Hello again! I´m glad you keep bearing with me. Sorry for the long delays, I try to post at least twice a month but there are months too busy for me and I just can´t make it on time. I´ll try to keep that goal for the future chapters. Thank you so much for your patience, I hope you enjoy this one.

DISCLAIMER: The characters of Inuyasha belong to our dear Rumiko Takahashi, I don´t own anything, sadly.

The small restaurant was almost deserted when the pair arrived. Being located in the heart of the financial district meant business hours were the same as the offices surrounding it. Inuyasha and Kagome arrived only a few minutes before closing time and were the last customers. A few other people were seated at the bar and there was a couple occupying one table, leaving them with plenty of tables to choose.

On their way to the restaurant, both of them had remained silent with Kagome struggling to keep up with Inuyasha´s powerful long strides. Now that they were seating and their eyes were leveled, Kagome found that looking into his golden eyes she could get lost, the honey hue of his irises reminded her of the heat of the sun. She decided it was safer to avoid his gaze.

After their orders were taken, and they both had their respective glasses of cold green tea, Inuyasha decided it was time to break the ice.

"So, how long have you been working with us?" He actually was curious. If they were working in the same building, he should have seen her before, or at least noticed her wonderful scent.

"It´s not been too long. Next week it´ll be my third month." She answered daring to look into his eyes for a moment, only to turn her eyes back to her hands in her lap immediately afterward.

"Oh, just three months?" He said taking a gulp of his tea. "Probably that´s why I hadn´t bumped into you before. I hadn´t been on the sales floor in a while."

"You don´t work on my floor?" Kagome asked reaching for her glass and sipping her tea.

"No, I´m on the tenth floor."

Their order arrived at that precise moment. Inuyasha´s nose twitched at the delicious smell of ramen. He ordered two more bowls before the kitchen closed, making Kagome gape at him with her mouth open in shock.

"You can´t eat all that! Look at the size of the bowls," She pointed to the bowls to illustrate her point. "I´m sure I´ll have trouble just finishing mine!"

"Then I´ll eat whatever is left of your bowl too." He grinned at her, fangs glistening under the neon lights.

By the time the rest of their meal arrived, Inuyasha was relieved to see her coming out of her shell. He kept talking between mouthfuls of noodles.

"How do you like your job so far?" It wasn´t just curiosity, he was also trying to decide whether she could be of any help or not.

"It´s ok I guess. I can´t complain. Customers are usually very friendly and the people I work with have been kind to me. I thought that working in an equal opportunity company there would be more youkais around, though."

"You have something against youkais?" Even when the girl looked at ease with him now, he remembered her smell when he confronted her in the coffee break room.

"Oh, no. It´s not that." She answered fast, not wanting to give him the wrong idea.

"But you were afraid in the breakroom, weren´t you?" He slurped his ramen after that, never breaking eye contact.

Kagome had to look down again. The power of his stare had her looking back down every few minutes.

"That´s not because..." she started to speak but was afraid to reveal too much about herself. "It wasn´t you that I was afraid of, it was... the situation."

Inuyasha could sense her nervousness and decided to address the issue once and for good.

"Keh, just forget about that. It´s not like I would ever try it again. You don´t have to fear me."

For a brief moment, Kagome felt relieved, but then her old insecurities come back to haunt her. Was she so repulsive that he didn´t want to touch her ever again?

"I told you I don´t! Now that I´m here sitting with you, can´t you tell I´m not afraid?" The young woman wanted to make it clear to him.

"Yeah. But that may be because I´m only half-youkai, I´m a hanyo."

"Really?" She was really surprised about that fact, Inuyasha could tell from the other side of the table. "Are you half neko? Or maybe half kitsune?" Her eyes shone with an inquisitive gleam, she had never met a hanyo before, they were extremely rare.

"What? No! Look at the ears." He signaled to his ears with the hand holding the sticks while twisting them around for emphasis. "I´m half inu."

Kagome couldn´t help giggling as he kept moving his fluffy ears around. Her hands itched to touch them, she thought they were the most adorable thing ever.

Noticing the blush creeping up her neck, the girl looked away and decided to focus on something other than his cute furry ears.

"If you´re not on sales, then what do you do in the company? If you don´t mind my asking"

"I work on software development," he said before digging into his third bowl. "I couldn´t work on sales. I´m no good interacting with people."

