I Believe In Yesterday
Chapter 20
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"Oh. My. God." Kagura's jaw dropped completely, and she stood speechless for several minutes. "Shippo, will you marry me?"
"Um…" Shippo looked on in worry as Kikyo's expression darkened and she cracked her knuckles. "No…no thanks."
"You are so totally loaded." She sighed heavily. "I mean, you saw my place. I live in a hovel compared to this. Look at this, Kikyo, did you know he was this rich?"
"I wouldn't care if he lived on the streets." Kikyo spoke in a very philosophical tone.
"Yeah, I know, you love him, it's beautiful." Kagura nodded and clutched her arm. "But when you get married, you're taking me shopping, right? Like, once a week?"
"Kagura…" Kikyo's voice sounded deadly, and Shippo just laughed. He was used to people acting like this when they visited his home. He was more impressed by Kikyo whose eyes wandered to certain works of art with a quiet appreciation. Most people couldn't really restrain their amazement, but she really took it all in stride. Not that he thought of her as a gold-digger, but it was nice to see it wasn't a really big deal to her. Kagura, however…
"And then when you get a house, you guys should give me a guest room. Not that I'd live with you, but like, just for me when I visit. You could have a ridiculous place with like a hundred rooms, and give everyone you know one! Oooh! Can mine have a bathroom and be fully furnished with designer clothes?" Kagura's eyes were sparkling as she saw the dream room in her mind. Kikyo sighed softly, cracked her on the back of the head, and turned to go answer the sudden sound of the doorbell.
"Oh, hello Kouga." Kikyo emphasized his name, making sure the girl in the other room could hear who had just arrived. She didn't want Kagura to be depressed, but she also wanted her to stop planning her guestroom at her supposed future mansion. "I am glad you're here."
"Um…what?" Kouga thought perhaps Kikyo was drunk. This was by far the friendliest he had ever seen her. Ever.
"Kagura!" Kikyo called out, and he blanched. "Kouga's here!"
"Hey guys!" Kagome was coming toward them with Miroku in tow. "Is everyone here already?"
"No, just a few of us so far." Shippo had come to the door, and Kagura was still in the other room, deciding that hiding was clearly the cool thing to do. She was not terrified at all. She wasn't. "With you two, that means we're just waiting on Sango and Inuyasha."
"Oh." Miroku suddenly looked as though he was having a strange reaction, like he would be sick, or do a jig, or both. It was a bit disturbing, and Shippo and Kagome backed away from him in the crowded entryway.
"I was just doing a tour, do you guys want to look around a bit?" Shippo offered, and they all moved deeper into the house, except for Kikyo, who returned to her roommate, still hidden in the next room.
"You can come out now." She told Kagura in a dry tone. "Is that your plan to win him back, hide in the other room whenever he shows up anywhere you are?"
"I just…what should I say to him?" Kagura looked anxious and drawn, and Kikyo couldn't help feeling a bit of pity for her. "How can I make him understand…that I want to start things between us…from the beginning, you know."
"You're going to have to show me that fan." Kikyo sighed heavily. "It must be amazing."
"Kikyo, please!" Kagura pleaded, and the pale girl shrugged.
"I don't know. You're the one who had to fight with him all the time in the first place. I tried to warn you, but of course, I'm only a psychology major, what could I possibly understand about people." Kikyo told her, pursing her lips.
"Sometimes you are really not helpful." Kagura told her in irritation. "I mean, what would you do?"
"Tell him you're sorry, and that you decided you do want to have bathroom sex, after all." Kikyo told her with a straight face. "And you might want to tell him about everything, I mean, if you're serious about him, he'll find out anyway that you—"
"Okay, he does not ever need to know that." Kagura snarled. "Fine, I'll deal with this myself, as I can see you're too busy gloating over how you're the only one happy with their boyfriend. You are a dirty, smug bitch."
"I try." Kikyo rolled her eyes. "Do you want a soda?"
"Well…yes, fine." Kagura scowled, angry that Kikyo could overcome her anger that easily. Just then, the doorbell rang and she yelped. "Kikyo!" the other girl was on her way to the kitchen and Kagura wasn't sure she could hear. "The door!"
"Yes, get it." Kikyo poked her head out into the hallway. "Use the doorknob. Like this." She reached her hand out and made a motion to demonstrate before going back to the kitchen.
"But what if it's like…his parents? You get it, you're the lady of the house, or whatever." Kikyo did not even dignify that with a response, and Kagura scowled again, patting her hair so she would be Parent Friendly as she opened the door.
