Last Chapter on Isn't Life Juicy: "MY LIFE SUCKS!" That's what Kagome Higurashi and Sango Taijiya shouted at the top of their lungs after realizing how miserable they really were. But they weren't the only ones -- InuYasha Takahashi also thinks that everyone is trying to make his life as miserable as possible, right after he gets a detention from his history teacher. Miroku Houshi seems to be the only one whose life isn't ruined -- despite the many beatings he gets from Sango, the girl that he's in love with. He's also the only one looking forward to the first day of work. Hmm, this is where things will get interesting. I wonder how they'll all react after they find out that they're working with one another?


Author's Note: Updated Feburary 19th, 2006 --- Okay, so I've proofread and made some slight changes to all of the previous chapters that I've posted. I'm glad to say that I'm finally satisfied with splitting this chapter into half. I just hope that my other chapters won't be so long, so that I won't have to do this again, ehe! I can't wait to start working on the next chapter! But for now, here's the rest of the chapter!

Disclaimers: I do not own InuYasha or any of these characters.

A n I n u Y a s h a F a n f i c t i o n

Isn't Life Juicy?

An Alternate Universe Pairing Fanfiction

Kagome & InuYasha – Sango & Miroku

By Aienkien-Jitsuni

Isn't Life Juicy
CHAPTER ONE
When Life Gives You Lemons
--P A R T II --

The half demon turned away and started walking toward the principal's office for his detention – his arms crossed in frustration.

"Feh! Stupid Miroku."

InuYasha quickly made up his mind that he would rather be alone in his misery than listen to a hopelessly in love pervert talk on and on about a girl that hated his guts – no matter how much the damn lecher didn't notice it at all.

Just thinking about all of that mushy pet name love junk made the half demon shiver.

"I-It's freezing in here!" Sango said as she shivered uncomfortably.

Kagome nodded in agreement as she huddled closer to her friend.

The smoothie shop was a narrow brick building that was located near the food court in the Sengoku Jidai Outlet Mall, where Kagome and Sango often shopped at. On the outside of the shop there was a hip and trendy logo made up of neon lights that hung right over the glass doors. Flyers, menu examples, advertisements, and store hours were all over the glass doors – which made the store attractive, inviting, and colorful.

As Kagome and Sango walked inside the shop, they found that the little smoothie shop was a lot bigger than it looked. The walls and ceiling were painted a vibrant orange-yellow color and framed pictures decorated the walls. Contemporary lime-green lights hanged from the ceiling, which brightened up the room. The floor was titled with pale shades of green which helped soften up all of the bright colors.

On one side there was a large counter that took up most of the room on the side of the shop. The glass part of the counter displayed fruits that were neatly set up in rows by color – berries, melons, and all different kinds of other fruits. Behind the glass counter there was room to mix all of the ingredients and make smoothies. On the bright green solid part of the counter, there were two cashier machines – and beside them were different colored straws and containers of napkins, along with fresh fruits displayed in silver bowls to help decorate the counter.

On the wall behind the main counter were chalk menus written in bright different colors, while the more permanent menus were displayed like posters on the side of the wall. Also behind the counter was another counter made out of stainless steel – where all of the blenders, utensils, and ingredients were set up. There was a huge metallic container where all of the ice was kept in. A silver swinging door near the stainless steel counter and ingredients was where the kitchen and inventory area was.

On the other side of the room, opposite of the large counter, large sliding door coolers displayed a variety of sodas, juices, iced teas, and other drinks. Next to this, there was a little nook where bright orange shelves displayed bright cups and mugs and fun crazy straws – and on the shelves were red-orange baskets that displayed packets and tins of various sizes that had quality tea powders and mixtures.

The rest of the room was used as seating. The main seating area was made up of bright red café tables decorated with a bowl of fruit, accompanied by two or three steel chairs cushioned with red plush. Big comfy lime green couches with lemon yellow cushions were lined up against the wall, with smoothie recipe books ready to read. They were set up neatly on a little coffee table in front of the couches. Near the windows, a bright red counter hovered in the air along with a matching set of stools that went all along the counter.

Basically, if heaven were a smoothie shop, this would definitely be it.

