Mae to Ima
Disclaimer: I don't own Kappei Yamaguchi, Richard Cox or Rumiko Takahashi! I have absolutely nothing to do with owning any part of InuYasha! The show is just not mine, at all.
AN: Konnichiwa! Just so you know, as soon as school starts I really have to concentrate on raising my grades all the way through both semesters (as I usually get lazy the second half). Therefore, updates may be more rare but they shouldn't stop altogether. I'll try my best to update when I'm not studying since I'm sacrificing my social life for a while... no hanging out, at all, next year and a lot less AOL. I just need good SAT scores and a higher average. I'm a junior so... yeah.
I'm sorry to have made you wait so long everyone, including DrewsAngel. Like I said, it's hard for me to find inspiration but I hope you like this chapter. It feels weird to me.
Again, I LOVED THE REVIEWS!!!!! And to answer quite a few reviews, and the question that I know is on most of your minds, "Mae to Ima" is Japanese for "Before and Now." ("To" doesn't mean the English "to". It's pronounced as "toh.") The full and original title to this story was supposed to be: "Sore wa Mae to (demo) Ima wa... nan desu ka?" But that was too long so I shortened. The original title literally translates to: "That was before and (but) now is... what?"
Dude! How could you not know what DDR is?! It's "Dance Dance Revolution"! The best game (besides Kingdom Hearts) ever created. It's so fun! You have to follow arrows and the beat of a song and at the right timing step on this mat, as if you're dancing. You need to play it! Then you can show off in the arcades!!! Some people are so easily amused to watch you play on standard. I built a crowd playing a slow heavy song. However, I have a problem with the metal arcade mat-thing. I can't find the arrow and it's so awkward with all the little crater things for the arrows. My mat at home is cushiony: I paid $45 for it but you could get a regular one for $20. By the way, if you plan to buy the game, try DDR Max (PS2) or Konamix for the PS1... Max 2 is hard. I've just started playing it and I'm having some trouble because every song is offbeat. I solute anyone who can do "Kakumei" on heavy or even "Breakdown" (my favorite DDR song besides "Era.")
- Are you from Canada? I heard they don't have DDR up there...
-I told you I was changing the rating... this is a "just so I won't get deleted" thing. I got scared when other authors started talking about deleting their stories.
I hate the way this site ruins my chapters. They look retarded!
Sorry for the long AN, just trying to answer some reviews.
Oh and don't worry... InuYasha will pay. You'll see. Eventually. Probably in the next chapter.
Chapter Three
The night slipped into day as hours passed after InuYasha and Kagome's late night conversation. The sun replaced the moon's position as illuminator of the earth and the sky changed from a deep purple to a hazy orange blue as the day began.
InuYasha was the first in the house to awake despite his falling asleep last. As a hanyou, his body never really needed as much sleep as that of a human's. It didn't need that much but it did need some everyday, undeniably.
The silver-haired boy pushed the covers off him as he prepared to sit up. Ayumi was still knocked out and dead to the world by his side on the bed, drooling obliviously.
It was 9:05 a.m.; a half hour after Kagome should have left to work... yet she was definitely still in her room, as InuYasha smelled. By the pace of her heart, she was without doubt sleeping as well.
Sighing, the hanyou stood up and made his way to the raven-haired girl's room. He knocked twice on the door and receiving no answer, he allowed himself in.
She was in fact sleeping, though not the fitful sleep she had been enduring yesterday evening. Her face was in a peaceful expression and she breathed softly, her lips parted ever so slightly. Her nose twitched cutely as a stray strand of black hair brushed upon the tip. She slept on her stomach, her arms hugging the pillow beneath her.
Smiling slightly, InuYasha called out her name gently, "Kagome..."
She responded by changing her position, rolling over and onto her side facing him with a little whine.
Raising an eyebrow, InuYasha paced to the very edge of her bed where he kneeled and whispered her name again, "Ka-go-me."
The girl, still asleep, shifted once again. With a toss, she was lying on her back with her arms over her head.
Getting slightly annoyed now, InuYasha muttered her name with a poke to her tummy, "Oi, Kagome." He noticed how flat her stomach was, as she remained asleep.
"Ka-chan, wake up," he commanded as his eyes traveled further up her body. That shirt she was wearing was bunched quite nicely around her breasts, he decided as he continued to eye her.
"Mmm, no," she mumbled, still in dreamland.
He knew one thing that might get her up and, with a smirk, he used the knowledge.
"Ooohhhh Kagome," he moaned, and as expected, her eyelids shot open wide.
She looked at the boy who was currently leaning over her, his lips poised just above her ear. His pants were still on and she was safely under her blankets, his hands were in respectable places equaling not on her or himself for that matter and she thanked the gods for it while her surprise started to slip into anger.
