Author's Notes: Hmm...
As You Wish
V. Flashes Before Your Eyes
If you wanna play games with me then, I'm good
Say what you do for me then, I'm good
You don't really mean a thing cause, I'm good
With or without you
"WHERE'S THE FOOD!?"
"If I knew, you wouldn't be asking."
Kagome took a seat at the counter and laid her forehead down on the surface, tired of hearing the two argue about where the food had suddenly disappeared to. She was hungry, she was tired (of Inuyasha), she was bored, and she was definitely not in the mood to listen to a rich man argue with his cook. They had arrived 'home' at 6:10 at night and he had said something about dinner, but was dinner being served? No…
"Food doesn't just disappear!"
"It always does around midnight every single day! I wonder why?"
Inuyasha started swiping a claw here and a claw there, and Kagome watched with mild amusement as his claws created some kind of squiggly patterns in the air. However, when he started shouting again, she went back to putting her forehead on the counter. "I'm hungry," she commented airily, although she got no reply.
Inuyasha stared at the wolf cook coldly. "Cook some ramen then!"
Ayame threw her hands up into the air, glaring hotly at Inuyasha. "Ramen isn't a dinner food! You need some rice, some noodles, some meat, some vegetables, then followed by some good ol' dessert! That's a dinner!"
Inuyasha almost moped like a naughty child, crossing his arms across his chest. "But ramen is part of the five daily food groups!"
Ayame looked ready to tear out her own hair. "No! Ramen isn't! It's junk! You eat ramen too much. You're going to go fat, Inuyasha. You still have your reputation to maintain! That includes your body!"
Kagome's stomach grumbled. "I'm hungry…" Kagome stated again, but there was no respond once more, and she sighed lightly.
"Who cares! Ramen is good. Ramen is the best. I'm ordering you to make ramen!" Inuyasha yelled at the wolf, pointing to the stove with a frown on his face. It always ended like this.
Ayame grimaced at the command and scowled as she moved to the cupboard to get some ramen. When her employer directed her to do so, she had to. She couldn't possibly risk being fired, no matter how Inuyasha seemed to be attached to the ramen she cooked.
Kagome lifted her head and glowered at Inuyasha. "I'm hungry, damnit!."
This caught the hanyou's attention and his ears swiveled over to her, along with the furious gaze on his face. "Ayame is cooking ramen already! Can't you wait!?" he bellowed, his frustration almost pushing him to the edge of his sanity.
Catching the intense gold in his eyes, Kagome shuddered a bit; Inuyasha was scary when he was angry. "I don't want to eat ramen," she whispered in a low voice, since she was sick of the noodles. She always ate ramen at home because she hardly had money to buy anything else.
Inuyasha continued glaring at her as Ayame put the ramen on the stove, a deep frown on her face. She muttered something like 'selfish dog' but Inuyasha couldn't be too sure on what she said. He watched how Kagome diverted her eyes to look at anything other than him, a nervous look in those orbs. What was wrong with her?
"What do you want to eat then?" he snapped in an infuriated tone, still scowling at her.
Kagome lifted a finger to her lips in thoughtfulness. "Hmm…I want to eat…" She lifted an eyebrow. "---Anything, but ramen."
"Why does everybody have problems eating ramen for dinner?!"
Because it gets sickening after living on it for years…? Kagome thought distastefully in her head, now imagining her college days. She shivered. Yup…sickening.
Ayame looked over at Inuyasha from the stove. "Why don't you go out and eat? It'll be better than staying home." She snickered a bit. Usually, Inuyasha avoided eating anywhere other than home because if reporters trying to sneak into his house weren't enough, they usually liked to somehow appear and stalk him at dinner. It would be unnerving for anyone to go out to eat with flashes every few minutes. Privacy outside the house was not known for a famous person.
Inuyasha suddenly seemed uneasy and edgy as he gazed at Ayame like she had grew another head. "Remember what happened last time I went out to eat in a public place with…umm, whatever her name was?"
Kagome clucked her tongue against the upper part of her mouth, making a scorning sound. However, in her mind, she searched through magazines to see if she remembered any article on Inuyasha going out to eat and something occurring. She came upon one about three or four months ago, but the details were a bit blurry…
"Of course I remember, Inuyasha. It's 'the most shameful thing in the history of my (Inuyasha's) life!' Who in this household doesn't remember?" Ayame asked nonchalantly as she turned off the stove. The ramen wasn't cooked, but she really didn't care. She was tired of cooking. She had cooked a great dinner for Kagome's arrival, but whoever had stolen her dinner, had ruined it anyway. Inuyasha should just take his slave out to eat.
"What happened?" Kagome asked, her eyes wide in innocent curiosity as she stared at the other two demons.
Ayame and Inuyasha snapped their gazes at her at the same time, something akin to horror in their eyes. "Nothing," they both tried to say imperturbably, although Kagome wasn't a dumb child. She knew something had happened.
"But---"
"Out you go, Inuyasha! I'm sure nothing will happen!"
"But, I wa---"
"FINE, whatever, Ayame. I'll try to keep clear of reporters. That okay with you, slave? You can't care what they write about you."
"I don't care about that! I just want to kn---" Kagome's words just seemed to get interrupted every time she asked what happened, so she decided to just give up when Inuyasha shot out the kitchen like a bullet. Most likely, he was changing into something else more comfortable. It was obvious he didn't want to talk about it.
She turned her glance to Ayame, whose jade eyes only widened before she too, shot out the kitchen from the other door. Kagome groaned as she spun around in her chair. "What is wrong with me knowing!?" she screamed out loud, and Hojo, who had been stalking the foyer looked a bit confused when he heard her.
Jumping from her spot on the stool, Kagome trudged to the living room to watch some T.V. Who knew how long a hanyou took to change? She might as well catch up on some news in the world outside her because it seemed it would be the only way she would get some information. She wasn't sure whether she could leave the premises and enter again, what with all those guards protecting the mansion like dogs.
Must check on what happened months ago…Kagome reminded herself, before with a flick of her finger, she turned the lights off in the kitchen.
Inuyasha's nose twitched once he walked closer to his room, which was close to Miroku's. He smelt food…but that couldn't be possible. Hadn't Miroku went out to eat with Sango or something? But, he definitely smelled traces of food coming from Miroku's room. Frowning, he stopped in front of his friend's door and knocked.
