Kagome sat in the kitchen mischievously biting into her sandwich. Perhaps she should tell Sango about Kikyo and what exactly to expect. But then of course, she would miss Sango's horror stricken face…choices, choices.
Kagome took another bite as she pondered the decision before her. In all fairness Kagome should not have Sango face this alone, but…it was just so classic, and it wasn't everyday a situation like this made itself available anyways. Besides, Widow use to do things like this to her all the time and she was Widow's successor after all. It was only fair to pass on the woman's traditions.
Kagome swallowed her bite when she found herself giggling. She used to hate it when Widow would teach her lessons through error, and currently the lesson that needed to be learned was to always do background checks on your targets, even if your leader says you don't have to.
Kagome laughed again, this was going to be a lesson well learned, for both Ayame as well as Sango.
"Hey girl, what are you laughing at?" asked Fuu as she stepped inside the kitchen with about three bags of extra groceries. Lilly was right behind her who was carrying two bags.
"Nothing, just thinking about something that I probably shouldn't be doing. Is that all the extra food for tonight?" asked Kagome.
"Yeah, you and Kaede have pretty much everything made but it is just better to be prepared when Kikyo is around. A couple of visits ago we had to make three different homemade apple pies for that woman," whined Lucy.
"What about pies?" asked Sango as she walked in the door, Kaede right behind her.
"Pie fiasco with Kikyo we had a while back. That woman is in need of serious meds I tell you," came Fuu's voice.
Kagome grumbled, "She's in need of a lot more than any doctor can give her, I promise you that."
"I still can't believe all ye did this for me. Tis truly a wonder," came Kaede's slightly teary voice.
Kagome turned towards her as she jumped off the counter she had been sitting on, "Please Kaede, you are completely loved around here. No one is about to let you go, we'd all be lost without you anyways."
"You certainly know how to make an old woman feel welcome child," answered back Kaede.
Suddenly the door swung open and Ana rushed in, "She's here!"
Panic filled the room as both Fuu and Lilly attempted to get their outfits wrinkle and dust free. Sango turned and grabbed the lint roller while Ana fixed a string on Kaede's shirt. Without further hesitation Kaede turned towards her five hard workers, "Whatever shall happen this night, I just want to say thank you."
Kagome smiled calmly. Truthfully, she was the only one who had any semblance of tranquility around her, "Don't even worry about it Kaede, tonight is going to go off without a hitch, and I'm sure Rin will be a perfect little angel too."
"I hope that child is. Had ye talked to her about behaving absolutely perfect tonight, because if I go, ye all know Rin will be the woman's next target," came Kaede's worried gaze.
"Don't worry, Rin has no intention of going to boarding school. I told her to act however she sees fit to get the job tonight done. I trust our little Rin's judgment," was all Kagome said before she reached over and took another bite out of her sandwich.
"Alright, now everyone get to their stations. We have to prove once and for all that Kaede deserves to stay. If we do everything right, Kikyo will never have another reason to even request Kaede's retirement," spoke Ana authoritatively.
Kaede smiled graciously, in the way that only a little old lady could, and walked out the door in order to greet Kikyo. Ana, Sango, Lilly and Fuu all stepped forward nervously; in fact, it wasn't until they were almost out the door that Fuu turned around questioningly, "Wait? Kagome, aren't you coming?"
Kagome smiled in a very amusing fashion as four sets of eyes stared at her expectantly, "No," was all she said before taking another bite of her sandwich.
Everyone's mouth but Sango's dropped. Instead of stuttering in shock she looked on in disbelief. At least a little bit of her training was coming through, "What do you mean, no?"
"I requested this night off last week," was her reply as she swallowed her bite.
Kagome was immediately surrounded by the four very concerned and horror stricken women.
"What? You have got to be kidding me!" yelled Fuu.
"You are our leader girl, you can't have the night off," said Ana desperately.
"We can't face that woman without you," said Lilly.
"You have got to be kidding me Kagome," finished Sango.
Kagome shrugged, "Relax, you guys will be fine. I planned and organized everything tonight. If something goes World War Three wrong, than I'll be right here, sitting in the kitchen making some Ramen for tomorrows lunch. I do seem to be making a lot of that lately now don't I?"
"But this is so not happening. We need you out there with us!" yelled Ana.
Kagome laughed as she put the remainder of her sandwich down, there were only a few bites left anyways. "Relax, I'm still here, I'm just not going to be out there serving with you guys. I just really needed a night off my feet, it's not like I knew Kikyo would be coming tonight."
"What if she stays the night?" asked Lilly.
Kagome smirked, "She won't…trust me."
"What if she wants us to cook another roast," asked Fuu.
"She wont, I made it…everyone loves my cooking," came her reply.
Sango grumbled, "That's true."
"What if she attacks one of us? Whose going to pull her off of us?" asked Lilly.
