Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the characters that are being used in this story.

Author's notes: This story has been completed long, long ago when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth but I realized how "childish" I was after re-reading this recently. I don't understand my past self sometimes… This story has been revised, edited, tossed away, and brought back to life so many times that I thought this story deserves another chance being out on the internet. Anyway, I appreciate ALL of the love and support I have received for this story. I hope this newer version is better and improved! Thanks in advance!

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TITLE: The Girl Next Door
Chapter One

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Kagome Higurashi was an executive assistant at the Tarusuke Interior Design for three years now and waits for the day to become a well known interior designer. Her boss is Kikyo Tarusuke who is the Chief Executive Officer of the company who inherited the company from her grandmother at 18 years old. It is no wonder she is so serious and is all about work and no play after ten years of running the company. Kagome believes Kikyo is really nice given the circumstances.

Kagome had an hour to wait before she could head to work so she started to cook herself an omelet with a rice ball. She sat down, eating quietly to herself and heard a ring come from her laptop. She opened her laptop to check what the noise came from. She realized she was still logged onto her messenger.

Bookworm101: Hey, are you available to talk?

Kagome did not recognize the name and was not sure if she should even respond. She continued to eat her breakfast and checked her watch. She immediately stood up and put her dishes in the sink not having the time to clean up. "Oh! I am going to be late for work!"

Kagome made it on time to the subway that was headed to her work. She sighed in relief and heard her phone beep. She looked down at her phone and thought her friend, Sango, had texted her. As she read the name, it was from that Bookworm101 again. Kagome forgot that she downloaded that same messaging app on her phone so she can receive messages on her phone as well. She read the message to herself.

Bookworm101: I don't mean to bug you but I wanted to talk about a blog you posted.

Kagome was not sure which story this person was talking about but it wouldn't to send a quick reply.

DesignerLover: Sorry for not responding so soon. I am busy heading to work. Will you be online later to talk about it?

Bookworm101: Sure. No problem. I understand. Thanks.

Kagome quickly checked the time and became anxious as the time got closer to the time she was supposed to be at work.

...

Inuyasha closed his laptop to return to his work. He is a well-known author that is known for his pseudonym as Sesshomaru Takao. The only thing about that is Sesshomaru Takao is real and happens to be Inuyasha's older brother. His brother did not mind him using his name, as a matter of fact, he loves the fact that he's semi-famous and, of course, all credit is given to Inuyasha. Sesshomaru is just the face for Inuyasha's books. Sesshomaru is the complete opposite of Inuyasha because Inuyasha is more reserved compared to his brother. With Sesshomaru's outgoing personality and Inuyasha's writing skills the two make a great team.

Inuyasha took a sip from his coffee mug as he stared at the blank work document on his work's desktop screen. It has been a while since he has had a writer's block in a long time. He was hoping to get some inspiration from the author who wrote a blog that talked about her vacation to Australia. His current book was about a married couple who is traveling the world for their honeymoon but ends up getting chased because of their secret identities. His fictional characters are currently stuck in Australia and are not sure where to go from there.

"Are you doing okay?"

Inuyasha turned around to see his manager, Miroku, smiling at him.

"Yeah, just writer's block…" Inuyasha sighed. "This is so irritating that I feel like scrapping the whole thing in general!"

Miroku eyes widened, "you've invested so much time into this book, scrapping it would just be suicide! You only have two months left. Stopping now would be critical, Inuyasha."

"Yeah, yeah," Inuyasha waved his boss to go away.

Miroku suggested, "Why don't you take the rest of the day off. Maybe you'll find some inspiration just by getting some fresh air. How about it?"

Inuyasha nodded, "good idea. Maybe going to the book store will help clear my mind…"

It was almost 5 o'clock when Inuyasha realized the time. He has been in the book store for quite a while and lost track of time. There was still a good amount of people as it was a very popular book store. He saw a book he wrote few years back on the shelf and picked it up. He smiled as he flipped through the pages as it brought back memories.

"That's my favorite book."

Inuyasha turned to look for the owner of the voice.

It was a woman who looked to be about his age. She was smiling at him and returned to reaching for a book that was higher than she anticipated. Inuyasha laughed and reached for the book the poor girl was attempting to grab. She bowed and shyly thanked him. Inuyasha was curious, "why is this book your favorite?"

The woman's face lit up, "it's about a girl who found love in the most bizarre way. She's close to giving up on love until the girl and her high school lover reunited!" She sighed with a faint smile as if she was remembering a precious moment. "My favorite part was when Kevin finally admits his love for her… He was so sweet about it! I loved that he told her that he loved her on the Eiffel tower! My heart just melted at that scene…"

Inuyasha started to laugh at the girl who was admiring his work.

The woman had a confused look on her face, "what's so funny?"

"You," Inuyasha put the book down. "It's amazing how women get so mesmerized at the littlest things."