There was a sudden squeal from inside and Inuyasha raised his eyebrows. Taking a deeper sniff, he noticed it was Miroku and Sango. In Miroku's room? Did those two finally get together? Maybe…but then again, he doubted it. Sango had never told her feelings about Miroku to the lecher, so he doubt they were. So what were they doing? "I know you're both in there, Miroku, Sango, so you might as well open the door."
There was a silence for a while, before a click sounded and Sango opened the door, her eyes as wide as Kagome's had been before. "Yes, Inuyasha…?" she asked, a tense smile on her face as her voice became airily light.
"What are you and Miroku doing in there…?" Inuyasha inquired, trying to look over Sango who had a smudge of food on her nose, and see Miroku inside. This instantly caused Sango to remove her hold on the knob and swing her hands up into the air, pretending to half stretch and half block his view.
This only made the hanyou smirk as he gave the door a quick push and it swung open carelessly, hitting the wall it was connected upon. Inuyasha's eyebrows shot up to his hairline when he saw Miroku stare at him terrified, with…food…on his face? A twinkle came into Inuyasha's eyes. "What happened to you, Miroku?"
Miroku tried to cover his face as Sango retreated back into the room with a casual air, watching the two men with an indifferent gaze. How dare she! She had drawn all over his face after winning game after game (all except for…ONE), and now she was so nonchalant about his embarrassment!? Oh yes, that's Sango…
"Move your hand, Miroku. I want to see what's written on your face. You can't hide it forever." Inuyasha smirked when he watched his friend move his hands away, revealing his cake-covered face. He also noticed dishes after dishes on the table that had looked like they were eaten like it was a pie-eating contest. So that was where the food went to…those bastards.
The pervert instantly snapped, "Oh, shut up. Yea, we stole the food. You want to know why?" Miroku shot a quick glance over to Sango, before lying believably, "Because we were starving since we didn't eat anything today and you know…we love Ayame's cooking and all…and when you come home, all the food will be gone." Miroku had carefully and dramatically enunciated the word 'gone.'
"Played Draw with Sango though?" Inuyasha commented as he leaned against the door structure, the amused look still on his face. "You lost pathetically," he also noted.
Miroku grumbled something under his breath and tried not to move his face too much. The sticky feeling was absolutely disgusting. "She's like the She-Satan of all card games," Miroku pointed out with a shudder, while one side of Sango's lips twisted upwards.
Inuyasha would have usually erupted into a burning volcano and tackled Miroku for eating the food by now. But, Miroku losing at Draw (because Inuyasha usually lost, but no one should know that) was a delightfully delicious reason to tease the other man. "I can tell." Inuyasha began reading the things on Miroku's face. There were words like 'loser' 'assgrabber' 'I am a drag queen' and a '© Pervert Haters Incorporated' sign along with other tiny drawings. Sango had wiped the floor clean with Miroku's behind.
Miroku frowned and tried covering his face again, not liking how Inuyasha looked ready to burst out in laughter. Stupid git. "So, what are you going to do? Eat me because I ate your food and it's happily in my stomach? Or go out to eat or something?"
Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Since Ayame refuses to cook ramen, I'm going out to eat with the slave."
At this, both Miroku and Sango looked interested. They hadn't expected Inuyasha to really go out to eat…maybe order something and take it home, but not out to eat.
"Yea! I remember what happened three months ago. It wasn't that interesting, so stop looking at me like that!" Inuyasha growled, turning away from Miroku's door and stalking to his room. He didn't need anyone reminding him of that incident, and least of all, Miroku of all people.
"That was some funny shit, man," Miroku commented as he stuck his cake-covered face out the door to stare at Inuyasha. "I loved the way you started to d---"
"SHUT UP!" Inuyasha roared and grabbed the vase next to him, throwing it straight at Miroku's face. Miroku barely had time to almost scream like a girl and dive back into the safe confines of his room as the vase flew past the room and smashed on the stair cases. Now there was another mess for the maids to clean.
"You can't deny it was funny!" Miroku shouted out and could almost hear the bellow of fury down the hall. It was so much fun to tease the little hanyou.
Sango lifted an eyebrow in amusement from the side as she watched Miroku smirk victoriously. "One day, you'll lose your head and I'll only say, I told you so. Inuyasha has a bad temper."
"I could have lost my head a thousand times. Inuyasha never kills me. That's because he loves me so much!" Miroku grinned winningly again when he heard the 'I DO NOT!' down the hallway and a slam of another door.
Sango only rolled her eyes as she picked up the deck of cards and started shuffling. It was time to beat Miroku down to the first floor again. "Another?" she inquired, smirking subtly once more as she regarded him with a questioning glare.
Miroku stared at Sango with a blank expression, remembering the amounts of food covering his face. If he knew what was good for him, he would stop right then and there and prevent any further mortification. But then again, the 'man' in him wouldn't admit defeat to any woman and it promised that when he won, he could draw as many things on her face as she had did his. "Of course. You're going down, Sango. I'll win this time around…"
Sango smiled. "And this is coming from the man with a 'loser' sign on his face…"
*~*~*
"Aww…so cute…" he muttered as he watched her starting to drool all over the couch. He poked her cheek and it felt soft and squishy, and he smirked again. "Definitely disgustingly cute…"
"Hamsters…carnivores…ate my shoe…" she mumbled broken sentences in her sleep and turned around, facing away from the man who was finding it amusing to poke fun of the girl as she slept.
He lifted an eyebrow at the comment before pondering the best way to wake Kagome without incurring her wrath. He shrugged after thinking about it for two seconds. Going around to the back of the couch, he put one hand on her shoulders and the other on her stomach (which he noticed was actually well-toned) and pushed hard.
This sent Kagome rolling off the couch and crashing to the ground, screaming as she woke up and bumped her forehead on the ground. She shot up and started rubbing her forehead as she looked around wildly, her eyes landing on the grinning hanyou as he crossed his arms across his chest arrogantly.
"What was that for!?" she asked indignantly, pushing her white skirt over her knees since it had rode up when she fell. She brushed her hair down and got up, scowling at Inuyasha.
"My couch is expensive. I don't want your drool all over it."
She noticed the small spot of water, or what she assumed was her drool, on the couch and she frowned more. "Well, I'm sorry. It's not my fault a show about famous people and their worst breakups bore me so much that I fell asleep within a minute of it."
