The Club
Christielea54
Chapter Seventeen
Miroku had him trapped in the storage room, and he wasn't liking it one bit.
"You made her cry," Miroku stated.
Inuyasha's eye's flashed over to him as if trying to decide if he were telling the truth or not. Had he really made her cry?
"Cried herself to sleep in Sango's lap. Muttering something about you never trusting her again."
"I never trusted her to begin with!" he yelled.
Miroku's eyes turned soft. "Come on Inuyasha. You know me better than to think I'll believe that."
"What makes her so special anyways?" he ground out.
"You're the one who knows the answer to that," he pointed out wisely. "And I suggest that you figure it out, and fast, because she'll be here soon, and I don't think you want to spend the rest of the night hiding in this closet," he pointed out with a shrug and returned to the bar.
Kagome sat in her room staring at the telephone. She couldn't go back there now! She just couldn't! Slowly she picked up the receiver and dialed The Club's number.
"Hello, Miroku?"
"Hey Kagome!"
"I… I can't make it in today…"
"I see." He was disappointed. She could tell. Even from over the phone she could tell.
"I'll call back in a few days, okay?"
"Of course," he replied.
"Bye," she said weakly, and hung up before he could answer her.
She threw herself onto her bed and cried into her pillows. When she was younger, she'd always thought that she'd never cry over a guy. It was a stupid reason to cry. But now, faced with the reality of Inuyasha maybe never speaking to her again… she just couldn't help it. It hurt too much not to.
How the hell at she gotten so close to one guy in such a short period of time anyways?!
Knocking on her bedroom door woke her up the next morning. "Come in," she called sleepily.
Mrs. Higurashi walked in and sat down on the edge of Kagome's bed. Looking down at her daughter's dejected form, she thought of how glad she was that she wasn't in her teenage years anymore. She held a big warm mug of hot chocolate out to her daughter. "Here."
Kagome gave her mom a puzzled look as she took the beverage.
"It's Inuyasha, isn't it?" she asked gently.
She felt her cheeks flush as she looked at her mother. How had she known?
"Whatever happened dear, I'm sure it'll be fine. Things have a habit of working out."
"It was my fault," Kagome admitted softly.
"Then fix it," Mrs. Higurashi said matter-of-factly. And then she was up, brushing her skirt off and out the door, leaving Kagome spluttering over her cocoa. "I'll be doing laundry if you need me!" she called.
It just wasn't fair that mother's could read their children like that!
Kagome walked down the hallway of the office building nervously. The receptionist had said it was down this way, second door on the left. She found the big oak door and knocked.
There was some shuffling around inside, and then a deep voice that she knew was Sesshomaru's called out. "Come in."
She stepped inside. Sitting in one of those giant swivel chairs was Sesshomaru, just as she remembered him. Well, almost as she remembered him. His usually impeccable hair was a little… disheveled. Sitting in a chair a few feet away was a secretary. She was a small woman, and she seemed to be… blushing?
Well, it didn't take a rocket scientist to guess what had been going on in here before she knocked!
If only Inuyasha knew! Classy, clean cut, better-than-everyone-else Sesshomaru having an illicit love affair with his personal secretary! It was priceless!
But thinking about Inuyasha was started to bring that familiar painful ache back. She cleared her throat. "Hello, I'm Kagome Higurashi. I work at your club."
"Oh yes, I remember. You're Inuyasha's girlfriend," he stated.
Instead of this making her upset as it had every other time that someone suggested that, now it just made her sad. She cast her eyes downward.
"I'd like you to meet my… secretary, Rin," he introduced them, putting extra emphasis on the word secretary, as if to make sure it wasn't confused with anything else.
She looked up. "Hello Rin."
Rin gave her a friendly smile. "Nice to meet you Kagome. Tell Inuyasha I said hello."
"About Inuyasha," she began, turning back to Sesshomaru.
"Has he gotten into trouble?" he asked her calmly. As if he were asking her if it was sunny outside.
"No! Of course not! I was just hoping that you'd give him the chance to perform on Saturday. Don't hire a band. You know."
"Why isn't he here to ask for this as well?"
She suddenly found the ground fascinating. "Actually, he doesn't know I'm here."
A slight pause, and then, "No."
Her head shot up. "No? What do you mean no?"
"Why should I say yes?" he asked logically.
"Because he's your brother!" she yelled. All the stress of the past few days came rushing back. "Because he could do better than anyone you could hire! Because he needs this chance to get him over that awful stage fright! Because I won't leave here until you agree to it!"
