Edited: 7/9/2011
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
Dashed Hopes
Chapter Eight: Memories
When Kagome entered Inuyasha's office at the end of that day, she found the man slumped over his desk. His cheek was pressed into his crossed arms which sat atop a tall pile of papers and forms. His long, black hair fell over his shoulder in a curtain, and his face was peaceful. For once. Asleep, he seemed so much more innocent and calm than he had ever appeared to her up to that point.
"I'm leaving now," Kagome informed him, very loud next to Inuyasha's ear.
Unsurprisingly, he jolted away, clamping one hand to his ear and narrowly missing colliding with Kagome when he jerked his head up. "Damn it," he snapped harshly; more profanities slipped out directly afterward, amusing Kagome enough to smile.
In a much better mood than she was earlier, Kagome giggled merrily. Seeing her so cheerful, Inuyasha seemed even more cross. All the other women from the shelter were so quiet and subdued, but that seemed like the only way Kagome was incapable of being. "Fine," he grunted, continuing to sulk.
Her laughter replaced by a thoughtful expression, Kagome walked backwards away from his desk and back towards the door. For the life of her, she couldn't remember the exact number of days she'd been working at the Inutaisho Company, because she was already so comfortable there. Already, she smiled and waved and greeted at least two dozen people by name on her way to her desk in the morning, and she knew exactly where everything was in all her drawers. "Hey, how many days have I worked here?" she asked finally, tilting her head in thought.
Inuyasha smirked playfully, deciding that the only way to get back at her for waking him up so rudely was to tease her. "Tomorrow is your fourth day," he started, holding up his hand and counting off on his fingers to demonstrate his point. "The first, you almost got yourself fired. The second, you showed up looking like crap. The third, today, you almost got yourself fired again for leaving without permission. And the fourth, tomorrow, you will be moving in with me."
The young woman grinned in response and winked at him, refusing to take his bait. For the first time in a long while, she actually felt cheerful with most issues shoved to the side of her mind; she was absolutely not going to let a jerk like Inuyasha ruin that feeling. "At least with me around you always know to expect excitement."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes and then chucked a pen at her, carefully throwing it several feet to her left so that there was no chance of hitting her. "You just might be more trouble than you're worth!"
Time seemed to slow down as they both recognized what he'd just said. Although he'd been joking, it poked at a sore spot. Kagome's grin was lost for a moment and an unidentifiable emotion darkened her stormy eyes. Mere moments later, the grin was a back, and she managed to make it look only slightly forced. "Gotta be going now!" Kagome said, sounding only slightly too cheerful. She skipped out of the office in mock happiness.
Her boss stared after her, shaking his head slowly in confusion.
Kagome tapped her fingers on the steering wheel in time to the song playing on the radio, inching her car forward as the person in front of her did the same. A large sigh escaped her lips as she looked around at the traffic surrounding her, realizing just how crowded Tokyo really was. At the rate things were moving, it would take her hours to drive home. With a start, she reexamined what she'd just thought about. She wasn't going home, she was just going to a home. It wasn't hers.
"Mama," she whispered, her eyes clouding over. Before her very eyes, she saw her mother. A soft, gentle woman with short, curly hair, a warm smile, and honest eyes. Trying to force her mind to a different subject, away from the idea of 'home,' she starred into the darkness. Inuyasha's words suddenly came flooding back to her, the ones about her being more trouble than she might be worse.
She'd heard those words before only a year earlier.
"Hey, Ms. Kaze!" a twenty year old girl called cheerfully as she walked into the room, a wide smile stretching her face.
"Kagura. Call me Kagura, please," a young woman, only a few years older than the girl, reminded Kagome for the umpteenth time. "Formalities are wasted on me."
Kagome grinned wryly as she came to stand in front of Kagura's desk. "Oh, me too!" Her eyes were bright with happiness, and she looked extremely feminine and sophisticated in a black mini-skirt and angora sweater. After only a few seconds more of keeping her excitement contained, Kagome asked, "Is Naraku ready yet?"
Kagura held back a sigh, carefully averting her eyes down to the paperwork spread across her desk. She narrowed her eyes, studying her crimson nails. "No. The meeting ran over, but it should end shortly. Sit down," Kagura responded slowly in her deep, feminine drawl.
With a wide smile, Kagome perched on a chair against the wall of Kagura's office to wait for her boyfriend. Kagura leaned back in her leather chair, glancing at the door that connected the room to Naraku's office. It was currently closed tightly. Thankfully, Kagura had extremely strong willpower or her eyes might have strayed to Kagome's injuries. The two women had known each other for a year, since Kagome's nineteenth birthday party, and Kagura was surprised to find Kagome in such poor physical shape. The younger woman's arms and face were battered and bruised, and there was still gauze wrapped around Kagome's head under her heavy black bangs. It didn't take long to figure out what had happened, but what surprised Kagura the most about the entire situation was who it had happened to.
