Okay so yes I did another chapter of Corrupt Me, but i just had to. it was buzzing around in my head and I couldn't focus on my other stories

Kagome had waited until almost sunset to meet with Hojo and now sat in the cafe looking at her soon to be ex from across the little table...she couldn't for the life of her figure out how she was going to tell him that she wanted to break off their engagement, sure they had never really been a couple but she still felt like she was betraying him and her family. What would she say if he asked why? She hoped he wouldn't. She knew she had to do this, she couldn't post pone it any longer, "Hojo...there is something I have to tell...wait no I can't beat around the bush on this...Hojo I don't think this is working out."

Hojo blinked, "..what?"

"You and I...I uh just don't think we work."

He frowned, "you want to break up with me?"

She bit her bottom lip, "yes."

"But Kagome, we are betrothed."

She looked down at her hands, genuinely sorry, but he just wasn't right for her...she had to, "yeah...I also think we should end that. I plan on talking to my family once they return from their trip tomorrow."

Hojo's frowned deepened as he looked at her, "is this about Inuyasha?"

Kagome felt the blood drain from her face, oh gods, "Uhm..."

"Look Kagome, just because he's like your friends big brother does not make him yours as well, Its nice that he sticks with you to make sure nothing happens at the shrine at night but you don't have to listen to his every word."

Kagome flinched, her mind flashing back to her kiss with Inuyasha on her bed, "i know he's not my big brother Hojo." boy do I know.

"So this isn't about him?"

Kagome stayed silent, she was never very good at lying.

Hojo sighed, "Kagome...you don't have to listen to him."

so I should cheat on you?

"It's your life, and it's up to you and only you if you want to stay with me and one day be married or not. He has nothing to do with it."

Oh but it has everything to do with him. Kagome opened her mouth to respond when her phone buzzed, she peered at the text from Inuyasha: You do it yet my little shrine maiden?

Kagome closed her eyes for a second, "I'm sorry Hojo this is Important." She sent him a quick text back, I'm trying to. he started asking questions.

She got a reply in seconds, Just don't answer if you don't want. bandaid remember? you want me to come and do it for you?

I said I didn't want you to come and I meant it, still do. this is my problem.

Her phone buzzed again but she ignored it, "Hojo...this is my choice and I chose to break it off...I'm sorry."

Hojo looked saddened but nodded, "Ill always be here if you change you mind."

I won't, please don't just wait around, "okay Hojo. Goodbye."

After his small goodbye she left the money for her coffee and left, it felt like a weight had lifted from her...but had been replaced by another, She had left her overly mellow, safe, kind, unhormonal boyfriend for a tattooed hanyo who seemed certifiably insane, dangerous, rude, and a huge player. Now that she thought about it, she wondered why Sango thought boys were so good. She finally worked up the courage to peek at her text; come down to The Flea and The Sword when your done.

Well, she thought to herself, here goes nothing.

Half an hour later

Inuyasha sat at the bar talking to Kai, the bar tender, as the older man got set up for the night as he waited for Kagome. When the bell over the door finally rang her looked over to see Kagome walk in wearing a fluffy pink and white apron dress dotted with strawberries on the hem and red heart buttons going from her waist and her chest, she played with the collar of her white blouse and adjusted the large strawberry attached to one of her pigtails. Her ruby lips parted slightly when she spotted him before she made her way across the room staring at her pink mary jane's as if they were the most interesting thing on the planet before she finally slid into the stool next to him, "Hi."

He smiled slightly at her as she shyly picked at the red ribbon on her dress, matching the red bows on her frilly white knee socks, "Hello my little shrine maiden, did you do it."

She nodded, "It was hard...I don't like hurting people. Are you sure this," she gestured between them, "is a good idea?"

He tucked two fingers under her chin and turned her head to face him before offering her a sly grin, "I'm sure it's a grand idea."

Kagome nodded, figuring she had already gone this far, why not take the plunge? Then she noticed the bartender, eyes widening in surprise, "Oh! sorry! was I interrupting something?"

He looked between Kagome and Inuyasha before shaking his head, "Not at all, Kagome was it?"

She nodded her head, "oh yes! And your name is..?"

"Kai."

She smiled brilliantly at him and held out a hand, "Its nice to officially meet you Kai."

He shook it, "Likewise, I like your hair by the way." he winked at her.

