Disclaimer: InuYasha belongs to: Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Media, Shogakukan, Sunrise, Yumiuri TV and the other foreign manga rights companies that I have not dealt with. Twiknham owns intellectual rights only to the original characters including: Michael, Lucy, Logan, Armaund, Sesshoumaru's household staff (minus Jaken) and any characters in this story who reside in Texas. Twiknham makes NO monetary gain from this story, it is a completely free fanfic and Twiknham will not accept any payment. Reviews would be great, but are not required for updates. Also, as with any Twiknham fic, criticisms are welcome but please keep the language clean. Reviews do not come with ratings and are open to all viewers. Thx! –TK
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Replacing her entire wardrobe was a little expensive; but by the end of the afternoon, Kagome had enough outfits to get through a week without doing laundry. Twice Jaken's cell phone rang, once it was the inspector calling to discuss insurance. Luckily Kagome's mother had pressured her to pay extra for full coverage. After she hung up from that call, she hesitated as she started to hand the phone back.
"Jacque, can I use your phone long enough to call work and let them know what's happening?"
"Yes, but Seth has already called for you."
"Oh!" Touched by Sesshoumaru's secret thoughtfulness, she handed the phone back to Jaken with a slight smile. "Hey Jacque…" He looked over at her. "Why are you being so nice to me?"
He scratched his balding head and Kagome couldn't help but notice he had little sprigs of white hair sticking out of his head like patches of onion grass. "I don't understand what you mean." He scowled at her.
"Why aren't you being all snippy with me like you used to be?" She stopped to look at an outfit at the Dockers store. "Can we go in here for a minute?"
"I don't know why you'd want to go in there, you wouldn't look good dressed like a man." At her raised eyebrow, he lowered his eyes and grumbled.
"What do you think?" She held up a pink shirt and a steel-blue colored shirt.
Jaken wrinkled his nose. "If you're talking about Seth, don't even think about getting the pink, he won't appreciate it."
"Not manly enough to be comfortable in pink?" She had an evil glint in her eye.
"No, Izayoui always wore pink. The blue one is nice though."
"Okay, let's find him some pants." She started rifling through a rack of pants, her head bent down looking at tags. "What size does he wear?"
"How would I know? He goes to a tailor." Jaken hated shopping. Sesshoumaru was going to owe him a two-day retreat at the hot mud spa in Sapporo for this one.
Kagome mocked the demon in a high pitch. "He goes to a tailor." Suddenly she dropped her voice in a parody. "Excuse me, but these proletarian pants are unworthy to grace this Sesshoumaru's body. I have my pants made to fit."
Jaken was turning red. "You shouldn't mock the great Taiyoukai like that. He could hear you."
On the other side of town, Sesshoumaru's ears were tingling. Unaware of the American superstition that he was being talked about, he rubbed one absently while finishing up his phone call.
"Fine, we'll go with these." She pulled out a black pair and headed up to pay. As she put away her card, she looked at Jaken. "Jacque, these clothes cost more than mine."
"Why are you buying him clothes anyways? He has plenty."
"Because I wanted to thank him for taking care of me." She grabbed the bag from the salesman. "Besides, all of his clothes look too old for him. He should be wearing thirtyish clothes."
Jaken was laughing so hard he had to put down the two bags he was carrying to hold his side. He took a deep breath. "His clothes look too OLD for him?" He started wheezing again. "You are priceless, I think it's time to go home."
Kagome was smiling, having finally realized how peculiar her statement had been. She grabbed the bags he'd been carrying for her and led the way, a sniggering toad youkai walking behind her. The drive back was companionable. As the chauffer opened the door, Kagome pinned Jaken with a glare. "You never answered my question."
"And I'm not going to either." He stepped out of the car and disappeared before she could stop him.
Kagome was struggling her way into the house when Sesshoumaru walked through on his way back from grabbing a drink out of the kitchen. He stood in the doorway and watched as she dropped a box of shoes and three bags. One of the bags spilled out small slinky things and Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, but did not offer assistance.
Grumbling to herself, she looked up and glared at the Taiyoukai. "You could offer a hand you know."
"I have already given." He turned and walked away, leaving a blushing woman kneeling on the floor.
At dinner, she brought it up. "Are you angry at me because you lost your arm?"
