Luxury Never was Cheap
Chapter ten
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow, "Uh huh, and how do you suggest we do that?"
"Well..." Kagome said with conviction in her voice, until it went and died on her. She growled.
"Yeah that's what I thought, you have no idea where she is, do you?" Inuyasha said as they shut the door to the apartment behind them and started walking down the staircase.
"Oh shut up, you're not helping."
Inuyasha coughed, "Well actually…"
"Don't want to hear how you're helping our community, Inu," Kagome laughed, squeezing his hand gently and smiling up at him.
"All right, but before we leave, can I do something very quickly?"
"And that would be?"
"I've been waiting for a long time for my cast to come off," he motioned to his foot, and then cracked his knuckles, "Time to hurt the man who indirectly broke my foot."
"But Miroku's sleeping," Kagome said slowly.
Inuyasha glanced at her, "No, I'm not talking about him."
Kagome noticed an evil glint in his eyes and sweat dropped, "Eh?"
"Myouga is so going to die!" Inuyasha yelped to the sky before breaking out into a run towards Myouga's office. Kagome watched for a moment before realizing he was leaving and chased after him.
Inuyasha stormed into the room, ignoring Kanna's soft voice, demanding an appointment and busted the door open, making it slam against the wall. Some loose plaster fell from the ceiling and hit him on the head, but he didn't seem to notice.
"Prepare to die old man!" Inuyasha exclaimed as he pounced on top of the bench and stood, all high and mighty, above Myouga.
Myouga's face paled as he ducked underneath his desk like a massive earthquake had hit Tokyo.
Inuyasha was about to bash his face in when he realized that someone was, no, two people, were standing behind him, with a twitching eye he turned to see his brother and Rin staring at him in shock.
"Sesshoumaru?" Inuyasha asked, dropping the lamp on top of Myouga's head, managing to knock him out, "What the hell are you doing here?"
Sesshoumaru cleared his throat and stood, making eye contact with his brother, who was crouching on the desk, "I'm here to get an apartment for myself and Rin."
Inuyasha stared, not bothering to hide his shock, "You're what?"
"Rin decided she liked living in Tokyo, and she enjoyed Sango and Kagome's company," Sesshoumaru said smoothly.
Inuyasha turned a murderous glare at Myouga, "You said the minute a new apartment was open it would be mine and Miroku's."
Myouga, who was rubbing a new bump on his head, laughed nervously, "I did say that, didn't I?"
"Bastard."
Then he turned to Sesshoumaru, "And you! You're honey moon was not a month long, why was I dumped with Shippou for that long, huh?"
Sesshoumaru watched him coolly, "for fun and profit."
Rin giggled, "Sesshoumaru's car broke down, so it took us a while to get here, we're sorry Inuyasha, we would have called, but..." The girl shrugged and giggled again.
Inuyasha pouted and crossed his arms across his chest, "Feh!"
"Oh Feh yourself, Inuyasha," Inuyasha smirked and jumped off the desk and walked towards Kagome, who'd recently walked through the door.
Kagome noticed Rin at once, "Rin-Chan!"
"Kagome-Chan!" Rin smiled happily and the two girls launched at each other, immediately talking about girl stuff.
Sesshoumaru, Myouga, and Inuyasha watched as they walked out the door like they were planning on going shopping. The brother's exchanged looks before realizing that WAS what was going on!
The two ran after their fiancée/wife in a fury of nervousness, not wanting to end up carrying bags.
Inuyasha glanced behind his shoulder and suddenly went pale.
Inuyasha ran quickly and scooped up Kagome and continued to run, glancing over his shoulder he gave a little wave, "Got to go, see you later Sesshoumaru, bye Rin it was nice seeing you again!"
Sesshoumaru and Rin blinked as Inuyasha sped off like the devil was on his heels. That was when a figure came storming past Sesshoumaru and Rin, that looked suspiciously like Sesshoumaru's younger cousin, Hiten.