"Oh, good, it's just you." Kagura smiled in relief and Inuyasha pulled one of his more demonstrative frowns.
"Yeah? Fuck you too!" Inuyasha pushed past her, and she stuck her tongue out at his back. "Just me…keh. Is Kagome here?"
"Not that you care, right?" Kagura felt much better being near someone whose love life was in dire straits like hers. "Off with the tour of Shippo's giant house. "
"Damn, this place is fucking nice!" Inuyasha was glancing in room as they passed them. "Fuck, his parents really are loaded, aren't they?"
"I know, right!" Kagura clapped her hands together. "I told Kikyo that when they're married they should do guest rooms for all of us in their gigantic mansion, and in mine I want—"
"Here's your soda." Kikyo interrupted, holding up the can, but she pulled it back when Kagura reached for it. "First, promise to never talk about the guest room again."
"Never?" Kagura pouted. "But what if you guys really do get a gigantic mansion and you need me to tell you what to put in mine?"
"In that very unlikely instance…okay." Kikyo blinked. "Also, never call me lady of the house, ever again."
"But you practically are! You and Shippo are engaged now, after all!" Kagura teased.
"What the hell! You guys have only been together like—" Inuyasha was clearly shocked at this.
"No!" Kikyo cut him off. "That is a joke. And not a very good one, I might add. No one's engaged, nor do they plan to be for a very long time."
"Yeah, okay." Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously.
"Okay, fine, I promise, now can I have it?" Kagura lunged forward and Kikyo finally handed over the cold can.
"We have liquor and stuff, too," Shippo had returned with his tour group, and Kagura did her best to appear casual and not to blush or think about Kouga naked, which was really inappropriate, and honestly, why of all times did her mind choose now to feed her that particular memory? "In case anyone wants anything a bit stronger."
"Yes, me." Miroku raised his hand as though they were in class.
"Maybe after this." Kagura hefted up her soda and immediately thought of what an ass she must look like.
"I'll have something," Kouga tilted his head in a way that was clearly calculated to be unbearably sexy and cool.
Dammit, it was much easier to ignore how hot he was when I was hating him for no good reason! Kagura wanted to melt into the floor. Just then, the doorbell rang, and she ran to get it, nearly hugging Sango in her relief to the woman from getting her away from the situation.
"Uh, hi Kagura. Good to see you, too." Sango looked a bit confused as she followed Kagura back into the house, and they both got a bit turned around before they found that everyone was in the giant living room, enjoying food and drinks and watching something in black and white on the television.
"Hey Sango!" Shippo waved to her and took her away from Kagura, leading her to the kitchen so he could get her whatever she wanted. Kagura turned to the rest of the room, and took a seat next to Inuyasha on the large center couch. To her right, Kikyo was on a loveseat she had been sharing with Shippo, and to her left, there was anothercouch where Kagome seemed to be unsure as to whether it had been wise to sit next to Miroku, especially while he was drinking straight liquor. Kouga sat on her other side just watching the television in a very unconcerned fashion.
"What are we watching?" Kagura thought that it looked familiar, but she wasn't positive.
"Twilight Zone." Kikyo leveled a slightly disappointed look, as though offended that any friend of hers would even have to ask. "See, this one is where the man goes to this planet and finds all these little—"
"It must be the Twilight Zone, Kikyo keeps talking." Inuyasha joked, and she turned a glare on him instead.
"Don't be mean, Inuyasha." Kagome scolded him, and he looked extremely chastised.
"I didn't mean…sorry, Kikyo." Everyone looked so surprised by this, Kagura forgot to be embarrassed and awkward around Kouga for the moment.
"That settles it, it really is the Twilight Zone." Kagura shook her head slightly. "Have any of you ever heard him apologize?"
"You broke him, Kagome." Kouga teased, and Inuyasha, though he clearly had all kinds of rage bubbling just under the surface, kept his comebacks to himself.
"And then we just decided to use marble, because honestly, if you can afford it, it's really worth the money." Shippo returned with Sango, both of them chatting about the house. Kagura felt this was distinctively reminiscent of old people. Sango immediately took a seat between Kagura and Inuyasha, and Shippo returned to Kikyo's loveseat, dropping a quick kiss on her forehead before settling in next to her.
"So, do you guys watch a lot of this?" Kouga asked, and Kagura immediately regretted that she really had only a cursory knowledge of the show.
"Isn't there like, an episode where everyone has pig faces?" she guessed, and Kikyo sat up sharply.
