Have faith.
Edited: 7/18/2011
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
Dashed Hopes
Chapter Seven: The Phone Call
The next morning, Kagome was forced awake by the bright sunshine slipping through her blinds and slanting across her eyes. With a groan, she scrunched up her face and turned away, burying her nose in her pillow. Although Kagome had a cheerful disposition most of the day, she had never been a morning person. She untangled herself from Inuyasha, who continued to snore, and decided to let him fend for himself if he was going to make it to work on time.
After taking her steaming hot shower, her morning wake up call, Kagome sneaked back into her room, only wearing a towel. Keeping as quiet as possible to avoid waking Inuyasha and causing an even more awkward situation, she picked out her outfit for the day.
Riffling through all the expensive blouses and skirts, she thought bitterly, Screw it. Grabbing a pair of jeans, a tank top, and a red zip-up jacket, she crept back out of the room to change into her clothes in the bathroom.
When she entered the kitchen ten minutes later, Sesshoumaru didn't say a word about her outfit selection. He chose not to comment on the fact that she worked as secretary to two extremely rich men in an office building while—a job that didn't exactly scream blue jeans are acceptable. It just didn't seem like a fight worth picking.
"Hey, Kagome!"
"Good morning, Kagome!"
On her way to the elevator, Kagome waved and smiled back at all her coworkers, returning their greetings. A weekend of soul searching had left her feeling lighter and more confident than she had in ages. That morning seemed much brighter than any others had felt in the past few years.
Stepping into the elevator, she jabbed the button for the top floor and rode up while smiling and chatting with the people around her. The world seemed open to her as she walked to her primary desk outside Inuyasha's office. She had a job, her son, her brother, money, clothes, and a roof over her head. It was so easy to imagine living out the rest of her life as Kagome Shashu. Naturally, she'd buy a new house; who'd want to live with Inuyasha all their lives?
Then again, the more she thought about it, the more Kagome realized what was missing in her new life in Tokyo. Her friends, Mama, her grandfather, and even the shrine she'd grown up on still struck a longing in her. She also missed her old clothes and personal possessions, like her yellow bike.
Kagome also wanted Naraku gone.
To distract herself, Kagome picked up the phone and dialed a number, waiting to hear the voice of at least one important person from her old life.
"Hello?"
"Kouga? Hey, how are you feeling?" she asked once her friend had answered the phone. He'd recently returned to Kyoto to continue recovering.
"Much better. Your mom is doing well, and so are Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi."
"Glad to hear it," she murmured, feeling homesick.
"Hey, listen. I have to go, but we'll talk soon. I promise," Kouga told her quickly when there was a knocking in the background.
"Sure thing. Talk to you soon. Bye!"
Setting the receiver back in its cradle, Kagome leaned back into her chair. The only thing that could pick her mood back up was the fact that her office chair had wheels on the bottom.
That's how Inuyasha found her twenty minutes later: spinning on a chair, doing wheelies, in his front of his office.
Jaken was at it again, and Sesshoumaru was not happy.
"Jaken. Leave," he commanded in his most authoritative voice—which was, considering Sesshoumaru, very authoritative.
Kagome seriously doubted that the toad-man had ears when Jaken continued to lavish his boss with overwhelming praise. Almost in desperation, Sesshoumaru glanced at his secretary who was standing behind his 'retainer' (as Jaken called himself).
With a silent laugh, Kagome hooked fingers in her mouth and pulled her lips to the side and crossed her eyes at Jaken's back. Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at her antics, but naturally kept a straight face. Then, Kagome reached up and grabbed the bottom of each earlobe. She twisted them, and as though they were some kind of lever, her tongue stuck out. In response, Sesshoumaru's jaw tightened, and his secretary assumed he was fighting the urge to laugh at her.
Abruptly, Jaken shut his mouth, eyeing his boss's odd expression before spinning on his heel to face the secretary. Automatically, Kagome's face widened into a sweet and innocent smile, and she clasped her hands in front of her.
Jaken glared at the young woman before deciding he could praise his lord later.
Kagome smirked at her boss while laying down an accounting file before skipping back out to her desk.
Once out of view of his secretary, Sesshoumaru allowed himself a small smile
That evening, Kagome collapsed onto the couch next to Sango.
