Chapter 19: Announcement
Everybody crowds onto the humongous patio to pay the attention to the person who was tapping the bottle. "Everyone, can I have your attention?" Inutaishou calls around himself. He sees everyone looking at him anxiously for what he's going to present to the group. He smiles. "Good. You all know why I summoned you." He keeps smiles to see a few who are not really thrilled about his upcoming announcement. "Ok, well, first of all, I want to thank you for coming. It means a lot to me." He walks to a table to place his bottle and picks up the catalog. "So far, I personally let your teenage kids to browse through these options. And I had to make sure that the parents are okay with the offer that I provided to your kids." He spoke in a more serious tone at that point.
A few of the adult murmur. "I just want to assure that those options that are from the catalog are not what your kids are going to be picking from." Inutaishou said to the group. Hearing that made the teenagers gasp in disbelief. "You never told me that your father was going to go back on his word." Kagome looks at Inuyasha in suspicion. "Trust me, this is new to me." Inuyasha shakes his head. "I was merely testing to see if they're really sure about having such a luxurious vehicle. And from what I received from the moment I showed the catalog, I can see that this is way out their league." He assures the crowd.
Kaoru sighs in relief. "Ok so what's the point of this idea of yours?" He asks Inutaishou. Inutaishou nods. "Yes. You see from where we leave, there's have to be a group of responsible teenagers who would need to have each other's back if something were to go wrong. I came up with this idea because there needs to be four of them at the age of sixteen so then they can have their own car instead of using ours." He begins to explain to the group. "And so far Inuyasha and Miroku are 16 so they're old enough to have one. But Kagome and Sango are only a few months away until to turn sixteen. So we have to wait till that happens."
Kagome immediately stood. "Kagome…" She heard Sango speak softly. She can tell that Kagome isn't liking this one bit. "Please excuse me." Kagome murmurs to her before leaving the group without anyone seeing her leaving. Sango decides to go after her, but Miroku grabs her wrist. "Leave her alone. She doesn't know what she gotten herself into." Sango turns to Inuyasha to help her out, but he remains where he stays. Sango sighs and turns her sight back to Inutaishou.
"Besides, it was never my intention to really pay for their cars. That's the parents' duty to do that. I'm only going to buy Inuyasha his vehicle when all four are 16." Inutaishou speaks up to continue on. "I never meant to hurt that sense of responsibility. I just want to make this convenient for all of us. We would have to go to that location to pick up our kids from somewhere that's far away." He tries his best to explain about this plan. "So much so I thought that I would form a team that only these…" He stops to see someone missing from the group. "Where's Kagome?" Ai turns around to see her daughter missing. Inutaishou comes up to the spot where Kagome's scent is strong. "She left." Inuyasha casually tells his father
Inutaishou turns to him. "Why would she leave? I was getting to the good part." He crossed his arms annoyed. "Isn't it obvious? She doesn't like to be deceived." Inuyasha tells him. "Good, go find her and bring her back here. We can't continue on without her here." Inutaishou orders his son. Inuyasha scowls at him and leaves the area to follow Kagome's scent.
Kagome is walking down on the main street, not interested on where she's going. She spots a playground up ahead and decides to go there. She sits in an empty swing and swings involuntarily. She is so focused on her mind for what she gotten herself into isn't a good one. "Kagome." Inuyasha comes up to her. All Kagome does is turn her head away from him. "Look you have every right to be mad at my dad for what he did. But you're jumping to the wrong conclusion." Inuyasha comes to the other side to make sure that she looks at him, but she keeps on looking away. Inuyasha sighs, "Fine then we're going to do this the hard." Inuyasha's patience is at its end and gets Kagome off the swing and over his shoulder.
"Hey put me down this instant." Kagome shouts as she struggles to get out of Inuyasha's grasp. "No way. I've been ordered by my dad to bring you back to the bar-b-que." Inuyasha grins and then bolts so fast that they made it back to the patio. "Wow, you broke your record, Inuyasha." Izayoi smiles as she stops the timer on her phone. "Thanks mom. And I brought Kagome back like you ordered me, dad. So now you can resume." Inuyasha smiles and puts Kagome down. "And don't even try escaping." He warns her quietly into her ear.
"As I was saying, I never wanted to buy any of you guys cars. That's your parents' jobs. Anyway, I just want to make sure that you have independence. We are all aware with the curfew which is crucial to this neighborhood." Kagome remains still, not really interested in what else Inutaishou is going to say next. "And for that, I'm sorry." He frowns. "Kagome, I never wanted to deceive you. You and your family just moved here, and I got a bit carried away with this plan. I should've told you more about this than I lent on. You have every right to be angry. And I deserve that." He specifically tells Kagome.
Kagome didn't see that coming. "When that time comes, let me know if you still want to be part of the group." Inutaishou sadly smiles. Kagome smiles back. "I forgive you. But please don't do it again." She accepts his apology. That's when Inutaishou hugs her. "Thanks." He said. "Now with that out of the way, let's eat." He goes to the grill to bring out all the meats cooked to perfection. "Let's chow down" Inuyasha shouts in glee.
That night, everyone's bellies are full to the capacity from the amount the food that they chowed down on. Kagome leans back to the lounge chair, "Oh, I'm stuffed." She rubs her belly pleasantly. She looks at Inuyasha and Miroku with their belly much bigger than hers. "Man I love eating meat." Inuyasha grins happily, before burping. "How rude. Where's your manners, Inuyasha?" Kagome scolds at him without looking at him. "Well excuse me, missy." Inuyasha sarcastically responds to her. Soon enough, Kagome's dad comes to her. "Hey, we're heading home. Come on." He tells her. Kagome obeys him and follows him home. Inuyasha looks at his phone to see that it's past 8. He looks around to that only him and his parents are the last ones on the patio. He decides to help bring in the remaining dishes into the kitchen. "Thanks, Inuyasha. I'll take care of them from this point." Inutaishou smiles at him. Inuyasha smiles back and heads back upstairs to his bedroom.
Back at Kagome's house, Kagome is about to go upstairs, "Kagome, could you stay down here for a minute." Her father calls from the kitchen. Kagome groans and goes back to the kitchen where her parents are waiting for her. "What is it?" Kagome calmly asks him. Ai comes to her. "Kagome, sweetie. I just want to let you know that your absences did hurt Mr. Takahashi's feelings." Kagome looks away. "Honey look at me in the eye." Ai speaks a bit sternly. "And that was unacceptable."
Kagome sighs deeply. "But you did hear what he said when Inuyasha brought me back against my will. He apologized. He felt bad about deceiving not just me but also you two." Ai and Hige knew that she was right at the end. "But still…" Ai is about to speak. "…She's been through enough, Ai." Hige stops her. Ai nods. "You can go." Kagome smiles and leaves. She gets into her room. Shockingly enough, there's a vent that connects to the living room. "Are you sure you want to do this, Hige?" Ai asks her husband. Against her better judgement, Kagome presses her ear again the cage to listen to her parents. "Ai. You heard what Inutaishou said. He got carried away. Not only does Kagome had a right to be mad at him, but also us." Kagome squint her eyes in annoyance. "And why was it that we weren't angry?" Ai asks him curiously. "The thing is that we can handle our feelings until the time is right to discuss the topic to him privately. Kagome on the other hand is just a teenager, and she still hasn't learned to handles which was why she ran off." Hige explains the reason. Kagome never expected that from her parents. 'They think I can't handle my feelings? Well we'll just see about that? She declares herself before going to bed. 'From now one, I'll show them how I really feel about certain things around here.'