"Did you know some of them only hook up to get publicity?" Inuyasha asked, walking towards the door as Kagome flicked the T.V. off and followed him.
"Gee, you think?"
Inuyasha ignored the obvious sarcasm. "But then again, some of them are real."
"I'll be surprised those don't break up within three months with their type of schedule. I personally would never want a famous person as a boyfriend. I hate publicity." She yawned a bit as she stretched her muscles and followed Inuyasha out the front door.
"All couples who are famous break up within a year…or at least only stay faithful within a year. Any longer than that and there will be outside trysts." He opened the door to the garage and Kagome choked a bit at the amount of cars in the place. They were all rich, expensive, new and all out of reach of her paycheck. And to think she thought Inuyasha would only have three cars…it was more like thirty.
Inuyasha continued onwards and opened a glass case with car keys in them, taking one out as he motioned for Kagome to follow him. She did so obediently, but only because she was stunned at all the money in wheels in this confinement. If she sold one of these cars…she would have enough money for a long time. Hell, if she sold all these cars in this garage, she would be living in ecstasy for the rest of her life.
"You're too rich," she commented as they stopped at a silver Jaguar XKR convertible. Her eyes widened as she watched him go to the driver's side and open the door. "Aren't these things 90,000 dollars!?" she screamed as he opened the door for her from the inside and waited for her to get in.
"I don't know. Got it as a gift from my father." Inuyasha shrugged as a dazed Kagome carefully got into the car, dazzled by the interior as she felt Inuyasha buckle up next to her. She quietly put her own seat belt on and stared at the audio system, wondering if that screen she saw was one of those cool destination locaters.
"320-watt Alpine premium audio system with six-CD auto-changer." Inuyasha patted his car affectionately before putting the key into the ignition, firing it up and letting the engine roar to life. Kagome was still a little staggered by the car (and had no idea what he had just said), but she was vaguely aware of Inuyasha moving out of the garage.
"Where are we going to eat?" she whispered, as her stomach growled a bit.
"Where do you want to eat?" he said back, looking at her from the corner of his eyes.
She turned her face to the side to meet gazes with him, as she blinked confusedly. "I don't know where to eat that you've been to before."
"How about at the Jasumin?" He was pressing buttons on his navigational thing and Kagome watched amazed as the destination to Jasumin (Jasmine) appeared. She recognized the name though and instantly shook her head.
"I don't have enough money to eat there," Kagome mumbled as she looked away from Inuyasha. I hardly have enough money for even a small entrée at that type of restaurant…
"I'll pay for you."
Kagome turned around to face Inuyasha again. "Excuse me?" Did she hear right? Did Inuyasha just say he'd pay for her?
"I said, I'll pay for you, stupid. Just tell me where you want to eat."
Kagome felt like she needed to clean her ears out. Inuyasha was really offering to pay for her. Any other person would take advantage of such a position and situation, but she only smiled. It wouldn't hurt to allow a rich man to pay for her dinner, as long as it didn't have any clandestine motives, right? The perfect place suddenly came to her mind and she pressed the button that said 'destination address' and typed in the address of the place.
When it appeared on the locater and said it was only fifteen minutes away, she pointed to the screen and smiled at Inuyasha. "Let's go there!"
He looked down for a moment and raised an eyebrow. "The…Hana?" he questioned, reading the name of the restaurant and wondering why he had never heard of such a place. Don't tell him it was a place Kagome would eat. He had wanted her to choose a place he would eat…
"Yea…I bet you'll like it."
He snorted. "I doubt it."
*~*~*
'I doubt it' my ass…Kagome thought dryly as she sniffed her nose in an irritated manner, and watched Inuyasha practically swallow the noodles in whole gulps, as he stuffed a burger into his mouth between bites.
"Dish ish 'ood! (This is good)" Inuyasha tried to say over the ramen and burger in his mouth. How he could eat two at once without combining the tastes would remain a mystery to mankind. "Ish even 'etter 'an A'ame's (It's even better than Ayame's)," Inuyasha said, his eyes wide in twinkling joy.
Kagome only tried to shove the piece of burger down her throat without throwing up. Whoever said famous people ate with elegance had obviously never met Inuyasha. The man was hardly the epitome of sophistication.
"Happy you like it," she said dryly, putting down her burger as she suddenly lost her appetite when she saw the hanyou slurp his ramen up from the bowl and made parts of the soup fly between her eyes. She clenched her teeth as she rubbed the offending water droplet from her face, watching wryly as people around them gazed at Inuyasha with some sort of fascination and confusion. Some of the teenage girls were whispering and she wondered whether they recognized Inuyasha or not.
"What's this called again?" Inuyasha mumbled, the name of the burger momentarily escaping his thoughts.
"A double cheeseburger," Kagome answered in a deadpan voice, watching in disgusted interest as Inuyasha stuffed the remaining burger into his mouth, the lettuce between his teeth making her stomach do a flip---not a good flip.
"How come no one ever fed me this," he questioned more to himself as he continued slurping up the ramen in his bowl. He saw the half-eaten burger on Kagome's plate and innocently inquired, "Are you still going to eat that?"
She only refrained from making a face as she pushed her plate towards him, watching as he took her burger and began stuffing that into his mouth too. "I doubt you ever even walked into a common food restaurant, Inuyasha…"
He only shrugged. "I only ate the good stuff…or that's what my mother fed me before she passed away." He grabbed the glass of water next to his food and drank that too.
Kagome opened her eyes wide a bit when she noticed Inuyasha had confessed something personal to her. She doubt he even noticed because his attention seemed more intent on eating the burger like he was a starving animal instead of on the words he was spitting out. She had known Inuyasha's mother had been a beautiful woman who had been the only daughter of an influential family. Everyone expected her to follow a model's career, but she only designed dresses and obediently married Inuyasha's father as his second wife when his first wife passed away. It had been an arranged marriage, but the media always stressed that they lived as happily together as if they had married for love.
"How did your mother die…?" Kagome asked in a subtle voice. She had been curious about that matter. No one really knew why Inuyasha's mother died. All anyone understood was that she had been found dead one morning and the news had passed it off as a suicidal result.
Inuyasha stopped eating the burger and one hand over the glass of water tightened enough to nearly cause the cup to break. He looked up and glared at Kagome through icy, cold, golden eyes, hissing, "None of your business" over the food. With this said, he continued eating and Kagome was left a bit afraid of that gaze he had given her and with her stomach turning again as he stuffed the last piece of her burger into his mouth.