"Konnichiwa! Good afternoon, girls! Welcome to Kajuu Juusu's – you're local smoothie shop! Hope you liked what I've done with the place!" A cheerful young woman who looked as if she were in her early twenties – just a couple years older than Kagome and Sango – bowed down to the pair of girls who were standing in awe of the amazing smoothie shop. She smiled brightly, her warm hazel eyes flickering while her untamed shoulder-length layered hair was wild and tucked behind her ears.

"K-Konnichiwa!" Kagome and Sango said in unison nervously as they both bowed down to the woman.

"How silly of me, I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Meirou Rin and I'm your boss!" the bright woman said cheerfully as she bowed down to both of the girls in return.

"You girls are early and I'm sure you two will be great employees! The other two haven't arrived yet but I'll just be waiting here. As for you girls, here are your new uniforms that I expect you to wear while you work here – and since this place is freezing, these clothes are a lot warmer than the ones that you're wearing right now! There's a small employee's room that you can find near the restroom and you can change there!" Rin said beaming as she pushed the confused girls towards the employee's room.

"Arigatou! Arigatou!" the pair of girls said, overwhelmed. They quickly closed the door to the employee's room – which looked like a large storage room with boxes stacked up on one side.

"Well, she's definitely a very energetic person. I wonder how old she is? We're so lucky to have such a young boss." said Sango as she dropped her uniform on a pile of boxes next to her.

"Yeah I know! She seems real young and extremely nice. I'm so glad that she's not some mean old grouchy boss." Kagome replied while she started to remove her shirt.

"True. This place is amazing though – it's hard to believe that it's just a smoothie shop!" said Sango in disbelief as she started to pull her dark brown hair into a ponytail.

"I know – wait until the other kids find out about this store when it opens!" said Kagome as she put on her orange cap. She twirled around and looked at her uniform. She wore a bright orange shirt under a bright green strapped dress that was a couple inches above the knee. The look was topped off with a dark green apron and a bright orange cap with the words – Kajuu Juusu's – written in cursive with bright yellow stitching. Despite the bright colors, she thought that it was a very cute uniform to work in.

"Okay, I'm done. I guess I'll wait for you outside, Sango!" shouted Kagome over her shoulder as she walked out of the storage room. Sango nodded, not even anywhere near being done.

The young raven-haired girl felt a lot more comfortable in the cold store since her layered clothes kept her warm. She saw that her boss Rin was nowhere to be found so she decided to take a seat at one of the comfy lime green couches. This place was really amazing and she was glad that she was working there – it was lucky that they just applied for this job by chance.

Kagome closed her eyes and laid her head on one of the lemon yellow cushions. Before drifting off to sleep she heard a loud smack and her friend screaming the words "HENTAI!" at the top of her lungs.

The concerned girl quickly got up from her comfortable seat and ran towards the employee room – where the door was wide open.

There was a guy that was sprawled out on the floor with a bright red handprint mark on his face while a pile of work clothes (a uniform that matched Kagome's, with only slight differences) laid scattered all over the floor. A very pissed off Sango stood over him – half dressed – with a light tint of pink on her cheeks.

"G-Gomen but I didn't know that you were in there! I would have never–" the guy said apologetically, (while at the same time his eyes were wandering towards the half-dressed girl's body) but his attempts were useless.

"JUST GET OUT!" screamed the dark-haired girl as she kicked him out of the room (literally) and slammed the door. Kagome shook her head and helped the poor guy up who was still scattered out on the floor.

'Maybe this was the guy that Sango was complaining about before.' Kagome thought to herself.

As she picked him up, he quickly regained his composure and started apologizing.

"Gomen nesai. I didn't expect anyone to be in there. I thought that no one was in there and Meirou-san even told me to go change in the employee's room. I honestly didn't know someone was still changing in there."

"Oh no problem! I'm sure it was just a big misunderstanding." Kagome smiled up at him politely.

'No way could this guy be a pervert! I'm sure Sango was just overreacting when she said he was a hentai. He seems polite enough and charming as well -- not to mention he's cute too!'

But Kagome judged him way too soon as he grabbed her hands and looked deeply into her eyes.

"W-What are you–" stuttered Kagome, confused with the guy's sudden change in behavior.

"You are so understanding! I was wondering, my beautiful lady, if you would bear my child?" asked Miroku in a serious tone.

Kagome was caught off guard and didn't know what to say while a choking noise started coming from the employee's room door behind them. In just a couple of seconds, Sango – fully dressed – burst out of the door with a shocked look on her face.