"Eye of the Beholder!" she exclaimed, and everyone turned to her in surprise. It was probably the most enthusiastic any of them had ever seen her. "It's a classic." she finished in a much calmer tone.
"Yeah, so I guess Kikyo likes it." Sango laughed. "What's your favorite episode?"
"Hmm," Kikyo seemed to think about this carefully. "I think I'd have to say...It's a Good Life."
"Yeah, fucking typical of you." Inuyasha snorted.
"Is that the one where the guy is selling stuff?" Kagome asked. "And he doesn't want to die?"
"That's One For the Angels." Kikyo corrected. "I'm talking about the one where there's a kid who controls a whole town with his mind powers."
"No it's fucking not! You mean What You Need. Remember, cause he sells him the shoes that are too small so he can escape!" Inuyasha seemed very offended by the possible misidentification.
"Well, if you will recall, One For the Angels is all about an old man who makes a sales pitch to Death so that he doesn't have to die." Kikyo pointed out.
"It wasn't so he wouldn't have to die, it was so that he could finish off his last fucking request. Cause at the end, he just goes without a fight, remember?" Inuyasha contested.
"No...no, he only agrees to die because if he doesn't that little girl has to." Kikyo stood up and wandered out of the room, reappearing a moment later with Shippo's laptop. "We'll leave this up to wikipedia." she gave him a meaningful look and sat down again, opening the computer and quickly typing and navigating beforeher eyes lit with triumph. "It says right here, in One For the Angels, he sacrifices himself to say the girl, and anyway, the main character in What You Need isn't the salesman, it's that crazy guy who won't leave him alone, remember."
"Yeah...well, it was pretty fucking vague description." Inuyasha grumbled."It could've been either one."
"Sore loser." Kagura sing-songed, and smiled at his glare. "Do you have a favorite episode, Inuyasha?"
"Yeah, course I have a favorite. It's fucking Twilight Zone. It's like the best damn thing ever." Inuyasha explained as though this should be patently obvious to everyone. "My favorite is probably...The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross."
"Wait...is that the weird trading stuff one?" Sango tapped her lips.
"Yeah, and at the end, he gets with that girl, and then the dad is like 'I'll fucking kill you!' and then he's all 'have a little compassion' and the dad's like 'I sold you that yesterday' and fucking kills him! It's like, careful what you wish for and shit. Nothing's fucking free!" Inuyasha explained enthusiastically.
"You know, in his own way, Inuyasha is sometimes kind of philosophical." Shippo addressed the rest of the group. "Don't you think?"
"What's your favorite?" Inuyasha demanded, and Shippo shrugged.
"I don't really have a favorite, but I don't think I'm quite to the level of interest of Kikyo or you." he told them.
"Yeah, you two are pretty impressive," Sango admitted. "I don't know enough to just guess titles like that. But my favorite episode is Five Characters in Search of an Exit. You know, the one with the collection bin?"
"Oh man, that one's fucking awesome!" Inuyasha nodded approvingly at her and offered her a high five which she accepted with a nervous giggle. "Yeah, totally fucking sweet."
"I like...Twilight Zone." Miroku seemed to be well into his cups at this point, and Kagome smiled at him encouragingly while at the same time edging away a bit so he wouldn't be tempted to grope her.
"Oh yeah? What's your favorite episode?" Kagome asked him, wanting to involve him in the conversation, but it seemed he might not really be capable of carrying on a clear conversation at this point. He seemed rather confused.
"It's like...there's aliens." He explained very vaguely.
"The Invaders? That's my favorite!" Kouga exclaimed excitedly. "Where the lady is actually the alien, and she's fighting little men?"
"You're such a damn art student." Inuyasha scoffed.
"No...I think they're like...they aren't there, but they're going to help...or not." Miroku wobbled slightly as he spoke, and Kagome wondered how much he had actually had to drink. She ran to the kitchen, wanting to get him some water, so maybe he could start to recover.
"That's The Fugitive!" Inuyasha exclaimed, sticking his tongue out at Kikyo.
"He's too drunk to know what he's saying, he's making up episodes." Kikyo argued. "You can guess all you want for all the good it will do. He could be trying to describe Four O' Clock for all you know, and he's just confusing it with other episodes."
"No, well, but even if that's right, it fucking could be that one, that guy has his little thing that helps the kids, remember?" Inuyasha insisted. "Just 'cause he's fucking plastered doesn't mean he can't remember Twilight Zone." Just then, Kagome returned to the room, holding a glass of water and looking concerned.
"Hey, where's Miroku?" she noticed the loveseat he had been on was now empty.
