Previously, on Kyoto Summer...
Akihiro glanced at Inutaisho. "I'm retiring. You can do whatever you want, Kagome. Go to college, get married."
Kagome dropped her cup, and even Inuyasha stopped and swallowed.
"To whom, exactly?" Kagome asked pointedly, feeling a blush creep steadily up her cheeks.
And then her father looked at Inuyasha.
Chapter 14: Two Boys and a Girl
Of which, the wrong two are getting engaged.
For a moment, Kagome Higurashi thought she couldn't breathe, much less speak.
Inuyasha was less tongue-tied.
"What?" he spluttered, chopsticks clattering to the table.
The two fathers exchanged devious glances.
"Well, you really should grow up sometime, Inuyasha," Inutaisho said with a serious nod. "Start taking responsibility, think of settling down."
"But now?" stared Inuyasha. "But, I mean, but..."
"Well, this is interesting!" Kagome chirped in an unnaturally high voice.
"Isn't this a little out of the blue?" echoed Inuyasha, looking shocked.
Inutaisho and Akihiro didn't seem to think so, from the way they beamed at their children.
Inuyasha looked helplessly at Kagome. Kagome looked helplessly at Inuyasha.
Kagome gathered her wits first, and smiled feebly at her father and Inutaisho. "I'm… so honoured… but I really don't think I would be the right person for Inuyasha to marry."
Think, Kagome, think of all the possible good reasons why you would not want to marry Inuyasha Taishou! Kagome screamed to herself. "That is to say," she continued quickly, "I would be so hopeless at being a good wife. I cannot cook, or clean, or-"
The fathers seemed to find this hilarious. "Don't be silly, Kagome," Inutaisho said with a big smile, "you can have all the servants you want, dear. Nobody would ever ask you to clean a house."
"And you should be so lucky to have someone willing to marry someone like you in the first place," added her father.
Not working! she screamed in her head. Kagome tried harder to come up with an excuse. Kikyou! Yes, Kikyou. "That is to say, Inuyasha already has a girlfriend!" Kagome practically shouted in excitement. "Now, I really couldn't come between the two. You have a girlfriend, right, Inuyasha? Tell them." She looked hopefully at him.
Inuyasha nodded quickly. "That's true - Kikyou and I -"
"A girlfriend?" Inutaisho looked unimpressed. "Well, is she from an upstanding family, may I ask? What does her father do?"
"Ki – Kikyou's a model," Inuyasha said carefully. "I'm not sure what her father does, but -"
"A model?" scoffed Inutaisho.
The silence following his question echoed.
Inutaisho laughed jovially, as though he had been told the joke of the century. "Inuyasha, you're not seriously thinking about marrying a model, with a pretty face but no prospects, into our family?" he said. Inutaisho didn't even look angry; he had simply straight out dismissed the thought as a joke, which made things almost more awkward.
"I didn't say I was going to marry Kikyou," Inuyasha snapped angrily. "In fact, I don't recall saying I wanted to get married at all!"
Kagome winced slightly. Suddenly all the glitter and glamour of the high life was gone. This, she mused, was the true face of the wealthy. A snobbish, harsh reality. It all came back to money. Who had the most of it, and who was continuing to make more. Whose money was the oldest, and who was merely nouveau riche. And whose families one should marry into to keep the money in the family.
Inutaisho looked stern. "Well, as long as you're not intending to marry just anybody from off the street, you can have a girlfriend or two for now, that's fine. A few flings, that's fine. God knows your brother is always having some kind of fling every time I call on him…" Inutaisho turned his eldest son.
Kagome cast a flustered glance in Sesshoumaru's direction. Say something. Say anything. Say something! Both she and Inuyasha were barely grasping at straws with the fathers who seemed so keen on getting the two of them married.
As for Sesshoumaru, well, he was impassive and reserved as always. However, he was being particularly taciturn this evening.
"Hey, now that I think about it," Inuyasha said suddenly. "Why wouldn't you think about marrying Sesshoumaru off first? He's older! I really think it's not proper for me to get married before he does."
Inutaisho looked at his younger son like he was an idiot. "I have never heard of that rule. Anyway, you and Kagome suit each other so nicely; where am I supposed to look to find someone who will put up with Sesshoumaru?"
"In case you feel like we're rushing things... Inuyasha and Kagome, you two don't have to get married right away," Akihiro also added, nodding. "Just engaged first."
Kagome sucked in her breath, her knuckles turning white from how tightly they gripped the edge of the table. "Dad, it's not like Inuyasha and I don't get along. We get along great. But we're just friends."
"Then I don't see the problem," her father said, looking puzzled.
"Well…" Kagome trailed off agonizingly. How did she explain to her father that being friends did not equate marriage material? Or was it too much of a modern concept to explain to these two old men?
Honestly, Inuyasha was funny and kind and amazing. But he was currently with Kikyou. And as much as Kagome would never have admitted it aloud, Inuyasha was nothing, nothing, nothing compared to Sesshoumaru.
