Chapter Twenty-Six
Watch Party
"Do you think we brought enough?" Kikyo asked. She and Kagome were each burdened by two large tote bags full of disposable plates and utensils, a plastic table cloth, napkins, plastic cups, a zucchini casserole, five-bean salad, some homemade sangria sealed in a large jug, and a fruit salad.
"Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha were going to have the barbeque- pulled pork and brisket. Sango and Kagura are bringing the potatoes and vegetable tray. Miroku and Kouga were supposed to bring the drinks. I'm pretty sure we've got plenty," Kagome said checking off the names and items with her fingers. "And that's not even including Jak and Bank. I'm sure Jakotsu will have some sweets."
"This isn't some elaborate date set up event is it?" Kikyo asked as they started up the stairs to the mansion.
"Would that be so bad?" Kagome asked elbowing her friend gently in the ribs. Kikyo scowled at her and shifted so that she was holding her bags more securely. She could scowl all she wanted, but it wouldn't affect Kagome's good mood. It would take a natural disaster of epic proportions to bring her down from this high. She was finally going to see her friends after weeks of seclusion from her work at the lab with Dr. Midoriko. They had all been busy a lot lately with their jobs, classes, track meets, archery tournaments, et cetera.
The door to the Hayate home opened by the little toad youkai her father had put into Sesshoumaru's service. "Lady Kagome, Lady Kikyo," Jaken greeted. "Can I help you with some of your belongings?"
"No thank you, Jaken. Can you let Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha know we are here?" Kagome asked stepping past him and leading Kikyo to the den where they would be enjoying their social night.
"Lord Sesshoumaru is upstairs showering and Inuyasha is-" Jaken was interrupted by Inuyasha running towards the two women.
"Good! You're here! Follow me, I already set up a table in the den," Inuyasha said taking the tote bags from both Kagome and Kikyo and leaving them to hold only the fruit salad and sangria jug. "I think the pork turned out well, but I was a little worried since it is the first time I ever used the crockpot. Sesshoumaru wanted to hire a catering company, but I put my foot down."
"Good for you, Inuyasha," Kikyo said with a soft smile that he returned shyly as he set the bags on the wet-bar near the table.
Kagome took out the table cloth and she and Kikyo set it up on the table. She set the plates on the corner of the table and spread out the napkins in an artistic fan and set the plastic utensils pointy ends up inside a trio of cups.
"Knock, knock," Jakotsu called as he and his brother Bankotsu joined them in the den moments later.
"Jak!" Kagome cried running toward her friend and wrapping him into a hug. "I've missed you!"
"Your fault, you know where I live," Jak said hugging her back one-handed. He shook a container in his other hand. "Don't smash the brownies." He looked past her shoulder. "Oh! Is that the Sangria you promised?"
"It's a recipe courtesy of my dear Puerto Rican friend from back home," Kagome said. "Want a glass?"
"Let's get some food into him before you start to plaster him with alcohol," Bankotsu said with a laugh. He placed two twelve pack of beers on the wet-bar that he'd held under one arm and he held a tray of cookies in his other hand.
"There's fruit inside the Sangria," Kagome said hooking her arm around Jak's waist and drawing him to the table.
"Hey, I smell barbeque," Bankotsu said drifting toward the kitchenette after setting the cookies in the center of the table.
Inuyasha stood over the crockpot with a giant fork and was stirring and shredding the pulled pork. "It will be ready in another half hour."
"I'm surprised you're making something other than ramen noodles," Bankotsu commented leaning casually against the wall with his arms folded across his chest.
"I don't always eat ramen," Inuyasha argued.
"He wouldn't be so lean if all he ate was ramen," Sesshoumaru said coming down the stairs. He sniffed the air. "It would appear I was wrong and the catering company was unnecessary."
"Maru-chan!" Kagome squealed releasing her grip on Jak and throwing herself into Sesshoumaru's arms. He staggered back a step to balance at her unexpected weight.
"It's good to see you too," Sesshoumaru said wrapping one of his arms around her waist and pressing his hand possessively against the small of her back. "I was concerned you wouldn't have time for tonight."
Kagome pulled back slightly so she could look up into his face. "I made time. I have hardly seen you since I started working with Doctor Midoriko. She has had me at the labs late into the night for the past two weeks."
