Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

Overtime
Chapter 11

"All done!" Kagome smiled brightly at Sango, happy that she had finally accomplished the overly large job of going through this weeks profits. It was Monday morning, supposedly the worst day of the week considering that it was also known as the busiest.

This had almost everyone running around the store helping customers and stacking boxes, organizing receipts and making sure there was an employee at every single black counter. Kagome hadn't even seen Inuyasha when she came into work. She recalled passing by him once on her way to the staff room for some change, but all he had time for was to acknowledge her with a quick nod and then continue on his way. Kagome couldn't also help but notice it was a bit awkward between them since last Friday but right now, there was really nothing she could do about it.

She had worked herself to the absolute core come lunch time, so she was happy to be able to sit down for her break with Sango in the food court for a while.

"So…" Sango said, picking up her burger. "How did you like the party on Friday?"

"Well…" Kagome bit the end off a fry. "It was okay I guess," she finished, shoving the rest of the fry into her mouth.

"Mmmhmm." Sango hummed her reply, trying to swallow the massive bite of burger she just took.

"I saw you dancing…" Sango said through a mouthful of food, looking at Kagome suspiciously.

"What are you talking about?" Kagome laughed a little. 'She saw me and Inuyasha! Let's be honest who didn't see us?'

"—with Naraku." Sango finished.

"Oh that! Ahehe…that was awful…" Kagome put another fry in her mouth. "I had no choice." 'Everyone must have seen that too.' She sweat dropped. That's just too embarrassing.

"Hey, don't worry about it Kagome. I bet Miroku and I were the only ones who noticed." Sango patted Kagome on the shoulder. "Lighten up a little, this day will be done in no time." She smiled warmly at her friend.

Kagome grudgingly agreed with Sango, "you're right," She lifted her head up. "How bad could it be?"

"Hey Kagome!" Kouga yelled, running up to their table. "Have fun dancing with the boss last night? Haha!"

Other Sportsmart employee's turned to stare at her, raising their eyebrows and whispering amongst each other. "No! Its not like that!" Kagome waved her hands frantically in front of her face.

"Just bugging," Kouga laughed, sliding onto the bench for a seat across from the two girls.

"You didn't have to yell it across the food court Kouga!" Kagome leaned across the table. "that was completely unnecessary."

"Woah there," Kouga leaned back. "I'm sorry if I angered you at all then, I just stopped by to say hello, considering the wonderful trio that is us are all on lunch." He closed his eyes and grinned. Kagome sighed and leaned back to her side of the table. "It's fine." Who could resist that face of Kouga's?

"Moving on," Sango finished off her burger and took a sip of her Pepsi. There's a lot of work to do in there and so little time before store hours end." She smiled and walked back in the direction of the store. Kagome was way to lazy to go after her and Kouga didn't mind the two of them being alone together.

Kagome looked to the side. 'Now what is there to talk about?'

"Hey Kagome, pay no attention to Ayame, I'm not with her or anything it's just that we used to know each other a very long time ago and—"

"Kouga, it's fine." Kagome looked at him a sincere look. 'What the hell is he talking about?'

"So it's fine with you?"

"Yeah, I don't really care to be honest." Kagome laughed.

"It's just that it was a verbal agreement between parents, that's a—" Kouga continued.

"It's okay Kouga." Kagome insisted, getting kind of irritated by his constant explaining.

"Does that mean we're cool?"

"I said it's fine."

"So you're okay with it?"

"Yes Kouga!"

"I only slept with her onc—"

"It's fine!"

"So it's ok?"

"YES!"

"You sure?"

"Yeah, Christ Kouga."

"You positive?"

"Yup!"

"Pinky swear?"

"Yes."

"Wanna go for dinner?"

"Y—no Kouga!" Kagome got up, "I'm heading back see you inside!" She yelled behind her. 'Jeeze , what a nut!'

Kouga smiled to himself, all alone at the table. "She's so into me."

When Kagome got home she was completely exhausted— well, everyone was tired after work. She felt stuffy in her apartment so Kagome opened all of her windows to let some fresh air in, then later fell asleep on the couch with a half finished tea on the coffee table.

A dim light filtered in through her open window. "Uhh…" Kagome rubbed her eyes and groaned, seconds later they widened in realization. "Morning already! Crap what time is it?"

She shot off of the couch, making herself dizzy. She was freezing. It was pouring rain outside in the middle of winter, turning the white powdery snow in the streets to a sickly mush.

"Shoot!" Kagome hopped around on one leg trying to put on a sock. It was so cold in her place that her words came out in smoky puffs. Just before running out the door she grabbed a jacket off of her coat rack and got in her car. She zipped up the light sweater she grabbed and sped off to the mall, arriving in the parking lot at around quarter after seven in the morning.

After driving in circles around the lot for a few minutes it came to her attention that there were no parking spots left, so she parked along side the road near the entrance of the lot. From there she sprinted for cover through the pouring rain.

Her feet left small wet marks as she walked into the staff room to put down her stuff. When she entered everyone took in her atrocious state and stared at her.

"Hey guys!" she brought her head up to smile and tried for a wave. She suddenly stopped and her hand went to her face, "Achoo!" 'I think I'm getting sick…'

"Kagome, you don't look so good." Inuyasha was the first to say something.

"Hey…" Kagome said drowsily." Who can look good in these uniforms?"

"I mean you look kind of sick, like you're about to pass out or something." Inuyasha eyed her worriedly. "It's not a good look for you."

"Not to mention the fact that you're soaking wet." Sango couldn't resist pointing that out.

"Come on guys, I'm perfectly fine." She smiled and walked back out of the door after putting her purse away. 'What's up with them?'

In less than a half hour after the store opened Kagome felt a headache coming on.