"Excuse me, Mr. Kitao? Would you like to answer some questions for the Daily Rise?" a voice suddenly interrupted, and both Kagome and Inuyasha looked up to see a man in a black trench coat smile at the couple while holding a camera.
Kagome's eye twitched. Great. Just great. The reporters were coming.
"I'm busy," Inuyasha growled, picking up the bowl of ramen soup and dumping all the content down his throat. Kagome watched, a little amused, as the reporter snapped a picture of that. Wow. Wouldn't that make front page news. She could see it now… 'Famous Inuyasha is Drinking his Ramen Soup in a Little Restaurant.'
Inuyasha put the bowl down and frowned at the man who had taken a picture of him eating. "I told you, I don't want to answer any of your questions, and I don't want an interview. So, get lost." Obviously, Inuyasha wasn't kind to the tabloid journalists.
"This will only take a minute, Mr. Kitao," the reporter answered and began taking pictures of the whole table, including Kagome. The girl looked bewildered as some of the flashes blinded her eyes and she had to feel around for the top of the table. This caused her to knock over her glass of water and the liquid started leaking into the table cover, some dripping onto Kagome's lap. She took in a sharp breath when she felt the water trickle into the white material of her skirt, staining the lap area of it transparent.
Inuyasha instantly shot up from his spot and grabbed his napkin, putting it into Kagome's lap as he turned around and faced the nosy reporter.
"Look here, you! I wa---"
"Is this your new girlfriend?" the reporter questioned and snapped a picture of Kagome looked horrified and Inuyasha looking angry.
"NO!" both Inuyasha and Kagome shouted, their eyes widening, but only causing them to fall pray to the evil flashes.
"Isn't she a bit scrawnier then your usual flavor?" the reporter continued, as if deaf to the defying growls and the appalled and insulted gasp from Kagome.
"Scrawny!?" she echoed, covering her eyes with her arm as she wished some miracle, preferably an earthquake, to suddenly come and stop this embarrassing moment. Didn't this idiot hear any of the responses they were giving?
"She isn't my flavor of the week!" Inuyasha shouted in rebelliousness, watching as some of the elder couples in the restaurant paid and left, not wanting to see any more of such a ruckus. The teenagers started squealing when they realized it was really Inuyasha they had been staring at for the past ten minutes, and others were a mix of enthrallment and hatred.
"How long have you two been together?"
"Never!"
"We haven't seen you eating out for a few months, Mr. Kitao. Does this lady know about what happened last time?"
Kagome seemed a bit interested, but she was more humiliated as Inuyasha suddenly grabbed her up by the arm and started to drag her out of the restaurant, throwing 10,000 yen on the table. Kagome was about to yell that the food hardly cost even 1,500 yen, but Inuyasha seemed like he was fuming and beyond livid. She kept quiet as her spare arm tried covering the wet spot on her skirt and the reporter followed behind them closely, flashes still going off left and right. Was this what Inuyasha had to endure every time he came out to eat?
Feeling warm hands suddenly swing her into a hard chest, she barely realized that Inuyasha was holding her bridal style again and was jumping towards his car. The reporter was shouting something behind them and Kagome peeked over Inuyasha a bit to see him with his camera up to his face, still snapping away.
She shuddering unwillingly, but barely resisted when Inuyasha opened the passenger side's door and put her in, leaning over to buckle her seatbelt like he had done so a few hours ago. She saw that the reporter was running towards the car now and Inuyasha didn't even bother going out and walking around the car to his side, but only leapt across Kagome (with some difficulty, as Kagome noticed when one of his knees had to push against her thigh almost painfully) and stuck his key into the ignition.
Once the engine roared to life, Inuyasha had buckled his seatbelt and was moving out of the parking lot like a typhoon, with wheels screeching as he sped towards the exit and the road, with the reporter running towards his own car this time and trying to follow. Kagome bit her lower lip at the speed they were going, but after a good few minutes of speeding, she breathed easier when they slowed down and no suspicious cars were tailing them.
They traveled in silence, with Inuyasha gripping onto the wheel with a death grip and Kagome trying to calm her heart rate. The reporter had absolutely ruined their whole dinner, and unnerving tension was slowly washing itself over the two. They continued in peace, before one of them couldn't take the pressure.
"Sorry," Inuyasha muttered under his breath in what sounded like a strained voice, as he swerved the corner almost dangerously, causing Kagome to grab onto the door like it was her lifeline.
"It's okay," she replied, watching as Inuyasha went down the dark road towards his home.
Inuyasha frowned as he swerved around another corner. "Every time I go out and it's in a public area, reporters just track me down and take pictures. You'll probably be in tomorrow's newspaper of the 'Daily Rise' then. You better not care about what they write about you. It could be nasty."
Kagome shrugged a bit, looking out the window at the bright stars outside in the night sky. "As long as I know it isn't true, then I'm fine with it."
"You don't mind?" he asked a bit incredulously, looking at the girl from the corner of his eye. Other girls he had 'dated' before usually started complaining and whining about the moment by this time.
"Nah…" Kagome answered, enjoying the silence in the car. She smiled a bit. "It was actually quite fun."
Inuyasha turned to face her completely, total lack of understanding on his expressions now. "Fun…?" he echoed, lifting an eyebrow and pulling his gaze towards the road again.
Kagome didn't reply for a moment, but soon began to laugh gently and poked Inuyasha on the arm, a bright smile on her face. "Yea. It was a rush," she commented, joy in her eyes as she continued staring at the hanyou.
Inuyasha could feel one side of his mouth lift up, as a strange sort of respect grew inside him for the girl sitting in the seat next to him. She had thought such an encounter with a reporter was fun…? She was odd…
He could feel a chuckle escape his lips as they drove towards his mansion, with him running over the memories in his head. So, maybe she saw situations in a bizarre point of view, but he couldn't help but agree with her...if only a bit.
"I guess it had been a rush…"
A/N: I hit writer's block in this chapter, so excuse some strange forms of wordings if you see them.
Two people have asked if I'll take this story to the lemon zone. Sorry whoever wants to see this go to the lemony region, but the rating is PG-13. ^_^ There could be questionable sexual situations and things relating to that, but not a lemon. Sorry.
