To Dance with the Devil
If there was anything Kagome learned it was that when one danced with the devil, they never won; even if the so-called devil was their husband, notorious and elite gangster, Takahashi Inuyasha. Too bad Kagome was stuck with him, till death do them part.
.xx.
To Party with the Devil
Kikyo spat her "jiggle juice" all over Yura. The four girls, Kagome, Yura, Sango, and Kikyo were lounging in the staff room of the dance studio discussing two very important topics: Kikyo's engagement, and Kagome's conundrum.
"Thanks, I've always liked Eau du Kikyo's-regurgitated-vodka." Yura muttered dryly, wiping Kikyo's spit and vodka (aka jiggle juice) off her face.
"Let's get back to the topic at hand, Yura," Kikyo snickered. "My regurgitated jiggle juice is not important right now… what is important is Kagome dating Inuyasha Takahashi!" Kikyo leaned forward and wiggled her eyebrows at her cousin. "How does it feel? Does he shower you with diamonds and pretty clothes?"
Kagome threw a cushion at her cousin. "I am not dating him technically, and this just happened. So no, I don't have diamonds and pretty clothes and I honestly doubt I will be getting any of that anyway!"
"You told him to court you. He has to get diamonds and pretty clothes and courting means dating!" Kikyo argued back, knowing full well how stupid her argument was.
"I needed an excuse to give me more time to figure out what to do." Kagome groaned, sipping on her own jiggle juice. Kikyo was kind enough to drop by the liquor store and pick up enough beverages to keep Kagome, herself, and Yura sated. Sango was designated driver since a) she was pregnant, so b) she really had no other option. In the middle of the four girls were four full containers of steaming hot ramen.
Kikyo fingered her diamond. "And he won't tell you why?"
"Not at all."
The sun was setting and most of the businesses in the strip mall the studio was located began shutting down for the day. It was Friday which meant Kagome had the weekend off since the part timers typically taught on Saturdays and Sundays. Yura had to come in to work the very next day to finish writing up a few policy changes for new students.
Kagome was definitely looking forward to the weekend… she needed to relax and get over all the crap she had to put up with all week—she wanted to meet one other person whose father sold their daughter's life to the devil, sold their childhood home, paid back said devil, and then convince him to date her in an effort to get him away from her. If Kagome didn't know any better, there wasn't anybody!
"Quick thinking on your part, though." Yura commended. "I would've just started crying, to be totally honest."
"I still don't know how I thought of it." Kagome whispered. "I agreed to go out with him unless I have prior engagements…"
"Why can't you have a prior engagement every time he wants to go out with you?" Sango piped up and Kagome snorted, rolling her eyes.
"Right. I'm sure he anticipates that from me. I wouldn't be surprised if he showed up at the studio at the end of my shift, demanding I have dinner with him, or something." Kagome did entertain the thought of telling him she was busy for the first few times he called, but she knew him better than that. He would persist and persist until she relented and went out with him… and besides, the more she pushed him away the more he'd try to get closer and that was the last thing she needed.
What she needed was to formulate a plan to run away and have him not find her. Or have him disappear…
Whichever was easier.
"Maybe it won't be so bad?" Kikyo mused. "He's quite the looker, and his bank account should be hefty."
Sango crossed her arms and rested it on her very pregnant belly. "Yeah, Kiks, with stolen money. This is a very serious game you're playing, Kagome. What if he doesn't back down and takes you as his wife?"
"She has to say I do though." Yura pointed out.
"He's used to getting anything he wants." Sango snorted. "I doubt her lack consent will bother him."
"He could shower you with expensive gifts." Kikyo tapped her chin, going back to her diamonds and pretty dresses topic. "Stolen money does call for hefty merchandise."
Kagome could only groan and take another shot. She really needed to forget her worries and getting tipsy in her own studio was not helping. Her best friend, cousin, and secretary were the oddest bunch she knew, and while sometimes they were able to help her, right at that moment they were pushing her more towards alcohol poisoning.
"What if I faked my own death?"
Kikyo quickly squashed that idea. "Nope. He probably owns the underground markets you'd have to buy a new identity from."
"The fact you were so quick to answer that concerns me." Sango said, dryly.
Kikyo's retort was quickly drowned out by the sound of Kagome's ringing cell phone. All four girls were fast at looking at her ringing and vibrating device. It rang three times before Sango urged Kagome to answer.
"I don't recognize this number." Kagome murmured before picking up.
"Are you quite done analyzing our conversation and situation with your friends, sweetheart?"
Kagome mouthed to the girls: It's him! Which caused them to scoot closer to her while Kagome put her phone on speaker.
"I am not."