"How was your day?" Sango asked pleasantly while sipping tea.
"You know, I actually had a lot of fun today. It was also nice to wear jeans to work for once. Oh, hey, you'll never guess what happened today!"
"What?"
"No, you have to guess!" Kagome told her friend with a scolding finger wag, not willing to give in so easily.
"A pink hippo sat on Sango's homemade fruitcake at the office, and it was so hard that it dented the hippo's butt, so the hippopotamus is now suing the Inutaisho Company for damages," Miroku suggested as he walked in, taking his seat on Sango's other side.
Kagome pouted. "Be serious!"
"Kagome! Just tell us," Sango chided with a laugh.
"I made Sesshoumaru smile!"
"Kagome! You told us to be serious, so why can't you?" the brunette muttered with an eye roll. The very idea of Sesshoumaru smiling…!
"I amserious!" Kagome explained, grinning wildly. "He didn't think I saw him, but I did! It was a little more of a smirk than a smile, I guess."
The three friends descending into a bout of chuckles until Sango's phone began to ring. The brunette groaned.
"I don't want to answer that," Sango muttered, too comfortable to get up.
With a laugh, Kagome stood up and answered the telephone for her. "Hello! Taijai residence. … Who is this?… Oh, hi, Inuyasha; I didn't recognize your voice at first! Miroku just got here. … I'm sorry to hear that. … Yeah, I'll tell them. … Sure, it's no problem; I'll be right there. …See you soon!" With that, she hung up.
"Hey, Sango!" she hollered back into the living room.
"What?"
"That was Inuyasha. He said he just got an avalanche of paperwork and can't make it tonight. He asked if I could head back into the office and help out," Kagome explained as she reentered the room, an apologetic look on her face. "Looks like you're two short of an actual dinner party. He says he's really sorry, and so am I. Do you mind just eating with Miroku tonight?"
The brunette avoided looking at either of her friends, her cheeks a little pink with a blush. "No, that's totally fine. I don't mind."
"Oh, good; hopefully we can get back here right after dinner, and we can still make that movie." Kagome glanced outside. "It's so dark! I didn't realize it was so late already."
Sango glanced at the clock. "Wow, I can't believe it's already almost eight. We must have lost track of time waiting for Inuyasha."
With a smile, Kagome shrugged dismissively. She smothered a laugh as Sango swatted at Miroku when his hand got too close to her backside; it was as if it was second nature. "Can I borrow a car?" Kagome asked.
"Sure; keys are still in the kitchen."
"Thanks!" Kagome winked at the two (and Sango pretended to not notice just like she was pretending to not notice how Miroku had slid an arm behind her along the back of the couch). "Have a good dinner, you two."
Inuyasha was shrugging on his coat, the same one Kagome had snatched from him when she had run away a week earlier, when the telephone rang. He sighed, catching sight of the clock and realizing that it was already half past eight at night. He was supposed to be at Sango's more than an hour earlier; she was going to be pissedthat he'd missed dinner.
Picking up receiver, he grunted to show the person he was listening.
"You shouldn't have kissed her, Inuyasha Youkai."
Stunned, Inuyasha's grip tightened on the phone until he heard the plastic creak with the force. "Who the hell is this?" he growled, his eyes searching the kitchen around him as though the caller would step into the room, revealing himself.
"That's not a very nice way to treat Kagome's friend, is it?"
His frustration growing, Inuyasha demanded loudly, "Who the fuck is this?"
The man on the other end of the line chuckled darkly. "Inuyasha… Does it really matter? You shouldn't have kissed her," the man repeated, his voice low and angry.
"What kiss?"
"Shut up! Kagura saw you through your kitchen window and reported the incident directly to me," the caller sneered.
Inuyasha made a strangled noise deep in his throat. "Naraku. Now listen to me, you son of a bitch! Don't you dare lay a hand on Kagome. Don't touch her."
"Kagome is mine, Inuyasha." Naraku suddenly sighed as though he was disappointed, his breath loud in Inuyasha's ear. "I'll have her back, soon. Kagome will be right where she belongs, and you can do nothing to stop it."
"What are you talking about? Where's Kagome? She better be safe, do you hear me?" he shouted into the phone. His only answer was a dial tone. He slammed the phoned back down on the cradle, pounding his fist into the wall and cracking the plaster. "Damn it!"