"I am aware. You are working in the labs at my facility. I can see the time clock of when you start and when you leave. Exactly what project are you working on? Is the same one from earlier?" Sesshoumaru asked quietly.
"Maybe we can talk about this later? When we're not surrounded by our friends?" Kagome asked nervously.
She wanted to tell Sesshoumaru of the project, but he had reacted poorly to it before. She'd asked her mentor about the end goal of the project and Midoriko had assured her that it wasn't for the extension of lifespan of humans, but to help find cures for diseases like cancers and HIV.
"Why don't you want to talk about it?" Inuyasha asked eavesdropping. "It's not like you're creating zombies is it?"
Kagome laughed. "Hardly! I think I would know if I were helping to create zombies!"
"I don't know. Have you ever read the book I Am Legend by Robert Matheson? The zombie virus was spread as a side effect of a the powerful cure against cancer," Inuyasha said waving his fork at her.
"I didn't read the book, but I did see the Will Smith movie," Kagome said frowning. Was she helping to make zombies? That would be awful!
"He's joking. You're not making zombies," Sesshoumaru said wrapping his arm loosely around Kagome's shoulders and hugging her to him. "I have safety protocols at the research section of the company to prevent that."
"Where's the party?" Miroku shouted when he entered the room with Kouga trailing behind him.
"Waiting for you," Inuyasha said. "Did you bring us some good music?"
"I brought a nice assortment of lively entertainment for us," Miroku said waving his ipod around in the air. He made his way toward the stereo and slid the ipod into its slot. He glanced around. "Are we still missing a few people?"
"Sango and Kagura," Kagome said disentangling herself from Sesshoumaru to help Inuyasha with the barbeque.
"And don't think about skipping out on us just because you're avoiding Sango," Inuyasha warned glaring at Miroku.
"Me? Why would I leave just because my former girlfriend wished me bodily harm?" Miroku asked. "I'm a grown man," he grumbled.
"Yes you are," Kagome said. "You made your bed and now you have to lie in it."
Miroku reached for one of the beers and popped the top on the wet-bar counter before he drained half the contents of it. "A little liquid courage never hurt though."
"You know, Kagome, if there was a zombie apocalypse you'd want to stick close to me and Sesshoumaru. We have a sword collection that would come in handy, plus we know how to use them," Inuyasha said returning to the pork.
"You will want to be on mine and Kikyo's team," Kagome said. "Have you seen our archery skills?"
"Why are we talking about zombies?" Miroku asked.
"Kagome's working on creating a zombie virus in the lab," Inuyasha explained.
"Ah. I'm on your zombie apocalypse team too then. I'm quite skilled with a bo-staff. Cheers to the Inu-gumi post apocalypse anti-zombie team," Miroku said toasting them with his beer.
"Here, here!" Bankotsu said tapping his beer bottle against Miroku's.
"Don't you two losers make a mess. I still have to go in to work tonight and won't have time to clean up after you," Inuyasha warned.
"Yeah sure, mom," Bankotsu said opening another beer bottle and setting it on the counter in next to Inuyasha. "You're not on the clock yet, so loosen up."
"So does this mean that you and Kouga will both be bailing early?" Miroku asked.
"Nah, that lazy wolf has got an emergency run practice with Hiten and Coach Byakuya," Inuyasha explained.
OoO
Kagome clutched her stomach. "I don't know that I like this game," she admitted. Jakotsu had suggested they play a card game while they waited for Sango and Kagura to join them. Inuyasha didn't want to start the movie until everyone was home.
"It will be fine. I'll just purify the alcohol," Kikyo said.
They were teammates against the men. The card game involved made up rules for whenever a card was revealed. And for the life of her Kagome couldn't remember that she was supposed to touch her nose whenever the four card showed up. The loser had to drink either from the sangria or the beer.
Needless to say, Kagome wasn't doing very well on the game and it seemed that the boys were purposely ganging up on her.
"You can purify alcohol?" Sesshoumaru asked skeptically. He had refused to play the game one because it was juvenile and two because as a youkai his increased metabolism gave him an unfair advantage. As Kouga was the other full-blooded youkai he agreed to take double doses of alcohol to help compensate for his metabolism.
"In theory. We were trying to figure it out earlier this week," Kagome explained. "Kaede gave us an assignment to figure out resourceful uses for our power and purifying alcohol certainly seemed like a good use. We can purify certain poisons, so it stands to reason that it's possible." She hiccuped and covered her mouth quickly. "Excuse me."