"Knew that'd work," he chuckled as he watched her frown.
"What're you doing in my room, pervert?" she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Waking you up, genius," he stated.
"What time is it?" she asked with a yawn.
"Around 9:15," he answered casually, not at all startled as she pushed passed him and gathered her clothes to dress.
She had just begun to pull her shirt up when she realized he was still sitting on her bed, watching her openly.
"Out," she growled.
"Party pooper," he pouted but left the room, nonetheless.
After her best friend's boyfriend left her room, Kagome locked her door and continued the task of getting dressed as quickly as possible. After she finally slipped on her second black pump, she left her room in a rush. Grabbing her bag off the kitchen table, she entered the living room, heading towards the door.
Everyday, it was the same routine: wake up (usually by her alarm clock, which she neglected to set that particular night), go to work, go home (deal with Ayumi and InuYasha), and go to sleep.
Of course, everyday was a painful reminder of the past.
"What? No 'good bye'?" InuYasha said as he stood blocking the front door.
"Move, I'm late!" the girl with dark blue eyes spoke.
"I'll drive you," the silver-haired young man said and began opening the door.
"In case you hadn't realized, I have a license and a car," she stated, annoyed.
"I'm perfectly aware of that but I just thought maybe you'd want company this morning," he said perfectly levelheaded as they both exited the house and arrived at the driveway.
"No thank you," Kagome crossed her arms.
"But look," InuYasha stated pointing towards the two cars, "my car's blocking yours. I'd have to move it, which would make you more late."
"So let me borrow your car, then," she said, tapping her foot impatiently.
"Yeah right," he snorted, "you think I'd let a crazy driver get behind the steering wheel of my baby? Not likely."
"Fine then. That's okay, I'm already late... a couple of minutes won't make much of a difference, just move your car" she said.
"But your car isn't in drivable condition," he stated, still quite calm.
"What do you mean? My car's perfectly fine!" she almost shouted in frustration while waving a hand at her black Lexus.
Without another word, InuYasha walked up to her car and took out a pocketknife, slashing her tire.
"No, its not."
"What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"Why absolutely nothing."
"You-you-you--" she fumbled for an appropriate name to call this incredibly annoying and infuriating person standing non-chalantley in front of her with a lazy smile.
"Me-me-me," he mocked with a smirk.
"You goddamn sonuvabitch!" she shouted, smacking his arm.
"Oh my—did you just curse?!" he laughed.
She just turned around with a huff, facing his black Mercedes.
"Whatever, lets just go already!"
"I will forever remember that," he said, still chuckling while automatically unlocking his car.
Kagome, still thoroughly upset, entered his car and shut the door. InuYasha sat in the driver's seat right after her.
No matter how many years passed, she would never get used to seeing InuYasha in regular clothes driving a car.
The raven-haired girl sat back and looked out the window as InuYasha got on the expressway. She could still hear the golden-eyed boy chuckling here and there and she rolled her eyes. He was never going to let that little flare of her temper go.
"You know, I think you're sexier when you curse," he stated with a grin, his eyes flashing to her before going back to the road ahead of him.
"You would," she muttered, looking at him quickly before staring straight ahead.
"Yes and I do," he spoke, the grin never leaving his face.
"Like I care," she said blasé.
"I can just picture what you might be like in bed," he said, tightening his hands on the wheel.
"Oh, wow. I do not want to know what goes through that twisted little mind of yours, thank-you-very-much," she said, getting angrier by the second at his random topic.
"I bet you'd like it rough," he said, licking his lips.
Sucking her teeth, she glared at him; "you never cease to amaze me in your bluntness and plain out bad manners. Again, please keep your thoughts to yourself."
"So you do, huh. Hmm, you're probably the type to scream, right?"
"I can't believe you."
"And you probably like dirty talk, too," he said with another smirk.
"We are not discussing this," she said, turning on the radio.
"Fine," he said turning the radio off again with one hand, "we're here anyway."
He drove up to the building she worked at. She was a personal assistant for Sesshomaru... but of course, InuYasha had no idea her boss was his half brother.
She got out of his car and walked to the entrance of the huge building she worked in.
"So, I'll pick you up at about 4:00?" he asked as she continued walking.
"No!"
"Then, how are you getting home?"
"I'll take a train," she said, turning to give him a dirty look, and discovering he was watching her skirt hike up.
"Our neighborhood has no close by trains or bus stops. You know that," he raised an eyebrow.
"I'll find a way home, don't worry about it," she said stiffly, still pinning him with an icy glare.
"Fine. I'll be waiting for your phone call," he grinned and drove away.
Kagome yelled in frustration and stomped a heel into the ground.
