'Let's see what do I have saved? ... 50 bucks maybe? Shiit. 300 short. Can I get it illegally? Not unless I rob a bank in broad daylight or kill someone. Fuck! This worse than I thought.' He thought as the only option left dawned on him.
"You? A what?" Kikyo wished she was drinking something so she could spit it out in surprise. InuYasha sighed in defeat. "A job..." He muttered."Where are you gonna get a job? I mean, you got no education or nothin'.." "I'm gonna take a bus to the docks tommorow, see if I can get a manual labor job." "So how long will ya be down there?" "Till maybe five. " "Aright.. don't stay there too long, ya know how boring my life can be if I don't have you to nearly kill me." She lied.
Kikyo jammed her hands in her pockets as she walked through town early the next morning. 'Dammit, I'm bored. I got nothing to do and nowhere to go without him.' She stopped. 'I've been alone for how many years with only my 'job'? And now I care that my life is empty.' She sighed and started again for the post office. 'Damn you InuYasha.' She thought, not meaning it.
She walked into the post office and headed for her box like she did everyday. She stuck the key in and prayed with every ounce of strength she could muster for it to be empty again, for this town to be far enough away that they forgot about her.
Her heart dropped violently when she saw the unmarked white envelope inside. She grabbed it with trembling fingers. Habit made her jam into into her pocket as soon as she removed it from the box.
InuYasha leaned his head against the window of the bush and felt the glass vibrate with each bump on the road. 'Dammit. Fucking bike. Fucking job. Now I get to try and get a job working for some asshole, instead of sitting up on that little shelf with Kikyo.' He sighed. 'I miss her already.' He admitted to himself ungrudgingly.
The bus stopped at the docks about noon, and InuYasha began his quest for a job.
Kikyo stared at the letter in her hand. Her feet had carried her back to the bridge. 'I can't do this... I can't. I physically can't. Something will happen if I do, something to me.' Kikyo shuddered and pulled her legs closer to her.
'Is this worth it? Is it moral? All I've done, even if it was immoral, immoral as hell, is it forgivable if I did it for a good reason? And all of them had it coming too. Does that make it right?'
'They had it coming. We all have it coming. Where are you InuYasha? Hurry up and get back to me.'
"Twenty bucks a day." "What? You fuckin' nuts! That's not even minimum wage!" "Minimum wage? Kid, ya know it's illegal to hire you right?" The man behind the desk said. "Aright, fine." InuYasha conceded. "Be here 11 PM next monday, they're building a new storage building on one of the islands. You'll be digging out the foundation. Bring your own shovel."
It was dark when InuYasha got off the bus. It was probably around 10 PM. He made his way toward the bridge. If Kikyo was anywhere, that's where she'd be.
"So, someone hire your ass?" Kikyo asked, kicking herself for her earlier self pity. She had gotten over it soon. She still dreaded completing her next 'assignment', but not so much as before. "Yeah, night shift shovelin' dirt. Start Monday." InuYasha said, climbing up and moving back to the wall Kikyo was leaning against.
"So they actually gonna pay you to rearrange the dirt?" "Not much, but yeah, it's pay. Gonna take like three weeks to get all the cash I need." "I assume you're just going to quit after that."
"Maybe not." He sighed, leaning back on the concrete. "Maybe not? Don't tell me you're gonna continue working!" "May have to. Money's tight, Ma works, but that ain't enough." He sighed again. "Of course, if that bastard had stayed we wouldn't be in this mess." He didn't realize he said it out loud.
"What was that?" Kikyo asked. "Who left?" InuYasha looked at her. He never discussed his brother, but no one asked. And this was Kikyo..
"My brother. He left about ten years ago." He replied. Kikyo knew him well enough to catch that there was more to it. "Do you want to tell me what happened, or shouldn't I ask?"
"Nah, it's okay." He began. "I don't remember much, but one night I heard that bastard arguing with Ma..."
A young InuYasha peeked around the corner into the room where his mother and brother were fighting. "You can't leave! We need the money!" "You knew this day was coming mother." "Why do you have to go? Is it really that important that you would abandon your own mother?"
"Yes, it's that important. It was important enough for father to die for, it's important enough for me to leave for." 'Dad? What does dad have to do with it?' InuYasha thought. He leaned in, hoping to hear something about his dad.
"Don't bring him into this! What he did was for us! So we could live a normal life! We! Me, you and InuYasha!" His ears pricked up at his name. "He's going to leave just as I am. Just as father did. You know that." Sesshomaru replied coldly.
His mother had teared up by this point. Sesshomaru turned and left. InuYasha stared at him in hatred for what he had done to his mother.
Kikyo stared at InuYasha in silence. 'He's upset about it. Real upset.' She had never seen him so open about his home life, or so upset.
She moved over and pressed her shoulder against his in a show of support. Worldessly he slipped his arm around her sholder and pulled her against him.
Kikyo wearily laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. 'He's warm.' Was all she could think as she slowly forgot her earlier troubles.
'This is what you wanted. Someone to relate to. Someone who did things like this with you. Someone who cares about what happens to you.' her mind informed her.
'Just this last job. I've done it before. Then I'll go somewhere, somewhere where they can't find me. Maybe I'll bring InuYasha with me.' She thought, readjusting herself, not aware of the fact she was trying to find a position comfortable enough to sleep in.
InuYasha looked down at the head resting on his shoulder. He smiled to himself as he felt her breathing slow. 'She trusts me. She trusts me enough to sleep like this. How many times had I wished we'd do shit like this? Well, I knew it was gonna happen someday.'
Needless to say, InuYasha did not return home that night.