There was a knock on the door and Sango and Kagura walked in.
"Ladies, welcome! You're just in time to help your sorely outmatched sister in a game of gin rummy!" Jakotsu said with a big smile holding the bottle of hard liquor Inuyasha had given him at the start of the game.
"This isn't gin rummy," Miroku argued.
"No, thanks," Sango said. "We're just here to watch the movie and eat some food."
"Spoil sport," Miroku mumbled.
Kagome elbowed him in the ribs. "Don't be rude."
"Don't elbow me if you don't want me to puke. I'm almost as bad as you are at this game," Miroku whispered.
"Kikyo, now might be a good time to try that purification of alcohol. You can do me and I'll do Miroku," Kagome suggested.
"Yeah, you can do me," Miroku said giggling.
Sesshoumaru growled quietly and the giggling ceased immediately. He took Kagome's hand. "You're sure about this? You could just sleep it off."
"I trust Kikyo. It's going to be fine," Kagome reassured him with a pat on his arm before she moved away from him. "Ready?" she asked her housemate.
"Indeed," Kikyo said.
She held one hand on Kagome's shoulder and the other over her abdomen. A faint pink glow was emitted and Kagome could feel the alcohol that was making her feel sluggish dissipate. Her faint headache vanished and the nauseated feeling she had was gone.
"Thank goodness," Kagome said with a sigh. She turned to Miroku. "Your turn."
Miroku's face drained of color. "I could just sleep it off, I don't have any big plans for tomorrow."
"Nah, you'll let Kagome sober you up so you can appreciate the movie," Inuyasha ordered. He was grinning widely in anticipation. "This is so awesome!"
Kagome mimicked Kikyo's earlier actions and placed one hand on Miroku's shoulder and the other over his abdomen. She focused her holy powers and sent a concentrated surge of energy to eradicate the alcohol in Miroku's system. It didn't take long to take effect. "Well?" she asked when she drew back.
"I feel like I"m ready for another round!" Miroku said with a smile. He hit Inuyasha in the shoulder. "Great party! I couldn't have asked for a better parlor trick than to have my hangover cured before it could even form!"
"Everyone is here now, let's watch this movie," Sesshoumaru said. He reached out and yanked Kagome off the floor and sat her next to him on the couch. "No more alcohol for you. I don't care if your friend can purify it or not."
"Okay, sure," Kagome agreed snuggling up against him.
OoO
Sesshoumaru sat with Kagome on the couch and glanced at his mesmerized company. He'd been reluctant to agree to the small watch party Kagome and his brother had planned, but after not seeing his girlfriend for two weeks outside of school hours he was ready to agree to almost anything. A forty-five minute long musical about a villain joining the Evil League of Evil didn't sound particularly appealing especially since both Kagome and Inuyasha informed him that they would be singing along.
He was wrong, and it was rather amusing aside from the purifying of alcohol Kagome and Kikyo performed. Purification powers were terrifying to a youkai and the women didn't even realize that they could have seriously wounded one of the nearby youkais in their company. On a positive note he didn't even have to avoid Kagura and pretend he was dead. She seemed perfectly pleasant towards both him and Kagome.
There was something about Dr. Horrible that nagged at him though. He realized that the sketches he had seen in Naraku's journal were that of the Dr. Horrible costume at the end of the musical. Was Naraku planning to cosplay as Dr. Horrible? Or maybe Kikyo was right all these years and Naraku really was evil and was just waiting for the right moment to reveal his diabolical schemes.
As the end credits finished scrolling across the television Sesshoumaru stood and pulled the string on the ceiling fan to flood the room with light. "If I could have everyone's attention. Thank you for coming tonight. I wanted to extend an invitation to everyone here to my company's annual dinner event in April. This year, it will be different. There will be a Big Band performance and dancing." He looked at Kagura specifically and locked eyes with her crimson irises. "Kagura, you've always been a great friend to me and suffered through these boring events in years past. This year will be much more enjoyable, I promise."
"I suppose I could find time in my schedule," Kagura said averting her eyes. Kouga reached for her hand and she didn't draw it away.
Kagome's cell phone buzzed and she picked it up and stood abruptly after reading the text message. "Sorry guys, but I have to cut my visit short. The food was great!"
