((DISCLAIMER: All of Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi))
Chapter Two
Upon the chirping of Kagome's alarm clock, she took a long moment to stretch out beneath the comforters of her bed. Truly the day had not gone by so quickly… Her weary eyes opened as she forced herself to sit upright, reaching for the clock with an annoyed growl. Her room was still darkened by the curtains atop her bed, which made her all the more inclined to sit up before she heard the sound of life from the bottom tiers of the Higurashi home, and was reminded she had no choice by to rise to her feet and get on with her day.
Rising from the bedside and yanking down the blinds beneath her curtains, afternoon light flooded into her room, blinding her winking eyes still filled with sleep. As the forgiving darkness slipped away from her, Kagome took a look around her bedroom and allowed herself to smile, slowly rubbing at her left eye with a balled fist. Besides several items of clothing left on the floor, her room was as normal as the day she had graduated. Other than a shiny degree on her bedroom wall, she really hadn't had the time or interest to update her living arrangements to something more fitting to her stature.
Despite the time she had been away from school, she just hadn't thought about making the room better function for her needs… There was also the small fact that this room was the exact same as when she and her mother had set it up… Even with the paint chipping at the corners, it was one thing she had left to honor her mother's memory.
Kagome felt her heartstrings tug, even slightly for a moment as she was pulled away from her memories to her cell phone alarm beeping at her. A secondary precaution set, should she not have woken up to the raucous cry of her other alarm clock.
Kagome made her way from her bedroom, and down to the first floor where her grandfather was being set up with his lunch. Kagome had hired a girl from her graduation class who she had known most of her life to be a live in caregiver for the dwindling health of her grandfather. Sango Taijiya was a girl of same height and age as Kagome. Her long brown hair often tied up in a loose ponytail, which high down her back, dancing at the pit of her spine. This could be seen now as she had her back to Kagome as she entered the kitchen, focusing on the blending of squash for a warm soup medley she was preparing for dinner. As soon as she turned around and spotted Kagome, she smiled and paused, greeting her with her usual happy tone. "Well, back from the dead I see?"
Kagome grinned pulling out a chair next to her grandfather who was slowly sliding puzzle pieces along the tabletop. "Long shift at work, I can't believe I made it through in one piece." Sango turned her back towards the kitchen counter, a coffee machine bubbling noisily to life as she took a cup from the cupboard to prepare two cups of the warm mixture for the two of them.
"You've been working so hard lately, I'm sure you're going to be given a position in the hospital team." Kagome sat at the table, gratefully taking the cup of coffee Sango had prepared for her. Kagome spooned in some sugar, and stirred, the noise distracted her grandfather long enough to look up before returning to his task. "I hope so… there have been so many interns coming to and from the ward. I've been there for so long, I wonder if they forget that I haven't been officiated yet." They shared a small laugh before Sango turned to the counter and picked up an envelope on from the far end of the platform. "I found this on the table this morning when I woke up… I didn't bother to look at it, or wake you up when I found it…" she handed it to Kagome, who while crossing her ankles, lifted the opening flap and glancing inside to the check she had received earlier in the day from the trespassing businessman.
Unexpectedly she was rushed with the seething memory of his comments about her sweater, and her face burned with indignation. "The shrine received a donation; I was given the envelope when I arrived home." Sango seemed to pause, beholding the beet red flush adorning Kagome's face before looking at the envelope in her hands. "When you came home? But the shrine isn't open that early." Kagome was forced to remember the encounter, the voice of the gentleman coming to mind, his silvery hair and expensive suit… Even furthermore, the amber glow of his eyes that seemed to burn into her memory. This Inuyasha, and his brother, Sesshomaru Daiyokai… "That's what I told him… But he insisted on giving me this donation… For 'preserving our heritage' or something." She pulled the check out from the envelope. The scrawling signature of the elder brother dashed along the bottom of the check in an attractive black ink, her shrine name adorning the recipient line. The amount was too good to be true… Benefactor or not…
"He?" Sango questioned as a telltale smile struck her tone while bringing her own cup to her lips, "Was he cute?" Kagome huffed, rolling her eyes and laying the paper flat on the tabletop, face down. "Sure, if you like big headed, cocky, jerks…" She didn't want to speak further of the encounter, but Sango smiled all the wider, even Grandpa was listening as Sango leant forward slightly. "Ooh, touchy subject… What happened?" her smooth, honest brown eyes seemed curious, and Kagome allowed herself to sigh, pressing her forehead into her hand, and closing her eyes. "He was just so pushy-… He told me he was giving us a donation on behalf of his brothers 'organization'." Kagome annunciated the word organization as she rose from the table to rinse out her coffee cup. "He handed me this envelope and left, but not before telling me not to wear sweaters that make me look like a slob."
