Monday

Kagome came up with an idea to work up to telling Inuyasha. First, she wanted to make sure he knew she wasn't mad at him or jealous. When she got to work, she waved at Sango, then walked up to Inuyasha.

"Hi." She gave him a bright smile.

Inuyasha wasn't surprised she was speaking to him. He was a little bothered by what he overheard in the food court over the weekend but he didn't want her to know he was eavesdropping on her and her friends.

"Hey"

"How was your weekend?"

"Fine. What about yours?"

"Same here. Uh...Sorry about the way I was acting the other day."

Inuyasha didn't care about how she acted or what he overheard. He just wanted things to be okay between them. "Don't worry about it."

Kagome smiled and gave Inuyasha a hug.

Kagome's hug was warm and full of emotion. How could someone hug your body and hug your soul at the same time? He was confused about a lot of things already and while the hug was nice, it confused him more.

They smiled at each other and Kagome went to change into her uniform.

Inuyasha started to feel feverish again so he asked Kagome to switch jobs with him and do some inventory counting while he ran the register.

Monday was normally a slow day for the store so Inuyasha and Sango were at the counter just talking amongst themselves when a young, blue eyed wolf demon came towards them.

"Excuse me? Hi. My name is Koga. I'm looking for Kagome."

Inuyasha's eye twitched when he heard the wolf say his name. He remembered Kagome mentioning him to her friends at the food court and having a face to match the name definitely struck a few nerves.

"And why are you here? Kagome is working. That's what you do at work. Come back later." He sneered.

Sango pushed Inuyasha out of the way. "I apologize for his rude behavior. Kagome should be clocking out for lunch in a few minutes." She turned to Inuyasha. "Go get her!"

"Yeah. I'm goin." Inuyasha went downstairs to get Kagome. He angrily stomped down the steps. 'A wolf? Really, Kagome?'

Inuyasha looked around for Kagome. He found her bent over a few boxes recording her count and he was staring at her legs. That feverish feeling came back again as Inuyasha tried to ward off his inner demon. He imagined lifting her skirt up, pulling her panties down and...That's where he shook his head and forced the thoughts out.

'Damn. She IS the reason I've been getting all these strange fevers. My brother was right. What do I do?'

Kagome turned around and shot Inuyasha a smile when she heard him step closer. "Hey, I'm just finishing up." She then noticed he looked a little pale.

"Are you feeling okay?" She asked as she stepped closer to him.

Inuyasha did not want to be near her. He never experienced those fevers before or the conflicting feelings. He didn't know what he was going to do if she got too close—or what his demon would do.

"I'm fine." He assured her, waving his hand. "There's some loser here looking for you named Koga or something."

"Koga? Hey! He's not a loser!" She defended him fiercely, a hand on her hip.

The fire in Kagome's spirit made it harder for him to fight off his demon. "So what's the deal? You dating this guy?"

Kagome shook her head. "Not exactly. We've just been…talking…sort of." She said, playing with her fingers.

Inuyasha shook his head and headed towards the stairs.

"Wait! Why are you shaking your head?" She called out.

"No reason." He continued up the steps without looking back.

Inuyasha stopped at the counter and glared at Koga. "Kagome said she's coming. Her lunch break is only 10 minutes so you better make this quick."

Sango pushed him out of the way again. "Her lunch break is a half hour!"

"Not today! As of right now lunch breaks are only 10 minutes long."

Sango rolled her eyes and ignored Inuyasha. "I'm sorry. He's an idiot."

Kagome finally came upstairs and gave Koga a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back, you guys." Kagome waved as the two walked out the door.

Inuyasha scoffed in disgust. "She couldn't do better than a wolf?"

Sango gave Inuyasha an angry look. "What's your problem?"

"Nothing! I just don't like the guy and I said I'd look out for Kagome. That's all I was doing."

"Why are you being so over protective all of a sudden? Kagome has come to terms with the fact that she can't be with you and moved on. Shouldn't you be glad?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "Not really."

"Exac—wait! Did you say not really?"

"Remember that conversation we had a few weeks ago about Kikyo?"

Sango's mind went back to the conversation the two had.

"I knew it! You're having problems with Kikyo aren't you?"