Deep down, she wondered if she would be so adamantly against an arranged marriage with Sesshoumaru Taishou. Yes, her father had no right to dictate her future husband, but what if, what if, said future husband was to be Sesshoumaru.
Kagome fiddled nervously with the hem of her napkin and avoided everyone's eyes. He was getting to her. God damn it, a few measly weeks with Sesshoumaru Taishou and he was really getting to her…
Unfortunately there was no way she could stand up and shout to her dad, "Screw Inuyasha! I would rather get married to Sesshoumaru!"
Inuyasha, unwilling to let things lie, raised his jaw defiantly. "If you two old geezers have to be so old-fashioned, if I have to get married – or engaged, whatever – then I insist Sesshoumaru must too."
"Inuyasha!" Kagome stared in consternation. What he really needed to be saying was, "NO MARRIAGE." Not, "No marriage unless Sesshoumaru joins in!"
"I guess the oldest should set the example, huh," Inutaisho said thoughtfully. He raised an eyebrow at Sesshoumaru. "I don't suppose, out of all the numerous affairs that you have – I don't suppose a least a few your flings are from a good family?"
"Yes, don't be shy," Akihiro said easily, eager to help find Sesshoumaru a fiancée if it meant Inuyasha and Kagome would get together. "Even just yesterday, when your father and I stopped by your room after the board meeting you were with a... friend, were you not?"
All eyes settled on Sesshoumaru.
"Well." Sesshoumaru cleared his throat delicately. "I didn't realize my affairs were going to be the topic of discussion per se…"
The following conversation would surely test the upper limits of his diplomacy skills. He could blatantly deny what happened yesterday with Kagome and save them both from the scrutiny of their parents.
But doing so could very possibly upset Kagome herself. Even though it was her fault she had made him kiss her. Because he really hadn't wanted to, Sesshoumaru kept telling himself firmly. It just happened.
Self-delusion, a voice at the back of his head said scornfully.
"Um, we don't really want to hear about Sesshoumaru's, er, friends and activities in his spare time, right?" Kagome cut in hastily. She suddenly had a very bad feeling about where the conversation was headed.
"Anything to take the heat off our impending 'engagement'? Hell yes I want to hear it!" Inuyasha muttered to her.
Ignoring Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru tilted his head leisurely and fixed his gold eyes on Akihiro Higurashi. "I suppose you would be correct in your earlier assumption that yes, I was with a certain young lady yesterday."
Kagome kicked Sesshoumaru under the table. Change the topic! her eyes pleaded. But it was difficult to get a good vicious kick as he was sitting directly beside her. His face revealed nothing, though.
"Oh? But she is from an upstanding family, at least?" queried Inutaisho.
His eldest son shrugged. "Fabulously well-connected and affluent, both in Japan and overseas. One of Japan's finest families, no doubt."
The attention shifted to Sesshoumaru's paramour. "Please tell me she was at least hot," Inuyasha said, turning to his brother. "I mean, some things are non-negotiable, okay?"
"Well, if this girl's family is as upstanding as you say, surely they must already be acquaintances with us, don't you think," Inutaisho noted, and Akihiro nodded in agreement. "What was her last name again?"
Kagome kicked Sesshoumaru again. Hard.
"What was it, did you say?" asked Sesshoumaru, drawing his words out languidly.
"Yes, her last name?" repeated Inutaisho, and even Inuyasha looked interested.
Sesshoumaru smirked. "Higurashi, I believe it was."
At first, the fathers hadn't even understood properly.
"Higurashi?" Inutaisho frowned as if he were trying to recollect someone. "Akihiro, you don't have any distant relatives with daughters or anything, do you?"
Kagome gaped at them both. This was... an amazing level of thickness coming from the two dads, who were supposed to be astute businessmen.
Akihiro shrugged. "Nope, not that I can recall. Kagome, you don't remember any cousins on our side, do you?"
Apparently two cutthroat businessmen who had built empires worth millions were that naïve.
"Cousins?" spluttered Kagome. "Of course we have cousins! You know, your uncle's cousin's son's granddaughter's sister? Very pretty girl, about twenty years old? Lives in Hokkaido?"
"In Hokkaido?" Akihiro looked like he was straining his memory very hard. "We have relations in Hokkaido?"
"AHH!" Inuyasha scraped his chair back, leaping to his feet and nearly falling over at the same time. "You!" he accused, pointing at Sesshoumaru. "And you!" he said to Kagome.
They both remained silent. The silence of the guilty.
"You have no cousins in Hokkaido! There are no hot chicks in Hokkaido, okay!" Inuyasha continued, eyes darting back and forth between his brother and Kagome.
There was a protracted silence while the fathers did two and two and got four.
"Kagome?" stared her father, shocked.
"And Sesshoumaru?" stared his father, shocked.
"Yeah, you, I'm going to sock you," Kagome mumbled to Sesshoumaru. "Then murder you. And kill you."