Ever so slowly, a smirk spread across Sesshomaru's face. "Fine. I agree. Maybe you can knock some sense into my little brother."
Kagome smiled. She felt lighter than she had in days. "Thank you Sesshomaru."
He nodded. She turned to leave. "Next time," he called sternly after her, "call before you visit."
She glanced over at his secretary once more. "Of course," she said with a smile.
Inuyasha wiped the bar counter clean listlessly. Even the customers could tell that there was something wrong with him, and that just made him even more upset.
God! It had only been a few weeks ago that he'd sat here and laughed as Kagome polished this very countertop. It had only been a few days ago that she'd worried about his health. Had only been-
No! He shook his head as if to clear it. He shouldn't be thinking about her! He was supposed to be mad at her, damn it!
But he did miss her… How had he ended up like this? He was Inuyasha! He wasn't going to go all helpless and depressed because a girl wasn't around! That was stupid! That was for weak pretty boys! Not him!
Miroku's voice jarred him from his thoughts. "If I knew that it was going to take you forever and a day to wipe that counter, I would have done it myself," he commented.
"Shove off!" he grumbled.
The bells rang as someone walked in. Inuyasha wasn't in the mood for customers, let Miroku deal with whoever it was. But when Miroku didn't start in on his so-called charming welcome-to-The-Club speech, Inuyasha got curious. He turned back around, and immediately wished he hadn't.
There stood Kagome, same as ever. She was nervously clutching her handbag and biting on her lip. "Can we talk?"
He raised his eyebrows. "I'm listening."
Slowly she walked over and sat on a barstool in front of him. "Inuyasha, I'm sorry."
"You should be!"
She cringed. Well, what had she been expecting? She pulled a slip of paper out of her bag and slid it across the counter to him.
He picked it up. It was a check from Sesshomaru for his services performing at The Club next Saturday.
Inuyasha stared at her incredulously. "What did you do?" he ground out.
"I know that you'd never go to Sesshomaru yourself," she began explaining quickly. "So I went for you, and-"
"Kagome!" he yelled. Okay, so he was a lot angrier than she'd expected. "You just keep making it worse! What's fucking wrong with you?"
She squeezed her eyes shut. "You can hate me if you want to Inuyasha! This is what you want! I won't let you let your talent go to waste! I won't! You deserve this!"
"How the hell would you know what I deserve?! Maybe I am the one who murdered Sango's family and you just don't know about it!"
She shook her head, fixing him with a deadly serious stare. "Don't you even joke about stuff like that!"
"Were you joking about not telling?!" he countered.
"I didn't mean to! Besides, it's for your own good!"
"It is not!"
"It is too!"
"It is not!"
"It is too!"
Inuyasha's expression had gone awfully stony, while Kagome was having trouble blinking back tears.
"It is not!"
"It is too!"
Some of the customers had decided to get up and leave, not wanting to get caught in the middle of World War III.
Kagome was being so damned annoying! "Why don't you leave me the hell alone and mind your own business for a change?!"
"Maybe I will!" she shot back. And with that they turned their backs on each other and angrily crossed their arms over their chests, minds still reeling from what had been said.
A full minute passed. Finally Kagome's broken voice filled the air. "Inuyasha?" she whispered.
"What?" he grunted.
"I'm," she turned back to him. "I'm sick of fighting with you."
It is not… what? he thought. He couldn't even remember. How pathetic was that? The only thing that mattered right now was that it actually hurt to see Kagome cry because of him. Hurt to be upset with her. Hurt to know that tomorrow she might not be there as his friend. He grabbed a box of tissues from under the bar and slid them over to her. "Here," he said gruffly.
"Thanks," she said softly, managing a weak smile for him. "Want to know a secret?" she asked mischievously.
He tilted his head curiously. Whatever he'd been expecting her to say, it sure wasn't that!
"Remember your brother's secretary?"
"Rin?"
"Her and Sesshomaru… were getting it on in his office when I went to see him!"
She giggled as his jaw dropped open. "Sesshomaru? With Rin? In his office?" A wide grin spread across his face. "That's so great! Do you realize how much I'll be able to get back at him with this?"
Miroku breathed a sigh of relief in the background. That had been a close one.
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Inuyasha and Kagome get into way too many of those back and forth arguments! But coming up soon… dare I say mistletoe?
Please review! Ideas are always welcome!