Running a hand through his hair, Inuyasha raced out the front door, grabbing his car keys from the front hall table as he passed. He hopped into the convertible, and the engine roared to life. Driving like a madman, he sped all the way to Sango's house— the place where Kagome should currently be.
He was cursing himself for staying late at his house, finishing up some paperwork in Sesshoumaru's office. He should have kept an eye on the clock and not been late for dinner. For all he knew, Naraku was sneaking up behind Kagome at that very second.
With tires squealing and the smell of burnt rubber lingering in the air, Inuyasha pulled into the driveway in front of Sango's house.
Kagome glanced at the clock on the dashboard as she pulled into the Inutaisho Company's employee parking lot, which looked deserted.
8:35 PM
Quickly, she clambered from the car and hurried towards the front door, hoping Inuyasha wasn't mad that she'd taken so long to get there. On her way, Kagome had noticed that the gas was running low, so she stopped to fill the tank. She shivered because of the chilly breeze, filling winter on the air.
Humming , Kagome used a swipe card to enter the building, which was locked down tight. She took her time walking through the lobby and main floor, coming to a stop at the elevator. She jabbed the button, but decided that she should take the stairs instead. It seemed healthier; plus, the idea of getting stuck in the elevator in an empty building at night gave her the creeps.
"Sango! Miroku!" Inuyasha shouted, racing through the front door and towards the living room. He was so frantic that he didn't notice how close his best friends were sitting, or the way that Miroku had his arm around the brunette, and she wasn't slapping it away.
"Inuyasha? What's wrong?"
"Where's Kagome! Is she in the kitchen? I have to talk to her! Naraku's planning some—!" Inuyasha stumbled to a stop he noticed the wide-eyed looks of confusion on his friends' faces.
"What are you doing here, Inuyasha?" Sango snapped, standing up to put her fists on her hips. "Kagome's going to be so mad at you."
"For what— What'd I do? Where is she?"
"Kagome went all the way out there to meet you," Miroku scolded him.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Starting to realize that something was wrong, Sango eyed him up and down, noting how frazzled and upset he was. He was breathing hard, and his eyes kept flicking around the room, searching for something. "Inuyasha, where were you at eight o'clock?"
Inuyasha scowled, ticked off that Kagome might be in trouble yet his friends were asking about his schedule. "At home in the study. I had some work to catch up on. Sesshoumaru was supposed to call and let you guys know that I'd be late," he snapped.
Sango went wide-eyed and exchanged an anxious look with Miroku. "No you weren't," she told Inuyasha sternly. "You were calling Kagome to come in and help you out at the office."
"No," Inuyasha countered, still confused about where this was going. "I was home. I've been there since late afternoon."
NowMiroku wasn't calm, and the normally collected man started to tug at his hair nervously, shuffling his feet. "Son of a bitch!" he muttered, startling both of his friends. "Kagome went out to meet you at eight. She's been gone for forty minutes!"
Inuyasha was completely confused by this point. "Damn it! Would you mind making sense?"
Miroku took a deep breath, struggling to straighten out his thoughts and convey how serious the situation was to the others. "At eight o'clock tonight, someone called here. Kagome answered and told us it was you, at work, and she was heading out there to help you… or the "you" that called her." Here, Miroku glared at Inuyasha when the other man tried to interrupt. "However, you were at home, in your study. You did not make the call and apparently Naraku is up to something?"
"Yeah," Inuyasha replied slowly. "He just called me at my house, being an asshole."
Sango went pale. "That means it must have been someone else calling Kagome! And if Naraku wants her back, he'd have to get her alone. So, Naraku or one of his lackeys must have called her here and pretended to be you."
"So," Inuyasha conluded, "Kagome is out there, alone, thinking she's going to meet me somewhere, and I'm not going to be there, but that monster will be."
"Exactly."
Inuyasha growled low in his throat, wishing he had something breakable in his hands that he could throw at the wall. "I think this is the part of the mystery where I get the hell out of here and go be a fucking knight in shining armor."
With that, Inuyasha ran from the room and shouldered his way through the front door. Sango winced at the obvious dent that would be there if she checked.