The woman did not think it was funny, "hey, there's nothing wrong with women liking a bit of romance. This book made me believe that my Knight in Shining Armor is out there."

"Yeah, okay," Inuyasha sarcastically said that. "Please tell me when you find someone like Kevin then."

"I don't understand why you're so arrogant about it. Don't ask people questions if you're not intending to be nice to them."

Inuyasha felt her glare pierce through his chest as if she was damning him to his death, "Alright. Alright. Enough with the wicked look!"

The woman huffed and walked away.

Inuyasha smirked. That is the one thing he will never understand and that is women. Ironically, he is known for his romantic books but is not a romantic himself. Inuyasha studies people who are in relationships and gets his inspirations through his blogs under his brother's name. He posts polls, surveys, and asks for requests and recommendations in his blogs. He's quite popular from his blogs also. His books help him make a living and most people continue to work for their fans but Inuyasha writes stories just because it is what he loves to do for himself. He appreciates his fans and whatnot but it is all about writing his stories to him.

As he headed home, he thought he recognized someone entering the same building he lived in enter before him. As soon as the girl with the raven hair turned the corner, she was gone. Inuyasha shook his head and believed he was only seeing things.

He opened his laptop and a message box immediately popped up.

DesignerLover: Sorry for the delay. Just got home. What is it that you wanted to know about my blog post?

Inuyasha realized how late it was and started to type away because he was not sure when he will be able to talk to this blogger again.

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Kagome was in the middle of her bath as she was trying to relax from another stressful, yet exciting day at work. She was remembering the conversations she had at work with her boss.

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"Kagome," Kikyo called out to her assistant, "do you have a minute?"

Kagome nodded and went into her boss's office, "yes, Miss Kikyo?"

Kikyo looked up and smiled at her assistant, "I understand that you've been working with this company for some time, am I correct?"

"Yes, almost 5 years."

"Great," Kikyo started to scribble something on a packet and handed the packet to Kagome, "This is your first client. It's a simple one but any experience is better than none!"

Kagome's eyes widened as she took the paperwork for her first client. Kagome has helped Kikyo with a majority of her clients but she has never actually taken a job by herself, "Wow! This is amazing! I am so grateful to have this opportunity so soon!"

Kikyo smiled, "Good. You have proven yourself time after time and became a favorite employee of mine. As far as I can see, you shouldn't have a problem with this client. You are to meet him tomorrow at 10 am."

"Yes! Thank you, Miss Kikyo! I won't let you down!" Kagome punched a fist in the air to show her determination. She quickly bowed and hurried to her desk. She sat down and browsed through the file of her first client. She was so excited she could barely contain the excitement.

"Look at that grin on your face!" Sango poked at Kagome's forehead. "Did the wicked witch spare yours and Toto's life for now?"

Kagome smiled, "I just got my first interior design gig!"

Sango smiled back, "That is awesome! Congratulations, Kagome! You've been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long time!"

Kagome nodded in excitement. She looked down at the address that was written on the file, "huh?"

Sango looked over Kagome's shoulder to see what Kagome was looking at, "hey, that's your condo building!"

"Yeah, that's weird," Kagome kept on reading the top page, "it says he lives across the hallway from my place?"

Sango laughed, "hey! At least you don't have to travel far!"

"Good point!" Kagome smiled back at her friend.

As Kagome brought herself back to reality, she sunk down into her bathtub and closed her eyes. She rinsed herself off and finished getting ready for bed. As soon as she was about to turn off the lights, she noticed she had a new message on her laptop. She clicked the window open to read it.

Bookworm101: Thanks for the conversation earlier, I really appreciate it.

Kagome smiled and closed her laptop shut and headed to her bedroom. She was way too excited to meet her client tomorrow morning so sleeping may not be possible tonight.

...

Finally morning came and Kagome got ready for work. Even though her first client was only across the hallway from hers, she still needed to run by the office to grab paperwork. She saw Sango on her way out and she wished her good luck. Kagome waved at her co-worker with a huge smile on her face. She could not wait to meet her first client.

It was a beautiful morning and Kagome was not going to let anything get in her way. Lately, things have been going great for Kagome and she hopes the good luck continues at least until she is finished with this client so that it opens more doors for her. She reached the familiar building and even though she's come home to this building numerous amounts of times, she was still nervous. She had butterflies in her stomach and hopes that it goes away when she meets the client. She's been used to buzzing at the front door for Kikyo's past clients to open the door for her but since it was her condominium, she unlocked the front door herself.

She walked out of the elevator and suddenly became nervous again. Kikyo was suppose to come with her to this meeting but had an emergency with the delivery company to one of her very important clients. She was standing at client's front door and knocked. No one responded so Kagome knocked on the door a bit louder this time.

"Coming!"

Kagome heard a muffled voice through the door and patiently waited for the door to coming. Finally, the door opened and Kagome's eyes widened in surprise. "You're… you're that guy! From the bookstore!"