Sesshoumaru grabbed her wrist to keep her from bolting. "Why do you have to leave?"
"Doctor Midoriko buzzed me. She needs me at the research lab now," Kagome explained.
"This was supposed to be everyone's night off," Inuyasha complained. "Well except for mine - I still don't know how I ended up with the short end of that stick. Why don't you wait a little bit? We haven't even watched the spoofs at the end of the bluray yet. It's got fan videos of applicants for the Evil League of Evil."
"I'm sorry, Inuyasha, but I need to go," Kagome said gently pulling her arm away from Sesshoumaru. He wouldn't release his grip. "At least I'll be able to go when someone releases me," she said with an arched brow.
"I don't understand why you're having to spend so much time researching. I thought this was busy work from your father." Sesshoumaru eased up his grip and allowed Kagome to pull away from him slightly.
"We're near a break through and Doctor Midoriko is hoping to be able to publish her findings in the upcoming Genetic Scientists Whos Who annual issue," Kagome explained.
"I'll go with you then," Inuyasha volunteered. "I'll just clock in early. I guess you guys can watch the spoofs without us. We've both seen it before."
"Why? I'm perfectly fine," Kagome argued. "Stay here and watch your spoofs."
"I could use the over-time," Inuyasha said. "I'll put in a few hours of extra security and make sure you're staying out of trouble at the same time. That cool with you, big brother?"
"You hardly need the extra income. You have access to your trust fund," Sesshoumaru reasoned.
"Uh guys, we're still here," Miroku called out. "In case you want to continue this conversation in private."
"I'm quite enjoying it," Kagura said. She sat on the floor leaning against Kouga's legs as he sat on the couch behind her. "Please, continue to air out your dirty laundry."
"I don't care if you all hear. Its true that I have a trust fund, but I didn't earn that and I'm trying to earn a reputation for being a hard worker. And you, Sesshoumaru, need to keep our guests company and give more details about that annual party thing," Inuyasha said. He swept his eyes across everyone in the den. "And every one of you better stay and watch the spoofs. There will be a quiz from me the next time we cross paths."
"I'm not sure I'll be able to stay much longer. I have practice in a little while," Kouga said starting to rise from his position on the couch.
"No excuses!" Inuyasha yelled. Kouga sat back down.
Sesshoumaru did not want to be left in charge of a crowd of guests and he didn't care that his brother and his girlfriend would be spending time together. He would trust them. "Fine." He relinquished his hold on Kagome completely and sat back on the couch with an unhappy glower about his face. "Nobody else leaves until we watch these spoofs."
OoO
"So why did you want to come with me?" Kagome asked as Inuyasha gave her a ride to their work.
"One: Sesshoumaru wouldn't have let you come without me. And two: I wanted to ask you about Kikyo of course. Do you think she likes me?"
Kagome burst out laughing. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure she does. I've never seen someone so nervous about attending a watch party before."
"Good. So, you're not actually working on a zombie virus?" Inuyasha asked as he parked in the employee parking lot outside the facility.
"No! Of course not!" Kagome said opening her door and slamming it shut.
"You don't have to shut it that hard," Inuyasha complained shutting his door more softly and locking the jeep. "I'll be in the security wing. Just page me if you need anything. I'm supposed to work until ten. I'll pick you up and if you're not ready, I'll call Sesshoumaru and he'll be less nice about you working late than I will be."
"Yeah, okay, I get it. The Hayate brothers don't like me working long hours," Kagome said. She watched as Inuyasha walked down the corridor for the security wing of the facility while she headed in the opposite direction for the research area.
Kagome glanced down at her phone to check the time, but it wasn't working. "That's weird," she said putting it back into her pocket. Maybe the battery ran down. She pushed opened the door to the research lab and was confused by the red lights. "Why are the emergency lights on?"
The door behind her locked tight and a gas started to fill the room. It was a sweet smelling gas and while Kagome held her arm over her nose she could feel her head start to swim as consciousness began to slip away. She stumbled toward the storage area hoping to find a mask of some sort. When she opened the door Doctor Midoriko, pale and silent, fell out onto the ground.
With shaking fingers Kagome reached out to check her for a pulse.
OoO
"What the hell are you doing here?" Inuyasha asked when he found Hiten and that guy from the Judo tournament that broke Sesshoumaru's arm standing inside of his security booth.