Sango seemed to continue holding interest, "Wow that was rude of him... But I have warned you about what you wear… I could go shopping with you if you want." Sango was always good for cheering Kagome up, shopping honestly seemed like something she would have to take her friend up on. "I don't want to have to change my wardrobe because some ass I'm never going to see again told me I looked frumpy…"
Grandpa shifted in his seat to stand, Sango raising from her seat only slightly as he shook his head. "I'm just going to the bathroom. You don't need to coddle me all the time, I'm not dead yet." This returned her to her seat with a smile as Kagome swooped close and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "And you won't be for a long time." He huffed and shuffled from the room, opening the door to the main hall and closing it behind him as he left, leaving the two girls alone in the otherwise empty kitchen.
"So who is this jerky guy we're talking about?" Sango pressed, as Kagome sat down again, clearly exasperated. "Can we just drop it? He was just this guy, a wealthy guy named Inuyasha who I hope I never see again." Her exasperation silenced the teasing Sango as she sat back in her chair and tried to process the name in her head. Kagome however picked up the check from the tabletop. "I don't know how I feel accepting this… I mean, there isn't anything WRONG with taking it, but I just feel like I am going to be indebted, taking this much money from a stranger."
Sango nodded, knowing this exactly, as in a way, when she had been brought to the Higurashi shrine to care for Kagome's grandfather, she had felt the same way. Sango had been brought up in the outskirts of Tokyo in a small village with her father and brother. Sango had moved to Tokyo to attend the university to get a degree in home care for seniors. Her compassion for her elders went above and beyond the norm. When she graduated and lost her grants, she was welcomed into Kagome's home by Kagome's mother as simply a roommate while she looked for a job. Upon finding a placement in a small business area, Sango went place to place looking after those in elderly homes, and hospices. When Kagome's brother and mother died, she had been a support structure for her dear friend. As Grandpa's health declined, Kagome submitted an application for home care, which to circumstance was accepted. Sango continued living in the home, her boarding free of charge while Kagome continued to pay for Grandpa's service at home by Sango's care. Sango felt indebted to the Higurashi family for their kindness, and seeing Kagome struggle over something which to others might have seemed trivial made her feel all the more kindred with her. "If you think it could help, maybe we could look up this Inuyasha and his brother's organization-… Find out more about them to put your mind at ease."
Kagome nodded this in and of itself seemed reasonable. Being given a check as a donation was one thing, but it felt morally wrong to her accepting something from a veritable stranger to such a degree that it could drastically increase the shrine in all the ways it so desperately needed.
Sango rose from the table and disappeared upstairs to what had been Souta's room, and was now where she boarded to retrieve her laptop. As she did so, Kagome rose to her feet and walked towards the sliding door of her dining room, looking out over the Shrine grounds and reminiscing even momentarily. There was so much in the shrine in need of desperate love and care… From the grounds needing new installed cobbles, to the well shrine needing replacement, the once well kept shrine had fallen into such a state of disarray that she knew that this donation came at a much needed time. She was reminded of Inuyasha's offer at Sesshomaru's expense and sighed, leaning against the doorframe and looking out the window to the mid afternoon sky. The Goshinboku creaked in the wind, shedding its leaves onto the grounds, already soaked in a rain she had missed. The puddles glistened in the autumn sunlight, dappling blinding rays of cheerful sun into the desolate shrine.
"Alright," came Sango's voice from over her shoulder, "Mr. Inuyasha… Do you have a card with his name on it or some kind of contact number we could look over?" she questioned, pulling up a search engine as she sat back down at her place at the table, her laptop resting on an upright position so the whirring, yet silent fan could regulate air through the tiny notebook.
Kagome nodded, reaching into the pocket of her jeans, only to find nothing. Then again to the back pockets. It was only then she was reminded that Inuyasha's words had driven her to a point of rage where she had torn the card to tiny pieces and tossed them into the outdoor garbage bin. "No-… I did, but I don't anymore…" Sango let out a sigh, running her hand through her hair, and proceeding to tighten the loose ponytail to a higher position on the back of her head. Kagome smiled just so, this in and of itself was a familiar action done only when she was thinking deeply, or about to take on a serious task requiring unrelenting attention. "Well, what you CAN say about him? Maybe if we can find a few keywords we can track him down at some manner of speaking."
The blinking white screen of the search site waited expectantly as Kagome rubbed at her chin, standing behind Sango. "Well-… he was tall-ish, more that me by a small amount. He wore an expensive suit, Armani maybe?" Sango's hands didn't move to type in what she was saying, "That doesn't describe HIM it only describes his clothing and height. Unless you can point me to his tailor its not going to change anything." The sarcastic answer had Kagome leaning to the table to pick up the check, expecting maybe the check was company based… To her dismay it was a personal check belonging to Sesshomaru Daiyokai, his home address printed in the top left corner of the paper. "I have a home address here-… would that help?"
Sango nodded, taking the check from Kagome's hands and glancing at the amount, before taking an immediate double take. "Holy-… Are you serious?" she received a nod, and shook her head only slightly in amazement. The amount on that tiny paper dedicated to the shrine could more than cover the loans she had taken out for school, as well as the payment for her room and board at the shrine for well over a year or two. Glancing at the signature, and the address, she typed it into the search bar, and pressed enter.
