He owned the place! He owned it! It was just too much for poor Sango's mind to comprehend. "Y-you're l-lying!" she sputtered.
"You're right," her hopes rose with that, despite the fact that he was still grinning confidently. But, with his next words they were dashed to a thousand tiny pieces, like a spilled jar of sprinkles. "I do work here sometimes," he admitted. "But I still own the place,"
Sango turned to Kagome for help, as if thinking the other girl could wake her up from this horrible nightmare. But Kagome only shrugged and averted her gaze to Hojo, who had come back from the bathroom (the two girls had finally approached Hojo and asked where he disappeared to all the time; it was because a bladder problem, he had said).
"Oh! Hello, Miroku-san!" Hojo happily greeted the said man. "You're here early today,"
Sango openly gaped. That confirmed it all right. The lecher hadn't been lying. He was indeed their manager. She turned to face him, now filled with dread. As much as she wanted to quit right now, she needed this job. Badly, at that.
Then she remembered just what had happened the other day. And she paled. "Uh...Um, about yesterday," she began weakly.
In a moment of seriousness, she supposed, he flashed her a genuine grin, "Nothing doing," and for a moment she actually felt quite comfortable in his presence. Then he ruined it with a suggestive wink.
She silently fumed at that, but did not take action. After all, even the tiniest amount of unchecked retaliation could cost her the job. Prudence aside, it had only been a wink.
"Anyway," their manager continued. "For those who don't know, I'm Houshi Miroku. And he," he motioned to the silver-haired man, "Is Senshi Inu-Yasha. He doesn't work here, but sometimes he comes with me to hang out and get free ice cream..."
"I'm Higurashi Kagome," the other girl happily introduced herself.
"Hiraikotsu Sango," she said simply, absently noting that this 'Inu-Yasha' had glanced up momentarily when Kagome had been speaking.
Miroku clapped his hands together. "Now that we're done with introductions," he signaled to Hojo, and Sango also noted that one of his hands was wrapped in cloth to match his uniform. He wore a white shirt and black pants like his employees, but his apron and cap were purple. Remembering what he had on the other day, she decided he had a thing for the color.
Hojo got to work at once, with Kagome and Sango following his lead. It wasn't long before they had their first customer of the day, though who it was rather surprised both Inu-Yasha and Miroku.
He somewhat looked like Inu-Yasha, with his long silver hair and amber eyes, but the resemblance stopped there. The man was much taller and more refined, with a darker side to him, whereas Inu-Yasha was a tad rough around the edges and easy to read. Additionally, their taste in clothes were different and this other man had a crescent moon tattooed on his left shoulder. A short and stubby fellow whom Sango recognized as Youkai Jaken from school also accompanied him.
"Sesshoumaru," Inu-Yasha coldly greeted him. Inu-Yasha and Sesshoumaru were on quite good terms but a recent fight had driven a wedge between them.
"Little brother," Sesshoumaru acknowledged him. That explained the looks, Sango thought.
"What brings you here, Sesshoumaru?" Miroku interrupted, in order to sever the building tension.
Sesshoumaru quirked a brow, turning to Miroku. "Ice cream, of course. Kikyou has the bug, I'm afraid...I thought some ice cream would soothe her throat and lift her spirits,"
Both Kagome and Sango were taken aback by his sensitivity. He had struck them as the cold and uncaring type, to tell the truth.
"Alright," Miroku looked amused, though he cast a worried glance at Inu-Yasha. "What can I get for you, then?"
"...A strawberry cone and a medium cup of chocolate chip cookie dough," Sesshoumaru answered after momentarily glancing at the menu. Sango suppressed a snicker; it seemed the whole family was overly fond of strawberry.
Miroku nodded at the three of them and they got to work at once. Hojo packed strawberry ice cream neatly into a cone that Kagome held while Sango rolled chocolate chips and chunks of cookie dough into a few scoops of vanilla ice cream before proceeding to load it into a bowl.
Sesshoumaru thanked them and paid before leaving. Inu-Yasha also left right after that. It was Kagome, whoever, who voiced the question they were all thinking. "What's up with him?"
Miroku shrugged. "Eh, he's just got a bug up his butt because Sesshoumaru has been going out with Kikyou for awhile now and they're pretty serious about it. He's had a crush on her for ages, that's why,"
"That sucks," Kagome frowned, tilting her head to the side.
"Tell me about it," Miroku sighed. "I'm the one who has to listen to him gripe and groan about it twenty-four-seven,"
A/N: I've been on restriction, so I couldn't post! But don't worry, to make up for the lack of chapters recently, I have several pretty good ideas planned and a few already written future chapters. I've re-written the second half of the third chapter so it will be much more relevant to the plot line, and in turn edited the first part of the fourth chapter so it will make sense when compared with the third chapter. This fic was originally planned to be very light-hearted and fluffy, but I've changed my mind. Sesshoumaru/Kikyou's relationship and Kagome/Inu-Yasha's relationship still will be, but Miroku/Sango will be a bit dark, drawn out and very angst-ridden. You have been warned, WAFF lovers. I promise though, when we get to the goods, there will be plenty of fluff. Short chapter, but it's only a teaser for good things to come. Expect more info on the Sesshoumaru/Kikyou bit in the upcoming chapter.
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