I walked out of school with a triumphant smile on my face. Earlier that month, mid terms had been a breeze. Now it was Thanksgiving break and time for some long overdue relaxation. I had talked to my mother the night before, wondering what the plan was for the break. I had hoped to go to Florida because I'd been missing the beach like crazy! Unfortunately she gave me the "great" news that she, my father and my brother were going to be on a flight tomorrow to join me in New York. I tried to tell her that I had friends living with me now, so there would be no room.

"Kagome," she sounded extremely annoyed. "I love how you just take the things we give you and just lend them out to all of your friends. You didn't think to ask us or anything? We pay the bills for God's sake!"

"Chiedo scusa, Mama!" I said, trying my best to get her to accept my apology. I always played the native language card when my mother was upset with me. I guess it made her happy to know that her daughter hadn't forgotten her roots. Even though I'd never actually lived in Italy, she and my father grew up in a tiny town right outside of Rome. From the time my brother and I were infants, they had taught us how to speak fluent Italian, but since moving to America, they rarely spoke it anywhere but in the comfort of our own home.

"Vergogna su voi, Kagome." her voice immediately perked up. "But I'm happy to see you haven't forgotten where you came from." I smiled, glad that she was pleased. "Anyway, the penthouse won't be an issue apparently your father booked the penthouse at the London. So we'll be there around 6AM tomorrow morning, okay honey?"

"Sì, Mama. I'll have a car waiting for you when you get in." I put my blackberry back in my bag and hopped into the limo I had called for. A few minutes later, I was joined by Rin and Sango.

"So...what the duece? How are we starting off our break?" Rin asked excitedly.

"Okay, Stewie. I dunno, what do you guys want to do first?" Sango laughed.

"Weeell, I can think of a couple of things..." We all spun around to find Inuyasha and Miroku on the seat closest to the door.

"Inuyasha...seriously why can't you just like...I dunno, find some whore to screw instead of follow me around like the puppy you are." His eyes narrowed.

"What the fuck did you just say? That's a fucking low blow, Kagome. Calling a great dog demon like myself a fucking puppy! You Bitch!" he bellowed.

"HA! Great dog demon huh?" I was fuming by now. For some reason simple encounters between us HAD to escalate to an entirely different level. "Yeah some dog demon you are." I smirked. His eyes grew wide as he looked like he was about to scream. Then he shut his mouth and simply jumped out of the limo, slamming the door behind him.

Miroku looked in the direction Inuyasha had gone. "Hmm...How unfortunate." he turned back to face us. "But I'd love to stay and join you ladies for a nice-"

"GET OUT!" we screamed. Miroku scrambled to get out of the car as fast as he could.

'Fuck,' I thought. 'He's probably freaking out.' I groaned as I scooted towards the door. "Hey you guys go ahead and go home. I'll catch up."

"Kagome, you're going to have a lot of damn explaining to do. I-" I cut Sango off as I shut the door and gave the signal for the drive to proceed. 'How many moms does a girl have to have? Seriously' I thought as I watched them proceed through the 5 o'clock traffic. I squinted forward and could still see a glimpse of his silver hair fading in the distance as he moved forward.

*~*~*~*~*~*

INU POV

'Oh hell no!' I thought, my anger causing my face to turn a light shade of pink. "That stupid bitch was just going to reveal my damn secret to everyone. That's the lastfucking time I take my brothers advice." I told myself. I had listened to rambling about nonsense concerning mating and all that crap. Apparently you're supposed to have some kind of sense that she's the one or something, who knows. At this point I didn't care. 'There's no WAY that girl could be the one.' I thought as I walked through the crowds of people. 'Either that, or God has freaking bad sense of humor'

I shoved my hands in my pockets and kept my eyes on the ground as I walked. My mind was going a million miles a minute and I was beginning to feel overwhelmed. I thought about her. Ava. How she betrayed me back in Vegas. I had met her when I was 9 and we had been together since then. I thought she was the love of my life and I thought I could trust her only to find out that she had told my secret to everyone. That was the day that had shown up at my families door step, yelling for me to come quietly.

I was only 15 at the time so my father and brother had taken it upon themselves to protect me from the Nenhuma Mercês. Ironically enough, it's an underground association made up of humans and demons that's originally from a small place off the coast of Portugal. Since 1750 they've traveled the world following reports on sightings of half demons. To them, half demons were unnatural and somehow threw off the balance of society. On top of considering them abominations, they were also interested in conducting research because of the fact that a half demon could consist of so many different races. When they had approached our estate, I had made the stupid mistake of not using my senses when I answered the door and was shocked by a taser gun almost immediately. That's all I can remember. When I woke up, I was in my house with my mother, father and brother tending to me. I had been confused as to why something as simple as an electric shock could cause me so much harm. Come to find out that they use specially altered weapons that are powerful enough to take out even the strongest of half demons…and maybe even demons.

The day after, my father had given me the ring, telling me how crucial it was for me to keep it on. Ever since then, the way he treated me had never been the same. He acted like I was delicate, which is probably the last word in the dictionary that could even remotely describe me. He was always scared they were going to find a way to take me.

'Kagome's right.' I thought. 'Ha, great dog demon. I'm not fooling anyone, am I?' I came to an immediate stop as my senses floored me. I did not look up immediately; as I was sure whoever was watching would notice my awareness. I began walking again, picking up my pace. That's when I heard it.

