BlueMoon Goddess: Alright guys, here is my new Inuyasha x Kagome fic! If some of you guys read my one-shot 'Sleeping with the one I hate,' this is the follow-up to it. You don't have to read that one-shot (though it would be great if you guys do) to understand this story, just small references from it. So sit back, relax, and I hope you all enjoy the first chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha, its characters (except the OC's) or the story 'The Tycoon's Convenient Bride…And Baby' by Shoshanna Evers

Summary: After their friends go missing, Inuyasha and Kagome plan to raise the children as their own. However, their friends will stipulates that the kids can only be raised by a married couple. So the only solution would be for him and Kagome to marry for the sake of the children. And he'll keep his attraction to her at bay. It's just a marriage of convenience, but Kagome's unexpected feelings for him have her thinking.

Kagome kept her eyes shut, luxuriating in the feel of Inuyasha's hands running over her skin. "What's that noise?" She moaned and opened her eyes, the dream dissolving as she awoke on the couch. Someone was pounding on the front door.

She padded barefoot to the entranceway and stood on her tip-toes to peer out the peephole, gasping when she saw who was behind it. "Inuyasha?"

Maybe she was still dreaming? But no, this was real. Why on earth was Inuyasha on their friend's doorstep? Droplets of rain ran down his jaw, which was clenched tight, a little muscle twitching. He couldn't see her through the peephole and his fist came up, pounding the door against the rain.

Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. 'Calm down. It's not like he can read your mind.'

Inuyasha couldn't possibly know she'd just been having a very…um, vivid dream about him. Despite the fact that she told him plan and simple to forget about their little night of passion two months ago, and rarely saw him nowadays unless they were at an event. Even though she wanted to forget it, the hanyou had been invading her dreams lately. Maybe after being with him that one time had her secretly wanting to be with him again. That could explain why she kept relieving that night with him whenever she went to sleep. Then again, he is a guy that can easily invade a woman's dreams.

Though he was her number one public enemy…at least he used to be. After their night together they had made it a point to be nicer to each other and hardly argued like they used too. Well, given the fact that she tried to avoid him like the plague. Plus, it seemed like he took her advice with stride, because he had a different woman on his arm at every single function he was invited too lately. That obviously meant he was able to get over their time together.

His fist came up again to knock once more and Kagome realized she'd been letting him stand in the rain while her sleep-fogged mind woke up. It had to be after midnight. She flung the door open, a rush of cold, damp air flying into her face, the raindrops slanting sideways with the wind.

"What are you doing here?" She blurted.

"Are you going to let me in?" Inuyasha asked.

"Oh, of course, sorry." She said, shaking her head at her lapse in manners. She moved aside and he stepped into the grand foyer with its two story entranceway, dripping water onto the marble floor.

"I'm glad you're here." He said.

"Sure." She said. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"It's pouring out." He said, water dripping off him in little rivulets. He gripped the end of his shirt and wrung some of the water out onto the floor. Funny, she was just imaging those same hands gripping her in a pleasurable way…

"I'm sorry, let me get you a towel." Kagome said. "You're soaked. Do you want me to grab you one of Miroku's shirts? I'm sure he won't mind."

He nodded silently, not saying a word, as she went upstairs to retrieve said shirt.

Kagome wondered why Inuyasha, of all people, was there. He had to know that Miroku and Sango were out of town and she was here babysitting and housesitting. Despite her busy schedule, her two friends hadn't exactly had to twist her arm to get her to watch her twin four year old goddaughter's, Sachi and Saki and two month-old godson, Mizu, while they went on a cruise to celebrate their five years of marriage.

They had planned this trip since last year, but when Sango gave birth to Mizu two months ago, she really didn't want to leave him when he was still so young. However, Kagome was the one who had to entice her two friends in going and adding to the fact they couldn't get a refund for the trip. In addition, they couldn't find anyone else to give the two tickets too, the parents had no choice but to go. Hopefully, they were both relaxing and enjoying their two week getaway and not worrying so much about the kids.

However, it wasn't like Miroku to inform his friend that he was taking time off. In fact, if she remembered correctly, they had both told them at the same time that they were leaving. So Inuyasha had to know Miroku wouldn't be at his house tonight. Which meant Inuyasha had driven almost an hour upstate from Manhattan, in the storm, knowing the two wouldn't be home.

'Maybe a business deal fell through?' She thought, not giving it much thought. Besides being good friends, the two have a business they started last year and it was kicking off smoothly.

Kagome grabbed a towel and the first pair of jeans and t-shirt she could find in the walnut armoire in the master bedroom. "Here you go." She offered when she got back to the foyer.

