-Rule Two: Don't Mess with Family-
Kagome sighed happily. Her cab had remained blissfully silent throughout the ride back into town except for the country station that was on. She turned down a muddy road and hummed as she drove over the rises and little mud puddles with ease. She pulled up next to a couple of old and mud covered trucks in front of what looked like a giant, old, converted tool shed the read 'Feed-N-Supplies' proudly in brick red letters. Inuyasha's ears twitched as she parked and pulled the emergency brake out.
"Kagome…What the hell are we doing here? I thought you needed to go get food or something." He whined as he climbed out. She glared at him and rolled her eyes.
"It's feed Yasha, and I am. This is where I get it from, along with some other things." She said and waited for Sesshomaru to walk up next to them too. "Now, if you two are all ready, we can get going." She sighed and walked to the door, the two boys following close behind as they walked into the store.
"Welcome to Feed-N-Supplies! Let us know if you need any… KAGS!" Yelled a deep male voice from behind a counter. She grinned and chuckled.
"Nope, don't need any of those sug… Need a few more tools though!" She said teasingly as the male jumped over the counter he was behind, his brown hair swinging behind him, and ran over to give her a crushing hug that she laughed at. "Koga! Easy! I have work to do still you turd!"
He laughed and looked over her shoulder at the two guys behind her, one in what looked like newly bought "western" gear, the other in a three piece suit complete with loafers, and rose an eyebrow at them as he slung an arm around her waist and hugged her close. "What's with the fancy boys honey? Thought you only went after rugged country boys that don't cry when they get dirt under their nails." He said with a mocking grin at the two. The two in question felt the hair on the back of their necks raise as they snarled at the man, but he only laughed. "No, no really, stop… y'all are gonna make me bust a gut!" He said as he held his stomach with his free hand, laughing harder at their attempted acts of intimidation… That is, until Kags elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Yee-ouch!"
"Serves you right." She said with a grin. "I'm baby sitting the boss' kids til we get back to the house. Now, about the feed I needed to pay for and get loaded, not to mention my wrenches and screwdrivers I stashed back there… I'm forgetting something… Oh! And the new lead ropes in yet?"
"Yeah, back isle… The new foal stillgivin' you problems?"
She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, Mikey's still a stubborn lil' bastard… But I love him to pieces!" She told him and walked towards the counter. "Now, I think Mr. Taisho ordered a little over eight this time around?" She watched as he typed some stuff into the computer and he nodded. "Good. Put that together with my other stuff and I'll go grab a couple of new leads. Seems one of the teen horses likes to eat them." She said with a groan. Koga winced and nodded in sympathy.
"You gonna need a hand with unloading the feed?"
"Nah, I'm sure some of the boys'll help me out with it." She said as she walked towards the back of the store and grabbed a silver, a red, a blue, a purple, a teal, and a yellow lead rope and brought them all to the front. Koga was ringing her out when "Work Hard, Play Harder" by Gretchen Wilson started ringing through the store. She reached in her back pocket and flipped open her phone. "Yes mama? Yes ma'am, I just picked him up… Yes, you can tell Mr. Taisho that both of his sons are fine… Feed-N-Supplies, I had to get the feed, tools, and ropes…" Her eyes widened a bit. "But mama I have to-!... No, no ma'am I'm not back sassin' you… Yes ma'am… Love you too mama. I'll see you when I get home. Bye." She sighed as she hung up and shook her head.
"What's Wrong Kagome?" Inuyasha asked as he tilted his head.
"I have to go get Souta and Shippo from school before we get back to your place." She said with a slight smile… That was, until she heard a growl from behind her.
"This Sesshomaru does not wish to go get your siblings woman. You were sent to pick me up and I have suffered your ridiculous errands because they had to do with my families estate. Picking up these boys can wait until you have gotten me home and helped me unpack, as any hired hand should do." He said coldly, used to using that and his unknown temper to get whatever he wanted. This woman seemed to be just a mere slip of a girl, so she should be cowering any second now and begging his forgiveness…
He tilted his head when he saw Inuyasha's smirk and watched him stand a few more feet away. He got his answer to why as soon as he saw Kagome stomp up to him and shove him into the counter, her eyes a contradiction of flame and ice.
"Now you listen here big shot," She said as she stabbed him in the chest with her finger. "those two boys are family, and they come before you, your brother, hell, before your whole family! Mr. Tashio knows that and I refuse to make the God Damn side trip to your house and make them wait because you were bein' too much of a whinny BITCH to deal with it!" She said in an icy growl. She turned back to Koga and nodded at the register. "What's the total?"
"Ninety-five dollars and sixty-seven cents, my little firecracker!" He said with a wide grin. She nodded and put the money down on the counter top.