She flushed and touched one spiraled pigtail, "thanks...It takes forever to get them right, I always wonder if its worth it."

He shrugged, "I think it is. matches the peculiarness of the rest of yah."

She smiled, "well thats good, I guess it is worth my while then."

He nodded glancing at Inuyasha once who was leaning on the bar watching the two, Kai was wondering if it was a good thing or not, considering the lack of growling and the fact he wasn't bleeding he supposed he wasn't near any dangerous waters. Besides its not every day the ever elusive Inuyasha invites women over, "and how did you meet Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes, Kai was fishing for something and he didn't like it, before he could tell the bar tender to mind his own shit Kagome piped up, "the shrine I work at. He was quit the uninvited guest one night and showed up the next morning, which is how I met Sango. Sango is now my best friend and we do everything together its great, so I got to know Inuyasha better because of that."

Kai raised a brow, not only was this girl in with Inuyasha but apparently Sango was fond of the girl as well, "A shrine? which one?"

Kagome beamed, "Higu-"

"Kagome." Inuyasha's deep rumble interrupted the young girl causing her to pout. He simply smirked at her, "Kai has to work, don't talk his ear off."

She pouted again, missing the glare Inuyasha sent Kai, "hey do you think thats why nobody at school likes me?"

Kai seeing Inuyasha's glare chided himself, he should have know to stay off topics about where Kagome worked or lived, Inuyasha was too paranoid to let that information slip. He looked at the girl strangely when she mentioned being disliked at school no women referred to collage as school, usually it was people on campus , knowing it was stupid he asked anyways, "Kagome how old are you?"

Kagome blinked at him, "oh! I'm 17."

Kai nearly choked and looked at Inuyasha with wide eyes, the amber orbs staring back at him somehow both indifferent and challenging at once, clearly Kai's opinion on the girls age mattered nothing so he let that go, "ah I remember high school as an awful place. It gets better."

Kagome offered him a bright grin, "really thanks Kai!"

He nodded and Inuyasha took Kagome's hand, "the bars about to open. c'mon."

She blinked, "Oh? where are we going."

"you my sweet little miko get to entertain me tonight."

She frowned, "I'm not your doll."

"Ah. but you look like one." He winked at her.

She blushed -only now realizing how often she did that especially around him and wished she could stop- Before following him back into the bar a bit into one of the booths, She looked up, confused, "wha?"

He shrugged, "you seemed so fascinated by the people, I figured you wouldn't mind spending some time here. We can retreat to my place anytime you want, Plus i figured tonight was the only time you could really stay out and do something with your family being gone."

She smiled up at him, both surprised and happy at his noticing her interest in the people there, "okay...so what do you usually do here?"

Inuyasha tensed at the question before forcing himself to relax, of course she was going to ask questions, the were supposed to be testing out the waters. People who were on a date asked questions, so he looked at her through half lidded eyes and smirked, "I live here my little miko, I do whatever I want."

She rolled her eyes at the mischievous hanyo before her, unable to suppress a small smile, "ever the mystery, aren't we Inuyasha? Okay so...what about your tattoo, I heard that every good tattoo is supposed to have a story, whats yours?"

Another question he rather she didn't ask, "Your into ink aren't you Sunshine?"

Kagome flushed and puffed out her cheeks, "that would not be appropriate for a priestess."

He leaned in across the table a grin spreading across his face, "No, its not. But it is a sexy little quirk of yours."

Kagome bit the inside of her cheek, sexy was never a word anyone had ever used even remotely directed towards her, "I never said I was into tattoo's"

He chuckled, "you didn't have to."

She smiled and shook her head, "fine...maybe a I think they are kind of cool, so the story behind yours?"

His grin faltered, he was hoping she would let it go, "thats a story for another time."

Sensing his reluctance Kagome nodded, "okay."

He was slightly taken aback, he hand't expected her to just let it go. He pulled out a cigarette and looked her over as he lit it, "You thirsty?"

She blinked at him before grinning, happy she hadn't made him angry with her question, "yes, very."

He nodded and left the booth, She watched his back until he retreated into the crowd she hadn't even noticed was growing. When he completely disappeared she leaned back in her seat and kicked her feet back and forth under the table, "why are these seats so high?.."

"Because little girls don't belong here."

Kagome frowned, unhappy with the comment, she looked up to see the woman from before; the one that had gotten glitter on her dress. She sighed, "I'm not a little girl."