"She's not going to do anything foolish or damaging in front of Inuyasha…unless someone pushes her of course, but I'm relatively positive no one is planning to do that…maybe," she stopped talking for a moment, contemplating the situation.
"You are so not helping the crisis situation we are currently facing Kagome," growled Sango.
"Relax," laughed Kagome, "I was joking. Honestly, someone needs to dose you up with laughing gas or something. I'll be right here, alright. Just take a breather and don't let her get to you."
"Promise?" asked Fuu.
"Promise, now hurry up. I'm sure Kaede is ready for you," said Kagome while attempting to push them out the door.
After finally getting the four bickering girls out the swinging door she turned back around and walked over to her sandwich, only to have it ripped from her grasp, "Hey!" she yelled defiantly.
She turned around to see Sango standing behind her, "Stupid swinging door," she mumbled when she realized why she hadn't heard Sango come back in.
"Is there a particular reason you are taking tonight off and didn't tell me?" asked Sango sweetly, you know, sweetly for a viper about to attack.
"No, I just didn't feel like working and this was the night I randomly chose for the week. How was I supposed to know Kikyo would be coming tonight?" argued Kagome.
"You're telling me, that you don't want to meet the woman whom Inuyasha is dating?" asked Sango skeptically.
"I don't have to meet her tonight in order to know that I'm right," replied Kagome while re-grabbing her sandwich from Sango's grasp. Without a second thought Kagome quickly sat down in the nearest available chair.
"You wanted to get off your feet? Something is up, and I'm going to figure it out," said Sango with a glowing ray of defiance in her stance.
"Oh," smiled Kagome dangerously, "I have no doubt about that."
"…You have that look on your face Kagome, the look that you-know-who used to get right before she taught you one of those lessons. The ones that she said you could only learn through experience," said Sango nervously.
"You should really get back before they miss you," was all Kagome said as she took another bite.
"I don't like this, you're up to something," said Sango warily.
"Me? No, I can honestly say that I'm not part of anything, aside from the obvious of course. I'm just going to let the chips that everyone else had played fall into their proper places. Whether we did a good enough job for Kikyo is no longer up to us, now we watch and see," finished Kagome. She turned around and grabbed a black remote that had previously been resting on the counter. With the press of a button a pair of wooden cabinet doors opened and a large black TV screen made its way forward, "Now if you would excuse me, I would like to watch my Scrubs rerun thank you."
Sango huffed and turned to walk out the door, only once turning around to look at her leader. With a quick shake of her head she headed out the door and towards where she knew Ana would be waiting for her, along side Fuu and Lilly.
It wasn't until the kitchen door made its last swing that Kagome quickly turned around in her chair to make sure Sango hadn't pulled another fast one on her. With a smirk of satisfaction the devious woman disguised as a simple maid turned back around and pressed in the security codes for the cameras placed around the house.
In a flash the screen changed to give her the video feeds being feed throughout the mansion, this was going to be way better than any Scrubs episode.
Sango looked around skeptically, Kagome was planning something and this something was big. Really big and she had every intention of finding out what was going on. With a mere press of a button on her bracelet, which was really a communicator with Ayame, Sango waited for a response. Three clicks later and Sango found a voice on the other line of the communicator.
"Kag's took the night off…what's up?" she said quickly while glancing around. The last thing she needed was someone walking up to her while she was taking to Ayame. Very indiscreetly she slowed down her pace, keeping the inevitable meeting with the other maids farther into the future, if even by a few seconds.
Not a moment later Sango heard a report coming from the inside of her mouth, or more specifically the communicator connected to her tooth, "No idea, I'm doing surveillance though. My best guess it that Kagome really doesn't want to meet Kikyo."
Sango snorted, "If Kagome falls for this bastard for real, we are in serious damage here, it's not in the plan, or any plan," she growled to her wrist.
"This is Kag's, she knows the rules, besides, she can't stand Inuyasha's type. More than likely the girl just doesn't want to expose herself to more people than necessary, that's all."
"Then why did she tell us discreet wasn't an issue in this case, to have fun? Normally we are never this open or friendly in a case, what is she thinking?" sighed Sango.
Before Ayame could respond Sango shut down the communication line, Kaede was walking up to her. "Are ye ready child? Kikyo and the others have been sat, dinner is about to begin. Ye are to serve the drinks now."
"Sure, are the others ready?" asked Sango.
"Iie," said Kaede before walking back towards the dining area.
With a deep breath Sango walked into the preparation kitchen, where all the almost ready food was finish cooking. Even now it still amazed Sango that this guy had two kitchens, though it probably did make it easier on the staff since the kitchen and new dining room were so far apart.
"Ready?" asked Fuu.
"Sure, I just need to pull my hair back," was all Sango said. Digging into her pocket she picked up a headband. With a smirk she placed it on. Ayame had come up with this design a few years ago and Sango was thankful now. Inside the black ring was a minuscule camera whose pictures could only be picked up by Ayame's particular system. Maybe if she couldn't catch what Kagome had planned, perhaps Ayame could.