"Huh?"

Kagome shook her head and reminded herself that she was here for her work and should not mix her personal life with her work. She bowed and immediately apologized. "Sorry, I did not mean to yell at you."

Inuyasha looked confused and asked her, "I'm sorry but have we met before?"

Kagome saw the confused expression on his face, "You don't remember? At the book store. You helped me getting a book I couldn't reach after I pointed out the book you were holding was my favorite book."

Inuyasha scratched the back of his head, "Sorry. I don't remember."

'What?!' Kagome thought, 'some memory this guy has! What a jerk.'

"So why are you here?"

"Oh!" Kagome bowed again, "I am so sorry. My name is Kagome Higurashi and I am the interior designer you hired. It is a pleasure to meet you Inuyasha…"

"Yeah, yeah…" Inuyasha sighed and opened the door wide enough to let Kagome in. He started to talk about why he hired her, "my manager thinks the reason why I am having trouble at work is because my house isn't 'inspiring,'" Inuyasha air quoted the last word while rolling his eyes. "I think it's a load of crap but he has been persistent about it so I finally gave in and had him find you guys to do it."

Kagome looked around his apartment. It was a lot bigger than her place, it was probably double the size of her apartment. She questioned the size because they were on the same level. Other than the size, she did notice that the rooms lacked color and agreed with Inuyasha's boss and thought his place was lifeless. Everything looked empty as if Inuyasha just moved in. She realized that she's never seen Inuyasha before and asked, "did you just move in? It's pretty bare."

"No, I've lived here for about seven years now…" Inuyasha shoved his hands in his jean pockets while he watched Kagome look around the room. She was obviously in Interior Designer mode judging by her expression and the questions she threw at him, left and right.

"Is there a certain way you want your place to look? I understand that your boss wants something that will help 'inspire' you?"

Inuyasha thought about it for a second and then sighed, "No. I don't care. Just do whatever you want as long it's not girly. I don't really care about this kind of thing anyway…"

Kagome watched him walk over to his couch and watched him plopped himself on it as he turned on the television. Kagome took the time to check the rooms out, check the measurements, and ideas were bursting in her head on what his place should look like. She took her time writing down every little detail about his apartment and took some pictures. She asked him a few questions but he shout back a bunch of no's and yes's and basically sounded like he honestly did not care, as he mentioned from the beginning. After a good amount of time of being in this guy's place, Kagome put everything in her briefcase.

"Okay, I believe I have everything!" Kagome smiled. She gave Inuyasha her contact information and then proceeded to walk out the door. "Please call me if you have any concerns or ideas you want to add to your place… I already have your information so if I have everything put together, I will e-mail you the pictures."

Inuyasha sat on the couch watching television the whole time Kagome was there. He did not bother to look at her but waved as she walked out and closed the door.

...

Kagome went home since it was just across the hallway. The hallway was quite large and had a small lobby in the middle so it is no wonder Kagome has not seen Inuyasha before. She let out a breath as she set down her keys and briefcase by the door. Even though she and Inuyasha did not talk that much, something about him really irritated Kagome but he seemed easy to please and she hopes he will like her designs. She immediately went online and looked through the company's factory site that had furniture in stock, along with paint colors, accessories and pictures show rooms to help designers to get an idea what the room could look like.

Kagome looked through the show room pictures once more and knew from the beginning that they were Kikyo's designs. Kagome really looked up to Kikyo and she is so proud to finally have this opportunity to take on a job the client was supposed to be Kikyo's client.

Kagome's phone went off.

Bookworm101: Hey. I see that you're online pretty late. How's it going?

DesignerLover: It's going great! Work was a bit stressful but it's nothing that I can't handle.

Bookworm101: That's unfortunate. I had the day off. I didn't feel like showing up for work.

DesignerLover: Really? You can do that? You're not afraid of getting in trouble.

Bookworm101: Ha. No. I am basically my own boss. It'd be a bit weird to get in trouble with myself. That's just awkward. Anyway, I wanted to ask you again about your vacation. Did you go anywhere else besides Australia?

DesignerLover: No, I just went to Australia to help out my boss's cousin that was work related.

Bookworm101: Work? I thought you went for vacation?

DesignerLover: I did, but after I went to my boss's cousin's place.

DesignerLover: I'd love to talk but I have to get up early tomorrow. Sorry.

Bookworm101: Okay. Night.

DesignerLover: Good night!

Kagome plugged the charger to her phone in the outlet and set her phone on top of her nightstand. She heard her phone go off again and squints at the bright light.

Bookwork101: I know you're probably asleep, but if you get the chance. Will you please message me tomorrow? Thanks in advance.

Kagome nodded even though she knew Bookworm101 can't really see her doing that. Her eyes grew heavy but for some reason Inuyasha's face popped up right before she fell asleep…

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To be continued!