"N-NANI?" Sango said as her voice cracked and her dark brown eyes were wide with disbelief while her cheeks were a slight shade of pink with embarrassment –

'No, that couldn't be right because she had nothing to be embarrassed about.' Kagome thought skeptically to herself.

Sango Taijiya had a flustered blush on her face because she was…jealous?

The poor confused raven-haired girl stood there speechless while the indigo-eyed boy turned his head towards the girl who had the reputation of being "The Girl Exterminator". He immediately let go of Kagome's hands and clasped onto the flustered dark-haired girl's hands.

"Oh, do not fret my dear Sango! Of course you are the only woman in my life!" Miroku exclaimed as he beamed at her while his violet eyes sparkled. Sango's dark brown eyes stared at the ground defiantly while snorting.

"Huh, like that will ever happen. You can't even focus your attention on one girl!" stated Sango as she let go of the pervert's hands – her fingers still tingling. Kagome watched the scene from afar unnoticed. She saw the dark haired boy's smile fall and his once sparking sapphire eyes become dull and tired – while she watched her friend stare at her hands deep in thought, her cheeks still a slight shade of pink.

But before Kagome or either of them could even come to term with their thoughts – their boss popped up in front of them, smiling upon them while her nut-brown eyes darted from one to the other.

"I'm so glad you all got to introduce yourself to one another! Let me tell you how relieved I am that you're all sociable! I can't stand the silent types -- you can never get a good conversation out of them! As for me, I love to talk!" The woman chirped as she motioned them to follow her into the kitchen. After they all filed into the kitchen silently, with the exception of their boss, they stood there patiently and listened to her chatter.

"As you can see, you guys are the new employees of this smoothie shop – where its bright and successful future depends on you!" the very excited woman explained. "Though it would help if I knew each of your names – it would be quite strange if you all knew my name but I didn't know yours! To think about working with people whose names you don't even know! Anyway…" She trailed off, quickly looking at her clipboard that was sitting on the stainless steel countertop table and sifted through the application papers.

"Let's see who we have here. Kagome Higurashi." The raven-haired girl quickly bowed nervously.

"Okay, Sango Taijiya." The girl that wore pink eye makeup hastily bowed.

"And I'm guessing Miroku Houshi." The violet-eyed boy bowed formally.

"Hmm, that's funny. I thought there was another employee that I hired." She thought absentmindedly as she tapped her finger at her chin while her eyes drifted towards the ceiling. The dark-haired boy quickly cleared his throat.

"Gomen nesai, Meirou-san. I am a personal friend of that employee and he wishes to be excused for being late." Miroku said seriously. His face then broke into an anguished sigh and a grim frown as he started to continue with his explanation.

"It has seemed that some last minute emergency has come up for my troubled friend. You see, his house suddenly went on fire and he went to see if his sick elderly grandmother was alright. We can only pray." Miroku bowed his head solemnly while the two other female employees glared at him unconvinced.

"Oh the poor boy! I hope his grandmother is okay!" exclaimed Rin as she raised her hands up to cover her mouth and her light brown eyes were filled with concern. She put a comforting hand on the lecherous liar's shoulder.

Because Rin Meirou was utterly gullible, clueless, and a little too naïve for her own good – she believed every single word of it (unlike Kagome and Sango, who couldn't believe how the pervert and the other late employee had gotten out of trouble so easily).

"He can come in anytime he wants! Surely a measly job would definitely seem very unimportant to a boy in his circumstances. And anyway the next two weeks of work will just be spent on training you guys to make smoothies! Kajuu Juusu's doesn't open until then."

After Rin had finished this sentence, an elderly lady walked into the kitchen and stood right next to the young woman. They both bowed down to each other politely and Rin gave her a kind smile.

"Employees, I would like you to meet Kaede Imouto – Kajuu Juusu's manager. She's actually a local shrine priestess, believe it or not but she has decided to get a part-time job here. She's a great cook – believe me, she can make anything delicious! The secret is her herbs and spices that she adds to the smoothies, which make them one of a kind and unique. She's concocted and created a lot of the recipes for Kajuu Juusu's, so obviously she will be the one to teach you guys how to make these smoothies!"

"It is nice to meet ye all." Kaede said in her old-fashioned accent, bowing while the others bowed in return.

