This started out as a prompt for AU Yeah August, mixed with a request I received on Tumblr. Then it grew.
Original prompt: "Vampire kagome and werewolf kouga running into each other for the first time?"
Reverse Crush AU for AU Yeah August.

Y'all, I didn't know I needed this in my life. I've done a vampire Kouga before, but this? This is magical. It's amazing. I love it already.

Oh no. The wolf was cute.

Kagome was never going to get used to this. The lack of sunlight? Awful. Walking past mirrors and having no reflection? Disturbing. Never being able to feign ignorance to the sheer amount of non-human creatures on the earth? Unsettling. All things she woke up to discover, all things that altered her world, all things she would struggle accepting.

But out of all that, what really threw her through a loop the shocking realization upon meeting a werewolf — the first werewolf she'd ever encountered after after being warned to never, ever get near one — that not only was he nice and charismatic, he was cute.

Seriously cute.

He had a crooked grin and it wasn't fair. Crooked grins on handsome faces with strong jaws shouldn't be allowed. It went against nature to give so many good things to one person, considering everything else had a balance. Like Kagome. Given a larger bust, but left with a booty that wasn't anything special to write home about. Long legs, but a shorter torso so good-fitting dresses were hard to find. Shiny, thick hair, but awful to deal with and it frizzed at the slightest show of humidity.

So really. To put a crooked grin on tan skin and then have the top canines of a werewolf peeking out from his upper lip — nothing about this was fair.

"You're new," he said, his words the furthest thing from a question which also wasn't fair. Ever since he showed up, she'd had question after question and not a single answer like the statement he just gave. "Where's your sire?"

"Sire?" she echoed, her gaze flicking from his grin to his eyes — oh wow, even from the dim street light, she could see how blue they were — to the other weres around him and then back to the man who caught her attention.

Way too cute.

"Creator?" he expanded, some of his grin fading. "The vamp who turned you."

"Oh!" she answered without thinking. "Inuyasha."

And with that answer, his grin disappeared completely and instead turned into a scowl. "You're Inuyasha's?"

Considering his growl wasn't the fun kind, Kagome wondered if this was a bad thing.

"Well, I don't belong to him," she clarified, not liking the ownership those words conveyed. "We're just friends. He bit me and turned me, but that's it."

His blue eyes narrowed and his shoulders squared and Kagome fought to keep from fidgeting under his assessing stare. "That's it?"

"He used to be a friend," she corrected, the anger at the memory overriding any notion of keeping her mouth shut. "But last I heard, friends didn't bite friends and turn them into immortal beings that shouldn't exist without telling them, and they definitely don't shrug their shoulders and say what's done is done when you ask them about it!"

Her words rang through the empty alley and she closed her eyes. She said too much. That wasn't a story she wanted to share with anyone because it wasn't a story she ever wanted to remember. Inuyasha had been everything to her — the strong friend when she needed a shoulder to lean on, the source of laughter when she needed to smile, and the consistent presence that grew with her memories. To think she'd even started falling in love with him and he repaid her by ruining her life.

The werewolf stilled and the contrast caught her attention, the life simmering under his skin going quiet. His presence grew in intensity and suddenly, that cute got a whole lot more appealing.

Stupid that she always had a thing for larger-than-life personalities. Inuyasha exuded personality with every moment and while the wolf didn't wear his the same, it was obvious he had something and wore it proudly.

"You didn't choose to be turned?" he asked softly.

A warning flag sounded in his tone, showed in his posture, and she recalled a vague memory of one of the quick conversations where Inuyasha gave some explanation of what her existence turned into.

"I… well—"

"That bastard."

"No, it's okay, promise," she backtracked quickly, worried about the sudden anger in his tone. She looked at the two weres behind him and neither one looked any more pleasant or welcoming to her explanation.

Man, it always had to be the cute one.

"No, it's not," he ground out in response.

"He didn't have a choice," Kagome argued anyway.

"He always has a choice."

"He really didn't—"

"Listen—"

"I was already dying!

…

Oh shoot.

