Chapter 7: The Plan

Sorry. This chapter is short. And I don't think it's that great. Sigh Review! And um, the next chapter will be called, "A Rainy New Moon" cuz it has both Ranma and Inuyasha in it. Aint that cool?

-

"Yeah," Inuyasha muttered sarcastically. "How can you explain this?!" He pointed to the animals on the floor.

Kagome blinked.

"I'm outta here," he said disgustedly, kicking the orange cat and wincing as it hissed and clawed at him. "Cats suck!" he continued.

"Yes, they do," Ranma agreed hurriedly.

Inuyasha ignored him and left the store, huffing. "Kagome, I'll be at the comic book store."

As soon as he was out of the door, Ranma commented, "Gee. Nice guy. What do you see in him?"

Kagome looked at him. "Explain."

For some reason, she felt annoyed, offended, at Ranma for making fun of Inuyasha. But the feeling quickly washed away as she listened to Ranma and Genma argue. Finally, they stopped and told their story.

Kagome and Tohru listened, wide-eyed. It would have been funny, too...if it weren't true.

"But—but—that isn't possible!" Kagome stuttered. Tohru, on the other hand, accepted the explanation right away.

"It isn't?" Ranma glared. "Look at me! And him! And the rest of us!" He—er, she—shoved the panda.

Kagome stared, trying to absorb everything. How would you feel if you saw cold water change a person into a pig or something?

"Uh, Tohru? Could you explain what happened to Yuki and Kyou?" Kagome hoped desperately that their story was a little less bizarre.

Too bad.

After the talking rat finished his tale, Kagome, bleary-eyed, felt like she could faint.

"I think I've had enough excitement for today," she muttered dizzily. "Mr. Manager? I'm gonna take a break."

-

Inuyasha flipped through the stack of books, looking for something interesting. Nope. Nothing.

Whatever. I'll just pick something random. Closing his eyes, he chose a magazine on the right.

He was about to pick it up, when he noticed the title. "What?!"

'Everything a Girl Needs to Know about Makeup and Boys,' it read.

Inuyasha stared at it dumbly for a while.

"Whatcha reading?" a voice asked.

"Gyah!" he jumped. "Oh," he said, turning around. "It's just you."

"What do you mean, it's just me?" Kagome frowned. "And what are you reading?"

She took the hot pink magazine from his hands. Then she laughed. Hard. All the tension she had felt during the last few days bottled up and shot out. Laughter really is the best medicine, she thought to herself.

"What?!" Inuyasha demanded, blushing. "It was on the floor—so I was gonna pick it up and—"

"Yeah, sure, Inuyasha," Kagome rolled her eyes. "If you want makeup advice, ask me." Then she cackled, receiving stares from the other customers.

Smirking, she pranced away from the aisle. "Come back. Our break is almost over."

Inuyasha looked to the floor and followed her, dropping the magazine behind his back so that no one would notice.

-

Miroku closed his eyes and looked heavenward. 'Now what?'

"Um," he said, smiling politely. "The cookies are outside..."

Wordlessly, the girls headed towards the backyard and began eating.

Well, at least they're outside.

Then, DING-DONG.

Miroku frowned. Now Sango was sure to think he was a dork.

Being melodramatic, he marched to the door. "Here I go to meet my fate."

"Hi," Sango said breathlessly. "My parents weren't home and I kinda got lost so I ran over here and I probably stink of sweat, so sorry, and—are those your sisters?!"

"Sisters?" Miroku frowned. "No way. Of course not."

"Aw, too bad. I love little kids," Sango told him.

Miroku perked up. "You DO?" Score one for him! "Well, actually," he amended. "They're my cousins. And since I love little kids—" he hated them deeply, "—I volunteered to baby-sit. For free, you know."

"Really?" Sango seemed impressed.

"So, before the video games, can we get some snacks?" Sango asked. "My brother was hogging all the chips."

Miroku nodded. "Sure, sure. Right this way."

After getting out Jell-O, cake, ice cream, cookies, brownies, and chips he and Sango sat down.

"Wow," she said. "This is a LOT of food. I'm gonna gain so much weight, I'll become a blimp."

"But," he said. "aren't you going to eat the food?"

"Of course I am! Turn down food? Yeah, right!" she replied.

"Good, good."

Silence. Everything was so silent, except for the chewing noises of Miroku, who had this bad habit of being the world's loudest eater.

"So." Miroku tried to fill in some conversation. "Um, where's Kagome?"

"Oh," Sango said dismissively. "She and Inuyasha are doing something together."

"They've been spending a lot of time together recently," Miroku's eyes sparkled.

"They'd make a nice couple," Sango agreed.

They stared at each other, smiling. Each had a million ideas floating in their minds.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Miroku shrugged.

-

Inuyasha and Kagome strode through the door of the shop.

"Mr. Manager! We're back!" Kagome called.

After dealing with one customer, a crabby old lady who complained that Inuyasha was rude and stubborn, Ranma came to them.

"Uh," he said sheepishly. (Yes, he's a HE again.) "Since it's my fault that, uh, Mr. Manager got annoyed with you—and he did, even if you didn't know it—I am being forced to offer you a job—ouch!—" he muttered as Genma whacked him. "I mean, I want to offer you a job at our house."

Inuyasha looked at Kagome.

"Well, the more jobs and the more money, the better." Kagome shrugged. "We'll take it."

Miroku grinned. He looked up from the newspaper. "There's a fair and carnival thingy. We could invite them there. The more time they spend with each other, the better. And of course, we're gonna be there, too. Sound good?"

"With a plan like that, they'd be sure to fall in love!"