Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
Overtime
Chapter 20
Months went on like that. Sango, Miroku, Inuyasha and Kagome all seemed to have a greater time each trip they made together- whether it be to the movies or the mall- and it became less awkward and hard for the other two to enjoy themselves.
It all boiled down to this though.
Clearly, Inuyasha really liked Kagome- maybe even loved her- well, NOT clearly but he had grown to admit it himself.
She was everything he ever wanted. Kagome could make him mad, happy and frustrated all at once and he surely had the same prodigious affect on her. He wanted to be with her but just thinking about it was getting him no where. Kagome herself wasn't even sure if she was in love...
"Kagura!" Naraku ordered.
"What is it?" She snapped, growing tired of her boss' permanent foul mood.
"Excuse me, but I didn't like the tone of voice you used with me. Now lets try this again." Naraku cleared his throat while his assistant nearly busted a vein. "Kagura!" He repeated as if he'd never said anything before that.
"Yes Naraku-sama."She forced out the words. His name was poison on her tounge.
'Ah! Thats better.' He thought ignoring the coldness in Kagura's voice.
"I need you to do something for me."
'Wow, thats something new.' Even her thoughts were sarcastic. She barely suppressed the need to sigh.
"Get you a coffee?" She guessed.
"No." He answered, looking offended.
"Buy you a doughnut?"
"No...I-"
"Ruin someones life for you since you're so preoccupied in destroying mine?" Kagura offered calmly.
He paused.
"I'm going too choose not to answer that, since you clearly have some issues but...I need you to bring me someone..."
She tapped her foot impatiently. He was always so dramatic...
"Actually...two people!" He continued. "Inuyasha, uh...and..." Someone who could actually watch the store! He just chose Inuyasha so he could make him suffer... "Kagome!" He finished.
Perfect.
"Sure thing." Kagura said, happy to leave the room.
Inuyasha, Kouga and Houjo all sat at the front desk.
Houjo was watching curiously with his innocent expression, while Inuyasha bragged about some random thing to Kouga. Kouga was staring down at some papers- not really listening,
"Hah! You're so jealous, aren't you Kouga?"
He looked up at the sound of his name. "Sorry, did you say something?"
Inuyasha looked incredibly insulted. Before he could get angry Kagura walked up to the counter.
"Inuyasha, Naraku wants too speak with you in his office."
"What? Why.." Great. He was in trouble again?
"I have no idea." Kagura admitted.
That sure made him feel safe.
"I think it's time to let you go." Kouga teased, with a mock sad look.
"Shut up." He mumbled, trudging to the office.
When he entered Kagome was already there, trying to sound interested in Naraku's small talk wile they waited for Inuyasha.
"And then I told him 'Hey, is that legal? Cardcaptor Sakura's only ten'- Oh, hello Inuyasha." Kagome was horrified by his story.
He sat back down behind his desk. Kagome felt relieved and less intimidated now that Inuyasha was there now, seated in the chair beside her.
They both looked at Naraku after sharing a confused glance.
"I'm going to be blunt with you." He started. They heard the door slam to see Kagura had left angry. "Just ignore her, it's probably her time of the month by the way she's been acting today." He stopped for a moment as something crossed his mind. "and every other day..." It was the truth but he was too stupid to take the hint that she despised him. Unless he did know and loved torturing her...
Kagome looked angered as well at how rude he was being.
"ANYWAYS," Naraku continued. "as you both know, it's midnight madness tonight!" He tried to make it sound terribly exciting. He went on after getting no reaction.
"and it goes on until around three in the morning." Still wasn't kicking in. He sighed loudly. "I need you two to watch the store until it's over!"
"What?" Inuyasha raged.
"My shifts over at eleven." Kagome added, fury building.
"Well then I guess I'll have to pay you two for working overtime." He said in a mock sad voice.
"You can't do that!"Kagome barked.
"Just us for the whole store?" Inuyasha was outraged.
"Yes just you, I just did and you're dismissed. Kagura!"He called.
She entered the room again. "What?"
"Escort these two back to their posts."
Both were too shocked to really argue any further.
"You're horrible." Kagome spat at him before exciting the room with Inuyasha. Naraku just shrugged and raised his hands in the air innocently.
At about eleven-thirty the store started clearly out. Even Sango and Kouga had gone home after wishing the two good-luck.
People packed up, said good-bye and went home. Some even stayed in the mall, shopping around at all the stores that would be open late that night.
"Its like the whole mall with McDonald's working hours." Houjo commented to himself before stepping outside.
At about mid-night the crowds started coming in and it was absolutely ridiculous for only two people to be handling all of the store.
Inuyasha swore to God that he would make sure Naraku was fired.
After about an hour of wringing things up and assisting people with finding things the business died down, and only the random person came in every once in a while.
By 2:00am the mall was a death-like quiet, leaving them with an hour to kill.
It was silent. Well no duh! Who in heir right mind would be out shopping after 2am? Unless of course they just finished one of their outrageous shifts at McDonald's and were stopping by to pick up a few tings.
Some of the stores had even closed up, pulling large dividers from the side of the wall to block out their view.
Inuyasha had even taken the liberty of closing off all the back lights so that now only one or two shone, lighting up the deep black front desk that curved around the staff room door.
