Forgotten Snow
Chapter five


"Hm...how about this one?" Sango asked as he pointed to a model in the magazine, sporting a lovely pair of hip hugger pants.

Kagome surveyed the pants for a while and poured herself a cup of coffee. "Well...I don't know, it would be nice on YOU, but really...I don't think my mom would want denim in her wardrobe, she's more of a skirt kind of person."

Sango scowled and skimmed through some pages before beaming once again. "Oh here's a skirt!" She pointed.

Kagome glanced at it from the corner of her eye as she poured cream into her coffee. She paled and nearly dropped the said container of milk onto the flour. Sango watched with a comical expression as Kagome looked to be on the verge of vomiting and placed her hand over her mouth.

"I take that as a 'no,'" Sango said sadly and glared at her friend. "You should at least make an effort."

"That!" Kagome screeched pointing to the magazine's picture, "Is a mini skirt! That thing's shorter than my middle school uniform, that was a pretty damn short piece of fabric, I'll tell you. My mother, Sango, we're looking for things to buy for my mother!"

"I think your mother could explore her creativity and discover her sexual side with this line of clothing," Sango said crossly, her eyebrows knitted together in anger. "You're just so closed minded that its impossible for you to ever consider that maybe your mother does want to wear denim jeans or maybe she does want to wear mini skirts!"

Kagome looked utterly disgusted at the idea. "My mother, Sango!" She pleaded, appalled by the very idea of her mother sauntering around in a piece of fabric not suited for a prostitute.

"Kagome...why are you making this more difficult than it is?" Sango scolded with a smile tugging at her lips. "You should know that Christmas shopping shouldn't be this stressful."

"It's always stressful, Sango," Kagome countered and crossed her arms. The coffee mug sitting pointlessly next to her elbow. "It's always been such a stress for me. Getting all the things I need. Making sure I have enough money. You know, that kind of stuff."

"And that," said a voice behind the two girls, "Is why I don't celebrate Christmas."

The girls turned to see Inu-yasha strolling past, briefcase in hand and his silver hair billowing out behind him. He smirked and grabbed Kagome's coffee mug before returning to his office down the hall.

"Hey that's my coffee!" Kagome called after him but he didn't listen nor seemed to care.

Kagome, fuming silently, turned around and poured herself another cup. "Anyways, Sango, could we please look at another magazine? I really don't feel comfortable searching for a present that would be suitable for my mother. Especially when we're looking in a Victoria Secret catalog."

This response was greeted by Miroku. "Did I hear Victoria Secret?"

Sango screamed in surprise and threw her coffee in Miroku's face. Kagome blinked in surprise as the coffee splattered across his head and dripped down onto the carpeted floor.

"Ow," whimpered Miroku but he grinned and inched closer to Sango, the palpable smell of coffee beans saturating his blue dress shirt and soaking through his pants. Small droplets fell from his chin onto his recently polished shoes. His hair pulled back into the infamous rat-tail seemed untouched and perfectly shinny. His dark blue eyes peered over Sango's shoulders, trying to catch a glimpse of a half-naked woman.

"Miroku grow up," Sango said crossly and shoved him away, a faint blush creeping up her cheeks. Kagome smiled knowingly, the two were completely absorbed in each other (well, actually Miroku was more focused on the magazine at the moment) and didn't notice that the proximity between them was getting smaller and smaller.

She walked by them and bumped her hip against Miroku's backside, causing him to fall onto Sango. The two entangled employees toppled over and fell in an unceremoniously pile on the floor. Kagome's giggles caused Sango's aura to burst into flames as she struggled to move the man from her chest. Kagome walked quickly down the hall, ignoring the screams and threats of her demise.

She clicked the door shut and walked swiftly to her computer and tried to get the Internet connection up. After a few moments of furious beating she flopped back and glared.

"You have over ten viruses, you know," said a small voice.

Kagome blinked and looked around for the source of the voice.

"Down here, genius," came the voice again.