"Baby, I was not born yesterday. It's embedded in your DNA to cut and analyze every aspect of every conversation you ever have in your life, and with this being possibly the strangest thing to ever happen to you, you are naturally discussing it with your friends." Kikyo fanned herself in an attempt to tell Kagome she thought Inuyasha sounded incredibly sexy.
Which he did.
But Kagome hated him so she wasn't allowed to think such blasphemous things.
"Did you call me to give me a lesson on my DNA? And don't call me baby, jerk."
His chuckle was low and velvety. Kagome looked at her friends and saw they were watching her expectantly.
"Of course I didn't call you to lecture about your DNA, that would be silly." Kagome noted he didn't acknowledge her complaint on his term of endearment for her. "My intention to call was to inquire if whether or not you are available tomorrow evening?"
Sango and Yura mouthed yes while Kikyo mouthed no. Kagome was amused, she was expecting opposite responses from her friends.
"As of now I am, but I was about to make plans to go dancing with my friends… but that can be postponed to avoid having you entertain thoughts that I am intentionally rejecting you." Kagome tagged that last bit on for good measure. They had an agreement after all.
The line was silent for a few seconds before his voice crackled to life once again. "That's fine. You go ahead and make plans to go dancing. We can arrange another time."
Invite him? Yura mouthed and Kagome shook her head.
Not on your life!
"Any venue plans?"
"You aren't slick, Takahashi." Kagome rolled her eyes. "If I tell you, you'll just show up."
His laughter was a beautiful sound, Kagome would even admit to it, but the spell he was trying to cast was not going to work on her. He wanted to know where she'd be so he could show up and she'd be damned if he did! It would ruin her night completely. Not that she had anything planned…
Yet.
"Au contraire, Kagome, I am not the type to impose onto my woman's plans. I was merely going to send a few of my men to watch out for you ladies as you enjoyed your night." His voice was melodic, as if he had just sung his sentence instead of saying it. "You never know who might have ill intentions these days."
"No," Kagome said in a snarky tone. "You never know has ill intentions." She was pointedly referring to him and he chose to ignore her.
"I will call you tomorrow night then?"
"Is this your number?"
"It is."
Kagome made a mental note to—
"Don't even think about blocking my number."
Never mind. Forgot he was a mind reader.
"Enjoy your night, Kagome."
"Yeah, yeah. Bye."
She hung up without even waiting to hear him respond. Exhaling loudly, she moved to pour herself another shot and gave her friends the opportunity to squeal, scream, and lash out. It took a few moments for her friends to register what happened and, as predicted, Kikyo recovered first.
"He's good."
Kagome nodded. "Persistent, I must say. By the way, why did you," she pointed an accusing finger at Kikyo, "say no to me when he asked me out on a date and you two," she pointed at Yura and Sango, "say yes?! That was not the way you girls were supposed to answer. It was supposed to be the other way around"
Kikyo shrugged. "He's pushy. Sexy, yes, rich, yes, and sounds like a Greek God in a porno? Most definitely. But I don't like pushy and definitely not when it comes to my cousin and her marital status."
Kagome looked at Yura, who blushed in embarrassment. "I'm being a hopeless romantic. What if you fall in love?" Kagome was ready to punch Yura for even using the word love in reference to her and Inuyasha. The idea itself was enough to make her throw up her dinner. Choosing to ignore her, Kagome turned her attention to Sango.
Shrugging, Sango already had a response ready. "If you said no outright he'd be quite pushy, so I was trying to save you a headache."
How considerate.
"So we're going clubbing tomorrow?" Kikyo squealed. "This somewhat worked in our favour, wouldn't you say?"
Yura nodded feverishly. "I haven't been out on the town in ages… it'll give me a good break from this place. No offense to you."
"None taken. You'll be okay tomorrow?" Kagome asked Sango.
"Yeah, I gotta unpack all you guys' shit anyway. Call Yura, Eri, and Ayumi to go with you though. The more the merrier."
Kagome put her shot glass down upside down signalling that she was done her jiggle juice intake for the evening. "Sounds like a plan. Let's go to Goshinboku tomorrow?"
"Yes!"
.xx.
The girls were dolled up and ready to go. The plans formulated quite quickly, with Kikyo taking charge and calling their friends, inviting them to go clubbing. Within hours, Yuka, Eri, Ayumi, Yura, Kagome, Kikyo, and a few other friends were at Yura's apartment, dressed, hyped, and already predrunk. Kagome, especially, decided to really dress up for the occasion; it was her outlet to forget her life at the moment.
She sported a short black dress with an off the shoulder straps. Kagome made sure to have a gold and silver cross-body bag to keep her personal belonging in and, to complete her look, she coloured her lips with ruby red lipstick while donning matching red pumps. She wanted to be the centre of attention that night, she wanted men to be giving her their attention—anybody was better than Inuyasha.