Oh.
Sesshoumaru watched as Inuyasha ran away, holding Kagome bridal style, and his very pissed off cousin following.
Kagome gasped as Inuyasha jumped over some little children and continued to run, her arms wrapped around his neck and she pressed herself to him, "What the hell are you doing?"
"Kagome, if you want to live, you'll shut up and let me do what I have to do," Inuyasha said glancing over his shoulder and continued to run.
"Inuyasha! You left Souten all by herself, you heartless bastard! And where is my DDR?" a voice sounded from behind the running couple, Kagome glanced over Inuyasha's shoulder to see a boy with blood red eyes and a braid chasing them with amazing speed.
"Eh?" Kagome looked at Inuyasha questionably.
"I'll tell you later," Inuyasha wheezed out, saving his energy for running away from his crazed relative.
Kagome threw her shoe at him.
Inuyasha and Kagome collapsed in laughter and exhaustion once they were out of sight of Hiten. Inuyasha sighed and panted for breath as Kagome leaned into his shoulder.
"That was great, Inu!" Kagome giggled, "You can run really fast!"
"Track team," Inuyasha said simply as he continued to pant for breath.
Kagome nodded and then giggled, Inuyasha looked at her questionably, his eyebrows raised and his eyes glinting with curiosity. Kagome managed to say in-between gasps for air and gasps of laughter, "Why was he following us?"
Inuyasha chuckled too, "Well, I stayed at his place while we were fighting, and I had to baby-sit Souten, but I also had to get DDR for a kind of 'payment' to Hiten for staying at his place. So I left to get DDR and Shippou, thinking I'd only be half an hour and Souten could take care of herself. Hiten's very protective of his sister, you see."
Kagome giggled, "That's so cute!"
"Feh."
Kagome wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned against his chest, "you're so sweet sometimes."
"Feh."
"And you always know the right thing to say!" Kagome said, with a hint of sarcasm mixed in her voice.
"You're mockery cuts me deep, Kagome," Inuyasha joked dryly.
"Whatever," Kagome laughed.
"Now who's the one with a way with words?" Inuyasha asked, with a look that told all around that he was having an ego boast right about now.
Kagome stood up and held her hand out for Inuyasha, who took it happily. "You know what time it is?"
Inuyasha glanced at his watch, "Yeah its…"
"Time to kick some people's ass! Revenge is sweet!" Kagome laughed evilly and dragged her fiancée behind her like a rag doll.
"Kagome, we don't know where she is!"
"Oh come on, you should know where she lives, Inuyasha!" Though Kagome really hated to admit that, them being an old couple, Inuyasha should know where she lived.
"I guess so…"
"Good, let's go!" Kagome squealed with delight, she paused and turned to him, "Unless you don't want me to hurt her."
"I don't care," Inuyasha blinked, "But it's against my morals to hit a woman, no matter who it is."
Kagome sighed, "Ok, you can beat up Kouga then!"
Inuyasha brightened considerably, "All right, now you're talking!"
Sango awoke suddenly and screamed bloody murder when she felt a hand on her ass. Whipping around she began to punch Miroku's skull in, already knowing he'd snuck into her bed when she'd gone to take a nap. Continuing to scream and punch, all Miroku did was turn over and continue to snore.
Sango sighed angrily and got out of bed, stretching and walked out the room. Walking down the hallway, she came upon her own room and put her ear against the door.
Nothing.
She raised a confused eyebrow as she continued to listen for her two friends fighting, kissing, or killing each other, anything! But nothing came from behind the door.
A large thump was heard in the other room and some light cursing as Miroku crawled out, "Sango dear where did you go?"
"Miroku," Sango growled, "Why were you in the same bed as me?"
"I was going to wake you up but you grabbed me and kept me there," Miroku said, grinning.
"Why is it that I so highly doubt that?" Sango said crossly, Miroku just shrugged.
