Distance by Leunra

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or anyone from the anime/manga...why!!!???? Just give me Sesshoumaru and I'll leave you alone...Bankotsu maybe? You need to share the wealth Rumiko Takahashi!

"blah" - talking

'blah' - thoughts

> > > > change in scene

>>>> flashback and end of it

Chapter 1:

"Kagome...still up at this hour?" A young man with short brown hair peaks inside a room to view it's occupant. A look of hesitation is etched on his handsome face. He takes in the site of said occupant, a young woman with long raven tresses that shines with blue highlights, all natural of course. She seems to be preoccupied, a frown mars her perfect face, her chin resting on her palm as she looks out the window. She doesn't even notice that he's there.

Houjo admires the beauty in front of him. Within that youthful exterior is a soul of someone so ancient it dates back to the time where mythologies and the bed time stories children often begged their parents to read for them, are as real as the people you see everyday. A time of his ancestors, hell she's probably met them. Kagome is a demon an inuyoukai, and a proud one at that. She takes pride in her kind and the black blood that flows within her veins.

Sadly, these days the pride she once shows off exuberantly now is weakened with insecurities. The sparkle of her sapphire eyes, one that was always filled with a glimmer of joy had dimmed, her smiles more forced as if she has to do it out of reassurance. Kagome has lost a part of her, and that part is probably what's been occupying her mind as of lately.

"Kagome?" he said again with a little more volume this time to shake her off her musings. Kagome was brought back to reality when she noticed her friend standing right there, she blushed a bit embarassed that she wasn't paying attention, mostly because he knows the subject of her thoughts.

She smiles, the same fake smile she's been doing to tell him that she's doing fine, when in all actuality she's hurting inside, "Oh...Houjo-kun! I'm sorry...I was just thinking about my lesson plan for tomorrow...how long have you been here? How was work?"

He took the seat besides her and leaned back to relieve his aching muscle from the long hours of work he just put in, "Okay," he stretches his arm out and yawned, "I just got here a couple of minutes ago, I have some good news to tell you!'

Her eyes beemed a little, Houjo rarely has good news to tell her, he usually talks about how tired he always is because everyone seems to give him all the work because he's so smart as his co-workers would say. She urged him to go on. "Well...I got promoted Kagome-chan! No more getting pushed around...now it's my turn to do all the pushing!" he paused...not really liking how that sounded. Kagome laughed a bit when she saw the disturbed look on his face.

"That's great Houjo-kun! I knew you can do it! You're better that all the other people in there...they're all slackers anyway, you deserve it," she laughed again, giving him a celebratory clap. Houjo smirked at the suffix she always use for him, if anything he should be calling her Kagome-sama. She always hated formalities, and she stressed the fact that she loves calling him Houjo-kun it kinda grew on him, "It fits you!" he recalled her saying. That was back then in college, about nine years ago. They had a class together, Humanities it was. She was majoring in World History and he in Bussiness, (A/N: I never took any of those so I don't know what classes they both have in common.) both dealt with interacting with different types of people whether they wanted to or not. At the time he didn't know she was a demon, it was year later when she felt that she can really trust him that she finally let him in on her little secret.

>>>>

"A demon!!!!???"

"Lower your voice down!" she yelled back, her hands clamped her ears shut she could still feel the ringing in her head, "Kami, you want me to be deaf?"

"Yo...you're a...a...demon?"

"Yeah...but I'm not bad! I don't go around raiding villages and eating babies," her stomach got a bit squeamish at the thought of that, "I'm the good guy!"

"You mean there's bad guys?!" his face paled, somewhere out there are powerful demons that can kill him with a mere twitch of a muscle and one is currently in front of him right now.

"No...I mean yes...er...I'm making this worse huh?" Houjo just gave her a bewildered face, he's still a bit shocked at her little confession. "Look just like humans there are demons that are highly respected in the community and are kind hearted like doctors, bussiness owners, scientist, and there are those that are not exactly in everyone's buddy list... you know drug dealers, yakuzas... lawyers. So there's nothing to worry about!" She smiled vivaciously revealing a set of two very sharp fangs he just now noticed.

His demeanor changes and he looks at her with an accusing finger, "How old are you anyway?"

She gasp at the question, "I'll have you know I'm only 236 years old," she huffed indignatly.

"236!!" his eyes widened.