Rather than directing them to the owner, they received search images of a beautiful mansion of sorts within the suburbs. The tall white building with lush, fancy interior had both a large driveway and yard, but also a full hot tub and pool set up in the back. In and of itself it was no doubt well over a million dollars to purchase, and by no stretch of the imagination befitting the benefactor of the shrine. Upon typing the two brothers names together, up came the results that had Kagome's attention immediately.
"Daiyokai Industries linked with the Yakuza?" Sango read aloud, a photo of Inuyasha, and a man of somewhat older appearance, and mirroring hair sat next to this headline, both stern faced and standing with hands behind their backs at what appeared to be a press conference in the center of Japan. A lawyer representing the two seemed to be calmly representing their cause on the guise of innocence while the brothers quietly looked at the surrounding crowd of microphones as if they had done so their entire lives. "So that must be Sesshomaru then." Kagome commented, leaning over the shoulder of her friend to gaze at the older brother, whose long hair was tied similarly to his brother, but clearly the less unruly of the two, its sleek stands staying in order while Inuyasha's seemed to fight against the band which held it in place. Both seemed similar and yet, Sesshomaru was clearly the better equipped of the two, as Inuyasha, at least in their last meeting had been clearly on edge and in deep seated disdain for his elder brother.
"Sesshomaru's kind of hot actually." Sango commented, only to be shoved by Kagome into a giggling state. "You don't think so?" "Actually no… Sesshomaru is so-… serious… Inuyasha at least seems expressive. Even if he is a total dick in person." Sango overlooked Inuyasha and had to admit, Kagome was right. While of the two, Sesshomaru was decidedly more beautiful, Inuyasha seemed less interested in the goings on of the conference, his eyes focuses elsewhere, tie tugged loose around his neck , while Sesshomaru's was tight, eyes focused and entirely to controlled.
"I guess they are setting up a new clientele base in Tokyo from the West, and are looking to set a good example. After all, would someone working with the Yakuza donate a five digit sum of money to a worn down shrine?" Sango closed the lid of her laptop and leaned back into her chair with a sigh. Kagome took a step back, almost bumping into the fridge before looking at the microwave clock. Reading nearly 4:30 in the afternoon, she turned to open the fridge to find some kind of meal to eat.
"So how do you want to spend it?" Sango questioned a question Kagome herself had been dreading to answer. "I haven't a clue… There is so much the shrine needs in general upkeep… I was thinking about hiring someone to keep the grounds in order for me while I was at work…" Sango nodded thoughtfully, slipping the arm of her apron over her head, and releasing the back from its careful knotting. "I can't expect you to look after the shrine, and Grandpa while I am working." Sango nearly mentioned that she didn't have the job yet, but kept it to herself. "I'm sure I will find someone who will do well for the shrine in my absence… Maybe you can even keep an eye on them with Grandpa for me-…"
As she mentioned him, Kagome realized that in nearly twenty minutes she hadn't seen him; his travel to the bathroom had been a moment longer than she had anticipated. Before she could say anything, Sango was on her feet and taking off to the hallway, Kagome in nervous pursuit.
The door to the bathroom was locked, Sango fumbling into her pocket to find the keys to the house to release the lock as Kagome leaned into the door, knocking several times in rapid pursuit. "Grandpa? Are you okay in there?" his lack of response threw her into immediate frenzy. Sango left her for a moment to retrieve the building keys from her bedroom, Kagome's hands wrapping around the doorknob to shake the door in its frame in her panic. "Are you okay in there? Grandpa, GRANDPA!" Before she had a chance to throw her slim frame against the door itself, Sango had returned in solid calm, unlocking the bathroom door, to find Grandpa on the ground by the toilet, closest to the wall.
Obviously having lost his balance while flushing, Grandpa was muffled by the space between the toilet and the wall. "Kagome-… Sango? I can't stand up-… I'm stuck." Kagome went to aid him, but Sango carefully stepped forwards instead, gently easing him from the floor only to have him cry out in pain. Sango looked up to Kagome, the bathroom light hiding any color which may or may not have rushed from her face. "You should call an ambulance; he might have fractured a bone."
Kagome couldn't help but nod, not being able to afford panicking any further while her Grandfather was held still by Sango. Pulling free her cell phone, she dialed the emergency number, calling for an ambulance to their residence. A solid guilt buried in the pit of her belly as Sango sent her off to prepare a night bag for him, should he need to stay the night in the hospital. As she finished, the shrill call of the upcoming paramedic's blurred her hearing, their blue and red light glowing in the not so distant street ahead, bouncing off the puddles on the street as she stood at the top of the shrine steps to rush them to the bathroom her beloved Grandfather sat.
((AN: If you liked this chapter, feel free to review and subscribe))