A/N: Hi guys! I'm glad you love the story! I've just finished Chapter 9 and I am getting STOKED!

If any of you play Harvest Moon: A New Beginning, there's a woman you face in a festival called Kikyo! Talk about an Easter egg. =P

Anyhow, I don't own any of the characters. And I hope that you enjoy the story!

The layout below is Inuyasha's bedroom, I included it because I had a hard time getting straight where everything was so I figured I'd help ya'll out.

| dddd | | = - Windows

| cc c | | _ - Doors

| t c | |

| c | Closet |

|xxxxx c | -| Rough outline of Inuyasha's

|xxxxx c | | Room

| c c / | c= chair or couch

| c / En-suite | x= Bed t = table

| | | d= Desk

6

The canopy above the bed was a pretty shade of green, it had unique patterns that made it appear that you were laying under a shade tree watching the leaves move. She was exhausted, absolutely and utterly exhausted both physically, mentally, and emotionally. Her whole body hurt and tears were on the verge of cascading down her face from sheer exhaustion.

Thankfully, her mom had taken Ileana down to her room, hidden under a blanket to hide her from the prying eyes of the staff. Kagome was still cautious, and slightly paranoid, about people seeing her daughter. She felt awful about the quality of life she was bound to have in her late childhood if they kept up the cycle they were in. Maybe the Emperor's ultimatum had been a blessing in disguise. But she wasn't willing to admit it yet.

Slowly, the sobs started to build in her chest. She didn't understand where things had gone wrong. That was a lie, she knew exactly where it went wrong. Her daughter's father was the Prince, and she looked just like him.

Letting go, she allowed the sobs to rock her body as she pressed a pillow to her face to muffle the sound. Each hitch of her chest hurt more than the last as they pulled at her stitches and injuries, making her sob harder. It was the first time she had let herself breakdown in a long time and she knew it was long overdue.

Inwardly she cursed him, even though she knew it wasn't his fault. She wanted to blame him, oh god did she ever, but she would be wrong to do so. When he had taken her to bed that night she had wanted it just was much as he did, maybe even more.

Curling herself into the fetal position around a pillow, she allowed her body to hurt as the tears covered her face. Memories bombarded her as exhaustion began to take her under.

It was her first real assignment in the palace. Excitement didn't even begin to describe her enthusiasm as she bounded toward the Prince's room to begin her first day as his personal maid. She had heard the Prince was hard to work for, that he was broody and quick tempered, but that didn't deter her. Just because every other maid hadn't worked out under him didn't mean she wouldn't. She was determined to do her best and not let him bother her.

Her hand shook as she reached out for the door handle to his room. Anticipation had her nerves on end as her excitement brimmed over the surface. With a smile on her face, she burst into his room and looked around.

The room was massive, as one would expect for a Prince. His large four-poster king bed was in the center of the far wall with a couch at the foot of it. There was a desk underneath one of the massive windows on the outside wall with a nice chair in front of it. In front of the en-suite sat two chairs and in front of the closet door sat a lovely mahogany table with a chair on either side. There were a few decorative items around the room, mostly vases and a couple of paintings. She was quite content; although there was a lot of floor space there wasn't much in the room she would need to be clean. It seemed that she was going to have quite a bit of free time in the evenings until the Prince went to bed.

That was the biggest change this assignment held for her, her hours. The Prince's maid was to be awake in his room or around the palace from the time he woke up to the time he went to bed. They were essentially at his beck and call all hours of the day via a pager. That meant for long hours with little sleep in between, but she was young and willing to work her heart out to make the Prince comfortable.

Her superior had informed her that the Prince was in a meeting until five today and it was already three, so Kagome set to work tidying what little there was to tidy in the room and began heating towels in case he wanted a shower or bath after work.

The sound of a door slamming a couple hours later alerted her to the Prince's arrival. Spinning around, she bowed. "Welcome home, Your Highness." His head spun around to face her and met her eyes. He was handsome, gorgeous even. He was tall, towering almost a foot above her. His silver hair was just as pretty as it always seemed on television and shined in the light of the setting sun. But none of those features compared to his eyes, they were a brilliant golden yellow that seemed to glisten as the bore into her. She couldn't tell what he was thinking behind those guarded eyes, but she knew it wasn't pleasant.

"Who are you? I thought I told Mother I didn't need a maid." He crossed his arms across his chest and continued to stare at her.

"I'm Kagome Higurashi, sir." She said with a polite curtsey. "And I don't know of any arrangements you have with the Empress, but I was sent to look after you under her request."

"Really?" He strode across the room and grabbed her chin faster than she could blink. He leaned in until his nose touched the tip of hers and his breath mixed with hers. She gasped at his proximity to her. "I take it you took the assignment so you could get close to me and become my next play thing. He looked her over, "You're a bit plain compared to all of the other girls that have served me before, but you'll do."