Inuyasha took the towel and clothes wordlessly and stripped off his shirt right there in front of her, not making any effort to hide his lean physique. It was obvious he felt completely comfortable in his best friend's home, despite the late hour and the fact that only Kagome and the kids were there. His lean shoulders, pale and muscled, filled her field of vision. The T-shirt went over his head too quickly covering his torso. He looked up and caught her staring.

"Sorry." Kagome said. "You know Miroku and Sango are on vacation right? They're not home."

Shit. What if he wasn't here for a business deal? What if his real reason for being there was to see her? No, it couldn't be true! Though he had shown up well after midnight and immediately taken his shirt off…

'Don't be stupid, Kagome." She thought. "Are the clothes okay? Do you want something to drink?"

"I'm going to change my pants." He said, pointedly.

Her cheeks blazed as she turned around to afford him some privacy. Though what was the point. She already saw what he was packing in those pants.

"What are you doing here?" He stripped in front of her and she was embarrassed that she'd fallen for it staring at him like that. He'd probably done it on purpose.

She mentally added "arrogance" to her list of reasons she couldn't stand him. "You could've changed in one of the bathrooms." She grumbled.

"Why, it's not like you haven't seen what I was packing already." He commented.

"You're such a jerk." She mumbled, still faced away from him.

"Turn around."

She refused.

"Turn around Kagome, we have to talk."

Something about the way he said it made her pulse race. "Okay." She said, walking into the kitchen and sitting on one of the high stools at the center island with the granite countertop. "Talk."

Inuyasha didn't sit. He leaned against the stainless steel refrigerator door like he needed something to hold up his frame. "I don't know how to say this…" He began.

"Inuyasha." She interrupted. "You've never been one to mince words, right? Just spit it out."

Tightness washed over his face as if he were clenching his jaw, grinding his teeth. "Miroku left me a very disconcerting message."

"About the new Cortland place?" Their latest shopping center acquisition had been a source of much frustration as they'd tried to get all the pieces in place so they could take over. Miroku hadn't stopped talking about it for the past few weeks, whenever she asked about how he was doing.

"This is hard enough without you guessing what's wrong." Inuyasha said, sharply.

Kagome had known Inuyasha for years and she'd never seen him this angry. Ever. Sure the two have gotten into arguments and they yelled at each other, but it was really just banter and they never got into screaming matches. Plus, as the years went by, she noticed that Inuyasha had been nothing but all business. He'd negotiate his deals by looking only at numbers and never let emotions affect him. But now…now it was a different story.

"I drove here from Manhattan to tell you in person, and then we need to figure out together what we're going to do."

"What are you talking about Inuyasha?"

"Have you seen the news recently?"

"No, why?"

"The cruise ship Sango and Miroku were on ran around a reef off the coast and toppled onto its side."

Kagome's hands flung to her mouth. "Oh my God."

"He left a message on my phone when he couldn't reach you to check in on you and the kids. He was halfway through the conversation when I suddenly heard him and Sango screaming in the background. I tried to call back and there was no answer."

"How long ago was this?"

"I was out most of the day and I just saw the call a few hours earlier. I turned on the news and I saw it flashing on the screen. They had sent a rescue team out to the ship and already confirmed that thirty-two people are dead and sixty-four are injured."

"What about Miroku and Sango? Are they okay?"

"Most of those that were injured or didn't get hurt were able to make it to a nearby port. Though I think that they might be dead."

"What? Dead? You said some of them are injured. They could be just lying in a hospital somewhere. Why would you assume the worst?"

Inuyasha stepped close, too close for comfort. Having his body so near triggered a flash of her time with him. Now he was here, in reality, his face inches from hers. His deep golden eyes never left hers, as if he was searching for the truth.

"Fine, then they could be alive…barely."

Kagome gasped. "That's even worst!" She protested. "They're fine. Safe and sound at port and will probably call us anytime now."

"I doubt it."

"Why would you doubt it?"

"Because most of the people who were already on that cruise were all accounted for. They had been searching since yesterday morning, and they didn't find their bodies yet."

"What?"

"The ship had additional people not listed as on board, so it's possible that the death toll is higher than thirty-two. Plus, I called the port where the passengers were taken too and they didn't have Sango or Miroku listed as the people injured or in recovery."

"Wait, how long was this news broadcasted?"

"Earlier yesterday morning."

"You knew this happened yesterday and you didn't call me?"

"I did call you. I texted you, emailed you, but you've been incommunicado all fucking day."

