The Decade that Roared
Chapter Three
1928, Atlanta
-x-x-x-
"Kagura!" a familiar voice shouted. The woman addressed, who had taken the liberty of spinning giddily in her new chair the moment before, bolted upright and quickly folded her hands in a formal manner upon the table. A pale, oily-haired man marched in, waving a piece of paper in front of her face and yelling, "We need you out NOW!"
Dazed, Kagura could only get out a dumbfounded, "Huh?" in response.
The vehement man sighed and cried, "Sesshoumaru's back from the war, you moron!"
That got to her.
"WHAT?" She stood up like a flash, causing her knees to hit the bottom of the desk. She winced then hissed through gritted teeth, "That's not fair, Naraku! I just got here! I'm—I'm the boss! NOT HIM!"
"Listen, Kagura. When that damn war started, we put you in charge because every man was gone," he said, throwing the paper at her. She quickly read it and gulped. "Now that Sesshoumaru's back, you'll have to go back to your old position. You know, as an assembly line worker."
-x-
That was how it started.
And so Kagura sat in a chair on her lunch break, tapping her pen on the table in anger. When it finally fell to the ground, she clenched her fists and yelled, "It's not fair!" The pale girl next to her set down the book she was reading and stared at her friend to listen to her wails. "I've worked my butt off just to get that job after he left! And then he comes waltzing back in here after ten years and I get kicked out! Who does he think he is? Must be because he's British." She scoffed and picked up her pen, beginning to tap on the side of the table again. "Probably tells himself, 'Oh, I'll go eat meh tea and cookies and fire Kagura who works harder than me just because I'm great and I was in the war!' I could have been in the war! Kanna! It just isn't fair!"
Her friend sighed and firmly said, "Kagura, as much as I devote my entire life to hear you complain, can you please shut up? I'm trying to read." She picked up her book again and opened to the page she had stopped at. "By the way, British people don't eat 'cookies;' they eat 'biscuits.' Plus his ethnicity has nothing to do with the way he acts."
Kagura was completely oblivious to her comment and continued to rant. "Stupid Sesshoumaru! He's such a jerk! He's probably fat and ugly and—God! I hate him!" She pounded the table with a balled up fist.
Kanna glanced back up at her, a tiny bit of shock in her eyes. "Wait," she whispered, putting her copy of Langston Hughes poems down for a moment. "You've never met Sesshoumaru?"
"No!" Kagura shouted. "And it doesn't matter, because I know he probably looks like a jerk, because he is one!"
Her light-haired friend shook her head and stood. She grabbed Kagura's hand and led her outside of the cafeteria, where she told her, "On the contrary, my friend, Sesshoumaru does not look like a jerk. A snot, maybe, but not a jerk." Now the pair was right outside of the boss's office. "You can now see for yourself." Before Kagura could object, she had already been pushed through the door.
-x-
Luckily for her, the door did not directly lead to Sesshoumaru's office. Instead, she sat in a waiting room where a young woman sat behind a desk, diligently typing on a typewriter. Kagura took a seat in a deep red chair that looked way too poofy to be comfortable. She sank slowly into the cushion and all that could be heard was the clicking of typewriter keys. 'Stupid, stupid, STUPID Sesshoumaru!' Kagura's mind screamed. 'Oh, how I hate you. I hate you!'
Then the young lady at the desk looked up and noticed the ebony-haired woman having a bit of a fit, it seemed, and asked, "Excuse me, are you alright?"
Kagura stopped fidgeting a moment and stared at the girl. "Oh. Yes, I'm fine. I just came to see Sesshoumaru." She rose from the chair and walked over to the desk.
"And do you have an appointment?" the girl asked her.
"No…"
"Ah." Well, that wasn't good. Kagura wrung the hem of her skirt with nervousness as the woman typed something else on her typewriter. "Well, I'm sorry, but we can't allow anyone in without a scheduled appointment."
"Really?" Although most would be upset at this comment, but Kagura was most happy. She wouldn't have to face the moronic (STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!) snob that had taken her job away from her. "Well, I guess I'll run along then. Good-by--"
Then the girl asked, "But you aren't Kagura Murphy, are you?"
That question caught Kagura off-guard, but she gave a stuttered, "Yes, I am," in response.
"Oh, then never mind what I said before!" The typing woman beamed. "Sesshoumaru actually wanted to talk to you today, anyway!"
"Huh?"
"Please, right through this door!" Again, Kagura was being pushed against her will to see some guy that she didn't even know. Or want to know for that matter!
'Oh, when I see that damn guy, I'm going to wring him a new one! Yes!' Kagura grinned in malicious delight. 'Nothing is going to stop me!'
The young girl flung the door open and loudly introduced the worker. "Sesshoumaru, sir! Kagura Murphy is here to see you!"
"Thank you, Rin," was the calm reply. Rin nodded and turned to Kagura, practically demanding that she go in. Kagura did just that when the young woman glared at her for not being as fast at this task as she would want.
The room was surprisingly dark and maroon. It looked extremely elegant and noble-like, which was probably used to intimidate workers when they were fired! Kagura groaned when she saw another uncomfortable and puffed-up chair that was designated for the visitor to sit in. Great, now she really hated this guy.
But what really confused her was the fact that this Sesshoumaru guy wasn't even facing her! He had his 'high-and-mighty' chair towards the wall and all she could see was the top of his head, which was a surprising color of whitish-blonde. 'Huh. So the jerk's a weirdo, too,' Kagura scoffed inwardly.
Her thoughts her interrupted when Sesshoumaru said, "What is it you need Kagura?"
'Huh, weird. Didn't he say she wanted to see her?' Kagura thought.
Well, anyway…
Now was her chance! She was ready to insult this jerk into the next millennium and she planned to make him cry! Clearing her throat, she began her long list of disrespect with, "Sesshoumaru, you know that you took my job when you came back from the Great War, hmm?"
The only response she received was an agreeing mumble. The jerk!
"And," she continued, a little more ticked than she had been when she started. "I just have some things to say to you." As she heard him about to rise from his chair, she thought that she should get started with her fabulous insulting comments that could make anyone want to whimper in fear! Mwa ha ha! "I believe that you're a great, big--"
And then she saw the two things that could make anyone stop in their tracks.
He wasn't fat or ugly.
In fact, he was pretty darn handsome.
That was also the moment she realized something a bit more tragic.
Sesshoumaru had only one arm.
Great, now Kagura felt like an ass and had become incredibly self-conscious in all but two seconds.
And she wondered what the rest of her day would be like…
-x-x-x-
A/N:
Girl in No Man's land: Oh looky! It's Kanna of the AU fanfic! Otherwise known as 'my-name-is-pucca' incarnated! Why don't you talk at school, anyway? And why is it when you DO talk, you're mean to people?
My-name-is-pucca: …Because I don't like anyone in my classes.
Girl in No Man's land: Huh. Anyway, I hardly wrote anything for this chapter. 'My-name-is-pucca' thought it might be a good idea to have Sesshoumaru loose his arm, since so many people forget about it in AU fanfics.
My-name-is-pucca: And we wrote a Rin/Kohaku 1920s oneshot if anyone cares…
Girl in No Man's land: We shall post it after the next Sango/Miroku chapter!
My-name-is-pucca: Stay tuned, good friends.