Bleeding Love

Chapter Nine


Rin woke to the last bits of sunlight filtering into the room; splaying across her face. Lifting her hand, she shielded her face from the light; rolling over on her side to sit up. Large doe eyes caught sight of the time that was displayed on the clock resting on her nightstand. It was already seven in the evening. "Jeez, how long have I been out?"

Pushing herself up from her bed, she fixed her waist belt; just noticing that she had fallen asleep in the outfit that she had worn to her lunch date with Sesshomaru earlier that afternoon. Running her fingers through her hair, she made her way to the bathroom after grabbing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She changed, used the bathroom, then made her way to her bedroom again. Pulling on a pair of socks and grabbing a pair of tennis shoes, she made her way out to the living room; phone pressed to her ear.

"Oh c'mon Mai, pick up," Rin whispered as she pulled on her shoes at the door before leaving; locking it behind her. "She always has her phone on her, why isn't she answering?"

As soon as her voicemail message began to play, Rin hung up the phone before trying again as she pressed the down button on the elevator. Right as she walked into the elevator, the other end of the line picked up and Mai spoke.

"Mai, hey," Rin said as she pressed the button for the lobby. "Are you guys super busy tonight?"

"As of right now, no. Just a steady stream of our usual customers," Mai answered, the sound of dishes clinking in the background. "But we're definitely going to be exceedingly busy after about ten when that concert ends and all those college kids come in here. Why do you ask?"

"Well I was on my way out the house and was wondering if you could get away for a few minutes to pick me up and bring me to the bar," Rin answered as the doors of the elevator opened again on the lobby floor and she stepped out. "I figured you all would want to hear about how the date went."

"Ha, yeah, some of us more than others," Rin heard her say as keys were picked up and jingling in the background. "Chiyo came by earlier when I was doing inventory and asked where you were. I accidentally let it slip that you were out with Mr. Taisho and she almost went to the restaurant to take a picture of you two had I not stopped her."

"Why doesn't that surprise me," Rin asked as she walked out of the building. "Well, anyways, I'm going to walk over to the corner store. I need more gum. Let me know if you're going to come get me or I'll just call an Uber and be there soon."

"Girl I am ten minutes away, fifteen with traffic," Mai said; she had clearly just walked out the door of the bar because she heard the unmistakable sound of Mai's car unlocking. "Do not waste your money calling an Uber when I can come and get you. I'll be there soon."

"By Kami you sound like Sesshomaru earlier," Rin laughed as she crossed the street, mindful of any cars that could appear out of nowhere. "He said the exact same thing earlier when I said I would call an Uber to take me home after lunch. What is it with you people that own cars and someone calling for an Uber? It's very convenient."

"Rin you never know whose car you're getting into," Mai answered exasperatedly. Rin was pretty sure that she had rolled her eyes as well to accent that statement. "You could call and Uber and they think you're really hot or something and we'll never see you again because that son of a bitch turns off his GPS or something and kidnaps your ass. I will not be subjected to that ma'am."

"You make a very solid point," Rin said. "But I highly doubt that, that would happen. They wouldn't just allow anyone to drive people around with their moniker attached to their name I'm pretty sure. Besides, every time I take an Uber I'm always on the phone with one of you so that you know that I'm safe. You know how cautious I am when it comes to those things."

"Point taken. But that still doesn't change my view on you taking a damn Uber when I can easily come pick you up," Mai said, the sound of her car starting drifting through the phone. "But anyways, I'll be there to get you in ten. Stay at the corner store, I'll just pick you up from there."

"Mkay," Rin said before the line went dead right as she walked into the convince store.

Looking around, she found the gum that she wanted and several other snacks to munch on while she waited before heading to the counter. She paid, thanking the teenager behind the counter before walking out the door and sitting on the sidewalk. Eating the chocolate chip cookie she bought, she scrolled through her Facebook newsfeed, laughing occasionally at some of the memes that had been posted when a notification for a text message popped up.

A grin crossed her features when she saw that it was from Sesshomaru asking if she was available on Sunday. She quickly typed a reply, sending it off just as Mai pulled up. Standing from the ground, she dusted her jeans off before stepping into the car, smiling at her best friend as she pulled her seatbelt on over her chest. "Hi Mai."

Mai laughed as she put the car in drive again and drove off, "Hi Rin. You look like you just woke up, did you have a nice nap?"

"I did," the other woman laughed as she looked down at her cellphone screen again, reading over the text message she had received from Sesshomaru. "It was a great nap too."

"I'll bet, you still have bed head," Mai teased, glancing at her from the corner of her eye. "But anyways, how did lunch with Sesshomaru go?"