Kagura had worked closely with Naraku for over two years. Although he hid it well, she could always tell he had an anger management problem simmering just beneath his cool exterior. Naraku always talked about Kagome around the office, about how proud he was of the fact that his girlfriend was not only gorgeous, but intelligent and sweet as well. Kagura had gotten the impression that Naraku, that stern, egotistical bastard, actually cared for the girl. For the first time in her life, Kagura felt like an idiot. She had wrongfully thought that Kagome would keep Naraku's fury at bay.
At work, he was quiet and collected. At home, he was a monster.
What struck Kagura as the worst part of what was happening was the look on Kagome's face. Shining past the bruises was a look of complete adoration and happiness.
Kagome seemed oblivious to Naraku's abusive actions.
As if summoned by Kagura's thoughts, Naraku stalked out of his office at that very moment. Quickly, Kagura dropped her eyes back down to her paperwork, needlessly shuffling it again. She struggled against the sneer on her face, angered by the dark smirk on Naraku's. He walked like he owned the world. When Naraku spotted his girlfriend, the two met in the middle of the room, his smirk growing.
"How are you feeling?" Naraku asked, sweetly.
Kagome brightened instantly at his concern, but Kagura nearly gagged. Naraku did not show affection; his question was obviously not one he really wanted answered.
"Much better," Kagome chirped, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend's waist and peering up at him.
"You might be more trouble than you're worth," Naraku teased darkly, chuckling, and rapped her lightly on the chin with a knuckle. Taking this as a sign of affection, Kagome's smiled grew even larger. "Lets go get some dinner," Naraku demanded. Kagome obediently skipped after him, oblivious to his commanding tone, used to following his orders without question.
"Sounds great!"
Kagura narrowed her eyes at the couple's retreating backs. "Be careful, Kagome," she whispered, her fingers tightening to a fist on top of her desk, strangling her pen. "Please, just be careful."
Kagome gritted her teeth as she pressed down hard on the accelerator, jerking the car forward another few feet until she was once again at the bumper of the car in front of her. Naraku hadn't taken them out for food when they had left the office that day. Instead, he had beaten her. He'd shouted at her repeatedly that it was her fault that he'd lost an account that day in the meeting that had ran over. She should have been there in the room, showing him support while he argued his case; only then, he could have won, he'd accused. She'd waited for him outside his office on purpose.
Although a large part of her knew it was illogical, Kagome felt herself agreeing as she thought back on that day. She should have helped him more, should have been there. If she'd been a better girlfriend, maybe Naraku wouldn't have had to resort to beating her.
Naraku had been sure to get that into her head. That his failures were her fault.
And sitting in the car, locked in traffic with nothing to distract her but herself, Kagome was sure it really was.
"I'm here!" Kagome called loudly as she stepped into the house, dumping her purse on top of the table just inside the doorway. She kicked off her shoes and bent over to rub her sore toes. "I'm home!" she yelled again, laughing delightedly when she heard the thundering footsteps of Souta and Shippou pounding down the stairs.
"Kagome!" they both screamed, colliding into her and gripping her around the waist (Souta) and thigh (Shippou). Kagome fell back onto the floor, laughing, and took them with her, cradling her little family in her arms. She felt loved.
Then she frowned.
Some small section of her brain sabotaged the moment, reminding her that she felt loved with Naraku. Shippou and Souta were only this affectionate out of neediness. Naraku's love was the only love she had ever really felt, at least outside of her immediate family. Unable to sort out her feelings, Kagome roughly shoved them away instead. Untangling herself, she stood and brushed away invisible dust.
"Shopping!" she suddenly decided out loud, snapping her fingers. It made the boys jump, startled by her seemingly random shouting. The word, however, made both of them groan unhappily. Both had been hoping Kagome had forgotten about their need for possessions now that they were alone in a new city. Couldn't they just live off of Sango and Kohaku's stuff forever?
As if called by magic, Sango appeared in the doorway to the living room, a very large grin on her face. "Did someone just suggest shopping?" she asked, winking at her new friend. Kagome winked back.
"Shopping!" they sang out in unison.
At the moment, it sounded like best idea in the world, the easiest way to ease the build-up and stress. Unfortunately, it meant the opposite for the boys. Kohaku, who had been standing on the landing of the stairs watching the entire thing, crept back to his room silently, successfully avoiding the imminent trip.
"Can we go yet?" Souta complained loudly. He was leaning against the wall of the fitting room, surrounded by a heap of shopping bags.
"Soon," Kagome promised without even looking at her brother. Instead, she concentrated on holding a blue shirt up against Shippou.
"Try this!" Sango called from the other side of the partition, tossing a golden colored vest over the top of it.
"Perfect!" Kagome exclaimed as she stepped back to admire her adopted son.
Shippou looked dazed, eyes glazed over. "Yeah, this is great," he mumbled dully, sharing a pained look with Souta.
Kagome sighed and rolled her eyes. "Why don't you guys go play at the arcade?" she asked, pulling out the last of her cash, the last of what was remaining in her wallet when she had first showed up at the shelter earlier that week. Unsurprisingly, both boys perked up immediately. Souta snatched the money from his sister while Shippou smacked a kiss to her cheek, which was still within reach because she had been kneeling to help him try on clothes. They tore out of the fitting room, leaving Kagome laughing in their wake.
