STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY: Inuyasha and all its characters do not belong to me. They belong to their rightful owner, Rumiko Takahashi. This is for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

Title: In Pursuit of Happiness
Author: Gladiel
Series: Inuyasha
Genre: Romance, Humor
Pairing: Sesshoumaru x Kagome
Rating: PG-13
Chapter Summary: Things get fast-forwarded for Kagome but, with Sango's help, she tries to get some sort of valid basis for her current situation. Meanwhile, Sesshoumaru already has other plans on his sleeve. Information and anti-stressors can sometimes be a phonecall away.

IN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
chapter two
newsbreak

"Married? What do you mean 'married'? Don't play games with me, woman."

"I'm not joking!" She turned the paper around, holding it with one hand while the other kept her comforter around herself. She held it up from a distance. "Look! It's a registration paper!"

He scrutinized the rectangular sheet from the bed and recognized the borders that were a trademark of the national office. He noticed his signature at the bottom along with a few others, one of them probably being hers.

"I don't believe you," he said flatly.

Kagome gave him a helpless look before shrieking, "You should! It's a damn marriage registration paper!"

The woman must be lying. He, Yokoba Sesshoumaru, could not remember any of the said event taking place. People he knew would testify that he possessed the memory of an elephant.

"I don't believe you. You must have set this up." He demanded for a confession. He glared at her, annoyed and infuriated at the same time after she dared deceive him. "You're one of those kind of women," he said with disgust.

She did not need explanations to understand what he implied with his last sentence. "You're accusing me of tricking you?" she almost shrilled. "And why do you think I'd do that?"

He raised a brow. "And why wouldn't you?"

Gods, the man was so full of himself! Kagome growled inwardly. She was standing with nothing but a comforter to cover her naked body at one corner of a stranger's room in who-knows-where place. She was without any recollections of the night before, shocked to the point of losing her sanity, and there was a gorgeous man with nothing but a thin blanket, lying down on that elegant bed, accusing her. The fact that he was ignorant of her inner turmoil and was convinced that she tricked him—was lying to him—did not make the situation any better.

With her hand firmly clamped on the edge of the quilt that covered her, Kagome marched right to the bed and shoved the paper to the silver-haired god.

"Read it!"

Sesshoumaru picked the paper that the woman rudely thrust to him and silently read its contents. She watched him and followed the horizontal movement of his eyes, barely keeping her frantic heart stable.

For a moment he felt the beatings of shock, but his carefully trained and kept-in-check emotions soon took hold of the situation. He just looked at her direction for a few seconds before saying in an unwavering voice, "Well, now you needn't worry about having committed premarital sex."

She gaped at him, eyes wide and mouth down to emphasize the dramatic effect. "You're making fun of me? This concerns you too, you—you demon! Marriage can only be in effect between two people, not one! How can you be so calm?" she continued rambling. "Do you understand the situation we have at hand? We are married! Two strangers! Do you understand that fact at all? I'm married to a—a…" she looked around his spacious room, fully furnished by an unnamed interior designer, "a filthy rich stranger!"

He rubbed his temples. "Shut up, woman. You're making my head ache," he interjected with fine finesse.

The woman started to ramble but Sesshoumaru wasn't paying attention. He was lost in his own thoughts and questions. Was he really married to the woman? It wasn't just some mad strategy of a scheming mother? He wouldn't be surprised if one parent stooped that low to have her daughter married to him. But these things can be easily faked. He didn't even know those people who signed the paper as witnesses.

"—And for all I know, we hired two drunk strangers as witnesses! Or maybe you paid them! You're rich!" She looked at him, trying to spill some information from him. A recollection or a tiny memory of the night before would be just as fine, she decided. The man glared at her, displeased by her obvious lack of controlled emotions and sane train of thought.

She took a deep breath and finally said, "OK Kagome. Calm yourself." She started walking back and fourth, five steps forward before turning around and going back. "It's not as if you can't get divorce papers. It's not unusual for a person to get married one day and be divorced the next. People do that these days, right?" she turned to him, waiting for an answer, an approval, or even an encouragement or some sympathy. Having received none, she continued her monologue. "I could just go with him to the office and have everything fixed."

He frowned at her voiced ideas. "No, that's not going to happen."

"And why the hell not?" She refused to believe the words she just heard. "Are you crazy? You mean to say you want us to stay married?" she nearly shouted.

"I did not mean it that way. I simply do not believe that that paper you are holding is from a legal source. I will not have a scandal lying on my doorstep when none of it was even true." Sesshoumaru stood up, walked to the pile of clothing opposite the bed and grabbed what he assumed to be hers. He threw it to Kagome who was still standing at one corner of the room. "Now get out of my flat before I get the guards to force you out."