"Mm. I wouldn't make any bets on that if I were you," he whispered back.
"Wait, the two of you?" repeated the fathers.
"Yum, cold spaghetti," sighed Inuyasha, picking up a mouthful and shovelling it mechanically down his throat. At least talk of his marriage would be off the radar for now.
Inutaisho recovered partially, only to begin raving. "Sesshoumaru! You can't go around seducing innocent young girls like Kagome!" he raged. "What on earth were you thinking!"
"She asked for it," Sesshoumaru shrugged.
"Sesshoumaru!"
"I did not ask to be seduced!" Kagome clarified indignantly. "And there was no 'seducing' going on, okay? So we kissed! Fine! Dad, close your mouth, it's not like what you are all thinking. And you, Inuyasha, nothing much happened, so stop grinning like a maniac there!"
Really, the way they were reacting… it was as if it were the end of the world.
"Kagome felt she needed to learn kissing etiquette, that's all," Sesshoumaru said smoothly, delivering this new piece of information with a perfectly straight face.
"Kagome!" said her father reproachfully. "I doubt you can even arrange flowers properly yet, just what is this about learning kissing etiquette?"
"You are in trouble, young man," Inutaisho said, glowering at his eldest son. "You shouldn't take advantage -"
"Oh, so that's what that whole Fash!On Japan shoot was all about," interrupted Inuyasha, sighing as though he'd discovered the answer to the universe. "Kikyou showed me the magazine."
"What magazine?" demanded Inutaisho.
"Just a photo shoot," Kagome laughed lamely. "I mean, nothing special. We thought we'd just have some pocket money, I mean, I thought it would be good to make a couple of bucks since getting the car off Kagura and whatnot…"
Sesshoumaru winced.
"You bought a car off Kagura?" Inuyasha asked like he couldn't believe it. "What car? Kagura doesn't sell – ohh. Ohh." He coughed. "Was this a BMW by any chance?"
"Okay, for someone who isn't in the loop you're finding out way too much!" spluttered Kagome.
"You bought Sesshoumaru a car!?" exploded Inuyasha.
Everyone seemed to be speaking extremely emphatically that evening.
Sesshoumaru put on a pained expression. "She wrecked the Lexus."
"Kagome - you drove in Japan?" Akihiro said, looking at his daughter.
"Nooooooo…" Kagome said slowly. And falsely.
Her father looked like he was about to faint. Even Inutaisho looked like he was having trouble keeping up.
"So, you'd rather marry Sesshoumaru…?" Akihiro Higurashi asked tentatively.
"Why does anyone have to get married just so you two can retire?" asked Kagome exasperatedly.
The two older men looked like they had never considered this before.
Sesshoumaru rose from the table. "I might call it a night. I have an early day tomorrow."
"Yeah, me too," Kagome said, jumping up after him. Anything to get away from this table of awkwardness.
Inuyasha, too, stood reluctantly to leave.
Inutaisho and Akihiro stared at each other.
"We'll talk to these children tomorrow," sighed Inutaisho.
Either way, two of the three of them were going to get married, whether they liked it or not.
A few tables away, shaded in the corner, Naraku and Onigumo were sharing a platter of tempura when they observed the little drama unfolding at the Taishou and Higurashi table.
"Inuyasha and Kagome? Married?" Onigumo said distastefully.
"Unfortunately that impertinent bitch will probably cry until Daddy lets her get her way. Which would mean matrimony with that Sesshoumaru Taishou, no doubt," Naraku said angrily.
He hated those two. Sesshoumaru Taishou and his arrogance, Kagome Higurashi and her spoilt self-importance. They had both insulted him, and worse, effectively shut down a major section of his cocaine ring. His monetary losses were untold.
"Sesshoumaru Taishou and Kagome? Impossible!" laughed Onigumo.
"You'd think he would have better taste," Naraku said sourly, forgetting that he too had once tried to pick Kagome up. "But I didn't hear him objecting furiously like Inuyasha was!"
"If, if there is an engagement between Sesshoumaru Taishou and Kagome…" Onigumo said slowly, an evil smile spreading on his twisted face.
Why, he knew the perfect way to ruin it.
End Chap 14
A/N: OMG guys, thank you for your reviews! I can't believe we are so close to 1000... and this being only Chapter 14! Never fear, Chap 15 is already underway and will be delivered... asap. XD
Special thanks to the following reviewers for your wonderful support!
Crescent Dreams (man it's been awhile!), Lady Serpentina, , kutiekat53, IrisAyame, iloveprettysilverhair, sabakunomikaela, animelover4ever456, Blinky Blix (hii I remember you!), SesshomarusPegasus, REDWOLF47, angelapage, LadyLuna-chan, Peyton Cummings, kagomesirene, hentai18ancilla, and last but not least, ishala8 (thanks ishala :D)
See you next chap guys! As always, feedback and cookies welcomed.