She clicked her bracelet again and whispered, "You there?"
"Here," came the slight reply.
Quickly Sango grabbed the nearest wine tray and placed it on her palm.
Fuu turned to her, "Okay, no matter what, we do this right."
"Ready when you are," was all Sango said as she thought of her triumphant victory over Kagome. Nothing was going to get by both her and Ayame, Kagome was down for the count!
The doors swung open and Sango and Fuu stepped into the light.
Inuyasha gracefully grabbed his girlfriend's delicate hand as she stepped into his house. She really was beautiful with her elegantly long and lush black hair, her delicate skin with no flaw to be found and her perfectly shaped hour glass body. The short thigh high white dress contrasted with her hair beautifully too, he just couldn't keep his eyes off of that sexy body of hers.
He had thought about it long and hard all week and came to the conclusion that Kikyo would stay in his life. Never before had he ever met a woman quite like her, and unlike the multitude of woman before her, she made him feel. It was the first time in a long time any woman had ever been able to get a true emotional response out of him and with his luck, she would be the last. So, she would stay.
He turned her to his friends and family.
"Hello Kikyo," came Miroku's, as usual, mirthful response, "how have you been these last couple of days?"
"Fine, though I have missed my Inuyasha, he has been impossible to reach," she said lightly.
"Yes," came Sessomaru's reply, "he does tend to have more to do than cater to everything you ask of him now doesn't he?"
Inuyasha glared at his older brother without hesitation. Obviously none of them liked or approved of Kikyo but did they have to be so damn obvious about it? This was his life after all. Really, at least Miroku could act civil towards her.
Kouga stepped forward, "Is there a particular reason you are so late, dinner was supposed to start half an hour ago."
Inuyasha glared at him as well, though it seemed unnecessary because Kikyo defended herself just fine, "Traffic kept me, and I did have to find the right outfit, since you disapproved too much of the last one."
If he didn't know any better, Inuyasha would have said Sesshomaru snorted at Kikyo's response, but he knew his brother, and Sesshomaru would never snort, not even if his life depended on it.
"And how exactly is this particular outfit of yours any better? You do realize my daughter will be joining us for dinner tonight, I would appreciate it if she did not learn what prostitution was until she was much older."
Kikyo nearly made a comeback to that remark but Kouga cut her off before anything regrettable could be said, "Alright, let's just go eat. I'm starving. I want to eat my woman's cooking."
Kikyo nearly stopped in her tracks, "Y-your woman? Since when did you have the capacity to stick to one woman Kouga? Trying to become my little Inuyasha are we?"
Miroku stifled a laugh as Kouga growled. Before any real damaged was caused Miroku interrupted Kouga's train of thought, "No, Kouga has suddenly found himself enamored with a certain new maid of Inuyasha's."
Together they walked into the elegantly furbished dining room. Exquisite didn't even begin to describe the masterpiece before them. Before a word could be said Kaede walked in front of them, "Hello young masters and Kikyo. Dinner will be served shortly, Rin has already been seated, she has requested to sit next to Kikyo tonight."
Kikyo and Sesshomaru's faces paled at the same time. In fact, for the first time since his adolescent years Sesshomaru found himself stuttering, "W-what? Rin, she has not asked to sit next to me?"
Miroku was the next to join, "She-she requested to sit next to Kikyo?"
Inuyasha on the other hand was beaming on the inside; at least someone within his family was willing to give the woman a chance. He turned his gaze towards Kikyo, expecting to see her at least slightly excited, she had after all been complaining non-stop about how no one here gave her a chance. What he found was shock, and slight…disgust, but that couldn't be right. He must be interpreting this wrong…he had to be.
"There must be some type of mistake, the child should sit next to her father," was Kikyo's immediate reply as soon as she regained her composure.
"It caught me off guard as well, but the child has requested it. She has already done the seating arrangements, it would break her heart if you were to change them," was all Kaede said to the baffled woman.
In truth Kaede had no idea what to think about the predicament either. When she talked to Kagome the girl had led on that Rin was going to stay as far away from Kikyo as possible, not, well, this!
Before Kikyo even had the chance to argue about the arrangements she was cut off by her boyfriends obviously humored voice, "Come on Kikyo, it will give you a chance to get to know Rin. I don't think you two have really ever had the chance to talk."
Sesshomaru growled, "There was a reason for that mutt."
Without a second to spare for Inuyasha to respond, a small little girl with her hair in a lopsided ponytail was standing before him, "R-Rin?"
A huge smile made itself known as the girl looked around the small group, "Miss Kikyo! You are here! You are going to sit next to Rin aren't you?" Rin grabbed Kikyo's hand as she pulled her towards the long dining room table, "Because Rin has so much she wants to talk to you about! Rin just got a new dolly, do you play with dolls? We should play with dolls after dinner!"