She didn't even get a chance to check her phone yesterday. She'd taken the twins and Mizu to the park and had forgotten her cell at the house, then came back and immediately became immersed into the little routine she'd set up with the kids. Bottles, snacks, naps, cleaning, playing. It hadn't even occurred to her to check her phone. Today she'd also spent the whole day hanging out with them, sneaking in naps whenever the kids slept. As far as Kagome knew, the house phone hadn't rung and she was pretty sure the only calls she got on her cell were from her harried assistant, calling to ask her millions of daycare oriented work questions. Standing firm her need to break from work, she hadn't checked her email or picked up the phone once, and she hadn't thought twice about it.

"If their names aren't listed, maybe they still haven't been accounted for yet." Kagome said. The thought was oddly comforting. If they hadn't gotten to them yet, someone would surely find them soon. "They could be stuck in their cabins or the crew just haven't gotten to their names yet in a long list of people. Then it would make sense as to why no one's found them or contacted anyone yet." She added.

"The news said that some of the passengers were trapped inside there cabins." Inuyasha said. "They even said that when they were able to get inside some of them, that the passengers were killed from the impact when the ship toppled. They probably found their dead bodies and, like you mentioned, just haven't gotten to their names as the one of the deceased."

"Don't say that!" Kagome gasped.

There was no way her friends were dead. Sango and Miroku were one of the strongest people she'd known. It wasn't possible for God to be this cruel and have Him take them away from three kids below the age of five.

"I'm sorry." Inuyasha stepped away from the refrigerator and wrapped his arms around her in an unexpected hug, pulling her off the kitchen stool and into his embrace. "Look, they haven't fully stopped their search yet in looking for survivors and more injured. I'm sure everything would be fine and the crew will find them soon."

"I need a drink." She said, disentangling herself from his hug. It had caught her completely by surprise, and she was certain he hadn't meant it to have an arousing effect on her, not at a time like this. "You want something?"

He glanced at her, and for a moment she imagined he might answer You. But no, that was only in her imagination. It certainly wouldn't happen again. She had made sure of it.

"Scotch, straight up." He said.

Kagome took a half-filled bottle of expensive scotch out of the liquor cabinet in the butler's pantry and poured double shots into two tumblers.

"Last time I saw you do shots was at that graduation party, remember?" He chuckled.

"I don't remember much about that night." She stated, even though she knew it was a lie.

Inuyasha probably didn't remember this, but the first intimate contact they had shared together was a drunken kiss, many years ago on the night at a graduation party. It was held by another mutual friend of theirs and she'd promptly pretended to forget, preferring to be thought of as someone who drank until she blacked out over someone who had done something stupid like most people did when they got drunk.

Their fingers touched as she handed him his glass and she couldn't help but notice the jolt of heat that passed between them. Guilt suddenly filled her. How could she be thinking about anyone in that way at a time like this? Least of all, the person being Inuyasha. She will admit, he did always have an effect on her. However, she knew that she would never have to act on the way he secretly made her feel. At least that's what she thought until that night two months ago.

They've been a part of each other's life since their two friends started dating in their early teens. He was Miroku's friend, not hers. And of course, Sango was her friend, not Inuyasha's. If it hadn't been for Sango and Kagome being friends, and Inuyasha and Miroku being friends, the two of them never would've hung out or even talked to each other. Truth be told, this was probably the longest conversation she'd ever had with him in two months. And she'd been off the market, until two months ago when she had found out her boyfriend of six years, Koga, had left her for another woman, resulting in her sleeping with Inuyasha during her vulnerable state.

"Thank you." He murmured, draining his glass.

"I don't know what I'm going to tell Kohaku. I'm even wondering if he's seen the news yet." She said.

"It's possible he might already know. Broadcasts had been updating any new develops in the situation every few hours."

A thought then entered Kagome's mind. "Inuyasha, what about the girls and Mizu? What's going to happen to them if their parents are…" She swallowed, forcing herself to say the word. "Dead?"

"I'm not sure. Knowing Sango, I'm sure she talked Miroku into getting a will in place with directions. I'll call our lawyer in the morning and find out. In the meantime, they had said you were taking some time off to watch the kids, right? So keep doing that. They weren't due back for another week, anyway, so even if this hadn't happened you'd still be looking after them."

Kagome nodded, suddenly feeling completely drained. "Okay." She picked up the cordless phone and walked toward the doorway to go into the living room. "I'm going to call Kohaku. You don't have to be here. I think...I think I need privacy."

Inuyasha took her glass out of her shaking hand and sipped it, apparently not concerned about sharing germs. "I'll be here if you need me."

"Will you spend the night?" She asked. Dammit, that sounded wrong. "I mean, in one of the guest rooms. Surely you don't want to drive back to the city in this storm."

"Yeah, I'll stay." His gaze penetrated her, pinning her in place with its intensity.

