A/N: First of all, thank you anyone and everyone for giving this fic a chance — I hope you like the first chapter of my first fanfic!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or its characters.

Are you fucking serious?

He wasn't as surprised as he should have been, to be honest. It wasn't as if fifty years would change society's views too much, and it wasn't as if he didn't know what was going on in the time that he was gone. He had just assumed there were more people who were more open-minded. Kind, pure, had a heart, perhaps?

Someone who didn't care, someone who never did care, doesn't, and never would.

But of course, people like that didn't exist in his world. His world was just black and white, where he was the hideous shade of grey in between that no one liked.

The whole time he tried to tell himself that someone would take him in, in the back of his mind he knew that he would get rejected from every single place he tried. The world was just like that.

A cold, narrow-minded, and cruel place that seemed to exist just to torture and laugh at him.

He should have known that his older brother wouldn't even consider showing him much sympathy past bringing him home. Or should he say, to his new home, because the aforementioned sibling refused to share a home with his so-called disgrace of a brother if he could help it.

It wasn't a terrible house — two floors, two bedrooms, and in a decent part of town, already furnished with basic necessities. His brother's excuse for not buying a vermin infested apartment in the middle of nowhere had been brief and uncaring.

"Doing so would further violate and bring shame to the family bloodline, half-breed."

His dear ol' brother was probably growing soft on him, not like he would ever admit it.

Though the house itself had already been paid for, water bills, electricity bills, food, and everything else was up to him to pay. After checking his bank accounts, piggy banks, and pockets he found himself with scarcely five hundred thousand yen to his name. Knowing that the money wouldn't last him very long with the expenses he would have to make, he set out looking for a job.

Finding a decent job in Tokyo obviously wasn't going to be an easy thing — it was a busy city, the heart of Japan, where demons and humans alike constantly looked for jobs with better pay, less hours, and it wasn't an easy game.

Especially when no one even wanted to consider hiring you.

Sure, he had a lot of good qualities that could prove to be beneficial in lots of different fields. He had a Bachelor's and a Master's degree, exceptional physical and mental endurance, and could be quite the multitasker if he tried, the last two due to his demon blood.

His bad qualities, in comparison, stacked up much higher. He had a fiery short temper, little to no patience, and possessed no tact for talking to people. One might think that it was a result of the two different bloods flowing through his body, fighting each other.

His nose twitched and he sneezed as a smoker passed by him on the sidewalk. He earned himself a disgusted sneer from the smoker, and was promptly assaulted by another puff of the foul grey air that was purposefully blown into his face.

"How disgusting... a hanyou."

Though the words were muttered after the man had passed him by at least fifteen feet, two snowy white dog ears perched on top of his head twitched once and easily caught the words. Snorting to himself, he let the insult bounce off his person and continued walking down the sidewalk. Street lights were beginning to turn on as the day faded to night.

After asking at twelve different places hiring for a job he knew he qualified for and being turned down at each and every single one without a single glance, he knew the chances of him finding a job today — or any other day, for that matter — were basically slim to none. He was starting to wander into the quieter parts of Tokyo, where stores and businesses were scarce, but still present nonetheless. At this point, he was somewhat desperate; hopefully one of these shops was in need of some form of assistance he could offer.

Unfortunately for him, many stores were beginning to close. Owners stood out in front, locking doors and puling down metal safety gates before turning heel and walking ones that weren't didn't have signs requesting help up.

Passing an open hardware store, he shuddered as he remembered asking at a hardware store earlier in the morning for a job.

A bright red and white 'Help Wanted' sign stood out in front of a large hardware store on the busy Tokyo street.

A hardware store was a place he could work at. He could handle all tools, and name a large variety of them. Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the door, wincing a little as the bell at the top of the door chimed loudly, signaling his entrance.

After passing through shelves and shelves of miscellaneous tools, nails, and saws, he sighed when he finally sighted a counter in the back, with a human man fiddling with some type of glue gun, muttering to himself as he tried to fix out whatever was wrong with the gun.

"Uh, excuse me?"

The cashier looked up at him in surprise, obviously not noticing his presence beforehand. He didn't miss the way the man's eyes quickly darted to his ears before going back to his face, and he pretended to ignore the scent of disgust and nervousness that suddenly emanated off of the human.

"How can I help you?"

The words were spoken quick and sharp.