"Rin?" came an almost cracking voice from behind her.
With a more than noticeable hesitation Rin turned around to face her father, "Yes Daddy?"
"Don't you want to sit next to me?" asked Sesshomaru quietly.
"But Daddy, I see you all the time, I never get to see Miss Kikyo! And Kikyo is going to play with me after dinner; we have to talk about what we are going to pretend! Silly Daddy!" was her reply as she Rin over to her seat.
With even more hesitation that Rin earlier possessed, Kikyo sat next to the very talkative child.
Sesshomaru was pouting. Who know that the great and terrible Sesshomaru knew how to pout? Sulk? Yes, Rin had already demonstrated that he was very capable of that, but to stoop so low as pouting? To say the least Inuyasha was amazed. What amazed him even more were the seating arrangements.
Rin had been very particular about where everyone was supposed to sit. She had very firmly stated that Inuyasha was supposed to be on the very end, away from her and Kikyo because they were going to talk about girl things that he, as a boy, shouldn't hear. Sesshomaru was quickly ordered to sit next to him, hence the even further pouting. Oddly enough Kouga was ordered to sit on her left and Miroku was ordered to sit on Kikyo's right. When Sesshomaru had immediately pointed out that Miroku and Kouga were men as well Rin held no hesitation in her voice when she said "they don't count Daddy!"
Hence the major pouting going on here, though, Inuyasha had to agree with his elder half brother on some level. How was it he wasn't allowed to sit next to his own girlfriend?
Sango stepped out into the very classy and very well furnished dining room. There had to be hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on this one room alone. While she would never stoop so low as to steal anything like a common thief, even she had to admit the tapestries where amazing, as well as desirable.
Fixing her gaze she settled on the table. Looking at Inuyasha she tried to remember his requested drink, it was a couple of shots of scotch and a glass of ice water. Next was Sesshomaru, she quickly redirected her gaze. He had requested a bottle of their finest red wine and nothing else. Next came Kouga who had asked for vodka, strait, with nothing but a coke on the side. Again, easy. Oddly enough it was Rin who would be causing her problems; the child had requested three drinks. A strawberry milkshake, a large glass of extra chocolaty milk and a water.
With a sigh she shook her head, if she was a mother she would never let her daughter have so much sugar before bed, that was just irresponsible. Walking over to Inuyasha she began to pour his drinks, all the while thinking of Rin. Actually, she was surprised Kagome hadn't said anything to Rin about only picking one drink but then again, Kagome wasn't working tonight and she probably didn't know.
Without a moment's hesitation she continued her tasks at hand. She was so caught up in her own little world that she had failed to finish checking the room. Walking over to Sesshomaru she poured him his drink as well. With a quiet sigh, and ignoring her so called bosses conversation, because of course she had a job to do, as well as get back to the kitchen and figure out what Kagome was scheming, she walked around the table as instructed to do by Kaede, and serve Miroku next.
He had ordered the same as Sesshomaru, so luckily it was less things for her to carry around. Leaning over to pour his drink, she didn't even register his lingering gaze on her face, not that she would have cared all that much in that moment in time, because if it was the last thing she did she was going to figure out what exactly Kagome had planned in that conniving mind of hers. While pouring the drinks, her mind froze, crap, what did Kikyo order? Oh, that's right, white wine; she gave herself a mental sigh.
Speaking of which, she had yet to look at the woman. With a quick glance to her side Sango almost fell face first onto the floor.
At the same time Ayame's whisper of a voice let itself known, "You're seeing things right? Cause if you're seeing things that increases the chances of me seeing things, and I really want to be seeing things that aren't really there right now because if they really were there that would really suck."
Sango didn't respond, how the hell was someone supposed to respond to something like this? It was the freaking Wicked Bitch of the West knocking on her fucking doorstep!
"Um, Sango?" came a cool voice but she didn't hear it, nothing but what her mind had just told her computed. Her entire mind was on the fritz right now! What the hell was she going to do?
A louder, less clam voice made itself known, "Maid, you are wasting good wine."
Sango blinked a few times before looking at Sesshomaru, the one she had heard. Wasting? Wine? What? Sango looked down to see herself still pouring into Miroku's overflowing glass. Oh shit! She immediately pulled the wine bottle up in embarrassment.
"So, sorry sirs," came her voice. Luckily she had placed the glass on the tray so nothing had spilled over onto the luscious carpet or table. "I will go get some new glasses for everyone I haven't served yet."
Without a moment's notice she walked over to the swinging doors where Fuu was waiting for her with a questioning gaze. The two walked through the doors. Sango immediately stopped and looked for a chair, if she didn't catch her breath and get her bearings strait she was going to have a damn panic attack!
A tray was immediately taken from her as Fuu rubbed her back, "You alright? You suddenly look awful, and don't worry, Kikyo was too busy talking to Inuyasha to notice anything."