She tore herself away, clutching the phone like a life preserver as she walked out of the kitchen.

Inuyasha sat heavily on one of the kitchen stools. So far, the reports they've been broadcasting hadn't been good. He even tried to call on any news of his friends and ended up with nothing. Though in light of the bad news, what Kagome said made the most sense. Sango and Miroku could just be stuck in their cabin until help arrived or they were simply not accounted for yet among the other passengers.

He watched her through the kitchen doorway as she stood in the dining room, the phone clutched in one small hand. She looked slightly rumpled, probably since he'd woken her. Even rumpled, she was still more beautiful than most other women he'd had ever dated. During the last couple of months, he only saw her a few times, with their interactions limited to small talk in five minute increments at most. He hadn't seen her without her hair perfectly clipped in place, her makeup carefully applied, in a long time. Now, he'd caught her unexpectedly, and her shapely body was clad in comfy-looking yoga pants.

Hmm…Kagome doing yoga….

'Get your mind out of the gutter.' How could he be thinking about sex, or rather Kagome in a particularly complicated yoga position, at a time like this? Unfortunately for him, he had a hard time thinking of anything else whenever Kagome was around. Always had.

He'd had a crush on Kagome since he was nine years old. He still remembered the first time he met her when he kicked a ball and it smacked into her head. Though he would admit, they didn't get off to a good start and had spent an hour calling each other names. As they got older they would always get into verbal, and sometimes, minor physical fights. They say boys show girls you liked them by pulling their pigtails and picking on them. For Inuyasha, it was starting fights with her and of course getting on her last nerves.

Though he never bothered to really try and show her any kind of act of liking her, he would admit he completely fell for her when he had stolen a kiss at a classmate's graduation party. Although Kagome didn't seem to remember, at least she remembered the second time they were intimate, which was two months ago when they had sex on her living room couch. He was comforting her when her loser boyfriend kicked her out of the apartment they shared to live with another woman he was seeing. At the moment when he comforted her, he couldn't help but ease her pain in another way. Though, she told him to never mention what they did again, Inuyasha surely didn't forget. It was the best sex he ever had and it was with Kagome.

Hell, he'd been thinking about her all day, though it wasn't the pleasant thoughts of remembering what it felt like being between her thighs. It was dread in giving her the news about their friends. Every time her phone had gone to voicemail or he checked his email to discover she still hadn't responded, he'd cursed and breathed a sigh of relief at the same time. Because knocking on the door to tell her that her best friend was possibly dead, wasn't something that even he didn't' want to believe was true, was going to break her heart.

Inuyasha heard quiet talking from the living room as Kagome explained to Kohaku what was happening. His throat tightened and his hand went to his neck to loosen his tie. Ha. No tie. He was wearing Miroku's t-shirt.

Miroku. His best friend and the best business partner a guy could've asked for. Inuyasha didn't want to believe that he was dead. However, from the information they gave on the news, it was a very low chance that they were alive. And while he didn't want to seem freaked out in front of Kagome, she'd bought up a great point. What was going to happened to the kids? Technically, since the only living relatives were Sango's brother, he would get legal guardianship over the kids. However, Kohaku, was still in medical school and didn't have the steady income to take care of his nieces and nephew. Since Kagome was the godmother, and he was the godfather, it gave them a right for both of them to step in, but he knew nothing about raising a child, and if anyone knew that, it was Miroku.

He'd just have to wait and see what their lawyer said in the morning. They'd also have to wait and see how the rest of the search panned out. If the search teams were still looking and hadn't gotten to every passenger on the cruise ship, then that would be more proof that Miroku and Sango were still alive.

"We can meet with the lawyer in the morning." Kagome said, coming up behind him. "In the meantime, I'll continue to take care of the girls and Mizu."

"I'll have my assistant cancel all my meetings for the next two days." He said.

She nodded, her long hair falling into her face. "Do you want to go to bed now?"

He inhaled sharply, imaging her lying in her bed, her arms held out to him in invitation. 'Don't be an idiot. She means separately.' Obviously. Inuyasha shook his head to clear his thoughts and realized she was still expecting an answer.

"Yea, thanks."

"It's going to be fine." She said, softly. "I know they're okay. I just know it."

He nodded in agreement. Even if their friends were fine, they'd left their young children behind. Everything depended on what was written in the will. Their future was at stake.

BlueMoon Goddess: Well, what do you guys think? Liked it, getting a feel for it? Also, the incident I mentioned actually happened back in 2012 when the Italian ship Costa Concordia went underwater right off the Isola del Giglio, Tuscany. Like I always say, until next time guys! ^_^