Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Sengoku Otogizoushi - InuYasha nor the Dark Hunter series. Inuyasha belongs to Takahashi Rumiko, Shogakukan, Viz Media, ShoPro Entertainment, and Shounen; while the Dark Hunter series belongs to Sherrilyn Kenyon. No profit of any kind is made from this fan-created crossover.
Written For: Black Firelight
Bourbon Street Stories
Caught Hustling
It had been about a year since Nick had met Kagome, and the newness of their relationship had worn off a bit. If by "a bit" one really meant "entirely", then that was what he meant when he said "a bit". Granted, it was partly because they rarely saw each other outside of Liza's store, and there were some subjects they did not bring up and discuss. And that was on top of the whole age difference thing: she had to have about eight years on him, at the very least. And she had a small like for zydeco, having admitted to hearing only a few songs of it; she confessed to having never been too into anime or manga or video games as they were more of her little brother's interests; she was too caught up in her work (she would never explain why she often worked the entire night through); and she was rather eccentric. For a thirteen-year-old boy, anyway. And those were about the only things Nick cared about.
He had run into her a few times after school, and a couple of nights at the bar his mom worked at. And she would always say some of the strangest and most cryptic things which always had him running in the opposite direction. Kagome Higurashi was odd and too old for his maturity level. Maybe if he was older...
No, scratch that.
He knew if he was older, he would see her in a very different light. Especially if she continued to wear those short skirts.
As it was, however, he was still thirteen and she had to be somewhere in her twenties. He had asked about her age once only to receive an amused smile and a, "Whatever you think my age is, I can almost guarantee that I'm quite a bit older." She had kept that look through, "Thirty, then? Forty? Oh, I get it-you're secretly three-hundred, aren't you? Hah, I knew it! Explains why you're single, too." And that had been the end of that conversation.
He still wondered, though...
"Hey, Nicky! Stop daydreaming and grab his cash."
He sighed and came back to reality. He knew he should not have even been daydreaming in the first place given the danger involved, but he could not help it when thoughts of Kagome invaded his mind. There was something very odd about her, espeically the way she would look at him sometimes: as if she was considering how his life would go or if she should kill him.
Neither he liked.
Just as he did not like hanging with his "friends" and hustling tourists for a few bucks. On the other hand, they had money they were not using and he needed the money. He and his mother needed this extra money, never mind that she would kill him if she ever found out how he had acquired it.
It was why he did these acts because his need was too great. And it was why he walked forward and stole the wallet off the poor sap that his buddies had already beaten.
Twenty minutes later, he walked home alone save for the extra forty bucks in his pockets and a merry tune on his lips.
"Hey, Nicky." An arm slung itself around his shoulders as a hand covered his mouth. "I know it's dark and all, but there's no need to scream."
That voice... He knew it.
He looked up at the only slightly taller woman to confirm it. Kagome. He knew of only one woman with black hair and slanted eyes. She smiled as his panic fled and let go of him.
"The heck you doing sneaking up on me?" he asked, his teeth grit. "You don't just sneak up on people around these streets!"
"Oh?" she countered with a very obvious look at him. It made his ears burn as he had a feeling she knew exactly what he had been doing just moments earlier that night. "What have you been doing, then?" Her look turned into a condescending one, as if she was telling him to take his own advice.
He gulped and felt as if he was right in the middle of a Saturday morning cartoon show where the characters always gulped loudly before getting into heaps of trouble. And he could not figure it out: she was a five foot nothing Asian woman who only had the art of forced serene smiling down well enough to make him sweat in fear. That was not even taking her strange vibe into consideration.
Though he fast got himself together. "I don't know what you mean. I'm going home."
With her scary almost slasher smile in place, she grabbed his arm and held out her other hand. "Give it."
He grumbled and stuck his hands in his pockets, only to bite back a wince when her fingers gripped his arm tighter. And then there was some strange feeling not unlike when they had first met and touched, except colder. Her smile did not change, however. "Nicky," she said with a tone he recognized-his mother used it, and it was just as deceptively sweet, "hand over the money in your pocket. You don't want me to take it from you."
Her grip tightened when he considered seeing if she would relent if he continued to silently refuse. It was only when her smile began to waver and crack that he brought out the money. She snatched it out of his hand and promptly smacked the back of his head.
"The hel-heck was that for?"
"Stealing," she said. "If you needed money so badly, you should've just said something. I would've have grandmother give you a raise."
He shrugged and brushed past her. For her age, maturity and insight she seemed to have about him, he did not think she would get or understand why he said nothing. It was a matter of pride, and he did not want pity or charity. Especially not from her. He could not entirely explain why that was... Though that was a lie: he could, he just did not like what it said about him. He was not one of those guys who developed what had been dubbed "the babysitter crush."
To her credit, though, she only sighed and muttered a few things in Japanese, but she let him walk away. "I'll see you at work tomorrow night. Try to stay out of trouble, Nicky. You're too bright to throw away your future like this."