"Awh, man…" She whined under her breath, stacking aluminum water bottles on a shelf.

By lunch time she was more than ready to sit down. Today, everyone decided to eat in the lunch room, since Inuyasha refused to go out to the food court.

-lunch in the legendary Sportsmart staff room-

"Little pansy," Kouga scolded.

"Shut up!" Inuyasha shot daggers at him with his eyes.

"You never eat with us anyway, why the sudden change of heart?"

Kagome and Sango sat on a couch in front of Kouga and Inuyasha's while Hojo held back his laughter and leaned back in the lazy boy.

"That's my business Kouga, and it's not like I asked everyone to come in here."

"Then whose idea was it, if it wasn't yours?"

"Well—"

"Enough already!" Kagome finally broke them up. She didn't think everyone needed to really know it was her idea in the first place to come in here. It was for Inuyasha's sake! Oh, and she didn't want the whole mall seeing her with her hair all frizzy and her nose all red and her skin all sickly and pale.

Kouga and Inuyasha both leaned back into the couch. Everything was peaceful until a quiet voice said something to Kouga, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Get off of my couch," Inuyasha turned to stare at Kouga.

"Oh my god." Kagome brought a hand to her forehead and Sango just shook her head. Hojo coughed.

"What was that?" Kouga didn't hear him so he kept on eating. Why would he be interested in anything Inuyasha had to say?

"I said remove yourself from my couch."

Kouga nearly spat his food out laughing. "Does it have your name on it? Didn't think so."

"I'm not going to ask you again." Inuyasha straightened up in his seat.

Kouga glared at him. "I'm. Not. Moving."

Inuyasha opened his mouth to yell.

"Kouga, just do it." Kagome interrupted before Inuyasha unleashed the beast. "We know you don't care enough to really want to sit there."

"Only for you." Kouga got up and found a nice comfy chair to sit in. Sango noticed when Hojo pouted so she looked at the ground and tried not to start laughing at him.

"Anyways…" Sango searched for an appropriate topic of conversation since they still had a good five minutes until lunch was over.

"I'm going to look for some Advil, my head is killing me." Kagome headed for the door.

"I'll come with you." Inuyasha added quite hastily.

"Yea, sure," she kept walking, putting one hand on the side of her head to try and ease the pounding.

Inuyasha followed Kagome as she walked out of the staff room and bent down to pull a pill bottle out of the small cupboards.

"So…" Kagome said, sitting on the counter. "give up on making me quit already?" She laughed before taking a sip of water to wash the pain killer down.

This surprised Inuyasha. "Uh, obviously not. Don't think that just because we hang out together sometimes that I've just given up."

"Oh, okay." Inuyasha tried to ignore the sarcasm in her voice. Before he could say anything else Kagura showed up. She nodded at Inuyasha in some form of a greeting and then turned to Kagome.

"Naraku wants to see you." Kagura said with zero emotion.

"Sure," Kagome looked confused. Was she in trouble?

"Follow me." Kagura turned around and started walking away.

"See you, Inuyasha," she smiled back at him.

"Right," he said dryly, and turned to walk back into the staff room, his whole mood turned sour at the mention of Naraku.

Kagome was led through a series of hallways and departments until she came across that same door. Kagura stopped beside it and motioned for her to step inside, eying Kagome with some sort of warning as the young girl passed her.

The door shut behind Kagome the moment she stepped in. Naraku sat with his hands folded at his desk. "Have a seat," he said in his sickly sweet voice. Seeing Naraku's face again brought back some bad memories for Kagome. She was already feeling nauseous from the headache, the sight of Naraku provoking her gag reflex.

She looked around the room. It seemed as if he lived in his office. His desk was spotless but both sides of the room were blanketed in dishes and garbage. There was even the corner of a sleeping bag sticking out behind his desk.

"Naraku, can I ask you something?" Kagome had to know. "Do you ever get out of this room?"

Naraku's expression stayed the same, except for the fact that his eyes narrowed at her.

"Actually no, ever since you can-can'ed me I haven't been able to walk more than five meters at a time without assistance, so the doctor recommended I confine myself to the same area until I'm healed. Since I run this place, my office is most logical."

"Ahehe…" Kagome laughed awkwardly. "So, why did you want to see me?" A quick change of subject did the trick.

"Oh yes, I have a favor to ask of you…" His expression immediately changed. "I'm going to need someone to handle some stuff for me here tonight."

"Uh, okay. But what do you mean stuff?" This was not good, Kagome wasn't feeling all that great and wanted to just go home.

He nodded over to the left of him where a bright light— from where no one knows came— illuminated a massive pile of papers.

"Wha—" Kagome was In shock. "But I cant—"

"I need them in alphabetical order by tomorrow morning so I recommend you stay at the store to do it. Also, I might consider paying you time and half because you're so special. Consider, I said. But don't count on it. Actually, you can certainly rest assured that you won't be getting overtime for this." He hit a small red button on his desk and Kagura immediately opened the door.

"You and Kagome have ten minutes to get all that," he motioned to the papers, "into Kagome's working space." He looked to his watch, "starting now."

Kagura narrowed her eyes at him. 'One day, I will be free from his horrible clutches…damn me and my betting." She clenched her fist and it trembled with rage but she said, "yes sir."

Kagome nodded. "Sure thing boss." She stood up and felt extremely light headed. "Uhn…" she grabbed her head.

"Higurashi?" Kagura even noticed she didn't look so good.

Kagome's vision blurred and she felt herself falling. Yes, Kagome passed out.

She woke up on the couch in her apartment with a cup of steaming hot tea resting on the coffee table. She stirred before looking over to Inuyasha who was sitting on the floor at the foot of the couch. He looked over at her, happy to see her awake.

"About time you came-to."

End chapter eleven