Chapter 1
"Fresh air, finally!" Kagome exclaimed, walking out into the patio of her hotel room. Closing her eyes, she inhaled and exhaled, taking in the beautiful, salty, beach breeze. "Sango, come out here! It's so nice! I'm so glad you chose where to go. I don't think I would've picked anywhere better."
A frizzy haired brunette broke Kagome's view. "It sure is amazing Kagome," Sango said sighing, "The humidity here is no good to my hair though." Sango ran her fingers through her hair attempting to flatten and tame her locks.
Kagome laughed, her eyes twinkling with happiness. "We're on vacation girl! Who cares about your hair? I'm pretty sure the men out here won't be looking at your hair…" she winked, "when you take them to bed." Sango laughed and slapped her best friend on the shoulder.
Yes. They were on vacation. And they were definitely going to enjoy it.
-/-
Putting the final touches on to her light 'vacation makeup' as she liked to call it, Kagome looked herself over in the mirror. She was wearing a yellow halter maxi-dress with pink flowers and a mid-thigh slip on the side. She was going to pair it with simple sandals. She left her hair natural and wavy.
"I don't know about you, but I'm a god damn catch!" Kagome heard Sango yell to her from the bedroom. "Then why are you still single?" Kagome yelled back. There was a moment of silence. "Why are you such an ass?"
Laughing, Kagome stepped out of the bathroom to see what wonderful outfit her dear best friend was showing off this time.
Clothes were strewn about the room, their suitcases wide open and empty. A lace bra and panties hung off the lamp near the bed and desk chair. "Geez, I leave you alone for an hour and it's like a tornado came through here," Kagome clicked her tongue, eyeballing the underwear on the lamp, "and I'm pretty sure those are mine," she added shaking her head.
Picking up the clothes Sango left lying around, she didn't notice when the brunette beauty walked out from behind the closet with a smirk on her face. "What do you think?"
Kagome looked up. Her best friend had put on a red rose embroidered black crop top with matching high-waisted shorts. The red accentuated her perfect golden tan only Sango could achieve as well as her toned, muscular body. She was an avid powerlifter with a great body and she and Kagome both knew it.
"Who knew you were such a bombshell," Kagome grinned, clapping her hands as Sango mocked a cat walk in their room.
"Have you talked to Inuyasha lately?" Kagome twiddled her fingers which were now so interesting to her, asking not-so-casually. "Today is his-," Sango shot her a knowing look.
"You know you shouldn't be talking about him babe. What happened between you guys is now in the past. I know you still care about him but let him live his life since he obviously didn't want you in it."
"Gee, way to be so blunt," Kagome murmured, inspecting her manicured nails. "Honey, what are best friends for?" Sango smiled and sat down next to Kagome on the bed and gave her a side hug. "I'm always here for you, and if you want me to beat him up one last time, I will, for old time's sake."
Quickly standing up and straightening her outfit out, Sango reached her hand out to Kagome. "Now stop thinking about that stupid dog demon boy and lets go have fun!"
The girls emerged from the entrance of the 5 star hotel, courtesy of Kagome's superstar mom, and squealed. "It's so pretty here!" Kagome threw her arms up in a victory dance. "Thanks to Momma Higurashi, we're living the high life!" Sango high fived her.
A black sedan pulled up next to them as the door opened and a short balding man with a mustache stepped out. "Miss Higurashi," he bowed to Kagome before turning to Sango, "Miss Taija. My name is My-"
Sango cut him off, eyes narrowed, "Yeah, yeah we know who you are Myoga. You work for the Taishos. What are you doing here and why are you here for us?" She crossed her arms and stepped in front of Kagome, who peeked at Myoga from behind Sango's shoulder. Myoga scratched his head and shuffled his feet.
"Well, Mi- Mi- Miss, I'm here to-"
"He's here to escort you ladies to Inuyasha's birthday," a tall figure with a short pony tail suddenly said, coming out of the car. A dejected Myoga got back in the car. Being interrupted was not on his most favorable list.
"Hi Miroku, long time no see," Kagome said, still behind Sango. "Why hello Kagome, it sure has been a long time. Why are you standing behind dear Sango? I wish to see your beautiful face," Miroku stepped towards the girls. Sango, standing firm, glared at Miroku. "She doesn't need to see you."
Miroku stepped back, arms up. "Whoa, okay love. No need to get hostile. You've been more than friendly with me before, what's stopping you now?" He winked before getting back in the car. "Come on girls, we don't want Inuyasha to come for you guys. We all know how well that'll go."
