"Someone wanna explain to me how we had the same assignment given to two teams?" Kagome snaps as she sits down at the head of the conference table, Kouga settling next to her and Sesshoumaru leaning silently against the wall behind her.
"We're unsure, as the assignments were also not marked properly as to who pushed it through to your handlers." Toran replies, as she flicks a lock of her icy blue hair behind her, eyeing the daiyoukai.
"Okay, so changes need to be made to prevent it from happening again. Had I not reacted in time, Agent 0961 could have killed me, and I would have killed him defending myself." Kagome fumes, narrowed gaze shifting around the table that seats the members of the Order's department heads and council.
"Of course. Hirito has already passed on the details to the tech team who are currently working on implementing changes to require proper authorization before assignments may be passed onto handlers." Touma, a bear youkai and the head of the tech department, answers.
"Good, see to it that the changes are pushed through as quickly as possible. Now-"
"Why is he even in the room?" comes a growl from across the room, interrupting her.
"If you'd shut up and let me finish, you'd know." Kagome hisses, making Kouga snort quietly. "He's requested a partner assignment and I've approved it."
"Keh, really, and who'd the bastard wanna partner with? Ain't like he's ever worked with anyone before."
"Me." Kagome leans back in her chair, gaze hard and steely as she flicks it from youkai to youkai, seeing them all nod or shrug, before landing on the one person she knows is about to explode.
"What?! Absolutely not. No fucking way are you partnering with that bastard." InuYasha bellows as he jumps to his feet.
"Really. Didn't know it was your decision. In fact, pretty sure it's mine. Unless, of course, there's a unanimous vote against it. Is there?" the miko asks as she hooks her ankle over her knee and leans her elbow on her armrest, chin settling in her palm. No one speaks, a few even stand up to head to the door, knowing nothing else was going to be said that needs their presence.
"No? Good, glad to hear it. Touma, keep me apprised. If there's nothing else pressing to discuss, everyone's dismissed." Kouga stands and moves to lean next to Sesshoumaru, as the rest of the youkai's rise and leave the room, leaving the three partners and the seething hanyou.
"Kags, you-"
"No." Kagome cuts him off, tone flat as she stares boredly, still in her leisurely pose in her chair.
"What do you mean no?" the hanyou bites out, fists clenching.
"No. Opposite of yes. A declination. Negative. To disagree. Should I get a dictionary for you?" the miko replies, making InuYasha splutter before slamming a fist against the table, drawing Kagome's eye slowly to it, arching her brow at it.
"I know what it means, Kags-"
"No."
"What the fuck?!"
"That is not my name." Kagome looks at him, her gaze having lost its feigned boredom.
"What…" he trails off for a moment, brows furrowing, before he sneers as comprehension dawns on him. "Kagome, I know we've had issues in the past, but really, you can't honestly think that teaming up with him is a good idea."
"It was in the past, but I don't know if it is now. I won't until we try it. He asked, Kouga has no issue with it and I have no reason to say no." Kagome shrugs the shoulder she's not leaning on.
"You... no reason… You have every reason to say no! He tried to kill you!" InuYasha roars, making all three others in the room snort simultaneously.
"Do you really want to open that can of worms?" she replies, her voice quiet with a lethal calm, making the ears on his head pin back tightly and his eyes widen slightly. "Choose wisely, now. I know it's hard, but I'm giving you a chance to think and bow out before I rip you apart." The temperature of the room seems to drop as it gets so silent that she can hear InuYasha gulp, as well as Kouga's suppressed laughter. She continues to look at her one time pack mate, waiting for him to decide, half wishing he'll say something stupid so she can humiliate him, but also just wanting him to shut the fuck up so she can go file the paperwork she's sure her desk has accumulated over the past few days.
"I… Keh. Fine. Just don't come crying to me when he fucks you over." he says finally.
"Oh, don't worry about that. I haven't come crying to you in 300 years. Or did you forget." Kagome tilts her head slightly before she sits back and slaps her hands down onto the top of her thighs. "Now, I'm hungry and I've got work to do. If we're done with your little bitch fit and pissing contest, Imma go." Rising from her seat slowly, she turns to her partners, catching Sesshoumaru's aureate gaze and nods to the door. "You coming? Kouga's turn to pay, and I want burgers." she comments as she walks out the door, ignoring the bitching hanyou.
"Hey! I paid last week!" Kouga calls after her as he jogs to catch up to her.
Sesshoumaru waits a moment more, looking at his half brother with a critical eye. "Whatever you did to turn the girl she was into the woman she is now, I hope you are proud of yourself, little brother." he remarks before stepping from the room, striding down the hall after his two new partners, hands in his pockets. Oh yes, the puzzle just got more interesting.
xXx
"Gods, these are the best burgers I've ever had. And, that's saying something." Kagome nearly moans in pleasure as she works her way through her food, earning a smirk from the stoic inu and a snort from the wolf. "So, some things we should probably discuss before I sign the final paperwork. Your handler, are you attached to them, or are you willing to use ours?"
