AN: Thank you for reviewing everybody, I'm very grateful…
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and Co.
Independent
Chapter Two
Unexpected Guest
After Kagome and Sango had made the claims, and all the other necessary arrangements, Kagome languidly returned to her spacious apartment.
A pudgy cat seemed to hear her coming before she even opened the door, and was there to greet her as soon as she stepped in, meowing away.
"Okay okay Buyo, you'll get your food…"she went into the kitchen to feed her kitty the world's finest cat food…
He wouldn't be caught dead eating anything else…
When she had eaten a salad or two, she settled down at a desk in her study, whipped out her laptop and pulled her legs up onto the chair.
She knew if anyone saw her sitting like this it would be rude…but she couldn't help it, she always had one leg pulled towards her and the other off to the side, both on the chair, never touching the ground.
After connecting to the internet, her fingers began to pound on the keys, only halting for a split second to click on something.
No, she wasn't chatting online, or writing a story for that matter, she was actually working on her newly acquired shares…if everything goes as planned, then by the end of tomorrow she'd have enough money to buy her own building and maybe hire a few people.
Kami knows how many vacant skyscrapers there were lying around the blocks of Tokyo…just waiting to be bought by some inexperienced entrepreneur…but lucky her, she had loads of experience…
But she still planned on waiting about a week till she did anything of the sort. By then she would have more than enough money to hire a few dozen people.
So, she worked through the night, planning to sleep in anyways since she no longer had to go to work at 7:30 in the morning…well, not for a week at least.
She woke up on the couch in her study, she was probably too tired last night to make it to her own bed…
Disheveled and still a little drowsy, she raised her arms to stretch and work the kinks out of her back from sleeping on the not-so-soft couch.
Later, after she had made herself decent enough for unexpected company, yet still in her pajamas…she made Buyo and herself some breakfast, planning to laze the day away…
While she was eating her eggs and sausage, Sango had called and offered to take her out for some much needed hang-out time.
Of course, they were going shopping…
That was Sango's thing, and Kagome didn't mind much…it was just that Sango had always tried to drag her into adult stores…REALLY adult stores…you know the kind of stores with the specially made toys and junk…
It always made her face turn red, and she would just sit outside the store until Sango was done looking through it…
Sango would always tell her to grow up and bask in a sex life that she never even really had in the first place. Yes, its true, she's still a virgin…but there isn't anything wrong with that…right?
Kouga hadn't really given her any 'pleasure' really…he'd just kinda feel her up every now and then and kiss her. He probably just wanted her…just to say that she was his….nothing more really came of it.
It saddened her to think about how he just up and left though…it made her feel as if something was wrong with her.
So, after agreeing to pick her up in about fifteen minutes, Sango got off the phone and left Kagome to finish the task of eating her breakfast before changing in some flare jeans and baby blue tank top.
"Buyo, you be a good boy okay? I don't want to come back and see my favorite curtains shredded up into little pieces!" she declared in a stern voice, looking down at the only unconditionally loving man in her life.
He just meowed his understanding and waltzed off to sleep on the living room sofa until she got back.
"So, how long do you think its going to take until your company is set up?" Sango asked, slurping her strawberry slushie.
Kagome, likewise slurping her watermelon slush, tilted her head up to the sky that the mall's open parking lot offered, swinging her shopping bags as she went.
"Umm…well, before you came to pick me up I checked up on the shares and stuff, and the business is actually picking up better than I had ever imagined it would…so many different companies want to be our sponsors…its amazing!" Kagome said, purely astounded.
"Hey Kags…are you sure you should be drinking that? You're allergic to watermelon…"
"I know, but it tastes so good! Besides, its not like I'm going to die…I'll just get an itchy throat is all, anyways, about the shares…"
They continued their discussion on the way to the car, and all the way home. A few dark clouds were beginning to gather on the way back, but otherwise the weather was very pleasant.
Oh yeah…today was definitely a good day…
When she had gotten back to her apartment, Buyo, as expected, jumped into her arms to greet her, and it had started to rain outside as well.
In fact it wasn't raining, it was pouring…
There it was again…that tingly feeling…
"Oh no, not again…what could it be this time?" she waved it off and went into the living room after changing back into her cat pajamas.