Miroku placed his ear to the door as well and stood for a few minutes, concentration deeply. He sighed, "What's wrong with them?"
"I don't know."
"Maybe they fell asleep after wearing themselves out doing," Miroku wiggled his eyebrows and chuckled in his perverted way.
"You sick minded fool!" Sango screamed and hit Miroku in the head before moving the chair and chain lock on the door. Flinging it open she stared in surprise as she soon discovered that no one was in there.
She blinked again and ran to the window. Nope, the nails were still in there.
Miroku strolled in, "Wow, it's the Houdini act all over again!"
"Houdini died of suffocation and drowning, Miroku," Sango said crossly.
Miroku shrugged.
Then her grinned mercilessly, "Maybe they left to go to a hotel and-"
"Oh my god I can't believe I'm hearing this!" Sango covered her eyes and started to hum 'it's a small world after all' very loudly. Miroku grinned and slipped his arm around her shoulder.
"I'm sorry Sango," He smiled, looking like he really meant it.
Sango stopped her humming and was about to thank Miroku when she felt someone's hand a little too far south.
Glaring at Miroku-who still looked like he was serious and was unaware- Sango punched him in the head, proceeding to knock him out, "How many times have I told you not to touch me like that you pervert!"
Miroku didn't answer, considering he was knocked out...
Inuyasha and Kagome stood in front of a house. It was small and cute looking, excluding the fact that there were dead flowers all over and the paint of peeling.
"So this is where Kikyo lives?" Kagome gasped in wonder at how someone could live in this dump.
Inuyasha shrugged, "She's really let it go, it used to look very nice, actually."
Kagome rolled up her sleeves and clenched her fists, "Yeah, well let's just say this house won't be the only thing that looks like it should be in an extreme make over!"
"Be careful, Kagome," Kagome turned and looked at Inuyasha, who had a thoughtful expression. "If I remember correctly, Kikyo used to do karate, so be careful; I don't want you getting hurt."
"You're so sweet!" Kagome giggled and kissed his lips playfully, "I'll be careful I promise." Kagome turned and started walking.
"Oh and Kagome?" Kagome turned around and looked at her fiancée with a raised eyebrow, "Don't hurt her too much, she might sue..."
Kagome winked and ran up the steps while Inuyasha left the yard in search of the topic of his revenge.
Knowing that Hojo lived in this area-having been invited to by his co- worker to a party for all the employees-Inuyasha sat on Kikyo's fence, looking around for Hojo. He didn't want to leave Kagome by herself, just in case she needed help, he wouldn't help though, he only fought men, and only when he had a reason to fight.
Kagome was walking along the porch, searching for the front door. Inuyasha smirked; he wondered how long it would take her to realize that the house didn't have a front door?
Deciding that Kagome was suffering enough he called out to her. "The doors in the back, Kag!"
Kagome looked at him before smiling and running behind the house.
Inuyasha sighed, "After this, we're probably going to be on a restraining order, tops."
Kagome grinned evilly as she snuck around the corner of the house. She was going to kick Kikyo's ass, and if she were thrown in jail, it would be worth it.
She paused.
Ok maybe it wouldn't be.
But Kikyo wouldn't do that, it would 'upset' Inuyasha, and the girl obviously wanted Inuyasha to be happy.
But then again, if she was in jail, she could make her move on Inuyasha.
But Inuyasha would bail her out, and if he didn't have enough money, he'd probably sell his clothes or something.
Kagome nodded firmly, yeah, that's what she'll do, and she'll have her Inuyasha look out for her. Besides, he was waiting on the fence, nothing bad would happen to her.
She continued walking and then proceeded to slip into a puddle of mud, "Oh fiddlesticks!"
She groaned at her self for not only slipping in mud, but also saying 'oh fiddlesticks'. What the hell is wrong with her?
Getting up and wiping the mud from her face, Kagome stood in front of the back door and rang the doorbell.