Kaede Imouto was an obviously old woman – the wrinkles on her skin proving her many years of wisdom and living. Her once black hair has faded into a dull gray and was pulled back into a loose ponytail with a white ribbon, while her loose hair framed her aged face. She had one dark brown eye, while the other eye was covered with a black eye patch. She definitely looked like a wise elderly priestess – if she weren't wearing her uniform. The elderly woman looked strange and out of place since she was wearing the Kajuu Juusu's uniform – the bright youthful colors not suiting her very well. But despite the bright orange cap she was wearing, she looked friendly, kind, and approachable compared to most old-fashioned elders who judged you the second they saw you.

All of the younger employees bowed politely back and stood there waiting for any further directions.

The elderly woman examined each of the new employees with her sharp dark eyes. She gave a real hard look at Kagome and gasped a little when she studied her – the poor raven-haired girl quickly shifted her weight from one foot to the other while her dark brown eyes darted uneasily.

'Why is she looking at me like that? She barely even glanced at Sango. I'm pretty sure this is the first time we've met…so why did she gasp like she was surprised to see me?'

Kagome's thoughts were quickly shut off as Kaede turned her attention to the violet-eyed teenager. Her dark eyes looked up and down at the young boy who was standing right in front of her.

"Why are ye not in your uniform?" she asked curiously as she stared at his normal school day clothes. The girls quickly gave him a cold stare, but it went unnoticed as the young man sweat dropped and put his hand behind his head nervously.

"Well, uh…you see. There's a reasonable explanation for that. Well…" Miroku stumbled, his eyes avoiding the elderly woman's stare. He chuckled nervously, his charming smile a little off. The two female employees got excited – anticipating a good lecture that the pervert deserved. But unfortunately their boss had saved him with her impatient enthusiasm.

"Oh it's alright. I'm sure you can change later! Let's just get to work, shall we?" chimed Rin cheerfully as she started rolling up her sleeves and putting on an apron.

Of course she didn't notice the defeated look on Kagome's and Sango's faces as they hung their heads in disbelief. Miroku on the other hand wiped his forehead in relief as he started chuckling to himself at how lucky he was. The watchful Kaede saw everything, quietly chucking to herself thoughtfully, as she started to get the right equipment to start making smoothies.

After gathering all types of different fruits and ingredients, along with all of the mixing instruments like blenders and such – she quickly looked at all of the employees.

"Let's start off with the basics of smoothie making…"

After two hours of talking about the basics of smoothies they had finally started making them – simple flavors such as a strawberry, banana, mango, raspberry, blueberry, coconut, peach, and pineapple flavored smoothies. Kaede also informed them about the special herbs and spices she used to make the more complicated recipes of the smoothies. They had just finished working on strawberry banana, pineapple passion, mixed berries (called berrylicious), and various fruits (called tootie fruitie), along with a mixture of the more exotic fruits that they had (called tropical paradise). There were so many different flavors that they had yet to learn – and they barely even mastered the blender.

It was a long and tedious process and it was hard to memorize all of the recipes, and it was definitely a lot more work than they had anticipated. After a 15-minute break of lounging around in the big comfy couches, they regrouped in the kitchen to see Kaede and Rin standing at a table covered with lemons. The blender along with a couple other ingredients took up as little space as they could since the yellow fruit dominated the table.

All of them stared at it, the harsh bright yellow stinging their eyes a bit. Despite their obvious differences, the three employees stared at the fruit thinking the same thing.

'How did they get so many lemons to fit on one table?'

Rin smiled humorously at their shocked faces and started to give them an explanation.

"Kajuu Juusu's is definitely not your average, ordinary, boring smoothie shop. It's different, unique, and original! So of course we had to have some smoothie flavors on our list that are original and different – and Kaede here is going to teach you guys how to make one of those original, signature flavors!"

Rin frowned a bit, wondering why they were so fascinated and shocked by the lemons. She tilted her head a little, studying their looks on their faces – which ranged from squinting to being totally freaked out. She couldn't figure out the slightest reason why, so she continued on with her explanation.

"Of course there are many possibilities. Think of all the different flavors that we can make! We are bound to accidentally make an extremely unexpected flavor here or there I'm sure, so if you have any ideas or recipes to come up with please don't hesitate to share and we'll put it on the menu! But for now, Kaede will teach us how to make lemonade smoothies!" Rin exclaimed as she clapped her hands enthusiastically.