Sign up for my notification list (which sends you an email each time I update) if you all like. It's located in my profile. I will not sign up for you...please do this simple step by yourself. ^_^
As You Wish
V. Flashes Before Your Eyes
If you wanna play games with me then, I'm good
Say what you do for me then, I'm good
You don't really mean a thing cause, I'm good
With or without you
"WHERE'S THE FOOD!?"
"If I knew, you wouldn't be asking."
Kagome took a seat at the counter and laid her forehead down on the surface, tired of hearing the two argue about where the food had suddenly disappeared to. She was hungry, she was tired (of Inuyasha), she was bored, and she was definitely not in the mood to listen to a rich man argue with his cook. They had arrived 'home' at 6:10 at night and he had said something about dinner, but was dinner being served? No…
"Food doesn't just disappear!"
"It always does around midnight every single day! I wonder why?"
Inuyasha started swiping a claw here and a claw there, and Kagome watched with mild amusement as his claws created some kind of squiggly patterns in the air. However, when he started shouting again, she went back to putting her forehead on the counter. "I'm hungry," she commented airily, although she got no reply.
Inuyasha stared at the wolf cook coldly. "Cook some ramen then!"
Ayame threw her hands up into the air, glaring hotly at Inuyasha. "Ramen isn't a dinner food! You need some rice, some noodles, some meat, some vegetables, then followed by some good ol' dessert! That's a dinner!"
Inuyasha almost moped like a naughty child, crossing his arms across his chest. "But ramen is part of the five daily food groups!"
Ayame looked ready to tear out her own hair. "No! Ramen isn't! It's junk! You eat ramen too much. You're going to go fat, Inuyasha. You still have your reputation to maintain! That includes your body!"
Kagome's stomach grumbled. "I'm hungry…" Kagome stated again, but there was no respond once more, and she sighed lightly.
"Who cares! Ramen is good. Ramen is the best. I'm ordering you to make ramen!" Inuyasha yelled at the wolf, pointing to the stove with a frown on his face. It always ended like this.
Ayame grimaced at the command and scowled as she moved to the cupboard to get some ramen. When her employer directed her to do so, she had to. She couldn't possibly risk being fired, no matter how Inuyasha seemed to be attached to the ramen she cooked.
Kagome lifted her head and glowered at Inuyasha. "I'm hungry, damnit!."
This caught the hanyou's attention and his ears swiveled over to her, along with the furious gaze on his face. "Ayame is cooking ramen already! Can't you wait!?" he bellowed, his frustration almost pushing him to the edge of his sanity.
Catching the intense gold in his eyes, Kagome shuddered a bit; Inuyasha was scary when he was angry. "I don't want to eat ramen," she whispered in a low voice, since she was sick of the noodles. She always ate ramen at home because she hardly had money to buy anything else.
Inuyasha continued glaring at her as Ayame put the ramen on the stove, a deep frown on her face. She muttered something like 'selfish dog' but Inuyasha couldn't be too sure on what she said. He watched how Kagome diverted her eyes to look at anything other than him, a nervous look in those orbs. What was wrong with her?
"What do you want to eat then?" he snapped in an infuriated tone, still scowling at her.
Kagome lifted a finger to her lips in thoughtfulness. "Hmm…I want to eat…" She lifted an eyebrow. "---Anything, but ramen."
"Why does everybody have problems eating ramen for dinner?!"
Because it gets sickening after living on it for years…? Kagome thought distastefully in her head, now imagining her college days. She shivered. Yup…sickening.
Ayame looked over at Inuyasha from the stove. "Why don't you go out and eat? It'll be better than staying home." She snickered a bit. Usually, Inuyasha avoided eating anywhere other than home because if reporters trying to sneak into his house weren't enough, they usually liked to somehow appear and stalk him at dinner. It would be unnerving for anyone to go out to eat with flashes every few minutes. Privacy outside the house was not known for a famous person.
Inuyasha suddenly seemed uneasy and edgy as he gazed at Ayame like she had grew another head. "Remember what happened last time I went out to eat in a public place with…umm, whatever her name was?"
Kagome clucked her tongue against the upper part of her mouth, making a scorning sound. However, in her mind, she searched through magazines to see if she remembered any article on Inuyasha going out to eat and something occurring. She came upon one about three or four months ago, but the details were a bit blurry…
"Of course I remember, Inuyasha. It's 'the most shameful thing in the history of my (Inuyasha's) life!' Who in this household doesn't remember?" Ayame asked nonchalantly as she turned off the stove. The ramen wasn't cooked, but she really didn't care. She was tired of cooking. She had cooked a great dinner for Kagome's arrival, but whoever had stolen her dinner, had ruined it anyway. Inuyasha should just take his slave out to eat.
"What happened?" Kagome asked, her eyes wide in innocent curiosity as she stared at the other two demons.
Ayame and Inuyasha snapped their gazes at her at the same time, something akin to horror in their eyes. "Nothing," they both tried to say imperturbably, although Kagome wasn't a dumb child. She knew something had happened.
"But---"
"Out you go, Inuyasha! I'm sure nothing will happen!"
"But, I wa---"
"FINE, whatever, Ayame. I'll try to keep clear of reporters. That okay with you, slave? You can't care what they write about you."
"I don't care about that! I just want to kn---" Kagome's words just seemed to get interrupted every time she asked what happened, so she decided to just give up when Inuyasha shot out the kitchen like a bullet. Most likely, he was changing into something else more comfortable. It was obvious he didn't want to talk about it.
She turned her glance to Ayame, whose jade eyes only widened before she too, shot out the kitchen from the other door. Kagome groaned as she spun around in her chair. "What is wrong with me knowing!?" she screamed out loud, and Hojo, who had been stalking the foyer looked a bit confused when he heard her.
Jumping from her spot on the stool, Kagome trudged to the living room to watch some T.V. Who knew how long a hanyou took to change? She might as well catch up on some news in the world outside her because it seemed it would be the only way she would get some information. She wasn't sure whether she could leave the premises and enter again, what with all those guards protecting the mansion like dogs.
Must check on what happened months ago…Kagome reminded herself, before with a flick of her finger, she turned the lights off in the kitchen.
Inuyasha's nose twitched once he walked closer to his room, which was close to Miroku's. He smelt food…but that couldn't be possible. Hadn't Miroku went out to eat with Sango or something? But, he definitely smelled traces of food coming from Miroku's room. Frowning, he stopped in front of his friend's door and knocked.