"Ready?" Yura picked up her keys.
"Ready!" The rest chimed.
And they were off.
.xx.
Hip-hop top 40s blasted through the club and bodies meshed together on the dancefloor. Strobe lights and disco balls created an energetic and fun ambiance that had the girls in the mood for dancing before they entered the club. Kagome was behind Yura in their conga line; it was the only way the girls could enter without getting lost.
"Drinks?" Yura shouted and the others nodded. Looping her hand through Yuka and Eri, the trio were off to the bar to get their friends some drinks.
The rest stayed on the dance floor.
Kagome left her worries and problems at the door; nothing was going to bring her down. Kikyo, Kagome, Ayumi and a couple of their other friends found their spot on the dance floor and began to dance away life's difficulties. Kagome swayed her body to the left, flicked her head to the right, and let her hands sway to the beat of the bass. Unbeknownst to the girls, they had attracted a lot of attention and, before they knew it, a group of guys danced their way over to them.
One of the guys had his eyes set on Kagome.
Oblivious to everything, Kagome welcomed the handsome stranger to dance with her. His hands gripped her waist and he pulled her body closer to his, enveloping her in the warmth of his frame. Somehow Yura managed to thrust Kagome's drink in her hand and, with the predrinking from Yura's apartment earlier that night, and the drink in her hand, Kagome had just about forgotten everything that had been bugging her all week.
He's cute! Kikyo mouthed to Yura. The latter girl nodded in agreement.
What about Inuyasha? Yura mouthed back and Kikyo rolled her eyes.
Fuck him.
The song mixed in to another top 40 hit and the crowd went wild. Girls got on tables to dance, and extremely intoxicated individuals began making out with one another. Kagome, however, just wanted to dance.
She wanted to forget.
She wanted to—
"Do you wanna go somewhere private?"
Kagome finally looked up at the man she was dancing with. He was cute, needless to say, broad shoulders, brooding brown eyes, and a mop of jet black hair, but not anybody she wanted to go home with. She shook her head indicating she did not want to go somewhere private.
The stranger wasn't about to take no for an answer.
"Come on."
"No." Kagome repeated, stepping away from him. His hands, immediately, went to her waist to pull her back towards him.
"But we're having so much fun."
"I don't want to." Panic began to rise in her voice. Was this dude seriously not going to give up? Sure she could deal with deadly gangsters like Inuyasha that wanted to marry her but that meant one thing: Inuyasha wouldn't hurt her because he intended on marrying her. That meant keeping her alive. This guy, though, had no intention other that getting in to her panties and Kagome was very certain he would resort to violence if necessary.
"But it'll be fun." He tried to draw her closer. A few of the girls noticed Kagome's distress and Yura quickly tried to intercept.
"Excuse me, but she doesn't want to go with you."
"Nobody asked you, bitch."
"Excuse me?!"
Kagome began to struggle in his arms but he man wouldn't relent. A crowd began to surround them and Kagome could see from the corner of her eyes two large security guards rushing towards them. Relief was slowly beginning to fill her when, out of nowhere, the stranger was thrown off of Kagome and on to the floor. All eyes whipped to a seething Inuyasha.
Kagome's heart was pounding in her chest. Uh oh…
"If a lady says no, she says no." By then the music stopped playing.
The man that was exuding so much confidence just a moment ago was quivering under Inuyasha's icy gaze.
"I'm—I'm so sorry, boss."
Kagome's eyes widened. Boss?
"Get out." Inuyasha's voice was husky and low, displaying the sheer authority he commanded once again. Kagome's friends looked from one to another and finally at Kagome.
The man scrambled to get out of the club but was stopped promptly by security, who took the pleasure in seeing him out. No sooner did the mess start it ended. The music was playing once again and all those watching went back to dancing.
"Will you come to the bar with me?" Inuyasha asked, gently running his fingers down the length of Kagome's arm. She tried not to wretch away from him.
This asshole was following me!
"I, uh…"
Her eyes flickered to her friends who ushered her to go. She knew they were right, besides, he wouldn't actually take no for an answer… the only good thing about him was that he wasn't going to force himself onto her.
"Sure."
Inuyasha guided Kagome to the far end of the club, where the bar was nicely situated. For the duration of their walk, Kagome was aware of how his fingers never left the small of her back. If he was trying to make her feel safe, it wasn't working. She knew he wouldn't actually kill her, but that didn't mean she liked him any.
"You're following me." She accused as soon as they slipped onto their barstools.
"How quick to jump to conclusions," Inuyasha purred, his smile lighting up his face. "I, actually, was not."
"Then how…?"
"I own this place."