The employees stood there overwhelmed, barely paying attention to what their boss had just said and not even half as enthusiastic as Rin was. Their thoughts were still on the lemons and the employees started to grow a great dislike for the obnoxious bright yellow-colored fruit.

Kaede stepped forward a bit, holding the yellow fruit in her hands and started to talk to them, snapping them out of their thoughts about the foreboding lemons.

"Well, ye must know that the first step is to –" but the elderly woman was cut short as the kitchen door was swung open forcefully and a silver-haired hanyou walked in hurriedly as he tried to catch his breath.

"Gomen nesai, I'm sorry for being so late. I tried to get here as fast as I could but my car broke down so I –" but InuYasha stopped dead in explaining his excuse as he locked eyes with Kaede. He froze. The half demon slowly started to speak, his mouth the only body part that seemed to work properly.

"O-Old hag…what the hell are you doing here?" InuYasha managed to say, stunned. Kaede stared back at him gravely and ignored the rude insult.

"I can no longer manage the shrine on me own so I was able to get this job to raise more money." The elderly woman explained to the out of breath half demon.

InuYasha's amber eyes grew wide and started looking around wildly for someone.

"Where is she? She must be here then? Kikyou. She should be working here since she works at your shrine as well. Kikyou! She's gotta be here." His eyes searched around the whole room, shouting and yelling and screaming, looking for whoever he was talking and muttering about.

Finally his golden eyes met a pair of familiar chocolate brown eyes and he walked right up to her, his face practically almost touching the raven-haired girl's face. She blinked furiously, her face starting to burn up at being such a close distance with this strange boy.

"You! So, Kikyou what do you think of working with a half-breed, eh? Do you feel like quitting now?" InuYasha growled as he started to throw insults at her through his fangs.

Kagome stood there, trying to figure out what he had just said. She had no idea what he was talking about. But for some reason something was telling her that he was somehow familiar and that they've met before.

It was hard for her to think though or try to remember who he was – because her bright brown eyes wandered all the way to the top of his head where his absolutely adorable furry cute dog ears were. It took a lot of her will power to resist the temptation to reach out and just tweak them.

"InuYa-" Kaede started to plead with him but the furious hanyou cut her off.

"Stay out of this, old hag!" The half demon snapped at her, his amber eyes glancing at Kaede and then back to staring fixedly at Kagome.

"So, what do you think Kikyou. Come on, am I not good enough for you to even talk to me? I dare you to say something, Kikyou!" InuYasha shouted, emphasizing the last syllables with a scoff.

This guy was getting on the raven-haired girl's last nerves with the whole mistaken identity thing and insults. She had just about enough of him.

"Listen, you. I'm not who you think I am! My name's not Kikyou – my name is Kagome. KA-GO-ME!" The girl screamed back at him, her hands on her hips in frustration. They were both having a major staring contest until Kagome's bright chocolate brown eyes became wide, a look of sudden realization dawning upon her.

It all of a sudden made sense to her – the golden amber eyes, the long silver hair, the rude and obnoxious shouting and insults.

"Y-you're…THAT JERK! YOU'RE THAT JERK AREN'T YOU?" Kagome blurted out, her index finger pointing at him in accusation. The half demon squinted at her and stared at her very closely – studying her. After finally sniffing her for confirmation, he quickly jumped back and suddenly had a rude awakening and realization himself – his amber eyes wide in disbelief.

"And y-you're not Kikyou. YOUR THAT WENCH, AREN'T YOU!" InuYasha replied in response.

Then, all hell broke loose.

Both the raven-haired girl and the amber-eyed half demon started going at each other's throats…

"YOU'RE THE JERK THAT BUMPED INTO ME!"
"NO, YOU'RE THE ONE THAT GOT IN MY WAY WENCH!"
"AND ANOTHER THING, MY NAME'S NOT WENCH. IT'S KAGOME!"
"I DON'T CARE, YOU MADE ME LATE! I GOT DETENTION BECAUSE OF YOU!"
"YOU MESSED UP MY REPORT! AND I'M NOT THE ONE WHO ARGUED WITH THE TEACHER!"
"BUT YOU ARE THE ONE WHO PINNED ME TO THE FUCKING TREE, DIDN'T YOU?"
"THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT! YOU THREW A POINTY SHARP ARROW AT ME PURPOSELY!"
"MAYBE I WOULDN'T HAVE THROWN AN ARROW IF YOUR AIM DIDN'T SUCK SO MUCH!"
"LISTEN YOU, I WAS STRESSED OUT BECAUSE SOMEONE RUINED MY LIFE!"
"I CAN'T BELIEVE I THOUGHT THAT YOU WERE KIKYOU! SHE WAS DEFINITELY MUCH CUTER, SHE SMELLED A LOT NICER, AND SHE HAD A LOT BETTER AIM THAN YOU'LL EVER HAVE!"
"WELL THEN THIS 'KIKYOU' WOMAN MUST HAVE BEEN MINDLESS IF SHE WAS WITH AN EGOTISTAL, RUDE, MORONIC JERK LIKE YOU!"