The door flung open and there stood Kikyo, in all her glory. Well, not really. Fine, she was wearing a bathrobe and had cucumbers over her eyes.
"Kikyo-Chan!" Kagome cried almost like she was delighted to see Kikyo.
Kikyo raised an eyebrow, and would have been giving her a weird look if the cucumbers hadn't been in her eyes. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, and little bits of the oatmeal mask she was wearing chipped off and fell to the ground at Kagome's feet.
"Kagome?" Kikyo asked, "Is that you?"
"Oh Kikyo-Chan, I hope I didn't come at a bad time!" Kagome said smiling brightly.
"Oh, of course not, Kagome-Chan, come on in," Kikyo stepped aside, slightly confused by Kagome's cheerful demeanor and the fact that she'd come to Kikyo after her little revenge.
"Oh Kikyo, I'm just so happy that you warned me about Inuyasha, I can see now he's such a slime ball!" Kagome exclaimed and stuck her foot out. Grinning wickedly when Kikyo fell forward. "Oh dear, Kikyo-Chan are you ok? You tripped over a crack in the tiles here."
"I'm fine," Kikyo mumbled and Kagome helped her "Friend" up.
"Here, let me help you into your seat!" Kagome smiled happily as she took some left over oatmeal resting on the counter and dumping it onto the chair. "Here you are!"
Kikyo smiled faintly and sat down straight into the oatmeal.
"Oh my Kikyo-Chan seems that there's some oatmeal there, how silly," Kagome said holding in her laughter.
Kikyo slipped off the cucumbers in time to watch as a fist came closing in and punched her in the face. She reeled back and clutched her already bruised nose from before. Screaming some curses she glared at Kagome for an explanation.
"Oh no! Kikyo-Chan! Are you ok?" Kagome exclaimed as she hugged Kikyo, "I'm so sorry, I slipped and only meant to make you jump away, I would have stopped but that darn crack in the tiles, please forgive me!" Kagome started to cry and forced the tears to fall down her cheeks. It was a known fact that when Kagome was little she taught herself how to cry on purpose.
"Ow." Kikyo whimpered.
"Here let me help you," Kagome said as she grabbed some paper towels and started wrapping it around Kikyo's head. "Now then, much better is it not?"
Kikyo was growing angrier as she watched through the paper towels with the girl in front of her.
Inuyasha snorted in boredom. What was taking Kagome so long? Was she hurt? Whatever.
Whistling down the street knocked him from his gaze at the house. Turning he began to grin mercilessly. Kouga was walking towards him; he seemed in a good mood and seemed also to be heading towards Kikyo's house.
Jumping from his perch, he was happy to hear the satisfying gasp coming from the moron. He cracked his knuckles, "Kouga, hello."
Kouga gulped, "What are you doing here?"
"A funny thing happened the other day. Kikyo tricked Kagome. Do you have anything to do about it?" It was either him or Hojo, but he was guessing Kouga with his long hair and similar body frame.
Kouga began to sweat, and he shook his head no, a little too quickly.
Inuyasha cracked his knuckles again and smirked; "Really now?"
Kouga looked around, searching for help, but no one came, "Oh...err...no?"
Inuyasha smirked, "Wrong answer."
Kouga gulped audibly.
"Don't worry Kouga, I'm respecting Kagome's wishes, I'm not going to beat you up."
"R-Really?" Kouga asked, relief dancing in his eyes.
Inuyasha punched him in the gut, "No, of course not, I'm going slaughter you. There's a difference my fine fellow."
Kagome strolled out of the house about fifteen minutes later with only a few cuts and scrapes on her arms. All and all, she was feeling very proud of herself. Kikyo wasn't the greatest fighter in the world, but neither was she, so she was impressed with herself. She did pity Kikyo slightly, however, though for the life of her she didn't know why, and had stopped punching her when she began to beg her to stop. She hated that feeling. At first it had exhilarated her, to have that kind of power, but then when she saw Kikyo hunched over and looking pathetic, she'd decided it was time to leave.