"No she is not okay!" screamed Ayame in her head, "I would not be okay either! Hell, I'm not okay! Bitchy McBitch-A-Lot is here! That does not make this situation okay!"
"I'm…" started Sango but was cut off by an authoritative voice.
"She's fine Fuu. Sango hasn't been feeling all that great for the last couple of days, stomach flu, but she thought she was over it. It's probably just the last ruminants. Just give it a few minutes and she should be fine."
Both looked up to see Kagome walking towards them…grinning.
Fuu looked at Sango, "Alright, I'm going to serve the rest of the drinks. When I get back you better have a glass of water in your hand," and with that Fuu was gone.
Kagome walked over to Sango and placed a hand on her back, making small circles as she did so, "That's okay Sango, Kikyo usually makes people sick at the sight of her. This is nothing new that you are experiencing. Eventually, it will pass."
Sango sat down and took a glass of water that was sitting randomly on the table next to her, Kagome really had everything planned out didn't she? "You…you knew?"
Kagome laughed, "Of course I knew. How could I not know, the woman is family after all."
"Why didn't you tell us?" managed Sango.
"And miss this? Please, I always wanted to know why you-know-who found torturing me so enjoyable and well, now I know. I have to say, your face was priceless," finished Kagome as she made Sango take another drink.
After a quick and refreshing gulp of the ice water Sango turned towards her leader, "So that's why you took tonight off, you knew she was coming and didn't want her to recognize you. And, and that's why you didn't like her wasn't it. It wasn't because she was Inuyasha's girl, it was because she's your-"
"Kagome child what are ye doing here?" interrupted Kaede.
"I forgot to make sure Sango had taken her medicine, so I'm giving it to her. That's all," came Kagome's easy reply.
Kaede smiled and then walked away without another question, which Sango thought was kind of odd since she had made no indication that she had been sick in the last couple of days. While no one else would have caught on to that Kaede normally would have. Before she could voice her opinions Kagome cut her off once again, "Time for you to get back out there."
"What? You can't expect that of me! I can't face that witch unless I've been given permission to kill her!" yelled Sango.
Kagome immediately shushed her, knowing that the kitchen was loud enough to cover the woman's antics but still not willing to take the chance. "She'll get suspicious if you don't go back out. She already knows we're here Sango and if even the slightest thing is out of place she'll catch on. The woman might be a whore but she's got an eye for detail."
"What about my earlier slip up?" came Sango's voice.
"Don't worry about, if she happens to stop flaunting herself towards Inuyasha long enough to find out its no big expense, maids mess up all the time. That's nothing out of the ordinary, I said she had an eye for detail, but she's as slutty as ever too. If anything she'll just chock up a silly mistake like that to an incompetent staff that she will need to replace when she sucks Inuyasha dry."
Sango sighed dramatically, "You say that like it's an everyday occurrence or something."
Kagome's right eyebrow raised slightly, "You do realize who we are talking about right?"
"I just-how could you not tell me!" yelled Sango again.
Kagome suppressed a laugh. The way she said it spoke volumes on how unbelievable Sango saw this whole scenario, and it was hysterical…from her end anyways. Perhaps she should do this more often.
"You are never going to do this to me again…right?" asked Sango pleadingly.
Kagome smiled a little too innocently, but Sango didn't pick up on it, "Would dream of it girl, now get your ass back out there and show off for Miroku."
"What?" asked Sango but she was pulled away by Fuu before another word could be said between the pair.
Rin fidgeted in her chair. It was just so hard to sit next to the mean old woman, but it was okay, because after tonight it would all be worth it.
"You little whelp!" yelled Kikyo as the thick pink substance slowly slid down her pearl white Prada dress. She screamed again in irritation as a glob of milkshake made itself down between her thighs.
"What did you just call my daughter!" yelled Sesshomaru.
Kikyo stood up furiously, "The little brat just poured her fucking milkshake down my dress! I'll call her whatever I want! Do you have any idea how expensive this was!"
Inuyasha stood up and walked over to the woman covered in milkshake globs, "Kikyo, it's okay. It was an accident, we all saw it."
Slowly he was able to get her back to her seat and sitting down as he ordered Kaede to grab a few towels and a change of dry clothing.
"Rin is sorry Miss Kikyo," the small girl made a small sniffling sound, "Rin just wanted you to try her drink. I'll," sniffle, "I'll clean it up for you. Rin will make it all better! She promises."
Immediately the girl stood up on her chair and grabbed her napkin, intent on rubbing away the pink stains, as Kikyo fumed in her chair. Sesshomaru on the other hand was ready to kill, no one talked to his daughter that way, and he would skewer anyone who did. His younger brother's wench or not, the woman was going to be homeless by the end of the week! He glanced towards his daughter in hopes of calming down his nerves but instead he found his heart nearly broken in two.
She was crying…his little girl was crying.