"You'll find out when we get to the bar so I can tell all of you at the same time," Rin chided, causing her best friend to roll her eyes. "Oh don't give me that look. I just don't want to have to explain myself over and over and over again so I want to tell all of you at once."

"Fair enough," Mai shrugged as she pressed down on the gas again and continued to the bar.

Several turns and ten minutes later, she pulled into her parking space and cut the engine. Together the two got out of the vehicle and made their way inside, Rin complimenting Mai on her ensemble to which Mai responded that she had forgotten she even owned that dress. They walked inside to see a steady flow of drinks coming from the bar and the wait staff serving patrons with their orders in a timely manner.

"It's just another day at Saint Mai's eh?" Rin said looking over at her best friend who laughed as they continued to make their way to the bar.

"That would absolutely be one hundred percent correct," Mai said as they slid into two open stools at the bar. She waved, getting Kirara's attention. Said blonde flounced over to them, grinning brightly. "When it calms down a bit, Rin's going to tell us about how her date went."

"Ooh, okay," Kirara said nodding her head. "I'll let the girls know that we're going to have a meeting when it dies down a bit. From the way everything is going right now, we might get like a fifteen to twenty-minute break between these patrons leaving and the college kids coming in after that concert. I peeped the ticket sales for that show, they sold about eight hundred and fifty tickets to people over the age of twenty-one. So that rush is going to be real. That fifteen minutes is going to be a lifesaver."

"Thank you for checking that out for me," Mai said nodding. "How are we looking on inventory as far as ice and mixing syrup? With those projected numbers it's very possible that I might need to make a store run and grab more."

"Mixing syrup we're good on, we still have like six or seven cases of new bottles in the back that don't expire for a while," Kirara answered. "Now ice, that's a different story. I would suggest going to get at least twenty to twenty-five more twenty pound bags of regular ice. The ice balls though, we're good on."

"Alright, good," Mai said making note of it on her iPhone. "I'll go now to get more ice since it looks like people are about to start filtering out. Rin, do you mind coming with me?"

"Not at all," Rin answered hopping up from her seat. "You can't exactly carry almost three hundred pounds of ice by yourself. Do you have the bar's debit card?"

"It's in my office, grab it for me will you?" Mai said as she stood to make her way to the kitchen. "I'm going to grab a few plastic bags to lay down in the backseat and trunk. I don't want my interior getting water logged."

"Mai," Kirara and Rin said in unison, rolling their eyes at their boss.

"So I'm not trying to destroy my car, sue me," Mai called over her shoulder as she disappeared into the kitchen. "You both would react the same way and you know it."

Kirara laughed as the doors to the kitchen swung closed behind her best friend, "She does have a point. I may have a 2012 Nissan Altima but I would lose my mind if my backseat got destroyed due to water damage."

"You're right," Rin said as she made her way to the office.

Kouga walked into the bar around eight that evening, surprised at how slow it was. The last time he had been here, he had seen people running around, trying to take and deliver orders as quickly as possible to keep up their reputation for being fast and efficient. He figured that it may have something to do with that concert that was going on a few blocks down. "It's a good thing I got here early then."

He made his way to the bar, hoping to see Mai standing behind it but was greeted by the regular bartenders that were always there. He slid into a stool, waving his hand to get their attention. The pretty blonde was the one that turned towards him at his signal.

"Welcome to Saint Mai's, my name is Kirara and I'll be your bartender for the night. What can I get for you tonight," she asked, her head tilting to the left.

"An Apple Martini, dirty," Kouga answered.

"Can I interest you in any of our food choices," Kirara asked as she pulled her notepad and pen from her back pocket. "We're having a special today on our buffalo wings which happen to be a house favourite according to a lot of patrons. We also have stuffed jalapenos. It's a fried jalapeno stuffed with mozzarella cheese; those are delicious in my own personal opinion."

"I think I'll do an order of both," Kouga answered. "Ten wings and the basket of six stuffed jalapenos."

"Awesome, give me just a moment and I'll put your order in," the blonde said as she turned away from him to enter his order in the POS system that was located behind her. Once she was finished, she turned back and pulled a martini glass from the rack before grabbing her mixing cups. Her hands worked on making the drink as she continued to speak to her customer. "So Mr. Wolfe, I hear that you have a little bit of a crush on my beautiful boss. Have you tried talking to her?"

"How on earth would you know about that," Kouga inquired.

"It's my job to know," Kirara laughed. "Nothing that goes on in here escapes my knowledge. Besides, I heard firsthand the conversation the two of you had last night. It was a great attempt but you'll have to try a bit harder than that to win her over. She's had some majour issues with relationships in the past so she's a bit tougher to crack. Just ask Rin the next time you see her, she'd be able to give you a bit more insight to the whole situation if you can get it out of her."