It wasn't until she had settled down on the couch with a bowl of ice cream when she saw that her answering machine was blinking.
She wondered who could have called…sponsors maybe?
Mechanically making her way over to the little black machine, she pressed play and stood there waiting.
'You have, 23 messages…'
"WHAT?!! Twenty three?!!!" she yelled, not believing the amount. She had never gotten so many in her entire life!
'Message one….Higurashi?!---'
Her eyes widened with horror….it was him!
'----Higurashi?! I need to speak with you dammit! End of message one…'
It was her EX-manager…
'Message two….Damned thing, your answering machine can't even record for more than--…End of message two…'
'Message three….for more than four fucking seconds?!!! That's--- End of message three…'
'Message four….THAT'S FUCKING RIDICULOUS!!!…End of message four…'
She couldn't stand it, she turned off the messages, not wanting to hear that foul man's voice any longer. Why would he want to speak with her? To try and bribe her back to the company because he can't handle it on his own?
Just then someone came banging at her door, and quite frankly it scared the holy hell out of her. When she came out of her stupor she ran to the door where whoever it was kept banging.
As soon as she unlocked it the person just stormed right into the middle of her apartment, leaving a trail of water in the front hallway…
And there he was…standing there in all of his sodden glory…drenched from head to toe…not even his expensive business suit could handle the power of nature that had been dealt him.
"You look like a wet dog…"
He glared at her from beneath his soaked bangs, but quickly stopped as soon as he remembered he was trying to win her back….she definitely wouldn't come back if he kept on glaring at her like that…
"I know what your thinking, and it isn't going to work, so don't try to put the whole 'nice guy' mask on in order to get me to come and work for you again."
His glare returned, " I'll triple your salary!"
She huffed, "Do you honestly think you can bribe me with money? What kind of woman do you take me for anyway?!"
He smirked knowingly, "You're no different from other women, all of you like material things, be it cash, clothes, jewelry, you name it! I'm here to offer you that."
Her anger rose a bit, but she kept her tongue in check, " Well, if that's how you think all women are, then let me tell you…yes its true, most women are like that, but not me Mr. Takahashi, I'm nothing like what you just described, so let's just leave it at that…"
With that said she started walking back to her living room where her poor bowl of ice cream sat and awaited her return, but stopped as soon as she heard a pair of leather shoes squeaking and sloshing as they briskly began to follow her.
She turned around to face the threat, "Oh no you don't! You're not walking into my apartment soaked to the bone!"
"What?! Bloody hell! Its not like I can just magically dry myself in the wink of an eye!" he exclaimed.
She rolled her eyes heavenward at his stupidity, "I didn't mean it that way! I meant to say that you aren't coming in here because you should just GO HOME!"
Just then a loud crack of lighting followed by numerous peels of thunder made its presence known to the raven haired woman.
Oh dear…I can't send him out into that storm…what kind of person would I be if I did?…
He was about to reply with his own heated answer when she held up her hand to cut him off.
"I'm sorry Mr. Takahashi, I take that back. You're welcome to stay here until the storm subsides, but as soon as it does, you leave, got it?" she said in a stern voice, but he could hear the warm kindness behind it all.
He scratched his head, "Umm…thanks I guess…"
With that, she told him to wait right there while she got him some clothes…Kouga had left some of his clothes…and they looked about the same size, so what the heck?
He was a bit puzzled as to why she had men's clothing, but he figured that she was probably dating someone…
A feeling of disappointment crept up on him, and he snarled as it tried to go a little further.
He kept himself busy by rocking back and forth on his feet, taking in his surroundings.
So, this is where the little princess lived eh?
Not half bad…roughly the same size as his apartment…
He never saw it coming.
Out of nowhere a big ball of fur launched itself at his chest and nearly knocked him over with its colossal body.
"Wha-What the hell?!!" he yelled as he looked down at an obese cat, trying to get comfortable in his arms, purring as it rubbed itself against his wall of a chest.
Kagome came running back to the front door like a madman, a pair of shorts and a white muscle shirt dangling from one of her hands.