"Rin promises she will fix it Miss Kikyo," she said while she scrubbed harder.
Kikyo furiously looked down to see what progress the little brat had made and nearly screamed once again at what she saw. The stains were getting bigger! The little bitch was rubbing the pink in! Before Kikyo had time to swipe at the little girls face Kaede walked into the dining room, white towels in hand.
As soon as Rin saw Kaede walk in with the towels the small yet devious child leaned over in an attempt to grab them, but in order to do so she had to relinquish her grip on the table, leaning entirely into Kikyo's chair. Without a second for either man sitting next to the fiasco to react, the entire table's contents turned towards Kikyo and onto her lap, Rin included.
When the commotion cleared two silver haired males and one grey haired old woman stood there in utter disbelief. Miroku and Kouga were on the sidelines, both sitting on the ground since having been knocked from their chairs by the falling Rin, covered in the wonderful tasting clam chowder soup that had been prepared for the night. Both looked to be in complete shock at their current states.
Rin and Kikyo were next, and they were a sight to see. When Rin had fallen she had taken the table cloth and its contents with her, strait towards Kikyo. They both had Rin's chocolate milk and Kikyo's white wine dripping from their hair, the roast sticking to various parts of their body, their salads and its dressings drenched over their clothes, not to mention the dinner's soup being absorbed into their shoes.
And there Rin sat, crying helplessly while on Kikyo's lap, "Rin," hiccup, "is so," hiccup, "sorry!"
Kikyo screeched as she attempted to release her frustrations, "You demon possessed child! How dare you do this to me!"
Rin immediately jumped out of Kikyo's grasp as the woman lunged for her. Even in her crying hysteria the child could tell when she was being threatened. After quickly getting out of Kikyo's lap, Rin, in a terrified fit, ran behind her father's leg securely wrapping her arms around him.
"I'm sorry Miss Kikyo, please don't hate me," she cried from behind her father's protective form.
"Why you little monster, when I get done with you-" started the woman as she attempted to stand up but she was cut off by Miroku's body.
"Kikyo, you should leave," he said sternly, "before you say something you regret. She is just a child who was trying to be friendly, you cannot treat her like this."
His eyes narrowed slightly when she tried to retaliate.
Kouga sat up and brushed some of the clam chowder off of his pants, "I agree Kikyo. Rin spilled things on us as well but you don't see us bitching and moaning about it now do you?"
"You should go Kikyo, until you have time to calm down. We'll talk then…alright?" said Inuyasha as he looked skeptically at his girlfriend. He had never known her to treat a child like this and it was unnerving to see her screech at Rin that way. To say the least he did not want to see that side of her again.
She slowly looked around the room, weighing her options and determining what enemies she had made this night, Kikyo quickly assessed the situation. Sesshomaru's vengeful tendencies immediately came to mind, not that the man liked her before but he had at least tolerated her and in doing so had previously stayed out of the way. Something told her she couldn't count on that luxury anymore. Her life was going to get that much more complicated after tonight, and she was not looking forward to it. She worked hard to earn her good graces with Inuyasha and that little bitch ruined it all for her.
Speaking of little bitches…Kikyo looked over towards Sesshomaru's right pant leg, where the child who ruined her plans stood.
It took all her self control not to slice the girl in two when she saw Rin's sadistic little smirk. She knew something was up when Rin had asked to sit next to her, it seemed the little brat had more of her father in her than ever expected.
With one last internal growl, she made her decision. If Inuyasha was going to choose them over her then he was going to learn exactly what that meant. The man was just going to have to go without her sinfully agile body for a while, at least until she got what she wanted. After all, she could go other places for her wants, Inuyasha on the other hand wouldn't. Contrary to what the tabloids believed, he didn't cheat on his women, he broke up with them first, then slept around.
"Fine, I'll go, but I'll call you. Don't you dare call me after how you humiliated me tonight," she said angrily as she stood up, towel in hand. With a stomp she turned around, dripping food all over the nice hardwood floors. She pushed past a group of employees cowering in the corner and headed for the front door where her car awaited her.
It took all of Sango's training with Widow not to lose all sense of self control. When a large crashing noise had been heard from the dining area and then a frantic Kaede ran into the kitchen murmuring about how she had better start packing now and then left in just as much of a hurry after grabbing a bunch of towels, she and the others couldn't help but head out and see what had transpired.
And here is where the self control had kicked in.
Kikyo was covered, from her fake hair extensions all the way to her toes, in food. It was one of the funniest things she had seen in a long time and she resented Ayame in her ability to laugh out loud while she couldn't, because unlike Ayame, she had an audience.
She could tell many of the other employees where having similar problems as herself, aside from the friend laughing loudly through the receptor installed in her tooth of course. Fuu seemed to be tearing up in order to suppress the laughs while Ana's face spelled shock.
Sango immediately shaped up when Kikyo went stomping past her in her blinding furry, but instantly went back to trying to contain her laughter when they all heard the front door slam shut.