"Really now," Kouga murmured, more so to himself.

A napkin was placed in front of him before she sat the drink atop it, "Mhm, enjoy that martini. Your food should be ready in a few minutes. Let me know if you need anything else."

"Will do," Kouga said picking the glass up by the spine.

He was left alone when the blonde walked away, taking careful sips of his martini, unaware of the men that began to crowd around him.

"How did I know we would find you here," Inuyasha's voice reached his ears. "Trying to get at the owner again are you?"

"Oh great, what are you two doing here," Kouga asked, rolling his eyes at the Taisho brothers.

"I merely came for food and a drink, I'm not worried about you," Sesshomaru answered first before turning to get one of the bartender's attention.

"And I came because I stopped by your place to pick you up for poker night but of course your ass wasn't at home because you're here," Inuyasha commented next. "Did you forget that we had made plans for a poker night with Miroku and the others? Or are you backing out because you know you'll get your ass kicked?"

"No actually, I just completely forgot about the poker game to be completely honest," Kouga shrugged as his food was placed in front of him before the bartender turned to Sesshomaru who quickly ordered. "Probably wasn't going to go in the first place anyway. Besides, I just so happened to be in this part of town so I figured that I'd stop in and grab a couple drinks and a bite to eat."

"You sure there wasn't anything else on your mind," Inuyasha inquired after placing his order with Kirara who had turned to him after tending to Sesshomaru. "Because it's oh so much of a coincidence that you just so happened to end up here of all places."

"You really don't know when to keep your trap shut, do you," Kouga asked right as the clicking of heels passed by and the voice of a certain dual colour haired woman reached his ears.

"Ben, Hayate, Taka, I need you three right now," Mai said as she whizzed past them, heading towards the kitchen where two of the three men she called were located. "There is way too much ice for Rin and I to carry in here alone."

Kouga glanced up when he heard her voice, having to do a double take as soon as he saw her. He heard Inuyasha whistle at his side, causing him to turn and look at the younger Taisho. "Don't even think about it."

The raven hair laughed as he and his brother's drinks were placed before them, "I'm not in the least bit interested in Miss Takahashi. She's beautiful yes, but I was commenting on how quick her workers responded to her request for help."

"If I'm correct, we can safely assume that Miss Takahashi has established friendships with all of her employees as she has done with Rin and the other woman she surrounded herself with at the restaurant the day before," Sesshomaru commented before taking a sip of his drink. "Which would explain why they were so quick to respond to her request."

"I would suggest asking her out soon Kouga," Inuyasha shrugged before knocking back the shot of tequila that was given to him alongside his drink. "Before someone like Miroku tries and actually succeeds."

"And here comes the rush," Kirara said right as Rin was getting to the good part of the story. "Sorry Rinny, you're going to have to save the rest of the story for another time. Maybe we should get together for one of our infamous sleepovers at Mai's this Saturday after the bar closes."

"That actually sounds like a good idea," Chiyo said grinning. "We haven't done that in months. What do you say Mai? Are you okay with that?"

"That's absolutely fine with me darlings," Mai agreed. "Though I will need lists of all the snacks and movies you want to watch before the end of the week. You have until Friday to come up with it." She then walked away, calling over her shoulder. "Get ready girls. Here comes the first wave."

"Right," Kirara, Chiyo, and Ayame said before heading back behind the bar.

"If you want to get out of here before someone asks you to make a drink, you can hide out in my office Rin," Mai offered with a smile. "We're going to get crazy."

"Actually, if you wouldn't mind, I would like to clock in and help you guys out for the rest of the night," Rin offered. "That is, if you're up to letting me do so. I don't even have to clock in if you don't want me to. I don't mind working for free."

"I should slap you for saying that," Mai said rolling her eyes. "I would never let you work for free. But if you want to jump back there and help out, you're more than welcome to do so. I actually might have ended up calling you in if it got too bad tonight."

"Then I'm going to clock in now and help out," Rin offered.


And another one done. So... some of you may remember that in the original of this story Mai and Kouga ended up together. Now, I don't know if I want to go that route this time. Or if I want to pair him off with Ayame like I had intended to do in the original but wound up pairing him off with Mai ( who was known as Diamond back then ). So the jury is still up for that one. I don't know how it will go this time. It's very possible Mai and Kouga end up together or Mai shoots him down repeatedly until he moves on to someone else. Who knows. But anyways, there should be another chapter soon! Thank you all again so much for all of your patients.