"Yet, here we are." She moved her right hand from her to him and back to her. "You have something against humans?" She twisted his previous question around.

"Keh, I don´t mind them. It´s them that don´t like me. Most humans are afraid of me, others just despise me for being a half-demon. And don´t even mention youkais, they are worse yet."

Inuyasha didn´t notice he had been scowling until he saw the smile fading from her lips.

"Anyway, I was only there today to cover for Miroku. He had to take care of your friend and there wasn´t anybody else available"

"What happened to Sango?" Concern for her friend suddenly come forth overshadowing all the other topics on her mind.

Noticing her distress, Inuyasha answered swiftly.

"Oh, nothing serious, don´t worry. Just a sprained ankle, I think. Probably during some kinky sex game."

Kagome blushed profusely at the mention of sex, Inuyasha noticed. "Maybe she´s a virgin." He thought. "She can´t even hear the word mentioned without turning into a tomato." He decided the to change the subject once again.

"So, did you major in marketing?" He asked and watched fascinated the confusion on her face when she looked up into his eyes.

"Pardon me?" She was still worried about Sango´s health. She had to call her friend as soon as she got home. Brow furrowed and rosy-cheeked, Kagome stared into those gorgeous whiskey colored orbs.

"I was wondering what makes you such a good salesperson." Inuyasha grinned at her, satisfied to see her return his smile.

"Oh! No, I majored in arts. But it doesn´t seem to pay enough for the rent, so I had to look for something else. I tried many different jobs before this one."

"And what makes this one so special? I mean, there are a lot of creeps calling, don´t you get tired of it?" He had heard so many crazy stories from Miroku, like guys breathing heavily on the line or old people rambling on and on about their younger years.

"I think I just feel comfortable behind the phone. I´m sure I couldn´t do so good if I had to face the customers."

He knew what she was talking about. It was the same reason he had chosen to work with computers, it was way easier than working with other people, or demons.

Inuyasha put down his last bowl of ramen. He hadn´t noticed he had been staring at her for a long time.

"Oh, dear kami. This girl´s got me drooling. Get it together man!" Inuyasha thought while he wiped his chin an reminded himself they were here to talk business.

"Let me tell you about that presentation." He blurted out.

"Yes, please. What product are you selling?"

"Well, we are not selling anything at the moment. I´m working on an encryption program for Ikeda Labs, a partner of SNT. They are trying to get funds for a project they are working on."

Inuyasha made a pause to make sure Kagome knew what he was talking about. She had heard about the lab and Doctor Onigumo Ikeda, she also knew he was an important shareholder.

"What is the project about?"

"I can´t really tell you the specifics yet, just that it´s revolutionary and might save millions of lives, according to Onigumo Ikeda, head of the lab. What we need you to do is help us get the board´s approval and the funds necessary for the research. What do you think?"

Kagome remained silent for a moment while Inuyasha got the check. She had heard rumors about Onigumo and they were not very flattering. What kind of research was the doctor conducting? She had her reservations about this job but she needed the money urgently.

"And what about the pay?" She asked straightforward.

"Well, just to help me and Miroku out you´ll get a month´s salary. And if we succeed, three times that."

Inuyasha saw her eyes brighten while she made the math in her head. The girl needed money badly.

He signed the waiter for the check and Kagome rose to leave while he was paying.

"Let´s go get my car and I´ll drive you home."

"That´s not necessary, I can take the train."

"No need. You´re under my care now. We will be working after office hours, so I will be seeing you get home safe."

Inuyasha spoke in a matter of fact voice that left no room for discussions. Kagome was a little uncomfortable but she also knew he had a point. It was rather late and her neighborhood wasn´t the nicest in Tokyo.

They walked together to the parking lot Inuyasha adjusting his longer strides to hers so that they were side by side.

"You haven´t given me an answer, what do you say? Are you in?" He said as they reached the basement of their building, where Inuyasha had left his car.

"I´m not sure. Can I think about it just for tonight?"

Kagome was planning on googling Doctor Ikeda before she could make a decision.

Inuyasha stopped when they reached a red car, a red Prius to be precise.

"Is this your car?"

"Yeah, why?" He asked as she looked at it with a grin on her face. "Red is my color, in case you haven´t noticed yet." He used both his hands to point to his red shirt.

"It´s not the color, it´s just... Did you buy on purpose or is just a coincidence?" She kept smiling and Inuyasha was smiling back, overwhelmed by the contagious serenity that surrounded her. It felt natural to just talk and smile to each other.