"I have no particular attachment to them, shifting to yours should be fine." Sesshoumaru replies as he picks through his fries.
"Okay, next, though, you don't have to decide now; housing. Kouga and I share a converted duplex about five minutes from HQ, so we don't have to wait on each other when we get an assignment. There's room if you'd like to share with us, if not, if it's not too far, we'll work with it." Kagome states before popping a fry into her mouth.
"My current apartment's lease ends in a month. I was in the middle of deciding if I wanted to extend the lease or search for other housing. If you are not opposed to it, to go along with the trial, I would not mind sharing space with you two and see how it goes. Something else I am not attached to." the inu answers, watching the other two carefully to gauge their reaction.
"I've got no problem with it. We've got three spare rooms and two spare bathrooms, not including a half bath by the common living spaces." Kouga says, leaning back with a fanged grin.
"Cool, I've no complaints either. We can work out rent and shit another time, but I can't imagine you'll be any worse than living with him." she grumbles. "Last thing, of the important things, at any rate, this partnership, it isn't equal. I am the head of the team. What I say, goes. Now, doesn't mean I'm not willing to listen, but I've been doing this for a very very long time, and I do not have time to deal with someone fighting me on orders every time I give them. If that's not something you can agree to, then tell me now." Kagome eyes Sesshoumaru evenly as she takes a sip of her drink.
"I will only chafe against rash and unfounded decisions. At this point in my life, I have little problem with obeying orders." the inu responds honestly with a nod, sipping his own drink.
"Good. Then, aside from a possible personality clash, I don't see there being any issues. If you'd like, we can take you back to our place tonight so you can see it and decide if it's somewhere you're interested in. Oh! Other thing to note, if you do move in with us, we have a friend who frequently stays with us, but he's usually pretty quiet and minds his own. Once we're done, we can head off." the miko concludes as she finishes the last of her fries before leaning back in her seat and waving for the check.
"Guess I should get my wallet." Kouga mumbles with a small sigh.
"I will pay, as a thank you for the opportunity." Sesshoumaru interjects, pulling out his wallet and cash to cover the bill.
"Hey, thanks man!" the wolf beams, making the miko snort over how easily he's won over.
Once the bill is paid, they make their way to the door. Kouga and Kagome turn to walk towards their house, Sesshoumaru trailing behind them, smirking as he listens to them bicker back and forth. A few minutes later, they come upon a well kept house, sporting two doors. Kouga reaches into his pocket and withdraws his keys to unlock the right door, then ushers the other two inside.
"As I mentioned, this was a duplex, but we knocked out a few walls and did some renovations. Kouga can give you the grand tour and I'll go set up one of the rooms for you. Your choice if you want to use it. Giving him the green room, Kouga." Kagome tells them as she moves towards a set of stairs on one side of the house, behind a gigantic U shaped couch.
"Right, so, welcome to our lovely abode. Both front doors work and we'll get you keys for each, should you decide to move in. Living room's to the right, obviously, Giant ass flat screen is hidden in the entertainment center there and every gaming console you could want as well as a fuckload of games, plus a huge library of movies. Help yourself. Uh, kitchen and dining room are over there. Kagome likes cooking, so she wanted a big kitchen. Two fridges, one's for actual food, ones for junk and alcohol. There's an office and a library on either side of the living spaces, as well as a spare bathroom and laundry to the left of the kitchen. Now, upstairs. The hallways connect in the middle, so we'll go up my side and loop to Kagome's and the green room. There's six bedrooms total, three on each side. Kags and I each have a master bedroom with en suite bathrooms. My side has Shippo's room- he's the friend who stays with us frequently- and the grey room. Kag's side has the green and blue rooms. Guest bathrooms are in between the guest rooms on each side, you can claim one as your own if you want. And, if you want one of the other rooms, I doubt she'll have an issue with you changing rooms at any point." Kouga leads Sesshoumaru through the house, pointing to everything he could think of before landing in the 'green' room.
Opening the door, Sesshoumaru realizes why it's been dubbed as such. Though tastefully done, the room is green. The walls were a soft sage green with ivory trimming, ceiling and an ivory rug on the dark wood floor. The furniture is all dark wood as well, with a deep forest green cushioned bench next to the closet door and a matching bedspread. A small lamp with an ivory lamp shade sits on the nightstand and a stack of towels along with some spare workout clothes sit on top of the dresser.
"The other guest rooms are along the same lines of this, hence their colour names. Makes it easy. Mine's brown. Reminds me of the old caves." Kouga says with a hint of sorrow in his tone.
"What colours are Kagome and Shippo's?" Sesshoumaru queries as he looks around at the room.