"Loaded?"
"Yes ma'am!"
"Good." She turned and pegged both the silver haired men with an icy glare. "Get your asses in the truck." When Sesshomaru didn't move, she snarled at him. "Now. Or you can walk your happy ass the whole hundred miles out to your ranch in your fuckin' loafers!" She said and stormed out and climbed in the truck to get it started. She needed a few minutes to calm herself down before they got in.
GOD she didn't get paid enough for this shit!
Sesshomaru stood there in shock. No woman had ever spoken to him like that before! He glared when he heard two sets of snickers in the background. "And what, pray tell, is so funny?"
"You tryin' to tell Kags what to do… that's hilarious!" Koga said and broke out into peals of laughter, even going so far as to squat to the floor and hold his stomach.
Sesshomaru's eyebrow twitched.
"No kidding!" Came Inuyasha's comment. "You should know better! She doesn't take shit from anyone!"
"And how would I know this?" He asked with his arms crossed.
"Good point, but we'd better get out there before she really does leave our asses here!" He said and bolted outside. Sesshomaru sighed and prepared himself for rowdy children, probably in the typical hillbilly clothing of torn overalls and dirt covering them. He slid into the front seat and stared out of the wind shield.
"They had better not be annoying woman." He growled. He was mentally surprised when she snarled at him.
"Even if they are, you'd better not saw a single damn word about it city boy." She said as they pulled out with a jerk.
He was almost sure that one of them wouldn't be alive after his forced vacation was over.
"Sis! You made it!" Came the excited, slightly high pitched voice as the truck was put in park and the door opened. She smiled and ruffled the little red head's hair a bit as he climbed over her and into the back seat.
"Like I would ever leave you here Shippo!" She said with a smile. "Where's Sota?"
"The stupid Principal wanted to talk to him. He got in another fight today cuz someone brought up dad."
"Dang it Sota." Was the whispered response as they watched the doors of the school open with a tallish boy walking out beside another figure. She stepped out of the truck and looked at her younger brothers face. "Get in the truck squirt." She said gently and pushed him towards it lovingly. He nodded and quietly climber into the back next to Shippo and Inuyasha. "Mr. Thomas, I assume you wanna talk to me?"
"Indeed." Came the hard voice. His light brown hair was buzz cut and his brown eyes were hard as they looked at her. "Your brother punched out another student today Kagome."
"Look, I'm sorry and I'm sure Sota is too, but you know how hard it's been on him since dad walked out."
"This was his last chance. It happens again and I'll be forced to expel him." He said, his eyes softening a bit. "What Roger did was horrible, but for your brother to take it out on a fellow student…"
"I'll talk to him about it."
"Do. And I've already called your mother and informed her that he cannot come back for three days." She nodded.
"Thanks Mr. Thomas."
"What the hell are you staring at?" Shippo snapped at Inuyasha as he continued to stare at his brother's black eye.
"The shrimps eye."
"Enough Inuyasha. Don't stare at the child." Sesshomaru told him and turned in time to see Kagome slide into the front seat.
"Let's get home. We need to unload this stuff." She said softly. It was quiet for about twenty minutes, right when they were close enough to the house, before Sesshomaru's curiosity got the better of him.
"Where is your father?"
Three of the people in the cab froze. Inuyasha saw Shippo look out the window and Sota look down and clench his fists. "Gone." Was Kagome's tense response.
"Where? Has he passed away?"
"No."
"Then where-"
"Drop it!" Was her rough reply as she shoved the truck into park. "Every one out. Boys, go get in your horse jeans."
"We can help Kags." Inuyasha offered.
"No thanks. I think you and the stereo typer have done plenty."
"I beg your pardon?" Sesshomaru asked indignantly. "I did no such thing!"
"Not out loud!" She hissed after her brothers had gone inside. "Admit it! You were expecting them to come out of a Shack that said 'School' on it dressed like the Hackfields and Macoys! You come here in your fucking Jet from your fucking city expecting to know everything about us because we work for your dad. Well here's some news for you city boy; we dress respectably, we're educated just like anyone else, and we work our asses off for over privileged people just like you who think that's all we'll ever be good for since you don't wanna get your pretty little hands dirty!" She grabbed his Armani suitcase out of the bed of her truck, from under the feed bag, with a quick tug and dropped it on the ground in the dirt. "You think that you're better than us because you have nicer thing than we do and we'll just bow before you because we think you invented the God damn wheel, but in all reality we know you couldn't have done it without the ones who aren't afraid of hard work and breaking a nail to get shit done. So no thanks, I don't need your help." She said and stalked away from the two astonished men.
"Wow…" Was all they could say.
Hope you enjoy!