FYI: I'm using the eye colors from the manga, not the anime. Also, don't forget that everyone is human in this story.
Edited: 7/8/2011
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
Dashed Hopes
Chapter Two: Near Accident
The new group of friends made their way out of the shelter. It was the beginning of autumn, so the nights were a nice temperature somewhere between too hot and too cold. Instead, it was just perfect enough for a night out without jackets.
Miroku walked up to his car looking sheepish. He expected Kagome and her little family to go into shock at the sight of his expensive car, but they didn't. Miroku tried to share a confused look with Sango over the roof of his Lexus, but she shrugged at him, not understanding what he was trying to tell her. Meanwhile, the three got into the back seat like it was just any other car.
Finally catching sight of Miroku, Kagome mumbled, "I have a green one of these at home."
Nodding, the two friends got in the front seats, and Sango recalled the expensive clothes Kagome had shown up in and decided that the young woman own a Lexus didn't seem as confusing once that was taken into account. The shelter just wasn't used to women with good money coming to the SHA. Not that any of that mattered to Sango; money did not make someone a good friend.
In the back, the boys sat on either side, staring out the windows at the passing scenery.
"I always loved this parade," Miroku told them in a nostalgic tone of voice from the driver's seat.
Sango grinned, "Me too." She looked over her shoulder at Kagome to see what she had to say about it, trying her best to keep conversation going and stop things from getting awkward.
"I've only gone once; we just moved here last year," Kagome explained. "But the time we did go, it was beautiful. All those lights!" She trailed off, also turning her attention outside the window, her expression thoughtful.
Sango left her to her daydreaming and looked at the busy streets instead. So many people lived in Tokyo; it was amazing. The sides of the street were swarming with people going everywhere imaginable, each minding their own business and going on with their own agenda. There were so many lives that happened right next to one another without their paths ever crossing.
It was a quick drive, and Miroku was soon pulling the car to the curb. The group piled out of the car.
Shippou started to hop circles around his adopted mother. "We're going to the Night Parade!" he sang out, gleefully.
Souta tried to look bored with the whole idea but couldn't stop the grin twisting his lips a few seconds later. His sister was right, the parade was pretty with all the lights attached to the floats, and he remembered going to the one the year before.
After some pushing, the group reached the front of the crowd and leaned against the fence that had been erected to hold the crowd back from the street. Several floats came by, and they ohh'ed and ahh'ed at the appropriate times. Then came Kagome's favorite part: the horses. Eight brown Clydesdales pulled a huge version of the Japanese flag, made entirely out of twinkling light strands. They were the largest horses she had ever seen! Each had a wreath of red and white lights looped around their necks, and the leather strips that connected them all lit up with various bright colors.
"Here it comes, Souta, Shippou," she cried out excitedly. Kagome looked down to find only one pair of eyes looking up at her. Worry gripped her heart, and her breath started to shorten to panicked gasps. "Souta, where's Shippou?"
"I-I don't know," he stuttered, also searching the crowds, Kagome's anxiousness contagious.
"Shit," she hissed in a desperate voice, as she looked around. And then she saw him. In the middle of the street, right in the path of the huge horses, paralyzed in fright. "Shippou!" she shouted and leapt over the waist high fence without any hesitation.
"Kagome!" two adult pairs of voices called out behind her, but she ignored Sango and Miroku, instead racing straight to her adopted son. It was just so dark, and even if the driver of the float could see Shippou, Kagome doubted he'd have been able to stop in time.
Kagome made a mad dash and tackled her son from the side just as the massive horses got to that spot. They rolled out of the way on the asphalt as Kagome hugged Shippou to her chest, and she could feel her arms and shoulders being scraped by the rough road. She didn't care, wrapping her arms tighter around her adopted son.
Shippou was safe.
Kagome landed on her back on the left side of the road with a scared-stiff Shippou sitting on her stomach, his eyes wide with terror and guilt. Lifting her head up, she gasped out a quick, "Shippou never do that again," before her head fell backwards. Desperately, she struggled to regain control over her breathing.
"Miss! Miss, are you all right?" one of the two police officers working the parade asked as they came toward the out-of-breath Kagome.
"Yeah," she panted, attempting a reassuring smile.