Kagome peered over her desk and raised an eyebrow. Staring up at her was a small little girl with long black hair and deep red eyes. Small streaks of blond ran through her hair and she was holding the hand of a small girl with a ponytail on the side of her head.

"Eh?" Kagome said and rubbed her eyes. "Can I help you two? Are you lost?"

The girl with the black and blond hair snorted and shook her head, "We're here to see our uncle."

"Our daddy sent us," said the other girl quietly she looked at her feet and wouldn't meet Kagome's eyes.

"Well," said Kagome as she walked around the desk and knelt next to the small children. "Why don't I help you find him then?"

"We know exactly where he is," said the girl crossly and she folded her arms across her chest. She gave Kagome a dry look and snorted again.

The smaller girl peered behind the stubborn and rude one, her chocolate brown eyes peering up at Kagome hesitantly, "Can we see our uncle, pretty please?"

Kagome cooed, "You're so adorable!"

The girl blushed and smiled softly.

"Okay, girls, what are your names?" Kagome asked as she patted the two girls on the head. The blond growled softly and made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a squeaky toy and the other giggled and blushed again.

"I'm Rin!" the girl said happily and smiled brightly at Kagome. She looked absolutely adorable wearing a small dress with orange and red checks with a small green bow in her hair, holding the small amount of hair on the side of her head in place.

"I'm Kirara," growled out the second child, as she glared at Kagome with her steaming red eyes. She wore a red long sleeved shirt that was too large for her and a pair of rolled up overalls. Her hair was freely swishing along her back and she was tapping her sneakered feet impatiently. Rin shyly smiled again and swung her arms around her hips like an impatient octopus would.

Kagome stood and let out a large sigh, "Okay, and who's your uncle?"

"Me."

Kagome whirled around, and wasn't completely surprised to see Inu-yasha leaning against the doorway with a raised eyebrow. He ran clawed fingers through his long silver hair in annoyance before walking towards the two small children.

His 'I-hate-everything' expression dissolved into that of a caring father's as he knelt down and held his arms out to the two girls. Rin shrieked in happiness and even Kirara let out a small giggle as she ran into her uncle's open arms.

Scooping the two girls up Inu-yasha whirled the two girls around like a helicopter before placing Rin on his shoulders and Kirara in his arms, clutching onto his red dress shirt.

"How are my two favorite girls today?" Inu-yasha asked as he strolled towards his office. He nodded to Kagome. "Oi, get the girl's some tea, would you?"

Kagome glared at her boss's back and silently threw invisible daggers at him before turning on her heel and marching out of the office.


"Uncle Inu!" Rin whined as Inu-yasha placed the small girl on the floor next to her sister, Kirara.

"What is it Rin-Chan?" Inu-yasha asked as he walked towards the TV where he and Miroku tested out new products of the company.

"I want to be a helicopter again!" Rin said with a small childish voice, her big chocolate brown eyes brimming with fake tears.

Kirara rolled her blood red eyes towards the ceiling and kicking off her shoes. "I want to play the newest game you have, uncle Inu."

Inu-yasha smirked at his two nieces before searching the pile of game prototypes that he and Miroku were too lazy to test out.

Kirara muttered darkly to herself when Rin stole her favorite beanbag chair.

Inu-yasha, noticing Kirara's aggravation, turned towards the younger girl with a scowl similar to her own. "What's got you so annoyed, Ki?"

Kirara huffed at the annoying nickname and glared at the gloating Rin, who was currently skipping around the room and pretending to be an airplane. "That unintelligent schoolgirl, Kagome. She's an insult to my inquisitive innovation to the world around my above standards sophistication-based environment."

Rin stopped her fantasy of flying in the clouds to give her sister a very blank look.

"She means that she thinks that Kagome's a loon, Rin," Inu-yasha translated, "and believes that Kagome is treating Kirara like a baby."

Rin smiled, "I like her!"

Kirara gave Rin a look of pure disgust, "Are you kidding? She treats us like seven year olds."