Kagome sat disenchanted on a stool, head resting on the desk while Inuyasha bought a drink from the vending machine in the staffroom.
Both employee's were exhausted and expecting no more customers that night. Inuyasha sighed and sat down beside her, opening a Pepsi. "This is bullshit. " He muttered.
"I agree." Kagome mumbled not moving from her resting spot on the counter. "We still have at least forty-five minutes here." She whined.
"We better be getting paid extra for this." Inuyasha joined into the complaining. That's all the two friends could really do. What else was there to speak about? Sports? Life? You've got to be kidding!
Inuyasha was carrying something special with him. Actually, instead of beating around the bush, a ring he had picked up a while ago for Kagome but never really got around to giving it to her. He was planning on inviting her to dinner that night, and presenting it to her then, but his plans had been crushed when Naraku had booked them late like this. But luckily, Inuyasha wasn't about to let him ruin everything.
Kagome sighed again. She was so tired and so bored.
Naraku is such an ass! She thought.
Kagome turned her head over on the desk to look at Inuyasha. He was staring expectantly at the clock, screwing and unscrewing the cap on his drink.
She'd known him for over a year and had never seen him like that. Was that nervousness she saw on his face? Anticipation in his gorgeous mauve eyes? She nearly laughed aloud at the thought.
She continued watching him in wonder and curiosity. He was such a goof! An idiot some would even say. Never thinking before he spoke, stubborn nearly all the time, but...as hard as she tried Kagome couldn't only focus on those.
He had so many good qualities as well. She thought, eying him more carefully now.
'Like...' She searched her mind further. 'like...um...oh! He's funny!'
In a stupid sense, she heard a part of her say.
'He's nice!'
When he's sleeping, the voice corrected her again. She became determined to prove it wrong instead of misinterpreting the voice for a severe mental disorder.
'He's..uh..thoughtful!'
Hah! I'm not even going to go there-
'Shut up!...I still...' Kagome's eyes ran over his long black hair and then back up to his in depth purple eyes . She saw so much in them... 'love him.'
"Ah!" She said out loud, shooting her head up form off of the desk. 'What am I thinking!'
"Are you ok?" Inuyasha turned away from the clock, startled at the sudden noise that broke the comfortable silence.
"Oh, uh...yeah." Kagome nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Alright..." He looked at the clock one more time before turning to face her. He should give it to her now, if not, he swore he would never get around to it. It was only a stupid gift anyway.
"Kagome, I-"
'Ring' 'Ring'
They both looked up.
'Ring' 'Ring'
The phone was ringing. Wait. More than one of the front desk phones were ringing.
"Oh!" Kagome jumped up. Inuyasha stood as well.
Two rang behind Kagome and one behind Inuyasha. They both saw the telephones behind the other person and reflexively ran towards them, bumping into each other.
.x.x.x.x.
Kagome looked up to see Inuyasha looking down on her. He had a puzzled expression on his face which seemed to mirror her own. He had slipped a courteous hand at the small of her back to keep her from falling backwards and she had to hold her breath for a moment at the closeness.
The phones rang noisily in the background but for some reason neither could bring themselves to move as purple clashed with brown.
"Um..." Kagome whispered, feeling short of breath. She couldn't understand what she was feeling...
He leaned his face down closer to hers, teasing her skin with his warm breath. Her eyes fluttered shut when she felt his lips against hers in a tender kiss.
This was quite odd in fact, since if she could go back to her first day at Sportsmart, she probably would have never imagined her kissing Inuyasha. And enjoying. Or even them being friends for that matter but...for some unknown reason...
even as the ringing of the phones died down behind them, on the counters of a sports store, she could have never imagined something more perfect.
When they broke apart she couldn't help stifle her smile. The whole situation seemed somewhat comical.
"Heheh..." He chuckled lightly into her raven hair. "you just kissed me."
"What?" Kagome said, pulling back a little. She was feeling faint as her mind went over all the ways Inuyasha could use that against her but before she could correct him, because he started it, Inuyasha reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a small white box tied with a lime-green ribbon. "Here." He said, stepping back to hand it to her. He just had to see the look on her face when she saw it.
She accepted the box curious about what it might be. For all she knew a giant snake could spiral out, or it could be a pet spider. A harry spider...
When her eyes fell on the silver ring with dazzling pink jewels topping the tips of three beautifully curved spirals her mouth dropped open a bit. She took in a sharp breath. He...for her?...
"Thank-you!" Her smile told him she loved it. "It's gorgeous. But what is it for?"
"It's a promise ring." He said, feeling more confident know that the hard part was over. "So...what do you think?"
She looked to the ring that she was examining on her finger and them back to Inuyasha. Who could resist those eyes of his?
She answered by stepping closer to him to place a soft kiss on his cheek. He grinned in response.
Kagome gasped all of a sudden and stepped back. "I need to ask you something first." She said.
"Kay, what is it?"
"Aren't you still mad about me getting some of your pay?"
Inuyasha had to stop and think for a second. He hadn't really thought about that.
Kagome smiled at his expression.
"I guess its alright." He answer plainly.
"Oh...well, if it ever becomes a problem..." She smirked playfully at him. "to make up for it, you could always work overtime."
End Chapter 20
-Autum Fortress