They reached down and each took a shoulder to help her stand, Shippou clutched tightly to her chest. He looked up at the three adults and said in a calm voice, "My toy, my spinning top, fell out on the road and was about to be run over."
Kagome burst out laughing incredulously just as Sango and Miroku came running up. They looked at the officers to see if they thought she had gone hysterical. Kagome brushed a tear of mirth away from her eye with a finger and choked out, "Shippou and that damn toy! It'll be the death of me someday. I should know, considering how many times I've fallen down the stairs because of it!"
Miroku chuckled, finally understanding, and Sango grinned at the sight of her new friend still with a good head on her shoulders.
"Are you ok?" the officer asked again, just in case.
Kagome looked at him with surprise. Her look obviously said, My son almost got pancaked by a group of horses with hooves the size of dinner plates. Well, maybe not obviously, but the policemen figured it out.
The group walked back to the fence, and Souta came running up. He squeezed Kagome until she was blue in the face. "Kagome! You scared the shit out of me!"
"Souta! Where did you learn to talk like that!" Kagome reprimanded her little brother.
Souta grinned proudly, "From you, sis, from you."
Kagome shook her head slightly, a sheepish smile on her face as she avoided looking at Sango, Miroku, or the officers. "Oh, right. Oops..."
Sango looked at the two policemen and said, "It's all right, Kokichi, Gennosuke, we can handle it from here." They nodded and went off to do some silly police task that made them look like they were actually doing something important when they were really doing nothing at all.
Kagome watched the policemen leave before turning back to Miroku and Sango. "You know those two?"
Miroku nodded with a smile. "Yeah, our friend is the one that puts on this parade; his company hosts and organizes it, and those two officers are always the security for this section of the crowd. We've gotten to know them over the past couple of years."
Sango confirmed this with a grin. "We always get sneak peeks at the show."
Kagome laughed politely. "Lucky, aren't you?"
Sango looked at Kagome's scraped shoulders and arms. "Ouch! How'd you get so hurt? Never mind, that's kind of obvious." Here, the brunette turned to Miroku. "Let's find Inuyasha and see if he has a first aid kit we can use."
They started to lead the way, and Kagome had no choice other than to follow.
Inuyasha Youkai was watching the parade from his office on the top floor of the nearby building. His dark brown eyes, almost purple, took in the whole scene. "What was that crazy woman thinking? She could have gotten herself killed, and then I'd be stuck with a lawsuit!" He ran a hand through his long black hair with worry, realizing how selfish he'd just sounded. Thankfully, he was alone in the room. "At least she didn't, though," he added sincerely. He didn't want an innocent person to die; he wasn't that big of a cold-hearted jerk.
Inuyasha's eyes sparked with interest when he saw two people running towards the woman who'd nearly gotten run over by the float carrying the giant Japanese flag. They looked like his best friends, Sango and Miroku, but it was difficult to tell from such a height. Mostly, they were the only two people he knew would have the balls to jump a fence and run out in front of his parade.
Sighing, he sat down in a large leather chair behind his huge company desk. That day had been a long one. It wasn't like he had to take care of the whole company by himself, but Sesshoumaru and him just didn't get along well enough to make working anything other than a burden. Their father must have been crazy to leave the company to the half- brothers. They'd rip each other's throats out soon if they didn't call a truce. Sesshoumaru had always despised Inuyasha, who somehow managed to not be good enough for the older sibling since birth.
Sesshoumaru Youkai, however, did come in handy. His calm disposition and emotionless mask came were extremely useful during business deals. Sesshoumaru was also a person to be feared, so no one dared double cross him. Inuyasha's volatile temper had a similar effect. Under the brothers' care, the company had flourished. It became one of the largest and most influential businesses in Japan, and that would have made their late father proud.
Still deep in his thoughts, Inuyasha jumped when there was a knock on his door several minutes after he'd sat down. "Come in," he called out in a gruff voice, scowling darkly, letting his sour mood show on his face.
"Hey, Inu!" Sango cheerfully chirped as she stepped into his office.
Inuyasha's face fell to one of confusion and not just because he hated being called 'Inu.' He hadn't seen Sango that happy for a long time, not since the accident. He had been there when his best friend had gotten the call that her parents had died in a fire at the businessman's mansion a year earlier. Sango's brother nearly had, too, and had had to go to the hospital. It had taken months to get over the damage that the smoke ventilation had caused to his lungs. Sango was only this cheerful when she was spending time with Kohaku. Even Inuyasha and Miroku had to struggle to get more than a grin out of her lately.