Grumbling, Sango turned to look at Kagome. "Sango, what the hell was he talking about? 'You've been more than friendly with me before'? Am I missing something here?" She demanded. "Kagome it's nothing. He's Miroku, he likes to get in your head. You know that," she brushed her off adding, "We should probably get in the car, I honestly don't feel like being interrogated by Inuyasha at this very moment."
Glaring at Sango, Kagome got into the car with Sango behind her.
The car ride was silent. With Miroku's wandering hand to either of the women sitting next to him, there was the occasional slap. But no words were said. Kagome felt the tension between the monk and her friend. How someone could vow to such a prestige standard of living and still be a pervert, was beyond her. She knew something was up with them. She just didn't know what.
"Kagome are you sure you wanna do this?" Sango asked lightly.
"I'm fine. Its been years. And I think it's about time we saw each other at this point anyway," Kagome responded looking out the window, staring at the palm trees zooming as they drove by. Truth was, she wasn't okay. Had she ever wanted to see him again? Maybe. But not for another 50 years.
Sango and Miroku shared a look Kagome didn't see.
"How's life after college been treating you?" he asked her.
"It's great! Sango and I found a place together and I'm helping Mama out at the company right now," Kagome turned and smiled brightly, happy the subject had changed. "How are you?"
"Nothing special. I went with Inuyasha after his father offered me a position at Taisho Enterprises and it kinda picked up from there," Miroku shrugged.
"Ladies and gentleman, we have arrived," Myoga piped up from the driver's seat.
Miroku helped the girls out of the car before approaching the oversized mansion with them arm and arm.
"How did you guys even know we were here?" Kagome asked staring at the magnificent structure.
"We were already here, then you posted on social media that you were here as well so naturally, I decided to come say hi and now here we are."
They stopped in front of the ginormous double doors that opened; revealing an almost full house of demons and humans alike drinking and dancing. The foyer was trimmed with marble and gold. A golden chandelier hung at the center of the room.
"Shall we ladies?" Miroku walked them to the back of the mansion, towards the backyard where more people were dancing and swimming in the pool.
Kagome looked around. She didn't know any of these people. She recognized a few from college and a couple of Inuyasha's close friends. Everyone else were strangers to her. Spacing out, she followed her two friends.
Blue eyes caught golden in the distance of the courtyard. Long silver hair waving in the slight breeze, Sesshomaru stared back at her with a glint in his eye that made her shudder. She wanted to look away but she couldn't. Sesshomaru always kept to himself. He never stayed around long enough to chat and hang out with his half-brother's friends. Getting caught up in his gaze wasn't surprising to Kagome. Everyone in their family had beautiful eyes. Who wouldn't stare?
She continued to look until a flick of his hair told her he was no longer interested and disappeared.
Shaking off all thoughts of the perfect inuyoukai that had just intruded her brain, she saw the nearest server walking by with beverages and grabbed the first glass she saw and chugged the contents down before the server could say anything to her. "Ma'am, you just drank a cocktail intended for demon consumption. That's three times stronger than a regular human cocktail," she looked at Kagome, eyes widened in shock. "Perhaps you should sit down," she gestured towards the nearby pool loungers.
"I WHAT?!" Kagome nearly lost her balance. To her horror, she felt her stomach churning and vision going blurry. "Maybe I should sit down… I don't feel particularly good at this moment."
Kagome hobbled over to the chaise with the assistance of the server. "Can I please have a glass of water?" Kagome gagged, "I'm sorry you shouldn't help me, I'm an idiot that just likes to grab things without thinking… What was your name?"
The server gave her a small smile. "It's okay really. My name's Rin. I'll be right back with that water of yours."
Kagome nodded and closed her eyes as she leaned her head against the back of the chaise.
The sun shining through her eyelids promptly got blocked. Scrunching her nose, she opened her eyes.
"Keh. Always causing a scene everywhere you go huh wench."
Just great. Just when she thought things could've been worse, they were.
Handsome and muscular as ever, Inuyasha looked Kagome up and down. "What in world made you think it was okay to just grab a random drink from someone? You're so clueless Kagome!"
Kagome refused to look at him, searching for Sango. Where had she gone? She must've lost them when she stopped to grab the drink. Kagome face palmed. What an idiot. "I'm fine Inuyasha. Now if you don't mind I need to go find Sango." She made to stand up until the dizziness hit her again and her legs buckled. She fell into Inuyasha's chest.
"Ma'am! I'm sorry I took so long here's your wa- oh…" Rin ran up to a very red faced, passed out Kagome and fuming Inuyasha. "Sir, how about we take her to the guest room?"
Inuyasha nodded, feeling her rapid heartbeat made his stomach flutter. "Goddammit Kagome, you're such a ditz," he grumbled.