No Aces?
Summary: Its the only time she's ever lost at strip-poker.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inyasha or any of its characters.
Authors Note: Apologies in advance for all those that lose the game by reading this story. Its in there for effect. Honestly.
Chapter One
How had they done it? Six straight losses in a row. Six articles of clothing on the floor. Only her over-sized hoodie remained on her person and the three other men at the table were grinning now at her seventh loss. She was out of the game, and soon to be naked for the first time in front of an audience.
She couldn't understand it. She never lost. People regularly said she had horseshoes up her ass, and she agreed with them. In all her life, she had never lost a game of anything. Monopoly, eye spy, Kingdom Hearts, or even The Game. Never. But now, seven times straight...
"C'mon, Kags, off with it." taunted one of the other players, her ex Inyasha Tashio. "You know the rules."
She glarred at him as another, Koga Wolfe, added, "Don't be shy, Kagome."
She unzipped the blue hoodie and pulled it off her shoulders, earning a gasp from the three. She settled the coat on the back of her chair. "There, happy?" she snapped. All three nodded. "Good, now I'm going home."
She stood to collect her clothes, but Inuyasha stopped her with a hand on the stomach. "You lost, Kags. The clothes stay here."
"What?" she snapped, and suddenly the appartments front door slammed open. There, glarring at his younger half-brother, was the super-success story Sesshomaru Tashio.
Koga's face went white. "Sesshomaru! What are you doing home so early? I thought you were on a hot date wi-"
"Quiet!" Sesshomaru barked, obviously pissed. "What is the half-breed doing here?"
"We were just leaving!" Miroku, the third player, chirpped, grabbing Inuyasha's arm and pulling him towards the door. Kagome dropped to the floor, an arm crossed over her breasts and eyes warily stuck on the forbidding, deathly handsome demon in the doorway. She pulled her shirt over her legs. Inuyasha didn't fight his friend, prefering to live to fight another day. The two quickly disappeared out the door and down the hall.
Sesshomaru's glare turned on Koga. The wolf demon smiled sheepishly. "I guess I'm homeless tonight, huh?"
"Get out." Sesshomaru said darkly, vemon dripping from every word. "Now."
Koga jumped up and ditched Kagome too, scared for his life like the other two. It was a well-known fact that Sesshomaru hated his half-brother, and humans, and had a hellish temper when it came to them. Particularly if the half-breed and humans were in his living space. This was his living space, along with Koga's, but mostly his.
Sesshomaru's red-tinged golden gaze fell on her now, but she didn't say anything. It only took about thirty seconds for the red to melt away and his demeanor to become calm once more. The icy mask was put on. He wasn't cruel enough to pull out a rage on a tiny, defenseless, naked human girl. He probably saw it as a waste of energy. Energy that could be used to kill the idiot males that had invaded his home.
Kagome broke eye-contact to look at the underside of the table. What she saw was an ace taped to it, and a couple face cards, and she glared at them. He'd cheated. The stupid slimeball had fucking CHEATED.
Then a coat dropped on her shoulders and she was distracted from her anger. She looked up, finding Sesshomaru going back to the kitchen with a pair of glasses in one hand, closing the door with the other. He was now void of his work jacket, and Kagome remember exactly what state of dress she was in. She scrambled to collect her clothes, deciding to think of all the glorious punishments she could inflict later. Right now she needed to get out of this gods home clothed and get home. Enough strangers had seen her skin today.
"Throw those in the wash, Ms. Hirgurashi." Sesshomaru's voice wafted over, calm, cool, and collected. She winced. "They smell of booze and horny male."
"Its fine, I'll wash them when I get-"
"Now, Ms. Hirugrashi."
She sighed and did as she was told. How the man even remembered her name, she didn't know, and she didn't want to know. What she wanted to do was to go home. A glance at his appartment, though, and she felt guilty. The guys had gone a little wild with the pizza and the beer. A couple boxes and bottles on the coffee table, a half-eated slice laying directly on the once-shiney glass. Bottles littering the count-tops and the table, and the garbage overstuffed with bigger glass bottles once belonging to rum, tequlia, and other fancy alcohols. It was safe to say that they had done a number on the place before she had even arrived. Thank god she didn't drink. Things might have gone worse. Alot worse.
She was about to pick up some of the bottles to help clean up, but Sesshomaru's voice intervined again. "In my room there should be a shirt laying on my bed that you can wear."
She nodded, even though his back was turned to her, and she quickly discovered the huge white t-shirt on his neat, blue bedcover. She put his coat over the back of a chair in his room and pulled the piece of clothing over his head. It almost reached her knees, giving her a very good idea of exactly how big this man was. After that, she popped back out into the living space and picked up the bottles she had been going for before. Sesshomaru was washing dishes, something she never thought she'd see him do. She frowned at him as she approached with the bottles, and gave him a little shove when she put them down. It was strange to see a full-grown man of his qualities doing something so mundane. "Here, I'll do that."
She ignored his examining of what she now wore and took over washing dishes, bottles, glasses, etc. He went to start clearing away the cards on the table and the pizza boxes. Every so often he would discover a cup and diposit it on the counter beside her to be washed. Other than that, they didn't interact at all. No words were spoken. No eyecontact was made. And it got the job done one hell of alot faster.
Two garbage bags sat by the door at the end, that held all the boys lost clothing as well as their leftover mess, their deck of cards, and their deck of aces and face cards. Kagome sat on the couch once she had finished wiping down the tables, sighing heavily and earning a look from Sesshomaru. She smiled at him and closed her eyes, curling up on his couch to rest until her clothing was finished washing and drying. A moment later, a blanket was lain over her, and she looked up just as Sesshomaru sat down and turned on the TV, seeking the midnight news. She sighed again and closed her eyes. There wasn't much point in trying to tell him to not wait up for her to leave.
While the reporter on TV talked about some murder or another, Sesshomaru said, "I'm supposing since I found you naked you lost."
"Nope." she replied. "It doesn't count if they cheat."
"Fair enough." there was a moments quiet. "Should I have their eyes removed?"
She giggled. "I can deal with them, Sesshomaru. Don't you worry."
"Hn." There was more silence between them, only broken by some whiney teen on the TV, telling the world about how he got into the drug world. Sesshomaru shut off the TV and went to change over the washing. Kagome steadily fell more into sleep-mode. When Sesshomaru rejoined her, he had a fully unconsious 18 year old on his hands. He frowned at the tiny human, disapproving her falling asleep on his couch but seeing no point in waking her. When half asleep she had a tendancy to speak without thinking and act like a seven year old. It was cute, undoubtedly, but he'd never admit to it.
He picked her up, deciding the couch was no place for her to be sleeping, and went to lay her down in his own comfy bed, cocooned by blankets and pillows as she liked to be. That was another thing he would never let her know he knew.
Even when her clothing was ready to be reinhabited he didn't wake her. Instead, he settled her clothing next to his own for the morning and laid down next to her, taking a quick whiff of her hair to see if she still reeked of his brother, booze and his friends. She did, unfortunately, and he scrunched up his nose in disgust. He could hardly locate her own addicting scent under it.
But she did look good in his shirt, which smelled strongly of him. So, he simply moved his nose to places that smelled far more agreeable, like her stomach and small breasts. There is was just his and her smell. Yes, far more agreeable. With his head on her stomach, he drifted off to sleep easily, the girl herself not complaining any either.