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, Jin, 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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On Saturday morning, Kagome woke feeling even worse than Friday. She hadn't cried herself to sleep, but that Ki wave had sucked every ounce of energy out of her body. 'I'm so glad I didn't kill him.' Pulling herself out of bed, she decided it was another caramel latte day for her.
Stopping at the coffee shop, she waved at Lucy, who waved furiously back. When she finally got to the front of the line, Lucy was almost dancing. "Oh girl, have I got good news for you!" She peeked at the two other customers in line, than sighed. "Do you have to leave immediately?"
"No, I have a few." Lucy's happiness was infectious and Kagome couldn't help but smile.
"Okay, you sit right over there, and I'll bring your drink with me. Caramel latte, right?" Kagome nodded. Lucy giggled as she shuddered. "I don't know how you drink all of that sugar." Seeing the rings under Kagome's eyes, she sighed. "Never mind, you probably need it to stay awake."
When Lucy walked around the counter, she held a cup of coffee in one hand and a stack of papers in the other. "Kagome, you are going to be so happy!" At Kagome's quizzical look, Lucy flipped to page 26. "They always print the corrections in the back, but you HAVE to read this."
In small letters, the article read: 'Last week's article about Monica Holmes and Seth Shujin is being rescinded. Due to inaccurate information about the two involved, we inadvertently printed an untrue article. Monica Holmes and her husband Richard came to the magazine explaining that Seth Shujin had been asked to attend dinner with Monica in Richard's place when he unexpectedly had to leave town to attend to business matters. The couple went on to state that Mr. Shujin has recently been seen in Tokyo with a lovely young woman and that they hoped the misprint would not cause problems for the new couple.'
Kagome looked up at Lucy, and thought she was going to burst into tears. "What is it?"
"I agreed to go out with another person because I thought he'd dumped me." She thought she was going to have a heart attack. "I've got to go." Leaving another thousand yen, she ran out the door, Lucy yelling at her that the next latte was free.
Kagome groaned all day, worried about the evening. When the spray of saffron blooms arrived, she was beginning to sweat. The saffron blooms still had the stigma's inside. She knew of only one man who was rich enough to obtain this arrangement, and she knew it wasn't Logan. As she opened the card, she knew her life was over. "They are a pittance in comparison to you. I will pick you up at 7:15, do not be late."
Kathyrin walked by and whistled. "Are those really saffron blooms?" When Kagome nodded her head, Kathyrin leaned near, noticing the stigmas were still intact. "Do you have any idea the cost of these flowers?"
"I'm not sure, but they're expensive with the saffron stigma inside." Kagome was very pale and fighting hard not to flee.
"Yeah, I don't think you can just buy them. I believe they actually have to be imported from India."
Kagome coughed. "What?" She looked at the card again 'exactly WHAT did he mean by 'in comparison to you'?'
"Is this from Seth?" She tried to grab the card from Kagome, but Kagome was quicker. "Ooooh. I want that man."
"He'll be at my house at 7:15pm… oh wait, I have an idea!" Running out of the office, she headed back to the coffee shop. Throwing open the door, she startled Lucy, who promptly fell off the bottom rung of the ladder she was standing on. "Lucy, can I ask you a personal question?" Bent over with her hands on her knees, Kagome wheezed as she worked to catch her breath.
"Sure, but what's the hurry?" Lucy smiled as a rare post-lunch customer came in. He was blonde with beautiful green eyes, and she couldn't help but smile a little brighter. "Can I help you?"
A deep sexy voice that Kagome had hoped to avoid answered. "Yes, I'm looking for orange pekoe tea. Everyone serves green tea around here, and I miss my native tea." Although she knew he spoke fluent Japanese, Kagome also knew this man wasn't from Japan. Scooting behind a display, she watched the interaction between the two, hoping it would go well.
"Yes, we have orange pekoe. Would you like it infused, or in loose leaf?" Lucy glimmered.
Logan could only stare. Kagome was pretty, but this woman was beautiful. "Loose. Are you from around here?"
Lucy stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him, her English heavily accented with her native tongue. "No more than you are."
Suddenly he bowed. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Logan Dunan from Sydney, Australia."
Lucy blushed and nodded her head. "And I'm Lucy Marten from Houston, Texas." They both chuckled and made time for a few minutes. Suddenly the door chimed and they came back to themselves. "Oh my, I have to get back to work." She handed him his bag of tea and the change to the money he'd given her while they were talking. Turning back to her new customer, she waved at him. "Have a great day Mr. Dunan."
Logan walked out, Lucy watching every step as his butt swayed in the tight pants he wore.
Kagome straightened up and prayed her switch would work. When the customer left, she smiled at Lucy. "Nice looking guy there."
Lucy looked at her with serious eyes. "Do you believe in love at first sight?" She held her hand over her heart. "Because I suspect Cupid just caught another sucker." Her color was high, showing her excitement at the thought.
"Not for me personally, but I've seen it happen to others." Kagome picked up a tin of Keemun and walked over to the counter. "Would you come to my place around 6:45 tonight for dinner? Wear something nice, we'll have a girl's night out." Lucy blinked. "Oh, and if I paid for this, would you wrap it and bring it with you? I need a gift for someone."
"Uh, sure. 6:45pm, your place."
Kagome scribbled directions then smiled. "And you can tell me all about that sexy man that just came in here and stole your heart." Before Lucy had a chance to respond, Kagome was gone.
The rest of Kagome's day was a breeze. Fate had conspired with her for a change, and things looked like they might actually work out well. Humming, she opened the door to her apartment and realized it was still trashed from when she left the other night. "Oh well, guess you have to pay the piper at some point." Walking over to the bed, she noticed the phone was still off the hook. Hanging it up and rolling up her sleeves, she set to work cleaning up for her guests.
A/N: I apologize for not getting the story out until after midnight last week. Unexpected emergency kept me from the computer. Thank you for the wonderful reviews and I hope everyone had a great week. Thank you for reading the latest installment. Until next week –TK.