"Shippo paints his walls with murals, that he changes every few years when he gets bored. Kagome's is purple." Kouga smirks as the inu nods. "Well, I'll leave you to shower if you want, bathroom doesn't have anything fancy in it, so should be easy to figure out. There's soaps and shampoos and stuff stocked there, as well as unopened toothbrushes and stuff. Holler if you need anything, man. Oh, and welcome to the team!" Kouga ends brightly before jogging down the stairs.
Dropping his travel bag, he moves to the dresser and looks at the spare clothes, surprised at seeing that they're large enough to fit him and mildly curious who they belonged to before. Grabbing them and one of the towels, he ducks out to the bathroom to shower quickly. Once clean and dressed, he heads downstairs, braiding his mid back length silver hair as he does. He finds Kouga on the couch in the living room playing some sort of gun game. He's never had an interest in video games so he instead decides to look into the library Kouga pointed out before.
Stepping into the room, he blinks when he sees Kagome curled up in one of three giant fuzzy bean bags with a book and a cat on her lap. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he stares at the cat before a memory floats to the surface of his mind of a tiny nekomata travelling with a slayer.
"You still have the feline." he remarks quietly, in an attempt not to startle the miko, which fails as she still jumps in her seat.
"Kami, Sesshoumaru. Scared the shit out of me." she gasps as her hand flies to her chest. "Uh, yeah, Kirara's been with me since Sango died." She strokes the cat as her lips twist into a sad smile. "Did you need something, or just exploring?" she asks, looking up at him.
"Merely exploring. I have little interest in video games, but he mentioned a library and I was intrigued." the inu replies, eyes now roving the floor to ceiling shelves.
"Yeah, Kouga's got his games, I got the library. Some of the books are old, but you're welcome to anything on the shelves. There's some space as well if you have anything you want to add, if you decide to move in." Kagome giggles lightly, the sound immediately dragging a memory to his mind of the girl she once was chasing a small kit and his ward, causing a slight pinching feeling in his chest. His hand unconsciously raises to rub over his heart.
"From the few days we have spent together since the assignment, I foresee no problems with sharing a space such as this. How long have you and the ookami lived here?" he inquires as he seats himself in one of the bean bags, somehow managing it elegantly.
"That's a good question. Um. We bought the place about… Thirty or forty years ago, I think. Hey, Kouga!" She raises her voice just a bit, knowing the wolf will hear her without yelling.
"Yeah, sup?" he calls back.
"When did we buy this place?"
"Mid 70s. Kami, forty years already." Kouga laughs from the other room.
"There ya go." Kagome smiles at the inu, scratching Kirara's ears gently.
"I presume you're both using disguise charms to manage to not get caught after all this time." He looks her over, wondering if she's wearing it now. The charms only work on humans, youkai- or anyone else wearing a charm- are able to see past them easily.
"Yep. Shippo handles ours, so we get to choose how we look." She smirks, shifting in her seat slightly and holding up her right hand to show a delicate silver band with a small round disk atop it, bearing a sun imprint. "I gotta say. You're a hell of a lot different than I remember you, which I know isn't saying much, since I haven't seen you, let alone interacted with you in nearly five hundred years, but still. Less… uptight."
"I could say the same, miko. You are vastly different in attitude than you once were. I can only surmise some of it has to do with my idiot brother." Sesshoumaru replies, testing the water to see if she will divulge anything.
"You could say that. I.." she stops, looking down at Kirara before sighing heavily. "Let's just say he really fucked me over and it ended really badly." Kagome lifts her eyes to meet his again, a flash of pain flickering through them before they harden again.
"Very well." He nods, not wishing to push her for information, lest she lock herself behind her walls indefinitely.
"I think I'm gunna head to bed now. If you don't want Kirara in your room, just keep the door closed, otherwise, she'll end up on your bed with you." Kagome giggles again as she stands, scooping said nekomata into her arms before heading for the door.
"Good night, Kagome." he says softly as she passes, making her head snap to his before a soft smile curls her lips.
"Night, Sesshoumaru. Welcome to the team." she murmurs before leaving.
xXx
"Anyone home? Kouga? Mama?" A light tenor voice calls out in the house, followed by the sound of a front door closing.
"Shippo? That you?" the miko replies from her bedroom doorway, clearly having only just woken up- her hair is in a crooked messy bun and her clothes are rumpled as she stands leaning against the jamb yawning.
"Yeah, Mama. You guys hungry? I brought donuts." he tells them from the bottom of the stairs.
"Someone say donuts?" Kouga's deep voice, raspier from his recent waking, asks as he stumbles down the stairs.
"Got your favourites." Shippo laughs as he heads to the kitchen, Kagome coming down the stairs shortly afterwards. Setting the breakfast treats on the counter, he pulls out plates for everyone, humming a tune to himself, turning back to deposit them and then freezing. "Uh. Guys? Why is the Western Lord in your kitchen drinking coffee?" he questions warily.