Red-hot anger seared inside of Kagome's chest as she pushed the Prince away from her. "I don't know who the hell you think you are, Your Highness, but I'm not here to sleep with you. I'm here to look after you and your bedchambers so that you are comfortable and happy."

A smirk crossed his face as he grabbed her outstretched wrist and pulled it behind her and pressed her up against him. "Key words there were, 'Look after you and comfortable and happy'. If you want to make me comfortable and happy, you will do everything I say no matter what it is. The key role of my maid is to warm my bed whenever I want it."

A steeled, determined expression crossed her face. "I will do no such thing, Prince Inuyasha." She brought her foot down hard on his toe, causing him to back away with a small shout. She had angered him, but she didn't care. Walking away, she went to his en-suite to run him a bath. "There will be a bath ready for you in five minutes, Your Majesty."

She knew he stared after her as she walked away, she just didn't know whether he was angry with her or not for her behavior. Quite frankly she didn't care one way or the other.

An hour later he emerged from the en-suite in a pair of black sweatpants and a red t-shirt, quite the contradiction to his usual suits. "There's dinner from Kaede on the table for you, Your Majesty." Kagome said as she continued to straighten his pillows for bed.

"Kagome, was it?" He asked gently as he laid his napkin across his lap. "I apologize for my behavior earlier. I was trying to determine your motives behind taking this job. As you can imagine, many women only do it to become close to me. Hoping I will bed them so they have something to brag to the other maid's about. As we have a shortage of male servants at the moment, I have to continue to evaluate all of the girls that come into my personal service."

Kagome laughed. The Prince's eyes turned to look at her, her reaction catching him off guard. "Your Majesty, thank you for your apology, but I just find it hysterical to think of how many girls you've made swoon by that very performance." A smile tugged at the Prince's lips as he watched her laugh.

"To be honest, you're the first maid I've ever done that to. Normally by the end of the first week the girl's start asking me what they can do to service me."

She stopped laughing for a second, her eyes locked onto his trying to gauge his honesty. She laughed even harder when she saw no trace of a lie. "And I take it you kindly turn them down when they start." She said sarcastically.

"Well no." The Prince responded, a smile still tugging on the side of his lips. "But how am I supposed to when they so willingly throw themselves at me."

Calming down, she leaned on the back on the chair next to the bed. "I guess not. Even you must get lonely in the busy life you lead."

His eyes widened at her lack of repulsion and down right honesty. "You're not like the other girls, are you Ms. Higurashi?"

"Not one bit, Your Majesty." She smiled a wicked smile. "If you want someone whose going to lie to you, then you should request another maid because I'll be bluntly honest with you."

"Then you'd be the first." The Prince said softly as he began to eat his dinner.

They become quick friends throughout the course of the next few months. The Prince quickly learned that Kagome was always bluntly honest with him and she was quick to make sure he was always comfortable and happy.

Tonight was different though. The Prince had been in meetings all day, about what Kagome didn't know, but he was angry when he walked into his room.

"Good evening, Your Ma-" Kagome was quickly cut off by a vase flying across the room; it shattered against the far wall of the room.

"Who the hell do they think they are?" The Prince raged as he continued to throw things across the room. His body was rigid with anger as he fumed. "They think they can tell me who I'm to marry! They can think again!"

Kagome watched wide eyed as he continued to vent his anger. After ten minutes of watching him rage, she finally spoke up. "Prince Inuyasha!" She called, but it had no effect. "Inuyasha!"

He halted in his tracks as he realized he wasn't alone. "Calm down." Kagome ordered. Her face was stern and her hands were on her hips. "You're acting like a child."

"You don't understand!" He bellowed at her. "How would you feel if you were told who you had to marry?"

"I would be angry, but I wouldn't stand here and throw things and make a fool of myself. I would try to find away to get out of it and the only way to do that is to calm down so you can think straight. Now take a deep breath." She sounded like a parent trying to calm down an unruly teenager before they did something stupid.

Obliging to her order, he took a deep breath and tried to calm down. After a couple minutes of deep breathing he grabbed her and hugged her. "Thank you Kagome." He whispered softly into her ear. A blush crept across her cheeks as he squeezed her.

"Your welcome." She whispered back running her hand gently over his back. The Prince quickly scooped her up and sat down on the couch with her on his lap. "Inuy-Prince what are you doing?"

"Inuyasha is fine, Kagome, and we're solving the problem of my arranged marriage." She looked at his face; he was staring unabashed at her with another unknown expression. "Now what is your idea to help me get out of this marriage?"

Putting aside any feelings she might have, she thought hard. "What do you know about the girl?"