He didn't shout. Not exactly. But for Kagome it didn't seem like it was only his voice forcing her out. It was his whole aura: his being in its entirety. He didn't believe the piece of paper but she had no reason not to!

"Well, excuse me for being married! Apparently, we just need some sort of paper to have it done here in this country," Kagome said with scorn. She picked up her clothes that were scattered on the floor and quickly put them on, underwear first. She noticed he was still looking and barked, "Turn around!"

"Why? After I've seen it all?" he said it in a matter-of-factly way, without any hint of humor, as if he was merely stating a fact. If it was the way he told jokes then she did not like it at all.

"It's merely propriety," she retorted as she turned around, having realized it was impossible for him to follow anything she said.

Sesshoumaru put on his own clothes while Kagome put on hers. He reached out for the black pants lying on the foot of the bed and pulled it up over his muscled legs. His white long-sleeved shirt came next before he pushed back his silken hair, miraculously returning it to a combed-like state.

After Kagome had put on the last of her clothing, she stood up and tried to straighten the visible folds on her blouse. Both of them stood at opposite ends of the room, an awkward silence quickly building a wall between them.

"I refuse to leave until we've done something about this situation," she finally said stubbornly.

He walked towards her wordlessly and ignored her refusal to leave. With a strong force he pulled her hand and dragged her to the door. Kagome's eyes widened as they passed through the rooms and the hallway, impressed by the elegance of the design and the furniture, before being shoved towards the exit in an ungentlemanly manner.

"I will not believe a woman like you until you bring me a man who can prove those papers are legal," he said with frigid distaste as he shoved her bag to her arms (the bag she didn't notice he picked up from somewhere in his room, having forgotten almost everything after she realized the problem she was in).

She opened her mouth to retort but he slammed the door in front of her even before she could mutter the word 'but'. "If you wanted me to leave that much then I will!" she muttered angrily.

She walked with a quick pace while she took her brush from her bag and took a few strokes on her hair to avoid further embarrassment. She left the grand building with an angry huff and went straight to the nearest bus stop. While she waited for the next bus to arrive, she pulled out her phone and dialed a familiar number.

Meanwhile, Sesshoumaru had already lifted his phone even before Kagome did. "Jaken, I want you to check something for me," he said as his gaze fell on a sheet of paper that silently demanded for immediate attention.

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"I'm sorry, Miroku, but I really can't go with you to your dentist today," said Sango while she put her wallet, her cell phone, a comb, and a few other necessities inside her bag. "I need to meet Kagome pronto."

The man she addressed was sitting on her couch, dressed in a casual olive green shirt and khaki pants. He frowned at the word 'can't' but after the mention of 'Kagome', his pout became a mask for understanding. Kagome was also his friend and he knew that for Sango she was an inseparable sister. Sango would do anything for her informally adopted sibling, especially when it came to emergencies. Since he was only over for a visit, as Sango agreed to go with him to the dentist later that day, he did not mind if she canceled it to save Kagome from an unknown peril.

"Is her mother and grandfather back?" he asked, silently hoping that it was. How many months was it since he's last seen them anyway? Or heard about them, for that matter?

Sango went to the kitchen to take a bite out of the toasted loaf of bread she prepared earlier. "No, but she says she's swimming in Illusion Island again."

Miroku's eyebrows furrowed together. "But the only time that happened was when—"

"No, I think it's worse," she turned her head so that her eyes met Miroku's. "This time she said she's swimming in her Illusion Island with a man."

"Maybe you should go double time?"


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An hour later, Sango spotted Kagome sitting in a window-seat at the café. She had her head propped on one hand while her elbow rested on the table and her left hand played with the straw dipped in mocha frapuccino. Worried, Sango almost ran to Kagome's table. Almost. Still, she was able to walk with poise.

"Kagome!"

"Oh, Sango!" Kagome greeted with a forced smile, although Sango quickly saw the distress embedded underneath. "Thank you so much for coming. I thought I was going to drown," she said. After noticing that her friend was still standing with a small frown on her face, Kagome offered the other chair by extending her hand towards it. "Sit down, sit down."

Sango pulled the chair and sat down, staring intently at her friend for signs of abnormalities. She searched her face for signs of ill-health and trouble but save for a fairly crumpled top, she found none. "Kagome, you look as if you're…perfectly healthy."

Kagome breathed in deeply. "Well, thank you for the observation, but the reason I called you was not to have you check my health but to say that--" she paused before continuing, "I'm no longer single."

"What?" Sango couldn't believe her ears. Kagome called her for this? This was what's troubling her? She's swimming in Illusion Island because of this?

"I'm no longer a virgin," Kagome leaned closer as she whispered the confession.