There was a sudden squeal from inside and Inuyasha raised his eyebrows. Taking a deeper sniff, he noticed it was Miroku and Sango. In Miroku's room? Did those two finally get together? Maybe…but then again, he doubted it. Sango had never told her feelings about Miroku to the lecher, so he doubt they were. So what were they doing? "I know you're both in there, Miroku, Sango, so you might as well open the door."
There was a silence for a while, before a click sounded and Sango opened the door, her eyes as wide as Kagome's had been before. "Yes, Inuyasha…?" she asked, a tense smile on her face as her voice became airily light.
"What are you and Miroku doing in there…?" Inuyasha inquired, trying to look over Sango who had a smudge of food on her nose, and see Miroku inside. This instantly caused Sango to remove her hold on the knob and swing her hands up into the air, pretending to half stretch and half block his view.
This only made the hanyou smirk as he gave the door a quick push and it swung open carelessly, hitting the wall it was connected upon. Inuyasha's eyebrows shot up to his hairline when he saw Miroku stare at him terrified, with…food…on his face? A twinkle came into Inuyasha's eyes. "What happened to you, Miroku?"
Miroku tried to cover his face as Sango retreated back into the room with a casual air, watching the two men with an indifferent gaze. How dare she! She had drawn all over his face after winning game after game (all except for…ONE), and now she was so nonchalant about his embarrassment!? Oh yes, that's Sango…
"Move your hand, Miroku. I want to see what's written on your face. You can't hide it forever." Inuyasha smirked when he watched his friend move his hands away, revealing his cake-covered face. He also noticed dishes after dishes on the table that had looked like they were eaten like it was a pie-eating contest. So that was where the food went to…those bastards.
The pervert instantly snapped, "Oh, shut up. Yea, we stole the food. You want to know why?" Miroku shot a quick glance over to Sango, before lying believably, "Because we were starving since we didn't eat anything today and you know…we love Ayame's cooking and all…and when you come home, all the food will be gone." Miroku had carefully and dramatically enunciated the word 'gone.'
"Played Draw with Sango though?" Inuyasha commented as he leaned against the door structure, the amused look still on his face. "You lost pathetically," he also noted.
Miroku grumbled something under his breath and tried not to move his face too much. The sticky feeling was absolutely disgusting. "She's like the She-Satan of all card games," Miroku pointed out with a shudder, while one side of Sango's lips twisted upwards.
Inuyasha would have usually erupted into a burning volcano and tackled Miroku for eating the food by now. But, Miroku losing at Draw (because Inuyasha usually lost, but no one should know that) was a delightfully delicious reason to tease the other man. "I can tell." Inuyasha began reading the things on Miroku's face. There were words like 'loser' 'assgrabber' 'I am a drag queen' and a '© Pervert Haters Incorporated' sign along with other tiny drawings. Sango had wiped the floor clean with Miroku's behind.
Miroku frowned and tried covering his face again, not liking how Inuyasha looked ready to burst out in laughter. Stupid git. "So, what are you going to do? Eat me because I ate your food and it's happily in my stomach? Or go out to eat or something?"
Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Since Ayame refuses to cook ramen, I'm going out to eat with the slave."
At this, both Miroku and Sango looked interested. They hadn't expected Inuyasha to really go out to eat…maybe order something and take it home, but not out to eat.
"Yea! I remember what happened three months ago. It wasn't that interesting, so stop looking at me like that!" Inuyasha growled, turning away from Miroku's door and stalking to his room. He didn't need anyone reminding him of that incident, and least of all, Miroku of all people.
"That was some funny shit, man," Miroku commented as he stuck his cake-covered face out the door to stare at Inuyasha. "I loved the way you started to d---"
"SHUT UP!" Inuyasha roared and grabbed the vase next to him, throwing it straight at Miroku's face. Miroku barely had time to almost scream like a girl and dive back into the safe confines of his room as the vase flew past the room and smashed on the stair cases. Now there was another mess for the maids to clean.
"You can't deny it was funny!" Miroku shouted out and could almost hear the bellow of fury down the hall. It was so much fun to tease the little hanyou.
Sango lifted an eyebrow in amusement from the side as she watched Miroku smirk victoriously. "One day, you'll lose your head and I'll only say, I told you so. Inuyasha has a bad temper."
"I could have lost my head a thousand times. Inuyasha never kills me. That's because he loves me so much!" Miroku grinned winningly again when he heard the 'I DO NOT!' down the hallway and a slam of another door.
Sango only rolled her eyes as she picked up the deck of cards and started shuffling. It was time to beat Miroku down to the first floor again. "Another?" she inquired, smirking subtly once more as she regarded him with a questioning glare.
Miroku stared at Sango with a blank expression, remembering the amounts of food covering his face. If he knew what was good for him, he would stop right then and there and prevent any further mortification. But then again, the 'man' in him wouldn't admit defeat to any woman and it promised that when he won, he could draw as many things on her face as she had did his. "Of course. You're going down, Sango. I'll win this time around…"
Sango smiled. "And this is coming from the man with a 'loser' sign on his face…"
*~*~*
"Aww…so cute…" he muttered as he watched her starting to drool all over the couch. He poked her cheek and it felt soft and squishy, and he smirked again. "Definitely disgustingly cute…"
"Hamsters…carnivores…ate my shoe…" she mumbled broken sentences in her sleep and turned around, facing away from the man who was finding it amusing to poke fun of the girl as she slept.
He lifted an eyebrow at the comment before pondering the best way to wake Kagome without incurring her wrath. He shrugged after thinking about it for two seconds. Going around to the back of the couch, he put one hand on her shoulders and the other on her stomach (which he noticed was actually well-toned) and pushed hard.
This sent Kagome rolling off the couch and crashing to the ground, screaming as she woke up and bumped her forehead on the ground. She shot up and started rubbing her forehead as she looked around wildly, her eyes landing on the grinning hanyou as he crossed his arms across his chest arrogantly.
"What was that for!?" she asked indignantly, pushing her white skirt over her knees since it had rode up when she fell. She brushed her hair down and got up, scowling at Inuyasha.
"My couch is expensive. I don't want your drool all over it."
She noticed the small spot of water, or what she assumed was her drool, on the couch and she frowned more. "Well, I'm sorry. It's not my fault a show about famous people and their worst breakups bore me so much that I fell asleep within a minute of it."