The woman flicked the strawberry on Kagome's head, "you look like one to me."

Kagome had to fight back her flush, Sango had taught her to deal with girls like this without her backing down. She was supposed to be strong and act like it didn't bother her even if it did and to 'dish it right back', She took a slow measured breath and sat up straighter looking the woman right in the eye, "well then I guess its good that your opinion doesn't matter."

The woman sneered at her, seeming to get more hostile, "who do you think you are?"

Kagome thought fast, she could try calling the other girl out like Sango would but she wasn't sure she could handle the fight, she was already past Miroku usual calm composure, or she could be elusive and sarcastic like Inuyasha...None of those seemed to fit her so she decided to just go with whatever came to her first. She smiled at the girl innocently and cocked her head to the side slightly, knowing it would make her pigtails bounce childishly, "I'm Kagome."

The woman's eye twitched slightly, "you little- what are you doing here?"

Kagome brought one perfectly manicured nail to her lips, pouting slightly, "I'm waiting for Nu-chan to get me a drink, what about you?"

She scoffed, "Nu-chan? who the fuck is Nu-chan?"

Kagome giggled, "Nu-chan is Nu-chan silly!"

Inuyasha, who had been watching the scene with several other bar patrons frowned, "you had better not be referring to me."

Kagome spun around in the booth so she could lean over the back of the seat, "Nu-chan!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "ugh out of everything..."

Kagome leaned further over and pointed at him, causing him to go cross-eyed if he wanted to look at the plastic red bow on the tip of her nail, "hush!"

He gently pushed down her hand and looked at her, one brow raised, "why?"

She pouted, "because I was asking the nice lady a question."

He slid his amber gaze to the so called nice lady, before grinning wildly, "I can show you in detail of what she's hoping to accomplish tonight later if you want Kagome."

Kagome chewed on her bottom lip, "Nah. life's no fun without a little mystery Nu-chan, whats that?" She pointed at yellow bottle in Inuyasha's hand.

He chuckled and handed it to her, "hard lemonade, the last thing I need is you drunk in public."

She pouted at him, "Ive never been drunk."

"exactly." He glared at the small crowed and the other woman causing them to disperse before sitting back into the booth.

Once they had left Kagome pushed the bottle away, "I'm not supposed to drink Inuyasha."

Inuyasha chuckled, "no more Nu-chan?"

She felt a smile tug at her lips, "ah...well.." She wasn't sure what to say, in all honesty she liked calling him Nu-chan, it was ridiculously cute and contrasted to the actual person but she knew he would probably hate it.

He leaned back and looked at her taking a drag of his cigarette and messing with his beer bottle, "Interesting little game you played there sunshine, you devious little thing."

Kagome flushed, "I don't know what your talking about Nu-chan."

He chuckled, "sure you don't," he gestured to her bottle sure you don't wanna try it? you'll like it, it's sweet."

Kagome looked down at her drink, wondering if it was really okay, she was already having unnecessary relations with a hanyo...she wasn't sure she could break another rule, "I don't know.."

He smiled at her deviously, "How about this, take a sip and I'll answer a question."

She hesitated before frowning, "are you trying to get me drunk?"

"Nope. remember I don't wan't you drunk in public."

She bit her lip, she really wanted to know more about Inuyasha, he was always so secretive. She may know him but she didn't really know him, "Okay..." She took a small sip from her bottle, surprised and the sweet taste, She decided to ask something generic knowing he would just dance around anything serious, "Uh...How long have you lived her?"

He cocked his head at her, it was a simple enough question and not what he had expected. He had thought she would back track to her earlier questions, "The Flea and The Sword has been my actual home since I was 17 but I never really stayed here for too long at a time until about three years ago."

Kagome smiled at him and looked around the bar, "you were my age when you moved in..thats really cool. I can't imagine just up and moving somewhere now...Can I ask another question?"

He smirked at her, "you just did." At her pout he chuckled, "I live to sate your curiosity my little shrine maiden, ask away."

She looked at her bottle, "do I..?"

He smiled at her and winked, 'Nah, you tried it once. good enough for me."

She smiled back, blushing slightly, "Uh okay...How did your family feel about your leaving?"

Inuyasha's smile fell and he leaned back, "Sango never told you?"

"hmmm? all she told me was you and Miroku helped her out after her parents died and she slowly fell in love with him."