"Wha- oh, he lives here now. Has for about a month." Kouga replies, a bit bleary still, as he slumps down on a bar stool and sits his chin in his palm, elbow on the counter.
"Right. Okay. No biggie. Since when?" the kitsune inquires as he slowly grabs and places a fourth plate to set down.
"He just said a month ago, kiddo." Kagome answers as she too plops down on a bar stool, crossing her arms on the counter and resting her chin on them. "He's our new partner, and we offered him to stay with us. His lease was ending anyways, so here he is. He's actually a really good housemate." she states before yawning, reaching for one of the cups of coffee Sesshoumaru made. "Plus he makes killer coffee. Try it, seriously."
The kitsune looks at the three on the other side of the counter almost incredulously. "Uh. Last question, not that it means anything but, does he know?" he asks quietly.
"Nope." Kouga answers quickly before Kagome can snap at the kit. "Ain't his house, ain't his business. He knows that he's our new partner, but that's it. He ain't allowed in the house anyways, so."
"That is unlikely to prevent him from entering if he wishes should he find out." Sesshoumaru comments.
"Nah, man, he literally can't get in. It's warded against him specifically. As well as anyone else who means us harm. Kag's here did it as soon as we bought the place and redoes them every few months." Kouga clarifies as he snatches a donut from the box, groaning quietly in delight.
Sesshoumaru turns to look at the little sleepy miko next to him, who is currently nursing a cup of coffee with her eyes closed. "I see." is all he can manage in his awe. Then, he turns back to the kitsune. "Do you mind?"
"Uh, yeah man, go for it. Bought two dozen, so there's plenty. If you let me know what you're favourite types are, I'll make sure to include them next time." Shippo tells him, still a little stunned that the inu lord is sitting in his mother's kitchen.
"Thank you, I am afraid I do not often indulge, so I am unsure of what my favourites may consist of. However, these are rather satisfying." the inu replies, making the kitsune bark out a short laugh.
"Hey man, that makes it easy if you like the same ones everyone else does. Just make sure you leave a couple of the chocolate glazed ones for Kagome. You don't want to see her when she's pissed cuz you ate the last of her favourite treats." he whispers conspiratorially, ignoring the glare from the miko, and dodging a thrown wadded napkin with a cheeky grin.
"Brat." she huffs, snatching one of her donuts and eating quietly.
"I will keep that in mind." Sesshoumaru says with his own small smirk. After living with her for a month, the daiyoukai has learned very quickly that the miko does not function well before her morning coffee and food, and it's best to leave her be until she decides to initiate conversation.
"So, what's the plan for today?" Kouga poses to the room, finishing off his own donut, as the conversation shifts topics.
xXx
"I'm so glad you suggested the carnival, Shippo! I haven't been to one in years." Kagome tells the group, smiling brightly, her eyes glancing around her rapidly before she gasps and freezes in place. "Guys, we gotta go to the games booths. I see a thing I need." she declares, her tone serious, but her expression is nearly glowing with happiness. The three men with her turn towards the booths, curious what it is she saw before they see a gigantic stuffed white dog hanging from one of the overhangs.
"It's the dog, isn't it." Kouga laughs loudly at the excited miko.
"Maybe…" she draws out the word as she loops her arms with Kouga and Sesshoumaru and starts dragging them towards her destination, Shippo trailing behind, almost cackling. When she stops at the booth, her giddy smile turns devious upon seeing the type of game it is. "Oh, this is going to be too easy." she chuckles under her breath.
Stepping up to the booth, she hands the attendant a few of the tickets they'd bought, picks up the BB gun, and fires, knocking every can down with perfect precision. She sets down the rifle and turns to the attendant, smile blindingly bright as the teenager tells her to pick whatever she wants, his face struck with awe at her display. Pointing to the dog, the kid drags it down and hands it over. It's humongous, around four feet tall, and extremely soft, almost feeling like velvet, filled with actual stuffing instead of the weird beans carnival toys usually have. Spinning around, she looks at Sesshoumaru, then at her new giant white dog and grins evilly again, making him arch a brow at her.
"Right, I got my prize, what do you guys wanna do?" she asks, ignoring the odd look on the inu's face as she loops her arm with his again.
"I don't really care. I just like the atmosphere, really. And, the food." Kouga shrugs, nose lifting lightly as he scents out where said food is.
"I'm down for carnival food, think it's this way." Shippo says as he turns off in a direction, Kouga practically drooling behind him, with the miko and inu trailing along last, the former still grinning wickedly, and the latter watching her surreptitiously, small smile of his own making an appearance.
4/21/21 A/N: I made a blueprint of the house if anyone wants the reference. Since FFN doesn't allow links, you can find it linked via the story on AO3.