"Hey," he replied, voice softened in light of her mood.
Sango stepped in and asked quickly, "Do you have a first aid kit I can borrow?" Inuyasha raised his eyebrow in a questioning look, silently urging his friend to explain herself. "A new friend of mine got cut up pretty badly from a fall, and I need to clean the scratches out," she elaborated.
Inuyasha shrugged and got up out of his chair. He was still in his business clothes: a button-down red shirt and slacks. Carrying the kit out behind Sango, he came into the room out in front of his office. It was large and the only other room besides his office on that floor of the building. A desk and some chairs were scattered over the blue carpet. This was normally where the secretary sat, and it also served as the entrance to that level of the building.
Sitting in a chair with a small boy sitting in her lap was one of the prettiest women he had ever seen. Not that he'd ever tell her that, of course. Inuyasha managed to recognize her as the insane woman who had almost gotten flattened earlier by the float in the parade. He scowled and handed the kit over to Sango.
"Hey," Miroku yelled from his seat next to Kagome, waving enthusiastically. Inuyasha hadn't even noticed him— or the other young boy at the foot of girl's seat, for that matter.
"Inuyasha, this is Kagome. Kagome, Inuyasha," Sango introduced quickly, pulling up a chair and opening the first aid kit.
Kagome gave him a heart-melting grin and said, "Nice to meet you. Great parade out there," she nodded in the direction of the street.
"Yeah," he growled. Kagome didn't appear to be frightened or impressed by his tone. Turning back to Miroku, she continued their conversation like they'd never been interrupted.
Inuyasha sat down across from them and an energetic ball of red hair and little boy clothing leapt into his lap. Looking up with wide-green eyes at Inuyasha, the ball said, "I'm Shippou. Who are you?"
"Inuyasha, runt."
Shippou crossed his arms and pouted. "I'm not a runt!"
"Right," Kagome sang out, turning her attention away from Miroku and onto her adopted son, a playful smile on her lips.
Shippou turned to stare back at her. "I'm not!"
"Of course not, Shippou, no one's doubting you."
"I'm not!"
"Mm-hm."
"Am not!"
"Sure!"
"Mom!" he squealed, finally, in defeat.
"What?" Kagome's asked innocently, to Inuyasha's surprise. He hadn't expected her to answer to the kid yelling for his mother.
Leaping into her lap, Shippou got a sudden idea. "Can we go out and get ice cream?"
"Please, sister?" Souta joined in the begging from his seat on the floor.
Sango stopped cleaning the scratches long enough to listen to the answer. Even Miroku seemed to lean closer in interest.
Sighing, Kagome began to say that they needed to head back to the SHA for the night, but Inuyasha interrupted.
"Of course she's going to take you out for ice cream, and she's treating me to it, too."
"What?" Kagome cried incredulously.
"It's the least you can do for almost ruining my parade and interrupting my night here," Inuyasha smirked, rather smugly in fact.
"I don't owe you anything!" she snapped, leaning forward and poking him in the chest, once for each word she said.
"Yes, you do!"
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"No way!"
"Yes way!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"Children, children! Can you save it for later?" Miroku interrupted the arguing adults, struggling to smother his laughter.
"NO!" they shouted simultaneously and turned to glare at one another.
"Why don't we all go out for ice cream and treat ourselves?" Sango suggested.
"Yes!" the two boys and Miroku agreed with glee.
"Fine with me," Kagome consented, shrugging. Ice cream might make the day a little better; she might even be able to continue to forget about why she was running away from home with her boys in the first place.
"Good, then we're agreed!" Sango stated firmly while nodding her head. "I have a light jacket in Miroku's car that you can borrow to cover up your scraped arms, Kagome."
"Thanks," Kagome smiled with gratitude at her new friend. They were already bonding after such a short time. They'd both experienced tragedy having to deal with family, and they seemed to be able to sense that from one another.
Inuyasha stood staring after them as they walked out the door. "Wait!" he called, running after them. "I never agreed to pay for my own! She still owes me!"
Next Chapter: Surprises