"Did you know some of them only hook up to get publicity?" Inuyasha asked, walking towards the door as Kagome flicked the T.V. off and followed him.
"Gee, you think?"
Inuyasha ignored the obvious sarcasm. "But then again, some of them are real."
"I'll be surprised those don't break up within three months with their type of schedule. I personally would never want a famous person as a boyfriend. I hate publicity." She yawned a bit as she stretched her muscles and followed Inuyasha out the front door.
"All couples who are famous break up within a year…or at least only stay faithful within a year. Any longer than that and there will be outside trysts." He opened the door to the garage and Kagome choked a bit at the amount of cars in the place. They were all rich, expensive, new and all out of reach of her paycheck. And to think she thought Inuyasha would only have three cars…it was more like thirty.
Inuyasha continued onwards and opened a glass case with car keys in them, taking one out as he motioned for Kagome to follow him. She did so obediently, but only because she was stunned at all the money in wheels in this confinement. If she sold one of these cars…she would have enough money for a long time. Hell, if she sold all these cars in this garage, she would be living in ecstasy for the rest of her life.
"You're too rich," she commented as they stopped at a silver Jaguar XKR convertible. Her eyes widened as she watched him go to the driver's side and open the door. "Aren't these things 90,000 dollars!?" she screamed as he opened the door for her from the inside and waited for her to get in.
"I don't know. Got it as a gift from my father." Inuyasha shrugged as a dazed Kagome carefully got into the car, dazzled by the interior as she felt Inuyasha buckle up next to her. She quietly put her own seat belt on and stared at the audio system, wondering if that screen she saw was one of those cool destination locaters.
"320-watt Alpine premium audio system with six-CD auto-changer." Inuyasha patted his car affectionately before putting the key into the ignition, firing it up and letting the engine roar to life. Kagome was still a little staggered by the car (and had no idea what he had just said), but she was vaguely aware of Inuyasha moving out of the garage.
"Where are we going to eat?" she whispered, as her stomach growled a bit.
"Where do you want to eat?" he said back, looking at her from the corner of his eyes.
She turned her face to the side to meet gazes with him, as she blinked confusedly. "I don't know where to eat that you've been to before."
"How about at the Jasumin?" He was pressing buttons on his navigational thing and Kagome watched amazed as the destination to Jasumin (Jasmine) appeared. She recognized the name though and instantly shook her head.
"I don't have enough money to eat there," Kagome mumbled as she looked away from Inuyasha. I hardly have enough money for even a small entrée at that type of restaurant…
"I'll pay for you."
Kagome turned around to face Inuyasha again. "Excuse me?" Did she hear right? Did Inuyasha just say he'd pay for her?
"I said, I'll pay for you, stupid. Just tell me where you want to eat."
Kagome felt like she needed to clean her ears out. Inuyasha was really offering to pay for her. Any other person would take advantage of such a position and situation, but she only smiled. It wouldn't hurt to allow a rich man to pay for her dinner, as long as it didn't have any clandestine motives, right? The perfect place suddenly came to her mind and she pressed the button that said 'destination address' and typed in the address of the place.
When it appeared on the locater and said it was only fifteen minutes away, she pointed to the screen and smiled at Inuyasha. "Let's go there!"
He looked down for a moment and raised an eyebrow. "The…Hana?" he questioned, reading the name of the restaurant and wondering why he had never heard of such a place. Don't tell him it was a place Kagome would eat. He had wanted her to choose a place he would eat…
"Yea…I bet you'll like it."
He snorted. "I doubt it."
*~*~*
'I doubt it' my ass…Kagome thought dryly as she sniffed her nose in an irritated manner, and watched Inuyasha practically swallow the noodles in whole gulps, as he stuffed a burger into his mouth between bites.
"Dish ish 'ood! (This is good)" Inuyasha tried to say over the ramen and burger in his mouth. How he could eat two at once without combining the tastes would remain a mystery to mankind. "Ish even 'etter 'an A'ame's (It's even better than Ayame's)," Inuyasha said, his eyes wide in twinkling joy.
Kagome only tried to shove the piece of burger down her throat without throwing up. Whoever said famous people ate with elegance had obviously never met Inuyasha. The man was hardly the epitome of sophistication.
"Happy you like it," she said dryly, putting down her burger as she suddenly lost her appetite when she saw the hanyou slurp his ramen up from the bowl and made parts of the soup fly between her eyes. She clenched her teeth as she rubbed the offending water droplet from her face, watching wryly as people around them gazed at Inuyasha with some sort of fascination and confusion. Some of the teenage girls were whispering and she wondered whether they recognized Inuyasha or not.
"What's this called again?" Inuyasha mumbled, the name of the burger momentarily escaping his thoughts.
"A double cheeseburger," Kagome answered in a deadpan voice, watching in disgusted interest as Inuyasha stuffed the remaining burger into his mouth, the lettuce between his teeth making her stomach do a flip---not a good flip.
"How come no one ever fed me this," he questioned more to himself as he continued slurping up the ramen in his bowl. He saw the half-eaten burger on Kagome's plate and innocently inquired, "Are you still going to eat that?"
She only refrained from making a face as she pushed her plate towards him, watching as he took her burger and began stuffing that into his mouth too. "I doubt you ever even walked into a common food restaurant, Inuyasha…"
He only shrugged. "I only ate the good stuff…or that's what my mother fed me before she passed away." He grabbed the glass of water next to his food and drank that too.
Kagome opened her eyes wide a bit when she noticed Inuyasha had confessed something personal to her. She doubt he even noticed because his attention seemed more intent on eating the burger like he was a starving animal instead of on the words he was spitting out. She had known Inuyasha's mother had been a beautiful woman who had been the only daughter of an influential family. Everyone expected her to follow a model's career, but she only designed dresses and obediently married Inuyasha's father as his second wife when his first wife passed away. It had been an arranged marriage, but the media always stressed that they lived as happily together as if they had married for love.
"How did your mother die…?" Kagome asked in a subtle voice. She had been curious about that matter. No one really knew why Inuyasha's mother died. All anyone understood was that she had been found dead one morning and the news had passed it off as a suicidal result.
Inuyasha stopped eating the burger and one hand over the glass of water tightened enough to nearly cause the cup to break. He looked up and glared at Kagome through icy, cold, golden eyes, hissing, "None of your business" over the food. With this said, he continued eating and Kagome was left a bit afraid of that gaze he had given her and with her stomach turning again as he stuffed the last piece of her burger into his mouth.