"Well, he certainly has changed," said a male voice from behind.
"Kouga, hey!" she smiled at him.
"You're late, you know..."
"It was his fault, I swear!" she defended herself.
"Hey, don't explain it to me, I'm not your boss. By the way, Sesshomaru has been meaning to speak to you all morning," he said, blinking once, "I'd run if I were you," he said pointing to the tall structure they worked in.
"Right, bye!" she said as made a dash for the elevator after getting inside the building.
She pushed the twentieth floor button and was slightly surprised as the elevator stopped at the fifteenth floor and in walked a tall dark-haired man with a small ponytail.
"Ah, Kagome-san?" said the man with a smile.
"Miroku-sama! What are you doing here?" she said confused.
"Well, a man named Kazuki called me at home and apparently he wants to see me..." he started awkwardly.
"Kazuki... Sesshomaru?" she asked.
"Yes, that was his name."
"Oh, he's... my boss," she said.
"Really? What a coincidence!" he thought.
'Not really,' she thought.
"Um, anyway, I was wondering you would come over to see me and Sango," he said after a short span of silence.
"Oh, I'd love to anytime! I'm just so busy," Kagome said, blowing her bangs up with a puff of air.
"Well, whenever you get the time. You know where we live," he smiled.
It was extremely weird to be in a small room with Miroku and not be groped, but then again, it shows just how devoted he was to Sango.
'I never thought I'd live to see the day when I wished InuYasha would act more like Miroku,' she sighed.
"Ah-ha, twentieth floor! I guess we both get out here then," said Kagome.
"Yup," he replied allowing her to exit first. That was Miroku, perfectly sweet and polite (and now without the lechery). Sango was a lucky woman.
"Ms. Higurashi!" was the first thing the young woman heard after exiting the elevator.
"Hello Keiko," she sighed. Back to work.
"Mr. Kazuki has been waiting for you all morning! Where have you been?" she said.
"Never mind that, I'm going to his office now. Miroku, I'll see you in a little while," she waved to him before entering her boss's office.
The room was slightly dark, lit only by the portion of the window that didn't have the shades fully drawn.
"Higurashi," greeted a deep voice.
"Um, good morning Mr. Kazuki, sir," she said closing the door behind her.
The man raised a perfectly groomed black eyebrow, "So formal! Come now, Kagome. You've never called me anything but my first name... regardless of how it irritated me to no end."
Giggling slightly, she replied, "You're right, sorry Sesshomaru."
"No need to apologize. It's just the formality was so... unbecoming from you," he said with a slight tilt to his lips.
"Uh, exactly why did you want to see me?" she questioned curiously.
"I was wondering if you'd like to accompany me on a little business meeting," he said.
"A business meeting?"
"A dinner, to be more specific. I'm meeting the CEO of Yasahiikunai Enterprises and his top lawyer and would like for you to accompany me," he explained.
"Well, I guess I could go. When is this?" she asked.
"Tomorrow night," he answered.
"Okay then, sure," Kagome smiled.
"Fine... so, how are things with Ayumi and InuYasha?" he asked. She had explained to him all she understood the day after she met InuYasha again.
"All right, I suppose. InuYasha's just as flirtatious as ever these days, though," she shrugged.
"He will never learn how to treat a woman," he sighed somewhat angrily.
"But, it's okay I guess. Ayumi's happy; that's all that matters, really," she smiled at him.
"You're too kind for your own good," he stated.
'Just like Rin was,' Sesshomaru thought.
"Well, I'd better get back to work... and Miroku's waiting for you outside," Kagome said as she made her way to the door.
"Tell him to come in and make sure you tell Keiko to make an appointment for me with Mr. Sutoraifu... and don't think I didn't realize you were late" he called after her.
Smiling, she nodded and left, telling Miroku to go in as she passed. She was headed to her own office right beside Sesshomaru's.
Upon entering the room, she saw stack of papers, some presumably contracts, on her desk. A sticky note was attached to the first sheet explaining she was to read over every paper on her desk.
"Damn it, Sessho! I'm not your secretary!" she yelled at the note.
She opened a drawer in her desk to get a hi-lighter and found another note reading, 'I know you aren't my secretary. If you were, I wouldn't trust you with this task. We both know Keiko has no brain.'
She smiled after giggling a little bit. The happiness she felt was short-lived however, as she looked at the pile of papers on her desk once more. It was going to be a long day.
AN: I decided to stop it there, but no worries: I somewhat already know some other stuff I'm going to include in the next chapter.
PLEASE REVIEW!! I would love to know what you're thinking right now! Talk to me, people! What did you like? What should I include? What do you want to read here? Any questions? Confused about something? Go ahead and tell me in the review.