, but she was ready to drop it. After all, what point is there in a forced relationship? The hatred would only grow, and become something ugly and deformed. Very rare was the chance he would just come around.

Propping up her chin with her left palm, her elbow resting on her knee, she sighed.

Suddenly the phone rang, scaring the crap out of her, and when she picked it up, she dropped it on the floor, before finally grasping it firmly and answering, "Hello?", she took a deep breath, anticipating her Father to be on the other end.

Her intuition was right on the mark.

"Kagura, there's been a change in plans."

She breathed quietly. "I know, Daddy. It doesn't matter anymore. If he doesn't want me-"

"That's not what I'm talking about. That bitch sister of your friend has something of mine, and I want it back. Call her, and find out where she is."

She frowned. He had given up already? Somehow she wasn't too disappointed.

"Kikyou doesn't have a cell phone."

But Sango does.

Naraku sighed in exasperation, and hung up without bidding his daughter good-bye.

Kagura looked at the phone in her hand, and pictured her Father in her mind's eye. She shuddered at the sight, and decided to call Sango, and maybe, just maybe, she would warn them this time, instead of going against them. She was beginning to see just what a criminal her Father was turning out to be.

Hanging the receiver up, she looked out the tinted window again as the car came to a stop at a red light, and there, standing on the corner, waiting for the Walk sign, were Shippo and Rin.

Thinking fast, Kagura slid across the seat and rolled down the window, not at all sure she could trust Hakudoshi enough to ask him to pull over for them, and hissed, "Shippo! Rin!"

Looking over, they both cast her a wary and disgusted look, but she sighed exasperatedly and said, "I'm not after Sesshoumaru anymore, he doesn't want me, okay? I give up. But my Father is planning to do something terrible to him and Kagome, and we have to stop him."

Looking at each other, they weighed the risk of going with Kagura. She sounded sincere, but then she often did when she wanted something.

"Why should we believe you?" Shippo demanded, pulling Rin to him by her shoulders and keeping her there, despite the embarrassed flush on her cheeks.

Kagura racked her brain for proof they would believe before the light turned, but could come up with none. Frustrated, she pleaded, "Please, just go with me on this! We have to stop him before it's too late for them!"

Something in her tone of voice pulled at Rin; she was sincere, she could feel it. She moved out of Shippo's grip and pulled open the limo door, and Shippo followed, with a dumbfounded look on his face.

Just before she could climb in, he pulled her back and said, "What are you doing? This girl blackmailed my brother!"

Frowning, she turned back to him over her shoulder and whispered, "I believe her, Shippo. I don't know why, I just do. Call it instinct, if you will. Are you coming or not?" and she climbed inside, and Shippo looked at the light, which turned green as soon as he looked at it.

With no more time left, he chewed his lip and jumped in, the momentum from the forward motion of the car as Hakudoushi stepped on the gas closing the door firmly behind him.

Hakudoushi was in too much pain to notice anything going on in the back. He was having a hard time fighting back unconsciousness and was glad when Kagura rolled down the partition and, warning Rin and Shippo not to make a sound, she ordered, "Pull over at that donut joint, Hakudoushi. I have to use their washroom."

Nodding, he did as she asked and she rolled up the partition, but not all the way. She'd seen the blood gushing from his nose earlier, and he'd looked in bad shape. Sure enough, as soon as they'd stopped, he slumped forward onto the wheel and let the darkness overwhelm him. Peeking through the crack in the glass partition, Kagura smiled.

Jackpot.

"Come on you guys," she said, running into the donut place. As soon as they were inside, she whipped out her cell phone and dialled Sango. Rin asked, "Who are you calling?"

Kagura held out the phone to her, and replied, "You mean who you're calling. If your sisters are close, have them pick us up. I want to be with them to explain as best as I can what's going on. You guys have to find someplace to hide where my Father can't find you. We have to stop him."

Rin accepted the phone and put it to her ear, Shippo eyeing her protectively and watching Kagura warily. He still didn't quite trust her, but Rin seemed to believe her story, so he decided that he would be the one to keep his reservations, just in case this turned out to be a sham.

"Sango? It's Rin. Yeah. I'm calling from Kagura's cell. Because she picked Shippo and I up. Are you near the donut place on First? Yeah? Will you pick us up?"

Shippo and Kagura listened with growing tension as Rin spoke to Sango; time was too precious to waste now.

"What do you mean, not enough seatbelts? I think we can make an exception just this once! Come on… Thank you! Bye."

She handed Kagura her phone and sighed, "They're coming, and they want to know why you're helping us."

Kagura smiled wanly. "Let's just say I've seen the light my Father's been standing in my entire life and it's never really pleased me. He leaves a lot to be desired as a parent, and I don't want to hurt people anymore. I'm sick of being a loner."

"Kikyou likes you."

"Yeah, and she's the only one. Look, I've learned my lesson, okay? I can't always have what I want, and I disapprove of my Father's way of getting it for me. You know, he probably wouldn't even have bothered if he hadn't had his own agenda."

Rin shook her head in pity. She'd rather have no Father than a Father like Kagura's. For the first time since meeting Kagura, Rin pitied her. Her life must have been terrible growing up with a man like that for a parent.

Shippo, too, began to see Kagura in a new light. She was turning out to be less than despicable than he'd thought after all. He still didn't trust her, but he didn't distrust her, either. She'd had it rough, and he could sympathise with and respect that.

"Look, we don't have a lot of time," she said, leading them back outside. "When they get here, we should be waiting."

S.T.

Ok, Shannon will now work on her story which people probably think she has abandoned (stupid christmas, distracting me like that), and hopefully, we'll make some headway here, and I'll get my stuff uploaded for all my lovlies to see! Yay! Now all I need is my own scanner and a doodle-dooflinky...and then I'll be all set! Woot!