"Excuse me, Mr. Kitao? Would you like to answer some questions for the Daily Rise?" a voice suddenly interrupted, and both Kagome and Inuyasha looked up to see a man in a black trench coat smile at the couple while holding a camera.
Kagome's eye twitched. Great. Just great. The reporters were coming.
"I'm busy," Inuyasha growled, picking up the bowl of ramen soup and dumping all the content down his throat. Kagome watched, a little amused, as the reporter snapped a picture of that. Wow. Wouldn't that make front page news. She could see it now… 'Famous Inuyasha is Drinking his Ramen Soup in a Little Restaurant.'
Inuyasha put the bowl down and frowned at the man who had taken a picture of him eating. "I told you, I don't want to answer any of your questions, and I don't want an interview. So, get lost." Obviously, Inuyasha wasn't kind to the tabloid journalists.
"This will only take a minute, Mr. Kitao," the reporter answered and began taking pictures of the whole table, including Kagome. The girl looked bewildered as some of the flashes blinded her eyes and she had to feel around for the top of the table. This caused her to knock over her glass of water and the liquid started leaking into the table cover, some dripping onto Kagome's lap. She took in a sharp breath when she felt the water trickle into the white material of her skirt, staining the lap area of it transparent.
Inuyasha instantly shot up from his spot and grabbed his napkin, putting it into Kagome's lap as he turned around and faced the nosy reporter.
"Look here, you! I wa---"
"Is this your new girlfriend?" the reporter questioned and snapped a picture of Kagome looked horrified and Inuyasha looking angry.
"NO!" both Inuyasha and Kagome shouted, their eyes widening, but only causing them to fall pray to the evil flashes.
"Isn't she a bit scrawnier then your usual flavor?" the reporter continued, as if deaf to the defying growls and the appalled and insulted gasp from Kagome.
"Scrawny!?" she echoed, covering her eyes with her arm as she wished some miracle, preferably an earthquake, to suddenly come and stop this embarrassing moment. Didn't this idiot hear any of the responses they were giving?
"She isn't my flavor of the week!" Inuyasha shouted in rebelliousness, watching as some of the elder couples in the restaurant paid and left, not wanting to see any more of such a ruckus. The teenagers started squealing when they realized it was really Inuyasha they had been staring at for the past ten minutes, and others were a mix of enthrallment and hatred.
"How long have you two been together?"
"Never!"
"We haven't seen you eating out for a few months, Mr. Kitao. Does this lady know about what happened last time?"
Kagome seemed a bit interested, but she was more humiliated as Inuyasha suddenly grabbed her up by the arm and started to drag her out of the restaurant, throwing 10,000 yen on the table. Kagome was about to yell that the food hardly cost even 1,500 yen, but Inuyasha seemed like he was fuming and beyond livid. She kept quiet as her spare arm tried covering the wet spot on her skirt and the reporter followed behind them closely, flashes still going off left and right. Was this what Inuyasha had to endure every time he came out to eat?
Feeling warm hands suddenly swing her into a hard chest, she barely realized that Inuyasha was holding her bridal style again and was jumping towards his car. The reporter was shouting something behind them and Kagome peeked over Inuyasha a bit to see him with his camera up to his face, still snapping away.
She shuddering unwillingly, but barely resisted when Inuyasha opened the passenger side's door and put her in, leaning over to buckle her seatbelt like he had done so a few hours ago. She saw that the reporter was running towards the car now and Inuyasha didn't even bother going out and walking around the car to his side, but only leapt across Kagome (with some difficulty, as Kagome noticed when one of his knees had to push against her thigh almost painfully) and stuck his key into the ignition.
Once the engine roared to life, Inuyasha had buckled his seatbelt and was moving out of the parking lot like a typhoon, with wheels screeching as he sped towards the exit and the road, with the reporter running towards his own car this time and trying to follow. Kagome bit her lower lip at the speed they were going, but after a good few minutes of speeding, she breathed easier when they slowed down and no suspicious cars were tailing them.
They traveled in silence, with Inuyasha gripping onto the wheel with a death grip and Kagome trying to calm her heart rate. The reporter had absolutely ruined their whole dinner, and unnerving tension was slowly washing itself over the two. They continued in peace, before one of them couldn't take the pressure.
"Sorry," Inuyasha muttered under his breath in what sounded like a strained voice, as he swerved the corner almost dangerously, causing Kagome to grab onto the door like it was her lifeline.
"It's okay," she replied, watching as Inuyasha went down the dark road towards his home.
Inuyasha frowned as he swerved around another corner. "Every time I go out and it's in a public area, reporters just track me down and take pictures. You'll probably be in tomorrow's newspaper of the 'Daily Rise' then. You better not care about what they write about you. It could be nasty."
Kagome shrugged a bit, looking out the window at the bright stars outside in the night sky. "As long as I know it isn't true, then I'm fine with it."
"You don't mind?" he asked a bit incredulously, looking at the girl from the corner of his eye. Other girls he had 'dated' before usually started complaining and whining about the moment by this time.
"Nah…" Kagome answered, enjoying the silence in the car. She smiled a bit. "It was actually quite fun."
Inuyasha turned to face her completely, total lack of understanding on his expressions now. "Fun…?" he echoed, lifting an eyebrow and pulling his gaze towards the road again.
Kagome didn't reply for a moment, but soon began to laugh gently and poked Inuyasha on the arm, a bright smile on her face. "Yea. It was a rush," she commented, joy in her eyes as she continued staring at the hanyou.
Inuyasha could feel one side of his mouth lift up, as a strange sort of respect grew inside him for the girl sitting in the seat next to him. She had thought such an encounter with a reporter was fun…? She was odd…
He could feel a chuckle escape his lips as they drove towards his mansion, with him running over the memories in his head. So, maybe she saw situations in a bizarre point of view, but he couldn't help but agree with her...if only a bit.
"I guess it had been a rush…"
A/N: I hit writer's block in this chapter, so excuse some strange forms of wordings if you see them.
Two people have asked if I'll take this story to the lemon zone. Sorry whoever wants to see this go to the lemony region, but the rating is PG-13. ^_^ There could be questionable sexual situations and things relating to that, but not a lemon. Sorry.
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