Sango gawked at the information and let three seconds pass in silence before a big grin slammed itself on her face. "So the girl finally got laid? Got your dogmas of celibacy broken now?" she teased.

"No, it's worse," Kagome said in a tiny voice, covering her face with the palm of her hands in embarrassment.

"You finally have a boyfriend," Sango nodded.

Kagome looked sideward. "Not exactly." She took a sip from her cold drink before continuing, "I skipped the boyfriend part."

Sango stared at her, open-mouthed. "You're engaged?"

"No, no," Kagome shook her head. "I skipped that too."

"What do you mean?"

"Sango, I'm married."

Silence hung in mid-air as Kagome waited for a response from her best friend. "Sango?"

A moment of speechlessness caught Sango for a few seconds before she put a hand on Kagome's shoulder and said, "Kagome, look. Whatever your problem is, just tell it outright without joking. That last one wasn't even funny. If you're desperate for a man, I'll go with you on group dates. I'll set you up. You don't need to imagine yourself being married to an illusion, a daydream, or whatever you call it. Have you eaten breakfast? Or dinner last night?"

"Sango! I'm not kidding! I'm serious!" Kagome insisted.

"You're serious?" Sango gave her a skeptical look.

"I am serious!"

Sango didn't say anything for what seemed like eternity. She stared at her friend whom she had known for more than ten years before echoing, "You are serious. Well, if you are, how did that happen? You don't even have a ring," she said, as they both shifted their eyes to Kagome's left hand. "No, there's no ring," Kagome affirmed.

"Well?" Sango waited for some explanation.

"I don't know how it happened. It just did."

"Kagome, it's not possible to just sleep the night before as a single woman and wake up married."

"That's it."

"That's what?"

"How it happened."

"You mean to say…"

"I was probably drunk last night and when I woke up this morning, viola! I was at this god's room—or maybe an angel's room—and there was an innocent paper sleeping on top of his table."

"Wait a minute! What do you mean god or—or angel?"

"Hm…" Kagome paused. "Maybe he was a virgin-seducing devil. But anyway, that man kicked me out after accusing me of lying. As if I'd lie about being married!"

"You mean to say you slept with a man last night, and probably got married somewhere in the middle, then woke up to find yourself no longer single but a wife? And you do not remember any single detail about the whole debacle?"

Kagome nodded. "Exactly. You perfectly understand everything."

"Are you sure? Maybe there was a mistake somewhere and—"

"Sango," Kagome interjected. "Do you remember my cousin who got married last week?"

Sango nodded.

"The paper looked exactly like that."

"So...who was that man?"

"Who?"

"That devil you married," Sango said, referring to Kagome's previous description.

Kagome sat wordless for a minute as she tried to remember his name. "I think it was Sesshou-something," she said finally.

"What do you mean you think?"

"I was confused at that moment! Beyond confused, even! I didn't exactly remember the details in the paper. I just knew he was a stranger and…"

"You don't know his name? Kagome, are you sane?"

"Actually, after waking up this morning, I don't think I am."

"Then tell me, how will we find that man?"

"Check the registration office?" Kagome suggested meekly.

A second passed before Sango said, "Oh, right. It's good to know you haven't completely lost it. At least now I know why you didn't go home last night."

"How did you know?"

"Souta called me to ask if you were sleeping over."

"Oh, gooses, Souta!"

Sango raised a brow. "You forgot you had a brother? Kagome, you amaze me."

Kagome groped for her cell phone inside her bag. "I wasn't exactly in my right state of mind when Pandora's box was shoved into my arms and forced opened in my face." Kagome dialed her brother's number and waited for him to answer from the other line. "Yes, Souta? It's me! Yes, yes, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to. I got drunk somewhere in the middle of last night and well, things happened. No, don't worry. I'm not in the police station. I'm with Sango. No! Nothing happened…anyway, what did you eat for dinner? There were noodles in the ref. You cook? How come I never knew you cooked? I'm your sister! How dare you keep such a thing from me! No! Well, yeah, but…OK. Alright. See you later."

Sango watched her friend put her phone back in her bag. "So, what did he say?"

"He knows how to cook," Kagome said, quite annoyed at having been excluded from knowing the fact. "And I've been doing all the cooking for the past how many years?"

"It's not as if he had a choice. You like cooking. No, actually you love it. It's your anti-stressor," Sango said as a matter-of-fact. "Why didn't you tell your brother about the 'dilemma'?"

"I think it's better to tell him if I'm a hundred and fifty percent sure."

"So, what do you want to do now? Your brother knows you're still alive, you're married although we're still not 'a hundred and fifty percent' sure, so what's next?"

"We're going to the registration office. I'm proving that that paper was legal."

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"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama?" a voice spoke over the phone. "I have it."

to be continued…

Last edited: April 16, 2007