Sesshoumaru flexed his previously missing left hand. "I missed it for a long time."
"How did you get it back?"
"After Totousai gave Tenseiga the power to open the portal to the afterlife, and Naraku had been defeated, I visited my father's grave and retrieved what was left. It had been well preserved, so I had it reattached."
Kagome sat there with a piece of chicken halfway to her mouth. "Really?"
"Yes. Why? Did you think I was capable of regrowing my arm like a chameleon?" He took a drink of tea. "Nothing in my life has ever been that easy."
"So, are you?"
"Am I what?" He had given up all pretense of eating until they were done talking, he was not about to ruin his dinner with this conversation.
"Are you still mad at me?" She put her chopsticks down with a frustrated 'click.'
"No." He held his cup up for a refill and then waved the servant out of the room. After the servant left, he looked at Kagome. "We need to discuss your presence in my household."
"I wanted to talk with you about that…I think I need to find another place to live. I'm not comfortable mooching off of you."
"Reasonable. However, until we are able to find you a safe place to live, I still need a way to explain you to the youkai that work for me. Until just before dinner, you were being viewed as my newest mistress."
"You have more than one?"
Sesshoumaru just closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. "It is not acceptable for you to be considered my mistress."
"I'm WHAT?" Somehow the 'newest' label had taken precedence over his statement that SHE was considered that mistress. Suddenly she caught his next statement. "And WHY wouldn't I be acceptable?"
"Are you going to calm down and discuss this rationally, or do I need to tie you to that chair and gag you, thus inciting more rumors?" He moved his chair back in preparation of containing her.
"I'll be quiet…" at his askance look, she quantified, 'for now."
"In order for you to be worthy of spending time in my home, we must be related. Since you are obviously not a demon, there is only one other way to be related."
Kagome bit her tongue, and her cheek; but kept her mouth shut.
"You have to be engaged to either InuYasha, or myself." Sesshoumaru watched curiously while Kagome's face turned pale, then fiery.
"Is there a third option?" She put her face in her hands. "That's the only way?"
"Yes. I told the staff tonight that you WERE engaged to InuYasha, but he betrayed your vows and now has children with another woman."
"Children?" Just how bad was this dinner going to get?
"Two. One just beyond toddler stage, one that will have been born by now."
"You don't know for sure?"
"Your InuYasha has demanded that I refrain for interfering in his life."
"He's not mine. He hasn't been mine since he told me that he'd started seeing other women." She glared daggers at the tall man. "Why did you have to put me with him? Am I so unacceptable to you that you'd drag me through the quagmire of my emotions to save your face?"
Sesshoumaru suddenly stood in front of her, intense eyes glaring unblinkingly at her. He reached out and grabbed her chin, bringing her of out her chair by that one hand. When she was on her feet, he leaned forward, catching her lips with his own.
It wasn't a pleasant kiss, it wasn't one that made either of them want to smile. It was a deeply disturbing kiss. Sesshoumaru looped his other arm around her waist, pulling her tight against his chest. She retaliated by nipping at his lower lip. He punished her by slanting the kiss further and involving their tongues.
Over, around, tangled together. There was clear confusion on who was in charge. Every time one of them would get the upper hand, the other would turn the tables through some sneaky tactic. Unfortunately for both of them, somewhere between Sesshoumaru's arm around her waist and Kagome biting him where his upper and lower lips met, they lost sight of the reason for this action. All they were left with was the passion of the moment.
Jaken was halfway into the room before he saw them and started squawking. Sesshoumaru had a hand up under that human girl's shirt, and she had one hand wrapped in his hair and the other holding his face still so she could plunder. The sight was enough to lay him out cold. When he fell, the thump caused both of the participants to jump apart. Kagome was beet red, while Sesshoumaru was indifferent to everything that had happened.
Picking Jaken up off of the floor and setting him in a chair, Sesshoumaru stood and looked at Kagome. "I never said you were unacceptable." Then he was gone.
Kagome kicked the table and then hopped around on one foot until her toes quit hurting. "So much for me giving YOU your present!"
A/N: Speaking of presents…you get this one day early because if not it'll be one day late. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for all the lovely reviews and I'll be zinging another one at you in another week.