And while that was going on, the violet-eyed boy saw that this was the most opportune moment…

(loud slap)

"AH, HENTAI!"
"It was worth the pain…"
"ARGH! You are such a lecher!"
"And you are such a beautiful creature! I cannot keep my hands off of you!"
"…"
"Beloved Sango, where are you going?"
"Away. Far, far away from you."
"The distance will only increase our love. Do not run away and deny it!"

But before Miroku could run after Sango and grope her once again, InuYasha stood in his way and started to beat the poor violet-eyed boy senseless.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO SAY TAIJIYA'S NAME LIKE THAT!"
"INUYASHA, STOP IT YOU'RE HURTING HIM!"
"WELL HE DESERVES IT WENCH!"
"I TOLD YOU, IT'S NOT WENCH, IT'S KAGOME. KA-GO-ME! GET IT RIGHT, YOU IDIOT!"
"AHAHAHAHA, BEAT HIM A LITTLE HARDER TAKAHASHI!"
"SANGO-CHAN!"
"WELL HE DOES DESERVE IT!"

Rin looked worriedly at her employees – who were all fighting and arguing with each other. She was happy that they seemed to be so…lively and energetic. She just needed them to exert their energy towards smoothies instead of each other. How hard can that be, right?

"Listen up, everyone!" she shouted, but her attempt was useless. Her loud voice was barely heard over their screaming voices.

This was definitely going to be a lot more difficult than she had expected.

But the young girl was willing to try again as she took one deep breath.

"I SAID, LISTEN UP!" She screamed, her incredibly loud voice being heard by the teenage employees – who froze from the shock of such a loud voice overcoming their arguments.

Rin beamed brightly at her success and cleared her throat – glad to know that she had her new employees' full attention on her.

"Gomen nesai. I'm so glad you all have been acquainted with each other already!" Of course, Rin said this half-heartedly since she now wasn't too keen on the idea of them knowing each other – especially since it seemed as if they were all on bad terms with one another. She smiled a not so reassuringly smile at them nervously as the employees gave death glares to one another (well, not exactly since Miroku was giving Sango a look of love).

"Miroku and…" Rin turned towards the silver-haired hanyou with a questioning glance.

"InuYasha. InuYasha Takahashi." The half demon bowed politely as Rin bowed down excitedly, her cinnamon eyes lighting up at his last name.

"Takahashi? You mean…THE Takahashi?" Rin exclaimed as she squealed like a young schoolgirl. Sango and Kagome were clueless to what she talked about – but they noticed InuYasha start to shift uncomfortably.

"Well, y-yeah…" InuYasha said nervously, looking down. Even though he was mentally preparing himself for all of the questions his boss was surely going to ask about his father's corporations, Rin had other things on her mind.

"Oh yeah, I just remembered! I am so sorry to hear about your sick grandmother! You must be so brave to go back and save her when your house was on fire!" The young naïve woman said sympathetically as she patted the confused half demon on the shoulder. InuYasha caught a glimpse of the two wenches falling animatedly and saw his perverted friend smiling proudly.

'I am going to KILL Miroku.'

InuYasha had to thank the idiot for covering up for him.

But that didn't mean he couldn't kill him later for making up such a ridiculous lie.

InuYasha just nodded solemnly, glaring at Miroku the whole time as their boss started wiping at her face from the tears that were now starting to form. She quickly took a handkerchief and blew her nose while the two girls rolled their eyes – this was unbelievable.

"Okay, well now that we have everyone uh…calmed down, I'm going to ask Miroku and InuYasha to please get changed into your uniforms now!" Rin said lightheartedly, her moment of sadness and sympathy replaced with her usual bright and cheerful mood.