Once he was back in his car, Inuyasha floored it.
Taking the steps one at the time, Kagome mentally scolded herself for forgetting to grab Sango's cell phone, the extra one that the brunette had given her since Kagome couldn't exactly use her own without fear of Naraku tracking her with it. What if her car broke down, and she had needed a ride?
Chewing her lip, Kagome tried to remember the next few notes of the song stuck in her head as she slowly made her way up each flight. Slightly out of breath, she pushed away the eeriness of being in an empty office building at night, climbing up a dark, echoing stairway.
She was mostly distracted by how hot it was. She'd been climbing for almost fifteen minutes, which would make it already 8:50 PM.
Tokyo was so big that even on a Monday evening, there was traffic. Inuyasha sat impatiently in bumper-to-bumper traffic, just outside the downtown area. He slammed his fist repeatedly on the horn and cursed out every person that blocked his way. Flipping a few elderly drivers off, he scowled as he tried to find a way to get through.
The only good thing was that Kagome would have been stalled by the same traffic jam.
Of course, she'd be at the office by now, hopefully just getting out of her car. He just prayed that the elevator took a very long time to reach the lobby. Glancing around, he noticed how empty the sidewalks were compared to the streets. Closing his eyes and wishing that there was a good reason behind what he was about to do, Inuyasha steered his car over the curb.
He was now driving half on and half off the road. As soon as he passed the worst part of the traffic, he merged back onto the street, ignoring the honking, cursing people he'd left behind.
Barreling down the street at a speed that would make a daredevil proud, Inuyasha got closer to his destination.
Eight miles.
Four miles.
Two miles.
One mile.
Five blocks.
Half a block away…
There.
He parked haphazardly next to a car he recognized as one of Sango and bounded out of his convertible. Inuyasha peered up at the office building, studying the wall of windows. Only one floor had its lights on—the top floor, where his office was. Kagome would have seen that, too.
Scowling, Inuyasha raced into the lobby, heading for the stairs. Using the elevator would alert Naraku to his presence.
Panicking, he threw open the door that led to the seemingly endless flights of stairs that disappeared into the darkness overhead. Maybe, just maybe, if he arrived soon enough, Naraku wouldn't have time to do anything. Kagome couldn't have been there for too long, maybe only twenty minutes. When he checked his watch impatiently, it read 9:03 PM.
There was no telling exactly what Naraku had in mind. The madman wanted both Kagome and the jewel, and unfortunately, Inuyasha had been stupid enough to talk Kagome into wearing the Shikon everywhere she went. It had seemed like a good idea at the time—she could keep an eye on it, and it looked good on her.
He just hoped he could close the half-hour head start Kagome had on him by running up the stairs as quickly as he could.
Too bad fate had other plans in mind.
"Good evening, Inuyasha," a woman drawled in a cool, collected voice from the shadows behind the door.
Inuyasha turned to look into scarlet eyes.
Just as Inuyasha ran into Kagura at the bottom of the stairwell, Kagome shouldered open the heavy door that led from the stairs to the receptionist's area where her desk was. The bright lights after the dark stairs made her see spots. "Hey, Inuyasha! Let's get to work," she shouted cheerfully, walking through the room; nothing seemed out of place. "If we hurry, maybe we can talk the others into going out and getting some dessert!"
Her cheerful smile slipped a little when she poked her head into his office and found his desk empty. "Huh," she muttered, looking around the room as though she'd find him hiding behind a bookcase. "I guess he had to go get something."
Setting down her purse and unzipping her light jacket after the heat from climbing the stairs, she walked around to the other side of his desk. Kagome laid a hand on the cool glass of the window and leaned against it to look down at the street, far below. Headlights from the passing cars and the streetlights lit up the scene of passersby walking by the front of the office building.
Without warning, a strong arm slipped around her waist from behind and pulled her close to a muscular, obviously masculine chest. Kagome sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes. "Very funny, Inuyasha. Seriously, stop teasing and let's get some work done," she scolded as she tried to loosen the arm from around her, but it only ended up tightening to the point where it hurt to breathe. "Inuyasha? W-what are you doing?"
The man leaned down and his hot breath tickled her ear, sending warning chills down her spine.
"Guess who, Kagome."
Next Chapter: The Ledge