"I noticed your sign outside, in the window. I'm lookin' for a job, and I was wondering if —"

The cashier seemed to stiffen suddenly and he swiftly cut him off. "I'm sorry, but we are currently not hiring."

A dark eyebrow was raised. "I saw your sign outside. Look, I know you might not want someone like me on staff, but I can—"

"Oh, that sign? Was out ages ago, we simply forgot to take it down. I... apologize for any inconvenience."

He fixed the cashier with an intimidating gaze, obviously angry at having such an obvious lie thrown to his face.

"Oh no, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it at all..."

Narrowing his flashing eyes at the human, he smirked when he noticed the spike in fear in his scent. He smacked his hand on the counter and turned away to leave.

If there as one thing he could thank his demon heritage for, it was the ability to scare the shit out of people.

On his way out, he heard the door open and a human walked into the store, heading for the back.

Just before he left, he managed to catch the beginnings of a conversation.

"Hi, I'm here to ask about the job? I saw your 'Help Wanted' sign outside."

"Of course, sir, right this way..."

If there was one thing he hated his demon heritage for, it was the fact he was cursed with the unlucky capability to hear things he didn't want to.

It was almost eight o'clock now, and all the stores on the block had been closed. Stores had decided to close earlier, it seemed, as cold weather began to sweep the nation. It was only mid October, but frozen winds were already creeping in on the country.

He stuck his hands in his jacket pocket with a sigh. Well, if these were the last stores open, then—

He stopped. A rather dim light emanated from the corner of the block. Curious, he sped up his steps, walking eagerly along the street until he hit the corner.

A store!

Looking up, he read the sign. Shikon, it said. Inside the store, he could see clearly it was a bookstore. Rows and rows of books of all sizes. It may not have been his forte, and the store may not have had a sign up saying they were hiring, but it was definitely worth a shot. He'd gone into stores before that didn't say they were hiring to inquire.

Frankly, he just didn't feel like doing this all over again in another part of Tokyo tomorrow.

Pulling open the door, he was relieved when no annoying jangling of bells or chimes hit his sensitive ears. He could scent only one person in the store, a woman on the second floor who obviously hadn't noticed him come in.

What a stupid girl, she's lucky I'm not a damn thief.

Shaking his head at the girl's stupidity, he gazed around the store. There were two floors— the second floor overlooked the first from all sides of the building, with bookcases in a single line pressed back against the walls. A long staircase in the corner led down to the first floor, near a small alcove with a few beanbags chairs and recliners and an unlit fireplace. The rest of the floor consisted of bookshelves and tables as far as he could see. For such an impressively large and well maintained store, he would have expected more customers and a few employees, even at this hour.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I hadn't noticed anybody had come in."

He turned his gaze to the young woman rushing down the wooden stairs. She was young, probably a few years less than himself. She had long dark hair which flowed behind her as she hurried towards him and large brown eyes that should have been ordinary, but instead were so unique his breath hitched in his throat as they made eye contact. He saw her lips move, but his brain barely registered the words coming out of her mouth.

For a human, she sure was pretty.

"Uh, sir?"

He quickly shook himself out of his reverie. The girl smiled shyly at him and giggled at what was probably the very dumb look on his face.

"...Could you repeat that?"

The girl grinned, and her white teeth were practically blinding. "How may I help you?"

He sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Right, uh..." He gruffly cleared his throat before continuing. "I was wondering if you were looking to hire? I know you didn't have a sign out, but I—"

The girl smacked herself on the forehead. "Oh, the sign! I knew I had forgotten something. You must be psychic, I've been needing an extra hand around here! Oh, thank you, thank you!"

He stared a little dumbfounded at her. He hadn't been sure what he had expected, but it sure as hell wasn't this.

Wasn't she going to turn him away? Maybe she hadn't realized yet, or maybe she was more sheltered than she looked. After all, she was alone in a bookstore in the corner of nowhere.

He watched her dance around the store a little before she seemed to regain her sanity and situated herself in front of him again, looking up at him and sticking her hand out.

"Sorry for not introducing myself before! I'm Kagome Higurashi, the owner of the bookstore. What's yours?"

Regarding the strange woman before him cautiously, he slowly reached out his hand to take hers and gave it a light shake.

"Inuyasha Takahashi."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Feel free to review and leave any comments/criticisms.

Also, I noticed a little last minute that I had made a mistake mentioning Miroku — how can they be best friends if Inuyasha was in jail for half a century? Can't have that lech being an old geezer, now, can we?