The silver-haired hanyou and dark-haired boy followed her orders reluctantly as they got their uniforms and walked towards the employee's room to change.

The two other female employees were too disgruntled and upset to say anything to each other – their thoughts fuming at the two infuriating boys that had just left, while the elderly priestess and young woman exchanged worried glances at each other.

They waited for the two employees to change in a silence full of tension.

After ten minutes or so, the two teenagers arrived with their uniforms on (InuYasha kept picking at his uniform while his nose wrinkled in disgust, while Miroku seemed tolerant by the bright colors of the uniform). Rin studied all of her employees worriedly.

InuYasha looked like he was going to kill someone, his claws flexing every once and awhile while his golden amber eyes were darting all over the room – probably trying to look for an escape. Sango had the same expression on her face, except for the fact that her pink-shadowed eyes kept a watchful eye on the dark-haired boy. Miroku for some odd reason looked strangely happy, with a goofy grin on his face that he might as well be prancing around in a meadow filled with sunflowers and daisies. Kagome on the other hand looked like she was fuming, too deep in her thoughts to realize that her brows were furrowed so that she had a scowl on her face – her bright chocolate brown eyes were fierce.

Rin cast a 'please-do-something-before-they-all-kill-each-other' look towards the elderly priestess woman with her pleading hazel eyes. Kaede sighed and finally gave in. She cleared her throat loudly to cut the silence and make herself known. Once she was sure that she had all of their attention she picked up a lemon from the table.

"The first trademark smoothie drink that I will show ye all how to make are lemonade smoothies. They are not difficult to make and a lot easier than the more complicated recipes – but that will wait till later on in your training." Kaede picked up another lemon and started cutting wedges.

"You all have probably heard the saying, 'When life gives you lemons…'" The elderly woman started to say as she started dropping the lemon chunks into a blender. Even though she knew that this joke would be horribly corny, she decided to say it anyway just to lighten up the mood – the tension and silence was so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

But everyone was off in their own thoughts, not noticing the silence or tension at all but instead thinking of the old saying Kaede was talking about.

Of course, they all had their own answers to that saying.

-----

'When life gives you lemons, your ex-love and the girl that looks exactly like her will take your lemons away and squirt lemon juice into your eyes!' InuYasha thought bitterly as he started to flex his claws some more, wishing terribly to kill someone.

'When life gives you lemons, throw them at the rude, incredibly idiotic, jerk who has no manners to even help you pick up your history project, and not to mention who calls people 'Kikyo' and 'wench!" Kagome thought angrily as she crossed her arms in defiance, still not forgiving him for how he had single handedly made her life so miserable – no matter how cute his adorable puppy dog ears were and how much she wanted to touch them.

'When life gives you lemons, make a hot boiling pot of lemonade stew and dangle the pervert over his death while he begs for mercy!' Sango thought humorously, smirking to herself at the thought and how much she would enjoy seeing the lecher squirm.

'When life gives you lemons, somehow make them into a crafty protective shield for your love who is truly crazy about you and is even willing to smack you every day just to let you know it!' Miroku thought hopefully, with a pathetic love-sick smile on his face as he stole a glance at his beloved.

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"But my saying is – when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade smoothies of course!" Kaede said halfheartedly as she received no response for her 'clever' saying (of course, with the exception from her boss Rin – who laughed politely but also did it halfheartedly).

The elderly woman studied her employees, who seemed to be lost in their own thoughts and were barely even paying attention to her now. Kaede just shook her head as she just continued making the lemonade smoothie, giving up entirely on trying to explain to them how to make it. The old woman thought to herself quietly as all of them stood there in silence.

These young teenagers had a whole lot of lemons that they had to deal before they could start making lemonade smoothies.

To Be Continued…

Author's Note: This has to be my favorite chapter so far! I loved writing it -- especially the scenes where they're all arguing, and the last part where they're all thinking about ways to use lemons! I hope it wasn't too long though. I absolutely promise that the next couple of chapters will be filled with fluff, now that I've got all this technical stuff out of the way (the characters, the smoothie shop, etc.)! While I was writing about Kajuu Juusuu's, I really wished it was a real place! Don't you?

Next Chapter -- "How to Make an Osuwari Smoothie"

Thanks for being so patient everyone!
Please don't forget to review!

Until next chapter! -- AK-J.