Inuyasha fumed as he thought about what had just transpired. With out hesitation he turned towards Rin, who was still hiding behind her father's leg, "When she gets back you are telling her sorry Rin, and I mean it. This may have all been an accident but you really humiliated her tonight."
Rin sniffled, "Rin didn't mean to Uncle Inuyasha," was her only reply as she continued to cower behind her father, "She will say she is sorry."
Inuyasha sighed dramatically, "I'm going to bed, no one bother me...I don't care if the fucking house is burning down, just leave me alone tonight."
Without another word the silver haired man turned and walked out of the room, desperate to make it to his bed in one piece. He was furious about this whole night and the last thing he wanted to do was talk about it, which is what he was sure Miroku would want to do.
Miroku had a way with words, a way that convinced even Inuyasha to rethink things, and they don't get much more stubborn than him, even he had to admit that. After tonight's fiasco some serious thinking was in order, the idea of Kikyo in his life needed to be re-evaluated.
As Inuyasha made it up to his room he lazily pushed the door open and walked inside. Without even bothering to turn the lights on he slammed the door shut with his foot and walked over to his bed flopping himself on top of it. Silently, he closed his eyes in thought.
Inuyasha was a very different person than many people took him for. Most of the time he didn't like the glitz and glam of the spotlight, he liked cheap take-out food better than most restaurants he ate at and above all, he wasn't some bachelor who refused to settle down. In truth, he wanted a family. No, he more than wanted one, he craved one. He hadn't had a proper family growing up so he had never really experienced what it was like, but he had watched others from afar as parent's lovingly dotted on their children. He wanted children, he had wanted children for a long time and when Rin was born he was more than jealous of Sesshomaru. How was it that Sesshomaru's one night stand turned into such an amazing thing? Why couldn't he have it?
When that tiny little baby showed up in his life it was almost enough to make him find the next bitch around and make her scream in ecstasy while he thought about nine months later when he got what he wanted out of the deal. To say the least he was disappointed. He had never seen Kikyo around children before and in those moments everything he knew was ripped out from underneath him. Was she like that around all children? Would she be like that with his own?
Rin stayed behind her father's leg as various maids walked into the room, attempting to clean up the mess. Her Uncle Inuyasha was mad at her, she hadn't counted on that. All she had wanted to do was show him how mean Kikyo was, but now he was mad at her and she didn't know what to do.
"Daddy, does Uncle Inuyasha still love me?" she asked quietly.
Her father looked down at her with a solemn expression, "Yes Rin, Inuyasha still loves you."
She watched as both her Uncle Miroku and Uncle Kouga turned towards her and nodded in agreement.
Before she could continue sulking a smoothing female voice came from behind her, "Rin, you need to help them clean up."
She immediately swung around as she saw her beloved Aunt Kagome standing not three feet away.
"Aunt Kagome!" she yelled excitedly but stuck to her father's leg when the woman didn't respond in her normally joyous manor. Her Aunt Kagome didn't look made, far from it, but she had that look on her face that said, 'before I hug you and kiss you silly I need to tell you something'.
A few of the cleaning crew turned around to face Kagome, happy to see her standing there, but why she was telling Rin to help clean none of them had any clue. She was one of the boss's daughters, this wasn't her job, it was theirs.
Kagome looked up at them, a sweet smile on her face, "Don't worry about cleaning up in here, Rin and her friends will do it."
What? Confusion was written across their faces as they attempted to question her, but she easily side stepped their questions and hurried them out of the room, making sure the cleaning supplies were left behind.
Kagome then turned towards Rin, "Is there something you wish to tell your Daddy Rin?"
Rin gulped, she couldn't believe it, Aunt Kagome knew? Cause it certainly sounded like she knew, but then, why didn't she stop it? "I, um, I don't know what you are talking about."
"You're sure about that Rin?" asked Kagome, no discernible threat was laced in her voice but you never really knew with Aunt Kagome.
"Umm…" but before Rin could answer, Fuu, Ana and Sango walked into the room, each having heard about Kagome's request for the cleanup crew to leave the work to Rin.
Rin scanned the room before she made her final decision. Everyone but Kagome looked extremely confused…but she had to take her chance. Her Uncle Inuyasha would kill her if he found out what they had all planned, what she had done.
"Yes, I'm sure," she said quietly, but her eye's were downcast, submissive, and above all guilty.
Kagome quietly turned around and stepped towards one of the antique cabinets. With only a sparing look towards Rin she shook her head and gave a small and joyous but noticeable laugh, "Shall we see what is behind door number one? I'm thinking a mischievous little red head with bright green eyes."
Suddenly the door was opened and a shocked little Shippo came stumbling out of the cabinet, eventually landing face first on the floor, "Well that hurt," came his little voice from the ground.