Gasping for air, she looked around bewildered, "Wh-what happened?!"
He stifled a laugh, but it ended up coming out as a snort anyway.
She glared at him, took Buyo, and threw the clothes at him.
"Hey! Where am I going to change?!" he demanded irritably.
"You're going to change right there mister! I won't have you walk through my apartment sopping wet to get to a bathroom. I won't look, when your done you can join me in the living room and you can watch the weather channel to see when the storm will clear up." she waved him off and made her way back to the living room, Buyo looked back and meowed at him before joining his mistress.
Quickly changing out of his previous clothes and into the new unfamiliar ones, he grumbled about women and their damn tidy ass selves as he finished folding the wet clothing.
He followed her scent into the living room only to find her sitting on a sofa in her pajamas, eating chocolate ice cream.
Damn it…she looked as good in kitty pajamas as she did business suits…
Sitting down on a separate couch, he watched the big flat screen tv, and started biting his left pinky nail…
She noticed this and put her heavenly snack on her lap. "Why are you nervous? Do you feel uncomfortable or something?" she asked, looking at him, and oh, what a beautiful sight it was….that muscle shirt really did fit his hard toned chest…
How did she know he was nervous?
He just shook his head and watched as the weather channel began forecasting when the storm would be over.
He already knew what the forecast would be, that's why he was nervous….
"It appears the storm won't completely clear up until about 8:00 tomorrow morning, so stay on the safe side and keep yourselves indoors until then…"
He winced as her face took on a blank expression. He highly doubted that she would let him stay the night….but he wouldn't mind sleeping in the same quarters with a body as fine as that any day…
Of course, being the kind person she was, she couldn't allow herself to kick him out at night and into a raging storm… "You can stay the night, but you're leaving as soon as the storm is gone…"
She didn't like the idea of a stranger in her house…well...he wasn't that much of a stranger, but it wasn't as if she knew him personally….
Before he could say thank you or anything, she got up and headed towards her study in the back of her apartment with Buyo meowing at her heels. "You can go ahead and watch tv, I just have some business to take care of…"
Shrugging his shoulders he flipped the channel until he got to some good old cartoons….
She was busily typing away on her laptop once again. With her legs propped up onto the chair and her brow drawn together in heavy concentration, her proficient fingers pounded the keys relentlessly.
It had been nearly an hour since she had left that dog in the living room to his own devices, yet it was only 6:00 P.M….
How could a storm last from early evening all the way to the next morning?!
She wondered if she was born unlucky, or if Kami just enjoyed toying with her miserable little life when she least expected it…
Setting her train of thought back on its tracks she evaluated the growth of he investments once again…
"Wow…pretty soon I'm going to have to start hiring people…this is going to get too complicated for me to handle on my own…" she muttered as she scrolled down, viewing all that she had acquired.
"What's going to get complicated?" a voice cut through her thoughts like a hot knife through butter.
He was standing at the entrance to her study, holding Buyo against his chest.
When did Buyo leave the room?….
She shook her thoughts away as she hurriedly closed her laptop, forgetting to shut it off.
"Nothing…well, nothing that concerns you…Are you hungry?" she asked, trying to change the subject…
His stomach growled its answer as he threw her a nervous smirk…Buyo hissed at the rumbling that had disturbed his wonderful rest…
"That's all I needed to hear! Come on, I'll make you some dinner." She said, leading him into her brightly decorated kitchen.
"Ow, my eyes!" he teased about the bright yellow painted walls, but stopped smirking as she threw him a glare, "Do you have cup ramen?" he asked, changing the subject.
"No, I don't have cup ramen, Miroku took the last one a few days ago…" she informed as she balled her fists.
His eyebrows went up as immediate recognition filled his amber orbs, "You mean Miroku Houshi? He's one of my closest friends, I've known him since high school…"
"Well, I guess it really is a small world after all…umm…how does steak and mashed potatoes with gravy sound? I'm a big fan of American style foods just so you know…" she told him, raising her brow in question.
"Yeah, fine with me. Although, the last time, which also happened to be the first time, I had steak it tasted horrible…" he ventured, hoping not to make her mad at him again.