"She's pretty and she's the only daughter of one of the wealthiest businessmen in Japan. Her father is the owner of Mikotama Electronics and our marriage will allow us to control the electronics industry and will also bring valuable money into the royal treasury for things such as public works projects and improvements in the educational systems. My father thinks it's a good match but I'm just not interested in her. From everything I've been told she's quite bitchy and she's always in the tabloid magazines. Father is overlooking this saying that she'll change once she becomes a Takahashi, but I don't trust her."

"Internal affairs." Was Kagome's immediate response, "If you can find proof that there's something amiss with her then your father will let you off the hook. At least with her. You know he's always going to bring another girl for you to marry until you agree. The best way to get out of marrying someone whose not of your choosing is to find a girl he approves of."

"That's brilliant Kagome!" He smiled, but it didn't last long as the rest of her words sunk in. "And I know." He leaned his head against her shoulder. "I wish I could marry you. You at least understand me."

Her face turned beat red as she froze on his knee. "Yeah, but I don't think we'd work." She said, laughing to try and make light of his statement. "I'm a bit too stubborn for you, and don't you remember? I'm too plain for your tastes." A real laugh echoed out of her throat.

Inuyasha wasn't laughing though. His head lifted slowly off of her shoulder and his arm around her tightened. "You're not plain, Kagome. You're beautiful, absolutely stunning." Her laughing stopped as her breath caught in her throat. She met his golden eyes for the millionth time in the past week, but they were different this time. The gold in them had become almost molten and there was a warm passion in them that she couldn't explain. Slowly, his hand moved up her back and tangled in the hair behind her neck as he firmly gripped it and pulled her face to his and pressed his lips to hers in one fluid motion.

Her hand went up to push him away, but the Prince just grabbed it and held onto it tightly. His kiss left no room for questions as he passionately moved his lips over hers. She gasped as his tongue ran along her lower lip. Taking advantage of her surprise, he kissed her deeper, running his tongue over hers as he explored her mouth.

Without breaking the kiss, he pulled her completely on top of him so that she was straddling his waist. His hands explored every section of her body that her flimsy dress protected. Breaking the kiss for air, Kagome tilted her head up, but Inuyasha continued to kiss down her neck to her collarbone. Gently he nipped along it, causing her to shiver on top of him. She whimpered as her hands tightened around the collar of his shirt.

She felt his hands run up the inside of her bare thighs under her skirt, but she didn't care. She'd been watching this man in his most intimate moments for the past two months and it wasn't until recently that she realized how attracted she was to him. Maybe it was there talks every night or the way he would smile at her. Either way, she hadn't known how much she wanted this until his hands had touched her.

Inuyasha grabbed her legs tightly and stood up, kissing her again as he began to move. Her eyes were closed tightly, absorbing every moment she had in his arms. Memorizing every moment of his muscular body. She felt the gentle softness of his bed underneath her as he laid her on it and began kissing her deeper as he pressed his body against hers. She felt his hands unbuttoning his shirt and pulling it off as he continued to kiss up and down her neck. He lifted her up against his chest and unzipped the back of her dress and pulled it over her head. Laying her back down his gaze devoured her as it ran over her semi-clad body.

"Kagome." He breathed out heavily before he returned his lips to hers. His hands trembled with control as he ran them slowly over her body lingering ever so slightly on her hips and under her breasts.

Dropping his pants, he kissed her more passionately. She knew his control was at the breaking point. He unhooked her bra as he kissed her and threw it aside. Possessively, he captured one of her sensitive nipples in his mouth and softly drew it between his teeth and tongue. Moaning, she arched her back as his arm pulled her closer to him. "Inuyasha." She whimpered as his other hand gently massaged her bud over her underwear.

In one swift motion her underwear was on the floor and so was his. Holding her close to him, he positioned himself at her entrance and gently kissed her head. Her hands tangled in his beautiful silver hair as it cascaded around her. "Kagome." He moaned as he thrust himself into her.

Kagome woke up with a start, breathing heavily and covered in sweat. Her heart pounded in her chest and her body tingled with a longing she hadn't felt in years. She held her chest and leaned forward, trying to get her heart to stop beating so rapidly. But she failed. Her mind was swimming in him. His smell, the feeling of him under her fingertips, the silkiness of his hair… Trembling, she stumbled to the shower and turned it on, not bothering with the temperature or the fact she was still dressed.

Ice-cold water cascaded over her, soaking her to the bone and matting her hair to her head. Collapsing to the floor, she wept.

How was she going to marry a man she had never gotten over when he didn't even care about her?

Stay tuned for another chapter!

Thanks again to IrisAyame for all of your help in getting facts straight and making my story better. Ai2000, you've been wonderful too!

A/N: I feel that Inuyasha's proclamation of only marrying a woman of his choosing when his Father is forcing Kagome to marry him is insane irony.