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
Forced to Test

Nick had been dreading heading into Liza's store all throughout the day, and all through class. The smile Kagome had worn the night before, and the surprising amount of strength in her hands, and the way she had said that she would see him at work... God, he was not an easy boy to scare because he had grown up on Bourbon Street, but he was certain she could make a criminal sweat.

And not in any pleasurable way.

So he slipped in the back door of the store, hoping that Kagome was working the front as she normally did most afternoons, and made sure not to make any noise than necessary. He acted and moved as calmly as he could. He was silent. He was sneaking about... He was totally a ninja.

God, he needed to take a break from reading manga if this was the way his mind thought now.

"Nicky, I can hear you," Kagome said.

Son of a-

"Should've used the front door," Kagome continued. Liza was no where in sight, thankfully.

"What? You got eyes in the back of your head now?" he asked. He was so certain he had not made any loud noises that could have caught her attention. He knew how absorbed she could get into her dolls and other things she made, especially when she was making them, like now.

"No, but I do have ears," she said. "Now come over here and sit. I've been waiting for you."

Damn. She had been waiting for him. In mom-speak, which he was fluent in despite knowing Kagome was nothing like a mother figure to him, that meant he was in some deep shit.

He trudged over to her and sat down in the chair across from her. She did not bother to look up from her sewing or make an effort to talk to him, yet he did notice her stab the stuffed thing she was making with more force than necessary. He could not help imagining that he was that colorful thing and that she was doing to it what she wanted to do to him.

Or it could just be that pesky thing called a "conscience" acting up again.

Either way, he did not like it. So he looked everywhere but straight ahead. Yet there was only so much that could hold his attention in a shop that he cleaned and looked at too much for him not to be considered a cat burglar. And then he noticed the paper in front of him.

At first glance, he thought it to be Kagome's, yet a closer second look proved that incorrect. He knew Kagome was too old to be trying to enroll in high school, and he knew that school. Elite, good shoe-in for a good college, expensive, rich white-bred school. He both hoped it fell off the map and wanted to go there.

"They have a scholarship, you know. Full-ride," she said. He looked up to find her staring at him. Her look did not hold pity or anything of the sort. "All you have to do is pass a test. I know you can; you're too bright and full of potential to toss your future away."

"What? And, lemme guess, you want me to apply for it? Bullsh-wh... That's crap! Even if I get in, I'd be the charity case. And there's no way in hell that's happening!" And if Nick has his way, it would not be. He knew he was poor white trash, and that there was no way he would ever fit in there. They would watch his every move, waiting for a reason to expel him.

Kagome sighed one of her infernal sighs and leaned back in her chair. "One day you'll have to stop worrying about what other people think about you and grow up. So you won't be rich like everyone else there-who cares? Are you going to prove their thoughts about you and your future correct or prove them wrong?"

"But you just told me to grow up and stop caring about what they think," he pointed out with a grin. He knew what she was trying to get across, but he just did not want to give in.

"Nicky, Nicky, Nicky. What am I going to do with you?" She groaned and rubbed her eyes. "I don't want you tossing aside your chance for a better life. Do you want to be like me, working for relatives you barely know because you tossed aside a chance to go further in life?"

The image of him being much older and bent over this table making creepy life-like dolls into the wee hours of the morning just like Kagome did entered his mind. He shuddered. He knew he had an overactive imagination that would work for that kind of job, but they were dolls. It would turn his mind into the little mindscape of horrors or Alice in Wonderland on shrooms. Which then made him wonder about Kagome's state of mind.

"Ouch!" He whined and cradled his hand where she had pricked it with her needle.

"Do it. Your mom agrees that you should, too."

"You went behind my back and got my mom involved!"

"Yes."

He could not believe she would be so calm and matter-of-fact about doing something so underhanded, so devious... So cruel to a thirteen-year-old.

OK, he knew that was a crap line, but the point still stood.

He snatched up the papers and fixed her with his best glare. It did not faze her at all. Instead she smiled. "I knew you'd see it my way."

Edited 28 June 2010. Thanks, JustOneMoreWapaneseFanGirl!