Sango snorted as she walked up behind her blue-eyed friend, shaking her head at their quickly retreating backs.
"My first five paychecks are going directly into your pocket," Kagome promised distractedly, collecting the hangers of clothes to take up to the register.
"You really don't have to do that!" Sango countered.
"Of course I have to! After today, me and the boys will have an entire new wardrobe thanks to you."
In mock defeat, Sango sighed and threw up on her hands. "Fine, you can pay me back, but with only one paycheck."
Kagome eyes widened dramatically. "I knew Inuyasha was loaded, but one paycheck will pay for all this?"
Sango shook her head with a chuckle. "Not exactly, but I'll only take one paycheck from you. Think of the rest being an early birthday present for all of you."
"Our birthdays combined with a year's worth of over holidays," Kagome commented dryly. "Counting Christmas, even though I'm pretty sure you're not Christian and don't celebrate it."
"I always liked the sound of a holiday all in the spirit of giving and receiving," Sango joked lightly. "Too bad Buddha never thought of that one! Did you know that Miroku's actually from a long line of Buddhist monks?"
"Somehow that seems strange to me, even though I still haven't seen him act as perverted as you've made him out to be."
"Inuyasha celebrates Christmas!" Sango suddenly said, remembering that not all three of the friends were Buddhist.
"Really?"
"Yeah! And we always get a gift from him! It's the only time he seems even slightly thoughtful."
Kagome's parents were Buddhist, but her grandparents on her mother's side were both among the small number of Christians in the country. She had grown up on a shrine, owned and run by her grandfather, but Kagome's mother had always honored her dead parents by celebrating a handful of Christian holidays every year. Mrs. Higurashi had converted to Buddhism when she'd married her husband, but some old habits were hard to break. Christmas and Easter were two of the holidays they often decorated the house for. Despite all that, Kagome had grown up dreaming of becoming a shrine maiden, a priestess, when she was older.
"I celebrate Christmas, too," Kagome commented quietly, thinking of her mother.
Sango fell silent, remembering that she barely knew the woman standing next to her. They may be comfortable around one another, but they were still practically strangers. A twinkle brightened her eyes as she decided they could use their last night together to get to know everything about one another.
Which is exactly how they spent the rest of the evening.
The two women took turns, rattling off a long list of preferences, from their favorite color to their least favorite food. They shared childhood memories with one another, told each other secrets like who their first kiss was, discussed political and social views. Sango revealed her parents' death in the fire, and Kagome spoke of her father's fight, and ultimate failure, with cancer. They cried together.
After that night, they knew about each other's siblings, hardships, weaknesses, and strengths. Souta's first word has been 'tree.' That was because of all the time his sister had spent with the Go-shinboku, the spiritual tree on the shrine grounds. Shippou's was 'kitsune,' because of his biological parents' fascination with the foxes. Kohaku's was 'Sango,' because of the tremendous love and respect he felt for his sister, even at that young of an age.
Sango learned of how Kagome had adopted Shippou. Kagome had been delivering a fox cub she had found at her home to the wildlife preserve run by Shippou's parents when she was sixteen. His parents were young, and they befriended Kagome quickly, paying constant visits to one another. Kagome grew to love their red-haired baby like a member of her own family, and when his parents died in car crash when she was eighteen, Kagome had gladly taken in her dear friends' son.
Throughout their long conversation, Sango unknowingly dropped many hints that there was more to her relationship with Miroku than met the eye. When the realization hit Kagome, she almost laughed out loud with glee, deciding on the spot that she would help get the couple together if she could.
By sunrise, the two girls felt even closer than before.
The next morning, Kagome took an ice cold shower to help wake her up after an entire night staying up with Sango. She drank several cups of coffee and poured more of it into a thermos to take with her to work.
"I'm going!" she called to her friend as she ran past Sango out the door, happy that her fourth day also turned out to be the last day of the working week. Whistling a happy tune, Kagome piled into Sango's car, feeling attractive in a skirt and bright red blouse. It felt even better that they were officially her own, two of the few things she had bought with her own money before Sango had to pull out her credit card to pay for the rest. Taking a large hair clip from her purse, Kagome scooped up her silky, black waves and attached the clip to the back of her head.
When she stepped on the elevator at the Inutaisho Company, Kagome came face-to-face with Sesshoumaru. "Hello, Mr. Youkai!" she greeted politely, having to tilt her head back far to see all the way up to the tall man's face.
Ignoring her cheerful mood, Sesshoumaru inclined his head towards her in greeting. "Morning," he said simply, not even bothering to add a 'good' to the front of it. In four days, he had seen Kagome act an alarming number of ways, although not as many as Inuyasha had encountered. Still, he came to a silent decision: Kagome was emotionally unstable.
Not that with he should complain.
It was actually more interesting to work with someone who wasn't completely predictable. It offered a challenge, if nothing else. But he'd have to tread carefully if he wanted to survive this. That being said, Sesshoumaru was Sesshoumaru, and he would act as he wanted, odd secretary or no.
Next Chapter: Nightmare