"Watching the show," Hiten said pointing at one of the monitors. Inuyasha could see Kagome in a room with gas filling into it and then the doctor she was working with fell out of a storage closet.
"What the hell?"
"Don't worry, all you have to do is die," Juromaru croaked before slamming a thick pipe across the back of Inuyasha's head.
"That hurt!" Inuyasha yelled, stumbling away and ripping the pipe out of the pink-haired youkai's hands with one hand and clutching his head with the other.
"I thought he was only a hanyou," Juromaru accused at Hiten.
"Sure, but his father was the most powerful demon alive. At least, he was until Naraku had him killed," Hiten explained.
"My parents died in an accident. That pansy had nothing to do with it, but if he's trying to kill me now he'll be sorely disappointed," Inuyasha growled throwing aside the pipe and cracking his knuckles and allowing his claws to lengthen. "Shall I carve a message into your flesh to let him know?"
An intense and overpowering scent flooded the room and Inuyasha felt his vision blacken and then he lost consciousness.
"Amateurs," Yura said stepping over Inuyasha's prone body. She held within her hand highly concentrated and noxious scents. "He's a dog. His greatest weakness is his overly keen senses. All you needed was a strong smell or a high-pitched whistle."
"Shut up and get his legs," Hiten ordered. "We need to move him into position. The show is about to start."
OoO
Sesshoumaru was cleaning up the mess from their watch party. Inuyasha and Kagome should have been responsible for this detail, but they'd both abandoned the festivities. He'd been forced to endure the spoofs from the movie without his girlfriend there to ease the pains of being social. Kikyo had stayed to help him with the cleanup, but everyone else had left shortly after the hosts and then Kouga left.
"I had fun," Kikyo said.
Sesshoumaru didn't respond. He was tossing paper plates and discarded napkins and cups into a giant black trash bag. He could feel his phone vibrating in his pants pocket, but he ignored it for now. The room was almost back to rights.
"I'm sorry if it made you feel uncomfortable when Kagome and I purified the alcohol. I realize in our mixed company it may have been inappropriate," Kikyo said. She tied off her full bag of trash and set it against the trash can. "She doesn't think about the differences between humans and youkai."
"Well she should," Sesshoumaru said. He tied off his trash bag and picked up Kikyo's and started for the back porch where he could dump the bags into the trash bin that would be picked up the next morning. He found Kikyo standing in the doorway.
"I did apologize. Priests and priestesses were trained to treat youkai as enemies. She never received any such training in America," Kikyo said stepping out of his way so he could come back inside. "She just wants to get along with everyone. I should have realized the insensitivity of it though."
"It was clever. I'm glad that no one had to suffer from alcohol poisoning, but I would prefer if the two of you would take your gifts more seriously. You endangered the lives of myself, Inuyasha, and Kouga with your holy powers." The phone in his pocket vibrated again. In frustration he yanked it out. He recognized the number across the screen as Kouga's cell phone. Why would his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend be calling him. "What?" he asked upon answering the call.
"I went to practice, but no one's here. I tried to call Inuyasha to let him know that it looked like my extra run was canceled, but he's not answering," Kouga said.
"So, you mixed up the dates of your practice?" Sesshoumaru asked.
"No, I think I was called here to be a distraction. Originally, I was supposed to cover tonight's shift with Inuyasha. There are always two security men on detail at all times. Except not tonight, it's the only exception I've seen since I've been working with the corporation," Kouga explained. "It's suspicious."
"Let me call him," Sesshoumaru offered. "I'll return your call."
Sesshoumaru hung up and then dialed Inuyasha's number. There was no answer. He sent a text and there was no response. He tried the same with Kagome's number. Now he was worried. He called Kouga back. "Meet me at the corporation. This isn't right."
"What's going on?" Kikyo asked. "Is something wrong?"
"Neither Kagome nor Inuyasha are answering their phones and Kouga is suspicious about them both being at work. He thinks that there is something nefarious brewing," Sesshoumaru said. He grabbed his car keys and started for the door. "Are you coming?"
Kikyo nodded and followed after him.
There was a plausible explanation for neither Kagome nor Inuyasha to be answering his calls.
Sesshoumaru couldn't help but feel a little ping of jealousy as his imagination began to work up different scenarios. That plausible explanation had just better not be the two of them making out in the research lab. He cracked his knuckles in anticipation. Someone was going to be leaving that night with a broken jaw.