"Oh…um, weird." Inuyasha scratched his head. "He was just here...probably had to go puke or some shit."
"I'll go look for him." Kagome set down the glass when she realized there was no way Sango would volunteer for the job. Inuyasha immediately leapt to his feet and followed her.
"God, I hope they don't find him." Sango rolled her eyes as they left the room, and Kagura got up to go to the bathroom, passing Miroku on her way back. He seemed to have located an entire bottle of gin and was drinking straight from it. He stumbled back into the living room and immediately sat next to Sango, who looked thoroughly disgusted, but really too afraid of him getting ideas to even attempt to touch him. "Yeah, that's what I get."
"Sango...you're very pretty." Miroku wobbled the bottle at her and Shippo sighed heavily, getting up to try to get it away from him. He was still struggling to do this when Kagura returned, took one look at what was going on where she had been sitting and decided her day had come. Steeling herself, she sat next to Kouga as casually as she could manage.
"Miroku stole my seat," she grinned at him, and he looked at her as though she was crazy.
Smooth, Kagura. He looks thoroughly seduced.
But at least she was sitting next to him. Now if she could bring herself to look at him for longer than two seconds, that would be progress. Gathering all of her wiles, she smiled at him brightly, scooting closer, and tilted her head in curiosity. "What's the title of this episode, then?" she asked, her voice pitched low so that he would know the question was meant only for him.
"They played it at the beginning." he answered, his tone curt, not even turning his head to her. He didn't know what new game this was, but he was determined that Kagura wouldn't rope him in and hurt him even worse than she already had previously. "Try paying attention."
"Oh, well, everyone was talking." she giggled slightly, feeling nervous that this was not really going that well at all. Of course. After everything she'd done to him, in this life and the last, he must not be very eager to speak to her, much less give her another chance. Taking a deep breath, she set her hand lightly on his arm, wanting him to look at her, acknowledge her, acknowledge this thing between them. "You know all about this stuff, right?"
"Dammit!" he swiped her hand away and leapt to his feet, his anger breaking free. "Just knock it off, okay? I told you I'm done with all this shit, and I meant it! You just want to get me to think...but all you care about is knocking people down, isn't that right? Well I'm fucking done with it!" and with that, he stormed out, while everyone looked at Kagura who shrugged and sighed sadly as she heard the door slam and a car start up as he left.
"Ehe," she laughed weakly. "Sorry, didn't mean to break up all the fun."
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"Do you remember where anything is in this house?" Kagome asked Inuyasha as they entered a parlor and she flipped on the lights, only to find it empty.
"Um…yeah, I think so." Inuyasha puffed out his chest, feeling very pleased with himself. He had gotten Kagome alone and had only been yelled at once. "Where do you think he is?"
"Who knows?" Kagome rolled her eyes. "Hiding from Sango, probably."
"He really…really cares about her, you know." Inuyasha told her as they moved to another room and looked around it. "But I don't think she really thinks she can trust him."
"Oh," Kagome flushed slightly as she wondered if Inuyasha was really talking about Sango and Miroku. "Well…can she trust him?"
"Of course she fuc—I mean, of course she can." Inuyasha was doing his very best not to curse a lot. He was finding this very hard. "He wants to help her."
"Help her with what?" Kagome was fairly certain what was going on now, and she avoided meeting Inuyasha's eyes as he drew closer to her.
"Well…you know, whatever she needs help with." Inuyasha shook his head impatiently and grabbed Kagome's shoulders, holding her still as they stood in the hallway on their way to another room. "Fuck, Kagome, I'm trying to make a damn analogy here."
"Yeah, I kind of guessed." She flushed and stared at her feet.
"Look, I don't know what's wrong, and if you don't want to tell me, I won't make you." He told her. "But I want to be there for you, and I want you to trust me because I really…"
"Yes?" she looked up now, feeling slightly lightheaded. There was no way this was what she thought. How could he possibly want her, after everything that had happened? How could anyone want her? It was impossible.
"Fuck," Inuyasha pulled her closer and his lips found hers, and they were kissing, and for that one perfect moment, she forgot her pain and shame and worries, and she knew that this was right. He could help her, if she could only trust him.
"Inuyasha…" she breathed, and he was looking at her in a way that managed to be tender and stern at the same time.
"I fucking love you, okay?" he told her, and he kissed her again. At the other end of the hall, Kikyo, who had been returning the recently reclaimed liquor to the kitchen, froze and stared at them. She was surprised, but more than that…she felt something twinge in her chest, something unexpected.
But why would I be jealous?
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The End (Of Part 20, That Is)