Inuyasha watched as Kagome's eyes lighted at the thought, it was clear the girl thought Sango's story to be romantic. He knew it was anything but and wondered if it ever hurt Sango to see that look in Kagome's eyes, "the three of us are all orphans, my father died when I was a baby and my mother followed when I was around six...I do have a half brother but he wants nothing to do with me."

Kagome frowned, "Oh...I'm sorry to hear that."

He shrugged, "It was a long time ago, funny thing about people and demons is we can cause death but we can never seem to stop it. It's a fact of life. What about you? I haven't seen a Mr. Higurashi around the shrine."

Kagome furrowed her brows, as far as she knew Inuyasha had only seen her brother, once. She shrugged figuring the hanyo was sometimes around when she wasn't. Then she remembered the question and bit her lip, looking down at her lap, "He died last year of cancer. Daddy was a good man, a bit quirky but he loved everyone...used to always tell me I was too serious and priestess or not, I should be a bit softer...I think he would have been happy with how outgoing I am now, he always wanted the world for me even if I pushed it away."

Inuyasha watched the sadness, pain, and love cross the girls face. She looked to be on the verge of tears, He pursed his lips before grinning and holding out his hand, "Hey Kagome?"

She looked at him, half sad half confused, "yes?"

He nodded towards his hand, "Would you like to hold this for me while I go on a walk?"

She couldn't help it, she bit her lip trying to hold back a grin and failed before she burst out laughing, "T-that is," She tried to work out between gasps before finally settling down and shaking her head, "thats...well thats actually really sweet." She took his hand and slid from the booth, "Thank you Inuyasha."

He shrugged, leading her out, "Don't thank me yet darlin', I'm still fighting the urge to make you the happiest woman on earth tonight."

Kagome rolled her eyes, He's still a crazy pervert, "Sango say's you just talk all big to make up for your lack in...uhm other areas."

Inuyasha paused for a second. Looking back at her, "Does she now?"

Kagome shrugged, "Yeah. But I think you do it to keep people away, most people don't like talking to rude, bi polar, perverts."

Inuyasha was slightly taken aback, by both the comment and the steady look she was giving him, she seemed to be studying him. But in a second the look was gone, replaced by that innocent smile he had gotten used to seeing on her, He brushed off his earlier weariness and led her down the street, "Ah. then what my little miko does that make you?"

Kagome shrugged, "In all honesty I think this," she gestured between the two of them, "is going to make me an idiot."

He chuckled, "why do you say that?"

"Because, I know your only going to hurt me in the end."

Inuyasha felt his grip involuntarily tighten on her hand, "I don't plan on hurting you Kagome."

"Maybe not on purpose, but I guess only time will tell," She broke out into another smile, "But hey, so far this is fun. I think I like talking to you."

Inuyasha pulled her close and licked the outside of her ear, "I can name a few things you could do with me that you would like even more."

Kagome flushed wildly, "u-uh..Y-Your a bit c-close!"

He chuckled against her, loving her reactions, "I was even closer last night when I was tasting those sweet lips of yours."

She eeped, "walking remember?"

He pulled back and admired her flushed cheeks, "hmmm? yeah. just stay close. this isn't the best part of town."

She nodded wildly and gripped his hand with both of hers, a determined look on her face, "okay. So stay close to you for bad guys, got it!"

He chuckled lightly, "closer if you would like."

"Nope! Sango says to keep a good running distance from perverts."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes as they started down the street, "you just love to play Sango says don't you?"

Kagome nodded, "Sango knows about parts of the world that I don't. I teach her about stuff and she teaches me."

Inuyasha grinned wickedly, fangs glimmering in the street light, "I have a thing or two I could teach you."

Kagome gave him a straight face, "Sango says to never take lessons from you."

He watched as her face broke out into a grin and let a small one slip onto his face as well. He had never been with a women who could just make light conversation with him like Kagome could. It was different and not all that bad, "we'll see if you can listen to her on that one."

Kagome giggled, "your stubborn aren't you Inuyasha?"

"As a mule."

"or a dog."

He nipped at her casing her to giggle, he liked the sound It was soft on his ears and innocent just like the rest of her, "You hungry? I know this great place for ramen."

Kagome grinned, "okay!" She made small chat with him about little things for the rest of the night, by the time he dropped her of at her house, she had learned a bit more about Inuyasha. Not too much but still, she didn't think she would mind going out with him again.