She'd probably get a restraining order. Kikyo wouldn't dare do anything else.
She saw Inuyasha walking towards her, gripping his arm. Upon closer examination she discovered he also had a black eye and a cut lip. But his eyes were glinting evilly and didn't seem to notice the pain.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome fought the tears, "What happened?"
"Damn, Kouga's a better fighter than I ever thought he'd be," Inuyasha said plainly and winked at her before offering his good arm to her. She took it happily and they walked off together.
"Not so fast!" a voice sounded behind them.
The two turned around and lo and behold, there stood Kikyo, looking rather pathetic, until they noticed that she was pointing a gun at them, preferably Kagome. Kagome froze and her eyes widened.
Inuyasha automatically stood in front of his future wife, his eyes glinting dangerously, "Don't you dare, Kikyo."
"Why not, Inuyasha? Why does she replace me in your heart?" Kikyo whispered her hand quivering as she tried to threaten Inuyasha, "I thought we had something."
"We did have something, but it died the moment I saw you and Naraku together. And it turned to hatred when I heard you tried to make Kagome betray me like you did," Inuyasha snarled and then he gained an enlightened look, "I pity you Kikyo. For you'll never find happiness this way."
"Shut up!" Kikyo screeched, "If I can't have you, No one can!"
She fingered the trigger, "Inuyasha, I'll do it, don't think I won't!"
"I have no doubt in my mind that you'll do that," he paused and stared into Kikyo's glazed eyes, "But no one has the right to take the life of another."
While this little exchange was going on, Kagome had phoned the police, all Inuyasha would have to do was hold off Kikyo for ten minutes.
Kikyo's hand shook violently when police sirens were heard in the background. She glared and pulled the trigger.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried as Inuyasha gripped his neck.
Kikyo stared in shock as well as Inuyasha fell to the ground
Kagome stared in a daze as police men stormed the front yard of Kikyo's domain. Kikyo struggled as the cops took away her gun and dragged Kikyo away, claiming that she was to be tried for second degree murder.
Kagome looked up in time to see Kikyo give Kagome a triumphant look before being driven away to prison.
Then Inuyasha sat up and blinked.
Kagome flung herself at Inuyasha, "Oh god Inuyasha don't ever do that again! I thought you were dead... You're supposed to be dead; she shot you in the neck!"
Inuyasha opened his fist to reveal a tiny little yellow pellet. "The gun was fake."
Kagome stared, "I doubt that the cops will notice since they didn't seem to notice you or me as they took Kikyo away."
Inuyasha laughed, "What's the world coming too when coppers don't notice dead people?"
"How can you joke about this!?" Kagome screeched and started to cry, "I thought you died!"
"I would never die and leave you alone!" Inuyasha smiled and fingered her delicate hair, "Now let's get out of here!"
Kagome nodded as she allowed Inuyasha to slip a hand around her waist.
Sango and Miroku sat in a comfortable silence. After Miroku apologized for being a moron they had played DDR (not nearly as good as Inuyasha) and then ate the remainder of the ramen, just to piss Inuyasha off.
Miroku stretched and put his arm around Sango, causing her to roll her eyes, "You're such an odd ball, sometimes Miroku."
Miroku only grinned sheepishly and nodded his head in agreement.
Miroku cleared his throat and squeezed Sango's shoulder, "Sango, I'm really glad you're with me."
Sango turned misty eyes towards him, her maroon orbs shinning with happiness and gratitude. "And I'm glad you're with me, Miroku."
Miroku smiled and kissed her lips softly, "I love you."
Sango blushed and nodded her head, "I love you too."
"Sango, are you just copying everything I say?" Miroku asked with amusement.
"Miroku," Sango laughed and hugged her boyfriend to her, "you're such a goof."
"I guess I am, but as long as it makes you smile," he replied and the two fell asleep together.