"It´s a hybrid!" She remarked, both hands pointing to the vehicle for emphasis, afraid that the irony went over his head.

"I know that!" He couldn´t stop grinning now. "It wasn´t on purpose, I just care about the environment." He opened the passenger door for her and closed after she was comfortably seating inside before dashing to the driver´s door.

"Let me tell you something," He started as he fastened his seatbelt, "I can´t remember much about my father, but he was a formidable daiyoukai and I was told that he fought hard to protect the western lands. He protected the forests and all the creatures living in his territory. He was devastated when the woods were cut down to make room for civilization. If he had lived to see what we are doing to the world, I´m sure he would die again of pure sadness."

He spoke confidently as he maneuvered the car to leave the building and join the traffic on Tokyo´s streets. Kagome was mesmerized by his deep voice, he seemed so proud of his father. Also, while he focused his attention on driving, she could focus hers on his profile.

"Where do you live?" He asked, taking her out of her reverie. Kagome gave him directions and they were soon on their way.

"Do you miss your father?" The sudden question made him turn to face her for a brief while.

"I was a baby when he died. I hardly remember him."

"I´m so sorry." She offered sincerely. " My father died when I was 10 and I miss him terribly. We all do, especially my younger brother Souta. He was only two at the moment. It was hard for him, even with my grandfather around."

"Keh, he is lucky, the only family I have is my older half-brother and he just hates my guts."

This was the strangest thing, Inuyasha thought. Whenever the subject of his family arose, he would just avoid it or just leave. But with this girl he didn´t even stop to think, he opened his mouth and his thoughts flew out before he could stop himself.

Kagome was going to ask him about his mother when she noticed they were arriving at their destination.

"It´s right there, next to the grocery store." She was a little self-conscious about the neighborhood, she looked around from the pile of garbage in the corner to the graffitied walls of her building and then to Inuyasha. To her relief, he was looking right at her, oblivious of the landscape outside.

"So, here we are." He said to break the silence. "Listen, I don´t mean to pressure you, but I´ll need an answer tomorrow."

"Fine," Kagome said fumbling with her seatbelt buckle. "Tomorrow morning, I promise."

Her hands seemed unable to release the damn thing. She was trying to see what she was doing wrong when she found clawed fingers gently moving her hand and releasing her from the belt. She looked up and was face to face with the golden-eyed half-demon, her heart again running wild in her chest.

Inuyasha could notice the change in her heart rhythm, his sensitive ears focusing on the hypnotizing sound and his nose detecting the subtle change in her scent. His own heart seemed to be running a race against hers for the sound of it.

His fingers gingerly wrapped around hers, Inuyasha lifted Kagome´s hands and placed on his chest, above the frantic beating of his heart.

For a moment they both remained frozen in place, like deer in the headlights, unable to escape the intensity of their feelings, their eyes locked into each other´s gaze. Kagome was the first to react, trying to remove her hand from his but feeling cold afterward, she replaced her hand on top of his.

Without even realizing what she was doing, her body leaned closer to Inuyasha´s, her lips looking for his in a soft, hesitant kiss he didn´t falter to respond. In a few seconds, the timid brushing of their lips gained intensity when their mouths opened and their tongues searched and rubbed against each other. Very soon soft mewling sounds and heavy breathing was all Inuyasha´s ear detected.

In spite of the very uncomfortable position, the hanyo managed to attract the girl´s body as close to his as possible with one arm around her shoulders and the hand of the other cupping her cheek, his thumb caressing her cheek while his fingers tried to keep her glasses in place.

Inuyasha could almost hear the rush of the blood in his veins, the delirious feeling just made him want more. Kagome heard the satisfied rumbling sound he made while his fangs gently nipped on her lower lip and couldn´t avoid the mewling sound that escaped her lips.

When they finally broke apart, Kagome was hit by a sudden wave of guilt.

"Kagome..." Inuyasha was not sure of her reaction but was more than willing to explore this new development with her. He just didn´t know what to say, words were not his strong suit.

"I´m so sorry...I shouldn´t have... I can´t..." Kagome was stuttering again at the same time that she squirmed out of Inuyasha´s embrace and opened the car door.

Standing on wobbly legs, she made her way to the front door of her building as quickly as possible, all the time ignoring the voice of the hanyou that called her name from the sidewalk.