She crossed her arms and grumbled , "Fine...I'm

281 okay...happy now!"

>>>>

They laughed that whole night, she told him more about her kind and her family. How she has many great great great nephews and nieces and that she has a human family as well. She mentioned to him how she was planning on staying with one of her human relative once she gets all her classes done and when she comes back from Europe.

They we're both in college together for three years, after that she was done, got her diploma and, left for Europe to stay there for two years. He didn't see her then but they managed to stay in touch, it was 2 years ago when they came upon eachother at a market one day.

His smile fades a little bit when he remembered the other part of his news, she noticed and she has a feeling that she was not going to like it, "There's more to that news huh...what is it?"

He scratches the back of his head, reluctant at telling her this, "Well...part of that promotion is me getting moved to another branch of the corporation...they want me to go to the city...and it's in 3 months Kagome." Her heart skipped a beat when she heard this, 'The city? Why does it have to be in the city? Why can't it be anywhere but the city...Guam perhaps...it's a nice little island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and it's warm and sunny...like a mini Hawaii. WHY THE CITY?!' She knows she is being selfish, she didn't want to mess up what Houjo's got going now. Plus it's his decision, and she knows there's no way he's going to back down on that offer, Ayumi's there, his fiance, they've been apart for a year now and with their busy schedules and location they haven't even set up a wedding date. Well today's the day that Kagome will do something so unlike her. She will stay and manage to be a regular adult with full responsibilities.

That momment of ackward silence was not a good sign,"Kagome comewith me," it was more of a pleading order than a request. She was surprised, why would he offer her to come with him, he knows the reason of her refusal. "It's okay Houjo-kun, I can stay here and just take over the rest of the payment for the apartment. Plus, Ayumi's there...if I was there then I'm sure there's going to be more complications. I'll be fine...plus it's time that I start living on my own place without the support I've been getting."

He scoffed at the idea, Kagome living on her own, the demoness had the money to afford her own house back in college, instead she chose to live in a dorm, it's very expensive and the best of it's kind, but a dorm none the less. Her excuse was because she wanted to have a roomate, she hated living on her own. For the two centuries that she was alive she lived with families and friends, but never by herself. Even when she she went to Europe she was accompanied by her demon friend Ayame and that was only for two years, a blink of an eye for the likes of her. You wouldn't believe how she reacted when she found out that he lived here, she practically squeezed the life out of him. "You know very well that the thought alone is near impossible to accomplish for you. Come on Kagome...your job as a highschool teacher isn't enough for the payments of the apartment and untilities alone. You don't want to use your credit card, you don't want to deposit of withdraw any of your money from you account...at least if you're living with me you know that you're taken care of. I'm not living with Ayumi...I'm getting my own apartment for now." she still didn't looked convinced. "Are you going to let him run your life?" That broke the damn for her, a tear escapes her eye, it streams down her porcelene face adorned with two light plum stripes on both sides.

"It hurts Houjo..." she looks away from him so that he can't see the pain in her eyes, "I don't know what I'll do if I see him..."

Houjo gently took hold of her chin to make her look at him, his brown eyes looking straight at her sapphire pools, "You'll never know until it happens...Kagome...if you can't do it for yourself...then do it for her," he looks down at her lap "do it for your daughter." They both look at the little girl who's sleeping peacefully on her lap, silver hair falling carelessly around her face.

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So...what do you all think? Good, okay, needs improvement? Please review... I want to know what you all think. I stood up till 11 typing this thing and I have work at like 7 ( I need my 12 hour of sleep )

If you have any questions feel free to ask , I'll try to answer them without revealing too much in the next chapter. I'll add some notes about this story in the next chapter too if you're all confused.

Also I need a beta reader if you all didn't notice I need some work on my way of writing. This is my first fic that I'm actually releasing to the public so please be nice. So if anyone wants to be my beta reader just e-mail me or something, I really need one, as you can tell I was had a little problem in the beginning...I just forget some of words when I really needed them!!! DAMN YOU BRAIN FART!

Brain Fart: it's not my fault you're easy to pick on hehe!

Leunra: come back here and give me back my word...thingys!!! (start chase)

Brain Fart: can't catch me..I'm an oozy...stinky...fleshy.Bumpy.Looking.Thing....

Leunra: eeww...(stops all of a sudden and looks with discust) you are a brain fart...literally... (walks away)

Again please review!!! Much appreciated!