"Well, who cooked it?"
"Ehh…Miroku…"
She laughed, a warm laugh that he wanted to hear more of, "Well, Miroku can't cook worth shit. So don't be scared to eat my food, and I promise I won't slip any poison into it while you aren't looking…" she winked.
He couldn't stop the warm tingles that had started to take over his body...but he didn't really mind it too much.
He just smirked back at her, leaning against the door frame as he watched her gather all of her culinary tools.Let the cooking begin…
They both leaned back to pat their tummies.
She smiled at him "You know, I think I have just enough room for a little dessert…"
He smirked back, "If its okay with you, then I think I've got a little more room too…"
"Of course! You're my guest after all…how does chocolate almond pudding sound? It's my very own recipe, I made it up when I was a kid." she offered, giving him a smile as she got up from the table and started heading back into the kitchen.
"That sounds hella good right about now…ya know, if feels like I'm on a bloody vacation."
She laughed, "Oh really? And why's that?" she asked from inside the kitchen, whipping up the dessert.
"Well, first of all, I don't have to take any damn business calls, and second, your food makes me feel as if I just walked into heaven." he snorted with laughter.
She came back out a few minutes later, two crystal dishes in hand, filled to the brim with chocolate pudding with almonds in it, and whipped cream on top. "Thanks for the compliment. I've always loved cooking, but I've never really had too much time for it since business got in the way…"
They feasted on her chocolate dessert as they continued to talk and slowly become better acquainted with one another…
He soon found out about her ex-boyfriend, that explained the clothes…he couldn't help but let the feeling of relief wash over him in waves…
Still talking, although they had finished the pudding a few minutes ago, Inuyasha noticed how Kagome was sitting at the table.
"Why are you sitting like that?" he asked very bluntly.
He cheeks became tinged with red, "S-Sorry, it's a habit…" she was about to put her legs down when he beat her to the cake.
"No no, there's nothing wrong with it, I was just wondering why, I've never seen anyone sit like that at the table."
She told him it was out of habit, and that's when her throat began itching…
He took note of this too, "Umm…so…why are you itching your throat? Did something bite you?"
Her face became flushed once more, "No, I'm just allergic to almonds…"
His brow rose up in question, "Well, then why the heck did you eat them?" he asked, a bit worried about whether she would be ok since she had just ingested something she was allergic to.
"Ah…hahaha…" she laughed nervously, "I like almonds…and besides, it only makes my throat itchy. I'm allergic to a lot of things, like watermelon, almonds, kiwis, bananas, mangos, and cantaloupe…I know, it's weird, but it's true…"
"You've got to be the strangest woman I've ever met…" he declared, getting up from the table to stretch.
It was getting late, so she showed him to a guest room two doors down the hall from her own. She gave him an extra change of clothes, and then they both took a shower and headed to sleep.
He laid on the guest bed until he was sure she was asleep. He silently tip-toed his way out of the room and stopped in front of her door.
Yeah, she was sleeping alright, he could hear her even breathing, as well as the soft purring of her fat cat…
He envied that massive kitty cat of hers…that obese thing got to sleep in the same bed with her…how he wished he could gain access to the same privilege…
After he made sure that they were sound asleep, he crept inaudibly into her study and flipped her laptop open…she thought that she could avoid giving him answers by changing the subject huh? She thought that he would forget…Well, she thought wrong…
His eyes widened at what they were seeing…
"So, that's why the little vixen quit eh?…"
Now he understood everything perfectly…her company would soon rival his, or even out-do it…
He could have just as easily ordered his secret mob to ruin the upcoming business, but there was no way he could do that to her, not after she had taken him in…
But he had to do away with the threat to his company…His only chance of surviving against it would be to merge with it…
And the only way to do that was with her consent…
He smirked as his brain formulated a plan…
Oh yes, he liked the way this was going…and who knows, he just might get to see what's under all those clothes of hers in the process…
AN: That's it for chapter 2 of Independent, hope you guys like it! Umm, I feel a little silly asking this, but could anybody tell me how to do the spacing on here? I don't like everything so close together…
Please continue reviewing, I will accept your criticism, it will make me try harder…