Kagome blanked. "You what?"
"Own Goshinboku." Inuyasha glanced at the bartender and waved him over. "Once a week I check up on it and today happened to be that day."
"I don't believe you."
"I never asked you to, sweetheart."
Kagome simply glowered at him with all the hatred her tiny body could muster up. The more that man talked, the more she hated him. Why couldn't he just leave her alone?!
"You know, instead of wishing death upon me, you could thank me for saving you."
"Security was already on their way. And don't call me sweetheart."
Inuyasha smirked. "That's true, but I believe I was the more heroic option." Without fail, he ignored her complaint about his endearment. He wasn't going to listen to her anyway.
"I wasn't looking for heroism. Besides, I was perfectly fine on my own. I could've kicked his ass."
"Sure," Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "with your deadly jazz hands."
It took a moment to realize what he said and, as much as she hated herself for doing it, she laughed. His joke was actually funny and she couldn't help it! She laughed. Inuyasha seemed mighty pleased with himself, too.
"Fine, you win this round. Thank you for saving me from creep back there." Kagome offered. "He works for you?" She recalled him calling Inuyasha boss.
He shook his head. "No, I haven't seen that guy before but I'm sure he knows who I am."
"Quite the reputation you have," Kagome remarked, remembering the maître d' calling Inuyasha Lord just the previous day, and now strangers referring to him as boss. "I don't know how I feel about that."
"You really don't feel anything, much less know about how you do." He pointed out while sipping the drink the bartender passed him. "You look quite stunning tonight."
Kagome glanced down at herself and back at Inuyasha. "Thanks, attracting the wrong kind of attention, though."
"It attracted mine."
"Wrong kind." She repeated.
He snickered. "Will you dance with me?"
"No."
"Are we playing this game again?"
"Yes."
"Fine," he shrugged. "Enjoy your night; I'll be in touch with you tomorrow."
Kagome's eyes widened, just slightly. She wasn't expecting him to agree with her so quickly, but she wasn't one to complain. "Sounds like a good idea." She heard herself say. Inuyasha nodded and put a large bank note on the table, indicating to the bartender that whatever Kagome wanted that night was on him.
"You don't have to."
"No, I don't." He agreed. "But I know how to take care of my future wife." Without waiting for a response, he winked at her and left.
Kagome was dumbfounded. What the actual hell just happened?
.xx.
Kagome really didn't have as bad of a hangover as she thought she would. She drank in moderation, partied like she hadn't in a while (this point was true), came home and slept. All-in-all, it was a good time with the exception of creep wanting to kidnap her and Inuyasha coming to her rescue.
She still had mixed feelings about the latter.
Sango was still asleep when Kagome woke up, and Souta and her father weren't home, and Jii-chan was off doing priestly things in and around their shrine. As quietly as possible, Kagome tip-toed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for Sango and her all while prepping her grandfather's meals for the day. He, apparently, was on a strict diet courtesy of his dietitian. Why Jii-chan has a dietitian, I will never know. Just as she entered the kitchen, her phone vibrated in her back pocket, signalling to her that she received a text message.
It was from a familiar number that Kagome never saved in her contacts list.
Inuyasha!
Good morning, sweetheart.
She really didn't want to respond but she practically promised him that she'd be fair in this whole courting ritual. In any case, if she gave him what he wanted (save marrying him), the less he'd bug her and the more time she'd have to focus on how to get rid of him.
Morning. And I told you, do not call me sweetheart.
She set her phone on the table and began working her magic in the kitchen. While cracking two eggs in to a glass bowl, her phone vibrated again.
Slept well? Somehow she wasn't surprised that he totally ignored her request, again. She was beginning to think she was wasting her breath telling him not to call her baby or sweetheart because, apparently, he did it anyway.
I did, thank you. She wasn't going to ask how he slept. It was of no importance to her, or her life. The asshole made her sell her home and now he wanted to engage in pleasantries? He can shove that up his—
Will you have dinner with me tonight?
She gawked at the message. "Did he just ask me?" She was half expecting a demand. Before she could respond, he had sent another message.
My friend has just launched a new restaurant and she is having a handful of customers at her grand opening tonight. I'm sure you'd enjoy the place.
He was being considerate. Great. The world was ending.
What time were you thinking? She had to be pleasant. Besides, she couldn't really come up with another excuse to not go, she had already dodged him the night before. Twice!
Eight? You'll be home on time to have enough rest for work tomorrow.
Double considerate. What the hell, man!
Kagome inhaled deeply before typing her response. The ball was in his court and their dance was fully underway—Kagome knew, deep down, that it was going to be a tough battle, for whoever danced with the devil, always got burned.
Sounds like a plan. Pick me up at eight?
See you then.
.xx.