Kagome rang the doorbell to her mother's house. She'd insisted that they come and visit her mother, since they were in the neighborhood, and to tell her the good news about her being engaged to Inuyasha. Smiling softly at the thought she squeezed his hand, and he squeezed too.
The door opened and her mother beamed, "Kagome-Chan!"
"Mama!" Kagome smiled and hugged her mom, releasing Inuyasha's hand, making him crave her touch again.
Mrs. Higurashi didn't seem surprised to see Inuyasha behind Kagome, fidgeting slightly. "Inuyasha how have you been?"
"Great Mrs. Higurashi," Inuyasha said slightly uncomfortable.
"Have you been treating my baby well?" Mrs. Higurashi asked.
"Yes Mrs. Higurashi."
"Please, you can just call me mom!" Inuyasha and Kagome stared at her in shock.
"How'd you know?" Kagome screeched.
"I didn't, but I do now," Mrs. Higurashi winked and hurried the two inside, "So when's the wedding?"
"Well, Inuyasha and I are thinking we should hold off until we have enough money to support our family."
Mrs. Higurashi squealed and hugged her daughter and future son-in-law. "I'm going to be a grandmother!"
Kagome's face turned a bright fire engine red, "Mother!"
Inuyasha blushed as well and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.
Mrs. Higurashi scurried up the stairs with Kagome behind her leaving Inuyasha all by himself. He looked around nervously, this was very unnerving, in a house all by himself.
Then the old guy appeared.
'Terrific,' Inuyasha thought sarcastically as he stared at the old man, who stared right back.
"What are you looking at Jiji?" Inuyasha asked annoyed.
"Have some respect, boy!" The old man growled and grumbled, "In my day, we treated our elders with respect."
"In your day Dinosaurs ruled the earth," Inuyasha chuckled, his eyebrow quirked upward in a curious expression. The old man huffed and looked like he was going to say something.
He turned on his heel and began to walk out before he got second thoughts and turned around. He looked at the boy earnestly, "Break my granddaughter's heart, and I'll break your neck."
Inuyasha blinked in surprise, "I don't plan to hurt her, sir."
"Good!" Kagome's grandpa ran up the stairs chuckling about how it will be Kagome that breaks Inuyasha's heart. Inuyasha stared after him with a 'what?' expression on his face.
Upstairs Kagome was looking at a picture tenderly. It had been taken when she'd first come over with Inuyasha. She'd fallen asleep with Inuyasha in her lap, his braid clinging to his wet shirt, showing off his well built chest underneath it. His lips were slightly parted and his arms were resting lightly on her hips. She had her hair brushed from her forehead and her eyes looked like they were fluttering, and her lips were curved upward in a small smile, one hand on his hand and the other just resting near her thighs. Inuyasha's head was tucked on her shoulder and they both looked peaceful and content.
It surprised Kagome to be able to look at the picture and realize she'd loved Inuyasha when the picture was taken; maybe it had been love at first sight? Even though he was a jerk when she'd met him, maybe she'd tamed the wild beast?
Soothed the tattered spirit's soul?
She smiled and held the picture frame to her chest, this was a million times better than the picture of Kouga, and almost as good as the ice cream picture she had in her room. Looking at her mom's eyes she felt her own fill with tears.
"Mom, I'm so happy," she whispered as she leaned in for a hug, tucking the picture into her purse. Her mother had given it to her, after all.
Mrs. Higurashi smiled and patted her daughter's back, "And I assure you he'll make you even happier."
Kagome felt the tears run freely as she embraced her mother. The door creaked open and she already knew who it was. The man she loved. The man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
Turning softly she gazed into his deep amethyst eyes and kissed him softly on the lips, "I love you."
Inuyasha hugged her closely to his chest; his heart beat ringing in Kagome's ears. "And I you."
Kagome closed her eyes, oblivious to her mother's slight cooing and picture snapping.
"And I you..." he repeated.
The End