Rin paused again and looked as if she was in deep thought. After a moment of pondering she looked at her blondish haired sister, "But we are seven."

"YOU may be seven, but I have the mind of an overachiever at a secondary school premises."

Rin had another blank look.

Kirara growled, "I mean that I'm as smart as high school student, stupid!"

Rin whimpered, "I'm not stupid!"

"You're right," Kirara grinned a grin that looked distantly like an Inu-yasha grin, "You're a completely appalling piece of a gene pool gone hideously erroneous. Therefore you are nothing but a ignoramus whom I'm required to linger in contact with."

Rin smiled, "Thanks!"

Kirara sighed and said something in French that did not sound completely appropriate for the young Rin's ears.

"I take it you don't like Kagome, then?" Inu-yasha asked as he leaned against the wall, a shadow of a smile playing at his lips.

Kirara snorted, "That's an understatement and you know it."

"I like her a lot, this much!" Rin said as she held out her arms as wide as they would go. She gave Inu-yasha and Kirara a toothy grin.

Inu-yasha smiled at his younger niece as she continued to roll around on the floor like an army man.

"And why, may I ask, is the reasons you are not completely fond of Kagome's presence?" Inu-yasha asked, grinning at his super-genius niece.

Anther snort, but at this point, Kirara was so absorbed in the video game that she didn't answer.

Rin soon followed her sister and they began to play like maniacs.

"You girls tell me how the product is, ok?" Inu-yasha called as he crossed the room and leaned back in his chair.

The two girls nodded blankly, completely rendered to mindless drones.

Inu-yasha watched them for a while before standing and leaving the room.

Thus, nearly knocking Kagome and the tray of tea to the floor.

They both gasped and an awkward silence soon followed.

Inu-yasha shut the door behind him and leaned against it. Kagome, meanwhile, scrambled to retrieve the bits of teacups that had fallen to the carpeted floor. She groaned and muttered something about not having enough stain removers to fix it.

She stood up so fast that her hair, having been released from the bun in Kagome's desperate struggle to retrieve what she'd dropped, whipped him in the face. She blinked her large blue eyes up at him and blushed softly at the close proximity between them.

Inu-yasha looked away, not able to meet Kagome's eyes.

"Sorry about the mess, Mr. Takahashi," Kagome whispered softly, "I'll clean it up as soon as I can."

"Oh," he looked at the deep stain, "I'm sure no one will notice it."

Another awkward silence.

"Well..." she trailed off, having it hard to find a suitable thing to say to her ex-boyfriend turned boss (who also just happens to be in charge of her paycheck and her future at this company). "Yeah..."

"Yeah..." Inu-yasha said to try and make the deafening silence dissipate.

"Um...your nieces...are...nice..."

"Yeah...they're Sesshoumaru's kids," Inu-yasha said and rubbed the back of his neck out of nervousness.

"What was it, Rin and Kirara?"

"Yeah..." Inu-yasha looked anywhere but her.

"Rin's a cutie."

"Kirara thinks you insult her genius," Inu-yasha said.

Kagome giggled and it sent a weird feeling to the pit of Inu-yasha's stomach, to know that he was the one that caused her to laugh. "Well...yeah...I'm not that great with kids..."

Inu-yasha smiled softly, "I thought you handled them real well. Plus, Rin simply adores you, from what I noticed in there." He inclined his head towards the closed door behind him.

"Yeah, Kirara's not too fond of you, sorry to say, she's not the most social little girl in the world."

"She reminds me a lot of you," Kagome said softly and smiled, "She has your stubbornness."

"Er..."

Kagome blushed and turned away, "Well I should get that stain remover! Bye, Mr. Takahashi!"

Inu-yasha watched her go and scolded himself for being half decent to his employee.

His heart was still beating quickly and he closed his eyes, as if trying to shake the image of a happy Kagome from his thoughts. He would not be dragged in again, not after what happened. Not after what she did to him.