"Anyone else feel like coming out on their own, or am I going to have to drag out the rest of you?" asked Kagome as she raised her tone slightly in order for her voice to carry itself across the vast space.
The quiet onlookers watched as various curtains, cabinets and side doors opened throughout the room, followed by various children of all shapes and sizes.
"Wh-" started Miroku but Kagome cut him off, "Please tell me all of you weren't going to make Rin clean all this up by herself."
"No Miss Kagome, we will help Rin," came a small girl's voice from behind a curtain.
"Good, because I know all of you helped planned this. Rin never could have thought something up like this herself…no, she would have needed help. Honestly, Rin is organized, but not this organized. Pretending to want to be friends with Miss Kikyo? Right, like that would ever happen. And sitting her father and Inuyasha so far away from her? Rin loves her father more than life itself, she would never sit far away from him unless something was up. And then strategically placing Kouga and Miroku next to her so when she spilled on them as well, they could say that Kikyo was over reacting when she blew up at Rin? This reeks of a full time prankster," Kagome turned towards Shippo, "one with bright red hair."
Shippo blushed as he felt Kagome's gaze fall on him…okay, so maybe he had thought of most of it, but did she have to be so strait forward about it?
Suddenly a little boy's voice cut into his thoughts, "Shippo doesn't get all the credit! I thought up having a bunch of drinks thing!"
A four year old little girl was next to yell proudly as she pulled her thumb out of her mouth, "And I said Miss Rin should rub in the stuff when she spilled it."
Another boy snickered, "That was awesome! Did you see her face? I thought she was going to melt, like that scary green which from that Wizard movie!"
The room broke out in little fits of laughter as each child remembered their part in the story, as well as Kikyo's reaction. Rin was the next to speak, through her giggles of course, "I was really scared though, I thought that mean old woman was really going to hurt me, but I knew Daddy would protect me no matter what!"
Once again the small congregation of children found themselves laughing, "Hey next time can we put worms in her sandwich! Please! You wouldn't let us do that before," said one girl as she turned towards Kagome.
Kagome's voice softened as she listened to their plea's, "Honestly, it's a wonder Inuyasha hasn't adopted all of you with the way you like to cause trouble. You guys are as bad as he is."
Rin giggled, "Aunt Kagome, we only did it so he could see how that mean old lady was so mean! Uncle Inuyasha needs someone like you, not Kikyo! Then I could have lots of cousin's to play with!"
Kagome laughed, "Rin, your Uncle needs serious meds, not a girlfriend, especially one like me. I think we would drive each other mad."
Rin thought about this for a moment before answering, "Then you can be my mommy, I'm sure Daddy wont mind. Then I could have brothers and sisters!"
Kagome laughed again and walked up to Rin. With one large jump the little girl was sitting on her hip, legs wrapped around the petite woman, "I have a better idea Rin. How about your Uncle Inuyasha and I, and your daddy and I, just stay friends and we can still play together all we want. Will that work for you?"
Rin sighed dramatically, "I guess."
She placed Rin down as she looked at the other children, "I'm not mad if that is what you are thinking, anyone who tries to send Rin and Kaede away aren't on my friend list, but don't think this means you can do this again okay? I think one time was enough to teach Kikyo not to mess with this manor or its inhabitants."
"Yes Miss Kagome," they chanted.
With another laugh she walked towards Shippo and brushed his hair out of his face, "By the way, great thinking with having Inuyasha and Sesshomaru sit farther away, they couldn't even see Rin's nervousness."
Shippo beamed at the complement, proud that his work had been recognized. With a quick kiss on his forehead she sent him off to help Rin with cleaning up the piles of food on the floor. Spinning on her heals she clapped her hands together and walked up to the stunned three men before her.
"I think this is a pretty good punishment, don't you?" asked Kagome. She didn't mention the fact that Rin and the others were having the time of their lives cleaning up the mess while talking about their 'amazing' plan.
"Umm…" started Kouga but it seemed he couldn't find words for the situation.
Surprisingly it was Sesshomaru who spoke, "I think this will do, but I believe there should be a mutual understanding between all of us that Inuyasha never hears about this little…happening."
"Agreed," said Kagome while turning around to help the children clean.
Fuu, Ana and Sango had already begun to help the kids, much to Kagome's surprise. With a light sigh she walked over to Rin and Shippo to help with the mess, after all, Kagome had been as much a part of this little fiasco as they had. While she hadn't planned it she hadn't stopped it and it was only fair she followed her own guidelines and rules that she had given the children. With a smile to both children she grabbed a wet rage and began to wipe the table.
Firevixen73-I hope everyone liked it and I'm sorry about the long update. Hopefully the next one won't take so long. Also, I am thinking up a few more stories and I'm thinking about doing a few Kagome/Sesshomaru pairings. I have a poll on my account if you guys wouldn't mind going to my author page and filling it out that would be great. I want to see what pairings people like the most. It would be awesome if you guys could do that. Thanks again and please review!