"Come in 542 we have located the inu hanyou and are about to proceed."

'Fuck!' I began to break into a run with demon speed. I turned the corner into an alley when I suddenly felt a sharp pain go up my spine. I screamed as my limbs went numb and fell face first onto the concrete. My head was yanked up by my hair to face whoever had pursued me.

"Thought you could escape us, filthy vermin?" I heard a man snarl as he threw a punch to my temple. By now, my vision had gotten blurry. I didn't even move. What could I have done? If I had tried to move they probably would have just killed me. Not to mention the fact that whatever they did to my spine caused all of my energy to disappear. I felt a hard blow to my ribs and heard faint cracking sounds.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

KAG POV

I saw them; the people in the black suits chasing him. I was running as fast as I could now. I had to help him, but it seemed I was to slow as they were getting farther and farther away. I heard a car screech up next to me.

"Kagome! Jump in! I saw them too!" It was Miroku. 'What? This is New York why the hell does he have a-' I shook my head. Inuyasha was in trouble and we had to save him. I jumped into the car and we sped off down the street. As we were about to turn into the alley, a large van came flying out.

"He's in there!" I screamed. "They took him!" I was hysterical by now and I wasn't too sure why. I barely knew the guy yet I found myself terrified at the possibility of his death. We followed the van to a ware house over by the bridge. Without thinking, I jumped from the car as soon as we stopped and bolted towards the van. I yanked the back door open and tried to get a glimpse of Inuyasha when I was jerked backwards by the spider demon that had been driving the van. The other man grabbed my legs.

"Hey!" Miroku yelled. "Let her go!" What happened next was a shock to everyone, especially me. I was screaming at the top of my lungs to be let go when my body started to glow an eerie light pink. All of the sudden the light burst forth from me in a sea of energy causing the demon to evaporate and the man to fly backwards. I landed on my butt, glancing around frantically to see what had happened to my attackers. I was stunned to find the the boiling puddle of acid that used to be a spider demon. 'What did I just do?' I thought staring at my hands.

My head shot up as I heard a small groan come from the inside of the van. Miroku and I rushed to the car. Inuyasha laid there in a heap, limp. His face and hair were stained with blood.

"Holy shit dude." Miroku said sadly. He shot a glance at me. "Should I call 911?"

"N-no." I whipped my head around as I heard Inuyasha's weak voice. "I'm…a demon. I-" he hissed in pain. "I'll heal." I held back my tears as I watched him struggle to move.

"Come on, Miroku." I said as I hopped into the van and knelt next to Inuyasha. I brushed his bangs from his face as he barely opened his eyes to look up at me. "We can take him to my place. It's the closest… right here in Brooklyn. We need to get him cleaned up and resting since he doesn't want us to call an ambulance." Miroku nodded and moved over to Inuyasha's other side. As he went to lift Inuyasha's arm over his shoulder, the poor demon screamed.

"What?" I exclaimed. "What's wrong?" Tears streamed down his face. Was he sad? No, it was pain. Something else was wrong. Something we obviously couldn't see.

"I-it's my ribs-" he groaned. "And m-my side."

"Your side?" I wondered aloud. I carefully moved his jacket and lifted his shirt to find a bullet lodged in his side. I guessed the bullet was lodged tight enough to prevent bleeding so I didn't disturb it. "Inuyasha, you're just going to have to try to bare it until we get you to the car."

He nodded. "Keh…I've…been through worse." After hearing the horrible sound of him screaming in agony while we moved him, he finally quieted down as we began to drive to the clock tower. I was sure he was knocked out for now, so I let my tears fall.

'I can't believe this.' I thought as I cried. 'I can't believe anyone would do something like this to an innocent person! Look at him! And he was alone with them for probably no more than thirty minutes!' I shuddered at the thought of what would have happened had we not gotten there in time.

When we got him to the house, Sango and Rin were screaming in shock at the state he was in. I told them we had no time for question as we brought him into my room and laid him onto my bed. After successfully removing the bullet whole, we bandaged his side and ribs tightly.

"I'm going to step out and call Inuyasha's family." He said. "They're out of town until tomorrow night, but they'll want to know about this, I'm sure."

"Okay," I said as watched Sango and Rin follow Miroku out. I took the wash cloth out of the warm bowl of water I had gotten and began to clean his face. "I can't believe this. Those stupid people." Angry tears stung my eyes, but I didn't let them fall.

"Ka…gome." My eyes shot up to meet his. "Can you…please help me…" he winced.

"Help you what?" I asked quietly.

"Please…help me get the blood…out of my hair." He breathed. I started to protest and tell him he didn't need to be moving, but he stopped me. "The smell….its nauseating. Please."

I sighed and helped him to his feet. He let out the occasional yelp, while he leaned on me as I led him to my bathroom. I bent him over the sink and began to lather shampoo into his long silver mane.

I dried his hair and led him back to my bed, where he practically collapsed, bringing me down with him. I blushed in embarrassment, but recovered quickly to help situate him and put him under the covers. By the end of it all, his head laid against my chest, my arms around him. I thought about letting go. I knew it was weird and that truthfully, we couldn't stand each other.

'But I wonder….if it's that we just don't want to stand each other.' I thought as I gazed at his gorgeous features. He looked so peaceful now, in my arms. And for that moment, I was sure that there was no other place I'd rather him be.

R &R!

Italian:

Chiedo scusa-I apologize

Vergogna su voi-Shame on you