"It's way more confusing than that. Let me explain."

"Go on."

"Kikyo has been really distant lately, over the past five months. Yeah she's a busy woman and whatnot but usually she always made time for me. It's not the same anymore. She's not the same anymore. She doesn't even seem to care much about me."

"Maybe she's dealing with a lot of stress?"

"I don't know but I'm tired of calling her all the time and she ignores my calls and messages. I didn't realize how problematic this was until this other girl came into the picture."

"What girl?"

"Just…some girl I know. We've never done more than talk but she makes me feel confused. Like maybe I don't love Kikyo as much as I thought I did. She makes me happy and I want to be around her. Not romantically but…more than Kikyo and it confuses me."

"Don't do anything rash, Inuyasha. If you feel like things aren't going well, you need to communicate with her."

"Every time I try to talk to her, she doesn't pick up the fucking phone!"

"What about when you see her on Sundays?"

"I...usually don't feel the way I feel now when I'm with her. I feel like I was wrong about my assumptions. Then when she leaves, I feel lonely again."

"Lonely? Inuyasha, you can't be with someone just because you're lonely. That will not work out for you."

"But I love her, Sango!"

"Do you really? You doubt her, you're confused, you're hurt and you're thinking about another girl. This isn't love! It's a mess!"

"We've been together all this time. I wanted her for a year before we started dating exclusively. I need to make things between Kikyo and I stronger so I can abandon these confused feelings."

"Well then you need to speak to her the next time you see her."

"I know."

Sango gave him a blank stare. "Kagome is the girl you were referring to? The one that makes you feel confused?"

Inuyasha shrugged "And she's the reason I get all those fevers. Every time I get near her I feel strange."

It took everything in Sango's power to avoid punching his lights out. She knew what the fevers were just as well as Sesshomaru did.

"Inuyasha..." Sango spoke through her clenched teeth. "You're making a big mess. You can't go back and forth between girls. You need to leave Kagome alone. You already have someone."

"I can't, Sango. First she calls my number by mistake, then I find out she lives right near us, now she's working here. Can I really leave her alone if she keeps finding me? I bet if I moved to Timbuktu she'd find me there."

Sango couldn't find the right words to say. She wanted to stop Inuyasha from hurting anyone but even she knew you can't fight fate.

"Kagome knows something about Kikyo—something bad. I'm waiting for someone to come clean and tell me the damn truth. I don't know what's going to happen from here on out and I don't really want to believe what I overheard."

"Overheard? When?"

"The day we went to the mall. I heard Kagome and her friends talking—about me. And Kikyo."

"W-What'd she say?"

"I'd rather not talk about it right now...it may be false information." He told her as he walked off.

'What is going on?' Sango asked herself. The string of coincidences that brought Kagome and Inuyasha together was one thing, but she knew Kikyo too? It was all too much for Sango to absorb. She just agreed to be there for Inuyasha every step of the way. 'Knowing him, he might screw this up and end up all alone. He doesn't seem to know what he's doing at all.'

Kagome and Koga went to the nearby WacDnalds.

"Hey, Kagome? Is that half demon dog guy your boss or something?"

"Sort of. He's the assistant store manager. Why?"

"Well he was really rude to me like he had a gripe with me about something."

Kagome's plan was backfiring. She was hoping Inuyasha would be glad she was seeing someone else, not picking on them. Then again… "Inuyasha is rude to everyone." She laughed nervously. "I hope he didn't offend you in any way."

"Nah, but thanks for worrying about my feelings." He smiled as he held her hand.

Kagome liked Koga but it wasn't enough to make her want to go steady with him. She hoped after getting to know him better she'd like him even more but they just didn't click.

Her heart was confused about a multitude of things. She figured maybe she would like Koga more if Inuyasha didn't make her feel so confused.

Kagome started talking to Koga a month before she got her job at Shinjuku Fashion. He was a great catch, unlike her last drug dealing boyfriend. Koga was at the top of his class, he was very active in clubs and one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. But he seemed so wrong for her.

After she started spending time around Inuyasha, she was more interested in being around Inuyasha than forming a relationship with Koga, even if things between her and Inuyasha weren't romantic.

'But it would make one crazy love story.'