Moment number two Kagome took her foot and shoved it right past her lips. The mere thought of keeping things to herself? Obviously a lofty idea she wouldn't ever be able to achieve, especially when faced with a cute werewolf and his werewolf friends and completely out of her mind with unanswered questions and half-baked worries.

But at least the werewolves seemed as shocked as she was, if their expressions were anything to go by. She wasn't sure. The only other non-human she'd actually spoken to so far was Inuyasha's half-brother. She hadn't even known Inuyasha had a half-brother, but the vampire had shown up three mornings after she grew fangs - coincidentally, the first day her injuries were completely healed - and after a terse, confusing, one-sided conversation that told her absolutely nothing of any use, Inuyasha disappeared with the secret, long-lost family member.

"You were already dying?"

In a late effort to keep from blabbing her entire life story to the really cute stranger with the crooked grin and sparking eyes and single, distracting dimple, Kagome bit her lip, careful of her fangs, and held her breath.

"Vampire, you—"

"Kagome," she corrected, ignoring that she barely got two seconds before opening her mouth.

"Kagome?" he echoed, some of the frown leaving his face.

"My name." Okay, maybe some information wouldn't be so terrible? "I don't— I'd rather you call me that than… well. I'd rather you call me my name."

His eyes shifted, warmed in unspoken understanding, and he nodded. "Alright, Kagome," he said softly and she liked how he said her name in his soft voice. "I know you don't know me, but would you come with us?"

She jerked, a 'no' on the tip of her tongue, but he beat her to it.

"It's just to get privacy," he explained quickly, "and to make you more comfortable with what you're dealing with. We're not going to hurt you."

"You're werewolves," Kagome pointed out the obvious, her gaze darting between the three of them. "Of the very little I was told, it did include that werewolves and vampires don't get along."

"Most don't," he ceded easily while taking a careful step closer, "and there's a history there on both sides, but I see no point in holding you accountable for the actions of others."

She wanted to believe him. He seemed to be telling the truth, even though her new instincts were still new and going crazy and she hadn't quite figured out what they meant. However, they didn't seem to be screaming for her to get away, so maybe that was something?

…but that could also be because he's cute. Incredibly cute.

Damn hormones.

"I'm Kouga," he continued before nodding at the guys behind him. "Ginta and Hakkaku. The city is our area and there are two other vampires that live in the north end. We've managed to keep the peace well so far and I don't want that to change any time soon."

"So why not just leave me alone?"

Those already welcoming eyes softened further and Kagome had to bite her cheek.

"Kagome."

It was not fair how her named sounded on his lips. She never should have told him, but something about his tone kept her from melting at how gentle he was being.

"Have you fed?"

Kagome stilled, her body going cold. Fed. She knew what that meant, knew it was a reality she didn't want to face, and also knew that Inuyasha should have been around to help her through the process.

"No," she answered in a small voice.

"Please come with me," he said again, holding out his hand. "Last thing I want is for you to end up hurt."

When she hesitated, he threw out what she realized was the trump card he'd been holding his entire time.

"The sun is coming up in an hour and you need to feed before then. Let's get you fed, inside, and safe and then we'll answer any questions you have."

She closed her eyes, knowing there was no choice. Facing sunlight? After the first, full night alone? In a new world she didn't recognize?

What other choice did she have?

This seems so fragmented, I almost don't know how to fix it. But I'm tired of looking at it and I actually really like the world I got to play in. I never thought of having Kagome as a vampire, so that was a challenge when I started out, but as soon as I got to writing, the story gave easily.

And reversing their crush is something I never would have considered and I am so freaking happy I did. This was so much fun to explore.

Also, I don't normally make Inuyasha a dick in my kogkag fics (because I hate that trope with the eternal fury of a thousand suns) and he's not intended to be terrible in this one. However, he's blinded and little misguided and whole lot in over his head and poor Kagome gets the brunt of that. One of those things where I didn't want to go out of my way to paint him in a bad light, but this is set in the early stage of his canon character development, which...doesn't really reflect well on the situation.

Let me know what you think!